"Disclaimer: Inuyasha isn't mine...or Kouga...or anybody else in the story, except for Shiori.
A/N: I know the last chapter wasn't the greatest, so I hope to make up for it with this one. What's going to happen? I don't know (well, actually I do). Read on to find out! Oh yeah, and if you think by the name of this chapter that good things are going to happen, you're wrong.
Recap: Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara (can't leave out the little fuzzy youkai, can we?) have finally made it to Naraku's castle. Oh yeah. Kouga's tagging along, since his beloved Kagome is obviously in danger. Kohaku's after Kagome and Sango. Just as they are about to get away, he comes and attack them. Cliffie!
I've decided I'm going to start updating every FRIDAY. Got that? Friday, because that's when I have the most time. Since this chapter will be done before Friday, you can expect two chapters this week. Now, for my reviewers.
Isolde Eris - Glad you like it!
clnv - Thanks! I'm glad you think the story's interesting.
Chapter 6 - Little Surprises
Kagome stared wildly at Kohaku and the raised blade before realization hit her. She grabbed Sango's arm to run. A sharp pain seared through her back, but she grimaced and did her best to ignore it. The hall seemed to stretch on forever. There footsteps echoed throughout the almost empty castle, causing their footsteps to sound a lot louder than they were. That, and Kagome could hear her heart beating rapidly. Sango reluctantly allowed Kagome to pull her along. Kohaku...
After a few agonizing moments, Sango turned and stopped running. "I'm sorry, Kagome-chan. But I'm not going to leave him alone like this! He's my brother..." Tears welled again in her eyes and she shook them away furiously. She began advancing towards Kohaku, but the expression on his pale face didn't change.
Kagome reached out her hand and grabbed Sango's shoulder. "Wait! We can come back for him, but we should try and find Inuyasha and Miroku-san first. Then..." Kagome's voice trailed off. A shudder racked her body, and she turned around nervously. The Sacred jewel shards were near, and they weren't Kohaku's. Sango felt her tense up and turned around hesitantly. They both thought it was the same person. Naraku.
Boy, did they get a surprise.
Low shouts were heard from the hall to the left of them. Husky, deep, high, and shrill. Kagome smiled widely when she realized it wasn't Naraku. But, then...what about the Sacred jewel shards? Her thoughts were answered a second later.
Kirara, now transformed, ran around the corner and instantly to Sango's side. She let out what sounded like roar, although more friendly than most roars are. She saw Kohaku standing there, as if frozen, although his weapon was now at his side. She nuzzled Sango's leg, obviously knowing something was wrong with Kohaku.
Inuyasha turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Kouga came around next, bending over and putting one hand on the ground to stop himself from sliding across the wood. Miroku came last, halting next to Inuyasha. Shippou was still on his shoulder. He jumped down and onto Kaogme's shoulder, crying out in delight. "We finally found you, Kagome! Sango's safe, too!"
Kagome blinked back tears. In...Inuyasha. She stared at him with innocent happiness...of course, Inuyasha wouldn't let anyone know he was ecstatic to find Kagome safe and sound. Sort of. (Hint hint)
Kouga, relieved to find Kagome safe as well, didn't try hiding it. He grabbed Kagome's hands and brought them close to his face. "Kagome, I'm sorry I let that mutt let Naraku kidnap you. But what can you expect for a pathetic hanyou?" He smirked as Inuyasha showed no sign of resentment. His head was bowed down, fists clenched tightly in front of him.
"He's right Kagome." A small gasp worked its way into her mouth and escaped her lips. He continued on, bracing himself for what he was about to say. Bitterness was edged into his voice. "I shouldn't have left you alone like that...you shouldn't have ever been brought here. I put your life...and Sango's...in danger," he concluded. Amber eyes stared her down, reading her instant reaction to his apology. "It's my fault."
The thick tension hung in the air. After a few moments of silence, running footsteps were heard. Everyone turned to see Kohaku running down the end hall. Barefooted steps slowly faded as Kohaku, too, disappeared. Just vanished.
