Chapter 29: It's Time to Put an End to This: Part One
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha!
Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku were sitting in Inuyasha's office, along with Toga, Izayoi and Sesshomaru going over what their next move would be.
Sango and Miroku took up one sofa while Izayoi, Toga and Sesshomaru took up the second sofa that was situation in the office. Kagome - wearing Inuyasha's shirt once again - was sitting on Inuyasha's lap with his arms wrapped around her waist keeping her pressed firmly, but comfortably, against his chest while they were going over what they were going to go about wiping Naraku, Ai and Kikyo off the face of the world.
"The best chance we have at gaining the upper hand with Naraku, will be the element of surprise." Kagome discussed taking the lead of the meeting since she knew the most about them. "I've seen Naraku fight before and he fights dirty, the faster that we can take him out, the better."
Kagome got up from Inuyasha's lap and walked to the whiteboard that Inuyasha kept in his office. She grabbed a marker and drew out the blueprint of her mother's house that she had in the south.
"All of our family vacations that we've taken, mom and Kikyo have always taken a late-night swim - so more than likely, we can find them there. Sango and I can take them while Inuyasha, you and Miroku will enter the house and go into Naraku's office where he'll most likely still be working." Kagome decided as she first circled where she'd drawn the swimming pool before drawing a line from the back door and drew them a path to show them where the office was located and circled the door to the office.
"Naraku has a couple people living there that might pose a problem." Kagome went on as she walked back to sit on Inuyasha's lap. "The first person is Kagura; she is a wind sorceress - she is very dangerous when it comes to making the wind into a deadly weapon. The second is a child whose name is Kanna, but don't let her age and quiet nature fool you. She carries this mirror; you have to be careful of that mirror!"
"What's so scary about a mirror?" Sesshomaru asked with narrow eyes.
"What's so scary is that her mirror can steal your soul. It's very important to know that should you come across the girl with the mirror that you not look into the mirror. Once you look in the mirror, you won't be able to look away and you'll be trapped." Kagome explained.
"What does she look like?" Izayoi asked, speaking up for the first time since entering the office and greeting them.
"She's completely white, her outfit, shoes and hair. She has dark emotionless eyes and is soft spoken." Kagome described as she placed a finger to her chin as if in deep thought.
"Miroku, have you been able to look over our roster yet?" Inuyasha asked as he looked at the man in question.
"Yes, I have." Miroku answered with a nod.
"Has anyone not made a call to check-in or asked for more supplies?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yes." Miroku nodded. "Quite a few, actually. Izumo, Riku, Yuki, Hikaru, Tatsuki, Byakuya, Hakudoshi, Sakura, Sora and Airi."
Inuyasha sighed, that was more than he was hoping for, this was going to be a problem if they were all where Naraku was. He could only hope that Shippo is able to catch at least some of them. Preferably Byakuya, he was the most dangerous out of all of his employees. "Izumo, Hikaru, Tatsuki and Sora are humans - they won't be too much of a problem should a fight arise with them. However, Riku, Yuki, Byakuya, Hakudoshi, Sakura and Airi are all demons with their own powers and an eye kept on them at all times. Let's just hope that Shippo catches them all."
"What's their powers?" Kagome asked, looking back at Inuyasha.
"Riku can manipulate his surroundings to benefit himself, Yuki can duplicate himself, Byakuya can create dreams and turn you into flower fertilizer should you get entangled in his vines, Hakudoshi can regenerate, Sakura can control the plants and trees around her and Airi can control the weather." Inuyasha explained from memory.
"O-okay, good to know." Kagome stuttered; it intimidated her with so many dangers around, however, she refused to back down from this fight that was long overdue.
"What about Kikyo and your mother?" Toga asked.
"Kikyo is a dumb bimbo who doesn't know how to fight, taking her out should be easy. However, we don't know what they have up their sleeves so best be cautious around her. As for my mother, no one needs to worry about her - if anyone is going to spill her blood, it'll be me." Kagome said darkly.
"When is the best time to strike?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Tonight." Kagome declared looking at Sesshomaru before moving her eyes over each face that was in the room.
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Miroku asked, looking a little out of place at not having a concrete plan moving into this.
"It's the perfect plan." Kagome insisted with a nod as she looked at Miroku. "Naraku has a scheduled night of vulnerability that he is at his weakest, and that night is tonight. It'll still be a difficult battle but not nearly as impossible than him being at his full power. If we want any possibility of coming out of this without any casualties, it has to be tonight."
"Do you need our assistance?" Toga asked.
"I think that would be a good idea if we had your help." Inuyasha replied with a nod of his head. "Dad, you can come with me and Miroku - mom and Sesshomaru can go with Kagome and Sango. I'm getting ready to call Leo and Guiseppi because they said they would help should a fight break out." He continued as he grabbed his phone that was lying on his desk before making a call and placing it on speaker.
