Of This World And Yesterday

The Earth does not belong to Man.

We are merely tolerated.

For now.

-Morgan Llywelyn, 'The Elementals.'

*

Chapter 6- Raven

Glitter was not the first thing Inuyasha expected to see, breaking down the doors into the school. If he was wrong for some reason, he would have been in some of the deepest trouble of his life. But he was not wrong; in the foyer of the school, a teacher or counselor lay, sprawled out unconscious. Moving forward and looking down the halls, younger people, students in uniforms and more teachers lay tumbled this way and that, defined by hundreds of points of light glittering above their bodies like tiny jeweled stars.

He swiveled back and forth, staring down the halls and sniffing, the dozens of odors of a school interfering with the one he was searching out. Cleaning spray, dust, solvents, mold, chalk, books, the smell of leather shoes, of sweat, of coolants in the air system, perfume, cologne, the unmistakable smell humans gave off when afraid, when a surge of adrenaline hit their system. They were jumbled together, sweet and sour, good and bad, layered a dozen ways like a cake gone horribly wrong. He was running forward again, following the thin trail of a sweet, familiar scent, twining its way though the air. Down the hallway, around the corner, hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, evidence of Dreamweaver's presence. The little crystals floated by him, carelessly hovering as he ran, searching for Kagome. Faster, he had to go faster...she could be laying somewhere, some youkai about to eat her, to steal her away....

There was a moan from ahead, and he saw one person on her knees, doubled over and clutching her chest in pain, trying to breathe evenly and failing as she collapsed forward, dark hair falling around her as a point of light gathered at her chest, tiny specks of brightness joining together and growing solid even as he ran forward to catch her. It gleamed brightly, the crystal, reflecting and shining enough to light the shadowy corner of the hallway, pulses of energy warping around it in a swirl of colors much brighter than any other visible.

Cradled in his arms, Inuyasha pulled her closer, looking down into her face, eyes closed tightly as though pained, a few wisps of hair laying across her white cheeks. There was a radiance playing in the contours of her complexion, a gentle contrast given from the light of the crystal floating beside them. There was a brightness to that one crystal, far exceeding the others, and Inuyasha was sure he wasn't imagining it. Kagome's was stronger, more brilliant, pulsing, filling the hallway with the shine of her soul. Lightly, he reached out to touch it, drawing it slowly in towards himself, touching it only tentatively. This was a thing he did not want to escape, to leave, and a thing he knew he would have to protect. As he drew it closer, the crystal glimmered, growing warm in his hand.

He felt her stir slightly, and looked quickly down at Kagome, who had a distressed look on her face, her eyes half lidded and her breath sharp. "Inu...ya...sha...." Simply saying his name took effort, and she winced, growing motionless again.

"It is the crystallization of her soul, her Hoste," came a voice from behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Dreamweaver kneeling beside a boy across from Kagome. There was a frown on her face, and she looked up and down the hallway furtively. "They must go back inside their owners, and quickly."

Something in his memory tugged at him, drawing him backward. Though this was no time for thoughts of the past. He shoved it aside, trying to concentrate on what was happening now. Golden eyes looked at the soul he held in his hands, and the pure white light it reflected, gleaming. He felt oddly aware of what he was holding, the soul of Kagome, balanced precariously in his rough hand.

Carefully, he willed this to work as he gently pushed it back down, pressing it back towards Kagome's chest, hoping that it would return to her, bringing her back to him. Any other option was unacceptable. Silvery light reflected brightly against her slack features, a tiny breath of wind pushing aside strands of hair that fell into her face. After a moment's hesitation, the crystal evaporated, dissolving back into her body, and he felt a warmth suffuse her skin again. He hadn't been aware of how cold she was until that warmth returned, and he was glad.

Fingers tightened on his sleeve, and Kagome blinked, looking up at him with wide eyes. She groaned, curling up slightly, and he eased her upward, hoping to help her breathe. Pained coughing sounded behind him, and as he looked to the side, he saw Dreamweaver moving methodically from one person to the next, pushing their crystals back into them. They remained still, though a few jerked spasmodically, drawing in on themselves protectively.

"Kagome? Are you all right?"

Her face was drawn, and she shook her head to clear it, senses returning to normal, far more coherent than the others around them. She pushed herself up the rest of the way, slightly awkwardly, still gripped tightly by Inuyasha. "Okay...Inuyasha...what happened? I feel a little better now...." she breathed, leaning against him.

"Stay still. I'll find the person who did this and kill-"

"Inuyasha!" Dreamweaver called sharply, and he swiveled back and forth as the small crystals still floating around them began to move, heading steadily towards the end of the hallway. Weaver abandoned her duty of returning the crystals to the other students, and was now on her feet, naginata balanced carefully in her hands. "Something comes."

