InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Risaishi ❯ The Magic Well ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: This author owns not the Inu-tachi characters, however in the path of world's conquest, she will come to own them. For now they belong to Takahashi Rumiko.

 

Authors note: this author rated this fan fiction M, because she expects to be able of creating, foul mouthed (the half breed of course…), lemon and gory scenes.

This author binds you farewell and warns you that if you read you must review, or else she will use Toukijiin on you.

Enjoy

 

 

Risaishi

 

Chapter 1- The Magic Well

 

I swear someday I'm going to kill Souta for always making me late for school.

Yuka Eri and Ayumi must be calling me in a few seconds already.

 

“Listen Souta, I really don't have time for this. You know I've got to go to school”

 

For kami's sake it's my birthday and first day of school in Jun high school and the little twerp is bugging me about of that stupid fat cat okaa-san gave him five years ago.

Where are you Buyo?

Souta grabbed my hand in the stairs and pulls me towards the front door, not answering me of course, and forgetting that I too would enjoy breakfast. Yeah right … Wishful thinking…breakfast!

 

“But onee-chan! I saw Buyo running to the well house!”

 

I narrowed my eyes to look at him

 

“And you didn't do anything to scare Buyo a make him run? “

 

He fidgets a little and then vehemently shakes his head in negative fashion.

Sigh again.

My name is Higurashi Kagome and this is my life.

I live with my outouto my jii-chan and my okaa-san in a house just next to the shrine. Jii-chan takes care of the shrine most of the time, but he says it's our family's duty and that we all should help. Then again the old man says a lot of things. He's always telling this crazy stories about this and that and legends and stuff, no need to say that I don't really pay any attention what he says, he even came up with this stupid story that I'm the reincarnation of this ultra powerful miko and that I have spiritual powers! Go figure! Crazy old man…

Okaa-san is my favorite person ever, but I miss my Outou-san a lot too, he died seven years ago when okaa-san was pregnant with Souta-chan, he never knew him.

Anyway okaa-san is very understanding and always supporting, she never leaves my side.

Then there's Souta, he's afraid of everything! And that's why he's dragging me to the well house, it seems that used to be some dead youkai landfill. Yes Souta believes this because in spite I'm always telling him to pay zero attention to what jii-chan says he always listen… What a wuss Souta! He's always scared and running off to my bedroom, once he's my baby brother I got to help him of course… especially since he never knew Outou-san… I wish he had.

Already in our way to the shrine area I kneeled in front of him and straighten his uniform.

 

“Souta-chan I got to go to school I don't have time to look for Buyo.”

 

Well then , that big baby looked at me with his kawaii sad face and glinting widened eyes and, his bottom lip began to tremble and I brace myself for the fit that was to come.

 

“But Kagooomeee!” he whines “I want Buyo!!”

 

Sighing in defeat I got back to my feet and grabbed his hand again pulling him towards the well house, how could I deny him when he's the most adorable kid ever?!

Sighing again because of my trail of thoughts I catch a glimpse of jii-chan raking the dead leaves and I try to avert myself from his distracted look. He's going to bug me because I'm after a stupid obese cat instead of being on my way to school. Guess what? He couldn't be more right! For the first time in my life I agree with my grandfather…

Uh-oh too late! He saw us.

He was checking his hakama and caught a quick look of Souta's happy face.

 

“Kagome what are you doing here? You should be on your way to school!”

 

“Yeah I know jii-chan but I have to go to the well house because Buyo apparently got lost…”

 

I sent a nasty look to Souta and jii-chan understood at once, going away in a instant to his broom muttering something under his breath about fat cats. Oh well…

 

“I hate when he does that”

 

Souta was still complaining about grandfather when minutes later we entered through the shoji door of the well house. Souta didn't want to come in so I got in by myself, I mean I've been here a gazillion times (and so does he, but he's this really big wuss)

 

“Buyo? Buyo come here you fat cat!”

 

I called for Buyo but all the 3 minutes I was there I never even caught a glimpse of the fur ball, I was to leave when a sound got my attention, it was a simple sound like something was being dropped but it came from the well.

Wait I didn't look for the far fur ball in the well I didn't thought he's have the work of jumping inside of it.

 

“Souta I'm going to look inside the well okay, I think I heard something? Just wait a bit more”

 

Souta squirmed a bit more not used to the darkness inside the well house and whispered as I walked closer and closer the well.

 

“Onee-san you sure that's a good idea? Its so creep and dark here, what if you fall?”

 

“Don't be ridiculous Souta!”

 

I chastised him with a mocking tone of voice and gave

one more step forward next thing I don't know what happened and the whole well house was full of pink beautiful light, and if it hadn't scared me a I'd had enjoyed it quite a bit.

