Mirror Images
Chapter Four: Child of Mystery
As you all know by now, this story is in reality being written by JadeWing (that's me) and Sapphire Midnight. Well, I was slated to write this chapter, and since no one has violently protested continuing, I thought you know, what the heck, let's keep this sucker moving! I know this chapter is more than a tad rushed, but you'll have to forgive me, I'm writing this in the middle of finals week. Not my best work, but I've got an FST final to think about, what can I say? Now--Onward, upward, and AWAY!
Disclaimer: Tell me you don't honestly think I own this. Please. Don't scare me.
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I stared, utterly bewildered, at the three now-opened canisters. Now anyone who wanted to find the Shikon Jewel could kill me and take them. We'd have to go and claim it before anyone else.
"Why does this always happen to me?" I muttered sullenly. "Inuyasha, look."
He glanced down at my open palms and—I chalk it up to sheer surprise now, but I really can't be sure—promptly dropped me. Again.
"You moron!" I yelled, desperately yanking on the peculiar feeling of my magic and throwing it beneath me. It condensed into a translucent cushion the size of a decent tabletop and caught me tidily, raising me back up as I continued my litany. "What part of Inuyasha, look,' translated into drop me now'?!" Back on eye-level once more, I made good use of that by sending him a smoldering glower. "After that scene back there, you'd think the last thing you want to do is throw away the only person who not only has magic but is willing to put up with you and your obsession with dropping things! Namely me."
"The seals—are open?" he asked slowly.
"No, they're still whole in a broken way," I retorted. "Here, see for yourself."
Upon tossing one to him, he inspected it with a golden eye and announced ceremoniously, "You're on crack. This thing isn't broken."
"What?!" I snatched it back and shoved the cracked seal in his face. "You're on crack! Look!"
He took the scroll again, and this time we both had a clear view of the seal molding itself together once more the second it passed into his hands. "What the—"
I seized it. "Maybe it just likes me better."
"Must be easy to please," he snapped. "Open it, then, if you're the chosen one'."
Sending another paint-stripping look his way, I removed each scroll from the canisters and spread them out in front of me.
It was a map. There was Shirome, clearly labeled, along with Tetsui and Multaro and the other countries, centered around one I'd never seen laid out so firmly. White-edged blue letters named it as Aohoshi.
It was the lost kingdom, the forgotten nation, the paradise everyone was fighting for. It was the kingdom of mystery, the land of the unknown.
And in the very center, there was a dot with two names by it. One was "Fushiginoko Tower."
The other was "Shikon Jewel."
"What the—What're you looking at, Kagome?" Inuyasha demanded. "You gone crazy or something? There's nothing on these scrolls!"
He then moved into a long rant, striding back and forth mid-air, about how the hell they were supposed to find the Shikon Jewel if the scrolls didn't tell them diddly-squat and what kind of joke was this? It was all the humans' fault, they were too stupid to even make a—
"It's a map," I said pointedly.
He halted, turned, and looked at me, eyes contemplative. After a moment, he said, "You've lost it, haven't you? Hearing voices? Seeing the magical troll yet?"
"I think I'm the only one who can read it." I studied the surface harder. "After all, if it opens only for me, why shouldn't it show its contents only for me?"
"Because it's stupid and it should die," he said reasonably. "What's on there?"
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Tetsui. Shirome. The kingdom everyone's fighting over. The location of the Shikon Jewel."
He frowned, then pulled a map out of his pack. "Can you point out where the Jewel is on here?"
I looked down at the map I had, then at his, but nothing made sense. It was as if I had forgotten it completely. "I can't. There's a spell on it that won't let me remember."
He sat down as I reflected on what a unique sight the two of us were: a girl on her floating cushion of power and a boy sitting on air. I wasn't going to be normal anytime soon.
"What do we do now?" I asked quietly. "We know where the Shikon Jewel is, Kikyo is stuck as a slave, and international relations between Tetsui and Multaro aren't quite phenomenal anymore."
"We have to get Kikyo out," said Inuyasha. His eyes were hard and pained.
"Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed."
"Can you break the spell?" he asked suddenly.
"Me?" I blinked at him, bewildered. "If Kikyo can't get out, what chance would I have?"
