Okay, this is a two chapter update with two extensive chapters that I have been sitting on for several months because I didn't like them and they may be rather confusing. But, they are supposed to be that way! So, since I made you guys wait so long, I won't blabber here...on with the story!
Sylvannastar
Dog Eat Dog
The Reikai had proven to be an unimaginative collection of landscapes that resembled the human world in everything but color. The grass was either brighter, or the sky more purple then blue. Flowers bobbed in the breeze with flawless petals turned toward the globe of light that resembled the sun through a filter of pale pink. It was pretty...and boring. The land of the dead merely mimicked the life and energy of the living world.
After the first three days of wandering aimlessly across the pristine land without so much as a solid hint of shikon aura or danger of any kind, the guys were getting edgy.
"Anything yet?" Yusuke prodded the silent girl they had been following without question until now.
Kagome didn't look up from her single-minded introspection and shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "It's there," she finally sighed, "but it's ...not. I think that it may be shielded."
"By what?" Kuwabara pressed. He got a dirty look from Kurama and hushed.
Kagome didn't seem to mind and absently rubbed her thumb across the agitated kitsune's knuckles. "I'm not sure...but it's familiar to me. I just can't place it." She frowned heavily, lines appearing around her mouth and on her forehead. "It's also..fluctuating, I guess. It's moving without actually moving..."
"What the hell?!" Yusuke exclaimed. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"I know that!" she scowled unhappily.
"Oi, Wench," Inuyasha began but rolled his eyes when Kurama growled. "Kagome," he amended and ignored the red-head's dark look. "At least point us in the right direction."
She sighed and clapped a hand over her eyes and took a step away from her living support. Spinning around like a child, she pointed the finger of her other hand away from her body and came to a dizzy halt. Firmly pointing her finger, she glanced back around at the wide eyed hanyou and grinned evilly. "Satisfied?"
"Feh!"
"Hn," Hiei smirked and laughed at the dumbfounded expression on several other faces.
Inuyasha turned up his nose and retreated tot he nearest tree to complete his sulk. Boton followed behind him, trying her best not to let the hanyou realize that she thought he was being silly.
Kagome ignored his temper and crossed her arms over her chest. She could sense the damned thing out there, but its aura was scattered in the wind. It was as if it were part of the very air she was breathing...
She was startled from her thoughts by a rush of Youki to their south that blinked in, then back out of existence. "Eh?" Kagome cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her nose.
"What the hell?" Yusuke stood to attention and squinted his eyes as if it would help his limited human vision pinpoint a youkai on Reikai's empty landscape. "Did you guys pick up on that?"
Kuwabara stuck a finger in the air in warning to the others. "Guys, there shouldn't be any other living demon's here. Koenma would have told us."
"You think?" Yusuke scowled.
Kuwabara ignored his team leader and gazed southward in thought.
"That youki felt familiar," Hiei murmured and narrowed his crimson eyes, unintentionally mimicking Kuwabara's stance.
"Indeed, it should," Kurama answered in a hard voice that they seldom heard from him. The others looked at him expectantly and waited for the fox to continue. "We've only been chasing it for the past few months..."
"That damned dog!" Hiei suddenly spat out, catching on first to Kurama's hint.
"Damn it! He's barrier hopping again!" Yusuke shook a fist at the empty air. "And this time, we can't go after him."
"Maybe we can," Kagome said quietly and stared into space, her eyes slightly unfocused as she concentrated on the demon's energy trail.
"What?" Inuyasha asked, rejoining the group to stand beside his friend. "Kagome, you felt something more?" He was the one most connected to Kagome's habits and recognized the expression on her face.
Kagome just shrugged nonchalantly. "Just a pulse of Shikon energy that matched the appearance and disappearance of that youki."
"What!" Yusuke shouted and tensed as if he were contemplating sprinting after the demon.
"So that's how he did it," Kurama nodded his understanding. "The dog demon has a shikon shard."
"And this time, his trail is fresh," Hiei reminded them.
