Sorry for the wait! ^^'
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
~Stars Of The Moon~
Chapter 18
~Dream~
Hikari was in the forest. She looked up at what her father was holding in his hands. "What is this?"
Her father grinned. "What does it look like? Here, hold them."
He handed her the two blades he was holding, but little Hikari still seemed to doubt something. "They're big. How will I be able to hold them up? You know that strength isn't my strongest point, Father! Mother, can't you hold them?"
Michiko smiled and shook her head. "No, apparently I can't."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Because it's only in my blood," her father answered. "Your mother won't be able to hold them even if she was the strongest being on earth. Come on, give it a try."
Her eyes narrowed, but she took them anyways. She was expecting her arms to fall off, but the blades were as light as feather. Her expression brightened, and she smiled proudly. She swung them around a few times, astounded by how easily she could move these katanas, which were about twice her size. She held the weapons to the sun and stared, amazed. "Wow!"
Her mother giggled. "What do you think? Better than the ones you trained with, right?"
"You bet!"
Her father chuckled. "I'm glad you like them. Because they'll be yours from now on."
Hikari blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"I'm giving my weapons to you."
She dropped the blades and exclaimed in disbelief, "But you can't do that! You won't have any weapons left to fight!"
He nodded. "I know that, my dear." He kneeled down and said, "But the blades aren't the only important things in life. There is also family, and the fact that you need to keep the generation going. One day, I will die, and someone needs to keep these blades for me."
Tears were starting to appear in Hikari's small eyes. The mere thought of losing her father forever broke her heart."No! You can't die!" She dropped the katanas and hugged her father tight. She whimpered, "I don't want you to die... You have to stay... If you give me this... You really will go away..." Happiness, smiles, strength, laughter... He offered her everything. How would she be able to live without the man who gave her so much?
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "Now, now. I'm not completly useless without any weapons. Besides, I have your mother to protect me," he said as he winked at Michiko.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't expect me to have your back all the time. I'm going to grow old and I'll need my breaks too."
He laughed. "Sorry, but I can still imagine you as an old woman and still up for the fight."
"This isn't a time to be laughing!" Hikari suddenly exclaimed as she let go. "You're giving me these and you don't realise what you can't do without them! You won't be able to protect anyone, or to fight, or..."
Her father chuckled. "Whoa, now. You don't really need weapons to fight or to protect someone."
She blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
He shook his head. "You're only six years old, and yet you already know so much about life. But you don't know much about the sacrifices some of us have to make. All of us have made sarifices before. For example, that time to took down a tree because you had to train. If you wanted to get stronger, you had to test your strength on it.
"Also," he continued, "Protecting someone is a lot more than just weapons. Because it doesn't matter what weapon you're wielding," he grabbed the two swords on the floor, "The only thing that matters... is that you're trying to save the ones you love with all you've got."
He handed the blades to her. This time, Hikari took a good long look at them. Then, she gently took them in her hands. She held them up to the sun, and they shone unlike any other blade she's ever seen. Considering the size of the katanas, it was almost unbielivable how light they felt. They were over fifty years old, and yet they looked like they were forged a few minutes ago.
She looked at her father again. "Is it really okay for me to have these?"
He smiled. "Yes. And one day, you're going to have to give them to your children, and they will give them to their children. The generation will go on. Even if I die, a part of me will stay here," he touched the blades, "Traces of battles we've fought. Traces of the blood we lost. They will all remain in these swords, until their own end."
Hikari marveled at the weapons she held in her small hands. "I'm holding the same swords my ancestors once held. If father's right, then my ancestors' powers still remain. And now it's my job to keep it going!"
She felt slightly guitly when she remembered that she was planning on living without a husband. After all, boys were stupid and clumsy. She couldn't let them slow her down.
"I'm still going to do it," she vowed. "Who knows, maybe I'm going to get a younger sibling later, and then, I'll leave it to him to continue the generation."
But looking at the blades, she knew that even if she did get a sibling, she'd never give him her weapons. She didn't want to get married or have children, but it was to continue the generation...
"I'm going to do it!" she exclaimed. She bowed to her father and said, "Thank you, Father. I'll keep them safe. I promise to take care of them!"
He and Michiko smiled. "That's good to know."
He pat her head. "I'll be waiting for the day you master your new weapons."
~End Dream~
"Hikari. Hikari, wake up."
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Bankotsu's blue eyes. Then, it was his smile. And finally, his face. When she was finally completly awake, she sat up. She stretched her arms out and yawned. Her tired eyes went to the river.
