disclaimer: Me: Go! Go! Go! Hey! What are you coppers doing i my living room?
Them: We haver recieved information from a reliable source that you are posting a story based on InuYasha.
Me: Esef! its got a disclaimer! its got a disclaimer! dont take me to jai! im too young to die!
The Lesson: Always use a disclaimer or you'll end up rotting in a jail cell on a deserted island with a whole bunch of InuYasha fanatics.
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And she swears there's nothing wrong
I hear her playing that same old song
She puts me off and puts me on
Oh, and had a bad day again
She said I would not understand
She left a note that said, "I'm sorry, I had a bad day again."
(Fuel: Bad Day)
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Don't Fall Away
Chapter Eight: Whirlwind of Emotions from All
Kagome dodged the arrow and threw a ball of energy at Kikyo, hitting her in her right arm. She then formed a bright ring around her body and sent it colliding into everything within the radius of a quarter of a mile, including Kikyo.
"You've gotten better." Kikyo said coldly. She smirked and got up from the ground.
"You ain't seen nothin' yet. Trust me."
Kikyo glared at her and shot another arrow, which Kagome again dodged. Kagome retalliated by shooting a beam of lightning from her palm that struck the dead miko in the stomach, knocking her to the ground again. Kikyo slowly stood up notched another arrow, this time infusing it with purifying energy. She once again sent it hurtling towards Kagome. This one was traveling faster than the others. Kagome attempted to move out of the way, but the arrow grazed her shoulder, tearing her kimono.
While Kagome was distracted, Kikyo set loose another arrow. Kagome saw this one too late and it hit her in the stomach. Kagome froze and Kikyo smirked.
"I guess you didn't get good enough, though." Kikyo said, faking a sympathetic look, and failing miserably, by the way. "Find peace in the afterlife." She shot another arrow at Kagome...it never made contact.
A barrier had errected around the injured miko, who was now glowing bright pink. The arrow in her abdomen disintegrated and the wound healed in a flash of white. When the light subsided, Kikyo watched in amazement and fear as Kagome's appearance drastically changed right before her eyes. The young miko's hair grew at least three feat and changed from black to midnight blue. Her eyes changed from deep chocolate brown to ice blue while she grew nails and fangs. Two lavender stripes appeared beneath Kagome's eyes, on her wrists and ankles, and one stripe appeared on each of her hips. On her forehead there was a dark red four point star.
Kikyo watched as this transformation took place on the other miko. She had never seen anything like this happen, nor had she ever heard of any instances where it had.
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Sesshomaru stopped running when he felt a strong demonic presence suddenly appear a mile ahead of him. Sango, Miroku, Kirara, InuYasha, Yukana, and Kaori caught up with him shortly after.
"Why are we stopping?" Sango cried. "We have to hurry!"
"Damn right! We have to get to Kagome before something kills her!"
"Be silent!" Sesshomaru whispered harshly. Everyone stared at him, confused. When she finally was able to sense what was going on, Yukana's eyes went wide.
"Sesshomaru, what is that?" she asked uncertainly. Kaori was the next to realize what was going on, followed by Kirara, InuYasha, and finally Sango and Miroku.
"Stay here." Sesshomaru ordered. He then sprinted off towards the current location of Kagome and Kikyo. The sight that met his eyes suprised him. On one side of the clearing stood Kikyo, who was gaping at Kagome and looked a bit beat up. On the other side was Kagome, still glowing bright pink.
Kagome's eyes closed and she started to pulsate. The light around Kagome began to get denser and then exploded outward, destroying everything in its path. Sesshomaru quickly used Tenseiga(sp?) to shield himself from the blast, but Kikyo,however, was completely obliterated.
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The others were startled when they heard the explosion. Sango jumped up and attempted to follow Sesshomaru, but was held back by Miroku.
"If something were wrong, Sesshomaru would have come back to warn us." he reassured her.
"But, what if he's hurt, too?"
Sango, I very much doubt that Sesshomaru would be hurt. Remember, he is a full blooded yokai. It would probably take a lot to even slightly injure him."
"Miroku's right." Yukana said. "Besides, most things are too afraid to attack him unless they absolutly believe that they can win. The same should go for whatever is up ahead."
"But what if whatever's up ahead already killed Kagome!" Sango cried. Kaori looked at her and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Sango." she apologized, walking behind her.
"About what?"
"This." Kaori put Sango into a headlock. After a few seconds, Sango's body went limp.
"Kaori! What did you do!" Yukana exclaimed.
"I only put her to sleep!" Kaori said defensively. "Besides, she was getting stressed, and, to be completely honest, she was getting on my nerves. Any of you would have done the same."
