Ano. . .well, it's been a long time for me to not update Akira's fic. Yeah, it's been written for about a week and a half now, but I'm typing it now! I am! Akira is watching me type it. . .okay, let me explain my absence, so if it happens again, you'll all know. I'm currently writing other fics-my Zelda one is getting lots of attention, expect a long update sometime this week, my original story will eventually be typed up-for those who care, the next chapter was written before I started this fic, and I don't feel like translating my handwriting to type it up-and I'm going to be starting at least one-maybe two-new fics soon, one Gundam Wing, another one an Inuyasha fic, another AU, but better than this one. No originals, based somewhere else. . .I really like the idea for that fic. I think it will turn out well. But, onto the fic, I can continue to make excuses later!
Hey, I've hit upon something! I stopped most of the constant Japanese because people didn't understand it, and I'm too lazy for translations at the bottom, but with the Author's Notes. . .hmmm. . .
Wow, this is going to take forever. . .this was only two handwritten pages! Arrgh!
~*~
"What time is it?"
Inuyasha tried not to form an overly sarcastic reply, and ended up biting his tongue. "For the 81st time, I don't use the same time system as you!" He glanced at the sun. Or rather the absence of the sun. "But. . .from, the shadows, I'd say about hachiji."
"Oro? Only eight?" She scowled, idly wondering when Kagome had taught the hanyou to tell time so accurately. "We've been stuck here for hours now. . .when are these people going to realize my shield is not going to break?" She sighed, and opened a small pouch within her robes, and looked at the small jewels inside the pouch. Seven or eight of the diamonds were now glowing red, and pulsating with an unholy beat. The way they had soaked up the blood. . .they gave Inuyasha chills.
Inuyasha ruefully shook his head, and looked out at the group of people surrounding the shield. They were rather annoying. They all spoke in that foreign tongue Ang called Spanish, but it was sheer gibberish to the hanyou's ears. And since he had the distinct feeling they were still making fun of him, he was getting more than a little annoyed with the whole lot of them. Ang had assured him they couldn't hear a word they were saying inside the shield, but Inuyasha wondered why she had bothered to set that up. They couldn't understand the pair anyway. Inuyasha frowned. "What exactly is Spanish?"
She rolled her eyes. "For the 82nd time, Spanish is a-"
"A language, I know. But is it a magic language?"
"Iie. Why?"
"Wouldn't the dialect of Spanish have changed from my time to your time?" Ang looked at him with confusion. "You remember, a while ago, you said Kagome and I shouldn't be able to understand each other, because the dialect of Japanese would have changed. So, wouldn't the dialect of Spanish have changed too?"
"Yeah. . ."
"So. . .how come you can understand them?"
"Well, if you wanna get technical, the Spanish weren't in Japan at this time period, so you shouldn't even need to be worrying about the dialect changing. If there were Spanish explorers here, I doubt they'd have made it this far, and these people are Japanese. They're all learned modern day Spanish."
"But how?"
"Naraku must have had access to some form of modern-day Spanish. . .but I don't know how. He'd have to go back in time or something. . ."
"What about Akira? Or Biiru? Or even Kagome? They all speak foreign languages too, maybe he learned from one of them? Like. . .he peeked into their brain or something?"
"Iie. . .they're all too strong for that. Kagome's stronger than you give her credit for," she said at his look. "Besides, Akira and Biiru know French. And I personally believe Kagome probably took English. . ."
"Then how would he get the stuff he needed?"
"How many ways are there to go back in time?"
"Only one I know of. The well."
"Well, I knew that. . .but how exactly do you get back? A spell or something?"
"Ano. . .I'm not exactly sure. Ask Kagome. She's the one who uses it all the time, she'll know."
". . .That's a great plan, Inuyasha. Except one small problem. Kagome's not here and I can't get out of the shield to ask her." She sighed in annoyance. "Baka."
". . .Do you have a plan to get us out of here?"
She shook her head. "Iie." She looked up at the sky, then back at groups of men outside her barrier. She shook her head. "Get some sleep, Inuyasha. Tomorrow is gonna suck."
~*~
". . .Akira. . .it's been fourteen hours. They're not back. Something has gone absolutely, horribly wrong."
If you hadn't set her off in the first place. . . "I know." Biiru looked at the quiet miko. She was hugging her knees to her chest, and looking at the door. The usual genki attitude was missing. The rest of the group was marveling at Akira's pouch-it had a bottomless supply, and you had to get things out of it with a spell. Shippo had dropped Miroku's staff, and they were arguing how to get it back.
". . .Well, maybe if we sent Kaede in after it, she'll be able to get back out with her miko powers. . ."
". . .No, how are we gonna get her out if the powers don't work?"
Biiru was worried out of his mind. He didn't like not knowing what was going on, and if he didn't know what was wrong and it involved Angela, he was likely to have a heart attack. "We need to find them. ASAP."
