InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ DarkWorld ❯ I Will Make My Wish ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, I have a friend who owns 1/124 of it. As for me - nope, nothing, nada. I only write fanfiction, draw fanart, and lay awake at night imagining what could happen if I controlled the wonderful manga or anime. . . Ah, dreams.

Chapter 5: I Will Make My Wish

It was friday. Kagome decided to make her wish Saturday. She had one day left. Just one day. She studied the wishes carefully for four weeks now, one of which was unburdened by thinking about backfires, and she still couldn't decide. It was getting stressful and by now Inuyasha had to rub her neck every day to keep her from stiffening up.

It only helped so much. He always took the cue that she needed her neck rubbed when she paused whatever she was doing to do it herself, and he'd step in and work out the knots and tension. By now she was sure that he knew exactly which parts of her neck weren't bothering her and which needed the most attention. It was becoming almost a pattern at this point.

She groaned and sat back, one hand lifting to her forehead. She tilted her head and allowed herself to fall back on her bed. 'Stressful' was too mild a word for what she has to do tomorrow. She only hoped Kaede wasn't going to insist that she wear some 'pure and sacred' priestess robes again. Those would only make her situation worse.

"Oy, is your neck bothering you again?"

"No, Inuyasha," she sighed. He was sitting on the floor, his back against her chair and was both watching her and waiting for her to say they could go back.

"It looks like it," he returned.

"It isn't."

"Humph, at least you're not lying."

"So now you know when I lie?"

"You tense, look away and blush," he pointed out.

"You yell and refuse to answer questions," she replied.

"Feh!"

She chuckled. "Well," she sighed, "it's safe to say that nothing's going to go wrong if I can't think of something to wish for."

"Ain't that something to look forward to," he snapped. "You need to stop talking that way. You'll do fine, wench."

"So you keep saying and yet cannot prove."

"It'll get proved tomorrow when nothing happens," he shot back.

"That's what I'm afraid of," she whispered, forgetting that he could hear her until too late. For his credit he didn't reply or act like he'd heard her. "Tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow."

---

Saturday wasn't as nice as it should have been. No school, no shards to hunt, no dates to have to cancel, no arguements for the day. . .and yet, it was horrible. She and Inuyasha agreed the day before that he ought to find Kimi for this, at least so she would feel involved in her brother's life. Today she and he were to find her, or as Shippo had delicately put it: "You're going out to sniff out where Kimi went cause you miss her."

Shippo was not coming with them. Inuyasha had refused and Kagome had thought it best to keep him away from Inuyasha until the hanyou calmed down.

They were running full-speed - or rather, Inuyasha was running and Kagome was clinging to his back in hopes of not getting thrown off - when a humungous demon was thrown above the trees and landed in the clearing they had nearly reached. The ground shook from the impact, and Kagome took its momentary stun to get a good look at it.

It was huge. Roughly the size of Sesshomaru's, and the form looked the same - doglike. But it was covered in white scales, had a tail longer than its bodylength, two long horns extending from its brows, and thick-fingered hands and feet like those of a dragon-youkai. To top it off the demon had a mohawk of sorts, a mane of bright blue fur that traveled along its forehead, down its neck, along its back and through the length of its tail, ending in a thick tuft at the tip of its tail. The back of its legs had tufts of fur as well.

It opened narrowed full-blue eyes with dragon slits and blinked before leaping up again. As if on cue, a black dragon - wingless and roughly the thickness of the white demon but twice as long - flew above the trees and dove down again, aiming for the white demon. The white demon growled, showing four canines entending from its upper jaw, and leapt up to meet the dragon, sinking its teeth into the dragon's neck and grabbing it with all four paws.

And then a dog, covered in fur and the same size as the white demon, came charging out, and Kagome's jaw dropped as the pieces fit.

That dog was Sesshomaru, which meant that the white demon was Kamikimimaru! Sesshomaru sank his teeth into the black dragon as well and poisoned it with dripping fangs, and Kimi let go to leap upwards, above the dragon. She hovered there a moment, then threw back her head and opened her jaws. Kagome was struck with deja vu as she watched energy gather in her open mouth, recognizing it as Ryuukotsusei's attack. She was about to yell at Sesshomaru to get out of the way when he did so himself.

