Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Battlefield 1542
By : Dunkelgelb
Category: InuYasha > General
Views: 1935 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter List
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Battlefield 1542
Chapter III: A War Postponed

Shippo's heart pounded out of palpable fear inside his chest and his lower lip quivered as tears began to well up in front of his wide, jungle-green eyes, because on that night, everything would be finished. There was no way it couldn't be finished. Three years - that was how long the war had been fought, that was how long he had known his second family, the motley crew comprised of a callous inu hanyou, a schoolgirl miko from a distant era, a monk whose hands guided themselves most inappropriately, and a demon exterminator wracked by family tragedy. They were going out there to fight him one last time, to gamble everything in one deft assault on his dark fortress.

The young kitsune knew that he stood an excellent chance of losing them all.

One of his small hands had fisted itself in the red lower half of Kaede's obi as he watched each one disappear into the darkness of the night forest, and he whimpered from the terrifying apprehension that impending and devastating loss always brought with it, just like the feeling that Manten's sick, twisted grin evoked just before he told the little fox that he had skinned his father alive.

This had to be the end, it just had to be, for it was Shippo who found Kagura's tattered and thrice-punctured kimono lying abandoned and empty amidst a field of beautiful wildflowers, the unravelling cloth soaked in Kagura's blood and the rancid stench of Naraku's miasma. The spider hanyou was done playing games. With Kagura's grisly execution came a sense of urgency to the war, and all - InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Sango, knew that the one battle that could decide their fates was drawing near, because Naraku was tying up every loose end and setting the stage, so to speak. He had killed Kagura, allowed Hakudoshi to die, and as a finishing touch, absorbed Mouryoumaru into his being, making him nigh-on unstoppable. It was now or never.

Kagome stopped at the treeline, turned around, then smiled at Shippo, as if it would be the last time, and the kit broke down.

~~~~~

That had been five-hundred years before, but remembering it didn't hurt, because Shippo knew how things had turned out. They all came back alive. They were battered, bloodied, and completely exhausted, but alive, nonetheless. Miroku's Kazaana had closed up, and with the complete disappearance of a singularity as powerful as the Kazaana, Naraku couldn't be anything but dead. Sadly, Kohaku died from the lack of Naraku's presence, providing a solemn finality that further cemented the spider demon's apparent death.

Shippo lay on the airborne Rouyakan's spacious back, staring out at the passing sandy terrain of the Dust Bowl with blank,jade eyes, the wind whipping his coppery hair about, for the saimyoushou's assault had turned his understanding of the general situation upside-down.

"How?" Shippo asked, his voice raspy and pathetically weak.

"How what?" Rouyakan countered.

"How can Naraku be alive?"

"We had a hard time figuring that out ourselves, that is, until Kibito and the East Kaioshin showed us a recording of the last moments of InuYasha's battle against Naraku," Rouyakan explained.

"A recording?"

"Yes. The whole time, they had been watching the fighting unfold through a special crystal ball that they kept on Kaio-sei. After all youkai were moved into Heaven and Naraku started causing trouble, they met with us and showed us exactly how Naraku survived, using the images stored inside that ball."

"So, what happened?"

"One of Naraku's incarnations, named Kanna, I think, had this little mirror that she carried around with her. It was designed to suck out the souls of whoever got too close and for long-range observation, but Naraku figured out how to turn it into a portal."

"A portal to Spirit World," Shippo muttered.

"As InuYasha attacked with his Tetsuseiga, Naraku tore off his own head and tossed it through the mirror, letting InuYasha tear into the rest. Without the head around, what remained of Naraku couldn't regenerate and fell as easy prey. InuYasha couldn't have known any better; that Kaze no Kizu of his blocked out all of his view."

"Does he have the Shikon Jewel with him?" Shippo asked, frightened of what the answer might be.

"Thankfully, no," Rouyakan answered, Shippo's face relaxing from visible reassurance.

"Then what is he trying to do?" Shippo pointed, the machinations of Naraku's twisted mind utterly confusing.

"He's trying to absorb Taisho-sama into his body and take over the Dust Bowl. If he succeeds with that, he'll try to break out into Heaven and maybe even go after King Yamma."

