A/N: Hiya guys! No reviews last chap but that's okay! I wish you would though! fire-tiger-c wrote the 2nd half of this chap since she is sooooo much better at writing fighting scenes than me! I left a little note so you could know when she wrote but you could probably tell because of how great she wrote the fighting scene! It's awesome! I know you'll love it! Now, i'm going to shut up and get on to the discalimer.
Disclaimer: Me and fire-tiger-c don't own the Inuyasha show and never will. I'm too lazy to think of something better right now. . .
Chapter 3
The Inu-tachi and the other group had made it to Kaedae's and after explaining things to her, she seemed to agree with Miroku's explanation, believing it to be possible. Things were still a bit uncomfortable between the two groups and they were now sitting silently in the hut.
Kagome sighed at the silence that surrounded them. 'It's so quiet...'
Suddenly, she heard a laugh across the room.
Katanna was giggling.
Kiotsu looked at her and said," What's so funny?"
Katanna didn't answer as she continued giggling.
"Katanna?" asked Naomi, blinking.
Katanna giggled some more.
"Katanna, what's wrong?" asked Amida, looking confused.
Katanna giggled again as she said," Nothing's wrong. It's just. . . I didn't really think about how we're in this whole other dimension until now. It's just now hit me. Now I feel surreal and I just felt like giggling at how dreamlike I felt."
She let out another giggle.
"Plus. . ." she added," I can just imagine what Kiroi is doing, if he can't find you."
She then, said in a slightly higher voice," Master Kiotsu! Master Kiotsu!"
A smile crept on Kiotsu's face and he chuckled. "Come on. He's not that bad."
Katanna smiled. "I know, but it's still funny to think about."
"Well, you can't really blame him", said Naomi," he practically thinks of Kiotsu as his savior, after all, you did save him from that large bear demon."
Kiotsu chuckled as he seemed to reminescense about something. "Now that was one of my intreasting days in my simple life with Mazima."
Katanna's smile faded. "Mazima's probably worried about us."
"Yeah", said Kiotsu.
"Hey", said Kagome.
The others turned their heads as if they had forgotten she was there.
"What's your life like where you guys are from?" she asked.
"Yes", said Miroku," I'm curious to know as well."
"What exactly do you mean by our life?" asked Amida.
"I mean", said Kagome," what's your story? How did you guys meet?"
"Oh", said Katanna," well. . . I guess it started a while back. One day after school, I found this old shrine with this huge ancient tree so I went to check it out. There was this smooth patch of bark and a hole in it and being curious, I poked my finger in. There must of been something sharp in the hole. Some piece of glass someone stuck in there or something so I pulled it out. Of course, I started bleeding and I started touching the bare patch on the tree, my blood getting smeared on it when suddenly it started to glow and before I knew it, I had been sucked into the tree and was waking up 3 days later, in the Feudal Era, as I found out later on. I still don't know how to get back though."
"You mean", said Kagome," You haven't been back to the Modern Era since you've been in the Feudal Era?"
Katanna shook her head.
"Your family must be so worried about you", said Kagome.
Katanna smiled sadly. "No they're not, Kagome."
"What do you mean?" said Kagome," Why wouldn't they be?"
"They've been dead for 12 years", Katanna said, softly.
"Oh", said Kagome," I'm sorry."
"It's okay", said Katanna," I was 4 so I don't remember it too much."
Kagome looked at Katanna, sadly but said," What about you, Kiotsu? What about your parents?"
"I don't know", said Kiotsu," I've never met my parents. Mazima told me that when I was just a baby, she found me outside near her hut, alone."
"Oh", said Kagome," So who was that Kiroi person you were talking about earlier?"
"Kiroi?" said Kiotsu," He's this black cat demon who can talk to us telepathicly. I saved him from this bear demon when I was like 12 and now he won't stop following me around."
"Did you say he was telepathic?" said Kagome," as in, he can talk with his thoughts? What's he look like?"
"Well", said Kiotsu," Yes he can talk with his thoughts and actually, he looks a lot like... Kirara, was it? Except with only one tail, he's completely black, and he has blue eyes. Plus, he's slightly bigger than Kirara."
"Hm", said Kagome," so how did you meet Katanna?"
Kiotsu started again. "I was just exploring in the forest when I caught the scent of human and we don't usually get humans in the forest so I decided to check it out. I found Katanna laying at the base of a tree and brough her back to Mazima."
"Alright then", said Kagome," so how did you meet Amida and Naomi?"
"Naomi we met first", said Katanna," but before that, you know how I told you I couldn't get back? Well, Mazima had told us she'd heard of a kind of magical item called the Tsuki Hoshi that might be able to help me get back."
