Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Inuyasha characters but I wish I did.
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Chapter Four: Broken Shards Pieced Together
As Kagome flew in Sesshoumaru's arms, she took a look around at the landscape. The climate had grown colder and more mountainous. Kagome shivered slightly as a cool breeze blew and Sesshoumaru held her closer. Kagome was grateful for the warmth he provided.
"How far?" Sesshoumaru asked, not taking his eyes off of the mountains.
Kagome closed her eyes and concentrated her power on sensing the Shikon shards. "Turn left," she directed.
Kagome's heart fluttered as Sesshoumaru took a sharp turn. Onward they flew until Kagome felt an absolute presence. Kagome sensed the shard to be near a village. Walking to the other side of the village, Kagome saw a cave. Kagome ducked inside and followed the path she saw. Sesshoumaru followed close behind after ordering Rin and Jaken to stay a good distance away. The path went for a good fifty yards before Kagome and Sesshoumaru arrived in a spacious part of the cave. A large altar was at the center and had candles burning for light.
Kagome could see deep scratches that were made by the youkai who possessed a Shikon shard. A large howl made Kagome's skin crawl and she drew her sword, ready for action. A great rumbling shook the entire cave as Kagome sensed the shard coming closer. Sesshoumaru stood as calm as a statue and waited to see how formidable this youkai was. A great brown ball whizzed past Kagome and stopped at the pedestal in the middle of the room.
"Who dares disturb the liar of Toomoru?" (a/n: corny name I know. Gomen. . ; ;) A mole youkai bellowed, his voice filling the entire cavern
Looking down to see Kagome and Sesshoumaru, the thin lips twisted into a hideous smile.
"A ningen and another youkai?" Toomoru said.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, 'Another youkai?' he thought 'This lowlife second-rate poor excuse for a youkai does not know who he is speaking to. He is going to die!' Calmly, he pulled Toukijin from his waist. Toomoru cackled at this gesture. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed the slightest bit before he disappeared in a flash of white. Before Toomoru knew what was going on, Sesshoumaru had Toukijin to his neck.
"You will hand over the Shikon shard you possess," Sesshoumaru stated stoically.
Toomoru sneered. "I'm not scared of your sword," he stated, very confident of himself.
Sesshoumaru pressed the blade closer into Toomoru's neck prepared to cut off his head.
"We will not ask you again," Kagome said.
"A weak ningen such as yourself should watch how you talk to strong youkai like me," Toomoru stated.
"If you were strong, I might be intimidated, but since you're not, empty words," Kagome said. (Did I make Kagome sound too much like Sesshoumaru? Is that a good thing?)
"You dare to mock me!" Toomoru bellowed.
"Silence," Sesshoumaru said, the edge of Toukijin beginning to slice into Toomoru's neck.
In a flash of brown fur, Toomoru managed to slip away from Sesshoumaru and streaked towards on of the many tunnels that connected to the room. Kagome took of running, following the brown fur. Sesshoumaru followed unhurriedly knowing the miko could handle it. Of course he would never admit it.
Slightly out of breath, Kagome followed Toomoru into a room decorated with trophies. (a/n: you know, the heads on a plaque thing you always see hunters have. Icky but....)
"Impressive, for a human," Toomoru said.
Kagome silently thanked Sesshoumaru for making her run so much during her training. "Hand over your Shikon shard," she said, pointing her sword towards the grinning youkai.
"See if you can keep catch me first," Toomoru said.
Then the whole room went pitch black. Kagome couldn't see her hands in front of her face much less the youkai whose voice now seemed to be coming from everywhere.
"You will never catch me, weak human" Toomoru cackled.
Knowing her eyes were useless, Kagome closed them and allowed her other senses to kick in. She could hear the youkai as he sped from location to location. She focused on the energy the youkai emanated, and then she thrust the sword in that direction. Toomoru laughed and dodged the first attack, recovering quickly, Kagome slashed again, remembering her first lesson Sesshoumaru had taught her, and this time, she hit the cocky youkai. She heard him scream and noticed the footsteps were getting slower. Raising her sword again, she waited until Toomoru got confident again and thrust her sword into Toomoru's stomach. She felt her sword getting heavier as the lf drained out of Toomoru.
"Gotcha," Kagome said to the now lifeless youkai.
