Disclaimer: Do not own Inuyasha… yada, yada, yada…
Chapter 3: The Land where Time Froze
The ride on the plane had been hell. The kids screamed and laughed with one another. Kagome sat quietly with Sango and Ayumi, since they were the quietest. She wondered if Inuyasha really was behind the barrier that killed so many priests and mikos. Kagome packed her bow and arrow with her in case something had happened, or in case she was sucked back in the feudal era. That, however, was virtually impossible, but hey, it might happen. Now they were on a boat, since the only way on the island was by boat. Kagome leaned over the rail of the boat tensely as they approached the island.
For a moment, Kagome did feel as if she had plunged back into the depths of time to return into the arms of Inuyasha. Kagome felt her eyes water. After five long agonizing hours, she knew that now was the time to figure out how big the barrier was. Kagome ran back into her quarters where her friends were talking idle talks. Kagome threw open her luggage and grabbed her bow and arrow. This shocked her friends. They followed her out onto the deck along with other curious students who saw Kagome rushing, erm… I take that back, THUNDERING down the hall as she notched her arrow onto her bow. Kagome skidded to a halt at the stern of the deck and drew her bow.
Kagome was sure that, even if the island as far away to the point where it was only a dot to the naked eye, the barrier might have been a large one. Kagome concentrated on the point of the arrow putting all her power into the head. By now, all her fellow classmates have come out to see what she would do. They had never seen anyone use a bow and arrow in person, so seeing Kagome made them interested. Here goes. Kagome thought to herself as a small ball of pink started to form from the point of the arrow. Once she was sure she had enough power in her arrow, Kagome released it. In a sparkle of pink glitter, the arrow shot forward straight as a bullet.
The other student stared with their jaws on the ground. Suddenly from a distance, a huge burst of blue and pink and purple light erupted, sending waves of energy. Kagome told everyone to grab on tight. The wave hit them making the boat shudder and shake violently for a while. Kagome did not take her eyes off the barrier. She saw it. It was a HUGE barrier that crackled with blue energy. The other students muttered never having experienced such a scene.
A couple hours later, Kagome notched her arrow and fired. The other students shouted at her to stop, but Kagome had to be ready when the boat's stern hit the barrier. The arrow didn't get too far. In fact, Kagome saw it vaporize before her very eyes. Without much thought, she dropped her bow and arrow on the deck and grabbed onto the railing and braced herself for the hell she had to go through in order to see Inuyasha. "Inuyasha… I'd do anything for you." She whispered to herself as the stern hit the barrier. Kagome could virtually SEE the barrier open up and let the boat through. She as afraid. Would she vaporize like many other monks and mikos that dared to enter? Then she felt it, the strong wave of the barrier. The boat was having problems getting in the moment the barrier reached Kagome. It sure as hell was hell. Her hair whipped about her as blue energy crackled about her.
Screaming in pain, Kagome shut her eyes screaming out the name of her lover. The other students blinked at the miko whose hair blew like mad. The barrier wanted so bad to expel her from getting near the island. Kagome strengthened her grip on the pipe she was grabbing onto. The metal creaked and groaned as the boat fused forward. The metal dug into her flesh until it was cut up and bled profusely. Did she survive a little longer because of the Shiken Jewel that lay dormant in her body. She felt the barrier doing it's job in moving from expelling to vaporizing. Her skin crawled as she felt as if a thousand knives slammed into her body at once. The least she could do was call out his name before she died. "INUYASHA!" She screamed one last time, thinking this was the end of her life.
Sure, the other kids thought she was crazy, but seeing that the boat had slowed down considerably almost to a halt, they realized that for some reason Kagome was not allowed here. Upon screaming the strange legendary character's name, her whole body seemed to glow. It glowed with such intensity, a huge blast of energy shot out from her body, thus shattering the barrier much like glass and all was left of it were blue sparkles as the barrier was broken. In the end, Kagome sank to her knees and nearly hit the floor. She barely supported herself with her hands panting in the middle of a pool of blood that was once hers.
Sango rushed out and grabbed onto her friend. "KAGOME!" The young miko panted in an effort to regain her composure.
"Was it the Shiken Jewel?" She muttered to herself. Did I use the Shiken Jewel, or did I use my own power source? I sure as heck didn't feel any vibes from the Shiken Jewel reacting… so was is me? Kagome didn't realize that Sango had hugged her close to herself telling her she was okay now.
"The barrier." Sesshoumaru said in silent shock. The last of the youkais stared out the opening of the cave half expecting to see the ominous silhouette of Kikyou. Luckily they didn't see it. "How did she… JAKEN! Put up another barrier NOW!" Sesshoumaru shouted at his servant.
Jaken immediately tapped his staff on the floor and a wave of blue flashed out from the tip of the nintengen. It rippled out from where he stood as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru drew their swords, Sesshoumaru the Tokijen, Inuyasha the Tetsusaiga. They knew they couldn't stand a chance against Kikyou, but it was worth a try. The only weapon they had that were actually helpful was, believe it or not, Jaken's Nintengen, because that created the barrier that kept all mikos and monks out for five hundred years. It also masked their aura from Kikyou.
Once the blue ripple was out of sight, Jaken lowered his staff and announced that the barrier was set up once more. None of them seemed to relieve their tension until one of the youkais announced that the barrier had been set. Rin collapsed on the floor for standing so tensely. "Saved." Was all Miroku said.
