"That's enough! QUITE! STOP THIS NONSENSE IMMIDEATELLY!!! We came here not to bicker like some small kids! Let's go inside the palace first" – Kagome silent the quarrelers with her sudden outburst and quickly moved toward the huge, dark building. Azamuku tried to say something but after he received a death glare from Sesshoumaru he decided that it's much better to keep quite from now on and followed the group.
Without any surprises the entire group came down the hill and hiding behind natural obstacles crept toward their main goal.
Nothing indicated that this place belonged to the most feared evil Naraku. The sun was bright in the blue sky, birds sang songs, light wind slowly moved the trees branches and only the palace, on the top of the next hill, seemed out of place because it was the only black and gloomy spot compared to the environment around it.
When they neared the main gates, travelers decided that it was pointless to hide any further as two very energetic boys already ran up to the doors and with shouts along with loud banging were trying to get inside and have a good fight.
"HEY NARAKU, YOU COWARD!!! COME OUT AND HAVE A FAIR FIGHT!!!" – They cried in unison.
The gates shuddered but didn't brake down. Naraku hasn't shown himself either. Azamuku seeing what those two were doing with his precious new gates muttered under his breath – "Not again. If those two wouldn't be stopped in time the gates would be in a serious need of repairs, again!" sign He decided to minimize the damage as he tried to get their attention, which was a very hard task as he soon found out.
"Hey guys! Stop fooling around! I can open them."
The two didn't paid him any attention as if he didn't say anything and continued with their hard work.
"HEY DEMONS!!! ..." – no reaction - "GUYS!" – the same – "INU YASHA! KOUGA!" – Azamuku slowly but surely was loosing his patience with them. – "LISTEN KIDS!!!"
"Oops. That was a grave mistake." – very quietly Kagome whispered in the Sesshoumaru's ear.
Kouga and Inu Yasha stopped in their tracks, turned around with rage visible in their eyes and slowly as if time has stopped itself moved towards him who was so pissed off himself that he didn't paid any attention when the noise suddenly stopped. – "Just get away from the gates. There under the … AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! FOR WHAT!!! HELP!!!" – his speech was rudely interrupted when two 'kids' with murderous intentions neared him and suddenly out of the blue started kicking and punching him, not giving him a second to compose himself.
"And they still deny the obvious" – Sesshoumaru muttered to himself and looked at Kagome near him, but she wasn't there. He looked around and found her near the gates looking for something on the ground with thoughtful look on her demon face. He came near her and also looked on the ground but saw nothing. 'Stupid ningen' he thought. Suddenly Kagome bent down and without any warnings pulled up the mat, which was lying in front of the gates. Unlucky for Sesshoumaru he was standing exactly in the center f the mat, so with a surprise he found himself sitting on the ground.
"Ah-HA!!!" – Kagome exclaimed and after picking something shiny from the ground faced Sesshoumaru. When she saw what she had done a huge tear drop formed above her head.
"Errrr … S…" – she began but was interrupted by Sesshoumaru who knew exactly what she was going to say – "Don't say a word." Kagome fell silent and lifted Sesshoumaru back on his feet. She tried to lighten the mood by showing the used-to-be-demon lord what she had found. In her palm a small golden key with silver tag was lying. On the tag in small black letters a fraise was written: 'Home - sweet home.' They looked at each other.
"Well?" – Sesshoumaru asked. Kagome looked at him with puzzlement. - "What?"
That was it. He rolled his eyes. "Open the gates"
"Oh!" was her smart answer.
Quietly he added – "wench!"
"NANI!!!" She exploded immediately. Sesshoumaru sighed a long suffering sigh. – "just open the door" – but when he saw the murderous glare he greeted his teeth and added – "please."
Kagome glared at him one more time but never less opened the door. Quietly they entered, closing the door but not locking it behind them.
