Chapter 29

A narrow escape




"A purifying arrow" the demon said quietly, averting his attention from Mai. The girl stayed plastered to the tree, without a clue, what should she do now.

"SESSHOMARU!" she heard a yell and saw a young man leaping from between the trees.

The man was clad in bright red haori and hakama. His hair were white and the eyes golden – just as Sesshomaru's. The girl noticed, that instead of regular ears, the newcomer had dog ears atop his head! As he yelled, she saw sharp fangs. There was a resemblance between the man and Sesshomaru – as though the both were related. Mai felt a spark of hope lighten up in her heart, as he deduced, who the man was.

 "Inuyasha!" she screamed. The young man made a surprised face, when she called his name.

Sesshomaru gave her a sharp look over his shoulder. Scared Mai plastered herself flatly against the tree. The demon looked back at the hanyou and drew Tokijin.

"So you came, Inuyasha." The demon stated. The half demon frowned and ripped his sword from the sheath. Mai gasped as the rusty blade immediately transformed into a larger shape. It's Tessaiga - she thought, remembering the name of the sword, which cut Sesshomaru's arm off.

"Leave her alone, Sesshomaru!" shouted Inuyasha, assuming the battle stance and glaring angrily at the demon.

The youkai snorted.

"Always defending pathetic humans – as expected from a hanyou." The demon responded, saying the last word in a mocking tone. Inuyasha gritted his teeth. He grabbed Tessaiga tighter. Sesshomaru smirked and lifted Tokijin. The sword's evil youki began to swirl around the sword. The hanyou grinned, planning to use his instant kill attack, and lifted his blade.
 
"Inuyasha! Don't use Bakuryuuha!" shouted a woman's voice. "You'll kill the girl!"

Mai noticed, that the voice belonged to a woman, who flew by on a big cat. She had her hair gathered in a ponytail and wore a tight suit. In her hand she held a huge boomerang. Behind her were sitting two more people, but Mai couldn't make out their faces, as the cat vanished behind the trees.

"SOURYUUHA!" suddenly Sesshomaru yelled, sending a wave of energy towards Inuyasha. The red clad hanyou leapt into the air, avoiding the attack in the last moment.

"Hn." Sesshomaru looked at his brother scornfully. "You will not attack, because you fear for the human's life? How pathetic."

Inuyasha scowled, feeling helpless. He was unable to approach Sesshomaru and lure him away from Kagome's friend. If it continues, the bastard will beat a crap out of him. If only he could be distracted…

Mai watched the display of the emotions on Sesshomaru's brother's face. She realized, that he won't manage to attack or defend himself, if she could be hurt. It would be helpful to distract the demon, at least for the second.

She blinked her eyes and stared at Inuyasha, till she caught eye-contact. She tried to get him to understand, that she will distract the youkai. Unfortunately, the hanyou wasn't very sharp and looked baffled. Mai sighed inwardly.

"Sesshomaru, you sadistic asshole!" she screamed suddenly at the top of her lungs. As expected, the youkai whirled around swiftly to her, showing his back to Inuyasha. Mai yelped, when she saw Sesshomaru baring his fangs at her, but his brother came just in time. The hanyou closed the distance between himself and his opponent in one jump, swinging his sword at him. The demon whirled around, blocking the blow with Tokijin.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" yelled Inuyasha. Mai gasped, realizing, that she was standing here like an idiot. Instantly, she darted from Sesshomaru. The demon parried Inuyasha's Tessaiga and wanted to chase after the girl, but the half-demon got in his way again. The angered youkai suddenly threw Tokijin in Mai's direction. The girl tripped, as the sword pinned the sleeve of her kimono to the tree. Inuyasha's eyes followed the movement of the blade, so he couldn't dodge Sesshomaru's poisoned claws in time. The demon blinded the hanyou with poisonous gas. Inuyasha staggered backwards, rubbing his eyes. Then Sesshomaru attacked. The half-demon instinctively dodged, but couldn't repeat it, as the older of brothers pierced his hand right through Inuyasha's ribcage.
Mai gasped in horror at the sight, sure, that the demon killed the man, who should have been her savior. The girl observed, as Sesshomaru ripped the hand from his brother's limp body and turned to Mai. She still struggled with her sleeve, pinned to the tree, and the demon was slowly stalking towards her. She felt panic welling in her. He was getting closer!



Suddenly, she saw an arrow, engulfed in the bright light, flying towards Sesshomaru. The demon caught it easily between his fingers and snapped in half.

