InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome! Where are you?! ❯ kagome vs Eonwe ( Chapter 30 )

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

Chapter 30: Kagome vs. Eonwe

As a reminder: Morgoth and Melkor are the same evil god.

Corrected by Angelica Birmingham
______________________________________________

From Ch 29 . .

"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 as 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 . .

A timeless pause . . .

"Sesshomaru, please, I'll promise you anything, just let me try to get us out of here without
fighting." Kagome begs Sesshomaru, tears in her eyes.

"Anything?" His voice rumbles deep in his chest as he asks that.

Kagome swallows, "Yes. Anything. I trust you not to abuse that promise." She looks deep into
his eyes as she makes that statement.

A pause . . .

Sesshomaru sheaths' Tokijin. "Very well, Higurashi Kagome. I will give you one last chance."
He breaks eye contact with her, and sweeps the area with his eyes.

He glares at Eonwe. "But, I will, under no circumstances, give up possession of my father's
sword. That I, Sesshomaru, Lord of Western Lands, hereby swears."
Kagome takes a deep breath. To free her hands, she stabs Jaa Kalpa into the earth, its sheath was
thrown off to the side at the start of the battle, and she has not had time to recover it.

Her hands go to the remains of the robe that she was given earlier trying to hold it together. It
was burned during the fight with the Balrog, and when you add in the blood and dirt still on her .
. . her appearance is not very clean. There is enough left of the robe to cover herself, but just barely.

Sesshomaru, of course, is immaculate in his white robe. ‘I've got to get him to teach me that
cleaning spell . . . ' is an instantaneous, envious thought, as Kagome looks at him.

‘I've got a lot to work with. I only have a half-burnt robe, some underwear and my sword.
Sesshomaru has a robe and his swords. I do not have the cube, the shards, or any of my modern
items.' She catalogs what she has as she thinks of a plan . . .

She moves between Sesshomaru and Eonwe, looks at the ground, takes a deep breath and looks
up, staring at Eonwe's face.

"Is there anyway for you to let us, and our items, go?" she begs.

A pause . . .

Eonwe shakes his head, no. "I am deeply sorry, Higurashi Kagome. I can see that this means a
great deal to you, but I must be true to my lord. You, your companion and your items are
important and must be examined. Once that is done, the proper decision can be made."

Eonwe inclines his head to her, "I do promise, once we have returned to Valinor, to press my
lord Manwe for a quick decision, but that is all I can do."

Kagome takes a deep breath, "What about if we promised to leave middle earth."

Her eyes flick to the just risen sun. ‘I wish I know how long we were here, but between the
gassing and my watch being gone, I just don't know.' she thinks during a short pause.

She continues to speak, "By the start of the next day. We will take all of our items with us. And
we will give a promise never to return to this world."

She bites her lip, twists to look at Sesshomaru and finishes with, "I will make any reasonable
oath to that effect, and I'm sure my companion will do the same." She nods to Sesshomaru.

"Any reasonable oath." Sesshomaru repeats as he slowly nods. He is obviously meaning that his
standard on reasonable might be different from Kagome's.

Kagome turns to Eonwe, with a hopeful look on her face.

Eonwe shakes his head, no. "In my telepathic conversations with my lord Manwe and the Lord
Mandos, both of them have expressed tremendous interest in you and your items. They have
both impressed upon me the importance of you and your items arriving at Valinor."

Kagome licks her lips and closes her eyes, "Lord Eonwe, I do not want to go against you. My
head tells me that you are good, honest and your only desire to do the best for us."

"That is true." he interrupts.

Kagome opens her eyes, tears beginning to form, "But, my heart tells me to stand beside my
friend, Sesshomaru. Must I choose? Or can you give me some other choice? I do not want to
attack you and." deep breath . . "And I will not attack my friend Sesshomaru. So, if forced, I will
stand by his side."

Sesshomaru looks at the back of Kagome's head, as he thinks, ‘I would have sworn that she
would have gone against me. I know how much she hates killing. Her powers plus Eonwe's great
power levels, which I can feel instinctively, would stop me before any deaths would occur. She
knows that I was not joking or bluffing, and yet, she'll still stand by side . . . what a woman . .
and to think I almost killed her how many times . . . '

a pause . .