I felt something sink talons on my forearm and I screamed in agony as I saw droplets of sticky dark blood falling at my feet.

I hear Souta shout my name and run towards the well but it was too late the thing that had pulled me had already fulfilled its wish and I was inside the well soaring in a see of pink light and wasn't able to see the lid of it.

What the heck was going on in here?

This must be a dream! How could I be in the well house in one second and in the other floating in a abundance of pink light in nowhere? Is Souta okay? Did he tell okaa-san and jii-chan? Are they going to believe him? Are they going to believe me?

I tried to think in everything at the same time and that wasn't a big help, because next thing I know there's a giant centipede with the torso of a mononoke woman that wasn't very happy to see me.

I screamed and tried to run way from her hold but she had at least six disgusting arms covered in slime human arms in each side of her torso and four of them were grabbing me. The other two pulled my face towards her and she hissed revealing a lizard tongue and I opened my eyes, who would've guessed she had a third eye? My forearm and upper arms were soaked in my own blood and I felt I couldn't move them.

 

“Give it to me!”

 

The mononoke hissed her long tongue dangerously near my face I tried to retaliate but the pain in my arms was shooting through my whole body making me immobile.

When she saw I wasn't answering she hissed louder making a shrilling sound that pierced my ears and twirled her long centipede tail, the black hair she had plastered to her face also covered in that slimy substance her body had.

 

“Give it to me! The shikon no tama is mine! Give me the jewel!”

 

Shikon no tama? What was this bitch talking about? I think I heard that name somewhere though… but I don't have something like that! Isn't that supposedly some super powerful jewel? No definitely I don't have it! Oh man I didn't ever like bugs in the first place…

 

“Get away from me mononoke! I don't have it!”

 

Again that shrilling high pitched sound ripped my head in two and the centipede youkai seemed to be a little and her grip loosened a bit, I thought she was going to take my advice and let go of me, but guess what she didn't! Who would have seen that one coming? Instead she lifted me and placed her enormous jaw fangs above my side opening her mouth as wide as she could and prepare to bite, her tongue tasting my flesh for a microsecond.

And I lost it. I don't know what came over me but I became so angry but so angry about not knowing where my family was, if they're okay, where I was, and just why was a mononoke trying to eat me, that my hands began to sparkle pink lights too and when they touched the naked flesh of the arm of the centipede woman two of them just fell of.

I cried in disgust when I saw the bones in the arms and the flesh soaked in blood from where the limps had fallen and I think I fainted.´

 

When I woke up I had my ebony bangs plastered to my face sweat was drenching my face and the collar of the my sailor camisole.

I looked around and recognized the well…its tall walls and dark space. Then…had this all been a dream? The pain in my arms and the blood in the sleeves of my uniform jacket told me otherwise. And when I looked to the ground near me I recognized two ivory arms with big pools of sticky blood pouring from them…

 

The centipede mononoke…

 

It hadn't been a dream after all… I really had murdered that mononoke? How had I torn his limbs off? Looking at my hands so clean in spite of my clothes and body condition I remembered the pink energy circling them…What was that?

Could jii-chan be right? Could I have powers?

 

Jii-chan… Souta… okaa-san!

 

I had to get back to them but how would I climb the walls of the well?

Then I spotted a ivy that had already climbed the well on its own , and I started to think that something was wrong, but I had to take this chance, after all if I still was in the well I should be near home …right?

With a great amount of effort, I can assure you I climbed up the ivy and out of the dreading well with it's floor immersed in blood.

My arms hurt even now after this climbing and I let myself fall into the ground. Which should be cement and hard. Well its now.

I guess I'm still in that same nightmare with the centipede woman because when I opened my eyes I didn't found the darkness of the well house or his moldy smell of the decaying years. Instead I was lying on earth that was as hard as cement in fact harder little stones meant to grace it's texture, when they really were hurting my back and legs a lot.

That was when I noticed my surroundings…

Oh man! What have I gotten myself into?

This couldn't possibly be Tokyo… the sky was tinged in black clouds when I was almost positively sure that when I woke up there weren't a cloud in the sky and the sky was as brilliant as ever. Well not in here, the dark clouds covered the whole sky and around me there was nothing but some trees and a lot of debris, it was very weird. It was as if…it had been a forest and a building area all at the same time…the threes were just a few and it was so cold I felt the blood in my sleeves cling to my skin and freeze me.

What was this place?

Up ahead I could see tall sky scrapers, but they were so dark , this whole place was devoid of color there was only black and deviations of it…gray grayish and more gray… I…I didn't understand.

Why wasn't at home? What about Souta? And Jii-chan… okaa-san were they okay?

I started walking I had just gotten out of the well and although this whole area was something I didn't knew some of the trees were familiar enough… home should be near….

