The Sacred Trees

Oh wow, thanks to all the reviewers and followers of this overlong fic. Suffice to say this is not the last chapter – though it may have been – but my muse went crazy towards the end. Read and see.

Im on a short travel at the moment – and still fighting off the writer's block, but thanks to jet-lag woke up wayyy tooo early and actually managed to write this. Which you may regret and feel like strangling me when you read the end of this chappie. Consider yourself warned.

Anyway have only an hour access to internet – cause I have to pay – so will give individual thanks for reviews next time, with a special shout out to Bibi11 for her ideas.

Read, review and… try not to want to kill me too much.

Chapter 32 : The Shogun and the Baron

The Shogun and the Baron faced off against each other. The first feints was a testing rather than a battle. The two generated a wave of their Youki, made a dominating wall of power to overwhelm the other with. The two energies met, and the watching armies could see the energy meet at press against each other, the unstoppable force, meeting an immovable object. The armies definitely felt the aftereffects, the resulting wave of residual energy generated by the forces meeting sent both forces flying back; had elite Youkai scrambling to take shelter in the rock shelves. Dionne, the DaiYoukais and Inuyasha were the only ones who were able to withstand the wave of energy, with minimal damage.

Then in a clang of steel faster then even demon eyes could see; the battle was joined. Bakunsaiga meeting the blade of the Western Knight sword wielded by the Baron. Both fought with skill and strength, the blows falling so fast that what many assumed to be one blow was actually 10 strikes carried out to perfection. The battle was an amazing sight to behold. Both the combatants were as beautiful as they were deadly , Sesshoumaru with his waterfall of silk white hair, dressed mainly in white, contrasted sharply against the shoulder length golden curls of the Baron. The Baron's purple robes and broader (but a centimeter shorter frame) provided an excellent foil to the Shogun.

Lightning and fire filled the air as magical attacks were unleashed. The ice shelves literally shook under the strain of the attacks. Huge chunks melting away, the two armies were forced to work together by default as they had to stop the ice from melting and assure that they were not dumped into the water.

The two combatants battled on, attacks were exchanged and avoided. The two leaders seemed fairly well matched – but both were still fighting with their standard attacks, not willing to be the first to use their stronger attacks until they understood the enemy better. The battle so far despite its impact on the observing armies was very much a testing of power, a tactical and strategic maneuvering rather then a true effort to defeat the foe. Both warriors were categorizing, learning and understanding their opponents, and to an extent both were enjoying themselves, rarely having a chance to battle at this level, they were both stretching their abilities. After all, to both elegance, efficiency and grace in battle counted.

Well it counted to them at least, but it just made some others just plumb bored.

A barrage of meteorite like fire balls were sent at Sesshoumaru, who stood unmoving. To the onlookers it seemed that Sesshoumaru was engulfed in the fiery barrage. But this was far from the truth, as the energy actually crashed uselessly against the wall of Youki encasing Sesshoumaru, not even a hair on his head was affected by the attack. Before Sesshoumaru could respond in kind, a flash of red caught his eye and for the first time in battle the tiniest crack appeared in his peaceful façade.

"Adamantium Barrage!" Inuyasha unable to stand and watch his mate being seemingly consumed by fire jumped in to attack.

The was a flash of white, as the attack was neutralized not by the Baron, but by a very irritated Sesshoumaru, who protected the Baron from the attack while glaring balefully at his mate.

Inuyasha broke his attack momentum so fast, he over balanced, and fell landing inelegantly on his butt. He gaped at his mate "Sesshoumaru?"

The DaiYoukai sighed, he turned a little to the Baron and bowed again. "Please, forgive the interruption, Lord Baron, may we continue in a moment?" Sesshoumaru asked politely.

"By all means, Lord Shogun, the young are so impetuous. It seems you need to have more discipline with that one, it will be my honor to wait, while you deal with your puppy." The Baron replied politely, with a smug smile.

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth, as he nodded, he knew the other Lord had scored a point from this farce, he glared at his mate, and reached out picked Inuyasha off the floor by the scruff of his neck and held him up in the air.

"Sesshoumaru! What the hell are you doing?" Inuyasha yelped as he dangled helplessly in the air. "I'm not a puppy!"

"Then you will stop acting like one. This is MY battle, Inuyasha, you will stay out of it." Sesshoumaru said sternly.

"But..but.. you were taking so LONG!" Inuyasha whined.

"I did not spoil your fun, now you will cease interrupting mine, Mate! Understood!" Sesshoumaru stated biting back a smile at the disappointed pout Inuyasha began sprouting. The DaiYoukai doubted that Inuyasha actually realized how cute he was acting, the brash mask Inuyasha had adopted in his harsh childhood, had totally disappeared now that Inuyasha was secure in his family. This bundle of impetuous cuteness and unfettered energy had taken its place and as much as it was irritating to deal with Inuyasha's actions, everything the Hanyou did only served to capture more of the DaiYoukai's heart.