"Oh no…" Kagome whispered as she watched the blue energy ripple towards them, "Oh no… another barrier!" Sango looked up in time to see the blue energy that seemed so harmless wash towards them. The other students, being stupid or rather ignorant, as Sango concluded, saw nothing. Sango stood behind Kagome and grabbed her shoulder. "Kagome, I won't let that barrier kill you." She said.
"NO!" Kagome shouted. She pushed Sango away from her, the moment the barrier touched her. It threw her against the wall of the boat. Her hands had already healedbecause ofthe Shiken Jewel, but now she felt her back burning as the metal dug into her back. Kagome summoned all her strength and painfully inched towards her bow and arrow. Sango seeing this, ran over to the bow and arrow and placed them in front of Kagome, becauseKagome did not allow her to touch her. Kagome gripped the bow and pulled out another arrow with pain and difficulty and blood flowed out from her back and onto the deck. Kagome tried to notch the arrow, but failed.
Frustrated, she tossed the bow on the deck and clutched the arrow in both her hands and using her newfound strength from the Shiken Jewel managed to get up to her knees. She lifted the arrow up as her class watched bewildered. Willing all her strength into her arrow, it glowed first pink, then slowly changed to crackling blue energy. Steadying herself, Kagome plunged the tip of the arrow into the barrier. The energy radiated black and blue powers, which her classmates certainly saw. The blue energy scorched her hands, but Kagome did not give up. Not now, not ever. She thought bitterly to herself. If it was Inuyasha who was behind this, she had to break through. She just HAD to, and even if he wasn't there, she needed to know if he really was there. The tip of the arrow let out a burst of blue electricity. The barrier seemed to resist and expand, pushing her backwards a bit. Kagome clenched her jaws and pushed forward, the barrier stretched out like an elastic band.
Suddenly she felt the trill that she was winning. She inched forward and closed her eyes. She was going to use everything in her power to break through the barrier unscathed, or at least alive, seeing the condition she was in. Sango watched her from afar, wishing she could help, but she knew about these barriers. Powerful taiyoukais and weapons youkais carried used this barrier to keep mikos or monks out in their last, desperate attempt to stay alive. Ninety nine point nine percent of the time, it worked, killing any miko or monk that touched it no matter how powerful they were. But Kagome, the first time, she shattered the barrier completely, could it be that she was more powerful than Kikyou and Midoriko put together?
It seemed as if there was a bubble around Kagome formed by the barrier. It flexed under her command, ready to expel her with all its strength. Kagome must have known that, because it had stretched longer than it should have, thus weakening the barrier. In the end, Kagome burst through the barrier pitching forward and slamming into the front of the boat. The hole that she had created in the barrier slowly closed itself up."Kagome!" Sango dropped her boomerang and rushed over to her friend who lay exhausted at the stern of the boat, panting. She was beyond repair. Sango knew that if it hadn't been for the Shiken Jewel, Kagome would have been dead by now.
"I'm fine, Sango, I just need to rest." Kagome closed her eyes. Sango knew she was using the power of the Shiken Jewel to heal herself. Just as she guessed, the scraped knee that had been scraped to show her kneecaps slowly mended and healed until her knees were good as new. Her bloodied hands healed, and Sango felt Kagome's broken back mend. The nasty cut she received from slamming into the stern faded into smooth skin. All the students stared, shell-shocked. "You're okay now, rest Kagome." Sango said gently, holding onto Kagome tenderly like a sister.
"Did she just…" Eri started, "Did she just heal herself?"
"That's none of your business." Sango said coldly. Kagome told her earlier when they just realized the well sealed up, not to tell anyone about her possession of the Shiken Jewel. Sango knew that Kagome feared that now that the youkais were put at rest, the humans would come after her. When Kagome was semi conscious, Sango helped her up and led her to her quarter to rest until they got to the island. She picked up Kagome's bow and arrow along the way. The students that blocked their path immediately moved out of the way as the two hobbled over to Kagome's quarters.
"Jaken. Tell me what justhappened, why did that miko manage to burst through the barrier?"
"I-I-I do not know, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken whimpered trembling under his master's icy stare.
Sesshoumaru angrily turned around and Jaken fell on his knees bowing madly, "I'm sorry Sesshoumaru-sama, butI do not know what happened! Please forgive me!" The youkai howled bowing as fast as he could, groveling at Sesshoumaru's feet. Jaken was silenced when Sesshoumaru's foot smashed onto his back.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, please do not act rash. It is not Jaken's fault that this miko managed somehow to break through your barrier. Besides, it is virtually impossible for any miko or monk, no matter how powerful to pass through your barrier. Of course maybe with the help of the Shiken Jewel, a miko or monk may have the possibly of getting through alive." Myoga said wisely from his spot on Kouga's head. Kougaglared up at the flea-youkai on his head and flicked him away with the toss of his head. Myoga went screaming awayinto the background asSesshoumaru glared at Inuyasha, whose eyes went round with shock.
"Kagome…" He muttered.
"What do you MEAN by that wretched miko? She has none of this silly mikopowers, and you GAVE the Shiken Jewel to that damned clay miko to take to hell. Are you telling me she used that to get in here?"
