*Yay! Another chapter done. In the past four days, I've gone into
overdrive, and have wrote a total four and a half chapters for you all to
read! Aren't I nice! Not really. Anyways...I just all of a sudden got this
huge inspiration to write, and have already written down the entire ending
on paper. Now I only have to write it into chapters! Enjoy!*
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if I did I would have them walk with me to school so that no one would want to mess with me! ^_~!
Chapter 27
The arrow hit her before she even realized that it was coming. Kagome couldn't hold her shout in, and Inuyasha was out and ready with the Tetsusaiga before Miroku could hold him back and Sango could react. She leaned against the tree, a strange expression on her face...as if nothing mattered anymore...as if life had ended...
This was not at all usual for Kojika... But the odd part...was that the arrow hadn't pierced her skin...but that of her most loyal servant...
Kazu was beginning to bleed from the wound...and his small glorious gold eyes wide in shock...but glad with the fact that he had saved his master from death. His glistening red serpent like body relaxed, and quickly became limp when he fell to the ground. Death had taken him quickly. Kikyo's arrow sat stuck with in his small chest, and his little claws relaxed against it, one small bloody tear falling from his eyes. Then, a small soul stealing dragon flew down and collected his soul, flying back up towards Kikyo.
Kojika dropped to the ground in surprise...She was shaking...and her eyes were wide in shock....Kazu...was no more.
Apparently, all of the dragons were linked to Kazu's spirit, and when he died, they all evaporated like mist to the wind. All except one, whom flew up out of a tree he had been hiding in to take a closer look at the fallen comrade. Moru apparently, was his own dragon, and did not belong to Kazu...but to Kojika directly.
"Oops... Kikyo dear...you were supposed to hit the Dragon Miko...not her miniature follower." Laughed a thick cold voice from the wood. There was a rustling heard from the trees, and the cold wind picked up pace. A man that looked of middle age, with the darkest short red hair that had ever been seen, and long flowing royal blue robes with the image of the many dragon elders upon them. He carried many thick batches of gold and silver necklaces around his neck, and a black cape draped around his back softly. His eyes were black and cold, and his smile would have been warm had it not looked full of malice.
"My Kojika...it's been quite a while." The man stepped up to Kikyo's side, and gave the Draymon a wink.
Kojika glared at the Elder, a look of resentment and anguish in the pure face, and with a growl, she stood up and balled her hands into fists.
"Mikoto...How dare you...!?" She snarled, closing her eyes as if to stop the many tears from falling. Maru noticed his master's anguish and floated up, chirping softly in her ear as if to try and sooth her.
She ignored him, and raised her hand up to produce a fire ball...
Kagome, while on the side, watched as the poor little fire dragon had fallen and died, and she witnessed the look of battle in Kojika's stance, the readiness to kill that had never been there before. Kojika had really loved that little dragon, even as it was her bit of creation...and she would miss it dearly.
But there was something else that had also caught Kagome's attention. Why was it that Kikyo was fighting with Kojika in the first place and why was it that this Elder was talking with the miko as if she worked for him...unless...she did.
Was it possible that Kikyo did work for the Elder...If so...why?
What did she have to gain from this sort of thing? This alliance?
But strangely...as though sent in images through telepathy...Kagome began to piece it all together.
The wound that Inuyasha had on his side when Yakume and Rieko had attacked...
The unwillingness of both of them to give any more details than the fact that they were ambushed...
Kojika's jumpy attitude this very evening...as everyone left the room to pursue their own little activities...
She saw the picture clearly, and with out thinking, pulled out her bow and strung an arrow...somehow drawing on the small shards of Shikon she had, and adding it to the immense spiritual power she was gathering in the head of her weapon...
She was planning to shoot Kikyo for her crimes...
It is very apparent...that through the past Kikyo has tried to capture Inuyasha and to take him to Hell with her...
