Age of the White Dawn

Chapter 5: Stomach Aches and Arguments

To cross the bridge leading into the Southlands, basically Yedlad Desert, Kagome had to discard her school robes and, to her distress, Mr. Toodles. Maybe it was because of the grumpy cat's absence, or over a course of a day her legs had become accustomed to a reckless pace…well, whatever it was, it seemed that she was going at a more leisurely pace. Thus, she could observe her surroundings without fear of being left behind. Unfortunately, this pass simple pass time grew too simple, too fast. The landscape was relatively flat and boring and the only event worth recognition was the occasional handful of sand being blown into her face, and even that grew boring. Avoiding thoughts of her premonition, Kagome found herself focusing on trivial matters, such as the almost tangible feeling of the sun beating down on her head and the way Inu Yasha's ears twitched every fifteen seconds or so.

Her thoughts continued in this fashion until a cluster of what appeared to be sand dunes appeared in the distance. So, instead of theorizing exactly why Inu Yasha's ears twitched so punctually, she started to calculate how long it would take to reach the sand dunes, then how long it would take actually climb over them.

A gray, thin ribbon of smoke soon came into view, then another, until she figured that either the sand was somehow burning or they were approaching a settlement of some kind. She looked questioningly at Inu Yasha, who was also looking towards the ribbons of smoke. Meeting her gaze he explained,

"We're probably approaching a village or something…funny…" he trailed off and cracked his knuckles.

"What?" she asked nervously, "What's so funny?"

"There isn't supposed to be any settlements this close to the borders." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and smirked,

"It's nothing to worry about, though."

"I'm not scared," she snapped. 'Which isn't a total lie or any thing.' She thought sarcastically. In fact, she was terrified, and nervous with a little excitement mixed into all of that. True, they could just be walking straight into a herd of hungry youkai, but this was an adventure, right? Right! Fidgeting, she nervously tugged at her skirt trying to focus on the way it rode up her legs every thirty seconds and how, after every thirty-five seconds, she would have to adjust it. …it was no use. Her stomach was still churning and it was only when she caught sight of Inu Yasha's amused smirk that she forced a smile onto her own face. Clenching her fists together, she looked expectantly towards the settlement; she would not let Inu Yasha see how anxious she truly was.

*****

When they reached the settlement it took a few minutes for Kagome to actually acknowledge that fact. It seemed that in only a matter of minutes, the small black hills in the distance had morphed into tall walls with barred windows that allowed one to see, but not enter, a small courtyard. As they passed these windows, they caught brief glimpses of women going at each other with two curved swords. It was almost frightening to watch after a while; they performed with such silence and skill. Kagome sincerely hoped to never be at the receiving end of their swords. Banishing such thoughts from her mind, she tilted her head and, once again, looked questioningly at Inu Yasha,

"Who are these people?"

"Dunno. But they're probably Bendela." He shrugged, watching two of the strangely dressed women begin to fight. His ears pressed flat against his head at the sudden clash of swords.

"They're okay fighters." He added after watching them for a moment.

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

"Any time."

She sighed and decided to ignore him. 'Bendela…Bendela…where have I heard that name before,' she pondered, brows furrowing and lips pursed.

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed softly, "The Bendela are an ancient society of women whose ancestors swore to serve the new, true and ultimate ruler. Since then, they've been training for that day." She recited with a proud grin.

"…what are you ranting about wench?"

"Never mind." She sighed. They passed another window, and she eagerly watched two women strike, block, trade places, strike, block, strike, strike; it was like they were dancing.

Turning a corner she saw both the large, main gates and the vaguely humanoid figure at the same time. It (the creature) loomed menacingly over a small, trembling figure crouched on the ground: a little girl. Kagome could feel her face turning red with anger but, as if reading her thoughts, Inu Yasha roughly gripped her shoulder, "Don't," he warned, "It's none of our business."

"How do you know?" she demanded indignantly. The simple question seemed to surprise him, causing him to slightly loosen his hold on her shoulder. Taking advantage of his confused state, Kagome shook off his hand and dashed towards the figure, ignoring his angry yell.

