Chapter8. August 1996 Fate be Changed
The newest revelation had been interesting – but they hadn't changed their current plans.
And so, on the very same day they had fought Naraku, the pack was on the road once more, after giving their farewell to Ryoichi, who was heading north, and Kaede, who of course was staying in Edo.
It took them two weeks to travel to the parts where the rumors of a sennin, an hermit, were originated – and one more week to pinpoint in which part of the mountain the man was supposed to be. During that time, all had kept up with whatever training could be had on the road, mainly by completing small games Tsukiko knew of that helped with the training of youki and reiki, and going through at least one Hunting Spot each day.
Those Spots, which they hadn't used much at first, were less rewarding than the Arena Boss, and simply zone they had already visited, where they hunted waves of youkai, which type depended on the Spot – inu youkai beasts in InuYasha's forest, ghosts and spirits by Edo's river where they had met the mu onna, spider in the mountain temple... but the clear advantage of the Hunting Spots on the Bosses was that they were faster to take on, and were available everyday, which meant they were more adapted for training on the road.
That training and traveling rhythm was tiring, but all were determined – they had seen Naraku, and now knew that the hanyou was not only cunning, but powerful too, and all were set on seeing him defeated.
This constant training was already showing its fruit, as as they reached the area where the sennin was rumored to live, all had managed to spot things they probably wouldn't have noted before.
InuYasha had been the first, his nose picking on the faint traces of frequent human passage. Following this trail, they had soon come upon an empty village...
Of course, the strange thing was that the village hadn't been attacked, as there was no trace of fight – yet it was just as clear that it had been empty pretty hastily, as the modest huts weren't emptied of their belongings.
This had been the first sign that things were fishy.
Then, Kagome had started to feel the faint echo of a shard, right in the direction of the sennin's rumored retreat.
That had confirmed to the group that something evil was probably at work.
And that was when they found the tree...
[New Secondary Quest! The evil peach boy...
Goal: find the sennin
Bonus goal: find out what happened to the village
Reward: +25XP per goal, +1 Beginner Skill book upon completion
Bonus reward: +50XP per goal, +1 Enhancement Stone to be chosen upon completion]
The pack slowly approached the peach tree, full of what appeared to be its fruits – countless miniature heads, all lamenting and calling for help.
"What are those..." Kagome whispered, a shiver of horror running through her body
"They smell human." Shippou informed the two humans of the group, as they hadn't the canines' sense of smell
"That's because we were human." on the multitude of heads on the tree answered "Before we were eaten by the sennin..."
"All of us, tired of this world, gave up on the village and traveled the mountain in search of the sennin, whose garden is said to be a paradise..." another explained
"But instead when we found Toukajin the sennin, he ate us, making us into this." a third one went on
"Tch. Giving up on the world indeed." InuYasha grumbled with distaste "You sure complain a lot for people who'd given up."
Kagome frowned, turning her head toward InuYasha to give him a piece of her mind about his in-sensitiveness – only to catch their alpha's gaze, who seemed a bit more focused than usual. Wondering if the ookami knew something she didn't, she instead asked the head "Is there anything we can do?"
"It's to late for us," the first head to have spoken to them denied "but perhaps some of the villagers are still alive..."
"Well," Miroku commented "if that's the case, then we'll save them, you have our word."
"What will happen to you then?" Kagome couldn't help but ask, still thorn by the heart-wrenching cries of the desperate souls bound to the tree
"Our bones became the fertilizer for this tree, and we became nin-menka, the fruits of eternal life. Get rid of him and we'll be free to pass on..."
"Well," InuYasha commented, still frowning yet clearly not liking the story they were hearing anymore than the rest of the pack "he may call himself a sennin, this sure sounds a lot like a youkai to me!"
With that, he turned his his head toward the traditional house perched higher on the mountain's flank "Let's get to it, then! We haven't got all day."
"Let's." Tsukiko nodded, clearly just as resolved as her uncle
With a bark, Padfoot had grown to his larger form, and was clearly waiting for the two humans to hop on – and in one powerful jump, they were off.
"Why I'm not against it," Miroku remarked, "I don't understand why we're suddenly is such a rush?"
Kagome frowned – now that she thought about it, the answer was fairly evident, but it really wasn't her place to say, wasn't it?
InuYasha was the one to answer, to her surprise – he really had started to trust them, hadn't he "Tonight's the new moon."
The priest opened his mouth to ask more – then closed it, remembering their discussion about Naraku's weakness, and realizing that InuYasha had just revealed his own. With a nod he smiled "Well, let's be quick about it, then."
"There's a second entrance!" Shippou realized at that moment from his spot of Tsukiko's shoulder
The ookami used her youki to change her path, landing on the small patch of greenery, where indeed there was an opening leading into the mountain's depths.
The rest of the pack had soon landed by her side "Well? Shall we head in?"
"It would be faster to go by the main entrance." InuYasha grumbled
"Yes, but this way we do have the surprise on our side." Miroku pointed out calmly
With that, they left the day-light and headed into the narrow gallery that was descending into darkness.
Within a few minutes, they had reached a large cave, clearly in used as large clay pots were lining the walls, and an ornate table with strangely detailed miniature garden was sit in the middle of the space.
"There's people moving in this garden!" Kagome realized, eyes widening in horror
"I think we've found the villagers Toukajin took away..." Miroku commented by her side
"Wait... are they becoming larger?" Kagome wondered, before realizing "No, we're the ones growing small!"
Too late – the two of them had already been taken by the spell, and were falling down, and down, into Toukajin's false paradise garden...
[Bonus goal complete! (50+25)XP
Bonus goal update: get out of Toukajin's garden]
On the outside of the garden, InuYasha let out a panicked shout "Kagome! Miroku!"
"Calm down, oji-san. They'll be alright." the wolf princess affirmed, while bending down to pick Kagome's necklace with the phial in which she kept the shards – apparently, the spell on the garden hadn't been able to cope with the purified shards, and as such they had been left behind
"How can you stay that calm?" the hanyou protested
Tsukiko's tails twitched, and the beta calmed down, abruptly realizing that his niece wasn't any less worried than he was, she was simply hiding it better.
