Chapter 4: Enter Seikei, the Shape-Shifting Demon!


Disclaimer: I do NOT own ANY of the characters from the show Inuyasha, which really sucks, BUT anyWHO! I DO own characters like Seikei and Minh, no matter how insignificant the part is. Cry a River, build a bridge and get the heck over it! Le LOL Just messin'! ;) I like to joke . . .


Inuyasha's heart was pounding in his chest. Though he would never show it, he was terrofied of losing Kagome, and precious time was slipping away from them. She needed help as soon as possible, for Inuyasha or the others had no idea how toxic the poisen was. As Inuyasha neared the village he began to holler desperately for help.

Inuyasha screams "Someone, help! She's gonna die, we need help!" He sees a man close by and hollers at him fiercley, "HEY YOU! Get Kiada, NOOOW!"

The stranger looks confused, "Wha...me?"

Inuyasha hollers at him angrly, his temper getting shorter, "Of COURSE you, now MOVE IT!" The stranger runs off to find Lady Kaede.

Inuyasha sunk to his knees, and bowed his head over Kagome. This can't be happening, it just can't be! He thinks to himself. Inuyasha felt as if he where in a dream, a nightmare, and everything seemed so surreal...hazy. Ever so gently, he layed Kagome on the ground and broke the shaft of the arrow close to the skin and then tossed the rest away.

Kaede comes rushing over to where Inuyasha and Kagome are, and kneels beside Kagome's still form.

Kaede speaks in a rush, "Inuyasha, pick up Kagome and follow me! We must make haste!"

As Inuyasha delicately picks up Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kohaku, Shippo, and Kilala arrive. The ones on Kilala hop off and they all run to catch up with Inuyasha and the old woman. All of them have solemn and worried looks on there faces. Shippo looks more scared than anything.

When Shippo speaks his voice is scared, and shakey voice "Hey, Inuyasha, is Kagome going to be ok?"

Inuyasha does not respond, only continues to follow Kaede into a nice looking hut, then down into a cellar below the it.

All 4 of them follow Inuyasha and Kaede bellow to the cellar. They try to speak to Inuyasha, but it seems that he doesn't hear them, or are even aware of them.

Kaede's is voice full of fear and anguish when she says "All of you must leave now! I need to attend to Kagome and can't have all of thee in here in my way."

For the first time since Kaede approached Inuyasha, he said something.

Inuyasha sounds determind and commanding, saying, "NO! I stay! I do not leave her side!" and then with a sudden change of tone when Inuyasha speaks, fear in his voice and he begs her "I must stay Kaede...I must..."

Kaede looks at him closely, considering this new change in Inuyasha and then says, "Very well then Inuyasha, you may stay. Everyone else leave!"

Reluctantly they all leave. Shippo begins to wimper softly, and Sango has tears in her eyes. As they walk out, they sit in front of the hut, Sango tries to comfort Shippo while Kohaku and Miroku put arms around Sango. Minutes later, Kaede walks out of the hut, and hands each one a one item list of the herbs that she needs.

Kaede gives them orders to follow, "These are the things that I need thee to retrieve for me. There is hope yet for her." She then walks back down to the cellar, and then speaks to Inuyasha, "So tell me, Inuyasha...how did this happen?"

Inuyasha's voice is strained, choked and can only speak in a whisper he says, "Kikyo...It was Kikyo. She came out of nowhere, I did not even smell her..." He pauses to regain his composure, "She was angry about something...something...she shot her and she fell in the water." The hanyou breaths in, slowly, but it sounds like he is about to choke on air, "Miroku and the others saved her...I killed Kikyo for it...I ki...killed her...I'm glad that I did...it felt good..." He stopped there as if just speaking worn him out. Inuyasha takes Kagome's hand in his and holds it, then he leans down and whispers in her ear, "Kagome...you have to make it, please...please...I..."

He pauses for a long moment then sits back up, keeping his head bowed. His eyes glaze over and he stares into space. While Inuyasha was speaking the elderly woman ripped Kagome's shirt, the part where the arrow was and began to wash the skin around the shaft. The skin in that area had started to turn black and peal, and the skin was very swollen.

Kaede says "Inuyasha, since thee insists on staying in here, thee will have to help me opperate to get the arrow out. The poison has already began to take affect on her, we must work quickly, so when I tell yee to do something, do it swiftly. Does thee understand, Inuyasha?"

