AN: sry.. this chapter won't have so much humor as the last one.. but here we go anyway! Oh, and the pace picks up a bit.. I estimate that I have maybe.. 2 or 3 more chapters?
I was going to split this into two chapters, but hey. The chapters are short enough as it is, right? So this will just be a slightly longer one.. enjoy!
Oh, and one last thing. This chapter contains very mild language and the last page or so is rated pg-13 for violence.
…
"Inuyasha. Do you feel something?"
"Yeah. Smells like demon. It's getting closer too.."
"Do you think it's Naraku?"
"Nahh.. just a little one… hey! It smells like wolf.." he growled. "Must be from Kouga's pack," he muttered to himself.
They stood ready, Sango with her hand ready on Hiraikotsu and Kirara transformed, Miroku, brows drawn together in concentration, Inuyasha with his hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga, and Shippou… well, hiding behind the folds of Miroku's robe, as always.
To their surprise, it dropped down from the tree behind them with a cheerful,
"Hello!"
They blinked. It.. she didn't look dangerous at all. She was dressed a little like the demons of Kouga's clan, but more modestly.
"Heyy.. are you Inuyasha? My name's Rei."
"What the-?! How did you know my name?!"
"Ohh.. Kouga told me! Actually.. I'm not from his pack, in case you were wondering." She turned to Sango. "Are you Kagome?"
"Uhh… actually, my name's Sango.. Kagome's not here right now."
"Oh. Because I have a message for her from Kouga."
"WHAT!!!" Inuyasha growled. "What the heck does he think he is?! He's gonna keep his hands off Kagome, or the next time I see him I'll tear him apart with my own claws!!"
Rei backed off, holding up her hands. "Hey! No need to get jealous, dog boy. It's just a warning message, it's nothing personal. I don't think so, anyways. I was supposed to give it to Kagome.. but I'm guessing that if she was here then she would be with you guys, right? So I could just give the message to you? Kouga told me to tell you, a demon – his name was… Naraku? – is getting stronger so you'd better get your butts moving."
"Naraku.." Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango narrowed their eyes angrily. Each had their own personal grudges against the demon.
"He also told me to accompany you, I was supposed to ask Kagome something, seeing as how she's a miko."
Inuyasha apparently hadn't heard past the part about Naraku. He was already walking off, steaming about Naraku. Sango turned to Rei. "Um.. we were waiting here, Kagome was supposed to come meet us. I think we should still wait here in case she comes back. Miroku and Shippou, why don't you go stop Inuyasha? I know he wants to kill Naraku, but I don't think that's a very good idea right now when Kagome's still back in her time."
"Right." Miroku grabbed Shippou and ran after Inuyasha.
"So tell me, Rei, how did you know where to find us?"
"Kouga told me to track the scent trail of an inu hanyou, and I could only find one track. Also, the scent of a kitsune. And he told me to follow Kagome's scent trail, but I can hardly track someone I don't know. Anyway.. I hope she can come soon.. I know there's a miko in the village nearby, but she isn't strong enough."
"Why do you need Kagome?"
"You see.. I'm a hanyou myself. Half wolf, half human. Ano.. my mother was a miko, and recently I think that's been conflicting with my youkai blood. It's very hard to explain exactly what's going on, and I thought that a miko as powerful as Kagome is – well, Kouga suggested her – could help me." She sighed.
So exactly what is it about Naraku? I know he's a very powerful demon, but I haven't personally run into him."
"Well.. you see, he's been collecting shards of the Shikon no Tama. He has a lot of them now, so he has become very powerful. He is able to make reincarnations of himself, and they too are pretty strong. As for Inuyasha.. well, he has a very old grudge against Naraku. In fact, all of us have a grudge against him. Kouga has something against him too, I believe."
"Yeah.. he didn't sound too happy about Naraku. It's only the fact that he's gotten hurt in another fight that he couldn't go after Naraku himself. Sango, tell me about these reincarnations."
"Well.. there are three so far. Or were, Inuyasha killed one of them. Goshinki, he could read minds, he almost defeated us. He even broke Tetsusaiga! The only thing that saved us was Inuyasha's demon blood; it got stronger and so he didn't die. Then there's Kanna. She has the ability to suck people's souls into her mirror. And there's Kagura, the wind sorceress. She can control wind with her youki, and this stops Inuyasha's ability to unleash Tetsusaiga's ultimate attack."
"Is that all?" A sneering voice sounded from somewhere among the trees. "I would have thought I merited a more lengthy introduction!"
Sharp gusts of wind cut through the trees, and Kagura walked out into the new opening. She smiled and help up her fan. "It's simply a pity that Inuyasha isn't here, or I would cut down that pathetic fool." She smirked. "Oh, don't worry.. we didn't forget about him or Miroku.. they should be meeting up with my sister Kanna any minute now."
"Such a pity that you're not all together. It's so much more fun. It will be simply too easy to kill you now. Sango, and a little half-demon." She raised her fan, ready to attack.
