Chapter 3: Plots and Plans

The sky was a dark blue, as the time was right before the sun would rise. The birds were waking and animal life was just starting to stir as the new day was about to begin. Lady Kaede's hut was still quiet, as all the people there were sound asleep, resting their sore bodies and healing their wounds.

Elsewhere, deep in the forest, a tall man with long silver hair and robe-like clothing sat on a patch of grass, looking into the sky where the trees conveniently opened up to give a person a view at the sky. The stars were shining brilliantly, and the man who was staring at them was also gleaming, as the moonlight seemed to be stroking his long, silver hair.

Nearby this man stood a toad-like figure that was the apprentice of the silver-haired man and devoted his life to serve this brilliant man. Also, next to the toad-like creature, slept a little girl, who was not as beautiful as a lot of girls were. She wore rags, and had dirty, rough hair. Her face was covered in mud and dirt and she looked like an orphan.

Another creature lay beside the girl. This beast was one hundred percent demon, with scales and two heads. Each head had its own entity; one being Ah and the other was called Un. They were both named by the little girl, who cares for the beast greatly and in return, this two-headed creature cares for and protects the child. All three were sound asleep except the one with the long, silver hair. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stared into the sky, his eyes looking blank from all vision.

This demon, Sesshomaru, is the brother of the half-demon Inuyasha. He always has plans of eliminating Inuyasha and seemed to be thinking of a trap right now. His comrades, Jaken, the toad-like demon; Rin, the orphan girl who was saved by Sesshomaru's sword; and Ah and Un, the two-headed "pet" of Sesshomaru, were all in deep sleep.

Sesshomaru possessed no jewel shards, but was still an extremely powerful demon. He could easily thwart Inuyasha without breaking a sweat and he made every fight with his brother seem effortless.

His grudge against Inuyasha was because of envy. Sesshomaru wanted the sword that could kill one hundred demons in one swing, the Tetsusaiga. He hated that he inherited the weak Tensaiga from his father; a sword that could save one hundred lives in one swing, although he used it to save Rin.

Lost in thoughts, Sesshomaru started to feel tired after staring at the moon thinking for so long. Although his body thrived to sleep, he struggled to stay awake. He was remembering times where his plans to take the Tetsusaiga from Inuyasha have failed.

He remembered his first encounter with the man disguised in the baboon costume, Naraku. Thinking back at his plans made him angry, but he knew he couldn't attack Naraku basically because Naraku is always hiding and it would be a waste of his time to find him. Still, he was livid thinking of when Naraku tried to deceive him by giving him the arm with the Shikon Jewel shard in it. The shard had burst into flames causing the arm to disintegrate, leaving him with one arm less to fight Inuyasha.

Another failure was when he attacked Inuyasha with the arm he acquired form the dragon he encountered. He was obviously superior Inuyasha in every way…speed, strength, and intelligence. His victory seemed inevitable, but there was one problem. The sword smith Totosai was watching, and had attacked Sesshomaru by encasing him inside a circle of flames. No damage was done to Sesshomaru, but Inuyasha and all of his friends had escaped. Not only had they escaped, but also his main target…the Tetsusaiga.

Ah, he thought to himself, smiling. Why am I reminiscing about my failures? There are too many failures and not enough successes. I can remember when Inuyasha actually hurt me when he sliced the Wind Scar with his precious Tetsusaiga. If only I could have that power, I would be unstoppable!

He clenched his teeth and his fangs where silhouetted in the moonlight, the light showing the sharp and large fangs of the dog-demon Sesshomaru. He was sick and tired of failing to steal Inuyasha's sword, and decided to sleep before thinking of his next plan. He looked around and saw his company.

Just looking at his comrades seemed awkward. A man craving such power, although he his already powerful enough, is accompanied by a toad-like demon who has the fighting spirit of an actual toad, a little orphan girl who barely speaks, and a two-headed creature that nurses this girl.

Yes, it was awkward, he thought, but I wouldn't prefer any other person, creature, or demons to be accompanied with. And with a smile, he dozed off and fell asleep.

. . .

Koga, the wolf-tribe leader, sat in his den sitting Indian-style on a big rock covered in straw, arms folded and eyes closed, thinking about something of great importance to him; he ordered all his tribe members to leave him alone, so he must be thinking of something personal.

"What do you think Koga could possibly be doing in there?" a tribe member called Moka asked his companions, as they all leaned against the door of Koga's hut in hope of hearing something.

"I don't know what he could be possibly doing in there for one hour without making a sound," Ruud replied. "Whatever he is doing, though, he better hurry; we attack in 10 minutes."

Another tribe member suggested, "Maybe he is sleeping?"

"No way," Ruud snapped at the ignorant tribe member, "Koga would never sleep at this time of day! It is not honorable to be sleeping at this time. It is a sign of weakness and laziness, and the wolf tribe has no members with those attributes, especially not our leader."

With that protective speech, the now embarrassed tribe member shied away and went down to his friends to get ready for the hunt. There was about 50 tribe members accompanied by 2 wolves each member. This was a major hunt to require so many people and wolves. They were to finish the Birds of Paradise once and for all. After Inuyasha had slain the leader with the jewel shard and with Koga already possessing three jewel shards, the wolf tribe was very confident.

Unfortunately for Moka and Ruud, that protective speech also disturbed Koga, and he burst open his door, sending the two eavesdropping tribe members tumbling to the ground.

