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Now, the sixth chapter of When Bonds Are Broken!
…
Kagome sat by the well, listening to the sounds of the insects in the mini-shrine, to the muffled voices of the people inside the house, and the fat cat purring on her lap. She had been looking at something she hadn't in a while, nine years to be exact. Looking at it, held in her hands with the corners folding in, made her smile softly and her eyes sad.
Buyo had entered the mini-shrine after smelling the ramen Mrs. Higurashi had brought in for Kagome (Kagome, of course, let him lick the remaining chicken-flavored soup and small pieces of noodle from the nearly empty bowl.) Buyo now lay on her lap, his eyes on the picture in her hand. Kagome looked at it, smiling sadly.
It was an old colored photo she had taken using her small camera, one she had hidden away in her drawers where Kai couldn't find it. She looked at it and saw the glimmer of a locket around one of the necks of the people in the photo, his red-robe partially covering it.
It was taken about four years ago and Kagome could remember only vaguely, but enough.
"How d'you work this contraption, Kagome?"
"Hey!" said Kagome, grabbing the camera out of Inuyasha's hands. "You'll break it, just like my bike! Besides, you can't take the picture since you're going to be in it."
Just as Inuyasha began to argue that he hadn't broken the bike and that she didn't need the stupid thing anyway, Kagome walked over to Kaede.
"Here," she said, giving the old woman the camera and making sure the shutter was off. "All you need to do is press the button on the top when you can see everybody in the square. Can you do it?"
"Its simple enough fer such a queer thing," said Kaede, looking at the camera from every angle in her withered hands.
"Great!" said Kagome, smiling. She clapped her hands and looked around at everybody, whom were all standing looking confused.
Kagome ran over to the group, clapping her hands and saying, "Okay everyone, let's get by the trunk of the tree for the picture! There's not too much shade that we won't be seen."
"Are you sure this is alright, Lady Kagome?" asked Miroku, holding his staff and looking towards the village where the village women giggled, watching the peculiar scene.
"You'll be fine without being surrounded by women, Monk!" said Sango forcefully, glaring at him and scaring away the onlookers.
"That wasn't what I was suggesting, Lady Sango. I simply meant—"
"Kagome, Kagome!" shouted Shippo. "Can I stand over here?"
Kagome rushed over, hearing Sango begin to raise her voice at Miroku and the monk's composed face begin to become frightened.
"I don't think so, Shippo," said Kagome, looking at the young kitsune as he stood on one of the thick roots of the tree. "The way we're taking the picture, we won't be able to see you…"
"But I'll be seen over here!" Shippo insisted, standing on the protruding root.
"Why don't you just sit on someone's shoulder or something?" asked Kagome, a bit exasperated.
"'Cause, I don't want to be remembered in some picture on some vixen!" said Shippo defiantly.
"I'm not sure we'll be able to get more than the top of your head in the picture like that…" said Kagome, ignoring Shippo's answer.
"I'll be fine this way! Look!" he said indignantly, lifting his chin up to see the camera.
"Shippo, I really don't think—"
"This is a waste of time!" said Inuyasha, leaning against the tree. "When we could be looking for the jewel shards, you decide to goof off with one of your infernal future things!"
"Look you!" said Kagome, wheeling around to face him. "Haven't you ever heard of taking a break and saving some memories? Here I am, barely making it into High School for your 24/7shard hunting and all I ask is to take a simple picture—!"
"We haven't got the time!" yelled Inuyasha back at her, letting her see his sharp canines.
"We have enough!" said Kagome. Inside, she was fighting hard to yell back at him, 'Well, you've certainly got the time to go chase after Kikyo!' She bit her lip, thinking this but only knowing they really would waste time if they got into a huge argument over this point.
"You don't get it, do you, wench? Naraku's gaining more power by the second and here we are, wasting our time with this picture-taking—!"
"Well, we'll be chasing Naraku forever, wont we? So we might as well get this picture done with now before we don't have any time to do it at all!" Kagome yelled at him angrily. Really, why was this guy such a pain? And she had to fall in love with him…
"Kagome, Kagome, what if I stand over here—?"
