Hi, I'm back! I'm sorry this took so long, but I was waiting to be reviewed by more than one person and so this chapter has been sitting around gestating for a few weeks. Really am sorry, for anyone who's reading this.
biggest anime fan: I'm glad you still like it. I really do seem to be getting better at being funny without being stupid. Yay! Loved your chapter, I know I already said so but I don't care. Oh, my mom's been speculating on what country you're in. I'm kind of curious, too. No snow, check. Visit to Saudi Arabia, check. Government shutting off power, check. Hm.
You aren't criticizing me properly; how am I supposed to do you? Start remembering! Yes, mental shield, Sesshy has walls in his head! Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat…and satisfaction brought it back. :crosses fingers and hopes for resurrection of biggest anime fan: I can't take credit for Shayanui, he's all Mel's. YES! LOVE CLIFFIES!
medlii: Thanks for bothering to tell me twice. I got it, though stupid me took three reads to get the code. You got my e-mail? Like I said, I like him as he is. You've got to understand, I wrote him for the express purpose of being a nice demon, who didn't go around being bad all the time, because it isn't fair to cast a whole race as bad. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT OF THEM, DO YOU HEAR ME? I MOVE FOR RACIAL TOLERANCE! Besides, where would we be if the Venusians or the Elves decided we were demons? Heh.
Shayanui is cool, and I told his creatress exactly what you said. EXACTLY! She said XD. Then she said Yeah but it was unintentional. Glad you didn't mind the sob-ness. I was a little worried. Yeah, poor Inu. But he'll be OK, you'll see!
Gem Gamgee: I'm so glad I made you happy, that's what I write these for. I mean, what use is fanfic but to bring pleasure to the writers and the readers? And there are (thankfully) a lot more of you than of me! Yes, you ought to re-read. I did so last week. Remember how it was supposed to be all 'smooth stone', and then it was covered in frills and balconies and decoration in the movie? Ugh. Anyway. I love your name, and did the first time I noticed it in biggest anime fan's review replies. (SHE DIDN'T RECOGNIZE SAM'S SURNAME! BAD!) Five minutes? Really? Wow. I am so flattered. Truly. Oh, and my thanks for your other reviews!
Yes, sad, sad. Poor doggy. And I can only name half of the Hindu ones from memory, the others I had to check, and two of the Norse ones I didn't know, a friend told me.
ChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowChapterstartsnowRecap: "I guess we're going -" she broke off. A tall, smooth stone tower - Aerie's first thought was of Orthanc, but not as frilly as they made it in the movie - had just come into view in the distance, and wrongness oozed from it in every direction. "There." Aerie finished. Shayanui's eyes widened.
"You're assaulting the tower? The tower from which no one ever returns? I think now is about time to disassociate myself from you." He began to edge away.
"Too late." Said Miroku dismally. "Look."
Everyone looked. Three bright yellow things with wide wings were swooping toward them.
"Wyvverns," said Aerie. "Look, no legs." The rest of the company ignored that so thoroughly that she wilted slightly inside. So it was useless information. So what? It was just like at school. No one wanted useless information.
The wyvverns breathed a noxious yellow smoke over them just as an assortment of unpleasant creatures, the kind you turn up under a rock only alarmingly large, burst out of the ground. The tachi went into rapid action, Miroku and Aerie falling on the nearest insectoid demons with their staffs to allow Kagome time to nock an arrow. Aerie scowled as she did so. She enjoyed being able to do fancy tricks with a staff, hit a dime on the fly, and bash up granite, but smashing up other people, often as she seemed to get roped into doing it, was never her definition of fun. She pounded the last slug into the ground and looked up, coughing the last of the wyvvern-smoke from her lungs.
The wyvverns were down. Kagome had dropped one, Hiraikotsu lopped of the second's head, and the arrow that caught the third one in the eye was Shayanui's. Wyvverns are not, in general, very dangerous if you know what you're doing. Miroku was battling some kind of climbing vine that had burst from the ground and wrapped around him, and now seemed intent on crushing the life from the monk. Sango caught Hiraikotsu as it returned to her and cut off an encroaching gecko's head with her sword. Reinforcements were pouring out of a concealed door at the base of the tower.