"What the hell is taking him so long?" InuYasha yelled impatiently.
"InuYasha, do we need to put you to sleep, too?" Yukana teased. InuYasha glared at her.
"You're lucky that you're my cousin." InuYasha muttered darkly.
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The light died down to reveal nothing but ashes in place of all the trees and grass that were there just moments before. The only clue that Kikyo had once been there was a pile of hot ashes where she had stood.
Kagome was lying on the ground in the only spot that still had grass. Sesshomaru walked up to her and knelt next to her. Kagome was not dead, just unconscious.
'It's almost impossible that she's not dead.' Sesshomaru thought. He picked her up and headed back toward the others.
"What the hell happened!"
"She had a run-in with the dead priestess." Sesshomaru stated simply. InuYasha's eyes widened.
"Is she okay?"
"Do you mean Kagome or Kikyo?" Miroku asked. InuYasha glared at him.
"The miko is fine, though the dead priestess is once again dead."hehe Sesshomaru set Kagome down on the ground next to Sango. Miroku looked down at Kagome curiously.
"She's a youkai." he observed. Sesshomaru nodded.
"She's a what?" Yukana, Kaori, and InuYasha said in unision. They all gathered around the unconcious miko.
"Oh my...you weren't kidding." Yukana gasped. "We should go back now, Sesshomaru. Kagome needs to be looked over." Sesshomaru nodded and led the group back towards his castle.
InuYasha picked up Kagome, leaving Sango to Miroku, who, suprisingly, didn't try anything and set her on a transformed Kirara
InuYasha ran to catch up to Sesshomaru, Yukana, and Kaori, who had quickly gotten at least a quarter of a mile ahead.
"I want details Sesshomaru. What happened?" he demanded.
Sesshomaru calmly recounted the events while, for once, InuYasha listened quietly and patiently.
"So...she killed Kikyo." InuYasha said quietly.
"The miko of whigh you speak was already dead, I believe." InuYasha was silent. He fell back to walk with Sango, Miroku, and Kirara. Sango had woken up by now, but was a bit disoriented. InuYasha put Kagome on Kirara's back and crossed his arms.
"What bothers you, InuYasha?" Miroku inquired.
"It's nothing."
"InuYasha, you're never going to feel better if you don't talk about it."
"Lay off, Miroku!" InuYasha snapped.
Sango adjusted Kagome so that she was laying on her lap and then began stroking her hair. 'The marks on her face...' she thought. Sango lightly traced the markings that now adorned Kagome's face.
"InuYasha, what happened to Kagome?" Sango asked quietly. InuYasha glanced at her, but he didn't answer. Sango frowned and looked back at Kagome. It was ironic. She was a taijiya, but her best friend was a full blooded youkai. It was ironic, indeed.
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Kagome awoke to see six pairs of eyes staring at her. She was back in her room with Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Rin, Yukana, and Kaori gathered around her bed.
"Kagome-chan, you're awake!" Rin exclaimed. Kagome winced. "Gomen. Rin forgot about Kagome-chan's ears." Kagome nodded.
"Kagome, how do you feel?" Sango asked.
"I have a headache, but, other than that, I'm fine."
"That's great!" Yukana smiled. "Sesshomaru told us what happened with you and the...dead...thing...who was it again?"
"Kikyo."
"Oh, yeah. Well, do you remember what happened?" Kagome took a moment to think before answering.
"No, not really. The last thing I remember is meeting Kikyo in the woods. And then...nothing." Kagome answered honestly.
"Oh. Sesshomaru wanted to see you when you woke up, so you should get dressed. I think he's in his study." Yukana said. Kagome nodded and started walking over to the wardrobe. Kaori, Sango, and Yukana glanced at each other and ran past Kagome.
Kagome watched as the three of them rummaged through her kimomos, each taking out their favorite and comparing it to the others. Rin and Shippo also came over while Miroku sat in the corner, silently hoping that the girls would forget about him. No such luck.
"Miroku, get out!" Sango ordered. "Kagome has to change."
"Miroku reluctantly left and decided that he was going to try and find InuYasha.
"Hey, look at this one!"
"No, this one's better."
"You're both wrong. I think this one rocks!"
"Can Rin play dress-up, too?" Rin asked hopefully.
"They're not playing dress-up. They're making Kagome look nice." Shippo said.
Kagome stood in the middle of all the noise, holding her ears. Now she knew how Sesshomaru and InuYasha felt.
"Okay! Listen, guys. I'm a big girl. I can dress myself, thank you." Kagome snapped.