At the sound of Kagome's footsteps, the creature looked up and ceased antagonizing the little girl, who took this opportunity to slip away and sprint towards the main gates. Meanwhile, Kagome had just seen the creature up close and could barely hold back a gag. Its face was gruesome; bloody lumps of flesh clung loosely onto it, and it's eyes were yellow, glazed over…yet there was something almost familiar about that face.

'Not exactly the best time to dwell on those thoughts!' she mentally scolded herself when she was about a foot away from the creature. She slammed into it with her shoulder, the sheer force of her attack causing her to tumble over it and skid into the sand. Shuddering at the red, sticky liquid now on her shoulder, she jumped up and tensed, waiting for the creature to attack.

At first she thought it was down, but the element of surprise must have temporarily immobilized it, because in a minute it was up and quickly lumbering towards her. Watching the creature approach, a strange churning feeling started to take over Kagome's gut, making her feel as if her stomach was melting.

'It must be my powers!' she thought excitedly. 'After all, the poem thingy in Inu Yasha's book said that the person who put the jewel on the alter would get powers, and I'm going to put the jewel on the alter, so that's just as good!'

With renewed confidence, she didn't wait for the creature to come to her, but, instead, sprinted towards it. Letting out a "menacing" shout, she jumped in front of it, hand extended, willing that feeling in her stomach to climb upwards and out of her palm.

Nothing happened.

The horrible realization came to her then; that feeling in her stomach wasn't magic, it was fear. Surprisingly quick for such a stupid looking thing, it chuckled before it raised its arm and sent her flying a foot in the air. She landed on her back with a loud thump and a cloud of sand, and would have just stayed in that position if, of all people, Inu Yasha didn't come to mind. He wore that annoying smirk, and she could actually hear him laughing scornfully…

Eyes flashing, she growled at the mental image while struggling to stand up. This time, she allowed the creature to come to her before attempting to punch where she thought its face was. It easily caught her first and began to slowly twist her arm. Emitting a series of gags and whimpers, she thrashed about, attempting to escape the slimy, ice-cold grasp of the creature, but to no avail. Her desperate efforts only accomplished one task, and that was drenching her arm in the putrid substance that dripped form its body.

"Ew! This is so gross!" she couldn't help squealing as she struggled.

"Imagine how I feel babe."

Kagome stopped her escape attempts and stared dumbly at the hideous creature. "Yura?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"What happened to you?" Kagome asked, unable to veil the disgust in her voice.

"Your little lapdog is what happened." Yura ground out. "He destroyed my beautiful hairs, so I'm left like this." She bowed her decaying head in shame.

"If only…if only I had some beautiful hair again," she continued, her yellow eyes flicking over Kagome's own hair while she slowly resumed twisting the girl's arm.

"Oh, ew! Stop! It's getting all over me." Kagome cried, sensing something was very wrong here. Aside from her physical state, the Yura in front of her was not the same as the one she met at the school. She seemed more desperate, less controlled.

"Don't bother struggling, babe. I just ate two Bendela this morning, so I'm twice as strong as I was before." Her eyes grew even more glazed looking as she drew Kagome closer and gazed longingly at her hair. Running a bloodied finger through the ebony locks (to Kagome's dismay) she soothed,

"Don't worry, this'll only take a moment." As she said this, Kagome noticed something strange. The creature's—er, Yura's mouth seemed to be growing longer for some reason…her gray eyes widened in shock.

'Oh! She's really going to eat me!' She thought as the hand that held her fist began to drag her closer to the gaping black mouth.

'She'll pop me into her mouth like a piece of popcorn,' Kagome thought hysterically, 'then I'll slide easily down her throat and eventually be smashed to pieces or be eaten away by stomach acid, and that'll be it! The end of Kagome! The next time I see daylight, I'll be a small pile of smelly poop…' Her stomach hurt at the thought…and then her chest. Something was squeezing at her heart, she couldn't breath and the black hole was so close she could smell the rancid quality of Yura's breath. Gagging when she felt slimy fingers encircle her neck, she mustered all of her strength and shouted the one name that came to mind, "INU YASHA!!"

