Wow, the really dramatic post! Not really that dramatic, but everyone's acting dramatic. Except Sango and Miroku. And Yoshiko and the people she's with sort of has a reason to be dramatic. And I suppose InuYasha and Sueko have an excuse… but they're still being overly dramatic! Sigh Just to let you know, you might want to try and remember "Chapter Eighteen: Complicated Love" because part of this chapter revolves around that. But you don't necessary have to go reread it because part of it is re-explained but just remember it, okay
DISCLAIMER
Sigh Must I do this every single bloody time? I mean, really! If you don't have this drilled to your brain that is just plain sad! But I suppose I must explain, otherwise Fluffy-sama will show up and chop my head off or something… I'm in a strange mood if I'm calling Sesshomaru Fluffy-sama… but it's such an awesome nickname! And it's so much easier to type during IM. Well, Fluffy, that is. If only InuYasha had a nickname that was shorter than his name. IY or Inu just doesn't work the same way as Fluffy-sama… Hmm… ANYWAYS, anything created by Rumiko Takahashi we don't own. You know, Takahashi is a very common Japanese surname. I ran across this information online the other day. I forgot what I was searching for exactly. Well, maybe I should just shut up so you can read the fan fic… and reply because if you don't then Fluffy-sama will cut your head off.
Seriously!
And I never got around to editing this even though I was going to, and I figured that it's been a while since the last update that I should just do it anyways so I am anyways… But it's not like we're horrible writers or anything. We use spell check for god's sake!
Chapter Twenty-Three: The Labyrinth and Sueko's Decision
It was really odd being back in Feudal Japan with all her friends. She was so used to the daily routine in her day that it was difficult to get back to her daily routine here… especially when that was walking around Japan when she was wearing these really painful shoes! They were really cute dressy sort of shoes that were just fine when wearing them for short periods of time… but it hurt enough walking all through Tokyo with Keitaro and then up all those stairs with the shoes on. Walking all around Japan just made it worse.
At one point Sueko just wondered if it would just be best to walk around barefoot (well, she couldn't wear just her socks because they'd get all dirty) but, luckily, it was around this time that Sango noticed Sueko's odd walk and wincing and asked her if she'd be happier wearing a spare pair of sandals she had?
Okay, it might have been February but Sueko was desperate enough to accept. Besides, with socks on it wasn't that bad. And they were really comfortable. For people with a lack of shoe stores they sure knew how to make them on their own.
With her shoe problem solved, Sueko was left to wonder about… well, Feudal Japan. She had missed out on quite a lot since she'd been gone. And she no had clue if anything drastic had happened either… and she was almost too afraid to ask. It seemed to her everyone was a lot more quiet than usual too… was it because she had showed up? Had she been gone for so long that it was just too weird for her to be back?
All these thoughts were really random and very confusing… Maybe Sueko had been gone a little too long… Perhaps it was a good thing that an all too familiar sound filled her ears as she heard Yoshiko moan and InuYasha growl in disgust as the familiar scent filled their more sensitive noses.
A funnel of wind stopped it's winding in between the trees right in front of Yoshiko, and it quickly turned into a familiar looking boy with long black hair and a lot of brown in his outfit.
Koga held both of Yoshiko's hands in his as he asked, "How's my girl been doing since we last met?"
"Fine, thanks," said Yoshiko dryly, jerking her hands out of his.
"Mutt-face hasn't been giving you problems?" Koga asked, crossing his arms casually.
"No! Why would InuYasha be giving me problems?" asked Yoshiko.
"What about his brother… Sesshomaru? You've been hanging around with him a lot lately…" said Koga.
"Oh, for Gods sake! Why would I tell you about my personal life!" cried Yoshiko.
"If he hasn't been treating you properly I can always kill him for you," said Koga.
"YOU DON'T NEED TO KILL SESSHOMARU!" screeched Yoshiko.
"Koga, what do you want?" asked Sueko boredly.
When Koga looked over at Sueko his eyes widened. Not that Sueko knew why—or cared, really—she was just annoyed that he never really paid attention to her unless she said something. But she found it extremely strange when Koga put a one hand on his hip and asked, "Who are you?"
"Who am I!" cried Sueko. "Who do you think I am? It's not like you've never seen me before!" When Koga's expression remained unchanged she added while waving her arms about in her fury, "I'm Sueko! You know, Spiritual Shrine girl! Foreign girl who came out of well! Girl with weird psychotic sword!"
Okay, so he wouldn't have gotten the sword part. But Sueko was too cranky to care.
"Really?" said Koga, raising an eyebrow. "You're a lot prettier then the Sueko I remember."
Sueko then realized the fact she was wearing a skirt. A fairly short skirt… and this really fancy red shirt… and her hair was still somewhat curly from when Tamika had curled it yesterday. So maybe someone used to living in the 15th century would find her appearance very different from her normal, plain one, but still…
Still acting bored, Sueko crossed her arms and asked, "And your point exactly is what?"
Koga shrugged, putting that one arm back at his side again. "Can't I notice a pretty lady once and a while?"
"Ha!" cried Sueko. "Me, pretty… you sure you're looking at me and not that half tiger demon over there?" she asked, pointing over at an extremely cranky Yoshiko.
"Well, aren't you cute?" said Koga.
"Huh?" said Sueko.
"Is there a reason why you're here or are you just going to stand there enjoying the sound of your voice?" asked InuYasha moodily.
"What's it to you, mutt-face? Am I not allowed to talk to your friends?" said Koga smugly.
"You're just wasting my time, that's all," said InuYasha crankily.
"And I'm supposed to care why?"
"Could you be any more immature?" Yoshiko asked with a sigh.
"Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?" Sueko muttered under her breath.
"Look, if you're just going to stand there and think highly of yourself could you just leave?" complained InuYasha. "I'm really getting sick of you!"
"But I wanted to see Yoshiko!" said Koga as if it was the most important thing in the world. "I was thinking of getting her flowers… but I didn't have time to pick any."
"It's winter, idiot!" snapped Sueko. "There aren't going to be any flowers."
"Flowers…" muttered Yoshiko as if she wasn't sure she was hearing correctly.
"Yeah, you know, flowers," said Koga, turning toward her and putting his hands on his hips. "Those pretty things that grow and—"
"I know what they are!" cried Yoshiko. Then her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "But why would you get me flowers?"
"Because you're my woman and I like you!" said Koga, raising his eyebrows. "I bet that Sesshomaru guy doesn't give you flowers."
Yoshiko didn't bother saying anything. Instead her eyes just narrowed, she pulled back her fist and hit him on the eye. She hit him so hard he fell backwards onto the ground. With that she turned on her heels and walked off.
Koga was so frustrating! She tells him to leave her alone and he just gets even more attracted. Plus he just had to bring up Sesshomaru every time he showed up. Like she needed reminding of that by a guy that actually liked her. Which brought up a pretty interesting thought: if Koga did like her why didn't she just forget about Sesshomaru and get together with the wolf? It would be so much simpler than hanging out with a guy that didn't care about her at all. It was rather pointless to even trying seeing him. In fact she really only wanted to see Rin.
'Just admit you like the guy already! Everybody else can se it,' said a voice in the back of Yoshiko's head. 'Even Rin.'
