A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed: inuyashafreak32 (lol my friend has that same habit!), DragonDemon000, titant6, PisxiePam, sailor-saturn550, purplefr0g, sabster, nomad, AlixMM. Huggles to all u peeps who took the time to review; thx so much!!
I'm very down right now since I officially have the cold (it's still summer, for god sakes!!!) and I'm not allowed to go ANYWHERE! so I'm beyond ticked. /Sigh/ Well more time for fanfics, huh? Anyways enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: C'mon, say it with me....Inuyasha's not mine!
Yume's muscles were ready for this. While Inuyasha yelled and grasped the arrow in his hand, Yume leapt in front of Kagome. The arrow pierced her armor despite it looking rather fragile and lodged itself deep within her chest cavity. Inuyasha was standing protectively beside Kagome by then and watched Yume hit the ground with the arrow shaft sticking out of her chest. His eyes were wide and she could smell his rage before she blacked out.
Kagome released her own arrow the moment she was sure Yume wasn't going to receive hers as well as Kikyou's. The arrow, unlike Kikyou's, became enveloped in a brilliant pink light as it flew the few feet between the two women. Kikyou watched as it grew nearer and no fear entered those dead eyes, she just waited patiently until the arrow lodged itself into her own chest. The arrowhead pierced the jewel shards and flung them clear through, three of them, and they landed lightly on the ground. Besides that, nothing else happened. Kikyou seemed immune to the power within the arrow.Kagome could hardly believe she had just shot Kikyou, her rival for Inuyasha, her ancestor. But it had come as instinct; shoot the shooter, become the predator or become prey. Still, as she ran to get the jewel shards, her mouth had dropped open and her eyes grew wide in shock."K-Kikyou.... how...dare you!" Inuyasha growled and his hand went for Tetsusaiga."Now," Kikyou said simply.Kagome watched as the hundreds of demons flew past Kikyou. They filled her whole field of vision, they seemed to block out the very sun and brilliant blue sky.As they approached and surrounded them, Kagome had the feeling of being in the middle of a tornado. Demons were tearing at her clothing, ripping the bow out of her hands, grabbing at her hair and wrenching her head back. She cried out loudly, but she was sure her cry was being mingled with others.
Miroku was going to suck them up in his Kazaan, but Naraku's bees were amid the swirling mass of demons as well and he couldn't risk it. Sango was whacking as many of them as she could, but the demons just seemed to be replaced by ten times more, filling in the way she figured they would escape from.
All of the demons were scratching at her and biting her. She let out her own cry of pain as a rather nasty bite appeared on her shoulder, tearing away her battle suit as well as the outer dress she wore.
Shippo stood huddled behind Sango's legs. He felt completely useless, he had tried every trick he knew and none of them were fazing the demons. The demon's aura itself was getting to him, making him feel hopeless as well as helpless, and he could feel them trying to get a good latch on any part of his body. Terrified they were going to suck him in, he let out a horrible little screech and clutched onto Sango's leg tighter.Inuyasha finally had Tetsusaiga out and fully transformed, but the demons were too close for him to use the Kaze No Kizu. He could hardly sense the wound in this swirling mass and all of his friends seemed to have disappeared in it.He couldn't see any of them except for Kagome, who was being torn up right in front of him. His anger, and fear that Kagome would die, made him all the more adrenaline rushed, all the more enraged.
Yume was starting to wake, slowly and painfully, but she was starting to wake. She could feel all the demons around her, knowing at her unconscious form, but mostly she could feel the arrow's power pulsating slightly in her breast. With a growl, she broke of the shaft and pushed the arrow out of her body through her back. She repressed a yelp, then opened her eyes and threw the arrow as far as she could. What she saw made her eyes widen.Everyone was somewhat scattered throughout the funnel of demons attacking them. They were hunched over, using various weapons and limps to shield themselves from random attacks. Each person was bloody and their clothing tattered, but they continued to shield and fight as much as they could.Inuyasha himself only held his sword out with one hand, pressing Kagome to his chest possessively, and using the sword whenever a demon tried to get their claws on Kagome.
A thought came to her suddenly. If this was a funnel, then there should be an opened up, towards the sky. Her head snapped back, exposing her neck for the briefest of moments, and looked hard at the sky. It seemed the funnel went on forever, but she could see the opening where a small piece of blue sky could be seen. Demons passed across that hole randomly, but they didn't have the smarts to close it. That will do, she thought to herself."INUYASHA!" She yelled over the noise of the demons.Inuyasha
looked over at her, squinting in the gloom. She used a single clawed
digit to point up at the sky and he bent his own head to look. His
expression grew surprised and then went right to grinning
triumphantly. Yume made a 'give me' motion with her hands and
Inuyasha nodded. He made his way quickly over to her and handed her
Kagome, then spoke close to her ears so she could hear him.