"You feel it, Biiru." Akira's quiet and flat tone made Biiru worry. What does she know I don't? "There's murderous ki all over the place. (A/N: Ki is like chi-it's the correct translation. It means essence. . .it's like an aura, to be simple.) Some of that ki is searching for the stupid jewel." She gestured aimlessly towards Kagome, who was wearing the half-jewel around her neck, as usual. "It's better for us to protect the Shikon and wait for them to get back. After all, the Shikon no Tama is what matters," she added bitterly. "Ang and Inuyasha will get back fine. I'm not worried for Inuyasha, and anything that attacks Ang has to worry about both Inuyasha and her."
". . .But still. . ."
"Look, I don't like it either. But Kaji told me that there are a lot of youkai around here, and they don't really like having four powerful priestesses and a powerful priest in the same twenty feet of each other. And he's after the Shikon. It'd be easy for him to kill us and then just steal it, since Kagome can't make full use of her powers yet. Let's not just go to him and make his job easier."
Biiru stared at her blankly. "Who's 'him'?"
Akira stared at him like he was the biggest dolt history had ever seen. And at that point in time, he probably was. "What, didn't Issey tell you anything?" Biiru shook his head. "You mean to tell me. . .that you weren't sent here? You came after Ang on your own free will?" He nodded. "Baka! Naraku. . .he's a local hanyou. If we're got half of this jewel, he's got the other half, and he's using it. Well. When Kaji found out Ang had the Shikon no Tama and Naraku was nearby, he sent me with a message from Shi. . .more of an excuse to get me to come here. He told me to stay for protection. So Ang would be in less danger. He said. . . 'It's not necessarily the jewel that Naraku is after. If he had Ang, he could sap her energy, and if he had the jewel as well, he could make the jewel even more powerful.' I'm supposed to be helping Ang. And instead, I'm sitting here, arguing with her stalker!"
"Fuck you. I'm more worried that you are."
Akira stood up in surprise, and glared at him. Biiru noted her ki rising dangerously high. He had seen bloodthirsty demons with a lower ki. "Nani, Biiru-kun?" The "kun" seemed rather mocking in her current state.
"I'm more concerned about Ang than you are." Even though he knew he was asking to have his ass kicked, he didn't care. He was probably more worried than Akira could ever be about Ang.
"Nisemono!" (A/N: Liar!)
She pointed outside, her ki rising to levels Biiru didn't even know ki could possibly reach. He realized what she was saying with the gesture, and he felt his face lose color. "A-Akira, you're not serious. . ."
"Outside." The word was not a request, it was a cold command. "Ima." (A/N: Now.)
He calmed down as much as he could. Panicking would not help him. ". . .Do you want to fight me?"
"Hai." She grabbed the front of his robes, and pulled him to his feet. I guess being angry does give you more strength. . . "Right now." She pushed him outside, and then followed him.
"Not here. . ."
"We'll go to that clearing a mile from here. That's far enough."
Kagome wordlessly shook her head, and looked back at the silent monk. "They're going to do it again."
"Do what?"
"Destroy the town."
~*~
She's afraid. Inuyasha was sincerely trying to sleep. He was exhausted, since he had been worrying for a little over fifteen hours straight at that point. But it's very hard for a half-demon with an excellent sense of hearing and smelling to sleep when people were talking all over the place, and there were very smoky fires burning. Ang was dozing, since her senses were already a little shot from all the magic in the area, and being on the edge of your nerves for hours on end was rather tiring. Inuyasha could practically smell her fear; it was evident in her body's stance in her uneasy rest.
A sudden excitement drew his attention to the right. People were yelling something over and over again in the damn Spanish he didn't understand. There was a lot of pointing going on from people who looked like they were scouts.
In a few seconds, Inuyasha smelled a new fire. An immense magical fire, burning almost a mile away, but big enough for him to understand it was massive. It began to become evident over the treetops. It was remotely similar to a cloud. Only of fire. Oh, shit.
"Ang." He moved over to shake her shoulder, but her eyes snapped open at the mention of her name. He wordlessly pointed at the cloud, and she cursed. "Nani kore?"
"Akira. Akira's ki is out of control." She looked around, and then smiled in satisfaction. "They don't know what it is. They're panicking. That miko will be trying to calm stuff down. . .it's our perfect-not to mention probably only-chance to escape." She grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the left. "This way. Opposite of the fire."
He nodded. They carefully slipped out of the shield, and crept through the woods. Inuyasha was surprised how well the miko managed to silence her movements. One archer saw them, but when he moved to start the alarm, Ang made a motion across his throat, and a thin line of blood appeared on the man. He stayed quiet.
The sight of the bolts and bow falling to the ground made Inuyasha think. He began pulling at his cloak, and managed to get it off with minimum sound. "What are you doing?" Ang hissed at him.
He tossed it to her. "Here." She caught it instinctively and made a motion to throw it back. "Don't argue with me! Just take it. If a miko arrow hits me, then I'd done for regardless of if I'm wearing that or not. If a regular arrow hits you, you'll be seriously injured, if not killed. These guys have good aim. A ningen like you can't take hits very well, and this'll deflect 'em."