"Hello, Phantom! To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" Leo's voice rang out once the call was picked up.
"I was calling to see if you're still willing to fight alongside us to take down Naraku." Inuyasha spoke and waited for Leo to confirm or decline.
"Ah, absolutely!" Leo confirmed. "Whenever you need me, my friend."
"Are you free tonight after dinner?" Inuyasha asked.
"Sure am, where are you needing me?" Leo agreed easily.
"I'll send you a text with the address here in a bit."
"Okay, see you tonight, goodbye, my friend." Leo said before hanging up the phone.
Inuyasha hung up from that call before making one more.
"Phantom, how goes it?" Guiseppi answered after he accepted the call.
"It goes well, how goes it for you?" Inuyasha answered before asking the same question.
"Same shit, different day." Guiseppi mumbled his answer. "Just had to take care of one of my clients but other than that it's been going well."
"Ah, I see." Inuyasha replied, understanding all too well what he was saying. "Do you have any more aggression you need to let out tonight?"
"I always have aggression that I need to let off. What's your suggestion?" Guiseppi grunted.
"Would you be up to still helping us with that fight that we talked about?" Inuyasha questioned.
"Oh, for sure!" Guiseppi answered. "When?"
"Are you free tonight after dinner?" Inuyasha asked.
"I can be." Guiseppi spoke. "Tsuki! Call Yumi and cancel our get together tonight!" He yelled before addressing Inuyasha once again. "Where are we meeting?"
"I'll text you here in a bit with the address." Inuyasha answered.
"Okay, see you later, Phantom." Guiseppi said before ending the call.
"Okay, well I think that's all that needs to be discussed." Inuyasha spoke up as a means to end the meeting. "We will eat dinner before moving out.
Everyone in the room nodded in understanding of the plan and the meeting was over.
"I'll cook dinner." Sango offered as she stood up from the couch with a stretch and a yawn before she looked at her father and mother. "You guys can stay if you want, it wouldn't make much sense if you left only to have to turn right back around and come back."
"That would be lovely." Izayoi accepted the invite as she stood up. "I could help if you'd like."
Sango nodded with a smile as the two women exited the room to go start on dinner.
Inuyasha stayed seated in his chair still holding onto Kagome, when she tried to get up, he tightened his grip on her.
"Don't get up yet, please." Inuyasha whispered as he buried his face into the crook of Kagome's neck.
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, concerned as she leaned in closer to his body trying to offer him as much comfort as she could in her current position and watched as everyone left the room.
"It's just..." Inuyasha started but stopped as he took a deep shuddering breath in as he tightened his hold on her waist. "We're getting ready to go into a dangerous battle and I'm afraid."
Kagome wordlessly asked him to loosen his grip on her and when he did, she turned around to straddle his legs and wrap her arms around his neck. "I'm a little scared too." She admitted as he wrapped his arms back around her waist and pulled her close to him. "We're going up against some pretty dangerous people."
"You have to promise that you'll come back to me." Inuyasha demanded as he looked deep into her eyes.
Kagome smiled a small smile as she reached a hand up and gently rubbed his ear. "Only if you promise to come back to me."
"Deal, baby girl." Inuyasha replied as he slipped a hand under her hair to cup the back of her neck so he could pull her into a slow and meaningful kiss.
*X*
Once everyone finished eating dinner, they got ready to go - however - before they could exit the house, Inuyasha got a call.
"It's Shippo." Inuyasha announced as he pressed the answer button and placed the call on speaker. "Hey, Shippo, what do you have for me?"
"I've gathered some of the double-crosser's sir." Shippo said. "I have them captured and tied up in the warehouse. However, I fear there might be more from what I heard from some of the ones I captured."
"How many do you have?" Inuyasha asked as his hand tightened on the phone a little.
"I have four here with me." Shippo answered.
"Humans or demons?"
"All humans."
"Damn it!" Inuyasha growled, that meant that the demons were at Naraku's place waiting for them to show up. He wasn't mad at Shippo, he's done what he could, however, that didn't help with their current mission. "Nice work, Shippo." Inuyasha praised as he walked towards the door to get their plan moving. "We'll try to be there tonight, but we have one thing to do before we'll be able to get there. If not tonight, then first thing tomorrow." He would rather deal with the double-crossers rather than put his whole family in danger's way any day of the week, but if he wanted to one - make sure that Kagome stayed safe and two - make sure Naraku paid for trying to fuck his business up, killing his baby and almost killing his wife - he knew he needed to put an end to Naraku's life.
"Okay, see you then boss." Shippo replied before hanging up.
