Chapter 5
They reached the house of the Forest Sage.
"Whoooooaaa," said Kagome in awe. It was a HUGE house. It was made of wood, and very old-looking, maybe even ancient, like it had stood there for centuries. It wasn't spread out in hallways and rooms on the ground, like a traditional Japanese house, at least, traditional for ancient Japan like she suspected this now was. It was more European built.
It was painted dark brown and green, to blend in with the forest surrounding it. Perhaps it meant she didn't want to be disturbed. Kagome strode up to the door and knocked.
"Miss Forest Sage! Are you here?" An old woman with sharp violet eyes answered the door.
"What do you want?" she asked grumpily. Smells of fried fish floated through the door opening. She must be cooking lunch.
"Kaede from Kanta village sent us to find you," said Kanta, walking up.
"We need to know how to destroy the Jewel of Four Souls." Kagome took the glass box from her pack and showed it to the old woman. She gasped.
"The Jewel of Four Souls!" she looked around the forest warily before beckoning the four of them inside. She stopped at Inuyasha. "You are a demon! What do you want here?"
"It's ok, he's on our side!" said Kanta. "He's bound to protect the Jewel by the rosary around his neck."
"Ahhh," said the Forest Sage. "Well, come in then."
Inuyasha hmphed and walked past her. The old woman watched him.
The first floor of the mansion was covered with snakes. Kagome was no huge fan of snakes, and cringed at the sight of so many in one place. They writhed on the floors and in the furniture, all colors of the rainbow, and some colors she didn't recognized. She asked about them. "I'm trying to breed out of them a cure for niikolair, a disease that can supposedly be cured by Raiko snake venom and blood. I'm breeding them to make the healing agent more potent."
"Aren't you in danger?" asked Niirou. He was afraid of snakes, and was shaking. Kanta placed a hand on his brother's shoulder to calm him.
"I made myself immune to snake venom a hundred and nine years ago!" laughed the Forest Sage. "My name is KihmuuNaught, by the way. Don't shorten it. I hate that." Kagome laughed.
"I like shortening my name," she said. "I think it sounds cute." She was smiling.
"To the matter at hand . . ." said the Forest Sage, "May I see the Shikon Jewel again?" Kagome handed her the glass box. The purply-pink Jewel glinted in the light, and looked a lot like the Sage's violet eyes. "Yes . . . I'm surprised it couldn't be destroyed in the Holy Fire of Kikyo's cremation . . . What the hell was that?" A loud crunching noise came from above their heads. Kanta and Niirou drew their swords. Inuyasha bared his claws in preparation for battle.
"It may be demons after the Shikon Jewel," said KihmuuNaught. You go outside. I'll get my staff." The four of them went outside.
"It's the shadow-monster that brought me here!" shouted Kagome. The amorphous tendriled thing looked up from breaking through the roof of KihmuuNaught's house. It growled and returned to its work.
"We have to get up to the roof! There's a staircase on the side of the house!" The four raced up the wooden stairs. "Careful, there's moss on this roof. You might slip if you run," warned Niirou.
"Keh. No problem for me," humphed Inuyasha, bounding lightly across the expansive roof, and slashed the shadow demon with his claws. Arcs of red light followed the trails of his claws, and Kagome knew he must be using some sort of wordless spell. She, Kanta and Niirou soon caught up to him.
"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" shouted Inuyasha as he slashed at the beast. It screamed, and a dark foaming liquid ran from its wounds. It was one of the two spells Inuyasha knew, and both used his claws as a medium.
"Hiyaaah!" shouted Kanta as he raked the shadow beast with his sword, and Niirou was doing the same. The beast shrieked and fell off the roof. They followed it.
"Blasted humans!" it seethed, foaming purple at the mouth, "I WILL have the Sacred Jewel! You cannot stop me forever!" KihmuuNaught came out and blasted the demon with a spell from her staff. It screamed as the holy energy seared its body. It looked around desperately. That girl . . . ! She hadn't attacked him at all, yet. But she looked to be just watching . . . It got an idea. It fired its dark tendrils at the girl, wrapping around her body, holding her captive.
"Give me the Jewel or I rip this girl in half!" it shouted. The other four fighters froze. A light breeze blew through the battlefield, ruffling Inuyasha's long silver hair. Inuyasha considered . . . if he let it rip her in half, there would be no one left to say the binding word and he would be able to run off with the Jewel. But . . . he growled to himself. The Forest Sage was probably powerful enough to stop him from doing that. She had centuries of experience dealing with demons just like him; he would be a toy in her hands. He decided to keep his promise to protect Kagome . . . for now.
