Disclaimer: I do not own any part of InuYasha, only my own character Kakiya.
Chapter 2
Kakiya awoke to the light of the sun warming up her sleeping face. She sat up, stretching out her sleepy arms in front of her. She fell back onto the soft grass and watched the clouds roll by. Hearing the sounds of footsteps, Kakiya sat up in time to see InuYasha, back to his full glory, walk out of the hut.
"Good morning, InuYasha!" She happily called to him.
"Morning." He grumbled as he made his way up the hill towards her.
She let out a devilish grin, "Did you have a nice sleep last night?"
He plopped down next to her, pulling Tessaiga free from his sash and set it beside him, "What do you think."
Kakiya looked at his silver hair, "Well, at least you're back to normal." She smiled. "I'm stuck this way until the sun rises on the day after tomorrow."
InuYasha looked at her, "Three nights and two days basically as a human... I still wonder how you managed to survive this long."
Kakiya thought for a moment then answered, "Stealth, good hiding spots and loads of good luck!"
"Says the person who would rather sleep out in the open than inside." He retorted.
She winked, "Which is why I added 'luck' to the list too. Plus I still have some skills that I can use."
After a long period of silence, it was InuYasha who finally spoke up, "Kakiya... About that time... you have to understand why I did what I did."
She looked at him with saddened eyes, "Must we talk about such things now? It's in the past now, InuYasha, I really couldn't be bothered by it anymore."
"Can't you just hear me out for once?" InuYasha looked at her, "Instead of pushing it to the side, like you always do? I just want to clear this up; it was all just a big misunderstanding."
Kakiya let out a long sigh, "If you really insist, InuYasha, I will listen; but only once." She turned her attention to the hut and saw Kagome and Sango walk out of it, "But not now, perhaps a little later." She grinned.
InuYasha mentally did a face palm, 'She avoided the subject again!'
"But, if I find your explanation is not suitable enough..." she turned and smiled at him, "I might have to kill you."
He felt himself shudder at the thought, but then regained his composure and scoffed, "As if." He said nonchalantly.
"Oh? Is that a challenge you're proposing?" Kakiya turned and faced the two girls coming up towards them, "As soon as I'm back to my full powers... we'll fight." She whispered.
InuYasha laughed, "That gives you two more days to live." he joked.
Leaning back on her hands, she laughed and let the wind blow through her long black hair, "Even though I said that, I won't really kill you InuYasha." She quietly told him.
He watched Kagome walk to them and sit down in front of them, 'I know... and neither would I.' he quietly thought.
"'Morning guys!" Kagome said, cheerily.
Sango sat down beside her with Kirara resting in between them, "Morning."
"Good morning Kagome, Sango." Kakiya nodded to them both respectively.
"Are Miroku and Shippo still sleeping?" InuYasha asked.
Sango looked at the hut, "Miroku should be coming out anytime soon, and Shippo is probably still sleeping though." She laughed.
Just when Sango finished her sentence, Miroku walked out of the hut with Shippo lying on his shoulder, sleepily rubbing his eyes. Miroku saw the group and walked up towards them and sat down beside Sango, joining them. After chatting for a little while, they all decided that it was time to have breakfast. They moved to a flowery field close to the village, as they thought perhaps eating in the middle of the village would be a bit rude. As Sango set up the picnic blanket, Kagome prepared their meal as Kakiya watched her in wonder.
Kagome noticed Kakiya's staring and looked at her own clothing, "What is it, Kakiya? Do I have something strange on me?" she questioned.
"Ah, no. Sorry if you found my staring distracting. I was just wondering where you came from. Your clothes and even your... well things... are very strange to me." She picked up a noodle cup package and examined it, "I've never seen such things before."
"Hey!" InuYasha cried out, "That's my favourite flavour, that's mine!" he said swiping it back from her.
Kakiya laughed, "Sorry, InuYasha."
"To answer your question; these items are from my own era."
"Your own... 'Era'?"
"As you can probably see, I'm not from this time period." She said as she poured hot water into the noodle cups, "To me, this world is five hundred years in the past." She laughed, "I guess you can say I'm from the future."
"Fascinating!" she was astonished at the fact, "From the future..." she said in awe.
