It is I, Jjah-Jjah! And let it be known that all youkai I use from this point forth, minus Tadashii, are actual species of youkai that I took a hell of a long time looking up. Ok then

Disclaimer: I disclaim.

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Chapter Nine: Make Mad the Guilty

Kagome dropped to her knees where she stood. Her heart thundered in her chest as she loosened her grip on her bags. They fell to the floor in crumpled heaps. Immediately, she struggled to her feet and ran through the house checking every room, though she knew it was futile. When she came to her room she tripped over something and fell to the floor with a thud. She lay there for a full minute breathing raggedly before she pulled herself up, wincing as she touched the rug burn on her chin. She looked to see what she had tripped over.

It was Sesshoumaru's backpack, the one he had kept Tenseiga in. She picked it up and felt it. As she suspected it was empty. He had taken the sword with him wherever he had gone...

Wherever he had gone? She kicked herself mentally. She knew where he had gone. He'd gone of to Kamakura to get himself killed!

"Wait a minute." She said to herself aloud. "He wouldn't go up there just to get himself killed, would he?"

He just might. She knew for a fact that he was not completely recovered from the condition she had first found him in. When he had carried her from the top of the building they had encountered Saguru on, she had felt his ribs through his haori. Yet he had gone anyway... He was going to meet people who had beaten him before. People who obviously wanted him dead... The stupid idiot! Did he think for one moment that she was going to let him go off and commit suicide?!

Probably.

But, he didn't know her very well, did he?

"I'll show that jerk!" She proclaimed to the empty room. And with that said, she sprang into motion. She threw the extra clothes she had worn earlier that day onto her bed along with an extra set of miko clothing, some more street clothes, and all the essentials. Then without skipping a beat she rocketed downstairs and outside, not even bothering to put on her sandals. Kirara met her at the door and followed. Kagome ran into one of the shrine's several store houses and immediately began rummaging through some boxes. Her firecat companion perched on a crate and peered at what she was doing.

"Voila!" Kagome finally yelled. Out of a box she pulled a red bow and a quiver full of arrows. She brushed the dust off them with her fingers and said to Kirara, "Let it be known that I will purify the hell out of all who cross me."

Kirara nodded. It was best to agree with Kagome whenever she was in a mood like this. The miko darted back into the house.

From years of practice, Kagome had the process of packing everything that could possibly be useful on a journey in roughly ten minutes down pat. She had been going to use her trusty yellow pack, but decided instead to use Sesshoumaru's. The length of it made it easy to tuck her weapons inside. Once everything was safely packed, she started downstairs and once she got to the door she stopped, looking down at the bags scattered there. Slowly she bent down, mindful of the weight of the backpack, and picked up the bag that held the kimono she had bought for the youkai lord. She stood, went into the kitchen, and plopped the pack down on the table.

"Since I went through so much trouble to get this thing, I'm not going to leave it behind!" She muttered as she shoved the paper wrapped garment into a compartment. "Come on Kirara!" The time had come to depart.

As she came closer to the door and closer to leaving she felt a thick pang of guilt run through her. She was leaving the shrine all alone... And Buyo too. It certainly wasn't very responsible. Perhaps she should ask Kirara to stay behind and make sure they weren't burglarized again and watch over things. Kagome's step slowed. She couldn't just leave could she?

And it was then that the age old factors of convenience and irony came into play...

The front door swung open and a short figure carrying a suitcase, wearing priest's robes, and with a pink and yellow lampshade on his head staggered into the house.

"Grandpa!!!"

"Why hello Kagome, long time no—"

"See ya Grandpa! I've got to go to Kamakura to keep Inuyasha's older half-brother from killing himself, or rather being killed by a bunch of youkai lords and all sorts of nasty stuff like that, so don't worry about me if I'm gone for a while, I'll be back eventually!"

And then the door slammed and Kagome was gone. The old man stood there blinking. "Do what?"

The bustling, forever murmuring, Tokyo Station flowed around Kagome as she stared at a map on the wall, looking for the platform her train was leaving from. It was a lucky thing that Tokyo and Kamakura weren't that far apart. It took only less than an hour to get there on the JR Yokosuka Line. Unfortunately it was not a straight line trip; the train stopped briefly at the Kitakamakura Station, but if was the fastest she could afford. It would be dark by the time she got there, but at least that would mean that there would be fewer passengers to wonder about a young miko with a red eyed two tailed cat and a suspicious looking backpack... Finally she picked out the correct platform and hurried toward it.

