Chp 25: Korekuta no reikons
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Black Sabbath, or any other songs I might use in this fic. *sticks tongue out at lawyers*
No notes today.
Ha ha.
Read or die.
I don't make idle threats.
Enjoy.
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10 months.
Nearly a year.
She barely remembered her home, in the future.
She hadn't seen Sesshoumaru since that afternoon she had discovered what he really thought about her.
Kagome had become as cold as ice. She rivaled how cold Sesshoumaru had ever been. But she still held emotion, she smiled, she cried, however often that occurred, she still had a sense of humor, but she was cold. Secluded, maybe a little lonely at times.
For those ten months she had been traveling all over Japan in search of the shards. She had gone in many different forms, shapes, and species. No matter how many different faces she wore, they all knew her has The Korekuta no reikons.
The collector of souls.
She had discovered quite a handy trick while away in her knew home.
She was able to purify demon souls just as Midoriko had.
But, just as the Shikon no tama was made of Midoriko and the demons souls, Kagome had found that a single demon soul created a jewel as well. But, these little pearl sized marbles she collected held no great power. You were just able to control the demon soul in a solid body.
You see, demon souls were strange things. They were not the tainted things like so many people thought. When a demon dies, its soul goes from its body to the underworld to be reincarnated. But, the soul is not the tainted thing, but the body.
Not all demon bodies were tainted, actually, none were until they had killed in cold blood or had been tainted by a shard of the Shikon jewel. Like Jinenji. Or, some were just too powerful to be tainted by a body, like Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha, being a Hanyou, was a different thing entirely, he held a human soul, but his demon body prevented the soul from being entirely pure or corrupted. A hanyou's body and soul were contradictions, but balanced. The soul prevented the body from being totally corrupted, and the body kept the soul from being entirely pure. Human souls are even stranger things, they cannot be imprisoned within a jewel, but they can be tainted quite easily. Just show them power and they want it. She should know, she was once a human.
The demon souls she had purified did not reincarnate, but stayed crystallized in a single black, pearl sized, marble. A demon did not have to be killed to have its soul purified, if the demon is still alive when its soul is being purified, it will become a soulless husk; like Kikyou. But, it, not having half a soul to sustain it, will gradually die away.
Everyday she released one of the souls she had collected, just so they would not clutter up her home. They were fairly easy to control, because they were willing, most souls did not wish to become tainted again. When she released a soul, she had the ability to give it a body, without taking another. She could compose one demon of many souls. All in all, she could make another demon just like Naraku if she wished. Except, instead of numerous tainted demon 'bodies' in one, it would be numerous purified demon 'souls'.
She used her shape shifting powers to give demons like, say, a centipede demon, a humanoid form. Not a hard task, considering she had to use them anyway just to solidify them.
Wherever she went, she took a small pouch full of her purified souls. She had not worried too much about the Shikon jewel as she had most of it, and only Inuyasha and Naraku were still collecting the shards, he, having little less than a quarter, and Inuyasha, having another small portion. The other lower-level demons still had them, but she would leave them for Inuyasha to collect. But, it appeared that Kikyou had not been seen since she had pinned her to a tree.
She smiled at the memory.
She wondered why everyone was so hell bent on getting the Shikon no tama. There so many other little trinkets out there that they could get quite easily, though, none of them were nearly as powerful as the Shikon.
For example, there was the Kasai pendant. Or 'fire pendant'. It was quite fun to use, not designed to do harm, but more for entertainment. You could make anything out of a harmless fire, trees, flowers or animals, anything.
Or the Ankoku seisho, Darkness energy, a powerful, and evil, ring. Said to be forged from the fires of hell. It's metal really the fangs of Cerberus. For all its reputation, it had been a hell of a lot harder to purify than it looked. That very ring she now wore on her right middle finger. It really was nice when not emitting an evil energy. It still returned every now and then, the thing had a mind of its own. Whenever she was close to a demon the damned thing would go warm and start pulsing. Sometimes she wondered if the ring was worth the annoyance.
Kagome would not call herself pure and innocent by a long shot, in fact, she sometimes considered herself evil. When she had come across a group of men in her human form, after finding a young girl huddled against a tree reeking of their stench. She had taken one look at them and cut them to pieces with her new swords.
She had gone to Toutousai and commissioned him to make her two swords, one of fire and the other of lightning. She called them Tokkan and Tetsutaki. (Lightning attack and iron waterfall.) Made from her fangs and her own feathers. Tetsutaki had the Kasai pendant put into the hilt, and Tokkan had been struck by lightning six times during the forging; compliments of a weather working youkai. Tokkan would transform into a long, curved, lightning bolt shaped, fang. Tetsutaki would transform into the mirror image of Tetsusaiga, but it had ridges on the dull side that made it look like a choppy waterfall. Her feathers were used in the making of the swords to make them lighter than normal. They were literally 'light as a feather', to her, but to anyone else they would be the weight of Inuyasha's repaired Tetsusaiga. Her swords only transformed when she wanted them to. When not transformed, they were twin katanas.
She had stayed to learn a few things from Toutousai before leaving. She was now able to make daggers, knives, and fighting fans, of any kind out of anything. Be it a feather, a scale, a tooth, water, or a rose. Her own elemental powers allowed her to be an easy sword smith, though she could not make swords yet, she would occasionally visit Toutousai to learn more things.
She always thought about Shippou, and Souta, and Rin, and even Sesshoumaru, but she felt strangely numb when thinking of him, no pain. Oh but the anger. The anger, that was still there. She had a high tolerance for pain. Who wouldn't with having their heart broken twice?
Her only companion was a demon falcon named Kazetaka. (Pronounced, Ka- zay-tah-kah. ^-^) Wind falcon. When not transformed, he is just big enough that his talons fit around her wrist, and when transformed he is about the same size as Ah-Uhn. His feathers are an icy blue color with red wingtips. He had electric blue eyes when not transformed, and his eyes were deep blue with jet-black pupils when he was. He was a good falcon; she had saved him when he was only a hatchling from some poisonous centipede youkai.
She was really starting to hate insect youkai.
Kaze, for short, nuzzled the side of her head from his place on her shoulder and let out a squeaky purr. (I love it when birds make that sound! It makes them so kawaii...^-^) She gave a half smile and stroked the feathers on his neck. Kaze was one of the few things that could make her smile anymore.
Kagome was walking along in Inuyasha's forest, as she did sometimes. She would go to the well and sit by it, taking comfort in the old structure. She would always go far away from her home when traveling.
She had found quite a nice place. It was on the west coast of Japan. During one of her travels she had found a small rift in the rock on a hilltop overlooking a beach. She had crawled into it only to find it was a rocky passage into a huge cave underneath the hill, easily big enough to house her in her dragon form. It was quite nice; a few holes were in the top of the hill that let sun and moonlight in, and then it would reflect off of some crystals in the sides of the cave. Moonflowers grew on the sides of the cave, covering the walls in a blanket of white and green. A small natural spring was a place for fresh water and a bathing area. The water was ice cold at night, but during the day, it could be lukewarm, but, if she wanted a hot bath, it was only a little warming up from her elemental powers. When it would rain, she would place covers over the holes.
When ever she was there, she would sleep in her true dragon form, and the hole she had found it from was not the only entrance or exit, there were numerous other exits, one being a hole in the side of the cave that led to a tide pool on the beach.
She sniffed the air, confirming that Inuyasha and the rest were at Kaede's village. It had been a long time since she had visited them. Even if she was a block of ice, she could still be a nice, warm, person; when the mood took her.
She walked at a slow steady pace, towards the village; she talked to the baby falcon that was perched on her shoulder guard. He was still very young. Though his species of falcon grew quite fast, he was only about a year old, and still small. Due to her shape shifting powers, she could speak falcon tongue quite fluently, though it came out in twitters, squeaks, chirps, and small screams.
"Kaze, we will be visiting Inuyasha today. Remember him? The one I told you about? Sango has a fire cat; you can probably play with her. You don't need to worry about Miroku though, he only gropes women. Should I stay looking how I am, or should I shift into my true humanoid form?"
Kaze gave a small twitter saying, "You should go in your true humanoid form mama. They would recognize you better."
Kagome tickled him in a spot beneath his wing and said, "Okay."
She shifted and her wings appeared and her tail, that had currently been tiger striped due to her being in a tiger youkai shape, turned into its regular fluffy black and green. Her horns appeared just as she stepped out of the trees.
Kaze hid in her tail, he was quite scared of humans, not to mention shy. Kagome smiled at him and gave him a reassuring purr.
Kagome walked through the village, heading for Kaede's hut, all the villagers took one look at her and ran screaming "Demon! There is a demon in the village!"
Kagome got an annoyed look. She sighed. Sometimes villagers could be so naive.
Kagome kept walking calmly through the village of screaming villagers, or she would have if it hadn't of been for a giant boomerang being hurled at her head. She ducked with an, "AH!"
She turned to see Sango catch her boomerang and Inuyasha holding a transformed Tetsusaiga. Miroku was holding his staff in an offensive position. Kaede arrived behind them with her bow drawn.
Kagome sighed and said, "Jeez. Could you guys try not to kill me every time I visit?"
She got bemused looks from everyone, until Inuyasha took a closer look at her, his eyes widened and he said, "Kagome?"
Kagome folded her arms and said, "Well hello to you too. Are you going to stand there all day looking like you're gonna kill me or are you going to greet me?" she asked in an amused tone.
Sango dropped her boomerang and ran over to Kagome, she gave her friend a crushing hug, or she would have if it hadn't of been for the spikes on her chest. "Ouch! Hm, I guess I'll have to give you a side hug." Sango gave Kagome a gentle squeeze from the side, careful to avoid her shoulder armor. Kaze popped his head out of the safety of Kagome's tail and coked his head at Sango. He blinked his large eyes and gave a small twitter.
Sango smiled and said, "Oh how kawaii! Who is this Kagome?" Sango said while adoring the small flacon from a distance.
Miroku had approached Kagome and he smiled at her and said, "Well, hello Kagome-sama. It has been a while since you last visited us."
Kagome frowned and said, "If I recall correctly, the last time I 'visited', I almost destroyed the village."
Sango frowned and said, "Kagome, that's the thing, you 'almost' did, but you didn't. And no matter how much Inuyasha," she gave him a pointed look that said, 'Get your ass over here NOW'. "Doesn't want to admit it, we have Sesshoumaru to thank for that."
Inuyasha 'feh'd' and Miroku looked at her, "Where is he by the way?"
Kagome's smiling face became cold and her eyes changed to an electric green and blue. "I don't care where the bastard is and he can rot in hell for all I care."
Sango and Miroku blinked as Kagome walked toward Inuyasha. Her face became less cold and she gave him a half smile, "Hi. So, how has the shard hunting been?"
Inuyasha folded his arms and said, "Fine."
Kagome gave him a skeptical look and said, "From what I've heard you haven't gotten very far; without Kikyou to sense the shards for you."
Inuyasha growled.
Kaze, (pronounced, Kah-zay. ^-~) from his place on Kagome's shoulder guards, bristled and gave out a twitter that sounded a bit like a growl.
Inuyasha looked at Kaze and smirked. "What's up with your bird?"
Kaze's eyes glowed a bright ice blue and he shot off Kagome's shoulder faster than Inuyasha's eyes could follow. Kaze whirled in the air and in a flash of blue fire; he landed next to Kagome, only about a head shorter than her. His beak was now a lot sharper and the tip curved down far below his lower beak.
Kagome looked down at Kaze's bristled wing feathers. "Actually, he's a falcon. And he doesn't appreciate you calling him a bird; or you growling at me"
Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head and he said, "Feh."
Kagome stroked Kaze's neck and he calmed instantly, and in a 'pop', he turned into his smaller form and landed on Kagome's spiked shoulder guard, which he had since dubbed his 'perch'. He nuzzled his face against Kagome's tail and gave a chirp.
Kagome smiled and gave Inuyasha a look, "Oh stop looking like a lost puppy. Kazetaka is just a little untrusting. Are we going to stand in the middle of the village with all of them looking ready to kill me for the rest of the day, or are we going to go back to Kaede's hut? Jeez, it's not like I'm going to destroy the village in a fit of rage or anything."
When she got weird looks from everyone she sweatdropped, "Okay, bad analogy. Can we go now?"
Everyone just shook their heads and followed Kaede back to the hut.
After a while just sitting in the hut and reuniting, Inuyasha spoke up and said, "Kagome. You obviously have better things to do than be here, you have to have another reason for being here."
Kagome blinked and said, "I do. I don't have BETTER things to do, but, yeah, I do have other reasons for being here."
Inuyasha looked annoyed, "Well what are they?"
