Story by: Eric Lentz
Chapter Seven: Season of Evil Approaches!
(Feudal Era)
(Inuyasha Forest)
Kikyo was making her way through the forest with her collectors floating by, holding some souls within their little clutches in case she needed any to help keep her in the world. It was only by surviving off the souls of others that she could remain, and in her thoughts she wanted to remain in the world because of Inuyasha and Naraku, each for different reasons.
(Naraku's Barrier)
She continued her way out of the forest and towards Naraku's area and comes across his very strong barrier. Looking at the barrier she thinks to herself about just how much the barrier has grown in strength since the last time she visited Naraku and wonders how this is possible. Before she can do anything further, she senses something or someone on the fringe of her senses and looks around slowly, carefully without looking like she is looking. Whatever it was seems to have decided she was of no interest as it fades away and with the barrier as strong as it was she could not get in even with her power.
Kikyo stares up at the barrier for a few more moments while deciding something and then she slowly turns to go investigate whatever it was that she sensed since she could do nothing further at Naraku's as long as the barrier was up and she doubted that Naraku would see her if he could see the anger upon her face.
(Elsewhere)
A woman with a snake resting on her shoulders walks on, with her tail lightly drifting up and down with each step that she takes until she stands at the top of a hill and looks down at a village in ruins. Once she sees this, her hand clenches and foxfire erupts around her body in clear anger and the snake looks up from its slumber to look down at the ruined village and gives a hiss in its direction before looking at her. The foxfire slowly settles down, fading away into nothingness before she starts to walk forward again and towards the small village.
Once she sees the village, she sees people she doesn't recognize trying to rebuild the ruined village and sees that the village was heavily damaged by lightning or lightning attacks. As she walks through the village she decides that the damage is too precise for normal lightning and even though she gets stares and a few people hiding themselves and their children, for the most part they seem too tired to do much with her presence.
She walks up to where she once lived with her husband and child and stands before a building that is little more than rubble as all that's left is the debris of house's walls and a charred roof's remains sitting inside. It is apparent to her that no one has tried to rebuild or even touch the place at all.
She starts to visibly shake and yells "Foxfire!" and sends a powerful burst of magical fire to destroy the roof's remains and unbury anything... or anyone that might have been under it. She relaxes as she sees that there are no bodies under it and then she starts to wonder, where they are if they're not here and why haven't they returned to the home if they've survived?
Just then she hears a voice say, "Hello there" and spins around prepared to use her magic to defend herself and finds only the old village leader before her and one of the few people she had recognized as she had walked through the ruined village. The Elder looks at her with sad eyes and says, "It has been some time since you've been back to our village Midoro. I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances."
Midoro looks at him and the woman standing next to him, supporting his right arm, which was bandaged up and says, "What happened here? It looks like a battlefield."
The Village Elder nods and says, "We were attacked by some demons who took sport in attacking our village." Midoro grits her teeth in anger and then says through clenched teeth, "What demons? When?" The Village Elder leans upon the younger woman and says, "I don't know, but I'm only sorry that they didn't stop before..." and he trails off looking a bit weak.
The woman next to him and says, "Are you all right Elder? Do you need to sit?" The Elder nods and says, "Yes Aoi, I think I do" and with the assistance of the woman, starts to turn towards a nearby home that looked in fairly decent shape compared to the rest of the village.
"Wait! Finish what you said Elder, before what!?" Midoro nearly yells and restrains herself from grabbing at him.
The Elder says, "Come with me, I'll tell you all inside." And he starts to walk slowly to the home with Midoro following and burning with a desire to know. They walk into the home that was obviously still in the midst of repairs and when the Elder and Aoi sit down and she joins them while looking a bit anxious with her tails swishing nervously over the ground and stirring up some dust. The Village Elder sighs softly and says, "Aoi, will you please get me some tea?" and she says, "Yes, Elder" before she gets up and leaves to fetch some water. The Village Elder looks at her and says, "I wish you had not been gone for so long..."
Midoro looks at him and says, "Please, tell me..." her eyes looking fearful as she looks at him while he meets her eyes long enough to see the fear and then looks down at the ground for a few moments before looking back up to meet her eyes. Midoro continues by saying, "What has happened to my husband and child?"