Kimi sent the blast downward with a jerk of her head. The black dragon looked up in time to see it coming and, knowing it couldn't escape the blast, flew upwards instead and into the blast. A clawed hand rose from the energy ball and swiped Kimi's left eye before the dragon dissintegrated and the blast smothered itself out on the ground.

Kimi floated down as though she hadn't noticed her wound, but once down she looked over at Sesshomaru, standing off to the side - which was funny to look at, because his remaining forearm was positioned between where his feet would have been, making him look like a type of tripod. Sesshomaru half-walked, half-hobbled over to Kimi and quite obviously sniffed the claw mark along her eye.

And then Kagome's mouth fell open and she felt Inuyasha freeze in shock. Sesshomaru actually licked Kimi's wound. Kimi yipped at him and shook her head, to which he growled and licked it again, stubborn. This time Kimi barked at him and jerked back, changing back into her human form. Sesshomaru followed suit and then came up to her.

In a wild, crazy state of mind, Kagome was sure he was going to lick her eye again, but instead he grabbed Kimi's chin and looked it over. Kimi rolled her eyes.

"What was that about?" Inuyasha said, his voice breaking the mood harder than the Wind Scar would have.

Sesshomaru's hand dropped and he turned to his half-brother. "Did you not see?"

Kimi shouldered in front of Sesshomaru and her eyes told them to ignore the Lord. "That dragon - Itsukotsu - had an old grudge against me. Sesshomaru helped me get rid of him."

"What'd you do to piss him off?" Inuyasha asked, letting Kagome off his back. "Deny to bear his children?"

"That, and I told him to fuck himself if he wanted an heir so bad."

Kagome couldn't hide her snicker, and she heard Inuyasha chuckle. "It's his own fault if he couldn't get the message."

"What are you here for?" Sesshomaru threw in.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I came looking for Kimi," Inuyasha spat back.

"Me?" Kimi asked, one hand lifted to her chest. "Well, why?"

"You could say we're having a - what do you call it, Kagome?"

"Get-together, or gathering," Kagome supplied.

"One of those," Inuyasha said, looking at Kimi again. "You're invited."

Kimi grinned. Inuyasha blushed. Kagome smiled back. Sesshomaru gave them all an exasperated look.

"I'd be delighted to come," Kimi told them, still smiling. "It'll never be said that I could deny my baby brother," she teased.

"Oy!"

Kagome giggled. It earned her a glare. "What? That was cute."

"Feh!"

"I will come," Sesshomaru interrupted.

"You ain't invited," Inuyasha shot back.

"I will not leave Kamikimimaru alone with you," Sesshomaru returned. "She is my responsibility."

"Why don't you make it sound like you're my guardian? Oh wait," Kimi paused, tilting her head, "you already have."

It made Kagome giggle again.

Kimi got herself an annoyed look for that remark, which was surprising to Kagome because if she had made that comment, he would have come after her by now and Inuyasha would have charged in to protect her. The thought struck her as funny as she couldn't help but tease Inuyasha.

"What would you say to being my guardian? Oh wait," she paused like Kimi had done and got a warning glare from Inuyasha, "you already are."

Both girls laughed.

"We are both coming," Sesshomaru said, undaunted by the teasing.

Inuyasha grunted and stood up. "Fine, you can both come - but don't think I'm doin' it cause I like you!" he snapped, pointed at Sesshomaru.

"The feeling is mutual," Sesshomaru returned, smooth as ever.

Kimi sighed and shook her head. "You two are infuriating. Oh well, eventually I'll get you two to be nice to each other."

"Feh! Don't hold your breath," Inuyasha warned. He turned his back to Kagome and knelt, letting her climb on.

He took off and soon Kagome saw Kimi on her left with Sesshomaru only slightly away from Kimi, proving to Kagome that he was keeping close proximity because he cared about his little sister - even if her didn't admit it. It was strange how things about him were changing as they were. First there was Rin, whom he adopted in a non-commital, I'll-watch-you-for-now-but-someday-I'll-leave-you-behind kind of way. The child had taught him patience, how caring helped you in battles to fight harder and not give up, and how to weild Tensaiga.

It made him think twice about his rivalry with Inuyasha, and in the end, he let Inuuyasha live at points where he would have been killed or died because of it. And now that he had a younger sister to look out for - or at least that's how he saw her - he was softening even more. Unless Kagome was wrong, Kimi was going to do a lot of good for the Inu-youkai Lord and hopefully mend the relationship between him and Inuyasha.