"No! You got the story all wrong!" Inuyasha shouted at his brother. "The Shiken Jewel no longer lies in the possession of Kikyou. When Kagome tried to give it to her for safe handling, it refused to say in her hands and instead returned to Kagome. Kikyou is no longer the protector of the Shiken Jewel, which means only ONE thing… Kagome!" The Hanyou made and attempt to dash out of the cave, when Sesshoumaru's hand gripped his shoulders. "You're going nowhere, until we are sure this woman is not that Kikyou woman.
"I TOLD YOU! IT'S NOT KIKYOU! IT'S KAGOME!" Inuyasha screamed, punching at his brother.
"Hmmm… for once in his life, Dog-Turd actually was thinking!" Kouga said calmly from his spot in the cave, after having stomped on Myoga. "But, I'm not going anywhere until I SEE that it's Kagome with my own eyes. Besides, I certainly can't trust Dog-Turd and his tiny brain!"
"KEH! Screw you, Mangly Wolf! Look at yourself! You have an even SMALLER brain then I do!... Not that my brain is small anyway!" Inuyasha snapped as he tore himself out of Sesshoumaru's grasp and sat grudgingly on the ground sitting much like a dog. He turned his head away from the rest of the group, in annoyance.
"Fine. We shall patrol the island. Tonight I shall scout out the island to see find this so-called Kagome, or shall I presume Kikyou? When I return, the next youkai assigned to patrol shall be sent out. Inuyasha, you are NOT to leave the cave whatsoever. It is too dangerous for you to patrol the island. The order of the patrol after me are: Shippou, Miroku, and then Kouga. If any of you should see that this miko is dangerous, you are to kill this miko without hesitation." Without waiting for a response, Sesshoumaru pulled his armor on and unsheathed the Tokijen as he left.
Sesshoumaru silently lifted the tokijen above his head, using it as some sort of an umbrella for the waterfall that hid the cave from view. Keeping his senses alert, Sesshoumaru looked left and right his golden orbs flashing. The waterfall came from a huge river that flowed seven hundred feet above their cave. Sesshoumaru cautiously waddled through the calm clear lake that had been untouched from the pollution of modern-day Japan thanks to his barrier. The water deepened as the inuyoukai waddled towards the middle of the pool of lake that formed from the river that collapsed into the pool. The water came up to his chest when he waddled into the middle of the lake.
The moon was full that night, and if anyone had been watching, they would have seen what they thought was a woman with long silvery hair that clouded around the white outfit Sesshoumaru wore. It seemed as if he were glowing, but that moment was gone the moment he reached the edge of the pool near a river that led the water out towards the ocean. Sesshoumaru pulled himself out of the pool and sheathed his sword. The sound of metal sliding against metal was heard and ended with a silent click. He grabbed his hair and squeezed the water out before leaping out into the night sky.
So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As usual, there were trees and shrubs and occasionally several surviving lesser youkais that cowered when he swiftly passed them. But that didn't make his journey towards the ocean entirely peaceful. Some of the lesser youkais were idiotic enough or too slownot to move out of the inutaiyoukai's way, thus earning the consequences of his poisonous light whip that sliced them in half.
The first place Sesshoumaru wanted to survey was the beach. It all seemed reasonable, because he heard the sound of a boat lightly sliding into the sand. That probably meant that this so-called Miko was here. The strange thing was when the wind blew past his face, he smelled other people, young humans. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and wondered what Kikyou was doing with a bunch of teenagers. He stopped on a cliff that overlooked the beach that spread before him. He wanted to call this area Ningen because it seemed to be a favorite spot for humans to land on whenever they came. Of course, on the western side, there were better beaches, which Rin and Shippou always ran off to, only togain one bump eachfrom Inuyasha.
Calm, impassive golden orbs surveyed the land without a problem from the darkness. Besides, theweakling humanshad foolishly put up a campfire, making it easier to see them. Sesshoumaru wondered if Kikyou was amongst them. He was positive that she wasn't as foolish as most humans, she usually attacked through the darkness. Maybe she put on a new fighting tactic. Most of the time, Sesshoumaru watched the miko fight from a safe distance to watch her fighting technique. Of course before she finished the youkai off, he would have returned to the island to give everyone else an update on what had happened.
However, ever since the humans had started to create strange things such as huge slabs of angular rocks, which they hovered in and out of, Sesshoumaru forbade the rest of the gang to leave the island. Then the pathetichumans turned on their hiding place (the island,I mean, their island)to change it to become like the rest of Japan. Having no choice, Sesshoumaru and the rest destroyed anything that seemed to trigger changes on the islands. One of them were the strange figures that reeked of metal and oil. The humans seemed to fight back, even being brave enough to send several other strangely dressed humans after them carrying strange weapons that even he, Sesshoumaru, barely dodged. Lately, the humans had given up on changing their hiding place, but that didn't stop them from tainting their lands with their filthy feet.