She stopped, too surprised to think of a good argument for that. "A. . .Arigato, Inuyasha." She wordlessly put the cloak on.
Inuyasha looked a little uncomfortable. He wasn't used to having to worry too much about other people. "Don't mention it. Let's go."
They snuck off, both tiptoeing through the woods and leaving a nearly impossible trail to follow. Five minutes after the leaves stopped rustling from their passing, the miko's eyes happened to glance at the shield, which was quickly fading. Her eyes narrowed into little slits. "Gone. . ."
~*~
"Where are we going?"
Ang looked around. We're probably far enough away from the archers. . .they can't hear us now. She pointed towards the fire. Inuyasha hadn't been paying attention, so was surprised to see that the cloud was now ahead of them. "To Akira."
"And why didn't we just barrel through the archers?"
"Because we didn't know where the miko was."
"Keh. We could have avoided her."
". . .Another miko and a hanyou aren't exactly small power signatures, baka."
"Whatever." They traveled in silence for a few minutes. "You're crazy. We could have just ran really quickly."
"Thanks. I enjoy being crazy."
Ang paused for a second, a blank look temporarily over coming her face. She reached wordlessly for her bag of diamonds. "Ang. . .daijobu ka?" (A/N: Are you alright?)
The look passed from her face. She nodded. "Ha-Hai." A worried frown passed over her face, but before Inuyasha could say anything, she started talking. "Are we almost there? If Biiru and Akira have a serious fight, with enough time. . .they might be done by the time we get there."
"'Done'?"
"One or both of them will be dead."
~*~
Akira whipped another ball at Biiru, which he blocked with a hasty shield. He's getting way too tired, way too fast. She frowned. Biiru used to be a good fighter. . .but he couldn't use his own magic on himself. If he died, no five-minute rule. She easily knocked his wind away, and prepared for a more offensive blast.
Biiru was breathing heavily. His strength hadn't really recovered yet from saving so many people during the previous fire. All the magic he had used hadn't been enough to make him slow or tired, but enough to make his magic weaker. He wasn't ready to face a fully powered and enraged mage.
Akira held her hands together, and began to murmur a spell. Biiru tried to distract her and make her miscast, but her shields blasted away his feeble attacks. Flames began to form around her, the sheer heat smoking grass five feet away from the flames. Biiru hastily dumped water on the whole area, but Akira's magic flames-which weren't causing damage-weren't hurt at all by the water.
But if I'm gonna die. . .may as well make sure Akira doesn't accidentally take out any innocent bystanders. The power behind the flames, where Akira was amassing energy for an attack, was getting far too high to be considered safe for her. "Akira!" There was no answer, but that was expected. Over her flames and his winds, it was hard for him to hear himself. "You've gotta let go of that power!"
Suddenly, the power sped away from her, and darted towards him. Cursing, his shield went up slowly, and he felt the last of his defensive magic shatter. The tail-end of the magic blast caught him, and he went his robes singe.
Akira smirked. He's already too weak to defend himself against me.
Akira. . .give me some of your blood. She looked up in confusion, and was quickly reprimanded. Iie, baka! Don't let him know I'm here?
Ang quickly explained the situation while Akira traded baby blows with Biiru, so she could pay good attention. My blood for a spell? She paused for a second. And how the hell are you talking in my mind, anyway?
Spell. Taking up lots of energy, too. Hurry up and do it already!
"All right, all right. . ." Akira carefully took a dagger out, and "accidentally" sliced her arm when she threw it. The blade was easily deflected, but Biiru noticed the thin line of appear on her arm, but he didn't have enough power to do anything about it.
Can you get Biiru, too?
I could, but I'm far too lazy to actually do it.
Fine.
Ang's voice disappeared, and nearly two minutes later, a small black blob of what looked like ink began crawling out of the woods. Akira distracted Biiru, and he didn't notice it.
Until it was already on his neck.
He tried to pull it off, but it had bitten him or something, and was shrinking rapidly in size. Akira realized with a slight sense of repulsion it was going inside him, through his neck. Ang stepped out of the woods, bringing inside Inuyasha with her. She smiled serenely at Biiru.
"It's poison. . .don't worry, fast acting. You'll feel no pain when you die.
Biiru gripped at his throat. He stared at Ang in what appeared to be a mix of pain, horror, and still admiration as he slowly slumped down to the ground, and his hand slid down to the ground limply.
Inuyasha shook his head. "How. . .could you do that to him?"
"He got heavily on my nerves."
"He still 'loved' you. You didn't need to kill him."
"You don't understand why reasoning. Love. . .or hatred. . .can give meaning to an empty life. I've just destroyed another empty life, that's all."
Akira shrugged, a little too shocked to be able to react to the fact a friend of hers had just collapsed. "Ang. . .now what?"
"We can leave, and make this a hell of a lot easier."
Inuyasha practically growled in disgust. "Run?"
"But. . .I wanna know why he chose Spanish. Let's go find Naraku."