A God's Game
Chapter III: An Execution, An Extermination
She walked through the cold, marble hallways of the heavens, her face stony as one of the many statues lining the hall, but her heart pumping rapidly in…what was it? Fear? Anger?
She stifled an urge to laugh at the foolish laws of the heavens. They could feel fear, they could feel anger, they could feel hate… But they could not feel love. To think that such an advanced civilization such as this had survived without love was beyond her, but then again, she too had once lived unknowing of this strange feeling called "love."
"Hime-sama!" she heard someone call out. She stopped in her advance and turned around. She heard the person's footsteps echo in the long, lonely hall, reminding her of her sentence. Eternity… At least she would be able to watch over her son and protect him as best she could from her position.
"I'm sorry, but may I please speak to Kaguya-hime before…" the soldier from before asked.
"Of course, Ichiro," one of the guards said. "But be quick, or I'll get in trouble."
"Thank you," Ichiro said. He turned to her. "Kaguya-hime."
"What is it that you wish to speak to me of?" she asked, her voice distant. She had almost forgotten that she had always spoken in this tone of voice before she had gone to the realm of the mortals. She wondered what people felt when she had used such a voice. Her "parents" had not liked her detached tone of voice, so she changed for them. And…she also changed for him.
"Y-your son," he stuttered, always getting nervous when speaking to her as an equal. In these past years, he had not changed a bit, but she supposed that it was difficult for gods to change in such a closed society. She, too, had only changed once she left this prison called Heaven.
"Yes?" she said, her emotions carefully checked. She never revealed her true emotions to anyone, the only exception being the two people whom she loved most in her life. She wondered how her son was doing, what he was feeling. Did he miss his mother? Was he lonely?
"I-I made a substitute body for you," Ichiro spilled out. "Everyone will think that you died of an illness. That way, no questions will be asked. And your son…"
"He will believe that I did not leave him. He will believe that I died beside him—died because of a mortal plague," she said in a soft voice. She felt her insides freeze, unable to hold out against the anguish that she felt now. Her son would have to watch her die a death that was not true, a death set up so that he would never be able to discover his mother's heritage.
"Yes… It'll be better for him to think that way. It'll be better for him to know no connections to this world," Ichiro said, sounding uncertain. But it was true, was it not? To be connected to this world of terrible rigidity and to never live a life free from the bounds of society… That would be what he faced if he knew his true heritage. She would never wish that upon her son, her jewel, the most precious of all that she had ever held in her hands.
"Then it is best for him to believe that," she said, knowing that from that moment on, she was forever dead to him. Her son would never see her again, but she would always watch over him… She would always protect him. She would not leave her son alone, abandoned in a world known for its cruelties to those such as himself.
"H-Hime-sama," Ichiro stuttered again, sounding very nervous. "I… I-I don't think t-that y-your son…"
"What is it?" she asked, anxiety rising within her. What was wrong? Her son was at her parents' home and would be well cared for. What else did Ichiro want to say?
"You-Your parents… They have been fated to die a week after your death," he said in one large breath. "There'll be no one… No one…"
"No one to care for my son," she finished for him, her voice still cool, but anger and hatred boiling in her. It was that general. It had to be him. To think that he would stoop so low just to avenge his son was beyond her. But in a way…she understood his feelings. She understood his feelings of love for his son, but did he have to take his anger out on hers?
"Ichiro, you must do something!" she said, turning to the soldier, her tone urgent but remarkably still calm. He was the only one who stood by her in times such as this, and in essence, he was her only friend.
"D-do what?" he asked, awaiting her command. "I-I don't have a lot of power. I don't have the same power as you, Hime-sama."
"Protect him, watch over him, provide for him—anything!" she said, her fear of her son's future eating her from the inside out. She realized that she was starting to sound hysterical, but she could not stop herself. "Find him a place to stay, do what you need to do!"
"B-but Hime-sama!" he exclaimed, "I can't do that! I'm just a soldier. I can't do things like that."
"You have to!" she begged, forgetting all dignity when it came to her child. "Ichiro, please!"
"Ichiro, it's time," the guard said, grabbing one of her arms. "You can speak to her once her initial sentence is over."
"What? What is her sentence?" asked Ichiro, afraid of what other influence the Heavenly General had exerted upon the people of the court.
"Three hundred years in the dark side of the moon," the guard said, looking angry at the sentence. "And the rest of eternity trapped anywhere on the moon."
"The dark side?" asked Ichiro. "But, Kaguya-hime is…"
"I know!" the guard said. "I didn't make the sentence."
