Chapter Twenty-One: On Prideful Wing
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.
-Anne Lamott
Kagome glanced in a small bit of surprise at the way Byakuya had flash-stepped next to her and taken her hand when she mentioned going through. After a moment she squeezed his fingers and, after checking that she had the arrow that had killed her earlier that day still wrapped in her pocket, smiled at him before taking a step through.
The path was very different than the one that passed from her world to the soul society, it was bright, though there was still no set point where the illumination started. The path instead of having large stone walls merely seemed to exist, transforming just beyond the gate into a stairwell that looked about as long as the one outside her home, though not as wide. The stairs seemed dull though, as if the gold color had been laden with dust taking away their sheen. She gave a sideways glance to Byakuya, and then had to double take.
He'd possessed wings for a moment, she'd been certain of it, long shimmering feathers crafted of the purest light...an outline that might have been her imagination given how bright it was. As she looked him over she wasn't certain, the image was gone now but she couldn't help but watch him as if hoping it would appear again.
When he raised a brow at her curiously she shook her head negatively and gestured at the steps. "Seems you are doing well so far, shall we continue?"
When he squeezed her hand she nodded at the silent affirmation and started to climb the stairway. The strange feeling she got outside was stronger here, there was immense spiritual energy here unlike even in the soul society, it was as if the air itself was infused with it. It was more holy than not now that she was actually inside, but something about it just felt wrong...
As they climbed she glanced back to Byakuya once or twice, frowning as on each occasion the image out of the corner of her gaze kept vanishing before she could see it.
Byakuya meanwhile was curious about Kagome's questioning glances but was himself still concerned with how he was able to pass through the gate at all. It had to somehow do with Kagome, but soul reapers were not suppose to be physically capable of entering the Heaven's Gate. He sensed very clearly that the level of power here was unlike anything within the Sereitei, it was no wonder that the royal family was kept away from the rest, if their powers were to go uncontrolled all manner of normal souls in soul society would die or at least suffer greatly. A reaper not at the level of a captain would likely be too overwhelmed to move.
The stairs were misleading in their length and the pair walked a distance further, the gate behind them had faded from view and the distance ahead of them seemed the same regardless of the fact they were climbing. He was about to ask her why she was so aptly staring at him with such frequent and intense curiosity but a door appeared almost on top of them, it was already open and more light filtered from within making it impossible to see beyond the portal.
She hesitated a moment but then immediately pushed herself forward, still holding Byakuya's hand as the moved inside.
Within, they were on a small hill in a deep, but incredibly lush forest. Every possible shade of green and brown created the landscape and it was littered with flowers or fruits of all other colors, shapes, and sizes. A pool surrounded the gateway they left, similar in design to the one in which they'd entered but smaller and more cozy with the overgrowth of wildlife much more chaotic than the perfect architecture in the soul society.
The energy here was just as intense as the stairwell, but Kagome still couldn't put her finger on what was wrong, only that if felt somehow lesser than it should. Though it was warmer and made her fan her face with her free hand, looking to Byakuya to ask him where they should go in the thick forests and pausing with her mouth still open.
This time when she looked at him directly, the wings were still there. They were made of light for certain, they were shedding it to the area of the gate, now closed, just around them. Best she could tell they seemed to be feathered from the way they shifted when he took a step toward the bridge that lead over the pond and toward a path further into the forests.
"You...you have wings..." She blurted out lamely, unsure of what else to say given the unexpected transformation.
He raised a brow at her but his eyes widened in his own surprise when he glanced over a shoulder at the new appendages, he hadn't even released Senbonzakura, more or less taken her to the point of this level. His hand even settled on the hilt of the still blade, nestled quietly in it's sheathe, it hadn't even been released at all...
Another moment and he realized that he didn't possess the circle around him that became the wings, according to Kagome and what he could see they were attached in a loose sense of the word...which meant this wasn't Senbonzakura. He had frozen to consider just what it could mean but Kagome touching them brought him out of the shocked state because he'd felt it and it'd made him step back naturally.
"They're lovely." Kagome observed, still watching them more than him, she hadn't realized that Byakuya himself didn't know why he had them. "How did you get wings?"
"I wish I could answer that." Byakuya answered honestly, but dwelling them wasn't possible now, a blast of energy washed by them that took Kagome completely off her feet and he was forced to catch her, lingering in the sky easily on his newfound ability to fly. "But it will have to wait, we need to find the Prince...you were right Kagome, things are definitely not right here."
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Keshizu slammed the dagger against the stone as Kagome vanished, leaving a gash in the rock and dulling the sharpness of the weapon. He tossed the blade aside though a moment later in his anger. "What exactly happened there?"
It was obvious the 'leader' of the gathering of priests and preistess' was exceptionally angry and shocked at this unexpected change of events. "Oyikko...get her here now! She knew this girl, I want some answers!"
"But Oyikko is still heavily injured after her battle..." Nendin was the first to speak, his words holding much more compassion than they had possessed for Kagome. "She's only now able to speak again but it must be painful. She still can't move well but she should recover soon, the captain she fought..."
"Silence." Keshizu interrupted with a small glare, his voice raised only barely for the demand. "If she cannot come to us, take me to her, we'll find out yet why the dead woman was somehow summoned away from here with no effort at all."
