The Loyalty of Wolves
Seine: Okay folks, I'm going to try to finish this all off soon... I have a drawing to go with the fic, if you'd like, I can send it to you. Just email me.
After catching up to the others, they all began the search for Kami's Pond once again, taking the speed at a light jog. They stopped at another fork in the road, though the trees had thickened considerably. Miroku dropped his staff, which pointed to the right. Kouga and Inuyasha sniffed around on the ground, while the others just watched.
" We go right, I can hear the frogs. There won't be much light, so stay close." Inuyasha stated, standing up and walking through the right path. The others followed, although the area gave Kagome a strange feeling. Almost creepy. After what seemed like hours of endless walking, they began noticing the thick spider webs twirling through the trees and strewn across the pathway. Kagome let out a little gulping noise, and huddled closer to Inuyasha, ducking away from the webs.
" These are no ordinary webs. They smell thick of miasma. Strange, this area was lush and beautiful not long ago. It seems to have grown into a dead forest within only a few moons. It's not right." Kouga wondered, brushing away the webs. Sango let out a gasp, and looked to the side.
" What is it, Sango?" Kagome asked, a little creeped by the sudden reaction. The trees just seemed to be listening to them, once and a while creaking loudly.
" That's really weird... I swear I just caught Kagome's scent coming from that side path over there, but she's standing right here. And I hear water dripping. Should we check it out?" Sango motioned to the small path, littered with webs. Kouga nodded, and they began walking down the side path, tearing webs as they went.
Finally, they came to a large clearing, where a tree much like the Sacred Tree stood tall, though it had no leaves. It's wood was gnarled and old, curling into odd positions. The tree was covered almost completely in tapestries of webs, glistening with what appeared to be water.
But at the center of the tree, hanging by all of the webs, was a wooden carving. But it wasn't normal. It looked exactly like Kagome, outfit and all. Although the clothing appeared torn, and the arms and legs were torn with claw marks. The carving's eyes were half open, tears spilling out, and blood dripping from the mouth.
They stood in awe of the area. Beneath it all, surrounding the tree and under the webs, was a pond. Kagome stared at the carving, and down at herself. At the foot of the tree, covered in old branches, was what appeared to by another young priestess, laying dead with blood spilling from her mouth, her eyes closed peacefully.
" What a site... But I don't understand, how could anyone carve you like this, if you weren't from this time?" Miroku asked, still staring at the statue. Kouga blinked, and then let out a huff of air.
" I think I understand now. The legend, that a great priestess would come from the future and protect Kami's pond. The only way to stop the great evil was to create the forest. She used the help of a friend, though no one says if it was demon or human. Unfortunately, the friend betrayed her, attacked her, and left her and another priestess to die. With her last ounce of strength, she became the wood of the tree, to save us all. Time for them was frozen, and the spider webs just built up." While Kouga was explaining, Kagome was drifting towards the carving, placing her hand on it's cheek.
" Do you remember the name of the priestess?" Miroku asked, watching Kagome's peculiar behavior. Kouga nodded.
" The two priestesses were sisters. The younger is the one on the tree. They were Kikyou and Harana." Inuyasha gasped, and looked over to the carvings. The one on the ground was Harana, and the name Kikyou rang through his ears, until he heard Kagome's soft sob.
" This is here... It's not me, it's Kikyou. She died in the future to save the past, time corresponding perfectly. And they sent me back to see it all. Harana is my mother's name..." Kagome cried, slumping to her knees. Her tears dripped into the pond, yet she didn't notice the glow of the water. A low moan was heard, and Kagome looked up, to see the carvings eyes open.
" Kagome... Stop crying, I'm okay. The boy hides, he's scared. He can't breathe..." The carving then returned to normal, and all sat in awe for a moment. Sango then dove her hands into the pond, swishing them around. She grabbed hold of something, and yanked it out of the water. Out popped Kohaku, drenched to the bone. After spending several minutes attempting to revive him, he finally coughed up the water.
" Kohaku! Are you alright?" Sango asked, checking over Kohaku. He nodded lightly, looking up at the area.
" Wait! Run, Naraku's here, you have to run!" It was to late. From the woods descended Naraku, his scent no longer masked. He gave his sinister laugh, but when he attempted to enter the clearing, he was scent back by some sort of barrier. The carvings moaned again, and pointed to another clearing.
" Not here, sacred place. Don't belong, run now." With that, the group dashed to the next clearing, dodging around webs and misplaced attacks by Naraku. When they reached the clearing, Naraku stood there, his eyes flaring with a deep red.
" Finally, the chance to end you all. And look at this, 2 wolves to boot. You'll make a great pelt to go along with that silver hair. And as for you, boy..." Naraku snarled, staring at Kohaku. He crumbled away behind Sango, gripping her pelt. Sango snarled deep in her throat, Kirara joining here. Kouga huffed, just waiting for the pounce.
" Let us begin, shall we?" Naraku leapt forward, using his tentacles in his fingers to slice at all of them. Miroku dodged, throwing an ofuda at the tentacle, burning it off. Inuyasha slashed the 2 that were aimed at him and Kagome, and Kouga slashed down the last 2. Kagome fired her arrow, but missed Naraku. He laughed, and let out a beam of energy at Kagome, Inuyasha busy dealing with even more tentacles. Sango leapt in, pulling Kagome out of the way. When she placed Kagome down, the ground shook, and a tentacle tore out, sending her flying in the other direction. Sango skid across the ground, but got up, a cut on her eye.
Little by little, more of them were beaten down, until it was left that only Inuyasha, Sango and Kouga were standing, more or less able to fight. Sango had several puncture marks, her kimono wide open to reveal her armor. It provided little protection against the brunt force, but other then that it was doing fine. Kouga was fast, so he wasn't hit to many times. Inuyasha was a bit of a train wreck, but didn't show it.
Naraku laughed, and pulled his hand back. With a great cry, he unleashed an energy blast powerful enough to wipe them all out. But it was indirect. It landed in a large circle around them, flames as high as trees spreading.
" Burn, all of you! Feel the heat crisp your flesh!" Naraku let out a sinister laugh. Kagome looked around, clinging to Kohaku and Kirara tightly. Her pupils dilated, and memories flashed through her eyes. Kagome let out a piercing scream, tears flying down her face. Inuyasha looked back, but turned again just to see Naraku reel forward at them.
And the wind picked up.
Seine: I've got the spider scene drawn out, so that's the picture. R&R!
