Kagura sat up gingerly, rubbing at her neck. “One of those swords of yours,” she said, glancing toward his left hip, “has the power to resurrect the dead, is that right?” Sesshoumaru’s claws clenched around Tenseiga’s hilt. “How did you come by that knowledge?” “Does it matter?” Kagura countered with a twist of her lips.

Dressed once more in her fire-rat haori, Kagome padded over to the window, Kanna still standing sentinel by the door. Hooking her fingers into the bars, the miko gazed out over the dark sprawl of Naraku’s phantom castle, an eerie purple sky roiling above it all. As she watched, vast monstrous shapes swam through the

As Kagura flew away toward the western sea, Sesshoumaru turned to Kohaku, whose dark anxious eyes followed her still. “Take hold of my tail,” the daiyoukai said, offering the length of fur to the young man as he rose. “I will take you to your sister.” Nodding, the boy tore his gaze away from the

Slowly, painfully, Kagome peeled herself off from the wall as Naraku wrenched Kanna’s mirror up toward him. His red eyes narrowed viciously, Magatsuhi’s glinting behind him in wicked glee. Neither of them looked up as Kagome cautiously approached, circling around to Kanna’s other side. Her breath stilled in her lungs at the image the mirror

Sesshoumaru alighted at last on the cliffs of a blackened, desolate canyon, his trailing band of humans and demons following suit. Long ago, this place had been the site of a ferocious battle between daiyoukai, and decades later, the land had yet to recover. Once a lush valley, the earth where he stood was hard

When Kanna’s shining mirror re-focused, Kagome saw her friends and Sesshoumaru yet again–the daiyoukai’s tall, statuesque figure faintly glowing against the dark backdrop of the surrounding canyon. A pensive frown creased her features at the sight. She recognized this place. This was the same burned-out valley where Inuyasha had fought and defeated the evil dragon

Sesshoumaru growled again, his vision going red as he summoned his power to him in waves of blinding light. Magatsuhi’s head tilted faintly in question a moment before the bonds of demonic flesh around Sesshoumaru exploded, the daiyoukai charging through the youki storm in his true and terrible form. Liquid poison seared from his gnashing

The wide castle window disappeared, Kagome gasping as Naraku gathered her to him and launched them both through the empty frame. Higher and higher they climbed through the tumultuous violet sky, landing at last atop the tallest tower of the castle. Trembling, Kagome fell to her knees as Naraku released her. In the courtyard far

“It is unspeakably foolish,” Magatsuhi’s cold voice sneered, “to turn your back on your opponent.” Blood spilled from Sesshoumaru’s clenched fangs as he glared behind him. Serrated and envenomed, the tentacle spearing him through withdrew in a sharp, shredding lash–its course diverted from his heart and the Jewel shard above it by Tenseiga’s timely intervention.

Perhaps his power alone was not enough, but— Channeling his full strength into Tessaiga, Sesshoumaru unleashed the Wind Scar in a torrent of blinding light, directing it toward that divergence in Magatsuhi’s youki and his own. His attack blazed through the gap, prising into it and driving the demon’s own power back onto himself with