Chapter Text
She looked so sad. He wanted to run, wanted to hug her, wanted to fight off whatever was causing her such pain.
“Inuyasha,” she whispered, voice thick with emotion. “I must return now to the netherworld.”
It made sense, but this extra time together was too short, had only rekindled his desire to hold onto her and never let go. “Do-” He swallowed, throat dry. “Do you have to?”
She held her hands apart, and a glowing lotus appeared between them. She turned and it floated gently to the water, the petals slowly drifting apart. They landed on the still waters of the pond with barely a ripple.
“The petals,” she said faintly, following his gaze. “Inuyasha, look into the water.”
He did as she said, kneeling down on the bank. Was it some kind of message? Was it a way for him to see her when she returned to the spirit world? Instead, he startled at the sight which greeted him from the water’s depths. A ball bouncing in front of him, further and further away across a bridge. He was chasing after it, just as he had… He remembered. His hands wrapped around the ball, hard won, before just as quickly abandoning it at the sight of his mother reaching for him. He had run to her, then, to the shelter of her arms. The memory changed – another moment, another embrace. She had held him so often as a child. It was the only place where he was safe from the villagers who taunted him, the people who wanted to hurt him. He was safe from the world.
“That’s me – us – back when I was still small,” he murmured.
He didn’t know if she could see what he could, hoped that she was sharing the memory. He’d somehow forced himself to forget just how bad it had been, and allowed himself to forget just how much he’d needed her.
“You remember,” his mother sighed, and he felt her arms close around him from behind, like it was a dream. “That’s good, Inuyasha. When you were a child, I held you that way – held you to my heart, just as I am doing now.” Emotion swelled in her voice. “Oh, my son. Let me hold you once last time.”
He could feel her warmth, smell her scent, and he sagged in response. She turned him gently, cradling him to her chest. His eyes burned and yet he hadn’t felt so peaceful in decades. He felt something, a twinge in his back, but ignored it. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, now that she was back. He could stay in her arms forever. He’d follow her to the spirit world, if she asked. There was no reason for him to stay.
His back started to burn, pain lacing up his shoulders, clearing away some of the fog that had settled in his mind. He gasped and shifted, trying to get away from the sensation.
“I’ll never let go,” she murmured. “Not now, not ever.”
A small part of him whispered that this wasn’t right, that something was deeply, deeply wrong…but he couldn’t seem to think. Could barely move. His limbs were leaden, his head unbearably heavy. He rested his brow on her shoulder and heaved a breath.
“Let me have you,” she whispered in his ear.
Miroku’s eyes bore into the faceless spirit holding Inuyasha as he pleaded silently for the hanyou to come to his senses. The more he focused on the scene around him, the more it slowly started to fade away. Chains materialized first on his arm then over the rest of his body, held taught by imps which suddenly surrounded him. Their demonic spirit swirled around him with sudden clarity. He could feel the chains biting into his flesh, the pain helping to bring his mind back to himself. A black cloud formed over the idyllic scene, revealing it for what it really was. They had never moved from the clearing where they faced Sesshomaru. It was all an illusion.
“Miroku!” a voice shouted in his ear, and he could feel the patter of several tiny feet climbing up his arm and landing on his face. “Snap out of it!”
With effort, he forced his eyes to focus on the black speck bouncing on his cheek.
“It’s me, Myoga!” the flea said louder. “Don’t let them drag you into a spell!” He felt the slight movement as the old flea jumped from his cheek back to his shoulder. “Who would’ve thought that Inuyasha’s own brother would turn out to be the one seeking the tomb. And what a foe he is!”
Miroku desperately tried to convey just the right mixture of distress, exasperation, and urgency through his eyes to get Myoga to shut up and help him!
