"Achoo!" Jaken sneezed, almost dropping the youki crystal. He fell over trying to catch it.
"Jaken-sama, are you sick?" Rin asked.
"No. Perhaps someone is bad mouthing me?" he said, glancing at Katsumi.
"I'd have said it right to your face if it were me," Katsumi said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said.
"Huh?" Jaken said.
"Has there been any change in the crystal?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"I can still sense youki from it, which means that we aren't near the fuyouheki that Naraku uses to conceal his heart," Jaken said, closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "Now then, where might it be?"
"Jaken-sama~! Jaken-sama~!" Rin sang as she rode away on Ah-Un with Katsumi walking beside her while they followed Sesshoumaru, who was walking away without bothering to check if Jaken was following.
"Ah! Sesshoumaru-sama, wai—" Jaken cried when he realized he was being left behind, falling flat on his face. He quickly picked himself up and scrambled after them.
Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku all watched with wide eyes as Goryoumaru transformed into the youkai Hakudoshi had created. Inuyasha furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth as he glared up at it from where he was lying on the ground, human and bleeding.
"Kukuku... Do you remember me...?" it asked.
"Houshi-sama, he's..." Sango said.
"Mouryoumaru!" Miroku finished.
'The youkai Hakudoushi created by stitching together bits of youkais,' Kagome thought. A bead of sweat slid down her face. 'But.. he's completely different to when we first met. Back then, it was like... he was a doll with no soul.'
"Mouryoumaru... you were moving before with the haku's power, I'm sure," Miroku said. "However, the way you are now... it's like you have a soul in you."
"Kukuku..." Mouryoumaru laughed. "Already, this body is moving how I want... and now..." Kagome saw the shikon shard he took from them shine in Mouryoumaru's shoulder.
"Ah...!" she gasped. "He's absorbing the shikon shard."
"!" Kagura said as he pulsed with power.
"Kukuku... I need more power..." Mouryoumaru said.
'He's using the shikon fragments however he wants?' Kagura thought, furrowing her brow. 'He's a youkai that Hakudoshi originally created. In that borrowed form as Goryoumaru, Naraku locked him up...Hakudoshi acted to free him from the prison... Is Hakudoshi also planning to betray Naraku then?' A bead of sweat slid down her face. Mouryoumaru's body pulsed with power.
"Shippo-chan, take care of Inuyasha...!" Kagome said, grabbing her bow and arrow.
"Kagome...!" Shippo said.
"We have to defeat him before he takes in the fragment completely...!" Kagome said. She drew her arrow and aimed it Mouryoumaru.
"Kagome-chan...!" Sango said anxiously when Mouryoumaru set his sights on her.
"Heh," Mouryoumaru said with a smirk. He reached his arm out to smash Kagome.
'Hit him!' she thought, letting her arrow fly.
"Watch out!" Sango yelled, tackling Kagome out of the way as Mouryoumaru's arm came crashing down on the spot she had been standing. The arrow flew past Mouryoumaru's head.
"Kukuku, too bad," Mouryoumaru said. "You missed."
"Stand back!" Miroku said, placing himself in front of the girls. He unwrapped his wind tunnel. He thrust his hand out to suck up his enemy. "Kazaana!" Mouryoumaru opened his mouth and a swarm of saimyōshō flew out.
"Saimyōshō!" Sango said.
"Miroku-sama, close your kazaana!" Kagome said urgently. But it was too late, one of the insects was already entering Miroku's hand.
"Ugh!" he groaned, wincing. He resealed his hand. "!" He was startled when Mouryoumaru shot his arm at him.
"Houshi-sama!" Sango yelled. She thew herself between him and Mouryoumaru, blocking the attack with hiraikotsu. They were both thrown back from the force of the attack.
"!" Inuyasha and Shippo said.
"Miroku-sama, Sango-chan!" Kagome said, running over to them as they hit the ground.
"..." Mouryoumaru withdrew his arm, then shot it out again at Kagome.
"!" Kagome gasped in alarm.
"Ugh!" Inuyasha gritted his teeth and lunged to his feet with Tessaiga in hand.
"Inuyasha!" Shippo said. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the attack. But it never came. She opened her eyes and saw that Inuyasha had launched himself into the air and stabbed the end of one of the tendrils making up Mouryoumaru's arm with Tessaiga.
