Chapter 59 There will be Blood

In the Feudal Era

Terror and urgency thrummed through the bond like slivers of darkness overtaking Sesshoumaru's mind and he knew Kagome had returned to the past. Amazement and joy mingled in his mind like golden filaments of light and relief flooded through their bond from him.

"Kagome," Kouga called, smelling her distinctive scent. "Are you down there?"

"Of course I'm down here you idiot!" Kagome snapped and actually felt a pang of regret at her harsh words, but couldn't take the time now to bother with etiquette. "Rin pushed me down the well!"

"What do you mean she pushed you in?" Sesshouamru called down the mouth of the well. Ludicrously, he automatically began considering punishments for such disrespect, despite the circumstances.

"Never mind." Kagome said curtly while trying to climb out of the well. It would only activate again once she exited and reentered it. "Listen, we need to get to the other side! Wei is rampaging in the present and there is no one to stop him!"


The Higurashi carport was little more than a lean-to designed to prevent hail, snow, and the elements at large from damaging the cars sheltered underneath it. So it was of little surprise to Souta that the flimsy partition that acted as a barrier between the car and the front yard snapped into pieces as he slammed the accelerator to the floor and smashed through it.

The engine roared but was just barely audible over the pounding of Souta's heart, as he gripped the wheel and tore across the fanatically maintained front yard towards the shrine steps that would lead directly to the road.

As he churned up clots of vibrant green and black earth, some part of his mind warned him that his mother was going to kill him when she came home and surveyed the devastation he had wrought.

Another part of his mind, the one he didn't want to listen to, insisted that it didn't matter because whatever had happened to the city had happened to her also.

NO!

"I THOUGHT YOU KNEW HOW TO CONTROL THIS THING!" Kohaku shouted over the din of the mechanical beast and interrupting Souta's dark musings. "YOU ALMOST PLOWED INTO THAT ROCK!"

"I CAN! I'VE WATCHED MY MOM!" Souta returned just as loudly, although his voice acquired a stuttering quality as the truck lurched over the top of the steps and began its descent with lunatic speed. "AND I WAS TRYING TO HIT WEI WITH IT!"

Kohaku looked back and saw the madman was still with them; Wei was tangled in the truck's hitch chain and struggling to get a grip on the chain while being dragged behind them in the light of the moon. It looked almost comical; but then his eyes came up. Locking gazes with Wei, Kohaku felt the icy hands of death twist his innards into a cold knot of fear, as he felt a disturbing familiarity with Wei.

The Gods had already demanded that Kohaku die before, but they were merciful enough to allow the memories he had to be repressed into the darkest depths of his mind far beyond conscious thought. Sometimes though, in his nightmares, the mental blindness he had imposed on himself slipped and images no mind should have to bear slipped out. Hideous beyond comprehension, what he saw defied description and in part was mirrored within Wei's eyes.

In Wei, Kohaku could see the terrible shadow of what his mind had been trying to hide from him and he knew instantly that they couldn't kill Wei.

Only the living were susceptible to death and Wei was not among them.

Further thought was jarred from his mind as a Souta slammed on the breaks momentarily and hung a hard left, smacking Kohaku's head painfully into the passenger side window. Hanging from the chain, Wei was swung out in a wide ark that sent him smashing loudly into a wooden fence, but did not dislodge him.

Before Kohaku could say a word about his aching head, the engine roared once more and the tires squealed and smoked as they took off once more down the eerily empty road.

"WE NEED TO GET ON THE TOLLWAY!" Souta shouted, while thinking about a place to obtain weapons. The only place he could think of that might have any would be a sporting goods store that might carry hunting equipment. "WE'LL MOVE A LOT FASTER WITHOUT ALL THESE TURNS!"

"WHAT'S A TOLLWAY?" Kohaku asked, while picturing Imperial guards collecting tolls from travelers. In this metal age though, he wondered if there would be machine guards with fists of steel-

His curiosity was forgotten though when his eyes drifted back to the road and he noticed with some alarm they were approaching a metal railing with yellow markings on it. Fast.

"SOUTA!"

"IT'S A SHORTCUT! TRUST ME!"

The pit dropped out of Kohaku's stomach, as in a shriek of metal they hurtled through the railing, sending it scraping across the hood and bashing into the windshield. Reflexively, Kohaku lifted his arms in protection, but the glass of this age was apparently sturdier and it only cracked, sending spidery green lines radiating out in all directions.

The slope of the embankment was steep, but not steep enough to make Souta lose control of the vehicle, as all four wheels maintained solid purchase on the ground beneath them. Ahead, visible by the light of the strange lanterns shining in the car's front, Kohaku spotted a fence of intertwined metal wire shaped into diamonds.

