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Chapter Six: The Crossing of Paths
Inuyasha was helping himself to another bowl of ramen, eating in complete silence, feeling eyes boring into his back. He looked up from his bowl and turned around, seeing Sango, Miroku, Kaede, and Shippo quickly look away.
He looked across the room and saw that Kagome had fallen asleep and was breathing softly, a small smile on her face.
"Well, I think I'll just go to the lake and have a nice bath...what about you Sango, Shippo?" Miroku suggested.
"This late at night, Houshi-Sama?" Sango asked.
"Then never mind..." Miroku replied, his eyes looking slightly downward.
"I suggest that ye all be getting to bed." Kaede added.
Without a fuss, everyone got under their blankets and went to sleep. Inuyasha took his usual spot in the corner of the hut where he could watch everyone and have a clear view of the front door. He glanced over at Kagome. She was shivering.
'It really isn't that cold tonight...' Inuyasha thought to himself.
He walked over to her took off the red top part of his kimono and draped it loosely over her body. She stopped shivering almost instantly.
"Inuyasha..." She whispered softly.
The half demon looked up at Kagome's face, seeing an even bigger smile on her face. It was just so strange...like a fluttering feeling in his heart as he looked at her innocent face. His gold eyes widened with realization at what this feeling was. He had felt it only once before...when he was with Kikyo...but that old feeling had died a long time ago...
'I'm in love with......Kagome?!'
* * *
'I shall reach the next village soon...but I don't know how long I will last...I'm so very tired...and that miasama is starting to get to me...but I must keep moving...even if it makes matters worse that I'm spreading the poison...I know the antidote...I just need to find the right herb... ' Kirika said in thought.
She coughed into the sleeve of her kimono, falling into the ground rather ungracefully. She gasped for air and stumbled to a nearby tree, clinging onto it for support. She looked up at the moon, seeing that it was just a small crescent in the sky.
'Damn it...the new moon is arriving on swift wings...I must find Inuyasha before then...I can't afford to lose my strength...'
Her vision was starting to get blurred. Her grip upon the tree was loosening. She fell to the grassy earth unconscious. A woman in a white kimono sighed, then approached the fallen hanyou girl.
"Kirika, when will you learn..." The woman muttered.
Kirika's gold eyes snapped open as her vision slowly refocused.
"Hana-chan?" Kirika wondered.
"Yes, Kirika...it's me. I thought you might get into trouble. So I decided that I would need to go along with you until you find him." Hana replied.
"You mean, that boy, Inuyasha, that I'm supposed to find?" Kirika asked.
"Yes. Inuyasha. But you will need to hide yourself from him. He will resist you, but after you both clash your swords, Tetsusage and Tetsusaiga, you will come to an understanding."
"That sounds just peachy, but if you don't mind...I was fighting a giant boar earlier, and I inhaled some miasama and it's kind of killing me right now, so if it isn't too much trouble, could you make some sort of antidote for me?"
Hana laughed, then nodded, pulling out a small leather pouch from her belt, then taking an herb from it and grinding it and putting it into a china tea cup. Kirika shakily reached for it and downed it in one gulp, wrinkling her nose in disgust, then setting the cup down.
"Ugh...it tastes horrible...as usual...but at least it's working..."
Kirika's vision had become sharp as her very sword, and she could stand on her own two feet again.
"Thank you, Hana-chan."
"Well, my work is done...we'll run into each other again sometime soon..."
Hana took the cup and walked away, down a long, winding forest path.
"That was...odd..." Kirika said finally.
She continued her quest to find Inuyasha, and took to leaping from tree to tree...
She'd been running at least for a good hour. She caught a scent. It was another inuyoukai. But it was very faint. The inuyoukai had been in that spot at least a few days ago.
'That must be him!'
* * *
Morning was dawning, and everyone woke to the scent of rice and fish. Kagome sat in front of the fire prodding at a fish with a stick, then setting out plates. Inuyasha was as cheerful as usual. He kept glancing out the window uneasily.
"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" Miroku asked.
"The new moon." Inuyasha replied.
Miroku nodded, then graciously took his plate from Kagome.
'Poor Inuyasha...it must be so aggravating for him every new moon...' Kagome thought sympathetically.
"Here, Inuyasha." Kagome said gently, handing him his plate. "Oh and this too...thank you..." she added, handing the kimono top back to him.
"It was nothing." Inuyasha answered, taking his plate and starting to eat.