He would have been obliged to slash these intruders into ribbons, but Rin had stopped him, thus many humans passed by this island, but never changing it. Of course they carelessly threw trash about, but that simply got themselves killed by a furious Inuyasha who slashed them to ribbons with his Iron Reaver Soul Stealer. Maybe the whelp's pretty useful after all. Had he learned to hate humans, like me? Of course not! He is after all, half HUMAN, and still is in love with another human, not just any ordinary human, but a MIKO! Sesshoumaru mused to himself, a small smirk creeped onto his smooth face, but was quickly shattered at the thought that his only brother was in love with a miko. True, he hated humans, buthis brother still had hisfather's blood running through his shamefulveins, a pity, really.To the human eyes,Sesshoumaru stilllooked about twenty, and it seemed as if he looked like that for five hundred years. To be exact, Sesshoumaru didn't look any different from what he looked like five hundred years ago, with an exception of longer hair, which he had finally done up in a ponytail (once in a fight, he landed flat on his face thanks to tripping over his hair that dragged on the ground, later, he sliced it off with a simply sword, up to his ankles. Nevertheless, he couldn't run the same humiliating risk, especially when Inuyasha rolled on the ground laughing himself nearlyto death).
Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Sesshoumaru leapt off the cliff to land smoothly and softly onto the ground without a sound, that except for the whispering sounds of his hair brushing against his back and onto the floor. Using his inhumane speed, Sesshoumaru kept himself a safe distant from the group of humans. He noticed that they were dressed alike, or for the most part most of them were.Hisgolden eyessmoothly and casually scanned the area for anything that was dressed differently, or perhaps someone who was dressed in a similar manner such as himself... white haori and red pants.His eyes fell on the form of a woman who had a large boomerang-shaped youkai bone weapon that lay next to her.
Sesshoumaru immediately identified her as one of Inuyasha's missing companions. It intrigued him that he could smell a miko, but she was nowhere in sight. It wasn't just any miko, it was an immensely powerful miko, who was more powerful than Kikyou herself. No, the scent of this miko was much like the Kikyou miko, he was sure of it. This meant danger, and it meant war. Kikyou had come on the island. But she was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was hiding somewhere waiting for him or anyone else to come out so she could strike them down with her purity arrows.
Suspicious of the surrounding, Sesshoumaru's eyes scanned the area in a manner that almost seemed as if he were trying to drag Kikyou out with just his eyes. If he were lucky, he might be able to use Kikyou's scent to track her down and maybe lash out at her before she could recognize that he was there? No, that wasn't as easy as it sounded. Kikyou, being a miko, was able to feel his youki, thus making it hard to give her a surprise attack. She was also immensely fast for a human. Damn that clay pot! She notches her arrow faster than I can run! Careful not to let his growl come out from his throat, Sesshoumaru silently shifted through the forest that lined the beach.
If it hadn't been for Kikyou's ominous presence, especially her stench, Sesshoumaru would have actually been silently enjoying the breeze in the forest like he did when he first came. The smell of the pines and the dirt almost made him feel nostalgic, almost. Mentally cursing Kikyou for ruining his peaceful moment, Sesshoumaru leapt up into a tree upon hearing voices coming his way.
A thin beam of light broke the path as three girls came into view. At first, Sesshoumaru was not interested, but the topic of their discussion forced him to turn half his attention to them. After all, he, Sesshoumaru, never let his guard down. The three girls were oddly dressed much like that Kagome miko. If he didn't have a keen sense of smell, then he would have mistaken them as Kagome, and would have been utterly confused. The three femalehumans were walking aroundthe one in the middlehad about shoulder-length hair and wore some sort of cloth in her hair. She was the one doing most of the talking while she held a strange contraption that had light coming from it. The one on her left had longercurly hair, much like Naraku's only shorter and the one on the right had her hair up to her chin.
"I wonder what's wrong with Kagome. She's been tense all day." The one with the curly hair said with a worried expression on her face.
"I don't know… she's been blabbing stuff about that fictional character. What was his name?" The chin-length hair girl answered.
"PAH! Are you guys talking about the one with the cat ears on his head with the silvery hair and golden eyes?" Sesshoumaru suddenly turned all his attention on the girl with the cloth in her hair. "What was his name again? Inu… Inutaisho?"
How dare you mix father up with that whelp! Sesshoumarugrowledin his mind.
"Yeah! Inutaisho! And he had a full youkai half-brother named Inuyasha. They shared a dad named Sesshoumaru. Too bad they're fictional. You know, I couldn't believe that Inuyasha was a guy! He looked so much like a girl with the eye shadow thing and all!" Sesshoumaru fell out of the tree in shock and indigence, one foot up in the air twitching irritably. The three girls didn't notice and the one with the shoulder length hair continued. "At any rate, Kagome acts as if she knows them, or at least she thinks she knows Inutaisho and Inuyasha."
It's Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha to you, pitiful, good-for-nothing human! Sesshoumaru thought angrily as he climbed back into the tree. He decided to follow the trio, hoping that they'd take him to the miko. Hesilently jumped from tree to tree to keep up with the three femalehumans. He wondered where they were going.
"Thank kami Kagome isn't here, she probably would have scolded me and said that the full, jealous and not to mention obsessed brother of that half youkai's real name was Sesshoumaru. Pfft! The textbook identifies him as Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru was insulted beyond words. HIM, obsessed? JEALOUS? Of that whelp! Ha! Well, thatidiotic book of yours is WRONG! Sesshoumaru thought to himself. "Well anyway, she keeps on moping about her violent two-timing boyfriend Inuyasha. I wonder if he looks like the girly youkai Inuyasha guy, he has the same name as Inutaisho's half brother. Anyway, Kagome keeps saying that the half-youkai is Inuyasha, the jealous and obsessed youkai is Sesshoumaru and their dad is Inutaisho. Maybe she's right, besides, she does have a history crazed grandfather."
