She stumbled through the undergrowth blindly. No longer using her eyes, she felt the way with her gift. Behind her, she felt the destructive wake of her battle. A battle she nearly lost. Blood oozed from a number of her open wounds, but she lacked the strength to close the gashes. Her silken tunic was torn and shredded…her magic had failed to protect her. She stumbled on a root, her magic failing to sense it. Like a soldier though, she forced herself up onto one knee, irritably brushing leaves and accumulated dirt from her vest. Then she felt his presence. He wasn't far. The one she wanted to find. The one she had to fight through demons to reach. The fatigue was surging through her now. Damn it all. Before she could so much as gasp, she had hit the ground, completely out.
His ears peaked at the sound. It was a subtle sound. He could almost recall what it sounded like. Inhaling sharply on the air, he felt the sharp coppery prickle of blood. Human blood. Gifted human blood. Drawing Tetsusaiga, he drew in deep on the humid air, following the trail of life essence. He could see the blood now, on the plants and foliage of the forest he had entered. His ears perked again. A slowing heartbeat. He raced forward towards the source, and found the fallen human, her head resting in the mud and withered earth. He sheathed Tetsusaiga and picked up her prone form, she was light as a feather. She contrasted him greatly, his snow-white hair and hers inky black. His larger, stockier form; her small, delicate physique. There was nothing delicate about the magic he could smell raging inside her though. He also sensed a vague hint of sulfur on the air…sulfur and scorched earth. Following it to its source with the woman in his eyes, he sat back in stark surprise. A crater…near thirty feet deep and at least fifty feet wide greeted him. He glanced down at the woman in his arms and then at the collapsed earth. Before he could make assumptions as to what had happened, he felt her body weaken in his grasp and started off towards his allies at speed graced not to mere humans.
Kagome sat idly on a cushion with Shippou in the inn Miroku had so self piously 'warded' against demonic presence. Sometimes the monk could be very useful. Except for when he asked her to bear his children. Shippou slept in her lap, his tail wrapped around her arm. Idly, she scratched behind his ears while she waited for word from Inu-Yasha. He had disappeared rather suddenly, which didn't really surprise her, but he was usually back within the hour he left. He had already been gone for several hours, and she was beginning to worry about his insolent demon hide. Glaring angrily at a porcelain teapot, picked it up, noting its delicate flower pattern. As she poured more tea, she looked deeply into the soft golden fluid. Inu-Yasha's straining face stared back at her. With a start, she whirled around and stared into the half demon's face. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the prone form of a woman in his arms. She looked badly injured.
"Friend of yours Inu-Yasha?" She inquired, raising an eyebrow at the surprising beauty of the woman, despite her injuries.
"Very funny Kagome. I found her out in the forest below this inn. Do something for her. You have medicines and stuff, use them!"
"Move then and let me see what I can do."
Inu-Yasha placed the woman lightly on the cushions and stepped back muttering to himself. Kagome examined the woman's body with a critical eye, noting the damage. Some of it looked unnatural. No blade could cause the kind of wounds this woman had taken. The woman's eyes fluttered slightly and opened; emerald pools staring up into Kagome's. Weakly, her hand grasped Kagome's, and her eyes scanned the room uncertainly.
"You…your essence…it is like that of…" Her voice trailed off in a fit of coughs. "Like…Kikyo."
At that, Kagome sat back a bit, "How do you know that? Who are you?"
The woman reached for Kagome's hand, "Child, I need your help if I am to have another chance at life. Please, lend me your strength."
"I'll…I'll try." Kagome agreed. Hesitantly, she reached to the woman's trembling hand. When their hands met, it felt like heaven. Kagome saw purity, tasted truth, and swam in a silken world of serenity.
Miroku held Inu-Yasha back as a brilliant white light enveloped both woman, "Stay back Inu-Yasha, I can sense there is nothing evil here, but here is more going on here than you or I can understand."
"Let me go, monk!" Inu-Yasha protested against Miroku's grip, but made little effort to force his way out. Before their astonished eyes, the woman's skin took on a slight glow. A long gash on her forearm began to fade. Flesh and skin, muscle and bone, body and spirit knitted before their eyes. Fresh skin replaced gashes, and blood vanished beneath the weight of such clarity. Before their eyes, the woman and Kagome broke hands, and the woman rose from the ground, not by means of physical strength: she floated on an aura of pure magic. Inhaling deeply upon the air, she opened her eyes, fixing the room with her piercing green gaze. The brilliant glow faded from her body, and she lighted softly to the ground. Though her clothes were still tattered, it did nothing to diminish her radiance at all.
Kagome stood beside Inu-Yasha and waited expectantly for the woman to speak. "Spirit-Daughter of Kikyo and Inu-Yasha, I have searched long and far for the two of you. My name is Chiara, and I have come to beg help of you."
Kagome glanced once at the perplexed demon before returning her gaze to Chiara, "What kind of help is that?"
Her face grew serious, "I need you to help me avenge the death of my son."
Kagome could sense Chiara's pain, "Wait…firstly do you know who killed your son?"
The woman nodded. A tear ran from her eye, to rest at the corner of her mouth, "His murderer was Seshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands."