Kagome smirked, 'Still impatient as always Inuyasha.' "Well, I've come to offer my assistance in collecting the shards. You could obviously use someone who can see and sense the shards, and the extra help. Not to mention I have quite a bit of the jewel here."
She took out the glowing half of the Shikon jewel.
Miroku looked at it for a moment and then said, "It does not seem as pure as it was before."
Kagome met his eyes and flashed them. "I am not as pure as before." She turned her eyes to the half of the jewel and it glowed bright pink before the light faded, "But I can still purify it. It just doesn't stay purified for as long. Or it could be the Ankoku seisho."
Miroku's jaw dropped and he said, "You have the Ankoku seisho?" his eyes were as big as saucers.
Kagome just shrugged and showed him her right hand.
Inuyasha looked from Miroku to Kagome. "What the hell is going on?!"
Miroku just shook his head and said, "Nothing. Just that Kagome-sama is in possession of, and is wearing, the most evil ring in existence."
Sango looked at Kagome and said, "You WHAT?"
Kagome gave them all confused looks and then the light bulb went on. "OH! Well, it's not evil any MORE. Well, it's not AS evil. I still have to purify it from time to tiiiiiimeeeeewhy are you all looking at me like that?"
Inuyasha's ear twitched and he said, "Gee, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that after TEN months, we find out that you haven't been with Sesshoumaru and you are just NOW coming to us offering your help finding the shards, or it could be the evil ring on your finger."
At the mention of Sesshoumaru Kagome's eyes blazed red. She growled low and said in a harsh whisper, "Don't you ever, EVER say his name again in front of me!"
She stood up and stormed out of the hut.
Miroku blinked and said, "Well that was different. Usually it's Inuyasha being the one cursing Sesshoumaru's name."
Sango frowned and got up. She walked out of the hut after Kagome.
Inuyasha was just plain confused. 'What the hell did Sesshoumaru do?'
Kaede just sighed, shook her head, and went back to stirring the pot of stew she was making.
Sango walked to the well where she knew her friend had gone.
Kagome stormed off into the forest, towards the well, wanting to take comfort in the familiar structure.
Kaze, sensing his surrogate mothers distress, poked his head out from her tail and twittered while cocking his head, "What's wrong mama? Why are you sad?"
Kagome sighed and mulled over the innocent question. 'Why am I sad? I have no reason to be. It has been ten months; I have gotten over it. *sigh* I dug my own grave trusting him. Why did it have to turn out like this? And why does it still hurt?' "I really haven't gotten over the pain Kaze-chan. It may take a while. But I need to move on."
Kaze did not know what his mother was talking about. "What pain mama? Are you hurt? What do you need to move on from?" he asked, his innocent mind not understanding the pain of the heart quite yet.
Kagome sighed again and looked at his cocked head. "Kaze, I bear no physical wounds, but wounds of the heart. I have pain from losing someone I loved. You may be a little young to understand yet, but I am fine physically. I just have pain in my heart; that kind of pain takes a while to heal. I will explain more to you when you are older."
Kagome took the falcon from his perch on her shoulder to hold him on her hand. She stroked his feathers while sitting next to and leaning against the bone eaters well. Kaze leaned into her touch and purred contentedly. He understood what his mother was trying to tell him on a certain level. He knew that she was all right physically, but she had been hurt on her heart from having some one she loved taken away from her. He still didn't know how his mama could be hurt, yet not have any injuries.
Sango walked into the clearing and sat down next to her friend and little sister. "Kagome, please tell me what happened. It hurts me to see you in pain." she took hold of Kagome's clawed hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Kagome just looked at Sango's hand holding hers for a moment. She sighed and started talking making Sango jump. "He just wanted the Tetsusaiga all along."
Sango, feeling disoriented that Kagome had so suddenly spoke, didn't quite run through what she said. "Who?"
Kagome sighed and leaned her head back on the well resting her arms on her bent knees. Closing her eyes she said, "Sesshoumaru."
Sango, back in her brain, frowned and said, "What did he do?"
Kagome smiled slightly, "That's just it, he didn't do anything, nothing that made me suspect he would do that. He even gave me the illusion he didn't want the Tetsusaiga. *sigh* After I found out that that was all he wanted, he just told me to leave. He seemed like he was angry with me. Sango-chan," she whispered closing her eyes against the tears she knew were coming. "I'm so confused. It's been ten months and I still don't know what I did, I-I, loved him. No, I still love him. And I left Shippou with him; he probably thinks I'm the worst person in the world now. I can't even visit him. Or Rin." a few tears escaped, they rolled down her cheeks. Kaze gave a chirp of distress against the smell of salt and nuzzled his face into Kagome's chin, offering her what comfort he could. Kagome was fighting back sobs and failing, "S-Sango, I-I d-don't know what to do!" Kagome sobbed out, trying not to go into hysterics.
Sango wrapped her arms around the sobbing woman and held her like she would a weeping child who was scared from a nightmare; successfully imprisoning Kaze in between them. He popped his head out from in between the two women and gave a twitter of complaint before wriggling out and landed on Kagome's shoulder guard. Sango gave her a squeeze and said, "Its okay Kagome, cry. You need to. I'm here."
Kagome just held onto Sango like a lifeline and cried all the tears that she had been holding back for ten months. Ten months of numbness and the pain was too much to hold back. "S-Sango, I want so much just t-to s-see him again, b-but I don't know what he'll do! *sob* I just want him to hold me like he did before!" she broke down against her best friend, holding her kimono and soaking her chest with her tears. "I want to see my son! Sh- Shippou didn't do anything and I left without even saying goodbye! I love him! I never even told him, hell! I never even realized it until he sent me away! *sob* I just want to see him, just want to see him..." she whispered, looking for all the world like a lost kitten. Clutching the only source of warmth and comfort she had.
Sango just held her little sister and whispered words of comfort to her. "Shhh...it will be fine Kagome, don't worry, you have me and Miroku. Even Inuyasha. You have people that love you. I'm sure that Shippou understands. It will turn out fine, You'll see..." She stroked Kagome's hair with one hand and rubbed comforting circles on her back, between her wings.
Kagome's sad, sea green eyes stared blankly at the trees. "No it won't. It will never be okay."
Her desolate eyes just stared out at the darkened sky for a moment before closing. Kagome tail curled around Sango and herself, creating a warm blanket from the cold night air. Her grip on Sango's kimono loosened, but it didn't seem like she was going to let go anytime soon. Sango sighed and shifted so she was in a more comfortable position against the well. She gazed sadly down at Kagome's head that rested against her chest. 'Kagome. I'm here, you just need to let me in. I'll always be here for you. You are the strongest person I know, you can get through this.'
Sango laid her head atop Kagome's and let here eyes close.
Kaze settled himself on top of Kagome's warm, fluffy, tail and tucked his legs underneath him, he snuggled down into it's warmth and tucked his head into his wing. {Bird's look so kawaii when they do that... ^^}
A pair of golden eyes watched, slightly pained, from their perch in the high boughs of a tree before leaping off into the night.
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Kagome awoke to the sensation of someone, or something, pecking her ear. She heard a twitter and could only assume Kaze was doing what he had been for the past eight months, waking her up at dawn. Kagome opened her eyes, only to be met by the dark pink kimono of Sango. Kagome remembered last night and felt slightly embarrassed that she had fallen asleep on her chest.
Kagome suddenly felt out of place, she had shown so much emotion. She had spilled her guts out and cried her eyes out. She frowned and sighed, 'Well, crying won't help, what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it.'
She disentangled herself from Sango's grasp and stretched. She looked down at the sleeping woman and decided she should bring her back to the village. Her eyes glowed blue and she turned and headed back for the village, Sango levetated and floated after her.
She walked to Kaede's hut and placed Sango on the floor, far enough away from Miroku that he could not grope her in her sleep.
Kagome walked out of the hut and was about to jump off when she heard the gruff voice of Inuyasha beside her. "You're up early."
Kagome shrugged and said, "Kaze wakes me up at dawn every morning. I don't know why but he seems compelled to do so."
The falcon in question puffed up his feathers and glared menacingly at Inuyasha from his perch on her shoulder guard. He let out a growl like twitter as if saying, 'Bastard...'
Inuyasha's ear twitched and he said, "I don't think he likes me very much."
Kagome looked at Kaze's puffed up wing feathers and said, "I don't think so either."
Inuyasha studied Kagome until she said, "Would you like to walk with me?"
Inuyasha just shrugged and said, "Sure."
Kagome and Inuyasha walked until they were deep into the forest, Inuyasha asked a question that had been nipping at his mind since he'd seen it, "What's in the pouch?"
Kagome just shrugged and said as she kept on walking, "Souls." like she was discussing the weather.
Inuyasha stopped and stared at her like she had just kissed Jaken. "S- Souls?" he asked.
Kagome nodded and said, "Yup. Purified, crystallized, demon souls."
Inuyasha ran to catch up with her and said, "You mean, you are the Korekuta no reikons?"
Kagome nodded and said, "Why? Am I famous?"
Inuyasha gaped at her and said, "Not so much famous as feared. Every human village we've been in has had them whispering about a demon stealing souls. That's you?"
Kagome frowned, "I don't steal them. Grrr...If they knew the first thing about demon souls they'd know why I keep them. I'm not a soul stealer. I don't look like this." she shifted into one of Kikyou's soul stealers and shifted back. "What to they think I am? A monster?"
Inuyasha frowned and said, "Yeah Kagome. They do."
Kagome scowled and said, "Let them think what they want. I don't care. Stop." She abruptly halted and sniffed the air. She growled and said, "There is a demon near."
As if on queue, a demon that looked to be part spider and part snake youkai jumped onto their path. It hissed and said, "Give me the shards!"
Kagome sighed and said, "Man, they all say the same thing, don't you demons know how to ask? *sigh* I guess not. Are you just going to stand there all day trying to look intimidating or are you going to attack?"
The thing gave a snarl of anger and struck at Kagome with surprising speed and agility, scoring a deep gash in her side. Kagome looked down at her side disapprovingly. She glared at the demon with slightly red eyes. "That hurt you know."
She launched herself at the demon and hacked of two of its arms with her claws. They regenerated immediately due to the shard it carried. She couldn't see the shard it had, but she could sense it. 'Hn. The damn thing must have swallowed it. Stupid insect youkai.'
Kagome's hand glowed green and the youkai froze in place. Kaze had jumped off of Kagome's shoulder and was flying in circles in front of Kagome, menacing sounds emitting from his throat. Kagome held her hand out and walked up to the Youkai. "This is what you get for picking a fight with the Korekuta no reikons." The demons eyes widened in fear just as Kagome drew Tetsutaki and decapitated it with one sweep of her arm. She held the body in place and the glow around her hand turned black. A ball of black youki started to gather in her outstretched palm, coming from the chest of the demon. Her eyes glowed a bright green and in a flash, a small black marble sat in Kagome's hand. She opened her pouch and dropped the soul into it. Looking at the demons body she frowned. A ball of fire gathered in her hand and she threw it at the headless body. It was incinerated in three seconds flat.
Kagome purified the demons blood off of the un-transformed Tetsutaki and sheathed it. She looked to Inuyasha who was staring at her with slightly wide eyes. She looked into his eyes and began to walk back to the village.
Inuyasha was speechless.
Here he was, about to draw Tetsusaiga and slay this demon, when Kagome comes out and taunts it!
Then! AFTER the demon ATTACKED her, she cuts off some of its limbs with her CLAWS!
THEN! She holds her hand up and it GLOWS, and the demon is FROZEN in place! She fuckin walks up to it and TALKS to it! And the she pulls out a sword and cuts off its head!
Then she just incinerates the body with a fireball. Heh heh...how pleasant.
And then she just purifies its soul and puts it in her pouch. Mental overload here.
Inuyasha was having a hard time believing this was Kagome.
Kagome, hearing his thoughts,(*cough*mind reading*cough*) looked over her shoulder and smiled at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha. Don't worry. I'm not going to steal your soul while your sleeping. Besides, I can't purify hanyou or human souls. Plus, even if I could, your soul is to strong to be imprisoned." She waited for his brain to start working again before she started walking back.
Kagome scowled at how slow they were going she looked over at Inuyasha who seemed to be thinking similar thoughts. "Hey, Inuyasha? Do you want to have a race back to the village? We're a couple of miles away, enough room for us to."
Inuyasha smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Feh, fine. We go on three."
Kagome got into a jumping stance, "One..."
Inuyasha did too. "Two..."
Kagome relaxed herself just as she said, "Three!"
Inuyasha shot off, Kagome just stood there and said, "Five, four three two one...Okay, I can go now!" She shot off after Inuyasha.
