"Soon," she cooed to the dead spirits around and within her, "our revenge will be sweeter than wine." The spirits fluttered around nervously, but she shook her head reassuringly, "Don't worry sisters, I'll not fail you. Go forth, seek him, plague his dreams, and tell me where he roams." The spirits swirled around, understanding the command of their mistress and floated off into the starry night. Chiara smirked into the darkness before rolling onto her side in her bedroll and drifting off to a fitful sleep.
Sunrise came with the cawing of the crow, and Kagome rose. Stretching absently, she ran a hand through her hair. Chiara's bedroll was empty already, as had become her custom the last few days. Listening intently unto the breeze, she heard the Enchantress's voice nearby and rose from her sleeping roll. Slipping on her shoes, she trotted slowly towards the source of the strange speak-song voice, and almost dropped her toothbrush at the sight.
The Enchantress danced across the surface of a pond. Fluid arm movements and dancing jumps and twirls produced spouts of water and multicolored light. Everywhere her feet brushed the surface of the pond, ripples would spread and form new cascades of serene flowing water. The graceful movements of Chiara were entrancing as Kagome paused to watch. All around the Enchantress, the colors solidified in the water, forming images of places and peoples, yet Chiara's eyes never opened. She seemed to understand the images though, as she would pay particular attention to certain spouts more than others, dancing around them like a swan. Kagome tried to move forward for a better view, but her foot landed on a brittle twig. At the snap, Chiara's eyes opened, and she stared deeply into Kagome's. With a gasp, the waterspouts suddenly vanished and the Enchantress plunged into the water with a huge splash.
A stunned Kagome could only blink as the now drenched Enchantress pulled herself out onto the shore like a wet cat. With a look of contempt, she brushed past Kagome and shuffled back to the camp, leaving small puddles in her wake. Kagome blinked a few more times, before falling over laughing at her companion's expense. Her laughter could be heard throughout the entire forest. No creature could understand her laughter except for one, who had witnessed the whole dance from his hidden perch, and had been mesmerized.
After brushing her teeth and washing her face in the cool pond, she returned to the camp. Chiara was standing in a dry shift, and was hanging her clothes to dry. She gave Kagome a brief glare over her shoulder, before returning to wringing out her thoroughly saturated garb. Kagome packed her things and started to don her traditional clothing. They stood in a guilty silence, neither speaking.
Kagome finally could contain it no longer, "What exactly were you doing Chiara? It was beautiful."
The Enchantress snorted at her, "I was scrying. Liquids work best for it."
Kagome narrowed her eyes, "In English."
The Enchantress glanced over her shoulder, "Scrying is the art of discerning events, whether they be past or future my impertinent friend. I was trying to scry Sesshoumaru's location so that we could reach him more quickly, but I had little luck."
Kagome started to peel an orange she pulled from her pack, "What do you mean?"
The Enchantress sighed, obviously perturbed by her own lack of success, "My vision was clouded. Very little can block the sight of scrying, but there are such major demons with the strength to ward off a peering eye. Sesshoumaru must be among them. Unfortunately for him, I do know where he is; he has to focus at least a bit to block me, and I can and have tracked that focus. Unfortunately, scrying requires supreme concentration. Don't interrupt me when I'm focusing!" She walked over and bopped Kagome over the head with a roll of paper.
"So you do know where my brother is?" Inu-Yasha inquired as he stalked into the camp bearing a few plump river trout.
The Enchantress eyed the trout, "Feed me and I'll tell you where he is."
Inu-Yasha sneered at her, "Tell me where he is and I'll feed you."
Kagome didn't even blink, "Inu-Yasha…I have little patience right now; be a good boy, or I'll use the s-word."
With a growl, Inu-Yasha gave the fish to Kagome and stalked into a corner to sit and pout. While the fish roasted, she let Miroku and Shippou hold off the obviously furious Inu-Yasha, who wouldn't even touch his fish.
As Chiara spooned mouthfuls of fish, she stole a glance in Inu-Yasha's direction. "I was trying to scry the location of your brother this morning, until someone interrupted me." Kagome buried her face in her fish bowl quickly.