“And you poor thing,” the flea continued, oblivious. “All chained up and immobilized. A powerful spell, too! Why, I bet you couldn’t even swat a… couldn’t swat a…”
The flea’s voice trailed off in distracted thought. A moment later, the pinprick bite on his cheek brought out an instinctual reaction in Miroku. He slapped away Myoga without even realizing he had moved. Huh. Well, whatever worked. He sat up slowly, fighting against the lingering wooziness of the spell. The imps around him scattered with little shrieks as he pulled the chains from their grasps. His head pounded and fog still clung to his mind, but all his attention turned to Inuyasha. Walking seemed like an unreachable feat, so he made it to his hands and knees and started to crawl towards where he had last seen the hanyou.
“Myoga,” he gasped as the spell freed his voice. “What’s going on? Who and what is that thing with Inuyasha?”
“No time to explain,” the flea said urgently from his shoulder, suddenly entirely focused. “This is some plot of Sesshomaru’s, his older half-brother. We must get to him!”
He could hear the voice of Inuyasha’s mother, gently cooing to him. Miroku crawled forward, careful to stay hidden behind a mound of earth. He could just make her out, her kimono fallen from her shoulders, Inuyasha’s head cradled to her bare chest. His back was to Miroku, giving him a clear view of the hand of the creature posing as his mother digging deeper and deeper into his back. Inuyasha was limp, and didn’t seem to even notice the increasingly incorporeal hand disappearing into his flesh. And yet the hand was placed right where the giant demon’s claw had struck, but the wound had disappeared. The lingering power in the air answered Miroku’s question – yes, this creature had healed Inuyasha. For some reason, that wasn’t particularly reassuring. As Miroku watched, Inuyasha’s head sunk further into the creature’s chest, and it was suddenly horrifically apparent that she was absorbing him into her own body! Miroku was about to jump forward, but Myoga hissed in his ear to wait.
“Stop!” a different, high-pitched voice cried out from somewhere off to the left, and another imp pushed his way through the illusion towards the creature. This imp was dressed in far finer robes than any of the others, and wore a hat reminiscent of a high priest’s. The staff in his hand was made from two twisting pieces of wood, which snaked upwards together until each split into intricate carvings of a different human face. “What are you doing?”
He struck the woman across her featureless face with his staff, leaving a deep gouge through her flesh, which parted bloodlessly. She seemed unfazed.
“No soul-sucking ‘til I tell you!” the imp commanded.
“Sorry, Master Jaken,” she replied.
“Jaken?” Miroku whispered, not taking his eyes off the scene.
“Sesshomaru’s henchman,” Myoga said from his shoulder. “Watch out for his Human Head staff.”
“You can have your meal from him later,” Jaken continued. “After he tells us how to find the tomb!”
Inuyasha shifted as he heard his mother crying out to him. Her voice echoed strangely around him, the only thing he could focus on. He tried to go to her, tried to open his eyes, but he was drifting in a sea of darkness. Every time he tried to focus on any one thought, it slipped away from him like smoke. There was a tightness around his chest and pain in his back, making it difficult to breathe.
“Your father’s tomb,” his mother’s voice sounded again, more insistent than ever. “Please remember. Where is your father’s tomb? Inuyasha, please!”
All that came to mind was a slight puzzled feeling. “I dunno…”
“Then think harder! Let me see into your heart.”
A light emerged in the darkness of his mind, illuminating a small black sphere.
“What’s that?” his mother asked pleadingly.
Somehow, the answer came to him. “Black pearl, on the right.” He had no idea what that meant, or where it had even come from. He frowned, something deep from his memories trying to push its way to the surface, but he just couldn’t quite grasp it…
“What black pearl? Where?” The imp demanded angrily, glaring at the unconscious Inuyasha as though commanding him to speak again. “We need more than that!” he ordered the creature. “Go deeper.”
“But Lord Jaken,” the creature begged. “If I delve deeper, his spirit will be broken.”
“So what? Do it!” Jaken snapped.
Miroku moved.
“Shh,” his mother’s voice filtered down to him, but she seemed so far away… “Inuyasha, shh…”
“Mother,” Inuyasha gasped, trying to fight his way to her through the darkness. “I can’t breathe…”
He pried his eyes open, and suddenly he was underwater, the tightness in his chest turning to a crushing pain. He cast about, floating in emptiness, before catching sight of the arms holding him there. His eyes followed them up, up to the surface of the water, where a faceless woman was kneeling on the grassy bank. Her face…she wasn’t- Her arms wrapped more firmly around him, squeezing the air from his lungs, crushing his ribs and winding their way around his throat.
