Previously:
It was strange when both Miroku and Saruwatari stepped foreward and held out their hands, the bodies were drawn into two different windtunnels. "How do you have the windtunnel?" Miroku asked suddenly after they had covered up their hands.
"I was born with it." Saruwatari said simply, shrugging, and nonchallantly 'stretching.'
"Hentai!" Screeched Kurokawa and punched him on the top of the head.
Inuyasha chuckled, "Well... I guess we see that the lecherous monk had an ancestor survive him in the future as well."
"What?" Was the exclamation of everone execept Kurokawa, Saruwatari, and Sesshomaru(Sesshy's just too calm...).
Saruwatari grinned and glanced at Miroku, "You... are Miroku then..." He said, "My great grandfather."
Miroku suddenly smiled, "So, who was my wife?"
Saruwatari glanced at a now rather crimson Sango.
Now:
"W-what?" Sango asked in a shaky voice as Miroku stared at her grinning suggestively.
"You mean that I actually have children with Sango?" He asked, casually slipping a hand around her waist that slowly moved downward.
"Hentai!" Sango exclaimed, hitting him on the head with her Hiraikotsu, causing him to groan.
Kurokawa laughed heartily, getting glances from other members of the group before Inuyasha spoke, "Kurokawa, why did those demons accuse you of having the Shikon no Tama?"
"I don't know." Kurokawa's face screwed up in concentration, "all I know is that it dissappeared some time before I was born."
Kagome suddenly peered at the two, "Inuyasha, why does she look just like you?" She asked suspiciously.
Kurokawa traced circles in the dirt with her foot, "because," She murmured, "I am his daughter."
"What!" Kagome exclaimed, giving Inuyasha an accusing glare.
"But," Saruwatari said softly, "You'll never guess who her mother was."
Kurokawa glanced at Kagome, "M-me?" Kagome squeaked weakly.
"Yes," Kurokawa said softly, "I traveled back to your time, when the undead began to take over using my ability to manipulate the time stream. I did it all because... because..." She glanced nervously towards Inuyasha.
Kouga glared at the girl impatiently, "Spit it out." He said in frustration.
"Because if I hadn't come, all of you would have joined Naraku's forces. My brother and I came back to prevent it." Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she continued, "he was absorbed by Naraku."
Shippo glanced at her curiously, "Hold on, do you know the future of us all?" He asked curiously, "What about me?"
Kurokawa blinked and looked down at the kit, "In the end you were adopted, but the party that was thrown afterwards, to celebrate, was interrupted by a hoard of demons. Not many made it out alive."
Shippo's eyes widened, "are you saying that I... that I..."
Kurokawa shook her head quickly, "No, you dissappeared, nobody knows what happened." Her eyes began to water at the memory.
Kurokawa's memory Her P.O.V.
I sat in the back as the dancing began- I'm not really a dancer, and besides, none of the yokais wanted to get involved with a mere hanyou. Tears stained my cheeks freely, I was young, merely 10 at the time. Suddenly I spied the very reason for the part making his way towards me. He had shoulder length reddish-brown hair, and blue-green eyes. A tail protruded from his back end that was fluffy and almost every girl wanted to pet. My mother told me that he was now my brother, although he never could fill that space, that's what I had Akito for. No, rather than seeming like a brother to me, he was my crush. I loved him with all my heart- Shippo. "Kuro, why aren't you dancing with everyone else?" He asked, his eyes dancing mischieviously.
"Because nobody wants to dance with a damned hanyou, they've said it themselves." I sniffled, looking at him through watery eyes.
"Oh, Kuro, you shouldn't listen to them, they're just jealous of you." Shippo tucked his hand under my chin and wiped away my tears.
"And just why would they be jealous?" I asked curiously.
"Because, you have more power than the lot of them put together." Shippo said seriously, "and, you have the legendary sword Tetsusaiga, which rejected all of them. Come on, dance with me." He held out his hand and I took it lovingly.
We danced vibrantly to the song 'Vanilla' By an artist named Gackt. (Such a naughty song... lol.)
Kimi wa seijitsu na moralist
Kirei na yubi de boku wo nazoru
Boku wa junsui na terrorist
Kimi no omou ga mama ni
Kakumei ga okiru
I put my head on Shippo's shoulder, "why are you always so nice to me?" I murmured at the beginning of the song.
Koi ni shibarareta specialist
Nagai tsume wo taterareta boku
Ai wo tashikametai egoist
Kimi no oku made tadoritsukitai
"Because, Kurokawa, I- I love you." Shippo looked away, "I knew it the day you were born, there was a connection between us."
