Chapter 10
'Damn.' Kagome thought to herself as she struggled to take in a breath. Her head was swimming from lack of oxygen and the black spots dotting her vision told her she only had a matter of minutes before she lost consciousness. Her hands grasped at the thick wrist of the demon sage in a futile effort to get him to release her.
"Hmm you thought you could get away from me Miko? No, you're just what I need to finally produce the fruit of longevity from Ninmenka." He laughed as the girl tried in vain to redouble her efforts to escape. "Don't worry little priestess, at least you can die knowing your death won't be for nothing."
Kagome watched helplessly as he pulled the gourd from his waistband. It couldn't end like this! She still had to defeat Naraku, she still needed to live a life of her own. One filled with happiness and marriage and children. She wasn't ready to die.
A tear slipped through her closed lids as she silently prayed for the Kami to save her soul. Faithfully she waited for her demise as the image of a silver haired, foul mouthed hanyou with golden eyes flashed through her mind.
'Inuyasha...'
"Inuyasha let's stop here for the night. My legs are sure to give out any minute." Sitting by a small stream cupping a handful of water the human girl brought the refreshing liquid to her lips. They'd been traveling practically non stop for three days.
"Keh! Don't tell me you're tired already wench, I let you sleep in this morning so we could avoid stopping unnecessarily." Folding his arms defiantly across his chest, Inuyasha was in a rush to get out of the mountains. There was no coverage out here and the feeling of being exposed made him feel anxious. 'Damn human emotions,' Inuyasha looked to the west to see the sun well on its way to setting, 'They're always stronger during this time.'
"I don't see why you're in such a rush." Kagome said using some of the water to wash her face. "It's not like we have any leads to go on at the moment. Why can't we just camp here and continue in the morning?" Kagome noticed the way Inuyasha nervously tapped his foot on the ground, his claws drumming against his biceps. 'What's gotten into him.' The hot headed hanyou was always in a rush and never happy about stopping, but this was a bit extreme even for him.
Deciding to let it go for now Kagome placed her hands in the stream once more to have another drink, when the strangest fruit she'd ever seen flowed right into her hands. Picking it up she turned it over only to discover the fruit had the face of a man.
"What the hell is that?" Inuyasha said over her shoulder looking at the fruit with disgust.
"It's a human faced fruit, from a demon tree." Kagome explained. She was stunned to say the least, only having read about demon trees in her studies. The trio watched as more fruits flowed down the stream, the tree must have been pretty large to produce so much fruit. "I say we check it out." Adjusting her arrows comfortably on her back Kagome began to set off towards the mountain without looking back to make sure her companions were following her, so she missed the look of trepidation that passed between Miroku and Inuyasha.
"Do you think it's worth the risk Inuyasha? To look into the demon tree?" Miroku said. He knew why Inuyasha was nervous about lingering in the mountains, though it appeared his friend hadn't bothered with telling Kagome.
"Feh, it'll be fine. I'll cut down the tree and then we'll haul ass until we've reached the forest." Miroku nodded reluctantly deciding to trust Inuyasha's judgement, even though he still wasn't sure they'd make it off the mountain in time.
Inuyasha was the first to reach the tree. Having the ability to lug himself up the side of the cliff, without the extra weight of Kagome. Inuyasha inspected the scene and found nothing out of the ordinary besides the human bearing fruit tree of course. He unsheathed Tetsusaiga and just as he prepared to unleash his wind scar, a new scent ceased his movements.
"Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing to my tree?" Inuyasha was met by a man two feet taller than him and at least two hundred pounds heavier.
"I'm about to cut this damn thing down and if you know what's good for you you'll stay out my way, though I have no qualms about cutting you down too." Inuyasha threatened. The burly man didn't back down and Inuyasha figured he'd just have to teach the bastard the hard way. Running at him he swung Tetsusaiga towards his midsection intent on slicing the man in half, but the powerful fang simply bounced off him. 'Damn, he's all flubber!' Not taking the time to lament that fact Inuyasha came at him again, this time using his wind scar. No way the fat ass could avoid that one! But the half demon was knocked off his feet when the man held up his staff and easily repelled his attack. 'What the fuck?!'
"Foolish demon you think you can defeat me? I'm Tokajin, the sage of Togenkyo!" Taking a small gourd from his waistband the sage became increasingly large as he stepped closer to Inuyasha. Gaining his bearings Inuyasha went to retrieve his sword only to realize that Tokajin hadn't been getting larger, but he was getting smaller! The now massive sword was useless to him and only one word came to him as he was sucked into the gourd:
"Fuck."