The said person was clawing furiously at the invisible barrier that separated him from the creature that held Kagome. He should've known that this would happen. The creature seemed weak enough, and he could've easily beaten it alone, but the stubborn wench just had to confuse him, and then rush off and get captured by the damn thing.

"Stupid bitch." He muttered with a particularly energetic swipe of his claws.

Suddenly someone screamed his name, there was a flash of blinding white light, a wordless shriek, and then nothing. With his determination refueled, he resumed his mad clawing at the barrier, only to discover that it disappeared. Not bothering to puzzle exactly how the barrier had disappeared, he rushed off in search of the idiot girl…only to have her run straight into him. She gave a small scream before looking up and realizing who it was.

"Inu Yasha? Oh, I'm so glad it's you." Kagome smiled, the relief and joy evident in her voice…it was getting him nervous. What if she did something girly and stupid as hug him in joy? Better change the subject.

"Uh…did you kill the thing wench?"

Kagome's smile froze on her face, before it slid away and was replaced by a pensive pout.

"Um, well, not really…"

"What do you mean not really? It's either dead or alive, which it?" he pressed with a scowl.

"I don't know!" she shouted, "I didn't check to see; I just yelled and ran." 'But that's not entirely true!' her conscience added. Okay, she did yell and she did run, but right in the middle of the two actions a strange feeling seemed to rush through her veins, filling her with elation and power. It was like a pressure had been slowly building up inside of her, and it was only when she released it that she found out it was there. Only, the form of releases wasn't just a rush of adrenaline, it was a white-hot light that shot from her fingertips, leaving her hand trembling. And then she ran, too scared to see whether she had killed Yura or not. 'You should tell Inu Yasha. He should know, he might know what happened.' Her conscience screamed.

"Oh shut up." She muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Inu Yasha looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Nothing." She smiled again.

"…you're a strange wench." He observed, cracking his knuckles as he observed something, or rather, someone else.

"Not to mention a total bitch." An all too familiar voice aged. Clenching her teeth and groaning, Kagome turned to face Yura…and did a double take.

"Your—your body! How? I thought …"

"I was dead?" Yura finished her sentence. Laughing, she placed a perfectly clean and intact hand onto her equally intact cheek, "I thought so too. The little white light stunt almost killed me, you know. Then, I realized that I had what I needed," with a coy smile, she gracefully displayed her middle finger on which there was a strand of Kagome's hair.

"The hair of a miko"

"Hey, give that back!" she demanded, making a dive for the hair. Nautrally, Yura pulled it out of harm's way, leaving Kagome to land face-first in the sand, not any closer to her goal.  Fortunately, Inu Yasha just managed to gather his confused wits and, instead of a mouthful of sand, an arm snaked around her waist, stopping her mere inches away from the ground.

"Thanks." She said as he set her upright again.

"Klutz." He grumbled. She rolled her eyes.

"Forgetting someone, 'Yasha-kun?" Yura sulked.

"Geez, didn't I kill you already ya hairy freak?" he growled, falling into a fighting stance.

"You did such a sloppy job of it, I just couldn't die." She giggled, drawing the blade at her side.
"What a fucking shame." He growled, leaping upwards and crashing down with a swipe of his claws. Yura easily evaded the attack, but he anticipated this and, with definitely inhuman speed, he slashed at her shoulder; to Kagome's disgust, the limb fell to the ground still gripping the blade.

"Can't hold that blade any more, can you?" Inu Yasha taunted, but Yura only tsked,

"Oh, 'Yasha-kun, when will you learn." She raised her un-severed arm and, before his ears could twitch in surprise, invisible strands of hair had slithered about Inu Yasha's wrists and ankles, pulling him upwards to hang seemingly in mid air.

"As long as this little miko hair is wrapped around my finger," she kindly displayed the finger again, "you can't kill me." A strand of hair was reattaching the severed arm back onto her body.

"Guess I'll just have to rip out your damn finger then." Inu Yasha smirked, ripping away from his bonds and using the momentum to propel himself towards Yura.

"I'd like to see you try." Yura giggled, lifting her hand to send another wave of hair at Inu Yasha. She couldn't quite finish her typical flicking motion though…

"Ugh," she grunted, "trying to save your dog, babe?" despite her light words, she looked angrily at Kagome, who had her wrist clasped tightly in both of her hands.

