Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Aldrea and the plot. My friend owns Pai.
A/N: Wow, this is up fast… not really. I think it's a short chapter, and the two surprise characters don't appear until the 7th chapter! Gomen nasai! Anyway, here it is!
(Author notes)
"Japanese"
/Thought speak/
'Thoughts'
Chapter VI: A Surprise for Naraku
"Kirara, land just outside the village."
Kirara did as Sango instructed and landed, kneeling down to let Miroku, Sango, and Shippou climb down from her back. Sango gasped as she surveyed the extent of damage done to the village. There was a raging fire that had formed a towering wall around the village and most of the huts were destroyed. It seemed that no one was left alive.
"Naraku, or one of his incarnations, must be near. I can feel a strong demonic aura." Miroku gripped his prayer beads around his right hand, preparing to release his Kazanna.
Sango, after recovering from her initial shock, took out Hiraikotsu and slid into a fighting stance.
"Ku ku ku ku ku. I see you've fallen for my trap."
A dark shape emerged from the wall of fire. It was clothed in a baboon pelt and was steadily advancing towards them.
"Naraku," they gasped while Kirara began to growl. Sango bounded up and threw her boomerang directly at him. "Hiraikotsu!" It sliced through Naraku's neck and Sango caught it just as a collection of vines shot out from Naraku.
"It's one of his puppets!" shouted Miroku as he began dodging the vines. "I should have known!"
Shippou jumped out in front of his friends and shouted, "Fox fire!" Blue flames shot from his outstretched palms, scorching some of the vines while his friends destroyed the rest of them.
In a fit of rage, Kirara flew and headed for the split body, destroying it with her teeth and claws. The fake Naraku then finally returned to its original state; a clay doll with a piece of Naraku's hair wrapped around it.
Miroku planted his staff among the shards of broken clay, staring determinedly at the dying wall of fire. "Show yourself, Naraku! Or are you too much of a coward," he shouted into the smoky air. The wall of fire had finally died down to a point where it was safe to enter the village. All of them were wary. The fake Naraku was too easily defeated.
The silence laid thick about the village as the victors approached, but it was shattered as a samurai warrior appeared with his sword drawn and charged the four companions.
All of them quickly dodged the samurai, which Sango then destroyed with a well aimed sword attack. They then readied themselves for an all-out attack.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The startled group scoured the area for the disembodied voice that sounded as if it came from all directions in the dark smoke.
A figure appeared in the distance, floating on a feather. It was a woman who wore a red and white kimono and had her black hair tied up in a tight bun. She flicked her wrist in anticipation, her fan snapping open and shut. As the woman leaped from the feather she gave a wicked grin, her red eyes glowing with feral joy. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the monk and demon slayer. What fun this will be."
"Kagura!" Miroku blurted out with loathing. He began to unwind the prayer beads around his Kazanna, but quickly resealed it as he heard the low humming of the dreaded Saimyosho. "Kuso, why did they have to appear now?"
Kagura glanced around, her face contorted into a contemplating feature. "Where is Inuyasha?" she demanded of the warriors, one cat and one kit, in front of her.
"We don't know," lied Sango, hoping against all hope that Kagura would believe her. No such luck.
Kagura scowled, bringing her fan up over her shoulder. "If that's the way you wish to talk," Kagura leaped high in to the sky, positioning herself above the quartet, "THEN DIE! Dance of the Dead!" (I would love the Japanese version of her attacks) As she shouted out her attack she waved her fan in a sweeping motion and an army of dead samurai rose up from the ground, each one carrying a deadly weapon.
Shippou hid quivering behind Kirara, whose paws were now blazing fiercely with red flames. "W-what do we do now?"
Miroku tightened the grip on his staff and his face held an expression of determination. "Well Shippou, the only thing we can do is to hold them off the best we can."
Kagura smirked, an evil glint in her eyes, and adjusted her fan. "Attack now, my army!"
/Gohan, are we there yet/
/We're almost there dad. Uh oh, look/
The three flying figures glanced up from the tracks they were following and spotted a thick column of black smoke ahead of them. Inuyasha had stopped in the branches of a tall tree.
Kagome cried out in a sudden panic. "I think there's a village burning!"
"I can smell one of Naraku's incarnations, so it has to be a village that's burning."
