A blast of multiple blue lights joined together and formed a giant power arrow and pierced through Gakusanjin. Gakusanjin let out a loud yowl before he fell down to his death.
In another part of the forest, Kouga sat by the campfire taking in the glow of the campfire as he seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
'Kouga started to fall out of the barrier, he extended his arm that contained the Goraishi towards Mōryōmaru and shouted, "BONES OF MY ANCESTORS!"
Just then, hard bone-like spears flew towards Mōryōmaru's heart and pierced through the barrier. Hakudoshi immediately intercepted the attack by moving in front of Mōryōmaru much to everyone's surprise. The bones pierced through Hakudoshi's body and destroyed it, leaving behind a head.'
Feeling annoyed at how things turned out during that battle that had happened a few days ago, Kouga thought,'Why did Hakudoshi interfere when I was attacking Mōryōmaru instead of him? Why did Hakudoshi use his own body as a shield for Mōryōmaru instead of letting that creature be slain by my attack?'
Looking into the fire and seeing the memory of Mōryōmaru in the sky among the flames of the fire, Kouga narrowed his eyes in suspicion, Hakudoshi doesn't seem like the type to care for anyone other than himself especially since my ancestors told me that he was crueler than Naraku himself. If this is all true, what was Hakudoshi trying to protect when he jumped in front of Mōryōmaru?'
Kouga sat still and pondered this for a while before the sound of Shippo groaning in his sleep for a bit before he resumed sleeping caused Kouga to draw his attention to the fox demon. As if something bothered him about that, Kouga gave Shippo a sharp look.
For reasons Kouga could never bring himself to admit out loud, especially not in front of Kagome, he was really becoming irritated by the sight of Shippo. Although the little fox demon has done nothing to earn such irritation from the wolf demon, Kouga couldn't help but feel that way towards the kit.
'It's not that he didn't do anything wrong,' Kouga began as he pondered on his thoughts and negative feelings towards the fox demon, 'It's just that he's not DOING anything at all!' Taking his eyes off Shippo and back towards the fire, 'If this kit was left to fend for himself in a demon-infested area, he would without a doubt die. Probably in less than the span of a few hours.'
Reflecting on memories of Shippo running away from dangerous situations and barely putting up a decent fight filled Kouga's mind as he let out a loud sigh. Glancing over at the sleeping fox demon, Kouga thought, 'Kit, it's a damn shame what your human companions are doing to you.'
Kouga returned his attention towards the campfire and just added more wood to the flames. Eventually during the course of the night Kouga joined his group mates in sleeping.
"What? The demon mountain was killed?!" Kouga repeated as he looked at the two elderly villagers with a look of disbelief on his face. "When did this happen?"
One of the elderly villagers that they were talking to, continued his movement of tending to the soil and said "It was about three nights ago. A strange shaft of light emerged from nowhere and struck the mountain right in the chest. The light killed him instantly."
"Are you certain that he died?" Miroku asked.
"He fell and laid there motionless." The other villager said, "But everyone is too afraid to come anywhere near it."
With that, Kouga and the group exchanged glances as they all mentally came to the agreement of going to check the body of the dead mountain. They asked for the directions for where the mountain was last seen, before saying their goodbyes to the two elderly villagers.
"A demon mountain? The only one that I can think they were talking about was Gakusanjin.''Miroku said, as he rode with Sango and Shippo on the back of Kirara. "The strange thing is that I don't sense any demonic aura around here."
As he ran up the hill with Kagome on his back, Kouga had a good view of the landscape that allowed him to see everything in the forest from up above. However, the further he went up the hill, the more he began to see this humongous body of mountain that looked as if it had eyes and a face. Crows had settled around the eyes of the dead creature and upon closer inspection, Kouga realized that this was the body of the great Gakusanjin.
"The reason why you don't sense any demonic aura around here is because Gakusanjin is dead. Those villagers were right." Kouga said, getting a horrified gasp from Kagome on his back the closer they went up the hill and closer to the dead body.
Upon reaching the dead body, the group examined the area while Kouga got down on his knees and checked for any scents on the identity of the perpetrator.
"After our last encounter, Gakusanjin probably chased after Naraku and was ultimately killed by him." Miroku said as he looked at the dead body of Gakusanjin.
"Yeah, that's probably what happened. Naraku probably did this after realizing that Gakusanjin had the ability to track him down." Sango said, shaking her head in disapproval at the apparent behavior of the spider demon's. "I can't say I'm surprised."
"The people who killed Gakusanjin were neither Naraku nor any demon. They were just some humans" Kouga said as he got up from the ground. "The scent of these humans are still fresh, so we can probably follow after them."
"Really?" Kagome asked, "The scent is still fresh even after three days?"
"Yeah. I guess these humans are quite active in this area." Kouga said as he gestured for Kagome to get on his back. "If we hurry we can probably catch up to them. Come on." Watching as the monk and the demon slayer nodded their heads in agreement, Kouga waited a bit for them to get on Kirara before he took off in the direction of the scents.
The smell of the humans who killed Gakusanjin led Kouga and the others on a journey across nearby villages. On their journey, they learned more about the humans who killed Gakusanjin. Those humans were called the Gyōja. According to the villagers that the group asked, the Gyōja were a pack of humans who were like demon slayers but used a strange container that would send out a bright light to destroy the demons.
"These Gyōja are quite something." Kagome said as she got down on her knees to refill her water bottle,"Even the villagers respect them."
"Well considering that they are killing demons that the villagers have problems with, they probably are seen as heroes to the villagers." Miroku said, as he also knelt down to refill his bamboo water container, "But it makes me wonder what Gakusanjin did that gave the Gyōja the idea that he was dangerous enough to be put down?"
"I don't know." Sango said, "He seemed like a good guy. Perhaps the villagers thought he was scary because they misunderstood him?"
Nodding her head in agreement, Kagome brought the water bottle to her lips and drank it.
Trying to decide where their next path was, Kouga stood still as he pondered on this before he smelt a familiar scent. Snapping his head to the direction where he smelt the scent, Kouga glared at the forest behind the group, before he decided to walk towards it.
This caught the attention of the group who followed his gaze.
"Is something wrong, Kouga?" Kagome asked as she closed the water bottle she was drinking.
However, as she made a move to follow after the wolf demon, a bright light from the forest came rushing out towards Kouga. "Kouga, watch out!"
Kouga immediately dodged the attack. Then another bright light came rushing towards the group. "Damn it." Kouga growled as he turned around and rushed fast to grab Kagome.
At the sight of the sudden light rushing towards them, Miroku and Sango moved out of the way with Kirara and Shippo.
Quickly reaching Kagome, Kouga grabbed her into his arms and moved away just in time from the light as it went past her.
"Look at those shafts of light!" Miroku pointed out Kirara's back with Sango and Shippo, as he watched the two lights that had just attacked them return to the now group of human kids. Upon reaching the children, the shafts of lights were reduced into little white balls and went back into the children's strange jar-like weapons.
"Darn it, we didn't hit them."One of the children wearing protective headgear said, as the other two besides him got into another battle pose. Their behavior shocked everyone in the group but Kouga who only glared at them.
"So you're the kids that killed Gakusanjin." Kouga drew the kids' attention to him, who upon seeing him, immediately gasped at the sight of Kagome in his arms.
"Look, that demon is holding a human hostage against us." One of the kids yelled as he pointed to the wolf demon, "What should we do?"
"We'll have to carefully aim at him and avoid hitting the human. That's our only chance." The other kid said to his companions who gave him a nod in agreement.
However, before their weapons could power up and before Kagome could say anything, Kouga immediately ran towards the Gyōja and knocked their weapons right out of their hands with such force that it removed the masks on their faces as well. And he did this all while holding Kagome.
"Hey!" The boys cried out as they immediately glared at Kouga, who gave them a dirty glare back. Before the kids could reach for their weapons again, Kagome caught their attention.
"Wait, there's a misunderstanding here." Kagome said before she gave the wolf demon who carried her an apologetic look which caused Kouga to set her back down. "I'm not in any danger. This is my friend Kouga. In fact…" Kagome continued as she pointed towards her other companions who were behind her on Kirara. "Those guys are also my friends and we're not here to hurt anybody but demons as well."
