Chapter 12: The Tenth Hour- The Gates of the Castle

"I'm impressed that you made it this far," said a dark voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere around them. Kagome felt her heart sink as she turned to look behind her.

Standing there was a demon. But not just any demon… even though he looked human right now… Kagome somehow knew that this demon… was practically pulsing evil.

He had a rather feminine look to him; his hair was long and black and varies from shaggy to curly, his eyes were red in color and gave off a cold aura further alluding to his evil nature. He wore a light blue jacket with a purplish interior and a yellow obi tied around his waist, with armor made out of what looked like bones and possessed three large dragon tails. The center of his chest armor and the back of his hands had red eyes embedded in them. Even though he was a human… Kagome somehow knew who he was…

… he was the spider from her nightmare…

"Hello," he said in a cold voice that seemed to cause the air around them to drop several degrees. "I must say that I never expect a handful of mere humans, and a couple weak demons to make it all the way up here to meet me."

"WEAK DEMON?" roared Shippo in outrage. "Is he talking about me?"

"Don't worry Shippo," said Miroku through clenched teeth. "He's just trying to get to you."

"Kagome?" said Sango as she put her hand on her weapon. "Listen… you go in and get help. We'll try to hold him off for as long as we can."

"What? No! I can't leave you alone to face him!" cried out Kagome in distress.

"This is our battle Kagome," said Miroku. "We've got a score to settle with him."

"What do you mean you've got…?" and then it her.

"You're Naraku aren't you?" she cried. He grinned in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "You're the one who destroyed the dream bubble?" she gasped, a finger pointed accusingly in his direction. Her friend's gave her a questioning look, but the stranger's cruel laughter brought their attention back to him.

"So what if I did?" he said, a smirk upon his face. "I thought that your dream bubble was a little too sickening. In fact, I felt the need to throw up."

That stung. Kagome took a step forward—what she was going to do she didn't know; so it was probably a good think that Miroku and Sango had gripped her arms and held her back.

"Calm down, he's only trying to trick you into doing something stupid," said Miroku, his good hand hovering over the other, as though he'd use it. Naraku simply laughed again.

"Ah, monk. How's your hand doing? Better, I hope?"

Miroku scowled at the Naraku's mocking tone. To Kagome's surprise, Sango stepped in front of him, as though to protect him.

"How cute," taunted Naraku. "The slayer is protecting the monk. You didn't do a very good job protecting your family, did you?"

Sango let out a growl that sounded more like something that would come Inuyasha than her; she looked as if she was ready to take off Naraku's head… which she probably was going to do.

"Kagome?" she hissed. "You go and get help from inside the castle. And then take your brother and run. Run as far as you can from here."

"No way!" said Kagome. "I'm not leaving you guys here to…"

"Now is not the time to argue," said Sango not looking at her. "Please… you have a duty to protect your brother… don't fail him like… like I failed mine."

Kagome couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Kagome," said Miroku. "I agree with Sango. Please go and get help, we'll hold him off. And then get out of here!"

"But…" began Kagome.

"NOW!" cried Sango as she then went and charged Naraku.

"SANGO!" cried out Kagome in panic as she saw her friend going after Naraku with the giant boomerang; screaming, "NARAKU! YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Don't worry Kagome," said Shippo as he leapt down from Miroku's shoulder, "We can handle it."

"Well, come on then!" said Miroku rolling up his sleeve and tugging at the beads around his hand. "Kagome, please go and get some help. We're strong enough to hold him off, but we're gonna need help to destroy him once and for all."

"No!" yelled Kagome livid. "I want to help!"

"You will be helping," yelled back Miroku as he went charging after Sango. Kirara had just transformed, and leapt into the air to circle Naraku. "Go and get help!

"But…"

"Kagome?" said Shippo at her feet. "The more time that you spend here arguing, the less time we have to get some reinforcements."

He made a good point there.

"But…" she struggled with herself for a moment before, finally, she nodded. "Alright! Take care of everyone," she called to Shippo as she turned and ran through the gates.

