1ontact the author:

Tales of Sora part 51
The Free Wind

*summary*
The next morning you and your brothers told each other everything thats happened to you over all these years. When Toru went to talk to Jun, at first she was furious. But then Toru talked with her privately and whatever he said made her understand. Seiko however went back to his home village, "They need me. I want to protect the Queen" was what he said. He promised you that he'll visit you. Toru came with you and Bankotsu back to Keade's village. This is the beginning of the end of your story.

*end summary*
"I missed Kagome's food so much!" you said. "You told me that she is from the far future and she came here through a well. Then can you visit the future using the well?" Toru asked. You shook your head, "Keade says only Inuyasha is allowed to go. It would cause a lot of trouble if all of us went" you said. Then you stopped at the sight of Keade's village. You smiled and ran to it, you wanted to see your friends. You quickly opened the door to Keade's house. Everyone turned around and stared at you. You gasped, "Kagome, what happened to your feet?!" you quickly asked. Kagome was sitting while her burned up feet soaked in boiled herds. Then you noticed that behind Kagome, Miroku was sleeping in bed with Sango sitting next to him with a worried look on her face. "Sora, your back" Kagome said smiling. You sat next to Kagome and looked at her feet, "What happened to you guys?" you asked again. "We fought Naraku, but we failed. Kagome's feet got burned in acid. Miroku sucked up a lot of the insects poison" Keade said as she walked into the room with more herbs. Bankotsu and Toru entered the room after Keade. Toru seemed shy. But now wasn't the time you felt to introduce him. "What's up? Inuyasha is sitting on the fence sulking" Bankotsu said. "It must be that he is thinking about how we lost to Naraku" Shippo said. You peeked outside to see Inuyasha looking into the sky in deep thought. Now wasn't the correct time to talk to him. "Well at least all of you came back alive" you said. Bankotsu chuckled a little, "That half-breed really is weak!" he said. But when Bankotsu said that, Inuyasha was right behind him. "You still think that I'm weak after what happened in that cave?" Inuyasha growled. "If Sora hadn't come I would have killed you!" Bankotsu spat. You felt annoyed that they wouldn't put that fight aside. "Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha looked at Toru. "I'm Sora's older brother, Toru. And you must be Inuyasha" Toru greeted. A silence fell over the room. Everyone looked at Toru with interest. "Keade, he was hoping to help you with your chores" you said. "Ah, that's great!" Keade said happily. She grabbed Toru and dragged him out of the house. "Kagome, I want to talk to you privately" Inuyasha said. Both Inuyasha and Kagome left the room. You looked at Bankotsu, his hand was on his arm where his jewel shard was. He then flinched, he was in pain. "Bankotsu? Is something wrong?" you asked. "I'm fine, I guess I'm tired of traveling" Bankotsu said. "I know something that will cheer you up!" you smiled. "Wait here, I have a surprise" you left the house. It was time to get the new banryu from Totosai. You turned into a bird and flew till you got to Totosai's home. "Tototsai!" you called. Totosai peeked out of his house, "Ah Sora! I wondered if you forgot about picking up the sword. Come in" Totosai said. You stepped into the cave and your eyes widened. "Perfect isn't it? You were right, your fang isn't much of a problem" Totosai said. You saw banryu leaning against the wall of the cave. It looked so new and shiny. You touched the blade, "Amazing! Its just like the last one!" you said. "Yes, it even has some of the same attacks, give it a try" he said. You picked up the sword and went outside, "Dragon Hammer!" you hit the sword to the ground. The same pink glow came out of the sword and ripped through the ground. You then looked at Totosai with a big grin on your face. "Now, don't get too happy. We still don't know how the sword will affect a human heart" Totosai warned. You nodded and set the sword of the ground and felt in your pocket and took out a blue ribbon. The same one Bankotsu gave to you 15 years ago. You tied it to the handle to it looked like a present. "Thank you so much Totosai" you hugged him. "Make sure Bankotsu doesn't grow too dependent on its power" Totosai warned. "Yeah yeah, I know" you said. You waved goodbye to Totosai and ran back to Keade's village. Once you got there, you were panting. This sword was just as heavy as Banryu also. You looked up to see Bankotsu standing in front of Keade's house. His jaw was hanging. "S-Sora..what's that?" he asked. You dragged it to him and handed it to him, "Its a new Banryu. You have been depressed a little ever since losing your old Banryu. So I got Totosai to make you a new and improved one. You gave me this necklace anyway. So I felt that I had to give you something. Its made from my fang" you said while panting. Bankotsu turned around to hide his face from you as he looked at the blade. "This blue bow, its familiar" he said. "Yeah, you gave it to me 15 years ago" you said. "You kept it with you all that time?" Bankotsu said amazed. "Yeah.." you sat on the ground to catch your breath. "Now you can help us destroy Naraku" you said. Bankotsu then turned around with a big smiled on his face, "I don't know really what to say other than thank you! It looks just like my old Banryu!" he said. He sat by you and hugged you. You smiled, enjoying how happy he was, "Don't get too happy. I'm not letting you kill innocent people" you told him. He was silent, he didn't nod or argue.