Inuyasha wondered where Kagome went, but as soon as he did, she appeared right beside him. She turned her head to him and said, "TTFN! Ta ta for now!" (Tigger!^^)
She jumped high into the air and landed a good fifty yards in front of Inuyasha. She did another jump that landed her about 100 feet from the village. Another jump, a little over estimated, landed her in the middle of the village. She spread her wings to keep her balance.
She looked at all the villagers giving her the stinkeye and sweatdropped.
Walking back to the hut, she was met by an irate hanyou jumping out of the trees and landing in front of her. "What?" she said innocently.
She could practically see the steam rising from his ears. "What do you mean WHAT?! YOU FUCKIN BEAT ME!!"
Kaze growled a warning at Inuyasha and bristled. Kagome just raised and eyebrow and said, "So?"
Inuyasha sort of deflated and said, "Feh. Stupid wench."
Kagome got an annoyed look on her face and bopped Inuyasha on the head with her fist. Inuyasha rubbed the bump and said, "HEY! What was that for?!"
Kagome looked at the bump on his head with satisfaction. "You forget that I can hear the little comments you say under your breath. And I didn't feel like using the subduing spell. Hitting you is more fun." she smiled sadistically and walked back to the hut.
Inuyasha gulped and said, "Feh..."
Kagome walked into the hut to find everyone up Sango looked at her and smiled, "Ohayo Kagome-chan. How did you sleep?"
Kagome uncurled her tail and let it flop down behind her. "Fine. Um. Sorry for well, falling asleep on you."
Kagome sat down and said, "Ugh. Damn armor." She unstrapped it and lifted it over her head. She set it down in the corner of the hut and sat down next to Sango and Miroku. Miroku scooted closer to her and said, "Sooo, where were you and Inuyasha this morning."
Kagome, ignoring the hentainess of his question, said, "Well, Kaze woke me up at dawn and I went to go take a walk and Inuyasha went with me and we found a demon with Shikon shard and I killed it and took its soul and then we raced back to the village."
Sango and Miroku looked at her and then said, "Okay, go back to the part about the demon. You what?"
Kagome shrugged, took the soul out of her pouch and said, "I purified, and took, its soul."
Sango looked at her with her jaw on the floor, doing an admirable impression of a fish. Miroku just folded his arms in his sleeves and said, "I did not think you the type to steal souls Kagome-sama."
Kagome gave an annoyed sigh and flopped down onto her back. "Why does everyone think that? Grrr...I don't STEAL the souls, I just purify them. I keep them with me because that's who people know me as now. The Korekuta no reikons. And what do you think somebody like Naraku would do if he got a hold of these souls? It would be doomsday for everyone. I'm their guardian until I release them."
Kaede, who had been listening to the conversation while making breakfast, said, "Ah, so ye are the demon we have been hearing so much about. I hear that Naraku sees you as a threat."
Kagome looked over at Kaede, "Oh? From what I've heard, he sees me as an ally. I've actually been visited by him a few times."
Miroku and Inuyasha, who was now present after regaining some of his pride, said, "WHAT?!"
Kagome looked at them and said, "Jeez, all I'm saying is that Naraku and I are neutral. Not enemies nor Allys."
Inuyasha sputtered and said, "Y-You are n-not enemies to NARAKU!?!? ARE YOU FUKIN CRAZY?!!?" Inuyasha was red in the face.
Kagome walked over to Inuyasha and slapped him on the back a few times to get him breathing again. "Breathe Inuyasha! Breathe! All I'm saying is that Naraku would rather not have me as an enemy. So, in other words, Naraku being neutral with me means you don't have to worry about him. There are other threats worse than Naraku. Man, it's not like I'm freakin sleeping with him or anything."
At the incredulous looks she got from around the room and the perverted grin on Miroku's face she scowled and sat down with a blush on her face. "Oh shut up..." she said.
Miroku scooted closer to her and said, "Why Kagome. I had no idea you were on such terms with Naraku."
Kagome blushed harder. She growled at Miroku, making him scoot a little bit away from her. "Miroku. If you say one more thing like that, you will find that you will have no tongue to speak with."
Inuyasha sat down on the opposite wall, still not quite believing that Kagome was on 'neutral' terms with Naraku. He said, "Stupid monk. If you saw what she can do with those swords you'd shut up."
Sango looked at Miroku and said, "I would take Inuyasha's advice Miroku. Kagome doesn't look like she wants to have you saying anything of that nature."
Kagome growled and folded her arms, "Damn right I don't! What do you take me for anyway!? Do you think I'd actually do that with baboon boy?! Miroku, if you keep being such a hentai then you will never succeed in getting a women to bear your child. Or worse, you will and you won't know what to do."
Miroku, feeling slightly miffed at that comment said, nothing. (*O.O* Omg...*O.O*) Inuyasha stared at her with incredulity and respect, "You actually shut him up."
Kagome, satisfied that Miroku had shut up, said, "There are three shards in the northern lands, two in the western lands, eight in the eastern lands, and four in the southern lands. Which way do you want to go today?"
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "How do you know where all the shards are?"
Kagome shrugged and said, "I do a monthly check of where the shards are and how many certain people have. Right now, you guys have eleven, and they've been purified by the way, Naraku has about a quarter, including the one in Kohaku's back, and I have about half. The rest are pretty much scattered all over the place."
Sango thought for a moment before saying, "I think we should go to the east, there are the most shards there."
Inuyasha nodded and said, "Yeah. We're gonna leave in ten minutes so you guys better get ready." He stood up to leave, but Kagome held a hand up. Sango and Miroku noticed her eyes were glowing green.
Kagome closed her fist and stuck out her index finger. She waved it around in little circles and waves. Inuyasha stopped dead, turned around, walked to the wall, and slammed his head into it. Kagome said, "Play dead." Inuyasha dropped to the floor, rolled on his back and stuck his arms and legs in the air. Kagome closed her fist and said, "Good dog. We will leave when we are ready, and not before, Inuyasha." she opened her fist and Inuyasha's arms and legs dropped to the floor.
Inuyasha sat up and said, "Feh." while flattening his ears.
Kagome looked to Sango and said, "Would you like to take a bath with me Sango?"
Sango snapped out of her amusement at seeing Inuyasha 'play dead' and nodded at Kagome with a smile. Kagome grabbed her black bag and walked out of the hut with Sango right behind her. Kagome turned to Miroku and said, "The threat still stands."
When Kagome got to the hot springs, she took off her black vest, revealing her black tube top and her tattoo. She pulled the tube top off, and slipped her pants off as well. She unwrapped the bandage she wore in place of a bra but left her panties on.
She took out the shampoo she had made of her moonflowers and a few other plants, and a green tea salve she had made. She slipped into the hot spring with Sango following suit. Kaze plopped himself into the water with a happy twitter. Kagome smiled and shook her head. "I will never get this falcon. He seems to love taking baths as much as I do."
Sango smiled and stroked him on the head. "I think he's kawaii. Where did you find him?"
Kagome put some of her shampoo on her hand and handed it to Sango she said, "I saved him from a nest of centipede demons when he was just a hatchling. He's been following me ever since. I think the demons killed his mother and that's why he was alone. He's a wind falcon, and so his name." Kagome thought for a moment before she burst out laughing.
Sango looked at her laughing friend strangely, "Kagome-chan? What's so funny?"
Kagome got her laughing under control and said, "Well, I was just remembering one of the meetings I had with Naraku, the real Naraku and not a puppet. I remember I got pissed at him because he made a wise crack about my clothes, I used my shape shifting powers to turn his pelt, *snicker* P-p- pink! H-He threw a conniption fit! Oh my god! You should have seen the look on his face when he discovered that he was wearing a pink pelt. Kagura had to stop herself from laughing out loud for fear of her life. Sango, I didn't turn it back until he apologized. Can you believe it?"
Sango was laughing uncontrollably. "Y-you turned his p-pelt pink? And he apologized?!? Kami-sama! You'd better not tell Inuyasha that. He'll go nuts on Naraku the next time he sees him and won't catch his breath till a week after. Oh my god. You seriously turned his pelt pink?"
Kagome nodded proudly and said, "I thought about turning his hair pink, but that would have been unforgivable. You know, Naraku's really not all that bad if you get to know him. I mean he's still an evil bastard, but I suppose he has a good side. If the way he acted when I told him to apologize for his wise crack was any clue he's a bit, dare I say it, cute?"
Sango's jaw dropped, "Kagome!"
Kagome looked innocent, "What? He's better than Kouga."
Sango frowned and said, "Speaking of Kouga, he seemed a bit afraid to see you when we met up with him last. Any idea why?"
Kagome frowned and then it dawned on her. "Oh! It was probably because I blew him through a wall while he was at a meeting of all the lords and ladies of the four points. I warned him! But the man's just too darn dense."
Sango nodded and said, "We'd better head back or Inuyasha will throw a fit."
Kagome nodded and stood up, wrapping her tail around her self until she was wearing a sopping wet mini-dress. She squeezed out her hair while stepping out of the spring. Sango and her dressed themselves and combed their hair. Kagome shook her tail out and Sango gave her an irritated glance when she got sprayed in the face.
Kagome gave them both a quick blow dry and started walking back to the village, Kaze preening his feathers while sitting on her shoulder.
When they got back to the hut, Inuyasha jumped up and said, "What took you so long? And what the hell were you laughing at?!"
Sango and Kagome exchanged looks before bursting out laughing again. "Kagome looked at Inuyasha's irritated face and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
After about five minutes they were ready to start going again. Kagome had found out that Yuka, Eri, their families, Aiko, and her Ji-chan, had gone back through the well and were safe. She was glad; she had been worried about them.
They had just gotten into the eastern lands when Kagome remembered something. "Oh shit!"
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "What?"
Kagome winced and said, "I just remembered that I had worn out my welcome in the eastern lands sometime ago."
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "What did you do."
Kagome wrung her hands and said, "Well, if almost killing the lady of the eastern lands counts as anything, then I would assume that I would be killed on the spot if they find me."
As soon as she said that, she dodged an arrow. "Ah! Who the hell just tried to shoot me?!"
A multitude of about 30 humanoid neko-youkai jumped down from the trees and said, "You are trespassing here. You will leave now or die."
Kagome silently cursed and said, "Well I sure as hell ain't leaving. I don't care if the Lord and Lady of the eastern lands likes me or not, take your best shot."
All of the youkai strung their bows and aimed them at the group. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and Sango and Miroku slipped into defensive stances.
They released the arrows, but before any could reach their targets, Kagome held up a hand and all of them stopped. Kagome clenched her fist and all but one of them turned black before disintegrating. Kagome twirled her finger in a turnaround gesture and the arrow rotated. She flicked her finger and the arrow shot back at one of the youkai. He fell to the ground with the arrow through his chest.
Realizing that their bows were no use, they all dropped them and attacked with their swords and claws. Kaze hopped off Kagome's shoulder and transformed, sending a loud screech into the air.
Sango and Miroku parried the youkai with their sword and staff. Inuyasha was dodging and sweeping with Tetsusaiga in turn. Kagome was whirling around with her swords in a blur, Tokkan and Tetsutaki cutting the other swords to pieces.
When Sango and Miroku both got wounds to their abdomen and Inuyasha a wound on his leg, Kagome growled and said, "Enough of this. This ends now!" She whirled Tokkan in the air and it transformed into its awesome lightning bolt. Kagome whirled it until it was a glowing yellow ring. The sky above her grew dark and she yelled, "RAIDEN!!!!"
About five bolts of lightning cracked down from the sky and struck every cat youkai in the area, well, except for Kirara. Kagome stopped whirling Tokkan and held it in front of her, Tetsutaki sheathed.
Inuyasha, who was leaning on Tetsusaiga for support, looked at Kagome's sword with surprise.
Kagome sheathed the now un-transformed Tokkan and turned to Sango and Miroku with concern. 'Damn' she thought. 'Stupid neko-youkais. Grr...So, some of them had shards too.' Kagome held out her hand and the three shards levitated and dropped into it. She walked over to her friends and inspected the wounds. She hissed seeing that Miroku had passed out and Sango was nearing that point. She opened her pouch of souls and threw one of them into the air. It glowed white before a male Tsubabsa youkai stood there. Kagome looked to him and said, "Hi Kaedo. I need your help. Can you heal my friends?"
Kaedo, who had been one of Kagome's souls, and friend, for a while looked over the wounds and said, "Yes I can. Just a moment." He held his hand over them and Inuyasha. After about two minutes they were healed.
Kagome smiled at Kaedo and said, "If you want Kaedo, you can go now."
Kaedo nodded and said, "I thank you Noyoroha-sama. If I ever meet you again I will be sure to remember you."
