A Change In Pace

I am sorry for not updating, but my new job has been taking up time. What this means is that I am now developing a life.

Chapter 3: Kagura, the Wind Sorceress

InuYasha and his companions were aghast at what they saw. After InuYasha had smashed through the gate a horrid sight had befell them. The sight of a hundred slaughtered wolf youkai.

Kagome was the first to speak, “These wolves, they have been massacred.”

InuYasha crept forward, claws ready. Kagome fallowed suit with her own claws. Sango and Miroku were next, their own weapons at hand. Kilala held back with Shippou on her back.

Once InuYasha and Kagome were in the middle of the field of carcasses, they rose. The wolves were moving ungainly as they gave off moans that were part growls. Their eyes glowed red as they attacked the new arrivals.

InuYasha and Kagome jumped apart, kicking and punching the wolves as they go. Sango threw her boomerang through the wolves, knocking a dozen to the ground. Miroku used his staff to physically beat the wolves.

Miroku then yelled above the din of battle, “InuYasha, I do not sense any souls in these wolves! They are undead!”

“Great,” InuYasha said while punching another wolf to the ground.

Kagome was having her own trouble. She was being attacked by a dozen or so undead wolves. She was being forced to dodge left and right. Kick and jump. Punch and dodge. Even through all this, the wolves kept going for her.

Miroku was sweeping his staff all around his body. He did this just to keep the wolves back. But with every sweep, a few wolf youkai would get hit and fall. As one wolf would fall, another would take its place.

Sango was being forced to use all of her combat skills. She would kick, punch, chop, sweep and more at the walking corpses.

Kilala jumped into the battle once Miroku yelled out that the wolves were undead. She was charging through the wolves, Shippou holding onto her back and alerting Kilala to trouble. “Behind us Kilala,” Shippou would call out. Kilala would turn and ram the wolves to the ground.

* * *

Kagura was inside the central structure. She had her eyes closed and right arm out to the side. He fan was open and moving in various ways. Up, left, up, down, right, left, down and so forth. She was thinking to herself as she continued to use her fan to cast an unending spell. If they die, they shall be mine to mold. Should they be cut down, they will be put back together. Should they fall, they shall get back up. They are puppets to me. The dead are merely dancing to my song. Dancing to an unending tune.

Kagura opened her eyes as she sensed another approaching, Koga. He is here? So soon? What a pity, my song had been cut short, Kagura thought. She raised her fan over her head and swept it down in front of her body.

* * *

Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Kilala had been forced back to the gate. InuYasha was cut off in the center of the wolves. Suddenly, the wolves all flew into the air and hung there.

“What is this,” InuYasha asked in anger.

The wolves were all facing InuYasha, their eyes glowing red. Then they flew at InuYasha, heads first. The wolf-youkai crashed into the young inu-youkai. InuYasha cried out in pain.

* * *

Kagura snapped her fan closed.

* * *

The wolves stood up again and began to burst open. The wounds foamed white as their blood stained everything near them, InuYasha included. The others were left clean, untouched by the youkai blood, but InuYasha’s clothes, hair and claws were covered in it.

InuYasha looked at his right hand and claws. The entire palm was covered in blood.

“InuYasha!” a voice called out. Every one looked to see Koga on top of the gate door way. His eyes held great grief as he stared at the bodies of his kin and InuYasha covered in their blood. He was angry beyond any thought possible. His voice held such emotions as he spoke, “What have you done, you treacherous dog?!”

Kagome tried to speak up for her mate and stop any violence, “Koga, InuYasha did not kill them. They were already dead!”

“Do you expect me to believe that Kagome,” Koga asked as he looked to her then back to InuYasha. “I believe what I see. I see InuYasha covered in the blood of my comrades.”

InuYasha looked to his hand in shock. Naraku, he thought, he set us up, killing the wolf-youkai, raising their bodies, and drenching me in blood. All in time for Koga to come and see me covered in fresh blood.

Miroku then spoke up as Koga jumped down in front of InuYasha, “He is too far gone Kagome, there is nothing we can do to stop this.”

Shippou supported Miroku on that, “Wolf-youkai live and treat each other as family. Seeing so many of his people dead has sent him into a rage. His grief can only be satisfied by battling InuYasha to the death.”

