Memory of a Soul
Ailian Rhys

Warnings: Little messy in this chapter. Could be worse. But then again I find that my morbid stuff always come out rather well. O_o? Scary thought.

Disclaimers: Same as before. Will be the same all the way through, so there.

Chapter Two: Upheaval

Rinako hunched down in the worn black seat, hands shoved in the pockets of her coat. She peered out through the windshield of Azarni's old beat-up black car, watching the apartment building in front of her. Azarni had decide it would be best to wait and see where Sachiko went, since the woman firmly believed her sister had a big hand in this ceremony. So now they were parked on a side street where they could still see her sister's apartment complex, waiting to see if she came out.

As to why Rinako was thereshe didn't really understand the reason herself. As soon as the words had left Azarni's mouth in that café, Rinako knew she had to go with her friend. Some little voice inside her mind had started screaming that thought at her full blast. And she couldn't say no.

And so she now sat in the car, watching the boring sidewalk in front of an apartment building with a sense of fear slowly creeping up to tighten in her chest. They'd been there since seven, when the sun had set. It was now about nine o'clock and still nothing happened. People passed by the building on the sidewalk, but they were just normal people going about normal business.

"Where the hell are they?" Azarni hissed from her side of the car, behind the steering wheel. She was hunched down too, since it was rather chilly that night and she didn't have the car on.

"How can you be sure Sachiko's part of this, anyway?"

"I just know it, all right!" Azarni snapped.

Rinako shifted to look out the window, wounded by her friend's sharp tone. She heard Azarni sigh behind her. "Sorry, Rinako. I'm a bit edgy. I shouldn't have snapped."

Rinako glanced back over at her, a ghost of a smile managing to wobbly its way over her lips. "That's okay. I'm edgy too this whole concept is creeping me out."

As soon as they had left the café that afternoon Rinako had gone home and hopped on her old laptop. The thing was as slow as a freaking half-dead snail, but she'd eventually got online and looked up some information on summoning ceremonies. And what she read had chilled her. Granted, not all summoning ceremonies were like the one Azarni was sure they were doing. Many involved only spirits and such. But they few that mentioned the dead were terrifying. Words like chants, magic, and sacrifices had come up a few times. Not to mention the idea of opening up graves. Many people online had stated how such things were nonsense, hoaxes at best.

But Rinako wasn't too sure. There was a feeling in her that told her that it was real. And it was going to happen tonight. She had no idea who it was they were trying to awaken, but whoever it was they had to be big news. Why else would they go through all this trouble?

"Rinako!" Azarni whispered urgently, poking her friend on the arm. Rinako sprang back into focus, turning to look at her companion. "Look over there!"

A dark red sedan had pulled up to the curb in front of the apartment building. A dark green SUV came to rest right behind it soon after. The front doors opened on the car and two people stepped out, both dressed in elaborate old-age outfits. Rinako gasped when she recognized the waiter Ryoichi to be one of them. His haori was dark red with black patterns around the edges that she couldn't discern from this distance. It reminded her too much of blood and Rinako started to feel queasy. She swallowed the feeling instantly.

The other person to get out of the vehicle was a woman. Her hair was long and shined a bright red in the moonlight, but other than that Rinako couldn't see much of her since she was on the other side of the car. Both of the woman in the black car watched as their former waiter went up the steps of the apartment building and hit the intercom button. The woman waited by the car, occasionally turning around to speak to whoever sat in the back.

Soon the door to the building opened and Sachiko came out. She wore a dark blue kimono that had blood red moons sewn into the fabric. Over her arm was slung the same dress bag that they'd seen her with earlier today.

Ryoichi bowed to the woman when she appeared, seeming to be paying reverence. Sachiko gave him a slight nod before pulling herself up and descending the stairs gracefully as if walking down to meet her subjects. The red haired lady moved forward and bowed as well. The two spoke together for a minute before the lady ushered Sachiko into the front seat of the car. She went in the back while Ryoichi circled around to get in front. And few minutes later the car started up and the headlights flickered on. The SUV followed suit and soon the two had pulled away from the curb and started down the street.

Azarni reached for her keys. "Here we go!"

"But what if they notice us!" Rinako whispered hoarsely, thinking of the green SUV. How many people did they have in there?

"No time to worry about that! We have to follow them!"

