Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
And here comes hurricane number 4, Jeanne! I just got through it, and frankly, its power was laughable compared to hurricane Ivan, the previous one. However, I do feel really bad for all the people in Haiti and Florida who lost loved ones and possessions to the storms...
The last chapter was quite a depressing one, ne?
Also, sorry about the long update delay. I was REALLY busy for along while...:/
Sesshoumaru4eva: Now now Sesshy, no cussing. :D
Stephanie: I find it kinda strange, but I have a bit of a knack for writing angst...
Gamja Freaky? O.o
Shakujou: Thanks! And no hurricane will ever harm me! :D
Darkunknownone: Rubber spoon? O.o
Fred the Mutant Pickle: Well, I just thought Mitsurugi was a familiar, generic guy's name, so I just decided to slap it on there. And yes, it's a good thing I didn't add Hiten to it or I might have shot myself for defiling Rurouni Kenshin. :D
Wandering Namekian: O.O Wow, my story's grown quite a bit, hasn't it? :D
Inucrazy: Yes, the world we live in is one that you could hardly call paradise, with all the death, destruction and anguish that runs rampant...
Hayai-hakai: Doh! This year must be really hard for you with all these hurricanes running about.
Kaylana: Chapter 21? I don't recall Miroku getting injured like that in chapter 21... but don't worry, this chapter will give everyone an update on the condition of everyone.
Well, on to the story!
""-Speech
'' -Thoughts
## -Asterisks
When the fallen demonologist had finished his tale, silence stifled the battlefield like a cloak.
Although she had just met this man, Kagome couldn't stop her tears. '#Sniff# So sad...I feel so sorry for this poor man...' She held onto Inuyasha for comfort. Sensing her anguish, the hanyou didn't protest.
No one said anything for a little while, but the silence was soon broken when Mitsurugi spoke once more, "Now, my own life is fading away. Before I die, must tell you how you must defeat Naraku.
"I can tell that he's heading towards the core of this world-"
"The core? Nani?"
Miroku explained, "For artificial worlds like this one, the core of the world is what powers and keeps the energies of the plane balanced. It is usually a large room full of different samples of the energies that exist there, and should those energies become unbalanced,, the entire land would be oblitereated due to the unbalanced powers trying to break free from the physical body of the plane"
"Precisely," continued Mitsurugi. "You must travel to the core and into the main Energy Chamber, but first you must defeat the #cough# Core guardians, the Nepharion. Each guardian has power over a certain element, so there are seven of them. Also, because your group has powers over the four physical elements, only three of the guardians will be activated."
"Ha! Only three? This should be a cakewalk!"
"#Cough# Not really. You see, when a guardian is stationary, it lends its energy to any active guardians, making them much more powerful."
"#Grumble# Keh..."
"But Tatsumoto-san," interrupted Miroku. "How would Naraku get in?"
"I designed the core to be #cough# accessible only to me and the perfect youkai I would create. And because Naraku is now a combination of all seven elements, he essentially IS the perfect youkai I had dreamed of. Therefore, the guardians cannot touch him."
Mutsurugi, who was propping himself up using a rock, lay back down on the cold earth.
"After you defeat the guardians, enter the Chamber. You will probably see Naraku draining energy from all the Energy Spheres inside. What you must do is muster up enough power to destroy all but one of the spheres- this will create #cough# an explosion large enough to annihilate Naraku." He reached inside his clothes and produced a small scroll. "You must quickly read this after you destroy the spheres. The scroll contains a spell that will take you back to wherever you wish."
By now, Mitsurugi's eyes were glazing over in death. "I bid you farewell, brave heroes, and the best of luck. May Kami watch over you..."
His eyes closing, Mitsurugi let out one final breath before he faded to dust and drifted off into the wind.
Once again, everyone hung their heads in silent commemoration to the fallen one, while Miroku muttered a prayer.
"Namu..."
A feeble breeze fluttered about after everyone had offered their own requiem, , finally bringing everyone to their senses. "Minna-san," Kagome called softly. "We should rest up and heal before we head off again."
