Chapter 29 - Into the Abyss

Kagome hid the fear she felt rising up inside her. She could feel Sesshomaru watching her and she didn't want him to think that she couldn't fight.

She readied her bow.

Kagome and innumerable other archers fired at Naraku's army. Kagome's arrow purified all that stood in its path and more demons rushed to fill the void that she'd created. She fired again. And again. And again. Every time, the same thing happened. It was as if what she was doing was pointless. Nevertheless, she kept firing, until she saw that the other archers had stopped.

"Wait 'til they're a little closer before charging," Aki said, just loud enough for her soldiers to hear.

Kagome grit her teeth and got ready to run toward certain death.

After a few moments, Sesshomaru and Aki whispered in unison, "Now."

And they were off. The demons easily overtook Kagome; their speed was far greater than hers.

Kagome's heart raced and she felt energy humming inside her. She felt safer knowing that Sesshomaru was nearby and that she was surrounded by his forces.

They wouldn't let anything happen to her.

The two armies met and soon they were indistinguishable from one another.

Kagome was still running. Soon she was in the front lines. Demons towered over her slight figure and her face set in a grim expression. Demons were falling down, dead all around her; she didn't have any time to waste.

Reaching inside her, she called forth her purification powers. Mentally creating a barrier for her allies, her arms danced around her in a simple pattern. Her left hand came to rest on her chest while her right hand was stretched out in front of her with her palm facing outward. A thick beam of pink energy shot from her arm and purified all unprotected demons in its path. She swept her arm around in an arc in front of her, moving the beam around and destroying more of Naraku's forces.

Lifting her left hand from her chest, she gripped her bow and fired several arrows into the crowd in front of her.

Sesshomaru's soldiers took this opportunity to run forward and push Naraku's army a little further away from the castle.

Kagome's heart sank a little when she saw that within seconds, more demons had taken the place of all those that had just been purified.

No matter. She knew many such attacks and Jin had taught her how to preserve her energy, so she would be able to fend for herself for a while.

Sesshomaru smirked when he heard the demons cursing the miko for her strength and purification powers. With a nasty smirk on his face, Sesshomaru dove into battle; Tokijin grasped tightly in his right hand. He easily disposed of the demons, pushing Naraku's force away from his home.

From the corner of his right eye, he watched Kagome; nothing could happen to her, he wouldn't allow it.

Suddenly, the soldiers on his right fell and demons surged in, blocking his view of Kagome. Sesshomaru swirled around, his eyes narrowing. Using Tokijin, Sesshomaru neatly sliced the demons in two. Kagome was visible again. Relief filled Sesshomaru, she was fine.

Sensing sudden movement behind his head, Sesshomaru ducked and narrowly dodged a blow that was aimed at his head. An arrow whizzed by overhead and purified the demon that had swung at him.

Sesshomaru glanced in the direction from which the arrow had come from and he saw the grin on Kagome's gentle features. Sesshomaru saw a demon run up behind her and his eyes widened. His worry was for naught though. He watched as Kagome enveloped her hands in pink energy and swiped at the demon.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Sesshomaru's attention snapped away from the powerful miko that and he looked up into the red eyes of Kiome.

She was surrounded by demons and was fighting them off effortlessly.

Sesshomaru rose from his ducked down position and continued fighting. This was not the time to let his mind wander.

Haru spied Naraku a ways away and was satisfied to see that Kagura was quite a distance away as well.

Haru's men had formed a line dividing humans from the demons and they had been going slow deliberately.

There was now at least a half a kilometre gap between the humans and the demons. Haru sped up a little to give his stallion time to turn around and watched as his men followed suit.

"Now!" he screamed. Going in the opposite direction, Haru and his men charged at the remainder of the humans.

"Lady Aki!"

She heard the sickening sound of a body being pierced. She heard the sword being withdrawn from the body and a dull thud. She turned and found herself face to face with a blue-eyed demon in human form. She was slight and clad similarly to Aki herself. In her hands, she held double Dao swords.

She smirked, "So you are Lady Aki? Surely not the Lady Aki?"

"And what if I am?" Aki shot back hotly.

"Well then, I'll be sure to tell your people that you died honourably." The girl stepped forward, extending her blade as she did so.

Aki easily blocked it and stepped into a better position.

Seeing the girl raising her other sword, Aki moved her staff so that it may block both swords at once.

"Tell me girl. What is your name?"

"Miu."

Miu dislodged her first sword from Aki's staff and tried again. This time feigning one direction and attacking from another.

Aki retrieved her staff and neatly sidestepped Miu's attacks. "How old are you Miu?"

"I'm fifteen."

Aki suddenly stepped away from Miu and pulling out a katana spun around, eliminating all enemies around the two girls. "Fifteen? What're you doing fighting Miu? What would your parents say?"

Miu's eyes narrowed, "My parents are dead to me. They left me and my brother all by ourselves in the wild. We wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for Naraku-sama. Now shut up and fight me."

Miu's movements became faster and more refined. She leapt and ducked all the while swinging her swords in a graceful pattern.

Aki raised a brow. She wasn't a bad fighter.

Aki actually had to pay attention to Miu's movements in order to keep herself out of harm's way.

Aki occasionally swung outward to clear some space for herself by killing some of the other lowly demons. "Miu, are you sure your parents left you? Perhaps they were killed?"

"Stop it! Who would kill them? There's no one out there who would possibly go after my parents! They were they sweetest, most innocent people I know! No one could hold a grudge against them," Miu jabbed at Aki with one sword and swiped at her diagonally with the other.

Aki leapt back, "Other than you, you mean? If they were so sweet and innocent, do you really think that they would abandon you?"

