Insane-san says: Well, no excuses for the late chapter... Here it is, so don't kill me!

REVIEW OR FACE THE WRATH OF SUPAH BANNANA WHO LIVES UNDERNEATH YOUR BED!

He is prepared to do my bidding. o.-

Peacock Feathers

IX

Once I was fully through the door, I heard it close loudly behind me.

The minute I heard the loud sound it made, Inuyasha went "YAAAAHH!" so I turned around really fast. He was facing the door with his claws flexing dangerously and a very paranoid look on his face. I bit my tongue to keep myself from giggling at the scene. "I-I-I beg your most gracious pardon, Sir Inuyasha. Please forgive me!" One of the old men groveled. He kept bending over and over and over at Inuyasha. It was a little sickening... I saw one of the men walk up to me. That man was followed by two more who were bowing to me as well. "Please, Chosen, please! Forgive us. We beg you not to punish us!" I snorted with loud laughter which I quickly turned into something that sounded like a choking cough.

"You are forgiven, men." I said in a noble tone. They smiled thankfully and bowed again. I was now surrounded by all six. Inuyasha was left completely forgotten and extremely annoyed-looking. A vein in his temple was twitching and a fang poked out from his upper lip.

"You are most gracious and kind, fair Chosen." "Yes, most kind!" "Goddess Chosen, thank you!" "Please come with us, holy Chosen."

Inuyasha caught the corner of my eye as I turned to folllow the men and I saw him mocking the old men in an extremely rude way.

"Inuyasha, why did you get freaked out when the door closed? I thought you were stronger than that..." I said in a fake tone of innocence.
"Keh...This place always gives me the creeps is all." He narrowed his eyes at me and turned his head away.

"Okay." I said. I looked all around me. I was surrounded by huge buildings, all of which seemed to be made of dirt and clay or something like them. Brown, white, tan, black, red buildings everywhere. There were a few grass huts here and there... I was walking on a sand path that went straight. It looked like it hadn't been used for a very long time because there was tall grass coming up out of the path. Little paths were leading away from the main one as well. I looked to my left and right and saw that no one was anywhere. What I meant to say was, there weren't any people around. Despite there being SO MANY cool buildings, no one was in them. The place was deserted. Dusty and quiet...

"Hey, Inuyasha," I said."Hm? What is it?" His tone was impatient. Meanie...
"Where did everyone go?" He let out a low laugh. "Everyone?" He asked, smirking. "Who's everyone?"
"Everyone being all the people that should be here...This city's pretty big and there's no one here." I stated the obvious.
"Keh... Figure it out yerself." He scratched his ear and shook his head around and we kept walking.

I wondered for one scary moment that there was no Chosen One. That maybe I was taken here for the sheer enjoyment of Inuyasha who was an evil demon king who brought me here 'cause for some reason, he didn't like me. And he wanted me dead. But it passed, and I smiled to myself. That would never happen...

Would it?

Suddenly I felt a familiar chill run up and down my spine and I looked behind me. I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes grew wide and fearful and my heart stopped beating for a second. There, behind me, behind the six men and Inuyasha,

were thousands of ghosts.

Following us. Dragging their feet after us in the sand. Their eyes wide and curious. Transparent white and green. Staring.

My mouth opened wide in a scream that could only be heard inside my own mind. I took in quiet gasp of air. I heard in the background people talking to me. For a second, I heard Inuyasha's voice, but it was drowned out by my screaming thoughts. So many...I had never seen so many. I was so terrified.' They might hurt me...' I took a daring step backward. Then another. And another.

I stumbled backward and then turned all the way around. I ran and ran up that path, away from those thousands of ghosts. They were haunting that place. That place that was once their home... That place that was still their home. I wondered blindly what had happened to them. Who killed those many people? How did they die? But I couldn't think anymore. I wanted to get away as quickly as I could. I didn't dare look back. I was too afraid that they would be running after me. Flying after me with revenge in their many dead faces. One or five ghosts wasn't anything, but so many was mind-numbingly frightening. Especially if they weren't nice and were angry at how they died.

It didn't really matter how they died... What really mattered was that I get out of that city as soon as possible. So I kept running and running, sand flying up behind me.

