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Disclaimer: -busy putting an anti-lawyer barrier around her room- HA! No one can sue me now! -maniacal laughter with thunder and lightening-
The Feudal Era Across the Street
Chapter 20: When Hiei Took a Nap
Kurama and Shippo found the lake rather quickly. It was just a little farther from the temple filled with children. The laughter and shouts of the children were drowned out the more trees came into focus. At last, the lake! It was plain. There were not much flowers, but there were a lot of trees.
"Alright, Shippo, let's review
from last time," Kurama said.
"Okay, what should I
transform into?"
"First, transform into Inuyasha." Shippo obeyed. After the cloud of smoke disappeared, the Inuyasha look-like stood there. It was a perfect transformation. Next, Shippo transformed into Kagome, Miroku, Kuwabara, Yusuke, Sango, Hiei, and Kurama's demon form. Each one was perfect except for Kurama's demon form. Apparently, Shippo has some trouble with tails. Instead of a long, silver tail, it was his own tail. At that sight, Kurama sweat dropped.
Kurama was about to instruct Shippo on what to do next, until he saw a flash of red in the trees. It was Inuyasha, but where was he going? Was he going to that Kikyo woman?
"Shippo, what can you tell me about Kikyo?"
"Why?"
"I have a feeling that Kikyo is in this village and I want to know if it is the same Kikyo that died fifty years ago," stated Kurama.
"Well, okay. Basically Kikyo did die fifty years ago, but the person that killed her was Naraku. He transformed into Inuyasha and made Kikyo think that he betrayed her. So, she used the last of her strength to seal Inuaysha to a tree and fifty years later Kagome came and freed him. A little while later, some witch kidnapped Kagome and stole Kikyo's ashes. The witch took part of Kagome's soul away and put in a clay body that looks identical to Kikyo. Now, Kikyo is alive with a clay body and uses souls to stay alive."
I bet Koenma had a field day with this one, Kurama thought and chuckled at the sight of Koenma finding out about this. I wonder if he does know?
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, but that does explain those," Kurama said and pointed to the soul collector weaving in and out of the trees. It was carrying a soul. Shippo looked at it.
"So Kikyo is here," Shippo said, "I have to see this." The young kit ran off, following the soul collector. Kurama followed as well. After all, it won't be very responsible of him to let a young child run into a forest with out the proper training to defend against enemy attacks.
They followed the soul collector into a small clearing, but hid behind the trees and bushes. There was a woman wearing the regular priestess clothing. It was red and white. She was holding a basket, picking herbs. Inuyasha was also there. He had called her name earlier and she had not acknowledged him. He called her name again and finally she turned around and faced him.
The two foxes were hiding and Kurama was masking their scent and energy with a trick he learned as a thief. This way, they would not be found out. They watched silently as Kikyo looked at Inuyasha. Neither of them had said anything after the half demon got her attention.
Kikyo placed her basket onto the ground. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" she said in her cold, emotionless voice.
"I came to see you."
"You do realize I don't love you anymore." She stared at him with her emotionless eyes.
"I think you do," Inuyasha
said and began walking towards her.
"Stop," Kikyo said,
"Don't come any closer. We have nothing to discuss."
"That
may be true, but I still care about you. I would never do anything to
harm you," Inuyasha said. She said nothing, but she did seem
weak.
Kurama and Shippo were watching with great interest. Although, Kurama thought it was a little wrong to spy on their conversation, he was greatly intrigued. It was not every day that a person sees another person with a clay body. He looked up and saw another soul collector. It was also carrying a soul. It flew towards the dead priestess and the soul was sucked into her body. Many more soul collectors came. With each soul, Kikyo regained her strength. Without her entire soul back, she would probably still need to collect souls for a long time. It's amazing how she uses a soul to stay alive. I've only seen instances of demons eating souls, Kurama thought. Kikyo and Inuyasha continued their discussion.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Botan sighed and sunk lower into the hot, steamy water at the hot spring behind the hotel. Sango and Kagome were letting the soothing, hot water relax their aching bones. Miki's father was standing guard at the only entrance and now they did not have to worry about Miroku spying on them. Miki's father seemed like a trustworthy man, so there was no concern from Botan or Kagome, but Sango was still a bit suspicious.
Botan opened her eyes. The water was so relaxing. She looked up into the sky. It was interesting the way the hot spring was located. A very tall, circular wall surrounded them and they were able to look up into the sky. Also, there was no way Miroku could climb the walls. It was smooth and there was no way to get any footing. It seemed like the perfect hot spring.
Botan kept staring into the sky and saw something odd. It was long and slender. It was also carrying a soul.
"Why is there a soul collector?"
she asked. Kagome and Sango looked up.
"Kikyo," said
Kagome sadly.