There were more people than she expected on the train once she finally boarded, but not too many. There was still plenty of sitting-room. No sooner had the miko sat down, the machine lurched forward. She clutched at the seat for a moment to keep her balance and then settled down comfortably. It was around 7:45, so that meant that they'd arrive a little before 8:45. She only hoped she had enough time. She had no idea how quickly Sesshoumaru could travel, or rather how quickly he would choose to travel. Lord, the trouble she went through...

Kirara squirmed down into the folds of her haori and fell asleep. Kagome watched, smiling, as watched the little neko twitch in feline dreams. Shippo had once twitched like that when he was asleep... The miko shook her head to dislodge the memory and looked around the cabin. All of the other passengers were either sleeping or talking to those whom they were traveling with. As she continued to survey her surroundings she noticed a little brochure. Curious, she picked it up. It was about the attractions at her destination, Kamakura.

Kamakura was a popular vacation spot for the people of Tokyo in the summer months. The costal town had a variety of things going for it: nice beaches, several Buddhist Temples, one important shrine, and most importantly, the Great Buddha. The Great Buddha was a huge bronze statue of Amida Buddha. It was the second largest such statue in Japan, at 13.35 meters in height. It used to be inside a temple, but a tsunami knocked the temple down, leaving the statue in open air.

This was where Sesshoumaru was set to meet his enemies. Kagome sighed and bowed her head. The statue was the most frequented tourist attraction in Kamakura. It didn't sound like the most logical place for a youkai meeting, especially one in which fighting might be involved. How powerful were these youkai lords that they did not fear being in such a heavily populated place? It seemed that a daunting task was ahead of her...

But since when had that been an issue?

Hell, she had been knee-deep in every possible kind of youkai conflict for several years and lived to tell the tale repeatedly. She certainly wasn't going to scare herself with unknowns. She would go in, purify the bad guys, and yell at Sesshoumaru till he went deaf. That was all there was to it...

A Taiyoukai stood at the steps leading up to a great temple. The smell of countless human tourists hung in the air, though the temple had been closed for hours. Slowly, in no hurry, with a blatantly bored expression on his face, he climbed the steps. There weren't as many as there were at the abode of the miko, thank God, but it felt as if there were a thousand more. The time had come...

He stopped. To any other, the open space ahead of him would have seemed empty, but it was not... The energy from the swirling purple barrier made his clothing and hair stir as if it was wind. It was not. It was his future... He drew in a long breath and let it go. Then he stepped through.

The scene before him looked the same, save for the four figures within. One was Saguru, crouched on top of a light fixture, smirking for all he was worth. The other three sat together in ornate chairs set in a row. He knew them. They were his betrayers.

"Well, well, Sesshoumaru." The one at the far end drawled in a dewy voice. "I could hardly believe that you still lived, yet here you are!"

Sesshoumaru growled. Had he been in his true form the fur along his back would have stood on end. He could hear the Cheshire smile in that voice. He could see the slanting blue eyes flash smugly.

"Wakarazuya."

"Guilty." The neko youkai grinned. Sesshoumaru could have thrown up. The creature was despicable. He had never been friends with any of the lords, only allies; however he could not recall a time when the Eastern Lord had not rubbed him the wrong way. He had always attributed it to the age old tension between cat and dog; the fact that their lands were opposite one another. Yet after the betrayal he had been forced to revise his view. There was just something about Wakarazuya that made one feel like death was approaching... His appearance belied it. He was short, usually so. Even Kagome was taller than he. His thick smoky blue hair fell down his back in childish spikes. His eyes, electric blue, sparkled with intelligence. The green stripes under his cheekbones looked smeared on like an after thought. He looked almost foppish... Almost. Perhaps it was his unassuming appearance that was the loudest warning...

"I missed you. You know that... I was disappointed when your body disappeared. I would have liked to play with you more." His tone was as unconcerned as a child asking about dinner.

