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Inuyasha, "Next Generation: Shiori Chronicles" Chapter 20 | Unsettling Victory" Shiori, Kohaku | PG
Fandom: Inuyasha
Title: Next Generation: Shiori Chronicles
Chapter Title: Unsettling Victory
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Shiori, Kohaku, (slight Kohaku/Shiori)
Rating: PG
(Chapter) Word Count: 1,470
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Warnings: None
Notes: Post-manga.Continuation to my "Shiori Chronicles". This is the 21st installment. Written for the "One-shot #36: "Never interupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon Bonaparte." theme at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
iy_unsung_heros. You can find the previous chapters at my archive HERE.
Summary: A teenage Shiori wants to do something more with her life, and everything changes when she meets a traveling pack of pacifist bat youkai, as well as a handsome demon slayer.
Chapter Summary: Shiori and Kohaku take the evil priestess on in battle and expose not only her weakness but another startling source of her power.
Shiori stares into the eyes of their enemy, the dark priestess Azuna, and suddenly she wonders if she will come out of this alive. She believes in the scepter, but she wonders if she believes in herself. She knows Kohaku believes in her, and although that should be enough, she knows it’s not.
She wants something else from Kohaku, but she’s always suspected he will not give it to her.
She feels the scepter pulsate in her hand before the batter. Demon energy is cloying around her senses like a rising fog of evil. She can feel Kohaku’s tension beside her.
Shiori knows he’s a wonderful youkai slayer. She knows they might have a fighting chance. The scepter begins to burn against her palm.
“Ready?” he asks her. She nods, and puts aside her emotions for this moment.She knows she may not win, but she knows she has to, for the sake of many people she cares about: Kai, Shinta, and the Bat Youkai - as well as all the youkai and humans affected by this priestess.
She does it not just for them, but for her mother as well. Idly, her thoughts dwell on her mother for awhile. Shiori misses her, wishes she could have had a chance to say goodbye again, and hopes her mother is caught in a safe, peaceful moment - doing one of her favorite things like shopping in the market or tending to her garden.
“Focus,” Kohaku says, bringing her out of her happy place. Shiori listens, and she watches as he charges forward.
She inhales a deep breath, and the scepter is vibrating in her grip. An idea strikes her, and she holds the staff aloft, looking to the sky. Bright light explodes from her hands and down the scepter, shooting a starburst in the sky around them. A dome of starlight burns and then turns red like Shiori’s eyes. Shiori’s dome umbrellas around Kohaku and Shiori, as well as Azuna and one soldier from her army, a brainwashed bird youkai with bright coral hair. The rest of her army pushes at the dome shield, desperate and angry to get inside. Shiori’s magic, however, is much too strong and doesn’t waver.
Azuna does not look pleased that Shiori has trapped them away from her goons. She meets Shiori’s determined eyes.
“Girl!” she snarls at her. “You think you can stop me this way?”
“Yes, you weren’t playing fair. Now, we can finish this fight - two against two. When we finish with you, then I’m sure that army out there will be no trouble,” Shiori said.
“How dare you even think you can defeat me!” Azuna bellows.
“Well, I’ve defeated worse,” Kohaku says, and he charges for her. He dodges a blast of spiritual energy from Azuna as her soldier leaps for him. Kohaku taunts him. “You send your lackey to fight me? A mere bird demon?”
“Quiet, fool!” the bird demon lashes at him, and Kohaku dodges his attacks as he tries to claw him with large sharp white talons. Shiori watches briefly in the corner of her eye, knowing that Kohaku is toying with him enough to expose the demon’s weakness, as well as watching his moves.
Azuna, however, turns her attention on Shiori. Sending a blast her way, Shiori runs to her right to avoid it. She stares at Azuna as she runs, matching her blast from one from the scepter. Shiori watches the dome waver a bit as she concentrates on keeping it up. She keeps her thoughts clear and strong, keeping the shield up as long as she can while still using her strength in fighting the dark priestess.
