The Court trilled with excitement, voices and whispers and laughs humming together a tune that was more life than anything else. The rattled and still slightly confused spirit tantei settled warily on the soft grass of the field they were in, eyes darting about amongst those gathered as they cautiously placed each other at their back. The wolf pup, who had stubbornly stayed despite Kouga's efforts to the contrary, barked out a happy gruff note, and Kagome laughed as she whispered something to him and he fled with an excited lope.
Kouga, baffled face and wide eyes, gaped after the pup and the red wolf Ayame laughed and bopped him on the back of his head. "You might lose your position as Wolf Alpha if you can't control one pup and our miko can."
"She is our miko; of course she can control one measly pup."
Kagome was merely silent, smiling and closing her eyes as her head tilted. She seemed to be waiting for something, and with her hands clasped on her knee she gave off an aura of calm fortitude, nary a fidget of impatience or twitch of anxiousness shifted her demeanor.
Slowly this attitude affected the ranks around the detectives. Wolves stopped and then whimpered to the miko, other higher youkai taking up the pause and starting to glance around uneasily.
Suddenly there was a calm that went throughout the gathered, and the spirit detectives watched as they seemed to become more aware of everyone and their movements.
They had to choose another to tell the tale.
It was kind of like watching siblings suddenly become aware that either one of them had to so some menial task lest they offend their parents. Whispering erupted and fingers were pointed, people were shoved good naturedly towards the little clear patch of earth in front of everyone, friends laughed and the Highers watched it all with amused smiles on their faces and even joined in from time to time.
Inuyasha stood to push back down a demon that appeared too young, Kouga sneered with good humor at some demon that promptly blushed and tried to slink further in its seated position.
Kagome simply sat and watched.
But she smiled dreamily to nowhere and no one, and just as she sighed there was a silence and then the sounds of a scuffle.
Shippou was jostled and pushed to the very front of those seated, and he stumbled on his feet slightly before he straightened and dusted off his clothes with an exaggerated pout. "Well, I guess we should start the tale…" and then he went through a whole series of theatrics; cracking his knuckles, grasping his chin in thought, tapping his foot with the beat of time, looking at the clouds for guidance; and then Onigumo coughed and Inuyasha growled at the kit.
His hands quickly went into the air in surrender, and then his shoulders sagged as he looked around at all those seated. His eyes passed over several of the Court, pausing only briefly over Onigumo and spending even less time looking over the wolves. His gaze settled on Inuyasha, and the green of his eyes variably lit up with his thoughts. His head tilted down slightly, his body relaxing into something predatory and cunning with the Machiavellian smile on his face.
The breeze twisted his hair around him, and his eyes dulled, even still with their inexplicable light, as he gazed off to somewhere the tantei could never go. His hands clapped together before he rubbed them in dangerous glee. His voice dropped an octave, a faint whisper that hinted at mystery and past and something that should never be repeated. "Though our tale begins before any time was ever recorded, though our group has many secrets- too many to tell if truth be told, and though our miko knows this story best, we will start with a hanyou."
Inuyasha shifted and settled.
"As most well know the hanyou are shunned like the forbidden, and we met a hanyou long ago who had lost his father, then lost his mother, then lost his love, and then lost his life. But it was not to last, for all he needed was a kind priestess to release him from his eternal rest. It was so that one such miko came to be…"
Inuyasha growled and stood, arms crossing over his chest as he leveled the kit with a deadpanned face. "Kit, stop juicing it up, you get the facts wrong." Shippou looked affronted, but a playful gleam was in his eyes as he placed a hand splayed over his heart.
"Me? You accuse me of trickery and false words? I am appalled that you think so of my character!" He laughed at Inuysha's furious face. "I am but a humble lord!" He bowed reverently even with the devious smirk on his face and unholy gleam in his eyes.
"You spent too much time with that damn monk, you fluff ball."
Shippou laughed, taking another ostentatious bow and flicking his fluffy tail as he purred out, "Exactly what is wrong with my tale?"
Inuyasha humphed, the two of them ignoring the smiles and tittering of the other Court and staring each other down. "You would do well to remember that the 'ever kind miko', as you so call her, subdued me for a protector."
Shippou got a gleeful expression on his face. "Ah, but then I would have to tell them why, wouldn't I?" He got up into the hanyou's face swiftly, a blink from one position to the next.
Inuyasha growled while ignoring the sigh of his brother and Totousai and Jinenji as they shared a glance of amusement. "You weren't even there for this part of the tale, whelp."
