Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Fifteen: The Impending End ( Chapter 15 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Fifteen: The Impending End

 

Kurama could not help feel guilty about the current situation. He had known all along that Hiei had no true chance at defeating Naraku on his own, though he had hoped his unparalleled speed would allow him to last long enough to safely move to the sidelines when help had arrived. Unfortunately, Kurama had underestimated the time it would take to catch up to Hiei, and it had been a mistake that had put both Hiei and Sango in mortal peril, leaving them trapped under a pile of rubble. This proved doubly detrimental, as without Sango in the fight, Naraku would be more likely to pick off Miroku, who had lost most of his usual agility due to his ankle injury.

 

Indeed, in the short while that Kurama, Miroku and Kirara had been fighting Naraku, Kurama had been forced to save Miroku from a potentially fatal blow several times with his whip, though he had not spared the monk completely from injury. In fact, Miroku was looking quite weary and battered, as was Kirara, and Kurama knew that this all stemmed from him not urging the group to Naraku's castle fast enough. The situation would have Kurama overwhelmed with guilt if it weren't for the fact that he still knew that they would win in the end. Of this, he was absolutely certain.

 

“Miroku, if you become too injured or tired to continue effectively, then you should retreat to safety,” advised Kurama calmly as he unleashed his whip upon another wave of tentacles. “I will be able to hold out on my own until the others arrive.”

 

“I can manage,” Miroku replied, though his tone lacked the confidence of his words as he dodged and parried Naraku's attacks with visible effort. “I have a far greater reason for seeing Naraku dead than you do.”

 

Unfortunately, Miroku was forced to concentrate on simply avoiding and countering Naraku's strikes so much that he failed to realize that he was slowly getting farther away from Kurama as he dodged, until eventually he was outside the range of Kurama's Rose Whip. Kurama was also distracted, having focused himself on cutting through Naraku's defenses so he could get a clean attack at his torso, which appeared to be his weak-point, and Kirara, though a fierce opponent in her own right, simply lacked the grasp of strategy to realize what was going on. With Miroku now isolated, Naraku shifted the majority of his appendages to the task of eliminating the monk, and it was only at this point that Kurama noticed the ploy.

 

Desperately, Miroku used all of his remaining strength to hold off Naraku's barrage, swinging his staff in huge, sweeping strokes as if he was cutting his way through a dense jungle with unusual urgency. This only protected him for a few moments, for the tentacles were too vast in number, and as they closed in on him for the killing blow, he dropped into a meditative position and erected a shield on energy around himself. Having noticed Naraku's plan and witnessed Miroku's last ditch attempt at protection, Kurama hurtled himself through the air towards the monk with his whip flashing about him as he spun through the air and hewing away the tentacles that threatened his ally. By the time Kurama had landed between Miroku and Naraku, all the tentacles that had been attacking the monk were now in pieces upon the ground and oozing bock to their master to reform.

 

Seeing that the threat had passed for the moment, Miroku lowered his protective shield of energy and used his staff to raise himself slowly off of the ground.

 

“It would be wise for you to retreat now, Miroku,” suggested Kurama once more. “I can sense that you're drained, and there may not be many more opportunities for you to pull out.”

 

For a moment, Miroku just gritted his teeth in frustration, but after a moment he let out a resigned sigh.

 

“You are correct, of course. I have given all that I can,” he agreed, with all the enthusiasm of an athlete being relegated to the bench in an important contest. “Kirara, I'm going to need you to carry me out of here.”

 

Though Miroku had called out to the giant twin tailed cat as if it needed specific instructions, it was clear that Kirara had already attained a decent understanding of his situation, as it had already abandoned its fight with several of Naraku's tentacles to come to his side. Miroku quickly clambered onto Kirara's back, and in an instant they were in the air, flying off a safe distance away and then landing on the castle ramparts so that they could observe the fight safely.

 

Meanwhile Naraku had regenerated all of his limbs, and, seeing that another pair of his opponents had been removed from action, he did not hesitate to press the advantage. His patchwork collection of appendages was soon bearing down upon Kurama with full force. Kurama, however, remained unscathed, whirling his whip around himself so fast that it seemed to create a deadly shield, hacking apart Naraku's tentacles so that they fell in pieces upon the ground. As the bits of these tentacles oozed back towards his body, Naraku gave pause and smirked.