"I'll admit we were all exceedingly surprised, Sesshoumaru." That was Tadashii, Lord of the North. The bastard was just as uptight as he was when they last saw one another. Sesshoumaru would have believed him to be the least likely to be in on a plot... Yet he had been. Apparently appearances were deceiving. The modest earthen tones of his clothing and his strict expression hid his black heart well. Even now, as he looked out from beneath those distinctive polished antlers that betrayed him as a shika youkai, he seemed the epitome of discretion. The Southern Lord just laughed. Higure, the gray kitsune with green evil eyes, stared and smiled like a sadist. Higure should have been gotten rid of long, long ago...

"I am here." Sesshoumaru rumbled. "Do what you will. Let's get this over and done with."

"Always to the point!" The neko beamed. "Over and done, with you say? Could it be that you have been waiting all this time to die, Sesshoumaru?"

That smile. That smile. No matter how long he lived he would never be able to stand that bastard's revolting smile. The form of the inu youkai blurred and suddenly he was looming over the space above where the betrayers sat like an angel with a flaming sword. Two index fingers pointed forward and a whip of yellow light slashed down. It seemed that the fallen lord's attack would be victorious. Wakarazuya stared upwards into the face of death and smiled.

"Oh no." He let out an amused chuckle.

The youki whip passed right through the images of the lords like a ghost. Sesshoumaru bounded a few feet away, and then turned and snarled. "Magic."

Those dishonorable cowardly asses... They were not even bothering to be there in person. Wakarazuya was an onmyouji, or ritual magician; a sorcerer of great power. No doubt it was he who had created the image.

The sound of the neko's mocking applause filled the air around the inu as it began to fill with a thick, familiar fog of youki. "Very impressive, Sesshoumaru. It irks me to think that you believe we can be defeated as easily as you were. And are going to be again..." His form turned and he strode a few short steps toward his icy counterpart and then hissed, "Let's start where we left off shall we?"

No sooner had the words fallen from his cursed lips a soul-chilling shriek filled the air. Followed by another. And another. And another.

Sesshoumaru snarled and snapped his head in the direction the sounds were coming from. It had only taken one of those bespelled nozuchi to defeat him before. How could he possibly stand up to more than one? The same uninhibited trembling started up just as it had over sixty years ago. Normally nozuchi youkai would not be a problem. Normally nozuchi were weak. Normally... But these nozuchi were far from normal. With his stinking sorcery Wakarazuya had changed them into something more than they should have been; regenerating, Herculean monsters that absorbed any youki in their vicinity like leeches. How could he fight back if it was his every attack, his very essence which made them stronger?

He could not.

He lowered his head. He could not win... But it was going to be a magnificent battle.

The train hissed and screamed as if it was alive as it pulled away from the station, heading back towards Tokyo. A miko clad in blue and white stood on the station platform and was hit with the wave of hot air the train kicked out as it escaped. All her fellow passengers drifted off like moths in the night till she was the only one left. An aging conductor looked at her enquiringly, but as soon as he moved to ask if he could help her, she walked away and disappeared as well. Though he wasn't certain, he could have sworn he saw a creature with glowing red eyes accompanying her. But then again, he was getting on in years.

Kagome waited until she couldn't see anyone around, and then she broke into a dead run, following all the clearly marked signs that pointed towards the great Buddha. Kirara, running beside her let out an endless throaty hiss as they drew closer. Something bad was going on. Without stopping Kagome manipulated the unfamiliar backpack around and pulled out her bow. She gripped the wood in her teeth as she fumbled for her arrows. Even her figuratively inexperienced senses could feel it now. To a normal human the balmy night was like any other, but she could see the nasty purple glow marring the picturesque landscape. She headed towards it. This could not bear well for Sesshoumaru.

There were five of them. Each enormous, scaled white, and screeching through all those teeth while he watched himself reflected in the emptiness of their eyes. They were all snaky body, vestigial eyes and teeth, nozuchi. No matter where he looked that was all he saw. That and blood...

It was hard to believe that they moved as fast as they did with their bulk. The delighted crowing of the Eastern Lord to his comrades faded to an annoying buzz in his ears. Time, sound, space, sight, movement: all were blending together in a bloody montage. His body seemed slow, and he could see in advance every exact mistake that he made.

