AN: Just bear with me, guys. This is going to get even weirder, and then it's going to get normal again. And excuse ANY (most) mistakes where I go against the storyline or whatever, because I do make a Lot of things up, and just guess or the rest. My knowledge of Inuyasha is not as complete as I'd like it to be. But I'm enjoying it anyway.


CHAPTER 6: VANISHING POINT

Just as Kikyo's arrow pierced her own beating heart, Kagome could feel the same thing happening to Kikyo. She opened her eyes and could see Kikyo's own eyes looking straight back at her. The cold glare was gone, the dead feeling she always had – wasn't there either. She was no longer the dead priestess Kikyo with her Soul Stealers swarming around her, she was just – Kikyo.

The silence that had reigned for so long – was now broken. Not by anyone who could be considered a sentient being, but Yasei-Hane. Though how such a small frail creature could give such a bloodcurdling cry was beyond anyone present. At his cry, two things happened in rapid succession. Firstly, both arrows were gone. Just gone.

Miroku stared, and thought, what on Earth…

Secondly, Kikyo and Kagome, who were just about to topple over from the force of the arrows, also vanished.

Sango stared too, and was incapable of composing a straight thought.

The wind blew through the forest towards them, bringing fresh smells, so different to the slaughterhouse odour. Yasei lifted his one wing and was carried in the light breeze, by some unknown power. For a long time after that, the only things to disturb the vanishing point were a few dry leaves, carried by the same strange wind.

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"Arrrhhhh…." Kikyo muttered, rolling over and spitting out a few twigs and leaves that had gotten into her mouth. Kneeling, she could see Kagome lying motionless across from her, just a few feet away. She gasped, as the pain in her chest that was bearable only a moment before intensified and sent a new wave of nausea crashing over her.

"Gods… Why am I feeling so… human?" With one hand desperately trying to keep the blood – yes, blood – from pouring out and overwhelming her, she tried crawling weakly over to Kagome.

With one foot outstretched, she roughly nudged Kagome, to see if she was alive. Kagome groaned, and doubled over; the front of her uniform stained a rich red. Both were silent for quite a while, both trying not to pass out from the immense loss of blood.

Just when Kikyo's strength and endurance were about to give out, she saw a small, now-familiar shape hop right in front of her. And then she collapsed.

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Kagome was first to awake. She did not know why, but the searing shaft of pain was now only a dull thud, a minor discomfort compared to before. But that wasn't the first thing that she noticed. As her eyelids slowly started to function again, she could feel a slight pressure on her nose. It had… sharp claws, but otherwise felt like soft down feathers. What is this? As her eyes focused on the thing on her nose, It gave a happy-sounding "Chiiiiiriiiiii!" that had the general tone of 'good morning!'

Or evening, or night, or midday, now that she thought about it. Just before, when she was trying really hard to stay alive and conscious, she hadn't bothered to look around. Neither did Kikyo, she guessed. Kikyo! Where was she? I hope she's not dead, Kagome thought. Then she quickly corrected herself, Well, not DEAD dead anyway. Inuyasha would surely have a depression fit and cease functioning altogether.

And besides that, Kagome found she actually cared for other reasons whether Kikyo was still here. She had almost looked human that time when their eyes locked. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Thinking all this, she realised she still didn't know WHERE Kikyo was. And it is exceedingly hard to move your head when a sparrow has perched on your nose.

"Umm… sparrow… bird… you…"

"Chiri?" (yes?)

"Could you… umm, please move so I can get up?"

"Chiri!" (certainly!)

And Yasei hopped down from her nose, and onto her shoulder as Kagome straightened. Now that she was upright, Kagome could see Kikyo was… slumbering (it's the only word that can describe it) peacefully just a bit away. It was hard to describe the place they were in, but it seemed as if it was a… cave… made of grey smog, with green patches in places, as if they were meant to represent moss. More like a tunnel, actually. It went for as far as she could care to crane her neck both ways, and it had the whole mysterious feel attached to it.

