Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale
The Ringenkai Plant
Chapter 9: Kanna Returns
The evening sun dawned upon the land of Japan at a hesitant pace. Time itself seemed to slow down considerably for whichever reasons unknown. But some may be obliged to say that one minor slip in the space-time continuum was actually a decent helping hand to Inuyasha and his troupe, with this still being the first day in the period they were allowed to rescue Kagome Higurashi from a fateful death.
The poisonous seed that lay deep within the folds of Kagome's body had solely nestled its permanent resting spot where it solidified. Given the corrupt grace of the miasma substance that Naraku himself had concocted with his own two hands, the seed's cycle system was ready to move onto its next stage within the next 36 hours. By tomorrow, the seed would have already sprouted its first root, sliding past the crevice of the girl's intestine and beginning the path to an undetermined ending.
Inuyasha's mind was cluttered by various things as usual, ranging from finding more shards of the sacred Shikon Jewel to Naraku's bag of never ending tricks and traps to finding the Ringenkai Plant to have it cure Kagome. As he walked at a moderate pace along with his friends, he desperately wanted to clear his mind if meant to avoid being sorely agitated and depressed. For some reason the natural chirping of birds flying overhead or the soothing trickle of the thin but lengthy river they walked alongside by didn't seem to assist in his mini quest for a calm state of mind.
"Its already close to sunset. Maybe we should walk a little further and see if we can find a good place to privately camp out. If we don't find another town then we'll have to rough it in the woods again." Sango spoke, her voice coming to Inuyasha's attention.
"I have to be honest here, I'm kinda sick of 'roughing it' in the forest all the time. Is it just me or whenever we really want to find a nice and warm place to stay somehow we get stuck in the outdoors nearly... say, 90% of the time? A nice onsen would sound good about now. I didn't even realize how much chilly it was until a few minutes ago." Shippo pouted, leaning lazily against Kagome's side.
"I'm pretty sure if we possessed a mighty fine carriage things would be at quicker pace. But I'm afraid if we simply stop now we're going to find ourselves hard pressed for time. Remember Shippo, Mount Harunai is a long way from here. I don't have any means of contacting my friend Hachi to give us a lift through the air since we're nowhere near my caretaker's old home, so if we happen to find something that may speed up our transportation we would be extremely lucky." Miroku sighed wistfully.
"Everything is completely against us, isn't it? Running around on a constant basis trying to fit jewel shards into our schedule, fighting off Naraku's henchmen, and now on a fixed time limit with brutal consequences. If I could wish for anything right now it definitely wouldn't be the Shikon Jewel itself. At this point, I wouldn't even care about becoming a full fledged demon. If anything... just anything... I would want Kagome back to normal. If she... left me. I don't know what I would do. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I failed to save her life granted something impeded my progress." Inuyasha said with emotion, no longer caring to hide his apparent but still questionable feelings for the girl.
Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all remained silent. They've never heard such powerful words from the angsty half demon before, but they always knew it was quite obvious that Inuyasha appreciated having them around him. He had proved it quite a few times in the past when he did his best to protect not only just Kagome, but Miroku during his time of need when being threatened by a group consisting of over one hundred demons, avenging the death of Shippo's father in the fight against the Thunder Brothers, and befriending Sango even after her tragic incident involving Naraku's enslavement of her brother Kohaku.
"What? Why is everyone being so quiet all of a sudden? Don't act so secretive with me, okay? You're probably thinking I'm just spouting off nonsense. I'm not! Anyone else would have said the same thing. We're talking about Kagome's life here. And we're the only ones who can change the tides of whatever that evil bastard Naraku was planning from the get go. I don't know about of any of you, but I won't give up. Even if I have to go all the way to Mount Harunai myself and find that plant, I'm going to make a positive happen instead of worrying about all of the negatives that is trying to mess with our heads." Inuyasha said, stopping to face his friends. Sango stepped up and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Inuyasha, don't think that we are unable to understand what you mean. Because we do. Why would you think after all the times we as a group shared together, we would feel so indifferent to the situation? We want to save Kagome just as much as you do. And believe me, no one is going against you or your feelings." Sango said sincerely.
"That is exactly why we make it our first priority to find that plant as soon as possible. Even though strong evidence will lead me to believe Naraku won't be so nonchalant about what's going on currently. As much as I forbid it, he will do anything in the book to stop us. His initial target was taking out Kagome, but Naraku is not the kind who would miss the clear chance to kill two birds with one stone." Miroku added.
"Or in this case, six birds with one stone. But we've got to do what it takes if we want to help Kagome, right? I'm in this all the way, too! Right Kirara?" Shippo asked, and Kirara growled lightly in response.
Inuyasha began to feel a little better and more confident because of his friends' words. He gave a slight smile to Sango and the others, although deep within his sorrowful heart he truly wanted to shed mixed tears of joy, sadness, and anger. But after growing up and keeping his vicious and proud exterior for as long as he can remember, he wasn't truly ready about to soften as so much as fresh sap running down the side of a maple tree.
"Yeah, you're all right. I guess we're all better off just putting most of our concentration on getting the job done, no matter what happens. Let the worst of the pack oppose us all they want, but rest assured they'll get slaughtered by the blade of my Tetsusaiga." Inuyasha said with pride. "We've gotten this far, and I'm not about to let anyone stop us now even if it means... giving up my life."
Inuyasha then noticed that Miroku and the others were still walking without responding to what he just said. Out of nervousness, he flinched.
"Wait a second... did I just say that out loud? Or did I only think it?" Inuyasha thought, staring after his friends slowly moving ahead of him. "Um, did you hear what I said?" he asked. Sango stopped and turned to him.
"Yes, Inuyasha. You said whoever gets in your way will be slaughtered by your sword. You don't have to needlessly repeat yourself." Sango said lightly, accompanying her words with a friendly laugh.
"Oh... well, good. Because I meant what I said!" sighed Inuyasha, relieved that he only thought the last sentence he spoke. He knew if he admitted that he was willing to sacrifice his life for Kagome or pretty much any other of his friends, he would never hear the end of it. He never really enjoyed having his own opinions blown out of proportion because it always seemed that sort of thing would happen each time.
While he may have allies to rely on in times of need, in comparison to his characteristics as a loner fifty years ago still lingered somewhere within him. Inuyasha's anger and hatred spread out like a live wire but usually ended up in the wrong situations. He would often mix his emotions toward his love for Kikyo or Kagome with the terrible experiences he's had during his childhood. Even his understandable hatred for Naraku had a special role for the reasoning of the half demon's attitude. But when push came to shove, it was Inuyasha's anger and ability to tap into his own spiritual power that helped him win many a battle with his foes. Without his demon blood running through his veins, he would only be another human that served no purpose to the world. Weak without a true heart.
