Disclaimer: Well, for my Birthday, I told my dad that I wanted the rights
to InuYasha. He got me the InuYasha movie, but no rights. Curses, foiled
again. Also, I hold no rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Wars and
whoever does is a very lucky individual. And sux!
Family Secrets
By: Aelinwen Elentari
Chapter 9: Battle Cry
[. . .]= A/N
*. . .*= Actions in speech, such as coughing, giggling, sticking out tongue, etc, etc, etc.
". . ."= Dialogue
'. . .'= Mental Comments [oh aren't these fun!]
More to come..
InuYasha was awoken to the sounds of someone rustling in their sleeping bag. He snapped his eyes open and gazed down at the camp site. Kiry was sitting up and yawning like a cat. She blinked her eyes a few times, looked around, and then looked up at the dog-demon perched on the tree branch above her.
"Ohayo, InuYasha." She smiled sleepily up at him, apparently none of the worse for her midnight tears.
"What are you doing up this early? The other's won't be up for at least a half an hour. Keh, lazy humans. . .not that Shippo and Kirara are any better." He snorted.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose, then her eyes. "You really are a pill all of the time, aren't you? I'm getting up because my body has an annoying little internal alarm clock in my head that tells me to get up at this time of morning to stretch, bathe, and eat breakfast."
Blink, blink. "What's an alarm clock?"
"A god-forsaken instrument that wakes you up in the morning with a sound heard only in the depths of hell." She muttered.
Kiry crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood, stretching her arms over her head. As she walked towards the hot springs with a towel and clothes, swinging a small cosmetics bag from one hand, InuYasha whispered, "Wow. That has got to be the most horrible thing to have stuck in your head. Almost feel sorry for the girl."
@}~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~
Clank. Clank, clank. Sizzle. "OW! Crap! How the heck does she work this dratted thing?!"
'Oh brother. . .and here I thought that Kiry was gonna make InuYasha let us sleep in. Instead, she's the one waking us up. . .' Kagome sat up with her usual abruptness.
"Kir-Kir, didja have to wake us up so early?" she mumbled.
Kiry looked up from nursing her burnt fingers. "Oh hallelujah! You're awake! You cook breakfast. This thing is evil! It's attacked me!"
"What? InuYasha?" Kagome blinked at her cousin, not quite awake yet.
"Gee thanks." said the hanyou from across the camp fire. "Glad to know what category you've stuck me in."
"Not InuYasha! InuYasha's don't nothing but sit and grump at me for the last fifteen minutes. What I'm talking about is that!" the older girl yelled and pointed.
'That' was the camp stove, which was boiling water innocently enough.
"Oh. The stove." Kagome looked at InuYasha. "Sorry, InuYasha. It's just that when somebody *yawn* is complaining about an unidentifiable object, it's usually you."
"Hmph!" He jumped off and stalked off.
"Um, Kagome?" came Miroku's voice. "What's going on?"
The girls turned to meet the newly awakened gazes of her three very confused friends. "Er. . .well. . .I think that Kiry is. . .that is. . .what ARE you doing?"
"I was ATTEMPING to make breakfast for everyone before they woke up." She crossed her arms and glared at the camp stove. "But that thing and I aren't getting along very well." She looked at her cousin. "Is it supposed to shoot out flames?"
Kagome sweatdropped. "Er. . .no, not really. I'll take care of it Kiry, you just. . ." Kagome was going to say 'get dressed' when she realized that Kiry already was. Baggy army green cargo pants with, yes, ten pockets for her shukusens. An army green tank top; combat boots; two shukusens in black leather sheathes, closed, at her hips; hair in a messy bun with green lensed sunglasses perched on top of her head, oh yeah, she was ready infiltrate Vietnam. . .or go to a rock concert.
Kagome rolled her eyes and gave a pointed look at her itoko's attire. "Planning on beating anyone up today?" she asked.
"Etoo. . .well, InuYasha said we're about a half hours walk away from the lizard youkai's camp. He said sommat about probably having to do some grunt work to get the rumored shard from them. So, hence, the outfit. Besides, I like this one." Kiry said defensively.
"That close?!" Sango asked. The exterminator got out of her bed roll and grabbed her things, scrambling for the hot springs.
"I'll make sure HE stays here, n'kay?!" Kiry called after Sango's back.
"Thanks!" was yelled back at her.
"Hey, I resent that remark!" the HE, of their conversation said. [Please tell me you understood who.]
"Yeah, you also resemble it, monk." The chick muttered, giving up on the stove and scooted over to make room for Kagome.
"She is right you know, Miroku. You do have a problem with girls." Shippo said. The little fox scrambled up from his place on Kagome's sleeping bag and bounced into Kiry's lap, where he was immediately rewarded with a willing hand to pet his tail.
Miroku coughed into his hand and got up to join the girls and the kitsune in breakfast, which Kagome had been preparing. Thanking Kagome as she handed him his cup of ramen, Miroku looked at Kiry. "A half hours walk he said?"
"Yeah, and then muttered about how bad they smelled. Poor boy, must be a curse to have that nose of his sometimes." Kiry commented thoughtfully.
