Book 14 Cast List: Inuyasha

Kohaku stared, unmoving. "Come on!" Rin pleaded. She was nearly in tears. "That lady, Kagura. She wanted you to get away." She did not look toward the field, to where a cluster of saimyoushou hovered uncertainly around something on the ground. "Please, please," Rin begged, "Sesshoumaru-sama's troops are inside the castle now. They're going to kill everyone! You have to get away! Run!" She grabbed his arm and started dragging him into the trees, but then froze as she caught sight of the castle.

The wolf tribes had arrived, streaming in from two sides. They were everywhere, everywhere, swarming throughout the compound, destroying all who had served Naraku, murderer of their people. Rin knew they had no interest in her, or even, it seemed, in her companion. But that didn't stop the terror. She tried desperately to force her legs to move, to pull Kohaku into the shelter of the woods, but she could not overcome her fear—irrational, she knew—-that the least movement would attract the wolves' attention.

It was Kohaku who suddenly awakened to the danger. A small cadre of the saimyoushou had broken off from the swarm. Were they heading their way? Kanna had known that Rin was alone and hidden, and she'd known where. Kohaku himself had seen the child's image in the mirror. Had Kanna had time to communicate that Rin was unguarded?

If so, it was the last thing she had ever done.

Kohaku's freckled face broke into a grim smile. After months of blessed amnesia, Naraku had given him the "gift" of his own memories. Kanna had given him another gift. She had made him a warrior, by showing him that the sound and feel of his sickle hitting a living target—the sensation that scant minutes ago had filled him with unspeakable horror and dread—could be very sweet indeed.

The boy hesitated for a moment, considering. If Naraku's insects had sensed him—and they may not have, they had depended heavily on Kanna—there was a chance that only he, and not the child, would be their target. But he remembered Rin's face in the mirror in those moments before it had shattered beneath his blade. No, they could just as easily chase after the girl, or go for both of them. He'd have to get her to safety. Sesshoumaru was probably in the castle. Inuyasha had been in these woods earlier, but where was he now?

There was only one safe place. He picked the girl up, threw her bodily over his shoulder and ran toward the clearing to which, he knew, his sister and some of her companions had withdrawn to regroup after Naraku's escape from the castle.

Sango still stood in the clearing, shouldering her weapon, the great boomerang Hiraikotsu. When she heard him say, "Elder sister," she froze, wide-eyed, much as Rin had frozen at the sight of the wolves, then murmured, "Kohaku." Rin had recovered during their dash through the woods and slid to the ground, looking up at him questioningly. "My sister, Sango," he told the child. "Elder sister," he repeated, "this child is a ward of Sesshoumaru and enemy of Naraku. She must be protected. From me, as well as from the others." He shook his head as his sister tried to interrupt. "Naraku has forgotten me in the fighting, but he'll remember. Get this girl to a safe place."

"Houshi-sama, Kirara!" Sango called, then bowed slightly. "Kirara is nearby," she said. "Perhaps—child, do you have friends? I saw Sesshoumaru in the castle, before Naraku disappeared. Is there another to guard you? Where is Jaken?"

Rin's eyes widened as if to say, This woman is Kohaku's sister? She knows of Jaken?

From Kobe Scroll #M-C14, modern Japanese text version by Atsui Remon, PhD, field associate, Hollingswood Organization, and Houjou Inuyasha, MA (ABD), department of anthropology, Edo University. English translation by Kevin Sugihara, PhD, assistant professor of anthropology, Edo University, and Staci McNeal-Sugihara, PhD, lecturer in English, Nekomi Technical Institute. Copyright © 2005 by the Hollingswood Organization. Used by permission.

Then Miroku the monk ran quickly to the place where Lady Sango stood, and beheld there standing beside the exterminator her brother, Kohaku, the servant of Naraku, and with him Lord Sesshoumaru's ward, Rin. Among them stood Lord Sesshoumaru with his cruel face.

Then Lady Sango bowed low before Lord Sesshoumaru, beseeching him to spare her brother, who had done no harm. Lord Sesshoumaru replied to her, This creature knows what he has done. He has injured this Sesshoumaru, and this Sesshoumaru has promised this boy will die.

Then Lord Inuyasha ran into the clearing along with his woman, but the woman stood back and took shelter in the trees, within the shadows. And in his hand was his sword, the great sword Tessaiga, killer of daemons. And he cried in a loud voice, Sesshoumaru, that boy must live.