Three hundred years in the dark side of the moon. Three hundred years? She, who was the Lady of the Moon, was to be trapped in the dark side, where her powers were next to nonexistent? She didn't mind that fact so much as the fact that she would not be able to watch over her son; to watch over the son whom she had promised she would always take care of.
"I'm sorry, Hime-sama," the guard said, turning to her. "Let's go." And she followed him again, despair filling every crevice of her soul. There was nothing she could do; nothing until it was too late. She had broken all promises she had ever made to her only son.
The guard led her to the execution chamber, where she was forced down upon her knees. So this was the way of the gods. To become one, one had to die. And yet, there were many who would be willing to pay that price. But not she… Not she.
She closed the eyes of her mortal body one last time, before the giant blade of the executioner swung down upon her neck and rendered her senses useless.
The white walls of the execution chamber were splattered with the terrible crimson of blood, shining in the holy light of the Hall of Heavens. The white marble was stained so deep that it would take eons to fade away.
The people of the mortal world saw the new moon that night, and gasped in wonder and curiosity as the darkness of the night fell away to reveal a moon brighter than one that they had yet to see in their lifetime shine in the place of the dark moon. With this strange force against nature, the story of Kaguya-hime was born, and was soon spread across the land.
But the true story was never told, and the child who was left behind watched in silence as he spent his first night as a human in full moonlight. It would be the last time that his human features would ever be revealed by the light of the full moon.
"Don't worry. Sango-chan is a youkai exterminator. She'll get that youkai for you," Kagome said, trying to reassure the villagers. They had started off early in the morning, and Inuyasha had taken lead again, going towards a direction where he said he smelled blood. And so they arrived at this village, discovering that several people in the village had already died because of some mysterious youkai. The youkai had left only shells of withered humans behind in its attacks, with blood spilled when it attacked carelessly, and the villagers were afraid of more dead humans before the season was over.
"You don't understand," one of the village men said. "This youkai… No one has seen how it looks like. If you go after it, it will most likely destroy you also. What we need is a god, not a taiji-ya."
"But Sango-chan—" Kagome started.
"No need," the man said. "If it was a man, perhaps there would have been more of a chance, but seeing that she's a woman…"
"What does that have to do with anything?" demanded Kagome angrily.
"Kagome-chan, it's all right," Sango said. "We'll get rid of that youkai whether these people want us to or not."
"You'll get killed, miss," someone said in concern. "We don't want you to die on our account."
"Yeah, that idiot only said stuff like that to dissuade you from helping," another man said. "He doesn't mean it."
"But you should still leave before the youkai decides to attack you, too," a woman said.
"Don't worry," Sango smiled. "I'm very experienced in this field. Besides, I've got several friends helping me." The villagers turned to look at a grumpy Inuyasha, a tiny Shippou, and a sighing Miroku standing behind the two women.
"They certainly look capable," someone said.
"Well, just let that big youkai kill the youkai," the man from before said. "Let all the youkai kill each other so we don't have to worry about them anymore."
"Why you—!" Kagome spluttered angrily. Suddenly, someone screamed an ear splitting scream. Inuyasha leapt off in that direction.
"Inuyasha, wait!" Kagome called after him, getting quickly on her bike and pedaling after him.
"Kirara," Sango said as the cat youkai transformed. She got on with Miroku and Shippou, careful to place Shippou in the middle.
"Kyaa!" Kagome screamed as she was pulled off her bike.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, running to her and scooping her up quickly as some strange hand was about to claw her apart.
"What was that?" asked Sango, never seeing such a strange monster before.
"Inuyasha, behind you!" Shippou shouted as Inuyasha quickly leapt into the air. When he turned around to look at what was behind him, he saw nothing.
"Inuyasha, from the tree!" Miroku warned, seeing a long black arm stretch out to try and grab Inuyasha. Inuyasha evaded the attack and quickly placed Kagome near Sango and the others.
"Where is it?" he growled, his eyes and ears searching the parameter for the youkai. All he was met with was the stifling warm air of the summer wind and a slight haze that was starting to run over the dry fields.
"Did you see it?" the villagers asked, finally catching up to them. Inuyasha sniffed the air experimentally.
"It's gone," he finally said, his eyes still searching the fields.
"Eiji!" a woman screamed. "Eiji, my son!" She held the shriveled body close to her, weeping.
"That's the tenth child," a man said.
"At least the youkai doesn't have any prejudice as to who it'll kill," someone said cynically. "Men, women, and children alike have all been slain."
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here in time," Sango said, looking at the body who only resembled a human in the number of limbs that it had.
"But you got here faster than any of us ever would be able to," an old man said. "On behalf of the village, I would like to hire you."
"You would be the village chief?" asked Miroku.
