InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yokai No Kokoro (Heart of A Demon) ❯ Conflict ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15: Conflict

You are-enemy. You are my hated enemy. I am-enemy. Number one rated enemy. I'm labeled enemy. I am your mortal enemy. My actions-enemy-make me your bitter enemy. All the world around-enemy. They're tearing up the ground-enemy. They're drawn in by the sound: Enemy, enemy-I must eliminate my Enemy! Your people-enemy. My people's hated enemy. What are you? Enemy. Though a created enemy… Terminate the, enemy! Eradicate the hated enemy! I am an enemy! My very greatest enemy! You try to tell me that you love life, then find another way to kill life. ! You try to tell me that you love life, then find another way to kill life… ENEMY!! {"Conflict" - Disturbed}

Kyoko yawned as she watched the moon slowly disappear from the sky. She had stayed awake the entire night and now it was nearly sunrise. Realizing that her tired body could take no more, she leaned back against a tree and rested her eyes. It took no more than a few seconds before she was asleep. She slept lightly, though, in anticipation of Sesshoumaru's return. She had spent the majority of the night thinking of how Sesshoumaru would most likely scold her if she were not in top physical condition and ready to leave as soon as he arrived.

The fighters smiled as they saw the yokai settle down against the tree to sleep. They had sent one of their scouts ahead to watch her movement. She had been travelling for the past three days with the silver-haired yokai at unbelievable speeds. However, it was the few hours in the night that she slept that the scout was able to regain ground he had lost behind her yokai-speed.

Slowly they moved nearer to her, careful not to make a single noise. Their stealth was worthy of a shinobi as they closed in upon the sleeping Kyoko-the murderer of their comrade, Satoru. Finally, the eldest man waved the scout forward. The man crept on, his sword pointed at Kyoko at all times. He continued until his sword was only an inch away from Kyoko's heart. [Yes, this will be all too easy… I'll kill this beast in its slumber.]

Kyoko sprung awake and immediately drew her sword. She had not even focused her eyes when she heard the clang of the man's sword against her own. [This is the first time that I will use this sword in a real fight… But… who is it attacking me?]

The man before Kyoko smirked as he waved his hand in the air a few times. Kyoko's eyes widened as she saw dozens of samurai-the ones that had been with Satoru-emerge from the forest. Kyoko's eyes darted frantically from one man to the next and then to the open plain shortly away from herself. "What do you want from me? Are you not comrades of Satoru?"

The eldest man stepped forward-he had looked upon and even conversed with this beast before. "Yes, we were Satoru's comrades. That is… before you murdered him. All we want is to avenge his death."

Kyoko turned her gaze toward this elder-she had seen him before-and looked upon him piteously. "Do you have any clue as to what your comrade Satoru did to me? He deceived me into thinking that he loved me for several years-before any of you met him. Then, when we were reunited, he tried to force me to surrender my life to his blade, using one of my own comrades as a bargaining chip."

The man chuckled. "So what? He is still dead; we still want revenge. As a yokai, you are our natural enemy… Our mortal enemy…"

Kyoko's fear was apparent in her shaking voice as she shouted, "Don't! I'd rather not fight now! I was raised by humans and their blood does not suit well on my claws!"

A shout was the heard from the back of the group, "Yeah right! Let's just kill her already!"

Kyoko's heart pounded as she leapt into the air. As she looked down, she saw that several of the samurai had thrust their swords into the trunk of the tree, where she had been merely seconds before. She grasped a tree branch shortly above herself and then threw herself over the heads of the samurai. She had barely hit the ground when she began running. She was sure that she would be able to outrun them until one the men threw a spherical object just ahead of her. The small ball broke, causing a cloud of poisonous gases to envelop Kyoko.

As she jumped away from the cloud, she felt her legs go numb, followed by the rest of her body. She was still able to move freely, but her senses were offbeat and she tripped several times. She attempted to stand after she fell for the fifth times, but the samurai had caught onto her by then. She gasped in fear as she saw that she was surrounded and with no way out. She desperately waved her sword around, but to no avail. One of the samurai slapped her hand with his own blade, causing her sword to go flying out of her hands. She had begun to reach for the other sword she carried-Satoru's sword-when she felt the cold steel of a sword pierce into her side. She screamed out in pain as several other swords also pierced her abdomen.