His youki whip sliced down across one creature's neck. It bounced off with a noticeable ping sound. It was useless. Their mere presence was making him weary. They were already feeding on his youki. He zipped up high, hoping to get above them, but it was another mistake. A maw full of jutting teeth lodged itself in his back. He wrenched himself out with pure strength alone, feeling flesh tear sickeningly. He landed on the ground with an ungraceful thud. The stone was slick beneath his feet, no doubt from his own blood. He drew in a painful, tired breath and in that instant, a rib-crushing pressure enveloped him and he found himself unable to move in the slightest. One of them had him. He was being drawn into the all embracing coils of a constricting snake and the life was being sucked out of him. Tenseiga pulsed at his side weakly and then faded out of thought and mind. The sword, though an instrument of healing, was still of a youkai and its strength was being drawn upon as well. That was how Tokijin had ended; shattering in his hand as if made of glass. Somewhere, vaguely, he could hear the stupid neko blathering on, but he chose to ignore it. His last moments were for himself and himself alone... Yet there was a pang somewhere in the region where his heart might have been. He had betrayed the little miko's trust. For some reason that was the only thing in his mind and it expanded into something hallucinatory till he imagined her worried for him, weeping for him in death. For some reason that seemed alright. He was content to have the miko weep for him. He closed his eyes would have begun to fall back into himself if it weren't for an extremely familiar voice that cried out his name.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap..." Kagome chanted unknowingly as she came upon the barrier. The sight in front of her was like a double exposed photograph; she could see both what she was meant to and what she was not. Hesitantly she stood in front of the glowing wall. She could feel Kirara against her leg, still hissing. Then she felt a surge of youki so strong it made her teeth ache, and without a second thought she touched the phosphorescence before her and passed through. None of the negative energy touched her; her own purer energy pushed it away. As soon as she and Kirara were on the other side the hole closed up again, leaving the distinct impression of stepping into another world.

The sounds of battle flowed all around her like echoes of the past. She shifted her pack so that it was out of the way, put on her quiver, and automatically pulled out an arrow, readying it to be fired. If anything, she had the element of surprise. No one would expect a crazy miko with purifying powers to jump in and rescue a youkai lord... It was at that moment that she realized just how absurd everything happening around her really was, but she had to squish the thought down. At the moment there were more important things. Kagome looked down to see the firecat looking at her with a very serious expression. 'Are you sure?' She seemed to say.

Kagome nodded.

And off they went.

They stopped when they came in sight of the open space directly in front of the great statue. In front of the smiling, tranquil figure, several huge monsters hissed and screamed. Kagome blinked at them; she had never seen such youkai before, but nonetheless there was something familiar... She wracked her brain for a moment and then realized they were nozuchi.

The miko had never been particularly knowledgeable about the different species of youkai when she had been in the Feudal Era. That had been more of Sango's forte. However, once she had started studying Japanese mythology in college she had learned how to categorize the different species, or at least the way they were in legend. These were different from the nozuchi she had learned about, though. Nozuchi were supposed to be much smaller, with no scales, eyes, or bad attitude. In fact they were supposed to be extremely timid and relatively harmless. There was an aura hanging over these creatures that was not natural...

It was then that she noticed the four figures off to the side. One she recognized, Saguru. From the rich dress of the other three she guessed that they were the other youkai lords. All of them were looking over at one particular nozuchi.

Which appeared to be holding a near lifeless Sesshoumaru.

The nerve.

The pleasant reverie of the three lords upon seeing the demise of their worst enemy was suddenly disturbed by an earsplitting shriek.

"Sesshoumaru, you stupid idiot!!!!"

Golden eyes eased open to the sight of an angel wielding bow and arrow.

"You promised me that you wouldn't go off and get yourself killed and now look at you!!! I'm really pissed at you! Train tickets cost money you know!"

"A miko?" Uttered Wakarazuya in obvious incredulity.

"Kag...ome..." The soft utterance from the inu youkai was too quiet for anyone but himself to hear. He blinked confusedly several times. Why on earth would she be here?

"That is the woman who was with Sesshoumaru when I found him, Master." Saguru chimed in.

"And you did not think it pertinent until now to mention she was a miko?" He sent his servant a sideways glance.

"I didn't know. She was not wearing the uniform when I saw her. She was human; I didn't think it important enough to bring to your attention."