"Get
everyone out, I'll do the rest!"
They figured they'd be more weight and they might not make it out. Yume nodded and watched as Sango first, Miroku second, and Shippo third climbed onto Kirara's back. Miroku motioned to take Kagome, but Yume shook her head. Inuyasha was trusting her with Kagome, Yume would make sure she got out. He nodded and looked back at Sango.
"UP!" Sango ordered and Kirara roared back in reply.Yume watched for a moment as the large cat demon sat back on her haunches, front paws leaving the ground, and pushed up with her hind legs. She flew straight up very quickly and, the demons stunned momentarily that their prey was leaving, she made great progress. They left the funnel with little opposition, but Yume knew her trail would be a little tougher. The demons were now facing her as they spun dizzily, waiting for her to make her move."Well, this is it." She said to Kagome, right in her ear.
She clasped Kagome tighter to her and gave Inuyasha one last look. He nodded back with a grin, clasping his sword with two hands. He then yelled that they should get as far away as physically possible the moment they got out. Yume nodded in reply before preparing to spring.
Demon hands, claws, and tentacles reached out to snag her but she just snarled and slashed the limbs off angrily. She sprung the moment she felt no opposition, as hard as she could push off the ground, and watched as the patch of blue sky grew closer and closer while Inuyasha grew farther and father away. The demons were now screeching their anger and causing the funnel to spin ever closer to her, pressing in and grabbing at any part of her body they could. Determination filled her features and she used each demon stupid enough to get close to her as a leaping pad, jumping on their body and pushing off for extra speed.
One demon latched onto her leg and bit into it hard. She roared in pain, but continued her upward retreat, stepping on one last demon and pushing off one last time. By then she was greeted by blinding light and a blue sky. She immediately slashed the demon's head off attached to her leg, but still the head would not let go. And she was a little too high to worry about that.
The ground was rising to meet her and she knew her leg would take the ground rather painfully. Damnit! She growled to herself, flipping in mid air to further escape the tunnel and landing very hard on a high branch in a tree. The demon's head took a chunk out of her leg as it came free and she howled in pain again. Kagome looked at her in concern, but Yume was growling. She stood up despite the pain and blood and went on leaping.She encountered Kirara a few yards down and used her free hand to motion them to continue. When they didn't understand, and she grew nearer, she started yelling to them.
"GO!
Come on, GO!" she yelled, leaping past them from tree top to
tree top.
They followed behind the speeding figure with mingled
curiosity and confusion. Yume wasn't acting like they knew her to
act, she was a totally different person right now. Hurting as they
were, they continued to follow as fast as Kirara could go, always a
few feet behind Yume herself.
Kagome nodded slowly, painfully in her arms. "Yes, it's called the Kaze No Kizu. The Tetsusaiga...it holds that power. Inuyasha only just learned how to do it."Yume still looked completely stunned. Her look would have been comical if there wasn't the blood running down her face. Kagome watched her expression turn from stunned to surprise then quickly turn to rage. Quickly, she forced Kagome behind her and stood up on the branch she had chosen to rest on."That bitch is back," Yume growled.Kagome instantly understood what she was talking about. So the Kaze No Kitsu hadn't desecrated Kikyou when Inuyasha had released it. And the way Yume was snarling Kagome guessed she was still pissed about the arrow in the chest. Of course, Kagome would be rather angry too, except for the fact that if an arrow went through her like it went through Yume, she'd also be rather dead."Yes, I am back, Demon." The cold voice went right through Yume's ears and her growl worsened.
Kikyou showed up a few seconds later, her Soul Gatherers helping her float up to the high branch, and faced Yume. Yume wanted so badly to reach out and just rake her claws through that woman's dead flesh, but she was just out of reach. Kikyou raised an eyebrow at her and spoke through slightly clenched teeth.
"I'll
be seeing you again, Demon," she said quietly before floating on
her way.
Yume snarled her reply and glanced back down at Kagome.
Kagome didn't look back up at her, just stared at her open palms. Her
clothing was ripped to the point that barely kept her decent and
slashes were seen all around her body.
Nothing too major, as far as Yume
could tell, but there were a lot of cuts and bruises and one small
bite mark. That reminded Yume of her own and looked down at her
abused leg. It was gushing blood all right, but she knew she'd be
fine in a few days time. For the moment, she needed to find something
to wrap Kagome up with and ignore her own pain, her own wounds.
She
looked up at Miroku and saw him taking off what remained of his outer
rob. "Hey, Miroku! Throw that down here!" she yelled.
