Chapter 3:

Eyes Opening

"One thing: you have to walk, and create the way by your walking; you will not find a ready-made path. It is not so cheap, to reach to the ultimate realization of truth. You will have to create the path by walking yourself; the path is not ready-made, lying there and waiting for you. It is just like the sky: the birds fly, but they don't leave any footprints. You cannot follow them; there are no footprints left behind."

-Osho

Ryura skated along the air currents as he enjoyed the simple feeling of being alive. He wasn't aware of how long he had been traveling but in reality, he didn't mind it much. He was happy being able to breathe again. To smell the scent of the air, the tangy salt of the ocean assaulting his nose in a way that would have, in the past, been annoying with the burn it left behind in his nostrils and sinuses. The wind sending his hair and clothing flying only served to further his happiness. Never again would he take these small things for granted. He would enjoy every second of every day no matter where his path led him, until the Kami decided his fate – until it was said if he could live out the rest of his long life, or if his soul was to be obliterated and never exist in this world again.

It was ultimately up to him whether he lived or died, he was intimately aware of that. It was his choice, his life, his future. He was slightly afraid he would fall back into old ways, killing for pleasure no matter who the victim was.

But now with the memories of his family unlocked from the depths of darkness he put them in, did he really want to further dishonor his family? Did he truly wish to disappoint his father and no doubt make his mother cry because of their wayward son – their only child?

Ryura paused in his flight and stared down at the ocean below him, bangs falling to shield his eyes. That struck a nerve in him. He was the last of his line, and while he should have been furthering and protecting his House's legacy, he had been wasting his life away leading the Four War Gods and killing hanyou children because he relied on a damnable bauble of a power sphere to empower him. His clawed hands balled into fists, the tips of the deadly points digging into his palms and cutting them open. He felt the warmth of his Dragon blood coat his skin and drip down to eventually join with the water of the ocean.

No, he wouldn't further disappoint or dishonor his family, not if he could help it. He kept this thought in mind as he continued his travels. He was so close to Nippon now; he could feel it in his chest. Soon his true test would begin, the test that gambled with his life.

His thoughts slowly brought up the four power spheres he and his brothers used to empower themselves. Ryura should have known better. He was born from two powerful Daiyoukai lines. He should have been patient, should have trained and gained his own power. Never should he had used an artifact to make his power for him. It was disgraceful.

He sighed as he realized what a daunting task was ahead of him. While he was far from weak, he was no where near powerful enough to keep up with the other Houses. Sesshoumaru was living proof. While there was a jewel – The Shikon no Tama – floating around that could give Sesshoumaru the strength to conquer the world, he was most likely fighting to see to its removal. Ryura knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn't fall into the call of fake power, not as Ryura had.

Ryura's face soured as he frowned. First thing he needed to stop comparing himself to Sesshoumaru. The ass acted like he didn't know him during the fight on the island. Sesshoumaru just came in, fought against Kyora and acted like Ryura didn't exist. Well, Ryura couldn't exactly blame Sesshoumaru for that. It would have been disgraceful, at the time, for Sesshoumaru to admit that Ryura was sort of a childhood friend, not with the way Ryura had been acting. And if Sesshoumaru was nothing, he was a stickler for keeping up appearances.

His nose twitched randomly, and Ryura looked up as he caught the scent of wood and sand. Ahead of him, off in the distance, was the land of Nippon, staring him in the face with the sun slowly beginning to rise against it, providing a brilliant backdrop. Ryura couldn't help the large smile that came over his face, but he didn't try to stop it. It had been such a long time since he saw Nippon, even before his death. He and his brothers had been trapped on that damned island for far too long.

Ryura sped up his pace, even though he knew he was going to regret it later. He was running on fumes now – he had been flying all night – and it wouldn't be long before his body gave out and he crashed into the ocean again. He needed to make it to land before that happened, so he readily spent the rest of his energy to speed up his time.

When he made it, his boot covered feet landed on sand, slowly sinking into the depths of the white-brown substance. He fell to his knees, panting the entire time, and quickly the rest of his body followed. Laying with the front of his body on the sand, his face pushed into it, he gave one last smile before his eyes rolled back in his head and he entered the world of unconsciousness.

Half way across Nippon, Inuyasha and his pack were preparing themselves for another day of traveling. Kagome was rolling up her sleeping bag, Shippou at her side and helping her with the odd material, both speaking softly to the other. Sango was at the fire, preparing everyone's morning tea; except Inuyasha's. He said he hated the stuff, so he was getting Ramen instead considering it only took hot water to make just as the tea did. Miroku was directly opposite of Sango, his eyes closed as he went about meditating like he would most mornings. Inuyasha kept himself busy by sitting high in a tree, ears twitching and nose sniffing, as he searched for any sign of danger, or Naraku.

