Once again, for the record, I do not own XxxHoLiC or InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale. They belong to CLAMP and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. I simply enjoy playing in a previously established playground. That is all.
— —Start — — — — —Start — — — —Start — — —
Kagome was relatively non-plussed by the rather childish spirit cheerfully munching on a goldfish spirit after jumping off a building to catch it. After all, she had seen stranger things by far in the Shingoku Jidai (this didn't top Yura of the Hair, let alone some of the later insanity), and the best way to deal was to be blasé. Watanuki, however, had yet to figure this out. It was rather surprising, in all honesty, given the amount of interactions with the supernatural that they'd had by working for Yuuko, but then, some people never did figure things out, she supposed. It was a shame, really. It made a much more appealing target to mischievous spirits.
"What the hell?!" Her companion demanded, "She ate it!"
"Spirits do have a tendency to do that from time to time," Kagome agreed, eyes narrowing at the girl, "And you just let her know that we see her."
"Oops?" he asked, hunching his shoulders.
"Most likely." Kagome agreed as the spirit girl turned to investigate them.
Her head cocked to the side as she licked her fingers, then she brightened, and leapt at them, landing cat like in front of Watanuki. "It's you! The one everybody's talking about! You've got everyone in Our World's attention right now!"
"'Our World'? Which world is that?" Watanuki asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"The world of spirits, I would imagine." Kagome answered with a frown, "That can't be good." She murmured.
"Your eye," The spirit girl told him, pointing at Watanuki's covered eye, "There's huge conflict going on over it! I'd like it too," she added with a pout, folding her arms over her chest, "But if I got involved, That Woman would be mad at me. I don't want That Woman to be mad at me." She shuddered.
"Eh? My eye? Why? And what woman?" he demanded.
The spirit looked as though she was actually considering giving him an answer when another goldfish spirit passed by. "Ooo! Another one!" she squealed, and skipped off after it, leaving Watanuki and Kagome behind in the dust.
"Wait!" Watanuki called after her, "What do you mean 'conflict'?" The spirit girl, however, could not be bothered to answer. "Great. I have no idea what she's talking about."
"Maybe Yuuko-san will know," Kagome offered, "She usually knows what's going on in the spirit world, especially if it involves us somehow. We're running late for work, anyway."
"I guess you're right," Watanuki answered with a shrug, "We'll see."
Yuuko, it transpired, did know what the spirit was talking about. "She told you about the conflict, didn't she?" the woman asked, "The one going on over Watanuki's eye?"
"Yes, the…. You said she was a cat girl?" Kagome asked. Yuuko nodded serenely, and she continued, "The cat girl told us that there was a conflict, but not why, or in any real detail."
"That's not good," Yuuko murmured, "I had hoped that it would not reach this level, or at least, not so soon."
"What do you mean?" Watanuki asked, blinking.
"You need to hurry," the shopkeeper answered, voice grave, "Or you'll lose your right eye for good."
Both of the teenagers were silent for a long moment before Kagome spoke up, "I trust that by Watanuki-senpai's 'right eye', you mean the sight in his right eye, not the actual eye, yes?"
Yuuko nodded, "Of course. The flesh itself wouldn't be much good to a spirit, except possibly as a source of food. It would probably be a delicacy, but that's not what they have at the moment, and going after the physical eye would be far more trouble than it was worth."
"Hey!" Watanuki protested, his hand jerking up to cover his already covered eye.
"That's what I thought, but it's usually best to check to make sure in these cases." Kagome said with a smile.
"You're so practical, Kagome-chan!" Yuuko teased, "It's no fun with you around!"
"Someone who works here has to be," she told the older woman, "Otherwise, you and Watanuki-senpai would never get anything done."
"Hmmm… perhaps, perhaps." Yuuko mused, "But I think we would manage. Not as well, but we would. Hitsuzen is strong, after all, and it is pulling things to their inevitable conclusion…." Her voice trailed off as she stared into space.
Kagome shivered. She did not like that implication. Not at all.
— — Scene—Scene—Scene—
"She actually said that?" Doumeki asked with a frown as he walked to archery with Kagome the next afternoon, "That can't be good."
"Anything involving hitsuzen very rarely is," Kagome agreed, "But… well, it's called 'the inevitable' for a reason…"
"No kidding. So, our window of opportunity to get Watanuki's sight back is closing? I wonder why."
"My bet is that it's because of what it is," she answered, "Watanuki-senpai's a powerful spiritual practitioner, even if he doesn't follow any set tradition, like I do." She frowned, "You don't either, really. You should probably find one that you like- it might not give you the Sight, but spiritual power tends to work better when you give it a framework to follow. Something about set patterns magnifying power?"
