Aieee!! ::dives for cover behind the 'I don't own Inu Yasha!' sign:: Man, you people are scary! ::comes out of hiding dressed in armor:: Sheesh! Have more faith in me huh? Do you honestly think I'd kill Kagome off… this early anyway? Telling me I'm horrible and screaming threats will only make me feel vindictive and postpone Pt 3. I enjoy your reviews and the emails, which I try to reply to promptly, but this is not the best way to encourage an author to post another chapter!
::sighs and walks off:: This is almost the end of 'War,' by the way. Please enjoy it and its follower, 'Jumping Hurdles, Choosing Sides.' Have a good day.
Chapter 11: One trick is solved while another is played.
"How can you just ignore her death- especially when you claim to be a friend?" Miroku paused in his prayer and glared at the youkai.
"When the Dark Army sweeps upon this land, Kagome will not be the only one to die. As it is now, she will have many to keep her company." Taomaru replied and turned around. "Sesshomaru, Inu Yasha; come with me and defend your kingdom."
Sesshomaru got up and obediently followed his uncle. Inu Yasha continued to sit on the ground while the others stood, resolute in their duty. The hanyou closed his eyes. "Kill me." He said and Taomaru turned around to look at him in surprise. The forest that had been righting itself stopped in its tracks.
"Kill me." Inu Yasha asked softly, still seated on the ground. Kagome… I killed her. I'll never see her smile, never hear her laugh. More tears flowed as he reviewed memories, both good and bad; ending with the crunch he had heard when he lashed out at her in Kaede's hut. I'll never… I'll never be able to tell her I loved her. The last hurt the worst- shoved the knife that extra inch- and made him sob loudly. No! I'm being irrational! Kagome wouldn't want me to die, she was the fighter for life, not death. That was Kikyo- Kikyo wanted me to die, to be dragged into hell with her. Kagome wasn't like that… She would want me to…
"Do you really want me to kill you?" Taomaru asked seriously. The youkai had walked up to Inu Yasha and the hanyou, so immersed in his thoughts, hadn't even noticed.
Inu Yasha scrubbed at his eyes and looked at his uncle hard. "No. I'm being rash. Kagome wouldn't want me to die- she always fought for life. If I committed suicide she'd never forgive me."
A slow smile spread across Taomaru's face. "You show wisdom in the face of death more so than you did fighting. I'm glad you chose wisely." Taomaru shifted Kagome and put his hand on Inu Yasha's shoulder. The hanyou's ears perked up and zeroed in on the grumbled protests coming from Kagome's 'body.' His jaw dropped after Taomaru grinned at him and spoke.
"I would have hated to be the one to explain to Kagome why you were dead. No doubt she would have killed me!" The youkai avoided Inu Yasha's rush easily, laughing at his nephew's surprise.
"You tricked us!" Sango yelled and took a shot at him, letting her boomerang fly. To her and everyone's immense surprise, Taomaru freed a hand and caught the giant object. Inu Yasha took the opportunity to attack and the youkai smacked him with the boomerang, using it like a baseball bat.
"You all deserved it. Thanks to your lack of trust and haste, Kagome is seriously injured and could have died. You were right, Sango; this is entirely your fault." And with that the youkai looked at them all and walked into the trees, leaving everyone to follow his retreating figure. After a moment, the rest followed him, approaching the well after a few minutes. Sesshomaru reached the spot first and the youkai started, looking around as if he'd somehow managed to get lost.
"I took a moment to rearrange things." Taomaru explained to his nephew. "For the next hour or two, your castle is going to be here- it'll go back to its usual place afterward."
"The earthquake." Sango said and looked at the castle now in her path.
"At least the village and well are still intact." Miroku said, looking down the incline. Beside him, Inu Yasha shook himself and blinked. The hanyou looked at Taomaru or, more accurately, at Kagome still in his arms.
"Give her here." Inu Yasha demanded firmly of his uncle. Taomaru raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure I can do that." The wolf dog youkai looked at him, tilting his head back and studying his relative. "I am using my power to heal her. If I give her to you, especially with no link, all that healing could be undone."
Inu Yasha growled, ready to charge the older youkai. Board, Sesshomaru walked inside his castle and shrank down to his more human size. He disappeared into a room and the party was left to itself. With nothing else to do, Miroku and Sango were about to follow when Taomaru held up a hand to stop them. "You two need to go back to Kaede's and fetch Kagome's bag. When the battle starts we will need the weapons she brang with her."
"Weapons? Kagome didn't bring her bow and arrows." Shippo said, peeking out from behind Miroku's shoulder.
"Kagome always brings weapons with her; you just don't pay attention." Taomaru stated confidently. "Go get her bag and bring it here to the castle. By the time you return we should be back with lots of equipment." The youkai paused, scenting the wind and scanning for sounds. "Youkai are coming. They should be here to help. Any warriors you find in the village would also be most helpful."
About to demand what the hell was going on, Inu Yasha was stopped short when Kagome began to glow. The rosy glow was dim at first but then grew steadily stronger. It lit up the clearing and became a beacon. "Kagome…" Inu Yasha whispered, drawing close and looking at her over Taomaru's shoulder. The youkai did not seem affected in the least; in fact he smiled. At the sound of her name, Kagome shifted and blinked, looking around with blank eyes.
"Kagome?" Shippo asked, his voice unsure.