"Get out of here, Rei. I can handle her."
Rei ignored Sango, and simply shifted into a fighting stance. Sango looked over at her, but it was clear that the girl wasn't going to back down from a fight. So Sango readied Hiraikotsu and hoped that the girl wouldn't get herself killed. Ha. Without Kagome it wasn't likely that they would be able to escape Kagura, much less without the strength of Inuyasha and Miroku.
…
"Hello." The small, innocent-looking child stood in the middle of the path, a round mirror in her hands.
"Kanna.."
The buzz of Naraku's poisonous insects filled the air.
…
"Ready to play?" Kagura smirked and spun around, whipping her fan as she turned. Sharp, biting, gusts of wind blew towards Sango and Rei. Little spikes of wind stabbed at the ground, racing towards the two girls and Kirara.
Sango jumped away, and hurled her weapon. "HIRAIKOTSU!"
At the same time, Rei rushed forward, darting between the spikes of wind, and slashed an attack at Kagura. The blades smashed into wind, and both dissappeared. Kagura ducked under Hiraikotsu as it passed her, and whipped another wind attack before jumping to avoid the returning weapon. Sango caught Hiraikotsu and quickly hopped onto Kirara, who jumped into the air. Rei slashed at the blades of wind that came her way, quickly dissipating most of them.
Kagura narrowed her eyes as she watched the ookami hanyou. "She has a shard.." she muttered to herself. This was good. If she killed .. no, when she killed the little hanyou, she could take the shard. Then perhaps she could better defend herself against Naraku.. Her heart clenched painfully, and she swore she could her Naraku's voice laughing at her. Pathetic little fool. You forgot that I control your heart. I could kill you at any moment. Don't even think of attacking me, my dear Kagura. The pain flowed away, and she gritted her teeth. Damn you, Naraku.
In that time, the wind she'd whipped up had already dissappeared, and Sango, Kirara, and Rei looked ready for another round. Sango and Kirara charged forward at the same time as Rei. Kagura flipped her fan, creating maelstrom of wind around her. The wind tore leaves and branches from trees, flinging them at the three charging her. They had to stop; there was little chance they could get through the wind she'd created. Of course, she couldn't exactly attack them now, either. So she closed her fan a little, then snapped it fully open when they approached her. The edge of the expanded wind caught Rei, and the hanyou flew backwards, hitting the side of the bone-eater's well with a loud thump.
Sango winced as she heard the sound, but kept her eyes on Kagura. The wind sorceress snapped her fan shut, and all the wind in the area immediately died down.
Now what? Sango wondered.
…
Inuyasha's hand latched onto Tetsusaiga, but Miroku waved at him.
"Inuyasha. I would suggest that you not use Tetsusaiga. Remember that Kanna's mirror can reflect your attack, and it will simply hit you back."
"Yeah? Well then what do you suggest? You can't use your Wind Tunnel, not with all of Naraku's poisonous insects around."
Shippou just cowered. For the three of them, the foreseeable future looked very grim.
"Damn him," growled Inuyasha. "He knew it'd be just us! Sango's not here, and Kagome's not here! We can't fight Kanna, not with all those insects! It's just like the big coward not to show his face, and just send us a replacement! NARAKU!! YOU COWARD!!"
"That won't help matters any, Inuyasha. We must stay calm and think of a way to defeat her."
As if in response, the white-clad demoness walked forward, holding out her mirror.
"Oh no.. she's going to draw us in.."
She smiled a little smile, looking so innocent. Which, of course, she was not. She just looked innocent, but you could hardly call sucking people's souls into your mirror innocent. In her sweet, quiet little voice, she said, "Oh, I am not thinking of drawing in your soul, Inuyasha." She lifted her mirror a little more. "yet. I think I'll start with someone else."
"Miroku, don't look at the mirror!" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. It hurt, not being able to really fight off Naraku's reincarnation. And to have to be here, so useless..
Miroku threw up an arm to block the girl and the mirror from his vision. He feared her next words, calling him to look in her mirror.
But, her next words were not directed at him. She moved a little to the side, where she now had a clear view of Shippou. "Oh, little kitsune! Do you want to see Kagome?"
Shippou whirled around, crying "Kagome? Where? Kagome!"
"No, Shippou! Don't look!" Inuyasha dove for the kid, but too late; Shippou stood entranced, his eyes locked on his reflection. A translucent, wispy trail flowed out from Shippou and into the mirror, and the little kitsune slumped to the ground.
"How dare you! Picking on the defenseless ones!" Miroku tightened his grip on his staff, then had to throw his arm up again when Kanna turned the mirror to him.
"Why don't you take a look?"
Miroku kept his arm up, determined not to look. But her voice called, and the urge to look grew strong. Desperately, he drew an ofuda from the folds of his robe, dropped his arm and quickly threw the spell in the direction of the mirror. "Take that!" Let's see how well your mirror works with a spell on it!"