"I heard that you weren't even awake for this part." Kouga's gruff voice rang out, him coming to his feet to join the quarreling men in front of everyone. Inuyasha had a surprised expression on his face as Kouga continued; "If anyone would know it would be Kags herself, but noooo, she won't tell the tale today. So get your act together!"
(Ginta smirked and leaned over Kagome, eyes wide and happy as he whispered, "He gets that from you!" Hakkaku nodded enthusiastically in agreement and Kagome blushed.
"Noooo he doesn't!" and then smacked them both on the head with a satisfied grin on her face.
Hakkaku leaned behind her with a blank look on his face, eyes narrowed with a secret as Ginta leaned back to hear his whisper. "And she gets that from Sango.")
"I think," interrupted the slow ponderous voice of their earthly hanyou, "that the tale should start with whoever first met the miko."
Totousai nodded in agreement, "and then continue with whoever next met her in that point of the story. That way there will be less argument." A silvered ponytail bobbed with his nodding head and sage face.
Kagome simply smiled with her hands holding her elbows and a dreamy look upon her face.
Inuyasha growled with a stricken face as he realized he had put himself on the spot. But he settled, deep rumbles of breath being inhaled and then exhaled before the giggle of the miko cut into the tension. "Inu-kun, we do want to inform them of our tales today."
Jinenji laughed, settling more firmly against the ground as Kirara walked up to the earth hanyou and settled near him, they shared an amused glance of words, ignoring the others for a while, and then they both sighed simultaneously.
Inuyasha made a sound of irritation. "I had been sealed to eternal sleep for my transgressions, imagined or otherwise. I woke up from the spell when I met the odd miko, protecting some stupid village by using her defenseless self as bait." Onigumo stood, eyes flashing and forcing Inuyasha to take a step back.
"I am taking up the tale, brat, you twist it for your favor." Inuyasha barked out a laugh, his fangs revealed as he grinned in satisfaction. There was some tittering from the court again, this time more of shock than amusement.
Onigumo moaned as he forced his muscles to raise him up and they protested. It wasn't so much that they were protesting…more that there were so many signals being sent that his body was in turmoil and he couldn't do anything about it. It was these vague thoughts…no they weren't thoughts.
Emotions and instincts of many were warring with his dominant psyche.
They had no real words or thoughts to them; they were base and barbaric creatures that had molded themselves to him at the possibility of creating more taint and gaining more power. Being the dominant psyche for a group of congealed demons equivalent to thugs was taxing to his energy, mental or otherwise.
It was made worse in that he had no thoughts to fight, only the vague insight that a part of his body was moving without him telling it to…that a part of him demanded something he did not want and therefore it was not a part of him.
These other urges ran along his sense constantly, looking for a lapse in attention and waiting for him to acknowledge them so they could voice their intentions with his intelligent speech.
Kill her…run away…hide there, over there! ...No no no…don't move…rest while they still think you are loyal…then kill?... destroy…defend yourself…so weak…strength…steal it…
Onigumo hated these urges.
He sneered without thought. These intents weren't his; that they had some semblance of control over his body made him a weak fool.
He would not be weak. He would not give in.
The urges screamed louder to him.
The scholarly demon straightened, eyes far off yet there as he smoothed out the cloth covering his arms and one hand absently went to fiddle with the holy beads on his right wrist. "Our tale does start with a hanyou, if you chose to start there. It can also start with a miko, or two or three; but I will continue from that hanyou and no other." His eyes abruptly came to the present, flashing with knowledge and warning and, stunningly, pain.
"So it became that our hanyou who lost so much gained more from the trust and oddness of one new miko, and it was through this tentative start that they somehow came to their journey. It was so that this journey was for an artifact, one that the first miko had protected and died for and one that the odd new miko unknowingly guarded with her life.
Kikyou sat up straighter, a brief smile flitting over her lips as Inuyasha smirked and settled firmly by his mate's side.
"They went on a journey, and made allies and enemies and tentative treaties. It was all to recover the artifact to ensure that no one would ever use it for ill works again."
Onigumo shifted.
"It's okay Kagome, Onigumo will understand that you are trying. You will get it sooner or later." The quiet voice of the slayer threaded through the air to the tired Onigumo.
Kill her… no use her…
"Yeah wench, you are old enough to figure something out."
There was a muffled sob before Kagome's thick voice came out of her tears. "You don't understand…"
There was a muffled curse that Onigumo knew to be Inuyasha, and he heard the shifting of the monk's cloth as the group moved somehow to comfort their strange miko.
"What exactly is bothering you?"
There was a little hiccupping sound that made Onigumo ache, because ever since he had reacquainted himself with the miko she had been so happy to be with them all that she hadn't any need for such sounds of misery.
