Chapter 26

Previously…

Kagome met Sesshoumaru's mother. It was rather eventful…

Now…

"Let go!" Kagome screamed, as her body continued to be pulled through darkness. She was getting annoyed. When the humanoid figure had grabbed her, her instincts were screaming at her, but her focus had shifted to Inuyasha, who was trying to be an unnecessary hero. But now, she was regretting giving this demon the necessary attention, as she began to feel nauseous, kind of like that vertigo feeling she would get when rollercoasters took a steep dive downwards for the thrill. Her carrier wasn't listening as he held her by the wrist, so she allowed a powerful blast of reiki to surface from the area, causing the man's face to scowl and drop her. His hiss of pain had him reeling back, and bleeding profusely. As he looked down at his arm, he realized that his hand was now missing, and snarled in outrage while phasing back to wherever he had come from, his eyes locked on hers as she fell from his portal.

Kimi reeled herself in closer to the miko, even though her powers had stung severely. It was the only way to ensure they were not separated. From there, she could sense that the figure had dispersed and was no longer in the area with them. As she landed gracefully on her feet, Kagome fell to her rear. She took a moment to assess their surroundings, as did Kagome.

They were in a dank cave, she mused, with limited visibility, for humans at least. She could see the moss on the walls and the scent of staleness in the air. It had most likely been many seasons since anyone had ventured into the depths of the cavern, but her instincts told her that they were not alone. Although nothing was visible, she could feel that she was being watched.

Kagome stood up, wiping the dirt from her rear. She had a scowl etched on her face, muttering things like 'did I get kidnapped again!? This is ridiculous! I could have prevented it. Now look what I got us into?!' It was no secret that she was a danger magnet. But this time, she had the means and the power to prevent her sudden relocation, but because of insignificant distractions, she allowed the person to touch her and take her God knows where. It was a fool's mistake, and clearly, she still had a long way to go. Fortunately, she wasn't alone this time. However, that may have made it worse by showing Sesshoumaru's mother how idiotic she could be.

"By my estimates, you could have avoided this predicament, girl. So why are we here?" Inu Kimi asked, slightly irritated knowing what Kagome was capable of.

'And that's exactly what I'm talking about', Kagome sighed internally. "Perhaps I could have avoided it, but I admit, I was a tad bit distracted by Inuyasha trying to fight you. I'll try to keep it from happening again," Kagome muttered, face-palming herself.

"See that you do. Now, come along. My son would probably destroy the half the world if something were to happen to his precious human… And I'm not interested in overworking myself on red-eyed spiders, at the moment."

'Ha! I knew she was afraid of him,' Kagome thought. But the term red-eyed spiders came back to the forefront of her mind. Glancing around, Kagome noticed all of the eyes on them, and if they were what Kimi suggested, she absolutely hated spiders. She began to follow Kimi at a brisk pace, trying to avoid walking into the back of her, but feeling scratchy and itchy all of a sudden just thinking about the nasty little critters, with 8 legs, and a bunch of beady eyes…. 'Ughhh'…. As an added layer of precaution, she created a sphere of reiki in her left hand, hopefully bright enough to intimidate and help her see more clearly. The spiders took their cue to move further into the shadows as a result. The action was not necessary by then, but Kagome didn't know that. Kimi had already stated her intentions to the demons who had approached, intent on discovering who had come into their home uninvited. Voicing her intent not to engage them was one thing, but Kagome's power also stayed their hand. They would sit back and observe the two strangers slowly descend further into the cave.

As they continued their descent, Kagome became more confident and less squirmy at the thought of the spiders. Kimi could be observed sniffing the air slightly, whenever they came to a crossroad in the cavern. One particular scent had really caught her attention. The being behind it seemed to be a foreign concept to her, but she could definitely tell it was an "it". As they got closer to the scent, some of the rocks began to give way, pushing the two of them to the edge of pathways, in order to continue forward. Kagome slipped a couple of times and was caught be Kimi, and the two would continue on in a similar fashion.