"Oh you should have seen him this time we had to fight this painter for his shard of the Shikon no Tama. He got covered in ink after a fight with one of the artist's demons that he summoned from his drawings and InuYasha got sooooo dizzy from the smell of it. So, yeah, it can be a problem for him." Kagome started munching down on her bowl of ramen.
"Not that I'd trade it for one of your noses. Can't smell what's not right under your nose with those things." Came InuYasha's voice from behind them. The inu-youkai had come up from behind them unnoticed. . .or rather, he had been eavesdropping, again, and finally decided to say something.
"Is there ever a time in which you DON'T eavesdrop on us?" Kiry turned around and gave him a glare, which was returned. "Well, what's the sitch? Are we talking peace treaty or ambush tactics?"
InuYasha cracked his knuckles in that one handed way he does. "I was thinking we go in and when they attack us, I take all the demons out, then Kagome picks up the shards then we walk back to Old Kaede's." He looked pretty darn pleased with his use of strategy.
"Oh yeah, great plan." Of course Kiry's sarcasm would be there to step on his incredibly enlarged male ego. "Jeez, slow your jets, John Wayne. What if they don't attack us? And then you just.what? Go homicidal hack-job on them? They could just give us the shards." Kiry had this oh-so-bland look on her face.
InuYasha glared at her, shoving his hands into the sleeves of his haori. "They're demons! They aren't nice. They don't just hand over Shikon shards if you ask sweetly enough. In fact it's a guarantied way to get yourself killed, eaten, or made into a play toy."
Kagome gasped. "InuYasha, don't be so crude!"
"She's got to except the truth about this world if she wants to be here," InuYasha looked over at his [*Coughgirlcough*] friend. "Things aren't nice here like they are in your world, Kagome. And you know that from experience. She doesn't, and I'm just trying to teach her that." He looked back at the strangely silent brunette.
'About time she shut her mouth. She's not like Shippo's incessant rambling but. . .well, at least she's done nothing strange today.' He blinked, realizing that he had been glare/staring at her for about thirty seconds. The others had stopped eating to see what the big deal was about.
"Um ah, InuYasha? You okay? I think Kiry got the point." Kagome asked. InuYasha seemed to snap out of a trance. He just nodded at her and sat down, immediately starting to devour a bowl of instant ramen. The others shrugged and joined him in the evaporation of the yummy noodles.
'What's up with InuYasha? He was acting so weird last night. Always watching Kir-chan out of the corner of his eye. . .he's not. . .attracted to her is he?' she was dismayed by the feelings of anger, hurt, and frustration that swamped her at that thought.
InuYasha was surprised when he smelled anger waves wafting from Kagome. He paused, chopsticks halfway in his mouth. "Ka'omeh, whu's wong?"
Kagome snapped her head up to look into his amber eyes. Only curiosity, a bit of concern, and confusion flickered in their depths. No hints of feelings for her cousin. . .or her for that matter. She smiled with false brightness, closing her eyes.
"Nothing's wrong InuYasha! Don't be silly!" She said, waving her hand at him. Kagome busied herself with her ramen as if her life depended on it.
InuYasha didn't believe her for a second. His nose never lead him wrong before. And he couldn't imagine why she would be so. . .dodgy with HIM of all people. [Oh no, never with him. . .] But, she obviously wasn't going to be pouring out her heart to him anytime soon, he decided to finish his food. And ignore the pangs that came from his heart.
And forgotten purple eyes watched and said nothing.
@}~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~
The InuYasha-gumi was crouched in the bushes atop the cliff that overlooked the lizard-youkai's campsite. The silent observers watched the reptilian demons lounge about in the sun, examining the loot from the town they had recently raided.
They were not pretty demons, unlike some. Kinda like smaller versions of Iguanadons, with dull colors of all shades smeared in blotches on their pebbly skin. Small beady eyes set in wedge shaped heads glittered as the youkais displayed sharp teeth in raucous laughter brought on by ale kegs placed all around the camp. On the whole, it looked like there was about ten of the monstrosities lounging about.
"Kagome, sense any shards?" InuYasha spoke in a hushed voice. Lizard youkai don't have great hearing, he had told the others, but still, keep it down.
Kagome perused the group of reptiles, checking for points of pink light in her vision. She could see one in the forehead of that tall green one, two in the red one that looked to be the leader, and a couple others sprinkled among the creatures. She quietly pointed them out to InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku. Kiry listened from her spot next to Shippo.
"Okay, now what?" whispered Kiry. She hadn't brought up what they were going to do once they got there again during the trek, but now that they were there it sounded like it might be a good idea to discuss a strategy.
InuYasha blinked a few times. He hadn't really counted on the lizards not spotting them and attacking them first. 'Okay, Plan B. . .' he thought.
"I guess it's time to go down and start a fight." He cracked his knuckles and started to get up. Kiry gripped his shoulder and pushed him back down.
"Lemme see how far I can get with diplomacy. If nothing comes of that, then you can go into the 'aggressive negotiations' okies?" Without waiting for an affirmative, she jumped up and started running down the incline, throwing up dust and gravel as she slid.
