Naraku's underground palace had been completed and was now a dark, carved onyx metropolis under the isle, circled by the surrounding caves. With Naraku's domicile gleaming darkly around them, the four demons took to watching Naraku's sordid mirror for an opening of attack- no second could be missed.
The mirror's dark power showed them everything, every moment within Sesshomaru's castle. They watched like malevolent hawks as Kikyo moved around the castle, as Sesshomaru disappeared off in the day and returned at night. They witnessed Kikyo and Sesshomaru lying in each others arms every night. They watched them lie there, staring into each others eyes or kissing each other.
Tsumetai, Mikata and Hokai were revolted by this sickening display of love and affection. But Naraku's eyes held a black fury.
At last they hit the jackpot. They heard Sesshomaru's whispered plan to go further afield to search for them.
Their time had finally come.
As swiftly as they could move, Naraku and his group left Kukoyoseki isle, prowling back into the mainland of Japan with a determined vindictiveness. They made their way to the borders of the eastern lands. Once there, they stood on the edge of one of the eastern lands many craggy mountains, their swollen army at their backs.
Naraku drew out the meido stone, he used it to open another portal into the underworld, bolstered by Tsumetai and Mikata's demonic power. The portal stirred and swirled darkly as Naraku held the meido stone aloft before him.
The dead and the demons below took a little while to arrive, not immediately realising that freedom was in their midst. Once they had sensed their liberation, all manner of dead, ghouls, spirits and demons began clamouring for the portal, making their way into the living and breathing side of Japan.
The souls of the dead travelled doggedly to their bodies - if they had been buried or died alone with no one to cremate them. These lucky dead merged their spirits back into their rotting bodies and rejoiced at returning to some kind of physical flesh may be decaying, they may have lost their eyes or a jaw, but they could claw their way through the soil and (more or less) stand and move.
Those souls that had been cremated by fire were not so fortunate, for they had no corporeal body to inhabit. These ghosts began to wander over japan morosely, startling and terrifying farmers working on their scraps of land. For in hell they would be judged and possibly torn asunder or punished. At least as wayward spirits, they would still be allowed to exist without fear of penalty.
Mingled in with the dead were the demons of the underworld. Death guards, bored of torturing souls and keen to sink their metal into real flesh. Insect demons with scythe-like arms crawled out of the portal. some of the huge poisonous snakes also began to emerge, blind serpents with skins as black as pitch.
Naraku patiently held open the portal on the mountainside that he stood on the edge of. They could feel the furious presence of the hell lord Enma, his foreboding aura pressing down on them, promising a punishment of unfathomable imagining for this heinous act.
But, as Naraku had insisted, Enma's retribution never arrived, for they were careful to ensure that they remained on the living side of the portal. Enma was bound to his hellish domain, no matter how forcefully he raged, he and he alone was not permitted to cross the threshold of the portal.
With the portal open, the creatures of the dead realm flooded over Japan like an evil wave. Naraku had deliberately pointed the portal west and south so that the mindless horde being released would creep that way.
Naraku waited until he could hear the distant screams and shrill cries of the local villagers of the area, carried to him on the cool afternoon breeze.
Hell had spread far enough.
With an almost casual air, Naraku consulted his dark mirror with his free hand, retrieved from beneath his baboon pelt.
In a village across from them, a fire began to burn until its flames raced across the land. The humans were trying to use fire against the dead creatures that had reached them. More screams wrenched at the air around them.
"Send our armies in. Spiders, northern and eastern demons alike. They will lead the dead to the west, I want those lands razed to the ground."
Hokai and Mikata bellowed the orders to the demons stationed on the mountain. The armies crept forth, a mass of gnashing teeth and fangs. The army was so vast it took some time for the mountain peaks to be emptied. Once the four were alone on the mountain's craggy face, Naraku turned to Tsumetai. The northern lord looked as majestic as ever, clad in his flaking white armour with his ice carved sword in his hand. His cerulean hair flowing over his steel grey eyes.
"Go now Tsumetai, finish your fight with Sesshomaru," Naraku checked his mirror again, "he is not far from here, on the edge of the western lands."
Tsumetai procrastinated, frowning. "Aren't you and Mikata coming with me?" he voice was strong, but there was a glimmer of apprehension in his eyes.
Naraku smirked at this hint of cowardice. "Mikata and I will join you in time, once you have injured and distracted Sesshomaru long enough for us to deal the final blow. Whilst you duel, Mikata and I will keep the portal open a little longer. I have my own special creature to summon, for Kikyo," Naraku said. Naraku turned and looked at Hokai, who was watching the exchange with eight unblinking eyes.
