InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chosen ❯ Old Acquaintances, New Allies. ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter six: Old Acquaintances, New Allies.

Sesshoumaru approached the wall that looked as any other wall did. But if one looked closer they would notice how the bricks were slightly darker and there were no cracks, though it appeared old, no chips of mortar missing. Sesshoumaru smirked slightly; at least the old coot was more fastidious about his personal security than Myoga.

He pressed both of his palms against the wall feeling it burn at them in resistance before caving and slowly drawing him into a lovers caress. He was completely enveloped by the blinding warmth and light. Until abruptly he was dropped and almost fell forwards onto his knees.

He growled slightly as he regained his balance and frowned around at the now familiar labyrinth of dark murky moist walls. This was the labyrinth that led to Totosai.

He pulled a torch from one of the wall brackets, shaking his head at the older Yokai's old-fashioned behaviour. He had always wondered where exactly this labyrinth was in relation to the wall that guarded it, but Totosai refused to reveal that. For all Sesshoumaru knew it could be located within another dimension, and he wouldn't put it past Totosai to be as paranoid as that. Even if he was an old coot. After about half an hour of walking aimlessly Sesshoumaru was getting pissed. The old sword smith was cunning, this labyrinth was never the same twice but it also meant that when Sesshoumaru did find him he was going to have not-so-pleasant encounter with his fist.

Eventually he made it to the cave that Totosai worked in, the old Yokai was stood over a furnace, anvil in one hand and a sword-in-construction in the other.

He glanced up at Sesshoumaru and calmly breathed fire over the sword in his hand before pounding it with his hammer again. Sparks flew around the chamber and Sesshoumaru watched dispassionately as they landed on his person.

“Totosai” he demanded the elderly Yokai's attention as Totosai turned back to the anvil, paying him no attention.

“Totosai!” he reprimanded harshly.

“Oh,” the elderly Yokai turned around and his eyes widened in mock surprise. “didn't see you there pup.”

Sesshoumaru doubted it. He watched as Totosai placed the sword on his forge and dug in his ear.

“So what do you want pup?”

Sesshoumaru ignored the intentional insult, replying would get him nowhere. “This athame” he produced the blade from his pocket. “tell me about it.”

Totosai tootled over to Sesshoumaru and took the blade from his palm. Balancing it on its flat on his index finger, he studied it closely.

“Hm” he frowned “I'd say it's maybe a gram heavy on the right side. Probably shouldn't have made it out of silver, white gold is much more magically conductive.”

“Totosai.” Sesshoumaru cautioned “stay on track.”

“I cannot help but comment on faulty workmanship.” he grumbled as he lifted it to his nose to sniff at it. “It smells like poison” he muttered “and bones, probably made from the bones of a Doku Yokai.”

“It has lingering traces of my uncle's scent” Sesshoumaru acknowledged.

Totosai nodded. “They are not his bones though.”

“No, the blade holds more power than he ever did.” Sesshoumaru noted.

“There is something else,” Totosai frowned. “the blade is oddly familiar to me.”

“What?” Sesshoumaru was intrigued.

“I think I have seen it before.” his eyes became distant as he remembered. “ah, yes, your mother was reading a book with a drawing of this inside it. I tried to ask her about it and she shut the book, refusing to tell me.”

Sesshoumaru growled, that was just great, he had even more questions now.

“There is something else.” Totosai added.

“Yes?”

“It is infused with Miko tears.” Totosai was in awe. “This blade was made for the sole purpose of killing a Miko, the tears so that her spiritual energy cannot counteract the poison.”

“Will it work?” Sesshoumaru enquired.

“This blade is stronger than this old one and you combined, it would certainly kill any Miko that stood in its path.”

“If it is as evil as you insist why then is there no malignant aura surrounding it? Like Sounga?”

“It would seem the weapon is devious, it is shielding itself from detection. The aura you feel now is merely a portion of what it is capable of.”

Sesshoumaru glared down at the blade. Why had his uncle possessed it?

“Thank you Totosai.” he inclined his head to the Yokai.

“No problem pup, now, leave this old one in peace. I have a commission to ready for tomorrow.” he handed the athame back to Sesshoumaru. “find your own way out.”

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to groan. He was probably going to get lost on his way out too.

***

Souta and Kagome walked steadily along the street towards the shrine that was apparently `haunted'. Their Ojiisan had requested that they go have a look see. Miroku had said he would come but had vanished at the last minute when a pretty female in a red hatchback pulled up outside the shrine. Figures.

Souta was armed with his katana and Kagome her bow and arrows but, truth be told, Kagome was not expecting a disturbance.

“You think it's really haunted?” Souta asked conversationally

Kagome snorted “Yeah and Ojiisan has spiritual powers” she sighed “nine times out of ten these things are rumours developed by the kids in the area who want to prank each other”

“But it could be a haunting right?” Souta asked

Kagome grinned at his enthusiasm; it was his first ghost busting job. “Yeah, guess so”

Together, they rounded a corner into the street where the shrine lay and stopped short.

