A/N: Ok… at least I've got DETAILS on some aspects of the story which I intend to stick to… so I am about a hundredth closer to full completion of the story plot than I was um, before. Yeah. Enjoy. Please.
CHAPTER 4: 180 Degrees in a Straight Line
Kikyo carefully sidestepped a dead warrior on her path. A sickening smell from up ahead told her that he wasn't the only one. Some warriors must have been here at least long enough to smell.
"Chiriiii…" the soft chirp was barely heard, even above the silent monotony of the forest.
Kikyo did not answer. She wasn't sure if it required an answer. She simply offered Yasei her hand to softly peck, as was his habit when he was worried. He tugged at her skin nervously, as her footsteps brought her closer and closer to the edge of the forest, so devastatingly close to where her Soul Stealers had reported Inuyasha and his group.
She knew they would be here soon, she knew that even when she first heard the retreating calls of the armies. But for some reason, as was her habit when she was alive, even now when she is dead, she could not just leave people in suffering, though there probably weren't any here.
Coming to the edge of the forest and looking at the vast devastation, she realised there wasn't anyone that could even remotely be alive. Everything, every corpse was covered with a charred black layer of steaming soot. The smell was truly revolting, but now she could see why: the burnt human flesh smelt like it was just another animal being cooked for lunch. This place is going to be infested with demons very soon, and maybe even some desperate humans. The wind was strong; the smell is going to spread fast.
Kikyo snapped her fingers, and her ever ready Soul Stealers gathered. "One of you go, and keep me informed of Inuyasha's group's location." The nearest to her was dispatched, and glided effortlessly over the wet grass back into the forest.
Just then a breeze blew over the battlefield, and Kikyo did not like what she felt in it. First of all, she could tell Inuyasha was… oh, maybe 10 metres away? Secondly, something big was coming. Very big. Huge, really. Monstrous.
Yasei didn't like it either. He hopped nervously, but didn't budge from Kikyo's shoulder. Kikyo got her bow and arrow down. She was going to need them if she was getting out of this still walking. Not quite alive, but at least she'd still be in her half-life.
"KIKYO!" A cry resounded from Kikyo's left. "Get out of here! Can't you feel it?" She didn't bother responding. Whatever it was, it was coming fast and needed all her concentration. Looks like she didn't need her Soul Stealer after all.
Although Kikyo wasn't looking at them, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippo had appeared on a little elevated hill to her far left. Inuyasha had started making his way over to her. She knew this, and her face arranged into a slight smile. It wasn't a nice smile though, and Yasei apparently knew this. He opened his beak as far as it would go and clamped it shut on the edge of her ear. She decided to ignore it too.
Just then the dense canopy was pushed apart, to reveal a ravenous-looking overgrown bear-ish demon. It had scales on its limbs, and was altogether the size of a very ugly little mountain. Muttering an unneeded prayer under her breath, Kikyo released her arrow and quickly drew another one just in case. As she drew her arrow, her gaze wandered past Inuyasha and over to his little band. One, two, three, four… minus Inuyasha… Where was The Reincarnation?
Quickly her eyes wandered back to her arrow. It was only moments since she let it fly. Her eyes tracked its flight, her heart dying all over as she guessed what was to come. The thin line of shining light was flying in arc, descending, straight into the heart of the monster demon. Instead of going straight through, it stopped halfway, as if barred.
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Kagome was out of breath. First Inuyasha detected Kikyo and left her behind; then she felt an unknown Jewel presence and had to hurry anyway, no matter how badly she didn't want to. So, when she stopped sulking and went back to camp, she saw that everyone had gone with Inuyasha. Traitors. There was no way she was going to be happy after this. She hoped that once she reached the Jewel perpetrator she'd have Sango with her at least.
Now as she approached the edge of the forest, a smell like burnt meat reached her nostrils. She had not seen as many massacres as Kikyo, so she did not know what it meant. She simply reached back for an arrow and ignored it. The ground was shaking from the footsteps of the demon with the Jewel. There was no way anything that size could be anything but a demon. As she rounded a bend in the lightly worn path, she glimpsed the ugly scaled side of the demon. She stopped and took a breath, drew back her bow and fired.
Like Kikyo, she followed her missile with her eyes. It just so happened that at the same time that Kikyo saw her arrow stop, so did Kagome. However, unlike Kikyo, she had no idea what had caused it. Kagome gasped, thinking that if she didn't get another arrow quick, the monster was going to turn around and find her.
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Sango had been standing and watching the whole time. She had seen the two arrows rise in a delicate shining curved arch, then level, perfect reflections of each other. But which was the reflection of the other? Or were they both simply just parallel beings that co-existed with one another? One thing was for sure: the Bear Mountain fellow wasn't getting out of this alive.
She was right. The arrows, suspended in the air, formed a perfectly straight line, and shone brighter. The bear had no time to even let out a dying growl, when its body disintegrated into many shining particles that rose up into the sky. Only one pink fragment fell to the ground. The two arrows, growing subsequently brighter with each moment in the air, remained hanging. Time seemed to stop. Kikyo seemed frozen along with Time, but her thoughts were racing. What did her studies tell her about situations like this? When a replica and an original priestess both shot Holy Arrows into the air, killing a demon with the Sacred Jewel, and the arrows remained there for an indefinite amount of time? This was not making sense.
Sango, Miroku and Shippo all had dropped their jaws to about the height of their chin. "This isn't normal, is it, Monk?" "I don't think so…"
Kirara growled in agreement and Shippo squinted harder.
Kagome fumbled with her arrow when the light in front of her brightened. She turned around, and saw two arrows suspended and making a very straight line. All her brain could come up with was recent study material for her Maths exams: a straight line was 180 degrees….
Inuyasha stared. Two Holy Arrows? Together? And then his thoughts took a different path altogether. Kagome's going to hate me… I just ran off at the slightest hint of Kikyo. I don't envy that demon right now.
A/N: Before I kill myself with the suspense, I SHALL try and get the next happy chappy (chapter) up and written. Hmm, I just realised something very, very important. Somewhere in Ch 1/Prologue I said if you wanted to read this where something is actually HAPPENING, maybe you should just skip to Ch 5!! I was right!
I'm strangely happy after this rather sad scene. How can burning human flesh make me happy?
Anyway, dear readers, bear in mind your reviews really help and that none fall on a closed mind. No, they actually fly right up to my eyes and say, "Look at me, I'm a review!! Read me! I'm really good!"
Also remember that I too have no idea (well… some… but still) where this is going and I am actually enjoying it just as much as a hypothetical reader would. Goshy, this is EXCITING!
SonnyGoten: Keep sending me questions. They make my brain generate random unrelated details that don't really make sense but are GOOD. And wow! A sorta-long-ish chapter!
Soul Tiger: You wound me… sniff sniff… NAH just kidding! I shall have to work harder. Yes. I shall. And yes the main reason I started this fanfic was because Kikyo DID need a friend!!! Thanks for picking that up!
rainykitty: aw thank you!!!!!! I made Kikyo bearable?? Sniff sniff. This time I'm sniffy because I'm happy. But you know, I do try to even it out… All that resentment and ill-will towards Inuyasha will be punished later on. IF she doesn't redeem herself first…
