*Creak, Creak, Creak*
The wheels of the old, wooden wheel barrel squeaks as Inuyasha pulls it along. Even with the weight of the demon carcasses, he doesn't slow down. I keep to his side with Kirara lying comfortably in my arms. Her tiny head looking up at me as she meows. Behind us, Miroku keeps up, with Shippo on his left shoulder tagging along.
We're heading to a lone limestone cave on the outskirts of the village. One that Myoga claims is extremely important to the legend of Shikon Jewel. From afar, I spot the opening of the hill to the cave and once I spot it, my heart leaps in my chest for reasons I don't know. It pounds heavily and continues so the closer we get.
"Does no one else got a weird feeling?" I ask, glancing to Inuyasha and then to Miroku and Shippo. But they all shake their heads.
"Why? Do you have a weird feeling, Keara?" Inuyasha questions.
My eyes dart back to the cave opening and I nod my head slowly. "Yeah."
Inuyasha follows my vision, his eyes narrowing. "So, this is the cave where the Shikon Jewel was created?"
Myoga, who sits on Inuyasha's right shoulder, nods his head.
"The village actually served as a kind of factory. They made weapons and armor from the skins and bones of slain demons. The villagers threw all the unused portions into this cavern. This place is filled with a collection of demon remains," Myoga exclaims. We reach the caverns entrance just as my heart speeds up in my chest. I squeeze Kirara a little closer where my heart pounds, earning a small meow. Inuyasha turns the wheel barrels butt to the cavern's entrance and drops the remains into the cave. They roll down sloppily. "It is fabled that deep inside this particular limestone cave lies the carcass of an absolutely gargantuan beast! Of course, its according to the local legend."
If the jewel was created here, it could explain why I am reacting this way – I have some sort of connection to the jewel that none of us can explain yet. Maybe inside, there will be answers that will finally tell me why I am here and how I have these powers.
"Good work, Myoga!" Inuyasha compliments, smiling down at the flea demon.
"Oh, master Inuyasha! Thank you for the compliment! Anything to help! I'm more than just a parasite." Myoga blushes and wipes a small tear from his face with a tiny hand.
"Yeah, until the going get rough. Then your big talk about loyalty and courage dries up and you take off on me again!"
"Master! How could you doubt my loyalty?"
"Easy-he's not wrong." I mutter, earning a frown from the flea.
"Do you think we should venture in?" Miroku asks
Without another word, Inuyasha goes on ahead into the cavern.
"Hold on a minute!" Myoga cries.
But the fleas' plea doesn't stop Inuyasha from continuing. "What now?" the half demon says, but before anyone could answer he is thrown back a foot from walking into-what once was- an invisible barrier that is now blue. It vibrates from where he made contact. "Agh!" He cries. In seconds he's back on his feet.
"A strong barrier has been placed over the entrance of the cave and prevents trespassers like us from casually wandering in and out." Myoga admits.
"Be quicker with that kind of information next time, okay!" Inuyasha shouts.
"A barrier to keep trespassers?" I ask, all the while stepping past Inuyasha, who reaches out for me. The closer I get the stronger my heart beats. It sounds like drums going off in my head.
"Hey, wait!" Inuyasha calls. But I don't stop. My feet won't let me.
I reach the point where the invisible barrier was when it threw Inuyasha back, and lift my left hand to touch the surface. But nothing happens. My hand goes right on pass where the barrier should be.
"She can go through!" Myoga exclaims.
"Not without us, damn it! Who knows what's in there!" Inuyasha grumbles loudly.
Turning on my heels, I shrug my shoulders, "I can wait," I head back to where Miroku stands, with every step going from the cave, lightens my heart just a little. I twist back to watch Inuyasha, knowing that the half demon won't give up so easily.
And he doesn't.
Inuyasha unsheathes Tetsusaiga; the blade transforms into its strongest form, and the second it does, Inuyasha charges at full speed at the invisible barrier, colliding the blade with its shimmering blue wall. The impact causes Inuyasha to go flying back between Miroku and I, landing on his back.
"Damn it," Inuyasha spits, using Tetsusaiga to sit back up.
"You think it's hopeless?" Shippo asks from Miroku's left shoulder.
Miroku takes the initiative and walks to the invisible barrier, with Shippo fretting on his shoulder.
"What are you doing, Miroku?" The fox demon cries.
"Just seeing if I can go through as well." But when he places his right palm against the surface of the barrier, the blue shimmers and pushes his hand back. "I guess not."
"Well, we can't force our way in, and any of the villagers who might have known how to get past the barrier are now gone." Inuyasha says.
