InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Nine Lives For Two ❯ Kyouki ( Chapter 2 )

Kyouki

 

Piercing gales struck Inuyasha's face. The blizzard howled stronger than ever, already the snow was waist deep. Kagome dropped to her knees, falling in the snow. Inuyasha bent down and pulled her close, shielding her from the frigid wind. Both of them were shivering, especially Kagome.

“Hold on, Kagome” growled Inuyasha, “We'll make it!” She nodded slightly.

Through the savage snowstorm, Inuyasha glimpsed something cat-like padding over the snow. He squinted to get a better look. The thing turned to stare at him and Inuyasha caught a glimpse of red eyes before the wind increased tenfold. Both he and Kagome passed out in the furious storm.

 

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Inuyasha awoke to find himself in a room completely made of ice, chained to a wall. A demon casually walked into his cell through one of the thinner ice walls. It was an odd looking demon indeed. A light blue kimono with marine hakama and a red sash camouflaged him with the ice. Snowy bangs cloaked his pale face, and a tail with long, white silky fur swished gracefully. His claws were huge; very long and wickedly sharp. He was barefoot, and both his hands and feet were just as pale as his face. His eyes glimmered a bright red.

“Where'd you put Kagome?!” Inuyasha demanded. The demon slipped an eerie purr of amusement, closing his eyes.

“You demand the location of your wench before you even know who I am, foolish doggie?” he teased.

“I don't give a damn who you are and it won't really matter much once I kill you!” shouted Inuyasha, tugging at his restraints.

The demon snickered. There was something very weird about this youkai. In his eyes, Inuyasha saw what seemed like madness.

“So you intend to kill me then? This I have to see” giggled the demon. He turned to look at a spot on the wall. “You see that, dog?” Inuyasha looked at the place indicated. A small portion of the wall shimmered and let off mist. A soft white glow wafted up from that spot, pulsing rhythmically. Inuyasha stared wide-eyed at the light.

“That's a…” he gasped.

“That, fool boy, is a woman's soul. Observe its pureness, how it floats as innocently as a snowflake drifting upon a gentle winter breeze.” sighed the youkai. He stood silent for a moment, his head bowed. With a violent jerk, he swung his face towards the soul, a crazed look blazed in it. He beckoned the soul towards him, drooling as it came closer. The demon tore the serene light apart as soon as he had his talons on it, absorbing the scraps into his body.

Inuyasha flinched when he saw something so pure ripped to shreds, but then his anger flared up. He yelled a stream of curses at the filth. The demon wore a dreamy look.

“Aaaaaah” he sighed, “the sight of my prey, maddened and rabid always makes me feel whole.” Inuyasha was disgusted by the demon's speech.

“You're mad!” he screamed.

Surprisingly, the strange youkai didn't seem to mind, in fact, he seemed happy. On his face was a childish expression of pure glee and he clapped his hands excitedly, jumping up and down.

“Veeerryyy good, hanyou!” cried he, “indeed, I am insane! I shall now tell you name, though I see no merit, for when I am done with you, the girl will soon follow. I am Kyouki, wild and fierce as the bitter snow winds!” Kyouki pulled out a red cloth from his kimono and wiped his mouth with it. He saw Inuyasha staring.

“Look familiar?” he jeered.

Inuyasha instantly recognized it as a piece of Kagome's uniform.

“You bastard! What have you done with her?!” he roared, furiously yanking at the chains. Kyouki laughed and snapped his fingers. An ice demon struggled out of the snow carpeting the cell floor. The demon had a sinewy body, covered in light fur. A short weasel-like tail twitched erratically behind it. It had a pointed head with jagged teeth and no visible nostrils. Its eyes were a dim scarlet, surrounded by black where white should go. A blue mane of puffy fur ran from the middle portion of its snout over its back to the base of its skinny tail. Its feet were toeless, but it sported three long, hard sharp claws like ice picks on each foot.