He looked tiredly at the power-cushion, seeming older than before. "Thenshe's as good as dead."
Silence filled the air once more, every second adding to the chill of my entire body, as if I'd been filled with frozen lead. Finally, just to speak and break that deadly quiet, I asked timidly, "What is this stupid Jewel supposed to do, anyway?"
He paused, startled out of morose thoughts, and said slowly, "No one knows for sure. The last of the High Priestess-Mages was the one who made it, and in Tetsui she left an engraving on a stone that's in the castle. It's in an alphabet no one recognizes and the translation was lost hundreds of years ago. Whatever it was, it was big stuff. And it wasn't supposed to fall into the wrong hands, which is why it was hidden. Some of the Elder Youkai say that it was made to increase the powers of either dark or light, but for the most part they're nuttier than fruitcakes, so who knows."
"Huh." I hovered there a minute, thinking, and then it hit me.
Seizing his arm, I said excitedly, "That's it! We get the Jewel, find out whatever the heck it does, and use it to get Kikyo out, stop the war, and all that good stuff!"
He looked down at me, his gaze first surprised, then doubtful, then pensive. For a long moment, quiet reigned, and then he said speculatively and with the air of one faced with the proposition for the first time that the world might be round, "Thatmight work."
"It will!" I insisted. "If it wasn't so spiffy, why would there be wars and legends over it? It'll do something, and we'll find a way to use it!" When he hesitated, I looked at the map and their bearings, then pointed to the southeast. "Look. Fushiginoko Tower, where the Shikon Jewel is, is that way. Are we going to go or not?" Inuyasha looked to where I pointed, then back at what was to him an empty sheet of parchment, uncertainty clearly written in his face. "Inuyasha—do you want to get her back or not? It's really our only chance."
He grabbed my arm and swung me onto his back. "Southeast, right?" Without waiting for reply, he set off, going faster than expected.
~
We picked up supplies in the first reasonable-sized town we ran into, as well as exchanged my prison garb for sturdier traveling clothes and weapons—a dirk for him and a pair of daggers for me. Until my archery improved to the point where I was able to intentionally hit something, he had dryly informed me, I would have to stick to those. When I had pointed out that I knew about as much about using daggers—or weapons of any kind, for that matter—he'd sighed and said he would teach me when we stopped for the night.
Surveying the ground from my perch on his back, I reflected with all the excitement of one waiting to have their tooth pulled that I couldn't wait until the lesson. He was undoubtedly going to be an even better teacher than Kikyo
"Try to hit that," he said suddenly, pointing to what looked like a bird flying a good distance behind us.
"What?! Why? It hasn't done anything to us and I couldn't hit if I tried for three years!"
"If you tried for three years, I'm pretty sure it would have flown pretty far away by then. And you need all the practice you can get, or else you'll start shooting yourself. And I'm hungry."
I scowled and gave a sharp tug on one of his ears. He jumped, and I could almost feel the darkling look being sent my way.
~
There was a clash, and sparks briefly threw our faces into relief. I struck out with my left dagger, and Inuyasha slid away with a metallic grate. The fire was little more than sullen embers, and the lower light made him hard to see. This, of course, was not a problem for him, as his eyes worked as well (if not better) at night.
"You never explained why none of the other countries have tried to invade Aohoshi before now," I panted, waiting for his next move. After four nights of practice, I was finally starting to get the hang of the daggers, but he still won. Every time.
This obviously was doing wonders to his ego, also, because he never let me forget it.
"There was a barrier around the damn place," he said as calmly as if he was in the middle of morning tea. "No one could get in. And then it just vanished." A rustle told me he was rushing me.
I ducked and slashed out with one, slicing up with the other. Neither struck, instead glancing off that impossibly fast blade. He chuckled smugly and returned for another pass.
I knew his style somewhat; he was very good at close-range combat, but useless at long range. My aim wasn't what it should have been, but perhaps I could catch him on this
Rolling out of the way, I sprang to my feet and hurled a dagger at him instead of waiting for him to come to me. Surprised, he dodged—it caught a few white hairs and the drifted slowly down—and we both followed its flight as it spun like a wind demon and lodged itself in the throat of a shabbily-armored, dirty man. He was pinned to the tree behind him.