"Yes. You may stay at my home tonight," he said. "Hopefully, with your skill, this evil demon will be destroyed before the next moon."
"I hope," Sango said, looking at Kagome's fallen bike. What was it that had grabbed her? As a youkai exterminator, she should have been able to sense whatever it had been, but she had felt nothing. Were her skills becoming dull? Or was it that this was one of those rare youkai that people rarely encountered?
"Sango, we're going," Inuyasha called to her as the others followed the chief back to the center of the village.
"Coming," she called, giving one last look at the place around her. Then she quickly followed Inuyasha, wondering what they were fighting against this time.
He sat on the bench overlooking the sea of clouds, waiting for his servant to return. The eternal peace of the heavens was starting to bore him, but he knew he could do nothing to prevent it. But soon… Soon that would all change.
"Ryuten-sama," a wispy voice said. He turned to the source of the voice, wondering if the god had accomplished what he had set out to do.
"Fuujin," he said, glad that his servant had returned. "Did you find someone suitable?"
"The powers of the wind god are far reaching, Ryuten-sama," Fuujin said, bowing respectfully. "And I did find someone who may be more than suitable."
"Oh?" asked Ryuten, interested. "And who may that be?"
"He is a hanyou, though," Fuujin warned, not quite sure if his master wanted someone like that to work under him.
"Hanyou?" his master asked, his interest definitely aroused. If he was that powerful as a half, all he had to do was extract the half of him that was more powerful, and soon he would have a warrior able to defeat the army of the gods.
"Yes. His name is Inuyasha," Fuujin said.
"Inuyasha?" he asked, recognizing the name. "The son of Kaguya?"
"Kaguya-hime, sire, and yes, he is the son of that princess," the god of wind replied, mildly chiding his master for his lack of respect.
"Inuyasha, hmm?" Ryuten asked, amused. "If I remember correctly, he was a weak hanyou that sought to become a true youkai by using the Shikon no Tama. He is certainly not the strong warrior that I had in mind."
"Ryuten-sama, consider this," Fuujin said, his tone becoming darker. "This hanyou has killed the terrible youkai, Ryuukotsusei. He has managed to injure his older brother, who is a true youkai. And he was able to break the seal of the miko, Kikyo-sama, and return back to life. Though he may not appear strong now, in the future, he may become one of the strongest warriors that this realm has seen in a long time."
"Is that so?" asked Ryuten, starting to consider his servant's argument.
"He is the son of Kaguya-hime and the great Inu youkai," Fuujin said, glad that his master was finally listening to him seriously. "He might have the power to fight the army long enough for you to exterminate the emperor and seize the throne."
"Silence, you fool!" Ryuten hissed. "Do not speak to me of such matters again. Understood?"
"Of course, Ryuten-sama," Fuujin bowed, realizing that if any god should overhear their conversation, they were as good as dead.
"Put him to a test," Ryuten said calmly, gazing at the landscape of the heavens again. "I want to see how powerful that side of his blood is."
"Consider it done," Fuujin said, slipping out of the room. Ryuten looked at the retreating back of his servant and offered one of his rare smiles. Finally, the Era of Dragons would soon begin.
Kagome got out of the well, stretching out her back. She hoisted her now near empty backpack behind her and started walking towards her house, yawning. For the past few weeks, they had stayed at that village, trying to catch the youkai, but with no success. The youkai seemed to appear out of nowhere, and attacked without pattern, so that it was near impossible to catch it, much less exterminate it. The only thing that they had been able to do was to stop the youkai from killing anymore villagers, but even that was getting more and more difficult as the youkai was starting to learn each of their moves. Kagome wondered if the youkai was actually trying to do just that. Was it just luring them out so that it could study them?
"Tadaima," she yawned, as she entered the house.
"Okaeri," her mother said, smiling at her daughter. "You look tired. Do you want me to fix you a bath?"
"Arigato, Mama," she smiled, as her mother quickly walked off to get her bath ready. Kagome put her backpack on the kitchen counter and started loading it up with the things that she would need when she returned to the Sengoku Jidai.
She picked up a bowl of ramen, and smiled at her fond memory of Inuyasha. He had surprised her again. She would have stayed with her friends a bit longer, but it was he who had suggested she go back to her world and rest for a bit. Of course, she had protested, but then he just said that it wasn't out of his concern for her, but rather that he wanted her useless self to get lost. She would have believed his words, except he carried her all the way back to the well by himself, leaving the others to take care of the village. She put the ramen into her backpack. He was always doing that. He was always acting as if he didn't care, when it was so obvious that he did.
