InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome! Where are you?! ❯ Chapter 29: Gothmog, the Balrog vs. Sesshomaru & Kagome . . . ( Chapter 29 )

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

Kagome! Where are you!?

Chapter 29: Gothmog, the Balrog vs. Sesshomaru & Kagome . . .

This is a huge chapter.... wipes brow... rated R for violence... You are warned...

Judging by a couple of reviews on chapter 28, I've probably let my love of details get to me and
I've confused some readers with all the Tolkien details. So, an explanation, to help some
confused readers.
1. Since haven't explained the Valar, a quick synopsis. (For the Tolkien fans, I am simplifying
this for the non-fans, so some of the details are going to be off.)

The Valar, Maiar (lesser gods), Ainur (greater gods) are all names that refer to the powerful
good gods of middle earth. (For the record Sauron is also Maiar, he decided to follow Morgoth.
And Morgoth is technically an Ainur.) They live, with the elf races called Vanyar, Noldor and
Teleri, on an island Eden called Valinor in the western ocean. After the gods of middle earth
finished the creation of the world, they retreated to that island and they've basically stayed there.
They brought those Elvin races to the island and taught them much of what they knew.

The Noldor (or part of them) left the island, to retrieve the jewels known as the Silmarils that
Morgoth stole, and the Noldor returned to middle earth. They did this against the advice of the
Valar. In the process they swore a very nasty oath and did horrible actions trying to carry out that
oath. This has caused them to be doomed to a losing fight vs. Morgoth.

Everyone on middle earth, for the last 550+ years, has assumed that the Valar have turned their
backs on middle earth, due to the crimes of the Noldor. Finally, Earendil, with power of the
Silmaril, found a way back to the island Eden and his pleas have finally caused the Valar to act
against Morgoth (who they call Melkor).

After a ten? year delay preparing, the Valar has landed on middle earth and is marching to
Angband, Morgoth's lair to capture him.

Basically the Valar, in this story, is an army of good elves, many of whom have been alive for
thousands of years, (some of them up to four thousand years), led by Eonwe, a Maiar, or lesser
god. (He is as more powerful than Sauron or a Balrog. But, probably less than Morgoth.)

Also, I may not include all this in the story, so . . . an explanation up front on Eonwe's thoughts
at the end of chapter 28.

At the end of chapter 28, Kagome, Sesshomaru and Sauron are knocked unconscious. The Valar
arrive before they awaken. This allows them to capture Sauron, without difficulty. And they
come upon the unconscious Kagome and Sesshomaru.

Eonwe, the Herald of Manwe, determines that Kag & Sess are not from middle earth. He
separates them from their equipment and places them under observation. Why?
Tokijin is an evil weapon. The power & curse on the shards is new and unknown. A quick glance
through her books, once he does a spell that allows him to read them, confuses him. Many of the
other items (camera) also confuse him. See the story below for the cube.

Sesshomaru's aura is not that of, by Eonwe's definition, a "good" person. (There is far too much
blood on his hands for the Valar to consider Sesshomaru to be anything but evil.)

Tenseiga's healing power interests Eonwe, but the bond between Tenseiga and Sesshomaru will
confuse him.

Kagome? She is a huge mystery. She is human, but her power-level . . And the purity of her aura
. . . is a total unknown.

As such, he prefers to be cautious. His primary responsibility is the capture of Morgoth/Melkor.
The mystery of Kag/Sess & their items can wait. For years, if necessary . . .

So, he has ordered that Kagome & Sesshomaru be treated kindly, but, as a precaution, he ordered
the Vanyar to place their items elsewhere, until Morgoth is captured and he can think and
consider them fully.

________________________________

Sesshomaru wakes up. It is night outside.

He sits up, the silk coverlet over him slides down his nude chest and he looks around. His total
lack of clothes causes his mouth to twitch. 'Not again . . . '

He is laying on a wooden cot, between very smooth and comfortable sheets, with a soft,
comfortable, albeit thin, mattress under him. He is in a large white silken tent. Laying a couple
of meters away from him is Kagome. She is also laying on a similar cot, still asleep.

The thin walls of the tent let in more then enough light for him to see. Outside the tent is a large
encampment with a large amount of torches and other light sources, and these are filtering
through the thin tent. 'There should be enough light for her. But human eyes are weak, so
perhaps not.' he thinks.

There are not many furnishings in the tent. A well-crafted glass pitcher and a couple of glasses
are at the foot of each cot, and a small white towel is draped over the glasses. Under Kagome's
cot is a sturdy looking chamber pot, with some towels beside it. A small chest with a small silver
vanity mirror on top is also in the room.

Sesshomaru can hear people move about outside the tent. He doesn't understand the language
being spoken, although the language sounds very pleasing to his ears. Music is also being played
and it is also very pleasing to him.
'Well . . at least this time, it's a tent, not a stone room. And Kagome is here, not elsewhere. But . .
. no weapons and the smells coming from that small chest are that of clothes and perfumes, not
the odors of our items.'

