Sango restlessly paced around her hotel room, impatiently waiting for news from Natsumi. It was already nightfall by now and still there had been no word. Perhaps it was a mistake to spend the day here. If Natsumi turned up nothing, this would be a total waste. One more day for Zanshin to cook up whatever new demonic creation he was working on.
She paused for a moment to glance at Kirara, sleeping peacefully in the corner of the room. "Well, at least one of us is able to relax", she thought with a bit of envy. She had been tempted to take full advantage of the Inn's excellent perks, but found herself unable to do so. Any attempt to take her focus off planning for the eventual confrontation with Zanshin seemed like negligence, even if nothing productive could be done at the moment, and she was fairly sure Miroku was not operating under any such restriction.
"Ah Miroku, what am I going to do with him?" As expected, he had been totally unable to keep his vices under control and sometimes it seemed he really didn't appreciate the seriousness of their situation. Yet without being asked, he had dropped everything on a moments notice to come along with her on this journey, and not in a negligent manner. He had still taken the time to ensure everything was taken care of at Kaede's village, and had come up with a rather ingenious, if somewhat manipulative, plan in order to do so. One that Sango never would have considered on her own. Perhaps he really did have the commitment and sense of duty needed to complete the task at hand.
"Once we close in on Zanshin, Miroku will do everything that is needed of him, just like in the fight against the plant youkai. I know he will." Sango thought to herself. "Miroku may be a shameless letcher, but he's also courageous warrior and has always been dependable when our lives are on the line."
Sango's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. Upon sliding it open she was greeted by a young Inn maid. "Lady Natsumi hopes you are enjoying your stay at our Inn, miss Sango. And she brings good news. We've discovered information about the area around the sites plant youkai. Please follow me to our main room upstairs."
"Finally!" Sango thought, doing her best to keep the joy out of her expression. "Excellent. Just let me get my things and I'll be right up." With that she turned to wake Kirara and grab her Hiraikotsu in the corner of the room. Although currently in friendly territory, she had always made it a habit to take Kirara and all her weapons just about everywhere when involved in an active assignment. Trouble had a nasty habit of showing up in the most unlikely of places.
As it turned out, this place happened to be a perfect example. Fortunately for Sango, her sense of awareness and combat mindset had not been dulled by the peaceful surroundings. So when the young woman drew her concealed short sword from behind Sango, she was able to detect it and react in time. As the woman tried to strike with an over the top blow to the back of Sango's head, Sango stepped back, grabbed the woman's arm with both hands, and jerked the back of the elbow down hard against the top of her own shoulder. The mercenary woman shrieked in pain as the sword dropped from her hand and clattered to the floor.
Sango immediately followed up her action with a spinning back-hand blow from her right fist, catching the assailant across the side of the face with an impact that slammed her against a wall. Now more concerned with her own survival then keeping quiet, the attacker desperately attempted to draw her pistol, but Sango quickly ripped it out of her hands. Finally in total control, Sango pinned the woman against the wall, gaging her mouth with her left hand while holding the wheel lock firearm against the woman's head with her right.
"Listen to me very carefully," Sango said while trying to keep her rage from the unprovoked attack under control. "We're going to have a little talk and you're going to tell me everything. I assume you've got some help outside this room, but if you so much as attempt to scream, I'm going to kill you. I've never used one these advanced weapons before, but I'm confident I can do it effectively from this range."
With that Sango took her hand off the woman's mouth just enough to let her speak. "What a fool. You pull that trigger and my reinforcements will come rushing to this room."
"Perhaps, but you'll still be dead," Sango pointed out. "Do you really care what happens after that?" Sango was really hoping this would be enough to convince the attacker to cooperate. Though a trained killer, Sango had been brought up under a moral code that forbid killing humans under all but the most dire and extreme circumstances, even when attacked by them. Up to this point she had never killed a human before, not even in self defense, and while it looked like this status might have to change tonight, she didn't intend to start it off by blowing away a disarmed woman in cold blood.