“Watch him” Kyouki ordered his servant. Then he exited the way he came.

Inuyasha snarled harsh insults after him and pulled harder at his chains.

 

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One half hour later, one of the chains snapped. Inuyasha's guard looked up from its grooming, alerted by the sound. Seeing that the prisoner was free, it shrieked loudly.

“Sankontessou!” Inuyasha's claws ripped through the screeching youkai. In a swift motion, he snapped the other chain tethering him to the wall.

“Now that that's taken care of” he said aloud, rubbing his sore wrist. He padded up to the wall Kyouki left through and gave it a thorough revision.

“Keh, this'll be nothing!” he scoffed. Inuyasha took a few steps backwards and drew his sword, smirking.

“KAZE NO KIZU!!”

The wall blew up and Inuyasha dashed through the gap, Tetsusaiga in hand. Every ice demon that burrowed spontaneously out of the snow underfoot received his claws. Inuyasha raced through the winding corridors of the ice palace, expertly navigating them despite his frozen feet. One large tunnel made him slide to a halt. It was filled with ice demons, two of which were playfully tearing at a piece of green cloth.

Inuyasha growled when he realized that it was a piece of Kagome's uniform, but noticed her scent coming from farther ahead and ran on through the ice maze.

Presently, Inuyasha came across an enormous ice chamber carpeted by a layer of fresh crunchy snow. There he found several caves in the walls, each sealed with a thin, glassy sheet of ice. He noticed that one cave in particular had lots of tracks going to and from it. Inuyasha slashed a large hole in the glassy wall. There was something covered with snow on the floor of the cave, and it dawned on Inuyasha that it was Kagome. He instantly knelt down beside her, lightly stroking her cheek, begging her to wake up.

Then he noticed that she had nothing on. He blushed and looked away.

After carefully wrapping her in his red haori, he picked her up as gently as he could. Kagome shivered. He was prepared to leave when his ears pricked to the soft crunch of fresh snow.

“Oh my, it appears my pantry has been raided.” Kyouki's voice echoed in the ice chamber. In a flash he blocked the exit, completely lost in insanity.

“What did you do to her?!” demanded Inuyasha.

Kyouki sighed. “I was freezing her soul, keeping it fresh so when the time came to eat her, the soul would leave her body easily.” Kyouki's snow white mane stood on end as clumps of fresh snow whirled around him. “The process has been interrupted and now I'll have to steal her soul and store it inside one of my demons to keep it alive!”

“Like hell you will!” raged a furious Inuyasha. His grip on Tetsusaiga tightened.

Kyouki scoffed and his claws became coated in a thick layer of ice.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was a good time to start running.

“GIZA GIZA NO TSURARA!!” roared the demon, swiping the air and sending hundreds of tiny, sharp ice splinters everywhere.

Inuyasha blocked most of the fragments with Tetsusaiga, although a few nicked his face.

Kyouki's features twisted grotesquely and his lovely silken hair swirled around like the snow clumps. His tail lashed from side to side like a cat waiting to pounce and his face stretched out, sprouting pale blue fur. His fangs elongated and reddened into twin scarlet sabers jutting awkwardly out of his mouth. His face was still hidden by his luscious snowy mane, though fierce red slitted cat eyes shone through. Snowy fur draped over his enormous tail. Midway between his elbow joints and fore-paws, a furry bushel of white fur fluffed out and continued like a boot down to his feet. The same was on his hind legs. The shorter fur on his body was a pale blue, but all the rest was an icy white. What had once been his hair now hung from his neck in a thick lion's mane. In place of a crazy youkai there now stood a large ice-lion two feet bigger than Kirara ever was in her true form, and it was pretty mad.

The demon's roar rang loudly in the chamber, bouncing of the walls and shaking the icicles hanging from the ceiling.

“KAZE NO KIZU!!” Tetsusaiga's blade sliced the air.