Kagome gasped and yelled out, “Koga don’t do this! InuYasha didn’t kill your people!”

InuYasha watched Koga as he jumped down and all through out his pack’s exchange. He did not waiver his gaze as he spoke to Kagome, “Kagome, don’t waist your breath! He’s got a block of wood for a brain and only understands a hit to the head!”

Koga did not pay attention to what was being said. He just glared at InuYasha with grief, anger and the desire to kill the hanyou! Koga charged, his right fist glowing from his new shard. He thrust his fist forward to punch InuYasha, but the dog dodged his blow as it made contact with the ground.

Koga’s fist sent a stream of energy through the earth, cutting a deep yet narrow swath in it. InuYasha had to jump again to avoid the energy stream. Koga saw this and smirked. “Like my new shard, dog breath,” ask asked as he held up his right arm.

Damn it, InuYasha thought, where did he get another jewel shard?

Kagome looked carefully at Koga’s arm. She saw the jewel shard, but its energy was completely corrupted, evil and ‘off’ some how. Kagome examined it more. The energy was off. It did not feel like a real shard, but a fake!

“KOGA, INUYASHA!” Kagome was yelling as she jumped onto a building to the left of the gate. “The shard Koga has is a fake! Its energy is different from a true shard!”

InuYasha heard what Kagome said, but Koga did not. InuYasha jumped as Koga threw another punch. The punch hit only ground and left a 12 foot wide crater in it. Koga was still in the crater, fist in the crater, and panting. His eyes burned with hate. He stood up and looked at InuYasha. Koga charged at him and InuYasha charged back.

“Iron Reav-,” InuYasha did not get to finish his attack, Koga hit InuYasha in the arm that was extended to slice Koga. Both passed each other and turned as they came to a stop. InuYasha’s right arm hung at his side, broken and usel Ko Koga’s attack succeeded in crippling InuYasha.

* * *

Miroku and Sango were by the gate still, watching the battle. After Kagome jumped to one of the buildings, Kilala and Shippou fallowed her to the same building. Miroku looked to Sango and spoke, “Sango, Naraku set this up. If we know his behavior, he will be near by watching and pulling strings. We find him, we might be able to end this.”

Sango nodded as they ran to the large building that was across from the gate. As they entered both saw a female youkai. She was wearing an elegant kimono that was white with red stripes. She held a fan that covered her face. She looked to them and closed her fan.

“Ah,” the youkai said, “you must be the taijia Sango, and the hoshi Miroku. I’m sorry Naraku could not be here, but he wanted to give you this.” The female youkai then threw a piece of carved wood onto the ground. It had a sphere on one end with two pieces curving out and reconnecting two centimeters down and ending in a one centimeter long end. Around the two parts that formed an open gap, several strands of hair were wrapped around them.

“Youkai puppet,” Miroku hollered out.

The youkai then spoke again, “Koga and InuYasha. Neither of them takes my fancy, so I don’t care which one wins.” The youkai then left as the puppet stood up.

The puppet glowed as it transformed. The light faded as the transformation ended. It was nothing but fat grey tentacles that ran through out the room. The top of it had Naraku’s signature clothing, a baboon cloak.

Miroku readied his staff as Sango grabbed hold of her boomerang. Miroku then spoke softly, “Sango, be careful, this is Naraku’s castle. Who knows what traps could be hidden here.”

“I’m tired of Naraku’s tricks,” Sango said. She threw her boomerang to clear a path. The boomerang sliced several tenes oes off of the puppet. Sango charged forward as she drew her sword. Several tentacles burst from the ceiling and went for Sango. She retaliated by cutting them up. Miroku fallowed Sango through the tentacles, beating and breaking them with his staff.

* * *

InuYasha held his broken right arm with his left as he continued to dodge Koga. But he was unable to keep it up for long. Koga hit InuYasha in the chest, guiding him to the ground with a fist. InuYasha lay on his back, in pain. Koga drew is powerful fist back and spoke, “So, this is how you die. THIS IS FOR MY COMRADES!!” Koga drove his fist into InuYasha’s stomach. The energy released by the impact expanded to encompass the entire castle.

