InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome! Where are you?! ❯ A vs P part 1 ( Chapter 14 )

chapter 14

A vs. P part 1

corrected by Angelica Birmingham.

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Sesshomaru's first impression of the new world he and Kagome are on is heat, dry heat.

The second impression is that there are the two suns in the sky above.

He looks around. He is in the middle of a dry barren wasteland. Cliffs of reddish brown bare rock stretch endlessly off into the distance. He is on a desert, which looks like what he thought of when he read the stories of the Gobi desert of China world.

Nothing green is in sight.

"No." Kagome whispers.

He looks at Kagome in surprise.

"I made a mistake last time. This can't be Tatooine."

"Tatooine?" he asks.

"A planet from a movie." He raises an eyebrow. "A play, lord Sesshomaru, a special type of play. Anyway, some of the events of this movie happened on a desert planet with two suns."

"And since this world has two suns . . . "

"It could be it, but, I made a mistake with that ice world, so I'm not so sure, ok."

He nods. "We need to reach those cliffs." He points, "The shade from them will limit this heat."

He looks around. "This place is lifeless, so isn't a dangerous place."

"It would be, Sesshomaru, sir. But I've filled my water jugs, so we can last a couple of days without finding water. Although, that pouch of meat you gave me isn't much for food for you."

"Fasting is something this Sesshomaru is used too." he pauses, grabs her bag, flings it over his shoulder and wraps Kagome in his arm. "We are leaving."

They fly towards to the cliff.

"Make camp here, woman." He looks up the cliff. "I will fly up and look around."

Kagome turns and starts to go through her bag. "Hey, let me show . . . " She turns with her camera in hand. "How to use . . . phooey. He's already gone."

At the top of the cliff, Sesshomaru shades his eyes against the glare from the suns. "A horrible world. Worse than that ice world. That world would kill you quickly, by freezing you to death. This world will kill you by thirst. Which takes days. A crueler world." he says to himself as he looks over the world.

He stops. He thinks, 'Green. Off in the distance, that valley. At the bottom of it is a streak of green. A river, no a stream, perhaps.' He shakes his head. 'Flying that distance, in addition to the weakness caused by that cube. Yes, I can make it, even carrying her and her bag, but . . I will be very weak.'

He glares at the suns. 'By the suns, it is either midmorning or mid- afternoon. If it's midmorning, then we will rest through the heat of the day and travel there later today. If it is afternoon, we will do it tomorrow.'

He returns to the bottom of the cliff. Kagome is just sitting on her bag, obviously waiting for him. "This Sesshomaru thought he told you to make camp, woman."

"You didn't say the magic word."

"Very well." he says and with as much sarcasm as possible. "Please."

She grimaces. "I wish we could work together."

"We can. Just follow this Sesshomaru's orders."

"And what if those orders are wrong? You know about as much about this planet as I do." She waves her hand. "What if you had found an oasis? What if there had been something else up there? I thought it best to keep everything together in case we had to move, quickly."

He takes a couple of breaths, then exhales. "There is a valley, at a great distance, with green in it. Depending on whether or not it is before afternoon-time on this planet, we will move there."

She nods. "Thank you for the information. I know you will not accept food from me. What about water?" she thinks, 'Somehow he thinks that Inu-yasha's mother used food to make Inu-yasha's father fall in love with her and he does not want that to happen to him. I'm sure of it.'

"As long as it is simply water."
"Good. Let me break out some water, then."

They drink some water, rest, and Sesshomaru looks at the sky. "Afternoon. Those suns are sinking. We will move to the valley in the morning."

"Ok." Kagome begins to unpack her bag and set up a camp.

"Grab your sword, woman. We will practice again."

Later . .

Kagome collapses onto her hands and knees, the sword sliding out of her grasp. She gasps and breathes deeply. Blood drips onto the ground from several cuts.

"Now you can practice you healing spells, miko." he says as he slides his sword back into its sheath.

"Why?" she gasps.

"Why, woman? Why am I so hard on you, perhaps?" She nods. "If you wish to be a warrior, you will learn faster and quicker through pain. The pain of failure teaches faster and better than any other method. I was merciful last night and healed you. Tonight, your miko powers will heal you or you will learn to live with pain."

