Disclaimer: Nope, still don't have anything.
AN: Wow, looky here, Two day updates for Icari from now on! Yes, I just
finished my other fiction, and now I have all the time in the world to work on
Icari!! Let's hope it pays off… anyways, Hope I didn't keep you waiting too
long for this; I had some things to do… So, this chapter starts one year from
the last, when everyone split up, so this is when they meet up again. Sesshomaru's
problem is gone (didn't know how to deal with that) Rin's used to her new body
now (gone through puberty and everything) Kagome's 17, so you can guess at
everyone else's age from that. Heh, that's about all, so enjoy!
Icari
Chapter 23
Icari sniffed at the air, not sure where
the scent of something burning was coming from. An odd kind of burning, too; it
didn't smell like wood, or anything of the like. It was familiar too, though
forgotten. She bent over to sniff at the ground, only to have a large clump of
hair cover anything.
She peeked over her shoulder, and in a
sing-song voice said, "Sesshomaru-chan… I don't get why I have to grow my
hair!!" She flexed her claws, just itching to get it back to shoulder length.
It had been a year now, since the last
time she saw the other half of the group. Since they left, Sesshomaru had
insisted that she grow her hair, teach Rin a bit more about woman hood (since
he obviously couldn't) and maybe find a mate. After all, she was of age. But,
even when another youkai or anything of the like had actually stood beside her, talking, Sesshomaru's older-brother instinct had
taken over. It didn't look like she was going to be mating anybody soon. And Yasuo… Sesshomaru didn't really know much about what had
happened before meeting up a year ago, and assumed he was just a close friend
and traveling partner. Icari had nearly smirked; look what had happened with
him and his traveling partner. But then again, it wasn't like she was about to
fall for him.
"Just because you and Inuyasha have long
hair doesn't mean I have to." Already, she was cutting at the ends with her one
claw, before her brother sighed. Yasuo looked like he was about to burst into a
fit of giggles.
"Fine, I just thought my sister should
be recognized as a lady, not a savage woman." He walked right past her,
ignoring her glare and locks of hair floated to the ground.
"You do know that I am a demoness, right?
No one thinks of me as a lady, they think of me as a dog demon."
"Just the humans."
This time, Icari ignored him as she flung her shoulder-length silver hair over
her shoulder, effectively getting rid of all of the extra strands of hair.
After a bit of sneezing, she composed herself.
"Do you smell the fire too?" Change the
subject, no more crap from her brother.
"Yes, it's not far. Why?" About that
moment, there was a sudden cry from a bit off. It wasn't Rin, who was riding
the dragon beside Sesshomaru, or Jaken, the voice was deep, but the sudden
scent of humans and youkai wafted over Icari.
And something else she would never of mistaken for anything.
"INUYASHA!!!"
His ears flicked back and forth,
watching standing suddenly still for a moment… before a bucket of water was
dumped on him. Soaked to the bone, he turned to see Shippo, being hoisted up by
Kagome, as he held an empty bucket.
"What did you do that for??" The two face faulted, and glared up at him from their position on
the ground before jumping right up on their feet within seconds. Funny how mother and son looked alike, even though they weren't
really related, as they stood there with their hands clenched at their sides.
"You were on fire!!" Shippo yelled back,
motioning from the pond of floating fire to the darkened spot on his haori.
Inuyasha simply grunted and turned around, his arms crossed and his eyes
listening for what he had heard earlier. It sounded suspiciously like his name.
"What is it?" Kagome laid a hand on his
shoulder, peering into the darkness herself, and temporarily distracting
Inuyasha.
Well, long enough for Icari to surprise him
by throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his slightly smaller
body in a huge bear hug. They both tumbled into the pond, where Kagome's
candles still floated.
Shippo fell down laughing.
That's how Miroku and Sango found them
as they came back with the firewood; Kagome frozen in shock by the tree line,
Shippo on the ground laughed, and all the floating candles pushed away to the
far side of the lake.
"Lady Kagome, what happened?" Miroku
looked from Kagome, to Shippo, to the lake.
"Honestly, Miroku, I don't know… Some
large and green just threw itself at Inuyasha, and they both fell into the
water." Speaking of Inuyasha… his two dog ears poked out of the surface of the
water before his face followed them, then an arm as he hauled himself out of
the water, looking more than a bit indignant. About that time, the rest of
Sesshomaru's group came out of the foliage.
