InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis ( Chapter 70 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters, Ms. Takahashi does.

Many, many thanks to Ranuel for help with research into the twelve Heavenly Generals (Taisho), but I take full responsibility for the madness…err, chapter.

 

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis

By Licentia poetica

 

 

Miroku gave a deep sigh as the small group approached the bottom of the hill and began to walk toward Kaede's hut and the inert forms of Yourei Taisei and Kanna. `It is nearly noon, and I have had no time to meditate lately…has it really been just seven days since we were drawn through the well? Even though the formation of the Living Jewel reinvigorated me, I must find some time to compose my thoughts before the Otsuya tonight.' He frowned as Kanna remained completely oblivious to their approach, focusing intently on her mirror. `It still disturbs me that I cannot sense anything about her…and what is it that she sees when she stares in the mirror so attentively?'

 

Shippo growled from his perch on Miroku's shoulder and the monk held up a warning hand as the child began grumbling imprecations under his breath. `He could only have learned those under Inuyasha's tutelage, but still, Sango might blame me.' Shippo subsided back into growls but he became more agitated as they neared Kanna. Sango, walking slightly behind and to the side, glanced over and reached out a hand to soothe him; Miroku winced as Shippo's small claws gouged several shallow cuts in his shoulder as the kit jumped back to her, barking “Don't get any closer!”

 

“Shippo?” Miroku hesitated and turned his head slightly to glance back with concern. `I understand he is skittish where Kanna is concerned, but why is he having such a strong reaction?'

 

Shippo's gaze never left Kanna as he perched on Sango's shoulder and growled softly “I can smell…it's faint, but…it's Naraku's stink.”

 

Miroku immediately dropped his shakujou, grabbed the beads covering his cursed hand, and stepped in front of Sango, dropping into the horse stance as he prepared to open the Wind Tunnel.

 

Sango stopped moving forward, her body subtly tensing into a modified fighting stance as she shifted the Hiraikotsu forward, giving extra protection to her armored stomach.

 

“Hey! I can't see!” Shippo tried to peer around the upper tip of the Hiraikotsu.

 

“Hush and be still,” Sango hissed.

 

Though they were close enough that demon-enhanced hearing could easily have picked up their quiet whispers, Kanna ignored them.

 

Miroku watched intently as faint reflections of light rippled from the mirror's surface onto Kanna's face, frowning as a several fleeting crimson glows reminded him strongly of Inuyasha's haori. `Blood, or Inuyasha, or both? What is it that she sees?'

 

Shippo growled again and whispered, “Do you think she's watching Kagome and Inuyasha?”

 

“It's possible.” Sango answered in a quiet monotone.

 

`They see the red reflections as well. But I can't detect any jyaki...how can Naraku be here?' Miroku shifted into a side stance, keeping his cursed hand aimed toward Kanna while he hazarded a questioning glance back to Sango. She met his concerned gaze with a fierce intensity that immediately made him think of her passionate participation in their activities the previous night. `Ah, her warrior woman face…and blessed Buddha, that leather armor.' His glance flicked down to her stomach, noting how she held the thick angle of the formed bone directly in front of her hips and shielded Shippo with the raised tip. `Protecting the little ones, are you?' As his gaze returned to her face, lingering over the swell of her leather-encased breasts, she gave a quiet, irritated exhalation, compressing her lips as she gave an exaggerated glare over his shoulder toward Kanna. `Oh, no, no, Sango. Those lips should never be flattened like that.'

 

Obviously annoyed at his bemused expression, Sango widened her eyes and motioned to Kanna with her chin. As he hesitated still, eyes focused on her now relaxed lips, she finally hissed “Husband?” in an irritated tone of voice.

 

Miroku blinked as he realized his face had completely changed from a frown to a lascivious smile without any conscious thought on his part. `Ah Sango, what you do to my ability to concentrate! You do have a point.' Quirking an eyebrow at her in apology and wryly grinning as she rolled her eyes, he turned back to face Kanna again. `But I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing you call me husband, even if it is in an irritated tone of voice.'

