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The Tale of the Demon Lord	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 56283 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 44
- 45
- 46
XLV: Getting Through
The morning that Naraku vanished from within the magical stone walls of his home, Kazuki had been going about his usual duties in the royal kitchen, removing the stored meat from the ice chamber, preparing items that would need time to set, and putting soup stock on to boil so that it would be full of flavour hours later, when it would be needed for adding to dishes or to be served as broth.
He missed Natsumi. She had left the castle early yesterday with Her Majesty, Lord Sesshomaru's mother, for the human village of the tree sacred to the gods. He usually spent his nights with her, besides meeting a few times in the course of the work day, and his arms had felt empty without her in them last night.
As he stirred the stock and checked the jelly, a particular scent rose above all the smells of the food and fire and made him stop everything he was doing. Sniffing the air carefully with his racoon-demon nose, and finding that all the kitchen smells were getting in the way of that scent, he abandoned his post and wandered into the outdoor walkway, which led to one of the gardens near the north wing.
The kitchens were positioned between the west and north wings, so he was fairly close to the source of the scent. As the scent grew stronger, his footsteps quickened, and soon he was rushing into the north wing like a demon on an urgent errand.
An assistant chef had no business in the north wing without being specifically summoned by someone of higher rank, for its upper floors were occupied by the rather grand bedrooms which housed visiting ministers whenever they remained at the castle for more than a day.
As for the ground floor, one side of it with its own entrance held the art gallery; another side contained rows of small bedrooms for the visiting ministers' attendants; and within a separate, thickly-walled and spell-protected chamber very much like its corresponding chamber in the royal wing, were the furnaces which heated the upstairs baths. None of which Kazuki had anything to do with, in the normal course of events. But he was heedless of all that now, willing to risk punishment to reach the source of that scent – for it was the scent of his mate-to-be in trouble and great distress.
How could Natsumi be here? She couldn't have returned to the castle without his knowledge. Lady Shirakumo had not come back yet, and the Ministers Atsushi and Ryota were still in charge of the castle and urgent matters regarding the running of the kingdom.
"What are you doing here?" a sentry who recognised him as being from the royal kitchen asked as he approached the entrance to the art gallery.
"I need to see the north gallery custodian," Kazuki replied.
The wait was intolerable as the guard passed the message on. After what must have been no more than a minute, but which felt like ten, the custodian appeared.
"Yes? Aren't you Kazuki? What do the kitchens need with me?" he asked, looking fully recovered from the dose of poison that had been delivered by the centipede, and which had left him very ill for a time.
"That scent – from the gallery – what's going on in there?" Kazuki asked, as politely as possible, although he itched to push past the guards and the custodian and charge in.
"What do you mean?" the custodian asked.
"That scent – don't you detect it? I could smell her fear all the way from the kitchen!"
"Whose fear?" the custodian questioned, quite confused now.
"Here!" Kazuki stated, seizing the moment to step into the wing proper and lead the custodian and one of the guards towards the gallery.
As they moved to the centre of the gallery, the custodian and guard suddenly picked up the scent of a female racoon demon in terror. "You're right!" the gallery custodian exclaimed. "I didn't notice it before this."
"Neither did I," the guard remarked suspiciously. "It seems to be coming from that group of vessels."
"Those are the painted earthenware vessels given by Lord Naraku as gifts to Lord Sesshomaru during his last visit," the custodian said. "That is strange – they have not given off any scents like this since they were put in the gallery."
"This vessel in particular seems to be giving off the strongest scent," the guard observed, pointing out a broad, rounded piece in the centre of the group. "Don't touch it. Don't go near it. I'll get the head of security and alert the ministers – we have been told to be particularly cautious about anything relating to Naraku ever since the attack on Lord Sesshomaru and His Highness."
The guard walked briskly out of the gallery, leaving the puzzled custodian there with an increasingly frantic Kazuki, who longed to grasp the vessel and find some way to get to Natsumi, who was obviously in terrible trouble.
~ - ~
Satoshi the healer had been in a garden near the north wing, gathering some herbs and flowers to make medicine with, when he heard a slight commotion coming from the art gallery housed in that wing.
A few of the children who were early risers had come out with him to see how he worked, even though the sun was not up yet. He was just explaining to them why some plants had to be picked in the early morning well before sunrise, when the noises reached his ears and a strange smell drifted into his nostrils.