It faded after several seconds, revealing Koga standing over InuYasha’s body. They were both in the center of a 20 foot wide crater that was three feet deep. Kagome was in shock, her mate was dead. She almost jumped at Koga to kill him, but held back.

“Finally, it’s over,” Koga said.

A voice was then heard, “Well done wolf boy. InuYasha is dead.”

Koga, Kagome, Kilala and Shippou turned to see a female youkai. Koga then asked the question that they all had, “Who are you?”

The female youkai smiled as she covered her face with a fan. “My name is Kagura,” she said. “My master Naraku will be pleased to hear of InuYasha’s death.” Kagura then took a few steps toward Koga. She held her fan out and swept it across her field of view, horizontally. Crescent moon shaped blades of energy flew at Koga. He tried to dodge but was too slow. They energy blades began to dance across his body and cut him up severely.

Koga was getting ready to retaliate against Kagura when he felt an extraordinary amount of pain. He fell to the ground, his right forearm starting to turn purple. “What have you done to me,” Koga shakily asked.

Kagura smiled as she stepped yet closer. “That jewel shard in your arm,” she began, “is a fake, a counterfeit. It is made of a crystallized poison that was charged with very corrupt energies. All that running and fighting you did sped up the spread of the poison. Naraku wanted InuYasha dead and the shards in your legs. Now he gets both.”

Naraku, Koga thought.

“Not while I’m around,” InuYasha said. He shakily stood up, using the Tetsusaiga as a walking stick. He was hunched over, the front of his fire rat haori soaked in his blood. His tail was limp and hanging down.

Kagura saw the tail, and the markings. They were not signs of a hanyou, but a full youkai. She spoke up, “InuYasha, you are not a hanyou!?”

Koga heard this and looked at ‘dog breath’. He was indeed a full youkai. He realized that InuYasha was a full youkai through out the battle. Koga looked to Kagome. His eyes widened at the sight of her. Kagome was a full blooded neko-youkai! Now Koga wanted her even more, but he could not take her in his condition.

InuYasha grimaced and growled as he moved closer to Kagura. “You reek of Naraku’s stench. As for me being a full youkai, Kagome did this for me.”

Kagura looked at the miko. She was a neko-youkai. Kagura took a deep breath through her nose. She analyzed the scents of Kagome and InuYasha. They were mates, Kagome was not pregnant and both were much stronger. Kagura looked back to InuYasha. He had the Tetsusaiga in his left had, transformed. He was looking hard at her. Kagura decided to strike first. She sent several of her energy blades to the inu-youkai.

InuYasha blocked the blades with his sword. Once they stopped, he struck. InuYasha jumped up high and came down on Kagura. The Naraku incarnation blocked the attack by sending a large gust of wind at the silver-haired youkai. InuYasha landed roughly on the ground. His right arm was hurt badly and his power had been severely sapped from his bought with Koga.

“Giving up so soon,” Kagura taunted.

“Not while I’m around!”

The shout came from behind Kagura. sor sorceress turned to see Kagome, bow drawn and the arrow charged in pure miko energies. Kagome let go of the arrow. It flew to the right of Kagura’s turned head and past InuYasha, who had gotten up. Kagura turned to see the young youkai swipe his sword through the air, right through a wind scar! The Wind Scar?! How can that be, Kagura thought. The trails of golden energy fanned out and the middle one went straight at the sorceress.

Before she would be hit, Kagura grabbed a feather from her hair and threw it onto the ground. She was too slow. One of the streams hit her in the back, tearing away the cloth, exposing her back. As her clothing was being ripped away, Kagura flew away on her now transformed feather, riding the winds.

InuYasha looked at Kagura’s retreating form. What he saw made his heart skip a beat. That scar, he thought. He saw a spider shaped burn on Kagura’s back, just like Naraku!

* * *

Sango slashed through another tentacle, clearing a path for Miroku. The hoshi flung several scrolls at the puppet’s hooded head. They made contact and paralyzed the golem. Both Miroku and Sango took their chance and struck. Sango cut off the head and Miroku smashed it into the ground. The rest of the youkai puppet’s body then crumbled into clay.

