One More Jewel Shard, Part 2: Search for the Orb of Hakuryu
InuYasha sliced a few more of the thick weeds aside, moving along a path towards a river bank. It seemed as though he was never going to find the orb of Hakuryu, and wouldn't be able to get the jewel shard. And she was too powerful to kill. A bird whizzing past his head snapped him alert, and his attention was brought to a pack of sirens in the river. He shook his head, turning away before they noticed him, and hurried along, still hopeless. This orb had no aura, so even if he went to get Kagome she would be no help. A small cat-like creature popped out of the weeds in front of him, making a mean purring noise, the lavender fur on its back bristling.
"What do you want?" He snarled, crossing his arms. He watched as the cat turned in a circle, took a few steps ahead, and stopped to look back at him, once again making that purring noise. He walked in two more small circles, saw his tail, and started chasing it, making pinging noises as it ran. InuYasha rolled his eyes, walking ahead, stepping over the cat. The little animal looked up, following him, and bit at his ankles to get his attention. The cat circled InuYasha, tensing its long tail to trip him. The cat sat in front of InuYasha, who laid in a sit position, baffled by its strange behavior. The cat mewed, pulling the arm of his kimono, whipping its tail excitedly. InuYasha sat up, ready to murder the cat, but saw why it wanted him to get out of the way. A huge ogre was pounding along the path, blinded by poison, foam dripping from his mouth. The cat hissed, darting into the brush, while InuYasha merely slayed the beast. He looked it over curiously. "This ogre…it was sick…but what sickness could do that? Huh…" his thoughts were interrupted once more by the cat, who appeared to be thanking him by running in circles around his legs. He pushed it away and continued on, annoyedly aware that the animal was following a few feet behind him.
Inu stopped in surprise at a sheer drop off, a completely vertical cliff that went down a few hundred feet before the land continued. As he tried to figure out how to get down, the cat transformed, becoming a much larger, more muscular version of its former self, with a thick mane, two sets of ears, and a long, whip-like tail, as well as big flaming feet and huge fangs from its lower jaw. It roared, nudging InuYasha in the back. He turned, and the cat gave him a ride, taking a great leap off the edge and landing smoothly on the ground. InuYasha smiled, getting off his back.
"So you're not just an annoyance." He scoffed, continuing on.
"You…think I am annoying?" The cat talking startled him, and with a gasp-growl he turned to face the beast.
"You talk?" He was exasperated.
"In my larger form I do. I thank you for killing the crazed ogre. My name is Kura." (Kura is pronounced Kula, by the way.) The cat shook his head. "I am curious as to what you are doing in the badlands of the southern border. This area is barely populated. What could you be looking for?"
"I'm looking for a thing called the orb of Hakuryu," he answered, stepping onto a rock in the center of the river and crossing to the other side.
"Yes. I have heard of it. It is one of three powerful dragon spells that go together on a staff. They are very powerful. But why would you be looking for only one?"
"I'm trying to find it for someone else. A wolf demon. She has the other two." He finished, pushing aside a tree branch. Kura looked him over curiously.
"You know, you sound like a very angry person. Why would that be?" InuYasha shot him a glance and he shut up. A very angry person, was all he thought.
InuYasha sighed, looking over the vast landscape hopelessly. Kura sat down, whisking his tail, looking in the same direction.
"This is hopeless! This thing has a hidden aura…it could be anywhere!" Inu growled, tapping his claws on the tree branch. Kura gave him a sideways look.
"What do you mean? It has a giant aura. I knew we were going to wrong direction, but I was sure you knew what you were doing…" He stopped after getting a bang in the head.
"Where is it then?" InuYasha demanded, standing up.
"OOOWWWW! It-it's over that way!" He whined, running in that direction. InuYasha followed annoyedly, still wishing he could just kill the wolf and get it over with.
Kura stopped at a river to take a drink, while InuYasha looked around.
"So, are we any closer?" He demanded, crossing his arms. Kura raised an eyebrow, shaking water from his chin.
"Uh…" he sniffed the air curiously. "I think so…but we're going the wrong way again. No wait. I think…I think the orb is moving!" He leapt to the other bank of the river, sniffing around, InuYasha on his tail. "Yeah, someone is carrying it! Come on!" He started to run, but InuYasha got ahead of him, sprinting in that direction in a blind rage. Kura leapt over him, running ahead to lead. They ran for about a half a mile.
"We're really close, InuYasha! We-HUUUFFF!" InuYasha looked up in surprise to see Kura doubled over, hanging from the end of a spear that'd gone through his heart and impaled him completely. On the other side of him was a devious-looking man, dressed in dark brown armor and jackal furs. His bangs fell loosely over his face, long, reddish-brown hair tied lightly behind him. He held onto the spear with clawed hands, a fangful smile on his face, piercing yellow snake eyes glaring at InuYasha. He was in the shadows, and dropped the spear and Kura, drifting back. InuYasha yelled angrily, blasting Tetsusaiga forward, but found that the jackal had moved quickly behind him. He turned in surprise.
"Heh. SO you've found me. Alright, I'll give you that," he talked in a low, growling voice. "But if you're looking for me, you've made a mistake." He transformed into a huge jackal, fangs dripping with poison, and darted into the forest, leaving him in the dust.
"I-i-i-inu-y-yash-sha…" Kura moaned, looking up at him from a puddle of blood. He bent down, setting down the Tetsusaiga, to assess the injury. "I---am I okay?" He set his head down weakly. InuYasha shook his head, pulling out the spear and throwing it aside. He moaned in pain, closing his eyes. "I'm gonna d-die, aren't I-I?" He uttered a low sigh and lay still. InuYasha stood up, picking up Tetsusaiga and putting it in its sheath.
