Chapter 18: Back in time

He swallowed the strange lump in his throat the moment he inserted the Master Sword back in the pedestal. It felt so strange, so eerie as he did it. He didn't feel like he was connected to his body. He could have sworn he heard something, like a soft high pitch voice as Miroku called, that the strange statue covering a door seemed to have disappeared.

There was something haunting about this place, and he wasn't sure if to be fascinated or scared. They all took cautious steps as they went in. Sango wasn't sure what to think, as now they were all inside of a temple when just seconds ago they were in the ruins of it. It felt strange, knowing that somehow they may have gone back in time just to search for the mirror piece. She wasn't sure if this is how Kagome felt whenever she traveled from the feudal era and back to her time.

If this is how the temple looked on the inside, it was possibly one of the most beautiful places Kagome had ever seen. The designs were intricate on the stone pillars. The ground was marble, a beautiful soft shade of gold. They took notice of two of the same statutes they had encountered earlier. They were careful with their steps, as everything that they've been taught when going inside a temple or a dungeon, is that anything can happen.

Link had not uttered a word just yet. He felt like he was going insane. He was sure he could hear a haunting melody.

They noticed a strange pillar that on top, three different jewels seemed to lay. One was green, the other one was blue, and the last one was red. Kagome was transfixed by the beauty, slightly annoyed she could not understand the writing that seemed to be engraved on it.

"The spiritual stones…" he murmured, but the others caught it as well. That was all he needed to know that indeed, they traveled back in time. Before anyone could ask, Link stepped around and went towards where the Master Sword used to lay. It was in the same exact spot as the forest, but the chamber was not in ruins. Giant stained glass windows were around the room, different colors coming in as the sun shone right through them.

His eyes widened suddenly, whirling around to look behind them.

"Link?" Miroku asked confused, "Are you okay?"

His blue eyes were wide and alert as he looked around, "You didn't hear that?"

Inuyasha scoffed, "I would have been the first one to hear anything. We are the only ones here."

"So far," Sango said, "We don't know what's inside."

Kagome was looking at the pedestal, "You're gonna have to put the Master Sword in again."

Link took a deep breath and turned back around. He was just imagining things.

As soon as the Master Sword was in, steps started to appear, leading straight through one of the windows, directing them to the entrance.

The first chamber was larger. A giant metal like bell was in the middle and two large staircases were seen on either side of them while a door was right across.

It was still too quiet.

Midna decided to make herself known, "I don't like this."

Miroku nodded, "It's strange we have yet to encounter something. Maybe it's just a simple temple?"

Link shook his head, "Doubtful that the mirror would simply be in an empty place."

"We can't get through there," Inuyasha motioned with his head, "There's a statue missing."

"You can't lift it?" Kagome asked. He gave her a look, but he went and tried anyway. Sure enough, the door wasn't budging.

"Maybe he's too weak," Shippo commented nonchalantly. That earned him a quick hit on his head.

They set off to the other door that the staircases led to. Finally, they encountered their first monster. Kagome felt a chill going down her spine as it looked like a mutated scorpion. Kirara surprisingly transformed and decided to take it out. It was dead in a second.

They continued going deeper in, encountering a Lizalfos. This time Link decided to be the one to kill it. It was gone after one strike. But then they encountered three. He took the two on the right while Inuyasha took care of the other one. Kagome noticed a few Keese, so she decided to use her bow and arrows to get rid of them.

This was still not settling well with LInk.

It wasn't until they reached another circular chamber that Kagome screamed, which attracted the attention of the Lizalfos in the room.

Spiders of the size of a basketball were running around. Their little legs and protruding belly were making her skin crawl.

Inuyasha cursed at her for her high pitch scream as he avoided a sword swipe from the Lizalfos. He was sure every creature in the temple heard her.

When they were finally done, he was still glaring at her. She crossed her arms, "It's well known I hate spiders okay? How was I supposed to know we would see giant spiders here?!"

They had been exploring for some time until they came across a room that they needed to hit gems in order to open the passage. Inuyasha complained, as he could easily jump over. But it wasn't until he was shot with a beam from a creature that could pass off as just a decorative pillar that he learned his lesson. Kagome and Link were able to figure it out, as both working with their bows and arrows was more effective. They faced off a heavily armored Lizalfos, but Link got rid of it in just a few strikes.