“You ok,” Miroku asked.

Sango was breathing deep from the battle. “Yeah,” she answered.

“Let’s get back to the rest,” Miroku said. Both ran out to see Kagome jamming a sacred arrow into Koga’s arm.

* * *

“Koga!”

The cry caused InuYasha to turn. He saw Kagome hunched over Koga’s arm, now purple from the bicep down. The wolf was sweating all over, having minor convulsions and crushing his eyes closed.

“Kagome,” Shippou cried out, “what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” the miko-youkai said.

InuYasha walked over to the fallen wolf-youkai. “Stand back,” he said, “I’ll cut his arm off.”

“No,” Kagome said, looking at her mate, “there has to be another way!” Kagome turned back to Koga’s arm and reached out to it. But a sudden surge of corrupted ki kept Kagome’s hand at bay. “I can’t touch it!”

“It’s ok,” Koga said through the pain, “let me die.”

“Kagome, your sacred arrow,” Shippou said.

“That might work,” the miko responded. She reached into her quiver and pulled out an arrow. She charged it with miko ki and thrust it into the counterfeit shard. The ki from the arrow immediately flooded the fake shard and began to spread through out Koga’s body. The pure ki began to battle and destroy the corrupt ki and eventually all the poison with the fake shard. “IT WORKED,” Kagome cried out happily.

“What were you doing,” Sango asked.

Kagome looked up to see her friend. “I was trying to get rid of a fake shard in Koga’s arm,” Kagome said.

“Will he be ok,” Miroku asked.

Kagome stood up, arrow quiver and bow over her shoulder. “He just needs to rest, then he will be fine,” Kagome said. Her tail was wagging in jerky motions, indicating her agitation.

InuYasha sheathed his sword and stepped up to his mate. He stood to her right and put his left arm around Kagome’s waist. “If he will be fine, then we should leave,” InuYasha said.

Kagome nodded, her tail still wagging. “Ok,” she said. Shippou jumped onto Kagome’s shoulders as both Sango and Miroku rode Kilala. They left Naraku’s castle. Once they left the court yard, the castle began to fade away into a large plot of empty ground, Koga lying motionless in the middle of it.

* * *

Several hours later, Koga shakily got up. He looked around to find no trace of the castle he fell at. He took a sniff of the air and found the smell of blood, death and battle. He looked down at his right arm to see a scar. Koga turned to leave, going in the direction he came from.

* * *

Kagura was approaching her ‘master’s’ true castle. She had changed her kimono. The one Kagura now wore was striped in deep red and a very light blue. She was sitting on her feather as it landed in the court yard. Kagura jumped off it while it shrank and went back into her hair. She marched up to the keep and right through the screen door. She saw Naraku standing by a window and looking out it, into nothing.

“NARAKU,” Kagura shouted with anger. The hanyou turned to Kagura and stood. Kagura opened her fan and sent several of her wind blades at her maker. Naraku did not bother to dodge or block, he let them hit. Half hit him while the rest just broke through the wall. The slicing blades were not strong enough to hurt the corrupt soul, but they destroyed the upper half of his kimono, revealing the spider shaped burn on his back.

Naraku turned to Kagura, right hand held up and holding a glowing red object. “Remember Kagura, you were created from my flesh,” he began to crush the object in his hand, “and I can easily destroy you,” Naraku said. Kagura was now kneeling on the ground, hands over her heart.

Naraku stopped squeezing Kagura’s heart. “Why did you not tell me InuYasha could use the Wind Scar,” Kagura said.

“I needed to know how strong he is. The fact you are still alive tells me he is not that strong.”

“Then you are a fool,” Naraku glared at Kagura as she spoke. “He had a broken arm when he used the Wind Scar.”

“I don’t see your point,” Naraku responded.

“He was only able to draw half his strength. If he was unharmed, I would have been dead.” Kagura turned to leave but stopped after a step. “Besides,” she coyly spoke, “InuYasha is now a full-youkai, but I do not know how or why. As is that miko, Kagome.” Kagura then left Naraku’s room to go rest.

That hanyou is now a youkai, Naraku angrily thought. How is that possible? Kagome is also a youkai. This will be trouble.