"They've already been taken by the garden's spell, and getting caught too wouldn't help them. Both have made great strides with their reiki, they should be ale to get out of this by themselves. Meanwhile, we've got another problem."
Finally calm too, the hanyou immediately realized what she meant – a smell was growing stronger, and he could hear the sound of footsteps.
Seemed like they didn't need to search for Toukajin any longer, for the man-eating sennin was coming to them himself.
By the time Toukajin entered the cave, Shippou and InuYasha had had more than enough time to hide themselves on each side of the entrance, and they attacked as one.
[Goal complete! +25XP
Goal update: defeat Toukajin]
[Level up! Shippou is now level 79!
+1SP]
Only for the hanyou's blade to bounce on the barely human looking sennin, while Shippou's flames seemed to melt away without doing any damages.
"Oh, what a nice surprise! Here I was, searching for dinner, when it came to me by himself!" the sennin commented, leering at both "I'll pickle the hanyou! And I'll roast the kit!"
"I've no intention to be eaten by someone like you!" Shippou retorted with far more bravado than he felt, unnerved as he was by how ineffective his flames had been
"Stupid youkai! Do you really think you could beat a sennin!" the other laughed, as yet another of InuYasha's attack bounced off
With that, he grabbed something in his clothes, and threw it toward them – flowers, the kit realized, a bit surprised. What was that suppose to do?
"Did you think this would blind us?" InuYasha taunted, knowing his attacks weren't working but still keeping at it to at least annoy the other
"Why don't you take a closer look?" the sennin taunted
Brash as he was, the hanyou would have probably fallen for it – if he hadn't just seen two of his pack-mates shrunken down and trapped in a miniature garden. As it was, neither him nor Shippou let themselves distracted, and now knowing the flowers were bewitched, avoided looking at them directly.
"Ah well, you're not as stupid as I thought." Toukajin admitted, as his spell failed "But no matter, you can't win!"
With that, he raised his stick, far more agile and fast than any of them had thought possible, aiming at InuYasha. The hanyou could have dodged – except, he realized, that just behind him was the table on which the miniature garden was placed, and he didn't know what would happen to Kagome and Miroku if it was damaged. Not having enough time to parry with his sword, that left only one solution – InuYasha jumped toward the attack, the thorns of the vine wound around the stick biting into both clothes and flesh, leaving a heavily bleeding mark on his shoulder, an injury much deeper than it had any right to be.
And suddenly – he understood a bit of the sennin's unnatural resistance – for the only thing that could damage a youkai like this...
"Holy powers. What kind of twisted sennin are you, to eat humans and look like a youkai?" he taunted, still able to fight despite his wound – using the time he could gain by talking to warn Shippou about the table
"What's your problem! The strong eat the weak, that's how life work!" the sennin retorted "You should understand that as a youkai!"
"Tchh. I'm not weak enough to need eating the flesh of sentient creature, you pathetic human being."
Meanwhile, Shippou had read the beta's message, and slipped behind the sennin, launching another ball of Fox Fire at the man, turning his attention toward him before rushing away in the caves and tunnels, in order to take the sennin away from the garden.
Sure enough, between the hanyou's taunting, and the kit's antics, they had soon led their enemy further in the depths of his lair, leaving the miniature garden under Tsukiko's protection.
Of course, they weren't any nearer to defeating the sennin as his powers, far too similar to reiki, were clearly enhanced by the Shikon shard he had absorbed, and protected him quite effectively from their youki, while worsening all of his attacks against them.
Their best chance, right now, was to hold on until Kagome and Miroku freed themselves from the cursed garden, and hope that they didn't take too long – for the kit could tell that the night would soon be falling...
¤.¤.¤
Kagome and Miroku dusted themselves after their long, but thankfully painless fall, and looked around them. On one side, a small hut and a field with vegetables flourishing, a river cutting the landscape, with a wooden bridge arching over the two banks, and a large peach tree on top of a nearby hill.
Just like the heads on the tree had said, this was a paradise for the destitute farm hands that lived in this era of war and starvation.
Of course, both of them knew better – this was no paradise, but a pen for the sick sennin's herd of humans.
"How can we get out of here?"
It was Kagome who had an inkling about the answer first.
"By undoing whatever wards are on this place." she announced, remembering about the wards placed on Tessaiga in Inu no Taisho's grave "This is no spell, as a spell effect is punctual. There must be an anchorage for the wards somewhere." her eyes, and those of Miroku strayed toward the peach tree at once
It was only logical after all – this was the biggest thing around, and, they realized as they neared the tree's trunk, this was were the remaining of the villagers were. Except said villagers didn't even react at their presence, some sagging against the tree, others walking aimlessly, all sharing the same vacant look.
"I see." Miroku was soon musing, pointing a some seeds on the ground around the men "I think this happened to them when they ate those fruit."
"No eating the peaches then." Kagome nodded, before adding with a faint air of disgust "No matter, seeing that tree earlier put me off them for the foreseeable future I think."
The houshi nodded his agreement, and they went about looking for anything that looked like an anchor for the spell.
After a few moments of unsuccessful searching, both holy servants were pulled out of their search by a sound – familiar, but surprising.
A bark – not any bark, to be precise...
"Padfoot! Why are you here?" Tsukiko wondered, despite knowing the dog didn't have any way to answer
And indeed, the Grimm didn't give any clear answer, instead grabbing her by the sleeve, and pulling her nearer the tree, before barking again.
This time, she saw what he wanted her to see.
Padfoot was a holy servant, just like her – but his powers were more offensive, she knew that much. What she hadn't realized until now was that the Grimm could imbue his voice with reiki, and the tree was reacting to each bark as if it was an attack, a protective rope invisible until now made visible around the tree's trunk, glowing a sickly purple.