Fortunately, her effective use of logic and expression showing she meant every word was enough to do the trick. "Fine. It doesn't matter anyway. Natsumi is working with Zanshin, and she hired us, the Red Fang mercenaries, to do her dirty work. She wants you dead and plans to turn the Monk over to Zanshin to use as he sees fit."
The mercenary woman's last statement was so infuriating it nearly caused Sango to end her life on the spot. Fighting against all her basic instincts, Sango maintained her composure. "Miroku? Where is he? What have you done with him?"
The woman laughed. "So you have feelings for the young Monk, do you? Better disregard them if you want to live. He's in the fifth floor, central room. We've got men patrolling the halls on each floor and in the meeting room holding him at gunpoint. If you try to get out of here now, there's a small possibility you might make it. But going after the Monk is hopeless. You've got no chance to survive."
Finally Sango had enough. "Oh? Well just watch me...or on second thought, don't!" With that, Sango struck the woman in the head with the blunt end of the pistol, instantly knocking her unconscious. Catching her body before it hit the ground to avoid making any more noise, Sango laid the woman down on a nearby futon and then tossed the pistol aside. She had seen the effects of such "firearms" enough to know how deadly they were, but decided in this situation it would be more of a liability then an asset. In addition to being untrained in their use, Sango knew they were very loud and useless after a single shot. Her own weaponry and talents would have to suffice, at least for now.
Sango immediately went to work, cutting the sheets from the futon into strips and using them to tie up and gag the woman in case she woke up too soon, while racking her brain for a proper strategy. Much as she hated to admit it, the mercenary woman actually had a good point. Getting all the way up to the fifth floor without being detected would be exceptionally difficult. And even if she succeeded, how was she going to clear out an entire room full of people with their guns trained on Miroku? Furthermore, she knew time was of the essence. After a few minutes, Natsumi would question why the woman sent to kill Sango failed to return, and most likely dispatch the remaining mercenaries to actively hunt her down.
But as she turned around the answer was staring her in the face, literally. "Kirara." Sango exclaimed as she saw the full sized demon cat standing behind her with a concerned look. The struggle with the mercenary woman had awakened Kirara from her slumber, but by the time she expanded to full size, her mistress already had her assailant under control, leaving Kirara with nothing to do but watch the events play out.
Sango went over to a window in the room and opened it up. "Come on Kirara, I'm really going to need your help on this one."
Takuya, a mercenary of the Red Fang, restlessly patrolled the empty halls of the fifth floor, doing his best to stave off utter boredom. "What a lousy assignment," He thought to himself. "Stuck up here wandering the empty halls. There's no chance that slayer girl will make it out of her own room, much less all the way up here. Nothing to do but wait for Aya to return. Speaking of which, shouldn't she be back by now?"
Suddenly Takuya noticed an open window in the hallway leading to the outside. "Has that window been open the whole time? I don't remember seeing it before."Then again, he had been so bored wandering the halls over the last few minutes that it was possible he had never noticed it while walking by. "Might as well check it out. It's not like I've got anything better to do at the moment."
Takuya walked over to the window and looked out. As expected, he saw nothing. Then he looked down just in time to see Sango, hovering below the window on an airborne Kirara, swing her Hiraikotsu directly into the center of his forehead, immediately knocking him out and sending him sprawling onto the cold hallway floor.
Sango quickly directed Kirara up to where she was level with the open window and slid inside, doing her best not to make any noise in the process. She could only hope the people in the main room hadn't heard the sound of the body hitting the floor. "Good job Kirara," Sango said to her still-hovering demon cat outside the window. "Now wait out here. I'm going after Miroku."
Kirara responded with a concerned growl and a look of worry on her face.
"I know you want to come with me, but you can't," Sango explained. "You're not exactly made for stealth or fighting in narrow rooms and hallways. If we start getting shot at, you'll be too big a target for them to miss. I need you to wait for me outside. You're going to be our escape route."
Kirara clearly was not satisfied with this role, but she obeyed Sango's command all the same, leaving her to face the dangers of the fifth floor on her own. Fortunantly, a quick search of the area revealed no more guards patrolling the in the halls. Apparently Natsumi had figured there was no way Sango would be able to make it all the way up here, and if she had been moving in the conventional way, Natsumi would probably been right. Sango was very greatful she had never revealed Kirara's true powers in Natsumi's precense, but now she faced her most difficult challenge yet: Finding some way to clear out a room full of gun toting opponents without getting herself or Miroku killed.