"But he's also a demon." One boy retorted as he pointed to an indifferent Kouga.
"Yeah. And so are those two!" The other boy cried out as he pointed to Shippo and Kirara. "If you're really exterminating demons, then why are you traveling with demons?" Not asking as a question but as a statement as if he already knew the answer.
Brushing off the accusatory glares that the boys gave her, Kagome gave a nervous smile, "Maybe I didn't explain that well. What I meant to say is that my friends and I exterminate demons who are evil and hurt others. Besides, these guys are good demons." Seeing that this greatly confused the boys, Kagome opened her mouth again to continue explaining, before she was interrupted by one of the boys.
"How are you sure that these demons won't betray you?" One of the boys said as his companion shot Kouga–who could care less–a dirty look while the other companions shot both Shippo and Kirara dirty looks as well. "We have never met a good demon before and we have been killing demons for quite some time now. So there's no way that they exist."
"That's the dumbest thing I have heard in my entire life!" Shippo said with an annoyed look on his face as he felt personally offended. Hopping off of Miroku's shoulders, Shippo hopped on Kouga's shoulders. However, unknowing to Shippo, Kouga briefly gave him a cold look before turning his attention to the human kids. "By your logic then all humans are bad since some of them kill or do terrible things to each other!"
"Are you stupid or something?" One of the boys said, "If all humans are bad, then why are you hanging out with humans? Didn't you call them your friends?"
"You're the one who is stupid!" Shippo retorted, "I just pointed out the problem in your belief by flipping it around. But I didn't know that you guys were too stupid to figure that out yourselves!"
"Na-Uh!" One of the boys angrily cried as the other two glared hard at Shippo. "You're stupid!"
"No, you're stupid!"
"You look stupid!"
"Hey, wait a second here." Kagome said, looking back and forth between Shippo and the three boys with her hands out in an effort to stop them. However, just before she could say anything else, Kouga just rushed towards the boys and gave them a knock on the head. "Wha–Kouga!"
The three boys cried out in pain as they reached to touch the afflicted area on their heads. Seeing this, Shippo was about to say a taunt at the boys mocking their pain when Kouga picked him up and gave him a pound on the head as well. And this one was harder than the ones Inuyasha would give him. "OUCH!" Shippo cried out as he held his head in pain, "WHY DID YOU HIT ME LIKE THAT? WHAT DID I DO? OUCH!" However, instead of Kouga saying something like Inuyasha usually would, Kouga just shot him a cold and sharp look. One that scared Shippo straight into running Kagome's arms, "KAGOME! KOUGA IS BEING MEAN TO ME! WAAA!"
"There, there, Shippo." Kagone said as she tried consoling Shippo in her arms "Kouga, I get that Shippo was being a bit too much with the kids, but you didn't have to hit him as well."
"Stay out of it Kagome," Kouga said dismissively, as he paid no attention to the tearful glare that the fox demon gave him. "There is nothing that we can say that will convince these boys that we are not dangerous. So there is no use in arguing with them."
At this, the boys gave Kouga and the group glares as they picked up their weapons and ran away.
"Oh, now look at what you did Kouga!" Sango said as she and Miroku got off Kirara and walked towards where the boys were. "You scared them off right before we could ask them about their weapons and the reason why they killed Gakusanjin."
"No, Kouga was right. We were going nowhere with those boys and the best thing we could do was let them go." Miroku said as he watched one of the boys running away, tripping on their own feet. "Besides, now we can take our time following them."
"It's outrageous, I can't believe that somebody actually trained those kids in the art of demon slaying." Sango said as she watched the other boys helped the fallen one up.
"At first I thought that those kids worked for Naraku but on second thought, they seemed far too inexperienced for even Naraku to use." Miroku said, "But there's no doubt that someone is using those boys."
Kouga and the group watched the boys continue to run before the boys were out of sight. Then that's when they decided to follow after them.
"Are you sure it's this way, Kouga?" Sango asked as Miroku, Shippo and her rode on Kirara through the forest.
"Yeah it's just up ahead." Kouga said as he ran with Kagome on his back. However, as he ran, Kouga suddenly felt a strange pull of someone calling out to him try top overcome him. He couldn't physically hear the calling but his demonic senses could feel it. It could feel someone or something desperately begging him to come closer and to continue down the path to the temple. However, with each step that Kouga took that brought him closer to the pull, he felt as if his mind was fading away into nothing.
Immediately Kouga stopped and stared up ahead, causing the others to do the same as well.
Seeing nothing in front of her, Kagome became confused. She turned to look at the wolf demon who just stared blankly at the path ahead. "Kouga, is there something wrong?" Kagome asked, waiting a few moments before she spoke again, "Hello? Kouga?"
"What's going on?" Miroku asked as he watched Kagome trying to snap the wolf demon out of the state he seemed to be in. "Did something happen, Kagome?"
Glancing at the monk for a moment, Kagome shrugged before going back to the wolf demon.
"Hey, there's something wrong with Kirara." Sango said as she tried checking on the fire cat demon who made sounds of discomfort as she kept turning her head away from the demon slayer.
"I don't sense anything wrong except that–" Miroku began before a demon came out of the thick trees that were beside where the group stood.
Baring its teeth at the group and Kouga, the demon gave a vicious snarl as it ignored them and shook its head as if it was trying to get an invisible force off its head.
As the demon began to get closer to the group Kagome screamed for Kouga to help. However, Kouga only seemed to turn towards the creature and stare at it with a piercing cold look on his face. At this, the creature immediately lunged towards Koga and Kagome before Sango got up from Kirara and attacked the demon with her weapon.
"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango shouted as her weapon immediately destroyed the demon.
With a blank and detached stare, Kouga watched as the demon was destroyed in front of him before he helped set Kagome off of his back. This confused the group.
"Kouga, what's going on?" Kagome asked as she got off the wolf demon's back, "Why did you just stare at the demon instead of doing something?"
Kouga just kept quiet and walked past the group to where they had come from before stopping. When he was finally a good distance from the group, Kouga shook his head before blinking a few times. Each time Kouga blinked, the piercing cold look slowly left his eyes and suddenly his eyes had life in them again.
Upon feeling like himself again, Kouga groaned as he held on to his head. The group looked at him confused.
"…I don't think I can go up there with you guys." Kouga said as he rubbed his temple in an effort to soothe them. "It's just better for me not to go."
"Why not Kouga?" Kagome asked with a worried look on her face while she tried to approach Kouga again. However, before Kagome could get any closer, Kouga stopped her.
"I just almost lost my mind and I was fighting to get a good hold back on it." Kouga finally said, giving the surprised group a hard look, "I can't say what I would've done if I wasn't able to do that, but it probably wouldn't be any different than what the demon that you just killed had attempted to do you all."
Surprised at the wolf demon's confession, Sango thought on this for just a moment before she led Kirara to where Kouga was. At first, Kirara refused to move and made sounds of discomfort before she finally relented and followed the demon slayer. Once Kirara was where Kouga was, she was back to normal and looked relieved.
"So it is true." Sango said in astonishment as she looked back at Kouga, "What was affecting you was also affecting Kirara. How come I didn't sense it?"
"That's because it seems to be meant for only demons." Kouga said, as he thought back to the pull that he had experienced a few moments prior, "It's like the closer you get to it, the more you lose yourself and become victim to its control. I can't explain how but it's like some kind of a strong hold and even though I was there, it's like I was fading away. Hearing your voice made me constantly realize what was happening and I suspect it is like that for Kirara as well."
"I see. It's like a force that only affects demons." Miroku said as he narrowed his eyes in thought before glancing up ahead into the path up ahead. "It looks like our journey into finding the truth about Gakusanjin's death has led us into something else. And if that's truly the case, Kouga, I agree with your decision not to come with us."
"Hey, I'm a demon and I didn't feel anything." Shippo called out drawing attention to him, "The thing I still feel is the headache but that's only from Kouga's fist from earlier because he hit me too hard."
