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.
Higurashi Shrine, Tokyo, the present day
Buffy watched Faith lope across the terrace
with long, swinging strides, and rejoin the fight. She stood for
a long moment, observing the other Slayer intently. Not that
I don't trust her...well, because I don't.
But it looked like Buffy didn't have anything
to worry about. Faith was enthusiastically swinging her sword,
lopping off segments of Naraku's tentacles, and leaving Kouga,
Shippou, and Inuyasha strictly alone.
Buffy frowned, noticing that the large dark
bloodstain on the back of Inuyasha's red kimono-thingy had grown
larger in the last few minutes. It looked like Faith had run him
clean through with her sword--it was a wonder he could still
stand, much less fight.
"Help me up, Summers-san," said Grandpa
Higurashi, in a raspy voice. "I have to help them." He braced
his arm against the ground, gasped, and fell back with a groan.
"I think you should stay put, Higurashi-san,"
Buffy said, examining him with a trained eye. "I think your arm
may be broken. We'll take you to the hospital, along with
Kagome, when this is over." She bent, extending her hand to him.
"Can you stand?"
"Of course!" He scrabbled for some of the
scattered paper rectangles with his uninjured arm. "I can still
fight! It's my duty to protect this shrine!"
"Ojii-san," Buffy said, politely but firmly.
"Kagome will be very angry with all of us, but especially me, if
you are injured further. Please let us fight on your
behalf--we're trained professionals, after all."
"I'm a professional, too." Grandpa's face set
in a stubborn frown. "And these spells have been passed on for
gener--"
"I'm sure they're very powerful. But--" and
Buffy was hit with sudden inspiration. "You asked Koji-san for
help, didn't you? He's a Watcher, and you'll make him lose face
if you don't allow his Slayers to defend this shrine. "
She saw her logic hit home. Score one for a
week in the Sengoku-jidai! Some things just haven't changed in
five hundred years!
"It's our sacred duty to fight demons, after
all," she added. "Faith came all the way from Los Angeles do it.
And Sango came five hundred years...please permit us to help
you, Ojii-san."
He tucked in his chin, glaring at her from
beneath his bushy eyebrows, but she saw he was sweating.
Probably in a lot of pain.
"Very well," he grumbled. "But just this once.
I wouldn’t want to...insult Minamide-sensei. Or Kagome-chan's
friends."
"Thank you," Buffy said, relieved. "Please
wait here until we are finished."
She turned back to the fight, glancing over
her shoulder to make sure he stayed put. He still held the
crumpled papers in his hand, but he was half-slumped against one
of the balustrades lining the edge of the terrace, and she
didn't think he was going anywhere.
"HIRAIKOTSU!"
Sango's battle cry distracted the
wolf-youkai's attention just long enough for Naraku to send a
pincer-tipped limb slicing into his opponent's leg, where a
shard of the Shikon jewel gleamed.
Naraku did not quite manage to extract the
shard, but his attempt deeply scored the wolf-youkai's leg. That
should slow him down a little, thought Naraku, as the
smell of wolf's blood mingled with the hanyou's.
Then Naraku heard the heavy thrum of the
youkai-taijya's boomerang. The wolf-youkai threw himself flat on
the ground, and the weapon skimmed over his prone form.
Naraku hastily raised a barrier,
and--barely--deflected the gleaming, deadly arc of youkai-bone.
But in doing so, he discovered something
dismaying: only the barest thread of youki existed in this place
for him to draw upon.
Naraku looked closely at his enemies.
Inuyasha's sword had transformed, but the great steel fang was
wreathed with only the faint ghosts of its usual blazing demon
energies. And, most telling, the hanyou had not yet tried to use
the sword's devastating Kaze-no-Kizu attack.
Accustomed to dipping into the great, swirling
sea of power in his own realm, Naraku felt the dismay of a
desert traveler stumbling on a wide, dry riverbed, and finding
only a small, sluggish trickle of life-giving water.
It was the latest disappointment in a day
filled with setbacks.
And how had his opponents arrived here so
quickly?
His castle had been situated at least a
four-day journey away from the Bone-eater's Well, and with the
exception of the firecat youkai, none of his enemies could fly.
And yet, here they were, the dog-hanyou and
his companions, and their steady attacks, weak as they were,
were extracting a toll.
Naraku snarled, and dropped his barrier long
enough to lash out at Inuyasha, sending him skidding across the
courtyard in a thick shower of gravel, and crashing against the
steps leading up to the shrine's main building. The hanyou
crawled shakily to his feet, still holding his sword, but Naraku
noted the dark smear of blood left behind on the gray stone.