"We're not dressing you, we're picking out what you're going to wear." Kaori declared with a grin. "Besides, that's my job, Kagome. You forget that." Kagome frowned, but didn't say anything else.
After about ten minutes they had finally decided on a dark blue kimono with gold and maroon vines along the seams and waistline paired with a gold obi. Sango, Yukana, and Kaori beamed at their decision and quickly pushed Kagome behind a changing screen.
"We'll see you later, Kagome!" Sango called.
"Yeah, have fun!" Yukana added.
"Hey, wait! What-" Kagome started. "Okay. Hello, wall. How are you today. 'Oh, I'm fine, Kagome, and you?' Oh, just peachy."
Kagome continued changing while she contiued to pretend to have a conversation with the wall. She was so busy that she didn' hear her door open.
"Who are you talking to?" Kagome jumped and peered around the screen.
"What are you doing in here?" she exclaimed. "I'm trying to change, you hentai! What are you doing, spying on me?"
"I am not here to spy. I saw Kaori, Yukana, and the taijiya running from here and decided to investigate."
"I don't know what they're up to. They made such a big deal about picking out my kimono today that I just decided to roll with it." Kagome said. "Okay, is that all or do you need something else?"
Kagome walked out from behind the changing screen and finished tying her obi.
"So what did you want? Yukana, Sango, and Kaori said you wanted to see me in your study." she continued.
"I heard all of the noise." Sesshomaru stated simply. "What happened between you and the dead miko?"
"I don't remember." Kagome said. "If you were there, why do you want me to tell you?"
"I was not there the entire time, miko. I arrived in time to see the dead priestess shoot an arrow into your stomach."
"We've gone over this already. If you're going to talk to me, call me Kagome!" Kagome snapped. "Kami, it's not that hard to remember."
"I shall call you whatever I please."
"I can't believe that I ever thought that you and InuYasha were different from each other!" Kagome yelled. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.
"Hi, Kagome! How was-"
"Not now, Yukana." Kagome said harshly. "I'm going into the garden to train. Don't follow. If anybody asks, I'm in the library and I don't want to be disturbed. Got it?" Yukana nodded and Kagome sighed. "I'm sorry for being so harsh. I'm not in a very good mood right now. Thanks for covering for me." Kagome faked a smile and started walking towards the garden again.
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The doors to Sesshomaru's study burst open, revealing a very pissed off demoness.
"What did you do to Kaogme this time!" Yukana demanded loudly.
"I'm busy, Yukana." Sesshomaru said without looking at her. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until later."
"No, it can't." she snapped. "I want to know what you did to make Kagome so angry!"
"That is for me to know and you to never find out." Sesshomaru stated calmly.
"I will find out. Tell me what you did." Sesshomaru was silent. Yukana stalked up to the desk and snatched away the document that Sesshomaru had been working on.
"Go apologize to her. She's in the garden." And with that said, Yukana threw the parchment on the floor and left the room.
Sesshomaru sighed and rose from his desk. 'This miko's more trouble than she's worth.' he thought. Sesshomaru walked out onto the balcony and jumped down into the garden below. He could see Kagome sitting in the center of the courtyard. She appeared to be meditating.
Kagome knew he was approaching her. She could vaguely hear his footsteps. But, unfortunately for him, she didn't feel like talking. Kagome jumped up and attacked him with what appeared to be a purple whip, much like Sesshomaru's Whip of Light attack.
"Now what do you want?" Kagome asked coldy. "I'm busy."
"I came to apologize...Kagome." Kagome snorted and looked at him, raising her eyebrows. "And also to ask a small favor."
"What is it?" Kagome asked.
"I would like you to accompany me to the southern lord's castle. He is hosting a ball to cellebrate his daughter's ninteenth birthday."
"Okay. In sounds kinda fun. What's his daughter's name?"
"I believe her name is Ayaka." Sesshomaru said. "As the lord of the west, I'm expecter to be there."
"Okay!" Kagome agreed. "When do we leave? Are Sango, Yukana, Kaori, Miroku, InuYasha, Rin, and Shippo allowed to come?"
"Yukana and InuYasha are expected to be there as well, since they are both part of my family. As for everybody else, I believe they are permitted to come. We are leaving in three days." Sesshomaru said. "Tomorrow you will be fitted for your outfit. Kaori will show you where to go."
"Speaking of InuYasha, you haven't seen him lately, have you?" Kagome asked, crossing her arms. Sesshomaru shook his head and Kagome frowned. "There's one more thing I want. I haven't seen my family in quite a while and I'd like to go home after the ball for a short visit."
"Fine."
"And I also want to have a word with Totosai." Kagome added as an afterthought. "I want to have a sword made."
