Blue moon and Red Fire

Chapter 32: Weakness.



Kouga’s hand twitched, then his body shifted slightly, an agitation came to his sleeping form with each breath he took. Kouga rolled on to his side, taking in a deep inhale and letting out a small sigh, his mind vaguely aware of the scent that was agitating his senses. The stronger it became, the more consciousness it stirred, until Kouga’s eyes slowly cracked open. “…!” Then his body was flushed with a sense of danger and he sat up abruptly, eyes wide. “No fucking way!” For his speed he was able to catch a glimpse of Houjo flinching from where he stood at the window.



Souta’s room was dark, illuminated with the pale dejecting blue of the crescent moon in the sky and the faint lights of the city sprawled out in the distance before the window. Dust like shadows streamed through the light from outside the window and was projected on to the walls.



“Kouga?” Houjo turned around with startled eyes. “What? What is it?”



Kouga hadn’t been aware that Houjo was still awake, the boy stood at the window, still fully dressed in his uniform and it seemed he had never went to sleep at all. It was just as well though. “What are you looking at? Do you see it?!” Kouga asked anxiously.



“See what?” Houjo began to grow nervous, this couldn’t be good, and maybe he should have suspected it by now.



Kouga threw the covers off of himself and leapt out of bed, he barely noticed the immediate chill that came over him, and attributed it to the fact that he was dressed only in a pair boxers. Which reminded him to get dressed while he had the chance. “That thing! That damned snake…thing!”



“W-What!” Houjo was jolted with more shock, he immediately turned around and began looking out the window again, this time with purpose.



Kouga pulled on the closest thing he could find, since his armor was no where in the vicinity he put on the clothes Houjo had given him, the black pants and the brown t-shirt, and ran over to the window to find out just what had fixated Houjo about it so much. He barely understood what he found. Snow, thick, white flakes falling in a flurry over the entire city, He watched the puffs of white inch closer and closer to the ground, and then evaporate into nothingness about 4 feet away from the stone courtyard. An invisible aura of heat radiated like a shield, the city pavement was still warm with the high temperatures of the day. The snow and cold winds were slowly eating at this heat, drawing closer to the ground until the first snow flake made contact.



“What the hell…” Kouga stood in a confused astonishment.



“…” Houjo glanced over at Kouga then looked back to the window. Old observations became questions, and new inquiries surfaced. “It was like 70 today, how is it snowing?” He asked himself, his voice barely above a whisper, “Why does this always happen? Why does it always snow?” This was clearly not a natural occurrence, and it seemed clearly linked to this demon, but it never snowed during those encounter’s down the well. In fact it had managed to turn a forest into a desert. Of course, Houjo thought, that could also be a testament of it’s power.



‘I though that thing was dead…’ “Come on!” Kouga grabbed Houjo’s arm and pulled him along as he darted out of the room. “I swear that mutt better be up! Souta’s down there!” He growled. The two of them rushed down the stairs with a loud clatter of steps, finding Souta up, pacing a short path with erratic steps and Inuyasha knelling before him with a confused expression on his face.



“Inuyasha.” Kouga said, about to explain to him what he’d detected.



Inuyasha was well aware. “I know.” He called back, nearly dismissativly, and turned his attention back to Souta. “Just calm down.” Inuyasha grabbed Souta’s shoulders and held him in place, his eyes locked on to Souta’s and the boy’s awkwardly shifted away. “Look at me.” Inuyasha commanded. Souta forced himself to look up at Inuyasha, though he couldn’t help averting his eyes away every few seconds, unable to maintain the gaze. “I don’t know what this is, but you’ve gotta focus right now. Just ignore it.”



“…I’ll try…” Souta nodded. But he couldn’t just ignore it, he couldn’t make Inuyasha feel the fear he was feeling, or understand how he could hear what he heard with out hearing it at all, or see the things he saw. He’d realized that a long time ago, and he’d given up on trying to explain it to Inuyasha, he was self-conscious enough about it.



“What? What’s the problem?” Kouga came to a stop in front of Inuyasha and Souta and the 4 of them quickly formed a crowd.



“I’m hearing…never mind.” Souta quickly moved away from the subject, he started to feel as though everyone was judging him, and they’d start to think he was crazy. He just wanted to ignore it now, wishing that they’d simply forget it had been brought up.



“He heard something calling him.” Inuyasha abruptly explained.



“Calling him like how?” Houjo asked, growing worried.



“Let’s just say I didn’t hear it.” Inuyasha replied.



“You think it’s…” Kouga looked at Inuyasha prompting, clearly eluding to something. “You know.”



Inuyasha realized he meant what they had been talking about before. “Maybe.”



Of course wishes never actually came true. Souta shifted and tilted his head away, glaring at the floor, burning in embarrassment and frustration. ‘I’m still standing here you know.’ He thought angrily.



Houjo looked at Souta and paused, then Inuyasha and Kouga did the same. It only served to make the self-consciousness grow stronger. Houjo sighed. “Souta...I promise we’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise me and you will figure this all out later. But… Right now…”



“I know, I know.” Souta nodded. Then his eyes widened in enlightenment and he began to look around, ”Whoa…” His first though was how this sensation seem to spring upon him so powerfully in such a short instant.



Inuyasha’s expression became questioning, then became aggravated. “Awe damnit.” He grunted and rose to his feet. He knew that expression, he knew that reaction. He immediately paced over to the window and drew back the curtains, and to his shock and horror the cold air he felt had been feeling was coming from a snowstorm coming down with a silent, intense oppression outside. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”



“What? What is it?” Houjo asked.



“I’m getting that feeling again. It’s close.” Souta turned around and pointed out of the window into the shrine’s courtyard “It’s coming from that way!” Souta’s heart began to pound and his stomach began to quake nauseously. “Oh man…” He was standing here defenseless. “Crap!” He pushed past Kouga and ran for the stairs with out a word of explanation.



