Sorry for the epic delay. I'm a jerk. I know. n .n;;
At the end of the long hallway leading from the bedrooms was a enormous dining hall. Couples were seated around a long dining table that just barely fell short of the walls on either side of the room. A wide variety of aromatic food was crowded onto the surface of the table, seemingly untouched by the crowd of people. All of the couples, however, did not seem all too interested in peeling their eyes of their significant others. It was a wonder if they were too distracted by love to eat, or if they were expecting something.
The grannies sat at the head of the table, and looked up with cheeky grins as InuYasha barged in abruptly with his friends hot on his trail. In an eerie synchrony they cheered, "Ah finally! We've been waiting for you four, what took you so long?"
"Waiting... for us...?" Kagome echoed, looking around at the couples who were watching them expectantly. Her face took on a rosy color as she inched closer to InuYasha in hopes that his broad shoulders would be a barrier against the stares.
"Of course! Of course!" One of the grannies said, clapping her hands together loudly to get the attention of the other guests, "These are our newest arrivals! Please, sit down and enjoy the meal!" She cheered, and the low rumbling of conversation rose throughout the room.
Miroku, taking the lead, pulled out a chair for Sango at the less crowded end of the table. Taking it gratefully, she sat and looked around curiously at the other couples. They all seemed absolutely love struck, as if there was nothing else in the room that mattered besides the person sitting next to them. She smiled at Miroku as he took the seat next to her and for the first time since she had entered the shrine, all her inhibitions melted away.
InuYasha, being less gentlemanly, plopped down and began reaching for the food. Kagome, not at all shocked by his behavior, took the seat next to him. She thought back to their heart warming conversation back in their room, and wondered if she would ever get able to get InuYasha to open up to her again. She sighed as she looked across the table at the grannies, and started as she realized they were gazing intently back at her; eyes glazed over with a strange light she couldn't put her finger on.
Miroku, also noticing the look on the grannies faces, spoke up, "So... I have decided we will depart from the shrine tomorrow morning. Does that work for you two as well?" He asked his friends. Without warning a rumbling laugh began to rise from the throngs of people in the room, and akin to a bobble-head doll, Miroku looked from the expressionless faces to the glassy eyed grannies. Something wasn't right.
"InuYasha... don't eat that food...," Miroku murmured to him, but InuYasha grunted in annoyance and ignored the advice.
"Why? I'm starved. It's just food. Don't be so uptight Miroku." InuYasha retorted, still aggravated from the monks earlier distasteful jests. Without another thought he dug into the food, stuffing his face full of the decidedly delicious arrangement.
Miroku shook his head, eying the mass of laughing guests before him suspiciously. Their hearty laughs were unbelievable in their insincerity, and sounded unnervingly forced. "I'd like to get back to the village by afternoon tomorrow so-" He began, but was cut off by the rise in volume of the laughter from the other couples.
Finally, one of the grannies raised her hands and the crowd was silenced. With a polite tinkling voice not devoid of humor she said, "Oh silly child. Stop making such jokes! You can never leave."
InuYasha, who had previously been stuffing his face, dropped the food back onto the plate and with an eerie gracefulness that was unlike him, he leaned up from hovering over his dish. "There is no reason to leave. We should stay. Yes. We will stay." He murmured, his voice losing it's tone completely.
"InuYasha... what has gotten into you?" Kagome asked, her fearful eyes locking with his utterly blank ones. She looked around at the table and with an air of shock and disappointment she noted that his monotonous look perfectly matched all of the other guests.
Miroku, always keen, pushed his chair from the table and spoke while staring disgustedly at the plates in the center of the table, "I knew it. It's the food." He groaned, his eyes scanning the dozens of half eaten dishes.
The grannies, once again in a disturbing harmony, pleaded with them in a mock soothing voice, "Please children. You must be hungry from your long travels. Eat. We would very much dislike the alternative if you should not cooperate."
Piping up for the first time in the conversation, Sango whipped towards the elderly women at the end of the table, "And what would the alternative be?" She demanded, her mind slowly coming out of the haze it had previously been in. Without her noticing she had succumb to a mind clouding spell that dulled her usually sharp perception. She suspected it had been placed on her through the aroma of the candles in their room, and was incredibly disappointed in herself for not noticing earlier. Now that she had been forced into defense mode, she could see that the grannies were not as they appeared.
The two woman, now no longer cloaked in a spell, took on a more gruesome appearance. Their formerly rounded faces became more jagged and bony; their noses hooked like a birds beak. The glassiness in their eyes was not just a blank stare, but in fact it was due to their lack of eyes completely. As if they had been hollowed out, where their eyes should have been were two deep black gouges. They smiled, and long gleaming rows of razor sharp teeth peeked out. As they did so, two large black crows popped their faces out from the holes in their heads and cawed furiously at them. "We will have to eat you." The two growled demonically.
"Their bodies are possessed by crow demons. It would seem they are dead... and have been for quite a while." Miroku observed pointedly, turning to Sango who nodded in silent agreement.
