InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Bearers of the Shards ❯ The City of Ghosts ( Chapter 6 )

Author's Very Lengthy Note: And now, of course, the plunge into the Tatesei city.

Reader: Well, you've SORT of answered the thing with Inuyasha in the last chapter, but we still don't know what the hell is going on with Yaburenumaru. Who the @#$% is this brother of his? Is The Voice real or just his evil alter ego? Why the @#$% is his name so long and hard to pronounce? What the hell?!

Yamisui: All shall be answered below (except the name part---deal with it). I hope the answers aren't TOO obvious---I would hate to write a story where the plot twists are mere cliché.

Reader: Can you tone down the angst? I want humor! And sex! SEX, damnit!

Yamisui: . . . Um, you're getting the usual combination of humor and sexual tension.

Reader: It had BETTER. I have better things to do with my time than reading crappy fanfics.

Yamisui: O_O Apparently NOT, because you've already READ up to chapter 6. . .

{#} {#} {#} THE BEARERS OF THE SHARDS {#} {#} {#}

{#} {#} Chapter 6: The City of Ghosts {#} {#}

In the morning the four travelers descended the slope into the valley. After a long, uneventful traipse through the outlying forest they cut across the rice fields beneath a steady drizzle of rain.

There were no workers around to take alarm at the sight of them---it was the planting season. The tiny green rice shoots had already been inserted into the rich brown mud weeks before. But there were obviously sentries posted at the walls, because they had not even reached the city ramparts when a party of warriors rode out to meet them.

Inuyasha put a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, but Miroku laid a hand on his arm.

"Use caution, Inuyasha," the monk advised. "These people hate demons. Let me do the talking."

Inuyasha scowled but stepped back behind Miroku. He had not told the others of his connection to this place. He would not, unless it became absolutely necessary. But he trusted Kagome not to tell, and he felt lighter somehow because she had listened to him.

The warriors rode white horses and wore full armor, and upon their shields was the city's crest. It was a simple spiral---a whorl curving inward on itself---the symbol of a spirit moving.

`Or a soul caught in a trap,' Inuyasha thought.

Behind the warriors came a group of men wearing white hoods pulled low over their brows. Their eyes were stern; their mouths were grim beneath the long Tatesei nose. Inuyasha's chest burned at the sight of them. His hand returned to Tetsusaiga, if only to be reassured by the familiar feel of the hilt on his palm.

Demon steel could kill these men.

`Why, Kagome?' Inuyasha thought, feeling a little sick at the sight of them. `Why save them?'

But he did not draw his father's fang, and the moment passed.

"What reason brings you here?" the warrior at the forefront asked, glaring down his nose at Miroku. "A monk? With a girl and two demons?" His horse snorted and stamped restlessly, as if sharing its master's impatience.

"We have business here," Miroku answered smoothly, stepping closer to the horse's head.

The leader cast the briefest of glances back to where the Wise stood and then said, "We need no exorcisms here. And no business. This is the city of Reiyama, home of the strong and prosperous Tatesei Line. If you choose to pass peacefully my men will escort you from the valley."

At his side hung a katana, and across his back there hung a quiver full of arrows. There was no need to ask what he would do if they chose not to pass peacefully.

Miroku bowed respectfully at such an angle as to include the Wise in it. It was obvious to him, even though he hadn't heard Inuyasha's tale, where the real power lay.

"But this does concern your fine city," Miroku told them, almost apologetically. "We have come a long way, hunting a demon we believe is heading directly for Reiyama. It must not have reached you yet, or you would know of it."

One of the leader's men made a small noise of scorn or disbelief. The leader silenced him with a sharp glance. Behind the horsemen, the Wise stood still as statues, listening.

"We hunt our own demons," the leader said haughtily, turning back to face the intruders. "We take care of what little escapes the Warding." He patted the katana's hilt. "Men or demons," he added, with a significant glance in Inuyasha's direction.

Inuyasha---being, well, Inuyasha---promptly forgot Miroku's advice and stepped forward, bristling.

