Chapter Nine: An Familiar Face

Okay…time to add some people from the original manga. Perhaps some of you will get what I mean.


Chapter Nine

"Something's not right," Inuyasha spoke to himself as he sat on the top branch of a tree. He continued to look at the half-moon that lit the night sky. "Did Kikyo returned to her village?"

"Hey, Inuyasha," he heard a sharp voice from the clearing a certain distance away. It was Kaede's, who was constantly calling him out. The half-demon jumped and landed on the ground softly, making a quick run to the clearing.

"What is it, brat?" He questioned her rudely as he materialized in front of the single-eyed girl holding a lantern. "And why are you out so late? Trying to defy your onee-san?"

"I should be asking you that!" She replied sharply at his crude remark, staring up at the dog demon. She had placed her paper lantern down and moved her arms into an akimbo position, continuing to look up at Inuyasha. "Where did you take my oneesan to?"

"What do you mean I kidnapped Kikyo?"

"Don't you want the Shikon Jewel for yourself? So you must have kidnapped her for yourself!" Kaede began to cry for her sister's presence. Inuyasha's hair stood on end; he did not want a child to cry from his past experiences of being bullied. The younger priestess rubbed her eyes with her arm as she cried.

"You brat," he was showing an unconfident and insecure tone. He bent down to the young sister of the priestess. "Stop crying!" Kaede continued to cry despite his order.

"STOP CRYING!" He shouted at the one-eyed girl who stopped her bawling. He turned behind only to sense an evil-looking Kaede suddenly lunging at him.

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Kikyo stirred to find herself hanging from a rope that wrapped around her. She was roughly a large distance from the ground, while she hung from a branch of a tall tree. Below her were several torches that had been held to the tree trunks which lit up the area.

"Kukuku," she heard the evil laughter of a woman. The source of the voice came out to her, revealing another woman in the priestess clothing of white and red. "Good evening, fellow disciple Kikyo."

"Tsubaki-senpai?" She looked at her senior who looked up at with a sinister grin. Her hair had been tied up into a bun, unlike Kikyo's loosely-tied one. "What do you think you are doing?!?"

Tsubaki gave no reply. She took out her bow and shot an arrow through the rope that hung Kikyo to the tree branch. In a split second the tied up priestess fell to the ground with a large bump. With the rope loose, the priestess released herself as she got up from the earth.

"My archery skills are better," she spoke coldly as she shot several arrows accurately at a tree which made its branches fall. "And my miko powers are better too."

"Tsubaki-senpai," Kikyo got up to get close to her senior. Before she could get near to the other priestess, Kikyo took a step back. "What happened to you? I can sense jaki all around you."

"Kukukuku," she laughed evilly again, this time staring hard at her junior. "I'm now a fallen miko, from cooperating with the forces of darkness."

"W-what's the meaning of this?"

"Kikyo-chan, the Shikon Jewel was never yours to keep," she continued to give an evil look. "I want you to disown what Master ordered you to." Her eerie language gave Kikyo fear as she moved back another step. "Now, be a good junior and obey your senpai," she ordered as she started to emanate more jaki from her body. "Pass me the jewel."

"I-I don't have it!" Kikyo exclaimed back. She knew she was lying for Tsubaki was a priestess after all and could sense its presence. "Even if I had it, I'd have to purify your jaki before you can have it."

"I willingly allowed myself to contain this jaki," she closed her eyes and re-opened them to reveal a demonic presence. "Ever since Master betrayed me, his best student, by not giving me the Shikon Jewel."

"You didn't deserve it after all," Kikyo replied in animosity. "You even allowed this demonic presence to corrupt your heart! Master will be disappointed if he saw you like this…"

"Oh just shut up!" Tsubaki interrupted and snapped back at her junior. "Master is already dead! Pass me the jewel, or face the consequences!" The dark priestess was starting to swell with the jaki accumulated in her as the aura around her turned dark purple.

"I cannot give it to someone with a corrupted heart," Kikyo replied back coldly this time.

"Well then," she replied back with a sense of evilness. "You shall face the consequences." Tsubaki began to chant a prayer in Sanskrit, which Kikyo only knew a bit due to the fact that her master had always asked his prize pupil to read advanced texts in the mystic language. She re-opened her eyes, and grinned at Kikyo. "It is done," she stared at her junior. "I have given you a love curse. We'll see how your purity can take it. When you give yourself to a man, I'll make sure your powers will weaken greatly, and I'll be purer than you enough to take the Shikon Jewel."

"I don't believe in your curses," Kikyo spoke in hostility at Tsubaki's curse. She knew that her senior had always cast curses that did not come true. "You never had one that worked on a single youkai."

"Perhaps I didn't have any jaki then," the sinister aura in the area continued to flourish as Tsubaki continued. "We'll see." The fallen miko began to clasp her hand and produced a glowing glyph below her feet. She gave one more stare at Kikyo. "Oh, and I forgot," she spoke again. "Heard you made friends with a heathen half-breed? Kukukuku…" Her words trailed off as the glyph emerged dark light that surrounded the fallen priestess. As it vanished, it simply left a small burn mark on the ground.

"Oneesan!" The priestess heard a familiar voice from behind her. It was her own little sister's. She turned behind to see a little girl running towards her with a paper lantern. "Where did you go?"

Kikyo turned to look around. The torches around the area had mysteriously vanished as soon as Tsubaki had made her exodus. "I sensed something wrong here," she replied to her sister. "But it's nothing wrong now."