"Stay here," he told the children, motioning to one of the gardeners to keep an eye on the young ones.
The scent reaching his sharp wolf's nose had something both familiar and odd about it.
When he reached the gallery, the two ministers, Atsushi and Ryota, had also just arrived and were speaking to several guards and the gallery custodian, who were saying: "We don't understand what is happening – the scent is strong, as if she is in there, but obviously she cannot be in there."
The assistant chef with the shock of black and white-striped hair, called Kazuki, was speaking earnestly to one of the security officers: "Something must have happened to her. Can't we help her any faster than this?"
Other guards and security personnel were inside the gallery, examining a series of small earthenware vessels, exquisitely shaped and beautifully painted with striking black ink. The odour was very strong now, and it set everyone on edge, because it was the distinct scent of a demoness in great distress. Not just any demoness, but the racoon girl named Natsumi, who was liked by everyone in the castle for her gentle and kind ways.
"I don't understand how the scent of His Highness' attendant could be coming out of those vessels like that," the custodian said, baffled by the phenomenon. "There was nothing like it last night, or indeed at any time since Lord Naraku gave these vessels to Lord Sesshomaru. It appeared only a few minutes ago."
"That was exactly how distressed she was when the spider lord snatched her out of the window during his visit!" Kazuki told the officer. "Something has gone wrong – he must have got to her! Yuno told me that Natsumi left the village for the spider kingdom yesterday, along with the lady and His Highness – Naraku must have caught her!"
"Calm yourself," Minister Atsushi said to the male racoon demon.
The minister was just as concerned about Natsumi, and the scent was very distressing. But he was more wary about the possibility of this being a trap or a trick, considering that the vessels had been a gift from Naraku.
"What do you think?" he asked the head of security.
"Minister Atsushi," the security captain replied. "I believe the vessels, or the markings on them, could be part of a magical portal. Someone may be trying to get through. However, they will not be able to come through unless we open the exit. Such painting-portals can normally be opened by tracing a finger along a preselected mark or line, or by touching the painted item while speaking an incantation."
"Who would be trying to get through?" Atsushi asked.
"The scent would suggest that it is His Highness' attendant in there, but there are ways to store and deliver scents to trick others, so we cannot be certain."
"She's in trouble – we can't just stand by and not help her get out of there!" Kazuki begged. "She could be trying to get away from Naraku right this minute!"
"Use your common sense," Minister Ryota chided the racoon demon. "How would His Highness' attendant gain access to a magical portal of Naraku's? This must be some trick."
"I agree," Minister Atsushi said. "Naraku is up to something. We cannot open the portal. Put these vessels under a security barrier, then lock and seal this entire gallery as well. This was also the place where the mirror shard hid before nearly killing His Highness. I won't have it become the site where another evil scheme of Naraku's is launched."
But at that point, running feet sounded behind them, and three of the castle children came tearing down the passageway, followed by a hapless gardener who was protesting: "Come back here now! You're not supposed to enter this wing!"
"Is Natsumi back?" One of the children called to Satoshi. "That's her scent, isn't it? What's gone wrong with her?"
As everyone turned to look at the children, Kazuki slipped so smoothly and quietly past the guards near the vessels that they scarcely noticed he had shifted his position until he picked up the rounded container with the strongest scent.
"Kazuki!" Minister Atsushi shouted in alarm when he turned to see the earthenware item in the racoon demon's hands.
Kazuki backed away, holding the vessel. "She's in trouble!" he cried. "We can save her! I can hear a voice from inside this thing telling me how!"
"You fool!" Minister Atsushi roared as the guards and security staff rushed at the chef. "Don't let Naraku trick you! You don't know how crafty he is!"
"I have to get her out of there!" Kazuki protested helplessly, throwing himself to the ground even as the guards piled onto him, protecting the vessel with his body and refusing to let anyone tug it away from him.
A disembodied voice drifted out of the vessel in a strange whisper, saying: Natsumi is in terrible danger – unlock the doorway by…
The ministers and guards found the rest of the words drowned out in the scuffle – but these whispered words had already been repeated earlier when few others were around, and Kazuki had the advantage of having heard them the first time. Before anyone else could decipher the muffled whisper, Kazuki had traced his claw along the central line marking the vessel, and spoken the incantation: "Come out!"
"Destroy the painted markings!" the head of security yelled to his demons piling on top of Kazuki.