Doumeki shrugged, "A worn path is easier to follow than blindly making your own way? I'll look into it. I know we have some sort of tradition at the shrine, so maybe there'll be some sort of guidance there. But what does that have to do with Watanuki's sight being gone for good?"
"Well, assuming that Watanuki's sight was just traded out for yours, the spider that stole your sight as part of his hatred curse has or had it," she explained, "That's part of Watanuki-senpai, and, more importantly, because Watanuki-senpai has the Sight, the sight in his right eye contains a portion of his power. Even if it's not a very big one, it's probably still a lot because he naturally has it. Do you have any idea how rare that is in this day and age? I don't have it naturally- it got awoken in me when- never mind, not the point. Still. I don't have it naturally. You don't have it naturally. No one that I know of born in this day and age has it naturally, except for-"
"Watanuki." Doumeki finished with a groan, "And from what you've said, we're no slouches in the spiritual power department. There might be some people who have it, but not many, and not someone we can just ask to give up their sight for his." He sighed, "We still haven't found a solution in your library, and we can't go much faster. Do you think we might be better off with going from the oldest records to the newest instead of the way we've been doing?"
Kagome stiffened. There was no way that she wanted to start with the oldest records. In fact, she rather hoped that they didn't have to touch on the oldest records at all. She did not want to read Miroku's records if she could help it, especially not when she didn't have time to stop and break down repeatedly, and even more especially when she was with someone who didn't know. But still, she knew that the newer records were less likely to have anything accurate for spiritual happenings- she'd been the first true miko or priest in four generations. And they might not have time to stroll through those records…. "The oldest records are hand recorded by the houshi-turned-priest who founded the shrine," she answered slowly, "And from what Ji-chan has said, they're as much memoire as they are informational record. As we're in a bit of a hurry, they might not be the best starting point. But his son was apparently much more of a straightforward recorder of facts. Maybe his record will turn up something." She beamed at him, hoping that her smile didn't look as forced as it felt, "How good did you say that your Classical Japanese was, again?"
Doumeki frowned, "Kagome-"
"Is it really gone?" Watanuki murmured, touching his right eye as he stared at his reflection in one of the windows that he was cleaning.
"What are you mumbling about?" Doumeki demanded, coming up behind his friend.
"Ack!" Watanuki screeched, throwing up his arms and sending the sponge he'd been using flying across the courtyard, "You shouldn't just pop up behind someone, you know!"
"Who was popping up? Kagome and I were just walking." Doumeki countered, "Anyway, what were you just saying?" Watanuki's eyes slid away from Doumeki's, making the other boy frown, "Well?" he demanded.
"Watanuki-kun!" Himawari's voice cut the tension, and nearly made Kagome heave a sigh of relief, "Doumeki-kun! Kagome-chan!"
"Himawari-chan!" Watanuki cheered, completely abandoning the window in favor of running towards his beloved crush, "Are you on cleaning duty as well?"
"Yes," Himawari said with sunny smile, "But I only have to take out the trash bin, and I'll be finished."
"I just have to finish this window, and I'll be done, too!"
"Really?" The girl lit up even more, "We could walk home together!"
"Great!" Watanuki cheered.
His glee, however, was a bit premature, as Himawari turned to Doumeki and Kagome, "Do you want to come too, Doukemi-kun, Kagome-chan?"
"I'm afraid we can't," Kagome answered with a shrug, "There's something going on at archery club that we can't miss."
"Oh, that's too bad," Himawari answered with the barest trace of a frown, "Maybe next time?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Kagome answered, trying very hard not to laugh at Watanuki's obvious glee.
"I need to fetch the trash, and then we can go. Meet you back here?" Himawari said, turning back to Watanuki.
"You might want to collect that rag you were using, Watanuki-senpai," Kagome pointed out, "Or you'll never get finished."
"Ah, yes! Of course!" and with that, he darted off.
Himawari shook her head in disbelief, "He really is an energetic person." She said.
"Heh. I call that 'being an idiot'." Doumeki countered.
"Do you think his right eye will get better? I know it bothers him, sometimes." She asked, her expression sobering.
"I don't know," Kagome answered, watching her senpai's back as he retrieved his rag from some bushes, "But I have a bad feeling about it."
"Me too." Doumeki agreed with a grimace.
"I hope he gets well soon." Himawari told them, "But we'll be there for him either way, won't we?"
"Yeah," Doumeki answered, "Even if he doesn't want us to be."
