Chiyo.

Glossary:

Chiyo - it means a 'thousand generations'
sensei - teacher seito - pupil tatakai - fight/duel demo - but gomen nasai - sorry (formal)
damaru - be silent aniki - elder brother temee - you (singular, very very rude way of addressing someone)
yakamashii - shut up/noisy nani - what wakaru yo - I understand!
Kami - God doshiyoo - what should we do?
yame yo - stop it already!
dame - no good/don't chikushou - swear word, equivalent to 'fuck' I think houshi - buddhist monk hora - hey!
mataku - sheesh/gawd Saimyoushou - the poisonous hell's insects that Naraku commands


"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

- Albert Einstein.


Naraku smiled gleefully at the youkai before him. She was perfect.

"Chiyo, this shall be your name."

The girl slowly lifted her head, and stared at him blankly with her red crimson eyes as she remained crouched on the ground before him. Wisps of her soft hair caressed her face as a gentle breeze blew from her back, the stark black contrasting with the blood-red in her eyes.

"Chiyo, stand up and fight me. Show me what you have," Naraku took a step backwards, his left hand resting behind his back while his right beckoned her to him, like a sensei to his seito. He watched her, slowly getting up as her short lithe body straightened and stood motionlessly before him, like a well-oiled puppet. Her shoulder-length straight hair framed her small face and the sharp chin; her hawk-like gaze did not shift an inch from Naraku as the blood-red left her eyes and changed into a bright jade green. Her smooth young face devoid of any lines of emotion, held no expression as her eyelashes fluttered a little.

"Tatakai... ka?" her voice was cottony soft, yet held that steely edge to it.

Naraku nodded his head, he would have to be patient with this one. She could prove to be the best creation that he had made, other than her conflicting unstable nature and the emptiness of her mind, due to the accidental combination and blend of the powers from the Shikon no Tama and his own. He had initially tried to pull the powers from the jewel, at its very core in an attempt to extract and internalize all of its essence and forces. He had failed, but not without some success.

Somehow during the complicated process of extraction and internalization, the forces from the Shikon no Tama started to wrap around his own dark powers and almost purified him, enveloping him until he had no choice but to pull out at the last instant. He had escaped unscathed but the wide expansive area around him was leveled, and utterly decimated. And when the smoke had cleared, he saw her, crouching alone in the middle of bare ground with the tainted incompleted Shikon no Tama in her cupped hands.

A combustion between pure and evil; a blend between good and bad. Would there be such a thing within the next thousand years? He thought not.

"Aa," the corners of his mouth twisted upwards. He was eager to test her powers, and her strength. He could feel, sense, and even see the two different powers swirling within her body and soul. The internal conflict that raged within her, yet they somehow remained together, twirling around each other in harmony from time to time. Naraku could not be more proud, and beamed as Chiyo's hair turned into a light shade of leafy green. He was glad that her mind was empty and she had been born without a character. The perfect servant, one who would obey him completely and stay loyal to him without a fault.

"Fight me, do not hold back until I say so."

Chiyo understood, her eyes enlarging excitedly as they changed into a bright hue of royal purple; her hair seemed to be on static and they turned a little stiff as the leaf-green shade disappeared, leaving behind a mass of bright vermillion glaring back at the surprised Naraku. She was like a chameleon, a delightful, superior, powerful chameleon that could be exploited to the fullest.

Without any sound of warning nor noise of movement, Chiyo raised both her hands, weaponless and made the first move.


Sesshoumaru leaned against the wooden frame of the well and folded his legs, as he listened to the sounds of his surroundings carefully. He could hear nothing alarming nor threatening other than the silly squabble between his ward and his retainer.

"Rin! Stop bothering me!" the kappa-youkai tried to silence the irritating ningen child while keeping his voice as low as possible. The creases in his forehead were so deeply-etched that Rin thought they would never disappear.

"Demo Jaken-sama! Kagome-neesan said that there is something for Rin to learn and to be useful..." she pleaded.

"There is nothing for you to learn! You can never be helpful to Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken got to his feet and decided to take his seat somewhere nearer to his lord, but not too near lest he intruded into his personal private space. Even though his lord had lost his memories, there were old habits that he retained somewhat, to which Jaken did not know whether he should feel happy or disappointed for.