Something landed in front of me in the sand. I tripped to a stop and looked up. Inuyasha glared down at me. "What are you DOING?" He shouted angrily. I shook my head. How could he ask such a question? He was blocking my path. Maybe he WAS an evil demon king after all... But then I realized, like a blow in the face, that Inuyasha couldn't see ghosts. He wasn't afraid. Not like I was... I was weak and didn't want to be here to begin with. Defeating that Rupture wolf seemed like eating a grape compared to this...
"There's not enough time to stop. Run with me if you want to talk!" I tried to run around him but he jumped swiftly in the way of my path. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Just run of like that...What's your problem?" He crossed his arms and glared down at me through one narrow, golden eye. And I stared up at him with my frightened brown ones. "Inuyasha, there's..." My head was jerking a little as I looked over my shoulder. That icy shiver sliced my back and I gasped. They were surrounding us. From all sides. There was no way out... I jerked my head towards Inuyasha with what I remember to be a look of pleading. His lower jaw twitched and stared at me. "You sick?" He asked. Sick...SICK?

"There's no way out. We can't run anymore." I clenched my sweaty hands shut and looked around again. They were closing fast. Faces of women and children. Young men and old men. Everywhere... "What're you sayin', woman?" He sneered slightly at me, but something about that expression was hiding something. "Inuyasha, make them go away...There's too many." His mouth opened a little. "I don't know what to do--" One of them reached out and pushed a hand through my shoulder. I let out a shout and jumped away from it. Suddenly I had a flashback. At least nine years back...

"Kagome," My grandmother stroked my short black hair as I lay on her lap. "when you see a sad or angry ghost, do not turn in fear, child...Open your arms as if to embrace that spirit. Help that spirit, and it in turn shall help you. The debt of a ghost is very great. You are easily frightened from all of the things that have happened to you so early in your life, Kagome. In time, you shall suffer even more. Perhaps more than any girl ever should...But Kagome, that does not mean you need to hide." I blinked. "It doesn't, Gramma?" She laughed lightly. "No, it does not, child. It does not. Be brave and face challenges. Just because people say you are clumsy and fearful does not mean you must think yourself to be so for the rest of your life. Sometimes taking dangerous chances is a good thing. Remember this, Kagome, and you shall do well. I can see you will do well."

I swallowed and thought, 'Screw that...' They had moved through Inuyasha and were bunched tightly around me. I had barely any moving space left. 'What could so many ghosts want? I want them to go away!' Their hands grabbed at me. They clawed at me and made muffled groans. They kicked at me and some of them screamed at me. When I backed up, they were solid. I couldn't go through them anymore. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DEAD FREAKS!" I screamed. I barely heard Inuyasha over their groans and screams, but I think he said "Dead freaks?" I slapped at them but that just made them angrier. Then I thought of my gramma. She died a long time ago and some people in my family thought she was a real coocoo. Others told me she had psychic abilities and that was where I got my little 'ghost gift.' "What do you want? What's wrong?" I screamed at them. They clawed at me harder.

Inuyasha's face was shocked and ubelieving. He kept looking like he wanted to jump at me to help me, but he always remained where he was. I imagined what this looked like to him. I was being beat up by nothing at all but the air. Fighting back, but failing.

Blood dripped off my arms where their nails cut at my flesh. Several places they kicked made me think, 'Well, there's a bruise.' Blood was trickling into my right eye and making me twitch it closed with pain. I let out a scream of fury and frusteration and lunged at them as hard as I could. They had tackled me to the ground and I knew I wouldn't last much longer. The six old men were crying and staring at eachother as they watched me. It was clear that they had no idea what to do either, like me. All fear had vanished and now I was annoyed. Seemingly two thousand to one didn't seem fair at all from where I was standing. Inuyasha's face changed like he suddenly realized something. "Ghosts?" He asked quietly. But to me he merely mouthed it because I couldn't hear anything besides the dumb spirits. My vision was red with blood and tears blinded me further. My leg was shattered and a bone was poking up out of my knee, I could see it. I retched and looked away. Then my shoulder got pulled out of its socket and tears flooded down my cheeks. I screamed.

