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EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 5: Two Kagomes

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Octavia awoke the next morning to Ah-Un nuzzling her neck with its noses. She laughed and swatted the dragon with her hands as two tongues shot out and licked her face.

"Good morning," said Rin. She was cooking fish skewers over the remains of the fire.

"Good morning," Octavia replied with a yawn.

Rin handed her a fish. "Did you sleep okay?"

She took a large bite and swallowed. "Given the circumstances."

Jaken was snoring. Ah-Un pottered over to the imp inconspicuously and touched a claw to his brow. Octavia ate her breakfast and watched. The dragon's paw crackled faintly, before a tiny bolt of lightning woke Jaken up with a start. He yelped and rolled away like a burrito, claiming his face was about to fall off. Rin laughed whilst Ah-Un pretended to be innocent.

"You evil beast!" howled Jaken. "Wait 'til Sesshoumaru-sama hears about this!"

"He'd say that you shouldn't have let your guard down," Rin told him.

"I was sleeping!"

"Excuses, excuses."

Octavia shifted her attention to the tree Sesshoumaru had been sitting under. He wasn't there. Rin noticed her staring and asked what was wrong. "I thought—Never mind. It's nothing."

They extinguished the fire and began their trek through the woods. After a while, the path evened out and looked less overgrown. They were close. The well-house was somewhere nearby. Octavia could feel it calling to her, the echo travelling through the trees. Come . . .

"Octavia-san?"

She blinked.

"Are you okay?" Rin asked, pursing her lips. "You were in a daze."

She shook herself out of it and smiled. "I'm fine."

Rin returned the smile. She grabbed Octavia's hand and pulled her down the path. She was quite strong for a teenager, although she didn't look it. She had graceful limbs and dainty fingers, but they had a surprisingly powerful grip.

"Wait for me!" shouted Jaken.

They ran through the forest like a group of rabbits. Eventually, they arrived at the treeline and burst out into an open field. Octavia shielded her eyes from the sun, which was blazing. Ah-Un pranced in circles before rolling onto its back and lying in the grass. Jaken heaved at its reins, but it was like trying to move a boulder. "Get up, you lazy oaf! We're not there yet!"

"Look," said Rin. Octavia followed her finger to a settlement in the distance. It wasn't Tokyo, but at least there would be people there. "Come on. I'll introduce you to Kaede-sama."

Rice paddies surrounded the village like a moat. Many of the people working in them knew Rin and waved at her. She asked after their families and promised to send her regards to Kohaku if she saw him, whoever that was. Octavia was too stunned to speak. She felt like she'd walked into a period piece. She stood out like a sore thumb in her ironically ugly bomber jacket. What was this place? Fortunately, Jaken seemed equally uncomfortable. He and Ah-Un were the only youkai she'd seen since leaving the forest.

Her heart pounded furiously. "I feel sick," she told Rin as they stepped over the village threshold.

"For real?"

She nodded.

"I must not have cooked your fish for long enough. This way. Kaede-sama will have something to make you feel better."

"Too late," she mumbled, vomiting into a clay pot by the side of a house.

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Octavia drank her tea slowly. Once she'd finished emptying the contents of her stomach, Rin had gently guided her to Kaede's house. The old woman had eyed her strangely at first – probably because of the way she was dressed – but hadn't hesitated to invite them inside. She'd hugged Rin and told her how much she'd missed her.

Ah-Un was currently curled up by the hearth, whereas Jaken was sitting beside Octavia, nursing a cup of his own. "This is horrible," he complained, scowling at his tea, but carried on drinking it.

Whilst Rin chatted with Kaede, Octavia lowered her voice to speak to Jaken. "Why didn't Sesshoumaru come with us?"

"He hates this place more than I do. It reeks of human."

"You mentioned someone called Inuyasha. Do they not get along?"

He snorted. "You have no idea."

"As nice as it is to see ye, child, I doubt ye came all this way just to see me." Kaede's one eye moved to land on Octavia. "Who are ye?" she asked. "And what are ye doing with Sesshoumaru of all people?"

"We came to ask Kagome-sama if she'll teach her," Rin answered. "Her name is Octavia."

"Is she a priestess?"

"No. Totosai-kun called it spirit magic."

Kaede's brow furrowed. "Spirit magic, eh? I thought that was a myth."

A woman suddenly rushed into the hut. She was dressed in the same red and white robes as Kaede, only her hair was loose, spilling down her shoulders in dark waves.

"What is it?" Kaede asked.

"Youkai," the woman panted. "Heading for the village. Ran out of arrows."

Kaede's expression fell. "Take my quiver. Quick!"

"Thanks." The woman quickly slung Kaede's quiver over her shoulder. As she did, hers and Octavia's eyes met. Noticing her jacket, the woman looked like she wanted to say something, but it was clear she was in a rush. "Stay here," she told them before dashing back outside.

"That was Kagome-sama," Rin said.

Octavia's eyes widened. She did look a little bit like the girl from the photographs, only this Kagome was considerably older. If it was her, how long ago had those photos been taken?

"We should follow her."

"She specifically told us not to," argued Rin.

"She might need our help. What do you say, Kermit?"

Jaken stared at her blankly. "What did you call me?"

"Are you in or not?"

"Er," he stammered. "I suppose—"

"Good."

She scooped him up like a baby and carried him outside. Rin, Ah-Un and Kaede followed suit.