"No. I cannot." Eonwe says in a small voice. "You must choose."

Kagome closes her eyes, and lowers her head, tears begin to fall from her eyes. "To stand against
you is to be evil in your eyes . . . " she whispers loud enough so Sesshomaru, Eonwe, Earendil
and some of the other nearby elves to hear.

‘The pain in her voice . . . ' Sesshomaru thinks, his hands twitch, wanting to gather her into his
arms to comfort her, but he does nothing.

She swallows and looks up, her eyes full of emotion. "Earlier tonight Earwen told me some of
the history of this world, Lord Eonwe. And she told be about the evil that Melkor has done."

She takes a deep breath, "Please do not force me to attack you and do evil, Lord Eonwe. All of
your power should be saved for the attack on Melkor, not us. I do not want to help Melkor by
attacking you, but, unless we can leave with our items, I will be your enemy. You do not know
evil the way that I know evil, please. Let's us make that oath and leave."

"No. Higurashi Kagome, I sympathize with you, but I cannot take your side against the greater
gods of middle earth. And I have faced Melkor before, I know more about evil than you do."
Eonwe discloses in a small voice.

Kagome breathes out, "All the evil that you have known, Eonwe, is from Melkor . . . Your life
and the life of these elves."

She waves at the surrounding elves. "Except for a couple of occasions, have been full of peace,
on an Eden full of good. You know very little about evil, Lord Eonwe. Do you want to know
about evil? Lord Eonwe, I will teach you about evil. I've fought evil on a daily basis for longer
than I care to think about." The emotions in her voice cause it to become rough, unsteady . .

She waves to the still smoking corpse of the Balrog, "And I don't mean soldiers like that, I mean
evil."

She glares into Eonwe eyes, "Evil like watching one of your best friends die, slowly, day by day
due to a curse and you can't do anything about it."

‘I cannot even give him any support or sympathy because of Inu-yasha's jealousy. He'll mistake
my caring about Miroku for something else, not just my concern for the well-being of a person I
would trust with my life and soul.' she thinks. She tries to lighten her thoughts finishing with,
‘My body, of course, is another story.'

but her thoughts return to what she is saying, and her voice still heavy with emotion, Kagome
continues . .

"Evil like knowing that one of these days, I'm going to have to kill my very best friend's, only
living family, her younger brother. Because he has a cursed gem shard in his back."

Kagome grits her teeth, "And the worst of it is, when it comes time to do it . . . my best friend
will never allow anybody but her to kill her brother."

Sesshomaru's hand shifts to from Tokijin to Tenseiga. He considers as he thinks, ‘I can change
that . . . and it's very important to her . . . does that make it important enough to me that I would
raise that boy from the dead? Rin . . . She cares for the boy as well . . I will have to think about
this . . . '

His hand shifts back to Tokijin's hilt.

The elves that are listening to Kagome begin to whisper among themselves . . . tears are
beginning to form in many of their eyes . .

"Evil is watching a beautiful, smart little boy have to grow up instantly instead of having a
happy childhood, because his parents are dead." Kagome's voice breaks. "And knowing it's your
fault that his parents are dead, because of a stupid fight over a cursed gem shard that you caused."

Tears fall . . .

Only Sesshomaru's iron control is preventing him from gathering her up to comfort her. Against
the smell of her tears, the emotions in her voice . . . all of his emotional defenses are vanishing.

Kagome whispers, only Sesshomaru and Eonwe can hear her. "And even if I could get him
through the well and to a happy home, so he could have a happy childhood, he'd still follow me
into danger."
Kagome looks at Eonwe, not that she's is actually looking at him, her eyes are so full of tears, he
is just a vague blob in her line of sight.

She cries, but through the tears she continues to bare her soul to Eonwe, hoping that to do so will
change his mind . .

"Evil . . . Evil is knowing that the . . . man . . . that I want be happy with, the man that I want to
make happy . . . " Kagome pauses, swallowing her tears, "Evil is knowing that one day, in order
to make him happy . . I will have to watch him descend into hell in the arms of a woman that
hates him."