The neko's face was stony for a moment, and then he smiled. "No matter. In this day and age the word 'miko' has no meaning anymore. She's as good as dead coming here."

"Sesshoumaru, you quit this giving up suicidal behavior right now! Come on, if Inuyasha could defeat Ryukotsusei, then you can kill these dumb snake things!" The fallen lord only stared at her.

"Could someone please rid us of this detestable noise?" Tadashii droned.

"Oi, Saguru! Throw a bomb at her!" Higure sniggered.

"As milords command." The spy bowed and tossed a sphere of sizzling energy in Kagome's direction. As soon as it came within striking range, Kirara transformed in a blast of fire and batted it away with a deadly paw. Saber-fanged jaws let out a mighty roar towards their opponents.

Wakarazuya blinked. Then he narrowed his eyes and with a slight gesture of his hand, one of the nozuchi turned away from Sesshoumaru and shot towards her.

With a strange almost more-than-human tranquility, the reincarnated miko drew back her bow, aimed, and fired. Blue shimmering energy shot forward and left a tail like a comet.

There was a flash of light. The nozuchi flinched back at the impact and let out a shrill scream grossly unlike its other shrieks. Immediately it began to writhe horribly and as soon as the light faded it was suddenly apparent that half the youkai's body had melted right off.

All the youkai were speechless; even the remaining nozuchi were quiet. Only the wounded one continued to scream as it tried to make a hasty retreat. Kagome notched another arrow and let it fly into the creature's back. The resulting roar of anguish faded away as the enchanted nozuchi turned to dust. Everything was completely silent, so when Kagome spoke, her voice echoed like a message from the divine.

"Dammit Sesshoumaru, look! If I can kill one of them that easily then you certainly can! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and DO SOMETHING!!!"

"Kill her." Said Wakarazuya. Two more of the nozuchi sped towards her from different sides. The miko grabbed onto Kirara and darted away just in time, but they continued to chase her with lightning fast speed. There was not enough time for her to notch an arrow, so she had to settle for smacking the creatures with her bow when they came too close.

"Sesshoumaru!" She called, half-panicked.

"He cannot help you, miko." The Eastern Lord spoke. "My nozuchi have drained all the youki from him. He's as good as dead."

The miko dealt the monster rushing at her an anger-filled blow and it reared back in pain as one of its eyes disintegrated.

Meanwhile, the youkai in question stared at the miko in something akin to wonder. She had killed one of them. She was injuring them even as they sought her. They were afraid... They were afraid of a weak, smiling human. Her words touched a part of him that he had thought was gone. Kagome. She was fighting them for him... Kagome. She had come all this way for him. Kagome. And here he was doing nothing.

There was a moment in which there was nothing; then came the blessedly familiar feeling of power rushing into every vein. His eyes burned briefly as they flashed red. And then there was a very small smile...

Kagome's arm burned and her shoulder ached. She couldn't keep this up much longer. She was already exhausted. The nozuchi were pretty strong. One of her hands was permanently clutched in Kirara's mane. The huge cat helped by pulling her out of the way of fatal blows, but she could tell the neko was tiring. It seemed for a moment that everything was hopeless, but then she heard a single clearly spoken word over all the cacophony that made her spirit soar.

"Dokkasou."

The nozuchi holding Sesshoumaru vibrated under the force put upon it. A green glow appeared and suddenly the creature was cleanly sliced in half lengthwise like someone unpeeling a banana. The body fell to the ground with two muted thuds and immediately began to hiss and sizzle as the poison did its work. A tattered, gleaming demon lord slowly stood from a crouched position, one hand glowing like a lamp. Very carefully, each digit on the toxic claw flexed, and then triumphant gold eyes stared into electric blue.

"Beware."

Once that single word was spoken, Sesshoumaru disappeared, narrowly avoiding a nozuchi blow. He leapt backwards onto one shoulder of the giant statue with the creature following him. The moonlight glistened of the Buddha's bronze surface and the stars that could be seen in the urban atmosphere shone like madness. In that simple moment something was recaptured. The nozuchi lunged. A golden strip of light hissed into being. With a whoosh and a crack, the two collided. And the nozuchi fell back. Two forceful lashings from the youkai lord, forced the creature to retreat. Sesshoumaru stood alone on the shoulder of Amida Buddha staring down upon his enemies.

