Chapter 126: What Lies Beyond Darkest Depths? Is Death an End...or a Start?
Turning eyes back down and away from the increasingly perilous Mount Hakurei, we find ourselves zooming within a dense, oak-rich forest blanketed by short lines of thick bushes, where our fair-skinned priestess - whose existence has been played like a cheap violin for far too long - was wandering...
She pauses to look back at the distant holy peak in silence, calculated brown irises soaking in its pretty image that undermines its more questionable context and purpose.
Mount Hakurei...I know for certain that Naraku is there.
The question is, why?
Knowing her answer would continue to elude at this time, Kikyō pivots back to the direction she was walking, and moves on...
Somewhere on the other side of this forest just before the sea of bark and leaves, sitting in front of the defiled grave of the Shichinintai, was the group's young leader Bankotsu, who was feeling anything but excited for battle at this time, currently draining a saucer bowl of sake in a forlorn manner as his gaze fell on a familiar piece of large armour, and a backpack of poisonous concoctions placed near the broken slab of stone.
"Kyokotsu...Mukotsu...How does it feel, to be back in the other world again?"
He of course, receives no reply other than the quiet of the dead, which prompts him to throw the small bit of pottery at the grave in a furious huff, the porcelain shattering into hundreds of tiny pieces. Rising to his feet, the male with the long braid of black mutters angrily,
"That's ridiculous! Once your dead, you're dead; that's the end of it...There's no such thing as an afterlife."
With that, he pulls his halberd out from the dirt in front of the last artifacts of his fallen comrades, and slings it over his shoulder before walking away...
Some time passes, before we would meet back with Kikyō once again, who continued her travel through the dense tree cover away from the purifying energies of Mount Hakurei's barrier...She would soon come to another stop, however, when her senses pick up on a presence approaching the opposite way.
"Hm?"
That presence, was noneother than Bankotsu...The priestess narrows her brown irises slightly as she detects the dark light emanating from the dead warrior's Shikon-no-Tama shards in his neck.
That man...
She maintains a calm demeanor, allowing the other to pass by, but not before spotting the other jewel fragments embedded in his sword...Bankotsu then stops.
"Woman...Are you the one they call Kikyō?" She replies back,
"And you are with the Band of Seven?"
Bankotsu merely scoffed, neither denying nor admitting to an answer, and continues walking...
"Wait."
He complies to Kikyō's call and asks,
"What do you want of me?"
"Just curious. You're suppose to kill me, are you not?"
Chuckling a little, the zombie swordsman forms a smirk and turns to the priestess while replying a bit casually,
"I dunno. Naraku never gave me orders to do so."
By the end of that reply, the woman with long ebony hair had an arrow drawn...
"Ah. I've heard rumours about you. Still, I would never have guessed you to be so beautiful...You wanna take me on, do you? Alright then, let's do it."
Bankotsu holds out his Banryū:
"I accept your challenge."
...There's a tense pause in the air, neither side making a move, as Kikyō made further observations of the undead man's power that retains his existence.
His Shikon-no-Tama shards emit a tainted black light, unlike Suikotsu's clear one...
Does that mean he has been completely taken over by the darkness?
"What's stoppin' you? Come on, take the first shot."
"I want to know what it is you're after. Why do you continue to kill even after you were resurrected? What reason could you have for doing so?"
Bankotsu almost wanted to laugh at the priestess for asking such.
"Now that's a strange question. I don't need any reason for killing people. (Neutral frown) I have always been this way, before my death and after I was revived."
...Kikyō relaxes her stand, taking in the undead man's words with an oddly calm air.
"In the world we live in, it is sometimes necessary to kill in order to survive. But you died once, so why not stop your evil wrongdoings?"
"Ha! I'm a mercenary through and through, and what I do is thoroughly enjoyable."
Turning his gaze from his blade back to the woman before him, Bankotsu goes into his own philosophy about life.
"People talk about Heaven and Hell all the time, but once a mortal is dead, that's the end of it."
Kikyō could only stare at the man with cobalt irises in silence, not having any counter to his thoughts...
