I'm back, after making you wait forever. I figured I'd save the
rambling excuses for the end of the chapter and just let you read now.
Sesshomaru led the way to the supposed location of Naraku's castle. The stench of miasma could not easily be covered up, and it was leading an almost exact trail straight to its master. The whole situation made Sesshomaru feel uneasy though. It was almost as if the set up was too deliberate.
'I fear we're walking straight into a trap,' he thought grimly. 'And why hasn't Inuyasha returned yet?'
Sango had more or less recovered, though she would have continued on even if she was still weakened. She was in no way a lazy woman and would not tolerate being left behind, as if she was expendable. Miroku didn't find it too hard to keep up with Sesshomaru's grueling pace; however, he brought up the rear so he could keep an eye on Sango.
If you know what I mean.
Shippou perched on Miroku's shoulder, looking very anxious and slightly out of place. He was usually walking along with Kagome. The girl's mere presence gave him a sense of peace and comfort.
The fact that she might not be returning was like losing a mother all over again.
Sesshomaru's senses heightened even more as the forest began to narrow out into a sort of barren, flattened wasteland of nothing more than rocks and boulders.
"Hey, look at that!" Sango said, placing one hand on the enlarged form of Kirara's head while using the other one to point.
A dark, massive building rose up from the side of a cliff. Dense fog curled around the pointed roofs of the separate towers, the curling tendrils making the structure seem almost as if it was only an apparition. It grew larger and more foreboding with every step they took towards it. A bolt of lightening suddenly illuminated the dark palace completely, followed by the crashing of thunder.
Naraku's castle.
The lightening from the storm outside illuminated the shadows and lines of weariness on Kagome's face as she poured over a pile of textbooks. The numbers on the digital clock were blinking the time at her. Her vision was too blurred to make out the digits clearly but whatever time it was, it was an absurd time to be up studying. A boom outside from the thunder startled her, causing her notebook to be knocked on to the floor.
'Maybe I should get some sleep...after just...one more problem,' she thought tiredly, determined to be prepared for her math test the next day.
She froze as she heard her door creak open. Her heart was pounding furiously. Her experiences from Fuedal Japan had taught her that anyone attempting to sneak up on you was most likely an enemy.
Gathering her exhausted wits together, her shoulder blades tensed as she reached for the nearest weapon (a pencil) and prepared herself for attack.
"Kagome?" a voice whispered timidly.
Relief flooded her body as she turned to face her little brother.
"Souta, what are you doing up?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes and standing up.
'I think I'm becoming way too paranoid.'
"I-I couldn't sleep. I had a bad dream," he mumbled. Souta looked at his feet, expecting to hear some kind of teasing or mocking from his older sister.
Instead, Kagome dropped to her knees and hugged her little brother tightly. Maybe it was the exhaustion and stress caused from the fact she lived two separate lives and had no time to do simple things like homework or just hanging out with friends, but for a moment, she wanted nothing more than to shield her brother from all the harsh realities of life. She had seen enough destruction for the both of them.
"It's okay, Souta. Nightmares can't hurt you. I have to stay up to study anyway so you can sleep in my bed. I'll wake you up if you have a bad dream again."
Walking through Naraku's castle with the wind and the thunder roaring outside evoked the memory of that stormy night with her brother that had occurred months ago.
'I swear that if I can survive this plan of Kagura's, I'll never whine about homework or Souta or anything ever again.'
Kagura had formulated a risky plan that would stop Naraku's plan to call together the shards of the Shikon and, with luck, turn his spell against him. Kagome would only have one shot at making it work though, and the odds weren't looking too good for her.
After explaining her plan, Kagura had informed her that Naraku wanted her to meet him in his private chambers on the opposite side of the castle.
"Go directly there, and don't try anything funny," Kagura said, red eyes gleaming, as if they could read Kagome's mind. "This is his castle, you'll do well to remember that. He knows and sees everything that goes on in it. Attempted escapes or delays will only serve to annoy him and make things worse for you. I'll be standing by to see if you need my help."
She then proceeded to give Kagome a large amount of mind boggling directions and shoved her into the hallway, ushering her in the direction of Naraku's chambers.
Needless to say, Kagome quickly got hopelessly lost.