And then a miko screamed out of reflex and his form winked out like a candle.

"Holy freakin' crap!" Kagome gasped as one of the monsters came within an inch of snapping her arm off. She leaned back heavily against Kirara and in response, the firecat collapsed.

"Kirara!" The miko cried. With a poof the faithful youkai transformed back into her smaller self and lay on the ground without so much as a twitch. Kagome picked her up and tucked the prone body into the front of her robe. Then she took a moment to survey the situation. Two of the nozuchi were dead. Of the three that remained, two were wounded, but even she noted this, the wounds began to heal. Suddenly, a form loomed up in her peripheral vision and she realized, a little too late, that she had lost sight of the third, unwounded youkai. She turned and stared into a maw filled with rows upon rows of glinting teeth and let out a scream.

It was then a comfortingly warm arm wrapped itself around her waist and the scene in front of her melted away like nothing. Then, in an instant, she was standing on the shoulder of the great statue. It took only a glance to confirm that the arm that was still wrapped around her waist belonged to Sesshoumaru. As she looked at him she suddenly felt something akin to wonder. There was nothing especially different about him. The same gilded eyes, same sanguine lids, same slanted ears, same snowy hair, same wine-colored stripes, and the same crescent moon. And yet... His eyes shone... There seemed to be more life in him than she had ever seen before. Hesitantly, she looped an arm around his neck.

"They are still coming miko." He spoke softly, but she could easily hear him. She nodded in response and let her eyes wander over to the three demon lords.

"They're not really here..." She mused aloud. Despite the change of subject, the inu youkai seemed to know what she was talking about.

"Wakarazuya's black magic." He rumbled, "They are but a watching illusion."

A nozuchi lunged and Sesshoumaru batted it back.

"But wait a minute. If he's not here, then how's he maintaining the spell at a distance? Naraku had to use his puppets to do that kind of thing."

Sesshoumaru blinked in response. There was something in what she was saying... Too long had he simply accepted his enemy's power as just the way of things. The time had come to seek out a reason. And it was then that through all the intermingling scents of the nozuchi, the city around them, and the miko at his side, he identified a singular whiff of another scent.

"Your sacred arrows can break any spell you so choose, correct?" He looked down into her eyes even as he continued dodging. Kagome blinked up at her for a moment before nodding.

"Yes... I think so..."

"Very well then. Ready your bow."

And then before she hardly had enough time to process what he had said and follow his instructions, in a dazzling display of agility and speed he easily moved past the nozuchi to where the lords and the servant sat. All at once they loomed over Saguru...

The expectant nudge he gave her did not go unheeded. The miko aimed at the spy and fired. Saguru's eyes widened in momentary shock before he came to his senses and sprang away at the last possible second. Parts of his billowing sleeves disintegrated as he made his escape. Kagome's arrow, which had struck the ground, continued to pulsate, glowing blue. Rings of energy flowed out like ripples in a pond. They extended out till they hit both the figures of the three lords and the remaining nozuchi. The result was instantaneous.

Immediately, the images of the lords began to flicker, like a television channel with bad reception. Likewise, the nozuchi noticeably quieted down and began demurely looking about. A few moments later, they started shrinking rapidly. The white scales, eyes, and a good amount of teeth simply faded away, and suddenly all that remained were three pale yellow, blind, cow-sized worms that let out pitiful squeaks and slithered off towards the woods as fast as they could.

Kagome blinked rapidly, shocked. 'Saguru.' She realized. 'Saguru was Wakarazuya's only connection to here. He's controlling the spell through him!' For a moment she marveled at Sesshoumaru. Had it been Inuyasha, he never would have figured it out so quickly. Even as she mused, the Western Lord snapped over to the location to which the spy had retreated and attempted to slice him in half. Saguru barely dodged. He clutched his arm, where the merciless inu's youki whip had cut him and breathing heavily, disappeared into the night.

Kagome felt Sesshoumaru's growl rumble through her as he stared piercingly at where his enemy had once stood. Then, as if coming to a decision, still holding her, he flew up into the clouds and away from the battlefield.

Meanwhile, a blue-eyed neko youkai filled with rage stared at an image even as it flickered out of being. This was not over...

Not by a long shot.

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Ok. Read and review!

Tata, JJ