I really like to say thank you to CrawlingInu for being my first review. Thank you! I'm glad to know that someone is reading and likes my stories! ) With that done, lets get going!
Inuyasha shoved the end of his shovel into the ground and wiped the sweat off his brow. He and Miroku had just finished digging the graves of the villagers from earlier and Sango went along the line of graves and said a prayer at each one. Kagome had taken Sarist to get cleaned up and to calm her down. Inuyasha looked up at the darkening sky. An image of Sarist killing those last few villagers was running vividly through his mind again and again. And the fact that she had forgotten him! What happened to her?
"Inuyasha?" Inuyasha turned around and saw Miroku and Sango standing side by side together.
"Are you alright?" Sango asked. Genuine concern crowded her voice. Inuyasha turned away from them and looked at the sky again. His thoughts wandered back to Sarist. She had been covered in so much blood… Her own and the human's. He felt a hand on his shoulder on his shoulder.
"It's ok to speak your feelings once in awhile," Miroku was saying in comforting words. "She's your sister. You can talk freely among your friends." Inuyasha couldn't help but sigh.
"She didn't know who I was." Inuyasha whispered. An image of his little sister smiling up at him while they were in Kagome's era flashed through his mind, making his heart hurt. She had been so happy. So delicate and carefree. "She had been such a pure hearted girl. I just feel like if I had been there to stop her, then maybe…" He stopped and clenched his fists together, not heeding the sharp pain of his nails digging into his palm. Miroku and Sango were shocked. This is probably the closest that they had ever seen Inuyasha to crying. He suddenly dropped to his knees and started slamming his fist into the ground repeatedly.
"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" He yelled in his frustration. "How could I be so arrogant! I should've gone after her when she left the hut! I should've protected her!" Miroku and Sango grabbed his arm to keep him from breaking his hand.
"We all should've kept a sharper eye on her." Sango said softly. Inuyasha stopped fighting their grips and just starred at the ground, his throat aching and his fist now sore from the ground.
"Something must've threatened her life." Miroku mused aloud as he took a seat on the ground. "Otherwise her demon side wouldn't have awakened."
Inuyasha clenched his fists together harder, drawing blood. Sango eyed his hands.
"Inuyasha, stop! You're cutting your hands!" Inuyasha stopped and examined his hand as five little cuts on each hand spouted blood. He just pressed his hands against his haori and hoped that it would stop bleeding.
"What could've happened to her though? And how did she get all the way up the cliffs by herself? Even I would have trouble getting up there." They looked up at the cliffs, letting their thoughts keep them company. Sango sighed and stood up.
"I'm going to check on Sarist and Kagome." With that she turned and walked into the forest. Inuyasha wanted to jump up and run after her, but Miroku gave him a cold glare.
"When those girls bathe, you do not want them to find you peeking on them." Miroku warned. He rubbed his cheek, remembering his old perverted ways. Inuyasha felt his face go red. He hadn't thought about his little sister bathing. He stood up and walked in the opposite direction.
"I'm getting some fire wood. I doubt that Sarist wants to walk all the way back to Kaede's village tonight." Miroku starred at Inuyasha's back as he walked into the shadows and silently blessed Sarist.
A 14 year old girl has melted the heart of the statue. Miroku thought with satisfaction. Despite the events of that day, Miroku smiled.
Inuyasha walked through the forest looking for any signs of dry twigs or branches. The night breeze carried the scent of wild flowers and fresh water through the maze of trees. Everything was peaceful and no scent of any demons…
Inuyasha stopped and looked around. He sniffed the air again to be sure. A growl escaped him as he started running towards the source. He ran into a clearing, and stopped. Naraku stood in the center of the clearing. He wore his baboon skin and kept his face down, but it was Naraku. Not some puppet, but the bastard himself. Inuyasha reached to draw his sword. Naraku raised is hand to stop Inuyasha.
"I'm not here to fight. I came to talk peacefully." Naraku said. He lifted the skin off of himself and revealed himself clad in bone armor and a large sword at his side. He sat down on a boulder and crossed his legs.
"Please make yourself comfortable." Naraku said, waving his hand to indicate the other large rock. Inuyasha just snorted.
"I'm perfectly fine standing." Inuyasha stated angrily. Naraku just shrugged.
"Suit yourself." Naraku settled himself in a more comfortable position, and then he turned back to Inuyasha.
"Now, I have come to talk to you about your sister." Naraku stated plainly. Inuyasha glared at him.
"My sister has nothing to do with you and never will!" Inuyasha yelled angrily. Naraku closed his eyes and shook his head in fake pity.
