REVISED VERSION: CAUSE MY GRAMMAR WAS BAD AND INUYASHA WAS KINDA OOC (although that hasn't really been fixed)
Chapter 5 is up! And the mystery continues....
I'm also starting a new series of drabbles (called the Blooper Reel) and am taking requests. Just state characters from any manga or book or movie (from the list below) and give me a prompt and category (example: sweatdrops, humor, Naruto and Harry Potter. Another example: Inuyasha, Christmas, romance and fluff, pairing SangoMiroku), and I'll try to write it.
List: Inuyasha, Naruto, Ranma 1/2, Dollanganger Series by VC Andrew, Prince of Tennis, Fruits Basket, Peach Girl, Kitchen Princess, and a few more
Disclaimer: Inuyasha does not belong to me. Duh... I wouldn't be writing this if it did.....
So....enjoy!
Ignorance is Bliss
Chapter 5
Souta shuddered, goose bumps rising up on his arms. He had a gut feeling that something big was about to happen.
Ni-san, I hope you and Inuyasha are ok.
A dark haired man sat in a closed room, one hand resting on a propped up leg while the other was closed in a fist at his side. The light from the waning moon filtered through the paper screens on the man's right to illuminate his face. He reflexively curled his fist and tossed the object in his hand to catch the moonlight. Though he'd never show it, the moon made him nervous: it wouldn't be long before his human night
"Kanna," The man's voice was low and well articulated. At his command, an unnaturally pale girl appeared from the shadows, seeming to materialize out of nothingness. Kanna stepped forward, holding a large, elegant mirror in both hands.
"Naraku," The child's voice was a whisper: a sound from the wind. Her eyes were scary in their emptiness: she didn't seem to actually exist.
Kanna help out her mirror for Naraku to see. She closed her eyes and reached into her center, finding the chords that connected her with the looking glass. Bathing the chords with her demonic powers, she expertly manipulated the strings like a puppeteer. Once she got the tuning right, Kanna diffused herself into the strings and reopened her eyes.
She now had a bird's eye view of the world: her field of vision had left the dark room far behind and was now soaring free, like Kagura had always wanted to. She zoomed in on what appeared to be an ordinary castle.
The mirror flickered and swirled before clearing to reflect Kanna's vision. Naraku stared hungrily at the image.
"Look closer," Naraku commanded.
Kanna obeyed, zooming in until she could see the metal-enforced walls of the castle: a rare adaptation that had resulted from prosperity and encouragement of the artisan trade. Naraku nodded, satisfied, and brushed a strand of hair back from his forehead. He stayed like that for what seemed like hours: observing the comings and goings of the castle inhabitants from every angle.
He watched, seemingly intrigued by the tiniest details of castle life. To Naraku, the castle was like a machine with every part working perfectly in his favor.
Finally, content with his observations, he dismissed Kanna and turned his attention to the object in his hand. He opened his palm to reveal the almost completed Jewel of Four Souls.
Eight pieces are missing: Inuyasha and his friends have five, Kohaku has the sixth, and Kikyo has the seventh. That leaves only one shard left.
Naraku gave a barely perceptible smirk. Everything was in place: it was time to set his trump card in motion. If everything worked out, the power of the Shikon Jewel would only be the tip of the iceberg.
Far away, Tuzuki Castle pulsed.
In the forest surrounding the castle, a young priestess tensed, turning her head slowly to look in the direction of Lord Tuzuki's home. Kikyo frowned: Naraku was up to something.
By the time Kagome finally remembered the backpack and supplies that were still on her side of the Bone eater's well, it was past mid-afternoon of the next day. She had spent a restless night in Kaede's hut and had gotten up at dawn to talk to the priestess and Myouga (who had finally decided to show himself). Unfortunately, the two were as clueless as she was. The internet hadn't been kidding when it had said that Tuzuki Castle was inconspicuous: if it could evade the detection of a thousand year old flea that had traveled just about everywhere, the mysterious castle must have been invisible.
As Kagome climbed over to her side of the well and walked to her room, she quickly picked up her yellow bag. Inuyasha, who had followed her to the other side, was being kept downstairs by Souta: her little brother had seemed adamant on talking to at least one of them. As Kagome hefted her oversized bag on to her shoulder and prepared to walk out of her room, she stopped at the sight of her computer.
On a whim, she put down her bag and walked over to the monitor, turning it on. The screen whirled to life with a hum; her chair had somehow been set back in its proper place. She sat down and opened up another internet search.
After its disappearance, the castle had become infamous. Kagome reasoned that in her era, with modern technology connecting the whole world, there would be much more of the information she sought on Lord Tuzuki's holdings.
Quickly, she typed in the same search as last time and clicked on the same link that lead to the priest's journal entry. If she remembered correctly, there had been some general information on Tuzuki castle before the disappearance. She quickly skimmed through the article, subconsciously slowing down when she reached the descriptions of the mangled corpses. She held her breath as she neared the bit about the silver haired body, not really knowing what to expect.
As she actually read the small paragraph, though, she blinked. Kagome rubbed her eyes and stared at the computer monitor: her face contorted in an expression of disbelief.
…Most of these bodies have been indentified as belonging to the staff and heads of the castle but, as we performed burial, we found a handful of corpses that belong to outsiders. We are puzzled to find that all except one of these bodies are mangled beyond recognition. These few corpses are the only signs of violence in this otherwise peaceful battle field. The one recognizable body is of a beautiful female priestess dressed in red and white and holding a broken bow. The members of a nearby village have already identified her as Lady Kikyo, a healer and a priestess that often visited to provide aid for the sick and elderly. We can only hope that she will rest in peace…
It wasn't possible: Kagome drew a sharp breath in surprise. The victory that she had won last night now seemed to turn sour. Had she, by preventing Inuyasha from going, brought about Kikyo's demise?
