Talawolfgirl : Thank you! Glad to know that you are enjoying it and maybe, depending on if she wants him to save her.
Thank you all for reading and for those that review thank you for giving me your input! I always look forward to hearing from my readers!
It was just past noon when the group found the next village, a village that was still intact at the moment, the villagers moving around in the way they should have been at the other village. Some of them tended the crops that were on the other side of the village while others still moved around their huts, the sounds of children laughing as they ran by a song in the air as the smell of food cooking was strong in the air. It was peaceful, so that meant that either the person or creature that had been responsible for the death of the other village had yet to reach this one or that this was in the opposite direction of where the castle that supposingly was the stronghold for the person responsible for the destruction. That didn't mean that this place was safe, maybe for now, but not forever, not if they didn't destroy this person, this queen. A woman stopped what she was doing, her hut being the closest to them, laying the carpet beater down next to a basket full of carpets and other fabrics.
"Wow, you're a strange group," the woman said, her brown eyes moving over the group, taking in whom was there. She didn't seem afraid of them, perhaps she had heard of their group or maybe she was able to see that even with demons in their group they were not any danger to her or the small child, about seven, that now peeked around the edge of her kimono. "I had heard of such a group, though," she paused as she looked up at Sesshomaru, his golden gaze looking back at her in disinterest. "Never heard of an Inu-youkai in the group, save for the Hanyou." This time she looked at Inuyasha, who was no longer seeming agitated, his mood coming to rest at a neutral tone.
"You don't seem to concerned with us," the monk stated. "Even people who have heard of us don't seem to like the fact that we are not all human." She chuckled at this. "Did I say something funny?" he asked with a touch to the back of his raven hair.
"We aren't all human here either," she said, looking down at the small girl beside her. That's when they all noticed that this girl had orange eyes, like a cat with a slight slit in them. Her skin was that of the woman standing before them, a slightly pale tone with just enough color to show she came out in the sunshine. "This is my daughter, her father is a tiger youkai, though he is off fighting to protect another village right now. All the younger men and our youkai mates are off trying to stave off the strange destruction that has been plaguing a good part of our countryside."
"So you've all seen it?" Sango inquired as she smiled down at the small girl who shyly smiled back, her fangs glinting in the sun. The woman nodded.
"Oh, where are my manners," she said with a slight giggle. "My name is Niko and this is Yuma. And I haven't seen it myself, but a villager from a village just back from where you came from is here. She came to us for refuge after escaping from the tormentor of her home." Turning away from them she knelt down to her child. After a few words she turned back to them, her child rushing off. "Karina is just a kid herself, I think fifteen or sixteen, and when she came to us it had to have been early morning. Just yesterday in fact." She looked sad for a moment, as if thinking about what the girl had seen. "She had gone off to gather some firewood for her mother, leaving her younger sibling at home when the creature attacked."
"Was it a monster?" Miroku asked, watching behind her as another female with the small girl returned. This girl had dark brown hair, cut short and falling around her face as she conversed with the small child. Her skin was darker, more tan than either the woman before them or the child beside her.
"That would certainly explain its strange form since I know most demons in the area and this one looked nothing like a demon I had ever heard of." She seemed thoughtful for a moment, recalling what the monster had looked like. "She told me that it came from the forest, a cherry blossom tree was the form she first saw as she approached the village from the other side." This seemed to interest Sesshomaru as he spoke up, surprising the group with his fascination at her words.
"A cherry blossom? I have never heard of such a thing. Is she sure that is what she saw?" He was interested in what she had to say, but seemed to be in disbelief of those same words. The woman nodded, but before she had a chance to speak the small child was back and the girl that was with her spoke up, almost venomously at his lack of belief.
"I know what I saw!" she cried out, drawing the attention of others close by. "I had not seen that tree before as our village wasn't anywhere near that kind of tree," her voice growing softer with the more she spoke, as if she hadn't wanted to draw attention to herself, a fear that was prevalent in her tone told them that much. She was afraid that this monster would come for her if it knew where she was. "It didn't even seem to move when the first scream came."