Finally reaching the top of the mountain, Miroku gently dislodged Kagome from his back. Looking around they both new something was terribly wrong. The tree was perfectly in tact and Inuyasha was nowhere to be found. Miroku looked towards the horizon and a small twinge of panic gripped his chest. By the looks of it they only had an hour until sunset, until Inuyasha turned human.
"This isn't right. Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome said finally voicing her concern. The two looked to each other, each nodding in silent agreement to go forth and search for their friend. Soon they came to a set of stairs leading down into a small room. They only thing in the room was a bunch of old swords and a small box garden. Taking a closer look Kagome was surprised to find, miniature men running around and meditating in the garden, calling Miroku over to have a look for himself neither of them noticed the change in their surroundings until it was too late. They both began to shrink and were soon pulled into the box.
"What in the..? Are we...in the box garden?" Miroku asked confused.
"I think it pulled us in." Kagome said rubbing her sore bottom from where she'd landed. She stood to her feet and began brushing herself off when, she noticed the familiar weight normally situated between her breast was gone. "Oh no! The jewel shards!" The bottle must have been too large to make it into the garden.
Settling Kagome's rising panic Miroku began asking the men in the garden if they knew of a way to get out, but he was dutifully ignored. One man even shooed him away irritated that he was being interrupted during his training.
"Training? What training?" Kagome asked.
"We are training to become sages," one man replied, "for Tokajin."
"But that's nearly impossible! Don't you ever want to leave this place?" Kagome questioned.
"Tokajin saved us, we owe him our lives. He wants us to train so train we will. When we become sages only then will we be released." Kagome had half a mind to scream at the idiotic man, but Miroku's hand on her shoulder had her biting her tongue.
"They are of no help to us Kagome-Sama. It seems we must find a way out of this place on our own." Kagome sighed in defeat. She could only hope that Inuyasha was alright.
"Fucking fuck!" Inuyasha cursed as he furiously swiped at the inside of the gourd with his claws. Though he was barely even scratching the surface. The smell of the purple liquid he was standing in was putrid and it was beginning to dissolve his robes. If he didn't get out of there fast he was done for.
The anxiety of being digested only increased ten fold when he felt a pulse move through his body. He moved to side of the gourd as another pulse surged through him. He watched as his sharp claws slowly dulled into human fingernails. His white hair was darkening by the second and when his foot slipped off the edge and into the purple liquid it burned like a bitch. "I have to get out of here!" Taking his sheath he rammed it into the wall of the container, doing no more damage than he'd been doing with his claws, but he didn't stop. There was no way he was gonna die in this shit hole!
"What the...?" Tetsusaiga's sheath pulsed in his hand, the waves growing stronger and stronger until he realized what was happening. 'The sheath is calling Tetsusaiga, maybe I'm not dead after all.'
"Come Tetsusaiga!" He yelled, holding the sheath in front of him. Outside Tokajin had just found the shards Kagome had dropped. Surprised to see them he added them to the shard already located in his belly button. Laughing merrily he felt power surge through him. If one shard had been enough to stave off that demon's sword, with three he'd be untouchable!
He turned when he felt something knocking around in the gourd. He saw the rusted sword that hadn't transformed for him piercing his container and quickly pulled it out, releasing all of its contents including a now human Inuyasha.
"Aren't you the demon from before?" He asked confused by the youngsters new appearance. Inuyasha stood ready to fight when he noticed the jewel shards in Tokajin's belly.
"Where'd you get those shards?!" Inuyasha yelled to him and when he didn't receive an answer, he surged forward and punched the sage in the face. Though his human muscles had little effect on the man.
"That hurt." Inuyasha watched as the man's skin slowly began to harden and turn to stone. Jumping into the air Tokajin came down on Inuyasha like a human boulder almost crushing him under his enormous weight. He stood up and laughed at the unconscious boy, for thinking he could stand up to him. The little pest was annoying but he was worth more alive than dead at this point, all he had to do was wait for the little bastard's powers to return.
Miroku and Kagome weren't sure how long they'd been in the box garden, but they'd finally come up with a plan for their escape. After realizing that trying to punch through the wall wouldn't work, Kagome had the idea of using a boulder to bust through. Using his wind tunnel Miroku, guided the huge rock right into the wall. Already weakened from his previous punches it easily gave way under the force. Just before they could make their escape and giant hand descended from the sky, scooping Kagome from the box.
"Ah it's a good thing that half demon has such a big mouth. A woman and a half demon should be more than enough for Ninmenka to bare the fruit of longevity!"
"Put me down!" Kagome yelled. She tried to call forth her miko powers, but they were useless due to her small size.
"You're filthy, nothing a nice bath won't fix. Now pipe down." He squeezed her until her insufferable yapping finally stopped. He turned to take her to the bath, but failed to realize the miniature void demon attached to his clothes.