“Okay, that's creepy” Kagome noted tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“No wonder there are rumours” Souta agreed.

The shrine was at the top of a bedraggled looking hill. The path leading to the shrine made of dirt and framed by huge evergreens that leant on each other and created a foreboding natural tunnel. The shrine itself was derelict and the roof looked to be lopsided. It was obviously out of use and the doors and windows were boarded up. No light seemed to shine on the shrine, much to their discomfort, and as they walked up the dirt track the noises from the outside world became muted, like they were far away.

“The shrine has an aura” Kagome commented in surprise.

“Why do I get the feeling its aura isn't benign?” Souta inquired

“Yeah, it's almost like” Kagome squinted a bit “It's like the shrine is in pain”

“Is that normal?” Souta asked; he had never been very good at reading auras.

“Not really” Kagome mused as they approached the shrine “most shrines have an aura of purity and light due to being places of worship”

“So it might be haunted” Souta suggested

“Or something...” Kagome frowned as they drew closer to the old building.

“It's tiny” Souta commented

“Yeah, it was never lived in, unlike our shrine” Kagome pulled on the boards across the door and nearly fell on her bottom. For boards that were nailed down they came off really easily!

Slowly edging through the new gap in the boarded up door they entered the main worship area of the shrine, complete with its dark and dingy interior and musty smell.

Souta wrinkled his nose “This goes way beyond the boundaries of derelict”

Kagome nodded, “There's a weird energy in the room” she mused stretching a hand out as if to catch the air and closing her eyes.

“Ah!” Kagome opened her eyes to find Souta was on his hands and knees on the ground.

“You okay?” she asked worriedly

“Yeah, I just tripped over something” he wrinkled his nose and tried to return to his feet. The ground beneath him shifted and his suddenly fell forwards and sank into the ground. He yelped as the wood became a mud like substance that tried to drag him down.

“Souta!” Kagome yelled. Trying to go to his aid she found her feet sinking into the wood slowly; she was unable to move.

“What the hell?” Souta demanded as his torso came closer and closer to the hungry floor.

“That's it!” Kagome clicked her fingers “the shrine isn't in pain, it's lonely!”

“So it's trying to cure its loneliness by eating us?” Souta was sardonic. “great! Now less epiphanies more trying to escape, we can talk about why the shrine is misbehaving later!”

Kagome rolled her eyes “What do you suggest we do? We can't purify a benign being”

“You call this benevolent?” he demanded “it's trying to eat us!”

“But not vindictively!” she protested.

“I don't think you can get eaten alive in any other way than vindictively!” Souta argued as his stomach and chest came into contact with the mud-like ground. “Ah, it's cold!”

“Hush” Kagome reprimanded “I'm thinking”

“Think faster!” he implored.

“I need rope!” she yelled.

“This isn't an action adventure movie neechan!” Souta was beginning to panic “there is no conveniently placed rope.”

“Shit” she muttered glancing around. Her frantic eyes fell upon a low hanging wood beam. A proverbial light bulb lit up in her mind. “This is going to ruin my bow.” she grouched

Stretching her arms high and thanking anyone who was listening for low ceilings, Kagome carefully pushed her bow through the triangle shaped supports and wedged it there. Clinging tightly she wrenched herself from the ground and whooped triumphantly.

Souta, now up to his chin, frowned “You're either going to break your bow or fall back in”

“Shut up, it'll be fine, besides I didn't have any rope” she cautiously extended her foot and hooked it on the back of Souta's t-shirt and with a squelching noise pulled his top half from the floor. The roof creaked and her bow groaned.

“You're going to fall” Souta pointed out.

Kagome ignored him and used the other hand to hold onto the beam itself rather than the bow. Souta slowly, using his sister as a rope, pulled himself from the floor.

By the time the two of them hung from the rafters they were both panting.

“Now what?” Souta asked.

“Pray” Kagome growled as she swung her body and sailed through the air, smashed through the remaining boards on the door and rolled across the ground outside before she came to a stop.

“That's got to hurt” Souta cursed as he repeated the action of his sister and flung himself onto the dirt next to her.

“The shrine” Kagome panted as she rubbed her nearly dislocated arm and tested her ankle “has to be being controlled by someone on the outside”

“How'd you figure?” Souta asked as he prodded her ankle to ensure it wasn't broken. He had fared better than her; he hadn't taken the boards down with him.

“If the shine really wanted to eat us then it wouldn't have let us on the rafters” Kagome reasoned “besides the shrine has been lonely for ages and it hasn't tried to eat anyone before, at least, no reports for missing persons have been filed around here.”

“So who's doing that?” Souta asked.

“Peculiar, you two catch on quick for ningen.” a sing-song voice called from the tree behind them.

They whipped around the find a tall, strong looking demon stood on a tree branch. His dark obsidian tresses fanned out in the slight breeze and his red eyes were cruel and impassive.

“Who are you?” Souta demanded

Kagome frowned as she realised the stranger was able to perfectly mask his aura. She'd never seen a demon able to do that before.