"Do not interfere, miko." the irritated youkai said. Mai took the chance, that someone distracted him and pulled the sleeve. The fabric ripped, freeing the girl.

"Step back, Sesshomaru!" called the woman's voice. Mai widened her eyes, recognizing this voice. It couldn't be! She looked for the source of the voice. Not so far from her stood a girl in her school's uniform, holding a bow, ready to shoot. When Mai looked at her face, she gave out a cry of surprise.
"Kagome?" she asked slowly, wondering how it is possible, that she was just seeing his friend here, in flesh. Or maybe it was an illusion... She kept staring at the girl.

"Mai, come here! I'm covering you!" She called.

"Eh?" Mai muttered, confused, but she nodded and took off towards the girl. In that moment Sesshomaru leapt forward and Kagome released the arrow. The demon jumped sideways to avoid the attack. He was about to continue the pursuit, when a blinding wave of yellow energy came at him from the side. Sesshomaru dodged the blow, but he had to jump further from his prey.

Mai turned her head. There stood Inuyasha, wielding Tessaiga. The hanyou was covered in blood and was panting heavily.

"How's that Sesshomaru?" he mocked the older brother. The demon snorted in response and glared at him. The demon shot a glance towards Tokijin, that was still stuck in the tree. Inuyasha noticed that and positioned himself so, that he was in the way between the inu youkai and both his weapon and the two girls.

"Hn." Sesshomaru responded. "Do you think you can stand a chance against me?"

The demon rushed to attack Inuyasha from the side.

"KAZE NO KIZU!" yelled the hanyou and sent his blow in the direction of Sesshomaru. It didn't hit him though. Inuyasha gasped in surprised, as he noticed, that the demon mislead him and leapt over him, reaching for Tokijin. Armed again, Sesshomaru attacked hanyou, who barely managed to whirl around in time to parry the blow. Inuyasha looked at Kagome over his shoulder.

"Kagome! Take her and go home!"

Kagome nodded.

"Okay!" she shouted back and grabbed Mai's wrist. The girl stared at her friend's face still not believing, that she was here.

"Mai, move!" Kagome shouted and pulled her hand. "We have to run!"

Then, the girls heard Inuyasha yelp in surprise, when Sesshomaru managed to disarm the hanyou and
sent him flying into a tree. Mai didn't wait for anything else. She let herself be dragged behind
Kagome, as the two girls darted through the forest.

The demon rushed after them, but was interrupted by a huge boomerang, that came from the sky. He stopped to parry it and the boomerang returned to its owner. The demon slayer Sango caught it. The monk, who was sitting on Kirara behind the woman, unfastened the prayer beads from his right arm.
"Go, Kagome-sama!" he cried. "We'll slow him down!"

Kagome nodded and took off, still holding Mai by her wrist. The girls were running between the trees at a full speed. The sounds of the battle could be heard, but neither Kagome nor Mai looked back. They found themselves on a clearing with a well in the middle of it.

"Don't stop!" Kagome shouted, noticing, that the girl slowed down. She dragged Mai towards the well.

"Kagome!" screamed Mai, when she saw Sesshomaru appearing on the opposite side of the clearing. She wanted to turn around and run in the other direction, but Kagome was determined not to let go and ran straight at him. There was a well between the girls and their pursuer.

"I know what I'm doing!" shouted Kagome and picked up the speed. Sesshomaru smirked, seeing the prey was running to him by itself.

Then, Kagome jumped right into the well, dragging Mai behind her. Before she was pulled into the well, she saw Sesshomaru darting towards her and as she was about to hit the bottom of the well, she was blinded by a flash of the yellow light.

"KAZE NO KIZU!"



Mai prepared herself for the hard landing, but no such thing happened. Instead, an eerie light engulfed her and she was feeling, as though she was floating, with Kagome still gripping her wrist. Then the both girls gently landed on the bottom of the well. Mai lifted her head, looking for any sign of Sesshomaru, but saw, that something was not right. She couldn't see a sky above. Mai looked at her friend, who also had her head lifted. Kagome looked at her friend and smiled.

"It looks like we made it." She said.




.THE END
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I hope, that you're satisfied with the ending. I'd like to thank you once more for reading till the end of the story.
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Umm… you didn't believe it, did you? That was only a joke. It's not the ending, rather more like a beginning. Stay tuned for the next chapters (at least twice as much) and find out, what will happen to Mai and Sesshomaru.
And review!