“Souta! What are you doing!” Inuyasha yelled. “Don’t run off by your self like that!”



“I’ll be right back!” Souta called back, halfway up. He was frantic, he was terrified, he had to get his crossbow before it got here, he needed something to hold on to, a crutch, something dangerous, something to make him feel at lest a little stronger and subsequently braver. Even if he had to run off by himself, defenseless, alone, in the middle of danger to get it.



Kouga growled with the same aggravation. “I got him.” He didn’t hesitate to go after the boy. Got halfway up the stairs before the familiar, threatening scent flared up beside him. “!!” He barely had time to turn and look at the wall before it was torn open in a burst of dust, wood and drywall and a tightly nit arm of pink, serpent like tentacles spewed forth as if it had been spit out. “!!” It jerked out sharply, wiping into Kouga’s with a pounding blow and knocking him to the ground, “Ugh!” Kouga’s head slammed his head against the edge of a stair and a tearing pains erupted from his back and temple. “Son of a bitch!” He pushed himself forward with a springing start and stumbled up a few steps, managing to evade the next attack when the arm slammed down on to the ground where he had been a half second earlier.



Inuyasha ran towards the stair with out a moment of hesitation, Kouga and Inuyasha drew their arms back, both ready to strike out. The entire bottom wall along the stairs was torn asunder by 5 more arms that burst out, failing wildly. The lowest one pounded into Inuyasha’s chest and jarred his rib cage, knocking him on to his back. Kouga jumped back evasively, but his former speed and agility had been striped from him and his slow and ungraceful movements weren’t quick enough escape danger, he could only flinch and block his face with his arms defensively just as the arm whipped out and slammed into him, making him fall backwards on to the ground at the top of the stairs. They were separated.



“?” Inuyasha shuttered in mild disgust when he felt his chest was wet with a thick, clear liquid oozing from the creatures like sweat. “Damnit, Kouga!” He called out. “My sword! It’s upstairs, get it!”



“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Kouga rolled backwards, just barely evading another swing from the arm, then he rose to his knees and took off after Souta and out of view.



Houjo sighed and rubbed his head, staring with a horrified astonishment and shock at the 6 bulky arms blocking the path upstairs. “So much damage…”



“Hey! Pay attention!” Inuyasha growled.



“Yeah, on it.” Houjo tore his eyes away from the creatures and took off, running to the corner of the living room where Kouga’s sword sat safely placed in a shadowy spot, then he unsheathed it and ran to Inuyasha’s side. His fingers trembled slightly and his throat became dry, his chest became anxious with a nervous weight. Fear rose up inside of him the closer he came to demonic entities, remembering the sensations of pain from past encounters.



With a sudden, violent echo of tearing sounds as the only warning, one of the arms thrust out of the wall and towards Inuyasha and Houjo. Inuyasha instinctively leapt backwards out of the way, Houjo, lacking the reflexes and speed to escape, recoiled and lifted his sword defensively. A split second later he felt the impact into sword and the dull edge of the blade was forced back into his chest painfully, knocking him off balance. “Unn!!” Then a web of pink tentacles stretched out and wrapped an intricate entanglement around his torso.



“Houjo!” Inuyasha reached out and swiped at the finger like tentacles, pulling and clawing with quick tugs until Houjo fell free from the bondage to the ground. The arm of tightly wound creatures wiggled thrust out again, punching down at the ground after Houjo.



Houjo, barley seeing a shining flicker in the darkness, rolled out of the way narrowly, feeling the floors quake from the impact, and grabbed on to the couch, pulling himself up right. “Urrgaa!” With frustration and a racing heart he lifted the sword over his shoulder and slash across the arm, his sword tearing a gash across the side and forcing it to retreat. “This isn’t going well.”



“It just started.” Inuyasha retorted curtly.



“I’m getting in the way.”



“No, your not.” Inuyasha shook his head. “You make good bait.”



! - ! - !



“Where is it? Where is it? Where is it!?” Souta raved to himself under his breath, scrambling into his room. He could barely hear the world around him from the blood rushing through his ears from his pounding heart. His body itched with forming sweat as he dug and riffled behind and then under his bed. His hands trembled as he shoveled through the closet, every muffled sound he heard from under the floor-boards cultivated his fear with a mounting tension. He was paranoid, flinching, constantly looking over his shoulder and around the room.



“Souta!” Kouga called out, he bolted into the door way and paused, his eyes darting around the room suspiciously. “What the hell! Why’d you run off like that!?” He shouted angrily, glaring down at the boy harshly.



Souta was too scared for Kouga’s anger to have much effect, he paused for a moment before Kouga, then his eyes shifted away and he darted off to another corner of the room where he saw a stack of half warn bows, searching around for the crossbow in panic. “ I gotta find it!”



“Find it?” Kouga looked at him curiously. “Find-…Oh damnit, Inuyasha’s sword.” Kouga grunted in aggravation.



“It’s In Kagome’s room.” Souta called back, digging into the closet for the second time even more frenzied then the first. What if he didn’t find it!? It was coming for him, it was gonna come for him and he’d be defenseless. He was weak, he was too weak! And terrified, he was so afraid he could hardly move. In a strange way, this fear propelled him forward into a manic craze.



Kouga had far better luck finding Inuyasha’s sword. In a room covered in Kagome’s scent, it wasn’t hard to find something of Inuyasha’s. “Damn mutt, keep it with you next time why don’t cha!” he growled.



“Come on! Come on!” Souta screamed to himself, he felt as though he was so tense and afraid he’d break down and cry any moment. His fingers brushed against the wooden frame in a pile of clothes that had fallen from the rack.



*Souta*



“Aaahhhh!” Souta flinched at the voice and stumbled and fell backwards, holding on tightly to the crossbow. Then the lights cut out and the entire room went dark.



