Ascension of the Spirit

By Banana Rum: Kalliel

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Kikyo-the-walnut: You want more action? YOU GOT MORE ACTION!!! BWA HA HA!

Moggy: 0o If you have any specific questions regarding the confusing-ness of my writing, please feel free to ask in your review. Horse-crazy-gurl: …Sorry?

The Soultaker: I did update—see chapter 8? Oh, and this chapter too. Thanks for reviewing!

Sango InuTaisho: Thankies!

Purplepeopleeater: Hi there! Long time no see! Feel free to drop by whenever you get the chance, you're always welcome here.

SpikeSmeagleSparklies: Ok, ok. I WILL review your story. Unexpected turns? At the moment, I'm just taking unexpected turns in circles and bumping into a zillion plot walls. Really big steel-reinforced cement ones (that don't collapse in earthquakes!).

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Disclaimer: There is a reason this is called fanfiction…

WARNING: Insanely long chapter, considering amout of actual content.

ANOTHER WARNING: Sad, pathetic attempts at romance.

ONE MORE WARNING: I was delirious with fangirlisms at time of writing. -shame shame-

NEVERMIND, THIS IS THE LAST WARNING: Dark…er? Well, maybe.

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Beta read by Kikyo-the-walnut/Zora

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Chapter 9: The Moon Doesn't Cast its Own Light

Behind the Cascades

Sengoku Jidai?

"K…Kagome?" The hanyou stepped backwards. A flash. A scream. The name carried nonexistent memories. Shattering reflections?

"That's enough revelations for one day." Kagome put her hand over her mouth and giggled femininely, turning slightly so that her kimono's silk threads sparkled in the dim sunlight. Eyes flickering with nothing short of deception, she began to sing to herself. A tuneless, dry melody that echoed unrealistically throughout the chamber.

"The nearest exit is to your left. Please allow me to direct you to it." Placing her hands on the hanyou's back as well as Sango's, she steered them fluidly to what appeared to be an arch of water above them. Strange; they hadn't seen that before. The small spit rolled off without a sound, drowned out by the dull humming of the tsukihime that Sango wasn't entirely sure was actual singing or if she was simply imagining things.

She didn't retaliate in the least bit, allowing herself to be steered to what would be presumably the direction home. Deep inside, her mind screamed at her to run, to fight, but still she walked, numb from intellect and reason, listlessness taking its place. Her only thought was, "I could have been eating lunch now…"

"Fare you well, until we meet again." As classically mysteriously slow as ever, the Lady Kagome of the moon-turns seemed to take the arc of water in her hands and pulled it closed like a curtain of aqua behind the two fighters, separating her pools from the new scenery.

Sango watched in horror as the tsukihime did so, springing into action suddenly and trying to grab a fold of Kagome's clothes, to keep the opening wide. She missed, and slammed into a tree trunk, though only minutes before it had been a stone wall with a door of water. She shook her head in disbelief, half-listening to the only semi-confused, "What the hell?" behind her.

"Please stop saying that. It is beginning to become immensely irritating." She glared at him frostily, shoulders sagging with evident fatigue.

"What the hell do you want me to say instead? I suppose YOU know exactly what's going on, then!"

"I said stop it!"

"No, YOU said something pretty damn respectful when she told us her title. Why?" No way in hell was she going to get out of answering this. No way.

"She claimed to be the moon princess…" Sango explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What happened to Kaguya? Did she get upstaged by this 'Kagome' or what?" As far as he knew, the princess Kaguya had been the possessor of the moon's powers, and seemed to always have been.

"Things change, if you haven't noticed. Kaguya-hime was eaten by a youkai. The youkai stole her ability to stop time and to remain forever youthful. My great grandfather…he was one of the warriors chosen to exterminate the defiler of the moon goddess' name."

The hanyou laughed. Sango glowered.

"Didn't think gods had to worry about stuff like that. So she's the moon goddess. Leaving your river god to worship her now?"

"O-tsukihime-sama has control over time and wields the ocean's tides. It is not wise to offend her."