 

Although she had leaned forward slightly, bringing her impassive face closer to her mirror, Kanna continued to ignore them.

 

`Is she fascinated by something, or is she making sure that we cannot see what lies within the mirror?' Miroku's frown increased as he prepared to remove his rosary beads and stepped forward again, moving slowly toward Kanna. He began to expand his houriki to try to sense Naraku, but stumbled suddenly as wildly fluctuating youki emanated from Yourei Taisei. “What—”

 

At that moment the ground shuddered beneath them; Miroku staggered and fell heavily against the side of Kaede's hut. Shippo gave a cry of surprise and clutched at Sango as she crouched down into a horse stance and jammed one end of the Hiraikotsu into the ground, clinging to it to prevent them both from falling. Struggling to regain his feet, Miroku saw that even Kanna, still seated on the ground, had to put out a hand to stabilize her body against the jerking, twisting earth. A crack appeared in the ground, running from the direction of the well, and Kanna leaped to her feet as the ground beneath her split open and formed a gaping fissure. She gave a hoarse cry as her mirror jerked in her hands and a beam of light, growing brighter by the second, blasted up from the earth, bent at an impossible angle off the surface of the mirror, and enveloped the inert body of Yourei Taisei.

 

Over the rumble of the earth, Miroku heard an odd splintering sound. `What is that light? It feels…is it youki?' He forced his numbed brain to focus and expanded his houriki, feeling an odd jerking sensation as he accessed his power.

 

Kanna tugged on the mirror and staggered slightly when the ground beneath her tilted but the mirror remained fixed in position; the beam emanating from the mirror suddenly changed from blinding white to a stark black that still managed convey a glow.

 

`Radiation!' The word flickered through Miroku's stressed thoughts, but his memory of studying the phenomenon was immediately interrupted by Kanna. She bared her teeth at Yourei Taisei and yelled “Stop!” but her voice was a small, shrill shriek against the groaning sounds of the earth.

 

The light flipped back to blinding brilliance and Shippo gave a hoarse yip of warning as Yourei Taisei's body began to change. The taiyoukai opened his eyes and inhaled deeply before turning his face to Kanna; Miroku paled at the intense fury in his gaze even though he was not the focus for the youkai's anger. Yourei Taisei opened his mouth, but instead of words the furious scream of a falcon split the air. Pulsing in the oddly flickering light ricocheting off of the mirror, the taiyoukai's body rapidly grew in size; he lost his humanoid features and took on the appearance of his full youkai form.  The giant falcon looked down at Kanna, screaming harshly into her face as he spread his wings. As they reached full extension, the stream of light that radiated from the ground to the mirror suddenly stopped pulsing and remained blindingly bright. Miroku squinted against the glare as Kanna became a stark black shadow haloed in brilliance; she clutched at her stationary mirror and just managed to hang on by the tips of her fingers as the swell of light seemed to force her away. In a final explosion of radiant energy, the light congealed around Yourei Taisei's body; he became the black figure swathed in brilliance as Kanna reverted to pallid white. The taiyoukai arched his head backward, screaming for a third time as he beat his wings and created a whirlwind of dust and sand.

 

`It sounds like he's in pain, not —!' In the midst of this thought, Miroku staggered and fell to his knees as a stiletto of agony stabbed through the base of his brain. As his vision grayed out in response, he heard Sango and Shippo cry out and at the same moment felt an abrupt spike in houriki. `Aiko! Our child!' His gut went cold with fear but stark black alternated with blinding white in his vision, shattering any coherent thought.

 

After what seemed to be an eternity, an abrupt cessation in the knife-edge of pain allowed him to gasp a breath into suddenly airless lungs. As his vision returned the sound of an explosion from the direction of the well made him whip his head around in that direction.

 

“Kagome! Inuyasha! Sango screamed.

 

“Mama! Papa!” Shippo yelped at the same instant.