"Then how do you know that it was the tree?" Inuyasha asked. "It could have very well been someone that was in th-"
"Because it changed!" she hissed in a low tone. "First it looked like a woman as it transformed right before my eyes!" She closed her eyes as tears began to well up. Niko put an arm around the girl, whispering soothing words to get her more comfortable to talk about what she had seen. "She seemed to twist out of the trunk of the tree and at the same time the tree became her. Her eyes were teal and her skin was almost a silver tone, but softer. Her hair was as pink as the cherry blossoms and she wore a rather intricate kimono that showed off her legs...legs that were still part of the roots of that tree."
"She was using her roots to kill the villagers," Miroku stated, sure that he was right. She shook her head.
"She wasn't killing them," she said softly.
"There wasn't any blood, remember?" Sango asked the monk. "If she had killed them on the land then there would have been blood."
"She absorbed them," Karina said sadly. "Her roots came up from the ground and wrapped themselves around them, squeezing them before they began to glow. The-eir bodies just began to s-shrival up an-" A sob broke free as she fell to the ground. "She just drained them! Th-hey blew away like d-dust in the wind!" Niko kneeled down, telling the girl she could go back and lay down, Yuma running off to get help for the girl. As soon as she was taken away Niko turned to them.
"And that isn't the first sighting of this creature either. There were no survivors to that village, but my mate saw it. He could feel no soul from it and it didn't seem to be afraid of them even when they finally struck it down."
"So it's gone then?" She nodded.
"But with every one that you strike down another one appears. Sadly, he has struck down at least five in the last few days, but they can only do so much until the source is taken care of. Until then more villages will fall until we find it." Silence fell over the group. They knew that Naraku had something to do with this, but the absorption was new. He didn't absorb humans. They were weak in his eyes so this must be his ally's doing. This queen needed that energy while Naraku just used demons to become more powerful. It was strange that none of the demons seemed to be affected by these monsters.
"What about demons?" Inuyasha asked. He was thinking the same thing they were. If there were demons being taken then that meant Naraku was also in on this.
"The monsters seem to care little about the demons killing them, unless they get in their way, but even then they just kill them. They don't seem to want their energy. The good thing is that the monsters are weak, at least now, so my mate and his men are able to strike them down with very little resistance." Miroku looked lost in thought as he listened to her words. If the demons were not targets did that mean that Naraku no longer needed them or that he was already long gone? He looked down at his hand and could tell that his kazaana was still there. He could feel it in his skin, so that meant that Naraku was still alive.
"What direction did your mate go to fight more of the monsters?" Sesshomaru questioned. She pointed back to where they had just come from.
"He went past the village that Karina came from. We're the lucky ones since when we were attacked our men were ready and not the target of the monster. Most of this village is Hanyou and demon since most of our spouses are demon." With thanks they headed off, back to where they came in hopes of finding these demons to aid them in not only destroying the monsters that were trashing the lands, but to find the source... The Queen of the Void and possibly Naraku.
A lone figure approached a village just a few short hours away from the castle, her long raven hair swirled in the winds as it brushed the back of her knees. Her long dress was nothing like the clothing that others wore, not a kimono and not the attire she had worn just a few hours ago. Her skin was paler than it had ever been, giving her the appearance that she was just a corpse with only the flush on her pale cheeks to show that she was alive. The dress she wore was a long midnight blue one with a silver trim that almost matched her eyes that looked out dully at the landscape before her. There was a slit up both sides of this outfit that stopped just below her hips to allow her movement should she need to fight and after all that was what she was about to do. She wore no shoes, but the gravelly road held no pain to her bare feet with her latest transformation, like the ears that were pointed out from her hair, her skin still felt smooth and soft, but now were more durable. Even the slight chill to the air didn't bother her, though her arms were bare with almost a tank top like fit to the top of the dress. Looking up at the sun she shielded her eyes, taking in the time as being well past noon.
