Chapter 120

A hard man to kill




"Sesshomaru." Naraku greeted the inu-youkai in a mocking way. "I hoped to obtain the jewel shard and see your brand new sword with my own eyes, but I must admit, that I am very disappointed by you. Not only I didn't get to see you in action, but you seem to be utterly… weak."

Naraku smirked, seeing, how much effect his words had on Sesshomaru – the demon glared at his adversary, furious because of the insult. The stab in his pride was the accurate one. Mai cursed under her nose. Her boss was too easy to be manipulated.

"Sesshomaru." She hissed out, tugging his sleeve, wanting to usher him onto Ah-Un's back. The dog demon knew her intentions, but ignored her.

"Do not dare to look down on me, Naraku." Sesshomaru said coldly, before slapping the dragon's backside.

The beast leapt into the air and flew away. Naraku frowned, seeing his precious jewel shard getting away. Mai wanted to make Ah-Un stop, but she knew well, that Kohaku's shard had to be protected in order for the boy to live. But, she couldn't just leave the idiotic dog just like that.

Then, something popped into her head - it was like a sudden flash of realization, when everything becomes crystal clear and the most complicated knots are untied. Damn, why didn't she think of that earlier? She had to tell Sesshomaru that!

"Ah-Un, stop! I'm going back!" she screamed, but the dragon didn't listen to her this time. Jaken sighed heavily.

"Sesshomaru-sama will come back from dead and haunt us if we let you go." The imp muttered, depressed. Mai furrowed her brows.

"No way I'd let that asshole get himself killed!" she exclaimed, seeing Rin beginning to cry. The girl looked down. The beast was flying low above the city, so the roofs were not far below. She could manage it without breaking a bone…

"Jaken, take Kohaku far away." She said to her companion, before she slid off the Ah-Un's back.

Mai yelped from pain, when she fell on the hard roof tiles. She rolled off the roof and screamed, as she passed the edge. Fortunately, it was like in movies – she landed on a carriage loaded with hay, that was coincidentally right beneath her. She spit the hay off her mouth and sat up. Then, she crawled towards the coachman, wanting to ask him for help. However, the moment he saw her face, covered in the fake demon markings he shrieked and jumped off the cart, terrified.

"Crap!" Mai cursed and grabbed the reins. She positioned herself firmly and slapped the horses' backsides with the whip. "Hya!"

It was totally crazy to race through the streets of Kyoto in a cart loaded with hay, but she didn't care about it at the moment. While she was on Ah-Un, an idea popped into her head and she had to tell Sesshomaru of it before he managed to get himself murdered by Naraku. Something the dead master Gihei said to her refused to leave her mind.

The citizens of the capital town were fleeing from the her, as she headed towards the richest area of Kyoto. Some guards tried to stop her, but she just drove over them, hoping, that she hadn't injured them too much.




Sesshomaru was glaring at his opponent. Naraku smirked, seeing, that he had a great advantage over his formerly powerful adversary. He relaxed, as the dog demon wasn't able to deliver a blow to him.

"I am surprised, Sesshomaru." Naraku continued talking. "I offered you the pretense to escape, but you decided to stay anyway. Foolish, given, how weak you are."

The inu-youkai scowled, when his enemy mocked his lack of youki again. However, he still had his pride – the only thing of his old self, that remained in him.

"Hn." He snorted, sounding arrogant as ever. "Someone like you, who is devoid of honor, will never be a worthy match for me. You will never see my back, Naraku."

Displeased frown flickered through Naraku's face, but soon enough he evoked the mocking smirk again.

"So you choose to die fighting rather than escaping? You are a prideful man, aren't you?" he laughed.

Sesshomaru did not answer. He endured enough humiliation and he had no intention of adding another one to them. As a warrior it would be shameful to escape his enemy. It would only prove his weakness to the world and that was something he could not accept. He was born to fight and that was the way for him to die.

Naraku's laughter resounded through the ruins of the mansion.

"Sesshomaru, how are you planning to attack? I saw enough to deduce, that your youki is somehow gone. You are weak. Weak as a human. Tell me, how does it feel to be stripped of your power?" Naraku kept taunting the dog demon.

Sesshomaru glared at his opponent, fury blazing in his eyes. He clenched his teeth, enraged by the mockery and instinctively grabbed the hilt of Tenseiga, even though it was no weapon in his new condition.

"Naraku." The inu-youkai hissed out. "Never call me weak!"

Then, Sesshomaru charged to meet his opponent in the mindless attempt to attack. Naraku grinned, seeing the rage of his adversary, fueled by his pride. As expected of the dog demon. Even devoid of youki he relied on his meager strength. Tentacles sprouted from Naraku's body, ready to entwine the inu-youkai and crush his body in the lethal embrace.