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Nightfall soon came faster than anticipated. A white crescent moon with its visible craters hovered in the black void of outer space above the land, and the bright stars were all scattered like salt on an ocean's surface. One particular star shot across the sky, catching the eye of Shippo. He was carrying a batch of twigs and leaves while stargazing. He put down the twigs and closed his eyes, holding his hands together in a small prayer.
"I wish, I wish upon a shooting star. Please let Kagome live through this ordeal. Let Kagome come back to us and please bless us with seeing her cheerful smile and hearing her wonderful laughter..." Shippo sadly lowered his hands as he felt a trickle of water splash down onto his head from one of the leaves of the tree he was standing under.
"If I didn't know it any better, I would think the night itself was crying too..." Shippo said as he picked up the twigs and scurried on back to the encampment a few feet away. It was there that Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango were setting up a makeshift tent and fireplace for the night.
"That takes care of the tent!" Inuyasha said, throwing down the entire skin of a large bear. He sat down against a tree trunk and crossed his arms, less irritable than normal.
"Ah, what would we do with you to provide us with such fine remarkable fur? I'm would have thought that you actually killed two bears to get a skin this large." Miroku commented, picking up the skin and examining it closely.
"That's exactly why we should avoid camping out in the wild too much. Now you know why at least one of us has to constantly stay awake for the night in case bandits or demons come roaming around our camp. Good thing I never was a heavy sleeper." Inuyasha grunted while leaning over the little stone circular on the ground. He took two sticks in his hands and started to rub them together.
"After all the walking around we've been doing I'm surprised you're able to keep your eyes open at all. As nervous as I am too, I can't help wanting to get a good night's rest. Besides at the break of early morning the faster we get up the better." Sango said, helping Miroku pitch up the skin using cut wooden stakes and nailing them down around the edges.
Shippo arrived at the camp and threw down the twigs and leaves onto the circular where Inuyasha was trying to start a fire. The fox boy wiped his sleeve across his glistening forehead and exhaled, hopping back and lying against the side of Kirara's stomach.
"You know what I was thinking? Is it really safe for us to take Kagome with us on such a long journey all the way to Mt. Harunai? I mean I know its essential that we have her there the moment we find the plant, but ever since the battle with Kagura and Kanna I'm beginning to wonder if it would be a better strategy to keep Kagome hidden away in a safe place while we're out traveling." Shippo suggested.
"Shippo does have a point. Since we're going to try our best to find the mountainside as fast as humanly possible, its best if Kagome wasn't with us at all. It was a mighty large risk having her with us when we fought Kagura. She could have been badly hurt between all of the confusion at that. Perhaps the faster we move, the more time we will have to return to Kagome to administer the herbal plant to her. Its for the better and makes the best approach." Miroku said.
"That's true. Knowing Naraku he'll do anything to keep a sore eye on all of us. If he doesn't have the slightest clue as to where Kagome even is during all of this ongoing nightmare the safer she'll be. At the same time I don't want to take her out of my sight... but what choice do we have at this point?" Inuyasha said thoughtfully.
"The only suitable place for her to stay is old Kaede's village right now. This means backtracking quite a great deal to do this. If we really want to make the decision on this we're going to have to leave for the village now." Sango said.
"I have a better idea. Shippo, Kirara and I will take Kagome back to village. Sango can stay here with you, Inuyasha. Leaving now we might be able to make it back in time to rejoin you. Morning won't come for another 10 hours anyway, so we'll be fine." Miroku said, with he and Shippo climbing onto Kirara's back.
"You're sure about this? We'll leave the fire running so you can find us more easily. There's no way we won't move on without any of you." Inuyasha asked.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Just get some rest for now and don't get so paranoid. Are you ready, Shippo?" Miroku looked down at his fox friend.
"Ready! Let's go! Come on, Kirara!" Shippo said, and Kirara shot off into the sky like a bullet faster than lightning itself. The flaming legged feline disappeared beyond the tree tops within a few seconds, carrying Kagome along with the others.
"There they go. And here we stay." Sango said, her voice above a whisper. Feeling short of breath and tired from a long day's travel and fighting, she promptly set a cushion inside of the open tent and laid down, releasing the band in her hair and letting it flow down. After a few minutes of shifting her weight she was about to drift off into a deep sleep.
"Goodnight, Inuyasha... don't stay up too long, okay? You need your sleep just like anyone else." Sango said, turning to face her dog demon friend.
"Heh, I know. But don't worry about me, I'll rough it out. I promise I'll try to rest up after awhile. Night, Sango." Inuyasha said softly, giving a reassuring nod to her before leaning back against the tree trunk that served as his upright bed and closing his eyes shut.
Hearing Sango turn around going off to sleep, Inuyasha put himself into a deep state of concentration and letting his mind take control from there. The tension left his body and he appeared to feel more tranquil knowing that Miroku was planning to bring Kagome back to Kaede's village where she would be safe from harm. Not only that, this plan would keep Naraku from discovering her whereabouts.
"After tonight, the first thing we're going to do is find the nearest village and ask for any more related info on Mt. Harunai. Four more days is all we have... four days... four... days..." Inuyasha's last thought processed through his brain just before his strong will gave into the temptation that was bed rest.
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The clock had struck exactly forty-five minutes after midnight. A ghastly rustle spread itself through the thickness of the surrounding woods and a dead weight hit the air like an ancient graveyard populated with sad lost souls that were doomed to wander for eternity.
The once green leaves growing from the trees had turned into a pale gray color, and the grass turned brown. Slowly the whole wooded land had transformed from a lushful surrounding to a deceased black and white picture, with blue mysterious flashes of light shooting every which way. The cause of this sudden change emanated from the presence of Kanna herself, who slowly walked at a snail's pace through the cold woods.
The white clad little girl gripped her mirror and kept it close to her body. The mirror was the only object that showed any type of life with the glass itself reflecting the true opposite of the very area she was standing in. Inside the mirror yielded its original appearance and yet only in Kanna's eyes did she see everything in a monochrome fashion. Being brought to life without emotion only brought a vision of a dead world around her. But she did not care about any of that, as the only important matter in her mind was finding Inuyasha.
Her yukata stained with dried blood, both flowers from her hair now missing, and one of her slippers ripped apart so one of her pale feet was bare, her body ignored all types of stinging pain she may have experienced from one of Inuyasha's most brutal attacks, the Kaze no Kizu. Kanna knew she could have defeated Inuyasha in their battle had she been given ample time to deflect the attack right back at him. But the odds were against her while she drowned in the harsh light of the furious wind tremor.
Oh, how she did hate what she was forced to carry out for her one and only master, Naraku. But not as much as her younger sibling, Kagura. Kanna was the smarter one, as she was perfectly aware that Naraku held her external heart and could destroy it upon the immediate news of betrayal hitting his ears. But Kanna never so foolishly volunteered to openly display her belittled hatred for the type of life she was born into. She tended to wonder how did Kagura manage to take upon that face without ever fearing death. Perhaps Kagura was more risky than she ever was, but Kanna would never place risk before the truth.