It was too late.
A blast of smoke and venom spewed from the black markings on the vessel, and Naraku suddenly filled the gallery, towering above them all on a mountain of tentacles.
"Damn you, Naraku!" Minister Atsushi cursed, drawing his own blade, although he was so old that he had not faced anyone in serious combat in centuries.
The guards and security staff threw themselves in front of the two ministers to protect them, even as Naraku's tentacles fired towards them and swept them all aside as if they were ants, injecting venom into them and breaking bones left and right.
"Dear gods," Satoshi gasped, scooping the children up and flinging them at the gardener. "You – get the children out of here – all of them! Warn the other servants, and hide the children!"
He ran back towards the gallery to see Kazuki alone, lying on his back on the floor and staring up at the spider lord in horror.
"Thank you, you impulsive, love-struck fool," Naraku sneered at the racoon demon. "I intended that scent to reach you above all others, the one whom I remembered was valiant enough to jump out of the window after his beloved female. It wasn't hard to store that scent of her terror in my body for use later."
"Where's Natsumi?" Kazuki demanded in a voice that shook from fear, yet sang out boldly because his mate-to-be's safety was more important than his own.
Satoshi realised that the guards were too busy protecting the ministers to care what happened to one unimportant assistant chef. He suspected that they were not particularly inclined to help Kazuki at this point in time, not when he was the fool who had let the monster into the castle.
Cursing under his breath, the healer darted in amongst the tentacles and hauled Kazuki behind a large bank of sculptures which shattered as a long appendage smashed them into tiny pieces.
"Move!" Satoshi growled, shoving the racoon demon before him into the next section of the gallery, partially shielded by pillars.
Neither of them had been specifically trained for battle, but Satoshi was a wolf demon, and all wolf demons who had been raised in Prince Koga's tribe knew how to fight and protect themselves and others. One did not survive cubhood in their harsh territories without knowing such things; one did not survive without being quick on one's feet.
Praying to the gods that he would live to see his parents and siblings again, Satoshi hauled Kazuki through a narrow gap between two pillars which shattered after them under the beating Naraku gave them.
This whole gallery will collapse if Naraku keeps smashing the pillars! Satoshi thought, pushing Kazuki towards the shuttered windows and smashing them open.
A tentacle seized his thigh and dragged him back, deep into the gallery, but before Naraku could turn his full attention to him, the guards had regrouped, reinforcements had arrived, and the two ministers had been ushered out of harm's way.
Poor Kazuki, loyal to a fault and none too canny in the area of combat, came rushing back to help Satoshi, wielding a sword that one of the fallen guards had dropped. He hacked at a tentacle, only to get a faceful of venom which knocked him out like a light.
Satoshi, who had seen what was coming, held his breath before the racoon started slashing, and pulled out from his robe a potent mixture of herbs and medicines that he had deliberately crafted to mimic the physical effects of human monks' sutras and priestesses' sacred arrows. It would do no harm while wrapped in layers of linen, but once applied directly to demon flesh, it would burn. It wasn't as effective as the real thing it tried to mimic, but it would be distraction enough.
It worked in the sense that Naraku dropped him long enough for him to fling the unconscious Kazuki out of the window, but it failed because another tentacle quickly seized him, and lifted him high up in the air to come face to face with the spider lord.
"Hmm… I would have killed you before you did that," Naraku smiled. "But now I think I'll keep you around to teach me how it's done. A useful little trick, that, and I do see now that you have rather pretty eyes…"
~ - ~
The rest of them were of no use to Lady Shirakumo while she tried to crack the portal spell, so Sesshomaru and Inuyasha spent the time quietly asking each other what had happened while they had been apart. As they talked, Sesshomaru's older wounds healed, and he regained strength by the minute.
"How did you get the shard out?" he asked.
"Bokusen'o sent one of his roots to the holy tree in the village, and worked with the tree, Kaede and her grand-niece to pull it out of me. It seems that Naraku's magic doesn't work so well against trees. What about you? You must have suffered so badly here."
"It wasn't so bad."
"I find that hard to believe."
They wanted to kiss, perhaps do more. But in front of their companions, they thought it best to just hold hands and speak softly. Unexpectedly, their conversation was interrupted by someone outside the chamber, calling Sesshomaru's name.