"Not all of them were killed," Miroku starts, making his way back to us, "the best of their slayers were at some castle during the attack."
"Right! The demons decimated the village because it lacked their most talented slayers. Otherwise their attack would have been easily thwarted!" Myoga nods.
Inuyasha stands up, shifting Tetsusaiga to rest on his right shoulder, "Got it. So we have to find out where that castle is and see if there are any surviving slayers who can tell us more about the secret of the sacred jewel. Hopefully one of them also knows the magic trick for entering this stupid cave!"
"Like how come I can go in and you can't?" I mumble.
The four of them look over to me, and in unison, nod.
"It probably has to do with your spiritual powers, Keara." Myoga mentions.
It is true, my spiritual powers are very different from the rest of the group. Maybe that is the reason I can go through? My powers may be seen as pure and unthreatening in some way. Although, my powers have done a fair share of destruction in the past.
"Let's go. We don't have all day." Inuyasha heads for the forest nearby with Miroku following close behind but I stay back for a second, and my eyes wonder back to the cave.
"Come…" A familiar voice says from the cave. I glance back to the boys and notice they didn't hear anything. "Come…." She whispers again. My heart can't beat any faster than it is right now.
"Hey, Keara, come on!" Inuyasha calls out from a distance now.
I stand still for another second, and then pull away from the cave and rushing after them. The further I get from the cave the less my heart beats quick, and soon – it calms down completely.
It doesn't take long before we are deep in the forest with no sight of the village or cave nearby.
"Where exactly is the castle?" Inuyasha asks, his head turning to Myoga.
"Don't tell me you're lost? Master, with all due respect, I assumed you knew where we were going."
"Listen, flea, you're the one who's supposed to know. I can't think of everything."
"Why not follow your nose, Inuyasha? The castle can't be too far away. You're a demon, after all, you should be able to sniff it out from here." Miroku smiles.
Inuyasha turns back to us, and shakes his head, "Oh, I can't really get a whiff of anything from here."
Kirara struggles in my arms suddenly, sitting up and focusing on something that's in the forest to our left.
"What's the matter?" I ask.
But then we hear the sound of crunching and breaking, and its coming closer. Before I can blink, Inuyasha is at my side, his hand my head against his chest. The sound gets louder, and then, the trees around us snap and break, thumping loudly onto the ground surrounding us. I dig my face deeper into his chest instinctively, getting a waft of rain and wilderness coming from his red kimono top. When the sounds stop, I look up from his chest, and standing there, off in the distance is a woman wearing a black skin tight suit with pink armor on her feet, knee caps, shoulders and elbows. A red ribbon is tied around her waist that holds up a katana on her left side. She is wearing, what looks like to be, a metal breathing mask. Behind her, she holds a massive boomerang.
Could that have been what caused all this destruction? I glance around and notice the trees have fallen in a way that it looks like we are standing in a field.
"Are you Inuyasha?" She shouts. Her light brown eyes narrowing as she investigates Inuyasha. Her long near black hair is up in a high ponytail that sways with the wind. "I've come for revenge!"
"Oh yeah and who are you?"
"Sango!" She replies.
My eyes search her entire frame. She looks wounded, with a bandage on her cheek. But with her outfit, weapon and physique, I can only assume that she must be some sort of fighter – or even a demon slayer.
"Master Inuyasha, trust me, you must not fight her!" Myoga pleads.
"Hiraikotsu!" She yells, thrusting her boomerang with a single arm forward at us. It comes swirling like a tornado fast across the area to us.
"Myoga. You've really gotta work on your timing!" Inuyasha steps ahead of me, drawing out Tetsusaiga, and it transforming before our eyes. It collides with the boomerang, but the power behind the weapon has him skidding back on the ground against me. Kirara leaps from my arms, and I plant both hands onto his back and try to help support him. Once he stops moving, he's able to swing the weapon up and away. It twists and flies back to Sango, which she catches single-handedly.
"Hey! Why are you coming after me?" He yells.
"Silence! I'm here to avenge my people!" She heaves her weapon again at Inuyasha. This time he doesn't bother with attacking it, we both leap in opposite directions out of the reach of the weapon that collides with the ground, spraying rocks and dirt all over the place. Even with it landing, the boomerang twists back up and swirls back to her.
"Myoga, what's she talking about anyway?"
"I haven't any idea!" Myoga replies, "But here it comes again!" And it does. The boomerang comes whirling down at Inuyasha with top speed, and he just barely makes it out of the way.