"I've got no interest in those so-called other worlds, and I do as I please with no fear of the afterlife."
Finally, the woman with long black hair had a response, and it wasn't one meant to be kind.
"You say that to convince yourself, don't you? It's pathetic, trying to make excuses for your wicked actions."
Surprisingly, Bankotsu didn't find her words overly offensive.
"Tch, I know one thing, Kikyō: dead people like you and I will probably share the same fate. (Frown) You should be worried about yourself. Don't be so concerned about the choices I make."
He then turns on his heel with Banryū held casually against his shoulder, having business elsewhere.
"Well, it doesn't really matter. Let's just both enjoy the time that we have on earth."
As he vanishes from sight, a strong gust of wind blows in from behind the undead priestess, stirring up a few dead leaves to go flying through the air...She found herself watching the dry green foliage dance across the sky, thinking on Bankotsu's words.
"...So. We share the fate of the dead, do we?"
Images of her spiritual sister...an older woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to the redhead...and a very young girl who could be mistaken for Kikyō's doppelganger, flash before the mental irises of the priestess's imagination in accordance to her thoughts of Life and Death...
"Then I shall see where it goes."
With that, Kikyō herself makes careful haste from the area...
We now turn back to the misty cliff ledge connected to another by a wooden bridge within the valley of Mount Hakurei, just as Jakotsu made his presence known to Sesshomaru.
"I assume you're one of Naraku's followers?"
The feminine male lets a small chuckle pass through his ruby-painted lips before replying,
"How very perceptive of you."
The dog demon recalls Mukotsu's image as his nose picked up the zombie's scent.
"Just like that poison-user Inuyasha's woman killed...You reek of a dead mortal."
"My, what a keen sense of smell. Just what I'd expect from Inuyasha's older brother!"
Jakotsu thrusts his multi-balded sword at Sesshomaru, who merely flicked it away with a swipe from his Tokijin, before charging forward in his own attack. The undead swordsman gasps, before letting out a cry as he's thrown back by demon blade's aura, rolling onto the ground before making the motion to crawl away, eyes wide with caution.
"Hah, hah, that was a close call!"
Jaken, who had followed with Rin across the bridge from the other cliff ledge to stay near their lord, dances on his toes and jeers with a laugh,
"Silly mortal! Spare yourself the suffering and let him slay you quickly-Gah!"
He would pay for that taunt by nearly having him and the young girl stricken down by Jakotsu's Jakotsutō, he glaring over at the imp scornfully.
"You talkin' to me, imp?! Well?!"
"Who are you callin' imp?!"
The undead mercenary only laughed and prepped to swing his blade at the two again, only to sense Sesshomaru coming from behind.
"Auh! Hrrrh, what's this?!"
He tries to strike the dog demon with his sword again, but once again fails when Sesshomaru uses Tokijin to swat the other blade away...
"Jaken!"
"Y-Yes, milord!"
The imp takes hold of Rin's kimono sleeve and pulls her along in a run back to the bridge.
"This way, Rin, hurry."
"Wait! What about-"
"There's nothing we can do here..."
The pair step onto the connected plywood boards again as Jaken adds in a tone that spoke of a respectful fear,
"Except stay out of Lord Sesshomaru's way."
As they continue to put some distance between their bodies and the growing battle, Jakotsu pauses for a moment to observe...before commenting to Sesshomaru,
"Hm, so, you don't want the little girl to get in harm's way? Well aren't you just the kindest thing around."
"You talk alot for a dead mortal."
The feminine male in the purple kimono was becoming increasingly annoyed from being typecast based on his rewritten origins.
"I'm getting tired of you harping on about me being dead! (Sneer) Oh, nevermind. With the girl gone, at least you'll be concentrated on our little fight."
The dog demon says nothing in response...
"(Swings Jakotsutō) Come on, let's do it!"
He would then easily leap upward out of the way of the multi-bladed thrust from Jakotsu...As the battle starts up again, Rin pivots her head over her shoulder with concern dancing in her big brown irises as she continues to rush behind Jaken for the other side of the bridge.
