Manipulated – Part Ten:  A Lone Hunter

 (Random flame roars up and spells out "I don’t own Inuyasha".)

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Everyone except Sesshou: O.O;;;

Corisu: I never thought I’d see the day...

Aamalie: Scarred for life here...

(A small red blur is dashing around, randomly setting innocent things on [blue] fire. Above the blur, in a tree, sits a wavy-haired figure dressed in a pink jumpsuit.)

Kei: My EYYYYEEEESSS!!

OOC!Shippou: Mwahahaha! I burn YOU! And I burn YOU! *sets Sesshou’s tail on fire*

Sesshou: ...

OOC!Shippou: MWAHA-urk! *is thwacked in the head by a rock thrown by Sesshou*

Sesshou: *calmly pats the fire out* Hmph. I have no time for childish games. Since my counterpart has been defeated, I shall take my leave. Y-

Kuno: *shoves him into a portal* Yeah, yeah, save it for the Grammys...

OOC!Naraku: *leaps down from the tree and stares at Aki*

Aki: *shrinks back* Errm...

OOC!Naraku: ^__________^ Darling! I think you would look just smashing in lavender!

Everyone: *facefaults*

Corisu: Darn... I was expecting something like that, but still... darn...

OOC!Shippou: *sets Naraku’s hair on fire* MWAHA!!! *continues to dash and set fires*

OOC!Naraku: O.O;;; MY PERM!!! NUUUUUU!!! *runs around in circles*

Aamalie: Heyyyy... do you know what this means?

Kei: Major split ends?

Aamalie: -_-;; Nooo... It means that the OOC characters can kill each other!

Kei: Oh... ^^; I didn’t know that...

Corisu: Hm. Well, I’m interested in seeing how THIS fight turns out.

OOC!Naraku: *turns on OOC!Shippou, teary-eyed* You’ll pay for this, you jerk! This hairdo cost me $80! Oooh, Stephanie won’t be happy..! *brandishes pink-painted claws*

OOC!Shippou: Bring it on, ya %*#@%*&!!!!

Everyone: O___O;;;

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Koharu was buried in the small meadow just beyond the village. The area was bordered by trees that dripped with brightly colored blooms. it was a beautiful site for a grave, but it did nothing to ease the pain of the girl’s family... or her acquaintances.

Twilight found Inuyasha sitting on a high branch, his back against the solid bark of the old tree. He looked as if he was gazing off into the distance, but his eyes were unfocussed. He was lost in thought, his guilty musings plaguing him like unusually persistent flies. He was as dead to the world as a sleepwalker...

Which was why Kagome ‘sat’ him out of the tree when he failed to answer her calls.

Inuyasha raised his head, his face smudged with dark soil. "Wench! What was that for?"

"You didn’t answer me! I was wor-" She paused. "Just come on. We need to discuss what we’re going to do. You know... about Miroku-sama."

The angry look evaporated instantly and the hanyou rose to his feet. They quickly covered the short distance to the home of Koharu’s relatives, but they didn’t enter the house. The mourning family had yet to get over the shock of losing the young girl, and they did not want to disturb them with their talk. Instead, Kagome led Inuyasha into the forest and into a small clearing.

In the middle of the treeless area, Sango sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap. Beside her, Kirara stood watch in her larger form. It bothered the taijiya to no end that it was Miroku, her sweet - albeit perverted - Houshi-sama that they were safeguarding against.

When she caught sight of Inuyasha and Kagome, she rose to her feet and brushed off her kimono. The cloth wasn’t dirty, she just needed something to do with her hands. When it had passed her little inspection and her friends stood in front of her, she lifted her head slowly. "We can’t change our mission," she stated simply, but each word was spoken as if it cut her on the way out of her mouth.

Kagome blinked. "What... what are you talking about, Sango?"

"I think I know what she means," Inuyasha folded his arms in front of him and gave Sango an odd look. "She’s trying to say that we still have to hunt the Phoenix, even though..."

"...Even though it’s Houshi-sama..." Sango finished. For the first time, her eyes began to burn with imminent tears. They weren’t for the dead girls... not even products of her own pity. They were for Miroku, the man that they had to hunt.

