"Sesshomaru?!" Yuki gasped, reaching for him, but he swiped at her as he snarled: "It is nothing!"
"It's not nothing!" She snapped back, starting to get angry with him. "Stop being stubborn, and let me see!"
Sesshomaru snarled at her, but she remained firm as she tugged on his shirt and armour. It was probably a testament to how much pain he was in that Yuki managed to pull him away from the tree – helped by the fact that he was curling in slightly on himself from the pain in his back – and pull his shirt down enough to see the real, burning red scars on his back.
"Sesshomaru, your back-" Yuki began, concern taking over, but Sesshomaru pulled himself from her.
The pain had gone again, but it had left him soured as he shrugged his clothing back on properly while he said coldly: "If you had wished to see me undressed, you could have simply said so."
"Shut up, this is no laughing matter." Yuki scolded as she stood up with him, facing him with her own scowl. "Sesshomaru, those scars – they're from that War God, aren't they?"
Sesshomaru looked away, and she pursed her lips.
"When are you planning to go?"
"You are not coming with me." Sesshomaru replied swiftly to Yuki's question, borderline ordering her as he stood and began to walk away.
"Like hell I'm not – it didn't look like that 'God' could be killed." Yuki argued as she followed him. "And there are four of them on that island, right? You can't do it all alone."
"My goal is only the one." Sesshomaru interrupted sharply. "He has dared to slip away from me twice now."
"And you'll, what, ignore the other three?" Yuki asked, raising a brow. "If you attack one of them, I highly doubt the others will just sit back and let you kill their comrade."
"If they are so foolish as to engage me in battle, I shall destroy them too." He replied, and she scowled: "That wasn't the point."
"You will stay here." Sesshomaru commanded, his voice tight, and Yuki snapped back in exasperation: "I will not!"
"Do as I say, Yuki!" He roared, whirling on her, and Yuki was momentarily taken-aback to see that Sesshomaru really was angry this time.
But she stood her ground as she countered hotly: "I promised you I'd stay with you for as long as I live, didn't I?"
"If you follow me this time, then it won't be for very long!" He snarled, and Yuki blinked.
"Are you... worried about me?!" She asked, genuinely surprised, and Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed angrily.
"Yuki." He said warningly, and she mimicked his tone back: "Sesshomaru."
"Do as I say!" He ordered, sounding very irritated, but Yuki countered: "We're just going in circles – either you can accept that I'm coming with you, or I'll follow you!"
"Why can you not just follow orders?" Sesshomaru hissed, and she snapped back: "Because then I'd be your servant, not-"
She broke off, turning her head and scowling off into the distance. Sesshomaru also went quiet, examining her as she took a deep breath.
"I'm worried about you, too, Sesshomaru." Yuki said finally, turning bright blue eyes back up to his gold ones. "You're strong, but you're not indestructible; even if you like to think you are."
He frowned, but she went on: "And if I let you go alone, and something happened to you, it wouldn't matter to me if I lived another two hundred years."
"You have little faith in me." He scowled, but she corrected quietly: "I have absolute faith in you. But love makes us worry, and I'd feel better if I knew you were okay."
Sesshomaru scowled again but Yuki just stared at him pleadingly, pulling another puppy dog look. And finally, Sesshomaru gave in, though he warned: "You will do as I say when we get to Horai Island."
"Okay." Yuki agreed quickly, too quickly; and Sesshomaru sighed - he didn't know why he bothered ordering her to listen. She would never listen to him if she thought she was right about something.
'If anything happened to her, at least I have Tenseiga.' Sesshomaru thought with a resigned sigh as Yuki ran off quickly to let Rin and Jaken know they would be gone for a bit. 'Though if this continues, this woman may just be the death of me.'
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Moments later
"... This. Is. Pathetic." Yuki fumed.
Sesshomaru actually smiled, and Yuki growled at him furiously as she snapped: "This isn't funny, Sesshomaru!"
"It is, however, pathetic." He remarked instead, and Yuki wriggled angrily in his arm as he flew them closer to the island. But there was nothing she could say back to him; because he was right, and she had been right – this was pathetic.
"Who decided to lock this island's time to a night of a full moon?!" Yuki shrieked, waving her arms around in frustration while her black hair blew about her human face in the breeze.
Sesshomaru chuckled – he actually laughed – and Yuki whirled on him as she cried: "This isn't funny! After all that arguing we did earlier, and now this?! This is mortifying!"
Sesshomaru just smiled, having the sense not to tease her more while Yuki seethed the entire way onto the island.
Eventually, as they arrived on Horai Island, Sesshomaru dropped Yuki off in the middle of the thick forest on the island, saying firmly: "Stay well hidden."
Yuki nodded – what else was she supposed to do when they were facing a 'god'? - before reaching forward and catching his empty sleeve as he turned to go. Sesshomaru glanced back at her as she said softly: "Be careful. Please."
Sesshomaru paused, looking like he was going to argue but he stopped himself at the genuine concern in her brown eyes. Instead, he nodded and Yuki smiled. Leaning up, she quickly pressed a chaste kiss on his lips before she let him go.