"Then we're good, since neither of us is particularly wise."

Sango bristled, smoothing her hair back and re-tying it into a tighter ponytail. "Turning back to the task at hand," she prompted in an irritated tone, "I don't suppose in all your years of worldly traveling knowledge, you would happen so recognize this place in which we have found ourselves?"

"Awfully high expectations."

Sango groaned. "I don't care what you say you are, you really ARE an idiot. Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?" Sango finished tightening the bonds on her sandals too. She looked around curiously. "This is no mortal garden. It is exactly like the moon kingdom in stories of old." The rolls of the hills, the temperate climate and lack of youkai aura tremors in the air proved it. No real forest would be complete without the presence of small forest creatures. Only the birds in the trees wailed a sorrowful tune in time to the swish of the closely-entwined boughs above.

"Ha! You really think so?"

"Yes, I do." Sango replied testily.

"Just trying this sarcasm thing of yours out." The hanyou smirked and started what was going to be a slightly-longer-than-usual trek back home. They had been set at the edge of a forest with the strangest of trees—monstrous looming trunks topped with bristly needles that smelled of cold and fire at the same time.

The bark, Sango observed, was very soft and fibrous; useless as a weapon, but, she thought, might add substance to a stew. Foreign, untamed. Granted, she wouldn't have missed the chance to merely go AROUND the woods, as it was much easier to be ambushed amongst the trees, but when she had mentioned the thought he argued that it was faster to travel straight through the middle.

And so they walked. Creeping vines of low-growing flowers snaked along the base of the trees, threatening to trip an unwatchful hiker. Taking heed to not tread on the delicate blossoms, Sango carefully plucked one from its place in the rows. She remembered these. Asagao, Riie-baachan had called it. Morning glories. Purely ornamental, it could not be eaten or used in any particularly useful remedies. She sighed. You can tell you're hungry when all your thoughts end up centering on food at one time or another. She had denied herself breakfast putting the finishing touches on the bento she had prepared, but it had been scattered and eaten by the strange flock of birds…It wasn't fair, really. She hadn't done anything wrong—why did the gods of luck have to forsake her now? In a strange place, with strange company…

Fallen needles cushioned the ground, adding minor spring to Sango's steps. A thin smile crept into her features. This day was going from bad to worse. First, the fight with Mujina, and now totally unarmed, without food or water, confused, and lost. To top it off, she had no one with her but a possibly mutinous youkai!

Her partner was none so buoyant. It showed. A lot. "What is with these fucking trees?"

Sango fell out of her jovial frame of mind. "What's the matter, scared of the big, scary trees?" She caroled in a mocking tone.

The hanyou sniffed, long wiry hair lashing from side to side, and set off at a slightly more urgent pace. "The branches are too close together. Makes it fuckin' hard to do anything."

Sango continued to follow in silence, shrugging. He was speeding up again, twisting between the trunks of the unidentifiable greenery, fleeting in and out of view.

Then he abruptly reversed direction and sped back to her. "Wait here," he ordered forcefully, then raced back.

Sango stopped for a split second, gaping, until she realized what just happened. Did he really think she was going to wait here and avoid whatever it was he found? Running as fast as her kosode would allow, she preceded to find what it was he thought she should not see.

Once, she almost fell flat on her face when she slipped on the succulent leaves, before forcing herself back up without losing too much momentum. Crashing through the wilderness, she heard his voice utter something indiscernible more closely related to a gurgle than actual words. She stopped short when she saw the creature he faced. It looked like her! Save for the clothing, at least, which mirrored that of Kagome-hime. So the moon princess was still after them. She glanced rapidly between her double and the hanyou, sensing the madness in the air. Reflections…mirrors…moonbeams… There was something amiss. He could fight some sliver of an opponent like that with ease, she reasoned. Maybe she should just stand by and watch—he could do to let off some pent-up aggressions anyhow. For now, she would be content just to sit in the audience.

