Chapter 7: Shard Magnet
"InuYasha! What did you do?" Kagome gasped as they watched the crystal slowly crack apart.
"I just landed on it." He gasped pulling his hand back and letting it dangle at his side. With one mighty crack the crystal split completely in half and there was a rush of wind away from it.
"What is that?" Sango wondered bracing herself against the dust and rocks.
"Her power is truly incredible I've never felt anything like it!" Miroku called over the rushing noise. Not even Kikyo gives off power like this!" The wind stopped blowing and Miroku cocked his head and looked at the cracked block funny. "What happened to it? Was that simply the energy that had been trapped in and under the crystal escaping all at once?" He wondered aloud.
"Now what?" InuYasha wondered looking over at the monk.
"See if you can pull that broke half of the block off. It should be no problem for you InuYasha." He said pointing to the half of the block closest to them. "It looks like we have no choice but to let the old priestess out now." He sighed. Inuyasha put Tetsusaiga away and rolled up his sleeves; he pulled a big piece of the crystal away and as it crashed to the ground everyone gasped in shock.
"She's... Just a kid!" Sango muttered uncertainly.
"How could a girl of her age maintain something like this?" Miroku wondered doumbfounded. Suddenly the crystal disintegrated and three bright purple shards embedded themselves in her chest.
"InuYasha... The Shikon presence I feel is coming from her chest..." Kagome whispered wrapping her arm around his.
"I'll get this other crystal off so you can get it." He smirked lunging forward and punching the other side. It shattered into hundreds of pieces and fell away. They carefully lifted the chunks away and the more of her they revealed the slower InuYasha moved.
"What's wrong InuYasha?" Shippo asked and everyone looked at the hanyou concerned.
"I feel like I should somehow know her but..." He replied in a far off voice.
"That's impossible up until recently you've been asleep in that tree so there's no way." Miroku said heaving another piece away. "There's no way she could have been in here that long and maintained all of this and still be alive. It's impossible!"
"She is still alive right?" Kagome wondered looking the miko over carefully. She gasped when she noticed blood rushing out from under her hands, which were carefully positioned, on her chest.
"Kagome?" InuYasha looked at her worried.
"She... She's bleeding... And the Shikon shards are definitely in her chest!" Kagome gasped pointing to the spot. Miroku reached out hesitantly and pulled the miko's hands away; as they fell to her sides he gasped and took a step back.
"That can't be what I think it is..." He said doubtfully as he shook his head. "It can't be another Shikon no Tama..."
"Another what?!" Everyone gasped in unison.
"This isn't good!" Shippo blurted out as he hugged Kagome's leg. "Another one?!"
"Well it's too big to just be a shard. And there's three separate ones stuck to it. It seems like half of another crystal is embedded in her chest." Miroku explained in a serious tone.
"We should take her to Kaede." Kagome said quietly.
"Definitely. So I'll carry her." Miroku said slyly and he was promptly smacked with hiraikotsu.
"InuYasha can take her out to Kirara." Sango said and looked at InuYasha. "All right InuYasha? InuYasha?" Kagome waved her hand in front of his face as he stared blankly at her.
"InuYasha?" She wondered getting in front of him.
"Get the shards first Kagome." He replied quietly and she nodded slowly before reaching over and grabbing the three shards.
"It's strange... It's like the shards weren't attracted to her or she wasn't attracting them of her own will... It's like they were attracted to that crystal in her chest." Miroku said thoughtfully as InuYasha picked the girl up in his arms.
"Yeah and they're already purified too." Kagome added looking one of the Shards over between her fingers.
"She's an odd case isn't she?" Sango mused as they walked out of the cave. "InuYasha... Kirara's right here." She said looking down at the little white demon. "InuYasha?"
"What's wrong with him Kagome?" Shippou wondered looking up at her as she watched him walk away with the miko.
"I'm not sure Shippou. I wish I knew." She replied worried.
"Maybe she reminds him of a painful part of his past?" Miroku offered as speculation.
"I know it's around here somewhere I can feel it!" An evil and angry sounding voice hissed as it drew near them. Miroku dropped into a defensive position as Sango armed hiraikotsu in her free hand. Kirara growled and became engulfed in flames as it grew. InuYasha turned around and bolted to get back by Kagome. Suddenly huge tentacle flew out of the trees and grabbed the miko from his arms. "So you stole my shard you little miko bitch!" The voice hissed again as a huge tree looking creature emerged from the depths. It was old and haggard looking as it drew her close and looked her over carefully. "What luck! Something stronger!" He chimed as he took another tentacle and prepared to extract the piece from her chest.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled and let her demon bone boomerang fly. It bounced of a barrier and back in her outstretched hand.