Soon, Azuna has enough of standing around shooting a moving target, so she comes after Shiori with a loud wail and tries to grab her scepter. Shiori squeaks in surprise as she dodges the priestess’s outstretched hands, grazing against the top of her scepter. Panicking, Shiori goes on the defensive - pulling the scepter back, and then swinging it at her. Shiori puts all her weight into the swing, and manages to hit something with a crack.
She hears a wail come out of Azuna’s throat.
“My face! My beautiful face!” she screams at Shiori. Shiori directs her gaze to Azuna to see what the fuss is about. When she’s swung her scepter to defend herself from Azuna’s oncoming assault, the woman doesn’t think to dodge at all, probably too prideful to think Shiori can even manage to touch her. Luckily, Shiori’s swing has proved Azuna’s initial assumptions of Shiori are wrong as the scepter leaves a horizontal burn mark from the miko’s right cheek, over her nose, and then to her left cheek.
She’s still double over on the ground, howling with anger when Shiori realizes Azuna’s vanity has paused her attack for the moment, leaving her vulnerable. Shiori catches Kohaku’s eye, as Azuna’s own minion is stunned by Shiori’s hit, and when she sees the slayer nod at her, Shiori swings again.
Azuna looks up with surprise, only to be whacked again with the end of Shiori’s burning hot scepter. The scepter touches the miko’s forehead this time - which causes her to bellow out the most unsettling, scratching screams ever. Shiori steps back and winces.
She looks over at Azuna, whose face not only has a large burn slash on it, but her forehead has a large crack down the center. Inside the crack, Shiori sees nothing but a dark purple pit within the miko’s skull. Gaseous power rises like steam through the crack, coiling around the air like a wayward specter.
Shiori ducks as the dark purple gas comes after her. She screams, holding up her scepter in defense. The gas pulls away from the power of her scepter and coils backward, shooting upward into the blue skies.
“What the hell was that?” Kohaku calls to her. He’s already defeated Azuna’s youkai minion, now a pile of black dust at his feet.
Shiori doesn’t answer, and instead she looks at Azuna’s crumpled form. She’s dead and defeated, but when Shiori pulls her body back, she is curious about the distressed look on the priestesses face.
“She may have been vain - as a priestess and as a foe, but I think she wasn’t totally evil,” Shiori says, and she waves her scepter over Azuna’s body. She closes her eyes and feels an onslaught of images over her mind. She feels Azuna’s terror at one point, encountering a youkai she was supposed to defeat. Instead, the demon possesses her, taking residence in her skull.
But the youkai is one Shiori has never seen.
“You mean she was being controlled by that gas thing? Kind of like how Naraku was full of miasma,” Kohaku supposes. He turns around and sees Shiori’s shield fading. All of the youkai in Azuna’s control is lying on the ground unconscious. Some of them are probably dead, Kohaku muses, depending upon the miko’s lasting influence. The rest will be mentally traumatized by her control for the rest of their lives.
“Like that, but it feels different,” she says. “This youkai inside Azuna’s head doesn’t seem intelligent, but it’s really powerful -- and it feels like it’s almost...growing.” Shiori looks worriedly at the skies where the gas youkai has escaped.
“It feels less like a youkai, Kohaku, and more...more like a disease,” she says.
“A disease?” Kohaku says, furrowing her brow.
“Yes. And I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ve seen of it,” Shiori says, and she looks down at Azuna’s body mournfully. “I’m afraid whatever it used to be, it changed when it came in contact with Azuna’s miko power. It feels like it was something else beforehand, something not as threatening, but definitely as sinister.”
Kohaku nods, and Shiori watches him ponder for a moment. Suddenly, she watches as he pulls out a large machete that he straps to his back, and lops off Azuna’s head. Shiori gasps, surprised byhis behavior.
“What is that for? She’s already dead!” Shiori scolds him, wondering about the consequences of disturbing the dead - especially the body of a priestess.
“Don’t worry,” Kohaku explains. “I’m going to bring it back to the village and study it as much as I can before it rots. I want Kaede-sama to see this, as well as the others. Maybe my sister and her friends have an idea on what this is. Eventually, if this threat is as open as you say it is, I’m going to need their help.”
Shiori nods, watching as Kohaku slips the priestess’s decapitated head into a special sack. The two of them survey the damage of the battle, and with one mutual look, they walk side by side back to their camp to reunite with Kai and Shinta.
