Hello, everyone! Here is Ch. 7! I feel really bad that it's taken so long to get it up. I got stuck on one scene and couldn't figure out how to get it going again. But I got it fixed--finally--so, yay! Um..what else?...Oh, the "hollow" in the ceiling--picture it as kind of a narrow cone, the wide end at the bottom. Um...Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha...Uh, I think that's all. Enjoy!
"Think they're out of the way yet?" Shippo asks Sango as the two of them approach the cave opening, leaving Miroku and Kilala at a safe distance. Kilala is transformed, ready to spring after the kitsune and demon slayer if need be. Miroku has his left hand over his right, preparing to remove the prayer beads and open the Wind Tunnel if their plan doesn't work.
I just hope combining our attacks opens up the entrance...I don't want Miroku to use his Kazana if he can help it... Sango thinks, glancing at Miroku. He gives her an encouraging grin. She smiles back at him before turning around to face the cave-in. Sango looks down at the fox-demon by her side. "Yeah, Shippo. Arae-Yin Nae should have reached them by now, so let's go ahead and get our friends out," she says fiercely.
"Right!" Shippo yells. "Ready when you are!"
Sango allows herself another smile at the determination in the young demon's voice. Throwing all her weight behind it, Sango swings her weapon around once...twice...then throws the large boomerang at the rockpile, shouting, "HIRAITKOTSU!"
As soon as the weapon leaves her hands, Shippo jumps up in the air, yelling, "SMASHING TOP!" as he throws his toy, transformed by his fox magic, to a spot near where Sango's Hiraitkotsu should hit.
The two immediately back up a few steps as the weapons hit the rocks, sending slivers of stone and dust flying all around them. Sango crouches over the tiny fox, sheltering him from some of the larger pieces. She glances back at Miroku and Kilala, who are running towards them, Miroku shouting something. Sango turns her head to see a small opening in the center of the barricade. She starts to smile when suddenly she sees more rocks breaking away from the top of the cliff and rolling down, sealing the entrance again. Watching in horror, Sango sees the opening collapse, then hears more crashing coming from inside the cave. What...have we done?!
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"Well, that didn't work," Inuyasha grumbles, as he places Kagome on her feet, both of them glancing back toward the entrance, which they're sure is blocked even more. Inuyasha glances back down at Kagome's feet, then his own. He frowns. Why can I see my feet so well? I couldn't before...
Before Inuyasha can give the question much thought, Arae-Yin Nae floats up beside them, frowning. She glances back at the dust, which is starting to settle. "I...should have known better. I should have warned them...," she mumbles to herself.
Inuyasha and Kagome turn their heads to look at the priestess. "What do you mean?" Inuyasha asks. "You couldn't have known that the cave would collapse again--could you?"
The miko looks up, seeing the confusion on the two young faces. She sighs. "This cave is very old--and therefore very unstable. The waterfall, though beautiful, did not help in maintaining the strength of these stones," she says, attempting to lay one pale hand on the wall. It passes right through the rock, causing Arae-Yin Nae to sigh again. "Walk to the bridge and look up."
Kagome and Inuyasha exchange a startled glance before heading to the center of the cave. Inuyasha looks at the girl beside him, noticing that her hand is wrapped around the flashlight, her knuckles white, while her other arm clutches the blanket to her chest. He reaches over and gently pries the flashlight from her grasp, putting her arm through his. Kagome looks up at him, a small smile crossing her lips before she buries half of her face in his sleeve. He can feel her shaking. I was the one who was hurt, but Kagome was awake most of the night, had to take care of me, worried about our friends, worried about ME, and now we may not get out of this cave--if it doesn't come down on us...I don't know how much more she can take... Inuyasha thinks, gently squeezing her arm with his free hand. Kagome tightens her grip on him.
When the two of them reach the bridge, Inuyasha turns on the flashlight and shines it at the ceiling. Kagome gasps. "But...but," she babbles, tears starting to fill her eyes. Inuyasha sees what she means. Before the attack outside, the ceiling at this point in the cave had only a few cracks, and only small stones in it that might have fallen. Now there are chunks of rock missing from the ceiling, and huge breaks going across it: one running from the front of the cave to the back, one running across the width of it, and several more branches spreading out from those. Inuyasha brings the beam down and shines it around them. Kagome sobs and buries her face in his chest, clutching the front of his haori. Surrounding them are various-sized pieces of the ceiling that have fallen out.
"Good thing we moved," Inuyasha says dryly. Kagome laughs once, then hiccups, trying to stop her tears. Inuyasha wraps his arm around her head while swinging the flashlight toward the entrance. Sure enough, more boulders have fallen, blocking their exit even more. Inuyasha sighs.
