Chapter 12: Retrieving the Stone Crystal of Souls
There was an odd light shining on his eyes and woke him up. His silver triangular ears twitched and he squinted his eyes. " Where am I?" he said as his eye adjusted to the lighting. He looked around, "this is the… What! No! there's no way! Huh?" he stood up and turned around to his mothers figure walking towards him. "M-Mother?"
"hello sweetheart." Izayoi said as she approached her son.
"I-I'm not dead am I?" he asked lowering his head, his ears flattened against his head.
"depends, do you feel dead?" his mother asked him
"what? No, but I am aren't I?" Izayoi nodded slowly. The tears swelled in his eyes as the fact hit him, " but I can't be!" His breath quivered and closed his eye tightly as the tears started falling.
"Inuyasha, don't cry my dear." Izayoi walked up to him and hugged him. When she released him she held out her hands and a lotus plant appeared and she walked over to the pond, spreading the petals over the water.
Inuyasha looked over the water and the images of his friends appeared. "Kagome.." he watched as Kagome walked into the hut and sit next to his body.
"listen to what she's saying, she needs you they all need you." Izayoi said as Inuyasha sat down on the edge staring into the water. He let out a sad breath as Sango walked away followed by Miroku and heard what she had said, " they all are crying for you, Inuyasha. Even the wolf."
Inuyasha looked again as and saw that even Koga and the other two wolves were upset and crying.
"why the hell am I even crying its not like I cared for that mutt face!" Koga was yelling as tears fell from his eyes.
"that stupid little wolf! He-" he stopped as Shippo spoke.
"you two may have been rivals, Koga, but you were still friends.' Shippo managed to say between words.
Inuyasha lowered his head and stood up, turning away from the images in the water. " I need to go back… they need me, I need me. I'm not ready for this." Inuyasha stood there tears streaming down his face. In a broken voice he said, "I need to go back, there has to be a way for me go back."
"Inuyasha I don't think there is." Izayoi said wiping away a few tears from Inuyasha's face. As Inuyasha was about to reply another figure stepped out.
"there is one way." Inuyasha looked up to see a man with silver hair and his eye color and markings on his face like his when he transformed into his "demon" self.
"and what would that be my dearest?" Izayoi said as she stepped aside slightly.
"father?" Inuyasha said.
InuTaisho nodded and walked closer to Inuyasha. "there's a crystal known as The Stoned Crystal of Souls if you want to go back as bad as you want to the you have to retrieve it. And you have 4 days to do so if you fail, your stuck here and your never return."
"you forget Sesshomaru, dear, he has Tensaiga." Izayoi said as InuTaisho gasped
"oh yeah. Forgot about him"
Inuyasha scoffed, "like hell he'd help me. He hates me."
"I know its sad! He may hate you but he's still your brother." InuTaisho said and set a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder.
"how do I get it?" Inuyasha asked with a serious look InuTaisho and Izayoi looked at him with surprised look. "where do I get it?
InuTaisho stammered as he looked for the words, "uh well. You seriously want to get it?"
"of course I do! I promised Kagome I would never leave her! I'm not going to do so either. I'm staying by her side as long as I can and when she dies so I." Inuyasha clenched his fists as he spoke and gave his father a serious look. "now tell me where it is or I'll search for it myself."
InuTaisho looked at Izayoi and then back to Inuyasha. "you go straight from here and there's this cave you have to go into it and keep going down following the path and you'll come to this shrine you have to fight a few guys. Once you fight the first 7 deities then you can continue but then you have to fight the guardian of the stone."
" I take it you've tried." Inuyasha said
"yes and I was there at the guardian but my days were up and I was stuck here. Even if I succeeded into getting the stone I had no body to return to." InuTaisho explained.
"I'm Inuyasha, I can get through it. After all I did defeat the dragon Ryuukotsei when you couldn't, and ive got Tetsusaiga. I can use all its attacks from the wind scar to the Meido Zangetsuha. Plus I'm your son I'm not going to stop trying to get back to Kagome." InuTaisho smiled and nodded in response.
