Chapter 26: The Tale of the Kappa Part 1
Making her way back to camp with two buckets of spring water in hand, Kagome sighed for what seemed like the millionth time since they had arrived at the mountain foot. Sensing Sesshomaru somewhere amongst the trees, she ignored him as she poured one of the jugs of water into a nearby pot before placing it over the fire to boil. The river carried disease from the avian birds of paradise, something they weren't completely immune to having gotten used to drinking clean purified water from the palace's cistern.
Clean water. Just another luxury she was going to be without for the next eight days while the Western family was joyfully celebrating with the wolf pack at their home in the neighboring mountains.
"Why did I have to come?!" she suddenly called out, forcing several startled birds to fly off of their perches.
"Because I needed you." a monotone voice responded from the trees.
"For what?" Huffing Kagome pointed to the mountain. "I'm not even allowed inside!" the outside did the wolves den no justice for inside the mountain lay the most incredible home of the wolf demon tribe, a palace made of grand obsidian and granite that was taken straight from the mines that ran throughout the high landmass.
"It is not my fault wolves are very….cautious when it comes to outsiders."
"Cautious….are you kidding me? That l damn wolf leader singled me out and said and I quote: The bitch stays outside! That was beyond being wary of strangers!"
"Since you were not on the list of attendees my father sent before arriving, they did not want any unnecessary people seeing their daily happenings."
"You would think he could have at least defended me…"
"Agreed, but I promised to stay out here with you at night for the remainder of this gathering…."
"And I told you don't bother, which is why you're up there!"
"Kagome…."
"Just leave me alone Sesshomaru!" she hollered, sitting down hard on the ground to mope.
"...Fine…." Another rustle from the red pines and his scent finally disappeared from the clearing, leaving Kagome alone.
Naturally nightfall came and with it the starless night that left Kagome even more depressed because she didn't even have the sky to gaze at. Sitting with her legs out in front of her body, the demoness yawned and prodded at her simple dinner of hunted rabbit, which she planned to cook slightly rather than eat completely raw. "Sesshomaru's probably eating off a silver platter right now..."
Groaning at the thought of her friend dining in luxury, Kagome fleetingly hoped he would return soon even though she had told him to leave or at the very least snuck her out a few pastries or other dessert items for her to snack on.
Shaking her head of the hopeless thoughts, the demoness stood up and dusted her trousers off. What was she blattering on about? Of course, he would come back and do more than just toss her table scraps. Sesshomaru had never abandoned her. Not even for his own family. "I need to take a walk..." Killing the fire and popping a few pieces of the partially cooked rabbit in her mouth, Kagome grabbed her cloak and began following the curve of the mountain, intending to circle the large base before returning to camp.
She was only halfway around when she spotted a young wolf child who was rapidly scraping at the mountainside with a look of determination on his face. "Hey, what are you doing?"
The wolf child abruptly stopped and looked at the intruder offering a small bark in warning for her to back off.
Raising her hands in false surrender Kagome shrugged and turned around to go. "Fine. None of my business anyway."
"Wait!" The wolf pup suddenly shouted out making her pause in her steps.
"What?"
"I could use your help!"
"My help?" Puzzled, the demoness took a step forward. "Help with what?"
"I found something. Something...amazing."
"Really?"
The wolf child shook his head happily. "Uh huh! But I need someone's help getting it." looking her up and down a few times, he considered her form with naive seriousness. "Hey wait...Your that common mutt my Pa wouldn't let in aren't you?"
Kagome bristled at the insult. Reminding herself that the wolf was an innocent kid, she forced herself to relax and merely nod curtly in response. Taking a few more steps towards the child, the demoness kneeled down to his eye level. "Yea….Uh kid you said your father was the one who wouldn't let me in the mountain right? Who are you exactly?"
"Oh yeah!" Standing up proudly the wolf demon declared himself to be the future leader of the wolf demon tribe. "I'm Koga! And since we're going to be working together I need to know your name."
"Oh...It's Kagome…." she replied, sniffling a bit. "And I didn't exactly agree to help you just yet…."
Koga resisted. "But you gotta! I confided in you that I found something really incredible, that means we're partners!"
"Partners...What is this really incredible thing again?"
He held up his tiny pinky. "I'll show it to you, but first, you gotta promise not to tell a soul!"
"Uh..."
Koga wagged his tiny finger at her. "Come on, we're burning daylight!"
Sighing Kagome looped her own pinky digit with the wolf's. "I promise...and it's the middle of the night."
"My Pa says it all the time and I gotta practice being like him!"
"Really?" She stood back up to her full height. "Just what I need, another Father enthusiast."
"Huh?"
"Nothing..."
"Oh….Well anyway, the thing I wanna show you is right through here." scraping a few times at the mountainside once more, Koga soon revealed the opening he had dug and quickly disappeared, a small cloud of dust sprouting up behind him. His tiny voice echoed from the tunnel. "Come on!"
Sighing, Kagome bent and crawled after the wolf boy, wondering once more why this was happening to her.
"Woah, What the!"
"See didn't I tell you it was amazing!"