A color the young miko had heard about during those multiple lessons on the road, but not yet seen – corrupted holy powers.
"Well," Miroku commented, having seen it just like her "Seems like the tree itself is the anchor, and it is protected."
"Unwinding the protection, then the wards itself would take hours." Kagome sighed
"It would." the priest confirmed "But from what I managed to decrypt when Padfoot barked, I'm pretty sure brute force could work here."
"How so?"
"Between the three of us we've got a lot of holy powers available, something the sennin probably didn't count on." Miroku went on explaining "We could overcharge the protection, which would make it unstable."
"And it would explode." the teenage girl understood, remembering how a few of her training sutra had ended up as she still had trouble controlling how much power she used from time to time
"Exactly."
"What are we waiting for then?"
"We've got to get these men away first." the older man reminded her "Or they'll be caught in the explosion."
Kagome's cheek reddened as she realized the error she had nearly made, then they went to work, dragging the unresponsive men away from the peach tree.
"Do you think they'll be back to normal once we're free?" she asked worriedly as they finally laid the last of them near the river
"It's difficult to say." the houshi answered truthfully "Because they ate those fruit, there's part of the curse inside them. But using reiki to heal them should work. Yet since the tree is the center of the curse, maybe be destroying it and getting out will work... In any case, we should be able to help them."
"Good then." she mused
Having saved them from getting eaten by the sennin, only for them to be stuck eternally in a daze would have been too cruel a fate...
Taking a break to get their wind back, the three of them were soon back to the now farmer-free peach tree.
Kagome had wondered about using her bow, so that they weren't too close to the explosion, but they had to sustain a continuous attack, which the nanigata allowed, but the bow didn't. They would near the heart of the explosion, they realized – and while each knew how to make a barrier, they would be too weak individually to work.
The solution was to combine their attack, sustaining it until the barrier broke – and then combine their barrier, and pray they were fast enough to weather the explosion...
So Padfoot was soon on her left, letting out a long lugubrious howl, and supernatural shadows answered to his call, curling around him and swirling in sync with Kagome's reiki around her weapon, soon joined by a wave of water glowing turquoise under the pulse of the houriki it was charged with.
Their newly unlocked Synergy Skill may not be all that high, none of them having it a more than 10 points, it was still more than enough – the attack enhanced by the skill and raging against the barrier that protected the peach tree was clearly stronger than several separate attacks would have been.
The miko was keeping an eye on her reiki points while sustaining the attack, seeing as it was going under the halfway point – then soon three-quarter empty.
And finally, the barrier gave way – and the three of them dropped their attack to switch to a barrier, Miroku's new element proving much more powerful in that task than as an offensive force, thankfully – for without the water bubble enhanced with her and Padfoot's reiki, none of them would have survived, Kagome realized as the light replaced the garden...
With that, the dark cave they had been in before the garden appeared, and they dropped to the ground, drained of any energy.
"Well done." Tsukiko was there, waiting for them – and smiling as if she never doubted they would made it out
[Bonus goal complete! (50+25)XP
Bonus goal reward: (50+25)XP, 1 Enchancement stone to be chosen]
[Level up! Kagome is now level 90!
+1SP, +1PP, +2CP]
[Level up! Miroku is now level 73!
+1SP]
Dismissing then notification with practiced ease, Kagome looked around her "Where are InuYasha and Shippou?"
"Stalling for time." the alpha answered easily "But I don't think you're in any state to help them."
"Well, we'll have to anyway, won't we?" sighed Miroku as he heaved himself up thanks to his shakujou "Given this sennin is using corrupted houriki, I don't think they'll be able to win this fight."
Kagome eyed their pack-mate oddly, while dragging herself up too – then realized that even if Miroku had so seamlessly adapted himself to their pack that she had forgotten that it hadn't been all that long since he'd started traveling with them...
Just like he hadn't known about InuYasha's weakness on the new moon, he hadn't yet been confronted with the wolf princess's uncanny ability to use reiki – oh, sure enough, he'd seen her heal her beta and her father after their fight, but by that point he had been delirious thanks to the saimyoushou's poison and had probably forgotten all about it...
With a shrug, she followed the houshi who was already heading toward the tunnel that lead deeper into the sennin's delve, and the faint sound of fighting they could hear.
They would do their best – and if their best wasn't enough, she knew their alpha would be there to save them, and help them to be better the next time.
With that, they were soon in the lower part of the lair's, in a small dusty room where InuYasha and Shippou were still fighting, but visibly tiring.
The vines on Toukajin's weapon had left behind dangerous wounds, but even if the youkai weapon weren't working against the sennin, he was still tiring, clearly not used to move around so much...
"He barely looks human!" Kagome whispered, eyes widening as she saw the potbellied man, with an unnaturally large mouth full of sharpened teeth
"He was so evil he started to loose his humanity..." Miroku understood by her side, leaning heavily on his shakujou "Rather than a youkai, this is an oni!"
"Tch! I wanted to get rid of the weakness than was humanity!" said oni answered "Because those pathetic creatures crawl the earth struggling to survive and die in their dirt! So I studied under the pathetic sennin who lived here, and when I knew enough, I ate him, becoming all powerful!"
His demented laughter was interrupted by Tsukiko's voice, the ookami carrying a potted flower where one more head was visible "Not all powerful." she pointed at the old head who was having difficultly opening his eyes "Otherwise you wouldn't have kept the old sennin's head, would you?"
"The old fool stubbornly refuse to give up the secret of his immortality!" the crazed man admitted easily "But it doesn't matter, as long as I have my nin-menka, I'll be immortal and with this Shikon shard, I'm invincible!"
"It's true the old sennin was unnaturally old for a human." the young goddess acknowledged easily – the mad man in front of her not even wondering about how she knew this "But that was just the result of his developed holy powers. Had you continued to follow his teachings you would have live well into your two hundreds."
Kagome's eyes widened at that affirmation – even in her time period that was really old for a human, no wonder the people of the sengoku jidai had thought the previous hermit immortal...
