Last time: Kay finally managed to show her emotions, thanks to InuYasha's tooth and Kaede's necklace. They beat a demon, and Kay got to show off her Dragon Fire, an attack that emits two fire-dragons and attacks the enemy.
Chapter 16: Hiromasa's Return
"We should leave. If we start to travel, we'll probably find some clues about Naraku. Surely he's moved his castle by now," Miroku said as they stood next to the well, waiting for Kagome to get back with InuYasha.
"You forget," Kay said, standing up straight and tall, "that you have the best clue of all right here." Kay pointed to herself and grinned, looking at Miroku like he was stupid.
"Ah, yes. I guess I did forget," Miroku said, sighing.
"Hey, at least I can lie now," Kay said, glaring at Miroku with all she had.
"Yeah, whatever," Michelle said, watching the well. She was very impatient, just sitting there.
"You know, you could talk to Sango, or play with Shippo to cease your boredom," Kay said to Michelle, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I think I'll just sit here and watch the bug on the well," Michelle said, putting her head in her hands.
"Uh-huh... You do that, then," Kay said, blinking a couple times before looking up into the sky and thinking. She rather liked this necklace. She played with it, spinning the demon tooth around with her finger. It was always pointing down, and this necklace never seemed to move at all. She liked it that way.
Kay smiled and walked over to the well and looked down. Just then, Kagome and InuYasha appeared in the bottom of the well.
"Hi, guys!" Kay said, waving. She moved back and InuYasha jumped out of the well, Kagome in his arms.
"Took you long enough," Michelle said, getting up. "Let's go."
"Who died and made you queen?" Kay asked, getting on Charlie's back. Sango, Miroku and Shippo got on Kirara.
"Just shut up. I really want to leave. Now," Michelle said, getting on Charlie. Kagome and InuYasha got on Charlie also.
Agh! What is in that bag, Kagome? Charlie asked, projecting his thoughts. 'Cause I'm pretty sure you, being the stick you are, don't weigh that much!
"Charlie!" Kay growled. That was kind of mean.
What? She's a stick!
"Let's just go," Kay said, patting Charlie on the side. He and Kirara jumped up into the air and followed Kay's directions. Naraku was in a different castle, but still in the same general direction as last time. Actually, he was closer than usual.
They flew through they sky, traveling for a good amount of time before landing in a village. A few villagers were startled by the two giant animals, but everyone ignored them and walked into the nearest inn.
"Is there a room big enough for all of us to fit in? Or even half of us to fit in?" Kay asked no one in particular, looking at the building. She found it sort of small.
"Why yes!" said a vaguely familiar voice.
Kay turned to look at the person and gasped. "Not you!" Kay exclaimed. She groaned and held her hand against her head.
Hiromasa walked up to Kay and took her hand. "Ah, lady Kay. How nice to see you," Hiromasa said. Kay yanked her hand from his grasp just as he was about to kiss it.
Ignoring Michelle laughing in the background, Kay asked, "What are you doing here!"
"Why, my family owns this fine inn, princess Kay," Hiromasa explained, bowing slightly and backing up.
"I'M NOT A PRINCESS!" Kay yelled, fire coming from her eyes.
"Old habits die hard," Hiromasa said, smiling brightly.
Kay sighed and thought, He better not ask--
"Will you be my wife?" Hiromasa asked as he interrupted Kay's thoughts.
Kay turned beet red and looked furious. You could hear Michelle pause and look at Hiromasa seriously, and then start laughing even harder, falling on the ground. The other people in the group just stood and looked at Hiromasa with deadpan looks.
"FOR THE SECOND TIME, NO!"
In-between laughs Michelle asked, "He asked you once before?"
Kay slowly nodded, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists so hard that she was threatening to puncture her skin where her nails pressed against her palm. Michelle's laughter filled the inn and the neighboring houses, seeing as it was so loud.
"Just shut up, you little ass," Kay fiercely said to Michelle over her shoulder. Michelle shut up, but you could hear stifled laughs every so often coming from her direction.
"Let's see if we can find another place to stay," Miroku offered, starting to walk out of the inn.
"Yes, let's," Sango said, grabbing Kay by the arm and dragging her red-faced friend out of the building. The other's followed, Michelle laughing still.
"She's scary," Shippo muttered next to Michelle.
"Oh, you haven't seen Kay when she's scary. She's scary when you touch her ponytail," Michelle said, smirking. "Shippo... Why don't you touch her ponytail? All she does is looks at you mean-like," Michelle said, an evil gleam in her eye.
"All right," Shippo said, bouncing over to Kay and then going up on her shoulder. He pushed her hair and bounced off of Kay's shoulder, watching her carefully. Kay stopped dead in her tracks, and not even Sango's consistent pulling could stop Kay from pouncing up and tackling Shippo.