“What’s taking so long?” Jaken demanded in his shrill voice as the creature enveloped herself around Inuyasha. “Get a move on, before Lord Sesshomaru comes back and-”
Miroku had no idea where his staff had landed when he cast it aside before, but he had no qualms stealing the imp’s. He kicked Jaken to the ground and ripped the thick wooden staff from the imp’s hands. He levelled it at the creature, wielding it like some combination of club and sword.
“Why you-” the imp started, but Miroku kicked him away again and jabbed towards the creature’s head with the staff.
The faceless woman startled and reared back, moving away from him with preternatural speed, dragging Inuyasha with her. Miroku could sense the conflicted spirit within her, and knew that she was no demon.
“Wait!” he called after her, giving chase. “Please, let him go! I beg you!”
“No!” She clutched Inuyasha closer to her chest, his head disappearing further into her body.
Miroku dove forward and grabbed a handful of Inuyasha’s hair, giving a strong pull. The hanyou’s head re-emerged slightly but the creature simply doubled her speed and Miroku lost his grip. He could feel the half-life moving within her, trying to latch onto Inuyasha’s soul like it was her only purpose. Like she was a spirit that had been ripped from her wandering path and forced to serve Sesshomaru’s whim. That made things significantly more difficult. Spirits generally only had one focus, and trying to shift them away from whatever that focus was tended not to go well.
“Awaken his soul!” Myoga hissed in his ear.
“How?” Miroku hissed back.
“She is the Un-Mother, a spirit born from the grief of mothers who lost their children. She seeks to fill the void within herself with the souls of others, but if you can reach his spirit, he will be released!”
He was no stranger to vengeful spirits, but with this one, Miroku had approximately no idea what he was doing. But that didn’t matter, because Inuyasha’s body was disappearing into the Un-Mother’s chest before his very eyes. She gathered his limbs to herself in a grotesquely maternal way, folding them into her constantly shifting form.
“That’s the way,” she cooed. “Soon, we’ll be together always.”
She was too far away to reach, and he couldn’t use the wind tunnel to separate them. Once again Miroku’s gaze found her reflection in the water of the illusion she’d cast, and the small boy in her arms. The small boy who looked exactly like a younger Inuyasha.
“The child?” Miroku asked urgently.
“A vision of the spirit she’s trying to capture from Inuyasha,” Myoga responded instantly.
Miroku ran at her, swinging the imp’s staff through the water separating them with a burst of spiritual power, and shattering the reflection. The Un-Mother shrieked and reeled back. Inuyasha fell from her chest with a groan of pain. She reached for him haltingly, but Miroku got there first. He dropped to Inuyasha's side, putting himself partially between him and the Un-Mother. Inuyasha was sitting up on his own, but was gasping for breath and seemed dazed.
“You alright?” Miroku asked, one hand on his arm, the other on his back.
Inuyasha blinked a few times, the world slowly melting back into place. The first thing he noticed was the strong grip supporting him. Then the smell of grass and Miroku and his mother, even though he knew… Damnit, he should’ve known!
“How dare you!” he shouted at her, shrugging off Miroku’s hands as he lunged forwards. “Damn you to hell! You pretended to be-” His voice broke, his anger filled with unshed tears. “I fell for it! I can’t believe I thought she was my-”
Again his voice failed, and Miroku shifted closer to him, putting his shoulder between the Un-Mother and Inuyasha’s predatory death-glare.
“The Un-Mother, sent by Sesshomaru and his servant Jaken,” he explained quickly and quietly.
Inuyasha whirled on him with a snarl. “What?”
He broke off with a groan, leaning ever so slightly into Miroku as he shuddered in pain and suppressed emotion. Miroku braced his shoulder, then tensed as he felt another demonic aura approaching. He picked up the imp’s staff with his other hand and grasped it firmly.