Finding nothing, Inuyasha gave a haggard sigh and jumped from his perch. It had been well over two weeks since they last saw Naraku, and it was really starting to get on his nerves. The spider-hanyou never went more than a few days without sending something at Inuyasha's pack, be it a puppet, one of his incarnations, or the saimyoshou – his annoying spies that were poisonous wasps.

Their last encounter with the damned spider-hanyou was when he attempted to corrupt Kagome by trying to get her to kill Hitomiko in exchange for her release. His plan failed, but only because Kagome was able to summon the true power of the Sacred Longbow of Mount Azusa. She had fired an arrow, which apparently vanished completely from sight, only to reappear behind Hitomiko and behind Naraku's barrier. At the same time it was revealed to Kagome that her powers had been sealed away quite some time ago, and to defeat Naraku and purify the Shikon no Tama, the seal needed to be released.

Inuyasha huffed and stuffed his hands into the sleeves of his red fire-rat haori. Whatever the case was, Naraku was out there somewhere, and they needed to find him before he destroyed yet another person's life.

"Oi, we gotta get moving!" He said gruffly as he stomped his way into the camp, hands still stuffed into his haori sleeves.

Inuyasha didn't flinch when Sango looked up and leveled him with a glare, but he did flinch when Kagome loomed off to the side, sending just as heated of a glare Sango had. The difference between the two women was that one could forcefully make him eat dirt with nothing but a word. A single goddamn word!

"Inuyasha..." Kagome growled, which made Inuyasha's puppy-like ears immediately fold in and press close to his head. "We just woke up! Give us a little bit more time, please." She stressed the word please, as if beginning him not to start a fight, because she had no problem with sitting him so early in the morning if she had to.

Inuyasha grumbled and pivoted on the balls of his feet, his back now facing the borderline angry Shikon Miko, along with the rest of the camp. "Feh, fine. Whatever; it's not like we had anythin' to do anyway," he said sourly.

Kagome gave the Inu-hanyou's back an exasperated smile after mumbling a soft thank you. She knew trying to track down Naraku was getting on his nerves, and while she did feel sorry for him, she didn't feel sorry enough for him to allow him to push her and her friends to the point beyond exhaustion.

A tugging on her skirt made Kagome look down. Shippou stood beside her with a slightly worried look on his face. Kagome frowned and crouched down, tucking her skirt against her legs. She didn't want Miroku to get a free show, after all. Even if he was deep in meditation, the perverted monk had a way of knowing when he could get a peep at something he shouldn't.

"What is it, Shippou?" she asked softly while reaching forward for the young Kitsune's hand. When his much smaller hand was in her own, she noticed he was shaking. "Shippou?"

"That, Kagome..." he trailed off as his eyes looked fearfully at the wrapped, long rectangle box laying next to Kagome's monstrous yellow backpack. It was rattling, almost jumping with some sort of urgency.

Kagome gave Shippou a nod and patted his head softly. "I'll look at it. Thanks, Shippou," she said with a smile. The smile seemed to infected Shippou, easing his worries and calming him down.

Inuyasha had turned around now, watching with curiosity. And for once, he didn't mind it when Shippou ran over to him and hopped onto his shoulder; he knew the kit was just seeking comfort. While he might have thought Shippou was a whiny brat, he really didn't care for the little guy as if he were a younger brother.

His golden eyes tracked Kagome's movements while she walked over to the box and knelt in front of it. She ran her hand slowly along the surface of the blue silk wrapped around it, and for some reason unknown to Inuyasha she still had that damned smile on her face. The girl had to really be stupid, considering what was inside the box. It wasn't nothing to be smiling about!

But, there wasn't anything he could do about it. Instead he watched Kagome further as she carefully unwound the silk from the box and set it on her backpack. Her small hands fumbled with the latch until the box opened to reveal its contents.

Laying on plush black cushions meant for holding delicate objects were two fierce and deadly swords. Each were formidable in their own rights, but together they were almost unstoppable; Inuyasha knew because he had experience fighting against the true masters of both swords. Ryura the Dragon, General of the Four War Gods.

When Kagome had found the swords a few months ago, Inuyasha had been furious and attempted to get rid of them. It did him very little, for the swords returned to Kagome's side only a few days later while she was bathing alone. He kept trying to get rid of them after that, but time and time again they would return to the young Miko's side. Inuyasha was down right enraged to the point he tried to destroy the swords with a blast of youki from Tessaiga, which proved to be futile.