Something was happening out in the fields beyond the rice paddies. The sky turned a vivid shade of pink every now and then, and the ground rumbled violently. Octavia ran through the village and around the rice paddies. The others struggled to keep up.

Jaken wriggled in her arms, whacking her with his staff. "Put me down at once! Sesshoumaru-sama will hear about this!"

She followed the tremors. The closer she got, the more the grass was stained with a strange, black fluid. Jaken ceased struggling and covered his nostrils. Balancing him on one arm, she crouched to examine the fluid. "Is that—"

"It's blood, yes. I told you this was a bad idea!"

"No, you didn't!"

A giant insect burst out of the ground and showered them in dirt. Its shell had been pierced by arrows, and there were several still stuck in its legs, causing blood to ooze everywhere. Its antennae twitched, detecting their presence, and the creature released a shrill cry that made the ground shake. Octavia and Jaken screamed.

A large slab of bone came spinning towards the creature and sliced a number of its legs off. It screeched and toppled backwards onto its shell, spilling even more blood. The boomerang flew back to its master, who was a woman dressed mostly in black. "What are you waiting for?" she asked as Octavia and Jaken gawped at her. "Run!"

Kagome ran to the woman's side and aimed at the insect with her bow. The tip of the arrow shone bright pink. When she let it fly, the arrow sailed through the air like a comet. It hit the insect's underbelly with a blinding flash of light, knocking it back onto its front.

Jaken wrenched himself free and scurried behind a tree. "Charming!" Octavia called after him, not noticing that the insect was heading straight for her. It reached for her with its pincers, but luckily, she managed to whirl out of its grasp just in time.

Kagome fired another arrow. "How is it not dead yet!" she yelled, exasperated.

"It will be after this!"

Octavia's head turned in the direction of the voice. It was deeper than Jaken's.

At first, she was sure it was Sesshoumaru, but what this man lacked in grace, he made up for in vigour. He wore all red and his feet were bare, though that didn't seem to hinder him. There was a wildness to the way he fought. He was like a forest fire. He drew his sword and swung it down like an executioner's axe, severing the insect's head from its neck. The blade was bigger than his entire body. Octavia's chest tightened as the sword pulsed with demonic energy.

"What the hell?" he muttered. "What's going on—"

A purple glow seeped out of Octavia's skin and her right eye turned bloodshot. The insect's corpse shuddered. The purple light spread from her to the carcass, causing it to reanimate. Kagome and her companions gasped as the newly resurrected creature attempted to stand.

"What the fu—"

A figure clad in white descended on Octavia with his claws raised and dripping with poison. Her shock severed the connection and the insect carcass collapsed to the ground with a crunch. Although the danger was gone, Sesshoumaru's face was full of hatred. "Dokkasō," he hissed.

"No!" Kagome screamed.

"Octavia-san!" Rin cried from Ah-Un's back. She and Kaede had finally caught up.

Sesshoumaru froze, his fingers inches away from Octavia's face. He slowly lowered them and took a step backwards. Octavia swallowed.

Rin dismounted and rushed to her side. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?"

Octavia kept her eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru. "You were gonna kill me."

"That's not true."

"You were! You were going to kill me! In front of all these witnesses!"

His eyes narrowed wickedly. "How many of them would dare testify against me?"

Her knuckles begged to make contact with his nose.

"What the hell is going on, Sesshoumaru!" the man with the ridiculously large sword barked.

Sesshoumaru turned to face him and glared. "Mind your own business, little brother."

Octavia's brows rose in surprise. Brother?

Jaken scampered out from behind the tree. "Yeah! Stay out of this, Inuyasha!"

"Silence, Jaken."

"Yes, milord."

Inuyasha pointed his sword at Sesshoumaru. "Don't tell me you came back for a rematch?"

"I have no desire to waste my time fighting weaklings."

"Oh, I'll show you who the weakling is, jackass—"

Kagome sighed. "Inuyasha?" she called softly. "Osuwari."

The second the word left her lips, the rosary beads around his neck glowed brightly, and all of a sudden, he was face-down in the dirt. "The hell was that for!" he yelled.

She put her hands on her hips. "We've talked about this. Bettering yourself and all that. Besides, I said I'd take them off soon, so I'm making the most of it while I still can."

The woman with the boomerang shook her head sadly. "I'd keep them on, if I were you. He's never going to learn to behave without them. He'll be unbearable if you take them off."

"Shut up, Sango!"

Octavia stared at Kagome. "Excuse me?" she said. "But is your full name Kagome Higurashi?"

Kagome looked at her curiously. "Yeah, that's me. Why? Do we know each other?"

"No, but I know your family."

Kagome's eyes strayed to the jacket that was tied around her middle. Her brows knitted together in thought. "Are you . . . from the future?"

"The future?"

"Don't you know where we are?"

Octavia shook her head.

"We're in the Sengoku period. Somewhere in the sixteenth century, to be precise. The well sent me back in time."

It was her. There weren't two Kagomes. Sota had been telling the truth. His sister was away travelling. She'd just travelled a little farther than Octavia had expected. "Can you show me how to get back?" she asked.

Kagome frowned. "I wish I could, but the well's been closed for years."

"That can't be right. I only came through it a couple of days ago."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Kagome and Inuyasha glanced at each other warily. "Show me," she said.

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