After more intense minutes Azamuku successfully managed an escape from two furious 'gate breakers'. He blew up the gas bomb and flew trough the nearby bushes. Two attackers without stopping ran after him with more curses and punches. Leaving behind Sango and Miroku, who shook their heads and quietly entered Naraku's castle through the doors, which they found open. Ready for any sudden attack they decided to go around the building rather than entering it. Believing that Lord Sesshoumaru and Kagome would be fine on their own for now.
In the yard of the palace just after entering.
Sesshoumaru and Kagome stood in the perfectly clean and quite yard looking around.
"Strange." – Sesshoumaru sniffed the air out of pure instinct, but as he had a human nose he smelled nothing. – "Damn."
"Knowing Naraku as he didn't show himself already he must have set a trap." – She put the key in her pocket. – "Why can't he just show himself and we'll just kill him." She snapped her fingers to show the simplicity of it all. – "But noooo he had to hide, scheme and attack from the back, bastard". She continued with her ranting, which annoyed Sesshoumaru to no end.
"Would you just shut up?!" – It wasn't a suggestion it was an order and Kagome felt it. Growling she complied thanking gods he didn't call her names as he used to. Sesshoumaru was looking around alert to any sudden movement he could spot. Everything was deadly quite. Not a single sound. Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru waiting for him to move, he was much better strategist than she was.
"We'll go in." He started walking but stopped. "You go first and I'll follow." He pushed Kagome in front of him.
"Why it is always me!" She started to whine. "I'm afraid of the dark you know. I'm not going first." – She sneaked behind Sesshoumaru and pushed him toward the dark entrance. His eye twitched.
"Fool! You go first." – He sneaked behind Kagome again. – "You are the only one who can see in the dark."
"But I don't want to!" – She continued to protest.
"WENCH!!! GO!!! OR I'LL …"
"OR YOU WHAT MISTER?!" – She put her hands on her hips towering over Sesshoumarus' delicate petite form. He looked up at his used to be face and sighed.
"With you demonic eyes you'll see as in day time. The dark would be like shaded light." He massaged his temples but the headache was growing worse with every minute.
"Oh! Sorry I didn't know that! I have never been a demon before! Ignorant jerk!" She step inside the building – "It's still creepy in here." She stated and very slowly she continued her way further in the building.
sigh Sesshoumaru was feeling awful. His head was aching and the pain in the temples was drawing all of his attention.
Kagome was grateful that Sesshoumaru was behind, she didn't feel so alone in this dark place. 'Thanks to him he didn't say anything. Looking on his face during our last conversation he must have a headache. Poor thing. Now at least he knows how it feels to deal with demons and hanoys.' They walked through the palace and met no one.
At the entrance Kagome stumbled and chuckled when she saw cute pink fluffy pair of house shoes near the entrance. 'what a taste. Who could have thought?' The hall was dark and empty. No furniture, not pictures on the walls, nothing. Kagome's spirit was still lifted as before her eyes pink shoes kept appearing.
On the other side they came out in the beautiful garden with black roses, rocks and trees.
"Nice yard." Kagome commented to herself. Looking around she didn't spot anything. She turned to Sesshoumaru only she found him sitting on a rock holding his head in his hands.
'It must be really hard for him' She thought.
"Umm … Sessh … Kagome?" – She kneeled in front of him. "Are you ok?" The concern was visible in her amber eyes. He didn't respond. She shook his shoulder.
"Sesshoumaru?"
"Nani?!" Crystal blue eyes met with gold ones. Now she could clearly see how tired Sesshoumaru was. His once bright blue eyes were now closer to the grey color. She smiled a gentle smile. "I'll be right back." With that she disappeared in the building. Seconds later she returned with water in the bowl. She set it down, tore white cloth from her kimono sleeve and dipped it in to the water. "Here, it should help with your headache." She wind the cloth around his head and stepped back.
Sesshoumaru was first shocked, then anger filled his minds but when the cool cloth touched his forehead it really helped to ease the pain. He felt much better that he did before. He looked at Kagome. He wanted to say something but Kagome was looking the other way and the tip of her tail was trembling showing her excitement.
"What the herb we are searching looks like?" – She asked with slight tremble in her voice – "I think I found one." She finished with whisper as if her loud voice could destroy the flower.