"How little you understand her past, young Hanyou. You see, she owes me a life debt." Naraku said with an unnerving certainty. Inuyasha let out a deep growl.
"She owes you nothing!" Inuyasha yelled. Naraku just shook his head again.
"Deny it all you want, but it's a fact that your sister is indebted to me." He narrowed his eyes. "And I intend to collect that debt."
Sarist sat soaking herself in a hot spring, trying to get the blood scent off of herself. The water was tinted a faint red as Sarist washed the dirt and blood out of her silver hair and Kagome sat in a different section of the hot spring where there wasn't blood. Sarist told Kagome about what had happened to her; about Koga and running from him. About breaking her arm and being found by Sesshomaru and fishing with little bright eyed Rin; and how Koga found them and attacked them and all the horrible things he had said he was going to do.
"That doesn't sound like the Koga I know." Kagome said, shaking her head. Sarist just shrugged and twisted her hair together and pinned it to the back of her head. She leaned back against the warm rocks on the side of the pool and said silent prays asking for forgiveness from the spirits of the villagers. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting her muscles relax. Her gem was resting on her collar bone lightly, and the two souls within it hadn't said anything since the incident.
"Onee-sama?" (AN: Onee-sama is a term for 'big sister' in Japanese.)
"Yeah?" Kagome asked.
"There's something I have been hiding from you." Sarist said, looking into her gem. Kagome turned around and looked at Sarist.
"What?" Kagome asked in disbelief.
What are you doing! Yori demanded in a rage.
Telling Kagome about you and Yasu. If I don't tell them soon and I start talking with you out loud they'll think I'm crazy.
You already are!
Damnit just SHUT UP! You're the one playing rent in my body! So just shut up and let me live my life without any damn voices yelling at me because I can't do things right! You are the one who was condemned to live your immortal life in this gem and Yasu and I were just unlucky enough to end up listening to your ranting for all of eternity until the kingdom come! That shut him up.
"Sarist, is everything ok?" Sarist realized that she had been quiet for the last two minutes.
"I'm sorry. I just had an argument." Kagome looked confused.
"Sorry, you lost me."
"You see this gem?" Sarist unlatched the necklace from her neck and handed it to Kagome. Kagome looked at it with interest. Suddenly she jumped and almost dropped the gem.
"What's wrong?" Sarist asked quickly. Kagome shook her head.
"Sorry, I just thought I saw Inuyasha in the gem." Sarist couldn't help but smile.
"That was Yori." Sarist explained. "He's a demon that lives in the gem. Yasu is probably sleeping again." Kagome starred at her then back at the gem. Sarist could barely see the small form of Yori standing by the wall of the gem. His hand was raised and was looking at Kagome. Kagome suddenly got very angry.
"Why you little…!"
"What'd he do?" Sarist asked.
"He just flicked me off!" Kagome said angrily. Sarist turned and glared at the small figure of the demon.
"Yori! Have some manners! God, why the hell do you have to be so angry all the time?" Sarist sighed and turned back to Kagome. "Sorry; He's not the nicest person in the world. You're lucky that you can't hear him yelling." Sarist said with a laugh. Kagome laughed to.
"Hey, are you guys going crazy over here?" Sango asked as she walked over to them. Kagome looked up at Sango with a smile.
"Come and join us and listen to Sarist's story!" Kagome said cheerfully.
Great, now we're a funny story that can just go around being told. Yori said sarcastically. Sarist glared at him.
"Yori, you're a secret that needs to be shared." Sarist said cheerfully. "Besides, you're such an angry little man that has a knack that for driving people crazy." Sarist muttered the last part to herself.
I heard that, you little Halfie! And I am not little!
"Who are you talking to?" Sango asked as she slipped in next to Kagome.
"There's a soul in Sarist's gem that she can talk to." Kagome explained.
"Two actually. There's a human girl in there too named Yasu." Sarist added.
"Anyway, he's an angry little man." Kagome said with a giggle. Sango looked in the gem and laughed. Sarist saw Yori raise his middle finger at them again, but Sarist decided to not point it out.
"Yori used to have his own body, but he something that got the Gods attention. They condemned him to live his immortal life inside of a gem bonded to a human soul. That happened to be Yasu. But then something or other happened and she died and her soul was bonded to the gem as well. Somehow the gem came to me and now I have a human girl and a pissed off demon bonded with me. Basically we're roommates that live in the same house. The only problem is the house is my body." Sarist tried to sound cheerful, but the words came out sounding bitter. Kagome handed Sarist back her necklace and Sarist climbed out of the springs. She grabbed a towel that Kagome had lent her and wrapped it around her. She grabbed her clothes that were hanging on a tree branch and made sure they were dry. Suddenly she stopped.