It was strange, Inuyasha thought, that it would be Kagome calling for everyone to get up and moving again. Usually it was him doing the "urging" while Kagome just sat firmly on the ground and yelled at him for moving too fast and being inconsiderate. "H-hai," he replied.
After they had all gotten back up, Inuyasha whispered to Kagome, "Oi, how'd you recover so fast?"
"Huh?" replied Kagome, perplexed.
"I mean, aren't you the one who's always crying after something bad happens?"
Silence greeted Inuyasha for a few moments, leading him to believe that Kagome had suddenly fallen mute.
"Err, Kagome?"
She turned to give the hanyou a sad smile and murmured, "In my time, people die due to lots of reasons; illnesses, injuries, among other things. And during those times, we have to learn to move on. Otherwise, we'd all be stuck mourning for someone who's never going to come back."
She looked up at the sky and continued, "We've only met Tatsumoto-san for a short period, but his story really made me feel for him. I've read tragic novels in my time that come up way short to his own novella- maybe that's why I felt so sad when he died. Such a sad tale, you know? But it's during times like this where you have to move on: life's not going to wait for you while you cry your head off, ne?"
Not being able to say anything, Inuyasha just continued on in silence.
After a few more moments of tranquility, Kagome continued once more, "When I was eight, my dad passed away...I was old enough to understand what death truly was and have great memories with my father, but young enough to become terrified by the loss of a family member. I think was then I learned that life won't always spoon feed you good times, and it'll throw you a few lemons from time to time. If I hadn't learned to move on then, I never would have been able to last here."
Everything she said felt like a crack of light that slowly widened in Inuyasha's mind. 'I understand exactly what you mean Kagome...' he thought.
She gave Inuyasha another smile and playfully patted him on the back. "Now let's head back to camp. Last one there's a baka!" She dashed off ahead of everyone, leaving a slightly stunned hanyou behind.
'Sugoi,' he thought. 'Maybe she's a lot stronger than I give her credit for.' He flashed a wild grin and leaped off after her.
#At main camp#
Fortunately, Sango's treatment powers were extremely effective. However, Miroku's ribs were still feeling somewhat sore from the drubbing they received at the hand of Naraku. So to keep him company, Sango had decided to stay with him.
Due to their exhaustion, the couple simply sat in the dim light in silence until Sango spoke up, "Y-your otou-san mentioned to me about a duty your line was meant to keep to..."
Miroku chuckled and replied, "Oh, did he give you that little speech about self-sacrifice?" He smiled at Sango's look of surprise. "I see. I was wondering what he was yelling about at that time..."
"During his last days in our world, chichi-ue constantly drilled into my head the fact that it is our purpose to serve and sacrifice ourselves for others. I don't exactly know who came up with that, but it's been in my family's line for many generations."
"At first I thought it was just another one of his boring lectures. But after I met our little posse, I've realized what it truly was worth- something to protect, something to devote yourself to. Maybe that's why our line has survived even with a curse in our hands- our duty to defend others gives us the determination we need to go on."
Silence entered the room once more.
"Our family had something similar to that too, once..." murmured Sango. Miroku's eyebrows perked up in curiosity.
"The life of a Taijya is thankless and hard. Everyday, when you leave your village to answer the call of a group of villagers needing a demon to be exterminated, you will always run into the possibility that you'll never make it back home, no matter how hard you try."
"And even though the people are thankful for a few short moments when we slay a demon for them, they go back to their old thoughts and ways. The next time we go to the village for business other than demon slaying, we exterminators are treated with suspicion and contempt. I still can't figure out how being a Taijya is so...low in the social ladder."
"And even today I still wonder at my own father's desire to protect others when they are so ungrateful to us."
"Perhaps your father realized that it is still his duty as an exterminator was to protect all of Japan from the demons that infest it."
"But still...that mindset got him killed one day, didn't it? That day in the castle, when we were fighting that spider demon...he tried so hard to both kill the demon and cause as few casualties for everyone as possible. He was so focused on the demon that, he never saw...never saw..." She couldn't bear it anymore. Tears trickled down her face as she recalled the most painful day in her life.
Sitting up slowly, he took Sango into his arms and began comforting her. "It's alright now, anata, it's alright..."
