Chapter 40: The 5 Jewels Revealed
Everyone was walking down a dirt road laughing with the sun high in the bright sky. Kagome was walking beside Inuyasha laughing quietly to herself as she watched all the children before her rough house.
The sky suddenly became a dark reddish purple with black clouds. Five of the kids started to float off the ground and glow in different colors. The Shikon jewel hovers above them. Kagome looks on in horror at the various colors and the scared and frozen expressions on the children. An evil and maniacal laughter started to echo over the trees and hills, scattering wildlife.
Kagome sat up in a cold sweat with a terrified look on her wide golden eyes.
"Mom…did you…just have a bad vision?" questioned an equally petrified Chiisai. She crawled from her bedroll over to her mother and laid her head down on her lap. "So did I. Who was that laughing?"
"I'm not sure Chii but I have an idea…and it's bad." Whimpered Kagome and she hugged Chiisai closer to her.
The growing group of friends was getting loud with chatting and laughter. Birds would fly out of the trees at a sudden burst of laughter. The boys walked ahead of everyone talking while the adults discussed things behind them and the girls whispered far behind the others.
Kagome would glance to the secretive girls occasionally, wondering what they were talking about. They would whisper in each others ears, laugh then nod their heads. 'I wonder what they're plotting now.'
Both girls let out a loud laugh before Mizuki charged at Kenji and Chiisai ran towards Yuu. They leapt onto the surprised boy's back and wrapped they're arms around their neck. Everyone started laughing as Yuu and Kenji took a tight hold of the girls and started to race one another down the dirt road.
Everyone fell silent and stood still staring around at the others as the ground started to shake. Squirrels and birds fled as the earth shook violently. Kenji and Yuu placed the girls on the ground and held them tightly. Inuyasha grabbed Kagome, Miroku seized Sango and Akira and Shippo covered Nekome and Makoto.
The sky became a dark reddish purple and Kagome panicked at its color and swore she would faint from the fright. The hold she had on Inuyasha's fire-rat robe tightened, causing her knuckles to become white.
The earthquake ceased but the sky only grew darker. The clouds became black and swirled overhead. Chiisai held on to Yuu tightly as see watched the vortex of blackened clouds. 'It's just like my dream…' She became extremely frightened and hid her face in Yuu's shirt.
The road ahead of them exploded, sending rock and dirt airborne in all directions. Three people walked out of the dust, followed by a giant spider like centaur.
"Naraku…" growled everyone and readied their weapons.
Sango looks over the people and sees a tall man dressed in dark purple. His face, his hair, his weapon. "Kohaku?" her voice came out as a tiny whisper.
Naraku started to laugh evilly then raised his left hand. "I need the other jewels…Citrine…" Akira started to glow yellow and rose up off the ground. "Lapis lazuli…" Kenji illuminated blue and hovered from the earth. "Star Sapphire…" Chii light up greenish purple and drifted up from the land. "Amber…" Mizuki glowed orange and floated from the soil. "Opal…" Kori shined white and floated from the ground.
With his right hand, Naraku holds it out and slowly opens his fist. A pink jewel with a sliver missing glowed and floated to hover in the center of the five glowing children. "I have all the shards and these 5 will make me even more powerful." He laughed manically again as a jewel materialized threw each child and hovered over to the Shikon jewel.
Kagome stared up at the jewel with wide honey hued eyes. She turned slightly from Inuyasha's protective grasp and whispered. "The Shikon jewel…It's almost complete…"
Laughter ensued following Kagome's whispered statement. "It was very easy to take the shards from that wolf prince once I threatened his woman…"
Naraku held up his free hand and faced its palm toward the tall boy that led them out the hole. "Now…Its your turn Kohaku!" he closed his hand into a fist and the shard in Kohaku's back left him and floated over to fuse with the jewel again. Kohaku fell to the ground lifeless.