“Inuyasha,” Sesshomaru’s cold voice called from across the clearing. “I know where it is, now.”
“Sesshomaru!” Inuyasha shouted, but in a flash of youki his brother was right in front of him, lifting him up by a hand on his throat. “You bastard!”
“Of all the places for him to hide it,” Sesshomaru mused.
Miroku clambered to his feet and swung the Human Head staff at Sesshomaru’s face. The demon didn’t so much as glance at him, simply caught the staff in his hand and flung it effortlessly to the side. Miroku let go just in time to avoid being flung with it, but then the heel of Sesshomaru’s hand collided sharply with his shoulder, the force of demonic strength behind the blow. He flew through the air at the force of the impact and landed hard on the ground. He gasped for air from the impact, but as much as it had hurt, he knew from bitter experience that a demon that powerful was capable of much, much worse. Sesshomaru must not have been even bothering to kill him.
“All this time,” the demon continued as though he’d never been interrupted, glaring coolly at Inuyasha. “Right beneath my very nose – or rather, right above yours. Father was determined to keep it a secret, even from me.”
Inuyasha’s eyes darted from Miroku, who was picking himself off the ground, back to his deranged brother. “What’re you talking about? You’re making no sense at all!”
Sesshomaru chuckled humourlessly. “Well then, little brother. Since it was obviously done without your knowledge, how would you like to come with me and find out?”
He raised his other hand to Inuyasha’s face and extended two fingers to hover in front of the hanyou’s right eye. Tiny jolts of power surged from his claws into the eye, burning and crackling with energy. Inuyasha cried out, trying to get away, but then he felt something deep within his head move. Sesshomaru was ripping out his eye! What the hell? But his asshole brother kept pulling, and even as the vision in his right eye went dark, he saw a small black sphere float out from inside it. A black pearl? Something strongly familiar surged through him at the sight, though he still couldn’t put a name to it.
Sesshomaru released him carelessly and he thudded to the ground. His eye burned and throbbed and he cupped it with his hand, trying to quell the splitting headache. He felt Miroku fall to his knees next to him, felt the firm human hands brush over his shoulders as he murmured a gentle reassurance. Like the monk had any reason to think that anything about this would be okay.
“No wonder searching for it underground was useless,” Sesshomaru was saying. Inuyasha sat up, Miroku a steady presence behind him. “Seeing, yet never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector. What a clever hiding place.”
Inuyasha snarled at him, ears flat against his head. He gingerly removed the hand over his right eye, but it made no difference. He could see nothing from it. The pain was muted by a fresh wave of fury. “And all this for something like that? You pretended she was my mother!”
Miroku winced at the threat of tears in Inuyasha’s voice. He tightened his grip on the hanyou’s shoulder, hoping to convey that he was there. He looked beyond Sesshomaru, to where the Un-Mother lay trembling on the ground.
“You’re not amused?” Sesshomaru sniffed delicately.
“No I’m not, you bastard!”
Inuyasha leapt for him. Sesshomaru easily avoided the swipe of Inuyasha’s claws and launched into the sky with youkai speed. He reached out a hand with a quiet “Die!” and cast his light-whip towards Inuyasha. It snapped against the ground and Inuyasha jumped back, but Miroku was right behind him, and he couldn’t let the human- Miroku jumped back as well, out of range for the moment, but Inuyasha’s focus on Sesshomaru was broken.
The whip connected with his chest, sending him flying back to the ground, only the protective robe of the Fire Rat keeping him from being ripped in two. He saw Sesshomaru lash out again, knew he couldn’t get away in time, but then another body flung itself in front of him. For a sickening moment he thought it was Miroku, that the stupid human had tried to save him and died in the attempt, but… The blank face of the Un-Mother hovered before his for a heartbeat before her body exploded under the force of Sesshomaru’s whip. Bits of her scattered in all directions and her tattered kimono floated down like autumn leaves. A small piece landed on Inuyasha’s shoulder and he stared at it, conflicting emotions surging in his chest.
“She gave her life to protect you,” Miroku’s soft voice sounded behind him.