"I've figured out his location. He's near the border of his territory, probably patrolling or something. We're actually quite close; his power to block my scrying wouldn't be this strong unless we were close by. Plus, I've visited the Western Lands before when I was initially summoned to him, and I've been taking us on a quick path to the borders."
Inu-Yasha didn't lift his head to dignify her with a response, but Chiara could see his muscles and lips tighten a bit. Though she couldn't decide if he was tensing up in anticipation for the battle, or in fear of it.
Miroku and Shippou suddenly rose from their rolls and came to join them, drawn by the smell of the fish. As they started to spoon in choice morsals, Chiara seemed to notice them. "Miroku and Shippou, I cannot ask you to risk yourselves alongside us as we fight Sesshoumaru, which is why I ask that you remain here with the camp."
Miroku almost dropped his bowl, and Shippou looked up from his fish with a snarl, "I can't do that Chiara, I'm sworn to aid Inu-Yasha and Kagome and so is Shippou."
The Enchantress rounded on the rebellious monk, "And I am telling you to not involve yourselves. I tried to be nice, but unfortunately it seems I'll have to let you know what I did manage to see in my scrying. If you come to help us fight him, you will die. So will you Shippou. I don't know how, but I do know that if you involve yourselves, you will be slain. I only want Kagome and Inu-Yasha to come with me when we battle him."
Shippou looked like he was nearing tears, as the monk indicated Kagome with his staff, "And what of the Priestess, surely she'll need someone to protect her."
Chiara shook her head defiantly, "No she won't. Believe me, Sesshoumaru will have enough on his hands to deal with an enchanted Inu-Yasha. Besides, I really just need her there to draw extra strength from should my power begin to fail."
Kagome gave an angry glance from under her spoon, but continued to eat as though nothing happened. The Enchantress gazed again at the angry monk and kitsune, "Don't make me enchant the roots in the ground to hold you, I can do that." The angry duo exchanged a stare before agreeing. Chiara nodded her thanks and continued to eat her fish greedily.
After they had eaten their fill, Kagome, Chiara, and Inu-Yasha prepared to set off. Waving to Miroku and Shippou, they began the trek towards the boundaries of the Western Lands, and Sesshoumaru. Grim warriors they were as they trekked through the forest. Chiara's plan was simple. Inu-Yasha would attack Sesshoumaru, and Chiara would enchant him. After weakening Seshoumaru, Chiara would use her ultimate enchantment on Sesshoumaru to punish him. Chiara seemed eager enough, there was a certain spring in her step in anticipation of this battle. Kagome gulped in anticipation and tried to hide her fear, as Inu-Yasha merely walked, head down, focused on his task. Even with Tetsusaiga, this would be a tough battle.
An hour into their journey, Chiara suddenly halted. "Hold, I sense his presence." She raised her hands up into the air and seemed to test the wind. "He's outside his territory…odd. We shouldn't be even entering the Western lands for another couple of hours. Perhaps this is our unguarded chance!"
They continued onward, towards the essence of demonic power, the realization that their prey was near quickened their pace. The thick vegetation cleared out into a wide-open meadow filled with lush flowers. There were only a few small bushes and rocks about, and otherwise the meadow was fairly flat. It would make a perfect battle sight. In the center were Sesshoumaru and a small human child. As the demon stood watch, the little girl bounced happily from plant to plant, happily picking flowers.
Chiara gazed at the sight in stark confusion. This was hardly the Sesshoumaru she remembered. At the sight of the innocent child, she almost gave up on her revenge. What would avenging her son do if she couldn't bring herself to fight him? The spirits hissed in her ears, "Avenge us, soul sister! Do not let him have the chance to do to others what he did to us! Make…him…pay…" Chiara's resolve hardened immediately. Her soul sisters didn't die in vain. They died so she could live to carry on their legacy, and eliminate their destroyer. The Enchantress motioned for Kagome to hang back, as she approached Sesshoumaru with Inu-Yasha in tow.
The demon turned immediately at the sound of their footsteps, though they were a goodly distance still. He saw his good for nothing weakling brother, and a woman who seemed strangely familiar. She stalked forward with purposeful steps, her tri-colored silken garb flowing against wind currents. When the woman stopped, and Inu-Yasha fell in behind her, she moved her arms, and arcane symbols of light began to appear around her in the air. His eyes widened, "You…" he muttered.