"There, Kagome!" Aerie shouted, clubbing some small demon who resembled Jaken over the head as he prepared to do something, presumably something nasty, to her, and pointing. "That door! Kirara, can you smell out whoever got Inuyasha for her?" Kagome nodded and made a beeline for the portal, and Aerie turned her full attention back to the fight. She was trying to get to Miroku to help him with the vines, but the opposition seemed to keep flowing in from all sides - one of those inexhaustible supplies of minions that seemed to be way too common in this sort of situation - and her world was reduced to whack, clobber, boot, try to get hold of a decent weapon before they kill you. 'Moving toward Miroku' had gotten filed away under Things To Do Later, along with 'throwing up dinner' and 'cursing whoever got me into all this, as soon as I can figure out who to pin it on.' She scooped up a back-hooked sword from what looked like an anthropomorphized weasel after riding over his guard with her stick, and began whacking the attacking demons into pieces, making much more headway now that she didn't have to rely on crushing them utterly to take them out.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA while later, Aerie got the airspace to look around. Shayanui had seized some chance to escape. Sango was unconscious. Miroku was absorbed in his battle with the vines, but they hadn't gotten the better of him yet. He appeared to have burned some of them away. Kagome had followed Kirara, and presumably they had gotten inside now. Nothing to lose. No one to see. She let her staff fall. It was in splinters anyway The monster who had dropped Sango reared over her, preparing to make a meal of her.
"Hey! Ugly!" Aerie shouted. Purple fire gathered around her hands and some of it licked out, whipping the creature across the back. It turned, licking its lips. Here was new prey. It could come back for the fallen one later. It took a step toward Aerie, and she let loose the power she had been gathering. The creature vanished without even a chance to cry out in pain. Aerie smiled grimly, as more of the tower's garrisons appeared to handle her. Having power that you hadn't used in weeks was like having an itch somewhere in the middle of your head. At least she could deal with that.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKagome followed Kirara up the stairs. The fire-cat seemed quite sure that Inuyasha's killer was not on the first story, and had headed for the stairs instantly, so Kagome had only gotten an impression of a large round room, forty meters across, that seemed to be quite empty. She wrenched open the door at the top of the stairs and paused, startled, as Kirara slipped through. She knew there wasn't room for all those hallways in here, or at least not room for them to lead anywhere. They branched out in a hundred directions, scores of doorways ringing the walls of the room she was in. She looked down to see Kirara's tails vanishing down one and headed after the fire cat. When she went through the door, Kirara was already out of sight. Kagome broke into a run. Maybe she could catch up with her.
At the first branch-off of the hallway, she randomly picked right, hoping that was the way Kirara had gone. The next time she picked left. Kagome raced along empty corridors, trusting to fate to guide her to her enemy. She had an arrow nocked, and was heartily regretting her lack of a close-quarters weapon. She would dearly love to slice whoever had killed her Inuyasha into about ten thousand pieces. She raced around a corner and ran full throttle into someone, bowling them over. She blinked rapidly, disentangling herself from them. Seeing long black hair framing a familiar face, she thought of Shayanui for a confused moment, then noticed the lack of pointy dog's ears.
"In…nuyasha?"
"Eh?" he said, eyes slightly unfocused. "Kagome?"
"Inuyasha?" she repeated, breathless. Then she shook her head, setting her jaw. "You can't be Inuyasha." He rubbed his forehead.
"I think I'm me," he said uncertainly. "But right now I'm not too sure."
"No, you're not Inuyasha," she said decidedly. "Inuyasha's dead."
"What are you talking about?" snapped Inuyasha, sounding completely himself. "Of course I'm not dead."
"You're just another double, or something. I'm not going to be tricked. I'm going to get my revenge."
"Revenge?" asked Inuyasha blankly. "For what?"
"For killing my Inuyasha! The owner of this tower killed him. So I'm going to kill them." Inuyasha blinked, at a loss for words.
"But, er, Kagome, I'M NOT DEAD!" he said.
"We've been through this. You aren't Inuyasha."
"I am, wench!"
"Prove it!"
"How?"
"Sit!" He plummeted to the ground.
"Ow," he commented.
"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome said. He pushed himself up slowly, giving her a quizzical look.
"Inuyasha? Who's that?"
"A minute ago you were saying it was you!"
"Of course I wasn't. Never heard of anyone by that name."
"But you were!"
"I wasn't!"
"Well, then, who are you?" she demanded. He paused. His mouth worked.
"I…don't really know," he admitted finally. "Who are you?"
"You don't know me?"
"Should I?" He asked, climbing to his feet.
"You were calling me by my name two minutes ago!" she protested. This was beyond strange. She wasn't even sure
that this guy wasn't her hanyou anymore.
"I never!"
