AN MUST READ:::::::
Okay. I'm VERY upset. NO ONE NOTICED THAT I JUST WROTE THAT MYOUGA KNEW KAGOME'S DEMON PARENTS!!!!!
if you're confused, here:
you know how i said myouga was saved by Fukuma:
"Yes, it had been a century from the last time he'd seen phoenix
demon Fukuma. He had saved the flea demon's life once, when the puny flea
had decided to take a slurp of a very fierce dragon demon's blood. Myouga
could still remember the way Fukuma and his soon-to-be wife Tanikura
fought side by side; lovingly, gracefully. They had been a perfect match of
beautifully colored phoenixes, their long, green and blue eyed tail
feathers glistening in the sun's rays."
and kagome's name:
" "Myouga, we thank you very much for helping and advising us. In
return for our in-experienced-ness, we'd like you to name our first child."
"Mnmmm.... I'm honored to, great Guardian of the Skies. Let me think... Kagome. Kagome would be a wonderful name."
"Yes... Kagome Higurashi. It is truly wonderful." "
how come everyone missed that???!!! T_T
but here's where you get confused, so i'll tell you the answer.
1. Kagome's mother, father, younger bro and grampa are introduced to you in the first chapter as HUMANS (which they ARE).
2. the clan consists of HUMANS, and their tactics for fighting are also supposed to be used for fighting HUMANS.
3. Kagome deflected the tetsusaiga, untransforming it. it is explained as "she is human"
4. Myouga knows kagome's parents; they saved him once.
5. myouga flashes back to when he first became acquainted with kag.'s parents, which is when you find out that his version of kag.'s parents are DEMONS.
6. myouga was the one that named kagome.
7. i've often described kagome's hearing and whatnot as highly sensitive, demon like, and so on. keep this in mind as you read on.
*sigh* if anyone has any questions, email me at athena_amy@hotmail.com, or review and tell me. i'll be glad to clarify. if you are really confused, dont wory. you know those mystery books that say one thing, then you find out it's another thing? well, this is it, martial arts+Shadowphoenix style! it's complicated, yes, but trust me, when you find out the truth, you'll say: "Mother of Pearls! that's so cool and absurd and .... wow!!" just trust me on this.
from now on, my advise to you is to pay attention to every little detail and person, from a beggar on the streets that she passes by, to people's flashbacks of the past, to people mentioned but haven't showed up.
and PLEASE. any questions, and tell me: i'll answer them, then post the question+answer in the next chapter at the AN's, and i'll put 'em first. don't feel stupid if you dont understand anything. i was making a final web/chart of all the characters, and when i finished, i was tired, confused, and totally hurting in my head. things are just going to get a LOT more complicated as the story goes on, but i'll try my best to make it clear, still maintaining my style of writing. now, onto the story!
Chapter 6: Arriving Early For The Appointment
That same night that Sango and I first prowled the streets together, a lone figure — clad in a cape like top that fit around her shoulders, cascading to her knees, a brown feathered undershirt seen through the gap at the front of the cape, and a soft, flowing dress that hid her feet from view — stalked the grounds of a large clearing, her multi-bladed spear in hand. How I immediately knew it was the same night, I didn't know. Thinking a bit, I realised that I remembered the strange dream I had had while unconscious and recovering back in the Clan. It seemed, I concluded, that I would only be able to remember such dreams when I was in one. Therefore, I was currently asleep and in another dream. Why is that not suprising, considering I remember falling asleep? Gee... I wonder. Note my sarcasm, there.
I followed her, floating within the mists that seemed to only exist around me; it seemed that she was looking for something, poking at mounds of dirt in the ground with the end of her weapon, the ribbons in her hair flying in the winds of the mountain she was on. Upon her left shoulder, a curved, elegant image that very much resembled a stalk of wheat contrasted highly with her ivory skin. The tatoo — as one would think of it as— was a dark, charcoal brown in color, and it seemed that there was a glistening to the image that could be found when holding up a feather to the sun's rays. From her mark and her features and clothing, I identified her as a youkai. To be exact, a sparrow demon. But as I look closer, I realise that she had been under the wing of a human master in the arts of spells and curses. A dark miko, no doubt, by the way her eyes glinted dangerously and her robes of a dark nature.