She has tried many things...Trapping him in a deep sleep to take him with out a fight... following him and then just showing up out of nowhere to chat with him...and even giving Naraku the jewel so that Inuyasha might not have a willful chance of beating him...
Kikyo was a cruel miko...and was no longer pure by Kojika's ideas.
Kikyo...deserved to remain the walking dead...
But of course...the miko knew when she was being targeted, and looked at Kagome with the same sad expression she always had.
"Do you plan on shooting me Kagome?" She asked softly, her dragons dancing around her. The one with Kazu's spirit dropped down and left it's little gift in her hand...and she loosed it with in her body calmly.
"Let Kazu out!" Kagome shouted, stretching the arrow farther back. She was also beginning to lose control.
"I don't think so." Kikyo smirked malevolently, and pulled her own bow forward, prepared to string and shoot her arrow when ever she felt truly threatened.
"Did you shoot Inuyasha's side when Yakume and Reiko attacked!?" Kagome replied, accumulating a vast ball of spiritual power in the head of her arrow now. It was good, that because of her training with the Shikon, she could now hide her own energy from other miko's as well as the Shikon's.
Everyone around her heard the question, and turned to look at Kikyo, and then to Inuyasha. Inuyasha's surprise was quite evident, and he kept trying to shake his head, but his companions already knew that Kikyo had been involved in the attack.
"Perhaps I did." Kikyo replied, pulling out an arrow from her thin quiver. "Yes...I tried to kill Inuyasha. That was my part in the mission."
"Explain the mission!" Kagome shouted back, fighting to keep her tired arm from letting go of the string.
"Fine. Mikoto the Dragon Elder came to me one afternoon, as I was tending to some fallen samurai, and asked me if I would like to take Inuyasha to Hell with me without his fuss. I asked him what he had in mind. He told me, that I and the two dragon's Reiko and Yakume should keep a close eye on Kojika and Inuyasha. Then, when they were alone, we would pounce. My duty was to get rid of Inuyasha, and by that I mean to take him to the afterlife by my side. Then, Kojika would be left alone, and the dragons would kill her off. Unfortunately, Kojika there saw it coming, and was able to pull out the arrow in which struck Inuyasha on the side. It was meant to be a fatal wound. Then she forced Inuyasha to leave so that they might fight with her alone. I tried to follow him, but then Mikoto found me and told me of another idea. To let his dragons take care of the mess and to get Inuyasha for me. He insisted that you, Kagome, were becoming a nuisance, and that you would surely kill me. But I don't see how. You're nothing but a pathetic weakling. Inuyasha was an idiot to think my reincarnation was anything like me."
Kikyo smirked and glanced in Inuyasha's direction, in which the sweat was visible on his face. Everyone understood now why he hadn't spoken up. He didn't want to worry them with Kikyo coming after them as well as everyone.
And then again, they were also amazed at how Kagome had managed to understand this fact so perfectly. They began to wonder how she was capable of putting all of that together like that. But when they happened to look in the young miko's direction, they were surprised to find that her cheeks were bright red with anger and embarrassment and that her rage was beginning to reach it's peak.
Kagome was scary when she was mad.
Her eyes were clear, and her arm muscles were beginning to pulse with the raging pumping blood in her body. Her teeth were grit and her brows were furrowed.
Kagome only gave Kikyo a second to bring up her arrow, before firing hers, and leaving it lit so bright by her bluish light that it left a trail behind it like a comet in the sky.
Kikyo could not move...she could not get out of the way...
It struck her full and hard in the chest...and she fell back...cracking like clay as she landed...considering her body was only hardened ashes and soil and leaves.
She hadn't been completely destroyed of course...only her head and her legs and arms remained...but her full body was gone.
Mikoto, who had spent this whole time discussing how he would kill Kojika with the very person he was talking about, gave one glance in the older miko's direction. He noticed how beaten she was...how she had a crack slimly finding it's way up her cheek...and how her eyes seemed so desolate.
He smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, the pieces of her body remolded and reshaped...until the miko was standing, fully clothed, before them again.