- - - Scene- - - Scene - - - - - Scene- - -
Kagome wasn't quite certain if she was surprised or not when Doumeki offered to walk her to work after archery club's meeting was over. They were halfway back when she squared her shoulders and did something that she'd been meaning to do for while. "You really don't have to walk me to work, you know. I can take care of myself. So don't feel…. Obligated." She had been an obligation before, and it was very possibly the most miserable position that she'd ever been put in. It was made even worse by the fact that she hadn't even realized that she was an obligation because she had been such a naive child. Still, it showed that she had a tendency to misinterpret relationship overtures, and it had given InuYasha far more power over her than he ever should have had. She'd been getting better, slowly but surely, since she had let Yuuko cut the ties binding her to him, but she wasn't going to let it happen again, not even if it meant that she had to avoid Shizuka-senpai until she could shove him rather forcefully back into the friend zone.
Doumeki shrugged, very carefully not looking at her. "I know. But I want to. So, I'm going to walk you to work or the subway, or wherever when I can. If you don't like it, tell me and I won't."
She blinked at him. "You…. like walking me places?"
His hand brushed against hers, even though he still wasn't looking at her. "Is that really so hard to believe?"
You have no idea, her mind muttered. "Well, here's the shop." She said instead, resting her hand on one of the posts capped with a crescent moon.
He finally looked at her, his expression clearly stating that he had noticed that she hadn't exactly answered his question. "Yeah, yeah, there's the dilapidated empty lot that is actually the shop hidden behind a kekkai. Look, can you send Yuuko out when you go in, or maybe convince her to put me on the payroll for the night? I need to ask her about something."
"Oh, that won't be necessary, Doumeki-kun," Yuuko said, using her favorite 'look, I am being mysterious' tone, making both teens jump as she appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, "How may I help you?"
"Watanuki's eye," He answered promptly, "Is there no way to fix it?"
"Hmmmm…." Yuuko said, tilting her head to the side, "That depends. Why do you ask?"
"He was looking at his reflection earlier," said, fists clenching, "And asked himself if it was really gone. With what you said to Kagome and Watanuki yesterday, about time running out…. Kagome and I might not be able to find the right text in time. Is there a way to fix his eye? Especially since this is my fault in the first place?"
"That Watanuki of ours… he really doesn't understand." Yuuko sighed, "Whether or not Watanuki can get his sight back in that eye depends on whether or not he can get it back from the spirit who holds it before they choose to absorb it. Given that he's gone to confront that person to get the Zashiki-Warashi back on behalf of the Karasu Tengu…. I would speculate that the window is closing faster than anyone could have anticipated."
"Then is there a way that I could give him part of my sight?" Doumeki asked, "This was my curse, damn it! And I won't let him take the punishment for me if there's a way that I can stop it!"
"That is certainly a possibility," Yuuko allowed, "It would be rather like giving him half of the vision in your eye. If you have 20/20 vision in your right eye, you would give 10/20 of that vision to his eye, and be left with 10/20 in your own eye. Are you willing to do that?"
"I can schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist." Doumeki said with a shrug. "Contacts would be expensive, but not out of the question."
"Alright then. It shouldn't be a problem."
"Yuuko-san," Kagome broke in, "What type of spirit is Watanuki dealing with?"
Her employer's smile was enigmatic, "Her name is Lady Jorougumo. You might know her as the Queen of—"
"Spiders." Kagome finished in disgust, "Of course, it would be a tsuchigumo." Her fingers tightened on the strap of her archery bag, "How much would it cost me to go help him? Preferably with the pipe fox, if he isn't with Watanuki already."
"He is," Yuuko assured her, "He wasn't particularly happy about it, but I rather thought that Watanuki could use an ally, even a reluctant one." She trailed off, considering Kagome for a long moment, then answered, "For the most part, helping with Lady Jorougumo could easily fall under part of the price of your wish, actually. It might help you to tie up some…. Loose ends. But not all of it. Two more months service after your wish is granted."
"Done." Kagome said flatly, getting out her bow and stringing it before slinging it and a quiver full of live arrows over her shoulder.
Yuuko smiled, "I rather thought you would go after him," she said, patting her part timer on the head, "Good luck." With that, she lifted an odd, flame shaped fan and slashed it downward, opening a portal that Kagome didn't hesitate to run through.
The portal swished closed behind her "Damn it," Doumeki hissed.
Yuuko raised an eyebrow, "You wouldn't do much good there," she told him dryly, "Kagome-chan has more than enough power and training to handle herself, and she has business of her own with Lady Jorougumo, which should keep her from getting annoyed by outside interference."
