EEP. So sorry for the LONG wait. heh, school has taken up lots of time. This chapter might seem off a little, since I wrote it like, one paragraph a day... THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS PEOPLE! They mean a lot to me. I love signing in to see that I got a new review. Okay, on with the chapter (sorry its so messed up, really I am..)
Now that Kagura was working with Inuyasha, at least for a while until they had to fight, everyone felt a little more reassured. She couldnt fight with them, because if Naraku found out about it he would punish her, but she did have some useful information on Kuro and his whereabouts. It just happened that the newly born demon was waiting for them on a mountain not too far away. So Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kagura were headed off to find him.
"How do you know so much about Kuro?" Kagome asked, riding on Kirara while Kagura flew on her feather. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were below, arguing like always.
"Well, I was there when he was born, but I didnt know what he was for, exactly. I found out later when he dropped Rin off with me then got yelled at by Naraku. You know, Kuro was made off of another human, kind of like Naraku was. Of the hundreds of demons that devoured Onigumo, one of them had eaten a small child that had run away from home. The child apparently had emotional problems and that served as a problem for Naraku, so he did just as he did with Onigumo. He made an incarnation to get rid of it. I'm almost positive that Naraku is using a shard to control Kuro, otherwise I dont see why he isnt a regular child, or, demon I mean.." She replied, looking rather serious for such a simple question. Kagome stared at her for a moment, in thought. If we can get the jewel shard from Kuro, he will probably become a good demon. It would be really hard though...
Kirara slowed down a bit, then nudged Sango to look ahead. Looking up from Miroku, whos hands had wandered a tad too much, Sango saw what had caused Kirara to stop her pace. About a hundred yards ahead Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had stopped their bickering to see a large temple. It had a red roof and was made mostly out of wood, like a log cabin almost, with some feudal Japan touches. Inuyasha took a step towards it, to get zapped by a barrier, probably blocking demons from entering. Sesshomaru smirked at his younger siblings stupidity, and kicked a rock through the forcefield.
Walking up to the forcefield, Miroku touched where he thought it would start. At first nothing happened, but when he pushed his hand through, it sent an electric shock through him. He jumped back, snatching a scroll out of his sleeve, ready to place it on the barrier. Sango came up behind him and looked at the barrier as well. It was created by strong scrolls much like Miroku's, just set up by a dark priestess of some sort.
"I can probably remove the forcefield, but it would take me a while. In the meantime, why dont you all look for an entrance of some kind? Sango and myself can stay here.." Miroku said sliding a hand down Sangos back, getting slapped. Kagome walked between the two, keeping them from fighting, and offered a better solution, "Miroku, why dont I stay here with you? I could probably help you a bit more than Sango could." Sighing with disappointment, Miroku agreed and the rest of the crew went off to search for another opening.
In order to remove the barrier around the temple, Miroku and Kagome would have to remove the evil energy from the scrolls that it is composed of, just like how Kagome purifies the Shikon shards. Miroku sat down, writing some counter scrolls to place on top of the current ones, which should, in a manner, cancel out the shield and render it harmless. The hard part about this was getting to the scrolls. They were placed on a wooden pole that came out of the ground about five feet up, the only problem was that the scrolls were placed inside the barrier. It would be rather painful to endure the electric shocks for the time that it would take them to place the counter scroll on top, so first they had to find a way to evade it. Just as he finished writing the last counter scroll, Miroku thought up an idea. What if we were to use Kagomes arrow to fire at the pole, then while that certail scroll was weakened, place the counter on top of it! They would only have about five seconds to fasten the counter scroll on top, but it was worth a shot.
After sharing his ideas with Kagome, she agreed and fired her first arrow. Her miko powers werent as strong as they normally would be, since they werent fighting an opponent, but it was strong enough to make the powerful barrier weak enough for Miroku to place the counter on it. The pole cackled some, rejecting Mirokus spell, but eventually the barrier weakened there.
"Brilliant!" Miroku exclaimed, loving the results of his idea, "Now all we would need is about 6 more before it would be weak enough to pass through. Lets add another 2 to that to be safe, then we can get the others." Nodding in agreement, Kagome fastened the next arrow while Miroku got ready to place the next scroll. They repeated the process 7 more times, then went off in opposite directions to find the everyone else.
Kagome went towards the left of the large barrier, going to find Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and Shippo. When she found them, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were arguing while Shippo watched nearby. They were fighting over who was stronger this time and were going to test on Shippo, but the kitsune ran off before they had a chance. He now watched from safely in a tree. Seeing Kagome nearby, Shippo ran to her and climbed onto her shoulder. It took a while before the fighting duo realised Kagome's presence. Kagome had to explain what she and Miroku did to weaken the scrolls and how they had to hurry back. Agreeing without a second thought, they started back towards the front of the temple.
..meanwhile..