Ever been to Cinderella Castle? Imagine it twice as big, twice as wide, with twice the towers, and twice magnificence. Then you might have some idea on what the castle of the Demon King looked like. The castle appeared to be made of white and silver stone with royal blue roofs on their turrets; the tops of several towers and two of the tallest spires looked as if they were made with real gold and gold leaf. The castle was also surrounded by a moat, which was full of black water; with a drawbridge that looked like it was made of a dark oak.

If things weren't so serious, Kagome would have been stuck staring up at the castle with her mouth hanging open for hours.

Kagome ran up towards the giant front gate that towered a good 20 or 30 feet above her. "Great," snapped Kagome to herself. "My friends are in danger, and I don't know how to get into the damn place!"

As soon as she said that, the doors automatically opened by themselves… to reveal a tall man standing there. A very handsome man was walking towards her calmly as if nothing was wrong. He had long, white hair swayed gently, a blue crescent moon on his forehead, and two red markings on each cheek and on the sides of his wrists as well as one red stripe on each of his eye lids. He looked at her with mild surprise and continued to walk towards her.

"Are you…?" Kagome asked as she stared at him. She remembered that Inuyasha had told her about his brother when they were children. So could he possibly be…?

"Lord Sesshomaru," he answered before Kagome could finish. "Naraku's out there isn't he?" without waiting for an answer he strolled right pass Kagome as if he did it every day.

"Wait… I…" stammered Kagome; she was so confused and needed answers.

"Go," said Sesshomaru without looking at her. "Inuyasha's waiting for you inside. I'll handle this."

"Inuyasha?" began Kagome startled.

Sesshomaru looked back at her as if she was stupid. "I'm getting tired of this little game," he said calmly. "I know that you came here… not only to get your brother… but to see Inuyasha. I know that you want to see him. He's inside and waiting to speak with you. If you want to know why he did everything he's done… if you want to get some answers… then leave Naraku to me and go speak with Inuyasha."

He then left.

'Yes,' thought Kagome. 'Definitely Inuyasha's brother,' but she would worry about him later and ran through the open doors into the palace.

*She must have spent at least almost another hour running through the castle.*

It turns out that the castle was even bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Kagome knew that it was going to take hours just to find her way through this place; let alone find someone. It was like looking for a needle—no—something smaller than a needle, in a haystack when you don't even know if you're in the right field. (The entrance hall was bigger than most houses are)

She ran up and down hallways, through rooms that were so large that they could easily fit a couple thousand people, she up and down staircases, and pass countless doors. And she hadn't seen a single living soul.

She ran up another shining staircase aligned with more than forty suits of armors, and right beneath a dozen stained glass windows with pictures in that she didn't recognize, or rather didn't have time to even look at.

She stopped at the top of the stars to realize that it lead to about hundred more doors… she didn't have time for this! She turned around, and went running back down the stairs. 'Don't they have maps around this place like they do in shopping malls?' she thought as she ran through another room, only to see that it lead to a dead end. If she didn't find her way through this giant maze soon, she'll never find Sota, and she'll be forced to live here forever… but…

Was that such a bad thing anymore?

Did she really want to go back to earth? To be away from the man that she loves?

By this point she was exhausted, out of breath, and so confused on what to do that she just couldn't take it anymore. Sesshomaru said that Inuyasha was waiting for her inside… but where? There had to be well over a thousand rooms in this place! Finally fed up, she stopped running and screamed out, "INUYASHA!"

Boy, that scream felt good. While Kagome took several deep breaths… she heard a sound…

Kagome whipped around in surprise. The door that she had been standing next to had just opened on this own; letting out a long and eerie creak. Kagome walked forward until she stood in the door frame; looking into the impossibly huge (no enormous) room. There were no lights, so it was so dark that she could only see the first few feet that were in front of her.

She stepped inside, walking on a long red carpet that stretched the length of the hall, along a white marble floor. Her muffled footsteps echoed around the room, bouncing off the walls and came back to her. She continued on her way… until she could see a flash of silver in front of her.

Sitting on a large throne at the end of the room was Inuyasha.