Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. All rights to Inuyasha are currently owned by Rumiko Takahashi. Bummer...
Alright! Next chapter is up! Enjoy! ^_^
Translations:
Baka: Fool, idiot, stupid
Inu: Dog
Katana: Sword
Kuso: shit
Translated phrase for the day:
Hai to iie: Yes and no
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Author: Sakura-chan88
Title: Taking the Long Way
Chapter: The First Rescue
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He just couldn't believe it. The old miko was wounded trying to help the girl, yet she insisted that he leave her be and not harm her.
'They're being controlled, but by who?'
"Kaede-babaa, do you know who is doing this?"
"Iie. There are hairs wrapped about their wrists, though," she replied. "Who ever is at the end of the strands is the one in controll."
"Can you see it?"
"Iie. Kagome will be able to, but I cannot. Not with my current situation."
"Kagome?" He had forgotten about the girl and now, with his attention back on the girl, he noticed that her scent was fading fast. "Kuso! That girl," he growled. An invisible force held him back as it grasped his arms and feet.
******
She had explained everything to her mother, but she still refused to let her go with 'Inuyasha wouldn't let me back.' She
really needed to get some sleep and perhaps take a bath.
"I want to hear all of it, Kagome," her mother said, sitting down next to her. "I feel that you aren't telling me something..."
"I told you everything, mama. I couldn't get back because of Inuyasha. He wouldn't let me go," she reiterated.
"Is he the hanyou?" She nodded. "Why does he want it?"
Kagome tightened her grip on the Shikon no Tama as she explained. "He want's it so that he can become a youkai."
"Oh..."
"So, you think its okay to tell everyone everything about me?" She leapt a good few feet at the sound of his voice. Inuyasha stood in the door way, smirking.
"Inuyasha! Wh-what are you doing here!? How'd you get h-here?" she stuttered. Surely this wasn't a good thing for her.
"Kaede-baaba say's that you can see this 'hair' stuff that's controlling the village girls," he said, studying her.
"That's it?" she asked, both skeptical and relieved.
"Keh!" he snorted. "Of course not."
'Oh, Kami-sama! What am I supposed to do!?' she asked, jumping to her feet. She took off, running from the boy. It took all of her will power not to look back.
******
"Oi! Wh-what are you doing?" he growled as the woman Kagome had been talking to walked toward him. She reached up and tweeked his ears once.
"They
are real," she cried in delight. Her smile changed quickly, though. She shoved him slightly as a glared formed. "Do not harm my daughter."
"N-nani?" he sputtered, taken aback by the sudden command.
Her smile came back so suddenly that the hanyou had to literally stop himself from running. "Besides, I think that she likes you." With that said, the lady left to finish dinner.
He wondered briefly if the woman had gone senile or not. After all, Kagome more than likely told her mother that he had tried to kill her... Why else would she have told him not to harm her.
Speaking of her...
"INUYASHA!"
******
The name escaped her lips before she had time to stop it. She had been grabbed around the wrists by a stream of hair and dragged into the well. The hair, being as taunt as they were, cut into her wrists, causing her to wince in pain as it dragged her over the wells lip in Sengoku Jidai. The forest rushed by in the blink of an eye.
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, since the front was currently consumed by fear, she knew that the woman from earlier that day, the reason why she had left this era the way she had, was behind this.
The forest opened into a vast rock covered area. There was a large, steep slope that swooped down and settled into a platuea over a large piece of country land. Her breath caught in her throat as the center came into view. There, hanging in the air, was a large web of hair which held a ball in its center. The scantly clothed woman from before stood on a strand, smirking as a giggle escaped her.
"Who are you?" Kagome asked, looking at the woman with fearful eyes.
"It is of no importance, since you will die soon. I am Yura." She giggled again, in pure glee, "and I will soon have the Shikon no Tama and some lovely new hair to play with," she breathed, admiring a shining silver strand. "I am glad that he escaped from me earlier, or I would have bloodied this beautiful hair." Yura gave a sad, heartfelt sigh. "It's a shame that the hair isn't properly cared for. No matter, though. It will be my best yet."
"Nani? You're not making sense. What do you want with me? Why didn't you just take the jewel?" She asked as her world began to swim. The loss of blood was slowly dragging her into unconsciousness.
Yura smiled and looked to the girl. The hair that grasped her wrists, pulled her upward and stretched her arms so that every vital point was in clear view. The woman raised her katana. Kagome fainted.
This is how Inuyasha found her.