He charged at the girl, claws twisting upward like saw-hooks, connecting with her shoulder and ripping through muscle and bone alike before Sango had even finished her thought trails.

The Sango look-alike didn't seem to notice, pulling her wakizashi from her obi and thrusting its edge toward the hanyou, slicing the air directly in from of him.

What if Kagome had stolen her shadow to create her puppet? Then, if it was killed, she…"No wait! Hey, you! Half-breed!" Sango shouted at the hanyou as he ducked under the blade and shot toward the youkai once more, clawing downwards and catching her breasts, bright red blood spraying his face even as he jumped backwards. The hanyou didn't listen to Sango's frantic pleas, wiping blood from his lips with the back of his hand. He jumped toward the demon-creation once more.

"I said stop!" Sango shrieked, at a loss at what to do besides stand and shout. She wasn't about to try and get in the way of him and his target, especially given the fact that she lacked her first choice in the way of weapons and defense.

The glimmer-Sango materialized a giant boomerang out of thin air, causing Sango again to fantasize wistfully that she could do the same, and swung expertly at the oncoming hanyou, sending him sprawling backwards, skidding along the thickly matted underbrush. He grunted, scrambling to get up as the other Sango continued to attempt to ram him into the ground with her oversized weapon.

The hanyou growled, punching away the boomerang and sinking his talons deep into his enemy's neck. She fell then, dissolving into moondust and disappearing and the wind's back. He stopped, crouched where he landed for a moment to catch his breath.

Sango ran toward him. "You didn't go and get yourself hurt did you? What exactly did you think you were doing, just coming here to fight and leaving me alone? There WILL be more." She even kind of wished there would be. Now SHE needed to vent in a more physical way than yelling at the hanyou would allow.

"Ha, I'm not spineless enough to be injured by the likes of that. But I didn't see YOU helping any."

"Well, in that case," Sango smiled overly-brightly. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? We're in the realm of the moon! That could have been my reflection! You could've KILLED me!"

"Well, I didn't." The hanyou retorted lamely. He hadn't thought of that…

"But what if it had?"

"You'd be dead, for one thing," he shrugged nonchalantly. "That's about all that would change."

Sango's eyes narrowed. "And that would be totally fine with you? It wouldn't even bother your conscience in the least bit?"

"Listen, if I felt sorry and beat myself up over every little thing I killed, I would have committed suicide a long time ago."

Sango sighed. "Well, let's go then." She started walking again.

Grumbling, the hanyou leaped on ahead, catching the scent of yet another moon creation. There was no doubt that the Sango duplicate was HER work, and this next one promised to be just as strange and twisted.

"Do you remember me?" The creation called out before it came into view, guiding him towards her. "I loved you once. A long time ago." Her voice, if it had been an image, would have been painted by a master artisan. But that artisan would have been a very dear close friend, sweeping his brush across the page in an affectionate flourish.

Jumping into another clearing, he jolted to a stop when he saw who the dolls had taken the shape of, causing Sango, who was right behind him, to bump slightly against his back. "Midoriko!"

"Yes, my dear hanyou. That was my name. Do you still have my sword?" She asked calmly, as if inquiring on the good health of an old friend, eyeing the naked blade at his hip. "I would like it back now."

"You're dead. And now you're just a worthless doll made by that Kagome woman!"

The creation Midoriko drew nearer, and whispered so only he could hear, "That's right. I am dead. But my soul has wandered. The Sango you killed before was merely a puppet because the true Sango still lives. I, on the other hand, am not. So I come to you to retrieve my sword. Then I will leave you."

What is he waiting for? Sango shouted in her head. Why doesn't he just kill her? Unless…oh gods. You CAN'T tell me…

"I missed you," he protested. "I tried to save you, I really did…" The hanyou looked down, unable to look at her any longer.

THIS is wonderful. Sango was about to turn away in disgust and leave them to their reminiscing when Midoriko slowly pulled out an ensorcelled scroll from her armor, unbeknownst to the hanyou. Sango squinted to make out the slightly distorted characters on the scripture, and was not shy from a not-so-rare emotion commonly referred to as surprise. I thought they were in love—why is she trying to kill him? The scroll read 'purge', and would exorcise him immediately should she apply her powers and give the kanji life.