"Sango..." Kagome whispered, then put a hand on the older girl’s shoulder. "I think he’ll be okay. Maybe we’ll be able to bring him back."

"Or maybe we’ll have to kill him," Inuyasha added. When he received glares from both of the girls, he explained: "There’s no use getting our hopes up, that’s all. We’ve never seen anything like this before; there’s no telling what we’ll have to do. Do you remember that haiku that you found, Sango?" The taijiya nodded, and he continued. "Well, it’s said that this thing has never really died, remember? So what if the thing that ‘it doesn’t understand’ is death?"

Silence fell on the clearing. A hot tear rolled down Sango’s cheek and she brushed it away irritably.

"We’re leaving in the morning, so get some rest," Inuyasha said, finally breaking the silence. "Even though I can’t track the Phoenix’s scent, I can guess his direction because we all approached the scene from a different way. The earlier we set out, the faster we’ll catch up with him." He raised an arm and pointed vaguely, indicating the direction that he assumed that Phoenix had gone.

Sango hesitated, then nodded slowly, allowing Inuyasha to lead them back to the house while Kirara brought up the rear. As she walked, she became aware that Inuyasha understood exactly what she was going through, and he had said exactly what she needed to hear. When the taijiya became stressed or sad, her first thought was to take action. Inuyasha’s suggestion was giving her an outlet to do just that.

And Kagome... she was always there to comfort, to lend an ear. Growing up in the slayers’ village, Sango’s closest acquaintances had been her family. Friendships were hard to foster when everyone was constantly risking their lives. Of course, they were in that same predicament now, but the younger girl was so persistent that it was impossible to refuse her empathy.

The two had certainly been supportive in their own ways...

It was a shame that she would have to leave them both behind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Phoenix was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his ‘borrowed’ home, his eyes closed and his mind wandering. It still bothered him that he had been unable to kill the taijiya, but that concern was slowly fading. ‘If we ever meet again,’ he told himself, ‘she will not be so lucky.’

A sharp knock on the doorframe startled him out of his thoughts. He remained silent and immobile, waiting. In a few seconds, another knock came, followed by a tentative voice... a female’s voice.

"Yanata-san? It’s Genmei Reika; I’ve brought the cloth that you asked for! Yanata-san?"

Phoenix’s mouth curved into a malevolent smile. He rose quietly, stepping toward the hanging reeds. With the grin still in place, he murmured, "Reika?"

"Y-Yanata-san? Are you all right?"

He licked his lips, practically tasting her fear. The sun had nearly faded from view, and she could see very little. "Would you bring it inside for me?"

The girl hesitated. It seemed like such an odd request; why couldn’t he come to the door and retrieve it himself? "I’d rather not."

Phoenix glided toward the door. "As you wish..." In one fluid motion, he shoved the reeds aside, grabbed her by the wrist, and drew her into the house.

The girl’s eyes widened until they looked in danger of falling out of her head. She drew in breath to scream, but Phoenix covered her mouth quickly. Since she could no longer scream, Reika began to thrash, trying to break free. He frowned slightly. None of the others had put up such a fight so early on. This one was obviously a little wiser.

He put one arm around her chest and pulled her to his body so that her back was to his stomach. When he felt her lungs expand again, his other hand shot upward and sank into the flesh of her throat, effectively cutting off her air supply. Her cries were reduced to mere gurgles and futile gasps.

In mere seconds, her movements had ceased and she lay limp in his arms. Phoenix knew better, however, and held on to her a little longer to assure that she was indeed unconscious. Once he was satisfied, he hefted her into his arms and carried her toward the gaping trapdoor.

"My first new resident..." he whispered. "How very exciting... At this rate, I will never want for blood." With those quiet words, he descended from sight, down into the blackness of the trapdoor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sango lay on her side, her eyes wide open. Sleep danced somewhere just out of reach, and she wasn’t trying too hard to attain it. Kagome’s rhythmic breathing told the taijiya that the girl was asleep, but Inuyasha was much harder to predict.