/You are correct Inuyasha. / Aldrea replied. /All the more reason to make haste. We may already be too late to rescue your friends. /
The group increased their pace and soon the village was in sight. They landed within the outskirts of the forest and charged out, their eyes were greeted by a horrible event taking place. Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara were surrounded by samurai warriors who were slowly closing in on them, while Kagura was laughing triumphantly behind the army of the dead.
Inuyasha took a running leap, transformed the Tetsugaiga, and landed in front of his friends. "Kaze no Kizu!" he yelled as he brought his sword down in front of him. His attack cut through the army like a knife cuts through butter, forcing Kagura to retreat with sudden surprise.
Inuyasha had shown up so unexpectedly that Kagura didn't have enough time to erect her wind barrier. She was able to escape before she was turned to dust and fled to Naraku's temporary hiding place. It was a smoldering palace on the edge of the village; Naraku's pride wouldn't allow for anything smaller. Kagura approached Naraku, her ever defiant expression etched on her face.
"So, you have failed to destroy him, again. I am very disappointed in you Kagura."
Kagura grimaced as she knelt in front of the baboon clothed figure. "Forgive me Naraku-sama. I tried."
"You didn't try hard enough." Naraku held out his hand and a blood red orb materialized in the center of it. It was Kagura's heart. He then squeezed it, digging his claws into the heart, reveling in Kagura's writhing, shrieking pain. Naraku released his hold on her heart once he thought she had taken enough punishment, and it disappeared from his hand. "Pathetic creation, I shall dispose of the Inu-taichi myself." Naraku walked past the shaking, prostrate form of Kagura and out the door.
In the center of the now quiet battlefield, Aldrea, Goku and Gohan were introduced to the rest of the Inu-taichi by Kagome.
Kagome began to point to each member as she named them. "That girl over there is Sango the demon slayer, and next to her is her pet Kirara. On Kirara's back is Shippou, and next to them is Miroku the monk."
Miroku was standing a foot away from Aldrea in a matter of seconds and already had her hands in his. "Will you bare my child?"
Aldrea's eyes flashed with a dangerous light, and she glared at Miroku with a gaze fierce enough to send a T-rex cowering under a rock, but that didn't compel him to let go of her hands or look away from her. "Are you positive that you wish to ask such a question?" she asked in a dangerous whisper.
Miroku nodded his head, which confirmed her suspicions.
Aldrea sighed. "Very well." Suddenly, a strange change took over Aldrea. Her eyes turned yellow with black slits for pupils; scales began to appear all over her skin; her nails lengthened and curved, becoming extensions of her bones. Her body lengthened and grew two extra legs; leather covered wings sprouted from her newly lengthened body; her ears grew long and moved to the top of her head. The last thing to change was her face, which bulged outward in to a snout.
The others gazed in shock at the creature before them. Aldrea had turned in to something unexplainable. Her head was that of a Raptor with horse ears on the top of her head. The head was attached to a human torso, the only part of her that had changed the least. Now it was covered in scales, like the rest of her body, and she had deadly curved claws on each of her fingers. Below her torso was the body of a horse with large bat wings folded against its back; the hind legs were that of a raptor's and there was a long lizard-like tail to end it all.
The hideous monster looked steadily at Miroku, and then thought spoke in order for everyone to 'hear'. /Would you still ask the same question to a monster/
Miroku replied that he would because she was beautiful in her other form. Goku began to grind his teeth and clench his fists. He was, for the first time in his entire life, jealous.
Aldrea let out a screeching laugh and a growling chuckle. She then looked deeply into Miroku's eyes, reading his mind. /You never give up, do you Miroku. /
"I see Kagome has informed you of my lecherous ways."
Aldrea let out a blast of air from her nostrils in a defeated way, and transformed back to her half human form. The rest of the Inu-taichi was too shocked to move or say anything. "I am already married, Miroku. My husband is Goku, who is currently directly behind you."
Miroku quickly spun around, apologizing profusely to the enraged saiyan.
"What you saw was my true form. I became this way due to a scientific research project gone horribly wrong. I was to test a type of medicine which would cure all forms of cancer, but the sample I was given had somehow been contaminated. It did cure the breast cancer I was suffering from, yet then it went after my DNA and permanently altered it. The only reason I have this demi-saiyan body is because the forest I live in gave it to me in return for my protection. Now I am bound to look after the forest and its creatures for eternity."