"I think we should be setting off after this...if we want to get those shards before Naraku..." Sango said.
"Yeah...before sunset..." Inuyasha agreed.
They hurriedly finished their breakfasts and packed their things, exiting the hut. They set off going north, and into several clumps of thick undergrowth. Fighting through it was very exhausting.
"This is impossible to walk through!" Shippo complained.
"What're you whining about? You're not even walking! You're just sitting on Kagome's shoulder! So how can you even dare complain! If anyone should be complaining, it's the rest of us! Because unlike a certain child, we're making an effort to fight through this!" Inuyasha yelled.
"KAGOME!!" Shippo whimpered.
Inuyasha took out Tetsusaiga, and growled angrily.
"I can't stand this anymore! Kaze no Kizu!"
The undergrowth disappeared, and Inuyasha put his sword back in its sheath.
"Happy now?" He asked.
The group was now able to walk freely, and realized how quickly the day had gone by. It was already two hours past noon.
"Kagome, I'm hungry." Shippo said.
"I think we can have a stop to rest. After all, we haven't eaten for hours..." Kagome said.
They found a nice spot, and Kagome made ramen (again). They each rested, while enjoying a nice meal.
"Will you hurry up?! We've only been here for two hours!" Inuyasha shouted. "We need to find the shards!"
Inuyasha was the first to finish eating. He was pacing around the group in circles in impatience.
"You know, if you keep walking around us like that, you'll wear a groove into the ground." Miroku said.
"Shut up." Inuyasha snapped.
Kagome suddenly looked up from her food.
"Inuyasha...I sense a shard. Two of them...and they're coming towards us." She said.
"From which way?" Inuyasha asked.
"North west."
Everyone abandoned their food, and cleared the area, getting their weapons.
"I'll bet it's Kouga..." Shippo muttered.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, but instead of catching the scent of Kouga, it was an entirely different scent.
"It isn't him. Someone else...they're an inuyoukai." Inuyasha said.
"You don't think...it's...Sesshoumaru?" Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kagome exclaimed.
"It isn't him either. This is an entirely new scent. But if they have shards, I'm sure they're after the ones we have."
Sango got her boomerang, Miroku was ready to use Kazaana, Shippo was ready to use his fox magic, Kagome got her bow and arrows, and Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath.
The new scent loomed closer. Then, a figure in red shot out of the trees. Kagome let her arrow of purity fly, but it missed, hitting the tree behind the red clothed figure.
"Coward! Show your face!" Inuyasha shouted.
The figure stopped moving, and stood in front of the group, surveying them all. She wore fire rat fur armor just like Inuyasha. She had the same gold eyes, claws, and fangs. Her long silver hair was tied in a ponytail with a white ribbon. Underneath the hair at the top of her head, two white dog ears were poking out.
"So...you must be Inuyasha...I'm called Kirika. I've been looking for you..." She said.
Kirika's gold eyes looked into Inuyasha's, then up at the sky.
"Well...we should hurry and get this duel over with..." She sighed.
She drew her sword.
"Oh...like my sword? It's called Tetsusage."
"Inuyasha-Sama!" A small voice said.
"Myouga-jijii?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
He clapped a hand to his neck, preventing the tick from getting blood.
"What do you want?!" Inuyasha demanded.
"The Tetsusage! It was a sword that your father gave to your mother as a gift! It's a third sword that was secretly forged from the very fang Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga came from! But I don't know how this girl received it! It's an inheritance to the youngest child of the family. Which means it's also yours!" Myouga explained quickly.
"What?!" Everyone except Kirika and Myouga exclaimed.
"Hey, girl...that's my sword..." Inuyasha said.
"No it isn't. It's mine. I got it from my sensei, Hana-chan. She taught me how to use it." Kirika replied fiercely.
With that, she charged, and her blade grazed the sleeve of Inuyasha's kimono.
"If it's a fight you want, then you're going to get one! Just be ready for it!" Inuyasha yelled.
Their two swords clashed against each other, that they were knocked from their owners hands, at least twelve feet away from each other.
"Oh well...we won't need them now..." Kirika said.
She cracked the knuckles on her right hand, then charged again.
"Sankon Tetsusuo!" Inuyasha yelled.
His claws made contact on Kirika's face, leaving a bleeding gash on her cheek. He ran towards Tetsusaiga and grabbed it, cutting an exposed bit of her torso that wasn't covered by the fire rat's fur. Kirika stumbled, then stood, placing her hands at her bleeding wounds, her claws becoming drenched in her own blood.