"Shit," She muttered as she pulled her clothes off of the branch. Kagome looked up.
"Everything ok?" She asked.
"Yeah, I just realized that Rin still has my haori. It was still at the clearing that we had slept at." Sarist stopped. She sniffed the air and turned towards the line of trees on the other side of the springs. She felt a growl building up in her throat.
"Sango, Kagome; get out of the springs now." Sarist said. Sango climbed out of the springs and grabbed another towel that was laying on the rock.
"Sarist, what's wrong?" She asked quickly. Kagome climbed out quickly and grabbed the last towel. Sarist glared at the trees and heard a rustling that moved in the trees. She could hear a heavy breathing as the wind picked up.
"Run," She hissed at them. They stood in surprise like the children had. "RUN!" She screamed this time as she took off. She could hear Sango and Kagome coming after her. The rustling grew louder and the breathing seemed to be beside her as she ran through the trees.
"INUYASHA!" Sarist screamed at the top of her lungs. Suddenly a large demon jumped out of the trees in her path. She barely managed to stop before she ran into the demon. He had dark blue leathery skin and large ivory horns sticking out of its head. He had long, thick claws that made Sarist's breath get caught in her throat. His eyes glowed ruby red in the setting sun that was glaring down at her. Sarist felt her legs turn into jelly as she looked up at the giant monster that was a good three heads taller then her.
"Which one of you is Sarist?" The demon said in his deep, scratchy voice. Sarist wanted to turn and run, but her feet were glued to the ground. She could hear Sango and Kagome back up a few steps. Sarist back up too, but the demon stepped forward and was an inch from her. She felt her face go pale as he examined the barely dressed girls.
"Which of you is Sarist the half-demon?" Sarist suddenly got an idea. All she had to do was pray that he was as stupid as she hoped.
"There's no Sarist here." She said in a shaky voice. "There was another girl here a little while ago, but she left a long time ago." Suddenly she pointed behind him.
"There she is!" She screamed. The demon turned and ran to where she was pointing and the three girls ran as fast as they could go. They ran past the springs and stooped and grabbed their clothes as they pasted. Kagome and Sango were ahead of Sarist when she felt something grab her around the waist. She gasped and tried to fight the grip on her as she turned. The demon was glaring at her.
"How dare you trick me!" He yelled at her. He tightened his grip on her as she gasped again, fighting harder and raking her nails on his wrist on hand. She knew he was getting even more annoyed as he tightened his grip and completely cut the air flow into her lungs. Everything went dark as she felt her muscles tighten, and then go limp.
Inuyasha turned when he heard Sarist scream.
"Sarist, I'm coming!" He yelled. He started running out of the clearing when he was blown back and hit the ground, hard.
"Not so fast, Doggie." Naraku said. "She'll be here soon, you'll see." Inuyasha was up in a moment and his eyes flashed fire as he advanced on Naraku.
"What do you want with her!" He yelled angrily. Naraku smiled evilly.
"You mean what do I want with them?" Inuyasha stopped abruptly.
"What do you mean 'them'?" Inuyasha's face paled. "You better not lay a hand on Kagome!"
Naraku rolled his eyes.
"I don't care about your little priestess or Demon-slayer. In fact, I only want your little 'pup' sister and her gem." Inuyasha heard a lot of stomping coming towards the clearing and soon a large blue demon came out of the trees. His little sister was laying limp in his hand and she was clad only in a 'towel' thing from Kagome's era.
"Sarist!" He ran towards her, but the demon swatted him back. Inuyasha narrowly dodged the swing, but he was forced to back off.
"You see, your sister is housing three souls." Naraku said casually as he walked towards the demon. "A young human girl, a powerful demon, and, of course, your little Sarist. The human girl is a strong willed, the demon himself is powerful by himself, but was just unlucky enough to get bound to the gem, and of course, your sister is an amazing swordsman and has the ability to keep all three of the souls in line."
He reached the demon and caressed the side of her face. Inuyasha growled and gripped the hilt of his sword.
"Don't. Touch. Her!" Inuyasha growled through gritted teeth. Naraku just smiled and a barrier enveloped the three of them and they started to rise into the darkening sky.
"Get back here!" Inuyasha drew his sword and jumped into the air and struck the barrier. It didn't go through the barrier, but that didn't stop Inuyasha from hitting it again and again. Naraku sighed and turned to the demon.
"Take care of him." He commanded. The demon placed the girl on the bottom of the barrier and slipped out easily and started attacking Inuyasha.
Sarist's eyes fluttered open, her head throbbing. Her vision was foggy and disoriented, but she could hear the clash of metal on claws.
