Mikado blinked at the little bird, and looked at Izumi, "You never did tell me where you got that, you know."
Izumi smiled, "Aratok gave me that, from his world."
The two women were seated in Izumi's room, around a table, kneeling on cushions. The table had papers scattered all over it, scrolls and maps, diagrams and letters. Extra papers and scrolls were scattered around on the floor. It was an odd mess, compared to the tidy room the Senmin occupied. The bird theme in Izumi's room even extended to the tiles on the floor, various birds in various poses. Wall hangings, paintings, sculptures and ink drawings, all depicted birds, in various multi-hued poses. Although there were some exotic birds there, and birds of prey, the majority of the bird species were common wrens and simple sparrows.
On a seperate table, a teapot stood steaming, and two ceramic cups waited to be filled. Pastries sat on a plate, looking warm and inviting.
Mikado cast the pastries a longing look, and then hung her head, sighing, "This is going to take forever."
"We don't have forever, dear," Izumi smiled. She cast a look at the teapot, then back to her "student".
"I think, however, we can break for lunch, if you wish."
"Oh thank the Goddess!" Mikado exclaimed, lunging up onto her feet and moving towards the second table, kneeling to pour, "I'm starving!"
Izumi followed her friend, kneeling opposite, and thankfully taking a cup Mikado had poured for her, "I would have thought you enjoyed pouring over those maps, Mikado. Military musings are more your thing."
Mikado took a deep gulp of the tea, "Yeah, but there are so many. I have to memorize them all?"
Izumi sipped her tea, choosing a pastry from the plate, "Yes."
"It's impossible!" Mikado wailed, tugging lightly on a braid in despair.
"I've done it."
"You've had longer to do it!" Mikado complained, chomping on a pastry.
"Don't chew like that, dear," Izumi laughed, "You look like you're angry at your food."
Mikado sighed.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, then the younger woman spoke again, "All of them?"
"Yes."
A hearty sigh.
"Mikado, we don't know where Keimetsu is going to launch his main attack. We don't know when, and we don't know where."
"We don't know much. Why does he get to choose where to attack, anyway?"
Izumi spoke gently, "It was one of the rules both he and Mother Amaterasu agreed on. He is the invader...the invasion will come at his time and place. In return, we were given a list of the places where that attack might be. Not enough that we could set up an army at every place, but enough that we can at least be familiar with them."
They ate in silence for a little longer.
Again, Mikado was the one that broke the silence.
"So how's InuYasha?"
Izumi closed her eyes, sighing, and Mikado wished she hadn't asked.
Izumi spoke gently, "Better now, I imagine. Kagome promised me she would let me know if he was in need of anything. When I felt the attack on his spirit, I came running as fast as I could. Thank goodness his friends were already showing up."
Mikado studied a pastry for a second, then spoke softly, "I'm sorry, Izumi."
"Hmm?" Izumi looked at Mikado, confused, brushing back her bangs from her face, "For?"
Mikado spoke gently, "You're stuck in the middle of all this, aren't you? You were supposed to just be an advisor to InuYasha and his friends. But you came to care for InuYasha's parents...and now you care for him, and his friends. It must be hard, having to leave when things are going hard for them."
There was silence. Only the soft clicking of the mechanical bird could be heard, as gears inside counted down another minute to it's next appointed chime. Mikado looked up at Izumi.
Izumi was looking down into her tea, and her face was pale, her eyes dark.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."
"It's alright," Izumi smiled softly at the other woman, "You are right, of course. It is hard. I want to be able to sit them down and tell them so much...show them things that they are supposed to learn on their own. InuYasha is not a child, and he certainly wouldn't appreciate me treating him as one. But I do wish I could just take him by the hand and lead him through everything, personally."
She sighed.
Mikado took another pastry, and bit into it, peering into the center for a second. She spoke again.
"Hey...Izumi?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Things are getting close, aren't they?"
"Close?"
"Well, I mean....we can't see ahead like we used to be able to. Centuries ago, we could see years and years ahead. Now it's all a jumbled mess. I mean, there's supposed to be someone else who's going to join Keimetsu, isn't there? Someone really powerful. But we don't even have a clue when they're going to show up, do we?" Mikado suddenly blinked, and looked at Izumi, "Or do we?"
Izumi smiled wanly, "I don't, if that's what you're asking. Though I confess...it worries me. Their side has so many powerful people already. For one more to show..."
"And we're still missing the other Handmaiden."
Izumi nodded.