"Look, I don't CARE what you say you can handle," he declared. "We've come to stop this thing ourselves. It's not what you're thinking. This demon's been traveling south and destroying everything in its path. But at night, it takes the form of a brat who calls himself `Yaburenumaru.'" Inuyasha paused to sneer at the Wise. "Does THAT name ring a bell?"

"Respect!" the leader barked, and with a hiss of metal on metal his sword emerged from its sheath. "You tread on thin ground, demon ingrate. Perhaps you don't know the power of the Wise. . ."

"Let them come into the city."

The leader spun his horse around, a look of astonishment transforming his proud, grizzled face.

One of the Wise had spoken.

The leader inclined his head toward the still, cloaked figures, touching a hand to his brow. He seemed to be waiting for an explanation from them. It didn't come. Instead the Wise turned and began to walk back up the slope of the city's ramparts. Their long gray robes hung to the very ground, so that it seemed they glided rather than walked. Inuyasha remembered well how the Wise had always conveyed the image that they were something more than human.

"But they're just puny mortals, under all that," Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

Miroku's staff planted itself on his foot. Hard.

"FUCK!!!" he shouted, dislodging the offending staff and stamping the offended foot.

The Wise didn't react to this outburst, but the leader of the warriors did.

"Tell him to keep his filthy mouth shut," the man ordered Miroku. "Or we'll fit him with a muzzle. The Wise are allowing you in for a reason, so you'd best follow them now."

Then the Tatesei warriors wheeled their steeds about and followed the sorcerers. Miroku clamped a hand over Inuyasha's mouth.

"Will you stop picking fights?" the monk hissed in his ear. "This is not helpingOWWWWDAMNIT!!!!!!"

"Wow Miroku," Shippou commented. "You're as loud as Inuyasha."

The monk staggered back a few paces, clutching his left hand and wearing an expression of horror.

"He bit me," Miroku whispered, clearly in a state of shock.

"Feh. You're not BLEEDING," Inuyasha scoffed. "Much."

"Inuyasha, you HAVE to promise to BEHAVE," Shippou ordered, making a great show of speaking patiently. "We didn't come all this way to piss them off and get kicked out."

But Inuyasha was already walking ahead of them, taking large strides to catch up with Kagome, who was determinedly ignoring them and following the warriors up the slope.

{#} {#} {#}

It took twelve men to open the northern gate---two to lift the heavy log used to bar it and ten to turn the pulley that lifted the heavy wooden door. Once inside, Inuyasha and his three companions found themselves walking in the midst of the Wise. The warriors had left them at once to return to their posts at the walls. Inuyasha almost wished they'd stayed.

Miroku, traveling a few paces behind him, tried several times to ask questions of those Wise nearest him. None of them answered, or even granted him the courtesy of acknowledging him with a glance. They walked swiftly and silently, staring fixedly ahead.

"Fucking zombies," Inuyasha muttered, eyeing them with immense dislike. "They won't talk to anyone but those they think are powerful."

He was walking very close to Kagome, so much so that his shoulder brushed hers every step he took. She did not seem to notice---she was busy taking in the sights of the surrounding city, distracted occasionally by her hacking cough.

However grudgingly, Inuyasha had to admit that Reiyama was a rich and prosperous place. Even the peasants---moving through the streets carrying sacks of rice and cages with chickens inside---wore silk. Their faces were full and unlined, and none of them seemed to be in any particular hurry. The nobles Inuyasha saw, by comparison, were beautiful, smooth-skinned creatures, their robes a riot of color and the hair of men and women alike dripping with jade and pearls. From every sleeve ribbons were draped, to catch the wind and flutter behind them like banners.

The buildings---the houses, the temples, the markets, the palace---these were all as he had remembered them. Stalls selling sweetmeats and pearls from the sea villages and jade mined from the mountains. Here and there, there were theater tents, swathed in red silk as if silk were as common as thatch. And ahead, the palace rose above all others, framed with beams of ebony. Curtains of glass beads. Gardens full of bonsai trees, hung with gold ornaments. Pillars of bone.