"Shippo, are you sure you're ok?" Kagome asked, looking down at the fox demon who still had the bump on his head. "You mean to tell me that unlike Kouga and Kirara, you don't feel any force leading you to do anything?" watching as Shippo shook his head no, "That's strange. Maybe it doesn't affect all demons."
"Maybe it only affects demons of a certain caliber." Kouga said with a look of indifference on his face, "You know, demons who could actually put up a fight in the time of danger instead of running and hiding around like some kind of coward." Surprising the fox demon and the group at his harsh words.
"What…What did you say to me, Kouga? What was that, I dare you to say that again!" Shippo dared, only to flinch when Kouga's look of indifference turned into a look of disgust. The wolf demon's rough treatment of the fox demon shocked Shippo to his core. It just genuinely surprised Shippo because he never got that vibe from the wolf demon until today. Shippo turned around and quickly jumped into Kagome's arms and cried, "KAGOME!"
"Hey knock it off Kouga. Don't bully Shippo like that. Not even Inuyasha was that harsh with him." Kagome said in a scolding tone. She couldn't believe that the wolf demon would talk to Shippo like he was some kind of bully. Taking her eyes off of the wolf demon, Kagome looked back down to the crying fox demon in her arms and rubbed her hand on his back as he sobbed in her arms.
"Inuyasha wasn't that harsh with Shippo because you kept sitting Inuyasha anytime he showed the little runt what the real world was like." Kouga said plainly not caring if the others thought he was out of line for his words. "Kagome, stop babying Shippo. He's too old for that and this coddling is only destroying him."
"So what's your solution? Knocking him on the head and insulting him until he behaves in the way you like, Kouga?" Kagome said, giving the wolf demon a stern stare as he returned hers with one of his own, "Shippo still has that bump on the head that you gave him an hour ago. And he even says it still hurts, that means that you went rough on him. It makes me wonder how hard you hit those boys from earlier. Not even Inuyasha hits that hard Kouga."
Kouga stared hard at Kagome for a few moments before turning towards Miroku. "Miroku, since you guys are heading towards the temple, Shippo needs to stay behind just in case. I bet the reason why he wasn't affected earlier was because of the pain of the knock I gave him kept him grounded and to himself. However, once it's gone, I'm not sure what he will do."
"I thought that I wasn't of the same kind of Caliber as Kirara and you are, Kouga." Shippo sneered at the wolf demon who didn't bother him with a glance, "Besides, after what you just said, there's no way I'm staying with you Kouga. There's also no way that I'll attack Kagome. I love her too much for that."
"Now, now let's get along." Miroku said having enough of the conflict, "Kouga don't go arguing with a child like Inuyasha would. That's not a very good look, you know."
At this, Kouga just smiled a calm smile at the group and said, "You know what? You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Take him. I'm sure he won't do anything to you guys. After all, Shippo is not in the same Caliber as Kirara and I."
Taken back by this, the group didn't know what to say because they had never seen this side of the wolf demon before. The wolf demon's sudden change in behavior made them so uneasy that the group decided that perhaps that it was best to leave the fox demon with Kouga.
"...Uh..on second thought, Shippo maybe you should stay with Kouga in case anything happens." Miroku said, turning to face the fox demon in Kagome's arms, "It might be safer for you that way."
"No Way! There is no way I'm staying with Kouga without any of you guys around!" Shippo cried out, "It's clearly not safe for me to be around that fleabag—" However, before Shippo could say anything else
Kouga gave him another knock on the head, which only caused Shippo to cry out and rub his head. "WAAA! YOU HIT THE SAME SPOT TWICE!"
"There you go Kagome now you guys have nothing to worry about so take him." Kouga said with a calm smile.
Kagome held her tongue as she just stared at Kouga in disbelief. While Miroku and Sango stared at Kouga in disappointment and shook their heads in disapproval before walking away and towards the direction further down the path. Kagome holding Shippo followed, while Shippo stucked his tongue out at Kouga.
As the humans and Shippo continued on further down the path until they were out of sight, Kouga and Kirara remained quiet until the humans were out of sight.
Shaking his head in disapproval, Kouga just thought, 'I wonder if this is what Inuyasha had to put up with while he was with these guys. The only difference between how they have treated Inuyasha versus how they are treating me is that Kagome can't force me to 'SIT' whenever I do something she doesn't approve of–like what she did to Inuyasha.' Kouga took a moment to pause as memories of Inuyasha being sat right in front of him flashed right before his eyes. And how the group behaved as if the InuHanyou had deserved it and would make snide remarks at him.
'At the time, since I believed that I was attracted to Kagome, I would ignore their mistreatment of Inuyasha back then. I used to think he deserved it whenever he got into my face, but now I see that he really didn't.' Kouga solemnly thought as he remembered how he would smirk smugly whenever Inuyasha got sat by Kagome when just moments before they had argued over the young priestess's attention. Looking at the hand that hid the gorashi 'I don't know how Inuyasha found it within himself to continue protecting this these people despite how many times they disrespected him and took his protection for granted. These fools don't understand how often Inuyasha put his life on the line for them.'
Suddenly the memory of the previous night before when Kouga had been given access to the dark power of the Gorashi flashed before his eyes as well.
'….Since this is a sacred power, you as a full demon have only four times that you can use this power. However, each of those times that you use these powers, a quarter of your life is taken away from you."
Kouga kept silent for a while as he thought about this,"Does that mean that there are only four quarters of my life as it stands right now? So if I use one, I will only have three quarters of my life to live?" The ancestors nodded their heads solemnly…..'
Looking at the hand that contained the hidden Gorashi, Kouga flexed his hand for a moment before releasing a deep sigh. Feeling eyes on him, Kouga glanced down and looked down at Kirara who was giving him a look of concern.
With a sad smile, Kouga shook his head and pat Kirara's head before looking down at the path where the group disappeared. Then Kouga looked behind him and went and sat behind a tree as he continued staring down the path where the group disappeared.
The Crows flew about and fed on the dead remains of Gakusanji. Some in the shell of the dead demon's eyes while others explored his mouth.
Despite being appalled by the sight before her, Kagura remained still on her feather as she continued to look at the mountain demon's corpse.
'So it's true that Gakusanji died?' Kagura thought, 'Naraku passed the Fuyōheki to the infant. And if Gakusanji pursued them and was killed, then there must be some leads to the infant around here.'
With that, Kagura flew downwards to examine the body.
By the time the group reached the temple where the kids had retreated to, it was evening time. However, despite the fact it was getting dark and random demons kept appearing and suddenly attacking them, it didn't bother the group. The demons that were attacking them were not too much of a serious threat, so the group didn't have much of a problem slaying them. However, the amount of random demons that they had bumped into on their way to the temple was pretty strange.
"I wonder if these demons are drawn to the temple like Kouga and Kirara were." Miroku said as he closed up his wind tunnel that had just been used to suck up the bunches of demons that had appeared before them.
"Definitely especially since there are so many of them that keep on randomly appearing." Sango said as she looked around for anymore demons. "It makes me wonder if those boys are even still alive considering the amount of demons that we have encountered so far."
"I hope Kouga and Kirara are alright." Kagome said in a worried tone as she looked back in the direction where they came from before glancing at the calm fox demon on her shoulders.
Cautiously, Miroku looked around before he walked a bit further and saw the temple but it was surrounded by a bunch of demons.
Holding onto the arm that contained the wind tunnel, Miroku called his teammates over to which they immediately appeared by his side.
The group paused as they observed the demons that pounded on the temple's barrier.
"Would you look at that? By the way the demons are surrounding and pounding on the barrier of the temple, you would think that the shard of the sacred jewel was in there." Sango said, as she held on tighter to her weapon.
"It's all very odd and I don't even sense anything." Kagome said, as she stared at the desperate way the demons behaved, "Past encounters have taught me that demons only do that if something they desire is in a place they can't reach."
"But what is in the temple that is drawing all these demons to it and causing them to behave this way?" Miroku asked, thinking about the wolf demon, the fire cat demon and the demons that they had killed earlier. "Is it some kind of spell?"
