InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Centre ❯ Bonding Time - Part 1 ( Chapter 5 )

Alright, let's get this show on the road :) Hope I didn't get you're hopes up about the magnitude of the Big Thing—it's really just my way of marking where the story actually kicks off, and I've split it between this chapter and the next. Not that I don't hope you'll all enjoy reading about it! Oh, and for those of you who told me that I was spelling "the Centre" wrong, I'm a Canadian girl and in Canada "centre" is spelt with an "re" on the end. So I'm actually not making a spelling mistake, d'ya see? Sorry to those who were confused by this! Anyway, here's chapter five, coming right at ya!

 

Disclaimer: Hmm… It's getting hard to think of new and interesting ways to say, “I don't own Inuyasha or anything related to the original anime/manga.” I'll get back to you on this one…

 

Chapter Five: Bonding Time - Part 1

 

 

“Kouga-sensei, what's going on?” Kagome asked, jogging to keep up with her instructor as he strode down one of the Centre's many spacious corridors. “What do you mean by `summons'?”

 

The wolf demon didn't seem to hear her, preoccupied with his thoughts. He was muttering under his breath, absently glaring at the various servants and employees in the hallway if they got in his way. One look from those tilted, cerulean eyes and the offender, whether human or demon, quickly flattened themselves against the wall.

 

“Why, Kagome, I'd be happy to explain everything to you,” the dark-haired girl muttered sullenly in a very unflattering imitation of Kouga's rough voice. “In fact, why don't we stop walking like there's a madman with an axe behind us and talk until you understand exactly what's going on here.”

 

Kagome, not having expected her wish to be granted, ran into Kouga's back when he suddenly halted next to a pair of huge, ornately carved, polished oak doors.

 

“Now what?” she asked, rubbing her nose where it had connected with the hard muscles of the demon's back. When no answer was forthcoming, Kagome peered around Kouga, eyes widening as they came to rest on the figure standing next to the big double doors.

 

“Such a prompt arrival; the gong was only sounded a minute ago.” Crimson eyes silently mocked above a white-and-red fan. “I take it the rest of your students will be following shortly?”

 

“Of course,” Kouga replied stiffly, his wolf tail twitching angrily and brushing against Kagome's legs. “What's going on, Kagura?”

 

Kagura? But she's Naraku's personal assistant! Kagome's brain was working at top speed, trying to make something of this information, but her eyes were still fixed on the wind sorceress. At least now I might get some answers.

 

“I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to reveal that until everyone is assembled in the Room.” Kagura smiled, her embroidered kimono rustling as she gestured them towards the doors with her fan. “After all, I'm sure you wouldn't want me to spoil the surprise.”

 

“Surprises with you are always a bad thing,” Kouga growled. Still, he placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder, guiding her before him as they moved to the glossy wooden doors. The bronze handles were each carved in the likeness of a hand, the metal fingers interlocking when the doors were shut. Kouga gripped a handle in each hand and pulled the towering doors open with little effort.

 

“After you,” he told Kagome, moving aside to let her enter before throwing a last, hard glance at Kagura and following his student into the room.

 

Kagome gazed around her in awe, taking in every detail of the huge space. The ceiling was domed, with arching supports of white stone running its length from the floor at one end of the room to the other. Intricate, archaic designs spiraled outward from a central point marked with a crystal-paned, circular window. Long, polished benches of dark wood occupied much of the floor space, a lot like pews in a church. The floor itself was made up of huge slabs of the same white stone that formed the walls and supports, worn smooth from decades of reverent feet and dotted with large pools of sunlight that streamed in through the tall windows embedded in the walls. At the end of the room farthest from the main doors, blue-and-gold carpeted stairs led to a raised dais on which sat a long marble altar.

 

Kagome squinted, trying to make out the objects that rested on the large block of marble, but she couldn't be sure of anything at this distance. With a jolt of recognition, she realized where she was. The Room of Divine Unity, she thought, feeling nervousness settle in her stomach like a lead weight. Why would we be called here?