'You know,' Kagome thought cynically, 'it would be really funny and depressing if Kagura was never really on my side and just gave me that whole plan to help make my death by Naraku's hands even more painful.'
The soft padding of Kagome's bare feet on the cold wooden floor came to an abrupt stop as she stumbled, gasping softly in shock. She felt a familiar tug on her soul that could only mean one thing:
Shikon shards...
She felt her face heat with embarrassment. 'Naraku probably figured out that I would get lost and just made the presence of the Shikon shards known to me in order to speed things up. That way, I'll have no excuse for being tardy in getting to his rooms. Arrogant bastard...'
Kagome followed the presence of the Shikon shards until she came to a halt outside a fine wooden door. It was decorated with blood red hibiscus flowers connected to murky green stems, winding all around the black characters spelling out 'Naraku.' The flowers seemed to be dripping blood on to the characters.
'What a pleasant design,' Kagome thought sarcastically. 'Yes, this is definitely the place.'
Despite her inner sarcasm, she could feel shivers racing down her spine as she took a deep breath and slid the door open.
The group approached the gates to Naraku's castle which opened before them, almost as if they were welcome there.
"This isn't right," Miroku said gravely. "We're walking right into a trap. Naraku wants us to go in there. There's no other reason as to why he's let us into his domain without any sort of struggle."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, "That has become blindingly obvious, human. However, if you have some other plan that will allow us to magically summon Kagome from Naraku's grasp without setting foot inside the castle, I would love to hear it."
"That's enough," Sango said, a frown crossing her face. "This is no time to argue. There's too much at stake right now to waste time acting like children.
"Sango's right. We're going to have to work together to get Kagome out of there!" Shippou said, shaking nodding sagely.
Miroku smiled grimly. "Never fear Shippou. We're all going to get out of this, together."
Sesshomaru nodded reluctantly.
'Together.'
Short chapter, but better than nothing right? I don't think anything excuses me from abandoning my stories for months except for the fact that I kind of lost my interest in writing, and my life has been really busy. I hope I'll start writing regularly again now, but I can't make any promises. To all of you that reviewed and promised to stick by me and wait for me to update, you are so unbelievably cool. I can't thank you enough for being so patient. Hope you all continue reading.
Sesshomaru led the way to the supposed location of Naraku's castle. The stench of miasma could not easily be covered up, and it was leading an almost exact trail straight to its master. The whole situation made Sesshomaru feel uneasy though. It was almost as if the set up was too deliberate.
'I fear we're walking straight into a trap,' he thought grimly. 'And why hasn't Inuyasha returned yet?'
Sango had more or less recovered, though she would have continued on even if she was still weakened. She was in no way a lazy woman and would not tolerate being left behind, as if she was expendable. Miroku didn't find it too hard to keep up with Sesshomaru's grueling pace; however, he brought up the rear so he could keep an eye on Sango.
If you know what I mean.
Shippou perched on Miroku's shoulder, looking very anxious and slightly out of place. He was usually walking along with Kagome. The girl's mere presence gave him a sense of peace and comfort.
The fact that she might not be returning was like losing a mother all over again.
Sesshomaru's senses heightened even more as the forest began to narrow out into a sort of barren, flattened wasteland of nothing more than rocks and boulders.
"Hey, look at that!" Sango said, placing one hand on the enlarged form of Kirara's head while using the other one to point.
A dark, massive building rose up from the side of a cliff. Dense fog curled around the pointed roofs of the separate towers, the curling tendrils making the structure seem almost as if it was only an apparition. It grew larger and more foreboding with every step they took towards it. A bolt of lightening suddenly illuminated the dark palace completely, followed by the crashing of thunder.
Naraku's castle.
The lightening from the storm outside illuminated the shadows and lines of weariness on Kagome's face as she poured over a pile of textbooks. The numbers on the digital clock were blinking the time at her. Her vision was too blurred to make out the digits clearly but whatever time it was, it was an absurd time to be up studying. A boom outside from the thunder startled her, causing her notebook to be knocked on to the floor.
'Maybe I should get some sleep...after just...one more problem,' she thought tiredly, determined to be prepared for her math test the next day.
She froze as she heard her door creak open. Her heart was pounding furiously. Her experiences from Fuedal Japan had taught her that anyone attempting to sneak up on you was most likely an enemy.