The other girls nodded in agreement, and Sesshoumaru slightlyrelaxed satisfied that thehuman had finally gotten her factsstraight, but he was quicklyirritated by the girl announcing that she would follow the textbook. Annoyed, Sesshoumaru jumped in front of their path, landing quite gracefully on the ground blocking their path. The three girls immediately screeched to a halt. The one with the curly hair nearly screamed, but the one holding the contraption covered her mouth. "Relax Ayumi, it's just some random person, not one of those youkais Kagome's freaky friend Sango and that guide kept talking about."
"HUMAN!" Sesshoumaru thundered silencing her at once, "How dare you mistaken me as a human! Your stench disgusts me, and take that junk out of my eyes!" He snarled flexing his claws.
"Us human? You look human to us." The one in the middle said still not taking the strange thing off him. In fact, she had taken a liking in annoying him and shone the thing directly in his eyes making his vision nearly go all white. Annoyed, Sesshoumaru willed the poison into his hand, letting it extend into his poisonous whip before lashing out at the strange contraption in the girl's hand. In one graceful movement, he sliced the strange thing in half and the light vanished. He narrowed his orbs at the three now petrified girls standing before him. Satisfied that he had finally gotten them to be frightened for a while, Sesshoumaru tugged his whip back towards him and it returned to his hands and vanished.
"Speak up human, how dare you confuse my honorable father with my worthless hanyou half-brother!"
"What are you speaking of? Isn't the guy with cat ears on his head Inutaisho?"
Growling lightly in annoyance, Sesshoumaru felt there was no need in starting a conversation with these foolish humans. They were far more useless than Inuyasha's wretch. "I do not feel the need to waste my time withlowlyhumans such as yourselves, die." With that, Sesshoumaru leapt at them with his poisonous claws posed to attack, but…
"DUCK!" A familiar voice screeched through the night air. The girls complied and flatted themselves on the ground before a purity arrow sliced through the air, it's pink aura narrowly missing Sesshoumaru's face. "SESSHOUMARU! YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM!" Sesshoumaru turned around in the blink of an eye to find him face to face with Kikyou.
Kagome sighed as she lowered herself down on a rock. The guide wanted to do a play and she was chosen to be Kikyou mostly because all the students told him she had funny pink powers that proved to be quite dangerous. Of course, Kagome thought indignantly to herself, The quide said I looked a lot like Kikyou… Sighing, Kagome dropped the bundle of clothes on the floor. She had worn these several times, and on her first meeting with Inuyasha, Inuyasha tried to make her take these miko clothes off complaining that with them on, she looked strikingly familiar to Kikyou. Hugging the bundle of clothes to her chest, Kagome wondered aloud, "Where are you Inuyasha?" Knowing that the question would not bring him back, she concentrated on the miko robes in front of her.
The guide told her that these robes were once worn by Kikyou herself, thus surprising her classmates, since they thought Kikyou was merely a legend. Kagome wondered if Inuyasha would truly mistaken her as Kikyou, now that she would "smell" like her since she was putting on what was once Kikyou's clothes. Sighing to herself, Kagome undressed herself and pulled on Kikyou's former outfit. She picked up her bow and arrow, ready to exit when she sensed some youki coming her way. Without a moment's hesitation, she notched her arrow and turned to the source of the youki. It was a great big scorpion youkai. It's been a while since Kagome first saw these youkais. Too bad Sango isn't with me. She thought ruefully as she released her arrow. It sailed through the air, hitting her target. In a burst of pink light, the youkai disintegrated into nothing but dust.
More and more youkais approached her, and Kagome knew very well that these youkais were after the Shiken no Tama that was in her body. She remembered that she was the soul protector of the Shiken Jewel and found herself at battle with many power-hungry youkais. The island held a lot more youkais than she had anticipated. Sure, she did feel the youki when she got on the island, but she didn't anticipate for there to be this many youkais. Then again, this was a very large island that would take more than a month to get to the other side, or at least that's what the guide said.
Sango sighed as she looked boredly on at the rest of the strangely dressed students. Kagome tried to get Sango to wear something else, but Sango refused to change out of her clothes. She also brought her boomerang, face mask, and her taiyjia fighting outfit with her telling an objecting Kagome that they might come into use. And that night, it did, because Sango found the camp being sabotaged by youkais. They were thankfully not taiyoukais such as Sesshoumaru and Naraku, but to these powerless students, they were as dangerous as Naraku himself. Sango told them to get closer to the fire and posed with her boomerang. The students that once laughed at her complied without second thought as Sango threw her boomerang at the youkais that attacked her.
They must have been very hungry… Sango thought, I wonder why they didn't pop out until now… there must be something on this island that has been keeping them in check. She wondered what kept them in check. Maybe there was some sort of taiyoukai somewhere that kept them in check. Pushing the thoughts off her mind, Sango kept her mind in attacking the youkais so she wouldn't be vulnerable. At that the youkais charged forward and fell from Sango's boomerang. Sango had awed the class in her great skill. Maybe she did serve a purpose in this time after all, at least on this island.
