Chapter 29: The Tale of the Kappa Part 2
"For the last time, There is no such thing as a Kappa!"
"But it's what we saw in the cave! There wouldn't be a statue of it if it didn't exist."
"People make statues of mythical creatures all the time!"
"Really? Name one statue you've seen of a creature that didn't exist somewhere, at some point in time?"
"Hn. The three wise monkeys are a good example."
"But they're based on real monkeys!"
"Monkeys don't walk around covering up their ears, mouth, or eyes respectively."
"Just you wait and see! There's something up with that statue, and we're gonna find out what."
"Fine, but there better be a Kappa when we get there."
"There will be."
"So you claim."
"It will be there!" Koga piped up, ignoring the scoff Sesshomaru gave off in reply.
Their differing opinions continued like this well into their trek to the statue's cave. It had taken some time but Koga had managed to avoid his mother long enough to return to the cave though he mentioned it was well past his bedtime when Sesshomaru had gone looking for him. Soon they arrived back at the familiar patch of the mountainside and like before Koga clawed at the entryway a moment in order to make the opening wide enough to fit the dog demon. Soon disappearing within the circular hole, a cheer was heard once he found the cave to be undisturbed. "Come on!" He shouted gleefully, his voice echoing from inside the hole.
Kagome knelt down to begin crawling, only for a clawed hand to grip the back of her cloak and tug her perpetually in the other direction. "Sesshomaru, what are you doing?"
"Are we really about to go in there?"
Turning to look back at him, she sighed when she realized why he was suddenly acting uncertain. Sesshomaru had a bad case of claustrophobia and hated feeling trapped with the walls closing in on him. "It's the only way inside."
His golden eyes still looked uncertain. The hole was only big enough to fit him if he crawled, and even then, it would still brush against his shoulders.
"Sesshomaru, you wanted to see the Kappa statue for yourself right? It's not that small and the passageway leads to a big room.'
"I can make the hole bigger."
"And then you'll make an opening that anyone can go through."
"Hn. What is the problem with that."
"Koga wants it to be a secret."
"The wolf is a pup." He argued. "He does not know the meaning of secrecy."
Koga's voice rang out. "Hey! What's the holdup?"
"Nothing! We're coming down now!" Kagome said, pulling her cloak out of Sesshomaru's hand. "We need to do this before the sun comes up." and with that she disappeared down the hole, not bothering to look back at the dog demon who was still wavering.
Reluctantly he followed after her.
Though he tried to remain indifferent about the whole thing, not even Sesshomaru could keep the way his eyes widened slightly when they landed on the ice coated statue that Kagome had spoken of. Surrounded by a large puddle of water, the effigy was huge; towering a few inches over Sesshomaru's own height. Watching as Kagome so casually splashed through the shallow pond, he made a small noise in his throat that caught both her and Koga's attention. "What?" they said in unison.
"How did this get here?"
"I dunno!" Koga replied happily while Kagome merely shrugged in agreement.
"And you're just going to touch it? This isn't a normal statue, it's covered in ice….in the middle of summer."
"Well, I have to touch it," Kagome replied. "I got an idea when you went to get Koga."
"Really?" the wolf child said. "I knew you'd come up with something!"
"But of course," Kagome replied, addressing Koga. "Now, both of you, I need you to stand back."
"Wait, what are you planning on doing?"
She offered him an assuring smile. "I'm gonna melt the ice."
Koga quickly joined Sesshomaru near the cave's entrance, away from the statue's general area.
"Okay, now watch." Saying this, Kagome withdrew what appeared to be shards of labeled glass from under her cloak which she meticulously placed around the statue, just below the puddle's surface. After doing a quick check that everything was in place, the demoness stopped in front of the icon and focused her aura in preparation for a spell. The air in the room stiffened as she gathered herself, her aura beginning to rise in a sharp blue hue. A rattling sound was heard and then the shards she had placed began to rise, shivering while moving in a circular pattern around the statue that started to shake itself.
Up and down the shards circled the Kappa, spinning faster and faster with every pass over its body, Kagome remaining calm while the magic did its work. Soon the ice surrounding it glowed, each sweep taking a chunk of the frozen water, chinks began to appear. And then it happened. The tiny cuts turned to large cracks the shards containing the sharp ice that broke off in response. Opening her now glowing eyes, Kagome perused the occurrence a moment before suddenly yelling out in a hoarse voice, "Duck!"
"So then what happened?" Kagome asked, leaning forward as if that would help her hear more.
"Whatever spell you used failed, we all had to dive for the ground before the ice and glass tore us to shreds."
"Oh….sorry…"
Sesshomaru waved it off. "It was centuries ago, and no one was seriously injured."