"Look, I don't have time to yell at you, I've got to get this picture set up!" Kagome said angrily to Inuyasha, whipping around to see Shippo attempting to look tall as he stood on yet another of the sacred tree's roots.
"Look, Shippo," said Kagome exhaustedly as he tried to get on the tips of his toes, "I really don't think we'll get a full picture of you like that. This camera only gets a bit of range…"
"No, look, I'll be fine!" said Shippo determinedly, proudly sticking up his head and puffing out his chest. He kept on dancing on the tips of his toes as he tried to see the light on the camera.
"Shippo…" said Kagome, on the verge of begging him just to sit on her shoulder for the picture.
"Look you, don't get any closer, don't you get a step closer!" Kagome heard Sango shout.
"Just for the picture Lady Sango,"
"Sango, please, we can't have the boomerang bone in the picture!" Kagome implored her as Sango reached for the weapon with Miroku making his way closer and closer to her.
"Kagome, Kagome!" Shippo shouted, trying to catch her attention as he bounced on the tips of his toes. "Kagome. Look, you can see me now—!"
"Shippo, please, the pictures just gonna get everyone from waist up, they wont be able to see you," Kagome told him as patiently as she could.
"I bet Naraku's gathering more shards and burning down more human villages as we waste our time here." said Inuyasha loudly.
Kagome, a vein popping in her head, stomped around to him to shout, "Look, if you would just cooperate with me for once we could get this picture over with and you can chase Naraku to your heart's content—!"
"You perverted—!"Sango's voice rang.
"Ack!" shouted Miroku as a loud whap! resounded through the air.
"Kagome, Kagome, look now, I think you'll be able to see me now—!"
"Shippo, you really can just…"
"See," said Inuyasha, "This is just a waste of time."
Kagome imagined an Inuyasha-shaped crater in the ground with evil satisfaction, looking at the beads around his neck.
She could hear Shippo calling out her name, dancing on his toes, Sango yelling at Miroku and Miroku talking at all the wrong times and about all the wrong things, and Inuyasha loudly complaining.
She was just trying to take a simple picture…
"Please people!" she shouted through the din, "Just get in you places! Sango, you sit by me in the centre of the Gishonboku, Miroku by her left, Shippo, just get on someone's shoulder or something! Inuyasha, you stop whining and stand by me at my right!"
"But—" shouted several people in obvious displeasure.
"No, no, no, I don't want to hear it, just get in your places!" Kagome shouted so fiercely that even Inuyasha cowered in her gaze.
Kagome watched as everybody got in place, Sango looking uncomfortable with her less-than-arms-length-range of Miroku, the monk looking rather pleased, Shippo sitting on an enlarged Kirara and mumbling angrily, and Inuyasha, leaning against the trunk furthest from everyone, his arms crossed. Kagome looked at them for a moment, then another moment, and then a couple minutes more before sighing with both relief and satisfaction and ran over to the group.
"Lady Kagome," Kaede called out to her just before she made her way in between Inuyasha and Sango.
"Yes…?" said Kagome, hiding the annoyance in her voice but letting through the exasperation.
Kaede was looking at the camera, turning it at every angle in her hands and watching it closely with one eye. "The thing wont work," she said, her eye following the camera in every place and detail.
"Okay, just wait a minute!" said Kagome exhaustedly. She walked over, wishing for nothing more than to get this over with. She just wanted to take a simple picture; that was all she wanted. It wasn't as if she was asking Miroku to never chase another woman again, or asking Sango not to slap him if he did so, or telling Shippo to get along with Inuyasha, or asking Inuyasha to stop looking for Kikyo; it was just a picture. It was like dealing with children who all wanted something unreasonable at once!
"Yes, Lady Kaede?" asked Kagome calmly, coming over to her and looking over her shoulder.
"The contraption won't go on," said Kaede simply, holding the camera and looking through the small window.
Kagome looked at it for a moment, taking it out of Kaede's hands and searching the camera. Surely enough, it was like mothering five small children.
"You turned it off," said Kagome, giving her the camera as she flicked it on. "Okay, it's on now, so please just take the picture Lady Kaede?"
Kaede said "aye" and took the camera, looking through the window to see the Kagome-less group sitting beneath the Gishonboku.
