Damned If You Do

This may be the last chapter I post, as I don't know if anyone is interested in this story. If anyone likes it, please let me know. Thanks!


Chapter 6 The Spirit Dragon


The early afternoon sky was full of roaring dragons. The Northern Mountain Horned dragons attacked from every direction.
The Oriental dragons countered with their own attack. They were more maneuverable than the invaders, but there were more of the invaders. Horns, teeth and claws were used as main weapons. The battle was vicious and bloody.
InuYasha, Miroku, Kagome, Sango and Hana teamed up, backs to each other. Rin and Shippou were in the center, protected. Any attacking dragons were fended off, but none were killed. All their strikes simply bounced off any dragon it hit.
Jaken ran around screeching “Take that!” or “Take this!” as he blasted the fire from the staff in dragons’ faces. The dragons would veer off, shaking their heads.
Sesshoumaru and Hi’Iki attacked together, going right into the main force of dragons. They spun, twisted, dodged and turned, but only a few of their strikes made contact. They pulled back, dodging any dragons. Something wasn’t right.
Back on the ground, they had a few seconds to study the situation. Sesshoumaru saw a dragon higher up than the others. It wasn’t fighting but appeared to be watching. It was a different color, more blue than grey, and kept to itself.
“That dragon there,” he pointed it out to Hi’Iki.
“It’s using magic to create shields,” Hi’Iki said. “We have to stop that dragon.”
The two of them took off.
InuYasha noticed the two flying up away from the main fight.
“Hey, Sesshoumaru, where you going?” InuYasha followed after his brother, wondering what they were doing.
Before anyone could say anything, the black dragon leader came swooping in after Hi’Iki.
Hi’Iki dodged, and dove down. The black dragon went after him.
“Stop that dragon!” Hi’Iki yelled back at Sesshoumaru.
“What’s going on?” InuYasha demanded.
“That dragon is using magic.”
InuYasha looked back at the group, worried about Kagome. The group was still fending off the dragons.
“We can’t kill them if that dragon keeps protecting them,” Sesshoumaru stated. He had come to that conclusion earlier, after checking on Rin. He was worried about her but realized that to defeat the dragons, they had to stop the one using magic.
InuYasha nodded.
As they made their climb up, a dragon came from behind, ready to strike. The sound of mooing distracted the dragon for a moment. A flash of light and suddenly a cow was falling out of the sky. The cow had three eyes and a rider. Surprised, the dragon tried to dodge, but the cow hit the dragon’s wing. The rider took his long handled mallet and smashed the dragon on the head. All three fell like a rock, crashing to the ground.
Kagome saw cow and rider hit the ground and went to see if they were okay. A big dragon came after Kagome, ready to snap her in half. Something hit it hard in the side of the head, knocking it off its path. The dragon shook its head, and backed off.
“Kagome, what has dogbreath done now?”
“Kouga! Watch out!” Kagome yelled as a dragon came up from behind Kouga.
Kouga jumped up, over the dragon and delivered another powerful kick to the head. Even without the shards, he was still powerful. As the dragon stumbled, disoriented, the three cats jumped grabbing its wings. They were joined by several wolves. They ripped the wings to shreds, grounding the dragon. A blast of fire destroyed the dragon.
“Kouga! Toutousai! I’m so glad you’re here!” Kagome gave them both a hug, and told them about the invading dragons. “We can use all the help we can get.”
“Anything for you, Kagome.”
“This isn’t InuYasha’s doing?” Toutousai asked. “Where is the worthless pup?”
Kouga and Toutousai joined the small group fending off the dragons. Even with the two new recruits, the dragons were hard to kill. The dragons now avoided the cats, so all that the fighters were able to do was fend off the dragons.


“What’s he doing here?” InuYasha had seen Kouga arrive. Sesshoumaru didn’t bother to answer. He kept his attention on the dragon. Sesshoumaru went after his target. He didn’t get far when a dragon blocked his path. Instead of attacking, Sesshoumaru ducked under the dragon, avoiding it. The dragon disappeared and reappeared in front of him again.
‘Damn!’ Sesshoumaru didn’t like this new trick.
The dragon roared and went after Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru avoided the frontal attack and struck with his sword. The dragon disappeared again and reappeared behind Sesshoumaru. It attacked again. Sesshoumaru barely avoided the attack by diving down. The dragon’s size prevented it from moving as fast as Sesshoumaru. It shot past Sesshoumaru and turned as it dove. It came around for another strike. As it came after Sesshoumaru, it missed seeing another figure coming up under it.
It had occurred to InuYasha that he might be able to get the dragon while it was distracted by Sesshoumaru. He had waited for the dragon’s attention to be focused on Sesshoumaru then attacked.
The dragon sensed InuYasha’s presence too late. InuYasha hit the dragon with Kaze no Kizu. The dragon was blasted apart by the blow.
“Neat trick”. InuYasha joined Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru ignored the comment and continued after the blue-grey dragon. He flew through a group of Oriental dragons fighting invaders. Sesshoumaru slashed at any invading dragons that got in his way. Two of his blows landed, causing the invading dragons to back off for a moment.
The Oriental dragon king had also noticed the odd dragon. “What is your plan?” he asked Sesshoumaru.
“Keep the other dragons off us.”
The dragon king nodded, called his people together and told them what to do.
The blue-grey dragon was working frantically to create the barriers. It knew it was in trouble. It couldn’t create barriers fast enough to protect all the dragons, and now it was a target.
Sesshoumaru and InuYasha made their way to where the blue-grey dragon was working frantically. They had no idea what this dragon was capable of doing, so approached cautiously.