He bends down and lifts her head so he can stare into her eyes. "If you think I'm a being hard, do not. My father was a worse taskmaster than I." He smiles, slightly. "In order to teach me how cats fight, my father tied me up, wrapped me in fish and he threw me into a pit of full of cats. The cats died. I was four."

She shivers, even through her pain. "He wrote that training technique down, and I believe one of Inu-yasha's mother's human retainers stole it before they were cast out. I pity any poor fool of a human that tries it. It would drive them mad." He smiles. "Being a demon, I do not suffer form that weakness."

"Until you learn to reach the spirit within your blade, I will cause you as much pain as your human body can stand." He stands up. "Heal, rest, eat. We are done for tonight."

"You don't treat Jakken or Rin this way . . . " she whispers.

"No. But Jakken is my servant and that is all he is and all he wishes to be. Rin is a child and that is all she is. You wish to be my equal. The standards are higher."

Kagome sits and concentrates on healing herself. She glows briefly . . . then she collapses, unconscious. Sesshomaru examines her body. "She drained herself. She did heal most of the wounds, before she collapsed." he says to himself. He thinks, 'But, if she could do this, even with the cube draining her and the pain I inflicted . . . a formidable miko, indeed.'
He purses his lips. 'I should make her comfortable as she sleeps. She has earned that.' He undresses Kagome and lays her in her futon. 'Now that the suns are down the temperature is dropping rapidly.'

Later . . .

Kagome eyes pop open. The stars in the sky above remind her instantly that she is on another world.

She hisses in pain as she shifts her head to look around. Sesshomaru is sleeping next to her in her futon, again. She takes a deep breath, obviously to yell . .

His eyes open. "It is cold outside woman."

"Don't I, at least, get to invite you into my futon?"

"You do, when you are awake."

She sighs, "I suppose. Move over, I need to get out and walk around, my joints are stiff."

He doesn't move. "Does not politeness work both ways?"

She flushes, "Sorry." Small shake of her head. "I wasn't thinking. Please, Sesshomaru, sir, could you move, so I can crawl out. I need to stretch, loosen up and see exactly how well my healing did."

He moves and she gets out. 'Yes, I am nude.' she thinks and sighs. She shivers, he was right it is cold. 'He would undress me. Well . . . given the last few nights, I suppose he has good reason to think I slept in the nude.'

She grabs a towel from her bag and starts to walk around to loosen up. 'Somehow. I've ended up trusting him. He did not take advantage of me when I'm unconscious. And even when he is torturing me at weapons practice . . . He is trying his best to teach me, however, harsh his methods are. But, is he doing it just to keep me alive or is it something else?' she shakes her head.

Off in the distance, the edge of the horizon is glowing. Dawn is approaching.

"How long was I out?"

"Less than half a day."

She frowns. "I thought there was still a good hour or two of sunlight left. So it should be the middle of the night, not close to sunrise."

"It must be summer here and the nights are short."

"Maybe. But," she shakes her head, "oh well. This will give me a chance to walk around, and prepare breakfast earlier. I would like to get in some study time, as well today, Lord Sesshomaru."
"Study time?"

"We will return home and when we do, I've got to have my studying for school done."

"It is that important to you?"

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."

He nods. "There is no importance as to when we leave for the valley. Delaying it an hour or so, is fine."

She smiles at him, bows and says, "Thank you, lord Sesshomaru." She pauses and thinks, 'do I say it? Well it's a compliment, so he should like it, so, yes.'

"Your brother always fights me about my studying, thank you for not."

He interrupts, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "My brother never went to school. I am aware of its importance, so I will grant you a small amount of time to study each day."

Kagome twists her face. 'Now, should I yell at him for that automatic assumption of authority.' She shakes her head. 'That's just Sesshomaru.'

She gets out her books and studies . .

Later . . .

Sesshomaru and Kagome land at the valley he noticed yesterday. There is a small stream in the middle of the valley and next to it grows various plants.

"Odd plants." he says.

"Yes, they remind me a lot about the pictures I've seen of the American desserts. Prickly shrubs and cactus."