Kyouki leapt straight up and out of the way of the blast. With a slight angling of his paws, Kyouki settled on an ice wall and plunged his ice-pick claws into the wall. Suspended on the vertical surface like a gecko, the large cat hissed.

Inuyasha chuckled and swiftly dashed out of the room with Kagome in his arms, leaving a very confused demon behind.

“Dammit!” roared the lion and sprang after the prey, his heavy footfalls echoing of the walls.

 

As Inuyasha followed his own scent trail back, a soft white glow approached him and spoke in a shy voice.

“Turn left there. It leads to the ice pillar that holds this castle up.” it whispered in his ear. Inuyasha wondered silently who had spoken to him but followed the directions. As he swerved left, Kagome stirred weakly. Before him stood a massive column of thick ice, towering several meters up into the air.

“This must be it” Inuyasha gawked at the sheer size of the structure, touching its frigid surface.

“Get away from that!!” growled a rumbling voice. Inuyasha spun around to see Kyouki baring a set of scarlet teeth at him and panting hard.

“I've had quite enough of your antics, half-demon. Just die and give your wench to me!!” Kyouki loosed an icy blast from his mouth.

Whipping out his sword (after gently laying Kagome on the snow), Inuyasha managed to block the attack with yet another `Kaze no Kizu', dissipating all trace of it.

“Flimsy ice blasts? Is that the best you can do, little kitten?” he taunted. Tetsusaiga became coated in a layer of diamond and he smirked.

Kyouki shifted uneasily on his broad paws. Something was wrong.

Inuyasha hoisted his blade high, letting his battle cry ring strongly.

“KONGOUSOUHA!!” he brought the sword down hard. Huge diamond shards shot off the blade, flying straight at the ice demon.

Kyouki desperately tried to doge the incoming attack but to no avail. Pain shot through his leg as one spear skewered his left ankle. One more skimmed his thick neck and yet another grazed his head. The cat gave voice to his agony.

Inuyasha sprinted up to the great pillar supporting the palace and began to vigorously hack at it.

“No! You stupid half-breed! What the hell do you think you're doing?!!” Kyouki screamed as cracks spread over the pillar's surface.

“Tryin' to GET…RID…OF…YOU!!” with each word, another blow landed on the pillar. At the last, the column cracked all over and split in two. Large pieces of the ceiling began falling as the building collapsed.

Inuyasha sheathed Tetsusaiga, picked Kagome up and made a break for it. Kyouki tried to follow, but the huge diamond piece sticking out of his left ankle impeded all movement. A big chunk of ice fell on him, crushing the breath out of him.

 

Inuyasha turned to see the ice-demon's lair collapse under itself. With a sigh of relief, he turned to look at Kagome, who looked slightly more awake now. With a tired smile, she gently stroked his cheek, and whispered his name. Inuyasha sighed again and trudged wearily on.

 

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The pair stood on a snow crested hilltop in the midst of another blizzard, though of less potency. Before them was a huge expanse of snow and an old outpost. Inuyasha held Kagome bridal style, for she still felt quite weak.

“Will that work?” he asked her gently. Kagome closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest.

“Sure” she said faintly and fell asleep. Inuyasha continued walking towards the building.

 

Once inside, he looked up and whistled. It was in pretty bad condition, and the only floor not reduced to splinters was the third, though there were no more stairs leading there. Without hesitation, Inuyasha jumped straight up and landed gracefully on the third floor. It was a wreck. A large wooden beam lay in the middle and the floor was littered with pieces of rotting wood and clumps of dust.

Shoving the beam aside and sweeping away most of the debris with his foot, Inuyasha made enough room to place Kagome softly on the floor under the sole window. Upon completing this task, he leapt off the platform to look for some blankets to keep Kagome warm.

 

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Much later, Kagome awoke groggily to find herself under five layers of blankets and in a room (the remains of one, anyway) filled with tiny candles. Inuyasha sat by her feet, propped against the wall. She tried to get up, but what he said stopped her.