"And......is he succeeding?"

Rouyakan grinned, beginning to fly a bit higher.

"Not in the least. The moment he got to the Dust Bowl, he foolishly started to absorb every demon he could get his tentacles on, but most of the ones he got were already dead, and since he made permanent fusions with them, he is not allowed to cross the Soul Divide. Furthermore, since Taisho-sama is dead too, Naraku won't gain any power even if he somehow manages to absorb him."

"So....Naraku is stuck here?"

"Hai. He really backed himself into a corner by coming here. The worst he can do is bother us while we're holding the Youkai Budokai or pester us with his giant bugs."

"And you didn't think it important to tell me about this?!" Shippo shouted, his fear-turned-relief blackening into raw anger.

Rouyakan rolled to port by a few degrees and altered his heading accordingly, bringing the distant Budokai stadium into view, all the while shaking his head at Shippo's angry demand for an answer.

"I'm sorry about that, but you weren't going to be here long enough to find out about Naraku, Shippo. You were just dropping by to find one guy and then leave, weren't you? But, as far as that damned saimyosho is concerned, I wasn't expecting any all the way out here," Rouyakan sighed, "They stay in the northeastern badlands and almost never stray past the zero parallel. They shouldn't be out this far west."

Shippo sighed heavily, laying head down on Rouyakan's back.

"InuYasha's not going to be happy about this when he finds out," the kit muttered.

Rouyakan chuckled.

"I think he's fought enough for one lifetime; we here in the Dust Bowl are the ones that have to handle Naraku now, so just let InuYasha think he won, because as far as I'm concerned, he has."

The fox demon opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself just short of it, for Rouyakan had a point. There was no sense in reopening such a chapter of InuYasha's life, as revealing Naraku's continued existence to the dog demon solely for the purpose of telling him about it would be time wasted and old wounds reopened. Besides, what could InuYasha or Kagome do about Naraku, when living all the way back on Earth and out of harm's way?

Shippo and Rouyakan were quiet for the rest of the flight, and the kitsune reassured himself that Naraku was well under control in the demon realm, so he mentally reviewed his mission. He would have to first locate this Android Seventeen, then secure a mode of transport back to the border. He would be looking for a man in his middle or late-twenties, standing just under six feet tall, with straight, shoulder-length, jet-black hair, and pale, almost icy blue eyes. The fox demon frowned at the mental picture of Seventeen that he had formed; how could someone so seemingly innocuous as a be transformed into a Russian superweapon?

Some minutes later, he felt Rouyakan slow down and stop, and while holding onto the collar of the wolf's haori and the rim of his armor, peered over one side to a most vertigo-inducing sight: he was looking straight down into the center of the tournament stadium.

It was teeming with spectators, with thousands of youkai of every type crammed into the seats of the staggered bleacher seats and even the aisles in between. The stands were oriented in a large arc around a wide, circular patch of green grass, with a large tile platform in the center. Two warriors were already locked in grueling hand-to-hand combat, but from his altitude, it looked to Shippo like two flies buzzing around, only with much higher speed and greater sense of direction.

Rouyakan descended to the stadium's rooftop, a cement ring as large as a decent-sized speedway that served as both a cargo loading platform and as a spectator point for youkai too large to fit in the stands. Case in point were the three Birds of Paradise perched on the ledge, looking down at the embattled opponents in the tournament ring. One stiffened upright and took a sniff at the air, the blue-skinned, humanoid torso atop it turning its head over one shoulder to catch a glimpse of of Rouyakan and Shippo. The Birds that flanked it followed suit and took a gander as well, the grotesque, perpetually-grinning visage that adorned each one's downy breast adding more eyes to Rouyakan and Shippo.

Shippo growled low, bared his fangs, and instinctively gripped his fully-loaded FN-FAL, preparing to unsling and unleash its 7.62 millimeter firepower. He stopped cold, however, when Rouyakan held a massive paw in front of his gun and forged direct eye contact with the center bird, shaking his head from side-to-side. The Bird stilled for a moment, grunted in acknowledgement, then waddled in place, turning itself back around to refocus its attention on the ongoing bout. The other two Birds shrugged, readjusted their wings, and turned away as well.

