Until The Day I Die
Chapter Four: Message
By: Sci-Fi Raptor
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters.
My beautiful Lady Kagome,
I'm so sorry for the delay. It's been so long since I've had time to write since I've join the Imperial Guard. I never knew why I've been trained in the arts of war for so long, but now I do. It seems that I was born to be a soldier. But don't worry; when my training is over, I'll be your personal guardian.
I'm so happy that soon, we'll be able to see each other face to face once again. Even though we've been writing to each other since I can remember, it's not the same as actually being with you.
My first duty will be to resist an enemy invasion that will be passing through my village. Fear not for my safety, my love, the commander says that they are barbarians that will be easily defeated.
My Master also says that I will be on Palace duty in three weeks, and if I can improve quickly enough, I will actually be by your side within three months.
I know that I'm not the most honorable man in the kingdom, and my name has no title, but… I know that since the first day I've met you, I have loved you. And by joining the ranks, I hope that I can prove my worth to you. I know that we have both felt this way towards each other for some time now, but I wanted to say it incase I never get too… We may have changed over the years, but I know that my love for you has not.
Well, I'm sorry but it seems that the invaders have come in more quickly then we expected. A messenger had just arrived and told us that they have already entered our borders, so we must immediately start preparing. I'm sorry I didn't get to write any further about what more has happened to me, but I don't have any more time. So until next time, farwell.
Your Dear and True Friend, Tamago
Inuyasha stood there, fearing the worst. There is no way that anyone could have survived that…
"Oh, did I fluster the Hanyou?" the evil god taunted.
"I'll never forgive you…" Inuyasha said. How could I fail Kagome?
"What? What was that? I couldn't hear you."
"Bastard, I'll kill you!" Inuyasha said, leaping at him. He was angry beyond explanation, and he attacked the demon in a headstrong manner.
The demon threw Kagome's icy casket away like trash and moved to counter Inuyasha. Inuyasha slashed at him with all his fury, and severed his enemy's arm off. He landed, satisfied when he heard the muffled thump of the fallen arm.
"You… you'll pay for that!" the monster said, lunging at him. Inuyasha sidestepped left, missing the god's ice grip by mere millimeters. He could feel the air freeze before him. He landed, almost tripping as his muscles started succumbing to the cold. He moved to jump, but found himself right where he started. He tried again, but saw he couldn't move. He looked at his feet, and to his horror, his legs had ice all over them. The Fire Rat's robe was completely frozen and the severed arm was clinging to it. Slowly, he could feel his legs numb.
Inuyasha looked at the ice god and saw an evil smirk on his face. When the ice god saw the desperation in Inuyasha's eyes, he started a hysterical laughter as he inched forward.
His sword completely frozen, his legs immobile and his shard-finder presumed dead, Inuyasha felt that there was only one thing he could do. He threw his sword away, which went into its non-demon form as it stabbed the ground. He stood up to his full height and seemed ready to do a final move.
"ENTEI!" Inuyasha screamed into the sky at the top of his lungs.
Hojo slowly inched towards the ledge. Finding a foothold that seemed sturdy, he finally climbed up to it, and presumed safety. He saw that he was on a platform that was about five to ten feet from another platform that led to what seemed like a trail that would lead to the summit. He walked to the edge of the platform away from the other and made a running leap to the other. Just as he was about to touch off, he noticed a large white flash go off from the summit. As he was in the middle of the jump, a strong shockwave pushed him backwards, making him lose his momentum and fall down, right between the platforms.
"Ahh!" he screamed as he fell. The wide thrashing of his arms and legs gave him spin, and a jutting rock hit him on his shoulder, causing him to go into an uncontrollable tumble.
Am I dead? Is this what being dead feels like? Kagome thought. Her body shivered. It's so cold… I never thought death was like this. I thought I would see God or something when I died.
She blinked as vapor washed over their face. When her vision cleared up, Kagome saw that she was surrounded by a bright violet aura. The ice capsule she was contained in was vaporizing and the vapors made the ice shell explode. She looked at herself and realized that something within her had saved her from the ice.
But what she saw around herself was nothing like she expected. The whole mountaintop was charred, as if had been burned to the ground. The ice god was lying on the ground face up. The shard of Shikon Jewel was lying next to it; Inuyasha lay beside him, trying to stand up.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, running towards him with an open embrace. When she reached him, she gave him a strong hug and buried her face in his chest.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha breathed into her ear, snaking an arm around her waist.
