Title: Loose Ends
E-mail: Omnipotentevil5011yahoo.com
By: EVL5011
Chapter 5: Into the unknown
InuYasha and the gang entered inside the long winding tunnels within the cave. Luckily, they found four flashlights, they felt uneasy venturing inside the bowels of the mountain. InuYasha and Kagome hadn't been inside in weeks, and they had the feeling that someone was following them. Sango and Miroku were both new to the interior of the mountain and were quite surprised when they came upon the skeletal remains of demons.
"I don't mean to ask this, but who killed these demons?" asked Miroku.
Kagome slowed down and let Miroku walk up beside her, "Those demons were the guardians of the large gateway, the soldiers that we once fought killed them."
"How did normal men kill these demons?" Miroku looked at Kagome, he was having a hard time accepting the fact that men killed a large demon clan.
"They had powerful weapons and one of their leaders was wielding the Mumei sword, which cut through them easily." Kagome felt lightheaded suddenly and she leaned up against the cave wall. InuYasha stopped and ran over to her.
"What's wrong Kagome?" InuYasha asked with great concern.
She looked him in the eyes and felt her stomach twisting in knots, "I-I'm not sure." She replied. Suddenly, Miroku and Sango began feeling the same.
InuYasha sniffed the air and followed a peculiar scent in the air, "You guys wait right here, something's not right." He continued walking the long narrowing passages and found a few metal cans on the ground. "What have we here?" he thought. InuYasha looked around and bent down to pick up one of the metal cans. He examined the writing on the can and he couldn't make sense of what used to be inside of it. InuYasha returned to the others and showed Kagome the small metal can, but didn't let her touch it in fear that whatever was making them sick wasn't in the can.
Kagome read the bold letters on the can to everyone, "Bacterial Toxin…Botulinum?" Kagome then found a smaller group of words, " Clostridium botulinum"
"What the hell is clos.. clostidium botulinem…" InuYasha tried his best to pronounce the long word, but Kagome knew what he meant.
She felt a strong cramp in her stomach and her vision became blurred, "I don't know, but whatever it is, it's making us sick." Kagome placed her hand on her stomach and pressed down, hoping to relieve the pain.
Kagome and the others felt the sharp pains increasing in their stomachs, their vision became more blurred and obscured. Miroku, Sango and Kagome had decided that it'd be better that they stay behind and let InuYasha journey alone, since they were in no condition to continue.
"I don't think that it's such a good idea to leave you three behind, but it's better than having you get in the way." InuYasha began to walk away and stopped he turned around and asked, "Are you sure that you three are going to be okay by yourselves?"
All three of them nodded, but before InuYasha left Kagome gave him the synthetic Shikkon jewel shards, he might need them. InuYasha then continued his excursion down the long passages and stumbled upon three large metal brief cases, he knelt down and opened two them. Inside one was a large assortment of glass cylinders filled with strange liquids. The other brief case was completely empty. InuYasha became curious and picked up the third case, but to his surprise he couldn't open it, he used his demon strength to break it open, but found that it was a strong metal. He set the case down and continued on his way, InuYasha walked for minutes, constantly looking over his shoulder, and the wind howled as it passed through the narrow paths inside the cave.
Four minutes later, InuYasha arrived at the large stone gateway and caught the scent of someone familiar in the air. He carefully walked around the large chamber and caught something running past his side.
"Who's there?" he asked. InuYasha reached for tetsusaiga, but stopped unexpectedly as he was cut by something extremely sharp on the back. He quickly turned around and stood face to face with the assassin in black.
"Alright, cut the bullshit, take the mask off. I want to know who I'm about to kill!" InuYasha cringed a little, he touched his back with his hand and felt the large wound inflicted by his opponent. The assassin mocked InuYasha by purposely showing him the blood-ridden sword.
The masked assassin sheathed his titanium sword and reached for the bottom of his mask. The assassin leisurely lifted the mask partially over, revealing his grin. He smiled and exposed his teeth, and to InuYasha's surprise the assassin had two large fangs. Could it be another altered soldier, he thought to himself. Before InuYasha could even lunge at the assassin, the masked man pulled out a small synthetic Shikkon jewel shard and the large gateway lit up. In one quick hand gesture the assassin pointed towards the gateway, he was challenging the hanyou to follow him. The assassin jumped into the bright light and was gone in a matter of seconds.
"Shit, this has got to be some kind of trap. I guess I have no choice but to follow him" InuYasha held the synthetic jewel shards tightly in his hand, "I suppose I'm just going to have to venture into the unknown" and ran into the light, disappearing.
Meanwhile, at that very moment…Kagome, Sango and Miroku were both lying on the hard ground, when a dark figure stopped next to them, it was Agent Orange. Kagome and the others were helpless as he examined them, his deep breathing was unmistakable. He was holding a rather large metal brief case in one hand, when he dropped down on one knee and opened it. Kagome and the others began to tremble as he searched through the mysterious items, they felt vulnerable not being able to see clearly.
"What's he going to do to us?" Kagome silently thought to herself. Agent Orange held in one of his hands a small vial with a clear liquid, and in the other a syringe. He pushed the needle into the vial and drew out some of the liquid, and carefully pushed out the air inside.
He first approached Kagome and pushed the needle into her arm, "s-stop…" Kagome could barely speak as he injected her with the clear liquid.
Agent Orange stood up and did the same to Sango, "Stay a-away from h-her.." Miroku attempted to stand up, but immediately collapsed back onto the ground.
Finally, Agent Orange walked beside Miroku and injected him with the remaining liquid, "What are you doing to u…" The young monk fell silent and closed his eyes. Agent Orange put away his supplies and continued walking, it appeared that he was returning to the gateway, whence he came. Agent Orange found his other three cases on the ground and opened the one that InuYasha couldn't with a special infrared device. The locking mechanism opened and revealed what was inside the reinforced case. It was a smaller, but more powerful flame-thrower, since InuYasha rendered his first one useless. Agent Orange arrived at the ancient gateway and walked closer to it, it lit up and he entered it without giving it a second thought.
A few minutes later…Kagome opened her eyes and felt the violent pains had ceased, she stood up and woke Sango and Miroku. The three of them were completely confused by what had just happened, did Agent Orange just save their lives? They decided it best not to wonder the assassins' intentions and use an actual Shikkon jewel shard and follow InuYasha. They had the feeling that he was going to need all the help he could get, especially if he traveled back to the present.
"Kagome, do you think that he's in any danger?" asked Sango.
"Yeah, I do, if he travels back to my time. Who knows how many soldiers they have waiting for him." Replied Kagome with a grave look on her face.
"Lets not waste any more time then." Added Miroku. The three of them made their way towards the large gateway and arrived at it a few minutes after Agent Orange had entered it.
"Wow, is that the other portal into your time?" asked Miroku, who was surprised by the size of the gate.
"Yes." Kagome replied.
"Do you happen to know where it leads?" asked Sango.
"Not anymore, when we first encountered them it was here. But, I remember my brother saying that they moved something rather large from the mountain. My guess was that they unearthed the gate and took it somewhere else. So now I have no clue where it could lead." Kagome approached the gate with her Shikkon jewel shards in hand and watched as the gate began to glow. The three of them entered the gate and disappeared.