"Lord Sesshomaru? Is that really you down there?" a voice called from high above, coming down from the hole in the wall that Lady Shirakumo had made in order to reach her son and Inuyasha. "Lady Shirakumo? Your Highness? Am I really sensing all of you there?"
The voice was very familiar, yet it did not belong in Naraku's castle.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, identified the demon aura of the individuals above, and quickly recognised one of them.
"It's your favourite demon-bird female," he scowled at Sesshomaru, releasing his brother's hand.
"Ambassador Tsubasa?" Sesshomaru called.
The sound of demon flight preceded the appearance of the said female, who landed gracefully in the passageway before the chamber with two attendants and bowed to the demons and half-demon she had not expected to find here.
"Ambassador, what are you doing here?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I could ask the same of you… oh, but you are hurt!" Tsubasa observed his missing arm with some concern.
"No matter, I am well now. Why are you in Naraku's castle?"
"I came with a delegation, bearing a declaration of war on the princedom of the spiders from my queen," Tsubasa explained. "Our armies pursued a horde of spider-demon bandits attempting to invade our villages again. They chased them deep into these lands. Normally, such pursuits do not last long, because our armies only get beaten back by the battalions at Naraku's northern border once they get that far. This time, however, the battalions were gone – wiped out."
"By His Highness," Kagura stated.
"Then we owe His Highness much thanks," Tsubasa smiled. "Our armies caught up with the bandits, seized their leaders, and tortured them for information. They admitted that Naraku has always sent them word by one means or another that they may do as they please along the border he shares with us. When told of that, Queen Abi immediately sent me here to declare war on Naraku. But all I have found is a castle filled with dead soldiers and slaves fleeing the grounds – and then you, all the way down in the bowels of the complex."
"We had almost caught Naraku himself, when he escaped through a magical portal," Sesshomaru said, thinking it unnecessary to go into long explanations about his abduction and rescue. "We are trying to make the brat there tell us how to get through the portal ourselves."
Tsubasa's eyes narrowed as they fell upon Hakudoshi, imprisoned inside Lady Shirakumo's barrier. Hakudoshi shrank away as the demon bird ambassador approached him.
"Oh, the little rat!" Tsubasa exclaimed, her dark eyes gleaming. "So it's you! 'A boy-like demon of small stature, with purple eyes and shoulder-length white hair' – that is how our troops at the shared border have always described the mysterious figure who is often seen egging the bandits on! My queen would love to get her claws on you, after Naraku!"
Hakudoshi whimpered and tried to conceal himself, but there was no place within the constricting barrier to hide.
"Why haven't you tortured him for the information you need?" Tsubasa asked. "Our armies find that works very well and very fast."
"It's not my way," Inuyasha stated firmly.
"I might have done such things in previous centuries," Sesshomaru remarked. "But I do not do such things now. However, if Queen Abi wants the boy more than his sister does, I can consider handing him over."
"No!" Hakudoshi cried desperately, knowing well the cruelty of the bird demons towards their enemies. "No, please! Kagura… Sister! Please don't give me to them!"
"If you want to stay with me rather than be given to them, you had better tell us how to get through the portal," Kagura growled at her brother.
"I'll tell you – I'll tell you!" Hakudoshi cried. "There's a lock on the spell to prevent anyone other than Father Naraku, Byakuya, Kanna and me from using the stone doorways and the portal. If you examine the primary elements of the spell beneath the scale-pattern of random pieces, you will see that the fourth element from the dragon scale is where the lock is, concealed to look like an ordinary air element, but it is in fact a stone element, spliced with iron…"
"Whaaaa…?" Inuyasha went, ears twitching irritably, bewildered by what was no more than gibberish to him.
But Lady Shirakumo seemed to understand perfectly. "I see," she smiled coldly at the spider boy, before turning to face the wall again and using her trained vision to examine the elements that made up the magical aspects of the markings. "Ah, yes… a very sly disguise, and further concealed amidst random elements. I suppose we would have found it eventually, but only after much deeper examination."
"Are you sure there is no further trap, Mother?" Sesshomaru asked.
