InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Journey of the soul: The panther devas' plot ❯ A new friend? ( Chapter 10 )

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 9: A new friend?

 

Karura was the most infuriating woman ever to cross her path. That was what Kikyo was thinking as she watched the wench limp stubbornly ahead of her. Apparently, the two of them had been in yet another brawl, which had served only to worsen the girl's injuries. Despite her obvious discomfort, she had stubbornly refused to let her condition delay their departure and had lightly said she could handle this just fine.

 

"That... bitch! She's doing it again!" thought the miko, her blood suddenly roaring in her ears.

 

And indeed, Karura had taken an annoying habit of leaning against Inuyasha when she was too tired to walk on her own. This of course infuriated Kikyo to no end... especially since the girl was doing it on purpose. Karura was once again trying to bring her over the edge. Well, she wouldn't give in, not this time. There were other ways she could exact her revenge, ways which were much more satisfying than simply beating her senseless, though that last possibility did sound awfully appealing right now.

 

"I'll get you back for this Karura! I swear I will!" she fumed silently.

 

Unable to bear looking at this sickening spectacle any longer, the miko resorted to watch their surroundings instead. Even though the forest presented little out of the ordinary, at least, it did not set her blood boiling. Or maybe not.

 

Kikyo froze as something tickled the edge of her senses. The sensation was vague, a mere tingle at the base of her neck, yet the darkness inside of her instantly reacted to it and spread through the whole of her body.

 

"What is this? Something... Something hides nearby. But where? I cannot pinpoint it!" she reflected while closing her eyes to concentrate better.

 

Remembering her miko training, she closed the physical world completely and allowed the spiritual world to spring into focus. Auras danced in front of her eyes. One red and the other green coming in as clear as day and belonging to Inuyasha and Karura respectively. Those two she ignored and spread her perception further. A few harmless animals showed up like stars in the sky before vanishing yet she did not see anything that could have caused her reaction. She stretched her senses as far as they would and still she came up empty-handed.

 

"I know I felt something!" she exclaimed, frustrated.

 

"Use your youkai senses," urged a voice that almost shattered her concentration.

 

Forcing herself to relax once again, she waited until her perception stopped wavering before attempting dialog. "Who are you?"

 

"It doesn't matter, use your youkai senses to sharpen your perception."

 

"How am I supposed to do this?"

 

"Focus on a single point as much as you possibly can."

 

"If I do that, I'll burn my all of my spiritual energy in no time and lose consciousness."

 

"Well do what you want then. Your feeling was probably the figment of your imagination anyway."

 

Gritting her teeth to keep her anger at bay, Kikyo decided to try the voice's suggestion, if only to prove it wrong. True to her words, the miko felt the strain almost as soon as she tried to compress her perception beyond its usual size... and it only got worse the further along she pushed. After a while, she felt her strength begin to give way and with it, her concentration. Not one to give up so easily though, the miko kept on struggling, stubbornly rallying every last bit of energy she had left and putting it into one last desperate push.

 

That's when it happened. Something inside her shifted and the wall of resistance she had been fighting abruptly gave way. Unprepared for the change, Kikyo sort of "stumbled forward" as her entire universe wavered and readjusted itself. When everything had once again stabilized, the miko could only stare in awe at the new clarity of her perception.

 

Before her, the indistinct clouds that had belonged to Karura and Inuyasha were now appearing to her like translucent animals. A green kitsune and a red dog... it didn't take a genius to figure out which belonged to which. There was even a nice, light-brown feline a bit further that she hadn't noticed before.

 

"... feline?"

 

The miko froze, her eyes snapping open and her head whipping around in the direction she had sensed the unfamiliar presence. Her gaze instantly zeroed in on a very specific tree and, without thinking, she notched an arrow and fired. About a second before it reached its intended goal, a light-brown shape shot up in the sky and landed graciously about ten feet in front of the group.

 

The shape resolved itself in a rather disheveled-looking feline youkai with bright green eyes and reddish-brown hair that might have been silky once but were now a hopeless mess of tangles and knots. Her green and brown kimono fared no better than her hair as it was rumpled stained and thorned in more places than one could count. The girl herself looked exhausted, but it did nothing to diminish the anger burning in her eyes. In fact, it only seemed to emphasize it even more.