The others, sensing that Aldrea was here to help them, relaxed and told her that they understood her dilemma. Inuyasha just went on about how Aldrea should have told them earlier. A well said 'osuwari' stopped his ranting.
Sango then noticed something about Aldrea that wasn't there before. "What's that on your face?"
Everyone's attention was once again drawn to Aldrea, now focused on four scars on the right side (HER right) of her face. The one farthest from the center of her face ran slanted from where her ear met her cheek down to her jaw. The one closest to her nose ran next to the corner of her eye down to the corner of her lips.
Aldrea turned away. "It is not a subject I wish to dwell upon at this moment. All I shall say is that to be betrayed by one you consider a close friend is the most painful torture imaginable. I hid it from you so I would not have to relive the memory."
Kagome nodded with understanding. "Don't worry. We won't ask you to tell us about it."
Aldrea turned back and smiled. "Arigatou. We should continue our search."
"Finally," Inuyasha said obnoxiously. "I've been tryin' to get you guys moving for an hour!" Inuyasha then spotted an angry glare from Kagome. "Well, less than an hour."
By that time the fire around the village had spent itself and a black smoke covered the area in a thick blanket, obscuring the village from most senses.
"So," began Goku, trying to fill the empty air, "could you tell me more about this Naraku guy?"
Kagome glanced in Inuyasha's direction, worry evident in her eyes, and then began to tell the tale of Onigumo; his desire for the Shikon Jewel and the priestess Kikyo; Naraku's birth and the supposed betrayal between Inuyasha and Kikyo. She then went on to tell of Miroku's curse, Sango's brother, and of the almost completed jewel that Naraku held. Just as Kagome finished describing Naraku's current and known incarnations, she was interrupted by a shout from Inuyasha.
"There's someone up ahead, and they're headed our way!"
Everyone fell in to their battle positions; Goku, Aldrea, and Gohan drawing no weapons and instead shifting in to hand-to-hand combat stances. They all peered intently at the smoke, a figure soon taking shape, and prepared for a battle with Naraku or one of his puppets. But instead of a baboon clothed Naraku, a female cat demon appeared.
The demon had long silver-blue hair, golden eyes, silver cat ears, and white fox paws instead of feet. She wore a shirt similar to Aldrea's except for the fact that it was blood red and had one strap across her left shoulder. She had the same style and color of pants on as Inuyasha, and she looked to be 14 years old. (1)
Once Inuyasha and the cat demon saw each other they began to creep slowly round in a circle, neither one letting the other out of their sight, carefully studying their opponent.
Suddenly the cat demon came to a halt and smiled, dropping her wary stance. "So it is you Inuyasha-anchan!"
Inuyasha blinked in confusion before replying. "Pai, is that really you?"
"Well of course it is! Who'd you think it was, Naraku?"
"Yeah we did for a second there."
Aldrea cleared her throat, interrupting the siblings' little reunion. "Excuse me, but we must continue on if we are to capture Naraku."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" a voice from the shadows asked in a mocking tone.
All heads swiveled towards the sound and saw Naraku as the smoke began to thin, and each person readied for a hard battle.
"I'll take care of him!" an over eager Inuyasha cried as he raised his Tetsugaiga.
"No! Give me the Tetsugaiga," Pai yelled loudly, "and let ME finish him off!"
Miroku tried to step in and stop the fight, but he just got hit over the head instead.
Naraku watched the two bickering demons with interest. 'Hmm, I should bring Kanna with me. Inuyasha seems to have picked up a few more of his weakling friends.' With that decided, Naraku turned his back on his arguing enemies, retreating to his hideout in order to fetch Kanna.
"This isn't your battle," Inuyasha shouted.
"I don't care! I'm gonna kill him," screamed Pai.
This had gone on for long enough, so Aldrea tapped Pai's shoulder while Goku tapped Inuyasha's. The two demons spun around simultaneously.
"He is gone!" the two saiyians shouted at the quarreling duo.
(1)Pai is 300, Inuyasha is 500, Shippou is 50, and Sesshomaru is 900. Just a little age background.
A/N: Tell me how you liked it! Tell me what needs fixin' and I'll fix it. Sorry about the wait. I kind of got tired of typing for long stretches. Ja ne and R&R!