"Inuyasha, I thought I was dead!" she said, crying hysterically.
"So did I," Inuyasha said, utterly confused about what happened. He tensed up, moving Kagome aside to protect her, when he saw the ice god standing beside him. It moved about lifelessly, as if its soul had been taken out. He noticed Kagome looking past it and followed her gaze. There it was, the shard of the Shikon Jewel, corrupt to pitch-black. Realizing that the monster before him was harmless, he did his iron reaver on it and it disintegrated. All that was left was a gray rock. Inuyasha gave it a kick and it glowed; slowly, something brilliant came out and materialized before him.
"Brilliant idea, Master Inuyasha," the earth god said, putting an arm on his shoulder. Inuyasha simply ignored her.
"Kagome, you have to purify the shard before it does anything more," Inuyasha ordered.
"Hai," she said and scampered up to the shard, placing it in her hands and ridding it of evil.
"That girl is amazing," the god said to Inuyasha, getting the message. She handed him another white diamond.
"It's the only reason she was chosen," he quickly replied. The god started floating into the air as she said her final words.
"Let the Diamond of the wind help vanquish your enemies. The Kaze no Kizu (wind scar thingy) has the power to vanquish one hundred of your opponents at once." With that, she disappeared into the wind.
As the two went down the mountain, Kagome told Inuyasha about the letter that she had been carrying with her (the one he saw in the hot springs). He asked about it and she let him read it.
"Isn't it weird?" she asked while he read. He was trying to contain his laughter at the crap he was reading. "Why would I remember that letter while I was in the ice capsule?"
"Maybe it's a sign," Inuyasha said trying to calm his laughter.
"What do you mean?"
"You said that you haven't seen this guy in so long, maybe you're gonna see him soon?" he said with a straight face.
"Yeah, that is true. Maybe he's just been in a war in another country or something and he's coming back!" Kagome said excitedly, overjoyed at the thought of seeing her long lost friend once again.
Inuyasha held a faint smile on his lips as he saw Kagome go down the hill with a higher step.
[Day 6]
Inuyasha was running at top speed with Kagome on him piggyback style. They were heading towards the Firelands where the fire god resided. As he sped through the forest, Kagome made course corrections to account for the maneuvering he had to do to avoid the trees. By the end of the day, they were out of the forest and heading to the edge of a village.
"Hey, I know this place," Kagome said.
"So?"
"This is my friend's village. Maybe I can find out what happened to him if I ask around," she said.
"We don't have time for this!" Inuyasha said angrily as he entered the town, blowing dust a few feet into the air.
"Please?" Kagome said in her best voice.
"No," Inuyasha said. Kagome sensed she was getting to him; time to use the trump card.
"I wont help you find the shards anymore," she threatened; this got his attention. He suddenly stopped, nearly flinging Kagome in front of him.
"Bitch, this better not take too long," Inuyasha said, too tired to handle her bullshit; he did just fight a god, you know.
"Thank you so much Inuyasha!" Kagome said, hugging him.
"You have till tomorrow morning," Inuyasha said sternly. Kagome could tell he meant it, even if she used the same threat again.
Trying to remember the layout of the village, Kagome tried to make her way to her friend's estate. After a few mistakes, she finally found it. She all but ran to the door and knocked it furiously.
"I be coming!" someone said from inside. Kagome knew that voice. The door opened, but Inuyasha stood in front of her.
"We're looking for a Tamago," Inuaysha said, glaring daggers at the lady who answered.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded. "Aunty Kaede, its me, Kagome," she said, shoving Inuyasha aside.
"Kagome!" the lady exclaimed. "It's been long since I've seen ye. Ye have grown much taller and beautiful," she smiled.
"It has, hasn't it?" Kagome replied, her face softening.
"Come in, come in! Ye seem like ye have been traveling for days," she said, moving inside.
"Actually, we have," Kagome said.
"My, my. The princess is roughing it," the lady teased.
Kagome and Kaede sat on the ground while Inuyasha was sleeping on a tree outside. Obviously, Kagome was interrogating her about what happened to her friend.
"So, where is he?"
"Who?"