She yawned again, and realized that Inuyasha had been right; she was tired. She sat down on the chair and was about to doze off when her mother gently shook her awake.
"Take your bath, Kagome, then go to sleep," she said, smiling.
"All right," Kagome said, going towards the bathroom. She shut the door behind her, happy that she was blessed with such good friends, and such a good family.
She walked towards Kagome's house, carrying the assignments that Kagome had missed. The weather was warm, but not too warm, and she was glad to feel the comforting grace of the sun on her skin. But the thought quickly sobered her. Kagome was sick in bed, unable to feel such warmth, or see such beauty that the summer had to offer. And what bad luck it was to be sick even when the summer vacation had started. She hoped that Kagome would be able to finish all her assignments during this break, but she wasn't really worried about that. Kagome always managed to do well, even if she was ill.
"Eri-chan, are you going to visit Kagome?" someone asked. She turned in the direction of the voice.
"Hai," she replied, recognizing Satoru's mother. Rumor had it that her dead daughter had haunted her and Satoru until she was finally appeased by someone. Eri had half a mind to ask the woman, but decided against it. If the rumors were true, then it must have been painful to realize that Mayu had been the one that was causing Satoru's coma.
"Would you mind giving her this?" she asked, handing Eri a soft package. Eri tried not to look sad as she saw the woman's scarred hands.
"Of course not!" she said, smiling, fixing her hair yellow band before taking the package. "What is it?"
"It's just for the festival," she smiled. "And to thank her."
"Thank her?" asked Eri, curious. "For what?"
"Oh, it's nothing really," the woman laughed. "She just calmed my child down, that's all."
"Oh," Eri replied. Calm down? As in pacifying a ghost? she thought.
"I'll see you later then, Eri-chan," she said, walking off. "And tell your mother that it's my turn to bake the cookies this year. Don't let her try to cover for me, all right?"
"Hai," Eri said as she waved good-bye. She continued on her path again, wondering about what strange illness Kagome might have now. She was starting to question if Kagome really was ill. It seemed to her that Kagome had been the one in the rumors about Mayu, and if that was true, then that meant that Kagome had been running around at night, which definitely couldn't be healthy for her. And if she really was that ill, why did she always seem so healthy when she returned to school? Plus the fact that she seemed to mysteriously meet her mysterious boyfriend during her mysterious illness, and you have one mystery that could not be figured out. The only answer to all this would be that Kagome really wasn't ill, but then why would her grandfather and mother cover for her if Kagome was ditching school to run off with her boyfriend?
"But Kagome doesn't seem the type," Eri thought out loud. But then did that mean she really was ill?
"Eri, are you here to drop off Kagome's homework again?" asked Mrs. Higurashi as she approached the shrine.
"Yeah, and I also have a package for her," she said, walking towards Kagome's mother. "Is Kagome okay today? Or is she ill again?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but she's still very ill," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I'll take those packages for you. You can go home now and enjoy your vacation."
"Hmm," Eri said, handing over her load to Mrs. Higurashi. She knew that when Mrs. Higurashi made up her mind to do something, no one would be able to change it, except maybe for Mr. Higurashi, but she wasn't quite sure what had happened to him.
"You're a very good girl, Eri," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I'm glad Kagome has such good friends like you."
"It's really nothing, Higurashi-san," Eri laughed nervously.
"You've been helping Kagome out a lot," she said. "Thank you."
"It's no problem," Eri said, but she felt that there was some sort of secret that surrounded the Higurashi family. Whatever it was, she was going to find out. Kagome had not been her friend since preschool just to leave her in the dark like this. There had to be something going on in this house.
"I'm leaving now, okay?" she asked. Mrs. Higurashi nodded, and tried to wave as the girl walked down the stairs. She reached into her pocket for her house keys when she realized that she had left her keys in the bag with Kagome's assignments. She quickly ran up the steps to the shrine, and was about to go to the house when she saw the door to the well house open.
Is it a thief? she thought, as she quickly hid behind a nearby column. Someone walked out of the small building and closed the door, walking across the shrine to the house.
Kagome? But I thought… She looked at the girl walking towards the house. It was definitely Kagome, and she did not look sick at all. Maybe just a little tired, but being tired and being someone who had tuberculosis or whatever new disease she currently had was not the same. Eri was about to run after her and demand what she was doing, but decided against it. Maybe Kagome had just been resting in the well, if that made any sense at all. In any case, she was going to catch Kagome when Kagome was cornered.
She waited till Kagome was safely inside the house and would have no chance of seeing her before she headed back down the steps again. She walked quickly to the nearest pay phone and slid her phone card into the slot, and dialed the number to her house. It rang a couple times before her mother finally picked it up.
