Moonlight Shadow
Chapter 10 - The legend of the Shikon no Tama
Author's Note: I don't own Inuyasha. WARNING: a little bit of colourful language is used in this chapter thanks to the temper of our favourite hanyou Inuyasha. ;) just thought I'd warn you.
For a minute Sango and Miroku just sat at the table letting the sense of serenity engulf them. For that brief minute, all their fears subsided and they knew that no matter what would happen everything would be fine.
BAM!
BAM!
Startled Sango and Miroku jumped out of their chair jerking their hands back to themselves. "What in the world was that!" they both said at the same time.
"Damnit Miroku, open the dang door!" Inuyasha yelled banging on the front door once more.
Suddenly Miroku and Sango heard Kagome yelling, "INUYASHA! Stop that banging! You're going to break the door down!"
"That's the point numbskull!" Inuyasha retorted, continuing on with his abuse against Miroku's door.
Rolling his eyes Miroku looked apologetically at Sango before walking to the front door.
"EXCUSE ME!" Kagome shrieked. "NUMBSKULL! Who do you think you're calling NUMBSKULL!"
"Well obviously you," Inuyasha said. "Well finally you open the door. About time!" Inuyasha went on as Miroku opened the front door.
"Hey come back here mister," Kagome said as Inuyasha stalked through the front door. Following him she angrily said, "Don't you turn your back on me!"
"Well now what's this," Miroku said falsely cheery. "No thank you for letting you in to my house and home. The least you could do is say "thank you Miroku" after you nearly broke down my front door," he joked taking both Kagome and Inuyasha's coats and hanging them in the front hall cupboard.
"Oh I'm sorry Miroku," Kagome apologized. "I just got distracted by Mr. Destructive over here that I forgot what we came here for. Did Sango drop by like she said she would?"
"Yes, in fact she's just sitting in the dining room right now. Won't you join us, I'm sure that there's enough pasta for you Kagome, and Inuyasha you know where I keep the-" Miroku said but stopped when Inuyasha went into the kitchen pulled the kettle out plugged in and then opened the farthest cupboard on the left took out a package of instant ramen, walked into the next room and plonked himself down next to Sango.
Miroku just rolled his eyes and said, "so Kagome may I interest you in Fettuccini Alfredo. It's still hot, and if I do say so quite delicious. Wouldn't you agree Sango?"
"Yes very delicious," Sango agreed.
"Sure," Kagome said. "Why not." Walking over she sat down on the other side of Sango and whispered in her ear, "so I take it things are good between you two again?"
"Yeah," Sango replied with a nod.
"I was just dropping by with the 'numbskull' over there to make sure, and if Miroku was being stupid make him listen," Kagome giggled.
"We heard that!" Inuyasha and Miroku said together.
Rolling her eyes Kagome sat up again and said with a dramatic sigh, "I always forget that they have super hearing powers. Oooooh Miroku this does look good," she said with a sniff as Miroku set a plate of still steaming Fettuccini Alfredo in front of her.
"Bon appetite!" he said with a wink.
With a smile Kagome picked up her fork and spoon with her hands and as she did so her bracelet glittered in the light triggering Sango's memory.
"Miroku," Sango said. "I've been meaning to ask you what the 'S.' you kept referring to in those documents over there on the coffee table meant."
Suddenly Kagome choked on her pasta, Miroku choked on the sip of red wine he had just taken and Inuyasha who was just using a pair of chopsticks to take the first bite of his lovely instant ramen when he let go of the bowl causing it to spill all over himself.
"Damn!" Inuyasha swore as the boiling water cascaded over his pants. "Why does the damn ramen have to be so hot! Fuck this hurts."
Kagome managed to swallow her pasta and got up and snapped as she wet a cool cloth, "that'd probably be because you use boiling water to make it stupid."