Kagome had managed to teach the youkais that attacked her a lesson or two as she rushed down the dirt path that led to her classmates. Oh no! I'm late! Kagome thought to herself, but froze when she felt a powerful youki of a taiyoukai. The taiyoukai was on the same path as her, which wasn't so hard after all. All she had to do was run straight down this path, which she promptly did. As she ran, she noticed her three friends standing there petrified by an inu taiyoukai that towered over them. It had only one arm, the left arm wasn't there. It had a fluffy, white boa on its shoulder and sweeping silver hair that was tied up in a ponytail, which blew in the breeze. Upon seeing the taiyoukai, Kagome froze. It was Sesshoumaru.
"DUCK!" She screamed at her friends as she released the arrow, "Sesshoumaru! Stay away from them!" The taiyoukai managed to dodge in time while Kagome reloaded her bow. The arrow's miko aura barely grazed Sesshoumaru's smooth white face as he landed gracefully on the floor. His silver hair had grown longer than she had remembered. IN fact, it was now so long that Sesshoumaru had used the yellow and blue sash that was once around his waist to tie it. Obviously, he had a lot more than one of those sashes since he still had one around his waist. Of course, he still had the Tokijen and the Tenseiga with him. They were belted in his side. Sesshoumaru had drawn the Tokijen. But that didn't faze Kagome, what really fazed her was when he snarled, "Kikyou…"
"Kikyou?" Ayumi wondered slowly straightening herself along with Yuka and Eri. "But she's only a legend isn't she?"
"Ayumi, don't be fooled by that crazy guide, Kikyou is a legend! I think the play already started! Whoooooo the arrow looked so real!"
"Eri… get off the road, Sesshoumaru's too dangerous, let me deal with him!"
"Sesshoumaru? You mean Inutaisho and Inuyasha's dad?"
Immediately both Kagome and Sesshoumaru collapsed onto the ground their feet twitching in the air. Laughing nervously while stealing glances at Sesshoumaru, Kagome steadied herself, "Eri… INUTAISHO is the DAD of Inuyasha and SESSHOUMARU. Inuyasha is the HANYOU and SESSHOUMARU is the INU TAIYOUKAI."
"Oh. So Inuyasha was the younger guy, huh? Wait, what's Hayou and Inu… tai… Taiwan? Huh?" Yuka asked cocking her head to the side in confusion. Upon hearing that, both Kagome and Sesshoumaru sweat-dropped.
"It's um… a concept that's not too hard to understand. A Hanyou is a cross breed between a youkai and human, which is what Inuyasha is, and err… and Inu, like all of you know,means dog, and taiyoukai is a label given to the youkais that are very, very powerful… so basically, Sesshoumaru is an Inu Youkai, but he's a derivative of Inutaisho, who was a taiyoukai, thus making him an Inu taiyoukai…" Kagome broke off when she realized that her friends had collapsed onto the ground now with spiral eyes that marked their confusion. Kagome sweat-dropped once more as her calmer friend Ayumi got up.
"Wait… I don't get it… your explanation's too confusing!"
"Foolish human, your human parents must have forgotten how powerful taiyoukais are!"
"Eh-heh-heh-heh! Ayumi, don't mind him." Kagome said taking a step towards her friends. Behind Ayumi, Eri and Yuka had gotten up rubbing their heads in confusion.
"I don't believe you. You know, for the past few weeks you've been acting weird! You used to agree that Inuyasha was the jealous, obsessed guy that wanted to get that sword… what was it called? Sushiasha? Tetris?"
"Erm… you're right about the jealous and obsessed part, but I guess Sesshoumaru doesn't want the Tetsusaiga anymore. After all, he had Kaizinbo make him the Tokijen as a compensation. But the obsessed guy isn't Inuyasha, Inuyasha is the one that wields the Tetsusaiga, and SESSHOUMARU is the guy that wants it from him. Of course now, it's only an obsession of getting rid of poor Inuyasha, especially since he CUT HIS ARM OFF." Kagome emphasized the last bit making sure it drilled into Sesshoumaru's head. "Oh and there was once that time where Inuyasha used the Kaze no Kizu on him, thus nearly killing him. Too bad he had the Tenseiga on him, otherwise we wouldn't be dealing with him right now."
"WHAT?" Sesshoumaru shouted angrily, "You impudent miko! How do you know aboutmu father'sswords? DIE!" Much to his misfortune AND his horror, Yuka stepped forward and placed a hand on Kagome's forehead to see if she had a fever. Of course, Kagome didn't have one.
"You sure? You're not sick anywhere, are you? You're starting to act like your weird new friend Sango."
"Sango is NOT weird! She's perfectly normal!"
"Call gawping at a subway train normal?"
"Of course it's normal! Sango's never seen a subway train before!"
"WHAT!"
"And don't even think about asking Sesshoumaru about it."
"Why?"
"Because, (a) he's never seen a subway train before, thus when he sees it, he'd probably use either the Tokijen or his poison light whip on it, and (b) the only thing he cares about is killing Inuyasha and snatching the Tetsusaiga… of course he's still got the Tokijen, but I'm sure he'd love to keep both the Tetsusaiga AND the Tokijen for himself. He is, after all, very power hungry. Much like Naraku, only a tad less evil."
"Miko, I hope you realize that I am still right behind you. How dare you call this Sesshoumaru obsessed and jealous of that whelp…"
"I see…" Eri said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "But who's Kaizinbo and who's Naraku?" This time, only Sesshoumaru was the only one who landed on the floor with one leg up in the air twitching.
"AH! Well, Kaizinbo is the guy who made Sesshoumaru's sword, the Tokijen, and Naraku is this evil, evil man… err… youkai and he wants to take over the world using the Shiken Jewel!"