Kagome had noted how Kimi feared her being too close, and even now - as they leapt and ran towards the village - she was keeping a healthy distance from Kagome. Kagome had high hopes that because Kimi accepted Inuyasha so well, his human blood would help her relax around humans and gain trust in them. She hoped, most of all, that she would be first on Kimi's list. Still, she wondered what had happened to induce this fear.

---

To use the term 'shocked' was too mild for Inuyasha at the moment. He was downright dumfounded. Sesshomaru had accepted Kimi without a second thought, took her under his care even though she didn't need it, helped her fight a demon she likely could have defeated on her own due to her heirachy, and even tried to treat her wounds with his saliva. It was well-known that a dog's saliva could help a wound heal better, with less chance of infection and scarring, but it wasn't like Kimi needed the extra help. She was half dragon, after all.

So now Sesshomaru was being over-protective for a sister he knew for a day? How ridiculous was that theory? The great and powerful Lord Sesshomaru watching his younger and possibly more powerful younger sister as though they'd been together their entire lives. He almost laughed aloud. The idea truly was ridiculous. He could just imagine what a normal day would have been like if Kimi had been with him her entire life. He could see a Rin-sized Kimi holding onto his hand while hiding behind his back and Sesshomaru standing there, stoic as always while offering a glare at the person who scared Kimi, and still not offering a comforting touch, either.

Now that was funny.

Inuyasha chuckled at the idea and laughed harder as the thought of Sesshomaru carrying a baby Kimi in a sling came to mind, brandishing Toujikin. So what if Toujikin wasn't created at the time when Kimi was a baby? It was still hilarious. Now all he had to do was get Shippo to draw a picture of it. If the pup could stop laughing, that is. He knew he would have a hard time.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped.

He looked sharply ahead and realized he was about to hit a giant tree head-on. He changed his angle so he'd land with both feet on the trunk and launched himself upward.

"Inuyasha!" she snapped. "You scared the liver out of me! What are you doing?!"

"I was laughing at some mental images," Inuyasha replied, offering no more than that because he didn't really want to get into another fight with his elder brother.

"Well I hope it was worth it because you're getting 's'ed as soon as we land, buster!"

He chuckled again. Getting 'sat' was annoying and a hindrance but it didn't really hurt, so Kagome's little punishment didn't do much other than make him yell. Plus he was fairly certain that Kagome wouldn't embarrass him like that in front of Sesshomaru.

He was wrong.

---

"Sit!!" Kagome snapped.

Inuyasha ate dirt.

She fumed silently for a few minutes while Inuyasha cursed into the dirt and Sesshomaru tossed a half-interested, I-wonder-how-this-began look their way. Kimi was less subtle, going straight into questions, but meanwhile looking like she was fearing for her life.

"How did you do that?"

"Oh you know the necklace he wears? Those are prayer beads," Kagome explained. "He can't take them off and every time I say 'sit' -" he kissed the ground again, this time with a more colorful stream of curses - "that happens."

"How did he get cursed so?"

"Well when I freed him from the God Tree he came after me so Kaede enchanted the beads to go around his neck. It actually looked pretty neat. Then she told me to pick a word to make it work, and all I could think of was -"

"Don't say it!" Inuyasha snapped, brushing off some dirt from his front.

Kagome gave a soft smile. "That word."

Kimi looked over at Inuyasha, then back at Kagome. "How would it be removed?"

"Only I can take it off."

"Take it off, then."

"Huh?"

"I said to take it off."

"Why?"

"Because it looks like you've been abusing the power it gives -"

"I only use it when he does something wrong."

"And does he continue to do these 'wrong' things?"

"Well. . .yes."

"Then those prayer beads haven't been doing any good and I won't stand for you to treat him like this."

"Heh, that's my big sister!" Inuyasha added from the sidelines. "Tell her!"

"Sit!" Kagome replied and turned sharply back to Kimi. "Look I don't know why you think I'm not being fair to him because I do tend to his wounds, too!"

"And how was that one justified?"

"I got angry."

"And is that justified?"

"In my eyes."

"You're abusing the power it grants. Take. . .it. . .off."

"No."

"Take the fucking thing off!!" Kimi snapped, making Kagome jump.

