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
Even sheltered by the castle's walls, Kagura
felt the shockwave push through her like the winds she
commanded.
What...? Who could be powerful enough to
break through Naraku's defenses?
She rose from where she knelt in her bare
chamber. Drawing her magical fan from her obi, she raced for the
castle courtyard at inhuman speed.
Hope rose in her like a tiny breeze on an
oppressively hot day.
Anything powerful enough to destroy one of his
barriers might be too powerful for even Naraku to defeat...and
that would mean freedom for her, at long last.
But he was probably watching her. He had kept
her on a tight leash since her failed escape attempt last
spring. So, whatever she did, she would have to convince him
that she was trying to defend his home against the invaders.
To her disappointment, the courtyard was empty
of everything save the thick, roiling miasma that Naraku used as
his secondary line of defense against invaders.
Perhaps outside?
She gestured with her fan, the eagle-youkai
bone ribs smooth and warm against her fingers, and the heavy
wooden gates swung open.
Kagura looked at the group approaching the
gate, and, with a sinking feeling, she recognized most of them.
Four humans, including the youkai-taijya who
was Kohaku's sister, and the strangely-dressed young miko. That
dog-hanyou, Inuyasha. The cocky wolf-prince who had come after
her once before. And, oddest of all, a kitsune cub, who fairly
radiated terror.
Surely, that one isn't old enough to fight!
They caught sight of her, and came to an
uncertain halt some distance from the gates.
This...this motley crew of humans and youkai
had broken through Naraku's barrier?
Kagura felt her hopes die away in the dead
calm of disappointment.
She would still use them if she could, but
their previous encounters left her with little hope that they
could defeat Naraku.
Why, they could barely defeat her!
Only the miko and dog-hanyou would require
careful handling. The combination of that sword and those arrows
had nearly proved Kagura's undoing in a previous encounter.
As for the rest...Kagura let her lips
curl in a sneer. Dog, wolf, fox.
"Miko, you brought a whole kennel with you
this time. Shall I make them heel?"
She swept her fan down, dipping into the air,
gathering the wind, concentrating its force. Then, with a
practiced flick of her wrist, she freed the howling blades of
solidified air trapped in the fan's folds, and flung them at her
opponents.
As expected, the youkai moved to dodge the
Blades of Wind.
The hanyou leapt in front of the humans,
unsheathing that terrible sword of his. Even in the sunlight,
she could see the powerful youki that wreathed its length,
moving as restlessly as if it, too, commanded the winds.
Effortlessly, he parried the blades she had
sent hurtling toward the miko, and they dispelled in harmless
puffs. He stood protectively in front of the girls, his sword at
the ready.
There. I'm fighting them. Naraku should be
pleased.
And he would never guess her secondary
purpose, she thought, swinging her arm back and around,
releasing the last of the captive gusts from her fan to sweep
behind her, through the courtyard.
With the barrier gone, the thick purple miasma
that carpeted the ground dispersed rapidly, as if it, too,
sought to escape Naraku's castle.
Now...how to allow them inside, while seeming
to put up a spirited defense?
I have to make it convincing. She
scanned the group. Perhaps even kill the weakest of them. Her
eye lit on the three girls and the little kitsune.
Ah, yes. Killing any of those would surely
enrage the dog and the wolf enough that they'd stop at nothing
to find and kill Naraku this time.
Tear his throat out, she thought. Burn
him to ashes with your Kaze-no-Kizu. Don't fail me, this time!
The wolf-youkai was, in fact, trying to circle
to her left, his blue eyes fierce with hatred. He had managed to
replace the Shikon shards in his legs, she noted. She would have
to be careful--those shards gave him unnatural speed and
strength.
Luckily for her, he hadn't seemed particularly
cunning in their previous encounters. And he wasn't being
devious now.
Almost lazily, she flung a powerful
mini-whirlwind at him, and he was forced to vault backwards--and
away from his allies--in order to dodge it.
"Bitch!" he yelled. "I'll make you pay for
killing my comrades!"
She laughed. "Those wolves had deserved what
they got...just a stupid horde of youkai seeking to rob my
master of the Shikon-no-Tama."
He leapt forward, his mouth contorted in a
silent snarl and she raised her fan, snapping it all the way
open.
The scarlet marks painted on the heavy
parchment folds uncoiled, sliding hungrily up from the base of
the fan to its edge. She could feel their powerful, mindless
desire through the eagle bones.
The red ones wanted to taste blood, to bring
death.
Not now. she thought. But soon.
They screamed silent protest at her, trembling
on the fan's outer edge as it cut the air. But they obeyed.
The wolf-prince landed five paces from her,
and she flung another whirlwind at him. He hadn't realized, yet,
that none of her attacks had real teeth behind him. Those were
still imprisoned on her fan, begging for release.
Smiling at him, because that seemed to drive
him berserk, she asked, "What, you don't execute thieves in the
wolf-lands?"
She heard a twang, and then, the unpleasant
whine of an arrow whizzing by her head--close enough to rattle
her jade earrings. Kagura ducked away just in time, escaping the
blast of purifying fire with little more than a few singed
hairs. Fool! I took my eye off the miko!
"Hiraikotsu!" screamed Kohaku's sister as she
flung her giant bone boomerang.
Kagura's smile widened as she watched it
cleave the air. Foolish human! To use such a weapon on me!
This time, only the tiniest movement of her
fan was required to send the spinning blade up, over,
around--and re-aimed straight at its mistress.
The girls dove out of the way as the weapon
swooped through their midst.
The hanyou, foolishly enough, tried to catch
it. The momentum flung him head over heels some distance away,
where he lay crumpled in a heap of red robes. He had not,
however, let go of his sword.
Pity he didn't skewer himself on it,
thought Kagura. Not that a single thrust would be enough to
finish him off. He was a tough one, for a half-breed.
A moment later, the taijya's weapon hit the
ground with a heavy thud, and buried itself point-first in the
soft soil of the meadow.
Kagura advanced, brandishing her fan.
In return for leaving the castle gates open
behind her, one of the interlopers was going to die. A life for
a life--and may your death ignite the flames that devour Naraku!
But which one should she kill? She didn't want
to execute anyone...useful.
She looked, thoughtfully, at the third girl,
who was yellow-haired and wearing strange, tight, clothing. The
girl boldly returned her stare, shifted her naginata to her left
hand, and drew her sword.
Instead of lunging, as Kagura expected, she
lifted her sword like a spear and flung it, tip first, at
Kagura's chest, no doubt intending to spit her.
An interesting use of the katana, she
thought as she turned the blade aside harmlessly with a single
tap of her fingers on the bones of the fan. Not that one,
then. She's a fighter. She'll be useful.
A muffled whimper caught her attention, and
Kagura looked down. There, almost between her feet, she saw the
kitsune cub.
He was sprawled on his back, eyes wide,
staring up at her. She heard him wheezing with terror. This
one--this one is expendable.
The hungry scarlet marks on her fan shrilled
their anticipation, coiling themselves like snakes preparing to
strike. Give us blood! Give us a life!