"Yume? Are you alright?" Kagome asked, noticing the blood running from both her leg and chest.Yume nodded and waved her hand. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Demon, remember?" she asked with a smile. "These wounds should be gone in a few days. Besides, I barely feel them!" Now there's a white lie. She thought, grimacing slightly and turning it into a smile."Kagome!"All heads turned to watch as Inuyasha landed on a branch close to Kagome's, concern etched into his face. He couldn't see any of her wounds, they were hidden by the monk's robe, and that made his concern escalate. How bad were they? He asked himself, sniffing the air, but it didn't help. The air was filled with everyone's blood, including Kagome's."How'd it go, Inuyasha?" Sango asked from above them, still sitting upon Kirara.
Inuyasha didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached over and tapped Kagome's shoulder. She shook her head slightly. Inuyasha let out a small sigh of relief, so the wounds weren't as bad as he thought. Kagome would tell him if they were bad. Still, he wanted to get her somewhere safe, somewhere where she could recuperate."Come on, we'll find a cave or something." Inuyasha said as he scooped Kagome up.
He looked back at Yume and smiled slightly. Yume smiled back and put her thumb up. No problem, she seemed to say and that made his smile widen. Then, carefully with Kagome in his arms, he leaped forward.
It took ten minutes for them to find a place suitable for them to rest. Each person was weary and wounded, Yume and Kagome seemingly the worst. Sango didn't have much more than a few scratches and the one large bite on her shoulder, but the reason being was her boomer rang.
Without it as a shield, she would have had a lot worse. Miroku seemed to be alright as well. Having his outer robe and inner robe on, the demons didn't have much skin to tear at. They barely got to his body when Yume had told them about the escape route. Shippo had a few deeper wounds, but he was also lower to the ground and not many demons felt like going after him. Kirara had a few deep wounds as well, but not horrible ones.
The cave they settled in had a musty smell to it, but it was relatively dry. In the gloom none of the humans could make out much except for various figures near the entrance. Yume could tell that the cave went deeper, she could hear the sounds of water and see through the dark as if it was day. Inuyasha could also see through the dark and had been the first to venture in, ridding it of any pests that might do them harm. After a while, he had left to grab Kagome's dropped backpack. When he returned, Miroku had a fire going and Sango had started tending Kirara's wound with her sachet she had around her waist.
Inuyasha fished through Kagome's pack for her and handed her some new clothing. He also pulled out the medical kit Kagome always brought with her and pulled it open. Gauze, bandages, and antiseptic rolled out of the box.Kagome went off into a dark corner to get dressed. Yume followed her and helped her, tending to the wounds with the antiseptic she had stolen from Inuyasha and the bandages as well. When Kagome was all wrapped up, she put the new clothing on over the bandages and thanked her. Yume told her to think nothing of it and they went back to the fire side in silence.After everyone was bandaged, they fell asleep. The fire burned on throughout the rest of the day and half the night before it quietly died. Miroku slept beside Sango, a form of protection through the night he had told her and Sango submitted with firm threats of what would happen if his hands roamed. To tell the truth, she felt grateful and much better with Miroku sleeping by her side. Kirara curled up next to Sango's head.
Yume didn't sleep, just watched the others.
She was particularly amused at how Inuyasha flatly refused to have Kagome sleep by herself. After a few arguments, Kagome had sighed and leaned against Inuyasha. He wrapped his arm protectively around her before nodding off himself, completely unaware of the raised eyebrow Miroku had given him. When she was sure everyone was asleep, including Shippo who was curled up in Kagome's lap, Yume stood up and walked deeper into the cave.
There wasn't much to see. The cave widened out and then formed a fork, the right tunnel leading down an even darker place, while the left seemed to be the same thing, only with a very dangerous cliff at the end. At the bottom of the cliff was running water. At least now Yume knew where the sound of water was coming from. The right tunnel lead to an even wider opening with another fork. She sighed and went back the way she came, sniffing the air to help find her way to the others.By the time she got back, night had fallen and Inuyasha was stirring. She sat down and made like she had slept peacefully, yawning and stretching exaggeratedly. Inuyasha stared at her suspiciously before looking down at Kagome in his arms. She was now pretty much sleeping in his lap, one arm draped across his lap with her head on his chest. Shippo had his head against Inuyasha's leg, the rest of his body still resting on Kagome. He growled slightly and Kagome stirred, her ear against his chest."Shh, let her sleep, Inuyasha," Yume whispered quietly to him."I am!" he snipped at her and she shrugged.
