((A/N: Thankies go to Sato-Yuki for helping me with this chapter that I got stuck on/too lazy to write. Sorry this chapter is a bit late, but it's long! So blah! Sesshoumaru talks too much T.T))
An unfamiliar scent swept by Sesshoumaru's face. How was it possible for a cave to have a breeze? The wind carried some sort of mix between berries and something slightly burnt. The scent of Inuyasha was also quite fresh in the rock corridor.
Sesshoumaru continued to walk down the dark tunnel. His instincts told him someone was watching. Sesshoumaru extended his claws under his Kimono's sleeve, just to make sure if something attacked him, he would not be caught off guard.
The tunnel's walls began to expand on all sides until he was in the entrance of a large chamber. A huge stone statue towered above to nearly the ceiling of the cave. In front of him, a large wild cat growling menacingly. Sesshoumaru glared at the cat, the stench of Inuyasha emitting from it's white fur. The demon took a step towards him with a large fiery paw, the fur on it's back on end.
It was obviously about to attack. Sesshoumaru readied his poison flower claw to counterattack. They glared at each other. An ancient rivalry between cats and dogs. They both readied themselves to make the first move.
"Wait!" A fair woman's voice echoed through the cave, and not a moment too soon. The demon-cat instantly withdrew it's aggression, listening loyally to the unknown woman's voice.
Sesshoumaru scanned the cave to see where the voice had came from, but the echoing rock walls made the voice bounce off all sides, making it's original location impossible to find.
The wild-cat sat down obediently. It looked to it's right side. Sesshoumaru's eyes followed what it was looking at. A woman with black hair and a white Kimono emanated out of thin air, her hand stroking the large cat's forehead. The feline purred with devotion.
Sesshoumaru blinked in recollection of what just happened. No mere human can appear and disappear whenever they please! The woman's navy eyes broke from the cat and shifted over to Sesshoumaru. She began to walk toward him.
"Hello" she said, continuing to narrow the distance between them.
"Who are you?," Sesshoumaru demanded "and where did you learn such witchcraft, to appear and disappear out of no where?"
"I am Priestess Midoriko, though my Goddess name is Maki."
Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow in amusement. "Goddess?" This woman wasn't any goddess. Even if she were, gods don't appear on earth, with lowly humans.
She stopped walking in front of him. "Why yes, I'm Maki, the goddess of the moon. I am one of the seven almighty gods whom rule over all other life."
"If you're so high and mighty, what are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru taunted sarcastically.
"Hundreds of years ago, demons rained supreme on earth. They destroyed villages and killed anything in it's path. The world was falling into chaos, so my fellow gods sent me down to earth to fix the problem, I was posing as a Miko. ((priestess))."
Sesshoumaru scoffed at such a preposterous tale. "You really expect I, taiyoukai ((demon lord)) of the western lands, to believe the gods sent a fellow goddess in the lowly form of a mere human?"
Maki smirked at Sesshoumaru's obvious grudge towards humans. "I don't expect you to believe me, Lord Sesshoumaru. You asked and I simply answered to the best of my abilities. But would I have been able to appear beside Kirara I was just a human and not part goddess?"
Sesshoumaru took a step backwards in surprise and narrowed his eyes at the sarcastic priestess. "How did you know my name?"
"You are under one of the four categories that make up the souls of the shikon jewel. I am the creator of that jewel."
Sesshoumaru; silence.
Maki; sigh.
"I know your name because I can talk to you in your mind. You might have not noticed me, but I've been there all along. I am your conscience."
Sesshoumaru glowered. "I do not have a conscience, nor do I have any need for one."
Maki giggled slightly. "Without a conscience, you would have been dead long ago."
Sesshoumaru smirked slightly at the woman's incapacity. "You think I need to rely on a stupid woman's voice in my head to keep me alive?"
Maki shot a fierce glare at Sesshoumaru, now becoming slightly annoyed that he called this woman stupid. "I reason you would be dead by now is because when you fought with Inuyasha, I was the one telling you his next attack and what to watch out for."
"So? You didn't need you to help me. Even if you didn't, my weak halfing brother would never be able to kill me."
"With the Tetsusaiga he could."
"The Tetsusaiga is rightfully mine."
"We don't always get what we want."
"Humf." Sesshoumaru grinned slightly. What a stupid conversation this was. He looked up at the limestone demon behind her. Then at the top, he noticed the figure of a woman. "Who is that?" He asked. Maki turned around and to see what he was asking about. "That's my body, trapped in stone when the shikon jewel imprisoned my soul."
"Are you not standing right here?" Sesshoumaru asked, poking her shoulder just to make sure. Maki rubbed her shoulder and turned to look at him. "I'm a goddess, remember? I can basically do anything I please."
Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrows "Then why, of all things, pose as a human?"
Maki rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, pose as a demon to kill demons and save humans. That really makes sense. Without my goddess powers I would be nothing more than human anyway."
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I thought you would like to know. Would you like to know?"
Sesshoumaru shrugged slightly and looked back at the sculpture. "Do whatever you please."
Maki smirked on how the youkai always tried to seem careless of everything besides himself. But he certainly wasn't fooling her.
"In this cave, about 500 years ago, a huge battle raged between me and hundreds on demons. The battle continued for seven days and seven nights. On the seventh night, my power had been drained from the continuous fighting. You see, I had the ability to convert and negative power in demons into light energy, therefore rendering them helpless. But this ability is not easy to control."
This caught Sesshoumaru's attention. "You could change the evil in demons into light?"
Maki grinned slightly and nodded. It was like saying 'candy' to a child and instantly catching their short attention span.
"But this unique power was not fast enough for the particular demon whom caught me in his jaws" Maki said, pointing up to her stone form, which was caught in the largest demon's mouth.
"This demon was created from many demons possessing the only human who had my weakness," Maki's finger glided down to the chest of the demon, in which a man's head was protruding out of. "This man was secretly in love with me, and the demons used him as a vessel to get close to me." Maki put her hand down.
"In a final attempt to vanquish the demon, the Shikon Jewel burst out of my chest, and I entrapped his soul into the jewel, along with mine."
"Interesting story," Sesshoumaru admitted, "but once again, what does this have to do with me?"
"Everything on earth is categorized in one of the four souls of the Shikon Jewel. Humans, demons, plants, even rocks, have their place in the jewel. Including you, Sesshoumaru."
"So then, what category am I in? And why would you tell me all this, and not all the other humans, demons, plants and rocks out there?"
Maki smiled sweetly at him. "Those answers will be saved for another day. I believe there's an annoying little toad waiting patiently outside for you."
Sesshoumaru smiled slightly at the joke. He was an annoying little toad indeed. With one last glance at the limestone woman at the top of the cave, Sesshoumaru turned on his heel and began to walk down the dark corridor and into the barely rising sun.
((A/N: Just some things I want to clear up. So now you know why I said Maki in the intro! I know that's not her name, but too bad. My fanny ficcy. I know that she isn't the goddess of the moon, but too bad. My fanny ficcy. And I know how I described her appearance in chap1 isn't what she really looks like, but too bad. My fanny ficcy. And finally, I know this isn't what happens in the story and some attitudes (cough SESSHOUMARU cough) aren't very realistic or precise, but TOO BAD! Your-- I MEAN MY-- fanny ficcy! So REVIEW! ;.; My hand hurts.))