Kanta motioned to KihmuuNaught to get the Jewel. She reluctantly went back inside the house, and set the Jewel in front of the demon.
"Open the box," it demanded. It knew there was sure to be some sort of charm on it that prevented it from being opened by demons. KihmuuNaught opened the box. The purple jewel gleamed in the sunlight. The demon grinned. It reached out a tendril and swallowed the orb. It immediately began to glow violet, the color of the jewel, and grew.
So it does make demons stronger, thought Kagome. Oh God . . . I wonder if he's going to kill me anyway . . . it seems like a demon would do that . . . She steeled herself for it, should it come.
The shadow grew as tall as the house, and laughed in its high-pitched voice, four glaring orange eyes blazing. "Thank you," it grinned. "Now to kill your little friend." It began to pull at Kagome. She screamed.
Inuyasha had anticipated this, and leapt up the shadow's body, ripping apart the tendrils and taking Kagome away from him.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," said Kagome as he set her to her feet. But she didn't have time to take a breath before he grabbed her again to avoid a black tendril crashing down where they were just standing.
"You wait here," said Inuyasha, hiding her in the brush. "He has no beef with you now, anyways." Without waiting for a response, he raced back to the battleground where Kanta and Niirou were still fighting.
Kagome watched, wishing desperately that she could fight. KihmuuNaught seared the demon with Holy blasts from her staff. Niirou broke his leg. He didn't scream, though.
The demon, even with his newfound power, was losing badly. It was like it didn't know how to fight, or was used to picking on helpless things. Finally, knowing it was going to be killed, it fled into the forest, leaving a trail of foamy blood.
"We have to follow it," breathed Niirou, hanging off his brother's shoulder.
"You're not going," said Kanta, concern in his dark turquoise eyes. "You need a splint for that leg." The demon had pierced both their armor suits, and blood ran freely down their bodies.
Inuyasha had fewer wounds, and his blood was of a darker color than the two humans'. "Kagome needs to know how to fight. She's a sitting duck." Kagome came over to where the other three were standing.
"I do want to fight," said Kagome determinedly. "I just don't know how I'd help in the short-term; I'd need training, or something . . ."
"I may be able to help you with that," said the Forest Sage. "You're Kikyo's reincarnation, aren't you? I can tell by your crenium eyes.—"
"Crenium?" wondered Kagome. "Is that a color?"
"Yes," said the Forest Sage. "That's the name for the brown-gray-green color your eyes possess. Anyway, Kikyo was an Archery Master, level 3. She was known for never missing her mark. Perhaps you could awaken that ability in yourself."
"Yeah!" shouted Kagome. "That would be awesome!" She'd never been good at archery in gym class, if she remembered correctly. But that didn't matter now . . . She would be of use to her new friends and their mission.
"Come with me," said KihmuuNaught. "We must hurry, before the blood trail seeps into the ground!" They went to the back side of the house, where there was a weapons shed. The Forest Sage took out a quiver full of arrows and a sturdy bow and gave them to Kagome.
"Try shooting that tree right there," said the Forest Sage.
"O-Okay . . ." said Kagome, unsure of how to tap into her power. She pulled the arrow back and fired. It stuck with a thunk in the ground a few feet from her target. She sighed, disappointed.
"Use your soul's energy to guide the arrow," said KihmuuNaught. "Trust your instincts."
"Okay . . ." said Kagome. She tried not to think about shooting too much, as that was the way she heard to allow your instincts to overtake you. Suddenly she felt strange, almost nauseous. A purple light began to emit from her body. As if possessed, she raised the bow and fired, a purple-pink flame around the arrowhead. The arrow struck the tree, cutting it in half, and sending it crashing to the ground. They gaped. Except for the Forest Sage and Inuyasha, who had seen Kikyo's power before.
"By the Gods! . . ." said Kanta.
"I did that?" shouted Kagome. " . . . I can't have these weapons, can I?" she looked to the Forest Sage with pleading eyes.
"Of course," smiled the Sage. "I have lots of archery sets. You may keep it as long as you like. You don't need to bring it back."
"Thank you!" cried Kagome, hugging the old woman. She returned it.