"Did you have a good sleep?" he asked with a grin.
"You were watching me sleeping, weren't you?" she asked without looking at him. She was still busy trying to adjust her sight to the sunlight. She groaned.
"I can't help it. How can I keep my eyes away when such a rare beauty," he took her face in his hand, "... is sleeping with such a cute smile on her face."
She rolled her eyes. "Good morning to you too."
Hikari looked around and noticed that a few men were missing. Suikotsu was sleeping on Ginkotsu, tired from his night shift. Mukotsu was up and awake. "Where did the two others go?" she asked.
"Off hunting," he replied as he stood up. "They should be back soon enough."
"Sooner than you think," Renkotsu said as he appeared from the bushes with a boar on his back. Jakotsu followed with a rabbit in his hand.
Bankotsu frowned as he saw the amount of prey they captured. "That's all there is?"
Jakotsu nodded, and placed the rabbit down. "Apparently, this is the only fresh prey we could find. We found some animal remains, but they weren't fresh enough for us to eat.
"We couldn't find any plants either," Renkotsu added. "They were either dead or poisonous. Looks like the demons took everything they could find."
Hikari took out the map and said, "Well, there are more demons surrounding this area than other places. Right now, we're at the core of this place, so I guess we won't find much prey."
Bankotsu looked at the map. "If we go a little further and follow the left side of the road, there should be more food."
"How long till we get there?" Renkotsu asked.
The L. Healer frowned. "If we go with our usual rythm, with all the breaks we take, we may get there in two hours. But if we're faster and we don't take any breaks, we should be there in an hour and a half."
"Let's go with our usual rythm," Bankotsu said. "We won't be able to eat much this morning, so we can't afford to use up too much energy either. Also, we might come across a few demons on our way."
"In that case, some people should eat less and some people should eat more, right?" Renkotsu suggested.
Hikari shook her head. "No." "It wouldn't be fair for Mukotsu. I know you're not going to let him eat much," she thought bitterly. But instead, she said, "I think everyone should eat as much as the others, and we'll hunt along the way. As we get further from this place, there should be more prey and fruits we can eat."
"That's a good idea," Bankotsu said as he stood back up. "For now, let's focus on eating and getting our strength back." He glanced at the doctor sleeping on Ginkotsu and said, "Can someone wake Suikotsu up?"
Jakotsu walked over to his sleeping brother. "Hey, Suikotsu. Wake up, we're leaving!"
The doctor mumbled a little, and went back to snoring.
"Hey! Wake up!"
The cross dresser wacked his comrade on his head.
Suikotsu jolted back up. "OW! What the hell was that for?"
He replied smugly, "If you don't get up the first time I call you, you suffer the consequences. Come on. We're eating."
Suikotsu growled. He got off of Ginkotsu and walked to the rest of his brothers. Renkotsu already prepared the fire and the meat was burning. "Hey, how much longer till we get to Mt. Hakurei?" the doctor asked.
"That depends," Hikari said as she looked back at the map. "If we stay on track, we'll arrive in five days. But if we're slowed down by demons or other things, I think that it's going to take us another week."
"Let's hope... we stay on track..." Ginkotsu said.
"Yeah, five days is already a lot, if you ask me," Jakotsu said. "We want to know who brought us back as soon as possible so we can live normaly again."
"Normaly..." Hikari glanced at Bankotsu from the corner of her eye. She could clearly remember the conversation she had with Renkotsu the other night. She knew that Bankotsu would probably want ot live with her, but what would his brothers think of it?
"Just what is their normal life? What does 'life' mean to them all?"
*O*~*O*~*O*
"I don't think Inuyasha can take any more of this," Miroku said to Sango.
"I'm sure he can last a little longer," she replied. "Just until lunch time, at least."
"But what if he doesn't?" Kohaku asked. "He might bring up a fight."
"I think he's going to burst soon," Shippou said.
Big Kirara growled in agreement.
The three were flying on Kirara (and Shippou was on Miroku's shoulder) while Kagome rode on Inuyasha's back. Sesshomaru flew on his own, with that emotionless expression stuck on his face, and Rin and Jaken were riding on Ah-Un.
Inuyasha had a big scowl.
"That poker face of his is starting to disappear," the kitsune mumbled.
"We know, Shippou, we know," Sango sighed.
"Nobody's really happy about this," Miroku said. "But everyone's going to endure it because it's for our own good."
Back on the ground, Kagome whispered to Inuyasha, "Say, what are we going to do when we come across a village? We can't let Sesshomaru in a village, people are going to panic!"