"you must leave at once, my dear boy, and get the stone before its too late. If you leave now you'll have a chance at getting there before your 4 days are up." Inuyasha nodded and turned to his mom.
"make sure they nothing happens to my body and what" Inuyasha said and turned to the pond, "don't worry Kagome I'm coming home."
"you mustn't dawdle Inuyasha, go." InuTaisho said and Inuyasha smirked at both of them and took off running north and as fast as his legs could carry him.
InuTaisho watch as Inuyasha disappeared and then sighed, "he's a lot like me when I was his age. I was hot!"
Izayoi rolled her eyes and laughed, "of course you were dear."
"you think he'll make it?" InuTaisho asked as he glanced into the water watching as Kagome argued with the medicine women over something and Sango and Miroku trying to calm her down.
Izayoi made the images disappear and received an annoyed growl from InuTaisho, "he is the son of the Great Dog Demon, your son." Izayoi smiled and pecked him on the cheek. "he'll make it through this."
"hope your right about that." InuTaisho sighed.
While Inuyasha was running he thought about what he would be going through and how much it will change his point of view on things.
By noon that day he was a to his first fight. It had stopped him as he went through a forest. It told him that he was trespassing on his land and ordered Inuyasha to leave. Inuyasha growled and pulled Tetsusaiga out of its sheath. "Bring it on." Inuyasha attacked and missed as the deity smacked Inuyasha and sent him flying. Inuyasha stood up and noted he felt no pain and used his Adamant Barrage attack and the spears went through the demon like nothing happened.
Inuyasha cursed out loud and used the wind scar as it hit the deity it dissolved. "what the hell is going on!"
The Deity laughed and told inuyasha that the only way to defeat him is to find which attack of Inuyasha's sword will kill him.
"how the hell do I figure that out!" Inuyasha barked and received no answer. When the deity answered it told him that he must look inside him. Inuyasha was lost and confused but attacked the deity. As he kept fighting none of the attacks he was using were working. Then as he began to loose hope of defeating this demon something sparked in him and a voice could be heard.
' whose there?' he asked and a raspy voice replied with a sigh.
'the item to use is hard as diamonds can absorb anything by touching and changes the host into armor.'
'what the hell? How the hell does that help me?' Inuyasha asked then thought about it. And then that's when he noticed the whirlpools of aura. 'that's it the Dragon Scaled Tetsusaiga'
The raspy voice let out an appreciated sigh and the blade of Tetsusaiga changed and dragon scales appeared and spread out over the blade. Inuyasha grinned and jumped, the deity made a face- not one of fright but a proud expression. With a swing of Tetsusaiga Inuyasha sliced the whirl pools of aura and the Deity disappeared. Inuyasha grinned and sheathed Tetsusaiga.
"that took long enough." Inuyasha said and scratched his head then something caught his eye, " huh? What the hell is that?"
As Inuyasha walked over he noticed it was a piece of cloth. He made a face and picked it up, examining it as he stretched it out. He questioned why a piece of cloth would be here then the cloth got stuck on his hand.
"Gah! It won't come off!" Inuyasha screamed and shook his hand and it disappeared, or so he thought. " huh? AH! Its on my arm get it off! Get of*
Inuyasha threw his arm down and the cloth again was off, but this time clung to his sword. Inuyasha made a face and swung Tetsusaiga to remove the cloth when the deity spoke. Inuyasha stared at it for a long moment.
It told him that it would not hurt the sword or Inuyasha. " your sword is the only sword to be able to defeat the Guardian properly."
"how is Tetsusaiga the sword to defeat this guy properly? I thought I killed you." Inuyasha said making a face.
"I am a deity you cannot kill me. Once you gather the other pieces of cloth you will be able to destroy the guardian. The sword with gain another technique and your fire-rat robe will be strengthened."
