Chapter Twenty-Four: Revelation
"This… sucks!" Rue panted, stopping on a pillar of stone to catch her breath. "This is more tiring… than I thought! No wonder… Inuyasha… rarely does it!"
The incline had built up to almost a ninety degree angle during the time she'd been jumping, but as a result of her persistence, she was extremely high in the air now. Merely glancing over her shoulder gave her the view of the ground lying extremely far below her: she could see endlessly… all the way to the hazy, never-ending horizon. She let her gaze flick over the tiny trees below her, then over the thin rivers that wound around the base of the mountain.
The world seemed to flow on forever.
Wait… from inside, the aura we encountered isn't visible, Rue noticed, blinking a few times in confusion. Why would a barrier have a one-way visibility thing going on?
Finally standing all the way up, the girl looked up at the cliffs beyond: she still had a ways to go.
"Well, might as well get going again," Rue mumbled, rolling her shoulders. "Shouldn't get too comfy here."
After letting out a sigh, the skinny girl took off again with a leap, flying up the incline and bouncing off the cliff walls like a pinball.
However, just as she landed on a cliff high above her head, a sudden burst of power caused it to shatter into pieces before she could react. Eyes going blank, the girl let out a startled shriek and flipped in the air. She landed on another incline, shivering all over. However, she heard another burst of power and instinctively performed a backhanded cartwheel, dodging three deadly darts just as they clattered against the stone where she'd been standing.
Her eyes widened and she instantly flipped upright.
"Who's there?!" Rue shouted, withdrawing a set of frozen swords with a flash of moisture. "Show yourself!"
"Forgotten me already?" a sickeningly familiar voice chuckled from directly above her. "You know exactly who I am."
Rue's blood ran cold and she slowly turned around.
Her heart nearly stopped when their eyes met for the first time in months.
There, standing on a cliff directly above her, was Tsuruuki Takahashi wearing his school uniform. His messy black hair was glistening like satin in the wind, but his eyes had the same cold expression she'd seen on the day he'd stolen her innocence… the same look of hatred and triumph. Rue twitched when she realized that a dark aura was pulsing all around her classmate: a violet aura… tainted by malice and an odd form of power.
"T-Takahashi… san?" Rue whispered in horror, eyes growing wider than a set of glittering dinner plates. "I… you... b-b-but how?!"
"Miharu of the Cavern village," Tsuruuki suddenly sniggered, making her body freeze like a statue. "My friends and I attacked it a couple of days ago, you know… I got to see people die for the first time in my life. Do you wanna know what I thought when I saw all of that blood flying everywhere? Well, Miharu-chan, here it is: I wanted to help my new friends make it rain red."
"No..." Rue whispered, slowly shaking her head. "You wouldn't have... there's no way..."
"Oh, but I did," he sniggered, eyes narrowing in a nasty way. "Where were you, though? You probably just sat there and watched as everyone was slaughtered."
The girl was shaking by that point: her face had gone bone white and her pupils had expanded.
"Shut up…" Rue whispered vacantly, eyes staring off at nothing. "Shut up… seriously, just shut up."
Tsuruuki laughed like the monster he was and leapt down onto the cliff just above her own.
"Those pathetic deformed creeps were your friends, weren't they?" the Asian boy asked, handsome grin widening ever further when the European girl clenched her fists and used her silver hair to hide her eyes. "No... they were your family, and you abandoned them like trash when they needed you the most. Just like that old teacher lady... what was her name again? She said something about a 'Miharu' while we were heading here. Oh, right! Sarasa, that's her name!"
"SHUT UP!" Rue screeched, throwing her arms out in his direction with a banshee-like cry. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PSYCHO!"
Within seconds, sparks exploded between her fingertips and a blinding blue-violet flash lit up the world with a deafening crack.
Rue's hair was blasted behind her when a roaring wall of lightning exploded from her palms and kept coming, shredding the cliff above her.
Tsuruuki, however, instantly leapt into the air and landed on another precipice nearby.
The girl halted the flow of power and lowered her arms, panting heavily.