They ripped at my hair, slapped me, punched me, sliced me and screamed.

'This is so not cool...I don't wanna die.' I tried to stand but they tackled me down every time. "HELP ME YOU IDIOT!" I screamed at Inuyasha. "What do I do? I can't see anyone there!" he shouted back, but not loudly. He looked pretty scared. "Do something!" SMACK! Black eye, I knew it. "ANYTHING!" I shrieked. I forced myself not to cry in the presence of Inuyasha. But anywhere else away from him and I wouldn't stop crying for a second. I wasn't going to simply lay there waiting to be beaten to death, but what could I do? I knew Inuyasha was thinking the same thing.

I grabbed two women by their hair and cracked their heads together. My shoulder pulsed with pain and I groaned. They flew backwards with a wail, letting two fresh fighters in their place. No matter how many I took down, and I took down MANY, they were replaced almost instantly. I thrust my good leg, if you could call it that, into the air and kicked blindly at the ghosts. They were dead, they couldn't die. I was fighting a battle that was in every sense impossible to beat.

Then I stopped. I didn't fight back. I had no more strength. Inuyasha was screaming at me for directions, but I couldn't find my voice. I saw him through my blood and tears swinging his claws around stupidly. Cursing loudly into the air and screaming at me. Blood clogged my throught. I tried to swallow the metalic taste and let out a sob of defeat. It hurt beyond any pain I had been through. More than when my dad died. More than when my gramma died. More than when my brother died. More than when I thought of how I never got the chance to meet someone who could know my 'gift' and understand it and still like me. Maybe even love me. Tears mingled with blood. I spit blood in one of their faces. The ghost I spit at grabbed my hair with both freezing hands and shook my head around.

Then I screamed. I screamed a scream that made Inuyasha scream and jump backward and fall to the ground to scoot back as fast as he could. That made the old men crumple to the ground, crying loudly and screaming and pointing their arms out to me. Everything I was feeling came out in that scream and I was suddenly blind. I thought one of the ghosts had punched my eyes so much that I couldn't see anymore. But being blind was supposed to be black, and I was seeing white mingling with streaks of light blue. A blinding light. I couldn't see anything at all. It was nice. I screamed and screamed and didn't stop. Screaming felt good and I didn't want to go back to feeling the pain. I was tingling all over and then grew numb. As my scream died down, so did the light. Everything was going back to normal. My eyes were wet and my vision was blurred like my eyes were dialated.

Silence wrapped around me and I waited for something to happen. I was no longer being beaten. There was no freezing chill from the ghosts. It was only then that I saw the ghosts had left. Why? What happened? My leg wasn't throbbing with the bone that pierced through my skin in my knee and blood didn't blind me. I didn't feel any more pain. My body felt better than normal and a happy smile came to my face. Whatever happened was really...good.

Slowly, I sat up. I looked all over my body and found no signs of damage. The horrible memory still stayed, but I wasn't physically injured. It was weird... I looked up and a tall ghost stood over me. If he was alive, I would have suspected him to be the mayor of the city, or the chief or whatever. My insides froze and my mouth opened.

"You are weak to be the Divine Chosen One. Thee who must save us from our demise. Very weak... You will save no one."

I swallowed. Hard.

"You will never save our spirits unless your powers grow greater. So great, that you can easily avoid small trials such as the one you have just been through in the future."

"Save..." I found myself speaking. "Save you? Save those spirits?" My voice was rising to a shout as I found the strength to stand on my feet. "How can you think I'll save the ghosts of this city after what just happened?" I shouted. His face remained the same. "You have no right to test me. To judge me and decide I'm weak. You make me sick! How could you put someone through so much pain and suffering and still expect help? So I'm weak for blasting those ghosts to kingdom come, huh? What about that?" My arms shook and still he remained expressionless. "It is YOU who need to suffer. Not me! I'll never help you so long as I live!" To my complete surprise, he smiled. A strange wicked smile.

"We shall see." With that, he faded to nothingness.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. I smoothed my clothes and turned around to face the six men and Inuyasha. Inuyasha would be mad at me for having so much power. I almost smiled at the thought. But then I saw them sprawled out on the ground, inconscious.