Suddenly, Kanna stopped as she felt her mirror vibrate for few seconds. Her empty pupils raised to stare ahead deeper into the bare path she was on.
"They are close. I can sense it... the mirror calls out their location." Kanna said slowly. She continued moving on, a small gust of air pushing past her ankles.
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Inuyasha and Sango were both sound asleep, the fire quietly crackling with its small embers flying out. The sheathed Tetsusaiga leaned against Inuyasha's cradled arms, not having any means of being released from his sleep induced hold. Out of all the things to wake him up however, after roughly three hours was the hooting of an owl that was perched up in the trees somewhere close.
"Mmmnnnn... man, I must be getting old. I said I'd stay up but I wasn't expecting to close my eyes so fast." Inuyasha yawned, stretching out his arms and legs. "I guess all the night animals are coming out of the wood work tonight."
Inuyasha rose and dusted the pants of his red outfit off, his vision still a little blurry from the short nap. He picked up a small container of water that sat next to Sango and opened it, taking a much needed sip until his highly sensitive ears heard a tiny voice call out to him.
"Inuyasha... come to me... Inuyasha..." the voice said flatly.
"What?" Inuyasha dropped the water, startled by the invading voice. "Did I just hear someone talking to me? But there's no one else here..." he said, doing a double take around the area. "The voice sounds faded... like a whisper... I can barely hear it."
"Come to me... I'm waiting for you..." said the mysterious voice again, even at a lower pitch than the last time.
"There it is again! Who is that!?" Inuyasha said, fumbling around the fire in the darkness.
"Nnnghh... Mmmm..." Sango moaned upon hearing Inuyasha out loud. She stirred and opened her eyes a little to see him standing up, and she quickly rose. "Inuyasha? What's wrong? Did something happen?" she asked, her eyes worn and moist hair matted against her forehead.
"I didn't mean to wake you, Sango. I thought... I just thought I heard a voice... Like it was trying to beckon me to come to wherever it was. It sounds so faint and dead I can just barely hear it, even with my excellent hearing." Inuyasha responded.
"A voice? Now that you've caught my attention, I'm all ears myself!" Sango said, rubbing her eyes and then forcing herself up from the confines of the bear skin tent. In a flash she changed into her demon exterminator clothing and grabbed her Hiraikotsu and sword. "I already don't like the sound of this if you ask me. Did the voice sound familiar to you?" she questioned, fixing the heavy boomerang to the clasp on her back.
"No, not at all! But I've got a good hunch that its not your usual friendly wake up call." Inuyasha said, his right hand resting on the hilt of his Tetsusaiga. "The voice doesn't sound like its coming from any particular direction, however. It sounds as if its stemming directly from my mind."
"Inuyasha... Sango... both of you... follow me..." the voice zapped itself into Inuyasha's mind a third time.
"I... I heard it too this time!!!" Sango gasped. "So did you?" she wondered, judging from the surprised expression on Inuyasha's face.
"Yes, but this time it wants us to follow it... And how in the world are we supposed to follow something we can't see?" Inuyasha asked impatiently. At that moment, the area around them transformed into a black and white surrounding, and a row of strange fiery blue lights appeared in front of Inuyasha and Sango. The lit path had gone straight down a twisted hidden pathway leading away from the camp.
"Does that answer your question?" Sango said, her nerves perked up.
"I definitely don't like the looks of this at all, I can tell you that right now. But its better to find out what the hell is going on rather than hang back and get caught by surprise. All leads point to that this is probably another one of Naraku's stupid tricks!" Inuyasha said.
"But are you sure? As you've said we could be walking right into a trap!" said Sango worriedly.
Inuyasha ground his teeth and crackled his claws, shaking his head. "And if we don't investigate we could very well put ourselves into one, backs turned and all. I'd rather face the danger directly without getting caught off guard. The sooner I end this crap the less we have to worry about, so let's go!"
"Alright! I'm with you! We just have to be careful. We don't know what lies beyond this trail." Sango said, as both she and Inuyasha darted off down the open wooded path at a high speed.
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"Kaede?" Miroku called. He, Shippo and Kirara had made their arrival at the old village a few minutes prior as they gently brought Kagome into the old woman's home. "We apologize for showing up so late in the night. We did not mean to frighten you."
"Oh dear, it is of no importance. But by the heavens, what has happened to Kagome?" Kaede rushed over to the group and helped them place Kagome onto a rolled out mat on the floor. She lit up a candle and prepared a wet rag in some warm water in a basin in the corner.
"It is quite a long story... During the quest for some sacred jewel shards we came across a village that needed some help in ridding of a spider demon nest that terrorized the people. Apparently it was all a trap set up by Naraku." Miroku said, getting up to retrieve a blanket to put over Kagome.
"The spider demon queen did have some shards, but one particular shard was hidden inside the insect's head. When we thought the fight was over that's when the head bit Kagome and transferred some sort of a poison seed inside her! We tried to get help from a town medic but even he couldn't take it out." Shippo added, sitting at the girl's side.
"It definitely sounds like the sort of sickening mischief that Naraku would pull to rid of his enemies. But what of the seed? Does this possibly mean..." Kaede stopped, unable to finish her sentence out of fear.
"That is the most important part. The diagnosis from the doctor yielded a maximum amount of five days for the seed to be expelled from Kagome's body. If not... she will most likely die. But we did scrounge up some information that there is a specific plant that exists to kill the plant and rid of the poison inside her." Miroku said, pulling back the side of Kagome's shirt to show Kaede the purple shaded area on her torso, which had grown even bigger in size since the last time anyone had seen it.
"Of course Naraku knows that we're going to try and save her, so now he's sending his minions like Kagura and Kanna in order to stop us. We barely got out of the last battle with them alive. That's why we brought Kagome here, so you can look after her, Kaede. That way Naraku won't know where she is, and this gives us a way to get to where the herbal plant is without having our progress slowed down. Had Kagome stayed with us things would be harder by having to protect her constantly." said Shippo.
"I understand. It only makes sense, as not having to look after a defenseless girl while on this chase gives all of you a bigger advantage. So I take it that Inuyasha and Sango are somewhere else right now?" Kaede asked while putting the wet cloth on Kagome's forehead to keep her fever down.
"Yes, we left them both back at our camp, but we plan to rejoin with them after we leave." Miroku replied. "We want to be back before morning hits so we can we continue on our travel to find Mt. Harunai, which is the place where the herbal plant is supposed to grow."
"I pray for the best that you find this plant you speak of, Miroku. Not only the great loss of Kagome would place a most disheartening effect on Inuyasha especially, heaven forbid, but the most important factor of the search to complete the sacred Shikon Jewel solely rests on this young girl's shoulders. The reincarnation of my sister, Kikyo would dare not to fall victim to such a horrible incident." Kaede said softly.
