"You alright?"
"Fine over here."
Koga landed solidly and checked on Cu Chulainn. The Servant's confirmation let him breathe again.
"Koga... we're sorry. Because of us..."
"Don't. That was my choice."
"So what if the Sacred Jewel shards and Dragon Ball got taken? I'll steal them right back."
He could see the guilt drowning both clansmen. But Koga wasn't the type to assign blame for something he'd decided on his own.
To him, their lives weighed more than any treasure. Lost possessions could be recovered. Lost people couldn't.
"That's the spirit, Master."
"We haven't lost yet."
Cu Chulainn studied Koga's complete lack of resentment and felt a grin pull at the corner of his mouth. He liked this kind of straightforward person.
"He hasn't gotten far. Let's go!"
"Right!"
Koga launched into a sprint, and his clansmen steeled their resolve and followed.
"Inuyasha isn't here?"
"What a convenient opening."
"Kagura! Kanna!"
On the other side, the two unwilling pawns had no choice but to carry out Naraku's most recent orders.
"Enemies?"
Rikuo eyed the pair of yokai in traditional clothing, curiosity outweighing alarm.
He could sense it immediately. Kagome and the others didn't seem particularly hostile toward these two.
"DANCE OF THE DRAGON AND SNAKE!"
Wind blades descended, but the group barely had to move. Even if they'd stood still, most of the attacks would have missed.
The accuracy was... conspicuously terrible. Rikuo noticed.
CRACK!!
"Is this human the Servant?"
"I don't see anything particularly impressive."
Kagura landed beside Kanna and turned her gaze to the unfamiliar figure among them.
A boy in a coat and black kimono, wearing glasses. He looked fragile, harmless.
Compared to the lethal girl she'd seen with Sesshomaru's group, this one seemed underwhelming.
"Did Naraku send you?"
Kagome's voice cut through the tension. She'd connected the dots instantly.
"He didn't come himself. Of course not. He sent you two to gather intelligence."
Miroku's eyes narrowed. He knew Naraku's games.
"Tch!"
Sango raised Hiraikotsu, her thoughts immediately turning to her slain clansmen. Naraku was always this despicable.
"The taller one is Kagura, and the smaller one is Kanna. They're both Naraku's incarnations."
Shippo hopped onto Rikuo's shoulder and supplied the background.
"If they're his incarnations, they should be your enemies, right? Then why does everyone seem reluctant to fight?"
Rikuo could read the room. Nobody here truly wanted to draw blood.
"Because their hearts aren't in this. Kagura's actual heart is in Naraku's possession. She physically cannot disobey him. Kanna has no emotions of her own, so she's being used without understanding what that means."
Miroku and the others had fought alongside these two long enough to understand the difference between enemy and victim. They despised Naraku utterly, but toward Kagura and Kanna? Even Inuyasha didn't carry that kind of hatred.
"I see. He created them himself and still uses hostage tactics to force their obedience?"
Rikuo's expression hardened.
That alone was enough to make Naraku repulsive to him. Rikuo could not tolerate a yokai who threatened others with what they treasured most just to maintain control.
It also explained why Kagura's opening attack had been so hilariously harmless. She hadn't come here intending to hurt anyone.
PAT...
Kanna stepped forward without a word and raised her mirror.
WHOOSH!
Kagome was already prepared. She drew her bow in a heartbeat and put an arrow into the ground at Kanna's feet. The burst of spiritual energy forced the girl back.
"You naive fools! Not going to take this seriously? That's not your decision to make."
Kagura knew Kagome's group wouldn't try to kill them. But she had to escalate. She could feel it. Naraku's gaze was already turning this way.
WHOOSH!
"!"
She began to raise her fan, but Hiraikotsu came spinning in from the side and knocked the gesture dead.
"As long as we watch for Kanna's mirror, Kagura isn't that difficult to handle."
Miroku hefted his shakujo. He knew both opponents' move sets intimately by now.
"Wait. I sense Sacred Jewel shards."
"Two of them. Both corrupted."
"It's Naraku!! He's approaching from the distance, closing in fast!"
Kagome's voice carried an edge of alarm.
"He's coming here himself?!"
"Damn it! Of all the times for Inuyasha to be gone!"
Shippo nearly jumped out of his fur.
"It'll be fine."
Miroku's quiet words steadied the group. His gaze was set. This time, no matter what happened, he would lay down his life to protect Sango and the others.
"Sesshomaru. Why have you returned?"
A noble woman sat in an elegant chair, eyes settling on the battered state of her son.
"Because of Father."
The Lady Mother's gaze drifted to Tenseiga at his waist. She'd expected this visit.
"Is it the issue of mastering the technique? That would be..."
"No. But Tenseiga does hold secrets I don't know about. Doesn't it?"
Her words died. That tentative counter-question caught her completely off guard.
Ordinarily, Sesshomaru should have come seeking to bring [Meido Zangetsuha]'s arc closer to a full circle.
She knew about the trial the Great Dog Demon had arranged. The Meido Stone. A test designed to deepen Sesshomaru's understanding of compassion.
But her son hadn't come to train.
"Father has appeared on the Western Country's soil."
"?"
"Sesshomaru. That does not sound like a joke you would make."
Her brow creased, displeasure clear. Even from her own son, she had little patience for this kind of "humor."
"You're unaware of how the world has changed. Understandable. Step outside and feel for yourself if you doubt me."
"I came only to verify the truth of what Father told me."
His sincerity was unmistakable. The Lady Mother's expression softened into something far more complicated.
"What do you want to know?"
"Father... what exactly..."
Mother and son held each other's gaze. The conversation began.
"You've grown, Inuyasha."
The Great Dog Demon looked at the young man before him. The fire-rat robe. The ancestral white hair. He spoke with quiet composure.
"..."
"M-Master!!"
Before Inuyasha could form words, Myoga leapt up with uncontainable emotion. The old flea had never imagined he'd see this man again.
"Tch."
For Inuyasha, the moment was harder to name.
He'd never known the existence of a father. Never experienced it. Even his mother had endured scorn and whispers because of the choice she'd made.
Now, standing face to face with the man himself, he didn't feel the explosion of emotion he might have expected. But he couldn't call it indifference either.
Resentment?
Anger?
Joy?
Looking back, those had only ever been the grievances of a child defending his mother's honor. The hurt of feeling she'd been wronged.
If he was honest about what he wanted to do most in this moment...
He drew Tessaiga from its sheath.
Myoga's jaw dropped.
Inuyasha swung.
"WIND SCAR!!!!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]