"Aye, everybody ready yerselves!" said Kaede, holding down the button and letting the preparing the flash.
"W-wait! Lady Kaede!" said Kagome, still beside her and not in the picture. The flash was just about to go on and Kagome rushed over to the group as they looked at the camera. She looked back for a moment at Kaede and then felt herself suddenly fall back as she tripped on one of the trees roots.
The flash went off andabout half a decade later, the picture was in her hands.
Shippo had leapt from atop Kirara at the last moment, so that he was looking at the camera in midair; Miroku had snuck his arm around Sango's waist and her face showed only blush and alarm, not giving her enough time to slap him for the photo. And in the middle-right beside Sango was Kagome, looking in surprise at the camera as two strong arms caught her before she met the ground, Inuyasha smirking down at her as he caught her.
It was the picture they had gotten, the only one as they discovered the roll of film had been used up when Inuyasha had handled it and mistakenly taken about twenty pictures before of the inside of his hand.
Kagome looked at it, remembering this place in time when Kikyo had died once again, after Naraku had taken the jewel, before than.
No tears flecked the photo as she held it. She only held anger, sadness, betrayal and loss in her hands. She would cry no more; she wanted to care for him no more…
…
The ground violently shook, the trees shedding their leaves and the weaker ones nearly collapsing. The night had past and the day was just rising, on the border of daylight that painted the sky red.
Kai felt a sudden jolt of surprise that made him lose his breath as he gripped the ground inside the hut. Shippo shot up as he felt the earthquake, the teacups placed by him toppling to the ground and the liquid pooling onto the floor, rippling and quivering. Shizu felt to her knees on the tatami mats, her hands gripping the straw and looking at her Magattaha at the corner of the room. The roof shook, as if it would fall with them beneath it.
Miroku and Sango felt the ground shake violently and immediately stood up. It made the world shake and quiver, as if the ground were about to fall apart. And a stench filled the air above the tumbling ground, the stench of flame and burning flesh…
"Naraku!" said Miroku as he smelled the air and felt the ground shake. He gripped his shakujo and tried to stop himself from shaking.
"Why would he be here?" said Sango, her voice shaking as she did on the quaking ground.
Miroku stabilized himself and looked at her, his earrings chiming and the rings of his staff clacking. "Do you think he could have known about Kai…entering here?"
It took Sango a moment to register the words and when she did, she whipped her head around to her husband, horrified. "Could he…?"
"If he had, he's coming; it is his demonic aura. But he's not approaching here; he's coming to Kaede's village."
"Kaede's village?" said Sango, looking at him with her brown eyes full of worry. Again, the features of agony were carved into her face.
Miroku looked at her painfully and said, his face turning to the darkening sky as the night approached and dawn died, "Why would he be going there?"
No one answered and the ground shook, the trees spilling with leaves like a blizzard of cold snow. The forest shook like a turbulent sea of deep green and the sky was the only still thing, deep, thick, darkening red, like dry blood, touched by no clouds. Then Sango looked shakily at Miroku, her brown eyes wide. "Do…do you think," she said, voice tremulous, "Could he be going for the bone-eaters' well?"
Miroku looked at her with terror. What if he learned how to use the well and traverse to other times…or if he destroyed it and Kai could never come back?
"Come," said Miroku darkly, looking to the village. "We must not let him get there."
"Could it be him?" asked Sango.
"If it is, we only have the smallest hope of beating him," said Miroku, tugging at his rosary, "but we have no choice."
Sango looked at him silently, anguish on her face, but she could see he was right. What if he had gotten to the well…? She nodded shakily, gulped, and slid open the door of the home.
There inside Shippo stood, looking at her, Shizu on the floor gripping one of her blades, and Kai looking horrified at the ground.
"Shizu, get my Hiraikotsu," said Sango, her voice calm but shaky.
Shizu looked at her both confused and scared, saying "But, Mother—"
"Do what I say!" Sango ordered her, raising her voice and looking at her with an uncharacteristic ferocity. Shizu looked at her mother for a moment, terror on her voice, and then turned away and ran to retrieve her weapon.
Shizu disappeared, Kai looking at where she had vanished, and then turned to see Shippo as he talked to Sango.