"Hanyou, where is Icari?" In response,
Sesshomaru was covered in water as Inuyasha shook himself off. There was a
little grunt from Inuyasha's left, and Icari's head could be seen, resting on
her hand with her elbow on the ground, looking annoyed herself.
"Dumb pond, doesn't have anything to
work with. I was going to pull a prank of some sort with something down there,
but… And Sesshomaru! He has a name,
you know." She pulled herself out of the water, and proceeded to ring the water
out of her hair and cape, just like Sesshomaru did with the long fluffy thing
on his shoulder. Shippo looked at the white thing curiously, before piping up.
"Hey… Sesshomaru, what's with that,
anyway?" He looked down at the kitsune warily, not sure of what to say.
"Oh, Mama didn't tell him when his boa
died." Nevertheless, Shippo fell back onto his back, muffling his laughter the
best he could. Icari was earned a quick glare, but promptly ignored it as she
looked around, as if noticing everyone else for the first time.
"Hi everyone!!"
She gave the other three a quick hug before cuddling Shippo for a bit, leaving
the whole lot a bit damper than before. Inuyasha sat down with the firewood and
began to make a fire.
"And Kagome complains about family
reunions." He muttered as he pulled a bit of wax out of his hair.
*~*~*~*~*
About twenty
minutes later, everyone was dry, dryer, or drying around the fire. They each
had a bit of ramen to eat, or in Inuyasha's case, a fourth helping. All four
talismans that had been kept by either side were out and in a pile by Icari's
feet.
"They seem to have a connection to the
jewel, so I'm betting that if we finish collecting the rest of the jewel
shards, the Shikon No Tama will give us a clue about what these are for." Yasuo
passed the one labeled Death to Miroku, who was speaking.
"The four stages of life,
and the Shikon jewel? It makes no sense!" Icari argued, not seeing how these
connected.
"No, maybe not, but look, pass me the
one that says after life too." It was given o him, and he held the two close to
the Shikon shard around that Kagome was holding out. Kagome, Yasuo, and Miroku
each felt a huge surge of power from the two talismans, and the rest saw the
two talismans glowing brightly. The talismans were moved away, and Miroku addressed
them all again.
"See? When they are just held close to
the jewel, the power could be seen by anyone, and that is something not usually
seen in mere stones. They have great power, but it is impossible to decipher
what kind it is." Yasuo studied the stones carefully, before picking up the
other two and walking around the fire to them.
"Let's see what happens when…" He took
the other two stones and placed them by the Shikon. This time, the light was
blinding, and the five objects flew back, scattering themselves about two feet
from where they were once. The miko, monk, and water demon quickly picked up
the stones.
"That, Yasuo, is why we don't try and
collect too much power from a source. Imagine if that power surge had been from
the whole jewel, it would've killed Lady Kagome and myself,
in the very least."
"Gomen, Houshi-sama, I didn't expect that at all." But still, even
as he said that, Yasuo eyed the jewel appreciatively. The sudden silence was
broken when Shippo and Kirara yawned.
"Well, I think it's about time we all went
to bed." The others agreed and walked off.
*~*~*~*~*
"So, Inuyasha, what have you been doing
this past year?" The said hanyou looked up at his sister, who was standing in
front of him, like before… that could only mean one thing.
"Same old stuff. I bet it was pretty
weird hanging with Sesshomaru for a year, right?" He knew he had guessed right
when her face contorted into a frown. Inuyasha felt a smirk creeping up on him,
but he kept his face passive until he knew exactly what his sister was up to.
"Yeah… he tried to get me to grow my
hair… only got up to," She made a gesture to the middle of her upper arm, "here.
I don't know how you two can stand having such long hair." She looked at the
hanyou's long clump. "And not take care of it either.
"Spill it. Why are you here? Last time
you did this… You were trying to convince me that I loved Kagome, why are you
here this time?" Icari laughed.
"I haven't seen you for a year, and I
can't even be nice?" She made a face at him again. "Okay, I can't take it
anymore, scoot over." She sat down beside him and began to brush through his
hair as softly as she could with her claws.
"Now, tell me about your year…" There
was only a moment's hesitation.
"After you left, we decided to go shard
hunting again. Naraku must've sent at least twenty puppets after us in the last
while, and we managed to get a few shards from them…"
*~*~*~*~*
Okay! Stats time!! Don't forget to vote!!
A) 6 votes
B) 2 votes
C) maybe I should think about just
getting rid of this option all together…