Dr Evil: "You're like the diet coke of evil. One calorie - not enough…."
"Families are like brownies; sweet with a few nuts."
Chapter 18: Along Came A Spider
The path they followed would up through the circling paths in the lower mountain area where there was too much altitude for Kagome to cook certain foods. Kagome pushed her bike with Shippou sitting in the basket staring straight ahead. Inu Yasha walked on the other side of her bike, Shio walked behind and to the side of him. Sango, Miroku, and Kirara walked behind and Sumiko walked next to Kagome with her head hanging. Kagome looked at her worriedly. She didn't know about the real situation going on between Sumiko and Shio, she just assumped that Sumiko had been traumatized by Shio's playboy nature.
"Sumiko?" Kagome said softly.
Sumiko didn't answer. She was dragging her sandles slightly, even though she was able to keep up with Inu Yasha's pace. She silently hung her head showing little emotion or signs that she had even heard Kagome ask her a question.
"Are you – okay, Sweetie?"
Sumiko still didn't look up or speak.
Kagome shot Inu Yasha a worried, scared look making him clear his throat in discomfort and look at the ever so interesting shrubs alongside the path. Shio just looked straight ahead with an vague, unreadable glaze in his eyes.
"Would you like some candy, Sumiko?" Kagome tried again.
That didn't even penetrate the surface, and Kagome was getting worried. Everyone else had gone into a constipated silence.
"I have some candy if you want it." Kagome unzipped her pack and held up a ziplock bag filled with assorted varieties of cheap candy. When that had no effect she started trying to tempt Sumiko by giving other members of the party pieces of candy. "Here you go Sango, a little kit kat bar – Miroku, here's a lemon sucker, Inu Yasha take the jawbreaker – just take it – Shio, here's some gum – Shippou, what would you like??"
"Uh," Shippou looked into the little zip lock bag and pointed. "Dat one."
"The cinnamon drop! Good choice!" Kagome pulled it out of the bag and gave it to him.
Sumiko's head rose a little.
"There you go! How does it taste?" Kagome asked.
"Uh, good, I guess." Shippou said chewing on it.
Sumiko looked up at Kagome with large, wet eyes. "Did you say cinnamon?"
"Yes, Sumiko!" Kagome smiled at her and pulled the remaining cinnamon drops out of the bag. She held them out to Sumiko. "Would you like a cinnamon drop, Sumiko?"
Sumiko looked from Kagome to the cinnamon drop and the white of her eyes stared to redden dangerously.
"Huh? What's wrong, Sumiko??" Kagome tried to comfort her. But Sumiko put her face in her hands and started crying. "It's okay, Sumiko! Take a cinnamon drop, you'll be okay!" Kagome felt someone grab her arm and lead her away. She turned her head to see Inu Yasha with a serious look on his face. He looked at Kagome and said, "I wouldn't mention cinnamon to her. That's what Shio smells like."
Kagome's mouth opened and closed a few times where only a few jumbled words came out then she said, "Why didn't you tell me??"
"Well I didn't know you were going to go forcing candy on her!" Inu said.
"I wasn't forcing her! I was trying to cheer her up unlike some people!"
"She wants to be alone! At least I can figure that out!"
"You couldn't figure simple math! She needs help!"
"Bitch! You suck as a mother!"
"SIT!"
WHAM!!!
"Bitch!"
"SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!!!!"
MEGA WHAM!!!!
---
In the mountains, Rin shivered from the cold air. The first lord of the western lands, Sesshomaru sent Jaken out to get her a heavy coat. Sesshomaru stood looking out over the side of a steep drop on the mountain. Rin sat next to the two headed dragon they walked around with, she looked up at her Sesshomaru-sama and wondered what he was thinking about. We'll I'll tell you what he was thinking about! The wind blew past him and he caught a scent that tried to blend into the breeze but couldn't hide from his nose. It was a familiar scent, though it was one he hadn't smelled in over fifty years. It was a smell that disgusted him from his thick demon exterior to the darkened depths of his soul, a smell mixed with aloe leaves and sweet cinnamon.
---
Sango sat brushing Kirara next to the camp fire. It was a strangely cold night for summer, but it might not have been the fact that there was no sun that made the air so cold. Sumiko had been acting like a shadow for a couple of days, spreading sadness like the flu. The kitsune girl sat by the fire staring at the flames though not really seeing them. There was heat there, but she didn't feel it or see it. A spark could have jumped from the rocks at that moment, set her on fire and burned her to death and she wouldn't even realize it. By the way she had been moving, she looked like her whole body had gone numb.