The Midoriko-esque moon lady turned slightly to face Sango. It won't kill him, taijiya. No one would want that. I only want to talk for a bit. Without you. Somewhere very far away.

"Stop right there!" Sango whirled around and charged at the priestess, flicking her wrist so that a blade of sharpest bone flew up to catch Midoriko unaware, slicing through her ofuda.

The hanyou moved to stop Sango, making a grab for the concealed blade, motions slowed by indecision. Sango didn't flinch, slicing through the sleeve of his kariginu along with the fake Midoriko's left arm. Kicking her to the ground, Sango stomped hard on the miko's ribs, shouting in time to her heavy footfalls, "Stop bothering us, you dirty lie of a memory!" Stabbing the creations with her own sword multiple times, Sango breathed a sigh of relief when the Midoriko impersonation followed its predecessor and dissolved and melted into the earth.

"You…" The hanyou started, still staring at the spot where Midoriko once stood, confused.

"Saved your sorry life, that's what I did." Sango carefully folded the hidden blade back in, pulling a temporary net over it for a second use.

After that they hiked in silence for a long while, hanyou still understandably upset at all these mind-tricks and Sango caught up in her own thoughts.

Why is it that all the battles so far seem to be centered on that hanyou's memories, but nothing from my heart has come up yet? She wondered warily, kicking a pinecone. How long had they been hiking, anyway? It had been a good deal of time since their last skirmish, which had just past midday. Now the skies had turned red and lavender with sunset, bringing a fiery tinge to every bush and tree branch.

While pleased that none of the fights directly involved her past, she did envy him for one thing. Every branch that cracked in the darkness, every bird that fluttered its wings in the trees, hidden by branches, made Sango jump. Walking a good safe distance behind him, she couldn't read his face, but he didn't seem the least perturbed that the night was very much alive. If anything, she had imagined that it would be the other way around, with him on edge at every sound and her not caring.

He stopped abruptly at the next clearing. "We'll stop here for the night." He said, without much conviction.

"What? Are you crazy? We have a long way to go and the sun hasn't even set yet! We need to keep pushing onward until it's too dark to see! I want to go home!" Sango marched up to him and slapped him on the back. "I thought you of all people would agree to that."

Without warning, and to Sango's utterly stunned surprise, the hanyou collapsed under her touch, though it had not been all that hard, and fell limply to his hands and knees, exhaling brokenly, claws digging into the freshly turned soil. "Shit…"

Sango gasped, and dropped instantly to his side. "What—what happened? Are you sick? You're not injured, are you? No, of course not, there's nothing that could've…" Sango panicked. He wasn't the best company one could hope for, but…but if he was gone, she would be all alone, lost forever in the moon princess' garden. If he died, what would she do? But that was overreacting, wasn't it? He wasn't going to die...

Shakily, he got to his feet again. Leaning against a sturdy trunk, he growled at her, "What'd you do that for?" It felt like he had just run around the world and back. The scenery began to slant and distort itself, and he closed his eyes against the dizziness. So close… So DAMN close. But she had to be fucking assertive, didn't she? He scowled at her accusingly.

"I…uh, what's wrong?" She stepped closer, inspecting his face for any shift of emotions. There was none. "I…I guess we could stop here if you want…" she agreed lamely. Somehow she got the feeling that even if she asked any questions she really wanted to know the answer to, she wouldn't get an answer.

"You…stay here. I'm going to search for some edible wild plants. Don't even think about sneaking off somewhere!" Not like he would. She edged past his silent form, feeling those burnt amber eyes following her every move with a stalker's intensity. Now he must really hate her.

After he was sure she was both out of eye and ear shot, he crumpled to the ground again, relieved of the strain of standing. Why? He thought desperately. He crawled to a more level section of the ground, cursing all the way. It was so pathetic… And she could see him…like this. The world tipped again. He was thinking too hard. Laying his head down on the cool pine needles, he felt a little better, though the branches were far from soft. Curling himself into a protective ball, for the first time in his life, he desperately wanted to cry.