Her voice crackling with emotion, "And I'll have to smile while I watch him vanish into hell . . . "

"All you know of evil, is from Melkor . . and all Melkor is . . . is a self-centered bully that thinks
the world revolves around him."

Something, when Kagome announces that, causes Sesshomaru to twitch . . .

A pause . . .

All of the elves have tears in their eyes, and many are openly weeping. Earendil and others are
whispering to Eonwe. Many of those whispers are loud enough that Kagome and others can hear
them. They are pleas to Eonwe to listen to Kagome and accept her offer to leave middle earth
and never to return.

Sesshomaru, finally, has moved up to Kagome and is holding her by her waist, keeping her
upright. "Kagome." He whispers, "That was foolish."

Her mouth twitches, "You called me Kagome. Thank you." she whispers back.

She swallows and shakes her head, "When I started, all I was thinking about was trying to tell
him some of my history, to convince him that we have great responsibilities and need to leave,
but . . . but, when I opened my mouth . . . all that came out. I wasn't planning on it, Sesshomaru."

(Authors' note: Absolute truth here. I, the writer, was not planning on that speech. It just
happened. Kagome is telling Sesshomaru what was in my outline/plan . . . )

"Lady Higurashi Kagome." Eonwe pronounces, as he speaks, the elves that had been gathered
around him, move back.

Kagome and Sesshomaru look at him. Kagome leans back into Sesshomaru's chest. His arms are
still holding her waist, and his tail encircles her legs.

"All of your items, except for the cube and the sword that Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western
lands, used to raise you from the dead are yours."
Eonwe waves in the direction of his tent. Sesshomaru and Kagome can see smoke raising from
that area.

"However, the dragon Scatha, did try to kill me and used his flaming breath on my tent. I
extended my power to protect it, but, not everything of mine, much less everything of yours,
survived. Once we are finished here, I will use my powers to find all of your items that survived
and I will give them to you with my own hands."

Eonwe reaches into his armor and pulls out Kagome's necklace with the shards in a small leather
bag hanging from the end. "I was studying these when he attacked. So, to show my good
intentions, here, Lady Higurashi Kagome, your gem shards." He softly throws the necklace to her.

Kagome opens the pouch and she spills the gem shards into her palm. She closes her fist around them.

"And my sword and the cube?" Sesshomaru growls.

Eonwe pauses, licks his lips and looks around, all the elves he can see are begging him to side
with Kagome.

"I will communicate with my Lord Manwe and Lord Mandos, now, and try to change their
minds about those items." He declares.

Eonwe's eyes roll up in his head and he falls into a trance, telepathically communicating with the
greater gods of middle earth. Most of the conversation is silent, but out of Eonwe's mouth
everyone can hear . . "Please, lord Manwe, I beg of you, accept the oath of Lady Higurashi
Kagome that she has offered. I can sense no evil in her and only a desire to leave middle earth . .
. "

Tears fall from Eonwe's eyes . .

Eonwe's eyes unroll and he sighs, deeply.

"Lady Higurashi Kagome and Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, I am deeply sorry, but,
neither my Lord Manwe nor Lord Mandos have changed their minds. They each wish to meet
you before they make any decision about you and your situation."

A pause. "If it is any consolation, I firmly believe that the meeting would only be a formality and
once it is over you would be free to travel on."

"And how long would this take?" Sesshomaru asks.

"The war against Melkor remains my overriding priority, Lord Sesshomaru. That must be
finished before I can send you, and an escort to show you the way, back to Valinor. That trip,
alone, will take weeks."

"Unacceptable. This Sesshomaru has responsibilities that cannot wait weeks or months, or
perhaps even years, correct?"

Eonwe, slowly, nods. "Yes, it may take months or even years before you appear before Manwe
and Mandos."

"Then begin your attack, Eonwe, for I will not remain here. I will take the cube and such items
of ours that I can find and leave. If you wish to stop me with violence," Sesshomaru smiles,
"Please do so."

Eonwe and Sesshomaru glare at each other. Eonwe shifts the position of his hand on his spear,
readying it . . .

Kagome closes her eyes, and tears drip down her checks. "I'm not finished yet." She whispers.

Sesshomaru and Eonwe stare at her.