"TAMAGO!" she said a bit too loudly.
"Oh," she said gloomily. Kagome knew there was something wrong. "It'll be easier for ye to understand if ye see it," she said, getting up.
"Why? What's wrong?" she asked as they left the house.
"Ye know that Tamago was part of the Imperial Guard when the barbarians invaded, correct?"
"Yeah, that was the last thing he wrote to me about," she replied. They could barely see in front of them, but the torch lady Kaede had suddenly seemed to get brighter when they stopped walking. Kagome looked in front of them and what she saw almost broke her heart.
There was her friend's house, burned down.
"The invaders were stronger then we thought; they destroyed our defenders. He was trying to distract them while we got away. He was fighting them from inside, trying to stall as long as possible. We've never heard from him since. We just assumed the worst."
Kagome just stood there, staring, tears running down her cheeks. He was really gone.
Hojo could not believe his luck. He woke up on the shore of a lake near mount Fuji, covered in leaves. He probably had some of his energy taken by some trees that broke his fall, so when he landed on the lake he didn't get smashed on its surface.
He took out the jewel and waited for it to track the Princess; it didn't react. He thought back to just before he fell and remembered the large explosion he saw from the top of the mountain, and realized that could only mean one thing; the Princess was dead.
Inuyasha had decided that it was too cold to sleep outside, so he found a place inside the house that was comfortable. He held Tetsaiga in his arms and started to drift to sleep when the- Princess came in, crying like a royal pain-in-the-ass.
"Quiet down dammit!" he said, not moving.
"Shut up!" Kagome screamed at him and went to the guest room.
"Inuyasha, ye must learn how to speak around women," lady Kaede warned.
"Naraku has eyes everywhere," he replied simply, grabbing her hand. As if realizing the importance of that information, the lady left him alone and went to comfort the Princess.
"I really thought that he'd still be alive," Kagome said, trying to calm down.
"Ye don't know for sure that he is gone," Kaede said, hugging the mourning Princess.
"But how could he have survived?" Kagome asked, feeling the welled up tears ready to burst.
"There is something…" Kaede started, but waited for Kagome to calm down.
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, her tears slowing down. Kaede looked around, as if suspecting a spy.
"Here," she said, handing Kagome a letter. She took it, puzzled over what it said. "I found this after we came back. Some of it is burned, but I haven't read it; it's addressed for ye." Kagome unfolded the letter; it had blood on it and the bottom was burned. She read it.
My Darling Kagome,
The enemy has broken through our lines, but I have saved everyone from my estate. Unfortunately, our favorite house had burned down (I'm watching the fires die as I write this), so I guess we can't raise our kids [blood] right?
Something has happened [blood] me. You will never believe me even if I told you. But know this: I am no longer part of the [blood] Guard. I have joined a very elite unit; by the time you read this letter, I will be part of something called the D-Knights; it is so secret that no one in the castle will acknowledge its existence. Most likely as you read this, I will be watching you from a distance. Nothing will stop me from protecting you now, but you will never be able to see me until my mission is over. If I am to protect you properly, my presence must be absolutely secret.
However much [blood] kills me to do this, this is the only way for me to protect you from [blood] dangerous Hanyou. He [blood] surely kill you if he gets his hands on you. Kagome; things are not as they seem. TRUST NO ONE.
When the day comes that we can finally meet each other once again, I hope that you will forgive me for all the trouble that I must be causing you. But know this: Until the day I die, I will gladly spill my heart for you…
I will try my best to keep him from hurting you, but if I
The letter was burned off at that point.
"Things are not as they seem? Hanyou? D-Knights? What is the meaning of all this?" Kagome said. She thought it was a joke Kaede was playing, but the handwriting was exactly the same as the one from the letter she was carrying.
"Ye better not tell Inuyasha about this. Ye better not tell anyone," Kaede said in a serious tone.
Hanyou… I remember that last god calling Inuyasha a Hanyou… Kagome thought. Tired from all the information she just received, Kagome finally succumbed to sleep.
They were off to find the next shard by sunrise. Kagome was sleepy, but Inuyasha was full of energy. As the day wore on, Kagome remembered something.
"How did you defeat the earth god?" she asked. Inuyasha smirked.
"My guardian angel," he smirked.
