InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ As It is Written ( Chapter 26 )

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm very pleased with the turnout. 1000+ reviews! I almost fainted-rather than fainting, I leapt up and down like a ninny with my mom. You guys are awesome, and this part is taking some thinking, so the chapters might take a little longer to write. Not sure. I have a headache, but I am happy.

Chapter Twenty-Six: As It Is Written

"Please be rational, Inuyasha," said Sesshoumaru, rubbing at his temple apathetically.

"I don't give a damn about being rational! All I care about right now is Kagome." Inuyasha touched said girl's brow with the palm of his hand. It was still her normal body temperature, and to the unwitting, Kagome appeared to be asleep. The thing was she hadn't awoken since falling out of the deed chamber; no matter how much he had shaken her or yelled at her, she stayed in her reverie with that glowing jewel upon her chest.

"Inuyasha…we must leave this chamber and return to the world outside." Sesshoumaru stooped down to retrieve the fallen deed scroll. "From there we can find out what the deed entails."

Inuyasha didn't say anything as he carefully began to heft Kagome, bridal-style, into his arms, until he heard a shrewd chortle. "Wha?" Turning his head, he saw a group of demons; their skin looked shriveled and was hanging loosely from where muscle once resided. They themselves gave off a strange, ghostly glow. "Who the hell are you?"

One of the undead demons chuckled louder, stepping forward. "You didn't honestly think that it would be so easy to leave after retrieving the deed?"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping it was," he responded dryly, still in a crouch with Kagome cradled a bit off the ground. He lifted his fiancée all the way up as he rose to his feet. "What exactly do you want?"

"Your final test of worth. You must defeat us, all one hundred, and we have no reservations attacking the girl." The undead demon withdrew a chain sickle from behind his back.

With a raucous, echoing battle cry, the one hundred demons charged at Inuyasha. "Damn it!" Leaping up onto one of the Grim statue's head, he loitered there as some of the undead soldiers wafted up to him. "Sesshoumaru, take Kagome!"

Sesshoumaru zoomed into the air and snatched the human girl from his brother's arms. "I will keep her out of the way," he assured coolly as he moved his charge out of the attack range of a few archers whose arrows instead shattered against the second Grim's forehead. Bounding from the sculpture's backside, the full-dog-demon lord kept Kagome securely in his grasp and out of any of the attacking fools' sieges.

Inuyasha let his gaze linger on the pair before a pain sharply glanced his side. Darting away as the blade of one of the undead soldiers attempted to press further into his flesh, Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga, which he had sheathed once Kagome had disappeared behind the stone panel, and swung the transformed blade at the ghastly creature. As his strike descended, he sensed another presence behind him, so he whirled and kicked at the other assailant.

It chortled as his foot passed through the mist of spirit.

"What the fuck?" Inuyasha spun to his right as a barrage of arrows headed towards him while a few more undead struck at him. He parried and dodged at a rate unheard of for even a full-blooded demon, but the hanyou continued to withstand damage.

"Their weapons are real enough," he growled, knocking back one that carried a halberd only to have to duck as another threw a chain mace at him, "but their bodies aren't." He landed on the floor, recoiled off it and lighted upon the pedestal of one of the Grim.

Find the place…Inuyasha…

"What?" He blocked another set of blows with Tetsusaiga until he could move out of the corner he'd been forced into. Is there someone speaking to me through my mind?

The seam, Inuyasha… he heard the voice say. Their energy and yours…sever the seam… Reveal the scar…

Inuyasha peered across the way where his brother and Kagome were staying out of reach; Sesshoumaru was using his whip of light at times to keep the spirits' strikes at bay. "The scar…? Whoa!" The hanyou zipped out of the way as a chain sickle whizzed past him, his pensiveness broken.

Smell it…for it is a wound of the wind…

I don't smell anything… he thought, somersaulting in midair. "And I don't see anything either…"

Focus yourself, Inuyasha! commanded the voice. Your blood is above that of any other class. Master the blade!

Inuyasha made a wide arced swing at a group of approaching weapons, effectively making them retreat by his sheer force. "I can smell something but not much…" He heard a crack and his gaze darted to where the sound was coming from.