Mai managed to arrive, when it was already too late. She witnessed the end of the conversation between Sesshomaru and Naraku. Then, she could only powerlessly observe the inu-youkai charge at Naraku, who was about to kill him in a matter of seconds. The girl called her boss's name, but knew, that it was simply too late. She didn't make in time.

Then, something unexpected happened. Naraku lowered his barrier, as he didn't think, that Sesshomaru was much of a threat now. His tentacles were about to trap the attacking dog demon, when he swiftly unsheathed Tenseiga.

"Meidou Zangetsuha!" Sesshomaru yelled, swinging the blade.

Naraku smirked, confident, that the victory was his, but the smile dropped from his face a split second later to be replaced by the look of surprise.

"No way." Mai whispered, seeing the black crescent moon flying out of Tenseiga and striking right in the middle of Naraku's body. The enemy was startled by the turn of events, as everyone on place, including Sesshomaru himself. The dog demon's golden eyes widened with surprise, when Meidou Zangetsuha actually hit the target. Then, he smirked, lifting the sword to deliver a second finishing blow.

"Naraku!" he called to his enemy, who managed to survive the first attack. "Now I will show you the true extent of my power!"

"MEIDOU ZANGETSUHA!"

Another crescent moon flew in Naraku's direction. But, when it was just an inch from the target, Naraku parted his body by brutally tearing half of it and casting it away. Swiftly he transformed into a dark could and evacuated himself, leaving the hideous tentacle-flesh behind. The black crescent moon sucked most of it into the netherworld.

"Tch! He escaped again." Sesshomaru cursed, looking into the sky.

The dog demon sheathed Tenseiga and lifted his hand observing it warily. Then, he directed it at the twitching flesh, the remains of Naraku's body, and released his poison, melting it away. He smirked to himself, pleased by the result.

Mai slowly crawled off the cart and jogged to her youkai boss, who seemed to be miraculously back to normal. Sesshomaru lifted his eyes and met hers, his usual arrogance nearly gleaming from his entire frame. The girl frowned slightly, seeing how much his ego had been just boosted. Then, the dog demon narrowed his eyes at her.

"What are you doing here, woman?" Sesshomaru asked slowly, displeased, that she disobeyed him again.

Mai sighed.

"I wanted to tell you, that you still have your youki, but you have figured it out on your own, from what I see." She said.

Sesshomaru nodded, the horribly self-satisfied look on his face.

"Apparently I am stronger than that old hag thought." He said in high-and-mighty tone.

Mai sighed again, beginning to be pissed by his attitude. It looked like with his youkai powers back Sesshomaru's arrogance level doubled. Damn, he was irritating enough earlier. She decided to cool his enthusiasm a little.

"You never lost your youki to start with." She stated.

Seeing his questioning look, Mai decided to explain, what she figured out along the way. "You see, I talked with the inventor of the Machine, which exploded earlier. He said, that youki is the essence of a youkai. It would be impossible for you to exist without it. It just popped into my head a while ago. I would have told you earlier, but I liked all of it a little late. I think, that the eremite didn't take your demon powers away. She simply made you believe, that you don't have them. You know, some sort of hypnosis."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Mai, not liking, what she just said. Was he supposed to believe, that he had been fooled by the old hag and because of that he could not use his youki? What a nonsense!
"Do not be stupid." He addressed the girl. "This Sesshomaru would never fall for such a pathetic trick."

Suddenly, dry laughter resounded in the air, but neither Mai nor Sesshomaru could indentify its source. The girl came closer to the dog demon and he grabbed the hilt of Tenseiga, ready to attack the next opponent.

"It looks like you fell for my trick after all, boy." The voice of an old woman said, just as the eremite Shomyo materialized a few meters from the pair.

"You!" Sesshomaru hissed out, anger flaring in him. The demon tried to draw the sword, but Mai gripped his arm with her both hands, using all her human strength to stop him.

"Wait! Maybe we should listen to what she has to say!" the girl said quickly to the inu-youkai, who as always, was acting first and thinking later. Frowning, he ceased his attempt to unsheathe Tenseiga, but wasn't taking his hand off its hilt. The eremite grinned widely, seeing the scene.

"You should listen to this human girl more frequently, Sesshomaru." The old woman offered her advice. "From, what I saw, she is much better at thinking than you are. Actually, she was absolutely right. All of this was just a simple mind-trick. They say, that people will believe in something easily either when they want it to be true or they are most afraid of it to be true. As you were afraid of becoming weak, it was easier to hypnotize you, Sesshomaru."

Mai furrowed her brows, thinking, that playing such tricks on them was just too cruel – many times
she and Sesshomaru were on the brink of death, not to mention, that there were casualties – brave captain Harada, Chiyo's mother and many more.