 

“It is rare that I have an opponent who has any knowledge whatsoever of strategy,” he said with an exhilarated glint in his eye. “Even now, you focus on merely defending yourself so that you can conserve energy for when your allies arrive. No doubt, it was your plan that lead this band of garbage to my doorstep. I feel almost a hint of regret that I have to kill my most capable enemy to date.”

 

“Rest assured, the feeling is not mutual,” replied Kurama with unfaltering calm. “I will feel absolutely no regret as I tear you from the mortal coil.”

 

With nothing further to be said, Naraku renewed his attack upon Kurama, but he met the same result. Several times more he tried; even sending several tentacles underground to try and attack Kurama, but the fox demon was spinning his whip so tightly to his body that all he needed to do was move slightly to the side and the tentacles burst from the earth and straight in the deadly pattern of his Rose Whip. Naraku was trying to think of a way to penetrate his adversary's tight defenses when suddenly, a new voice came from the rooftop to his rear.

 

“So, you're Naraku, huh? I knew you were a freak, but you're still one hell of a lot uglier than I expected,” taunted Yusuke from the rooftop, with Inuyasha and letting Kagome down several feet to his left. “Well, I guess it won't matter how ugly you are when you're dead!”

 

His pre-brawl insult now complete, Yusuke leapt from the roof top towards Naraku, fists set in position to strike. He was followed momentarily by Inuyasha, who drew his sword as he drew near to his hated enemy, and Kagome notched an arrow into her bow back on the roof, waiting for the opportune moment to let it fly. For the first time since his fight with Hiei, Naraku was now forced to actually move his body to avoid an attack, for Yusuke and Inuyasha were quickly joined by Kurama in their assault. He just barely managed to avoid one of Kagome's sacred arrows as he lashed out at Yusuke, Inuyasha, and Kurama simultaneously with his tentacles, only to have them smashed, sliced, and hewn respectively.

 

What now began was like a deadly game of tag, with Naraku darting to and fro throughout the courtyard as he staved the three warriors of with his tentacles, all the while attempting to avoid Kagome's arrows that flew down towards him from time to time. Soon though, it was clear that he was overmatched. With the brutal power of Yusuke's martial might and Inuyasha's furious storm of cuts from Tetsusaiga added to Kurama's elegant maneuvering with his rose whip, he was beginning to lose limbs faster than he could regenerate them. As one of Kagome's arrows finally found its mark and tore through several tentacles, it finally dawned on Naraku. He was going to lose.

 

Naraku, however, had not lived this long without being able to differ a time to fight from a time to flee, and now was clearly the latter. A purple smoke suddenly began to appear and surround his body, and he started to rise into the night sky in full retreat.

 

“If you think you can run away then just think again, freak-show!” yelled Yusuke furiously, and with all his might, he launched himself into the air after Naraku.

 

To the amazement of everyone present, Yusuke was somehow closing in on Naraku, and it was obvious that he was going to reach his target before the demon could escape. Naraku's eyes were wide with dismay as Yusuke closed to within feat of him, and then shot his right hand forward in an open palm strike to the abdominal region. Yusuke's hand tore through Naraku's side like a sledgehammer through a sheet of paper, and, as a disgusting side effect, Yusuke was left clutching a chunk of Naraku's flesh in his hand. However, although Naraku was now at least ten pounds lighter and had what looked like a gigantic bite taken out of the lower right side of his torso, the blow was not enough to take him out of the air. With a final laugh of triumph, the purple miasma swirled about Naraku's body, and then he had vanished.

 

For a moment, the castle was completely silent, save the soft sound of Yusuke landing on the ground. Then Inuyasha slammed the Tetsusaiga into the ground with a loud crash and let out a furious yell of frustration.

 

“NO! HE GOT AWAY! AGAIN!” he cried with such rage that it nearly made Kagome slip and fall off of her rooftop perch. “EVERYTIME I HAVE THE CHANCE TO KILL THAT WORM, HE GETS AWAY! WHY? WHY WON'T THAT BASTARD JUST DIE?”