"Ah..." Kagome said, shocked.
"I... Inuyasha," Miroku said.
'The idiot... came out,' Kagura thought.
"Heh. Inuyasha... huh," Mouryoumaru said. He slammed his claw and Inuyasha into the ground.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled.
"S... Stay away Kagome!" Inuyasha said.
"How powerless..." Mouryoumaru said. "So this is your other form, huh, Inuyasha... I shall savor it. Your pathetic death throws..."
"Ugh," Inuyasha groaned.
"Oh no! He'll be killed before the night ends!" Shippo said, hopping on Kagome's shoulder. A huge ball of light shot from behind Kagome and Shippo to hit Mouryoumaru's arm.
"!" Mouryoumaru gasped.
"Ah...!?" Kagome said.
"!?" Miroku and Sango said. They all looked in the direction the attack came from and saw Sesshoumaru standing there with Tokijin drawn. Katsumi and Jaken were with him.
"!" Kagura said. 'Sesshoumaru...'
"Inuyasha..." Kagome said, kneeling next to him.
"Sesshoumaru..." Inuyasha said. To think he would be saved by him... 'That Jerk... what is he here for...'
"There's no mistaking it, Sesshoumaru-sama," Jaken said, holding the crystal youki. "That youkai has no youki."
'Naraku's heart, huh?' Katsumi thought, furrowing her brow.
"..." Sesshoumaru said.
"..." Mouryoumaru stared at them with a furrowed brow as his wounded arm healed itself. "Kagura... who's that guy?"
"He's Sesshoumaru... Inuyasha's elder brother," Kagura answered. 'Sesshoumaru... Why are you here.' She saw the faded crystal in Jaken's hand. "!" she said. 'The crystal of youki is...'
"Inuyasha... that's a crystal of youki," Kagome said.
"..." Inuyasha wondered how Sesshoumaru obtained it.
"The youki is vanishing!" Kagome said.
'In order to hide his heart, Naraku got his hands on a jewel... Fuyouheki, which erases the holder's youki,' Inuyasha thought. 'The clue to finding Fuyouheki is a crystal of youki. If one gets this close to Fuyouheki, the youki will vanish... which means Mouryoumaru has no youki. Then...'
"Mouyoumaru is carrying Fuyouheki...?" Sango said.
"Mouryoumaru, you're... you're the one with Naraku's heart, right!" Inuyasha said.
"... What are you talking about," Mouryoumaru said.
"Don't act innocent," Inuyasha told him. "The crystal that shriveled-looking youkai over there is carrying is the ultimate proof!"
"Wha..." Jaken said. Shriveled?
"Oh-ho..." Mouryoumaru said, looking at Jaken. "How did you get that...?"
"!" Kagura said. 'This is bad... if he finds out I gave it to them...'
"You want to know how we got it?" Katsumi said. "Get used to disappointment." Mouryoumaru narrowed his eyes at her.
"I've got nothing to hide!' Jaken said. "This was..."
"Shut up Jaken," Sesshoumaru ordered.
"!" Kagura said.
"Sesshoumaru-sama...?" Jaken said.
'Sesshoumaru... was covering for me...!?' Kagura thought, surprised.
"After following the disgusting smell that reached us, we found you..." Sesshoumaru told Mouryoumaru.
"Hmph... So what'll you do?" Mouryoumaru asked, preparing to fight.
"Kill you," Sesshoumaru said, swinging Tokijin. He hit Mouryoumaru with another blast of energy.
"Heh," Mouryoumaru said. He caught the attack, holding it. "That doesn't work on me anymore..." He sent the attack back at them. Sesshoumaru and Katsumi jumped out of the way.
"Geh!?" Jaken said as he was almost hit by it.
"Wha...!" Inuyasha said.
"Heh..." Mouryoumaru said.
"You just turned up swinging your sword with no introduction... You'll regret that," Mouryoumaru said. 'I can 'eat' the body and youkai energy of various youkai, and increase my strength. The youkai energy from your sword is nothing more than food to me."
"..." Sesshoumaru furrowed his brow slightly.
"Eat youkai energy and increase his strength...?" Miroku said.
"The same as Naraku..." Sango said.
