Sesshomaru raced through the western lands, ignoring the mayhem below him. His fury was rising with each passing moment. How dare these meddling cretins do this. He was savagely pleased that Tsumetai and Mikata were dead, they had brought their demise upon themselves.
Once he was reassured that Kikyo and Rin were safe, he would slay every filthy walking corpse on his territory, and every single one of them would be sent back to hell where they belonged. Then it would be Naraku's and Hokai's turn.
The dog demon had picked up Kikyo and Rin's scent on a hill top near Inuyasha's village. Sesshomaru flew towards it, his golden eyes searching. Once he was close enough to see, it was clear there was no one there anymore.
Sesshomaru landed roughly, carving a path through the dirt with his black boots.
The soil beneath him gave some indication of what had happened, some sort of tussle had occurred. Parts of bones were strewn on the ground. He could smell the sharp sting of Kikyo's purification magic. And Naraku... It was very faint, but he had been there on the hilltop.
A feeling of trepidation pressed down on Sesshomaru. Naraku's scent, and Kikyo's, ended abruptly on the hill.
Fighting the mounting panic clawing within him, Sesshomaru sifted through each smell demanding his attention. He had to find Rin. Rin's scent, spiked heavily with her fear, was more prevalent. Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un's scents sped away from the hill and down into Inuyasha's village.
Sesshomaru rose into the air and immediately headed for Inuyasha's village. So many odours there clamoured for his notice. Burning wood, the stench of demons and the coppery fragrance of blood.
Sesshomaru kept his eyes peeled as he descended, looking for those he cared about, anyone that he recognised.
The village was in a calamitous state. Huts were smouldering or on fire, some had broken down into a mess of wooden planks. Many puddles of blood soaked the ground. Throngs of injured humans hopped or dragged themselves over to their dead loved ones. All around the village the land was scarred with the unmistakable signs of the Tetsuseiga.
Some demons were still running amok as Sesshomaru reached the ground. Spider demons skittered, northern and eastern demons advanced on the helpless, wailing humans around them. Sesshomaru went after the demons with an unbridled brutality, born from his dissatisfaction at Tsumetai's cold, clean and unfulfilling death. Sesshomaru ripped through abdomens and snapped necks with his bare hands.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" a teenager screamed behind him. Sesshomaru turned to watch Rin and Jaken navigating their way through the ruined huts and bodies, trying to reach him.
Sesshomaru gave a small grunt of relief at the sight of them, some of the tension plaguing him was released.
'Rin is safe. I just need Kikyo now,' Sesshomaru told himself. 'Perhaps Inuyasha has already found and defeated Naraku, he would have caught his foul scent. Kikyo is fine…She must be fine.'
Rin hugged Sesshomaru's chest and Jaken launched himself at Sesshomaru's shins.
"Hey, Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha was running towards him through the smoke, the monk Miroku bringing up the rear. Sesshomaru placed a protective hand on Rin's head as he watched Inuyasha and the monk pelt closer. "You are safe now, Rin," he said, trying to sound reassuring. Rin gave a moan of misery in reply, a sound of true hopelessness.
What demons remained scattered at the sight of the two brothers.
Miroku had a claw mark on his neck and Inuyasha had a nasty gash across his cheek. But they otherwise looked unharmed.
"Finally, we could have used your help earlier, you know," Inuyasha grumbled. He looked exhausted, they both did. Tetsuseiga was sheathed, but Inuyasha kept a wary hand on the hilt.
Blood stained the front of Miroku's blue robes. "These demons attacked us unexpectedly. They've killed so many of the villagers, I'm not sure whose left," Miroku explained wearily, his golden staff dangling in his hand.
"Where is Kikyo?" Sesshomaru interrupted harshly. She was his most pressing concern, not the villagers.
Miroku gave Sesshomaru a fleeting look of annoyance. "We told the women and children to flee from the village, not that it's much safer outside. There are demons and active dead corpses everywhere. Sango is with them, maybe Kikyo joined the women as well. We could use Kikyo's spiritual powers to protect those that ran, especially with Kagome pregnant."
The villagers, no longer hounded relentlessly by demons, began to slowly move those unable to walk to the surrounding woods. Inuyasha squared his shoulders. "We need to find them. Come on, let's go!"
The men went to move off, but Rin tugged at Sesshomaru's yellow obi in distress. "Kikyo's not with them! She-she's been taken!" Rin cried.
Sesshomaru's heart nearly stopped at Rin's words. He wondered how much more dread he could stand.
"What do you mean, taken?" Sesshomaru asked with disquiet.
"Mi'lord, she was abducted by Naraku!" Jaken answered in a quivering voice, still clutching his master's calves.
Inuyasha and Miroku looked at the toad in horror, like he had uttered a forbidden swear word.
Miroku shook his head in disbelief. "That is not plausible. Do you mean a demon that maybe…resembled Naraku?"
"No I do not! It was him, I tell you!" Jaken yelled at the monk.
"She left with Naraku to protect us. He th-threatened us with a demon- a demon made of bones," Rin said at once, still clutching at Sesshomaru's sash.