The ledge Sesshoumaru had been standing on had been struck and it was quickly crumbling to black ash, and Kagome had knocked from his grasp when an undead demon struck at him, forcing him to draw Tenseiga.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha bounded across the massive chamber, evading a few of the attacks, but for the most part, getting assaulted with every turn. Just a few seconds more and he'd catch her. Inuyasha stretched out his free arm to seize her around the waist as she dropped closer to him, when some of the fine dust was blown straight into his eyes. "Agh!" He shouted in pain as the minute grains scratched at his lenses and his tear ducts began to overflow.

A sharp realization hit him: Kagome was still falling. He's stopped moving into intersection range, and she was still plummeting.

He heard a quiet thump, and Inuyasha forced his eyes open, fear pumping through his veins. No… Mocking shadows and outlines swirled before his impaired vision. His heart began to race-he couldn't tell if Kagome was all right or not.

"I have her, Inuyasha…" came Sesshoumaru's voice from one of the blobs. One of the silhouettes darted away-presumably Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha heaved a brief sigh of relief before he felt a stabbing pain go straight through his stomach. He screeched in agony, only to find a blade was protruding from his abdomen. With a twist, the length of metal was withdrawn. Dropping to his knees, the hanyou caught his breath. The group of undead demons was chuckling behind him.

"Should we go after that girl with the jewel?" one eagerly asked in his echoing voice. "I wanna see her bleed…"

A few more joined in with concurrence, and Inuyasha felt his blood begin to boil. "No one's gonna hurt her..." he growled deeply. Staggering, at first, to his feet, Inuyasha whirled around. What…? Swirls of energy played before his near-blinded eyes in hues of blue and red. It's their energy and mine… I can see it, and I can smell it--the youkis and the place where the two collide. Raising Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha charged forward at the seam. If I can slice along that 'wound' in the wind…I can release Tetsusaiga's true power…

That's right…

Bringing the looming fang upon the chaff, Inuyasha shouted, "KAZE NO KIZU!" Claw-like arcs of energy rented through the ground, devouring the youkis of all the undead demons in its path. "Sesshoumaru, you and Kagome stay out of the way!"

Sesshoumaru leapt nimbly from his current location to the furthest corner of the blast, and held Tenseiga before him and the girl.

Inuyasha watched as the various shadows dissolved into glowing powder that wafted upon the currents the Kaze no Kizu left in its wake. Above it all, he could see an ethereal being that he recognized right away.

Good job, my son… You have passed this trial…

It began to fade away. Thanks, Dad.

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Inuyasha had shifted Kagome onto his back and carried her all the way out of the Black Pearl; thankfully, the rest of the trip back to the surface had no hindrances, except for the fact that his brother had to lead the semi-blind hanyou to the exit

Sesshoumaru's driver had been waiting and as soon as the girl was sat in the luxury vehicle, the dog brothers had clambered in also and they had all sped back to the mansion.

The mansion staff had leapt to attention at every whim of their master and did everything he instructed them to do to make Kagome as comfortable as possible, quiescent or not

Kagome was lying in an extra bed in another one of Sesshoumaru's numerous guestrooms, having been lovingly tucked in by Miss Kumiko; the cat demon nurse had checked the girl over and said, with a sad little shake of her head, that she could find nothing wrong. She had then looked over Inuyasha, after he had washed his eyes out in the room's bathroom, and put some soothing drops onto his irritated lens. Miss Kumiko had also attended to Inuyasha's wounds, taking special care with his abdominal wound.

Cheerful flowers had replaced the others in the vases around the room by Kagura, who, with her husband, had a small greenhouse within the mansion.

Kagura firmly commanded Jaken that, regardless that Sesshoumaru was with his brother and his fiancée, was not to enter the bedroom or he would pay some consequence; Jaken had swallowed quite noticeably-Kagura had a tendency to punish him on impulse and her sentences were never easy. Then again, neither were Sesshoumaru's reprimands. A pair of sadists-a couple made in Nirvana's opposite as far as the toad demon servant was concerned.