"Fine then. I'm going to get some more sleep. Wake me in the morning."When morning came and light shone in through the mouth of the cave, everyone stirred and awoke with the exception of Inuyasha. They stretched stiff limbs and sore muscles, but the morning was cheery and aroused them in a good mood. Kagome had one of the best sleeps she had in years and awoke totally refreshed, even if her body ached in response to her movement. Inuyasha was still holding her, sleeping like a baby, and she giggled.
Inuyasha woke to the sound of her giggling and opened his eyes slowly, yawning. When his eyes focused and landed on Kagome, his face turned crimson and he quickly turned his face away, white hair covering his face. That made her laugh again before she stood up and stretched again. Inuyasha "feh"ed half-heartedly and Yume caught the smile on his face.
"Inuyasha, you little mutt!" she said quietly, merrily. "Kagome and you are the best mate-couple I have seen in years!"Inuyasha blushed even deeper at her words and fehed. "We're not a mate-couple yet, Yume. I don't believe Kagome will be into that yet." He then choked on his own words. That made Yume laugh.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. But she'll come around sooner or later, probably after you finish the marking!" Yume grinned at the look Inuyasha was giving her. "Oh, that reminds me. When you're ready to finish the marking, take Kagome to my den. I have something for her."Inuyasha raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What?"
Yume wagged her finger in the air. "I can't tell you! It's for the female, not the male, though your father entrusted something to me a long time ago that I have to give you too. Just...when you make up your mind to finish, come to my den. It's all still there, under very high protection."That caught Inuyasha's curiosity, but he knew she wouldn't tell him until the time came. And he wasn't sure the time would be any time soon. He wasn't ready to finish the marking and he wasn't sure Kagome was ready either.Yume peered into the cave deliberately, leaving him to his own thoughts and sparing him the embarrassment of watching his face turn redder. Inuyasha must be thinking of the night after the marking. She thought with a wider smile. Geez, he's still such a puppy.A sudden cry caught everyone's attention and all heads turned quickly in Kagome's direction. But she was looking farther into the cave with her eyes wide and both hands clutching her chest. In the morning, she looked somewhat like a mummy, with gauze wrappings wrapped fully around her left leg, some of her right leg, all of her right arm and hand, and a large bandage on her left hand.
Inuyasha quickly ran up to her, thinking she had seen something farther into the cave. His hand went to the hilt of Tetsusaiga."What is it, a demon?" He asked and watched as she nodded.
"I think so, but that's not why I cried out! There's a jewel shard, I can feel it! It's down there, farther into the cave!" she exclaimed, pointing into the darkness.
Yume watched her, then looked father down into the cave. She had been down there and hadn't seen the pink shards that had come from Kikyou the day before. She had seen those small pink things Kagome had in her pocket when she was helping cloth her. Was that what Kagome was talking about?"Let's go then!" Inuyasha said in anticipation.
"Wait," Yume advised. "There are a lot of forks in the cave and it's pretty dark. Not everyone here can see down there, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha seemed to think that over and nodded. "You guys stay here. We'll go get the jewel shard and be back quick."
Sango, Miroku, and Kagome seemed ready to object but Yume had put her hand up to silence them, her eyes on Kagome. "You can feel them, correct? Can you see them too?"
When Kagome nodded, she nodded back. "Alright. You go with us, we'll need your help."
Inuyasha glared at Yume and she shrugged in defiance. Inuyasha wanted Kagome to stay where it was safe, but he knew he wouldn't be able to tell where the jewel shard was. With an exasperated sigh, he agreed with the commands before adding something."Kagome, stay close to me. It is dark and I don't want you falling down a hole or something."
"I'll ride on your back then, if that's alright." Kagome suggested and Inuyasha nodded.
Yume turned back to look at the other humans. "You guys stay here. If we need help, I'll howl. Trust me, you'll be able to hear it."
Sango smiled and nodded. "Fine then, just promise you'll be careful."
While Yume placed her thumb in the air and winked, Kagome answered. "We promise. We'll call if we need help!"
And with Kagome on his back and Yume following behind, Inuyasha ran forward into darkness.
The forks in the 'road' came upon them and Inuyasha, running ahead of Yume with Kagome clinging blindly to his back, stopped suddenly. His ears flicked to attention as he tried to peer through both tunnel entrances. The left mouth of darkness continued to echo the sounds of running water while the right sat deadly and forbidding, as silent as death itself. Yume, who had encountered both while the others had slept, raised an eyebrow at Inuyasha's hesitation to pick one.