Still his enemy did not deserve to see Inuyasha melt and catch fire in his arms, so Sesshoumaru refrained from kissing the pout, instead he nodded at Dionne and Kouga both had come up quickly behind the Hanyou. They each caught one of the Hanyou's arms and held him in place. Both totally ignoring the spluttering protest; by the now insulted but effectively immobilized Hanyou.

Sesshoumaru's small smile disappeared as if it had never been before he turned to face the Baron again. Impassive and flat he nodded, "Shall we continue?"

The Baron nodded mockingly, "Assuming you have your pet Hanyou under-control, by all means let us proceed." The Baron said smugly mistaking mutual love and respect for control. He missed the low growl among the Canines at their co-Alpha being called a 'pet'.

Battle was once again joined, this time with one irate Inuyasha firmly under wraps. The 'testing' between the two warriors continued, each trying to make the other slip up and make a mistake. But neither did, it was conceivable that if the Baron was a Youkai of honor, mutual respect may have developed between the two leaders and the whole war may have ended peacefully… unfortunately that was not to be.

The Baron, frustrated with his inability to see a weakness in the Shogun tactics decided to fall back on an old tactic, verbal taunting, and the earlier incident had provided the Baron with excellent fodder.

"Is it not amazing, you are Sesshoumaru, the great and mighty DaiYoukai and yet you have allowed a mere Hanyou to distract you. Such vile thinning of the blood, and such control the child has over the Great Inu-Shogun of Japan, how low has the mighty sank." The Baron sneered. Sesshoumaru looked serenely at the Baron, totally unmoved he was not so immature to be affected by such taunts. He also managed to ignore the irate tirade from his mate, who was responding in kind to the Baron. Sesshoumaru had to hide his amusement, for Inuyasha's taunts were much more creative, Sesshoumaru winched as Inuyasha informed the Baron that he needed to eat fish ball soup, since he obviously had no balls as he hid behind so many others for so long, and that fish balls were obviously the right size for him. Crude- unfortunately, but definitely more creative.

The taunts from the Hanyou were much more effective then the Barons, and the Baron insulted that the irritating Hanyou dared mock his superiors made the error of turning to Inuyasha and snapping, "Laugh you filthy half breed, once I have defeated your Shogun, I will turn my attention on you. I believe I will remove those abominations that parade it self as ears on your empty head, before I slowly wringing the life out of you."

"Keh!" was all the Hanyou said, unimpressed by the threat. But to Inuyasha's surprise the growl that rose from the Canines in defiance of the threat, was astounding. He went wide eyed and was slightly stupefied by the reaction of his pack by what he considered to be a rather lame threat. This time, the resulting growl rivaled the rolling thunder right above one's head. Loud and long the Canines reacted menacingly, it was one thing to threaten and fight Sesshoumaru, but threatening those cute unruly triangles, it was totally uncalled for and absolutely unacceptable. The voice of defiance from the Canines rumbled out, and directly impacted on the Baron dominating Youki; so powerful was the defiance aimed at the Baron, that his Youki flinched from the rolling energy. The Baron's eyes widened in shock, and this distraction provided the first real mistake in the battle.

Sesshoumaru attacked directly. Poison laced claws sank deep into the Baron's left arm and with a twist Sesshoumaru ripped the arm right off the Baron's body, he tossed the appendage aside disdainfully.

They expected the Baron to flinch again, but instead he started to laugh. A golden band around the Baron's neck began to glow, a green gold color, and the appendage re-grew.

"Dammit, he is a regenerator like Naraku!" Kouga said stunned at the sight of the Baron with a newly formed arm.

"Fool, I far surpass that pathetic Hanyou from the feudal era, I am immortal, a true God among Youkai! Bow before me, you have no hope of matching my power." The Youkai from Atlantis said arrogantly.

Inuyasha was shaking, his body was trembling in his effort to control himself. Dionne and Kouga both had to hang on as the Hanyou suddenly strained forward to attack. "Naraku! Naraku was better then YOU! He absorbed Youkai, Youkai who could fight back.. and the ability was his, You.. YOU BASTARD! You are using the magic stolen from the Ancient Ones, they tried to warn you, to save your people, and you fucking do this! You are beyond despicable – pathetic – ungrateful!" Inuyasha lashed out the feel of the stolen magic channeled into the Baron by the golden band, was an affront, it actually hurt Inuyasha to feel the abuse of the trees, and he desperately wanted to destroy the gold band. Having drawn Inuyasha's attention to the Band, the Hanyou could now feel the steady draining of magical powers from other Ancient ones still trapped by the Human Youkai. The magical life giving energy of the Ancient trees was twisted and defiled as it was absorbed by the Band, and as Inuyasha opened his self to feel the connections he could feel the despair and the sadness of the Ancients who were unwillingly feeding the Human Youkai.