Miu didn't stop, but Aki could see anger rising up in the girl's eyes.

She continued, "Naraku did it. He did it to get to you. That was the only way that you would ever join him. Stop and think about it."

"IIE!" Miu screamed. She came at Aki faster this time. "Stop it! Stop dodging everything and fight me! Naraku would never do that! Never! He values me. I'm one of his squad leaders! So fight me!" She became sloppier, her swords falling out of her carefully practiced patterns and leaving her vulnerable to attack.

Aki sighed, 'What a waste.' Aki took a step closer to Miu and using her left elbow, jabbed at Miu's neck, forcing her chin upwards. With her right hand, Aki swung around her spear and impaled the teen. "I'm sorry Miu," she whispered in her ear, "May you rest in peace with your family."

The spear still inside Miu, Aki swung it sideways, ripping a hole in Miu's body. Aki continued her arc to catch and finish off the demons that were within range around her. Quickly strapping her spear to her back, Aki snatched Miu's twin Dao swords from her hands and charged into the massive army.

Little did she know of the angry blue eyes watching her, getting ready to strike.

The sisters fought back to back. Swinging and striking, watching out for each other.

Somehow they'd ended up far away from their allies, and surrounded by countless demons.

One of the enemies caught Kiara off guard and managed to land a hit. Kiara cringed.

"Maybe we should head back in the direction of the castle," Kiara yelled over the battle cries.

"Why? What happened?" Kiome asked worriedly.

"Nothing sister," Kiara lied. "Never mind."

Kiome growled and turned around. Kiara felt hands grab her and turn her around. Kiome's eyes widened, Kiara had a long scratch on her abdomen. It looked deep.

"Kiome! Look out!" Kiara ducked and pulled her sister down with her. A javelin flew by overhead. Had the girls not ducked when they had, they surely would've been run through.

"Let's head back," Kiome said.

"I don't think so," sneered a loud masculine voice.

The girls looked up into the dark eyes of a man. He looked like a fallen samurai, for he was armed with nothing but a single katana.

Unsheathing the katana, the man swung it down toward the girls at breakneck speed.

Jin stood face to face with what was surely two of the enemy squad leaders. One had an eye patch and wielded a broadsword in one hand and a shield in the other. The other man had a nasty scar going across his eye, he held a halberd and had a sheath tied to his waist. Judging from the size and shape of the sheath, Jin guessed that it was a wakizashi.

Her eyes narrowed, "Move," she commanded.

The two glanced at each other and chuckled. "And what if we don't?"

Jin sighed and shot a ball of purification power at her attackers.

Their laughter got louder. Eye Patch lifted up his shield right before the purification ball reached them and to Jin's surprise, the ball rebounded off the shield and flew off in another direction, purifying all in its path.

Jin frowned, 'That's odd.'

Using her mind to form a shield around her allies, Jin extended her purification powers in all directions around herself. She frowned when she felt the power of the shield create a barrier around the men. Her power extended past the men and purified the demons around them.

Scar smirked at her, "It won't work sweetheart. Try as you might. See this shield over here? It protects us from all of this voodoo nonsense of yours."

"Well then I'll just have to destroy your shield," Jin said.

Both men burst out laughing, "Try it," glowered Eye Patch.

Jin folded her arms, subtly reaching inside her sleeves for the pack of shuriken strapped to her arm.

Running forward, she flung numerous shuriken at the men's faces. Eye Patch raised the shield to protect their faces and once closer, Jin could see the sacred script on the shield. That was what had stopped her attacks. Reaching inside her sleeve again, she began unsheathing her hidden tanto when arms gripped hers and held her fast. (tanto: small Japanese knife made from the same steel as the katana and the wakizashi).

Jin's eyes widened as she was stopped in her tracks.

"Hey sweetheart," a low voice murmured in her ear.

Jin froze.

Scar!

How had he gotten behind her?

Jin pulled at her wrists but was unable to pull them from his iron grasp.

Eye Patch lowered the shield, "Hah. Forcing me to raise my shield not only cuts off my view, it cuts off yours. You seemed to have forgotten that little bit, sweetheart," he mocked.

"Give up," Scar instructed, "and we might just let you live."

Jin scowled, "Do you really think you can win against me?"

Eye Patch raised an eyebrow and mockingly surveyed her position, "Hai." He stepped closer, gripping his broadsword tightly.

Eye Patch readied his sword.

"One last chance, sweetheart."

Kagura gazed upon the battle below. She had entered the battle with seven squads. Two of which were human squads.

They had attacked at noon. It had only been a few hours and two of her squad leaders were lost already from what she gathered. Haru and Miu. Haru had switched sides and Miu had been slain.

She sighed and scanned the battle below for Naraku. He was nowhere to be seen, but he was there. She felt his presence within the demons below.

She pondered his plan. Kanna's second wave had been instructed to attack later. When this wave was almost defeated, and because Kanna could hide her demonic aura, she had been given a larger number of soldiers. She would hide the demonic aura of her entire wave and just when Sesshomaru thought he'd won, she would attack and take them by surprise.

It was Naraku's wish to save the Western Lord and the miko for himself; so that he could steal the girl away in front of Sesshomaru's eyes and she could watch helplessly as he was destroyed before her eyes.

Kagura wiped the disgusted look from her face. If Naraku saw it, he would get suspicious.

Kagura gazed into the distance; Inu Yasha should be arriving soon. When he did; he would help and hopefully that would tip the scales a little more.

Kagura didn't have much hope. Naraku had covered all his bases and checked them twice… was it even possible for him to lose?

A/N) Phew, my first war scene. Whatcha think?