Kouga reacted almost innately to the sound and burst into the room. For the second time he cursed himself for lacking his former speed, he was merely fast enough to get into the doorway just as the floor underneath Souta erupted into a dark cloud of splinters and the shadowy forms of tentacles, shot upwards, latched on to Souta and tugged him sharply down with a loud, fearful out cry. “S-Souta!” Kouga shouted, feeling a fear for Souta he’d never felt for himself at that moment. His fist tightened around Inuyasha’s sheathed sword and he ran forward towards the hole, stopping for a brief second to look down into the darkness. From the faint glow of light from the window he could see a mass of the tentacles worming their way around in a slick, wet slew that took on a lustrous quality. The only thing he could see of Souta was the tip of his foot that sank quickly beneath the surface. “Souta!”



! - ! - !



Houjo had to remind himself to fall back into the stance he had practiced so many times, it wasn’t as natural to him as it has first felt. He held the sword steady with both hands, the sound of his harsh, trembling breaths seemed to be the only thing he could hear and he quickly grew aggravated with himself for it. ‘Where is it…Where is it?’ Houjo looked around, straining to see in the darkness, maybe if he could calm down and stop breathing so hard he could hear it! ‘Calm down…calm down…’ He said to himself,. The dim light from the windows provided him with just bare visibility, he watched Inuyasha struggling with the arms on the stairs, fighting them off with his claws as best he could. It was clear his stamina wasn’t near what it should have been, and one arm was still weaker then the other.



No matter, Inuyasha would be fine on his own one way or another, Houjo had to worry about himself.



He heard the faint sliding sound all around him and he immediately tensed. He lifted the sword, turned around and slashed downward, slicing through 2 tentacles with a clean cut. One grabbed on to his leg, they were all around him again! Houjo did his best not to panic as he began slashing blindly around in circles defensively. “!!” Stay calm, stay focused! Keep attacking! Remember not to let the sword’s thrust get limp or else it won’t cut through. He couldn’t panic, he had to remember these things!



It was too many for him to handle in the dark. He shutter when he felt one slip under his shirt and wrap around his torso, then another group slid over his ankles and crawled up and wrap around his legs. ‘No! No!’ Houjo lifted his sword to cut them away but 5 or so tentacles wrapped around his arms from behind. ‘Let go! Let go!’ his eyes went wide and his body quaked and felt as though it went weak from fear. He pulled against them struggling to break free but he was being pulled back, slowly losing his balance. “Unnn!” His muscles tightened locked into place as if each was strained under it’s own tasks. A heat radiated against his chest from the glowing jewel shard and sparks of electricity streaked across his body with a crackling buzz. The tentacles sizzled and slackened before falling off completely from the burn. “W…Whoa.” It was several long, fearful seconds before his muscles loosened and he could move again.



“Houjo!” Inuyasha lifted his arms defensively and blocked his chest when one of the arms lashed out and punched into him. He growled and shoved his hand against it, clawing and tearing as much with wide, hard swipes before it withdrew. Fistfuls of torn flesh were left disposed on the ground. “I gotta find Souta!” He said. Kouga was taking too long! A fear rushing through his blood like ice pulsed across his body as he turned and bolted towards the front door. Possibly it was his impatience but he sensed Houjo had already knew his plan, that he’d already figured out he’d simply go in from the second story window.



Clearly anticipating this, an arm plowed in to the house from the outside, tearing the door from it’s hinges with it’s impact, and lunging strait for Inuyasha with only a split second’s notice. Inuyasha leapt reflexively to the side, narrowly evading the strike. The instant his foot touched the ground again, a web of tentacles unraveled and deployed, ensnarling him. “What the fu-“ He couldn’t even get the words out before a second arm, already in motion, launched upward through the floor and hammered into his chest before he could break free. Just as one of the arms from the stairs thrust itself into his back, smashing him in-between. A haunting outcry of pain was ripped from Inuyasha’s mouth with a mist of blood.



“Inuyasha!” Houjo ducked his head down and narrowly avoided the impacted door as it flew past and crashed loudly behind him. With only a few, quick strides he was there. “Let go!” He drew the sword to his side and slashed across the center, the sword tore a wide gash between the weaving as if all together they created a single body of flesh. The clear liquid dripped down to the floor in pools as though it were blood. Houjo fluidly brought the sword upward above his head and cut down with all of his strength. The blade dug it’s way in shallowly under his own strength before his muscles locked with tension again and more flickers of electricity coursed across his body and into the sword’s steel, electrocuting the mass. It immediately drew back, letting Inuyasha fall to his knees. A realization came to him in the mist of that hectic moment. ‘Whoa…I think…I know why it does that…’ “Inuyasha, are you alright?”



“I’m fine, we have to get Souta!” Inuyasha pushed himself on to his feet and ran for the door again. “!!” And just as he came close a wall of seemingly interlocked tentacles shot up from the ground outside, standing rigidly up into the air in a tight perimeter around the house. It completely blocked all light, it seemed as though it were a solid wall.



In all of his fear, Houjo couldn’t help but mumble. “These things get smarter every time.”



! - ! - !



Kouga fell to his knees and tried to grab Souta but his arms couldn’t reach, in an instant Souta’s scent was greatly diminished, swallowed by the wet scent of the demon. He saw a lump slide through the mass and smelled Souta’s scent retreat from him toward the window. “No! No! No!” Kouga yelled in horror, of course to no avail. He ran forward, following the trail of the scent strait ahead until he came to the window and without hesitation he dived through it, his body smashing through the glass and frame. “!!” And to his horror found himself hurtling head first into a wall of large, towering tree like tentacles that stretched up at the very least a few feet higher then the house. Kouga fell on to the outer roof and rolled to a stop. “Wh…What the hell!”