"She shouldn't have to deal with it by herself!"
"'Shouldn't'? Perhaps not. But the fact remains that you do not know the nature of her business with Lady Jorougumo, and while I doubt that Watanuki will be in a position to hear about it, she would not want an outsider to learn of it."
"I'm her friend," he snarled, "Friends help each other. It's what friends do!"
"Friends?" she asked archly, cutting across his tirade, "I think it would be safe to say that you want to be much more than her friend."
"So what? It's not like it's a secret." He snapped, his face going ever so slightly red.
"Perhaps, but does she know that?" Doumeki fell silent, eyes narrowed, "Regardless, for Kagome-chan, that would make it even more important that she deal with it on her own, if only to prove to herself that she can."
"…Does this have to do with why she thought I was walking with her because I felt obligated?" he spat out the last word like it left a bitter taste in his mouth
"Hmmmm…. More than a little," Yuuko conceded, "She has gotten better since she cut the ties that bound her, but she has a ways to go yet. And I doubt she will be ready to accept that you mean it until she is ready to tell you about why she feels that way." She smirked a little, "You may have a long wait."
"Are you telling me to be patient?" he asked with a smirk of his own. Yuuko inclined her head, "Heh. It's a good thing she's worth it."
"It is indeed," Yuuko murmured, "Would you like to come in to wait? The barrier should let you in as a guest, since you do know that it's there."
"Might as well," he agreed, "We can talk about you finally putting me on the pay roll while we wait."
Yuuko laughed as she lead him inside, "Not a chance, Doumeki-kun, not a chance!"
- - Scene - - - - Scene- - Scene - - - - Scene - -
Kagome landed next to the groaning forms of the Karasu Tengu outside of an old, dilapidated mansion. For an instant, the air felt overwhelmingly cold, the evil and impurity of the mansion's aura sinking into her bones. She shook her head and blasted the space around her with her power, purifying the air. Quickly, she turned to the tengu, who were dragging themselves up now that the evil wasn't quite so strong. "Yuuko-san sent me to help. Which way did Watanuki-senpai go?"
"That way," one of the tengu pointed towards a gap in the walls, "Please, miko-sama, help the Zashiki-Warashi! This evil… if it is too much for us to bear… She might be…."
"Watanuki-senpai and I will bring her back," she promised, shoulders setting as she started to run for the gap, "If it's the last thing we do." As she reached the gap, she noticed fine, trailing threads of fire, burning into ashes. A web, of course, Kagome realized, The pipe fox must have blasted it with fox fire to clear it away, and maybe another layer of kekkai along with it. Well, at least she was heading in the right direction. From that point on, Kagome simply followed the cold, not bothering to do more than her natural level of purification. She could deal with being a bit chilly, and she didn't want Lady Jorougumo to realize that she had another visitor until it was too late for her to do much. Watanuki-senpai must be freezing, though, she thought as she descended a set of stairs, He still hasn't developed a means of purifying evil or keeping it from latching onto him. That can't be good for his reflexes. Hopefully the pipe fox is helping him, or he might have to start taking drastic measures to keep moving…. A few feet later, the blood trail started. Kagome knelt down and dragged her fingers through it. It's fresh. Which most likely means that Watanuki-senpai started taking drastic measures. She bit her lip, I have to hurry!
"Then I'll let you have my left eye's sight too! Let Zashiki-Warashi go!" Watanuki's voice called from what appeared to be the mansion's courtyard.
"Well," The woman's voice was cool and cultured, rather like Yuuko's, but several pitches higher and not so smooth, "It is always nice to have the full set. Does this girl really means so much to you, that you're willing to lose what's left of your sight for her?"
"I've never really had the chance to get to know her," Watanuki admitted, and Kagome wanted to bang her head against the doorway repeatedly. This was not how to negotiate with a youkai, implying that the thing that you were trying to trade wasn't actually that important to you. "But I can tell that she's a nice girl, especially since the Karasu Tengu care so much about her. So please, let her go."
Lady Jorougumo was silent for a moment, giving Kagome time to pull an arrow out of her quiver and knock it. Maybe the spider queen would take pity on Watanuki for his good will, but Kagome rather doubted it. Tsuchigumo weren't known for their compassion. She would know. Still, silence wasn't as bad as a negative. It meant that there might be an opening to negotiate.