"Whoa!" Inuyasha spat, putting himself between the girls and facing Kimi. "Look, Kimi, it's no problem. It doesn't even bother me. It's fine as it is and I don't feel abused, okay?" He had his hands up, palms facing Kimi.

"How can you defend her?"

"I know her, alright? There's nothing wrong here. Calm down and I'll explain it later, okay Kimi? Is that alright?"

Kimi looked unwavering, but she said, "Later," and tossed a glance over at Sesshomaru.

"This conversation is over," Sesshomaru said dutifully, saving his younger sister from going on about this.

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned against Inuyasha's back and tried not to think. Nonetheless, thoughts began pestering her.

Kimi's words had hit home. Kagome knew she often abused the prayer beads when she lost her temper, and she knew Inuyasha's habits weren't changing much because of the beads, but sometimes those prayer beads were there right when they were needed and Inuyasha didn't struggle to try and take them off anymore. In fact, he'd come to her aid and took her side in the arguement. It made her wonder.

Did Inuyasha like them, or think highly of them in some way? Did he just see them as part of his ensemble after all this time? Did he too believe that they could serve as a way to help when he lost control? She remembered the first time his demon blood had surged up. She had told him to sit and that was enough to bring him under control again. The second time it happened she sat him again and that, too, worked. The third time. . .well, that time Sesshomaru knocked him out. The forth time Tetsusaiga had called to him and he'd willingly taken hold of the sword-fang again.

She knew the prayer beads had saved her. She shuddered to think what would have happened if Kaede hadn't used the spell on him. While she doubted that his heart or soul was black enough that he would actually kill her, the thought that he might have still scared her and while she was comfortable around him and trusted him with her very life, she couldn't take the beads off. Half because he needed them at times, and half because her hands shook with fear every time she thought about it.

"Let's go," Inuyasha's voice broke into her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and straightened, nodding. "I'm sure Kaede's waiting." She started back towards the hut and swore she saw Inuyasha's step falter when he looked at her. Either he noticed her body language saying she was shaken, scared and uneasy, or Kimi's words had hit him, too, or perhaps both. For whatever reason he came up to walk beside her, tossing her a glance at her that said, "Don't worry." Worry about what, she wondered.

---

It was time. They waited until nightfall, gathered around Kagome in a circle, and stood waiting for her wish. Sesshomaru left breifly - very breifly, moving at his top speed - to retrieve Ah-Un, Rin and Jaken as it seemed they would be here for some time and he didn't like leaving the child unprotected so. Not after all the times Naraku had tried to use her against him.

Kai'rei and Myouga were there as well, sitting on their charges' shoulders. Jaken remained on Sesshomaru's left with Rin on his right. Sango and Miroku were shoulder-to-shoulder with Kirara on Sango's left. Ah-Un stood behind Kimi for a reason Kimi has yet to divulge, and Shippo stayed on Inuyasha's left, putting him next to Miroku as well. It put Kirara next to Rin and Jaken next to Kimi, Kimi beside Inuyasha. It became obvious fairly quickly that Kimi preferred being between her brothers as often as possible.

"Priestess Midoriko," Kagome began, "I call upon you and your gift now. I have decided on my wish."

Light swirled from within the Jewel and began leaking out, taking the form of Midoriko before Kagome. Eyes widened as they watched this and a few heads tilted sideways in silent question.

"Make your wish, Priestess Kagome," Midoriko replied.

Kagome's grip on the Jewel tightened until her knuckles became white. "I wish for what I wished for in the cave. I wish for unity, love and life. Please grant this wish."

Midoriko smiled. "I always knew you would make the right decision, Kagome. You have my blessings with this wish. However, this wish is not to be granted with my power alone. I hold high hopes that you may finish what I can begin this day. All of you," she finished, looking at each person in turn, forgoing a glance at Jaken, Rin, Kai'rei, Myouga and Ah-Un.

"Wait - what?" Kagome said, her panic rising. "What are you talking about?!"

"Unity is a gift that must be strived for and maintained. Love can only be gained when given. Life must be encouraged. I take you now to a place that requires your strengths to acheive these three ideals. Gods be with you."

Those words, spoken without use of negatives, was a clear blessing. Midoriko brought her hands together and a light emanated from her, growing until it surrounded everyone is a half-circle so bright and solid you couldn't see into it. Everyone within covered their eyes and some took a step back, while others came closer to the center. When the light faded again, nobody could believe what they were seeing.