He’d never seen any quite so big, individually at lest. Those tentacles he’d seen could only reach this stature, this tree like girth, by binding together, but these were one by themselves. Where did they come from?! “Damn, Damn! Damnit!” He roared in furry! This damn thing was growing stronger and he was as weak as ever! “Give me back Souta!” Kouga clinched the sheath Tetsusaiga so tightly the old, warn, untransformed blade threatened to pierce the covering, he crouched slightly and was about to dart forward. One of the large tree like organs bent near the center and slammed down like a cracking whip, Kouga dived to the side, evading narrowly the large entity that crashed into the house and sent a quake through the entire structure. Kouga used what was left of his agility to roll on to his feet and dart forward towards the wall where a small window had appeared. He dived fearlessly forward, not knowing if he could take the fall in his weakened state.



Another tree wavered and bent forward, the tip of it ensnarled him “!!” Kouga instinctively dug his claws into the flesh and began ripping in to as fiercely and brutally as he could. His claws and fingers tore into the muscles with ease thanks to his newly developed upper body strength, he shoveled out the muscles in a flood of blood as if it was something simple such as snow. It had no choice but to let him go, and his body plummeted towards the ground much faster then he remembered.



“Kouga!” Much to his surprise Inuyasha was there to catch him, and Kouga couldn’t have been more horrified to land in Inuyasha’s arms.



“You are fucking kidding me…” Kouga grunted and immediately rolled out of Inuyasha’s grip and on to the ground. The space between the wall of trees and the house was narrow, dangerously narrow, Inuyasha and Houjo had to stand side by side. ‘Tell me the mutt did not just catch me!’ “You are fucking kidding me!”



Inuyasha saw Kouga and the sword and his eyes widened in horror. “Souta’s still-“



“No, That damn thing’s got him!” Kouga thrust Inuyasha’s sword at him, glaring irately up at the trees, filled with a furry so strong that his body trembled. He hadn’t felt an anger like this in a long time, he couldn’t control himself. He was a heartbeat away from going wild, the only thing keeping him from doing so was a lack of a way get to Souta. He pointed with a trembling finger at the wall of trees invasively close to him. “He’s somewhere behind those damn things!”



“What!? What?!” Inuyasha’s shock and horror were almost immediately replaced by determined anger. He grabbed the hilt and unsheathed the broad sword.



Houjo found himself to be the only one of sound mind, who hadn’t lost focus, who was too afraid and paranoid not to be. ‘!!’ “Hey! Watch behind you!” He yelled a warning just as an arm burst forth from the doorway, Kouga flinched with a startled chill washing through his body, his mind reacted just as quickly it always had, racing at speed he could barely comprehend while his body responded at grindingly slow pace. “Kouga!” Houjo knocked Kouga off balance and sent him stumbling to the side with a rough thrust from is shoulder, placing himself in to harms way before he could get away. He didn’t have time to utter a sound, his sword was raised defensively across his chest just as the arm impacted into him. The blade passed through the center of the arm as simply as paper, while the two halves subsequently pounded into Houjo’s chest and flung him violently off of his feet.



Kouga rolled over on to his back underneath the arm and swiped his claws into intertwined tentacles, then he wrapped his arm around it and wrestled it to the ground, growling furiously as he tore into it with his vicious swipes and ripped away every shred he could. He was on fire! A deep furry was overwhelming him.



Houjo fell backwards into the wall of trees, he didn’t have time to catch himself before two massive appendages wiggled, opening a small space in-between them, which Houjo’s body quickly slipped into, then clinched tightly together smashing him in-between.. “Unnnaaaaa!” Houjo cried out in pain, feeling his body being crushed from both sides, the weight against his chest making it hard for his lungs to expand, the pressure on his head making him feel as though it would burst.



“Houjo!!” Kouga looked up with horror and fear in his eyes, and again his mind began to race.



“Let him go!” Inuyasha lifted the Tetsusaiga over his head and stabbed it down into one of the trees as hard as his diminished strength would allow, the large blade embedded itself a portion of the way before resistance of thick muscles deep inside halted him. Inuyasha planted his feet against the slightly pink skin at it’s base and forced the sword out. He could feel the entire appendage spasm and waver, giving him the small satisfaction of know at the least it felt him.



“Let go of him you son of a bitch!” Kouga’s furry exploded into nothing more then blind action, with a snarl he dived at the opening Inuyasha’s sword had created, digging his claws into the open slit and began tearing out flesh with his claws. It was horrifying in an awe attracting manner. Blood and a slick liquid gushed from the ever widening hole in a flood, until the tree began to lose it color and wither, and the massive form keeled over and fell backwards, quaking the ground.



Houjo fell from the crushing grasp and hit the ground on the other side of the wall, immediately hugging his chest and rolling on to his side with gasping, choked breaths. They were through.



! - ! - !



Pressure, that’s all he felt was pressure, squeezing every part of him, choking him, gagging him, binding him, constricting his entire body. He could vaguely feel them shifting and sliding over his body with the slick, clear liquid that coated them smoothing each movement. He would have been afraid of that, just the feeling of it starting to coat his skin would have intensified his fear, being soaked with very liquid that had made him so violently ill before. He could barely get a sense of himself, the tentacles entangled around his neck like a knot had slowly began to cut off his air supply until his lips and finger tips began to turn blue and his terrified, avid struggling became little more the decrepit twitches. “….”



*Souta*



Souta’s eyes cracked open slightly, his pupils didn’t focus, and what part of him that was alert enough to perceive it only saw a blurred darkness. He was vaguely aware of a rapid tugging, they seemed to be moving around, he could sense it and realize it with out thinking about it, there was little left to think with. He felt himself drifting out of consciousness.