Sesshoumaru stood up near Kagome and looked in the direction she was pointing. "The flower is rare, silver blue with midnight streaks. Seven petals, one red diamond in the center which shines brightly when the rays are caught in it." They both slowly crept toward the flower growing in the center of the yard, holding their breaths as if not to destroy their only hope to return where they belong. At the close inspection it was indeed the flower they were looking for.
"We found it! Come look at it! What should we do now?" – Sesshoumaru was going to look at it more closely when something hard smashed in to Kagome's back sending both of them together with the poor flower flying some meters in the air. Their flight was rudely interrupted by the lonely rock in the center (the only rock in the yard and they couldn't possible miss it. The other rocks were on the border of the yard and the forest.) When they regained their consciousness Kagome found out what was the cause of their unexpected flight. Not far from them something fluffy was lying. At first it was impossible to identify the object but at closer inspection they realized it was Azamuku. Where he came from they didn't know but it was clear that he flew from someone's' powerful kick. Who kicked him was clear as day as InuYasha's angry shout could be heard from the depth of the forest, who was searching for his current victim. Kagome used her hand to wipe dirt from her face. She didn't even understood what happened but after using her own human hand after 10seconds the information finally reached her brains she understood that by some unknown miracle she was back in her own body. She started jumping up and down with joy and do some crazy dances around the still unconscious Sesshoumaru. Stopping for a minute she began shaking the demon not thinking about consequences trying to wake him up. Finally she succeeded. Sesshoumaru opened his gold eyes and after some stupid staring in front of him the fact of changing back finally registered in his head and together with Kagome they continued to dance like maniacs after the good drinking party. They even sang a song together holding hands:
Hurray! Hurray! We are back!
Now Fates need to watch their backs!
We are stronger, we have will
If they will undo, we kill!
In the mean time behind the bushes a strange pair was hiding and they were desperately trying not to laugh while they watched and took some nice pictures of the happy couple. Ghost took out from one of his millions of pockets a remote control with huge red button in the center with 'SWITCH' written on it. Under the button a huge sign in red letters was written: 'use only in extreme situations or when you are bored to death'.
Giggling Ghost passed the remote to Luabendga.
"Well? Use it. But next time I'll be doing the job, clear? Clear. Now push the button!"
Luabendga took the remote and also giggling pushed the red button. After several seconds not cheerful songs but curses and angry shouts, which even adults shouldn't know about were heard from the clearing. Even our mighty fates after hearing some of them had their ears red.
For Kagome and Sesshoumaru it looked really strange. One moment they were dancing and singing another – they were cursing and shouting, trashing things around them. First they returned in their own bodies, second they were back from where they started. Only after hearing hardly contained laugher from the bushes they knew without fates nothing happens. They attacked the spot where fates were hiding but they found only pink petals and a light mist on the empty spot, that's why Kagome quickly grabbed Sesshoumaru and jumped far away from the bushes. And she did it just in time. As soon as her feet left the ground on the same spot where she stood a lightning struck leaving behind a message from you-know-whom.
"Well? Are we going to read it?" – Kagome asked Sesshoumaru who was still stuck under her arm, as an answer she received a silent glare. Shrugging her shoulders she turned around. Behind her back after 10 seconds the letter exploded not hurting anybody in the process, only lonely birds flew away with scared cries. The sound drew the attention of the rest of the group.
The two were standing and staring daggers at each other. Their precious flower was destroyed. Their breaths were short as anger and frustration enveloped them.
"Where were you looking when that happened?" – Sesshoumaru hissed.
"What? Now it's all MY fault? Listen jerk, if you haven't distracted me when we found the flower …"
"Distracted YOU? You were the one behaving like an over hyper active bimbo in MY BODY!!!" By now they were standing really close with their noses touching and trying to over shout each other. By the time they were at each other throats their friends showed up. When they neared the clearing a monstrous thing appeared from the nearby tree and attacked them. They began fighting but the creature was too strong for them. Inu Yasha tried to use his sword but it was knocked from his hands easily. It flew a long distance and landed not far from the still arguing couple. To destroy the monster they needed to find the shard, which gave him an enormous strength. During all the fight the two never noticed what's going on around them, as they were too busy to notice that now they had an audience.