Sesshomaru blinks. "Odd." he whispers.

'I would have thought that I'd be upset that Tokijin and Tenseiga are missing, but the thought that
Kagome is here, alive and unhurt, somehow makes my missing swords seem like a minor
annoyance, not a major problem.'

"Still, it is time to wake her up, retrieve our items, and leave this world. I am tried of waking up
and not knowing where this Sesshomaru is." He nods and stands up.

He places one hand over her mouth, to prevent her from shouting, when she wakes. He uses the
other to shake Kagome's shoulder, waking her up.

Her eyes wild, she awakens. She nods at Sesshomaru and sits up, the silk cover sliding off her
breasts. He releases her mouth.

'Nude again.' His mouth twitches at that thought. 'Still, if she is the daughter of Uzume, as she
has said, something like this should be expected. Uzume always thought of clothes as an
enticement to sex or an annoyance in the way of sex.'

She grabs the silk cloth and covers herself, glaring at Sesshomaru.

He stares back, whispering, "Will you always wake up like that?"

She grids her teeth, but she whispers, "Could I please have some privacy? I need to use the
bushes or whatever they have here."

He nods and whispers. "There is a chamber pot under your cot. No weapons, Higurashi Kagome,
and this Sesshomaru has no idea what the people outside is like. While there are the odors of a
couple of humans about, most of the odors are of a race that I've never meet. And while their
scent is very pleasing to my nose, I will not trust them."

"Yes. Thank you, Sesshomaru, sir." Kagome whispers. "I wonder what happened while we were
asleep?"
"No idea, woman. Can you see?"

Kagome looks around, the tent is dark and shadowy, but even so, she feels comfortable, safe.
"Yes. I've gotten used to moving around in the dark while with Inu-yasha."

A slight growl escapes Sesshomaru at the mention of his brother. She glares at him and fiercely
whispers, "Your brother is a major part of my life, I will mention him."

Sesshomaru nods.
"Sesshomaru?" she asks.
He raises an eyebrow.

"Your arm. . .?" wonderment leaks through into her voice.

"Sauron did it, as bribe to get this Sesshomaru to serve him. This Sesshomaru refused."

She smiles. "I'm very happy about that. Can I touch it?"

He extends his regenerated arm.

She caresses it, her fingertips sliding over his small silky white hairs. She raises his hand to her
face and kisses the back of his hand. "At the time, Sesshomaru, I was glad that he cut it off."

Sesshomaru growls, and his arm tenses in her grasp. "But . . somewhere along the way." She
shakes her head. "Perhaps due to seeing you appear each time with a new arm, obviously
wanting this back. I began to regret those thoughts."

She stares up into his eyes, tears forming in her eyes, "And I am very glad that you have it back,
Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands. Somehow, you never seemed complete before, and now
. . . "

Kagome's eyes flick up and down his body. His manhood twitches at her glance. "Now . . you
are complete and I am. . ." she kisses his hand again. ". . .very glad."

Sesshomaru coughs, and retrieves his arm from Kagome and turns around, giving her some privacy.

Sesshomaru begins to examine his new arm again in wonder. A smile appears on his face and he
thinks, 'Once I was free of that room, and I could use my powers fully, I became sure that this is
my real arm. But how? Sauron did it. I'm sure. Hmmm . . . given what happened, I had best
allow her to purify it. I'm sure that Sauron placed some controlling spell over it. That's what I
would have done in his situation.'

Kagome gets up after using the chamber pot, the pitcher of water and the towels. "Is there some
clothing in here?" she whispers. 'Damn. I've got to shave my legs, underarms and such soon.
Hopefully I can find some time. And soap and a razor . . . '

"In the chest." He replies.

Kagome opens the chest and pulls out a couple of long robes, one her size and one Sesshomaru's
size. There are some underwear, of a different pattern than she is used to, but what else could
they be? In the bottom drawer are a couple of pairs of sandals. All the clothing is silken in
texture, although, once she feels of it, she becomes less sure about that. It feels better than silk,
somehow. She passes Sesshomaru the silk robe, some underwear and a pair of sandals, he nods
as he accepts them.
They dress.

Almost as soon as they finish dressing, a rustling occurs just outside the tent's opening.

Sesshomaru steps in front of Kagome and growls . . .

The tent flaps flip up and a female elf, clad in a white robe with golden hair, stands in the
doorway. She begins to speak.

Kagome shakes her head, as she peaks out from behind Sesshomaru. "I'm afraid we don't know
that language."

'This is something I've been afraid of ever since we started jumping between worlds. That we'd
come to a world that no one knew how to speak Japanese. Yes, I can stumble through English,
and I'm really sure Sesshomaru could probably do the same with Chinese, but . . . ' she thinks.

The elf nods. She begins to sing. The song reminds Kagome of some of the chants she's heard
Miroku use, but the difference between them is that of a child with a crayon to that of an artist
with a paint brush.