Watanuki, on the other hand, seemed to believe otherwise. "If the sight in my left eye isn't enough, then take whatever you want—"
"I don't like that." Lady Jorougumo's voice cut in again, icy disdain dripping from every syllable. Kagome would have groaned if she could have. Of course she disliked it, Watanuki had basically told her that everything he had to offer her was worthless, since the Zashiki-Warashi didn't actually mean anything to him! Youkai hated getting the worst end of the deal, and that hundred extra years a Zashiki-Warashi's heart was supposed to be able to grant, while relatively unimportant for someone as long lived as Sesshoumaru had been, could be a valuable bargaining chip further down the line!
Watanuki, by contrast, did not seem to understand, "Huh? But—"
"I don't like that." Lady Jorougumo repeated, pursing her lips, "You're giving yourself away much too easily."
Soundlessly, Kagome moved into the doorway, and was finally able to see the scene in the courtyard. Watanuki's torso was wrapped in slim cords of spider silk, trapping him in place, the pipe fox stood on the ground beneath him, tails flared, unable to do anything but watch for fear of roasting Watanuki along with the web. Lady Jorougumo stood like a tightrope walker on a thin thread of her web, holding another fiber to facilitate her ability to travel across it in a hurry. Her position was relaxed and graceful. Only a fool wouldn't be able to see who was in control of this situation, and it wasn't Watanuki. Behind her was the unconscious form of the Zashiki-Warashi, looking even more like a fly caught in a spider's web than Watanuki. This, Kagome knew, was bad, and Watanuki wasn't helping things.
Lady Jorougumo skipped down the thread so she stood directly in front of Watanuki, reaching out to tilt his chin up towards her face, letting him see her disdain, "Why on earth would I accept something that you throw away so lightly? Do you really think I would take something you clearly see as valueless for something as valuable as that girl?" She sighed, and glanced back at the Zashiki-Warashi's limp form, "Poor thing, she tried so hard to get your sight back for you, and here you are, just giving it away. All that effort, for what? What a fool, to go to so much trouble to get back something that's so worthless to its owner. Why did she even bother, I wonder?"
"You're wrong!" Watanuki yelled.
Her eyebrows rose, "Am I?" she gestured, "That pipe fox of yours is concerned for you, and aren't there other people who have been trying to get your sight back for you? The Leaf Clan has been asking around, probably at the request of that matriarch of theirs, as has that shopkeeper. Clearly they at least care very much about you." She laughed, "But you don't see that, do you? You don't even care about yourself."
"That's not true!" Watanuki denied, shaking his head, "It…. I just… don't want…"
"Don't want to see others hurt?" Lady Jorougumo said sweetly, "So you think it would be better if you get hurt instead? And tell me, Watanuki, why don't you like it when others get hurt? Isn't it because when they hurt, you hurt as well? Why shouldn't they feel the same way about you? Are you such a hatchling that you don't understand that when you get hurt, those who care for you hurt as well?" She sneered, dragging long, claw like nails down his throat, "I really hate dealing with hatchlings who have long grown past the age when they should have grown up. So," she beamed at him as her nails sliced into the fabric of his shirt, "For that reason, I refuse to accept your bargain." Watanuki bowed his head, clenching something in his bleeding fist. She beamed at him. "Oh, dear! Did I make you cry?" Her smile darkened as she leaned in and finally dug her claws in deeply enough to draw blood, "Oh, Watanuki-kun, the fun hasn't even started yet!"
At this point, Kagome had heard enough, and, she was quite confident, Watanuki had heard enough. She shot her arrow in the inch between Lady Jorougumo's nose and Watanuki's. "That would be a warning shot, Lady Jorougumo," Kagome called, "Next time, I won't miss." The pipe fox grumbled happily as she approached to stand next to him.
The tsuchigumo turned to study her, removing her nails from Watanuki's chest as she did, leaving behind bloody gouges, "Well, well. Someone else has come to save the person who believes himself to be worthless." She said, eyes narrowed, "He really does inspire loyalty, doesn't he?"
"We're friends." She said flatly, "And if he's occasionally an idiot who gets himself into trouble that I have to help dig him out of, then that's part of the bargain. You, on the other hand…." She pulled back her string, arrow in place, "You, I just don't like on principle. So, realistically speaking, what do you want for the Zashiki-Warashi? I'm assuming that Watanuki-senpai's eyesight is a lost cause after that little debacle."
Lady Jorougumo beamed, "Finally, someone who understands! Hmmm…. Zashiki-Warashi is rather valuable, it's true, but in all honesty, tearing out her heart and putting it into storage so I can bargain with it later on down the line is both messy and rather troublesome. I could, you understand, but…." She shrugged gracefully.
"Messy." Kagome said flatly.