So I inched forward and forward… Curiosity was driving me nuts! What was going on in here? I didn't understood and I had to seek my answers. What was I doing here? where or what was here? Why was it so dark and devoid of color and at the same time it was so familiar all at the same time? My heart was thundering again my ribcage, my ankle was hurting because I must've strained it when I landed on my but on the bottom of the well, my arms were aching and sore and clinging to my skin because of the dry blood, and each time a I tried to pull my white camisole away it hurt even more because the fabric was inside the gashes the mononoke's talons had made. With all this cold I was getting of course a cold because my sweat was freezing me and looking at my watch I realized it was one in the afternoon and not only I had missed all of my classes but I was going to arrive late at home for lunch… Had Souta told them what happened?

Were they going to send someone to look for me? Was I going to find my house in the middle of all of this debris?

Suddenly I came to a stop.

 

Goshinboku…

 

In front of me stood the centenary sacred tree that had a place in the shrine grounds too and was just in front of my house… if Goshinboku was here then home should be just… ahead.

What I found when I looked at Goshinboku harder wasn't home or any information or indications about it.

Not what I found turning around Goshinboku was a man… a boy.

Maybe my age…maybe older.

But he was so stunning that his very image goad me into kneeling in front o him.

He had his against the large trunk of Goshinboku, his legs sprawled over the roots as if he had grown roots too. It seemed he was there a long time ago… come to think of it… Goshinboku…my Goshinboku had a mark too in the exact same spot where he as lying as if the wood hadn't grown in there which could only indicate he was there a long time ago…with my legs neatly tucked under my butt I stood there merely gawking at him. I had never seen someone like him.

Yes he was definitely older than me but not much… maybe twenty years or so.

I tried to understand if his hair was dyed and the only realization I got was that it wasn't and I tried to remember if there was someone normal with silvery white hair at such a young age…

Then again after dealing with the centipede woman I shouldn't be expecting normal things and in fact the realization that once again hit me was that no… there weren't normal people with silvery white long beautiful silky hair flowing around them in the freezing breeze. His face was carved in slightly tanned stone and he had beautiful features, and a scowl on his face demonstrated two shapely equal dark eyebrows the exact opposite color of his beautiful hair.

He was dressed in strange clothes. They seemed clothes from a film wardrobe or something like that.

The thick soft red fabric jacket's hem rested way under his knees which meant it was really very long. It was a fabric I had never seen, it seemed that was a combination of velvet and satin. Under it he wore a white turtle neck camisole of wool that fit his body perfectly clinging to it. His jeans were deep dark, hugged his form perfectly and he wore strange combat boots like the one the military wore.

 

What a strange character…

 

Then I noticed the talons in his fingers, sharp claws but not as long as the ones the centipede youkai had. She imagined he was a youkai too, but he ignited no fear… no fear at all, maybe it was because he was a sleep.

A sleep was a understatement. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't a sleep either…I couldn't hear him breath but strangely I sort of felt the life in him pulsing vaguely as if it wasn't very certain.

I felt compelled to touch him… but was it okay? What if i took him some limb by mistake? Huh probably not… I was angry at the time, pissed off really and that must have been why my… spiritual powers reacted..

So… very gently, carefully and aware of myself and my surroundings, I extended one hand to him and stopped abruptly midway.

Something in this strange character.

Something in my line of sight caught my attention and I direct my gaze to the top of his head…

 

Kawaii!

 

This youkai, this strange man in front of me had the cutest koinu ears I had ever seen and in the sides oh his own head… could he be a Inu-youkai? I just had to touch them, and therefore I continued the path my hand was leading and touched the fuzzy triangular appendages in the sides of the crown of his silvery white head.

They're so soft and they're warm and twitching, I just wanted to nuzzle them and inwardly the thought that that thought was entirely all too canine made me stop.

Then a sound made my body stiffen and my vocal chords wanted to bulge and scream because immediately all my wounds ached and my strained ankle hurt too.

When I turned my head I could see someone was there but they hadn't seen me .

Yet.

Well that was just the time my cold had to show itself, the incontrollable and quick urge to sneeze made way through my nose tickling it and…

 

“Achuuuuu!”

 

Oh man, I'm sure they heard me! Now what? Should I run? Should I hide?

 

“who's there? Show yourself”

 

A voice cracked, full of apprehension.

Two manly silhouettes appeared from behind a large mount of debris and one of them held a machine gun in his shoulder the other one was aiming his weapon at me.

Too late for running

 

 

The two men stood there, gazing at me and occasionally at each other, their features were acutely Asiatic so I was still - hopefully- in the same continent.

Finally one of them dressed in gray, I see looked at my wounds and then stare at my face.