They settled once more into silence, each caught in their own thoughts for a few minutes, when yet again, it was Mikado that spoke.
"How are you, Izumi?"
Izumi blinked, looking up, "Me?"
"Yes, you."
"I'm fine, dear! Why on earth would you ask?"
"You seem...pale lately. You have ever since you came back that night, so weak....and you won't tell me what happened either!"
Izumi chuckled softly, "Leave me my secrets, Mikado. Every woman has them."
Mikado sighed.
Izumi finished her tea, and before Mikado could offer, Izumi poured herself another. She cupped her hands around the ceramic cup, breathing in the aromatic steam, eyes closed for a second.
Opening her eyes, she gazed down at her reflection in the cup, a pale face looking back at her with tired eyes.
Mikado is right. I look tired. I need to rest more.
Images came to her, unbidden.
InuYasha, sprawled on his back by the well, a strange aura of power and desperation clinging to him. She had knelt, and rested him back upon her, resting his head upon her lap, and looked down into his face, trying to reach him through his thoughts. But the anger and despair she had sensed had been like a wall, blocking her.
Not surprisingly, it had been Kagome's voice that seemed to reach him, her voice that seemed to drag him back up from the darkness.
There had been a stunned look on the young man's face that unsettled Izumi. He looked like he had come through a war with personal demons, and hadn't won. Or if he had won, it had been just barely.
"You seem....pale lately," Mikado's voice came to her again, "You have ever since you came back that night...."
Yes....I suppose I do...
What had happened?
She had gone to see the little girl, Rin, and had been confused when Jakken had come to her, telling her that Lord Sesshomaru had been taken by someone.
Izumi had been more than a little confused. Sesshomaru, taken? Who on earth would have the power to take Sesshomaru? Why was the forest not levelled in that battle?
The anger...
The anger that had welled up in her, when Jakken had given her the name...that she had dared to abduct Lord Sesshomaru! After Izumi herself had banished Jujumin!
Izumi had fought back that anger as she walked to where Jujumin was living, but she had failed. Though Izumi's fuse was long, as they say, it was attached to a very large powder keg. It could take her a long time to get angry, but when she did she got very angry, and nothing she had done had been able to dampen down that fury at the thought of The Neutral One taken by Jujumin! Izumi was very aware of the reputation Jujumin had.
At first, Izumi had simply gone with the anger. She expected she was furious that Jujumin had gotten involved in something so big, so powerful as this battle that would decide the fates of many worlds....that Jujumin had just stepped in and abducted one of the key players...
But somehow...somehow she realized it was more than that.
For when she looked over, and saw the Demon Lord of the Western Reaches sitting there, with a collar...!
A faint shiver ran though her, as she remembered the anger that had burned inside her, like the flame of the sun itself.
And I knew, Izumi thought, gazing at her reflection in the ceramic cup, I knew perfectly well that what I was doing was wrong. I should have consulted Mother Amaterasu first, found out how she wanted me to handle it. Instead I went charging in there like a loose cannon, destroying and threatening...
Izumi remembered how the power would grow in her, hot and burning, and each time she sent it out, the building suffered another heavy blow, deep cracks appearing in the walls. And with each, heavy thump of power, how good it had felt....
She remembered Jujumin's terror-stricken face, looking up at her, as Izumi spoke of burning her alive with the Goddess's fire.
I knew...and I didn't care. Not then. I wanted to strike out.
Izumi closed her eyes, Forgive me, Mother Amaterasu. I have forgotten the first rule you created. Take no revenge. We are above that.
The Goddess's presence filled her, accepting her, sorrowing that she had suffered.
Perhaps I try to find with the Lord Sesshomaru that which I have lost with InuTaisho. That is very wrong of me. Lord Sesshomaru is not his father, and it is wrong for me to think he is. That's all it is.
Izumi sighed.
"Izumi?"
Izumi looked up to see Mikado looking at her, concerned.
Izumi smiled, and spoke, "Finish up. Those maps are waiting."
Mikado sighed.
"Where the hell is everyone?"
InuYasha stood in the middle of the camp, a brace of huge fish hung over a shoulder. The fire was burning, the water set to boil. Only Shippo and Kirara were in the camp.
InuYasha swung the fish off his shoulder, and onto the grass. Shippo grinned, and watched as Kirara poked at one.
"Hmm?"
"I said where the hell is everyone?"
"Miroku and Sango have gone looking for some herbs for the fish you said you'd catch. Miroku says he knows some really tasty ones around here, and Sango said she wanted to learn."
