Chapter 3
Kagome woke up violently as she felt a stinging sensation on her foot. She glanced around her; she and Sango were trapped together in a giant green seedpod. Kagome mentally slapped herself and quickly brought up a forcefield to stop her and Sango being devoured by the digestive juices that were currently lapping at her ankle.
"Ewww" she screeched in disgust. She felt like such an idiot, if only she had been more observant she would have noticed the faint smell of lilacs – a dead giveaway for the Ukuru – a species of botantical yokai. She reflected angrily, if she had only recognised it she could have led Sango away and avoided being covered in this gunk! Now it would take weeks before she could get the smell out of her hair! How Naraku would laugh at her. She sighed, her anger forgotten in the face of her rapidly growing shame – he would never let her forget this. Ever. He would be telling the story at state functions for the rest of her unnaturally long life!
That wasn't even the worst of it. Worst of all is she would have to just stay put until that dummy Inuyasha figured out how to rescue her. She growled softly under her breath, she would be waiting ages!
Miroku mean while was still running. He hadn't caught up with the girls yet – but he felt so sure that he was almost there!
A wide soppy grin covered his dazed features "wait for me ladies!" He yelled into the distance.
Soon he would be in the centre of a harem of warm willing women – he just knew one of them would want to be the mother of his children. He paused, wait, why stop at just one! The grin grew they could allllllllll bare his children! "wait for me my lovelies!" he bellowed sprinting hard.
He never even noticed that he was once again running by the same scenery he had already passed a few dozen times.
Shippo dodged, narrowly missing the snapping…. Jaws? Mouth? What was that thing? He tried to study it a bit better - from a safe distance of course! He wasn't stupid after all.
He watched its straining head struggling to reach him. So secure was he in his safe vantage point that he began to grow cocky. "Nya, Nya you can't reach me!" he chorused in a sing-song voice. Growing bold enough to resume his poking, he taunted the strange flower. His victory was however very short lived. As he was just about to hurl a stone he stopped in horror.
The plant reached down with large hairy leaves and tugged loose its roots from the soil. Shippo gave a tiny yelp at the strange sight. He was frozen in terror.
As soon as the last root had been lifted from the ground the plant lurched forward towards him. He hurriedly stopped impersonating an ice sculpture and with a loud poof replaced his body with a leaf. It was just in time to see the leaf ripped to shreds. He gulped, thinking of what would have happened had he taken even a second longer!
He took off at a run staring frantically behind his shoulder. The monstrosity clomped on close at his tail. Too close for comfort. He raced on trying to keep away from the giant plant.
In his workshop Naraku was busily mixing chemicals. He added the contents of two vials of liquid – red and green respectively, throwing in bits and pieces of what ever came to hand.
"This is sure to work" he muttered distractedly under his breath. He gazed at the gooey lump that was currently lying motionless in an old metal washbasin on the floor of his dungeon lab.
So close…it was almost complete. He paused a second, throwing back his long black hair letting out a maniacal laugh.
One of the tiny servants who had been standing in a corner holding open a large dusty book cocked his pointy ears in question.
Naraku shrugged in response "It just seemed like the thing to do"
He consulted the book "Mmmm looks like I just need a few more ingredients and then mature it in miasma for an hour"
He cut off a lock of his hair and a few finger nail clippings before stirring them into the mixture. Reaching out a hand the entire basin was shrouded in a horrible purple miasma. Naraku flipped over an hourglass and untied his kiss the mad scientist apron. Just one hour and his greatest creation would be complete! "Mwahaha!" he laughed in triumph.
Back in the corner – and still holding open the enormous book the little creature rolled his eyes and struggled not to yawn. He could just tell it was going to be a loooong day.
Outside the jungle of vines Inuyasha was lying on his back sunning himself on the lush grass beside a peacefully sleeping Kirara.
He was still fuming. If that stupid brat hadn't gone off on his own they could all be busy searching for shikon shards instead of wasting time!
He jumped up, sick of waiting. He was going to go in and haul them out of there – forcibly if he had to!
He strode up to the entrance, about to enter when a tendril of vine whipped out and grabbed his leg. He got out tetsuiga, ready to slice the thing off when the vine gave a tug and he suddenly found himself hanging in midair suspended by his right ankle.
"Hey! Cut that out!" he howled in dismay. Another vine reached out and attached itself to his left arm. Inuyasha let out a loud roar now he would teach this, this… thing to respect him!
He swung tetsuiga to cut himself loose, but the plant blocked his motion with a large red fruit. Tetsuiga made contact. Large red chunks exploded. Juice sprayed and seeds shot in all directions. Inuyasha and tetsuiga were both saturated with the sticky stuff.
Before Inuyasha could even wipe his eyes more tendrils shot out securing his entire body. He was totally stuck! No matter which way he pulled or how hard he tugged he couldn't free himself, his bonds were just too flexible. He shrieked in impotent rage.
Kirara was dozing, spread out in the sun. She was enjoying her time off – she knew it wouldn't be long before she was expected to transform and once again be stuck carrying most of their party and all the luggage!
Her respite was rudely interrupted by a loud caterwauling from Inuyasha. Kirara paid no attention, hoping that if she ignored it long enough he would sort the problem out himself. This however, was not to be. The noise continued and increased in volume hurting her sensitive ears.
Resignedly she pulled herself to her feet and transformed, inwardly chuckling at Inuyasha who was wriggling like a worm on a hook.
Kirara opened her mouth and let out a delicate belch. A ball of flame shot out engulfing the base of the plant, a large screeching wail erupted – and then it was all over.
Kirara huffed disdainfully and returned to her spot in the sun. She couldn't be expected to do everything herself!