A great combination of InuYasha and Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
the two demonic shows we thought couldn't mix. (Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com) Disclaimer: Don't own the shows, don't plan on trying to,
none use this fic without permission.
Author's Notes: This is an edited and
corrected version of the story originally posted to
Fanfiction.net January - March, 2004. The content is still
essentially the same as the first version, but I fixed some
consistency glitches, typos, and Japanese usage errors.
This story takes place after the second
Inuyasha film, "Castle Beyond the Looking Glass," (after Episode
74 in the series), and after the Buffy series finale. Contains
spoilers for events that happen in all seasons of Buffy, through
the beginning of the final season of Angel, Inuyasha episodes
1-74, and the second Inuyasha film.
Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan
"Foxfire!" screamed the kitsune cub, and
Kagura recoiled slightly as a blast of cool green flame shot
from his fingertips.
Only an illusion. I should have known--he
is a kitsune, after all.
She raised her fan again, but her hesitation
had proved her undoing.
The miko's bowstring twanged, and Kagura
barely managed wield her fan in time to deflect an arrow from
her throat. It embedded itself in her upper arm, instead.
She screamed. In all the brief period of her
existence, nothing had ever hurt like this. She looked down and
saw the shaft glowing, its purifying fire scorching the fabric
of her kimono, eating into her flesh.
It seared the fingers of her left hand to the
bone as she seized it and yanked it out. She flung it as far
away as she could, and the sudden cessation of the burning was a
relief.
But the miko was already nocking another
arrow. "Shippo-chan--RUN!"
From the corner of her eye, Kagura saw a flash
of movement. It was the wolf-prince. He dove in front of her,
landing on his hands, lashing up and out with his feet.
The impact caught Kagura in her midsection and
sent flying backwards, away from the kitsune cub. She crashed
into the unyielding masonry of the castle wall, and hit the
ground at its base.
As she crumpled she saw the wolf-prince tuck
smoothly into a roll and grab the cub by the back of the neck in
passing. He was on his feet again in the next breath.
She pushed up and regained her feet again as
well, though she was feeling distinctly battered, and opened her
fan to scoop a new set of weapons out of the air.
But that arrow had taken its toll--with her
injured right arm, she could no longer wield her fan as
effectively. And there was no question of switching to her
charred left hand.
She cursed, and flung blades of air at her
opponents with as much strength as she could muster. And this
time, she freed the scarlet death that strained at the edge of
her fan.
Most of the blades were dodged or deflected,
but Kagura heard the triumphant shriek of the red ones as they
found their mark in two of the girls.
Serves them right! thought Kagura,
savagely, her right arm throbbing with pain of her own wound.
She could feel nothing at all in her left hand, and dared not
look.
The miko's upper sleeve tore open and bloomed
red, and she dropped her bow. And the yellow-haired girl was a
fraction of a second too slow in parrying with her naginata. She
staggered and a slash appeared on the thigh of her strange,
tight-fitting hakama. Her blood flowed, black against dark blue
fabric.
She remained on her feet, however. The blow
must have been a glancing one.
"Kagome!"
The silver-haired hanyou suddenly appeared
between Kagura and her target. His face contorted with rage, he
raised his sword and swung it, the malevolent youki flames
writhing over its blade. "Kaze-no-Kizu!"
Kagura did not stop to think. She summoned a
mighty rush of wind to carry her up and out of range of the
sword's brilliant flame, landing in the castle's central
courtyard as the tiles topping the outer walls exploded in a
brilliant flare. But the thick walls held fast, and she was safe
for now.
She clutched the smooth bones of her fan,
panting a little from the agony in her left hand and her right
arm.
The intruders didn't waste any time. All of
them--even the fox-cub--ran inside the gate. There, they
stopped, weapons at the ready, and eyed her.
How had she lost control of the situation so
quickly? And how severely would Naraku punish her for this
failure?
And yet...she was not entirely displeased.
After all, she had managed to fulfill her original intention to
put up a convincing struggle while still allowing the intruders
access to the castle.
She was injured, and badly. Not badly enough
to kill her--she was youkai, after all, and nearly immortal--but
it would take time for her to recover from her injuries.
But to do so, she had to survive her next
encounter with the intruders. Especially with the wolf-prince,
whose youki blazed with the desire for righteous vengeance, and
who was already advancing on her.