"Swing around your sword as much as you like," Moryoumaru told Sesshoumaru. "I'll consume all of its youkai energy!"
"Then... What about faerie energy?" Katsumi asked, stepping forward. She aimed her hand at Mouryoumaru and fired a lethal faerie shot at him.
"!" Mouryoumaru said when she actually managed to damage him a little. 'I couldn't completely absorb it!? That woman could be dangerous...'
"Darn! It looks like there's still too much youkai energy in my attacks, huh?" Katsumi said, frowning.
"Katsumi, get back," Sesshoumaru said. She was only doing enough damage to put a target on herself.
'But it's not like it had no effect...' Inuyasha thought. "Ugh." He ran at Mouryoumaru.
"Inuayasha!?" Kagome said, startled.
'Just now when I was squashed by him, my sword pierced his finger,' Inuyasha thought. 'It was because right now Tessaiga has no youkai energy and is just a blunt sword. It's a long shot, but...' Katsumi and Sesshoumaru were dodging another attack from Mouryoumaru. Inuyasha jumped up onto his arm, which had just smashed into the ground. "Kagome, where is the shikon shard!?"
"Eh..." Kagome said.
'He has a shikon shard?' Katsumi thought.
"His right shoulder joint!" Kagome yelled.
"Here, huh!" Inuyahsa said, launching himself at Mouryoumaru's shoulder. He was just about to strike when Mouryoumaru smirked.
"Heh," Mouryoumaru said and made spikes grow out of his arm to stab Inuyasha.
"Ugh," Inuyasha grunted, landing back on Mouryoumaru's lower arm, stabbing him with Tessaiga to keep himself from falling off.
"How foolish..." Mouryoumaru said. "Even if you had caught me with that blunt sword..." Suddenly Sesshoumaru was flying towards him. "!" He raised his other arm to protect himself from another strike from Sesshoumaru. "Heh... I told you cutting me is futile." He absorbed the energy from the attack.
"Don't get involved, Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha said. "He's my prey!"
"Your prey...?" Mouryoumaru said, furrowing his brow.
"!" Inuyasha gasped when the large tendrils of Mouryoumaru's arm wrapped around him.
"Inuyasha!" Shippo said anxiously.
"!" Katsumi said.
"Guh..." Inuyasha groaned as he was covered by the fingers, being squished as he was almost completely hidden from view.
"Hmph, just as well," Sesshoumaru said. "Jumping around in that disgusting form of yours was getting to be annoying."
"Wha...!" Inuyasha said.
"I'll slice the two of you together," Sesshoumaru said, slashing Tokijin to send out another attack.
'Eh!?' Katsumi thought. "Wait...!" But it was too late.
"Wha...!" Kagome said.
"Don't cut him!" Shippo yelled.
"It'll just give mouryoumaru more power!" Sango said.
"Kukuku..." Mouyoumaru laughed. The attack hit him full force. "Kukuku, Sesshoumaru... I'll gather all of your youkai energy." He absorbed the attack.
"Just you try it..." Sesshoumaru said with his brow furrowed. He unleashed another attack.
"Heh..." Mouryoumaru smirked as he absorbed it again.
"That dope, Sesshoumaru. Firing them at Mouyoumaru just means he gets stronger," Shippo said.
"Hey, how dare you call Sesshoumaru-sama a dope," Jaken said, covered in a nervous sweat. "Sesshoumaru-sama most likely has a deep reason for doing this."
"What kind of reason?" Shippo asked.
"If I new that, I'd have been calm from the start, stupid!" Jaken snapped. Katsumi sweat-dropped.
'He most likely does have a plan, though...' she thought. 'But I'm worried about Inuyasha... He's only human right now.'
"Putting that aside, I'm worried about Inuyasha, who's trapped in Mouryoumaru's arm," Miroku said.
"Miroku-sama," Kagome said.
"Ugh..." Inuyasha groaned.
"He's still in human form, but... when the dawn breaks, and his youkai energy returns... won't Mouryoumaru absorb it?" Miroku pointed out.
"!" Kagome gasped.
'Ah... there was that problem, too...' Katsumi thought, sweat-dropping. She couldn't believe she forgot about that. "!" she said when one of Sesshoumaru's attacks hit the arm Inuyasha was in.
"!" Inuyasha said. 'That bastard Mouroymaru... He's not even counterattacking.'