I felt a chill run up my spine as her navy blue colored, slim lips curved up in a menacing snarl, but a triumphant one, at that, though the emotion seemed to differ greatly from the action. For apparently, she had found what she had searched for, spending hours under the moonlit sky. I looked at what had caused her change of mood, confused. Before her, a gnarled, blooming plant spread its oddly colored black petals to the stars, a disgusting, foul, and decomposing odor emmiting from the heart of the marvelous yet gruesome plant. Situated atop a rock, its thready roots sprawled against the rock and the cracks of the rock, it held a promise of death. Whether that death was before or after the sighting of the flower, I knew not.
But she knew, and her demon ears perked up in vicious excitement, her piercing, lemon yellow eyes glinting mercilessly in the pale moonlight.
'Hmph. Soon, my dear cousins, soon, you will know what it truly feels to be controlled and frightened. I will see to it that you will not live your pointless, stupid, low, pitiful lives as you are now, but that you will live in fear of me. Together with the miko Kikyou and her imbecile of a father, Fukuma Higurashi, I will destroy all happiness in this land! I will be the most powerful demoness, a goddess of all matter!'
I shivered again at the knowledge that I could hear her thoughts, pounding through my head like a hammer, yet not hurting me at all.
Chuckling hysterically and sneering at the same time, she lifted her spear like weapon to the stars, chanting a spell long lost to others of her species. I, on the other hand, widened my blueberry colored eyes at her as if she were insane. I recognized the spell. A demon spell, meant to resserect the dead. Who, it did not matter, but the fact that the dead was revived did not bode well either way.
If the person does not become corrupted and turn into a hell demon, then they would be a walking corpse, a zombie. The only possible way for the caster to avoid the two consequences, was if there was one who could purify, and that person must be ressurected with the original target.
No one used this spell anymore, due to the outcomes, and the only ones who did back before the spell was forgotten had made sure to slaughter plenty of innocent priests and priestesses, or other forms of highly pure and heavenly people. This woman, however, either found a grave that held the two required people — the purifier and the target— or was very much overconfident with herself.
I could only watch as she recited the spell, my eyes feeling as if they could roll out of their sockets if I moved another millimeter, and my jaw touching the dirt ground.
"To the East, I gather the Light of Death.
To the West, I call upon the winds.
From the North, I hail thee, great Guardian of Hell, and thee, Goddess of the Graves of Life.
From the South, I worship thee, holly demon of all destruction, guide to all chaos, Hunata.
I call upon the four directions, the fourty four gods and goddesses, the five elements, the fires of Hell.
Lend me your powers to revive the dead.
Lend me your powers to revive the Chaos that once reigned all.
From the Earth spring forth the life of the dead, to walk amongst those that live.
Lend me your powers to revive the dead.
Lend me your powers to revive the Chaos that once reigned all.
From the Earth spring forth the life of the dead, to walk amongst those that live!"
In the cloudless night, thunder roared and lightning forked from the peaceful skies. Tornadoes of wind whipped at her clothing, the ribbons in her hair floating nicely around her. As the tornadoes, lightning, and fire that sprung from the earth merged into the mound of putrid soil and rock that the little black flower lived on, a bright burst of ribboned light erupted from the flower, and as the plant slowly split down the middle of its gnarled structure, different rays of different colored lights shot out into the night, like grounded shooting stars of a million colors trying to return to the eternity of outer space. I backed away a bit, feeling some branches of the light and energy wrap around me and then leave. I could have sworn it called my name: "Kagome..."
Finally, when the cracking of the plant ceased, the light and energy died down, revealing two life sized paper dolls used to represent to one that died. A female and a male, the male in his true humanoid form, demon ears and flawless turquoise colored hair. The female, clad in a miko's robes, black hair cascading down to mid back of the paper doll. Even though they were made of paper, they both seemed oddly familiar to me; the male as if I was somehow related to him, and the female almost an exact replica, despite the paper, of myself.
Raising her spear to the heavens horozontally above her head, the demoness repeated again:
" To walk amongst those that live!"
A crackle of energy zig zagged and webbed over the two paper dolls, and the paper fell open, revealing a blinking Kikyou Mitawaki and a snarling Fukuma Higurashi.
But how did I know their names? How the heck was I supposed to know? All I knew now, was that my head hurt and the people I was looking at somehow forced their way into my mind and made a past and present half known to me. By half known, I mean that I am seeing flashes of a past of someone before my eyes. The only thing is, I don't see any of it; it's all going too fast, the swirling motions of the images blurs to my eyes and sources for the headache in my head. I felt like screaming. ...