I won't deny I was afraid. Yeah, I was afraid they're double of my age and they didn't seem very friendly. Besides the man who was aiming the AK47 - yeah Souta makes me play videogames with him - at me, was still doing that. The other one held the gun machine at his side and still was looking at me and my clothes strangely. Yeah as if pervert!

 

“Ichigo! Hurry up!”

 

The man behind bellowed, to the one in front of me.

 

“I don't recognize her… she must be a spy. After all she was here so…”

 

“She doesn't look like a youkai. She's human baka.”

 

Youkai? Me? And what's with the machine guns? Why were they armed? They also had katanas at their belts… I didn't like thiiis…

 

“Uh… I'm sorry… but I'm human… I just… I guess I'm lost…”

 

I blabbered and tried to stand. Falling because my ankle it was hurting really bad.

 

“She's hurt Arata. We should take her to Kaede- sama she'll want to know this gaijin was roaming near Inuyasha.”

 

Arata the man aiming the Ak47 at me, finally lowered his weapon and Ichigo the man in front of me took one step forward at which I recoiled in fear.

But he didn't come closer. And who the hell was he calling gaijin? I was never fond of that term, besides I'm from Tokyo Damn it!

I think I'm panicking now, who's this Kaede? And why didn't they come closer? Was it because of…

I looked at the silver haired bisoujo again and let my hand graze his for a second before I get up and walk towards the man.

 

“Gaijin, are you a spy?”

 

Finally one of them, Ichigo the fair skinned in a non-healthy way spoke to me, he also grabbed my arm and pulled me towards Arata.

But he squeezed my lacerated flesh in the right spot in order to make the pain remarkable and in my hurting haze I stumbled on a root and fell forwards, however the grip in my arm was so tight that I literally stood dangling in his hand. Talk about luck… right?!

“I'm not a gaijin! I'm from Tokyo! Where are you taking me?”

I spit out, and next thing I know I'm unconscious

 

 

I woke up much later with the frightening knowledge and sensation that I had slept a lot.

 

And when I say a lot… I mean really a lot. I felt like I had slept through the day. Imagine my surprise when I look around and my head hurts a lot, as do my foot and my arms and I realize I'm not in a place I know, its night, deep night and something slimy and cold is pressing against the wound on my forearms and upper arms, and something dry like leaves are brushing and ticking my ankle.

I'm laying on a futon that it's comfy and warm and I want to doze off again and forget my problems just for a bit again. I notice the ceiling is very, very high, am I hallucinating? Because the ceiling is as high as the ceiling of a warehouse and that's very weird considering this looks a modest house room. I try to stand up and a wet cloth falls from my forehead brushing something on my forearm and I noticed I'm only wearing my bra and I have gauze all over my arms squeezing them tight I can distinguish a green oily substance that smells funny. Not bad…funny, then I look at my ankle supported by my elbows and I realize I was right there are foliage clinging to my foot. And its making the ache go away.

Although I was a bit unnerved because someone undressed me and I had no way to know who was the person who did this- and therefore if it was a man or a woman - I was also glad someone was seeing to my injuries.

Suddenly the ceiling looked shorter and my head was dizzy, I felt groggy and I thought I was going to vomit.

My family must be so worried about me … I had to get a way of coming back!

And in a determinate fashion I punched the inside of one of my hands…

I get excited, and I tend to forget that I'm hurt.

letting out a shriek of pain I fell into the futon again and when I thought nobody was coming I relaxed again.

Maybe if I went into the well again maybe it would bring me back to my family, after all it had brought me here to this dark place…right? Yes maybe... but I was getting so sleepy again… I should sleep for a couple more hours…

And when I was beginning to doze off the noise of a shoji door being pulled aside woke me.

I jumped in the futon and fumbled in it to change my position and see who was it, once the doors were in line with the pillow of the futon, clinging to the tatami floor as hard as I could with my injured arms - that I noticed didn't hurt half as bad as before - and turned around to face her.

She was very old, maybe older than jii-chan. Her gray hair was tied in a knot at the base of her hair and she was sporting strangely old miko garments… a white suikan and red hakama pants. One of her eyes was hidden by an eye patch I could see, under her bangs. Her face was slightly tanned and wrinkled, and she kept a neutral face expression.

Walking towards me as I slowly turn my head to follow her movement she kneeled next to me and took the wet cloth from my stomach where it lain since it had fallen and dived it in a bucket of water I didn't even noticed she was carrying.

Her voice was cold stone and neutral as her face.

 

“Are you feeling better child?”

 

Amazed I nodded while trying not to stare to her covered eye… she was so old…what had happened to her? I couldn't help but to feel sorry for her…

Was she Kaede-sama? Had she been the one seeing to my injuries? Should I thank her? Or let her talk first? The wash cloth damped in cool water was carefully put on my forehead again and she egged me to lie down again, then she began to uncover my arms taking the gauze. I needed to know what this place was. And how to come back home! Why those persons thought I was a gaijin and where were they so that I could give them a piece of my mind… and who had undressed me?