Kagome and her friends stared wide-eyed at the clay statue, and how she was completely moveable again, and nothing was out of place. Even the tiny delicate cracks in her frame seemed to have evened out and dispersed.
Kagome could barely even make a sound she was so surprised.
Kikyo glanced her direction, and smiled, giving off a sinister glare that found it's way to everyone's eyes.
Mikoto nodded, and turned around, walking towards Kojika fearlessly.
For the moment, everyone watched the elder, even though they were still shock of Kikyo's reparal, because...for some reason...he seemed to be more amusing.
The Elder Mikoto, stepped up to a flaring Kojika, in which she jumped away with the tree at her back. Then, with out cause of even realization of what was happening, the Elder swept out one swift hand and caught her chin in his grasp. And, with just as much speed and force, her crushed his lips against hers, and stole a kiss. Kojika's eyes flared wide....her fireball grew larger...her hair began to toss around her as her energy built up...All in the middle of a kiss...
Then...just as if he had never been there...he stepped away, waved, and vanished in thin air. Kikyo did the same...
There was a simple voice left behind...as if the trees themselves were talking...
"Our fight is soon my lovely...And then...we shall decide whom of us is the true ruler of the Dragons."
Kagura, Naraku's servant had been watching the action at a distance, hiding behind a tree. She noticed how shaken the dragon demon got when this Mikoto fellow was around, and saw that Inuyasha and the others did not have the power or strength to be able to fight him alone. This would please Naraku greatly, thought Kagura...scheming in her mind how this would work for her.
Maybe Inuyasha and this dragon that had beaten her so easily, could get rid of Naraku for good. Of course, she would not mention a word to anyone, lest her conniving little sister creation show Naraku what she was thinking.
Kagura smirked.
Now that she knew that Mikoto was a danger to the group, she finally had something to tell Naraku. She could finally stop following these people around.
She might finally get a little peace and time to herself now.
With that thought in mind, she pulled a feather from her hair and flew off into the night.
*What do you think? Did I finally end the cliffy? Good. I hope you like it, because the next chapters should be pretty good. I know I had fun writing them!*
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and co. but if I did I would have them walk with me to school so that no one would want to mess with me! ^_~!
Chapter 27
The arrow hit her before she even realized that it was coming. Kagome couldn't hold her shout in, and Inuyasha was out and ready with the Tetsusaiga before Miroku could hold him back and Sango could react. She leaned against the tree, a strange expression on her face...as if nothing mattered anymore...as if life had ended...
This was not at all usual for Kojika... But the odd part...was that the arrow hadn't pierced her skin...but that of her most loyal servant...
Kazu was beginning to bleed from the wound...and his small glorious gold eyes wide in shock...but glad with the fact that he had saved his master from death. His glistening red serpent like body relaxed, and quickly became limp when he fell to the ground. Death had taken him quickly. Kikyo's arrow sat stuck with in his small chest, and his little claws relaxed against it, one small bloody tear falling from his eyes. Then, a small soul stealing dragon flew down and collected his soul, flying back up towards Kikyo.
Kojika dropped to the ground in surprise...She was shaking...and her eyes were wide in shock....Kazu...was no more.
Apparently, all of the dragons were linked to Kazu's spirit, and when he died, they all evaporated like mist to the wind. All except one, whom flew up out of a tree he had been hiding in to take a closer look at the fallen comrade. Moru apparently, was his own dragon, and did not belong to Kazu...but to Kojika directly.
"Oops... Kikyo dear...you were supposed to hit the Dragon Miko...not her miniature follower." Laughed a thick cold voice from the wood. There was a rustling heard from the trees, and the cold wind picked up pace. A man that looked of middle age, with the darkest short red hair that had ever been seen, and long flowing royal blue robes with the image of the many dragon elders upon them. He carried many thick batches of gold and silver necklaces around his neck, and a black cape draped around his back softly. His eyes were black and cold, and his smile would have been warm had it not looked full of malice.