He rocked her back and forth like a child as Sango slowly cried her pain away. After a few minutes of this, Sango's muffled voice came through Miroku's robes. "A-arigatou, houshi-sama."
"It's Miroku, Sango," he replied with a grin.
"Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, you two should rest up. We've got a long trip ahead of us, ne-huh? Did I interrupt something?"
Kagome stood at the doorway holding a tray of hot ramen. The blushing couple let go of each other and resumed their original positions.
"I-iie, Kagome-chan."
"Daijoubu, Sango-chan? Your eyes look puffy..."
"Hai, it's nothing."
"Alright then...just make sure you two get some rest alright? And no hanky-panky while we're outside!"
"Kagome-chan!"
"Hey, that wouldn't be such a bad idea, would it?" #Slap#
Kagome giggled and dodged a roll of bandages as she quickly fled out the door while Miroku rubbed his stinging cheek and grinned sheepishly at the now extremely red Sango.
#Much later, at the entrance to the Core#
The group had been traveling as fast as they could with Inuyasha and Kagome riding on summoned elemental beasts (Kagome rode upon a blue water dragon while Inuyasha's steed was-surprise- a fire dog), Sango on top of Kirara, and Miroku and Miroshin flying with their own powers.
The land itself was strangely...barren, yet thrumming with great power. Perhaps this was the result of the combining of all seven elements?
Wasteland air blowing his hair around, Inuyasha began the age old, child-to-parent conversation when the family is in the car:
"Are we there yet?"
"No.
"Are we there yet?"
"No.
"Are we there yet?"
"For the last time, NO!!"
"Sheesh, someone's grumpy."
"#Sigh# Water ball." #Splash#
"#Grumble#"
"So how do we know when we get there?" spoke up Miroku, interrupting the splattering session.
"It's quite a distance away, on foot it would have been a few day's worth of hard walking."
"Any indicators of where it actually is?" asked Miroku.
The cleared a mountain ridge as Kagome answered, "Well, demo... that, maybe?"
A colossal dome made out of solid obsidian sat like a fat king on a plateau that served as a throne. The gateway, shaped strangely like a mouth, seemed to seek to consume anyone that approached.
"Woah...that thing's pretty big..."
Uknowingly, Inuyasha had just stated the understatement of the millennium.
#At the entrance#
The trip to the entrance after its first sighting took much longer than anyone could have predicted- the dome was obviously quite far away when they had cleared the ridgetop.
"Kuso, my butt hurts...stupid fire dog. Alright, so how're we gonna blow that door down?"
"Err...knock?" replied Kagome.
"Keh! No baka that ever existed would answer a knock on a door like that. This place is obviously deserted expect for Naraku, and he's certainly not gonna let us in-"
The door lit up and creaked open after Kagome, ignoring Inuyasha's spleen venting, walked up and rapped on the door. The look on Inuyasha's face was quite priceless.
As Miroku walked by he gave Inuyasha a light pat on the shoulder and said, "Always listen to the ladies, my friend, whether you think she's right or wrong. I learned that ten years ago and it saved my life several times."
"#Grumble# What would YOU know about women, bouzo?"
"More than you perhaps?"
When the gates finally opened, a gargantuan room about a thousand feet high greeted the bickering travelers.
"Woah...you could fit an Egyptian pyramid in here!"
"A what?"
"N-nothing, just something from my time."
"Hmm...this place feels ancient and worn, yet powerful...can't you feel the power flowing through it?" Miroshin spoke after musing for a while.
They all could. Each and everyone of them could feel the elemental energy that pulsated out from the dome, each of them could feel the terrible power that slept inside the deep void of the Core.
"Well, minna, let's get going." They trudged through what seemed like an eternity towards what they assumed to be the door to the next room.
The door that met them later was significantly smaller than the entrance to the dome, but it was enormous nevertheless. The door was paralleled by seven twenty foot tall statues, each a different color. One was red, another was brown, and the others were grey, blue, green, black and white.
"These statues...why are they here?" Miroku mused.
"Decoration?" asked Sango.
"I doubt that. Wouldn't the entire hall be filled with statues if they were only ornaments?"