"What was the point of all this?" the girl asked the eremite. Shomyo sighed.

"The trial, child, the trial. They aren't supposed to be easy, are they?" she answered Mai's question before turning to Sesshomaru. She shook her head with a look of dismay on her face. "Unfortunately I have to decline your request to strengthen your sword. I tried to help you a bit, but you failed my test."

Mai gawked at the eremite. To tell the truth, the commotion with Sesshomaru losing his powers made her forget, what was the point of all of this from the start. Right, he wanted to make Meidou bigger.

"You mean it's because he didn't reach Saga in time?" the girl couldn't resist and asked another question, before the dog demon had the chance to open his mouth. The old demoness shook her head.

"Of course not. Reaching that town had actually barely anything to do with the trial. It's the journey that counts, not its destination. Breaking the mental barrier between Sesshomaru and his youki required quite a lot of willpower. I wanted to see, what would be the reason of this – thirst for power or perhaps more noble intentions. I did my best to help you along the way, but all my efforts went to waste. So sad…" the youkai woman was talking, making a dismayed face.
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the eremite, still scowling.

"Help me?" he repeated Shomyo's words.

The old demoness nodded.

"Oh yes, I was very busy. I told the Echizen's soldiers, where their princess was, then I convinced young Maeda's maid to run away, so that you two could board the ship… Oh yes, in the meanwhile I paid the fox demon Ichizo a visit and told him the whereabouts of your wards. Making the crow demons chase the dragon and your servant right to you was quite a challenge, but I pulled it off as well. Everything, that you had to endure during the last twelve days was a part of the test. Well, except your last opponent – he came uninvited." She replied with a smile, observing the changes on her listeners' faces – Mai was getting paler, while Sesshomaru's vein on the neck began pulsing with fury. Nevertheless, Shomyo continued. "Sesshomaru, I gave you so many opportunities to break those invisible chains and release your youki to protect your precious humans, but you didn't manage to do so. In the end it was the pride and hatred for your own weakness, that broke the dam. You will never learn, will you?"

The dog demon's glare was so intense, that it seemed, that Shomyo would be burnt alive in a moment. However, the old eremite wasn't fazed by it at all – she was looking relaxed, even after admitting, that all those horribly dangerous situations were her doing. Come to think of that, it was kind of unnatural for so many catastrophes to strike within twelve days.

"So you decline to strengthen Tenseiga?" Sesshomaru asked, barely restraining his anger and frustration.

Shomyo sighed heavily and scratched her chin, not in a hurry to reply.

"As I said, you didn't pass the trial. You proved, that your strength is still the most important for you."
The eremite told the dog demon. She cast a quick glance at Mai, a quizzical smile appearing on her wrinkled lips. She looked at Sesshomaru again. "You sure have some personality defect, but perhaps there is still some hope for you. Keep that girl close. She's a little bit too small, but her hips will do."
Mai gawked at Shomyo, who was scanning her up and down.

"What do you mean?" the girl asked slowly, taking a step back and hiding herself along with her hips behind Sesshomaru.

Shomyo grinned.

"A woman needs good hips for delivering children, right?" the eremite said in an ultimate granny-like voice, making Mai's face turn red. The girl opened her mouth to protest, but Shomyo's words left her speechless. The demoness winked at Sesshomaru and dematerialized, leaving the pair behind.

"She is gone." The dog demon announced, irritation in his voice.

He was furious at the eremite both for making him endure the twelve torturous days and the fact, that Tenseiga's Meidou was still incomplete. Now he had to find another way to strengthen his blade. Yet first he had to retrieve his other servants. Thinking of servants…

"Woman." Sesshomaru addressed Mai.

The girl looked at him, the intense blush on her cheeks clearly visible even through the thick layer of the make-up. The dog demon frowned, seeing the carmine lips and the fake demon markings on her face. That was not how she was supposed to look like. He preferred to see her usual face. He gripped the woman's wrist and dragged her towards a fountain, or rather what used to be a fountain before the explosion. Mai tried to protest and free her wrist, but Sesshomaru stopped when they reached it.

"Wash your face." He commanded, pointing the water with his clawed finger. "And take this hideous attire off. It does not suit you."

Mai furrowed her brows, pissed, that the demonic asshole ordered her around just like that. She folded her arms.

"Don't tell me what to do. You don't own me." She snapped at her boss, defying him just for the principle.

Sesshomaru glared at the disobedient female. Her another act of defiance reminded him of the need to punish her for her escapade without his permission. He smirked at her, the sadistic look at his face. He flexed his fingers, as though he was readying himself to strangle her. His smile grew a bit, till he showed his sharp fangs.

"Sesshomaru?" Mai asked, seeing the sudden change in her boss. He looked slightly irritated a while before, but now he seemed to want to murder her. What the hell was wrong with that asshole?