When Tokajin returned to where Inuyasha had been tied up, fear shot through his belly at the sight of Kagome's clothes. He doubled his efforts to untangle himself from the vines, but all that did was push the thorns further into his skin. He'd lost a lot blood already and his head was spinning. He mentally cursed human bodies for being so weak, but continued to interrogat e Tokajin as to Kagome's whereabouts.
"Tell me where she is! I swear to God if you hurt her..." The sage laughed in his face and it only served to fuel Inuyasha's anger.
"Keep struggling hanyou, the more you bleed the faster I'll be able to extract your juices for Ninmenka. By this time tomorrow you and the girl you're so infatuated with will be fertilizer for my tree and I'll have the fruit of longevity."
Miroku watched a human Inuyasha struggle against his binds and weaken by the second. Neither Inuyasha or the sage noticed that the vines had began to give under Inuyasha violent movements. He wasn't sure how effective his wind tunnel would be at this size but it was worth a try.
"Wind Tunnel!" Unleashing the powerful void the extra wind was enough to help Inuyasha finally break free of his ties. Slowly Inuyasha picked himself off of the ground, closing his eyes to chase off a wave of dizziness.
"Inuyasha!" The sound of his name had him spinning around and gaping as a pocket-sized Miroku scurried towards him.
"Miroku? What the hell happened to you?" Inuyasha could only stare in wonder and confusion as his friend climbed into this outstretched palm. If the situation hadn't been so dire he was sure he would've laughed at the sight.
"I'll tell on our way to find Kagome."
When Kagome awoke she was assaulted by the scent of fresh flowers. Her body was warm but not unpleasantly so, and when she opened her eyes she found herself completely naked and sitting in a large tub. Though she was alone she blushed hotly and crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to preserve her modesty.
"T-that pervy sage! How dare he undress me!" Looking around the room Kagome couldn't find any trace of her clothes. The thought of wondering around this place naked didn't appeal to her in the slightest, but the thought of waiting around for Tokajin to come back was even more unappealing. Shivering from the cold air Kagome made her way up the stairs and into the same room where the box garden was located.
She searched through the piles of junk until she found a dusty men's yukata among the swords and amour. She even released a small squeal of delight when she found her bow and arrows.
"Now I just have to find Miroku and Inuyasha."
"You ungrateful wench!" Kagome spun at the voice and was met with the same man who had pulled her from the box garden. His skin had once again turned to stone and she noticed the three jewel shards in his stomach. "I bathed you, tried to make your last few hours peaceful and this is how you thank me?"
"Excuse me for not wanting to become fertilizer for your stupid tree!" She backed away and slowly began to make her way up the stairs and outside. She didn't want to fight him in that confined space. He must of realized what she was trying to do because lunged for her and caught her off guard.
She threw her hands up as her miko energy kept him from touching her. If she was gonna notch an arrow she needed to put some distance between them. Running up the stairs the cool air hit her damp skin and relished in the moment of no longer being confined to that hellish place. She felt his fingers graze the back of her neck as he tried to grab her collar. She dove forward towards the tree and heard the snap off her quiver as the demon sage ripped it from her back. Kneeling in front of the Ninmenka tree with dread swirling in her belly Kagome clutched her now useless bow and panicked when the realization that there was nowhere left for her to run set in.
She was out of options.
Tokajin quickly descended upon her, picking her up by the throat. She kicked out at him but her dainty foot against his rock hard belly was no match. 'Damn.' Kagome thought to herself as she struggled to take in a breath. Her head was swimming from lack of oxygen and the black spots dotting her vision told her she only had a matter of minutes before she lost consciousness. Her hands grasped at the thick wrist of the demon sage in a futile effort to get him to release her.
"Hmm you thought you could get away from me Miko? No, you're just what I need to finally produce the fruit of longevity from Ninmenka." He laughed as the girl tried in vain to redouble her efforts to escape. "Don't worry little priestess, at least you can die knowing your death won't be for nothing."
Kagome watched helplessly as he pulled the gourd from his waistband. It couldn't end like this! She still had to defeat Naraku, she still needed to live a life of her own. One filled with happiness and marriage and children. She wasn't ready to die.
A tear slipped through her closed lids as she silently prayed for the Kami to save her soul. Faithfully she waited for her demise as the image of a silver haired, foul mouthed hanyou with golden eyes flashed through her mind.
'Inuyasha...'