"I'm beginning to regret coming to this era..." he muttered to himself, as the engine roared under Souta's urging and burst through the metal fence, sending it skating over the hood and windshield. The truck jerked spasmodically as it jumped the curb and contacted the grey cement of the toll way.

"WHAT?" Souta yelled, while privately wondering if the insurance premiums would ever be the same again.

"I SAID I HOPE YOU KNOW THIS AREA!" Kohaku lied. No need for complaining now. At least not out loud.

"I DO LIVE HERE, YOU KNOW!" Souta replied, as he jammed the brake and swung the wheel to the left, causing the rear of the truck to swing wide behind them, almost hitting the concrete traffic separators of the toll way in the process. Behind them came the sound of something actually crashing into the separators and bashing through them. In the rearview mirror and in the red of the taillights, Kohaku and Souta saw a hand clutch the ragged remains of a ruined separator.

"GO! DAMNIT GO!" Kohaku shouted frantically "DON'T LET HIM RECOVER!"

Souta needed no further encouragement and gunned the engine again. Tires squealed, smoked and spun uselessly for a moment before they gripped the road and sent the truck shooting forward.

A thump resounded from the back of the truck and Souta's pounding heart skipped a beat. "Oh shit..." he whispered.

In the rearview mirror, a shadowy bulk pulled itself over the gate of the truck and into its bed.

"DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?" Kohaku asked.

"ME? YOU'RE THE TRAINED KILLER! WHY DON'T YOU HAVE ONE?" Souta asked angrily as he shifted lanes towards an exit ramp.

"YOU'RE THE ONE DRIVING!" Kohaku replied, while noting that a glass and stone booth with what appeared to be a yellow wooden bar was drawing close at alarming speed. "WHAT'S THAT THING?"

If an answer was given Kohaku didn't hear it as the yellow bar splintered spectacularly across the front of the vehicle and smashed into the glass creating a motionless ring of ripples like from a splash suspended in time.

The night exploded in tongues of flame behind them and the rear windshield burst inwards, sending a lacerating rain of burning glass into the cab compartment.

"HOLY!" Souta screamed, trying to remain in control of the wheel as Wei stabbed downwards into the support strut that connected the cab of the truck to its bed. Flames leapt up behind them and suffocating fumes of burning metal and plastic poisoned the air with noxious claws that tore at the lungs. Souta, in a flaming truck going 60 down Summer Road, had the presence of mind to be thankful for the seatbelts and airbags that came standard with his currently deteriorating vehicle.

A violent shudder ran through the steering column and all resistance in the wheel dropped away temporarily. What happened next Souta would never be too clear on, but gravity's hold shifted horribly as the cab of the truck, in a symphony of shrieking metal, separated from the rest of the truck and fell backwards to scrape along the ground and send a shower of sparks shooting up behind them. As the cab compartment was tilted so that its passengers could only see the starless sky above and the bone white moon staring down on them, the possibility of control was nonexistent

Yet, despite not having an ounce of control over the vehicle's (or at least its remains) course, Souta nonetheless maintained a death grip on the leather of the wheel, even as it ripped away at the first layer of his skin. As the skin did rip away in a wave of pain, a final revelation forced its way into his mind.

He was going to die.

The knowledge provoked a strange sense of detachment in him. His life, his dreams, his fury, his disappointments, everything about him was going to be ripped from the world as easily as the skin on his hands. The shortness of life saddened Souta; not because of a selfish desire to live just for the sake of it, but rather because of the wasted opportunities and potential. Just like his ride, Souta's life was racing towards a terminus and he had to wonder if he had made the best use of his time.

The image of Kagome free from Wei's grasp sprung into Souta's mind...

"At least I got one thing right," Souta whispered.

"What-" Kohaku started, but was cut off when the safety harness suddenly tightened around him, crushing his chest as the forward movement of the car came to an abrupt end with a sound like a horrific thunder crash. Kohaku and Souta, firmly in the grip of the laws of motion, snapped forward towards the wheel and dashboard, only to have the air bags burst out and cushion the expected blow.

Dazed, but still possessed of his wits, Kohaku reached for his waist, withdrew his dagger and punctured the airbag. Pushing it down and out of his way, Kohaku did the same for Souta, whose glazed eyes said he needed to be shocked back into reality. Reversing his grip on the dagger, Kohaku swung the handle's pommel into Souta's forehead none too gently.

The reaction was instantaneous.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Souta demanded, while Kohaku opened his door. Since the position of the cab was still facing straight up, he had to swing the door upwards vertically to get out.

"You needed to be reminded of the situation we are in. There is no time to dawdle."

"Ass..." Souta muttered while reaching for the door handle. He needn't have bothered though as the door suddenly tore off its hinges in a metallic squeal and was sent flying through the night.