A half-century ago, Inuyasha had interfered
with Naraku's plans for Kikyo, and had been sealed for his
presumption. Yet, here he was again, bound to Kikyo's
reincarnation, and still interfering with Naraku's schemes.
The dark-haired foreigner taijya charged him,
and Naraku hastily raised his barrier again.
She was either ignorant or foolish, for she
simply ignored it, and swung her sword with all her strength.
Her expression was one of comical astonishment as the barrier
repelled her, tossing her backwards nearly as far as Inuyasha
had been thrown only moments earlier.
Then he noticed that the yellow-haired
youkai-taijya was suddenly blazing with powerful youki. It
outshone the weak youki of the other two taijya, like sunlight
overpowering the flickering light of two oil lamps. A human girl
should not possess youki at all, yet at this moment, it swirled
around her in a brilliant whirlwind, stronger even than the
energies swirling around the wolf-youkai.
How is she able to summon such power in this
barren wasteland?
She had not possessed this aura when she and
Sango attacked him in his castle, Naraku thought, watching her
closely, letting his barrier fend off the renewed attacks of the
other taijya, the wolf-youkai, and Inuyasha.
If he absorbed her, he would gain her
strength. His stomach clenched in revulsion at the thought of
allowing a human to pollute him, and yet, in this realm, she was
powerful. He needed that power.
He took the chance, and dropped his barrier
again, sending his limbs flowing toward her.
"Buffy--watch out!" A red blur snatched her
around the waist and suddenly, she was beyond Naraku's grasp.
Inuyasha had interfered, yet again, but the
sudden movement cost him.
He stood panting, a blood-stained hand held
over his stomach. The yellow-haired girl's clothing was blotched
scarlet where she had pressed against him. At this rate, hanyou
or not, he wouldn't last much longer before he passed out.
The others took the opportunity to renew their
attacks, and Naraku felt more of his precious essence hacked
away by the taijyas' swords, that damned bone boomerang, and the
wolf-youkai's brute-force blows.
He raised his barrier once more, desperately
sucking up the meager threads of youki, and feeding all his
strength into shielding himself.
Why had he come here? A realm without youki
was useless to him. He could establish no dominion over a
wasteland filled only with the stink of teeming humanity!
"What the hell is that?" Faith yelled, as she
came too close to one of the dismembered Naraku-bits, and it
grabbed her, digging dark talons into her jeans-clad leg.
"Ow--get off me, you gross piece of shit!"
"It's the Big Bad of the sixteenth century!"
Buffy replied, deftly swinging her naginata.
The clawed thing abruptly released its hold on
Faith as Buffy's blade sliced through tendon and muscle, and it
fell to the ground.
"Big bad Naraku-bit, meet Faith. Faith, meet
big bad Naraku-bit."
It lay there, twitching convulsively, until
Faith stomped on it viciously with her thick-soled army boots.
"Thanks a lot, B."
"Don't mention it," Buffy said dryly, fending
off yet another swiftly flowing pseudopod.
Naraku seemed to be targeting her, all of a
sudden, and she couldn't figure out why. But she used the
opportunity to chop off as many parts as came within reach of
her weapon.
Sooner or later, she thought grimly, she'd
carve enough away to reach his Portal Key, wherever he'd tucked
it.
Kagome struggled up the last set of stairs,
and saw the battle at long last.
"Kagome-sama, are you sure you're all right?"
Miroku touched her shoulder, his expressive dark eyes concerned.
She shook off his hand. "I'm fine," she lied,
as she clutched her side and tried to catch her breath.
Each lungful felt like she was being punched
with sharp slivers of glass. Why, oh why, had her ancestors
built this shrine on a hill? Before today, she had never stopped
to count how many steps she had to climb to get from the street
to her house.
But she had made it at last, and the fight was
still raging. With satisfaction, she noticed that Naraku seemed
to be getting the worst of it.
Kagome felt Miroku's sudden stillness, and
followed his glance.
Sango looked magnificent in her leather armor,
swinging her boomerang so rapidly that it was little more than
an ivory streak scattering flesh and bone before it. Miroku's
expression softened, as it always did when he looked at the
taijya.
"Go," said Kagome, forcing a smile. "I know
you want to fight. And I'll be fine. Really."
"If you're sure..." Miroku said, politely, but
his gaze was glued to Sango as Kouga barrelled into her, pushing
her out of the way of a swinging tentacle.