Kaede wasn't too sure about it herself, but it was a wonder that the old woman could almost sense Kagome's spirit bravely fighting against the suffering ailment she was forced to fall to. In reality considering her powers of purification, Kagome would be the only human girl to ever have been spared with such a frugal time frame to survive with. Kaede could only hope that Inuyasha and the others were fast enough to find the Ringenkai Plant before it was too late.
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"Inuyasha! Sango! Hurry... hurry..."
Inuyasha and Sango were dashing down the path at a steady pace. It seemed that the further they have gone, the darker it became. The black and white contrast transformed into a bizarre blue hue, with hundreds of spirit balls whizzing and flying around like fireflies. The pitter patter of Inuyasha and Sango's footsteps slowly drowned out so nothing could be heard but the cries of the spirits. Some of them were animals, some of them humans, either wandering the woods or swimming in imprisonment of the afterlife.
"Damn! Why are the woods changing shape like this?! All we've been doing taking a straight path and getting nowhere at this rate? This is really a waste of my time." Inuyasha's anger sparked from the constant haunting.
"I feel like we've been running around in circles! The path keeps going on forever and the voice won't get out of my head! And where did all of these spirits come from?" Sango asked.
"Unfortunately, there's not much time for answers. All I'm concerned with right now is finding the blasted exit and the one responsible for bringing us here in the first place." Inuyasha said.
About only a moment later, Inuyasha and Sango were finally treated to a different show of scenery as they emerged onto a wide open space in the middle of the woods. Once they set foot inside of the field, a large electrical black barrier shot out and blocked the entrance they just came through in a circle.
"What the?" Inuyasha turned and slammed his fist against the barrier. In return a powerful snake trail of energy zapped his hand, sending him stumbling back a little. "Ngh! Oh, that's just terrific. We're locked inside and I'm already thinking the chances of busting out of isn't going to be easy."
"Let me try! Haaaaaaa!!!!" Sango swung her Hiraikotsu into the barrier only to receive the exact same results. The barrier negated the force of the weapon and pushed Sango away hard. She broke her fall and flipped right up onto her feet. "The current is too strong to break through! The barrier formed a dome around this area too, so there's no other way to get out of here." Sango said, taking a long gander up at the enclosed barrier.
"Wait..." Inuyasha paused. He narrowed his eyes as he took a quick sniff of the air. "Someone's here. I can smell it... almost like death... and I think I know who our mystery person is!" Inuyasha vigorously spouted as he spun to face a small figure passing through the barrier and drifting like a gentle gale into the field.
The dark blue light made the small person visible, with the blinding white fabric of the clothing she wore made her stand out from the swaying motion of the trees she appeared from. It was Kanna, her disheveled looks made readily obvious from the brutal aftermath of the last battle she had been involved in. The pupils in her eyes were dilated and showed much fatigue and stress, although her body language presented otherwise. Cradling her mirror like a newborn child, she stopped in place in front of Inuyasha and Sango with her face mouthing silent words.
"Kanna! I thought this was all too much of a familiar set up!" Sango's awareness heightened. "But I thought we all beat both her and Kagura back at the village. How could she return in such a condition like this, or even have the strength to try and face us now?"
"Knowing either her or Kagura things always have a way of coming back to take you by surprise if you're not careful. Having so many fights with Naraku's sickening detachments has taught me that lesson more times than I can count." Inuyasha replied. Both he and Sango drew their weapons, being cautious of what Kanna could do with her mirror.
"I just realized... where is Kagura? I thought that she would have shown up but I'm getting the feeling that Kanna... has come here alone!" Sango whispered with observant eyes.
"You're right. I'm not picking up Kagura's scent at all. Not even for a few feet of here. Kanna really is here all on her own. But why, I wonder? She's gone all to this trouble of bringing us here to this secluded part of the woods but yet she's here by herself? This isn't piecing together well." Inuyasha said.
"Master Naraku requires specific information before you die. I refuse to leave this task unfinished until your deaths are made a reality." Kanna said. Her mirror began to glow with a strenuous power. "Now witness that of the horrors making way to your worst nightmares... leaving your soul terrified with the utmost of fears to the very end."
"Heh. Only in your dreams, Kanna. I don't what kind of specific information your bastard of a master is talking about, but you won't be getting it out of us. You're going to have to do a whole load of proper interrogation that actually requires strong social skills. Your memory seems to have skipped out on the fact that that's something you don't have." Inuyasha said. "Save the stupid drama and save yourself another embarrassing defeat by crawling back on your knees to Naraku."
"Somehow I think she has a different method in mind... Inuyasha, we can't stand here throwing insults. We have to attack her and get out of this place before she uses that mirror of hers!" Sango said with haste.
"Alright, the sooner we end this the faster we'll have this soul snatching game off our backs!" Inuyasha nodded, taking out his Tetsusaiga and leaping into the air. He dived down at Kanna with swift speed, aiming for the mirror directly. However, Kanna remained calm as she raised her mirror at the last second, countering Inuyasha's attack with a big explosion of flaming white light.
"Nnnnghhh!!! What's going on!?" Inuyasha squinted, hovering in the air as his Tetsusaiga leaned and scraped against the small surface of Kanna's mirror. Blue sparks flew into the air and Kanna herself was encased in a strange aura of energy, spreading out across the field like wildfire out of control.
"She's... she's deflecting my attack!" Inuyasha could feel the immense force of his sword repel right back against his body. Inuyasha tried his best to push further down on his opponent but all the little girl could do was stare blankly back at him. During the great power struggle she raised the circular object higher and the aura around her body automatically sent Inuyasha flying backwards into the electric barrier in the blink of an eye.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Inuyasha shouted, the barrier sending a shocking jolt through his body. The electricity charged into crackling tentacles every which way, with Sango turning to him with concern.
"INUYASHA!" Sango yelled as she saw her friend plummet to the soft grass. She ran over to help him up, his outfit lightly smoking. "Inuyasha, are you okay?"
"Nnnghhh, I'm alright. Kanna must have somehow increased the strength of the barrier using that mirror of hers, no doubt. Uhhh... but we can't afford to touch it while we're fighting. The brush with it earlier wasn't any more harmful than a rat bite but the longer Kanna is here, the bigger advantage she has without giving us much room to maneuver around." Inuyasha groaned as he tried to stand up. When he raised his head he saw Kanna was about to release the stream of energy to steal their souls. Inuyasha gasped in response and pushed himself off the grass.
"WATCH OUT!!!" Inuyasha grabbed Sango by the back and dived down, pushing them both out of the way of Kanna's mirror attack. The stream bounced and hit the barrier and canceled itself out from the force.
"Grrr... I'll get her!!! HIRAIKOTSU!!!" Sango rolled onto her feet and immediately threw her Hiraikotsu at Kanna as hard as she could, the distance between them relatively short in hopes of hitting the mirror right out of the emotionally deprived girl's hands. But Kanna turned at a fast pace and blocked the huge boomerang with the deflective energy of her mirror and sent it whizzing directly back at Sango at an even higher speed than before.