"Why waste my time studying when I could have so much better, way faster!"
"You did add the innocents whom you ate lifetime's to your own by making them into those perverted fruits." was Tsukiko's acknowledgment as she effortlessly avoided the attack haphazardly coming toward her
¤.¤.¤
"Oh," Shippou realized, the kit having fallen back by Kagome and Miroku's side "This is why Tsuki-chan is angry..."
"What do you mean?" Miroku wondered, bemused by the change that he was witnessing for the first time
"The gaki isn't a normal youkai." InuYasha was the one to say as he too had been sent back by his alpha – he hadn't been able to protest, as the sun had just set and with it, the change had came, making him realize how deep truly were his wounds "And there are few things that set her off, but playing with people's souls and life... That's a sure way to make her mad."
"And a mad Tsuki-chan is scary. I wouldn't want to make her mad." Shippou affirmed with as much serious as the kit was able to gather
While they were saying this, said scary alpha had steadily made her way toward the corrupted sennin, and finally, KageShin was taken out of it's sheath, the dark blade heavy with power.
Because he was far better trained than both InuYasha and Kagome had been the first time they'd seen the blade, it was easy for him to feel that the power their alpha was far different than usual...
And once more, the blade charged with reiki went through her enemy without shedding any blood – yet light filled the area, as the souls stolen to expand his lifespan were finally freed.
The second time KageShin struck, she was humming with youki, and this time, blood was shed, and the sennin fell to the ground, not able to cheat Death anymore.
[Secondary Quest Complete!
Reward: +25 XP, +1 Beginner Skill book to be chosen]
[Level up! Shippou is now level 81!
+2SP, +2CP, +1PP]
[Level up! InuYasha is now level 121!
+1SP]
With the sennin's death, they felt the spells sustained by him unraveling – and in a nearby jar that had bee broken down during the fall, the horrifying head-fruit were now simple peaches...
"You have my gratitude, Seishi-hime-sama."
The young goddess's eyes widened minutely at the appellation the old sennin granted her
"I hadn't heard that title in a long title." she couldn't help but admit, amused that an old human holy servant and an old tengu youkai had both given her the same title once they'd understood who she was
"It may not be much, but let me grant you one last gift, for having freed us all..."
Before she could protest, the old sennin had disappeared in a flash of reiki, leaving behind him a single leave...
[Hidden Quest complete! The last gift of a sennin...
For freeing him and the villagers, the old sennin left a gift behind for you
Reward: +100XP, unlocks A Sennin's Gift Perk (+10 to Wood Affinity)]
Tsukiko bent down to pick up the leave left behind, eyes widening minutely as she felt the last of the reiki imbued in it course through it and change it as left the ground. By the time it was at eye level, the leaf had changed into a small metallic charm brightly enameled, and a quick observe soon explained just what exactly she'd been gifted...
[Leaf Healing Charm (LV150): you can heal someone that wouldn't otherwise survive once, using ten of your HP and RP to grant back 1 HP]
With a mute thanks to the departed holy man, she quickly pocketed the charm, having one more reason to notch up her training – after all, you never knew when something like that would be necessary...
The exhausted group had still managed to help the freed farmers before leaving the area, none of them wanting to spent any more time than necessary close to the peach tree that had been cursed or the now empty retreat in the mountain.
Tsukiko had been surprised when Miroku had asked no questions about her powers – but then again the houshi had learned about his powers for far longer than Kagome, and was no slouch with them, it was even possible he'd already guessed at her identity – as if to confirm her suspicions, it was only several day later, while InuYasha was busy training Shippou that he approached her "So... Seishi-hime?"
"Some do gave me the title." she admitted easily, having never gone out of her way to hide her true nature
"Are you their daughter?"
This time she laughed, before correcting "Death's my brother. But I guess that title is misleading..." she admitted "They call me Shadow, protector of the the heroes..."
"You have a far more hands-on approach than the others."
"I'm also far less powerful." she explained easily "And as you can guess, my powers are restricted."
"Makes sense. Well... You are even more of a hime-sama than I knew, eh?"
"If you try and give me those lengthy title again I will get back at you!" the young goddess threatened with a smile
"What title? The only one I know about is alpha, isn't it?"
"As it should be." she confirmed with a smile
They had headed back toward the north, and Edo without using their Recall option, taking advantage of the village they went through to keep an ear out for other shards.
They were less than three days away from their village when they happened on a small farm where the corpse of a large centipede demon was decaying.
It was a tajiya, a demon-hunter, who'd killed it, the farmer had been all too happy to explain, she'd accepted no payment, only taking a few claws and a bit of the shell before leaving.
And more importantly, taking with her the Shikon shard that had been stuck in the demon, and made it attack whereas it had been leaving peacefully nearby up until now.
The greater surprise, however, was the tajiya affirmation as she'd taken the shard...
"It was originally from my village..." a thoughtful Kagome repeated "You know, I hadn't thought about the jewel's origin before it came into Kikyou's hands..."
The rest of the pack was thoughtful too – InuYasha had only heard about the jewel when it was already in Kikyou's possession, Shippou once it was broken, Miroku in the context of Naraku's desire of it; as for Tsukiko all she knew was that Kagome was born as it's protector...
"Well," the young miko said with regained enthusiasm "I guess we've got our next destination!"
Said destination, it turned out, was harder to find than they thought – all the villagers knew about the tajiyas' village was that it was somewhere in the mountain.
With that information, Kagome ability to sense the shards, and the youkai enhanced senses, they had started to search the area.
It had taken them a few days, but finally the pack was on what they thought was the track to the youkai hunters village when all suddenly felt a multitude of aura, as an army of fast moving youkai crossed the sky above them, blood-lust clear to be felt by all and heading in the direction of the village they were searching from.
Without even needing to consult between them, Kagome and Miroku were already on Padfoot back, and the youkai picked up their speed.
