Chapter 4

Ancient Nulling Stone

There was something nostalgic, and yet completely new and thrilling about the road they took. It had been three years since they had last taken a journey together, one goal in mind, like some odd group going on a quest… Which, in a sense, they were. Kagome looked around excitedly, steeling her heart for the journey ahead.

"It's been a while since our last journey, hasn't it?" asked the handsome young man walking a little behind her. She turned around and grinned, nodding. Miroku had hardly changed a bit in that time appearance wise. He had the same dark hair, the same playful dark eyes, he even wore the same purple robes, though with the addition of steel armguards. The biggest difference about him honestly was simply that he had grown far more mature - a change helped along no doubt by three children and his wife.

Beside him walked said wife, her face serene. Sango had barely changed either, her eyes perhaps a little puffy from tiredness, but her face still as beautiful as ever. Her hair was tied back loosely with a piece of twine, and her great bone boomerang, Hiraikotsu, was slung over her shoulder. On Miroku's back was a tiny infant boy - his son - wrapped in a cloth, tied around his own shoulders.

Kagome had been worried about bringing the boy, and not without reason. He was only a few weeks old at this point. Both she and Miroku had tried convincing Sango to stay behind to take care of the baby and her two twin daughters, but she had been adamant about going. Once she made up her mind, there was no convincing her otherwise. So while the two girls could be left with Kaede, the baby would have to go with Sango. She was perfectly at her ease with the child accompanying them, and so the matter was dropped. If worst came to worst, Shippo (who was sitting on Kagome's shoulder) could run and hide with the child.

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed from beside Kagome. His arms were folded into his sleeves, and he walked with a scowl on his face. "You say that like fighting Naraku was a fun thing."

"May I remind you that we wouldn't have met otherwise?" Miroku asked, raising a dark eyebrow himself and chuckling. "You would probably be sitting in a tree feeling miserable and pining after a dead woman."

"As if!"

"And with no Tetsusaiga, either."

"Shaddup!"

"You're such an idiot, Inuyasha," Shippo sighed, squealing when a clawed fist came crashing down on the top of his head.

Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed. Same argumentative Inuyasha, she thought. Things really haven't changed. She pulled a little at the neck of her kimono; since having returned, she had begun wearing the traditional red and white miko garb, and while they were much easier to move around in, they were somewhat uncomfortably warm, especially in the full sun.

She gave a sidelong glance at Inuyasha. His eyes were closed, a nerve going in his brow. She giggled, and his eyes flashed in her direction. "What are you laughing at?" he growled.

"Nothing," Kagome answered. Her all too cheery tone and expression did nothing to quell his suspicion as she adjusted the bow and quiver slung over her back. "Anyway we should be focused on the mission at hand."

"I wonder why Kaede wants us to go find Rin? It's not like Sesshomaru's going to hurt her. Not to mention she just loves him." Kagome nodded at the little fox demon's words.

It had not been ten hours since Rin had disappeared with Sesshomaru that morning. Kaede had approached the quickly gathered Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku - Shippo tagged along with the two former - with the plea for help recovering the girl. "Kaede said that it wasn't quite time for Rin to leave the village yet," Kagome explained. "She said she wanted her to have a couple more years of practice living with humans before it would be the right time for her to leave."

"She's been living in the village for three years already, though," said Miroku, looking somewhat surprised. "She's almost a woman by now."

"Guess Kaede wants her to stick around a little longer," shrugged Sango, reaching over and wiggling her fingers in front of her cooing baby's face. "Probably wouldn't hurt her."

"Definitely wouldn't hurt her," grumbled Inuyasha. "I can't see why the kid likes Sesshomaru so much."

"Somebody still grumpy?" Kagome teased, threading her arm through his. The hanyo scoffed again, but his eyes softened an infinitesimal amount.

There was a friendly silence for several long minutes, filled only with their footsteps and the baby's cooings.

"I think we're going to have to stop for the day," Miroku said after about a quarter of an hour.

