Chronicles of the West

Chapter One Hundred One

Ayeka ran into the clearing, taking in the sight in an instant. That roar could only mean something terrible was happening. She hurled her sword like a spear, putting every ounce of strength behind her arm, praying it would work. "Not. My. Child!". She sank to her knees, bracing her shaking arms in the water.

The solid, sickly thunk of it hitting Sero seemed loud. He slumped over Tohru's little form. and Amari, barely moving reached out and pulled her away from him. His large grotesquely broken wing dragging behind him as he tried to use himself as a shield. Tohru whimpered against him, and he forced her face away from the sight.

Victor lowered his hands and sighed sadly, trudging to the fallen foe. He knelt beside Sero, an unsteady hand reached out to smooth familiar hair from a once dear face. Sightless eyes bulged, staring upwards. Victor turned his head away as his palm descended, closing those eyes forever.

"Find peace Alastair" he whispered. Then he rose feeling a small measure of grief, but also relief. It was ending. This mad dream of Alastair's that had become an endless nightmare. It was unraveling with the violent ferocity that Victor had once warned him of.

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Ayeka lifted fearful green eyes to her mate and she read the pure relief there. She'd made it. Just made it. Wounded and panting, but she'd made it. Then she was hit from behind by a heavy body and fell forward into the muddy water. The battle was spilling in around them. Sesshoumaru leapt forward to stand over his dazed mate.

She blinked upwards at the wet demon above her. His arm raised in a powerful block as combat continued. Ayeka scrambled to her feet, catching her breath in great gulps. Once he was satisfied that she was shaken but unharmed, Sesshoumaru turned back to the matter at hand.

He snarled viciously at the one that had dared stand in his way when his pup was in danger. He leapt at the same time Inuyasha did. The brothers passed in the air, Inuyasha moving to stand guard near Ayeka, his sword joining hers in the fray.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes on his opponent, "This ends now". He attacked with a speed and ferocity unmatched. Ridia blocked and defended as best he could, impressively holding his own against the legendary sword.

Fight as he might, he was being forced to retreat as Sesshoumaru rained thunderous blows down on him. Unable to summon his elemental powers, Ridia began to show weakness. Sesshoumaru, now moving much faster than he.

With a sharp snarl, Sesshoumaru hit his blade and sent it spiraling into the air. Ridia watched it descend to earth and sink into the soil with a hard metallic bite. "Keep your eyes on your enemy" Sesshoumaru barked and lashed out with his claws, digging deep furrows into the pale flesh of Ridia's cheek.

Ridia wasn't quite ready to admit defeat however. He might not have elemental powers presently but he had something else. Light burst from his hands and the stinging scent of ozone filled the clearing. The earth beneath Sesshoumaru surged upwards like a rogue wave.

It covered the stoic demon and held him fast. Ridia panted and lowered his hands, only to touch his cheek. He stared at his bloodied fingertips. "One would think of all people, that you would not wish to mar such a face" he said.

Taima had struggled to her feet and stumbled towards the two tall men. Sesshoumaru dealt a vicious blow to Ridia that sent him flying backwards to sprawl in the mud. Taima loomed over him, her hair dripping, her pale form shaking from chill and exhaustion and no small amount of rage.

Ridia glanced up at her in question. She'd moved so silently. Her purification powers leapt from her fingertips, dancing against his flesh. He hissed and tried to draw away but found that he could not. As he had cleverly limited the motion of his enemies, so had she.

She knelt over him and growled, Sesshoumaru now watching carefully. "Your putrid emotions are making me sick" she spat at Ridia, "I shall cleave from you, the source". Her glowing hand sank into his chest as though it were water and he roared and struggled, to no avail. Her fingers closed around the pumping organ and she wrenched it free.

The anguished scream tearing through the air. That a demon would tear a beating heart out was not unusual, but no one had ever thought Taima to be the one to do it. She stared at the heart as it twitched in her bloody hand, tiny spurts of lifeblood spraying from it, as it tried to continue with it's purpose.

Her clawed hand snapped shut like a steel trap and the heart was destroyed. She then touched Ridia's forehead, "In peace go to a better place". His body began to crumble to dust and the light of his soul floated above her, light and dark swirling as it fought itself.

Lost. Lifting two fingers towards it she spoke again, "Be at peace!". The soul shone a brilliant white and shot skyward and away. The fight had taken a good deal of her strength from her and she slumped to the ground. She had precious little power left in her and she needed every ounce of it.
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Satoru had seen enough, he rushed forward and shoved Josin back. The fiend tried to take flight but Sesshoumaru's whip lashed out and removed his wings. Josin shrieked in pain and indignation, snarling at them, "You killed Ridia, and you killed Sero, I shall slay you all!".