 

The Room of Divine Unity… Kagome had always thought that whoever named the various sections and rooms of the Centre was either overly dramatic or simply had a weird sense of humour. They all had lengthy titles like “the Room of Floating Blossoms” and “the Corridor of Spring Dawning.” Pretty, maybe, but definitely strange. Still, this wasn't what had Kagome worried.

 

The Room of Divine Unity—or simply “the Room,” as it was generally known—was probably one of the most important parts of the Centre. It was where miko and demon students finally graduated and joined the ranks of the other fully trained soldiers. `Soldiers' isn't really the right word, Kagome mused, still studying the vast chamber around her. They're more like… specialized defence forces. Or so I've been told.

 

The truth was, no one but the graduated students and the instructors really knew what they were being trained for in the first place, or what they did once they had graduated. Opinions and thoughts of the younger students generally ranged from personal bodyguards to assassins. One young miko had even suggested that they were being trained for nothing more than to demonstrate their skills to the rich and powerful at garden parties. Kagome, however, knew one thing for sure; the graduation ceremony was also when a miko was Bonded to her demon counterpart, creating a team that was expected to remain so for the rest of their career at the Centre. But why were we summoned here now? We're still at least a year away from our graduation.

 

A light touch on her arm startled Kagome from her thoughts. She blinked up at the tanned face of her youkai instructor.

 

“You look like someone's slowly pulling the rug out from under your feet,” Kouga told her, an amused smile tilting his lips. “Relax.”

 

“Relax,” he says… Kagome gingerly seated herself on the edge of a long bench, feeling the white cloth of her gi slide against the polished wood and almost deposit her on the ground. “But why were we called here, of all places?” she asked, bracing herself by placing her feet against the back of the bench in front of her. “Our graduation can't be held now; it takes weeks of preparation, and there would have been notices posted, and—”

 

The sound of the main doors being opened wider echoed around them, cutting off Kagome's words. Both hers and Kouga's heads swiveled in the direction of the entrance, where students and instructors alike were beginning to file into the Room.

 

“Looks like the party's about to start,” Kouga muttered, walking over to greet another demon that Kagome didn't recognize.

 

Left on her own, the dark-haired girl scanned the growing crowd, looking for a familiar face. The miko and demon students looked as confused as she felt, milling around like sheep in a pen. Dangerous sheep, Kagome amended to herself, eyeing the foot-long talons gracing the hand of a particularly fierce-looking youkai with apprehension. A small shriek brought the dark-haired girl's head around.

 

“What the… You didn't have to drop me!”

 

“Keh! I carried you this far, didn't I? Be grateful I didn't leave you to run here on your own!”

 

Inuyasha's abrasive voice brought a scowl to Kagome's face as she spotted him near the front of the crowd. The hanyou was standing arrogantly over a miko girl, who was glaring up at him from her position on the floor. The jackass, Kagome thought, although she couldn't help the tiny flicker of jealousy at the fact that the other miko had been closer—physically, at least—to the aforementioned “jackass” than she had ever been. One of the downsides of having a long-standing crush is that you are inevitably hurt by the stupidest things. The girl sighed and sunk lower on the bench.

 

“Kagome!” Arika had spotted her friend and was pushing her way through the mass of bodies towards her. Kagome moved over to make room for the chestnut-haired girl as she reached the bench, and Arika flopped down with a groan. “Ugh, I hurt all over.”

 

“What happened?” Kagome asked, immediately concerned. Sometimes she wished she weren't so prone to compassion, as it tended to cause her more grief than those she was trying to help, but when the time came she was always there for whoever needed her.

 

“Your dashing demon lover kicked my team's ass.” Arika winced again. “Not to mention my own. Literally.”

 

“What?” Kagome stared at her.