Kimi no kao ga toozakaru
Ah boku ga boku de naku naru mae ni
"Kami." I breathed, "I didn't know. I thought that you just pitied me."
Ai shitemo ii kai? yureru yoru ni
Aru ga mama de ii yo motto fukaku
Kuruoshii kurai ni nareta kuchibiru ga
Toke au hodo ni
Boku wa...kimi no...vanilla
"Kuro, I never pitied you, you were always strong." Shippo put his chin on the top of my head.
...Nante kidorisugi
Sonna cool na kimi wa plastic
Atsui manazashi ni wa ecologist
Sono moeru kuchizuke ga modokashii
"I love you too Shippo." I murmured, closing my eyes as he tightened his arms around my waist.
Yugande iku kimi no kao ga
Ah boku ga boku da iraremasu you ni
Ai shitemo ii kai? yureru yoru ni
Aru ga mama de ii yo motto hayaku
Kurushii kurai ni nureta kuchibiru ga
Kotoba nante mou
Kimi to boku not burning love
Ah ikutsu asa wo mukaereba
Ah yoru wa owaru no darou ka
Ah sora ni chiribamerareta
Ah shiroi hana ni kakomarete iku
Ai shitemo ii kai? yureru yoru ni
Aru ga mama de ii yo I've seen a tail
Kuyashii kurai ni
Kimi ni hamatteru no ni
A crew sees crying knees I wanna need.
Not betray!
Ai shitemo ii kai? yureru yoru ni
Aru ga mama de ii yo motto kimi wo
Kuruoshii kurai ni nareta koshitsuki ga
Toke au hodo ni
Kimi wa...boku no...bannin da
As the last line faded away, there was a crash and suddenly the room was filled with screams. I was aware of the fact that I was on the ground, feet pounding all around me as youkais went crazy with fear. Suddenly I knew why they were afraid, entering the room was a group of demons, led by a woman, who looked strangely familar. The woman had white hair and cruel golden eyes. She glanced at me and smiled before passing me, moving straight into the midst of frightened Youkai children. "Shippo!" I called, "Shippo, where are you?" I recieved no answer, and was left there, in the middle of the room, sobbing silently as I heard the sound of tearing flesh, smelled the coppery scent of blood, "Mamma!" I stood shakily, "Akimoto, where are you?"
I wandered blindly past the hellish massacre that was taking place, looking for the three people that I cared for most in the world. I slipped and fell into the river of blood that had been the floor and was quickly blinded by tears. Even though they had shunned me, I had never wished for this to happen, never, I would never wish it on my worst enemy. Suddenly a demon was towering over me, a large, bloody ax held high, ready to swoop down and take my head. I lost it then, I saw a burst of blue energy, a surprised look on the demon's face, and then nothing.
Back in Reality.
Kurokawa was dragged back to reality by the sound of somebody clearing their throat, "Earth to Kurokawa!" Inuyasha was waving his hand madly in front of her face.
Instantly she grabbed it, "Don't do that." She said angrily, before turning and making her way back to the village.
Kirara blinked at the group and mewed, "Wow..." Sango said, "It's really late, we should be getting to bed now."
"Yes," Miroku murmured, "we have another long day."
The Next Morning
Kagome was the first to awaken the next morning, and instead of waking the others up, she sat and watched them sleep. She stretched, wincing as the wound on her chest opened, spilling fresh blood into her bandage.
Kurokawa blinked and looked at her, "Why are you watching us sleep?" She sat up, "I can't ever stay asleep when somebody watches me... it feels as though their eyes are boring into my head."
"Sorry." Kagome smiled, "Listen, I was wondering, why did you come to the past to begin with?"
Kurokawa looked Kagome over with her golden eyes, "outside."
"Huh?" Kagome blinked.
"I'll tell you outside why I came, so that we don't disturb our fellow sleepers." Kurokawa said.
"Uh- okay!" Kagome jumped up and silently followed Kurokawa outside.
Kurokawa led her to a tree near the edge of the forest, once she was nestled in it's branches she reached back down to pull Kagome up beside her. "So?" Kagome gave her a scrutinizing glance, "Why did you come?"
"Because." Kurokawa sighed, "I needed to change a critical event in the past."
"And what was that event?" Kagome leaned foreward curiously.
"On the night of the new moon Inuyasha was changed into one of those creatures. He had wandered off for some reason, and they were waiting for him. Because of the fact that he was in his human form, he was defenseless. The only advantage of being taken that night was the fact that he could visit you on every full moon." Kurokawa paused.
"N-nani?" Kagome asked, eyes wide and her face pale.