'That Mouryoumaru... He intends to store up all the youkai energy Sesshoumaru is firing huh...' Kagura thought.
"!?" Inuyasha said when he saw something glowing leaking out through Mouryoumaru's skin. 'What is this...!?'
'That's...!' Katsumi thought, eyes widening with realization when she saw the streaks of light breaking through Mouryoumaru's skin. 'That's what Sesshoumaru's doing! He's overloading him!' "I've got it!" Katsumi said.
"Got what?" Jaken asked.
"You'll see," Katsumi said. She didn't want to risk Mouryoumaru overhearing, because he didn't seem to have noticed the effect Sesshoumaru's energy was having on him yet.
"!" Inuyasha said when he saw that Kagome had drawn an arrow.
"Inuyasha, just wait a bit," she said. "My arrow's spiritual energy might affect Mouryoumaru!"
"Don't, Kagome! It's okay like this!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Eh...?" Kagome said taken aback.
"..." Mouryoumaru was surprised as well. Inuyasha felt a stir of power within himself. His hair began to turn silver again. The sun peeked over a nearby hill.
"The night is about to end...!" Miroku said.
"Inuyasha will become a hanyou again!" Shippo said. Mouryoumaru finished absorbing another attack. He tried to hit Sesshoumaru, but he dodged.
"Heh..." Sesshoumaru said. He fired another attack off. Mouryoumaru raised his arm to absorb it. The attack hit, and his arm broke open as it was blown off, spilling haku.
'Wha...!" Miroku said.
"Sesshoumaru's attack worked!?" Kagome said, surprised.
"This is what he was aiming for the whole time," Katsumi said.
"Hmph... Suck in all my youkai energy...? Absurd!" Sesshoumaru said coldly. "The youkai energy of I, Sesshoumaru, could never be contained by someone of your meagre caliber!" He attacked again. The blow blasted apart what was left of mouryoumaru's arm and part of his torso.
"!" Kagura said.
"Just what you'd expect of Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken said with tear in his eyes and sparkles. "Such deep thinking!"
'He wasn't thinking at all,' Shippo thought. 'Makeshift confidence.'
"Only this much... isn't enough to kill me...!" Mouryoumaru said. Bright light burst from the arm that was holding Inuyasha. "!" More haku poured out.
"Ah...!" Kagome gasped. Inuyasha emerged from the wounded arm, attacking with a transformed Tessaiga. Now that Mouryoumaru was overloaded with energy, his attacks were effective too.
"Damn you!" Mouryuoumaru said, glaring at him.
"!" Inuyasha said when miasma leaked from Mouryoumaru's wounds.
"Miasma!" Kagome said.
"Yeek!" Jaken exclaimed as he and Shippo scrambled out of the way when a good amount of it landed near them and Kagome. Katsumi grabbed Kagome, Shippo, and Jaken and quickly moved them to safety. Inuyasha nodded at her in thanks and prepared to strike again, but Mouryoumaru flew away.
"Come Kagura!" Mouryoumaru said, fleeing. Kagura followed on her feather.
"You're not getting away," Sesshoumaru said and fired another attack at him with his sword. It hit a barrier that appeared around Mouryoumaru and Kagura.
"A barrier!" Miroku said. They watched as Mouryoumaru and Kagura disappeared from sight.
"We nearly got him," Jaken said as he and Katsumi moved to stand beside Sesshoumaru.
"Dammit," Inuyasah said.
"... We'll find him," Kagome said. "Mouryoumaru has the shikon fragment, so..."
'Was he really Naraku's heart!?' Inuyasha wondered. 'In which case, why did he appear before us!?'
"Did you find him or did he find you?" Katsumi asked them.
"He found us. Why?" Kagome asked.
"I was just wondering why he risked his neck like that, if he's Naraku's heart," Katsumi said. "You would think Naraku would want to keep him safe." She realized Sesshoumaru was leaving. "Ah, see you around!" she told them, waving goodbye as she followed Sesshoumaru. She stopped short when she realized she was forgetting something. "Oh, yeah!" she pulled out something that looked like a compact mirror and had a triskele engraved on it. She had a feeling they would meet today, so she brought it with her. "Take this! For emergencies!" Katsumi tossed the compact to Kagome, who caught it, then she hurried after Sesshoumaru.