The man chuckled; it was a spine chilling sound. “If I told you that then I would be a fool” he replied

“You manipulated the building into attacking us? Why?” Kagome asked

“The art of manipulation is understood by few Miko. I manipulated this shrine because I could, because it's ironic that a shrine, a place of worship, would try to harm a Miko and a child with spiritual powers” he smirked darkly “you may call me Puppet Master and know that I do not work for him”

“Him?”

“I used to. But I have discovered him to lie even more proficiently than me, he would send me to my death before it would harm him” he glared into the distance “and so I will watch him fail in his plans”

“You don't know what he is planning do you?” Kagome taunted

He stiffened and glared at her “He did not divulge it in its entirety to me” he admitted “but I know he wants you” he narrowed his eyes at Kagome “and as such I will make sure he doesn't have you”

Souta and Kagome tensed as they heard the building behind them creak. Turning around they paled as the shrine rolled itself up into a ball and became a stumpy brown orb with offshoots waving around it.

“Whoa” Souta was awe struck

“He's using his aura to manipulate its structure?” Kagome asked in shock “but that's impossible unless...”

“That's right” he grinned “I just activated my puppet, instead of manipulating the shrine I am now in complete control of it. And I just gave it the order to kill you.”

“If you kill me you'll never know why he wants me.” Kagome pointed out.

The Puppet Master smirked “I do not care; it is much more pleasing to know that you are dead.”

That said, he cast them one last vicious look before melting into the forest, abandoning them to the wrath of the shrine.

“Wah!” Kagome cried out as a tendril of the shrine wrapped around her ankle. It yanked harshly, spilling the Miko to the ground with a harsh thud and then proceeded to drag her across the ground on her back.

“Kagome!” Souta yelled drawing his katana to chase after her. He was immediately cut back by the stabbing tendrils that were more like hardened tentacles. “Kagome!”

“Damn it” she shrieked as she was pulled towards the main body of the writhing mass. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and lurched forwards to stab at the one holding her ankle. It released due to the fact it had been vaporised and Kagome rolled forward a few metres with the help of her previous momentum.

“Souta, reiyouku works on it now that it is being controlled!” she yelled.

“Well it's about time” Souta growled as he held the sword up vertically in front of his face. Pressing his index and middle fingers against the blade horizontally he used his reiyouku to activate the katana's magic. The kanji inscribed upon the blade glowed with a bright blue light and suddenly the shrine was dissolving as he sliced through the tendrils with ease.

Souta's reiyouku was not as powerful as his sister's; he needed a channel for it, which was why he wielded his sword. It was the perfect conductor for his reiyouku as he couldn't throw his energy like Kagome could.

Kagome fell back to join her brother and soon her arrows were also tearing up the shrine.

“You're getting good at that” Kagome commented as Souta parried yet another blow with his katana.

“After training for nearly seven years you'd hope so” he responded as he sliced through a strand that had attempted to catch his back while he wasn't paying attention.

“This is pointless.” she growled as she shot an arrow at the writhing mass.

“It just keeps growing back.” he gripped.

“If we could destroy it from the centre” Kagome mused. “then the doll binding the shrine would shatter.”

“Can't you fire an arrow at it?” Souta asked.

“There isn't enough energy in an arrow to make it work.” Kagome blocked a blow with her bow and stabbed a tentacle type thing with an arrow. “If I try to put more energy in an arrow it'll melt or combust”

“So what do we do?” Souta asked panting as the constant fighting wore on.

“If I could get into the centre I could emit a pulse of reiyouku.” Kagome told him.

“It would suffocate you before you had the chance.” Souta shook his head. “No way.”

“Are you bossing me around now?” Kagome asked, a little peeved that he'd shot her answer down in flames.

“Duck!” Souta cried as a tendrils lashed out at Kagome's legs, knocking her onto her hands and knees. Whilst preoccupied with his sister Souta had taken his eyes off the game and way quickly thrown back into a tree by a flying tentacle.

“Souta!” Kagome yelled as she stood. She staggered as all the tendrils attacked her en masse and she was thrown every which way by the blows she wasn't able to deflect with her bow.

A tendril slammed into her stomach, effectively winding her whilst another lashed around her neck and smashed the Miko into a tree. She fought off the white spots invading her vision from the force of the blow and reach for her bow, only to find she had dropped it two metres away.

It pinned her there, slowly suffocating her.

It seemed the Puppet Master was a sadistic bastard.

So Kagome's day wasn't really going all too well. In hindsight she probably shouldn't have even gotten up that morning. But now was not a time for such thoughts. She renewed her struggles, purifying the strangling tentacle only to have it grow anew. The never-ending mass was mocking her.

She needed some kind of miracle.

“Goraishi!”

“Kaze no Kizu!”

Or some demons...

A/N: I don't own Inuyasha. *peers around hopefully* Are any of my readers still waiting for updates? *ducks as angry people emerge* Sorry! I have no excuse except chronic laziness, I got really in to writing Strike a Pose and neglected everyone else! But now I'm back focusing on this again! So please review, the reviews you give me keep me writing.