Where am I…? She couldn't feel her arms or legs, or anything else for that matter. She was only able to see a black form in front of her eyes. Slowly they came into focus and she found that they were shoes.
"That's it," She could hear him muttering. "Keep fighting while I take your sister away, Inuyasha." She managed to prop herself up on her elbows and saw that she was raising fast from the ground. Inuyasha was fighting the blue demon in a clearing below them.
Inuyasha…?
So, you're finally awake. Look, you need to get out of here. The shoes you saw belong to Naraku and he wants to use you, me, and Yasu for some twisted reason.
Yori…?
Hurry, otherwise we'll be too high to jump down. Just bite his leg and the barrier will break long enough for us to escape.
Sarist didn't protest. She managed to crawl her way over to Naraku's leg and she took a breath. She grabbed his leg and sank her fangs into his fleshy leg. He cried out in pain and Sarist just bit harder. Finally she felt herself start to drop. She released her grip on his leg and did a 180 degree turn. She used her legs and pushed herself off of Naraku to put distance between the crazy bastard and herself.
The ground rushed up to meet her as she looked for a way to stop her fall. Before she could think of anything she crashed into a tree. She grabbed desperately at the air for something to stop her descent. Her legs hit a branch and flipped her over so that she was facing the ground. She raised her arms to her face as she hit the ground with a sickening thump.
She rolled over and stared at the sky through the leaves. The wind blew the leaves away from the convenient hole in the trees.
Are you ok, Sarist? Yori asked. Sarist could've sworn that concern filled his voice.
"Did you…Just call me…By my name?" Sarist said between heavy breaths.
Would you prefer me calling you Halfie? Sarist closed her eyes and sigh contently.
"No…I rather like you calling me by my name…" She gripped the towel around her and tried to keep from shivering.
"Sarist, where are you?" Sarist managed to pry one of her eyes open.
"This must be the crappiest of all crappy days in existence in the world ever in both Kagome's and our era." Sarist managed to get out weakly. Inuyasha ran to her and leaned her just so her head leaned against his chest.
"Wasn't exactly what I wanted when I was looking for you, but I guess it works." He said, trying to sound cheerful. Sarist managed a weak smile.
"At least it got your attention. What did Naraku want?"
"He wanted you and your gem. Sarist, who else is in your body? I want the truth." Sarist sighed and started to tell the same story as she told Kagome and Sango. When she finished, Inuyasha seemed disturbed.
"Yori…? Yasu…? This is getting stranger and stranger every minute." Suddenly her got serious again as he slipped his haori off and placed it on her shoulders.
"Sarist, he also said you owe him a life debt. Is this true?" Sarist stiffened. She owed him? Sarist head started throbbing again and a wave of pain ran through her skull.
Sarist pushed herself against the wall as hard as she could, her eyes never leaving the woman floating on the giant feather above the village. The woman had her fan raised and was about to kill her like she had killed everyone else without mercy. The smell of blood rode itself past her nose on the wind.
"Kagura, leave her." Sarist could hear. The voice seemed to be everywhere, to her left, right, front, behind… It pressed her down and she couldn't help but cower from the menacing voice. She closed her eyes tightly together and covered her ears as she crouched down.
"Naraku, we can't honestly consider letting her live!" She heard through her hands. She pried an eye open and saw a figure of a man in a white baboon skin crouching on the roof. The woman was glaring at him and scowling so fiercely that Sarist thought that it would stay like that forever.
"Let her be Kagura. If you kill her, your life is forfeit also." The woman glared even more, but lowered her fan. She shot one last glance at Sarist and then flew away on the feather. The figure turned to her.
"I spared your life. I intend to collect that debt." With that he jumped down from the roof out of her view. Even when he was gone her muscles still clenched together and she refused to uncover her ears.
"Please, let this just be a nightmare!" She whispered. Even through her closed eyes tears forced themselves down her cheek. "Let this just be a dream!" Even as she tried to convince herself that it was just a dream, she knew in the deepest depths of her heart that she was alone in the world.
Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the horrible vision. She buried her face in her older brother's shirt. She felt his arms wrap around her, and he pulled her closer. He placed his cheek on the top of Sarist's head.
"I saw it too, Sarist." Inuyasha whispered. Sarist started shaking as her tears slowed, but they didn't stop. Sarist's hands felt numb from clenching her hands together. She felt her muscles relax and her mind went dark. She fell asleep in Inuyasha's arms, and that's how they were found by the others.
I know that it took a long time for me to update, but my friend got back from California, my dad was deployed, and I've been busy help my mom at work and home. Basically its been chaotic for me the past couple of days. I'll try and get the next chapter out soon.