Disclaimer: I will never own Inu-yasha or Ranma
Last chapter: It made him envious that she, Kagome, the girl whom he knew so long was now a demon that might be stronger than him.
Ch 25: The 1st element (Gi)
The group rested to mid-noon. They slept and ate near the now ruined shrine waiting for the Kijo sisters return.
"Kagome," Shippo whined jumping on to her shoulder. "When's Fuuko and Tsumei going to show up? I'm bored." The fox cub complained sighing.
"They'll show up soon so don't worry. We'll get the first scroll soon." Kagome said packing her cooking supplies. They had just finished eating some instant ramen. Shippo gave a moaning whine and jumped off.
"Hey Ranma," Kagome called waving the martial artist over. She had reverted back to her human form. But a hint of blue was mixed with her black hair. He stopped in mid kick and looked over. He lowered his leg and jogged towards her.
"What's up Kagome," Ranma asked looking at the miko right in the eye.
"Do you have time for a sword lesson?" she asked closing her yellow backpack. Ranma nodded and motioned for them to go to the open area a short distance away from the group.
"Let's just start out with a basic kata," Kagome suggested patting Shin'yuu on her back, Ranma shrugged, but agreed. The group watched the two martial artists as they began to train.
After their warm up, Ranma reviewed the lessons he taugt her and began to teach her combinations. Sango watched interested as Kagome slashed her blade diagonally upwards, turned and executed a backwards roundhouse kick; Miroku on the other hand watching Inu-yasha glare. The hanyou seemed to be more irritable and his aura seemed to subtly change when Kagome did something nicely. Inu-yasha was glaring too, looking somewhere else to try and hid the fact, but he kept glancing at the martial artists.
Miroku kept silent, watching the half demon in question from the corner of his eye. He knew if he came right out in the open to voice his observation, Inu-yasha would more than likely beat him to an inch of his life.
'I'll just keep on observing.' Miroku thought to himself turning his attention somewhere else just to make it unsuspicious. At that very moment he heard a gasp and a thunk muffled by the earth. It quickly caught his attention and make him turn his eyes to see Kagome on the ground rubbing her back.
"What was that for?" She growled at Ranma who was sweat dropping and rubbing his neck with one of his hands. It took her a lot of effort to keep from shouting at him.
"You told me to do something unexpected to keep you on your guard; so I did…" Ranma trailed off looking at the sky. She just glared at him again and pushed herself off the ground.
It was true she asked him to do something like that, but she wasn't expecting a combination like that. She thought to herself the precision of the attacks and timing. Right after she said it, Ranma dashed forward low to the ground. A few feet away he forced his hand infront of him to the dirt and using the momentum done a leg sweep. Kagome only saw a blue and her body acted by itself as she jumped up to avoid the blow. When Ranma finished the rotation, he planted his foot onto the ground and quickly pushed himself up doing a high kick. He done all of this in a second and Kagome didn't have time to react as the kick made light contact on her shoulder. But it had just enough power to send her to the ground.
'It was really fast I didn't have enough time to think. Maybe I should train myself to a point my body just responds by itself without me making so much effort.' Kagome thought now eyeing him. Ranma was still a bit nervous and was ready to take any abuse Kagome dished out. From living with Akane all this time it was a miracle he wasn't sailing through the skies by now.
"What are you doing," Kagome sighed exasperatedly. She knew Ranma was preparing for her to hit him. She knew the answer but asked anyways. She walked over to the boy and lightly punched him. It wasn't really a punch; she formed her hand into a fist and pushed him with it on the arm. "There, now can we get back to training?"
Ranma blinked a few times, confused with what just happened. It took a shout from Kagome to bring him out of his daze. They continued on with the training.
"Where's back," A voice shouted beside them. Tsumei stood there with an annoyed look on her face not bothering to hide her displeasure of seeing the hanyou.
"Uhh," Sango began uncertain to continue. "Tenchi-san said that there would be a clue here, but when we were still inside I didn't see anything that could be a clue."