"Moshi, moshi," her mother said.
"Okaa-chan, I'm going to be staying over at Kagome's for tonight, okay?" she asked, waiting for her mother to process the information.
"Why? I thought Kagome was sick," she said, trying to puzzle out why her daughter had suddenly decided to stay at her friend's house. Eri usually wasn't an impulsive girl.
"Kagome's well today, and I thought that I should spend some time with her before she becomes ill again," she said quickly, hoping that Kagome wasn't going to escape to wherever she escaped to before her conversation with her mother was over.
"Fine then," her mother said. "Tell Mrs. Higurashi I said 'hello.'"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Eri said, "Don't bake those cookies!"
"What?" was her mother's reply, but she quickly hung up and ran up the steps to the shrine again. She was going to get to the bottom of Kagome's "illness" once and for all.
"You shouldn't let her go there so often," he said, getting irritated with her calm mood.
"Jii-chan, she's happy, so let her be," Mrs. Higurashi said. "And finish your pickles so that I can start washing the dishes."
"But she always comes back with cuts and bruises!" he hollered, trying to make her see sense.
"But her friend gets more injuries than she does," she replied, "He must be protecting her."
"Well he's not doing a good enough job!" he grumbled. "He probably doesn't care about her. He only wants her to find those pieces of the accursed Shikon no Tama, and then he's through with her. That youkai is going to harm Kagome, and you'll let it happen!"
"Inuyasha would never harm me!" Kagome said in Inuyasha's defense, appearing suddenly in the doorway, having finished her bath. Except when it comes to Kikyo, but that's not really his fault…
"K-Kagome?" his grandfather said in surprise, looking at her. He quickly recollected his wits. "Of course he wouldn't," he said, though he did not sound sincere.
"You just said he would!" Kagome said loudly, wondering why her grandfather was suddenly changing his opinion. It struck her that maybe he was trying not to burden her with his misgivings concerning Inuyasha and the other world. Perhaps the only reason her family had so easily accepted her new situation was so that they could make life easier for her. Come to think of it, all of them had been helping her in some way to live the double life that she did. She wondered how long that they had been doing this, hiding their worries and fears from her, and felt guilty for not having noticed it before.
I really am a selfish girl, she thought, knowing that she had taken everything for granted. She had been thankful to her mother for helping her by making her normal life easier for her, her brother for getting notes for her, and her grandfather for inventing numerous illnesses to cover up her situation, but she had never fully considered the extent that they each had gone to in order to help her. She felt like a spoiled brat for fighting with her grandfather for something that she knew he did only because he cared about her.
"Kagome, your dinner is on the table," her mother said suddenly, guiding her to her seat. "Eat up before it gets cold again. Jii-chan, would you mind very much if you help Souta with his math homework?" she asked, turning to the older Higurashi member. There was something about her that did not allow dissent, and he quickly obeyed her orders. "Wash your dishes when you're done, okay? And Eri just dropped off more of your school assignments today."
"Oh, tell her 'thanks' the next time you see her," Kagome said as her mother walked off to the living room. Not only my family, but my friends are also helping me too, she thought, realizing how lucky she was. She reminded herself to thank all of them later. They all deserve more than just a "thank you," but for now, that is all I have to offer them. Maybe one day, I'll really thank them, but this is all I can do for the time being.
"I already told her that," her mother replied. Kagome smiled. Her mother was always being helpful and making things easier for her. But Kagome wondered just how much her family worried about her when she was in the Sengoku Jidai. She certainly didn't want them to worry this much about her, and she knew that her grandfather had only been angry about Inuyasha and her traveling because he didn't fully understand him. She supposed that she had to bring Inuyasha over sometime and somehow convince him to stay long enough for her family to get to know and trust him. Then they wouldn't worry so much anymore.
Kagome drank her soup slowly, savoring the flavor, and wondering what argument she could use to get Inuyasha to stay in her time. She finished the rest of her meal quickly and washed the dishes.
"Mama, I'm going to my room now, okay?" she asked, "I'll be leaving in the morning."
"Oyasumi nasai, Kagome," her mother called out with her grandfather. She sighed again and walked up the stairs, carrying her bag of assignments. Now she knew for sure that her grandfather, and perhaps her mother were hiding their real feelings from her. She plopped down on her bed and took the homework out, as well as a package. She opened the package eagerly, trying to forget her problems for the time being, and saw that it was a lovely kimono. She picked up the small card that had fallen out when she had opened the package and read it.