"Hah, hah, I'm worried about Lord Sesshomaru. Think he'll be alright?"
The imp replies confidently,
"Hooh, he would never succumb to the attacks of a mere mortal!"
"You might though, Master Jaken."
"Watch your tongue, little girl! I'm a demon too, remember? I would never fall at the hands of a human! Mmph...muh?"
Suddenly, the odd pair pause a little more than halfway across the suspended wood and metal, when they hear someone else approaching from the end they were traveling to...
"Hm? What's this?"
Once the figure emerges from the fog, Jaken would become rather nervous as he gets a gander over Suikotsu's physical profile, right down to those long metal claws sharper than a Bengal Tiger's.
"Ooooh, he looks terribly strong...!"
Hearing the click of metal from the other zombie's weapon, Sesshomaru glances behind him, giving Jakotsu the opportunity to attack openly.
"Here's my chance!"
(Thrust...CLANG)
The dog demon is then disarmed of Tokijin, the blade going to land straight into a rock face a couple feet behind and above Sesshomaru...He then steps over to one side to dodge another offensive attack from the zombie swordsman who jeers menacingly,
"Hang onto your head or I'll lop it off, hehahahaha!"
Cutting back to the bridge, Rin lets out a small scream as she scrambles backwards to dodge a swipe from Suikotsu.
"You won't be able to escape me."
Jaken quickly moves to stand between the two:
"Rin, flee at once!"
She heeds the imp's command, and began to slowly crawl away as the latter struggled to stave off the zombie's metal claws with his Staff of Skulls.
Lord Sesshomaru will kill me if anything were to happen to Rin! I must protect her!
"Staff of Two Heads!"
(Fwoooooooooom...)
Jaken releases a torrent of fire from the old man's mouth of the staff, completely enveloping Suikotsu and part of the bridge he was standing on!
"Heheheheh, so much for that threat!"
"Yes, but the bridge, Master Jaken; the whole thing's going to collapse!"
"Hoh! Hurry on back to the cliff!"
...But just as they start their retreat back from whence they came, one of Suikotsu's weapons comes clawing its way through the plywood steps right between the imp and human!
"Gaaah! He's alive!?"
Hanging on from underneath the weakening structure, the zombie retorts,
"You can't get rid of me that easily!" Jaken shouts to the younger,
"Don't just stand there, Rin, move it!"
She tries to get up and run...
(SWIPE, CRACK)
But one uppercut strike from Suikotsu's weapons was all it took for the bridge's supports to give way, and the whole structure fell apart, taking the three souls with them to the valley below!
Hearing Rin's shriek resonate as the loudest echo among them all, Sesshomaru immediately stops the fight between he and Jakotsu to turn around and leap down after his wards, much to the feminine male's surprise.
"Uh...!"
...An expression of deeper thought then forms on Jakotsu's face as he thinks on the dog demon and his relations with the young human girl.
Hmmm...I heard that girl is his weakness...My plan was to kidnap her and hold her hostage.
He opens his eyes again to watch the tall form ready to disappear over the cliff, a grin forming.
I never thought that he'd leave himself so wide open for me.
Not wanting to waste the moment, he thrusts Jakotsutō at Sesshomaru again...but once again underestimated the latter's sensory and speed as they dodged again. Still, he was confident that he could take the other down.
"Ha! It's only just the beginning!"
Even after Sesshomaru reclaims Tokijin from the rock face, Jakotsu felt that the battle would end in his favour.
"Now I've got'ch you!"
His latest swipe would force the multi-connected blades to coil around the dog demon, poised and ready to vice-grip and slice the form to pieces.
Yes!
(...CLANG)
"Gauh!"
But unfortunately for him, Sesshomaru was able to use Tokijin to swat the opposing blades away from him without turning around, they landing dangerously close to Jakotsu's front in the ground...! The zombie was dumbstruck and honestly horrified that such a feat was possible:
"He deflected my Jakotsutō sword and flung it back at me...!"
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru thought to himself as he continued his descent to the mountain valley below,
Hmm. That was close...but not close enough.