But she had already admitted she liked Sesshomaru… hadn't she? Yeah, sure, Sueko had just said Yoshiko liked him and she agreed… but she had said it! Well, okay, not really recently. Sueko had, once again, said she liked him. Sango had assumed that was what she was trying to say. Koga was asking question about him (the nerve of some guys!), and Sueko had told InuYasha. Oh, and now Miroku knew as well. At least that meant she wouldn't have to worry about him feeling her butt. He was that considerate anyways. The point however was that Yoshiko had never really said it. Wow, three simple words and she couldn't even say them. Then again the last time she said them Raoul had died.
'I haven't thought about him in a while,' thought Yoshiko, stopping and looking around at the trees as if expecting him to walk out, or for somebody to show up. 'You know, Koga's kind of like a louder version of him. So why can't I just like Koga? It would be so much easier…'
Maybe it wasn't Koga that was frustrating. Maybe it wasn't even Sesshomaru (thought he was a definite part of it). It was her head and feelings that were frustrating. They never cooperated; they never understood each other and neither ever took the easy way out. None of this would be happening if she hadn't fought with her father! Why couldn't she have just kept quiet?
Suddenly she heard a familiar voice and quickly jumped behind a tree. When only Rin ran into the trees, Yoshiko sighed and walked over. The girl looked up from examining some mushrooms and started to say something. But Yoshiko put a finger to her lips and Rin's mouth closed. She then gestured for Rin to follow her. Once they were a good distance away, Yoshiko knelt down.
"Hey," said Yoshiko, smiling. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," said Rin, fidgeting slightly. "Thought it's been only one day and I miss you… a lot!"
"Why's that?" asked Yoshiko, pulling Rin to sit on her lap.
"Well, this weird woman came and said that you may not come back… for some reasons," explained Rin, still fidgeting. "Lord Sesshomaru has been awfully quiet since she left."
"He's always quiet!" said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.
"But this is different!" said Rin, standing up again. Yoshiko raised her eyebrows questioningly. "I don't know really how it is… but it's definitely different!"
"What was this woman like?" asked Yoshiko, deciding to move on.
"Well… she had green eyes. Her hair was plaited and… stripes kind of like yours…" explained Rin.
"Rheda…" muttered Yoshiko.
"Yeah, that's her," said Rin. "She said she was your aunt."
"What's she doing hanging around with Sesshomaru right after possessing him?" murmured Yoshiko, standing up. This time it was Rin to look at her in confusion. "Well, I probably should get—" she started but suddenly the one person she really didn't want to face showed up.
"I thought you went to see you friend," said Sesshomaru, not looking at her.
"Just wanted to check up on Rin because I kind of just left without warning," said Yoshiko, shrugging. "Also wondering if there was any change in your strange behavior."
As if in answer, Sesshomaru turned and started walking away. Yoshiko sighed and put her hand on her forehead in frustration.
"What are you so worried about? About the fact that I'll find out that you kissed Rheda?" asked Yoshiko. In surprise Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder almost sadly. "Well, that's the only way she could have possessed you! That's how she did it last time, anyways."
Sesshomaru only stood there looking at her over his shoulder. Finally Yoshiko just rolled her eyes and turned around, throwing her hands up in the air. She sort of leaned backwards to look at him.
"You know, I really don't care. Rheda is only going to let herself get into a relationship with other tiger demon," said Yoshiko. "Not that there's anymore of those around…" she added. Then she shrugged. "Whatever. See you later!" she said, walking away and waving.
As Yoshiko walked out of the trees to where she left everybody, Sango walked over smiling.
"Took you long enough," she muttered.
Yoshiko looked around Sango and saw Koga sitting next to a tree. When he saw Yoshiko he got to his feet hurriedly either to see if she was okay or worried that she would hit him again. She was kind of glad to see that she had left him with a black eye. Sueko wandered over as well, her arms crossed.
"Where did you disappear to anyways?" she sighed, trying not to sound too annoyed.
"I kind of just left Sesshomaru suddenly so I could get you so I decided to check up on Rin," shrugged Yoshiko. "Of course he's just as quiet as ever. But like I really care that he kissed my aunt."
"Wait!" cried Sueko, waving her hands around. "Slow down! Sesshomaru kissed Rheda?"
"Well, I'm assuming since she, like, possessed him… and that's how she did it with Miroku," said Yoshiko off handedly.
"And you… don't… care…" said Sueko slowly, trying to process it. "But, you like him! Don't you?"
"I guess," said Yoshiko, trying to get past this conversation quickly.
Thankfully a distraction came up. Out of the trees came stumbling a short, curly haired girl who ran into Yoshiko and sending them both to the ground. Sango and Sueko just stood there staring at the place Yoshiko use to be standing, blinking. When Yoshiko recognized the small figured she muttered under her breath and pushed the girl off her. Then she quickly got to her feet and brushed off some dirt. Sango sent her an angry look before leaning to help the girl up.
"Sorry… sorry…" muttered Utako distractedly, patting her dress as if looking for something while not looking at anybody. Then she looked up at Yoshiko and her face brightened and a large smile crossed her face. Suddenly she jumped forward and hugged Yoshiko around the middle since she wasn't tall enough to reach her neck. "This must be my lucky day! I never expected to find you!"
"Who's the kid?" asked Koga, finally walking over.
"She's 19," muttered Yoshiko, pushing a really happy Utako off her. "And she's some random kid that my brother met."
"I'm so glad that I ran into you!" said Utako airily.
"And why's that?" sighed Yoshiko, wishing she would just disappear.
"Will you just slow down for two minutes?" cried Sueko. "Sheesh, I'm gone for three weeks and everything happens at once!"
"Maybe that's why you shouldn't leave…" muttered Yoshiko. Sueko's response was to hit the half tiger demon on the head. Yoshiko just rolled her eyes. "Look, she's just some girl that meant my brother. That's all! Sango and I met her at this village near the one I grew up in."
"And she has this cute crush on Godric as well," added Sango almost dreamily.
"She just thinks she has a crush on my brother…" muttered Yoshiko under her breath. "Anyways, what are you doing here?" she asked, turning back to Utako.
The girl was still smiling and looking like she was thinking about something far away. When Yoshiko talked to her, she shook he head and her face became serious. She stood up as tall as she could, considering how short she was, and attempted to look Yoshiko in the eyes. When she could she turned to Sueko and looked her in the eyes since they were about the same height.
"Well, I remembered that Godric gave me something to give you," she said importantly.
"Which is?" prompted Yoshiko, trying to stay patient.
"Some stone or another…" shrugged Utako.
"A stone?" said InuYasha, suddenly interested. "Was it any special color? Like yellow or red?"
"No, it was just a stone," said Utako thinking. Yoshiko narrowed her eyes so Utako laughed nervously and thought a little harder. "Okay, it was kind of green."
"So where is it?" asked Yoshiko, sighing. This was going to take forever at this rate.
"Well, I have it…" started Utako, patting her waist. "Um…"
"Utako," said Yoshiko sternly. She felt like she was talking to a three year old. Rin wasn't this difficult to talk to.
"I left it in this secret place," said Utako, putting a hand behind her head.
"And…" moaned Yoshiko.
"This demon was after me! What else could I do?" cried Utako.
"Calm down!" said Sango kindly. "Where is the stone? Can you take us to it?"
"I'd love to but…" said Utako. Then she grinned a bit sheepishly. "You see… the demon is kind of at the hiding place."
"So the demon has the stone?" inquired Yoshiko impatiently.
"No!" cried Utako, holding up her hands in fists. "The stone is hidden and the demon just happens to be in the place it's hidden!"