" 'Kagome, thank you for helping Mayu. This is just a gift for you. Hope you'll like it,'" the note read. "Thank you," Kagome said, smiling at the beautiful sakura colored kimono. She quickly rewrapped the present and put it in her closet. She'd try it on later, but first, she had to do her homework. She looked at all the loose pages that Eri had brought to her and groaned. Well, she'd better get started.
She had walked into the well house and spent the rest of the night there, hoping to catch Kagome, and she now had a terrible backache. Once in a while, during the night, she would run down to a nearby store that was open twenty-four hours a day and grab something to eat or drink, or simply just to use the restroom, and had always returned to the shrine to find the light still on in Kagome's room. She had seen Kagome through the window, working hard, and decided that the girl wouldn't move until the morning, so she had camped out at the well house. What a terrible idea that had been!
She yawned as she tried to get the kinks out of her body, and was about to walk out of the building when she saw Kagome approaching her. She quickly hid in a dark corner of the building and waited for Kagome to enter. Kagome swung the two doors open, and walked in, hoisting a very large backpack that was not fit for someone who was supposedly so ill.
She saw Kagome walk over to the well and was about to jump in when she suddenly called out, "Kagome! What do you think you're doing?"
"Kyaa!" Kagome screamed, whirling around to the source of the voice. She froze when she saw Eri there, looking shocked, and angry. Kagome wondered what she was doing there. "E-Eri…" she said nervously, knowing that she was in for it now. Hojo may have been easy to fool, but Eri was a different story.
"Yes, it's Eri," the girl said, walking towards her. She did not look like she had much sleep last night. "Do you care to explain to me what exactly you were about to do?"
"I… Uh, I was going to make some offerings to this well so that I could get better!" Kagome said nervously, smiling. Eri did not look convinced.
"Oh really?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Let's see you give the offerings, then." Kagome looked at her nervously, knowing that she was trapped. But she couldn't tell Eri. How could she explain to her friend what was going on? Eri would never be able to understand.
"I can't give the offerings as long as you're here," Kagome said lamely.
"I see how it is," Eri said, starting towards the door. Suddenly she turned around and pulled Kagome's backpack, causing her to lose her balance and fall. Eri quickly opened the pack and searched through it.
"I see… I didn't know that the gods liked instant noodles," she said dryly.
"Well, you learn a new thing everyday," Kagome laughed nervously.
"Yeah, like how I learned my friend's been lying to me all this time," she said, closing Kagome's backpack. "You aren't sick. You don't look sick. I saw you coming out of the well yesterday," she said, causing Kagome to become pale. "And I saw you working on your homework all night. Your mother told me that you were sick a few minutes before you came out of this building, but how could she say that if you weren't even in the house?"
"Eri…" Kagome said, unsure of what to do.
"What is your family covering for you?" she asked suddenly, not looking at Kagome in the eyes. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing…" Kagome said, but they both knew it wasn't true. Kagome got up and brushed the dirt off her uniform. She had wanted to go back early to surprise Inuyasha, but she supposed that she couldn't right now. Inuyasha had said he'd come back in three days time to pick her up, and she supposed that the remaining two days was more than enough to tell Eri everything. Sango was a good friend, but there were just some things that Sango would never be able to understand, simply because she was someone who lived in the Sengoku Jidai. But with Eri, it was different. She'd known Eri for practically her entire life, and she knew she could trust the girl. Besides, it was getting difficult for her to have no one to confide her worries in.
"Eri, let's go back to my house," she said, helping the girl up. "I'll tell you what's going on there." Eri nodded, glad that her friend was finally willing to tell her what had been going on these past months.
"And now, we're trying to exterminate this one youkai that's attacking the villagers," Kagome said, lying in her sleeping bag on the floor. Eri was in the bed, sleeping over for real this time.
"And that's when you came back?" she asked, sleep miles away from the two girls.
"Yeah. Inuyasha made me," Kagome said, smiling in the darkness. Eri started giggling. "What?" Kagome asked.
"You're so hopeless, Kagome," she said, sighing. "Every time you talk about Inuyasha, you get that look."
"What look?" Kagome demanded playfully.
"I don't know. You look all happy and everything," she said. "It makes you look so cute."
"Eri!" Kagome said, knowing her friend was teasing her.
"I think I understand now," Eri said in a more serious voice. "I think I know why you would like this Inuyasha so much. But you know, the way you described him at school really made him look like a bad character."
"I know," Kagome sighed, remembering the expression on Ayumi and Yuka's faces.
"I suppose everything has to be put in context," Eri said. She fell silent for a moment and Kagome thought that she had fallen asleep, but she started to talk again. "I want to meet him. I want to meet the guy that Kagome deems worthy of her attention," she giggled.
