Tora-chan: Hi everyone! I know I've been bad and haven't updated quickly, but it's hard when you're working full time, and school starts soon. So then I'll have school and work full time. I really try to find time to update. I promise.
Well I gave everyone else the day off so it's just me for now. First off I would like to thank my reviewers. First off - -
Shikahanyou – I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. It's good to know that people enjoy their writing and it makes me so happy to find those that do. Thank you a whole bunch!
Inuyashaswife12 – Thank you once again for the review. You were the first person to do so and it means a lot to me. Thank You!
Piratedemon: Thank you to my newest reviewer. I'm so happy that you love my story. It makes me so happy I want to cry. Big hug Thank you thank you thank you!
Okay then this are the three people that reviewed since I posted the last chapter (inuyashaswife12 is the only one that reviewed for chapter 16 but still I do shout outs as the come up)
Okay then, I do not own Inuyasha and crew. There the disclaimer is done and now it's time to get the chapter started.
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Last time: Everyone found out that they need to get the Hoshi Ken to release the barrier around the spirit stone. The Inuyasha group also found out the Vitanie is the last surviving Tijian.
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Vitanie slowly walked into the kitchen ready to cook another breakfast before heading out toward the ruins of the Tijian village. She turned the last corner and stopped in shock. Standing in the kitchen cooking was Akiasa, Kagome, and Sango. Kohaku and Akemi at that moment walked in with a bucket of water and firewood.
"What in the blazes is going on? The sun isn't even up yet," Vitanie asked still standing in the doorway in amazement.
"Vee, relax. Since you made all the meals yesterday we decided too make breakfast this morning," Akiasa said smiling at her daughter.
"Fine, I see that. But what I meant is why am I being kicked out of my kitchen again?" she asked letting some of her anger to the surface.
"Your kitchen? I didn't realize that you claimed it," Akemi teased. "As far as I knew you hated cooking for us all the time."
"No, I love cooking. I hated hearing about what was going on outside that door every meal when I was stuck inside," Vitanie explained her annoyance.
Akemi and Akiasa turned toward her and smiled sadly. "Sorry about that, I guess we didn't think about how that would affect you," her mother apologized.
"Whatever," Vitanie grumbled. "I'll be outside, get me when breakfast is ready," with that she walked out the door and around the side of the house.
Vitanie sat there is silence enjoying the quiet of home. She had always wanted to sit outside and enjoy the sunrise but had never had the opportunity to do so. With a small smile she jumped up into one of the trees at the edge of the orchard along the side of the house and watched the sky slowly start to lighten. She was so caught up in the peace and tranquility that she never even noticed Yuki leaning against the base of the tree.
Yuki smiled to himself as he looked up at Vitanie, he had seen her walking out of the house and was about to go talk to her when he noticed the annoyed and slightly upset expression on her face. That didn't stop him from following her into the orchard though. He watched as she jumped up into a tree and turned toward the east. He found it odd that she choose a tree on the north side of the orchard instead of the east to watch the sunrise. Then he realized that the east side was up against Sen's forest and she wouldn't have been able to watch the sun from there. Here the ground started to slowly slope down until the village came into view just below where she sat.
The tree she had chosen was away from the other trees just enough to give a clear view to the east and west. So that the sunset and sunrise could be seen clearly, there were benches several yards away from the tree each facing the direction the sun would travel.
Vitanie slowly stretched as the sun came into view the light falling across her features making her squint until her eyes adjusted. With a smile she jumped down from the tree and landed a few feet from Yuki. His presence made her stumble back in shock.
"Yuki, what are you doing standing under the tree like that? I didn't even know you were there. Where you trying to kill me or something?" she exclaimed with her hand over her chest hoping that it would help her heart slow down from the shock.
"Not very observant are you?" he said calmly though he was loving the fact that he had scared her. "You really should be more prepared for trouble."
"Yuki, you baka wolf! How dare you patronize me! I'll get you back for that," she yelled as she turned away from him and back toward the house for breakfast.
Several hours later Vitanie stood at the border between the temple grounds and Sen's forest. She turned toward her mother and brother with a smile.