The temporary silence was reminiscent of the calm before a storm. Then bandits surged out from the undergrowth, all armed and watching us with sloppy, leering grins.
My heart pounded frantically. Even when I had nearly been executed, I had not been as afraid as I was now. A public execution was hardly a pleasant death, but it was swift and clean. Bandits—they would beat me, do things no girl ever wanted, and perhaps I would live to escape if I was lucky. Perhaps not so lucky, though, doomed to live a life of a dishonorable woman. Any death by their hands would not be quick and clean. Inuyasha had nothing to fear—he was a hanyou and they would have no interest in him. Me, thoughIf I was carried off
My vision started fading, but I tried to keep to my feet as we moved automatically to be back-to-back. I swallowed, fighting the nausea and the horror and knowing I wasn't going to win—
And something broke free inside of me.
It was as if someone far older and more experienced took over. My vision was lined in silver and white, every shape as bright to my eyes as if it were daylight. A hand reached back and called the dagger free of its bloody lodging, and the hilt thudded neatly into my hand. Whirling, I cut down two of the men and kicked at a third. He had a longer dagger than mine in hand—I disarmed him with a twist of power, sending the dagger into another tree. More men started gathering around me, and I ran forward to the tree I'd flung the dagger into. With it at my back, I could focus on the front.
Making a circle with my two fingers, I drew a white ring in the air and it grew, then slammed into the men, throwing them back. Crashing on my right alerted me to someone trying to catch me from behind the tree. I leapt up, twisting in midair so I faced the tree, grasped the hilt of the dagger, tucked my legs so my feet rested against the trunk, and simultaneously pulled the knife free and pushed off. I landed behind my newest foe with a bone-jarring thud but managed to bury his own ally's knife in his back anyway.
Each arm was seized by a man in an iron grip. I threw myself forward, rolling to lessen the impact, and winced as they fell on their heads with a snap. From their lack of movement, they were either unconscious or dead. Another man tried to land a blow on my face, and I blocked it, ramming a fist into his lower abdomen, then cracking him on the head with the hilt of one of my daggers.
"Kagome! Hold on—I'm" Inuyasha stopped at the sight of ten to twenty unconscious or deceased men near me; the part of me that was in control tried to remember where I'd seen that face before.
A last bear of a man lurched at me, and Inuyasha started forward. Before he could take two steps, though, we were locked in combat, moving too fast for him to intercept and not risk hurting me.
We slashed, kicked, punched; no holds were barred. His face was full of greed and sweaty; mine was perspiring lightly but my eyes were coldly level. I ducked, landing a powerful kick on his chest that sent him stumbling back, then snapped my wrist back and threw the dagger into his throat. He dropped with a choked gag—the fight had ended as it had begun.
The real me returned, realized how many men I'd just killed and/or injured, and very efficiently lost my past few meals.
"Kagome?" I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and looked at Inuyasha. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," I said hoarsely. "Dandy. I just got overtaken by some warrior spirit or something that used me to slaughter twenty men, you know, the usual. How was your day?"
"What happened? How did you know how to do that?"
I would have buried my head in my hands, but they were covered in blood. I was covered in blood. "Please don't ask me," I replied, more at a loss than ever. "I don't know. I just don't know."
And without another word, I passed out.
Darkly glinting eyes, watching from the bushes, narrowed and vanished.
~
The sixth day passed, for the most part, in silence as I tried to puzzle out what exactly had happened and I presumed he did the same. After a bitterly cold wash I'd forced myself through in the nearby stream, I felt a little cleaner, but not as much on the inside. The only way I was able to justify it myself was by telling myself it wasn't me, and reminding myself of stories from the few girls to escape from them. It was like when I'd rescued Inuyasha from the Multaro castle—something else had taken over.
On the dawn of the seventh day of our travel, we arrived at Fushiginoko Tower. I first saw it from Inuyasha's back, a slender speck against the predawn sky, exactly where the map said it would be: miles and miles ahead of us. How could it be visible?
"Oi Kagome, what's that thing over there?" Inuyasha pointed to what had to be it. But it was huge
"I think it's the Fushiginoko Tower," I said with slow deliberation.
"That's not supposed to be visible until we're a lot closer to it," he pointed out.