"I think I'll make him stay at my house some time," Kagome said, remembering her family again. "I need my family to know him better, so that they know that they can trust him."
"It'll be difficult to trust him if he has the personality that you say he has," Eri warned.
"I guess…" Kagome said, hoping that Inuyasha would behave himself if he were here.
"Ooh, Kagome," Eri said. "I get what you're doing."
"What?" asked Kagome, confused.
"You're letting your family know your boyfriend," Eri said. Kagome was about to protest that Inuyasha wasn't hers, and that he belonged to Kikyo (which she had already told Eri a thousand times, but Eri seemed to think differently) but Eri interrupted her.
"It always goes like this," her knowing friend said. "First an introduction, then you get your family to know the person, and the next thing you know, you're getting married."
"Eri! I'm not getting married to Inuyasha," Kagome said, blushing crazily.
"Yeah, sure Kagome," Eri said, not paying any attention to Kagome's indignant splutters. "Whatever happens, I have to meet him. That way I can see if he really loves you or not."
"Eri…" Kagome groaned. What had she gotten Inuyasha into?
"Too bad. My mind's made up," Eri said, snuggling deeper into Kagome's blankets. "Oyasumi nasai, Kagome."
Kagome just grumbled a response.
"You're late," Inuyasha said, as Kagome climbed out of the well. He sniffed the air. Kagome had a different scent on her. "Oi, were you playing around with your friends or something?" he asked.
"Hmm? You must mean Eri," Kagome said, surprised that he could still detect Eri's scent even after she had been gone for a day. "She's a friend," she said. A friend that knows about as much about you as I do now, she thought to herself. She grinned, happy that she wasn't alone in her world anymore.
"Let's go," Inuyasha said, kneeling down so that she could climb onto his back. "We found out what kind of youkai it is."
"Really? What is it?" Kagome asked, wondering if they were going to finally beat the youkai.
"It's a shadow youkai," Inuyasha said darkly.
"Shadow?" asked Kagome, not having heard of such a thing before.
"Yeah. It attacks from shadows," Inuyasha said as he leapt through the air. "As long as there's a shadow, he can attack from there."
"But that means that our shadows—" said Kagome, realizing what that meant.
"No one is safe because wherever anyone goes, there will always be a shadow that follows."
"Then how are we going to defeat it?" asked Kagome. Inuyasha grinned.
"By using our shadows," he said cryptically. Kagome wondered what he meant.
"I hope it works today," Sango said, looking at the circle of villagers that had formed at their request. "We've stayed nearly a month here."
"Yes, I'm starting to get a little tired of the same scenery," Miroku said, looking at the scenery without much enthusiasm. "And chasing after the youkai everyday is starting to tire me out."
"Oi, Kagome, you all right?" Inuyasha called out.
"Everything's okay up here," she called back from Kirara's back. Shippou sat next to her, his eyes watching for any suspicious shadows.
"Kogoro!" Shippou shouted suddenly. The villager named Kogoro quickly threw some sort of powder onto his shadow. There was a strangled cry as the youkai tried not to scream, and a moment later, the shadow youkai appeared, his form finally solid.
"I'll not let you escape!" he hissed, grabbing the villager's leg.
"Sankon Tetsusou!" Inuyasha yelled, clawing the youkai into pieces. The shadow quickly rejoined, glaring at Inuyasha.
"Is this how you want to play? Then so be it," he hissed, trying to go back into a nearby shadow.
"Trying to escape?" asked Miroku, activating his well-placed Ofuda. "I don't think so." The youkai screamed as it realized it was caught. Suddenly, it disappeared.
"Where did it go?" asked Sango, running to Miroku's side. "Was it destroyed?"
"No," Miroku said, looking around him. "He escaped somehow."
"What?" asked Sango in shock. "But the powder I gave everyone, it was made to make intangible youkai tangible!"
"And my Ofuda was supposed to seal the youkai, but it didn't," Miroku said, trying to figure out how the shadow youkai had disappeared.
"You should know that a youkai of shadow is just that," a disembodied voice said. "We are shadow… We are an illusion. So," the youkai said, suddenly appearing from Shippou's shadow on Kirara. "Stop chasing after an illusion!" he said, grabbing Kagome.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, jumping up towards her.
"Get away!" Kagome screamed, shoving his slimy hand away. There was a blast of light and he was suddenly gone again. Kirara landed quickly on the ground. The sky would provide no protection for them.
"You okay?" asked Inuyasha, genuinely concerned.
"Of course," Kagome tried to reassure him. "He just scared me, that's all." But she knew that the youkai had meant to kill her, and he would undoubtedly do it if he should again get the chance to.