"Aaahhhhhh!!!!" Sango cried, taken by surprise from the girl's speedy reaction.
"SANGO!" Inuyasha called, trying to run to save her but he was too late. Sango could not move in time and her own Hiraikotsu slammed into her chest, causing a powerful impact and having her cough up a considerable amount of blood. She felt three of her ribs crack in her cage and the bones in her upper right arm and leg break upon contact with the hard object, sending her crashing to the ground. The Hiraikotsu toppled onto her motionless body, with Sango's eyes halfway closed and blood flowing down the side of her mouth.
"No!!! Sango! Hold on, I'm coming!" Inuyasha sprinted to his fallen ally. However, Kanna charged up her mirror once again and aimed it straight for the running dog demon.
"You will save no one. Invite your soul into the infinite darkness of the other world..." Kanna said, releasing the soul draining shot at both Inuyasha and Sango, drawing them both into a black swirling energy void. Inuyasha and Sango screamed as they felt themselves being relieved of all of their internal strength and their spirits hoisted into the astral plane. The screams of torment and pain was irrelevant to Kanna's ears, as they were only the beginning to a beautiful concerto of a demeaning nightmarish death for her two unlucky victims.
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Inuyasha was lying on his back with his eyes closed, taking on the appearance of a sleeping baby without the worst of a natural disaster occurring to interrupt him from partaking in his endless slumber of serene peace. An ominous wind rustled through the six inches of water his body lay spread across, with cherry blossoms raining down onto the lake like ground.
With the calm winds echoing through the air a lonesome blossom was gently blown onto his face, which was the only bit of motion to cause him to awaken. Inuyasha's lids slowly opened to expose his flawless amber eyes to the piercing blackness of the sky above and the blossoms of springtime accompanying it. He groaned upon lifting himself up, feeling a pounding migraine hitting his brain with increasing potential. His vision clearing and his bearings gathered into one single pool of assurance, Inuyasha blinked exactly three times before coming to reality.
"Wh... where am I? How did I get here all of a sudden?" Inuyasha shivered. He spread out his wet sleeved hand to prop himself up onto one knee, examining the place around him to see that he was crouched onto a never ending sea of sparkling pure water.
"That's strange... I don't remember a single thing opposed as to what put me here." Inuyasha said to himself. He could hear the trickling of water pouring onto the lake he stood in the middle of, but yet he could see the source of the relaxing sound. Inuyasha rose to his feet and walked off for several yards, experiencing a feeling of loss and disorientation.
"Miroku? Sango? Shippo? Kagome?! Can any of you hear me?!?!" Inuyasha shouted into the air. He heard no response but a faint repeating echo of his own voice. He sighed in frustration, picking up the pace of his walking. "I don't get it. Where is everyone? Why is it that my mind can't seem to draw out a vague idea of what happened more than a few moments ago?"
Inuyasha's mind was racked with questions, his only existing being wandering this new surreal world. Then as if to answer Inuyasha's curiosity, that was when the structure of Naraku's castle loomed a few feet away in front of him. The castle had the appearance of a misty illusion but at the same time it felt real. Just as real as the water Inuyasha's feet was submerged in, real as the sweet smelling cherry blossoms that rained, and real as Inuyasha's own placement into this picture.
"That's Naraku's castle! I wonder what its doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?!" Inuyasha asked. He had no time to waste as he ran to the massive stronghold and leapt like a fast moving frog to its front gates.
Inuyasha pushed open the gates and jumped into the wide open field he was so accustomed to seeing in the past, just inches away from the main floor where Naraku resided. However, what he was expecting to see was quite different from the norm and actually quite shocking to say the least. Inuyasha's mouth dropped open in horror as he saw someone lying face down in a large pool of blood in the middle of the courtyard. He immediately recognized the body and approached it.
"No... no!!! It can't be... Ka.. gome???" Inuyasha stuttered, breaking down into a cold sweat as he slowly reached for Kagome's side. He gently lifted her body up to reveal the young beautiful face he's become so accustomed to seeing on a daily basis. The same face that has already brought a ray of light and hope to Inuyasha's heart, was now a visage expressing that of lonesomeness and lament. Inuyasha's heart pounded like a drum upon seeing that the girl he has always fought so hard to protect was now lying dead in his arms.
"Kagome!!! You can't be gone... no.. nooooooo..... Who... who did this to you..." Inuyasha wailed, with actual tears forming at the ducts of his eyes. He turned her around all the way to reveal the large sharp brown root that stuck out from the gaping red hole in Kagome's stomach, with a river of blood still flowing from the open wound. Her internal organs reeked with an unpleasant rotting smell and the plant root was decorated with lush exotic purple flowers that seemed to have such an offensive appearance. The petals themselves were dried with the girl's red liquid as if they were feeding off her life force.
"Now I remember... the poison seed... I was too late! I couldn't save Kagome in time. And now... she's DEAD!" the last word left Inuyasha's mouth with such an high emotional drive that Inuyasha unsheathed his Tetsusaiga and slammed it down onto the ground creating an earthquake with an immense uproar. Inuyasha sunk down to his knees, his white hair dangling over his eyes in attempt to hide the crystal clear tears running down his cheeks like a waterfall.
"She'll never forgive me... It was all my fault. If only I protected her at the time... found that stupid plant. I could have saved her from losing her life. Now what do I have? My friends are gone, my will to fight has disappeared... my desires to become stronger and surpass the power of my father no longer interest me. In reality my mind didn't notice it but my heart did. What I probably really wanted in the end was to be with Kagome. To live happily with her and finally have a crack at a normal life. As much as I could just as easily cast away my half demon blood and use the power of the Shikon Jewel to become a normal human?" Inuyasha said, holding Kagome's head in his arms. His claws were drenched with her blood.
"Kagome... if you can hear me, that was what my heart had been pondering for weeks on end. To act like I didn't care about anything else... I didn't mean it. It was so hard to say what I was truly thinking because I was honestly afraid to portray any type of weakness. Having to grow up in a world where everyone places the blame on you for being born a half demon doesn't have its positive merits. Everyone doesn't understand the realities and hardships of what's its like so instead they choose to fear it instead. As much as I wanted to be a normal human and be accepted among society, at the same time I felt I was running away from who I truly was. Not basking in the pride of being born the son of one of the most powerful demons that has ever existed in his time. I didn't want throw any of that away. And yet..." Inuyasha's voice trailed off as he gazed deep into Kagome's blank accusing eyes of hatred.
Inuyasha's amber eyes glistened with the reflection of Kagome's. He felt the lost hatred stemming from her dead human shell, as if the emotion itself was performing a smooth transfer from one pair of pupils to the other. Inuyasha closed his eyes shut, unable to look at the blood soaked girl that he held so dearly close to him. Her skin had a heavy purple gauss of color from the poisoning of the plant that grew within her.