 

“Him and that miko—the one who's now on the floor—ambushed me and Sai near that big rock that looks like a cloud. You know the one, right? Anyway, he didn't even wait for her to block my powers before rushing in and taking out Sai with one punch. Man, that guy's got a lot of anger just waiting to get out; I tried to restrain him with spirit bonds and he totally freaked, struggling and kicking out. Somehow he broke loose and just turned around and knocked me flat.” Arika laughed a little, but her voice sounded shaky. “I think he realized what he was doing at the last second and held back. I mean, if he could take out a demon with one punch then a human… well, in my opinion I got off easy.”

 

“Arika, that's horrible! Did you report him?” Kagome was shocked and angry on her friend's behalf, her hazel eyes bright with emotion.

 

“Report him? For what, doing what he was supposed to?” Arika raised one eyebrow mockingly and Kagome felt herself flush.

 

That's true, she thought. He was just following instructions. But still, usually the demons don't take on anyone but the other demons and leave the mikos to the other mikos; it's practically a rule! Then again, since when has Inuyasha ever cared about rules?

 

“So what—” Kagome's words were once again cut off by the sound of the doors opening, but this time she wasn't the only one. Conversation within the Room ended abruptly as a cold breeze circulated around the nervous crowd of students and slightly more composed group of instructors. Heads craned towards the doorway, trying to catch a glimpse of the three figures entering the Room. Arika stood on the slippery bench, tugging Kagome up with her by the sleeve of the girl's gi.

 

Kagome instantly identified one of the newcomers as Kagura, the source of the wind that was now gusting around everyone. The sorceress wore her customary mysterious smile, and she flicked her fan idly as she walked. Beside her came a strange person clothed completely in white, with a snowy, sleek-furred cape arranged so it covered their entire body. The wide hood hung low over the tall figure's face, hiding their features in shadow. On the other side of the white-clothed person walked a small, pale girl holding a round mirror. She was also dressed in white, her clothes' colour drawing attention to her albino complexion and making her dark eyes look like empty black caverns.

 

Could this be the strange little girl that all the kids talk about? Kagome wondered, remembering stories she'd heard about the second of Naraku's two assistants. What's her name… Kanna? The miko suddenly gave a small gasp as she realized what this meant. If those two are Naraku's personal assistants then that person in the middle… it's Naraku himself!

 

As if sensing her thoughts, the figure swung its head in Kagome's direction. For a split second, the girl's hazel gaze met with the stranger's invisible one, but then the hood turned to the front again, breaking the connection. Kagome slowly sat back down on the bench, chills skating up and down her spine. Had that been a smirk she'd seen within the shadows of the white fur hood?

 

“Well. Now that we're all here, let's begin.” Kagura had reached the dais ahead of her two companions and was addressing the crowd with her usual, condescending tone. “Arrange yourselves on the benches according to rank and ability.”

 

There were a few minutes of confusion as students and instructors hurried to do as the wind sorceress instructed. Talent held precedence over age, and the benches closest to the dais were reserved for instructors and their prize pupils. This arrangement held all the way to the back benches, where the least talented mikos and demons sullenly took their places. Voices were raised as everyone tried to determine who was more powerful than whom, and tempers often mounted.

 

Arika had somehow been borne away by the press of bodies, leaving Kagome to fight for space on her own. The dark-haired girl was beginning to panic, an old, irrational fear of enclosed spaces rising to the surface as people closed in around her. She pushed away from the bench, trying to get out of the worst of the milling throng, and felt her back hit something solid.

 

“Oi!” Rough hands grabbed her arms and spun her around. “Watch where you're going, wench.”

 

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, taking note of the way his ears were pinned against his head and the uncomfortable set of his features. He was just as nervous about crowds as she was, if not more so. Serves him right, after what he did to Arika, she thought spitefully.

 

Shrugging away his hands, Kagome tried to force the uneasiness off her own face. “It's not like I ran into you on purpose. In case you didn't notice, it's a little difficult to see anything with all these people everywhere.”