"This is no good." InuYasha's voice wasn't cut by the wind, thanks to the Pack's vocal chat "Tajiya or not, they won't stand a chance against so many of them..."
Tsukiko frowned, silently agreeing – and decision taken, turned toward her beta "I'll go ahead to help."
"We'll be right behind you." the hanyou promised, understanding easily he was now the one in charge of protecting their small group
Kagome smiled – she wasn't really surprised, her childhood friend did have the habit of letting them solve their fights by themselves, but right now, there were the life of a whole village in the balance. The ookami wouldn't held back at such a heavy cost.
¤.¤.¤
Youki tinted with reiki pulsed through the air, and mid-jump, the elegant heiress was replaced by a magnificent beast, nearly as tall as the trees in the forest around them, white fur marred only by her pack marking and bright eyes glowing green – Kagome and Miroku were both speechless as they saw for the first time a daiyoukai taking on its animal form.
As for InuYasha, even if he was just as impressed – he couldn't help but snort "Tch. She looks more like a kitsune. And she really is a cub!"
He wasn't wrong, they realized – once you looked past the large size, a few details in her proportions made it quite evident their alpha was far from adult.
By the next jump, she had disappeared in a burst of black flames – reappearing a few dozen of meters ahead, and quickly gaining back the ground they'd lost on the youkai army.
InuYasha and Padfoot shared a look, and both accelerated – knowing they wouldn't catch up with her, but set on not making her wait a second more than necessary.
Tsukiko didn't catch up with the swarm of youkai before they'd reach a fortress which apparently was the tajiya village.
With their numbers, they went ran through the armored doors in a few seconds, taking the small village by complete surprise – still this was a fighters village, and soon weapons were found and people were fighting back.
Clearing several dozen of low-level youkai in a few swipe of her paws, she let herself get back to her usual appearance, youki condensing around her as she shrunk down, her human-form more practical now that the villagers were entering the fray. A few of the youkai were coherent enough to try a flee when they recognized her marking, but most were barely sentient, feral beasts.
KageShin humming with reiki, she started to fight, each youkai having the misfortune to get touched by the weapon dissolving in dust under her potent holy powers, but three more taking the place of each she downed.
Within minutes she was covered in blood, fire in one hand, blade in the other, several of the villagers around her – countless more on the ground, never to get up.
By the time her pack arrived, nearly half the swarm had been cut down – and as soon as Miroku's kazaana was opened, they had the nasty surprise to realize there had been saimyoushou's among the youkai all along.
Miroku sealed his cursed hand as soon as he could, already feeling the poison doing it's work, but hanging on as best as he could – a message from his alpha on the chat, and he was gathering those that couldn't fight and protecting them with a barrier, Kagome soon joining him to heal the injured while InuYasha laid waste to the enemies with his Kaze no Kizu and Padfoot disappeared through the shadows to join back with his mistress.
The pack fought through the night by the dwindling number of tajiyas' side.
When the next sunrise came, there wasn't a hostile youkai alive around the village – but they had lost nearly thee-quarter of their fighters, and half the children.
[Hidden Challenge Complete! To prevent a genocide...
You managed to prevent Naraku from destroying the village of the tajiyas
Reward: +100XP, +1 tajiya piece of equipment to be chosen
Bonus goal failed: Naraku managed to steal the the Shikon shards of the village
Bonus goal complete! A future protected
you saved half of the children
Bonus goal reward: (200+100)XP, one tajiya piece of equipment to be chosen]
[Level up! You are now level 145!
+1SP]
[Level up! Kagome is now level 96!
+4SP, +2CP]
[Level up! InuYasha is now level 124!
+2SP]
[Level up! Shippou is now level 84!
+2SP, +2CP, +1PP]
[Level up! Miroku is now level 81!
+6SP, +2CP, +1PP]
The pack ignored the notifications, not in any mood to see what kind of reward the game had awarded them – this, they all felt, clearly wasn't a victory, it was just a barely managed disaster...
The few that were still standing up started the clean straight up, working through the morning to dump the youkai corpses out of the valley and gather their dead for a mass funeral.
It was only as the afternoon was well advanced that they finally managed to sit down and rest a bit.
"You have our gratitude, strangers." the man who apparently was their leader said "I'm Hisashi, leader of this village in the absence of my brother, and without your assistance, we'd all be dead by now. But if you'll forgive my curiosity, why did you help us?"
"We were looking for you to be honest." Tsukiko explained "We'd heard rumor of a tajiya collecting Shikon shards and something struck us as odd... "
At the mention of the shards, the man had tensed, but he motioned for her to continue.
"The fact the girl said that the Shikon no Tama was originally from her village." the young alpha completed "That's when we realized we'd been gathering the shards, but knew nothing about their origin..."
"You're gathering the shards? You look awfully sane for a youkai with one of those, if you'll pardon me saying this." a confused frown "Then again I've never seen a youkai using reiki before."
"My reiki would probably protect me." Tsukiko confirmed "But we're not using the shards, we're gathering them back for the Shikon Miko."
"The Shikon Miko is dead."the temporary village head protested "She's been dead for fifty years!"
"We're not talking about Kikyou, old man!" InuYasha finally burst "Open your eyes, there's one miko just here with clean shards around her neck! As far as I know the Shikon Miko is the only one who can purify this blasted piece of jewelry so easily!"
Kagome blushed as all eyes turned to her after that outburst – but despite his coarse language, the hanyou was right, and Hisashi soon admitted as much.
As they finally rested, the pack had soon been swarmed by the children, who were growing restless, and among them they met with Kirara, who was a nekomata, just like Saiyuri's Arashi, but linked to fire rather than lightning like their friend was – and on the large cat's back, Myouga, the flea-demon having apparently been living with the tajiya's for a few weeks.
"Uh, and here I thought you'd ran away because we ended up in too many dangerous situations..." InuYasha mused
"I thought it was because he was afraid of Tsuki-chan." Shippou contradicted
"You wound me! I always have InuYasha-sama best interest at heart!"
