InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubaki's Revenge ❯ Killing Spells ( Chapter 31 )

Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

 

Tsubaki's Revenge, Part XXXI: Killing Spells

 

 

Tsubaki watched the dog and the girl, hiding her chagrin. She had put too much power into that spell to throw Kikyo's terrified sister into the inner circle, and had had to rapidly gather the power for a second spell, it not being her intention of directly harming the girl, no matter how much a nuisance she was. But she not expected the transformed hanyo to leap upwards in an obvious attempt to save the girl. She hadn't thought about his normal leaping ability when she created the barrier, and so it was only a fence, not a dome. With faint, grudging admiration, she had watched the apex of his jump perfectly coincide with the girl's falling body. The girl grabbed, and Tsubaki felt the flare of the hanyo's youki as he descended a bit more slowly than he should have.

 

He paid for his gallantry, of course, as three injured limbs slammed into the ground. He collapsed, barely managing to get his weight off the girl's pinned leg. His aura seemed to crumple in on itself as he lowered his head from his last effort to respond to the girl's thanks, leaving only a sense of utter exhaustion.

 

But his actions had reminded the villagers of what they felt they owed him, she saw, as she shifted her attention back to the villagers. The old headman was walking towards the inner circle, and the others, with some hesitation, were following. Stepping over the rope, he knelt by the hanyo, placing one hand on the white-clad shoulders. “Thank-you for saving Kaede, Inuyasha-dono. You are under our protection.”

 

Tsubaki made herself laugh. “Fool of a headman. You really intend to try and protect a hanyo? A thing that will not hesitate to destroy your village, if you get in the way of what it wants?”

 

The old man stood up and moved to put himself between her and the hanyo. Showing more courage than she would have expected from a simple farmer, he met her eyes. “Please take your spells off Inuyasha, miko-sama, and leave him and us in peace. You are not wanted here.”

 

She smirked. “Oh, but what of my duty to protect poor simpletons such as yourself from monsters like that demon dog? Do you really think you're safe with a hanyo around?”

 

“Inuyasha will not harm us.”

 

So naïve. So foolish. “You are a fool, headman,” she said scornfully. Raising the half-quartz, half-obsidian knife, she felt the two powers spiraling about each other. Smiling thinly, looking past the knife to the stupid old man standing before her, she reached mentally for the dark collar about the hanyo's neck. White dog.

 

Kill.

 

 

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

Kaede fell back as Inuyasha lunged to his feet, snarling. Startled, she stared at him. His lips were drawn back, revealing the fangs and jagged teeth of a dog. His ears were flattened, and his head was below his shoulders, giving her a clear view of the fur rising along his backbone. She also got a sense of something around his neck glowing, though there was nothing visible.

 

She rolled to her knees and hesitantly extended a hand. “Inuyasha. What's wrong?”

 

There was a short chuckle from outside the circle. “What's wrong, little girl, is that your tame hanyo is starting to show its real nature. Unless you soft-headed villagers start acting, he's going to kill everyone inside the small circle. And if he gets angry enough, he'll break through that circle and kill everyone standing around who thinks he's such a nice, harmless puppy. Except myself, of course. I know better than to trust a monster.”

 

The transformed hanyo gave a strangled howl. Whipping his head from side to side, he backed away, snarling, using his broken hind leg as if he could not feel pain.

 

“Inuyasha?” Out of the corner of her eye, Kaede saw Korana start to walk towards the hanyo. Without thinking, she lashed out and grabbed the smaller girl's arm. The girl let out a yelp, and Inuyasha sprang forward, jaws opening. For a frozen instant, Kaede thought, horrified, that he was going to attack Korana. But he whipped his head aside at the last moment with another howl, and managed to twist aside enough to avoid hitting the girls head on. Both of them tumbled to the ground. Kaede managed to pull Korana to her and muffle her next shriek with her hand over her mouth.

 

“Be still,” she whispered in the girl's ear, as shouts from the villagers rose. “He's under a spell. He's fighting it. Help him. Don't move. Be still.”

 

She felt the girl give a tiny whimper and a nod. Yasuo's voice rolled over her head, quiet, yet firm. “Everyone stand still and be quiet. He doesn't want to attack.”