"I got this!" Miroku lifts his right hand, and grips at the beads to release his wind tunnel. The cloth flaps open and he aims at the boomerang, "Wind tunnel!" He shouts. The twirling boomerang, that was flying back to Sango, comes to a stop midair. But just as it is about to start getting sucked in, Naraku's gigantic bees come swarming in from the forest behind Sango.
"Shit! Close up the wind tunnel, you don't want to be poisoned again!" I shout.
And he does just that. He twists the beads back around the cloth and shuts off his wind tunnel. "Wh-what are they doing here?" He stutters.
"What? No way!" Inuyasha exclaims.
Just like the bees, coming out from the forest behind Sango, is Naraku in his baboon cloak. So that's whose doing all this shit. Should have known. What manipulative words did he use on this poor woman?
"Inuyasha, she will destroy you, so you might as well accept your fate." Naraku says with an icy tone.
Growling, Inuyasha lifts up Tetsusaiga, "Keep dreamin' monkey! It's you that going down." Inuyasha jumps in the air for Naraku, passing Sango on the way to him. However, Sango pulls out a chain from the back of her waist and throws an end at Inuyasha. She catches his foot, and drags him down back to the earth slamming him into the ground.
A glimmering light pierces from her back, glowing a brilliant purple light that I am so familiar too. It's a piece of the Shikon Jewel, but this one doesn't call to me. It doesn't feel threatened by Sango's possession – could it be because she's fighting for a noble reason?
"I am your opponent, not him!" Sango hisses.
"Stop interfering or I'll take you down!" Inuyasha barks back.
"Just try it! Maybe my defenseless village was quick for you to slaughter, but I won't die so easily."
That's it! She thinks Inuyasha destroyed her village. My eyes dart to Naraku. He must be the reason for this. He must have lied and manipulated her. Giving her a jewel so she could be strong enough to get rid of his enemy for him.
Sango flings her boomerang at Inuyasha and he blocks it while skidding back from its power. He tosses it away and charges for her.
"Poison powder!" She shouts, flinging a greenish powder in Inuyasha's direction.
"Miasma!" Inuyasha scowls, backing away from the poison, but he still gets caught up in it. He covers his nose with the sleeve of his red kimono top.
"It's easy to overwhelm the 'delicate senses' of a dog-eared mongrel like you!"
Taking the opportunity, Miroku races in a semi-circle for Naraku, hoping to catch him off guard.
"The slayer will finish him off in no time," Naraku chuckles but stops when he turns his head to spot Miroku. "Well, if it isn't the holy monk."
"Naraku! Prepare to die!"
"My apologies for not obliging you, but all I shall 'prepare' to do is gather the jewel shards." Naraku declares.
"Whatever you've been scheming, it is all over!" Miroku charges forward with his staff readied, he swings it at Naraku but the demon dodges. From out of his baboon outfit he pulls out a katana and begins blocking Miroku's staff attacks with his blade. But Miroku pushes forward, breaking Naraku's block and cutting off Naraku's right arm from the elbow down.
"He did it!" Shippo says from my right side. I nod to him with a smile. The sound of a breeze comes from my left side, and when I look, Naraku's hand slams into my chest, grabbing hold of the chain necklace with half of the Shikon Jewel on it. It tears the necklace from my neck and flies off to Naraku.
"Oh hell no!" Lifting my right arm, I aim at the limb, but the further it gets the smaller the target. I am not used to small targets. Focusing my energy onto my hand, a purplish glow bursts out from my palm. I hold my breath as I wait to see if it hits, but the beam misses by an inch. My aim was off, and I have failed. The arm reattaches onto Naraku's elbow.
Naraku chuckles, "This shard is not for the likes of you. Now that I possess it, there is no reason to linger. I bid you farewell."
"You're not going anywhere!" Inuyasha growls. Both Miroku and Inuyasha race for him but out from under his baboon outfit, a dark purple miasma filters out and surrounds the area. The two have to stop and cover their faces to protect themselves.
"Sango, I will await you at the castle. Before you return," he leaps into the air and flies off with the miasma still releasing from below him, "I trust you will not fail to kill Inuyasha!" Following him are his gigantic bees, twisting around the miasma as they get away.
Kirara takes a few steps towards Sango, meowing and grabbing her attention. Sango turns at the sound and kneels down, her eyes softening for the first time I've seen her. Kirara makes it to her, and is picked up into Sango's arms. "Kirara, you're still alive!"