Sango wandered around the perimeter of their new campsite, scanning the moistened ground for possible supper-material. She COULD always go back to her original muse and chew tree bark…but that wasn't nearly as appealing. Not that her true intentions lay on returning back with meal supplies. Not in the least—the hanyou needed time along to collect himself for a few minutes. She was overall pleased with herself that she had come to identify his antics well enough so that she knew such.

Ah, there we go. A fairy ring of mushrooms; and they complimented the unripe berries she had found earlier. She tried to smile, but she was sure it more resembled a grimace of pain than anything else. She was deathly scared. I don't want to be alone. I don't want to be by myself. I want…I want my family and my friends back! I want to go back to living normally. I want…I want to be with him.

She drew back into the clearing, thoughtless relief momentarily sparking when she saw that he was still there, albeit lying on the ground helplessly, but still there. "Hanyou… Here. Eat this." She tossed a bundle of the tart, green berries and a few of the mushrooms at him. She didn't want to see him, and she knew for sure HE didn't want her to see him. She tried to discretely avert her eyes, but only a moment later she abruptly turned back toward him and kneeled down by his side.

She looked down at his eyes, glassy with pain and delirium, not focusing on her or anything else in particular around her. She touched his forehead, wiping sweat drenched locks away from his face and feeling the burning temperature of his skin. A shiver raced down his spine as she did so, his breathing skipping a beat. It had gotten much worse in the short time it took her to find the food.

He hissed at her, a rabid throaty rasp, claws sweeping upward in warning. She recoiled slightly at his feral 'welcome', panicking. What if he doesn't recognize me? He dropped his guard, inhaling rapidly, screwing his eyes tight.

So, instead of calmly assessing the situation from the view of an uninvolved onlooker as she had been taught to do, she merely panicked more. "We, uh, we need to get you to a healer! Just hold on a little bit, I'm sure we're nearly to a town…" She tried to lift his deadweight of a body into a sitting position, without hurting him too much. Her only rewards were a moan of sheer discomfort and a sharp intake of breath, followed by a series of rattling, dry coughs before she dropped him back to the ground with a muted thud.

"Go away," he gasped, trying to breathe without sounding pressed to do so. "Just…sleep. I'll be fine in the morning." He weakly assured her, not pausing at all between words so they slurred together and Sango wasn't exactly sure what he said.

"But you—no!" Sango really couldn't care less whether she made sense or not anymore. How STUPID could she get? The whole time they were walking and she didn't even notice.

He tried to move to look her in the eye, biting back a cry so hard he actually cut his lips and started to bleed. Sucking air between his fangs, he bumped against her knees slightly. "Damn it…just get some rest…I'm FINE."

Sango nearly laughed out loud. 'Fine' was not the word. "If you die I will hunt you down in the next world and kill you AGAIN myself!" She threatened emptily, dusting herself off and brushing the needles and underbrush from the center of their camp. Clumping the drier branches in the cleared section, she poured a small watertight bag of oil form her pockets onto the foliage. Striking a stick supposedly blessed with the fire god's power against her flint, sparking up a small fire to sit by.

Let the forest youkai be drawn to it—she needed the comfort only a campfire could give. Not being able to think of anything else to keep her fears as far away was possible and keep herself occupied, she began to talk. The first thing that came to mind was Kaiyou, her mother.

"When haha died, it was like I had lost a part of myself. Unfortunately, it happened to be the social part." She laughed a little at her own little irony. "I cried too easily and there was no one left to hold onto—everyone else either didn't care or was too busy crying by themselves." Sango stared through the flames over at her companion. Why was she telling him this? He would only mock her.

"It's hard…outliving the ones you love, isn't it? But…I'll bet that it's even worse…the other way around…knowing you won't be there to protect them," was all he said. No laughing.