Well, duh, of course it's mysterious. We were whisked away over here from Feudal Era Japan, which is weird enough, but as if that wasn't enough, I'm here with Kikyo. Kagome gave a sad sigh, just as Kikyo rolled over and blinked.

Yasei, the gracious host, instantly attended to his second charge, and hopped over in front of Kikyo's nose.

"Chiriiiii??" (And how are you?)

"I'm quite well, in fact, strangely injured. That implies I have actual nerve endings. Explain." And Kikyo gave her sparrow-companion a questioning stare.

"Chi chi chiriii! Chiriri RI!" (It's not my fault! So stop looking at me like that!)

"Well then how did it happen?" Kagome intervened.

"Chiiii….." (Well…)

"What do you know, umm, little sparrow?" Kagome brightly smiled at Yasei as if she was a schoolteacher and he had just got into trouble.

"Chichiri! CHIRI! Chiriririri!" (I'm Yasei-Hane! And NO, you're not getting ANYTHING out of me!)

With a sigh, Kikyo got up, and as it seemed to Kagome, whether she was alive or not, she was back to the cold, dead and unfeeling priestess.

"It doesn't matter if he won't tell us." She brushed away the lot of debris that had stuck to her robes. "What's important is what and where is here." And she gave Yasei her coldest questioning look.

"CHI-RI!? Chiriiiii!" (Didn't I already tell you this isn't my fault? How am I supposed to know what this is?)

With a sigh, Kagome sank back down onto the leafy ground. "Why are there leaves and twigs, if there are no trees?" It was meant to be an airy question, but her words were just bad enough for Kikyo to turn her cold stare at Kagome.

"Wha-at…?" Kagome looked back sleepily. And then her words hit home. "This does have the feel of a giant nest…"

"We have to get out of here." Kikyo started looking around the estranged tunnel.

"Chiri!" (This way!) And he waved his one wing just to make sure they got the idea.

"You knew all the time?" Asked Kagome.

"Chi… Chiririri chichiri." (No… But I do come in handy)

And he led them… To the nearest wall of the tunnel.

"It looks just like any other edge." Kagome flatly stated.

"That's the idea. We'll have to get through it." And Kikyo got one of her arrows out, stepped back, aimed, and the arrow illuminated the whole place for a while, until it flatly thudded against the wall of the tunnel, and dropped uselessly. Kikyo paused for a moment, then went and picked her arrow up, and started to make a sphere of magic appear at the ends of her fingertips.

Yasei and Kagome sat back and watched the pretty lights. Again and again the tunnel was lit up by Kikyo's powerful magic, and again and again the tunnel repelled everything she could come up with. Finally Kikyo slumped down against the wall, exhausted.

She looked up at Yasei and Kagome, both of whom were watching her with concern.

"I'm fine. That just took a lot of effort. I've forgotten how quickly humans tire out."

"What are we going to do now?" Kagome asked quietly. Kikyo just shook her head and continued to breathe deeply and stare off into the distance.

"Chii..rii?" (You could… work together?)


AN: Ok, another chapter done. Quite long, too. So unlike me; I'm scared now. What creative words will erupt next? AHHH it's so hard to write as Kikyo! Who knows what goes on in her head? We can only guess. Well, I can only guess. Maybe other people are simply smarter and more deductive than me. Well, anyway guys, thank you so much for even reading this bit right here. That means you have probably read all of the above and that feels good to know that whoever is reading this has read that, so, THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And for that rare species known as "reviewers" you know how to make me even happier….!!! Even though the last time I checked there were enough reviews to make me full of myself. I must say the best part of just putting up a new chapter is the expectation of reviews within the next few days.

I hope you're all assured of Yasei's cuteness and unevil-ness now. If not, I'll have to try even harder next chapter. Well, either way, let me know. Ummm... Did they know about nerve endings in Feudal Japan? Whatever. Maybe Kikyo's just psychic.