The fox demon stood amazed, wide-eyed, and incredulous at Rouyakan's handling of the situation. For Shippo, the Birds of Paradise had always terrible and relentless predators, always hounding whatever smaller creature wandered into their field of vision. Seeing them fight Kouga and InuYasha had left a distinct impression on his mind, and he stood in place even as Rouyakan walked away, fully expecting the Birds to make a surprise attack.

"Come, Shippo! Taisho-sama is waiting for us!" Rouyakan called, noticing that the kit hadn't followed.

Shippo glanced at Rouyakan and frowned, torn between following his fellow forest demon, hence continuing his mission, and standing watch over his one-time enemies, even though their backs faced him and they were clearly more interested in the Budokai. The kitsune was about to draw his rifle out when he felt the tall wolf's hand on a shoulder.

"It's perfectly alright, Shippo. The Inu no Taisho is a fair demon, and he wants few things, but one of those things is peace. If any fighting is to ever take place between the residents of his territory underneath his watch, you can rest assured that it will be confined strictly to the fighting ring beneath us."

"But they gave up so easily!" Shippo pointed, his voice trickling to a whisper for his next statement, "And by any standard, they're bloodthirsty."

Rouyakan smirked.

"They know better than to try anything here. It's either here with the Taisho or out there with Naraku," the giant wolf said, nodding his head torwards the wasteland to the northeast, "Nobody wants to get kicked out over a silly little brawl."

That being said, Rouyakan headed for a set of twenty-foot-wide steel doors inlaid into the cement face of the roof, this time with Shippo following close behind. Once at the side, he pressed down onto a spring-loaded floorplate and a powerful electic motor whirred to life somewhere underneath. Seconds later, the steel doors groaned open and the welded metal cage of the cargo elevator rose up, locked into position with the chattering clack of unseen mechanization. Rouyakan was a wide and tall demon, and since the stadium had been built with humanoid youkai in mind, he couldn't fit into the majority of the normal transit lifts, so entering through the cargo area was his only viable option.

Rouyakan opened the metal cage's gate and held it open for Shippo, who nodded his thanks and stepped through. The wolf demon entered as well, shutting the gate behind him. He stepped over to the elevator's control panel, pushing a button on the intercom built into it.

"Security, this is Rouyakan, on cargo elevator 2T. I'm bringing one guest with me."

"Allright. Have him discard all weapons and lay flat and face-down on the floor, hands held clear," a female voice on the intercom's other end answered.

"You heard her, Shippo, give me you gun," Rouyakan said.

"I'd really rather keep it," Shippo said, not liking the prospect of being defenseless while Naraku was stalking about.

"Don't worry, you'll get it back when you leave, and since the panther demons that run the security checkpoints don't fool around with intruders, I think it best that you do."

Shippo grimaced, then frowned as he looked at his FAL as it hung on his shoulder. Sighing, he drew it and handed it over to the tall wolf, who tucked it underneath his belt. The kitsune then lowered himself to his knees and lay himself flat on the metal floor, face-down as per the security guard's instructions. Satisfied that the fox demon wasn't going to get shot when the guards saw him, Rouyakan pulled the elevator's brake lever. The cage they stood in recoiled slightly as its drive gears began to turn, disappearing into the cement tunnel beneath it.

The second the steel doors above the cage slammed shut, the elevator cage ground to a halt and locked into position once again, enveloping both Shippo and Rouyakan in pitch-black darkness. Just as suddenly, powerful floodlights mounted in the walls burst into operation, bathing the elevator with near-blinding light. A metal plate built into a nearby metal door slid open and the muzzle brake of an automatic rifle poked through, a male's gruff voice calling out.

"If you're the real Rouyakan, what's the password?"

"Go and clean your litter box," Rouyakan answered, smiling lightly at the insult that he and the guard on the other side of the door had arranged, implicitly for this entry procedure.

"Good answer. Who do you have with you?"

"His name is Shippo. King Yamma sent him."

