InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To know you is to know myself... ❯ I’m a Soul man… ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


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Chat per 1 – I’m a Soul man…



It had been another long day of searching for shards, as well as Naraku, when the weak humans in the group began to complain about wanting to stop for the night. Reluctantly, as always, Inuyasha eventually complied, and the gang then began setting up camp.Everything was fairly uneventful, until the eerie glow of a few loose souls began to illuminate the twilight forest, but something wasn’t quite right.

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“Hey that was mine!” Shippo pouted as Inuyasha chomped into the young kitsune’s fish.

“Keh, snooze you loose brat.” Was what Shippo thought he heard through the muffled sounds of chewing.

“Kagome!” He whaled in retaliation. Thinking I’ll show him “Inuyasha’s being mean to me, can you sit him please!”

“Keh, nice try runt.” He snorted sarcastically, having first swallowed his mouthful. “But Kagome ain’t gonna do it just ‘cause you asked her to.”

“Inuyasha…..”

Inuyasha cringed inwardly at the tone of her voice, ears falling to rest plastered atop his head, his entire being bracing for impact.

“You’re right…..” She continued, while darting an angry glare at the tricky little fox.

“But Inuyasha ate my fish!”

“You mean he ate your third fish, you had the first two, and considering you let the third one si…..” Shippo’s ears perked up “….lay around,” she corrected, “I’d have to agree with Inuyasha on this one.”

“You do?” Asked a rather baffled hanyou, blinking a few times to make sure he’d heard right (if that makes sense) and then smiling quite evilly, flashed Shippo a look that could only be described as Naa…Naa…Na-Na…Naa

The rising tide in her kit’s eyes was enough to tear open her heart, but Kagome reminded herself that Shippo was getting older, and no good would come from her spoiling the child. Plus, it was quite obvious in this particular situation, that he was the instigator, he was loosing his touch as far as kitsune trickery, another symptom of having a human adoptive mother, no doubt. Sango and Miroku had both known enough to keep their mouths shut throughout the exchange, but couldn’t help but pass each other glances that suggested each were trying desperately to withhold a barrage of giggles. When the passing light of a soul ventured close enough to camp to get everyone’s attention, it brought the light hearted atmosphere to an abrupt stand still.

Inuyasha looked at the soul, Kagome looked at the soul, Inuyasha looked at the forest, Kagome looked at Inuyasha, Sango looked at Miroku, Miroku looked at Sango, Shippo looked back and forth between Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku. When the kitsune “innocently” (with a great air of sarcasm as an after taste) uttered just above a whisper “Must be Kikyo” it was then that Inuyasha looked at Kagome. Kagome looked at Inuyasha…..well you get the idea…..their eyes locked, golden yellow meeting velvet brown. One of these pairs of eyes was slowly moistening with tears, and it wasn’t the golden yellow’s.

Finally she spoke, sounding as brave as she could. “You’d better go see what she needs.”

“Kagome?” Sango interjected, but Kagome shook her head in a way meaning to not interfere.

“It’s not Kikyo.” Inuyasha said suddenly, and Kagome would have almost been relieved, were it not for the air of disappointment in Inuyasha’s voice.

She couldn’t help it, she felt sorry for him. Damn it all, she loved him so much, seeing him hurt, even over a stupid thing like this, caused her pain too. But wait a minute, there’s a bigger issue here. If that loose flying soul isn’t related to Kikyo….

“Then who?” She asked out loud.

“I have no idea.” Inuyasha said, tossing the remains of the fish into the fire, and standing up, hand reaching for Tetsusaiga, “But I intend to find out.”

Grabbing her bow and arrows, Kagome was right behind him in a heart beat. Bending down, Inuyasha aided in Kagome climbing up onto his back. Glancing back at their other companions, Sango and Miroku were both already armed and ready, and little Shippo even seemed ready for battle, as they all rode atop the transformed Kirara.

“Lead the way.” Miroku instructed.

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Crashing through into the clearing, Inuyasha came to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing Kagome from his back before he reached up to catch her, as the sight before him was something quite disturbing. Some sort of demon… that was an understatement. It looked like how one would likely expect a “demon” to look. Blood red skin, clawed feet and hands, tail, fangs, horns, and red eyes that somehow managed to contrast themselves against the creature’s completion as they glowed with the fires of hell. This youkai was one who apparently fed upon the souls of the living, and it even had its own “pet” soul collectors, just like Kikyo’s, except his (we’ll go ahead and assume the thing is male) were a dismal midnight black, producing no light except for the souls they carried.

Inuyasha immediately found two things to be extra unsettling about this creature. One, the way it consumed souls wasn’t to have them simply merged within its body, adding to its own soul, in order to remain alive, but instead it literally consumed them, as in, ate them, with its mouth, making swallowing noises. Two, as soon as he and his other companions became visible to the beast, it spoke, directly, to Kagome.

“Ahh miko, so nice of you to deliver yourself to me, you’ve saved me the trouble of searching you out.” He said.

“Kagome,” Inuyasha instructed, keeping his voice low and steady, “stay behind me.”

“Right.” She responded, sounding a little apprehensive. What did this thing want with her?

“Aw now you’re no fun.” He taunted. With a flick of its wrist, Kagome’s soul began living her body.

Now as we all remember from when Kanna tried to pull this stunt, Kagome has a lot of soul, and can keep herself going for a while as it’s being deplenished, however, this was still cause for genuine panic.