"It's big, I guess," was my witty response. He snorted.
The more of it I could pick out as we drew nearer, the more I realized that this was no chessboard rook. The tower itself was easily seven hundred feet tall, but it was so fantastically intricate and magnificent that you could spend an hour looking at it and exploring it every day for ten years and on the first day of the eleventh you'd still find something new. [AN: I just almost fell outta me chair]
When we landed, I didn't want to go in. It was too big. I wasn't supposed to be here.
My head barely came up to the door's knocker alone. The huge slabs of wood were at least fifty feet high. "We'll never get those open," I said darkly, regretting coming here. What were we doing? If tried warriors and mages hadn't seen the Shikon Jewel for countless ages, what were we going to do?
"Push," Inuyasha ordered. I obediently set my palms against the smooth wood, glancing up at the stone arches and banisters and carvings above in wonder.
The doors swung open, hinges silent, not a creak to mark their passage. We glanced at each other, stunned, and then I said weakly, "Well, you know, if it's gonna only show its map to me, I guess it's only gonna open its doors to me too. Makes sense if you think about it."
"Oh yeah," Inuyasha said dazedly. "Perfect sense."
The heels of my boots clicked neatly against the floor, a black stone so brightly polished that it reflected my image back at me. Lit torches cast off a clear, steady white-blue light that bounced off the stone walls and left no corner untouched, their flames dancing merrily. Pillars lined the room, leading to the right, and I supposed we'd find a way to the Jewel soon enough. Deep etchings scrolled over the walls, lines without any semblance to an order or organization I recognized. Beyond lurked the hall, which curved around past my line of sight, along with the unknown. With a nod to Inuyasha, I plucked a torch from its holder and started uneasily pacing down the hall, noting the slight slope.
What would my grandfather think if he saw me now?
"What a weird place," Inuyasha remarked. "Kinda creepy."
"It's not designed to make you happy," I said shortly. Something about this place was setting my nerves on edge, as if within every grain of stone was stored an ancient secret, secrets that could make or break an empire in a day or less.
My hand absently brushed the wall—and we both started when the lines moved.
I jerked my hand back, alarmed, and the engravings shifted back to their original state. "What the"
"Touch it again," Inuyasha urged.
"Not happening! Ever!" I protested. "You do it!"
He set his palm against it, and nothing happened. "It'll only work for you," he said grudgingly.
"Surprise, surprise." I reluctantly set my palm against the stone, feeling an electrical shock run through me. Blue-white light rippled up and down the hall, sending shivers up my spine, and the wall throbbed with life, stone writhing all around. The lines broke and joined, twisted and unbent, and I watched with fascination for an unknown length of time.
Before me were two new creations, one unfinished. The first was something written over and over again in different languages and alphabets until it came to mine.
"BEHOLD THE CHILD OF LIGHT AND PEACE
WHO LIVES A FALSEHOOD LIFE
WHO ASCENDS TO THE HIGHEST FROM THE UTTER LEAST
IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING AND STRIFE
WHO BRINGS A LIGHT TO BLESS THE WORLD
WHO FROM HER GLORY WILL BE HURLED
THE MAKER, THE BREAKER
TO THEIR FEET DARKNESS FALLS
THE TAKER, THE WAKER
THE SAVIOR OF ALL
RISE TO THE HEAVENS
O CHILD OF LIGHT
FOR YOU THE MUTE SPEAK
CITIES FALL TO YOUR MIGHT
THE STARS SHALL BURN
AND TRUST SPUN FROM THE WILD
WHEN THUS DAWNS THE AGE
OF THE MYSTERY CHILD."
"Well, I never was that big of a fan of poetry myself," Inuyasha began, but fell silent as the lines halted their movements to present the finished image.
From the smallest hair to the turn of my chin, I was etched into that wall. Below it, in the same, strange writing, was scripted out, "KAGOME, Savior of Aohoshi."
"Oh, would you look at that," I said, voice faint and dizzy. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
My image moved, pointing to the wall behind us. I turned around and set my palm on it. It vanished, revealing a circular chamber about ten feet wide, and instinctively I walked in. After a moment Inuyasha followed.
"Where do you think we're going?" he asked uncertainly.