"So, what about that monk?" Kagura asked showing a sly grin at Sango, who had blushed at the mention of Miroku.
"Miroku, you mean?"
"Whatever.. You seem to like him, eh?" Sangos face turned red at that, but regained her poise expression with a comeback, "What about Sesshomaru? Do you stalk him or something?" At that, it was Kaguras turn to blush. She thought about it for a minute, she couldnt exactly say why she liked to be around Sesshomaru, it was weird for Kagura to show much emotion for anyone other than Naraku (and that was hate) but she did have some feelings for Sesshomaru, just as Sango would for Miroku or Kagome would for Inuyasha.
"Well, I-I.. er... heh.." Was the only reply Sango got before Kagura's face turned as red as her eyes. Getting mild satisfaction from making the wind demon show such an expression, Sango flashed a smirk at Kagura before she saw something in the bushes. She gently elbowed Kagura in the side, to get her to look and see what was there. All she had to do really was use her fan and blow whoever was there out of hiding, and thats exactly what she did. Miroku was hiding behind the bushes as it turned out, eavesdropping on the girls, hoping to hear something interesting.
Twitching with anger, Sango went over to Miroku and slapped him. Before she got a chance to yell at him, though, he spewed out his excuse, "Kagome and I have weakened the barrier, we should go now just in case my counter spells wear off!" and at that, he ran back to the front of the temple, shortly followed by Kagura and Sango.
Getting through the barrier would be easy now, except then what would they do? Go find Kuro of course, but from the looks of the large temple he could be anywhere. Sesshomaru didnt want to waste any time, he headed into the barrier and towards the temple entrance.
"Wait up!" Inuyasha called after him, not wanting to be left out of a battle, if there would be one. As the two brothers stepped inside they saw that it was more like an enormous house than a temple. It was like some of the houses that Miroku found "demon spirits" in, but a bit more high class. They were in the main hall, there were golden statues of lions at each corner and beautiful paintings of oceanfronts and landscapes on the walls. Truly a house for a king, or a demon who stole it. Inuyasha sniffed the air, searching for a trace of Naraku.
"Yep, he's here. I can smell Naraku all over the place," He said, with a low growl forming in his throat, "Now we just have to find him. Come on Miroku! What are you waitin' for?" Inuyasha motioned for Miroku, Sango, Kagura, and Kagome to come in. They walked in warily, not sure about the strange place. Kagura stepped forward, and started towards a door near the back, "He's near the back room." She said, peeking through the door. Sesshomaru gave her a questioning glance and she replied, "Rin is probably with him." No one was in the room that she had looked in to, so she stepped inside. It was much like the first, but the walls were all painted a deep blue.
Leaning onto the wall, Miroku heard a rustle coming from another room. He pressed his head against the wall to hear better, and there was definitely someone in the next room.
"Hear this!" He whispered, bringing Kagome to the wall to hear too, "Theres someone, or something, in there." Kagome listened in as well. It sounded like two people, really. One was talking to the other, but there wasnt a reply. Kagura walked over to where the sound was coming from, and listened in as well. It was Rin who was talking, probably to Kuro. Hah. I almost feel sorry for Kuro. When he left that kid with me she never shut up. Its torture dealing with her... She cupped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at Kuro. Inuyasha looked at the three, confused for a moment. When he understood what was going on, he also started eavesdropping on the two in the neighboring room. His canine ears could make out the voices much easier than everyone else, excusing Sesshomaru, so he was able to make out some of what they were saying. It seemed that Rin was harassing Kuro about being bored and missing Sesshomaru.
"Well brother, you dont have to worry, your girlfriend misses you." He laughed at his older sibling, who was standing nearby. Showing no emotion towards Inuyashas remark, Sesshomaru gracefully stepped towards the door seporating the two rooms. Kagura gave a worried look at him, hinting him to not open the door. It was a mystery whether he ignored her or just didnt notice, since he slid open the door to get a look at Rins captor. That was their first real look at Kuro. He was about a foot taller than Rin, standing at around 5 feet tall. His hair was black, short and trimmed like Kohaku's, he had eyes just like Kagura's, just you could tell they were a childs eyes. He was wearing the same thing he did the day he kidnapped Rin, a plain childs outfit composed of dark blue pants and a matching shirt. Except now, he was wearing some armor just like the demon slayer's outfit, and had a katana at his side.
Sesshomaru glared daggers at him, and he just smiled. Kuro pushed Rin behind him, since she was trying to get back to Sesshomaru.
"So this is the infamous Kuro," The demon Lord smirked towards the incarnation, "I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. You look weaker than Inuyasha."
"Youre not that great yourself, Lord of the Western Lands." Kuro replied mockingly grabbing his sword, ready to fight.
Ill start with the next chapter ASAP! Remember, if you have a suggestion for an upcoming chapter, feel free to send it in a review. D