Kagome blinked her blank eyes and frowned, tugging Taomaru's robe. The youkai looked at her, his head tilted as if he were listening to the silent girl. The light from Kagome wavered and then flared bright, rivaling the dawn rays just lighting the horizon. Another minute passed while the two concluded their silent conversation.
"Inu Yasha, you were like that when we visited." Miroku watched Kagome closely. Sango came up beside him, also studying her friend.
Inu Yasha started. "What do you mean?"
"You woke up once when we were there and your eyes were blank. You didn't respond to your name, or being shaken, but when Kagome shifted in her sleep you pulled the blanket up again, looking around with blank eyes."
"After that," added the kitsune. "You curled up around Kagome and went back to snoring."
"I don't snore." Inu Yasha huffed. What they said unsettled him but not nearly as much as Kagome looking around sightlessly. He walked directly into her line of sight, holding out his hand to her. His hand came near and her blank eyes opened wide, her body shrinking against Taomaru.
"Hm…" Taomaru pursed his lips, frowning, and appeared to come to a decision. "Now that is interesting." He shook his head. "All right everybody- go do as instructed and report back to castle. We three will see you in a few minutes." The youkai resettled Kagome, ignoring Inu Yasha's pained look. He grabbed Inu Yasha by the collar and chucked his nephew down the well while the others looked on in shock.
"Sesshomaru!" Taomaru called and the younger youkai appeared, annoyed. "Do not harm the humans and exert your authority on all youkai that come here. If they aren't here to help, dispose of them or find something useful for them to do. I would suggest you pull the old records and maps and also finding your battle gear. If yours are too small go find your fathers." Sesshomaru started at the suggestion.
"Father's?"
Taomaru nodded. "Inu Yasha is too small to wear them. Please find something his size in your father's closet or possibly his mother's. Momaru should have had armor made specifically for her."
"I will advise the servants of the battle and have them find something for the humans who fight with us." Taomaru arched an eye brow at this, as did everyone else. "If all else fails we can always throw you at the enemy." The demon lord turned around and disappeared into the castle once more.
"Wow." Taomaru said, truly surprised. "Where on earth did he get that mentality?" The youkai shook his head and jumped down the well, Kagome and all, after Inu Yasha without another word.
Once on the other side, Taomaru leapt out of the well and motioned for Inu Yasha to follow him. The two crossed the increasingly sunny courtyard and stopped under Kagome's window. "We'll use Kagome's window to get inside. I don't sense her family around anywhere."
"How do you know this is Kagome's room?" Inu Yasha demanded.
"Kagome and I have been dream meshing on and off. I've seen her room in her memories." The youkai looked sidelong at Inu Yasha, eye turning bronze tinted lavender. "I know where she keeps her unmentionables as well." He laughed as Inu Yasha sputtered, face red. They leapt through her window, Inu Yasha having to use the tree outside her window before jumping inside, and then proceeded to the bathroom.
"What are we doing here?" The hanyou asked suspiciously. He eyed the bathroom and looked at his uncle as if the youkai had lost his mind. "Neither of us need a bath and there is no way in all the hells I am letting you bathe Kagome!"
Taomaru sighed, and in a lightning fast move, crossed the room and gripped his nephews chin. "I am doing you and everyone a favor. Because Kagome still harbors… feelings of betrayal for you, Sango, Miroku and Shippo, she will not be able to help anyone when the battle starts. I am going to rewind time for Kagome, make her forget the past few hours and make her think she just got home from her fight."
"That won't work; she won't remember any of the important stuff or what's going on. She'll be demanding to be filled in while we get buried." Inu Yasha frowned, watching in surprise as his uncle stood Kagome up, her overalls falling down. The hanyou blushed and then growled when Taomaru began lifting her shirt. "I'll do that! I don't trust you yet!" And he snatched Kagome from Taomaru's grasp in the blink of an eye.
His uncle blinked in surprise then shrugged. "Kagome's perception of time will be altered." He continued as if Kagome hadn't been pulled away. He turned his back on the couple and ran water in the bath tub. "All of the events afterward will be blocked from her conscious mind and set to a trigger word of your choosing. This is temporary, mind you- you'll have to talk to her about what happened after we win. If she's come to terms with it, she'll probably think it was a dream or something. If she's still pissed, be prepared for a lot of 'sits' and tears."
Inu Yasha frowned, scooped Kagome up into his arms and began backing out of the room. "I don't know who you are, or why you keep calling me 'nephew' or even why Sesshomaru seems to obey you, but I don't care. I don't trust you- there's no way in hell I am letting you mess with Kagome's head." The hanyou made it out of the room as Taomaru appeared on the doorway. The youkai was frowning, his eye turning bronze red.
"Inu Yasha, you are being belligerent and stupid. I am Taomaru, brother of Momaru, former ruler of the Western Lands. I am your uncle and the Guardian who sleeps underneath our ancestral home." The youkai strode toward him. "I give you my word that Kagome will come to no harm, now give her here!" Taomaru lunged at Inu Yasha, showing more speed and strength than the hanyou anticipated. Inu Yasha's grip on Kagome loosened and her glowing limp body went flying, being caught by Taomaru effortlessly. Inu Yasha struggled to his feet only to be punched squarely in the face by his uncle. The hanyou was knocked out, his falling body caught by the youkai. Taomaru sighed and headed back into the bathroom with the couple. "Kids," he muttered angrily. "I'm glad I never got the chance to have any!"