The two of them rolled over and over in the
gravel like two lovers. Then, like a dancer, Kouga regained his
feet, effortlessly swinging Sango to hers as well. She dipped,
gracefully, grabbed Hiraikotsu by one of its handles, and
brought her weapon up and over her head once more.
She shared a fierce grin with the wolf-youkai,
and Kagome heard Miroku sigh. His fingers tightened around his
staff.
"Go," repeated Kagome, firmly.
"Stay here," he commanded as he strode
forward, unwrapping the rosary that sealed his cursed palm.
Then she saw Inuyasha--and her breath caught
in her throat. His fire-rat armor was soaked with blood, and he
was moving with unaccustomed slowness.
And if Inuyasha was injured...Kagome looked
desperately around for her grandfather.
And saw him slumped some distance away. His
eyes were closed and his face was contorted in pain.
Her first thought was, Thank the gods,
he's alive!
Her second thought swept in on a powerful tide
of rage. I'm going to kill Naraku for this.
Naraku finally spotted the girl Kagome. And,
more troublesome, the monk Miroku, looking fresh and uninjured.
The monk hurried to join the fray.
Predictably, as he approached, he began to unseal the wind-void
in his hand.
Fool! I placed that curse on his bloodline.
And he thinks to defeat me with it?
Naraku reached into what remained of his long
robes, and pulled out the hive of poison bees. He had brought
them along to help scout out this new realm, but they would
serve another purpose just as well.
At his command, the huge insects poured out of
the hive, and hovered, awaiting further instruction.
With a curl of amusement, Naraku saw Miroku's
face contort in frustrated rage for a moment. Then, with a
visible effort, the monk got his emotions under control. He
swiftly resealed his cursed hand.
Naraku saw pure blue energy swell around
Miroku as he gripped his staff. With sharp, precise motions, he
began to swing the jangling, metal-tipped length, each blow
purifying--and vaporizing--the various dismembered parts that
still strove to rejoin with Naraku's essence.
He came to my HOME and hurt my grandfather!
Forgetting Miroku's orders, Kagome stepped
forward. She felt energized with rage, the pain of her injuries
only a distant echo now.
"Kaze-no-Kizu!" Inuyasha swung Testusaiga, and
Kagome saw the red wave of power break Naraku's barrier.
But the sword's force was considerably
reduced, and Naraku emerged from the blaze looking a little
singed but otherwise whole.
As if using the Wound of the Wind had drained
the last of his strength, Inuyasha fell to his knees. Only his
hold on his sword, now firmly planted in the earth, kept him
from sprawling full-length.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.
Naraku, weakened as he was, lost no time in
sending a thick mass of tentacles in the hanyou's direction. If
they reached Inuyasha, he would be absorbed.
Inuyasha! Without thinking, she reached
into her shirt, and grabbed the vial of Shikon shards.
She screamed with fury, feeling power rush out
of her like the shriek issuing from her throat. A great bolt of
rose-colored light raced across the terrace like an arrow,
engulfing Naraku.
Splintered impressions: Kouga diving at
Inuyasha, dragging him out of the path of the purifying light.
Minamide-sensei, his crossbow still raised to his shoulder,
gaping at her. Naraku exploding, disintegrating into a mass of
demons, leaving only his human body behind.
And then the pain came crashing in, and the
world disappeared.
Every hair on Buffy's body prickled and stood
up as the edge of the great surge of mystical energy brushed
her. Then Kagome folded over, like a marionette whose strings
had just been cut, and collapsed.
"Kagome!" came the hoarse cry, ripped from
Inuyasha's throat.
He stumbled to her side, sank to the ground
beside her, and gathered her up in a desperate embrace. She
disappeared behind a curtain of silver hair and wide, red
sleeves. Only her long, slender legs remained in view.
"Shit! They're getting away!" shouted Faith,
in English.
Buffy tore her attention away from Inuyasha
and Kagome, to find that Naraku had been reduced to human
proportions. He was now surrounded by a jostling crowd of youkai
in various shapes and sizes, all of them scattering to the four
corners of the shrine.
"Don't let any of them escape," called Miroku
in Japanese, swinging his staff and purifying one of the slower
youkai.
The weary team swung into action, easily
countering the half-hearted attacks by the bewildered youkai,
dispatching them with staff, naginata, sword, boomerang, and in
Kouga's case, powerful blows that literally ripped his opponents
to shreds.
Buffy decapitated something that looked like a
really big lizard with glowing red eyes, then came face to face
with a cringing, warty, humaoid demon.
"Don't kill me, please!" it begged. "I am
Arashthoth the Gatekeeper, a poor captive of that thing!"