"Sango, what's going on?" he asked, barely stable on the shuddering ground.
"Shippo, you have to stay here with Shizu and Kai," Sango answered, looking out of the door anxiously.
"But why? What's going on?" he questioned her, nervous.
Sango, still turned away from him, said somberly, "I don't know…but we have to go to the village. You stay here with Shizu and Kai."
"Is it a demon?" asked Shippo, rushing over to her. She looked at him anxiously for a moment, biting her lip, and then Shizu rushed back into the room. Kai saw her holding a humungous boomerang in her hands, looking nervously at Sango.
Sango took the sash of the boomerang and slung it over her shoulder, looking out the door and into the room again and again, worry plainly on her face.
"M-mother, what's happening?" asked Shizu, twisting her hands in her lap and looking tentatively at Sango.
"Stay here with Shippo and Kai, Shizu," said Sango, her back turned on them.
"But why—"
"Sango!" said Shippo, looking at her determinedly. Exiting the door, she turned her head to see him from her shoulder, her eyes anxious an afraid.
"What's going on?" asked Shippo determinedly, his eyes narrowed beneath his brows and his fists clenched.
Sango looked at him anxiously. She would take him, as he had gone to their many battles before, but…
"You have to take care of Shizu and Kai. We don't know what's happening, but we're going to find out."
She said this with a pleading in her voice and deep concern in her eyes. Shippo looked at the fraction of her face he could see, biting his gum and sweat beading his brow. Sango looked at him for a moment longer and then disappeared through the door.
"Kirara!" she said in the open land, Miroku with her. The ground shaking, the small cat leapt onto the space and was consumed in flame. A moment later she was transformed into what looked like a lion with flame and giant fangs.
Sango leapt onto her with her boomerang, not in her demon-slaying outfit but a yukata, and Miroku wrapped his arms around her waist behind her. Miroku cast one last glance at the shack and then the two ascended, flying quickly over the brush to the village.
Shippo, Shizu, and Kai watched them leave as they got onto the porch, the brush shaking, the ground shuddering, and the sky a deep, blood red. Shippo watched them moments after he could no longer see them, fiercely with an uncharacteristic bravery that had grown in place of his cowardliness when Kagome and Inuyasha had left. He could feel Shizu's worried gaze on him and Kai looking terrified at the land.
"Wha..." said Shizu, barely standing, "what's going on? Shippo…"
"I don't know," said Shippo, his fists clenched. "But it must be something…"
"Could it be Naraku?" Shizu suddenly asked, looking at him.
Shippo's eyes widened as he stared into the distance of the village. He thought nothing; all it was was just utter blankness.
"It has to be him!" said Shizu, staring at Shippo fervently. The thought of that man that cursed her family, herself, who would be the death of her own father...
"Is it him, Shippo? Are mother and father going after him?" said Shizu, so quickly he could barely catch the words. "Is he going to the village? Him? Nara—"
"I don't know, Shizu," said Shippo plainly and honestly, but he had the strangest feeling…
Kai watched Shizu question the kitsune as Shippo stood, gripping the house to support him as the ground shook dangerously. He could smell and sense something…something. It was strange; the scent; like smelling a food. But the scent hurt his nose and made him wrinkle it; it smelled awful and made him want to vomit, the foul and revolting scent of burning flesh and putrid smoke.
But something made his body shiver, as if from the cold. It was as if he could sense something subconsciously, like it was calling out to him. But he couldn't feel it with his hands, or hear it, or smell it; he couldn't explain it; he could just sense it.
"We have to go to the village, Shippo!" said Shizu, grasping the sleeve of his arm.
"What?" asked Shippo with alarm.
She looked at him determinedly, as if nothing could change her mind, saying, "We have to go to the village, Shippo. Mother and Father must have gone after him; this can't have been an ordinary demon. Come on Shippo, please, we have to!"
"You heard Sango!" Shippo told her. "She told us to stay here!"
"But we have to! You can't tell me you'll wait here! What if something happens?" said Shizu desperately.
"We'll have to stay! Plus, I can barely fight and you're barely experienced!"