"It was on one of these such visits that my brother was conceived. Inuyasha could visit him only every full moon, pretty much having to watch his son grow up from the shadows. Nearly two years later, on the night of the full moon, I was born. That night Shippo was there. And he told me... oh nevermind... anyway, one day, just before sunset on the night of the full moon, Naraku ordered Inuyasha to kill you. At exactly sunset was the order, when the moon rose and Inuyasha gained control of his body, he found your corpse lying on the ground and couldn't handle it. He took his own life that night, leaving myself and Akimoto on our own. Akimoto was 12 and I was 10... this was just after the incident with Shippo." Kurokawa's ears perked as Inuyasha's voice floated to her ears.
"Kagome!" His voice sounded angry as he ran out of the hut and spotted the two in the tree, "Damn it, you shouldn't run off like that!" He said.
"It's not like we left the village!" Kurokawa shouted, angry at having been interupted.
"I wasn't talking to you!" Inuyasha put his face in hers and she glared back at him, sticking her tongue out.
"So?" She smiled wickedly, "I wouldn't want to make me mad..."
"Feh." Inuyasha grasped at her long white hair and yanked on it, "and what if I don't listen to you?"
"OW!" Kurokawa exclaimed, and then, together with Kagome, "SIT BOY!"
She wasn't exactly counting on the fact that he still had a grip on her hair and pitched foreward, landing on top of a very angry hanyou. The sound of footsteps approaching caused her to look up wearily as their group ran towards them. "What happened?" Nakamura asked, as Saruwatari glanced between the three curiously.
"ah..." Kurokawa tried to pull herself up, but Inuyasha had a firm grip on her hair.
"No you don't!" He grumbled, angry eyes glaring up at her, "how come you could do that?"
"Let go!" Kurokawa bit his hand and Inuyasha howled, letting her go instantly.
Quickly she stood and backed away, and moments later Inuyasha was able to follow suit. "Well, wench?" He asked, tapping a barefoot impatiently.
"Because..." Kurokawa said teasingly, "I have Kagome's blood, I am her daughter after all, remember?"
"Feh." Inuyasha grumbled.
"We should go now, ne?" Asked Kouga.
"Yeah." Kurokawa agreed quickly, "there are more people out there who need our help- and more souls that need released."
Hurriedly the group made their way to the well, and jumped in together. Stepping outside, the group realized that they were surrounded, they were ambushed by an army of the undead led by- Hojo. His dead eyes fell on Kurokawa who cringed as he seemed to be studying her, "Master wants the girl, do not kill the others." He said, indicating that they should move forward.
"Why doesn't Naraku understand that I will never serve him?" Kurokawa shouted angrily, "never damn it!"
"He has... methods that'll change your mind very quickly." Hojo said, "Hojo's Lord is very cunning."
Kurokawa quickly took up a fighting stance, awaiting the quickly approaching group. Soon she was in their midst, slashing with her claws rather than using the Tetsusaiga at the moment. Her eyes were riveted on Hojo, even as she moved, blocking attacks and managing to push her way through the crowd. Hojo's eyes left hers only when a strange figure moved into the midst, did he manage to look away.
Kurokawa followed his gaze- and gasped when she saw the tall, muscular form of a kitsune. He had reddish-brown hair that reached his waist, it was styled after Inuyasha's own, and he had caring blue-green eyes. Her eyes caught sight of a fluffy reddish-brown tail sticking out of his back end and she gasped, "S-Shippo?" She said disbelieving.
"Kuro!" He made his way to her side and embraced her, "I've missed you so much."
"A-and I you!" Kurokawa gasped, returning the embrace, her eyes becoming misty, "I thought that I had lost you!"
She watched as he made his way to Kagome, and lifted her into the air, "See, Kagome, I can hold you now!"
"So I see." Kagome giggled as both Inuyasha and Kouga growled.
"Gah!" Kurokawa exclaimed suddenly as clammy fingers wrapped around her arms, and managed to snake around her legs as well, "Can we chat later!" She called, "We have more pressing matters at hand."
She quickly jerked her arms out of their grasp and leapt into the air, landing near Hojo who grinned, "Hojo's plan work perfectly." He said.
"Wha-" She began as he wrapped his hand around her arm.
The air around them grew heavy, and she felt herself sinking into the ground. Kurokawa gasped, "Shippo!" She cried wildly.
He looked up in time to see her body sinking, "Kuro!" He exclaimed, running towards her.
Her head had sunk below the surface, but her arm was swinging wildly above. She felt Shippo's strong hand grasp hers, trying to yank her above the surface. All he managed to do, however, was pull her arm out of the socket. He remained oblivious to her pain as he continued to pull on her arm, before she felt his grip loosen and let go altogether. Releasing her into a black oblivion. Soon, thankfully, she sank into unconsciousness.