He became transparent and faded away.
Kagome looked over at her friends to see that Miroku and Sango, though healed, were still unconscious, and Inuyasha's leg was stiff. She sighed. "Well, since we got three shards anyway, and most of us are injured," She put a hand on her arm and brought it away to see blood. "Including me, I might as well bring you guys to my den to recuperate."
Inuyasha looked at her, "Your den?"
Kagome smiled wistfully and said, "Yeah. Now, when I say get on, do it."
Inuyasha was confused as hell but nodded. Before he knew it, Kagome no longer stood there, but a dragon as big as Sesshoumaru in his true form was standing above him.
'Whoa'
Kagome said, telepathically, "Get on."
Inuyasha backed away and said, "Hell no!"
The dragon heaved a sigh that moved the treetops and bent its head down toward Inuyasha. She picked him up by the back of his haori and plopped him onto her back, not far from her wings. Kaze set Sango and Miroku down next to him.
The little, now big, falcon gave a scream and soared into the air. Kagome said, "Hold on." And took off.
Inuyasha had blinked and then he was flying through the air. He looked down to see the treetops passing in a blur. He averted his gaze, lest he get dizzy.
After about twenty minutes, the western coast came into view. Kagome flew towards a hill that just barely stood above the others. She landed; spreading her wings to stop, and took Inuyasha and the others off her back. She shrunk back to her humanoid form and Kaze landed on her shoulder, now in his smaller form.
Kagome walked to a spot on the hill and waved her hand. A hole appeared in the top of the hill. She motioned for Inuyasha to come over and she showed him the hole. "Just go in there and wait for me. I'll be down with Sango and Miroku in a minute."
Inuyasha did, which was no hard task considering Kagome had thought to shape out her entrances and exits.
Kagome entered her den with Sango and Miroku and set them down on some blankets in the bottom of the cave. She uncovered the holes in her roof and sunlight poured in, exposing the vines on the cave walls. Inuyasha looked around with his neck craned. He said, "This is your den?" Kagome nodded and said, "Yup. This is home. It's usually not so open because I sleep in the big dragon form you had seen me in. I'll get some blankets."
Kagome walked over to a spot by the spring and brought out numerous animal furs that had had material sowed onto the bottom to from comfortable, and warm, blankets. She spread them over Sango and Miroku and tossed a couple to Inuyasha. "You can make yourself a bed if you want."
Inuyasha sat down against the cave wall and stared at his surroundings.
Kagome got a bowl and filled it with water from the spring. She heated it and sat down next to Sango and Miroku. She wet a cloth and cleaned off the spots where their wounds had once been. She sighed. 'I'm going to miss Kaedo. He was one of my first souls...' Kagome looked at her own wound and wiped it clean of the blood. She bandaged it and replaced the blankets over her friends.
Kagome stood up and turned to Inuyasha. "I'm going to go out and get dinner. Feel free to poke around. Just don't mess with my souls on the back wall." She motioned to the few corked bottles and pouches on the back wall.
Kaze flew onto Kagome's shoulder guard and twittered happily. Kagome patted him on the head and said, "I'll be back in about twenty minutes if Sango and Miroku wake up. I'm only a scream away." She winked and disappeared through the exit that led to the tide pool.
When she reached the tide pool, she took a quick sniff of the air. 'Shit! All I can smell out here is salt and seaweed. Chikuso! *sigh* I guess I'll have to got to the forest this time.' "C'mon Kaze, we need to go to the forest. I know you wanted to go fishing, but I can't smell a thing out here. Gomen nasai."
Kaze chirped disappointedly, but nuzzled Kagome's cheek affectionately.
Kagome flew upwards and Kaze shot off her shoulder to fly next to her. Kagome made a beeline for the forest edge and landed in the high boughs of a large willow tree. Making a few birds and squirrels run and squeak in terror.
Kagome closed her eyes and spread her senses; she listened intently to the forest around her until she could hear everything around her. Kaze quieted noticing his mother was trying to listen to something.
Kagome picked up a heartbeat about fifty meters away, she opened here eyes; they were a deep crimson red. She quickly and silently leaped from branch to branch, focusing on the heartbeat she had picked up. She landed in an oak tree and stared down at her prey.
It was a rather large buck, grazing in the patches of grass around a few trees, occasionally looking up to scan the surrounding area. Kagome carefully shifted so she was in position to pounce. She readied her legs and shot out at the unsuspecting deer.
In about a half a second, the buck was lying on the ground with its neck snapped and at an odd angel. Kagome checked and sniffed the deer, making sure that it was sanitary before standing up straight and craning her neck to the sky. She gave out a loud piercing scream of a falcon and Kaze came shooting out of the trees in his battle form and landed next to Kagome. He gave a low growl which would have been a cute twitter were he in his smaller form.
Kagome motioned to the buck at her feet and said, "Do you think you can carry dinner home Kaze?" she asked the falcon that was eyeing the buck carefully. Kaze gave a chirp and in a flutter of wind the buck was secured on his back. Kagome smiled and flew upwards towards her den.
When she arrived back at her den, Sango and Miroku were awake and looking around the cave. Sango seemed particularly interested in the spring, and Miroku's attention was directed at the pouches and bottles lining the back wall.
Inuyasha looked up when Kagome entered. She came in carrying the buck, because the entrance she chose to use wasn't big enough to accommodate Kaze in his battle form. She flopped the buck down by a small pit in the floor that had been made into a fireplace. She smiled at Sango and Miroku and said, "Feeling better?"
Miroku looked at her quizzically and said, "Kagome-sama, the last time I saw myself, I had a hole in my stomach. What exactly happened?"
Kagome just shrugged and said, "I used one of my souls to heal you. Afterwards I let him go, I'll miss him." She said wistfully.
At the glances he got from her friends she sighed and said under her breath, "Still knocked up about the whole soul thing I suppose. *sigh* Do you guys want to go outside while I make dinner and Sango bathes? I can see she is fairly interested in my spring."
Inuyasha nodded and dragged Miroku out of the den promptly. Kagome motioned to the shelf on the side of the spring that held the moonflower shampoo and the green tea salve. "There's the bathing essentials and I'll heat up the spring in a second."
Kagome set her buck to the side and walked over to the edge of the spring. She thrust her hand into the water and it glowed red, steam started to rise out of the top of the spring. She removed her hand, flicked off the water, and turned to Sango. "All ready. I just need to finish making dinner."
Kagome picked up the buck and set it down near the fire. She sliced off the antlers with her claws and set about skinning it. Sango stripped and stepped into the spring.
Kagome finished skinning the buck just as Sango was stepping out of the spring. Kagome sliced off the meat with her claws and incinerated the carcass with a fireball.
She called Inuyasha and Miroku back in and set aside a small amount of the meat. She held the other slices of meat over the pit with telekinesis and held her other palm face up in front of her. Just as Miroku and Inuyasha came back into the cave, a bright red flame burst out from underneath the pieces of meat. Kagome let her other hand rest at her side and just made little circle motions with her finger to keep the meat spinning as it cooked. Kaze was nestled in his perch that was a small branch that jutted out from the side of the cave; Kagome had stuck it there for that purpose.
Inuyasha's pupils dilated at the sudden light. He shook his head and sat down by the animal furs that Kagome had given him. Miroku did the same and put his hands in his sleeves. Sango sat down a small distance from Miroku, sadly within groping range.
Kagome, noticing this, focused on Miroku and read his thoughts.
'Crap! Okay Miroku, do not grope, do not grope, do not grope, do not grope, ah ta hell with it.'
*grope*
"HENTAI!"
*slap*
'Ouch. I have a feeling I will never get Sango to bear my child at this rate.'
Kagome inwardly was laughing her head off as she closed off Miroku's thoughts. But on the outside her face was as emotionless as Sesshoumaru's.
Miroku, now sporting a red hand shaped mark on his left cheek, said, "Well Kagome-sama, what have you been doing for the past ten months?"
Kagome sighed softly and said, under her breath at first, "Damnit, knew he would ask me that. Well, I haven't really been doing much. Collected a few shards, not much. Oh! And I had two swords made for me. Collected some souls, hence my name, and killed a couple hundred demons, had a few séances with Naraku. Yeah, it's been pretty boring."
Inuyasha's head had snapped up when she mentioned swords. "You had swords made for you?"
Kagome nodded her head and said, "Yup, Tetsutaki and Tokkan." She drew the swords, even though she was sitting. She tapped the two katanas together and they transformed. "You've already seen what Tokkan can do. This is Tetsutaki." She hefted the large sword and twirled them both once before de-transforming them and sheathing them.
Sango and Miroku looked at her. Miroku said, "You've had meetings with Naraku?" Sango snorted while stifling laughter at her remembrance of what Kagome had done to Naraku.
Kagome smirked and said, "A few. You know, he's really quite childish when you actually know him." She extinguished the fire and set the cooked meat on a rock that she had crafted for that purpose. She telekinetically cut it up and motioned with her hand to the meat and said, "All done. I would have gotten fish but the smell of salt is a bit strong today."
When they all got their food, except for Kagome as she chose to eat later, Inuyasha spoke up saying, "What do you mean Naraku is childish?"
Kagome grinned while saying, "Well, he's still evil and cruel and a murderer and all that, but he's really a big baby sometimes. *snicker* I don't think you even want to know what happened one time."
Sango leaned forward. "Oh come on Kagome! Please?"
Kagome looked at Sango's big eyes and sighed, "Fine. Well, I had decided to be really evil one time when I was meeting him and, well, I brought one of my more troublesome and playful souls with me. *snicker* Well, *giggle* After the meeting, I let the soul loose and it started wreaking havoc on Naraku. He was invisible so Naraku didn't even know he was there. At first, he just kept pulling the hood of Naraku's pelt off his face, and once Naraku gave up trying to keep it up, it b-braided a piece o-of h-his h-h- hair! Oh god it was so funny, the look on his face was priceless. Well, *giggle* after that, it left him alone for a while, but then, when Naraku was walking past a tapestry, it unhooked it and it fell over us! I managed to get out, but Naraku wasn't s-so l-l-lucky. He struggled with the thing for about five minutes before he gave up and shredded it. He glared at me and said, and I quote, "Why is it whenever you are around, I always end up in the most degrading and embarrassing situations." I just smirked and said, "I guess I just have that effect on people." He just stood there for a minute twitching before he reached out to his left and grabbed my soul by the scruff of the neck. I had solidified it, but it was still invisible, when Naraku grabbed it, it became visible again, it was a little fox like youkai and started bouncing off the walls. Naraku just watched the thing, all the while saying, "I am soo going to kill her. Going to kill her. Must kill." It was so funny. I asked Kagura, who was watching, quite happily mind you, "Is he like this often?" Kagura shook her head and said, "I think it's just you." To tell you the truth, I think she's starting to like me." Kagome giggled again. After she finished.
The cave was very quiet.
*cricket chirp*
All of them burst out laughing, even Inuyasha.
A far distance away, a pair of golden eyes watched over a pair of children, one Inu youkai and the other kitsune like a father protecting his pups. He stood regally and emotionless, proudly as he watched the two children play in the forest he was patrolling. He had vowed to never let any harm the two, be it physically or emotionally. Not knowing why, but just feeling like he had to protect them, at all costs.
The children were sadly lacking a mother, though they knew of one who they wanted for the position. Whenever they brought her up with their father figure, he would become closed off and cold. Not quite understanding, they left it alone.
His face showed no emotion, but his eyes were a different story. They held no small amount of anger, and a fair amount of pain. The owner of the golden eyes turned away from the children slightly to scan the horizon. His gaze now held curiosity, he was thinking about a certain youkai that had been wandering the lands. The Korekuta no reikons; quite a youkai, powerful. She intrigued him, and he intended to find out just how powerful she was. After all, who was able to purify demon souls and be a youkai too?
He fully intended to investigate this demon who was the gossip of all Japan. She may prove to be worth his time.
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You're not gonna kill me are you? Really! They'll get back together in the next chappy! You'll see1 and I'll throw in loads of fluff! Or I'll try, I'm sorry to say, but I think that I don't have a very good skill in writing fluff, give me a battler scene and you'll get detail down to the nitty gritty, but fluff? ::blushblushblush:: I don't think I'm suited to do that! No matter how much I want to IO just can't seem to write it any good! DAMN IT!!! It's not fair...*sniffle*
Well, review! And flames are welcomed! For all the changes and mood swings and meanness I have put into these last couple of chappys I deserve it! I will thank the flamers and sparke-ers! ^-^ But don't be too hard on me... Kay? *big eyes* Onegai?
REVIEW!!!!