"Somewhere with lots of fire and pain, I'm sure." The wall slid down again, and we both jumped and looked uneasily at each other. Was there a way out? Had we just walked into a death trap? "UmI don't think that was good," I said with a swallow.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and snorted derisively. "Sure, we all know how people go out of their way to erect enormous towers that allow in only the prophecy child and then put all sorts of killing devices inside so the prophecy child can die. There's a way out of this, there always is."
"I don't know." I examined the wall in front of me, fear gnawing at my belly. "I'd really rather not like to starve to death until after we save Kikyo and the world, you know."
There was no response. Whirling around, I found only empty air where he had stood.
Why did this always happen to me?
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Inuyasha blinked. One minute, he'd been standing beside Kagome in the circular room. Now he was not. Instead, he was in an enormous hall, standing around like an idiot and scratching his head. Kagome was, of course, nowhere in sight.
Why did this always happen to him?
Shaking his head, he sucked in a breath and bellowed, "Kagome! OI, KAGOMEEE!" There wasn't a response, but then he wasn't really expecting one.
Well, there was nothing to be done until one of them found the other, and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon if he just waited on his own. He strode forth, heels clicking confidently against the same black stone as the hallway, past the pillars and statues regarding him with solemn eyes. Against that enormous hall, he was dwarfed to seem no taller than an insect; a strange frequency hung on the air, giving it the feel of a field before battle. For the first time since he'd set foot in the cursed tower, there were windows shedding light like the winter's heavy coat at the dawn of spring. The light seemed almost thick, and outside clouds were starting to gather.
Returning his attention to what lay ahead, he found a set of steps carved from glassy white marble, contrasting starkly against the inky floor. At the top lay a dais, with a block of stone standing altar-like.
"Stone, stone, stone," he groused, heading up the steps with a not-so-cheery expression. "Everything in this whole damn building is stone. If they were going to take the time to build some huge thing stickin' out of the ground just to impress Kagome, not to mention enchant some stupid paper to only show her the way, you'd think they'd at least use a little wood here and thereHeating this entire thing in winter would take months, honestly."
Reaching the head of the steps halted his ranting momentarily, as his attention was captivated instead by the long blade on the altar. It was rusty and decrepit, a true cripple of a weapon; and yet there was an aura over it, one that bespoke of ancient power and epic battles, of too many better days it had seen.
Just as his fist closed on the battered hilt, a roll of thunder boiled up from the heart of the now-thick clouds like the war drum of the gods, one that nearly drowned out the cry that split the air, wrenched from Kagome's throat.
~
Pacing around the room gave me the feeling that I was going in circles. That could have been due to the fact that it was a circular room, but thanks to my companion vanishing into thin air, my powers of deduction were about as sharp as my aim at the moment.
What the hell had just happened to Inuyasha? People didn't just vanish, things like that didn't happen in the real world.
It then occurred to me that perhaps, since we'd set foot in the tower, we hadn't been in the real world, and that made me feel even peachier. What was going to happen to us now? I had to find Inuyasha somehow, but the tower was so huge I didn't think I could find him without starving to death first.
There was a lurching grate behind me, and the wall that had disappeared to let us in before now gritted up, sliding into the wall above my head and revealing an entirely different place than the hallway. I'd been moving without even knowing.
I stumbled out before I disappeared and found myself on the first deck of the tower's roof. Stone arches swung out from beneath, curving up to join at a point directly above the center of the circular tower. From where they joined, a giant steel ring was hung—or at least I assumed it was connected to there; it was at least fifty feet in diameter and didn't touch any of the arches, yet remained suspended in midair. Above it was another platform, supported by more arches springing from the stone supports that cradled the ring. If I had been airborne and on eye level with the second platform, I would have seen that there were four columns on that platform, each with an arch that met directly above the center and held a thing that resembled a wheel of four upward-pointing spikes of beaten silver circling around a fifth six-foot spike, reaching up like a spindle to the sky.
I was busy standing and staring up at the giant ring with my mouth open like a cow, wondering how on earth the builders had forged one so enormous, when my feet were lifted off of the ground. Wind whipped around me, carrying clouds that trailed behind it and tossing my hair and clothes into a frenzy. I struggled madly but couldn't return to the ground.
