A/N: Hey everyone
Before I get on with the reviews or the chapters, I'm afraid I have to apologize to a few people.
Some people have been sending me PM's in response to this story.
Unfortunately, the PM's often get mixed up with the review alerts and, since I don't actually read the reviews in my email, and since I get so many alerts I don't often think to look through for PM's, and a lot of them got deleted.
If you wrote me a PM and I didn't respond, that's very likely the reason.
Gomen to everyone who I didn't write back too, I honestly didn't know.
Anyway, to make up for it a little bit, I got this chapter out a bit earlier than I expected (especially since everything's chaos around here). Sorry again to everyone if I missed you-- it's not a personal thing, I'm just an idiot.
-Clouds of the Sky - Oh do they? Lol, I don't know, I don't actually see a lot of babies on the 4th of July... maybe that's why!
-Bluer Sky - Oh, I think it might take a little while yet. Cause first I've got a Amaya's little visit off to who knows where, and then I've got a little detail involving Kag and Inu that I think most people haven't thought about yet. Anyway, hopefully I can still keep you guys interested enough to bear with me for that long.
-Ania24 - Lol, well I'm certainly glad that you like it so much.
-Lord Makura - Well, maybe for a little while... might have to angst them out a bit more in the future chapters though... But I don't think they'll go back to the way they are in the series if it's any consolation.
-lunerfox - Lol, well I would ya see, but then my good self would feel a bit left out, and I wouldn't want that now would I?
-xolovexinuyasha - wow, you've got all that in one teacher? Man. Talk about a bitch. Huh... I don't know why, but it makes me think of Kikyo for some reason... -- Glad you could escape from gym for a while though. My break just ended today, so tha's kinda depressing but what ya gonna do about it? Nope, I've never heard of youtube. Well, that's not entirely true, because you just mentioned it, so technically I have heard of it now, just not really. Or something...
-Punk Rock Miko2 - Lol, yeah, I imagine she is. Hopefully Inu can help her get fattened back up again though.
-sourapple10000 - Lol, I actually don't know what Sango will say to Kohaku. I'm thinking I might have to put off their reunion for a little while. I think Kohaku would be fairly stressed out knowing his sister was there... Might take a bit of time for him to adjust. Plus, Sango and Miroku would need a bit of time getting used to being free again as well, wouldn't they? Still, I'll get to that soon enough I hope. sighs the last chapter already? Well it had to come eventually I suppose...
-wolfygirl13 - Lol, well it's always an experience with you isn't it? Still, I made Sesshomaru laugh, even in chibi form that's quite the feat to be proud of! Unless of course, as you said, he's still high on sugar fumes, in which case it could be very easy to make him laugh... -- Still, sounds like all the usual chaos is keeping up around the chocolate factory. Nice to know everything's normal over there. And really, Inuyasha, that was just stupid. He may not have killed you for that insult, but now you've got him considering it. clicks tongue honestly, I don't know what we're going to do with you sometimes. KANNA STOP CHASING NARAKU! Honestly! Can't our fav villain's chibi-counterpart get a moments peace? Lol, I guess this is why Willie Wonka had oompa loompas and not chibi-Inuyasha characters. Lol, now that I think about it though... what is a steel shield of impending doom? And what exactly would it defend against? And why has no one invested in marketing sugar fumes as a drug, considering the effects it seems to have? -- Cosmic questions I guess we'll never know the answer to.
-Sexy Kat - Lol, I don't care how long the review is. It's just easier to respond to longer ones because then I don't have to repeat myself by going "Thanks, I'm glad you like it" and stuff like that over and over again. Makes me sound like a fcucking robot sometimes and I hate having to do that. Still, thanks anyway, and I'm glad you like it!
-RamblingPhilosopher - You wish? What makes you think you aren't? o.O
-Wings of Fayth - Lol, just the options that are available to me. You should actually probably be thankful that my sadistic mind has let them get back together at all. Believe me, I can be much meaner to the characters. And I have been. Especially to poor Inu. But that's only cause I like him so darn much. -- Stupid? Gullible? Huh. Well, I have no idea... I suppose if you think you are... "You are what you make yourself." And all that... I honestly can't say...