"Well, Inuyasha? Which one?" She whispered. Caves made you do that, the stillness made you whisper for fear, or anxiousness, of what might hear you father ahead.Inuyasha shrugged and Yume watched as Kagome clung tighter, eyes restlessly looking about. For a sinking moment, Yume suspected that Kagome might be claustrophobic. She could definitely smell the change in her scent, something that told Yume she had become deathly afraid, but her will was overcoming that fear and Yume shook the feeling off.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, walking closer to both tunnels for a better whiff. "Nothing. I can't get anything, it's all dead still! Damnit!" He growled and swung his head from left to right."I can tell you what's in the left tunnel. Nothing but a cliff with a rather nasty drop off into a stream. I can't really say what's in the right one. When I had entered, it was just another chamber with another two tunnels."
Inuyasha peered back over his shoulder, past Kagome's head. "You mean to tell me you went in here alone while we were sleeping?" Yume nodded and Inuyasha fehed. "No wonder it smells like you, just mustier.""Hey! Don't take that tone with me, mister smart-ass. I'm a grown wolf, I can handle myself." Yume growled, though her tone stayed playful and cheerful."Um...guys? Can we just pick a tunnel, it's really dark." Kagome's voice, strong but with a slight waver of the syllables, spoke up.
Yume suddenly burst into quiet chuckles. "Sorry, Kagome, let's get going. So which tunnel, Inuyasha?"Inuyasha was silent for a moment. There really was only one way to make sure there wasn't anything in the left one but water and that was to go down it again. Maybe farther than Yume had on her first trip. With a sigh, he turned back to the patiently waiting wolf-demon."Kagome and I will head down the right one. We'll sniff out the chamber, as you said there was," He stared at her and seemed to wait for her to contradict herself. When she didn't and glared back at him, he went on, "and probably pick another tunnel. You go down the left one and make sure there aren't any rouge demons around. If there really is only a cliff, come back and take the right one. You should be able to catch our scent from there, if we move on."Yume smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "Becoming the little leader now, aren't ya?" She asked before flying past him and entering the left tunnel. "Have fun, you two! See you in a bit!"
Kagome looked around over Inuyasha's shoulder, though it was darker than any night she had lived through and couldn't make out a thing. Tugging gently at Inuyasha's forelock to get his attention, she whispered into his ear, or where she imagined his ear would be."She's a strange one. And she took care of you?""I heard that!"
Inuyasha grinned through the dark when he heard Kagome eep and duck behind Inuyasha's shoulder, clinging tightly. He brought his hands back to her legs and pushed her a little higher onto his back, keeping his hands upon her thighs for a little longer than nessacary, but, if Kagome noticed, she didn't say anything.With another grin, Inuyasha made his way towards the right tunnel and entered it's dark mouth.
Yume walked a few meters and stopped near the edge of the cliff, as she knew she would. During her walk she had placed both her hands behind her head and walked as if she was sunbathing, humming an ancient tune to herself. It was going to be rather boring down this tunnel. She thought with a sigh and a shake of her head, arms dropping to her side. What I need is a demon to maim.That thought put a grin on her lips and her arms instantly resumed to move back behind her head. She glanced down over the cliff edge and saw nothing interesting in particular. Just a small looking river about a half a mile down with the wall of the cliff jutting out huge rocks as if to break a fall. Except Yume knew the rocks wouldn't just break the fall, it would also break someone's unlucky neck. Again, for some reason, that thought brought a grin to her face and she sat down upon the cliff's edge. A pebble lay against her palm and she picked it up.Regular
rock. She observed on a closer look. With a much exaggerated heave,
she tossed the rock over the cliffs edge.
Her pointed ears
listened to the rock tumbling down the embankment even though her
face showed the signs of indifference. But when the rock clinked on
something prematurely, she knew it couldn't have hit water that soon,
and the something started a wild hissing, she perked up and became
wildly on guard.
She peered over the steep cliff again except this time with a more watchful eye. Half of the river's side right beneath her was covered by the giant rocks jutting from the side of the cliff and she growled in frustration. She couldn't see anything besides rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Leaning dangerously over the side and craning her neck, she fought for any visible sign of what had hissed, sniffing the air very carefully. But no scent came up to her, the air was too dead. All she could catch was a musty, watery, slimy smell. Not like that was much help...Risking even more danger by hooking her feet against a rock and leaning more over the edge, she scanned both river and the one side of the river edge she could make out clearly. Still nothing. And then, while still hanging pretty dangerously, it happened.
It came seemingly from no where, straight up. The huge, open mouth missed Yume's head by millimeters and flew another ten feet above her before falling back down a bit to come eye level. By then, Yume had let out a started yelp and windmilled her arms backwards, but her foot hold on the rock was gone and she was tipping, tipping, until finally she spun head over heels off the cliff.The cave spun around her. One second she was staring at the jutting rocks, the next her own knees, then the water below, the huge head coming down for her, then the rocks again and so on and so forth.Kami-sama, that things going to swallow me WHOLE!While Yume was falling off the cliff, Inuyasha and Kagome had already picked two different tunnels at two different forks. They led to an empty chamber with no more tunnels, just dark and huge. Inuyasha cursed so bad he could have made a sailor blush before back tracking and taking the other tunnel.That tunnel was the same as the last. A huge, empty chamber with no more tunnels leading any farther. Growling in rage for he knew the jewel shard must be in one of these damn tunnels, he back tracked again and took yet another tunnel.
