Chapter 27: Revelation
"How pathetic." Naraku snapped, causing Ja and Ban to slowly back away, holding Suikotsu's bones in their arms. "But then, Suikotsu doesn't appear to be the only one to sell out, is he, Souten?"
I shot a glance over at Souten, who was staring defiantly back at Naraku.
'Yeah, Souten!' I silently cheered as I smiled at her.
"I'm not going to listen to your lies anymore, Naraku. I'm through with revenge and your lies!" Souten declared.
"Oh, really? You're just going to allow your brother's murderer to live? Then again, who'd want to avenge a pair of murders!" Naraku snickered, looking straight at me. I clenched my jaw as my eyes widened in a sudden panic.
'He's going to tell. He's going to tell Souten everything, and I can't stop him!' I realized with a sudden horror that clenched at my stomach and refused to release it.
"LIAR! My brothers never hurt anyone!" Souten cried out, defiantly rebutting Naraku's claim.
"Is it? Really? Can you know that for a fact?"
"I know my brother's were not murderers! I can feel it."
"Why don't you ask Shippo? He saw your brothers kill his parents. And then, do you know what he did? He returned the favor by killing your siblings!"
'…I killed the men who killed my parents…' I remembered suddenly, the memory flying through my mind like a flashing neon billboard. I snuck a glance at Souten and, evidently, she was remembering my exact words.
"Liar." Souten whispered, though her voice held less conviction than her earlier condemnation of Naraku. There was a distinct waver to her voice and she turned to look at me. Looking away, I knew that I couldn't meet her eye. Violently turning her head so that she could look up at Sesshomaru, Souten nervously bit her lip. "He's lying, isn't he? Shippo didn't kill my family… did he?"
"Don't ask questions," Sesshomaru commanded softly. "You might just get answers."
"So… it's true then." Souten mumbled as she turned to face me. "You really did kill your parents murderers, didn't you. Which means, you killed my brothers."
"Souten… I…" I began, but Souten shut me up with a slap across the face.
"You bastard! Is that why you told me that story about revenge being unfulfilling? So that I wouldn't kill you when I found out?!" Souten spat, her voice and words oozing the betrayal that flared in her eyes. "Were you just playing me? Using me to gain information? Did you think it was FUNNY?!"
"I never wanted…" I began to protest, but Souten didn't listen to the rest of my sentence.
"You never wanted. You never wanted what? For me to find out? For me to learn about how you murdered my brothers? The only reason I'm not killing you on the spot is that my brothers were just as wrong as you." Souten snapped, her eyes still filled with icy fury. "Oh, get the hell out of my sight."
I watched as Souten roughly shoved past people and left the meeting circle. There was the crinkle of electricity as Souten stalked through the woods, her anger manifesting in tiny sparks and jolts of electricity.
"I never wanted to hurt you." I finally whispered, before running after her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Aww." Naraku smirked with a false pout. "What a pity."
"You really are sick, aren't you." Inuyasha laughed shortly. "You just love to destroy people's spirits."
"Well, we've all got to get our jollies some how." Naraku laughed. "What's so wrong with that?"
"'What's so wrong with that?'! You killed three innocent people…"
"Hanyous."
"Innocent people." Inuyasha's insisted. "You killed three of them just to remind a guy of something he'd purposefully forgotten, and then you tell some poor girl that not only were her dead brothers a pair of assholes, but her friend murdered them."
"So what? I like to think that I'm just a child. I take a stick and poke the anthill. Have you ever seen ants scurry around after you're done that?"
"No."
"Really? Pity." Naraku frowned. "Well, anyway. It's like that. I tell people what they don't want to hear. I poke and prod their safe world and I get to watch them scurry around to repair it."
"That's…" Dr. Higurashi began.
"Sick? Maybe. Well…" Naraku sighed after a seconds thought. "Let's see how you like this."
I frowned slightly, unsure what he meant, when the ground began to shake. I looked around and noticed that the meeting area was the only part that was shaking, but I couldn't tell what was causing the miniature quake. The Purists seemed to be prepared for this event, because with a few shouts and yells, they all got onto their hands and knees to steady themselves.
After a few seconds of violent quaking, I saw that the ground was actually rising. The entire circular area was lifting out of the ground. I turned to make sure that the others were okay, and saw that Kana, Kouga, Miroku and Inuyasha were standing almost on the edge. Shouting for help, the three men tried to maintain their balance so they would not fall over the edge. The only one who was silent was Kana, who was still as calm as an ice cube,
There was a flurry of rushed movements and shouts as a particularly violent jerk threw everyone to their hands and knees. I tried to stand as I heard a couple shrieks and turned in time to see Kana falling over the edge, while Kagura reached out to grab her sister.
Grabbing Inuyasha's arm to steady him, Dr. Higurashi and Inuyasha toppled over so that the doctor was flat on her back with Inuyasha straddling her waist. Blushing madly, the two quickly separated, but the pair still held hands in order to maintain their balance, as they stood.
At the same moment, Sango had taken a hurried step forward to help Miroku, and Sango grabbed Miroku's arm. Swinging Miroku around so that he was standing on firmer ground, Sango began to topple over herself, until Miroku jerked on her arm. Sango fell heavily on her fractured leg, and I could see the color draining from her face instantaneously. She let out a low moan and slumped against Miroku, unconscious. Trying to stay upright while the platform continued to shake, Miroku rolled Sango's unconscious form onto her back and tried to keep her steady.
When the ground had finally stopped shaking, I stood up and dusted my pants off, before glaring at Naraku.
"Is everyone here?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the bastard's face. I noticed that the purists were standing up and dusting themselves off as well, but I didn't really care. A small part of my mind did acknowledge the absence of a few of their number though. Apparently, my group had not been the only ones to have trouble keeping on their feet.
"Ginta tried to catch Kouga and they both went over." Ayame reported. "I… I should go. They might be hurt."
"Can you get down?" I asked.
"It's not so far a fall for a youkai, if they're fully grow." Ayame muttered. I couldn't see her, but she seemed to be assessing the fall.
"Go ahead." I dismissed her. "Return if you can. If you can't, it's no trouble. We won't need you."
"Right." Ayame agreed before I heard her leap over the edge with Hakkaku close on her tail.
"Anyone else missing?" I asked, quickly glancing around, before looking back at Naraku.
"Kana." Kagura whispered, leaning over the edge. "Kana fell."