Kagome was turned towards InuYasha and for once was disappointed to find that he was staring at her intently. His expression was like a mirror image of the ones on the other mind washed quests in the hall, and she groaned inwardly. "If you didn't think about your stomach first in every situation, you wouldn't fall for stupid tricks like this." She hissed at him quietly, but received no response from the half demon.
"If you will not eat our food and join your friend... you will have to die!" The grannies screeched, leaping up from their seats and floating unnaturally above the table. Without any warning to the attack, they darted towards Miroku, Sango and Kagome.
"Come on, let's get out of the hall! We can't fight here, or we could hurt the other guests." Miroku called to Kagome, who looked at InuYasha pleadingly.
"Please, snap out of it!" She called to him, shaking his shoulder violently. He continued to stare at her through unseeing eyes and with frustration building in her, she smacked him hard across the cheek. As if she had never touched him, he did not react at all to her assault.
"Kagome! Hurry!" Sango shouted, grabbing her friend by the elbow and dragging her from her spot, "He'll be fine! We have to defeat the crow demons to break their control on him." She explained, tugging her through the doorway and into the long hall.
Kagome watched InuYasha through the doors as she was pulled from the room, and felt her heart thump loudly at the sadness on his expression as he watched her retreating form. Despite the fact that he was not himself, she still felt his heartbreak as he thought she was abandoning him. "Ka... gome...," She saw him mouth right before the two grannies flew into the hall and the doors slammed brutally shut behind them.
The two grannies floated soundlessly in front of them, twisted smiles curled along their pale lips. "How dare you disrupt our business. We aren't hurting anyone. You have no right to kill us." They spat, coming to hover just inches about the ground.
"You're taking away free will from people. You are keeping them here against their wishes! That is evil." Sango corrected them, brandishing her Hiraikotsu intimidatingly. "Not to mention that you killed and possessed the bodies of two shrine maidens."
"Not to mention that I assume you are eating all those who attempt to escape. I can't imagine we are the first to wish to leave." Miroku added in, reaching into the folds of his robes and fingering the edge of his sutras with one hand and clutching his staff firmly with the other.
Kagome reached behind her, and with an audible groan realized that she had left her bow and arrow in the room. As if on cue, Miroku and Sango stepped in front of her, blocking her off from the two demons. Thankfully, she nodded in understanding of their wordless command and took off down the hall.
Removing his hand from the fold of his robe, Miroku flashed four sutras at the demons; one clamped firmly between each of his fingers. He smiled at them in a mocking way, and threw them at the demons. A look of satisfaction jumped onto his face as the two of the sutras landed respectively on the grannies foreheads, but it quickly fluttered away when the sutras melted away like butter against their skin and dripped onto the floor before them.
"What the-," He began, but was cut off when one of the crows inside the grannies sent a demonic caw at them, and a shock wave blasted against him, pushing him back as if the sound had a physical force.
"Miroku, remember... the bodies are human. A spiritual sutra won't affect them, you have to hit the demon itself for any effect..." Sango shouted against the wave of noise that was flooding her ears and sending a pounding pain into her temples.
The two were were knocked down by the force and the demon jumped at the opportunity to advance on them. Under the force of the second demons sound wave, the two were immobile and unable to shield themselves from the oncoming demon. Sango reached out for Miroku with all her might, and the monk did the same. Their fingers inched closer to one another but fell just two inches short. A tear gleamed in Sango's eyes as she futilely tried to make contact with Miroku's hand.
As the two stared at each other, waiting for the impact of the demon to collide with their bodies, suddenly a white light washed across the room. A piercing noise echoed through the air, cutting clean through the demon's powerful sound wave. With a horrifying squeal the granny was severed in two, and where she had split the demon writhed as it was scorched alive by the stream of light. Like a Phoenix starting a new life cycle, the entire being burst into a colorless flame and disintegrated into ash that scattered into the air before it could reach the floor.
Miroku and Sango turned their heads, and saw Kagome standing strong with her bow gripped tightly in her hands. She panted heavily in an attempt to regain her breath after running so hard, and her hair was tousled as if she had just gotten out of bed. "Are you guys alright?" She called, lowering the bow as she jogged up to them and held out her hands to help them up.
"Thank you Kagome. Yes, we are alright." Sango answered, picking up her Hiraikotsu and getting back into her battle stance. "Now let's get rid of that disgusting creature." She said venomously as she glared daggers at the remaining demon.
The granny smiled a them and the crow inside her ducked back inside her skull cavity. As if she had expected it, she did not move nor flinch as the door behind her opened and revealed the expressionless InuYasha. He moved in front of her as if he were protecting her, and stared across the distance at Kagome. "Please... Kagome... come back to me. Why did you leave me... you said you wouldn't leave me...," He muttered the distressed cry, but his tone lacked the emotion that should have accompanied the words.
"InuYasha! Get away from her!" Kagome called, moving to take a step towards him. A hand reached out then to stop her, and she jerked backwards from the force.