By then, Kagome was struggling with her growing fear. She was terrified of dark places, not to mention dark, dank, and enclosed spaces.
With a demon running loose to boot. Inuyasha was there to protect her, sure, and she trusted him with her life, but how would he protect her if she has a panic attack and harms herself? She didn't know, but she determinedly told herself she would not panic, she'd make it through this as long as she was with Inuyasha.
Inuyasha didn't notice the constant changing in Kagome's scent, he was too busy with his own thoughts, concerns, decisions, and those freakin' tunnels as he liked to call them. All he needed to do was continue to reassure himself that Kagome was still on his back by hoisting her higher, making sure she 'didn't fall'. Once he had reassured himself, his thoughts went right back to their normal road, will he or won't he finish the marking? Which tunnel should he take next? What type of demon had the jewel shard? Where was this demon? Will Kagome be alright in the dark while I fight it? So many questions building up in his mind caused him to be antsy and anxious for the battle to begin...and to end.The tunnel he had chosen didn't exactly end the same way the others had. This time, the tunnel lead to six other different tunnels, all spread out before Inuyasha the moment he entered the stone chamber. His frustration at all these wounding caves worked its way out of his mouth through a very loud, very angry snarl.He felt Kagome jump on his back and reassured her it was only him by caressing her hair lightly with one hand. She calmed after that and Inuyasha went back to choosing another tunnel.
Any one will do, just pick one! Inuyasha growled at himself angrily before once again eyeing each tunnel mouth. Either that or go back the way you came and forget about it! He knew he wasn't about to head back after getting so far and growled softly to himself. Fine. That one. He told himself before pointing his head far to the left, head down a tunnel almost at a perfect right angle to himself. Kagome gasped lightly at his sudden, powerful movement and clutched tighter."DAMNIT!"Inuyasha stopped short and Kagome almost flew over his shoulders at the sudden stop, wincing slightly at his echoing yell. She guessed they had stopped in another tunnel-less chamber. She had to guess, for she couldn't see to tell. The darkness was surrounding her and her breathing became slightly raspy, but she continued to fight off her fear.Curses rolled off Inuyasha's tongue freely, echoing back at him and enveloping him in his own voice. That made his anger worse and he cursed a few more times before heading deeper into the cavern. It was far bigger than the ones he had come across before, the ceiling itself had to be higher than the Goshinboku, much higher in fact. It was just a very dark hole in the middle of the mountain, nothing more nothing less.Inuyasha walked around the cavern in disbelief. All those tunnels and he chose the one that ended just like the two before this one. His luck, always his lousy luck. His face screwed up in a nasty snarl, but no sound escaped through his bared fangs. At this rate, it'd take him four years to find the demon with the jewel shard, forget it being short.Kagome gasped suddenly behind him and clenched his shoulders as tight as her hands could. "It's here! The jewel shard is in here! Can you see anything, Inuyasha?" Her voice was urgent, but she was speaking very softly.Inuyasha's head instantly swung around and his eyes grew even more watchful. There wasn't any light this far down for his eyes to see clearly through, but it also wasn't complete darkness. It was just gloomier than usual. Still, he could see nothing within the cavern."Where, Kagome? Can you see it?" He felt Kagome shake her head against his back.
"I can feel it moving around here, somewhere. It's like it's in the walls!"As if on cue, a tremendous rumbling started straight ahead of them. Inuyasha growled and stood in a defensive position, leaving Kagome to hang on or move away. Since she didn't have a clue as to where she would go, Kagome hung on even more tightly with her knees as well as her hands.
The wall directly in front of Inuyasha burst outwards a
nd a hoard of various tiny creatures came racing forward. Inuyasha almost laughed in surprise. Just normal, everyday bats, rats, and snakes. Those creatures, mortal enemies in life, came rushing forward, stopping once they reached Inuyasha's feet. Inuyasha's eyes grew wide in surprise.