"No! Kiry!" Kagome hissed after her cousin. "What does she think she's doing?!" Her cousin's rashness had her astounded. And as much as Kiry said she was a good fighter, Kagome doubted that she could stand against demons like Sango and Miroku could. And they weren't reckless enough to walk-- okay, jump--into an entire group of them.
The lizards looked up as Kiry landed at the boarders of their camp and brushed herself off. They could tell that this was a human busting in on them, and each smiled mentally to themselves. This slip of a girl would be no trouble.
"Hey, you guys got a leader 'round here? I was wondering if I might have a word with him or her." She called out, seemingly oblivious to the hungry looks the freaks were giving her.
A creepy looking blue one with spiky eye ridges grinned maliciously at her. "We have a leader" he hissed, sliding his tongue in and out of his mouth as he spoke. "He'ssss right thhhhhere. Sssspeak withhh him, if you wisssshhhhh" He pointed at the red youkai with the spiky armor.
As Kiry nodded her head in mock-thanks and continued on her path to the head honcho, Kagome was busy nibbling on her nails. SO far Kiry hadn't been eaten. . .but she didn't like the looks they were giving her cousin. It brought back memories of Hiten and Manten and her almost demise by the cook- pot.
"Is she. . .uh. . .suicidal?" asked Miroku. He crouched, leaned low on his staff and peered through the foliage. The green clad figure was sashaying right through the middle of an area filled with creatures that could be her very quick demise, and all she was doing was looking around the clustered tents like she was on a bloody tour!
Kagome thought about that one for a second. "Anou. . .I don't. . .think so. I couldn't say. I just met her a few days ago, but. . .she seems okay and relatively sane." Then she added as an afterthought, "Did I say 'relatively'?"
"Kiry's gonna die!" Shippo whisper/wailed. To which InuYasha clamped a hand around his mouth and hissed at him to keep his big trap shut, lest the fox find himself in the stewpot of those scaly freaks.
By this time Kiry had reached the chieftain's tent. The crimson monster leered at her. It wasn't every day that a yummy morsel just meandered into their camp and practically ASKED to get eaten. On the other hand. . .she was pretty cute. For a human of course. Might be fun to keep her for a while. At least till they had completed their mission.
The so called 'morsel' grinned amiably enough at the reptile. "I'm on a quest. I'm looking for shards from the Sacred Jewel. I heard that a group of lizard-youkai was rumored to hold some of these shards." She pushed her glasses up and peered up at the demon through her eyelashes.
"Then you heard correctly, my dear. I am Deloth, leader of the Southern lizard-youkai. This is my clan." He waved his hand around at his now gathered hordes, all the while thinking, 'This is going to be a piece of cake.'
"Pleasure." Kiry's voice was droll, with a bordering tinge of sarcasm. "Kiry is my name. I was wondering if you would please give me the shards, so that I might complete my quest."
The reptile's face took on an especially malevolent glow. "Kiry you said? And we are to just give up prizes such as that because you asked nicely and flitted your eyelashes at us. No, my pretty, no." He grinned disturbingly and took a step towards her.
Kiry sighed and rubbed her forehead with her right hand. "Now, I realleh didn't want to fight all of you. But. . ." she shrugged eloquently.
The youkais started to advance in a circle around her. InuYasha tensed to spring and draw his sword.
"Okay, now look. We can do this the hard way or. . .well actually, there's just the hard way." Her hands moved to hover over her waist sheaths, tensed and ready to draw.
InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Oh enough! HYAA!" He sprang into the air, drawing the Testusegai in a flash of light. Dropping next to the girl, he slashed down a youkai that had gotten closest to Kiry. 'Nine more to go,' he thought with a smirk.
Kiry took the moment the stunned reptiles gave her when the dog-demon had leaped out of nowhere to join her, to slide her shukusens out of their sheaths and snap them open. She spun around to put her back at InuYasha's.
Sango and Miroku also moved. The youkai-huntress jumped on a now transformed Kirara. Grabbing the houshi's hand, she swung him up behind her, swatting at his hands when they drifted a little to low for her comfort.
Kirara leapt forward, bounded down the hill in two quick leaps, and landed solidly, growling and showing feral teeth. Miroku slipped off and planted himself firmly, brandishing his staff at the now hissing demons. Sango raised her boomerang threateningly.
Kagome set an arrow to the string of her bow, ready to pull back and let it fly at a moment's notice. Shippo shivered but looked determined.
Seconds passed. They stood, waiting for the other to make the first move. And waited.
Kiry lowered her weapons in frustration. "Oh hell, I'll go!" She whacked her sunglasses down to the bridge of her nose. Leaping for the nearest youkai, Kiry yelled a battle challenge. The burnished orange reptile drew his sword and swung it at her, hissing. At the last second, the girl dropped and spun under the blade as it whistled over her head. Shooting out her foot, she connected with her opponent's kneecap and shattered it. As the lizard fell towards her, screaming in pain, the nigen rolled to her back and flipped him over her head with her feet.