Relax, a soothing said, echoing within my mind. I need your help as much as you need mine.
"Yeah, I'll bet," I retorted sharply, voice quavering, "except for the part where YOU'RE NOT THE ONE FLOATING SIX HUNDRED FEET IN THE AIR!"
There was an impatient sigh. Do you want me to help you or not? I don't have time for this, I have to go get myself reborn or I'll vanish completely.
"You can't help me if I'm dead, and usually being airborne more than fifty feet above the ground has that fatal effect," I snapped.
You're not going to die already! This is the only way for you to get the jewel, believe me! When it's over, I'll put you back on the ground!
"YOU'RE the one doing this?!" Any minute now, my eye was going to start twitching "Make me stop going up! If I was meant to fly I would have started a long time ago!"
There was a cough, and I was presented with images of myself slowing my fall and floating on that cushion I'd hastily made. Nevertheless, my upward motion halted and I was left in the center of the ring. Need I say more? Now, listen. My name is Midoriko and I'm the one who made the Shikon Jewel in the first place. This is a sacred tower and I was the one to keep foreigners out of this land up until now. The gods demand that I be reborn or leave the mortal world entirely, so my power has waned this past year until I could no longer hide the nation. You are the only available one with enough power to do what must be done.
"Great, I'm a second choice," I grumbled. "What needs to be done'? Pruning hedges? Tower needs a new coat of paint?"
Nothing so easy, I assure you. There was a hint of sarcasm in Midoriko's voice.
"Then what is it?"
You will summon the Shikon Jewel, and then you will use it to stop the war from beginning.
It occurred to me that, when I'd first been told that I had to impersonate Kikyo, that this was not in the job description. "Umwhat now?"
You must wake the sleeping queen of the land who is imprisoned in the castle nearby. She has slumbered for twelve years since the demon lord Naraku first drew his forces together and launched an offensive to usurp her throne. Her power and the Shikon Jewel's combined and drove him out, but at the last she was surprised and cast into a deep slumber. When she reclaims her throne and the use of the jewel, none can defy her will and war will not be made in the name of claiming this nation. If Naraku returns, you must kill him for once and for all. A note of strain entered her voice. You do not have a choice—you must do as I say, for the gods decree it so—and they are impatient with me. Be prepared: I'm sending the jewel now.
"WHAT?! NO! ARE YOU SOME KINDA NUTCASE?! I DON'T WANT THE STUPID THING, I DON'T WANT TO STOP SOME WAR, ALL I AM IS A STUPID PEASANT GIRL—"
Who is the god's chosen. You saw the wall, now keep your mouth shut and let me work!
A flash of lightning was the only warning I had; I didn't know then, but the lightning itself had hit the metal spindle. And then the ring started to move. As I watched in mingled awe and apprehension, it made a full circle, then another, gaining speed. A current was in the air that set my hair on edge, and every sense of mine was screaming to get out and now.
The ring was no more than a blur, whirling faster and faster, and I was shaking violently when the first bolts of energy shot from its edges and sent white pain racing through every bone of my body. I screamed until my lungs also hurt; it felt as if freezing fire was being forced through my body, as if lightning was stabbing into every nerve.
You little idiot! Don't take it in, CHANNEL it! CHANNEL that energy or it'll kill you! Focus on the jewel!
Somehow I knew what she was talking about: in my minds eye was painted a blue-tinged pool of white fire, and the pain was shooting from it overflowing. I closed my eyes tighter and forced that energy into a knot of power forming between my palms. It took all the mental will and strength I had to keep it flowing steadily into there, but it helped that I knew if I didn't do something I was going to die. Tears of pain were running down my face and my hands were bleeding, but I couldn't stop channeling itI couldn't let it destroy me
And then it was all over. I floated to the ground, half-conscious, as the ring slowed and the clouds began rolling away. My knees couldn't hold me; I collapsed once I touched the floor of the deck, shivering, my muscles remembering the pain and aching because of it. Then, with a clink, something landed in front of me.
I forced my eyes open to find a small orb in front of me, maybe an inch and a half wide. It was a pearly lavender, with magenta and pale rose overtones, and both translucent and opaque. Power radiated from it benevolently, like warmth from a hearth's fire.