 

Their yells mirrored his worried thoughts, but Miroku said nothing as the sight that met his eyes was not at all what he expected: instead of the dust of an explosion rising over the forest, the only movement in the area around the well came from the Goshinboku. The tree's limbs were thrashing as if it was caught in a hurricane, yet every other tree around it was languidly still in the afternoon heat. 'Gods, none of the other trees are moving! What in the name of all the hells?' 

 

The Goshinboku suddenly went as still as the trees around it and the earth convulsed in response, throwing Kanna to the ground as the fissure almost beneath her feet closed.

 

Before Miroku could react dust blinded him again as Yourei Taisei rose in the air, beating his wings and screaming in defiance. Miroku was buffeted back into the wall of Kaede's hut and raised his cursed hand as a shield, squinting against the maelstrom of grit. He blinked in shock as Kanna, her mirror tucked into her body, rolled past him and slammed up against a small boulder at the bottom of the hill. `She's bleeding!' Blood stained the pristine white on the demon child's back and left dark clots on the ground as she tumbled. As the whirlwinds settled, Miroku looked up at Yourei Taisei's dwindling form. `He didn't attack her. He didn't even touch her. What—' his train of thought abruptly came to a halt as he became aware of an absence of sensation. `He's in his youkai form and yet I can't sense any youki.'

 

A muffled cry from Sango caused him to turn in her direction. `Sango! Aiko!' She was struggling to her feet, trying to use the Hiraikotsu as a prop, but she seemed uncharacteristically clumsy and fell forward, landing awkwardly on her knees. Shippo crawled out from behind the Hiraikotsu, looking disheveled but unhurt.

 

Miroku gaped at the kitsune, suddenly stunned out of his worry. `Why can't I sense his youki?' The normally constant presence of Shippo's merry aura was a gaping hole in his perception. `It's almost like the time I spent in Kagome's world, but when he came through the well I could sense him there.'

 

Sango lifted her head, gasped, and tried to cock the Hiraikotsu from her kneeling position. As it snagged awkwardly in the ground she yelled “Miroku! Watch out!”

 

He spun around and saw that Kanna had managed to regain her feet and was raising her mirror. He froze in shock, but not because she threatened them.

 

Her impassive face was streaked with tears and the surface of the mirror had impossibly precise, etched cracks which spanned a quarter of the circle. `It looks like a word, but I can't make out—'

 

As he stood in stunned immobility and she continued to raise her mirror, Shippo gave a hoarse, inarticulate cry and ran forward screaming “Fox fire!”

 

Instead of the hiss of blue fire that normally accompanied Shippo's shout, a loud squelching sound erupted from the kitsune's hands and gouts of mud splattered against the hillside, spattering Kanna's mirror and one side of her clothing with sludge. She glared at Shippo, who had abruptly stopped running and was staring in confusion at his palms, and swiped the surface of her mirror against the clean portion of her clothing before aiming it toward him.

 

`Shippo!' Shocked into mobility, Miroku freed the Wind Tunnel. An instant after he removed the beads a drunkenly wobbling Hiraikotsu passed over Shippo, almost clipping the kitsune's head in passing. The whistling sound of a falcon's stoop came at the same moment, and Miroku desperately tried to close the Wind Tunnel just as he opened it.

 

But instead of a black hole sucking everything into the gravity well in his hand, a howling blast of wind and light knocked him backwards into the wall of Kaede's hut and wreaked havoc on the Hiraikotsu's already wobbly trajectory. The boomerang arced off to the side and slammed into the hillside, impaling itself into the ground and quivering hard enough to generate a deep buzzing noise. A startled squawk came from above but Miroku did not look to see how Yourei Taisei handled the buffeting windstorm; he watched, stupefied, as Kanna clutched her mirror to her chest and tumbled upwards, literally blown up the side of the hill and over the crest.

 

`What in all the hells is going on?' Miroku struggled to wrap the beads around a force that pushed them away instead of drawing them in, but in another moment the wind faltered and died. Almost immediately the usual dark vortex of the Wind Tunnel appeared and he was able to cover it with familiar efficiency. He slumped against the solid wall behind him for a moment, trying to process the changes that had happened in the last few seconds. `What. In all. The hells?'