"Are you sure something's not wrong here?" She heard a familiar male voice from the darkness behind Kaede. Inuyasha appeared from the darkness, with his irritated expression as he turned his head away. "I can sense a lot of jaki here."

"It's nothing," Kikyo replied coldly. "There was probably a large number of youkai who crossed by here." She took her sister by the hand. "Let's return home," she spoke to her sibling. Inuyasha watched as an unfazed Kikyo and her sister crossed him.

Kikyo is unusually calm tonight and this place reeks of jaki. What's going on…?

Afraid of having wild thoughts, he shook his head quickly and ran up to the priestess siblings.

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It was almost daybreak. The Sun had not risen, but the sky had turned lighter. Inuyasha was unable to sleep for the entire night pondering over what exactly happened to the priestess. She was strangely calm and not afraid at all even if she did not have her weapons with her.

"Inuyasha," the half-demon turned to see the same apparition again.

"What do you want?"

"I'll let you in on something about getting the Shikon Jewel," the fallen priestess spoke. "You do want, don't you?"

"Just go away!"

"The source of a miko's powers is her chastity," she continued with an uninterrupted fluency. "This alone should let you know what to do."

"Listen you bitch," Inuyasha was getting hot-tempered at her sudden words. "If you don't stop your bloody nonsense on insulting Kikyo, I'm going to tear you to pieces!"

"Kukukuku," she laughed sinisterly. "Take my words in mind…" The apparition began to fate again, leaving Inuyasha sitting on his tree branch. He stared at the dawn sky as he placed his arms behind his head.

That priestess could be right…I could use that to get the jewel…

The half-demon shook his head again, slapping himself. He was shameless alone in thinking of making the priestess impure just for his own personal gain. Perhaps he would check again, Inuyasha thought on as he waited for day to break.

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"Oneesan," Kaede looked at a set of prayer beads as she picked it up. "What is this necklace?"

"Don't play with that," Kikyo admonished as she stitched a needle through her blanket patches. It had been time to repair as the strength of the cotton fabric had started to fade over time. "It's a set of prayer beads to control someone."

"Can I use it on my friend?" Kikyo stopped her work and looked at her sister hard, who could only be in shock. "It'd be fun to do that."

"Kaede, that is too cheeky," she warned her little sister, continuing her stitching again. "Use it only for a good purpose."

"Oneesan," Kaede behaved more mischievous. "You want to use on Inuyasha, don't you?" Her words made the priestess stop in moving her needle between the fabrics of the patches on the blanket.

"No, I wasn't planning that," Kikyo lied through her own teeth. She knew that she intended to use the prayer beads on Inuyasha so that he could not get near the Shikon Jewel. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Nowhere," she spoke as she ran out of the door. "Oneesan, ittekimasu!"

It would actually be fun to experiment those prayer beads on Inuyasha…

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Kikyo made her way to the bone eaters well to check if the corpses of the demons were properly decaying. Inside her white hakui were the prayer beads she had wanted to test on Inuyasha. As she arrived at the bone eaters well, the Goshinboku tree came into site with the wooden well perched on top of a small green hill. Her eye caught Inuyasha looking at the holy tree for no special reason.

"Inuyasha?" She asked with his back facing her. Inuyasha's eyes widened a little as he turned to see the priestess. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…I…I…it's none of your business anyway!" He stammered and suddenly exclaimed back crudely. He had one arm hidden behind his back now, showing that he had something up his back, literally.

"I came to check up on the bone eaters well," she replied without him asking her to. Kikyo took a moment to look into the well, which showed that the remains of the demons were properly decaying and ensuring none were regenerating at all. She took another second to look at Inuyasha again. "Well…I have…"

"Do you remember the Obon festival you told me?" Inuyasha seemed to blush a bit. He was behaving a little out of his usual self too. "Thank you for inviting me. Please accept this, Kikyo!"

He's calling my name for the second time…

The priestess looked at what Inuyasha had shown her. His gift was a small shell that was pink in colour. "What is this?" She was unable to identify his gift as she continued to scrutinize it while taking it from his hands.

"I don't dabble in girls' stuff," he folded his arms and closed his eyes proudly, showing his peculiar attitude change. Kikyo opened the box to reveal different coloured powder on its lower shell. "It's my mother's make-up box. So what did you wanted to say earlier?"

"Nothing," she replied back mesmerized by Inuyasha's gift to her. "Don't you want to keep as a memento for your mother?"

"My mother's already dead, you wretch!" He exclaimed in anger. "I don't need anything to be reminded of her!" Kikyo looked at him with no emotion, but knew that he was being rude to her. "Sorry," came his sudden apology as he shrugged his head as his face was red again. "Just like you, I miss my mother too."

So…he's an orphan too…?

"Oh," Kikyo replied back coldly still. She looked at the pink shell for one last time before closing it shut again. "Thank you for your gift." Inuyasha had re-folded his hands and changed into an arrogant position, with his eyes closed. "Farewell," came her answer.

As soon as Kikyo was gone, Inuyasha looked at the white clouds floating in the azure blue sky. "Okaasan," he talked to the heavens. "Did I do the right thing?"

Will Kikyo use the make-up? The Obon festival's in a few days time…


Quite a long chapter I guess…in terms of fanfiction. Okay, see all of you soon! Please review if you wish!

Glossary:

Senpai : Senior (A/N: I'm not too sure if this address exists in the Sengoku era, but I'll just assume.)

Jaki : evil aura

Ittekimasu : An expression to say before one leaves a house

Goshinboku : The holy tree near the bone eaters well