As silently as possible, Sango crept through the hallway until she found the main meeting room, where she flattened out against the wall next to the sliding door and took a moment to listen in. Just as she feared, there were several different voices coming from the room. She was pleased to hear Miroku's voice, but could tell there were at least four, maybe five people, in the room with him. That left only one option, one that Sango had been hoping to avoid. Taking a deep breath, Sango strapped on her slayer's gas mask, grabbed a poison bomb from her belt, and struck the fuse. "
"I'm sorry Miroku," Sango thought as she gently slid the door open just enough to toss it in. "This is the only chance we've got, but it's going to hurt like hell..."
Inside the room, Miroku sat in a chair where he watched the guns trained on him and waited for the worst. Over the last few minutes he had failed to come up with any plan that had the slightest chance of escaping, let alone getting to Sango in time, leaving him with nothing to do but accept his fate and pray that Sango at least could make it out alive.
However, the other in the room were impatient. "What's keeping your girl so long?" Natsumi asked the mercenary commander. "The job should be done by now."
"She probably just cleaning up," the commander calmly replied. "You don't want blood all over your hotel room, do you? And we can't be going out around town with blood covered clothing. Be patient, lady Natsumi, the Red Fang always completes their assignments."
"Well I don't like it. Take two men and go to Sango's room at once. The rest of us will keep the Monk detained in here," said Natsumi while moving closer to Miroku and keeping her ever-present pistol trained on his head
The commander got up from his seat and signaled two of his men to follow as he moved to the door. "If you insist, we'll-"
Suddenly the room fell silent in response to an unexpected sound. It very faint; the simple sound of a small object bouncing along the ground. The commander looked down to see a tiny wood and metal ball rolling toward him until it came to a halt against his foot.
"What the hell is this?" The commander asked while picking the small object up to inspect it. "Wait a minute, this is..." before he could speculate an answer, the object provided it for him. It suddenly started belching out thick yellow smoke, filling the room with noxious fumes. The commander dropped the ball and started screaming in agony as the fumes burned his throat and distorted his vision. "Were under attack!" He shouted before the effects of the poison gas started to subdue him. Soon the others started feeling the effects of the poison as well, as the grenade on the ground continued emit the horrible smoke without letting up.
"It's Sango! She's here!" Natsumi screamed at the commander. "Get out of the room at once!" Then she turned back to Miroku. "It's over Monk! I'll kill you!"
However, despite suffering from the initial effects of the poison, Miroku had used the few seconds Natsumi had turned away from him to close the gap between him and her. As Natsumi attempted to shoot him, he managed to grab the pistol with his left hand, resulting in a furious struggle over the weapon, which Miroku ended by twisting it out of her hands and then smashing it over Natsumi's head. Miroku gained full control of the pistol and tucked it into the folds of his robe as Natsumi crashed to the floor, but that was the last action he was able to take. He immediately collapsed to the ground and started vomiting uncontrollably as the effects of the poison overwhelmed his senses.
As soon as she tossed the poison grenade into the room, Sango had to force herself not to barge in right after it. Though she hated waiting, there had to be time for the poison to take full effect and for the room to be completely filled with smoke, which she estimated would take roughly ten seconds. Even with the advantage of surprise and her incapacitating chemical agent, Sango knew the men in the room would still have the partial ability to fight and she needed the bomb's full effects to kick in for there to be any chance of success.
Sango carefully counted off the seconds in her head and then charged in with her sword drawn. Just as she planned, the room was completely filled with thick yellow smoke. Though her slayer's mask protected her from the poison fumes, the smoke still limited her vision to about two feet, far from sufficient to find Miroku in a room so large.
"Miroku!" Sango screamed as loud as she could. "Hold on! I'm coming for you!"
Sango hoped it would elicit a response from Miroku to reveal his location, but instead she got a response from the mercenaries. "Sango's in the room! Kill her!"