“Don't get up. I still haven't found something for you to wear yet” he looked away with a slight blush.

“Oh…. I … I see” Kagome felt her face turning red and snuggled back under the covers.

After a while, they both nodded off to sleep.

 

Kagome stood enveloped by mist in a place she didn't remember coming to.

“Where am I?” she thought aloud. She was also wearing the most beautiful kimono she'd ever seen. “Where'd this come from?”

“Kagome? Is that you?” Inuyasha's voice sounded in the distance.

“Inuyasha?” she called out. As if in answer, he just appeared out of the swirling mist, looking quite confused.

“I…think…this is a dream” he said.

“Hmm…I do remember falling asleep” Kagome said thoughtfully.

The two of them pondered this for a moment when a figure stepped out of the fog.

She was odd looking but pretty. A lovely white kimono with a magenta collar and sleeve-edge gave her an air of royalty. In place of feet she had snowy paws not unlike Shippo's with hot pink markings at the ankles. A long pearly lion tail twitched behind her, also with pink markings at the base of the tuft. Coupled with a pair of white feathered wings, gentle emerald eyes and ivory hair, she actually was very beautiful.

“Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you” the newcomer bowed with respect and flicked her long, snowy white tail, beating her wings steadily.

“You…I recognize your aura from somewhere!” Kagome exclaimed.

“Indeed. I saw your friend here deal with my brother in the marsh incident last month” the person bowed again to each of the pair in turn. Inuyasha growled and darted forward, grasping the person's throat and holding her up in the air.

“You!” he snarled. His captive only beat her wings slowly, but didn't resist. “Which one were you, eh?!”

“Inuyasha?” Kagome was bewildered and worried.

The prisoner smiled warmly and said: “You assume I was one of those flames, correct?”

“Kagome said she felt auras, and normal flames don't come in weird colors or whiz around like shooting stars!” Inuyasha growled in her face.

The person looked sternly back at him without flinching.

“And which flame do you think I was? Silver? Emerald? Gold maybe?!” she snapped back, and then she sighed. “Hanyou, I swear I pose no threat to you and your friend. If you could please put me down…” Inuyasha cut her off.

“Why should I?”

“I was the white flame. I attacked my own brother and helped you through Kyouki's castle of my own free will!” she began to squirm uneasily.

Inuyasha bore a stunned look and instantly dropped her.

The person landed evenly on her feet, or more properly, paws and straightened out her kimono.

“Thank you” she said calmly. Then she added: “now there's something you need to know; Kyouki isn't dead” both Inuyasha and Kagome gasped at this news. Apparently he'd survived having his palace collapse on top of him.

The person continued speaking. “He's coming and if you defeat him, you will be plagued by another of my siblings this time next month.”

“What?!” the pair said in unison. The white entity nodded.

“Yes. That's how my brothers do these things; if prey escapes, the runner-up can deal with it” she sighed miserably.

“But why Kagome?” Inuyasha demanded.

The person chuckled lightly. “Because my brothers have a taste for sacred energy and beautiful women, though I doubt they've ever faced a foe like you, Inuyasha”

He growled softly. “Oh, and I'm supposed to believe that you're different, that you don't eat humans?” the brilliant white creature bowed again.

“I don't” she said simply, “My brothers unwittingly supply me with life force. You see, many years ago, in an attempt to halt their cruelty, I stole their souls and trapped them within my body.”

“So that means that…they…can't…die?” Kagome said worriedly.

“No, they can die, but only through extreme physical injury” the person turned to look at Inuyasha. “What you know can't kill you wont kill them, not by a long shot” she brushed her snowy bangs aside, revealing a hot pink diamond marking on her forehead. She closed her eyes and the mark began to glow. After a few minutes, she came out of her trance and spoke again. “Think of what you had to do to kill Ryuukotsusei” she said thoughtfully.

“How'd you know about that?!” Inuyasha was stunned. He'd defeated Ryuukotsusei months ago!