“Spirit or not, she still had a mother’s heart,” Myoga tutted “She couldn’t help but try to protect her child.”
“My boy…” His mother’s voice came hauntingly from the blank face lying before him. A snap of Sesshomaru’s whip and she was gone.
Inuyasha’s lips pulled into a snarl. He felt Miroku come to stand next to him, one hand tugging gently at the mala beads at his wrist. Violet eyes met amber in a silent question. Inuyasha was surprised at how easily he could read the monk’s expression, but he shook his head. He would take care of Sesshomaru himself! Besides, he wanted his eye back.
“Jaken,” Sesshomaru called out, unaware or uncaring of whatever was going on with Inuyasha. “Jaken!”
“Aye, my lord!” The imp appeared, Human Head staff back in his hand. He raised the staff to Sesshomaru, who took it with a small, predatory grin.
“At last, the moment has come.”
He let the black pearl drop to the ground and brought the blunt end of the staff down on top of it. The pearl shook and began to emanate a spiritual pink light. One of the two faces on the staff, that of an old man, suddenly animated and began to cackle. A flash of pink light travelled through the air next to Sesshomaru and then exploded into a swirling black vortex. Inuyasha heard Miroku’s heartbeat jump, but this was no void from a wind tunnel. Even though he’d never seen one before, Inuyasha knew a doorway to another world when it was in front of him. Sesshomaru took a step towards it without a word, and then he and his imp disappeared from sight.
“The portal!” Myoga cried, jumping onto Inuyasha’s shoulder. “We must move quickly before it’s closed, or else Sesshomaru will take your father’s treasure!”
Inuyasha didn’t budge. “Let ‘im. What do I care?”
“But sire!”
Inuyasha pushed angrily to his feet. “But I never said I’m not going in there.” He reached for the scrap of the Un-Mother’s kimono on his shoulder, still laden with his mother’s scent. Unforgivable. “Say your prayers, Sesshomaru. You’re dead!” He turned to his left. “Miroku, you stay here. It’s too dangerous for-”
The monk was no longer beside him. Instead, his eyes snapped to the portal, where Miroku was busy climbing inside. The ridiculous human barely paused as he called over his shoulder “Better hurry!”
“Hey!” Inuyasha took a step forward, but it was too late. Miroku was gone. With a growl, he jumped into the portal after this idiotic human. Suddenly he was floating, the red swirling walls of another world all around him. He ignored it all in favour of catching up to Miroku, slowly floating in front of him. His momentum brought him to the monk’s side in no time. He reached out and snagged one arm around Miroku’s waist, making sure they wouldn’t get separated in this weird hell-hole.
“Hey, quick question,” he growled low in his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
The monk just let out a quiet chuckle.
“You realize Sesshomaru’s gonna be there,” he said flatly.
“That’s the point,” Miroku said like it was obvious. “No one should get away with what he did to you!”
His voice was calm with a steely edge. He spoke with such certainty that for a moment, all Inuyasha could wonder was why this human cared so much. Then suddenly the world spun and re-emerged as a new landscape, a barren rocky wasteland with a giant armoured skeleton before them, rising through the mist like a mountain. It sat there in the approximate shape of a human, but the gargantuan dog’s skull sitting atop the spine said differently. Inuyasha’s breath caught in his throat as he realized where they were.
A shrill cry came from behind them and Inuyasha spun around midair, lips pulled back in a snarl. A giant birdlike skeleton was flying towards them on feathered wings. Inuyasha lifted his claws, not in the mood for more surprises. But the bird ducked underneath them then pulled up, catching them on its back. Inuyasha exchanged a startled look with Miroku and they both grimaced, neither of them about to question a free ride. The bird swooped up to pass by the giant skull.
“Father,” Inuyasha breathed, marvelling at the sheer size of the desiccated body.
“His tomb?” Miroku asked, his eyes quizzically scanning over the youkai bones.
“What else would this be?” Inuyasha snapped.
Miroku ignored the raw anger in Inuyasha’s voice. “He must have been quite the intimidating presence.”