Suddenly she saw the form of a mercenary charging through the smoke, clumsily trying to bring his arquebus into action. But the effects on the poison disrupted his senses and he was far too slow. Sango lopped off his hand before he could get a clear shot, and then finished him by thrusting her blade through his heart. Her moral code against killing humans was a luxury she could no longer afford.
As she pulled her sword back out of the man, she heard a voice behind her. "Bitch! You'll die for that!"
Sango turned around in response, just in time to receive a punch to the face from the mercenary commander. The effects of the poison reduced his ability to deliver the strike, but it was still enough to knock her to the ground. He then attempted to shoot her, but his vision was so distorted that it seemed as though he was looking at four different Sangos and couldn't figure out which one was real. Sango, however, did not have any such problems. She hastily grabbed the arquebus on the floor from her first victim and fired a shot into the commander's leg. The commander discharged his pistol into the air in response and went down, the effects of the poison and gunshot taking him out of the fight.
Sango snapped back to her feet and resumed her search, desperately fumbling through the smoke looking for Miroku's outline. Finally she saw him, huddled against the wall while struggling to breath. She also saw another mercenary stumbling toward him, pistol in hand. Taking immediately action, Sango sprinted up behind him, wrapping one arm around his waist and slashing his throat with the other, eliminating the last visible threat in the room. Then she rushed to Miroku and started pulling on his arm.
"Miroku! It's me! We have to get out of here!" Sango screamed while desperately trying to pull him to his feet. Though Miroku had carried Sango to safety in prior battles, their disproportionality in size didn't give Sango the same option. The only way they were going to get through this sitution was if he could at least stand and walk.
"S-Sango?" Miroku sputtered in response. To him she was a mere blur, but he was able to recognize her voice. "C-C-chest on fire. Lungs burning..."
"I know, it's the poison. You'll be fine in about 20 minutes. The fumes aren't fatal, but staying here will be! Now move!" Sango knew the commotion in the room must have alerted the other mercenaries spread throughout the building and they would be flooding the fifth floor in a matter of seconds.
Despite the horrible pain in his chest and throat, Miroku managed to rise to his feet. Sango threw his arm over her back, and with Miroku leaning on her for support, led him out of the smoke-filled room. Now out in the hallway, Sango dragged him to the open window where Kirara was waiting.
But as she rounded a corner to the last stretch of hallway, Miroku suddenly became dead weight and fell. "P-Pain, it's toooo much...Sango, go on without me."
Without so much as a though, Sango went right back to work pulling him back up. "We've been through this before Miroku, and we both know that's not going happen. Now either you get up and get moving, or I'm going to stay here and defend you to the death! There's no purifying barrier to save us this time. We've got to do this ourselves!"
Sango's statement seemed to jolt Miroku out of his stupor. Doing all he could to fight through the pain, Miroku rose from the ground, and the pair was on the move again. "That's it! Keep it going, we're almost there!" Sango could see the open window at the end of the hallway, and it appeared their salvation was at hand. But suddenly her hopes were dashed when two mercenaries charged around the corner at the other end of the hallway, putting themselves between her and the escape window.
"There they are!" one of them shouted as both men aimed their Tanegashima firearms down at Sango and Miroku. "Open fire!"
Trapped in the narrow hallway with no cover or room to dodge, Sango swiftly pulled the Hiraikotsu off her back and held it in front of them as a shield, praying that the heavy boomerang was thick enough to stop musket balls. As the gunshots echoed through the hallway, Sango happily discovered that was the case. Both rounds embedded deeply in the Hiraikotsu, but did not go through it. Unfazed, the mercenaries discarded their empty guns, drew their swords, and ran down the hallway to engage in melee combat.
However, Sango wasn't about to let them get that close. As soon as they started running, she hurled her Hiraikotsu down the hallway at them. Now the situation was reversed: It was the mercenaries who found themselves trapped in a narrow hallway with no room to dodge or manuver, and unlike Sango, they had nothing to use for protection. They could only watch in horror as the mighty boomerang tore through them, quickly cutting them down and continuing on to the wall behind them where it smashed through, creating a gaping hole to the outside world before it returned to Sango's hands.