Satoru grabbed him suddenly, pulling him into his embrace, his physical strength greater than his opponent's. "I will save you now" he whispered. A lover's embrace it seemed, a killing embrace it was. Josin lashing out at the taller demon, slashing at his flesh, pummeling his broad chest. Fangs biting deep. Satoru locked eyes with Victor, "Forgive me, I know no other way" he whispered.

His power rose around them, and all of Satoru's purification swept through them, Josin's elemental powers amplifying it, and it licked like fire long Satoru's body. "No!" Victor cried and rushed forward but Inuyasha caught him in a hard grip, "You'll be killed".

Inuyasha, himself wanted to stop this, knowing that his own child might very well be devoured along with the enemy. He'd fight Josin a thousand times over and not complain if he could prevent that. Satoru's handsome features furrowed as his pain grew worse but the more he hurt the tighter he held Josin to him. Refusing to release him.

Suddenly Taima was there behind Josin, pressing her thin form to his back, her arms stealing around him. Satoru felt his pain lessen and opened his eyes seeing his sister there. "Taima…what?" he began but she shook her head. "It's time Satoru. He cannot be killed by you, or me….he can only be sealed. And that would mean sealing yourself away" she said, "Are you ready to do that…when you've just begun to live again?".

Her hands slid beneath his, removing them from the struggling form. Her wide golden eyes fell on Satoru and then Ryu and Silvana behind him. "Now is that time to know if you are strong enough to do what needs to be done" she told them. "I shall hold him, and I will seal him. Then Satoru you must use your holy powers and Silvana and Ryu the elemental energies to destroy what remains. The souls must be reclaimed after that."

Satoru shouted his protestations, the others voicing their own. "Please!" Taima cried out, "I can't hold on much longer, this is the only way. Satoru, I must be the catalyst of his doom". Satoru shook with dread for what she asked of him, knowing she was right, wishing she was wrong.

Sesshoumaru shook his head sadly. This is what had haunted her, plagued her for so long. Understanding was a hard thing to bear at times, how long had she seen her own death at the hands of those she loved most? Such a light to the world and unable to shine, until the very end. Satoru began the chants to seal them, and Sesshoumaru felt the odd tug in his heart. Grief, he had not felt in for many years.

Then the telltale pulse of the Tenseiga drew his attention. Now he understood what would occur, and he didn't like it. "I must have a part of this back now brother" Taima told Satoru, "To make certain this is done". A soft glow detached itself from Satoru, a shimmering outline of his sister and it began to fade as a portion of it resumed it's place within him.

When Satoru's voice fell silent, unable to utter the final words, Taima's voice rang from his body, her split soul shining in both forms. With his body and her own strength, she finished the sealing, turning pleading eyes to Ryu and Silvana. Her power greatly diminished to the outside world. Only she and Josin existed in the pain filled sphere of her power.

"I can't do it" Ryu whispered. Silvana saw Taima's eyes and knew this was the only way, much as it pained her. If they didn't hurry, Josin might break free, Taima was weakening and she would not live regardless. Her sacrifice had to be for something.

Calling up her powers she latched onto Ryu channeling her energies. They snapped and swirled around the embracing figures and Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs, coming to see what was happening. The bodies in the clearing changing in the light and wind. Condensing, twisting, compressing….slowly fusing.


The elemental power made Josin's might null, it subdued him, even his small pulses of energy. Taima steeled herself and Sesshoumaru stepped forward, unsheathing Tenseiga. With his mouth set in a grim line he thrust the shining blade through both bodies. The blue power hummed around them and Josin's mouth opened in a silent scream. Taima drew him even closer to herself.

The stolen and lost soul of Reny lifting from the created body, wavering in the air. Taima latched onto the soul and slowly absorbed it within herself, the tendrils of her split soul retuning along with it. Sesshoumaru locked gazes with her in that last moment.

Feeling a regret deeper and wider than any ocean. Her own eyes reflected love, forgiveness, and relief. Her painful existence was finished, her purpose served. Her loved ones saved. "Forgive me" she whispered and her words echoed through the clearing and then the wind howled. There was a blinding flash of light and they averted their eyes from it's glaring glory.

What was left in the clearing was as heartbreaking as it was beautiful. Like a figure carved in ice was Taima's body, her face and within, locked in combat, were two souls. She would take him with her to the grave. "Now Ryu" Sesshoumaru uttered.

