InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Journey of the soul: The panther devas' plot ❯ Peculiar teachings ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the actual work of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own them in any way.

 

Special acknowledgment: Many thanks to Neko Kiki for correcting this chapter :).

 

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Chapter 8: Peculiar teachings

 

Sighing in delight, Kikyo allowed the cool waters of the river to flow around her and soothe her sore muscles. Today had been quite the day. First the attack of Onigumo's demon puppet and then the burial and finally her odd behavior toward Karura. Sure, the girl might have been slightly insulting by refusing Inuyasha's fish, but was it really a reason to go and threaten her like that... and actually mean every word of it?

 

"Feeling confused?"

 

The voice made her jump about a foot in the air. Instinctively, she sank deeper into the water and whirled around, her hackles rising despite herself.

 

"Easy there girl, it's only me," reassured Karura, her hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

 

Relaxing her stance, the miko breathed a sigh of relief before directing a glare at the one who had interrupted her moment of peace. "I thought I said I wanted to be left alone?"

 

"Oh I'll leave you alone... just as soon as you answer my questions."

 

"I don't have to answer you anything!" snapped Kikyo sharply.

 

"You really are dumber than you look!" shot back Karura nonchalantly. "Then allow me to rephrase my sentence. I'll leave you alone just as soon as you answer your questions."

 

The miko blinked in confusion at this. "You want me to answer my questions? I'm afraid I don't follow."

 

"That's rather easy. I want you to explain to me why you acted the way you did earlier this evening," answered the woman with a daring smile.

 

Kikyo's eyes narrowed in annoyance at this. The girl was actually enjoying this! Well she'd be damned if she let her get the upper hand without a fight! "My youkai blood acted up again."

 

"True, but why did it act up exactly?" continued Karura.

 

Frantically, the miko raked her brain for any possible answer she might come up with, but nothing really valid came to mind. "You... refused to eat Inuyasha's fish," she finally mumbled, knowing full well this wasn't the answer at all.

 

"And you call yourself a miko? Haven't you learned anything about youkai behavior during your training?"

 

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have. But I fail to see what my education has to do with all of this."

 

"Well then, humor me. What exactly did you learn about lower-class youkai?"

 

"May I get out of the water before I start reciting my lesson sensei? I'm starting to get cold," shot back Kikyo acidly.

 

"Be my guest," answered Karura with a mocking grin that made the miko grit her teeth in annoyance.

 

Positively fuming, the miko proceeded to walk out of the water and dry herself up. Then, she donned on her uniform and turned back to the girl, her eyes burning with anger.

 

"So my dear sensei wants a lecture on lower-class youkai? Fine, let's do it then!" she snapped venomously before continuing. "Youkai can be divided in roughly three groups. Lower, middle and higher class. The lower-class are the least bit dangerous because they possess a limited sense of awareness and have very little intelligence. In short, they are nothing more than huge animals."

 

"Not bad. Looks like you're not as dumb as I thought you were. But how about social habits, did you learn anything about that?"

 

"The majority of these youkai are solitary creatures and will not join forces unless absolutely necessary. However, there are some exceptions, like the canine variety who will tend to behave like wolves and live in packs. These packs all have a strict hierarchy of dominance and the alpha male and female will usually assert their positions by showing off their superior strength."

 

Snorting in a mix of amusement and boredom, Karura mock-stifled a yawn and turned around. "Well, looks like you don't need my help after all."

 

Kikyo couldn't help but blink dumbly at this before her anger returned full force. "Now hold on for a minute. You came here, interrupted my bath, pressured me for answers I didn't have... and now you're leaving? Just who exactly do you think you are?"

 

"Just someone who ingested youkai blood some ten years ago and who has a hell of a lot more experience with this than you do. As for not having the answers, maybe you should pay a little more attention to what you just told me, you just might find them there... alpha."

 

The miko jerked at the unexpected surname and for a minute, surprise replaced anger on her features as all the implications of the jab registered in her mind. "You are implying that I have turned into a youkai?" she questioned in a dangerous tone.

 

"Well, you growl and your hackles rise when you're angry. When I questioned Inuyasha's competence by refusing his fish, you threatened me and meant every word of it. And that's just when I look at tonight's events. Deny it all you want Kikyo, but you're not behaving like a human anymore."