Kagome handed out the noodle cups and handed one to Kakiya too. Kakiya took the cup from Kagome and grabbed a pair of chopsticks. Twirling the noodles between the two sticks, she brought the noodles to her mouth and ate it.
Her eyes lit up, "I think I've had this somewhere before..."
"Get real, I doubt you've ever even ate this before, Kakiya. You're just thinking too much." InuYasha told her in between mouthfuls, "Besides, I don't remember her(1) feeding us anything like this."
Kakiya took another bite, "Perhaps not your mother, InuYasha. But I have eaten this before; I wouldn't forget such a distinct flavour." She looked in the direction of the well, 'Could it be from that short time... beyond the well?' she thought. Kakiya looked at Kagome, who was eating her own noodles, "Kagome, may I ask you how you get to this era?"
Kagome pointed in the direction of the well with her chopsticks, "There's a well in the forest over there. It's called the 'Bone Eater's well.' That's how I travel through the two time periods; through the well."
Kakiya was thoroughly surprised, 'I was right!' she thought. She gently put down her unfinished cup and placed her chopsticks across the cup, and looked at Kagome. "Is it possible... though I wouldn't want to impose on you or anything, but could you bring me to your time period?"
Kagome poked at her noodles, "If I could, I would."
"What do you mean?"
Miroku and Sango looked at each other. Sango put her finished cup to the side, "We tried traveling back through time with her before, but it never worked." She told her.
Miroku nodded knowingly, "It seems that the only ones who can travel through the worlds are Kagome and InuYasha."
"InuYasha can travel through time too?" Kakiya looked at him, "How interesting..." She smirked.
He saw that and twitched, "Don't give me that look!"
Kakiya put her hands up in defence, "I'm not implying anything. You just took it the wrong way." She grinned.
"Well... anyway," he turned away, slightly red in the face, "It's not like you can go there, I doubt Kagome can bring you to her era."
Kakiya gave him a mischievous smile, "I wonder about that..." she poked his back which sent chills up his spine, "I wouldn't worry too much about that, InuYasha." she told him happily.
"So you are planning to go back to her time? If it happens to succeed, how long do you plan on staying there, Kagome?" asked Miroku.
Sango stroked Kirara's head, "It would be nice to get a nice, long rest once in a while."
Kagome thought for a bit, "I think we might stay for a day or two, I don't plan on staying that long."
"Well, even a day's worth of rest is great." Kirara purred in acknowledgement.
"I'm assuming you're leaving this evening?"
"Yup." Kagome turned to InuYasha, "InuYasha, you're coming too, right?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Then it's decided!" Kagome said, clapping her hands together happily.
It was then that InuYasha caught a familiar scent drifting in the air. "Naraku..."
"What? Here?"
Miroku and Sango immediately got up. Sango and Kagome hurried and packed her things safely away in her bag.
"Where is the scent coming from, InuYasha?" Miroku asked him.
"Follow me."
InuYasha jumped off and headed towards a nearby forest with Miroku tailing closely behind them. Kirara turned into her larger form to allow Sango and Kagome to ride upon her back.
Kakiya declined her offer to come with them, "I'll take my time and catch up with you." She happily told them. "Besides, I still haven't finished my noodles yet." She picked up her cup and continued on eating.
Sango nodded and headed off towards the forest to follow InuYasha. Kakiya watched them fly off. After finishing her noodles, she just sat there, pondering whether or not she should follow them, but curiosity got the better of her, so she decided to follow them. Kakiya got up and started on a quick pace towards the woods.
'I wonder what this 'Naraku' character looks like.' She fondly thought.
InuYasha caught up to where the scent originated, but was disappointed at what he found.
"Kagura." He scoffed, "I should have known."
"InuYasha, I didn't think I'd see you here." She looked at her fan, opening and closing it, "And here I thought that I would finally get to relax on such a nice day... But I guess that was too much to ask for." She angrily snapped her fan shut. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same!" he growled in reply.
Kagura sighed, "I knew you would've said something that that. I shouldn't have bothered to ask." She opened her fan again, "But I'd like it if you would kindly leave this place. Dance of Blades!" The wind blades cut through the air and were headed towards InuYasha's group of friends.