“It’s true,” Myoga said from where he clung onto Inuyasha’s nenju beads. “Lord Tōga, the Inu no Taishō, was of incomparable stature. This is his truest form, undisguised, and the treasured sword lies embedded in his bones. That is what Lord Sesshomaru is after.”
Inuyasha pressed his lips together and ignored the questioning look from Miroku. He really didn’t want to talk about it. The bird was making a slow pass around his father’s skull, clearly waiting for them to make their move. Inuyasha wrapped his arm tighter around Miroku’s waist and launched them off the bird’s back. They landed with a thud on the top of the skull.
Inuyasha listened for a moment to search for Sesshomaru’s heartbeat, then pointed down to the inside of the skeleton. Miroku nodded. They clambered down the brow of the skull and Inuyasha poked his head into one of the gaping eye holes. Even though it would be big enough to squeeze through, Inuyasha turned and silently reached out a hand to Miroku instead. After the barest hesitation, Miroku climbed onto Inuyasha’s back. The hanyou dug his claws into the bone of his father’s upper jaw and swung them through the giant teeth – teeth that were as tall as they were. Inuyasha leapt off the inside of the lower jaw, landing on one of the neck bones. He bounced back and forth, from spine to the inside of his father’s chest armour until they reached the ribcage. Far below, he saw Sesshomaru standing in a pile of smaller demon and animal bones. Bones of creatures that his father had devoured before his death. Inuyasha growled to himself, quashing the strangled feelings which rose at the thought of where he was standing. He landed on a rib and Miroku slid off his back, looking at him with questioning eyes.
“Sesshomaru!” he shouted, not waiting for his brother to turn before flying at him. “We’re not finished yet!”
Sesshomaru moved in a flash and Inuyasha crashed into the floor of smaller bones piled in what would have been his father's belly. Sesshomaru was nowhere to be seen.
“Damn!” he growled. “Where did you go, you asshole?!”
His ears picked up Sesshomaru’s heartbeat just as he felt the presence of his brother’s youki. He spun around, seeing Sesshomaru standing on one of the giant ribs. Inuyasha’s stomach clenched as he realized how close his brother was to Miroku – close enough that if his brother went for the human, he would have no way of getting there in time. Luckily, Sesshomaru wasn’t in the habit of giving a damn about humans.
“Be more respectful,” he lectured Inuyasha. “This is our father’s tomb.”
“Look who’s talking!” he shot back, keeping all his brother’s attention on him. “You’re the one here robbing his grave! Why not respect him by leaving?”
“Lord Inuyasha!” Myoga was pulling on his necklace. “Look behind you!”
“Piss off,” he snarled at the flea, not moving a muscle.
“Master, you must!”
He was loathed to let Sesshomaru out of his sight, but there was urgency in Myoga’s voice.
“Do you see it?” the flea yammered as he glanced quickly behind his shoulder. “The blade from your father’s fang, Tessaiga!”
Inuyasha blinked at the rusty old sword sticking out of the ornate golden pedestal, sitting in the middle of the sea of bones. In the twisting metal strands seemingly growing from behind the pedestal, a tattered old sheath made from wood and leather was suspended. His father’s greatest weapon, the treasure he had taken to his grave. It was…a shit-looking sword, honestly.
“You mean that old thing?” Inuyasha asked incredulously, gesturing at the blade with one hand as he fixed his eyes back on Sesshomaru. “What a piece of junk! You couldn’t even cut wet paper with that lousy thing.”
“Lord Inuyasha, you must draw the sword – please!” Myoga spun back around, glaring at Sesshomaru from Inuyasha’s shoulder. “And you, Lord Sesshomaru, you couldn’t pull it out, could you?”
Great, just taunt the angry demon! Inuyasha shot an incredulous look at the old flea, but the words also intrigued him. Had Sesshomaru tried to take the sword? Why, first of all. But also, interesting. He couldn’t pull the sword from where it was stuck in the pedestal?