"But Shippo, please, what if their…what if…"
Shizu trailed off; the thought in her mind couldn't be said and it made her cold. It couldn't happen, it was impossible, nothing like that could happen. But it made her only want to get to them more, to help fight somehow.
"Please Shippo!" Shizu begged him, tugging his sleeve. "Hasn't Inuyasha been looking for him for all this time? Hasn't he? We have to get him, this is the only—"
"Don't talk 'bout him!" Shippo snapped at her, his eyes alight with hate. Shizu froze, shuddering as he glared at her. She looked at him fearfully for a moment and then turned to the ground, tears almost in her eyes as she narrowed them and bit her lip bitterly. Shippo looked at her for a moment as she lowered her head and then continued with; "besides, we wouldn't be of any help, at least not you both without barely any experience. You'd only be liabilities."
Shizu continued not to turn her face to him. She couldn't look at him or tears would come painfully to her eyes. "B-but…but what if mom…and father…what if their…k-kill—"
"They won't die!" said Shippo determinedly. "They can't; they've fought Naraku more than once."
"B-but…but what if father uses his…?"
"He won't! He knows 'bout the consequences of usin' it," said Shippo, but his stomach dropped.
"We h-have to go Shippo! Please, Shippo, please!" Shizu begged him. Shippo turned to her, prepared to say; "what help will we be?" but he saw something uncharacteristic; tears in Shizu's eyes. She was so strong, refusing to admit weakness, refusing help, fiery and optimistic. Was she really that worried?
Shippo turned away from her, hesitating and chewing his lip. For a moment the darkness looked upon him as he thought anxiously, torn between two thoughts.
"Fine," he said as Shizu tried to hide the tears barely apparent in her brown eyes. "But we watch form the distance."
Shizu looked at him, close to smiling, and then felt the earth give a sudden lurch. Shippo's stomach leapt in surprise and then he ran onto the open space.
"Transform!" he shouted and in a cloud of smoke he disappeared, replaced with a giant pink balloon with eyes and a mouth (some things never change.)
Kai looked at him in awe, gripping the ground. He couldn't register it in time when Shizu grabbed his wrist, tugging him down the steps of the creaking wooden porch. They barely kept their balance; it was like walking on a wooden board that was unstable and shaking, as if it would break. As they leapt down, they ran to Shippo in the open space, who was saying hurriedly, "c'mon, c'mon!"
"W-wait! Why…why are you taking me too?" asked Kai as they ran, tripping on his feet on the trembling ground beneath him.
"Don't you want to come too? I thought…you'd want to fight," said Shizu, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
"B-but how do you know…that I w-wont be a burden…or someone you just need protect…?"
Shizu was silent for a moment. As they reached Shippo, she let go off his wrist, her hand non Shippo's pink balloon-like body. Kai looked at her, frightened, nervous, and feeling pathetic. That was right; he was only a burden, a liability, some boy she had met, saved, and taken in because he was Kagome's son. He…he was also one of the reasons that man had left Kagome, causing her so much pain. Inuyasha…
"I..." said Shizu, the ground crumbling and shuddering beneath her. "I…don't know why…but in just this small time…I trust you. Don't you want to see him…the man who tore your mother and father apart?"
Kai froze, stunned by her words. It didn't feel like the ground was on the verge of breaking; it felt still.
Shizu ascended Shippo; it was as if climbing onto a balloon that molded under your touch. Hard it was to climb him, they got on and felt Shippo lift.
"Hold on!" he said and they soared over the brush.
Kai tightly clasped Shizu's waist, as if it were the only thing that kept him from falling into the brush and crashing to his death. He felt sick with nerves, anxiety, and fear. It was painful to be this way.
Shizu looked straight ahead as they sped forward on the bid pink blob, her Magattaha at her waist wrapped in bandaging. Kai could only feel pure fear; demons, men who were worse…he didn't know how to fight. He didn't want to see rich, deep red blood spill before him again; it struck him like a blade and made him sick and quiver.
Was this man actually going to appear? Naraku…who caused everything…
…
Kirara hurried through the air, the scent hitting her nostrils and the flame lighting the sky like the approaching daylight. Atop her sat Sango, clutching her mane, and Miroku with his staff at hand. They hurried forward, getting closer and closer to the village ahead, where the smoke and scent of rotting flesh thickened.
