The Girl Sesshomaru Loved

Chapter XII: Into the Fray

Anyone know what Kohaku's weapon is called? It is like some sort of sickle on a chain.

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Sesshomaru sat with his back against the side of the cavern wall surveying his sleeping ‘companions’. His brother, InuYasha, was sleeping beside Kagome, his arm curled protectively on the rocky floor just above her head. Kagome in turn had the little Kitsune snuggled up against her. Sango lay next to Kagome, protectively closing the distance so that Kouga was prevented from coming close to Kagome. Sango held her Hirakotsu on her other side, thus preventing Miroku from coming close to her. Kirara held a similar position snuggled on Sango’s ankles between her and Miroku. Sesshomaru dwelled briefly on the protective nature of everyone, and looked down to his right side. Rin lay sleeping quietly with her head on his leg. His eyes grew soft as he gazed down at the tiny human. He looked back up at the other sleepers and his eyes narrowed as he saw Kouga on the other end of the cave. Kouga, too, was awake, and gazing with his eyelids half closed at the sleeping form of Arena. Sesshomaru did not like the look in his eyes.

30 Hours Later:

Kagome and InuYasha stopped their heated discussion about breakfast rations when they heard a gasp come from behind them. InuYasha thought it was Sesshomaru scoffing at him and was just getting a snarky comment ready when he saw Sango and Kagome hurry to a newly awakened Arena. Everyone seemed very interested to know how Arena was doing. After all, she had slept for a day and a half.

“Arena, are you okay?” Shippou asked.

“I think so, I'm kind of hungry actually.” Arena answered looking around in a daze.

“Arena, why were you out for so long?” Miroku asked, and when he saw the blank look on her face he continued “you have been asleep for almost 30 hours!” Arena didn’t look shocked.

“I’m not surprised. After all, the wolf fellow is a demon. It takes more energy to heal demons than humans. It is of little concern to me. I have been out for much longer before.”

“Well why didn’t you think of that before you healed the moron!” InuYasha yelled. “Now we have had to just sit around doing nothing for a day and a half!”

“You mean you haven’t done anything at all while I have slept?”

“What could we do without you, Arena. We are lost without you!” Shippou said. Arena smiled at the frankness of the little fox cub. Miroku and Sango appeared with some food for her to replenish her strength. As she wolfed the food down gratefully she thought about Miroku’s question. She was interrupted by another heated discussion, this time between Kouga and InuYasha.

“What do mean she has been unconscious for much longer? As if! There are no demons more powerful than I am. This is ridiculous.” Kouga growled at InuYasha, who had apparently been teasing the wolf demon about Arena's comment about her recovery time.

“You fool…” InuYasha started. Everyone in turn tuned them out. Sesshomaru smiled to himself, remembering how long Arena had taken to recover after healing him. However, it was little concern of his to set the wolf straight. He had no doubt in his mind that the wolf demon’s strength was nowhere near his own. He was brought back out of his reverie by the feel of eyes upon him. He looked up and met the contemplative gaze of Arena. Sesshomaru wondered what she could be thinking. She looked quite deep in thought. He unconsciously narrowed his eyes at her and she turned her gaze away.

Later that day the group decided it was time to go out of the caves to try and find some more food. Arena approached Kagome.

“Is the plan still to try and find the source of the rift?” Arena asked Kagome.

“I believe so…” before Kagome could continue Kouga came up to her and grasped her hand. InuYasha was busy hitting Shippou on the head for stealing his cookie and didn’t notice. Sesshomaru, however, couldn’t help but be curious at what the wolf had in mind.

“Kagome, I am sorry, but I have come to a very important conclusion about us.” Kouga looked deeply into her eyes. Sesshomaru had no love for his brother, but he could obviously tell that Kagome was in love with InuYasha, and that Kouga in turn fancied Kagome.

“Leave the human alone, Kouga.” Sesshomaru glared at him.

“Mind your own business, Sesshomaru! Gods, you are just like your bloody brother.” Sesshomaru made to unsheathe Tokijin as Kouga turned to Arena. Sesshomaru’s eyes widened with realization at what Kouga was doing.

“Lady Arena, thank you so much for healing me. I have come to realize that you are exceedingly valuable. And since Kagome has not become smart enough to realize that she should love me, well, Arena you are now…” Kouga was held back from finishing his sentence when Sesshomaru left his sword where it was and punched Kouga in his jaw sending him flying across the cavern.

“Nice right hook!” Sango marvelled.