Inuyasha grumbled back, "Sesshomaru's gonna go around it, and we're going through it. That's all."
"But then, he might go faster than us, and we might end up getting seperated."
"So what? We'll find them by sniffing them out. It's no problem."
Kagome frowned. "You don't care if we get seperated, do you?"
He didn't say anything.
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
"Of course I am, you're right at my ear!"
"Then answer my question!"
He sighed. "I just don't see why we need their help. We're fine without them."
Kagome felt like she explianed this ten times already. "We needed help from people to find Naraku. It would be logical to find some help from other people like Sesshomaru and Koga.
"I know it's hard to deal with," she said smootly, "But just endure it for now, and you'll get used to it."
"That's just it, I don't want to get used to it," he growled. "I already have enough things I need to deal with."
She blinked. "You don't mean the Band Of Seven, do you?"
"What do you think?" he asked. He glanced at Sesshomaru. "I can't even deal with him right now, and you guys want me to-" He stopped talking when he remembered that Sesshomaru had sharp ears.
"Let's... not talk about that right now," Kagome suggested. "But really, you should make your decision soon. You never know when we'll bump into them."
He sighed again. His friend continued, "I know it's a hard choice, but you need to decide. And you should also think about when you're going to tell Sesshomaru about all this."
The half demon shook his head. "You don't get it. If Sesshomaru is with us, the Band Of Seven can't... you know what I'm talking about. But if those guys come with us, Sesshomaru's gonna kill them. It's one option or another. And I know that you want both of them joining us."
Kagome frowned. "You're right. I guess I should have thought of it earlier." She sighed in discouragement. "But maybe we can seperate. Koga's our ally, but we works on his own. We can do that."
"Have you forgotten about a certain 'special thing'?"
She sounded confused. "What special thing...?"
And she suddenly remembered Hikari.
He whispered to her, just low enough for only her ears. "If we keep 'her' with us, the Band Of Seven are going to furious. And we can't let them keep her, we need her more than them!"
Oh, how Kagome hated how complicated the situation was.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku called. "Up ahead!"
He yelled back, "I know, I know!"
"What is it?" Kagome asked.
"A small demon," he replied. "Nothing we can't handle. I'll let Sango or someone else handle it."
All of a sudden, Sesshomaru sped past them all. The loud roar of a demon could be heard. Rin ordered Ah-Un to go after him, and they were gone in the blink of an eye.
"Those idiots!" Inuyasha growled. Then, he called his friends. "Hurry up! Who knows what'll happen!"
When everyone arrived at the scene, the demon was already dead. Sesshomaru's claws were covered in blood, and he was shaking it all off. Jaken hopped off Ah-Un, and, as usual, exclaimed in pride, "Magnificient! Just as expected from Lord Sesshomaru!"
Little Rin smiled gleefully. "Lord Sesshomaru never loses!"
Inuyasha let Kagome hop off of him and walked up to his brother. "That was a stupid move!" He growled through gritted teeth. "You can't just run off like that without warning!"
Sesshomaru gave him a cold glare. "And what is that supposed to mean? That I should take orders from you?"
Inuyasha stiffened, and scowled even harder.
His older brother turned his back to him. "Hmph. Pathetic."
He started walking away, when Inuyasha barked, "You should have at least waited for us to arrive! And what if it was a strong demon, huh? What would you do then?"
Sesshomaru halted, and spoke in his usual calm tone, "I shouldn't wait for you to arrive. You should already be at the scene of the battle as soon as you smell the enemy. You and your comrades should be faster next time. That is all."
*O*~*O*~*O*
For the next five days, the quest for the Resurrector continued on both sides. While the Band of Seven and Hikari were on their way to what's was left of Mt. Hakurei to find some clues, the Inutachi continued to search for clues... anywhere in Japan.
Their lives went on and on as usual.
... If you say that hanging out with your pain-in-the-ass-older-half-brother is usual.
And finally, early in the morning, the Shichinintai really did find Mt. Hakurei.
But they couldn't really call it a 'Mt' anymore.
It was more like 'Big Pile of Rubble Hakurei'.
"How are we going to find anything in this pile of junk!" Jakotsu yelled when they all stood in front of the pile of rocks.
"N... no need to worry," Bankotsu said as he jumped off Ginkotsu and ran his hand over the rocks. "We're sure to find something..." The words would have been more convincing if he didn't sound so unsure.
Renkotsu looked around warily, expecting something to suddenly appear. "Well... This place certainly has changed a lot since the last time we came here."