"Exactly!" Lady Jorougumo agreed, "As such, she's not really all that valuable to me. However," her eyes went flat, and Kagome shoved down a shiver at how very like Naraku at his most apathetic she was, "She did try to steal from me. And her incessant whining about giving her precious Watanuki-kun back his eyes is quite irritating. Hence why I captured her with the intent to…. Hmmm, put a permanent end to that."
"Of course." Naraku had been the same. If something annoyed him, he killed it. At least Lady Jorougumo was likely to be neater about it and take less joy from the suffering of her victim.
"But I would imagine that you would take a rather great disliking to that option, Miko-chan," The spider queen continued, tapping a finger to her pursed lips, "And quite frankly, even if you taking a rather great dislike to that option wouldn't kill me, something I'm not certain about, it would be rather painful." She concluded, gesturing off-handedly at the arrow which was already glowing a faint pink color, "As such, if you promise to take the irritating creature away and ensures that she never bothers me again, I would be willing to let her go."
Kagome raised her eyebrows, but nodded. Interesting. That was a far lower price than she would have suspected. But then again… "And the price for Watanuki-senpai?"
"Ah, well," Lady Jorougumo smirked, "That would be another matter entirely." Her nails (fortunately no longer claw like) trailed down his cheek, "Despite what he seems to believe, he's actually quite valuable. I don't particularly need another hundred years of life, personally. But more power? That I can always use. And your little friend is positively bursting with it, and he doesn't have very many pesky defenses. Besides, he offered himself for the Zashiki-Warashi." She spread her hands innocently, "I'd just be accepting his offer of payment."
"But you rejected his bargain," Kagome pointed out, "So it's no longer on the table. What do you want for Watanuki-senpai?"
"Hmmmm…. I want him to acknowledge that he's a fool, for one." She said, smiling, "And a chance to speak with you alone, without you attempting to purify me, for another. For a third, any blood he sheds in my domain? And all of the power attached to that blood? It's mine. After he demonstrates that he's worth the fuss that everyone has been raising over him. Needless to say, his right eye? It's also mine. Permanently. No spells or rituals to get it back."
Kagome nodded, "With the caveat that we'll reopen negotiations if he can't manage to prove himself in a timely fashion, I'll accept those terms."
Lady Jorougumo beamed, "Wonderful! Now, what to make him do…"
Suddenly, the threads wrapped around Watanuki's torso fell to the floor in tatters. In his hand was a sharp shard of bloodied glass. He lifted it to be even with Lady Jorougumo's throat. "Let us go." His voice was hard.
His opponent's smile grew more than Kagome had thought possible, "Now, this? This I do like."
Watanuki dove for the Zashiki-Warashi, cutting her loose as he yelled for the pipe fox to burn the web. Unsurprisingly, the pipe fox looked to Kagome, who looked to Lady Jorougumo. There was no reason to make her upset for burning her web. That was, after all, what had gotten them into this mess. The spider queen shrugged and waved for them to continue. Less than a moment after Watanuki had given the order, the pipe fox set the web on fire, giving Watanuki the cover he had wanted to get the Zashiki-Warashi to safety.
"Well done, well done!" Lady Jorougumo cheered, going so far as to applaud politely, "You've rescued the princess, and proven yourself worthy of all the hassle! So much faster than I anticipated, as well!" Watanuki glared up at her. Lady Jorougumo continued to smile, entirely unaffected, "Fine. You're welcome to your princess, the Zashiki-Warashi. Just see to it that she never irritates me again. But," she brought forth the orb containing Watanuki's right eye's sight, "This is mine now. You will never get it back, understand?" With a superior smile, she popped the orb into her mouth, chewed for a moment, then swallowed. Watanuki hissed in pain, covering his eye and going very pale. "Delicious! Now, run along—" She paused as Watanuki collapsed, still wrapped around the Zashiki-Warashi. "Well." She said, rather non-plussed, "This does complicate things."
"Not particularly," Kagome disagreed, taking a pen and paper out of her pocket and hastily scribbling a note, using her best Classical Japanese writing, "Pipe fox? Would you please take Watanuki-senpai and the Zashiki-Warashi out to the Karasu Tengu, and give them this? It should clear things up enough for them to get a start towards the Zashiki-Warashi's spring. I have a feeling that they're both going to need to be immersed in purity for a while."
"I'll even be kind enough to restrain my aura for three minutes to give them a head start." Lady Jorougumo graciously allowed.
Kagome inclined her head, "Thank you. Once they're gone, I'll uphold the other part of the bargain." The Spider Queen smiled and nodded.
