I'M BACK ONLINE! BOOYAH!
This chappie dedicated to Tim Eyerdom, for reasons you shall never know.
"It doesn't work. I'm still here!"
"Well yeah. What were you expecting?"
Kikyo began digging franticly into the dirt.
"It's gotta open, it's gotta it's gotta!"
The kitsune above her sighed, rolling his eyes. Fluidly he dropped into the well beside her, his feet landing on solid dirt.
"Look, I'm not sure exactly what it is that you're expecting to happen, but I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon."
"WHY NOT?"
"The magical energies in the area just got really messed up, by the green fire. It'll take at least a few days for this thing to start working again. In the meantime…" he leaned against a wall, grinning at the woman on the ground. "I know where you can crash for a while."
"Okay, I am so not in the mood for this right now."
"Suit yourself."
The orange –haired kitsune shrugged, and jumped about twenty feet in the air, out of the well. Kikyo glared at the dark silhouette as he peered back down at her.
"Show off."
"Yeah, I know."
Kikyo, determined not to let him see she was in trouble, made a valiant effort to climb up the vines crawling down the side if the well.
The fifth vine snapped in so many minutes, sending Kikyo once again to the ground. Above her, the kitsune continued to look on with a kind of amused pity.
"Are you sure you don't need help? You could be long gone by now."
"I could be long gone by now if it weren't for that stupid fire."
Unnoticed by the human, the kitsune frowned. He had himself created the ball of foxfire. It was a trick he used quite often; the ladies love a hero. This time, though, he seemed to have really messed something up for this girl. Or she may just be insane, jumping into wells and such like that.
You never know.
Another vine broke. There weren't many more left. Kikyo tried to find a fingerhold somewhere that she could use to climb the wall. No such luck. With an almost humorous amount of regret, she looked up at the black silhouette above her. She couldn't tell, but it was grinning wolfishly.
"Fine, maybe I could use the help."
"I thought you might say that," he said, dropping down beside her. He sank to one knee. "Get on."
"What? I thought you were going to throw me a rope or something."
"This is faster. Get on."
With a normal amount of hesitation, Kikyo wrapped her arms around his neck. He stood up, holding onto her legs.
"Got a good grip?" he asked, turning his head so his face was but an inch from Kikyo's. She nodded.
"Cool. Here we go."
Kikyo didn't scream as they shot upward, out of the well. Shippo was glad. Sometimes the girls screamed, and seeing as their mouths were only a few inches from his ears, it wasn't overly pleasant for him.
When they hit the ground outside the well Kikyo started to let go, and the kitsune compensated by tightening his grip on her as he jumped upward again.
"Wait, where are you taking me? Where are you going?"
He didn't answer as he landed on a tree branch and jumped again, nimbly moving from one tree to another. Kikyo still didn't scream.
"You're not from around here, right?" He asked her over his shoulder.
"Gee, how did you guess?"
"So that means you need a place to crash, right?"
"Not from you, I don't!"
"What's wrong with me? Anyway, at least see it before you turn me down. Not like you have much of a choice."
"… fine."
"Cool."
"Did you feel that?"
"Yes."
"What was it? God, I feel all sick inside all of a sudden."
"It was our father returning."
A pair of blood-red eyes widened as Kagura turned on her little sister.
"There's no way Naraku can return, he's sealed inside the crystal, I was there when it happened."
"He is sealed inside the crystal, but he is also free."
"What are you talking about, Kanna? He can't be free and sealed at the same time."
"He can."
"My sister, master of the direct approach."
Kagura pinched the bridge of her nose, a gesture of an adult much older than she was. At fourteen, she had seen a lot more than most humans had. Fortunately for the two of them, Naraku had told them about the hundredth moon long before it had happened. This had avoided a lot of confusion and destruction the day before, when they had suddenly gained their youkai powers.
Kanna, as always, was dressed in her simple white dress. She clutched her mother's mirror as she followed dutifully behind her sister. The girl had witnessed the death of her mother through excorcism at a very young age. As a result of this, she didn't talk very much, and her voice was almost completely devoid of sentiment.
These characteristics often put her at odds with her older sister. Kagura had always had more flair, as well as a more rebellious spirit. She dressed in a black gi, with red markings on the shoulders and pant legs. Her belt was red,and tucked into it was a red and black patterned fan. Her long black hair was pulled back into a loose braid. At the end of the braid was fastened a jade ring.
She had never known her mother, the demoness having sold her as a baby to her father. She never knew exactly what her father had paid for her, but since goods had exchanged hands, she literally belonged to Naraku.
He had always held her heart in his hands, reminding her that he could kill her in a second, but this didn't stop her attempts to have him killed. She just wasn't able to do it herself. She had had a good deal to do with the circumstances leading to his sealing. The fact that he still held her heart as his body was put into the black crystal was an unforeseen benefit. He could not move, nor could anyone else harm her heart while he held it within his stone prison.
Kagura was, in effect, immortal.
"So what do we do about it? The bastard's making me sick and he's not even around."
"We will find him."
"Why? Why not avoid him? I'd much, much rather avoid him."
Kanna turned pale, blank eyes on her sister.
"Trust me."
Kagura shivered.