As Kagome gasped InuYasha chanted, "Go Kay! Go Kay! Go Kay!"
When Kay was done, Shippo was being sat on and had numerous scratches and a few bruises.
"Never touch my hair," Kay said slowly and clearly, picking up Shippo by his tail and looking at him straight in the face. She dropped him and started to walk, giving everyone a look that said What are you looking at?
- - -
They found a nice place, thanks to Miroku's fake exorcism ritual, and got a nice portion of food for each of them. They even got a bath to relax in! How nice.
Shippo seemed to stay away from Kay for the whole night, and he didn't listen to anything Michelle said anymore... But otherwise, they were all content... for now.
The morning brought new life in all of our friends, waking them up to the new, happy, cheerful morning.
"Shut up you bastard!" Michelle yelled at Shippo, who was singing some weird song. It was annoying.
Kay yawned and said, "Please, stop singing."
Shippo, now afraid of Kay, listened and shut up. Maybe it was a good thing that Kay attacked him. Yeah, he was afraid of her, but he would listen to her.
"Come on! You guys are so slow! We have to leave now if we're going to find Naraku," InuYasha barked at them.
"You all forget! I can find him easy! Why don't we walk today and give Charlie and Kirara a rest. They need it," Kay said, walking down the road.
InuYasha sighed and started to follow her, the rest of their group catching up and trying to keep themselves occupied with something to do.
As they traveled, Kay stopped and looked at a tree.
"What's wrong?" Sango asked, looking at the tree also.
"I don't see anything wrong with this tree," Kagome said, looking at Kay like she had three heads.
"That's not a tree," Kay said, drawing her sword smoothly and sending it towards the tree.
The tree vanished and a demon girl jumped out of the blade's way before landing in front of them on the path. She had green hair that was kept up in pigtails and green eyes with slits for pupils. Her lips were green with pointed teeth that looked sort of like a vampire. The demoness' clothing was a tan tunic that was tight and she had brown, leather boots that went half way up her calve, with emeralds in the sides. Her ears were pointed and her nails were a deep green, like her hair. She looked like...
"Katakoutai?" Kagome asked, uncertain.
"No, her sister," Kay answered, glaring at the demon.
"Ah! You know of my sister, eh? Well, I am Koubakoutai. Nice to meet you all!" she said, smiling widely.
"Katakoutai and Koubakoutai are shape shifters. Katakoutai can transform into animals, and she can transform into plants," Kay said, glaring at the demon angrily.
"Wow, you are a smart one, aren't you? What a cute one, too! I just want to eat you up!" she said, squealing and smiling like she was cuddling a puppy.
Kay raised an eyebrow and stuck out her tongue in distaste.
"You must be the psycho sister," Michelle said loudly.
"I don't like you, you loudmouth. You're a meanie," Koubakoutai said, pouting a bit.
"Well, if you don't mind, we'd like to be on our way," Kay said, stepping forward, her sword held tightly in front of her.
"Oh, yeah! I was supposed to fight you! He he! I forgot! Well, here it comes!" Koubakoutai said as she ran at the group, her claws outstretched. InuYasha ran forward, his Tetsusaiga unsheathed and transformed. He brought down his sword on Koubakoutai's body, but she moved just in time.
Koubakoutai ran over to Kagome, grabbed her, and threw her up in the air, and they saw Kagura in her feather. She grabbed Kagome and knocked her out somehow, and Koubakoutai ran over to Michelle and threw her up in the air. It was surprising how such a small demon had so much strength. And she was also dodging blows from InuYasha at the same time.
As Charlie and Kirara went up in the air to try and get the now unconscious Michelle and Kagome, Koubakoutai ran over to Kay. Right as she was going to grab Kay's body, Kay dodged out of the way with an elaborate move.
"I like a good challenge," Koubakoutai said as she went over to Kay and tried to strike her with her claws. Kay dodged and tried to hit Koubakoutai with her sword covered in flames, but she missed. Koubakoutai jumped up and hit Kay hard with the back of her hand, and in just the right spot, too, because Kay was knocked out.
Koubakoutai jumped up, amazingly high, and landed in Kagura's feather with Kay in her arms. Kagura left, sending one more Dance of Blades to Charlie and Kirara. They landed and let the others get on their backs and started to go after Kagura.
- - -
Kay awoke in a damp and smelly dungeon, filled with miasma. She coughed and her eyes watered. She was shackled, her right foot was chained to the floor. She smirked and reached to touch the metal binding her to the ground, but pulled her hand back in pain. There's a barrier around the chain, Kay thought as she put her fingers in her mouth and sucked on them, trying to make the pain go away. I guess I should have known that... But when it's a life or death thing, you don't think very logically.