"Well we wouldn't know unless we enter that temple." Sango said as she readied her weapon, "Ready Miroku?"
Miroku nodded before he and Sango ran towards the entrance of the temple where the demons were gathered. The demons were so distracted that they didn't notice the monk and the demon slayer approaching them until they heard the battle cries…
"HIRAIKOTSU!"
"WIND TUNNEL!"
Sango's weapon flew through the bodies of some of the closest demons while Miroku's wind tunnel sucked the rest of them. Soon the temple's entrance was cleared of demons.
"Great job guys." Kagome said as she and Shippo ran up to the monk and demon slayer. Briefly removing her eyes from her teammates, Kagome glanced at the barrier before looking back at them, "But how will we enter this barrier? How do those kids do it? It's hard to believe that they just wait around to be let in?"
"That's true." Miroku said as he pondered on this for a while. As he stared at the barrier, Miroku stepped towards the barrier and simply stretched his hand out to touch it.
Watching as the monk's fingers remained on the surface of the barrier, Sango said, "I see that it doesn't allow humans to go through. So does that really mean that those kids have to wait to be let in? I wonder if we will get in or even attract their attention?"
"Hmm…" Miroku said for a moment before he stepped back, took out a sutra, said a prayer over it and threw the sutra onto the barrier.
As soon as the sutra landed upon the barrier, large and powerful shock waves appeared from the sutra and went all over the barrier. It did this for a few more seconds before the shock wave disappeared and the barrier remained.
"Aww it didn't work." Shippo said in a disappointed tone as he hopped upon Miroku's shoulder.
"Not exactly Shippo. It worked." Miroku said, as he watched the doors to the temple grounds open. "Just not in the way you expected."
In the middle of the temple doors, stood the kids from earlier, more kids and a spiritual man who stood. At that moment, the doors to the temple opened and they were greeted by a strange spiritual man who had a large creature attached to his arm. Besides the man, there were more kids who were dressed like the children from earlier.
Sango tapped Miroku's shoulder to draw his attention towards her as she gestured towards the spiritual man's strange arm. There was an air of slight demonic aura coming from it, but it seemed heavily compressed. As if something was holding it back. Miroku didn't know what to make of it as he turned his attention back to the spiritual man.
"Yeah, I know." Miroku said quietly so only his group mates could hear him since they were some distance away from the spiritual man and the boys from earlier.
"Are you the people who disturbed my barrier?" The spiritual man asked, "What is your purpose here?"
"Master, those are the same people who attacked us earlier!" One of the boys from earlier said, pointing to the group with anger in his eyes, "Be not deceived by them because they have demons that travel with them. See?" Pointing hard at an irritated Shippo.
At this, the rest of the gyoja near him readied their weapons and aimed it at the group.
"Little boy, If I am remembering correctly it was you and your group that attacked us while my group mates and I only defended ourselves." Miroku replied, as he waved his hands in peace, "We did not come for a fight, we have only come for answers to questions that only you can answer. "
"And what answer are you seeking?" The spiritual man of the temple asked as he stared Miroku and the group down.
"Your boys killed a great mountain demon who wasn't hurting anyone. The question that my group mates and I have is why." Miroku continued, "Did someone put you guys up to it?"
As the spiritual man stared down at Miroku and the group, the boys from earlier spoke up, "And what about it? Yeah we killed that mountain demon simply because he was a demon and that was reason enough to kill him. Demons are vile creatures that deserve to be destroyed until every last one of them is removed from this world."
Giving those boys a harsh glare, Shippo opened his mouth to say something in return, but Miroku calmly covered his mouth. Shippo turned to glare at the monk, who only gave him a brief glance in return.
"So you mean to tell us that you killed an ancient and sage-like demon who wasn't doing anything wrong to anybody, just because he was a demon?" Sango asked with a bewildered expression on her face before she hardened her face and her tone into one that showed her disappointment towards the boys, "Such a foolish way of thinking. Especially considering that you are all using a demon's power to slay demons in the first place."
"No we're not." One of the other boys spoke up, "While it's true that the power is the demon that is attached to the master's arm, the master has purified and repurposed the demon's power into a sacred power so it can be used by us."
"I see and how did he do that? Because no matter how much any part of a demon's body has been purified, there still lingers small feelings of resentment of the demon that was slain that still remains. The only way to truly be free of the resentment of a demon's body part is to destroy it." Miroku said, staring hard "But I see that you haven't done that. Instead, you are keeping the arm and using its power. Not realizing that the lingering resentment that is in the demon's arm grows each time its power is harnessed. "
"Is that so?" The spiritual man said, in a tone that seemed that he was already aware of that information. As he narrowed his eyes at Miroku "I see that you are a monk. Have you seen cases like mine before?"
"I have." Miroku said, as he nodded at the spiritual man and looked at the arm, "It seems that you have done a splendid job suppressing down the influence of the demonic arm. However, I wonder if its aura has any effect on you. How have you been managing that?"
Before the spiritual man could answer, he looked past the group before him and stared off into the distance as he paused for a moment. Then he finally created an opening in the barrier and said, "Before we continue any further, quick enter the barrier so you won't be attacked by any demons."
Hearing this, the group instantly looked back and saw some demons from the distance behind them fiercely rushing towards them.
Without another word, the group quickly entered the barrier and watched as the opening closed just in time for the multitude of demons to appear right before them and slam their bodies against the barrier.
The group watched as the demons all violently attacked the barrier. Snarling and growling at the group, spiritual man and the boys.
At the sight of this, the spiritual man, Goryomaru, turned to the group and said, "Let's continue our conversation inside the temple, shall we?" Before he turned toward the open doors of the temple and went inside. His disciples followed suit, but the boys from earlier gave the group a harsh glare as they went inside the temple.
Ignoring the harsh glares that they were given by the boys, the group followed the rest inside the temple grounds before the temple grounds doors closed.
As the group entered the temple grounds they looked around for a moment before Goryomaru drew their attention back to him.
"Hey Goryomaru was it?" Sango asked, "How come those demons want to come here so badly? Do you have something in here that they want? Like the shard of the Shikoku jewel?"
Goryomaru shook his head, "I don't. I don't know what they want from us nor why so many of them are so desperate to get in here. All I know is that they have been doing this for quite sometime now and I had to create a barrier to stop them from coming in."
Miroku thought about this, while Kagome asked, "How are these kids coming in and out if the demons keep a watchful eye on this temple? Do you fight them when you leave and come back?"
One of the boys took out a sutra and said, "These Sutras that Master Goryomaru made grant us the power to pass through the barrier with ease. Any demon that gets in our way or tries to attack us are immediately killed by us if they can't let us pass. Because there's more than one of us, we never have had a problem slaying these demons each time we wanted to go out and return."
"Yes, those surtas act as a way for the barrier to recognize them whenever they leave and return" Goryomaru said.
Miroku looked at Goryomaru for a few moments and said, "Do you think that maybe the demonic arm that you have is what attracts these demons to show up at this temple? Do the timelines match?"
"They do match and I, at first, wondered this but I ended up dismissing it because I have never seen demons act so desperately for some demonic arm." Goryomaru said, "The way they act is so abnormal from how a demon would normally act. It's almost as if they are mindless. I don't believe that this arm is causing them to act like this because I have already purified the arm and killed the demon that this arm belonged to."
"Goryomaru, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get this arm?" Miroku asked.
"One day while I was deep sleeping, I felt a sudden great and terrible pain in my arm. When I woke up, this weirdly shaped demon was devouring my arm and was trying to devour me. I fought the demon hard but the demon was tough. I could only do so much with one arm." Goryomaru said as he touched his demonic arm in remembrance. Flashbacks of him laying on the ground as the demon consumed his arm and his right upper limb flashed before his eyes. "I remember being close to death and the thought of being devoured by this demon scared me. I felt like my skin was burning as the demon was eating me. It was so painful. Ultimately, I decided to sacrifice my arm to kill the demon. I used my arm as a spiritual weapon to destroy the demon from the inside. I destroyed the demon but my arm was now gone and was replaced with this demon's body."