"Kikyo? That woman caused us so much work back in Spirit World!" Botan stated and stood up quickly to get dressed to find 'that' woman. But before she wrapped the towel around her, she spotted a certain monk spying on them. Somehow, he was able to climb the wall. Botan screamed. From the sudden surprise scream, Miroku was taken back and lost his balance and fell backwards behind the wall. All three girls quickly got dressed. Botan took off on her oar and floated above the wall. There were barrels everywhere. Many of them had broken apart from the fall. Miroku was in the middle of the mess with a dazed look on his face.
"Hmph, that pervert made a tower of barrels," Botan muttered angrily, "Sango was right when she said it was impossible to stop him."
Kagome, Sango, and Botan stormed out, causing Miki's father to jump from the surprise.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"We're going to give a certain
monk a piece of our minds," Sango said calmly, clenching her
fist. They quickly found Miroku in an alleyway, still dazed. He
quickly recovered and stood up. He waved his hands in front of him
and tried to explain.
"Ladies, ladies, ladies. I meant no
harm, it's just that I saw an intruder enter."
"Yeah, right," Sango said and cracked her knuckles. Kagome was getting ready to slap him and Botan was menacingly hitting her oar onto her palm. Miroku was definitely going to get it now.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Meanwhile, Yusuke and Kuwabara were having an eating contest. There was a mountain of empty bowls behind them. Every time they finished one, they threw it behind them, and asked for more. The cooks were not only getting tired, but also running out of ingredients. The other workers kept taking bowls to wash them and coming back to see what ever was taken was replaced again.
After Kuwabara ate the last bit of food in the bowl in his hand, he burped loudly.
"Excuse me," he said.
"Hahaha, that was a good one, bet I can do louder," Yusuke said and burped. It was just as loud as Kuwabara's.
"Ha, mine was better and I ate more than you did."
"No way, that was me," Yusuke said.
"You wish, Urameshi."
"Oh,
you wanna start something?"
"Yeah, maybe I do."
"Well,
then let's go outside and settle this thing like men," Yusuke
said.
"Please, you're not even a man," Kuwabara retorted.
"Neither are you."
"Well,
let's settle this like we did at home."
"You're on,
ugly," Yusuke said.
"I'm gonna win this time."
"You
mean you're gonna win the record for the most losses against me?"
said Yusuke smugly.
"Outside," they said in unison and exited.
The workers sighed and began picking up the empty bowls.
"At least they're not eating anymore," one of them said.
"Oh, be quiet," another said.
While the workers were cleaning the mess that Yusuke and Kuwabara left, the two teenagers were outside and ready to beat each other into a pulp. They gave each their pre-fight grin. Kuwabara sensed something and looked up.
"Uh, Urameshi, you might wanna look at that," he said and pointed upward.
"If you're trying to hit me while I'm not looking, then you're dead."
"Relax, it's against my honor code, remember?"
"Right," Yusuke said and looked up. There was a strange snake like creature flying through the air. It was carrying a strange glowing orb. It was a soul. "That thing has a soul."
"You wanna follow it?" asked
Kuwabara.
"Yeah."
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
After, the three girls hit Miroku, (he was black and blue all over), Kagome remembered about Kikyo being at the village somewhere.
"Um, Botan, can I ask you something?" asked Kagome quietly.
"Yes, of course."
"It's
about Kikyo, well, um, can you take me with you to see her?" she
asked and quickly added, "I just want to know if Inuyasha is
with her."
"Alright," the grim reaper replied. She floated on her oar and motioned to Kagome to sit down next to her.
"I'm going to stay back. You go on ahead," said Sango. She waved good bye as they ascended into the sky and zoomed off. She looked down and saw Miroku was missing. She whipped her head around and saw him crawling away. "Oh, no you don't!"
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
While this was happening, Hiei was still sleeping. A fly was buzzing around his head. His nose twitched. The buzzing was getting louder and faster. It was flying closer to his ear. He shook his head slightly, but the fly refused to go away. Finally, it landed on his nose. He wiggled his nose. It flew off for a couple seconds and landed back on his nose. At this point, he opened his eyes and looked at the fly on his nose. He was glaring, cross eyed, at the fly. He slowly brought his hand up to face length to hit the fly. His hand made contact with his nose very hard. He looked at his hand and saw no fly. His eyes darted around the room, looking for the annoying insect. It was still alive and buzzing around his head. That was one lucky bug. It was able to live just a little longer due to the fact he was sleepy. Anyway, Hiei reached his boiling point.
"You made me mad and now, you are going to pay," he said to the fly. Once it flew in front of him, it burst into flames and its ashes drifted towards the ground. Hiei chuckled. The fly did not stand a chance against the mighty fire demon. He leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes, and drifted back into slumber with a twisted smile on his face.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Botan and Kagome were flying through the skies and they were over the forest. Botan peered down and saw two people running in the same direction they were flying to. She dived down with Kagome hanging on for dear life. She was not used to the reckless flying Botan did.