Shippo pounded his fists angrily into the dirt, digging madly in his attempt to reach Kurokawa, "Kuro!" He called, "Kuro!"
He felt a warm hand grasp his shoulder and was surprised to look into the golden eyes of a certain hanyou, "Inu- Inuyasha?" He gasped.
"Don't worry, we'll get Kurokawa back." He said, standing straighter.
"Hey, how are we going to know the difference between that Shippo and me?" The younger Shippo asked.
"Hm... why don't we use two different names?" Sango suggested, "The older one can be Yuki, and the younger one can be Ishimaru."
She recieved several curious glances before it was agreed upon, "Shouldn't we be looking for other... survivors?" Kagome finally asked.
"Yeah." Yuki said, standing up finally, "I'll go with you."
Ishimaru meanwhile, was dancing around Yuki, "Yay! I grow up to be really strong!" He sang out.
The group piled into Kagome's van, and a solemn silence ensued. The city was deathly silent, if anyone were alive no doubt they were hiding in the various buildings around town. The liveliness of the city had died, no longer were there children playing happily in the parks, or cars traversing the roads. Everything was desolate, not a sound disturbed the streets.
Ishimaru began to squirm impatiently in his seat as the hours dragged on, "My legs are getting numb." He complained.
"Oh... Ishimaru." Kagome sighed and pulled over, "we'll stop and eat here guys."
With Kurokawa
She sat up slowly, trying not to move her arm as immense pain tore through it. She was surrounded by a cushiony darkness, and when she glanced down, Kurokawa realized that she was lying in a bed. The blanket was a deep blood red color, and the canopy that surrounded her was black. "What is going on here?" She said aloud.
Suddenly the canopy parted and she was staring into a pale face- icy blue eyes stared out at her. "So, I see that you are awake." Naraku said darkly.
"Go away." Kurokawa glanced down at her knees, she saw too much of her brother in him right now.
"Dearest Kurokawa." Naraku said, seating himself on the edge of her bed, "must you force me to use drastic measures?"
"I will never join you Naraku, so you may as well kill me now." Kurokawa spat venemously.
Naraku held up his hand and it became transparent, Kurokawa could feel her heart beating as he eased it into her her chest and grasped her heart, "This," He said, squeezing it enough to make her wince visibly, "is where the Shikon no Tama hid itself years ago, the only problem is, I can't use it if I kill you."
His grip tightened and Kurokawa cried out, she grew dizzy, "But, if I taint the jewel, I taint the protector."
"Let go!" Kurokawa grasped at his wrist, "let me go now!"
Kurokawa could feel the bile rising in her throat and was very thankful for not having eaten that day. She heaved dryly and would have pitched backward had Naraku not snaked his other hand behind her to balance her as he pulled her closer to him, she could smell the dark aura around him and tried desparately to push him away, although by now her arms were so weak that they would not obey even the slightest of commands and remained prone at her side. "Let go, please!" She gasped as her body was surrounded by a flickering blue energy that caused Naraku to release her.
Instantly Kurokawa fell back onto the pillows, she curled up into the fetal position, shivering childishly, wishing that her mother would wake her from this horrible nightmare. She was barely aware that instead of Naraku being seated near her, there was a pile of smouldering ashes, a wooden doll with a piece of Naraku's hair lay in it's midst, where blue flames were still hungrily licking at the wood.
The room spun, but she was determined to get away from Naraku, to get back to Shippo, she had just found him after so long it wasn't fair that they had to be separated again. 'Shippo,' She thought tiredly, 'I'll find you again, I promise.'
Some distance away
Yuki's ears perked as he heard a faint voice, "Shippo," It called, "I'll find you again, I promise."
Quickly he leapt to his feet, seeking out the voice, and noticing then that the others were looking at him rather curiously, "Uh... what are you doing?" Inuyasha asked around a mouthful of ramen.
"Didn't you hear that?" He asked in confusion.
"Hear what?" Sesshomaru asked, glancing up at Yuki.
"That voice, it sounded like Kuro's." Yuki murmured.
"I hate to break it to you, but, there was no voice." Ishimaru (for some reason his name is the easiest to remember...) said, glancing at him.
"It was Kuro." Yuki insisted, "She has the ability to speak through her mind, I'd know her thoughts anywhere."
He looked at the others in determination, "What'd she say?" Kagome asked.
"Yeah," Sango said, "what'd she say?"
"She promised to find me again." Yuki said softly, taking his seat again, but no longer thinking about food.