"Hokai, go and keep Inuyasha preoccupied, he must NOT enter the fray. Take whatever hell creatures and spiders you need for your attack."
Hokai's eyes were fixed on his brothers wrist, hidden from view inside his thick fur pelt. The spider looked for a moment like he was going to disobey, but the moment passed. "As you say brother," Hokai said. As swiftly as his eight legs could carry him, he scrambled down the rock face, after the thousands of creatures tearing a path west.
An icy blast of winter wind whipped Tsumetai into the sky above their heads.
"Tsumetai, remember to tell Sesshomaru that his world is falling around him. WE want him desperate and afraid for those that he cares about. Push him towards us, back to the east so we can ambush him," Naraku called, his dark waves of hair sprinkled with a light dusting of snow from Tsumetai's frozen power. Tsumetai nodded, then spiralled out of sight like a moving blizzard.
The mountain had been emptied but was not quiet. The humans shrieked from afar, unlucky to be caught by Naraku's terrifying army. The ground trembled with the tread of hundreds of demons and dead.
"What now?" said Mikata grumpily, clearly displeased at being left behind. She looked out at the monstrous army longingly. Naraku gave her an evil smile.
"Now we summon Gashadokuro," Naraku told her confidently, returning his mirror inside his pelt.
"Gashadokuro?" Mikata repeated excitedly, her emerald eyes wide.
Naraku stood before the twisting black portal, now streaked with hell fire, his hands outstretched. "I will need a power boost Mikata, to draw it forth."
Mikata stood beside Naraku, her own arm raised. She pushed a pulsing wave of demon energy into the portal.
"Come to me, Gashadokuro," Naraku snarled as the portal writhed fretfully.
A pile of the dead still clawing to get out had formed beneath the portal. They were climbing over each other savagely in their bid to join the living.
Then a crash sounded in the underworld like a dirge. They watched as the dead below them began to cower in alarm.
The Gashadokuro could be seen looming through the portal and could be heard ever easier. The vibrating sound of grinding bones echoed around them, in the underworld as well as the world of the living. As the Gashadokuro came into view, the dead began to scatter in its wake. The Gashadokuro was a fearsome demon, a collective mass of those that had died alone: bones of soldiers who had died in battle, those that had died of starvation from famine. In fact, any body and soul that had been left to rot in the darkness could become a small piece of the gruesome puzzle that was the Gashadokuro.
Countless skull fragments formed its monstrous head. Femurs and fibulas created it's horrifying hands, skeletal hands large enough and strong enough to squeeze a man to death. Pelvic bones functioned as knuckles and severed spines served as its collar bone.
The creature reached for the portal with a cry that was a thousand screams knotted into one blood curdling symphony. Even Naraku himself shuddered with horror at the sight of such a nightmarish figure.
The Gashadokuro forced its giant body through the portal, which tore and stretched with distress. Parts of the Gashadokuro's ever shifting bone body broke off as it emerged into the upper world, until the tough sour looking grass beneath Naraku's feet was littered with bones.
Naraku stood patiently as the monster heaved itself to its feet, on legs made by a mish-mash of many skeletons. When Naraku studied the indecipherable face, he saw that the Gashadokuro had deep pits of darkness in place of a pair of eyes. Pits as dark and deep as fear itself. Snapped off sternums made up a vague, jagged row of sickening teeth.
"Go, find and defeat the priestess called Kikyo. You will find her in or near the demon castle to the west. Stride quickly and lay that maiden low," Naraku barked commandingly, trying to side step the never ending fall of pieces of bone. The Gashadokuro gave another ear piercing, spine-rattling screech, before lumbering down the mountain, his many bones clacking loudly and ominously.
Mikata laughed gleefully as they watched the giant disappear, bones scattered like breadcrumbs in his wake.
"She'll never defeat such a monstrous beast, he'll swallow her whole and spit out her bones to add to his collection," Mikata said with a rapturous sigh, "it's a shame Sesshomaru will die so soon, I'd love for him to see that priestess ripped apart."
Naraku merely smiled. "Shall we?"
Mikata took Naraku's arm as he dissolved the shadowy portal of the underworld. The portal shuddered gratefully out of existence, cutting off the deathly groans of the dead too late in their efforts to be revived.