"STOP FOOLING AROUND WENCH AND FIND THE SHARD!!!" Inu Yasha shouted to Kagome. But he was completely ignored.
"KAGOME!!! HELP!!!" cried Sango when she was knocked down by one of the creature legs but the two were too busy and never heard the shout.
But when demon roared the two faced it and roared in return: "JUST SHUT UP!!! CAN'T YOU SEE WE ARE TALKING HERE?!" after that they together returned to their 'peaceful conversation', which was rudely interrupted. At their sudden outburst everybody stopped with their mouths hanging wide open even the demon. The two were huffing and puffing at each other. The demon used one of his legs to smash it between the happy couple. They looked at it with disgust, then looked at each other and at once muttered: "That's it if I don't kill someone I'm going to explode." And together they attacked. In blind rage they even did everything right. Kagome slowed the demon with her poison and Sesshoumaru fired a purifying arrow, which froze the demon on the spot, then Kagome used her claws and tore the demon to pieces. All what was left was a pile of ash and bones. In the center two tiny shards were shining. Other members of the gang haven't changed their state yet as they were too shocked from the recent events.
When the monster was defeated both fighters wore a satisfied grins on their faces as if they were cats and just received a huge portion of milk. They dusted their hands and high five'd each other.
"That was sooo relaxing." Kagome stated. Sesshoumaru nodded in return and stretched. Kagome picked up the shards and gave them to Sesshoumaru. He took them and looked at Kagome with puzzlement.
"Oh! Just purify them."
He shrugged and tried to do as he was told but failed. The shards continued to glow a dull grey color. Kagome stopped when she sensed that something was wrong behind her. She turned around and nearly chuckled. There Sesshoumaru was looking at the shards with murderous look on his feminine face, which promised nothing good to the poor shards if they don't purify themselves immediately in his hands. He sensed her looking at him and looked up.
"What?" – he asked visibly annoyed.
"Nothing." Kagome turned around and jumped up completely disappearing from view. Sesshoumaru only growled. 'stupid, stupid curse' he thought over and over while he made his way in the opposite direction from where Kagome went, muttering something about certain demon. He too soon disappeared behind the bushes, never taking his eyes away from the shards in his hands.
Others were left behind standing in the yard.
"Can anyone tell me what's happening here?" Sango whined with frustration. When Kagome returned from her time everything went wrong, especially when Lord Sesshoumaru joined them.
"My dear Sango can't you see they are madly in love with each other?" Replied Miroku always ready to help.
"Who?" Sango asked in puzzlement.
"Our beloved Kagome and Lord Sesshoumaru of course."
"…" After hearing this Sango felt speechless, so she didn't understand at first that Miroku's hands was groping her. When the information fixed in her brains there was a loud smack followed by "HENTAI. GET YOUR HANDS OF ME!!! CAN'T YOU SEE IT'S SERIOUS HERE?" cried a very angry Sango.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MONK?!!! That bastard despise humans." Inu Yasha told Miroku crossing his arms.
"Yeah. How could they? Kagome is my mate after all." Kouga put in helpfully.
"Not she is not your mate you wimpy wolf." Inu Yasha jumped ready to punch the annoying guy.
"Yes she is. She is my woman."
"In your dreams." Inu Yasha barked in return with his fists clenched.
"I wonder if anyone realizes that we are in the enemies castle." Miroku thought aloud.
"You are right. With all this commotion I totally forgot about current situation." Admitted Sango with guilt visible in her voice.
"You don't know how right you are." A mysterious voice sounded behind their backs. When they turned they gasped.
"You …" whispered Inu Yasha.
A low chuckle was the answer they received from a shadow person standing before them.
Thank you all for all those wonderful reviews. I enjoy reading them and they are great to lift the writers spirit.
Luabendga.