"Hijin Ketsusuo!" She cried.
'How? How can she do that?! That's one of my attacks! She's using it against me!' Inuyasha's brain reeled.
Because he was so overcome with shock, he didn't have time to dodge the attack coming at him. He was thrown backwards, landing on his side. He still had Tetsusaiga in his grip, and plunged the tip into the earth, then pulled himself up.
"KYUSAI!!!" Kirika screamed.
"Kaze no Kizu!!!" Inuyasha shouted.
Both attacks went forward, hitting their targets, both getting injured badly. Both were bleeding at an alarming rate.
Inuyasha looked up at the sky. It was sunset. He was going to be human in a few seconds...he watched as the sun sank lower and lower into the horizon.
"No...not yet..." He whispered. "I can't go...not now..."
With so much blood lost, he knew he would die very soon. He glanced over at Kirika. She took was looking fearfully at the sky.
Finally, the sun disappeared.
Inuyasha's claws, fangs, and ears retracted, his eyes and hair darkened. Inuyasha glanced over at Kirika and watched in amazement as she too turned into a human form.
'She's...turning human? At the same time as me?'
Kagome looked from the two of them. They looked exactly alike. The two had the same hair and eyes, it was like they were related.
'Wait...what if...Kirika really is related to Inuyasha?!' Kagome thought. 'There's no time to think about that now...I have to treat them or else they'll die! '
Inuyasha could feel his grasp on life slipping away. He could already see his life flashing before him. But then, his memories stopped on a certain one when he was very small and with his mother. She was holding a baby girl in her arms with dog ears.
~*~Flashback~*~
"Who's that Mama?" a young Inuyasha asked.
"This is your little sister. Your true sister. You're her older brother." Inuyasha's mother answered, a smile crossing her lips.
"What's her name?" Inuyasha inquired.
"I'll call her Mei Lhi. That's a good name, don't you think, Inuyasha?"
"Hai, Mama. Very good name."
~*~End Flashback~*~
Inuyasha looked at the girl's face in front of him. The two faces matched.
"Mei Lhi?" He whispered.
Suddenly the girl's eyes widened and she tried to reach out her hand.
"Onii-chan..." She murmured.
Chapter Six: The Crossing of Paths
Inuyasha was helping himself to another bowl of ramen, eating in complete silence, feeling eyes boring into his back. He looked up from his bowl and turned around, seeing Sango, Miroku, Kaede, and Shippo quickly look away.
He looked across the room and saw that Kagome had fallen asleep and was breathing softly, a small smile on her face.
"Well, I think I'll just go to the lake and have a nice bath...what about you Sango, Shippo?" Miroku suggested.
"This late at night, Houshi-Sama?" Sango asked.
"Then never mind..." Miroku replied, his eyes looking slightly downward.
"I suggest that ye all be getting to bed." Kaede added.
Without a fuss, everyone got under their blankets and went to sleep. Inuyasha took his usual spot in the corner of the hut where he could watch everyone and have a clear view of the front door. He glanced over at Kagome. She was shivering.
'It really isn't that cold tonight...' Inuyasha thought to himself.
He walked over to her took off the red top part of his kimono and draped it loosely over her body. She stopped shivering almost instantly.
"Inuyasha..." She whispered softly.
The half demon looked up at Kagome's face, seeing an even bigger smile on her face. It was just so strange...like a fluttering feeling in his heart as he looked at her innocent face. His gold eyes widened with realization at what this feeling was. He had felt it only once before...when he was with Kikyo...but that old feeling had died a long time ago...
'I'm in love with......Kagome?!'
* * *
'I shall reach the next village soon...but I don't know how long I will last...I'm so very tired...and that miasama is starting to get to me...but I must keep moving...even if it makes matters worse that I'm spreading the poison...I know the antidote...I just need to find the right herb... ' Kirika said in thought.
She coughed into the sleeve of her kimono, falling into the ground rather ungracefully. She gasped for air and stumbled to a nearby tree, clinging onto it for support. She looked up at the moon, seeing that it was just a small crescent in the sky.
'Damn it...the new moon is arriving on swift wings...I must find Inuyasha before then...I can't afford to lose my strength...'
Her vision was starting to get blurred. Her grip upon the tree was loosening. She fell to the grassy earth unconscious. A woman in a white kimono sighed, then approached the fallen hanyou girl.
"Kirika, when will you learn..." The woman muttered.