-Almandine-Azaleea - Lol, everybody seems to like it when I get out of the characters heads and more into the descriptions of what's going on... I should really try and keep that in mind for future reference... Still, glad I could make your day a little better! Miroku and Sango? Yeah, I'll get to them... I'm not sure when though, btu I'll get to them. Right now though I have another character who I think most people seem to have temporarily forgotten.
-Black Betty - Yeah, I was considering killing her, but the jury are all major Kag/Inu fans, so I figure I better not take the risk just yet.
-Wish-full Thinker - Yay! Well I'm glad that I finally got it the way you wanted it! I have no idea if I'll keep that up (no control over these things you know-- it might just have been a fluke) but still, I got it one time around, there's bound to be another, neh?
-Squishy Penguin - Lol, isn't everyone? It's making me a little sick myself, but if the readers are enjoying it...
-Kuroi - I'm glad you think so: )
Well I think that's about it... Hopefully I didn't miss anyone during that...
All that Jazz
Kaede felt the dark presence approaching long before it actually came into sight, and she stepped outside, bow drawn at the ready, waiting...
Amaya landed without ceremony on the same post as last time, her head cocked to the side, eyes gleaming in a way that suggested she was in disbelief that an old hag like her would raise a bow against them as she summoned her wind and transformed back into a human.
'Now, were you pointing that bow at me, Kaede?' She asked, her tone taunting as she stepped down from the pole.
Kaede frowned, lowering the bow.
'What brings ye back here again, Amaya?' She asked slowly, her one eye watching the woman before her cautiously. 'I doubt ye came in search of me, so what is it you want.'
Amaya cocked an eyebrow. 'Actually, Kaede, that is exactly why I did come.' She said, keeping her tone offhanded and yet, at the same time, serious. Kaede seemed slightly taken aback.
'What business would ye have with me?' The old miko asked, her face deepening and creasing even further as her frown grew.
Amaya shrugged. 'Well, for one, I thought you would like to know that Kagome, Inuyasha and the other's they traveled with are free and safe from Naraku. For the time being.'
Kaede's eye widened slightly then narrowed in suspicion. 'What have ye done to them now, Amaya?' She asked, her tone dark and warning. Amaya cocked an eyebrow at her, blatantly scoffing her attempts to threaten.
'Do not kid with me, Kaede. I have not done anything to them. I simply took them to a safer place. Safer, that is, until Naraku notices them all being gone and starts the real witch-hunt for them.'
Kaede stared at her a moment. 'And where is this safer place you speak of?' The miko asked slowly, not entirely certain she wanted to know what Amaya deemed to be safe. The girl had a rather different set of definitions from the rest of the world as to what was "safe" and "easy" and most of those other words humans used so frequently.
Amaya stared back at her, her dark eyes glittering slightly and shook her head. 'Ah-ah, Kaede, I don't think so. You know the way this works. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. An eye for an eye...' and here her eyes flickered to Kaede's black patch for a moment. 'And all that jazz.' She said.
Silence swept through to fill the air between them at the end of her sentence before Kaede, seeming to realise that Amaya wasn't going to speak again, decided to break it.
'And what is it that ye want?' She asked slowly, knowing that it would likely be something very difficult or bad or dark or, in the end, lead to one of those things.
Amaya cocked her head in consideration for a moment, and then said 'I want you to take me to Kashikari.' She said slowly.
Kaede's eye widened again, her face paling slightly in shock as she stared at the sorceress, before it hardened and became the angry mask she seemed to reserve just for people like Amaya.
'Why would I do a thing like that?' Kaede demanded, her tone heating slightly as Amaya stared at her in open amusement.
'Why wouldn't you?' Amaya countered. 'A dark, dangerous being to be sure, but what do you honestly think I would do? Do you think he would move to serve Naraku? I do not. He serves no one, and, had he been interested in such things, he would have joined with Naraku already. No. I seek him out for different reasons. Besides' and here she glanced around in disdain at the deserted village. 'You can't stay here protecting no one and nothing forever. This village is abandoned, and you protect only planks of wood and pieces of earth now. Your powers would be put to much better use defending against Naraku.' She turned back toward Kaede. 'Come with me, take me to him, and I, in return, shall take you to see your precious miko wench and half-breed.'