"That son-of-a-bitch!" Yusuke growled. "Six months of chasing him through the Makia and Ningenkai and he still saunters through the barrier like it's nothing!"
"Technically, we've never chased him. We never got close enough," Kuwabara pointed out.
"There's something more," Kagome stopped them from storming after the demon. "I recognize that energy too, but I can't place it. It is as if it is changed some...but it is familiar."
"Quit talking already, and go!" Inuyasha bounded several feet forward and looked back at them. "Come on," he groused until Kagome took that first hesitant step after him.
"This will be doubly satisfying," Yusuke said and cracked his knuckles. "We'll get that shard and pound that dog into dog chow."
"Eloquent," Kurama commented drily.
Kagome caught up his hand and tugged him along behind her. "Come on, Kurama. You can show me your famous tracking skills!"
You're tracking skills?! Youko blinked in astonishment. Those skills are MINE!!
Stop pouting, Shuuichi rolled his eyes.
But Kurama's gonna steal MY glory! Youko whined.
Our...Kurama pointed out.
If she's impressed, Youko continued, ignoring his host's simple reminder...
I'll give you credit, Kurama sighed.
Good, Youko finally faded back to observe the group's clumsy start.
When they reached the point where the demon had been for so short a time, they could all feel the residual energy of the demon fading into the world around them. Kagome dropped to her knees and pressed her hands into the grass. "He's strong," she whispered, slightly awed by the continued swirl of youki. "Very strong."
Youko never felt the urge to rip a stranger apart as much as he did in that moment. Not as strong as we are, he muttered.
"Hey," Botan stopped and pulled everyone else to a halt with her. "What...what if it is Inuyasha?"
"WHAT!?" several voices yelled at once, including the hanyou himself.
Botan quickly held her hands up in gesture meant to calm them. "Wait! Just think about it. A familiar energy...a dog demon...a connection to the jewel of four souls...someone Kagome recognizes...is it really just a coincidence?"
"I'll be damned," Yusuke said, seriously considering her words.
"Wench," Inuyasha blushed, "I'm right here."
"Your past self is right here," Kagome shook her head. "But your future self..."
"Feh..." But Inuyasha himself began to consider the possibility.
"Baka," Hiei finally announced. "You said 'powerful'" he reminded Kagome and gave the hanyou a scathing look.
"You fucking runt!" Inuyasha jumped up, hand gripping Tetsusaiga.
"Cut it out, both of you!" Kagome frowned. "We don't have time to play up to your pride, Inuyasha. Or your need to prove yourself, Hiei," she said catching the fire apparitions smirk before she squashed it. "If we're gonna follow him, we need to do it now. He's already got a head start."
Botan materialized her oar and scooted forward to accommodate Inuyasha and his swelling temper. She bit her lip to hide her smile. She knew that it was inappropriate, but she couldn't help but find the grumpy hanyou cute when he was angry. She felt him spring aboard and make himself comfortable against her back before she lifted further off the ground.
"How do we do this?" Kuwabara hesitated. "We don't know which place he went."
"Well," Yusuke agreed, "We usually find the best traces of him in the Makai. His trail is too easy to hide among the masses in the human world."
"Then the demon realm it is," Botan nodded and opened a portal.
Kagome felt the tingle of the shikon for just a moment and paused. Kurama stopped with her and tucked her hand into his. "Kagome?" he questioned her.
"Hmm?" she asked without paying much attention to anything but her miko senses.
He tugged on their joined fingers gently and gestured toward the portal. Casting one last glance over her shoulder at the vast reaches of Reikai, Kagome allowed herself to be pulled into the emptiness of the portal. She cringed only slightly as the world flashed away and was replaced with the very beautiful and equally deadly landscape of the Makia.
The rest of the group was already diligently staring at the ground and peering at every detail they couldn't hope to read correctly anyway. Kurama sighed and decided that he better speak now before the clueless group trampled what little trace was probably left of the dog's trail. "Don't move Inuyasha," he said to the hanyou who was closest to the faint impressions left by the other dog.