Amreld the sky elf
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Black Sabbath, or any other songs I might use in this fic. *sticks tongue out at lawyers*
No notes today.
Ha ha.
Read or die.
I don't make idle threats.
Enjoy.
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10 months.
Nearly a year.
She barely remembered her home, in the future.
She hadn't seen Sesshoumaru since that afternoon she had discovered what he really thought about her.
Kagome had become as cold as ice. She rivaled how cold Sesshoumaru had ever been. But she still held emotion, she smiled, she cried, however often that occurred, she still had a sense of humor, but she was cold. Secluded, maybe a little lonely at times.
For those ten months she had been traveling all over Japan in search of the shards. She had gone in many different forms, shapes, and species. No matter how many different faces she wore, they all knew her has The Korekuta no reikons.
The collector of souls.
She had discovered quite a handy trick while away in her knew home.
She was able to purify demon souls just as Midoriko had.
But, just as the Shikon no tama was made of Midoriko and the demons souls, Kagome had found that a single demon soul created a jewel as well. But, these little pearl sized marbles she collected held no great power. You were just able to control the demon soul in a solid body.
You see, demon souls were strange things. They were not the tainted things like so many people thought. When a demon dies, its soul goes from its body to the underworld to be reincarnated. But, the soul is not the tainted thing, but the body.
Not all demon bodies were tainted, actually, none were until they had killed in cold blood or had been tainted by a shard of the Shikon jewel. Like Jinenji. Or, some were just too powerful to be tainted by a body, like Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha, being a Hanyou, was a different thing entirely, he held a human soul, but his demon body prevented the soul from being entirely pure or corrupted. A hanyou's body and soul were contradictions, but balanced. The soul prevented the body from being totally corrupted, and the body kept the soul from being entirely pure. Human souls are even stranger things, they cannot be imprisoned within a jewel, but they can be tainted quite easily. Just show them power and they want it. She should know, she was once a human.
The demon souls she had purified did not reincarnate, but stayed crystallized in a single black, pearl sized, marble. A demon did not have to be killed to have its soul purified, if the demon is still alive when its soul is being purified, it will become a soulless husk; like Kikyou. But, it, not having half a soul to sustain it, will gradually die away.
Everyday she released one of the souls she had collected, just so they would not clutter up her home. They were fairly easy to control, because they were willing, most souls did not wish to become tainted again. When she released a soul, she had the ability to give it a body, without taking another. She could compose one demon of many souls. All in all, she could make another demon just like Naraku if she wished. Except, instead of numerous tainted demon 'bodies' in one, it would be numerous purified demon 'souls'.
She used her shape shifting powers to give demons like, say, a centipede demon, a humanoid form. Not a hard task, considering she had to use them anyway just to solidify them.
Wherever she went, she took a small pouch full of her purified souls. She had not worried too much about the Shikon jewel as she had most of it, and only Inuyasha and Naraku were still collecting the shards, he, having little less than a quarter, and Inuyasha, having another small portion. The other lower-level demons still had them, but she would leave them for Inuyasha to collect. But, it appeared that Kikyou had not been seen since she had pinned her to a tree.
She smiled at the memory.
She wondered why everyone was so hell bent on getting the Shikon no tama. There so many other little trinkets out there that they could get quite easily, though, none of them were nearly as powerful as the Shikon.
For example, there was the Kasai pendant. Or 'fire pendant'. It was quite fun to use, not designed to do harm, but more for entertainment. You could make anything out of a harmless fire, trees, flowers or animals, anything.
Or the Ankoku seisho, Darkness energy, a powerful, and evil, ring. Said to be forged from the fires of hell. It's metal really the fangs of Cerberus. For all its reputation, it had been a hell of a lot harder to purify than it looked. That very ring she now wore on her right middle finger. It really was nice when not emitting an evil energy. It still returned every now and then, the thing had a mind of its own. Whenever she was close to a demon the damned thing would go warm and start pulsing. Sometimes she wondered if the ring was worth the annoyance.
Kagome would not call herself pure and innocent by a long shot, in fact, she sometimes considered herself evil. When she had come across a group of men in her human form, after finding a young girl huddled against a tree reeking of their stench. She had taken one look at them and cut them to pieces with her new swords.
She had gone to Toutousai and commissioned him to make her two swords, one of fire and the other of lightning. She called them Tokkan and Tetsutaki. (Lightning attack and iron waterfall.) Made from her fangs and her own feathers. Tetsutaki had the Kasai pendant put into the hilt, and Tokkan had been struck by lightning six times during the forging; compliments of a weather working youkai. Tokkan would transform into a long, curved, lightning bolt shaped, fang. Tetsutaki would transform into the mirror image of Tetsusaiga, but it had ridges on the dull side that made it look like a choppy waterfall. Her feathers were used in the making of the swords to make them lighter than normal. They were literally 'light as a feather', to her, but to anyone else they would be the weight of Inuyasha's repaired Tetsusaiga. Her swords only transformed when she wanted them to. When not transformed, they were twin katanas.
She had stayed to learn a few things from Toutousai before leaving. She was now able to make daggers, knives, and fighting fans, of any kind out of anything. Be it a feather, a scale, a tooth, water, or a rose. Her own elemental powers allowed her to be an easy sword smith, though she could not make swords yet, she would occasionally visit Toutousai to learn more things.
She always thought about Shippou, and Souta, and Rin, and even Sesshoumaru, but she felt strangely numb when thinking of him, no pain. Oh but the anger. The anger, that was still there. She had a high tolerance for pain. Who wouldn't with having their heart broken twice?
Her only companion was a demon falcon named Kazetaka. (Pronounced, Ka- zay-tah-kah. ^-^) Wind falcon. When not transformed, he is just big enough that his talons fit around her wrist, and when transformed he is about the same size as Ah-Uhn. His feathers are an icy blue color with red wingtips. He had electric blue eyes when not transformed, and his eyes were deep blue with jet-black pupils when he was. He was a good falcon; she had saved him when he was only a hatchling from some poisonous centipede youkai.
She was really starting to hate insect youkai.
Kaze, for short, nuzzled the side of her head from his place on her shoulder and let out a squeaky purr. (I love it when birds make that sound! It makes them so kawaii...^-^) She gave a half smile and stroked the feathers on his neck. Kaze was one of the few things that could make her smile anymore.
Kagome was walking along in Inuyasha's forest, as she did sometimes. She would go to the well and sit by it, taking comfort in the old structure. She would always go far away from her home when traveling.
She had found quite a nice place. It was on the west coast of Japan. During one of her travels she had found a small rift in the rock on a hilltop overlooking a beach. She had crawled into it only to find it was a rocky passage into a huge cave underneath the hill, easily big enough to house her in her dragon form. It was quite nice; a few holes were in the top of the hill that let sun and moonlight in, and then it would reflect off of some crystals in the sides of the cave. Moonflowers grew on the sides of the cave, covering the walls in a blanket of white and green. A small natural spring was a place for fresh water and a bathing area. The water was ice cold at night, but during the day, it could be lukewarm, but, if she wanted a hot bath, it was only a little warming up from her elemental powers. When it would rain, she would place covers over the holes.
When ever she was there, she would sleep in her true dragon form, and the hole she had found it from was not the only entrance or exit, there were numerous other exits, one being a hole in the side of the cave that led to a tide pool on the beach.
She sniffed the air, confirming that Inuyasha and the rest were at Kaede's village. It had been a long time since she had visited them. Even if she was a block of ice, she could still be a nice, warm, person; when the mood took her.
She walked at a slow steady pace, towards the village; she talked to the baby falcon that was perched on her shoulder guard. He was still very young. Though his species of falcon grew quite fast, he was only about a year old, and still small. Due to her shape shifting powers, she could speak falcon tongue quite fluently, though it came out in twitters, squeaks, chirps, and small screams.
"Kaze, we will be visiting Inuyasha today. Remember him? The one I told you about? Sango has a fire cat; you can probably play with her. You don't need to worry about Miroku though, he only gropes women. Should I stay looking how I am, or should I shift into my true humanoid form?"
Kaze gave a small twitter saying, "You should go in your true humanoid form mama. They would recognize you better."
Kagome tickled him in a spot beneath his wing and said, "Okay."
She shifted and her wings appeared and her tail, that had currently been tiger striped due to her being in a tiger youkai shape, turned into its regular fluffy black and green. Her horns appeared just as she stepped out of the trees.
Kaze hid in her tail, he was quite scared of humans, not to mention shy. Kagome smiled at him and gave him a reassuring purr.
Kagome walked through the village, heading for Kaede's hut, all the villagers took one look at her and ran screaming "Demon! There is a demon in the village!"
Kagome got an annoyed look. She sighed. Sometimes villagers could be so naive.
Kagome kept walking calmly through the village of screaming villagers, or she would have if it hadn't of been for a giant boomerang being hurled at her head. She ducked with an, "AH!"
She turned to see Sango catch her boomerang and Inuyasha holding a transformed Tetsusaiga. Miroku was holding his staff in an offensive position. Kaede arrived behind them with her bow drawn.
Kagome sighed and said, "Jeez. Could you guys try not to kill me every time I visit?"
She got bemused looks from everyone, until Inuyasha took a closer look at her, his eyes widened and he said, "Kagome?"
Kagome folded her arms and said, "Well hello to you too. Are you going to stand there all day looking like you're gonna kill me or are you going to greet me?" she asked in an amused tone.
Sango dropped her boomerang and ran over to Kagome, she gave her friend a crushing hug, or she would have if it hadn't of been for the spikes on her chest. "Ouch! Hm, I guess I'll have to give you a side hug." Sango gave Kagome a gentle squeeze from the side, careful to avoid her shoulder armor. Kaze popped his head out of the safety of Kagome's tail and coked his head at Sango. He blinked his large eyes and gave a small twitter.
Sango smiled and said, "Oh how kawaii! Who is this Kagome?" Sango said while adoring the small flacon from a distance.
Miroku had approached Kagome and he smiled at her and said, "Well, hello Kagome-sama. It has been a while since you last visited us."
Kagome frowned and said, "If I recall correctly, the last time I 'visited', I almost destroyed the village."
Sango frowned and said, "Kagome, that's the thing, you 'almost' did, but you didn't. And no matter how much Inuyasha," she gave him a pointed look that said, 'Get your ass over here NOW'. "Doesn't want to admit it, we have Sesshoumaru to thank for that."
Inuyasha 'feh'd' and Miroku looked at her, "Where is he by the way?"
Kagome's smiling face became cold and her eyes changed to an electric green and blue. "I don't care where the bastard is and he can rot in hell for all I care."
Sango and Miroku blinked as Kagome walked toward Inuyasha. Her face became less cold and she gave him a half smile, "Hi. So, how has the shard hunting been?"
Inuyasha folded his arms and said, "Fine."
Kagome gave him a skeptical look and said, "From what I've heard you haven't gotten very far; without Kikyou to sense the shards for you."
Inuyasha growled.
Kaze, (pronounced, Kah-zay. ^-~) from his place on Kagome's shoulder guards, bristled and gave out a twitter that sounded a bit like a growl.
Inuyasha looked at Kaze and smirked. "What's up with your bird?"
Kaze's eyes glowed a bright ice blue and he shot off Kagome's shoulder faster than Inuyasha's eyes could follow. Kaze whirled in the air and in a flash of blue fire; he landed next to Kagome, only about a head shorter than her. His beak was now a lot sharper and the tip curved down far below his lower beak.
Kagome looked down at Kaze's bristled wing feathers. "Actually, he's a falcon. And he doesn't appreciate you calling him a bird; or you growling at me"
Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head and he said, "Feh."
Kagome stroked Kaze's neck and he calmed instantly, and in a 'pop', he turned into his smaller form and landed on Kagome's spiked shoulder guard, which he had since dubbed his 'perch'. He nuzzled his face against Kagome's tail and gave a chirp.
Kagome smiled and gave Inuyasha a look, "Oh stop looking like a lost puppy. Kazetaka is just a little untrusting. Are we going to stand in the middle of the village with all of them looking ready to kill me for the rest of the day, or are we going to go back to Kaede's hut? Jeez, it's not like I'm going to destroy the village in a fit of rage or anything."
When she got weird looks from everyone she sweatdropped, "Okay, bad analogy. Can we go now?"
Everyone just shook their heads and followed Kaede back to the hut.
After a while just sitting in the hut and reuniting, Inuyasha spoke up and said, "Kagome. You obviously have better things to do than be here, you have to have another reason for being here."
Kagome blinked and said, "I do. I don't have BETTER things to do, but, yeah, I do have other reasons for being here."
Inuyasha looked annoyed, "Well what are they?"