Midna said to him, "It's like you knew where to hit it with the armor."

He didn't comment on it. He still felt weird being there.

The next room they reached was Kagome's worst nightmare. The spiders from earlier and the weird looking scorpions were crawling everywhere. It made her freeze on the spot. Shippo jumped in front of her, using his foxfire to not let them get closer. Miroku used his staff while Link and Inuyasha used their swords.

There were so many and moved too fast.

Kagome started using her bow and arrows, until she noticed one sneaking behind Shippo. Before she could say anything, it bit him right on the shoulder.

"Shippo!" She shouted as she kicked the fiend then just stabbing it with the arrow.

His eyes were tearing but he was not letting himself cry. He wanted to be strong like his friends.

Once all the monsters were gone, Link brought down Shippo's shirt to see the puncture wounds. It was already turning purple.

"Do you feel anything?"

The kit shook his head, "No, it just kind of burns."

Sango pulled out a bandage, "Let's just wrap it for now."

And they kept going. They were almost ambushed by five lizalfos, this time Kagome having to join the fight instead of standing back. Link's senses were going haywire as him and Inuyasha were stuck with theirs with Miroku and Sango being in the same position. Kirara jumped at the one that was on to Kagome, but the lizalfos was fast and was able to slash her side. Sango grabbed the katana she kept on her side and threw it on the ground, the sword sliding as it made its way towards Kagome. The young woman lifted the sword just in time the lizalfos' sword came down on her. She could feel the power of the force the monster was using, that she started to sweat.

It lifted its sword to bring it down on her again, but this time she moved her katana quickly and impaled it right on the chest. Blood splurged out of its mouth and landed on her face. She gripped the sword tighter with her hands and dug it deeply, this time the sword taking in the familiar glow of her spiritual powers.

Just then, the lizalfos was incinerated.

The others finished theirs off, Link being the first one to reach her since Sango already had Kirara on her arms.

He wiped the blood that was on her cheek, "You're good?"

Her eyes were so wide, but nodded nonetheless.

She looked at Sango, "How is she?"

"She'll recover but shouldn't take her bigger form to not make it bleed more."

They all looked at the door that was now waiting for them.

"It seems they didn't want us going through it," Inuyasha commented as he placed Tetsusaiga over his shoulder, "There's something in there."

Link helped Kagome up, but he suddenly had a sharp pain in his head.

Flashes of metal and a sword went through his head.

Heavy armor.

"Link?" Midna asked him as she touched his shoulder.

His vibrant blue eyes were staring now at the door again, "I think I know what's in there."

Kagome was pacing impatiently from outside the door. She did not like the fact she was told to stay behind.

Not just her, but everyone else as Link went off to fight whatever it was inside the next chamber.

There was a moment she was sure she heard Midna screaming. Just as she walked over to the door, Inuyasha grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away.

"No. He wanted to do this on his own, let him."

She wanted to yell at him. She wanted to sit him. But she knew he was right.

Link asked them to stay behind and so they did.

She walked away from Inuyasha then, not wanting to hear the clash of metal she was now hearing louder.

An hour went by until the door finally started to open. Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha quickly took a defensive stance until they saw it was Link.

His tunic was torn right in the middle where they could see blood. His lip was busted and Kagome could see on his left hand, his knuckles were raw, blood dripping down. She could see a bruise starting to form under his right eye.

Midna was helping him walk when Kagome ran to him.

"What the hell happened?"

He winced as she touched his stomach, "A darknut."

"What's that on your hand?" Miroku asked as he took notice of the strange artifact that was on his right hand.

Link looked at it bitterly, "Honestly not a clue, but I think it's going to help us for the rest of this thing."

However, just as Kagome started tending to his injuries, Shippo started sweating profusely. He was running a high fever and could not stand straight anymore.

Kagome had removed the top part of her tunic, wrapping it tightly around him as he was shivering and kept saying he was cold, leaving her in just a black tank top.

"We need to leave," she said worriedly, "We need to get him out of here."

"I'm positive Uli has something, or probably Sera," Link said as he was finishing bandaging his knuckles, "You can't leave on your own. The woods are dangerous."