Title: Next Generation: Shiori Chronicles
Chapter Title: Unsettling Victory
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Shiori, Kohaku, (slight Kohaku/Shiori)
Rating: PG
(Chapter) Word Count: 1,470
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Warnings: None
Notes: Post-manga.Continuation to my "Shiori Chronicles". This is the 21st installment. Written for the "One-shot #36: "Never interupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon Bonaparte." theme at
iy_unsung_heros. You can find the previous chapters at my archive HERE. Summary: A teenage Shiori wants to do something more with her life, and everything changes when she meets a traveling pack of pacifist bat youkai, as well as a handsome demon slayer.
Chapter Summary: Shiori and Kohaku take the evil priestess on in battle and expose not only her weakness but another startling source of her power.
Shiori stares into the eyes of their enemy, the dark priestess Azuna, and suddenly she wonders if she will come out of this alive. She believes in the scepter, but she wonders if she believes in herself. She knows Kohaku believes in her, and although that should be enough, she knows it’s not.
She wants something else from Kohaku, but she’s always suspected he will not give it to her.
She feels the scepter pulsate in her hand before the batter. Demon energy is cloying around her senses like a rising fog of evil. She can feel Kohaku’s tension beside her.
Shiori knows he’s a wonderful youkai slayer. She knows they might have a fighting chance. The scepter begins to burn against her palm.
“Ready?” he asks her. She nods, and puts aside her emotions for this moment.She knows she may not win, but she knows she has to, for the sake of many people she cares about: Kai, Shinta, and the Bat Youkai - as well as all the youkai and humans affected by this priestess.
She does it not just for them, but for her mother as well. Idly, her thoughts dwell on her mother for awhile. Shiori misses her, wishes she could have had a chance to say goodbye again, and hopes her mother is caught in a safe, peaceful moment - doing one of her favorite things like shopping in the market or tending to her garden.
“Focus,” Kohaku says, bringing her out of her happy place. Shiori listens, and she watches as he charges forward.
She inhales a deep breath, and the scepter is vibrating in her grip. An idea strikes her, and she holds the staff aloft, looking to the sky. Bright light explodes from her hands and down the scepter, shooting a starburst in the sky around them. A dome of starlight burns and then turns red like Shiori’s eyes. Shiori’s dome umbrellas around Kohaku and Shiori, as well as Azuna and one soldier from her army, a brainwashed bird youkai with bright coral hair. The rest of her army pushes at the dome shield, desperate and angry to get inside. Shiori’s magic, however, is much too strong and doesn’t waver.
Azuna does not look pleased that Shiori has trapped them away from her goons. She meets Shiori’s determined eyes.
“Girl!” she snarls at her. “You think you can stop me this way?”
“Yes, you weren’t playing fair. Now, we can finish this fight - two against two. When we finish with you, then I’m sure that army out there will be no trouble,” Shiori said.
“How dare you even think you can defeat me!” Azuna bellows.
“Well, I’ve defeated worse,” Kohaku says, and he charges for her. He dodges a blast of spiritual energy from Azuna as her soldier leaps for him. Kohaku taunts him. “You send your lackey to fight me? A mere bird demon?”
“Quiet, fool!” the bird demon lashes at him, and Kohaku dodges his attacks as he tries to claw him with large sharp white talons. Shiori watches briefly in the corner of her eye, knowing that Kohaku is toying with him enough to expose the demon’s weakness, as well as watching his moves.
Azuna, however, turns her attention on Shiori. Sending a blast her way, Shiori runs to her right to avoid it. She stares at Azuna as she runs, matching her blast from one from the scepter. Shiori watches the dome waver a bit as she concentrates on keeping it up. She keeps her thoughts clear and strong, keeping the shield up as long as she can while still using her strength in fighting the dark priestess.
Soon, Azuna has enough of standing around shooting a moving target, so she comes after Shiori with a loud wail and tries to grab her scepter. Shiori squeaks in surprise as she dodges the priestess’s outstretched hands, grazing against the top of her scepter. Panicking, Shiori goes on the defensive - pulling the scepter back, and then swinging it at her. Shiori puts all her weight into the swing, and manages to hit something with a crack.