"There's no trap – I swear!" Hakudoshi cried. "The portal should still be open provided that no one has destroyed the markings on the other end. Once opened on that end, such portals always remain open until closed by the user. If Father Naraku has not had time to close it, it will be open. But there is no danger – even if you find it closed, you can always head back down this way. Now that the barriers have been taken off, you can always make your way back into this chamber. Sister, please…"
Kagura stared deep into his wide purple eyes, penetrating his soul with her garnet orbs. She knew this brother of hers very well. Kanna had been created only days after she herself was made by Naraku, and Hakudoshi came several years later – but she had spent more than enough decades figuring out all his tricks. So she was able to confidently say to her companions: "I believe he has no further traps up his sleeve. We can go through safely. I shall go first, to make sure that everything is safe."
"No, Kagura," Sesshomaru said. "You have your brothers to deal with here, and your princedom, as well as Queen Abi's declaration of war. You must remain here to get this land and your family in order – it is your first priority. The rest of us will deal with Naraku at my castle."
"Are you sure?" Kagura asked, worried for their safety.
"You have helped us more than enough," Inuyasha spoke. "I am very grateful to you for all you have done, but Sesshomaru is right. It's time this land had a proper ruler."
"The Lady Kagura has a good reputation with my cousin the queen, for her capabilities and strength," Tsubasa said. "I think I can safely say that the queen will retract her declaration of war once I report that Lady Kagura is now in charge."
"I would appreciate it if Queen Abi would be so generous, and if she would be good enough to give me some time to restore order in this lawless patch of land," Kagura said formally in return.
"Good, everyone's happy. Now let's get through this blasted stone and blow Naraku out of the castle!" Inuyasha snapped impatiently. "It's already been an hour since he slipped through the portal – I'll be surprised if we don't find everyone dead when we get there."
"But at least we will get there much faster than if we had flown, as you wanted us to do," Lady Shirakumo reminded the half-demon.
"Six hours at least, that would have been," Totosai mumbled.
"Okay, okay, I get it already!" Inuyasha sighed. "So how do we get through? And how long does it take to get from here to there?"
"It depends," Kagura explained. "Some portals need several minutes to carry you from one place to another, others do it in seconds. Still others hold you for much longer than that before releasing you at the other end."
"The portal Naraku used to transport me to this castle took a long time," Sesshomaru remarked. "I was not fully conscious then, but even so I was aware that it was a relatively long passage. Perhaps two hours."
"That may have had to do with the way the portal spell was set up," Kagura said. "He may have wanted time… perhaps because he had originally intended to bring Inuyasha with him rather than you – a portal that would move its users along that slowly may also have been designed in some way to tranquilise or weaken the one Naraku was taking with him. He would have needed that, especially as it seems he had not intended to injure Inuyasha the way he injured you."
"I hope this one doesn't take that bloody long," Inuyasha muttered.
"It shouldn't," Lady Shirakumo said, examining the structure of the spell again. "It should get us there quickly."
"Then go, and go safely. I will send someone to the border with the two dragons that Inuyasha and Master Totosai flew here on, after they have rested," Kagura said, remembering the faithful beasts which had borne their riders so far.
"Thank you," Sesshomaru acknowledged her thoughtfulness.
"I'm going first, as I'm in the best shape to deal with what may be waiting there," Totosai said. "The lady's used too much magic these past few hours, Sesshomaru's wounded, and Inuyasha's a bit battered. So me, then the lady, then Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Natsumi should go last."
Natsumi had returned to Sesshomaru the armoury sword Inuyasha had given her, so he had an offensive weapon in case Naraku awaited them at the exit. Then Totosai jumped through the markings on the wall, followed by Lady Shirakumo. Sesshomaru went right on Inuyasha's heels, and Natsumi fast after him.
Tsubasa and Kagura were left in the chamber waiting to see if they would reappear. Would the exit already be sealed?
~ - ~
The five who had entered the portal found themselves drifting swiftly through what their senses told them was a tunnel of a peculiar nature, composed of light and space and magical elements that became visible even to Inuyasha's and Natsumi's untrained eyes.
Inuyasha tried to speak to the ones ahead of him, to ask if they could see an exit. But his voice seemed to be lost in the tunnel, or at the very least slowed down and muted, so that it floated strangely through the space and reached Lady Shirakumo several seconds later.
She turned to look at him, but only put a finger on her lips. Perhaps sound could travel out through the portal and alert Naraku? Or perhaps it was generally not a good idea to speak while travelling through a portal? He didn't know, but he kept quiet anyway, checked that Sesshomaru and Natsumi were still with him, and allowed the magic of the portal to carry him forward for another few seconds, until at last they saw light – a more natural rather than magical kind of light.