"My Kojika...it's been quite a while." The man stepped up to Kikyo's side, and gave the Draymon a wink.
Kojika glared at the Elder, a look of resentment and anguish in the pure face, and with a growl, she stood up and balled her hands into fists.
"Mikoto...How dare you...!?" She snarled, closing her eyes as if to stop the many tears from falling. Maru noticed his master's anguish and floated up, chirping softly in her ear as if to try and sooth her.
She ignored him, and raised her hand up to produce a fire ball...
Kagome, while on the side, watched as the poor little fire dragon had fallen and died, and she witnessed the look of battle in Kojika's stance, the readiness to kill that had never been there before. Kojika had really loved that little dragon, even as it was her bit of creation...and she would miss it dearly.
But there was something else that had also caught Kagome's attention. Why was it that Kikyo was fighting with Kojika in the first place and why was it that this Elder was talking with the miko as if she worked for him...unless...she did.
Was it possible that Kikyo did work for the Elder...If so...why?
What did she have to gain from this sort of thing? This alliance?
But strangely...as though sent in images through telepathy...Kagome began to piece it all together.
The wound that Inuyasha had on his side when Yakume and Rieko had attacked...
The unwillingness of both of them to give any more details than the fact that they were ambushed...
Kojika's jumpy attitude this very evening...as everyone left the room to pursue their own little activities...
She saw the picture clearly, and with out thinking, pulled out her bow and strung an arrow...somehow drawing on the small shards of Shikon she had, and adding it to the immense spiritual power she was gathering in the head of her weapon...
She was planning to shoot Kikyo for her crimes...
It is very apparent...that through the past Kikyo has tried to capture Inuyasha and to take him to Hell with her...
She has tried many things...Trapping him in a deep sleep to take him with out a fight... following him and then just showing up out of nowhere to chat with him...and even giving Naraku the jewel so that Inuyasha might not have a willful chance of beating him...
Kikyo was a cruel miko...and was no longer pure by Kojika's ideas.
Kikyo...deserved to remain the walking dead...
But of course...the miko knew when she was being targeted, and looked at Kagome with the same sad expression she always had.
"Do you plan on shooting me Kagome?" She asked softly, her dragons dancing around her. The one with Kazu's spirit dropped down and left it's little gift in her hand...and she loosed it with in her body calmly.
"Let Kazu out!" Kagome shouted, stretching the arrow farther back. She was also beginning to lose control.
"I don't think so." Kikyo smirked malevolently, and pulled her own bow forward, prepared to string and shoot her arrow when ever she felt truly threatened.
"Did you shoot Inuyasha's side when Yakume and Reiko attacked!?" Kagome replied, accumulating a vast ball of spiritual power in the head of her arrow now. It was good, that because of her training with the Shikon, she could now hide her own energy from other miko's as well as the Shikon's.
Everyone around her heard the question, and turned to look at Kikyo, and then to Inuyasha. Inuyasha's surprise was quite evident, and he kept trying to shake his head, but his companions already knew that Kikyo had been involved in the attack.
"Perhaps I did." Kikyo replied, pulling out an arrow from her thin quiver. "Yes...I tried to kill Inuyasha. That was my part in the mission."
"Explain the mission!" Kagome shouted back, fighting to keep her tired arm from letting go of the string.
"Fine. Mikoto the Dragon Elder came to me one afternoon, as I was tending to some fallen samurai, and asked me if I would like to take Inuyasha to Hell with me without his fuss. I asked him what he had in mind. He told me, that I and the two dragon's Reiko and Yakume should keep a close eye on Kojika and Inuyasha. Then, when they were alone, we would pounce. My duty was to get rid of Inuyasha, and by that I mean to take him to the afterlife by my side. Then, Kojika would be left alone, and the dragons would kill her off. Unfortunately, Kojika there saw it coming, and was able to pull out the arrow in which struck Inuyasha on the side. It was meant to be a fatal wound. Then she forced Inuyasha to leave so that they might fight with her alone. I tried to follow him, but then Mikoto found me and told me of another idea. To let his dragons take care of the mess and to get Inuyasha for me. He insisted that you, Kagome, were becoming a nuisance, and that you would surely kill me. But I don't see how. You're nothing but a pathetic weakling. Inuyasha was an idiot to think my reincarnation was anything like me."