"We couldn't stop him. We tried to fight, all of us. Naraku told Kikyo he would let us live if she agreed to go with him, so she went. There was nothing we could do!" Jaken explained, looking guilt-ridden. His bulbous eyes watched Sesshomaru fearfully.
Miroku and Inuyasha glanced at each other, looking unconvinced. A sharp silence permeated the air, interrupted only by the spitting fires and the cries of the villagers around them.
"There must be some explanation," Miroku said rationally, still disbelieving his ears.
Sesshomaru felt like he was being torn into a thousand pieces. "It is true. Hokai resurrected Naraku, Tsumetai told me himself before I executed him. Naraku is alive and he has snatched Kikyo. We must find her, now."
Inuyasha and Miroku digested this world breaking truth with astonishment. Sesshomaru gave them a moment, so he could come to terms with the awful truth that lay before them all.
Sesshomaru had failed Kikyo. Why did he leave her? Why had he been so bent on revenge, and not thought more about her safety? He must find her at all costs. If he had to kill every demon in Japan to reach her he would willingly do so. Sesshomaru clenched his fists so tight his own claws cut into the skin of his palms. Now that Naraku had Kikyo, what would he do to her?
If Kikyo was not safe, no one else in Japan would be.
Sesshomaru turned to Miroku. "Monk, go back to your women. Take Rin and Jaken with you. Ah-Un can protect you if the threat becomes too great. Inuyasha- We will find this bone demon," Sesshomaru barked commandingly.
"You should know my name is Miroku by now," the monk complained. Sesshomaru ignored him.
"But-Kagome…I should-" Inuyasha began uncertainly, looking torn.
"Now!" Sesshomaru hissed dangerously. His demonic energy rising with his impatience.
"I…ok," Inyuasha agreed, looking at his brother apprehensively.
"Do not slow me down little brother, or you'll regret it," Sesshomaru seethed. The demon lord threw himself into the air with a rush of reckless wind. He was flying away within seconds.
"Alright! Jeez Sesshomaru," Inuyasha said, launching himself after his brother.
Above them, a cold rain started to fall.
And so the search began to find the lost priestess.
Sesshomaru and Inuyasha immediately began tracking the Gashadokuro across the countryside. It was not a creature that was hard to spot, it had torn a path of depredation in its wake.
When they caught up to it, the monster had slaughtered several humans. The monster was lifting limp corpses to its gargantuan mouth and swallowing them whole.
Sesshomaru lunged at the bone demon without hesitation, drawing Bakuseiga.
"Where is Kikyo?" he demanded with a bellow, his demonic energy exploding with fury. The Gashadokuro turned with a creaking sound, gnashing its borrowed makeshift bones for teeth and shrieking. "Tell me where she is and perhaps I'll let you keep your miserable life for a while longer."
But threatening and warning the Gashadokuro made no difference. It screamed and screeched like nails being dragged against a chalkboard, but no coherent sounds or words could be heard. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha deduced eventually that this demon could not talk, it was hardly more than a mindless fiend, existing only to kill, eat and regurgitate more bones.
Beyond enraged, Sesshomaru annihilated the Gashadokuro by raining down endless blows from his Bakuseiga, until the sky above was bursting with electric green light. The Gashadokuro's many bones crumbled under the blasts from Sesshomaru's sword. It tried to vomit up more skeletons to protect itself, but those bones, always connected to it, were destroyed as well. The bone demon was obliterated under the demon lord's assault, until only residue bone dust remained.
The lumbering bone demon had been their only lead, and it had been useless.
Inuyasha watched his brother's display of uncontrolled wrath with concern. "What now?"
"We keep looking until we catch her scent," Sesshomaru snapped impatiently.
They continued to search fruitlessly. The Gashadokuro had been a frustrating and worrying dead end. Naraku's scent was nowhere to be found, neither was Kikyos. They searched high and low, questioning and then killing every hell demon and walking corpse they came across. But the dead and death guards had no answers for them. The dead could not talk and the death guards had been unleashed unexpectedly, needles of violence in a haystack of chaos.
Inuyasha did not dare ask his brother where they were headed, if there was any location at all in his mind. Sesshomaru's stoic mask was plastered firmly on his face, but even Inuyasha could sense his brother's increasing desperation as time ticked by.
They jumped over mountains and sprinted through valleys as the sun set, until a cool evening breeze began to chill their skin. They searched until it was a deep night and a pale, woebegone moon watched their steps.
Inuyasha bent over with weariness. He had spent the day defending his home against hordes of evil. Now Sesshomaru's punishing pace was pushing him past his limits. Inuyasha desperately needed rest, and he needed to check on his pregnant wife Kagome. He stopped on the mountain ridge they were searching, staring at his brother's shadow with anxiety.
"Sesshomaru, it's the middle of the night. I need to get back to Kagome, make sure she's OK."
Sesshomaru did not even bother to look back. "No. We will continue searching for Kikyo. I will find her. I will find Naraku and kill him with my own two hands," Sesshomaru said viciously. He was unstoppable, fuelled by the tempest of his rage, because if he did not have that, he had nothing.