"He certainly did not waste any time. Kai has barely been in this time for two days." said Miroku, the wind whipping his face and sending his bangs into his eyes.
"But what's he planning?" said Sango, the boomerang bone on her shoulder.
"He's been searching Japan for the final shard, but without Kagome's or Kikyo's powers…its useless."
"Could he know…could he know then that Kai is…?" Sango stopped, because the answer was written on Miroku's face.
"He couldn't know," said Miroku defiantly, though with a shade of doubt in his voice.
"I hope so," said Sango worriedly and they headed forward.
…
"Master Inuyasha, where do you plan to go?"
"To the village! His scent is thick there!"
Inuyasha sped down the mountains, leaping form the precipices that any human would die attempting, crashing to their deaths on the rocks below. The wind whipped his face, hardened by years, but his scent was clear; Naraku was coming, Naraku had to be there.
Damn him! Damn him to hell!
Inuyasha hurried down the rocky incline of mountain on the soles of his callused feet. The Tetsusaiga shivered at his hip, quaking, but never to be pulled and awakened into its true form. Not that its masters care fro humans, any, was lost.
Myoga clung frantically to his hair as he leapt down the mountain side. He was too far from the village; even though he would make more than half the time a human would on horses, he still couldn't make it that far from the past-day Japan.
"Please Master! You'll never make it, even with your speed!" Myoga pleaded him, tightly clinging to a silvery strand.
"I know that!" Inuyasha growled at him.
"Than to what purpose are you go—"
"Even if I can't beat him to the village, I'll find him and I'll kill him, I won't rest 'til I kill him!"
Inuyasha's voice made the rocks shake and caused the gravel to slide under his feet. Myoga fearfully shrank back, saying nothing. And Inuyasha headed forward, heading as fast as he could from the wounds in battling one of Japan's greatest armies, down the rocky mountain side. The blood had dried and his wounds, though deep, were beginning to heal. Inuyasha hurried down, so different from the days of 14 years past; stronger, colder, more powerful, more mature with older, more handsome features, but colder, uncaring, with no emotions but anger and coldness, and no mercy, willing to spill human blood.
Myoga looked at him with his wide eyes, but made no attempt to say anything. He only looked ahead and knew the worst would come.
…
"It's strong there," said Sesshomaru, looking into the east. Rin lay on Un and Ah, close to reaching the extent of them. Jaken held the reins of the two beasts in his small hands, looking inquiringly at Sesshomaru.
"What, my lord?" He asked as Rin slept in the rising day.
"The demonic aura," Sesshomaru answered coldly. "Naraku's scent…"
Sesshomaru suddenly hurried forward, leaping below the light of the rising sun, Jaken calling frantically after him, "Wait, Lord Sesshomaru!"
…
"What the—"
Kirara roared in pain, sending her dense shout ringing through the air. Demons, similar to soul-skimmers but their flesh a dark red and their claws not holding human souls, flew at Kirara, cutting her underside with their fangs.
Kirara staggered in the air, sending Miroku and Sango clinging abruptly to her, and then began to descend shakily to the ground.
"Kirara!" Sango cried, clinging to her cat-demon's mane of cream hair.
Beneath the forest had faded and the village came into view, in plain sight as Miroku and Sango fell from the sky. They could see it; it was an army of demons, the red soul-skimmers tearing at the villagers with their talons and fangs; ogres 10 feet tall, slashing away at the men, woman and children, causing blood to spill on the ground, and many other demons.
Kirara continued to descend, the poisonous claws of the red-soul-skimmers making her throb and disoriented. Sango clutched her pet's mane and her boomerang bone, looking ahead and preparing for the crash. Miroku held his staff to his chest and had one arm around Sango's waist.
Flames of black rose form the village rooftops and shrines, causing the air to be filled with the disgusting scent of blood, rotting flesh, and burning skin. The screams of the villagers filled the air, mixing with the smoke and flame. The dead lay on the ground, blood pooling around their bodies and some corpses burning in the burning houses; the few survivors, the women and children that had been protected by the men and the scarce men left, ran, screamed, fought, and tried to flee.
Sango clutched Kirara, holding her companion and felling her burn up as the poison began to quickly and strongly circulate.