"Do you think that the demon was trying to fuse itself to your body as it was devouring it? It sounds like a parasite demon of some kind. " Miroku said as he thought more about it, "It's really fascinating. I have never heard of a demon like that. I'm glad you survived."
"Judging from your story, I don't think that a demon like that has the power to attract other demons." Sango, said as she thought about her encounters with demons, "Especially from the distance from where Kouga and Kirara left us. There has to be something else that is attracting these demons. Are you sure you don't have the Shikon jewel shard?"
"I have heard of it but I have never seen it." Goryomaru said as he shook his head.
Kagome reached towards her neck and took out the necklace bottle that contained the jewel shards. "So you have seen something like this?" Holding the necklace bottle right in the view of the spiritual man who stared at the bottle for a moment before shaking his head, "Wow so what else could be attracting those demons like that?" Goryomaru watched as Kagome put the necklace bottle back around her neck before he looked back at Miroku with a question of his own.
"Monk, earlier you talked about cases like mine. Does that mean you can free me of the demon on my arm?" Goryomaru asked, as the kids looked up at him with shock on their faces. "Although I have been managing it well, recently, it has been strangely difficult managing this demonic arm. And after I heard you talk about the power of resentment still lingering on the demon's body each time it's used, I can't help but feel worried about how much resentment has already affected my body."
"Sure and that's a fair thing to worry about. Don't worry, although it might be a little difficult but sure, I have done this kind of this plenty of times before. Just leave it to me and I'll see what I can do." Miroku said as he approached the spiritual man. However, before he could take another step towards the spiritual man, the group of kids at the temple surrounded the spiritual man, effectively blocking Miroku from approaching him. "What the…"
"Stay away from our master!" One boy cried out as he and the many other boys used their bodies to block the monk.
"We won't allow you to come near our master!" Another boy cried out.
Taken back by this, Goryomaru asked, "Children, is there something the matter? This man has come to help me be finally free of this demonic arm? What's the problem with that?"
"We…We don't trust them!" Another boy cried out as he turned around to face the spiritual man, "They work with demons that hindered our mission earlier!"
"Yeah!" Another boy cried out.
"What?! We didn't hinder anything you guys attacked us when we were minding our own business!" Shippo retorted, from Miroku's shoulder, "Why are you lying to your master about what happened? There was no other demon but us at that time!"
"Children, as I said before, you attacked us first and we were just defending ourselves." Miroku said as he gave the kids before him a stern look. "What kind of benefit will you get by telling your master these kinds of tales?"
Remaining in their protective stances before their master, the kids could only give the group harsh glares in return.
Taking note of the scene before her, Sango asked a question that just occurred to her at that moment, "Are you kids refusing to let us save your master from that demonic arm because you want to keep using the demon's power to slay demons?" As if that was the answer behind the kids' strange behavior, the children's harsh glares were changed into looks of guilt and shame. "Unbelievable…"
Feeling ashamed and embarrassed from being found out, the kids looked away from the disappointed looks of the group before them and glanced back at their master who seemed distraught by what was said and their silence in response.
At the look of his master's face, one boy felt so ashamed and ran off. While the other boys followed after him. Miroku and the rest looked at the boys who ran away before looking back at the spiritual man who stared at the running figures of his disciples with a look of disbelief and disappointment.
"Now that, that is out of the way, let's get back to business?" Miroku asked the spiritual man, who looked back at Miroku for a moment before he shook his head.
"Actually, it's getting late and I need some time to think about all these things." The spiritual man said with a sober look on his face, "I implore you to stay the night at the temple since you would most likely be greeted by the demons outside the barrier if you leave tonight. I will show you to your rooms and where dinner will be served not too long from now."
"Goryomaru don't tell me that you're going to let the selfish desires of these children stop you from being free from the thing that is giving you pain?" Miroku asked, with a stern look on his face, "I highly recommend against that kind of decision for no good can come from it."
"It's not like that." Goryomaru said, "The more I think about it, getting rid of the demon arm all together is too rash. Give me some time to think to come up with an idea to preserve the demonic arm in such a way that its powers can still be used for the greater good."
"For the greater good?" Sango questioned, "Those boys killed a sage-like mountain demon all because they were unable to distinguish the difference between a good demon and a bad demon. If those children continue to run amuck with that kind of power unchecked, they will become a danger to the people around them. So it would be wise for you and them for you to get rid of that demonic arm."
"I understand, I just want more time to think about these things." Goryomaru said, "Maybe sometime tonight we could do the removal. So if any problems occur, you guys are still here to take care of it before you leave."
"That's fine." Miroku said, "And if you need us to spend some more time, we could probably spend and extra night but no more than that so we can get back to our other companions who are waiting for us."
"Oh? How come your other companions didn't follow you here?" Goryomaru said, "We have plenty of rooms here. I hope your friends are safe."
"Our friends didn't follow us here because they are demons." Kagome said, "When we tried reaching here with them, they almost lost themselves to the control of the demonic aura that surrounds this entire area. So it was a safer option to leave them back."
"The only reason why we traveled with this little one here is because he's the only one who wasn't impacted by the demonic aura." Miroku said as he gestured to a smiling Shippo. "And even if he eventually was, I don't think he would be much of a threat since the three of us are stronger than him." This took Shippo by surprise as he gasped and gave the monk a glare while the two women in their group just giggled in response.
"Yeah that's why we weren't worried about bringing him along." Sango said much to the shock of Shippo.
"Sango, not you too and Kagome?!" Shippo cried out as he spotted Kagome giggling behind Miroku. "Why did you guys even defend me in front of Kouga then if you all felt the same way that he did?"
"Kouga was going about it the wrong way and was too harsh." Sango said, "It was never that serious for him to be an asshole about it."
"Yeah I know right? Besides, we didn't EXACTLY feel the same way he did." Kagome agreed, while Miroku just remained silent for just a moment before he coughed in his hand to calm down his group's chatter.
"Excuse my companions Goryomaru. They are just weary from the trip that we had had." Miroku said, "Perhaps eating and relaxing for a bit before we get to the removal of the demon arm would be good for us all. So we can take the time to rest and unwind first before we get down to business."
"I see, well then shall I show you around the place?" Goryomaru said as he walked gestured to the building to his left. The group nodded and followed after him as he turned towards the building.
And in the far distance from where the temple stood, there stood a wooden castle-like fortress that was hidden by the side of the cliff. Inside the fortress were Naraku and Hakudoshi.
With eyes of uncertainty, Hakudoshi watched as Naraku remained locked on the view outside. It was like Naraku was looking at something outside that had his view, but when Hakudoshi followed the direction of his eyes, he could see nothing but the moon and the stars in the sky. It had been like this for sometime now and it didn't look like Naraku was letting up anytime soon.
"Naraku?" Hakudoshi asked, watching as the spider demon remained locked with his view of the outside. "What are you looking at?"
"I'm watching my plans unfold." Naraku simply answered with an all knowing chuckle.
"If that's the case, how come I can't see what you're watching?" Hakudoshi asked, not because he was interested in knowing the answer, but to understand what the spider demon was thinking.
"That's because it's not your place to know. Patience, and you'll see what I am seeing soon." Naraku answered.
Hakudoshi remained quiet for a few moments before he spoke again, "These plans of yours, are you sure they will work?"
At this, Naraku glanced back at Hakudoshi without turning to look at him and said, "They will."
And from that moment on, it was silent between the two of them as they both stared outside the window and watched the moon and the starry sky.
Back at the temple, the group sat and ate their meal. Their meal consisted of a bowl of stew and another bowl of rice.
As the group ate their meal in silence, they noticed that the children from earlier were sitting far away from them. It was clear to see that the children were keeping their distance from the group as they ate their meals.
Staring at children that were across the room with a perturbed on his face, Shippo asked, "What's their problem?"
"Yeah, you would think someone told them that they weren't allowed to have some sweet rice cakes, but that's not what happened." Kagome said, as she stared at the kids along with the fox demon.
"And the crazy thing about this is that their little attitude is all over their master not being able to supply them the power for their weapons to say demons." Sango said, "If you ask me, these kids are really selfish and are untrained. I almost want to ask where their parents are but it doesn't seem that they have any, otherwise they would have treated their master's decision with respect."