Shio had told his story of what he said to Sumiko to him, but even Inu Yasha couldn't understand it. How could saying just a couple of words, totally destroy a person like that?
Inu Yasha and Shio sat next to each other in their little demon sitting positions. Inu Yasha looked from the weak looking Sumiko, to the salad Kagome was making, to Shio. Even Inu Yasha could see that there was something wrong with Shio as well, because if the inu/kit was all "fine and dandy" he would be laughing, telling sick jokes, making people uncomfortable and psyching the other characters out. Mind manipulation sort of ran in Shio's family…
Inu Yasha nudged him to make him look up. "How's it hanging, buddy?"
Shio sighed, they did their little best friends handshake, and he said, "I'm fine, I guess." He looked over at Sumiko.
Kagome game her a little brown bowl of lettuce leaves and tomatoes. Sumiko just took the bowl and looked down at it stoically.
Shio looked back at Inu Yasha with a confused and slightly frantic expression on his face. "This is unbelieveable, man! I'm telling you! No woman has ever given me this much trouble since – Sashimi, you know??"
Kagome gave Inu Yasha and Shio their bowls of salad, giving Shio a dirty look before going back over to her spot next to Sumiko.
Shio sweatdropped and leaned toward Inu Yasha. "And would you ask your woman to stop giving me death looks? It's hard enough, for real!"
Inu Yasha rolled his eyes but made no promises. If Kagome stopped giving Shio dirty looks, she would give them back to the first person who got in trouble, himself!
"Sumiko, aren't you going to eat your salad?" Kagome asked.
"No. Sumiko doesn't feel like it." Sumiko said in a monotone voice, not bothering to look up.
Kagome looked at her worriedly and put the back of her hand against the girl's forehead. "You look pale. And you're shaky! Are you okay??"
"Sumiko don't know." Sumiko said, she sounded tired and uncaring.
Kagome helped her up stand up. "Come on, let's get you some water, some aspirin, and put you to bed."
Sumiko nodded.
"Say goodnight to everyone now." Kagome said. Then Sumiko did the scariest thing she had done yet. The regular happy Sumiko would have said, "Good night to everyone now! ^_^" but that's not what she said at all.
Sumiko looked tiredly to each person by the fire. Miroku, Sango and Shippou tried to smile up at her. She nodded to Kagome and said in a monotone voice, "Good night, Shippou. Good night, Miroku. Good night, Sango. Good night, Inu Yasha." She then looked at Shio with the most tired expression yet and said, "Good night, Aka Shio."
There were a few moments of silence before Kagome helped Sumiko off to her sleeping bag. Then everyone turned their attention on Shio.
"That's weird, she didn't call you Kitty!" Shippou said.
"She didn't call any of us by her nicknames." Miroku said looking slightly worried.
Sango glared at Shio, which he knew was to be expected since girlfriends stuck together like glue. "You'd better make up for this, Shio!"
"Me???"
"It's your fault she's acting like this!" Sango said, her eyes lighting up with rage. "You'd better fix what you broke! She used to be a healthy, happy, innocent girl and you corrupted her. You have to fix it!"
Shio stared back at her for a few seconds in silence. Miroku started rubbing Sango's butt. "You know, I like it when you get riled up like that, Sango." He said.
SMACK!!! (You can guess what happened. ;;;;)
Shio stood up and started walking toward the forest. "Fine. I'll apologize to her when I get back."
"Where are you going?" Sango asked.
Shio stopped walking and looked back at her with a sexy grin. "Ask yourself if you really wanna know the answer to that, okay?" and with that, he walked into the forest.
They sat there for a few seconds before Shippou asked, "I don't get it! What's he doing?"
Inu Yasha smacked him upside the head.
Shio walked out into the forest, right when he was about to do that thing he was going to do, he smelled something dangerous nearby. He almost didn't know what it was until his memory hit him. Then all the hair on the back of his neck pricked. He ducked, trying to stay downwind, and silently began to sneak away. What if Sesshomaru caught him here?? He wasn't in oath to slaughter the sexgod anymore, was he? Shio gulped and sprang off into the forest at top speed. Then he stopped shirt as he almost ran into the great dog demon himself. Sesshomaru looked down at Shio with his expressionless eyes.