"Let's go and kill Sesshomaru," Mikata said delightedly. Mikata watched in surprise as Naraku's mirror became a looping gateway in itself. Unlike the meido's dark portal, the mirrors portal was akin to a blinding light, so bright it stung Mikata's eyes. Pleased and itching to shed blood, she stepped into the light.
Sesshomaru tried to comb the land he traversed in an effort to save time that he feared was running away from him. He was still intent on heading north, but felt it would be prudent to check areas as soon as he could. Not that he held out much hope that his enemies would be huddled somewhere along his borders.
It did not take long for the dog demon to realise something sinister was afoot.
The border to the western lands reeked of death and decay. Sesshomaru was familiar with the smell of death, with so many humans in his land dying from their own chaotic wars. Even Kaede, teetering on the edge of her long life, had smelt of death long before she died. But these scents of death were mild, buffeted aside by life, the churning of nature and other natural smells. What assaulted Sesshomaru now was a wall of putrid odour.
Has another human war broken out and now hundreds lay dead? No. For heavily laced in this cadaver stench was also the smell of demons.
And not any demons that he was used to dealing with.
Human screams of terror reached his ears. This unholy, unearthly threat was near the vicinity of the humans in his land.
'What is the meaning of this?' Sesshomaru asked himself. Frowning with concern, Sesshomaru descended lower from his perch in the sky, his silver hair highlighted by the feeble light of the sun.
There was wooded terrain below him and it was alive with malice and horror. Long dead and freshly killed bodies were shuffling through the trees, relentlessly pursuing the fleeing villagers that lived in the area. Men, shaking like leaves from fright, attempted to stave off the corpses and hell demons that surrounded them as the women and children ran.
The trees meant it was visually difficult to determine how many creatures roamed, but Sesshomaru's nose and ears revealed the truth: hundreds of other worldly creatures were amassed.
Wielding his poison whip, Sesshomaru landed lightly and began eviscerating the nearby undead that were stumbling around. Strange amber insects with knife-like appendages tried to rush him, skittering with impressive speed, but he darted away from them easily, twirling his acid green whip like a lasso. Within seconds disembodied insect parts were scattered at his feet.
His ears were working furiously, on constant high alert for new intel about his know chaotic surroundings. These hell creatures were pouring in from the eastern lands like an evil river. At this rate, his lands were be overrun by nightfall.
His heart gave a tremendous lurch of fright for Kikyo and Rin, just as a livid and enormous black snake lunged at him, fangs aimed at his face. Sesshomaru deftly used his claws to rip the snake to pieces until the serpent was reduced to shreds. The attack did nothing to stop the panic that was now permeating through his chest. The feeling lingered and grew.
He had sent Kikyo, Rin and Jaken to Inuyasha's just this morning. For all he knew, they could be out there making their way over the countryside, completely unaware and unprepared for the otherworldly army that would be slowly encompassing them.
Sesshomaru was confident Kikyo could handle herself, but against this seemingly endless swarm? Even her purification powers could be overwhelmed.
Sesshomaru jumped back into the air, ignoring the corpses that had emerged and started swiping at his ankles. He hoped the humans below would have the sense to drop everything and escape. To bravely fight at this point would be suicide. Once he was above the treeline he turned his face towards the direction of his castle. He must find Kikyo and the others and hole them up somewhere safe until this strange new threat was dealt with.
"We meet again, Sesshomaru," a cold voice said behind him.
Sesshomaru turned to glare at Tsumetai, who was encased in his swirling snow. Sesshomaru cursed his bad luck, how could he find Kikyo now?
"Tsumetai, you've finally crawled out from whatever rock you were hiding under," Sesshomaru taunted imperiously.
Tsumetai's lip quirked and his grip on his sword tightened. "Indeed I have. Well, I didn't want to miss the show," he said, flourishing his hand to indicate the screaming carnage of the dead clumped below them.
Sesshomaru huffed dismissively. "Are you trying to tell me you are behind this? You are a demon of ice and snow, you don't have the skill or the ability to control the dead this way."
Tsumetai's widening smile was ominous. His ice sword sparkled in the sun, lighting streaks of aqua marine in the demon's hair. "You are right, I can't. So I stole your mother's meido and went into hell myself to bring forth someone who can. An old friend of yours is back and he's been dying to see you," Tsumetai said with a triumphant laugh that turned into a drawn out cackle of mirth.
The panic that was wriggling in Sesshomaru's chest gave a painful squeeze. "What have you done?" Sesshomaru demanded with a deadly growl.