Enraged to be so exposed and defiantly challenged the Baron lashed out at the Hanyou, only to have his attacked absorbed by Sesshoumaru, who did not give the Baron a chance to fully recover his stance. The Shogun irritated that the Baron would dare to actually attack Inuyasha, pressed his attacks hard. Finally Bakusaiga began to glow in his hands, Sesshumaru was now serious and the sword that was a part of him, came to magnificent life.

The Shogun attacked with a series of blows, each more powerful than the last, his rhythm was unpredictable, and the Baron was forced on a defensive. Initially all the blows were overhead; and the Baron made a second mistake, of assuming that was the Shogun's main style. In mid-swing Sesshoumaru reversed his attack and made it a side-ways swing, totally taking the Baron by surprise.

Once again Sesshoumaru removed one of the Baron's hands, only this time he did it with Bakusaiga. It had been a LLOOONNG time since the Bakusaiga had been used for such reasons, Naraku had been the first and last, to feel the continuously cutting force of the blade. The Baron was thus taken by surprise by this ability.

His magic to regenerate warred with the power of Sesshoumaru's blade. The Shogun smiled coldly, "If that was your major trump-card, you are a true fool to enter into combat with this Sesshoumaru."

The Human Youkai growled in response, as he with considerable effort managed to neutralize the impact of the deadly blade, the power no longer ate at him, but his hand did not regenerate either. Priding his intelligence and planning he did not like being taken by surprise and he made his third and worst error in the battle, he allowed his temper to rise. In battle, be it of words or of swords, it is crucial to stay in control, for in battle the one who loses his temper, and thus his control – simply loses.

The Baron's gold Band glowed as he drew more of the stolen magic to him. The Baron's hands began to crackle and burn as energy swirled around him. A massive ball of force was released at Sesshoumaru, its power equivalent to that of a precision nuclear war-head. Even with Bakusaiga raised in defense, absorbing most of the blow, Sesshoumaru was still sent flying back. He crashed into the ice shelves behind him.

The Baron pressed the attack, but Sesshoumaru had phased to a different location, the two fought, now with Sesshoumaru on a defensive. The Shogun avoiding the stunning power of the attacks, which even as he ducked and weaved around them; managed to damage the Shogun. His clothes no longer immaculate and pristine, were spotted with Sesshoumaru's blood. Still each attack released by the Baron allowed Sesshoumaru to learn a little bit more about the Baron's abilities, and his defenses against them began to improve exponentially.

If not for his ire, the Baron would have thought better of his next action, but angered and irritated, and frustrated at the Shogun's improved defense, the Baron drew out his most powerful energy bullet. Sesshoumaru braced himself and raised Bakusaiga, the Baron's smile was evil, as he released his attack. NOT at Sesshoumaru – but at the individual he felt was most responsible for the situation he was in.

His both hands immobilized, Tessaiga on the floor at his feet the energy bullet was released directly at the unprepared Hanyou. The split second it took for the event to occur slowed down excruciatingly for Inuyasha. He saw the ball of energy coming straight at him. There was no time, Inuyasha in a burst of energy only just managed to push both Kouga and Dionne who had not realized the danger until it was too late; away from him. He crossed his arms in what he knew to be a useless gesture in front of his face, and before he could fully brace himself, the energy slammed into him.

To the absolute horror of the onlookers, the energy bullet hit the weaponless Hanyou directly, engulfing him, sending him back into and through the gigantic wall of ice behind him.

Sesshoumaru's roar rocked the foundations of the world.

In the palace gardens, the puppies stopped playing, for a split second they stared into space, and then jarringly all three puppies began to scream and cry. Their wails rent the air, bringing the whole palace running to the gardens as the palace suddenly shuddered. Absolute fear gripped the palace, as the three shiro-Inu children usually quite brave and good natured clung to each other and cried inconsolably, their terrified wails filled the air, as those caring for them looked on helplessly.

---tbc—

Wow I am so evil again, but where did that come from. I swear I had not planned the cliff hanger, the words just flowed in this manner. Errrr.. I think I may not like my muse too much for this one… what's gonna happen next? Even I'm not sure. Leave a review and you may find out sooner rather then later….seriously to be continued. **slightly dazed author. Review PLEASE! (the whole thing not just the last bit… sigh.. actually planned the Inu interrupts part but think that bit is going to be swallowed by the cliffy. Sorry! – where did that come from…)