InuYasha ducked as the pile of leathery skin and bones whipped past his head to collide with the demon behind him. He turned and growled at the girl who was now scrambling to her feet. "Would you watch where you're tossing them please!" he yelled.
"Sorry, Yasha!" She grinned impertinently at him, and then he lost sight of her as the battle rolled into full swing. He was kept busy with two youkai armed to the teeth.
@}~~~~~^~~~~~~~~
Kagome watched as the battle raged. Miroku was busy in a staff battle, not being able to use the Kazaana with his friends so close, and Sango was playing tag-team with Kirara on three youkai's of her own.
Kiry was tossing opponents left and right like pro. Those fans of hers must have been as strong as she boasted, because as she dealt with a lizard wielding a giant sword, the shukusens didn't give an inch under the weight as it came crashing down.
InuYasha was. . .well, being InuYasha: kicking butt, taking names. He had just managed to cut the arm off of Deloth, throwing him into the bushes in the process. As he spun around to find another opponent, he realized that he had run out of demons to fight. The others had dispatched theirs in good time, noting where the jewel shards fell so that Kagome could pick them up when the area was clear.
Kiry turned to grin up at Kagome from her place across the clearing. "Hey Kagome-chan, it's okay to come down now. We got sparkly things we need you to pick up, or so Sango says."
Kagome waved her bow at her cousin and shoved the unused arrow back in her quiver. Shippo jumped on her back as she started her decent down the hill.
InuYasha sheathed the Tetsuseiga and came to stand by Kagome with a cocky look on his face. "Keh, those scaly freaks weren't half as much trouble as they kept saying they were. Of course, every time they'd boast, I'd finish them off, so if was kinda comical." He grinned.
A rustle in the bushes had them jumping on the alert again. Deloth came out of the woods just behind Kiry, holding what was left of his bleeding arm. Kiry raised her weapons, threatening wordlessly. The lizard started to laugh, startling them all.
"I'm not going to fight with you again. I just came back to deliver a message." Deloth murmured.
"Well let's hear it then!" InuYasha yelled at him.
"Oh, it's not for you puppy," the reptile smiled at the shocked look on the inu-youkai's face. He turned to Kiry. "It's for the little miss. He wants to know. . .if you miss him. He wants to know if you find it difficult to sleep at night without him by your side."
Kiry's eyes widened in horrified pain. She started to shake. Suddenly, fury flashed in her eyes, She spun backwards and back-slashed his other arm off. Dropping to the ground, she kicked his feet out from under him, knocking him on his back.
She swooped down and knelt on his chest. "Where is he?!" she yelled. "Where is he?!?!" She pushed her shukusen up again his throat.
"M'lady, I don't know. But he also said he was going to come for YOU soon, too. Then you can join that worthless lover of yours!" He spat the words in her face.
Kiry slowly rose from her spot on his torso. She looked down on him, fists balled at her sides.
InuYasha could fell the air changing around him. It was building, pressing against his ears. His head would surly pop soon if it didn't stop. The pressure gained, and gained, and suddenly broke!
An aura flamed around Kiry visibly. It rippled the air with it's fury, causing Miroku to gasp in shock.
The girl raised her arms to face her palms to the prone Deloth. White and purple flame, the essence of light and power, flared out from them, consuming him. The youkai gave a shriek of pain and terror. And then was silent, no longer in the land of the living, his body disintegrated. The jewel shards he possessed clinked to the ground.
Kagome and the others gave out a yelp of shock. 'What the. . .?!?!' Kagome's mind screamed.
Kiry dropped to her knees. She looked into the air, wilted like a popped balloon, her face desolate.
"Come out and fight me you bastard! Naraku!" She screamed into the air. The words fell into the stillness, no answer. "You took him away and now you taunt me?! I won't fall! I won't!"
As the silent observers looked on in astonishment, not knowing what to say or do, silvery tears poured from her eyes, the glasses dropped or knocked off at some point in time during the fight. She collapsed to the ground, wracked in sobs, body trembling, and crying for all the world as if her heart were rent in two and as if her pain were eternal.
A/N: Whoo! *wipes forehead* That took meh a looong time to write. I can onleh say one thing about that cliffie: MWAHAHAHAHA! *ducks random objects thrown by readers* HA, missed!
Okay, to muh buds, I have been banned from muh one computer with Internet access and that's why I haven't been on these last coupla weeks. Blame muh dad. I'm up-loading this from muh mom's work comp, so thankies for her, otherwise you'd niver get this chapie. I'm not going to do individual thanx this time cuz I'm sure you realleh want this now, meh being Miz Late about this, but I will next time. But hey, for once (yeah, ONCE) it wasn't my fault.
Okay, now everyone, push the lil blue button in the left bottom corner *points*, yeah that one! And pleaze sent meh a review. The keep sessha wanting to write for all you loveleh peoplez! And I know some of you are reading and not writing, cuz sometimez I do the same thang. #^.^#! Hehehe!
So love and hugs! Happy Belated Saint Valentine's Day! XOXOXO! May all of you have received a sommat from your special someone! *blushie-blushie!* I did!