"I agree. They seem to see demon slaying as a fun game of some sort." Miroku said, "And not a life threatening job to be done."
Shippo made a sound of disappointment as he shook his head and continued eating his meal. It wasn't long before the children across the room were done and left the area. The group ate their meals in silence and when they were done, they stacked their dishes away and walked back to the spiritual man's residence.
Upon reaching the residence, Miroku called out, "Goryomaru, it is I Miroku. Are you ready for the exorcism?"
"Oh Miroku, give me a second." Goryomaru said before sounds of footsteps could be heard reaching the door before the door slid open. However, instead of Goryomaru being the one who opened the door, one of the children from earlier was the one who opened the door instead.
Taken back by this, Miroku and the others narrowed their eyes in suspicion at the sight of the child at the door rather than the spiritual man. Miroku took the initiative to look into the room and saw all the children in the room with Goryomaru with their weapons in their hands as they all either sat near the spiritual man or stood near the wall.
Miroku and Sango held onto their weapons while Kagome looked into the room with concern in her eyes and Shippo just got into a battle ready position.
Turning to look at the spiritual man, Miroku asked, "Goryomaru, what's going on here?"
Apparently this question had confused the spiritual man.
"What do you mean?" Goryomaru answered, as he faced them while sitting near his disciples on the floor, "The boys came in a few minutes ago and seemed to have realized their mistake and have apologized to me. They now see how important the exorcism is to me and are okay with me getting it."
However, the dark looks on the children's faces said otherwise.
Gripping his weapon tighter, Miroku said, as he, Sango and the others backed up, "I don't feel safe here."
"Me too." Sango said as she saw how the children that were standing had their weapons in battle ready position while the ones on the floor had their weapons in their hands but not in a battle ready position as if it was meant to make the group have their guards down. "Miroku."
"Yeah I know." Miroku said as he held on to his staff tighter.
"Huh?" Goryomaru asked, with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean that you don't feel safe here? What's there to not feel safe about?"
However, before anything else could happen, in the nearby distance someone from somewhere stroked a dark blue orb.
Almost immediately, once that orb was stroked Goryomaru gasped out in pain as he clutched his arm and let out a painful yell. This caused the boys to take their eyes off the group before them as they turned their attention towards their master. And immediately Miroku and Sango rushed forward and knocked the weapons out of the kids hands.
Once the weapons were out of the childrens' hands' the children all gave dark and malicious glares at Miroku and Sango, while Kagome rushed to Goryomaru's side.
"Are you Ok?" Kagome asked as she tended to Goryomaru and checked him for any wounds. Goryomaru shook his head.
"Never mind me, check the barr—AHHH!" Goryomaru cried out in pain again as he fell to the floor.
Somewhere in the nearby distance, someone stroked the dark blue orb once again.
"What's going on with him?" Sango asked, not taking her eyes off the kids before her.
"I don't know!" Kagome exclaimed as she looked him over trying to see if there was a problem with his body. "I'm trying to see if—"
Suddenly the loud and rough roars of many demons snapped their attention to outside. Immediately after that the sounds of many heavy and rapid footsteps approaching where they were soon followed. Then in the nearby distance from outside, a horde of demons appeared rushing towards the building where the humans were.
Taking her eyes off from the kids before, Sango gasped in horror as she took in the sight before her.
Quickly thinking on his feet, Miroku immediately got into a buddhist prayer position and started reciting some incantations. Suddenly, a barrier surrounded them just in time as a horde of demons came and destroyed the building that they were just in. As the building collapsed, the barrier remained up and the humans inside were safe.
Sango let out a sign of relief as she watched Miroku pray "Thank the gods.." she sighed before she turned her attention back to the children before her who just looked horrified at the sight before them. "What do you think happened, Kagome? How is Goryomaru?"
Watching as Goryomaru continued to hunch over in pain while gripping his shoulder, Kagome answered "I don't know. I think something happened when the demons broke through the barrier. It takes strength to hold on to the barrier as long as he did. Are you alright Goryomaru?"
"AHHHH!… UH!…AHH!" Goryomaru grunted out in pain and pounded his free fist on the ground. His behavior startled Kagome and the others as they watched the spiritual man writhe in agony.
"Goryomaru?! Goryomaru are you okay?!" Kagome called out as she remained by his side holding on to him. "Goryomaru?!"
However, as the spiritual man tolled on the ground in pain, the demons outside the barrier began to rage excessively and began violently pounding on the barrier.
"What's going on?" Sango cried out in distress as the amount of chaos began to overwhelm her. However, before she could regain a moment to herself to think, Miroku started to pray out loud and was painfully hissing out at each word he uttered. His behavior brought everyone's attention to him where they watched Shippo biting down hard on Miroku's arm causing him to bleed out.
Kagome, Sango and the boys could only watch in shock at this as the demons from outside raged violently against the barrier.
And in the far distance from where the temple stood, there stood a wooden castle-like fortress that was hidden by the side of the cliff. Inside the fortress were Naraku and Hakudoshi.
Watching the sky above him, Naraku watched as the one star shined brighter than the others and smirked.
Turning to Hakudoshi, Naraku said, "It's time Hakudoshi. It's time for you to go and retrieve the infant." Watching as Hakudoshi stood ready to go out on his command.
"I see. But what about the demonic influence?" Hakudoshi said, aware of what was going on at the temple, "I don't want to become as mindless as those demons and fail the mission."
"And I have a spell for that." Naraku said, turning around to face the child incarnation. "The spell of protection."
"The spell of protection? It sounds simple." Hakudoshi said, looking unimpressed.
"The spell of protection has many forms and each form depends on the power of the caster." Naraku said, "Meaning, the strength of this spell depends on the strength of the caster. This spell will protect you from the demonic influence at the temple and will allow you to retrieve the infant and complete the mission."
"I see." Hakudoshi said. "Has the spell already been cast?"
"Close your eyes and I will cast it on you." Naraku said as he closed his eyes and began chanting some incantations.
Hakudoshi cracked open his eye just enough to watch Naraku begin to perform hand gestures of the spell. It wasn't long before a golden barrier surrounded Hakudoshi.
As soon as Naraku was done, he stopped chanting and as soon as he did that Hakudoshi closed his eyes. And as Hakudoshi closed his eyes, Naraku opened his eyes and said, "Hakudoshi, it is done now. Go now and do what you are told."
"Yes Naraku." Hakudoshi answered as he opened his eyes and walked past Naraku who only spared Hakudoshi a glance as he turned his attention back to the sky.
Without turning around, Hakudoshi glanced back at Naraku before he walked out of the fortress and flew towards the direction of the temple.
'Let's see.' Kagura thought to herself as she flew on her feather. In her hand was one of the yokai crystals that could be used to detect the fuyōheki. 'Whatever Naraku is doing with the fuyōheki, it's around here somewhere."
Kagura flew for a while longer before she felt a strong demonic force come over her. Kagura's eyes widened in shock as she felt the force try to take over her mind the further she flew towards the direction of where the yokai crystal was leading her.
Finally as she felt her mind almost gone, Kagura stopped her feather immediately and turned back around. After flying in the reverse direction for a distance, Kagura stopped and turned to look behind her.
'What was that?' Kagura thought, as she looked down at the crystal in her hand before looking back at the direction behind her. Feeling a strong pull to continue moving forwards, Kagura shook her head as she tried to make sense of what she was feeling. 'What's going on? It's almost like there's this invisible and incredible pull that is drawing me to continue forwards. But if I do, I'll lose my mind. Could this be another plot of Naraku's?'
As Kagura wondered this, she noticed something on the ground below her. Something fast, almost like a whirlwind. As she looked down she saw the miniature whirlwind that she recognized as Kouga rushing forwards full speed to the same direction of where she felt the strong pull to go. Behind Kouga, was that firecat demon that was fully transformed who was also rushing towards the same direction. 'So it looks like I'm not the only one who's being controlled by this invisible force. Kouga is as well, but where are the rest of Inuyasha's former travel companions? I don't see them anywhere.'