"That can all be done tomorrow." Sesshomaru said. "I will escort you to the well and to Totosai's place tomorrow after your fitting."
"Okay. Hey, wait a minute! How do you know about the well?"
"I have my ways."
"Sesshomaru turned around and started walking back to the castle.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Kagome called, hurrying to catch up. "So what do you plan on doing for the rest of the day?"
"I finished the last of the paperwork earlier." Sesshomaru said. "I don't have anything planned. Why do you ask?"
"Great! We can go on a picnic!" Kagome suggested. "I'll go get everyone else and you can go tell the servants to pack lunch up. Rin would love it! What do 'ya say? Please?"
"Fine."
"Yay! I'll meet you back here in an hour." Kagome sprinted ahead of him and into the castle.
'Won't the other lords be jealous?'
'What are you talking about?'
'Kagome. She's cute and powerful. She's also a youkai and a miko. That's a good combination. Not to mention that she's got a mind of her own.'
'Perhaps, but she's still InuYasha's. That will never change, no matter how much I want it to.'
'If you haven't noticed, genius, InuYasha's mad at Kaogme for getting rid of that dead miko, Kikyo. Right now is your chance!'
'I doubt that. Kagome is very loyal to the hanyou.'
'Does it matter?'
'Go away. You're bothering me.'
'Fine. you need to alert the servants anyway. Toodles!'
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Kagome burst into Sango's room, startling Sango and Kaori. Yukana, however, smirked.
"Get ready, guys! We're going on a picnic!" Kagome exclaimed. "Where are Rin, Shippo, Miroku, and InuYasha at?"
"Rin and Shippo are bothering the cooks in the kitchen and Miroku is probably hanging around the servant's quarters. But I haven't seen InuYasha since yesterday afternoon." Sango said. Kagome frowned.
"Well, if Rin and Shippo are still in the kitchen, then Sesshomaru should have already found them. All there is left to do is find Miroku and InuYasha." Kagome said. "I saw Miroku about fourty-five minutes ago, so he's either woman hunting or looking for InuYasha."
"Or both." Sango said dryly.
"I think InuYasha has a jewel shard with him, so he should be easy to find." Kagome stated. "And if Sango started calling for him, Miroku should come running."
"Great plan!" Sango said. "But why do I have to be the bait?"
"Because Miroku likes you better than the rest of us!" Yukana grinned, patting Sango on the shoulder. Sango frowned and crossed her arms. Kagome motioned for them to follow as she walked out the door.
She led them into a hallway that branched out from the corridor that contained Sango's room and stood in front of the third door to the right.
"He's in here." Kagome whispered. "You guys go find Miroku. I need to talk to InuYasha." The others nodded and walked off.
Kagome slowly opened the door and walked into the room. It was small, dark, and plain, but it still held a sort of comforting quality. InuYasha was sitting in the corner leaning his head against the wall.
"InuYasha? Are you alright?" Kagome asked.
"What's it to you?"
"Listen, I know you're upset, but that doesn't mean you need to hide away from everyone." Kagome said sternly. "I know Miroku's been looking for you."
"There are plenty of women in this castle. There's no way Miroku would pass up a chance to grab some girl's ass to come find me."
"Miroku can't tell his secrets to a woman." Kagome said. When InuYasha didn't answer, she sighed. "InuYasha, Kikyo was already dead. You and I both know that. The only thing that kept her here was her hatred for you. You didn't want her to keep...'living'...like that, would you? I wasn't very fond of Kikyo, but I wouldn't want her to roam in agony like that. She's better off dead."
Kagome saw a tear run down InuYasha's cheek. She walked over and knelt in front of him. He didn't even look up at her.
Kagome reached behind her neck and undid the clasp that held the Shikon no Tama in place. She then reached over and jerked away the chain that held Inuyasha's shard.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!" InuYasha yelled.
Kagome placed the shard into a small gap in the bottom of the jewel. The Shikon no Tama glowed brighter than ever before. It was complete. Kagome handed it to InuYasha.
"But how-"
"I can call them. Naraku doesn't have any more shards." Kagome smiled softly. "Take it. You'll find something to use it for." Kagome stood up and walked to the door. She opened it and turned around. "I almost forgot. We're going on a picnic, do you want to come?"
InuYasha shook his head and Kagome left the room.
'We have the jewel. That means that the onlu thing left to do is defeat Naraku.' Kagome thought. 'It shouldn't be that hard. I'm a full blooded youkai now, so I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. Still, Naraku is also powerful without the jewel shards and he has Kagura and Kanna there to help him. Maybe there's a way to get them on our side...'
