Scroll four:

Dragons claw, Oroborous' legacy

I raised my claws, preparing to strike. I could feel venom slicking across them, ready to kill at the slightest scratch, and this would be much deeper than a scratch.

Vanargandr looked up at me with complete innocence in his dark eyes. That's all there was, innocence. No intelligence, no fear, not even some sort of twisted misplaced trust. The little girl, no, Rins' face flashed in my mind for an instance and I realized that while they're eyes were exactly the same color and shape, they're gaze was nothing alike.

Rins' gaze held a deep intelligence, and a thirst for knowledge. When I looked in her eyes I saw incurable optimism and a fragile innocence and the so many other different and conflicting things that made her up. Remembering her made me hate vanargandr even more. There was nothing in his eyes but a dull, stupid, innocence. His eyes were not vacant, he was there, but that was all there was to him.

I struck.

And just as suddenly he wasn't there any more, my hand swept though a wispy cloud of jasmine incense. It eddied around my hand for a moment as the bright moonlight refracted through it, and then began to dissipate into the crisp night air.

"Were did you send him?" I queried. Nirakumi gave me a sullen glare

"Why do you care?" she spat

"Idle curiosity. It doesn't matter were you sent him, as long as he's out of my hair."

"Yes you seem to have quite a lot of that." She muttered sarcastically. I raised an eyebrow at that but otherwise let the comment slide. I can't go breaking her arm every time she insults me; well I could but what would be the point?

"I sent him back to hell." Her face was twisted with smoldering anger and something else; sadness, maybe disappointment. She hid it well, yet still it was there. Disappointment at what? Myself perhaps. I filed it away along with her earlier fear of my actions.

"A fitting place." I replied

We continued on our way through the moonlit woods, the thick smells of bamboo, cypress, and sandalwood filled the air. Where there were gaps in the trees bright columns of moonlight filtered through the canopy, so that the leaves appeared silver lined in places, the dew sparkled like diamonds and the pathway was dappled with the full moons light.

The shadows were deep, but not so dark that I could not see were we went, and what I could not see I could smell. The forest path traversed a patchwork of territories belonging to a variety of lesser demons and normal animals. Some scents were more interesting than others: here was a nautilus spirit, quite a bit further inland than one would expect of a seafaring creature. There was a tengu, a birdlike spirit not found often, even on the main island of Japan, were they originate. There was even a great reptile, predating the evolution of humans, slumbering beneath the earth.

Yet despite the rarity of all these things, I cared little about them; there are many fascinating things in this world, and perhaps long ago I would have found them worth my time, but this world is a large place, filled with wonders beyond imagining, from a deep trench at the bottom of the ocean that can crush a human body to the size of my fist from pressure alone, to great mountains that look like waterfalls of blood in the setting sun were it is impossible to breath at their summits. I have seen far too many of these wonders to find a few mere creatures interesting enough to delay for.

Having read my thoughts once again, Nirakumi broke the silence.

"How could you not find a dinosaur interesting Sesshomaru?"

"Dinosaur?" I said repeating the unfamiliar word, it sounded Latin. After a moment's consideration I decided she meant the slumbering reptile.

"Their bones litter the earth, becoming as stone; they are a dead race one and all. What care should I have for the last remnant of the earth's long forgotten progeny?" I answered her question

"Well for one, isn't it fascinating that it has slept all these eons beneath the earth, surviving the countless cataclysms that extinguished its race?"

"No."

"Come on, aren't you the least bit curious to see what it looks like?"

"No Nirakumi, I am not. We are not going to make a detour to see a lizard."

"You're no fun at all." she pouted. I decided not to remark on that particular comment, as it made no sense at all. What could be fun about looking at a half dead lizard? Even if it was the size of a small palace, what would be the point? Its brain was too small to train it to do anything useful, and it was too weak and decrepit to be let loose to rampage in one of my rivals' territory, even Inuyasha would make short work of killing the thing.

"See? That is exactly why you're no fun Sesshomaru. You're always thinking of things in terms of loses and gains. You're almost as bad as Naraku." Nirakumi commented on my thoughts.

I backhanded her across the face. How dare she compare me to that treacherous snake!

"Don't ever compare me to Naraku again, he is a lying spider. He is another one I will kill." She stared at me in open mouthed shock, her hand clutched to her jaw were I had struck her.

"Just like that? No anger, no vehemence, just a simple statement of fact? Then why haven't you killed him yet? He has wreaked havoc upon the timeline, made countless enemies, yet still he lives. He will destroy everything unless you can lay aside your overpriced ego and do what is necessary!"