*Souta*



The pressure on his neck was released and his lungs automatically drew in a mouthful of air, and another, and another. He didn’t pay attention to the wind rushing past his body and sensation of one’s internal organs drifting upwards against his stomach one felt when falling, he needed air. And with out warming an impact pounded into his body, jarring his back and rupturing through his entire form, this was overwhelmed by the sharp pain in his in his head from hitting the ground. Darkness.



He wasn’t sure how long he was out, when he could feel himself again he became aware of the pain in his throat, and the throbbing in his head. “Unn…” Souta pried his eyes open and slowly sat up, before he even opened his eyes he felt the cold, unfamiliar surroundings and fear began to arise from the uncertainty.



*Souta*



“!!” Souta’s eyes shot open and looked around, his eyes darting fearfully every which way for the source of the sound. A chill surged through his body from fear rather then cold when he saw what was right in front of him. His hands began to tremble and his body froze indecisively in place as he stared in confusion and fear, a soft glow illuminating his face. What was he looking at?



His surroundings were dark, and cold, and what ever he was staring at was just the opposite. It was a light, a white light, but it didn’t have the prosperities of light, it was surreal. It was like…like…A wash of white pant rolling down a pane of glass that lay in front of a void of darkness, something that seemed to hang in the air in front of him. Tentacle like outgrowths stretched toward him rustled like the leaves of a tree in a gust of wind. And it was warm, he could feel a heat coming with the light.



This thing wasn’t really there, he realized whatever he was staring at was of the same nature of the dead wolf pup from Kouga’s pack, and of his father the day he’d seen him, and it terrified him. Souta let out a fearsome whimper and staggered backwards, retreating from it as fast as he could. “!!” His back hit a wall sending terror stricken shutters rushing through him and his eyes darting around rabidly. Adrenaline made him almost numb, he didn’t feel the throbbing in the back of his head, or the ache surrounding the length of his back from the fall.



*Souta*



“Ahhh!” Souta’s head snapped strait and his eyes focused forward towards the light again. That voice!



*Fear*



It strange, what he was hearing didn’t seem like a real voice, it was a stream of subconscious thoughts and feeling flowing through his head that didn’t seem feel like his own. He was an antenna receiving signals others were closed to. “Leave me alone! What do you want from me!?” He cried out, tears boiling to eyes and spilling out over his cheeks, he was so scared he nearly broke down into sobs.



He was afraid, he was petrified! Those things! They dragged him here, they’d kill him! Where was Inuyasha? Please come, please help! He was always calling for Inuyasha to help him, he was so weak and feeble. So small and fragile. He wished he was stronger, then he wouldn’t be afraid, he needed to get stronger. Stronger, no more fear, stronger…



*Souta*



Souta stared at the light with a caution, though completely mesmerized, watching the outstretched tendrils ebbed and flowed as if it drifted through water. These were thoughts moving through his mind, it was his mental voice making the statements, but they weren’t his own, they were ideas that popped in his head from nothingness. Some kind of reaction to an external stimulus, some kind of rationalization. He knew the cause of it, and the antenna analogy replayed itself in his mind.



There was an energy emanating from the source of light and heat he could feel it. It was comforting, it felt safe even, and when he felt it his surrounding became cold and frightening in comparison. It was safer there, and that energy it didn’t hurt, it felt good in fact. Just being around it perked his senses and swept away the fog and weight encasing his head after the fall. He wished he could keep this energy, this strength it gave him. He wasn’t quite as afraid, he didn’t feel quite as weak, and he yearned for it, like a child to a security blanket.



Souta shook his head, “I have to get out of here.” He said weakly. No way! He felt like it was drawing him in, manipulating his feelings and urges to elicit these thoughts in his head that sounded and seemed like his own but he vaguely knew weren’t. The thought of what had dropped him into this spot burned through his head and reunited him with his fear. “I gotta get out of here.” He repeated over and over, he quickly turned away and bolted off, reaching only a few steps before he came to the edge of the light’s illumination and found himself starring at a wall of darkness. And he could hear them, the tentacles, shifting and moving…waiting for him. “No…nononono…” Souta wanted to curl up into a ball and clinch his eyes shut until this was all over.



He found himself slipping backwards away from the darkness, he felt a wavering light tentacle slide over the back of his neck. And the spot was awash with this amazing sensation of energy and warmth, he was to pre-occupied with the sensation to realize he was afraid. God it was amazing. …No! No way he knew what this was, he felt this urge, this physical urge, to run from the pain and fear, the worst fear he’d ever felt, before it overtook him. Run! Run! He was screaming at himself he had to get out of here! He willed himself to take one more step forward but froze again when he heard the sound, and he saw a glimmer of the tentacle’s wet sheen.



He had to run, he knew he had to. But he was afraid, why was he such a coward! He couldn’t stay here, he knew that! This was dangerous, he didn’t know what it was doing but he felt himself drawn to it, to it’s strength, to the escape from fear it gave. Fear or…this. Fear or an out?! If he could just make himself take one more step forward…



He felt another tentacle wipe over his back and that energy peeked through him and he felt a charge of strength. He knew he could push this away, he could force this from his body with out retreating, he’d never done it before but he knew how. It was instinctual, it came from the same place that taught him how to suck and swallow as an infant. He didn’t move, he didn’t expel, he only stood there trembling, to afraid to stay but terrified to move! Finally he resigned himself to his fear and gave in to the strength he felt. Almost immediately after words the light surrounded him, draping over him, swallowing him in the brightness. And he wasn’t afraid. He didn’t feel weak any more. This energy made him feel strong, like gravity was becoming lighter. “Whoa…” Souta’s mouth hung open in awe, this was what he wanted! What he’d always wanted, strength, with no fear. “This is…this is…” The word he was looking for was amazing.



There was, for a moment, the sense that this was wrong, terribly wrong. He didn’t know what this thing was or where he was, or what it was doing to him. With that sense slowly being obscured by the intoxication of it all, he briefly loathed himself because he knew just how much of a coward he was, letting this, who knew what, do who knows what to him, just to shirk away from his fears, he knew it. Then those feelings dissipated as the light faded, and then he felt nothing at all.