 

A sudden whistling sound heralded Yourei Taisei's second stoop and Miroku watched him dive from the sky, his talons outstretched to seize something above the crest of the hill. `Kanna is escaping!' Miroku shook himself out of his stupor.

 

Forcing his legs to move, Miroku began to run toward the summit, snatching his shakujou from the ground as he passed it. Before he could even begin to ascend Yourei Taisei screamed in frustration and banked sharply away from the hill, beating his wings for altitude. Miroku struggled up the steepest part of the grade, squinting as buffets of wind from the taiyoukai's downbeats raised plumes of dust and gravel. `She must have sought shelter under the trees. If she is still working with Naraku I can't let her get away!' He tried to access his houriki to increase his speed, but the normal smooth flow of power didn't answer his summons. `I must find time to meditate! But wait…Shippo's fox fire, Sango's clumsy handling of the Hiraikotsu, my inability to sense youki and the reversal of the Wind Tunnel. It isn't just my lack of discipline; these are manifestations of some other change.'

 

Gasping with exertion, he reached the crest of the hill only to find the area around the Kai-wolves' shelter empty. `Not even a glimmer of white in the trees. Damn!' He bent over, leaning against the shakujou and bowing his head for a moment as he tried to get his breathing under control. Hearing scampering feet behind him, he straightened up and looked back down the hill.

 

He had a moment to process the fact that Sango was frantically tugging on the Hiraikotsu, still embedded in the hill where his wind storm had driven it, before Shippo scrabbled up to the summit with a leaf in his hands. The kitsune panted for a moment, eyes searching the area, before looking up. “Where's Kanna?” he growled fiercely.

 

Miroku raised one eyebrow at the angry tone. `Our normally mischievous kit has become protective? Either Inuyasha is rubbing off on him or it is another change that has come about in the last few minutes.' Taking a deep, cleansing breath Miroku answered, “Vanished.”

 

Shippo leaped up into his arms and scrabbled around to his back. “Kanna's not here anymore, Sango!” the kitsune yelled back down the hill. As he turned around to face forward, he whispered, “Miroku, Sango couldn't lift the Hiraikotsu right and she fell twice trying to run.” The kit kept his voice low as he snickered, “And right now she looks really funny trying to pull it out of the dirt!” He ducked his head as Miroku frowned at him, looking away before guiltily glancing back and raising his voice. “Why did my fox fire do that?”

 

`Ah, there's our little rogue, but how can I answer him?' Miroku took a deep breath as he tried to organize his thoughts, but before he could answer Kaede gave a muffled yell from within her hut.

 

“Sango!” Kaede's voice was as close to panic as Miroku had ever heard it.

 

The taiji-ya spun away from the Hiraikotsu, leaving it embedded in the hillside, and Miroku frowned. `Why can't Sango remove it from the hill? I've seen her pull it out of solid rock!'

 

The elderly miko came rushing around the side of her home and stared up at Sango, a baffled look on her face. “Sango! Kohaku's body just…disappeared! Right in front of my eyes! I was saying prayers and he vanished!” Kaede shook her head and reached out with her hands palm up, obviously at a loss to explain the situation. “I thought…I couldn't—” she shook her head again and her shoulders slumped as Sango took a sobbing breath. “For an instant I thought I had fallen asleep and was dreaming…of a sudden I felt Yourei Taisei's youki above and heard his falcon's cry, but I swear it was no dream. I had just bent to light incense in the fire and there was a flare of light. When I could see again Kohaku was gone! I could sense no ill spell so I did not believe it at first, but….” Her voice trailed off as Sango raced passed her toward the hut, stumbling slightly once, and she exchanged a worried glance with Miroku.

 

Miroku tensed his muscles to begin jogging down the hill, but a screaming call made him pause and look up. Yourei Taisei wheeled overhead, staring down at him. The taiyoukai flew toward the well, watching Miroku and Shippo the entire time, and began to descend in slow circles.