Still gripping Kagome, he turned to follow the other girl's gaze, as the one in his arms attempted to twist herself around, hoping to see what was going on. At the hallway's end, a shadowed figure stood, silhouetted in the dusty shafts of light from the glass doors behind her. After a moment, she turned to look at them, and as more crystals gathered around her, she held her hands up as though to welcome them, caressing them lightly as they circled her. A wand appeared in her hand, a thin white gold staff, the tip twisted into the figure of infinity, a single black star twined within the curves.

Something black flapped its way past Dreamweaver, Inuyasha and Kagome, crossing the halls and sailing forward on dark wings. It angled itself though the nebula of souls, and alighted on the woman's bare shoulder. Reflecting the glimmering lights around her, she stepped forward, becoming more distinguishable. A simple sheath of black as a dress, thin straps curving around behind her neck. Straight hair fell around her face, curving slightly inward around her pale cheeks.

Ebony eyes.

"An untried Sailor Senshi and a hanyou. Is that all? I would have expected more," she said, voice low and somewhat cajoling, teasing. She was posturing for them, smiling in a small way within the cloud of crystals around her, playing with them. "What, not going to fling some magic words at me, Dreamweaver?"

The senshi of dreams said nothing in reply, her brows drawing down dangerously as she lifted her weapon higher. No words to speak of. Too new to this game, nothing to fight with, not here, not with people around. Too dangerous, to use the only attack she knew. Forbidden words. Words she did not wish to speak again. Not in a hallway full of floating souls. Not with an attack that destroyed the spirit. Her gloved hands tightened on the black shaft of the naginata, suddenly afraid.

"Bitch!" Inuyasha snarled, releasing a hand on Kagome to grab for Tetsusaiga's hilt. This was the bitch who tried to attack her? This was the bitch who tried to kill everybody in this building? This damn school place? He would Kaze no Kizu her into oblivion.

"Inuyasha! No!" An arm wrapped around his, preventing him from drawing the sword. Kagome was clinging on, pulling herself to her knees as she grabbed for his hands. "There're people in the halls...in the rooms...you'll kill everyone, and take half the building with you."

A laugh sounded from the woman, sounding lightly as she tilted her head to one side, reaching up with a hand and scratching the neck of the raven on her shoulder. "Too bad for you, having to watch out for all these little humans. Weak little souls, not worth very much on their own. But the Hoste of one with the blessings of a planet, of a miko, and one of a hanyou...those would be much stronger."

Inuyasha carefully pushed the still weakened Kagome off him, against the wall, standing in front of her and drawing a transforming Tetsusaiga. People all up and down the halls, crystals floating around them, around her. He could kill them all. But he'd be damned if he was just going to sit there.

She was lifting her staff casually into the air, black electricity gathering around the star on its tip. No hurries, no rush. She was confident they posed no threat, not with the souls of others to shield her. "I might as well take your Hoste and that tama now...you're fairly irrelevant really, in the grand scheme of things...."

"Dead Scream."

The Witch's eyes widened as a small orb of purple light came straight at her, flying along the hallway. She spun, hearing glass shatter and the screeching noises of her familiar as she broke off her attack suddenly, covering her head.

Inuyasha, Kagome and Dreamweaver turned to see the timely arrival of Sailor Pluto, lifting her Timestaff again for a second blast as she moved forward after the fleeing woman in the doorway. Wordlessly, Weaver followed her as she moved forward, running to catch up to their attacker. The cloud of crystals remained, hovering in the entranceway, now empty.

He hesitated, half wanting to follow, half wanting to stay. Kagome decided for him. "Go, Inuyasha...they'll need your help...go! Hurry!"

With a nod, he ran forward through the gathering of souls, out into the daylight of the school's practice field. Pluto and Dreamweaver had taken up stances on either side of the doors, weapons ready. As he arrived, he could hear their voices lifting up, calling out to their opponent.

"Invited by the new era, Guarded by the Time Space Star Pluto, the soldier of Revolution, Sailor Pluto."

"For these crimes against innocent souls, I will let you know only nightmares...protected by the planet of Death, the soldier of Dreams, Sailor Dreamweaver."

And, in unison, "We will never forgive you!"

Inuyasha felt a little stupid suddenly. Was he supposed to say something here?

Fortunately, before he could think of anything to say, or decide upon saying anything at all, their attacker began to speak, her pet raven circling overhead, flapping ragged wings in the sunlight. Tetsusaiga felt light in his hands, ready to be used. Here, there were no floating crystals of soul, and only open field. He grinned, searching out the place where this woman's youki clashed. The place to strike.