The affirmation was made by four coordinated snort, and even Miroku, who'd never seen the youkai retainer before, looked dubious "You know, I didn't think I'd say this but... As a retainer, even Rouyakan looks more reliable!"
"Indeed." Tsukiko nodded "I talked about it with father when we were back home, and from what he remember from his childhood, Myouga has always been a coward but he's rather effective when it comes to gathering information."
"Oh. I wonder what possessed Inu no Taishou to entrust him with InuYasha's upbringing then..." Kagome commented
"Well it mustn't have been easy to find a youkai unbiased enough against his hanyou son..." Tsukiko speculated "Youkai were even more against hanyou back then than in the sengoku jidai when InuYasha was born."
The pack had decided to stay for a few days – there was no way they'd abandoned the village when any low-level youkai passing by would be a heavy risk against them with how weakened they were.
"Our best warrior were called away on a job just before the attack." the acting chief explained the next day while he was working with InuYasha at restoring the outer wall "I wonder if it was a trap..."
"The timing is too damn convenient." the hanyou warned "They are probably dead."
"Probably." Hisashi tiredly admitted – the last couple of days had been hard on everybody, and those kind of circumstances made people understand each other much quicker than usual – it was easy for him to see that behind his coarse language the hanyou was making him a kindness in his own way by preparing him to the inevitable
¤.¤.¤
It was on the morning of the third day that Kagome's senses stirred "There's a Shikon shard approaching!"
The pack and the warriors were soon ready to fight – with the past events, they weren't taking any risks...True enough, a figure was soon spotted making her way to the fort, taking the ravaged landscape around her with hard eyes.
"InuYasha! I've come to kill you, you murderer!"
"This is Sango!" Hisashi recognized, eyes widening "My brother's eldest and the village's best youkai slayer."
"What is her problem with me?" the hanyou muttered, already guessing that something was off "It's not like we've ever met!"
"Naraku, more than likely." Kagome confirmed his bad feeling "There's a tainted shard in her body."
"And she's heavily wounded." Tsukiko completed
While they were wondering about the new-comer, she'd lost patience, and the heavy looking boomerang on her back was now flying toward the fort's newly repaired doors "How dare you use my ancestral home for your nefarious plot!"
With a commanding gesture, Miroku sent a wall of water to stop the wooden splinter, protecting the villagers from the door's destruction.
"Sango, calm down!" Hisashi pleaded as the girl was taking a hold on her weapon once more "You are attacking our savior!"
Seeing her uncle appear stopped the young tajiya in her tracks.
"What is the meaning of this?" she turned toward the woods, where a second presence had been hidden until now "You told me the hanyou destroyed my village, yet here is my uncle!"
"Lies! It must be a shapeshifter!" Naraku answered easily "Don't let yourself be fooled by them!"
"He's the one fooling you!" Miroku affirmed, the houshi glaring at his nemesis
Seeing that his temporary ally was visibly hesitating, Naraku dropped down all pretenses "useless girl!" with that, a wooden tentacle lashed at her back, making her cry in agony and the kumo hanyou was attacking them
The pack members had immediately jumped into the fight, while Tsukiko was heading toward the injured girl "You've got a tainted shard in your body." she warned her "If I don't take it out, it'll corrupt you. But if I do take it out, you'll bleed out faster."
"Take it out." Sango decided without missing a beat, eyes set on the destroyed door that let her see several of the surviving warriors "Better dead than used against my own people!"
The ookami nodded – and started healing the girl the moment the shard was out "I'm not all that good at it." she warned "You'll scar, but you'll live."
"Fair enough. I don't even understand how a youkai is able to heal me."
"Tsukiko-hime posses reiki." her uncle, who'd taken this time to approach, explained "Without her and her pack we would all have died."
"It was probably Naraku's plan." the young hime sighed "After all, he is after the shards."
"Tell me child," Hisashi asked, not able to resist anymore "What of the others?"
"Dead." Sango announced, eyes hard "A spider controlled Kohaku and turned him against us. There was nothing we could do."
"Damn that kumo hanyou." Tsukiko swore "He's leaving only tears and despair wherever he goes..."
"I'll kill him." the young tajiya pledged by her side "One way or another."
"You'll have to get in line." the one healing her warned, gesturing at the fight happening not too far "He's already made a few enemies."
Sango fixed her attention on the fight – the pack was fighting well together, knowing to avoid when InuYasha unleashed his Kaze no Kizu, and having cornered their enemy.
But something was off, as Naraku was regenerating against and again this new wooden body, seemingly uncaring about their attacks.
"Aren't you worried about them?" Sango couldn't help but ask
"I am." Tsukiko contradicted "But I also believe in them. With the training they've done, they should soon see the truth..."
And sure enough, she'd barely affirmed her trust in her pack that Kagome shouted "That's not Naraku!"
Rather than disbelieving her, they all listened, as she explained "That was bothering me... He doesn't have his own youki..."
They widened their eyes – true enough, they were having problem to fight because they couldn't predict Naraku's movements because of the lack of indications the youki or reiki usually gave in a fight.
"This is a puppet, just like an advanced shikigami!" the young miko proclaimed as if they'd already won – and in a way, they had
Because now, they knew how to fight back.
"See." Tsukiko told Sango a bit farther away
Sango smiled a bit teary-eyed at the perfect teamwork, who reminded her so much of her now dead family – her mother having passed away several years earlier in a fight against a youkai, while her father had died by her side just days before. The less said about her poor brother, the better...
It took a few more minutes for the pack to identify where was the fake Naraku source of existence – and after that Shippou and Kagome distracted the enemy, Miroku shielding them, while InuYasha destroyed the wooden puppet on which the spell had been engraved.
[Hunting Complete! Naraku's puppet
Reward: +50XP, +2 Hunting Trophy]
They shared a victorious smile at that – this was a reward they didn't mind receiving!
Tension fleeing out of her body, Sango finally passed out in the arms of her uncle.
The young tajiya had slept for three days.
