AN: Ok very scarily, the last time I checked, there were more than 20 reviews on this thing. (I know it's not THAT much, but for me, it is).
That scared/pleased me profoundly. (how did I get so many…?) It also motivated me to open up this little word document. Thankyou to those people who have faith in me and in this story, because unless I turn all this around very fast, I myself won't have much left. I've decided to DO something with this chapter… we'll see how that turns out.
CHAPTER 9: HOW MATTERS LAY
Miroku was earnestly staring into the eyes of a young village girl, kneeling and with one hand holding hers. The girl herself was having a very bad case of the giggles, and was starting to imitate a cherry. Before she herself could actually answer to his question, an angry elder lady came and took the giggling young girl away, leaving Miroku a hostile glare.
Miroku sighed, and got up. There were cries of "Monk!" and "Monk! Over here!" from all the other young (and not so young) ladies of the village, but for some strange reason Miroku paid no attention to them. He simply got up and walked out of the village gates, leaving people to wonder at the mysterious, powerful monk and his strange attitude towards pretty young ladies.
Miroku, walking further and further away, was deaf to all the sounds of the outside world. He was lost in his own thoughts, particularly in one about that last girl… She reminded him of Sango, which was why he had asked her to bear his child… But Sango was lost to him… And so were Kagome, and Inuyasha, and Shippo… But there was nothing he could do about it, right? He'll just have to leave it alone to Fate to decide. Meanwhile he was just going to have to figure out a way to get at Naraku on his own.
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Kagome blundered through the brambles on the now familiar way to the river. They were more determined to cut her than usual. Ah well, I'll just have to get over it, she thought. There is no way I'm letting Kikyo have the satisfaction of giving me one of her looks if I turn back just because of a few cuts.
As she got to the river, she wondered about how she was actually going to catch the fish. The net she made on the first day had ripped in quite a few places, so she couldn't use that anymore. It was either jump in there or sit around for half a day and make a new net. What about my bow and arrows? If people used spears then surely she could use arrows… They're only a little shorter.
She reached back for an arrow, and wondered yet again how she was going to go about doing this. Should she shoot the fish, or should she use the actual arrow as a spear? Kikyo would know. Kikyo would know everything about this kind of thing. . That's why Inuyasha loves her more than me…I just don't belong here… The evil thought popped into her mind unbidden, and it was true.
She lowered the arm with the arrow, and let her hair cover her face. I'm never going to get out of here. I'll never even see him again. And in the end, he would have just gone back to Kikyo anyway. She was here first. I'm just her little copy, to him. Has he ever seen me as me and not as a shadow of her? The overwhelming sadness in her built up, and turned itself into rage.
As a blind gesture, she hurled the arrow into the stream with all the strength she could muster. The arrow embedded itself into something huge, something not quite evil and not quite pure, that she would have noticed before, if it weren't for her rampant thoughts.
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Kikyo stood up, agitated. Kagome had been gone for a long time, and now Kikyo could feel a strange aura approaching Kagome's from the other side of the river. She picked up her bow and arrows and set off at a run to where Kagome was.
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Inuyasha twitched impatiently. It was the second day without his friends, and he was beginning to get anxious. As if he didn't have enough problems. He shifted to a new position, hoping that would solve all of his discomfort. It did not.
He had already gone back to where he left them, and from there he could sense all of their scents splitting up into different directions, indicating that they had left individually; Sango and Kirara's scent had disappeared into the air, and Shippo's occurred twice, meaning he had gone back, and Miroku's left by the path.
What had they been thinking? Just as he tried to shift his position again, he noticed two things: 1) that Shippo's scent was coming from very nearby, and he would have picked it up earlier, only the wind was blowing the wrong way, and 2) the said fox demon was doubtless the one causing a major racket right under his tree.
Inuyasha hopped off his branch, right behind Shippo.
The little demon was moving around and stepping on twigs, leaves – anything that would make a noise, crunching on something unidentified, muttering something like, "Now where did that … (unidentified mutter)… roll off to? …. (Mutter mutter) … my food give it back… what's that?... ewwwww…. AH! I found it!" at the same time Shippo held up his acorn, triumphant, Inuyasha grabbed him and pulled him into the air. "Now look here, you miserable, small, noisy –"
Shippo, not bothering to see who his captor was, instantly let off a loud shriek and buried his captor in a mound of screaming mushrooms. Not finished yet, Shippo let loose a Spinning Top on the already buried Inuyasha. Then he stood back and looked in great admiration at his own handiwork.
"Ha! Now you're not so tough! Think next time before you mess with Shippo, the great –"
"SHIPPO!" Inuyasha yelled, getting his head through and trying to free the rest of him of the ridiculously loud and annoying mushrooms.
"Uh oh," Shippo mumbled, and set off running, "I'm sorry Inuyasha! I didn't mean it! It's not my fault! I -"
Inuyasha, now completely free, caught up with him very quickly, and once again snatched him up into the air, and gave a menacing growl. Three rapid punches followed, their noise echoing into the distance. A moment later, Shippo's indignant yell followed.
"You're too young and way too useless to be allowed to run free. You're staying with me." Inuyasha hopped onto his old branch, very annoyed at the fox demon.
