Before you read on to my next chapter, I would just like to take a moment to thank the people who have posted their reviews to my story! I appreciate the positive feedback and hope to satisfy your curiosities with every continuing chapter that I add on! I would also like to inform you that I will commit to making a post every Friday from here on out. I have a few chapters written out a head of time, but to keep myself from releasing too much in too little time, I will only post on Fridays. Thank you for reading my first story on this site!
Naraku Attacks!
Kagome and the rest had been traveling for a few hours after spending the night in the forest and they hadn't come upon anything. No shards, no one in need of help, nothing. That is, until they came upon a village.
"Look! A village! Maybe they have a place to eat!" Kagome said happily.
"Yay! Real food!" Shippo said jumping up and down.
As they approached the village, InuYasha began to smell the odor of blood.
"I smell a strong scent of blood... I don't think there's anyone left alive in this village..." he said.
As they entered the village, there were bodies everywhere, along with pools of blood. Before they could wonder what had happened, dark clouds began to cover the sky.
"...I smell Naraku!" InuYasha said as he placed his hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.
They all put themselves on guard and before they knew it, they heard the voice of their enemy.
"What's wrong InuYasha? Aren't you happy to see me?" The man taunted as he appeared overhead of them.
InuYasha could smell the blood of all of these humans on them... As well as the blood of... of...
"...Kaede?..." InuYasha said in shock of the smell.
The group looked to him.
"Kaede? Where InuYasha?" Miroku asked.
"I smell...her blood... all over him!" InuYasha said as his anger built up.
"What's the matter InuYasha? Is there something about me in particular that bothers you? I couldn't imagine what it would be!" Naraku said in a laughing tone.
"Where is she?!" InuYasha asked as he pulled the sword from its sheath.
"Are you talking about that woman? I happened to come upon her in the forest just yesterday. She was very strong, but apparently not strong enough!" Naraku said.
And just to show how ruthless he was, one of Naraku's vine arms pulled a body out from behind him and threw it on the ground.
InuYasha stood, completely in shock, as well as the others. It was the body of the girl... It was Kaede... She was covered in her own blood. The group ran to her and checked her over.
"She's dead..." Kagome said in a sad tone. She still had no idea that the body that they were looking over was the body of her own daughter, but she was sad, nonetheless.
The girl had slashes all over her body, as well as they had noticed that someone had impaled her more than once. She was gone.
"I'll get you for this Naraku... You'll pay... WITH YOUR LIFE!" InuYasha said as he jumped up and swung his sword at his enemy.
As he did this, the group picked up the girl's body and carried her out of the way of the battle and laid her down near a small shack.
"There's nothing we can do I'm afraid... She's gone..." Miroku said as he placed his hands in a praying position.
The group didn't even watch the beginning of the battle between Naraku and InuYasha; they just stood in shock over the body of the young girl that they had just allowed to leave from them.
InuYasha swung his sword relentlessly. Even Naraku was just barely keeping up with him, but was still taunting him with every swing. InuYasha became so angry that his sword was swinging faster and faster.
"He killed her!... He killed... my daughter! He WON'T get away with this!" His mind raced with every swing of his sword.
Finally, InuYasha caught Naraku off guard, and was about to use the Wind Scar to finish him off, but Naraku quickly put up his barrier and it threw InuYasha to the ground from the drawback of his technique.
"No one's here to break my barrier for you this time, InuYasha!" Naraku said as he began to laugh again.
Naraku decided to make another vicious attack as he threw his vine arms towards the group and InuYasha watched in horror as the group just barely had time to move before he had destroyed that area. The shack exploded because of the impact and the area was completely destroyed. The only thing left was dust. But the group managed to get out of the area and was unharmed.
InuYasha felt a wave of relief go over him as he saw that Kagome and the others were okay. But then his anger rose once again. They weren't able to move Kaede's body with them and he knew that the body had been completely destroyed now...
"You vile demon! How dare you try to kill my friends!!!" InuYasha said with a low growl.
"I'll destroy you TODAY!" InuYasha said as he lunged forward once more and swung his sword.
Before the boy could land a hit on Naraku's barrier, Naraku shot out another one of his vine arms and impaled him.
"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled out to him.
Stuck in place, InuYasha's eyes widened and a blood was dripping off of his body. The shock of the hit caused InuYasha to drop the Tetsusaiga and it transformed back into its benign state as the blade struck into the ground, leaving it standing.
"He dropped the Tetsusaiga!" Shippo yelled scared.
Naraku then tossed the boy's body hard to the ground within feet in front of the others. As InuYasha landed on the ground Naraku shot rays of energy from his body and constantly hit the half-demon with the rays. Because of the rays, a cloud of dust arose which caused the group to cover their faces.
Before the cloud settled, Miroku then realized something.
"It's a barrier! A spiritual barrier around InuYasha! Look!" He yelled.
As the dust settled the others took notice that there was, in fact, a strong spiritual barrier around the boy. Not one of the rays managed to land a hit on the boy.
"It's... It's Kaede!" Sango shouted.
Kaede was kneeled down on one knee with her hands on the ground. She was knelt down in front of InuYasha and she looked back at him.
"Dad..." she thought.
She looked back at the group and said, "Take him! Take him and run!"
The group woke from their state of shock and they ran forward towards the barrier. Kaede released the barrier so that they could grab his unconscious body.
Before they left, Kagome asked, "What about you?! You're hurt too!"
Kaede looked back at her mother and said, "...I said go..."
Kagome wished that the girl could have gone with them but she nodded and they ran.