The courtyard of the castle still reeked of
lingering poison, and it burned Kouga's sensitive nose, making
him sneeze repeatedly. Shippou, whom he still held safely by the
scruff of the neck, was doing the same.
"Hey! Put me down!" Shippou shrilled,
in-between violent sneezes. "Let go of me, Kouga!"
Kouga cuffed him as he would a disobedient
wolf-cub--not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to silence
the little fox.
"You're meaner than Inuyasha," muttered
Shippou, but at least he'd stopped squirming for now. Kouga
glared down at him, and the cub added, "Um, Kouga-sama."
That was better. His Kagome was entirely too
kind-hearted. She was spoiling the kitsune. The cub needed to
learn the proper respect for his elders...and his superiors.
Another sneeze echoed through the courtyard.
Kouga looked over at his Kagome, hoping she would signal her
gratitude for Shippou's rescue.
Instead, he noticed she was looking at
Inu-koro. Who was, as always, standing entirely too close to
Kouga's woman. In fact, Kouga caught her in the act of handing
that dog-turd a handkerchief because Inu-koro was wiping his
nose on his sleeve.
Kouga rolled his eyes in disgust, and dropped
the fox-cub. Shippou yelped as he hit the ground, then scampered
in Kagome's direction.
That got her attention at last. "Thank you,
Kouga-kun," she called, smiling gratefully at him.
Over her shoulder, he caught Inu-koro's yellow
glare.
In return, Kouga lifted his upper lip in a
gesture that was part lupine snarl, part human sneer.
How could someone as wonderful as his Kagome
tolerate that hanyou's loud, grating voice? His rank, doggy
smell? His detestable weakness without his weapon?
But somehow, she insisted on calling Inu-koro
her friend, and so Kouga was forced to tolerate the half-breed's
presence time and time again.
Love is hard, he thought, admiring
Kagome's slender legs as she bent down to gather Shippou in her
arms. Especially when it means you can't kill someone who
really, really deserves it.
But he would restrain himself, because he was
a stronger, more honorable person than the hanyou.
Plus, he wanted to remain on Kagome's good
side, so that after Naraku's defeat, she'd wrap those long legs
around his waist and let him make her his woman in truth.
And today looked like it might be that day.
Naraku to hunt, that bitch Kagura injured and ready prey, and
his Kagome close at hand to give him his reward later...
Kouga blinked, jolted from his momentary
daydream. Kagome was, in fact, issuing a stream of low-voiced
orders: "Let's split up. He can't fight all of us at once if
we're in different places. Buffy, you'll search for the Portal
Key?"
Buffy nodded, but Kouga could smell her
uncertainty--and the blood seeping from her wounded leg. Sango,
the other youkai-taijya, moved to Buffy's side. "I will go with
her."
Kagome gave a sharp nod. "Good. Kouga-kun?"
Kouga gave her a smile that showed all of his
teeth. "I have business with the Wind-User over there."
Who, in fact, had one arm wrapped around a
post, and appeared barely able to stand. She reeked of
weakness. Easy prey.
The human monk spoke. "If Kouga-sama permits,
I would like to join him."
Kagome nodded. "And I will look for the
Shikon-no-Tama. I sense several shards nearby."
Gods, but Kouga was proud of her!
Human, or not, she had the spirit of a leader, and was more than
fit to be queen of the wolf-youkai.
Why, he didn't even mind that their cubs would
be hanyou, like Inu-koro over there.
But before he could settle down to the
important but pleasurable business of siring offspring, he had a
vow to fulfill. And his brethren to avenge.
"That means that bastard Naraku must be
nearby. I'll go with you, Kagome," said the dog-turd, slinging
that stupid sword over his shoulder in one of his braggart's
poses.
Kouga thought about protesting, but Kagome
beat him to the response. "Of course, Inuyasha."
"You'd better take good care of her," yelled
Kouga, watching the hanyou escort his woman away.
The only reason you're alive right now, you
miserable mutt, is because you're useful to her.
Then Kouga cast all thoughts of Inu-koro from
his mind, and turned his attention back to what he had come here
to do.
He looked at Kagura, measuring the distance
between them. He was going to tear her limb-from-limb, and
devour her liver in payment for decimating the Northern and
Southern tribes of the wolf-youkai.
Kouga licked his lips and ran forward, the
Shikon shards in his legs lending him strength, speed. He could
already taste his revenge, rich and bloody...