The next few went by quickly as the two rapidly made their way to the Firelands (Myoga had decided that he would stay there until Inuyasha was done with his mission). As usual, Kagome corrected Inuyasha's heading as they progressed, but that was the only communication between the two.
Kagome had received more information then she would have liked. There still was the matter of if Inuyasha really was one of Naraku's goons and what Inuyasha was talking about with the forest god. Which brought on a whole other thing: what were these gods? It seemed like they knew her, or at least about her. They treated Inuyasha as if they had some history; they also referred to him as 'master'. If Inuyasha really was someone's goon, why did the gods treat him with such reverence? Kagome couldn't think of anything.
She also found out that Inuyasha was a Hanyou. Why would he hide that from her? And from what she had heard of about Hanyous, he was an extremely powerful one.
Finally, the matter of her long lost friend; was he dead or alive? Even with all the time she had to think about all this when they arrived at the lands, she wasn't any more enlightened then when they had left the village. And there was the question about how she felt towards Inuyasha. Sure he was a mean, arrogant, jerk, but she had started to grow fond of him since they started the journey together. If she were to come across her long lost friend, what would she do?
The Firelands were definitely the right words for the region. There was a great active volcano towards its center. It had expelled so much lava that it seemed like the volcano was merely an island inside a lake of molten rock. Apparently, the trees around the volcano had caught fire burned down the great forest that surrounded it, leaving a desolate, charred country side that was too unforgiving to be able to support any life. As the two got closer to the volcano, Kagome could see statue like creatures and trees, which had the misfortune of being in the forest when the fire had occurred.
Of course, this had happened many years ago, and the ashes had long since cooled and been blown away into the wind. The area surrounding the volcano was higher then its base, thereby making the lava collect around its base, instead of spilling into the land the rest of the country; not that it would matter. The volcano was very young, just a few years old; less then a blink of an eye when considering Earth's geological history.
Inuyasha slowed down as he approached the lava lake. As Kagome unmounted him, she could feel the heat radiating at her. Within minutes she could feel herself sweating.
"Inuyasha, there is no way we can cross all of this red stuff," Kagome said, referring to the lava. Obviously she never had any experience with it.
"Where is the shard?" Inuyasha asked, seemingly unworried. Kagome searched for a little but and found a presence in a few seconds.
"There!" she said, pointing at a large ridge facing the East. On the tip of it was a mud building that was shaped like an igloo. A hole on the top had fire spitting out.
"Damn, that's high…" Inuyasha said and went into deep thought. He stood there for a little bit until he thought of something. He made a loud, shrill whistle that forced Kagome to cover her ears, her eyes closing with them.
"What are you doing!" she said angrily. She suddenly felt Inuyasha behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. Kagome made a small yelp.
"Don't be afraid…" Inuyasha whispered into her ears.
"Inuyasha…" Kagome said, her heart suddenly speeding up; he covered her eyes with his free hand.
"What are you doing!" she demanded. Suddenly she felt his arm around her waist grow tighter; then it started pulling her up. In a few seconds, she could tell that she was off the ground, since her feet were dangling.
"Over there, boy," Inuyasha said to no one, his arm around her waist and hand over her eyes still firm.
"Inuyasha, what's happening?" Kagome asked. She felt her feet touch the ground. A few seconds after she felt all of her weight on her feet again, Inuyasha released her and started walking. In front of her, Kagome could see the same mud building she saw from the ground. She also realized that it had gotten appreciably hotter.
"How'd we get here?" Kagome asked, not sure if she was dreaming or not. No one can just go from one place to another like that, can they? Even with Inuyasha's strength, could he really jump that far? Kagome doubted it.
"Don't matter; we're here, aren't we?" he said as they approached the hut's entrance.
"But-"
"Shhh" he hissed, putting his index finger vertical to his lips. Kagome froze next to him, crouching by the entrance.
'Fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!' something bellowed, followed by a weird sounding giggle.
Kagome signaled to Inuyasha what's going on? He shrugged back. They listened a little bit more.
'Row, row, row, your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream!' it sang, bursting into laughter when it was done.
Kagome and Inuyasha both sweat-dropped. Obviously whatever it was, it was childish.
'Fuck the duck…' it said, paused and started cracking up even more.