The palace had been built over the lake on Kagome's map. Its numerous shaded walkways were supported by painted stone pillars half-submerged in the mirror-smooth water. They walked in the midst of the Wise through these outdoor halls, over bridges fashioned from teak and supported by columns of marble. By this time it was late afternoon; the sun slanting down on the lake and setting it aflame.

"We can't let these people waste any time," Inuyasha muttered, eyeing the city walls on the far side of the water. "I don't know when he'll show up, but if he was AHEAD of US. . ."

"You mean Yaburenumaru?" Kagome said, looking up at him. "Remember, I'll know when he's here. I don't sense him right now. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't come here without the jewel shard---he would want to be at his strongest. So I don't think he's here yet."

"He must be waiting until he's human to try getting in," Inuyasha said softly. "That must be it. They won't let him in looking like he does during the DAY. . ."

The eyes of the nearest sorcerer, a penetrating gray beneath the white cowl, slide sideways to rest upon Kagome. It was the smallest of gestures, but Inuyasha saw it, and his gut clenched with worry. You didn't look at the Wise, or they killed you and took your soul. His mother had told him this once, so that he would not make the mistake of calling dangerous attention to himself. And now the Wise had chosen to turn his gaze upon Kagome.

`The shards,' Inuyasha thought worriedly. `She should NOT have mentioned the SHARDS. . .'

Yet the gaze of the Wise turned elsewhere just as swiftly as it had fallen upon Kagome, and the gray-robed man did not speak. They had come to the hall of the king.

{#} {#} {#}

Lord Iryokugou sat upon a cushion of red silk, embroidered with cranes. The tassels of his seat had been gilded. From his white silk robes there hung chains of gray pearls, and across his breast there hung a crimson sash so exquisite that Kagome had only seen the like in museums.

The Wise bowed, and Inuyasha and his friends did likewise. (Miroku had to surreptitiously kick Inuyasha in the back of the heel to get him to follow suit.)

The king nodded in approval as they all knelt before him.

"His Majesty Lord Iryokugou welcomes you to Reiyama," one of the Wise announced. "As does his son and heir, the young Lord Asano."

At the king's side sat a young boy of about ten years, clothed in red robes trimmed with gold. Upon his hands, which were folded in front of him in a thoughtful manner, were many gold rings, and golden chains had been woven into his hair.

`His HEIR?' Kagome thought, perplexed. `But if this is his eldest son, who is Yaburenumaru?'

"Thank you, gracious Lords," Miroku intoned. "We have journeyed from afar, hunting a dangerous enemy, unto your very gates."

The epitome of polite, the monk paused until Iryokugou ordered, "Speak."

"It passed through our village, killing a family there. The two parents it killed for food, but the child it killed out of malice, mutilating the face beyond recognition. The demon has the odd habit of destroying everything that gets in its way---not just humans, my Lords, anything found in nature as well. It traveled unerringly to the south, and soon we realized it was coming here."

Kagome sneaked a brief glance at the young prince, Asano, but his expression did not change with the relation of this gruesome tale. He was no older than her younger brother, Souta, but his quiet composure made him seem older.

"Yet one night we learned something very strange," Miroku went on. "A boy came into our midst. Cold and starving and wounded, he called himself Yaburenumaru, and claimed that he was the rightful heir to the Tatesei throne."

Something unreadable flickered in the king's eyes, but he only nodded to encourage the monk to continue.

"But at dawn he was transformed into the demon, and he fled from us. We have pursued him into this valley, where we lost his trail. When he becomes human, the demon scent disappears, and my friend In---"

Here Inuyasha interrupted him, "Honnou."

Miroku didn't blink or register surprise in any way.

"My friend Honnou," he amended, "finds it very difficult to locate his human scent."

The king's expression had grown very dark, and the set of his mouth hard and grim.

"Describe this boy to me, that I might know the truth of what you are saying," he ordered.