“Kagome!” Shippo cried from atop Miroku’s shoulder.

Hiraikotsu!” Sango cried, as she flung her large bone boomerang at the soul collectors who were attempting to gather the pieces of Kagome’s soul as they floated up into the air. If she could just keep those creatures from grabbing hold of any of it, then…..that monster couldn’t consume it.

“Wind Scar!” Was the next thing heard from Inuyasha’s mouth, not even taking the time to yell bastard first, or anything, as he sliced at the youkai with a very powerful Wind Scar. It was injured, but survived, apparently using some of the souls within its body to quickly produce a barrier, allowing them to take the brunt of the attack, and a few even managed to escape his grasp as a result, floating up freely towards heaven. Saving those souls was a side effect, the only soul here Inuyasha was trying to save was Kagome’s.

Speaking of, Kagome had been firing off arrow after arrow at the thing, even matching one of her arrows along with Inuyasha’s attack, which is one reason why it was so powerful. As another ball of partial soul flew out of her, she felt greatly weakened, and somewhat disconnected, as she had a somewhat astro-projecty type of sensation about her, but yet, she managed to concentrate enough to fire more arrows.

“Kagome….” Miroku instructed, “Save your energy on focusing on returning your soul!”

“I….” Kagome mumbled, half conscious, “I can do that?”

“You did it before.” Inuyasha suddenly interjected, “When Urasue stole your soul for Kikyo.”

Somehow, that wasn’t a memory Kagome wanted to have at the moment. But sensing this, Inuyasha knew just the right thing to say, though he said it fairly quietly, out of everyone else’s range of hearing.

“Don’t give me that look wench,” he smiled at her “I’m glad you lived back then, and you’d better live now, too.”

Kagome smiled back at him, and nodded. Drowsy as she was, she concentrated on whatever sensation it was she could recall from that past experience, when she was able to pull part of her soul back within herself. In the mean time, the youkai was getting fairly upset with Sango and Miroku’s interference, and was about to decide to pull their souls away as well, though it was truly only the soul of the miko that he was really interested in, as powerful as she was. And perhaps, the half-breed, yes, that half-breed was rather powerful as well.

“I’ve had enough of you!” The youkai suddenly spat, aimed directly at Inuyasha, as our hanyou had momentarily ceased in his attacks as he’d been comforting Kagome.

“That’s funny…..” He retorted, leaving the half-conscious Kagome to her meditations. “….because I’ve had enough of you too!” He shouted, as he unleashed yet another Wind Scar.

Again the creature expelled some previously consumed souls to sacrifice as a barrier. It made him weaker, but at least he was still alive.

“Why you!” Inuyasha spat evilly, preparing to use his Backlash Wave attack, and getting ready to warn his friends to clear the area just for that reason, when suddenly the creature flicked its wrist again, in such a fashion, that it caused Inuyasha’s soul to also begin to be ripped from his body.

“No!” Kagome screamed out, just as the last of her soul left her, and her body fell motionless along side that of the also motionless body of Inuyasha.

One strike of fortune for our comrades at this moment would be that the youkai was apparently out of soul collectors, Sango having successfully slain them all. Also apparently, the beast wasn’t capable of physically grabbing hold of the souls himself without their aid. Kagome’s and Inuyasha’s souls lingered eerily in the air near the youkai, awaiting the collector who’d never come. In the mean time, Miroku tried to fling sutras at the creature in order to attempt to get it to throw up another barrier, and weaken it some more, until its barrier failed. He didn’t dare use his Wind Tunnel. Sango was also doing a fairly good job of taking the thing out with her Hiraikotsu, as after the barrier fell, the thing eventually
lost an arm, and a leg, and then the other leg, as it fell to the ground immobilized.

At this point, Miroku began chanting a prayer meant to help guide his soul in connection with Kagome’s. He reached out to her, and aided her in again finding that feeling she’d managed to cling to in the past, the feeling of pulling her soul back into her own body. Somehow, her powers were apparently strong enough to engulf Inuyasha’s soul as well, and aid in guiding him. Either that, or he was simply so in tune with Kagome that he was able to follow her lead, but either way, slowly both souls began their decent back towards the earth.

Sango was preparing for the final blow, this time, aiming straight for the thing’s head. He was out of souls, and nearly out of power, and would not be able to project a barrier of any kind. But just before the boomerang sliced cleanly his neck, his gaze shifted, looking beyond that of the approaching blade, to the two lights of souls each returning slowly down towards the earth, and their own bodies. With his final breath, as the bone began piercing his skin, he flicked his wrist, and the souls seemed to sway, like the seeds of a dandelion dancing on a breeze, as they shifted their positions, each now entering the other’s body.

Neither Sango nor Miroku had caught sight of this, as each were concentrating fully on the creature’s demise. Shippo had long sense run off in hiding behind one of the nearest trees, so he too missed this important occurrence. Miroku had looked back towards his companions just in time to see the light of souls entering each body, and he smiled, telling Shippo to come out, and telling Sango that they’d done it. Both Inuyasha and Kagome were unconscious, so they decided they’d better get them back to Kaede’s. They weren’t too far from the village, since they would have made it back by late morning the following day anyways. But deciding now that they’d better not wait, the two packed up camp, gently placed their companions upon Kirara’s back, and headed towards the village.