"I know it was only a day but I'll be back soon with the Hoshi Ken. It wont be another two years before I return again." With that she turned and gave each a hug before taking her staff back from Akemi and turning toward the forest.
They were through the barrier protecting the temple and back into the forest in seconds. The walked along relaxed, quiet conversations going on between different groups until Vitanie walked straight into something and fell backwards in shock.
"What the - - there's nothing there!" she exclaimed rubbing her backside from when she fell.
"Vee are you okay?" Hiroshi asked as he helped her to her feet.
"Only my pride was hurt," she mumbled darkly. "Why didn't anyone tell me there was going to be a barrier her?" she yelled in frustration.
A laugh answered her from just past the side of the trail on the other side of the barrier. "You never asked my cat eared friend," the answer came as Sen stepped into view.
"What in the blazes are you talking about Sen? And since when do you call me your cat eared friend?" she asked gripping her staff tightly in an attack stance.
"There is no need to get offensive; it is just that you can't continue forward in that direction without proving that you mean no harm. Prove yourself and the barrier will drop," he answered with a smile as he withdrew his flute from the quiver and started to play it.
Everyone stood there in shock trying to figure out just what the wood fairy had meant. Well everyone except Hiroshi who was stated from the song the wood fairy was playing. It was the same song that he caught Vitanie humming from time to time, though it seemed that she knew she was humming it.
"What song is that?" he asked suddenly catching everyone by surprise.
Sen stopped playing and eyed the musician, then with a smile he answered, "It is a song without a name, but it is a song of power and strength that feeds the forest around it." Hiroshi puzzled over the riddle of an answer until he swung his lyre around in front of him and started to play the song there.
Sen too started to play again his eyes sparkling with interest. With the two instruments the plants around them started to grow at an alarming rate. Hiroshi's eyes widen in shock as he made an end to the song.
Vitanie though was glaring at the two of them, "That's all well and good, but could someone please give me a hint on how to get this barrier to move or I might just have to hurt someone," she snapped her anger starting to take over.
"Well that certainly won't prove that you mean no harm," Sen laughed. "Besides I already gave you the key to getting through," he motioned toward the pouch that the ocarina was in before turning and walking away.
"Sen!" she yelled after him clearly frustrated at the wood fairy playing with her life.
Kagome walked up behind Vitanie and put a hand on her shoulder, "If we don't get past the barrier we won't be able to make it to the village tonight."
"You mean the ruins," the half Tijian mumbled. "Fine I'll try. But Hiroshi's the one that has the musical skill not me," she sighed in defeat as she with drew the ocarina from its pouch. Even in the shadows of the forest the ocarina gleamed white. On the bottom of the instrument five red stars could be seen clearly carved into the terra cotta instrument.
As Vitanie looked at the instrument she groaned at her fate. She was able to sing along with Sen and Hiroshi but she had no musical skills when it came to actually playing an instrument. When she used the castanets while dancing she had always taken a silent cue from Hiroshi when the practiced each song until she was able to do it without the cues. But that was a simple tap of her fingers and that was it. This was an instrument where you actually had different notes and a lot of different ways of messing up.
She placed her fingers over the holes and lifted the instrument slowly to her lips. Once there she took a slow breath in and out through her nose before she started to play. The notes where soft and sonorous filling the air with a sense of ease. At the sounds of the notes Vitanie visibly relaxed as she let her finger move over the holes. Her eyes where closed as she played letting her fingers move where they wanted. As she slowly ended and lowered the instrument she opened her eyes to see several shocked faces around her.
"What?" she asked confused.
"Sister, you played liked Hiroshi plays the lute," Mari said from beside Shippo.
At Vitanie's confused look Yuki spoke up, "She means that even when I shook you to tell you the barrier started to shine and then shattered that you just kept playing without even acknowledging the fact that I touched you."
"You were shacking me?" she asked causing everyone to step back in shock.
"Vitanie are you okay? You were completely out of it when you were playing and now you don't remember what was going on around you for the last several minutes," Sango asked in concern.
"I'm fine," she answered sliding the ocarina back into its poach. 'We should actually be happy, the first time Hiroshi played his lute he doesn't remember anything that happened until hours afterwards. He spent the entire evening writing music oblivious to everything."