Sesshoumaru's heart skipped a beat when he heard the scream. He looked ahead, to where he had left Kyoko and noticed a group of samurai standing together around something-someone. He leapt from the dragon-like beast he was riding and rushed towards the group as he heard a series of feminine shrieks that sent chills down his spine and hate over his heart. [Kyoko is in trouble…] Sesshoumaru flexed his claws as he approached the men. He cut them down as though they were merely grasses standing in the wind. His claws had tasted the blood of all but one when he finally saw Kyoko. The man was holding her by her neck, his sword poised to cut through her forehead. Sesshoumaru wasted no time to shred this man limb-from-limb in a fury driven attack.

Sesshoumaru pushed the man's body out of the way as he caught Kyoko before she fell to the ground as well. "Kyoko, are you alright?"

Kyoko managed a weak smile. "I'll make it. Could you-could you take me somewhere?"

"Where?"

"There is a mansion a few miles to the northwest of here. It is on the side of a mountain, with a stream running out in front of the place. There will be a tanuki named Azuka there. She can help…"

"Of course." Sesshoumaru pulled Kyoko up as he whistled to the dragon. The two-headed beast was quick to respond and knelt before Sesshoumaru almost instantly. Sesshoumaru struggled to push Kyoko onto the beast's back. He soon mounted the creature as well and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as an order for the beast to go. He allowed for Kyoko's bleeding form to lean against his own body as he took the reins and directed the dragon to where Kyoko had directed him. He hardly noticed the small, green passenger that held on for dear life on the beast's tail.

"Did she die, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken inquired with a light, almost cheery tone.

Sesshoumaru growled at his retainer but did not look back. "If you do not keep quiet, I may have to force silence upon you permanently."

Jaken nodded furiously as he watched the ground far below himself.

Kyoko smiled, as she looked upward at Sesshoumaru's stern expression. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama… I'm sorry… that I'm such a bother to you…"

Sesshoumaru did not look down as he answered her. "It's not your fault. Save your strength-elsewise it may take you much longer to recover."

Kyoko smiled as she shut her eyes. "Hai." Kyoko shifted herself, cupped her hand over her mouth and coughed into it. She pulled her hand away, revealing the crimson that covered it, much like the rest of herself.

Sesshoumaru watched Kyoko out of concern. He was no doctor, but he still knew that the fact that she had just coughed up blood was not a good sign for her health. He kicked the dragon with his heels, issuing it to move faster. It did so, and it was within twenty minutes that they had arrived at the location of the mansion as described by Kyoko.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened as he looked over the mansion and the area around him. Of course, the plants had changed and the mansion had become old and worn-looking, but the place was still as he remembered it. [This is… Naoko's home…]

Kyoko interrupted his thoughts when she coughed several times in succession, leaving more blood to stain her hands. She tried to stand, but quickly lost balance, only to be caught by Sesshoumaru. He hooked her arm over his shoulder and his arm over her shoulders in order to help her to walk.

They were halfway to the mansion when Sesshoumaru saw a man run out. This was the human man that traveled with Inu Yasha-the houshi. The houshi ran out and helped Kyoko walk as well, but said nothing to Kyoko or Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru glared at the human, but his senses soon realized that he was not human at all-this was a tanuki, changed into the form of the human.

Sesshoumaru's attention was soon drawn away from the tanuki when he felt Kyoko falling. He glanced down at her to see that she had passed out-who would not pass out, losing that much blood-he grimaced as he directed the tanuki to open the door. "Dammit Kyoko…" he mumbled as he carried Kyoko into the mansion and lay her down on a futon the tanuki had dragged out.

"If you want, you can go outside while I tend to her. Send the toad yokai in though, I may need him to fetch some things for me."

[The insolence of this thing! If this were any other situation, I would kill it on the spot for speaking to me in such a way… ] Sesshoumaru glared at the creature, but did not budge as it ran through the rooms of the mansion frantically to find the correct supplies to bandage and clean Kyoko's various wounds. Finally the tanuki stopped in front of Sesshoumaru and changed into its regular form as a tanuki. Sesshoumaru was nearly shocked to hear its feminine voice yell at him, "Go on, out! I need to tend to her and I don't need you hanging around and underfoot! Go on, SHOO!!!"

Sesshoumaru felt rage bubble up inside of himself, but he did as he was told in spite of himself. He swallowed his pride as he went out of the mansion and sat next to the stream. It took a mere few seconds before he growled out an order to Jaken, "Jaken, go inside and do as the tanuki tells you."

Jaken scrambled to get inside the mansion-something about Sesshoumaru's current

mannerisms warned him that he should not stay about.

Sesshoumaru sat, staring at the stream, alone, for several hours, thinking of how well he had known this place, this mansion that was once Naoko's.