 

“Keh.” The hanyou looked over her head towards the dais, where Kagura, Kanna, and the hooded figure were watching the confusion with varying degrees of amusement. Well, the former two were; no expression was visible underneath the heavy fur hood.

 

Kagome felt her irritation lessen when the half demon didn't rise to the bait and shoot some retort at her. “So… do you know where we're supposed to sit?” she asked, trying to sound friendly.

 

“ `We?' I don't know where a weak miko like you would sit, but I'm going straight to the front.” Inuyasha turned his back on her and began shoving his way to the benches closest to the dais.

 

The annoyance returned full-scale. “Weak miko? Why you ungrateful—! I healed you, you bastard!” Kagome yelled after him, forgetting her claustrophobia and following him through the crowd.

 

“I didn't ask for your help, stupid bitch!” Inuyasha hollered over his shoulder.

 

“Well you certainly weren't protesting!”

 

“That's only because you would probably cry and tattle on me if I didn't let you have your little moment of glory.”

 

“What?! You jerk, I should've let you bleed to death!”

 

“Maybe you should've! At least if I was dead I wouldn't have to listen to your irritating voice you—” Inuyasha's words ended abruptly as a shoulder drove into his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs as he collapsed onto the bench that had originally been his destination. Mouth working soundlessly as he tried to summon the breath to swear, Inuyasha glared up into the scornful face of his assailant.

 

“You better watch that foul mouth of yours when talking to a lady miko, stupid mutt,” Kouga scolded mockingly. “Now sit down and shut up; everyone else is ready to start.” Turning to the shocked Kagome, the wolf youkai's voice lost its edge. “I'm sorry, Kagome, but you'll have to put up with Mutt-face for a little while longer; you two are both among the most gifted in your respective classes, and that means you have to share a bench with the rest of the stronger students.”

 

Kagome allowed Kouga to seat her next to the spluttering Inuyasha, her face bright red in embarrassment as she realized belatedly that the crowd had already organized itself into the proper rows and was now staring curiously at her and the hanyou. The idiot. He started it, not me. She glanced at Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye, and immediately wished she hadn't when her anger faded to pity as he sat up, wincing. Why can't I stay mad at him for once? Why do I even like the jerk in the first place?

 

“Fascinating as that little scene was, I hope that in the future, when lives could be saved or lost depending on your ability to act swiftly, we will not have a repeat of today,” Kagura drawled, idly fanning herself. Students tried to avoid those crimson eyes as they swept once around the Room. “Anyway,” the sorceress continued, “I'm sure you're all dying to learn why you have been summoned to the Room of Divine Unity on such short notice. It is as most of you have no doubt guessed; you are to be raised from the rank of student to that of soldier, here and now.”

 

Astonished murmurs spiraled along the benches. It was indeed what everyone had suspected, but no one had really dared to believe it until now.

 

Kagura smirked at the various shell-shocked expressions now present on nearly every students face. Even several of the instructors had lost their grip on self-control and were staring at her. “What, no cheers, no celebrating?” she asked sarcastically.

 

“Quit toying with us, Kagura.” At the sound of Kouga's angry voice, all eyes slanted over to him. “These pups aren't anywhere near ready for graduation; even the best of them still need one or two more years of training. What's happened to bring this about?”

 

“Clever wolf, aren't you?” Kagura's smirk never faltered. “It's true, something's come up… But I'm not about to tell you what it is. That's for the Headmaster and his equals to know. All you have to do is follow orders like a good doggie.”

 

“Bitch!” Kouga growled, half-rising out of his seat.

 

“Sit down, wolf.” The low voice wasn't raised in anger, but its note of command cut through all conversation and even startled Kouga into sitting again. The figure in white stepped forward and lowered its hood, eliciting a collective gasp from the seated crowd.

 

I was right! Kagome thought. Still, she couldn't keep her eyes from widening with the rest of her peers. It's Naraku!

 

Black eyes took in the looks of surprise and uncertainty above a tiny, thin-lipped smile. His sense of timing was as perfect as ever, it seemed.