"Damn! I'm never going to get that orb now!" He looked in the direction of the jackal. "Maybe that demon was the one who had it…" he locked onto the scent and chased it, his mind whirring. This orb of Hakuryu seemed like a big deal…maybe it was a bad idea to give it to her. But how could he get the jewel shard if his sword was only half as powerful as hers? Something startled him. It was the snap of a trap. A vicious snarling arose, as well as the snapping of jaws and clenching of metal. He pushed through some bushes and saw the jackal sitting there, an angry growl rising from his throat, his back paw caught in a huge metal trap.
"I'll help you outta there…but you have to tell me everything you know about the orb of Hakuryu," Inu snapped, reaching down to the trap. In a swift movement, the jackal clamped his huge jaws down on his arm. InuYasha yelled in pain, trying to free his arm, but could not, and couldn't reach the Tetsusaiga. "Damnit…!" He tried to pull away from the snarling beast.
"They don't call jackals the dogs from hell for no reason, half breed. With one twist of my head, I could send you into the fire. Now, you listen to me. Undo the trap. Then I'll let you go. Understand?" InuYasha nodded, making one short jerk towards the handle of the scimitar, and sliced the jackal right across the face. With a yelp of pain the demon jerked back, pulling the trap stake out of the ground. He reared up, slamming his paws down in rage, and turned to run, but was caught in the wind scar. InuYasha held Tetsusaiga to the ground, panting, blood dripping from his arm, waiting to see if he'd struck right. The dust cleared, revealing a brightly lit, pure white orb, with big paw prints leading away from it. The orb was the size of a tennis ball, but shone as if it were the sun in there. InuYasha picked it up, examining it carefully.
"All that…for this stupid thing? ….Hm. Well, now I have it." He returned the sword to its sheath, slowly making his way back to the wolf tribe.
Koru stood by the river, sparring with a tall wolf demon in heavy armor, with the same color hair as Sesshomaru. He was using all manner of weapons against her, spears, staffs, arrows, and daggers, while she merely used her claws and sword.
"Haha! LishoTai, I believe we are evenly matched," She laughed, taking a step back. They were both panting, obviously finishing a heavy engagement.
"Hey, wolf!" InuYasha called, holding up the orb. "Here's your orb. Now, give me the jewel shard!" Koru grinned, snatching the orb out of his hand. She twisted it in her hand, closely examining it.
"Well well. You came back alive. And there isn't a scratch on the orb. Thank you very much." She pulled a jewel shard out of her sword with her claws. "Here you go. I doubt it will fit though. Honestly, I don't know if the jewel should be put together. Anyway, I don't need it. Now I have all three orbs, and I am now the most powerful being in Japan!" She held her sword up, jamming the orb into the thick blade. There was a silver orb the size of a golf ball above the hilt, the white orb was placed between that and a huge, blood-red orb the size of a softball. The sword glowed black, and she swung it in the air, throwing up dark static energy. She put the sword back in its sheath with a grin. "Cool. Thanks, half dog. Now, you take your little jewel shard and go visit your brother. He's in the palace…about eleven miles from here. And Keleso's ninja village is down in the canyon, if you prefer. So anyways. LishoTai, what do you think about the spear there?" She walked away from InuYasha. He stood there, holding the shard warily, and decided that he had to go visit Kagome.
"Hm…well, it'll only take a second---YAGH! What is the matter with my arm?" He exclaimed, waves of pain coming from the healing injury on his arm. After the pain faded, he started towards Kaede's village, his mind set on the well.
The bone eater's well stood in the same way as always, looking insignificant, but full of secrets. Inu leapt into it, and within moments stood in the Higurashi Shrine. He looked around, smelling to see if Kagome was there. She was in her room, it seemed…InuYasha dropped to his knees, clutching his arm in pain. He groan-yelled, trembling with the waves of pain, waiting for them to go away. After about five minutes of that, he stood weakly, his breathing broken and panting heavily, his feet dragging as he walked towards the house.
InuYasha weakly pushed open the bedroom window, looking inside. Kagome was sitting at her desk, writing something. She looked up in surprise as he dropped from the window unbalancedly.
"InuYasha! What are you doing here?" She asked un surprise, looking at him curiously. She could instantly tell that something was wrong.
"I have the last jewel shard," he told her, opening his hand, his voice faltering. She picked it up and looked at it carefully.
"Um…InuYasha…I think there's something wrong with this jewel shard," she told him, looking at the oddly warped energy around the shard. He looked it over carefully.
"Yeah…" he and Kagome both were startled as the jewel shard grew about a centimeter longer, the energy around it expanding. Sota walked in the room lazily, stopping dead in his tracks. Kagome looked up in surprise, and InuYasha continued to watch the jewel shard on the floor.
"Hiya sis...hey InuYasha! What's that?" He pointed to the jewel shard. InuYasha picked it up and set it down on Kagome's desk, stepping up into the window.
"Kagome, you keep the jewel shard until I come back. I…have to go…" he groaned, his words breaking, the falter in his voice getting weaker. "Talk to that w-wol-lf---" he moaned, clutching his arm, and fell back, collapsing unconscious on Kagome's floor. Sota backed up, running out the door, calling for their mom and grandpa. Kagome bent down in surprise.
"InuYasha! InuYasha!" She shook his shoulder worriedly, tears in her eyes. "InuYasha wake up! What's wrong?"
Fin to One More Jewel Shard, Part 2: The search for the orb of Hakuryu