Once he was out of sight, that was when Jakotsu's clothing rips across the chest area in accordance from being slashed by his deflected blades, making him gasp...before falling back on his behind with a disbelieving expression.
"...He's deadly...Killed by his own brother on my way to kill Inuyasha? I couldn't live with myself if I let that happen."
Sighing with a dreamy smile, he mutters to the skies above in a wistful voice,
"We wouldn't want that, would we, Inuyasha?"
...Speaking of which, we return now to find the younger dog demon running along a different path in the mountains near the higher base of Mount Hakurei, carting Coraline on his back, while Besa rode atop a fully-formed Kilala, holding his arms tight around Kōga's unconscious and heavily-injured form in a sitting position against his front, Shippo sitting behind them with Hakkaku's unconscious form laying behind, and Freeman ran near the former's side on his own strength, carrying his wolf demon mate Ginta over his shoulders fireman style.
"So, you got any ideas to where we should head to?...Inuyasha?"
The dog demon replies to the young man rushing beside him a touch irritably,
"I dunno how far. (Glances behind him) I'm just gonna go until we can find a safe place to take that mangy wolf, (looks at Freeman) and your mate."
"Whaddo ya mean? What're you doin' that for?"
Besa replies to the young fox demon,
"Isn't it obvious, Shippo? The Shichinintai were after Kōga for the Shikon-no-Tama fragments in his legs. Unless we get him out of sight now, his, Ginta and Hakkaku's lives will all be put in further jeopardy than they already have been."
He looks ahead with a glare burning in his forest green irises bordered by dark hazel.
"The fact that all of us are jostled together right now only increases the unknowable probability of when those freaks could strike next..."
Coraline nods in agreement, her fingers gripping the material of her lover's red haori a bit tighter.
"Very true...Lumos."
The Will O' Wisp pops out of the redhead's satchel upon her call, and flies alongside her and Inuyasha as she requests,
"Could you please help us find an area hidden away deep enough that the Shichinintai shouldn't find us, least for a while?"
Lumos 'nods' vigorously, before darting off fast ahead of the group, prompting the dog demon and twin-tailed cat demon to up their own agility, while Freeman siphoned the power of his Seven Light Crystal shard to increase his own strength...
Sesshomaru's POV
I had reached the bottom of the valley gorge where Jaken and Rin had fallen thanks to that other undead mortal who destroyed the bridge, landing on some rocks set along a raging river...
However, I could not sense any signs of my youngest ward.
She must've been carried down stream...The water has washed away her scent.
I was able to catch the scent of that troublesome imp, Jaken, so he at least was still alive and nearby...I walked by him as I started my search for where Rin had vanished to.
"Jaken."
...I hear him grimace, before I ask rhetorically,
"Are you pretending to be dead, Jaken?"
Hearing my tone, the imp immediately jumps to his feet to kowtow in forgiveness.
"Please forgive me, Lord Sesshomaru! I promise I will find Rin even if it costs me my life!"
Hn. His undying loyalty and willingness to follow orders, is part of what keeps him alive.
I began walking away again, to which he would respond to by quickly rushing to catch up.
"My Lord? Doh! Wait for me, my lord! I'm comiiiing!...Oooh, you are angry after all."
At you, Jaken? Not overly.
At the ones who believe they will get away with their foolish ambush?
...Immensely.
Rin's POV
"Mmm, mmm..."
I'm not sure how long I was unconscious for after I fell from that high bridge, but when I did wake up...I found myself being carried by someone who was not my lord.
"Well now, I see that you're awake."
Uh! Oh no; it's him! That man from before!
I thrash in a panic to get out of his arms, and rush to crouch with my back against a tree, staring with petrified eyes at the warrior.
I-Is he going to kill me?! Lord Sesshomaru, where are you?!
Yet, getting a better look at the man...he didn't look the same way he did earlier. His hair wasn't wild; he wasn't displaying those scary metal claws; he didn't have those strange markings on his face. In fact, he looked...nicer...
"What is it? Why do you run?"
Relaxing a little from his chiding tone, he says to me gently,
"Do not fear me, child. I am a physician."