He shifted uncomfortably, ignoring his little urges….oooh, use this, she's sooo weak…don't…maybe help her…gain a strong ally…she's not strong!...ohohoho yes she is….twist the situation…get something…
"I…I remember him, now that he spoke to me a little of his past." Onigumo was successfully able to drown out the urges as he focused on her voice. It was quiet for a bit, and Onigumo wondered if they were going to leave it at that.
But someone must have approached their miko, because he heard the sound of her murmured defensive no before a light smack of someone's hand pushing away their reaching comfort. "In my travels I came across a village, some demons had raided and left the huts burning to kill any survivors." He heard the shaky intake of breath that told him she was close to those rare tears.
"Kagome, you've been working yourself too hard. Calm down and we can talk about his later."
"I haven't been working hard enough!" Her slightly shrill voice hit Onigumo…too loud…annoyance…easily manipulated by emotions…
"Kagome-sama, you haven't slept in the last day or two, and I don't think I have seen you touch a crumb of food at all."
The Taijiya spoke up with an odd tone, but Onigumo ignored it, impatiently waiting for Kagome to speak again and ignoring the little impulses as they jolted along his senses. "She hasn't eaten in three days actually, and I've seen her pulling her hair out and bugging Kikyou and Kaede to get them to find a scroll with some ritual to help Onigumo."
He heard a hiss of breath, followed by a defensive steel voice that told him Kagome was less than happy. "He is in pain, and I won't let him remain there for long if I can do anything about it."
The voices and little urges stopped, his unbalanced personality solidifying and agreeing in one whole mass that sent his senses reeling before the continued conversation drew his attention again.
"Why exactly are you so stubborn about this?" Inuyasha's voice came out gruff with confusion and a little bit of blame- the hanyou was never one to like it when Kagome pushed herself…Onigumo could never decide if it was because he wanted to continue protecting her from everything or he just didn't like it when everyone else worried about everyone else.
"I told you there was a village burning, but I heard the cries of people in it."
There was silence, friends out there waiting as much as Onigumo for the rest of the information even though he was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach and his eyesight kept on blurring in and out with the more insistent urges of the lesser psyches.
"So I had to save them."
"You went into burning buildings!" shouted Inuyasha; Onigumo could picture him waving his hands in ire even though his sight was less than perfect at the moment. "How could you in your condition? That was absolutely stupid!"
There was a silence, even the hanyou's harsh breathing undetectable as an oppressive feeling of righteous anger blanketed the village.
"I saved more than ten people, Inuyasha, and I am still here despite my blatantly stupid actions with my handicap."
"Kagome-sama?" The voice of the monk broke the silence and Onigumo let his head fall back to lean against the wall, cursing the pain in his eyes before his vision cleared by some agreement in his psyche.
"I saved a young village boy, and had to go back for another person I heard crying out." Onigumo sat up straighter, the pain in his body ignored and numb while his head turned to look in their direction even with the wall blocking his view. "I went out later to find him, having heard the villagers talk about their orphan charge and his past…I …I wanted him to join me on part of my journey."
Onigumo barely heard the mutter about their miko's 'save the world complex' as he concentrated on his memories and the soothing, if distressed, sound of Kagome's voice.
"He wasn't anywhere near the village, and I never did find him in my travels."
"Kagome…" the whisper came from more than one of the group, and Onigumo found his voice amongst them all.
Her voice then rang out in steely determination. "I couldn't help him then, but I'll make damn sure I can help him now." And he heard her turn with a swish of her oddly colored miko robes and felt her footsteps even as he heard them patter on the earth.
Onigumo remembered that fire…his life was cursed with wretched fire every time he let himself delve into memories. Normal demon fire…human fire…holy fire…the fire of hell.
Kagome smiled brilliantly from her seated position, and Inuyasha let out a ruff sigh as he shared a glance with Kikyou.
"The next to join their entourage was a small kitsune kit, seeking to avenge his father's murder and desecrated fur with the aid of the artifact. It was how he came to endear himself the new miko," Shippou grinned up brilliantly, a proud flush to his cheeks, as Souten smiled somewhat hesitantly.
"Then a monk joined, cursed by their mutual enemy and seeking to destroy so that he may live without his curse." There was a pause amongst the high thirteen, like they were contemplating something that the rest of the court would never understand. "He joined the group and became a loving friend and confidant…and eventually the love of their next companion."
"She was a Taijiya, manipulated into seeking vengeance against their hanyou companion and then saved by the odd miko. She joined their quest for the artifact to avenge her clan who was in actuality killed by her manipulator and recover her brother who was being controlled by him as well." Kohaku shifted, eyes glazing over with emotion and head tilting back in a proud but solemn stance as he went back into time and memory.
