Inuyasha: Come What May

Chapter 6: Expect Me To Win

Chapter 6: Expect me to win

Inutaisho POV

This isn't fog; the night air is choked by a much thicker atmosphere, one that clogs all senses with the remains of those caught by the flames. The taste of the dead clings to my tongue as ash snows down from the sky. No matter how fast I run, I know it will be too late. The screams stopped minutes ago, and all that is left are the echoes of the spirits.

They tricked me. I see that now, blinded by the men I called my soldiers who were highly skilled lizard demons under the guise of humans. Their abilities, that even I, Inutaisho, Lord of the West and God among demons, couldn't even smell their swampy stench pass through the camouflage. Only one creature would go to the depths that one has to get at me and my family: Ryukotsusei. How ignorant was I to leave my family, and those I swore to protect in the hands of others? Kimi, my strong-willed wife, can easily protect herself and our child but her blood is much darker and filled with spiteful sin than even I. She will not fight for those she doesn't care for even if it gave her, her ultimate desires.

Ahead, I spot the flickers of dying flames beyond the wall of smoke and ash. No longer do I hear Kimi's battle cries; the enemies must all be eliminated for I know she is alive, and I know my son is, for a mother's scream for a child would cause mountains to crumble and the Earth has yet to quake.

A brilliant golden flicker escapes from the wall of smoke in a puff, leaving a tray of tiny golden stars behind it. I skid to a stop, my arm clinking as metal scrapes against metal. This golden flicker isn't a flame; it has a silhouette abnormal to a speck of fire. It can't be any bigger than a beetle. It flutters closer and closer, and as it approaches towards me I realize the size it is, is apparent. It is a butterfly. One that glows with a luminous aura so strong that as it closes to me, I can feel a heat touch my cheeks. The little insect hovers before my face, radiantly beautiful, but even with its glorious glow, all I feel is the heaviness of grief.

"What are you?"

For a second, I am sure it understands me. I don't know how I know, but I'm sure. It flaps its tiny wings and flutters off to my left, passing through the smoke as quickly as it came, the trail of tiny golden stars are left behind. My eyes glance back towards the fallen palace in the distance.... Where my family is.... where home used to be and then back towards the disappearing trail.

I rush in quick pursuit of that butterfly.

I'm led to the cliffs where the ocean meets land with a devastating force only nature can create. On the dirt path along the cliffs are deep grooves made by some kind of wheel and centering them are hoof prints. Whoever this was, was in a hurry.... The butterfly takes a turn around a curve in the cliffs shadowed by trees, beyond the curve I see my son. Sesshomaru stands toes to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the raging waves below. Behind him is a massive mound of Earth, unlike anything I have seen before, that is in the shape of an enormous wave angled for the cliff's edge. It is there that the wheel tracks have ended.

Something's not right...

I start for him, but the moment I place down a foot, the butterfly turns back towards me. The glow around its minor form brightens and enlarges until the form of Lady Linka is distinguished through lamination. This looks like her, but at the same time... Her skin is gold, like the butterfly, and an aura embraces her. The once liveliness in her eyes are full of sadness and grief.

It befalls me, the little girl I swore to protect along with her mother, must be dead... I failed...." No..." The word leaves my lips without control. I choke on my breath, my heart squeezes in my chest. She was only a little girl, "No..." Linka twists towards Sesshomaru, her eyes never leaving me, and as she does I notice that he watches me; his eyes like anything I've seen before. There is so much anger in him, so much more than I felt in myself and seen in his mother. Anger, a raging flame that I know sincerely will change him for the rest of his life.