Shio took a step back in fear. His thin tail drooped between his legs and a drop of sweat slid down his forehead. "H-hi, S-Sesshomar-u…." Shio stuttered.
Sesshomaru loomed over him like a dark cloud. He looked down at Shio with cold eyes. "Hello, Shio. Long time, no see."
Shio took another step back. Sesshomaru was much taller, and older, and braver, and smarter then Shio was. And he had better hair too. Was he going to kill him? "Li-listen, Sesshomaru," Shio said trying to take control of his voice. "It was nice meeting you, but I have a wife and six kits, and they couldn't possibly live if I weren't there to support them. So I'll just be going because they can worry about me so mu-"
"I don't think so." Sesshomaru interrupted.
Shio's eyes popped and he smiled nervously at him.
Sesshomaru's long arm came up and crossed in front of him, his sharp claws glowing with power.
A funny sound came out of Shio and he sprinted away in fear. Sesshomaru gave chase. Killing Shio would be his good deed for the decade. And if that arrogant little foxdog was as slow as he was when he was a child, the great Sesshomaru would have no trouble in hunting him down quickly. Sadly for Shio, he was that slow. Sesshomaru caught up to him in minutes and a yellow whip of light came out of the trees to slice him in half. Shio jumped higher into the trees and the whip missed him.
Running back to camp sounded like the best idea. If Shio could just make it to camp, he could get Inu Yasha to help him. Another glowing whip stretched out toward him and exploded on the dirt behind Shio, sending him flying into the air, where he was surprised and off guard. The next thing he knew a fluffy white thing wrapped around him and he was thrown onto the grass.
Shio looked up and Sesshomaru was above him. 'This is it! I'm dead!' Shio thought. 'But I'm too pretty to die!'
Sesshomaru raised his glowing claw once again. "Now die."
"Silver Light Claw!"
Out of the darkness came blade like shots of silver light, and they barely missed hitting Sesshomaru in the head. They whizzed past and sliced a tree trunk in half like a knife through a peanut butter sandwich.
Sesshomaru paused and the green poisonous energy in his hand faded. Shio was equally shocked. That attack! That voice! Could it have been-?
A high speed demon circled the two men where they were fast and unseen. Sesshomaru let go of Shio, more interested in this new demon. Shio didn't even notice he let him go. They heard a familiar laugh of a giggly young woman who found their confusion funny.
Shio took a step forward and called out, "Sashimi?!"
The demon stopped chasing and stood nearby, outlined in moonlight. It was a woman who wore a uniform of red and white, similar to what Sesshomaru was wearing. She had bare feet, but they were shaped like a dog's somewhat. Her long silver hair fluffed out all over the place from running at such a high speed, it glistened in the moonlight like a low torch in the darkest realm. Her fuzzy elf-like ears poked out of her hair and twitched in sync. She smiled slightly, as if holding a special secret, her eyes were hidden from the moonlight under her long tresses, but something seemed to be interesting to her. "Good evening, boys." She said in a familiar voice.
"Sashimi." Sesshomaru said in shock.
"Sashimi! I can't believe it's you!" Shio shouted, unable to control the volume of his voice.
Then in a flash of silver light, she darted off into the forest.
"Sashimi, wait!" Shio shouted. He started after her when a huge night demon growled and lunged at him, blocking his path.
Shio growled at him and drew his fist back. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!"
POW!!!
The night demon went flying out of the forest while Shio and Sesshomaru were already following after Sashimi.
Back at camp, Inu Yasha became aware of Sashimi's approach as well. He sensed her glorious smell and went leaping in that direction without a word to his friends.
"Wait! Inu Yasha!" Kagome called. But he was already gone. She sighed and looked back at Sumiko. Her skin was cold and clammy, and she was having trouble breathing in her sleep. "I don't understand what's wrong with her." Kagome said worriedly. "Could all of this be from stress?"
Inu Yasha soon caught up to the other guys.
"Shio! Did you sense her, too?" Inu Yasha called.
"Yeah! I thought she was dead! I remember burying her and everything!" Shio called.
"It's a trap, you fools, can't you figure anything out?" Sesshomaru asked.
Shio and Inu Yasha looked at him as he said in a dark voice. "She came to us as an invitation."
They soon found out that was true, when Sashimi lead them to a large opening area far away from camp. She landed on a stone heap with her back to them.
The guys landed a few feet away watching her.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" all of a sudden, Naraku came out of the shadows and stood next to her.
"Naraku!" Inu Yasha growled.