Oh man I was getting dizzy again…

 

“Where did you come from?”

 

“I told you already! I'm from Tokyo… jeez why won't you people believe me?”

 

“You are wearing strange colors.”

 

Oi! What's wrong with light purple and white? That was why that Ichigo guy had stared at my clothes that way?

 

“Where are they? I want them back… who undressed me?”

 

“They're being washed. I did. I needed to in order to attend to your wounds.”

 

I guess I wasn't expecting her to say that, so I blushed and met her eyes with determination.

 

“Domo Arigatou…”

 

“My name is Kaede and I'm the miko who looks over this area.”

 

I swallowed hard… I was getting anxious and started fidgeting again.

 

“I'm Higurashi Kagome.”

 

Then the old onna pulled herself closer, and stared at my face shamelessly. Her hand flew to my chin and she tugged it in order to stay eye level with me.

Then she smiled sadly at my frightened expression and let my chin drop.

 

“You are…”

 

“I just want to get out of here Kaede-sama….”

 

“no need to use honorifics with me. You are a miko yourself.”

 

She said in a polite evenly tone but I was completely taken aback and crawled backwards away from her.

 

“Na - Nani?!”

 

“Are you denying you have spiritual powers?”

 

And so I sat calmer and began telling Kaede about me falling into the well the fight with the centipede youkai and then getting out of the well and recognize nothing but the well itself and Goshinboku and about finding the Inu-youkai laying at the base of it.

At the end of the story about my agitated morning, Kaede looked at me with kind eyes, much different from the ones which had faced me some minutes ago.

 

“Kagome you're truly a miko, and a very powerful one. The well where you fell is the bone eater well and ningen often send youkai bones inside of it when they're defeated for them to not regenerate … it was made centuries ago with wood from The Goshinboku… that is why is sacred…and magic” seeing I was following, she carried on “ Do you not know who that hanyou is?”

 

“Uh… yeah no, not really. Why was he asleep?”

 

“This was once Inuyasha's forest. That hanyou you saw it was Inuyasha.”

 

Her gaze fell upon the only window that graced the room with the night's full moon light and I sighed, I was so very tired… but the subject was interesting. When regarding that strange character - Inuyasha - I couldn't seem to control my curiosity and so I persuaded myself into stay awake to hear what Kaede was talking about

 

“He wasn't asleep though… he's sealed with miko powers to that tree for fifty years now…”

 

I can't help the helpless feeling that rises in my chest. Why ere they seizing him there? Why would they do something so mean? If miko powers had sealed him then miko powers should be able to release him… if Kaede was a miko she could release him. Angry I glowered at her.

 

“why won't you release him?”

 

She didn't lost even for a bit the glance she was offering the night outside but she still answered me.

 

“You do not know Inuyasha… he did awful things… “

 

But how? He seemed so tantalizing… so kawaii! Okay I know he's a man in he's late teens early twenties but I mean he was jut so beautiful…

I must be kidding did I really though a sealed sleeping Hanyou was sexy?

 

Well, he was …

 

“what did he do for you to keep him captive for fifty years?”

 

“we couldn't release him even if we wanted too…there's nobody with such amount of power as the one that sealed him… Well there was nobody… now…there is.”

 

What was this old woman saying? She couldn't possibly think that I … I had such powers could she?

 

“Kaede oba-chan… I only discovered my powers… this morning at the well… you can't possibly mean me…”

 

Again she offered me one of those kind sad smiles of the ones that lives long enough to doze off in the middle of conversations and remember ancient battles…

 

“Child you are the reincarnation of one of the most powerful mikos ever… you posses such amount of power than I can feel it oozing off your body right now. Inuyasha was sealed by onee-sama's great pain and grief. One day I'll tell you all about this. But now… you must come back to your family. They should be worried, don't you think?”

 

Although her words gave me a lot of matter to think about, and I'd think about them … at that time the will to return home was overwhelming and I let myself be overwhelmed. How could explain okaa-san and Jii-chan this whole adventure? Will they believe me? Souta will think that's the coolest thing in the world. Inwardly I smiled and swirled my sight towards Kaede oba-chan.

 

“But how Kaede oba-chan? Do you think I should jump inside the well? Do you think that as it brought me, it will take me?”

 

The old woman with the wrinkled and saddened face mused about it, sitting with her legs tucked under her behind in a traditional Japanese fashion, she took one of her hands to her chin and rubbed it very pondering.