The ofuda slapped against the mirror, and Kanna stood looking down at it, a little look of surprise across her petite face. "You.. you blocked my mirror…"
A sudden realization came to Inuyasha. "That's right. And now, you can't reflect my attack!" He unsheathed Tetsusaiga, and demon winds formed around him and Kanna. Inuyasha smiled when he saw the flash of white. "The Wind Scar. You don't stand a chance now, Kanna!" He leaped towards the flashing white Wind Scar, Tetsusaiga raised above his head, ready to strike.
At the same time, Miroku saw something that Inuyasha could not. Kanna, who had been peering down at her mirror, knew that with the ofuda on her mirror she would not be able to reflect Inuyasha's attack. However, if she could remove the spell… She didn't even bother trying to peel it off by hand. She had a better idea. She raised the mirror, towards the raging Inuyasha. But instead of simply waiting for the attack to reach her, she did something completely unexpected: she released Shippou's soul. Releasing the soul also did another thing: as the soul left the mirror, it pushed off the ofuda. Kanna's mirror could now reflect any attack directed at her.
Shippou's soul made a beeline for its owner: the unmoving kitsune lying on the ground behind Inuyasha. Which meant that it would be in the way of Inuyasha's attack… and goodness only knows what that would do to the poor kitsune's soul.
"Inuyasha, no!" Miroku raced towards Inuyasha, and just barely reached him in time. The monk body slammed the hanyou, breaking off the attack. "Look, she released Shippou's soul.. and it took off the spell! If you had followed through with your attack.."
Behind them, Shippou stirred and moaned weakly. "Ka- kagome?"
Ahead of them, Kanna looked down at the spell that now lay on the ground. "The soul.. it took off the spell. Now I can reflect your attacks."
…
Sango watched Kagura warily. The wind sorceress smiled in a very unsettling way as she toyed with her fan, snapping it open and close. The wind picked up and died in response.
Behind her, Rei stirred. The girl staggered to her feet, bruised where she had hit the well but otherwise unharmed. She looked up at Kagura and snarled. "You'll pay for that little trick!" She jumped up and spun around, swiping her claws in Kagura's direction. Glowing blades of energy whipped towards Kagura, and the wind sorceress quickly snapped open her fan, fighting back with wind. The blades met, and the wind broke, letting through Rei's attack. Kagura jumped away, barely escaping. One blade did manage to slice the hem of her dress.
"Is that all you can do?" she taunted Rei. "I would have thought a half-demon like you could do better. But no matter. Because I'll just kill the both of you!" With that, she sent several mini-tornadoes hurling towards them, hitting like daggers into the ground. Rei slashed the ones that came her way, which brought that to Kagura's attention.
Rei always used her left arm. Which meant.. the shard's in her left arm. If I can get that.. Again, Naraku's gravelly voice interrupted her thoughts. Good work, Kagura. Perhaps I'll consider letting you live once you give that shard to me. Kagura snorted. Why did he always have to interfere, just when things were going good? Damn him.
Sango, on the other hand.. she had now dismounted, and was preparing to throw her Hiraikotsu again. Which, to nobody's surprise, she did. This time, Kagura avoided it when it came at her the first time, but she wasn't fast enough when the weapon returned. It caught her on her side, throwing her off a good few feet and ensuring a painful bruise the next morning. She instantly responded with an attack of her own that none of the others were ready for it.
The blades of wind sliced through the air towards Sango, Kirara, and Rei. They tried to avoid it, but the attack was so unexpected and so fast that none of them were really ready. Kirara jumped in the air just in time, as a blade knifed through the air just below the pads of her feet. The other two weren't as lucky. Crying out in pain, Rei got caught by one, throwing her backwards towards the well. Blood spurted from the wound; the blade had cut across a leg and across a side. And as she tumbled through the air, another blade caught her on the back, spilling yet more blood and striking another scream. Sango was lucky that Hiraikotsu was returning; one blade deflected off the weapon. Another caught her on one leg, and she cried out. One last blade nicked her neck; she only felt a little pain, but the pain was the least of her worries.
She landed on her back with a thump, her leg throbbing. Without her noticing it, the last blade had also cut through the leather string around her neck from which the bottle of shards had hung. The bottle sailed through the air with the force from the impact of bouncing off the ground, flying down the well.. where Rei had fallen only seconds before.
Sango struggled to get up, leaning heavily on Kirara. Rei and Kagura were nowhere to be seen. She limped over to the well; there was only a trail of blood, dissappearing into the well. Kagura wasn't anywhere; Sango guessed that she had already left.
From the safety of the shadows, deeper into the forest, Kagura watched the battered girl peer over the edge of the bone-eaters well. It's only a matter of time, she thought. The fan lay silent, but waiting, in her hand.
…
AN: sorry for that really short ending, but I'm running out of time and I really want to get this posted.