 

"I will admit that the side-effects of the youkai blood are strong and difficult to control, but I will not admit that I have turned into a youkai because that is not the truth. I am still very much human and I plan to stay that way!"

 

"Humph, it seems like I was right about you all along."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"You're nothing more than an arrogant bitch."

 

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Karura found herself brutally pinned to a tree with a hand encircling her throat.

 

"I dare you to repeat that!" hissed Kikyo menacingly.

 

"You're nothing more than an arrogant bitch."

 

Tightening her grip, Kikyo's hackles rose and she let out a low and primitive growl. "Give me one good reason why I should refrain from crushing your neck and silencing you permanently."

 

"Give me one good reason why you should crush my neck and kill me."

 

For a while, the two stayed perfectly immobile, Kikyo boiling with fury and Karura smirking like there was no tomorrow. Finally, with a vicious snarl, the miko removed her hand and whirled around, grinding her teeth together to try and keep her raging temper in check.

 

"What's your point Karura," whispered the miko in a strained voice.

 

"My point is you're a child Kikyo. A child who only sees what she's been taught to see. A child who only thinks what she's been taught to think. You obey rules others have set for you and you act the way you think everyone wants you to act. When something comes along that rattles your convictions, you either turn away or simply destroy it. Open your damn eyes! How long are you going to keep on wearing this ridiculous uniform anyway?" answered Karura levelly.

 

"What I choose to wear is none of your business!" snapped the miko sharply.

 

"You're right... as long as you actually choose," replied Karura before walking away, leaving a very confused miko to ponder on her words.

 

******

 

Inuyasha never feared for his life before. He had faced countless dangers, he had beaten any opponents that dared defy him, he had cheated death more time than he could count. At this moment however, he felt very much like his life was hanging on by a mere thread. It had started the last evening when first Karura and then Kikyo had wandered back into camp. The two women had not bothered to hide their dislike for each other. When he had tried to inquire about what was going on, he had almost had his head bitten off on the spot.

 

Now, they were on their way to the next village and things had most definitively not improved. The tension between the two other members of his group was so incredibly palpable that, if he were to turn around and face them right now, he was sure he would see sparks flying around. He knew very well things couldn't continue on this way, but if he so much as tried to poke then things would explode out of control.

 

"When on earth did things get so damn complicated!" he thought in frustration. "First, Onigumo steals the jewel, then Kikyo drinks my blood, then Karura shows up. And now I'm sitting on a volcano ready to explode. I really don't see how things could get any worse!"

 

His eyebrows twitched as he realized just what his mulling was implying. "So things can't get any worst eh? Well, I think it's time to make them better!"

 

Stopping dead in his tracks, he whirled around and fixed the two surprised women with a piercing glare. "All right children listen up! I don't know what's going on between you two and quite frankly I don't care! However you're going to fix that ridiculous attitude of yours right now or you can continue this journey on your own! Is that clear!?"

 

Only silence greeted his words, but the expression on Kikyo and Karura's face was absolutely priceless. However, the hanyou was too pissed off to notice such things. "IS THAT CLEAR!?" he repeated.

 

The two women stiffened at the harshness of his tone and mumbled their understanding. "Good, you have one hour to work things out. If you haven't reached an understanding by then, I'm outta here!"

 

With that said, Inuyasha bolted off and bounded up the nearest tree where he disappeared into the thick foliage.

 

For a while, neither of the two said anything. What was there to say anyway? The hanyou was right and the two women knew it.

 

"Now what?" questioned Kikyo.

 

"Well, I always treasure breaks when they come so I'm planning on enjoying this one," answered Karura nonchalantly.

 

"Would you be serious already! Inuyasha is threatening to leave us alone if we don't work things out!"

 

"So? He's free to go wherever he wants, it's not as if I actually care whether he's here or not."

 

The miko could only gape stupidly as the other woman stretched lazily and walked away in search of some shade."You..." she eventually managed to stutter, unable to cope with Karura's total lack of concern.

 

"... have better things to do than deal with an arrogant bitch like you. Come to me when you're ready to apologize... Kikyo-chan," completed the girl with a distinct mocking tone.

 

Kikyo had always taken great pride in her self-control. No matter the situation, she always managed to keep her cool and think things through. However, drinking Inuyasha's blood had made her temper excessively more volatile and difficult to control, which explained her aggressive behavior the night before.