---

"What is this?" "Where are we?" "What happened?" "Is everyone okay?" "Kagome?" "Sango?" "Miroku?" "Inuyasha?" "This isn't right." "Rin? Kimi?" "Rin is here!" "My Lord. . ." "What. . ?" "How did we -" "Oh my God. . ."

This wasn't home. Inuyasha knew that from the sight and smell. But the shape of the landscape was the same, if not a little rougher. The sky was black, covered in clouds that thundered but didn't send streaks of lightning or rain. There didn't seem to be any wind, either. The trees of his forest were dead, or mostly so, with little to no grass on the ground and the scent of blood everywhere.

He stepped up to Kagome and put a hand on her arm, since she was showing all the signs of full melt-down. She turned to him and grabbed two fistfuls of his haori, looking very much like the young woman she was. Myouga was cowering somewhere in his hair. Looking around he noticed that Sango and Miroku were standing closer to one another, Kirara had transformed, Kimi was standing closer to Sesshomaru while Rin had clung to his pant leg, and Ah-Un was standing closer to Sesshomaru and Kimi.

Shippo leapt onto his back and hid under his hair. He looked behind him to where Kaede's village was, only to see that it wasn't there. Burnt rubble remained and that struck him strongest.

Something wasn't right here. "Where did Midoriko send us?" he asked no one.

Miroku struggled to answer. "It. . .looks like. . ."

"Kaede's village and my forest?" he finished for the monk.

Miroku looked at him. "Yes, but. . .nothing's truly the same."

"It's all grey," Kagome said. "Grey and black. What is all this?"

"I'm sure we're all asking that," Sango put in, but her voice wasn't any more steady than Kagome's.

"Rin is scared," the child added, holding tighter to Sesshomaru's leg.

Sesshomaru looked down at her. "Do not be afraid, Rin. This Sesshomaru will not let you be harmed."

"I wonder if you could say that for all of us," Kimi said, looking at everything, her head snapping in each direction as she took it all in. Her breathing was increasing rapidly in panic.

Ah-Un half groaned, half whined and nudged Kimi's arm. Kai'rei leapt off Kimi's shoulder and flew above them.

"I believe we're all in agreement that we must gain our bearings," Miroku said.

"I think I see something," Kai'rei called loud enough for the humans to hear. "It looks like - a group of travelers. Ahh!!" She yelped as she ducked and a sword flew right where she was a second ago, then jerked back again and disappeared into the cemetary of trees. She flew down and placed herself directly in front of Kimi in a defensive pose.

Miroku and Sango, being the closest to the edge of the dead forest, immediately took several steps away from it and leveled their stances with Inuyasha's. Inuyasha was already nudging Kagome behind him and Kirara growled, taking her spot next to Sango. Kimi, while still frightened of the place, took her own defensive pose and Sesshomaru copied the movement after depositing Rin to Ah-Un.

A female demon leapt from behind a large trunk and they all gaped. She looked just like Kimi! Her hair was styled differently and was pink, and her clothes were slightly different and she brandished a sword with a pink blade, but other than those differences, she could have easily been Kimi's twin. And she went straight for Kimi.

Everyone scattered and Kimi leapt back, dodging the thrusts of the katana. The demon said not a word but continued a furious assult. Kimi retaliated by catching her wrist between her own fists and sending the sword flying into a tree. The fight continued at a furious pace until the demon-woman hit Kimi and Kimi hit her back, knocking her off her feet and sending her skidding along the ground.

She got right back up and further confused them when she transformed into a large demon that was exactly Kimi's demon form, if not for the pink shade of her fur. Kimi transformed as well and took the fight to the skies. The girls dodged more attacks than they hit each ither or got hit. Just as it seemed Kimi was gaining the upper hand and Sesshomaru was about to come to her aid, said person gasped in obvious shock.

Sesshomaru snapped his head towards the dead forest and stared openly as a male demon came speeding into the area and looked up at the skyward fight. He had golden eyes, white hair pulled up and back, armor, and a type of cloak that was fur and split into two at his waist, continuing to the ground and then some.

"Sandira!" he yelled, and the pink-furred demon stopped and transformed, falling to the man's side.

"Father," the woman said, and shot a sharp look at Sesshomaru, who had said 'father' along with her.

That caught everyone's attention. They all looked in surprise at Sesshomaru, then at the new demon whom Sandira called her father.