The amusement dropped from Tsumetai's face instantly and was replaced with contemptuous hatred. Tsumetai pointed his sword at Sesshomaru's chest threateningly. "I've done what was necessary. For far too long you have considered yourself as above the rest of us! The dead and the demons beneath us will have fully invaded your lands soon and all the creatures have been told to kill your little friends on sight."
Another grip of panic silently throttled Sesshomaru, wrapping around his shoulders and entwining around his neck until it was difficult to breathe.
"What?" Sesshomaru hissed, relieved that his lack of breath whistling through his teeth sounded like outrage and not fear.
A smile pinned itself back onto Tsumetai's mouth. "Yes, Sesshomaru. That priestess you are overfond of, the little girl…Even that toad. All of them will be killed tonight and you'll be too busy fighting me to be able to save them. Too bad all the humans riddling your lands will be slaughtered alongside them. How sad."
Sesshomaru's eyes were daggers of fury, he unsheathed Bakuseiga slowly and green sparks buzzed on the blade. The feud between him and this pathetic excuse for a lord had gone on long enough.
"Reckless fool. The one who will die tonight will be you."
Anticipating Sesshomaru's intention, Tsumetai immediately raised a thick ice barrier around him, until it looked like he was trapped in a snow globe.
Sesshomaru flung the full force of Bakuseiga at Tsumetai, the barrier smashed into a torrent of ice shards and a burst of fog. Tsumetai retaliated by throwing large ice boulders at the dog demon, each boulder forming at the tip of his sword until they were large enough to engulf a man. Sesshomaru darted and dived, his face not changing at all. As the last ice boulder was thrown, Sesshomaru surged forward faster than the eye could follow and appeared above Tsumetai, who let out a yell of surprise.
Sesshomaru brought down Bakuseiga in a flashing green blast, Tsumetai tried to evade the explosion but did not quite manage it. He was thrown downward, hurtling through the trees and smashing onto the ground. Dirt and debris flew into the air.
Tsumetai only had time to gasp in pain before Sesshomaru was upon him. If he could kill the northern lord quickly, he could find Kikyo. Worries of what was happening to her and Rin clawed at his mind.
"Your worthless life is over," Sesshomaru snarled, grabbing Tsumetai and throwing him back into the air like a kite in the rushing wind.
Tsumetai managed to get his ice shield up before the next wave of Bakeseiga could hit. His barrier predictably shattered, but he was able to recover himself, coughing. Tsumetai's glare was half hidden by his ruffled blue hair. "The dead can't be far away from that castle of yours. Will your friends cry out for you when the horde reaches them? You won't be there to rescue them," he yelled aggressively.
His words were enough. The panic knotting inside Sesshomaru flared at these words and Sesshomaru was for a moment overwhelmed with fear for those he loved. Tsumetai seized his chance- he aimed his sword at the dog demon, shooting diamond hard icicles at Sesshomaru. Knife-like cuts bit into Sesshomaru's skin, slicing his flesh. Almost instantly a frost began to form on each cut, holding each wound open. Sesshomaru bit back a grunt of pain.
"I have you now," Tsumetai seethed inaudibly.
Naraku and Mikata watched eagerly from the treeline, following every swing of the sword fight above them.
"He is ready Naraku, I can see the frosted cuts on the dog already. It's time to make our move! Once Sesshomaru is dead the rest will easily fall!" Mikata said, practically panting with excitement. She stood in front of Naraku, trying to get a better look through the tree branches. Corpses ambled around them slowly and listlessly.
Naraku's crimson eyes were dark in the shadows and his face was a mask of malevolence. He crept behind Mikata, until his breath made her red hair flutter. "You are right Mikata. It is time…To make my move," he said quietly behind her.
Mikata did not see the glint of the knife behind her. Did not even know the danger she was in before it was too late.
Naraku plunged the knife into her back, directly into her black, twisted heart.
Mikata gave a small "oh!" of surprise as blood spurted abruptly from her mouth. The demoness staggered forward and fell to the floor, clutching at her chest. An inch of the knife tip protruded out of her breast. Her scarlet kimono was already wet with the darker spreading stain of blood.
Mikata coughed, splattering more blood onto the dirt, trying to look behind her. For the first time ever, her emerald eyes were alive with fear.
"Why…Why would you do…this…you…you coward.." she rasped in disbelief. The demoness tried to heave herself up, but her arms buckled and she fell back down into the dry dirt rapidly becoming muddy as it mixed with her draining life blood. Naraku crouched beside her as she dragged in her final breaths, he looked at her with a half triumphant, half pitying expression.