She must know Kirara. Sango leans down and whispers something into the cat demons ear, and not a second later, Kirara hops out of her arms and scurries off in the direction Naraku went. Flames explode from all over her body until she disappears, and reappears into a much larger cat form. She quite literally, runs up into the air, flying with flames at her feet and tail.
"You will not escape!" Miroku shouts, rushing after Naraku along with Inuyasha.
Sango throws her boomerang once again, intercepting Inuyasha's from Naraku. He has to stop before running into the massive weapon.
"Inuyasha! Prepare to fight or die on the spot!" Sango yells.
"Listen, why don't you back off? I'm not interested." Inuyasha calls.
Her weapon skims across the ground from where it crashed and flies back to Sango, which she catches with her right hand. She runs for Inuyasha, thrusting her weapon once again but just barely missing him as he jumps out of the way.
"Will you cut it out!" Midair, Inuyasha throws Tetsusaiga at her, purposely missing her by inches forcing her to back away and out of danger. Inuyasha comes to a landing but races for her, surprising her as he charges. "Not so tough now, are ya?"
She hops back, hurling some more poison powder in his direction. But he hurls through the cloud of poison and cuts off her face mask, forcing her to be off guard. She covers her mouth to protect herself. Inuyasha grabs ahold of her right arm and springs them both up and out of the cloud of poison, landing them a few feet away from the smoke.
Sango falls to her knees, and grabs at her sword.
"Inuyasha!" I shout in warning.
Before he can do anything, she stabs in his left arm, the sword going clean through. Inuyasha doesn't even wince, he instead, pulls the sword out with ease and glowers down at her. "You idiot! Haven't you realized that maybe Naraku has been tricking you? Give it up! I haven't even started and you're covered in blood."
"What?" Sango looks down at the ground at something I can't see. Wanting to know what's going on, I carefully walk over to them just in case she turns on Inuyasha again, but as I approach I notice the ground below her is starting to soak with dark blood. "I didn't realize I'd lost so much blood, I haven't felt any pain."
I'm wondering where she got the wounds from, I know Inuyasha hasn't struck her and caused any injury, so why is she bleeding so much? My eyes dart over to Inuyasha and his wounded arm.
"How about you?" I ask.
"I'll live."
"Kohaku…" Sango whispers. Her eyes start to flicker shut and before we know it, she falls to the ground.
"Is she dead?" Shippo asks.
"No, she just fainted." I mutter, walking over to her limp body. I kneel down. I rest my hand on her lower back where the jewel glows brightly. "She has a sacred jewel in her back."
"No wonder. I could tell from the smell of her blood that she was badly injured, even at the start. Naraku must have used the jewel to manipulate her into fighting me to the death."
The wind brushes my hair out of my face but has Inuyasha's tickling my nose. He carries Sango Shippo, and I, on his back along with her very heavy weapon, but does not seem hindered. We leap from tree to tree trying to catch up to Miroku, Naraku, and Kirara.
"It's you!" Sango says, alerting me that she has finally woken up.
"So, you're conscious?" Inuyasha glances over at his left shoulder where she sits.
"Put me down! What are you up to!" She screams.
I pop my head over Inuyasha's mass of silver hair, "we're trying to catch up to Naraku. He stole the jewel shards from us."
"He called you 'Sango' right? Well, 'Sango', you bug me anymore and I'll dump you off right here!"
Rolling my eyes, "just ignore him. He's normally this rude to people he first meets."
Inuyasha growls in response, but he can't say anything because he knows it true.
"Sango, Inuyasha and the rest of us didn't want to leave you behind. Your wounds are deep." Myoga says, but I can't see where he is. Sango looks over to her left shoulder, away from me, so I am guessing he's on her shoulder.
"You're Myoga?" She asks. She must have heard of him before.
"Let's get a move on." Inuyasha picks up speed, having only been lacking to make sure Sango wouldn't get hurt any further.
Up ahead we see Miroku fighting off what looks like moving tree roots that are coming from underneath Naraku's outfit. Inuyasha lands next to a lone tree, kneeling down so we can get off. I climb off carefully and then move to his other side to help Sango climb off as well. The moment she is off, he jets to the fight, pulling out Tetsusaiga and cutting a limb of the roots that hit Miroku in the chest.
"Miroku, what the heck are you doing? You're such a useless monk!"
"Inuyasha, behind you!" Miroku warns. Inuyasha twists just in time before two incoming tree root spikes come fly at him. He dodges to the side and cuts them off as well.
"Inuyasha, you're still alive?" Naraku says coolly.
"If you think a mere human can kill me, think again!"
"The last time I looked, you were losing to a wounded slayer." Naraku chuckles lightly.
