InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Woodin Cylinders And Red Herrings ❯ The Last Phase ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters there in.

The Last Phase

Angel placed a necklace on each of them and stood back. The group felt dizzy and their sight blurred, "Yelling from a mountain does no good to those in the valley, one must go to the valley to yell. But my voice stayed on the mountain." She ended sadly.

"You're getting off topic Angel." Dusty floated above the group, looking particularly sparkly.

"What did she say?" Miroku asked Dusty as she slowly drifted farther into the sky.

"Angel's even higher then the beings that stay here, she had a quest, but something got messed up and her mind stayed up there. Someone else took care of the quest, but Angel's stuck down here until her human body wears out." Dusty explained, "Follow Angel, she knows were my friend is. I'll meet you there."

They all watched as Dusty flew off into the resort, which they just noticed appeared around them. They looked around; the rock that they had camped next to seemed both painfully clear and like it wouldn't quite sit still. The whole world, the part that they had seen before getting the crystal passes, acted just like the rock. Painfully clear, yet jumping ever so slightly in random directions.

The resort itself was simply fuzzy. Fuzzy buildings of an undistinguishable material and various designs. Mostly they resembled simple huts, some fairly big, but others were two or three stories. These were the strangest ones; one looked like a blue, upside down pyramid; another had strange angles jutting out all over it and doors only at the very top. Some buildings they couldn't quite focus on.

It was like that with the vacationers too. Most they couldn't quite focus on, and others they forgot the moment they looked away.

"Stillness does not beget the destination." Angel said, "the glowbug seeks nectar. The bumble bee and butterfly searching the sky find no fulfillment, as the flower's plot is on the ground."

When she got no response from her charges she shook her head and started to walk away, into the heart of the resort. The others quickly moved to catch up to her. Once InuYasha got Kagome on her feet she relaxed her hold on him, settling for one hand in his and the other resting at his elbow as she stumbled along beside him.

Not many of the strange beings hung around to watch the group of corporeal creatures make their way along the broad winding path between the rented dwellings. A few, mostly accompanied by "children", lingered on their porches to motion ghostly limbs in their direction as they spoke in delicate whispers to the wide-eyed young ones.

InuYasha growled lowly, he didn't like being watched, and whispered about like that. Kagome felt his torso vibrate through her arm, the one she was holding his hand with was tucked between his arm and his body. He was stiff and growling, Kagome stiffened in response and stumbled on the smooth path.

Angel turned to look at the ones that were supposed to be following her. She could hear InuYasha growling, and knew this would upset Kagome.

"The googles give knowledge to years down the line. To help creatures, creatures must be seen. Calmness imparts the message of safety."

InuYasha stopped growling, confused, but this satisfied Angel since Kagome relaxed as well.

Suddenly a ruckus was heard in the air toward the sea. Everyone turned to see what was going on, and everyone saw dusty flying very quickly, her delicate wings fluttering franticly and leaving a trail of blue powder behind them. She was being chased by about ten non, or semi-non corporeal beings that were shouting something the InuYasha group couldn't understand. They seemed to be frightened. Dusty was slightly turned, to better laugh in the face of her desperate pursuers, and waving what looked like brightly colored paper tubes at them. As she pasted over the heads of her traveling companions, one of the tubes slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground at Sango's feet.

Sango picked it up and noticed writing on it, "Pixie stick?" she read, "What's a pixie stick, and why don't they want her to have it? She is a pixie."

Angel rolled her eyes, "Those whom Times hands can not push right, spike the nectar of glowbugs happiness, in so doing put others through the torture that they have already seen."

Sango was no closer to an answer then she was before Angel attempted to help, so she pocketed the tube for safe keeping and continued to follow the strange girl.

Angel stopped in front of a particularly normal hut. It seemed to be made entirely of bamboo each piece of which was about two inches in diameter. The great majority of them lay horizontal to the ground and were held in wall shape by strategically placed vertical bamboo poles. Like all the other hut type dwellings, this one had a porch, also made of bamboo, as were the few steps leading up to it.

"The flowers plot?" Miroku asked Angel.

Angel beamed at him before she approached the curtain/door and knocked on it. Strangely enough, it made a loud hollow noise.

Angel opened her mouth to speak when the curtain pulled aside and out stepped a woman of medium height; she was slim and light looking. Her straw colored hair hung half way down her back, and she wore a long, deep blue, tunic style dress that gathered at the ground. She had very pointed ears, like a youkia, her eyes were quite round, and the color of her dress. Around her waist there hung an length of gold braiding the ends of which joined together somewhere below where her belly button must have been and journeyed down to meet the hem of her dress on the floor.

She looked sharply around the group, "Where's Dusty? Did she go of to play and leave them to you Angel?"

Angel merely nodded, and walked away into the resort.