She hears a wail come out of Azuna’s throat.
“My face! My beautiful face!” she screams at Shiori. Shiori directs her gaze to Azuna to see what the fuss is about. When she’s swung her scepter to defend herself from Azuna’s oncoming assault, the woman doesn’t think to dodge at all, probably too prideful to think Shiori can even manage to touch her. Luckily, Shiori’s swing has proved Azuna’s initial assumptions of Shiori are wrong as the scepter leaves a horizontal burn mark from the miko’s right cheek, over her nose, and then to her left cheek.
She’s still double over on the ground, howling with anger when Shiori realizes Azuna’s vanity has paused her attack for the moment, leaving her vulnerable. Shiori catches Kohaku’s eye, as Azuna’s own minion is stunned by Shiori’s hit, and when she sees the slayer nod at her, Shiori swings again.
Azuna looks up with surprise, only to be whacked again with the end of Shiori’s burning hot scepter. The scepter touches the miko’s forehead this time - which causes her to bellow out the most unsettling, scratching screams ever. Shiori steps back and winces.
She looks over at Azuna, whose face not only has a large burn slash on it, but her forehead has a large crack down the center. Inside the crack, Shiori sees nothing but a dark purple pit within the miko’s skull. Gaseous power rises like steam through the crack, coiling around the air like a wayward specter.
Shiori ducks as the dark purple gas comes after her. She screams, holding up her scepter in defense. The gas pulls away from the power of her scepter and coils backward, shooting upward into the blue skies.
“What the hell was that?” Kohaku calls to her. He’s already defeated Azuna’s youkai minion, now a pile of black dust at his feet.
Shiori doesn’t answer, and instead she looks at Azuna’s crumpled form. She’s dead and defeated, but when Shiori pulls her body back, she is curious about the distressed look on the priestesses face.
“She may have been vain - as a priestess and as a foe, but I think she wasn’t totally evil,” Shiori says, and she waves her scepter over Azuna’s body. She closes her eyes and feels an onslaught of images over her mind. She feels Azuna’s terror at one point, encountering a youkai she was supposed to defeat. Instead, the demon possesses her, taking residence in her skull.
But the youkai is one Shiori has never seen.
“You mean she was being controlled by that gas thing? Kind of like how Naraku was full of miasma,” Kohaku supposes. He turns around and sees Shiori’s shield fading. All of the youkai in Azuna’s control is lying on the ground unconscious. Some of them are probably dead, Kohaku muses, depending upon the miko’s lasting influence. The rest will be mentally traumatized by her control for the rest of their lives.
“Like that, but it feels different,” she says. “This youkai inside Azuna’s head doesn’t seem intelligent, but it’s really powerful -- and it feels like it’s almost...growing.” Shiori looks worriedly at the skies where the gas youkai has escaped.
“It feels less like a youkai, Kohaku, and more...more like a disease,” she says.
“A disease?” Kohaku says, furrowing her brow.
“Yes. And I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ve seen of it,” Shiori says, and she looks down at Azuna’s body mournfully. “I’m afraid whatever it used to be, it changed when it came in contact with Azuna’s miko power. It feels like it was something else beforehand, something not as threatening, but definitely as sinister.”
Kohaku nods, and Shiori watches him ponder for a moment. Suddenly, she watches as he pulls out a large machete that he straps to his back, and lops off Azuna’s head. Shiori gasps, surprised byhis behavior.
“What is that for? She’s already dead!” Shiori scolds him, wondering about the consequences of disturbing the dead - especially the body of a priestess.
“Don’t worry,” Kohaku explains. “I’m going to bring it back to the village and study it as much as I can before it rots. I want Kaede-sama to see this, as well as the others. Maybe my sister and her friends have an idea on what this is. Eventually, if this threat is as open as you say it is, I’m going to need their help.”
Shiori nods, watching as Kohaku slips the priestess’s decapitated head into a special sack. The two of them survey the damage of the battle, and with one mutual look, they walk side by side back to their camp to reunite with Kai and Shinta.