"Wow!" the boy exclaimed, cocking his head back with a sinister expression in his slanted blue eyes; he didn't even look fazed by her abilities. "I never knew you had it in you to fight back, Miharu-chan… that was impressive. Much more impressive than I believed it would be."
"Glad I amuse you," Rue stated just as coldly, radiating waves of ice that started freezing the cliffs around her completely solid; the circle of ice quickly began to extend across the mountainside in a slow manner, but neither one of them took notice of it. "However, it's time for me to get even for what you did to me back then… because, unlike the girl you used to know, I won't take any bullshit from you. After everything I've seen, I am no longer afraid of a simple power-hungry rapist like you."
And with that, the girl sent a wall of fire searing in his direction.
Thus, the battle began.
Every time Rue attacked him, Tsuruuki merely jumped from place to place, purposely antagonizing her. The wild goose chase went on for so long that the girl found herself becoming increasingly aggravated. She didn't understand how her classmate was able to dodge her attacks, especially since he was so high in the air.
Any normal middle school student would have shit themselves from being so high in the air.
"Ha! You're actually really fun to play with," Tsuruuki panted, eyes shining with devilish delight. "You're still pretty pathetic when it comes to fighting, though."
"Glad to hear it," Rue stated blankly, dusting the dirt off her school skirt before lifting her eyes; they were no longer reflecting the light and had a dangerously empty expression in them... an expression full of hatred. "Are you done antagonizing me, or are you going to get to the point? How the hell did you get here?"
"You don't even sound out of breath," Tsuruuki noted, narrowing his eyes as he fought for air. "Why don't you sound out of breath?"
"Because I'm not, moron," Rue calmly retorted, eyes never flickering after they locked onto his face. "This isn't even a workout, Takahashi-san… in fact, I've fought demons who gave me more of a challenge than this. Are you really the same boy who threatened to kill me and my mother with his bare hands if I didn't hide your disgusting actions from the world? Because you seem more like a pathetic little dog who can't even properly put his tail between his legs!"
His blue eye twitched ever so slightly.
"I guess it's time for the cat to stop playing with the mouse," Tsuruuki muttered, whipping out a pistol and pulling the trigger. "On your knees, bitch!"
Rue's eyes widened in shock and she dove out of the way when a beam of violet light exploded from the muzzle.
She landed on her side and spun to look at the hole in the stone with enormous eyes.
"What the hell?" the albino girl whispered, glancing at the gun in his hand in shock when he cocked it again and aimed at her. "A modern weapon?! Shit... if a gun is firing real bullets laced with power, it could actually be a huge problem. That's even more lethal than a normal bullet..."
"Damn right, bitch!" Tsuruuki sneered, gesturing with the weapon. "Are you scared now? You gonna beg this time, or are you gonna act all noble like before?"
"Shut up!" Rue spat, golden eyes practically catching on fire from the hatred coursing through her veins. "I have nothing left for you to take away!"
"Oh, but I do," the boy sniggered, making her pause and stare at him in total confusion. "In fact… the person you love the most is within my master's grasp right now. She screamed like a little bitch when we trussed her up... and once I found out you were here, I gave her to my master as an offering. Actually, I think you and him have met before: his name is Naraku."
Rue's heart froze.
"Naraku?!" she shrieked, eyes widening in horror. "YOU'RE WORKING WITH NARAKU?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"No, I'm not," he snorted, giving her a cold look. "He took me under his wing when I first arrived in this hellish nightmare. And since there's no way of ever returning home, I decided to help him take you out since it's your fault I'm here in the first place. And for good measure, we've kept your most special person alive, just for this reason."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Rue whispered, staring at him as a cold feeling prickled her gut. "Tell me! Who do you mean?!"
Tsuruuki grinned and lifted the weapon when she got to her knees and looked at him.
"Well, since you're about to die and all, I might as well," the boy sighed, rolling his eyes. "It's your mother... you know, the lady who adopted you? Mizuki?"
"My… mother?" Rue whispered, yellow irises going blank. "It can't be… no way, you're lying! You have to be! She can't be here!"