Kaede turned back towards Naraku and walked forward, picking up the Tetsusaiga.
"That can't be!" Naraku said in disbelief.
"I killed you! Why didn't you remain dead?! You would have been better off!" Naraku said in an angry and harsh tone of voice.
"You didn't believe me when I said that you wouldn't be able to kill them off... And now, your blunder will be your fate..."
After getting far enough away to safety, the group laid InuYasha's body on the ground and Shippo turned to Kaede and Naraku.
"The... The Tetsusaiga! It's transformed!!" Shippo cried out.
The others turned and saw that, indeed, Kaede was holding the newly transformed sword. It was as though InuYasha, himself, were holding it.
"ADAMENT BARRAGE!" The girl yelled as she swung the weapon at Naraku.
Naraku's eyes widened in shock and he said, "IMPOSSIBLE!"
The technique ripped through Naraku's barrier and tore his body to shreds. His vine arms fell to the ground and his body was sliced through and chopped into pieces.
"She did it! She killed Naraku!" Kagome shouted.
"No... Naraku fled... again..." Miroku pointed out.
After the dust had settled from the technique, the group saw a figure walking away from the scene holding the, still, transformed Tetsusaiga. When she reached the group she looked to them and they stared back.
"I'm sorry..." the girl said as the sword transformed back into its original state and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
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Morning had risen, and the green on the trees sparkled with the morning dew as the rays of the sun hit them. The sun's beams also hit a small village which had once been completely inhabited, but now there was only a small group of people. The group was sitting near a burnt out fire discussing something.
"So she's a dog demon as well?" Miroku asked.
"Yeah, she's not full demon either, or so she said," InuYasha said solemnly, looking back at a small shack where they had left the girl to sleep off her injuries.
"Well she must not be completely demon then, because she managed to make the Tetsusaiga transform. And according to you and Totosai, the sword will only transform for a demon who also has human elements," Miroku pointed out.
"So... I'm...I'm..." Kagome said with wide eyes.
InuYasha looked to her and laughed, "Yeah. That's her in there."
The group's mood was slightly lighter now that they had known the truth. There was no way that InuYasha could hide from them now that they had seen her use the Tetsusaiga. He knew that it may change the future, but he couldn't keep the secret anymore.
"So how much of a demon is she InuYasha?" Sango asked.
"She said that because of Kagome's strong spiritual powers, her demon side was enhanced, but not completely to full demon," InuYasha replied
"Does that mean she still has a period of weakness?" Miroku asked.
"I'm not sure. She's not a half demon, but she's not full demon either. There's no way to know for sure."
"The answer is yes, unfortunately," a girl's voice called out from the shack.
The group turned and saw her standing in the doorway, shivering because of the pain of her injuries. She slowly limped towards the group and began to fall. InuYasha jumped up, ran and caught the girl before she hit the ground.
"What are you doing?!" He asked angrily.
The girl smiled and said, "Answering your question!"
InuYasha helped the girl over to where the group was and sat her down.
"So what time of the moon cycle is your period of weakness then?" Miroku asked.
"Well actually it's not during a moon cycle at all. It's very random and it doesn't last for one night. It lasts for one full week," the girl explained.
The group was taken back by this.
"You mean you're without your demon powers for an entire week?" Kagome asked.
"Yes, and it's once a year. Once, when I was young, it happened at the end of the year, and then at the beginning of the next year, so I was without it for two weeks straight." The girl said as she tried to blow off the pain of her injuries.
The group had a good laugh and then turned their attention to the girl's pain.
"You should rest now, and let us take care of you until you're fully healed," Miroku explained to her.
The girl smiled and said, "Nah, I've got something better."
She began to stand and InuYasha and Kagome both came to her aid when she stopped because of the pain.
"The only thing better is for you to be resting," Kagome scolded.
"No, I have something that all of you should see, but I have to go get it first," she said as she turned away.
InuYasha knew that the girl would be stubborn and wouldn't allow them to keep her still so he picked her up and loaded her on his back.
"Where do you need to go?" he asked.
She was a little taken off guard by this behavior but she pointed towards a hill and said, "That way!"
InuYasha took off and the rest loaded up on Kirara and followed him. It was a short distance, but behind the shack was a hill which led down to a small meadow with a quiet stream and several large and small rocks.
"Okay, let me down, I can do this," the girl said cheerfully.
InuYasha carefully let her off of his back and the others landed nearby as well.
The girl took each step slowly and painfully, and she had InuYasha behind her with his arms out making sure that she didn't fall. But the girl managed over to a small rock cave and reached in.
"Is that?" Kagome asked.
Kaede smiled and said, "Yep! It's your old backpack! Well it's my backpack now, but... well anyway, it's what's inside the backpack that I thought would bring all of you some interest."
The girl then opened it.
"Ninja food!" Shippo shouted with glee.
Kaede laughed and handed the child some candy, "Yes Shippo, Ninja food, but here's what I really wanted you guys to see."
She pulled out a long item which was wrapped in a large cloth. Kaede unwrapped it slowly and then brought it completely out to show what it was.
"Tetsusaiga!" InuYasha exclaimed.
"Yep!"
"But I thought that you said that it had gone with me in the battle between me and Naraku the day he killed me?"
"I went back a few days after that and I searched the rubble. Really, I was hoping to find you two, but finding Tetsusaiga was all that was left. So after that I trained every day to get my revenge." Kaede said softly.
The group looked at her while she kept her eyes lowered onto the weapon in her hand.
"She was just a little girl and she had to endure such a horrible loss... We HAVE to kill Naraku now... and SOON..." Kagome thought to herself.