"I'll go back with her," Sango offered, "The three of you can finish this."

"You won't be able to come back," Midna said seriously, "We are back in time in this place. Once you step away, you don't have the Master Sword to come back."

Sango adjusted her boomerang and grinned, "Then I guess you can't die or we won't know."

Miroku sighed heavily as he went up to her. He never liked separating away from her. The idea of not knowing how she was didn't sit well with him.

Inuyasha decided to start walking, wanting to get it done as soon as possible as he didn't want to be stuck in the forsaken place.

Link and Kagome stared at each other until he went up to her. He handed her a key, the key to his tree house.

He also didn't like knowing she would be away either. She purified the mirror last time, he didn't want to know what would happen this time without her being there. But Shippo was important to her and they couldn't risk the kit becoming severely ill or die just because he didn't want her out of his sight.

He lowered his face, so he could speak to her right by her ear. She could feel his hot breath tickling her neck that she had to bite back the blush that wanted to appear on her cheeks.

"Be safe."

They were panting as they continued running out of the woods. Shippo kept shivering and growing hotter as the minutes went by. Kirara kept meowing, sadly looking at him from her spot on Sango's arms. They continued their way out of the woods until finally, they came across the wooden bridge leading them to Ordona.

Screeching was heard from behind them, Sango silently cursing as she saw a group of Bokoblins that spotted them.

Kagome looked at her, "We have to run, we can't fight them with both Kirara and Shippo being injured."

"We would be leading them right to the village, there's hardly anyone that can defend it besides us."

They sped up as the screeching grew louder, "I have Link's house key. We can catch them there."

As the two women ran, Kagome gained enough courage to look behind her. She could see the five bokoblins still running after them. She was determined enough to stop them at the entrance of the village. She could not risk them entering further and put everyone else in danger.

Sango used a small smoke bomb to deter their vision for a few more seconds to buy them time. Kagome recognized the tree house, quickly climbing up the ladder and opening the door. She felt the warmth of his home, but she did not have time to dwell on it. She placed both demons away from the door on top of a pillow and ran out. Sango already had Hirakotsu drawn, ready to be thrown the moment the bokoblins came into view.

She drew her arrow, "We got to stop them here."

Sango nodded, "We got this."

"Can't it walk faster?"

"Inuyasha, that thing weighs a ton and its an inanimate object that Link is moving. We cannot be asking so much of it without knowing the consequences of the wand's power."

Midna rolled her eyes as Inuyasha continued with his impatience, "By the time we get this thing on its rightful spot, Zant would've taken over the rest of the world."

Link glared at her, as he was trying to make the giant statue move faster. They had killed so many spiders and other type of insects inside the temple he was fed up with it. He was still sore from the fight with the darknut. Now with Kagome being gone with Sango, he was left in a sour mood. He was at least grateful for Miroku to keep Inuyasha in check if needed.

Neither of them brought up that night, and Link for sure was not about to either. It was a sensitive subject, but he was at least glad Kagome had talked to Inuyasha enough for him to continue.

As they continued back to the entrance of the temple, Link let out a breath he realized he had not been holding when his eyes set on the empty pillar where the statue that he had been controlling belonged in.

The gates slowly started to move, finally giving them access to another portion of the temple they had not been able to reach.

The three of them were cautious as they stepped in. They defeated two other monsters before going deeper south of the temple. There was very minimal lighting, and Miroku was starting to notice the various spiderwebs around them.

He gripped his staff as they walked further in, "I can feel a malevolent presence."

Inuyasha looked disgusted, "Good thing she's not here, she'd be screaming like crazy."

Link squinted his eyes as he realized the last room they were in had no other doors. It was a dead end.

His ears picked up a strange sound coming from above them. He felt Midna's small hands gripping his tunic tightly. He could feel her shivering breath next to him.

"S-Spid-der…" she gasped out in horror as her red eye took in the massiveness of the sole arachnid that was looking at them from the ceiling.

Inuyasha swallowed, as he was inwardly admitting that it was one large spider. They could see its fangs poking out. The legs were easily twenty feet long.

"I think we are going to have to kill it to get the piece."

"You don't fucking say!"