"Oh, but she is," Tsuruuki snorted, tilting his head back with a cocky expression. "In fact, once I kill you like Naraku wants, I'm going to do the same thing to her that I did to you last year. You screamed and cried the entire time... so it makes me wonder if the apple fell far from the tree, you know?"
Rue's heart immediately skipped a horrifying beat, and for a moment, she couldn't breathe because of the terror shocking her stomach.
However, only a moment later, the anger ignited.
Her pupils dilated even further before contracting and practically disappearing into non-existent pinpricks. Her rage was triggering something that she had never felt before… something that had been waiting until that moment to rise to the surface of her soul and body. Tsuruuki laughed and pulled the trigger, sending the bullet into the ground and creating a shockwave of earth. The blast sent the girl flying through the mountain wall behind her.
"Not as tough as you thought, are you?!" Tsuruuki mockingly called, grinning in triumph. "Are you really that weak, Miharu?"
There was no answer: she had fallen behind the rocks and out of sight.
After a few moments, the boy shrugged and turned to walk down the slope… but a flash of violet light exploded behind him, casting a blinding shadow that made him freeze.
When he turned around and saw the girl rising from the debris, he slowly started backing away: her eyes were shining so brightly that it looked as though two glowing beams were shooting out of her skull. Her expression looked murderous. The girl's thigh-length hair weightlessly billowed around her as the violet aura engulfing her form grew brighter: it slowly shifted into a shockingly dark indigo haze that whirled around her figure, filling the air with a glow that seemed to crackle with static.
As she stood there on the mountainside, the blue sky began to darken with thunderheads that swirled high above the spot she was standing.
Sparks flew from her hands when she clasped her shaking fingers together and lifted her vacant eyes to the sky above. The swirling clouds continued spinning as she stood there… but then, she closed her eyes and the black light exploded towards the clouds in a beam of blinding luminescence. The moment it flew through the clouds, darkness fell all around and the sun seemed to vanish as though an eclipse were shadowing it.
"Never," Rue hissed, vacant expression twisting into rage. "Stay away from my Mother!"
With that, her silver hair flew towards the sky in a gale of ferocious wind.
A lightning bolt finally roared out of the sky and lanced a scraggly tree on the upper part of the mountain, setting it on fire.
More deafening cracks and blinding flashes began to echo around Mount Hakurei as her powers grew.
Rue was completely oblivious to the damage she was causing since Midoriko's powers had finally been triggered by her anger.
And right then, she was so far beyond pissed that the hatred felt as though it were searing her insides with fire.
More blinding flashes lanced throughout the sky with deafening thunderclaps, complete with a barrage of hailstones the size of tennis-balls.
Several streams of electricity even snapped out of the girl's body and tore chunks of stone from the mountainside as she knelt there. The earth around her began to quake, sending Tsuruuki down on one knee and causing entire segments of the mountain to crumble. The swirling sky above slowly started boiling like a pot of water left on for too long, and a swirling vortex soon descended around the beam of light that had enveloped her body.
It whipped up dirt and debris around her trembling form and caused Tsuruuki to blink in alarm.
A twister was descending around her... a full blown tornado.
Yet, somehow, the girl was completely unaffected by it even though everything around her began to shred itself away.
She sat there, facing the sky as her silver hair began to rise, flying above her face and wildly billowing around.
Dust exploded around her when it fully touched down: the twister threw trees, stones, and other projectiles into the rocks so hard that they were latched there.
"OKA-SAAAAAAAAAN!" Rue screeched, flinching when her powers surged violently; her body was practically jerked backwards by the force of it. "MOM!"
She arched her back and let out a blood-curdling scream as something inside her abruptly went out.
Then it came.
The girl arched her back, letting out a scream so loud that sound instantly became silence.
A wall of colorless energy instantly exploded out of her body with a deafening roar, engulfing the world in radiance.
Only a second later, everything around her disintegrated and was sent flying toward the sky in pieces: trees dissolved as they were torn from the ground, the side of the mountain she was standing on was reduced to splinters that soon disintegrated into nothing, and the ground itself broke away in the face of her power. All of it exploded into the air and flew away from her in a shockwave of unseen power. When it was over, she was glowing with violet light.