"Sailor Pluto, Sailor Dreamweaver. Inuyasha, hanyou of the sengoku jidai."

Hearing his name and era gave Inuyasha pause, eyes widening at her proclamation. Knowing the senshi, that he could understand, but him? He'd stayed hidden. He hadn't liked it, but nobody should know who he was, much less their enemy. Her youki was swirling outward in a deep ebony aura, the smell of a bird mingled with the smell of death and of blood, the smell of corpses on a battlefield. Her pet cawed above them, finally settling down on the woman's shoulder, a diminutive version of his mistress.

"Raven youkai!"

She smiled, lips curving upward slightly. "Yes, hanyou," she said lowly, then, louder, "I am Karasu! Magus of Tau Ceti, possessing the Vessel of a youkai of the Earth!"

Inuyasha could feel the auras of Pluto and Weaver expand as they prepared themselves again for battle. Pluto could fight, that he knew, but if Dreamweaver had any kind of attack like the whispered Dead Scream, she would have used it in the hallway before, rather than their close call when Pluto arrived. He eliminated Weaver from the fighting force mentally. Then it was two against one, or two against two, if that pet of hers had any powers at all. A naginata alone would be of little help now.

"Whoever the hell you are, I don't care! I can smell the stench of birds on you!" The black cloud of her youki swarmed outward, and finding the place of the Cutting Wind was easy enough.

Karasu saw him moving to swing his gigantic sword. That was something she had not seen before, and she could feel enormous power building up around it as he brought it backward. But he was slower than she.

"Shadow Buster!"

Dark energy rippled from her hands in translucent waves, a high pitched sound of something tearing pealing across the space between them. Inuyasha, more sensitive to noise, flattened his ears against his head in pain as the massive black shockwave of her attack began to catch up to the speed of sound.

There was a motion ahead of him, of something glinting in the light.

"Spiral Dome!"

Dreamweaver was there, in front of him, leaning heavily on her naginata, shoving it forward against the spacial distortions. A thick cloud of mist was spread out against the black shadows, swirling heavily and sparking lavender light where energies clashed, resisting the force applied against it. The dome itself was was a huge, curving wall, silently spreading out and diffusing the blast before it impacted the school building.

Though the wall protected them, the impact of Karasu's attack sent Pluto and Inuyasha stumbling, Pluto catching herself against the ground with her Timestaff. Dreamweaver kept her naginata braced against the ground, the sharp blade thick inside the mist she summoned.

There was an outraged scream from beyond the dome, and Inuyasha heard Pluto shout at him. "Brace yourself!"

"With what?!"

Again, Karasu repeated her attack, concentrating its full force at a single spot. The place where Dreamweaver held up the dome.

"Shadow Buster!"

The ground buckled as the dome sent the energy pulse shooting off in various directions, sliding off against it and sending it into the air, the earth. Inuyasha imitated Pluto, digging the blade of Tetsusaiga into the ground and leaning into it, keeping himself upright as the blast was again repelled.

Then it became very quiet.

Inuyasha looked up, and swore a very long string of vulgarities. Two black ravens were flapping higher into the sky, swiftly making their way away from the school.

Dreamweaver fell onto her knees, her naginata in her hands, still upright, and keeping her the same way. Pluto ran forward, checking on Dreamweaver, quickly glancing upward and seeing what Inuyasha was swearing about.

"Inuyasha...."

He cut off abruptly, turning around to see Kagome leaning heavily against the broken doorframe. She looked a bit worse for wear, but seemed to be the only person inside who was moving at all. "Kagome, what the hell are you doing out here? You should be inside-"

"Inuyasha," she muttered as she sheathed Tetsusaiga, "you worry like a babaa."

"What?!"

Kagome grunted as he grabbed onto her arms, careful despite being irritated with her. She looked slightly dizzy, so he helped her down to the ground again, and she shook her head, blinking. "Ugh...is everyone all right?" she leaned around Inuyasha to see Pluto help Dreamweaver up, looking a bit stunned, but otherwise fine. "Karasu...she said her name was Karasu?"

"Yes," Pluto responded as she and Weaver walked over. Dreamweaver was clutching her weapon a bit nervously, though not without a determined look on her face. "Karasu. Inuyasha, you said she smelled of raven?"

"Like a battlefield, yeah."

"At least we know who our enemy is then," Kagome sighed, a hand rising to her forehead. "Karasu. A...Magus?"

"So she says," came Pluto's response, and then she glanced into the building, seeing one or two figures begin to stir. "It won't be long before people recover. This place will be swarming with medics and police in a few minutes. We'd best go."