"You don't think we'll get out either--do you?" Kagome's muffled voice says from under his sleeve.
Inuyasha switches off the light and pushes Kagome away from him so that he can see her face, which is illuminated only by the light from the priestess at the back of the cave. "We'll get out, Kagome," he says sternly. "I still owe you for about a thousand "sits." You're not getting out of them that easily."
Kagome smiles, her eyes drifting to the Beads of Subjugation around Inuyasha's neck. The last time she'd used the command on him was during their first meeting with Kaguya--and that was to save him from being hit with his own attack. Kagome hadn't used it since--there wasn't a reason to. Kagome smiled wider, her tears drying.
Inuyasha had somehow come to the conclusion that he had to get Kagome back for all those times she had used the beads' power. He had started by moving her stuff around. Kagome had a tendency to be on the neat side, especially while in the Feudal Era, as she didn't want to leave anything behind that hadn't been invented yet. So Inuyasha had taken to removing things from her pack and leaving them in random places when they had camped for the night.
At first Kagome just thought she herself had misplaced an item, only to rediscover it the next morning. After the third incident, Kagome started to get suspicious, and pretended to be asleep that night--"waking up" and catching Inuyasha in the act. She had threatened to "sit" him, but Inuyasha came right out and admitted that he was just getting her back for all the times she had sat him, hoping that the truth would keep him from getting hurt. It did.
Kagome let the incident pass, but warned him not to do anything else. Inuyasha didn't--for about 5 seconds, until he went to hug the girl and whispered "goodnight" in her ear, his warm breath passing over her neck. Kagome had pushed him away quickly, rubbing the ticklish spot with her palm. The hanyou had waited exactly 2 seconds before tackling the miko, pressing his lips to her neck and nuzzling, kissing, and breathing on the poor girl, until Kagome had exhausted herself from laughing so much. She had tried to fight him off, pushing and kicking the half-demon, but she was no match for Inuyasha. And as she was too distracted at the time, Kagome forgot the he was also ticklish. Inuyasha had been harassing her ever since.
"Uh-huh," Kagome says, reaching one hand up to pull lightly on the beads around Inuyasha's neck. "Just you try it."
Inuyasha smirks. "Oh-I will. I've got lots of fun stuff planned," he says as Kagome glares at him. Inuyasha laughs and turns the girl toward the back of the cave, walking behind her as they head to Arae-Yin Nae.
About halfway there, Kagome sees a flicker of light in her peripheral vision and turns toward it. She's blinded as the beam from the flashlight shines in her face, before it is immediately shut off. Kagome shakes her head, closing and rubbing her eyes to get rid of the residual image that's blocking her view. With her eyes closed, Kagome can hear Inuyasha mumbling something. I thought he was right behind me... She listens more intently. It sounds like...
Kagome opens her eyes, blinking a few times, and turns around. Inuyasha is holding the flashlight with both hands, aiming it at the far wall. As she watches, the hanyou flicks the switch, turning the light on, and Kagome hears a low humming start in Inuyasha's throat. He slashes at the air, bringing the light down in sideways arcs, like he's chopping down a tree. With each swing, Kagome hears a different sound--one like...Kagome's eyes widen in surprise. Where did he even hear that? She stares at the half-demon, who is now swinging the light around in circles, stabbing and slashing at invisible enemies. He must've seen one of Sota's video games... "Inuyasha?"
The half-demon stops in the middle of a swing, turning to stare at her. He frowns at Kagome, then looks down at his hands, frowning even more. Standing up straight, Inuyasha turns off the light and walks over to her. "Hi," he says, kissing her lightly.
Kagome stares at him, open-mouthed. What the hell!? What is going on? It's like he doesn't even remember what he was doing 3 seconds ago! Inuyasha looks at her, slightly confused.
"What?" he asks, smiling and grabbing her hand, leading Kagome back to Arae-Yin Nae. They stop as the priestess floats away from the back wall to meet them, gliding through a shaft of light that's coming from the ceiling. "What's that?" Inuyasha asks.
"It's sunlight coming through an opening in the ceiling--it was one of the reasons Arae-Yin Nae's shrine was put in this cave." Inuyasha turns to Kagome with a slightly hopeful look. She shakes her head. "It seems too high up to reach and I think too small to fit through," she says. "Maybe...," Kagome is interrupted as Arae-Yin Nae reaches them.
"I will go tell the demon slayer and kitsune that their attack did not work," she says solemnly, floating past the two. "In fact, it made the situation worse." Arae-Yin Nae looks at the couple sadly, focusing on their intertwined fingers.
