Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 89: Naraku and the Nest of Demon Birds

All of the next day we spent trying to find even a small clue as to where Princess Abi and her nest might be. No luck. No one had seen the birds and InuYasha and I couldn't catch their scent. Dead ends led to more dead ends, so about nightfall, we decided to make camp. We were discussing what Naraku's potential plan was, and honestly even if he was after the human blood from the beginning, how was he going to use it to cross to the border. As far as I knew, only demons could remain in that place because it is essentially a graveyard for demons. Plus, where was she storing the blood? I could tell the demons weren't actually consuming it like Myoga and other blood-sucking demons do. Shippo's voice brought me out of my thoughts. Poor Sango had been so distracted since the castle and we were all worried about her. Kohaku was a good kid and I knew that whatever he had done was because Naraku was controlling him through the Sacred Jewel Shard that sustained his life. I wish I could've have freed him before I quit working for Naraku; it would have saved Kohaku and Sango a lot of heartache. I heard movement and looked up to see Miroku on his feet, so he could go sit with Sango. Shippo was spying on them and told us that Miroku had put his arm around Sango's shoulder. InuYasha was shocked, just like Shippo was, but Kagome and I knew that no matter how lecherous Miroku may be, he knew there was a time and place for it. I have to agree with Kagome's conclusion, InuYasha knows nothing about women. It wasn't long before most of the group had retired for the night. Our rest was short-lived because I caught the scent of the demon birds and looked down from my branch to see InuYasha was gone. I quietly jumped down and went to join him at the edge of the hill we had camped on top of. As I approached, the shikigami that had accompanied Lady Kikyo landed in front of InuYasha, informing him that Lady Kikyo was waiting for him. He looked hesitant. "Go talk to her. I'll cover for you here if anyone wakes up," I told him. He looked at me and nodded before following the shikigami down the hill and out of sight.

Shortly after InuYasha left, Miroku joined me at the edge of the hill. I looked back to make sure Kagome was still asleep before speaking, "they were Lady Kikyo's Shikigami, she sent them here to get InuYasha." Just after explaining that, Kagome woke up too and I had to explain it again. We sat there waiting for InuYasha to return. I wish I could say something to Kagome to cheer her up. By morning, the sky was filled with clouds teeming with demons putting us all on edge. I wished InuYasha hadn't snuck off last night, but there's nothing I can do now. Shortly after the sun rose, InuYasha returned and admitted to Kagome that he had gone to see Lady Kikyo. Everyone was shocked but me because I knew he cared deeply about both of them, but I also knew Kagome would be upset that he just up and left. InuYasha also told Kagome that Lady Kikyo had given him an arrow to give to her and explained the arrow had been rubbed with dirt from Onigumo's cave. When Kagome asked what else had happened, he said they just talked, and he wanted to see that Lady Kikyo was alright. Kagome was still upset because she thought that InuYasha wasn't being fully truthful, but I could tell he was. Shortly after that, lightning surged through the clouds and more demons began to move about through them. "I think we need to move, something big is about to happen and it involves Naraku," I told them. The group looked at me for a moment before we left in the direction of what we thought was the nest of demon birds. As we ran InuYasha explained that we had caught the scent of the birds. I added that it was a possibility that Naraku had put up a barrier to hide the birds so his plan would work. InuYasha had thought that too because it explained how the scent of the birds was there all of a sudden. After we had run a little way, we caught Naraku's scent and knew we were getting close. I, personally, was feeling more fear than anger, which didn't make a lot of sense; especially since I couldn't tell who the fear was for. Something was about to happen, and it wasn't going to end well for anyone.

It wasn't long before we got dangerously close to the nest and discovered it was Naraku himself who was there. That struck us as odd until Kagome brought up that the border might be about to open. My feeling of fear steadily got worse at that thought. When Myoga arrived, I wanted to find somewhere to hide, which was an unusual feeling for me. Myoga explained to us that Tekkei, a demon bird from hell, was there at the nest with Princess Abi and Naraku causing me to realize my sense of fear. Demon birds are one thing, but a demon bird that was connected to the netherworld was a totally different story. As we approached the nest, the demon bird, Tekkei, was there, and honestly, she looked like a giant flaming chicken. If I hadn't felt her demonic aura I would've started laughing. I knew now she was the key to getting to the border, but I still hadn't figured out how. When we reached the edge of the cliff where the nest was, Tekkei shot a huge fireball at us. We dodged out of the way in the nick of time. Princess Abi asked if we had come to die just like Naraku had, but I didn't believe her. Even if Tekkei had eaten him, I knew he wasn't going to die that easily. "You didn't kill him, you only bought him time," I told the two demon birds. The rest of the group agreed with me and this caused Tekkei to promise to eat us, as well. InuYasha drew his sword, and the rest of us followed suit by readying our weapons. A moment later, Princess Abi had her demon birds attack and the battle began. We began killing the birds and I realized what was going on, InuYasha was clearing a path so he could go after Tekkei. A plan I was more than happy to help with because maybe if we killed Tekkei, it would kill Naraku too; a win-win. Unfortunately, Princess Abi caught on to what was happening, blocked the wind scar with a barrier, and attacked InuYasha. About half-way through their battle, tentacles burst from the top of Tekkei's head causing her to fall over. Naraku soon emerged from the hole created by the tentacles. Princess Abi went to attack him using her trident, but it suddenly exploded, taking part of her arm with it. She continued to advance but before she could reach Naraku he pierced her, causing her to turn to dust. Naraku continued to hover over Tekkei and told us that the border was now open, before beheading Tekkei. A bright light began to shine as a river of blood formed like a large purple moat. Naraku invited us to follow him down the river of blood and when we reached the end a bright light appeared signaling the entrance to the border between this world and the next.