Wow, I have never gotten so many reviews for a single chapter before! I'm floored! It makes me so happy that you guys are enjoying this so much. My thanks to everyone who reviewed:
inuyashas hun - Lol, I'm sure no one thought Kagome could purify the Dark Mark until I thought of it (well, ok, so I'm probably not that brilliant, but I certainly have never heard of anyone writing that before). As for Harry and co hearing Malfoy screaming: they're on the other side of the park, or at least far enough that they might not hear anything. Plus Draco gritted his teeth in order to not make as much noise. . . actually I'm more concerned about other people in the park hearing him.
RoaringWind - Huh? Random hyperlinks, what random hyperlinks? Glad I'm being unpredictable, I try very hard.
LitoKyomi - Wow, I'm glad you think my fic's that good. Here's another instalment, hope you like! And from now on I think the chapters are going to be much shorter, so they won't take as long to write. Maybe.
nunofyorbiz - Malfoy, out of character? I think his state of mind at the beginning of the chapter is confused. He's just gone through a major shock, so I think it makes some sense that he's a bit out of it. We all have moments like that. And don't forget that the only time we really see Draco in the books is when he's fighting with Harry.
Lady Sunflower - Sesshy is my favourite character, he has definitely not disappeared into the ether. And I will try very hard not to make the Trio stuck-up. As it is, I'm not planning for them to be major characters in the story, so I don't think that'll be a problem (I honestly do try to be fair to them even though I am a Slytherin fan).
Diana Artemis Silvermoon - Sorry, no I'm afraid the fic won't be long enough for any Kagome/Draco romance. Besides, I think she's too fixated on Inu Yasha. Glad you liked the whole Dark Mark purification thing. Honestly, the idea that she could probably do that is what gave rise to this entire story.
Moonjava - You're not a crossover fan, yet you read mine? Wow, now I'm really flattered. Imagining how different characters and different worlds would interact with one another is why I love crossovers so much.
Deamon Drama Queen - Oh no, not the puppy dog eyes! Aaahhh! Lol, I'm glad you like my plot; I try to be original. I mean, where's the fun in writing a plot that someone else has already done?
Shadowed Rains - I hate making up titles, so I'm glad you like this one. As for Draco, well, he's not really redeemed here: he's just gotten a serious case of reality check.
kris - Don't worry, there will be an explanation as to how Kirara and Sesshoumaru ended up together towards the end of the story.
shadow-mistress - Sorry, no Draco/Kagome romantic pairing, although the two of them are going to be the central characters in this story. Glad you like the story!
Also thanks to: shangxiang10, Aisu, E.J.A Roberts, Helen, Aisu, i am me, and Aria-Chan.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this!
Warning: Minor spoiler for the third Inu Yasha movie (as in I mention a scene from it).
A Clash of Cultures
Chapter 3 - Youkai!
Kagome collapsed onto the grass. She was exhausted; the tattoo had been made with very powerful dark magic and it had seemed to have been trying to draw in more dark magic from someplace. Purifying it had been like a huge tug of war between her magic and some sort of powerful well of magic. She suddenly remembered the spider mark that appeared on each of Naraku's children. Had the mark been something like that? Could it be possible to disconnect the parts from Naraku if she purified their spider symbols?
Not, that she would ever be able to test that theory since generally, they wanted to kill her and so getting close enough to potentially purify the spider mark was somewhat difficult. Not to mention that they were demons, or rather parts of a demon, so it probably worked differently there.
She glanced up at the blond boy. He looked as exhausted as she felt. Then he slowly pushed himself off the ground so that he was kneeling. He pulled up the left sleeve of the strange garment he was wearing and stared at the spot where the mark used to be.
Kagome opened her mouth to ask if he was ok and then closed it again, frowning as she realized she didn't even know his name.
"What is your name?" she asked. Her words seemed to wake him somewhat from his stupor. He blinked.
"Draco," he replied softly, his eyes not moving from the now unmarked skin of his left forearm.
"Are you ok, Draco?" she asked gently. There were several moments of silence before he finally turned to look at her with a bewildered expression on his face.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"I. . ." Kagome began and then realized she didn't know how to explain it in English, "I used magic." she finished lamely.
"Your magic can destroy the Dark Lord's?" his expression was now one of awe. The confusion she was feeling must've shown in her eyes, because Draco's eyes suddenly narrowed into a calculating expression.
"You're not from around here, are you?" he asked.
"No, I'm from Tokyo. I am here visiting my cousin." Kagome answered and then paused, remembering what Cho and her friends had called her. "She said I was a muggle."
Draco looked shocked for about five seconds before he suddenly burst out laughing.
"You? A muggle!" he managed to say in between laughs. "Your cousin must be unbelievably stupid!"
Kagome was annoyed now. The kind of annoyed she frequently got when around Inu Yasha, just before she told him to "sit." Cho said that a muggle was a foreigner, which, being from Japan, she was. She had told Draco as much not two seconds ago. So what was so funny?