Kagome takes a deep breath, places her hand on Tokijin's hilt, and staring into Sesshomaru eyes,
she declares, "Today, I will stand at your side, Sesshomaru, and fight your enemies with all my might."

She looks at Eonwe, her hand still on Tokijin's hilt, "That decision forces me to fight you, Eonwe."

Eonwe nods. Sesshomaru nods.

"Lord Sesshomaru of the Western lands, please, allow me to finish before you begin any attack."

Sesshomaru takes a deep breath. ‘I do not like letting her decide when I attack, but if she does
something very foolish, I will, at least warn her, before I do anything.'

He nods, accepting Kagome request.

Kagome turns to Eonwe. She takes a deep breath, rubs her face to remove the tears on it and
glares into his eyes. She moves to Jaa Kalpa and places her hand on its hilt.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I know that you were planning on saving this ability of yours as a surprise in
the coming battle, but, if you could, please, at your normal combat speed, recover the sheath for
my sword and bring it to me."

"Why?" Sesshomaru growls.

"Because I'm your friend and I ask it of you. Because, Lord Sesshomaru, since Eonwe refuses to
give us a good choice, I am going to give him an even worse choice. Please, Sesshomaru." Her
voice ends in pleading tone.

"Very well. I am interested in hearing what kind of choice you will give him." Sesshomaru replies.
He moves . . . fast, very fast . . . finding Jaa Kalpa's sheath, it had become buried in the dirt
during the battle with the Balrog, and places it in Kagome's hand.

He does not move with his full combat speed, but it is still fast enough for all the elves to
whisper among themselves . .

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." Kagome pulls Jaa Kalpa out of the ground and sheaths it.

"Lord Eonwe. During all my fights with evil, one of the worst things that happens to me, is not
how badly hurt I am, but how badly hurt my friends are. This is especially true when I know that
they were hurt because of my actions." She stares at Eonwe.

Her voice crackling with emotion. "Lord Sesshomaru, do you wish to hurt Eonwe in the worst
way possible?"

"Yes."

"Then, when the fight begins, do not attack him." Kagome waves at the surrounding elves.
"Attack his friends, his companions . . for I am sure that hurting them will cause him more pain
and anguish than any physical hurt you could cause him. And do not kill them, not because
killing is bad, but because seeing his wounded friends and hearing their cries of pain, will hurt
him more than their dead bodies. I will attack him, and I will hold him for as long as I can, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru looks at Eonwe, who has a stunned _expression on his face, he has never considered
such an attack. ‘By my training, by my honor, I should attack the leader of the enemy, Eonwe in
this case. But, Kagome is correct, I can hurt him more by doing as she suggested.' he thinks.

"I will do as you request, Lady Higurashi Kagome." Sesshomaru in his cold dead voice
acknowledges her plan.

Kagome shifts her attention to Earendil and she stares at the great, beautiful and glowing
Silmaril in his helmet. She holds out the shards of the gem of four souls. "These are part of a
magical gemstone, Lord Earendil. I accidentally broke it."

She licks her lips, "I wonder can I break the gem you are wearing?"

"When the Silmaril's were hollowed and made pure . ." Earendil confidently replies, "Higurashi
Kagome, it was foretold that nothing from Middle Earth would ever break one."

"I am not from Middle Earth." Kagome states. Earendil pales, many of the elves standing next to
him pale as well. "So, I wonder . . . into how many pieces will I shatter it into?"

Eonwe interrupts with, "You wouldn't dare."
Kagome glares at him, her mind flashes, ‘This is a plan that only Inu-yasha would think of, but .
. . '

She utters in an emotion filled voice, "The only way to get you to free us is to make keeping us
worse than letting us go, Eonwe. And that is what I intend to do."

She holds out the shards to him. "Do you see these, Eonwe? These are my curse, my
responsibility." She waves her other hand at the surround elves. "From what I was told, the
entire mess with Melkor has occurred due to an oath and a curse on the Silmarils."

"To a degree, you are correct, Higurashi Kagome." He replies, "It is more complex than that, however."

"I'm close enough though, Eonwe. Consider this, if you keep us from completing our
responsibility, from fulfilling my curse, you involve yourself, your world in my curse."