With Toomoru gone, the darkness spell lifted and Kagome sliced the Shikon shard from Toomoru's neck. Looking back once more to the pathetic mole youkai, Kagome cleaned off her sword and strolled out of the room. Standing outside the room was the stoic Sesshoumaru leaning lazily on one of the walls.
"Where to next?" Sesshoumaru asked, knowing the young miko had done what she came to do.
"We have to get outside the cave first," Kagome said.
"Reason?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"This cave is full of Toomoru's essence, it masks everything else," Kagome said.
"Humans and their weak abilities," Sesshoumaru scoffed.
Kagome just rolled her eyes and started to walk out of the cave. Sesshoumaru stopped her. Kagome looked at him questioningly.
"No human walks in front of me," Sesshoumaru said.
Kagome sighed and shook her head but let him pass. Once outside, Kagome squinted at the sun as her eyes adjusted to the light. She breathed in the fresh air smell and took her time to admire the scenery. The seasons were changing and the once green hills were now brown and the lush green trees were a blur of red, brown and yellow. (A/N: Remember when Kagome fell from the cliff, that was in the summer).
"Are you going to waste the day away just standing there?" Sesshoumaru said, interrupting her relaxation.
"I'm admiring the scenery," Kagome said.
"There is nothing impressive," Sesshoumaru stated.
"Yes, there is. Look, the trees have changed colors, signaling winter is coming. Everything is preparing to die during the winter so they can be reborn in the spring," Kagome said.
A twinge fluttered across Sesshoumaru's heart as he listened to the young girl speak. Death and rebirth, he thought, Is she making a comparison to herself? As if reading his mind, Kagome answered his very thought,
"You know, the seasons change like I am changing," Kagome said. "I already went through my winter phase and now, I am just starting to be reborn."
"What nonsense are you babbling about?" Sesshoumaru growled.
Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru and blue locked onto amber.
"The han-"Sesshoumaru stopped himself as he saw a flicker of pain cross Kagome's blue eyes.
It was more than two months and still the thought of his stupid half- brother brought her to tears. And her tears jerked at his heartstrings. Wait! Sesshoumaru thought, "Am I getting....soft? No! The girl is an inferior human and I must not let her get to me. But another voice snuck into his head, But she is not just another lowly human. You want to protect her, keep her from getting hurt. You wish to possess this young woman. Sesshoumaru growled at this new voice. It made him seem like the very creatures that he despised.
"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome called, breaking the feuding he was having with himself inside his psyche.
"The next shard, girl," Sesshoumaru said.
"East," was all Kagome said.
Lifting her up once more, Sesshoumaru bore the defenseless girl towards the next shard.
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Inuyasha sniffed the ground, trying to pick up any scent of youkai.
"Damn," he said.
They hadn't picked up any shards in the past three days and everyone was getting agitated. It seemed like some of the shards just upped and disappeared. Every time they found a youkai, Kikyo would always shake her head and walk on, leaving the youkai for the other group members to fight.
As they continued to walk, Kikyo felt a faint presence of Shikon shards. She took off in an easterly direction, the rest of the group following close on her heels.
"Kikyo, what is it?" Inuyasha asked.
"A Shikon shard," Kikyo said simply.
A noticeable sighed went through their group as their hopes began to swell again. Soon, the group reached a small village but there was no one there. Horses and cattle were missing fro the stables and all the houses were empty. It seemed like the people and animals of the village just vanished.
"Where is everybody?" Sango asked.
"We are not here to socialize. The Shikon shard is nearby," Kikyo spat.
Kikyo walked briskly to the edge of the forest. She touched it and the forest seemed to shimmer.
"A barrier," she stated.
"Why would a barrier be kept here?" Miroku asked.
"There are no people here so the barrier was not designed to keep harm out," Kikyo said. "It was designed to keep what is in the forest 'in.'"
"Is that where the shard is, Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked.
Kikyo gave a curt nod. Whipping out his sword, Inuyasha called on the Red Tetsusaiga and broke through. (A/N: If anyone has any idea on the name of the Red Tetsusaiga attack, I would really like to know! . ) Walking into the forest, Inuyasha and the rest of the gang walked closer to the Shikon shard. No one seemed to notice Kikyo narrowing her eyes.
A/N: A cliffie. My bad, please don't hate me! .;; Please Read and Review and I will try to type faster so I can update faster. Arigatou!