InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Death, Trust Me, as You Didn't in Life ❯ Twelve Thousand B.P.E. ( Chapter 51 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 51: Twelve Thousand B.P.E.

"Have you decided what you want to do with the spies, miko?"

Kagome flashed a glance to her side where her impossibly handsome demon Lord paced, and sighed, shaking her head. "At first, I was thinking about dropping the fools off at Ungai's and letting him deal with them, but I'm not sure now. Why? Do you have any ideas?"

Sesshoumaru was silent for several minutes as they walked, thinking things through, and finally, he smirked a little, as a very nasty idea occurred to him. It might get the two killed in the end, but that would have been their fate anyway as captured spies - at least this way, they might survive.

"I believe that I do, in fact, have a useful idea," he said. "There is a way I can change their memories a bit to make them believe that they are on our side of this battle. Then we can send them back to Ungai, and they can spy for us, instead."

Kagome's eyes widened as she thought about that, not sure she liked the implications. "But... how would they go back to Ungai's camp and be accepted again without being killed for failing?"

"I have a believable story in mind to cover that for them, never fear, my hana. And it will be easy enough to set it up. The information could prove useful, especially as they would be embedded within the army itself," he responded mildly, understanding her reluctance.

She turned her face away, brow furrowed thoughtfully as she considered it, and finally, she nodded. "I suppose I can see the benefits of the whole thing. Why don't you go ahead and do that while I talk to Kaede about Jaken and the children."

He nodded, not saying anything, simply splitting off from her side as she turned to head to the elder miko's hut, while he moved into the village, heading for the hut the prisoners were being kept in.

What he had to do would not take long...

Kagome, on the other hand, found herself not too comfortable with the idea of leaving the children here, so near where a huge battle was to be fought. She wanted them kept safe, and she wasn't sure that this place would be before too much longer. With that in mind, she came up with a new idea... the village was already protected by several layers of barriers of holy energy, allowing only those of demon blood that were friendly to the village through.

But those barriers wouldn't keep out those of Ungai's army, as they were monks and simple human samurai. However... as a goddess, she could put in place a barrier that nobody would be breaking, and that would allow only those that carried no ill-will to those in the village inside, whether demon or human. Then she'd be okay with leaving the children.

Heading back out of the village towards the edges of it, she found the hill that she'd so long ago sat on waiting news of Sesshoumaru's death, had she but known it, and sighed, glad that this time, he was alive and well - and all hers. Setting that thought aside after a moment, she closed her eyes, and opening herself to the world around her, she quickly found the true boundaries of the village, then, extending her perception to include the goshinboku and the well, she gathered all her energies, and began to weave a barrier unlike any that had ever been seen.

It would not hinder any who lived in the village, nor any ally they had, but it would keep away anyone with evil intentions, not allowing anyone in, human or demon that would see harm come to any being here. It was not visible, unlike the barriers of holy energy that had been placed before, a silent, protective sentinel that could not be destroyed by anyone of lesser power than her. In fact, not even Sosa would be able to tear down her barrier...

As it coalesced above and around her, she smiled, pleased. It was strong, and would provide the ultimate protection for the village, and her kit and Rin, as well.

Now, to go round up the young ones and take them to Kaede.

Sesshoumaru stiffened slightly as he felt the barrier go up, but knowing the energy signature of the one who'd placed it, he didn't react, instead, finishing his instructions to their two new recruits. Both, minds now turned around and their memories telling them they were allies of the demon Lord speaking to them, proudly nodded, listening closely to his words, determined to please such a powerful Lord with exemplary service.

Once finished, he turned and left, planning to find Jaken and Inuyasha and give instructions on the spies and the network he wanted set up to gather the information from them. He moved quickly, wanting to get it over with so that Kagome and he could begin their journey into the past.

After all, they only had so much time to work with; Ungai was coming, and they needed to figure out how to beat a god, and fix what he had destroyed. That was going to take time - and he had no intention of missing the coming fight.

With all that in mind, he quickly tracked down first Inuyasha, and then Jaken, passing along his instructions succinctly. Just as he finished, Kagome came up, having finished dealing with the children and getting them settled.

With one last glance around, and search through his mind for anything he might have missed, Sesshoumaru looked at Inuyasha and said, "If something untoward should happen, and we not return in time, remember what was discussed of tactics, and follow the battle plan as closely as possible, though, remember to leave room for changes should things change."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at his brother. "Yeah, yeah, I know how this works, bastard, so just get movin' so your ass does get back before the fight, okay?"

"Inuyasha, lose the 'tude," Kagome snapped. "Behave yourself, and try not to get into any fights with anyone that isn't an enemy already. I don't want to come back and find our army allied with Ungai 'cause you pissed them all off."