She slowly stood up as the luminescence faded away, leaving behind a tingling sensation that made her feel completely and utterly alive.
"Come to me," Rue stated vacantly, lifting a hand towards him and glaring at the boy with glowing amethyst eyes. "I dare you."
He shivered, face completely slack.
"Looks like I'll have to cut this short," Tsuruuki muttered, disappearing off the side of the cliff and vanishing into thin air. "I'll take care of you later..."
The girl didn't even hear him.
She was full of ethereal power… and according to what Midoriko had told her, it wouldn't fade away again until she used it.
She figured she might as well get rid of this power by freeing her captive foster mother.
"Oka-san," Rue vacantly whispered, taking off in the opposite direction and heading farther up the mountain. "My mother is here… I know she is, but where? I can't sense her anywhere near me… please, God, I have to find her before Tsuruuki does something horrible to her. Please, God, if you're there… send me a sign!"
Right after she said this she rounded a corner and skidded to a stop.
Miroku and Sango weren't even ten feet ahead of her, both of them clinging to the mountain and staring up at the sky with uneasy eyes.
They were unnaturally close to each other and talking about something in hushed voices.
That's one hell of a sign, Rue warily thought, glancing up at the sky in alarm. Um… thanks?
"Hey!" Rue frantically shouted, darting over to them. "Sango, Miroku!"
They instantly whirled around to face her, eyes going wide.
"Miharu-chan?!" Sango gasped, mouth dropping open before she hefted her giant boomerang and sprinted over to her. "Miharu-chan, what are you doing here?! How did you get inside the barrier?! More importantly, are you all right after that disaster we experienced a few minutes ago? The sky went dark and rained down fire and lightning!"
"I'm fine, Sango-san!" Rue curtly explained, golden eyes frantic when the woman gripped her shoulders. "Right now, let me just say that I literally have no time to spare on details! So, what's going on?! Did you find anything?"
"We found a man up here," Miroku explained, rubbing his chin in thought. "He was dead, but still somehow alive... his name was Saint Hakushin."
"Yes, we found some information about him on a little island not too far from here," Sango immediately added, making the albino girl stare at her. "Naraku led all of us into a trap… we were attacked by a man named Bankotsu there. I was watching Inuyasha and Kagome fight him… they were having trouble because of how strong he was, but Kagome says she saw a sacred jewel shard embedded in his neck, just like all the other Band of Seven members."
"In his neck?" Rue whispered, eyes widening in horror when she pictured the dark cloud that had been hovering around Tsuruuki. From what she'd been told, if Naraku put a jewel shard inside somebody's body, it also left that person open for mind control. After a moment, she realized it was possible that her classmate wasn't intentionally acting this way. "Is... that what I saw swirling around him? Don't tell me I can see the sacred jewel shards, too! That's Kagome's talent, not mine!"
"What do you mean?" Sango instantly demanded, interrupting her thoughts; the woman's brown eyes had sharpened. "Saw what swirling around who?"
"There's no time for that!" Rue stammered, dancing from foot to foot as the anxiety crashed into her stomach. "I have no time at all! Someone I love is in danger right now."
"We're going in the same direction," Miroku sighed, eyeing her up and down. "I'm sensing something that seems to be coming from inside the mountain; will you join us?"
"No! I just said that I have someone to rescue, Miroku, and I'm going to do it! I'm sorry, guys, but I have to go now! Take care!" Rue snapped, taking off with a frantic expression and leaving behind nothing but a trail of dust. "I'm coming, Oka-san… please, just wait for me… please…"
She bounced from place to place so rapidly that her toes left a trail of dirt that followed her in the air.
Pretty soon, she made it to the top.
However, she finally fell to her knees in an attempt to catch her breath since the air was abnormally thin: up at the top of Mount Hakurei, the wind was so hard and rough that it had her long hair and school skirt blasted almost completely sideways. It was extremely trippy, and it made the girl feel more than a little off since she was having issues hearing anything now. After a moment, however, the barrier surrounding the mountain shifted and filled with a menacing sensation.
Then the landscape below her began to change.