Kagome suddenly gets irritated. She thinks were gonna die in here, too! Controlling her anger, Kagome speaks to the priestess. "Can you please tell the others what's happened to the ceiling, and that another attack like that won't work?"
Arae-Yin Nae looks up at the girl's determined face and nods. Seeing the anger in Kagome's eyes, the older woman speaks, "I am...sorry...for implying..."
Kagome sighs. "It's all right. I've already said the same thing. But Inuyasha told me that we were gonna get out of here...," Kagome lifts her eyes to Inuyasha's, "...and I believe him," she ends quietly, her anger gone. Inuyasha offers her a small grin and pulls Kagome to him, resting his chin on the top of her head. She wraps her arms around his waist.
"Are there any other openings that they can try?" Inuyasha asks, hugging Kagome back.
"Yes. There is the side entrance--the one the waterfall exited through. But..." Arae-Yin Nae turns to look at the wall, floating a few feet in that direction. "...I do not believe this way will work, either." She squints at the almost smooth stone. "It has been sealed for too long, and the rock has had time to settle." Arae-Yin Nae turns around and floats past Kagome and Inuyasha, who break their hug and follow. The priestess floats back to her altar and looks up through the beam of light, frowning. She brings her gaze back to the hanyou and miko. "I say that your best chance of escape is...," Arae-Yin Nae trails off as she looks at the ceiling again.
Inuyasha and Kagome follow the ray of light to the ceiling. They can't see anything but the light. Inuyasha turns on the flashlight and shines it upward--the beam doesn't even reach the top. "Uh...huh...," he mumbles, as the priestess floats toward the cave opening.
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Sango is trying to retrieve her Hiraitkotsu, which had thankfully gotten stuck near the bottom of the pile of rocks blocking the cave entrance. There are tears drying on her cheeks, as new ones spring up to replace them. Finally getting frustrated, Sango kicks her weapon a few times before plopping onto the ground beside it, burying her head in her hands.
Miroku, who had been attending to the few cuts Shippo had received from the shards of rock flying through the air, walks over and sits beside Sango, wordlessly looking at her own injuries. Sango permits him to examine her, looking up at Shippo, who is now trying to find his top. More tears roll down her cheeks.
"I'm sure they're fine," the monk says, finishing with her wounds and taking one of her hands in his. Sango looks at their hands then up at him, hope in her eyes.
"Really?" she asks, the word catching in her throat.
Miroku nods. "Arae-Yin Nae would have come to tell us if they had gotten caught in that last cave-in. She wouldn't let us...futilely...continue our efforts," he manages to choke out, looking down at their hands as well.
Sango waits until the monk looks back up at her before she lifts her other hand and gently lays it on his cheek. Miroku closes his eyes. "Thank-you, Miroku," she whispers.
Miroku inclines his head--a barely noticeable nod--savoring Sango's touch. He opens his eyes and gives the slayer a small smile, turning his head to kiss her hand. Sango blushes and slowly retracts her hand, reaching for her weapon. She sighs. "I guess we should look for another way in."
"There are no other entrances," Arae-Yin Nae says, startling the engaged couple into dropping their clasped hands. She looks down at the two humans, noting the despair creeping onto their faces. "Inuyasha and Kagome are alright--they moved to the back of the cave before it collapsed again."
"Thank goodness," Shippo says, as he and Kilala walk up to the adults, the fox putting his slightly damaged top in a pocket. "What are we gonna do now?" he asks, looking back and forth between Sango and Miroku, frowning as he sees their disheartened expressions.
Sango glances at Miroku before answering. "I...I don't know. Arae-Yin Nae said that there weren't anymore entrances...and Inuyasha's Windscar is the only attack that's even capable of creating an opening." Sango frowns. "Arae-Yin Nae, why doesn't Inuyasha use the Tetsusaiga?"
The priestess stares at her, uncomprehending. "You mean the rusty sword he carries around?" she asks. Everyone nods except Kilala, who offers a low growl. "He can actually use it as a weapon?"
Miroku tilts his head and scowls, furrowing his brow. "Is Inuyasha still wounded? I mean, is one of his hands or arms injured? Specifically his right?"
Arae-Yin Nae thinks a moment, then nods. "His right wrist is bandaged. Even after changing back into a half-demon, Kagome still wrapped it." She looks at Miroku. "I take it that is his sword arm, and he cannot use the weapon because it is injured?"