 

Naraku let the tension stretch for a few moments longer before addressing the speechless audience. “You have been summoned to the Room for one purpose only; one that does not include my revealing important information to the likes of you. There is no time to waste on preparing the customary large and extravagant graduation ceremony, but I'm sure you'll survive without it.” The small smile twisted slightly in a sneer. “After all, the ceremony has no purpose except to make you feel like you've accomplished something great. The only part of any importance is the Bonding.”

 

Bonding. Although no one dared to speak, the word hung in the air, like the echoes of a bell's death toll. Now that it was upon them, graduation—and the responsibility that came with it—no longer seemed so desirable. What was going to happen to them after they were Bonded?

 

“Bonding is a fairly simple task, performed mostly by the miko who is to be Bonded to her demon partner,” Naraku continued, taking cruel satisfaction from the effect of his words. “It does not require a large amount of power, but utter concentration is needed to make it successful. If executed correctly, a virtually unbreakable link will be forged between the miko and the demon, one that comes with many benefits. Of course, there are… limitations… as well.

 

“When separated over long distances, or for long periods of time, you will experience certain side effects that can become gradually worse. It has been discovered that thoughts and feelings are often passed unintentionally along the Bond, although this sometimes helps when the need to communicate without words arises. Each Bond is unique to those who are part of it, so you must be prepared for anything.”

 

Naraku paused, eyes glinting. “Oh, and one more thing. When I said `virtually unbreakable', I was not exaggerating. Once established, the Bond becomes permanent. Only the death of one of the Bonded severs the link, but I would advise against testing this; the results for the surviving partner would be most… unpleasant.”

 

The Room was dead silent as Naraku finished speaking. He let his words sink in, reveling in the strain he saw on every face. They were his for life now. Turning to Kagura, Naraku nodded.

 

The wind sorceress stepped forward and pulled a scroll from one wide sleeve of her kimono. Unrolling it with deliberate relish, she faced the sea of nervous faces. “This,” she began, “is a list of every student's name and level of ability. You've been paired according to strength; a Bond will not work properly unless formed between equals in power. I will read the name of the miko and then that of her demon counterpart—starting with the strongest pair—and those named will come to the front of the Room, in front of the altar. From there, you will be instructed on how to perform the Bonding.”

 

Kagome felt something cold wrap itself around her heart, anxiety and presentiment making her feel sick. She'd heard of mikos with the power to foretell the future, but she'd never shown any sign of it herself. No, this was something different, a premonition, maybe, but one based purely on instinct. And Kagome's gut feelings had never been wrong. Something bad is going to happen; I know it…

 

With another of her mysterious smirks, Kagura slowly ran the point of her closed fan along the top of the list. “Miko Kagome,” she read aloud, then paused for effect.

 

Kagome felt a cold sweat break out over her body, and her fingers twitched in nervousness. The premonition tightened its chilling grip on her, and she had to consciously control her breathing, which was becoming increasingly irregular. She didn't even feel pride at being named the miko with the most raw talent, too caught up in the sudden agitation that had her heart pounding loudly in the silent room.

 

You know that tingling feeling of foreboding, the one that makes the little hairs on your arm stand up, like someone reaching out their hand and halting it scant centimeters from the back of your neck?

 

“Miko Kagome… and demon Inuyasha.”

 

Yeah. That's the one.

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Duh duh duh! ::cue creepy music:: I'm getting shivers just from writing all those tingly-related words, lol. Surprisingly, this chapter came really easily once I began writing it, with none of the usual writer's block. I was going to originally fit the whole Bonding ceremony into one chappy, but as this one is already ten pages long, I thought I'd split it into two (hence the “Part 1” in the chapter title). Hopefully you guys enjoyed this latest installment, predictable as it was. Come on, you must've known this was gonna happen! Anyway, even better if you didn't—it makes for good suspense! Please review and let me know what you think, mmkay?

 

~SilverMyste~