Naraku had retreated to his old home, a castle he could move at will. He had expected it to be overgrown after 500 years, but then he remembered that he had only been sealed a few weeks ago, at this point in time. There was a thin layer of dust covering things, but he found that this only added to the gloom.
Actually, it was probably more creepy in there with it, and so he let the dust, and the spiders, stay.
"Bwahahahahahaaa," he muttered, taking his customary place by the windows. Laughing evilly was something he had learned in the future. It was ridiculous and futile, but still fun.
He pulled a simple wooden carving from his pocket, and slowly slid himself into the demon puppet it controlled. This one was off searching for new youkai with power. If he couldn't have Sesshoumaru, he would have to find someone else to make up for it.
Seeing as this puppet wasn't doing anything too interesting, she switched to another one.
Ah, much better.
This puppet was searching for his daughters. He had almost forgotten about them in the time since he had been unsealed. Almost, but not quite.
This one wasn't making much more progress than the last, and so he returned to his real body, sitting by the window. The plot was slowing down, so he took the chance to rest.
He might not get another chance.
As he moved through the dark trees, Sesshoumaru got gradually more and more pissed off. What the hell was he even doing here. Naraku came to him with stories of power and might and then turns around and what, tries to eat him or something?
Sesshoumaru punched a tree. He used to punch walls, but there wasn't one around, and the tree sort of presented itself.
The bark splintered, sending needles of wood into the daiyoukai's skin.
"DAMN!"
For almost a second he expected to hear his stepmother yell back for him to watch his language. But then he remembered. She, and his father, were gone.
"DAMN!" he yelled again, louder.
"What's wrong with you?" Someone asked. He whirled around to come face to face with a girl. She was dressed almost entirely in black, but there were highlights of red on her, too.
"None of your business."
"Then quit shouting, you sound like a retard."
"Shut up, and go away."
"Like hell. I've been here for long before you. This is my territory, you leave."
"How about I kill you and take your territory?"
Sesshoumaru drew his sword, to demonstrate that he wasn't messing around. Had he done this in his own time, the girl would have run. But this wasn't his time, and the girl simply drew an oversized fan from her belt, slowly unfolding it so that it blocked most of her face.
"I'll fight you, boy, but don't be surprised if you get hurt."
"Not killed?"
"I couldn't take such advantage of an amateur."
"Let's see if you can back that up!"
Sesshoumaru wasn't sure exactly what the fan was for, nor did he particularly care. He charged pretty much blindly at her, preparing to swing the blade. She flicked her fan and the air twitched. Something red flew from the fan, clipping his shoulder. He stopped instantly, watching the girl intently. What had she done with the fan?
"Out of curiosity, did that hit you, or just your shirt?" She asked. "I'm still working on aim."
"Just my clothes, and you won't win a fight that way," Sesshoumaru snapped back.
"Well sor-ry. I see YOU don't have control over any of your demon powers yet, seeing as you're still stuck with that sword."
"It was my Dad's and I've gotta learn to use it. Though, now that you mention it, you might not be worth it."
"You don't have to make excuses, if you don't want to use it you can just put it away and fight with your demon powers," Kagura grinned, biting her lower lip in an ironic parody of shy innocence. "It's so much more fun that way."
Sesshoumaru charged again, without any warning this time, and Kagura barely had time to get her fan up and send more wind blades at him before he was on her. It was a random swing, but even a blind squirrel will find a nut if it's super-fast and fighting an unprepared enemy. To tell the truth, they were both amatures, but the power they held at their very fingertips disguised this fact very well.
Kagura held her left forearm with her right hand, trying to stop the fiery pain that spread through the skin. But, as if it had never happened, the pain disappeared. Kagura chanced a look at her arm, which she was sure must be cut almost through. Through the slick of blood, she could see that her skin was unbroken. A light white scar twisted down the side of her arm, but it disappeared even as she watched.
"What the hell kind of sword is that?" She screeched.
Sesshoumaru didn't pay any mind, he was examining his own injuries. For all his tough talking, there is no fifteen year old boy on earth that really expects to get sliced. One of the blades had lightly grazed his cheek, but it would have healed in a day or so. The real problem was on his right shoulder. One of the things had hit him pretty bad. He would be fine…except that's the hand he had to hold the tenseiga in.
"Hey? Are you even listening to me?"
"What the hell do you want?"
"What kind of idiot sword is that that doesn't cut people?"
"What are you talking about? I got you on you arm, look it's covered in blood!"
"But there's no cut. Truce, whatever, come look."
"Like hell!"
Kagura sighed, and put her fan on the ground. She started to walk toward Sesshoumaru.
"I'll come to you, then."
She raised her arm, displaying the lack of injury.
"That's… really weird…" Sesshoumaru breathed, looking at tenseiga.
"By the way, I'm Kagura of the wind," she said, extending her not- bloodsoaked hand.
"Sesshoumaru. Of the twenty first century," he replied, shaking it lightly.
"Yeah whatever."
Okay, that's all you get for now, because I'm juggling about 4 stories right now. (And nobody's reviewing any of them, it's making me depressed.)
By the way, a gi is the outfit people wear when working on karate or tae kwan do.
Okay, question of the chappie: What's the translation of Setsuna no Takemaru?
(Yes, I know another Takemaru question, I'm so repetitive)
Guess and I'll send you a nifty pic I did.