Miroku sighs. "Figures. I can't use the Wind Tunnel and Inuyasha can't use Tetsusaiga. His sword transforms," he tells the priestess, who still has a puzzled look on her face. "It becomes a large blade capable of cutting down 100 demons at once." Arae-Yin Nae's eyes widen at the news. Miroku smiles. "Ask him to show it to you--it's quite an amazing weapon." Arae-Yin Nae inclines her head absently, imagining what the sword must look like.
"Can't he use his left hand, though," Shippo asks, jumping up to sit on Miroku's knee.
"He...can...," the monk says, "...but he hasn't had as much practice with that hand, so he's bound to be less accurate with it." Miroku thinks for a minute, his mouth set in a grim line. "And I doubt he wants to try using it while he and Kagome are inside the cave, unless he's sure that he can make an exit."
"Oh," Shippo says, thinking of the Windscar bouncing around inside the cavern. He shivers. Sango's and my attacks already did enough damage--we don't need to make it more difficult for Inuyasha and Kagome to get out.
"And being injured, Kagome isn't likely to let Inuyasha use his right hand unless they don't have any other options," Sango says. "She'd rather wait in the cave 3 or 4 days--depending on the severity of the injury--until it heals and he can lift the sword, or...," the slayer turns to look at Miroku, "...you're Wind Tunnel heals." She sighs. "It may come to that--if we can't find a way in without causing them anymore trouble." Sango turns to Arae-Yin Nae. "We saw inside the entrance briefly--it collapsed after we used our attacks. How much damage did we do?"
The priestess closes her eyes for a few moments before answering. "The other side of this opening...," she says, waving one arm at the boulders behind her, "...has been blocked almost to the center of the cave. Large chunks have fallen out of the ceiling, and cracks that weren't there before are making their way across the roof of the cavern, weakening its stability. The rear of the cave is more sound than up here, but I do not know if your friends have 3 days. Any large vibration may send the rest of the cave crashing down on them," she ends soberly.
Miroku and Sango pale, thinking of the fate that may await their friends. Kilala, though in her bigger form, utters a pitiful mew, and Shippo clenches his fists and jams them into his eyes to keep from crying. After a minute, he stands up on Miroku's knee, tears still threatening to spill onto his cheeks. "We just have to find a way in then," the kitsune says, with much more confidence than he feels.
The others stare at him before small smiles spread across their faces. Sango pats him on the head and stands up. "You're right Shippo. If there aren't any other entrances, we'll just have to make one," she says while grabbing her Hiraitkotsu and yanking it out of the rockpile, her resolve strengthened now that they have another plan. "Arae-Yin Nae, are there any other openings into the cave? Or were there?"
The priestess smiles.
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"Can you get up there?" Kagome asks, looking worredly at the shaft of light disappearing into the darkness overhead. "Do you want the flashlight?"
Inuyasha gives her a "you must be insane" look. "Nooo. I can see better than you can, remember?" Kagome sticks her tongue out at him. Inuyasha rolls his eyes. If I could just get rid of this headache... he thinks, pressing his hands against his head.
Kagome watches Inuyasha, frowning. He still has that headache... She walks up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, laying her head on his back. Inuyasha drops his arms to his sides and closes his eyes. "Promise me you'll be careful, alright? I...," Kagome's words catch in her throat as she thinks about Inuyasha falling from that height.
Inuyasha loosens her arms, turning around to face Kagome. She looks up at him. "I'll be careful. I've got you to come back to--right?" he says softly, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her. Kagome smiles and hugs the hanyou tightly. Inuyasha returns her hug, holding the girl to his chest for several minutes. Reluctantly, he pushes Kagome away.
"Stand back," he says, crouching down. Kagome backs away from the half-demon as Inuyasha looks up at the roof of the cave, which slopes up and away in a circular hollow, toward the opening high above them. Uttering a low growl, Inuyasha jumps to one side of the hollow, digging his claws into the rock with his left hand. He gets his footing, then flips himself over backward, using the momentum to keep traveling upward, bouncing off the walls and hardly using his hands at all. Kagome loses sight of him almost immediately, but she can see evidence of his progress--every few seconds, the beam of light coming through the opening is broken, as Inuyasha leaps back and forth.
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Kilala and Shippo walk past the blocked entrance, around the left side of the cliff face to the exit made by the water leaving the cave. Miroku, Sango, and Arae-Yin Nae trail behind, discussing Kikyo's last words.
"What else did the dead priestess say?" Arae-Yin asks, walking--floating--between the demon slayer and monk.