*few days later*
You and the gang have started to travel around trying to find Naraku and kill him. But no luck. Soon all of you came to a destroyed village. "Looks like the work of bandits" Bankotsu said. He had his new Banryu leaning on his shoulder. "Yeah, looks like its been several days since this village was destroyed" Sango said. "Look!" Kagome pointed to one of the buildings. It had a huge whole in the roof. "The roof looks like it was blown away by something. Maybe they weren't ordinary bandits" she said. Bankotsu turned to see some travelers. He walked up to them, "Hey, do you know what happened here?" he asked. "There is a rumor about some bandits attacking some areas with strange weapons" one traveler said. "What kind of weapon?" Inuyasha asked. "A strange bright thing" the other traveler said. "What should we do Miroku?" Sango asked. "Well, its getting dark. We should find a place to sleep" Miroku said. "You guys can do that but I'm going after the bandits" Inuyasha said. "But tonights the night of the new moon. The night Inuyasha turns into a wimpy human. We'll all have to protect him" Shippo said. Inuyasha then punched Shippo, "By wimpy were you referring to me!" Inuyasha spat. Bankotsu looked confused, "You turn human?" he questioned. "Half-demons always have a night when they turn full human. The night of the new moon, tonight, is when Inuyasha turns human" you explained to Bankotsu. Bankotsu smiled a little, "Well, that interesting" he said. "Don't get any ideas!" Inuyasha spat. "Well Inuyasha, being a weak half-demon you must be really pathetic as a human" Bankotsu teased. "You'll eat those words one day" Inuyasha growled. You frowned as you watched them argue. "Both of you shut up and lets find a place to sleep" you said. They both stopped and looked at you and seemed surprised that you were angry. All of you walked till you found a temple to stay at. Inuyasha's white hair slowly turned black and his eyes turned brown and his puppy ears faded away. His claws turned to regular finger nails and human ears appeared on the side of his head. Bankotsu wouldn't stop staring at Inuyasha. Soon, Kagome, Shippo, and Sango fell asleep. You, Miroku, Inuyasha, and Bankotsu stayed awake. "What's wrong Inuyasha? You still awake cause your scared someone's going to kill you while you're a human?" Bankotsu laughed. "Don't talk to me like that!" Inuyasha spat. Your ears twitched, "Shh, do you hear that?" you whispered. You could hear screaming outside. Miroku woke everyone up and all of you went outside. "The sound is coming from a village a little ways from here" you said. "It must be the bandits!" Inuyasha said. "Inuyasha stay with Kagome. We'll take care of it" Bankotsu said. He ran toward the village with you by his side. Miroku and Sango jumped onto Kirara and flew to the village. You could tell Bankotsu loved this. Once you got to the village, people were running from normal bandits on horses. Bankotsu ran ahead and cut one of the bandits heads off. Sango and Miroku stood back to back with you and Bankotsu. "Lets take care of these guys first" you heard one bandit whisper to the other. Then the bandit smiled and took out what looked like some sort of pot. Miroku and Sango gasped but you and Bankotsu looked on in confusion. "That pot, how did you get it?" Miroku asked. "Go away!" the bandit yelled. Then he pointed the mouth of the pot at all of you and a big blast of light came out of it! Miroku unwrapped his wind tunnel and sucked up the blast. Then Miroku closed his hand and stared at the bandits, "Your next if you don't answer to me" he threatened. "Now, where did you get those pots from?" Miroku asked. "W-we got the pots from a women. She told us to use the pots to destroy other villages" the bandit answered. "A women...it must be Kagura" Sango said. She then turned to you and Bankotsu, "While the two of you were gone we met a human called Goryoumaru. He had a arm that did the exact same thing those pots did. But we thought Hakudoshi killed him" she mumbled. You looked at the bandits, if Kagura gave them the pots, it must be orders from Naraku. But why would Naraku do something so pointless..unless, it was a trap!! "WE'RE IDIOTS!" you yelled as you ran back to where Inuyasha and Kagome were. You then stopped to see the temple in shreds and standing over it was someone you've never met. He had short black hair and a scar across his face