"Changed in what way?" Jakotsu asked sarcastically. "You mean the fact that there's more rocks or that there's no mountain? Clearly this place looks like it's changed, the damn mountain was the only thing standing here!"
The second in command rolled his eyes. "The suffocating aura's disappeared, that's another fact."
Suikotsu looked around and blinked. "You're right." He shivered. "Even though there's a tiny trace left, it's not like it's going to affect me in any way. Ugh, I can still remember the feeling I got whenever I came here."
Jakotsu mumbled, "You can say that again."
Hikari turned to Mukotsu who was sitting on the metal tank. "You should probably stay here, Mukotsu. Though the air isn't as pure as it was before, it might still give you a headache."
The old man nodded. "Very well, very well."
"Where do you want to go search first?" Renkotsu asked the leader.
"We split up and find our death spots," he announced.
"And... just how will we be able to do that?" Suikotsu asked. "I know where to find my death place, but I'm guessing that some of you died inside the mountain?"
"And I won't be able to sense any auras," Hikari said. "It's been over six months since the second time you've died, and over a month since that resurrector guy came. I'm pretty sure everything's disappeared by now."
Bankotsu frowned. "Hmm... Good point..."
Ginkotsu boomed, "So... we search... the whole mountain?"
Everyone stared at him. In shock AND because he said something insane.
"Are you crazy?" Jakotsu exclaimed, and stared as if he'd grown another head. "It'll take us forever to clear the whole thing out! We might even get crushed by a rock!"
"Actually..." Hikari said thoughtfully. "That might be the only choice we have left."
"What?"
She looked at the mountain of rocks and explained, "We're not completly helpless. With our weapons, we may be able to find what we need. We can use Ginkotsu and Renkotsu's cannons to clear out the biggest rocks... My swords can come in handy to clear out some things."
Renkotsu nodded. "I agree. Though we may end up destroying something important, and though it will take a complete day or two, it's the only option we have. Nothing else would work."
"Then it's what we're going to do," Bankotsu said as he smirked, satisfied. "But we'll start by searching the areas where we're sure to find something. Then, we'll put the plan into action."
First off, Bankotsu, Suikotsu, and Hikari went to find Suikotsu's death place, since he died near the base of the mountain. "It shouldn't be too hard to find," the doctor said.
"But even the base of the mountain's crumbled," Hikari said. "How is it not hard to find it?"
"Uhhh... Well..."
Bankotsu sighed. "Hikari, can you search around the mountain?"
She seemed confused. "Hm? For what?"
"Anything that might have anything to do with Suikotsu. Dark power, good power, any strange aura, whatever."
The L. healer searched far and wide for anything around the mountain. She even searched beyond the mountain. The only thing she could really find was a village.
"Not just any kind of village, though," she thought as she looked deeper.
She foound children in a small hut. Some others close by were picking herbs. "I knew it. That's Suikotsu's village! Well, the doctor's village, at least. If we start there, we should find some sort of clue."
"Follow me, I think I know where we could start." She ran off with the two men at her heels.
Unlike Suikotsu, finding Renkotsu's death place was easy. And also unlike his brother, he went alone.
He stared at a huge rock. Images passed by his eyes as he remembered who was sitting on it. He could picture Bankotsu looking into the forest, with that emotionless expression on his face. Emotionless... yet so thirsty. For his blood.
Renkotsu growled, then shook his head. "Now is not the time to think about this. The sooner I get out of this place, the better."
He walked past the big rock and looked around. "There's barely anything here!" he cursed.
He continued looking, when something shiny caught his eye. The closer he got to the shine, the more he could see what is was. On the ground, dried herbs surrounded a big white circle. Around the circle was some odd purple liquid. In the center of the circle was a black shining stone.
He blinked at how the light was reflected in his eyes, but he forced himself to look at it. He kneeled down next to the circle and touched it lightly. When he looked back and his finger, it was white.
"Powder?" he wondered. "White powder? This isn't salt or sugar either... And white gun powder doesn't exist..."
Next, he inspected the herbs. "It looks like something a healer would use..." Though they were dry, he could tell every detail of the plants. "If these things lasted for over a month without any water, then they must be special."
He decided to gather some of them to show his brothers what he found.
He wrinkled his nose when he took a look at the purple liquid. It wasn't anything like water; it smelled bad, and it wasn't as slippery.
Then, he observed the black stone. It was a beautiful stone; it shone like the sky at night, its smooth surface looked as if it were polished, and it was perfectly round. There were no scratches at all, as if the stone was created just moments ago.
