Disclaimer: Take Inuyasha… But Kikyo's mine! holds up a chibi Kikyo
Chapter 5: Koji's MistressHi, I'm Yumi. You know, Koji's friend. The one with no idea what I'm doing… I'll take over the recording for awhile to describe what happened after Koji got drained. Naraku dropped him and let him fall to the ground. Yamiko jumped down next to him and reached down towards Koji's wrist. Towards the Animator. Not thinking about it, I sent multiple wind blades at him, then ran along behind them. Yamiko saw them coming and jumped, but I wasn't concerned with him. I grabbed Koji and ran back to Inuyasha, who was raising up the Tetsusaiga for a wind scar. I jumped over the blast as it headed off towards Naraku, who had put up another barrier. "Come on Inuyasha!" I called out to him "We need to go!"
"No! I'm gonna kill Naraku here and now!" The Tetsusaiga turned red again and he went at the barrier. But this time, he was ready for it, and another limb came out of nowhere and knocked Inuyasha into a tree. This made him understandably mad, but he did call out to me "Maybe we should go…"
"That's right Inuyasha" Naraku said "Crawl away with your tail between your legs"
"Ignore him Inuyasha!" I yelled "The slime isn't worth our attention!" Naraku growled, but Inuyasha nodded and we ran off, eventually losing both our pursuers in the forest.
We went back to Kaede's Village, taking turns carrying the lifeless, or at least soulless, body of Koji. We entered Kaede's hut, and saw Kagome with Sango and Miroku. Kagome gasped, and Miroku looked shocked, but Sango looked at his body like she'd expected something like that to happen to him. I set him down on the floor, and we all gathered around the fire.
"I knew he'd end up dieing eventually" Sango shrugged
"He's not dead" I said
"What was it he told us to do?" Inuyasha asked, turning to me.
"Umm... Didn't he say to go get Kikyo?" The whole room gained an awkward feeling at Kiyko's name "Oh get over it! We need to help Koji!"
Kagome was the first to speak "He's right you know"
Inuyasha turned to her with that sorrowful look on his face and said "Kagome…" while I sighed. I never realized those "Kikyo moments" could be so annoying.
"Knock it off!" I told them both "We don't need to go over this!" I turned to Inuyasha "Where's Kikyo?"
He looked upset for a moment, then that look turned to nervousness "Ummm…"
A few minutes later…
"What do you mean you don't know where she is?" I yelled, making even Inuyasha flinch.
"You heard me" he said "I have no idea where she is"
I sighed and sat down again. "Then it's hopeless, isn't it?" I asked quietly, looking around the room. No one would meet my gaze.
The next day I left Kaede's Village. I had decided that the only way to find Kikyo was to go out and look for her, so everyone had headed out in different directions to try. Kagome (Koji's Contact for Inuyasha World) told me that it was best to take the Animator with me, as Yamiko could easily come back to finish Koji off. I was reluctant, but as I walked through the forest, the silver bracelet on my wrist that was the Animator seemed to shine with its own light, as if it were perfectly at home there. It was about 2 days later when it first happened. It was night, and I was resting in a local inn a few miles from the Village. I was looking through the Animator's menu of options, examining each one closely. "Profile Creation/Edit" I said quietly to myself "Delete Profile, PLC List, TED Settings, World Descriptions, Weapon and Armor Database, Combat Database, and…" I stopped and looked at the last option in amazement "Emergency Kickback Drive? But… I thought…" My thoughts were interrupted by a hissing noise coming from outside. I looked out the window and gasped.
Soul Skimmers! Kikyo's Soul Skimmers were outside collecting souls! I jumped out the window and followed them through a dark patch of woods. They came out into a small clearing, dimly lit by the light of souls. Kikyo sat on the root of a tree in the center of it, taking in the souls the Skimmers brought for her. She startled me when she spoke "You can come out now"
A Skimmer came from behind me and pushed me into the clearing and in front of Kikyo. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a piercing stare.
"I-I'm Yumi, Miss Kikyo" I managed to sputter "I, umm… that is…"
"Calm down" she said, walking down next to me.
"Umm… Ok." I said, and I took a deep breath before continuing "I'm Koji's friend. Naraku drained all the souls from his body. We need you to put him back"
"Naraku?" Kikyo asked, sounding slightly confused "Naraku cannot absorb souls"
"He took the powers of a Soul Eater" I said "Please Miss Kikyo, I need your help!"
She considered me for a moment before nodding and saying "Lead the way"
A day later, we arrived back at Keade's Village. I took Kikyo to Koji, and she led her Soul Skimmers to him. They danced around him, dropping souls onto his body, quickly being absorbed into his flesh. After about ten souls, he began to move around, his eyes opened and he pushed himself up. "What happened?" he wondered, until he saw Kikyo.
"Mistress Kikyo!" he said, startled, and knelt down on one knee. Kikyo looked at him but said nothing. Then he looked at his bare wrist, growing fear on his face. "Where did it go?" he asked me in an urgent whisper.
"I have it" I said, holding up the silver bracelet "What's with all this 'Mistress' stuff?"
"Kikyo is my mistress" he said "I'm under her control. She took me into her little Skimmer army and I haven't been able to reedit my data for this world since"
"Oh" I said, gazing once more at Kikyo before giving the Animator back to Koji. He put it back on his arm and it melted back into the bead bracelet form. "Let's go" he said to me, turning to leave.
"Wait Koji" Kikyo said "You will tell me what exactly happened"
"Forget it" he said, dismissing her with a wave.
Kikyo glared at him, then said quietly "Kneel"
The Animator glowed, then Koji's arm went down, Koji getting on his knees from the force. "Will you tell me now?" she asked
Koji grumbled, but proceeded to tell her everything. And so ended my first real session with the Animator. I would get another chance… But that's a story for another time.
Now that Koji's back, will he and Yumi escape? And what exactly is the mysterious Emergency Kickback Drive (EKD)? So many more questions… but can they answer them before Naraku gets back? Next Chapter: Ona Wing anda Prayer. "When the hell did you get wings?"