Sesshomaru gave her a long look for a moment, before he turned and flew off in search of Kyora, while Yuki quickly picked a tree to settle behind as she waited.
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It was perhaps less than thirty minutes later that Yuki looked up sharply. She thought she'd heard...
Yuki whirled her head around as, just a few hundred feet ahead, something came smashing down onto the forest trail, causing smoke to billow up from the attack while the ground trembled. Another one hit higher up in the trees, and Yuki realized that her hiding spot may not be effective – one unlucky shot and she'd be killed.
But she looked back up the path again in surprise as she heard a familiar voice call: "It's him!"
"Leave him to us." Another familiar male voice called, and Yuki peered around the trees and up the path to see Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Kirara, and a small group of children standing in a cluster, just as Sango said firmly: "Kagome, Shippo, take care of the children, okay?"
"Right." Kagome answered, as Miroku placed down a young girl, who ran up into Kagome's arms.
"Kagome!" Yuki called, stepping out into the path, and the group turned to her in surprise.
"Who's she?" One of two boys, clearly twins, asked, while Kagome said in surprise: "Yuki! What are you doing here?"
"Sesshomaru had a score to settle." Yuki explained as she came hurrying up, before gesturing up at the sky as she added: "No-one sent me the memo that this island's time locked."
"Ah, the night of the full moon." Sango realized as she looked up, while Miroku asked: "And Sesshomaru left you here?"
"It looked safest at the time." Yuki explained, and he nodded while Sango said: "Well, you'd better stick together with Kagome and the children. We'll take care of the guy firing cannons at us."
She nodded at Miroku, who nodded back, and Yuki watched as the pair quickly climbed on Kirara and took off.
"Come on, we'd better get moving." Kagome added, and Yuki nodded.
"Uh, who is she?" One of the children repeated, looking at Yuki.
"She's a friend." Kagome explained, and Yuki greeted kindly: "My name's Yuki. Now, let's hurry; we can all get to know each other later, okay?"
The children nodded, and the group hurried off as Yuki asked Kagome quietly: "Half-demons?"
She nodded at all of the children, who all had features that said they were clearly not human and yet, they didn't seem like full demons. Kagome nodded, and she explained quickly as they ran towards the beach: "The island was once filled with demons and humans living in peace – so naturally, there were also many half-demons."
Yuki glanced over in surprise, but stayed silent as she listened while Kagome continued: "But, apparently, that made them outcasts and vulnerable. So the island's priestess locked the island away in a pocket of time. But every fifty years, the time barrier weakened, and demons came to attack."
"The Four War Gods." Yuki realized, and Kagome nodded.
"They took over the island." Kagome explained. "The island's priestess sealed the Gods' powers in a box, and threw it into a cauldron with herself, sacrificing her life to stop the demons. The Gods have since taken over, and anyone marked with by the Four War Gods are unable to leave this island until they are freed."
"What?" Yuki gasped, and Kagome nodded as she went on: "Yeah. That's why these children are trapped here, and why we have to stop the War Gods. We got the box, and stopped the cauldron which was taking half-demons' lives, but um, the Gods took the box away."
"Is that where Inuyasha's gone, then?" Yuki asked – it would explain his absence.
"Yes." Kagome answered shortly, looking slightly annoyed.
Yuki cocked her head questioningly, and Shippo piped up: "A woman who looked like Kikyo, but dressed really strangely, took the box with the Gods' power spheres away."
"Oh..." Yuki murmured, realizing what had left Kagome so disgruntled. She could understand – jealousy, while not the most pleasant feeling, was an unfortunate companion to love.
"Inuyasha's been marked by the Gods as well. "Shippo continued. "So we have to stop the Four War Gods if we want to escape the island."
"I see." Yuki sighed. If what Kagome and Shippo were saying was true, then Sesshomaru wouldn't be able to leave either; and that made things even more complicated than they'd already become.
The group finally reached the village docks, and they urgently searched all along the water's edge for a raft. Unfortunately, the Gods had beaten them to the punch, and every single one of the precious few boats lay in pieces on the bay floor.
"See?" One of the two pessimistic twins said as they gazed down forlornly at the ocean floor. "What did I tell you? This boat hasn't been used in decades."
"Come on, Asagi!" One of the other children, a girl with small horns on her head, said to the eldest half-demon child, another girl with blue hair and pointed ears. "Let's make one!"
"Yes!" The older girl, Asagi, brightened up as she said determinedly: "We can make a new boat all by ourselves! Let's do it!"
"Right!" The younger girl agreed, also cheering up as the eldest's encouragement.
Kagome and Yuki smiled at the pair, before the former turned and ordered: "Shippo – take Dai, Roku, and Shion, and gather up some good sized logs. Try to get the ones that are straight, with the same thickness and length."
"Oh brother." One of the twins sighed while the other boy – a timid looking youngster with purple hair and small bear ears – perked up.
Still, the twins moved quickly with the third boy to go gather logs, as Shippo declared: "All right, follow me!"
He ran in the opposite direction of the children, before turning and running after them as he cried: "Hey! You're supposed to listen to your boss!"
Yuki chuckled, while Kagome turned to the remaining three girls as she said: "Moega and Ai, go and find rope or pieces of fabric that we can use to tie the logs."