"ARGGGG! Stop mothering me! I'm not hurt I'm angry. Damn it Miroku, how could you just leave those lying around! How stupid can you GET! Idiot if she's read them then who else might have! Those papers weren't meant to be viewed by the whole damn world!" Inuyasha yelled snatching the cool cloth and rounding on Miroku.
"Well Sango is one of us now, we would have told her about it eventually! I don't see why we're making a big deal about this." Miroku said hastily putting his glass of wine down on the table and backing away nervously.
"BIG DEAL!" Inuyasha said in disbelief. "BIG DEAL! Miroku this is the Shikon no Tama we're talking about here, this is not just information to be tossed around, to anybody who becomes our friend. Gods I thought you of all people would know how important this was to be kept a secret. People would and have killed for this information! And you just leave all this knowledge lying around on your coffee table!"
"Inuyasha, calm down," Kagome said putting her hand on his shoulder restraining him from killing Miroku. "Stop it right now, if you ask me you are making a big deal about this! For heaven's sake you just screamed the S's true name out loud enough so I bet everyone in Japan heard you!"
"I will NOT calm down, I'm gonna kill him!" Inuyasha roared and leapt at Miroku.
"OSWARI!" Kagome yelled as loud as she could making Inuyasha go crashing face first into Miroku's (thankfully) well cushioned carpet. "Oswari! Oswari! Oswari!"
Sango and Miroku just winced and backed away. It was obvious that Inuyasha had just pulled the final straw with Kagome's anger that day, and that she was in no mood to be trifled with now.
"Uhhhh Kagome?" Sango said tentatively. "I think you can stop now I think if you 'sit' Inuyasha anymore he'll go through the floor."
Looking up the flaming aura that had surrounded Kagome disappeared, "Oh sorry about that, he just makes me SO angry sometimes. Honestly like we wouldn't have told you!" Sitting down Kagome took another bite of her Fettuccini Alfredo, and ignored Inuyasha who still hadn't moved.
"I hope he's still alive," Miroku said kneeling down and putting a hand in Inuyasha's shoulder. "You still alive there Inuyasha?"
"Of course I'm still alive you moron, I'm a vampire!" Using his hands Inuyasha pushed his face out of the carpet, and then looked up at Kagome "what was that for?" Seeing flames dance in Kagome's eyes Inuyasha hastily ducked behind Miroku. Sango laid a restraining hand on Kagome's shoulder and bent her head down and whispered something so softly that even Inuyasha and Miroku couldn't hear. Obviously Kagome liked what she heard because she laughed out loud and looked over at Inuyasha and laughed even harder.
"I think it's safe to get up now," Miroku whispered to Inuyasha.
Standing up with something between a huff and a grunt Inuyasha walked into the kitchen and began to make himself another bowl of instant ramen.
Rather hesitantly afraid of another reaction like the one that had just occurred Sango said, "Ummm so would someone mind explaining to me what this shikon no tama thing is?"
Taking her by her arm Miroku led Sango into the living room and sat her down on the couch. "It will be more comfortable to explain here, if I do say so myself I do have good choice in furniture," he said with a smile. "Inuyasha, Kagome, feel free to join us when you're finished supper." Turning to Sango he then asked, "so how much did you read?"
"Well that depends," Sango replied.
"On what?"
"On whether those sheets on the table were all of it," Sango said. "I mostly just glanced at the maps and such but I read the notes."
"Okay, well then I guess I'll start from the very beginning then.
No one knew where the Shikon no Tama had come from or how it was made. Some said that is was all that was left of a beautiful goddess whose heart was broken by a mortal man, other said that is had been created by the blood of a powerful sorceress who wished to put an end to all wars. There were more tales about how the Shikon no Tama came to be than there were stars in the sky, but not even so very little was actually known about its mysterious powers. There were a few things that all agreed on however and that was that the Shikon no Tama had four powers, that in the wrong hands could bring destruction upon all. Literally translated Shikon no Tama means Jewel of Four Souls, but when translated with meaning in mind it is believed to mean, Jewel of Four Powers. For the Shikon no Tama has the ability to grant superhuman abilities, restoration of the human soul, death and life. The Shikon no Tama is rumoured to also be another name for the legendary Philosopher's Stone; a stone which could turn any metal into gold and grant immortality to its owner. The Shikon no Tama however could easily become corrupt if whoever was guarding it was not pure of heart, so the sacred jewel was kept at all times by a miko (A/N: a priestess) who was pure.