"Nope. Just giving him a chance to get a few hits in." Kagome smile, tightening the grip she now had on Yura's hand.

"La?" Half turning her head, Yura managed to only let out a small cry before her one of Inu Yasha's claws hit her cheek while the other burrowed through her bosom and out of her back.

"So foolish," the corner of her lips curled in annoyance. "This game's only for the big kid's mmkay, babe?" she chuckled, flinging Kagome easily over her head. She skidded across the sand for a few feet before slowing to stop.

"Stupid bitch, get up!" Inu Yasha called over his shoulder as he rushed Yura again. She just side-stepped his attack and drew her blade again,

"I don't think she'll be getting up for a while 'Yasha-kun. Now how 'bout you draw that rusty katana at your side, and we'll have us a grand 'ole time."

He glared at her, "That katana's useless."

"La? How come I've heard otherwise?" she asked, jumping up to balance on a strand of hair.

"Don't know what you've heard, but trust me, it's useless." He growled, eyes darting over to Kagome's still form. Yura laughed and dove towards him,

"Draw it and we'll see."

He hesitated for a second before drawing the rusty katana out of its scabbard; that second of hesitation was a mistake.

"Oops, too fast?" Yura teased, conjuring a hammock of hair on which she rested languidly. Maintaining eye contact with the, now ensnared, hanyou she casually licked his blood of her blade.

"Whore." He snarled, watching the blood drip from the gash on his side.

"How rude," she sniffed before she studied the rusty katana she held in her hand. Yawning she sighed,

"Oh, I guess you're right 'Yasha-kun. There's really nothing interesting about this katana at all. Funny thing is, I heard rumors say that if you mastered it, this rusty, useless katana would turn into the very big, very useful Tetsusaiga. You do know what that is, right 'Yasha-kun? It's the blade your daddy used in order to protect your weak mother; the blade every youkai would die for." She tossed it at his feet and laughed at the murderous glare he gave her.

"Down, doggy. Behave, or else I'll get your little girly over there to discipline you."

"Hey, just what are you implying?"

"Come on! It's obvious that she…" Yura retorted, trailing off when she heard Kagome's voice weakly call,

"Inu Yasha!" In a flash, Inu Yasha had escaped his bonds, thrown the katana, point first, at Yura's face, and hurried to Kagome's side. She remained lying down but there was an almost insanely triumphant smile on her face. Sitting up, she shakily put a hand to her throbbing head, and then laughed.

"Kagome are you okay?"

"…"

"Kagome?"

"You said my name…"

"Er--" he jerked backwards, "I did, didn't I?" even he seemed amazed at himself. His brows furrowed and she could see him chewing ponderously on his lip. He appeared to shrug away whatever thought entered his mind and smirked,

"Don't get used to it wench."

"Forgetting someone, 'Yasha-kun?" a sulky voice demanded.

"Inu Yasha, watch out!"

"Wh-" before he even finished a word his katana buried itself deep into his side. Grunting, he pulled it out and turned to Yura.

"Why don't you just die already?"

"Can't. Playtime's over." Her face darkened suddenly, "You bore me now, and I'm hungry."

A low growl rumbled from Inu Yasha's throat as he stepped protectively in front of Kagome, gripping his katana so tightly his knuckles turned white and his claws bit into the palm of his hand. In fact, he gripped the katana so tightly that he imagined he could feel it pulsating, but that, of course, was impossible…right?

"Just hurry up and come." He growled, more to himself then Yura.

Yura ignored his comment and, after making a series of complicated patterns with her fingers, raised both of her hands over her head…and made a horrible discovery. Her hands dropped to her side the same time her eyes snapped over to Kagome.

"You," she hissed, eyes pleading and angry at the same time.

Inu Yasha turned to see what she was getting so worked up about, and spotted the strand of hair dangling between Kagome's forefinger and thumb. He also noticed the slightly triumphant smile that graced her lips and refused to disappear, even when Yura raced towards her, blade readied to strike. Just when she was about to deliver her blow Kagome gave the hair a small tug, causing it to split half. In a matter of second, Yura of the hair had been reduced to a pile of dust.