 

"All right, who shot that arrow?" she demanded sharply.

 

"I did. I thought you were spying on us," replied the miko before any of her friends could intervene.

 

"Spying on you? Hell I don't even know who you are!"

 

"It seems obvious that this situation is a misunderstanding. However, the fact that you had a concealment spell on made me rather suspicious."

 

"Misunderstanding? You almost killed me you stupid miko!" cried the youkai, her anger rising.

 

"And what would you have me do? Get on my knees and beg forgiveness?"

 

"That might be a good start and how about you lick my shoes too, they sure could use the attention!"

 

Feeling her patience with the newcomer wearing dangerously thin, Kikyo narrowed her eyes and was about to shoot a particularly witty retort when suddenly a dozen presence entered her field of perception. In front of her, the youkai abruptly tensed and started looking left and right nervously.

 

"I take it these fellows surrounding us right now have something to do with you?" questioned Karura nonchalantly.

 

"Humph, don't go and blame me, you brought this upon yourself," grumbled the feline before moving into a defensive position beside the group.

 

A moment later, all hell broke loose. From the surrounding forest, panther youkai shot out at such a blinding speed that the group was caught completely off guard. In seconds, everyone was knocked to the ground except the youkai girl who kept dancing left and right in a desperate attempt to avoid her assailants.

 

Her luck eventually ran out however as one of the attackers managed to slice her arm. Crying out in pain, the girl was thrown off balance, thus opening herself completely to yet another hit, and another, and another. Before long, she was a bloody mess of cuts and slashes and the only thing keeping her on her feet was the blows she was continuously receiving.

 

But then, a shower of blood sprayed the battlefield as one of the attackers fell to the ground, neatly severed in half at the torso. A few feet behind, Karura was standing, her features set in determination. Her right arm was extended horizontally and her sword gleamed brightly in the afternoon sunlight.

 

Using this small relapse in their attackers' movements, Kikyo immediately fired twice and two more youkai screamed as her arrows met their marks. Yet another cry was heard when Inuyasha jumped in the fray and ripped the nearest opponent to pieces with his claws.

 

Seeing their advantage rapidly melting away, the rest of the youkai wisely decided to turn tail and run for their lives. Noticing this, the hanyou meant to follow, but the miko interrupted him.

 

"Let them be Inuyasha. As we are now, following them is impossible," she said while glancing at Karura's wavering form and at the stranger's crumpled and bloodied shape meaningfully.

 

"Don't... bother," panted the feline youkai while struggling to her feet. "I'm... the one... they... want. Once I'm... gone, they... won't bother... you again."

 

"You're not exactly in any condition to go anywhere," observed Karura disapprovingly.

 

"This is... nothing. By tomorrow... I'll be... as good as new."

 

"Well in the meantime, you're staying with us!" ordered Inuyasha irritably.

 

An eerie silence fell on the clearing as the three people present turned dumbfounded looks at the hanyou. Uncomfortable under such an intense scrutiny, he abruptly whirled away and placed his hands in his sleeves. "I want a full explanation! And until I get one, that cat's not leaving!" he growled, his voice low and commanding.

 

"I'm a... panther you overgrown... flea-bag!" countered the said youkai weakly, though she made no move to leave.

 

"WHAT!?" exclaimed the hanyou in outrage, but before he could react, Kikyo intervened.

 

"Hold your temper Inuyasha! Hurting her will not serve any useful purpose."

 

Betrayal flashed in the hanyou's eyes, but the miko wasn't quite finished yet. Turning to their unexpected guest, she straightened her posture and shot her a smoldering gaze.

 

"As for you lady panther, you're free to decide if you want us as friends or enemies. Either way however, you are not leaving until we hear your entire story. But if I were you, I would not anger us needlessly. Karura's blade has been doused in very powerful senki, Inuyasha's claws are extremely sharp and my arrows are deadly to youkai such as you. So what will it be? Friend or enemy?"