Buffy stopped the downward swing of her
naginata. Gatekeeper? Now, why did that sound familiar? Then
memory supplied the rest.
"You're the one who gave Naraku that Portal
Key," she said, angrily, and Arashthoth cringed.
"He took it, my lady! Stole it from me,"
whined the demon.
Buffy hesitated. Should she believe him, or
just kill him, along with the other youkai?
"Oi, bitch!" she heard Inuyasha yell. "What
the hell are you waiting for? Naraku's getting away!"
Buffy looked up, and saw that Naraku was
heading straight for the Bone-eater's Well, his tattered kimono
and long, unbound hair streaming behind him.
And he still had his Portal Key.
She turned on her heel and sprinted after his
fleeing figure. She couldn't let him reach the well-house, and
make his getaway. Not this time.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the silver
flash of Faith's sword as the other Slayer sliced through
Arashthoth. She felt a moment of pity for the demon, then
focused on the immediate crisis.
Disdaining the stairs as too slow, Buffy
vaulted over the balustrade, and landed lightly on the terrace
below. Instantly she began running again.
Up ahead, she saw the tall bulk of the Sacred
Tree, silhouetted against the blood-red twilight.
She was gaining on him. But he was getting
dangerously close to the well.
Buffy forced her legs to go faster, cursing as
she saw the fluttering hem of his kimono disappear into what
remained of the well-house.
"Buffy!" she heard Shippou shout as she raced
by the Sacred Tree. She saw a fox-shape on one of the lower
branches, but didn't have the breath to answer him.
She skidded around the corner, and flung
herself through the doorway of the well-house, just in time to
see the blue brilliance of an activating portal filling the
gloomy interior.
Naraku was standing on the sunken floor almost
directly below her, the Portal Key glowing in his hand, an
answering light pulsing from the shaft of the well.
Nonononononono...
"Oh. No. You. Don't!" She flung herself into
space from the top of the stairs, diving down on top of him.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
She swung her naginata as she fell through the
air, and felt it strike flesh--and bone.
The Portal Key's sphere flew out of Naraku's
grasp. It hit the ground and bounced, its light abruptly
extinguished.
Buffy hit him squarely between the shoulders,
and the impact of her landing sent him face down into the dirt,
as neatly as any of Kagome's "osuwari!" commands.
Something pink and glowing landed just out of
reach, on the other side of the well from the Portal Key: his
hoard of the Shikon no Tama shards.
Buffy rolled off him immediately, wary of
being absorbed, and scrambled to her feet, snatching up the
naginata.
Naraku screamed, a hoarse, inhuman sound of
rage. His eyes glowed deep violet as he glared at her, and Buffy
found herself stepping back, involuntarily.
She had cut off his hand. That human bitch had
cut off his hand, and taken both the shards and the Key from
him!
Now, she stood, her youki blazing in the
darkness, and lifted her weapon. Thinking to finish him off, no
doubt.
He knew that he was still faster than she was,
even in his present injured and reduced state.
The problem was that the Portal Key and his
Shikon shards lay on opposite sides of the well-house. To
retrieve one, he would have to sacrifice the other.
He wanted the Portal Key. But Arashthoth had
escaped, taking his knowledge with him, and Naraku had greater
need of the Shikon-no-Tama. With the jewel shards, he would heal
himself, and continue to wield power in his own realm.
With a snarl, he made his decision, just as
the kitsune cub came charging into the well-house. "Buffy!
Buffy!"
"Get the Key!" yelled the taijya, and the
kitsune dove for the sphere.
Using the last reserves of his strength,
Naraku lunged for his precious jewel shards, and felt the chain
tangle in the fingers of his remaining hand as the naginata
sliced through the muscles of his leg.
He dove over the lip of the well. As Naraku
fell into the darkness, he hoped against hope that Arashthoth
had been right about the well's properties, and that it could
return him to his own realm even without a Key.
With profound relief, he felt the portal open
and swallow him.
As he drifted though the star-speckled
darkness, Naraku vowed he would build himself a better, stronger
body.
And then he would make sure that Kikyou's
reincarnation troubled him no more.
Panting, Buffy let herself sink down on to the
wooden steps. Shippo, holding the Key close to his chest, came
trotting proudly back to her.
"Here you go!" he chirped, reaching up,
apparently oblivious to the fact that Naraku's severed hand was
still clenched tightly around the key.
Guess I'll just have to pry his cold, dead,
fingers off it, Buffy thought with a shudder as he
accepted it.
"Great job, Shippou-chan," she said,
sincerely. "You saved the day."
His entire body lit up with the force of his
incandescant, fanged smile.
