Chapter 9
- The War -

Chaos will gather
Using darkness to bring back old enemies
Cosmos' children will quake in fear
- The Prophecy of Ages

"A picnic?"

Kirara nodded. "For old times' sake, by the old God Tree. What do you say?"

"I think that's a great idea!" Kagome said. "When do you think we should go?"

"I think that the...18th would be nice. How about you?"

"That sounds good..." Inuyasha said. "Nii-chan, you doing anything that day?"

"What do you think I'd be doing?" Sesshoumaru replied. "I'm up for it,"

"Great! I'll go tell Sango-sama and Miroku-san," Kirara replied. "What if Kenshin-san came, too?"

"Even better!" Kagome said. "It'd be a great time to tell stories and get to know each other more!"

'Even though you've had 4 months to do it...' Inuyasha thought.

"I'll go ask when I get home," Kirara smiled. "See you later!"

Getting her shoes, she waved as she hopped on the fence and sprinted towards the dojo.

-/-

Three days later, it was finally the 18th, and everyone was excited. A small, pretty temple had been erected near the tree in the deep of

the forest, and nobody else was there to bother them.

It was a perfect day.

"There!" Kagome said, placing the last bento box on the light blue cloth. "Let's dig in!"

Happily, most of them did (with the exception of Sesshoumaru who was hiding on the other side of the tree with his new novel,

"Autumn-scented Song" by Sohma Gou).

"Ah, the memories this place brings back..." Inuyasha sighed, looking up into the grand branches of the tree that gave them shade. "It's

how this all got started,"

"I remember the day!" Kagome said. "God! You were so cocky back then,"

"I know I was," Inuyasha smirked.

"You still are," Miroku said aside. He was repaid with a swift boot to the head.

"Shaddap..." Inuyasha said.

"How did you meet, anyways?" Kaoru said. "I always love romantic stories,"

"I don't, Sanosuke said sourly, popping an onigiri into his mouth.

"You don't have to listen, you know," Yahiko said. "I don't really wanna hear, either,"

"Ah, well it was quite a long time ago," Inuyasha began, ignoring Yahiko and Sanosuke. "Kagome is...related to...someone who sealed

me to a tree for about...50 years, then she woke me up and the whole story goes on from there!"

"To put it bluntly, yup!" Kagome smiled, looking at the sun, shimmering through the leaves. "But then this guy named Naraku wanted to

use me to find these treasure-things,"

"Oh my..." said Kenshin.

"He gave us a ton of trouble, but we finally got rid of him," said Inuyasha proudly.

"Oh, really," a sinister voice said. "Hehe...I don't think so,"

"Who...who said that?" Kagome said, clinging to Inuyasha's sleeve.

"Oh, you seriously haven't forgotten me, have you?" the voice said. "Tsk, tsk, tsk...perhaps I should jog your memory a bit,"

With a hideous crack, the God Tree was rended from it's roots, and the surrounding forest began to wither and die as a horrid smell filled

the air: miasma.

"No! It can't be!" Kirara cried, leaping forward to shield Sango and Miroku from the blast.

There was a metallic "shiing" as the demon brothers and Kenshin drew their swords, to protect everyone against whatever was causing

the horrible chaos.

"What in the world is going on?" Kenshin hissed. "Do you know?"

"Now, my dear Battousai, it would break my heart if you didn't remember me," said a different voice, this one a bit harsher and not as

smooth as the previous one.

Kenshin didn't flinch, and the brothers tightened the grip on their swords.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha said. "Show yourself!"

"As you wish, half-breed," the smoother voice said. "though I am a bit disappointed in you,"

Two shapes began to form in the thick purple mist, and two separate pairs of gasps were heard.

"Naraku!"

"Shishio!"

"Well, well!" Naraku said cruelly. "You're not as stupid as I thought!"

"What the hell...?" Inuyasha said, backing up near Kagome to better protect her, Sesshoumaru going in the opposite direction to protect

the other half with Kirara, Kenshin covering the center. All around them, the land was steadily decaying into a barren wasteland, but

nobody seemed to notice, their eyes fixed on the two villains standing in front of them, in all their ethereal glory.

"You look suprised," Naraku said. "Please tell me why,"

"Why do you think I'm suprised?" Inuyasha growled. "We thought we got rid of you 300 years ago!"

"Ah, 300 long years..." Naraku sighed. "Shishio-san, you got it off easy; you only had to wait 2 years to get your revenge,"

"What are you talking about?" Kenshin hissed, in full-blown Battousai mode.