 

Tsubaki's laugh was a sneer. “You really think standing still is going to save you?” she asked. “Does standing still before a rabid wolf keep it from attacking?”

 

“Inuyasha is not a rabid wolf,” Yasuo's quiet, even tones replied. “The only monster standing in this meadow is you.”

 

There was a moment of silence. Still holding Korana, Kaede slowly moved her head. She spotted Inuyasha standing spraddle-legged, every muscle clearly tensed, and his eyes tightly closed, his jaws clenched shut, but lips still drawn back in the continuous snarl. The sense of an invisible collar of power was growing. Kaede tried to keep her own fear down, knowing Inuyasha would sense it. Inuyasha wouldn't hurt them, she told herself. He would fight off the spell. And her sister would get free and stop Tsubaki. She knew it. It had to be that way.

 

“Because I seek power, I am a monster? How ridiculous,” scoffed Tsubaki. “A pity you can't see the real monster—I wonder how many people he's going to kill, because you told your villagers not to move?”

 

Kaede felt the invisible collar pulse. Inuyasha jerked, and then his eyes snapped open, flickering between gold and red. Despite herself, the girl felt a spike of fear. His head snapped around and pointed at her. He took one step forward, head lowering slightly.

 

Then another.

 

A third.

 

Inuyasha would stop himself, he would! She told herself. Her sister would stop Tsubaki, break the spell, release Inuyasha. Surely she would! Kikyo was just waiting for the right moment, she had to be! The ropes were cut through enough that she could break free, and Tsubaki had left the bow and arrows within reach and she just knew Kikyo would save everything, she would! She was Kikyo, she was strongest priestess in the whole wide world and she would never let anything happen to her little sister—!

 

 

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

The spells Tsubaki was using were obvious even to Kikyo's aching senses. So was the flare of rage in Inuyasha's aura. Realizing that she had to act now, Kikyo clenched her hands and pulled against the rope with all her strength. Wrists and arms howled with the effort, and then the last strands of rope snapped. The bow was snatched in one quick movement, and she bit back a grunt as she stretched against the remaining ropes to reach the tip of the glowing arrow. With no time to try and free herself sufficiently to take her normal stance, the archer aimed as best she could at the dark priestess. Tsubaki was close enough that she didn't need the range of a fully-drawn bow. Kikyo aimed for a death shot, refusing to acknowledge in her mind that she was aiming at a human being, knowing that Tsubaki's life—or most the village—might lie in that one shot. She drew as far as she could—

 

The bow shattered. Kikyo flinched as pieces of wood snapped backwards, several splinters striking her face, one barely missing her eyes. Laughing, Tsubaki glanced over her shoulder. “You didn't think I'd take precautions against you getting loose? A bow is such a fragile weapon, don't you think?”

 

Kikyo realized that she still had hold of the arrow, as the dark priestess turned back to the four inside the smaller spell circle. The aura around the arrow flickered, and her headache was suddenly easing, and her thoughts clearing. She sensed the increasing strength behind Tsubaki's spell, the rage imposed on Inuyasha, and feel her sister's increasing panic. Her mind cast about frantically, searching for anything she could do to prevent the murders Tsubaki clearly meant to force Inuyasha to commit. She had to stop her, but how? She had nothing that could work at this distance, she probably couldn't escape the ropes quickly enough to avoid being noticed and stopped by the dark priestess, and there were two barriers to get through—

 

Inuyasha had jumped above the level of the first barrier. Kikyo narrowed her eyes and focused on the second barrier of cord and papers, and saw that it, too, was a `fence', not a dome. Grabbing the arrow with both hands, she closed her eyes, reciting the spell she had used only once since her training. She focused her thoughts on a certain face, not the snarling dog face threatening her sister, but the warm-eyed, white-framed face of the young man who had kissed her, who had promised to give up everything for her—

 

Inuyasha! Jump! Come to me! Come to me, now!

 

* * * * *

 

Inuyasha was fighting for his life and his sanity, and he knew he was losing. The collar about his neck was sending wave after wave of pure rage and desire to kill through his mind. His youkai blood was howling to feed on that fear less than a length from him, and it was taking every bit of his will to keep from leaping on that helpless, tender, and scared pair of bodies.

 

“Keep fighting, Inuyasha-dono. We know you do not want to harm us.”