"Mmm. And Kagome?"
"Her and DarkWind left shortly after you did."
"What? Left for where?"
Shippo picked up a fish, spearing it on a cooking skewer, and pointed, "They went in that direction."
InuYasha cursed under his breath, and turned, heading in that direction.
He leapt from the ground, up into the branches of a tree, ignoring the warning voices in his head, telling him not to go barging into anything.
I've been gone long enough fishing! They've had plenty of time to do whatever it is they went to do and get back, damnit!
He had an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach. They shouldn't still be out there unless they were...doing something they had no right to be doing!
If he's touching her I'll skin him alive with my claws! he mentally swore, ignoring the fact he was usually unable to actually make contact with the Kageri.
The green forest flashed past him as he moved, a blur of silver and crimson, moving lightly through the branches like some exotic bird.
I really want to talk to her about the things Izumi told me. Try and get some things straight in my head. Kagome can look at this stuff calmer than I can. I was hoping after we had eaten...
Landing lightly on his toes on the path, he rounded a bend, coming into another clearing...
And froze.
Ahead of him, DarkWind and Kagome stood, side by side, the Kageri slightly behind her, turned so he was looking at her. The strong wind that was buffeting them both played with their clothing and their hair, sometimes gusting hard enough to threaten to pull them from their feet, yet neither seemed to notice.
InuYasha's eyes could make out the pale blues of the winds and current, twisting serpentine about the two figures in the field, moving lazily, much like his own Wind Scar.
The Kageri's eyes were red, glowing intently as he watched Kagome.
Kagome's eyes were closed, her face tipped up slightly, hands clenched in concentration.
The Shikon was hovering just beneath her chin again, glowing a pale blue, the string wavering lazily in the air. Even from where he stood, InuYasha could see the blue glow of the gem reflecting off Kagome's throat, and as he watched, the gem sent out a faint pulse.
"Godsdamnit," InuYasha cursed, and started over towards them.
"Hey, Kagome, you could have told me you were taking off!"
Kagome didn't stir, but DarkWind turned towards him, and spoke, his voice faint.
"Nushi-Kagome cannot hear you right now, InuYasha-Warrior. We are concentrating."
InuYasha crossed his arms, "Hmph, I can see that. You guys just about finished?"
"Not just yet...."
InuYasha glanced at Kagome, who hadn't even opened her eyes at his voice. His ears flattened slightly as he studied her.
She doesn't even know I'm here. I could have been some demon that just waltzed up, and she'd be helpless! Damnit, I wish she'd give up this stupid idea of using the Shikon!
InuYasha turned his gaze now on DarkWind. The Kageri had his eyes closed again, standing beside Kagome.
InuYasha felt the Shikon again put out a very faint pulse.
"Just what the hell is it you're doing, anyway? You're not attacking anything."
DarkWind's voice was distant, as he concentrated, "I am helping Nushi-Kagome simply handle the power of the Shikon. She is simply getting used to the feel of activating it. Please, InuYasha-Warrior, I must give all my concentration to Nushi, this is complicated."
InuYasha snorted, then honed in on something the Kageri had said.
"Wait, you said you're helping Kagome handle the power? I thought you said you couldn't use it!"
DarkWind's brow furrowed as he tried to keep his attention divided, "I cannot speak now. Please, stop disturbing me."
"Hey, I asked you a question!" InuYasha snarled, and reached out, grabbing the Kageri's shoulder roughly, and giving it a shake, "Or are you just trying to trick Kagome into-"
The Kageri's eyes flew open, but he turned, not even seeing InuYasha, turning all his attention to Kagome, his long braid flying out as he turned.
Kagome's eyes had flown open at the same time, and InuYasha had just a second to see her eyes were no longer the dark colour they normally were, but were a pale blue - the same colour as the Shikon.
Kagome suddenly gave an ear-splitting shriek, and fell over backwards, tendrils of blue electricity snapping over her body, popping and crackling as she fell, to hit the ground, hard, where she lay, dazed.
InuYasha cried out, and reached for her, when he was suddenly grabbed hard by the front of his haori.
The hanyou found himself spun in place, suddenly face to face with DarkWind. The Kageri's eyes were blazing red, the symbol around and under his eye seeming to stand out stark against the Kageri's skin.
"I told you not to disturb me! You threatened Nushi!"
"Godsdamnit, get your hands off me!" InuYasha reached back with a fist, and swung out, intending to catch the Kageri's face, but DarkWind raised a hand, and caught InuYasha's fist in his hand, stopping him cold.