She could hear nothing around her, no birds singing in the skies or trees blowing in the wind that once again stirred her hair and dress with the power it held. It was nothing to her since none of it seemed to reach her. She felt like she was in a bubble, no sense of feeling or hearing. She could feel that she was walking and she knew she was outside, free from the darkness of the castle, but she wasn't truly free. She had given in to the darkness, the words of her friends still echoing in her head and the look of absolute hate from the man who was supposed to be her mate in her line of sight, but he wasn't here and if he was then he wasn't here to save her. No, he wanted to kill Naraku. The only reason he was here was to get the jewel so he could make that one wish that would truly make him happy. The revival of a Miko that was not her. Was she even a Miko anymore? She wasn't pure, not in any way that she could name. She held no happiness in her, no joy to be outside the castle walls. If anything she felt suffocated outside in the wide open spaces, unsafe from dangers that would befall her if she were not careful. She was exposed out here and while she didn't like the darkness when she had first came to that place she found that she missed it.
It meant freedom to her. Freedom to hide away, to stay far from those that would hurt her or her babies. Her fingers unconsciously touched her rounded stomach and she longed to run back to the castle, to tell the woman whom had sent her out here that she didn't want to do this. She didn't want to confront them, to kill them even if they had hurt her. She just wanted to be left alone in solitude. She just wanted to raise her babies alone. They would love her when no one else did. They would receive her love no matter what happened. Their father would not be in the picture and Naraku, she would kill him before he had a chance to even think of corrupting them. She would see that they were given to someone she could trust once they were born. That would be her way to love them in the beginning. To protect them. That was the best she could offer at this moment. When she was freed from the Queen and Naraku then she would run off and get them. But that begged the answer to that question. Who did she trust?
Amazingly enough her mate was the first one to come to mind, but she thrust it away. He wasn't one to trust with pups that he would hate because they came from her and not Kikyo. They were not safe in his care as she truly had not been in a long time. Inuyasha would run off and leave them exposed if he could get just a few minutes from his dead lover. He had wanted to go to Hell with her after all. Why did this all feel backwards, like she had taken these steps before and had come to the same conclusion. That she had only been his shard detector and when all the shards had been gathered they had become companions searching to rid the world of evil. She may not trust him, but she saw him as she saw him and as he should be... a friend. No, there was one person who had never turned their back on her. "Koga."
She would find him even if it meant that she would have to go back. The queen had been quite straight forward about what would happen if she tried to run. That would be a problem. Finding him when he didn't have the jewel shards in his legs anymore and she knew, somehow, that she was several days away from any of them. This land was leaking out death, so she also knew without a doubt that he would soon join in this fight when he came with the others, if Inuyasha hadn't thrown him out of their pack. They never could get along and while his sometimes flirtatious ways bothered her she knew he was a good friend. He cared about if she was hurt, even when the hurt wasn't physical. He had seen her when Inuyasha had hurt her and even when she had defended the Hanyou he had still been all about protecting, telling her that she should stop letting him hurt her. He knew that she didn't see in him a mate, a partner, but he still loved her and longed for her to be happy. Sometimes I wish that I could love him like he loves me. It was a fleeting thought because she couldn't see anyone else by her side but Inuyasha.
Maybe she was just being stubborn or maybe she was being obsessive. Wasn't that what it was called when you were blinded by nothing but one thing or person and failing to even give anyone else attention or a chance with you? It wasn't too late to give it a try was it? Sure, there was the wolf girl that loved him, had professed to be his intended, but he had denied wanting her. Was it right for her to ruin another's chance because you were hurt? No, that wasn't fair to either of them. She would talk to Koga when she saw him. Looking up she found the village she was supposed to decimate and her pace slowed. She didn't want to destroy this place. She didn't want to drain their lifeforce!
You will do as you are told, came a voice in her head, the woman's voice that of her master, her keeper. She longed to rebel against it, but knew that she could not. The winds changed and a new scent hit her sensitive nose. Demons. There were demons in this village? Taking a sniff of the air she found there were not only demons, but Hanyous as well. She had known of one village that had had a Hanyou in it, but not demons. The humans of that village had hated demons, even shunning the human woman who had slept with one so what was up with this village?
"There are demons and Hanyous in this village," she said out loud, knowing that the Queen would hear her. There was a scoff at the other end.