! – ! - !



The space beyond the large tree tentacles was more tedious and dangerous then the inside of the house dark house,



“Souta!” Inuyasha screamed out franticly, he took hard, pounding steps through the snow, kicking up low clouds of cold powder. Something lurched up from underneath the snow, something wet and cold wrapped around his ankle and tugged him back, he nearly tripped but quickly grunted and kicked his way out of it. “Souta!” He called out again, he could barely hear the howl of the wind over his voice. The air seemed to tremble in his ears and his body screamed danger at him, though he was so focused on Souta that he didn’t give his movements his full attention. “!!” Inuyasha turned around and lifted his sword defensively to be pummeled with a face full of wind and heavy snow barreling into his eyes, obstructing his vision. An arm jetted out and pounded into the side of his less sound left arm. With a small out cry of pain his sword fell from his grip and he fell on to his side.



Seemingly the instant he struck the ground, tentacles, nearly completely covered in fresh snow that clung to the liquid coating their lithe forms, shot upward from under the ground. They came from all over, like a backwards rain rising upward towards the sky and in an instant the three of them were surrounded by a dense forest of them. They wormed their way up from underneath Inuyasha and wrapped themselves around him, binding him to the ground with increasing layers as more and more of them launched upwards and fell on to Inuyasha. A visceral growl forced it’s way from his throat and Inuyasha began pulling against his binds, tearing them away wildly with his claws.



“What the fuck is this?!” Kouga grunted, everywhere he turned he was surrounded by these tentacles that stood like tall branches surrounding him, they reached up from the snow underneath him and quickly wrapped around his legs, more and more each second until it looked as though his legs had taken root in the snow. ‘They never did this before…’ Kouga grunted and began pulling with all of the strength his legs could muster, but they were too weak and he found himself immobile with more and more rising from below and wrapping around his waist. He immediately began ripping them away in handfuls with an almost ease, the new strength that had grown in his arms made the task far easier then in previous encounters. “Fuck off!” Kouga growled and leaped a sort desistance in to the air and pulled free, only to send his body diving into the entanglement of rope like appendages around him. When any part of Kouga’s body made the barest of contact they reacted and immediately latched on to him. With in seconds he was suspended above the ground, bound by the white forest of them. Kouga snarled and began fighting his way free, slashing at everything. But he didn’t get a chance to fall before clear path of the tendrils fell flat to the ground and a massive form came careening through the veil of snow like a train. A massive tree tentacle wiped towards him in a red blur, “Oh Sh—“ It batted into him and a blinding pain surged through his body, the large tree swatted his body into the ground and hammered down on him with one strong pound that sent quakes rumbling through the snow. Then it recoiled behind the veil of snow.



“Kouga No!” Houjo watched in horror as Kouga was struck by the monstrously large tree, his eyes wide and his body trembling. ‘No, No, No!’ A fearful shutter sent ice through his blood when he felt the cold, wet tentacles latching on to him, the pull drawing him towards the ground increasing with each one that rose up and latched on. His heart pounded, the blood rushing past his ears was a dull fearsome roar that was deafening when added to the wind. He struggled as hard as he could, but it was painfully clear that his strength wasn’t enough to break free from the resistance, he couldn’t move! He could barely stand. “Let go!” He felt the appendages around his wrist contracting, his cold hands began to tingle and go numb and he felt the sword slipping. From his frozen grip “Come on…Come on!” He clinched his eyes shut and tensed his entire body, trying to recreate the circumstances that activated the jewel shard during past times.



His eyes were forced open in a violent flinch when he heard the sound of large amounts of air being displaced and he could see the forest of red tendrils temporarily retreat and foggy veil of another massive tree tentacle drawing back in a swirl of sweeping winds and snow. “N-n-no~o!” His voice trembled and his heart jumped, he felt as though his mind had raced ahead with frantic thoughts of what was about to come, but his body had nearly stalled. His skin itched with a half frozen sweat and his skin suddenly crackled with sparks of static blue electricity. The streaks tore through and burned the tentacles, falling off his body in dead and limp droves. “!!” His body was locked for a few split, endless seconds, leaving his racing mind to sit and watch in horror as a red mass swung towards him, cutting through the fog of snow with the powerful motion a train hurtling down the tracks, there was a loud swish as it forced it’s way through the air. “H-H-Haa!” His muscles unlocked and every newly tuned reflex screamed at his body not to freeze or flinch, just evade! So he fell. He jumped backwards and clinched his eyes shut, feeling his body fall into the snow just as the tree passed narrowly above him. Dragging wash of powerful wind in it’s wake, his body along with a blizzard of snow was sent tumbling forward a few feet into an entanglement of long standing tentacles that trapped him again, pushed by the dragged air currents.



Inuyasha forced himself to his feet and retreated to the only place he could, he pushed himself off the ground and leapt into the air, slashing at any outreaching tendrils with his sword and landing roughly in the branches of the bare cherry blossom. “Damnit! They’re everywhere!” He punched the tree in frustration, stripping the bark under his impact. “Where the hell is…” Inuyasha looked down and saw Kouga laying face down on the ground underneath him, the snow surrounding him was red with blood and the wolf was weakly attempting to push himself to his knees while tentacles were slowly writhing from the snow and wrapping around him. “Kouga!” Inuyasha didn’t hesitate to jump down and land beside him.



“Inuyasha!” Kouga grunted, he lifted his head slowly, blood running down the sides of his mouth in droves, and an absolute furry that made his eyes tremble. He snatched his arm free and pounded his fist down in front of him, clawing into the dirt. Inuyasha lifted the sword and drew it back to hack away at Kouga’s binds. “Back off mutt!” Kouga growled.