Kagome and Sesshomaru blink.

The Elf woman, Earwen, smiles and she says, "There. Do you understand me now?"

"Yes." Kagome replies. Sesshomaru nods.

"Good. Please follow me. I'll take you to Eonwe and Earendil and they can explain what
happened to you."

Kagome bites her lips, 'Let's try it, all she can say is no.'
"Umm. What is your name, please?" she asks.

"I am Earwen."

"Would it be possible to learn that song?" Kagome shyly asks.

"Of course, it is simple and useful. Everyone should know it. After you have talked to Eonwe, I
will return and teach it to you" she smiles.

Kagome smiles back. 'They are nice people. I thought so. Why else would there be all the nice
items in this tent?' she thinks.

"Take this Sesshomaru to your leader, woman. He has much to explain." Sesshomaru orders.

Earwen frowns, obviously Sesshomaru's tone does not agree with her, but she turns and leads
Kagome and Sesshomaru through the camp.

The camp is a large area where many thousands of elves are sleeping, eating, and preparing their
weapons for the coming war.

Both Sesshomaru and Kagome recognize the war preparations going on. He thinks, 'Better
equipment than I've ever seen. There are no poor, rusty weapons. Everything is shiny new. Has
this army even been in a battle before? I do not think so. And they appear to be well organized.
Odd. Most armies, especially new ones, have very poor organization.'

'Very neat and clean.' Kagome thinks, 'Most of the time when Inu-yasha and I would come
across an army, the stench of sweat, blood, and shit would almost cause me to vomit.' Her mouth
twitches, 'I even did that early on, but seeing Inu-yasha look at me like I was a weakling, I never
did it again, no matter how awful the smell.'

Earwen leads them to a very large tent, with a large number of elves around it. As they walk
through the crowd, it forms a circle around them. The elves whisper among themselves, and
these are loud enough for Sesshomaru and Kagome to hear.

"Those are the two that were with Sauron, when we found him unconscious and captured him."
"Eonwe said that they were not from middle earth."
"Yes, but from where?"
"His aura . . . have you ever seen such blackness?"
"Her aura . . . I didn't think it was possible for a human to have such a glow of life."

"Eonwe, the Herald of Manwe and the commander of this army." A tall, handsome man with an
elfish face nods to Kagome and Sesshomaru.

"Finarfin: King of the elves." A tall, handsome elf, with a jeweled circlet on his brow nods.

"Earendil the Blessed." A tall, handsome human nods to them. His helmet has a beautiful
glowing gem in it.

All three are not wearing armor, they are wearing robes similar to the ones Kagome and
Sesshomaru are wearing.

Kagome bows, "I am Higurashi Kagome, sirs."

Sesshomaru, standing firmly upright states, "This person is the great white dog demon,
Sesshomaru, the Lord of the Western Lands."

"My swords." Sesshomaru demands as he glares at them.

Everyone in the circle backs up and hisses of surprise rise from the gathered elves. Eonwe is the
Herald of Manwe, the lord of the gods and he is the leader of this army, in addition to being the
most powerful member of the army. Nobody, except maybe Morgoth, the god of evil and
Feanor, the greatest and proudest of the elves, has ever taken that tone with him.

Kagome places her hand on his arm. "Please, Sesshomaru. Let me speak, ok? Please?" she whispers.

"Very well. This Sesshomaru will give you, Higurashi Kagome, some time, but be aware my
patience is limited." Sesshomaru states in a nonsense tone as he glares at Eonwe.

'Gods . . . he is pissed.' she thinks. 'I've got to calm him down before he decides to kill everyone
here and take his swords back.'

Kagome takes a couple of steps in front of Sesshomaru, placing herself between him and Eonwe.
She bows, low to him.

"Sir. We are travelers from a far place and my companion is merely upset that our possessions
were taken from us, as we slept."

"You were found in the presence of the Maiar Sauron, the servant of Melkor. He is our enemy."
Eonwe begins, speaking in a very polite voice. "Both of you radiate a unique aura. That of
something not of this world. We are understandably concerned about you. We have no way of
knowing if you were summoned by Sauron to attack us, or did he summon you by accident."

"He did not summon us. His monsters captured us."

"Via trickery. And if I notice preparations for a similar treachery from you, I will rip your throat
out." Sesshomaru interrupts as he glares at assembled elves.

"Sesshomaru, that is not helping." Kagome hisses back at him, as the elves around them whisper
in amazement at that statement.

"It is the truth, Higurashi Kagome." Sesshomaru states, unwilling to back down, even the
slightest bit.

Kagome grimaces, but continues, "As I was saying, Lord Eonwe, Sauron captured us, we fought
him and the last thing I remember is collapsing over my companion after I knocked Sauron unconscious."

"She knocked him out!" that whisper quickly excites the crowd of elves.

"You?" Eonwe asks, his eyebrow raises.