Sango winced as a wet cloth was placed on her head by Sera. One of the bokoblins managed to surprise her, giving her a cut on the side of her head. She was tired, she was dirty. She was also hungry but she was too embarrassed to ask for anything.

She looked on to see another villager, Jaggle, with Mayor Bo as they tended to Shippo and Kirara with Uli. The woman looked like she would give birth at any moment, but she refused until her husband and son were home.

She looked over to see Kagome talking with Fado as they got rid of the last body of the bokoblin in a fire. The young priestess had a few bruises, but Sango was undoubtedly proud of her.

Kagome had been quick with her arrows the moment the bokoblins came into view. They were very stubborn creatures and at first she thought they'd be overwhelmed. But that young woman proved otherwise. They both fought together until Mayor Bo and Fado joined the fight. By the time they got there, there was only one bokoblin left.

Both women were left with tattered clothes and blood splattered on them. They were tired, but they were both relieved when indeed, Sera had something for the bite wounds both Shippo and Kirara had. Apparently she was well familiar with those from when she was a girl.

Night time soon came, the deep worry settling in Kagome's heart as still no sign of them. She knew there was no way they could be dead, but she couldn't help but wonder if they made it without being injured. Inuyasha always didn't think things through, and Link was already injured from a previous fight.

She decided to sit outside of Link's door as the night set in. Sango was inside tending to Shippo and Kirara who were now comfortably asleep after getting their treatment. She looked at her hands for a moment, pondering how much more they would have to endure to go back home.

She could only imagine what her family was thinking. Possibly thinking of her dead. Maybe.

She leaned her head back, breathing in the cool air. Was it springtime? It almost felt like it. The air was so fresh, so clean. It was helping calm down her nerves.

She stayed outside for a couple of hours until the crescent moon was at its highest point, signaling midnight. Doubting they would make it back, she retreated for the night.

The next morning, both her and Sango were sore as they got out of bed. They checked the two small demons, who surprisingly enough, were fairing a whole lot better than what they originally did.

"I'm worried they're not back yet," Sango carefully murmured as she poured herself a cup of tea, "They should be here already."

"Maybe they're almost here," Kagome replied.

"I think we should go to Kakariko," the other woman said as Kagome sat down, "We'd be going back there anyways."

She wasn't convinced, "We can't just get up and leave there. It's going to take more than a day to reach the village. They're coming back."

Sango stared at her long and hard, "Fine," she sighed in defeat, "One more day. If they're not back by tomorrow, Kirara should be able to take us to Kakariko and we will wait there."

Kagome was still hesitant with the plan, but nodded nonetheless.

They spent their day doing the one thing they have not been able to do, which was relax. Kirara and Shippo spent the majority of the day sleeping, thankfully no fevers from either of them. Sango took the opportunity to ensure the village was safe after the incident the day prior. Kagome decided to explore more the village, as this was the place where Link was raised.

Uli welcomed her with open arms. She was by the streak trying to get some laundry done. Kagome quickly helped her as the woman was heavily pregnant and should not be lifting anything in the first place.

Every so often Uli caught her staring at the entrance of the village. She knew the young woman was looking for her adoptive son.

"He'll be back," she said softly to her as they folded the clothes, "He's a stubborn lad. He's going to come back."

Kagome blushed as she was caught looking for him, "I can' help but worry about them."

"Shippo told me several stories about you lot when he was staying here. I believe the evil forces that decided to taint our beautiful kingdom should be afraid. There's nothing you should worry about."

Before Kagome could reply, she heard shouting from the entrance of the village. She saw Sango rushing in, "Get everyone back inside! There's another wave of bokoblins coming!"

Kagome cursed as she got up. She quickly took a hold of Uli to help her up, but as the woman got up, she felt a sharp pain in her lower belly. The dampness was quickly felt and a wave of pain and nausea rushed through her.

"My water," she said in a panicked state as Kagome led her back to her house, "My water broke!"

Kagome could feel the color leaving her face at the news. She could hear Sango shouting as she started to battle the first few that came into view. Sera saw her trying to help Uli and quickly came to her aid just as arrows started being shot at them.

One graced Sera's shoulder as she tried lifting Uli up. Blood quickly started to drip from the cut.