Sesshoumaru still preferred to be alone, not to be interrupted unless necessary, and never did say much about anything. But on the other hand, his temper seemed to have improved a little and he did not seem so easily provoked as before. That was until these few days when Kagome had returned to her 'home'. Sesshoumaru was unusually tensed and edgy; even though he did not show much, Jaken knew it from the occassional fidgeting of his fingers and the slight shuffling of his boots. It was obvious to him that the wretched miko had done this to his lord. She was worse than Rin. Definitely.

"Jaken-sama..." Rin plodded heavily after the wrinkled youkai and tried to grab at the strings that flew from his little black squarish hat. She had to talk to him, he would know what Sesshoumaru-sama needed.

"Go away!" Jaken hissed as he plopped his webbed feet steadily to his lord. He wondered how Kagome returned to her home through the dry well before his train of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by a forceful jerk.

Rin finally managed to wrap her fingers around the dirty black strings and pulled hard, "Jaken-sama!"

Jaken fell back on his back, and he thought he could hear all his bones snapping. "AARRGGHHH! RIN!"

She quickly let go of her fingers and froze, the kappa-youkai was really light at times. "Gomen nasai Jaken-sama!"

Before Jaken could get up, he was once again lying on the ground with a small pebble firmly lodged into the center of his forehead, in between his folds of slimy green skin. Rin leaned forward and looked down, Jaken was lying unconsciously on the ground, with his eyes and mouth wide open. She was not sure whether he was surprised or shocked, and giggled at the inverted image of him.

"Damaru."

Rin clapped both hands over her mouth, which could not conceal her wide shining smile at all, "hai!"

Sesshoumaru tipped his head back, and rested the base of his skull against the ledge of the well. His eyes no longer hurt and his wounds were almost completely healed. He could smell the unusual tangy scent of the magic that this old well held, and from time to time, it made his hairs stand a little. He wondered whether it was some form of portal that only mikos could enter and use. He had carried Kagome himself, jumped into the well, and felt the weight of her body leaving his right arm, as if she had vanished into thin air. He stood there for a moment, until he realized that he could not go with her, and panicked.

What if she did not return? What if she returned and ran into other youkai? And what if, she returned and met Inuyasha and her friends?

All these 'what-ifs' had him sitting by the well, waiting patiently, yet not. He was sure that Kagome would come back to him, at the very least. iShe cares for me/i, this statement ran through his mind at least a hundred times by now, and he was not sure whether he was trying to assure himself of her affection for him, or simply comforting himself that everything would turn out alright.

What if she does not stay?

He frowned. When had such a simple question morph into such a big complicated situation? He had thought it was a clear direct request, and the answer would simply be a 'yes' or a 'no'. But Kagome gave him no answer and returned home. leaving him perplexed and frustrated. He had initially thought it wise and good, to have time and space to oneself, and to let her consider. But as the days went by, his faith in himself faltered with the receeding winter snow, and he started to worry and imagined all the different possible scenarios that he might face with her answer. When had he turned into such an impatient and anxious creature? Or was he originally like that even before he lost his memories? And, how many days had passed?

Sesshoumaru shut his lids, and groaned inwardly. He felt horrible, as if his inner soul was split into two different personas. He could feel his heart lurching forth and back, swaying from right to left as he thought of what he would do and say when she returned. It made him giddy and worrisome thoughts bothered his mind constantly, from her well-being to her injuries, from the speculation of her true feelings to the answer that she would eventually give. From what would happen if his sight returned, and even to the possibility of facing Inuyasha and her family. He had racked his brain over her so much that he thought that he simply could not think sensibly nor rationally any further.

Yet the other part of his soul wrestled hard with the former, throwing endless of questions like vicious daggers at him. Why should he worry, and why should he care? Had he no confidence in himself? Had he no regards of his superior youkai-blood and dignity? Had he forgotten about the possible dangers of getting himself hurt, and shamed again? Was he going to follow his father's footsteps?

How the mighty had fallen, it mocked at him relentlessly again and again. Sesshoumaru felt as if his head would split into two too, and had no idea where the last question came from. His memories of his father were vague, yet impressionable at the same time. How could so many opposing emotions and thoughts co-exist in his mind? Did Kagome went through the same thing too?