Her words had the ring of truth to them, but I did not understand their meaning, what must I do that is necessary? She obviously believed that I would not want to do it if given a choice, yet I could think of nothing that I would not do to kill that bastard, save perhaps ally myself with Inuyasha. I started to smirk at that prospect when my blood ran cold. She could not be serious! What help could that pathetic weakling give that would be of any use to defeat Naraku?

I schooled my thought to stillness; I constantly underestimate Inuyasha, I would not be guilty of the same mistake again. I would watch him closely upon our next encounter to see if Nirakumis words bore any merit. They might, but I doubted it.

I said nothing as Nirakumi got to her feet grumbling and rubbing her jaw. As I turned back to continue walking she gave me a mutinous glare that spoke of retribution ten fold. I would have to watch her closely as well.

As we moved onward, the mellow stench of humans caught in my throat. Fire light glinted through the foliage up ahead, diluting the bright moonlight, and making the leaves around us appear to drip with liquid gold. Long before we got close enough to see the humans I had slowed my step, placing my feet carefully to avoid any sound, Nirakumi too modified her gait to a stealthier approach. The only sound besides the humans chatter was my own heartbeat, beating slower than even a hibernating bears would, as it should be. Nirakumi might as well have been a ghost for all the sound she made as she crept along behind me.

The distinctive sounds of the humans speech patterns drifted through the trees as we moved close enough to distinguish individual scents, I recognized the scent of the monk and the demon hunter, as well as the kitsune kit, that Inuyasha keeps with him. Of Inuyasha himself, there was no evidence, nor was there any sign of his human wench. Good.

"Where's Kagome?" a whining childish voice drifted from the camp. The kits' scent spiked with loneliness

"She's gone back to her own time, she mentioned something about exams." Said a feminine voice in collected tones. The demon huntress' scent was sure but underlined with deep sadness. She had interested me briefly once, when I learned that Naraku had thought to use her as a pawn. Apparently Naraku had slaughtered her entire village then blamed it on Inuyasha, then sent her to kill him. Pity it did not work, but then again, she's only human. Besides, he's mine to kill if I wish. Both of them.

"And of course Inuyasha's gone off to sulk." Said a carefree voice that undoubtedly belonged to the monk. His voice hid nothing beneath its tone, but his scent was wrong somehow, likely due to the curse on his hand. It was a curse only insofar as it would one day kill him, the Kazaana in his palm was a formidable weapon, it allowed him to walk freely in an age were humans are considered light snacks for many demons.

A motley crew if ever there was one, two humans and a child, Inuyashas' most trusted allies. Truly pathetic. Still I cautioned myself not to underestimate them; they had survived so far, after all.

We inched back from the voices and the firelight, having heard what was necessary. We continued along our way, creeping silently around the perimeter of their camp then on toward the well.

I could smell it by now, the musk of the ancient wood of a time tree thick with the feeling of power that emanated from it. Its presence was so great in fact, that as it came into view through the trees, I was shocked to find that it was an open box that rose maybe a foot out of the ground. It was rather anti climactic in fact.

Nirakumi had been telling the truth, though, and that was the important part. She has not lied to me at all as of yet, but I have found that a discipline of constant vigilance serves me well. Thus she would constantly be guilty until proven innocent.

I examined the well thoroughly; it appeared old, but the wood was well seasoned, not decaying, it had vines growing at its base giving it a look of life, and its corners were slightly askew, but there's nothing to be done about human craftsmanship.

"Tell me Nirakumi, how does the well work?"

"You just jump in and you show up in the twentieth century." she said impatiently.

"Do not take me for a fool Nirakumi. I asked how it worked, not how to work it."

"Oh. Well, you're familiar with the legend of Oroborous, correct?" I nodded

"That and other world serpents."

"Good, this well is linked to it. Just as the serpent eats its own tale, so does time consume itself; beginning to end, end to beginning. With the proper key one could go any were in time they wanted, however, we only have one destination in mind this time."

"What is the key?"

"Oroborous' claw."

"Oroborous is a snake, it has no claw."

"Exactly." I glared at her, how could the claw be the key if there was no claw in the first place? Odious woman. She grinned back at me.

"I never said there was no claw, I just agreed he doesn't have one right now." And with that impish statement, she hopped over the side and into the well.

There was nothing for it now but to follow her, so with a resigned sigh I leapt lightly into the bone eaters well.

Had I been paying attention, I might have noticed a shadowy figure running through the clearing just behind me.

And thus concludes my shortest chapter ever. It seems as if the more chapters I do, the shorter they get.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing

Any way now to the important questions

Will Sesshomaru succeed in the kidnap of Kegome?

Will Nirakumi ever get a life?

And well I ever stop using Greek and Norse mythology in a Japanese fanfic?

Find out next time in another melodramatic installment of Golden Eyes.