 

“I think he wants us to go over there,” Shippo said quietly from his perch on Miroku's shoulder. “D'you think that Kanna's by the well?”

 

“No, Shippo, he's descending too slowly. But I think we must go over to the well soon and find out what has happened to Kagome and Inuyasha.” He looked back down the hill toward Kaede, who was shading her eyes as she watched the taiyoukai. “However, we need to help Sango first and I also need some information from Lady Kaede.” He jogged down the hill, ignoring Shippo's growling protests at being jostled. `Something has changed in the fundamental nature of each of our abilities and something made the Goshinboku move separately from all the other trees, but somehow it all seems to be connected to the explosion around the well. We need to get over there, but first we must solve the mystery of Kohaku's body. Has it truly disappeared? Would the light and radiation that passed through Kanna's mirror have anything to do with it?' He slowed as he reached the bottom of the hill again. `And I also need to know why Kaede didn't come out of her home when the earthquake hit…she would have been concerned for the villagers.' He stopped in front of the older woman and stared at her intently. “Lady Kaede, you did not raise an alarm before Kohaku disappeared and I confess I am confused as to why you didn't come out earlier. By any chance, did you just experience a strong earthquake?”

 

Kaede raised her eyebrows in astonishment but then frowned and folded her arms in front of her. “Nnnooo,” she answered, dragging out the word, “but obviously ye did.”

 

`Was it only those of us in the Living Jewel who were able to sense it? Why did Kanna and Yourei Taisei react then?' Miroku frowned and tried again. “Not even a tremble? Did you hear any strange sounds or feel an elevation of jyaki?”

 

“No. I heard and felt nothing until Kohaku disappeared.” Kaede's gaze flicked back and forth between his right and left eyes as if she was searching for something. “Miroku, what is happening?”

 

“I do not—” Miroku stopped abruptly as Sango came around the side of the hut, her face set in harsh lines that belied the tears that she was rapidly blinking away.

 

Her lips trembled and her voice cracked slightly as she said, “I apologize, Lady Kaede, but I had to see for myself.” She raised her eyes to meet Miroku's gaze and took a shuddering breath. “His body is gone. I can hardly lift the Hiraikotsu and I am as clumsy as a child.”

 

Immediately reminded of his earlier concerns by her choice of words, Miroku anxiously asked, “Aiko?”

 

Sango's eyes became introspective. “She's fine. She reacted to the pain, but…she's fine now.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

A slow smile spread across Sango's face. “Yes, I'm sure. I don't know how I know, but I know.”

 

“I wish we were fine. Why did my fox fire shoot mud?” Shippo groused. “And how come your Wind Tunnel didn't work right?”

 

A muscle in Miroku's jaw ticked as he lowered his head and stared at his cursed hand. “It isn't just the Wind Tunnel. I can't sense youki at all and it seems as though my houriki has vanished, as well.” He winced as Shippo gripped his shoulder a bit too tightly. “Ow!” He flicked his fingers at the tiny claws pricking his skin, forcing Shippo to let go. “Calm down, Shippo.”

 

“But I can sense your houriki! You haven't lost it!”

 

Miroku turned his head to the side and focused on the kit. “It's still there?”

 

“Yeah! You don't seem different,” Shippo jumped down and sniffed the air, “but Sango smells…funny.” He cocked his head to the side and he peered at the taiji-ya, opening his mouth and panting slightly. “Sango, you don't…you smell like you but not you.”

 

Sango and Miroku exchanged glances and looked back at Shippo, both of them raising their eyebrows. Kaede made a doubtful, grumpy sound.

 

“I can't explain it any better than that!” Shippo pouted. “It's like…something is missing from her scent, but when I try to figure it out it comes back again.”

 

Miroku lowered his eyebrows. “Let me amend my analysis, then. My houriki has not vanished, but somehow I cannot access it and Sango is not herself,” he couldn't help letting his gaze travel down her body, “at least to certain youkai senses.”