and his arm was more like a demon arm. He stood over Kagome and Shippo with Inuyasha badly hurt in her arms. He was going to kill them! You ran in front of them without thinking. His demon arm then got long and flew at you. Bankotsu jumped in front of you and sliced the arm. Sango and Miroku then caught up, "Goryoumaru?! I thought he was dead!" Sango said in shock. The man smiled and held up a jewel shard, "This is all I came for" then he looked at Bankotsu, "Your next" he hissed. "I don't get it. Were you after the jewel shard when we met before?" Miroku asked. The man smiled a little and began to transform. He then turned into a GIANT demon looking thing. You hid behind Bankotsu. "Do you remember me?" he asked. "Your..Mouryoumaru! The demon Haikudoshi created by stitching together the demons he killed!" Miroku said amazed. You sighed, you missed a lot while being with your brothers. "But last time we saw Mouryoumaru he was didn't have a soul" Kagome said. "Yes, that must means you are using Goryoumaru's powers to have a soul!" Miroku said. "Yeah, what he said" Bankotsu mumbled. Mouryoumaru then absorbed the shard, "I need more power" he whispered. You then noticed behind Mouryoumaru was Kagura! She had a worried expression on her face though. Kagome took out her arrow and aimed it at Mouryoumaru, "We got to defeat him before he sucks up the fragment!" she said. She was shot the arrow but sadly missed. Mouryoumaru smiled and prepared to squash her with his hand. "Watch out!" Bankotsu ran and pushed Kagome out of the way. But Bankotsu himself didn't dodge the attack! Mouryoumaru powerfully punched Bankotsu into the ground. You panicked and ran to him. Bankotsu was unconscious but alive. "Stand back" Miroku said. He unwrapped his wind tunnel. Then Mouryoumaru opened his mouth and Naraku's insects flew out. Miroku sucked two in and then closed his wind tunnel. Then Mouryoumaru was about to squash Miroku! Sango ran in front of him and both of them fell back. Kagome ran to them. Mouryoumaru prepared to kill her. Inuyasha quickly got up with his untransformed sword and ran to Mouryoumaru. He tried to cut Mouryoumaru but Mouryoumaru's hand pushed Inuyasha into the ground. No, at this rate Inuyasha is going to die!! Then a blast of power hit Mouryoumaru and he staggered back. You looked beyond to see..Sesshomaru! You sighed with relief. "Kagura, who is this guy?" Mouryoumaru asked. "Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru" she said. "After following the disgusting smell, I found you, your Naraku's heart" Sesshomaru said. Everyone had shocked faces. Mouryoumaru then created a blast of light and threw it at Sesshomaru, but Sesshomaru dodged it. "Your sword has demon energy. I eat demon energy and become stronger. Your swords power is merely food to me" Mouryoumaru said. Sesshomaru was as calm as ever. "Eats demons and increases energy, just like Naraku" you whispered. "I'll eat all the demonic power coming from your sword so swing it all you want!" Mouryoumaru said as he charged at Sesshomaru. Inuyasha then got up and ran at Mouyoumaru with is undemonic sword. Sesshomaru gracefully dodged all of Mouryoumaru's attack while Inuyasha bounced around, "Kagome! Where is the shard!?" Inuyasha asked. "His right shoulder!" she answered. Inuyasha swung the sword at Mouryoumaru's shoulder but Mouryoumaru dodged it and hit Inuyasha with his large elbow. "How foolish, even if you did hit me with that blunt sword-" Mouryoumaru then was hit in the arm by Sesshomaru. But it didn't affect him in the least. He smiled, "I told you, hitting me with that demonic sword is futile" he laughed. "Don't get involved Sesshomaru! He is my prey!" Inuyasha spat. "Your prey?" Mourymaru laughed and grabbed Inuyasha and squeezed him. "Hmph, just as well. You jumping around in that distgusting form is getting annoying" Sesshomaru said. You heart was pounding, you really wanted to help. But what could you do? Sesshomaru prepared to shoot another demonic blast at Mouryoumaru who was squeezing Inuyasha. "I'll split the two of you in half" Sesshomaru said. "YOU IDIOT! DON'T CUT HIM! IT WILL JUST GIVE MOURYOUMARU MORE POWER!!" you spat at Sesshomaru. Mouryoumaru had a amused look on his face as the blast went towards him. "I'm getting worried about Inuyasha. Its almost dawn, and once Inuyasha gets his demonic powers back, won't Mouryoumaru absorb it?" Miroku said. Mouryoumaru then