Totosai vanished through the exit, then the lady, then Inuyasha holding Sesshomaru's hand, and Natsumi on their heels.
Out they leaped into the north art gallery, which was flooded with morning sunlight streaming through smashed windows and large holes in the wall. Shattered pillars and smashed sculptures presented them with piles of rubble to make their way over. Dead guards lay scattered across the floor. A lone healer, a female fox demon, was kneeling over one of the guards, trying to resuscitate him.
"No, no, no!" she cried, thumping at his chest as he died, before wiping away her tears with the back of her hand when she suddenly realised that five other living people were in the gallery with her.
Inuyasha felt sick as he looked at the bodies. He knew most of these guards – he already recognised many of their faces and scents after less than two months at the castle, and had exchanged nods and casual words with some of them as he moved about the place. These people had families – parents, mates, children… then it began to sink in that he, too, had destroyed countless lives at the border with one swing of his Tetsusaiga, and he began to wish that he had handled Naraku's border guards some other way….
But Sesshomaru was saying something.
"There may still be time," the demon lord stated, drawing the Tenseiga. "Inuyasha, tell me if I am doing this right… it has been an hour – perhaps there is time. Healer, how many of these have only just died?"
"My lord," she said breathlessly. "This guard I am with passed away only seconds ago. Some of the others… some died these few minutes past from the poison… the rest much earlier…"
Moving swiftly from body to body, Sesshomaru swung his blade wherever he saw that the spirits of the underworld had not completed their work yet. It was too late for a few of the guards, who had been among the first slain by Naraku and who had died instantly. But those who had been left to bleed or slowly asphyxiate to death on his poison, and who had clung on as long as they could, were revived.
"My lord!" the resurrected guards gasped in confusion as they came around to find their king standing over them. "Wh-"
They were about to ask what happened, when it occurred to some of the quicker-minded ones that it was hardly their place to question their lord, and that they should be reporting what they knew to him.
"Your Majesty, Naraku entered the castle through one of those earthen vessels he brought with him on his visit. He has seized some of the staff," one of them explained.
"Where are the ministers?" Sesshomaru asked.
The highest-ranking of the guards brought back to life said: "My lord, I last saw the ministers shielded by a large group of our guards, but I honestly do not know what has become of them."
"Where are the other healers?" Sesshomaru questioned the female fox demon.
"Healer Satoshi was taken by Naraku," she replied. "Healer Yoshi and the others are tending to the injured in the healing rooms – more and more wounded keep getting sent there… we started treating these initial casualties here on the spot, then the healing rooms began filling up with others… so many others…"
"It's all my fault," came a small voice from outside.
They turned to see Kazuki limping in through one of the shattered windows from the garden beside the gallery.
"I scented Natsumi in trouble," Kazuki confessed miserably. "And I heard a voice telling me how to get her out of there. So I opened the portal – only for Naraku to emerge. I would have died if not for Satoshi. Naraku has him now."
"Why would you do such a thing?" Natsumi demanded, almost in tears.
"I thought you were hurt…" Kazuki mumbled, taking both her hands in his. "I didn't know it was a trick of Naraku's."
"Stop mumbling," Sesshomaru chided. "Make yourself useful and tell me what else you know."
"I have been trying to do just that by gathering as much information as I can over the past hour, my lord," Kazuki answered, still sounding dazed. "Naraku has locked himself into in your throne room. He has taken Satoshi, your attendant Isshin and a few others prisoner. Almost all the soldiers and security staff have surrounded the room and are trying to break in, but the barrier spell is very strong. The ministers were shepherded into one of the rooms in the security wing by another group of guards to get them away from Naraku, but the spider lord has sealed them in there with more spells. I don't think they can get out."
"If Naraku has Satoshi, what about the children?" Inuyasha asked, worried.
"One of the gardeners gathered them and got most of them out of the castle grounds with Jaken sensei's help, but I don't know if all of them made it. They are probably hiding in the forest. It's my fault, it's all my fault," Kazuki whispered, looking around at the bodies of the guards whom Tenseiga had not been able to revive.
"I'll deal with you later," Sesshomaru said ominously. "Stay out of the way for now, and let Natsumi tend to your injuries. We will go to the healing rooms first to save whomever we can. Then it will be time for us to finish Naraku once and for all."
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The Tale of the Demon Lord