Inuyasha sat on the chair beside Kagome, his gold eyes constantly flickering over to her serene face and then glaringly to Sesshoumaru's detached visage-he had been standing there for quite a while now, not saying a word, and it was beginning to irritate the hanyou. "I don't give a fuck about the deed at the moment, in case you haven't noticed."

"I understand that, Inuyasha," he replied a tad testily, yet keeping his cool, "but I have both Sango and Miroku thoroughly checking the library again for the prophesy, and another pair of eyes would be most helpful…." With that, Sesshoumaru paced noiselessly from the room, a stream of silver hair sweeping after.

Frowning in his brother's wake for being such a stoic, selfish prick, Inuyasha looked to Kagome again-the deed would wait. He placed his hand to her forehead, and was rewarded once more by the unwavering body temperature, as it had the other times he had checked.

Emitting a slight sigh, he moved his hand away and instead took hold of hers. He made gentle circles with his thumb on the back of Kagome's hand.

"What exactly happened in there…?" Inuyasha quietly asked to himself. His gaze moved from her to the window where afternoon sunlight filtered through the gossamer curtains. "You've been like this for hours now. There was some kind of weird presence that behind that wall that even I sensed. It was strange…it was like…I knew it…." Squeezing her hand, Inuyasha murmured, "Wake up, Kagome…."

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Kagome glanced around. She was in the Grim Dogs' chamber within the Black Pearl. Padding quietly out from the space between the two statues, she tried to find her two companions. "Inuyasha? Sesshoumaru?" She stopped in the middle of the room, feeling a sense of anxiety rising in her heart. "Inuyasha! Where are you?"

She heard a dark chuckle from behind her, so she whirled around to face whatever made the sound only to see long strands of silver shining as they snapped in a breeze, like a moving wall of water. Kagome looked behind her and saw more of the hoary strands; she was surrounded. "Wh-what's going on…? Inuyasha?!"

More dark laughing followed.

"Inuyasha, where are you?" she cried urgently, looking this way and that, searching for an exit.

The laughing grew louder, more menacing.

"Inuyasha!"

Kagome closed her eyes tightly as she felt something-energy--careen into her chest and she was thrown backwards. All the air was knocked out of her and all she could do was prepare to hit the ground.

Only…she didn't hit the ground. She was caught by someone. "I'll be right here, Kagome…" she heard Inuyasha's voice rumble from above her. Parting her eyelids, Kagome pivoted her head to see her hanyou, but she found herself now sitting on the ground with something in her hand.

Opening her palm, there rested that pink jewel-the Shikon no Tama. "Why do I have this?" The jewel simply twinkled and shined with its strange illumination.

You are the only one…Kagome…

"Huh?" Kagome's blue eyes darted around the room as she scooted rearwards until she met the wall. "That voice from before…" Getting to her feet, she inquired, "Who are you?"

A bauble of light hovered at about her chest level until it elongated into a human form. "I am someone who is to help you…" the woman said, her body translucent. "The Shikon no Tama is to be kept out of evil's hands. One fragment of power ripped from his grasp will fell him completely. That one piece can lead to either triumph or defeat."

The girl stared at the woman. Her face was smiling at her, and the aspects seemed very familiar to Kagome… "One fragment… Um…excuse me, but…do you know how to get to the prophesy? I know it's in the library in a book somewhere but…"

She smiled again. "All heroes and heroines of old always have their stories recorded in tales that are passed down for centuries to come until they are but fables."

"Huh…?" Kagome tipped her head. "I don't understand."

"Work together with Inuyasha…he needs you just as much as you need him. Show him love, Kagome…for my sake." The woman touched Kagome's face with a ghostly hand, before slowly disappearing.

"W-wait…" she called when the spirit turned away. "Setsuna!"

"You will be fine… My son is dependable…and loyal…please just bear with him… He will know."

Kagome stared after her as she dissolved into mist. "I'm supposed to protect this jewel with Inuyasha…" She frowned slightly. "Is this what Naraku really wanted? Probably."

"Wake up, Kagome…"

"Inuyasha…?" She felt her eyes closing again, her senses being blanketed by the gruff voice of the dog-hanyou.