"Okay, so we all had to dive for cover. Then what happened?"
"Hn. I do not know what happened in between me diving for cover and looking back up, but when I did, the statue wasn't a statue anymore, and Koga was nowhere to be seen."
"WHO DARES WAKE ME FROM MY SLEEP!"
Surprised at the new voice, Sesshomaru snapped his head up and nearly choked in disbelief. Kagome herself lay sprawled out in front of the statue that was no longer a statue but a living being that glared in anger at the woman before him. Instincts taking over, the dog demon immediately rose and rushed over to Kagome, nearly dragging her with the force he used to pull her to her feet. Tucking her in place behind him, Sesshomaru stared up at the living Kappa whose focus had switched to the dog demon instead.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
Growling, Sesshomaru gruffly responded. "I could ask you the same thing."
"FOOL! DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM!"
"No. And I assure you I don't care."
"Sesshomaru….don't…." Kagome whispered urgently from behind him. "This is his cave remember?"
Her warning came too late. A massive hand swept out, knocking both Inu youkai to the ground, their bodies sliding and coming to a halt against a nearby wall. Angry, Sesshomaru jumped up and withdrew his sword aiming the blade directly at the Kappa's chest. "You will pay for that!"
The Kappa continued to eye him annoyed. "DOG CHILD, DO NOT CONTINUE TO TEST ME!" His voice boomed and crackled throughout the cave, making him seem all the more intimidating. "YOU WOKE ME FROM MY SLEEP AND NOW DARE TO CHALLENGE ME?" A mocking laugh. "YOU WILL LEARN NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GOD!"
"A God?"
"A god?" Kagome repeated, skeptical of the truth of what he was telling her.
"Yes."
"The Kappa statue….that came to life and started moving around…..was a god?"
"I'm getting to that," Sesshomaru said, slightly annoyed at being constantly interrupted. "But I cannot tell you all of the story if you keep interrupting."
"Okay, Okay," Kagome said. "But can you do me a favor and skip the macho banter part?"
"Hn."
"Well?"
"There was a brief struggle. The Kappa god was able to use only his hands to stop my sword. He was not doing well because my blade kept slipping from between his palms. After a time, you finally stepped between us."
Snarling, Sesshomaru thrust his sword forward and nearly had a heart attack when instead of the green flesh of the imp, the black tunic shirt of Kagome met the tip of his blade, forcing him to drop it before the force behind it cut her in two. Hit, the demoness collapsed and curled up on her side, the cloak she was wearing hiding her injury from view.
"Kagome!" the scent of blood hit his nose. Panicking, Sesshomaru ripped the cloak from her body and tried to determine how severe it was. "Kagome, move your hand."
"No…"
"Kagome," he said, this time, more authoritatively.
"No! I'm fine."
"You got in the way of my blade!"
"I had to stop you…."
"We will end here today." Sesshomaru suddenly declared, standing up from the bed.
Kagome eyed the man as if he had just grown another head. "Wait! You're not gonna tell me what else happened?"
"No." He confirmed. "The remainder of the event will come back to you in time. There was not much more to tell anyway."
"Not much more to tell?" Climbing out on the opposite side, Kagome let out a growl to voice her displeasure. "What about who the Kappa god was? What happened to him? And where was Koga? Did the Kappa do something to him?" Or me. She added mentally.
Sesshomaru faced her and looked her over. "If you want to know more I challenge you to remember for yourself."
"Well, if you won't tell me any more about the story, can you, at least, tell me something, anything else about my past?"
"Hn. Like what?"
"What...What do you mean?"
"What do you want me to tell you about? You keep claiming you want answers yet you have not really given me any questions."
"I've given you plenty of questions!" Kagome defended.
"You wish for me to recite your entire past to you in a few words, something I have told you countless of times I cannot do."
"Okay, then why can't you tell me?"
Frowning, Sesshomaru marched to the door and placed his hand on the knob. "I cannot tell you because it is against fate." With that he swiftly exited the room, leaving a stunned Kagome to watch him disappear.
A/N: I know what I said before about this chapter concluding the tale of the kappa, but it was hard as hell to write! As an afterthought I wanted you to understand that he stopped the story where he did because he got uncomfortable talking about him accidently injuring her (well it was kinda her fault for jumping in the way but still) and it was still too soon after the whole rape incident. (Understandable) The rest of the tale will come up as another flashback. I also wanted to mention that this story is FINALLY coming to a close soon in about six more chapters. I felt that a prologue and 35 chapters was an appropriate length for this tale. Naraku will be showing back up in the next chapter and Sesshomaru and Kagome will finally have the dreaded talk they have needed to have for a while about his authority and their past relationship. Please review! -Theores