Kirika's gold eyes snapped open as her vision slowly refocused.
"Hana-chan?" Kirika wondered.
"Yes, Kirika...it's me. I thought you might get into trouble. So I decided that I would need to go along with you until you find him." Hana replied.
"You mean, that boy, Inuyasha, that I'm supposed to find?" Kirika asked.
"Yes. Inuyasha. But you will need to hide yourself from him. He will resist you, but after you both clash your swords, Tetsusage and Tetsusaiga, you will come to an understanding."
"That sounds just peachy, but if you don't mind...I was fighting a giant boar earlier, and I inhaled some miasama and it's kind of killing me right now, so if it isn't too much trouble, could you make some sort of antidote for me?"
Hana laughed, then nodded, pulling out a small leather pouch from her belt, then taking an herb from it and grinding it and putting it into a china tea cup. Kirika shakily reached for it and downed it in one gulp, wrinkling her nose in disgust, then setting the cup down.
"Ugh...it tastes horrible...as usual...but at least it's working..."
Kirika's vision had become sharp as her very sword, and she could stand on her own two feet again.
"Thank you, Hana-chan."
"Well, my work is done...we'll run into each other again sometime soon..."
Hana took the cup and walked away, down a long, winding forest path.
"That was...odd..." Kirika said finally.
She continued her quest to find Inuyasha, and took to leaping from tree to tree...
She'd been running at least for a good hour. She caught a scent. It was another inuyoukai. But it was very faint. The inuyoukai had been in that spot at least a few days ago.
'That must be him!'
* * *
Morning was dawning, and everyone woke to the scent of rice and fish. Kagome sat in front of the fire prodding at a fish with a stick, then setting out plates. Inuyasha was as cheerful as usual. He kept glancing out the window uneasily.
"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" Miroku asked.
"The new moon." Inuyasha replied.
Miroku nodded, then graciously took his plate from Kagome.
'Poor Inuyasha...it must be so aggravating for him every new moon...' Kagome thought sympathetically.
"Here, Inuyasha." Kagome said gently, handing him his plate. "Oh and this too...thank you..." she added, handing the kimono top back to him.
"It was nothing." Inuyasha answered, taking his plate and starting to eat.
"I think we should be setting off after this...if we want to get those shards before Naraku..." Sango said.
"Yeah...before sunset..." Inuyasha agreed.
They hurriedly finished their breakfasts and packed their things, exiting the hut. They set off going north, and into several clumps of thick undergrowth. Fighting through it was very exhausting.
"This is impossible to walk through!" Shippo complained.
"What're you whining about? You're not even walking! You're just sitting on Kagome's shoulder! So how can you even dare complain! If anyone should be complaining, it's the rest of us! Because unlike a certain child, we're making an effort to fight through this!" Inuyasha yelled.
"KAGOME!!" Shippo whimpered.
Inuyasha took out Tetsusaiga, and growled angrily.
"I can't stand this anymore! Kaze no Kizu!"
The undergrowth disappeared, and Inuyasha put his sword back in its sheath.
"Happy now?" He asked.
The group was now able to walk freely, and realized how quickly the day had gone by. It was already two hours past noon.
"Kagome, I'm hungry." Shippo said.
"I think we can have a stop to rest. After all, we haven't eaten for hours..." Kagome said.
They found a nice spot, and Kagome made ramen (again). They each rested, while enjoying a nice meal.
"Will you hurry up?! We've only been here for two hours!" Inuyasha shouted. "We need to find the shards!"
Inuyasha was the first to finish eating. He was pacing around the group in circles in impatience.
"You know, if you keep walking around us like that, you'll wear a groove into the ground." Miroku said.
"Shut up." Inuyasha snapped.
Kagome suddenly looked up from her food.
"Inuyasha...I sense a shard. Two of them...and they're coming towards us." She said.
"From which way?" Inuyasha asked.
"North west."
Everyone abandoned their food, and cleared the area, getting their weapons.
"I'll bet it's Kouga..." Shippo muttered.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, but instead of catching the scent of Kouga, it was an entirely different scent.
"It isn't him. Someone else...they're an inuyoukai." Inuyasha said.
"You don't think...it's...Sesshoumaru?" Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kagome exclaimed.
"It isn't him either. This is an entirely new scent. But if they have shards, I'm sure they're after the ones we have."
Sango got her boomerang, Miroku was ready to use Kazaana, Shippo was ready to use his fox magic, Kagome got her bow and arrows, and Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath.
