Summary: Kagome loses her ability to sense the Shikon jewel shards and begins to question her usefullness. OH NOES!!!
Chapter 1: The Shubaki shrine
"I don't like this, it's too quiet." He said, caution accenting his voice.
Inuyasha reached out and touched the cold wet stone to his right. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air. Kagome didn't like it either. They had come to the Shubaki shrine after she had sensed a jewel shard nearby. Now, however, she was beginning to think that they had come to the wrong place. The moment they had entered this place, the jewel shard's aura had seemed to simply vanish.
That's not possible. She thought to herself. The jewel shard couldn't have just disappeared.
The Shubaki shrine was actually more of a cave than a shrine. In fact, the shrine was actually set inside of a mountain! The villagers had carved out the face of the rock long ago using primitive dynamite and picks. It had been part of an expedition set into action by Nobunaga himself. When the dig team had reached the core of the mountain, they found a chamber made of solid crystal. At the far end of the chamber sat a large pool of water. Floating above was a wolf-like deity who revealed himself as Shubaki. No one had ever dared to excavate the mountain again. Instead, the built a shrine over the body of water and made sacrifices to Shubaki 4 times a year to ensure the peace and prosperity of their village.
Now, as they made their way towards the core, Kagome felt a dread creep slowly through her body. Her feet had begun to feel heavy and the feeling was beginning to rise up her legs. She looked back to see how Sango and Miroku were doing. They each wore the same expression of uneasiness. Shippo, who was riding on Kagome's shoulder, shivered.
"H-hey you g-guys," he said nervously, "I think w-we should t-turn b-back."
Inuyasha looked back and frowned. "Humph! If you wanna wuss out and leave then do it. I don't have time to babysit you."
Shippo shivered again and clung tighter to Kagome's shoulder. Kagome couldn't help but agree with Shippo. Something wasn't right and all of them knew it.
How long until we discover what it is? She thought.
She looked ahead and saw the tunnel begin to widen. She shielded her eyes as she walked through an archway into a large chamber. When, she lowered her hand she gasped. The walls were made of solid crystal. Every color imaginable danced and glinted around them. Not only that, but all of the walls were smooth as if some one had taken a giant rock and rubbed all of the walls until there were no imperfections. She followed the walls up about 80 feet to the ceiling which was also smooth and had no stalactites hanging from it anywhere. Them, something on the other end of the chamber sparkled and she turned her gaze towards it. It was a large pool rippling water. When she got closer, however, she noticed that the water was perfectly still. The colors from the walls were reflecting off the surface causing the illusion of movement. When she reached the waters edge, she peered down into it.
That's funny She thought How can I see the bottom so clearly when its constantly changing colors?
Shippo looked over Kagome's shoulders too, but he couldn't see into the water at all. "Hey Kagome, what do you think is at the bottom of this?" He asked.
Kagome looked back at him in shock. "What do you mean?" she asked, "You can see the bottom right there."
Shippo stared hard at the water, trying to see it. Try as he might, though, he just couldn't see anything aside from a bunch of pretty swirling colors.
"Um, you must be looking at it differently." he said confused, "I can't see anything."
"Nor I." Sango agreed, now at the shore too.
Next to her Miroku sighed. "I must admit that I too fail to see anything in this body of water." The monk said resignedly.
Kagome looked at them confused. "What do you mean you can't see it?" she asked, "I can see it perfectly! Its only about 6 feet down."
That's because they are spiritually weak my dear! a voice suddenly boomed inside Kagome's head.
She gasped and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. The others looked at her confused.
"What is it Kagome? Is something wrong?" Sango asked with concern.
"Didn't you guys hear that voice just now?" She responded.
Miroku blinked. "A voice? I didn't hear anything." he said.
"You're probably just hearing things Kagome." Inuyasha assured her, "Just calm down so we can find the jewel shard."
Kagome nodded slowly, feeling slightly annoyed.
That voice seemed to real for me to have imagined it. She thought quietly Am I going crazy or something? No, your not crazy. the voice said again. I'm real but only you can hear me. You can sense the jewel shards. I could make use of that. I think I'll take your powers! The chamber began to shake violently around them. Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha began to run towards the archway.
Inuyasha turned back to see why Kagome wasn't right behind him. "Run Kagome!" he shouted.
Kagome began to run but a fresh shockwave caused her heels to slip on the loose gravel at the shore. She could feel herself falling backwards and she saw Shippo leap off of her shoulder. She breathed in and held it as her back hit the water's surface. She splashed into the pool and felt herself sinking. At first, she wasn't worried because she figured that she would reach the bottom quickly. However, she didn't stop submerging she began to worry. She looked up and saw Inuyasha standing at the surface looking in. He shrank as she fell deeper into the water. Eventually, she couldn't see him anymore, and then, she began to panic. She was running out of air and didn't know if she could reach the surface in time. Her lungs began to burn as she tried to swim back up. Unfortunately, there was a very strong current that prevented her from gaining any distance upwards. Her lungs began to scream and she kicked frantically not wanting to die. She could feel herself being slowly pushed downward. She thought her chest was going to explode and she began to get desperate. Is this really how I'm gonna go? she thought as her vision began to grow hazy and she fought the growing weariness. Her efforts proved futile as she blacked out.
Inuyasha looked desperately into the water but he couldn't see anything. He began to pull of his kimono intent on jumping in after her. Shippo grabbed his leg in an effort to stop him.
He looked down at the small fox demon and snarled. "Get offa me!"
Shippo clung to his leg tighter. "No Inuyasha! You don't know how deep it is! What if you can't reach her in time and you drown too?!"
Inuyasha shook his leg, violently trying to dislodge Shippo. "Well I can't just sit here and do nothing can I?" he yelled angrily.
Shippo finally lost his grip and flew away as Inuyasha kicked him off. He then removed his shirt and squatted, preparing to dive in after Kagome. He leapt towards the water with his hands in front of him like in a swan dive. However, his face connected with the surface of the water with a loud thud.
"What the?!" he said in surprise.
He closed his hand into a fist and knocked on the surface which was now as hard as ice.
He sat up confused and began to claw at the ice. When he didn't leave a scratch, he withdrew his tetsuaiga. It grew into a falchion as it left the sheath with a flash of golden light. He held the blade in front of him with his eyes closed. He breathed in and exhaled slowly. A visible wind began to wind its way around his weapon and he slowly raised it above his head. He opened his eyes and swung the word downwards with all his might.
"Wind scar!" he exclaimed as the sharp edge of the tetsuaiga sank into the ground.
Golden waves of energy shot forward, ripping through the ground like it was wet paper. When they reached the ice, they shot upwards. Inuyasha waited for the light to fade and saw that his wind scar had been deflected by a barrier. He pulled the tetsuaiga out of the ground and held it low in front of him again. This time, the blade turned blood red. He raised his word once more and unleashed the wind scar. Again, it was deflected by the barrier. Inuyasha growled angrily and swung his sword holding out to his side. The blade became layered and it shone like a diamond.
He swung the sword over his head and brought it down. "Adamant barrage!" he shouted.
Spikes made of pure diamond sped towards the barrier, but they too were ineffective as they ricocheted away harmlessly. Inuyasha growled again as he glared at the fading image of the barrier. In rage he charged the barrier and leapt into the air.
"Kagome!" he yelled as he swung the tetsuaiga.
He remained suspended in the air for a moment before he was propelled backwards by the force of the barrier's magic.
He landed on his back and slid for a few feet. He raised his head to look at the ice.. "Damn it! Kagome!!!" he yelled.
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