Not thinking, Inuyasha paused where he was crouched on all fours with his nose in the dirt. He twisted his ears in the fox's direction and Feh-ed softly though he did not move.
Kurama moved to stand beside him and pointed one foot about two feet from the dog's sensitive nose. "There," he said, "traveling west..."
"Wow," Kagome patted his hand, "That was fast."
Hear that? She was impressed, Youko announced. Tell her.
Kurama sighed and shrugged. "You can thank Youko..."
She reached up on her toes and placed a sweet kiss on his lips and whispered "Thank you," before pulling away and dropping down to where Inuyasha was avidly sniffing the Makai dust. She watched her best friend with practiced patience that stemmed from her long travels with him. She was used to Inuyasha's methods of searching and was more then confidant in his ability to follow the trail. Kurama had hinted around about the "skills" that Youko possessed and now shared with his human host and their mingled self, but had never gone right out and said where Youko learned them. In truth, she wasn't sure that she wanted to know. "Find anything?" she asked and dropped her chin into the palm of one hand as she watched him work.
Kurama was still standing perfectly still where she left him with his eyes slightly glazed over. He blinked, his mind strangely silent until Youko blurted out angrily, Hey! That was MY kiss! Kurama let out a slight smirk twist his lips upward before he banished the fox to the back of his mind so that he could focus on the hunt. It was sure to prove a long one...
They had barely stepped into the lush forests around them when a multitude of low class demons started to be drawn to the portal they had opened. Hiei didn't even bother to draw his sword when he informed them that there were many of the witless creatures headed their way. Kagome actually squealed in joy and fumbled for her own blade.
"Great! Now you can see what I have learned," she informed the sniggering Hanyou. "You'll see, Inuyasha. I am stronger then you remember."
Botan slid over to Kurama and whispered to him, "Is she any good?"
Kurama grimaced and wondered how to answer that. "She's better then she was," he admitted.
"So that translates as 'Stand Back," right?" She giggled.
"Hn." Hiei interrupted them. "She's not that bad. She has only had a few weeks of training. With time..."
"Which she doesn't have," Inuyasha stopped laughing and joined them in their conversation about Kagome's skills. "I'll have to jump in and save her ass again," he sighed.
"She is strong enough to take out this bunch," Hiei defended his student. "Naraku is another matter."
Inuyasha quit teasing and grew serious at the mention of that name. "She should never even have to face him. If I am strong enough..."
"We." Kurama crossed his arms and stared the hanyou down. "WE. Kagome is no longer your worry. I will protect what is mine."
"She's still my friend, fox." Inuyasha pointed out, not getting mad at the possessive tone in the kitsune's voice.
"And mine," Botan agreed.
"Hn." Hiei agreed and rolled his eyes. The demon hoard was almost there. He sprang into a tree to get a better view in which to shout orders to his headstrong pupil. Kagome was swinging her sword experimentally at some tall weeds and was grinning ear to ear as their tops parted from the stalks with ease. Hiei blinked and sighed.
Kagome sensed the lesser demons closing in on her location and suddenly her shoulders fell. "Um," she began and turned liquid eyes at her friends. "What if they are friendly?" she asked.
Three of the males snorted and Kuwabara stared sadly at her. She frowned unhappily at them and stuck out her lower lip in a pout.
"She shouldn't have to kill," the big orange haired human finally said and confronted the others. "Women shouldn't fight."
"You and that honor code again," Yusuke kicked the other boy in the shin playfully.
"Urameshi," Kuwabara snarled and hopped on one foot as he rubbed at the forming bruise. "You can be so dense!" He ignored the sniggers that followed that statement and pursed his lips before he continued. "It isn't that she can't, damn it! It is that she shouldn't have to! Don't you remember what it felt like to kill for the first time? Don't you? You really want that for her if you can help it?"
Kagome stared wide eyed at the tall boy trying to protect her from facing death. Sighing loudly, she tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention from where all the men were staring in disbelief at him. "Kuwabara, it is okay. I have killed before. Just not hand to hand like this."