Kagome slowly stirred and she looked over to Kay. "We're in Naraku's castle," Kay said quietly, reading Kagome's expression perfectly. Well, you had to when you knew everything about this world.
Obviously, Michelle was the last to wake up and she looked over to Kay. "Naraku's castle," Kay simply said, knowing what she was going to ask. Michelle nodded and looked up to see Kohaku standing there, a blank expression on his face. He wore a green slayer's suit, like Sango, and had his chain thing held up high. ((AN: Anyone know the name of that thing?)) Kay sighed, knowing that he was under Naraku's control. How sad.
Naraku walked into the room and smirked. "Now, I want you to tell me a few things. What is the real day that InuYasha becomes human?"
"We'll never tell you!" Michelle yelled.
"I think you will!" Naraku said, an evil glint in his eye. He looked back at Kohaku and said, "Kohaku. Kill the girl." Naraku didn't specify which girl, so it was Kohaku's call.
Kohaku raised his chain blade higher and then threw it straight towards Kay. She gulped and prayed that it would stop before...
It bounced off a semi-clear purple barrier that had appeared out of nowhere. Kay turned to see Michelle holding up her hand to block the attack and she had conjured up a sacred barrier. It seemed like in life and death situations she was able to do that... Or she remembered she could do it. One of the two.
Kay smiled, but it soon disappeared as he saw Kohaku aim for Kagome. Michelle spread her hand out farther and another barrier appeared, but it looked like Michelle was concentrating hard. Kohaku turned to Michelle and tried to throw his weapon at her, but it was knocked aside again by a third barrier that was put up. Michelle sat there, both of her hands up and her face contorted in concentration.
"Hm... I see that you have put up a barrier," Naraku said as he walked to the closest barrier, which was Kagome's. He put a finger out to touch it, and withdrew his hand. "A sacred barrier..."
"Michelle can put up sacred barriers," Kagome said, smirking.
"That wench can put up sacred barriers?" Naraku asked.
"You can't get through the sacred barrier!" Kagome yelled.
"Michelle can put up barriers that I can't get through," Naraku repeated.
"I can't believe it, but she can put up sacred barriers!" Kagome said, smirking.
Naraku thought for a moment and said out loud, "This girl has no priestess training, but can put up sacred barriers. Those sacred barriers are too strong for me to get through... How can she put up sacred bar--"
"WE'VE GOT THAT PART! Do you guys always repeat everything fifty times before moving onto something else to talk about?" Kay asked, astounded that they said Michelle could put up a sacred barrier 1,000 different ways.
Kay looked over to Michelle and wondered if Kohaku could go through the barrier... Could she stop certain people from going through? Yes... She's able to stop certain things and people from getting through the barrier. That's why Kohaku's weapon was blocked, Kay thought as she sat there, watching Naraku.
Kagome looked at Kay with a strange expression and Naraku just glared at her. Kay glared right back.
"Fine. I'll just leave you all here to rot," Naraku said, smirking slightly. He walked out of the cold room with Kohaku following and closed the door. Kay could tell that there was a guard and reinforcements beyond the door.
Michelle let the barriers drop and sighed in relief. They were glad that he was gone, but...
"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Michelle asked.
"The chains on our legs have barriers around them. I won't be able to use my nails to get us out. The only thing that I know we can do for sure and have the best chance of surviving is waiting for InuYasha and the others to come," Kay said, getting comfortable the best way she could with the chain on her leg.
"Just great. We're stuck here, in Naraku's castle, and we have to wait for InuYasha," Michelle said, growling.
"Look! It's Aoirohiken and Papuruhiken!" Kagome said, pointing to the two fire swords across the room. Kay and Michelle turned to them and saw the swords.
"They're not going to do us much good if we can't reach them," Kay said, sighing and laying down, her arms folded and her head resting on them.
"Ugh. How fun is this?" Michelle asked sarcastically.
"You can't even begin to describe," Kay answered in the same sarcastic tone.
hr
b Next time/b Kay, Michelle and Kagome are stuck in a dungeon, waiting for InuYasha and the gang to come. Will the girls be saved in time, or will they have to find a new way to get out of Naraku's castle?
Michelle: How come you were the last one to get caught?
Kay: I planned it that way. Since I can tell what's going on in the world, I can predict what people are going to do while fighting, though I can't always stop their attacks.
Michelle: Ahh... I see...
Kay: You know what's annoying?
Michelle: What?
Kay: When the 10 o'clock whistle goes off.
Michelle: What about it?
Kay: Charlie starts howling all the time. Unless it's cute little howls and he looks like a little wolf howling to the moon, it's annoying and loud.
Charlie: I heard that! While I chew Kay out for saying that, you can read about us saving them in The Battle!