A/N: Sigh... I'm so confused....So very confused... I don't know how to end this....How should I end it???? Oh well, I guess I'll just burn that bridge when I get to it. raging debate goes on in author's head-- happy ending or sad ending?!
Chapter 12: The Truth
Ataru sighed dismally as he stared up at the starry sky. No matter how long he lay there, he just couldn't fall asleep. Numbly lifting his arm again, he glanced at his watch.
2:34am
"I hope the girls are ok..." he whispered to himself.
Botan paused for a minute, surveying her surroundings. Taking a whiff of the air, she cursed silently, realizing that Kagome's scent, which had been fading steadily, was no longer detectable.
Sitting down heavily on the damp forest floor, Botan tried to come up with a plan. But try as she might, nothing came to mind. She hadn't a clue where Kagome was.
'I might as well head back' she thought sadly, slowly getting up and trudging back through the forest, all her hope of finding Kagome was lost to the wind.
"What's happened to you Kagome..." she whispered, feeling tears slide down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, grimacing as she looked down at the claws she was so unused to seeing.
"This is all your fault you stupid Hanyou."
Ranma stared dumbly at the man in front of him.
"Wh-what are you?!"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed.
"Don't make me repeat myself boy." he said coldly, glaring daggers at Ranma.
Ranma didn't even flinch. He was used to threats by now. But what exactly was this man? There was no way he could be human! Had he bound and gagged this girl? Well, whatever he was, nobody called him a little boy and lived. Without so much as a word of warning, he attacked.
Sesshomaru wasted no time conjuring his poison whip and trying to melt Ranma with it, but the boy was annoyingly fast for a human and dodged it every time. Ranma was, however, beginning to realize that his fists alone were no match for the person in front of him. Maybe the Hiryu Shoten Ha would work, but he couldn't get the man to move, and he didn't seem to possess a battle aura...just a weird swirl of evil energy. Was he a demon? In any case, Ranma knew he had to do something quickly. Dodging the green glowing whip once more, Ranma vaulted off of the ceiling, pooling energy in the palms of his hands. Just as Sesshomaru drew back his arm to lash at Ranma again, the young martial artist launched his attack.
"Mouku Takabisha!" yelled Ranma, releasing the enormous orb of ki from his hands. Sesshomaru, completely unprepared and not expecting such an attack from a human, didn't think to move out of the way. There was a loud crackling noise as the energy collided with the dog demon, and he was knocked through the wall of the small, dank room; out cold and bruised badly.
Breathing heavily, Ranma landed lightly on the ground and walked over to the girl, quickly untying her. There was no telling how fast that demon would recover. Carefully scooping Kagome into his arms, Ranma leapt out of the window and headed for the Tendo dojo.
Inuyasha was bored out of his mind. He'd had to leave the Higurashi shrine because Yusuke had decided to light up a cigarette and Inuyasha couldn't stand the stench. Now he was wandering aimlessly around Tokyo, without anything to do or anyone to talk to. It never crossed his mind that he might get lost, but soon he looked around and realized, with impending doom, that he hadn't a clue where he was. His attention was diverted from his current situation, however, when he noticed something darting across some faraway rooftops. For lack of anything more interesting to do, he followed.
It wasn't long before he caught up with the object of his attentions, which turned out to be a teenage boy with black hair and a pigtail.
'Just like the boy that short haired girl was looking for' thought Inuyasha, his curiosity flaring up even more. As he got closer, he saw that the boy was carrying someone. Someone who looked eerily similar to...Kagome?!
Ranma almost fell off the rooftop he was running across when a silver- haired golden-eyed dog-eared person landed right in front of him with an odd mix of caution, anger, concern, and relief displayed on his face.
"What the hell are you doing with Kagome?!" he yelled, pointing at the girl in Ranma's arms. Ranma blinked, unsure of what to do.
"Um...I found her tied up in an old warehouse and rescued her from this evil demon who...looked a lot like you actually." said Ranma, frowning and tightening his grip on Kagome. For all he knew, this could be another demon in alliance with the one he'd fought in the warehouse. The demon's next words completely shattered that theory though.
"Sesshomaru! I'll kill that bastard!" growled the annoyed hanyou, clenching his clawed fists threateningly.
"So..." said Ranma, trying to decipher the situation "I take it you know this girl?"
Inuyasha nodded and Ranma held her out to Inuyasha, who carefully took her from the pigtailed boy. Ranma turned to leave, but Inuyasha stopped him.
"Hey!"
Ranma turned around to face Inuyasha again, and was startled to see him almost smiling.