The Village Elder says, "I don't quite know how to say this my dear, so I'll come right out and tell you." After a deep breath he continues, "Your husband I'm afraid is no more. He perished defending the village and your child from the lightning demons." Trembling she asks, "What of my child?" Shaking his head slowly side to side the Village Elder says, "Sadly, I do not know the answer to that. He disappeared after your husband fell to the two demons."
Midoro growled as she said, "What of the demons? What happened to them?" and just then Aoi came back with the tea and set some down in front of the Village Elder, "Here you go Elder." Aoi looks at Midoro and says, "Would you like some tea too?" and when Midoro shakes her head, she returns to sitting by the Elder's side in case she is needed.
The Elder looks at Midoro, "They continued their destruction of our village until there was hardly anyone left and few homes remained standing. I have heard that one of them took your husband and made a fox stole out of him after his defeat."
Midoro's tails moved about very angrily in quick, sharp movements but as angry as she was, her thoughts were in worry about her child. Midoro thought to herself, "I should have been here, together we might have been able to defeat these demons and my son wouldn't have to be alone."
The Elder continued saying, "Fortunately the demons have not since returned. I've heard rumors that they terrorized other villages, destroyed two armies and much more before things have gone silent about any news about them." Nodding his head in thought, the Elder looks at Midoro and can guess that she was thinking of both revenge and worry over her child, he knew she loved the child dearly but her clan leader had summoned her when her child was very young and she had to go. "Perhaps the demons have been defeated, but I am sorry that I can not offer you any more news on your child. All I know for certain is that he has not returned to the village, since the demons took his father from him." Says in a comforting tone as Midoro visibly shakes with her hands clenched tightly and looks down at the ground with tears falling freely from her face.
Aoi looks at the two of them with sad eyes and a heavy heart as she had been the one taking care Midoro's son when the demons attacked and noticed that the Elder had not mentioned it, perhaps to spare her from Midoro's feelings and she trusted that the Elder knew best so she remained silent but a part of her wished to tell Midoro how sorry she was for not being able to keep her son from running off after the demons after they defeated her husband because of her own injuries that she had sustained during the demons attack.
(Within Naraku's Barrier)
Naraku is watching a scene unfold on Kanna's mirror and watches the whole scene where Midoro walks home to discover that something happened to her family. Naraku continues to watch the glowing mirror as Midoro cries and although there is little change in the face, Naraku's eyes grow more evil looking with a red glow to them and he says, "Hmm, I think know just how to use this..." while a couple feet away, some jars glow strangely and some distorted forms that look unnatural seem to be moving, twisting about within them as if alive but not yet at the same time.
Kagura comes in and says, "Naraku, Kikyo is outside the barrier. What should I do?" In a somewhat calm voice although there was an edge to it that spoke of her underlying feelings to the situation or the woman just outside the barrier.
Naraku tilts his head forward and says to Kanna, "Show me" and within moments Kikyo is visible within the mirror. Kikyo's face is clearly not one of its normal calmness but one of frustration and Naraku knew that what it really meant was that Kikyo was quite mad and if she'd come to his castle that meant one of two things. Kikyo either was planning on enlisting his aid in something or blamed him for something and came to confront him about it. He thought about his choices but it seemed that Kikyo to make her own decision and turned her back upon the barrier and started to walk off. Naraku looks at Kikyo's departing figure and says, "Leave her be, for now..." and turns his attention to the two jars sitting a few feet away. "She will be dealt with when the time comes." He finishes saying with Kagura thinking to herself with her eyes narrowing just a notch, "Naraku, you're such a fool... Kikyo will one day be your downfall because you still love her and when that day comes, I'll be free."
------------------------------------------Author's Note: I know, I know what you're all going to say and all I can say is... Keep reading my chapters and give me more reviews! The more I get, the more often I write! LOL! :)
Don't read any further if you don't want any hidden clues to upcoming stuff...
Now for the real notes, Naraku is just going to get more and more evil, involve more people and if you think I'm done with Kagome simply because she's in a hospital you have another thing coming! The contents of the jars and how they will impact everyone will be huge but you know Naraku, that's not ALL he's ever got planned since any good trickster always has another thing up his sleeve.