"Huh?"
He's not like the other man...He's changed.
Given that he wasn't presenting any immediate danger, and that I had no one else to turn to in this new forest, I had no choice but to partially trust him. We were soon walking through the green as I explained what was going on, since it seemed this version of the man didn't know...
"I see. You were with companions."
"Yes...I'm sure they'll come looking for me, though. That's why I don't think it's a good idea to move too far away from here."
He does not disagree, but points out,
"This forest is dangerous. You should stay with me until we meet up with your friends."
"Alright."
He doesn't seem like a bad man...Still, I should be careful.
Even though Kohaku wasn't doing it on purpose...he did feign niceness once, and this man could be doing the same thing.
Small Time Skip, No POV
We check back now with Miroku and Sango as they continued their climb up Mount Hakurei, the misty fog now carrying a light orange tinge from the descending sun, but still not giving way to any signs of malicious activity going on within the holy barrier...
"There's nothing here..."
"No. I don't sense any demonic aura either."
The demon slayer begins to once again question the probability of their target of inquiry actually housing within these mountain walls.
"Do you really think Naraku is around here somewhere?"
"Well, even with Coraline's great distrust for the air of this place, I can't say for sure, but our only choice is to keep searching for him...Being separated from her and Inuyasha like this, you really feel grateful for each of their presences."
Sango smiles a little and comments,
"Both of them together, with her Aura Reader abilities and his sense of smell, have made it almost impossible for our enemies to hide for very long."
"Heh, indeed, and let's not forget Lumos's moments...If we let him, Inuyasha would probably be searching around all night for Naraku, likely dragging the other two along for the ride."
Putting their light jokes aside, the monk and demon slayer pair continue their upward scale...and would soon spot the entrance of a cave just a few yards above them.
"Hey, Sango...see that cave up there?"
"Yeah...let's go check it out."
...What they weren't aware of, however, was that someone was watching them, namely, Kohaku via Kanna's demon mirror from within the shrine currently housing Saint Hakushin! His focus of course, was fixated on Sango, the young woman who's become a hindrance to his damaged memories.
Her again...I hope she leaves without noticing anything...I don't want to have to fight her.
Small Time Skip
It's now sunset, and we check back with Rin and Suikotsu (he personifying his more gentle nature) as they walk through a field of tall grass in the direction of the village set near the base of the self-proclaimed holy mountain...
"Huh? You're a doctor in the village?"
"Yes, that's right. I live in a house at the base of Mount Hakurei. I think you will like it there. There are many children your age about in the village, and they don't have parents either...There it is, over there. That's where I live."
...Unbeknownst to those two, another soul was sensing their arrival from afar, namely, atop the ledge of a cliff distant from Mount Hakurei's lands so that her own multi-contradictory existence wasn't jeopardized by the holy energies of the sacred barrier.
I sense the presence of a jewel shard...It's approaching the village...
The shard seems different from the man I met earlier...
It's...It's Suikotsu's!...But this presence is different from before.
Feeling the need to investigate, Kikyō turned around to start walking down the cliff to the grounds of the forest before the village...
Zooming downward to just outside the main structures of the small populace settled near the tall peak of rock, we pick up on the soft crooning of a familiar young girl who looked up to the once proud doctor that lived in this home.
"Pu~re has become impure,
I~mpure has now be-come pure,
Go~od has become bad...hm?"
Pausing her singing as she felt someone behind her, young Yuuta turns around from the hearth cooking dinner for she and the other orphan children, finding herself staring at Suikotsu and Rin.
"I have returned."
"Auh! Doctor Suikotsu!"
Hearing her exclaim, Chiyo and another younger child slide open the door to the house to see what was going on, becoming equally surprised to see their friend was back. He himself only continued to smile softly as if nothing wrong had happened this last while, speaking volumes about his more complex mental disorder.
"I hope you can all forgive me. I was gone for a long time."
"Doctor Suikotsu...is that, really you?"
"Of course it is. Why? Is something the matter?"