She turned the car on and hit the gas, not bothering to turn on her headlights. They leapt forward, the old car protesting this sudden abuse with a groan, and soon they were following the two vehicles

"Where can they be going?" Azarni wondered aloud for the fifth time that night. Rinako shrugged, eyes intent on the road. The digital clock in the car flashed that it was almost one in the morning. They'd been driving for hours and still the two vehicles in front of them kept going. They were on the back roads now and it had taken some crafty moves on Azarni's part to keep her car from being seen. They didn't know if they had all worked, but the group they were following didn't seem to be in a hurry to lose them.

Rinako had offer to make a quick switch with Azarni an hour ago, but the girl had refused, saying that by now she was so wired that she could drive all night. And Rinako knew how she felt. The farther out from the city they went the more nervous and jittery she became until she was sure that her stomach would explode from the amount of butterflies in it before they got wherever they were headed. Right now her hand clutched the door armrest, her eyes fixated on the small red taillights ahead of them. Azarni still had the headlights off and it was only thanks to the moonlight that they could see.

Thinking of the moon, Rinako pulled her eyes from the windshield to peer out the side window. The sky was clear blue tonight, littered with thousands of white pinhole stars. But what drew her attention was the moon. It hovered in the air above them, a slim glittering crescent. Yet despite it's size it was giving off enough light to be considered a full moon. The light it gave off was cold and lonely however and Rinako shivered.

She couldn't wait until this was all over.

Turing back to face front Rinako noticed the SUV ahead of them put on its blinker. "Azarni."

"Yeah, I see it. Hopefully we aren't far."

She waited for the cars ahead of them to turn before following them, not bothering to signal. The SUV continued to lumber on and Azarni groaned. "I hope we have enough gas for this. This baby here eats gas like there's no tomorrow."

Rinako simply nodded vaguely at her friend's comment, not really hearing it. She was too preoccupied with the sense of dread that suddenly washed over her. She stared straight ahead. Something inside of her was telling her they were close—really close. The young woman started to shiver uncontrollably as if icy fingers were crawling up her spine. She'd never been so afraid in all her life.

It didn't take long to reach their destination. Both women saw it before the group ahead of them even turned. It was a huge cemetery that spread out from a stone wall to a good-sized shrine in the back. The moonlight seemed to be centered on that one shrine, reflecting of its lacquered walls and tiled roof to spread out over the headstones below. Some of these stones were plain, but a few were huge ornamented things that cast long dark shadows in the light.

Rinako felt her heart start pounding a million miles a minute. She had to take a deep breath to steady herself. This was it. It had to be.

And certain enough it was. They watched the two automobiles ahead of them turn into the open gates. Azarni instantly pulled over to the side of the road and shut the car off. Both of the women stared at each other wordlessly for a long moment before opening their doors slowly and crawling out of the car. They were careful to shut the doors just as quietly and with a motion from Azarni they crept up to the gates. Leaning over cautiously they peered inside.

The vehicles were drawn over to the side of the path and a bunch of people piled out of the SUV. About nine scrambled out of the back while three hopped out of the front. Rinako didn't know how they could have fit so many in there for such a long ride.

The people were a mixture of men and women, all dressed in ancient dress. They all flocked around the red sedan, waiting for those inside to get out. Ryoichi was the first, coming around to open the back door for the person behind him. A young woman stepped out, dressed in a male's haori and kimono. She had dark black hair that looked as if it could suck in all the light about her. She stepped back to allow Ryoichi to go to the other side and help the redhead from before slide out. She stood proud in her brilliant white kimono decorated with dark blue swirls with a yellow and blue obi tied about her waist.

She too stepped aside and Ryoichi opened the last door and Sachiko stepped out. All of the people from the SUV clustered about her suddenly dropped to their knees, performing a deep kowtow to the woman who stood tall and proud before them. She still carried the dress bag from before and now she took the time to uncover whatever was inside. Tossing the bag to the waiting Ryoichi, she held up something white. It looked to be an outfit similar to those the men wore now, except it shone in the night, the white so brilliant that Rinako had to look away after a while. But she did notice the markings on the one shoulder that looked the color of blood, and how Sachiko held this beautiful outfit up to herself. It was much too big for her, nearly dwarfing her with its brilliance, but she stood her ground.

"And from this night forward I shall be acquainted with my former self," she spoke clearly, calling everyone's attention to her smooth calm voice. All of those gathered around her murmured quietly in what sounded to be approval.