"Which means?" sighed Yoshiko, putting her hand on her forehead.
"I'm really sorry?" tried Utako, edging behind Sango. "I tried really hard? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
"For you to shut up and leave me alone," sighed Yoshiko to herself and not loud enough for anybody to hear except Sueko who was standing right next to her. And for it she got another hit on the head. But she really didn't care.
"So what are we doing?" asked Miroku, surprising everybody because he hadn't really said much of anything.
"I don't know…" said Yoshiko, turning to Sueko. "You're the 'Last One.' What are we going to do?"
"Why do I have to decide?" cried Sueko.
"I already told you!" snapped Yoshiko. "You're the protector of the shrines. It's your decision."
"Well, we have to get the damn thing, of course," sighed Sueko in annoyance.
"Right then…" said Yoshiko, standing up straight. Then she stopped and turned to Utako. "You're the one that messed it all up. Where's the stone?"
"Uh… I'm not sure if I remember…" said Utako, still hiding behind Sango. "Because… um… I kind of ran away and don't remember which direction I came from."
For a minute everybody stood there thinking of what to do. Since Utako was standing behind Sango Yoshiko didn't even think about trying to hit the girl. Instead she turned away in frustration and glared at Koga randomly. He grinned at her nervously and gave a half wave. Yoshiko sighed and hung her head sadly. Suddenly, she got an idea! It was such a simple things, why hadn't she thought of it before? When she got this idea she slapped herself on the forehead, causing almost everybody to jump in surprise.
"Ow…" moaned Yoshiko. She hadn't meant to hit herself that hard…
"What did you do that for?" snapped Sueko, holding up her fist in a threatening manner.
"Well, I just realized that you could use your sword to figure out where the stone was," said Yoshiko, rubbing her now sore forehead, "but it was such a 'no duh' thing that I hit myself… though I did it a little too hard."
But Sueko was ignoring the last part of this and drawing out her sword. It was glowing a very slight blue. From behind Sango came a very loud 'Oooh!' as Utako popped her head around the demon exterminator to get a better look at the sword. As if forgetting about an extremely annoyed Yoshiko she crept out from behind Sango and shuffled over to Sueko. Utako held up a finger and hesitated but then went ahead and slowly touched the blade of the sword.
"It's cold!" said Utako.
"Every sword is!" cried Sueko, pulling her sword out of reach of Utako. Which was pretty easy seeing as how she was taller than the girl. But that was just sad seeing as how Utako was older than her by three years. "Okay, we know a stone is nearby… duh… but now which direction do we go?"
"Did you forget already?" sighed Yoshiko. "The sword talks! Well, only to you, but it does talk!"
"Excuse me?" said InuYasha in surprise. "Since when did the sword talk?"
"I don't feel like explaining," said Yoshiko wearily. "Besides, it may actually 'talk' but it does in some sort of way giving messages to Sueko… I'm shutting up now."
"Good!" said Sueko. "Because I can't concentrate when you're talking."
A little bit of time passed as Sueko stood there with her eyes closed, holding her sword. InuYasha started fidgeting impatiently. He was moving so much Yoshiko got annoyed, walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. One of Sueko's eyes opened and she looked over at Yoshiko and InuYasha. Then she sighed angrily.
"It's not doing anything, Yoshiko!" she cried. "It's not talking!"
Yoshiko sighed as well, but out of annoyance. Seeing as how she was as tall as InuYasha, she put her arm on his shoulder and leaned on him. The half dog demon glared at her but she wasn't paying attention. She was thinking about the best way to tell Sueko to stop whining and actually concentrate! But every way she thought of it, it would be just mean and then Sueko really wouldn't do what she wanted. Again she sighed and rested her head on InuYasha's shoulder. Then she felt something poking her. So she looked up to look at Shippo who was also on InuYasha's shoulder.
"What?" she growled.
"You're on my tail…" muttered Shippo.
"Too bad," muttered Yoshiko.
"Will you just get off me?" cried InuYasha, waving his arms around and making Yoshiko and Shippo fall to the ground.
"Fine!" cried Yoshiko, getting to her feet and walking over to Koga. She put her arm on his shoulder instead and leaned on him. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Koga blushing and grinning but she really didn't care. "Okay, Sueko. I'll say this nicely the first time. Forget that anybody is standing around, least of all InuYasha, and just pay attention to the sword."
"Screw you…" muttered Sueko angrily, turning on her heel and walking off. Yoshiko just shrugged.
"That was eventful…" murmured Yoshiko.
"Um…" said Utako, putting a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Shouldn't we go after her?"
"I'm not going after her!" said Yoshiko. "She's pissed at me!"
"Figured that out, did you?" said Sango, crossing her arms. "I'm not going after her because I'm not a part of this!"
"Same here," said Miroku. "And it would probably be best for all of us if InuYasha didn't go after her."
"Fine with me," growled InuYasha, crossing his arms.
"I don't really know her that much," said Koga, putting his arm around Yoshiko's waist.
"Careful where you put your hands…" hissed Yoshiko, just glaring at Koga but not really doing much of anything else. She really wasn't in the mood.
"I think she would hurt me…" said Shippo, hiding behind InuYasha. "I think she's scarier than Kagome when she's angry."
"Well… um… I guess… I could… go after her…" said Utako thoughtfully, looking around as if looking for Sueko. But Sueko had gone into the trees so Utako couldn't find her. She scratched her head in confusion until Sango took pity on her and turned her in the right direction.
"What if the demon attacks?" she said as if having second thoughts.
Yoshiko sighed, yet again (there seems to be a lot of that today) and pulled out her dagger. She tossed it as Utako's feet and the girl picked it up awkwardly.
"What's—" the girl started.
"Just…" said Yoshiko, holding up her hand. "Only use it if a demon attacks. Don't hurt yourself with it though!"
Utako shrugged, put the dagger in her belt and walked in the direction Sango had turned her in. After a while she was afraid that Sueko was so far ahead that she wasn't going to be able to find her. But she soon found Sueko sitting next to a tree, staring down at her sword, which she had put on the ground. Utako hesitated then walked over and poked Sueko.
"Go away!" cried Sueko, not looking up and hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't want to talk to you, Yoshiko!"
"That would make sense… if I was Yoshiko!" said Utako sweetly. She poked Sueko a couple more times before she looked up at Utako.
"What are you doing here?" muttered Sueko, sounding like she was about to cry.
"Well, I was a bit worried… Nobody else really was… but I was!" said Utako, sitting down. "I mean, what happened if the demon attacked and you were all by yourself?"
"I would kill it, duh!" said Sueko. "I can use a sword, you know!"
"Oh…" said Utako sheepishly. "Um… I guess so. But if Yoshiko hurt your feelings so much that you weren't paying attention the demon could have snuck up on you. Or maybe you would be so depressed you wouldn't really want to try fighting the demon. Or…"
"Why would I do that?" said Sueko in surprise.
"Um…" said Utako sadly, thinking about whether she should tell Sueko or not. It really wasn't her place… But what else was she going to do? Make something up? She really wasn't that good at that sort of thing. "Because that's what happened with Godric. He really missed Yoshiko, though it was kind of his fault that she left, and he really didn't care when the demon attacked him. I think the only smart thing he did was give me the stone but look how well that turned out…"
"Huh?" said Sueko, scratching her head in confusion.