** ** **
Gasping and nearly choking on her unknown fear, Kagome bolted upright from her futon. Sango was next to her, hands on her shoulders, signifying that she had been shaking her.
"Phoenix-chan. Are you okay? You were tossing and yelping in your sleep." Concerned red eyes peered at Kagome, who was still visibly shaking from her outburst. Nodding, she bent her head, trying to catch her breath.
"What was it about?"
"It was so scary. it was about... about..." Confused, she lifted her head to look at the older girl, who encouraginly started to massage her tense shoulders, calming her somewhat.
"I... I don't remember what it was about..."
Saying it was okay and that everything would be alright in the morning, Sango persuaded Kagome to sleep again. laying in her own futon, she fingered a piece of jade that was looped around her neck via a dark red, thin but strong string. Slowly, she drifted into the world of dreams, a garbled sentence whispered out of her mouth before sleep finally claimed her: "A' miss~~ 'ou, ... Kohaku..." (AN: "I miss you, ... Kohaku...")
** ** **
Inu Yasha watched as Lady Phoenix danced and sang to another traditional song. His cousin was due to arrive today, and tonight was the appointment with the Angel of Death. Time flies by so quickly when you spend your time sleeping in trees or attempting to beat up your half brother.
It was breakfast now, and after the meal the royal family was to gather outside in wait of the visiting family. Everyone in the court seemed restless and excited, and Inu Yasha nearly choked on his meal more than once from what he heard the Lords and Ladies describe his younger cousin as.
'Cute?! How the heck can Sui be cute?! She's a pain in the ass, a fucking flirt, and seems to have the idea that me and her are the perfect little couple! ...'
Fuming already by the time the tea arrived, Inu Yasha ate his breakfast silently, glaring at his food and drink as if they were the cause of all his miseries. Only younger than him by two months, his cousin Sui had had a crush on him since they were eight years old, and her family's monthly visits did not seem to help matters.
Inu Yasha dreaded the oncoming visit, as his cousin would be staying until even after the alliance reunion. In fact, she was moving in.
What's worse, her bedroom was next door to his. Speak of Hell on Earth.
The carriage arrived then, and his sensitive ears picked up a high, feminine shriek that only suggested one thing.
"Aaaaaiiiiii!!!!!!!! My dearest Inu Yasha, darling! How I've missed you so! And my, how miserable you look. I take it that you've missed me too?"
Inu Yasha fought the urge to cover his ears and tell the younger female to fuck off. Instead, he stiffened, dropped on his mask of coolness that his older brother always wore, and proceeded with being as gentlemanly as could possibly be in the presence of a shrieking, blushing, bouncing, and ditzy dog demon.
The normal events went by, but was longer than usual, as Sui insisted to be introduced to each and every one of the female dancers and entertainers that were hired. After all, if she was to keep Inu Yasha darling to herself, she'd need to know who her enemies were.
Sui's father, as usual, tried to avoid his wife as much as possible, the long worn-out insults not bothering to be tossed her way. Ever since Inu Yasha was young, he had heard him cursing and beating his wife, though he never understood it. In fron of him and everyone else, though, he was so gentle and nice. Especially when it came to his younger brother, King Inuzhao. Lord Yamashin Zanitaka was extremely proud of his younger brother, and the two were extremely close since the time of the younger's birth.
Lady Kiatosa Takura, however, seemed unaffected by her husband's abuse to her. After all, her love for her mate was as strong as steel bars themselves. As she walked on in step with her two daughters, her miko powers analyzed, like always, the powers of their household. Here and there she'd point out some particular force that she would explain to her younger daughter, Lady Kaze, who had inherited the mother's miko abilities. Her older daughter, Lady Sui, seemed content to point out good places to practice her fighting skills, all the while gripping Inu Yasha's arm until he was walking into walls in the halls, trying to free her death grip, which she had, for some unknown reason, named the "Grip of True Love and True Love Bound Together Forevermore."
** ** **
Kagome looked up as the mother of their brothel announced that all be assembled in the main hall to meet the King's honored older brother, Lord Yamashin and his family. Sango was with her then, and so she whispered to her friend that she'd meet with her again in their room, to prepare for tonight's appointment with the 'Angel of Death.'
Entering the main hall, she was surprised to see a very beautifully kimonoed young lady clinging to a very irritated Inu Yasha, though his brother's mask hid most of his raging emotions. It was times like these that Kagome could say without hesitation that he and Sesshoumaru were brothers.