If he still felt the same guilt that she felt, he wouldn’t be asleep either. Therein lay the danger of going outside - if he was in a nearby tree, he would see her depart and stop her. Finally deciding, she sat up without a sound, groping at her side for Hiraikotsu. She’d worn her slayer outfit under her kimono when she went to bed so that no one would suspect anything, but the extra layer was now unnecessary. She quickly shed it, then slung Hiraikotsu over her back. After securing her katana at her side, she was ready to go.

She stepped out of the reed door as quietly as she was able, and no one inside the house stirred. Tilting her head upward, she scanned the skies for any sign of Kirara. The nekoyoukai had left hours before they had all gone to bed; her part of the mission was to look out for signs of the Phoenix as well as any other dangers.

Sango took a few steps forward, then glanced back at the hut. ‘Kagome... Please forgive me. I hope you can understand why I have to do this. In order to relieve my guilt, I must hunt him down... alone.’

She set off, moving slowly and silently until she was out of range of the others, then gradually worked up to a run. The cool air soothed her lungs as she quickly covered ground, arriving shortly at the place where Koharu had fallen.

"He said it was this way," she murmured to herself, recalling what Inuyasha had said earlier that day. Once more, she began to run, trying to pick a straight path through the congested trees. She was just getting used to her swift pace when a single spoken word caused her to leap from her chosen trajectory and raise a hand to Hiraikotsu.

"Sango."

"Who’s there?" As soon as the words passed her lips, Sango realized that she already knew the answer. The voice was slightly altered, but not enough to render it unrecognizable.

The gentle swish of cloth against leaves floated to her ears as a dark shape materialized in front of her. "You..."

Phoenix chuckled. "I could have killed you dozens of times over as you ran recklessly though this forest, taijiya. You are a fool for coming alone."

"I came alone for my own reasons. But why I came is unimportant. The fact remains that I will slay you!" Sango loosed Hiraikotsu and held it tightly in her right hand.

"I doubt that you have the skill... or the desire."

"What do you mean? I’m capable of defeating you!"

Phoenix took a few steps forward. "Perhaps. But are you capable of defeating your... Houshi-sama?"

Sango recoiled. "What?"

"He is still here. A vague presence, but his soul remains. Could you kill him, taijiya?"

Sango’s hand was trembling on her weapon’s strap. "I refuse to believe that Houshi-sama would want to live this way, but-"

"But you could not slay him with your own hands," the monk’s form finished, chuckling slightly. "That will prove to be your undoing!" Without further pretense, he launched himself forward.

"Hiraikotsu!" The heavy boomerang sliced the air toward its target, but Phoenix dodged it easily, drawing his knife and quickly closing the distance between the two.

Sango pulled her katana halfway out of its sheath just in time to catch the blade. She held the hilt with both hands, trying with all of her might to push her opponent back. The angle was too strange, however, and she found herself sliding backward.

Phoenix leaned forward until his face was very near the taijiya’s. "A deplorable weakness... that katana requires that you use both of your hands, while I employ only one." He used his free hand to grasp Sango’s wrists and push them aside.

Sango winced; he was twisting her hands painfully. Her grip on the katana was steadily loosening.

A conflicted look passed over Phoenix’s face before he spoke his next words.

"And after all of this time, he still will not let me kill you..." He pulled his knife away and struck Sango across the face with the hilt.

She never felt her body hit the ground.

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Corisu: *yawns* Sorry this took so long... but I’ve been studying for the Graduation Tests and I really haven’t had time to do much of anything else... I hope you’ll understand if I forego responses; I’m just too exhausted!

~Review, or may you be locked in the school cafeteria with an eternity of 3-hour tests ahead of you and you’re wearing shoes that are too small and your No. 2 pencil keeps breaking and your pencil sharpener’s dull and your nails begin to split from peeling back the wood and- *continues ranting about the freakin’ TESTS*

(Oh! Cookie to Manofmanyfaces, who predicted what Phoenix would store... but I think there may have been more who guessed it. I don’t really remember, and I’m way too lazy to look, so pocky to everyone! *throws out handfuls*)