“Do you mean to say that Inuyasha can?” Sesshomaru’s voice was devoid of emotion, but Inuyasha saw the hunger in his eyes. He wanted the sword, and he was pissed that he couldn’t get it. Was it sealed there, somehow?
“But of course!” Myoga insisted. “It was always intended that Lord Inuyasha should inherit it. He-”
Myoga seemed to finally notice the combined weight of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha’s glares and began backing away, inching his way behind Inuyasha’s neck.
“He was entrusted with the tomb, wasn’t he?” Myoga continued with significantly less bluster. “That should be proof enough, if you ask me.” He swatted at Inuyasha’s neck with tiny hands. “Now hurry and claim what’s yours!”
“Entrusted? Inheritance?” Inuyasha scoffed. “For all I care he can keep the rusty piece of junk.” He turned to Sesshomaru. “I only care about the other stuff. You’ve insulted me once too often! Good thing you’re in a grave, ‘cause you’re gonna die!”
He leapt at Sesshomaru but was once again met with empty air, his brother’s taunt floating down behind him. “Now, was that aimed at me?”
He landed lightly on the bones and turned back to Inuyasha just in time to meet his claws. He danced away from the increasingly desperate swings. Sesshomaru reached the other side of the ribcage and pushed off, Inuyasha’s fist sailing past him and connecting with the bone hard enough to send a shock wave rattling up the skeleton. Chunks of old bone splintered from the rib and landed beside Inuyasha as he fell.
“Damn!”
Sesshomaru landed lightly behind him. “Such a weak, childish attack.”
“Master Inuyasha, you can’t fight unarmed,” Myoga hissed in his ear. “The sword! Get the sword!”
“You, shut up!”
“Inuyasha!” Miroku called down from his perch on a rib. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both looked up in surprise, both having forgotten the human’s presence. “Get the sword! If you can retrieve it when Sesshomaru couldn’t, his pride will be in shreds. Aim your attack at his pride!”
Inuyasha aimed a toothy grin at Sesshomaru, drawing the deadly focus back to himself. “I’ll do it, if only to see the stupid look on your stupid face.” He chuckled, jumping over to the golden pedestal, grasping the leather-bound hilt of the sword. “This is gonna be more fun than I thought.”
He pulled. Nothing happened. He pulled harder. The sword moved from side to side, rattling from the exertion, but the tip of the blade remained firmly embedded in the pedestal. A circle of white light formed around the tip, but nothing else moved. Inuyasha could feel the vague power of a seal keeping it in place. A seal that wasn’t breaking for him. So much for that. He could hear Miroku calling down encouragements, and Myoga saying something about true inheritance, but he could only focus on the blood rushing in his ears. He pulled as hard as he could, dropping all pretense of it being easy. His muscles burned along his shoulders and back but still the sword didn’t budge. Eventually, even the light faded away. He was left with nothing but a smoking rusty sword still wedged into the pedestal.
“Hey,” Inuyasha said, ears flattening on his head.
“Yes?” Myoga’s tentative voice came from his shoulder, and Inuyasha snagged the flea firmly between his finger and thumb.
“I couldn’t pull the sword out, could I?” he asked with barely contained rage.
“Not…really…no.”
“Are you done?” Sesshomaru asked flatly, snatching Inuyasha’s attention. “I am.”
He pushed off the rib and flew at Inuyasha, who barely managed to dodge the first swipe of his claws. Fuck this mess. Inuyasha ran towards one of the walls of ribs, just wanting to get Miroku and get out of there! But Sesshomaru was flying through the air beside him. A clawed hand grasped his shoulder, and suddenly he was slammed against one of the lower ribs hard enough to see stars. The air was driven from his lungs, and Inuyasha was pinned as much by the stunning blow as by the hand digging into his shoulder.
“I don’t think you’ve met my poisoned claws,” Sesshomaru remarked, summoning a haze of glowing green poison around his fingers.
Inuyasha flung himself to the side and watched in horror as the rib he’d been pinned against gained a gaping, melting hole from the sizzling poison. Half of him laughed and crowed in victory, but a smaller voice – which had begun to sound distinctly like Miroku – whispered that that was way too close.