“This is a dream. I guess you could say I'm in your heads right now” the person smiled sweetly.

“In our heads?” Kagome tried to understand the situation as best she could, but it was very weird.

“Yes, but only because you wouldn't be able to see me otherwise” the white-robed person bowed yet again. “Outside of dreams I can't really be seen. Commonly only people wavering on the edge of death can view me as I truly am” she looked sad all of a sudden. “And too many have done so as of late” a mournful cry escaped her as if remembering some terrible event. Something startled her and she glanced to her left nervously.

“Listen, you two will see me again. Try to fall asleep at the same time, it makes it easier to draw you into a shared dream. So you remember, my name is Yuugure.” She flapped her wings rapidly, swirling the mist into obscuring pools of thick fog.

The pair woke up with a jolt.

“Inuyasha, did you just…have a weird dream?” Kagome wanted to make sure she wasn't still dreaming.

“Yeah” he answered, equally wierded out. After a moments pause, he got up and moved the makeshift blanket-door aside.

“Where are you going?” Kagome asked him.

“Well, I guess for food, but mostly I need time to think” Inuyasha smiled sweetly. “Don't go anywhere.” With that, he left.

Kagome sighed and closed her eyes.

 

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After a fruitless search, Inuyasha returned to his temporary lodgings. Sitting down with an annoyed “Feh”, he glanced over at Kagome's sleeping form. She was shivering, as the outpost was quite drafty.

Taking a decision to hide not his feelings towards her anymore, Inuyasha stood up and moved closer to her. He hugged her close to him.

Kagome woke up and found herself still wrapped in his red haori and receiving the warmest hug of her life.

“Um…Inuyasha?” she blushed. He blushed.

“Uh…I, uh…I figured you were cold” he looked away, flushed with embarrassment.

“I was. Thank you.” There was a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch for ever.

Hesitantly, Inuyasha leaned forward towards her and then stopped, blushing extremely. Second try. Again, he blushed and stopped. Third try. Their lips touched in a tender kiss.

They both blushed even more and looked away. Suddenly they both had something to say at the same exact time.

“I want you to know that…” both looked away, blushing.

“Er…you first” Inuyasha blushed and looked to the side.

“Okay…um…I-I-I…” Kagome stuttered nervously. Oh, screw words! She thought, and planted a light, but firm kiss on his cheek. He looked at her, surprised. She blushed even more.

Leaning up, she whispered something in his dog's ear. “I love you”

He sighed and closed his eyes.

“I love you too”

They kissed once more.

 

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The next morning…

A small flea struggled through the deep snow (well, deep to him).

“Hmm…there's an old outpost ahead” Myoga said to himself. Maybe I'll find a person there to bite, hee hee. The old flea kept hopping on through the frigid white powder.

Two hours later, Myoga reached the remains of the third floor. Launching himself through the slightly-open window, Myoga landed on what seemed to be the tip of a small white mountain.

“Whoa, what's this?” Myoga stared at his weird perch. Just then, someone groaned. The `mountain' was seized by spasms of twitching.

“AAAIIIEE!! EARTHQUAKE!!”

The flea shrieked and held on for dear life! Eventually, Myoga was forced to seek firm ground. Leaping away from the strange white thing that looked like a mountain but sure as heck didn't act like one, the old flea landed on someone's bare shoulder.

Upon noticing exactly whose shoulder it was, Myoga's eyes widened and he gasped.

“I-Inuyasha-sama?! I would never have expected to find you here! Are you ill?” stuttered the old flea.

Inuyasha opened one golden eye sleepily. Tugging the blanket on him a little higher, he went back to sleep.

“Don't you dare ignore me!” the bug yelled, fuming.

“Mmmm. Eh?” Inuyasha turned slightly to look at Myoga.

“It's just that you don't usually lie down to sleep unless you've been knocked out or something of that sort.” the flea said with an anxious expression upon his old face.