"Wake up…Kagome…"

With a slight moan, Kagome opened her heavy eyelids, barely seeing through her lashes. "I-…Inuyasha?" she said softly.

Inuyasha gave her a wry half-smile, relief washing within his honey orbs. "Yeah." His face drew into a serious frown as she started to sit up. He rose from the chair and gently pushed her on the shoulders onto the bed again. "You should stay down. You fell out of that chamber unconscious."

She nodded a little, before determinedly propping herself up with her hands. "I know." Kagome peered at her fiancé.

There were streaks of dried blood on his white T-shirt, and long, jagged rips crossed over the sleeves and his chest; the jean jacket he had been wearing was no where to be found. She gasped in suppressed horror when her eyes wandered to the noticeable blood spot on his stomach. Through the good-sized hole, Kagome could see the crisscrosses of gauze bandages adorning his abdomen with speckles of dark crimson leaking through.

Inuyasha saw where she was looking to and he sat down hastily, swallowing a whimper of pain that had subsequently crept up his throat. He quickly placed a hand over the gap, saying quickly, "It's nothing."

"Nothing? Inuyasha, you're really hurt. Are you okay? What happened?" She began shooting off questions faster than he could answer.

He waited for a bit until Kagome had to pause to catch her breath before speaking. "Calm down, Kagome. It turned out I had one more test before we could leave with the deed. There were a hundred undead demons…" He shook his head. "Gods, remind me never to go near another fucking demon grave as long as I live."

"But…are you feeling all right?" Kagome inquired softly, tentatively moving one of her support hands and placing it on Inuyasha's arm-the one concealing his awful injury.

Inuyasha peered into her worried, cobalt eyes and moved his own rough palm and laid it upon her hand, which rested on his bicep. "I'm fine," he assured her, keeping an intense gaze with her. "My father's spirit was there with me… He told me to use the Kaze no Kizu to defeat them all…in one stroke."

"You mean," she began slowly, "all the demons?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I guess my old man wanted to make sure I was doing okay."

Kagome looked to him for a moment. "Inuyasha, I think I saw your mother's spirit."

"What? A-are you sure?'

She nodded. "Positive. She was the one telling me to protect the Shikon no Tama." She touched the pink jewel with her other hand. "Your mother…she said I am the guardian."

"The guardian of the Shikon no Tama?" Inuyasha stared intently at the jewel, seeing the fierce magenta radiance. He leaned back into the chair, shifting enough that Kagome's fingertips brushed against the back of his wrist. "I wonder what this jewel is capable of… You said it gave off strong energy, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how someone could use the jewel's power." Kagome let her slack grip on the Shikon Jewel slide away. "Anyway, where's everyone at?"

"Down in the library. Sesshoumaru's probably checking out the deed."

"You haven't read it yet?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Nope. I've been keeping an eye on you."

Kagome smiled softly. "Thanks. Is everyone searching for the prophesy?" she inquired.

"Yeah. I don't think they've found it yet." Releasing a sigh, he said with a dry smile, "Guess my mother hid it better than anyone thought."

"I wanna go see how the others are getting along." Kagome started climbing out of the bed. "Maybe we can help."

"Are you feeling well enough to?" asked Inuyasha, looking at her with a concerned expression.

She nodded with a grin. "Yup. I'm feeling loads better now. Come on," the girl's feet touched the soft rug, "let's go."

Getting up from his chair, the hanyou sauntered after her and lead her down the hall to the library where the rest of the alliance was.

Upon entering, the pair could see Sango crouched down and reading off book titles to herself. Not far off was Miroku, who was leafing through a rather thick tome with his brow scrunched up in thoughtfulness.

The curtains had been drawn back, and sunlight stretched lazily along the polished hardwood flooring. Unlike the first time Kagome and Inuyasha had set foot in the library, they were able to see the whole expanse of books along the walls. Bookcases stood at attention with some of their contents littering the floor. The room would have been quiet if not for the childish giggles coming from another part of the book hall.

The owners of said snickers came bouncing around the corner of another bookshelf as Inuyasha and Kagome started to approach Miroku and Sango. Two little girls smiled together and then stopped and stared rather curiously at the betrothed couple.