“It’s about time someone did that. That guy was getting so annoying.” Miroku said.

“Thanks Sesshomaru, I would’ve done that if you hadn’t. I don’t think I liked where he was going. What a ridiculous neanderthal notion. How could he thinks he could actually just claim a woman, honestly!” Arena said angered at Kouga, she softened her gaze and bowed slightly to Sesshomaru. She immediately went to cleaning up the sleeping area that the others had made for her. She did not want to make too much of a fuss over Sesshomaru's defending her as she knew it would make him embarassed.

“Did Sesshomaru just defend Arena?” Shippou asked InuYasha.

“It appears so.” Miroku answered, having overheard the kit’s question. The three all looked confused. Kagome and Sango merely smiled.

The travellers silently gathered up their few possessions to get ready for another long day. Sango and Miroku threw sand over the fire to snuff it out. Finally, when all was cleaned up Kagome and InuYasha started to lead the pack out of the caves. InuYasha glared at Kouga as if daring him to try and take command.

‘Well this is a relief,’ Sesshomaru thought, ‘InuYasha has someone else to vent his petty human emotions on. I care not if he leads us.’

As soon as Kagome and InuYasha stepped out of the entrance into the fresh air they stopped dead in their paths. InuYasha immediately took up a defensive position and tried to hustle Kagome back into the caves. Sesshomaru noticed the change in his brother and hurried to his side. When he emerged from the caves he found Naraku hovering above the canyon floor and flanked by Kagura, the wind sorceress, and Kikyo, the dead priestess. They were also accompanied by Kanna and Kohaku. When the others noticed that Sesshomaru and InuYasha were now preparing to attack they all rushed out of the caves to help.

“Well, well, well, InuYasha. It appears that you have tried to create your own little army. What a pathetic following! You think you can even make a scratch on me with that ridiculous over-compensating Tetsusaiga? And what, pray tell, could you be compensating for, little pup? And now you need even more stray humans to help you. You are even more foolish than I thought.” Naraku sneered.

“Oh yeah, if you are so strong, how come you always bring your minions to fight for you, huh Naraku?” InuYasha gripped the Tetsusaiga harder.

“It appears Naraku has taken advantage of the tumultous state that the rift has caused.” Miroku said.

“Really Miroku? What an astute observation.” Sango answered sarcastically as she positioned her hiraikotsu for battle.

“Arena and Kagome, get the children inside!” InuYasha shouted.

“Oh no you don’t, InuYasha! I’m not a mere weakling. You need my help!” Kagome glared. “Shippou, take Rin and Jaken into the caves. You can use your fox magic to confuse your position. That should give you enough time to get away if Naraku manages to somehow get in.” Shippou nodded with wide eyes and obeyed Kagome.

“Arena, what are you doing? We need you to be safe!” Miroku asked Arena as she had made no move to flee into the caves.

“Sango, give me your sword. I will stay near you in case you lose the hiraikotsu. I’m not going to sit by and let you all get injured.” She said determined to remain with her friends. Sango nodded and handed her the sword. Before she could ask her if she knew how to use it Naraku shouted something to his minions and they took off into position. Kagome stuck close to Sango and Arena to face the oncoming Kohaku. InuYasha charged at Naraku, his Tetsusaiga fully raised, and Miroku and Kouga went after Kagura. Kanna stood by silently. Sesshomaru also stood by silently watching the battle and trying to decide where he had best use his expertise.

Sango let loose the hiraikotsu at her brother and after making contact with the youth’s head it turned back to her and she caught it effortlessly.

“I think he is out, guys, you should go help InuYasha! I’ll check out Kohaku.” Sango said. The others nodded and turned to InuYasha and Naraku. As Sango went over to Kohaku she saw him suddenly open up his eyes. There was a strange black emptiness about them and she knew at once that he had been faking his injury. Before she could cry a warning Sango was hit on the head by Kohaku and everything went dark. Kohaku rose and threw his weapon towards Arena and Kagome. He caught Arena around the ankle and gave it a pull. She fell to the ground with a hard crack. Kagome turned down to her and tried to grab her hands but Arena was whisked away by Kohaku too quickly.

“Oh no you don’t, foolish girl! You are mine!” Kikyo appeared beside Kagome and with outstretched hands used her powers to knock the younger priestess to the ground. Kagome, who did not expect an attack from her fellow priestess, fell down hard and groped blindly for her bow and arrows. As she was fumbling Kagome felt a foot make contact with her left side. She groaned at the pain, her eyes wincing as Kikyo's foot struck her side again. Her pain faded to darkness as Kikyo moved her foot to connect with Kagome’s skull. The sickening crack that followed made InuYasha stop and turn.