In this time, the pack had continued helping with the reconstruction, InuYasha working of the most hands-on aspects, Miroku helping creating protecting wards that would warn and defend the villagers like a second wall if such an attack was to happen again, Kagome taking care of the injured while Shippou and Padfoot were entertaining the children, and teaching them the basics of fighting at the same time. As for Tsukiko, she was everywhere, determined just like her friends to help the small village who'd already suffered so much because of Naraku's ambition.
Once Sango had finally awakened, in a village that wasn't healed – but would eventually be better, she had spent a long afternoon with the village warriors and Shadow's pack exchanging stories about Naraku, the attack on the village and the hired warriors, and even about the small pack and the reason behind their travels.
"Let me come with you."
"Sango! You can't mean that!" Hisashi protested immediately "Who's going to lead the village if you leave?"
"You're already doing of fine job oji-san, and..." her eyes clouded for a moment "I must see that Naraku dead, I won't be at peace for as long as he breathe."
With a sigh, Hisashi nodded, seeing the truth in the last of his family's eyes "So be it."
"And Naraku really seemed to believe the village was destroyed. Since the puppet was basic enough, he probably doesn't know what it saw."
"In other words for now he probably believe we're dead."
"Exactly. Take advantage of this. Train, make the village stronger."
"So that such a tragedy doesn't happen a second time." Hisashi nodded, a new resolve in his eyes "I will."
With that, the tajiya turned toward Tsukiko "So. Will you have me, Tsukiko-hime?"
"We won't refuse a traveling companion." the ookami acknowledged "And maybe in time, we'll even become friends."
"Thank you."
Sango bowed deeply, only to be stopped by the ookami, "But if you're going to travel with us you're going to have to stop with all those formalities!"
"It's a never ending fight isn't it, alpha!" smiled Miroku, amused at how a few week earlier only, it had been him being admonished for being too polite
With that talk, there were only two things left before the pack and their new companion left the town – the first had been the unanimous decision of making the tajiya village the second Recall Point they had recently unlocked, just in case.
The second was the original reason why they'd come.
¤.¤.¤
Sango took them to the workshop first, where youkai parts were worked on to become armor or weapon for the tajiya – but before they were ready to use, the newly crafted items first spent several months being purified in a nearby cave.
It was there the girl took them next.
Eyeing warily the entrance of said cave, Kagome had soon been left behind by most of the group.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." she couldn't help but protest as she finally stepped in, Tsukiko by her side
The cave was unsurprisingly filled with youkai bones – but if by the entrance those were man-made weapons and armors, they soon turned into a horrific landscape as they headed further in, culminating in a mummified silhouette half absorbed by a monstrous youkai. They all looked as if they had been petrified mid-fight, and where the mummified form should have a heart, only a gaping hole was visible...
"This is a story that dates back to several centuries ago," Sango started, gaze set of the frozen form wearing what looked to be an old samurai armor "during an era of instability and starvation that makes what we are living thought nowadays seems like a paradise."
She was talking about the end of the Kamakura period, Kagome realized with a start – when the centralized government of the era had fallen, leading to the beginning of the Muromachi period, which would later become known as the Sengoku Jidai – the warring-state era.
Once more, the myth was far more anchored in History than she'd known...
"Countless humans were dying, be it from hunger or war, and youkai numbers were on the rise. This, in turn, led to the birth of more holy beings to fight then. Among them, the more famous..."
"The miko-warrior Midoriko." Tsukiko breathed, eyes widening – the legendary figure had been but mentioned in the Holy Servant Main course, but she knew they talked more in depth about her in the Advanced one
Sango was surprised that the ookami was the one to guess whom she was talking about, but she nodded her confirmation nonetheless.
"Against youkai, she was as effective as a hundred samurai, powerful enough to overcome as much as ten skilled enemies at once, and skilled enough to purify humans, animals, trees and rocks souls."
Of course, this affirmation made all the holy servants present react – and Miroku was the one to make the link "In Shinto, there's a way of thinking that says that the four souls... the shikon...are what becomes the spirit when balanced correctly."
"Courage, kinship, wisdom and love." Tsukiko took over "Ara-mitama, nigi-mitama, kushi-mitama and saki-mitama. A correct balance between the four must be maintained, or your heart becomes tainted with evil."
Once more, Sango was eyeing the pack's alpha oddly, surprised to see a youkai with such knowledge, even one possessing reiki. But she had promised a story, and so she forged on "Midoriko-sama had such a keen understanding of the shikon that she could even nullify a youkai's power. Of course, this was something they feared and despise, so they started to target her."
The young tajiya turned her eyes back to the frozen youkai and lone miko "But she was too powerful, and they were always purified before even hurting her. So countless youkai allied themselves, and together the merged, becoming one youkai much more powerful than they'd been when apart..."
She pointed at a startlingly human head sticking out of the monstrous youkai's body "To do so, they needed an anchor, one that was given in the form of a man who secretly loved Midoriko. Taking advantage of his weakness, they possessed him and were reborn..."
All of the pack was swift to realize why the story sounded so familiar – but it was Shippou who whispered, voice clear in the eery silence that had befallen them "Just like Onigumo was reborn as Naraku because of his desire for Kikyou..."
That affirmation stunned the wounded tajiya, who was about to ask more about it – but with a calming hand on her shoulder, Miroku promised "We'll tell you about it later. Please continue, Sango-san..."
"The battle between miko and youkai last for seven days and seven night," the girl eventually started to recount "and finally, Midoriko, exhausted, was absorbed by the youkai, who took over her soul." her eyes were on the hole in the ancient miko's chest "But with the last of her powers, she too seized the youkai's soul as her own soul was forced out of her body. Both youkai and miko died on the spot, frozen in time and soulless, and only the cluster of soul remained, crystallizing into what became known as the Shikon no Tama."
Her eyes darkened, and it appeared the story wasn't yet finished "But even thought their bodies were now dead, both souls were still battling inside the jewel, and it became apparent that the holder of the jewel could sway the fight..."