“Huh? Myoga? How'd you get here?” Inuyasha looked very sleepy.

“What is it?” Kagome looked up from under the covers with the same half-asleep look.

“Oh, it's just Myoga” Inuyasha said groggily.

Myoga's eyes were the size of peas (for a flea, that's big).

“My, my, this is…unexpected” mumbled the flea. He narrowed his eyes at the couple. “So, you two finally--” Myoga was interrupted when Kagome flicked the pest off Inuyasha's shoulder and out the open window.

“Buzz off” she mumbled.

Inuyasha hugged her closer to him and both sighed happily.

“Good morning, my flower” Inuyasha planted a gentle kiss on Kagome's neck.

“Good morning” she said back with a stretch.

Their lips touched in a brief kiss.

Inuyasha got up out of bed and started to put his clothes back on.

Meanwhile…

Myoga struggled back to the third floor. Climbing up the withered beam to where he'd seen something quite…disturbing for an old bug. The flea squeezed through the nearly-closed window in time to see Inuyasha re-placing his white shirt. Kagome was sitting up in bed with his red haori around her.

With a quick kiss and a `bye', Inuyasha left.

Myoga leaped from the windowsill and landed with a soft poing on Kagome's shoulder.

“Kagome, did you and my lord…uh…do that?” Myoga wondered shyly.

She looked away.

“That's none of your business, Myoga” she snapped.

Myoga hopped angrily up and down.

“It is my business!” cried the flea. “What if you have a child?! What will you do then?!”

Kagome turned to look at Myoga, surprised.

“A child?” she suddenly looked guilty and gazed out the now-open window. “I hadn't thought of that.”

Myoga sighed. “And to think you are a mere 15 years old!” he sighed again.

Kagome was silent, still looking at the snowy plains outside.

“Can you at least tell me what's happened lately?” asked the bug.

Kagome nodded.

“Hey, Myoga?” she said. “Have you ever heard of a demon named Kageyuurei?”

“Kageyuurei?” he paused thoughtfully. “Hmm…I've heard a little bit about him and his brothers, but while Naraku was at large, he dared not show his face out of fear of being absorbed. Why? Have you and Inuyasha-sama encountered him on your travels?”

“Well, he…uh…he tried to eat me” Kagome murmured.

“Oh my”

“And his psycho ice brother attacked us yesterday.”

Myoga was alarmed by the news and started to inch away.

“Myoga?” Kagome eyed him curiously.

“Uh…y-you'll have to excuse me, I, um, I must talk to a friend of mine about this” the flea glanced around warily and prepared to leap.

Kagome pinched the little insect between her thumb and forefinger. Picking up an arrow that just happened to be lying there, she nailed Myoga to the wall by the scruff of his tiny kimono.

“Kagome!” he wailed, flailing his little arms.

“Don't pretend. You were going to run away again.” She glared at the small demon, annoyed with his show of cowardice.

Myoga began to sweat nervously.

“Uh…well…I…” he stuttered.

Kagome scoffed and went back to sleep.

 

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Kagome's eyes snapped open to the sound of a pained scream. Startled, she got up and crawled to the edge of the platform.

Inuyasha was on the ground floor and panting hard. Kagome gasped and he looked up. With a lot of effort, he made it to the 3rd floor.

“Inuyasha, what happened to you?!” she cried, very worried.

His knees buckled with the strain of standing up and he fell onto the wooden plank-remains of their temporary home. Kagome rushed over and helped him sit up.

“What happened?” she asked again.

“I…” Inuyasha panted a little, “I ran into her” he panted some more.

“Her?” Kagome repeated, utterly bewildered.

Inuyasha looked up at her, panting heavily now.

“Yeah, her!” he winced as he started pulling at an arrow sticking out of his ankle. Kagome saw it and gasped.

“That bitch! She didn't!” she hissed.

“You'd better believe she did” he tugged the arrow piece out of his leg with an agonizing cry. The tip was still smoldering with sacred energy.