******
He was startled, but not because she had been captured. He was startled because she had called for him and only him. No more of that 'Somebody, anybody' pleaing of hers. He was confused, yes, but also... thrilled?
He bound off to the well and hopped in. As he leapt from the well and into Sengoku Jidai, he caught a faint glipse of Kagome as the hair pulled her through the woods. It was very fast, and he soon lost track of it. Yet, with the smell of blood, he could easily find her.
'Blood!?' The sudden realization worried him. She was only human and with that much blood oozing from her cuts, she would bleed to death. His pace quickened very much, yet he noticed it not.
The forest opened into a vast, rocky clearing. Looking to the sky, from where the scent of blood grew strongest, Inuyasha found Kagome suspended in the air by threads of hair- visible to him only by the blood that seeped down them. Next to Kagome, a woman stood in the air, holding a katana above the unconscious girl.
"Who are you?" he questioned, flexing his claws as he stepped forward. The woman laughed.
"Inuyasha, you are predictable," she giggled, lowering the weapon. "I'm so glad you could join us. Your hair is due for a trim."
"Who are you?" he growled.
"Yura. Yura of the hair," she said, moving her hands as if pulling a few invisible threads.
His ears twitched as the rustling sounds of an approaching threat reached him. He jumped away from it, snarling. Another rustling came from above, which he also dodged with ease.
"What is this about?" he implored, leaping to a foothole in the cliff to bring himself closer to Yura. "Why didn't you just take the jewel and leave her?"
"Because, if I took the jewel and not her, you might not have come," she responded. "It was just a mere garuantee that you would. I figure that if you actually chase after a pathetic human and don't kill her, then something other than the jewel is on your mind."
"Are you implying that I have feelings for that
human girl?"
"Hai. Why else would you come? Surely you wouldn't risk your life over the jewel when someone like me possesses it," she giggled. "You cannot fight something you can't see, anyway."
He smirked, charging the woman. He leapt into the air, shouting, "I escaped once before, this time I'm not running!"
"Hmph. You think you'll survive then?" she wondered. "Let's try it then, shall we?"
Inuyasha felt the hairs wrap around his arms in helplessness. It isn't easy to dodge when in mid air, but he tried anyway, to no avail. In moments, he found himself suspended much like the young miko.
"That was rather dissapointing, Inuyasha," she dejected, frowning. "I didn't even break a sweat. And to think that Miko died sealing you to a tree."
"How... do you know me?" he asked, thinking as fast as he could. There just had to be a way out...
'Kagome.' But she was still unconscious.
"Everyone knows about you," she explained. "After all, you're the reason the Shikon no Tama vanished. If she hadn't died, we'd still be fighting that bitch over the jewel."
"Don't call her that," he snarled.
"Ano, if you want me to stop talking, then I'll just kill you now," she announced, raising the katana. "I am really looking forward to playing with your mane. It's really nice. Such a shame that it wasn't properly cared for." She leapt from the invisible perch to strike the hanyou. "Die!"
He twisted to the side and pulled with all his strength, bringing his arm down as if to punch the ground, knocking the katana out of her grasp. His other fist planted itself in Yura's stomach, sending her backward and down to the rocky floor. She landed hard.
"Keh. Was that all?" The hair holding him in place tightened and pulled back into their correct position, stronger than the last time.
"Why, I never," she huffed, her eyes blazing. "I think you need to be trained better, mutt." She flicked her wrist, snapped it back, then shot it forward, reaching for the boy. The katana raised, swung back, then darted forward, impaling Inuyasha's shoulder. Blood seeped from the wound as the katana flew back to Yura.
'That's it! Blood,' he thought, putting a hand to the wound. "Ne, that hurt. But, I'd say it was worth it," he smirked. "Blades of Blood!"
The blades hurtled at Yura, who had no time to block such an attack. He smirked at himself. Yet, the smirk turned to a look of horror. The woman stood on the ground, her body reforming. He watched as one of the hairs, which had been covered in Kagome's blood, sewed the woman together, along with many others he assumed.
"Baka inu. I'm immortal," she hissed. "You cannot kill me."
'What the hell? How-' his gaze snapped to the unconscious Miko.
'If only she'd wake up!'
"Senkon Tessou!" he shouted, clawing at the hair that held him. The hair retied around his arms as soon as they were cut. There just wasn't any end to it.
'So, she is made of hair?' he mused.
'What would her weakness be?'
"It's no use, Inuyasha," Yura giggled. "There is no end to my hair. Yours will be my most precious, though, so you should die happy!"
