Disclaimer- I don't own Inuyasha or Escaflowne.
Ch6
Van returned to the spot where the Crusade had been when he left to see a giant dog swimming downstream. Thinking it was from Zaibach, he swooped down, ready to attack in Escaflowne's dragon form, but stopped when he saw who it was that was riding the dog. Deciding not to attack just yet, Van hovered over the water and called out, "Kagome?"
Kagome looked up at him, "Van, what took you so long?"
"They were more skilled than I thought but... where's the Crusade, and those guys you were with?"
"Well," Kagome said, "the Crusade had to land soon after the battle was over, and Inuyasha's helping them repair it-"
"Repair it?" Van repeated.
Kagome nodded, "Yeah, a Guymelef tore open part of one of the walls and kind of..." Kagome trailed off.
"What happened?"
"They took Hitomi." Before Van could leave in a fit of rage and go looking for Zaibach, Kagome stopped him, "Van wait, you can't just go charging in there like that! You'll be killed!"
"No I won't, I'll save Hitomi!" Van said as he started to fly off. The young king would have made it farther, had Inuyasha chosen not to look up at the sky after hearing Kagome's yelling, and pushed Van off of Escaflowne. The dragon landed, and Van hit the ground hard enough to get knocked out, but soft enough to not get too injured.
Kagome sighed as she sat down on SesshouMaru's head (he's in his true form), and started to look down at the water in hopes of finding Allen. SesshouMaru also watched out for Allen, while cursing Kagome for somehow tricking him into letting her ride on him downstream and back for the search.
(((--Flashback--)))
SesshouMaru and Inuyasha were arguing about how the search for Allen would go about, as Merle just argued with everything either dog said. Kagome rubbed her head in a failing attempt to save herself the headache that she was beginning to feel as she yelled, "SHUT UP!" Everyone's mouth closed, and all eyes turned towards Kagome, "Listen, SesshouMaru is the only one that can swim against the current after Allen is found, so he's the only one that can go looking. Inuyasha, Merle, and I will go and help the Crusade, since it's damaged, and I think I saw it land not far from here. Any objections?!"
As Kagome glared at everyone, Inuyasha was the only person that decided to speak, "Hell yeah I have objections! For one, there's no way that I trust SesshouMaru to not just run off, leave us here, and find a way home alone. And another thing, there's no way in Hell that I'm going to help fix something, that I didn't even break to begin with!"
"Inuyasha," SesshouMaru stared down his nose at his little half- brother, "this SesshouMaru is not going to 'run off', as you put it, nor am I going to waist my time listening to you while Allen is drowning. Unlike most of the others this SesshouMaru has met, Allen is a human that I can actually stand to be around with decapitation being an issue."
Before Merle could put in her share of complaints, Kagome spoke again, "Fine! I'll go with SesshouMaru to make sure nothing happens, Merle you make sure Inuyasha helps with the crusade, and Inuyasha, if you refuse to help I'll sit you until you can no longer stand!" Inuyasha fell face- first to the ground, and the others split up to do as planned.
(((--End Flashback--)))
SesshouMaru's thoughts were cut off when Kagome yelled that she saw something, and SesshouMaru took a breath before lowing his head, mostly into the water, for Kagome to grab what she saw. The girl grabbed the arm that was sticking out of the water, and pulled it, and the body it was attached to, onto SesshouMaru. "He's not breathing," Kagome muttered to herself as she stared down at Allen. She took a breath and lowed her head to his in order to give him CPR. SesshouMaru took his face out of the water, and turned around to go back towards the Crusade.
Allen coughed up water and opened his eyes to see Kagome's smiling face. The Knight of Heaven sat up, wincing slightly, "What happened to the Dragon Slayers?"
"They took Hitomi and went back to where ever their base was, but-" Kagome stopped talking when SesshouMaru jumped out of the water, and onto the shore, "but I don't think anyone knows where that is," she finished.
Allen nodded as SesshouMaru bent down so that he, and Kagome, could get off. Once they were off of his back, SesshouMaru transformed back to his humanoid form. He looked at the sky before speaking, "Enough time has passed for them to have gone a great distance by now."
The other two nodded, and Allen was about to add in his thoughts when Inuyasha came running over, followed by Van. Inuyasha glared at SesshouMaru, "Keh, it took you long enough!" SesshouMaru's only response was a growl.
"Allen," Van said, "they-"
"took Hitomi," Allen finished the other boy's sentence, "Yes, I know. The real problem is finding Zaibach's floating fortress."
"Just use the same method you used last time!" Van growled out, clearly anxious to find Hitomi.
Allen glared at the young king, "I would, but it was Hitomi that found it for us!"
Merle, who had followed Van, decided to chime in, "Just get the dogs to sniff the way out, I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for them."
"What was that?!" Inuyasha growled at the cat-girl.
SesshouMaru sniffed the air slightly before turning to Van, "How bad did the ship look?"
"It would take some time to finish, by nightfall at least. Why?"
"The scent is still in the air, and if the ship is fixed quickly, I will be able to track it."
Inuyasha sniffed around, "I don't smell anything!"
"That, Inuyasha, is because of your inferior henyou nose."
With the plan made everyone decided to rest up as much as they can, after Kagome sat Inuyasha for trying to kill SesshouMaru.
(((((((-)))))))
Dilandau went back to his room, after slapping his Dragon Slayers around a bit, and was now sitting in his chair and drinking some wine. Dilandau was waiting for the order to attack, and he hated waiting. There were only two things that the pyromaniac hated more than waiting and those were Van, and being alone. Of course, he was waiting, alone in his room, for the order to kill Van, and none of that sat very well with him. Deciding that he needed something to do, anything to do, Dilandau got up and walked out the door, intent on interrogating his 'guest'.