Inuyasha stood his ground. "I'll come back and help you at first light OK?"
Sesshomaru rounded on Inuyasha like a rabid dog, whipping his younger brother's face with his mane of silver hair. "How quickly you forget about one you used to care about. You disgust me," Sesshomaru spat at his brother, his pink eyes a shade off of red.
Inuyasha winced at Sesshomaru's aggression. The half demon looked into his brothers strainingly expressionless face. Sesshomaru was fighting hard to look impassive, but his flickering cerise coloured eyes were filled with agony. Agony too strong to be for someone he was just 'allies' with.
Kikyo had told Inuyasha that she was working with Sesshomaru and was the occasional caretaker of Rin. But judging by the torment plastered over Sesshomaru's face, that was either a lie, or their feelings for each other had rapidly changed. Inuyasha had to know the truth.
"Are you in love with Kikyo? The way you're acting…I know she's in danger and I know we've got to find her…But it's like..you've gone…" Inuyasha could not tell Sesshomaru he was acting like a frenzied madman, Sesshomaru would kill him if he said that.
Sesshomaru gave Inuyasha a hard, closed off glare. "My feelings for Kikyo are not your concern. I will destroy every demon settlement if I have to. Every repulsive spider will be slain until I find one that can lead me to her. Either help me or get out of my sight!" Sesshomaru growled with such deadly ferocity Inuyasha smartly took a step back, away from his brother.
"You need to calm down! We'll find her, I know we will. But we can't search every day and every night without resting. We need to go back for now, maybe we can ask Sango and Miroku for help," Inuyasha said, trying to reason with his irate brother.
Finally pushed past his limit of patience, Sesshomaru's clawed hand shot out and closed around Inuyasha's neck. Inuyasha struggled, "get off me!" he said gruffly, trying in vain to loosen his brother's vice-like grip. Sesshomaru's gaze was wild, his vertical pupils so large that hardly any gold remained.
"Tell me Inuyasha, why is Naraku so interested in Kikyo? Why was his target not you, or Kagome?"
Sesshomaru relaxed his grip enough to allow Inuyasha enough air to converse.
"I…He has always been interested in her. She's the reason he wanted the shikon jewel…Kikyo said that he cared for her…That he wanted her heart," Inuyasha puffed, his hands scrabbling on the back of Sesshomaru's, trying to prise the demons lords fingers up.
Sesshomaru's punishing fingers gave Inuyasha's windpipe a token crush, before he shoved his brother away. Inuyasha fell in a heap, massaging his neck. Sesshomaru towered over Inuyasha. In the shadows of the night, Sesshomaru's eyes held a sinister, reflective yellow light. "Each second of each minute that goes by is a moment too long. We don't know what Naraku will do to her."
Inuyasha looked like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over him. "You mean…You'll think he'll…torture her?" Inuyasha asked with horrified eyes.
Sesshomaru closed his own furious eyes for a moment, overwhelmed by the hell his reality had become. Not knowing what was happening to her provided its own unique suffering."Or worse. If you get in my way, Inuyasha, I'll kill you. I won't lose her to Naraku," Sesshomaru said grimly.
Inuyasha hung his head, the enormity of what Sesshomaru was saying hitting him like a bolt of lightning. Inuyasha buried his face in his hands. Sesshomaru looked away from his brother's pain. How could things have gone so wrong?
"Just give me a few hours, Sesshomaru. Rin will be with the others, I'll check that they are all safe." Without waiting for permission, and likely keen to get away from Sesshomaru's violent presence, Inuyasha took off, a flash of crimson quickly swallowed by the dark.
Sesshomaru watched his brother's silhouette disappear, feeling wretched. Kikyo had been kidnapped hours ago. What was she going through? What was Naraku doing to her? The urge to shed a tear, to collapse onto the ground in despair pushed on him. He fought the feeling ruthlessly. Tears and sadness were useless, they achieved nothing.
Alone, Sesshomaru continued his search, questing for any faint scent of his lover or her kidnapper. He prowled around the mountains in the east, navigating the steep peaks and jutting boulders. A river sliced through the mountain he was investigating, he searched its watery depths as if expecting to see Kikyo floating there.
In the distance, his keen eyes could see the dark shape of some bowed, weather-beaten willow trees, their gentle leaves swaying peacefully. The willows reminded him of his first kiss with Kikyo, how she had softly approached him and placed her lips against his own. How she had delicately forced him to acknowledge his strong feelings for her. They had only just settled into their happy life together and now she was gone.
Sesshomaru grasped the mountain wall, the dire situation eating away at him. He had never fully appreciated how precious Kikyo was to him, until she was lost and unreachable.
'Where are you? Where have you gone?' he screamed internally. At breaking point, Sesshomaru lashed out at the grey mountain wall, lunging his fists into the rock again and again until the mountain face shook and groaned. A desolate crater was left in the wake of Sesshomaru's distress.
Writers note: Thank you for reading and for reviewing! Akashi- I agree Naraku has strong, obsessive feelings for Kikyo, and now she is in his clutches!