Kagome answered quickly, "He was thin and wiry, with large black eyes. His clothing was half-gone---torn and filthy---and on his back there were these deep cuts, like he was hit with something over and over. He claimed he was your son and the true heir of Reiyama."

The king frowned. "We did not inflict these wounds on him. But he is who you say he is. That much I can tell." He glanced sharply at the Wise nearest him. "See that the walls are watched, and the warriors made ready to meet the demon should it come." His voice was low and harsh as he issued the last command. "Kill whatever tries to breach our defenses, even if it looks like my eldest son."

The Wise nodded assent and filed out of the room, gray robes swishing softly over the stone floor. Kagome saw, as they went, the last look one cast in Lord Iryokugou's direction. The expression accompanying that gaze was full of loathing and contempt.

`They hate their own king,' she thought, wonderingly. `But why? And why do they serve him if they hate him?'

Inuyasha saw the eyes of another sorcerer rest briefly upon Kagome, and then the Wise were gone. He fought the sudden urge to finger Tetsusaiga's hilt, promising himself that he would get Kagome out of this city as soon as possible, regardless of what they'd come here to do. The Wise were paying her far too much attention for his comfort.

They didn't seem to recognize him---for which he thanked his lucky stars---but then it had been sixty-five years since the Tatesei had last laid eyes on him. And fortune seemed to be with him: in scanning the faces of the Wise he had noticed that they were all young. None of them could be old enough to remember Inuyasha, the Halfling child of their princess.

"My lord," Miroku addressed the king. "There is something else. We have also seen traveling south. . .a kirin. That its path coincided with Yaburenumaru's seems too much of a coincidence to dismiss. And he told us that he must reach his kingdom before the kirin did. . ."

Lord Iryokugou narrowed his eyes briefly, nodded, and then turned to a servant standing nearby.

"You there. Woman. Take these travelers to the guest quarters and make them welcome." He smiled benevolently at the four guests kneeling before him, but it was a smile that did not reach his eyes.

{#} {#} {#}

The quarters to which they were shown were lavish and comfortable. The back doors to the two adjoining rooms opened up onto a walkway suspended over the lake. They were given an evening meal equally as lavish, which all of them save for Inuyasha dug into with aplomb. The hanyou merely pushed his food around his plate, pulling a face sour enough to curdle milk.

"What's eating YOU?" Shippou demanded, jabbing his chopsticks in Inuyasha's direction. "You're not EATING."

Inuyasha sniffed the air long and carefully and then remarked, "Weird. There's no one spying on us."

"I could have told you THAT," Shippou replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides, why WOULDN'T they trust us? We came to WARN them."

With a deep breath, Inuyasha plunged into the story of his connection to the Tatesei, finishing with the strange circumstances of his escape from the Wise. Shippou's mouth fell open. Miroku merely nodded sagely.

"I thought it might be something like that," he said. "You know, you're really bad at hiding things, Inuyasha."

Kagome laid a calming hand on Inuyasha's arm, because he looked like he was about to dive across the table to attack the monk, food and all.

"But they don't recognize you, do they, Inuyasha?" she said reasonably. "After all, it's been so many years. . ."

"I want to leave," Inuyasha told them. Dead silence fell around the table. "I don't trust them. The Wise know you have jewel shards, Kagome. You let it slip when we were walking through the streets. I know them. They don't let things as powerful as the Shikon Jewel slip through their greedy fingers."

"We can't leave," Kagome protested. "We have to stay. I saw the way the Wise looked at Lord Iryokugou. They hate him. I think they're angry about this whole situation with the demon and Yaburenumaru. I'm afraid they might turn on their own king!"

Inuyasha folded his arms.

"All the more reason for getting the hell out of here," he insisted stubbornly. "It's HIS protection, we're under, after all. And if something HAPPENS to him. . ."

"But they let us into the city," Miroku reminded him. "The Wise don't know about my Wind Tunnel, or the powers of your Tetsusaiga, so they probably think they could've finished us off this afternoon. But they invited us in, not the king."

Inuyasha did not seem convinced. "Feh," he said.

