Hey everyone, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I know I said this chapter would be late, but I was misreading my class schedule, apparently the field trip is next week so you get the next chapter on time. Ah one more thing before we begin. Kagura and Naga are not the same person, sorry if there was any confusion with that.
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After Kagura had died, fading away into nothing like all hollows do, Kagome had stood up and headed over to Orihime. When she reached her she careful begins to remove the girl's shirt to better see the damage done during the fighting, she stops though and looks at the guys standing behind them. "We need to patch everyone up before we can go anywhere." She quirked an eyebrow to tell them she meant they should help before turning back to Orihime and finishing the removal of her shirt. Kagome lets out a sigh of relief at seeing that the injury wasn't deep, just a shallow cut across her collar. It was still bleeding a lot so Kagome took off her over shirt and began to rip it into strips to be used as bandages. Her past experience made the bandaging of her friend go quickly and with a small amount of her miko abilities Orihime was feeling well enough to help the others that were much worse than she was.
It took several hours before Kagome and Orihime had the group ready to continue and by the end Kagome wasn't the only one to have sacrificed her shirt for bandages.
"Next time we're bringing a medic or something." Ichigo was looking a bit upset at having his shirt, both the over and under shirt, sacrificed to make bandages for the rest.
Byakuya took this moment to voice a question that had plagued him since the arrancar had attacked, "How did you know that arrancar? You also resisted her powers." He bore holes into her back as she grew ridged at his questioning.
Kagome knew she needed to tell them and glanced to Ichigo and then Uryuu, both were looking a bit confused, not having realized her connection to the arrancar. "She and I have had run-ins in the past. Her powers didn't affect me for that reason and... and because I am a miko." She looked around to see the expressions of those that hadn't known she was a miko. Yachiru and Kenpachi seemed confused, not understanding what a miko was, while Byakuya showed a slight hint of surprise at her revelation, covering it quickly with his usual expression.
Ichigo and Uryuu caught on to what she said and both looked at her questioningly before Ichigo voiced the question they shared. "Kagome, do you know this Aranna guy?"
Kagome nods, "If Kagura was working for him then it can only be Naraku." She shudders a bit, "We need to figure out what his aim is or we won't stand a chance. We also have to be careful since his favorite tactic is playing mind games." She looks directly at Ichigo and Uryuu, "I've told you what he did to Kikyo and Inuyasha, which was fairly mild to some of the other things I've seen him do."
Ichigo looks down and curse before bringing his face back up to look at the others, their confusion at being left out of the loop was not something they needed. "Kagome, I know you don't like talking about your past but we need to know. You have information that could put things in our favor." He said this while looking her in the eye and when he saw her nod her let his eyes close. "Let's retreat for a bit to recover from that fight and hear Kagome's story."
There wasn't much protest from the Karakura group or the shinigami that knew about Kagome before she came to Soul Society, but Kenpachi and Yachiru weren't of the mind to take a break and it took both Renji and Matsumoto to get them to comply. Byakuya was his usual stoic self, though he seemed to be slightly upset at Ichigo's take charge attitude, he agreed with his reasoning for the delay.
When they had found a suitable location they all sat down and looked to Kagome expectantly. Kagome for her part looked a bit embarrassed before clearing her throat and begining, "When I was 15 I fell into an old well at the shrine were I lived. When I landed I quickly climbed out, surprised that I hadn't been hurt by the fall and even more surprised when I came up and the shrine was gone. It was strange but I didn't think too much of it and looked around before spotting the Goshinbuko, which I recognized. I headed towards it and when I came out of the surrounding bushes I was surprised to see a boy pinned to the tree with an arrow and vines that seemed to have grown up around him. He was dressed strangely, but what caught my eye were the two fuzzy ears atop his head." Kagome continued her tale, leaving out only the more personal details, such as her relationship with Inuyasha. She finished by telling them about the final battle and its outcome. By then several of those new to the story were shifting, slightly uncomfortable with the atmosphere.
Ichigo had wrapped an arm around Kagome about halfway through her story when things had gotten hard for her and kept it there. He then looked up at the others and scanned them for their reactions. Chad had responded by simply nodding while Orihime had moved over to give Kagome a hug and had held onto her, apparently the story was very moving for the young woman. Rukia looked thoughtful and a bit worried knowing that they would be fighting the villain of her tale. Next to her Renji seemed concerned also and was probably wondering if they should head back to get reinforcements. Looking at Kenpachi though, it was obvious they would not being doing that. The berserker captain had a gleam in his eye that told all he wanted nothing more than to fight this guy and wouldn't be held up by anything. Yachiru though seemed slightly out of character and very contemplative as she listened to the story. Matsumoto looked to her captain, when Kagome had finished, seeing what he would do with this information. Hitsugaya looked determined, but Ichigo alos got the sense that he wanted to be cautious in their approach. Byakuya simply stood and began a slow walk in the direction of the mound which they know knew to be Aranna's base of operations.
"This arrancar wishes to disturb Soul Society and bring it to chaos. I will not let him." No one made any move to stop him and the only one to follow quickly was Kenpachi, who bore a look of glee at the thought of fighting a strong opponent.
A look was passed between the others before they got up to follow.
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Aranna sat in a dark room, glaring at the walls around him. Kagura was dead and had given away his identity to the wretched little miko that had slain him 500 years ago. He was surprised to see her, despite his knowledge of shinigami and Soul Society. Why would the little twit show up now? His spy and assasin, Naga, quietly entered the room at his summons.
"Yesss, Masster." She knelt prostrate in front of him.
"I want you to kill the miko. She is a danger to our plans. Bring her body to me once you have completed your task." He ran a single finger along his chin and cheek. Yes, it was likely she still had it, even after 500 years and its power would make his conquest that much easier.
At receiving no further instructions the woman seemed to slither from the room with a soft, "Yesss, Masster."
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When does Naraku ever fight fair? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and sorry for all the filler but I needed the group to know otherwise... well it would have made fighting him too hard if they weren't given that info. See you next time.