The kudakitsune took a last look at Kagome before nodding, allowing himself to be burdened with Watanuki and the Zashiki-Warashi, taking the note for the Tengu, and taking off for the exit. After a moment, he returned, and Lady Jorougumo closed her eyes, the aura of evil contracting back into her skin.
Approximately three minutes later, Lady Jurougumo opened her eyes again. "Well, they're gone. Heading in the direction of that girl's home. So, now, it's time we had our little chat, isn't it?"
Kagome nodded, "I suppose it is."
The spider queen gestured to the remnants of a long toppled tower. "I never got around to spinning my web over there," she told her idly, "Do take a seat."
Kagome did so, never taking her eyes off of the woman who was now moving to sit on one of the many strands of her web. "What is it you would like to discuss, Lady Jorougumo?" she asked, keeping her voice level.
Lady Jorougumo laughed, "My, my, but you are a cold one! I suppose it makes sense, Sesshoumaru-dono did speak so highly of you!"
Kagome's eyes widened, "You knew him? Forgive me, but I didn't think you were so old—"
Jorougumo waved her hand, "He didn't die that long ago," she chided, "Less than a century ago, but before you humans destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He was the last of the Truly Great Ones to fade. A few more Great Ones linger, like Bokuseno-sama, but none of the Truly Great Ones." She looked sad for a moment, "We are diminished," she murmured, "And we shall never recover from their loss. You humans have seen to that."
"I am sorry." Kagome answered, bowing her head.
Jorougumo cocked her head, inspecting Kagome carefully, then laughed, "Do you know, I do believe you mean it! How odd. Most humans would see it as a good thing, you know."
"Most humans did not walk next to the Truly Great Ones," she countered, "They did not see the good they did for our world."
"Hmmm, that's certainly true," the spider agreed, "But that aside, let us talk. You fought one of my kindred."
Kagome nodded, "I did."
"I did not know Naraku," Jorougumo told her, resting her chin on a hand, "I was not born until a century after his death. But I was told that one day there would be a reckoning, and that we would pass the debt down."
"Naraku was a monster," Kagome said, voice flat, "He killed and tortured for sport and power. He wanted to rule the world. Forgive me for saying it, but I doubt he would have bowed to the power of the Spider Queen, if he ever met her."
"My mother did not disagree." Jorougumo answered pleasantly, "She said that it was his human heart, already blackened with madness, jealousy, and impotent rage that consumed the mind of the weak-willed tsuchigumo that fused with him. But he was still tsuchigumo. He was still one of us."
"I can't say that I know about that," Kagome responded diplomatically, "But I will agree that he was mad." Her eyes narrowed, "And if Lady Jorougumo wishes to disagree with the fact that putting him down was the only thing we could do, and desires vengeance, then she will find that I will not accept her decision passively."
"My, my, so violent," Lady Jorougumo chided, "No, Shikon Miko, tsuchigumo do not generally like humans, or at least, we do not generally like the children of the Invaders, but there is no denial that Naraku needed to be stopped before his madness spread, and the only way to do so was to kill him. My mother should have done so when he was still a weak hatchling. She did not. Instead, she looked away and hoped he would improve. By the time she looked back, it was much too late for her to interfere." She sighed, "As much as it pains me to say this, the Tsuchigumo, particularly our queen, were remiss in our duties. And at the last, you were the one who fulfilled our duty for us, when we could or would not. As such, we are in your debt. If ever there is a time when you need to the aid of the tsuchigumo, we will come. If you do not find a need for us, then the debt will pass to your heirs, until such a time as it is fulfilled."
Kagome blinked. This was… not what she had been expecting. "I… did not fight him expecting repayment, nor did I fight him alone. Why me?"
Lady Jorougumo tapped a finger to pursed lips, "Let's see… I believe that the initial payment was made to the once houshi Miroku, who had by then abandoned that path in favor of the Shinto priesthood, and the charming taijiya Sango, for whom he left that path. They used their payments to see to it that no tsuchigumo would ever come onto the lands of the shrine they had built to honor their friend, the Shikon Miko. The fox kit passed his debt to his son, who has yet to use it. I believe that the Leaf Clan is holding it as a trump card, should we ever come to blows again." Kagome smiled. That sounded sneaky enough for her fox relatives. "The taijiya boy used his to demand the head of the tsuchigumo who killed his beloved." Lady Jorougumo looked rather chagrined at that, "She was a sweet girl," she murmured, "Why my brother was fool enough to think that Sesshoumaru-dono would allow him to have his ward, even if she hadn't belonged to the boy already…" she shook her head, "Regardless, Sesshoumaru-dono used his to force us to make peace with an enemy when our quarrel threatened the safety of Japan. And given the circumstances, we did not offer the hanyou InuYasha a debt. He fought for vengeance, rather than to save. He had his revenge. It did not involve the rest of us. The same can be said for the wolf lord, Kouga." Lady Jorougumo shrugged, "That leaves you and the Leaf Clan with a debt outstanding."