"Let her go bastard!" Reopening her eyes Kagome nearly wept for joy at hearing Inuyasha's voice, but what she hadn't been expecting was for her hanyou companion to be sporting midnight black hair and dark violet eyes. 'He's human! But how?' Inuyasha rushed forward intending to free her from the demon's grasp, but he hadn't gotten far as Tokajin's thorn covered vines cut through his human flesh and sent him flying. Kagome struggled to get to Inuyasha, though Tokajin's death grip had loosened around her neck it wasn't enough to set herself free.
Tokajin stepped from in front of the tree, giving her a much better look at Inuyasha. His clothes were torn, dirty, and bloodstained. His skin was pale from blood loss and he was wobbly at best when he stood, but he refused to back down and all in the name of trying to save her. She wanted to cry but she didn't have the time. Inuyasha came at them again this time anticipating Tokajin's vine like projections he slid underneath them. Rising to his feet took he off at a dead sprint and shouldered the boulder of a man throwing him off balance. In an instant the pressure on Kagome's neck was gone. She fell to the ground and turned just in time to see Tokajin and Inuyasha go over the side of the cliff.
"INUYASHA!" She screamed and it killed her inside knowing that was all she could do. Inuyasha had been injured and barely alive, there was no way he'd survive a fall from this height. Sobs racked her frame as she placed her head in her hands. Why? Why did everyone she care about die?
"Inuyasha you idiot!" She yelled into the sky. The sun had begun to rise slowly shedding light on the mountains around them. "How could you get yourself killed like that?! How could you leave me like that?!" A now full grown Miroku walked by her and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. His comfort only served make her cry harder and Miroku was at a loss for words. In all the years he'd known the inu-hanyou he'd never seen him recklessly sacrifice himself for anyone like that, but maybe until he'd met Kagome-Sama he'd never had a reason too. Miroku bowed his head in prayer, something he did not do often, and asked the Kami to watch over his friend's soul.
"What the hell are you talkin' about wench? I didn't leave anyone and I most certainly ain't gonna let a weakling like that take me out." Kagome looked up and let her teary vision settle on the man in front of her. He wore his signature smirk, Topaz eyes filled with amusement, and a fully transformed Tetsusaiga resting over his shoulder. Without thinking she rushed to him, throwing her arms around his middle and burying her face in his chest. She inhaled in his scent if only to make sure he was real.
"Don't ever do anything so stupid again." She whispered into his haori. She looked up at him smiled at the deep blush staining his cheeks. Though he wasn't looking at her his free arm had come around her shoulder to comfort her and she relished in the feel of him.
"Yeah yeah, just quit your blubbering okay?" There was no real bite behind his words and it only made her smile all the more. They finally stepped away from each other and Inuyasha gasped when Kagome slugged him in the shoulder. "Damn wench! What was that for?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were gonna turn human?"
"Well it's not really something I like to share, you know for survival reasons and such." Inuyasha said sarcastically, but when he saw the anger in her eyes laced with worry and swollen from her tears for him he decided maybe being an ass wasn't the best approach. "My time of weakness...it's the first night of the new lunar cycle, when the moon isn't visible in the sky." He said quietly as if someone might overhear.
Kagome's genuine smile made him blush all the more and he turned to look away from her. Her small hand on his bicep brought his attention back to her and she still had that stupidly adorable grin on her face. 'Kagome is not adorable!'
"Thank you Inuyasha for saving me and for trusting me." The heat once again rushed to his face and Inuyasha wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up his tough guy act if she kept making him blush like a little girl.
Miroku could only watch his companions in mild amusement and amazement. Tonight had changed something in the both of them as the wall around their hearts slowly began to crumple. The void hanyou didn't know if he'd ever seen two people more oblivious than his friends, but he knew from experience that the Kami had a strange way of making all things obvious in the end.
Long time no see! I know it's been a month since I updated this story but I just want to send a huge thank you to the people who are still reviewing, favoriting(?), and alerting this sporadically updated story!
You guys are amazeballs :)
I have a couple things I want to tell you guys:
1. Even though this chapter was based off of the Fateful Night in Togenkyo episodes of the anime, this chapter and those episodes do not completely mimic each other and I made it that way on purpose. I'd say they're about 90% similar, so no reviews about adding new stuff and taking out old stuff I know that already!
2. I was going back through the story and I mentioned in an earlier chapter that Miroku's wind tunnel wasn't a curse, but apart of his demonic heritage. Then in a later chapter I referenced it as his curse lol, so the wind tunnel in Miroku's hand is indeed a curse placed on his family by Naraku just like in the anime. I realized without it being a curse he really had no reason to be traveling with Inuyasha now did he?
3. I've been slowly posting my stories on the Eternal Destiny website. I'm not leaving this site but I just thought I'd test the waters and put my work on other sites. My penname is the same so feel free to check me out!
Thanks again & don't forget to REVIEW!