"Thanks for saving her."
Ranma grinned. "No problem." he replied quickly, jumping onto the next rooftop and continuing his way home.
Inuyasha looked down at Kagome, frowning. How had Sesshomaru gotten to her? He thought she was supposed to be with Botan right now, trying to convince him not to jump in that spring.
'Well' he reasoned 'I'm sure she'll explain everything when she wakes up.'
Sighing, he looked up again and tried to figure out how to get back to the Higurashi shrine. Kagome needed to get home. He'd just have to...convince Yusuke to put out that disgusting cigarette. Smirking, he silently rejoiced as he spotted the Goshinboku tree in the distance.
Ataru almost had a heart attack when his cell phone began ringing.
"Hello?" he asked quietly, knowing exactly who it was.
"What's your current situation?" asked Sesshomaru's voice over the line.
"Higurashi's been kidnapped and Botan's out looking for her. What's the deal? I thought you were going to leave them to me?"
Sesshomaru replied in his trademark apathetic voice. "Ataru, you're a very good actor and an excellent mole, but you're a sympathetic fool. I knew you wouldn't be able to hurt those girls even if you were ordered to. Your only mission now is to make sure Botan fails to stop Inuyasha. If you must, throw him in the spring yourself. You know what happens if you fail, right?"
Ataru swallowed nervously. "Yes, Mr. Sesshomaru."
"Good." said Sesshomaru, hanging up.
Ataru turned off his phone and set it down just as Botan (Inuyasha form) walked back into the clearing.
"I didn't find her." she confessed sullenly.
"I'm sure she'll be fine" reassured Ataru, smiling up at her.
Botan nodded slightly, sitting down to dig through Kagome's pack for a flask of hot water and trying desperately to act as if she hadn't heard his entire conversation with Sesshomaru.
A/N: School is almost over. I can smell summer already and I'm itching to finish this so that I can begin working on other things again. The stress is finally gone and I'm back to my usual, carefree happy self. Unfortunately, I've decided to ditch "A Locked Soul"; my reasons being that I've turned it into an original story and also I've got many other projects that I consider more important at this time. Sorry folks, but I guess you'll never get to find out what happened to the village. Don't worry though, I've got other things planned. River of Sorrow is going strong and that fanfic is so much better than this it's not even funny. I reread Off to Jusenkyo We Go and I cringed throughout the whole thing. shudder I'm definitely rewriting this.
Chapter 12: The Truth
Ataru sighed dismally as he stared up at the starry sky. No matter how long he lay there, he just couldn't fall asleep. Numbly lifting his arm again, he glanced at his watch.
2:34am
"I hope the girls are ok..." he whispered to himself.
Botan paused for a minute, surveying her surroundings. Taking a whiff of the air, she cursed silently, realizing that Kagome's scent, which had been fading steadily, was no longer detectable.
Sitting down heavily on the damp forest floor, Botan tried to come up with a plan. But try as she might, nothing came to mind. She hadn't a clue where Kagome was.
'I might as well head back' she thought sadly, slowly getting up and trudging back through the forest, all her hope of finding Kagome was lost to the wind.
"What's happened to you Kagome..." she whispered, feeling tears slide down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, grimacing as she looked down at the claws she was so unused to seeing.
"This is all your fault you stupid Hanyou."
Ranma stared dumbly at the man in front of him.
"Wh-what are you?!"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed.
"Don't make me repeat myself boy." he said coldly, glaring daggers at Ranma.
Ranma didn't even flinch. He was used to threats by now. But what exactly was this man? There was no way he could be human! Had he bound and gagged this girl? Well, whatever he was, nobody called him a little boy and lived. Without so much as a word of warning, he attacked.
Sesshomaru wasted no time conjuring his poison whip and trying to melt Ranma with it, but the boy was annoyingly fast for a human and dodged it every time. Ranma was, however, beginning to realize that his fists alone were no match for the person in front of him. Maybe the Hiryu Shoten Ha would work, but he couldn't get the man to move, and he didn't seem to possess a battle aura...just a weird swirl of evil energy. Was he a demon? In any case, Ranma knew he had to do something quickly. Dodging the green glowing whip once more, Ranma vaulted off of the ceiling, pooling energy in the palms of his hands. Just as Sesshomaru drew back his arm to lash at Ranma again, the young martial artist launched his attack.
"Mouku Takabisha!" yelled Ranma, releasing the enormous orb of ki from his hands. Sesshomaru, completely unprepared and not expecting such an attack from a human, didn't think to move out of the way. There was a loud crackling noise as the energy collided with the dog demon, and he was knocked through the wall of the small, dank room; out cold and bruised badly.