The two stood in what appeared to be an ancient underground temple, stalactites, and dirt covering most of the walls which at one point appeared to have contained some old form of writing. Carefully arranged holes along the ceiling allowed moonlight to shine through into the cave, most of the lights beams hitting a peculiar statue that was situated directly in the shrines center. What made it so different from most was the fact that while the rest of the room was bare, the sculpture itself appeared to be encased in solid ice. Mesmerized Kagome took a step forward and reached out towards the structure stopping just as her fingers grazed the top of the crystal coated stone tortoise shell.
Searching her brain for answers as to what the statue was depicting, it finally dawned on her once the memory of a book she once read came to mind. "Kappa…."
"Huh?" Koga responded confused.
"I think it's a Kappa…." glancing around the room, Kagome asked the child, "How did you find this place?"
"I was digging in the mountainside trying to find something greater than myself!"
"Excuse me?"
Puffing his chest out proudly, the wolf-child boosted his feat. "As the future leader of the wolf demon tribe, I have to go through several trials before I'm considered fit to rule. In order to pass the first one, I have to discover something greater than myself. I don't really know what that means but finding this definitely means I passed my first test!"
"Um…." feeling the barrier around the statue, the demoness sighed when she saw how thick it was. "Out of curiosity….what did you intend for me to help you do?" Remembering the tales she had been told of the Kappa as a child, there was a nagging feeling that she was missing something important concerning the legend in general.
"Easy, you gotta help me get the statue out of here!"
"Uh….How?"
"I don't know!" he replied happily, causing Kagome to sweatdrop. "Sesshomaru-sama said you come up with a lot of good ideas, so figure it out!"
"Sesshomaru said that about me?"
"Yea, so get to it, woman!"
Kagome groaned.
After several failed attempts at simply smashing the ice away, melting it with fire, and an enraged Koga unsuccessfully trying to kick the glacier down, the two decided to just leave it for the moment, the wolf demon whining that he was tired and hungry and that his mother was probably looking for him. Finally tearing themselves away from the wonder and agreeing to meet back at the same spot tomorrow night, Kagome stretched her muscles as she made her way back to camp, intending to eat the rest of her rabbits before going to sleep. Arriving back at the clearing she balked when she discovered that apart from her food already being eaten and the fire reset, Sesshomaru sat leaning against one of the clearings trees, a frown on his face from the moment she walked onto the scene. "Sesshomaru, you ate my dinner!"
"Hn," he replied absently, still examining her dirt covered features.
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"Spending the night with you as I promised."
"I told you not to worry about it!"
"And yet I'm still here," he said. "Where have you been?"
"I took a walk," she answered vaguely, plopping down in front of the warm firepit.
"Hn. You look like you took a hike than a casual stroll…."
"I was working up an appetite…." glaring at the bones next to him she growled. "But you ate my dinner."
"Here." reaching behind him he pulled out a wooden box he had been hiding and held it out o her.
Curious, she stood and grabbed the container, smelling the strong scent of food inside. Sliding it open, she gasped when she saw the assortment inside; A hearty pile of rice, a few pieces of fried squid and eel, mixed vegetables, and her favorite mustard sauce held in a tiny red cup. A compartment underneath contained a pair of black liquor chopsticks, which Kagome took no time in obtaining before digging in. "Thanks" she muttered out in between bites, soon emptying the container of its food. Sniffing around a bit after finishing, the demoness glanced up at him curiously and asked, "Got anything else?"
"You have the appetite of three grown men…."
"Thanks!"
"That wasn't a compliment…."
"I know," she replied, a smile still on her face.
"Hn. Kagome where have you been?" he repeated once more.
"I told you I was taking a walk…" she replied softly, placing the bento box on the ground next to her.
"Yes, but you've been gone much longer than it takes to walk the circumference of the mountain, plus you're covered in dirt."
"I…." Kagome paused and considered telling him what Koga had discovered. It was childish, but she had made a promise not to tell anyone and that included Sesshomaru. "...I….can you promise to keep a secret?"
He arched an eyebrow at her question. "When have I ever failed your confidence?"
"Uh….Well…."
"Never." he answered for her, firmly. "I have never betrayed your trust."
"Well...You ate my rabbits!"
"And I provided you with better nourishment."
"That wasn't enough food to feed a fish!"
"Kagome…" he finally said in warning. "We're getting off the subject."
"Oh...right….Well this little wolf cub and I just found a statue of a Kappa." she said abruptly, deciding it would be better to just tell him everything at once.
"A...Kappa?"
"Like the one's from the stories. Tortoise-like shell and hair but the center of its scalp is bald."
"And you found….a statue of one."
"Not me exactly, Koga found it."
"Koga? I was wondering where that child had run off to…" Retracting his thoughts, he asked her, "Why would there be a statue of a Kappa around a mountainside?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
"Hn."
"I have no idea, maybe there's some hidden swamp area around here I haven't seen yet or perhaps…."
"That wouldn't matter Kagome and you know it."
She looked at him confused. "It...wouldn't?"
"No. Statue or not you know as well as I do that Kappa do not exist."
"It doesn't?" It hit her when she realized that that was what she had been forgetting.
A/N: This is just part one. The second part won't be up for about another three chapters. Remember chapters situated entirely in the past are just from Kagome's memories, the one's that occur within the present age could concern any of the character's as I see fit. I'm really liking this story myself and plead with you all, Please Review! -Theores