In Inuyasha's head, pieces were beginning to fall into place, but none of it made sense yet.

Kimi came to the ground and transformed, still tense and expecting a fight. The man began speaking after taking a good look at everyone present.

"Who are you? You all have familiar faces."

Sesshomaru still couldn't speak, so Inuyasha stepped forward.

"I wanna know why she came right out and attacked us! What's with that?!"

"This is Sandira," he replied, gesturing the girl. "She is my daughter."

"My father is dead," Sesshomaru finally got out, "and yet you seem to be him."

"Inutaisho?" Kimi asked, looking surprised. In Inuyasha's hair, Shippo jumped down and peeked out from behind his leg.

The man shook his head. "My name is Inuyukio. This seems to be quite a predicament we have found ourselves in."

More people began appearing and with each one the uneasy feeling grew. The first person who appeared looked like Inuyasha to a T. His clothing were dark grey with a red underkimono peeking out of his collar and slashed sleeves, his hair was a few shades darker, his eyes were violet instead of gold, and he had two magenta streaks along his cheeks. But the dog ears remained, the Tetsusaiga at his belt, the length and thickness of his hair and the way he held himself. . .It was uncanny.

Next a woman with Kagome's face came into view. She had a sleeveless white kimono with violet trim, a dark blue hakama (pants), and a green sash tied at her front. She had jagged golden streaks: one along each cheeck, on either side of her neck and four along each arm. Her eyes and hair were as well gold, and her hair was held up in a bun then let loose to her shoulders. She held a staff in her left hand that was silver and taller than herself. At the top was a ring with another ring within it, and within that was a thin gold jewel. On either side of the outermost ring was a golden wing, uplifted and spread wide. She stared directly at Kagome, standing taller than her.

Behind her was a child, a boy demon that was exactly Shippo but twice his height. He wore a green kimono with slashed sleeves, trimmed in darker green, and blue hakama and sash, tied at the front. His tail was red-orange - darker than Shippo's - and he looked at Shippo with wide eyes, and Shippo stared right back.

"This is my son, Hiei," Inuyukio was saying, "Kiori, the only light demon left, and Toshiro, an orphaned fox kit whom we have been raising."

Kagome walked up to Kiori, looking up at her. Kiori looked right back, only with a much calmer disposition. "Who are you?" she asked, making Kagome jump and back up.

Inuyasha took the introductions. "I am Inuyasha. This is Kagome, Sango, Kimi - uh, Kamikimimaru, Sesshomaru, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, Kai'rei, Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un." He shooed Myouga out of his bangs. "And Myouga, the coward."

Inuyukio nodded and began gesturing the group as he recognized them. "He is Tsurumaru -" Sesshomaru - "Shoda -" Miroku - "Ran'gawa - " Sango - "and Marise," Kirara.

"Can you tell us where we are?" Kagome asked, having come to her senses and standing next to Inuyasha during the conversation.

"You are not from here?" Inuyukio asked, looking surprised.

Kagome shook her head as Sango answered. "Where we come from is nothing like here. There is sunlight, grass, leaves on the trees, and back there -" she gestured where the burnt village is - "is Kaede's village. We got here when Kagome made her wish for unity, love and life on the Shikon no Tama."

"How did you get that?!" Inuyukio snapped, with such a strong voice that Kagome yelped and hid behind Inuyasha.

Inuyasha tensed in response and grabbed the hilt of Tetsusaiga. "What does it matter? It's gone now. You can't tell me you guys have one, too."

"Naraku has the Shikon no Tama," Inuyukio returned, anger evident in his eyes.

"But Naraku is dead," Miroku interrupted. "We killed him not a month ago."

"Naraku should not be spoken of out in the open," Sandira put in, stopping her father before he could go on. She retrieved her sword from the tree it was lodged in and sheathed it at her waist. "We should return and discuss this in hiding."

Inuyukio nodded. "You are right, Sandira. Follow me, all of you." He led them into the dead forest and through it, to a place Inuyasha recognized as close to where the God Tree was. Only now only a stump remained. To their surprise he led them to the well and jumped down it. The five who knew the secret of the time slip glanced at each other as they noticed he was still at the bottom - and seemed to pass right through a wall of dirt. Sandira followed suit and Hiei gestured for Kiori and Toshiro to go. Hiei tossed them a cocky grin and told them to go on; he'd go last.