"Shut up! Admit it, Naraku, you're the one who turned that pack of demons onto the village and annihilated everyone!" Inuyasha barks.
"All I did was mention to the demons that the village guard happened to be thin that day." Naraku confesses.
"You were after the jewel shards kept at the village, weren't you!" Miroku steps in.
"You're not as slow as you look, monk! The villagers should have been prepared to defend such valuable bounty."
"You could have just taken them. You didn't have to kill everybody!" Inuyasha yells.
"Naraku!" Sango calls out from beside me.
"Sango." Naraku replies.
"The demons in the castle and the demon spider, they were all part of your trap, weren't they?"
"'Trap'? Is that what you call my simple diversions? I thought slayers of your village could handle any sort of demon. They did not live up to their boasts literally."
"Damn you!" She shoots up, her weapon in hand and ready to throw, but the weight and her current state, is too weak to handle it and she falls flat on the ground. I crawl over to her, and place my hand on her lower back where the Jewel shard is to protect it from Naraku. It glistens under my hand.
"Fool. There's no use in lending you this sacred jewel if all you do is choose to defy me. It would have been easier for you to die believing that Inuyasha was your sworn enemy, not me." Naraku says with a monotone voice.
Inuyasha comes swinging down at Naraku, barely getting him as Naraku dodges swiftly out of the way. "You really like to mess around with people's feelings, don't ya? You creep!"
"Are you thinking of Kikyo when you say that?" Naraku's voice sounds like its grinning.
"You'll pay for that!"
Inuyasha growls, thrusts down once again but this time making contact, cutting off Naraku's head. Out from the neck hole glows a brilliant light instead of blood. The entirety of Naraku's body falls over onto the ground. Inuyasha lands back next to Miroku, resting Tetsusaiga on his right shoulder.
"Good riddance!" We all stare down at Naraku's head as it lies on the ground. "This caliber of demon, he couldn't have had the power to make Kikyo and all those other people suffer so much."
'Help, help!' Calls a female voice. When I look at the others they don't seem to hear it. 'Help,' The voice is familiar. That of the jewel shard. But I can already sense the jewels – one in Sango and the half of ours – so why am I hearing the call?
Naraku's body starts to twitch and then stands back up.
"Inuyasha watch out!" Miroku calls.
One of the roots slams down where Inuyasha and Miroku are but they are able to leap out of the way.
"His body is moving without his head on!" Shippo cries.
From my peripherals I see Naraku's head rolling until it sits on its neck. "Heh! I will not die so easily!"
"Is that head talking?" Miroku exclaims.
But they don't have time to check. The roots come flying at them from all over. Inuyasha and Miroku swing here and there trying to cut up the tree roots. But every time they cut, the limb just grows back.
'Help, help!' I lock onto where I hear the voice coming from and spot a jewel shard in the mass of roots.
"There! A shard!" I point at the root that flings back and forth as the rest move to attack Inuyasha and Miroku.
"That means…Inuyasha! That's a puppet!" Sango yells.
"A puppet?" He looks over, his body in the ready position to swing again.
"In demon puppetry, the master controls the puppet with something hidden deep inside the body. His heart! Aim straight for his heart!" She demands.
"You figured it out." Naraku's head mutters.
Inuyasha jumps up to the height of the body in midair, heaves his sword down upon it and cutting it in half. The body lands with a heavy thud, and the head goes flying in the air. Amongst the debris is a wooden figure with a hollowed out center with hair wrapped around it; next to it is our shards and that of Naraku's.
"What is that?" Inuyasha asks.
I get up from my spot next to Sango and make my way over to the boys and fallen body. I come to kneel next to the shards and pick them up, combining them together. Now I just need to get Sango's. I'll wait till she heals a little more – the shard may be the only thing keeping her going.
"It's demon puppetry. The hair wrapped around this doll belongs to Naraku." Miroku adds.
"That's gross," I mumble.
"It is." Miroku agrees.
"Well, that was more than a doll we just fought!" Inuyasha grumbles.
"It was a counterfeit Naraku. The real Naraku was probably hiding somewhere safe while controlling this puppet." Miroku walks over to the wooden figure and picks it up. It makes me shiver knowing he's touching someone else's fallen hair. Something about it sickens me.
Well, at least we got the jewel back. I hold it in my hand, rolling it around with a finger as I look into the jewel. Beyond the shimmery smooth surface, I see a battle waging on inside it, and I frown. It's just like my dream.
My eyes glance over to the fallen Naraku and scowl. We're not done fighting quite yet.