"Yes, me." Sesshomaru growls behind her. "Although, I could not have done it without
Sesshomaru, the lord of the western lands, physically beating Sauron and weakening him so my
attack could succeed."

"Better." Sesshomaru whispers to her.
"You are speaking the truth." Eonwe states.

Kagome raises her eyebrows, "Of course, lord, telling the truth is always better than a lie."

He nods.

Kagome swallows and asks, "But my companion does have a point, while we do not wish to
attack anyone, all we do wish is to recover our possessions. And once we've done that, we'll
gladly leave."

Eonwe shakes his head. "That, at this point in time, is not possible."

Sesshomaru growls and tenses.

Kagome quickly turns, takes a couple of backward steps and grabs him. "Do not you dare!" she
hisses. "I'm still weakened from that final blast, Sesshomaru, but I've still got enough power to
make you regret any attack."

"Woman . . . " Sesshomaru growls at her.

"Dog Demon . . . " she growls back, "Please, don't fight. These are good people. I can feel it. If
we just talk, we'll get our possessions back, I promise."

Eonwe, after a pause to make sure that Sesshomaru is not attacking, states, "Higurashi Kagome,
once, Manwe the lord of the gods, has heard the story of you and your companion. And he has
examined your possessions, then he will make a decision about you and them."

Earendil, for the first time speaks, "And Higurashi Kagome, I believe from watching you, that he
will decide in your favor."

"How long will this process take?" Sesshomaru demands as he glares at them from over
Kagome's head.

Eonwe and Earendil look at each other. Eonwe announces, "Some time, Lord Sesshomaru. We
are in the middle of a war with Melkor."

The blank looks on Kagome and Sesshomaru face get to him. "Or Morgoth as he is known on
middle earth."

That statement gets him more blank looks. "Sauron's master." he tries.

They both nod, finally, understanding the point he was trying to get to. 'Hmmm. I think I've
heard of Sauron before. Now that I think about it . . . ' Kagome thinks, 'Something about a movie
that Ayumi, Eri and Yuka were talking about, but I never had the free time to see. Oh, well,
when I get back home, I'll ask them.'
"The war with Melkor takes priority over the questions about you two. We must finish this war first."

"How long?" Sesshomaru demands.

Eonwe, Finarfin and Earendil look at each other. Eonwe, finally says, "Unknown. The previous
war took a year, as men measure time, before Melkor was captured. We hope to take less time,
we are better prepared than before, and Melkor's power was reduced as a penalty for the last time."

"And then?" Sesshomaru continues to speak in that very nasty tone.

Finarfin says, "Then we will have to return to Valinor. You two will have to wait on one of the
surrounding islands, no mortal can set foot on Valinor."

Sesshomaru snorts at that statement.

"Your items and your story will be taken to Manwe and he will consider them. Mandos, the god
of the dead, has already expressed his very strong desire to examine one of the swords that was
found. From what I've been able to determine it can heal, and perhaps do more than that." Eonwe
states. He continues to speak, ignoring the angry look at this growing on Sesshomaru's face. "He
will, no doubt, study that weapon for a long time, perhaps even a long time for gods, before he
will allow that weapon out of his grasp, if he ever does."

"Sesshomaru." Kagome hisses, her hands begin to glow as she powers up to stop his attack. "Do
not attack, let him finish."

"Manwe has expressed great displeasure at the cube that was found. It is something that men
were not supposed to know or to acquire. How you acquired it will be something he will be very
interested in."

Eonwe gazes at the two of them. "From the tone of my telepathic conversation with him, I would
consider it very unlikely that he would return that item. He considers it very dangerous. So much
so, he almost ordered me back to Valinor immediately, instead of the waging this war against Melkor."

Kagome and Sesshomaru look at each other. Kagome reaches up and Sesshomaru bends down so
they can whisper in each others ear.

Kagome whispers. "My senses are telling me where the shards are at. Have you located your swords?"

Sesshomaru subtly points toward the large tent behind Eonwe. Kagome nods, "Good. That is
where my senses are telling me the shards are at."

Kagome licks her lips, "Let's try to steal them, not kill everyone."

Sesshomaru blinks in amazement.
"I'm not going to let you kill these people, Sesshomaru. They are good people, trying to contain a
great evil." Kagome licks her lips, "And waiting years before they make up their minds about us,
I'm not going to do that. So that leaves stealing them back. But since they are already our
possessions, we are really reacquiring what is ours. "

Sesshomaru whispers, "You have been around my brother, too much. He is a sneak and a thief."

"It's better than killing them." Kagome replies, "And I'm still weak from that fight with Sauron
and I'm sure you are too. And look at them, they know what we have to be whispering about, and
they are prepared, if we wait, we'll be at full strength and they will lower their guard, that way
we can get our possessions with as little damage as possible."

Sesshomaru pauses, "Very well, Higurashi Kagome. I can wait, for a little while." They break
apart. Kagome stands in front of Sesshomaru, again.