 

He distantly heard those words against the crackle of fire in his mind, vaguely sensing that the human male had moved to place himself in front of the girls. He wanted to open his mouth and yell at them to get away, he wanted to turn and fling himself at the source of his torment. But all he could do was fight to keep his legs from moving, from bending into a crouch. All he could do was to keep his front claws driven into the dirt, flexing his hands, trying to feel the pain that should be there, wanting desperately something to counteract the ever-growing rage. He did not want to kill! He refused to kill!

 

But the rage had already blinded him, shrouded the pain, was closing down his hearing and strangling his will. Rage, anger, hate! Kill! Kill everything, everyone, no one deserved pity, no one! But he mustn't—he couldn't—

 

Inuyasha! Something made of ice and light slashed through the tightening stranglehold, trailing a familiar voice. Jump! Come to me! Come to me, now!

 

Kikyo! Inuyasha felt his body take a gasp of air, and could, if only in that moment, see through his eyes, and hear through his ears, and smell through his nose. He remembered his jump to save Kaede, and could sense the fence-like barrier around him. He could smell Kikyo, knew where she was, if there was anyone, anything that could stop the madness, it was her.

 

He snapped his claws free of the soil and leapt, his good hind leg driving him forward as well as up. He brushed the barrier with his bad leg, and yelped as pain flashed up that leg. The collar pulsed, and his senses fogged out again. He landed, tumbled, and staggered back to his feet. The rage tried to turn him back, but he gathered himself and leapt in the direction he knew Kikyo was. He landed, and the growing power clawed at his mind, shredding his thoughts. He screamed, shuddered, set himself and leap again. He barely could feel his feet enough to know when he landed. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He didn't care. He knew where he had to go. He had to get to Kikyo. He had to get to her. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.

 

He leapt.

 

* * * * *

 

What?!  Without warning, the dog half-demon leapt, not at the trapped man and children, but hurtling over their heads, skimming the barrier with no more than a yelp. Tsubaki whirled, her spell sending another pulse of gathered youki into the collar. The hanyo landed badly, rolled over, and staggered to his feet. Looking beyond him, Tsubaki saw Kikyo standing with both hands on the glowing arrow, her eyes closed. So she was trying to draw the hanyo to her, hoping to break the spells over him, was she? No, you don't, she thought, raising the knife to hold it between both hands. She concentrated on the spells in the collar, sending more of the gathered youki into the spells. She heard the hanyo scream, but any smile was stillborn as she watched him take another leap towards his destination. And another. His legs buckled on landing. Turn around, white dog. Turn around.

 

He struggled back to his feet. What did it take to stop him? Tsubaki wondered, remembering his last attempt to escape. Why wouldn't he give up? Why wouldn't he stay broken?

 

Abruptly, Tsubaki changed her mind and released the rage spell. The hanyo plowed the ground with his nose, stumbled to his feet, stood stock still for about two heartbeats, then launched himself at a limping run directly towards Kikyo. Eyes narrowed, Tsubaki waited her moment. She had wanted Kikyo to watch while the hanyo slaughtered the village, but if launching him against the miko was the only way to shatter his mind, then so be it. She would have the hanyo's full power, and only his own rage had seemed to weaken the seal on that power. She would have that power, and nothing would stop her—

 

So intent was she on watching the running hanyo and preparing to recast the spell, she didn't notice the dark brown youkai diving down from the sky. She didn't hear the shout. 

 

But she did see—far too late to do anything about them—the blazing sutras arrowing down from the sky, wrapping themselves around the hanyo. In mid-leap, he shrieked and crashed to the ground, writhing as the shape spell on him shattered.  Tsubaki flinched and mentally swore as the backlash slapped against her shields, and then stared as she saw the youkai descending towards the meadow. It was dark brown, looking somewhat like a furry, very short and fat worm, with bright green eyes, and black stripes circling its tail.  She tensed, raising her knife as the youkai appeared to be descending in a straight line towards her, as if it intended to bowl her over. But a few lengths away and half her height above the ground, it came to an abrupt halt. A loud pop smacked the air, and the youkai disappeared. Two figures dropped to the grass—two recognizable figures. One was a certain, bald-headed monk, his right hand filled with a set of sutras. But it was the other that Tsubaki stared at, in utter shock.

 

"Yukuuku! What are you doing here!"