The redheaded woman and the strange black-haired girl came up to Sachiko then and the kimono-clad lady gestured for the outfit. Sachiko handed it to her with a disdainful glance.

Rinako watched in fascinated silence as they all moved further into the cemetery. Thankfully the cars were out of the spying women's line of sight. They group stopped on what appeared to be an empty spot in the cemetery. There weren't any gravestones here but still no one had buried anyone, despite the rest of the graveyard being full.

The party circled this empty area with the four from the car standing at one end. The redhead seemed to take charge then, taking a step forward and lifting her arms. All of the people from the SUV mimicked her, their voluminous sleeves falling down their arms. Everyone else from the car took a step back, even Sachiko, who watched all that was happening with a lazy gaze.

"I invoke magic of a time once known," the redhead intoned, her voice taking on a darker tone. As soon as those words left her mouth she changed. The air about her wavered and soon her ears lengthen to points and her fingers lengthen into wicked looking talons. Her hair grew in length until it sprawled across the green grass and her skin darkened to a dark brown. Her eyes, once a pale blue now became orange and slitted. Her whole body bent forward slightly and what appeared to be a black tail broke through her obi and kimono to waver in the wind.

Rinako waned to scream. She wanted to run away. But she couldn't, she was frozen. She couldn't even turn to look at Azarni, who undoubtedly was as affected as she was. All she could do was watch the scene in front of her unfold.

No one else in the group seemed to be affected by the lady's change. They even closed their eyes, tilting their heads back.

"We invoke magic of our old lives," they recited as one and again the air appeared to ripple like water.

Rinako almost fell over in a dead faint. They were changing as well. But many of them didn't even look human. Instead they became all sorts of different beasts covered in hair and scales with sharp claws and atypical ears. Some stood on two legs while others fell to four. And still others fell to eight, hundreds, or none, depending.

Somehow she managed to drag her eyes to where Sachiko stood. The people there were changing as well, the woman morphing into what appeared to be a cat creature with cat ears and leopard like spots in her hair and on her skin. The other one to morph was Ryoichi, who now sprouted a pair of dark green wings, which he was flapping experimentally as if trying to become reacquainted with them. His face was still human but now his hair fell like feathers about him, wavering in the breeze. His hands were clawed like a hawk and a faint layer of green feathers started halfway up his arm to run under his haori.

The only one present that didn't change at all was Sachiko. She stood amongst all this and watched them with what appeared to be an impatient look. But if Rinako stared at her long enough she could see the hesitation that was shining in her eyes.

By now the transformations were complete and the creatures were now stretching and scratching, as if trying to fit into an favorite suit that they hadn't used in a long while. There were some murmurs as well as growls and hisses. The lead woman called their attention with a commanding growl and they immediately stopped, falling back into their circle.

"And with this power let us begin," she remarked, her voice much more guttural than before. She raised her arms while everyone in the circle only lifted their head high, since it was now impossible for many of them to raise arms, and she began, starting to chant quietly in a growling rough language that jarred Rinako's nerves. The two creatures on either side of Sachiko raised their arms as well and began to repeat her words.

The intoning began to swell in volume as if thousands of voices were starting to follow along. Rinako cringed, finally finding enough sense to cover her ears. If she didn't she felt they would burst. She felt Azarni back up into her and the two huddled together in fear. This was far stranger than either could have imaged would happen.

In that instant Rinako realized something. Demons. That's what those things were. Demons like the ones in Sachiko's stories.

Oh, how she wanted to go back to that afternoon and persuade Azarni not to do this

The voices kept going behind the wall. The two women finally found the will to look at them again. And Rinako nearly gasped. Dancing around all the creatures in the circle was a whitish haze that had veins of black as dark as pitch racing through it. It swirled around them, closing around them, becoming thicker and thicker until it was almost opaque. But Rinako managed to see underneath it and saw that the earth on the inside was cracking open like it would in an earthquake. The cracks stretched like questing fingers over the surface until just before the circling feet.

Now the chanting rose to such a volume that Rinako's hands couldn't protect her ears any longer, and then it stopped. The woman's lips were still moving, but Rinako couldn't hear it. For a moment she thought she went deaf, but she heard Azarni's raspy breathing right in front of her and was certain that wasn't the case. It seemed that they were now too high and loud for her to hear. Which was impossible!

But it had to be so. There was no other explanation. She didn't think the woman would just stand there and mime the words.