But before Utako could even bother trying to think of a better explanation she paused. She got to her feet and listened really hard. Eyebrows raised, Sueko stood up as well, grabbing her sword. Fear crossed Utako's face as she realized what the sound was. She grabbed Sueko by the arm and started running back to the others. Sueko happened to hear the hooves as well and decided to run as well. Then Utako realized that she had no idea in which direction the others were so she stopped.
"What now?" snapped Sueko, looking behind them to see if the demon had caught up.
"I'm… kind of, sort of… lost…" said Utako worriedly.
"We're not that far away," muttered Sueko. This time it was her turn to grab Utako's arm and start walking in the direction the others were.
As they were walking, however, the demon suddenly came crashing out of the trees right in front of the girls. Utako screamed and put Sueko between her and the demon. Sueko blinked but really didn't find herself annoyed by it. Instead she turned toward the demon and drew her sword. It was then that the girls got a good look at the demon. It looked like a cow… except it had a human's torso, with a sort of bullhead with this ring in its nose.
"Ew," muttered Sueko, as Utako made a very fake retching sound. Then she realized that her sword was glowing a very bright blue. "So you're the demon with the Earth Stone!"
"My freedom is drawing closer," said the demon in a very low voice.
Before Sueko could respond, InuYasha rushed into the clearing with his sword out, crying out her name. He attempted to do the Wind Scar on the demon but it seemed to just go right through him. The cow thing laughed, which just really annoyed Sueko. A lot. Then Utako stood up straight and walked around Sueko toward the demon. Sueko blinked a couple of times before she realized what the girl was doing.
"Idiot!" she cried, grabbing to Utako.
But the girl got out of her reach quickly and continued to walk toward the demon. The minotaur-thing looked down at Utako when she reached it. She put up a hand and then hesitated. Then she reached forward to touch it but her hand went right through him. When this happened she started laughing… hysterically. The demon's hands became bawled into fists but he didn't attempt to hit Utako. InuYasha walked over and grabbed the girl by the arm and threw her backwards.
"What are you trying to prove?" he snapped at Utako who looked like she was about to cry suddenly.
"That he's not really here! He's like trapped somewhere and thinks that the stone will help him get out!" cried Utako. "But apparently he kind of needs us to get freedom as well."
"You figured that out by putting your hand through empty air?" said Yoshiko, walking into the clearing with her hands on her hips. "Damn! You must really feel smart, Utako."
"Uh huh!" said Utako, grinning and nodding her head.
"Enough of this!" thundered the demon, the ground shaking.
At that moment a heavy fog started rolling in. Almost randomly Koga ran into the clearing, picked Yoshiko up and landed next to Utako. By that time the fog was so heavy they couldn't see InuYasha or Sueko. But they heard Shippo cry out InuYasha's name. And then there was nothing… Utako grabbed Koga's arm so they wouldn't get separated. She really didn't want to get lost alone again. She just had the worse direction sense ever!
The fog was so thick that Sueko could barely see her hand in front of her face, let alone anyone else. She couldn't hear anything either… anything at all… It was almost like the fog blurred both sight and sound.
"Utako!" Sueko called out. "InuYasha? Yoshiko! Is anyone there at all!"
She had the feeling no one was there… which was such a depressing thought…
But as suddenly as it had appeared—though it seemed to linger around for ages—the fog immediately disappeared. Like, not just fade away, but vanish. If that wasn't weird enough Sueko suddenly found herself surrounded by stone walls decorated with moss and vines and other foliage… none of the trees of the forest she had been in before were around.
"InuYasha? Utako?" Sueko called out a bit timidly, holding out her sword nervously and turning around to make sure nothing was behind her.
"Great! I'm lost in a freaky thing with no one around!" Sueko muttered to herself as she just held the sword to her side and grumpily walked ahead, wondering when there would be an opening to the stonewalls. When the stonewalls just seemed to go on and on, it finally hit her that she must be in some sort of maze…
"Wow, that just makes it more fun, now doesn't it?" said Sueko, crossing her arms—okay, tried, since she forgot that you couldn't cross your arms with a sword in you hand! Well, maybe you could, but it was very difficult. So she just growled in frustration and started walking faster in hopes to get out of the maze quicker and get back to the others.
Eventually all the speed walking got her into a dead-end… well, it might have helped that she was so angry that she hadn't really paid attention to where she was going… But the dead-end lead her to that cow demon thingy… He was really, really ugly…
"Having fun yet?" he asked with a toothy grin—well, it wasn't really a grin… it was more like he just wanted to show off his teeth or something, which were actually kind of big.
"Where's everyone else?" asked Sueko angrily. "What'd you do with them, you jerk?"
"Who?"
"Oh, I don't know…" said Sueko angrily, "Maybe MY FRIENDS!"
"Hmm… those people?" said the demon thoughtfully. "I don't really know. They could be dead for all I know…"
Sueko blinked a few times. More like a few dozen times. "What?" she said blankly.
"Well, there are a few demons in this maze…" said the cow-demon-thingy. "I mean, I don't really understand this maze myself…"
"My friends… aren't dead…. Are they?" asked Sueko in a daze.
The demon shrugged. "I don't really know. Now if you excuse me…"
"Wait! Don't leave!" cried Sueko, but the demon just walked right by her, turned a corner and disappeared.
"Oh God…" Sueko muttered to herself, trying to get out of the dead-end and on a new path. "They can fend themselves…. There's no way they'd die…"
But the thought of them being gone wouldn't leave her head. Maybe if she hadn't been so harsh to them earlier she wouldn't be thinking this. Maybe if she hadn't been so harsh to InuYasha she wouldn't be feeling so worried…
A sudden thumping noise occurred in the distance and Sueko went after it, hoping maybe she'd meet someone on the way.
"Why are we following Yoshiko and InuYasha?" asked Miroku tiredly. "I thought none of us wanted to go after Sueko…"
"I think we should just make sure Sueko and InuYasha don't kill each other," said Sango. "And that Yoshiko doesn't go killing Utako."
"And we're just going to leave Koga all alone?" said Miroku.
"Oh, you know him. He's probably worried about Yoshiko and went after her," said Sango, shrugging.
"True, true," said Miroku. But he stopped in his tracks when suddenly a sort of fog appeared. Though he could also just make out InuYasha and Yoshiko with Utako and Sueko in the distance… And maybe Koga was there too…
"Yoshiko!" Sango called out, starting to run towards her. But it seemed as though she was running and not really moving… This was when Miroku grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
"I think there's a sort of spell placed around here," said Miroku.
"Thanks for telling me that, Mr. Obvious," muttered Sango. She was about to jerk her arm out of Miroku's grip but when the fog started encircling them she just moved closer to Miroku in hopes it wouldn't engulf her. But it did… Well, sort of…
"Great, now I can't see anything," muttered Sango, taking a step away from Miroku before he got any ideas.
"Hopefully the others are okay…" said Miroku, looking around him. It was then that the fog suddenly disappeared, like it had been sucked away. And, instead of seeing the trees of the forest Sango and Miroku only saw large stonewalls covered with moss and vines… And there was no sign of the others.
Sango sighed. "Is there ever a day when we don't have to figure out some sort of a problem involving a demon?" she asked tiredly.
"Nope!" said Miroku. "But don't you think it makes life more exciting?" he added with a grin.
"Not really…" said Sango, raising her eyebrows. Then she put her hands on her hips. "You're the know-it-all monk. You tell me what's going on!"