Tsumei opened her mouth again to either shout or scold the taiji. But Fuuko interrupted her before a word was sounded.
"The wall scrolls inside the temple," Fuuko responded. An emotion passed through her eyes, so brief Sango thought that it was caused by the sun. After that Sango just kept quite observing the sisters.
In a moment the group set off towards east. They made good progress for the rest of the afternoon, and rested when night fell. No one complained about thwere they were going since they still had no idea where. Sango, Miroku, Inu-yasha, and Shippo remembered the wall scroll in the temple that showed a garden, but didn't know what that held to lead them to Tenchi's home.
When night fell the sisters went away from the camp for some unknown reason, which only Inu-yasha was only questioning about. He was still suspicious of both of them, since they seemed to be only there when they need to be. Inu-yasha was still on edge about them also, sicne he didn't know what kind of fighting techniques they used.
So far it seemed that Fuuko was both a wind user and an earth user. She had the power to manipulate the wind, so that was why his Kaze No Kizu didn't work. She also had the power to manipulate the earth, but it seemed that she has limited uses of the earth techniques. As for her personality, she was like another Sesshoumaru. She rarely portrayed emotions and talked when she needed too. The only difference between her personality and Sesshoumaru's was that she didn't address herself with the honorific –sama.
Tsuemi on the other hand seemed to loath Inu-yasha with a quite passion and didn't pass up a chance to insult him. She seemed like she was in some way superior over him. Tsumei had the power over water and fire. But her main weapon was water and used fire occasionally. It seemed like both the sisters didn't' want contact with them until they need to be. Also both the sisters still had the book containing information about them and details about the dragons and phoenixes.
"Hey, Inu-yasha!" an annoying voice shouted. Inu-yasha broke off from his thoughts just in time for Shippo to hit him on the head. Before Shippo landed from this jump, the victim grabbed the little fox cub by the tail and yanked him to eye level.
"Why you," Inu-yash growled his eye twitching in annoyance.
"Let Shippo go!" Kagome shouted taking the cub away from any harm.
"But he's the one who hit me!" Inu-yasha shouted indignantly.
"That might be, but I told him too." Kagome retorted back.
"What for," Inu-yasha said getting up and towered over the miko, trying to intimidate her.
"Your ramen's finished." Kagome said huffing and thrusting the warm cup into his hands. She turned away and walked back to Ranma's side.
Inu-yasha was speechless, but growling he sat back down and began to eat his instant noodles.
'Who cares about her anyways,' he thought drowning his embarrassment in noodles.
"Samui desu ne? -Isn't it cold?-" Kagome asked moving a bit closer to the fire they made.
"So desu ka? -Is that so?-" Ranma replied leaning back on his hands. He looked up tot he star dotted sky.
"Do you think everything would turn out ok?" Kagome finally asked after a long comfortable pause.
"Yea," Ranma replied without hesitating.
Kagome smiled faintly at his reply. 'Typical Ranma,' she thought to herself without looking at him.
"You're worried," Ranma said offhandedly still looking at the sky. Kagome stayed silent proving his statement. "Don't be, we'll find the cure. Then we'll defeat that Naraku bastard easy." Still Kagome stayed silent.
"Kagome-chan," Sango butted into the one sided conversation. "There's a hot spring hear here, do you want to take a bath with me?" Kagome stood up and nodded. She gathered her bathing supplies and left with Sango. None of the guys complained.
At the Hot Springs
Kagome and Sango sat in the hot water submerged neck deep. They hadn't said anything for the entire time. Sango glanced at Kagome occasionally only to see her best friend lost in her thoughts.
"Daijoubu-" Snaog was cut off from her sentence with a sharp nod. She stayed quiet again. She knew when Kagome was ready to talk she'll start the conversation.
Minutes passed by slowly as both of the girls drifted into their thoughts. But a splash rudely stopped the silence. Kagome hit the surface of the water with her hand making a small splash. Sango was on the receiving end of it. Snago shook her water off her hair and face and gave a mock frown. With a mischievous grin she splashed the water harder on Kagome. In retaliation Kagome used both her hands and pushed the water towards the taiji. Thus began a small water fight; both of the participants laughing and attacking the other with splashes.