 

Now though, there was absolutely no more rationality. Karura's mocking behavior and silly smirk had pushed her way beyond the point of no return. She felt something open up inside of her, like she had just tapped into a hidden source of energy and abruptly the dark thing that had remained dormant up to now roared to life, turning her blood into liquid fire. Had she not been so blinded by rage, Kikyo might have been alarmed by this, but as it was, she actually embraced the phenomenon.

 

With very deliberate gestures, the miko undid the straps holding her pack to her back and let the whole thing drop to the ground with a thud. Probably hearing the sound, Karura turned around and Kikyo watched with great satisfaction the nonchalant grin fade away from the other woman's features, only to be replaced by a look of utter shock.

 

"So you finally decided to show your true colors. Amusing, let's see how far you're actually willing to take this."

 

"I'll wipe that silly smirk off your face if it's the last thing I do!"

 

Karura's eyebrows twitched slightly. Kikyo's voice up to now had never sounded particularly warm. It was the calm and distant voice of someone who has cut herself from the world around her. Now though, it hardly sounded human anymore. It had significantly dropped in pitch and sounded distinctly more primal and feral than before. It didn't take a genius to realize that the miko had just lost complete control of her emotions and was now driven by rage alone.

 

"This might be more interesting than I thought," reflected Karura, her grin widening.

 

This had the desired effect because, with a infuriated roar, Kikyo lunged at her. It was very fortunate that she was actually ready for the attack because the speed at which it was executed left absolutely no room for a second chance. As it was, she barely managed to dodge the swiping blow aimed at her face.

 

Then started an odd waltz of swiping and dodging conducted at such a high pace that an untrained eye would find it impossible to follow. For several minutes, Karura kept the miko on like this, nimbly jumping back and forth to avoid the flurry of blows aimed her way. But then, something strange happened, Kikyo abruptly froze in mid-motion and her eyes widened in surprise. She then fell to her knees, clutching her chest in obvious pain. When she once again looked up at Karura, her eyes were no longer burning with rage, though her glare was still rather accusatory.

 

"W... What did... you do... to me?"

 

"I told you you were an arrogant bitch Kikyo. You claim to know everything there is to know about everything... yet you can't even tell me what happened just now. You went berserk on me and now you're crawling on the ground without having the slightest idea of what's going on!"

 

"Whose... fault... is that? You... refused to... teach me!"

 

"That's right, I refused to teach you because you lacked something! And until you find out what it is then you're on your own! However, I promised grampa I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you so you can consider today's lesson a free one."

 

"Today's lesson?" repeated the miko.

 

"Your body's not yet capable of handling all of your power at once. So be careful about that in the future, because you may not be so lucky next time around."

 

"That's what... you were after from... the start was it? You wanted me to... grow angry and... unleash my powers!"

 

"That's right. I wanted to hammer it in your thick little head just how ignorant you really are! And ignorant is how you'll stay if you don't find your answer soon!"

 

Turning her back to the slumped miko, Karura marked a pause when she was confronted by a very angry hanyou, but then she merely shrugged and walked away toward the nearest tree where she comfortably settled down in the shade. Her peace was short-lived however as minutes later the sounds of footsteps could be heard coming closer.

 

"When I said to work things out, I didn't mean to beat the pulp out of each other!" snapped an angry hanyou.

 

"She'll be fine in about an hour or so. As for beating the pulp out of her... I didn't even touch her so stop dramatizing."

 

"Dammit Karura, what sort of game are you playing!? You're the only one alive who can help her through her transformation yet all you do is bully her around!"

 

"I can't help someone who won't listen to a word I say."

 

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

 

"Kikyo's locked her real self away. She banished what she wanted to be in favor of what she thought others wanted her to be. As long as she can't at least acknowledge this then I won't be able to help her."

 

Karura couldn't help but chuckle at the series of quick changes Inuyasha's face underwent in the next few seconds. Starting from completely blank, it went to utterly surprised before it lighted up with realization and he fixed her with a suspicious glare.

 

"How the hell do you know so much about her? You've only met her yesterday."

 

"I don't have to know her to see just how utterly lifeless her eyes are. I've seen a lot of people with that look in the past and every time it was because they had forsaken their true identity. People like that won't learn a thing unless they discard their fake personality."

 

"Still, what does that have to do with bullying her? Things are bad enough as they are without you making them worst."

 

"Worst you say? Then you obviously didn't see her eyes when we were fighting. They were two burning pits of pure and uncontrolled fury focused solely on me. She wanted so much to wipe the smile off my face that she completely forgot about everything else."