He dug his claws into the melting snow, into the ground, until dirt lodged itself firmly in his claws. A sudden notion rose to his mind, and he opened his angry golden eyes. He wanted to sink his claws into warm flesh, to feel the hot gush of blood beneath his skin, to hear the rapid throbbing and pattering of heart-beats until it ceases. He could feel the trembling of Toukijin in his obi, and the clattering as it knocked against the dormant Tenseiga by its side. He let out a low soft growl and got to his feet swiftly. The rest of the disturbing thoughts were pushed away instantly, and his now cleared mind could only focus on the desire and goal; the kill.

Rin knelt quietly beside Ah-Un as she watched her lord made a hurried dash to the nearby woods. His sleek tall figure soon disappeared from her eyes and her gaze fell onto the well, wondering when Kagome would come back and join them once again. She knew that Kagome could soothe her lord. Oh, she could do more things to him than to soothe his irate temper.

A sudden screeching noise broke the wintry silence. Rin turned around to see hundreds of alarmed birds taking flight into the skies. A small smile lit her face as she leaned against the draconic beast and smoothed her small hands over its dirty scaly body, "Sesshoumaru-sama would feel better later..."


He locked his gaze on the angry hanyou and smiled. Inuyasha was far more entertaining than his aniki, and much safer to play with too.

"Byakuya! Temee..." Inuyasha brandished out the transformed fang and wrapped both his clawed hands over the hilt tightly. An equally agitated Sango whipped out her Hiraikotsu and shoved the edge of it into the soft ground, while Kirara transformed and stood obediently beside her owner. Shippou tried his best to squeeze his body into Miroku's robes, only to earn a stern look from the houshi, "Shippou, I don't think you should do this right now."

The kitsune's bright emerald eyes widened as he pleaded silently. Miroku shook his head and wished that Kagome would be here to allay his fears, not that they were unfounded. "Shippou, we need your eyes now you know."

"Aa! Don't be lazy you rut!" Inuyasha yelled, his eyes not leaving the illusionist youkai before him.

One corner of his mouth went up in a confident smile, and Byakuya folded his hands lazily, "aa aa. Don't even blink!"

"Yakamashii!" the incited hanyou growled and slammed Tessaiga hard, "Kaze no Kizu!"

Byakuya's black eyes rounded as he saw lumps of half-melted snow tossed into the air and five streaks of blinding yellow light speeding angrily towards him. Inuyasha definitely did not had the patience nor the composed demeanor that Sesshoumaru displayed. "What an impatient bastard..."

"Nani!" Sango took up Hiraikotsu and Miroku clutched tightly at the rosary beads over his Kazaana, both fully prepared to attack at the slightest movement. "It's an illusion," Shippou stared at the shredded pieces of a lotus flower strewn all over the ground.

"Wakaru yo! Do you have anything else useful to say!" Inuyasha grumbled as he took a few steps forward. Byakuya seemed to have vanished completely, leaving behind no traces of his foul stench and the air was as still as before. Perhaps a little too still. The air seemed to close in on them, and it was suddenly heavy with a light thready mist.

"Inuyasha, something is not right," Miroku scanned his dark surroundings carefully as he turned his head around. Sango nodded her head and the three of them had their backs facing each other while Shippou tried not to shake in the center. It was an awful situation. He knew that Byakuya was a master of illusions, and even though he descended from the line of the great kitsune, he was too young and unskilled in it to be of any help to his friends. And the worst thing was Kagome was not there with them, somehow or the other, Shippou knew that she would be able to make him feel better, and make all of them feel more confident. Kagome always held that light of hope in her eyes, no matter what happened.

"Aa," the hanyou gritted his teeth, his ears twitched as he listened hard. For what seemed like a long while, he caught something, a faint faraway noise. His black eyebrows dipped to the center as he strained to hear it. "Something is coming..."

Miroku nodded his head and narrowed his violet eyes, he could feel it too, but not put a finger to it. He was not terrified, yet not comforted too. He glanced to his side and saw that Sango was as tensed as she could be in a battle. They had never really fought Byakuya before and he knew that Inuyasha and Sango were a little worried, not knowing the true potential nor pitfalls of his attacks and defenses. Miroku's eyes darted back to the front and frowned a little, he shared the same worry with them, and wondered what was the purpose of his sudden 'visit'. Had Naraku decided to eliminate them? Or was this merely another attack to gauge Inuyasha's skills or the strength of them?