The children chose to shake their heads 'No', not sure of any other way to respond to the kind face, despite any bewaring feelings their hearts may be housing...Suikotsu then remembers,
"Oh, how rude of me. (Glance) This girl with me is named Rin. Be nice to her and show her around. She's our special guest."
As said young girl made a polite bow, we pan over to a patch of tall grass near the home, where Jakotsu was squatting and observing the scene with annoyance.
"Aaaaoh, this isn't working out. That damn Suikotsu...he's returned to his former self. Good thing I decided to stick around; looks like my hunch was right...Oh well then."
The feminine male reaches for the hilt of his blade:
"I'll just have to open his eyes."
...However, several others were about to beat him to the punch, they being several men of the village accompanying the elder in an approach to Suikotsu's home...And based on their negative expressions, this confrontation was not going to end very well for either side.
"I told you it was Doctor Suikotsu."
"He really has returned..."
Seeing the men coming, the warrior/physician turns to address them.
"My good men. What brings you here?"
The elder of the village, he riding on horseback, replies in a straight if somewhat regretful tone,
"Doctor...we beg you to leave the village."
Suikotsu forms a look of bewilderment, just as one of the younger, middle-aged men argues,
"Wasn't it your fault that the Shichinintai attacked our village in the first place?"
The elder comments,
"I'll never forget your face that night..."
Rin watches Suikotsu carefully as the elderly headman lifts himself down off his horse.
"You looked just like, a demon."
...The warrior/physician smirks the slightest...
(SLASH)
Before killing the elder with a swipe from his clawed weapons!
Eyes belonging to the villagers, the orphaned children and Rin widen with horror, Jakotsu's with shock from what they all just witnessed, while the newly-dead elder's horse whinnies and runs away...What made things particularly distressing, was that Suikotsu's appearance and voice had not changed in the slightest.
"Quite the ingrate, wouldn't you agree? And after all my ministrations as his physician."
Fearing for their lives, the other men from the village turn to run back and most like warn everyone else about the doctor's apparent psychotic break. He in turn would chase after them, calm smile/smirk still on his face.
"Hey, what's your hurry?"
Whimpering a little, Rin backs a few steps while thinking to herself in fright,
I knew it. He is the same man who attacked us on the bridge...!
Watching a little of the brutal attack on the other village men, the young girl wasted little time in deciding on a course of action.
"I-I have to get away!"
But just as she turns and starts a run from the area, Rin was snatched up by the back of her kimono by Jakotsu!
"A-Aaaaah!"
"Hello."
...It wouldn't be long before night darkened the lands once more, and zooming away from the grounds of Mount Hakurei, we find Sesshomaru flying across the green plains towards the enormous mountain peak, Jaken resting weakly on his mokomoko-sama.
There it is. The scent of the walking dead...They're somewhere at the base of Mount Hakurei.
"I don't feel so good, my lord. Is it my imagination, or has the barrier become quite alot stronger than before?"
Jaken receives no reply from the dog demon, as he expected.
Doooh, he's still not talking to me...Oh, this fur is so soft and wonderful...
While the imp demon may have had some way to cope with the energies of the sacred barrier, Kikyō, who was slowly approaching the area from another direction deep within the forest canopy, had but her own thoughts and her brave Shinidamachū followers to keep her going.
The battle continues...
The fact that I walk this path once more, only serves to confirm my wretched fate...and, what awaits me beyond this darkness.
"...Tis not as bad as all portray, priestess. Ye only seeing the negative."
"Uh...!"
The woman with ebony hair stops, when she hears the voice of another with an accent foreign to her ears gently echo within her mind.
"...Are you...who I think you are?"
"Aye. I be Rosiagnes, ancestor to the Crofts, one of which ye have become quite familiar, face to face, and spiritually."
"...Coraline..."
"Correct again...Forgive me, but I cannot help in listening to yer plight, and I feel the need to tell ye...the end is not an abyss."
Kikyō's face contorts to reflect confusion and light surprise:
"What?"
"I understand yer views, make no mistake, for I have been in yer place once before, when I was a part of the living...My time on this earth: I too lived a life of facing adversity, and was forced to undertake a task that would mean my untimely end, for the sake of many others...Yet, at that moment, something yonder the shadows of nirvana etched away any doubts me soul had, in moving beyond the earth of me homeland."