"Kohaku!" Sango grabbed the Hiraikotsu and tried to chase after her kid brother, before Miroku grabbed her arm. She turned around to face him with hasty indignation. "Let me go! I have to go after my brother! I can't let Naraku take control over him again!" She struggled against Miroku's grasp, but he held on tightly and wouldn't let go.
"I know your brother means the world to you, Sango-chan. But there's nothing we can do for him at this moment. We need to try and get out of the castle," Miroku told her, calmly. He pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.
Sango gave up trying to resist. She rested her head on Miroku's chest, sighing with a mix of exasperation and contentment. They weren't aware that everyone else was watching, but even if they did I'm sure they wouldn't care.
Inuyasha chose this time to rip Kouga away from Kagome. He stared Kagome straight in the eyes and frowned, smelling her. "Kagome, you're hurt." The slightly metallic tang of blood mingled with her own essence.
Kagome blinked in confusion before realizing that he was talking about the deep hole in her back. "Oh, it's fine now. It doesn't hurt that much anymore." Inuyasha walked behind her and examined her blood stained uniform, growling lowly. "Really, Inuyasha. I'm okay..."
Inuyasha cut her off sharply. "Naraku's gonna pay for what he did. No one hurts Kagome without saying hello to my Tetsusaiga afterwards," Inuyasha ranted, more to himself than anyone else in the hall.
"Yeah well, it's no problem now! We need to go find Naraku," Kagome yelled, probably a little louder than she should have. Kagome paused and glanced thoughtfully at Sango, who was now murmuring something quietly to Miroku. They deserve some time alone. This whole ordeal must have been so hard on Sango... "And Kohaku. We have to find Kohaku-kun."
"Keh, I'll never understand you humans. Naraku should be at the top of our priority list..." A sad glance from Sango and a sharp glare from Kagome shut him up. "Fine. We'll go after Naraku and Kohaku." He turned and crossed his arms over his chest, ranting and raving once again to himself.
Kagome sighed miserably and let her arms drop exasperated to her side. Great way to ruin the moment. Miroku cleared his throat and everybody turned to look at him. "Inuyasha, what happened to Kagome's backpack?" The hanyou let her yellow bag fall off his shoulders and handed it to Miroku. Kagome was clearly surprised. He carried it all the way here, without complaining? She smiled softly and accepted her bag, which had her bow and quiver of arrows tucked inside, along with the jewel shards. Thank goodness everything's still here.
"Well, what's everybody waiting for? I want to hurry up, find that bastard Naraku and rip him to shreds," Kouga stated determinedly.
Sango turned away from Miroku, frowning slightly. "Do you think we should split up? We might be able to find Naraku quicker that way." But she was hesitant to leave Kagome alone. After all, the wound in her back had not completely healed. And what if Naraku came after her again?
Inuyasha nodded solemnly. "Alright. Kagome and Shippou, you come with me. Miroku and Sango can go the other way." He glared momentarily at Kouga and snarled. "And Kouga I don't care what the hell you do, as long as you stay outta my way. Let's go, Kagome." He bent down and she climbed on his back. She smiled as Shippou jumped on her shoulder and Inuyasha took off.
Sango and Miroku turned in the other direction and started running, the transformed Kirara following behind them. Kouga made up his mind and went through the last available hall, knowing if he tried to follow Kagome a fight would break loose between him and Inuyasha.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Inuyasha scanned the castle, searching for any signs of Naraku. Kagome and Inuyasha had been conversing, but soon ran out of things to talk about and just became silent. Occasionally Kagome would wince at a pain that shot through her back, but she tried not to think about it too much. Shippou was quiet as well, which was pretty surprising since usually Inuyasha had to hit him on the head to make him shut up.