"It was to be some time, amongst battles and searching, until they acquired their next permanent companion." Kouga smirked rakishly from his lounging position, giving a salute to the listeners and causing a few jitters and laughs to emerge. "A previous acquaintance due to …unusual circumstance he joined with his pack and aided them in the remaining days of their quest."
He paused, listening to several pleased growls of wolves as they basked in the garden sun and their part in the story. Glory hounds…
"Then other comrades joined…the renowned Lord of the West came to fulfill a debt to the odd miko, the water goddess from their earlier travels came to repay favor for restoring her magic glaive, two miko apprentices came to repent for their involvement with a previous enemy, a human lord and his ningen army came to aid his love, and then they went into battle."
He shook his head, watching belatedly as Kagome entered the hut, pushing aside the door flap angrily enough that it whacked the wall with a loud smack and he had to cringe with his oscillating hearing.
"Sorry." whispered her soft voice as he was able to look into her equally soft smile. He nodded weakly, suddenly unable to support his neck and lowered himself carefully to his small futon. She was a quiet presence at his side now, and he startled as he felt the cool cloth placed on his forehead and the pat of her hand on his cheek. "You need to rest, Onigumo. I am still looking for a cure…but you need to rest so I don't worry so much, okay?" And she smiled tentatively.
He grunted out some reply, watching as she smiled in humor now and rewet the cloth with cool water. They had been looking after him for days, and his body was wracked with the problems of all his psyches arguing and fighting for control. Some wanted to run away from all these people, others wanted to hurt all these people, and still more wanted to use all these people in some way. But Kagome had sat by his side most of the time, and if what he heard was correct then she hadn't been taking care of herself because she was too busy taking care of him.
Strangely enough the urges were not present.
He heard her take a soothing breath in and then saw her smile through once again blurry eyes. "The others are starting to worry."
About you more than me, kind miko, but you would never say that would you.
"I think Kikyou finally gave in and started perusing those scrolls I asked about."
And you are damning yourself because you can't do it yourself hmmm?
"So you should get better soon…"
I should shouldn't I? I mean with you trying so hard you have only yourself to blame, and you want me to stop suffering so much little miko, why is that?
"Please get better…" And it was the teary entreaty, so soft he was sure she never meant for him to hear it, which sold him to her. It had been said at a point where his sense of hearing had oscillated up rather than degraded, and he found he was too shocked to comment and she smiled obliviously as she left him.
He felt the cloth on his forehead warming up due to his excessive body heat, felt the place on his cheek where her refreshingly cool hand had held his face to look worriedly into his eyes for any more signs of pain, knew that the miko herself was right now probably bugging the elder miko to start looking into the scrolls she had been enquiring about.
And he knew without a doubt that he would get better.
He had to.
Onigumo shifted, the feel of his presence becoming more intense and deliberate. "The final battle was long, bloody, and …I would like to say unnecessary. All were wounded enough that many demons still bear scars that haven't disappeared after these five hundred years. But the battle was victorious, for the odd miko was able to fell the tainted hanyou."
There was a hush, and then Onigumo smirked softly, his chin tilting at a reminiscent angle and his eyes closing. "After that battle the odd miko went on a journey, and when she returned the artifact was hidden and she had established our Court. Settlements had been signed amongst lords and spirits and her, and the spirit realm came into being with a strict treaty between us."
His eyes flashed over to the collection of detectives, ghosting over their faces and pausing briefly to regard Hiei before he continued absently. "The artifact is indeed hidden, not even the High Thirteen know of its whereabouts."
With the final battle over he had woken up to the miko, and had only discovered what had happened later after a talk with the monk. While he had been under, the miko had been rushing about and had gone off alone every couple of days for extended amounts of time that had them all worried.
He hadn't awoken during all that.
Kagome had performed a ritual to salvage Inuyasha's sight. Which everyone had presumed was the wish. It hadn't been, because while Onigumo had been unconscious, fighting the power of his psyches' and the aftereffects of the battle, she had disappeared and then appeared- changed and smiling and almost omnificent.
But now Onigumo knew.
She had given her sight to the hanyou, and she had gone on a journey that was difficult to comprehend, even for those involved with the eccentric company that made up her entourage.
She had been the one that let him live when his home village had burned down.
She had been the one to guide so many in their life.
She had been the one to give up so much for some tainted beings.
She had been the one to go out alone because she wanted to be able to help them.
She hade been the one who sat by his side during his coma, despite all that was happening elsewhere, and she had been the one there after every one of his new episodes to nurse him into comfort and better health.
And Onigumo needed to get better if only for her.