"Beyond the shadows of nirvana?...Are you implying that the darkness of death..."
"Tis but the starting point for passing on, aye...Ye have nothing to feel afraid for, Kikyō...The end, is but another way of saying, the beginning."
...All becomes quiet around the undead priestess with alabaster skin and deep brown eyes, as she ponders the words sent by the other woman beyond this world.
The end...is the beginning? Hm...what a way to view death.
She starts her walk in the direction of the village again, affirming her current goals.
I will have to wonder more later, though, for right now...I must ascertain the whereabouts of those mortals resurrected from the grave.
...And of course, the closer she came to entering the pure air blanketing the grounds of Mount Hakurei, the more vulnerable the eel-like demons became to death by disintegration. Glancing slightly behind her on her right, Kikyō focuses back in front of her while mentally apologizing to her allies.
Forgive me, my Shinidamachū...I must hurry. That Shikon-no-Tama jewel shard is completely enshrouded in black light...
Suikotsu's heart has closed shut. He will likely harm the children.
...By this point, all of those men who came with the village elder were dead, their bodies strewn across the grounds near the home of 'the doctor', he standing in front one epitome of flesh protruding a pool of blood, right-handed claws raised...
"Suikotsu. What's gotten into you?"
Pivoting his head, Suikotsu sees Jakotsu (whom we see was now displaying his under armour after tying down his ruined upper kimono) approach with Rin in their hand.
"Jakotsu...you're here."
"Before, when you had that face, you were harmless. You wouldn't have been able to hurt a fly...So which Suikotsu are you?"
The frightened orphan children watch on from the safer proximity near the house, also confused by this shift towards what appears to be an inbetween of both the undead man's personas...Even he couldn't provide a conclusive answer, yet unlike everyone else, Suikotsu didn't seem to care much.
"Hard to say. All I know is that I feel better than I have before."
We see the glow of the Shikon-no-Tama shard within his neck change viscosity and colour, from that soft fuchsia pink to an otherwise shadowy black.
"Half of me used to walk around in a daze all the time. I was never sure when I would lose myself...Now things are different. I am myself now."
"Oh yeah? I don't follow, but no matter. Does it mean you won't turn into a saint next time you approach the barrier?"
"Right. That's why I came to the base of Mount Hakurei, just to make sure. That fool doctor hasn't appeared. I am alright now."
Yuuta frightfully whispers to Chiyo,
"What's happened to the doctor...?"
He replies a touch calmer yet just as scared,
"He's not Doctor Suikotsu. His face is right...He looks the same, but it's not him."
Hearing their characterizations, the warrior holding the face and voice of the doctor turns to slowly approach the children, prompting Rin to cry out,
"Hurry, run for it!"
Yet they were not as brave as she: Those orphans could only huddle together behind the eldest boy, Chiyo, he no more or less frightened than the rest, and flinch back with whimpers from the zombie...He in turn would smirk slightly in a cruel manner, raising one of his clawed hands.
"Kah, bunch of scrawny-looking orphans...I'll put you out of your misery!"
He lunges...but then suddenly stops almost halfway, his body feeling another force freezing his limbs!
"Gh!"
Feeling no painful start to death, the teary children look up to see their former ally, trembling...struggling.
"Hrr...g-grrrh...D-Dammit...!" Jakotsu asks from several feet behind,
"Suikotsu...you got a problem over there?"
"Save it!"
Th echoes of that children's song sound within Suikotsu's mind as he tries to figure out what was happening to him.
"Pu~re has become Impure,
I~mpure has now be-come Pure..."
G-Grh, what's going on? Why, have I lost, control of my body?
I..I-It's, those, kids...!
If things weren't already confusing enough for the undead warrior/physician, an image Kikyō flashes before his vision...
Grh! Dammit...why is her face coming to mind?
After another short moment of fighting to swing his arm, Suikotsu grinds out a growl before bellowing to the skies above,
"CURSE IT ALL!"