 

"So?"

 

"Are you incredibly dense or just plain stupid?" huffed the woman in annoyance. "When Kikyo threw everything aside for the sake of fighting me, she stepped out of the boundaries that were set for her. For one brief moment, there was no youkai blood, no Onigumo, no shikon jewel to weight her down. She was free Inuyasha, completely and utterly free."

 

"So you're saying that you're actually doing this to help her?"

 

"What the hell did you think? That I was doing this for the fun of it?"

 

"Well..." replied the hanyou with a doubtful expression.

 

Snorting in amusement, Karura picked a nearby rock and threw it half-heartedly at Inuyasha. "Get lost dog-turd! Before I decide I actually want to spend my break pounding the living hell out of you!"

 

With that said, she leaned back and closed her eyes, indicating that any further attempt at conversation would be utterly futile.

 

******

 

Following Kikyo's scent, it didn't take long for Inuyasha to locate the miko, kneeling in front of a small stream and splashing water on her face in an effort to rekindle a bit of her lost strength. It hadn't taken a genius to see that her little outburst had taken an awful lot out of her. It had taken an eternity for her to catch her breath and when the hanyou had helped her stand up, her legs had buckled under her.

 

She turned around when she heard him approached and fixed him with an unreadable look.

 

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

 

"The good news is, Karura's not the jerk you thought she was."

 

"Now that's a real comfort to know Inuyasha!" snapped the miko sardonically. "And what other cheering news did you bring back?"

 

At this, the hanyou visibly hesitated which only served to irritate the miko further. "Well?"

 

"I... find myself agreeing with her. You have to find this answer on your own."

 

Only silence greeted the hanyou's words and it seemed to stretch for an eternity. When he finally did risk a careful glance at Kikyo, he almost wish he didn't. The betrayal shining in her eyes was almost too much for him to bear.

 

"So you're going to side with her in the end, eh?" whispered the miko, her voice dripping with venom.

 

"NO!" vehemently denied Inuyasha. "I'm not siding with her Kikyo! However she's trying to help you and I can't help but agree with that!"

 

"Help me!? Help me you say!? All she did was push me around, calling me an arrogant and ignorant bitch all the time! You call that helping me!?"

 

Sighing, the hanyou clenched his fists and tried his best to harden his heart. It wasn't an easy thing to do considering that what he wanted the most right now was comfort the woman beside him and soothe her pain. But comforting her wouldn't do any good at this particular moment, what Kikyo really needed was an awakening slap... and no one but him could provide it.

 

"Are you really that superficial Kikyo?" he snapped, his voice hard and unforgiving.

 

Before him, the woman jerked as if she had been physically hit. "You're going on and on about how much of a jerk Karura is, but are you even trying to see beyond her harsh words? Sure, her methods are crude and maybe calling you arrogant wasn't the nicest thing to do, but you are ignorant! This is why we came to see Rishido in the first place! Why don't you try to get your eyes off your anger for a minute and try to focus on what Karura tried to tell you today? Maybe then you'll understand what it is you're lacking!"

 

With that said, the hanyou whirled away and disappeared through the woods, unable to look at the miko anymore. He ran for a while before collapsing to his knees and punching the ground as hard as he could. God how he hated himself! He knew how hard it must have been for Kikyo to hear this coming from him... but it felt a hundred times more painful for him to have actually said them.

 

"So you gave Kikyo a little slap in the face I gather?"

 

Looking up, his eyes immediately fell on the form of Karura who sported a somewhat sympathetic look on her face.

 

"... Yeah," he answered, averting his eyes.

 

"'You did the right thing. Kikyo will eventually understand' would be the sensible thing to say I suppose. But that usually don't help much. So how about you take it out on me?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"A fight you idiot! Take all of your anger and frustration and take them out on me. After all, I'm the one who created this situation in the first place."

 

Inuyasha's eyes lit up with understanding before he stood up, a predatory smile plastered on his face. "I'm warning you, your ribs may be busted, but I'm definitively not in any mood to pull my punches."

 

"It wouldn't be fun otherwise," answered Karura with a smirk.

 

Safely hidden in the thick foliage of a nearby tree with her scent concealed, a lone feline figure watched the scene unfold below with complete bewilderment.

 

"Who on earth are those guys anyway?"