Sesshoumaru was about to say something in negation, when he stopped and thought about it, and realized that she was very likely correct - if anyone was capable of such a feat, his rather annoying, contentious brother would be. So, instead, all he said was, "Hn," then left it there, not seeing the need to say anything else.

Inuyasha scowled. "Feh," he said disgustedly, folding his arms across his chest. "Just get going, wench - you need to figure out which way to point it, remember?" he asked sarcastically, reminding her of his earlier words.

She turned her nose up at him, ignoring his remark, and Sesshoumaru watched his brother with a raised brow, wondering if all the 'sits' over the years had caused some damage to what little brains the boy had - he should have figured out by now that antagonizing the tiny priestess was dangerous to his health.

Apparently, however, that had not occurred to the twit yet, and while it would, at some point, be an amusing waste of an afternoon to bring this fact to his attention, now was not the time.

"Have you taken care of that which needed taken care of, miko?" he asked, instead. "The children...?"

Her gaze swung to him from Inuyasha, who suddenly breathed a lot easier. She smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, Kaede and Jaken have got them covered, and they know not to leave the confines of the village. I'm sure you can feel the barrier I've put up around this place - Sou'unga and Ungai and his army won't be sneaking up on anyone with it in place, so I think we're as ready as we are going to get."

"Hn." He looked into the distance for a moment, going over everything in his mind, making sure that everything was covered, and then turned his gaze back on Kagome. Holding out his hand, he said, "Come, then, miko - let us go and get this done."

As soon as her hand touched his, they both disappeared, and Inuyasha was left blinking in disbelief.

Damn, that's disconcerting. But that trick sure could come in useful...

He wandered off thoughtfully, a certain prank-pulling sorceress predominant in those thoughts.

Not that he'd ever admit that.

---wWw---

Sango came flying in on Kirara, landing hard with an excited, tight look on her face. It was clear that she had some information to share, and equally clear that Sesshoumaru and Kagome were already gone. That left Inuyasha, and Touran, as the next in line to go to with any information.

She wasted no time the moment they had gathered in Kaede's hut.

"After taking those two spies back to Ungai's camp, I noted rather large groups of men leaving the camp here and there - some, from their paths, planning on being away for several days. Curious, I followed behind a couple. They are hunters," she explained, "and because of the size of the army, they are having to go out further and further to find any game - they're depleting the stock of game before they even pass through a place."

Everyone gathered in the hut digested that in silence, and then Inuyasha got a particularly nasty grin on his face. "Just how big are these 'hunting parties', anyway?" he asked.

"The further out they intend to hunt, the bigger - some as big as fifty men. Some of those are strictly hunters, others are samurai - protection, I suppose. They take the meat back, and a great majority of it is then dried."

Touran exchanged glances with Inuyasha, then, a grin also crossing her face as they both looked back at Sango. It was clear that the same thought had occurred to her, which is why she'd brought such news back.

"Tell me, slayer - just how many of these hunting parties are going out?" the panther demon asked, almost idly.

Sango thought about that for a moment. "I counted at least twenty, and there were probably more."

"I believe we should take advantage of the opportunity to get some good hunting in, ourselves," she purred. "Of course, the idea of eating anything we'd catch is not appealing, but...."

Inuyasha nodded. "True, but we don't have to eat it. Let's do it," he said, and within minutes, Touran headed off to gather her panthers, Inuyasha was tracking down some of the other predator demons, and Sango gathered a large group of slayers that also wanted a piece of the action.

It seemed that the army they were gathering was growing restless and wanted to gain first blood on their enemy.

Within an hour, a small army all on its own was heading with unmistakeable speed for their prey.

As an added bonus, any meat that those groups had managed to take could instead be delivered back to Kaede's village - they did, after all, have a great many more mouths to feed than they had ever had before, and the meat would be most welcome.

---wWw---

Sugimi had watched the meetings with the leaders of the disparate groups of fighters gathering under his son's banner, and had to admit, he was impressed. Sesshoumaru had always been an excellent tactician, and he was proving, once again, his excellence in such endeavors.

Sou'unga had absolutely no chance. Of course, a lot of people were going to die before the stupid spirit of hell got the message, but that was, unfortunately, the way of things.

In the meantime, he, Sugimi was most interested in the little female his son had chosen. he'd actually despaired of Sesshoumaru ever finding a truly worthy female - and just when he'd been sure he would not, he'd pulled someone like Kagome out of the woodwork, and claimed her.

So, now that the little miko was his son's intended, he wanted to get to know her as much as possible - and this trip of hers into the past would be a most excellent opportunity to do so. He'd simply invite himself along for the duration...

Not to mention, he was really interested to see what she would choose to do with this situation that had been dumped on her. And though he'd never thought of it before, traveling back into the apst, and seeing what the world had been like in the wake of creation, before it became warped, was relly an interesting idea.