 

“I think Kagome that your powers are indeed fantastic… that well is magic and you were able to control the magic with no notion of what you were doing… Child if this is possible and you can really pass through that well… you must come back to visit us and let me train your miko powers. However child you must forget about releasing Inuyasha, he already caused too much damage as it is… Inuyasha must never be unsealed…”

 

The old woman talked a lot, and gave away too much information in one single breath. Yes if she was able to pass through the well, then she'd use the well as a passage and learn more about this place, this was Tokyo and yet it wasn't… she wanted to understand and control her powers and discover why people cared about youkai and carried weapons so openly…she wanted to know though before answering anything of this why had the centipede mononoke said she had the shikon no tama?

 

“uh… Kaede oba-chan? Why… why did the centipede youkai said that I was carrying the shikon no tama?”

 

Folding her hands neatly in her lap and looking focused at them she hadn't noticed that Kaede had got up and was walking towards the shoji doors.

She stopped abruptly though as if the words had cut into her.

Again that pained look fell upon Kagome over the old onna shoulder and her voice was distant and regretful.

 

“Because Kagome-chan… you are…”

 

Sighing her shoulder slumped even more than what was only by aged years.

 

“I'm going to get your clothes child and then we'll try the well…”

 

“Ha- Hai… Kaede oba-chan!”

 

What made you so sad Kaede oba-chan?

 

The old woman although frightening at the beginning had actually been very good to her she had taken care of her wounds and gave her a lot of information… was it because of her sister and Inuyasha…? Anyway I wanted to apologize to the woman who had taken such good care after me… The last thing I'd wanted was to upset her…

A strange feeling issued in the pit of my stomach and a twinge made my eyes shot open that had begun to close its lids very slowly. Then a pulse… I could feel a living pulse from outside…

And just has it had come, it become faintly again and she was besieged by the will to close her lids and fall asleep…

I heard the dim sound of the shoji doors being opened again and calloused hands reach my ankle untying the gauze that held the leaves hugging to my limb and a wet wash cloth began to scrub my skin there and after that skin was completely scrubbed, Kaede- and I knew it was her because her presence and aura were strangely and yet not unpleasantly soothing - began to cleanse the skin of my arms…

When Kaede oba-chan had finished and she got up, I imagined reaching my clothes. I felt that twinge again this time stronger, the pulse ran through my veins again, and I sat in the futon hastily.

I found Kaede oba-chan coming to me with a scowl marking her worried expression.

 

“I felt something too child…”

 

“Hai!”

 

She gave me my sailor camisole and light purple jacket that were completely disposed of blood although they had some shredded holes where that centipede bitch had carved her talons…

I wrinkled my nose, when felt my hackles rising. I didn't even noticed the way Kaede oba-chan looked at me as if she were surprised.

Then the earth shook and panicked screaming filled my ears.

Not meaningless screams, I mean real screams in anguish and pain that ripped my heart in two.

Woman were begging mercy for their sons and daughters. The noise of gun shots and katanas being unsheathed because of what I could guess it were man trying fight…

 

“Kaede oba-chan…what's going on?”

 

“Dress child, be quick!”

 

The old miko ordered and stormed out of the door. I as always was confused and torn in two... I should go back home… but what if I could do something to help this persons… what was going on? Rapidly putting my arms through the sleeves of my uniform camisole and dressing my coat preparing myself for the cold that reigned in the air this night. I got off of my futon and pulled the shoji doors aside.

The corridor was like the room I had just been in all built in cement and had only passage for tree more rooms. The must have been as small as the one room I had rested… and with another earthquake I knew I had to be fast...

Maybe she could help people…

 

Reaching the front door she found her penny loafer and put them on hastily, facing the scenery outside.

 

Kaede oba-chan held a yumi daikyu a little too big for her height and was aiming an arrow at something in the midst of some defeated corpses and with some men and women behind her.

The ya was glowing in pink light and though weaker it was the same kind of light that came from my hands when I fought the mononoke… So that had been purifying energy…

Jii-chan I'll start to listen too your stories, promise!

I notices these women and these men , one stronger and one weaker they all were counting on Kaede oba-chan to help… but who was this area foe?

In front of me … hissing and shrieking in anger I saw centipede mononoke with four arms left and the flesh that had been part of the limbs that I had earlier this morning torn apart.

Centipede mononoke yelled to the men and women and to Kaede oba-chan that she demanded the shikon-no-tama. That she sensed it and had come hear because she sensed it.

 

And I froze.

She had destroyed the poor cement houses of this poor people that so humbly, for what I could see lived in wreckage and debris?

Although this was cleanser than that strange forest full of building debris, the small, and by small I meant tiny houses even tinier than Kaede's stood most of them next to each other and a lots of them were now in pieces. Inside some I could distinguish some lumps of flesh some still twitching others completely limp and others marred in deep dark slippery blood.

It was a hell's vision.

There was fire too, and I guessed it had been born from the shooting that had been crossed before.