Renkotsu frowned in thought. "Does a stone like this exist? Adamant is hard, bright, and can last for a very long time... But this stone..."
When he bent down to grab it, a horrifying feeling shot through his body. It was as if the stone was a black hole, sucking him in deeper and deeper... It was like there was nothing at the end of the hole. It was filled with darkness and evil, and yet, it was empty.
His heart almost stopped beating for a second, until he blinked once. And it was over. He quickly removed his hand and stared at the stone in shock. "What... the hell was that?"
What sort of stone was this?
It gave him illusions, it was perfectly intact after a month, and THIS is what could bring people back to life? This is what his resurrector used to bring him back from Hell?
"Some sort of cursed stone? Is it so evil even I can't touch it?" Someone like him, who betrayed his comrades, even killed one, deserved to be called evil. He dared reaching for it one last time. This time, he may not have imagined anything terrible, but the feeling he had when he grabbed the black stone sent chills down his spine.
He quickly ran to the rest of his brothers, and when he arrived, he only saw Jakotsu, Mukotsu, and Ginkotsu.
"The others aren't here yet?" he asked as he appeared.
"No," Ginkotsu answered.
"Did you find anything?" Jakotsu asked in a rush. "Anything interesting? Something odd? Huh?"
"Calm down, Jakotsu," the second in command hushed in his usual way. "And yes, I have found a few things."
He reached for the white power he kept in a pouch and held it up for his brothers to see. "This was used to make a circle. I'm thinking that our bones were placed inside the circle. Also..."
The took out the dried plants. "These herbs may have been used as well."
"The woman may know what they are," Jakotsu commented. He still refused to call Hikari by her name. "Was there anything else?" he urged.
Renkotsu nodded and pulled out the black stone. His three brothers stared at it intently. He guessed that just by looking at it, they knew this rock was out of the ordinary.
Before he could even explain what it was, Bankotsu's voice interrupted him. "So you found that too, did you?"
Their leader, Suikotsu, and Hikari appeared. They too were holding a few things.
"Did you find the same things as Renkotsu?" Jakotsu asked.
Suikotsu shrugged and turned to Renkotsu. "I don't know if we found the same things you've found, but... We found white powder spread out to form a circle, some weird purple stuff around it, and..."
Renkotsu completed for him, "Herbs around and this stone in the middle of the circle."
"That means that we've found the same things on each of the grave sites," Hikari said. He asked Bankotsu, "So I'm guessing that there's no point in searching for other death places?"
He nodded. "Two graves with the same clues are good enough."
"Oh, thank God," Jakotsu breathed in relief.
"What does the stone do?" Mukotsu asked impatiently.
"Oh, right..." Suikotsu pulled out the black stone. He showed it to Renkotsu and compared the two rocks. They were identical. Completly identical. The only difference between the two was the hands they were resting on.
"It's weird..." Hikari mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. "First, I can't even lay a finger on it. Two, the ones who actually can hold it recieves horrible illusions. Three, it's in perfect shape. And four, every single one of these type of rocks are identical?"
"You... can't touch it?" Ginkotsu asked.
She shook her head. "No. I tried approaching it, but I couldn't get any closer than eight inches around it. It was like a barrier was stopping me... Everytime I tried to get closer, some electric sparks would come out."
"So only Big Brother and Suikotsu could bring it?" Renkotsu asked.
The doctor nodded. "The first time I grabbed it was creepy as hell, but we managed through."
"This kind of stone should be rare," the second in command spoke thoughtfully. "It must have taken some time for the one who resurrected us to gather all this."
Bankotsu nodded. Then, he sighed and hopped onto Ginkotsu. "Well we certainly have found out a lot of things."
"What do we do now?" Mukotsu asked. "We've found clues, now what do we do?"
"Hold on," Hikari said. She jumped up a tree (yes, there were trees) and looked at the land. She could clearly see Suikotsu's village. It was probably half an hour away if they went fast enough.
"Maybe we'll find a few clues there," she thought. "Who knows, maybe someone suspicious visited the village a month ago."
She jumped off the tree branch and made a small flip in the air before landing on the ground.
Suikotsu was staring at what she was doing the whole time. "Why did you do that?" Suikotsu asked when she hit the earth.
"Oh, I just got an idea to look around the place-"
"No, not that," he interrupted. "Why did you make that tiny flip?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah, you've always done those things whenever you jumped off somewhere high above the ground," Bankotsu noticed.