Kagome smirked, 'Still impatient as always Inuyasha.' "Well, I've come to offer my assistance in collecting the shards. You could obviously use someone who can see and sense the shards, and the extra help. Not to mention I have quite a bit of the jewel here."
She took out the glowing half of the Shikon jewel.
Miroku looked at it for a moment and then said, "It does not seem as pure as it was before."
Kagome met his eyes and flashed them. "I am not as pure as before." She turned her eyes to the half of the jewel and it glowed bright pink before the light faded, "But I can still purify it. It just doesn't stay purified for as long. Or it could be the Ankoku seisho."
Miroku's jaw dropped and he said, "You have the Ankoku seisho?" his eyes were as big as saucers.
Kagome just shrugged and showed him her right hand.
Inuyasha looked from Miroku to Kagome. "What the hell is going on?!"
Miroku just shook his head and said, "Nothing. Just that Kagome-sama is in possession of, and is wearing, the most evil ring in existence."
Sango looked at Kagome and said, "You WHAT?"
Kagome gave them all confused looks and then the light bulb went on. "OH! Well, it's not evil any MORE. Well, it's not AS evil. I still have to purify it from time to tiiiiiimeeeeewhy are you all looking at me like that?"
Inuyasha's ear twitched and he said, "Gee, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that after TEN months, we find out that you haven't been with Sesshoumaru and you are just NOW coming to us offering your help finding the shards, or it could be the evil ring on your finger."
At the mention of Sesshoumaru Kagome's eyes blazed red. She growled low and said in a harsh whisper, "Don't you ever, EVER say his name again in front of me!"
She stood up and stormed out of the hut.
Miroku blinked and said, "Well that was different. Usually it's Inuyasha being the one cursing Sesshoumaru's name."
Sango frowned and got up. She walked out of the hut after Kagome.
Inuyasha was just plain confused. 'What the hell did Sesshoumaru do?'
Kaede just sighed, shook her head, and went back to stirring the pot of stew she was making.
Sango walked to the well where she knew her friend had gone.
Kagome stormed off into the forest, towards the well, wanting to take comfort in the familiar structure.
Kaze, sensing his surrogate mothers distress, poked his head out from her tail and twittered while cocking his head, "What's wrong mama? Why are you sad?"
Kagome sighed and mulled over the innocent question. 'Why am I sad? I have no reason to be. It has been ten months; I have gotten over it. *sigh* I dug my own grave trusting him. Why did it have to turn out like this? And why does it still hurt?' "I really haven't gotten over the pain Kaze-chan. It may take a while. But I need to move on."
Kaze did not know what his mother was talking about. "What pain mama? Are you hurt? What do you need to move on from?" he asked, his innocent mind not understanding the pain of the heart quite yet.
Kagome sighed again and looked at his cocked head. "Kaze, I bear no physical wounds, but wounds of the heart. I have pain from losing someone I loved. You may be a little young to understand yet, but I am fine physically. I just have pain in my heart; that kind of pain takes a while to heal. I will explain more to you when you are older."
Kagome took the falcon from his perch on her shoulder to hold him on her hand. She stroked his feathers while sitting next to and leaning against the bone eaters well. Kaze leaned into her touch and purred contentedly. He understood what his mother was trying to tell him on a certain level. He knew that she was all right physically, but she had been hurt on her heart from having some one she loved taken away from her. He still didn't know how his mama could be hurt, yet not have any injuries.
Sango walked into the clearing and sat down next to her friend and little sister. "Kagome, please tell me what happened. It hurts me to see you in pain." she took hold of Kagome's clawed hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Kagome just looked at Sango's hand holding hers for a moment. She sighed and started talking making Sango jump. "He just wanted the Tetsusaiga all along."
Sango, feeling disoriented that Kagome had so suddenly spoke, didn't quite run through what she said. "Who?"
Kagome sighed and leaned her head back on the well resting her arms on her bent knees. Closing her eyes she said, "Sesshoumaru."
Sango, back in her brain, frowned and said, "What did he do?"
Kagome smiled slightly, "That's just it, he didn't do anything, nothing that made me suspect he would do that. He even gave me the illusion he didn't want the Tetsusaiga. *sigh* After I found out that that was all he wanted, he just told me to leave. He seemed like he was angry with me. Sango-chan," she whispered closing her eyes against the tears she knew were coming. "I'm so confused. It's been ten months and I still don't know what I did, I-I, loved him. No, I still love him. And I left Shippou with him; he probably thinks I'm the worst person in the world now. I can't even visit him. Or Rin." a few tears escaped, they rolled down her cheeks. Kaze gave a chirp of distress against the smell of salt and nuzzled his face into Kagome's chin, offering her what comfort he could. Kagome was fighting back sobs and failing, "S-Sango, I-I d-don't know what to do!" Kagome sobbed out, trying not to go into hysterics.
Sango wrapped her arms around the sobbing woman and held her like she would a weeping child who was scared from a nightmare; successfully imprisoning Kaze in between them. He popped his head out from in between the two women and gave a twitter of complaint before wriggling out and landed on Kagome's shoulder guard. Sango gave her a squeeze and said, "Its okay Kagome, cry. You need to. I'm here."
Kagome just held onto Sango like a lifeline and cried all the tears that she had been holding back for ten months. Ten months of numbness and the pain was too much to hold back. "S-Sango, I want so much just t-to s-see him again, b-but I don't know what he'll do! *sob* I just want him to hold me like he did before!" she broke down against her best friend, holding her kimono and soaking her chest with her tears. "I want to see my son! Sh- Shippou didn't do anything and I left without even saying goodbye! I love him! I never even told him, hell! I never even realized it until he sent me away! *sob* I just want to see him, just want to see him..." she whispered, looking for all the world like a lost kitten. Clutching the only source of warmth and comfort she had.
Sango just held her little sister and whispered words of comfort to her. "Shhh...it will be fine Kagome, don't worry, you have me and Miroku. Even Inuyasha. You have people that love you. I'm sure that Shippou understands. It will turn out fine, You'll see..." She stroked Kagome's hair with one hand and rubbed comforting circles on her back, between her wings.
Kagome's sad, sea green eyes stared blankly at the trees. "No it won't. It will never be okay."
Her desolate eyes just stared out at the darkened sky for a moment before closing. Kagome tail curled around Sango and herself, creating a warm blanket from the cold night air. Her grip on Sango's kimono loosened, but it didn't seem like she was going to let go anytime soon. Sango sighed and shifted so she was in a more comfortable position against the well. She gazed sadly down at Kagome's head that rested against her chest. 'Kagome. I'm here, you just need to let me in. I'll always be here for you. You are the strongest person I know, you can get through this.'
Sango laid her head atop Kagome's and let here eyes close.
Kaze settled himself on top of Kagome's warm, fluffy, tail and tucked his legs underneath him, he snuggled down into it's warmth and tucked his head into his wing. {Bird's look so kawaii when they do that... ^^}
A pair of golden eyes watched, slightly pained, from their perch in the high boughs of a tree before leaping off into the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kagome awoke to the sensation of someone, or something, pecking her ear. She heard a twitter and could only assume Kaze was doing what he had been for the past eight months, waking her up at dawn. Kagome opened her eyes, only to be met by the dark pink kimono of Sango. Kagome remembered last night and felt slightly embarrassed that she had fallen asleep on her chest.
Kagome suddenly felt out of place, she had shown so much emotion. She had spilled her guts out and cried her eyes out. She frowned and sighed, 'Well, crying won't help, what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it.'
She disentangled herself from Sango's grasp and stretched. She looked down at the sleeping woman and decided she should bring her back to the village. Her eyes glowed blue and she turned and headed back for the village, Sango levetated and floated after her.
She walked to Kaede's hut and placed Sango on the floor, far enough away from Miroku that he could not grope her in her sleep.
Kagome walked out of the hut and was about to jump off when she heard the gruff voice of Inuyasha beside her. "You're up early."
Kagome shrugged and said, "Kaze wakes me up at dawn every morning. I don't know why but he seems compelled to do so."
The falcon in question puffed up his feathers and glared menacingly at Inuyasha from his perch on her shoulder guard. He let out a growl like twitter as if saying, 'Bastard...'
Inuyasha's ear twitched and he said, "I don't think he likes me very much."
Kagome looked at Kaze's puffed up wing feathers and said, "I don't think so either."
Inuyasha studied Kagome until she said, "Would you like to walk with me?"
Inuyasha just shrugged and said, "Sure."
Kagome and Inuyasha walked until they were deep into the forest, Inuyasha asked a question that had been nipping at his mind since he'd seen it, "What's in the pouch?"
Kagome just shrugged and said as she kept on walking, "Souls." like she was discussing the weather.
Inuyasha stopped and stared at her like she had just kissed Jaken. "S- Souls?" he asked.
Kagome nodded and said, "Yup. Purified, crystallized, demon souls."
Inuyasha ran to catch up with her and said, "You mean, you are the Korekuta no reikons?"
Kagome nodded and said, "Why? Am I famous?"
Inuyasha gaped at her and said, "Not so much famous as feared. Every human village we've been in has had them whispering about a demon stealing souls. That's you?"
Kagome frowned, "I don't steal them. Grrr...If they knew the first thing about demon souls they'd know why I keep them. I'm not a soul stealer. I don't look like this." she shifted into one of Kikyou's soul stealers and shifted back. "What to they think I am? A monster?"
Inuyasha frowned and said, "Yeah Kagome. They do."
Kagome scowled and said, "Let them think what they want. I don't care. Stop." She abruptly halted and sniffed the air. She growled and said, "There is a demon near."
As if on queue, a demon that looked to be part spider and part snake youkai jumped onto their path. It hissed and said, "Give me the shards!"
Kagome sighed and said, "Man, they all say the same thing, don't you demons know how to ask? *sigh* I guess not. Are you just going to stand there all day trying to look intimidating or are you going to attack?"
The thing gave a snarl of anger and struck at Kagome with surprising speed and agility, scoring a deep gash in her side. Kagome looked down at her side disapprovingly. She glared at the demon with slightly red eyes. "That hurt you know."
She launched herself at the demon and hacked of two of its arms with her claws. They regenerated immediately due to the shard it carried. She couldn't see the shard it had, but she could sense it. 'Hn. The damn thing must have swallowed it. Stupid insect youkai.'
Kagome's hand glowed green and the youkai froze in place. Kaze had jumped off of Kagome's shoulder and was flying in circles in front of Kagome, menacing sounds emitting from his throat. Kagome held her hand out and walked up to the Youkai. "This is what you get for picking a fight with the Korekuta no reikons." The demons eyes widened in fear just as Kagome drew Tetsutaki and decapitated it with one sweep of her arm. She held the body in place and the glow around her hand turned black. A ball of black youki started to gather in her outstretched palm, coming from the chest of the demon. Her eyes glowed a bright green and in a flash, a small black marble sat in Kagome's hand. She opened her pouch and dropped the soul into it. Looking at the demons body she frowned. A ball of fire gathered in her hand and she threw it at the headless body. It was incinerated in three seconds flat.
Kagome purified the demons blood off of the un-transformed Tetsutaki and sheathed it. She looked to Inuyasha who was staring at her with slightly wide eyes. She looked into his eyes and began to walk back to the village.
Inuyasha was speechless.
Here he was, about to draw Tetsusaiga and slay this demon, when Kagome comes out and taunts it!
Then! AFTER the demon ATTACKED her, she cuts off some of its limbs with her CLAWS!
THEN! She holds her hand up and it GLOWS, and the demon is FROZEN in place! She fuckin walks up to it and TALKS to it! And the she pulls out a sword and cuts off its head!
Then she just incinerates the body with a fireball. Heh heh...how pleasant.
And then she just purifies its soul and puts it in her pouch. Mental overload here.
Inuyasha was having a hard time believing this was Kagome.
Kagome, hearing his thoughts,(*cough*mind reading*cough*) looked over her shoulder and smiled at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha. Don't worry. I'm not going to steal your soul while your sleeping. Besides, I can't purify hanyou or human souls. Plus, even if I could, your soul is to strong to be imprisoned." She waited for his brain to start working again before she started walking back.
Kagome scowled at how slow they were going she looked over at Inuyasha who seemed to be thinking similar thoughts. "Hey, Inuyasha? Do you want to have a race back to the village? We're a couple of miles away, enough room for us to."
Inuyasha smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Feh, fine. We go on three."
Kagome got into a jumping stance, "One..."
Inuyasha did too. "Two..."
Kagome relaxed herself just as she said, "Three!"
Inuyasha shot off, Kagome just stood there and said, "Five, four three two one...Okay, I can go now!" She shot off after Inuyasha.