"We'd better get going," said Kanta. "The blood is sure to have faded by now."
"Madam Forest Sage, do you think you could heal my leg so I can join them?" asked Niirou. He was sitting against the wall of the house, left leg out in front of him.
"Oh, of course, that's simple," smiled KihmuuNaught. She went over to the 19-year-old and chanted a healing prayer, waving her staff over his leg. With a snapping sound, it popped back into place and healed.
Niirou tested his weight on it. "Domo arigatou, KihmuuNaught-sama! Alright! Let's go!"
The four warriors began down the trail of the shadow demon.
………………
The clumsy shadow monster walked and bled through the forest, sliming its way to the river where the water would wash away his blood, and his scent. It huffed, exhausted. It stopped to rest.
That demon-boy . . . he was part cat demon from the look of his ears, which meant he had a good sense of smell, and would be on his trail. He had to hide, fast. Following the river downstream was his best bet.
But it worried . . . He was badly wounded, and stronger demons would sense the Jewel in his form, and come to take it from him. He could already sense their presences around the peripheries of his awareness now, closing curiously in on him. He had to hide!
He heard the shushing of undergrowth, and whirled around. The three humans and demon had found him! It snarled fearfully.
"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" shouted the silver-haired boy, carving a deep gash in his side. The shadow screamed. The two humans charged with their swords, slicing off the tendrils so it couldn't grab them. But more popped out of his bloated flesh.
"You'll have to kill me if you want this Jewel!" he shouted, turning to face them. Kagome drew an arrow.
Somehow, she could tell where the Jewel was. It glowed faintly purple in her senses.
The demon was getting desperate. It stabbed through the air, past Kanta's sword and into his chest. Niirou screamed.
The shadow grinned as it felt Kanta's lifeforce drain into him, making him stronger. Niirou charged the shadow, enraged at his brother's death. The body of Kanta hung limply from the shadow's tendril, and was tossed aside like so much garbage. Inuyasha wished he had some sort of long-range weapon to use against the beast.
Kagome tried to expand her senses to locate the demon's heart, but she couldn't do it. She guessed Kikyo must not have been that good of an Archery Master.
Kagome fired an arrow into the demon, purple flames surrounding the tip of it. The Holy Flame burned a hole through the demon's body, but not before it stabbed Niirou. He closed his eyes a final time and slumped in its grasp.
Inuyasha ripped into the monster; it was dying and he could smell it. He had a very sensitive nose, like a dog or wolf. But something was wrong . . . Even though they were killing it, it seemed to be becoming more powerful. It must be drawing strength from the Jewel . . .
Dying, it made one last ditch effort to save itself and Sped away at lightning pace.
"Shit!" spat Inuyasha. "Climb on my back, you can't run fast enough."
"Okay!" said Kagome. They had to kill it, and avenge Kanta and Niirou. Inuyasha probably only cared about the Jewel . . . He was warm. It must be from the heat of battle.
"Fire an arrow!" shouted Inuyasha.
"Got it!" said Kagome, nodding. As they neared the demon, bleeding fountains, she drew an arrow and fired into the demon's heart. Suddenly there was a cracking sound, above the shadow's screams, and purple-pink lightning bolts erupted from the spot where her arrow had hit. What was going on was that Kagome had hit the Shikon Jewel inside the demons body, and the Holy Flame was weakening the demonic powers of it, overpowering it, causing it to . . .
SHATTER.
"What is that light!" shouted Inuyasha, shielding his eyes with an arm. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" shouted Kagome back.
The Jewel's demonic energy could not stand the energy of the Holy arrow right next to it, invading it, destroying it, so it did the only thing it could.
It exploded.
Tiny purple comets flew from the shadow monster, scattering all across the country, and a few beyond, and Inuyasha gasped in horror, he knew what was going on.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!" shouted Inuyasha.
"Did the Jewel explode?" wondered Kagome aloud. All those lights . . . Their prey looked dead, maybe it had been using the Jewel to sustain its life. She watched it melt, becoming an ordinary shadow instead of a demon.
Inuyasha was practically pulling his hair out. "YOU DESTROYED THE JEWEL OF FOUR SOULS! . . ." He struggled for the angry words that were on the tip of his tongue.
The last of the purple stars faded into the distance.
Kagome looked at a loss. "Well . . ." she said, "We better go back and tell Kaede what happened . . ." They walked back the way they'd come through the dark forest.