But this odd phenomenon was soon pushed out of her mind by still yet another. There was a swell in the white power around them all and it rushed up to the center only to clash together in a stunning white-hot explosion that shot towards the ground.

And then it was gone.

The woman continued to chant but the other two stopped, their lips falling still. Nothing was happening; the power was just gone. But Rinako could still feel its presence, stirring her blood and setting her nerves on edge all at once.

OhGOD!

All of a sudden the light exploded from the ground. It grasped for each of the beasts around the circle except for those who had been chanting and Sachiko. It cut through them easily like a blade, blood splattering everywhere. There were many inhuman shrieks as this power tore through their bodies, sending limbs flying towards the center. Whole chunks of flesh hit some of the distant headstones only to be magically drawn back to the center of the circle. Rivers of blood lifted a few inches above the soil to drain back into the pile of demon in the center, which started to sink into the cracks.

And still the woman chanted.

Rinako doubled over, bile rising in the back of her throat. She leaned to the side and threw up, hearing Azarni whimper and do the same. Rinako wanted to continue throwing up until there was nothing left of her to witness thishorror, but unfortunately she couldn't do it. After her dinner and afternoon tea came back up there was nothing but dry heaves. She wiped her mouth on her coat sleeve and turned to look at Azarni, whose eyes were shinning with panic in the night.

Rinako was about to suggest that they leave, now, but something within her wouldn't allow her to open her mouth. She felt her eyes involuntarily drawn back to the graveyard. Which was now perfectly clean of any sign of the slaughter, despite the fact that the people that had been there were gone. The cracks seemed to have soaked up all of the aftermath quiet efficiently.

Now all that remained where the woman and her two companions demons. Sachiko still stood with them, but her impassive face was gone now, replaced with one of horror.

And still the demon chanted, her voice falling back into a range that Rinako could hear. The words sounded demanding, as if she was trying to force something to come out of the ground.

Which apparently she was.

The cracked earth trembled after a while, grinding as dirt slid against gritty dirt. The jagged pieces started to spilt further apart and with a sudden shower of dirt and grass a large white form appeared out of the soil. It was tucked into a rectangular crevice in the earth that could only be a grave. But this thingwasn't human.

It was a mammoth dog.

The creature swayed unsteadily as it rose to its feet, which Rinako saw it only had three of. It tossed its gigantic head, ears flopping against its powerful jaws. She could see the glimmering fangs as the beast opened its mouth slightly. It gave a dog-like cough as if trying to get rusty lungs to work again. A large white tail uncurled from around its sleek white body and stretched out in the moonlight. Despite the dirt flying around –and that fact that it came out of a grave– its coat was still pristine white. It's white head turned in such a way to allow Rinako to see the creature's face and she saw it had strange stripes on its cheeks, just as it did on others parts of its body, she soon noticed.

But what really drew her attention were the creature's eyes. It had none. They were just blank white orbs in its white face that stared at nothing.

As she stared at the huge dog Rinako felt her heart quicken. For some reasonsome little voice in her head was calling out to the creature. The woman furiously suppressed this voice, thinking that she was starting to go insane from the trauma tonight. It wouldn't go away though...

Sachiko seemed to have forgotten the bloodbath before. As the woman continue to intone the strange words, this time becoming softer and softer, the human woman stepped forward, her steps hesitant and her expression one of complete awe.

"So it was true" she whispered her voice almost too soft for Rinako to hear. She continued walking towards the mammoth creature before her, which dwarfed her like a child would an ant. It didn't seem to notice her, standing in its old resting-place and panting slightly.

The other demons in the area watched the woman spread her arms out in front of the beast before of her, the beginnings of triumphant smiles on their faces. But Rinako barely glanced at them, her eyes caught on the figure of Sachiko and the beast, to which she was exposing herself to whatever harm those claws could give her by closing her eyes and titling her head back in what appeared to be ecstasy. "I was right!" she screamed, her voice echoing through the graveyard.

It was then that the creature looked at her with those sightless eyes. They pinned on her, despite the apparently lack of pupil or iris to tell, and Sachiko gasped, eyes flying open. She convulsed once before a black mist rose up from her. She stood frozen in a completely unnaturally position as this mist rose. More of it began to rise from the earth about the beast and start curling around its limbs. The creature didn't notice it; its eyes still on Sachiko. Soon those eyes started to form, first a black pupil followed by an iris of almost heavenly gold. They would have been almost ethereal if not for the coldness that soon crept in to ice them over.