Turning around, Kagura looked up ahead and saw a temple that was further up. 'I wonder if they are in there?'
As she wondered this, she noticed Hakudoshi floating from behind her making his way towards the temple. Hakudoshi noticed her briefly and paid her no mind as he continued forwards. Hakudoshi looked undisturbed by the strong force which took Kagura by surprise for a moment before she realized.
'Wait if Hakudoshi is here and the crystal is leading me here towards that temple, that means Naraku sent him to retrieve whatever is in that temple.' Kagura reasoned, 'So however he's able to be undisturbed by the strong demonic forces it's most likely because of Naraku.' Noticing the strange golden barrier that surrounded Hakudoshi instead of the usual magenta one, Kagura concluded. 'That barrier is probably what is helping him withstand the strong pull.'
However, despite thinking this, Kagura's thoughts changed as she watched Hakudoshi pause where he floated, which wasn't too far from where she was. He looked like he was struggling to remain still as the golden barrier that surrounded him began to flicker and appear to be thinning out. 'It looks like whatever barrier that Naraku gave him wasn't strong enough to withstand the strong pull of that demonic influence and Hakudoshi is feeling the effects of that right now.' Watching as the golden barrier begin to fade away, Kagura thought, 'He better go back to Naraku and report to him what happened..but it's strange that Naraku would give him something that wouldn't last against such an incredible force like this….did Naraku underestimate its power?'
However as Kagura pondered this, the golden barrier around Hakudoshi was almost gone and Hakudoshi had still not turned back around to begin the journey back to Naraku's. 'What is he waiting for?' And that was when Kagura noticed something Hakudoshi was doing from behind him. She watched as Hakudoshi remained perfectly still and his hands seemed to be making gestures.
'Wait…is he…' Kagura paused as a memory of her watching Naraku placing a similar spell came to mind. 'Is he placing a spell just like Naraku?' Kagura's eyes widened in pure shock as the bolder version of the golden barrier came back and surrounded Hakudoshi. 'When did he get the ability and the knowledge of how to do that?!'
Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to Kagura that shocked her to her core as she stared at Hakudoshi in pure shock. And as if the child incarnation knew what she had just realized, he turned to look at her. His haughty and proud eyes met her shocked crimson ones. 'Hakudoshi…do you really plan to do that?' And as if Hakudoshi could hear what she was thinking, he smirked.
In the far distance away from the temple, Naraku remained staring up at the starry sky up above. Suddenly, one of the stars fell backwards as if it was falling. At the rate at which the star fell, the star developed a beautiful tail and appeared as a streak of light across the night sky.
"Oh?" Naraku mused as he watched the star before it fell out of view. "How interesting."
Then the night sky remained as still as before.
Naraku smirked and turned around and walked toward the exit of the fortress.
Meanwhile, back with Kagura and Hakudoshi, Hakudoshi kept his eyes on Kagura and brought a finger to his lips. This sent Kagura a message that she immediately understood and she nodded. Seeing this, Hakudoshi's smirk widened as he turned back around and continued toward the direction of the temple grounds.
Back at the temple, Miroku shook his arm in hopes of getting the fox demon off as he continued to loudly recite his prayers. However, Shippo remained hooked on his arm and even bit down harder and moved his head rapidly to inflict more pain upon the monk. Upon seeing this, Sango immediately ran to them and tried to remove Shippo from Miroku's arm but the fox demon just shook his head and bit down harder.
Finally, Sango hit Shippo right where Kouga had hit him earlier and that seemed to snap the fox demon out of what he was under temporarily. As he immediately let out a loud cry and cradled his head before he glared up hard at Sango with tears In his eyes.
However, before Shippo could say anything to the demon slayer, his eyes turned into very narrow slits and as he growled at Sango. Miroku's blood dripped from Shippo's mouth as he growled.
Miroku's eyes remained closed as Sango gave him a pat of assurance and rushed towards the fox demon. Upon seeing the demon slayer coming towards him, Shippo immediately went to bite her arm but Sango was faster and hit Shippo on the head once again. Once she did that, she called for Miroku who immediately cracked open his eyes a little bit before he created a small opening in the barrier and Sango threw the fox demon out.
"Shippo!" Kagome cried out as she remained beside the groaning Goryou. However, before she could even spare her fox friend another thought, she gasped in horror as she pointed at the group of boys across from her. "What are you guys doing?!"
Hearing this, Sango had immediately turned back around and looked back at the group of children who had now retrieved their weapons and had aimed it at the barrier.
"Release the barrier Monk!" One of the boys yelled, "We got it now. Those demons out there are done for!"
"No, put those down right now!" Sango said, "Those things are too dangerous for you to hold!"
"Shut up!" Another boy cried out as he aimed his weapon at her, "Get out of our way and let us do our jobs! Now you see how useful our weapons are. The same weapons that you tried to take from us!"
"Don't be foolish!" Sango yelled at them. "Put those weapons down!"
"Ok, suit yourself!" The boy from earlier cried out.
"We warned you!" Another boy cried out.
Kagome screamed.
And before anyone else could move, Miroku recreated the barrier so that the boys were outside the barrier and facing the demons like they wanted.
"Now!" they cried out. And almost immediately as they fired their weapons, the bright shining light came out but instead of attacking the demons, it attacked the boys. The demons seeing this, rushed towards the boys and began brutally attacking them as well.
Soon distorted demonic laughter from all the demons erupted as they all violently and brutally attacked the children that screamed for help.
Unable to take the screaming anymore, Miroku recreated the barrier and shielded the boys from the demons. However, most of these boys were already dead. Only two of them remained. The boys were severely injured and could barely move as they began to scream out in pain.
Outside the barrier near the dead body of the boys appeared Shippo covered in blood with a wicked look on his face as he broke out into a twisted and dark laugh. All the demons broke out into the same laugh. These sounds unnerved the humans in the barrier, as Sango and Kagome looked horrified.
Then a powerful force slammed into the barrier once again and the girls looked in the direction of that force and the sight caused the hairs on their skins to stand and their hearts to drop in pure shock. Outside pounded on the barrier with such a strong force was Kouga. Kouga was also laughing a twisted and dark laugh as he continued to pound on the barrier. And Kirara did the same.
Suddenly the same dark and twisted laughter erupted from within the barrier with them, the humans immediately turned towards the direction of the sound and watched in horror as Goryomaru looked up at Kagome with a look of pure evil on his face. He then grabbed Kagome before she could run and brought her back close to him.
Kagome screamed and struggled in vain against her captor's tight grip.
"GIVE ME THOSE SHIKON JEWEL SHARDS! GIVE ME THOSE SHIKON JEWEL SHARDS!" The demonic voice from Goryomaru erupted.
Seeing this, Sango ran towards them trying to remove Kagome from him, but then the upper part of Goryomaru's arm opened and these bright serpent-like powers of light gathered about in that part of the arm and were moving. Goryomaru laughed with a dark distorted voice and made a statement with his eyes that threatened Sango to come any closer.
Understanding him instantly Sango froze, while Miroku continued to pray and had an eye cracked open at Goryomaru and Kagome. Chuckling, Goryomaru moved the free hand that wasn't holding Kagome still to his body and began to reach towards her neck. Suddenly, the image of Naraku's eyes on Miroku's face in her nightmare reaching over to take the jewel shards from around her neck flash before Kagome's eyes causing her to scream, "NO NOT AGAIN!"
She instinctively grabbed hold of Goryomaru's arms that held her captive and screamed, "THIS TIME YOU'RE MINE PAL!" And immediately after that, a flash of bright blue fire came from her hands and burnt Goryomaru who released Kagome and let out a loud howl of pain.
Kagome ran away from him and ran towards Sango who embraced Kagome in a tight hug. Together they both watched as Goryomaru's arms soon became engulfed in bright blue flames and the bright white lights in his upper arms were destroyed by Kagome's spiritual fire.
Goryomaru fell to the ground and began to roll around trying to get rid of the fire. And at the same time, the demons outside became incredibly restless and incredibly violent. They all screamed out in pain as if they were in pain and moved about as if they were trying to extinguish fire from their own bodies.