With an effort, Kagura stepped away from the
support of the pillar. She swayed a little, as if the winds she
commanded were tugging insistently at her, though the air in the
courtyard was perfectly still. The initial shock of her wounds
had settled into buzzing cloud around her senses, dulling them
as if Naraku's swarm of poison bees were coursing in her veins.
Behind him, she saw the other intruders enter
the largest of the castle's buildings. She could do nothing
about that now, so she focused her attention on the wolf-prince,
who had come to a halt some distance away, and was sniffing the
air.
"Bit singed around edges, eh, bitch?" he
asked, with a feral grin.
In reply, she swung her fan, and launched a
volley of wind-blades at him, scarlet teeth hidden in their
centers. He blurred as he dodged them, leaping into the air,
somersaulting, and coming back to earth a little farther back
than he had been.
In his wake strode one of the humans, clad in
dark robes, armed only with a metal-tipped staff.
He seemed eerily calm, given the
circumstances, and she quickly saw why: though not gifted with
youkai speed, he wielded that staff with inhuman accuracy,
parrying the hungry blades she had flung. They dissipated with
soundless flares of purifying fire.
Before the last of the blades had left her
fan, Kagura scooped up another measure, focusing her power.
Injured as she was, she would have to keep the wolf-prince on
the defensive.
Her magic took the form of pale spears this
time, icy-cold and deadly. Again, the wolf-prince escaped
injury, but at the price of having to retreat precious paces. He
was snarling now, and his youki gathered around him in writhing
clouds tinged with the red of rage. Good, good. Let his
anger further cloud his judgment!
She paid little attention to the Buddhist
monk. Mere human that he was, what could he possibly do to her?
In fact, he was scarcely paying attention to
her, occupied as he was in unwrapping with the bandages that
covered his right hand...
Oh, it was him. She blinked,
recognizing him at last. Dangerous, that one, but easily
thwarted.
Come, commanded Kagura, directing her thoughts
to the large hive that hung in the roof beams of the castle's
gatehouse. There is work for you to do.
The bees poured out of the empty eyes of the
gatehouse windows, and hovered, obediently in the air above and
behind her.
The monk stopped unwrapping his right hand.
She laughed at his dismay and wielded her fan.
This time, she saw annoyance cross his pretty
features. In the next instant, he had flung something at her in
return--a scrap of paper that blazed with mystical energy.
She sent it spiraling over the castle roof
with the merest twitch of her fingers, but the momentary
distraction had given the more dangerous of her two opponents an
opening.
"Die, bitch!" His legs shimmering with the
energy imparted by the shards of the Shikon-no-Tama, the wolf
prince vaulted over the distance separating them, and he was
hurtling directly at her.
With a frantic gesture that sent a searing
blast of pain through her injured arm, she flung a fanged
whirlwind at him.
He tumbled backward, his trajectory abruptly
altered by the blast of wind and blades she had summoned. And
this time, she drew blood from his legs, though the
shards--shit!--remained firmly in place.
"Wolf, go home with your tail between your
legs, while you still have a tail!" she said, trying not to gasp
for breath through the black agony hazing her vision.
She could not afford to show weakness, not
now.
He hit the ground in a spray of gravel, and
tumbled head-over-heels.
She sent another gust of wind to keep him off
his feet, and gathered the winds to enclose him in a whirlwind
of stones and debris. It had been more effective the last time
she had used this against him, but she had had better materials
to work with, then--swords and bones to hold him captive rather
than this paltry collection of shattered tiles and splintered
wood.
As she expected, her makeshift cage couldn't
hold him long.
"KAGURA!" roared the wolf-prince, as he burst
from the whirlwind's confines. His eyes were red with youkai
rage.
He drew his sword and planted the blade in the
earth. His aura shimmered and turned the color of
freshly-spilled blood, boiling up to conceal his form.
A moment later, it subsided. What stood in the
courtyard now was not the human-looking youkai. It was a
monstrous black wolf with blazing blue eyes. His fangs were
dripping a clear fluid that hissed and smoked as droplets fell
on the ground.
Meanwhile, the monk was still flinging his
spell-scraps at her. They were easy to turn aside--he only
human, after all--but he offered a dangerous distraction when
she needed her full attention on the wolf-prince.
The wolf advanced on her, growling. He brushed
against the monk in passing, sending his ally flying into the
nearest wall, but his burning gaze never left her. She was his
prey.
And then she had no more time to think, as the
wolf-youkai gave a mighty leap.