"Oh. So… is this Naraku guy another Inuyoukai?" Kagome noticed that Sesshoumaru's right eye twitched slightly.
"NO! Erm… it turned out that Naraku used Sesshoumaru, so uh… Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both hated him and wanted to kill him along with my other… I mean, these other youkais! Naraku originated from a bandit named Onigumo, but he really isn't a full youkai, he's a hanyou like Inuyasha, but he can shape shift and create incarnations!"
"WHAT? A MAN CAN HAVE BABIES? EEEEEEEEEEEEE! HE'S CREEPY!" Eri screamed in both terror and disgust.
"COOL!" Yuka shouted, making Sesshoumaru flinch from the sudden noise, "You have the same name has that crazy obsessed guy!" Sesshoumaru's eye twitched. "So, Kagome," Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in shock, upon hearingthe Mikobeing called Kagome (he expected her to be called Miko-chan or Kikyou-chan or something like that)"Since you have a pretty good grasp on the story, maybe you might know what this Sesshoumaru guy looks like!"
He could not believe it! He was once known throughout the lands, and how people don't even know what he looks like! Sesshoumaru puffed his chest out in sheer indignance. How dare these humans! He was going to make sure these humans understood what and who he, Sesshoumaru, was. "Well, miko, describe this Sesshoumaru to those insignificant and ignorant humans, before I shred them to pieces." The miko laughed nervously, a relief for him, at least not everyone forgot who he was.
"Before you tell us about what this guy looks like, you mentioned some sort of a poison light whip, what's that?"
"Well… I can't be too sure about where it comes from, but it's basically this long whip thing that has poison on it. It glows because it's made from the poison that comes out from his hand."
"OH KAMI! I WISH I COULD MEET HIM!" Kagome sweat-dropped from Ayumi's naïve comment. "So, what does he look like? Is he handsome?"
"Erm… not really… he sort of looks like a girl." Sesshoumaru thinned his lips in indigence, barely resisting the temptation of raising his claws to start slicing and dicing. "He uh… has very long silvery hair and a slightly darker shade of gold eyes like Inuyasha… and uh… he has pointy ears, like so." Kagome grabbed the top of her ears and pulled them up. "He um… has a navy blue crescent moon on his forehead, and likes to wear red or fuchsia eye shadow… actually, they're youkai markings, not eyeshadow,I was only joking. So uh… and he has two purple stripes underneath each of his eyes, making that a total of four stripes. He also has great long claws and has two stripes on each of his wrists. His skin is very white and he wears this white haori with red hexagons on the sleeves and shoulder. He wears an armor over that and has a yellow sash tied around his waist. He carries around two swords, one the life-giving one called the Tenseiga, forged by Toutosai, and the other called the Tokijen, which I already described to you. Uh… what else? Oh yes, he wears these black boot-things and the highlight!" Sesshoumaru wondered what the highlight was. "He has this fluffy, white pelt that he always wears around his right shoulder."
Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka blinked. "Wait… this Sesshoumaru person…"
"Youkai…" Kagome corrected hastily.
"Whatever, this guy… he sounds or looks awfully familiar to the guy standing behind you. Only, he has his hair tied up in a ponytail."
"That GUY you're talking about IS Sesshoumaru! And I forgot to tell you the average youkai lives up to at least a hundred thousand years, which makes THAT GUY susceptable to be SESSHOUMARU! And I believe I've made him very angry... considering the fact that I called him feminine..."
Sesshoumaru flashed a glare at the three girls. "Now, go, he'll kill all of us with one swing of the Tokijen!" Her friends laughed at herbut at least got off the road. Breathing deeply, Kagome steadied her bow and arrow pointing it straight at his heart.
"Sesshoumaru… where is Inuyasha?"
"Kikyou…" The inuyoukai growled before swinging the tokijen at her. Kagome fired her arrow at the incoming burst of red electricity that shot towards her. The arrow sliced right through the red aura and dissipated it as it flew through in a straight path only to hit a tree on the other side. Sesshoumaru had already fled unscathed.
"Why did he call me Kikyou? Didn't he recognize my scent as me?" Kagome wondered aloud as she lowered her bow. "Sesshoumaru, I'll find you and I'll WILL find out where Inuyasha is." Suddenly, Kagome felt herself zoning out. She didn't know what was going on, something or someone was taking possession of her body. Before she knew it, Kagome turned away from her three friends and fled after Sesshoumaru...
Inuyasha scowled as he lifted a fish disdainfullyafter sniffing it in disgust. Scowling once more, the poor Hanyou bit into it. "Stop complaining Inuyasha." Ayame told him as she lifted the fish to her lips.
"Does it look as if I would eat this shit when I've been eating it for five hundred years?"
"You sound like Shippou and Rin." Ayame commented calmly.
"WHAT?" Inuyasha leapt up to yell at her when the sound of the waterfall being disturbed was heard. Sesshomaru stood there, his clothing looking quite rattled. A thin line across his left cheek indicated that he cut his face. Sesshoumaru limped into the cave. He no longer had the ponytail he once sported once his hair had grown too long. Inuyasha's hair had grown as long as Sesshoumaru's hair five hundred years ago. "Happened to you?" Inuyasha finished lamely at the state of the bloodstained Sesshoumaru.