Before anyone else could reply, three of the statues, the green, black and white ones, glowed their respective colors and in a flash, they leaped off of their pedestals and landed heavily in front of the companions.
"We are the Nepharion, the Seven Guardians of the Core," they spoke, in a cacophony of voices that included gravelly rumblings, harsh whispers and loud wailings.
'Guardians?' thought Sango. Were these the guardians that Mitsurugi warned them about?
"It is our duty given by our master to protect this place from the unworthy. And you, travelers, are not the Perfect Ones."
"Prepare for immediate termination."
They struck with speed that completely belied their size and build. The green and white guardians flanked the utterly shocked gang, while the black one charged forward.
Thinking quickly, Miroshin shouted, "Everyone! Stick together! If they divide us up we're done for!"
"Easier said than done! LOOK OUT!" Miroku and Sango threw themselves over to the right to avoid the Life guardian's huge fist.
"Kuso, how are we going to defeat them? Woah!" Inuyasha just barely managed to leap over a sweeping blow by another guardian.
"Kagome! Shoot them1 Quick!"
"Hai! Ite! Ice Arrow!"
She let one of her ice bolts fly, but moments away from impact a barrier of flame leaped up and destroyed the frail arrow, protecting the Shadow guardian.
"Eh?! What's going o-aiie!" She shrieked and tried to shrink away from the Life guardian as it attempted to stomp on her.
"Kagome!" Three guesses on who dashes in to save her...
"Baka, what do you think you were doing, just standing right there like some idiot?"
"Well sorry for trying to help, Inuyasha!"
"Keh. Just be careful next time." He set her down gently a bit of a distance away from the fray.
"Matte, Inuyasha...did you notice how my arrow was blocked by a barrier?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Why would the Shadow guardian have fire powers?"
"Wait a sec...didn't Mitsurugi tell us something about this?"
"Something like, 'When a guardian is stationary, it lends its energy to any active guardians, making them much more powerful,' was it?"
"Hai...we should go tell the others. I'll run a distraction, you take some time to tell everyone what we just found out."
"Alright. And Kagome?"
"Hai?"
"Be careful, alright?" There was something in his eyes that was different from his usual arrogant, brutish glint. Was ? No, it was more than just concern...shaking her head, Kagome decided to think about it later. Right now, she had three guardians to wipe the floor with.
"A-arigatou, Inuyasha."
She notched an arrow, drew her bow once more, and prepared to let another killing bolt fly. "Mizu. Kumo. Enmu. Fog Cloud!" A large, tumbling cloud of dense fog settled itself over the three active guardians while Inuyasha led everyone else away.
"Alright everyone," Inuyasha panted. "Turns out that the other guardians are using their energies to protect the three we're fighting right now. Anyone got any ideas on how to beat these guys?"
"Umm, perhaps we should try physical rather than elemental attacks?"
"Maybe...although I doubt our weapons can penetrate their stony skin."
"Matte-I have an idea," interrupted Miroku.
"Huh? What is it?"
"According to the scrolls I've been reading, the ultimate attack of Wind is the Slayer Vortex. It's very similar to my Kazanaa in that it sucks everything in, regardless of size or power. But unlike my Kazanaa, the Slayer Vortex has shredder blades deep inside of it to destroy sucked in opponents."
"Now this is when you all come in. I need some time to prepare this spell, so you four and Kagome-sama must protect me while I begin the chanting. Once I am finished, everyone must hold onto something stable in order to not get sucked in. Got it?"
"Hai!" was everyone's shouted reply.
But just then...
"Inuyasha! Help!!"
"Huh?" Kagome was squirming in the Shadow guardian's oversized stone hands. Its eyes were glowing in an eerie fashion that showed much but revealed nothing.
"Your life ends now. Prepare to be exterminated, human." It began gathering dark energy into its arms.
"K-KAGOME!!"
Cliffy! So you must read and wait anxiously for the next chapter! Ha! Chances are that the next chapter will be the last or next to last chapter in this story. R&R!!
And before you head off, I ask all of you wonderful people to keep inside your hearts the people who suffered from the hurricanes. I haven't personally lost anyone, but I know what it feels like. So just keep them in your thoughts, even though it's been about a month since it all happened, ne?