"I told you I will punish you for leaving my side and stealing my steed, you insolent woman." The inu-youkai said calmly. Actually, it was this calmness in his voice, that scared Mai even more. Sesshomaru closed the distance between them in one long stride, looming over the terrified girl. She instantly mad a step back, to keep away from him.

"I did this for your and Rin's sake!" she defended herself, but the demon didn't seem to listen to her arguments.

"Your intentions are meaningless. Your disobedience is unacceptable." He said harshly, making a step forward, his eyes never leaving hers.

Mai stepped back, trying to keep some distance between them, but she didn't notice the fountain, that was right behind her. The girl tripped and fell back, landing in the water.

"Crap." She cursed loudly, pulling herself into the sitting position, wet from heads to toes. She spit the water out of her mouth and glared up at Sesshomaru, who was smirking, amusement all over his face.

"I suppose that it is your punishment." He stated, obviously having fun of her. "It is the perfect opportunity to wash your face as well."

Mai muttered another curse under her nose, pissed, that the demonic jerk Sesshomaru made her fall into the water. Damn asshole, he did that on purpose! She decided to make him listen, what was she thinking of him right now.

"You sadistic bastard! How could you!" She began fussing, but fell silent, as Sesshomaru sat on the edge of the fountain, a mischievous glint in his golden eyes. Crap, that was suspicious.

 "Will you manage to wash yourself on your own or do you need my assistance?" the dog demon asked, seeming all eager to help. Mai frowned, having an idea, how his help would look like. She had a preview on the ship – poor Akira had been nearly drowned.

"I'll manage." The girl muttered, glaring daggers at Sesshomaru, and began washing the thick make-up off her face.

The inu-youkai was observing his foolish woman. He should have punished her more severely, but he could not bring himself to mistreat her, even if it was justified. He doubted that he would be ever able to lift his hand on this troublesome female. Moreover, Sesshomaru was nearly sure, that if he punished her properly, she would become even more defiant instead of being a docile woman.
Once Mai was done, she clenched her fists. The girl stood up, her attire heavy from all that water. The cold wind was making her shiver.

"Look, what have you done! I'm all wet and I don't have any clothes for change!" she accused Sesshomaru for her miserable state. The dog demon arched his eyebrow, looking at her.

"I do not possess any spare clothes to borrow you." He retorted.

Mai sighed heavily. True, Sesshomaru was still in that shaggy kimono, that served as a disguise. If he took it off, he would be blinding her with his naked body and that was something, she wanted to avoid.

"It's autumn. I'll get pneumonia and die if I stay in those soaked clothes." She complained, angry, that she fell victim to her boss's vengeful games.

Sesshomaru furrowed his brows. True, she was only a weak human. He forgot how fragile they were. It would be a great misfortune if she died because of this innocent amusement.

"Turn around." He said, standing up.

Mai tilted her head.

"Eh? Why?" she asked, having no idea, what Sesshomaru planned.

"Obey me for once." He said impatiently.

"Okay." Mai answered unsurely, while turning around. She hoped, that she wouldn't fall prey to another of his idiotic pranks. She heard some rustling and then purple light flashed from behind her back. She cleared her throat. "Can I turn around now?"

She waited for Sesshomaru to reply, but heard barking instead. Very low barking. Hesitantly, she turned around and saw her boss in his true form. The huge white dog pointed with his paw on something before her. She looked down and noticed Sesshomaru's kimono laying on the edge of the fountain.

"Oh. Thanks" She muttered. So he borrowed her clothing after all. While transformed into the true form it didn't matter if he was running around with naked butt or not, but still… the thought was kind of disturbing. A shiver shook her body. "But don't peek!"

The ground shook slightly as Sesshomaru in the form of the gigantic dog whirled around and sat down, granting Mai some privacy. The girl crawled out of the fountain and looked at her surroundings, checking if there wasn't any peeping tom in the vicinity. Then, she pulled off the soaked clothes and swiftly put on the kimono. She winced, as it distinctively emitted the smell of Sesshomaru's sweat and blood. Well, she'd have to put up with that for a while. At least it was dry. She jogged to her boss and climbed on his back. Mai gripped the fur tighter, as the inu-youkai leapt into the sky. She winced, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe it was currently a big fluffy dog, but technically she was sitting on the naked man. She felt blood rushing to her face.




Author Note:

At last the end of the "spy-arc". It was quite long, wasn't it?
Okay, now I need your help. I want you to think for a second and tell me which part of the story was your favorite ("bond"-arc, ship-arc and so on) and which one was least favorite. I'd really use your opinion on that.
And of course I'm thanking you very much for the reviews and waiting for some more. I'm hugging all of you!