"I think it's a maze…" said Miroku.
"Wow…" said Sango, looking around. "I think so too…"
"I guess we have to find our way out," said Miroku, sighing dramatically like he thought this was a big pain. But you could so tell he didn't think that at all.
"So which way then?" said Sango. "We could go straight or turn around and go that-a-way…"
"Hmm… So many choices…" said Miroku with a grin.
"Shut up," muttered Sango, walking ahead and not even wondering whether or not the perverted monk would follow—she knew he would.
With the fog gone Yoshiko noticed large, looming stonewalls. She looked around for the others but all she saw were Utako and Koga. At first this didn't seem too bad… then it hit her: Sueko had been the closest to the demon. Fear crossed her face and she struggled to get out of Koga's arms. Since she was flailing so much he put her down and she walked a short distance away, looking around wildly.
"Sueko?" she called. "Sueko? Damn it girl, where are you?" Yoshiko shouted, turning in circles.
"She's not here," said Koga seriously.
"I know that!" snapped Yoshiko, turning to the nearest wall. She hit her fits upon it and tried to look up and see the top. "Don't you dare die! YOU HEAR ME SUEKO! DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!"
"That's a bit much…" muttered Koga.
"Shut up…" muttered Yoshiko through her teeth, leaning her head on the wall. "Just shut up!"
For the longest minute in Yoshiko's life the three just stood there. Then suddenly she felt a hand on her arm and she looked to see Utako standing next to her. Yoshiko sighed and turned away, looking in the two directions that the group could go in. But she kept on thinking about Sueko, wondering if the girl was okay. She really didn't care where they went. So she turned to the girl standing next to her.
"You got us in this mess," she said in a depressing manner. "Which way should we go?"
"I have like the worst sense of direction ever!" said Utako, crossing her arms. "So don't ask me. I'll get us into more trouble."
"Well, Sueko has a bad sense of direction too," said Yoshiko, "so maybe we'll run into each other."
"Are you that desperate to find the girl?" said Koga, his arms crossed and raising an eyebrow.
"Do you have a better idea?" cried Yoshiko. Koga just shrugged and turned away, starting walking away. Yoshiko sighed and followed after.
The quiet was deafening and was only broken by the sound of their footsteps. Yoshiko still felt depressed and hung her head choosing to only watch her feet. Koga glanced over his shoulder a couple of times before deciding to slow down and walk next to her. Then even after that he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She thought about brushing him off but she didn't really feel like it. Suddenly, behind them, they heard Utako scream. Immediately both turned around to see a large centipede attempting to hit the girl. Yoshiko drew her sword and ran forward.
When she reached the demon, Utako scrambled to her feet and ran past Yoshiko to Koga. The half-tiger demon swung at the large centipede, attempting to cut it in half. But it turned its head toward her and bit down on the blade of the sword with its pincers. Shock passed over Yoshiko's face as, like in slow motion, her sword snapped and half of it fell to the ground. Then immediately after the centipede picked her up by the sword and sent her flying hard into a stonewall.
"Yoshiko!" cried Koga as she felt her head go numb and everything go black.
"What's happening?" cried Shippo worriedly, grabbing a hold of InuYasha's leg. If InuYasha wasn't trying to hard to see through all the fog he might have pulled Shippo off him and tell him to get a life. But no matter how hard he squinted through all the cloudiness he couldn't make out anyone… not even Sueko. And even when he called her name he never got a response.
As quickly as it had shown up the fog disappeared and all InuYasha could see then was a bunch of really thick stonewalls surrounding them to make one straight path… and Shippo, still clinging to his leg.
"Where is everyone!" Shippo cried.
"You think I know?" snapped InuYasha, trying to think of what to do.
"Are they all dead?" Shippo asked quietly.
"Shut up, will yah?" muttered InuYasha, walking slowly forward. It just looked like one long endless path lined by this stonewall… even when he turned a corner that's all he saw… By now Shippo was sitting on his shoulder and InuYasha could already hear the little guy sniffling every so often.
"What is this thing, anyways?" Shippo asked. "Some sort of maze?"
"I guess so…" muttered InuYasha, annoyed that the little twerp had thought of it first.
"What if the demon thing killed everyone!" cried Shippo dramatically, pulling on InuYasha's hair. "What if Sueko's dead, just like Kagome!"
"Shut up, will you!" roared InuYasha. "They're not all dead, okay? Must you be so dramatic!"
Shippo's only response was to sniffle again, which sort of worried InuYasha. What if the little guy was right and they were all gone? But how could the demon kill them all if he wasn't really there?
"I'm sure they're okay," said InuYasha more to himself than to the scared kitsune on his shoulder. "They can fend for themselves…"
But what if they couldn't! Sueko was still getting the hang of her sword… Sure, she could tackle a couple of demons that went her way but something powerful could easily defeat her… and that Minotaur looked pretty hard to fight. What if she ran into it?
'Ugh. Why do I care? She completely hates me, so why should I care if she goes and gets herself killed!' InuYasha thought to himself. But somehow he knew he couldn't just forget about Sueko… Apparently he did learn from both Kikyo and Kagome…
Before he could think another thought loud crashing noises filled his ears as the stonewalls suddenly collapsed. And as all the dust started to clear he could make out a stone ogre and Sueko… screaming as she fell off the cliff.
As Miroku took a left at a fork in the maze Sango said worriedly, "Are you sure you know where you're going or are you just picking ways to turn and hoping for luck?"
"Can't you sense the demonic aura in the middle of the maze?" asked Miroku, looking at Sango in amazement with his eyebrows raised.
"Demonic aura?" said Sango. She stopped to concentrate really hard, and then continued walking while saying, "It's so faint I must have ignored it…"
"I think it'll get a lot stronger in the next turn…" muttered Miroku, turning a corner.
When Sango saw what was in front of her she couldn't help agreeing with Miroku. That was because as soon as they turned around it seemed as though they were right in the middle of the maze. Sango was only guessing, though… there was what looked like an Earth Stone on top of a small column as if to show it off, and standing right in front of it was a large lizard demon. Well, it wasn't really big or anything, just bigger than your average everyday lizard. It was probably no bigger than a very large dog…
When Miroku and Sango started walking towards the Earth Stone the lizard's back arched like a cats would and it hissed while its tongue went out.
"It looks very friendly," said Sango sarcastically, crossing her arms. "So what shall we do with the thing?"
"I don't know," said Miroku, shrugging. Just as he said this the lizard hissed threateningly at them again, though it was so comical looking that Sango couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Don't you have some scribe you could put on the thing!" asked Sango.
"Not really…" said Miroku. The way he said it Sango could tell some idea or another was occurring in his head. Before she could ask what it was Miroku walked forward, held his staff above his head and slammed it down on the lizards head hard enough for the lizard's eyes to roll to the back of his head and collapse to the ground. Satisfied, Miroku held his staff back at his side and grinned brightly at Sango.
"Nice…" said Sango sarcastically, walking forward to take the Earth Stone from the column to give to Sueko when they met back with her.
Two things happened when this happened. First the miniature column seemed to sink to the ground. Then, as soon as the column had completely sunk into the ground the stonewalls surrounding them started to collapse.
"Oh no…" muttered Sango as the stone collapsed and clouds of dust surrounded them.
"Nice…" said Miroku sweetly.
"Oh, shut up," muttered Sango, trying to squint pass all the rubble. But being able to see anything, she and Miroku decided to climb through all the stone rubble until they ran across someone.