put Inuyasha between him and the blast so Inuyasha got hurt. Kagome then prepared to fire an arrow at Mouryoumaru, "My arrow might affect him" she mumbled. "No Kagome! Don't!" Inuyasha yelled. His hair began to turn white. The night was starting to end. Sesshomaru shot another blast at Mouryoumaru. This time it chopped off one of Mouryoumaru's arms! Sesshomaru's attack worked! "Hmph, suck up all of my demonic energy, absurd! The demonic energy of I, Sesshomaru, could never be contained by someone like you!" Sesshomaru bragged. "Ah, great thinking Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken praised. You had a sweat drop, "He has way too much confidance" you mumbled. Sesshomaru prepared another blast but Mouryoumaru smiled, "This isn't enough to kill me!" he said. But then it was morning and Inuyasha was half-demon once again. Inuyasha's sword transformed and he cut Mouryoumaru. A miasma dift out of Mouryoumaru's cut. "Damn you" Mouryoumaru mumbled as he flew away. Kagura took out her feather and flew with Mouryoumaru. Sesshomaru tried to hit them with another blast but it hit a barrier. Bankotsu slowly woke up next to you, "Don't let him get away" Bankotsu mumbled. "Mouryoumaru has a jewel shard so we'll be able to follow him, right?" you asked. Kagome nodded and all of you followed Kagome's directions. "So, Mouryoumaru is Naraku's heart. But I don't understand that Naraku would send his own heart into battle" you said. Then there was a long silence, "Ah! I sense a jewel shard! Its coming closer" Kagome said. "Yeah, and I smell Kohaku" you said. Sango flinched at what you said. You sniffed the scent of Kagura's blood. "No.." you whispered. You picked up speed. "Sora, whats wrong?" Bankotsu asked. "Kagura! She's hurt!" you yelled. You ran towards her scent till you saw her..fighting Hakudoishi! "You won't get away!" Hakudoishi spat as he flew at her with his spear. You didn't know what was happening but you quickly jumped in front of Kagura and got slashed across the back by Hakudoishi's spear. "S-sora?!" Kagura said in shock. You smiled a little, "I told you, if anyone gets hurt, its me" you said. You ignored the pain in your back. "Damn wench, I'll kill the two of you together!" Hakudoishi spat. "Dragon Hammer!" you heard Bankotsu's voice. "Wind Scar! A pink blast along with a yellow blast hit Hakudoishi. You and Kagura turned to see Bankotsu and Inuyasha standing side by side. "Kagura your.." Inuyasha said shocked. Bankotsu ran to you, "Sora, your hurt" he said. "I'll be fine" you mumbled. But you didn't feel fine at all. Your goddess powers are now gone. The cut on your back hurt like hell. "Leave me" Kagura said. All of you stared at her. "All of you should go save Kohaku. Mouryoumaru is after Kohaku's jewel shard. I'll take care of Hakudoishi" she said. But Hakudoishi then started to laugh, "Kagura, you betray Naraku and now you wish to betray us? And you think those people are your friends? How stupid" he said. "What does Hakudoishi mean?" Miroku asked. "Ok, as you all know, Naraku's baby was cut in half. One half became Hakudoishi. And it turns out that the other part, Naraku's heart, is Mouryoumaru. And they are working together to gain power and replace Naraku" Kagura explained. Miroku then unwrapped his wind tunnel and pointed it at Hakudoishi. "Idiot" Hakudoishi said as the insects came to defend him. But then..the insects flew away! You understood now, Hakudoishi and Mouryoumaru are planning to betray Naraku and Naraku is the one who controls the insects! Hakudoishi looked on with a horrified look on his face. Miroku then sucked him up in the wind tunnel. "The brat is dead!" Bankotsu gave Miroku a friendly slap on the back. Kagura though didn't look like she was happy. "Go find Kohaku" she said. "Come along with us" Inuyasha offered. "No, I have other business" she said. All of you hesitated but then ran to where Kohaku's scent was coming from. As you ran you looked back to Kagura, she smiled and waved. After a while of running you came to a cave. Kohaku was in front of the cave. He turned and looked surprised to see all of you. Sango walked up to him, "Kohaku.." she couldn't find the words. He still doesn't remember her. "Stay back" he held up his weapon. Then you were surprised when Bankotsu walked up to Kohaku, "I see what your doing. You can't trick me" Bankotsu said. Kohaku stepped back from Bankotsu. "You remember don't