Inuyasha wondered where Kagome went, but as soon as he did, she appeared right beside him. She turned her head to him and said, "TTFN! Ta ta for now!" (Tigger!^^)
She jumped high into the air and landed a good fifty yards in front of Inuyasha. She did another jump that landed her about 100 feet from the village. Another jump, a little over estimated, landed her in the middle of the village. She spread her wings to keep her balance.
She looked at all the villagers giving her the stinkeye and sweatdropped.
Walking back to the hut, she was met by an irate hanyou jumping out of the trees and landing in front of her. "What?" she said innocently.
She could practically see the steam rising from his ears. "What do you mean WHAT?! YOU FUCKIN BEAT ME!!"
Kaze growled a warning at Inuyasha and bristled. Kagome just raised and eyebrow and said, "So?"
Inuyasha sort of deflated and said, "Feh. Stupid wench."
Kagome got an annoyed look on her face and bopped Inuyasha on the head with her fist. Inuyasha rubbed the bump and said, "HEY! What was that for?!"
Kagome looked at the bump on his head with satisfaction. "You forget that I can hear the little comments you say under your breath. And I didn't feel like using the subduing spell. Hitting you is more fun." she smiled sadistically and walked back to the hut.
Inuyasha gulped and said, "Feh..."
Kagome walked into the hut to find everyone up Sango looked at her and smiled, "Ohayo Kagome-chan. How did you sleep?"
Kagome uncurled her tail and let it flop down behind her. "Fine. Um. Sorry for well, falling asleep on you."
Kagome sat down and said, "Ugh. Damn armor." She unstrapped it and lifted it over her head. She set it down in the corner of the hut and sat down next to Sango and Miroku. Miroku scooted closer to her and said, "Sooo, where were you and Inuyasha this morning."
Kagome, ignoring the hentainess of his question, said, "Well, Kaze woke me up at dawn and I went to go take a walk and Inuyasha went with me and we found a demon with Shikon shard and I killed it and took its soul and then we raced back to the village."
Sango and Miroku looked at her and then said, "Okay, go back to the part about the demon. You what?"
Kagome shrugged, took the soul out of her pouch and said, "I purified, and took, its soul."
Sango looked at her with her jaw on the floor, doing an admirable impression of a fish. Miroku just folded his arms in his sleeves and said, "I did not think you the type to steal souls Kagome-sama."
Kagome gave an annoyed sigh and flopped down onto her back. "Why does everyone think that? Grrr...I don't STEAL the souls, I just purify them. I keep them with me because that's who people know me as now. The Korekuta no reikons. And what do you think somebody like Naraku would do if he got a hold of these souls? It would be doomsday for everyone. I'm their guardian until I release them."
Kaede, who had been listening to the conversation while making breakfast, said, "Ah, so ye are the demon we have been hearing so much about. I hear that Naraku sees you as a threat."
Kagome looked over at Kaede, "Oh? From what I've heard, he sees me as an ally. I've actually been visited by him a few times."
Miroku and Inuyasha, who was now present after regaining some of his pride, said, "WHAT?!"
Kagome looked at them and said, "Jeez, all I'm saying is that Naraku and I are neutral. Not enemies nor Allys."
Inuyasha sputtered and said, "Y-You are n-not enemies to NARAKU!?!? ARE YOU FUKIN CRAZY?!!?" Inuyasha was red in the face.
Kagome walked over to Inuyasha and slapped him on the back a few times to get him breathing again. "Breathe Inuyasha! Breathe! All I'm saying is that Naraku would rather not have me as an enemy. So, in other words, Naraku being neutral with me means you don't have to worry about him. There are other threats worse than Naraku. Man, it's not like I'm freakin sleeping with him or anything."
At the incredulous looks she got from around the room and the perverted grin on Miroku's face she scowled and sat down with a blush on her face. "Oh shut up..." she said.
Miroku scooted closer to her and said, "Why Kagome. I had no idea you were on such terms with Naraku."
Kagome blushed harder. She growled at Miroku, making him scoot a little bit away from her. "Miroku. If you say one more thing like that, you will find that you will have no tongue to speak with."
Inuyasha sat down on the opposite wall, still not quite believing that Kagome was on 'neutral' terms with Naraku. He said, "Stupid monk. If you saw what she can do with those swords you'd shut up."
Sango looked at Miroku and said, "I would take Inuyasha's advice Miroku. Kagome doesn't look like she wants to have you saying anything of that nature."
Kagome growled and folded her arms, "Damn right I don't! What do you take me for anyway!? Do you think I'd actually do that with baboon boy?! Miroku, if you keep being such a hentai then you will never succeed in getting a women to bear your child. Or worse, you will and you won't know what to do."
Miroku, feeling slightly miffed at that comment said, nothing. (*O.O* Omg...*O.O*) Inuyasha stared at her with incredulity and respect, "You actually shut him up."
Kagome, satisfied that Miroku had shut up, said, "There are three shards in the northern lands, two in the western lands, eight in the eastern lands, and four in the southern lands. Which way do you want to go today?"
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "How do you know where all the shards are?"
Kagome shrugged and said, "I do a monthly check of where the shards are and how many certain people have. Right now, you guys have eleven, and they've been purified by the way, Naraku has about a quarter, including the one in Kohaku's back, and I have about half. The rest are pretty much scattered all over the place."
Sango thought for a moment before saying, "I think we should go to the east, there are the most shards there."
Inuyasha nodded and said, "Yeah. We're gonna leave in ten minutes so you guys better get ready." He stood up to leave, but Kagome held a hand up. Sango and Miroku noticed her eyes were glowing green.
Kagome closed her fist and stuck out her index finger. She waved it around in little circles and waves. Inuyasha stopped dead, turned around, walked to the wall, and slammed his head into it. Kagome said, "Play dead." Inuyasha dropped to the floor, rolled on his back and stuck his arms and legs in the air. Kagome closed her fist and said, "Good dog. We will leave when we are ready, and not before, Inuyasha." she opened her fist and Inuyasha's arms and legs dropped to the floor.
Inuyasha sat up and said, "Feh." while flattening his ears.
Kagome looked to Sango and said, "Would you like to take a bath with me Sango?"
Sango snapped out of her amusement at seeing Inuyasha 'play dead' and nodded at Kagome with a smile. Kagome grabbed her black bag and walked out of the hut with Sango right behind her. Kagome turned to Miroku and said, "The threat still stands."
When Kagome got to the hot springs, she took off her black vest, revealing her black tube top and her tattoo. She pulled the tube top off, and slipped her pants off as well. She unwrapped the bandage she wore in place of a bra but left her panties on.
She took out the shampoo she had made of her moonflowers and a few other plants, and a green tea salve she had made. She slipped into the hot spring with Sango following suit. Kaze plopped himself into the water with a happy twitter. Kagome smiled and shook her head. "I will never get this falcon. He seems to love taking baths as much as I do."
Sango smiled and stroked him on the head. "I think he's kawaii. Where did you find him?"
Kagome put some of her shampoo on her hand and handed it to Sango she said, "I saved him from a nest of centipede demons when he was just a hatchling. He's been following me ever since. I think the demons killed his mother and that's why he was alone. He's a wind falcon, and so his name." Kagome thought for a moment before she burst out laughing.
Sango looked at her laughing friend strangely, "Kagome-chan? What's so funny?"
Kagome got her laughing under control and said, "Well, I was just remembering one of the meetings I had with Naraku, the real Naraku and not a puppet. I remember I got pissed at him because he made a wise crack about my clothes, I used my shape shifting powers to turn his pelt, *snicker* P-p- pink! H-He threw a conniption fit! Oh my god! You should have seen the look on his face when he discovered that he was wearing a pink pelt. Kagura had to stop herself from laughing out loud for fear of her life. Sango, I didn't turn it back until he apologized. Can you believe it?"
Sango was laughing uncontrollably. "Y-you turned his p-pelt pink? And he apologized?!? Kami-sama! You'd better not tell Inuyasha that. He'll go nuts on Naraku the next time he sees him and won't catch his breath till a week after. Oh my god. You seriously turned his pelt pink?"
Kagome nodded proudly and said, "I thought about turning his hair pink, but that would have been unforgivable. You know, Naraku's really not all that bad if you get to know him. I mean he's still an evil bastard, but I suppose he has a good side. If the way he acted when I told him to apologize for his wise crack was any clue he's a bit, dare I say it, cute?"
Sango's jaw dropped, "Kagome!"
Kagome looked innocent, "What? He's better than Kouga."
Sango frowned and said, "Speaking of Kouga, he seemed a bit afraid to see you when we met up with him last. Any idea why?"
Kagome frowned and then it dawned on her. "Oh! It was probably because I blew him through a wall while he was at a meeting of all the lords and ladies of the four points. I warned him! But the man's just too darn dense."
Sango nodded and said, "We'd better head back or Inuyasha will throw a fit."
Kagome nodded and stood up, wrapping her tail around her self until she was wearing a sopping wet mini-dress. She squeezed out her hair while stepping out of the spring. Sango and her dressed themselves and combed their hair. Kagome shook her tail out and Sango gave her an irritated glance when she got sprayed in the face.
Kagome gave them both a quick blow dry and started walking back to the village, Kaze preening his feathers while sitting on her shoulder.
When they got back to the hut, Inuyasha jumped up and said, "What took you so long? And what the hell were you laughing at?!"
Sango and Kagome exchanged looks before bursting out laughing again. "Kagome looked at Inuyasha's irritated face and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
After about five minutes they were ready to start going again. Kagome had found out that Yuka, Eri, their families, Aiko, and her Ji-chan, had gone back through the well and were safe. She was glad; she had been worried about them.
They had just gotten into the eastern lands when Kagome remembered something. "Oh shit!"
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "What?"
Kagome winced and said, "I just remembered that I had worn out my welcome in the eastern lands sometime ago."
Inuyasha looked at her and said, "What did you do."
Kagome wrung her hands and said, "Well, if almost killing the lady of the eastern lands counts as anything, then I would assume that I would be killed on the spot if they find me."
As soon as she said that, she dodged an arrow. "Ah! Who the hell just tried to shoot me?!"
A multitude of about 30 humanoid neko-youkai jumped down from the trees and said, "You are trespassing here. You will leave now or die."
Kagome silently cursed and said, "Well I sure as hell ain't leaving. I don't care if the Lord and Lady of the eastern lands likes me or not, take your best shot."
All of the youkai strung their bows and aimed them at the group. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and Sango and Miroku slipped into defensive stances.
They released the arrows, but before any could reach their targets, Kagome held up a hand and all of them stopped. Kagome clenched her fist and all but one of them turned black before disintegrating. Kagome twirled her finger in a turnaround gesture and the arrow rotated. She flicked her finger and the arrow shot back at one of the youkai. He fell to the ground with the arrow through his chest.
Realizing that their bows were no use, they all dropped them and attacked with their swords and claws. Kaze hopped off Kagome's shoulder and transformed, sending a loud screech into the air.
Sango and Miroku parried the youkai with their sword and staff. Inuyasha was dodging and sweeping with Tetsusaiga in turn. Kagome was whirling around with her swords in a blur, Tokkan and Tetsutaki cutting the other swords to pieces.
When Sango and Miroku both got wounds to their abdomen and Inuyasha a wound on his leg, Kagome growled and said, "Enough of this. This ends now!" She whirled Tokkan in the air and it transformed into its awesome lightning bolt. Kagome whirled it until it was a glowing yellow ring. The sky above her grew dark and she yelled, "RAIDEN!!!!"
About five bolts of lightning cracked down from the sky and struck every cat youkai in the area, well, except for Kirara. Kagome stopped whirling Tokkan and held it in front of her, Tetsutaki sheathed.
Inuyasha, who was leaning on Tetsusaiga for support, looked at Kagome's sword with surprise.
Kagome sheathed the now un-transformed Tokkan and turned to Sango and Miroku with concern. 'Damn' she thought. 'Stupid neko-youkais. Grr...So, some of them had shards too.' Kagome held out her hand and the three shards levitated and dropped into it. She walked over to her friends and inspected the wounds. She hissed seeing that Miroku had passed out and Sango was nearing that point. She opened her pouch of souls and threw one of them into the air. It glowed white before a male Tsubabsa youkai stood there. Kagome looked to him and said, "Hi Kaedo. I need your help. Can you heal my friends?"
Kaedo, who had been one of Kagome's souls, and friend, for a while looked over the wounds and said, "Yes I can. Just a moment." He held his hand over them and Inuyasha. After about two minutes they were healed.
Kagome smiled at Kaedo and said, "If you want Kaedo, you can go now."
Kaedo nodded and said, "I thank you Noyoroha-sama. If I ever meet you again I will be sure to remember you."