He nods his head slightly while he continues to hold Kagome's hand. He can tell by her hand that she has gotten a fever. Her palms are sweaty and she begins to breath raspily. She slumbers in fitfully. Kaede gets the opperating tools ready, then she speaks to Inuyasha, "You must hold her still as best as possible." She begins to opperate, cutting at the shaft and cleaning, pouring alcohol over the wound to cleanse it. Inuyasha can't bare to see Kagome like this: cut open and bleeding, dying. He hoped that he'd never see another loved one like this. He closes his eyes breifly, then opens them again and continues to watch Kaede work. He does this thinking, knowing that he needs to be strong for Kagome.

Some minutes later Kohaku and Shippo return to the village with there items. They walk into the hut then down in the cellar. It smells wranke and putrid, then they look at what is going on. They hurriedly set down the herbs in a bowl and walk out. They pass Sango and then Miroku on the way. They too hurry to get out of the cellar. Kaede instructs Inuyasha how to mix the herbs together and then walks out and hands Sango another list, with 2 extra plant life on it. Sango quickly flies into the woods on Kilala's back in search of the herbs.

Kaede speaks to Inuyasha, "Sit her up and then pour this down her and then message her throat so it goes down easier and faster." She then hands him a bowl of tonic mixed from 2 of the herbs, "It will help to keep her fever under control." Then Lady Kaede stuffs the other crushed herbs into the wound, "The hole is dangerously close to her heart, but this will slow the poison down...give her at least enough time for Sango to get back."

The sun begins to set and Sango is still not back yet, Miroku says to the others, "We should help Sango look if it is taking this long. "

Shippo agrees, saying "Your right, I want to help Kagome get better."

Kohaku says, "Then lets go, I hate sitting here being useless..."

All three of them head in the same direction that Sango went in.

As the sun sinks further into the distance, a fog rolls in slowly, followed by a mist. It grows darker by the minute and an unnatural silence falls over the village and surrounding woods. Time passes and the night of the new moon begins. Back in the cellar, on queue Inuyasha turns into a human. Kaede notices this and comments worriedly, "Inuyasha, it would be a terrible night for trouble. I wasn't aware that it was the new moon tonight."

Outside the hut the earth begins to shake. Villagers stir and come outside to see whats going on. Evil was approaching the village. Everyone could sense, it was thick in the air and it had a rancid smell to it. Every few seconds there would be a rumbling sound and the earth would shake, like an earth quake. And then it stoped. A little girl is sitting on her stoop when a small bird swooped down and landed near her; it hopped to her shoulder and whispered in her ear. The little girl stands up and bangs on the door, "Mama, a little bird just whispered in my ear, he wants to see you!" Her father hollers through the door, "Minh, you shut up and stay out there! Don't say another word until you can behave!" Quietly, Minh's mother opens the door and comes out. Instantly the bird shape-shifts to a gargantuan Demon. It shot up into the night sky, it's head looked like that of a Wolverine with black fur, a larger mouth and teeth the sizes of claymores. It's chest became broad, boney, yet muscular. The eyes glowed a dark purple. It's arms 10 feet in length and each hand sported six talons amazingly acute. The demons legs where shaped like the back legs of a dog; they also sported one extra talon on each foot as apposable thumbs. His body was covered in thick black fur, escept for it's back: the fur was longer and in spikes, the ends of this fur was tinged a putrid looking greenish yellow. The demon spoke, it's voice just as wicked sounding as the body looked. It was deep, hard and thick, full of venom, "I am Seikei, the demon, He who comes with the fog and mist and brings death in his wake! Any man who dares to defy me shall perish, never again seeing the light of day..." Minh's heart begins to race and her voice gets caught in her throat, her breath coming rapidly and weak. Seikei speaks to Minh in his thunderous voice.

Seikei, "Do not fear me child, I will not hurt you!" He picks Minh up, tilts his head back as far as it will go, opens his mouth and drops Minh, screaming with terror, into his gaping mouth; he does the same with her mother for she too was frozen with fear. Seikei does not even bother to chew or swallow them, they go down on there own.

