**Not for Kikyou Lovers! This story contains violence, sexual content and rape! You are WARNED**
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor any of the associated characters. But it ain't because I don't want or wish to do so.
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I know that it has been a VERY long time since I did anything with any of my stories. Many have asked me to update this one on Dokuga, and ironically, the complete story has been in Spark...its original home...all this time! LOL! Most of what I have done was go back over all of the chapters and editted to cleaned up the errors and such that were missed long ago. I do apologize for the long hiatus, however, RL delt me a bad deck of cards, and it is one that I am still working to recover from. It has been a very long, and hard road, and there are still bumps in the road that need to be worked on. Thankfully now, I actually have help to get me through those bumps and try to get back on my feet again.
I can't promise how soon it will be that I will work on my other stories and try to get them up, but will endeavor to do my best to finish them, and get them all up-to-date. Thank you all who over the years have sent me encouraging messages and reviews and asked after if I was alright.
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It was a clear night, the moon bright, and a brisk chill heralded the recent passing of winter, and the youth of spring. The smell of blood hung heavy in the air, tainting another scent that he could not quite identify. It was vaguely familiar, but the smell of blood covered it too much to bring to mind the owner of the scent. The scent was alluring, and seemed to awaken the Youkai within, calling to it, pulling at it, demanding its attention. It presented a puzzle to the Youkai Lord, and being a curious creature by nature, he was drawn to find and solve this puzzle.
The scent of blood drew him to the side of a small lake. Near the shore sat an unmoving figure that presented a picture of hopelessness like none the Taiyoukai had ever known. For some reason he could not comprehend, the sheer weight of the waves of depression, sadness, and despair radiating around the figure almost caused him pain just to look at. Upon closer inspection he found himself unable to hold back the soft gasp that escaped his lips at the sight before him.
It was an onna. Not just any onna, but the wench that he had seen traveling with his hanyou half brother. What was left of her indecent attire was mere shreds that barely clung to her figure. She was almost bathed in blood, more than half of which was her own, but the rest seemed to be a mixture of blood from various beings. Among what he could smell, he caught the scent of his brother, the Taijiya, the houshi, the neko youkai, and the kitsune that had also traveled with his brother. But most of all, the strongest scent that stank up the very air, was that of Naraku, and the undead bitch that had once betrayed his brother.
He could see that she had deep cuts, and lacerations all over her body, most of which were still bleeding badly. There was a fist size puncture wound in her left shoulder that he could clearly see past from the front of her body, only to exit the back. Her hair was cover in blood and gore, but she seemed not to notice any of it. In fact, she seemed not to notice much of anything at all, including the chill in the air that should have had her shivering in the cold.
She sat in a pool of her own blood, pale as death itself, yet she never moved, didn't blink, didn't seem to even be aware of anything around her, let alone the presence of the Great Youkai Lord. If he were not able to hear her shallow breathing, or the slow, almost irregular beat of her heart, he would have thought her dead for the little life she showed.
He almost gagged from the odor of the vile hanyou, and the undead priestess who had spent the last, almost five years feeding off of the souls of dead maidens. But he refused to let himself have the luxury of being ill by the smell of some 'thing' that was so beneath him.
Why was she here? Where were her friends? Where was his brother? What had happened to her? Why was she just sitting here so lifelessly? If something had happened to Inuyasha, then where was Tetsusaiga? So many questions, and someone who would give him the answers.
With his mind made up, he approached her. He stood over her in his most imposing manner.
"Where is my brother, wench?" he growled viciously. She never turned her head, neither to the side, nor to look up at his countenance.
"Dead, my Lord," she spoke in a lifeless whisper that even his sensitive hearing had a hard time catching.
"What of your friends, ningen?" he again growled viciously. Why did she not cringe in fear? He should have at least smelled the fear on her, even if she didn't let it show. In the past, she had always been the one bold enough to stand up to him, but even though she never let it show, he could always smell her fear.
"Dead, my Lord," she again spoke in that same lifeless whisper.
So they were all dead. Had it been in a fight with Naraku? What of him?
"Why do you stink of that vile hanyou, Naraku and the undead bitch?" he bit out viciously.
"Because we fought them, my Lord," was her whispered reply. Still no fear. In fact, no emotion at all. It was not like she was imitating him. He at least had feelings, he just refused to let them show. He was not the unemotional being many mistook him for, he just controlled what he let everyone see. But this was different, it was like that young taijiya that had been one of Naraku's minions that young boy, Kohaku if he recalled correctly. The one whose memories the evil hanyou had erased. Except that her memories and all that she was, were still intact, but her reaction was just as lifeless as the young boy's had been.
"So Naraku won?" he asked, almost afraid to learn that he had.
"Iie, my Lord," she said.
"Explain," he demanded.
"Naraku and Kikyou are both dead, my Lord," she answered.
"By whose hand, if not my brother's?" he asked.
"By my own, my Lord," was the still lifeless reply.