After taking another step into the cave, he collapsed onto the floor. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin cried out. Inuyasha scowled as the "little" girl rushed over to his fallen brother. Sesshomaru looked as if he was hit head-on with some sort of spiritual power. Miroku and the rest dropped their fish and rushed over to Inuyasha, who had grunted in annoyance at Rin's pathetic attempts to pick Sesshoumaru up. Growling to himself, the Hanyou dragged his brother to his bedding. "He's unconscious. Whatever the hell's out there is fucking dangerous. No one is allowed to leave this cave. Jaken, put up a barrier at the cave entrance."
"Do not tell me what to do, you worthless Hanyou!" Jaken croaked annoyed. He was silenced when Inuyasha whomped him on the head (a huge bump formed). Miroku sighed as Inuyasha continued to beat Jaken senseless. Ayame and Rin, in the meantime, had crowded around Sesshoumaru and were dressing his wounds accordingly. They had removed the remains of his armor, pelt, and haori. Only after they had removed his haori did they realize how serious his wounds were. Whoever had attacked Sesshoumaru had punctured a hole through his stomach and he had abrasions all over his body.
"Who would have attacked Sesshoumaru with such vigor?" Ayame wondered aloud.
"Kikyou?" Rin supplied innocently.
"That's impossible." Inuyasha cut into the conversation. He squatted down on the ground much like a dog as he inspected his half-brother. "Kikyou can't even get on this island, let alone even come near it."
"Yeah, but remember our barrier shattered, and even if Sesshoumaru had Jaken put up a barrier, whoever the miko was, she managed to pull herself onto the island. Jaken, I really think you should follow Inuyasha's advice. Seeing the condition of Sesshoumaru, I don't think it would be wise for us to be sitting around like this without a protective barrier on our cave entrance." Miroku reasoned.
Grudgingly, Jaken got up and tapped his staff on the ground putting a barrier over the entrance of the cave.
"Even if this miko or houshi isn't Kikyou, he or she is just as dangerous." Miroku mused.
Both Ayame and Rin and proceeded to soak strips of cloth in the water to first clean out the wound that formed around the little hole in Sesshoumaru's stomach. If Kagome were here, she would have at least used herstrange medicine that would have helped Sesshoumaru heal faster. Inuyasha thought to himself. Much to his distaste, she was not here. To make matters worse, she might have forgotten who he was or if he was lucky, couldn't find him thinking him as long dead. Sighing outwardly, Inuyasha positioned himself on his own bed of grass and leaves. Everyone had returned to their beds, but could not sleep.
Of course they could not sleep. The thought of a powerful miko on the island sickened them to the stomach. Everyone was terse and nervous. Inuyasha kept his eyes on the entrance of their cave, which they had hidden in for five hundred years. During the more peaceful days, they were allowed to leave the cave to experience freedom for a while, But that was a hundred and fifty years ago. Then Inuyasha had run around as much and far as he could go, fearing that he might never be able to do so again. Now here he was sitting like a duck inside a cave waiting for his fate. Inuyasha could not stand sitting around helplessly. Miroku had gotten up and left for his patrol. But because of the emergency, he only hovered around the cave entrance for several hours before Shippou was next on patrol.
Throughout the ordeal, Inuyasha did not sleep; he could not sleep. Something at the back of his mind told him that this mysteriously powerful miko was not Kikyou or any one menacing. Something told him that this miko was Kagome. Yes, his Kagome. He wondered if he would be able to go and see her.
Acting on instincts, Inuyasha got up and roughly yanked Kouga out of the way snarling that he was going to be the next one to go out on patrol. The angered wolf youkai objected as Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga. It transformed in his hand as it once did so many years ago.
"You're not going, Dog Turd!" Kouga snarled.
"Shut up Mangy Wolf! I shall see who this miko is for myself, and the likes of you aren't going to stop me!" With one last yank, Inuyasha released himself from Kouga's grasp and like Sesshoumaru did before, he used the broad flat blade of the Tetsusaiga as an umbrella from the waterfall.
"INUYASHA!" Miroku shouted rushing over to the Hanyou's side. "You can't go! What if the miko is Kikyou? Then what are you going to do? You must remember that it is you that she wants to kill so badly!"
"Feh! Don't yank me like that! I shall see who this miko is for myself and I shall conclude what she is." With that, Inuyasha continued to venture out of the cave. Much to his distaste, Sesshoumaru was in front of him in a flash. Wincing slightly from his wounds that haven't healed yet, Sesshoumaru blocked Inuyasha's path. Inuyasha glared at his half-brother who stared back at him, his eyes narrowed in pain. "Move." Inuyasha growled at his brother who had now grabbed his arm.
"Inuyasha, you are not to go out there. It's too dangerous."
"MOVE!" Inuyasha yelled losing his composure for a while.
"Inuyasha, that miko… she was the one who did this to me. She is much to dangerous."
"So? She probably was disgusted by your ugly, GIRLYface!"
"Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru said sternly, glaring at him. Without warning, Inuyasha felt a sickening feeling in his stomach, indicating that Sesshoumaru had punched him there. "The miko that did this to me was Kikyou!"
A/N: Ooooh... cliffy, cliffy! See what happens in the next chapter! This chapter was a long one! Whew! Finally got it done!
NEXT CHAPTER: Chapter 4: Kikyou DUM, DUM, DUM... what might happen here?