That's the Shikon Jewel, Midoriko said, her voice distant and fading. It gives power to any who possess it, and you alone can use it now. The power within it will help you, but the fate of Aohoshi rests on your shoulders. Good luck.
"Wow, all I wanted for my birthday was a pony, and instead I get an impossible task. Whee."
"Kagome!" Inuyasha appeared from the room that had brought me here, eyes wide. "What the hell just happened?You look like shit."
"Thanks," I muttered. "Thanks a lot. Look what I did." The Shikon Jewel glistened amiably in the cloudy light as I held it up for him to see.
His jaw dropped. "That isn'tthat's notit can't be—"
I lowered my arm wearily. "It's the Shikon Jewel, and I went through hell to get it, so trust me, I know."
"Lovely little token," a voice said, clipped and cold. "Don't mind if I take that now."
A hand plucked it from my fingers and was gone. I frantically looked around, only to find a man in a baboon pelt sitting casually on the edge of the railing. "Give that back!" I yelled, my voice scratching from overuse. "Who do you think you are?!"
"My name is Naraku," he said, his voice both menacing and gleeful at the same time. "The one who imprisoned the queen of this country, and now her precious bauble is all mine."
I was not fazed in the least, of course. "You're Naraku? What kind of crappy evil overlord runs around in a monkey suit? I've seen crazy people who dress themselves better than you! And doesn't that thing stink after a while? I mean really, I can't believe you wake up each morning and think, Oh, golly, it's a lovely day, I think I'll go skin me a monkey'!"
The heat of his glower sent chills up my spine, and Inuyasha moved to step in front of me. "Piss of, you shit," he suggested charmingly. "No, wait, hand over the jewel before I beat the shit out of you and then piss off." After a moment, he added, "You shit."
"Your vocabulary never fails to wound me, Inuyasha," he said dryly. At least as long as they kept talking, I could have time to string an arrow "I'm just mutilated with all the emotional scars you've given me. You know, actually, little Kagome, I was the one who gave the demon crow its strength to fool Kikyo and draw you both out. Of course, you didn't save her in the end, so it's really your fault she's still a slave."
"Get help," Inuyasha snapped. "I mean it. You're messed up."
"Not as messed up as he's gonna be." I let loose the arrow and for once it flue true to its aim, possibly because of my anger. My hands hadn't stopped bleeding and red besmirched both the bow and arrow, but that was nothing compared to what happened when it hit.
A bone-rattling explosion rocked the tower to its very foundations and I clung to the rail nearby for support. It was followed by another blast, and then something hit me in the chest, pain exploding out once more. I fainted.
When I came to, my hand was clenched around something cutting into my throbbing palm. I sat up with a groan and immediately wished I hadn't, thanks to the enormous headache and the other various pains racking my body.
"There's good news, and then there's bad news," a gruff voice said quietly as I laid back down and closed my eyes. "Which first?"
"The good."
"Naraku's hurt bad. You took a couple of chunks out of him and he's not going to recover for a long time."
"How do you know him, anyway?"
There was a long pause, and then Inuyasha said, "He's the reason my father is dead. He led troops against us and my father was killed in the battle."
I couldn't think of a proper response to this, so instead I asked, "What's the bad news?"
He held up what looked like a piece of a broken marbleonly it was an opalescent lavenderand had a thick aura of power.
"When you hit Naraku, you must have hit the jewel," he informed me, tone grim. "There were five pieces. One of them, you've got. The other, I've got. Two of them flew off and I don't know where they went. The last.Naraku's got."
I winced and sat up, slowly this time. "Crap. Crap crap crap crap GODS DAMMIT!"
"Pretty much my reaction, but I used stronger words." He picked me up and I didn't have the strength to protest. "Come on, let's get out of here."
I didn't respond—I was already asleep.
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Yeah, I know this chapter was kinda rushed, but from here on out, the action is going to really start picking up. Please ignore any typos—I'm writing this without being able to sit up properly over the keyboard (I have to lean back) because my back really, really hurts. . Must be the backpackthose things are like slave chains. I'm pretty sure Saph's writing the next chapter, but if she don't want to, heaven knows I will. Otherwise, until next time, dear readers!