Demon's Lake Orphanage

Chapter 16

     "Hey! I can see the castle!" Inuyasha exclaimed as we reached the edge of a cliff. 

"We'll set up camp here, and attack in the morning." I said; plopping down against a tree. 

"What! We can't stop this close to the castle! Naraku is in there! I can smell him!" Inuyasha growled. 

"Some of us are tired after walking all day without rest." I snapped back. "We need to come up with a strategy before we go charging in. For starters, who wants the Jewel of Seven Deaths?" 

"Aren't you going to use it?" Shippo asked; looking down at me as he leaned against the same tree as me. 

"No. I'm going after Maya." I said through gritted teeth. 

"I'll take it! Shoving that through Naraku's heart sounds like fun." Inuyasha chimed. 

"No, it has to be someone that can get close enough to him. He keeps you as far as possible, Inuyasha. You too, Sesshomaru, he's going to do everything his can to keep you two at a distance." 

"The jewel won't work without your spiritual powers." I shoved past Shippo at the sound of Maya's voice. I tackled her, and we were rolling down the hill we had just climbed as soon as we hit the ground. A bush separated us after a few feet of rolling, but neither of us could manage to come to a stop. I had caught her off guard, and I was just too weak as a human to hold onto anything I grabbed. 

Cuts formed all over my body,  but I had already given up hope of sneaking up on Naraku. If Maya knew we were here, then I'm sure Naraku did as well. I cursed as Maya finally stopped herself, but I had bigger issue to worry about. Like the who canyon I was rolling towards. 

At the edge of the canyon there was a tree with a thick vine wrapped all the way up it, and luckily the vine was growing away from the canyon and towards a different tree. When I was about 10 feet from the tree I saw the end of the vine and grabbed it. The speed I was going ripped it from the ground, but I wasn't planning on it stopping me there. As more ripped out, I wrapped it around my left hand as quickly as I could. As long as the vine held, this would work. 

There wasn't ground under me anymore. Thankfully the vine didn't break as I hit the end. On the flip side, I felt it crush my left hand and bit my lip in pain. Then came the connection with the canyon side. The impact dislocated my shoulder, and I bit even harder on my lip; drawing blood. 

I had just decided there was no way I was going to be able to climb back up when arms wrapped around my waist. 

"Sesshomaru!" I exclaimed; relieved it was him. He didn't say anything as he started to fly back to the top. I cursed under my breath as my arm fell to my side, but ignored it as I unwrapped the vine from my hand. 

"Maya." I growled; holding my completely useless arm. 

"It would seem you've made yourself even more useless than you already were." she smirked. 

"I can kill you one handed!" I yelled. 

"No you can't, but I have two hands you can borrow." Everyone's head snapped in the direction the voice came from. 

"About time ya showed up, Kirako!" Inuyasha yelled as they joined us, but Sesshomaru and me stayed silent as we stared at her. 

"Kirako.." I breathed. 

"What? Did you really think Maya could actually kill me? Who do you think I am?" Kirako smirked as she walked towards us. 

"Impossible!" Maya exlcaimed; backing away. 

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Mom says hi." Kirako smiled, and black flames raged from the trees behind her. "I guess she can tell you herself." 

The flames slammed into Maya, and it took all her power to keep from being killed by it. While Maya was distracted, I threw myself into Kirako's arms; ignoring the pain in my arm as I did. 

"You should be more careful." she sighed, and I fell to my knees as a sharp pain hit my shoulder. Sesshomaru was next to us in seconds, but I held up my good hand so he would calm down. 

"She just put my shoulder back in place." I said through gritted teeth. 

"I never was known for my bedside manner." she shrugged. 

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha stood in front of Kagome as someone walked from the trees. 

I recognized her instantly, and apparently so did everyone but Inuyasha and Shippo. 

"She's the one who help Mizuko bring us back!" Sango exclaimed. 

"Kuro, I see you haven't lost a step." Maya sneered from where she knelt. 

"I see you have." my mother spit; black flames marking every step she took. "Girls, I want you and your friends to take care of this Naraku that's been causing such trouble for you. I can handle my sister." 

"When you finish her off, feel free to come join us." Kirako smirked; grabbing my good arm and pulling me back up the hill. 

"Are we just going to leave her?" I asked in shock.

"Mom will be fine. We'll only be in her way." Kirako shrugged, "How's your arm?" 

"It still hurts but I can move it now. Can't say the same about my hand." I mumbled; holding up the misshaped purple hand. 

"I don't have time to fix that before Naraku gets away, will you be fine fighting with it?" she asked; obviously in a hurry. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I lied. I didn't have the strength to use Tenseiga one handed, but I would find some way to be useful. 

"I know you're lying, but I don't have the luxury to argue. Just don't get killed. Thanks to Kikyo you're the only one that can effectively use the Jewel of Seven Deaths." I could tell she wanted to say more, so I pushed. 

"What's the catch?" 

"While mom will keep you from dying, you'll feel the pain of Seven Deaths. Usually the user dies seven times throughout their life and the last time is simply that. The last. Mom can keep you from actually dying, but only if they happen at the same time. She's going to accelerate the affects of the jewel and counteract them." she explained; not holding anything back. 

"Fine." was all I said; earning a growl from Sesshomaru. 

"We can't argue this any further. Come on." Kirako said; grabbing my arm tighter and breaking out into a run. 

     

     "I see Maya failed to kill you." Naraku sneered as we burst into his castle. 

"Ha! As if she could actually defeat me!" Kirako spit back. "Your underestimate of my power will be the death of you!" 

"Kirako!" I yelled as she took off towards Naraku. Sesshomaru took off after her, and I watched as Inuyasha and his group started to fight as well. 

Naraku was winning. Everyone was on their last legs, and I hadn't been able to figure out a way to get close enough. 

"Ah you son of a bitch!" Kirako exclaimed as one of his tentacle pierced her leg. "Mizuko!" 

Purple flames surrounded me, and then I was standing in front of Naraku. I reached for the Jewel, but he grabbed my wrist before I could. 

"One good hand means you're done." he laughed. 

"Actually, I wasn't planning on using that hand." I said through gritting teeth as I ripped the necklace off with my broken hand. "Now die!" 

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Hey Guys! 

There's probably only going to be one more chapter after this! It's been fun writing this story, but eventually I have to end it. Thank you to everyone that supported it even when it was slow, and thank you to everyone that has sent me story ideas! I've already started on a couple of different stories and will be posting one shortly after the end of this one.

Thanks for all the votes and comments, and keep em coming!

~Rose