"You could have cost Nushi her life, you fool!"
"I said get your hands off!"
The colour of DarkWind's eyes brightened for a second, a vivid red, and then he swallowed back his anger and fury, breathing hard, squeezing shut his eyes until he was able to get himself in control.
When he looked up at InuYasha again, his eyes were the usual black with a hint of red within. His voice bordered on the edge of fury, but was controlled.
"InuYasha-Warrior. You will never again force my concentration away from Nushi when she is handling the Shikon, until she is able to control it entirely on her own. I do not wish to harm you, but I will not allow your pig-headedness to threaten her safety."
InuYasha only grinned, aware he had made the Kageri angry, "You wanna fight, then? Is that it?"
DarkWind's face darkened, and he glanced to the side, looking at something, "Is that truly what you want right now?"
InuYasha followed his gaze, and suddenly realized Kagome hadn't opened her eyes yet.
"Kagome?"
DarkWind looked back at InuYasha, and spoke lowly, "You love her, yes. But your anger is a great threat to her, InuYasha-Warrior."
"You son of a bitch. You don't tell me-"
"I am letting you go now. I trust I will never again have to explain the importance of what I do?"
DarkWind loosened his grip.
InuYasha wanted to run to Kagome, to make sure she was ok, but the demon half of him still hurt that he had been so easily bested by the Kageri, before a fight even took place.
He took one parting shot, launching a fist at the Kageri.
There was a sudden flash of light, and InuYasha blinked.
Suddenly he was falling.
Freezing water took his breath away when he hit, sending a shock through his entire body, right down to the core. InuYasha flailed about, looking for a surface for a second, before finally getting his senses about him.
Kicking for the surface above him, he stuck his head out of the water, taking in a gasping breath, looking about.
"What the...how did I ...where is..." his breath plumed in the air as he spoke. InuYasha looked over his shoulder, and in the distance, saw a huge looming mountain, dark purple with snow on it's peak.
InuYasha blinked, and then ground his teeth, "That son of a-!"
Kagome groaned.
"Nushi? Are you ok?"
Blinking her eyes, rubbing her throbbing head, she looked up to see DarkWind kneeling beside her, a very concerned look on his face.
Kagome sighed softly, "I guess I'm still really bad at this."
"No, Nushi, you were doing wonderfully."
"Kagome? What's going on?"
She turned to see Sango running towards them, "What happened?"
DarkWind carefully picked up Kagome, and turned towards Sango, "There was a slight incident as Nushi-Kagome was practicing handling the Shikon. But she is well, I believe."
Kagome nodded.
Sango nodded, and looked around, "Where's InuYasha? Shippo said he came this way....and I thought I heard him yelling a few minutes before."
DarkWind sighed. Kagome blinked up at him, "InuYasha was here?"
"Yes, Nushi. And after I told him I could not speak to him at the moment because I was helping you handle the power of the Shikon. InuYasha...in his usual fashion...grabbed me and demanded I speak to him."
The Kageri looked down at Kagome, "Forgive me, Nushi. I was momentarily distracted, and as such, you were forced to take the whole load of the Shikon's power. I failed you."
"InuYasha's so hot-headed," Sango sighed.
Kagome sighed as well, "It's ok, DarkWind. You didn't really have a choice. InuYasha should have known better. Where is he, anyway, did he run off?"
"Er...."
The two women looked at DarkWind, who was looking somewhat uneasy at the moment.
"I confess....I lost my temper with him, Nushi."
Kagome blinked, "You...where is he? He's ok, right? You didn't-"
"Oh! No, no, I did not hurt him, Nushi! I simply...moved him."
"Moved him?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"North."
Sango blinked, "North?"
"Yes. Oh not far! Just a day's walk. I am sure InuYasha-Warrior will be back within a few hours, with his speed of running. And I did not send him anywhere where he could be harmed. In fact, Nushi, I made sure there was a nice lake beneath him so his fall would not harm him."
DarkWind blinked to see Sango and Kagome staring at him in astonishment, and then start to nervously giggle.
"That's kinda funny," Sango said weakly, "I feel sorry for him, but I wish I could have seen his face..."
Kagome nodded, making herself stop giggling as well. InuYasha was going to be furious...
"DarkWind, when he comes back, make yourself scarce until I can calm him down a little, ok? He's going to be so furious you did that to him."
DarkWind bowed his head, "Yes Nushi. I did make certain he would not be harmed, I promise you. I was just so angry..."
Hoooo boy...