(((((((-)))))))
Hitomi tossed and turned on the little cot that she was on, but she couldn't get any sleep, so she opened her eyes and sat up, taking a quick glance around. The room was dark, but she could still make out the form of someone sitting in a chair that was in front of the bed. The figure stood up, and walked towards her, allowing her to see who the person was. The girl's eyes widened, "D-Dilandau!"
Dilandau smirked, "So, you remember me? I seem to remember seeing you... now when was that? Ah yes, you were standing behind Van when I spoke to Allen. I remember now. You never did answer my question because Allen had interrupted, stating that you were his lover. Now then, mind telling me why it is that whenever you're around, my plans fail?"
"I...uhm..." Hitomi fumbled with words, and shrunk back in the cot.
"You what?" Dilandau asked taking a step foreword, and enjoying how frightened she looked as she gazed at him.
Before Hitomi could say anything, or Dilandau could get any closer to her, Folken walked in, "Dilandau, shouldn't you be out beating Chesta (sp?) or something?" Dilandau glared at Hitomi, then Folken, before leaving. Folken looked at Hitomi, "Dunkirk-sama wishes to have some of his sorcerers look you over."
"S-sorcerers?" Hitomi questioned nervously.
Folken nodded, "Yes. Don't worry, I'm going to be there to make sure they don't do anything too drastic."
Hitomi looked at him questioningly, "Why would you do that for me?"
"Because I have no desire to see anyone get hurt," Folken said as he lead Hitomi out of the room, and down the halls.
(((((((-)))))))
Kagome sat watching as SesshouMaru helped Allen, and his men, to fix the Crusade. She looked over to see Inuyasha looking at her, "Yeah, what is it?"
Inuyasha shrugged, "Noth'n. I was just thinking about something."
"Really? About what?"
"Just stuff."
Kagome rolled her eyes, "Gee, thanks for being specific."
Inuyasha half-heartedly glared at her for a second before talking, "Well, you have wings, and that's really weird and all, but why do you keep them hidden like you do?"
"I guess it's 'cause they get in the way sometimes."
"Feh, yeah right," Inuyasha said.
"What?"
"You know what. I don't think that's the only reason. Now come on, Kagome, you know you can tell me anything."
Kagome sighed, "It happened a year before I was taken away from Gaea, back when I was five..."
(((--Flashback--)))
Kagome smiled as she played with Van, and Merle. They wanted to play hide and seek, and Kagome was it. She snuck up, as quietly as she could, on Merle, and yanked the cat-girl's tail, "Tag! Merle's it!"
Merle glared at her, "Nah-ah! You cheated!"
"Did not!" Kagome glared back.
"Did too! You never gave me the chance to run!"
Folken, who had been watching, walked over, "Well, Merle, sometimes you don't have any time to run away."
"You're only saying that 'cause she's your sister," Merle crossed her arms.
Folken laughed at the look Kagome was giving Merle before he spoke, "I'll tell you what, I'll be it next time, ok?"
All three kids nodded, and ran off in different directions as Folken closed his eyes and counted. Van hid in a barrel, and Merle was behind a bush that wasn't very far away from Van. Kagome had gone the opposite direction from the other two, and was hiding as far up the tallest tree she could get to in the short amount of time. Folken saw the movement of the leaves, and climbed up after her. Van and Merle came out of their hiding places to watch as the two siblings climbed higher and higher up the tree.
Kagome reached for a branch, when the bough she was on broke, and the five-year-old started to fall. Folken reached out to grab her, but missed, "KAGOME!" he yelled.
Kagome closed her eyes, and did the next thing that came to mind. She showed her wings. Kagome managed to land safely, and opened her eyes to see some of the townspeople staring at her for a second before they started to talk amongst themselves. They were talking about the curse of Atlantis, and things of that sort. The talking ceased when a stone flew out of the crowd and hit Kagome on the head. Soon, the first stone was fallowed by more, until Balgus came out. Kagome ran away, teary-eyed, as the Samurai of Fenalia scolded the crowd of people.
(((--End Flashback--)))
Inuyasha nodded, "Yeah, I know what that's like."
Kagome looked at Inuyasha, "Sorry if that story brought up any bad memories or anything."
"It's ok," Inuyasha shrugged, "But still, I don't see why you got hit with rock, when they shoulda been aim'n for that cat girl."
Kagome laughed, "Inuyasha, that's mean."
"Well, I never said I was Mr. Friendly, or anything."
Merle looked over at them, "Hey, you two better not be talking about me!"
Kagome waved her hand up and down, "Oh don't worry, we're not."
Merle shot them a quick glare before going back to following Van around, and repeatedly asking him what she should do to help. An hour or two after the sun was down, the Crusade was back in working order, and everyone was ready to leave. SesshouMaru stood on the top of the air-ship while Van went to his room to think. Inuyasha was on the roof, by SesshouMaru, trying to pick up a scent, but mainly to stay away from Merle. Kagome was talking to Gaddes, and Allen, about what would be done once they reached their destination, and Merle was staring at Van, and wishing him the best of luck for when they reach Zaibach.
(((((((-)))))))
After a few hours passed, a plan had been made. It had been decided that it would be better if they split up, with some people going to Asturia's main palace to warn them of the danger of Zaibach, while a smaller group went to rescue Hitomi, since it would be easier to sneak in there and save her, instead of staging a full-scale attack. The group to stage the rescue consisted of Van, his Escaflowne being the form of transporting, and SesshouMaru who had the trail. Despite Merle's complaining, she, and everyone else, would got to warn the Asturian King of Zaibach.
Van got in Escaflowne, and changed it to it's dragon-form, and waited for SesshouMaru to get on. After a quick goodbye from Kagome and Merle, the two were left.
(Really quick appology for any and all errors... and that's about it. Review I guess...)