 

"Some choice you're offering me miko," snorted the stranger humorlessly. "Friendship isn't something I tend to give to complete strangers... but for the moment, you don't appear to be my enemies."

 

"Good enough I suppose. And what should we call you?"

 

"Shunran... My name's Shunran."

 

******

 

"There, that just about does it," announced Kikyo as she secured the last bandage on Shunran's chest.

 

"I still say it was a total waste of time and bandages. Those were just flesh wounds, they would have been healed by morning."

 

"That remains to be seen. Those were pretty deep cuts you had there and many were actually beginning to fester. From what I could tell, by morning you would have been bedridden with fever, not prancing around like you seem to think."

 

Shunran's eyebrows spasmed when she heard this but otherwise, she remained completely undisturbed. "Whatever you say," she grumbled contritely.

 

"Well then, now that you're all patched up, how about you tell us that story we've all been waiting for?" urged Karura eagerly.

 

"I still don't see why I should tell you anything. It's not like what's happening to me is any of your concern."

 

"In case you hadn't noticed, we happened to kill four of the guys pursuing you. We're involved now, whether you want it or not!" snapped back Inuyasha irritably.

 

"And who's fault is that?" muttered Shunran while looking at Kikyo rather darkly.

 

"I shot the arrow that's true. But if I hadn't then you would have been killed by your pursuer."

 

"If you hadn't distracted me then I wouldn't have been found! Why do you think I set up a concealment spell in the first place?"

 

"Would you knock it off!?" exclaimed Karura impatiently. "It doesn't matter who did what or who's fault it is! The point is, we're involved and no amount of arguing is going to change that! So start talking dammit!"

 

Shunran appeared ready to protest a bit more, but when she saw the determined looks of the three people before her, she finally gave in. Sighing wearily, she settled down more comfortably and began her tale.

 

"Fine, if you want me to tell you, I'll tell you," she said a bit contritely. "As you already know, my name's Shunran. What you don't know is that I happen to be one of the four leaders of the panther devas tribe. One day, a strange fellow named Naraku popped up at our door, requesting an audience. Though we were rather wary, we still decided to hear what he had to say. That was the first mistake we made."

 

"Keh! You let a complete stranger enter freely in your fortress so I say you got what you rightfully deserved," taunted Inuyasha, but all he got in return was a series of dark look that promptly quieted him down.

 

"He successfully managed to lure us in with the fake promise of lending us the power of the shikon jewel to help us in our quest for revenge."

 

"The shikon jewel!?" the other three exclaimed at once.

 

"Yeah, you've heard of it?"

 

"Anyone with half a mind has heard of the famous shikon jewel. It can grant anyone possessing it infinite power," replied Kikyo levelly.

 

"Something like that. Well, the point is he managed to convince us he would use it to aid us when we needed it the most, so we allowed him to stay in our castle... under a strict guard of course. That was our second mistake. Once inside our walls, Naraku immediately started spreading some sort of poison around. Before we knew what was happening, half of our tribe was rapidly dying of an unknown disease."

 

"What did you do then?" questioned Kikyo, genuinely interested.

 

"We went to confront him of course. But the moment we entered his room, he trapped us in some sort of barrier. We were completely helpless as he proceeded to place some strange crystal in our forehead. By some twist of fate, I happened to be the last in line and, just as he was about to place my own crystal, my brother, with the last of his free will, managed to break free of the barrier and throw Naraku away from me. He then pushed me out of the room and out of the barrier, urging me to get away while I could."

 

"And you did this without even looking back?" shot back Inuyasha in disdain.

 

"Of course I didn't want to go. But when the free will of my two other sisters and my brother disappeared, I had no other choice but to escape in hope of finding help. However, with three of the four leaders of our tribe under his control, Naraku had no trouble whatsoever in sending soldiers after me to either eliminate me or bring me back."

 

"That would explain why you're in such a poor state and why your own kind seems to be running after you. But I'm a bit curious. That Naraku... what exactly does he look like?" inquired Karura.

 

"It's hard to tell, he keeps his face concealed behind a white baboon pelt. He does have piercing red eyes though and he's extremely cunning."