He quickly unsheathed Tessaiga and sliced away her blades. "As always, you are as weak as ever." He raised his sword over his head, "Wind Scar!"
Jumping away, she narrowly avoided his attack, 'Why is it that everywhere I go, I always run into these guys?' she though angrily.
InuYasha pointed Tessaiga towards Kagura, "Are you going to answer me? What are you doing here?"
At this point, Kakiya finally caught up to them, although she couldn't see them, she could hear InuYasha's voice perfectly. 'He's as loud as usual.' She smiled.
Kagura laughed, "What? Is there something wrong with a person wanting to rest here for a moment?"
Kakiya heard Kagura's voice and was puzzled. 'Naraku... is a girl?' she thought as she drew closer to InuYasha. Kakiya finally saw them and ran up to the group. She looked at InuYasha, who had his sword still pointed to Kagura, "Hey! InuYasha! Is this Naraku? I didn't know he was a ... well a she." she called out.
InuYasha burst out laughing. Unable to hold his sword straight, he drove his blade into the ground and was now using it for support to stay upright, for he was still laughing uncontrollably.
'Just who is that girl! Mistaking me for Naraku!' Kagura was furious "You fool! How can I be Naraku? I am Kagura, Kagura of the wind! Remember that you foolish girl!" She sent another wave of her wind blades towards Kakiya.
Kakiya and InuYasha's group of friends behind her quickly moved away, avoiding the blades.
"Alright! I'll remember that you're Kagura!" Kakiya pouted, "No need to get feisty or anything."
Kagura stared at her, "Putting that aside," she looked at InuYasha and smirked, "I see that you've added another useless human to your idiotic party..."
Kakiya glared at the wind witch, 'The nerve of that girl...' she angrily thought and looked around for a weapon to use. She saw Sango's katana sheathed at her side, "Sango, may I borrow that?"
Confused, Sango took out her katana and handed it to Kakiya, "Sure... but I'm not sure that you can do much with that against Kagura. She may be weak, but this might be pushing it a little..." she said, worried.
Kakiya smiled, "Don't you worry about me, and I'll be fine." She unsheathed Sango's katana and quickly examined it before turning her attention back to Kagura, "I'll show you who's useless or not!" The blade in her hand glowed with a white aura. 'I can't do much in this form except this.' She thought bitterly.
Beside her, Kagome recognized the strange aura, "That looks a lot like the aura that surrounds my purifying arrows..." she whispered.
"Did you say something, Kagome?" Kakiya asked her.
"Ah, no. Don't worry about it." She smiled back.
Kagura glared at them, "That pitiful shinning blade won't do a thing against me! Dance of Blades!"
A barrage of white wind blades headed towards the group. Kakiya quickly ran up to them and sliced at the blades. Kagome noticed that each one Kakiya hit, it faded away as a calm breeze, the same effect that her own arrows produced.
'Could she be a priestess? Like me?' Kagome wondered.
Kakiya looked at Sango's blade, 'Tsch... This katana isn't going to hold for much longer...' she thought, noticing little nicks in the blade beginning to form. 'The power from her wind blades is tearing away at my own blade even before I get the chance to purify her wind... I need to finish this quickly before this breaks.' Kakiya concluded.
Running towards Kagura, Kakiya cursed herself for being so slow in her 'humanly' form. Another set of wind blades flew at her as she tried her best to avoid them, slicing some of them away if she couldn't avoid it. Her leg got caught in the crumbling ground when one of Kagura's wind blades sliced the ground close to her. Kakiya looked up and saw another blade coming directly towards her. Holding the katana out in front of her, she readied herself for the impact. The wind blade came. It hit her katana with full force, but the blade could no longer hold and broke into two.
"Oops." Kakiya said as she felt the wind blade slice through the top of her left shoulder. She brought her right hand up and covered the blood-soaked wound and sighed. "This hurts more than I expected it to."
The scent of Kakiya's blood drifted through the air and caught the attention of InuYasha, who was busy slashing away at the wind blades that Kakiya had missed and drifted away towards his friends.
"Kakiya!" he called out to her. InuYasha saw her sitting on the ground, with her leg trapped underneath the earth, and her blood streaming down her body. He glared at Kagura, "You will pay for that!"