“What did you do to make her so angry?” Kagome asked him.

Inuyasha glowered back at her.

“I didn't do anything, ok?! I was just looking around, she saw me and shot at me, just like that!” he snarled.

“D-do you think she knows?” Kagome whispered.

“Judging by the look she gave me before she loosed the arrow, I'd say yes, somehow she knew” Inuyasha's anger cooled and he was suddenly very serious. He gave a small laugh and winced again. “It's been fifty years since Kikyo pinned me to that tree, but her arrows haven't lost any of their potency.”

“Um…hello? I've been hanging here, bored stiff, by the way, for hours now!” Myoga piped up from his dismal position on the wall.

Inuyasha saw the hanging flea and burst out laughing.

“Geez Myoga, what'd you do? Try to bite her or somethin'?” he said between laughing fits. Then he turned to Kagome.

“Wait here. I found something for you” he said with a cheery smile, and bounded out the window.

A few minutes later, Inuyasha came back holding a pretty yellow kimono with flower patterns and a blue sash. Kagome quickly put it on.

 

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The couple sat in their broken-down apartment gazing out at the starry night sky. Outside, a light snowfall lit up the landscape.

“Wow” Kagome breathed, “It's pretty, isn't it?”

“Yeah…beautiful” Inuyasha answered distantly. Kagome turned and found him looking not at the sky, but at her.

“Eeeeeewww, sappy!” wailed Myoga, still pinned.

In an amazing feat of concentration, Inuyasha squished Myoga against the wall without taking his eyes off Kagome. She only blushed.

Glancing out the window, Kagome noticed a small party of soldiers making their way towards the outpost. Inuyasha sniffed the air and look out the window too.

“Damn” he muttered as the soldiers entered the broken-down structure.

From their secluded platform, the pair watched the soldiers start a fire and begin gorging themselves on flagons of saké.

An hour and a half later, Inuyasha and Kagome lay on their stomachs, gloomily watching the drunken samurai.

“None of them have bathed in weeks, did you know that?” he said randomly.

“Ew! How can you stand the smell?” she whined.

Inuyasha only shrugged.

“Because Naraku smelled worse, I guess” he said nonchalantly.

“Hm” Kagome switched her attention back on the really drunk men on the bottom floor.

Suddenly, a thundering roar was heard from outside. The alarmed couple raced to the window. A huge white lion stood amidst a raging blizzard, flexing its claws anxiously.

The soldiers wobbled out to investigate the source of the noise.

“What do you want?” mumbled one of the men.

“Mortal fools. Where is he?! The hanyou, where is he?!” Kyouki snarled.

“What hanyou?” slurred a woozy samurai.

“You wish to hide him from me?! Fools!” the lion froze the soldiers with an icy blast. After contemplating his work, Kyouki sniffed the air and growled. Looking up, the cat fixed his red eyes in the third floor window.

“Cowardly pup! Come down and fight me!” he roared.

Inuyasha growled and turned to Kagome.

“Wait here” he told her, and then he jumped out the window, landing before the massive creature.

Kyouki pounced at him. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and blocked the wild swipes.

“Once I'm…graowr…done with you….rrowrrrr…your wench shall die!” snarled the feline, and he aimed a slash at his opponent's face. Inuyasha swung the Tetsusaiga and Kyouki leapt back.

The ice lion fired an enormous ice-blast at Inuyasha.

From her spot in the third floor window, Kagome gasped as she saw the blast inches away from the one she cared about.

Inuyasha smirked. He raised his blade high and…

“BAKURYUUHA!!”

Twisters of swirling blue energy snaked around Kyouki's blast and pointed the attack at the ice demon.

“Wh-what?!” he stammered. Then the tornadoes hit him, tearing his body to shreds.

“Keh! All talk and no substance!” Inuyasha sheathed the Steel Fang and looked up towards the window on the third floor, beaming. Kagome smiled right back.

“It's over”