The Yin Yang Souls

Chapter 10: Zodiac

Previously:

As Kagome charged, the woman broke away and kicked Kagome towards Sango with the knife drawn. She was heading straight at her best friend and was going to fast to stop.

Kagome watched in horror as her body charged towards Sango. The blade was still hurtling towards her best friend's belly, directed by her hands. The woman laughed in a high screechy voice. With all of her might, she planted her foot firmly on the ground and twisted her body around harshly. She landed pitifully on the ground, her ankle twisted to the right and beginning to turn a nasty shade of blue, black, and purple. Sango hurried to her friend's side.

"Are you stupid or something?" reprimanded Sango, "I could've moved, or pushed you away. And you would've stayed unharmed. Don't do this to me! With your ankle, you can't even fight, let alone stand!"

"I'm fine… I just need to sit here for a while." Kagome reassurred the slayer with a smile.

Sango shook her head in disbelief. 'Kagome, Kagome… when will you learn to care more for yourself and not for others.'

Sesshomaru, meanwhile, was stepping into the ring. He figured, since Kagome was inept to fight, he'd step in. He told himself he wasn't doing it for the girl, but mearly for his own deranged pleasure.

"Woman, what business do you have here?" he snapped.

The woman cackled again and smiled at the silver-haired demon vampire. She sauntered up against him and twirled a long finger around a few strands of his hair.

"My, what a handsome vampire you are…" said the woman.

"I asked you a question, wench." Sesshomaru smacked the woman away. She looked up to him from the ground and smiled again.

"You may call me Cancer. I have come with orders from my master. He requests that beautiful artifact you carry around your neck. It possesses such wonderful power." The woman said.

If Sesshomaru was surprised he didn't show it. He impassively took fighting stance. The tips of his pointer and middle fingers glowed a dangerous acid green. InuYasha slowly backed up from the angered vampire. He was familiar with the technique that his half-brother was preparing to use. He'd been on the receiving end of that whip quite a few times and it wasn't enjoyable.

While Sesshomaru proceeded in his dance of death, Miroku had rushed over to Sango and Kagome. They were brushing themselves off and searching for possible weapons. Both had minor injuries, most came from the fall they had.

"What is with all these strange appearances?" Sango wondered aloug.

"Why do they want the yin and yang amulets?" Kagome added.

"We'll have to do a bit of research when we get back to the shrine. But first we need to get rid of Ms. Thang over there."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kagome smiled slyly.

"Double Play…"

Sesshomaru flicked his wrist and the acid green whip slapped the ground, hissing as the acidic texture ate through the wooden floor. Cancer unconsciously took a step backwards. The acid green whip lashed out at the woman leaving a bloody cut each time it hit. InuYasha pulled out his sword, Tetsusaiga, and jabbed the tip into Cancer's back. It was a clean cut straight through to the other side. Cancer stared at the blade protruding through her stomach and returned her shocked gaze to Sesshomaru. Kagome and Sango walked up beside InuYasha.

"Aww… you guys killed her before we could have a little payback," Kagome whined.

"She's still alive…" said Sesshomaru.

"Well, yeah. But we still need to interrogate her," replied Sango.

The acid whip dissolved, and Sesshomaru walked up to Cancer and lifted her up by the throat. "Who do you work for?"

Cancer scratched weakly at the hands squeezing her windpipe. The demon's eyes narrowed as he tightened his grip. "Answer me, wench."

Cancer gasped for air before weakly answering, "I work… f-for… a man n-named Naraku."

"What does he want with the amulets?" Kagome stepped up and asked.

"Heh… find out yourself." Cancer's coughed up blood and her breathing slowed down and finally stopped.

"That was completely meaningless. She didn't tell us anything," InuYasha growled. He sheathed his sword and stomped out the door. Kikiyo followed him with a worried look.

"Well… Sango and I decided that we're gonna go back to my family's shrine to do some research on the amulets. There's got to be something useful in all those books Grandpa keeps lying around."

Sesshomaru nodded once and retreated to the door. The two girls followed quietly. InuYasha was leaned up against the restaurant wall. Kikiyo was sitting cross-legged on the concrete next to him. They both looked up when the other three walked out.

"So where are you two gonna go, Sesshomaru?" asked Kagome.

"I will return to the mansion after a drink. I do no care where InuYasha goes."

"I'm going back home…" InuYasha answered before dashing off with the incredible speed of a vampire.

"Well, see you tomorrow," Kagome waved to the vampire and led the way back to the shrine.

Sesshomaru watched as Kagome and Sango disappeared around the corner before disappearing.

It was a couple blocks down that Sango finally realized what was missing. "Wait! Where's Miroku? What happened to him?"

"I think he stayed behind to… oh I don't know. He's probably already left," Kagome reassured her friend.

Sango blinked. "Let's just get back to the shrine. We got some books to search through.

