Memories

He read the note over and over not sure what to think of it. It said to be under this tree in his best Yukata today with a full wallet. The full wallet part worried him the most; he'd saved a lot of money to buy a new katana and he'd hate to have to give it all away. He sighed and rested against the tree's smooth bark and waited impatiently for the girl to arrive.

Farther back stood Motoko behind a tree also in her best kimono. He blushed furiously thinking of what she did and stupid it was. "Wah! What was I thinking?" he said to herself looking towards where he stood. "This is stupid I should never have done this."

Back at the tree Takashi grew impatient and looked up to the darkened sky. It was past twilight and she still had not shown. He sighed once again and shrugged; maybe she forgot? He brushed himself off and began walking back home.

Motoko froze with disbelief; he was leaving! He mind raced with distress; what to do what to do? "Kyaaa! Wait, wait, wait!" she cried running to her but her foot got caught on a rock and she flailed about wildly for a few seconds before falling on the ground. "It-ta-ta-ta…"

Takashi looked to see her on the floor rubbing her foot tenderly. He thought about maybe leaving her but quickly pushed that thought aside and came to her aide.

"You okay?" he asked gently helping her up. "Nothing is broken?"

She shook her head embarrassed, brushing off her dress and her face staring down.

"You sure?" he asked again noticing her distress. "You look a little flustered."

"I just…wanted...you know…if you want...to take me to the Lunar Festival." She said quietly pushing her two fingers together."

"Lunar Festival?" he said confused. "I thought it was tomorrow."

She shook her head. "It's today. How long were you unconscious?"

Takashi began to blush finally realizing why she wanted him here. "I-I-I don't know…" he stuttered crossing his arms trying to look calm and finding her a lot more attractive in the kimono than he'd realized.

"So…will you?" she asked.

"Of-of-of course," he said trying to put in a manly tone in his voice. "I'll take you to the festival."

Motoko's eye lit up in happiness as he tried to give him a hug but tripped and full back into Takashi's arms. She blushed furiously in embarrassment, again.

Fudo the Great Fire God

He appeared on a battlefield, bodies where scattered everywhere, a mix of demon and humans. He quickly scanned the area. He wasn't supposed to be here, this wasn't one of his memories; this was one of his parents memories passed down in the blood of the Fudos'.

He heard yelling and looked to his left and saw himself…no…it was his father. He looked almost like him the only difference was the scar on his face and he was slightly taller, behind him stood men from the village. He could recognize them by the marks on their armor, each where the rulers of their individual elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Light and Shadow. He began to recognize this place, his father had told him that there had been a large war against a Demons rallied by another demon named Naraku, that the first time he heard of him.

He slowly got up and the battle field vanished and the image fast forwarded through time. The sun dipped in the sky leaving twilight in its wake and then, further on, the moon full moon appeared; then emerged the demons. They were a scattered bunch with assorted armor and weapons, shapes and sizes some with mandibles some with gnarled teeth and claws all emerging from the fringe of the forest.

"Prepare the battlements! Man the walls! Archers Ready!" Cries along the human lines arose. "Infantry ready!"

A single man appeared in the lines. Not a man but a fiery individual covered in Samurai armor. In the cracks spurted fiery locks of flame lapping up the air but scorching nothing. His body was enveloped in red fire his eyes eliminated in yellow flames and what ever seemed to be solid was a charcoal blackness behind the crimson fire.

He shook with anxiety seeing the looming figure approach him, his eyes wild with disbelief. He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed to him his forehead placed on the ground.

"Lord Fudo!" he said hastily, remaining in that position. "Forgive my intrusion!"

"Intrusion!" he laughed like a sizzling flame. "This is your mind! Not mine."

"Forgive me for asking." He said, still bowing. "If this is my mind, why are you here?"

Lord Fudo's face gave no expression but hesitated before he spoke.

"I'm here to help you on your path," he said pulling Takeshi back up to his feet. "What you seek is no longer here."

Takeshi looked up at him confused; Lord Fudo was still at least two feet taller than him but he paid no attention.

"Then why am showing weakness now?" he asked as Lord Fudo guided them forward. "How come I still feel this…these feelings of pain, hurt and regret?"

"It is because the power of the shard has reawakened the powers you shoved aside when you gave up your soul to that armlet." He said as the scenery changed again to the point when he lost his wife. Takashi winced at the memory. "Here is where I first met you and made a deal to me. I breathed life into you in exchange for your destiny so that you could kill the ones who did this to your previous life and craft yourself a new destiny."

They suddenly appeared in a white expanse and Takashi gave a curious look around as images flew past them. All of his memories and events known and unknown to him flew by.

"So I'm in my mind?" he asked.

"Indeed it is." Lord Fudo stared down at him. "And this is where I give you your final tool to arsenal."

With those words black gooey liquid poured from invisible holes in the walls and pooled in the center around him. A small circle outlined where the substance waited for Fudo's command.

"Don't worry. This is not the same thing that came from the Jewel Shard." Lord Fudo assured him. "This is the final part of our deal. Use it well Takashi my descendent."

Thick black ropes leaped from the black mass binding on his hands and neck and tearing him to his knees where it began to crawl up and push into his body.

Black tar oozed from the pores of body covering him a thick black cocoon over him. Kagome, Sango and the girl from the village they had recently come to know as Benihime, tried there best to mop up the black ooze off his body with no luck. Within seconds his body became full enveloped and solidified.

"What should we do now?" Sango asked worried.

"I don't thing we can do anything." Kagome said worriedly.

Suddenly the black shell around Takashi rippled and individual pillars of the black substance enveloped all the occupants of the small shack and pushed plowed them out through the walls and dropping them a few meters away from the shack unharmed.

All at once the pillars of black shot back into the shack leaving a brief silence before in blew up in a wild swirling flame.

"What's happening?" Inuyasha yelled running towards them with Miroku following up beside him.

"We don't know!" Kagome cried over the swirling fire. "Something happened to Takashi and we were pushed out of the shack and it went up in flames!"

Shippo and many of the villagers quickly organized a water party but none could get close enough to the fire because of its intense heat. The flames grew around the shack threatening to envelope surrounding homes. Then the fire shifted and it's shaped funneled into a narrow pillar of fire then dispersed leaving the figure of Takashi standing in the center.

His was washed over by a wave of fire igniting his body. He stood motionless feeling the flames dance on the skin of his body fruitlessly as his body absorbed the fires and he took deep breaths. Everybody looked in shock as him seeing his body rippled with muscle and blue flame as his eyes poured out red ones. Then all it once it disappeared leaving him looking a little different.

"Takashi?" Sango asked hesitantly.

-End of Chapter-

Okay, okay yell at me all at once. I know I put this think off for way too long but I had to do lots of work at school so don't blame me blame the new graduation plan! Suggestions and feedback are welcome!