Furthermore Centipede mononoke had bullets holes in her insect flesh above her waist and in all her torso above and under her breast in her neck and face, but the wounds weren't staying open for much long… oh no they were closing and soon her skin was a perfect as it could be, seeing it was a youkai's skin…

So long story short… all this person… tears stung my eyes and pulling my bottom lip up I sniffed trying to control them but being incapable of it...al this people… they're killed because this demoness was after me?

This was all my fault… breathing deeply and summoning courage to do what I knew was the right thing to do. Biting hard on my bottom lip I ran as fast as my legs could take me even with my strained ankle hurting as hell and placed myself in Kaede's target line…

 

“Mukade youkai! Is it me your after? Come and get me then!”

 

In front of me twirling her insect tail around her human body and then throwing it into the ground with ear piercing shriek, centipede mononoke screamed at me

 

“You little bitch! You have it! The shikon no tama! Give it to me!”

 

Her long reptilian tongue flicking out of her mouth and her bangs revealing a third eye in the middle of her forehead… I couldn't say I wasn't terrified…

I ran into the only thing I knew. A far I saw the top of Goshinboku mingled in those dark trees and piles of wreckage. Of course I heard Mukade youkai come for me, her long tail filled with little disgusting paws each side swiveled in the ground increasing her speed her only two arms extended towards me and her tongue flicking towards me, as if she wanted to touch me with any part of her body…

It occurred to me that I should be at home eating dinner with my family and then I should do some chores and watch TV or play videogames with Souta outouto-chan… but…

I was here fumbling to get away from a giant half Mukade half onna. But it was okay… it was the right thing to do… I had brought this misfortune…I had brought this…

Once again I looked behind me when I heard new guns shots and one of the bullets passed though me an inch's length… swallowing hard I kept on running with my eyes locked in the vision of the Area people running after the youkai that was pursuing me…they were trying to…protect me?

When it was entirely my fault... why? I saw Kaede firing an arrow but she stumbled and the razor, shining bright pink, didn't hit its target.

 

Hama no ya… was it because of this that jii-chan always wanted for me to learn kyudou? I wish I had listened to that too…

 

I ran faster looking straight ahead, tears streaming down my lovely chocolate eyes…even if it was to late for me… I had to save them…

 

“Mukade Youkai! Come on! Come and get me! Isn't that what you want? “

 

Quickening my steps I yelled one last time as loud as my lungs could take it

 

“Well then, come on!”

 

She yelled again that horrid high pitched sound, as if my words had burned her as well as my purifying powers…I ran faster, at a certain pint I could no longer feel my legs but I felt the air rush whipping my onyx locks away from my face, my tears turned to ice and when I thought that maybe, just maybe there was a way out when I saw Goshinboku's trunk mere meters away from me and I kept on running desperate to help the ones in the Area… they weren't shooting anymore...

 

When that root caught my foot so easily, so casually as if I had been running to catch a butterfly and not for mine and the Area's people's life… new tears came to my eyes…The earth shook again…Mukade jurou was as closer than ever…

And I fell

I was expecting landing on a pile of debris and being cut by the hard rocks and glass there are in those piles. But I fell into something soft… The impact making me jump and crush against whatever I landed on.

Silky hairs danced around my face caressing it, under my fingers I felt thick soft fabric, almost like velvet and satin combined, my forehead, I could tell, was resting in the crook of something's… someone's neck…

Inuyasha…

When I opened my eyes… there he was… still in his peaceful features, resting against the bark of Goshinboku…the sacred tree, his whole body limp, he didn't breath… but he was warm…he was warm and at that moment the pain of my injuries wanted to overcome me, engulf me. Here lying next to his heart… I felt so sad… so sad, as if I was sharing his sadness, and it wanted to drown me, it was so realistic, so …pure.

Tears came to my eyes again and the mononoke appeared in front of me, a nasty smile in her repulsive mouth where her tongue lashed out. Her two remaining arms expanding towards me her fangs completely out of her mouth and she laughed with the same ear piercing frequency she screamed with.

I couldn't help but to recoil in fear…

So this was how it would turn out?

 

Kagome was a normal girl…

 

She swiveled her tail once again and throwing it to the floor her upper body flew to me, grabbing me by my sides leaving puncture marks gashing blood and coating her talons, I shrieked in agony…she dragged be by the ground while she flew meters away, her breast dangerously closed to my face making me want to throw up.