Turning the corner to figure out what the thumping noises she had heard were, Sueko stopped right in her tracks and gapped at the thing in front of her: a stone ogre.
Her first instinct was to turn around and run—after all, the last time she encountered an ogre she and InuYasha had barely survived—but no matter how many times she told her feet to move they never did. Sueko knew she was scared but her brain couldn't quite figure out why.
Thank God when the ogre swung one of his thick, stone arms towards her Sueko was able to duck it and run away… but as soon as she ran towards the right and the ogre started following her she realized her first mistake: she had let the ogre block her only exit. Her second mistake was running towards a dead-end.
Ducking the blows as quick as she could and running back and forth to the left and the right whenever necessary, a random memory played in Sueko's head. A very random memory that she had kept trying to not remember for the past three weeks…
"InuYasha?" Sueko called out into the empty forest. "InuYasha!"
He had noticed him walking away from the others after a brief conversation with Miroku—about what she didn't know because she had been talking to Sango and didn't remember hearing a bit of their conversation at all—and couldn't help worrying about him. After all, it was the new moon and she couldn't help remembering the fact she had to save his life on the last new moon…
A sudden noise of someone talking interrupted her thoughts. It sounded familiar… Was it InuYasha! There was defiantly another person talking as well… It sounded like a female, which confused Sueko—it wasn't Yoshiko and what other girls did InuYasha know!—but she didn't care because by the sounds of it InuYasha was okay…
But running past a couple of trees in her way and finally finding InuYasha, Sueko ran across a sight she would have never imagined.
The other voice she had heard turned out to be a girl with Sueko's school's outfit: white shirt with a short green skirt. Her hair was raven and sort of like Sueko's, but Sueko couldn't say what the girl's eye color was because her eyes were closed. That'd be because this girl's lips were on InuYasha's.
InuYasha's eyes had been opened wide during this and he immediately saw Sueko standing there and pushed the girl he was kissing away.
Sueko felt like doing something but she couldn't think of what—and besides, her body felt like it was temporarily paralyzed and she couldn't move an inch in shock. But she could already feel the tears well up in her eyes.
"Sueko, it's—" started InuYasha.
"Bitch," interrupted the girl, getting to her feet and glaring at Sueko. "You weren't supposed to show up!"
"Shut up!" snapped InuYasha, turning toward her.
"Excuse me?" said the girl crankily, putting her hands on her hips. "Is that what you say to the girl you're supposed to love?"
'Supposed to love!' thought Sueko, feeling her heart sink. 'So he doesn't like me!'
Sueko noticed InuYasha hesitating before muttering, "I did love Kagome…"
Kagome? Why was he bringing Kagome up now? But then it was almost like all the pieces started to come together… what if this was Kagome? She looked the way everyone said she did… she was even wearing the same uniform as Sueko's school did. It was the only logical explanation—besides, everyone said only Kagome and InuYasha had ever been able to go through the well. Figuring this out, however, just made Sueko feel even worse…
'He really does prefer Kagome over me…'
Then the girl—well, Kagome—gave this very uncharacteristic smirk. Actually, Sueko didn't really get why she knew it was uncharacteristic since she had never met Kagome before. Then again, she had been getting these weird vibes from the girl since she ran into her and InuYasha kissing. But seeing this expression on Kagome's face just freaked out Sueko so much—plus her heart felt like it was about to explode, it hurt so much—Sueko just decided to turn around and run away and pray to God she might just wake up and find out it was all a dream.
"SUEKO!" she could hear InuYasha scream from behind her. But she really didn't care… nor did she really want to see him, or think about him… In fact, she wasn't really thinking of anything as she dodged the trees in her way and pushed stray tree branches that were in her way without a care in the world. It took her a while to notice that her cheeks were wet and she was actually crying, but even then she didn't really give a damn.
After a while all the running was making her tired so her pace slowed down slightly, but Sueko didn't stop running because she felt like if she stopped she would have to face reality and she really didn't want to do that… But suddenly she felt someone grab her by the hand and she spun around quickly to see whom it was.
"Sueko…" InuYasha moaned softly to her.
His eyes that were grey thanks to the new moon looked so large and sad it almost made Sueko hurt even more. She almost couldn't move again as her eyes went wide from looking at InuYasha's so entrancingly sad ones… But suddenly Sueko felt a surge of anger running through her from all the hurt feelings and she glared back at him as she jerked her hand away and turned around, heading for the Bone Eater's well… away from reality… Or, at least, Feudal Japan…
Re-thinking the idea again as she continually dodged more and more of the stone ogre's blows to the head, Sueko noticed something different, something she hadn't noticed before. His eyes… they had looked so sad… but more than just sad. They looked full of hurt too, and something else… was it pity? They had almost looked like they were saying he was sorry or something… but for what?
It was then that it hit her. The ogre's stone arm almost hit her too because she had stopped dodging to instead think, but thankfully his aim was off and he missed her head by a few inches… but Sueko didn't care.
The memory kept flashing back at her in pieces… InuYasha and Kagome kissing, her eyes closed and his wide open as if in shock… him yelling at the girl for telling Sueko she shouldn't have shown up… him muttering, "I did love Kagome"… him going after her, grabbing her hand, looking at her with those sad grey eyes and wanting to say something…
'He did love me… He loved me this whole time and I've been such a total idiot with my hurt feelings—God, I have been being a… well, bitch… But he did love me! This whole time!'
Sueko felt unbelievably happy and at the same time full of hurt. Because what in the hell was she supposed to do about it! Even if she did survive from this ogre—dodging all his blows was awfully tiring and she wouldn't be able to keep up with it much longer—there wasn't anything Sueko could do about it. If Sueko was ever able to see InuYasha's face again, what would she say to him? I'm sorry I hurt your feelings by running away and hating you! It was too late to do anything now…
Suddenly loud crashing noises filled her ears and the wall Sueko had been leaning on disappeared… that'd be because all around her the stonewalls were collapsing. And as all the dust from the stone went away Sueko noticed something behind her…
Nothing. Nothing was there. That'd be because right behind Sueko was a cliff… with what looked like an endless bottom. Okay, it had a bottom, but Sueko really couldn't see what it was… her breath was caught in her chest as she backed slowly away from the cliff, feeling as though with each small, timid, fearful step she took she didn't get far away from the cliff… actually, it felt like she was getting closer as it jeered threateningly at her…
A grunt from the ogre made Sueko turn her head to look at it. Another one of those stone arms swung at her and she jumped back from it… But then looking behind her she noticed that one heel of her foot was standing on the edge of the cliff. In surprise and in fear Sueko lost her balance, and no matter how hard she waved her arms she felt herself falling…
She screamed as the fear seemed to overwhelm her so much that she lost her sight and saw—nor felt or heard—not more.
"Yoshiko! Come on, wake up! Please, open your eyes!" came an urgent voice.
She moaned and lifted up a very heavy arm to her head. Trying to get her head to stop pounding, Yoshiko opened her eyes slowly. When she did she found herself looking into Utako's large grey eyes. Yoshiko moaned again, closed her eyes and pushed the girl away.
"Hey!" cried Utako, as Yoshiko got to her feet.
"What the hell happened?" asked Yoshiko hoarsely.
"Well that weak centipede demon snapped your sword like a twig. Then I killed it," said Koga, holding the two pieces in his hand.