"And this is where Inuyasha enters the story. The last ever recorded guardian of the Shikon no Tama was a miko named Kikyo. When I was tracking down information on the subject of the Shikon no Tama I came across that fact and decided to search further into how the miko had died. Now Kikyo had a lover whose name I discovered to be Inuyasha, which surprised me because as you are aware all vampires know of each other if not personally but by name. Anyways, so as I researched further into their affaire and discovered that they had been deceived by the vampire Naraku who made them believe that the other had betrayed them. Kikyo ended up dying from wounds she received battling Naraku disguised as Inuyasha but before she died she placed the Shikon no Tama into the hands of a trusted friend. Inuyasha eventually realised Naraku's betrayal and tracked him down as Naraku had intended and then Naraku changed Inuyasha into a vampire. So I tracked Inuyasha to here, Los Angels, where we became friends."
"How'd Kagome get dragged into all of this?" Sango asked.
"Ahhhhh!" Miroku said with a roll of his eyes at Inuyasha who was trying to ignore them while he noisily slurped his yummy ramen. "That was Inuyasha's fault, we were in a seven eleven when Inuyasha mistook Kagome for Kikyo and well….we soon became friends and that's about it."
"And can you explain to me just why exactly you want this Shikon no Tama, sure it may make you powerful but with all the time you've been wasting searching for this jewel of four souls Naraku's been growing more powerful and more dangerous."
"It's not the power I want Sango," Miroku said standing up and walking over to close the curtains because by this time night had fallen. "I want to jewel because I want to be human again…"
Sango gasped. For a moment she was completely unable to even think! "But why?" she finally managed to stutter out. "That would mean giving up your immortality, your fast reflexes, and super human senses."
"I want to be human again Sango," Miroku said turning around and sitting next to her. "I want to have to breathe again and feel my blood hot and running through my veins, I never want to be a cold-hearted ruthless killer like the rest of my kind, and as much as I hate to admit it I've become more like them with every year I stay amongst them. I've begun to see humans as something similar to cattle something to be preyed upon. My self control has begun to weaken and whenever I am forced to feed I find that I no longer just want their blood but their life's blood as well. I never want to loose that control Sango so I want to become human again. I don't care if I die eventually; I have lived long enough already."
"Oh," Sango said and for the second time that night she found she didn't know what to say or how to act. Finally she managed to ask. "So how are you going to find the Shikon no Tama?"
"Kagome being a witch was able to sense the jewel enter Los Angels a while ago. We only need to track it down. We thought for a while that Kikyo might have entrusted the jewel to the witch clan from which Kagome is from but we learned that, that is not the case. We will soon be in possession of the jewel, all we need to do is be patient."
"We should start planning now how we're going to kill that bastard Naraku," Inuyasha said setting his bowl down on the table and walking into the living room and flowing down onto a comfy chair.
"Yeah," Kagome said finishing off the last bite of her pasta. "he has to pay for everything he's done, killing Kikyo, turning both of you into vampires, turning Miroku's father into a vampire and lets not forget how he killed all of Sango's family after she escaped from being his slave. Inuyasha's right we'll need a plan; once Naraku senses we have the jewel he'll try to take it from us. We need to be prepared."
All four of them nodded at once in complete agreement and soon they were sitting around in the living room talking in hushed voices about ideas.
To be continued…
Author's Note: LOL I really though that chapter was funny I just love Inuyasha he's so great he really adds comic relief to everything…hehehe….him and his ramen. Well I hope you liked and please review. Thanks to all my fans who already have and for all those new fans can't wait to hear from you too. Love you all tons