"You were! I'm Kagome, remember? Ka-go-me?"
He swayed. "Ka-Kagome?" He shook his head, like a dog someone's tied a hat on, scrunching his eyes up. "What the hell?" he said, looking up. "Kagome, what's going on here?"
"That's my line!" she exclaimed. He nodded distractedly.
"Whatever." He shook his head again, swaying on his feet. "Er, sorry, who are you?" he asked abstractedly.
"Inuyasha!" she cried. "Snap out of it!"
"You're Inuyasha? I thought you were saying I was Inuyasha."
"No, you were!" Kagome said, quite beside herself. She slapped his cheek the way Sango was always doing with Miroku, hoping to bring him out of it. He caught her hand, looking at her reproachfully.
"What was that for?" he demanded. "I really don't think I like you. You're not making much sense, whatever your name is."
"It's Kagome!" she shouted. She would have almost preferred to be mistaken for Kikyou. He swayed again.
"It's…all fuzzy…." He said uncertainly. "Wait…what's my name? You're Kagome…Kagome…and I'm…Inuyasha? Yeah, that's me." He whimpered suddenly, falling to his knees, his fingers clenched in the thick dark hair near his scalp. "Ah! Get out of my head."
"Inuyasha?" Kagome said uncertainly. He looked up.
"Talk to me," he said.
"What?"
"Hurry!"
"About what?"
"I don't care! Talk! Tell me about stuff we've done, tell me about some stupid book you read, tell me how I ought to be nicer to that mangy wolf, just talk."
"O-okay." She said, giving him a hand up. He leaned on her once he was on his feet, as if uncertain whether he could keep his balance. She felt him shudder, as if repressing the urge to shake the knowledge of his identity out of his head, as they moved toward the exit.
"Talk!" he commanded hoarsely. Kagome, not sure what he expected, launched randomly into a rendition of Beauty and the Beast, following it with Peach Boy - Inuyasha found the idea of a little boy, a bird, a cat, and a dog beating an island full of demons most amusing. She followed that, presumably inspired by the Peach, to talk about their encounter with the Peach Man. She painted it in glowing terms, earning another chuckle from Inuyasha.
"Gods, Kagome, I'm not a hero," he remarked.
"If you say so," she shrugged. "I thought that whole thing was pretty heroic."
He blushed. He really wasn't himself tonight. "And then the next morning you came down, presumed me dead, and started to talk about what an idiot I was," he added, mustering a little of his normal brusqueness.
"I was mad at you for getting yourself killed," she replied. "Funny how that didn't even occur to me this time."
"He put a spell on that stupid fake head," Inuyasha explained, "To make you not wonder how I got myself killed so quick. You do know I'm not that pathetic, right?" Kagome sensed that even with him in this state giving the wrong answer could be hazardous, but she was spared bothering about that by Inuyasha himself, as he stopped, his fingers digging into her shoulder as he fought to maintain his hold on being Inuyasha. "Just until the morning," she heard him murmur. "If I can just hang on."
This was going to be a long night.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAerie looked around. She was surrounded by pieces of blasted demon, and they seemed to have stopped coming. Finally. Damn, she hated killing things, even giant bugs. Miroku was still dealing with the vines, but he was definitely gaining the upper hand. He didn't need her help. She went to Sango, checked that she'd be fine, and looked around for Shippou. He was gnawing on the vine twisted around the houshi's right hand. Determined lad. That was everyone. Okay. Now she was free to give Kagome backup. She sighed, jogging toward the door. Remember when life was normal, and I worried about normal things like doing my homework and keeping the cats from eating my clothes and the way Mom always burns the soup? She thought. It was depressing how much of a warrior sixteen months questing had made her. And now Trisak wasn't even there. There was just the tachi, missing its inu, and she had to keep secrets from them. She wanted to go home. She shook her head. In good time. She had no control over it, anyway. Whining wouldn't help anything.
Only three hours past sunset. Day was a long way away. She hated it when it was this dark. It wasn't the darkness she was afraid of; it was just being vulnerable, in the moonless night. Shut up, she told the mumbly little piece of her mind that insisted on this low-key babbling. And that dumb hanyou wasn't even there to annoy by doing it out loud. She examined the door, which either Kagome or Kirara seemed to have blown completely off its hinges. Jeez. She really hoped all this wouldn't permanently damage Kagome. She might not be the brightest, but she was so nice and she sure had guts. Who was Aerie kidding? There was no chance this wasn't going to permanently damage the girl. Shaking her head, Aerie entered the tower, only to be brought up short by the sound of a hoarse voice reciting a nursery rhyme.