"Kagome-sama, was that your miko powers?" Miroku asked, running towards her.
"It was my powers," Shippou said. "I just altered my kitsune-bi a little bit so that I could get rid of the shadow that the youkai was coming from."
"That was pretty smart of you, Shippou-chan," Kagome said, rubbing Shippou's head. The child just laughed, happy to get a compliment.
"It's too early to relax yet," Sango's voice called out.
"Who just said that?" Sango shouted. Everyone turned to look at her. Was she starting to go crazy because she was spending too much time chasing after this one youkai?
"A friend, Sango, a friend," Miroku said. Or did he? He looked in shock as he quickly started searching for the source of the voice.
"Don't be so paranoid, Miroku-sama," Kagome said.
"Who's pretending to be me?" demanded Kagome, realizing that the youkai was playing with them.
"Who would dare pretend to be you? No one would risk your anger," Inuyasha said in a semi quiet voice, sounding like he was far away from them.
"Bastard, how dare you use my voice?!" Inuyasha shouted loudly, deafening the people around him. He leapt into the air and brought his fist crashing through the ground of the shadow of a nearby tree. The ground exploded from the force, and out slithered a shadow on the ground, trying to escape.
"That's the real one," Inuyasha said, chasing after it. "Tessaiga!" he shouted, drawing the massive sword out.
"Inuyasha you can't destroy the village's fields!" Sango shouted to him, running after the youkai. "They depend on the fields for food!"
"I'm not stupid!" Inuyasha shouted at her.
"Could've fooled me," Shippou said. Trying to ease the pain in his hurting ears.
"What did you say, Shippou? Why don't you come over here and say it?!" Inuyasha yelled at him. Shippou squeaked and quickly hid behind Kagome.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted, swinging the massive boomerang at the youkai. The youkai simply changed its form and escaped from the boomerang.
"My turn!" Inuyasha shouted.
"Don't destroy the fields!" Miroku warned, running after Inuyasha.
"Shut up, bouzu!" Inuyasha growled, turning Tessaiga to its side so that it caught the light from the sun. He shone the reflection of the sunlight at the shadow youkai. The youkai screamed, trying to escape from the luminosity.
"Kagome-sama, please fire an arrow!" Miroku called to her. She nodded, and quickly notched an arrow into her bow, and aimed it at the youkai. She fired, but too late did she realize that the youkai had already moved to a different place, and her arrow was starting to aim at nothing. Inuyasha quickly knocked the arrow out of its trajectory with Tessaiga, causing the demon blade to transform back into a normal sword. The arrow flew off in an arc and finally landed on top of the shadow youkai, destroying it.
The villagers fell into silence, expecting a mocking voice to start calling out at them, or at least trying to grab one of them. But nothing happened.
"We defeated it?" asked Sango, afraid that it was a trick like last time.
"It's gone. I can't sense its youki anymore," Miroku said, scanning the shadows.
"Yay!" a villager shouted suddenly, and soon many more followed his example.
"Inuyasha, you did it," Kagome said, running to Inuyasha.
"It was your arrow," he said, shrugging it off.
"But you're the one who knocked it to the youkai," Kagome insisted.
"You two make an excellent team," the village elder said, suddenly appearing next to them and scaring them both. "Very powerful. You should stay together."
"What do you know, Jiijii?" Inuyasha asked, forever rude. The old man just laughed, and walked off with his people towards the village. Kagome smiled at Inuyasha, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the village where the others had already gone. An excellent team, huh? Maybe we are, Kagome thought, happy that the old man had said such a thing. It was the best reward that he was able to give, as Miroku soon found out.
Author's Note: Since no one is asking about translations of the Japanese terms, I'm going to assume everyone knows what it means. (That way I won't have to be bothered about translating them and can go directly to the story.) Now and again I might translate something that I think is important for you to know, like… For example, "Ryuten." Okay, that's not really a Japanese term, but something I just smashed together. It means "Dragon Sky." Heh heh… He'll try to play out his name.
Other things that you should know, but might not… Fuujin=wind god, and Raijin=thunder/lightning god (I think). Err… I think that's about it for this chapter.
Oh yeah! In response to your review, Chri, I've thought about if Inuyasha would really have no powers if Shippou transformed him, and I've come to the conclusion that he really won't have any powers. Why? The way I figure it, if Shippou can transform himself into a balloon and float down, I think that he gets whatever properties the thing he transformed into has. Does that even make any sense?
And the thing about the day transitions… I'm still working on how to fix that. But maybe I'll just leave it that way? I'll see what my puny brain has to offer.
I'm glad for any type of response you people have to offer, so don't be afraid to type on your keyboard!