The mike nodded, considering. It would have been nice to have known that she had this card before Lady Jorougumo had absorbed Watanuki's sight, but really, she probably would not have wasted something this precious on getting Watanuki's sight back. Not when he clearly didn't value it himself. "I accept the debt, and thank you for telling me. Is there anything else we need to discuss?"
Lady Jorougumo shook her head, "Nothing in particular. You're quite interesting, Shikon Miko. I think it is likely that we will meet again. I find myself looking forward to it."
Kagome could not quite bring herself to say the same. "Perhaps we shall." Her expression turned self-deprecating "Now comes the crucial question: how do I get back home?"
The Spider Queen chittered with laughter, "I dare say your pipe fox can follow the trail of the Karasu Tengu and the Zashiki-Warashi. You should be able to get home through her well."
For the first time, Kagome truly smiled at Lady Jorougumo. "Thank you." She turned to the pipe fox "Well, do you think you could give me a ride?" pipe fox yipped an affirmative, and Kagome got on his back. She looked back at Lady Jorougumo one last time. "Goodbye, Lady Jorougumo."
The Spider Queen smile was a bit unnerving, but not antagonistic. "Farewell, Shikon Miko. Until next time."
"Until next time." Kagome echoed, and urged to pipe fox to take flight.
- - - End - - - - End - - - - End - - -End - - -
Welcome to the Author's Notes, where I once again explain what I've been up to since the last Annual Update, and thank you all for putting up with a very slow update schedule! First of all, let me say that I just had the rather startling realization that I started this in 2010. That was seven years ago. Yikes. Thank you all for your extreme levels of patience and ongoing support! It looks like it's going to be safe to assume that this story will be going on at least until 2020, if not longer, so we've got a ways left to go together. I hope that y'all keep enjoying it! (Can you tell that I've been assimilated into Southern culture?) That being said, I hope that this chapter lived up to expectations! Also, while I'm thinking about it, as of now the ship name is officially the S.S. Kagomeki! Thanks for the suggestion, all of you who offered it!
Soooo, since the last update, I've started my PhD program at a new university. One year down, four more to go! (Two more years of classes, a year of field work/research, and a last year chained to my computer so I can write my dissertation.) I (unexpectedly) spent most of the summer in Guatemala studying a Mayan language called Kaqchikel. I…. Kind of sucked at it, but it was a good program, and I'm glad I did it. Antigua was lovely, for all that I speak insufficient Spanish to feel really comfortable there. Regardless, as I spent half of June and pretty much all of July there, writing wasn't really on the top of my to do list (that was attempting to figure out how the hell to produce a glottal stop in a word rather than in isolation and remember all the weaving vocabulary that I had thrown at me). Hence the chapter coming out so very late in August. Out of curiosity, what have the rest of you been up to since last we met? Anything particularly interesting? We've been together for so long I feel like I should ask.
At any rate, this chapter is surprisingly devoid of cultural references that have not been previously discussed. Granted, this is partially because I decided to end the chapter after Kagome's encounter with Lady Jorougumo rather than after getting into the after portion with the Zashiki-Warashi (mostly because I don't know much about it myself and didn't think it was necessary to the plot line, as this story is Kagome-centric rather than Watanuki-centric).
The only thing I can think of would be my decision to call Sesshoumaru a 'Truly Great One', referring to a very powerful youkai. This is based on the fact that I've seen Inu no Taisho, at the very least, being called a 'daiyoukai', which to my understanding translates directly as 'big demon'. More accurately, it means 'great nature spirit', referring to the fact that he's very, very powerful. Not just the usual order of 'powerful' like Kouga or any of the other youkai who can maintain a human form, but a level or two above them. It seems logical that by the time that he died (I would place this sometime in the 1920s to early 1930s), Sesshoumaru would have achieved this power level, if he hasn't already in canon. What Lady Jorougumo is saying is that Sesshoumaru was the last of the daiyoukai to die, and that there have not been any new daiyoukai to replace the fallen. In my head, this can be attributed to two things: 1) the growing lack of human belief in youkai and spirits, and 2) the growing levels of pollution, which I have to think would screw royally with nature spirits and their power levels. If you'd like to argue, offer alternatives to my translation, etc, feel free!