Hillo all ^-^ missed u guys like crazy, thanks 4 all the reviews!! They made me fricken happy on the inside :D Haha, hope u all liked the little fight scene last chapter cuz i worked 4ever to perfect it! Well, without further distraction here is chapter 7! *hugz and blows a kiss* Thanks for reading and please review! PS: I don't own Inuyasha or anything affiliated with it, but i do own the story line SO BACK OFF!! =B hehe hillbilly
Being told you are special is something everybody longs for. To be an original, to be your own person and stand out from the crowd. Kagome wasn't sure she wanted to be told she was special in this particular field. Being told that she was the sole person who could weild Soounga without being taken over by the sword wasn't something she wanted on her shoulders. Even though she detested the burdon of having to harbour the sword, she took the position with honor. Knowing she was the only person since the great dog general to weild the sword did give her a sense of pride.
Walking in silence seemed to only provoke her naturally curious mind. Looking down towards her left hand she saw the completely untarnished silver blade and the pink stone set in the hilt. It was so puzzling that she could hold the sword, even use it. Well the sword used her more than she actually used it. Not in the way that it had used Inuyasha a few years ago, the purple vines had never sprung from the sword and encircled her arm, bidding her to do it's will. No, Kagome had complete control over what she wanted and did not want to do, but the sword always carried the task out for her. Smiling slightly she remembered her first time picking up the sword.
Timidly, only a few short minutes after dropping the sword like a hot potato, Kagome bent down and reached for the sword. Picking it up she decided that if it wanted to take over her body it would have done so already. Her friends looked on skeptically, urging her not to go near the evil thing.
"See guys, it's perfectly harmless." She said and smiled, trying to convince them as well as herself. Kagome was glad the demons were far enough away that they couldn't feel or hear her heart going a billion beats a minute.
"Kagome, I don't know if you should be carrying that thing. Remember what happened to Inuyasha?" Sango said warily, concerned for her friend.
"Yeah, yeah! We all know what happened, no need to bring it up!" Inuyasha yelled down from his tree. Kagome scoffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. 'That hanyou seriously needs to either lower down his pride or make himself more powerful. Because right now those two are in total imbalance.'
Sesshomaru remembered when himself and Inuyasha had clashes when he was being controlled by Soounga, even the hanyou was considerably powerful. If the sword were to take over Kagome, there was hardly any hope that the sword would ever give up control after tasting something so powerful. As long as the miko was to keep her powers balanced and in check, she should be fine and immune to the controling nature of his sire's sword. There were two main reasons why people could not take control over the sword. One, they did not posess the power that was needed to overwhelm Soounga into submission. Two, the weilders power was brash and uncontrolled; the powers were not under control and were highly imbalanced in their bodies. Needless to say, the second could hold the worst possible outcome. The person could have all the power in the world, but if they could not control it then they would completly demolish everything in their paths without a say in the matter.
Suddenly all of the full demons, those being everyone except Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango; passed out cold. With a loud thud they all hit the floor, Kagome nearly spearing herself. A golden aura, very much similar to the barrier that Soounga erected, enveloped the whole campsite. It was suffocating those who still witheld the need to lose conciousness. Next all of the demons, excluding Kagome, were enveloped in a bright silver light and when the light dissipated their bodies were nowhere to be seen. Soon enough the sickeningly powerful aura was pulled back and the concious beings regained their right state of mind and their ability to move.
Kagome however wasn't as lucky as to be fine as soon as the aura dissipated. She had been unconcious for another hour and then got unbelievingly sick thereafter. The next morning when she awoke she wanted to cry harder than she had ever felt the need to. If she would have there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that the river would have been flowing again.
"Hey Kagome, are we getting any closer?" Sango asked, wanting very much to be once again reunited with her fire cat Kirrara. Having her fingers entertwined with Miroku's was the only thing keeping her together. She wasn't much for public displays of affection, but at the moment she figured it was better than bawling her eyes out in public.
"Yeah, we're getting closer. I can nearly make out everyone's auras now. Even Shippo's, so that means we should be there soon enough." She said trying to comfort her friend. Now knowing that all of her friends were safe, Kagome's sadness and worry dissapeared. In it's place was once again, curiosity. She knew curiosity killed the cat, but technically she was a dog so she was good right? Either way, that saying was not going to have much of an effect on her, nothing could stop her from wondering. Why was she the only demon that wasn't kidnapped? Was someone trying to lure her in? Why did they only take demons and not her half demon or human friends? With all the questions bobbing through her head she didn't catch the remark made to her by Inuyasha. She looked up at him after hearing him yell about something or other.