"Kagome!" Sango called, running up to her with Kaori, Yukana, and Miroku in tow. "We found him. Suprisingly, he was in the library.
"Great, so are you guys ready to get goin'? We've got about fifteen minutes until it's time to go." Kagome said.
"Uh, Kagome, where's InuYasha?" Yukana asked, looking around the hall.
"Oh, yeah...InuYasha...he's not coming. He's...busy." Kagome smiled softly. "Let's go before we're late."
"Where are Rin and Shippo?" Miroku asked. "Are they not coming?"
"Sango said that they were bothering the kitchen staff, so Sesshomaru should have them. Now, come on! We're going to be late!" Kagome took Sango's hand and pulled her down the hall, followed by everyone else.
"Well, somebody's excited." Yukana said slyly. "What's so special about a picnic? Do you have something...interesting planned?"
"I haven't been really out of the castle in quite some time." Kagome said lightly. "Besides, I want to test out these new abilities."
"Right...sure you do." Yukana said sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that Yukana thinks you have the hots for Sesshomaru." Sango said, giggling loudly. Kagome sweatdropped.
"Ha!" Kaori exclaimed. "It's true!"
"No! It's not like that!" Kagome said defensively. "Miroku, a little help here, if you don't mind!"
"Uh...I believe it would be better if I stayed out of this one, Kagome." Miroku said uncertainly. "I'm not good with female problems."
"Well, you're a big help." Kagome muttered. "Perhaps I should mention that I think Sango has the hots for Miroku over there. Or that Kaori seems to be particularly fond of the youkai that just happens to be Sesshomaru's head of guard. And don't forget Yukana's little crush on the northern lord's younger brother. Would you like me to continue, or should I stop here?"
"How...how do you know all this?" Yukana stammered.
"What, do you honestly think I spend my day sitting in my room?" Kagome asked shrewdly. "I know everything that goes on around here. For example, Kaori has a sister named Amira and she also works here. The only reason nobody else knows is becouse Amira is a shapeshifter and masquerades as and inu youkai who goes by the name Miyuki. Yukana's worst fear just happens to be dead things that come back to life. Or, in other words, zombies."
"Okay, Kagome. You're starting to scare me." Kaori said slowly. "You can stop now."
Kagome led them out of the castle and back into the garded where Sesshomaru was already waiting. He had somehow managed to get Rin and Shippo to sit still on Ah-Un while he loaded up the supplies.
Sesshomaru turned around when he heard footsteps approaching behind him. Kagome was in the lead, grinning smugly while the others followed behind giving her strange looks.
"Hey, Sesshomaru, Kagome's kinda scaring me." Yukana said uneasily. Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows. "She probably knows more about us than we do! I swear, the woman's a psychic!"
"I'm not a psychic, Yukana." Kagome stated. "I'm just really good at sneaking around."
"So you were spying on us!" Kaori yelled.
"I tolk you I didn't just sit in my room all day, didn't I?"
"That's not nice, Kagome."
"Hehehe...I was kidding." Kagome said. "I know because there are books on these things where I come from. Sango, you at least should have known that."
"That's cheating." Yukana muttered.
"Are we ready then?" Kagome asked happily. Everyone else nodded. "Alrighty then, off we go! Left, right, left! Left, right..." Kagome stopped chanting when every body began to stare at her. "Okay, I'll shut up now..."
"We're not walking, Kagome-chan." Rin said. "We're flying!"
Kagome wondered how this was going to work. She knew that Sango and Miroku would ride on Kirara and Rin and Shippo would ride Ah-Un with Kaori and Yukana. But what was she going to do? Sure, she was a demon, but she hadn't mastered any of her new abilities, so she didn't know if there was a way for her to fly by herself.
"Kagome, come here." Sesshomaru ordered. His cloud formed beneath his feet and he motioned for Kagome to get on.
"Um...are you sure this is going to work?" Kagome asked warily.
"It will if you stay still." Kagome slowly stepped onto the white mass, expecting to fall through. It felt solid underneath her feet, so she relaxed and sat down.
Sesshomaru looked down at Kagome and inwardly smiled. He decided that he would have to teach her to use her demonic powers, of course with Yukana's help, due to the fact that there are a few differences between the abilities of a male and female youkai.
He took off and heard Kagome gasp and fall over.
"Hey! I wasn't ready yet!" Kagome said loudly.
"You need to learn to never let your guard down. It could just be the last thing you'll ever do." Sesshomaru advised.
"You make it sound like somebody's gonna jump out of the bushes and chop my head off." Kagome muttered loud enought for Sesshomaru to hear.
"They just might."