"Shippo, huh? Heh, understood."

The guard's gun drew away and the metal plate slid shut, the sounds of several heavy, industrial-strength deadbolts unlocking and retracting out of the iron door that they restrained echoing off the surfaces of the cavernous cargo bay. The thick iron barricade creaked loudly as it slid up into the ceiling, long overdue for a good oiling. As it rose, the heavily-armed forms of a tall, dark-haired, and well-muscled form of a male panther demon, as well as his lithe, lanky, inferno-haired female counterpart came into Rouyakan's view. Shippo wiggled his chin free of the pressure that the cold metal floor put onto it, and glimpsed at the two guards standing at the door. Had it not been pinned down by the weight of his head, Shippo's jaw would have fallen agape.

"Oh, no! Not you guys!" the kitsune groaned.

"Oh, yes, us guys," the female named Karan cackled, stepping onto the elevator platform.

Karan motioned torward the rifle shoved through Rouyakan's belt and he promptly pulled it out and handed it to her. Tossing Shippo's FAL to the electricity-wielding panther Shuuran standing behind her, Karan knelt down by Shippo's side, patting him down his entire body for any concealed weapons. Shippo wanted greatly to tackle the female panther demon right then and there and push her around a bit like she had once done to him, for these were not just any panther demons.

These were two of the infamous Panther Deva Tribe, the very same ones who initiated a ridiculous continuation war between their kind and the demons allied to the Inu no Taisho, and subsequently, his sons, the demon lord Sesshoumaru and the half-demon InuYasha. It had been an utter fiasco, ending with their slaughter at the claws of the very panther lord they had sworn to revive and prompt resurrection by the blade of Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga. That swirling, love-hate triangle of a political crossfire still gave Shippo headaches.

Ludicrously, those panthers had become part of the Taisho's security task force. With their green jumpsuits, automatic weapons, and newfound organization, they couldn't be anything else.

"I know you don't like us. Rest assured, we don't like you either," Karan grinned, ending her weapons search with a playful spank to Shippo's backside, causing him to fidget and yelp angrily.

Touran, whose long, icy-blue hair spilled over the backrest of her swivel chair, shut off the floodlights, pulled away from her security console, leaned to her left, and glared at Karan with scolding eyes.

"Karan, don't tease him. If he wants, he can tattle to Yamma, and all punishment would come back to us through the Taisho. Do you really want him to sic Sess on us?"

Karan sighed dejectedly, shook her head, then at last let up on Shippo, who took to his feet quickly, rubbing his rear end with an annoyed frown. The panther demoness passed through the door and returned to her seat next to the young, red-haired demoness Shunran, who had been helping her clean a machine gun mounted in a long, curved observation port cut into the bunker-like stadium's wall. Satisfied that the fire-wielding panther demoness wasn't about to cause any more trouble, Touran lifted Shippo's rifle from Shuuran's hands and set it up against the wall to the right of the metal blast door.

"Stop by here on your way out, Shippo. You'll get your gun back when you leave," Touran said.

Shippo huffed, allowing Karan's teasing to pass. He smiled and bowed to her in a quick dip of his head. The potentially amusing altercation settled, Rouyakan stepped through the blast door's cement arch, then walked over to Touran's station.

"Touran, check the western perimeter with a thermal scan. Shippo and I got attacked by a saimyoushou on our way in."

"Saimyoushou? All the way out on the west side?" Touran asked, with a incredulous expression.

"Hai. Check that whole sector with a thermal scan; Naraku's up to something, and it is tournament day, after all."

"Got it. You and Shippo get going, I'll call if something turns up." Touran said, switching on a computer monitor inlaid into her security console.

Rouyakan nodded, and gestured for Shippo to follow, leading him torward a spiral staircase built into the floor, which led to the lower, less-militarized and less-guarded areas of the stadium.

Just a few stories below Rouyakan and Shippo's feet, the Inu no Taisho was waiting.
- To be continued -
- 3
- 4
- 5
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Battlefield 1542	By : Dunkelgelb Category: InuYasha > General Views: 1935 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Battlefield 1542