"Kagome... I'm so sorry... I... I lov----" Inuyasha stopped when he reopened his eyes to see Kagome's visage contort into a completely different face altogether. "What!? What's happening???" Inuyasha dropped the transforming body as he felt it turn into an acidic mass of bubbling flesh and blood. He backed up a few inches, his watery eyes widened in disbelief.
"Ha ha ha... how touching, Inuyasha. Who would have correctly guessed that the all powerful half breed could hold such a sensitive heart within the same body." a deep and evil sounding voice vibrated from the goop like mass that was formerly Kagome Higurashi. Inuyasha gasped as he saw the mass instantly take the form of a white baboon pelt that hung around the waist of a mystifyingly handsome pale skinned man with long black hair. His dark blue and purple robes swayed ever so viciously in the passing winds of the courtyard, and his red eyes lit with an invisible fire that scorched Inuyasha's soul to the bone. Not the former lord Kagewaki, but the very essence of the demon that possessed that same body. The one and only Naraku stood prominently above the half demon.
"Naraku!!!" Inuyasha shook his fist to the man he's so longed to murder for the wrongful things that has been orchestrated among so many people. "So its all been one big fucking lie. All of it! You've brought me here to toy with my emotions? Your disgusting schemes sicken me to the point where the only thing that will ever let me live without strife is by cutting out your heart and slicing it into pieces with my own sword! You go to very great lengths to get the things you want. All the more so in defining the morals of an absolute coward." Inuyasha yelled.
"Your hatred for me grows without abandon, Inuyasha. You along with many of my other enemies I have been plotting to rid of for the longest of time. Having to witness your confused feelings for the young girl Kagome proves to be quite the main element for the center stage of your little world of ignorance and countless amounts of anger. Although you fail to realize the very fact it was not I at fault of the girl losing her precious life, but it was you who failed to prevent such a fate." Naraku said, the wind around him becoming stronger by the second.
"Liar! It was you who planned all of this nonsense. You made sure Kagome would be the target of your stupid scheme. You knew Kagome played the most important role in helping me and my friends find the Shikon Jewel shards and you feared the power she could use against you when the time was right. You didn't want to take that chance, so being the coward you are you tried to murder her from a distance. I know how you work now. Messing with the mentality of others and having them turn against each other in a moment's notice. Enslaving the innocent without having to get your own hands dirty while taking the spoils that are left behind for yourself when everyone else is as good as dead. Yeah, you're a real honorable strategist." Inuyasha said, feeling his power resonate inside the Tetsusaiga's blade.
"Indeed that I would admit to such incriminating actions by my own accord. But perhaps you would not be so inclined to express such acts of violence had things turned out quite differently. For example... had you saved Kagome in time. All of your fears and worries would not warrant you to have the half demon blood pumping throughout you as viciously as before." Naraku replied.
"I could have saved her... The Ringenkai Plant was the only thing that could have saved Kagome... I don't understand. We were on the trail to Mount Harunai in the north lands to find the plant... and the next thing I know I'm here. Whether this is just a bad dream or a reality... it certainly feels real... I'm not about to hold back on what I'm about to do next." Inuyasha said almost to himself out of guilt. His anger having reached the top, he lifted his Tetsusaiga and ran towards Naraku.
Naraku smirked as the winds transformed into a fog of twirling poison miasma. "And now you attack me in rebuke for the mistakes you've made in now murdering two women in your life... that of Kagome and Kikyo..."
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!!! HYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Inuyasha screamed with tears flowing from his eyes, as he swung the Tetsusaiga at Naraku. The blade slashed through Naraku's arm and chest, but the attack had appeared to unfaze him once he took on another transformation. Inuyasha reeled in shock as his sword passed through the man without any resulting damage, and Naraku's bottom half exploded into a massive field of ugly brown demonic roots which slithered around the courtyard like individual snakes after their prey. Naraku laughed madly, watching Inuyasha fend off the oncoming tendrils.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! Inuyasha! Face your inevitable death and give me your power. Think of it as a tribute to my desire in becoming the most powerful demon that there is across this world! Your pitiful existence needs not be to wasted on this kind of trivial banter." Naraku's voice rang in Inuyasha's ears.
"Never! NEVER!!!" Inuyasha shouted as he leapt into the air and brought his Tetsusaiga down onto Naraku's head. The blade crushed Naraku's skull with blood and gray brain matter oozing down the neck of his robes, and his eyes exploded with the force of the Tetsusaiga's power. Inuyasha's face turned into a twisted smile of satisfaction as he took another graceful swing, tearing the entire body of Naraku in half horizontally with a gory display of blood and guts spilling out onto the warrior's red outfit.
The white streak from Inuyasha's sword disappeared as he landed onto the ground. The twitching remains of Naraku's grotesque body toppled backwards and causing a ground shaking tremor. Breathing hard, Inuyasha's heart would not stop beating from the adrenaline rush he felt as he savored the long awaited victory over Naraku.
"Could I have actually done it? He's finally dead. I've killed Naraku at last!" Inuyasha said, unable to believe his own words or the sight he saw before him. He slowly approached the dead demon, still not satisfied with what he has done. Inuyasha wanted to finish the job and make certain that the demon he just slayed wasn't just another puppet falsely put in place.
However as Inuyasha came within close proximity of the ghastly corpse he felt a rumbling from the ground under Naraku's body. Before he could even react in time, Inuyasha witnessed Naraku's roots reanimate back to life and shoot forth towards him. Inuyasha felt his ability to breathe cut off as the roots formed together into one big piercing needle, violently drilling directly into his chest and sending him crashing into one of the stone walls nearby.
"GAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!!" A storm of blood gushed up from Inuyasha's mouth as his skull slammed into the concrete wall, and his organs felt as if they were ground up from the inside out as Naraku's roots drilled into him even further than before, ripping his body apart like paper. Inuyasha recoiled in tremendous amounts of pain, with the upper half of his body snapping off and falling to the ground. His lower torso and legs splattered next to his head, and the Tetsusaiga was knocked away into the distance, transforming back into its useless form.
"Na..... ra..... ku....." Inuyasha's last thoughts went through his mind just before he was torn apart by Naraku's roots with blood and foul smelling guts littering the ground of the courtyard. Inuyasha felt nothing but destruction upon his own soul and failure beyond recognition as a mental picture of him plunging into an ocean of darkness, never to be seen or heard from again.
Inuyasha gasped for air but no matter how much he struggled he could not breathe or reach the surface in time. Bubbles rose from his mouth as his lungs were invaded by heavy pressurized water, his body sinking like a rock at fast pace that he couldn't fight. Drawing deeper and deeper to the blackness of no return, that was when he lost all hope and let destiny take his life away to what awaited at the bottom.