"Let's just get some sleep," Kagome urged. "I'm exhausted. I'm sure the kehai of a jewel shard nearby will wake me up if Yaburenumaru shows himself."

She yawned expansively. But Miroku rose to his feet.

"Extinguish the lanterns," he told them. "Let them think we're all asleep. I'll go appropriate a disguise and join the watch at the walls. I will try to learn from the Wise exactly who this Yaburenumaru is. And if I think they are lying, I will try to save him."

Inuyasha was on his feet in a flash.

"And why the hell can't I do this?" he demanded. "Since when did you get to do all the skull-bashing?"

Miroku's expression was tolerant.

"If I recall correctly, you're half-demon, and you enjoy `skull-bashing' far too much," he remarked dryly. "I'm going now, so you'd best settle down and accept it."

To everyone's surprise, the monk then turned to Shippou.

"You can imitate voices as well as shapes, right?" he asked.

Wide-eyed and wordless, the Kitsune nodded.

"Well, you'll have to come with me, then."

"And what the fuck am I supposed to do?" Inuyasha demanded, cheek twitching madly. "Sit here and stare at the walls?"

"You can stay here and protect Kagome, since you're so concerned for her safety," Miroku said pointedly.

"Be careful," Kagome told him. "I think the Tatesei may be more dangerous than the demon is."

Miroku raised his right hand.

"Wind Tunnel," he reminded her. "Don't forget to turn out the lights, you two," he added, blowing Kagome a kiss. Then he turned and set off into the night, followed closely by Shippou, who looked none too thrilled to be joining him on this venture.

Left to themselves now, Inuyasha and Kagome turned to stare at one another across the table. Then both of them looked away quickly, flustered.

{#} {#} {#}

The boy in question stood in an unlit room, looking out into the streets through a silk screen. He watched the activity on the city walls with great misgivings.

"Someone has warned them," he muttered nervously. "It must have been that Inuyasha and his comrades. My father knows I'm coming. He's assembled his warriors; I can see them."

At his side stood the man who had driven him here, and who now turned his icy gaze upon the city.

"Are you losing your nerve, boy?" There was scorn in that voice. "I will have my vengeance with or without your aid. And without my aid you will have nothing."

"The Wise will stand with me," Yaburenumaru whispered. "They were the ones who tried to defend me when my father cast me out. He called me unclean, because of what I'd done. He stripped me of my title, and instead he makes an heir of my brother Asano. But I have come back, with you to guide me. No, I am not afraid." He paused, then repeated, "The Wise will stand with me."

A moment passed in silence, and then the boy added, "How fortunate that you are with me, or we would never have reached the city before those fools warned my father."

"You were always meant to be King of the Sorcerers, Lord of the Necromancers," the man at his side told him softly. "You have a heart like theirs---hard and cruel. And that is why I chose you even when you did not desire it at first---chose you to join me on this quest for vengeance. And now, with the coming dawn. . ." The man's voice trailed off as he peered at something beyond the screen.

"With the coming dawn," the boy echoed.

`With the coming dawn, this boy will become a dagger to slit the city's throat,' the man thought with a smile. `How right they were to cast him out. And now he shall bring about their ruin. . .'

{#} {#} {#}

The warriors patrolled the walls, watching every movement on the ground below with wary eyes. Below, from the Temple Stair, the Wise watched and waited calmly. The gray-eyed one who had noticed Kagome approached some of his fellows, followed by a blue-robed acolyte whose head was bowed.

"How goes the watch, brothers?" he asked softly. "Have there been any sightings of the boy?"

The Wise nearest him turned to regard him gravely.

"No, unfortunately. We wait for him to send us a sign before we come to his aid. It has been many years since he allowed the demon spirit to possess him---we must be sure that it has not overpowered his own will before we choose to supplant the king."

The gray-eyed sorcerer blinked with ill-concealed surprise, but fortunately his confusion was hidden by the shadow of his cowl. The hood of the blue-clad acolyte shifted as he stepped nearer, raising his head a little.