The people of the village begin to scramble for cover, shreiking with trepidation. They seem to Seikei like a herd of mindless deer, trying to run from a wolf pack. A few of the men try to stop Seikei with arrows, nets and anything else they can get a hold of. The feirce demon slaughters them in a trice, with one sweep of his clawed hands, knocking the men every where, cutting some in halves and flinging them into buildings. Seikei goes throughout the village tearing down houses and then picking a select few and dropping them into his cavernous mouth, not chewing a single one. Everytime some man tries to stop him he massacres there bodies. The arrows are unable to pierce his tough hide under the fur. The vicious demon laughs at there futal attempts to stop him. He knocks over Lady Kaede's hut, but he sees no one, so he moves to the next house. When Seikei is finished, he vanishes from the air as if he never where. The fog and mist drift away, and the horrific smell of evil dissipates from the night air.

Meanwhile in the Lady Kaede's cellar Kagome stirs from her fitful sleep. Inuyasha doesn't notice until she says something.

Kagome sounds very weakly and tired, her throat dry, "I...nu...nu...yash..a..."
She looks at him through half open eye lids; rings are all around her eyes and her brow drips sweat from the fever; her eyes open wide as she stares at Inuyasha's hair. "Your...hair...it's black...?"

Inuyasha's eyes open wide with new hope and apprehension; he looks into Kagome's eyes.

Inuyasha, fearful, but with hope renewed; quietly, "Ka...ka...go..me! I thought that..." He pauses, unable to voice his fears; he smiles weakly at her then continues, "Don't die on me ok? Damn you, don't you leave me here by myself, Kagome!"

Kagome sounds very tired, weak and raspy when she replies, "Inuyasha...I...don't think that..." She pauses to catch her breath, speaking is such an effort. "...I am gonna make it...it hurts so much..." She turns her head away from Inuyasha as tears spring to her eyes. Kagome continues to speak with her eyes shut, "The pain...my veins feel like they burn and my heart..." She chokes up, trying to keep from crying in front of the Dog Demon. She sniffs I'm in so much pain! I want to...to die."

Shock and surprise register on his face as he continues to stare at her.

Inuyasha speaks softly but with anger and fear, "Damn you Kagome, don't talk like that! You ARE going to make it...you have...HAVE too..." As he finshes Kagome is racked with a coughing fit, her whole body shaking.

Lady Keade rushes to her side and makes her drink a special tonic. Then she addresses Kagome.

Kaede tells her softly, "Child, you must not strain yourself. You musn't speak like that."

Kagome nods at Kaede, then looks again at Inuyasha, staring into eyes she smiles weakly and speaks, a little nervously," Inuyasha, before I die," She pauses for breath, "I want you to know something..."

Inuyasha, scared as much as angry with her for speaking of death, says, "Kagome, damn you, I said not to talk like that, your gonna live..." He starts to choke up for a second, but then regains his composure. Then he thinks to himself, 'What the HELL is wrong with me! I can't cry!' Kagome closes her eyes slowly and Inuyasha speaks to her more loudly than before; urgent, "DO you HEAR me Kagome? I said your gonna..."

Kagome interrupts, more weak than before, and a little scared, "I love you, Inuyasha..." She coughs a little then continues, "I always have..." She sounds like shes on the brink of crying now. "...and I just wanted you to know that," A sob escapes her throat, "before I die..." She sighs then closes her eyes but does not fall asleep.

Inuyasha thinks to himself, 'I can't believe she just said that...can't believe what I'm hearing...' Strange emotions well up in Inuyasha, feelings that he hasn't felt this strongly since he and Kikyo where in love. Out loud he says, "Oh, Kagome...!" He chokes up again, this time unable to hide the concern and the sounds of tears from his voice.

Kagome hears things outside and says, fatigued now from so much effort, "Inuyasha...whats going on outside...?"

Inuyasha starts to say something but notices that Kagome fell asleep again, more fitfully than the last slumber.

Kaede says nothing to Inuyasha about the calamity that goes on outside. If she leaves, Kagome could very well die without the proper care, so she stays, listening to the havoc being wrecked on her village.

By morning Sango and the others return with all the herbs. As they enter the village a disturbing sight meets them. Bodies and blood everywhere, pieces of houses are scattered about. No one living is visible. They quickly run to where Lady Kaede's hut should have been; it too is also gone. Slowly then enter the cellar, afraid that Inuyasha, Kagome and Kaede would be dead. But they where undisturbed. Inuyasha was still sitting in the same position he had been when they left. Kaede told them Kagome had come out of her sleep for a few moments, but is still very ill. By morning, having run out of herbs to keep the fever at bay, Kagome was getting worse...