"If it's this easy for you to be killed, this one pity's her son." And for once, Kagome had no reply to that. She was too busy trying to stay upright throughout the whole ordeal. If demonic eyes were for everyone, then she could move more easily through the darkness.

The paths were winding at first, then seemed to figure eight around cool slabs of rock, with water trickling down the sides, kind of like some fountains installed in Asian restaurants. She didn't know where they were going, but they were getting closer to wherever they were headed, as more water could be heard.

"Finally!" Kagome shouted as they came upon an opening. They appeared to be in a chamber that was as spacious as a large outdoor clearing. The middle of the cave descended sharply, like a cliff, down into a small sized pond, if you call it that. There was an ominous feel to it though, which contrasted sharply to the tropical blue water that filled the space. The ledges of the cave circled the pond, as tall as 15 feet from the surface of the water, with small rock structures located throughout the pond to stand on. There was a small opening in the upper right area of the tavern that seemed to let sunlight filter through. Noticing the opening, the demoness felt reassured that she and the human would be able to leave the space and return to the palace. Though the fissure was impossible for a human to reach, it was no trouble for a demon…

"Miko, do you feel that?" Inu Kimi asked, peering down into the serene looking water. She knew something was down there. The question was, what was it?

Kagome looked into the pool that her instincts were urging her to take notice of, and began to feel an aura. All though there was a malicious nature to the aura, it still felt as though the aura was waiting for something. They didn't know what that something was, but the creature soon surfaced to meet them.

From the water rose 5 serpent heads, all tied together in one body, like a hydra. They were silver with shimmers of purple scales along their neckline, with a shape like an anaconda, but their heads had slender horns like dragons. The horns and some of their scales closer to it's' body were accentuated in blue and purple hues, making the monster look more like a rare gem. The hydras appeared to have a centralized body that was mostly submerged in the water, but that did not take away from the monsters incredible size. As each head arose from the depths, they seemed to speak in riddles, and Kagome had no clue what it meant. Now that they were not all talking at the same time, she began to make sense of what the first head (head #1) said.

"You who are here. What is your purpose?" said head 1. Instead of answering, Kimi continued to size up the creature. She wanted to assess the situation and understand who and what they have come upon. Unfortunately, not everyone can be as patient. Kagome was the first to speak.

"Hello. Sorry to disturb you, but we were actually just looking for a way to leave this place. I think we can take it from here." Although Kagome liked dragons, she felt like staying here would cause more trouble than she particularly wanted at the moment. So, she turned to Inu Kimi, intent on asking if they could get out through the sun-filled opening, but was interrupted again, this time by head 4.

"One cannot leave this domain without answering to the ruse."

"If you fail in this endeavor, it is our time to choose," said head 5.

Kagome thought over their words, as did Kimi. They each concluded that there would be a trial of sorts given to them, in order for them to leave peacefully. Otherwise, they would probably have to fight the beast. Taking stock of the beast, it appeared to be bigger in size than what the eyes could see. Kimi looked at Kagome, as Kagome looked at her, both assessing each other and the situation. Kimi realized Kagome couldn't fly, but at least the girl would be able to protect herself should the need arise. So after talking amongst themselves quickly, they understood that there was not much choice in the matter.

"What must be done to leave this place?" Kimi asked. The sooner she returned home, the better she would feel about the whole situation. Her instincts were on high alert, even if she looked calm and collected. But something was about to happen, and she needed to be ready for whatever it was.

It's been a long time since I began writing this story, and I can see I completely slacked off. I had to re-read half of it to remember where I was heading with it. Fortunately, I recall my plans and plot direction. I have picked up the mantle again, to complete this story, so hopefully it won't be long now. I can really say how many chapters are left, but it will definitely be less than 10 chapters remaining (maybe around 6 or so). Thanks for reading the update.