Rue gawked down at the land below her in horror, watching as the shield shifted in hue to a much darker red: the mountain itself immediately seemed to die where it stood... all of the trees turned brown and the leaves withered, trunks becoming like stone, grass shriveling up and melting into black gloss on rocks all over the place. There were no trees or no life anywhere by the time the wave of evil finished spreading: it was all dead.
"What the hell is going on?" Rue whispered into the wind, face tightening up with worry. "I've never seen something like that before... it was frightening."
Her eyes swept over the mountain below her.
"Miharu…" a weak voice whimpered, making the girl stiffen. "Miharu... help me..."
"Oka-san?!" Rue squeaked, spinning around and scanning the mountain top with large eyes; there was nobody there. "No way... I could've sworn I just heard her…"
The albino girl froze when she heard a whine and finally glanced over to a pile of rocks: when she narrowed her eyes, she realized that the rocks were hiding a hole of some sort since there was an abnormal shadow beneath the crags. The girl instantly lifted her hand, yellow eyes glowing with sacred light as she charged her body with a wave of electricity: when she was sure she'd built up enough mental energy, Rue released her control over it and a massive lightning bolt shattered every single stone into oblivion.
The pile exploded off the top of the mountain, falling down the side of the cliffs and rolling far below.
There was a hole, that much was true... but a glowing red shield was blocking it; oddly enough, the mountain was apparently a former volcano.
"You have got to be kidding me..." Rue muttered, scratching at the shield with her claws; it didn't do anything but make her wince. "Great... this keeps getting better."
A screeching sound unexpectedly echoed on the wind behind the Irish girl, making her stiffen and turn around. After a moment, she frowned at what she was seeing and stood up, looking out into the sky around her even though her hair was being blasted backwards by the wind. Dark clouds were circling around the mountain top, high in the sky... but they were getting closer with each second.
What on earth...? the albino girl wondered, blinking and narrowing her eyes to see better.What is that? Clouds don't move like that...
However, when the darkness punctured the actual clouds and she realized at the last second that hundreds of demons were barreling at her, Rue's yellow eyes widened in horror.
"What the heck?!" Rue shrieked, diving out of the way with a shriek just as fifteen demons hit the ground beside her; she glanced down at her glowing hands and gasped. "Crap! Are they coming after me?!"
However, she was wrong: when she looked up, the demons weren't charging her like they'd done to Midoriko.
They were all disappearing down into the hole.
The demons kept on coming in a train-like hoard of evil: after glancing along the sky, the girl gawked when she realized that there wasn't end in sight for miles. After a few moments, the girl decided that she'd had enough and summoned the full extent of her powers. With a tremendous flash of light, the girl sent a flaming fireball the size of a minivan at the demons and leapt into action once she'd broken a sizable gap in their ranks.
Flicking a set of ice swords into existence, Rue leapt into the air and rebounded off a boulder, throwing herself into the sky as high as she can go; her yellow eyes flashed in the sunlight when she started coming down.
She immediately used her arms to spin her body at a more rapid pace, and once she'd gotten herself going, she curled them in to speed up the momentum of her movements. Just before she landed, she extended her leg and sent the toe of her dress shoe into the barrier.
The blow connected with an unbelievable amount of force.
Rue landed on one leg with her hands held out and her head tilted back: her knee-length school skirt fluttered in the breeze as she stood there with her eyes closed, listening to the wind lifting her curly hair around her her ears. Her posture was so graceful and perfectly balanced that it even amazed her for a moment, but after that, Rue didn't care: the attack had caused the red haze to buckle and waver, but it was still holding strong. The girl rebounded off the stone again and repeated the attack by jumping high into the air, spinning around to gain momentum, and then throwing the toe of her shoe at the barrier with a fierce kick.
This time, it broke like glass: the girl shrieked when she nearly dropped down into the chasm.
Her legs flailed above the unseen darkness.
However, she instantly let go when she saw the demon train coming at her, letting out a shriek when she plummeted: the shadows swallowed her whole, sending shivers up her body even as her hair billowed around her. When she finally landed like a high-strung cat, she couldn't see anything but darkness... and it was the kind of darkness that seemed as though it was brushing against her skin; as if it was alive. Her widened after her pupils expanded since her night vision had just kicked in.