"He will be a fine king in Iryokugou's stead," the gray-eyed sorcerer replied, "once that brat Asano is dead."

The others nodded slowly.

"Do not speak so openly of these things, even though the hour of our rise to power is at hand," one cautioned him. "The boy has not yet made himself known to us."

"But he will?" the gray-eyed one emphasized. "Soon?"

The one who had cautioned him turned his hooded face toward the Northern Gate.

"Yes," he said. "We have taught him our arts. Even in human form he is formidable. The demon in him has allowed him to survive this long. Once he has killed those standing in his way, we will exorcise the demon from him, and he will be forever in our debt." The sorcerer paused. "And forever in our thrall, as well."

The acolyte behind the gray-eyed one prodded his heel gently with the staff he concealed beneath his robes. Shippou started slightly before remembering that Miroku was standing right behind him, listening. The monk had apparently decided that this conversation was over.

With a few polite words of parting, Shippou and Miroku took their leave and headed for the palace, doing their best to imitate the gliding walk of the Wise.

"I must learn more," Miroku uttered into the semidarkness. "The Wise don't want to kill Yaburenumaru---they want to crown him. Yet the boy's own father orders him killed. We must have Lord Iryokugou's side of the story." He tilted his head sideways, smiling crookedly at Shippou.

"Do you remember what Asano looked like?"

{#} {#} {#}

Kagome lay on her side on the soft silken bedding provided by the servants. They had extinguished the lanterns, including the nearest ones on the walkways leading to their quarters. The lanterns in the distance cast only faint glimmers upon the lake, and on Inuyasha's eye, which was open. And twitching, of course.

"Inuyasha," Kagome spoke into the darkness. "You know, Buyo is my cat."

His face disappeared from view, and then remerged from the shadows inches from her own. His expression was an odd mixture of shock, irritation, and utter joy.

"Your. . .CAT?" he asked hoarsely, leaning over and squinting at her face as if to reassure himself that she wasn't joking. "Your CAT?!!"

"Hey," Kagome said softly. "Your twitch is gone."

Inuyasha grinned, realizing it even as she said it.

"Yeah, it IS."

Then his face became very serious once more. There seemed to be a growing heat between them here. Kagome could feel it---thick and almost tangible in the near-darkness. And he leaned closer.

"Hey," Inuyasha said, "When you were caressing my head and saying the name that night. . ."

He paused a little uncertainly before continuing.

`Inuyasha was actually jealous,' she thought.

"I kinda liked it," he finished. "Would you. . . Do that again?"

Kagome scooted backward a little and sat up, giving him a weird look.

`And then AGAIN. . .' she thought.

"Not the part about Buyo!" he amended hastily. "I just liked it when you caressed my head." His gaze was very wide-eyed and solemn. "Especially around the ears."

"Okaaaaay. . ." she agreed, not too sure about all this.

Inuyasha crouched beside the bed and lowered his head expectantly so that his forelocks brushed her knees.

She just stared at him.

"WELL?" His voice was muffled by masses of white hair.

"Um, why don't you lay your head in my lap," Kagome suggested. Privately, she thought, `Because right now I feel more like I'm about to pet my neighbor's DOG.'

He stood up, circling the space where he'd been crouching uncertainly for a minute, then gave up and complied.

Kagome trailed her hands gently through his hair, and he was instantly hypnotized by the sensation. But before he surrendered himself completely he ordered, "The monk and the fox DON'T find out about this."

"Of course not," Kagome assured him. She was surprised to find that she rather enjoyed holding him like this, because for the first time on their long journey he seemed genuinely at peace.

{#} {#} {#}

Miroku and Shippou strode into the hall of the king---Miroku now dressed as one of the palace guards and Shippou wearing the guise of Asano, the king's heir.

Lord Iryokugou started at the sight of them, rising instantly from his cushion and hurrying to meet them.

"My son," he said urgently, placing both hands on Shippou's shoulders. "You were ordered to stay in the Temple with the Wise. They will protect you there. I will not have that abomination harming you!"