Again she lunged at the hanyou, katana raised laterally. The katana dug deep into his opposite shoulder. Ignoring the pain, Inuyasha brought his fist down, then drew it straight into the woman's stomach.
Yura was throw back several feet and connected with Kagome. The sudden loss of air had the waking girl gasping for breath. She coughed once, her eyes fluttering open. "Inu... yasha?"
"Stay wake, baka," he snarled as her head lolled backward. Once again, he reached for his shoulder. "Blades of Blood!" They sped forward, tearing through Kagome's bonds and Yura's body. "Senkon Tessou!" He snapped his chains and leapt for the miko, grabbing her as the ground grew closer.
Landing on the ground, he knelt, setting Kagome down, gently. She wouldn't last much longer.
The whistling of movement brought his attention back to the immortal threat. He looked to the fragile miko, then to Yura, and back again.
"Can you see the end of the strings?" he asked her.
'If the hair heals her,' he mused as Yura's body returned in bits,
'then she isn't the one controlling it.'
******
Her wrists were throbbing and her head spun. Kagome knew that she couldn't lose much more blood and live to tell the tale. The fact that Inuyasha had rescued her hadn't registared yet, because she was still in danger's way.
"Can you see the end of the strings?" he asked.
She searched the woman and noticed that the hair around her wrists were not the one's she controlled. They led to the ball she saw earlier. Where in the ball was impossible to tell.
"Hai to iie," she mumbled. "I know where you can find it, but not where it is."
"Where?"
She raised a shaking hand to point at the floating mass. "There, somewhere inside that ball," she whispered.
"What ball?" he implored, searching the sky.
"The ball of hair," she mumbled in confusion. "Right there." Her hand dropped to his shoulder, trying to steady herself. The feel of liquid sent her gaze to his shoulder. "Your bleeding, she gasped.
He snorted and brushed her hand away. Smirking, he stood, his hand reaching for the wound Kagome had accidently touched. "Last time," he shouted. "Blades of Blood!" They watched as some blades cut though an unseen barrier and others kept going.
"It worked," Kagome voiced. Skulls, dangling by threads of locks that once belonged to living beings, flooded forward. A red skull stood out among the others. Four strands of hair entered the skull and looped about Yura's arms.
"Oh, my home," Yura wailed. "Look what you did to it! All my treasures. The hair, my skulls, ruined. Tangled."
"Can you see it, now?" Kagome wondered, watching the woman with a weary gaze.
"Only the skulls," Inuyasha muttered.
"That's enough," she said. "The red skull- there's something about it. The hair connects to Yura." She winced in pain and let out a small gasp.
******
The girl fell limply to her side, landing with a thud. "Kagome!" he yelled in concern, trying to waken the girl.
"Pay attention to the fight!" a command boomed furiously. Yura's pinky fingers folded, her index's flexing. She brought both palms out, then pulled.
Inuyasha heard the strings approach and jumped at the sighted skull before they reached their mark. He smirked as the katana rushed forward. Quickly judging the strings location on the tarnished blade, he swiped at it. He felt the predicted snapping and grabbed the hilt.
"Arigato," he jeered. "I needed a new weapon!" With that, he leapt again, bringing the katana down, burrying it point first in the red skull.
A soft intake of breath resounded from Yura, drawing Inuyasha's attention. Pieces of a severed comb clattered on the rocky floor beneath the hanyou, who decended to the ground at a slower pace, as he watched Yura fade into the evening.
He landed, looking at the comb.
'That was obvious,' he thought as he realized what the comb was. He reprimanded himself for not comprehending it sooner.
Walking over to Kagome, he lifted her, and checked to make sure she still had the jewel. Her hand clutched it for dear life, as if it was her only hope to survive. Ironic that it was the reason she was dying.
Inuyasha sighed and carried her back to the village where Kaede would heal her. He couldn't take the Shikon no Tama. Something held him back. He didn't want it, not right now, at least.
'I'll get it later.'
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A/N: Ano, I hope you liked it. I had some major writer's block when I started writting this and broke through it after... One and a half weeks. Ouch...
Anyway, tell me what you think. I want to know who you would like to be the next fight and who's the next to join the group, but keep in mind that Shippo still has his parents and Sango has her brother. The jewel has not been broken, yet. YET, people. I'm not sure if I'll have it broken... Don't worry, I'll give her reason's to stay.
So, good, bad, could be better? Comments, questions, suggestion, anything goes. Creative critizism is appreciated.
Ano, arigato to ja ne minna!