Hi’Iki tried to slip away from the black dragon, but it was persistent. Another dragon came after Hi’Iki. Hi’Iki rolled sideways and then slashed out with his claws. The dragon turned to attack, but instead, went down screaming. Hi’Iki didn’t like to use his claws, knowing the suffering they caused, but this was a case of kill or be killed. How the killing was done didn’t matter.
The black dragon circled around, coming in from behind. He saw the other dragon go down, screaming and had seen Hi’Iki use his claws. He wanted to avoid those claws. Roaring, he spit fire at Hi’Iki.
Hi’Iki dove, avoiding the flames. He wouldn’t be able to help Sesshoumaru; he had enough trouble on his hands with the black dragon.

As the dragon dove after Sango, Kirara jumped on its back, digging in her claws. The dragon tried to shake the cat off, but Kirara wouldn’t let go. The dragon swerved, changed directions and even tried flipping on its back. Kirara was finally dislodged. As she fell on the ground, the dragon changed course again and went after Rin. From seemingly out of nowhere, a black two-tailed cat jumped on the dragon. It dug its claws and teeth into the dragon. This cat stuck like glue to the dragon. As the dragon tried getting away, what looked like blue lightning started crackling around the dragon. The dragon screamed, its body shuddering from what seemed to be electrical current running through it. The cat jumped off, letting the burned dragon collapse in a heap on the ground.
Rin stared at the cat in amazement.
“Where’d that cat come from?” Sango asked, as the black cat went nose to nose with Kirara. The two cats turned and went back into the fight together.
Another dragon came in, going after Rin again. Both cats jumped, joined by Kodo and Podo. The dragon didn’t stand a chance. With four cats on it, it was torn to shreds.
While the girls wanted to know about the new cat, they were quickly too busy to wonder where it came from, or what it was capable of doing.

Sesshoumaru saw the dragon go after Rin. He hesitated, but seeing the cats attack, didn’t interfere. After making sure Rin was okay, he observed the dragon for a few minutes before attacking. It somehow created a ball of light, then the ball of light would disappear, reappearing around a dragon as a shield.
Using Bakusaiga, Sesshoumaru attacked. The dragon created a shield around itself. Sesshoumaru felt a buzzing in his head and shook it off. He wondered if the dragon caused it somehow.
InuYasha joined him, shaking his head. “What is that buzzing?”
“I think it’s the dragon,” Sesshoumaru guessed.
The dragon was using its mind magic. The mind magic caused lesser youkai to do the dragon’s bidding. But it didn’t work on stronger youkai.
Sesshoumaru told InuYasha to take one side. “Keep striking until it’s destroyed.” InuYasha nodded and moved to one side, ready to strike.
The dragon was frantic now. It couldn’t protect the others as well as itself. The other dragons were busy with the Oriental dragons and couldn’t come to its defense. The mind trick didn’t work, so all it could do was create a barrier around itself and hope it held.
Sesshoumaru and InuYasha struck at the same time. The strikes bounced off the shield. They continued this for several minutes. Slowly, the shield began to lose its power. It finally just disappeared. The last two strikes hit the dragon, killing it.
Sesshoumaru and InuYasha went to join the others in the battle on the ground.
“It’s about time you two got down here,” Miroku said, as the battle continued.
Everyone had cuts, bruises and were bleeding. For every dragon they killed, two more seemed to take its place. The battle was a tough one. The dragons seemed to be endless.