"I wasn't oblivious to everything. Just most things," he commented.
"We should be moving out now. We need to reach the Tijian ruins before night fall," Miroku commented to bring them back on track.
"Yeah, lets move it already," Inuyasha snapped getting impatient at the delay.
"What ever you saw mutt," Vitanie teased as she started down the trail again. Inuyasha growled which caused her to laugh as they started to follow her down the trail.
Vitanie certain switches moods quickly was the thought on most of their minds as the watched the half Tijian's back move steadily forward.
The made it through the forest without much trouble. Any demons that where nearby stayed clear due to a command from Sen and any demon that would have attacked against Sen's orders weren't allowed into the forest to beginning with.
They reached a large opening just as the sun started to set. There were mounds of dirt and grass that had once been homes in the center of the open area. There was a cliff off to one side with a small open meadow at the top. Flowers and grass could barely be seen from the lip of the cliff. Everyone knew where they were when they saw an old well and a stone building with most of the walls knocked down near the north side of the village.
They walked through the village in silence until the came to a large home at the base of the cliff. The home was in disrepair but was the one building that still had most of its walls and a roof. As they entered they noticed that the house made a U shape around a courtyard, each end of the house almost up against the cliff face. Straight across from where they entered there was another door, which was lying on the ground, that lead out into the yard behind.
Everyone started searching through the rooms until they saw Vitanie head out the door toward the back.
"Vitanie what is it? Something wrong?" Kagome asked as she followed slowly after her, the others not far behind.
"I've been here before," she answered softly. Everyone started at her not understanding how that could be true. "In my dreams and daydreams," she clarified. "I use to come here to spend time with my father. I would lay out by the waterfall and then try to hind from him when it was time to go inside. I always tried to surprise him or scare him, though he always knew where I was hiding."
"Vitanie that's impossible. You father died before you were born," Yuki commented turning her and shaking her shoulder when he saw the slightly glazed look in her eyes.
"They were daydreams, but they were real," she said softly as she got out of Yuki's grasp and started down the weed choked path toward the sound of a waterfall. Everyone quickly followed not quiet understanding what was going on.
"Yuki do you happen remember Vitanie saying something about talking to her father when her arm was burned?" Hiroshi asked as the hurried after her.
"You're right she did mention something like that, she was in a daze for three days that time around," he answered as he cursed under his breath.
"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha snapped behind them.
"Later, we have to find Vitanie first," Hiroshi answered when he noticed that he couldn't see her through the small grove anymore.
They then made it to an opening where they saw a small waterfall falling into a pool before it entered a stream and ran out toward the village. Vitanie was standing on the other side of a small bridge that crossed the stream looking up at someone standing on the side of the cliff. From the bottom of the falls there was stairs carved into the side of the cliff leading up to the small meadow. A young woman stood on the stairs staring down at the group.
She had on a gray kimono accented in black and white. The whole outfit was actually lacking in color giving the girl a rather neutral and almost eerie aura. Her hair was a soft brown which was not normal; most people had either black or very dark brown hair, unless they had demon blood. But hers was such a light brown that it was almost blonde. But what really sent shivers down their backs were her eyes. They were gray; there was not a single speck of another color in those eyes.
She looked down at the group that gathered behind the Tijian without any flicker of emotion. When she started slowly down the stairs everyone stiffened as if afraid that she was going to attack. But she continued forward slowly until she stopped just in front of Vitanie.
She opened her mouth to reveal an almost emotionless yet soft voice, "Vitanie Tora you've been expected."
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Tora-chan: Hehehehe. Sorry everyone but cliffhanger! Hiroshi's not here to get mad at me at doing this. Besides I wasn't even sure if I was going to put this new character in or not. And at the moment you don't even know if she's friend or foe. Is this evil? I would say so. Well I think that's all for now. I guess you'll all have to wait for the next chapter to see what happens next.
Well since Hiroshi isn't here I guess I have to finish up sigh Thank you for reading and please review. Oh and I decided that I wont update again until I have three reviews for this chapter. I know that's kinda evil but I want to know what people think. Well have a nice day. bows