Sesshomaru’s face appeared beside his, casually asking “Running?”
Sesshomaru leapt into the air and down came his light-whip, catching Inuyasha’s arm then his chest in two rapid strikes. Once again, his robe saved him, but the force still sent him flying backwards. He heard a cackling from his left, saw Sesshomaru’s imp raise his staff above his head. Another lash from the whip brought his attention back to his brother.
Miroku had decided that enough was enough. He knew that Inuyasha wanted to fight his brother himself, and he could respect that, but hell! Things did not look good. Sesshomaru was barely even fighting, obviously toying with Inuyasha, and now Jaken was getting ready to unleash something from the Human Head staff. Miroku jumped off the rib and landed firmly on Jaken. He was pretty sure he hadn’t killed the little imp. Sure enough, Jaken clambered back to his feet as soon as Miroku stepped off him, not even fazed.
“You coward,” Miroku hissed, putting himself between Jaken and Inuyasha. It was the least he could do. Besides, Sesshomaru might be well beyond the demons that Miroku could actually fight, but he would have no problem taking down this imp, even without his weapon.
“Why you-” Jaken swung the staff but Miroku easily caught it in his hands.
The imp was strong for his diminutive size, sure enough, but Miroku was pissed. He tried to yank the staff from Jaken’s hand, lifting the imp up bodily as he did so, but a burst of flames from the staff sent him scrambling back.
The flames caught Inuyasha’s eye and he called out to Miroku, but a swift punch to the gut from Sesshomaru stole his voice. He jumped back from the next assault from the light-whip, forced to trust that Miroku could take care of himself.
“What’s the matter?” Jaken taunted, waving the staff madly around his head. “Is that all you got?”
“Not even close," Miroku hissed.
He ripped off his mala beads, opening the wind tunnel, but he knew right away that it was a mistake. Jaken jumped back, putting countless bones between himself and the growing force of the void. Miroku sucked in a good dozen skulls – he couldn’t tell if they were demon or human – but Jaken had dug his staff into the ground and was stuck fast. As Miroku moved the wind tunnel further up, trying to avoid sucking in the entire bed of bones, the ancient ribs of Inuyasha’s father began to crack and groan. It was no use. If he wasn’t careful, he would bring the entire skeleton down around them – and besides, he was pretty sure it was rude to absorb the bones of your friend’s father. Inuyasha might not be too thrilled with him if he did so.
He closed the wind tunnel and stumbled back a few steps. He almost tripped over the pedestal and instinctively grabbed onto the hilt of the sword to break his fall. The metal strands behind the pedestal vibrated with the impact and he vaguely heard the wooden sheath clatter to the ground. Miroku saw Sesshomaru staring at him, standing over Inuyasha with his whip at the ready. Inuyasha was staring, too, his ears flat against his head and eyes wide. He looked afraid. Miroku didn't who it was for.
As Sesshomaru turned more toward Miroku, Inuyasha took his chance and leapt with a yell. Sesshomaru’s claws stopped him midair, digging deep into his abdomen. Inuyasha’s body crumpled around the blow and he dropped to a crouch, clutching his middle.
“The time has come,” Sesshomaru remarked coolly, raising his hand which was glowing with poison. “Die.”
Miroku didn’t think, just pulled as he took a step forward, subconsciously thinking of wielding his staff. All he could focus on was how to get Sesshomaru away from Inuyasha, to keep those poison claws from hitting their mark. But then there was the slightest ‘shing’ of metal, and the arm which held the sword suddenly swung freely. Miroku looked down at the sword in his hand, frozen to the spot. “Huh.”
He looked up to see Sesshomaru frozen as well, his arm still poised to strike but the poison gone from his claws. He looked stunned. Inuyasha’s mouth gaped open. No one moved.
“Uh,” Miroku started, suddenly feeling very awkward. “I’ll admit, I was not expecting that.” His gaze darted from the sword to Inuyasha’s stunned expression to the cold fury building in Sesshomaru’s eyes. “Uh…my apologies.”