^.^ Aelii-chan
PS: Asherz, Beckie, Kat, BaWolfie: XO! Hi-yo's and I MISS YOU!!!!!!!
Family Secrets
By: Aelinwen Elentari
Chapter 9: Battle Cry
[. . .]= A/N
*. . .*= Actions in speech, such as coughing, giggling, sticking out tongue, etc, etc, etc.
". . ."= Dialogue
'. . .'= Mental Comments [oh aren't these fun!]
More to come..
InuYasha was awoken to the sounds of someone rustling in their sleeping bag. He snapped his eyes open and gazed down at the camp site. Kiry was sitting up and yawning like a cat. She blinked her eyes a few times, looked around, and then looked up at the dog-demon perched on the tree branch above her.
"Ohayo, InuYasha." She smiled sleepily up at him, apparently none of the worse for her midnight tears.
"What are you doing up this early? The other's won't be up for at least a half an hour. Keh, lazy humans. . .not that Shippo and Kirara are any better." He snorted.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose, then her eyes. "You really are a pill all of the time, aren't you? I'm getting up because my body has an annoying little internal alarm clock in my head that tells me to get up at this time of morning to stretch, bathe, and eat breakfast."
Blink, blink. "What's an alarm clock?"
"A god-forsaken instrument that wakes you up in the morning with a sound heard only in the depths of hell." She muttered.
Kiry crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood, stretching her arms over her head. As she walked towards the hot springs with a towel and clothes, swinging a small cosmetics bag from one hand, InuYasha whispered, "Wow. That has got to be the most horrible thing to have stuck in your head. Almost feel sorry for the girl."
@}~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~
Clank. Clank, clank. Sizzle. "OW! Crap! How the heck does she work this dratted thing?!"
'Oh brother. . .and here I thought that Kiry was gonna make InuYasha let us sleep in. Instead, she's the one waking us up. . .' Kagome sat up with her usual abruptness.
"Kir-Kir, didja have to wake us up so early?" she mumbled.
Kiry looked up from nursing her burnt fingers. "Oh hallelujah! You're awake! You cook breakfast. This thing is evil! It's attacked me!"
"What? InuYasha?" Kagome blinked at her cousin, not quite awake yet.
"Gee thanks." said the hanyou from across the camp fire. "Glad to know what category you've stuck me in."
"Not InuYasha! InuYasha's don't nothing but sit and grump at me for the last fifteen minutes. What I'm talking about is that!" the older girl yelled and pointed.
'That' was the camp stove, which was boiling water innocently enough.
"Oh. The stove." Kagome looked at InuYasha. "Sorry, InuYasha. It's just that when somebody *yawn* is complaining about an unidentifiable object, it's usually you."
"Hmph!" He jumped off and stalked off.
"Um, Kagome?" came Miroku's voice. "What's going on?"
The girls turned to meet the newly awakened gazes of her three very confused friends. "Er. . .well. . .I think that Kiry is. . .that is. . .what ARE you doing?"
"I was ATTEMPING to make breakfast for everyone before they woke up." She crossed her arms and glared at the camp stove. "But that thing and I aren't getting along very well." She looked at her cousin. "Is it supposed to shoot out flames?"
Kagome sweatdropped. "Er. . .no, not really. I'll take care of it Kiry, you just. . ." Kagome was going to say 'get dressed' when she realized that Kiry already was. Baggy army green cargo pants with, yes, ten pockets for her shukusens. An army green tank top; combat boots; two shukusens in black leather sheathes, closed, at her hips; hair in a messy bun with green lensed sunglasses perched on top of her head, oh yeah, she was ready infiltrate Vietnam. . .or go to a rock concert.
Kagome rolled her eyes and gave a pointed look at her itoko's attire. "Planning on beating anyone up today?" she asked.
"Etoo. . .well, InuYasha said we're about a half hours walk away from the lizard youkai's camp. He said sommat about probably having to do some grunt work to get the rumored shard from them. So, hence, the outfit. Besides, I like this one." Kiry said defensively.
"That close?!" Sango asked. The exterminator got out of her bed roll and grabbed her things, scrambling for the hot springs.
"I'll make sure HE stays here, n'kay?!" Kiry called after Sango's back.
"Thanks!" was yelled back at her.
"Hey, I resent that remark!" the HE, of their conversation said. [Please tell me you understood who.]
"Yeah, you also resemble it, monk." The chick muttered, giving up on the stove and scooted over to make room for Kagome.
"She is right you know, Miroku. You do have a problem with girls." Shippo said. The little fox scrambled up from his place on Kagome's sleeping bag and bounced into Kiry's lap, where he was immediately rewarded with a willing hand to pet his tail.
Miroku coughed into his hand and got up to join the girls and the kitsune in breakfast, which Kagome had been preparing. Thanking Kagome as she handed him his cup of ramen, Miroku looked at Kiry. "A half hours walk he said?"
"Yeah, and then muttered about how bad they smelled. Poor boy, must be a curse to have that nose of his sometimes." Kiry commented thoughtfully.