"Oh, that." Hikari shrugged. "It's nothing much. It's the same reason why you twirl Banryuu before attacking. You twirl your sword to make your attack more powerful, I flip in the air because it helps me keep my balance."
"Alright, that's very good to know, but why did you go up there?" Renkotsu asked, taking back the question from before.
"I have an idea of what we could do to find more clues, but I don't know if you'll like it..." she said appresenhively.
*O*~*O*~*O*
"Hey, Inuyasha..." Kagome mumbled to her friend as they sat down.
"Yeah? What is it?" He was aware of the worry in her tone.
"Doesn't this place look familiar?"
He cocked his head. "Familiar? What are you talking about? All the trees in the world look the same," he said teasingly.
"I don't mean that," she said seriously. She looked around. I know we've been here once... But I know that whatever we did here wasn't good..."
"I think we know where we are," Miroku said as he appeared behind them both. Sango was by his side with Kohaku trailing behind.
"And you're right Kagome, we've been here before," the demon slayer said. "And what we did here was certainly not good."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Inuyasha snapped. "Spill it!"
Miroku frowned. "We're near Suikotsu's village. Okay, maybe not very near, but there are familiar traces we've already seen before."
Kagome gasped. Kohaku added, "I recognize this place from following Naraku's orders. No doubt about it, we're heading towards Suikotsu's village. Which also means that we're near Mt. Hakurei."
The monk continued, "I suggest we go there to find some information in the village, and then the moutain. The Resurrector may have passed by to gather supplies to bring back the Band Of Seven."
"But if we go, the kids are going to recognize us," Inuyasha noted as he remembered the orphan children Suikotsu took care of when he was a doctor. "It might cause trouble to them. Even if we did save their lives, we bring nasty moments back to life..."
"We should go."
They all looked at Sesshomaru in shock. Even Rin and Jaken, who were beside him the whole time, seemed shocked at what he said. "But Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken called out. Then, when he realised his tone was too loud, he whispered, "Rin... She doesn't have many good memories from there..."
The demon lord gave him a stern look. "Are you saying that what I think is a bad idea?"
Jaken's eyes widened, and blurted, "Oh, no, no, no, no, my Lord! Not at all!"
Sesshomaru turned to Miroku. "How far is it?"
Slightly surprised that he was actually addressing to him, Miroku replied, "A day or two away. Perhaps even three..."
The demon turned around and said, "Very well."
And as usual, he started walking away to who knew where. Inuyasha growled, "There he goes again, making his own decisions and not even waiting for other's opinions."
Sango shrugged. "Either way, it's decided that we're going to leave."
Rin stared at her master leave. Of course she remembered that village. Where she was almost killed by a 'kind' doctor. A mercenary. She couldn't forget those bloodthirsty eyes despite the kind face. If they were going there, everyone, not just her, would have to be careful. And she didn't need Jaken's scolding to know.
*O*~*O*~*O*
"Great," Jakotsu mumbled. "Another village."
"Look on the bright side, Jakotsu," Renkotsu said with a grin. "Now we're all going together so you won't be so bored anymore. And you'll see many handsome men."
The gay man still continued sulking. He sat down on Ginkotsu and pouted. "There may be more men, but there's also going to be more women. And besides..." he said in a dreamy state, "...I've already got my eye on Inuyasha."
Bankotsu, who was running ahead of them with Hikari, heard them talking, and fell back. Hikari saw him slowing down and did the same. "Now that you mention it, I wonder what that mutt's doing."
Renkotsu shrugged. "He has the same goal as us. So he's probably looking for clues like us."
Jaakotsu's eyes suddenly brightened. "Which means that we'll run into them soon enough!"
Everyone stared at him.
"What? It makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Actually, yes, it does," Renkotsu said as he frowned, troubled. "Since both of our groups have the same goal, we will meet each other somehow. And with these strong demons around, no doubt Sesshomaru and Koga will be after some explanations too."
Bankotsu sighed. "Looks like we've got some competition."
"Not only from them, but from other demons as well," Hikari said. "Others will probably want to know where all this power is coming from." She sighed. "I can't believe a single person is doing all this. And just when Naraku finally died..."
"Now, now," Bankotsu said as he got closer to her. "If Naraku didn't die, we would never have come back from the dead, remember?"
"... I suppose you're right."
"But Bankotsu..." Suikotsu said suddenly. "What are we going to do when we meet Inuyasha? Or his brother or that wolf boy?"
The leader's eyes grew thoughful. Everyone, including Hikari, stared at him, waiting for his answer.