Instead he thought back to when he and Kurokawa had played, that first time that she had spoken to him using her mind. He knew her ability only came out when she was in immense pain, and that fact worried him very badly.
Yuki's memory (Although he'll be referred to as Shippo, so don't freak or anything...)
Kurokawa and I were standing on the swings at the park, just swinging mildly back and forth when her tiny voice suddenly broke the silence, "Let's play hide and seek, Shippo." She said excitedly.
"Okay," I said, glancing at her with a toothy smile, before I could say anything more she spoke again.
"You're it!" I watched as her beautiful face broke into a grin as she jumped off the swing, "Cover your eyes now and count!" She said, then as an afterthought, "no peeking!"
"One!" I called loudly... "100! Ready or not, here I come!" Not a sound disturbed the park as I searched for Kurokawa.
I thought it was odd that I didn't hear her, but then again, she was getting better and better at hiding, she was even able to mask her aura from me. Silently I leapt down off of the jungle gym and sniffed at the air- nothing. "Kuro?" I called rather weakly, and when I got no answering giggle or spike in her power I grew worried- she never keeps herself hidden for so long.
It was only when I listened to the tiny babbling voice in the back of my head that I knew something was wrong. 'Why can't he sense my aura? Why did this strange man attack me? Can't Shippo sense him? Inward gasp Oh no! This guy is Naraku, what does he want? Oh please, find me Shippo, it hurts. His hand just went transparent, what's he doing? Ah, he's digging around in my chest, why? Help, it hurts so badly. Oh my god.
"Kuro?" I called rather frantically, sniffing at the air.
I caught the scent of blood and nearly went crazy, somebody had hurt her, somebody had hurt Kuro. Quickly I ran towards the scent and was nearly blinded by a flash of blue miko energy- Kuro's miko energy. I ran to her side and noticed blood flowing out of her body as though they were a pair of crimson wings unfolding gracefully. "Kuro!" I cried, pulling her into my arms.
I felt her shiver in my arms and nearly cried as I looked around for the bastard that had hurt her, that had hurt my Kuro. He was nowhere in sight, and at the moment not the most life threatening matter, Kuro needed to get home, where her mother would care for her. Quickly I moved, running towards her house nearly three blocks away. Once we were in her livingroom, her mother came bounding down the stairs, Akimoto moving swiftly behind her, "Kuro!" Kagome cried, prying her from my arms, "what happened?"
"Naraku." I murmured, "he hid her aura and scent from me- but somehow she spoke with her mind and led me to her. Kagome- you remember how you thought that she didn't possess miko powers?"
"Yes?" Kagome said, glancing at me from the foot of the stairs, as she was about to run up, she turned to me.
"I think it was her miko powers that saved her. I saw the raw energy, it was blue and must have comepletely disinigrated Naraku's puppet."
"So- she does possess miko powers as well as her demon ones?" Kagome turned to look at me before turning to dash up the stairs, I was right behind her.
Within the next ten minutes she had cleaned and bandaged Kurokawa's wounds and I simply stood at the end of her bed- waiting for her to awaken.
End
"Earth to Yuki!" Miroku was waving his hands in front of his face, bringing the kitsune back to the present.
"Huh?" Yuki blinked and looked around.
"We're leaving now." Kouga said boredly, "to continue the search for ningen survivors."
Kagome was already at the car, and had the engine running by the time the others were in, "Listen, Kagome." Yuki said, "we need to get back to Kaede, maybe she'll know what to do."
"Yeah," Kagome sighed, "there isn't much else we can do anyhow."
A/N Well then... this took a while to write but that was because of all my rewrites and such. I would get halfway and then delete the whole thing.sigh Anyway,chapter four is done...
Chapter 4: Unimaginable Pain; Back through the Bone Eater's Well
Naraku sets to trying to taint Kurokawa's pure heart, but her priestess and demoness powers make it next to impossible for his efforts to succeed, the rest of the gang travel back through the well in hopes of speaking with Kaede and run into- Kikyo, what is she doing here? Tune in Next Time on Naraku's Army of The Undead to find out! Oh, and what's this? Yusuke's gang makes an appearance in the next chapter...
Thanks for reading, R&R for me.
Comments, questions, ask away and I'll answer in the next chapter!
And remember folks, I love my reviewers!
Hamona: Yeah, I know what you mean, I tried to review on a few stories and it didn't work for a while, but finally everything went back to normal. Yeah, I changed the title because it originally eluded me, but finally came out of that fog in my brain. I'll update as often as I can... but I mean, with the attempts of making the chapters lengthy, and the fact that it's finals week, that may be a little tricky. Thanks alot for reviewing, it's especially appreciated.
P.S. Yeah, there really ought to be more...