"Wench, I asked if you felt that aura again!" Said the fuming half breed who was now walking in step with her, but far enough away that she couldn't take a swing at him if she wanted to. Tensions were still high between the two, despite the fact that he had submitted to her. Kagome still walked with a smug smile on her face because of that fact, he had been so cauky and yet she had still taken him down and made him submit no less! Finally realizing what he had said to her, she searched for the same aura that had taken away her friends. Soon enough, she pinpointed it. It was straight west, the same direction they had been going for nearly three days.
Why was it always west? What could be in the west...and then it hit her. She knew who it was! Without even answering Inuyasha's question she bolted off in the direction of the demon. Her companions taken aback by her actions, stood there in confusion for a second before they took off after her. After nearly twenty minutes it was quite clear that there was no point in even trying to catch up anymore, she was just too fast and was obviously unwilling to slow down. They watched nearly a mile back as she bounded over top of a large hill and jumped down without a second of hesitation. Not even Inuyasha could catch up to her, so he stopped and waited for his remaining group members to catch back up to him.
Meanwhile Kagome felt herself getting closer and closer to her now known destination by the second. Just a few short miles left and a couple hills to get over and she should be there. She mentally scolded herself for not figuring it out further. It was all so obvious to her now, whatever had snapped in her mind had brought all of the facts back into her mind and connected them. The aura that took her friends was the same as the one she had detected when she had last come back through the well. It was very powerful, and it resided in the west. Also since she had been back Soounga had reappeared once again.
"Shit!" She bit out as a tree branch scraped against her fine skin, causing a deep gash to appear. Thick, deep red blood oozed from the wound and onto her new kimono. To be honest, she was more angry that she had ruined her outfit than she was that she had hurt herself. Once she got where she was going she would have to find a seamstress that would be able to repair the kimono. Knowing herself, if she tried it on her own she would make it look worse than it already was. Her sewing skills could definatly use some improvement to say the least.
Honestly, she needed to stop the rambling that was going on in her head. Ever since she had become a demon, it was getting steadily worse. Oh well, no harm no foul she figured. Deciding that she needed to stop the bleeding Kagome slung the backback from over her shoulder, thankfull that in her desperation she had not left without it. Rummaging through it she realized that she hadn't brought her first aid kit along with her, while stuffing her bag she must have overlooked that particular item. Growling at her own stupidity she rummaged for something that could be used, looking faster as the blood flowed further and further down her arm.
Sighing she decided that it was no use just looking for things, she needed to dump the contents of her monster pack. Taking one last look through it she saw a few books, an extra pair of shoes, a bag of candy, some ramen, her MP3, and her cell phone? What it was doing in there she would never know, but she definatly knew she had no service! With a pained look she turned it upside down and shook it vigorously not being able to watch as all of the contents spewed out before her eyes. She had a stotic face on her look, because there sitting on top of everything she had was a worn out old shirt, perfect for making a bandgage out of. Rolling her eyes at her horrible luck she cut out a long strip of fabric. Then after rolling up her right sleeve she wrapped the still bleeding wound.
"Stupid tree...at least no demons got a wiff of my blood and attacked me." She said, oddly cheerful that at least that hadn't happened to her. Smiling she shoved the last of her junk in her bag and zipped it up. Just then she got up and knocked on the tree, deciding what she just said was very stupid.
"Speak of the devil." She turned around and round house kicked the boar demon that had rushed her. Apparently she was too late with her 'knock on wood'. The boar demon just shot her a glare with it's glowing eyes and took off in the direction she assumed it came from. Ugly beast it was, especially with it's dirty matted fur. Without much of a rush she strolled back to her backpack and was about to pick it up when about 10 of the nasty beasts rushed her yet again. They surrounded her on all sides, she was completely cornered. Although she knew that she could take them easily, she didn't really want to get all bloodied up. It wouldn't pose a very good first impression to the demon she assumed that she was going to meet.
Finally one very brave and brash boar charged at her blindly, nearly grazing her with it's long sharp tusks. Nimbly she hurtled over it's rather large body and perched herself on a low tree branch. It turned around and looked straight at her, it's eyes promising certain death if she so much as thought of coming down that tree. Kagome gave it a glare so strong that it would pass along to it's next generation. The boar however didn't avert it's eyes from the demoness in the tree, it stood strong unwilling to be intimidated.
"You stupid boars! Get the hell away from me and my bag, be on your way! Or so help me I'll slaughter each and every one of you!" She treatened and added a low growl into the mixture for good measure. They all shared some snorts and gargles which she interpeted as them laughing and mocking her. Eyes flashing as red as the blood on her arm she bared her fangs at them, shutting the ignorant monsters up for the moment. Deciding to use this moment to her advantage, she jumped down into the middle of them and grabbed Soounga from the ground. The boar demons finally noticed that she was upon them once again; enraged they all stormed her at once. Drawing her sword in front of her, she challenged any that dare cross her. Even with her threat they still insisted on coming at her.