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"Inuyasha? Kagome? Shippo? Miroku? If any of you can hear me... please... answer me! Please... Where is everyone?" Sango's voice rang out.
Sango aimlessly walked down the dirt pathway set somewhere in the wilderness, the location unknown and unfamiliar to her senses. All sorts of various flowers and vegetation were beautifully grown all over the quiet field, and a gentle breeze gave the scene a calming but suspicious feel.
"This is too strange for words! I felt as if I woke up from a long and deep sleep, only to open my eyes and find myself standing here. And what's weird still... no matter how much I think about it I can't recall what caused me to be here." Sango thought to herself, anxious to know how she was transported to this place without finding Inuyasha or any other of her friends. She knew deep down in her heart what she experiencing couldn't quite be real, but her mind fought for the acknowledgement of digging to find what was deeper in this presumed dream.
"This has to be a dream. Things aren't right at all..." Sango lightly ran ahead, looking up and taking note that there was no blue skies above, only pitch black darkness. The further she ran along, the more eerie the area became, as the tall grass and flowers began to wilt and die into dry cracked sand. Time felt as if it pushed itself into fast forward, with everything turning of old age until Sango suddenly realized she was in a totally different place.
"Now what?" Sango asked. Peering into the darkness, she saw a lone figure standing still. It appeared to be a female, the shapely body wearing clothing similar to Sango's civilian clothing, except with reversed colors. Sango's eyes perked up when she noticed that the figure also possessed a Hiraikotsu as well, only that the edges of the weapon were more jagged and had a more evil design to it compared to hers.
"Who... who's there? Answer me! Who are you? Identify yourself." Sango called out to the long black haired female.
"Why, Sango. How can you ask me such a question when you clearly know who I am?" the person said, slowly turning around to reveal an exact look alike of Sango herself. The deep voiced clone showed off a malicious smile, staring straight into Sango's eyes. The eye contact alone sent a small chill through Sango's spine. She took a step back, unsheathing her sword and pointing the blade at her imposter.
"What kind of devilish trickery is this? There is no way that you could possibly share the same face and appearance as me!" Sango said, confused. "Are you some sort of a creation of Naraku's? Tell me!" she demanded, ready to kill the clone.
"Not a creation of the puppet master you seek to murder, Sango. As you can clearly see with your own two human eyes... I am you. The same face... the same voice... the same traits and skills as a warrior. All except for one major difference. I do not suffer from the guilt of having betrayed and abandoned my younger brother, Kohaku." Imposter Sango accused.
"What!? How dare you say that I abandoned Kohaku! I would NEVER do such a thing. I would give my very life just to save his. It was Naraku responsible for goading my family to his castle where he knew he could easily slaughter us using the same demons he created for us to kill. All he wanted was for me to murder Inuyasha in hopes of having both him and I eliminated. I swear by my own soul that I won't rest until I save Kohaku from Naraku, that is why I live and breathe today. You blasphemous witch!" Sango said with her blood pressure boiling.
"You poor excuse for a sister. Actions speak louder than words. If you truly loved and cared for him, wouldn't you have rescued him from Naraku's clutches by now? You could have prevented the poor boy from relying on a single sacred jewel shard as the key to his life support. You do know that is the only thing that keeps him alive even now. Time is against you as we speak." Imposter Sango said with the most dead set expression in her voice.
"Quiet!" Sango whipped her hand through the air. "If Naraku hadn't taken over his will that day none of this would have ever happened. Its not my brother's fault that he no longer has a memory of who he once was or even who I am at that. But by God if it means having not to remove the shard from his body than so be it. I won't be held accountable to be forced to take away the only thing that means the difference between his life and death."
"Don't bring yourself into denial. You very well know the inevitable will happen, and when the time comes you will have to kill Kohaku if you very well want that jewel shard in the future. Isn't that your goal? To restore the Shikon Jewel to its original form? Even it means killing your own brother to do it?!" Imposter Sango said with a striking force, making Sango's heart stop with the realization of the truth.
"Shut up! You're not me! We may have the same looks but we do NOT share the same ambitions. If anything you're the true monster trying to damage my psyche of guilt. I've been down that road numerous times already, and haven't you considered the fact that I've pictured myself as a burden to my friends? I wasn't too keen on joining them initially because I was too much into my own problems. I wanted to save Kohaku whatever the chances were, but after putting Inuyasha and the others in danger I now realized that this wasn't the way for me to fight. As long as my friends were right behind me it gave me the confidence to keep fighting without my head in the clouds. But rest assured if it means losing my life just to save the people I care about, then that's perfectly fine with me." Sango's voice shook with anger and sadness mixed together.
"How touching... but its quite a disappointment that the lies that roll off your tongue are obviously a front for your real feelings. You know that you don't really have any concern for your so called friends. Your black heart knows it too. Why don't you give up and act upon your truest intentions?" Imposter Sango pressed, this time pushing Sango over the edge. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!" the cloned lifted her head and laughed into the sky.
Sango lifted her head up, her eyes burning bright and tears streaking down from them. "I've had it up to here with YOUR annoying lies, and I can't stand to hear it anymore from your disgusting voice! Die, you fake imposter! Raaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!" Sango drew her sword and ran up to her insinuating clone. The clone laughed madly and didn't even make the effort to defend herself just before Sango spared a single second in plunging her sword right into the clone's heart.
"Guhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" Imposter Sango gurgled as a fountain of blood sprayed out of her chest and squirted onto Sango's face and clothes. Sango gritted her teeth in satisfaction of turning the sword and pushing deeper into her clone's chest cavity, watching the imposter's laughing face curl into a creepy sneer of evil.
"Ha!!! Next time instead of trying to poorly imitate someone learn how to fight the way they do." Sango remarked, watching the imposter's body beginning to melt into a mixture of smoke and skeletal wax remains. It was then that she heard a voice call out from the mouth of bloody mass.
"S... sis... ter.... Help...." the voice murmured in Sango's ears, repeating endlessly. "Sister... help... me..."
"What? Who... who is..." Sango's lips quivered as she saw what was former her clone's dying body take the perfect form of her brother, Kohaku. The young freckle faced boy donned in his demon slayer outfit stared up Sango with disbelief, his eyes lowering to the blade pierced through his chest. Kohaku's face turned pale, his left hand trembling as it rose toward his sister's cheek.
"S... Sango... how... how could... you... I thought... you were my... sister..." Kohaku sputtered, with blood dripping down the side of his mouth. Sango was horribly mortified at the sight of what she has done, trying to pull out her sword from her brother's body but a strange force did not permit her to do so.
"No... KOHAKU! NO! I didn't mean... How could I have... done this!?" Sango said, her vision turning into a blur of confusion and sickness. She wanted to let out a scream of remorse but no sound came out, as the shock overwhelmed her entirely due to the fact that the image of her slaying her own brother was too much for her mind to compute. Her grip on the handle of her sword loosened, and she stumbled back and fell to the ground on her side.