“Kagome!!” He screamed and left Naraku to go to her side. As Miroku held off a blast of Kagura’s winds with his staff (Kouga had long been overpowered) he looked over to what made InuYasha scream. He saw Kagome lying on the ground, and Kikyo still beating the unconscious woman. Arena was being dragged by Kohaku. Before Miroku could marvel at the strength young Kohaku had to overpower a grown woman, he noticed Sango lying unconscious as well. His heart quickened with worry for the demon slayer as he was held powerless to help her. It appeared that Naraku was trying to eliminate them one by one. This alone was nothing new, however, Miroku could not shake the suspicion that they were indeed fighting the real Naraku instead of a puppet. His last thought before his eyes hazed over with darkness was that Naraku himself must also have been weakened by the opening rift in space and time.

InuYasha took off towards Kagome leaving Naraku with no one to fight. Naraku turned to Sesshomaru with a sly smile. Sesshomaru glared at Naraku and looked over to Arena. He was surprised at what he saw. Arena had untangled herself from Kohaku’s grasp. Having thrown his weapon aside she now had him held at arms length unable to move. Her hand was on his head but as her arm was longer than his arms he could not touch her. Arena, exasperated, finally knocked Kohaku unconscious with the hilt of Sango's sword. Sesshomaru almost laughed at the comical situation of Arena and the possessed child. He smiled instead and turned to Naraku with Tokijin unsheathed.

Arena started to get worried. Kouga and Miroku had both been overpowered by Kagura’s winds. Kouga had been overcome by his anger and his blindness forced him to run at Kagura without a thought to defence against her attacks. The force of her Dance of Blades knocked him out immediately. The fallen Miroku was protected from harm because his staff lay across his crumpled body. However, the effort of trying to resist Kagura’s winds had drained his lifeforce. Sango was unconscious. And Kagome was also unconscious, a gaping wound on her head bleeding profusely. InuYasha overcame Kikyo by tossing her into the raging river in the centre of the canyon. Her light and empty body was carried downstream away from the battle. InuYasha was at Kagome's side in an instant desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Sesshomaru and Naraku were battling fiercely. Arena moved to help InuYasha and Kagome but was blocked by Kagura.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? The little human has somehow managed to stay alive. Why are you so special, hmm? Why did InuYasha allow another pathetic excuse for a human to travel with him.” she snarled at Arena. Arena took a defensive fencing stance with Sango’s sword in front of her. “Ha, you expect you can defend yourself with a pretty little pose and a useless piece of metal? You really are pathetic!”

“Hey Kagura, leave her alone you useless incarnation! She’s a healer not a fighter,” InuYasha screamed. Sesshomaru shook his head. His brother was so tactless. Revealing information to the enemy, honestly! He noticed the smile Kagura made at this information. With a bored sigh he took off from Naraku towards Arena and Kagura.

“Tornado Dragon!” Kagura shouted just before she felt a searing pain around her neck. Sesshomaru’s poisoned whip wrapped around her throat seared it so that she could no longer speak her commands to the winds. Sesshomaru rushed into the swirling winds and grabbed Arena who was bent over, her head between her knees to protect herself from the wind. Sesshomaru whisked her up in his arms, clutching her against his chest and leapt stealthily up to the top of the canyon walls.

Meanwhile, Naraku was left unchallenged and he started to make for the cave network, sensing the presence of Shippou, Rin, and Jaken somewhere inside. InuYasha saw his change of course and he shouted at Sesshomaru to come help him. His shout roused Naraku’s interest. He looked up to see where Sesshomaru was and chuckled when he saw that he had pulled the human ‘healer’ to safety.

“How pathetic Sesshomaru, is it that you have actually found something to protect?!” Naraku sneered.

Sesshomaru glared down at Naraku, pushing Arena behind him. InuYasha transformed the Tetsusaiga and prepared himself for battle. He was about to attack when he heard a scream from Arena. Looking at her he saw she was pointing at the sky. Everyone not unconscious followed the direction of her finger with raised eyes. What they saw in the sky was both marvelous and terrifying.

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uhoh! What could be in the sky? Probably a bird, or a plane, or Mercury. Anyway, next time we will find out, annnnnnd Arena's little secret will be discovered!!