"She's not dead anymore." Oyikko managed to hiss, her entire body was still covered in rags, and they looked bumpy and unever where her flesh had been carved apart from within. Even when she'd reappeared in Hueco Mundo her injuries had been so severe she hadn't been able to move, and had been forced to wait until she was found. She'd been recovering for some time, and was still in the process of doing so. Her voice even sounded harsh and raspy, like the throat that had been torn would never quite be the same. She'd come out on her own when she heard Kagome would be the one to finally free them on their torment. "There was someone that possessed a sword capable of bringing back the dead."
"She speaks nonsense." Nendin commented. "She must be delirious."
"No." Oyikko protested a bit loudly, wincing as her voice cracked. "No. It is true. It was something I only heard rumor of when I was alive. I didn't believe it to be real myself, a sword capable of returning the lives of the dead, possessed by a demon of immense strength. He was related to a half-demon I knew in life."
"The demons all died off I thought." One of the random priests put in with the same skepticism Nendin held.
"Some would say the same of holy men and women." Kushizu replied thoughtfully, apparently one of the only ones taking her words seriously. "We could steal the sword...certainly it would be capable of our needs."
Oyikko shook her head negatively, and at the scowl from the leader spoke again. "It must be wielded by a demon or half-demon of suitable strength or it will not work. Many demon swords were so ensorceled, the only other ones that knew about it were Kaede, Rin, and Miroku, but both refused to work for you."
"We don't need to use it, just break it down for it's energy to create the new jewel." Nendin picked up where Kushizu was going and went with it. "As Koridomi has yet to report in and we lost Kagome it'd be a great alternative."
"It'd be foolish to think even an army of us would succeed." Oyikko answered with another negative shake of her bandaged head. "Without our holy energy to combat such a demon we would only be adding to the injured troops. This creature has survived were countless others have not for a reason."
Kushizu frowned, nodding a little at Oyikko, given her recent injuries he could understand her wary nature with it...but it was an option he wouldn't discount completely. Though he recalled in his reports from Koridomi that there had been a captain killed by a demon so powerful he'd been laid low by a single blow. He'd figured it was all a hyped rumor, but now that seemed less likely.
"That we'll have to put on the back burner of possibilities." He stated with a nod to Oyikko. "I'll need to go through the Gate and check on Koridomi...she may have been able to get the blood but been otherwise waylaid."
"Sir...that seems dangerous...we purposefully sent the Prince there in hopes he would combat the King." Nendin frowned a little. "We need you here in case this fails...without you everyone will not stay together."
"It'll be fine Nendin, besides, I'm one of the only ones that can go. You are needed here in the case things don't work out." Kushizu replied with a shrug. "Have faith, you know that such a small task of spying for information is little for me. Besides, if the pair of them lay each other low I can get us the Prince's blood instead of the unstable kings."
Even as he finished the statement, the man was fading from view, as if shifting into mist, making Nendin hesitantly nod, glancing to Oyikko and nodding that she could return to her place to heal more. "You may yet again be needed. Get the rest while it's available. The rest of you, hunt down the worthless ones ignoring our cause, we should learn what they know of Kagome and her group."
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"I have not seen them Captain." Renji answered Hitsugaya as the young Captain caught up to where he was outside the Heaven's Gate. "I believe they went inside already."
"Impossible." Hitsugaya replied with a frown, watching the gateway, it was obvious because of the uneven spiritual energy in the area that it had been open. "I wasn't able to find anything...the others had the same poor luck. All we discovered is that is impossible for a soul reaper to enter the gateway. Even if they're of a Captain's level."
"I don't know Captain, but wouldn't Captain Kuchiki still be here if he hadn't gone through?" Renji replied with a small shrug. "I can't feel his energy at all, can you?"
"No." The white haired boy shook his head negatively, staring in disbelief at the gateway. "What exactly is the Prince intending I wonder...he had to known that Captain Kuchiki wouldn't be willing to part with her...so he wanted him there as well."
"Not a bad guess." Renji agreed but then shrugged. "I don't know. There is no recorded record of a soul reaper passing through the gate best any of us can tell. Captain Kuchiki isn't exactly your average soul reaper though."
"He's not as better as many of us as he pretends." Hitsugaya retorted seriously, not to be insulting but stating it like a fact.
Renji considered the young Captain dubiously but didn't reply, looking to the gateway again. "I'm not too sure about that. He did tell me once the difference between us was like that of heaven and earth...I wonder how right that boast really was..."
End Chapter
A bit shorter than the last few but I needed to leave it where it was for the moment. A battle is coming up. This is a post for my birthday tomorrow! I thought it would be nifty to write something for it. However as I'll be busy tomorrow doing fun birthday things I probably won't be writing much then :)
-Aura
To my reviewers:
fierynightangel - Yes, I understand not really wanting one of the main characters dead...though she was still around even dead hehe.
Teldra - Spirit vermin! Hehehe, I enjoy writing Sesshy in this fic.
Neo-Crystal - I'm pretty sure he couldn't send Senbonzakura with him. I figure he has to at least be in the same general area to command it. And yes, the free time I've had to work on the fiction lately has been nice.
Sugar0o - Yes, Kagome still having gone to Hueco Mundo (which is actually different than Hell in Bleach - I figure sort of like Soul Society isn't really Heaven...I think they're more like lesser levels of both) will be explained as time progresses. You asked about Miroku and Kaede just as I was tossing them into the plot! Oh, Sesshy's Tensaiga has already had a few effects in this last chapter and more are forthcoming soon ;) Thanks for the awesome review, as always.