"You killed me..." Kohaku muttered. "...... and left me... alone to die!" Kohaku glared down at Sango. The blood loosely flowed down the blade of the sword he was impaled with, yet Kohaku remained still without the evidence of him feeling any resulting pain. "And now... you will soon... know what its like... to die... the loneliest death..."
"K... Kohaku! Stop! I didn't... mean to hurt you! What are you doing!? STOP!" Sango gasped, as she was defenseless at the sight of seeing her brother lift his chain blade weapon over his head. The puddle of red liquid at the child's feet soaked into the fabric of his boots, with the ripple shooting forth to the edges from each drop that hit its surface.
"The loneliest and most horrible death!" Kohaku yelled, as he drove the chain blade down onto his older sister. A jolt of an internal spark shot through Sango's body the moment she saw the razor sharp blade line up directly with her eyes. She raised her hand desperately, her heart pumping a thousand beats per second to prevent the worst of what was going to happen.
"KOHAKU!!! STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sango's last words sent an ear shattering echo. But it was too late as she was decapitated by the swooshing blade, her screams ending in a short unintelligible gurgle for air. Her headless body slumped down onto its back with her arms spread out and her soft lifeless fingers twitching out of a spasm, stained with the rushing geyser of blood that shot out of her neck at a steady and constant rate. Soon the entire ground was soaked with blood and nothing else, and in mere moments Sango's body was submerged deep into the heavy red watery haze of death. Bubbles rose up from where she was once was, but of course there was no breathing to be the cause of it.
The echo of her words still carried through the air somewhere, but failing to hit Kohaku's conscience before it could prevent him from murdering his only sister. But why that could not be done was simply because Kohaku himself was not the real person Sango was coaxed into believing so, as the young boy's true form had been revealed into the little girl known as Kanna. Kohaku's essence disappeared into nothing with Kanna taking his place, holding her precious mirror in her hands as she stared into its amazing reflection.
She blinked not once but twice, lowering her head without uttering a word when knowing well that she was successful with the point of her entire plan coming to fruition. Kanna vanished into thin air, leaving a large continuous ripple in the crimson colored water she previously waded in.
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Inuyasha and Sango's combined cries were locked inside of the energy void they were trapped in, unable to move because of the barrier's restriction as they had their souls slowly sucked into Kanna's mirror.
"Now... that I have what I require... give your soul to me. Die in your dreams and release your spirits into my mirror." Kanna said softly, watching the souls of her two victims floating straight over to the glass of her mirror. The emptiness of her own spirit jumped with a nonexistent excitement as she was finally about to complete the task that she had been given by Naraku long ago. But before she could leave the soulless bodies of Inuyasha and Sango behind, Kanna felt a very powerful presence from behind her.
"What...? Who is there?" Kanna turned her head slightly in time to see the blinding light aura of an enchanted arrow fly into the area and collide right into her mirror, its impact immediately destroying it. Several shards of shining glass exploded in Kanna's face, cutting into her frail little hands and making tiny bloody tears onto her face. Kanna let out a surprised gasp, her eyes opening wide as she saw the formerly trapped souls return to Inuyasha and Sango's bodies.
"No! This can't be..." Kanna whispered, looking back at the section where she felt the arrow come from. She saw that the arrow had broken the black barrier she had set up before, and the entire environment reverted back to its original appearance, the black and white colors shimmering away and restoring order to the land.
Kanna was now rendered powerless, since she had no surrounding miasma to give her the ability to will it to reassemble the mirror. Stricken with a low case of heart pounding panic, she saw yet another arrow emerge from one of the trees and slash across her shoulder and chest, tearing her yukata and sending a burning sensation through her body. Knowing that if one of the arrows hit her again with fair accuracy she could be killed from the overbearing pure energy.
"I failed..." Kanna said, then vanished into thin air with great haste. With the demon adolescent girl now having escaped, the mysterious presence hidden from within the trees has also gone as well. With the black void having dissipated, Inuyasha and Sango were promptly released from its grasp. The pure energy from the arrow helped return all of their strength back to them, the nocturnal sounds of the night greeting them upon their coming to consciousness.
"Nnnghhh... Wh... what happened?" Inuyasha asked, pushing himself to his knees. "My head is killing me! I felt like I woke up from a really bad nightmare..."
"I feel the same way too. Uhhhh..." Sango groaned loudly. "Where's Kanna? Didn't she pull into some sort of void that made us experience these weird dreams? Or was I just imagining things?" Sango's body was trembling from the mental stress of the nightmare she just had. She gripped the blades from the patch of grass she lie on, ripping it up from the soil.
"I don't think it was a part of our imagination. I dreamed too... and... it all felt too real to me. I can't even begin to explain the images my mind saw when we were inside that damned void. As for Kanna... I don't see her anywhere!" Inuyasha replied, standing up and surveying the grounds. "And the barrier is gone too! What the hell happened just now? I don't get it at all!"
"Inuyasha, look!" Sango pointed. Inuyasha turned and followed her gaze to the single enchanted arrow that was stuck in the ground, its mystical blue sparkling energy surrounding it. Sango bent down and gently picked up the arrow. Inuyasha placed his Tetsusaiga back into its sheath and walked over to Sango to help examine it.
"Do you think... this is the answer to our questions?" Sango asked, her stressed eyes raising to meet Inuyasha's. Inuyasha used his nose to sniff the air, a heavy ghostly scent hitting him hard.
"Yes... I have no doubt in my mind at the very least that it was Kikyo who shot this arrow. Who else could it have been? Every inch of this forest is shrouded with her scent. It would be impossible for me to miss. She must have came here and used her bow to break the spell barrier Kanna had trapped us in. Taking a guess I'd say we we're quite lucky to be saved by her. But then again, what would she doing here of all places?" Inuyasha wondered.
"Could Kikyo have been following us? It can't be a coincidence." Sango said. "Its unusual for her to show up without any kind of direct confrontation... unless her intentions were different rather than from just saving us both. Her actions are getting more questionable each time."
"I don't know what she's up to either, Sango. But one thing is for sure, I have the strongest feeling that I won't be hearing the last of her anytime soon. This is the second time she's rescued me from danger. Yet I'm under the impression she was trying to help Naraku by giving him the Shikon Jewel. I don't understand what's going on anymore." Inuyasha said, staring up at the glowing crescent moon in the starlit sky.
"Kikyo, what exactly is it do you want? From any of us?" Inuyasha asked. The stars flashed rapidly as if they were trying to respond to his ongoing questions. From the slow evanescence of the enchanted arrow that lie in Sango's hands, the purified winds breathed a fresh new life into what was once a dead forest of lost souls. The soft rustling of a particular high priestess was heard between the bushes and the ectoplasm streams of the color blue was seen swaying through the air behind her, never to be seen again for the rest of that night.
The End of Chapter 9.