Breathing heavily, Ranma landed lightly on the ground and walked over to the girl, quickly untying her. There was no telling how fast that demon would recover. Carefully scooping Kagome into his arms, Ranma leapt out of the window and headed for the Tendo dojo.
Inuyasha was bored out of his mind. He'd had to leave the Higurashi shrine because Yusuke had decided to light up a cigarette and Inuyasha couldn't stand the stench. Now he was wandering aimlessly around Tokyo, without anything to do or anyone to talk to. It never crossed his mind that he might get lost, but soon he looked around and realized, with impending doom, that he hadn't a clue where he was. His attention was diverted from his current situation, however, when he noticed something darting across some faraway rooftops. For lack of anything more interesting to do, he followed.
It wasn't long before he caught up with the object of his attentions, which turned out to be a teenage boy with black hair and a pigtail.
'Just like the boy that short haired girl was looking for' thought Inuyasha, his curiosity flaring up even more. As he got closer, he saw that the boy was carrying someone. Someone who looked eerily similar to...Kagome?!
Ranma almost fell off the rooftop he was running across when a silver- haired golden-eyed dog-eared person landed right in front of him with an odd mix of caution, anger, concern, and relief displayed on his face.
"What the hell are you doing with Kagome?!" he yelled, pointing at the girl in Ranma's arms. Ranma blinked, unsure of what to do.
"Um...I found her tied up in an old warehouse and rescued her from this evil demon who...looked a lot like you actually." said Ranma, frowning and tightening his grip on Kagome. For all he knew, this could be another demon in alliance with the one he'd fought in the warehouse. The demon's next words completely shattered that theory though.
"Sesshomaru! I'll kill that bastard!" growled the annoyed hanyou, clenching his clawed fists threateningly.
"So..." said Ranma, trying to decipher the situation "I take it you know this girl?"
Inuyasha nodded and Ranma held her out to Inuyasha, who carefully took her from the pigtailed boy. Ranma turned to leave, but Inuyasha stopped him.
"Hey!"
Ranma turned around to face Inuyasha again, and was startled to see him almost smiling.
"Thanks for saving her."
Ranma grinned. "No problem." he replied quickly, jumping onto the next rooftop and continuing his way home.
Inuyasha looked down at Kagome, frowning. How had Sesshomaru gotten to her? He thought she was supposed to be with Botan right now, trying to convince him not to jump in that spring.
'Well' he reasoned 'I'm sure she'll explain everything when she wakes up.'
Sighing, he looked up again and tried to figure out how to get back to the Higurashi shrine. Kagome needed to get home. He'd just have to...convince Yusuke to put out that disgusting cigarette. Smirking, he silently rejoiced as he spotted the Goshinboku tree in the distance.
Ataru almost had a heart attack when his cell phone began ringing.
"Hello?" he asked quietly, knowing exactly who it was.
"What's your current situation?" asked Sesshomaru's voice over the line.
"Higurashi's been kidnapped and Botan's out looking for her. What's the deal? I thought you were going to leave them to me?"
Sesshomaru replied in his trademark apathetic voice. "Ataru, you're a very good actor and an excellent mole, but you're a sympathetic fool. I knew you wouldn't be able to hurt those girls even if you were ordered to. Your only mission now is to make sure Botan fails to stop Inuyasha. If you must, throw him in the spring yourself. You know what happens if you fail, right?"
Ataru swallowed nervously. "Yes, Mr. Sesshomaru."
"Good." said Sesshomaru, hanging up.
Ataru turned off his phone and set it down just as Botan (Inuyasha form) walked back into the clearing.
"I didn't find her." she confessed sullenly.
"I'm sure she'll be fine" reassured Ataru, smiling up at her.
Botan nodded slightly, sitting down to dig through Kagome's pack for a flask of hot water and trying desperately to act as if she hadn't heard his entire conversation with Sesshomaru.
A/N: School is almost over. I can smell summer already and I'm itching to finish this so that I can begin working on other things again. The stress is finally gone and I'm back to my usual, carefree happy self. Unfortunately, I've decided to ditch "A Locked Soul"; my reasons being that I've turned it into an original story and also I've got many other projects that I consider more important at this time. Sorry folks, but I guess you'll never get to find out what happened to the village. Don't worry though, I've got other things planned. River of Sorrow is going strong and that fanfic is so much better than this it's not even funny. I reread Off to Jusenkyo We Go and I cringed throughout the whole thing. shudder I'm definitely rewriting this.