To him, it was a hard choice. He and his brothers hated Inuyasha, of course they did. But all that hatred came from a long time ago, back when they were controlled by Naraku. The Band Of Seven was strong back then, and they had a perfect sense of direction thanks to the poisonous insects. And now? They needed help from a map.
Also, the demons back then were easy to handle. They were all weak. But now they couldn't win a battle without getting a big injury. For some certain reason, Bankotsu was sure that Inuyasha was in the same situation as he was.
Plus, they were looking for the same person. The Shichinintai knew things that the Inutachi didn't know, and vise versa.
It seemed right to just...
"We join forces," he finally anounced loudly.
Everyone stared at him. Even Ginkotsu stopped rolling, and Hikari stopped on her tracks. He wasn't surprised at their reaction. It's not everyday that he says the whole group's going to join the enemy. "WHAT?" The word echoed in the forest. In that one word, there was expressions of hapiness (Jakotsu), outrage (majority), and confusion (Hikari). The healer wondered why he would take such a decision...
She brought her hand to his forehead and tilted her head to the side in question. "Do you have a fever or something?"
He grabbed her hand and said, "Of course not! Isn't it logical to just join them?"
"I don't understand," Renkotsu said as he shook his head violently in frustration. "Why would you choose to do that?"
He sighed. "Let me explain." He quickly glanced at his brothers and continued, "As Renkotsu said, we're both looking for the same thing. We have the same problems as Inuyasha does. We know things that they don't know, and they know things that we don't know. It's simple."
"Alright, I see that," Hikari said. "I think it's a good idead, I think it's great. But..."
He could see what she was thinking by looking into her eyes. Sure, she wanted to see her friends again, and she was happy with the alliance he planned and all... But if the alliance was only going to bring problems to everyone... She wouldn't accept it.
Instead of telling what she was thinking, she said, "The question is if Inuyasha's going to accept the offer or not." She sighed. "You don't know how arrogant he can get. His pride gets in the way far too often."
"Ah, but Inuyasha's not stupid," Bankotsu pointed out. "He may be a dog, but he's got a head," he smirked. "And he's got that monk in his group who actually has sense."
Hikari remained unconvinced. "True..."
"But Bankotsu," Suikotsu said. "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but... Don't you think that us hanging out with Inuyasha... isn't a really good combination? We aren't going to last long."
Bankotsu nodded. "I'm aware of that. But this is to find the person who brought us back." His blue eyes usually so light and carefree were serious. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to know if Naraku's alive or dead."
"Besides," he added more lightly. "There's no guarantee we're going to run into them soon."
Hikari glanced at him with worried eyes. Was this really going to work out? What if...
The auras of many demons heading their way interrupted her thoughts. Bug demons, storm demons, poisonous ones... all sorts of them. Her eyes widened as she tried to calculate how much were coming. "Twenty...? No, it's fifty... Just how many..."
She sent her powers out wide as a circle, and the air was sucked out of her lungs. They were surrounding them. Almost fifty from each side. The racket they made must have attracked them... And the demons must have known how strong she and the men were, judging from their auras...
They wouldn't be able to escape from this one.
The Shichinintai wondered what was bothering her.
She whipped around to face the forest in front of them. Without hesitation, she yelled to the band, "Get your weapons ready! Ginkotsu start firing immediatly!"
They seemed confused. The metal tank didn't do anything. "What...?"
She looked at them over her shoulder, and they knew that whatever was happening was urgent. She repeated again, and her voice started shaking, "Fire! Now!"
Before another can even ask anything, Hikari's right shoulder was pierced by the tentacle of a demon. The movement was so fast, nobody was able to see it. It was small, but the tentacle was surrounded by small spikes. There may have been poison.
She didn't scream. Her mouth was open as if she really was screaming, but nothing came out. Hikari barely felt the blow until the tiny arm came out. That's how fast it was. The men continued staring in horror as the tentacle was pulled out as fast as it came.
As Hikari fell, time seemed to have slowed. First, her eyes grew wide with shock, then, they started rolling to the back of her head. Barely any blood was visible. Small drops of scarlet liquid splattered on the fresh green grass, and black hair was starting to be tainted in red. Her mouth was still wide open.
Time seemed to turn back to normal as Bankotsu's voice was heard. "Hikari!"
He ran to her side, and caught her by her waist. His friend still ended up falling on on leg.
She didn't seem to move for another moment, and Bankotsu feared the worst. Only she was on one leg, so she couldn't have been...