"I told you not to disturb me and you did the exact opposite!" Koga yelled. "I was in thought and now I lost track of what I was thinking. That's it! You two are not enjoying the feast tonight."

"Koga, no!" Moka exclaimed. "Please let us partake in the wonderful feast we will be having tonight."

"Yea, we're sorry! We just were too curious. We couldn't help ourselves. All we wanted to know was what you were thinking." Ruud added.

"Fine, you two can eat tonight, but let this be a warning to you. And I was thinking about…um…battle strategies for the fight against the Birds of Paradise." The two mischievous wolf-tribe members hurried off to join the mass of wolves and tribe members getting prepared for the fight, satisfied with the answer that Koga gave them, although it was not true.

They believed me, he thought, and that is good, because they would not respect me the same way if they knew I was really thinking about Kagome. Koga's thoughts were interrupted as a loud and obnoxious tribe member called him to join the group. Well, here we go. I hope we can finish these birds off once and for all and live peacefully among these mountains without those birds to worry about.

He was also confident that the wolf tribe would come home victorious as every other person and wolf was. They had a right to be confident in themselves, but they were a little too confident.

. . .

Alone in a hut somewhere in the woods was Naraku, the demon 'who never sullies his own hands', the man who plotted Kikyo and Inuyasha against each other 50 years ago. He sat at that window once more, a broken vase on the floor behind him; it had red ooze pouring out of it. This was where Kagura's life was in…this vase. Once she died, the vase fell onto the floor from the shelf behind Naraku.

It was very loud for just a breaking vase, but Naraku didn't get startled or even turn around to see what fell, just stared out of the window with that thoughtful look on his face. All of his reincarnations failed, Ryuukotsusei failed, and even when he tried to attack Inuyasha by himself or by possessing Kohaku, everything he did to eliminate Inuyasha all failed.

It was time for a new approach; something that Inuyasha would never expect. Naraku was sure that this time, he would get Inuyasha.

. . .

On the planet Nomolos, a planet inhibited by beasts with great power, a civil war rages on between the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. The battle seemed to be making no progress toward either side. Each force was even in strength and intelligence. Every strategic maneuver each side tried to execute was countered by the other side. Victory seemed like it would never be achieved by either side.

These beasts were not the prettiest creatures in the universe. They had sharp claws that were worn on their four fingers. They had long, skinny arms that reached the ground even when they stood up straight. Also, as they stood up straight a hunched back was evident. Their faces were not very pleasant sights; large white eyes glowed on their heads, and large mouths full of fangs took up most of their face.

The General for the Eastern Hemisphere had quite a different plan than his rival General. This is the only aspect that separates the two armies. The General is not looking for a better strategy like his counterpart, but is looking for a source of more strength.

He had heard legends of a jewel that could increase a person's strength, but he needed to find the location of this legend. Not only that, but he needed to know if this jewel even existed first. He searched this for this knowledge by visiting the village elders. None could tell him if the legend was true or not.

He left the hut of the last elder he talked to and entered the battlefield once more, seeing corpses of his own men and of the enemies. A gruesome sight it was, but the General walked right past the gory image without seemingly caring at all about the image of death and suffering.

Kinto looked into the sky and noticed a gray mist in the air. He saw a figure in the mist but could not make out what it was. Then, he felt something in his stomach. It was a sharp pain, and he wrapped his arms around his abdomen and fell to his knees in pain. His eyes watered and he closed them tight. All the gunshots, the ripping of flesh, and the screaming just faded out, and all the marines and riflemen that were swarmed around him seemed to just stop.

He did not want to open his eyes, and when he tried to, they were unwilling to open. It was like they were glued shut. Suddenly, the unbearable pain disappeared and was replaced with a tingling sensation. He stood up to a background of darkness. All he could see was blackness, and a few seconds later there was an outline of a man in a robe appearing in the black.

"Hey, who are you!" General Kinto wanted to scream, but these words did not escape his mouth.

"Calm down, my son," the now visible village elder replied to Kinto's nervous stature and scream. "I am here to help you find what you are seeking. I know you want to win this war badly, and a peaceful negotiation is not going to happen on this planet. Close your eyes once more, and look at what you see."

The General was actually glad to close his eyes because he did not want to see that elder's face anymore. He had no wrinkles in his face despite his age, and had two red eyes. He had never met this old man before, but he had a bad feeling about putting his trust into him.

Kinto closed his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. His vision was of the planet Earth and focused in on a country composed of many islands. He saw all of the adventures of Inuyasha and Kagome, he saw all of the people in this country, and above all, he saw the legendary Shikon Jewel. So the legend was true, he thought. He needed to retrieve the Shikon Jewel.

He opened his eyes again, now more cheerful than before, but did not see darkness or the elder anymore, but the grim scenes of the war. He needed to leave and get to Earth to possess this Shikon Jewel he saw in his vision. That one item would win this war for him.

And with that, Kinto rose from his knees, walked calmly to his ship as inhabitants of his army ran past him, most bloody, whether it was there own blood or not. Then, without a care for the war at this moment, he took off in his ship for Earth, leaving his planet.

When I get a hold of this jewel, he thought to himself, I can not only win the war, but take over my planet, and while I'm at it, why not Earth? With an evil smile on his face, Kinto flew to Earth in his spaceship while Inuyasha and his friends were in a comfortable sleep at Lady Kaede's.