 

“Quit yelling, that freak'll get what's comin' to him don't worry,” said Yusuke with a confident chuckle. “Yup, you can take him out any time you want now.”

 

“Oh yeah? And just what in the hell has you so happy?” Inuyasha snapped back, though it appeared he had managed to regain control over much of his anger. “In case ya' didn't notice, you missed, punk! Naraku got away!”

 

“Yeah, he got away,” admitted Yusuke as he peeled away the rest of Naraku's flesh away from his hand, and then held forth most of a partially whole, glowing, purple jewel. “But I didn't miss.”

 

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After the avalanche of stone that had formerly been a part of Naraku's castle wall had collapsed down upon Sango and Hiei under the protection of Sango's boomerang, Sango initially had to take a moment to figure out what to do next. Admittedly, she hadn't really thought that far beyond simply protecting Hiei from what was certain to be a most painful and gruesome demise.

 

`Well…I suppose that was a little rash of me,' she had admitted as she carefully stopped leaning her back against her boomerang. `But I had to something. I couldn't just sit and watch him die.'

 

Amazingly, the boomerang had held firm in its protective position, now lodged there between all the stone debris. Hiraikotsu was no Tetsusaiga, but it was a well made weapon, and no mere stone would be enough to break it. This had left Sango and Hiei enclosed in a small cave of sorts; a cave without any openings.

 

`Right! I had better make some holes for air to get through,' Sango had realized, and then pried the sword she had given Hiei from the demon's hand. `It's actually amazing that he was able to hold onto it while getting beaten like that.'

 

She had worked quickly but cautiously in poking to sword through the rubble until she had created half a dozen air holes so that they could breathe. This had left her with just one more problem, and it had been unconscious and bleeding profusely in front of her. As fortune would have it, her sash was enough to temporarily bandage the massive wound on the fire demon's shoulder wound to stop the blood loss, but even when it had been applied, Sango had still been fearful that Hiei was in dire straights. She could not help but notice how fragile he had looked, with a pained expression frozen on his unconscious face as he lay huddled at her feet. Each breath he took had sounded raspy and weak, and Sango pulled him a little closer to her.

 

“I'm not going to let you die,” she had said aloud, and then slightly quieter. “I'm not going to let Naraku take anyone else.”

 

As the battle raged outside, Sango listened to its muffled sounds, but she continued to look at the fire demon in front of her as he struggled for life. At long last, the sounds of battle vanished, which was a good thing in that Sango and Hiei would soon be freed from their stone prison. However, they were soon replaced with the unmistakable sounds of a furious Inuyasha, which was bad in that it meant Naraku had escaped. After a short while, Sango again heard Inuyasha's voice, though this time it was from much closer.

 

“Sango, if you can hear me, brace yourself. I'm gonna' get rid of these rocks.”

 

Suddenly, the stone that had held Sango and Hiei captive crumbled as Inuyasha began to tear his claws into it. Within moments, all that remained was some small, scattered pieces of ruble and Sango was able to finally stand, picking up her boomerang in the process.

 

“Sango, are you all right?” Miroku asked worriedly as Kirara touched down on the ground with him on her back.

 

“Yes, I'm fine,” replied Sango as she stretched out her shoulders before motioning down to Hiei. “I'm not sure how he is, though. I managed to stop his bleeding, but he lost a lot of blood before I did.”

 

“Judging from his spirit energy level, he'll be just fine,” said Kurama as he kneeled down next to his friend and examined the makeshift bandage on his shoulder. “He's actually in better shape than he was after the fight with Youko. It only seems worse because the pain he is experiencing is amplified due to a side affect of a strong painkiller I gave him. In fact, aside from this shoulder wound, the only other injuries he has appear to be an amount of bruises, though I'm sure the fight has left him exhausted as well.”

 

“Yeah, Hiei's taken a lot worse beatings then this. I should know. I gave him one,” seconded Yusuke as he walked over, still holding the partial Shikon Jewel in his right hand.

 

“Wait, you got the Shikon Jewel?” exclaimed Sango with more than a little surprise. “Than does that mean Naraku is…?”

 

“No, `fraid the son of a bitch got away,” Yusuke answered, shaking his head. “But don't worry, that guy should be a piece of cake without this thing, and we're gonna' take it to a place where he can't get his filthy hands on it. Well, filthy tentacle-things, actually.”