 

Sango narrowed her eyes irritably and crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. “We need to go to the well to find out what has happened to Kagome and Inuyasha.”

 

“Aye, ye must, and then ye must seek out the other members of the Living Jewel.” Kaede interjected. She gave each one of them a thoughtful stare. “Ye have each changed and your auras are not…normal.”

 

“Our auras aren't normal?” Miroku queried. `What does she mean?'

 

Kaede folded her arms and stared at him for a long moment, obviously searching for a way to describe what she saw. “Ye are…there are almost…” she frowned and stared at each one of them in turn again, “it is almost as if ye have two auras.”

 

Miroku looked at his companions and tried to see what the old miko described, but gave it up as he got no response from his houriki again.

 

Kaede patted him on the back. “Ye will find an answer to the mysteries. Kohaku's disappearance must be related to this, so find Inuyasha and Kagome whilst I ask the villagers if they felt anything strange. When ye find out, be sure to return and let an old woman know why her peace has been disturbed yet again!” She chuckled to take away the sting of her words and turned to leave, but stopped suddenly and dug within the folds of her sleeve. “Ah! I almost forgot to give this back. Again. I am growing old.” She turned back and handed Miroku the binoculars.

 

Miroku's eyes widened as he looked at the battered leather handgrips. `Gods! What happened to them? Are those…teeth marks?' He gingerly took the scruffy instrument from Kaede's outstretched hand. `I wonder if she knows what they're for.' He looked up to meet her eyes, trying to keep a bland face. “Thank you, Lady Kaede. I have been looking for these.”

 

The old woman's eyes twinkled as she took in his expression. “Bandit was using them as a chew toy earlier, but I remembered seeing you tuck them in your pack.” She turned away again with a grin on her face, ignoring his irritated sigh. “At least life is not dull and boring when ye are here. Now get ye gone! Ye will not find the answers to your mysteries by standing here!”

 

The trio stayed silent for a long moment as the old miko shuffled toward the village homes.

 

Sango broke the silence first as she finally turned back to the hillside and walked up to the Hiraikotsu. As she began tugging at it she said dejectedly “Every time we think we find an answer, new mysteries arise and we still haven't dealt with Naraku.”

 

Miroku tucked the binoculars within his robes and stepped up to the opposite side of the weapon, pushing in tandem with her tugs. “Well, as the proverb says, `adversity is the foundation of virtue.'”

 

“That sure isn't true for you, at least the virtue part,” Shippo quipped as he leaped up to the tip, adding his weight to Sango's side. He stared pointedly at the place Miroku had tucked the binoculars.

 

Sango snorted a laugh as the Hiraikotsu finally tore free from the hillside; as the heavy weapon tilted in her hands Shippo leaped from the tip to Miroku's shoulder.

 

`Damn! Do they know what the binoculars do?' Miroku managed a weak smile at Shippo's joke but it faded as he watched Sango struggle with the Hiraikotsu. She finally managed to heft it into its usual position behind her.

 

Miroku raised an eyebrow in query but didn't say anything as she looked over at him.

 

“It's just…it feels a lot heavier than normal,” she said quietly and tried to shrug. The gesture was obviously a strain for her muscles.

 

Shippo bumped the side of his head against Miroku's cheek. “Maybe it's that adversissicity and the foundations of virtue thing again.”

 

Miroku nodded his head and gave a long, slow sigh, flexing his cursed hand. “Well, let us find out why the foundations have changed,” he stated quietly. The rings on his shakujou jangled dissonantly as the trio set off for the well.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“Perhaps your inability to adjust to your proper place stems from never being exposed to a true alpha male. After all, you do keep reminding me that you are a neko, little one.”

 

Kirara narrowed her eyes and forced her body to remain still and pliant in Sesshoumaru's arms. `Arrogant, conceited ass! He's lucky I'm holding on to My-Rin, or his face would be in shreds!'