"Still," he sighed. " I would rather you not have to do this."
"That is so sweet," she smiled. "Yukina must be really lucky to have met a man so ready to defend her, not matter what." He blushed easily as Yukina was mentioned. Hiei bit back the automatic growl that came unbidden to his lips and resined himself to the relationship that he would soon be forced to share with the baka. He would have to be more forgiving if he wanted Yukina to be happy.
"You know," Inuyasha crossed his arms, "as touching as all this concern is, the demons are here."
Kagome frowned darkly at the hanyou and pointed the sword at him. "I know that! I can sense them, if you remember."
"Did you remember that YOU are supposed to be fighting these...things?" he waved his hand at the shadows slinking around them as if to surround the group. "Aren't you going to dazzle us with your extraordinary powers?"
"Oh yeah," she answered brightly and spun on her heal and stalked to the perimeter of the defensive group behind her. "Alright," she responded cheerily. "I'm ready! Bring it on!"
Hiei sighed and twisted his lips in a wry grin that showed both his exasperation and his pride in his student and friend. Kurama was fingering a red rose just in case he felt that he needed to jump in and Inuyasha had a hand ready on the hilt of his father's fang.
Just as the first lesser demon charged at Kagome, Yusuke and Hiei had to hold back the dog and fox from stepping in when it was not yet necessary. Kagome easily dodged every attempt the creature made to force her back toward its comrades. It was a scaled creature with a delicate face and impossibly bright blue eyes. Kagome appreciated the textured rainbow that glowed across the demon's skin as it swayed in front of her. She snapped her sword at the creature's long whip like tail as it appeared in front of her. It lashed around her, left then right. Driving her to dodge in a certain direction. It paused to hiss at the people standing at her back occasionally, but Kagome simply blocked the tail from touching her.
So far, the snakish-catish thing had not even challenged her to actual combat. It seemed intent only on driving her toward the others that it had arrived with. The lesser demons completely ignored Kagome's companions and snarled at her from the shadows and taunted her with whistles and chirps of invitation to join them.
"What the hell?" she exclaimed. "This isn't even a fight!"
"Hn." Hiei agreed. "Just take them out and let us get on with our mission."
"Hmm," she frowned and tapped her fingers unhappily on the carved hilt of her new sword. Gracefully dancing around the other demon's attempts at herding her, she smirked and accepted Hiei at his word. "Okay!" and she said and leapt into the midst of the demons that she had so easily avoided till now.
"KAGOME!" Kurama gaped and started to dash after the giggling girl. The others echoed her name in various levels of disbelief and were shocked to see her pause to wave at them before disappearing in the brush.
HAS SHE LOST HER MIND!? Youko screamed and set Kurama's head ringing.
Hiei choked on his "hn" and almost fell from his perch in the tree.
A few large roars, several screams and one huge blinding flash of pink later, Kagome pranced out from the tree line and flicked the odd colored goo off the blade of her katana. "Done!" she announced and smiled happily until she registered the angry expressions on her friend's faces. "What?"
Inuyasha sank to his knees and pressed his pale face into the palms of his hands. "Kami..."
Kurama felt the same but rushed to her side and grasped her arms in his strong grip. "Don't you ever so that again!" he yelled and shook her urgently. "You could have been killed!"
"By them?!" she shook him off. "You guys didn't think that I could take out THAT pack? Gee, thanks for your support," she grimaced and sheathed the blade at her hip. "I didn't even need my sword if I didn't want to use it, so you guys can just relax."
"Hn." Hiei let her see his crimson eyes glittering down on her from above.
"Well you told me to just get rid of them," she grumbled under her breath.
Botan finally let go of the grip she had on Yusuke's shirt and pushed herself toward the now silently steaming girl. "Kagome," she began, "What did you do? There are no souls..."
Kagome blinked at death and them smiled widely. "I just waited until they were all about twenty feet from me and I purified them from existence in one big swish," she said and unsheathed the blade to demonstrate. As she gripped the hilt, she focused her miko energies into the forged metal until small pink sparks and bolts of power danced across it's length. "It makes a great conductor," she explained and returned the sword to her hip.