"Lord Eonwe. Sir. Does the fact that those items belong to us matter?"

"It does. But, some of those items will be studied and examined by the gods at Valinor."

Kagome bites her lips, "Then, Sir, may we be excused to return to the tent we woke up in." She
smiles, "And can we have some food, and of other amenities."

"Of course, Higurashi Kagome, by my orders you and your companion are to be treated with
respect and honor, but your movements will be restricted to within this encampment. Other than
that, you are free to do as you wish." Eonwe replies.

Kagome nods. "Thank you, Lord Eonwe."

Kagome and Sesshomaru return to their tent, after Sesshomaru glares at the entire circle of elves
that surround them. All the elves flinch at the impact of that glare.

Back at the tent fine food and drink is delivered. Earwen returns and as she promised she teaches
Kagome the song of language. While teaching it, Kagome and Earwen quickly become friends
with each other. Earwen gives Kagome a short history lesson on middle earth.

Sesshomaru spends this time, standing outside the tent, just staring at something only he can see
in the night. He is listening, of course.

Earwen leaves.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asks.

"Sesshomaru, sir?"

"Lord Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands, will you, please, acknowledge me?"
Sesshomaru turns and enters the tent where Kagome is standing.

"I am sorry, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, I should not have ordered you around
earlier." Kagome whispers, "I was just trying to prevent innocent people from dying."

"If they steal from Sesshomaru, they are not innocent."
"That doesn't mean that you have the right to massacre them."

"I am not going to debate this with you, human bitch." he says in a very dead tone.

Kagome glares at him, "Sesshomaru, I thought we were friends and that means, I can tell you the
truth and help you not to make mistakes. And killing them would be a mistake."

Sesshomaru states in voice with no emotion, "This Sesshomaru may not need a friend."

Kagome closes her eyes, to conceal her tears. In a voice rough with emotion, she whispers,
"Fine. When are you going to reacquire your swords?"

"This Sesshomaru will wait until just before dawn and then he will reacquire his swords."

"By force or by stealth?"

Sesshomaru pauses. "Stealth, if possible. The power of these creatures is unknown and it is
prudent to move with caution. But. If necessary, by force."

"I am coming with you." Kagome declares.

Sesshomaru pauses, but he nods.

Kagome looks around, "And since I do not how long we'll have, I'm going to try to rest, Sesshomaru."

She lays down on the cot. Still, fully clothed, and covers herself with the silk coverlet.

Time passes . . .

'Why am I feeling hurt?' Sesshomaru thinks. 'She is laying there on that cot, awake and angry,
just pretending to be asleep. I can sense that. But why is her being angry at me . . . hurting me.
My swords are important, the cube is important and we need to recover them and her
possessions, doesn't she understand that? Well . . . she did bring up recovering them by stealth
first, but still.'

He bites his lips. His tongue wipes the blood off his lips. 'But why does her anger hurt so much?
And what can I do to stop the pain?'

"You never have slept, have you?" Sesshomaru states.
"No. I was too worried."

"I would not have left without you."

"If you were my friend, I would believe you."

Sesshomaru pauses . . . "This Sesshomaru spoke rashly, Higurashi Kagome."

Kagome looks at him. "Was that an apology?"

Sesshomaru pauses. He nods.

Kagome smiles, "Thank you, Lord of the Western Lands. And I wish to thank my friend for his
rescue of me. If you had not interrupted Sauron, he was going to destroy my mind." She gives
him a thin smile, "And I've been mind controlled enough times, not to want that to happen again."

Sesshomaru nods, "And I wish to thank my friend for shaking the building we were in. That
broke the seal around the room, which freed this Sesshomaru from a room that sealed his powers."

Kagome's mouth twitches, "So. We saved each other."

Sesshomaru nods.

"Good."

"It's time to leave, Higurashi Kagome." Sesshomaru says.

Kagome grimaces, but nods.

They leave the tent and begin to cross the encampment toward Eonwe's tent. The predawn light
of the sun is leaking over the horizon. The upper slopes of the nearby mountain range begin to
shine from the sunlight hitting the snowy slopes.

About halfway there, Earwen steps out from behind a tent, and she, with a smile in her voice,
asks, "Higurashi Kagome." She smiles, "I was just about to start breakfast for you. Do you wish
to help?"

Kagome and Sesshomaru look at each other, Kagome is about to speak, when her head,
Sesshomaru's head and Earwen's heads all whip around and look at the mountain range to the east.

Something evil and powerful are coming . . . they can sense it . . . Coming out of the deep
shadows of those mountains they can see a huge dragon flying toward the encampment. Riding
the dragon is a large flaming humanoid shape.

The dragon, Scatha, radiates an aura of fear, as does the Balrog, by the name of Gothmog, riding
it. So, as Scatha flies close to the ground this causes most of the animals in the encampment to
panic and as well as many of the elves, none of which were expected a predawn attack.