She gritted her teeth. Unfortunately, Draco was not Inu Yasha and if she suddenly yelled "sit" she'd only end up getting a funny look from the boy. She stood up, suddenly not feeling at all tired.
"What's so funny!" she yelled at him. "Cho said that a muggle was someone foreign and I'm from Japan, so that makes me a muggle, right?"
Draco slowly got up as well.
"Cho?" he asked. "As in Cho Chang?"
Kagome nodded, wondering just how many of Cho's classmates she was going to run into today.
"You know, for a Ravenclaw, that girl is actually quite daft if she thinks you're a muggle." Draco finished brushing off a few blades of grass from his clothes and looked at her. "Oh, and just so you know, 'muggle' is a term for a non-magical person, which as you have just demonstrated, you are not."
"Oh."
Kagome's next question froze on the tip of her tongue when she suddenly sensed a change in the air. The feeling was so familiar, yet there was something very different about it. Very different. Kirara meowed.
"Do you feel it too Kirara?" she asked, looking down. Kirara meowed again.
"Feel what?" asked Draco.
Kagome didn't answer him and instead dashed to the edge of the bush hedge. She scanned the park. Nothing. But yet she knew it was there, she could feel it.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Draco ran up to her and grabbed her upper arm.
"Yes, I can feel it, but I can't see it," Kagome answered, a touch of panic in her voice. She needed to focus.
She tore away from Draco's grasp and stepped away from him. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the presence she was feeling, tracing it, following the faint essence all the way back to its origin.
Her eyes snapped open and she saw what she was looking for.
"There!" Kagome yelled and pointed in the right direction.
The demonic yaki was seeping through the horizon on the northern part of Hyde Park. It was still fairly far away, but it was getting closer.
"What?" Draco asked with annoyance and squinted his eyes, looking in the direction she was pointing, "I don't see anything!"
"Youkai," Kagome whispered, wishing her luck wouldn't run out and it would be just another old friend popping by to say hello. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, she didn't have that many demon friends.
"Youkai?" Draco repeated, confused. Kagome wished she knew what the word was in English, unfortunately "demon" was not considered a crucial word by her English teacher and so hadn't been on the school syllabus.
"Wait a minute. . . you mean as in demons?" Draco asked slowly. Kagome gave him a blank look and he must've realized she didn't know the word. "You know, like monsters. . . big, mean scary things, grrr." He curled his fingers and motioned with them as if they were claws, which made Kagome giggle.
"Yes," she said, "demons."
He froze mid-grr and stared at her with wide eyes.
"Wait, you're serious, aren't you? You can actually sense demons. . . and they're coming this way?"
Kagome nodded and Draco's hands fell to his sides. Suddenly Kagome remembered that her bag, complete with bow and arrows was still with her cousin, at the other end of the park.
"Kirara," she looked at her old friend, "are you coming?"
Kirara meowed and leaped onto Kagome's shoulder. The moment she landed, Kagome took off. Draco followed.
"Hey, where are you going!" he called after her.
"To get my bow!" she called back.
"Your what?"
"My bow! I left it with my cousin."
Although Kagome was ahead of him, Draco caught up with her and stopped her by grabbing her arm. She glared angrily at him.
"You use a bow?" he asked as he panted for breath.
"Yes."
"Are you a miko?"
Now it was Kagome's turn to stare wide-eyed at him again. How could he know that?
"After Lord Sesshoumaru gave me Kirara here, I went through every book I could find, trying to figure out what kind of a cat she was. I mean, you must admit a cat with two tails is pretty strange. . . and I, well, learned a lot about Japanese culture and stuff. I never thought I'd ever need any of it though. And, wow, the mark. . . you purified it didn't you?"
Kagome however, didn't hear the last bit. She stopped listening after he mentioned Kirara. It suddenly occurred to her that he honestly had no idea what Kirara was; he thought she was just an ordinary cat. Well, an ordinary cat with two tails anyway.
"Kirara. . ." she looked at the cat on her shoulder and asked in Japanese: "you've never transformed for him?"
Kirara looked back sheepishly. Kagome rolled her eyes. Apparently, Draco was in for a bit of a shock.
Just then a chill swept over her like a wave, cutting her to the bone. It felt cold, like death. It reminded her of the dead forest, being trapped in the moth demon's cocoon with her own worse nightmare. She could see the image of a gigantic Naraku looming over her school in Tokyo, laughing at her.
Kagome shivered and then shook her head, pushing the memories back into the furthest parts of her mind. The demons had to be very strong if they were effecting her like this from so far away. She looked back up at Draco and saw worry in his eyes.
"The demons are getting closer," she explained, "we have to hurry."
Kagome didn't wait for his reply before running off again. When she looked back, Draco was running after her, grumbling something about a broom under his breath.