The sounds grew louder and more insistent, until Inuyasha finally realized what they were.

"Horses! Tons of them coming towards us!"

Shippou trembled, horses? Was this what Byakuya was doing all along while he hid among the shadows of the woods? He covered his head with his paws and crouched on the ground, not sure what would happen to him now that Kagome was not there to protect him. He could feel the three pairs of feet shuffling back towards him, and Kirara growled defensively.

"Kami!" Sango cried out as she saw hundreds of strong fierce-looking horses galloping towards them, as if they were running for their lives. Miroku's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, the black and brown horses were ibig/i, and he thought that they were not meant for leisure riding nor farming, but more for wars. The horses seem to fly as they rushed towards them, the whole woods was suddenly filled with the frantic clippetty and cloppetty of hooves and their high angry neighing. Kirara growled louder and Shippou hopped up onto the fire-neko, deciding to take shelter on her back.

"Miroku! These horses are not normal!" Inuyasha shouted as he took a step back, soon the three of them were back-to-back and each could feel the tensed rigid muscles of another. Loud pruff noises resounded through the trapped space, and Sango thought that she could see smoke coming out from their nostrils.

"Inuyasha! They are not real!" Shippou screamed as loudly as he could, the illusionary horses were more than big, they were gigantic and their flying mane seemed more like flames of a bright orange fire. He could see that they were actually a little translucent, but because they were so many of them, the blending and mashing of their long bodies made it hard for them to tell whether they were solid or not.

"They are rounding us up!" Miroku answered and tried hard to think of a solution. The horses were surrounding them, but not attacking nor running them down. But it was still an intimidating sight and Miroku once again wondered why Byakuya had sent for them. Horses were not exactly something fearful, and he could detect no youki from these four-legged animals.

"Doshiyoo!" Sango's desperate cries reached their ears and before they knew it, she had executed the first attack.

"Hiraikotsu!" The large youkai-bone boomerang swung out from her right hand as she ran forward and took out her katana with her left.

"Sango!" Miroku dashed forward, not wanting to leave her alone and stood by her side, pulling back the rosary beads, "Kazaana!"

Inuyasha and Shippou could see the bone boomerang slicing through the sleek muscled bodies of the horses, but there was no blood nor torn flesh; Miroku's Kazaana did not seem to do anything other than to suck in debris and snow.

"AARGH!" Inuyasha yelled out in frustration as he swiped Tessaiga at the horses.

Sango caught hold of her boomerang while Miroku closed up his Kazaana. The horses kicked their front legs up angrily and their long high neighing sounds almost burst their eardrums. Inuyasha sheathed Tessaiga back into its saya and covered his ears, Sango and Shippou did the same while Miroku winced. Before they could signal to each other amidst the chaos, the horses raised themselves up on their hind hooves and kicked hard with their front legs high up in the air again. The group almost stumbled back if not for the horses behind them. Inuyasha could not take it anymore and brandished out the transformed fang. Anymore of these ghost-like apparitions and he would go crazy.

"Dame-" Miroku reached out a hand.

"Kaze no-" Inuyasha yelled at the top of his voice.

All of a sudden, the tight band of horses started to disperse and ran for them. Four pair of eyes widened in confusion and ducked, not knowing whether illusionary horses could send real attacks or not. "Miroku! Inuyasha! Sango!" Shippou yelled as he tried to look for his friends while Kirara took him up into the air. Inuyasha leaped as high as he could and realized that the horses ran through Miroku and Sango, and soon vanished into thin air afterwards as if they were never there.

When the four of them were on ground again, they hunched their backs and panted hard as they tried to catch their breath. None had any idea what was going on in Byakuya's mind and Inuyasha cursed loudly, "is that bastard playing with us!"

"Ah! It seems so isn't it!" Miroku answered in between his breaths and looked to his far right at Sango.

"He's acting like a child! Whatever is he thinking!" she frowned and leaned against Hiraikotsu.

Before they knew it, sharp small knives seemed to appear from nowhere and were flying from all sides at them.

"Chikushou!" the hanyou swore. They were now scattered and Inuyasha realized that he was unable to block the dangerous weapons that Byakuya was hurling from the shadows for his friends. So that was his motive! Fucking bastard!