Yet, most of her surprise was at the looks that the young woman held. She was demon, no doubt, but she looked almost as if she, Inu Yasha, and Sesshoumaru were siblings. The same white-silver, long hair, golden amber eyes, and Sesshoumaru's ears. The only difference were her fushia lipsticked lips, currently set in a fierce, jealous, and possessive snarl directed at the entering entertainers, and her light, cheek-long bangs. Her kimono was layered, the outermost being a long, trailing, light, peach colored cloth with emerald green bamboo branches printed at random areas. Her earings were a cresent moon stud, a small pearl (that looked more like a white dot than anything else) connected to the bottom of it, which held an inch-long dangling, thin, and elongated diamond shaped gem of pale, transparent purple. Below the gem was another pearl, this one about half a centimeter in diameter, rolling happily to and fro.
Kagome looked over the new family. The girl clinging to Inu Yasha was a pretty good fighter, though her looks didn't show much of it, but the mother and the younger daughter were definitely scholars and not fighters. The father, however, was a scholar and a fighter, as most demon lords tended to be.
As soon as the basic intro was over, Lady Sui, as Kagome learned in the intro as the one gripping Inu Yasha's arm till it was a wonder it wasn't as slack and flexible as a rubber band, surprisingly let go of the aforementioned hanyou's arm, stepping calmly forward, still holding her face in a firece snarl.
"Listen up and listen good, you disgusting bunch of whores. If any of you dare to touch me or my Inu Yasha dearest, then I will personally see to it that you die slowly and painfully. I'll pull your limbs apart inch by inch until you beg me to tear it off ASAP, then one by one, then shove them down your sorry throat, all the while keeping you nice and lively. Got that?"
"H-Hai, Sui-sama."
Smirking at the cowering crowd of females, she pleasantly returned to her death lock with Inu Yasha, who, was currently trying to back away to the garden doors without her knowing. A sudden thought popped into the love-struck puppy's mind, and she gaily suggested that Inu Yasha take her on a tour of the garden, though having been there every month. Snuggling up against him as he grudgingly agreed, she sighed happily.The other members of the family thought it a wonderful idea to take a stroll in the gardens, and invited some of the passing Lord and Lady guests to come along.
"Oh, Inu Yasha darling! It's so wonderful how you force yourself to act like a gentleman whenever I'm near. I just feel so weak in the knees when I think of you, trying to impress me in my presence."
'Actually, he's trying to fight the urge to smack you silly and run half a globe away from you, you clueless ditz.' Kagome, whom had been selected to accompany the reunited family to the gardens, wondered at why she sounded so unlike her usual self. She almost tripped over her own dress as a stray thought flew into her mind.
'I can't be JEALOUS, can I? No, that CAN'T be it!'
Her thoughts were interupted, however, as a foul smell seeped into her nose. Fighting the urge to snarl in as much visciousness as Sui-sama had showed and probably more, she thought: 'Tori youkai. Damn. Looks like tonight's meeting is going to be pulled up to start in ten minutes. The damn bird demons are still 5 kilomaters away, which is why the King and the others haven't noticed yet, butif I'm going to protect them, I'm going to have to act weak and faint in some un-noticed corner when they come and attack, then get changed and get Sango down here as well. Damn them.'
Frowning slightly, she prepared to spring, if fainting could be alternatively worded so, into action when the bird demons made their presence known to the demons surrounding her.
Looks like they'd be meeting up with the Angel of Death a lot sooner than they'd planned.
GLOSSARY
*miko= priestess
*youkai=*sigh* It's the equivalent to demon/monster/and such
*-chan=i'm not sure of the EXACT translation, but to signify/address a younger
person, i guess. that's what its used here, anyway... except when kagome calls
sango ~-chan, as sango is older than her...
*shi-jie=elder sister according to school. see chapter one AN's
*-sama=lord whoever
*tori=bird
AN: How's that? I know, I know, you're going to kill me for the cliffhanger but hey, *toothy grin with evil glint in eye* if you complain too much, maybe i'll just stop writting, ne? just kidding. well, i hope you enjoyed it! i'll try to get the next one out asap, and tahnks a bunch, like always, to all you wonderful readers and reviewers out there! ARIGATOU, MINNA-SAN!!
Disclaimer: May Inu Yasha bless us all, but unfortunately, he can't fix everything. Like me not owning him.