The smaller one had long, glossy black hair held back in a loose braid. Her pale gold eyes peered at Inuyasha in a calculating way. Between her fluffy tail, crescent moon on her forehead, and her scent, Inuyasha was sure this was Yuki-Sesshoumaru's daughter.

The taller girl Inuyasha recognized immediately as the little street urchin Rin he'd saved back in December. Rin had filled out in a healthy way, her brown hair was shiny and well-cared for, and her clothes were high-quality. The thing that made the hanyou most relieved was the sparkle in her once-lackluster eyes and the huge grin on her face, which widened as she ran up and hugged him around the middle.

"Uh…hey…" he greeted, patting her on the head.

Rin pulled away to look happily up at him. "Rin wants to thank you for saving her life. Sesshoumaru will let Rin stay here."

Yuki tentatively came over and said softly, "Papa said he's going to adopt Rin into the family."

Kagome smiled at the little demon-girl. "That's great."

"Well," Miroku said, coming up by the foursome, "it looks like Inuyasha has a soft spot for kids."

Sango nodded, walking over to them as well. "So it seems."

Inuyasha looked away from them. "Whatever."

"Inuyasha, I thought I heard you come in." Sesshoumaru came gracefully into view, pacing evenly to them. His eyes widened slightly. "So Kagome has awoken."

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I'm feeling much better. I figured we could help."

He smiled faintly. "I see you are more dependable than my brother."

Kagome sniggered as Inuyasha snapped back with a, "Hey!"

Sesshoumaru panned his gaze down to the two children. "Yuki, Rin-your uncle and I have some business to attend to." He paused as the girls gaped at Inuyasha in wonder; he was their uncle? "Why don't you go upstairs and play with Jaken for while?"

"Sesshoumaru," Rin spoke gently, pulling away from Uncle Inuyasha, "Rin and Yuki want to help to find the book that everyone else is trying to find."

Yuki nodded vigorously. "Please, Papa? We will stay out of trouble."

He narrowed his gaze before saying quietly, "I would prefer it if the two of you were playing somewhere, but your offer to help is very nice."

Inuyasha managed to hold back his laugh. Watching his brother being so paternal just tickled the hell out of him.

"Oh, Sesshoumaru," Kagome started, "I have a riddle for you." She waited as he looked to her with interest. "All heroes and heroines of old always have their stories recorded in tales that are passed down for centuries to come until they are but fables. What kind of book?"

Everyone mused over it, Yuki and Rin included.

"Perhaps it is a book of lore," suggested Miroku.

"Maybe," agreed Kagome. "I got the hint in a dream from Setsuna."

Inuyasha peered at his fiancée. "So that was what she told you?"

"Well, that's what she said when I asked her about finding the prophesy. She was in the deed chamber, too." Kagome watched as the half-demon went pensively quiet.

"Rin thinks it's a fairytale book," suddenly declared aforementioned girl.

Yuki grinned. "A fairytale book's stories usual come from real stories that got passed down so much that they become myth."

"Yes, that would fit," Sango said with a thoughtful bob of her head. "Do you have any books of fairytales in here?"
"Most probably," Sesshoumaru replied.

"…It'll be a white book with gold writing and the red ribbon is most likely marking the page," Inuyasha murmured. Before anyone could ask how he had deduced that, he continued on by lightly saying, "My mother used to read me fairytales from it when I was a kid."

Kagome touched a hand to his arm for a moment. He really misses his mom doesn't he? She peered at him until he looked back at her, signaling for them to continue on. She clapped her hands together once and said briskly, "Then that's probably where your mother hid the prophesy! We should all get looking for it."

Sango and Miroku nodded. The human trio disappeared among the sea of books, while Sesshoumaru ushered Yuki and Rin out.

Inuyasha waited until Sesshoumaru returned. In turn, his brother gazed inquisitively at him. "Something is troubling you."

Sighing once, the hanyou crossed his arms over his chest. "Sesshoumaru, what exactly was that mirror back in the Black Pearl? I saw a spirit or something over the glass…and I saw light of that Shikon no Tama shining within it."