"What the hell is up with this guy?" Inuyasha angrily asked Kagome before she could ask him. As if to answer, the fire flaming from the top of the hut ceased and something started walking out. Inuyasha quickly, but quietly drew Tetsaiga and waited to attack. A few seconds later, a fireball came out of the hut.
Inuyasha realized he knew what he was looking at. Kagome thought it slightly resembled a human.
"Telerep you asshole!" Inuyasha suddenly screamed.
"L-l-lord Inu-Inuyasha!" the being said, almost jumping into the air by the surprise.
"Didn't you get the message I made Ix'il give everyone?!" he said angrily, shoving Tetsaiga back into its sheath.
"Um… what's going on?" Kagome asked, confused by this unexpected turn of events. Surely, such a great creature wouldn't bow to Inuyasha, a mere thief? The fireball lessened its flames and took the shape of the fire god she had seen at the temple. He turned to face Kagome and studied her for a little bit.
"Ah, so this is Lady Kagome…" it said with something on the edge of its voice. "Even though you still wear that ugly red robe, I guess I was wrong; you do have good taste,." Inuyasha was red like a beet.
"It's not like that," Kagome supplemented, trying to help the poor Hanyou out.
"Really?" the fire god said, giving Inuyasha a questioning look. He somehow got even redder.
"Hey Inuyasha, is the heat getting to you? You seem really red," Kagome said.
"Yeah, Lord Inuyasha," the god teased.
"Um… don't worry about me wench," he quickly shot. Kagome just snorted at his usual reply.
"My name isn't wench, you jerk! It's Kagome. Ka-go-me!" she said, stressing the spelling phonetically.
"Whatever…" Inuyasha said, trying to diffuse the situation. The smile on Telerep's face didn't help. "If you aren't trying to kill me, I can assume the shard didn't corrupt you?"
"Nope," Telerep said casually.
"Then where is it?"
"I have it right here," he said, holding it in his hands. Kagome could tell that it was clean and didn't need to purified. Kagome reached to take it, but Inuyasha held her by the wrist.
"Are you crazy wench!" he immediately reprimanded.
"It's Kagome!" she nearly screamed.
"Fine. Are you crazy Kagome! If you touch it while it's in his hands, you'll just have stumps left," he scolded. Kagome looked at Telerep for a moment. (Text box that says fire god on his left with an arrow pointing to him appears. Text box that's says 'Caution. Hot.' Appears on his left.)
"Oh," she said, realizing the reason for his concern. Concern?! "Thank you, Inuyasha," she said sincerely.
"Whatever, we-" he started, but remembered back a few seconds ago when she was about to go nuts. "Kagome," he said bitterly.
"Inuyasha! There may be hope for you yet!" Kagome said, happily.
"Whatever, wench," he replied automatically. She smacked him in the back of his head, glowering.
"Well, here's the thingy I should give you too," Telerep said out of nowhere. He held another diamond in his hand. He placed the shard on top of it and it could be visibly seen loosing its heat.
"Wow, how did that thing do that?" Kagome asked, taking the shard when it seemed cool enough.
"Simple, it leeched energy from it," he said handing it to Inuyasha. "It's very effective when you run out of energy, but your enemy seems to still have a lot left."
"Doesn't it have something else? That hardly seems important for someone with my power," Inuyasha said arrogantly.
"Of course," Telerep seemed to agree. "It also will let you perform the 'Bakuryuuha,' " he said. Again, Kagome felt out of place among the gods. "And it will also let you use the 'Kaze no Kizu' much more rapidly then before."
Kagome shuddered at the thought. As they were coming from Mount Fuji to here, they had encountered quite a few Youkai that wanted the shards from them. Instead of doing Sankon Tetsusou like he used to, he used the Tetsaiga to do the attack Kaze no Kizu. From what she had seen, it probably could easily kill a hundred Youkai. He could only do it very slowly before. Now, he was surely able to take out whole armies within the span f a few minutes. She didn't even want to think about what this Bakuryuuha could do.
"Yo, Kagome, lets go," Inuyasha said as Kagome was thinking.
"Huh?" Kagome said. She looked up and saw Inuyasha bent so she could mount him. She got on and he jumped from the edge of the ridge. Unfortunately, it seemed he hadn't run fast enough; they were headed straight for the lake of lava.
I don't write love letters so lay off!