“What?” Inuyasha paused in confusion. “What the hell are you-“



“I don’t need you to help me!” He yelled venomously. “Go take care of your self damnit!” He coughed, sending a mist of blood into the snow.



Inuyasha was conflicted for a moment, he felt a tentacle grab his arm and immediately ripped it away. Confusion turned to anger, “What the hell is your problem!” Inuyasha yelled back curtly. “Let me help you dumbass!” Had he not been so angry he would have been far more self-conscious about using those words. Being enveloped in the intensity of the situation and aggravation he didn’t give it a single taught.



Kouga, however, did. And it hung in his head like a constantly looping song, taunting him, everything seemed to be taunting him! Everything taunted him when he was angry, the motives of others seemed to stem from pity and loathing, everyone seemed to think he was weak and an easy mark. When he was angry all of Inuyasha’s motive seemed to stem form doubt of him, he wasn’t weak! “So that’s it huh? Now that my legs are screwed up only the big bad Inuyasha can save us all.” Kouga spat venomously. He reached up and ripped a tentacle off his neck and pounded his palms into the ground, his hair rustling in the snow. “Well tough luck you big brute. It’s not gonna happen like that! Go find Souta!”



“Well fine!” Inuyasha snorted, taken back by Kouga’s sudden outburst, the instant he felt hurt he immediately reacted in anger. Souta! He needed to find Souta, he didn’t have to worry about this damn wolf. He’d reached out, unwittingly as it might have been, and made himself vulnerable by showing his concern and he’d been shot down. “Go ahead, die for all I care.” He folded his arms and turned away, leaping into the relative safety of the tree. His eyes immediately drifted to Kouga, a part of him wanted to see Kouga fail, to see his pride crushed for hurting his own, but then he felt guilty for that thought, when he notably wouldn’t have is the past. Torn between anger and concern, he stood there and watched, frozen with indecision, when he knew he should have been focusing on other things.



‘Damnit…’ Kouga glared forward at the blood painting the snow, his eyes so wrought with furry his pupils trembled to the point of blurring his vision. His body was nearly entombed in the forest of them. ‘Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!’ He was screaming in his head, so angry his body was trembling, he pounded both hands into the ground and began to pull himself forward, creating treads of dirt where his hands dug. More tentacles shot outward around him, and Inuyasha could barely see Kouga, it seemed as though he was lost in a sea of tall, red grass. “Fuck!” Kouga screamed and reached out, grabbing anything he could, pulling, ripping, struggling, he was fueled with a furious, hateful energy! He was so blind with rage he could barely see, he could barely think! All that was left was the sensation of tendrils tearing and ripping around him.



Inuyasha watched in astonishment as Kouga fought and pulled his way out of a near tomb, leaving a mass of dead appendages in his stead. Kouga rose to his feet and tore himself free of the final binds around his torso, legs and arms and grabbed on to the tree trunk, loud audible and visible clouds of breaths could be heard and seen clearly, and his heart pounded with such intensity he thought it was perceivable to everyone. “K…Kouga…” Inuyasha remained frozen, still staring at Kouga and his anger almost idiotically before he gained the presence of mind to reach down and pull him up.



Kouga immediately pushed Inuyasha’s hand away and climbed up on his own, his body was still shaking.



Inuyasha merely folded his arms and looked away. “Fine then.” He grunted.



And just as always, Kouga’s anger was set off, even with out trying Inuyasha was main breeder of it. He hated the Hanyou at that moment. “Shut up! You-“ Kouga’s voice dropped immediately and turned his head away in distraction.



Inuyasha’s eyes widened and his gaze turned into the same direction. That scent! That scent! It was him! It was Souta, it was coming closer!



A small rift appeared in the center of the red forest, a small cross section of the extending appendages were forced aside, it looked as if something from underneath had parted them. And sure enough, Souta, though in the mist of the tall red, offending meadow that made his small form barely able to be seen, emerged.



“Souta!” Without a second’s hesitation Inuyasha leapt towards Souta, sailing through the wiping winds and harsh snow, from above it looked almost as like a meadow of pink and white. He was intercepted by the snake like tentacles that reached out and ensnarled him in what felt as though an endless number . “Souta!” he dropped his sword and began struggling, pulling, prying, trying to dive deeper to the obscure form of the boy.



“Ahhhhh! Ahhnnngaaa!”



Inuyasha’s ears perked and a spasm jolted fearfully through his body. “Souta!”



“Nnnnaagggaaaa!” Souta cried out again and the ground rumbled with the volume of a stampeding heard, the small divide in the forest suddenly became a great rift that stretched out in front of him. Inuyasha fell a what seemed to be a great distance to the ground, he didn’t feel a thing.



Souta stood before him, clinching his head with both hands and eyes squeezed shut, nearly staggering, a few dangerous inches from falling. He was turning slightly red and he wasn’t breathing save for a few slight squeaks of escaping air, as though some immense pressure was building up inside of him.



The boy looked as though he was in pain. “Souta!!” Inuyasha pushed himself off the ground and scrambled towards the boy, fear and relief intertwining into an adrenal rush. He grabbed Souta by the shoulder and much to his shock he was met with a pain he couldn’t quite identify, it was a stinging pain, or maybe a burning, that seemed to sear the nerve endings in his arms. “!!” He immediately withdrew his arms and stared down at it, then back at Souta. “What…What the hell!?”



“Hnn!” Souta cried out again, and the ground rumbled as the section that had been cleared suddenly bloomed with the red tentacles.



Inuyasha froze again, unsure if he should try to grab Souta and run or stay—



Souta stamped his foot down and the re growth stopped in it’s tracks, “G…!…!!” Souta suddenly stood up right and swept his arms out as if wiping the world clean with one, sharp movement An unseen ripple pervaded, the earth quaked with the retreat of what had to be hundreds of thousands of tentacles back into the ground, the entire yard seemed to jump when the massive trees retreated.