"The Moon Star?" said Miroku.
"Yes", said Katanna.
"What is it?" asked Sango.
"I'm not sure exactly what it is", said Katanna," but the legend is that, a simple villager had somehow aided a Celestial maiden when she was in peril so she rewarded him with the Tsuki Hoshi. The villager was esastic and kept it with him at all times but keeping it a secret from everyone, even his most trusted friends but somehow the Tsuki Hoshi was found out and many sought out to steal it. The villager was killed at some point and eventually, everyone was fighting eachother for it. Friend against Friend, Brother against Brother, and so on. The Celestial maiden realized what damage her gift had caused and took it back, hiding it away somewhere. Nobody's quite sure as to it's exact location and the Tsuki Hoshi is mostly thought to be just a legend nowadays. But. . . there is one clue as to where the Tsuki Hoshi could be. It goes. . . 'The Tsuki Hoshi will be found with the one who holds the power of dark midnight, and pale moonlight.' "
"That is very intiguing", said Miroku.
"I thought the same thing when I heard it", Amida agreed.
"After Mazima had suggested searching for the Tsuki Hoshi, I decided to search for it, I mean, why not? But anyways, Kiotsu thought it would be best if he came along with me so we set off. Not long after we had started, we met Naomi. We found her lying in the middle of a battlefield filled with dead bodies, bloody and wounded, so we helped her. As it turns out, Naomi didn't remember much except for maybe her own name and how to use a sword. Her head had been bleeding so I think that may be the cause for her memory lapse but i'm not sure", said Katanna," So, Naomi joined us. Then, that was when we came along Amida. He was traveling by himself and he heard us talking about the Tsuki Hoshi. He had also heard tales of the Tsuki Hoshi and decided that he wanted to join us as well. Amida really hasn't told us too much about his family, only that he's been traveling on his own for 2 years, since he turned 13."
"Intreasting", said Miroku.
"So", said Sango," who was this, Kinaku person about earlier who is supposedly the most evil demon of your dimension?"
Katanna sighed. "Kinaku looks human but she's actually a demon. She wants to find the Tsuki Hoshi too but. . . "
Katanna hesitated.
"But what?" asked Sango.
Katanna bit her lip and her eyes darted to Kiotsu. ". . . she also wants to kill Kiotsu."
Kagome gasped. "But why?"
"Well, we don't know why exactly", said Kiotsu," but I think one time Maigura mentioned something about a prophecy and me supposedly being the one that was to kill Kinaku but I don't know what prophecy she was talking about or what she meant exactly."
"Maigura?" said Miroku.
"Yes", said Amida," Kinaku has two minions, Maigura, the ice demoness, and Teranna, this little dark girl with pale cremey orbs. We think Teranna may be under Kinaku's control because her eyes seem to flicker when Kinaku gets injured or gets caught by suprise. We also think that Maigura may be under Kinaku against her will. There are times when she's seemed to help us and given us information and she seems to have a distaste towards her."
"Distaste?" said Naomi, raising an eyebrow," She practically spits out Kinaku's name like it's poison."
"Anyways", said Katanna," before we were brought here we were battling Kinaku who now has a dragon under her control. I fear that they may have been brought to this place too and if that happened. . . . we might be in a bit of trouble."
"Keh!" said Inuyasha, finally speaking up," She can't be nearly as powerful as Naraku."
"We don't know that for sure, Inuyasha", said Miroku," Remember that Naraku is still only half demon while this Kinaku is full demon."
"Okay", said Katanna," Now that we've told you our story, I think we should hear yours in turn."
"That sounds reasonable to me", said Kagome.
So Kagome went into the tale about how she fell down the well on her birthday, how she freed Inuyasha, about the Shikkon jewel, and how it can make demons more powerful. How she shattered the jewel,("You shattered the jewel?" Katanna said, suprised. Kagome chuckled nervously.), how she found out she was the reincarnation of Kikyou, about their adventures, how they met Shippo, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara. About Naraku,("He and Kinaku would get along pretty well", Naomi muttered.) and pretty much everything.
"Wow", said Katanna," That is so cool! Your adventures seem to be a bit more active than ours have been." Katanna laughed.
"I guess", said Kagome.
She looked outside and saw that it was pretty dark. "It's getting late, we should probably all head to bed."
Kagome got up, carrying the sleeping Shippo, who had fallen asleep in her lap and headed towards her sleeping bag.
Katanna yawned and feeling tired leaned over laying her head on Kiotsu's shoulder.
Kiotsu's cheeks were dusted with pink as he stuttered," Wh-what are you doing?"