So it was that Kagome and Sesshoumaru stepped into the realms, and found the Inu no Taisho awaiting them with a large smile on his face.

Sesshoumaru eyed his father with irritation, just knowing that he was not going to like the reasons for his father's presence, and as Sugimi started talking, he reflected on the fact that he was right - he didn't like it.

Despite the fact of what they were doing, he had been looking forward to some alone time with his priestess - since they didn't get very much of that to begin with, and Sesshoumaru suddenly felt very surly as he stared at the interfering old dog that was his father.

"Could you not have found something else to meddle with, father? We do not need your presence on this trip, I assure you," he said firmly, and Kagome shot him a look.

"Hey! Don't be so rude, Sesshoumaru," she hissed, embarrassed. "What does it matter if he follows along?"

He didn't answer, merely settling for letting her see his displeasure in his eyes, then looked at his father resignedly. "Very well, old man, if you must, then let us go now and get this over with."

Sugimi laughed as he realized exactly why his son was upset about his presence - he could sympathize, however. If it had been him in that place, he'd probably have responded by throwing his father off into the ether somewhere - of course, his father still enjoyed getting on his nerves, showing up at the most inconvenient times.

"Believe me, son, it could be worse," he chuckled. "You could have to deal with my father - I won't be obnoxious enough to show up when you are actually trying to mate," he whispered, knowing his son would still hear him, hoping that Kagome wouldn't.

Sesshoumaru pulled back and stared at his father with as much of a horrified look as he'd ever had on his face, and then he shuddered, and turned away. "Never mind, father, I have to admit that you are right. It could be worse."

Kagome eyed the both of them suspiciously for a moment, rather intrigued by the look on the daiyoukai's face, but then shrugged. I probably don't want to know...

Turning her mind to something productive, she considered where she wanted to go - and when. She knew it had to be towards the end of the last ice age, somewhere between twelve and thirteen thousand years ago. Then something occurred to her, and she smiled.

"Sesshoumaru?" she said, a soft look in her eyes. "Can you take us back to that place you took me before, remember, when we were first here, and together? When you showed me what the world looked like before it was so damaged?"

He looked at her quizzically as his father looked on, intrigued. "How do you know that that is the correct time period, miko?"

She gave him a flat look in return. "Hello - kami... does that sorta ring a bell? I just do."

Struggling mightily not to take her to task for her facetious manner, he gritted his teeth and held his temper, even as he ignored the snicker from his father. "Come, then." He turned on his heel and began walking, not waiting to see if they followed.

This was promising to be a very long, very annoying trip.

And he'd had such high hopes...

---wWw---

As they stepped out onto the ground of a world long dead, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but wish that things had never changed, because Kagome was correct - it was stunning.

The air was so clean and fresh, even his senses could pick up no trace of the usual foul scents to be found even in his era; sweat, urine, blood, feces - no trace of anything unpleasant was even minutely present in the sweet air his lungs were drawing in. Just breathing made him feel so good, that it made his heart ache with sadness that it was no longer that way.

And the view! Everything was pristine, untouched - in fact, it looked as though nothing lived in this world that they'd come to, as though nothing had taken a toll on the beauty of what the kami had created. This was his idea of what heaven should look like. Everything was greener, the sky more vividly blue, and there were plants that he'd never seen before - things that had obviously died out by his time.

He couldn't believe the differences.

Even having seen it once before made no difference - he hadn't really been paying very close attention at that time, he'd merely done it for Kagome's benefit. It was truly sad that his people, and hers, had destroyed so much of what the kami had created - in some ways, their world didn't resemble this one in the least.

It was abundantly clear that she was going to have her work cut out for her, attempting to return a world so damaged and fouled to its once untouched state.

Because it was becoming extremely clear that the changes were nigh insurmountable - it almost looked as though destroying everything and starting all over was actually the easier way to go.

He was, in that moment, supremely glad that he wasn't Kagome.

And this was only part of what she would have to fix...

---wWw---

A/N: I apologize that it's been a month since my last post on this story - I've been fighting with the plot bunnies on it - they are much more interested right now in a different story I am writing, and refusing to cooperate on this one. But I finally bludgeoned them into working on this chapter....

I have also been very ill lately, it seems every time I turn around I'm down again over some stupid thing - I even missed out on the fourth of July fun because I was so sick I couldn't even get out of bed. That one really sucked.

Also, in reference to the title of this chapter: B.P.E is a relatively new appellation that archeologists and geologists are beginning to use in place of the more traditional B.C. and A.D. It means 'before present era', and is an easier term to use, since there is no adding two thousand years to anything to get a correct date.

Anyway, no, I haven't forgotten this story, nor will I abandon it.

Amber