Kikyo smirked and glanced in Inuyasha's direction, in which the sweat was visible on his face. Everyone understood now why he hadn't spoken up. He didn't want to worry them with Kikyo coming after them as well as everyone.
And then again, they were also amazed at how Kagome had managed to understand this fact so perfectly. They began to wonder how she was capable of putting all of that together like that. But when they happened to look in the young miko's direction, they were surprised to find that her cheeks were bright red with anger and embarrassment and that her rage was beginning to reach it's peak.
Kagome was scary when she was mad.
Her eyes were clear, and her arm muscles were beginning to pulse with the raging pumping blood in her body. Her teeth were grit and her brows were furrowed.
Kagome only gave Kikyo a second to bring up her arrow, before firing hers, and leaving it lit so bright by her bluish light that it left a trail behind it like a comet in the sky.
Kikyo could not move...she could not get out of the way...
It struck her full and hard in the chest...and she fell back...cracking like clay as she landed...considering her body was only hardened ashes and soil and leaves.
She hadn't been completely destroyed of course...only her head and her legs and arms remained...but her full body was gone.
Mikoto, who had spent this whole time discussing how he would kill Kojika with the very person he was talking about, gave one glance in the older miko's direction. He noticed how beaten she was...how she had a crack slimly finding it's way up her cheek...and how her eyes seemed so desolate.
He smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, the pieces of her body remolded and reshaped...until the miko was standing, fully clothed, before them again.
Kagome and her friends stared wide-eyed at the clay statue, and how she was completely moveable again, and nothing was out of place. Even the tiny delicate cracks in her frame seemed to have evened out and dispersed.
Kagome could barely even make a sound she was so surprised.
Kikyo glanced her direction, and smiled, giving off a sinister glare that found it's way to everyone's eyes.
Mikoto nodded, and turned around, walking towards Kojika fearlessly.
For the moment, everyone watched the elder, even though they were still shock of Kikyo's reparal, because...for some reason...he seemed to be more amusing.
The Elder Mikoto, stepped up to a flaring Kojika, in which she jumped away with the tree at her back. Then, with out cause of even realization of what was happening, the Elder swept out one swift hand and caught her chin in his grasp. And, with just as much speed and force, her crushed his lips against hers, and stole a kiss. Kojika's eyes flared wide....her fireball grew larger...her hair began to toss around her as her energy built up...All in the middle of a kiss...
Then...just as if he had never been there...he stepped away, waved, and vanished in thin air. Kikyo did the same...
There was a simple voice left behind...as if the trees themselves were talking...
"Our fight is soon my lovely...And then...we shall decide whom of us is the true ruler of the Dragons."
Kagura, Naraku's servant had been watching the action at a distance, hiding behind a tree. She noticed how shaken the dragon demon got when this Mikoto fellow was around, and saw that Inuyasha and the others did not have the power or strength to be able to fight him alone. This would please Naraku greatly, thought Kagura...scheming in her mind how this would work for her.
Maybe Inuyasha and this dragon that had beaten her so easily, could get rid of Naraku for good. Of course, she would not mention a word to anyone, lest her conniving little sister creation show Naraku what she was thinking.
Kagura smirked.
Now that she knew that Mikoto was a danger to the group, she finally had something to tell Naraku. She could finally stop following these people around.
She might finally get a little peace and time to herself now.
With that thought in mind, she pulled a feather from her hair and flew off into the night.
*What do you think? Did I finally end the cliffy? Good. I hope you like it, because the next chapters should be pretty good. I know I had fun writing them!*