Ryu roared his denial even as Silvana's energies hurtled at the figure, shattering it into countless pieces, the souls within equally shattered, never to be put back together. They stood in the silence as created beings ceased fighting, staring upward as shimmering fragments rained down on them.

The light gradually fading to the previous dark gray of the storm. On the ground, half submerged in the dirtied water and marred with blood was a stone. It shimmered softly as though there was life within it, then it flickered and went dark. Clear as water. Pure and undiluted.

For long minutes silence ruled all broken only by the steady drone of rain. No one knew what to say, what to do. Battle it seemed was forgotten, lost in the magnitude of what had just occurred. They sky seemed infinitely darker now, though winged bodies no longer circled. The storm raged on, the droplets more chilled. Wind howled in the treetops, like an eerily mournful song. A sound and feeling that none of them could escape.

Inuyasha felt his heart wrench within his chest, a painful ache that made it hard to breathe. He'd lost a pup. His legs shook and it took every ounce of strength to keep them under him. His eyes slid to his mate. Kagome seemed frozen in place, her face deathly pale. Her small frame shook with inner tremors that made her teeth chatter.

Inuyasha moved to her side but she side stepped him, moving closer to the stone. She couldn't believe that her daughter, one of her own was lost to her. It was not possible, it was unfathomable. Reality fell away from her. Then a quavering whisper that rose into a soul wrenching scream from Kagome, and she hit the ground hard on her knees reaching for the stone. "Taima!".

Inuyasha was beside her in an instant gathering her against him, pushing drenched locks from her pale face, tucking her head against his shoulder. His vision swam and he found he couldn't speak, the lump in his throat too large, too painful. He held her as those choked sounds tumbled from her lips, the tears from her eyes. Inuyasha could not recall feeling such an intense pain. Or feeling so damned helpless.

Kagome shifted against him, struggling to get an arm free of him. Her hand moved through the cold water, to clutch the stone tight against her palm. It was all she had left now, all that had once been Taima. The child she had failed, the child she had cursed to suffer with her own miko blood. Kagome's guilt consumed her and she sobbed.

Sesshoumaru gathered his scattered thoughts and turned to look at the remaining enemy. They stood as if in a daze. They had no masters now, no keepers. No pain came from disobedience. There was only the odd heavy hum of the rain and the silence behind it.

Sesshoumaru's golden gaze colder than any ice flow found in far off oceans. "Run" he told them, "Run far away and pray you leave japan before I find you". He wanted to slaughter them where they stood, but the more rational part of his understood that they were victims as well. However, victims or not, they had fought and men had been lost, his niece had been lost. His mercy was stretched thin as it was.

He'd not soil Taima's sacrifice of love with hateful pride. No, he'd not do that. The created beings that fled would be allowed passage, those remaining would be killed. He'd made it clear, sadly, the majority chose death over life. They stood silent and still, waiting. He cocked his head in question.

"We are half creatures, with half lives" one said to him and the stoic lord turned to eye him. "Better to die with tattered honor than have a shadow of life with none at all. We can't go home, we can't be loved". Inuyasha untangled himself from his weeping mate and rose.

"You want to end it?" he asked. Western soldiers and allies moved from the creations. Inuyasha pointed his fang at them all. "I can help you with that". His windscar tore across the field, like bars of fire, gouging deep, scarring the earth. Soil, water and life scattered to the four winds in a moment of blind pain. A moment of understanding. These ones, at least were not pathetic looking children.

Behind him, the pink swirling of miko powers lifted in the air and he cast a glance back over his shoulder at Kagome. She stood, head down, fist closed around the stone. She was purifying whatever else might be hidden in that stone, she was taking no chances.

She slumped towards the ground and Satoru, injured though he was caught his mother against him. Her eyes rolled back and she lost consiousness, the stone tumbling from her limp fingers. Satoru stared down at his mother's stricken features. Feeling pain so sharp and hot lance through his heart. He had failed and his sister had died. What manner of man was he? Would those close to his heart he condemned forever?

Despite the rain, a strange luminous fog rolled into the clearing. Soldiers looked around as if dazed. Some wandering off into the strange swirling mist, only to be dragged back by concerned friends. The air had a cloyingly sweet scent, one that the tender inu noses were loathe to stand against.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, what he last been thinking of? Something was not right in this place. He barked orders to dazed looking soldiers. He let his youki flare and awareness came back to them all. "Return to the west, there is some force at work here" he barked.

He watched the spheres of his soldiers rise into the air, full powers restored. When he was satisfied that no one remained, he pulled Ayeka to him and curled himself around her. Then he shot upwards and westward at dizzying speeds.