"Oh my gosh, what have I done?" I whispered in shock. My fingers shook and I pressed them to my lips and stared.

I ran over to the six men and saw that they were starting to wake up. "Oh, I'm so sorry." I started. "I...I just didn't know that I..."
Seeing no wounds on them, I ran to Inuyasha. He was a good ten feet away from the old men. And about twenty from where I last saw him before the...The err... The explosion.

He was on his side under the shade of a grass hut. I skidded to a stop and knelt down beside him rather ungracefully. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Inuyasha, wake up! I didn't know that would happen... I didn't mean to make you guys faint or anything! I'm so sorry. Inuyasha!" I shook him harder and his eyelids flinched. I turned him over onto his back and made a whimpering sound. What if I hurt him somehow? It was so stupid not knowing when or how my powers would come out. I let go and watched him wake up. Slowly, his eyes opened. He blinked a few times. His ears were flopped to the side and he was just staring at the wall of the hut he was facing. His blank expression was so unlike the Inuyasha I had seen. It was peaceful like he didn't care about anything for a few moments.

Then, to my shocked horror, I saw his ears shoot straight up and his eyes snapped wide open. All the cares that he didn't have before suddenly rushed back into his face. He sat up and whipped around in my direction.

"Kagome!" He said and stared at me up and down. 'Did he just use my name?' I asked myself in surprise. He grabbed one of my arms and stared at it. "Are you okay? What the heck was happening? I didn't know what--" He dropped my arm and stared at the ground with his mouth open. Right when I was about to assure him that all was well, shock turned to anger in his face. He clenched his fangs and his eyes were burning an evil, bright golden. I finally took notice to how sharp and white those fangs were... The fur on his dog ears was no longer a smooth white, but bristling.

He gripped my shoulders and put his face close to mine. My mouth was open with fear and shock. He shook me once and yelled, "What the heck were you doing just gettin' beat up like that?" He shook me again and I snapped my mouth shut. I was too freaked out to say anything. "You're supposed to be the Chosen One, you cursed fool!" He shook me more and I gasped with fear. I suddenly thought it might be better to have another go with those ghosts then have to be this close to Inuyasha when he was so angry. "I swear," He growled. "if you do anything like that again I...I'll--" His eyes moved around like he was searching my stare. The anger started fading from his face.

Abruptly, he dropped my arms and shoved me backwards. His head was bent and his bangs were shielding his eyes. He stood up with clenched, shaking fists and turned his back on me. He began walking once more up the sandy path.

I sat there for a long time staring off in his direction. The sun shone down on his black clothes and the sand was being kicked up by his bare feet as he walked away. A drop of sweat came off from his head and I could hear him faintly muttering about God knows what...

"What the...fruit..." I heard many footsteps and then I was surrounded by the old rainbow men.

I'm a little ashamed to admit I wasn't really listening to what they were saying. I was way too busy trying to figure out what just happened.

Then they started helping me up off my knees and we all walked after Inuyasha. Keeping quite a bit of space between us, mind you.

I heard bits and pieces of what they were saying. Like, "Thought you were doomed" and "Such wonderous powers" and like "Inuyasha nearly murdered" and stuff like that.

As we walked, the scenery was changing. There weren't as many buildings, and then there weren't any at all. I glanced left and right and then back at my main target: Inuyasha. He was such a puzzle. First he tells me he'd never use my name because that would mean getting close to me and he'd "rather die than get close" or however that went... And then he doesn't care about anything I do and acts annoyed when I speak to him.. And THEN he uses my name and acts like he was scared for me.

'...Wait...'

I trotted up to Inuyasha and started walking with him. His once fairly relaxed stance immediately got tense when I stopped next to him.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha." He winced slightly. "Sorry?" He spat. "Yeah, sorry." I repeated. "I know you didn't know what to do... I'm just not that strong." He smirked at that, but it wasn't a real smirk. It was strained like it was forced out. Silence followed and we were nearing the other side of the wall. I frowned as we neared it. "I know you were scared and didn't know what to do so--"

He laughed. It was forced and strained too, come to think of it...