Riding the Dragon, the Balrog extends his flaming whip, catching some of the tents on fire and
grabbing elves in its fiery grasp. Scatha takes a deep breath and billows a huge sheet of flame at
the ground.

"Sesshomaru!" Kagome grabs his arm, "If we stop them, then Eonwe will owe us. And we can
use that to get our items back."

"Perhaps . . " Sesshomaru looks around at the Elvin army, "They do need some help this attack is
causing them to panic and if we give them a few minutes to organize, they, no doubt, would
defeat these two monsters easily."

"Find me a bow, Sesshomaru." Kagome orders, "Please. I'll attract their attention and. . "

"And the Sesshomaru will defeat them." Sesshomaru vanishes, only to reappear with a bow and
a quiver of arrows in his hand.

Earwen gasps at his speed, and so does the other elves that were watching. That speed was very unexpected.

Kagome raises the bow and fires at the huge dragon .

A streak of light hits the tail of the dragon. The dragon's speed confused her and she almost missed.

The dragon screams in agony and turns toward Kagome.

Gothmog screams at Scatha, "Good. Now follow the plan. You attack the elves and I'll go after
that unknown power. Morgoth determined that it's definitely not from this world and he wants it destroyed."

"Kill it, boss." Scatha hisses as Gothmog jumps off and begins to fly toward Kagome.

Balrogs are huge creatures of flame and shadow. Their flaming wings aren't powerful enough to
actually allow them to fly, but their natural magical power, on the other hand, does.

He dives at Kagome.

Kagome fires an arrow at him. He is far enough away that he dodges the arrow . . .

'Ok. Point blank, then.' Kagome thinks.

She pulls back an arrow and waits, watching the Balrog grows in size as he dives on her.

She releases the arrow at point blank range. It is aimed at the Balrog's head.

He, at the last second, ducks his head and the arrow vaporizes one of the huge horns that protect
his skull. The arrow still has enough power to gouge a scar into his skull, but does not have
enough remaining power to split his skull.

The impact of that blast causes the Balrog to land heavily away from Kagome, instead of on her
like he had planned, however.

"Powerful!" Kagome screams as she tires to ready another arrow.

"Yes. Unlike that coward Sauron, this monster's power is designed for combat, not magic."
Sesshomaru states as he concentrates.

'For the first time since that battle with Inu-yasha, I am at full power and can change into my
natural shape.' Sesshomaru smiles. 'It's been too long . . . I'm going to enjoy this . . . '

He changes . . .

The huge white Dog Demon stands where Sesshomaru was.

Gothmog stands towering over Kagome. His head still smoking from her arrow.

He raises his sword to kill her . .

She is trying to ready an arrow to fire at him, but the aura of fear that a Balrog radiates is causing
her hands to shake.

Sesshomaru opens his mouth and, for the first time on Middle Earth the Battle Challenge of
Sesshomaru is heard . . .

"RRROOOAAARRR!"

The battlefield stops as everyone turns to locate the source of that roar. Even Scatha and Eonwe,
who were about to fight each other stop and look.

Gothmog turns around and faces . . .

The huge white dog demon, Sesshomaru, as he roars again his battle challenge.

Sesshomaru charges, his mouth open . .

Gothmog charges, his whip of flame in one hand, his sword of lightning in another . .

They meet . . .

'Great.' Kagome thinks, she finally got the arrow ready, 'I can't fire this now, it'll hit him . . . '

Both the huge Balrog and the huge Sesshomaru are rolling on the ground, hopelessly entangled.
Sesshomaru is clawing and biting pieces of the Balrog off.

The fires of the Balrog are burning Sesshomaru.

The stench of burning hair and burning flesh fill the air . . .

To Kagome it looks like the fire of the Balrog will win . . .

"Earwen!" Kagome shouts to her. Earwen, who was frozen in fear, starts and looks at Kagome.

"Get our swords! We need that power!"

"But!?"

"Eonwe is a good man. He'll forgive you! Just get those weapons and we'll save lives and that's
the most important thing!" Kagome yells.

Earwen looks at Sesshomaru, looks at Kagome. She nods, turns and runs off.

'Now, what do I do in the mean time?' Kagome thinks.

'Ah, I know. I wonder if it knows Japanese?' She smiles, readies her bow and arrow, once she's
ready she yells in Japanese, "Sesshomaru get away for a second and let me shoot!"

Sesshomaru, hearing this, releases Gothmog's right arm that he has been trying to rip off. He
jumps off Gothmog, pushing Gothmog over.

As Gothmog stands up, Kagome's arrow shatters the bones holding his right wing on, blowing it
away, but the thick bones on the back of the Balrog protect his heart, where she was aiming.

He staggers to the ground, and as he looks up, Sesshomaru, who used those few seconds to heal,
jumps him again . . .

Kagome readies another arrow, and watches the two huge monsters roll around on the ground.