She suddenly heard the shuffle of robes and looked behind her to see Miroku gathering a handful of paper charms. He held them and they began to burn at their edges with what looked like flames.
Muttering under his breath, Miroku tossed the paper charms to the ground as they hurtled down to it on Kirara. The paper charms made it to the ground before them as the wind whistled over their ears and wind whipped their faces.
The air resounded with a BANG!
The sound was almost deafening and the ground where the paper charms had been thrown had been blown up. A huge cloud of dust floated over it where the ground and paper charms had exploded. Kirara fell into the dense, thick cloud of dust where the ground had exploded and hit the ground, Miroku holding onto Sango and Sango clasping her neck and mane.
They tumbled onto what felt like sand. Kirara hit it on her side, Miroku and Sango thrown off of her. They felt themselves hit what felt like sand hard where the paper charms exploded, tumbling into it when they fell from Kirara.
They could see nothing inside the cloud of dust and dirt. The charms had made the ground turn to rubble, breaking it to pieces in the explosion. It felt like they fell into sand as they cloud of dust began to fade.
Sango brought her mask to her face after coughing up dust and dirt. Her body only vaguely ached from the fall from the sky. She could hear Miroku by her from his coughs, and Kirara from her deep, jagged breathing. It took a while before she felt his arms lift her form the sand and bring her on her knees on the hard ground.
She fell to the ground as he brought her onto the ground, coughing out of her mask. The cloud of dust was beginning to fade.
Sango looked up to see Miroku with his arm over his mouth, holding his shakujo. The side of his face was scratched with dirt, and he squinted through the dust. Kirara lay half in the sand and on the hard ground, blood dripping from her underside, where she had been wounded earlier.
"What…the…?" said Sango weakly, trying to stagger onto her feet.
As she stood up, she swayed from the impact of the fall. She couldn't stand; the ground shook beneath her. Sango suddenly felt herself topple backwards, unable to stand.
"Here,"
Sango felt herself fall into the arms of someone. She could barely look up to see Miroku supporting her, holding her up.
"Are you alright?" asked Miroku, staring through the disappearing dust and smoke.
"I'm fine," Sango answered, staggering up from his arms until she was standing on her own.
She followed Miroku's eyes through the fading smoke until the shadows of things finally became visible; red soul-skimmers were streaming through the air with human blood dripping from their fangs and mouths, and larger oni, ogres, and other demons slashing at the villagers, the only few that were left.
But it wasn't the sight of the manslaughter that caught Miroku or Sango's attention. It was the sight of two things:
In the fading dust, rising smoke and flame stood two creatures that looked like humans. One was a woman, who looked so much alike yet so different from the half-demon she had been from. She had long hair that was clear and had the texture of water, streaked with dark-brown strands. She wore the same outfit as her, except for the wisteria and the long, thin fan slung over her shoulder, like a sword. Her only memories were clear, sharp, and the only reason she existed:
A man with long black hair, red eyes and a pale voice spoke, "You are the child of Naraku, your master. He is your only purpose for living. You serve only under his will. You will kill on his wishes…you will be wounded on them. Kanna… is the name of your sister and Kagura…is your name."
Beside her was what looked like a shadow; the man from her few memories. Unlike the other demon, aged by the Shikon jewel, he had remained the same. He appeared to be a human, with long, flowing black hair and a deathly pale complexion with narrowed red eyes. He had no weaponry; only a jewel around his neck complete for all but a small shard, smaller than a wooden sliver. Its once shining gleam was gone and it was only one color; black.
They could not recognize the woman but they knew the man's name. He looked the same as before, with the same intentions as before.
Sango caught the sling of her boomerang in her hands, not breathing and Miroku held his staff.
The dust and smoke had faded from the ground and there were the two figures shown:
Kagura-reborn and Naraku.
We're really, really sorry this chapter came out late (really!) but we hope you still enjoyed. Here the fight is finally going to begin. Sorry Kagome didn't come this time, but she'll come the next chapter. We realized it was going to be too long to fit it in, but the next chapter things will happen, bet on it.
Oh yeah, we're still really sorry this chapter came out late, but the next will be worth the wait!