"Your power is mine now. You see, whilst you were feasting and guzzling under Kukoyoseki isle. I carried out a clandestine coup to steal your demonic power, right under your very nose. The wine you and Tsumetai drank had drops of my blood in it. And when you were both inebriated I pricked the backs of your necks and placed your blood into my own cup. I'd already figured out the spell you used for the ritual, it was then a simple matter of chanting the words after our blood had been sufficiently exchanged. A simple spell, too simple to bind such power. You are both fools, you had no idea that I had bonded myself to you both, thus allowing me to seize your power."
Naraku stood and stretched his pale, white hand out towards Mikata, who quivered on the ground. She gave a cry as her natural demonic energy leeched out of her flesh and gravitated towards Naraku. Naraku shuddered slightly as the demonic essence of Mikata filled him.
"Now I can take your strength at will and leave you with nothing. Once I have drained you and Tsumetai completely, nothing will stand in my way of reaching her."
"No…this…cannot be…" Mikata croaked with dismay. Her eyes closed and she drew her final breath.
Sesshomaru launched another blast of Bakuseiga with a wince, one dagger-like icicle had ripped through his right bicep, creating a painful hole that he was unable to close. He also had several other cuts from Tsumetai's onslaught. Icicles had torn through his side, his shoulder, his cheek, his ankle and legs. Blood marked his clothing. The injuries were making him slow when he needed to be swift.
When he had last been hit with this particular attack, he had been forced to flee, Sesshomaru had no such options now. It was imperative that Tsumetai was defeated alongside his villainous allies, so Sesshomaru could search for Kikyo and dispel the deathly army currently ransacking his land. He would have to endure the pain and fight on. Kikyo could heal him later.
Tsumetai sidestepped Bakuseiga's power, the acid green surge of demonic energy flew past him, disintegrating the tops of the nearby trees.
Tsumetai flitted out of the way, but did not make any effort to counter Sesshomaru's assault. He seemed in his demeanour to be waiting for something. His grey eyes were darting about the place, looking over the dog demon's ruined shoulder, he peered at their feet and around the perimeter.
Suddenly, Tsumetai's eyes widened in something like shock and he clutched at his chest as if he were having a heart attack. Sesshomaru frowned at the northern lord in suspicious confusion, every muscle in his body taut in case Tsumetai's peculiar behaviour was a ruse.
Tsumetai dropped from the sky like a falling stone, hitting the earth with a thud, Sesshomaru flew over and above him warily.
Another demons aura was perceptible. Sesshomaru was always semi-conscious of Tsumetai's demonic aura, which had up to this point been full to the brim. Now, as he had plummeted to the ground, his demonic energy had by some force been siphoned away, sapped from his body ruthlessly.
Sesshomaru stared down at Tsumetai with merciless eyes. He had expected that Mikata would be somewhere nearby, hidden and safe, watching their fight from afar. Had Mikata caused this rapid drop in her lover's demonic energy by taking it for herself? Perhaps she had decided their fight was going badly and pulled the plug? She was vile enough to do something so callous. But so far, because of Sesshomaru's extensive cuts, Tsumetai essentially had the upper hand…
Tsumetai looked as confused as Sesshomaru felt. The northern demon lay unmoving on the forest floor.
"What's happening to me…" Tsumetai said to no one in particular.
Sesshomaru smirked down at the demon at his feet, hovering above him lazily. He sensed that Tsumetai was an empty shell, now he did not have enough power to defeat the weakest kitsune. Tsumetai's power had been wholly taken from him.
"You are finished Tsumetai, your power has waned. Perhaps Mikata has realised your ambitions to defeat me were useless and she has fled?"
Tsumetai's face contorted with pain. "Mikata is dead, I can feel it. She must have been murdered by that deathless spider…Who else could have taken her from me. We should never have brought that bastard back to life, should never have brought him back into the word," Tsumetai said bitterly, still slumped in a heap. His already pale skin was devoid of all colour. He seemed unable or unwilling to move.
Sesshomaru was not stirred with any form of pity. He closed in on Tsumetai and pushed the tip of Bakuseiga to his throat. A small bead of blood formed.
"Tell me who you have resurrected from the underworld and I will be merciful and kill you quickly," Sesshomaru offered. He longed to get rid of this fool quickly, but he was becoming more and more apprehensive about this mysterious, double crossing ally Tsumetai had unleashed. He had to find who or what it was. Too many ominous phrases were being bandied about..deathless spider…"an old friend"...Hokai telling Kikyo he is Naraku's brother…And this fall of Tsumetai, betrayed and left helpless.