"Kagome?" she said, as the other, supporting the hanyou, appeared down the winding stairs that began directly across the room. "Is that -"
"It's Inuyasha," Kagome replied, voice rasping and soft. "But I have to keep talking to him or he doesn't remember."
"I see," said Aerie regarding the hanyou through narrowed eyes, "Yes, it is him, isn't it. He's cute when he's human. Why do bad things always happen to you guys on the new moon?"
Inuyasha, who was looking ready to faint, stirred. "Will you shut up?" he said. "Who are you anyway?"
"No. Where's Kirara?" Kagome's hand - the one not wrapped around Inuyasha - flew to her mouth.
"I forgot her! She's up there somewhere. And this is Aerie, Inuyasha. You don't remember her?"
"I'm having enough trouble remembering me right now." He snarled.
"Keep your ears on," Aerie said, "You never liked me anyway. I'm not all that hurt you don't remember me. I'll go look for Kirara and whoever engineered this absurd masquerade."
"I want to come."
"You still want your revenge?"
Kagome shook her head. "He isn't dead," she replied. "But I still want to be the one to find them."
"Inuyasha needs you. I could talk myself blue in the face and I doubt it would help him one jot. Would it?"
"No." said Inuyasha.
"See? Kagome, you get dog-breath away from here. He's in no condition to deal with whoever it is when they finally decide what to do next."
"And you are?"
"You better believe it. Go on. I expect Shippou's got those vines off Miroku by now. I don't know if Sango's woken up. He may have to carry her." Her lips twitched. "Hopefully, he will be an honorable houshi." Kagome, distressed by the news of Sango's condition, left immediately, Inuyasha saying,
"Am I supposed to know those people she was talking about?" Aerie shook her head and began to take the stairs two or three at a time. Hopefully, Inuyasha's memory would improve. She reached the first door and opened it cautiously, alert for a trap. When nothing was there she frowned. This was too easy…and why were there corridors going off in every direction when she knew she was in a tower with a radius of only about sixty feet? Kirara, and the source of that wrongness, could be anywhere in this maze. No. Up, she thought. It was beating down on her head. She went to the stairs that started once again across the room. This had better not take forever. If this tower was infinitely tall, too, she was going to pull it down or something. She was not in the mood.
When she had reached the point where her calves were starting to ache, she was glowering at the steps as she climbed them. She had always hated stairs. She shifted her grip on her purloined sword and pulled up her reserves of power. She wasn't itching to use it any more, but she hadn't been stupid enough to wear herself out on the small fry. Now if that offense against nature up there would stay put long enough for her to get to it…. She wondered what sort of being it was. She opened her fifth door and looked around for the sixth set of stairs. She saw them – and someone was coming down. She took a deep breath and readied herself for battle. The person's face came into view.
"You!" They said in the same instant.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHaha! I had to leave a cliffie. It's a habit, and it's fun, and hopefully someday it will entice someone back to read the next chapter.
Aerie: I have a complaint!
Trisak: What is it, Aerie?
Aerie: Well, other than that you've been ignoring me for three years only to suddenly start speaking to me again, and that I haven't actually threatened you with a chainsaw, just a hammer, I don't whine that much!
Trisak: You haven't been whining.
Aerie: I haven't? (Looks over transcript.) Oh. Well, you're still butchering me.
Trisak: Butchering you? Kagome recently took an oath of vengeance, Inuyasha's been apologizing and being polite and doesn't remember who he is, he's been completely redesigned, and you accuse me of butchering your character? Shut up!
Aerie: He doesn't count.
Trisak: Go sulk somewhere else. I have an Author's Note to write here.
Sango: I have a complaint, too.
Trisak: I'll take you next chapter. Now go away, everybody, unless you have something useful to contribute.
Sorry about that, they really don't like me as Sakusha. You'd think I was the autocratic ruler of a pirated universe the way they carry on…. :grins evilly: I love it when people can't remember their own names!
TRISAK SMELLS FUNNY!
Be quiet, Shippou. Stay off the keyboard. Anyway, how was the chapter? Tell me, please! Specifically, tell me how the battle scene was. I tried to do it from All-Seeing Narrator Perspective, but any battle gets really boring that way, and it's hard to keep track of all the characters, so I reverted to my usual method of choosing a character-perspective and telling the battle in a context that gave it significance. REVIEW! Button's right about there!