Miroku had hid himself behind Sango, who was using her bone boomerang to block the knives. Kirara took to the air and ducked from side to side, while Shippou thanked his ancestors that he had had the luck to take refuge with the fire-neko. Inuyasha swung Tessaiga around wildly, knocking off the angry mass of flying knives while Miroku threw his ofuda around desperately, hoping to pin-point the location of the damned youkai.

"Houshi-sama!" Sango cried out again as the man behind her let out a grunt and slumped to the ground. A short knife was lodged firmly at the side of his abdomen and blood was gushing out fast. She wanted to check on him, but had to hold onto Hiraikotsu before the both of them became dart-boards. "Inuyasha! He's hurt!"

Without another word or care in his mind, Inuyasha leaped towards Sango and spun around, sending multiples of his Kaze no Kizu around them at the woods, fully intent to drive Byakuya out from his hiding place.

"Hora!" Shippou pointed to his front, he could see a peek of blue and black kimono from the illusionist youkai who was resting snugly amidst the thick conifers.

"So there you are!" Inuyasha's smirk grew wider, "Kaze no Kizu!"

Byakuya widened his eyes, he was supposed to be invisible, but somehow the insignificant kitsune had actually seen him. There was no room for further thoughts and he leapt away as fast as he could before the energy from the hanyou's blade reached him. He had only wanted to play with them, since Kanna had specifically told him that Inuyasha was not to be harmed. But he had to make it look as real as possible at the very least, he was sure that there was one or two of the damned Saimyoushou hovering near them. As he rode on his paper crane away into the skies, he could only curse both Kanna and Naraku. He could have gotten himself killed if he was not fast enough. And they were hiding somewhere again.

"Inuyasha! This is not the end! I shall visit you soon!" Byakuya's voice rolled through the air as the knives dropped lifelessly to the floor with a noisy clash.

Inuyasha stared at the skies and the fleeing crane, he wanted to go after Byakuya, not understanding why he had not persisted in the battle. But a low groan behind him broke his train of thoughts and he turned.

"Houshi-sama..." Sango looked worriedly at Miroku, his black robes were drenched in blood and his face and lips were awfully pale. She squeezed his hand tight, and hoped that would somehow make his pain go away.

"Sango..." Miroku tried to smile, wondering whether that knife had busted any of his internal organs, and at the same time whether he had enough strength to reach for her butt. "Don't worry... daijoubu desu..."

"Miroku, don't die on me now!" Inuyasha bent down and heaved him onto Kirara's back. The houshi could only grimace before he blacked out from the loss of blood. "Sango, let's get him back to Kaede now," Shippou thought that the wound looked real deep and nasty despite Miroku's smile.

Sango nodded her head weakly.


"Kanna, having a good time here?" Byakuya landed with a small thud beside the nihility youkai as the paper crane burst into flames. Kanna lifted her face and looked at him, she did not appreciate sarcasm.

"Is he safe?" her soft hollow voice almost died in the silence.

"Mataku... all you can ask is about his welfare? I was almost killed!" he frowned and folded his arms crossly. Kanna was definitely not a good partner nor accomplice.

She turned her head away, feeling relieved that Byakuya had not harmed Inuyasha. She could sense no Saimyoushou near her, and replied softly, "he is important to us, to bring down Naraku."

His black eyes rounded, were there information that was not disclosed to him but only to her? He sighed inwardly at Naraku's favouritism, and imagined the pleasure that he would derive from stabbing through Naraku's heart with his long katana. "Kanna, do you want to tell me what is going on here? I do not want to die ignorant you know."

There was a long pause.

"Come, look into the mirror," Kanna did not even turn her face as she stared into her youkai reflection. Byakuya hunched his back and looked curiously into her multi-purpose mirror, and thought to himself what he would give to have a weapon like that. As their reflections slowly fade away, his jaw dropped at the new images that appeared. The long silver hair was unmistakable.

He frowned, he would have to make his brains work faster and harder.


A/N: And now my plot slowly unfolds... you will get to see more action. But I really hate to write battles. And I just realized that Chiyo seemed awfully close to Selestia's 'Kagome' in her fic of "The Edge of Heaven". I swear that I wasn't thinking about that when I wrote Chiyo. She has a different purpose in my fic though. So Selestia if you are reading this, my apologies! (Although I'll be ever so happy if you see this since I admire your writing so much!)

And the above scene looks a little.. like ninja? Go Naruto! Hahaha...