"Scared? KEH! I wasn't scared. You stupid kid." My mouth opened. 'How...Dare...He...?'

My face flushed a little and I put my hands in my pockets. "I'm not a kid!" I shouted suddenly. He gave a 'keh.'

Silence followed again and we were right up to the wall. Images of those ghosts beating me so harshly and my shoulder being popped out... The pain I was remembering didn't seem real. I wanted to cry about it a little but Inuyasha wasn't exactly the kind of person that would openly let you talk about something harsh like that. "Before...When you were shaking me and stuff..." I shot him a quick glance.

"Sorry for making you worry I guess..." I said quietly. There was a terrible building silence in which Inuyasha became shakier and shakier, like he was holding in something. I regretted speaking at all. I waited in that terrible silence, for Inuyasha surely would explode.

"WHATEVER!" He suddenly boomed. "I wasn't worried! Like heck I was! NO WAY!" I almost fell over at the sudden loudness.

Then anger slapped me. "You were worried! Why do you doubt it? Do you hate me that much?" I stared at him through wide, angry eyes and waited for the answer.

"OF COURSE I DO!" He screamed. My jaw set and my eyes filled with tears. He didn't even hesitate to reply...

"Well, fine! Then I hate you too!" I shouted. He whipped his head around to me. "GOOD! Haven't we been through this disgusting conversation before?" My body flinched with anger when he said 'disgusting conversation.' "I don't WANT you to like me, remember?" He snarled.

This time, I was waiting to explode. "WELL THAT'S GREAT!" I shrieked. His ears twitched from the loudness.
"'Cause I don't want YOU to like ME either! Remember that part?"

"YEAH!"

"WELL, GOOD!"

"GOOD!"

"GREAT!"

"OKAY THEN!"

We turned our backs on eachother. I crossed my arms and huffed angrily and he was growling behind me. He was saying not-nice things but I couldn't hear them very well. They sounded more like growls than words. I heard a loud banging noise like a stick hitting a hollow rock only louder. I turned around. He had kicked part of the wall and a door opened. He let out a snarl about someone being a 'frusterating little blank blank kid' and walked through the doorway.

I just remembered the old men were there because they were leading me suddenly through the doorway after...HIM.

No matter what he said, I was still convinced he didn't hate me completely. Or maybe it was just because he needed me to be alive and unharmed because I was the CHOSEN ONE.

"My life is stupid." I hissed.
"Just figered that out, didja?" I heard him growl under his breath. Heat rose to my ears. Unable to think of anything really good to say, I said, "That's FIGURE, stupid! Not 'FIGER." I shouted. "Maybe to you." He snapped over his shoulder. "To the English DICTIONARY, idiot!" I said with a disbelieving smile.
"YOU'RE THE IDIOT!" He roared. I flinched. "So quite callin' me stupid an' stuff!" I narrowed my eyes dangerously at him. "Maybe I wouldn't call you stupid if you weren't But the trouble is, you are. So it's not like I'm lying." I grinned rather...meanly, I guess.

He cursed loudly. Well, I think it was a curse. It wasn't exactly any word I'd ever heard before, but judging by his tone and by the way the six men winced hugely, I could guess...

Ahead of us was some huge castle formation...thing. Smoke came billowing up from the other side of the outer-wall. That looked like where we were going. I thought about how there was probably a king and a queen. I imagined them offering their thrones to me. But then there was always the people... The people would scare me, I was sure. They'd group around me and want autographs or something. What if I was gonna be sacrificed? I twitched my eyelid.

"Hey, Inuyasha..."

"How come you always gotta drawl it out like that? Why the HECK can't you just start talking about what you wanna talk about?" He snapped so suddenly at me, I jumped. "Because I'd like to know that you were listening and aware that I'm speaking. That's all..."

He snickered darkly. "Oh, I'm always aware of when you're speaking. So aware, that I wish I were deaf." He turned away once again.

"You shouldn't wish something horrible on yourself when you're just joking around."

"I wasn't joking."