He knew the answer he dreaded, but it was unthinkable.
Tsumetai had a look of absolute misery. "The demon Naraku…We stole your mothers meido and unleashed him," Tsumetai admitted in a cracked voice.
Sesshomaru's world internally crashed at this news, though on the outside he looked as calm as ever. It could not be true, such a calamity could not be allowed to happen. Naraku had been a scourge upon Japan, it would be devastating if he had found a way to drag himself back into their lives.
"You are lying," Sesshomaru snapped angrily, ignoring the increasing white noise of panic in his head. He pushed his sword deeper into Tsumetai's neck, until a large tear of crimson dribbled down the northern lord's throat.
Tsumetai looked up at Sesshomaru with hatred, but a manic smile was also planted firmly on his lips. "At least I can die knowing your love, that priestess, will die. Naraku had a special plan in place for her. I hope she suffers, because then you will suffer as well!" Tsumetai shrieked and he spat on the ground at Sesshomaru's feet.
Overwhelmed with fury and worry, Sesshomaru struck out with his sword, severing Tsumetai's head from his shoulders. The northern lords now mutilated body did not fall to the floor, in death his body froze and turned white. His body scattered slowly like a flurry of snowflakes that melted into nothing.
Sesshomaru stared at the puddle that used to be his nemesis. How strange it was that someone who had been so pivotal in his life, so consuming, could disappear so quickly forever.
Sesshomaru ran an anxious hand through his silver hair. If Tsumetai was telling the truth, if Naraku was back, they were all in very serious danger. In his last moments, Tsumetai had wanted to savour Sesshomaru's worry and fear, knowing the lord of the western lands would kill him.
' I must find Kikyo and Rin, make sure they are safe. Tsumetai said Mikata had been slain, killed by Naraku. Is this true, has another threat been eliminated?'
Sesshomaru surveyed the surrounding area until he caught the scent of Mikata's blood. Sesshomaru made his way through the trees, towards the coppery smell, killing some undead and death guards that got in his way. The ghoulish army were spread thin now and were probably creating havoc in every corner.
Sesshomaru nearly trod on Mikata's body as he killed every unearthly creature in sight. The demoness was lying face down in a pool of her own blood, a knife in her back. The vile scent attached to the knife confirmed his worst nightmare. Naraku had indeed returned and he had murdered the lady of the eastern lands, whose body was also lacking any residue of demonic power. Sesshomaru got closer to the cadaver of what used to be Mikata. The blood drenching her was not yet dry, which meant she had been killed fairly recently.
Naraku turning on the ones that had revived him was a believable narrative, but Sesshomaru was unsure of what Naraku would gain from this. Could it be to do with the drained power from both Mikata and Tsumetai? Naraku was a demon that craved power and dominance, Sesshomaru could not imagine Naraku playing well with others. Naraku was also adept at stealing power that was not his.
Sesshomaru gazed at Mikata's lifeless form, thinking hard. It was crucial that he understood Naraku's motives…
Judging by Mikata's discarded body, Naraku had killed her and maybe somehow drained her power as well as Tsumetais. Someone or something was definitely leeching Tsumetai's life force whilst they were fighting. He knew Tsumetai and Mikata had been controversial in the way they had merged their power, perhaps Naraku had found a way to compromise or exploit this.
Naraku's foul scent was permeating the grove that Mikata''s body lay in, but the scent ended here and did not trail into the surrounding areas, making him impossible to follow. However Naraku had got away, he had used magic to do so.
Sesshomaru had no leads to follow. He rather guiltily hoped that Naraku would fix his attention to his half brother Inuyasha…but this did not seem to be what Tsumetai was expecting him to do. Tsumetai had said that Naraku had a 'special' plan for Kikyo, not Inuyasha.
Not only that, Sesshomaru remembered that on mount Hakurei, Naraku had gone out of his way to find and injure Kikyo. Sesshoamru had been nearby at the time and Inuyasha had raged at him in grief, accusing Sesshomaru of letting Kikyo be attacked without intervening.
It was clear that Kikyo was likely to be the first target that Naraku tried to ambush. She needed Sesshomaru's protection now more than ever.
As Naraku's stench was elusive, he would find Kikyo's scent. Sesshomaru feared that time was not his ally, he had spent far too long battling Tsumetai. If time had run away from him, would Kikyo pay the price?
"Kikyo…" Sesshomaru breathed uneasily as he sprang into the air, racing towards the castle like the devil was at his heels.