Soon the hall gave way to a sliding door. Unlike the entrance doors to the castle, this one had eccentric decorations on it. Lines and shapes wove their way from the top to bottom. Deep colors splashed the surface, giving it a foreboding feeling. Kagome jumped off Inuyasha's back to examine it closely. She ran her hand along the swirling lines and narrowed her eyes in concentration.
"Inuyasha, where do you think this leads to?" She turned to face the hanyou, frowning slightly. "How come this door is so...fancy?" she muttered to herself, sorting out the reasons in her mind. None of the reasons seemed to explain the exquisite door, or where it opened up to.
Inuyasha scoffed and closed his eyes, tilting his head up ever so slightly. "Feh. What does it matter? It's just a door. And we have to go through it if we're ever going to find Naraku." He brushed past Kagome and put his hand on the door handle. He thrust the door open and stepped inside.
The room they stepped into was huge, much larger than any of the halls. The walls were painted red. Deep maroon rugs were laid out on the floor. The ceilings were high up, probably as high as Inuyasha could jump. A sizable scroll with writing in some archaic language was hanging on the far wall opposite of Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippou. There was a large circle in the middle of the room. Its wood was darker than the rest, so it stood out pretty easily. Besides that, and lit candles wrapped around the circle. The room was pretty freaky to sum it all up.
Kagome blinked as Inuyasha started walking around the room. "Inuyasha...what do you think this room is?" Her hand was clutched tightly to her chest. Since nobody else was in the room besides the trio, her voice echoed off the walls and towards the ceiling. "Talk about weird..." Her voice gradually rose in pitch, a tinge of worry relevant.
Inuyasha scowled and rested his hands in his sleeves. "I don't like this room. Something tells me something fishy's goin' on around here."
Just as Inuyasha suspected, something definitely fishy was going on. A red light created a dome around the center circle. The silhouette of a figure began to form. Kagome stepped back in surprise and Inuyasha immediately gripped the hilt of his Tetsusaiga. A murderous laugh began to ring throughout the room.
I'll give you one guess to who it is.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Sango stopped at the next intersection, panting and trying to get her breath back. Miroku was shortly beside her. It was as if they were stuck in a maze. How big was the castle, anyway?
"Which way do you think we should go?" Sango questioned, shifting her gaze from one hall to the next. There were three: straight, left, and right. She readjusted the large boomerang on her back and frowned slightly. All these halls were quite unnerving.
Miroku knit his brow in concentration. He rubbed his forehead and let out a deep sigh. "It doesn't seem to matter at this point. We have no clue of to where we are, anyway." Suddenly his violet eyes seemed to harden. He started running down the hall to the left. "I can sense a demonic aura coming from this way!" he shouted back to Sango.
Sango got the message and started running after Miroku. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive. There's no doubt that one of Naraku's minions are somewhere at the end of this hall," he replied, somewhat calmly.
Sure enough, at the end of the hall there was an entryway. Miroku stepped inside first, quickly scanning the room for any signs of a youkai. As soon as Sango stepped in, she pointed ahead of them.
On a raised level of the wooden floor, a woman stood with a fan in her hand. A small smirk played on her face as she stepped down. She was waving herself steadily and slowly. Her red eyes bore into the two of them.
"Kagura! I should've known you'd be here," Miroku implied. He stared right back at her, clutching his staff tightly. "What do you want from us?"
Kagura laughed and took another step forward. "The only reason I'm here is because Naraku ordered me to kill you." She snarled and with a snap she closed her fan. "And there's no way for you to escape."
"What are you..." Sango was interrupted when a slam was heard behind them. The doorway they had entered through disappeared, revealing nothing but wall. Furtively, Sango ran her hand along the wall where the door was. "You'll pay for this, Kagura!" the taijiya snapped defiantly. Anger flashed momentarily in her eyes. "Hiraikotsu!" The giant boomerang was thrust in to the air and directly at Kagura.