Hi’Iki knew this fight was in a stalemate. Even though the magic using dragon was gone, neither side was gaining any ground. The defenders had the better fighting skills, but the invaders had the superior numbers. All the defenders could do was to keep themselves from getting killed. There was only one thing for Hi’Iki to do.
The black dragon came in low, aiming for Hi’Iki. Hi’Iki threw himself to the side, avoiding the flames. He rolled, came up running, going in the opposite direction. It fooled the dragon, who had to bank and turn to follow. Hi’Iki headed for the water. He wanted this fight to end and knew there was only one way.
The black dragon came in again, blasting flames. Hi’Iki dove into the water, the flames missing by mere inches. The dragon roared angrily and flew over the water, turned and came around for another pass. He wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
A large dragon erupted from the water. It was an iridescent white, with two rows of rainbow scales, one on each side of the head and neck, running from the back of the head down almost to the end of the tail. It had a crest that went from the head to the shoulders and flared a bright blue. Flames flickered on either side of the tail’s tip. The eyes were a bright aqua marine.
The white dragon roared and went after the black. The black dragon swerved, avoiding the white dragon’s swiping black claws. They flew at each other, claws locking. They went into a roll, spinning down into the water with a huge splash.
A few minutes later the two dragons came out of the water. The black one had a ripped wing; the white one had a gash on its flank.
The rest of the dragons stopped their attack when they realized their ruler was in a fight to the death with the white dragon. They formed a loose circle around the fighting dragons.
The two dragons snapped, slashed and bit at each other.
“The Spirit Dragon has come,” the Dragon King said, as the group watched the fight.
“Spirit Dragon?” Kagome asked.
“Yes. It is said the Spirit Dragon will save us from a great danger.”
“But where’d it come from?” InuYasha wanted to know.
“Hi’Iki.” Sesshoumaru knew about Hi’Iki’s dragon form. He had seen Hi’Iki transform once before.
As they watched, the black dragon made a grab for Hi’Iki’s neck. Hi’Iki swiped with his claws, the black dragon veered off. He had no desire to be ripped by those poisonous claws.
Hi’Iki realized the fight was a draw. Both of them were torn, bleeding and getting tired. The fight had to be finished. Drawing strength from within himself, Hi’Iki prepared for an all out attack. His eyes began to glow, brighter and lighter, and the rainbow scales raised up, looking like small colorful spikes. The scales started to glow. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“His mouth is glowing!” Hana said, surprised.
Kagome recognized the glow. “He’s going to purify them!” She was shocked.
“But how…?” InuYasha started to say.
“We need a barrier,” Sesshoumaru said, drawing Tenseiga. He thrust the sword into the ground. “Get behind me.” Realizing Sesshoumaru meant to protect everyone, Miroku and Kagome put up a barrier. They hoped it would work.
Above them several things happened at once. Hi’Iki prepared to strike, the black dragon attacked, light flowed up the rainbow scales and Hi’Iki let loose a powerful blast. Instead of the normal fire, a pale blue ray of light shot out. It was powerful and knocked Hi’Iki back. He had no control at first and the light went every which way. It crackled with energy as it hit the black dragon, full force. The dragon screamed as the light purified him.
Hi’Iki snapped his jaws shut and the light stopped. He righted himself and went after the other dragons. With more control, he was able to use the purifying light with more accuracy. Most of the invading dragons were unable to get away. Hi’Iki purified all but a few. Letting those few go, he made his way slowly back to the meadow transforming as he landed. He collapsed on the ground, exhausted.
Kagome sighed with relief. A stray ray of light had skimmed over the barrier, but the barrier had held.
Sesshoumaru pulled Tenseiga from the ground and went to check Hi’Iki. Hana also went to check Hi’Iki.
Hi’Iki had rolled onto his back, and just lay there, panting.
“Didn’t know you could do that,” Sesshoumaru commented.
“Neither did I.”
“Youkai aren’t supposed to have purifying powers,” Hana said as she stood next to him.
“What kind of Youkai has purifying powers?” InuYasha wanted to know.
“Yes, I’d like to know how that works,” Kagome agreed.
“The Spirit Dragon. He is not an ordinary dragon.” the Dragon King hissed. He looked quite pleased with himself.
“You mean he’s not an ordinary youkai either?” Miroku asked, as he, Sango, Rin and the rest joined them.
“Yes. The Spirit Dragon is the embodiment of all that is good.
Exclamations of amazement went through the group.
”Doesn’t anyone want to know how I am?” Hi’Iki asked when it got quiet.
“Did you know about this?” Hana demanded to know.
Hi’Iki sat up. “No. This is news to me. As far as I’ve always known, my family is the last line of rare white dragon youkai. There aren’t any others left.” He looked at the dragon king. “What do you know of my family?”
“Your family came here many centuries ago, in refuge. This is the story they told. The white dragon line comes from the highest mountains, the Himalayas. The clan spread out, making homes in other countries. They were welcome most everywhere, since they were benevolent dragons. Once they got to Europe though, the dragons there despised them and hunted them. They planed to wipe out the entire white dragon clan.” The Dragon King paused. “The only white dragons to survive was what was left of your family.”