"Kagome!" Earwen yells. She is carrying three swords.

"Earwen! Thank you!" Kagome yells as she drops her bow and runs to her. Kagome takes the
three swords from her.

She shoves the points of Tokijin and Tenseiga, still sheathed, into the ground. 'He has to be
aware that they are here, all I've got to do is give him a chance to get to them.'

She looks up at Earwen and the elves that are also watching and yells, "Get away from here, now!"

The elves look at each other, and retreat, not quite as far as Kagome would like, but, you can't
have everything.

She pulls Jaa Kalpa and drops the sheath. She does not power up the weapon. 'Like Sesshomaru
said, if I've got a surprise, make sure it works.' she thinks.

She takes a deep breath, 'This is not like with Inu-yasha, there is nobody else but me. I've got to
help him, or leave him. And there is no way I'll leave him.' She looks at Jaa Kalpa. 'But best way
to use this is to stick it inside that monster. And that means getting in hand to hand combat.'

She takes a deep breath, 'With those aliens it was easy, they were attacking me, all I had to do
was stand there. This time . . . I've got to attack. Now, I understand all those stories that I've
heard about courage. Courage is not letting your friends down, even if that means facing death.'

She charges the rolling pile of anger and hate that is Sesshomaru and Gothmog.

In the time it took her to get ready, it becomes obvious that Sesshomaru is losing.

The fires of Gothmog are burning him faster than he can regenerate and while Sesshomaru is
hurting Gothmog, none of his attacks are killing Gothmog . . .

The pile has finally stopped rolling . .

Gothmog is on top of Sesshomaru, his clawed hands are around Sesshomaru's throat, trying to
burn his head off . . .

Kagome jumps . . . and as she jumps she powers Jaa Kalpa.

She strikes Gothmog's back, trying to cut his spine in half. The freezing power of Jaa Kalpa
protects her from the Balrog's flames, but that reduces the force of the attack . .

The bones of Gothmog's back prevent what's left of the attack from slicing his spine in half.

Kagome jumps off his back and rolls. She stands up, ready to attack. 'That didn't work. Now what?'

The cold of Jaa Kalpa and the surprise of the attack cause the Balrog to roar in pain.

He lets go of Sesshomaru and turns around to face the new threat.

As soon as Gothmog is standing between her and Sesshomaru, Kagome swings Jaa Kalpa and
the Balrog is enveloped in the wave of cold . . .

The fires of the Balrog swell .

Fire vs. Ice . . .

Gothmog conjures his whip of fire and attacks Kagome.
Jaa Kalpa cuts of the tip of the whip, only to have it re-grow . .

Kagome and Gothmog begin to circle each other. 'Sesshomaru, hurry, while I've got his
attention, heal and grab Tokijin. Between the two of us, we can beat him. I've matched his
power, so you can kill him.' she thinks.

Kagome's eyes widen as she sees Sesshomaru.

He is laying on his side, flames rises from his fur, obviously badly hurt.

'I can feel Tokijin and Tenseiga.' Sesshomaru's remaining eye shifts to the weapons. 'No. I will
not lose in my natural form. I will stay this shape and I will win!' he thinks. He directs his full
power into healing.

His burned face, including the one eye that was destroyed, heal. The white fur that was burned
off of ninety percent of his body re-grows. The third degree burns that covered more than
seventy-five percent of his body heal to only second degree burns.

He stands and roars his battle challenge again.

He starts to circle Gothmog as well. He always places Gothmog between him and Kagome.

Gothmog thinks, 'The dog was a surprise, but I can beat him. This woman, though . . . I must
defeat!' He turns to charge Kagome. As soon as Gothmog's back is toward him, Sesshomaru
jumps on his back, his jaws latch onto the Balrog's neck. And even through the flames are
burning his face off, Sesshomaru increases the pressure on Gothmog's neck, trying to rip his
head off.

The force of Sesshomaru's attack shoves Gothmog and Sesshomaru onto Kagome.

The two huge beings crush her into the ground, her bones snap . .

They roll off her, but somehow her left hand is holding onto one of the cuts in the Balrog's hide
that Sesshomaru had made earlier.

And even though she can feel her lungs beginning to fill with blood from her crushed chest, even
though both legs are broken . . .

Since she is directing the full power of Jaa Kalpa to attack, the flame of the Balrog is burning her
. .

But . . .

Kagome still has the strength to shove Jaa Kalpa into Gothmog's chest, between his ribs, through
his muscles and into his heart . .
Sesshomaru, after gathering his strength, pulls on Gothmog's neck . .

Whether Gothmog's head popped off before or after Kagome froze his heart solid . . .

No one will ever know . . .

Gothmog, the lord of the Balrog's, is dead . . .

(Authors' note: I seriously thought of ending this chapter here. But . . . this isn't where I want this
chapter to end at, so . . )

Sesshomaru's jaw opens, he grasps the headless corpse of Gothmog and flings it aside, revealing
Kagome's crushed body, with Jaa Kalpa still in her grasp . . .