 

In spite of his earlier insistence on speed, they flew at a leisurely pace over the forest in an area that she recognized from her flight the previous night. `We are quite close to his den, but the more I retaliate, the slower he goes. Perhaps I should just remain silent.'

 

“Finally, silence. So you can learn your place.”

 

“Pfffffft Hhhsssss!” Hissing the words in anger she began to answer Sesshoumaru's jibe, but the rest of the sharp retort died on her lips as a large group of taiyoukai in energy form streaked from the sky directly into the path of the transportation cloud. `Such strong youki!' Her immediate reaction to transform into her youkai form was abruptly canceled when Rin turned and clutched at her in alarm, forcing her back into Sesshoumaru's chest. `If I change now I will hurt the kitten.' For a moment she could both feel and hear Sesshourmaru's growl of warning before he increased their speed and the wind whipped away the sounds. She stroked Rin's head as she felt the vibrations of Sesshoumaru's chest increase and he suddenly snarled. Both Aoi and Bandit joined him and the energy orbs split formation immediately in front of them, flying to opposite sides of the cloud. `Well, at least inus are good for something.'

 

The eleven orbs left an opening directly ahead as they surrounded the cloud in a complete circle, easily matching Sesshoumaru's pace. As the vibrations against her back decreased slightly Kirara looked to the left and right, squinting against wind-generated tears to try to evaluate the eight orbs she could see.

 

To the immediate left of the space ahead a yellow orb shot through with veins of blinding white gave her the impression of feathers. `A bird, then. It will be of no consequence.' Continuing to the left a white orb was followed by two red spheres; the first had yellow striations and all three gave her the impression of fur. `These may be of more concern, but I don't sense predators.' The first three orbs to the right gave her the same impression. `Harmless prey youkai.' Immediately to their right a red sphere rippled with lines of black. The black ripples were continued in the next sphere though it was yellow in color and yellow was repeated in the striations of the next orb, which was white. The following sphere, yellow with veins of dark, almost black, green, made her smile. `Ah, a fellow feline and the first predator. Perhaps it is the leader? It would only be fitting.' She strained to see the three orbs behind them but the billowing sleeves of Sesshoumaru's haori prevented her from catching more than a glimpse. On the right she sensed a peaceful youki but the auras emanating from directly behind and to the left made her skin crawl. `Reptiles.' She shuddered momentarily, but when Sesshoumaru tightened the arm holding her against him in response she stiffened immediately. `I am Neko. No cold, crawling worm will frighten me.'

 

They came in sight of Sesshoumaru's tono and he kept one arm around her and pulled Rin from her arms with the other. `He's taking too many liberties with me, but I will let him have My-Rin. I need to transform!' As soon as she relinquished the child to his hold he leaped from the transportation cloud in spite of the speed at which they traveled; she had a moment to watch the Kai-wolves' cloud land safely within the hei before he landed just outside the walls. He dropped them both to the ground without warning and immediately turned, effectively placing himself between the two females and the trailing orbs.

 

“Be still and stay behind me,” he said quietly in Japanese.

 

`Well, at least he knows how to land properly; even I couldn't have done better! But he does not decide my place in a battle.' Kirara began to transform but his youki surrounded hers and he growled softly in Neko, “Stop.”

 

“Let me free!” She moved forward but his hand whipped out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her to his side and twisting her arm slightly so that she could not move away without being hurt. `He didn't even look at me, he's so totally focused! Maybe I should burn him, just a bit, so he'll let me go.'

 

“Kirara, I know what we face and you will be safer in your present form,” he growled quietly in Inu.

 

Startled by his use of her name, she froze in the act of calling up her fire and glanced at his tense profile just as the orbs settled on the ground, each landing so that Sesshoumaru was one of twelve points in a perfect circle. As the orbs began to transform into youkai, the ground seemed to buckle beneath her and she swallowed to overcome nausea; the movement of earth did not match what she was seeing and she had to use the anchor of Sesshoumaru's gripping hand to keep from losing her balance. She winced as his grip tightened, but in the next instant a lancing pain at the base of her skull almost caused her to fall to her knees. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Sesshoumaru but his attention seemed to be completely riveted on the eleven transforming youkai. As she focused on his profile, fighting to maintain consciousness, nausea threatened again as his face began to alternate between two distinct silhouettes: a black shadow against a burning brilliance and a blazing white that shed no light on an encroaching black.