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow. "So that was what that jewel was. Little brother, that looking glass was the Mirror of Shadow. It was a present to our father from one of his comrades. The Mirror of Shadow reflects only the truths: that our father is dead, and that Kagome will guard the Shikon Jewel."

"It's semi-prophetic because Kagome didn't have the jewel yet."

Nodding, Sesshoumaru said in an undertone, "I have read the deed thoroughly, and the Shikon no Tama is indeed mentioned."

"What's it say?"

The older dog-brother began walking along the wall until he came to a door. Going through it lead them to a study. Unrolled on the desk in the center of the small room was the deed scroll. "Go ahead and read it."

Glancing at Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha walked over to the scroll and began reading. "The Western Lands are jointly owned by us…the two houses…

"'The Shikon no Tama will belong to the younger brother's fiancée, which will be accompanying this deed within the chamber in which it was found. It is left in protection of her guardianship, and her betrothed's guardianship of her. Utilizing the jewel can radically increase the powers of the user a thousand-fold. The Shikon no Tama has been sought after repeatedly for evil purposes and should be protected at all costs-the effects of it landing in the hands of evil are devastating.'

"That's not exactly cheerful, is it?" Inuyasha turned back to his brother.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "The rest is legal, which I will deal with accordingly. Let us go back and help search."

Taking one last glimpse at the deed, Inuyasha followed out after his brother.

For the next hour, the entire group combed the shelves thoroughly for storybook. There had been a few mistaken identities among the tomes, but finally, as everyone was growing hungry and thirsty, Miroku called, "I believe I found it."

Sango was the first one at his side as he pulled it from the shelf. "Are you certain?"

He dusted it off with a hand as he rose to his feet. "Positive." He wriggled a finger to the place that the long, red silk ribbon marked. Flipping open the book to that page, he read, "'Dealing with the matter of the Shikon no Tama…'" Miroku gave a decisive look to Sango. "Does that convince you?"

Kagome and Inuyasha came trotting over with Sesshoumaru in tow. "What's it say?" urgently inquired the hanyou.

Miroku cleared his throat before beginning again. "'Dealing with the matter of the Shikon no Tama, its guardian will have come from a shrine family and she will be a powerful miko. The protector of the jewel's guardian will be her appointed fiancée, Tanaka Inuyasha of this family line. While the future is never clear, the prophesy is lucid.' That ends the preamble and the actual prophesy is right below."

"Get on with it already," snipped Inuyasha.

"Have some patience," sighed the monk in annoyance before continuing on once more. "'All grievances must be set aside, and the two must work as one. One shard of hope will shine amongst the tainted, and where there is hope, there is light. The guardian sword will continue to grow strong, as emotions also do. A wish made pure can be all that is needed to preserve a world of good, buried deep in the heart. For all is needed is a selfless wish to make the jewel disappear-a dark wish, for one's own gain, will result in a balance disrupted, whether whole or not. Destruction and despair will make the journey difficult, as final battles will be…' The prophesy trails off there."

"Are you sure?" Sango peeked over Miroku's shoulder.

He turned the page and shook his head. "I'm afraid so." He slipped the red ribbon back in and shut the book.

The dull sound of the pages falling back together sounded ominous in the silent room.

Inuyasha was the first to regain his voice. "What does it mean?"

"It means," Sesshoumaru began, "that this is what Naraku had wanted to extend his power. It was this Shikon no Tama that he had been seeking after. I doubt the deed was of as much interest as the jewel. While we must remain cautious, you may return to your hanyou form permanently…the scale is tipped in our favor."

"But what it also means," softly said Miroku, "is that we have far greater trouble creeping upon the horizon."

No one noticed the faint buzzing outside.

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A/N: Sorry it took so long. There were a lot of things to tie up into a single thread so…I hope you guys liked this thus far. Next chapter should be pretty cool. It might be a filler and it might not be. I'm not sure yet. (Fillers usually mean, in my head, stuff that isn't pertinent to the plot, but something I would've wondered about if I was reading it.)

~Moonlight Shadow