The new scent loomed closer. Then, a figure in red shot out of the trees. Kagome let her arrow of purity fly, but it missed, hitting the tree behind the red clothed figure.
"Coward! Show your face!" Inuyasha shouted.
The figure stopped moving, and stood in front of the group, surveying them all. She wore fire rat fur armor just like Inuyasha. She had the same gold eyes, claws, and fangs. Her long silver hair was tied in a ponytail with a white ribbon. Underneath the hair at the top of her head, two white dog ears were poking out.
"So...you must be Inuyasha...I'm called Kirika. I've been looking for you..." She said.
Kirika's gold eyes looked into Inuyasha's, then up at the sky.
"Well...we should hurry and get this duel over with..." She sighed.
She drew her sword.
"Oh...like my sword? It's called Tetsusage."
"Inuyasha-Sama!" A small voice said.
"Myouga-jijii?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
He clapped a hand to his neck, preventing the tick from getting blood.
"What do you want?!" Inuyasha demanded.
"The Tetsusage! It was a sword that your father gave to your mother as a gift! It's a third sword that was secretly forged from the very fang Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga came from! But I don't know how this girl received it! It's an inheritance to the youngest child of the family. Which means it's also yours!" Myouga explained quickly.
"What?!" Everyone except Kirika and Myouga exclaimed.
"Hey, girl...that's my sword..." Inuyasha said.
"No it isn't. It's mine. I got it from my sensei, Hana-chan. She taught me how to use it." Kirika replied fiercely.
With that, she charged, and her blade grazed the sleeve of Inuyasha's kimono.
"If it's a fight you want, then you're going to get one! Just be ready for it!" Inuyasha yelled.
Their two swords clashed against each other, that they were knocked from their owners hands, at least twelve feet away from each other.
"Oh well...we won't need them now..." Kirika said.
She cracked the knuckles on her right hand, then charged again.
"Sankon Tetsusuo!" Inuyasha yelled.
His claws made contact on Kirika's face, leaving a bleeding gash on her cheek. He ran towards Tetsusaiga and grabbed it, cutting an exposed bit of her torso that wasn't covered by the fire rat's fur. Kirika stumbled, then stood, placing her hands at her bleeding wounds, her claws becoming drenched in her own blood.
"Hijin Ketsusuo!" She cried.
'How? How can she do that?! That's one of my attacks! She's using it against me!' Inuyasha's brain reeled.
Because he was so overcome with shock, he didn't have time to dodge the attack coming at him. He was thrown backwards, landing on his side. He still had Tetsusaiga in his grip, and plunged the tip into the earth, then pulled himself up.
"KYUSAI!!!" Kirika screamed.
"Kaze no Kizu!!!" Inuyasha shouted.
Both attacks went forward, hitting their targets, both getting injured badly. Both were bleeding at an alarming rate.
Inuyasha looked up at the sky. It was sunset. He was going to be human in a few seconds...he watched as the sun sank lower and lower into the horizon.
"No...not yet..." He whispered. "I can't go...not now..."
With so much blood lost, he knew he would die very soon. He glanced over at Kirika. She took was looking fearfully at the sky.
Finally, the sun disappeared.
Inuyasha's claws, fangs, and ears retracted, his eyes and hair darkened. Inuyasha glanced over at Kirika and watched in amazement as she too turned into a human form.
'She's...turning human? At the same time as me?'
Kagome looked from the two of them. They looked exactly alike. The two had the same hair and eyes, it was like they were related.
'Wait...what if...Kirika really is related to Inuyasha?!' Kagome thought. 'There's no time to think about that now...I have to treat them or else they'll die! '
Inuyasha could feel his grasp on life slipping away. He could already see his life flashing before him. But then, his memories stopped on a certain one when he was very small and with his mother. She was holding a baby girl in her arms with dog ears.
~*~Flashback~*~
"Who's that Mama?" a young Inuyasha asked.
"This is your little sister. Your true sister. You're her older brother." Inuyasha's mother answered, a smile crossing her lips.
"What's her name?" Inuyasha inquired.
"I'll call her Mei Lhi. That's a good name, don't you think, Inuyasha?"
"Hai, Mama. Very good name."
~*~End Flashback~*~
Inuyasha looked at the girl's face in front of him. The two faces matched.
"Mei Lhi?" He whispered.
Suddenly the girl's eyes widened and she tried to reach out her hand.
"Onii-chan..." She murmured.