"We will walk along the stream in this valley and see what we find." he says. Kagome and Sesshomaru, with frequent stops for water and shade, walk next to the thin stream.

'He's been panting. And I've not seen a drop of sweat on him. I forgot . . . dogs don't sweat, they pant. This heat and us walking . . . ' she thinks.

"Don't get upset, Lord Sesshomaru, but we can stop and cool down if you need it." she says in a gentle voice.

"This Sesshomaru does not need to rest, human."
Her eyes narrow. "Ok," she says with emphasis, "then, I need to rest and cool down."

He purses his lips, but nods.

They move to the shade near the walls of the nearby cliffs. Sesshomaru finds an overhanging cliff which will shade them throughout the day.

The ceiling of the overhang has a black spot of ash on it. He motions Kagome over and points to an area. "A fire was there. A year ago, perhaps. And I smell human scents, there" he points to another area.

She digs at the second spot he indicated. "Trash, cans, plastic." she holds up a crushed can. "The writing on it says beer, lord Sesshomaru. Although . . the date on it . . . 2253ad. Perhaps 2900 by your calendar. We are in the future, Lord Sesshomaru." she shivers.

He grunts. "This is a wasteland. Why come here?"

"There could be gold, silver, or other metals. It could simply be land. This could simply be leftovers from an exploration party and we could be alone on this world. There is no way for me to tell."

"Let's see what this paper says." she says as she straights a piece of paper she found. "It's in English . . . " a pause. "Ok, I think I've figured it out. It's some sort of invoice for fuel, I think. To a man called Ackland on a planet named Ryushi. I'll assume that Ryushi is the name for this planet."

"Ryushi. Perhaps they meant Ryuushi."

"Yes, maybe. Grains or particles of sand are probably a good name for this planet." she pauses and then says, "I would like to meet them." She says as she looks at him.

He nods.

She clears her throat. "They will probably not recognize your name and will insult you, Lord Sesshomaru. Please, understand that and don't get upset, Lord Sesshomaru, please." "This Sesshomaru will not kill without due cause, woman."

She grimaces. 'That's the best I'm going to get, right now. Hopefully, if we meet them, everything will go smoothly.' she thinks.

"We will rest here, woman." He looks at the suns and frowns, "Something is wrong. The suns are near noon, but it should still be morning. If this is summer, the days should be long, but by the suns, I would say that it is winter."

"Lord Sesshomaru, this world probably has a shorter day than earth. I looked at my watch at sunrise. It's been less than 5 hours. That means the day is less than 10 hours. Probably 20 hours to day here, not 24 like earth."
"So . . . " he pauses, "Will that effect the cube and how long it takes before it functions again?"

"It might, but probably not. We've got 2 days and 8 hours here, instead of just 2 full days like on earth."

The rest of the day passes without anything major happening. They walk, rest and eat.

That night . . .

Sesshomaru does practice with Kagome, again. She has to heal herself, again. But this time it doesn't drain her as much. "I've gotten over the drain that cube caused." she mumbles to herself.

A campfire has been lit. With night fall the temperate drops rapidly.

Kagome looks at her futon and looks at Sesshomaru. He is standing, without _expression as he looks at her. 'How can I say no?' she thinks. 'We've been sleeping together, without problems. And it will be cold by morning. Very well, then. But this time, I'm going to wear my pajama top. I still have it. It's too bad, but duct taping the bottoms ruined them for sleeping.'

"Since it will get cold, tonight, lord Sesshomaru, if you wish, you may join me in my futon." Kagome says to Sesshomaru.

He nods. 'She is sharing what she possesses with me, like she should. Good.' he thinks.

The next day . . . Afternoon . . . they are continuing their exploration.

Sesshomaru's head snaps to the right. His ears catch some activity.

Off in the distance, near the base of the walls of the cliff, something is moving. He points.

She shrugs. They move in that direction.

Laying on the ground is a large animal.

"Except for the horns on the snout, it reminds me a lot of a Rhino, Sesshomaru. Although there are difference, a Rhino has a pointed horn and this only has a wider, blunted horn."

"A rhino?"

"From India."

"Ahh. Yes, I remember reading the description now."

It is laying on its side. Its breathing is labored. To both of them it is obvious that the animal is in distress.

