"Lady youkai, please believe me when I say that I am nothing but a mere human compared to you," said the "human" that now stood only a few feet away from her.
Suki chuckled softly. "So you do find me a fool," she said as the sun began to rise & Isamu slowly started to transform back to his hanyou form, his eyes growing wide as he took in the scent of the "human" before them. Suki could smell the fear that was starting to come off of the boy & she rose her eyebrow. This must be one of the diguises he mentioned that Naraku could hide himself with, she thought. He stinks of hanyou. "You are right 'human,' you are nothing but a mere mortal compared to me. After all, no hanyou could ever match me," she said as she used her light whip to slice his arm off.
The "human" lost its form & Naraku revealed himself to her & the young Isamu that was now in his hanyou form. He sent a wave of miasma towards her & the hanyou; Isamu shielded himself with his sleeves & Naraku's eyes widened when Suki merely grinned at him, her eyes flashing red. "You think you can defeat me? Not even his father's brother could ever match me in a fight," Naraku chuckled.
"That is because he is a hanyou like yourself. Have you ever gone against a full-fledged youkai, Naraku?" Suki asked as she bared her fangs at him. She withdrew a sword that was resting at her side in its sheath & cut through the miasma,making it disappear, shocking Naraku. "Naraku, I'm waiting for you to give me a challenge," she taunted, putting the sword back in its sheath. "Isamu, go hide yourself away from here so you won't get hurt. I would hate to return you to your father in a state worse than you are now."
Isamu stayed in his spot, glaring at Naraku. "I am not going to run & hide away like a human would," he growled, his eyes glowing red as his markings got brighter & bolder.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Sesshomaru sneered, allowing his frustration to show to his brother. They had been searching for Naraku but he had managed to hide any traces of his scent from the hanyou & youkai, so they were having trouble finding him.
"What direction do you think he could have gone in?" Inu Yasha asked, walking alongside his brother.
"If I knew that, do you think we would be searching this hard for him?" Sesshomaru snapped at the hanyou.
"Sesshomaru, maybe you should ride on the back of Ah & Un so you can search farther with your eyes & I'll stay down here incase I catch scent of Naraku," Inu Yasha said, looking at his brother. Sesshomaru looked at Inu Yasha & nodded, jumping up & going up until he was in the clouds where Ah & Un was, disappearing from Inu Yasha's line of vision. The hanyou looked ahead & began running to get some distance closed between him & hopefully finding Naraku.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Catriona looked up when Miroku gasped & looked at the hand with the Kazaana. "Miroku, what's wrong?" She asked, panicked that she would be losing someone else close to her. "Is your Kazaana spreading?"
Miroku left the room in a hurry & ran to where she wouldn't think of looking for him, the library, & removed the sutra beads from his right hand, looking at his Kazaana as it disappeared from his hand. "What has happened to it? I should only lose it if Naraku...was destoryed..." He spoke softly, looking at his hand in shock. "But that means Sesshomaru has been there & destroyed him & is going to be coming back here to be with Catriona again."
Catriona listened to him from the door, making sure he didn't know she was there. Sesshomaru is alive? But I thought he was killed... She turned & walked away from the library, her heart pounding in her chest as she made her way to Rin's room, tears of joy gathering in her eyes. When she got to the room, she found the girl looking at the pictures her & Isamu drew together. "Rin," she said. "Rin come with me," she said, motioning with her hand for the girl to follow after her as she left the doorway.
Rin followed after her, finding her in the dining room, on her knees with tears streaming down her face. "Catriona, why are you crying?" Rin asked.
"Rin, your Papa Sesshomaru isn't dead like we were told... I just heard Miroku in the library talking about Sesshomaru destroying Naraku & how he's going to be on his way back us Rin," she said as tears of joy fell from her eyes.
"But why would he be talking like that?" Rin asked as tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Because his Kazaana is gone from his hand now. Naraku has been destroyed!" Catriona held the girl to him as she ran against her, hugging her tightly, crying. "We can't let Miroku know we found out or he might do something. Okay Rin?"
"Uh-huh!"
*~*~*~*~*~*
Isamu stared at the ashes that once were Naraku's body, then he looked at Suki who stood with a proud gleam in her eyes, but a calm expression on her face. "You destoryed Naraku," he said, unable to believe that the monster that had raped him was now defeated so easily by Suki. She must be the parent that father gets his strength from, he thought.
"You seem surprised," Suki said as she looked down at him.
"I am... I'm not doubting your power Lady Suki, but from what I've heard, Uncle Inu Yasha & his band of friends have had trouble over the years trying to defeat him & you've done it within minutes."
"Hm... Well, we need to get going so we can get you back to your home," she said as she began walking after she grabbed her travel sack. "Do you recognize any of the lands today?" She asked, looking down at him.
Isamu took a look around before he nodded. "Yeah, I do... I know my way home from here."
"Good... Because since we are close, I think it best that we should run as far as you can handle to get rid of some of the distance between us," she said.
"Yeah..."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Catriona? Rin?" Miroku called for the two girls as he searched through the castle for them. "Where are you two?" He couldn't believe his wind tunnel was gone, but so the girls wouldn't find out, he made sure to keep his sutra beads on. When he walked outside, he saw the two sitting in the garden, in the flowers, picking through choice ones. "What are you two up to?" He asked.
Both girls turned to look at him with small smiles. "I'm making a wreath to put on Catriona's head & she's making one for my head," Rin said. "Want us to make you one too?"
"No, that's alright," Miroku said, holding his hand up slightly & smiling. "When did you two come out here? I'ver searched the entire castle for you..."
"We came out here a little while ago just to get some fresh air after being in the stuffy castle for the past few days," Catriona answered before she turned her back to him to start weaving the wreath she was making for Rin.
"I see... When do you intend on coming back in?"
Catriona shrugged. "I don't know Miroku..."
What has brought up their depressed moods? He thought as he watched them start weaving the wreaths. Hmm, very odd... I will worry about it later... He made his way back inside the castle so he could make plans to move them from the castle before anyone could return.