"Not much," Sango sighs. "She just looked at the wispy, smokey...thing..., mumbled something that sounded like...whirl...then turned to me and said, "Seek...priestess, entombed...Cave of Promises...monk...cure...," Sango ends. She looks at Arae-Yin Nae sadly. "Kikyo was dying...she looked into my eyes and tried to say something else, but didn't have anymore energy. She passed a few seconds later." Sango looks down at her feet, shuffling them through the dirt and rocks.
"A word...that sounded like whirl?" Arae-Yin Nae asks. Sango looks up at her and nods. As they round the corner of the cliff, the priestess pauses a moment to think, while the others look up and gasp at what is lying before them.
Spanning this side of the cliff face is a beautiful lake--the early morning sunlight reflecting off the water. Surrounding it is a black, sandy beach, the ancient forest around the edge hiding this tranquil space from all eyes except the birds flying above it. The group stares.
Arae-Yin Nae looks up. "Oh--I forgot this was here," she says, drawing wide-eyed glances from the others. Ignoring them, she floats across the water, the humans and demons walking along the cliff face, where a narrow ledge of rock and sand separates it from the water. "A wispy, smokey, flying thing that sounds like whirl? It can only be the Canthathirls-- scavengers that live on the mountain, just past the next valley over," the priestess says, pointing across the lake.
Sango, Miroku, Kilala, amd Shippo look in that direction. They can just see the mountains' peak, surrounded by clouds. Miroku asks, "What are they? How did they give me my Wind Tunnel?"
Arae-Yin Nae stops in front of a small pile of rubble. The others crowd at the edge, unable to pass because the rockpile covers the walkway they are on. Instead of answering Miroku's question, Arae-Yin points at the wall of rock. "This was the exit for the water coming into the cave. As you can see, it has been blocked for many years."
Sango steps closer to the cliff wall, examining it closely. "Where is this exit? I mean, relative to the length of the cave, where is this exit located?"
"It is in the middle--where the cracks in the ceiling have begun to form," the priestess replies dryly. She knows that attempting to unblock this entrance will not work.
Sango glances at the others, all of them silently agreeing with the priestess. Sighing, the slayer asks, "Are there any other openings? Any at all?"
Arae-Yin Nae lifts the corners of her mouth a tiny bit. "There is a hole in the roof of the cave," she points upward to the top of the cliff. "But..."
Her eyes widening, Arae-Yin Nae suddenly streaks past them, disappearing into the rock. Shippo, Kilala, Miroku, and Sango exchange nervous glances, disturbed by her unexpected behavior.
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Inuyasha has made it to the top of the hollow in the cave ceiling. Using his feet and his left hand to grab the rock walls, the hanyou stares through the band of light, squinting to see the sky, a few clouds rolling by. The hole is too small for him to crawl through, so Inuyasha reaches his right arm up, trying to see how much farther it is to the outside. His hand doesn't even touch the edge of the hole.
Damn it! Are we ever gonna get a break?! he thinks, pulling his arm back out. Staring down at the gaping hollow below him, Inuyasha looks back at the clouds, a glint of light reflecting off something in the distance. Glancing back down, the half-demon is trying to figure out the best way to descend, when he suddenly feels dizzy.
Putting his right hand to his head, Inuyasha winces in pain as he pushes on his broken wrist, then grits his teeth as he feels a wave of nausea come over him. Swaying, the hanyou loses his grip on the wall, blacking out as he falls into the darkness...
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Kagome is pacing back and forth beneath the beam of light, worry making her grip the flashlight until little bands are left in her skin from the ridges on the handle. Most of it is blocked at the moment, presumably because Inuyasha has reached the top and is checking the opening out.
I don't need to worry...Inuyasha's climbed in more dangerous places than this...he'll be fine...the miko thinks. Deciding that she's only stressing herself out--worrying needlessly--Kagome walks over to her pack and fishes out a bottle of water. Taking a long drink, she closes the bottle and sets it and flashlight on the blanket she threw down earlier, trying--and failing--to calm herself down.
As Kagome stares at the light, she suddenly notices that the center of the beam is blocked out. As she watches, the darkened area gets smaller, but doesn't waver in its position inside the beam. Her heart rate speeding up, Kagome runs to the edge of the hollow and looks up. Fear explodes in her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screams, as she sees the hanyou falling through the air...
Hehehe...Am I evil? I try...This isn't even the place I was gonna scare you all with before. Can anyone tell I live in the South? OK-enough rambling. Did everybody get the Star Wars reference? I was trying to describe a light saber, w/o actually describing one. Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars either--George Lucas does. I was gonna have Inuyasha run around using the blanket as a cape, humming the Superman theme song, but I couldn't fit it in. :) Anyways, off to write some more...
