Be there for me

Chapter 16:





Hurt....



Yes, she was in a world of hurt. Her eyes were hazy when she tried to make their lids part, and take into her brain the view of the world surrounding her.



Her head throbbed, as did other parts of her body.



With her vision hazy, she tried to move her hands, but found that she couldn't. They were bound, somewhere above her head, she was sure. She couldn't tell, but she thought that it was solid steel chains that were holding her limbs in place.



Well, with her vision and having a lack of feeling due to the pain, she tried her other senses. When she tried to move her hands, she could hear the clink and rattle of the chains, but that was it. The rest of the area was quiet around her.



Smell. She took a couple of sniffs with her nose, then winced when the pain that the movement of her nostrils caused went streaking through her abused nervous system.



Besides the scent of blood, and her own tears, there were other scents in the room, but none that she could identify off hand.



Then, just then, her hearing picked something up.



A familiar voice, from her past, calling out to her....



"Momma....Momma....where are you?"



* * *



Kagome was calling out through the castle corridors, hoping that her mom would answer her calls, saving them from having to look through all the doors for her missing family members. Souta was beside her, and would help, if his throat wasn't so dry.



Sesshomaru lagged along behind them as they worked their way through the castle's innards, still recovering from his wounds recieved from the reversal of the dragon strike. He was also busy, using his sensitive hearing and nose to try and discern the location of the missing people.



"Kagome, stop." said Sesshomaru in a stern and commanding voice. His nose had picked up one scent, actually several, but one in particular. It was the smell of blood, almost similar to the smell of when he had shed Kagome's blood in the past, but slightly different.



Sesshomaru walked to the door from whence the smell had emanated from, but before opening it, he turned back to the miko and her younger brother.



"You may want to avert your brother's eyes. From the scents I'm picking up, the scene will not be a pleasent one." informed the demon lord as his hand pushed against the door. Kagome took him at his word and backed her brother up, her mind suddenly clouded with worry about what Naraku could have done to her parent and grandparent.



Giving a small heave, Sesshomaru forced the door open, and the two of them looked at what laid beyond...



* * *



Miss Higuarshi's vision was still cloudy, but had improved enough to take into focus the room, no, cell that she was standing in. Or being forced to stand in, for that matter.



She wasn't sure, but she thought that she was naked, for she couldn't feel the familiar tingle of clothing covering her body, although she could feel several fluids, no doubt including blood, staining her.



She could now recall some of the events that had taken place that had lead to the current circumstances.



At that moment, however, a thin sliver of light appeared in the crack of the door. She closed her eyes as that sliver expanded with the door opening. Light from the outside flooded the room, and then she slowly opened her eyes to led them adjust.



She saw two figures standing there in the doorway. The first she did not recognize. He looked similar to Inuyasha, but wore white instead of red, and was more taller, and muscular. The second, however, was her very own daughter.



"Kagome...." she said, before Miss Higurashi faded back into the darkness....



* * *



"Momma....." replied Kagome, looking at her mother, bound in chains against a wall, naked, with scars and blood staining her battered and bruised body. Her mind was suddenly a swirl of emotions, chief among them anger and sadness. Tears formed in her eyes even as her fists clenched together.



Sesshomaru, standing besides Kagome, was also a swirl of emotion, although for him, sadness was replaced merely by pity. Then, making up his mind as to what to do, he walked forward, brining up his hand, and forming his whip.



With a single strike, both of the chains were cut, or rather, melted away, leaving the woman to collapse to the floor. Sesshomaru shrugged off his pelt, and wrapped it around the female's body, picking her up and cradling her into his arms.



Although he may have been the cold lord of the western lands, Sesshomaru was still an honorable and respectable demon. Although ruthless when battling his enemies, he occasionally stops to help those who are in need, Rin being a earlier example, and this woman being the current example.



Kagome was somewhat suprised by the show of help that Sesshomaru had made, and was devoutly grateful to him for doing so.



"Do you think she'll live?" Kagome had been afraid to ask this question, but for her sake as well as Souta's, she needed an answer sooner or later.



"It's too early to tell. If your mother is anything of a fighter like you are, then this should not be fatal to her." replied Sesshomaru. "Now then, I believe we have another member of your family awaiting rescue?"



"Oh yes, grandpa." replied Kagome. In her worry for her mother, she had completley forgotten about the old codger.



Leaving Souta and Sesshomaru behind, Kagome went running through the halls, calling for the old man.



* * *



Inuyasha dodged out of the way of Hakudoshi's attack, only to have to block with his sword another one's of Kagura's dance of the blades. One of the energy swords twirled around his sword to strike his back, ripping another wound through the robe of the firerat into his skin. He was now covered with such bruises as the battle gradually turned against him and his allies.