She's already died once, a little voice in her ear whispered, it's not like she can miss a life she never had. Kagome shook her head. Although she would rather have Kikyo die than Inuyasha, this wasn't a decision for her to make. Inuyasha had loved Kikyo and Kagome knew a large part of him still did. If she was going to be moral about this, she would have tell Inuyasha everything and let him make the decision on his own. Unfortunately, she had a pretty good idea what his decision would be.
On the other hand, if she was to be selfish, she would keep Inuyasha safe by letting Kikyo die again.
Kagome sighed: this becoming increasingly similar to those moral dilemma puzzles she and her friends had often used as a source of amusement on lazy days.
Kagome was spared further contemplation, however, when her bedroom door opened with a crash and Inuyasha walked in, holding Souta - like a puppy - by the scruff of his neck. She started in surprise and stared at the scene in front of her.
"Inuyasha! Put Souta down!" Kagome scolded. Inuyasha obeyed and Souta, looking more startled than scared, was placed back on his feet. The younger boy dusted himself off.
"Souta's got somethin' important to tell ya," Inuyasha answered by way of apology and pushed Souta forward.
"Souta?" Kagome clicked off the computer and turned her full attention to her little brother. She listened intently, eyes growing wider and wider as Souta related the tale of the vision that he had had yesterday night. Her younger brother seemed seriously concerned, suggesting that perhaps a demon was in Tokyo.
Kagome, on the other hand, had a different idea.
When she had previously thought of Tuzuki castle, she had not thought it possible for the single incident to have such long term repercussions. Apparently, in order for time to continue as it had, someone had to die.
Kagome's thoughts turned back to Kikyo. Was it possible that her death was now the reason for things remaining the way they were? Was Kagome's counterpart's apparent sacrifice the only thing keeping the timeline on track? If it was, than wasn't everything resolved? Time would continue the way it was suppose to and Inuyasha would survive: there was no need for her to worry over this anymore.
But still…
"Thank you Souta," Kagome absent-mindedly smiled at her little brother, "If you don't mind, I need to talk to Inuyasha alone for awhile."
The demon was in the form of a young boy: silver haired, blue eyed, and clothed like a prince in a lavish cloth made from the fire rat. His arms, despite their seeming frailness, were curled around a heavy sword made from the finest metal. He smiled, teeth evenly shaped like those of a human.
He existed in another dimension: taking up no space or time. He floated along in the darkness, waiting until he could live again.
It had been so long since he had last lived.
His soul feeder, a metallic creature that crept on its legs and morphed into a confusing array of shapes and colors, wound itself around his waist. It was attached to the pulse spot at his wrist: constantly supplying him with essence from the living world.
"Hibiki," a low voice sounded from nowhere and everywhere. The young boy frowned: was that his name? Hibiki?
"Hibiki," his soul feeder echoed, pulsing around his body.
"It won't be long now."
The last shard of the Shikon Jewel sparkled in the light of the darkness.
When Souta had left and closed the door behind him, Kagome moved to sit on her bed and patted the spot beside her: an invitation for Inuyasha to sit down as well. He sat, crossing his legs in an Indian style, and waited for her to start. She had promised him an explanation last night and now it looked like she might be living up to that promise.
"Inuyasha," Kagome started, and then hesitated. Taking and deep breathe and deciding to just get it over with, she dove in. She talked faster than normal, her voice weaving in and out of pitch with anxiety, but Inuyasha's fine tuned ears could easily pick out everything she said.
It gave him a shock to his core.
At the same time, it explained everything: Kagome's strange behavior, the early return, her refusal to help Shinichi.
She'd wanted to protect him. She didn't want him to die.
Inuyasha's heart sang with that realization. Despite every other detail of Kagome's rather morbid tale, Inuyasha felt like breaking out into a smile. If this had been a cheesy romantic movie, this was where the rose pedals would start flying and violins would be playing. As it was, Inuyasha had to make do with sweeping Kagome into a hug: a grin on the corner of his mouth.
I don't deserve someone as caring as you.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome protested: voice muffled by his hatori, "Didn't you hear what I just said!"
"Don't worry about it Kagome," Inuyasha pulled out of the spontaneous and rather uncharacteristic hug, "Nothing's gonna happen to me. It's gonna take more than some old castle to kill me." He sounded oddly sincere, not like he was boasting at all.
Kagome sighed. How did I know he would say something like that?
"Does that mean…"
"I'm sorry Kagome, but I think you know that I can't let Kikyo die again. She's...important...to me," Inuyasha hesitated, eyes begging Kagome to understand.
Kagome nodded: she had expected that.
"But you're important to me too," Inuyasha quickly continued, smelling the beginning of tears, "And….it ain't easy for me to say this: I ain's great with words, but… You're important to me too. You matter to me, maybe more than Kikyo. So quit crying, cause I ain't gonna go die and leave you and everyone else all alone! You won't get rid of me that easy!"
Kagome had to chuckle at the indignant tone in Inuyasha's voice. By the time she had wiped away her tears; Inuyasha had hefted her backpack onto his shoulders and was holding out an outstretched hand.
I have to believe that Inuyasha's right.
"The monk and Sango should be back by now. If we pack tonight, we can leave tomorrow. Shinichi will be thrilled."
Author's Note:
And that's the end of chapter 5. This mystery should be getting more obvious now. Any ideas? Here's a hint: the fact that Hibiki was an artisan is NOT a coincidence. Metalworking is a specialty of Tuzuki Castle.
By the way, out of curiousity, how many people reading this want Kikyo out of the picture?
If I'm lucky, Chapter Six will be up by early next week!
Read and Review!
Again, out of curiosity, does anyone reading this watch American Idol?