Sango continued. She had never talked about her mother to anyone else after her death before because no one had ever listened. "It's the most terrifying thing in the world when you find out you're the only one left."

The hanyou nodded, mouthing the words, "I know," even though no sound came out.

The sun sank lower, carrying the noises of the evening so only the occasional crackle of embers dying sounded. "Do you think that the o-tsuikihime-sama sleeps when the moon is dark?"

The hanyou jerked. The turning of the cycle…of course. Aw, damn…Pretending his jerk of surprise was an attempt to look at her again, he croaked, "You must be crazy."

Sango eyed him reproachfully, though in the back of her mind she was glad he had said just that. It was normal. There had already been too many things that day that weren't.

"This is probably the night…where she wanders alone…" he continued.

Alone. "Do you think she's lonely too?" Sango twisted and untwisted a section of the peculiar bark before throwing it in to feed the fire. An all too familiar surge of panic rushed up when he did not answer, but when she looked up, she realized he merely either lacked the energy to speak anymore or didn't have an answer.

"You should try to get some rest." Sango advised. "I'll keep watch."

"Keh!" He coughed, "You humans…always so obliged to your companions."

"Sango shook her head, a twinge of minor annoyance sparking up. He can't even stand and he's still putting on all that fake 'superior being' bravado.

Maybe she was more tired than she thought. Everything on his side of the camp seemed to be cast in shadows more than her flickering firelight provided. Strange… Kind of like ebony strands, his hair… And before she knew it, despite all her valiant attempts to stay awake, she had dozed off thinking, "We'll be safe. The only one who can hurt us here is the moon goddess herself, and if the hanyou was right, she is wandering somewhere far away." How wrong she was.

The hanyou shuddered a sigh of relief. The youki was always the first thing to go. He could feel the drain of power ever so slightly before, but it had kept getting worse and worse as the sun began to set and he couldn't figure out why until Sango brought up the new moon. He couldn't believe he had forgotten.

At least the slayer woman had fallen asleep before she truly realized his human form. It would have been wonderful to have to explain all that in his present condition, since he knew there was no way in hell she'd of waited until morning if she had seen him like this.

Blowing a few loose strands of black hair from his eyes, he pondered. What if she woke in the middle of the night? He had to get somewhere else to sleep. His mysterious ailment—though he did have a loose idea of what it could be—seemed to be waning in power enough at least so he could think clearly, so it would be best to move out of sight of the taijiya. Damn that so-called Kagome-hime. Edging up against the nearest tree that encircled their camp, he used it as a crutch to stand, wrapping his arms as far around the diameter of the tree as their length allowed, he leaned against the bark, more or less standing. Mission accomplished. Now, to move. Tentatively letting go of the tree, his knees instantly crumpled beneath his weight and he fell back into a half-crouching position.

Damn. Gradually, he could feel the burning sensation of more pain welling up, and then it rammed into him like a wave of titanic proportions and he made a sound he never thought he ever would. The sound of some kind of feral dog in excruciating agony. He doubled over, moaning like something that had been run over by an entire army of horses but still clung to the last strand of life it possessed. Every organ in his body felt like it was being squeezed until it was no more, breathing sharp and irregular, going out of his mind with pain.

It was then the shadows took him; literally. They sprung up from the eastern darkness out of reach of the fire, wrapping around his arms and middle, dragging him further into their realm. He weakly protested, trying to stay where he was but not entirely sure why he would rather be here than where the tendrils intended for him to go. The shadows only pulled tighter, constricting his breathing and cutting into the flesh of his body like wire wrapping around meat at the butcher's stall.

Dimly, he was amazed that Sango had not woken, half of him silently screaming for her help and the other praying that she would not see. The bonds bit deeper, his head exploding with more, renewed pain as the bright red arterial blood flowed fiercely from his arm and spurted like a small fountain, drenching the grass and mulch beneath him with crimson wetness instantly. He let go.

Let them take me. I give up.

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In the Moon Princess' Garden

Sengoku Jidai

For a moment all he could see was darkness, eaten alive by fear.