Kikyo liad on the ground nearby, knocked out by another double team at a moment when Inuyasha had been distracted. Miroku had his hands full with Kohaku, while Sango was still recovering from her wounds earlier and had yet to reawaken.



"Hmph, Inuyasha. Surrender now and I'll make your death quick and painless." taunted Hakudoshi as he prepared for another attack. He know knew that he had what it would take to beat the half demon, as he was getting worn down more and more as the battle progressed.



"Spare me the plea bargains. Knowing you, you'll just break your word even if I did surrender, which I would never do." replied the half demon as he launched another wind scar, this time adding the red barrier breaking techinque into the mixture. As with Naraku, it was not enough to do the job, even though it did weaken the barrier quite a bit.



Suddenly though, Inuyasha felt the presence of another, more sinister being. The feeling, came from behind them.



Before he could turn around however, before Kikyo, coming to, could shout a warning, something impaled him from behind, through his chest, a brown root of some kind.



"Ha ha ha. Inuyasha, at long last I have you where I want you." said Naraku, looking smug from his vantage point behind the badly wounded hanyou.



"Naraku, damn you..." replied the half demon as his strength began to fade.



"Hakudoshi, would you do the honors?" inquired Naraku, holding up the half demon with the vine still snaking through his chest cavity.



The little kid smiled in response, and held up his pike as a glowing sphere of energy began to form at it's tip. Inuyasha closed his eyes and awaited for the end to come, but then a glowing sphere of purple light distracted him.



This light came in the form of Kikyo's purification arrow, as it shot forth and broke though Hakudoshi's barrier, hitting one of the kid's legs and destroying it. Both he and Naraku looked over in suprise at the miko struggling into a sitting position, battered and bruised, but still able to hold a bow in her hand.



"How troublesome." said Hakudoshi in reply to her efforts, and without another thought, threw his pike straight towards the dead miko, intending on a single blow to finish her off.



However, before the pike could reach her, it was intercepted by another arrow, coming from the direction of the castle. The arrow and pike both disappeared in a flash of blue spiritual energy.



Once again turning their attention, Hakudoshi, Kagura, Naraku, and even Kikyo looked over, to see Kagome and Sesshomaru standing just outside of the main entrance. Just inside the castle, sitting against one of the walls, were the three members of Kagome's family. Although some were hurt, all of them were alive.



Naraku grinned evilly as he saw Kagome standing there with her jewel shards around her neck. Although he could do without Sesshomaru being here, all of the players in his game were finally assembled and thus they were ready for the final battle to truly begin in earnest.



"So much effort....to save such a pitiful half demon. And all of that effort...in vain." coddled the insidious dark demon as he thrust three more roots through Inuyasha's chest, causing the hanyou to jerk and spasm in pain. Then, the four roots expanded and diverged in different directions, eliciting the most bone chilling and pitiful wail that most of the people in the castle had ever heard in their entire lives.



Momemts later, Inuyasha was, for lack of a better term, literally split into several pieces as the roots came apart, his arms and legs flying away from his main torso, blood and a few organs spraying all over the ground. His torn and shredded body remained for only a moment however, before Naraku released a large energy attack, engulfing Inuyasha's remains.



When the light of the energy attack faded, all that remained of the hanyou was his sword, which fell to the ground and transformed back into it's normal self, and a few tattered pieces of the firerat robe that fell to the earth in an awkard fluttering motion.



* * *



Kagome could not believe what she had witnessed. They had found her grandpa alive and well except for a nasty bruise on his forehead.



She and Souta had helped him along while Sesshomaru carried her mother. They had made their way out of the castle and outside into the courtyard where the battle had been raging in full.



And then, she had witnessed Inuyasha's horrible death.



Although recently feeling betrayed by his actions, she had still loved him, deeply and dearly, and seeing him meet his demise, it felt as it a large void like Miroku's wind tunnel had been formed into the middle of her heart, leaving a empty and dark place inside her feelings.



She collapsed to her knees as the full weight of his demise hit her, and began to sob and wail audibly as tears flowed freely from her cheeks to stain the ground beneath her.



Sesshomaru, on the other hand....



His arm clenched, and then tightened as he withdrew Tokijin from it's sheath. He had warned that if anyone was to kill Inuyasha, his younger brother, than it would be him that was to do it. He didn't make empty or idle promises, and had seriously meant what he said.



Having witnessed his demise, and now seeing the sad and broken miko, Kagome, grieving by his side, was enough to cause his anger to push him over the edge, and allow his inner emotions to take control of him. If it was possible, his cold personality melted into one that was even colder, promising to be even more cruel, having lain dormant under his skin.



A red aura of demonic energy surrounded Sesshomaru, although he did not transform into Fluffy. Instead, Sesshomaru started walking towards Naraku. He would not offer any words, only death for the dark demon.....