"You know it's rare we have a moment to ourselves like this," Sango commented after the furious water fight, which concluded in a tie. Kagome agreed. She sank beneath the water again enjoying the hot bath.
'Beneath the layers of lies lays a secret.' She suddenly thought. She knew there was more to the rhyme but she couldn't think of it. It was really a great line that she heard from maybe a show or even from a book she had read. Kagome knew that the last part was important and had to do with something about her situation, but it escaped her mind's grasp. Kagome shook off the feeling and continued to relax.
"I'm worried," Kagome finally said out of the blue.
"About what?" Sango asked surprise evident in her voice. She glanced at her friend but turned her gaze to the surrounding forest clouded in a fine mist of steam. A small slit of the moon was visible in the dark void that was the sky. A day after the new moon it would be hard to make out the waxing moon if it was set between stars, but tonight it was starless. And the smooth darkness gave everything an uneasy feeling.
The girls' only source of light came from a camping lamp Kagome had brought with them. And the glowing gas lamp's light mixed with the steam of the hot spring created the illusion of a lighthouse in a fog.
"What's going to happen after..." Kagome drifted from her sentence. She turned around and rested her head in her folded arms on the edge of the hot spring. She stared dazedly into the lamp's light, getting lost in the glwoing brilliance.
"Don't worry Ranma's going to be there-"
"That's the problem" Sango blinked at Kagome's interruption. Slowly it dawned on her, Kagome was in love with Ranma. She heard a sigh from Kagome and rippling water. Kagome had turned around.
"He likes you too." Snago said with a gentle smile. She didn't meet Kagome's eyes as she looked inot the mist again. The gears in her head ticked in a steady rhythm to process Ranma and Kagome's relationship. "You two would make a cute couple." Kagome slightly blushed at the statement. "At least better than me and Miroku." Snaog said with a grin. The two girls giggled.
They're conversation continued in their usual pattern going from subject to another, with both girls making comments and private jokes.
Morning
The group woke up to a cloud covered morning sky. From last night's dark void came a lightened sky and three shade darker blue clouds. In its own ways the morning sky was something a child dreamed and in others what Kami-sama had made.
When everyone was awake the Kijo sisters returned. None were hungry so they continued twoards their destination again.
"Are we nearly there?" Shippo asked politely as possible. His voice interrupted the awkward silence that hung in the air.
"Afternoon," was all of Fuuko's reply. The group didnt' walk anymore and settled for a little less awkward silence.
Kagome just watch the scenery pass by as they traveled further east. The sun was nearly at it highest point of the day when Kagome blinked. She looked to her right a second ago and saw a distant person walking a far distance from them. After a moment the persons eemed to fizzle out.
"Is there something wrong?" Fuuko asked without looking. She never took her eyes off the road before them.
"Um…" Kagome paused, replaying the event. "Nothing." Was all she said not looking anywhere else besides the road; but something from that figure unnerved her. Inside her heart she hoped that the figure wasn't a demon following them.
Few minutes later they reached a sakura forest. Kagome smiled slightly as she looked at the sight where Kyouran described to her, an image of the three kyoudai –siblings- sitting under the same tree during a beautiful night came into her mind. Her smile was short lived as she remembered what happened to Kyouran afterwards. She still couldn't understand why Kyouran had to die like that.
"Kagome-chan," a voice said lightly shaking her shoulder. Kagome blinked and turned her head around to see Sango next to her. "We're here." Kagome blinked again and turned to look before them. It took a moment for her to realize that before them was the ryuu kyoudai's home. It was smaller than Sesshoumaru's mansion but bigger than Fannel's dojo.
"Fuuko-san, why isn't Tenchi-san here?" Kagome asked entering the Japanese home. She looked the empty room covered in a thick layer of dust.
"Tenchi and Kyouran can't enter their home. It is a side effect of the spirit summon." Fuuko replied walking to the set of shoji screens across the room. She opened it and continued further into the mansion. Everyone followed awkwardly in silence; the only sounds came from their footsteps and the occasional coughs from the dust.
