Withholding

© Salome Wilde, 2008

Withholding

Chapter 3

At the sound of Jaken’s cry, Sesshomaru rose, as elegantly fluid in his desertion of Rin’s body as he was in the claiming of it. He closed his robe, fastened his sash, and ran fleetly to Jaken’s defense. Rin still lay, legs and lips parted, and barely had time to gasp in shock before Sesshomaru was gone, as if she had dreamed the intimacy between them. No matter that her skin was still alive with remembered touch, that her nipples were still tender from his teeth, that her belly was still wet from his tongue’s soft trail. Sesshomaru had vanished because Jaken was crying out in horror. She gathered her wits, reached for her staff, ignored her unbelted garment, and ran.

She saw before she arrived at the scene the enormous long-taloned claw holding the terrified Jaken in its grip. Sesshomaru had already vaulted into the air and was slashing at the creature with his poisoned claw attack when she appeared. The enemy was an enormous bird of brilliant orange and crimson plumage. It seemed almost aflame with noble power and striking beauty. Sesshomaru’s assaults kept the creature from taking off with Jaken. As Rin arrived, it reached out with its second clawed foot to grasp Sesshomaru, too. Rin could not use her weapon unless the creature touched ground, but, thinking quickly, she reached into the campfire and grasped a burning log to lob at the beast to distract it. Who knew if fire would damage something that seemed almost made of flame itself, but it was all she could think of. She aimed for a wing, her best chance at not hitting Jaken by mistake or getting in the way of Sesshomaru’s strikes. “Suzaku!” Sesshomaru hailed as slashed again.

As Rin reached her arm back to throw, she was suddenly surrounded by flames. She dropped the log as she was swept into a vortex of swirling fire. It swiftly encircled her and held her caged. She could not see through the blazing tornado of color and light to learn who had projected it. She marveled that her body was not burned, and tried to reach her hand through the eddy to escape. It scorched her and she withdrew quickly. “Sesshomaru-sama,” she called out, like a prayer. There was nothing to do now but wait for her Lord to free her.

Sesshomaru turned to see Rin swallowed up in flames. “Rin!” he shouted, and found himself caged by Suzaku’s outstretched claw for his momentary distraction. The bird flapped its mighty wings and hovered, as Sesshomaru’s nemesis Kyura, whom he had thought long dead, appeared behind the fiery whirlwind, tittering. “You may release them now, Suzaku,” said the War God, lightly. “My Crimson Demon Fan attack has safely entrapped the prey I seek.”

Jaken fell from the claw, cursing Kyura, Suzaku, and his own impotence, and landed with a thump on the ground. Sesshomaru caught himself easily as he fell and landed gracefully on his slender feet.

Suzaku vanished in a ball of fire while Kyura tucked his large fan into the armor on his back, an arrogant smile on his face.

“Kyura,” hailed Sesshomaru, dispassionately. “I see you have returned from the dead so that I may enjoy the pleasure of destroying you yet again.”

Kyura’s tenor laugh rang through the trees. “It is true I have resurrected myself, Sesshomaru, with the aid of Suzaku, the Fire Elemental of the South. And now your human shall help me grow stronger still.”

“Kill him, Sesshomaru-sama! Force him to return Rin to us! And then do not let him live a moment longer!” enthused Jaken, gesticulating wildly. Three small firebirds flew from Kyura’s fingertips and took off after Jaken. The tiny yokai ran, screaming as his backside was singed by first one and then another.

“Cease this foolishness, Kyura, and return Rin at once. She has no power you can use, and it is I, Sesshomaru, against whom you seek revenge.”

Kyura’s smile grew. “This is true, inuyokai. I have come for vengeance against you for my defeat and for your part defeating the Four Gods of the Mystic Island. But when I chanced to see you about to mate with that pathetic human, I altered my plan. I presume you would not have been so disgustingly gentle with her if it were not the first time, so she is without child. She is now mine and I will achieve retribution against you through her.”

“Feed my hunger for your annihilation by explaining yourself, Kyura.”

“With pleasure. It took me ten years to regenerate enough to summon Suzaku, and nearly a year to regain my form and full War God power with his help. Now, I will mate with your pitiful human female and she will bear my hanyo offspring. Then, I will destroy her. In another ten years time, when the hanyo child is sufficiently grown, I will drink its power and grow even more powerful. And now, most feeble Lord Sesshomaru, I take my leave.” With a final tinkling chuckle, Kyura vanished, along with the fiery tornado that held Rin inside.

“Rin must be rescued, Sesshomaru-sama!” squawked Jaken. Then, looking at his master’s eyes, which had suddenly grown blood red, he fell silent.

“Kyura will not touch my mate,” Sesshomaru growled, launching himself into the sky.

* * *

Author’s Note: I recently rewatched the fourth Inuyasha movie, “Fire on the Mystic Island,” and recalled how much I enjoyed the show’s villains, the “Four War Gods,” Ryura, Gora, Jura, and Kyura. Ryura was a hottie blue bi-shonen babe, and Gora the war turtle shooting balls of energy like a cannon from its shell was a Gamera-of-the-sea hoot. But Sesshomaru’s opponent, the extremely fey, auburn-haired, green-lipsticked fire demon Kyura (reminded me a bit of the moth demon Gatenmaru in femme personality and prettiness), was too tempting not to resurrect. If you haven’t seen the film, the four brothers kept their power up by devouring hanyo they kept marked and trapped on their island. Sesshomaru destroyed Kyura, but nothing is forever in fantasy, so I brought him back, with the help of a kindred elemental I decided to introduce into the Inuyasha world, the Vermillion Bird, a Chinese fire elemental called “Suzaku” by the Japanese.