“Wha…” Houjo landed on his back, Kouga’s sword still clinched tightly in his trembling hand like a safety blanket. “What happened?” He sat up and began looking around, regaining a sense of how numb and wet his body was from the snow, a tight dread knotted in his stomach. “…” When he realized how open he was simply sitting there he quickly jumped to his feet, holding the blade defensively. “Huh?” Then he heard Inuyasha and instinctively ran towards the voice, finally something, he’d felt as though he’d been alone from the moment he slipped beyond the trees. ”Inuyasha?! Kouga?!” He wiped his face with his wrist, his body shivering. Squinted brown eyes became wide with an elated relief when he saw Souta standing there, his hair matted down with snow and his body soaked and coated. “Souta! Are you ok!?” Houjo dropped down to his knees and wrapped his arms around the boy, only to be filled with a haunting pain that ghosted through his torso arms and neck. “!!” He fell backwards and clinched his neck, he couldn’t breath! It was as if his throat had been burned and swollen shut, and everything ached. “W…W!”



“Souta? What’s wrong with you?” Inuyasha cautiously knelt beside Houjo and stared at him with a horrified confusion. The pain wore off slowly and Houjo gasped in a deep inhale of cold air! “Houjo?”



“Souta?” Kouga leapt down and landed a few feet behind Inuyasha, and was immediately stopped by the Hanyou before Kouga could get near him. “What? What the hell is it?”



“It’s…not right.” Houjo grabbed Inuyasha’s arm and pulled himself up, his mind racing. Why did they pull back? What was going on here? “Something’s not right with him?”



Souta leaned forward slightly then stood up strait again, his body seemed to blur for a split second, then a ghost like image of his body superimposed itself in a sharp, split second flicker, followed by a faint light glow.



“Souta?” Kouga looked at Inuyasha, then at Houjo, searching for some explanation, but none was offered. “Hey…look at his eyes…”



The three of them looked towards Souta, staring into his blank, lifeless eyes. His pupils were different, strange, subtly changed, shifting from a circle to a bit of a diamond. The blank eyes narrowed with a focus and Souta moved, he ran forward towards Inuyasha with an unexpected speed and leapt into the air more then twice his height, his hands were like a striking serpent, with in the blink of an eye they latched on to Inuyasha’s neck with a quick strike.



Inuyasha’s bewilderment was quickly over taken by the surge of pain that spread along his neck and made it hard to breath, he could feel his muscles twitching against Souta’s small hands, making the resultant outcry weak, breathy and horse. With wide eyes Inuyasha slipped his hands between himself and Souta and shoved the boy off, before clinching his neck and gasping.



Houjo lifted his sword defensively, waiting tensely while Souta’s body struck the ground and tumbled backwards a few feet to a stop. “That’s not him! Is it?” His stomach sank nervously when Souta rolled on to his feet with an unusual fluidity, eyes shifting to him in a cold gaze.



“That’s him, that has to be him.” Kouga said, his voice unsure and careful. “It’s his scent, it’s him..” It had to be.



Souta stood silently, staring at Houjo with a predatory glare, taunt and in wait. Inuyasha coughed and spat and stood up strait, a new found frustration was present and clear. “What the hell are you doing?!” He shouted. “What the hell’s wrong with you!?” Inuyasha was so inarticulately trying to inquire about what happened to him during their separation. Of course no response came, Inuyasha took a step towards him and Souta, as if waiting for it, bolted forward towards Houjo. The small body leapt forward with the propulsion of a speedy running start and sent a sharp kick to Houjo’s chest. Houjo flinched and narrowly slipped the blade defensively between Souta’s foot and his body, the second Souta made contact, and all of the momentum had faded and brought the boy into those few split seconds of weightlessness, Houjo whipped the sword upwards, throwing Souta’s body into a spin that ended with a head first fall into the snow.



“What’s wrong with him!?” Houjo yelled out desperately, he took a quick strife backwards when Souta pushed himself up and lunged out for his leg, then pushed himself on to his feet and rushed forward with another uncharacteristic burst of speed and attempted to slip past Houjo’s slid and get behind him. He might have succeeded had he not suddenly stumbled and fell flat on his face. Houjo took a defensive step back and halted, watching carefully. “S-Souta?”



Souta rolled onto his side and cried out in with agony that had tripped him up and brought him down. “Unnnaa!” He screamed, clinching his sides so tightly his fingers dug unto his skin through his clothes. His body visibly convulsed with a sharp jerk and for a second he went silent, looking as if a pressure had built up inside of him but his throat swelled shut. With a sharp cough and a watery spew of blood and unidentifiable dark chunks of an unknown substance.



“Souta!” Inuyasha dropped down beside him and reached out for him, the moment his fingers ran across the side of his face he was immediately taken back by the strange pain. “Damnit! What the hell did those things do to him?!”



“Hell, it really is him…” Kouga crouched down beside Inuyasha, reaching out his hands slowly but pulled back, wanting to at lest touch him but far to afraid from what he’d seen. “What’s going on! Why did they leave? Is this why they brought him back!?”



“Inuyasha, Kouga.” Houjo leaned over their shoulders, wanting to get closer just as they did, wanting to grab him and hold him until the agony subsided and the confusion ended. “Look.” He reached over them and pointed to the spot where Inuyasha’s fingers had made contact on his face. The skin had begun to peel, slowly being curled back by the wind to reveal a tender, new flesh. Scabs were starting to form over every visible inch of his body where a new layer of dead skin was starting to tear. “It looks like his skin is coming off.”



Souta’s eyes snapped open and he quickly rolled on to his stomach and up to his feet.





! - ! - !

! - ! - !

! - ! - !



The next chapter is gonna be really good if I do say so myself, What’s wrong with Souta? What’s happening to him?



~SDI