"Oh you should have seen him this time we had to fight this painter for his shard of the Shikon no Tama. He got covered in ink after a fight with one of the artist's demons that he summoned from his drawings and InuYasha got sooooo dizzy from the smell of it. So, yeah, it can be a problem for him." Kagome started munching down on her bowl of ramen.
"Not that I'd trade it for one of your noses. Can't smell what's not right under your nose with those things." Came InuYasha's voice from behind them. The inu-youkai had come up from behind them unnoticed. . .or rather, he had been eavesdropping, again, and finally decided to say something.
"Is there ever a time in which you DON'T eavesdrop on us?" Kiry turned around and gave him a glare, which was returned. "Well, what's the sitch? Are we talking peace treaty or ambush tactics?"
InuYasha cracked his knuckles in that one handed way he does. "I was thinking we go in and when they attack us, I take all the demons out, then Kagome picks up the shards then we walk back to Old Kaede's." He looked pretty darn pleased with his use of strategy.
"Oh yeah, great plan." Of course Kiry's sarcasm would be there to step on his incredibly enlarged male ego. "Jeez, slow your jets, John Wayne. What if they don't attack us? And then you just.what? Go homicidal hack-job on them? They could just give us the shards." Kiry had this oh-so-bland look on her face.
InuYasha glared at her, shoving his hands into the sleeves of his haori. "They're demons! They aren't nice. They don't just hand over Shikon shards if you ask sweetly enough. In fact it's a guarantied way to get yourself killed, eaten, or made into a play toy."
Kagome gasped. "InuYasha, don't be so crude!"
"She's got to except the truth about this world if she wants to be here," InuYasha looked over at his [*Coughgirlcough*] friend. "Things aren't nice here like they are in your world, Kagome. And you know that from experience. She doesn't, and I'm just trying to teach her that." He looked back at the strangely silent brunette.
'About time she shut her mouth. She's not like Shippo's incessant rambling but. . .well, at least she's done nothing strange today.' He blinked, realizing that he had been glare/staring at her for about thirty seconds. The others had stopped eating to see what the big deal was about.
"Um ah, InuYasha? You okay? I think Kiry got the point." Kagome asked. InuYasha seemed to snap out of a trance. He just nodded at her and sat down, immediately starting to devour a bowl of instant ramen. The others shrugged and joined him in the evaporation of the yummy noodles.
'What's up with InuYasha? He was acting so weird last night. Always watching Kir-chan out of the corner of his eye. . .he's not. . .attracted to her is he?' she was dismayed by the feelings of anger, hurt, and frustration that swamped her at that thought.
InuYasha was surprised when he smelled anger waves wafting from Kagome. He paused, chopsticks halfway in his mouth. "Ka'omeh, whu's wong?"
Kagome snapped her head up to look into his amber eyes. Only curiosity, a bit of concern, and confusion flickered in their depths. No hints of feelings for her cousin. . .or her for that matter. She smiled with false brightness, closing her eyes.
"Nothing's wrong InuYasha! Don't be silly!" She said, waving her hand at him. Kagome busied herself with her ramen as if her life depended on it.
InuYasha didn't believe her for a second. His nose never lead him wrong before. And he couldn't imagine why she would be so. . .dodgy with HIM of all people. [Oh no, never with him. . .] But, she obviously wasn't going to be pouring out her heart to him anytime soon, he decided to finish his food. And ignore the pangs that came from his heart.
And forgotten purple eyes watched and said nothing.
@}~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~
The InuYasha-gumi was crouched in the bushes atop the cliff that overlooked the lizard-youkai's campsite. The silent observers watched the reptilian demons lounge about in the sun, examining the loot from the town they had recently raided.
They were not pretty demons, unlike some. Kinda like smaller versions of Iguanadons, with dull colors of all shades smeared in blotches on their pebbly skin. Small beady eyes set in wedge shaped heads glittered as the youkais displayed sharp teeth in raucous laughter brought on by ale kegs placed all around the camp. On the whole, it looked like there was about ten of the monstrosities lounging about.
"Kagome, sense any shards?" InuYasha spoke in a hushed voice. Lizard youkai don't have great hearing, he had told the others, but still, keep it down.
Kagome perused the group of reptiles, checking for points of pink light in her vision. She could see one in the forehead of that tall green one, two in the red one that looked to be the leader, and a couple others sprinkled among the creatures. She quietly pointed them out to InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku. Kiry listened from her spot next to Shippo.
"Okay, now what?" whispered Kiry. She hadn't brought up what they were going to do once they got there again during the trek, but now that they were there it sounded like it might be a good idea to discuss a strategy.
InuYasha blinked a few times. He hadn't really counted on the lizards not spotting them and attacking them first. 'Okay, Plan B. . .' he thought.
"I guess it's time to go down and start a fight." He cracked his knuckles and started to get up. Kiry gripped his shoulder and pushed him back down.
"Lemme see how far I can get with diplomacy. If nothing comes of that, then you can go into the 'aggressive negotiations' okies?" Without waiting for an affirmative, she jumped up and started running down the incline, throwing up dust and gravel as she slid.