Kaede stared at her a moment, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she contemplated this, and Amaya sighed dramatically. How she hated this old hag. There was nothing in the whole universe that needed as much contemplation as she put into things! Especially not this. It was simple: Stay in a deserted village, wondering always if everyone is safe or not while you guards some rotting houses, or play guide to a sorceress, and then be taken to your friends and help them in healing.
Why was it so difficult?
Amaya snorted.
It wasn't!
Growing impatient with the priestess's lack of response, Amaya reached forward into the woman's mind, easily breaking through the miko barriers that surrounded it and easing through her thoughts.
She smiled as she came across the one she wanted, and turned her focus back on the woman in front of her.
'So you'll do it then.' She said simply, confidently. Kaede frowned in displeasure, but did not argue. It was pointless. She knew what the sorceress had done, so there was no use denying it. Instead, she decided to point out so more vital facts. Like they had no way of getting there.
'Ay, I'll take ye to the place. But it is several hundred leagues from here, and we have no way of getting there. I am an old woman now, I cannot so easily make such a journey over mountains and hills as I used to.'
Amaya cocked an eyebrow. 'Well, you were right about one thing: you are old. However, I did not think you had such little faith in me as to believe I would let you drag your withering bones all across the lands of Musashi like that. It would take us weeks that way!'
That said, Amaya turned away from the affronted miko and, cupping her hands around her mouth, she let out a loud, shrill whistle that rang across the skies, echoing in valleys and mountains all around as Kaede was forced to cover her ears or risking them shattering from the sound.
A pause in which Kaede wondered if the sorceress had completely lost her mind, and then...
Kaede frowned at the faint rumbling sound that reached her ears, growing louder ever second.
'Is that thunder?' She asked softly. Amaya cast her a half-sceptic glare out of the corner of her eye and then turned her attention back to the sky.
A faint pinprick of light was to be seen there, rapidly growing closer and larger as the sound increased around them, until, with a rather violent crack that made the earth shake and white-hot flames leap from beneath his feet, Gouka landed before them, his fire-mane flashing wildly about him as he looked between the dark sorceress, who was smirking in amusement, and the thunderstruck looking priestess, who had her hand clutched tightly to her chest.
'Kaede, I'd like you to meet Gouka, leader of the horse-demon tribe.' She said as Kaede worked to regain her breathing.
The horse gave a small shake of his head in greeting, and Kaede in turn tilted her own head down, her eyes still fairly wide.
The sorceress looked between them, her face still holding that edge of amusement to it, her dark eyes glittering in a slightly sadistic manner, before she spoke again. 'Gouka will be your transportation to Kashikari.'
Glossary
Kaede - Maple
Amaya - Night Rain
Miko - Priestess/witch (In this case priestess)
Naraku - Hell
Kashikari - Wise Legend
Gouka - This word actually has many meanings-- Hell Fire, Effects of Karma, valour and decisiveness, wealthy and powerful family, wonderful(an), gorgeous, splendour, pomp and world-destroying conflagration. In this case, I am using the first meaning for the horse-demon's name.
A/N: Hm, hm, I'm starting to have some fun with these characters again. Well, not that I wasn't before, but now I'm actually getting them to do something interesting, neh?
SPECIAL THANKX AND PROMISE FOR MORE FLUFF IN FUTURE CHAPTERS TO: Clouds of the Sky, Bluer Sky, Ania24, Lord Makura, lunerfox, xolovexinuyasha, Punk Rock Miko2, sourapple10000, wolfygirl13, Sexy Kat, RamblingPhilosopher, Wings of Fayth, Almandine-Azaleea, Black Betty, Wish-full Thinker, Squishy Penguin and Kuroi! -- You guys really have been a big help in this story!
CMoC - Santa Monica - Theory of a Deadman, Silhouettes - Smile Empty Soul, For You - Staind,
Perfect - Maren Ord(?), In Our Gun - Gomez, Blurry - Puddle of Mudd, Away from Me - Puddle of Mudd, My Will - Dream, Some-japanese-song-from-an-AMV-that-I-don't-know-the-name-of..., too late - Ayumi Hamasaki ( -- This song really impresses me-- I don't know how the hell she can sing that fast!), Shape of Love - Every Little Thing, Fukai Mori (Deep Forest) - Do as Infinity