Inuyasha made a face and picked the cloth off Tetsusaiga and looked at it, "how does this," holds up the cloth. " he my fire-rat robe strengthen?"
"I cannot tell you. You must go on to your next task but I warn you. You fail and you'll become fodder for the seven deities of this world." the Deity told him and inuyasha continued on his way after sheathing Tetsusaiga.
He took off in the direction he was heading and as the hours past so did the day, but he kept on running way into the night. He noted that he wasn't the least bit tired and as the sun rose he neared a large rock garden. He noted an odd colored boulder as he neared and came to a stop. He watched and thought of how he defeated the first deity. He remembered that a voice had told him a clue to how to defeat him. All Inuyasha had to do was figure out how to defeat this one.
He walked cautiously around looking for the next Deity. He sat down on a rock and kept his eyes and ears open. Inuyasha looked around and as the ground shook he jumped in time to dodge a demon.
"what the hell?" Inuyasha yelled and pulled out Tetsusaiga. "how the hell am I supposed to fight him now? Damn it's the second day and I'm only on the second guy."
As Inuyasha grumbled to himself the deity came up from underground, attacked inuyasha and went back under. After dodging the attack inuyasha growled. "this si stupid how do I know which attack to use. Unless-" Inuyasha trailed off, ' unless it's the backlash wave. No it wouldn't be that." Inuyasha shook his head and dodged another attack. His ears twitched and his nose quivered. 'it's the wind scar.'
Inuyasha jumped into the air and scanned the ground. He eventually got to the point where he could predict where the deity was going to pop up and he aimed his sword, waited and lifted it up and swung the Tetsusaiga. The deity made a surprised yelp and as the ground before him crumbled eventually so did he.
Inuyasha wasted no time in gathering the cloth that appeared and took off for the next deity and by the late afternoon he arrived at the third deity. This one was airborne and he knew exactly which technique to use. The backlash wave. The forth one was a tricky one for him to figure out when it happened to the Adamant Barrage attack. The fifth one was an invisible deity which made it even more difficult to determine which attack to use. Eventually he used the red Tetsusaiga and finished him off with slicing him in half.. On the third day he reached a barren landscape which housed the last one required the Meido Zangetsuha. By afternoon that day he could see the location his father spoke of.
He inhaled slowly and took off faster than he had been going as he let out a breath. By the time he reached the large castle it was midnight, or so he assumed. Inuyasha entered the castle and sniffed the air. His ears twitched and he could sense the Stoned Crystal of Souls and followed the energy. He then came to a large door and looked up it and made a face. The only thing he had to do to open it was to slightly push it and when the door opened it revealed a large room. He looked around cautiously and entered.
A noise made him stop and turn around and as he did the door closed and rumble emanated from the entire room. He let out a growl as a large shadowy beast emerged from the shadows. He let out a short sigh and drew Tetsusaiga and ordered the shadow beast to come forward. It did much more than that, it disappeared. This caused inuyasha to freak and look around. He dodged an attack and instinctively used the backlash wave. As always it sent the attack back at the Shadow Guardian Beast. Though surprised the guardian was quick to return the attack.
The battle waned on until noon the next day and by then the place was falling apart and as a last minute attempt Inuyasha used five of Tetsusaiga's attacks one after another and used the Meido Zengetsuha last. Fortunately for Inuyasha this worked and the Shadow Guardian Beast was defeated and Inuyasha walked up to the Stoned Crystal of Souls.
No soon did he pick it up he felt a strange sensation. Not one of burning or heat but like a heart beat, thousands of them. He also felt a strange energy serge through his body. Inuyasha let out a quivering breath as the Crystal disappeared and Tetsusaiga began to glow a light blue color. Not only that but Inuyasha could feel his Fire-rat robe change. There was a strange light that surrounded Inuyasha's entire body and he felt himself being lifted.