"No! Kiry!" Kagome hissed after her cousin. "What does she think she's doing?!" Her cousin's rashness had her astounded. And as much as Kiry said she was a good fighter, Kagome doubted that she could stand against demons like Sango and Miroku could. And they weren't reckless enough to walk-- okay, jump--into an entire group of them.
The lizards looked up as Kiry landed at the boarders of their camp and brushed herself off. They could tell that this was a human busting in on them, and each smiled mentally to themselves. This slip of a girl would be no trouble.
"Hey, you guys got a leader 'round here? I was wondering if I might have a word with him or her." She called out, seemingly oblivious to the hungry looks the freaks were giving her.
A creepy looking blue one with spiky eye ridges grinned maliciously at her. "We have a leader" he hissed, sliding his tongue in and out of his mouth as he spoke. "He'ssss right thhhhhere. Sssspeak withhh him, if you wisssshhhhh" He pointed at the red youkai with the spiky armor.
As Kiry nodded her head in mock-thanks and continued on her path to the head honcho, Kagome was busy nibbling on her nails. SO far Kiry hadn't been eaten. . .but she didn't like the looks they were giving her cousin. It brought back memories of Hiten and Manten and her almost demise by the cook- pot.
"Is she. . .uh. . .suicidal?" asked Miroku. He crouched, leaned low on his staff and peered through the foliage. The green clad figure was sashaying right through the middle of an area filled with creatures that could be her very quick demise, and all she was doing was looking around the clustered tents like she was on a bloody tour!
Kagome thought about that one for a second. "Anou. . .I don't. . .think so. I couldn't say. I just met her a few days ago, but. . .she seems okay and relatively sane." Then she added as an afterthought, "Did I say 'relatively'?"
"Kiry's gonna die!" Shippo whisper/wailed. To which InuYasha clamped a hand around his mouth and hissed at him to keep his big trap shut, lest the fox find himself in the stewpot of those scaly freaks.
By this time Kiry had reached the chieftain's tent. The crimson monster leered at her. It wasn't every day that a yummy morsel just meandered into their camp and practically ASKED to get eaten. On the other hand. . .she was pretty cute. For a human of course. Might be fun to keep her for a while. At least till they had completed their mission.
The so called 'morsel' grinned amiably enough at the reptile. "I'm on a quest. I'm looking for shards from the Sacred Jewel. I heard that a group of lizard-youkai was rumored to hold some of these shards." She pushed her glasses up and peered up at the demon through her eyelashes.
"Then you heard correctly, my dear. I am Deloth, leader of the Southern lizard-youkai. This is my clan." He waved his hand around at his now gathered hordes, all the while thinking, 'This is going to be a piece of cake.'
"Pleasure." Kiry's voice was droll, with a bordering tinge of sarcasm. "Kiry is my name. I was wondering if you would please give me the shards, so that I might complete my quest."
The reptile's face took on an especially malevolent glow. "Kiry you said? And we are to just give up prizes such as that because you asked nicely and flitted your eyelashes at us. No, my pretty, no." He grinned disturbingly and took a step towards her.
Kiry sighed and rubbed her forehead with her right hand. "Now, I realleh didn't want to fight all of you. But. . ." she shrugged eloquently.
The youkais started to advance in a circle around her. InuYasha tensed to spring and draw his sword.
"Okay, now look. We can do this the hard way or. . .well actually, there's just the hard way." Her hands moved to hover over her waist sheaths, tensed and ready to draw.
InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Oh enough! HYAA!" He sprang into the air, drawing the Testusegai in a flash of light. Dropping next to the girl, he slashed down a youkai that had gotten closest to Kiry. 'Nine more to go,' he thought with a smirk.
Kiry took the moment the stunned reptiles gave her when the dog-demon had leaped out of nowhere to join her, to slide her shukusens out of their sheaths and snap them open. She spun around to put her back at InuYasha's.
Sango and Miroku also moved. The youkai-huntress jumped on a now transformed Kirara. Grabbing the houshi's hand, she swung him up behind her, swatting at his hands when they drifted a little to low for her comfort.
Kirara leapt forward, bounded down the hill in two quick leaps, and landed solidly, growling and showing feral teeth. Miroku slipped off and planted himself firmly, brandishing his staff at the now hissing demons. Sango raised her boomerang threateningly.
Kagome set an arrow to the string of her bow, ready to pull back and let it fly at a moment's notice. Shippo shivered but looked determined.
Seconds passed. They stood, waiting for the other to make the first move. And waited.
Kiry lowered her weapons in frustration. "Oh hell, I'll go!" She whacked her sunglasses down to the bridge of her nose. Leaping for the nearest youkai, Kiry yelled a battle challenge. The burnished orange reptile drew his sword and swung it at her, hissing. At the last second, the girl dropped and spun under the blade as it whistled over her head. Shooting out her foot, she connected with her opponent's kneecap and shattered it. As the lizard fell towards her, screaming in pain, the nigen rolled to her back and flipped him over her head with her feet.
InuYasha ducked as the pile of leathery skin and bones whipped past his head to collide with the demon behind him. He turned and growled at the girl who was now scrambling to her feet. "Would you watch where you're tossing them please!" he yelled.