The woman demon finally stopped chanting and only stared up at the beast in front of her, her expression one of complete and utter triumph.

Sachiko still stood twisted in her earlier convulsion, her eyes and mouth wide as if in shock or pain. Soon her head lolled to the side and Rinako bit back a gasp. Her eyes were as white as the creature's had been. The body of Azarni's former sister crumpled to the ground after that.

Azarni gave a soft whimper and Rinako threw her hand over her friend's mouth immediately. For some reason she had the impression that that beast would be able to hear her when the other hadn't.

The dog creature in front of the demons hunkered down slightly on its three legs and seemed to stare at them all with a cold calculating gaze. The demons watched him in silence for a long moment until the woman gestured to Ryoichi who turned around and gathered up the dress bag that sat behind him. He withdrew the white material and held it out to the large creature as if he expected it to use it.

The dog gazed at them all a bit longer before sniffing slightly, its nose twitching. Those gold eyes flickered around the walled in cemetery quickly and settled on the entrance. But Rinako had felt that would happen and pulled back just in time, yanking Azarni back with her. They sat in a heap, trying not the breath too loudly, before Rinako inched up to peer around the edge of the wall again.

Her eyes grew wide. A familiar mist was swirling around the beast now and she watched as it shrunk in size, its body morphing until a human figure stood in its place. This figure was undressed, with very fair skin and long white hair that flowed around its form like liquid. Ryoichi hurried over to the strange human in an instant, helping them with sliding into the elegant garb. The two demon women watched in silence, the cat-like woman with a look of fascination while the other had an expression of all out rapture.

As soon as the stranger was properly dressed in the white silk Ryoichi withdrew and together the remaining survivors all fell to their knees and kowtowed deeply.

"Welcome back to the living realm, Sesshoumaru-sama," they stated as one, bowing and scarping in a way that seemed so odd considering the noble bearing they had held before.

Rinako felt her eyes drawn to the standing figure of this Sesshoumaru-sama and she bit her tongue to keep from crying out. The creature there looked so much like Sachiko it was astounding, yet where Sachiko had looked pretty, this stranger was beautiful. Fair skin now held marks similar to those the huge dog had worn, contrasting starkly with the white flesh and the golden eyes that took in all that was happen with a gaze of such apathy that Sachiko would never have been able to achieve.

As if hearing her thoughts those eyes flashed in her direction with such speed that she didn't have the chance to hide. The gaze settled on her body like stone, slowly crushing her. She couldn't breathe.

This had to be the most terrifying moment in her life.

Yet as soon as those eyes had landed on her they turned away to focus on the groveling demons once more.

"Humans." The voice that spoke was deep and smooth, definitely a man's voice although the figure it came from could have been either. It was a voice that froze the terrified Rinako to the very bone, making it so that she couldn't move. But apparently Azarni wasn't as affected. She stumbled hastily to her feet and grabbed Rinako's arm.

"Come on!" she hissed, tears streaming down her face.

Rinako couldn't move. She continued to stare at the strange man. She barely noticed as the other demons raised their heads and glanced around. She couldn't care as the creatures rose to their feet and two of them started towards them.

"Rinako!" Azarni was screaming now, pulling so insistently that she nearly yanked her friend's arm from its socket. "Come ON! We're going to DIE!" The last was a hysterical wail that burst through the night.

It was this cry that made the strange white man turn his gaze towards them once more. Rinako stared into those golden eyes and felt herself silently pleading with them.

You wouldn't do this to meYou wouldn't let them hurt me

To her astonishment he seemed to hear –-or rather sense— her cries. Something flickered in those cold eyes that seemed almost to be remembrance. His voice soon cut through the silence.

"Bring them to me. Alive."

Rinako felt Azarni slump against her body in a dead faint and as soon as clawed hands wrapped around her wrist Rinako felt herself slip away as well.

But right before she closed her eyes the woman saw the demon man still watching her, eyes gleaming like twin suns in the moonlight.

--

A/N: So, was that expected? I must say I had waaaay too much fun writing this part. I am such a sadist.

This muse is pretty much eating away at my mind. So hopefully with the time I now have I will get it done. And maybe this muse will also help me get my other stuff moving. ::looks at FY fic:: Stupid cute scenes. I need angst!

::walks away mumbling::