"Now I know why they use the term 'boar-headed'." Kagome said and doubled over from laughing at her own joke. Luckily she did duck, because a boar went soaring over her head at that same moment. The remaining boars just looked at her like she was a complete idiot, they had understood her joke even though they were the stupidest of youkai. "Fine, don't take a joke!" She said and swung Soounga to behead one of them, it backed out of her way just in time and only managed to nick the very tip of one of it's tusks. They all fled from the enraged upper class youkai and fled towards the west 'Perfect, I can hunt them down and be on my way at the same time!'
Nearly an hour later there was still one boar high tailing it for the west. Half of it's pack had ditched within the first few minutes, and the rest had left within the last half hour. Now it was just this one, the one she had been so close to beheading. Either it was too stuborn to get out of her way, or it was too stupid. Surely it realized by now that she wasn't necessarily chasing it, but running toward her destination. They climbed up a steep hill and it nearly died of exhaustion. Before it could die of exhaustion Kagome speared it with her sword and took off past it, but the sight she saw when she reached the top of the hill took her breath away. There was the place she was looking for, the Western Palace, and it was absolutly gorgeous.
The palace in front of her wasn't like the usual palaces you would see back in this time period. It wasn't made of thing wood walls that were so prone to fire, and it wasn't a mere three stories high, it wasn't even of Japanese design. For that Kagome was certain of. No, this wasn't a palace. It was a full blown castle, complete with large stone walls. It had to be at least ten stories high and it was absolutly gigantic. She wiped her blade off in the green grass, trying to rid it of all the blood. Still wanting to make a good first impression she cleaned herself up a bit, well, as best that she could.
Striding proudly towards the castle proved much of a bore. Mainly because the castle seemed closer than it actually was, and also Kagome didn't really see patience as much of a virtue. So instead of making a grand ol' entrance like she had envisioned, she decided that she was going to run there just like she was running to the store or something along those lines. Ran she did and within twenty minutes she was standing at the fifteen foot high large wooden doors, waiting for something to happen. She had already knocked and yet not a soul had even answered.
After about two minutes she decided that nobody was going to open the door for her she tried yanking it open, and then kicking it open. When neither worked she started surveying the outside and saw that the eighth floor up had a window open. Though she was a demon, she knew that she couldn't jump that high. No matter how much she wished that she could. Finally after what seemed like forever, she put her plan into action. She jumped as high as she could and landed gracefully on a window pane, and tried opening the window to no avail. She could smell her friends now, and could feel the demon's pressence more than ever. They were close. She kept jumping higher and higher until there was only one more jump to go until she reached the open window.
As soon as Kagome jumped she knew she was not going to make it. She had not put enough power into it, her heart sank. Even if she was a demon, she could injure herself badly or even kill herself if she plummeted to the ground. She pushed all those thoughs out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. Fortunatly for her she had jumped high enough to grab onto the window pane, although her fingers only held on by a mere inch. Kagome dug her claws into the dark stained wood and managed to pull herself up a little bit. With one last burst of energy she propelled herself upwards and tucked into ninja roll and rolled onto the floor of the room then straightened out so she was standing to her full height.
Scanning the room she observed that it was a small room with two bunk beds and an average sized dresser pressed up against the walls. A flash of movement caugh her eye and she saw a scared looking demon inching towards the door. As soon as the male demon realized he had been found out he scrambled for the door, sure to set of the alarm to the whole castle. Before he could get there Kagome did a side kick that hit him in the side of the neck and he dropped like a sack of bricks. Kagome held her arms out and caught him before he hit the ground and layed him on one of the small beds. Even if he was going to rat her out, she did feel kind of bad that he got knocked out, just for doing his job. Reaching into her pocket she found a few small golden coins and placed them in his pocket. 'That should more than make up for it' she thought and slunk out the door into the large corridor.
The corridor wasn't very big, but it was dark which made it a little harder to get through. After she rounded one corner she was pleased with the large stained glass windows that let luminous colors to spill onto the dark tile floor. It also danced designs on the grey stone walls. Carefully she sniffed out her comrades, they appeared to be on the lower floor so she just followed the corridor until she could find some stairs, they had to be here somewhere. Finally she found a large stairwell, and when she looked down over the banister she found it led all the way down to a floor very far benether her. Kagome sighed, she really was not in the mood for descending on the stairs. Remembering her childhood obsession she seated herself on the marble banister and moved herself so that she was now sliding very fastly downward. The staircase was spiraling and she felt as if she was on a never ending waterslide. Soon enough she reached the bottom and flew off the banister a few feet, landing on her feet astonishingly. Running silent footed towards the room where she knew her friends were now, she slipped through the main foyer and down a torch lit hallway until she reached the wooden door that seperated her from her friends. She put her ear to the door and listened for anything. Kagome felt a presence behind her and turned around to face it, her hand covered her mouth as she gasped.
"And just how did you get here Kagome?"