"Eh? Just rats and snakes? No demons? And with all that noise and rumbling, I thought there was a demon!" Inuyasha said aloud, perhaps a little too soon.A gigantic hiss caught his attention and he instantly looked up, growling in response. The heavy scent of snake, rat, and bat masked the arrival of the new beast. Kagome, a little perplexed and anxious despite herself, looked up and almost yelped in surprise."Whatever that is, it's carrying the jewel shard!" She yelled, pointing up. "And if that's it's head, it's hiding in there!"Inuyasha nodded grimly before reaching behind him and gently unhooking Kagome from his back. The beast that stood before him was neither one creature nor two parts of one. It was like a Griffin, except with a mixture between the three swarms of creatures standing patiently before him.
Or flying or slithering before him. The head was a giant bats head, horribly disfigured with ears that touched the ceiling of the cavern itself, huge bug like eyes, and the fur had been replaced with slimy looking brown scales. The rest of it's body was like a snake's, long, thick, and coiled though this was covered in a combination of dark scales and tuffs of fur.
Two small, paw like hands emerged from where arms would have been. In replacement for fingers it had thick curved claws, each at least the size of Tetsusaiga though not as thick.
Kagome had not pointed at the creature's head, but somewhere near the middle of it, which went to show Inuyasha how little she thought the demon was. He didn't want to alarm her by telling her the thing was way bigger than she thought it was; she seemed alarmed enough by the darkness.Inuyasha reached for Tetsusaiga and pulled it loose, transforming it quickly. The light of the transformation lit up the cavern for just a moment, enough for Kagome to glance at the demon, and her suppressed cries and fear suddenly let themselves out in one long wailing cry.Yume was certainly in a pickle herself. She had stopped her tumbling, though she still fell this time with her back to the ever coming ground, and instead stared straight up, at the jaws coming to lock down at her. She now had an idea what the hell was attacking her. A giant snake, a water snake it seemed, with fangs as long as her arm that dripped green saliva. Disgusting. She thought to herself, a split second before she smashed into the ground.Not even a second later the jaws slammed into the rock around her.
Dazed, and with pain clogging her spinning head, she felt a fang scrape past her arm. A wet, squishy, slimy-(another snake?)-thing wrapped around her midsection and pulled her into the nasty smelling-(cave?)-hole. From there the slimy thing around her tried hard to force her down an equally
nasty smelling-
(tunnel?)-fleshy tube. It was then that her senses came back to her and all too suddenly she realized what was happening. The thing around her midsection turned out to be the snakes long, forked tongue. What she thought was a cave was the snake's huge mouth. The tunnel she was now being forced down, the surprising, fleshy tunnel, was the snake's huge throat. Her eyes snapped open and her clawed hand instant forced themselves through the snake's tender throat muscles.She couldn't breath anymore, there seemed to be no such thing as breath in this dark place. The muscles that throbbed around her, trying to force her down, surpressed her and covered her mouth and nose no matter how many times she twisted away from it. Even if she forced the muscle away from her face, there was no air.
Frantic now, she clawed desperately at the muscle, sliding ever farther down. She could feel her lungs burning for breath, burning for anything but the smothering muscle. Saliva bathed her and made her an easy going meal, sliding right down the dark tube. She had to stop, had to stop the decent. But first she had to get some air!Yume pulled her hand back as far as it would go, which was no farther than a little behind her head, and shoved her claws through the snake's slimy muscle once again. It went straight through with barely an opposition.
She then used that small hole to make a bigger hole, desperately clawing with both hands, lungs burning for breath, the darkness surrounding her vision until all she could see was her hands working in front of her, nothing more. And then, very suddenly, she was tumbling out of the snake's throat and onto the rocks, covered in filth, but sucking in breath like there was no tomorrow. Her hand clasped around her throat as she heaved in her next breath gratefully, then coughed out the disgusting tasting saliva that had managed to penetrate her mouth.
"Fucking
snake's...I've always...hated them." She hissed through
breaths.
She turned around to watch the snake writhing in pain,
but gradually getting over the agony and turning it slowly into rage.
Blind rage. Coiling it's lengthy form, it bent it's head back and
thrust it forward as fast as it could. Aim, Yume.
Yume jumped out of the way the moment she saw the snake's advances, cursed, then landed lightly. Her whole body still ached agonizingly, but she seemed to be feeling it like a far off emotion, the emotion you knew of but couldn't catch to relive it again. Her whole body was alive in rage and adrenaline, placing pain to the side.