She pauses . .

"Are you willing to interfere in my curse and take the chance that this battle is only the precursor
to even more horrible battles to come?" She picks out the largest shard and hands it to
Sesshomaru. "Use it in this battle."

Sesshomaru smiles, ‘She's cheating . . . never let me get on her bad side . . . '

He releases Tokijin's hilt long enough to place the shard between his palm and Tokijin.

Tokijin, still sheathed, glows black with power . .

She puts the others back into the sack in the necklace. She wraps the necklace around her right
hand. With that hand she grasps the hilt of Jaa Kalpa.

It was a warm early summer morning . . .

It is now a freezing winter morning . . . (for the Hentai's out there . . . yes, her nipples are poking
up her robe . . . )

Kagome is directing the full power of the shards into Jaa Kalpa.

Higurashi Kagome, miko, the guardian of the jewel of the four souls, pronounces . . .

"Choose now, Eonwe: Herald to Manwe. Let us go, with all of our remaining items, with an oath
never to return, or fight a battle whose only winner is Melkor. Because, even when you defeat
us, we will hurt you and your army. Which is more important? The coming battle with Melkor or
keeping myself and my companion from our destiny?"

Eonwe, the Herald to Manwe the lord of the gods stares into the eyes of Higurashi Kagome.
Telepathically, he asks, *A bluff?*

She replies, *You do not bluff with stakes this high.*

Kagome announces, "I will count to three, Eonwe. On three, I will draw my sword."

"One."

Eonwe can feel the unease and uncertainty of the elves around him. They are here on Middle
Earth to fight Melkor, not to fight over anything else. Sesshomaru and Kagome are not even
elves, but a human and a nonhuman monster, which lessens the elves' desire to die while
fighting them.

"Two."

Sesshomaru can hear the whispers of the elves surrounding him. They are not ready for a major
battle. He smiles, a horrible smile, and he can hear the uncertainty of the elves increase. They
recognize the fact that once he engages in a battle, no quarter will be asked for or given.

"Th . . . "

Eonwe's spear clatters on the ground beside him. He let it go.

"Very well, Higurashi Kagome. I accept your offer of an oath to leave and never return."

"And I desire Sauron." Sesshomaru states.

Kagome spins around and glares at him, "What!?"

"When he was trying to seduce me, he claimed to have knowledge of the cube. I want that
knowledge." Sesshomaru declares, and he glances at Eonwe. "Once I have that knowledge, I
will, of course, surrender him back to you for punishment."

‘Manwe is greatly interested in that cube, if I let Sesshomaru and Sauron talk about it, then, at
least, I'll have that information to give him, when I throw myself on his mercy for disobeying his
orders.' Eonwe thinks.

"I will bring him forth, Sesshomaru." he orders.

Sesshomaru nods.

Kagome, still glaring at Sesshomaru, whispers, "You idiot that could have wrecked everything."

"We came here, Higurashi Kagome, because I believed that the cube feared this place.
Obviously it feared the knowledge that Sauron possesses."
"Wrong. It feared us losing it to Manwe and it being locked up in some gods vault and forgotten about."

Sesshomaru blinks. He never really considered what would happen if he had lost. "Hmmm . . .
You may be correct, Higurashi Kagome."

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head . . .

"Oh, my shard, please?" she asks.

"Are you sure?"

"He has made the deal. He'll go through with it. He's a good guy, remember." Sesshomaru
hands her back the shard and Kagome places the necklace around her neck, where it should be.

"Come with me, then, Higurashi Kagome and I will gather up the rest of your items." Eonwe states.

Kagome nods, and she, Sesshomaru and many of the elves go to his burned tent. Along the way,
Earwen shows up with a new robe and some water to clean Kagome.

At Eonwe's Tent . . .

Tears fall from Kagome's eyes when she is handed her burnt and ruined bag. "I've had this
through so many adventures . . . " she whispers as she wipes the tears. "It's gone through hell
with me and never been hurt, now . . . "

Sesshomaru, without thinking, finds his hand on her shoulder. She melts into his side,
whispering, "I don't know why I'm crying or why it hurts, but it does . . . "

One of the elves produces a large backpack-like bag. "Here Higurashi Kagome, use this, it is
what we use to carry things on the march."

She accepts the new, silky white backpack. It looks, at first glance, similar to a modern
backpack. There are not as many smaller pouches. There are no zippers, and the pouches are
closed by hooks and ties. The silky smoothness of the fabric feels different from she's used to.
But, it's a fine useful backpack.

Most of the food that was in the backpack can't be found. The orcs, probably, got that. "All that
chocolate, gone. Wasted on some stupid orcs . . . " she growls out. Replacement food is given to them.

"No toilet paper?" Kagome whispers. None is found . . . but the elves produce some thin paper of
their own to replace it.

A lot of the flammable items are gone, including her toiletries. And while the female elves can
replace some of it, they cannot replace everything.
But, somehow, her battered can of hair spray still survived . . .

The elves give Sesshomaru and Kagome thin sleeping bags, to replace Kagome's burnt bag, and
they assume, his destroyed bag. "Accept it, Sesshomaru." she hisses. "It's not nice to refuse a
gift, especially after I had to threaten to get Eonwe to release us."

He sighs, but accepts it. ‘I not going to use this. It stinks of elves. And while that is pleasant to
smell, the only pleasant thing I want to smell is Kagome.'

Her cooking pot and bowls survived, unhurt.

"All my modern drinks have vanished." she shakes her head. "Water from now on. And I can't
find my chlorine tablets either, arggh . . "

And no clothes are found . . .

Most of her school books are found. Eonwe, due to their oddness, had them stored better.

But . . as Kagome picks up the burnt and ruined Japanese literature book, it crumbles to pieces in
her hands.

She starts to cry . . .

Sesshomaru places her hand in his and asks, "Why?"

"Sesshomaru . . . my grades at school have been going down for months and I accepted an
important and difficult extra assignment to help." Her mouth twitches, "A large, the larger the
better, report on Japanese poets of the feudal era."

"So, this Sesshomaru doesn't understand."

"From the time you live in, Sesshomaru. I was going to ask Miroku to help me, and with his
personal knowledge of the poets, I thought I'd get a really, really good grade. But . . . I vanished
with you before I could ask him and now . . . I don't have the references to base any report on . .
. "

She, wipes her eye, and opens up her history book. In the middle of it, are her sketches of the
cube. Kagome smiles, "At least. These weren't destroyed." She whispers. Sesshomaru nods in
pleasure as well.

Eonwe also finds a small silver whistle on a chain necklace.

He hands it to Kagome. Kagome looks at it. ‘I had forgot I had this. It's been buried in my bag,
soon long . . . ' she looks at Sesshomaru. ‘What do I do with this, once he knows what it is . . .
he'll hate it and blame me?'
"Sesshomaru." Kagome in a quiet, hesitant voice, hands Sesshomaru the necklace. "Hold this.
Don't use it. Just hold it."

"I assume there is an explanation?"

"Yes, but not now, please?" Kagome looks at all of the surrounding elves, obviously not wanting
to go into details in the middle of a crowd.

Sesshomaru nods, and accepts the necklace.

Eonwe holds the cube in his hands. ‘Everything up until now I can explain to Manwe without
problems. But, once I hand her this . . ' he sighs, "As promised, Higurashi Kagome. The cube."

He hands her the cube. The light is still red. ‘It's been less than two days . . . ' Kagome thinks.
‘It's been an eventful couple of days.'

"That is all I can find, Kagome. All the objects that have your unique extra dimensional aura is
now in your possession." Eonwe declares.

Kagome sighs, ‘Taking a bath is going to be more of a chore, but most everything else is in here.
I'm sure the elves can supply some of the basic hiking equipment that was lost.'
1.
She nods. ‘Of course, a white silken robe and sandals for clothes aren't good.' She looks around,
‘But it's that or armor apparently.' Her mouth twitches, ‘I'm not up to wearing armor all the
time, besides, with us going from world to world, showing up in armor is not a good idea.'

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

Later . . . outside the tent . .

"Sauron is here." Eonwe states. He points to Sauron, who is freely walking, between a couple of elves.

Sauron is also dressed in a white robe, and his appearance, again, causes Kagome and
Sesshomaru to think that his features are pleasing to their eyes.

Eonwe orders the elves to stop and not come that close, Sauron stops with them.

"Sesshomaru, before I allow you to meet Sauron, I want your oath to leave Middle Earth."
Eonwe says.

Kagome interrupts, "Since I was the one that offered, let me give my oath first."

"Very well. You do swear, on your destiny, to leave Middle Earth by next sunrise and never to return."
"Yes, of course, Eonwe: Herald of Manwe." She declares in a loud and clear voice. "Your oath
is accepted, Lady Higurashi Kagome."

"This Sesshomaru swears, on my father's sword, to leave Middle Earth, once his business with
Sauron is over and never to return."

A pause, as Eonwe considers that . .

"You will leave with Lady Higurashi Kagome?" he asks.

"I will not leave without her." He replies.

Eonwe nods, "Your oath is accepted."

He orders the elves to bring Sauron closer.

"Lord Eonwe." Sauron bows his head at Eonwe.

"You do remember your oath." Eonwe asks.

"Yes, I will return to Valinor and place myself before Manwe for his judgment of my crimes as
the Lieutenant of Melkor."

"Good. Then you are released so by your own free will you may travel to Valinor." Eonwe nods
to the elves surrounding Sauron. They move away from him, giving him the freedom to do as he wishes.

The statement . . . "Are you sure that's a good idea? Him, alone, going to his punishment"
Somehow escapes Kagome's mouth.

"You object?" Eonwe asks. "Sauron, once, was my trusted brother. Even now he is my brother.
And when Manwe has declared his punishment over, he will be my trusted brother again. I must
trust him."

Kagome grimaces. "Yes. I see what you are saying, Eonwe. It's just . . . " She shakes her head.
"Remember earlier when I talked about my head and my heart."

Eonwe nods.

"My head tells me that he will not show up to receive his punishment. Something will come up
and he'll never show up at Valinor."

"I gave my word, woman. I will show up at Valinor and I will accept my punishment." Sauron
announces with anger in his voice. He is upset at being called a lair.

"Now, you say that, Sauron." Kagome replies in a dismissive tone.
She sighs, "But, I can understand why you are letting him go, Eonwe, my heart tells me that if he
is willing to change, he should be trusted enough to prove that he can."

She sighs again. "So, I suppose you are correct in letting him go."

Her mouth twists, "It's just if I were you, I'd give Sauron an escort of elves to help him on his
journey to Valinor. Just in case . . . "

"It will be as I have ordered, Higurashi Kagome." Eonwe orders.

Kagome nods, accepting Eonwe's decision, realizing that she never had any right to interfere
with it in the first place.

Eonwe turns to Sauron and says, "Sauron, you mentioned to Lord Sesshomaru that you knew
something about the cube that Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Higurashi Kagome have in their possession."

"Yes, I did. And I assume I need to tell them what I know as part of my release?"

Sesshomaru walks up to Sauron. "No. You do not."

Everyone stares at him. ‘Huh? Then why ask for him?' everyone thinks.

Before anyone can react, Sesshomaru draws Tokijin and plunges it into Sauron's heart.

Blood spurts from Sauron's mouth.

"I promised you that I would kill you."

Sesshomaru removes his blade from Sauron's chest and he sheaths' it.

Sauron's body falls to ground.

Sesshomaru spins around and looks at Eonwe. "Anything that he would have said about the cube
would have been a lie."

"Turn around." Eonwe states. "And look at his body."

Sesshomaru can hear something odd behind him, so . . .

Sesshomaru turns around . . . Sauron's body is fading into the earth.

"It takes more than that blade to kill a Maiar (lesser god), Lord Sesshomaru. Sauron is not dead,
he can rest and then reform his body, as if that attack had never happened."

Sesshomaru fingers the hilt of Tokijin. "How long?"
Eonwe shrugs, "When he wishes."

‘And I cannot track him through the earth.' Sesshomaru glares at the spot Sauron's body was at.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asks.

‘Please let him think. I've known Samurai that would never give up on such a promise and
would stay here for the rest of their lives hunting Sauron. I don't even think Inu-yasha would let
such a promise go. Is he going to break my promise to leave and while he stays here to track
down Sauron?' she desperately thinks.

Sesshomaru sighs, "If I knew that I could find him in, say, a week . . . "

He shakes his head and looks at Kagome. "Did he hurt you?"

"No." Kagome states. ‘I'm not going to give you any excuse to stay.' she thinks.

"Very well. Sauron is a coward and I, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, curse his
cowardice. I will not waste my time hunting a coward."

He concentrates his magical power . . . "I, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Land, curse you,
Sauron. Your cowardice will cripple you. It will prevent you from ever being successful in
combat. Your cowardice will prevent you from ever succeeding in your goals." The very air
groans at Sesshomaru's power as he pronounces his curse on Sauron.

Sesshomaru turns away and looks at Eonwe. "Aggression in combat wins, not caution. And
cowards are cautious."

"Let's leave, Sesshomaru, please?" Kagome interrupts.

‘Before anything else happens . . . ' she thinks.

Sesshomaru shakes himself and he asks, "Do you have everything?"

Kagome nods, swinging her much reduced pack on her back, "Yes."

Sesshomaru gathers her up in his arms, summons his cloud and leaves the Valar.

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

As they fly in the air, Kagome asks, "Fly higher Sesshomaru, my senses are tingling . . . "

They fly high, and high in the air, their lungs begin to labor from the lack of oxygen.

Kagome points at the mountains in the east.
The Great Battle . . . the War of Wrath . . .

The battle that ends the first age of Middle Earth has begun . . .

Volcanoes are erupting . . . black clouds are growing in the east . . .

On the plain before the volcanoes . . creatures are marching . . . to be seen from this distance
there must be hundreds of thousands of them . . .

Sesshomaru points to the mountain passes closest the Valar encampment. Streaming from them
are orcs, humans, and other monsters . . .

They are attacking the Valar encampment .

Kagome and Sesshomaru can hear the Elves as they sing in battle .

The largest horde of evil monsters in the history of middle earth (including Sauron's army in the
movie) is being destroyed by the Valar .

Ancalagon, the Mightiest of the Winged Dragons, so large that he makes Scatha looks like a
hatchling flies toward the Valar.

Vingilot, Earendil's flying swan shape boat rises from the encampment to meet the challenge of
Ancalagon . . .

The battle between Ancalagon and Earendil will reshape the nearby mountains . . .

Eonwe: the Herald of Manwe extends his power . . .

Morgoth: the God of Evil extends his power . .

The battle between them will reshape the continent . .

Doom . .

That ends the middle earth story arc . .

_______________________________

Kagome and Sesshomaru will fly off and find a quiet place to rest and talk . . . in chapter 31 . .

Preview chapter 31: Anything?

Sesshomaru asks, "Exactly what is your relationship with my brother?"
___________________________________________

Authors' notes: for those interested. I based this story on what effectively is about six pages of
material in the Silmarillion. (3 pages Sauron vs. Huan & Luthein fight & 3 pages of the great
battle) plus a couple of paragraphs here and there.

As far as Sauron is concerned. In the novel. After the Great Battle, which he apparently never
participated in, he gave himself up to Eonwe. Eonwe ordered him to Valinor for punishment, but
trusted Sauron to go there without an escort. Sauron never arrived in Valinor. About 500 years
later, he shows up on middle earth and begins to teach elves how to make magic rings.... 1100
years later... he makes the one ring...

I am curious, how well do you think I did?

In my earliest drafts . . . This story arc was the second one, right after the ice world. But, as I got
to plotting it, I realized that they need to know each other better before I threw them into this .

But, I did solve the language problem. Now that problem is not hanging over me, I can send
them anywhere I want . . . grin.

This story arc/world was supposed to showcase Kagome.

The next world will showcase Sesshomaru, for those who might feel that he got shortchanged in
this story arc. Chapter 31 and maybe more . . . whenever I get Sess & Kag alone and talking they
seem to take over and who knows where they will take me . .

Anyway, Chapter 31 will be Kagome & Sesshomaru talking. They've got a few hours before the
cube recharges and then they'll leave.

And they need to talk . . . things were said, promises made, and emotions revealed and they need
to adjust . . .

Thank you for reading, Jeff Shelton.