'So her name is Kakiya...' Kagura tapped her closed fan on her chin, 'Interesting... but she seems weak. Best I destroy her now, before she gets in the way in the future.'
InuYasha quickly jumped towards Kakiya and sliced away the earth from her leg, and jumped away towards Kagura. Kakiya stood up in agony, but ignoring the pain, she raced towards Kagura, wanting only to return the favour that Kagura did for her.
Hearing footsteps behind him and the scent from Kakiya's sweet blood made him stop in front of her, blocking her path, "Injured people should stay out of this."
Kakiya looked at her bloody shoulder and tried covering it with a bloody hand, "It's just a scratch." She smiled meekly.
"I'll believe you when that scratch stops bleeding." He sighed, "You are not at your strongest right now."
"You shouldn't worry about me." Kakiya said, pointing to the incoming wind blades.
Cursing, InuYasha quickly grabbed Kakiya by the waist and pulled her away. Dropping her on the ground, he turned around and sent his wind scar towards the oblivious Kagura.
"Damn you InuYasha!"The unexpected wind scar cut through Kagura's flesh and her torso and head flew into the air.
Kakiya rushed pass InuYasha and jumped up towards the following Kagura. She raised her bloody right hand as white, claw-like energy, similar to the energy on the katana before, surrounded her hand. Kakiya clawed at Kagura, who desperately turned away to avoid the blow. She barely got away, but Kakiya still managed to mark her back with five glowing marks that stripped across her spider tattoo. InuYasha took that chance to attack her with his Wind Scar, which only scattered her flesh across the air. At that moment, wasp-like bugs flew in and caught the various pieces of flesh and started to fly away. Kakiya tried to swipe at one of them, but her hand was violently pushed away by a barrier.
"Ah, she got away." Kakiya said sadly as she watched Kagura's flesh being taken away by insects. The white light from her hand dimmed and returned to normal.
Kagura's body reformed as she flew back towards Naraku. 'Perhaps I shouldn't have gone on that leisure trip after all...' she felt the searing pain her back, "Curse that human witch." She growled.
She flew towards his castle and entered it, getting a change of clothes first before she did anything else. Kagura walked into one of the rooms and found Naraku sitting there, watching something in Kanna's mirror.
"I see you've been in a fight." Naraku stated, emotionlessly.
She saw that he was watching her fight scene with Kakiya and InuYasha. Kagura let out a large 'humph' and sat down beside Kanna. "What to do you care."
"I simply wondered where you were, so Kanna showed me." Naraku stared intently at Kakiya's form, "I see you've met another interesting character..."
"But she was weak; I managed to wound her shoulder. Did you not see?"
"Yes but, she did the same to you, did she not?" He looked at her face again, 'I believe I've met her before... although certainly not in this life... But... where?' Naraku turned towards Kagura, "Let me see it."
Kagura moved towards him so that her back was in front of him. She shifted her robes around and let Naraku see the glowing marks on her back.
He touched it, but recoiled at the touch with the marks burned his hand, "It's like a purifying arrow." He growled. Naraku looked at Kagura and turned to the scar, "I will help reduce the pain." He covered the scars with his poisonous, solidified miasma. "Now it will lessen the purifying effect on your body."
Kagura covered herself with her kimono again, "What do you want me to do." She asked, indifferently, knowing that Naraku must have wanted her to do something for him to do such a thing for her.
"Ah yes." Naraku smiled, "I want you to go back there and met this girl again. I want you to bring her to me." He rested his head on one hand, "Oh, but don't bother bringing the dog. I'd rather not deal with him right now; he's getting rather annoying."
Kagura stared at him, but didn't say anything. 'What is he planning?' she thought.
Naraku turned his attention towards Kanna's mirror once more, "Kakiya... was it?" he whispered.
"How did you know?"
"A distant memory that I thought I've forgotten." He said to himself, but then glared at Kagura, "Don't you have somewhere you're supposed to be right now?"
"Yes, of course. I'll be going now." Kagura growled in between her teeth. She turned and left the room, 'On day, I'll be free. I'll be free as the wind!' She thought as she flew through the bright sky.
XXX
(1) InuYasha's mother.
Have a nice day.