Disclaimer: This is a fan fiction-by definition I don't own Inuyasha.
Reflections on the Inside
Chapter Two: Other worlds and Other Times…and Idiots with No Sense of Decorum.
Song for this chapter: Fields of Innocence-Evanescence (I know this is quite inappropriate but I was listening and figured-what the hey. If anyone has any ideas please say and I'll edit)
Kanna and Bankotsu sat in the Shichi'nintai rooms, waiting for Jakotsu to arrive. Bankotsu watched the morning light spill into the room through the new glass panes the older assassin had insisted on for their rooms in the palace. The sunshine lit everything up a dull red, and made the robes of the white young woman opposite him look as if they'd been stained scarlet. Kanna was scary, he'd readily admit it. Of all the 'children' of Naraku it was she had always been the one he'd found most frightening, especially since-well, since she'd stopped looking like a dead eight year old kid. The other incarnations, it was true they could kill a man, rip him to shreds or torture him but Bankotsu had never been afraid of death or pain, but Kanna...
Some people called her a devil. They weren't right but it'd be better if they were.
She was nothing.
He clasped his hand tighter around his halberd and tried to avoid looking at those blindfolded eyes but the more he turned away, the harder it was to ignore the blurred figure at the corner of his vision, the girl's empty face fixed on his. For someone who was supposed to be the embodiment of absence she sure was hard to disregard. He really wished Jakotsu would hurry up.
Glancing back nervously at her again he was relieved to find she had stopped her constant watching and was brushing her fingers against an ornate mirror in her lap. Curiously, the polished metal didn't reflect either Kanna's face or the rest of the room behind her but showed a hundred different scenes, flashing like ripples beneath her hand. He could see explosions, men flung like dolls and the earth shattered by the force-then it changed, showing a green and yellow haze, it almost looked as if the scene were underwater, but there were men there faces a mix of terror and desperation as they choked on the green light. Bankotsu tore his eyes away from the fascinating scene, only to be met by Kanna's silk clad stare.
"What did you see?" The woman asked softly, casually…it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"What the hell was that?" He asked gruffly.
"A poison, similar to the ones your companion used to use. However this particular one was far more dangerous…and effective. It was used in a battle between the countries of one of the far continents fifty years ago. It killed thousands." Bankotsu pushed away his curiosity at such a device, knowing there would be time for asking me questions about it later. Instead he propped his halberd up and sat back, hands clasped behind his head, trying to act casual.
"Hey Kanna." He broached, "What are the countries beyond Japan like? I mean, are they completely different from here?" He asked, it was something that niggled at him from time to time and he saw no reason (apart from her damned creepiness) not to ask.
"The people are not so very different. They enjoy killing as much as we do and there wars are even more impressive than our own, though they have no magic to use."
"No magic?! Are you sure-but how is that possible?" He was interested now, the curiosity blazing in his eyes. A land that had no magic? No gods, no afterlife, no fucking reincarnation or being dragged between life and death? It sounded like a paradise to him.
"The westerners do not believe in magic. They believe in science and metal-only things they can touch and see. And most have renounced all gods but one and he is vengeful on those who attempt to challenge his power."
Bankotsu stopped himself saying it aloud but the western god sounded a whole lot like Naraku, "So, does Naraku know about you seeing beyond Japan."
"Yes, it's what he asks me to show him most often. My master finds the western lands fascinating." She waved her hand gracefully above the disc and it glowed, before coiling liquidly in the air and then diving into the hidden folds of her sleeve, "Your companion is late." Apparently the opening for discussion about what her mirror showed was closed.
"He is isn't he?" Bankotsu grinned halfheartedly. Jakotsu was always late when it came to Kanna; his teammate positively hated the eerie albino. He was probably hanging around in one of the side rooms somewhere, eavesdropping, "We may as well start without him and I'll pass on details later."
"As you wish." She replied, "We attack on the new moon it said in the report? Why so specific?"
Bankotsu was tempted to ignore the question as he didn't have an exact answer, and he certainly hadn't been given any definite information but…if they were going to be working on the same team then they should both know as much as possible, "He thinks Inuyasha's alive."
"The dog hanyou from before the completion of the shikon?"
"Yep. He thinks that's why they're all so active all of a sudden; he believes that somehow he managed to survive that last battle and that the resistance is getting its old power back and they're somehow managing to undermine the power of the shikon. Hence the weakening of the main barrier." Kanna nodded, listening to her own thoughts and the slow creak of the old puzzle pieces sliding into place.
"How could they do that though? Only spiritual magic has the ability to affect the jewel's power and we have hunters to ensure that no monks or mikos survive beyond childhood. Besides any even innate spiritual user would need formal training to damage the shikon and all the scrolls regarding those spells were destroyed with the temples."
"Hey hey, I could be wrong. All of this is just speculation: ideas from rumours I've heard about inuyoukai around Yamagata and what I've been seeing on the mainland." The silence which began to grow between them after he finished speaking was abruptly broken by Jakotsu running in, furisode flapping behind him in a whirl of blues and reds.
"You're late." Said Kanna flatly.
"Pfft! Sorry about that everyone but I had such a time of things. To start with-" Jakotsu flopped down next to his team mate and ran head first into an explanation.
"I don't care."
"Well aren't you a bundle of joy today Kanna." Jakotsu sighed, "Really you ought to lighten up a little…and maybe do something with that hair, white is just soo dull. By the way" Jakotsu spun to face him, "I didn't hear you mention Inuyasha by any chance did I aniki?"
So that was why he'd decided to come to the meeting then, Bankotsu shook his head in disbelief. Jakotsu's passion for the bad-tempered hanyou hadn't waned in five centuries and the mere mention of him was still enough to send Jakotsu running for the nearest mirror.
"Yes you did, but it's only a guess-"
"Eeeeeeeeeh! How's my hair? My eyeliner? Does this obi make me look frumpy? It does doesn't it? Oh gods and fat too! Quickly Kanna make that mirror of yours come out." The temperature in the room plummeted; if you wanted a reaction out of Kanna, comment on her mirror.
"Be quiet." Was the quiet response, even more lacking in expression than normal, it made Bankotsu pale a little but Jakotsu went right on worrying-though silently.
"Quit your fidgeting Jakotsu, we need to sort out our plan of attack."
A/N: I hope the period is more obvious for everyone now and maybe give some hints! The action will start properly in the next chapter but these first two I thought were needed to give people a better idea of timing and characters. I have a little plea now, can the people who read this story please review! Even just to give some constructive criticism if you don't like it (actually that stuff's great even if you do like it) 'cause I've got a lot of hits but only one lovely reviewer (thanks so much Ryo-Truesdale!).