She couldn't see anything.
The darkness around her seemed to tremble and shiver; wrapping around her, threading through her hair, slivering through her fingers... it was cold.
"Ew... what is this stuff?" the girl whined, trying to flick it away from her; the shadows merely molded back, returning to caress against her; quicker than lightning, the girl huddled down in a ball and let the air around her freeze completely solid: the shadows reluctantly left her, practically crying out. Rue instantly shivered in disgust and shook her head with a sigh of unease. "Yuck! This is just weird… that stuff was... clinging to me."
"Of course I was..." a silky voice whispered in her ear. "I want to know everything about you, after all..."
"Who's there?!" Rue squeaked, looking around and trying to figure out where the voice had come from. "Where are you?!"
All she could see was darkness... an unnatural darkness.
"If you would face me," the voice whispered softly. "If you would face me, then come... I will wait for you."
"Who are you?" Rue called, voice almost seeming to echo around her; however, there was no answer. "Okay... I've seriously gotta stop eating fish for breakfast."
"Who's there?" a familiar voice suddenly barked, making the girl jump. "I heard you, so I know you're there!"
I'm just gonna quietly back away... Rue mumbled, shivering as she stepped back; however, her foot was met with nothing but air, and she gasped before letting out a shriek as she fell backwards into darkness. Her fall ended just as quickly as it began, only... for some weird reason, she landed on top of something soft. Something that also let out a pained grunt and a string of profanities after she was there. Ow, ow, ow... why is this thing hitting me in the face?!
"OW!" Rue squeaked, struggling to lift her arms only to have them pinned by something heavy and painfully blunt. "Get off me! Ow!"
"Think you can sneak up on me, do ya?!" the voice snarled, smacking her in the face after straddling her skinny waist. "Fight me, you nasty... wait, are you a girl?"
"Uh, duh?" Rue instantly snapped, face bright red with mortified anger. "Can I please get an answer to why you were just slapping the hell out of me?! Who are you?!"
"M-Miharu?! Tachibana Miharu, is that you?!" the voice squawked, sounding thoroughly surprised; a hand instantly palmed her chest, making her freeze in horror. "No way... it really is you! You've got that leather contraption on AND you're still wearing the same outfit as Kagome! I can feel that weird red scarf around your neck! Miharu, it's only me, Inuyasha... so, just calm down and don't zap me, all right? I'm not exactly in top shape for getting into a fight."
"What do you mean?" Rue asked, lifting her hand and conjuring a ball of fire so she could see; however, her eyes widened and she gasped. "No way... what happened to you?!"
From what she could see, a boy with abnormally long black hair and chocolate brown eyes was staring at her from Inuyasha's face.
"Since when was your fire purple?" Inuyasha muttered, staring at her burning violet hand with furrowed brows. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"Tell me about it," Rue stated blankly, staring at his human features with a startled expression in her eyes. "I guess it can't get any weirder than this, huh?"
Sadly, those same words would come back and bite her in the ass in about ten minutes.
Just like they always did.
For several seconds, Rue and Inuyasha merely stared at each other with blank expressions, neither one moving.
"You know, I'm actually kind of glad that I had you to soften my fall," the girl finally muttered, looking at the distance she'd fallen from before wincing. "That would have seriously hurt if I'd landed on the ground instead of you."
"Yeah, yeah, glad you're happy," the demon boy muttered, letting go of her arms and sliding off of her stomach before spitting out a few of the rocks that had gotten stuck in his teeth. "If I hadn't already gotten used to the taste of dirt thanks to Kagome's moodiness, I'm pretty sure that would've hurt more than my pride."
"Didn't I tell you not to get in trouble after I left?!" Rue sighed, taking his hand and allowing him to help her up. "Speaking of trouble, though… what happened to you?"
"Yeah, go ahead and laugh," Inuyasha snorted, folding his arms with a glare. "I'm not a half-demon anymore thanks to that stupid barrier."
"Why would I laugh at you?" Rue asked, frowning at him with worried eyes. "I'm more concerned than amused."