"Crap," muttered Yoshiko, glaring at the remains of her sword as a vision of a very mad Takeno filled her head.
"Are you okay?" asked Utako, looking up at the half-demon, still sitting on the ground.
Before Yoshiko could say a word she noticed the vines around Koga's ankles grab him. At that same moment something grabbed her around the waist. She gasped at the impact and found vines circling around her arms and legs. Utako screeched and crawled away. When one of the vines tried to grab her she pulled out Yoshiko's dagger. As soon as the green snake-like thing came within a close distance of the dagger it withered and died. Blinking, Utako sat up and stared at the thing in her hand.
Surprisingly she didn't waste time but immediately got to her feet and ran over to Yoshiko. Utako attempted to chop the vines holding the half-demon's ankles. But it recoiled and hit Yoshiko hard on the wall. The girl bit her lip and instead turned to the vines completely covering Koga. Slowly and carefully she managed to cut through enough that the wolf demon could escape. Angrily he swept the dead vine bits off his shoulder and grabbed the dagger from Utako.
Just as he was cutting Yoshiko down, the walls collapsed in a pile of dust. The half-demon coughed and managed to stand up only by clinging onto Koga. When the dust cleared enough Yoshiko collapsed to the ground. Utako ran over and sat down next to her, looking frightened beyond belief. The woman smiled weakly at her and put an arm over Utako's shoulder.
"You're more useless with a knife than Godric!" stated Yoshiko, with a small chuckle.
At that Utako moaned and hid her face with her knees and hands. Yoshiko raised an eyebrow and looked up at Koga. He just shrugged and handed down her dagger. Then he walked off to see if he could find any of the others. This left Yoshiko to pat Utako awkwardly on the back. When the girl looked up Yoshiko was surprised to see tears in her eyes.
"I miss him so much!" wailed Utako, in a way that would have been humorous if this hadn't been such a serious topic. "And what makes it even worse was it was almost like he wanted to die…"
This last comment caught Yoshiko in the heart. Her already short breaths suddenly were harder to take. She coughed and bit her lip as if not to worry Utako. Finally she took a deep, shuddering breath (which made her thing a rib or two were broken).
"Do we need to talk about it?" asked Yoshiko in a low voice.
Immediately Utako nodded and quickly wiped her eyes. At first Yoshiko regretted her suggestion. But she soon realized this was her only way of getting involved in the part of her brother's life she missed. She wanted to know if the rumor's of his life was true. How he died and why. So when she finally got a hold of herself, amidst the ruins of the maze, Utako started to explain her last memories of Godric (though not in as much details as she remembered it).
She could tell he was depressed. Just the other day he had heard that his sister, a half-demon, had attacked a village and burned it. So in an attempt to cheer him up Utako had made cookies! And they weren't just any cookies either. They were cookies her mother had taught her how to make. So they were very special. Plus she put them in a nice basket and put a pretty bow on it. Then she started on the quick walk from her village to Godric's.
On her way she passed the Earth Shrine. Utako paused to look at the small hut in the hollow of the tree. She thought maybe Godric was in there but apparently he didn't know how to get through the barrier. Which she found silly since she went there all the time. Just as she was turning away a demon suddenly came out of the bushes. Screaming, Utako took her basket and threw the cookies at it.
Despite this brave action she couldn't bring herself to run and hide. Not that it would be of much use because the attacking cookies didn't phase the demon one bit. It was a strange looking giant spider with eight shiny eyes, eight hairy legs and two really long, pointy fangs. In some weird way it hissed at her and started scuttling toward Utako. She screamed and took a step back but found she couldn't move much more out of fear. The large spider was bearing down on her and she knew at that moment it was all over…
"Utako!" cried a familiar voice.
Just as the demon lashed out with one of its hairy legs, arms surrounded Utako and she felt somebody else take the blow. Then the arms became loose and she was being pushed to the ground. She felt herself pass through the barrier and come down hard on the ground. For a minute Utako just lay there, feeling sore all over. Because of the shield the sounds outside were faint and seemed to echo. Finally, shuddering slightly, she raised herself up and looked over her shoulder. When she did she saw, through the green haze, the spider lean forward and bite Godric on the shoulder. He cried out in pain and was then thrown back into the tree not too far away.
"NO!" cried Utako, getting to her feet and turning all the way around.
"Don't!" said Godric, holding up a hand.
But she didn't listen, but ran forward out of the barrier and stood between the demon and Godric. As the spider came closer her hand went instinctively to her pocket where she pulled out a rock she kept with her. When the demon kept coming toward them she threw the rock and it hit the spider on one of the eyes. Behind her she heard Godric moan and slide down the tree as the demon screeched in pain. Yet another rock flew from Utako's hand and hit the spider, almost breaking one of its legs off.
"Utako, just get out of here. Run…" muttered Godric. With one rock in her hand Utako turned and fell to her knees, tears in her eyes.
"I'm not leaving you!" she cried.
Godric smiled sadly and put a hand on Utako's wet cheeks. "There's no point of dieing for me."
"What about you?" said Utako in a high-pitched voice.
Before Godric could answer the spider loomed over them. Just as he was pushing Utako away, she closed her eyes and wished that the demon would just go away. Suddenly she felt a surge of energy come out of her hand and surround her and Godric. It almost sounded like lightning hitting metal when the spider collided with the shield. After attempting to get through the shield a couple of times, it decided to give up. Just as Utako was sighing the barrier disappeared and Godric fainted.
It was three days later and Utako was still sitting there, watching Godric sleep hoping that at any moment he would open his eyes. Many times some of his well wishers stopped by and told her to try and get some rest. Each time Utako shook her head furiously until they dropped it. The only thing that really surprised her during these three days, however, was the fact that she couldn't seem to cry. She just sat there staring at him, feeling numb inside and out.
Finally, one day, his eyes opened slowly and he smiled up at Utako sadly. Right away she knew that the only reason he had woke up was to say good-bye. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes and she sat up, leaning over Godric. She grabbed his hand tightly with both of hers and held it up to her chest. When she did this Godric frowned and looked away from her desperate face.
"I want to thank you…" muttered Godric quietly.
"For what?" choked Utako, her voice higher pitched than she hoped for. "I should be thanking you! You saved my life, even though it put your life in danger… And you've always been there for me. Godric I—"
"If you ever get a chance please tell my sister that I miss her," whispered Godric, his eyes closing.
"No!" shouted Utako, dropping his hand and grabbing his shoulders. "Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone again!"
When he didn't say anything the tears started coming faster and she pulled away. She started to reach out a hand then hesitated. Once Utako had thought it out a little bit more she reached forward and touched Godric lightly on the cheek. Already his skin was getting cold. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders again. Shaking him, she closed her eyes and let the tears flow.
"It's not fair! Wake up… Please, wake up!" cried Utako "How could you just leave me here? I love you!"
Finally she gave up trying to wake him up and lay her head on Godric's chest. For the longest time she just lay there crying and wishing that he would just come back. Then somebody else walked into the hut. But she couldn't face them. Getting to her feet, she ran past the person and out of the small hut. All the way to the Earth Shrine she ran, crying. When she reached the shrine, she took the small table in the middle of the room and threw it to the ground. After a while she calmed down, collapsed to the ground and just sobbed till she fell asleep.
