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At the End of Days
By : inumom
Category: InuYasha > General
Views: 1784 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter List
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Disclaimer: No, they not mine, damn it. I won�t give up hope, though�.

4. Ambush

Higurashi Kagome stuck her head up over the splintered edge of the old well and smiled at the scarlet-clad figure that stood scanning the meadow and the surrounding forest. His eyes darted about restlessly as his ears twitched and his flared nostrils strove to detect the faintest hint of trouble. She had seldom seen him look so intent, and it worried her a little, but not much--she knew without a doubt that nothing could hurt her if he was near.
�Inuyasha? Is something wrong? Do you smell something?�
He shook his head, not really looking at her as he continued to search for any signs of danger. �Nothing,� he grunted. He snapped around to face her when he felt her start to relax. �Don�t you get it, wench? I don�t smell anything--not the humans in the village, not the runt or the cat, not even the water in the river or the animals in the forest around us.�
She thought about it for a few seconds. �Could we be in the middle of an illusion? You said that a good illusion can hide scents, right?�
He gave her a sudden sharp look, wondering briefly why any man, whether youkai or human, would intentionally seek out a stupid mate. �That�s right. If it�s not a strong enough illusion to replace the normal smells with something else, then there should be a defect in it someplace. Help me find it!�
While the young hanyou scanned the surrounding area with his inhumanly acute senses, Kagome closed her eyes, trying to use her latent miko abilities to seek out the source of the illusion that was obviously designed to keep them from seeing something.

It was very faint at first--a prickly feeling up the back of her neck. Opening her eyes, she could see a dark glimmer--almost like a purple-black light--just out of sight under the eaves of the forest. Pulling the brand new compound bow--a graduation gift from her future mate--from its place on her back, she fitted an arrow to the string and sent the shaft directly at the disturbing sensation coming from the edge of the forest. Even though she didn�t see it hit its mark, the arrow obviously did something--the peaceful landscape suddenly underwent a startling alteration.
In an instant the beautiful meadow and quiet forest were gone. In their place now existed a barren wasteland stripped of vegetation and covered with a thick layer of slick, red-brown mud that could only have been created by saturating the rich soil with huge amounts of blood.
Turning wide, horrified eyes on her companion she noticed that he had brought an arm up to shield his sensitive nose from the noxious smells of smoke, rotting flesh, and Naraku�s toxic miasma. She spared the hanyou a sympathetic glance--if the horrible smell was enough to make her nauseous, she could barely imagine what torture it would be for him.
She stared at the battlefield in horror, trying to learn exactly what had happened from the evidence at the scene. Staggering a bit from a combination of shock and the slippery, treacherous footing, Kagome began her examination of the area next to the well. Scanning the muddy ground carefully for the slightest clue, she noticed a handful of acorns next to the side of the well. Bending to pick them up, she flinched as her fingers brushed some solid object concealed by a thinner layer of the mud. Wiping the mud carefully away from the object, she was shocked to see small fingers. With a strangled cry of �No�.� she dropped to the ground as she realized that the kit�s arm ended in a mangled knot of tissue just a few inches above the wrist.

*

Kagome opened her eyes to sunlight and the sound of birds in a grassy field on the far side of the village. �Shippou�?�
The hanyou pulled her into his lap, not looking forward to telling her all that had happened in the past couple of hours. �No. Just me.�
�The others?�
He shook his head slowly. �All gone: the monk, Sango, Kirara, the kit, even the old hag and the villagers. Maybe a few of them survived, but if they did they�re a long way from here by now.� He pulled her tight against his chest as her tears began to saturate his haori. �I buried them all over there,� he said softly, nodding at the opposite side of the meadow.
When her bitter sobbing finally halted, she raised her red, puffy eyes in his direction. �What could have happened?�
He shrugged. �Naraku. Nothing else could have taken them all out--they were some of the best fighters I ever saw, even if most of them were human.� He set her gently on her feet. �Come on.�
After a brief pause while she gathered an armful of wildflowers, he took her to the graves he had created while she had been unconscious. Although it had been a nasty job, he was secretly glad that she had not had to see the mangled bodies of her friends: he was pretty sure that he had managed to find all the pieces, but the sights and smells would be haunting him for a very long time. After placing the flowers and some small treasures she had brought back from her home on the graves of her closest friends, she turned to the hanyou who stood close by, offering his silent support. �What now?�
He held out a clawed hand in her direction. �Let�s go home. To your home, I mean. We don�t have anything holding us here, and the pieces of the jewel you have will be safe on the other side of the well--even Naraku won�t be able to get through.�
Still in shock and with no other real options, she simply nodded. He hoisted her to his back, glad to feel her burying her face in his hair--it would be best if she didn�t have to see the ruins of the village or the wasteland that had once been his forest and the meadow that housed the gateway well.
Though he moved much faster than they would have had they both been on foot, his speed was restricted by the uneven terrain and the slippery surface of the mud beneath his feet. Still, it was only a matter of an hour or so before he stopped by the side of the well. Setting her on her feet, he took one last look around, turning with a snarl at the overpowering stench coming at them from the remains of the tree line.

The thing that emerged from what was left of the forest looked like nothing either of them had ever seen before. Nearly as tall as the Goshinboku, the bottom two-thirds of the creature resembled nothing so much as a mass of writhing, rootlike tentacles. At the top of this was a hulking, fur-covered mass with human arms and a great many insect like appendages sprouting from the mangy-looking black fur. At the very top of the monstrosity was what strongly resembled a rather handsome human head provided that one overlooked both the scarlet eyes and the utter madness reflected in its features.
It paused for a moment, simply staring at the pair standing by the well, then moved almost too fast to be seen. It brought its clawed hands to a position right before what would have been the �chest� on any creature that either of them had ever seen before. Gradually, a large ball of some smoky-looking purple-black substance began to form between its palms.
The hanyou stepped forward, sword in hand, preparing to challenge the monstrous form. With a cold, almost amused chuckle, the creature released the ball, which soared into a high arc before dropping down and striking Kagome in the middle of the chest.
Without stopping to think, Inuyasha grabbed his future mate, sprinting for the well. With only the briefest glance at the thing that had attacked his mate, he threw himself into the portal, wishing only to get away from the danger to his beloved.
The monstrous figure standing in the ruined meadow slowly shifted back to its more familiar form of a particularly attractive human male wearing a white baboon skin robe Opening his mouth to reveal what looked like the mandibles of an insect, Naraku sent a jet of some foul-smelling substance to completely cover the well. Within a few moments the material hardened to create a solid mass.
Walking back into what was once Inuyasha�s Forest, Naraku laughed softly to himself. Things were, he decided, progressing nicely.

AN: Sorry to take so long to get this out--it was a very difficult section to do, and I had to rework it a couple of times before I could stand it. Anybody have a clue as to what that monkey-wearing freak is up to?
- 3
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- 5
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At the End of Days	By : inumom Category: InuYasha > General Views: 1784 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

At the End of Days