It was true: she'd never seen a half demon turn into a human until that moment.
It really had her feeling worried about him.
"Yeah, sure," he muttered, glaring down at her with an irritated expression. "It's creepy how you and Kagome act so much alike sometimes. You two are too… righteous."
"Almost everyone from our time is," Rue pointedly explained, shivering a little; by an unspoken consent, the two of them began walking down the tunnel. "We come from an Era where killing other creatures is considered to be a crime, and not just any crime, but a crime that can be punishable by losing the rights to your own life."
"Whoa, really?" the half-demon asked in surprise. "Kagome said something similar to me once, but she didn't put it like that… is it really that bad to kill things in your Era?"
"Yeah," the girl confirmed, giving him a quiet nod. "In the future, people all over the world have come to understand that a life is the most precious thing that somebody can have… because, once it's gone, there's no way to bring someone back after its been destroyed. Everyone in the future acts civilized to shelter their lives."
"Interesting," Inuyasha muttered, furrowing his brows before he tilted his head back with a scowl. "Anyway, getting back to what's going on here… were you drawn here by the change in the barrier, too? When it suddenly shifted like that, I knew something was up… especially since Sango and Miroku have been gone for a long time."
"I saw both of them up near the top of the mountain," Rue instantly explained, blinking a few times. "They said something about running into some guy named Saint Hakushin… I didn't hear much more after that because I was in a kind of panic. After some quick catching up, I shattered through the barrier and found myself in here."
"Is that so?" the half-demon asked, staring at the ground with an unreadable expression. "Explain to me why you were in such a panic that you didn't help our friends."
Rue froze, shivering violently before she lifted her eyes and met his frustrated gaze.
"My mother is alive," the girl explained, swallowing hard when he frowned at her, "and not only that, but Kagome and I aren't the only people from our Era running around here. As of right now, a boy from our time got caught up with Naraku somehow, and my mother is apparently being held prisoner by that madman."
"What?!" Inuyasha exclaimed, gawking at her with a startled expression. "But… but Kagome said she…"
"I know, but she was wrong," Rue snapped, clenching her fists with a growl. "Inuyasha, I've got to save my mother from that psycho… she's the person I hold closest to me. I care about her too much to lose her again, so if you happen to find her first, please… help her somehow! If you find her, get her out of here, I'm begging you!"
"You don't even need to ask!" the half-demon sighed, cocking an imperious eyebrow. "Ya think I'd actually let the mother of one of my friends die? Give me a break…"
"Thank you," Rue mumbled in relief, lowering her head with a sigh; however, when they came to an unexpected fork in the tunnel, both of them halted and glanced at the openings. "Well… this is just perfect. Which way are we supposed to go?"
"I guess we should split up," Inuyasha muttered, glancing down at her with a cocky grin. "I'll take the left if you're not too scared to go on alone."
"As if... I'll take the right," Rue mumbled, looking up at him with shaken eyes. "Please, though... if you find my mom, help her get away from this place."
"I will, but you should be careful," the half-demon grunted, already heading down his path. "I have a feeling that something bad is about to start, and I don't want you getting yourself killed anytime soon. Especially if your mother is still alive… she'd be devastated if she learned that you had been killed trying to save her, right?"
"Yeah," Rue whispered, staring at his receding back with forlorn eyes. "She would."
"Well, then take care of yourself," Inuyasha called, giving her a wave without turning around. "Don't make her worry."
Soon he was swallowed by the darkness and she could no longer see him.
The girl hugged herself with her free arm and trembled violently for a few moments, hunching her shoulders and looking around at the empty cavern with uneasy eyes. Then, without thinking too much about the shifting shadows around her, the girl started moving into the mountain.
"I hope I'm getting close to finding my mother," Rue whispered, shivering as she walked. "I have to find her…"
"And you will…" a silken voice suddenly whispered into her ear, making the girl flinch in surprise; she froze when the darkness around her started moving, shivering across her pale skin. The shadows slid around her in wisps, threading through her wavy hair and making her clothes billow around; her violet fire instantly dimmed. "Your love for her could even break the passage of time and allow it if you wished…"
"Who are you?" Rue whispered weakly, looking out at nothing as her mind became a blank haze. "Huh...? Why… do I feel so... weird...?"