Now the barriers had erected a barrier around themselves and only Kagome was allowed to touch them, else risk having their hand either electrified to a crisp or cut at sharply with an oddly powerful gust of wind.

Since they had to take the swords with them, and Kagome was the only one who could carry them, Sango and Inuyasha had to switch riding buddies when they decided to visit Totosai and ask him about the damned things.

The swords had apparently decided they really, really hated Inuyasha, and whenever he would attempt to carry Kagome on his back, with the swords on her back, their weight would suddenly increase, and Kagome would tumble right off. If it hadn't been for Sango, Kagome would have fallen to her death on more than one occasion.

As it turned out, the swords hated all males near Kagome except Shippou. Miroku had once touched her shoulder and the sword Raijinga snapped at him with a small jolt of lightning. In the end, Sango and Kagome had to ride on Kirara while Miroku and Inuyasha were forced into the uncomfortable position of the hanyou carrying the monk on his back.

It was quite the sight for Totosai when they arrived until both males punched him over the head. He almost didn't help Inuyasha's pack with the swords because of how the males were acting. At least, until Kagome pulled sad, puppy eyes on him. He finally broke and 'spoke' with the swords, finding out that indeed they did hate Inuyasha, disliked Miroku, and at the same time, they had chosen Kagome as a temporary master until a new one could be found who suited their tastes.

Totosai had gifted Kagome with the box and silk afterwards, saying they were enchanted with a weight reduction spell that would give Kagome an easier time of toting the swords around.

"Fujinga, Raijinga..." Kagome said, breaking Inuyasha from his thoughts. "What's wrong, you two? You haven't made a peep for a good while now."

The swords began to rattle, the metal of their forms clanging loudly enough to snap Miroku out of his meditation. He looked at Sango with a raised eyebrow in silent question, and the youkai slayer could only shrug in response. She didn't know what was going on, either.

Settling her hands on the hilts of the swords, Kagome frowned softly, frustration rising each passing second. Frustration quickly turned to surprise, however, when the swords stopped rattling at her touch. She ran her eyes along the length of the swords and silently marveled at their beauty for what was possibly around the two hundredth time since she found them.

They greatly resembled Chinese Niuweidao, but were much bigger and longer with far more care given to their detail when they were forged. Raijinga's, or Thunder Blade's, hilt held a golden lightning bolt and was wrapped in a brown leather with a large ruby set in the middle of the sword's guard. The same golden color swirled around the sword, all the way up the guard and to the tip of the blade itself, forming intricate patterns that were beautifully laid in the blade's metal.

Fujinga, or Wind Blade, was styled much like Raijinga was. Its designs were a near copy of Raijinga, except where Raijinga was gold, Fujinga was platinum; silver with a blue tint. Instead of a lightning bolt, Fujinga held a storm cloud. It too held a ruby on its guard.

Time went by with Kagome keeping her hands on the swords' hilts, and when she received no response, she sighed and closed the box, wrapping the silk back around it carefully. The swords used to scare the living daylights out of her, considering who they used to belong to. Ryura the Dragon, the leader of the Four War Gods she and her friends fought on Horai Island. Kagome had sen what the swords were capable of, and that alone scared her. As time passed, however, they had sort of grown on her. They had an uncanny way of releasing a little bit of energy whenever she was stressed, and the energy would calm her instantly. It almost made her regret trying to get rid of them.

She tried to find their new master, but the search ended with Sesshoumaru. When he had been unable to touch the swords, Kagome knew then that she would be keeping the swords for a long, long time. The Daiyoukai was possibly the strongest person Kagome had ever met – not that she would ever mention that aloud when Inuyasha was within hearing range – and if he couldn't grab them, no one could. Sesshoumaru had offered to help her learn to wield them, but she only laughed at the idea and kindly refused.

She was an archer, not a swordsman. She wasn't a Warrior Miko, that had been Midoriko's area of expertise.

Kagome had given up the search and together with the others, resumed hunting down Naraku. Thankfully toting the box around wasn't difficult. She dumped all of her school books at home in her era, and now she carried the box around in her backpack, regardless if the backpack only covered the box halfway.

The Shikon Miko smiled and stood, turning to face the curious onlookers behind her. She laughed nervously and waved her hands, "Nothing, it was nothing! Everything's fine now."

For some reason, no one believed that, not even Kagome herself. The camp was quiet as everyone prepared to head out after finishing their tea and after Inuyasha snarfed down his Ramen, and each of them had the feeling there would be an eye opening revelation soon.