 

She had her friends, and her family… and everybody loved her. Then she disappeared…

 

She raked one of her clawed hands over my stomach leaving cuts all the way… one of her talons punctured me deep there. With agony yell I wiggled harder to get out o her grip… but she was too strong…

My body began to glow pink again I felt renewed energy flowing through my veins… if I let these youkai win… those people's life would be at stage…

But unlike what I believed the centipede youkai would do, she throw me against a tree, that threaten to fall due to the impact, and I blacked out…

 

They never saw her again… if only they knew she had died in a place full of shadows, they'd all weep forKagome was the one who always scared the shadows away from their hearts…

 

Swimming in black, I thought I was lost…

But when I thought there was no possible escape I felt sharp teeth… I didn't think they could be called that… sharp fangs raked over the place of my body, right above my hip bone, that this Mukade was obstinate with… something rough and wet, slimy touched me there, licking it hastily and I shrieked in disgust, and combining with my cry came other, much higher that made groggy and made want to fall asleep again…

 

She couldn't bind them farewell, and neither could them.

Kagomedied torn apart from them, trying to rescue people she had innocently put in danger… and that was the proof of her pure heart…

 

“Centipede youkai…”

 

I whispered to the wind, but they were words to deaf ears, because they silently fell of lips when pain overcame my throat and made me scream as loud as I could, when the youkai onna buried her fangs in my flesh and raked one fang to where the other had been opening a gash large enough to stick one hand inside her body, her loins withdraw from the pain and as loud as I screamed when I looked down and saw under the Mukade youkai's hungry tongue, a cut in my body squishing dark blood that stick to me and my just washed camisole I almost fainted…

 

I must… I-I must save them…! I must save those innocent people!

 

Even when centipede mononoke extended one of her hands to my gash and stuck two of her fingers inside it, and I felt her blade claws tearing the flesh even more, I made no sound… even when she inserted her tongue in my bloody body and stained her mouth and cheeks with my crimson life looking obviously for something… I made no sound.

And I sought that feeling, that power within me…

I sought it closing my eyes and focusing on the feeling I got when that bright pink light spread through my body…

 

So warm…

 

That warmth reach every corner and every end of my body, tickled the inside of her flesh, made me forget the pain and I felt it coming.

I didn't know how I get it to come, but suddenly I was engulfed by a pink brightness that quickly scared the Mukade mononoke away.

IT didn't occurred me thought, she still having her jaw teeth buried inside my flesh-maybe because assaulted by my own power I didn't felt my gouge loosing blood madly and pooling being absorbed in the hard soil, that when she leaped in agony of the burning purification and lift her entire body from the ground where she had before ravished my flesh I'd go with her, angling from her strong jaw…

And with the lost I concentration my power waned, and the pain come back, only much more stronger… much more agonizing, in the edge of unbearable, it shot through out her entire body, making it recoil and spasm all at the same time, when I looked down at where Mukade centipede held me I could see the blazed flesh of her shoulder falling into pieces that would disintegrate before reaching the ground.

She had no arms anymore.

Moreover I could see she was livid, furious, she cried out one of that razor sharp yelps that instead of piercing only my head pierced through my body two with the vibration, I realized with it that the inside of the Mukade mouth was scorching and that she didn't have a tongue anymore. All her mouth area was burned, but her fangs were still clinging to her flesh and she shook her head.

A Hama no ya scrapped her slimy hair and she screamed in frustration.

This time however she forgot she had me on her scorched mouth and she let me fall.

A faint pop was heard trough the meadow and when I looked down to the night. I saw a round jewel, pink and bright on the ground, tainted in me sticky crimson blood.

Then I crashed again.

Beaten and bloody, with less blood on my body that I was sure to have sprawled in the meadow, I was about to forget every and any conscient thoughts and drift off to a welcoming sleep.

I didn't realize it was de shadows and darkness that were pulling me towards giving up because I was ready to…

Until I heard him.

Fro just across me I heard a growl, and when I looked up in what I thought would be a ultimate gesture I for moments expected to see a dog… maybe a hound from hell…but not that, no.

From afar, where the men still try to restrain the Mukade mononoke, I heard Kaede screaming to get back, to run.

I didn't understand though… what did she mean? I was safe right? Whatever it was that the youkai wanted had gotten out of me… and I was ready to doze forever… she wouldn't come after me… would she?

Then why did she sound so concerned and urgent?

That was when I noticed that the unkind growl that was heard in front of me, was not from a dog… Well it was and it wasn't.

You see when I opened my eyes and looked up, I couldn't help myself to admire Goshinboku and its large trunk bathed in silver moonlight.

That wasn't the only thing silver around there.

Just in front of me, I saw with a pain expression, silky strand of longer than mine hair, whipping like crazy leaves in the wind. But this wind it was no natural thing.

There wasn't such air passing that it would made this hair whip in such a way..

And when I looked at Inuyasha's face…

He had his fangs bared at me, in a threatening scowl, and his eyes were open.

Eyes of a bright amber, chips of gold dancing around his iris, trying to merge with it, creating a golden-brown halo around it.

They're the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.