"Let's go and get this over with." Inuyasha sighed as he sent out the address to the place where shit was going down to Leo and Guiseppi before placing his phone back in his pocket and began walking to his car.
Miroku sat in the front seat while Kagome and Sango sat in the back. Toga, Sesshomaru and Izayoi got into Toga's car to follow Inuyasha to Naraku's house.
The car ride was made in silence, everyone thinking about the battle at hand. Everyone hoped beyond hope that everyone made it through with as little injuries as possible.
Inuyasha looked into the rearview mirror, his eyes landing on Kagome. She was looking out the window while worrying her bottom lip as fear swam deep in her eyes. If he had it his way, she'd stay at home while they went into battle, however, he knew that she'd never go for that. She was just as hungry for blood as he was, no matter how scared she was, and the only blood that would satisfy her at this moment was her mom's. She needed her revenge on her mother for taking her father away from her. For the hand that she played in taking their unborn child away and for making it impossible for them to have any more children in the future. He sighed as he reluctantly took his eyes away from Kagome to look back at the road in front of him. Things were about to get real nasty and he prayed that everyone on his side would be alright.
It took a few hours to make it to the south and to Naraku's house. When they made it within the vicinity, they stopped several miles away and got out of the car to wait for Leo and Guiseppi to arrive.
Once they showed up, they quickly went over the plan, putting Leo with Inuyasha's team and Guiseppi with Kagome's team before walking in silence the rest of the way to the house so as not to alert anyone to their presence and ruin the surprise element they were going after. They left at eight and didn't make it to the house until close to midnight.
"We have about six hours before sunrise, we should be able to finish this before then." Kagome informed nervously as she wrung her hands together walking in the direction of the house. "Yeah, we'll be fine - we can do this." She went on. Inuyasha wasn't sure if she was trying to convince the others, herself or both.
Inuyasha reached out and gripped her hand before giving it a gentle squeeze offering her as much comfort as he could. He felt her squeeze back as she peeked at him from the corner of his eye and sent him a small smile of thanks.
Making it to the house, they hid from view behind some trees to scope out what was happening on the outside of the house and pool house. They didn't want to just run into battle blindly, they wanted to know where everyone was at that time before they did anything.
When they didn't see anyone right off the bat, they turned back to one another before going over the plan once more.
"Okay, everyone needs to stay on their toes and have eyes in the back of their heads." Inuyasha whispered when she saw the coast was clear. "This won't be an easy battle; you all must be at your utmost when it comes to paying attention to your surroundings. These people kill first and ask questions second. You won't get a second chance to get the upper hand."
"Understood." Miroku replied as everyone else nodded their heads.
"Okay, does everyone know what they are doing?" Kagome asked for the last time before they moved onto the soon to be battlefield. She didn't want to do this, she didn't want to send her friends - no, her family - into harm's way. This was supposed to be her fight and her fight alone. She didn't feel right letting them help her, she was terrified that she'd lose them.
"Yup, we all are going to go to the back yard where the pool house is and the back entrance to the house." Sango started.
"There we're going to split up into two groups. Group one - Phantom, Toga, Leo and I - will go into the house to take on Naraku and whoever else might be in there." Miroku continued for Sango.
"While group two - you, Sango, Izayoi and Sesshomaru - will go into the pool house and eliminate Ai, Kikyo and whoever might be in there with them." Toga continued.
"And whoever finishes first goes to help the other group if they haven't finished yet." Kagome added as an afterthought.
"Agreed." Inuyasha replied and everyone nodded.
"Is everyone ready?" Sesshomaru asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Kagome answered, feeling uncertain with a lump of fear forming in her throat as her heart hammered in her chest.
Sensing her fear, Inuyasha gently gripped her arm and pulled her to where she was facing him. His breath left his lungs as she looked up at him with wide fear filled eyes and, in that moment, he wanted to say 'forget the whole thing' and scoop her up in his arms and run until they were for sure safe. However, he knew he couldn't do that, so with a sigh and his heart cracking a little - he brought his hand up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek with his hand. "Are you alright?"
She let out a single humorless laugh as she brought her hand up to grip Inuyasha's wrist as she leaned into his touch and comfort. "I don't think anyone will truly be alright until this is over." She whispered as she closed her eyes and willed her tears to go away.
"Yeah," Inuyasha let out a chuckle as he rubbed her cheek with the pad of his thumb, "you're probably right."
"Are you guys ready to move out?" Miroku asked as he untangled himself from Sango's hug. Everyone knew that they were walking into a dangerous situation and survival was not promised, so they were all very much scared and making sure they had a moment of serenity between each other. Each of them was terrified that they wouldn't see the other again.
Inuyasha dropped his hand from Kagome's cheek to turn to look at Miroku before he nodded. "Yeah, it's time to put an end to this."
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, bye!