"If you would face me… I shall lead you," the voice answered, making her mind go numb; the girl's fire flickered and went out as her will to do anything fled from her soul. Eyes going blank, the girl's slender arms weakly dropped to her sides and she stared out at nothing as the shadows engulfed her body. "Follow my voice."
A sinister laugh filled the air when Rue's body began to step forward into the shadows: every so often, the wisps of darkness slid through her finger like cold snakes and tugged her along. She didn't know why, but she didn't feel afraid anymore… the darkness no longer made her feel shaky or off center.
She felt so safe… but why?
"You're almost here…" the voice whispered, causing the darkness to solidify and form into a hand. "Come to me…"
That's when it hit her: she wasn't looking for a disembodied voice… she was looking for her mother.
"No…" Rue whispered, eyes flashing with life as her awareness came back. "No! Let me go!"
Rue attempted to pull back, but the 'hand' was too strong: tendrils of ice began sliding up her arm as she struggled against the darkness. After a moment, she realized that she recognized the sensation that had engulfed her and gasped in horror.
She had felt the same way the first time Naraku had ever looked at her.
It was the urge stand beside him.
"Come to me," the voice whispered pleadingly. "Come to me… your mother is already waiting for you…"
That's when it happened.
Out of the shadows of the tunnel across from her, a figure began moving towards her: her feet were bare, just like hers, and her floral dress was tattered. The part that caught Rue's attention, however, was the apron the woman was wearing. After a moment, the girl lifted her hand and conjured a ball of violet fire just as the figure stepped into full view. She nearly died of a heart attack right there, but then her eyes filled with indescribable relief.
"Oka-san…?" Rue whispered, heart palpitating so violently that her knees nearly buckled. "You're… you're…"
The woman looked exactly like her mother... but she was covered in bruises, her clothes were tattered, and she looked like she hadn't eaten decently in weeks.
"Mi... haru?" the woman wearily asked, voice clearer than any bell she'd ever heard. "What... are you doing here? Where are we?"
"MAMA!" Rue shrieked, instantly running into her arms. "MAMA! MAMA! You're alive!"
For a moment, she didn't move… but then the figure in front of her chuckled darkly and a sharp sensation pierced both sides of her neck, sending an electrical shock searing throughout her entire body. The girl immediately screeched and went limp in his grasp, muscles going slack and completely unable to move: when she looked up, she didn't see her mother.
She saw the face of a boy with short black hair and cold blue eyes full of triumph.
Her heart skipped another beat and she cursed herself in mortification.
She'd fallen right into a trap.
"I can't even believe you fell for that crappy illusion," Tsuruuki purred, hefting her body over his shoulder and moving down the tunnel in a flash. "Thanks to the weird glowing crystal thing Naraku gave me, I can look like anybody I've already seen just by thinking about them… it really comes in handy, especially with gullible people like you."
Rue shivered when he carried her into a huge opening in the caverns: after bringing the immobile girl to the center of the room, Tsuruuki set her down and watched as she crumpled to the ground. Her long silver hair spread out behind her back in gleaming curls as she lay on her side, unable to move. The boy opened his mouth as if to laugh at her, but then his eyes flickered and his expression shifted: for a moment, he looked terrified and seemed to be struggling with something internally.
Then his eyes returned to the cold way they'd been before and he sneered.
"I think it's time for me to take the essence that Naraku wanted, Ria-chan," Tsuruuki stated coldly, staring down at Rue's trembling lips with a terrible smile. Rue's breath shook and she started trembling when he knelt down and gripped her shoulders, lifting her head and staring into her eyes. A shiver ran down her body and an icy chill swept over her… she didn't want to see this anymore… she didn't want him to… but he was, all over again. "I'm going to make you mine."
No… Rue whispered silently, heart skipping a beat when his lips pressed against her own.No…
She felt something inside her becoming weak when he started sucking her soul out of her body.
No… Sesshomaru... help me...