She smiled a wicked, hateful grin, "I see you remember me, Sesshoumaru. We have unfinished business, you and I." The gentle winds in the meadow suddenly became a swirling vortex, the winds gathered around the Enchantress, lending strength to her voice. "You killed my sisters. I have come here to make you pay. For every drop of blood you've taken from me, I shall take a drop from you. For every soul you've sent beyond, I shall flay your spirit. For killing my only son…I shall give you a taste of my power…the power to uncreate what you are!" She motioned Inu-Yasha forward, and he stood beside her.
"Witness the true secrets of my people. Witness our true power!" She waved her hands before clasping them in front of her. She began muttering in her strange language, emphasizing several words at a time. The earth around her began to tremble, and the sky around her flashed with lightning. Like when Chiara summoned her staff once before, the lights of her magic began to grow and flash around her. Flashes like small nova erupted around the stoic Enchantress, and steadily, the lights began to solidify. With a feral scream that no living creature should ever hear, her power amplified. The earth tore to pieces, and the small plants and rocks were disintegrated by the massive release of power. Even Sesshoumaru took a defensive step back, crouching in front of Rin.
As the earth shook and nature raged, Chiara continued to increase her already formidable powers. Clouds of dust were lifted from the earth to cocoon the legendary forces within, as Sesshoumaru pulled Rin beneath him to shield her from the excess energy. They held onto the earth for life itself, until the tremors finally began to weaken, and the storms that Chiara's power had produced began to subside. With a sudden grunt, the encasing dust fell away, revealing Chiara's true form. Before them stood a woman, wrapped in silks darker than evil's deadly source. Eyes of screaming white opened to survey the scene around her, as strong hands clenched and unclenched. Chiara's hair had changed as well. No longer inky black, it was the color of a starry sky. Small white lights shone as she shook her head, clearing her thoughts.
Finally, her gaze rested on Sesshoumaru, "Now…" her voice seemed a mix of many, a medley of beauty and vengeance wrapped and spun together, "Feel my burning vengeance!" She raised her hands once more, and the sky around them darkened. Kagome took a defensive step back, trying to put some difference between herself and the raging power around her. Crackling red energy spiraled up the body of the lithe young woman, until a billowing aura of seething white flames exploded from every pore of her essence. At a point of her finger, the seething white flames shot forth onto Inu-Yasha, who was almost blown back by their force. "Now Inu-Yasha, I give you the strength to defy Sesshoumaru! Feel the strength of something neither mortal, nor demon…feel the strength of the earth itself!"
The aura around Inu-Yasha began to pulse a vibrant forest green, and before their eyes, Inu-Yasha received the unsurpassed strength of the earth spirit. Kagome could only watch as screams tore from Inu-Yasha's lips as his muscles bulged with this awesome power. Before her tearing eyes, his chest bulged, and his arms and legs began to grow in size and proportion. Muscles expanded and grew almost wildly, but Chiara seemed to be orchestrating the whole action with skillful waves of her hands and esoteric symbols, and with a last vibrant flash of green, it was done. The Enchantress sank to one knee, but still had the strength to gaze upon her champion. Before them stood the hanyou they knew, only he seemed different. Perhaps more he felt more confident as he stood tall from the back view, until his face swung into view when he drew Tetsusaiga. Across his cheeks were demonic marks, like Sesshoumaru's, only they were forest green and seemed more tribal than demonic. He took an experimental swing with Tetsusaiga before leveling his angry countenance on his brother.
Sesshoumaru growled a deep, throaty snarl at them, as Jaken bounded away with Rin. He would deal with the Enchantress and with his brother one final time, and Tetsusaiga would be his, no matter how strong the Enchantress could make Inu-Yasha. He regarded them impassively before baring his claws and taking a defensive posture.
Suddenly Inu-Yasha moved. Perhaps moved was too weak a word. He surged forward on powerful new legs. Though they had returned to their original size, they obviously retained the power Chiara had gifted them with. With a savage grin, he prepared himself for the assault to come, for Inu-Yasha moved with a speed no demon should ever be able to match.