 

A ripple of displeasure shook her entire body as the pain abruptly ceased and her perceptions returned to normal.

 

The taiyoukai were still in the process of changing; the swirling youki fountaining up from the orbs' positions was barely altered.

 

Through his hand, she could feel the tension in Sesshoumaru's body increase slightly and she suddenly realized that his youki no longer surrounded hers. He spoke in a whisper so quiet that she could barely hear it. “I know that you felt that as well. Do you understand what just happened?”

 

“No,” she responded just as softly and tried to transform as the taiyoukai finished materializing in the circle around them. Although she exerted all her will, her body would not change. `What! I can't—I am trapped in this form!'

 

“Well, well,” a cocky voice derided from directly across the circle. “He finally chooses to protect something so that he can truly deserve the title, but he brings with him the only animal that refused homage to Buddha.”

 

Tamping down on her fear at being trapped in her weakest form, Kirara glared across the empty circle and met the mocking gaze of a tall taiyoukai. `So, one of the reptiles behind us was a dragon…and I cannot fly!'

 

She had a moment to process his long, yellow mustache and spiky, red-streaked, yellow hair before he turned his red-eyed gaze to Sesshoumaru and continued, “If you truly want the power of a General, if you truly wish to be the Inu no Taisho,” he paused for an instant as he gestured at her with a wickedly sharp trident, “why did you choose to protect a cursed neko?” He glared mockingly at her again as he continued to hold the razor-tipped weapon in a threatening manner.

 

`This is my own fault for not remaining true to the Neko ways. I should have remained aloof and separate.' Intimately aware of the height of the wall at her back and the frailty of her current form, Kirara tensed her muscles as she glanced around the circle.

 

Her gaze was met by eleven pairs of implacable, merciless eyes. `I am trapped with the twelve Heavenly Generals and there is no way out.'

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Translation:

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis; Latin, The times change, and we change with them. (John Owen)

 

Hei: Low-roofed, defensive walls of a castle.

 

If you are interested in information on the twelve yasha generals and their association with the animal zodiac of Chinese (and Japanese) astrology, see the following sites:

 

http(colon)//www(dot)onmarkproductions(dot)com/html/12-generals(d ot).shtml

 

http(colon)//ezinearticles(dot)com/?Chinese-Astrology---Animal-In stinct-Or-Human-Magnetism?&id=988070

 

Thanks:

 

My readers: `Facets' has over 200K hits on MM and over 64K on FF! THANK YOU!

 

Ranuel, BLESS YOU for help in finding information on the Heavenly Generals!

 

Doggieearlover, Mage Delbene, dreaming_trees, and Ranuel for nominating/seconding `Facets' for the second quarter awards at IYFG.

 

The unknown nominator who nominated `Facets' over at the Feudal Association.

 

My reviewers. I've been terrible (AWFUL) about responding this time but your reviews are appreciated more than you know! Summer school, two weddings and three funerals…hmmm, sounds like a movie. My apologies!

 

MM: Ranuel, Knittingknots, psyco_chick32, Midoriko-sama, Bastion (400th review story in progress!), sakuralovesinuyasha, Come Hither, ghost07, malitiadixie, snowfall (x2!)

 

FF: Inuyasha05, lorryka (I won't abandon `Facets', though RL has kept me too busy), Sey, Forest Sentry Koneji, inu-ears, and thanks to everyone who added `Facets' or me to their favorites/update list!

 

PM: Fenikkusuken (if you haven't read her Time Lapse, go read it now. She finished it and it's a great riff on the manga story line!), stonesneatstuff, Neko-sama

 

iPoe