Hi’Iki shook his head. “I never knew that part of it.”
“Your ancestors were the equivalent of Buddhist Monks.”
“I don’t know about any of you, but I could eat something,” Toutousai interrupted the stunned silence following the last statement.
Everyone agreed to that. They were all tired, hurt and hungry. Kagome would have to do some first aid on everyone, at least everyone who would allow it. So they slowly made their way back to the village, discussing the battle.
“What do we do with the dragons that got away?” Hana asked.
“I’ll go after them after I’ve rested a bit,” Hi’Iki said. “Right now, all I want to do is sleep.”
“We wish to thank all of you for your help,” the Dragon King said. “Without it, we would not be here.” He bowed. “We will take our leave here, as it is time for us to go home.” He looked at Hi’Iki. “Do not be a stranger.”
Hi’Iki nodded. “I’ll come visit.”
The Oriental dragons swiftly disappeared.
As the group reached the village, they were met by Ginta and Hakkaku. They were not as fast as Kouga so didn’t reach the battle in time and stayed in the village instead to protect there if need be. At least that was their story.
“Well Kagome,” Kouga said, holding Kagome’s hands. “It was nice to see you again.”
“Thanks for helping out Kouga.” Kagome said, pulling her hands away from his. InuYasha was quietly growling.
“We need to get back to our pack. See you around!” Kouga and the rest of his pack took off.
The group sat around outside InuYasha’s house. Kagome went around checking everyone’s injuries and administered first aid. Except Sesshoumaru. He refused to have his few cuts tended to. He had checked Rin over, but allowed Kagome to bandage the several cuts Rin had received. A few drops of Sesshoumaru’s blood had dripped unnoticed into one of Rin’s cuts.
Hana and Sango started the food cooking as Kagome checked everyone over.
“That smells good,” Toutousai said, sniffing the air. “Let’s eat!”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Miroku said, making sure Toutousai stayed away from the food. “The last time we had dinner with you, you ate all the food.”
“Who, me?” Toutousai asked innocently. “I don’t remember.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you don’t,” InuYasha groused.
Everyone, with one exception, served themselves. Miroku made sure Toutousai was last.
“So what are you going to do now?” Sango asked Hana. They were watching Kirara and the black cat play.
“I guess I’ll go back home. So much has happened; I need to let my village know that everything is okay now.” She paused and looked at Hi’Iki. “I’ve experienced things I never knew were possible.”
“Since it’s getting late, you won’t want to leave now. You can stay with us for a few days and recover.” Sango offered.
“I’d like that,” Hana smiled. She liked these people. They were friendly, honest and always willing to help others out. Well, most of them.
“I’d like to know where this black cat came from.” Rin said as she gave him some food.
“Mew?” The black cat looked at Rin, his head tilted to one side. He was almost the opposite of Kirara. All black, white markings where Kirara’s was black, except the ears. And the lightning stripe on the head instead if the elongated diamond. His eyes were an electric blue color. Smiling, Rin gave him another piece of meat.
“Did anyone see what he did to the dragons?” Miroku asked.
“It looked like lightning,” Rin said. The black cat had curled up at Rin’s feet. He seemed to have adopted her.
“He does have a lightning shape stripe.” Miroku observed.
“When he was transformed, the flames were blue instead of orange, like Kirara’s.” Sango had observed that earlier.
Hi’Iki stood up and stretched. “If you will all excuse me, I really need some sleep.”
“We should all get some sleep.” InuYasha also stood up. “Come on Kagome.”
Kagome and Sango went to check on the children. Hana went with them.
Sesshoumaru found a tree to rest against. “Rin.”
“Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.” She followed him and curled up on the ground next to him. The little black cat curled up with her.
Hi’Iki found a quiet place not far away and stretched out. Kodo and Podo, still in their cat forms, curled up with him.
After the noise of the afternoon, the quiet of the night was peaceful and soothing. Everyone was asleep with in minutes, except one. Sesshoumaru sat against the tree, thinking about the day’s events and sorting through his emotions and feelings. By morning, he came to some startling conclusions about himself.

Note:

The “Mind Magic” I made up. It just popped into my head to explain the lesser youkai attacking.

The age differences between humans and youkai are a big obstacle. We know that youkai live a long time, they are not immortal though, despite what Shippou says. They can die and they age. We also know youkai and humans can mate. But what would happen to a human if they were given youkai blood? Either accidentally or on purpose? My personal opinion on this is it would slow the aging process down in the human, and wounds would heal much faster.

One last note, for those who believe Sesshoumaru has a castle. RT says no. At least that is what the adinuyasha group discussion said. I myself could never picture him in a castle. The only reason I gave him one is because Kaede wouldn’t let Rin leave with him if he didn’t have a descent home for her. And yes, I can see her standing up to him.