"He can't hear you, foolish girl. Such a powerful half demon, falling pray to my spell. What luck. I can't wait to eat him up, and drain his life force from his very flesh! Oh what power I will gain!" The granny cried, rising up to float behind him, as she gazed hungrily down upon him.
"No!" Kagome screeched as the demon latched onto his shoulder with her bony fingers and opened her mouth. Her jaw seemed to unhitch from her head at an odd angle and from within the hollowed out orifice the crows head emerged; it's beak open wide and ready to bite. Without a second thought Kagome grabbed a bow and strung it with force, raising it with precision and aiming it at the crow demon. "InuYasha! Sit!" She screamed and released the string.
As the arrow soared through the air, a cone of spiritual light sliced through the heavy atmosphere in the hall, and the power of the spell placed on InuYasha took action. The beads around his neck glowed pink and pulled him down with a heavy thud to smack against the ground; safe from the path of the arrow. The crows beady eyes widened and it hissed evilly as arrow purified it's demonic aura. The tip touched the tongue of the demon and it ripped through it's mouth like a knife through fabric. It's head was sliced clean off it's neck, and the arrow buried itself into the crows body down it's throat. A light a thousand times more powerful than the first arrow spread through the hall, blinding the group. When the light faded gradually, the sound of small bells rang through the hall. Standing where the two crows had hovered were translucent figures.
"Thank you...," They whispered, their rosy cheeks pushed up by their grateful smiles.
"The real shrine maidens." Miroku said, bowing respectfully.
The figures shimmered and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. The walls around them faded with the two maidens, and in their place a glittering film of dust slowly drifted into the air. The building itself slowly evaporated, and they found themselves standing alone in wake of the shrine. The night sky twinkled with the stars that winked playfully down upon them.
Kagome knelt down beside InuYasha and turned him on his back. His eyelids twitched as his eyes moved restlessly behind them, and thankful for the sign of life, she flopped down on his chest, gripping him tightly. "Oh InuYasha. You idiot!" She cried into his haori, ignoring the blood that seeped onto her shirt from where the possessed granny had dug her fingers into his skin.
"Kagome...?" InuYasha sputtered, his sight met with a mass of her ebony locks buried into his shoulder as he sat up. "What happened. Where did the shrine go?" He asked, aiming his confused golden orbs at Sango and Miroku.
"It seems as if the building had not been real. The demons must have destroyed it when they pillaged the shrine and killed the maidens." The monk responded, turning as he heard a groan was heard in the distance. "The other guests?" He questioned, turning to Sango who nodded in response. The two of them ran up ahead to check on their safety, leaving InuYasha and Kagome behind.
InuYasha turned to Kagome who had detached herself from him and was staring at him angrily. Quick as a viper strike she grabbed onto his hair and pulled tightly so that he was mere centimeters from her face, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Let go!"
"Next time listen when someone tells you something! Miroku clearly warned you not to eat that food, and what do you do? You go and eat it anyway! You put us all in danger! I had to save your butt from being eaten alive by some crazy crow demon!" She cried, her face both worried and furious at the same time.
"Not so fun when it's you doing the saving instead of being the one who needs to be saved, is it?" He shot back, staring back into her enraged eyes.
Ignoring his attempt at starting a fight to hide the fact that he was concerned with her well-being, her grip loosened on his hair, "Do you know how afraid I was? I thought I was going to lose you. Even Miroku and Sango were in danger." She said, tears pooling in her eyes as she awaited his response.
The wall he had carefully placed over his emotions washed away momentarily for her, and he shrugged her off him now that her hands were not holding on so tightly, "Now you know how I feel every time I fought. Every time I was in a battle all I thought about was your safety. If I lost... it didn't matter to me, but I knew that if I died fighting, I couldn't protect you. It was the fact that your life was in constant jeopardy that made me get back up every time I was knocked down."
With his calloused thumb InuYasha wiped away a stray tear, kissed her on the lips so lightly that she could hardly tell if he had really made contact, and turned away from her. Without another word he made his way over to Miroku and Sango, who were waking up and tending to the other victims of the demon's influence.
"Oh InuYasha...," She whispered, touching the spot where his lips had brushed against hers. "I'm so sorry...," She murmured, thinking of all the times she had become enraged at him for trying to keep her away during fights. She remember when he had forced her back into her time and she had been confused and furious. Now, though, she understood how he had felt. She never again wanted to be in the situation where she was fighting to stay alive because if she didn't, neither would the person she loved most in the world. Gazing deeply at his retreating form, she was silently disgusted at how selfish she had been.
Now that I'm back in school, all situated and junk, I'm hoping to get back into writing some more. I had a lot of English projects right in the beginning of the year, so I was writing so much I couldn't bare the thought of writing more. I don't like my passion to become a job.
Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. It's my favorite so far, so hopefully it will make up for the update lag!
Gimme reviews, plox? Feed my attention hunger! x3