With a few uneasy glances Kagome climbed over the edge and climbed halfway down before dropping the rest of the way. She hit solid dirt and placed a hand on the wall of dirt the others had passed through - and her hand went through it. She swallowed and gestured for Inuyasha to come down before going inside.

But Inuyasha wasn't going until he knew Hiei wasn't go to pull something. Sensing this, Shippo climbed up onto Miroku's shoulder as he went down, Sango hot on his heels with Kirara on her own shoulder. Kimi grabbed Jaken by his kimono and hopped down, Kai'rei dutifully flying behind her. Sesshomaru picked up Rin and followed suit.

After a long staring competition between Inuyasha and his 'twin', Hiei, the two jumped down together. At the top, Ah-Un whined and laid down. Not a second later the ground beneath the two-headed dragon became clear and the dragon fell, landing in the area everyone now was.

---

Kagome was staring. What she was standing it was a virtual underground palace. Inuyukio had waited for them all to appear, even Ah-Un - who slipped right through the ceiling - and led them down a multitude of dirt-packed passages made into a type of underground maze. She had the distinct impression that they were continuing to move downwards, proved even more fully when the passage opened into a giant room.

The dirt at the end of the passage was packed into a rectangular door of sorts. Beyond was a dead drop of what must be twenty feet or so, the opening to a room at least another ten feet up and fifty long, at least, with thirty wide. The entire thing had forty-five thousand cubic feet!! Kagome might not be very good at math, but she knew some tricks and figured out the size fairly quickly.

She saw within the place - once Inuyasha had deposited her on the floor, that is - Sesshomaru's twin on the far corner of the room, on an elevated bedding. He had both his arms, his armor was slightly different with two loose straps instead of one, no bow with the tie of his sash or long free end, a cut in the left knee of his hakama, no furry thing on his shoulder, and no stripes. As she got closer she noticed his eyes were cold, ice-blue, and his hair was a more prominent shade of blue. The coloring on his kimono was not red, but blue-green, and had no pattern.

Sandira took a seat beside him, and Kagome looked carefully at her. Sandira was not so frightened of humans, she noticed, but wary still. Her hair was tied in a flat loop at either side of her head, letting loose two thick locks of hair to her waist, but non of it was completely loose as was Kimi's. Her chest armor went all the way down into a plate that covered her hips along the front, without studs on the straps, and her pants were magenta with another plate of armor on the outer side of her thighs. She wore a sleeveless kimono under her breastplate that was magenta as well, with blue trimming. The sash around her waist was light blue, which changed color over her right hip to be darker blue and that half was behind her back. The ties on her boots were dark blue-violet. The sheath of her katana was magenta as well, and the hilt of the sword had two ropes hanging from the end and hooked together on a tassle, which Kagome guessed was so she could grip the sword while having that rope around her wrist as an extra precaution that she could keep her grip.

Kagome looked at the two humans who sat near one another. Miroku's twin was behind Sango's and looked like he was busy doing something to her left shoulder. He wore a violet kimono that trimmed blue and a black hakama. Armor war strapped to him like those of Sesshomaru's, with shoulder guards chained to the breastplate. He had a tan sash at his waist, tied in the same style as Inuyukio's in not for the fact that they didn't continue to hang down. Beside him was a staff with a bladed end, which looked remarkably like like he had taken the blade of a sword and melded it to the end of a golden staff. There was an area on the staff which she guessed was a marker of where to hold it, since either sice had a ring around it.

Sango's twin wore a kimono much like the demon slayer's, only that the left arm was missing and showed an ugly scar at the base of her shoulder. She had a sleeve on that arm that was much more like a glove for it tied at the very top, nearly reaching her underarm and violet in color. Her boots were the same, pulled up almost as high as they could go and tied at the top. She did not wear pants like Sango's, but a flap of cloth was over her front and a wide band was at her waist to hold it together. She wore Sango's gloves and boots, however, over the glove and boot aforementioned. Nothing on her was pink, however. Beside her was Kohaku's weapon, the scythe on a chain. When she moved Kagome saw a long scar along her left hip and thigh, and it looked like she was favoring her right knee. A small scar was across her nose and another along her left cheek. Her eyes were blue.

But she didn't see Kirara's twin. Didn't Inuyukio gesture Kirara and say 'Marise'? She thought he did.

What was going on here?!

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End chapter five. To be continued.