Kill them then, they are not good fodder for my needs. Do not forget that I hold your life and therefor the lives of your children in my hands. Do not hesitate to do what I have commanded, Miko. The connection was cut and Kagome sighed. She would have no choice and seconds passed before she began to walk again, the monster that was to be hers to command walking up to her from the direction of the village.
"The Queen wants all but the humans to die, do not absorb any of the demons or Hanyous."
"How will I know which ones are half breeds, Mistress?" She winced at that term. Sure, she was their mistress since she was in command over them, but she hated to be that, to be in that position.
"Any of the younger ones bring to me and I shall check if they are human or Hanyou." Nodding the woman before her, not really a woman abet in appearance, her long black dress slit down the front that complimented her daring black eyes. She had beautiful wings that were the colors of ash, held up with silver claws that rose up from her back. Kagome had yet to see how they stole people's life or the carnage they had left behind and she didn't want to... and yet she would be the person that assisted in creating that carnage, another part of her soul darkening with the thought. She was truly not pure anymore. Not a Miko either.
Kaede stiffened in her position by the fire, the food in the pot forgotten as she looked over into the corner of the room where Kagome's big yellow bag sat. Some of the stuff had been removed, a small satchel had been filled with some of the needed items such as the pot that the young woman kept with her to boil water and a good portion of the rice they had brought back was sitting next to it while the other items in the bag were not needed without the woman from the future was being held captive. There was something there though. Something she hadn't felt the entire time that the bag had been left in her care, but that had changed. There was something dark in that bag. Grabbing her bow and an arrow she moved slowly toward the bag, wary of what was causing such a darkness to fill her hut.
As she was reaching out, her bow and arrow in one hand the flap to her hut shifted and Rin with Shippo in tow appeared. "What is wrong Kaede?" the small girl asked, looking at her in confusion, Shippo noting her tense form and how she seemed to have jumped when they had entered. He could also smell the unease that seemed to be coming from the older woman. She looked back at them and then back at the bag.
"Shippo, will ye and Rin assist me with something,?" she asked, moving the arrow into her other hand. He nodded, Rin voicing her acceptance to help in whatever she could. "Stand on each side of the bag, but do not touch anything in it," she instructed. Both children obeyed, moving to stand on either side of the bag, but she could see that they were curious as to her instructions. "There is something dark in that bag and I am unsure if it means us harm or not." The kitsune took a sniff of the bag, the stale scent of Kagome and Inuyasha still clinging to the yellow material of the bag, but he could smell nothing alive coming from the bag itself.
"Nothing is alive in there," he said, pointing out why he knew that.
"It's not something alive that I fear, child," she clarified. "There is just a darkness... an evil that I feel coming from inside it. When I tell ye to I want ye to turn it over and back away quickly." The kitsune felt that this was strange all the way around. Why not just move the contents around? He knew that Kagome kept her school books in there with a few changes of clothing as well as bath supplies, but he nodded and when she gave the word they turned it over and back up as everything tumbled to the floor. It was all there as he had known it would be, but then he noted that Kaede still approached it slowly, using her arrow to push one of Kagome's shirts out of the way to reveal...
"Is that the jewel?" Rin asked softly, looking at the partially black chunk that appeared from under the shirt. Kaede nodded, unsure if she could even touch the portion of the darkened jewel herself. She wasn't like her sister or Kagome. She could not purify the jewel and so now they were in a dilemma on what to do with. It was still in the small jar that the Miko had kept it in when it had been but shards, but even that was no protection if the energy of evil were too strong and with her it was.
"What does that mean?" Shippo inquired, fear shaking his tone.
"I don't truly know, but if it is the one scenario I have in my mind it is not looking well for Kagome." The three of them looked down at the jar with worry.
Kagome is out and about, doing the bidding of someone who has a hold on her that she can't risk breaking and the gang is closing it to her location, if they havn't already passed her. The jewel piece isn't with her or the group, but that's not what is so worrisome! The jewel is turning dark! What does that mean for Kagome and the group? Stay safe!