"The sun doesn't set for another half an hour or so, though," Inuyasha turned to his friend, somewhat annoyed. All throughout their adventures three years ago, the same thing had happened, where Inuyasha - being a half demon - simply couldn't understand that humans got tired faster than he did, and needed to sleep in safer places than trees.

"Sango has to feed Hirohito," Miroku said pointedly, bouncing the baby on his back so it giggled a little. "Not to mention we need to actually find a place to set up camp."

"I saw a cave a little ways back up the road!" Shippo said excitedly, raising a hand in the hair, his puffy tail quivering. "It was a little ways up a mountain not too far off the path. We could sleep there, right?"

"Good eyes, Shippo," Kagome praised the kit, who smirked, turning to Inuyasha with the smuggest expression he could muster. The hanyo suddenly wanted nothing more than to pound the little devil into the ground, but Kagome was gripping his arm too tightly to allow him to turn. So, he had to keep the fist to himself, settling for low, angry growls and the intense desire to make such a smug, self satisfied expression illegal.

So, the little group of five - plus a baby - turned around, Inuyasha grumbling with annoyance, and made their way back down the road.

The cave Shippo had seen was barely visible from the path, around half a mile into the woods. The inutachi cheerily (save for Inuyasha) clambered down the steep, grassy slope beside the road, hopping over and wading through the river. Inuyasha scooped up Kagome and leapt over the swift moving waters, Sango laying Hiraikotsu down across a few rocks in a makeshift bridge for her husband and newborn son. Inuyasha didn't set Kagome down, even after the sound of the creek had faded behind them, Sango and Miroku sharing knowing little glances and smirks at the way Kagome rested her head on the hanyo's shoulder, how Inuyasha held the young woman as close to his chest as he could, his lips trembling as he tried to resist smiling while Kagome talked gently to him about nothing in particular. It was quiet, and peaceful, their footsteps muffled by the forest floor.

The serenity of the mood was suddenly drained with Miroku's suddenly tense question, stopping before the inutachi with his stiff back facing them. "I can't sense anything."

"What?" Sango approached her husband, laying a hand on his elbow. "Miroku, what do you mean?"

The monk turned to Inuyasha, who abruptly set Kagome down, a deep crease appearing between his brows. "Inuyasha, I can't sense you…"

"How?" The half demon's clawed hand was hovering over his Tetsusaiga, his eyes darting back and forth between the trees.

"It's like… Your youki just disappeared, like… Like…" The monk turned around, his eyes wide. "It just disappeared like whenever we would approach the Infant."

"The Infant?" Kagome said faintly. "With the Fuyoheki? The Nulling Stone? I thought you sucked it up with your Kazanna years ago…"

"I can feel it too," Inuyasha said darkly, now gripping his sword hilt tightly, readying himself for a fight. "There's no mistaking it. I can't even feel my own demonic powers."

"But I thought there was only one Nulling Stone," Kagome pressed again, looking between her companions with concern. "That old rock youkai that got killed had it."

"We should find out where it is," Shippo piped up from by their feet.

"Yeah… I want to know if there's any demons sneaking up on us tonight," Inuyasha agreed. His eyes were glazed over as he stared before them. "And I got a feeling that I know where the Fuyoheki is…"

He began walking forward, leading the group at a brisk pace that had them all breathing heavily after a few minutes as they made their way up the steadily steepening slope of the mountain, still towards the cave that had been their original destination.

"Stop," Inuyasha said once they'd created a final hill, coming face to face with the cave. Unsheathing Tetsusaiga, he waved it about slowly a couple of times before slowly approaching the dark, gaping maw that was the cave entrance and jabbing it.

There was a deep rumbling which shook the ground beneath their feet. Something above the cave mouth flashed, and Kagome stifled a gasp at the jewel bright and rocky eyes that stared down at them. This was another mountain youkai, like Gakusanjin, who had been the owner of the Nulling Stone which had been taken by Naraku three years before. But the way the stone was weathered, the mass of rock and stone above and covering the giant demon, the old trees growing on the sides, the frighteningly knowing and sad gaze of the demon all said to Kagome that this rock youkai was much, much older than Gakusanjin had been. Thousands of years old at least, maybe even millions.