"So what, we're going to just sit here and wait? That's even more useless."
"Shut up."
"No."
"I'll make you."
"Yeah? Show me."
Inuyasha aimed a fist at Shippo's already bumped head, only to miss it.
"NYEHHHH!!! You can't catch me." Shippo taunted, and started a chase around the tree.
"Listen here-"
"Nyahhhahhaaaa!"
"Hey! Get back!"
"What's for dinner?"
"I said, GET BACK HERE!"
"No thanks. I want food." Shippo made the mistake of stopping.
The annoyed yowl of the young fox demon could once again be heard throughout that forest.
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"Hiraikotsu!"
The heavy boomerang slammed into the snake demon, severing it into two halves all down its length. The boomerang whizzed in the air, made a half circle and returned into the waiting hand of the demon slayer.
The small crowd of anxious villagers around her broke into a cheering audience, all coming up to Sango to offer accommodation, food, thanks and requests.
"As Head of this town, I thank you on behalf of the village-"
"Miss Slayer! We would be honoured if you'd consider staying at our humble-"
"But our house is so much more suited to-"
"We have a large yard for the cat demon-"
"That was fantastic! You wouldn't consider staying and training our-"
"I have a son about your age, very hardworking, kind, and –"
Sango sighed, and looked at the faces of the milling villagers.
"No thank you, I really must decline from all that. I believe I heard about a large demon in the next village; I must go as soon as I can."
"But, Slayer, what about your payment?" The Head of the village was now holding a small bag weighed down with what looked like gold. Sango looked at the sky; it was still light. She could get food from the next village.
"No, thank you, I only accept an occasional meal."
"But -"
"Thank you again for all your hospitality." With that the mysterious demon Slayer disappeared into the air on her unusual cat demon.
"Well Kirara, they're a bit better then the last lot. Those actually prepared a feast for me beforehand. Father never told me they could be so insistent." She gave a little laugh; "I was hoping that the demon would have a Jewel fragment… But I guess I can't have everything…"
Kirara yowled in agreement, and they both fell silent. She then nudged Sango, and motioned towards a clearing in the forest. "Yes, I think a bit of rest would be delightful too." Kirara shot down in a flaming arc to the spot, and they settled there: a little time out, for Kirara to rest and for Sango to think.
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Just as Kikyo got past the same brambles Kagome had suffered, she saw the situation progress into a very bad direction. A blue-grey humanoid form with tentacles had Kagome so wrapped up that Kikyo could hardly sense her. Not that the creature's own overpowering aura made it any easier.
Calmly, Kikyo drew her arrow and aimed it at the creature's chest… If that was what it was.
"Release her." Kikyo didn't expect it to be capable of speech so she decided to give it a chance anyway, but apparently it was. Seeing that there was another human, instantly the blue-grey thing changed into a stone-faced deity wearing a flowing blue-grey robe. With tentacles intact.
"The human attacked me, and trespassed on my river. She is mine to punish, so step away, Priestess. I have the authority here." The creature's speech was strangely muffled and unclear, as if from a great distance.
Kikyo decided to go on anyway and ignore the small stone of doubt that had settled in her heart, but before she could say anything, Kagome herself had wrestled her head free of the tentacles, obviously angry.
"I attacked YOU? I'm not the one with the ominous presence that sneaked up on me, you know! Let me go!" Kagome shrieked.
Kikyo drew her bowstring taut, and everything about her indicated she was about to fire.
"Don't you want to know how to get out of here?" The strange deity said again.
For a moment there was silence. Kikyo lessened the pressure on her bowstring, but she neither lowered it, nor moved. Kagome stopped struggling – she had got her upper body and arms free – and stared at her captor with round eyes and a wary expression.
"Keep talking," said Kikyo.
"You two are a very special case… Very special indeed… As far as I am aware, Kikyo-" Kikyo did not show the slightest sign of surprise that the deity knew her name, "- Kagome was not yet born at this point in your Time."
Pausing, the deity swept her eyes over the two Priestesses. "May I know how, exactly, the girl managed this – I mean the appearance in a Time not her own?"
"Why do you want to know?" The earlier aggression had gone from Kagome's voice. Now just suspicion remained. Kikyo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Don't goddesses have a right to know what goes on in their own world anymore?" The creature was starting to sound a bit less distant, and more normal.
"If you are a goddess… Why are you so afraid of a simple arrow, then?" Kikyo asked.
"I AM NOT – AFRAID!!!!!!!" After letting off that ear-piercing scream, the "goddess" continued to shriek and yell, all the while building up a magical force. Her tentacles were now gone, and Kagome scrambled backwards, retrieved her fallen bow and arrows and drew one.
Again, Kikyo and Kagome simultaneously aimed their arrows, not even looking at the other. It seemed as though they were perfectly in sync even though they were so far from being each other.
Just as the deity's magical potential built up to the point where it became more than just potential, the two Priestesses released their arrows into the unknown.
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The last thing Kagome remembered was firing her arrow – and then, a blinding white light, that could have been the Holy arrow, or a huge explosion, or something she didn't know.