***

"Ugh, I have a headache." Kagome muttered after a minute, standing up and brushing the sand off her skirt, "and you're hurt." She added as Inu Yasha partially collapsed.

"It's nothing," he grimaced, lightly touching the bloodied wound at his side and holding back a wince.

"You sure?"

"I said I'm fine." He snapped, and then continued after seeing the hurt look on her face, "I don't have a weak body like you; it'll heal in a day."

"Okay, if you say so. As long as your ears are intact." She smiled; stopping at the deadpan stare he was giving her.

"What! Do I have something on my face?" her hands flew up to check.

"Your such a strange wench."

"What happened to Kagome?" He just smirked and asked a question of his own,

"How did you get that hair? Did you rip off her finger?"

"No!" Kagome cried indignantly, "I would never do something that violent. Remember that time when I was holding onto her wrist, just before she chucked me into the sand? Well, I gently slipped the hair off her finger."

"It would've been easier to rip off her finger." He grumbled, starting to make his way towards the large doors they had wandered away from when fighting Yura.

"I already tried violence remember?" she reminded him, blushing in embarrassment, "You saw how that turn out."

"Oh yeah, speaking of which….Don't you ever do that again! What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Huh?" was her oh-so-intelligent reply. His sudden change in tone was confusing…

"Don't give me that," he practically bellowed, "What were you thinking? Do you know how stupid you acted? That was a friggin oni pumped up on Bendela! Do you know how many people die from oni's alone?"

"A lot?" she suggested meekly.

"A helluva lot! Don't you EVER do that again, EVER."

"Okay, okay! I'll never pick a fight with a hair-obsessed oni again."

"You better not."

An uncomfortable silence befell them then as they slowly, clumsily continued towards the main entrance to the Bendela camp. That is, until Kagome suddenly stated,

"I didn't know you had a katana."

"Well, now you do."

She ignored him and continued, "And I did manage to fight off Yura a little, you jerk, plus, how was I to know she was an oni? For the love of Kammi, I'm still in school!"

"Well I told you not to fight, I to—"

"No! You just said that it was none of our business; you never said the reason. You could've said I was too weak to handle the creature, or that I didn't have the skills, but noooo, you just said it was none of our business. I'm your partner, not your child!"

Inu Yasha looked at Kagome's angry profile in surprise,

"I never thought of you as my child!" he exclaimed.

"Then stop treating me like one," she growled turning to face him.

"Then stop acting like one." He growled back with a glare.

They were about a foot away from the door, but Kagome knew a challenge when she saw one, and that glare Inu Yasha was throwing her was definitely a challenge. Planting her hands on her hips she narrowed her eyes and braced herself for, what she imagined would be one of the most interesting staring contests she ever had.

Her strategy was simply to keep her eyes narrowed so they wouldn't dry out, while giving her opponent her glare of ultimate doom. …Only this time it didn't seem to be working. He wasn't cowering in fear like he should be; in fact he looked almost…amused? Amused! How dare he looked amused under the glare of doom! She kicked up the intensity of the glare one notch. This time he looked almost sad, wistful. Curious, she unconsciously leaned closer, her eyes widening a little. Oh, his eyes were scared now. 'How easily they show emotion' she thought watching in fascination as they darted around nervously, blinking every once in while.

…wait, he blinked. She won! A huge grin spread across her face. 'I wiiiin, I wiiin!' she mentally chanted. Her mental celebration would've lasted longer if she hadn't caught sight of those gold eyes melt into confusion, then flash in anger. With a growl he pushed her away and spat,

"What're you trying to pull?"

She couldn't answer because the large doors behind them had suddenly swung open revealing two red clad figures, one of which seemed slightly amused.

"Follow us."

A/N: Woooooot! Finally I'm done with this chapter. It's taken me a total of three days to type this up, one day for each member of my family that uses the computer. You may think it's lame, but I think I'm actually kind of happy I'm not getting that many reviews. Every time I get a new one, I kind of cringe and hope something good is being said. I know, I know, reviews are meant to be productive as well, but the Qween isn't very good with criticism. -___-* Ah well, Ich muss gehen. My pizza calls for me…