"But you could have been," Botan shivered and searched Kagome's eyes with her own candy pick gaze.
"Not by creatures as weak as that," she said going back to frowning as crossed her arms defensively. "You think you would have more faith in me, if not in your ability as teachers."
Koenma turned his now worn swivel chair to face the wide screen taking up one wall. He winced at the aggravated shriek it made before steepling his fingers and pulling up the image of his detectives on their search. It had been four days now, since Botan checked in to say they were trailing that one escaped demon dog through the Makia, Ningenkai, and back again. They had not caught up to the demon yet, and had even been shaken from the trail twice now, but Kurama had managed to second guess the dog both times and managed to pick the trail back up after a little barrier hopping of their own, courtesy of Botan.
The empty screen blinked to life with a low hum and the Makai landscape shot past as the sensors honed in on the familiar figures. When the dizzying movement finally halted, Koenma almost swallowed his pacifier. His eyes filled with horror as he gripped the edge of his desk and leaned forward. "They-They're-" he stuttered before throwing his chubby fists in the air and shouting, "THEY'RE SLEEPING!?!?!"
Hiei had kept watch that night and was not surprised to see Kagome be the first one stirring. The human girl was accustomed to being the first awake and providing for her own group when she traveled with the hanyou. She had automatically fallen into the same rhythm here too. Not that anyone was complaining. One meal of Yusuke or Inuyasha's and everyone was more then happy to allow Kagome to take over those particular duties.
Hiei watched her yawn and stretch before rolling up that ridiculous sleeping bag and stuffing it into the even more ridiculous pack she insisted on hauling around. "Hn," he greeted her and jumped down from his perch in the rocks above.
"Morning, Hiei," she yawned again and ran a hand over the slightly skewed spikes of hair on his head.
He ducked her attentions and gave her own tangled locks a pointed look. "Take care of your own problems," he grunted.
Kagome felt her lips twitch but said seriously, " You know that you like it when I mother you," she teased and reached for him again.
"Woman!" he protested but didn't move or argue since both knew she was right. He did enjoy the attention. Kagome was one of the three people that he knew that he would ever let approach him much less touch him.
"I wonder if I could get it to lay down?" she wondered aloud as she spiked the ends back up with her finger tips. It took very little effort to convince his hair to cooperate since it was naturally spiked that way.
He glared at her from the corner of one eye and set his lips in a hard line. "Don't you dare," he said.
"Just curious," she shrugged and finished her pampering. She had abandoned his hair in favor of digging through her massive pack for what sounded like "breakfast" but he couldn't be sure what she mumbled with her head buried in the bag.
She finally got her fingers around the mesh sack she had been searching for and yanked hard until she freed her catch from the other objects in there. "Got it!" she announced cheerfully and revealed a mixed bag of apples and oranges in her hands.
Hiei shook his head but couldn't help but wonder what else was in there. The dirty yellow pack had proven to be a deceptive contraption, revealing a unique ability to provide anything and everything they could possibly need. He watched her pry open the bag and snag an orange before setting it in plain sight for when the others awoke.
Sitting once again beside Hiei, she sighed and stared into the distance. "We've lost him again, haven't we?"
Hiei snorted what she assumed was a yes. She started flicking the peel of her fruit at Yusuke and smirked every time he twitched in his sleep.
Kurama woke as soon as Kagome had started stirring, but had chosen to bury himself under his blankets for a few moments extra peace before joining her. He finally stretched and climbed silently to his feet and joined the other two seated across from the remnants of the fire. He grabbed another orange and united with Kagome in the silent battle of burying Yusuke in orange peels. As soon as he ran out of peel, he admitted that he had over heard Kagome's last question. "He's gone," he agreed.
"Hn," Hiei nodded.
Kagome patted Kurama's cheek with a sticky hand and whispered, "It's okay. He has resources that we don't. We'll find him again."
Kurama wiped the remnants of her breakfast off his face with a casual movement of his shoulder and caught the slight twitch of her lips. "You did that on purpose," he accused.