"...Even so...You might regret wishing for it if you really get your wish." I said in a harsh whisper. "Haven't you ever heard anyone say 'be careful what you wish for?'" I asked. "What a stupid thing to say." He said through a grin.

My eyes burned with angry flames and my jaw clenched and my fists shook. His expression faltered as he stared at me.

"My grandmother told me that a long time ago." I said firmly. After walking while still looking at me he finally said, "Well, then the 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree' I guess." He flashed his fangs at me in an arrogant grin. My mouth opened. "AND WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" I shouted. "Oh, I think you know what it means..."

"...Did you just call me AND my grandmother stupid?" I snapped angrily. "Maybe you're just too stupid to figure out if that's true or not..." He replied with an air of sadness in his voice. I began contemplating murder...

"INUYASHA! YOU ARE THE MEANEST, STUPIDEST, BIGGEST JERK OF--"

"LORD INUYASHA!" A man's voice screamed in the distance. Inuyasha's ears bounced slightly and he dropped his arms from behind his head. Again, we heard the voice call out. I remember thinking, 'What sort of ignorant person could ever put 'lord' in front of Inuyasha's name?' Something loud was getting closer every step we took. The closer we got to getting to that castle place, the louder the noise was. Suddenly it wasn't just a noise anymore...It was...

'Cheering?' I clasped my hands together and frowned slightly in nervous worry. Inuyasha however, was smirking. His eyes flashing.

"LORD INUYASHA HAS RETURENED!" The man screamed again. It was louder than ever as we grew closer. Just down the hill we were walking upon was the rest of the path that let to a draw bridge. It couldn't be more than fifty feet ahead now...

Then the man who was yelling about Inuysha suddenly went balistic and started screaming really loudly. I heard him try to speak several times. And then he screeched, "THE CHOSEN IS WITH HIM!" Like, really, really loud. Screams from ahead made my hands move to shield my ears. Butterflies were romping around in my stomach.

Then there were trumpets blaring.

Absentmindedly, I ran to Inuyasha. I got right behind him and sort of hid there, peeking out behind his arm every now and then. It was really weird how one second I totally hated his guts and wanted to be as far away from him as possible, and then the other second I go to him for protection. That started happening a little too often. But then again, if he was a jerk, I didn't have to be.

The wood creaked beneath our feet as we walked along the deep brown wood of the draw bridge.

"Relax." I jumped at the voice that was so close to me. I looked up. Inuyasha was looking down at me over his shoulder. I smiled faintly and nodded. He nodded too and looked ahead. 'What was up with that?' I wondered. 'He almost sounded...Nice?'

My shoe hit stone and we were off the drawbridge. My fingers gripped lightly on the back of his black shirt and I tried to swallow the growing lump in my neck.

On all sides were hundreds upon hundreds of people. What looked like guards were pushing the people away to leave us a path. Some room to actually walk in all that mass of people... Then my nose was running and I sniffed. They...The people...

They weren't human.

People with scales, people with feathered wings and dragon-like wings... Long claws, short claws, no claws. Long pointed ears and short pointed ears. No one in the crowd that I had glanced upon had dog ears like Inuyasha.

People were screaming like crazy. It was worse than an Ayumi concert. Much worse. A million times louder.

"Hey, hey," I heard Inuyasha shout slightly at me. I looked up at him. His devilish grin made me recoil slightly. "Want me to throw you in the crowd, Kagome?" He asked, grinning. My face paled. He...He really would do it.

"No." I whimpered. He chuckled and narrowed his eyes, holding that grin. "Not so loud now, are you? Not so quick to get angry?" He asked casually. I frowned and tightened my grip on his shirt. His eyes widened slightly and he blinked.

"I'll.." I looked around at the many, many screaming, lunging people. "I'll yell at you as soon as we can get some quiet."

He smirked. "Keh, I thought somethin' like that..."

We walked further into the crowd.

Insane-san says: Well, I think I made up for my absence. Long chapter? I think it's long. Could be longer, but I didn't want it to be. REVIEW OR NO NEXT CHAPTER!

DUN DUN DUN!

Guess what? I'm gonna put Hojo in the next chapter. Interesting...Huh? -evil smirk-