"300 years I have waited in darkness, since that...thing banished me to the shadows. Until one day...they found me,"

"'They'?" everyone else said.

"Glorious shadow, pure bliss," Shishio said, looking off into the distance. "Putting it poetically, that is. It's quite hard to describe,"

"They told us that we might be able to revive and get our revenge with Their help," Naraku said.

"So," said a female voice. "we accepted, of course,"

Yura of the Hair appeared next to Naraku, with a mock-pout on her face.

"Oh, Inuyasha..." she whined. "You cut off all that lovely hair! Tsk, tsk, tsk...such a waste..."

"Can we kill them now? Now?" said a revolting voice as Mistress Centipede showed up, her horrid fangs peeking between her painted

red lips.

"Be patient, honey," Yumi said, appearing next to Shishio and clinging to his shoulder. "You'll have time,"

Mistress Centipede backed away with the same insane smile and waited. There was silence.

"So, what are you gonna do now? Just stand there and look pretty?" Inuyasha said.

"No!" an insane voice said, as a man with grey hair and strange eyes appeared. "We're going to kill you!"

The deadly assasins darted forward and slashed, darted, and tried their best...and it was working. No matter how the master swordsmen

tried, their swords were no use for the strange attacks that hit them and caused them to bleed. Kirara was doing her best, but Miroku and

Sango were laying on the barren ground and struggling to control their bleeding.

"If only I had my fire-rat cloak..." Inuyasha growled, taking a swipe at Yura, who nimbly dodged with a giggly laugh. "Kagome, hang in

there!"

Kagome nodded weakly, although she was losing far too much blood to be safe.

"We can't...hit them!" Kenshin groaned, trying to hit Jin-E.

"That's...apparent..." Sesshoumaru replied, parrying a blow from Mistress Centipede. "I wish I knew a way to defeat them..."

"Sorry, dear boy, but there isn't," Urasue said with a grin, slamming against the blade with her scythe. "We're immortal,"

Tsubaki cackled nearby as she grabbed Kagome by the neck.

"Immortal?" Inuyasha said.

"Yes! Their power is great!" Jin-E screamed, landing a particularly clean blow on Kenshin's arm.

"Wait, do you hear something?" Shishio said, pausing his attack on Sanosuke and Kaoru.

"Wings..." Naraku hissed. "What do you think it is?"

"THE CAVALRY!" came a loud roar, as the lion-like figure of Cerberus came into the battlefield and tackled Naraku.

"Clow!" Inuyasha said, seeing the magician flying in on a golden staff.

"Glad to be of service," Clow said grimly. "I felt that something was amiss... Are you okay?"

"I'm wounded, but okay. It's everyone else I'm worried about," he replied. "Kagome's bleeding pretty bad,"

"Spinel Sun, Cerberus, look after the wounded," he commanded. "Yue! Ruby Moon! Join me in the attack!"

His guardians nodded and followed the orders faithfully, and Clow launched card after card after card against the dark figures.

But when the dust finally cleared...the results weren't what they expected.

"Oh, is that all you can do?" Yura said, licking a small cut on her arm. "You're pathetic; I was expecting a bit more,"

"As did I," Naraku said. "But I must admit...you actually reached us; I'm impressed by that,"

Clow growled and retreated with his Guardians by the remnants of the tree, and accepted that he could do no more. They lashed their

beatings again, more powerful, now that they were out of energy and willing to accept defeat. The only ones who were untouched were

Kirara, Shippo, and Clow's four guardians.

"It's hopeless..." Shippo cried. "We're all gonna die!"

"No...no, we're not..." Kirara replied, a strange drone to her voice. "We have a bigger role to perform...we will not die..."

She got up and began to approach the villains, standing in a semi-circle around the doomed people.

"Ki...kirara..." Sango said. "What are you..." she coughed up a little blood. "...doing?"

Kirara looked back.

"Don't worry, master..." she said, with a faint smile. "Everything will be all right..."

Then she began to chant in a strange foreign language, and a strange mist began to form at her feet and spread over the barren ground

(which had spread to all of Tokyo and was still growing).

"What are you doing...?" Naraku hissed. When she didn't answer, he motioned to Jin-E, who happily darted forward to try and get a

good slice in.

But he couldn't touch her. He bounced back as if there was an invisible barrier around her.

"What the hell is going on?" Shishio growled. "Why can't we touch her?"

"Darling, what is that?" Yumi said, tugging on Shishio's robe and pointing to the her left.

When he saw it, his eyes grew wide in horror.

Human figures were beginning to form in the mist.

And still, Kirara kept chanting.

Next
- The Revival