"Hang on, just a little longer, Kagome," Botan said to the screaming girl. Eventually, she leveled the oar at shoulder length to Kuwabara and Yusuke.
"Hey, Botan, Kagome," the two boys said in unison.
"Where are you two running to?" Kagome asked, after she got back on the oar.
"We're following that snake thingie with a soul," replied Kuwabara.
"So are we," Botan said, "But, you should stop."
"Why?" asked Yusuke. Suddenly, both he and Kuwabara ran straight into an invisible wall. They backed away for a second and rubbed their foreheads.
"You just ran straight into a barrier," Botan said.
"Yeah, we know," Yusuke said.
Kagome jumped off the oar and walked
towards the barrier. She put her hand to it and her face saddened.
"Kikyo is there. I know it," Kagome said and turned around
with her head down, "Inuyasha is probably there too."
"Kikyo.
You mentioned her when we first met, right?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yeah."
"But you said
she died," added Yusuke.
"She was brought back to life
by a witch. She has a clay body and uses souls to stay with the
living," Kagome explained, never taking her eyes off the ground.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
"Kikyo, I promised I would protect you no matter what and I intend to keep that promise," Inuyasha said.
"Forget it, Inuyasha. As long as Naraku has the heart of Onigumo, he can't hurt me."
"But-"
"But nothing,
there is nothing left to discuss. I'm leaving," the dead
priestess said and turned around. She walked away, leaving Inuyasha
to stay there, watching her leave.
Shippo and Kurama were still watching and other than them talking, nothing interesting happened. "Man, they only talked," Shippo complained. Inuyasha's ear twitched and he began looking around. Kurama's eyes widened. Inuyasha had heard them. He grabbed Shippo and was ready to run if necessary. Inuyasha sniffed the air and smelled nothing out of the ordinary. A small sigh escaped Kurama's mouth. His little trick worked. He looked up suddenly and saw Inuyasha did not notice his sigh. The dog demon sprinted off in the opposite direction of where Kikyo left.
"Shippo, I think we should go back
to the lake and pretend nothing happened," Kurama said.
"Good
idea," the small kit said, "Let's especially not tell
Kagome." Kurama nodded. They began sprinting back to the lake.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Kagome, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan were waiting patiently behind the barrier. Botan was flying around on her oar, looking around. She suddenly spotted Kikyo exit the opposite side of the barrier. The barrier evaporated after she left. Should I? No, I'll leaver her alone, Botan thought, debating whether or not to talk to Kikyo.
She flew back down and told Kagome and others what she saw.
"Did you see Inuyasha?" asked Kagome.
"No."
"I see."
"Cheer up, Kagome," Kuwabara said.
"Yeah, don't bother yourself over something like that," Yusuke added. Kagome gave them a slight smile.
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Kurama and Shippo were trying to go back to the lake without being seen. They hid behind a tree and Kurama turned his head to get a peek of any obstacles standing in their way. He saw something with blue hair land on the gound. Botan is here. Curse my luck, Kurama thought. He heard other voices. Kagome, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were also there. I know!Kurama picked up Shippo. He sprinted off away from them. Then ran to his left. He ran again to the left.
"What's going on? I saw something with a soul," Kurama asked. He was behind the group.
Oh, I get his plan. He made it look like he was running towards here. He sure is sneaky, Shippo thought.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Just a false alarm," Botan lied, "That's just the way Spirit World escorted souls to the afterlife." She saw how much it pained Kagome to talk about Kikyo. It was best that no one else knew.
Botan is a horrible liar, but at least my plan worked, Kurama thought. "Of course. Whatever you say."
- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -
Kagome, Botan, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Shippo walked silently back to the village. They saw Miroku and Sango. He was being dragged away from a group of girls by his ear. They also joined the rest to go back to the inn.
Once inside, Inuyasha came in behind
them. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Kagome said,
trying to sound like nothing was wrong. Inuyasha sensed something was
wrong, but he said nothing. They entered their room and saw Hiei was
awake. He saw how gloomy and physically hurt in Miroku's case, they
were.
"What's wrong with all of you?" the fire demon asked. There was a murmured answer from them all that sounded a lot like "nothing." Hiei left it at that, but he could not stop the feeling that he missed something important while taking his nap. I'll ask the fox later, he thought and shrugged the feeling off.
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CrazyDreamerGirl: Sorry it took so long to update. And I know, this chapter was probably not very interesting, but I have officially hit the worst case of writer's block ever! I have no idea when I'm going to update next, but I am planning on them meeting Sesshomaru soon. So if you an idea, feel free to tell me.
Oh, yeah, I can't believe Naraku killed Kikyo! I always thought that Kikyo would go away on her own, but Naraku killed her. A lot of you are going to kill me for saying this, but I never really hated Kikyo. She wasn't my favorite character either, but still. Anyway, please review and no flames please!