And Lord Sesshoumaru stood his ground, even before the great sword, and said, Inuyasha, you have no say in this.

And Lord Inuyasha said, Indeed, this boy shall live, for I have made the promise that I shall accomplish these things: that Lord Miroku's curse shall be lifted, that Lady Kikyou shall not die at the hand of Naraku, and that Lady Sango shall have her brother alive.

And there were other things that Lord Inuyasha had promised, but that he did not speak of then.

But Lord Sesshoumaru said, What is it to me what a half-daemon has promised?

And Lord Inuyasha said to him, Though I be a half-daemon, am I not a man of your house? Is not my promise your promise? Is not my honor your honor, and the honor of our house?

Then Lord Sesshoumaru did not speak, but only gazed at him in wonder.

When you tell your children the stories of Inuyasha Who Seeks the Shikon no Tama, you must tell them this amazing thing:

That Lord Inuyasha, who was the proudest of men, second in pride only to Lord Sesshoumaru in all the world, then knelt and touched his face to the ground, and said, "Elder Brother, I offer you my life in his stead, for I have promised his life to his sister and I would not disgrace our house. Only you must let me complete this which my companions have begun, and in which you have joined, the routing of Naraku and recovery of the Shikon no Tama. "

The moment Inuyasha said that, the woman—his companion—stepped forward from under the trees. Rin had met her before. Her name, Rin knew, was Kagome; Rin thought her to be kind and good, but now her eyes were blazing with cold anger. "You have no right!" she cried. "Your life is mine! Your vow was to me!"

Sesshoumaru's brother stood up, looking away from the woman. "My life is yours, right up until the moment of my death," he said. "And after death you will have it again, if that is what destiny chooses. But my death is not yours. My death is my own to give, and you have just heard me give it to Sesshoumaru."

The woman stared at him for a long moment, and then stepped backward, back under the trees, without taking her eyes off him.

Suddenly Inuyasha's eyes widened, and he turned his head, as though something had caught his attention. Rin knew, from living with Sesshoumaru the past months, that he had caught the scent of something, and she turned in the same direction. Her mouth dropped open. Just visible at the edge of the wood was a tiny figure wearing the strange-looking kimono she knew to be that of Kagome. Suddenly Rin realized that the woman standing under the nearby tree was not, in fact, Inuyasha's usual companion, although the likeness was extraordinary. Inuyasha whispered Kagome's name, so softly that Rin could barely hear him. He turned his head toward Rin, and as he did she could see him consciously pull his face into an expression of calm detachment, so that suddenly he looked very much like his brother.

With that, he turned and faced Sesshoumaru. "If I should survive this battle, you and Toukijin can have my blood," he said.

Sesshoumaru spat. "You and this woman are no match for Naraku," he said. "It's not likely Toukijin and I will have a chance at you."

Inuyasha looked at the ground. "We're brothers, right?" he said. "The way I figure it, no matter what's between us, if I don't make it, you'd be obligated to swing Tenseiga and give me my life back."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Inuyasha raised his head and looked him full in the face, his expression serene. "Give my swing to Kohaku," he said.

Inuyasha repeated, "Give my swing to Kohaku. If I fall, you're not to revive me. Once the Shikon shard is out of Kohaku's back, he'll die, and then you'll swing Tenseiga. For him, not for me."

"Because I gave my word as a man of honor, and you're my kinsman," Inuyasha replied. The two stared at each other silently for a moment, then Sesshoumaru looked away, and Rin understood the deal had been made.

Inuyasha turned to him, wearing Sesshoumaru's cold expression. "I don't give a fuck what you want," he said.

The woman under the tree spoke up. "How about what I want?" she asked. "Do I have a say in this?"

Inuyasha looked down, and then said, "Not really. After I'm dead I'll go to hell with you, if that's where you're going. If not, I'll go to hell alone."

Just then the monk, Miroku, stepped in front of Sesshoumaru's brother. "Inuyasha," he said, nodding toward the figure at the edge of the trees, "you have to speak to her."

Inuyasha looked away. "We said our goodbyes last night," he said. "I have nothing to say to her."

Miroku stood his ground. "I think," he said at last, "you owe her these last few words." Inuyasha was perfectly still, looking at nothing. "Inuyasha," Miroku said. Inuyasha looked at the woman under the tree, his face unreadable, and then suddenly turned on his heel and walked slowly toward the girl in the distance. The others watched silently. The woman under the tree scowled and turned her back.

(Part of Cast List: Book 14)

Inuyasha Who Seeks the Shikon no Tama