Once again she was lying on the ground, after being completely and utterly knocked out.
"Chiiiiiiiiri!" Get up!
"Huh?" Kagome tried to straighten out, and succeeded. It seemed her wound was completely recovered, otherwise she'd know.
'Chiriiri." I have to talk to you.
Kagome looked around. Kikyo was already conscious – if she was ever unconscious, that is, and sitting up. They were in a rectangular room that was a murky shade of sea-green, with nothing in it but them.
"What happened?" Kagome asked, and Kikyo answered.
"I don't know."
"Oh." They both turned to look at Yasei, who was between the two of them on the floor.
"Chirii chii chi chiriri." She is the Goddess of this realm.
"That thing?" Kagome asked. Yasei inclined his head in a nod.
"Chiri chi chiririiri riri chi." Though only a minor one… And I am her servant.
There was a rather awkward silence, in which Kikyo made the most out of her less than expressive stone face. However, Yasei didn't seem perturbed. He just fluffed his feathers in an imitation of a cute defenceless bird.
"You tricked us." Kagome did not seem at all shocked, though deep down she was somewhat hurt to know that this cute sparrow had been just… just what? What was the whole point of this whole escapade?
"Why?" Kikyo's voice was not angry. It was soft, yet flat. Dead, really.
"Chiriri." She told me to.
"Are you going to tell us anything or not?" Demanded Kagome, suddenly annoyed at the whole business. She wanted to see Gramps, Souta, and her mom. She wanted to argue with and "sit" Inuyasha again. She wanted to talk with Sango. She wanted to pat Kirara, and tell Shippo off, then slap Miroku. Anything but sit here in this empty room with a dead chick and a freaky bird.
"Chiri ri," You must ask the right questions.
"How can this Goddess be defeated?" Kikyo promptly fired off.
"How do we get back?" Followed Kagome.
"Chi ri chiriri chi chi chirri. Chiiriri chicrirchichi, chiriri chiri chiri chi chi chi chiririr." I am not allowed to talk outright, but she never said I couldn't answer. So: to kill her and get back you have to get out of here, which is not going to be easy. As for killing, that is not advisable. This whole realm is her own creation, so if she dies, I don't know what happens: it could fold in on itself.
Yasei lazily stretched his remaining wing out, and continued.
"Chiririchi chirir, chiriri. Chiri chichichi ri ririri chiri chiriri, chiriri chiriri." Since she was concerned about the Sacred arrows, you could try that. The only reason it didn't work before was because they never got there: she used her magic to blow everything away. Including the arrows.
"Chiriri chi chiri? Chiri chiri chiririri. Chiriri, chiriri riri richichiri." And as for leaving? She brought you here, she brings you back. That's all I know. And about getting out of here, we need to act fast. As we sit in here she is draining your souls through the room itself. It is a slow but sure process.
" So… our souls are getting taken away? How? Is it possible?" Kagome asked.
"It is possible to extract it… with the right magic." Kikyo said. As Kagome thought about Urasue, she shuddered. That feeling had been horrible.
"Chiriri chi chiri, chirririri. Riri richi. Chirirchi, chichiri. Chiri chirirchi chirrichi." She is not just taking your soul, but also you. Soon your material selves will also fade. I am exempt; it's only you she wants. I think she's forgotten about me. I am a friend, you know, even if I do have to follow a mad old hag's instructions.
Oddly enough, Kikyo and Kagome had no trouble believing the last part. It was as though they knew that all along; though neither decided to show that.
"Say, Yasei, so how is it that you have to do what she tells you?" Asked a puzzled Kagome.
"Chiririr chiriri chi chi chiriri, chiriri ririri, chiri chiriri. Chiri richichiri." Our family had always been involved with her clan, it's just that now she found something she needed, namely you two, and then decided that I should get it for her. Not to mention took my daughter hostage.
Here, Yasei sniffled pitifully and did a sparrow-shuffle on the spot.
"Poor Yasei…" Kagome looked at the little bird and felt extremely sorry for it.
Kikyo, listening to all this, suddenly got up, and got out her arrows again. She took aim quickly, and shot her arrows into the nearest wall. All it did was just stick there for a while, and was then absorbed into the wall.
"Chi ri chiri riri chi chiririri." Everything you do will just get sucked in quicker.
Kagome could not suppress a light groan. This is the Cave and that Priestess-Trap all over again... Why am I the one that has to be continually stuck with someone I really don't like all the time?
"Why does she need our soul?" Kikyo asked. Kagome could not help but notice the use of the singular term.
"Chi…. Chiririr. Ri richi chirir." Apparently… she thinks yours is special. And she needs it.
AN: I hope that was Ok, and that it answered SOME questions. Hopefully, that is. Maybe it's just me again, but that last part is very very dodgy and OOC to me… I wish I had Yasei. Why does Kikyo have to be the one with a cute bird???
NOTES: Some of the concepts I talk about in this story I really have not much more idea about then you, so if it seems… wrong, weird, whatever, then please don't hate me for ever and ever.
KEEP ON REVIEWING, you all! I still really really like reading what people have to say about my sometimes-good-sometimes-bad writing. Your reviews do not go unappreciated.