"Who are you?" came the voice from the very earth. The demon didn't move, only staring tiredly at the inutachi. "Come to take another treasure from an old youkai?"

"We came looking for a Nulling Stone," Miroku called, raising a hand to his mouth to better project his voice. "You wouldn't happen to have it, would you?"

"Aye," rumbled the voice. The eyes flashed from Miroku to Sango, then to Inuyasha and Shippo before coming to rest on Kagome. "You brought a miko. Do you plan to purify me? Because I will tell you now that the attempt would be pointless…"

"We have no plans on killing you," Kagome answered, raising her voice like Miroku. "We only came to make sure that there was no demon who would…" Her voice trailed off, biting her lip. She didn't want to suggest that the old mountain wasn't dangerous by calling other demons more of a threat to them perhaps even accidentally provoking him into a fight.

"You better stay away from them," Inuyasha spat out at last, holding Tetsusaiga threateningly, "Or I'll kill you. I've destroyed more powerful demons than you." Kagome groaned. Inuyasha was doing exactly that which she had hoped to avoid, only worse by being hostile himself. Much to the inutachi's surprise, however, there was another low rumbling from under their feet, like deep laughter. Laughter coming from the ancient rock youkai.

"I believe you, boy," answered the demon faintly. "I wouldn't be much of a fight, however. I am nearing the end of my life, after all. I have no reason to continue living after…"

The great demon fell suddenly silent. "After what?" Miroku questioned slowly.

"I… Had a great artifact stolen from within me…" continued the demon, the rumbling of his voice growing rather weaker. "I had been tasked with destroying the weapon many, many eons ago… But I was not strong enough to destroy it… So I swore upon my own life that I would seal the artifact away within my being until the end of time… But it was stolen from me. I have failed my mission."

"What weapon is this?" Sango asked, concern creeping into her voice. "Who took it?"

The youkai's voice was growing ever fainter as he answered, "There was a weapon left upon the earth by a great god… A sword with the power over souls, over Fate… The Kismet Blade."

"Who stole it?" Inuyasha asked once again. His own sword was held limply in his hand, all the fight going out of him as he had listened to the old rock.

"I do not know," said the youkai in almost a whisper. "I do not know, save he was a strong demon… Strong, with white hair - long, like yours, hanyo… And I heard him, as he flew away, that he swore he would use the Blade to kill his brother.

"I pity the poor soul who shares blood with that demon… I fear that he stands no chance against the Kismet Blade… His Fate is sealed..."

Glossary:

Kazanaa - Miroku's wind tunnel

Youkai - a demon or spirit

Youki - demonic energy

Fuyoheki - a stone which masks demonic energy; a Nulling Stone

Hiraikotsu - Sango's bone boomerang

Tetsusaiga - Inuyasha's sword, meaning

Hanyo - a half demon

Inutachi - the gang of Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, often translated to "Inuyasha and co." or "Inuyasha friends" in the manga

A/N This chapter's a little shorter, but it's got a lot of dialogue. Yes, I'm going to address the old rock youkai's willingness to give away information in future chapters (probably the next one). I hate writing dialogue... Hahahah.

Are you guys who are reading this liking this at all? I don't know... Nobody gives me any feedback... I mean, even a "I hate this story, you suck as a writer" would be better than a lack of feedback but... Whatever I guess...

(Whoever thought bringing a 2 week old baby on a dangerous quest was a good idea is an absolute GENIUS. Actually, i reasoned that since Sango was a Taijiya/Slayer, she was introduced to danger since childhood. And since she's such a strong warrior, she's not too worried about her baby. OH and I named the baby "Hirohito", which means, in essence, "Unknown". I thought it was fitting since we know literally NOTHING about Sango and Miroku's kids.)

Uhh, yeah. Bye have fun don't die love yourselves lEAVE A FREAKING REVIEW OR SMTH XD IDK okei bye

Currently listening to: Man With a Mission (Nanatsu no Taizai) - Nate Wants to Battle