Gathering her exhausted wits together, her shoulder blades tensed as she reached for the nearest weapon (a pencil) and prepared herself for attack.
"Kagome?" a voice whispered timidly.
Relief flooded her body as she turned to face her little brother.
"Souta, what are you doing up?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes and standing up.
'I think I'm becoming way too paranoid.'
"I-I couldn't sleep. I had a bad dream," he mumbled. Souta looked at his feet, expecting to hear some kind of teasing or mocking from his older sister.
Instead, Kagome dropped to her knees and hugged her little brother tightly. Maybe it was the exhaustion and stress caused from the fact she lived two separate lives and had no time to do simple things like homework or just hanging out with friends, but for a moment, she wanted nothing more than to shield her brother from all the harsh realities of life. She had seen enough destruction for the both of them.
"It's okay, Souta. Nightmares can't hurt you. I have to stay up to study anyway so you can sleep in my bed. I'll wake you up if you have a bad dream again."
Walking through Naraku's castle with the wind and the thunder roaring outside evoked the memory of that stormy night with her brother that had occurred months ago.
'I swear that if I can survive this plan of Kagura's, I'll never whine about homework or Souta or anything ever again.'
Kagura had formulated a risky plan that would stop Naraku's plan to call together the shards of the Shikon and, with luck, turn his spell against him. Kagome would only have one shot at making it work though, and the odds weren't looking too good for her.
After explaining her plan, Kagura had informed her that Naraku wanted her to meet him in his private chambers on the opposite side of the castle.
"Go directly there, and don't try anything funny," Kagura said, red eyes gleaming, as if they could read Kagome's mind. "This is his castle, you'll do well to remember that. He knows and sees everything that goes on in it. Attempted escapes or delays will only serve to annoy him and make things worse for you. I'll be standing by to see if you need my help."
She then proceeded to give Kagome a large amount of mind boggling directions and shoved her into the hallway, ushering her in the direction of Naraku's chambers.
Needless to say, Kagome quickly got hopelessly lost.
'You know,' Kagome thought cynically, 'it would be really funny and depressing if Kagura was never really on my side and just gave me that whole plan to help make my death by Naraku's hands even more painful.'
The soft padding of Kagome's bare feet on the cold wooden floor came to an abrupt stop as she stumbled, gasping softly in shock. She felt a familiar tug on her soul that could only mean one thing:
Shikon shards...
She felt her face heat with embarrassment. 'Naraku probably figured out that I would get lost and just made the presence of the Shikon shards known to me in order to speed things up. That way, I'll have no excuse for being tardy in getting to his rooms. Arrogant bastard...'
Kagome followed the presence of the Shikon shards until she came to a halt outside a fine wooden door. It was decorated with blood red hibiscus flowers connected to murky green stems, winding all around the black characters spelling out 'Naraku.' The flowers seemed to be dripping blood on to the characters.
'What a pleasant design,' Kagome thought sarcastically. 'Yes, this is definitely the place.'
Despite her inner sarcasm, she could feel shivers racing down her spine as she took a deep breath and slid the door open.
The group approached the gates to Naraku's castle which opened before them, almost as if they were welcome there.
"This isn't right," Miroku said gravely. "We're walking right into a trap. Naraku wants us to go in there. There's no other reason as to why he's let us into his domain without any sort of struggle."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, "That has become blindingly obvious, human. However, if you have some other plan that will allow us to magically summon Kagome from Naraku's grasp without setting foot inside the castle, I would love to hear it."
"That's enough," Sango said, a frown crossing her face. "This is no time to argue. There's too much at stake right now to waste time acting like children.
"Sango's right. We're going to have to work together to get Kagome out of there!" Shippou said, shaking nodding sagely.
Miroku smiled grimly. "Never fear Shippou. We're all going to get out of this, together."
Sesshomaru nodded reluctantly.
'Together.'
Short chapter, but better than nothing right? I don't think anything excuses me from abandoning my stories for months except for the fact that I kind of lost my interest in writing, and my life has been really busy. I hope I'll start writing regularly again now, but I can't make any promises. To all of you that reviewed and promised to stick by me and wait for me to update, you are so unbelievably cool. I can't thank you enough for being so patient. Hope you all continue reading.