"Feh! She could be coming back-"

"Inuyasha," Kagome interrupted him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She won't. She didn't expect...well, whatever you did..." she said, looking at Dreamweaver, who glanced at her naginata in amazement.

"I never...did anything like that before," she demurred, lowering her eyes.

Kagome was nodding. "And I don't think she liked the idea of you using Kaze no Kizu, Inuyasha. She wasn't ready for it...she wasn't ready. Pluto's right," she continued, turning to hear some coughing and mumbling behind them. "You've only got a couple seconds before everyone's up again. With all this, they'll probably let us off school the rest of today."

"We'll wait for you across the street," Pluto told her, nodding. "Meet us there. We'll discuss things later, and share with the others."

"Feh, the others should have come if-"

"They have class," Weaver told him. "They can get out, but it's suspicious, and takes too long."

"School is stupid!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped. "This isn't the time! Go! I've got to get back in with everybody else...go! I'll meet you as soon as I can."

She shoved him away, and he growled, standing as she pulled herself up on the doorframe.

"Inuyasha-kun," he heard Dreamweaver say, and lightly tug at his sleeve. "Come. Please?"

"As soon as you can," he told Kagome flatly, then turned away, hurrying off as students woke up, beginning to call to their fallen friends.

Terms of note:

Kaze no Kizu- either 'Cutting Wind' or 'Wound of the Wind.' The manga synopsis-es I've read use 'Cutting Wind,' though the fansubs I've seen opt for 'Wound of the Wind.'

tama- jewel

youki- a youkai's energy signature...like an aura

sengoku jidai- Warring States Period/Era

So. Her name is Karasu. When I was trying to figure out what kind of youkai she was, I debated awhile...I wanted an interesting/sleek animal for her Vessel.... I thought of all kinds of things: cat, wolf, (though I think Kouga'd be a bit upset there....) various lizards and insects...nothing clicked. Eventually, I came up with a raven. (Should have been obvious- symbolic birds of death, duh....) 'Karasu' means either raven or crow, and I'm opting for raven in this case. (I mean, can you see an evil canary trying to be a villain? Or a parrot? Or a rabbit? lmao, a rabbit youkai! Like the demon rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!!! Now there's a scary thought. o.o) But, our heroes/heroines have now met her, and know her name. All the Death Busters had 'Buster' attacks. At least the Witches 5 did, and I'm imitating that. 'Shadow Buster' sounded good for a raven. And since Karasu is a bit more powerful, being a Magus, than the Witches 5 were, her 'Shadow Buster' is stronger as well.

As for Dreamweaver's performance- at this point in her story, (I've been piecing her together a little at a time...she didn't just arrive with her powers. She wasn't supposed to be a senshi in the first place...) at this point, she's only armed with one attack. The 'Spiral Dome' was new. Since her power stems from Saturn, I try to keep her on an even keel with Sailor Saturn/Hotaru as far as abilities go. Though she's not another Sailor Saturn. The only attack she had at the beginning of the chapter is her equalivent to Saturn's 'Death Reborn Revolution.' A forbidden attack. It's much smaller in scale, but since they're supposed to be on the same curve, though opposite ends. Her highest attack, 'Nightmare Relevation' destroys, not the physical, but the spiritual. Using an attack that destroys souls in a hallway full of crystalized ones would be a really, really bad thing to do. 'Spiral Dome' is Weaver's version of Saturn's 'Silence Wall,' and just made it's debut. ^_^

And I had soooo much fun with the scene when Inuyasha finds Kagome falling over...him holding her heart crystal/soul...I was proofing this chapter, and added quite a bit on in the revisions. Originally he just found it, then pushed it back in...I think this way is sweeter and more romantic, her waking up a little when he holds it. Also, Kagome's soul is huge...in the episode when Kanna tries to steal it in her mirror...and it just overflows...so, her soul has crystalized, but to reflect the size, it shines much brighter than anyone else's. In the SM anime, only Usagi's soul shone that much, the light supposedly a 'barometer of it's purity.' And we all know about Kagome's ability to purify the Shikon no Tama. ^.~ So I'm assuming Kagome would have a very bright soul as well.

I know, this chapter is short- but the next one is a bit long. Besides, lots of important stuff in here...next chapter was one of the most fun to write...good doses of humor, I hope. ^_^ Also will include an Omake!

So, til next storytime.

~Queen

Coming up next, in Chapter 7: Changes-

Setsuna spoke before either Kagome or Inuyasha could ask what the key was, or what it did, exactly. "People of the past must not know of the future. His being here is already bad enough. The use of a timekey would only effect matters further."