you? You've remembered everything that you've done for a while now. While Sora was possessed, you fought us but kept hesitating and avoided fighting and all you did was talk big. I thought about it for a while. Your still pretending not to remember because you want to trick Naraku and kill him, which is stupid because your way too weak" Bankotsu said. "Is that true Kohaku?" Sango asked. Kohaku looked at Bankotsu then at Sango and then had tears in his eyes. "Sister! I'm sorry!!" he cried and ran to her and hugged her tightly. Sango then hugged him back with a big smile on her face. This was such a warm moment. After a while, they stopped hugging, "Kagura, she saved me" Kohaku said. "Saved you?" Sango questioned. "Yes, she attacked me at first. She told me that she had to take my jewel shard and give it to Mouryoumaru or else she'll be killed. Then she changed her mind and took out one of her transforming feathers and made me ride it to safety. We need to find her" Kohaku said. "Damn it, we shouldn't have left her" you whispered.

*meanwhile*
Kagura jumps onto her giant feather and began to fly away, "I'm going to die anyway. If I want to give it a try at killing Naraku, now is the time" she said to herself. As she flew, suddenly, Naraku appeared in front of her. She looked at him with fear. "Kagura, it seems that Hakudoishi is dead. All that time he plotted and planned to kill me and replace me....how foolish" Naraku said. Kagura didn't look at him, she looked down. "Kagura, you also planned to betray me. I shall let you be free" Naraku said. He then held out his hand and her heart appeared in it. "Your..letting me go?!" Kagura said shocked. Naraku smiled, "Yes, just as you asked" the heart then disappeared from his hand and Kagura gasped as she felt the beating of a heart in her chest. Then she flinched in pain, her heart pulsed with poison. Naraku laughed, "Kagura, I give you your freedom. Your heart is now filled with my miasma. You will die here" Naraku said. His hand turned into a giant claw and he slashed at Kagura. Kagura fell off her feather and into a field of flowers on the ground. Naraku then flew away. She then sat up and felt her heart beat as poison spread through her body. A dark mark was in her kimono where her heart is. "Where will I gp from here?" she asked herself. She looked at the sky with a defeated look on her face, "I can go anywhere, I am free" she whispered. She tried to get up but fell down, her legs wouldn't move. There was silence, Kagura lay alone in the field of flowers. "I guess, this is were it ends, I'm all alone. This is...the freedom I was longing for" she whispered. She heard foot steps and looked up to see Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru?!" she said in shock. "I can following Naraku's scent" Sesshomaru said. "Heh, you must disappointed that Naraku's not here" Kagura said. There was a long pause, "I knew it was you" Sesshomaru said. Kagura's eyes widened but then she peacefully smiled, "I see, you knew and so you came" she whispered. Sesshomaru put his hand on his healing sword. But his healing sword wouldn't be able to save her. Black smoke started to come out of Kagura's poisened body. "Are you going?" Sesshomaru asked. "Yeah, I'm fine" Kagura whispered as she continued to stare at the ground.

*back to you*
All of you went back to where Kagura was. You stood in shock to see her sitting on the ground and looked beaten up. Smoke came out of her chest. Sesshomaru stood over her. "Kagura!!" you tried to run to her but Bankotsu stopped you. Kagura looked up at you and smiled the most peaceful smile you've ever saw. She then closed her eyes and her body began to disappear. Her whole body disappeared and the feather in her hair remained. A strong wind blew the feather around Sesshomaru and then flew around you and the group. It was as if Kagura was saying her last goodbye. Then it flew into the sky. Tears where in your eyes, she turned into wind. Sesshomaru began to walk away. "Wait Sesshomaru" you demanded. Sesshomaru stopped and looked at you. "Was Kagura..in pain??" you asked. Sesshomaru looked at the feather that was flying away, "She...was smiling" he said. He continued to walk away. You looked at the feather with tears rolling down your cheeks as you remembered Kagura's saying, "I am the wind, the free wind" it echoed in your mind as you watched the feather fly high up into the distance.