Then someone lightly touched him on the shoulder, airily caressing it. "My dear… Wake up for me, please." Fabrics shuffled and he felt someone sit on the ground next to him. The same being gently lifted his head up and placed it in her lap.

The clothing she wore was so smooth and seamless, although dimly he was sure he was spilling blood all over it. Blearily, he opened his eyes, tilting his head back so he could see the person's face.

Kagome smiled down at him ethereally, her features barely creasing.

He twisted violently, rocking himself out of her lap, part crawling, part sliding away. He fell after a few feet, overwhelmed by the scent of his own blood and tired beyond his imagination. The moon princess scooted forward a little, reaching her hand out to pull him back toward her. Spitting. He tried to catch her fingers in his fangs, but she moved them away in time. He tumbled into straight her from the momentum of his futile attack and ended up back in her lap once more.

She rolled him onto his back lovingly, cool fingers dancing along his skin with pleasure. She relished the intake of excited breath as she smelt his essence in the air, the warmth of his blood on her body. "You're in my web."

The hanyou slowly nodded, making a noise that meant yes.

"You know that the moon doesn't cast its own light. It's only a reflection of true power—a weaker copy. I can't cast my own light either. I need to draw off of another being's sustenance." She hugged him closer, his semi-conscious body at the complete expense of her will. "I need YOU. Especially now, when my palace is dark, hidden away…" The hanyou nodded again, whimpering a little as she increased her flow of power from him to prove her point.

"Then you know that you will die soon."

The two stayed silent for a while, Kagome-hime taking her eyes off of her plaything for a moment to look up at the moonless sky. "But I can make it so you live. I like you. You deserve to keep on living, hanyou. I can make it so it works." She gingerly brushed her hands along his injured arm. He winced as she did so, but the skin reformed along her touch, closing the wound so that it was only a scar of a memory. "Do you want to know what you need to do for me?"

-end chapter nine

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Things no one but a very avid reader reads:

"What happened to Kaguya?" "She was eaten by a youkai."

-Dealings in reference to the second movie of Inuyasha. That is the only thing I got out of the whole movie—Kaguya-hime was eaten by a youkai (false tennyo).

"So she's the moon goddess. Leaving your river god to worship her?"

-The shrine Sango was at was to the river kami. I didn't bother elaborating in the text because it was irrelevant anyhow. So what Inu—I mean, THE HANYOU meant was, "Are you going to start putting offerings of mochi at Kagome's dou too?"

When they are talking about the trees…

-West Coast Pines and California redwoods, what else can I say? It was the first non-Japanese native tree I could think of that wasn't…you know…a palm tree or a tropical plant. And yes I live in California. It's bad to develop an unhealthy obsession with states/provinces/countries you have never been to, like…Finland…and…Japan…

Like any good Girl Scout, Sango knows which plants are edible, AND how to make a campfire! But don't try this at home, folks, because most likely someone will die!

As I was typing this all out, I thought that maybe I should break off at "Let them take me. I give up." And save the rest for chapter 10. But I decided that would be cruel. Heh. Originally, I had planned for the entirety of the new chapter ten to come would to be the end of chapter 9, but Zora said that it was better this way. SO if chapter 10 is like, "WTF?" I just thought you should know that it was originally the end of this chapter. Kagome-hime is so creepy!

Oo

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as I did my VERY BEST in trying to do everything Zora and I wanted and making it less choppy. Ugh. Personally, I am not satisfied with a single one of these chapters but this one sure comes the closest. What do you think?

I have probably told this to you guys every single chapter now, but I AM SO SORRY FOR LACK OF ROMANCE! I AM INEPT! INCAPACITATED! THE ONLY THING I HAVE WRITTEN EVEN REMOTELY SIMILAR TO THE ROMANCE GENRE IS A KANNA FIC CALLED "The Girl With Lilies in Her Hair" and A DRABBLE THINGY CALLED "Quondam".

AAAAH! I AM TRYING!--hears Zora snickering in background—

Jaa

Kalliel