"Making it pure as long as it was held by a holy being, and tainting it with evil when a corrupted being used it." Tsukiko guessed – not even realizing that her eyes were glowing green in the dim cave
"Over the years, we've protected the jewel, taking it back each and every time it was stolen," Sango continued, a hint of pride in her voice – which soon disappeared as she went on "The last time was when my grand-father won in back after a deadly battle against a youkai. He died from his wounds, but took the jewel back to the village. Unfortunately, it had been far too corrupted..."
"And to purify it, you gave it to a powerful miko." Kagome concluded easily enough
"Precisely. A few years latter, we heard the miko had taken the jewel with her in death... Clearly, this wasn't true..."
"It was true." contradicted Kagome a bit gloomily "It was just brought back later." she may have been told several times that the jewel return to the past had been unavoidable, the fact remained that she still was the one who shattered it – and right now those damn shards were causing so much pain that it was hard not to feel responsible
"You know, it really seems as if fate is intent on repeating itself, what with the similarities between Midoriko and Kikyou's story..." Shippou pointed out
"Bah, it mostly seems like that damn stone is trying to manipulate us." InuYasha contradicted "What a joke! If the youkai part of the jewel thinks it'll win once more, it'll be sorely disappointed!"
"Oji-san's right," Tsukiko agreed "Fate's not one to create hopeless situations. Midoriko and Kikyou fought to the end, and each, in her own way, stalled those corrupted youkai. Midoriko by creating the jewel, Kikyou by taking it in death rather than letting herself be tainted." at that InuYasha's eyes shone brightly, pride for the woman he'd loved clear to read
Kagome nodded too, talked out of her slump by the two youkai "True enough. We just have to finish the job they've started then, and put an end to both Naraku, and the jewel."
[Hidden Quest Complete! Three time's the charm...
You've learned about the Shikon no Tama's origin
Hidden bonus goal complete!
You've decided to destroy the Shikon no Tama
Reward: +100XP, +1 Fate-bound token
Bonus reward: (200+100)XP, unlocked Fate's Touch Perk (+7 Luck), holy servants are now Intuitively attuned]
[System log update: Holy Affinity
holy servant having gained the favor of a god can gain an affinity for one of their power.
These ability can be consulted in the Holy System. A minor affinity is ranked out of 25, a normal one out of 50, a potent one out of 75 and only holy being themselves, in other words gods, can have affinity ranked out of a 100 like a normal skill.]
[Your skills have been updated!]
[Holy Affinity skills:
-Soul Art: 100/100* (unlocked at 0/100 in Hallow skill)
-Blood Art: 100/100* (unlocked at 25/100 in Hallow skill)
-Shadow Art: 0/100* (unlocked at 50/100 in Hallow skill)
-Arcane Art: 5/25* (unlocked by being Spiritually attuned)
-Fortune Art: 5/25* (unlocked by being Intuitively attuned)]
Somehow, reading the quests description drove the point Kagome had just made – and she turned toward InuYasha "Are you alright with this?"
"Keh! I don't need a fancy jewel changing me in any way!" the hanyou commented without missing a beat
Kagome, and the rest of the pack, were experimented enough in their beta's way of expressing himself, and naturally gravitated around him, not needing to put it in so much words – but all of them understood that with the tajiya's story, the last of the hanyou's old quest to become a full-blood youkai had been put to rest...
"Well, at least you'll keep the cute ears!" the young miko teased lightly as they headed out of the cave "It's just too bad you won't have fluffy tails to go with it!"
A part-dubious part contradicting-grunt answered her, awakening her curiosity "You could have tails?"
"I could manifest them eventually." the hanyou confirmed reluctantly
"Eh! How? Why don't you have them already?"
"It's got do with what our tails are." Tsukiko explained, having guessed easily enough at what her uncle hinted – and seeing the lack of comprehension in most of her pack "When a daiyoukai takes on his humanoid form, there's an excess of youki present, since we're, well, not human. Our tails are the easiest way of storing this excess, and that's why the number of tail is a common representation of our strength."
"But strength-wise, InuYasha's already three-tailed." pointed out Shippou, even the young youkai looking a bit lost
"Yes, but InuYasha's form is his natural one, so he doesn't need to stock any surplus of youki. That said, as he grows more powerful the situation can and will change."
"And he'll have the ears and tails! This... will be adorable!" decreed Kagome with all of a teenage girl's limitless enthusiasm
InuYasha looked torn between protesting about the 'cute' and 'adorable' comments and pretend they hadn't even been made – eventually he settled on the second solution, ears flattening a bit on his head.
"But how do the youkai without tails manage that youki?" Miroku was already wondering
"In different ways... horns, wings, any typical feature of their beast form is used most of the time."
"Most of the time?" Shippou noted
"It is our youki," the alpha reminded him "That's why chichi-ue can manifest only one-tail despite clearly being far more powerful than me. We shape our youki in the easier, and most natural form, but we could probably do something else." she pointed at her hands "I could probably get rid of my claws by stocking more youki in my tails for example," an amused smile "or even manifest ears like oji-san if I wanted... And with a bit of work, of course, since it isn't my usual form." then turning toward Shippou "It's also an excellent, and rather advanced exercise to work on your shape-shifting. I could only change my human appearance to match my canine traits, whereas your ability means your imagination is the limit. Even if for example making yourself look like a ryu daiyoukai won't make you into one..."
The kit nodded his understanding, the lesson on knowing the difference between shifting into something and being something one of the first his alpha had imparted him with.
While the pack was heading back to the hut they'd been lent for their usage while in the village, Sango, a few steps away from them, couldn't help but feel a point of envy at the easy-going camaraderie and understanding reigning in the eclectic group.
From his position, Miroku could guess at her feelings easily enough - and remember being in the same situation himself not so long ago. But he'd been ready to leave his loneliness behind, whereas the still grieving girl bent on revenge wasn't yet, her physical wounds nearly gone, but not the psychological ones...