{Sometime after that...}
Sesshoumaru, Katsumi, and Jaken were walking, while Rin rode on Ah-Un. Sesshoumaru and Katsumi caught a scent on the wind.
"!" they said and both stopped.
"What is the matter, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken asked. 'If that brat stopped too, they've most likely caught a scent...'
'Naraku's scent...' Sesshoumaru thought.
'Naraku...' Hitomi thought, furrowing her brow. Sesshoumaru started flying, and Katsumi began ascending into the sky as if she was going up and invisible staircase.
"Be good, Rin! We'll be back!" Katsumi said.
"Okaaay!" Rin called back.
"Er, Sesshoumaru-sama, where are you going..?" Jaken asked. Sesshoumaru didn't answer. He flew away with Katsumi running at his side. 'The crystal of youki isn't reacting from that direction, though... He's okay with that?'
As Sesshoumaru and Katsumi drew closer, they could make out a second scent that was similar to Naraku's. Kagura. Then they smelled her blood and miasma.
"!" Katsumi said. They sped up.
Kagura sat alone in a field of flowers. She had been stabbed by Naraku, and the wounds weren't closing. The miasma in her wounds hung in the air around her.
'It's beating... my heart,' she thought. She looked up. 'Where shall I go now? I can go everywhere. I am free.' She looked down some of the flowers were stained with her blood. She couldn't move from that spot. 'Dammit. My body won't do what I want.' A gentle breeze blew. 'It sure is quiet. Nobody's here. Will it end here? Just by myself... This is.. the freedom I was seeking...' she thought sadly. Then, he stood before her. She looked up at him in surprised. 'Sesshou... maru...?'
"We came following the scent of Naraku's miasma," Sesshoumaru said.
'We...?' Kagura thought. Katsumi walked down to stand next to him. 'Oh, of course...' "Heh... did I disappoint you?" she asked them, looking down. "That I wasn't Naraku."
"... We knew it was you," Sesshoumaru said. Kagura's eyes widened. She looked back up at him. She looked down again, smiling a little.
"I... See..." Kagura said. 'You came to me... knowingly, huh...'
"Let me see what I can do for you," Katsumi said, kneeling down in front of her, though the task of healing her seemed beyond her skill. "Maybe I can push the miasma out..." Katsumi kneeled and placed her hands over Kagura's wounds and focused on channeling her youki into them. She winced a little as her hands started to burn from prolonged exposure to the miasma.
"Cut it out," Kagura told her. "I can feel my wounds trying to heal, but the miasma isn't going anywhere..."
"Maybe if I—" Katsumi tried.
"You can't save me," Kagura said. "You're just hurting yourself."
"..." Katsumi didn't want to admit it, but she knew Kagura was right. "I'm sorry," she said sadly, withdrawing her burned hands. Sesshoumaru put his hand on Tenseiga, but he came to the same conclusion.
'Tenseiga can't save her,' he thought. Not with all that Miasma poisoning and eating away at her body. "... You leaving?"
"Yeah..." Kagura said. "Soon..."
"!" Inuyasha said as he and his friends arrived at the flower field.
"I'll be over there..." Katsumi said, deciding to let Kagura be alone with Sesshoumaru. It's what she would want in her situation. She walked away to put some distance between them.
"She's very considerate... isn't she?" Kagura said, almost laughing. Sesshoumaru stared down at Kagura. She stared up at him. 'At the end... I got to see you.' She smiled, and her body dissolved, disappearing with the wind.
"Ah..." Kagome said as she and the others came to a stop by Katsumi. Flower petals danced in the air around them. "Wind..."
"Kagura..." Kohaku said.
"..." Inuyasha furrowed his brow, looking down. They were too late.
"Katsumi," Sesshoumaru said and started walking. Katsumi moved to follow him.
"Wait a minute, Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha said. Sesshoumaru paused and glance back at him while Katsumi caught up to him.
"Inuyasha...?" Kagome said.
"Was Kagura... suffering...?" Inuyasha asked. Sesshoumaru looked up and they followed his gaze to Kagura's feather, the only thing left of her. It was swept away on the wind.
"She was smiling..." Sesshoumaru said and started walking away again.
I am the wind. As free as the wind.