"Fujin no Mai!" Crescent-shaped blades shot out of the fan. Miroku ran to the left, whereas Sango ran to the right. The blades ended up slamming into the wall and disappearing. The wind sorceress frowned and turned to Miroku. "As I said before," she yelled, "there's no way for you to escape!" With a snarl, she repeated the same attack at Miroku.
He wasn't so lucky this time. When he turned to run, one of the blades nicked his shoulder. Another one happened to leave a nice cut in his leg, making him fall to the ground. Sango didn't waste another second, and ran protectively to his side.
"Oh, no! Miroku, are you okay?" Sango examined the rip in his robes and helped him sit up. "You're going to pay for this, Kagura! Hiraikotsu!" Once again, Sango's weapon was sent spiraling through the air.
Kagura lifted her fan into the air and smirked. "Your silly attacks won't be able to reach me," she said dismissively. The boomerang deflected against something right before it hit Kagura. It was sent right back to Miroku and Sango.
Sango gripped tightly to Miroku's arm. She braced herself for the attack of her own Hiraikotsu, which came seconds after. Together, they went flying backwards and crashed into the wall.
Kagura laughed and waved her fan one more time. "My work here...is finished." A burst of wind came from the center of the room, and Kagura disappeared. The room became quiet except for the heavy breathing from Miroku and Sango.
Sango opened her eyes and sat up, holding her head. "Damn you, Kagura. What is this, a disappearing act!?" she yelled angrily to no one in particular.
"Sango, calm down. Be grateful for this once we were spared." Miroku said tentatively. He brought his hand to his shoulder and tightly clutched the bleeding gash. With the help of Sango, he stood up. A further inspection of the room they were in revealed no exit. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"
Miroku's question was answered. A quiet rumbling was heard from beneath them. The wood floors began to vibrate and shake. The rumbling noise soon became louder, until finally the boards collapsed.
Sango grabbed onto Miroku's arm, but couldn't find anything else sturdy to grab hold of. Boards tumbled down what looked like a black hole. Unfortunately, Miroku and Sango went with it.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Kouga peeled his lips back to snarl. He'd been searching the castle for quite some time, finding nothing but empty rooms and halls. The only thing he'd found was Hakkaku and Ginta, who had found their way into the castle and happened to stumble into each other.
Ginta bent over and rested his hands on his thighs. "Uh, Kouga...do you think we could rest for a bit? It's hard to keep up with you, with all this running." He was expecting a punch from Kouga, but luckily none came. Hakkaku nodded in agreement to Ginta.
"We don't stop until we've found that damn Naraku and pay him back for what he did to Kagome," Kouga snapped. "Toughen up, already." The trio of wolf-youkai started running again, Kouga in his signature whirlwind.
After another few minutes of running, Kouga stopped. Hakkaku and Ginta crashed into him, not really paying attention to anything in front of him. They'd come to another room. The floor in this room was half gone, leading into blackness. Kouga walked up to the hall and squatted down, peering into the hole.
"Is there anyone down there, Kouga?" Hakkaku asked hesitantly. He kneeled down on the floor and leaned over the hole. He began sniffing the air, and Ginta followed suit.
"Someone's definitely been here," Kouga replied. "I can still smell that houshi and the taijiya. They've been here, and I bet they fell when the boards collapsed," he stated. "There's also the faint smell of blood." Without further ado, he jumped into the blackness.
Ginta stepped back in surprise. "Do you...d'ya think we should follow him, Hakkaku?"
Hakkaku nodded and grabbed onto Ginta's arm. "We...we have to." With that, they jumped, blackness swallowing them whole.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
A/N: And there you have it. That concludes Chapter 6. Three cliffies in one chapter! But don't worry,. I couldn't leave Kagura out of this story, since she's obviously one of Naraku's most important minions. I may bring Kanna in the next chapter as well. And what's Kouga without Ginta and Hakkaku? Please review and tell me what you think!
I apologize, but Chapter 7 won't be up until Sunday. There's been an emergency and I had to leave home for a couple days, so I don't have the file. I hope you guys can find it somewhere deep down to forgive me:(