"Kirara!" Come here!" Sango shouted as she helped the pain-filled Miroku to the giant hole in the wall. The hole was pretty close to the window where Sango had left Kirara, and in an instant she pulled up and hovered outside, ready to fly Sango and Miroku to safety.
As fast as possible, Sango half-dragged the barely mobile Miroku to Kirara. "Come on Miroku, we're almost done!" she shouted as she helped him get on. But even as she said so, she could hear the sounds of footsteps closing in on all side and knew they didn't have much more time. Finally Miroku was properly mounted on Kirara and Sango jumped on behind him. "Kirara! Get us out of here!"
As soon as both riders were onboard, she immediately headed out. But they were not out of danger just yet. As Kirara started to fly away, several mercenaries ran up to the hole in the wall and opened up with a volley of gunfire. Most of the shots went wide, but a single lead ball struck Kirara in the top of her left front leg. Kirara roared in agony and plunged to the roof of an adjacent two-story building, unable to maintain flight with two riders through the pain.
Despite the searing pain, Kirara did her best to lighten the landing, but they still slammed hard into the rooftop, knocking Sango and Miroku off. As Sango sat up, she heard the roar of gunfire still coming from the top floor of the Inn and saw holes appear, as if by magic, in the shingles of the rooftop around her. The mercenaries had massed around the hole in the wall she had created and were still firing at down at her, ones in front taking shots while mercenaries behind them reloaded and handed them fresh weapons.
Any moral qualms Sango had about killing humans were now gone. In response to the persistent attack, Sango flew into a rage. "DIE FIENDISH SCUM!" she shouted as she flung her Hiraikotsu at them in retaliation. Despite the challenge of aiming for a target high above her, Sango made a nearly perfect throw. With deadly precision, the Hiraikotsu tore threw the mercenaries crowded around the hole in the wall, killing several of them and sending a shower of gore and severed body parts falling down to the street below. Finally the gunfire ceased. The surviving mercenaries retreated back into the refuge of the Inn, leaving Sango, Miroku, and Kirara to complete their escape.
Breathing heavily, Sango caught her boomerang and turned back to her wounded companions, who were staring at her in awe. "Kirara, you don't have to fly with us on you anymore, but can you take us down to the street below?" Sango asked as if nothing significant just happened. "Once we're there, we can walk while you hover, and I promise I'll get that metal slug out of you once we are safely outside of town."
Kirara nodded meekly and let both riders mount her again. By now Miroku had recovered enough from the poison effects to walk his own. Once Sango and Miroku were onboard, Kirara flew them down to the empty streets below.
For a few seconds, they walked in silence, simply taking in all the incredible events that just occurred. But finally Miroku spoke up. "My god Sango, we really did it. We're actually going to get through this." Though the effects of the poison were wearing off, he was still in a state of near-shock. Just minutes before, it seemed certain that he would never see her again, but now here they were, seemingly on the verge of escape.
"Looks that way, doesn't it?" Sango replied with a smile. "But we're not out of the woods yet. All that gunfire was bound the attract the attention of the town gua-oh no!"
Sure enough, Sango's fears were confirmed as a detachment of town guards came running toward the weary group while barking orders at them to halt. In an instant, Sango and her companions found themselves surrounded by over two dozen of them, all brandishing bows and spears threateningly as their officer stepped forward. "I am Captain Daichi of the Tazumi town watch," he said as he approached. "Throw down your weapons and surrender at once!"
Sango desperately looked for a way to escape but there was none. Every possible avenue had been cut off. "Give it up!" Diachi shouted as he realized what she was doing. "You have no chance. Now drop your weapons or die!"
Kirara roared in anger at the threat against her mistress, her claws burning as she prepared to defend her, but Sango put her hand up and signaled for restraint. "No Kirara! We can't fight the town authorities!"
With that, she threw her weapons down in a pile and Miroku quickly followed suit. Soon their weapons were in a pile in front of them, save for Sango's hidden arm blades, which she hoped she could hang on to without being discovered. Though she had taken human lives for the first time tonight, she was not willing to go any further by killing innocent guards who were merely doing their jobs.