There was sudden moment of tension, or that it was a rare release of all his tension he didn't know, wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, that had all his nerves singing with energy and his senses coming into such sharp focus he swore he could see the remaining energy of their miko worriedly clinging to his hand where she had touched him.
He gasped as he felt all those urges scream out again. A strong sense of agreement literally shaking his soul- pieces aligning together and snapping into place. YEEESSSsss, do that, protect her, help her! She has done for us so we will do for her! Yeeeesss, please. Our miko…..
The psyches solidified into one whole, his mind reeling at the sense of stillness it had never felt since he offered up his soul to the demons. He sat up quickly, startled with the realization that with this odd new calm came a relief from his constant pain, and with that came his ability to think more clearly than he ever could in the past few weeks.
Gods…this couldn't be real.
"Then what is in the Tale?"
Onigurmo smirked cunningly. "We wanted to put more information in so we would never forget what made us who we are today…I can only say that the hidden tale leads the pursuer on a random chase of clues they would never really know the answer too unless they were one of the Thirteen."
Kouga chuckled and stretched, Ayame smiling happily at him as many others chattered softly and made some comments.
Then quite suddenly there was a silence as everyone seemed to drift off into memories; the demons and hanyou and spirit that were left, not many compared to the original group that made up the entire Court, gazing at distant points to focus their thoughts and eventually all had soft smiles developing on their faces.
Onigumo waited for the miko's return, flexing his fingers and tensing various muscles and marveling at the simple relief he felt. It was just when he was rotating his neck to relieve a crick that the miko walked in.
Her eyes were uncommonly bright, tears stubborn against the pursing of her lips and the equally stubborn tilt of her chin against such an onslaught. She closed them when she noticed his attention- he never really got to see the blind gaze of her before, and started to vaguely wonder at her journey and her knowledge. Her hands were clenching at her sides, a basket roped to her waist with herbs and her small dagger resting on top of the contained greenery. Her shoulders were hunched (more telling than anything because she was an archer and they prided themselves on their straight posture), and an angry flush was on her cheeks.
He smiled.
Kagome did a double take, eyes snapping open wide and her skin pallor returning to normal then her mouth opening in a shocked smile, her eyes going even wider with delight, and her hands unclenching and her basket dropping to the floor and scattering its contents about the hut.
Onigumo found he could ignore the sharp sound of the dagger rolling on wooden planks and he could ignore the worried shouts of others outside the huts in response to the miko's squeal.
All he cared about, with his youki thrumming in complete and content agreement for once in what would come to be a long time (he was certain), was the relieved and joyful miko crying happy tears for once, since his awakening, and kneeling by his side, trying to touch his face and not offend him with her presence.
And Onigumo was… better.
"You now have choices to make, but we see one generous outcome." Jaken spoke up proudly, bowing up and closing his eyes with satisfaction for being able to inform them of this possibility.
Jin stepped up, eyes dancing and his one fanged happy grin as he clapped his hands and then rubbed them together in glee. "Ah'm one who took tha' choice, swearing tah come tah aid tha Court if need arises an' continue with mah life as normal."
Totousai stood, bowed back straightening as far as it could with pride and eyes half lidded with contentment. "WE are the court; the Highers are the elite of the court, the Highers are the supreme secret keepers and the court lives to protect them and that secret by default."
Kouga stood, tail snapping back and forth behind him as he smirked with a warrior's pride. "The secret is the choice, many don't have the guts to stand up to the pressure and remain just our guards, going and doing what is needed without questioning our orders."
Sesshoumaru stood in a fluid motion, hands adjusting the position of his swords at his waist before he addressed them. "We will leave that choice to you until after you have spoken with your…superior. Koenma is growing impatient, and I would rather you deal with him now than have us deal with him intruding upon our miko's gardens once more."
And the remaining Highers shared some good natured jeers and conversation with each other, letting the tantei leave in quiet thought to meet their child boss.
…and waiting for them to return just as quietly with their answers.
.x.X.x.
.x.x.X.x.x.
.x.x.x.X. AUTHORS NOTE .X.x.x.x.
I am sorry for the late return, but I did write more to make up for it! ahhh, it's getting so hard to write!
And yes, I was being vague in the story on purpose, so that unless they directly question the Court they will never really know exact details…much more fun I think! And more respectful to the people who were the story as I don't think telling my life story to a stranger would be very comfortable.
And I think…the next chapter might be the last. So I bid adieu and plead for reviews and a grand send off!
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I DON'T WANT TO GO! WAHHHHH!
I was editing, and found many puns relating to canines in this chapter...sorry if it offends anyone, but I will leave it because I am the author and I think it's funny XP.