"We need to get her inside," Kagome said hurriedly, "We will block the door and the windows."

Mayor Bo, Fado, Pergie, Hanch, and Jaggle all joined Sango as she continued to fight. They were amazed by her fighting techniques, but they could not stand by and allow her to defend their home village by herself. Whether it was pitchforks or other farm tools, the villagers joined the fight. There were easily fifteen bokoblins that had barged into the village. Although not necessarily deadly, bokoblins working in packs always caused more issues than one by itself.

Just as Kagome was shutting the door after Sera and Uli made it inside, another arrow was shot, impaling her right on her left shoulder. She screamed at the agonizing pain, but quickly shut the door. She pushed the table that was next to it against it to prevent them from barging in. Sera went to her, seeing the blood profusely coming out of the wound.

"If I pull it out now, it's going to bleed more honey!"

Kagome winced as she saw Uli sweating heavily and laying down on her couch, "No, we have to help her first."

They could hear the shouting outside and the screeching.

Sera went quickly to grab a bucket of water from the kitchen and any clean cloths she could find. Kagome got Uli more comfortable as the contractions started again. She tried sustaining her screams, but she couldn't.

It wasn't long until bokoblins were right outside of the door banging on it. She looked around, trying to find somewhere they could go that could be remotely safe. She saw the closet and cursed.

"We can't deliver the baby with them on us like this," she said in a hurry as she pulled things out of the closet, "I'm going to put you in here and I'm going to get rid of them."

Uli gripped her hand, "No Kagome!"

Kagome placed the blanket and the pillow hurriedly, "Don't make yourself stop. If you feel that the baby is coming just push."

Sera's eyes were brimming with tears, the fear and shock finally overwhelming her as Kagome closed the door on them.

She groaned as she went to grab the iron rod by the chimney as the bokoblins broke through the door. There were three of them. She channeled as much of her energy onto the rod and swung. The first bokoblin hissed and yelped in pain as part of its face started to burn off because of her purification energy. She swung it again, this time impaling it on its eye, killing it instantly.

The other two screeched and ambushed her. They threw her over the couch, landing roughly on the shoulder that still had the arrow in. She sustained her scream as one of them grabbed her by her hair. She kicked it away just as she heard Uli scream loudly, soon followed by the cries of a newborn.

Their attention was then switched from the woman in front of them to the sounds coming from the closet. Adrenaline rushed in, protectiveness and anger flowing from her in waves as she saw them making their way over to the closet. She used all of her strength her small body could muster and tackle the closest bokoblin. The creature screeched, ready to hit her with its club when she impaled it with the rod right on its chest.

She was panting as there was only one left. Before she could react, the last bokoblin hit her in the club right in the middle, making her go through the sole window of the living room. She could feel the soreness in her abdomen where it got her, as well as various cuts due to the glass. She had dropped the rod, leaving her with nothing. She heard Uli's scream louder as the bokoblin opened the door. She then gripped the arrow that was still in her shoulder and removed it. With a strength she didn't know she possessed, she jumped in through the broken window and landed on the bokoblin's backside. The arrow in her hand glowed brightly as she brought it down to its head, incinerating half of it immediately. She fell on her knees on the floor in front of the two crying women.

Sera went to her as Uli cradled the newborn close to her chest. She shouted in alarm as another bokoblin was coming through the door, but it did not make it far as the familiar blue hilt of the Master Sword was seen from behind the creature as it was stabbed through the heart.

Link felt anger rise in him at the state of the three women. He saw the bodies of the bokoblins splattered all over the living room, blood and ashes everywhere. He took in Kagome's state and the cry of the newborn for everything to make sense to him.

Uli was relieved as she saw him, as she knew nothing could go wrong now with him being back. He went up to her, his blue eyes wide as he took her in and the baby. She started to cry from happiness, "It's your sister. She's okay, thanks to Kagome."

His eyes landed on the form of said woman who was wide eyed staring at him. He could somehow feel it, so after making sure Uli and the baby were okay, he grabbed Kagome and held her tightly.

She winced at the force of his hug, making him freeze.

"What is it?"

"Shot with an arrow. Thrown out of the window after being hit with a club."

"You really are a magnet for danger."