He became transparent and faded away.
Kagome looked over at her friends to see that Miroku and Sango, though healed, were still unconscious, and Inuyasha's leg was stiff. She sighed. "Well, since we got three shards anyway, and most of us are injured," She put a hand on her arm and brought it away to see blood. "Including me, I might as well bring you guys to my den to recuperate."
Inuyasha looked at her, "Your den?"
Kagome smiled wistfully and said, "Yeah. Now, when I say get on, do it."
Inuyasha was confused as hell but nodded. Before he knew it, Kagome no longer stood there, but a dragon as big as Sesshoumaru in his true form was standing above him.
'Whoa'
Kagome said, telepathically, "Get on."
Inuyasha backed away and said, "Hell no!"
The dragon heaved a sigh that moved the treetops and bent its head down toward Inuyasha. She picked him up by the back of his haori and plopped him onto her back, not far from her wings. Kaze set Sango and Miroku down next to him.
The little, now big, falcon gave a scream and soared into the air. Kagome said, "Hold on." And took off.
Inuyasha had blinked and then he was flying through the air. He looked down to see the treetops passing in a blur. He averted his gaze, lest he get dizzy.
After about twenty minutes, the western coast came into view. Kagome flew towards a hill that just barely stood above the others. She landed; spreading her wings to stop, and took Inuyasha and the others off her back. She shrunk back to her humanoid form and Kaze landed on her shoulder, now in his smaller form.
Kagome walked to a spot on the hill and waved her hand. A hole appeared in the top of the hill. She motioned for Inuyasha to come over and she showed him the hole. "Just go in there and wait for me. I'll be down with Sango and Miroku in a minute."
Inuyasha did, which was no hard task considering Kagome had thought to shape out her entrances and exits.
Kagome entered her den with Sango and Miroku and set them down on some blankets in the bottom of the cave. She uncovered the holes in her roof and sunlight poured in, exposing the vines on the cave walls. Inuyasha looked around with his neck craned. He said, "This is your den?" Kagome nodded and said, "Yup. This is home. It's usually not so open because I sleep in the big dragon form you had seen me in. I'll get some blankets."
Kagome walked over to a spot by the spring and brought out numerous animal furs that had had material sowed onto the bottom to from comfortable, and warm, blankets. She spread them over Sango and Miroku and tossed a couple to Inuyasha. "You can make yourself a bed if you want."
Inuyasha sat down against the cave wall and stared at his surroundings.
Kagome got a bowl and filled it with water from the spring. She heated it and sat down next to Sango and Miroku. She wet a cloth and cleaned off the spots where their wounds had once been. She sighed. 'I'm going to miss Kaedo. He was one of my first souls...' Kagome looked at her own wound and wiped it clean of the blood. She bandaged it and replaced the blankets over her friends.
Kagome stood up and turned to Inuyasha. "I'm going to go out and get dinner. Feel free to poke around. Just don't mess with my souls on the back wall." She motioned to the few corked bottles and pouches on the back wall.
Kaze flew onto Kagome's shoulder guard and twittered happily. Kagome patted him on the head and said, "I'll be back in about twenty minutes if Sango and Miroku wake up. I'm only a scream away." She winked and disappeared through the exit that led to the tide pool.
When she reached the tide pool, she took a quick sniff of the air. 'Shit! All I can smell out here is salt and seaweed. Chikuso! *sigh* I guess I'll have to got to the forest this time.' "C'mon Kaze, we need to go to the forest. I know you wanted to go fishing, but I can't smell a thing out here. Gomen nasai."
Kaze chirped disappointedly, but nuzzled Kagome's cheek affectionately.
Kagome flew upwards and Kaze shot off her shoulder to fly next to her. Kagome made a beeline for the forest edge and landed in the high boughs of a large willow tree. Making a few birds and squirrels run and squeak in terror.
Kagome closed her eyes and spread her senses; she listened intently to the forest around her until she could hear everything around her. Kaze quieted noticing his mother was trying to listen to something.
Kagome picked up a heartbeat about fifty meters away, she opened here eyes; they were a deep crimson red. She quickly and silently leaped from branch to branch, focusing on the heartbeat she had picked up. She landed in an oak tree and stared down at her prey.
It was a rather large buck, grazing in the patches of grass around a few trees, occasionally looking up to scan the surrounding area. Kagome carefully shifted so she was in position to pounce. She readied her legs and shot out at the unsuspecting deer.
In about a half a second, the buck was lying on the ground with its neck snapped and at an odd angel. Kagome checked and sniffed the deer, making sure that it was sanitary before standing up straight and craning her neck to the sky. She gave out a loud piercing scream of a falcon and Kaze came shooting out of the trees in his battle form and landed next to Kagome. He gave a low growl which would have been a cute twitter were he in his smaller form.
Kagome motioned to the buck at her feet and said, "Do you think you can carry dinner home Kaze?" she asked the falcon that was eyeing the buck carefully. Kaze gave a chirp and in a flutter of wind the buck was secured on his back. Kagome smiled and flew upwards towards her den.
When she arrived back at her den, Sango and Miroku were awake and looking around the cave. Sango seemed particularly interested in the spring, and Miroku's attention was directed at the pouches and bottles lining the back wall.
Inuyasha looked up when Kagome entered. She came in carrying the buck, because the entrance she chose to use wasn't big enough to accommodate Kaze in his battle form. She flopped the buck down by a small pit in the floor that had been made into a fireplace. She smiled at Sango and Miroku and said, "Feeling better?"
Miroku looked at her quizzically and said, "Kagome-sama, the last time I saw myself, I had a hole in my stomach. What exactly happened?"
Kagome just shrugged and said, "I used one of my souls to heal you. Afterwards I let him go, I'll miss him." She said wistfully.
At the glances he got from her friends she sighed and said under her breath, "Still knocked up about the whole soul thing I suppose. *sigh* Do you guys want to go outside while I make dinner and Sango bathes? I can see she is fairly interested in my spring."
Inuyasha nodded and dragged Miroku out of the den promptly. Kagome motioned to the shelf on the side of the spring that held the moonflower shampoo and the green tea salve. "There's the bathing essentials and I'll heat up the spring in a second."
Kagome set her buck to the side and walked over to the edge of the spring. She thrust her hand into the water and it glowed red, steam started to rise out of the top of the spring. She removed her hand, flicked off the water, and turned to Sango. "All ready. I just need to finish making dinner."
Kagome picked up the buck and set it down near the fire. She sliced off the antlers with her claws and set about skinning it. Sango stripped and stepped into the spring.
Kagome finished skinning the buck just as Sango was stepping out of the spring. Kagome sliced off the meat with her claws and incinerated the carcass with a fireball.
She called Inuyasha and Miroku back in and set aside a small amount of the meat. She held the other slices of meat over the pit with telekinesis and held her other palm face up in front of her. Just as Miroku and Inuyasha came back into the cave, a bright red flame burst out from underneath the pieces of meat. Kagome let her other hand rest at her side and just made little circle motions with her finger to keep the meat spinning as it cooked. Kaze was nestled in his perch that was a small branch that jutted out from the side of the cave; Kagome had stuck it there for that purpose.
Inuyasha's pupils dilated at the sudden light. He shook his head and sat down by the animal furs that Kagome had given him. Miroku did the same and put his hands in his sleeves. Sango sat down a small distance from Miroku, sadly within groping range.
Kagome, noticing this, focused on Miroku and read his thoughts.
'Crap! Okay Miroku, do not grope, do not grope, do not grope, do not grope, ah ta hell with it.'
*grope*
"HENTAI!"
*slap*
'Ouch. I have a feeling I will never get Sango to bear my child at this rate.'
Kagome inwardly was laughing her head off as she closed off Miroku's thoughts. But on the outside her face was as emotionless as Sesshoumaru's.
Miroku, now sporting a red hand shaped mark on his left cheek, said, "Well Kagome-sama, what have you been doing for the past ten months?"
Kagome sighed softly and said, under her breath at first, "Damnit, knew he would ask me that. Well, I haven't really been doing much. Collected a few shards, not much. Oh! And I had two swords made for me. Collected some souls, hence my name, and killed a couple hundred demons, had a few séances with Naraku. Yeah, it's been pretty boring."
Inuyasha's head had snapped up when she mentioned swords. "You had swords made for you?"
Kagome nodded her head and said, "Yup, Tetsutaki and Tokkan." She drew the swords, even though she was sitting. She tapped the two katanas together and they transformed. "You've already seen what Tokkan can do. This is Tetsutaki." She hefted the large sword and twirled them both once before de-transforming them and sheathing them.
Sango and Miroku looked at her. Miroku said, "You've had meetings with Naraku?" Sango snorted while stifling laughter at her remembrance of what Kagome had done to Naraku.
Kagome smirked and said, "A few. You know, he's really quite childish when you actually know him." She extinguished the fire and set the cooked meat on a rock that she had crafted for that purpose. She telekinetically cut it up and motioned with her hand to the meat and said, "All done. I would have gotten fish but the smell of salt is a bit strong today."
When they all got their food, except for Kagome as she chose to eat later, Inuyasha spoke up saying, "What do you mean Naraku is childish?"
Kagome grinned while saying, "Well, he's still evil and cruel and a murderer and all that, but he's really a big baby sometimes. *snicker* I don't think you even want to know what happened one time."
Sango leaned forward. "Oh come on Kagome! Please?"
Kagome looked at Sango's big eyes and sighed, "Fine. Well, I had decided to be really evil one time when I was meeting him and, well, I brought one of my more troublesome and playful souls with me. *snicker* Well, *giggle* After the meeting, I let the soul loose and it started wreaking havoc on Naraku. He was invisible so Naraku didn't even know he was there. At first, he just kept pulling the hood of Naraku's pelt off his face, and once Naraku gave up trying to keep it up, it b-braided a piece o-of h-his h-h- hair! Oh god it was so funny, the look on his face was priceless. Well, *giggle* after that, it left him alone for a while, but then, when Naraku was walking past a tapestry, it unhooked it and it fell over us! I managed to get out, but Naraku wasn't s-so l-l-lucky. He struggled with the thing for about five minutes before he gave up and shredded it. He glared at me and said, and I quote, "Why is it whenever you are around, I always end up in the most degrading and embarrassing situations." I just smirked and said, "I guess I just have that effect on people." He just stood there for a minute twitching before he reached out to his left and grabbed my soul by the scruff of the neck. I had solidified it, but it was still invisible, when Naraku grabbed it, it became visible again, it was a little fox like youkai and started bouncing off the walls. Naraku just watched the thing, all the while saying, "I am soo going to kill her. Going to kill her. Must kill." It was so funny. I asked Kagura, who was watching, quite happily mind you, "Is he like this often?" Kagura shook her head and said, "I think it's just you." To tell you the truth, I think she's starting to like me." Kagome giggled again. After she finished.
The cave was very quiet.
*cricket chirp*
All of them burst out laughing, even Inuyasha.
A far distance away, a pair of golden eyes watched over a pair of children, one Inu youkai and the other kitsune like a father protecting his pups. He stood regally and emotionless, proudly as he watched the two children play in the forest he was patrolling. He had vowed to never let any harm the two, be it physically or emotionally. Not knowing why, but just feeling like he had to protect them, at all costs.
The children were sadly lacking a mother, though they knew of one who they wanted for the position. Whenever they brought her up with their father figure, he would become closed off and cold. Not quite understanding, they left it alone.
His face showed no emotion, but his eyes were a different story. They held no small amount of anger, and a fair amount of pain. The owner of the golden eyes turned away from the children slightly to scan the horizon. His gaze now held curiosity, he was thinking about a certain youkai that had been wandering the lands. The Korekuta no reikons; quite a youkai, powerful. She intrigued him, and he intended to find out just how powerful she was. After all, who was able to purify demon souls and be a youkai too?
He fully intended to investigate this demon who was the gossip of all Japan. She may prove to be worth his time.
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You're not gonna kill me are you? Really! They'll get back together in the next chappy! You'll see1 and I'll throw in loads of fluff! Or I'll try, I'm sorry to say, but I think that I don't have a very good skill in writing fluff, give me a battler scene and you'll get detail down to the nitty gritty, but fluff? ::blushblushblush:: I don't think I'm suited to do that! No matter how much I want to IO just can't seem to write it any good! DAMN IT!!! It's not fair...*sniffle*
Well, review! And flames are welcomed! For all the changes and mood swings and meanness I have put into these last couple of chappys I deserve it! I will thank the flamers and sparke-ers! ^-^ But don't be too hard on me... Kay? *big eyes* Onegai?
REVIEW!!!!
Amreld the sky elf