"I wonder what's wrong?" Kagome whispers as she approaches the animal and starts to pat it, trying to calm it.
"It is pregnant. I can see some movement under the skin." he says. He frowns. "Although, that doesn't make sense. This animal is a male, obviously." He gestures at it.

The animal makes a strangulated bellow. The head collapses onto the ground.

A tearing sound is heard. Blood begins to pour from the chest of the animal. Breaking noises are heard. White blood-covered bones are pushed out into the air.

From the double fist-sized hole in the chest of the animal something sticks its head up.

No eyes are visible. Just a dull black smooth-elongated skull . . . And a mouth full of teeth. It hisses at Kagome and Sesshomaru. She quickly retreats behind him. He hand is on the hilt of his sword.

"I've got a bad feeling about it . . . " she whispers.

The head twists around, scanning the surroundings, although what it's using to sense them neither one can determine.

Suddenly it leaves the body of the animal and runs away from them. It's about cat sized, but it's moving very fast. It vanishes into the cracks of the nearby cliff.

"This world might be more dangerous than this Sesshomaru believed."

"I wonder what it was?" Kagome asks. 'That reminded me of something. A movie I saw once . . . yes, that sleep-over at Yuki's. Where we tried to scare each other with the scariest movies, we knew . . . Ayumi's movie . . Alien.' She thinks.

"Sesshomaru! You need to kill it!" she cries

He frowns, "Did you not wish me to avoid killing things. That thing has done nothing to us. So, by your own wishes, I declined to kill it when it emerged."

"Lord Sesshomaru, I know what that is and it's deadly dangerous! It's got to be destroyed now while it's young!" she yells.

He smirks, "Good. I told you that you would beg me to kill. Now, beg, woman."

She glares at him, "Fine! If that's how you want it!" She goes down to her knees and says, "Lord Sesshomaru, I beg you to destroy the creature we have just seen."

He nods. "Good, I will do it." He draws Tokijin.

"Also, Lord Sesshomaru, I beg you, only to destroy that monster, not anything else."

"Woman."
"Look, Lord Sesshomaru, killing monsters is necessary. And that thing is a monster, so I've got no problems with you killing it, but that's it. I still hate the idea of you, say, killing any humans we meet, especially if the only thing they've done is fail to get out of your way fast enough to suit you."

"We will continue this discussion later, woman." He moves to the cliff and scans it.

'Hmmm . . . how to kill . . . ' he thinks.

"Run that direction woman." he points off to his left. As Kagome opens her mouth, he growls and says, "Don't argue. Do it!"

Kagome, grits her teeth, nods and runs away from the cliff. After a minute of running, she stops and turns.

Sesshomaru has flown to the top of the cliff. He swings his sword at the ground.

A huge crack appears in the ground. The rocks moan and shatter. The cliff falls in a cloud of dust onto the valley floor.

Sesshomaru flies to Kagome. "That should do it."

She looks at the smoking rocks and says, "I hope, so. Let's go find out, though." She walks to the rockslide.

***************

"What was that?" a woman cries. She points to off in the distance. A cloud of smoke is rising from a valley.

"Something happened." the man next to her says. "We've got to investigate."

The man shows the woman his PDA.

On the screen is a picture of a man-shaped alien. By the scale next to it, the alien is at least 2 meters tall. The body is very manlike. But the head, that is very different. The head looks like some sort of mutated crab. Dreadlock-like tentacles ring the skull. The mouth has mandibles, not a normal mouth. One of the tusks on the lower jaw is broken.

"Remember if we see another alien predator like this, we leave. No heroics."

"Yeah. I remember the orders."

The woman shifts the handles in front of her and the aircraft that they are in turns toward the cloud of smoke . .
The end chapter 14.

Aliens vs. Predator Part 1.

Based on the novel Aliens vs. Predator: Prey by Steve Perry.

Authors' note: The date in the story is my invention. If someone knows when the aliens stories are supposed to take place, please tell me.

This chapter flowed very quickly and is a lot larger than I thought it would be. This will probably be my longest chapter, ok.

Hopefully you, the readers, liked the Ranma reference...

Thank you for reading jeff shelton