"Oh", said Katanna, looking at him," Sorry. I'm tired. Do you mind if I lay my head on your shoulder?"
Kiotsu blinked at her and said," Sure... I guess."
She smiled up at him, laying her head back down on his shoulder. "Thanks."
Soon, everybody was asleep. Except for Inuyasha who was keeping watch in a tree outside and Naomi who needed less sleep, being a full demon and all even though she's half and half.
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The next day, after talking things over and a little 'persuasion' on Kagome's part, they agreed that Kiotsu, Katanna, Naomi, and Amida would travel with them.
They were now walking, continuing their quest for jewel shards. It was a while before Kagome finally sensed the presence of shards.
"Inuyasha", said Kagome," I sense jewel shards."
"What direction?" asked Inuyasha.
Kagome seemed to concentrate and pointed down the path.
Naomi sniffed the air and growled. "I smell human blood... and lots of it."
"Come on!" said Inuyasha," Let's go!"
Kagome got on her position Inuyasha's back and Sango and Miroku got on Kirara offering Amida and Katanna a ride. Amida got on but Katanna declined instead getting on Kiotsu's back while Naomi ran alongside them.
Soon, they reached a demolished village.
"Ugh", said Kiotsu," I think I smell reptile."
Sure enough, a large lizard demon came out into their view, destroying everything around it, human blood all over it.
"Heh", said Inuyasha, unsheathing tetsusaiga," This is gonna be easy."
(fire-tiger-c started writing here! Enjoy!)
As soon as he uttered those words, hundreds of similar youkai came into view
"Lizard youkai and a lot of them." stated Katanna as she drew her sword.
"Perfect. Enough for each of us. Would you like to play our little game, Naomi?" smiled Kiotsu as he held his bow and a single arrow at the ready.
"Of course, I know how much you like losing to me. The usual wager, I presume." she smiled back as she drew her sword and her eyes lit up, literally.
"You know it. Amida will keep score."
Amida rolled his eyes as he readied himself. The rest of the newly formed group readied themselves quietly, curious of what was about to happen.
The group charged into the fray and immediately started felling lizards left and right. Even more met their end as each person paired off with their counterpart.
Inuyasha found himself fighting along side Kiotsu. Before Inuyasha could bring down the Tetsusaiga for the Kaze no Kizu, Kiotsu had eliminated half of the reptiles in front of them. Inuyasha watched the boy out of the corner of his eye, still suspicious of the newcomers. Kiotsu was one of the best archers he had seen in all his years. His draw speed was incredible, even when he started shooting two arrows at a time.
"Kagome could definitely learn a lot from this Kiotsu person." Inuyasha found himself admitting as he lopped the head off yet another enemy.
Kagome was too busy awing at Kiotsu's archery to notice the two youkai headed straight toward her. Katanna spun on her heel and sliced the two in half with one clean cut. Kagome snapped to when she saw the remnants of her would-be attackers. She quickly settled the debt when she purified two youkai closing in on Katanna. The two girls exchanged quick smiles and turned back to the task at hand.
The monks were very social with each other during the scrap. The two talked, tossed ofuda about, and purified youkai as if they were merely doing a bothersome chore in eachother's company.
"So what exactly...are you keeping score for...if you don't mind my asking?" Miroku managed to ask in between striking a youkai with his staff and sending some ofuda flying toward more offending lizards.
"As Katanna said before...our travels have been less eventful...than your own. So...Kiotsu and Naomi enjoy...making games out of... the few battles we find...ourselves in. They like to see...who can destroy...more youkai." answered Amida as he turned more lizards to dust.
"The wager?"
"Their next meal."
The two monks were quickly silenced when they noticed more lizard youkai coming over the horizon.
Naomi and Sango fought fiercely back to back. Naomi smiled greedily as a circle of lizards closed in on them. She had the smile quickly disappear from her face when Sango made quick work of them with the Hiraikotsu.
Kirara and Shippou were doing their best to keep up with the unit.
Kiotsu and Kagome went through their arrows quickly. Kiotsu opted for some hand-to-hand with the giant reptiles, which he took down almost as quickly as he did with his arrows. Kagome, on the other hand, was left defenseless. Katanna tried her best to fight the lizards that began closing in on Kagome, but became overwhelmed by their numbers.
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Kinaku and Naraku watched on through Kanna's mirror as the battle ensued. It wasn't long before he dismissed her.
"That hanyou has more power in him than I expected." said Kinaku flatly when Kanna left.
"He can be quite the pest but he can easily subdued as well as the others. I would assume you could say the same if you could conjure that many youkai all at once."