She full out grinned and scooted away from him. Kurama in the morning was dangerous.
He mock growled and pounced on her before she could hide behind the impassive Jagonashi watching them. Her howling laughter soon had the rest of the camp moaning unhappily or cursing loudly as the case went with Yusuke, and stumbling out of their blankets to greet the day. The fruit quickly disappeared without anyone bothering to question where it came from and soon, the group was back in order and prepared to leave again.
"So," Kuwabara said," which way did he go?"
Kagome winced and watched the clouds burn off the morning sky. "Don't know," she sighed. "He's gone again."
Yusuke and Inuyasha growled unhappily before the tentai leader placed his hands on his hips and faced the others. "So now we go back to Ningenkai to pick up the trail again?"
Kurama slowly shook his head and said clearly, "He's gone, Yusuke. The trail is gone."
"Shit."
"Kagome, can't you feel the direction of the shard?" Botan pursued the topic cautiously.
Kagome clenched her hands into fists and bit her lip nervously. "Well actually, no. I keep catching hints of it, the strongest when he opens the portals, but nothing solid. I am beginning to wonder if he has it at all."
"When is the last time you had a solid trace of it?" Inuyasha prodded.
"When we first felt him in the Rekai. After that, it got fainter and fainter until all I have felt lately is the barest residue of Shikon energy." she admitted reluctantly.
The others slumped unhappily where they stood as the realized the whole past week was wasted.
They were back to the beginning with no shard, no suspect, and no leads.
"So, where to now?" Botan asked her.
"Back to Rekai, of course," Hiei snorted.
"I agree," Kurama said and pushed his crimson hair from his eyes. "It is where we had the strongest signature for the jewel and where the Dog first showed up. It is only logical to trace our steps back to where we began and search anew."
"Keh," Inuyasha rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Botan's waist so that he could rest on her shoulder. "What ever we do, we need to do soon. That jewel shard will only cause trouble."
Kagome nodded and gathered her things quicky so that they could leave. Botan opened a portal and ushered them inside. Kagome flinched again and stared hard at the doorway. "There it was again," she murmured.
"What?" Kurama asked her before guiding her into the empty space floating a foot off the ground.
"The jewel..." she announced tiredly. "It has an echo..."
Kurama gave her a confused look and directed her into the Rekai where the others waited. "Echo?" he asked for clarification.
Kagome only sighed and focused her powers on the new landscape until she had a feel for the normal energies around her. Any abnormalities would register on her senses so that she could easily check for the jewel shard. Twisting around, she extended her supernatural sight to search for the signature energy of the jewel and felt the lightest of pulling sensations in her gut when she faced north. "That way," she pointed and began the first long hike of the day.
It wasn't an hour later then the two human boys started whining again.
"Stop complaining. I know that we are close. I can feel it." Kagome said trying to sooth Yusuke's flaring temper and Kuwabara's endless stream of stupid questions.
"That's what you said before," Yusuke pointed out rudely.
"Kagome can track it. Give her time..." Kurama defended the exhausted girl and wrapped an arm over his love's shoulders.
"But how much? We've been wandering around Reikai forever now."
"I can make it forever if you don't shut up," Hiei hissed from in front of the others.
"Just a bit longer...I can sense the Shikon's energy from here. " Kagome coaxed and gained a few minutes of peace for the group.
They obediently followed Kagome till they topped a natural rise in the land. Looking down into the palely lit valley below, they found a single tree rising from the earth in a grand tangle of heavy limbs...and seated below it a familiar figure rested.
"Oh, gods," Kagome breathed. She kept her eyes focused on the sole creature, as if afraid a blink would cause the apparition to disappear. "...Kikyo."
How many of you were expecting that? Lol! Well, sorry that I took so long again. Finals and all...I won't be updating for a while again anyway. I have a family trip to go on...18 hours in the car with a three year old that squirms at 2 hours...fun! When I get back, I'll be sure to update again. Thanks!
Sylvannastar