"That's better," said Daichi as his men collected the items off the ground. "Now explain yourselves at once. We heard much commotion and racket coming from lady Natsumi's Inn, and you were spotted leaving the scene on that flying demon. I demand to know what happened!"
Sango did her best to come up with a proper recap. "Well it's kind of a long story, you see-"
Suddenly she was interrupted by a guardsman who had stepped forward to pick up the dropped weapons. "Sir! The girl is dressed as a ninja! And her clothing and weapons are stained with blood!"
This caught Diachi's attention. Up to this point he had a hard time making out any details about the suspects in the darkness. In response to this discovery, he grabbed a torch held by a nearby guard and stepped forward to better identify them. "No, not a ninja, but a demon slayer." Diachi said as he walked closer. "I recognize you. You are Sango. Several days ago you came to my guard station asking for information about the caravan attacks."
With all that had happened since then, Sango had completely forgotten about everyone in that particular guard station. But now that the officer had recognized her, she hoped to use this to her advantage. "Yes, and you'll be glad to know the plant youkai who made the attacks is dead! Me and my companions hunted it down and killed it in the woods."
"Is that so? I'll need to determine for myself if you're telling the truth, but even if you are, that doesn't explain your conduct here tonight."
"We came back after discovering evidence another demon was involved." Sango rapidly explained. The captain appeared to be a reasonable man and now she was thinking there was a decent chance to talk her way out of the situation. "But it turns out it was working with Natsumi. She was giving vital information to aid in the attacks and when we found out she tried to have us killed!"
"What? That's ridiculous! Natsumi is one of the most respected business owners in this town. She would never get involved with something so sinister."
"It's true!" Sango re-stated. Suddenly her case seemed to be weakening and the odds were looking grim. "Natsumi hired mercenaries to kill us. We barely escaped with our lives! That's what all the ruckus was about!"
Diachi still looked skeptical. "These are very serious charges, miss Sango. Under the circumstances, I find them highly implausible. Do you have any proof of this?"
Sango now found herself at loss for words. "We've got nothing!" She realized. "All the carnage and destruction occurred inside her Inn! It makes us look like the clear aggressors. With Natsumi's reputation, she could make up any story she wants! There is no way the guards will believe our word over hers." With nothing to say, Sango closed her eyes and stared down, silently cursing the way events were playing. After all she, Miroku, and Kirara, had gone through, it still looked like their journey, and most likely their lives, was still coming to an end. Now Sango found herself almost wishing she had died back in the Inn, prefering a death in battle over life in prison or death by beheading after a wrongful conviction.
"I didn't think so," Diachi coldly replied. "Guards, place everyone here under arr-"
Before he could finish, Miroku stepped forward and spoke for the first time. "Wait! We do have proof. The basement storeroom in Natsumi's Inn is filled with stolen goods from the caravan attacks! If you send your men to search it, you'll find all the evidence you need."
Sango was taken aback by Miroku's claim. "What's he doing? A mere bluff to buy us time? Or did he actually find this out?"
"A convenient self-serving story," Diachi observed. "But it needs to be investigated all the same." Then he turned to a subordinate officer. "You! Take a dozen men to Natsumi's Inn at once! I want the building locked down and everyone in it detained. Then I'm going to have every inch of it thoroughly searched. If there is any truth to the Monk's claims, we'll find it."
The junior officer quickly ran off to carry out his commander's orders, while Diachi turned back to address Miroku. "I assure you Monk, your claims will be thoroughly investigated. But until this matter is cleared up, all of you will need to accompany me back to my guard station. You'll stay there until my investigation is complete."
"Thank you sir." Miroku replied, perfectly happy to be anywhere other then the place he had just came from. "I swear in Buddha's name that you will discover I'm telling the truth."
"That remains to be seen," said Diachi as he led the group away. "So you shouldn't thanking me yet. If I find out you're lying, I'll most likely be the one overseeing your execution."
Author's note: Intense, huh? Hope you enjoyed this one because it was really hard to write. It took a lot of effort to decide the final outcome out of so many possibilities, but I'm happy with out this turned out, and I hope you are too. But either way, please leave a review and let me know what you think.