When Sueko regained consciousness she felt utterly exhausted. Like it had been the middle of the night and something had woken her but she was so tired she didn't even feel like getting up to see what it was. But she didn't feel any pain at all… and a breeze was blowing through her hair… and this familiar scent filled her noise that smelled really good and made her feel safe and protected… and also made her heart all fluttery and make her smile in a content sort of way.
It was then that Sueko's eyes opened wide. She had just fallen off a cliff, so why in the hell was she feeling so content with these warm-fuzzy feelings for! She saw the ground below her, which made her grip tighter—but wait, what was she gripping onto? Half her face was covered with hair, but it wasn't her hair because it was too soft… it was silver…
Sueko lifted her head. She had to shake her head to make her own hair get out of her face—the breeze was so strong it was making her hair go everywhere—but she finally noticed the material her hands were gripped to so tightly: red cloth.
Her numb, sleepy brain finally woke up. She wasn't feeling wind, she was flying… on InuYasha… which just sounded so weird when put together but her brain woke up enough to figure out that InuYasha must have seen her falling and picked her up. So they were soaring…
Sueko put her head back down, closed her eyes and smiled. She could get used to this! But just as she started to feel content and those warm-fuzzy feelings returned it felt as though InuYasha had reached sold ground because the breeze stopped and she felt a sudden jerk as gravity did its work. She opened her eyes just as InuYasha pulled her off his back and turn around to look at her, but seeing that she was all right his tense face relaxed and he let go of her hands and left her.
Sueko almost felt hurt about him leaving her like this but looking at the direction he was going she could see why. Just to her right stood that Minotaur demon thing that had gotten them into this stupid maze in the first place.
"Done with your little games?" snapped InuYasha as he pulled out Tetsusaiga and faced the demon.
"Who said I started?" said the demon, looking kind of bored of it all ready.
"I don't want to hear any of your crap!" said InuYasha. "I just want you to die!"
After the demon dodged a few of the Tetsusaiga's blows InuYasha tried the Wind Scar on him… but that didn't work… When the demon angrily swung his arm at InuYasha a large rock hit his head. The demon stopped and looked at the direction it had come from. So did Sueko.
About ten feet behind Sueko stood Miroku, Sango, Yoshiko and Koga, looking cheerfully back at Sueko and InuYasha. Utako was about five feet away from the group looking quite angry and holding another rock in her hand, ready to throw another one at the demon.
"Do that again and I'll throw another one!" said Utako threateningly.
When Utako was finished telling what she felt like explaining of her memories Yoshiko was surprised to feel she wasn't crying. Giving the girl an extra tight squeeze, she got to her feet. As she did so, the pain in her ribs came back and she doubled over in pain. Amazingly Koga was there at that very moment and put a hand around her arm. Smiling weakly, she looked up and saw Miroku and Sango come up behind the wolf demon. Then, just as Yoshiko was starting feel the pain going away again, all five of them heard InuYasha cry "WIND SCAR!"
Immediately Utako swept up some rocks and started running in the direction the sound had come from. Miroku and Sango only paused long enough to exchange glances but then they too rushed after the sound. Just as Yoshiko started to stumble after them, Koga took her up in his arms and ran after the other three. If it had been any other day she would have gotten annoyed and hit him hard over the head. But at the moment she really wasn't in the mood to yell at anybody, least of all Koga. Especially since it meant she didn't have to walk. Just as they were reaching the spot where InuYasha and Sueko were, Utako threw a rock that hit the Minotaur demon square on the head.
"Do that again and I'll throw another one!" said Utako threateningly. She held up another, larger stone just to let him know she was serious. The demon, however, found it amusing.
"How pathetic! A young mortal girl who thinks she can kill me with a rock," laughed the Minotaur, the ground shaking with the loud, harsh sound. It almost sounded like stone scraping. "This half-demon's large sword can't even destroy me!"
"Yoshiko!" cried Sueko, seeing the half tiger demon clinging to Koga. "Are you okay? Can you use your special attack?"
"Love to," said Yoshiko, clutching her side in pain. "However my sword was turned into scrape metal by a lovely acid spitting snake."
"Snake?" said Koga, scratching his head in confusion. "I thought it was a centipede!"
"Acid spitting centipede?" said Sango, raising her eyebrows. "That's one I haven't heard."
Yoshiko sighed, not feeling in the mood to argue. The point was her sword was broken and there was no way she was going to be of any help. Suddenly, however, she recalled part of Utako's story—the part where the girl had felt a surge of energy come out of her hand. A hand that had been holding a stone. Could it have been…? Turning to the ferocious looking girl, Yoshiko pulled out her dagger and handed to her. Utako looked at the thing in her hand then blinked up at Yoshiko.
"Throw that at the demon!" said Yoshiko with a small smile.
For a minute longer Utako just looked at the half tiger demon in confusion. But finally the girl shrugged and turned toward the demon again. Everybody else was glancing at Yoshiko trying to get an answer out of her. But she just watched as Utako awkwardly held the dagger and finally threw it. The throw was a little sloppy and only hit the minotaur's horse shoulder and bounced to the ground. InuYasha moaned and glared over at Yoshiko. But she just stood there patiently as Utako glared angrily at the faulty dagger.
Suddenly flames burst from the tip of the dagger and for a while just seemed like a small candle. Then it circled around the demon's hooves and up his legs, engulfing him in flame. It almost seemed like he was frozen in fear or the flames were far more substantial than ordinary fire. Either way the minotaur was unable to move and soon it nothing more than ashes. Silence filled the rubble filled clearing. Finally everybody turned toward Utako and Yoshiko, causing the younger girl to start blushing.
"What the hell was that?" cried InuYasha, sheathing his sword.
"Can we like talk about this tomorrow?" asked Yoshiko, putting a hand to her head. "I've got a huge headache, probably a few broken ribs and I'm really tired."
"Broken ribs?" cried Koga in worriment. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" With that he grabbed Yoshiko and picked her up again.
Rolling her eyes Yoshiko responded, "Because of this reaction exactly…"
"Huh?" said Koga, blinking.
"Never mind…" muttered Yoshiko, feeling her eyes starting to droop. "I think I'm just going to go with the flow and go to sleep…"
"But… but… but…" stammered Utako. "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE HECK I DID!"
Despite this Yoshiko's eyes closed completely and she slipped off to sleep… in Koga's arms of all places.
I'm in a Wolf's Rain mood. But it's not on TV so it's not like I can watch it or anything… sigh Anyways, arigato (thank you) to all the people who replied. If you don't mind, I'm going to reply to all the replies because I have nothing else to do on the computer!
icygirl2: Iwau on getting a username! Iwau means celebrate by the way… And will it make you happier to know that Ravyn and I have thought up a sequel? 'Cause we have…
elemental hanyou: That's not corny! How can it be if I don't see any corn around it? Okay, THAT was corny… I'm in a pathetic mood… This is what I get for watching my friend's Fooly Cooly today… I'm on like the third episode. It's all very very very very veryveryvery weird! But anyways, moving on…
BlackTearsOfDarkness: Read your new fan fic! And even though I haven't read chapter two yet I already like it. And I don't even like Malfoy so how messed up is that! Whatever… It's good to know that you're trying to catch up. Sorry for making it harder for you to catch up by posting yet MORE… but eventually you'll read all of it and I have yet to update and then you'll be wanting more, so you'd then be grateful that I did post that extra chapter… Gosh, what a mouthful! Okay, shutting up now so I can actually POST this instead of babbling about doing so. Because what's the point of talking about it?