After a painful instant, she clentched her injured shoulder with her free hand and brought her head up to glare at the demon hidden in the trees. A trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth, and she gritted her teeth at the pain.
"... Damn... it," she growled.
The mercenary clearly knew that she wasn't going to last long with the injury. "H... Hikari?"
She'd forgotten for a moment that he was there. Ignoring the pain, her head whipped towards him, and with wild eyes, she snapped, "What are you doing? Never mind me, just hurry up and fire!"
Renkotsu didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the closest cannon he could find and fired randomly at the trees. Ginkotsu also started attacking, only he aimed at many different places all at once.
Forest fires formed where the cannon balls have landed, and the demons had no choice but to come out of their hiding spots. The men braced themselves as hundred of demons appeared from the trees.
Hikari shook Bankotsu off and stood up. She took her two blades and got into a fighting stance. She faced the demons coming towards her head on, and held her fire blade up.
But he wouldn't allow it. His voice as filled with outrage. "What do you think you're doing?" He gently took her good arm, and brought her onto Ginkotsu, where they should be safe.
She collapsed right under his grip, and a second later, she tried to stand back up. Bankotsu didn't understand why she was trying so hard. "Hikari, you clearly can't fight with that arm! What are you trying to do, suicide?"
She glared at him. "I'm not going to die... out of... something this small..." she barely managed to bark back. Cold sweat covered her forehead, and her breathing became shallow. Blood poured from her shoulder, and her left hand was stained in red from what she coughed up.
She wouldn't last long. Bankotsu knew that from the moment she fell. She was in horrible shape all thanks to that blow, and she could even be poisoned. But despite her weak exterior, her eyes burned with determination to life, to fight, and to win.
The demons were now appearing from their hiding places.
Suikotsu's claws slashed wildy to keep the youkai away. Jakotsu had no problem keeping them away. The only problem was that he couldn't protect his back at the same time. His blades only shot out at one direction. Mukotsu sat still on Ginkotsu, looking for any poison that may harm the demons. He also knew very well that Hikari was in pain. Getting her poisoned wouldn't help at all.
Hikari stood back up with some difficulty and hopped off Ginkotsu. She almost lost her balance. She wiped the blood off the corner of her mouth, and turning back to the leader, she said, "My arm may be out, but my legs are still up and moving."
Then, turning back to the demons, she still spoke to him. Her eyes continued to flare, and her voice sounded stronger and stronger everytime she spoke. "And you know me. I never go down without a fight. I will not die. I'll make sure of that myself."
Bankotsu couldn't believe what he was hearing. She needed both of her arms if she wanted to fight. She couldn't only fight with one! "You don't know for sure if you'll live! You can't even use both of your swords properly, so stay back and-"
"Let you handle it all?" she finished for him. "No. These blades were given to me for a reason..."
She looked at the two katanas she was holding. Her arms were shaking, and she forced herself to get a firm grip. "These swords are one of the many reasons I'm still living today. Father gave these to me because he knew I could wield them. He knew I would take care of them better than he ever did. And with these weapons, he knew I would get stronger."
She felt her ancestors' energy following through her, like the time she first held them in her tiny hands. She looked back at all the moments she spent getting stronger, all those times she spent to surpass their strength. "I'm not going to let all the training and suffering I went through to go to waste!"
"And besides," she added as she stood her ground. She would have to go out there for battle soon. Bankotsu knew that there was no way he would be able to change her mind. He could hear the smirk as she spoke. "If I'm going to die today, at least I'm going to take a few demons down with me."
She ran off, and Bankotsu didn't even stop her.
Suddenly, he was back at that day. The day he first died. Hundreds of soldiers surrounded him and his brothers with their arrows. There was no way out of it. And they all knew they were going to die. But instead of accepting that, they ran like cowards, and they left their pride as a member of the Shichinintai behind.
Was this situation any different?
"Big Brother!"
Renkotsu's alarming voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The bald man jumped down next to his leader and pulled out his fire threads. He shot them at the demons attacking Hikari. They screeched in agony as the fire rope wrapped around their bodies.
"I'm not trying to order you around, but shouldn't you be helping her out?" he said as he pulled on his threads once more to cut the demons into pieces.
Bankotsu blinked once as if the light of the sun almost burned his eyes. "Oh! Right!"
Holding Banryuu up high, he charged in with a great "DRAGON HAMMER!"
I could have continued, but I decided to stop here. Just cause it was getting a little too long. But the next chap's bound to get interesting...
Thank you to everyone who's still reading, and I hope you like it!
~FoxRain7~