Finally she spotted her cousin by a big stone monument of some sort still talking with her three friends from school. And right beside them, sitting on the grass, was Kagome's bag. Somewhere, she found the energy for an extra burst of speed.
Kagome had enough time to register the four classmates' shocked faces before she knelt on the grass and tore open her bag. She ignored their questions as she frantically pushed stuff aside in order to remove the case with her bow and arrows.
She laid the case down on the grass and listened. Cho and her friends were no longer questioning her. In fact, they were completely silent.
"Lovely, just bloody marvellous," she heard Draco say under his breath, before adding in a louder voice: "Couldn't miss out on the action, could you Scarhead?"
"What do you want Malfoy?" one of the boys spat.
"Leave my cousin alone Malfoy!" Cho yelled.
Kagome opened the case and took the bow out, slinging the quiver of arrows over her left shoulder before she stood up and turned around.
"I wasn't doing anything to her!" Draco yelled back.
"Oh, so why were you chasing her then?" the bushy-haired girl asked angrily.
"Yeah, you don't honestly expect us to believe that you just happened to be jogging through the park in the same direction as a defenceless muggle girl!"
Kagome watched as the dark-haired boy took a step towards Draco. They stood there for a few moments just glaring at each other, reminding Kagome of Inu Yasha and Kouga. Draco had his stick out again and she noticed that the other boy had one in his hand as well. When she looked to the others she saw they all had similar sticks: all pointed at Draco.
Suddenly Draco smirked and took a step back.
"Poor, defenceless muggle, Potter?" he sneered and then looked briefly to Kagome. "You must need new glasses, because if Kagome here's a muggle, then I'm a death eater."
"You are a death eater!" the red-head accused him.
"Actually, Weasel, sorry to disappoint. . ." Draco rolled up his left sleeve, ". . .but no, I'm not."
Cho's friends leaned in to have a closer look.
"B-but I thought Snape said that. . ." the girl, whose name Kagome remembered began with an H, began slowly.
"Snape?" Draco looked taken aback. "Why would Snape say anything to you, unless. . ." A look of comprehension appeared on his face. The rest of the group looked horrified.
Kagome wished she knew what was going on.
Before she could even begin to make sense out of the conversation another cold chill passed over her. Only this time it was stronger and it seemed to communicate with something deep within her soul, something dark. Before her, she suddenly saw the earth open up, baring the fires of hell to the world. Legions of the dead marched on the command of the Tenka Hadou no Tsurugi, their intention to destroy everything in their path. It was hopeless. Kagome watched Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru battle against the evil sword with no luck. Even the always-composed demon lord was looking haggard. She despaired.
"Inu Yasha," she whispered, her eyes closing shut in an attempt to lock out the image. 'But wait,' something in her mind whispered, 'that's not where it ended.'
Kagome concentrated on the voice in her head and suddenly she remembered the rest. She remembered dashing out of the barrier Miroku was maintaining and onto the edge of a cliff. She remembered firing an arrow at the Tenka Hadou no Tsurugi and watching as the powers of the Tetsuaiga and then the Tenseiga joined it. She remembered lying on her back afterwards, watching the clouds roll by, glad that it was all over.
Someone gently touched her shoulder. Kagome opened her eyes.
"Are you alright, Kagome?" Cho asked her with a worried expression. "Do you need to sit down? Poor dear, running around like that when you're so sick."
Kagome groaned inwardly. Then she noticed Draco watching her, eyebrow raised. She glared at him. He smirked. She glared harder.
"Kagome, do you always carry bow and arrows when you go sightseeing?" the other girl asked. Suddenly Kagome felt all eyes on her.
"Ummm. . . " she couldn't think of a good response to that.
Kirara hopped onto her shoulder and meowed in warning. Reality hit Kagome like a bucket of cold water. She looked in the direction she had seen the yaki before. Her eyes widened. The demons were almost at the park gates.
"Kagome? What- oh Merlin, they're here, aren't they!" Draco asked, fear colouring his voice when he realized what Kagome must be seeing.
"They? Who's they?" Cho asked.
"Yeah Malfoy, who's they?" the red-head took a step towards Draco and shoved the stick in his hand up against the side of his neck. Just then the dark-haired boy hissed and put his hand to his forehead in a gesture of pain. Cho and the other girl gasped.
"Harry!" they cried.
Author's notes:
Translations - Yaki: I couldn't find an English translation for this word. It's the demonic aura (?) that demons radiate. Since all of the main characters on Inu Yasha are people who have either trained to fight demons or are demons (or are Kagome, to whom it comes naturally), I'm assuming that normal people can't sense the yaki. None of the Harry Potter characters have that kind of backround, which is why they can't see or sense it like Kagome.
The Tenka Hadou no Tsurugi: The Sword of World Conquest. It's a demon-possesedsword that used to be carriedby Inu Tashio (Inu Yasha's father).The scene described is from the third Inu Yasha movie.
Anyway, hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!