"They can be very resilient as well but they can be disposed of when the time comes."
Naraku just smiled into the darkness of the room, the beginnings his plan churning in his mind.
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Katanna and Kagome had been knocked to the ground by attacks from the lizards, who decided to go in for the kill. Inuyasha saw the youkai start to bring down their swords. He darted toward them but didn't make it in time. He saw the swords make contact and blood spurt but not whose blood it was. He paled and felt his stomach drop.
Amida and Miroku immediately came in to purify the attackers, but were stopped as a ring of fire shot up into the air, instantly disintegrating the lizards. Kiotsu and Inuyasha ran over to see what had happened. Sango jumped onto Kirara's back and rode over to the scene as well.
The two girls seemed uninjured, covered in blood, but uninjured. They were huddled close to a kneeling, even bloodier, figure.
"Naomi..." Amida said with concern
She stood at the sound of her name, revealing deep gashes in her shoulders and back.
"I'm fine." She said in a monotone voice as she walked past them and continued to fight.
Kagome rode on the Kirara's back and did what she could to help as the battle went on.
It continued on for most of the day. When one was slain, two showed up more to replace it. When the final lizard took its last breath, the sun was slowly setting into the twilight.
Naomi thrust her sword into the ground and leaned on it with an aggravated look on her face.
"That was disappointing."
Inuyasha turned to Kagome with a similar look.
"We spent the whole day fighting and got nothing to show for it. I thought you sensed a shard."
Kagome stared off into the distance, trying to rub away the soreness building up in her shoulder.
"I know I sensed something in this area. It's completely gone now."
"Whatever happened, we will definitely find out as long as we keep moving." said Kiotsu as he began walking.
Inuyasha walked along side him quietly, agreeing with what had been said. The rest of the group followed, the humans members lagged behind a bit.
Kiotsu took notice soon after they began walking.
"Why don't we stop for the night?"
Inuyasha stopped and turned to him.
"Why do you want to stop? You were the one that said we should keep moving."
"I think that those of us without youkai blood would appreciate rest." added Miroku.
"I agree. They all look exhausted." said Naomi
Inuyasha growled deeply after she spoke but nodded in approval. She returned his growl. They both reached for the hilts of their swords, each stopping just short when Kagome glared angrily at Inuyasha and Amida flashed his last ofuda within Naomi's line of sight. Both cracked their knuckles and turned away from the other.
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It didn't take long for them to set up for the night. Inuyasha already took his watch guard post. Kiotsu curiously rummaging through Kagome's bag, marveling at each item he pulled out. Kagome was making dinner and chatting with Katanna. Sango was treating a small wound that Miroku had received during the battle. Once she finished, she joined the two girls attending to dinner. The trio watched as Amida treated Naomi's wounds.
The young monk was extremely gentle with her, as if she would break if he made any sudden movements. She blushed slightly at the feeling of his fingers on her body. After he bandaged up the last wound, he stood and gave her a strong smile.
"You really shouldn't be so reckless. Its going to be the end of you," said Amida he left her to sit next to Miroku.
"I think she gets hurt on purpose some times, just so she can have a reason to be close to him," whispered Katanna as she stared into the fire.
"I wish I could do the same without the fear of being groped," whispered Sango as she glanced at Miroku
"Amida can be quite the flirt as well, but he's always well behaved around her. "
They all went silent when Naomi got up and joined them. Kagome flashed a big smile as she handed her a bowl of rice and fish they had caught the day before.
"Thank you for saving me today."
"Theres no need to thank me. Were like kin now. We help each other when need be," said Naomi as she returned the smile.
Kagome was suddenly reminded of Kouga after hearing that.
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The group eventually came together in a circle around the fire. They were all about to start eating when Kiotsu stopped and jumped up. The sudden movement startled Inuyasha, causing him to jump to his feet as well.
"Whats wrong?"
"Amida who won?"
Inuyasha growled and mumbled angrily as he sat back down. The monk scratched his head as he tried to remember while Kiotsu and Naomi stared with anticipation.
"It was a deadlock," he said finally after five minutes of keeping them waiting.
Both of them sighed and returned to their food.
Miroku smirked at the other monk. "
"You don't remember, do you,"he whispered
"Between you and me, I wasn't even keeping score," whispered Amida as he picked a piece of fish with his chopsticks.
Kagome watched Kiotsu and Katanna talked and laughed together. She wished she could be close to Inuyasha like that. Every time she tried he would shoot her down. She inwardly wished he would be more like Kiotsu. He seemed nice enough.
'Yeah, right. Only in my dreams,' she thought with a sigh.