Finally after wandering the halls aimlessly, they arrived to what seemed like a hallway leading to outside. Tsumei nearly ripped the shoji screen apart when she threw open the door. No one complained as the owners of the house were no longer there, but still Kagome thought it was a bit rude. They stepped out in to the garden and to their surprise it looked exactly like the painting, though Kagome and Ranma had no clue.
"Do we search for the scroll now?" Miroku asked dumbly blinking at the flowers that still grew in the flower beds. He looked beyond the garden and into the far distance and saw to his amazement snow capped mountains like that of the paintings.
"We already know where it is," Tsumei snapped from near the small bridge. She was on the other side and next to the bridge. She leaned forward and seemed to be doing something under the bridge, few moments later in her hand was indeed a scroll. The water user threw it to her sister who caught it with ease and she in turn handed it to the miko.
Kagome gripped the scroll in her hand. Her hand bearily enclosed entirely around the document. It was about the size of any average scroll from the era and on the ends were a deep golden color. A crimson string bound the scroll together and the bow was over the character Gi.
"Gi?" Sango asked questioning the title. She peered over Kagome's shoulder to look at the scroll. Before she could say anything else a sharp piercing screech filled the air. In a burst of raging flames in the sky a group of figures appeared in the fire.
"Teme," Tsumei cursed under her breath. Her mismatched eyes gleamed with a burning rage. In a swift moment Tsumei summoned her water powers to stifle the fire.
Kagome gasped as she felt a burning force hit her from all sides. And in that one instant were she closed her eyes the scroll was snatched away. Kagome quickly open her eyes and stared at her empty hands. "Where," She whispered.
Laughter filled the air as the burst of flames appeared again. This time they could somewhat see their assailants. There were six people covered in black hooded cloaks.
"It's ours Kijo," one shouted and the laughter continued. "Thanks for doin' all da work suckers!"
"Teme!" Tsumei screamed. She had gathered a large amount of water in a sphere while the group was laughing. And in a moment she thrusted her hand and the sphere shot out multiple streams of concentrated water.
"Chhh, da Kijo's bitcy," another one said. The person slashed his arm diagonally and a burst of orange flame appeared. The water attack hit the fire and caused a great mass of steam to surround them.
"Don't bother comin' after us." Another voice shouted. The visible shadows slowly faded with the steam as it cleared up.
Tsumei cursed under her breath again and glared at the place the group had disappeared. A bubbling rage started to mount in herself as the moments ticked by. A shocked silence hung over them as the event sunk into their minds.
"We lost it" Miroku finally spoke hesitantly.
"What do we do now?" Shippo piped up from Kagome's shoulder.
"Go after them!" Inu-yasha said sternly. He prepared himself to take off, but Fuuko's hand stopped him.
"It's no use right now. We do not know where they are." Fuuko said softly. "You stay here. Tsumei and I will look for them. When we find their location we'll contact you."
"But," everyone turned to the voice. Kagome continued. "They don't have the key so they wouldn't know what it says," The Kijo sisters didn't reply. "Right" Kagome asked traces of nervousness in her voice.
"Let's go," Tsumei said softly her voice trembled with rage. No one could see her eyes at the moment with her head down but it was obvious that Tsumei wanted their heads. No one had time to argue as the sisters exited.
"What do we do now?" The quiet voice of Sango spoke. She was looking at the afternoon sky while she spoke. No one replied for a long while.
"Kuso!" Ranma swore kicking a loose rock. He could've prevented the robbery, but he was off guard and that allowed the enemy the chance they needed. "If we were prepared we could've taken them on!"
"Ranma don't blame yourself." Kagome said gently. Her eyes softened as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I could've taken' em" Ranma said again his mouth in a pout; Kagome suppressed a giggle.
"We need to wait for them," Kagome said shrugging. "Let's go inside."
Sorry for the long ass wait. But this year is hectic. The contest is still up. But truthfully I'm now considering to srop this project.