And it was this sound that Miroku opened his eyes, stood up, grabbed both Kagome and Sango and moved to stand near the severely injured boys on the ground. Once he was there, Miroku recreated the barrier again to this time only surround himself and the other humans near him. It was this sudden lack of barrier around Goryomaru, that the demons all rushed forth and began attacking Goryomaru. They ripped at his body and attacked him so brutally as if they were trying to take him apart.
The group of humans watched in horror as Miroku watched the scene with his eyes open this time. It was a truly horrid scene, and finally the human Goryomaru came back out and screamed for help. He looked towards Miroku and the others and screamed for help as the blue flames suddenly engulfed his demonic arm. At this moment, it became clear to everyone that the demons were not trying to kill Goryomaru, but were trying to separate him from his demonic arm. However, this was in fact killing Goryomaru. The tortured screams of Goryomaru continued until Hakudoshi appeared surrounded by his own golden barrier and formed a spear from the bones of his hand and stabbed Goryomaru in the heart. This attack killed Goryomaru on the spot.
As soon as Goryomaru went still, the craziness and chaos amongst the demons ended. Watching how all the demons calmed down and were in a confused haze, Hakudoshi smirked in amusement and walked away towards the other surrounding buildings.
Shippo appeared in a daze for a moment before he shook his head and looked around. As he looked around he spotted Kagome, Miroku, Sango and the severely injured children all in a barrier across from him. Shippo smiled upon seeing them but as he approached them, the others gave him a hard and sharp stare. This was something he had never received from them before and confused him. He tried to approach them some more but the closer he got to them, the more that he realized that the sharp look that his travel companions gave him carried a little fear. This stopped Shippo dead in his tracks as he looked at his travel companions.
Suddenly, memories of his vicious behavior from just a few moments ago flooded his mind. These memories caused tears to gather up in Shippo's eyes as he shook his head in disbelief. But as he began to cry, he tasted Miroku's blood, the other fallen children's blood and Goryomaru's blood in his mouth. At this, Shippo desperately tried to wipe his mouth clean but he couldn't and he just fell to his knees and cried.
The humans just stared blankly at Shippo, looking pretty shaken themselves before another demon came in view and picked Shippo up into his arms. Continuing to cry bitter tears, Shippo opened his eyes, looked up and saw Kouga looking down at him with eyes of compassion. Seeing this, Shippo cried harder and apologized repeatedly.
With a sobbing fox demon buried in his arms, Kouga gave the group of humans a stone cold look of 'I told you so.'
The humans just looked away and refused to come out of the barrier. Kouga just sighed and looked around. There were demons behind him waiting for him to move so they could devour the humans in the barrier. Kouga held on to Shippo, took out the arm that had the Gorashi and released an attack on those demons which immediately killed them.
Then in the corner of his eyes Kouga spotted Hakudoshi, the Naraku's new incarnation and the infant that held the Fuyōheki in his hands. Hakudoshi smirked as he waved goodbye to the group on the ground. Giving Hakudoshi a dark glare in return, Kouga wanted to chase after him but ultimately decided against doing so. As Shippo cried more in his arms while the humans remained in the barrier, despite the pleading of Kirara, Kouga released a tired sigh.
He had a lot of work to do.
Watching the scene from the entrance of the temple grounds, Kagura decided not to approach Kouga and Inuyasha's former companions and took out a feather. With a silent command, the feather grew bigger causing Kagura to jump upon it and fly away.
As she flew, Hakudoshi, Utsuho, and the infant met her in the sky.
They were soon greeted by Naraku who met them with a calm look on his face. With a wave of his hand, they all followed after Naraku.
However, the instant Naraku turned his back on them. A proud smirk came over Hakudoshi's face as he left the barrier where Utsuho and the infant were and went to fly besides Naraku. Upon seeing the child's incarnation beside him, Naraku glanced at Hakudoshi for only a moment and looked back to facing forwards. Hakudoshi did the same.
Watching this, Kagura pursued her lips and gave the back of Naraku's head a hard look. 'Naraku, if only you knew of the dagger placed beside you. A dagger that you have no one else but yourself to blame.'
She turned her attention at the back of Hakudoshi's head and instinctively put her hand to her chest and formed a tight fist.
Unknownst to Kagura and the others, Naraku was staring at her without turning fully to look at her. He then looked down to his far left ever so slightly without letting the others notice him. and stared off along the river bank that was nearby the temple that they had just left. On the ground looking right up at him was Kanna.
Upon seeing her, Naraku made a movement with his eyes and a slight movement of his head as he gestured for her to go back.
Understanding the meaning behind Naraku's movements, Kanna nodded and walked into the water. As she walked into the water, the water glowed. It was as it glowed, that Kanna began to disappear further into the water despite it only being a river. Suddenly, all that remained of Kanna was the top of her head which also disappeared as she became out of sight. Naraku then glance back at Hakudoshi who was facing forward the entire time. Naraku smirked and went back to looking forward as well.
AUTHOR'S NOTE (PLEASE READ):
Hi guys, it has been awhile. I have been trying for months to finish writing this chapter and I just finished today. I had different routes that I wanted this chapter to go and after the watching episode of the a few times-to point of watching parts- I'm glad I found a route that I was comfortable pursuing. In a way the wait was worth it.
IMPORTANT: Let's talk about the hidden meanings in this chapter. There is a hidden message in this chapter that relates to Hakudoshi's behavior in comparison to the other children and Shippo and their masters in this chapter. Even though Shippo doesn't have masters, he does have people around him who are considered his elders. I just to highlight that and leave the thinking to you guys.
Another thing, Yes Kanna was there she was communicating with Naraku through the stars in the sky using her mirror and the river she was near. After Naraku dismissed her, she went back to tending/watching to Inuyasha. I think at this point in the story Naraku doesn't believe Inuyasha would escape him anymore. And if he did, Naraku will find Inuyasha anyway. Why did Naraku use Kanna? She was the only one he could use. He could have used Utsuho but she was near the infant and he didn't want the infant knowing what he was doing. Naraku doesn't realize it yet, but he trusts Kanna more than he trusts his other incarnations.
The star that Naraku saw that shined brightly met that the time has come for Naraku to take action.
The star in that fell was a message told Naraku that Hakudoshi has acted against him.
Let's discuss how Hakudoshi did this. Hakudoshi unknowingly fell for Naraku's trap. How? Naraku just used Hakudoshi's arrogance against himself. I will go into more details of how he did that in future chapters.
Honestly, that scene between Naraku and Hakudoshi on Naraku looking up at the sky while Hakudoshi asking him if his plan would work was from the anime. It was an incredibly short scene but I added to it and used it to bring in Kanna and as apart of Naraku's plan in understanding Hakudoshi. In this scene, I also used it to shape Hakudoshi's view of Naraku and aid in his low view of Naraku.
I think we all know that Hakudoshi and the infant will betray Naraku in the upcoming chapters. I'm just setting the stage for when it will happen.
Wasn't it great that Kagome understood how to use that spiritual firepower? It saved her and I honestly don't know how she would've survived in this chapter if she didn't use it. Maybe Miroku doing something but there's only so much she can do. I guess her little nightmare with Naraku helped her unlock something inside her.
The next chapter will involve Sesshomaru and Kagura. I HOPE to get that out within the next week/next month since it shouldn't take too long to write.
General Note:
I also used old scenes from older chapters to add context to the current scene through flashbacks. It helps give you guys a deeper understanding of the scene and it's watching a flashback in the anime.]. When you see italics used like this, it's either inner thoughts that the character has or is a flashback. I hope this makes sense.
ALSO REMEMBER TO SWITCH EMAIL ALERTS TO ON EVERY 6 MONTHS. is WEIRD FOR THAT.
Replies to Reviewers:
Tsuki: Thank you for your support. I made an account in Wattpad under the same name and begin at some point soon to upload my stories there. However, This story is also available on archiveofourown under the same name as well. It's also up to date. I can't say much about the route of the ending of this story but I think you might like it. Or maybe not? Lets see. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading everyone!