"Come on, snaky, let's play!" Yume growled menacingly, a creepy grin twisting her features.Oh boy, she was worse than enraged; she was infuriated. This snake had tried to swallow her whole! And, surprisingly, it almost succeeded! There was no way she was going to let that happen again, she was going to put a stop to that for sure. This snake had picked the wrong demon to mess with, it should have just slithered off and captured a much less threatening meal.This time, when the snake's head lunged toward her, she stayed her ground. The snake's head loomed closer and closer, she could smell it's foul breath and see the ham sized yellow eyes growing even larger, until she finally made a move. She didn't leap away, as would be expected, instead she jumped up to meet the snake's wide open mouth with a yell.Both of her claws suddenly shown a brilliant white and she brought them before her, aiming straight for one of the corners of the snake's gigantic mouth. Her hand tore through the muscle, the scales, and the bone easily. She slashed downwards the moment her claws got a firm hold on the bone and she watched with satisfaction as the right side of it's mouth hung awkwardly.The demon roared with pain, coming out as a loud hiss mixed with what sounded like a growl. Surprised that the demon wasn't running off instantly, Yume landed atop a flat stone with her hands between her knees, crouching slightly as she watched the demon's head turn to look for her.When it found her, it opened was remained of it's broken, ripped jaw, but did not lunge. Instead, it let out a putrid odor. Yume almost passed out with the stench, covering her sensitive nose with both hands while rocking slightly. The stench made her dizzy as well as disoriented.The snake demon took advantage of this state and flicked out it's tail. The tail smashed into Yume's already aching body, flinging her off the rock and back onto the ground near the river. The distant aching came back ten fold and the aching turned to pure agony. Her back felt, and sounded, like it was broken. She could hardly feel her legs, except for a terrible throbbing."Shit."Inuyasha slashed repeatedly at the large, misshapen demon. He was staying away from using the Kaze No Kizu; it would cause a cave in. Kagome had finally stopped screaming and Inuyasha had to turn his head behind him for a split second to make sure her sudden stop didn't mean one of the lesser creatures put a more permanent stop to it. But there was no need for worries, Kagome was leaning against the wall of the cavern with a hand to her fluttering chest and her eyes set where the demon had been. Inuyasha had went back to trying to evade it's attacks and strike it the moment he saw Kagome was alright.But Kagome wasn't all right. She was so close to panicking and racing out of the caves that it scared her even more. That demon...she had seen worse yes, but for some reason it terrified her. And when she saw that the cavern was filled with snakes, bats, and rats; well that just topped the cake.Her legs were itching to run, but she knew that if she ran, she would either get lost, fall down a hole/cliff, or run right into the small army of creatures. All of those consequences for running made staying where she was all the more enjoyable.
Kagome heard Inuyasha cry out in pain and her eyes instantly tried to pinpoint his location, but it was too dark and the cavern echoed his cry of pain. Her heart began to beat harder and her breathing became even more ragged. She was miles into the mountain, under the mountain itself, trapped with a demon, and to top it off, she couldn't see a damned thing.Then she saw it. A glimmer, nothing more, but she knew what that glimmer was. Inuyasha's hair! It must have caught some ray of light, but, how? She couldn't see any ray of light, nothing but darkness, and Inuyasha's hair had disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared. For a moment, she thought she had imagined seeing it, but then it happened again.Sparks! Inuyasha's sword was making sparks against the rock! Thinking rapidly and panicking, turned around and pressed her hands against the stone, picking up a few and scrapping them together. So she had been correct, there was flint down here! The stone's showered sparks all around her with each strike she made. Furiously, she continued to beat rock to flint, surprised that she had even found both flint and rock the first attempt.Now, with the sparks letting off light, she could see somewhat in front of her. It was like a old, slow motion picture. With each waterfall of sparks she formed, she could see Inuyasha and the demon for a second, then darkness, another hit and they were in a different pose. She was reminded strongly of a strobe light, one she herself had had at her birthday party a few years ago. But this showed a much deadlier dance than the dance her friend's had before."Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out when she watched him fly into the wall, then darkness again until she put flint to stone once more.
A shuffling sound came about and she dropped the flint and stone in stunned surprise. The small army of rodents, flying rodents, and reptiles came at her, surrounding her in a circle of hissing teeth.
She let out a small whimper of fear. She was now completely surrounded and on the edge of a panic attack. She never thought herself an ophidiophobic, fear of snakes, but being surrounded by the hissing, slithering creatures made her extremely anxious.
She knew the rats and bats didn't really bother her because all she could think about were all those snakes, all those snakes she couldn't see, all those snakes that were crawling ever closer to her. And then, to make matters worse, her claustrophobia was setting in deeper, taking control, causing her breath to become even worse than ragged, her head to spin, and her knees to feel weak. She didn't even hear herself scream nor feel herself sink down to her knees.
Inuyasha heard the piercing scream clearly and was suddenly very aware that Kagome was not okay. He could hear her rapid heartbeat and her shuddering breaths clearly despite the hissing and snarling. Her scent carried that of panic and finally it clicked.
Kagome was claustrophobic! Damnit!
Well? Just click that tempting lil button down there...;)
