Chapter Twelve: The Main Truth

Time for the next chapter. In the previous chapter, many of you may have noticed that Tsubaki seemed to have some common weapons with Kanna. Anyway, it will remain out of the story about how these weapons came to be connected to Kanna. Please warn me if Kaori in the story turns out to be more of a Mary-Sue. Thank you.


Chapter Twelve

Onigumo lied on the ground defeated. Kaori, for a common villager, was strangely skilful in welding her sword. Her appearance was rather inappropriate for someone who was well-versed in swordplay, which was just a simple yukata and sandals. Tsubaki gave a startled look as she saw her cooperative ally defeated by a simple village shoujo.

"Who are you?" The dark priestess asked. "You're not a young girl too. Show yourself." Kaori gave a few laughs as she stared at the priestess with the Shikon Jewel. Suddenly, the young girl charged at the priestess as her sword aimed at the mirror. Inuyasha looked from behind as he crawled over to Kikyo's soulless body, hoping that the village girl could break the mirror and return the miko's soul back.

Tsubaki responded to the shoujo's attack by dodging it swiftly. With the powers of the dark energy of the moonless night, she could manipulate the abundance and utilize it to the full. As she avoided the attacks of the silver sword, Kaori continued to assail the dark priestess tirelessly. The dark priestess continued to dodge the swift yet light attacks made.

"You do have a unique swordplay," Tsubaki sneered as she laughed evilly while dodging the quick blows by Kaori's blade. "Where on earth did you get such skills?"

Her question was not to be replied. Suddenly, the unconscious Kikyo opened her eyes wide, revealing dilated pupils nearly covering all of it. Inuyasha stood back as he looked at the strange phenomenon that was happening. Streams of white flaming balls began to shoot out from the magical mirror and colliding into Kikyo's body. As her body levitated, the priestess began to stir once again. With the last bit of her soul re-entering her body, Kikyo's pupils returned back to normal.

"Tsubaki!" She exclaimed as she got up from the ground. "My spirit is not large enough to be contained within your Soul Mirror! Your end is near, return the Shikon Jewel!" Suddenly, Onigumo got up from his unconsciousness too. Within seconds, Kaori drew out another long sword and flung it over to the half-demon.

"Use it to defeat that ninja!"

Kikyo looked at the battle scene with a strange Kaori managing to attack Tsubaki with a sword she had never seen the young villager use before. On the other hand, the human Inuyasha was attempting to block the blows of the flying shuriken by the dark ninja. There was a not a thing she could do except to gather her bow and arrow.

"Oneesan!" She heard Kaede's voice behind. Wearing some clogs, the little sister held a bow and some arrows in her arms. Kikyo smiled solemnly as she took the bow from her sibling.

"How did you know there was a battle?"

"Oneesan, I have miko powers just like you," she spoke back to her priestess sister. "Don't belittle me as a little child who doesn't know anything!" Kikyo nodded her head as she turned back to see the ongoing battle.

The priestess held back the arrow against the bowstring as it stretched back slowly. The arrow started to glow with a pink hue as it started to gather purified energy. Kikyo released her grip. The arrow flew as it hit directly into the magical mirror, which broke in an instance causing cracks on its smooth surface. Other flaming white balls began to escape from the damaged weapon as it started to lose its power.

Tsubaki stared at the priestess who had fired the purification shot at her special weapon. Her face displayed a shocked expression as she was defeated. Looking angrily at Kikyo, she started to ramble, "You may have destroyed my mirror, but you can't get the Shikon no Tama!" The dark miko held up the precious stone in her fist.

The next instance saw Kikyo shooting an arrow at Tsubaki's clasped fist. As it hit the fair skin of the dark priestess, she dropped the jewel which fell to the wooden floor with a hard impact sound. Blood began to flow from the wrist of the priestess. An emerald light and aura began to surround the priestess. The same thing happened to Onigumo, who was still fighting a very aggressive Inuyasha.

"I'll get you for this someday!" Tsubaki's voice echoed off as she and her accomplice vanished within the bright emerald light. "This is not the end!"

Kaori dropped her sword on the floor. Her knees impacted with the soil as she knelt down weakly. The enlarged pupils in her eyes were beginning to contract to what she had normally looked at the festival previously.

What's going on with this girl…?

As soon as her look returned to normal, the shoujo collapsed onto the floor, unconscious like Kikyo a while ago. The priestess looked at the fainted girl as Kaede rushed to her side, noticing her unconsciousness. Preparing to help Kaori, Kikyo rushed but stopped to also faint from the ordeal she had just faced previously. The last thing she saw was just Inuyasha rushing over to her.

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Kikyo re-opened her eyes to notice that the night was over. The festival had ended and it was already time to return to her normal duty of priestess. But what had happened to the Shikon Jewel since she had fainted?

"The Shikon Jewel!" She suddenly got up to see that the sun had shone brightly into her small hut. Kaede was nowhere to be seen, assuming that Inuyasha had returned to the forest as soon as daybreak had come. Curious to know what had happened to Kaori, she got up from her bed to tie her hair into a loose ponytail before exiting her home.

"Hey Kikyo," she heard the familiar voice from one side. The priestess turned to see Inuyasha, who returned to normal. He wore a piece of cloth on top of his head, covering away the dog ears which had obviously stuck out from under the fabric. "So you've gotten up?"

Inuyasha's behaving odd…he called my name again…

"How's Kaori?" Kikyo asked the dog-demon.

"She's okay," came his reply as he twitched his ears to hear her. His tone was a little enthusiastic too, which made him more peculiar. "Just woken up too."

"Where's the Shikon Jewel?" Came Kikyo's dutiful question again.

"Kept inside the shrine," Inuyasha replied. "Kaede that brat did it for you."

"She is not a brat," Kikyo spoke back to the hanyou. "And thank you for coming yesterday to the festival." After a few moments of exchanging stares, the priestess made her way to the direction of the shrine. "Oh yes," she stopped to turn her head back to the half-demon. "You should return before the villagers find out that you're a demon. I know you have a disguise spell." Kikyo gave a cold stare but a warm smile back as she made her way back to the shrine.

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The priestess made her way up to the top of the hill to see the same old shrine again. A shiny light in the grass caught her attention. Kikyo walked forward to notice that there was a certain golden bar left on the grass. Picking it up, she had a feeling of realization.

This golden bar…the Shogun's?

She thought for a while as she continued to look at the symbol.

Could this be Tsubaki's?

A wave of realization splashed on her face. However, it had no effects on her face expressions and continued to show an emotionless façade. It could be true. Tsubaki had probably posed as the official who had enticed her to bring the Shikon Jewel. Kikyo clutched the golden seal in her hand.

But how did she take it? It seems real…

Her answer was replied when the wind blew. As soon as the moving air impacted with the golden seal, it started to erode as dust emerged from it. The entire item was a conjured up trick to deceive any common folk so that it would allow much safety. Kikyo smiled back at the shrine and at the moving clouds. She knew that Tsubaki would not be coming back for a long time. Even with Tsubaki's defeat, the greedy youkai would not be returning to assail the place for the Shikon Jewel for quite some time.

Kikyo opened the door to see a village young girl standing inside the holy shrine. The Shikon Jewel continued to emanate its violet glow as its aura remained throughout the room. The visitor turned behind to see the protector of the jewel.

"Kaori-san, what are you doing here?"


Okay, I'm done with this chapter. Perhaps I'll post another one real soon, bye! And for today, there won't be a glossary as all the meanings of the rest of the difficult words are to be found in the previous chapters.