Sango stared on in horror as her little brother's body landed in the dirt. She ran to Kohaku's dead body. "KOHAKU…WAKE UP…KOHAKU….Please Kohaku, wake up." A river was starting to form around Sango from her tears. She rolled him onto his back and pounded on his chest repeatedly. "Please Kohaku, don't die…I can't lose you again…"
The Shikon jewel fuses together and starts to shine brighter. The five glowing children hover to almost three feet off the ground and their shimmering aura intensifies. While floating, the kids start to involuntarily circle around the center jewel, their respected jewels circling the Shikon.
While the children were stunned and frightened, Chiisai managed to close her eyes and started to whisper. The radiance coming from the five kids grew as Naraku started laughing wickedly. Kagome screams out to the kids and lunges toward them. Inuyasha restrained her back tightly and together with Yuu both start growling viciously. Kagome fought as hard as she could to be free from her mate, but she stopped suddenly and looked at the kids dumbfounded.
The light being emitted by the kids became blinding. It surrounded all five children, the lifeless Kohaku, and the evil spidery Naraku. Kagome had to hide her face in Inuyasha's robes and everyone else had to divert their eyes as the light gradually intensified.
Kagome stiffened and dug her fingers into Inuyasha's robes when an ear bleeding scream come from the center of the brightness. A familiar shattering sound followed the scream and Kagome tried to look over and investigate. It was useless.
Five loud THUDS and five small CHINKS echoed over the scene as the blinding light slowly faded. There were five lumps on the ground in a circle, one lump with a girl crying over it and several sparkling objects scattered on the ground.
Seeing the children's lifeless in the dirt caused Kagome to panic. She ran over and tried to check all five kids at one time. She sighed with relief at finally being able to place five heartbeats. Kagome then looked over to the weeping Sango.
Sango was crying full out on her brother's chest. No amount of consoling would help her. Her sobs all of a sudden ended as she leaned up and looked down at her motionless brother. She stared down at him in shock, "he's…breathing!"
"Mother…" Shippo whispered as he approached Kagome who was watching Sango. "Mother, we have a problem…"
Kagome was smiling happily and looked over at Shippo's forlorn expression and became cheerless. She watched as Shippo walked up to her with a closed fist and stopped to stare down at her. "Mother…the jewel…it's…" he opened his hand in front of her. Several pink slivers glistened at her.
"Again? The jewel shattered again…" Kagome stared at the Shikon remains then looked up at a distressed Inuyasha who was looking through the few remains of limbs.
Inuyasha stood back up still holding a scrap of cloth covered in green blood. He looked at Kagome and Shippo then up to the sky that was returning to its original blue. "Naraku is finally gone…yet we still have to look for the Shikon shards…again." Still holding the blooded cloth, he walked over and stared down at Chiisai then back over to Kagome. "Daughter like mother…right?"
"Oh funny…you jerk…" Kagome folded her arms across her chest and glared at her husband.
"I'm afraid to look…"
The sudden statement gained everyone's attention. All eyes were now on Miroku. He stood staring at his covered and beaded palm. "What if…what if the void is still…there?"
"Oh father…" there was a loud and heavy sigh. "You'll never know just staring and not doing anything." Makoto marched over to his father and pulled back the cloth covering his palm. Makoto stood firm as everyone else winced.
When nothing happened, Miroku finally looked down at his once holey hand. He stared down in awe, "it's gone…Naraku is really dead!" Miroku was still dazed when Sango and Makoto hugged him around the waist.
"Umm…sorry to break the tender moment but we have six people to get home…" announced Kagome as she walked over to pick up the five new jewels.
Miroku and Sango nodded and went to help. Miroku went and retrieved Kohaku. Inuyasha picked up Akira. Yuu carried Chiisai on his back. Sango grabbed Kori and Shippo floated Kenji on his fake horse.
Kagome walked along next to Inuyasha and Akira. She stared down at the five different, shiny jewels in her hands. "So…each dog demon had a extraordinary jewel locked inside…just like I had long ago."
Inuyasha watched Kagome as she looked over the jewels and thought. "So what are we going to do know that the jewel is shattered again?"
"All we can really do is continue to look." Stated Kagome still in a half daze.
"Ya…I guess your right." Inuyasha walked, looking straight in front of him. Akira was still asleep on his back. "That's the only the only thing left to day…"