"She's the real thing you know. Not some clay doll like Kikyo. I took the liberty of hiring a specialist." Naraku said as Shitai came walking over. She waved at the guys and said in a casual tone. "Hi, how are you doing?" she stood next to Sashimi as if modeling her. "Organic, living, exactly as she was fifty or so years ago!"
Sashimi turned around and looked up at the guys with a blank expression in her deep blue eyes. Shitai smiled and said, "Courtesy of your local necromancer, Shitai, Deaths Shoplifter!" ^_^
Inu Yasha, Sesshomaru, and Shio sweatdropped. Shio folded his arms. "What a corny name."
"SHUT UP!!" she shouted at them, before Naraku cleared his throat and started talking again. "It would be a shame if something bad where to happen to her again after all that trouble Shitai went through to bring her back to life, wouldn't you agree?"
The three boys growled at him, but didn't move.
A light started to grow in Sashimi's eyes.
"Sashimi is a clever girl." Naraku said, "She destroyed her light before she died to prevent something like this from happening. For all evil things know how to control the light and the darkness, but it is impossible for them to create their own light. But Shin'yo was smart indeed, she created a super powerful form of light that cam be passed on from generation to generation, this light is the most powerful because it is the purest. Though there was one slight flaw, that demons could take the purest light from anyone who possesses it. One who can hold and control both the light and the darkness, is equivalent to a god." Naraku smiled evilly at their anger and fear. "Wait, I'm wrong about one thing. She didn't destroy her light. She gave it – to you three."
It was Shitai's turn to talk again. "Give us your light, or I will destroy Sashimi's soul – I can do that, you know…"
Sashimi's eyes filled with light, then it erupted around her and she disappeared into thin air.
Shitai blinked at the spot where Sashimi disappeared and smiled embarrassedly, "Well! What do you know! I didn't know she could do that?" ^_^;;;
"What? What did she do?" Naraku asked.
"Weeelllll," Shitai said. "Apparently, she is able to create light!" ^_^ she laughed a little, "Yeah! And she just created some light, took it and teleported herself to another part of Japan! Crazy, huh?"
Shio, Inu Yasha, Sesshomaru: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Naraku: -_-
Shitai: ^_^ ;;;;;; "Hehe, silly me!"
Shitai reached into her pocket and waved off the not so nice look Naraku was giving her. "Don't worry! I have a back up plan!" ^_^ she pulled three orbs out of her pocket and tossed each of them into the boys before they knew what was going on.
They wobbled where they stood.
"I feel funny." Shio said.
"What did you do to us?" Inu Yasha asked.
"Okay, here's the beef," Shitai started. "I've designed each of these orbs to do something to whoever it lands inside. The dog eared boy can't tell a lie while that orb is inside of him, or else he loses his light. The foxboy, can't go to any "base" with a girl or else he loses his light. And the fluffy man can't kill anyone or else he loses his light. So, there you go! Enjoy!" ^_^
They looked at themselves for a few moments as if expecting their bodies to mutate, when Shio realized something. "Wait a minute!! Does that mean I can't have sex with a woman ever again or else I'll die?!!"
"Well, actually those orbs fade away after a month, but you'll definitely give in by then." Shitai nodded, assuming that all men where jelly fish.
Sesshomaru started to walk away.
"Where do you think your going?!" Inu Yasha shouted. "What about Naraku!?"
"I can't kill him right now." Sesshomaru said. "And Sashimi isn't here anymore. I'm going to find her, wait till the orb disappears, then come back and kill Naraku."
Inu Yasha and Shio watched him walk off, then when they turned to look back at the enemies, they were already gone.
Back at Naraku's castle, Shitai went up to Kikase. The wind sprite greeted her with a kiss on each cheek. "So, how'd it go?"
"Sashimi ran away. And after all of that work I went through to create her, too."
"That's okay." Kikase said. "Does that mean we're going with the second plan?"
"Yep." Shitai nodded. "How old do you think that other girl'd be if she were still alive?"
"Hmmm, probably eleven." Kikase said. She drew her flute and smiled. "Okay, Sumiko! It's show time!" the mouthpiece came up to her lips and she played a sultry octave.
Back at camp, Kagome fell asleep next to Sumiko's sleeping bag. The sound waves of the notes echoed into Sumiko's ears using the silver earings as a conductor. The sound waves became words in her mind. 'Sumiko. Wake up, Sumiko.' Sumiko's eyes flew wide open, glowing with a strange light.