`So the real Asano is being guarded by the Wise,' Miroku thought, peering out at the king from beneath his armor. `And king doesn't know the Wise plan to see him killed!'

"But Yaburenumaru is my brother," Shippou-in-Asano-guise protested. "Why must he die? Why do they say he wants so desperately to kill me?"

The king's face transformed, growing suddenly very old and weary. He let go of Shippou and backed away a few paces.

"I see that I cannot hold this back from you any longer," he said, sighing heavily. "You already knew that from the very first the Wise made Yaburenumaru their creature. I did not want them to train him in their ways.

"But my father---your grandfather---was still alive then, and still lord of this city. And he favored the Wise, and their enslavement of demon souls. He remembered when the great Inu Youkai Clan attacked us, and how powerful we became when we gathered their souls. And he foresaw a day when the Tatesei would march forth from this valley, with great forces of demon souls at our command. But I looked to the future with eyes unclouded by greed, and saw Reiyama become a city of ghosts, where those who controlled the dead held more power than the living.

"Nevertheless, he forced me to give Yaburenumaru over into their training. And they filled the boy's head with grand lies." Iryokugou's face darkened with anger. "I was powerless to stop it. So I tried to convey to your brother the future that I foresaw: the city of ghosts. But he mocked me, saying that he trusted the teachings of the Wise, and not the words of a coward."

`THAT is the Yaburenumaru that WE met,' Miroku thought, shifting beneath his heavy armor. `The proud, arrogant boy who tried to steal our jewel shards. . .'

"But your brother was rash: he delved too deeply into the scrolls of the Wise," the king continued, pacing with his hands folded behind his back. "This I never told you. He called forth a soul trapped in a demon's rib. It proved too powerful for him to handle, and so it possessed him. Yet it was a salamander demon, drawn only to light, and so at night it became dormant and Yaburenumaru would transform back into his own form.

"Despite his grandiose visions of an army of demon souls, your grandfather was horrified when he learned what had happened. He hated demons---particularly half-demons, for some reason---and under his orders our warriors drove Yaburenumaru away. Yet the party that pursued him never returned. And we could only dare to hope that the boy was dead---for our sake and for his. It's been three years since that time. Your grandfather is dead. And I will finish what he started, and make an end to this."

"He's coming to kill me because he wants the throne," Shippou murmured with convincing plaintiveness. "But why did he wait all those years? Why now?"

The king ceased his pacing and pulled an abrupt about-face to meet his son's---Shippou's---gaze.

"The four travelers spoke of a kirin," he said shrewdly. "It comes to crown you, who are now my rightful heir. But Yaburenumaru told them that he wanted to reach Reiyama before the creature did. Perhaps he still believes, in his hubris, that the kirin means to crown him. Or perhaps he means to kill you first.

"But get you to the Temple! I have never liked the methods of the Wise, but they are loyal to my Line, and right now they are your best defense. Be wary even while you are among them, but GO!"

And Shippou left the room obediently, followed closely by Miroku the palace guard. Yet they did not return to the Temple. Instead they made haste to rejoin Inuyasha and Kagome once they were out of Iryokugou's sight.

"Somehow I sense that we don't have much time," Miroku told Shippou, who remained in his Asano disguise in case they should run into trouble on the way. "We must get Inuyasha's help and get the real Asano away from the Wise. And once he's safe, we must warn the king. . ."

{#} {#} {#}

"You're leaving me?" Yaburenumaru asked his companion.

The tall man, who had been readying himself to leave, turned to glare at the boy.

"I have kept my promise to you," he said coldly. "See to it that you keep yours."

From the faint light shining through the silk screen, the boy could see the smile that played upon his lips.

"You trust me," Yaburenumaru said quietly. His tone was unreadable, his face hidden in the shadows of the room.

The man's eyes gleamed red in the darkness.

"I don't need to."

Then he disappeared down the deserted halls.

And Yaburenumaru left in the opposite direction, to search for his brother in the Temple.

{END OF CHAPTER 6}