Back at the shrine, the two girls headed straight up to the attic where most of Kagome's grandpa's books were stored. The shrine was empty, her mom had left a note saying they were going shopping. She tossed the note in the trash and started rummaging in the cabinets for something quick and easy to eat. Not having the time to eat very much because of Cancer's appearance worked up an even bigger appetite for the girls. But since her mom was out shopping, it had to mean that there wasn't going to be much to eat. She was right, all there was to eat was ramen, leftover miso and rice, and some fish. So she boiled up a saucepan of water and made two bowls of pork ramen. Sango was already upstairs and searching through the boxes of books, pulling them out one by one and browsing through them. The attic door, aka the door in the floor, was opened and Kagome climbed up and placed down the bowls of ramen and two cans of soda down and joined Sango.

"Find anything?" asked Kagome as she passed Sango a bowl and soda can.

"None of the books I've browsed through mention anything about a yin or yang amulet. I found one the mentions the concepts of yin and yang, but that didn't mention the amulets."

"Which book was that?"

"The one with the old book with the faded blue cover. I couldn't make out a name, but then again hardly any of the book's covers are legible."

Kagome picked up the book. Sango was right, the cover had been badly faded and the cloth cover was frayed. She flipped open the book and searched through random pages, skimming each page for a reference of 'yin' and 'yang'. Finally she found a page that mentioned what Sango had said.

"The concept of Yin and Yang is similar to the balance of light and dark. With Yin you will always have Yang and vice versa. There is always a little dark in the lightest of an area and always a little light in the darkest of things. In the structure, the yin yang's round shape represents the world. The darker half of the sphere represents yang, while the lighter half is yin. Yin stands for femininity, Earth, moon, dark, negative, absorbing, receptive, winter, soft, cold, still broken and even. Yang is completely the opposite. Masculinity, heaven, sun, bright, fiery, moving, odd, powerful, active, and summer.".The rest of the page was warped and not legible.

She then carefully placed the book back onto the pile. "Do you think we should look up on the name of 'Cancer'?"

Sango looked up from a musty red book with a small smile on her face. She passed the book to Kagome, signifiying for her to read.

"The Chinese Zodiac, dated back to 2367 BC, consists of 10 heavenly streams (elements of yin and yang) and 12 Earthly branches (the 12 animals of the zodiac). As time went by, the animals became the core basis of Asian astrology, which dictates personalities and divides on to the year they were born. The 12 animals were as followed: the rat, the dog, the sheep, the cow, the rooster, the monkey, the boar, the horse, the snake, the dragon, the rabbit, the tiger, and the cow. Later on came the zodiac based on the constellations in the night sky known as the following: Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricornus, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Libra, Virgo, Leo, and Cancer."

"There… Cancer is listed with the twelve constellations of the Zodiac." Kagome pointed out.

"Come to think of it, didn't she have that exact marking for Cancer on her knuckle weapon?" asked Sango.

"Yeah… and when I think back to the fight with Youki, he had a weird marking on his soul-carrying gourd." Kagome added.

"Do you remember what it looked like?"

"Mmm…" Kagome looked over the names and symbols of the Zodiac list before pointing one out, "That one. Aquarius."

"Wonder why they call themselves by these names…"

"Well… Cancer's knuckle weapon looked kinda like crab claws. And the constellation is a crab. And Aquarius always carries a water urn. Youki had a gourd. Gourd are sometimes used to carry water."

"Well… I'm guessing we'll probably have to fight ten more of these Zodiac fighters, you think?"

"Probably."

Sango and Kagome collapsed against the boxes and sighed. It was going to be a rough year. Kagome's mind switched over to sleep mode and in the back of her mind, she wondered what Sesshomaru was doing at that moment.

Naraku

The man, otherwise now known as Naraku, threw his glass of wine into the fireplace. The fire hissed as the liquid splashed the hot embers. Running a hand through his dark locks, he called for his eldest daughter.

"KAGURA! Get in here NOW!" he roared.

The door opened and a young teen opened the door. Her black hair was pinned up on one side with a feather ornament. She was wearing a red kimono with white trim with a matching fan in one hand. "You called?"

"Why is it that all my best warriors are complete imbisiles and constantly screw things up for me?"

"Umm… Because they were weak?" Kagura offered.

Naraku pitched the bottle of wine at his daughter, who stepped to the side and out the door. The man just buried his face in a hand and stared into the burning embers.

"Kanna… send for scales." A little girl dressed in white stepped out of the shadows, nodded, and disappeared.

"I always get what I desire…"

Zephyr Notes: Hey! I'm back from Florida. Anyway, it was a bit tough, but I got this chapter done. I'm hoping to start on the next chapter soon. It's finally all being put together in my head. I also hope to get some more InuYasha and Kikiyo moments going. Also, yes I know that Kagura is not Naraku's eldest/first incarnation. Kanna is, but since this is an AU fiction, I'm doing it how I want it to be. So don't bitch at me about it. I don't know when the next chapter will be out, I'm going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this Friday so live with it. I also need to apply for a job. I need the money. Ja matta ne.