"Sorry, Yasha!" She grinned impertinently at him, and then he lost sight of her as the battle rolled into full swing. He was kept busy with two youkai armed to the teeth.
@}~~~~~^~~~~~~~~
Kagome watched as the battle raged. Miroku was busy in a staff battle, not being able to use the Kazaana with his friends so close, and Sango was playing tag-team with Kirara on three youkai's of her own.
Kiry was tossing opponents left and right like pro. Those fans of hers must have been as strong as she boasted, because as she dealt with a lizard wielding a giant sword, the shukusens didn't give an inch under the weight as it came crashing down.
InuYasha was. . .well, being InuYasha: kicking butt, taking names. He had just managed to cut the arm off of Deloth, throwing him into the bushes in the process. As he spun around to find another opponent, he realized that he had run out of demons to fight. The others had dispatched theirs in good time, noting where the jewel shards fell so that Kagome could pick them up when the area was clear.
Kiry turned to grin up at Kagome from her place across the clearing. "Hey Kagome-chan, it's okay to come down now. We got sparkly things we need you to pick up, or so Sango says."
Kagome waved her bow at her cousin and shoved the unused arrow back in her quiver. Shippo jumped on her back as she started her decent down the hill.
InuYasha sheathed the Tetsuseiga and came to stand by Kagome with a cocky look on his face. "Keh, those scaly freaks weren't half as much trouble as they kept saying they were. Of course, every time they'd boast, I'd finish them off, so if was kinda comical." He grinned.
A rustle in the bushes had them jumping on the alert again. Deloth came out of the woods just behind Kiry, holding what was left of his bleeding arm. Kiry raised her weapons, threatening wordlessly. The lizard started to laugh, startling them all.
"I'm not going to fight with you again. I just came back to deliver a message." Deloth murmured.
"Well let's hear it then!" InuYasha yelled at him.
"Oh, it's not for you puppy," the reptile smiled at the shocked look on the inu-youkai's face. He turned to Kiry. "It's for the little miss. He wants to know. . .if you miss him. He wants to know if you find it difficult to sleep at night without him by your side."
Kiry's eyes widened in horrified pain. She started to shake. Suddenly, fury flashed in her eyes, She spun backwards and back-slashed his other arm off. Dropping to the ground, she kicked his feet out from under him, knocking him on his back.
She swooped down and knelt on his chest. "Where is he?!" she yelled. "Where is he?!?!" She pushed her shukusen up again his throat.
"M'lady, I don't know. But he also said he was going to come for YOU soon, too. Then you can join that worthless lover of yours!" He spat the words in her face.
Kiry slowly rose from her spot on his torso. She looked down on him, fists balled at her sides.
InuYasha could fell the air changing around him. It was building, pressing against his ears. His head would surly pop soon if it didn't stop. The pressure gained, and gained, and suddenly broke!
An aura flamed around Kiry visibly. It rippled the air with it's fury, causing Miroku to gasp in shock.
The girl raised her arms to face her palms to the prone Deloth. White and purple flame, the essence of light and power, flared out from them, consuming him. The youkai gave a shriek of pain and terror. And then was silent, no longer in the land of the living, his body disintegrated. The jewel shards he possessed clinked to the ground.
Kagome and the others gave out a yelp of shock. 'What the. . .?!?!' Kagome's mind screamed.
Kiry dropped to her knees. She looked into the air, wilted like a popped balloon, her face desolate.
"Come out and fight me you bastard! Naraku!" She screamed into the air. The words fell into the stillness, no answer. "You took him away and now you taunt me?! I won't fall! I won't!"
As the silent observers looked on in astonishment, not knowing what to say or do, silvery tears poured from her eyes, the glasses dropped or knocked off at some point in time during the fight. She collapsed to the ground, wracked in sobs, body trembling, and crying for all the world as if her heart were rent in two and as if her pain were eternal.
A/N: Whoo! *wipes forehead* That took meh a looong time to write. I can onleh say one thing about that cliffie: MWAHAHAHAHA! *ducks random objects thrown by readers* HA, missed!
Okay, to muh buds, I have been banned from muh one computer with Internet access and that's why I haven't been on these last coupla weeks. Blame muh dad. I'm up-loading this from muh mom's work comp, so thankies for her, otherwise you'd niver get this chapie. I'm not going to do individual thanx this time cuz I'm sure you realleh want this now, meh being Miz Late about this, but I will next time. But hey, for once (yeah, ONCE) it wasn't my fault.
Okay, now everyone, push the lil blue button in the left bottom corner *points*, yeah that one! And pleaze sent meh a review. The keep sessha wanting to write for all you loveleh peoplez! And I know some of you are reading and not writing, cuz sometimez I do the same thang. #^.^#! Hehehe!
So love and hugs! Happy Belated Saint Valentine's Day! XOXOXO! May all of you have received a sommat from your special someone! *blushie-blushie!* I did!
^.^ Aelii-chan
PS: Asherz, Beckie, Kat, BaWolfie: XO! Hi-yo's and I MISS YOU!!!!!!!