"DID YOU THINK THIS WAS A GAME?" Wei demanded as he tore the safety belt clasp apart and hauled Souta out of the compartment cab. Lifting Souta off his feet by the shirt, Wei brought him face to face.

"Let me tell you what is going to happen next," Wei growled savagely. "I'm going to burn off your legs and drag you back to watch as I violate your sister in every conceivable-"

A wet snick was heard as Kohaku vaulted over the hood of the car to land crouching with his feet on Wei's shoulders and buried his katana deep into Wei's right eye socket, and snapping his head back. It sank in further with a soft sucking sound, as Kohaku drove it in until it emerged from the other side of Wei's skull.

For a moment everything seemed to stop as Kohaku twisted the blade and Wei's focus shifted to the boy currently assaulting him. His remaining eye glared at Kohaku with an intensity undiminished by the darkness surrounding them.

The stillness was broken quickly as Souta was released and Wei grabbed Kohaku by the ankles and, spinning 180 degrees, threw him across the street through the Plexiglass window of a store. To his credit, Kohaku adjusted his positioning in flight, to try and mitigate the damage, but in the end he might as well have not bothered.

Unlike in the movies, people cannot go through glass windows without sustaining severe injury. Whether it is the weight of the shards slicing through their limbs or the inertia of those same glass shards acting against the force of the body being thrown through it, the result is the same. Although he was trained from almost the time he could walk to survive in the most perilous of situations, Kohaku was still human and his flesh gave way readily to the razor sharp edges of the shattered Plexiglass as it sliced through him. When Kohaku hit the ground, he did it in several pieces with fountains of liquid black spurting from him.

"So eager to die," Wei sneered at the dead boy, as he grabbed the sword with both hands and wrenched it free by tearing it through his face. A dark slick of wetness spilled out across the right side of his face as he did so, but in moments, the face was made whole again.

Shortly after it was made whole though, it collapsed under the weight of a tire iron as Souta struck with adrenaline-enhanced strength and smashed Wei's face inwards. As with Kohaku's sword though, the attack proved to be of little consequence to Wei as, without even bothering to repair his face, he seized the tire iron and ripped it from Souta's grasp with one hand, while the Shining Hate materialized in the other.

A flash of silver in the night and Souta's right arm fell to the ground, twitching briefly as nerve impulses tried and failed to understand where rest of the body was.

There was not even time enough for Souta to scream before Wei's hand covered his mouth.

"I've changed my mind," Wei declared while stifling Souta's scream "I'm going to kill you now."

Wei took his hand off Souta's mouth. "Now you may scream."

Souta ground his teeth together and resolved silently not to give Wei that satisfaction. "Perhaps you need further motivation," Wei said with a note of displeasure in his voice. Wei grabbed Souta's hair to hold him steady. Shifting his stance, Wie brought his sword horizontal to his body and directly in line with the middle of Souta's abdomen.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" We asked. "Now, scream for me."

The Shining hate pistoned forward and ran Souta through. Souta's resolve to not scream almost broke, as agony only hell could conceive of flooded through him and drowned out reason and conviction. The only thing that kept him from breaking his vow was the weakness of his injured body. Lacking the strength to hold himself up, Souta began to sag against the blade but Wei held him up. Souta felt his hair pulled back and Wei's eyes stared into his, looking intently for a hint of what he sought. Souta, shaking uncontrollably and with rills of sweat streaming from his brow, did his best to give Wei a defiant stare.

The silent communication was clear enough for Wei to understand. Sneering in return, he twisted the blade viciously in Souta's gut, causing the young boys face to contort hideously. Souta started hacking as blood poured from his mouth and he began to choke on his own life. The pain reached a blinding crescendo that collapsed his vision into a tunnel of black.

In that darkness though, peace came to him as a vision of his sister appeared before his mind's eye. The darkness retreated from her and warm light comforted him.

Wei sliced off Souta's left arm and nothing hurt. There was only tranquility.

Wei hacked off Souta's legs and held him aloft by the hair, but Souta did not cry out. Suspended in the air by the madman and pouring blood onto the pavement, Souta was never more content. His sister had been brave enough to face the ultimate sacrifice to protect him. He could be just as brave.

Even as Wei tore him in half, a soft smile formed on Souta's lips as he passed serenely into the next life.

Looking at the smile on the dead boy's face, like a mocking sneer of defiance, Wei felt something in him snap. Every rational thought was swept away in a billowing red wave as Souta's smile etched itself into Wei's mind, taunting him with his failures and sundered dreams. For a moment Wei's form rippled, as coherent thought was lost and then the world around him ceased to exist. Everything within Wei's sight disintegrated as an expanding pillar of flame swept out and vaporized instantly whatever it touched. In the heart of that maelstrom, Wei no longer existed. Just a mindless force of destruction; lashing out at everything and nothing.