He whines, a sound that causes all of the elves within hearing to form tears in their eyes, only
someone who is in love and watching his love die could create such a sound.

Kagome coughs, blood goes everywhere, and she whispers, "Did it . . . " her eyes close and her
breathing stops . . .

Sesshomaru's head snaps around. He stares at the elf that was gathering up Tenseiga and Tokijin
on the orders of Eonwe.

Sesshomaru moves . . .

The elf flies off in the distance, blood trailing, dead from Sesshomaru's attack.

Sesshomaru changes his shape. The burns around his face make his face look horrible. He has no
hair, his lips, nose and ears have been burned off. His eyes are the third set of eyes he's grown in
this battle. Tenseiga and Tokijin are in his fist. He is regenerating and in a couple of minutes
he'll be fine, but . . .

The elves that have gathered around flinch at the emotions shining in his eyes and turn away.

He pulls Tenseiga and moves to Kagome.

He swings Tenseiga over Kagome's dead body.

She coughs up blood and lives again . . .

"When I find out who came up with that saying about cowards die many times before their
deaths: the valiant never taste death but once, I'm going to get really mad at them . . " she
whispers, her eyes still closed.

She opens her eyes, "Sesshomaru!" she yells. She quickly stands up and hugs him. "You're hurt."
Sesshomaru tries to raise an eyebrow, but since they have not grown back yet, "Very observant."
he replies.

She rolls her eyes. "Lay down and let me heal you."

"Do you have the power?"

"Don't worry about it."

'Tenseiga's power is also increased on this world. In a couple of hours the power boost that
Tenseiga gave me will fade and I'll feel horrible, but, until then, I'm ok. Not full power, but
close.' she thinks. 'More than enough to heal Sesshomaru.'

Sesshomaru lays down and Kagome places her hands on his chest and heals him.

During the battle with the Balrog . . . Eonwe defeats Scatha. He is arrayed in gleaming armor,
with a long spear as his major weapon. As Sesshomaru stands up after Kagome heals him,
Eonwe arrives at the battle scene between Gothmog and Sesshomaru and Kagome.

More elves, with weapons and armor, follow him . . .

Eonwe says, "Thank you for your help against the Balrog, Higurashi Kagome and Sesshomaru,
lord of the Western lands."

"He was evil." Kagome replies, as she again moves to stand between Sesshomaru and Eonwe.
"My life recently has been full of times that my friends and I have fought against evil and won."

Eonwe nods. "However, that weapon of Sesshomaru's." He points to Tenseiga. "Must be brought
to the god of the Dead. It did bring you back to life, Higurashi Kagome, and that is forbidden."

"You will take my weapons over my dead body." Sesshomaru growls, his hand on Tokijin's hilt.

"Please, Eonwe, herald of Manwe, please!" Kagome begs, "Cannot our fight with that monster
allow us to keep our own items?"

"No." Eonwe judges. "What was ruled earlier will stand."

A pause as Sesshomaru and Eonwe stare at each other, over Kagome's head, trying to dominate
the other . . .

"Give me your weapons, Sesshomaru Lord of the Western Lands, and all will be made right."
Eonwe pronounces.

"Never!" Sesshomaru growls.
Tokijin leaves its sheath . .

Kagome grabs Sesshomaru's arm.

They look at each other in the eyes . . .

'Eonwe is a god of good. I want to obey him.' Kagome thinks at she stares into his eyes, 'I must
try to prevent any violence from happening. And I still have the power to stop Sesshomaru. I can
prevent anybody else from dying. But . . . If I attack Sesshomaru . . . Whatever we are feeling
together . . . whether it is friendship or . . . something more . . . that is growing between us will
die . . . '

'What do I do?' she silently asks the gods for advice . . .

DOOM . . . _________________________________

The end chapter 29.

What should Kagome do?

Any suggestions?

Should she attack Sesshomaru?

Or should she help Sesshomaru in his attack on the good gods of Middle Earth?

Or is there a third option?

I do have a very good idea about what will happen next, but, if someone wants to add in their
opinion, feel free. I can always change my mind . .

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

Authors' note: Time line. I have had reviewers request this, so . . .

Day 0. Chapter 1: the cube

Day 1 & 2: chapter 2 to 7 : Tran-ky-ky, ice world

Day 3 & 4: chapter 8 to 13: dinosaur world

Day 4 & 5 & extra ½ day: chapter 14 to 17 Aliens vs. Predator world (the extra ½ day is when
they stayed with the convoy and the fight with the aliens/predators.)

Day 6 & 7: chapter 18 to 24 iron age Japan.
Day 8 & 9 & more: chapter 26 to present: middle earth. (The time that they've spent here will be
fuzzy, they've both been unconscious for hours . . . and Kagome's watch is missing . . . )

Thank you for reading,
Jeff Shelton .