 

"Well, the general description does seem to fit. What do you think Kikyo?"

 

"It does sound like Onigumo all right. And the jewel? Are you positive he had the jewel in his possession?"

 

"If we had even the slightest doubt of this, we wouldn't have allowed him in. He had the jewel all right. But I'm afraid I don't understand? You know of Naraku?"

 

"Knowing him might actually be too strong a word. But we have all fallen prey to his manipulations at one time or another... and are none too happy about it."

 

"You... you have? But then what..." stuttered Shunran, visibly struggling to assimilate this new piece of information.

 

"That's obvious isn't it? We all wanna rip his throat out the moment we see him!" snapped Inuyasha hotly.

 

"You're saying you're actually chasing him? You can't be..." but the youkai trailed off when she saw the determination radiating from the three people facing her. "Okay, so maybe you can be serious. But do you honestly believe you stand a chance against him?"

 

"We won't know until we try now will we?" answered Karura nonchalantly.

 

"Just who on earth are you guys anyway? You might be throwing your life away and it doesn't even seem to bother you!"

 

"If we were to stand idly by and do nothing, we'd be throwing something a lot more important away," countered Kikyo seriously.

 

"And what would that be?"

 

"Our soul."

 

A long silence followed the miko's declaration during which Shunran stared intently at her three unexpected companions. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for because she chuckled and shook her head in discouragement.

 

"I suppose it can't be helped then. I need help in order to free my brother and sisters... and without me, you don't stand a chance of approaching Naraku undetected."

 

"And what about the jewel?"

 

"First come first serve. Whoever gets his hands on it first keeps it. How does that sound?"

 

"Since this point is not really open for negotiation on either side, I suppose that's as good a deal as we can expect."

 

"Well then, that leaves only one thing left to settle," concluded Shunran, her mood visibly lightening.

 

"Oh? And what might that be?"

 

"When do we leave?"

 

******

 

Sitting at her table with a pensive frown on her face, Toran kept turning things over and over in her head. No matter how she looked at things, she always came to the same conclusion. Naraku was manipulating them. He had been doing it from the start and was likely doing it right now. The ease at which they had been able to obtain information concerning his origins was proof enough of that.

 

Naraku hadn't bothered to cover his tracks. That felt so wrong to her. Someone as clever and cunning as he simply did not commit such a stupid mistake. And she highly doubted he had been careless to the point of underestimating them, that too was impossible for that Naraku fellow.

 

"He wanted us to find out about his origins, that much is certain... but why? What is he really after?" she thought perplexed.

 

But then a thought struck her and made her stiffen in her chair. "Could it be that... he allowed us to discover his connection with the miko just so that we could lead her to him?"

 

That realization seemed to fit with the general character of Naraku, but again the question of why remained unanswered. Before she could go much further in her reflexions however, a knock at the door made her jerk in surprise.

 

"Come," she said crisply.

 

The panel slid open, revealing a young officer that she immediately recognized as the twin brother to one of the agents she had sent to assist her younger sister Shunran. The two brothers possessed an extremely strong link and were able to hear each other's thoughts over great distances, which was why one of the two had been chosen for the earlier-mentioned task. Gesturing to the cushion before her, Toran watched with half a mind as the soldier bowed respectfully and took the designated position.

 

"Report, how is Shunran's plan coming along?"

 

"She successfully made contact with the miko and her group. So far, they do not appear to suspect anything."

 

"Very good. And what else."

 

"The group in itself is composed of three people and not two as we had originally expected. They were recently joined by a young girl named Karura and the relationship between the miko and this girl are tense to say the least. All three of them are extremely prone to fight and argue amongst themselves. However, the moment a real threat arrives, their disagreements instantly disappear. They were able to kill four members of our group and would have likely disposed of more had we not retreated."

 

"So you're saying they are not to be taken lightly?"

 

"Yes Toran-sama. These people are strong and should be treated as such. Underestimating them would be a great mistake."

 

"Very well, we shall make suitable preparations. In the meantime, keep on with the plan. Dismissed."

 

And the soldier left, leaving Toran alone with her thoughts once again.

 

"Naraku... what on earth are you really after?"