 

“I'm sure you have a lot of questions,” cut in Kurama. “But we can answer those later. Right now we should go find a place to make camp.”

 

“Why can't we just use this castle?” inquired Inuyasha. “Since it's still here, this one might actually be real.”

 

“That may just be due to the Shikon Jewel still being here,” interjected Miroku. “Besides, it seems unadvisable to stay in a place that perhaps the most truly evil demon currently in existence has made his home.”

 

“Good point, let's avoid sleeping in the haunted castle,” concurred Yusuke. “I don't even want to think about what kinds of surprises a freak like that leaves in the bathroom.”

 

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The sun began to sow itself of the horizon as the victorious group finished setting up camp in the forest a good distance away from Naraku's castle. Of course, setting up camp merely consisted of finding some makeshift seats and waiting for Kirara and Sango to return from the cave they had been staying in with any belongings they had left behind, but the lack of work just put everyone in even higher spirits. Well, everyone except Inuyasha, who had seemed very conflicted about the most recent turn of events. Seeing as Inuyasha sulked very frequently, hardly anyone seemed to pay any mind, though.

 

“Hey, Kuwabara, I think it's about time we demand that the little toddler give us some cash for all our hard work, don't you?” said Yusuke as he examined the nearly complete Shikon Jewel in his hand, which had been combined with the five shards Kagome had been acquired. “I mean, we deserve something from this mission, right?”

 

“Yeah, but Koenma would never give us anything, Urameshi,” replied Kuwabara with a grin. “Hell, the little guy hardly even gives us a vacation.”

 

At this moment, Kirara and Sango returned to the camp, carrying with them all the items that had been left behind, including Kagome's bag, which Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately dived for and began to tussle over a large bag of potato chips.

 

“I don't suppose we're going to have much food left after they get through with it, are we?” commented Sango as she dismounted and sat herself down in between Kurama and Miroku on one of the logs/benches they had set up.

 

“Well, we won't be needing it for much longer,” Kurama responded as he watched Yusuke and Kuwabara continue to wage war over the food with mild amusement. “We'll head back to Kaede's village for a final night of recuperation, and then it will be time for my colleagues and I to head back to our own time.”

 

“Just how will you be getting back?” queried Miroku curiously. “You can't use Kagome's well, from what I understand.”

 

“Correct. There is a temple some twenty miles outside of Kaede's village where we will be able to open a portal,” answered the fox demon, then motioning towards Kagome with his head. “We will, however, need Kagome to aid us in opening the portal, so all of you may as well come to see us off. Unless, of course, you are glad to see such troublemakers leave.”

 

Miroku and Sango both chuckled at Kurama's jest, but Kurama was quick to note that Sango seemed only to do so halfheartedly.

 

“Judging by his absence, I'll assume Hiei's feeling all right,” ventured Sango as she glanced around the camp to make sure she hadn't missed him.

 

“Yes, he regained consciousness shortly after you left,” Kurama confirmed with a nod. “Though, he didn't go very far. I'm sensing him just a short walk east of here.”

 

“You'd think that he'd be able to stand being in our presence by now,” remarked Miroku with just a subtle sting to his words.

 

“Well, he is certainly a lone wolf if there ever was one,” said Sango, not catching Miroku's hostile tone as she rose out of her seat. “Well, I'm going to go change out of this armor. Oh, and I will be keeping several large rocks within arms reach in case I have any unwanted observers.”

 

She shot Miroku a knowing glare, which he countered with his playful “I wouldn't dream of it” grin as he rubbed the back of his head. As Sango disappeared from sight into the forest, however, the goofy expression quickly slid from his face and he began to stare at the ground and fiddle with his staff, as though contemplating a serious matter. Kurama didn't ask the monk what was on his mind, not only because he knew the response would not be sincere, but also because he had a very good idea of what the topic of contemplation might be. Of all the things Kurama had observed during his time in the feudal era of Japan, this situation unfolding in front of him had been the one thing he hadn't quite expected, and, to make maters more complex, he had no clear idea as to how it would be concluded. With merely a few days of traveling left before the Spirit Detectives would be returning to their own time, however, he was bound to find out.