The two younger girls nodded, saying: "'Kay!" before running off, and Kagome turned to the eldest half-demon child as she said: "Asagi, you can help me and Yuki make the raft, okay?"
"Right!" The girl nodded, her face filled with determination and Yuki smiled to herself. This girl – possibly because she was the eldest and so was forced to take on the responsibility of looking after the other children – was nevertheless strong-willed and resilient.
'They all are.' Yuki mused to herself as she glanced around at the other children hurrying to pull their weights. It reminded her of when she was younger with Inuyasha; sometimes brave and sometimes cowardly, but always sticking together as they slowly learnt tough life lessons at early ages.
'Inuyasha...' Yuki thought as she looked up at the moon before going to help Kagome and Asagi. '... Sesshomaru.'
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Elsewhere, far up the mountain, Sesshomaru walked out into the opening of a cave, which turned out to be no cave at all – instead, it was a large cavern inside the volcanic mountain, with an elevated stone temple carved inside.
The temple was old, the stones cracked and covered in thick vines and undergrowth; but it appeared someone had been here earlier, as the top of the temple was tilted, as though something had crashed it down, and it was still smouldering slightly from the fires that had apparently once burnt inside it.
"Lord Sesshomaru; I've been waiting for you."
Kyora's voice sing-songed down towards him as Sesshomaru stepped up to the base of the temple stairways.
He looked up where Kyora stood perched on the top of the large round temple, which looked almost like a giant stone cauldron, and Sesshomaru drew Tokijin as he stopped at the base of the cauldron.
"Excellent." Kyora murmured, a wide smile on his face. "I will gladly be your opponent."
He twirled the Crimson Demon Fan in the air before bringing it sharply down and stabbing it into the cauldron. Instantly, flames exploded everywhere, increasing the heat inside the cavern and causing pillars of fire to dance everywhere.
Instantly, Sesshomaru sensed the change – Kyora had gotten stronger than before, as though his full potential had been released. The small jewel embedded in Kyora's forehead glowed as he yelled out a battle cry, and Sesshomaru saw it was bigger than before, now looking like a large red pearl in the center of the demon's forehead and confirming his theory.
But, Sesshomaru thought grimly as he raised Tokijin, it also meant that now he had a chance to end this once and for all.
So he held Tokijin before his face as he leapt up to meet Kyora, and the God flew down to meet him. Their weapons clashed before they both pushed back and landed at the cauldron base but at the top of the stairs. The pair continued to exchange blows as they dueled atop the temple, neither gaining an advantage as they continued to spar.
Kyora hit Sesshomaru's Tokijin with his fan, using the motion from Sesshomaru's block to launch himself up into the air, and he twirled high up in the sky as he cried: "Birds of Fire!"
Flaming birds erupted from his fan, the flock flying with loud screeches down towards Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru swiftly cut through each and every one that came close to him as he ran forwards.
Kyora yelled as he brought himself flying down, his fan raised, and Sesshomaru dodged out of the way as Kyora brought the weapon down with a crash right where Sesshomaru had been standing moments before.
Sesshomaru quickly retaliated, swinging Tokijin at Kyora, and the demon neatly dodged it as he jumped back, avoiding the sharp blade. Sesshomaru leapt after him, thrusting his sword, and Kyora leapt back once more as Tokijin hit the ground harmlessly.
Kyora smirked before he launched himself forward once more, his forehead glowing red as his demonic energy surged up into the fan, and Sesshomaru leapt back and out of the way as Kyora speared the fan into the ground once more, missing Sesshomaru.
The force of the attack caused the stone to crack, and the two demons face each other as the stone between them broke, falling to the ground below with a loud crash that shook the whole cavern.
"Isn't this exciting, Sesshomaru?" Kyora asked, his voice a little breathless with his elation.
Sesshomaru just looked back at him coolly, his expression icy as Kyora continued: "We're kindred spirits, you and I."
"You are out of your mind." Sesshomaru returned flatly, raising Tokijin as he charged at Kyora once more.
The God easily avoided the thrust by doing a backflip into the air, and he grabbed Sesshomaru's outstretched hand. The dog demon to grunted as Kyora's demonic aura forced his hand to stay in place for the moment while the demon balanced upside down before Sesshomaru's face tauntingly.
"We feel joy when we are fighting," Kyora murmured, his voice almost caressing his words as he balanced before Sesshomaru, "and we feel alive when we are killing!"
Sesshomaru's eyes were flinty as he glared back at Kyora while the God asked rhetorically: "What is different between you and me?"
"Do not compare me to a pathetic wretch such as yourself!" Sesshomaru snarled back, before breaking Kyora's hold on him as he threw the God off, sending Kyora vaulting through the air.
*A/N I know that Tenseiga doesn't work the way Sesshomaru thinks, but remember, he doesn't know its limitations yet! Also, I know that in the movie you can see Sesshomaru's scars over his armour but that seemed really weird to me so I changed it... (Though I don't deny it was also partly fueled by the idea of having Yuki pull Sesshomaru's shirt off). Finally, song of the day: Song of parting from this Inuyasha movie. The link is: