InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mitsukaitou: Blade of the Angel ❯ Chapter 11

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 52 REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!! *Screams and jumps up and down* I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My life is complete. *Sighs* Well, that's done. To everyone who reviewed, your thank you is at the bottom.

Kagome awoke to the sunshine that forced its way into the cave. She moaned lightly. The effects of Tsukyo still hadn't worn off in full, and the marathon running that had followed sharpened them. She looked back into the cave and saw Kasseri's body squirming, fighting consciousness. Kagome giggled.

"Up now. We should be moving. It's a beautiful day." Kagome said to her.

"Iuanna." Kasseri murmured groggily. "Ired..."

"Care to translate all that?" This was accompanied by a giggle from Kasseri.

"I said 'I don't want to, I'm tired.'"

"Well get up anyway!"

"But-"

"Get up now. We have to move. Unless, of course, you want to face Kouga and Inuyasha again." With a vigorous shake of her head, Kasseri stood and folded the blanket she'd slept on while Kagome put out the fire.

"Where are we going today?"

"Well, we're going east. We have to get out of Sesshomaru-sama's territory, or we'll have another demon on our tail."

"Okay. What's for breakfast?"

"We're getting some bread in the next town. We can have that as we go." Kagome had plenty of money, having long since sold the money of her time to store owners, calling it art, giving her plenty of cash for day-to-day life.

"That sounds fine." After a few moments of walking, Kasseri heaved a sigh.

"Yes?" Kagome asked, looking down on the child's head.

"I'm BORED!"

"Already?"

"Yeah already!"

"Well what do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know! Can you tell me a story?"

"What do you want a story about?"

"A princess, a dragon, a prince, a bunch of youkai, oh, and MAGIC!"

"I don't know about all that! Let's see...

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Migoto. She lived in a palace far away from any other, all the way in the corner of the Eastern Lands. She didn't want to live all alone, but she had no choice; Migoto was the captive of an evil dragon who would keep her there forever. Living by herself, she had plenty of time to perfect he magic, which she planned to someday use against the dragon." As they neared the village, Kagome noticed something strange about the air, it was chalky and acidic. "But then the prince came and saved her the end." She rushed on, jog-trotting towards the village.

"That was short," Kasseri complained, chasing after Kagome.

"What's the matter with the air?" Kagome asked aloud.

"It's smoke, from straw grass and clay" Kasseri replied calmly. She supposed Kagome must have lead a sheltered life up to this point, if she didn't know the smell.

"Like a burning house?" Kagome cried hysterically.

"Well, yeah."

"You could have said that before."

"Well you only had to ask."

"Don't be difficult, c'mon. There might be people trapped." Kagome rushed into the thick air. "Kasseri, can you breathe alright?"

"Yeah, I'm used to it, they burned houses all the time back home." Kagome received a mental shock at this, but continued on, her hand holding fast with Kasseri's. It wasn't long before they were at the site, a small hut on the very edge of town was burring quickly, the thatch roof caved in. Two young children were outside, a boy and a girl, the boy scratching desperately at the wall. Both of them were coughing through the smoke.

"Hey, are you alright?" Kagome shouted, pushing Kasseri back with the girl as she pulled the boy away from the fire-ridden building. It was then she noticed that they were kitsunes. The boy anyway, the girl seemed to be a hanyou.

"My mom!" the boy cried, "My mom's in there! The door is blocked off, my mom's in there!"

"Alright, stay back, Kasseri, you too." Kagome said. With ease, Mitsukaitou ripped a hole in the burning wall. Kagome rushed in and quickly found a female fox demon, unconscious. Kagome pulled her out as quickly as she could, Running them both back out of the house. A few moments later, the back wall fell in as well. It didn't take long for the rest of the mud hut to deteriorate into nothing, the fire dying for lack or material.

"What happened?" Kasseri asked quietly. While the children were okay other that singed fur and a few cuts, their mother was still in the realm of oblivion.

"They burned it." The boy replied.

"Who?" Kagome asked angrily.

"The...the villagers...our neighbors..." said the little girl, tears brimming over her pretty eyes. Kagome's eyes looked at the children intently.

"You're sure?"

"I SAW THEM!" the boy screamed. He dropped to his knees, crying, "I saw them..." Kagome touched his shoulder to comfort him. He looked up at her. Kagome noticed that his facial structure was different from the kitsune-youkai she'd seen; it was more angular and delicate, as was the girl's and their mother. Kagome looked down into the boy's eyes, and she saw it: the townspeople, shouting, the torches, burning, the spinning world as the fire took down the roof, all in flashes of instants.

"Poor thing..." Kagome murmured, stooping to her knees, hugging the two children. Kasseri stood nearby quietly, understanding their need for comfort. "Don't worry guys, your mom's gunna be okay, and the villagers will leave you alone, and it's going to be alright." Kagome soothed. Before long, the children's tears subsided and Kagome rose.

"What have you done?" shouted an angry villager, "They live now! This was not to be!"

"Why did you try to kill these people?" Kagome shouted angrily, the young boy's story confirmed.

"Why? WHY? Because hanyous are the worst trouble there is! They curse our crops and jinx our homes!"

"What proof have you?"

"None is needed! This is well known, simple as that!"

"You're a fool. FOOL! As anyone in Tsukyo would tell it, you're all fools."

"What have you to say of Tsukyo, fellow human? My sister resides there." Asked the villager, suddenly placid.

"Safe, I warrant, if so because of me, as human I am not. Hanyou am I as any of these, and better than you all for it."

"None of it, you're human!"

"Test me not, villager. You've all tried to kill innocent children for something you have no evidence of! Shame upon your heads, for the rest of your lives!" Kagome gently lifted the unconscious kitsune youkai and continued east, three children at her heels.

With a slow 20 miles behind them, Kagome stopped to set up camp for the night. The children's mother was still lifeless, the matter concerning Kagome, though the heartbeat remained.

"Is Mama okay?" asked the girl as Kagome went about clearing a place for a fire, Kasseri gathering wood.

"Sure. She just needs to rest. Everything will be okay, don't you worry about that."

"Ok..." she replied doubtfully, looking at her mother's limp form.

"So what's the story with you guys, anyway?" Kagome asked the boy, who was returning with Kasseri, having opted for helping with kindling gathering.

"Well, I'm Xiao, and my sister is Yu-Lin."

"Aren't those Chinese names?"

"Yeah. Mom's Chinese. Dad saved her from over there and brought her back here (cause he was Japanese). But, see, he was there on a business trip, he was human. So, he's dead now. My dad was Chinese, but Yu-Lin's was the new dad; so she's only half demon. Anyway, all the villagers there hated up 'cause they thought Dad would never, 'stoop to such levels as marrying a dog' so they decided that Mom put a spell on him, and it was awful. We only stayed because the town reminded us of him."

"Those were terrible people," Kasseri stated angrily.

"Glad someone agrees." Xiao replied, achieving a blush from the young inu-hanyou. The tint of Kasseri's cheeks didn't escape Kagome.

Puppy love, she thought happily, that's so cute! What am I going to do with these guys though? I mean, their mother is alive, but is she going to recover? If she doesn't, I can't keep Xiao and Yu-Lin with me, that's certain. I'm going to have enough of a problem with Kasseri once I find Kikyo. Everything gets so complicated this way; it almost makes me understand why Inuyasha is so against stopping to help people sometimes. And yet, isn't it worth it? Kagome wondered as images of her friends surged her mind. She looked off to the children, who were all three playing some game of their own creation. A smile took the place of Kagome's thoughtful frown.

"Kagome! Play with us!" said Yu-Lin with a giggle, tugging on Kagome's hand. Kagome laughed herself solely for the young girl's eagerness.

"Sure! What are we playing?"

"Good guy/Bad guy!" she said with a very serious tone. "Xiao's the bad guy."

"Great, let's play!" said Kagome, excited to do something mindless for a while.

Inuyasha sighed angrily. There had been no sign of Kagome for two days. It was really starting to get annoying. Sango continued to assure him that she knew nothing of the plans after Tsukyo. Inuyasha wasn't sure if he could believe her or not at this point. At that he looked towards the girl. She was with Miroku, of course, and she looked off every few minutes. This wasn't lost on the man next to her.

"Are you worried for Kagome, Sango?" Miroku asked, looking down on his partner.

"I...I don't even know that for sure now. It seems that she can handle herself, to hear it from Tsukyo's villagers. But still, she doesn't know what's out there. Luck could turn against her at any time, and that's...it's that which concerns me."

"I understand. I think we all worry of that very thing now, even Shippo, if in more simplistic terms. But, didn't she tell you she would return soon? Within three weeks?"

"Yes, she did, but..."

"It doesn't give her a big window to be injured."

"Yeah, so just stop worrying about that stupid wench and quit your distress," commanded Inuyasha, jumping into the conversation, "You're really starting to bother me." Sango let out a breath. It had almost seemed like he was anxious for Kagome, or he maybe had confidence in her, but it hadn't lasted for long.

"WHY CAN'T YOU BE NORMAL, INUYASHA?" she shrieked angrily, falling against Miroku.

"Has it occurred to you that I'm NOT?"

"But Inuyasha, you care for Kagome, do you not?" questioned Miroku, looking over at Inuyasha.

"No. I don't care at all. I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT THE BITCH DOES!"

"You wouldn't care if she died?" he persisted. Shippo looked at Miroku with wide eyes at the possibility of Kagome's death. Inuyasha's erratic behavior didn't help at all.

"Let her die." He replied lowly.

"You don't mean it Inuyasha!" Shippo cried, speaking for the first time in days.

"Leave me alone." Inuyasha muttered, speeding ahead of the group.

"Inuyasha, it's okay to care about her. Why can't you just-" Sango began hesitantly.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Inuyasha shouted, running further ahead, out of hearing distance.

Kagome sat down with the children, preparing them for sleep. Not a lot of distance had been covered that day, and they were still in the Western Lands. Kagome had made up her mind during dinner; the children and their mother would live in Keade's village. If the mother didn't pull through, Kagome was sure that someone there would take care of them. It was best; people there knew her and they knew hanyous. Aside from that, it wasn't far. With decent conditions and fast travel, they could be there in a day. Having a plan set her mind in a greater sense of ease than she'd been in since finding the trio.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"You gunna tell that story the right way?"

"Once upon a time, far, far away, a princess was captive to a dragon..."

"Lord Sesshomaru, the reports from Tsukyo," said a servant, bowing as he handed Sesshomaru a thick scroll.

"You're dismissed." The youkai lord responded, taking the parchment. Tsukyo didn't hold any particular worry for him, but he was duty-bound as it's leader to protect it. He knew something had happened to the leader, as he would never let his citizens be killed, but Sesshomaru couldn't prove it, and therefore could do nothing. For the past days, however, a surplus number of reports had been coming in from the city, but he'd not time to read them. It wasn't until now that he could read them all. What he'd expected the information to concern wasn't what he found in writing.

A new leader by the name of Satoshi had taken over the town, and was making constant improvements. It was not he, though, that had destroyed the demons that had over-ridden the city, but a girl who had mysteriously disappeared afterwards, chased by Inuyasha.

Who would that fool brother of mine bother chasing after? Sesshomaru wondered, flipping through the combined civilian reports, each telling of the fights, the wonderful "Mitsukai." As he neared the end of the third page, an artist had drawn a picture of the girl. Sesshomaru found himself looking at the inky eyes of Inuyasha's companion...

REVIEWERS!! (From chapters 9 and 10)

SilentDark: Hallo thar! Thank ya MUCH for the WONDEEFUL compliment!

Inushemiko: SO GLAD TO SEE SOMEONE COME BACK!!!!

Nianna: Well, slow update, but here ya go!

Animechickie: ALL HAIL COMIC RELIEF!

Rosemary: I'm not telling! ^_____________________________^

Bob the Blizard: Aww! You like me! You really like me! I got the idea from...uh...I'm not quite sure...but it sure is turning out well!

SilverRubyDragon: But of course!

Inushemiko: BACK AGAIN!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

blulily07: Romance, yes, can't tell, Satoshi now rules Tsukyo

DevilWench: ANOTHER REOCCURING REVIEWER! I LOVE YOU MUCHNESS!!!!

Dragonsbane: Yesh, lovely, init?

Xnycz azn angelx: thanks for taking the time to talk to me! And VERY thank you for the praise!

SilentDark: YOU RETURN! YYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!

EPCB: Geeze, glad you FINALLY got here! My god, it only took a week of badgering!