"Stupid human..." The tree creature scoffed and laughed.
"Stupid tree." InuYasha scoffed as he pulled out Tetsusaiga and it glowed and blood red. "I can break that barrier easy with my Tetsusaiga! KAZE NO KIZU!" Before he could let the attack fly huge roots flew out of the ground and encased all of them in tight thick cocoons. "Baka... I've faced Nemenka and gotten out of it just fine." He smiled as he flexed and tried to break the roots. The tree just stood there smiling.
"Baka... Namenka? Nemenka is a child compared to me! Tell me pup have you ever fought an ancient youkai?! I highly doubt it!" The tentacle hand hovering over the girl thrust into her chest and it screamed as red sparks flew out everywhere. With a bit of a struggle he started pulling it out; then the girl started letting out pained screams.
"Leave her alone!" InuYasha shouted as he struggled to get free. The demon tree stopped pulling long enough to look at InuYasha and smirk. Huge spikes shot out of the roots and drove through him and he gasped as blood spurted everywhere.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screeched in pain.
"Don't worry about it Kagome these are just little scratches." He replied gasping a bit.
"Look at that..." Miroku gasped looking at the miko in the demon's hands. She was glowing a dark purple and the energy coming off of her caused her long black hair to undulate.
"What the?" The tree demon wondered as a huge red light poured out of her chest. When the light faded she was floating just in front of him and the tentacle that had been wrapped around her had been scorched away. "You pretentious brat!" He shouted sending four more tentacles flying at her from all directions. The purple energy around her flared and they disintegrated. "How the hell can you be so strong?"
"You're old..." She replied in an indifferent voice. She drew her hands up to her chest and touched her fingertips and pointed her thumbs to him. "SOUL PIERCING STRIKE!" A huge purple energy spike flew forward and shot right through him. She stood there breathing heavily as he screeched in pain then started laughing. The wound started filling in quickly and he sent more tentacle flying at her. One went right through her stomach and she burned it off with pure energy from her hands.
"You're just as good dead to me as alive." He smirked as he drew the tentacles back and watched blood soak her white shirt. She smiled and looked up at him as she threw the end of the tentacle aside. She started laughing quietly as she ripped off the torn part of her shirt to reveal a wound that was already healing. The tree demon started laughing maniacally as everyone else gasped and looked on in awe. "You're the healing miko! The one that can give power to oni with your blood! This is a delightful treat in deed!"
"Healing miko?" Everyone gasped.
"I won't let you use me or my power youkai scum!" She shouted but as soon as she did five tentacles shot at her; two went clear through her then started wrapping her up.
"Yes! I can feel it! The power of your blood!" He gasped with delight as he spun her around to face the others. She was barely conscious again and blood poured from her mid section.
"SANKON TETSUO!" InuYasha screamed as the roots around him were blasted away.
"What are you going to do now hanyou scum? Blast me and the girl with your attack?" The tree demon laughed as he drew her closer to him. "If you can break the barrier..."
"Damn it... To break the barrier I'd have to risk hurting her..." He thought as he held Tetsusaiga at his side. The miko looked up at him weakly then gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she let out a scream and purple energy flew out shattered the barrier. InuYasha rushed in and used 'Sankon Tetsuo' to free her and dropped her off behind him before unleashing the 'Kaze no Kizu.'
"No! How can I be defeated by a miko bitch and a hanyou?!" The tree screeched as it as blown to pieces. InuYasha dropped to his knees and then his stomach as blood puddled up underneath him.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screeched rushing to his side. The miko slowly and weakly crawled over to him but collapsed before she got there.
"You shouldn't move!" Miroku urged as he carefully rolled her over.
"I can at least heal him... Just... get me over there..." She gasped holding her stomach. "Do it!" Miroku nodded and picked her up and put her next to him. "Paint him with my blood... It will heal him." She gasped before her eyes closed and she fell into unconsciousness again. They did as she said and sure enough a few minutes after painting his major wounds they disappeared.
"What happened?" He groaned as he came to.
"She healed you InuYasha." Kagome said pointing to the fallen miko.
"We have to hurry and get her back to Kaede's so you can bandage her up Kagome!" Sango urged as kirara laid down next to them.
"Ride with Sango Kagome! I can move faster!" InuYasha ordered as he leaned forward and picked up the girl and took off into the forest.
"InuYasha..." Kagome thought worried and as got on Kirara's back. "What's going on?"