Everyone watched her go. She hadn't said goodbye, or bothered to introduce this new youkia to them.

"Excuse me madam but my friends and I-" Miroku started to introduce them and their purpose.

"I know who you are, Miroku," she interrupted mildly, "and I know why you're here. Come in." she stood back from the door to let them pass.

The inside of the hut was dark, lit only by a dim fire in a pit in the middle of the room and a small oil lamp on a desk to the right. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of a dark red wood that soaked up the light, and there weren't any windows at all. Here and there faded tapestries of foreign scenes would lighten the dark walls. Adjacent to that, a desk made of black wood, with an oil lamp and a high backed chair faced into the room. Behind the desk a dark dusty green curtain hung in the doorway to an even darker room beyond. There was a padded bench along the far wall. Looking back to the open doorway they found that the curtain was now a heavy, red, wooden door.

"I'm afraid I don't have any chairs, not that you'd care," the Woman said as she closed the door with an ominous click, "But I feel like a bad hostess…. Ah one moment."

The woman walked behind her desk and through the curtain.

"… Do ya think Dusty's gonna come back?" Shippo asked anxiously after a moment.

"I hope so Shippo. This is her friend after all." Sango said.

Kagome kept her grip on InuYasha, only lightening it a bit when he stopped moving. She did not know they were in a dark room, with a strange woman they thought could help, that Dusty seemed to have abandoned them. She thought they must have moved inside because she couldn't feel the breeze on her cheek or the sun on her back.

The woman returned carrying six round pads, which she placed around the fire pit in a semi circle facing the padded bench.

"You are here," she said turning back to her guests, "to uncover the owner of the spells on the butterfly there. And possibly their nature. Correct."

"Yes," Miroku said, "how did you know?"

"Wait," InuYasha interjected, "who's the butterfly?"

"She is on your arm," the woman smiled, then winked, "bumble bee."

"Angel said something about a butterfly and a bumble bee too." Sango said, "Was she talking about Kagome and InuYasha?"

"Of course." the Woman shook her head, "Dusty ran into me while she was trying to get the passes. Let me see the contract."

Miroku gave the cylinder to her. She popped open the top and sat in the high-backed chair at her desk. As she went over the scrolls the others made themselves comfortable on the pads that she had made available. InuYasha, with Kagome firmly attached, sat opposite the desk, in view of both the foreign youkia and the closed door.

After a short period of time the woman put the scroll down on the desk. Where it remained mostly flat, only slightly curled at the very ends ends.

"Dusty told us that you might know who cast the spells on Kagome and who their client is." Miroku said.

The woman got up and moved to sit at the padded bench, "Dusty, hmm. What is Dusty doing in the country anyway."

Miroku looked around the group before attempting to answer, "She didn't tell us, but I think it has to do with her friend Kallum."

"Kallum?" she appeared to mull over the name for a minute, "I haven't heard of any Kallum. Something resent, perhaps."

"Perhaps." Miroku repeated quietly.

"Can you help us or not?" InuYasha barked suddenly, startling Kagome when his body jerked to add to the violent outburst.

"Perhaps." The woman smiled tolerantly.

"Excuse me, madam," Miroku returned her attention to him, "you said you know who we are, but we don't even know your name."

The woman, now sitting primly on the bench gave a slight frown, "Once, a long time ago, in a land very far away, they called me Tora. If you must call me something, you may call me that."

Miroku nodded in appreciation and continued to think in silence.

"Can you help us?" Sango asked.

"Bring her here," Tora said, patting the cushion next to her, "sit her down next to me."

InuYasha stood slowly and lead Kagome to the bench, then sat down next to her. Tora took Kagome's chin in her hand, making her jump, and turned her head so that she could look at it in profile and then straight on.

"You are a pretty little butterfly aren't you?" Tora spoke softly, knowing full well that Kagome couldn't hear her, "Lets hope she stays that way, Yes?" she smiled somewhat coolly at InuYasha.

"What the hell are you talking about, bitch." InuYasha growled.

Tora sighed, "The spell is almost finished." And that seemed to be all that she was going to say on the subject.

"Tora," Dusty said from where she leaned against the door, "You know the identity of the caster of the spells?"

"I do." Tora nodded her head in agreement.

"You know the identity of the client who ordered the spells to be cast?" Dusty asked again.

"I do." Tora answered in the same way.

"You can tell us the names of these creatures and where they are now." Dusty walked forward towards the fire pit.

"I can tell you nothing that would compromise the contract until the spells are finished. You know that Dusty." Tora said coolly.

Dusty nodded then kneeled on a pad in the semicircle of light. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Miroku beat her to it.

"How long were you planing on making us wait before you told us that you are the caster of the spells, Tora?" Miroku asked somberly.

"What?" InuYasha jumped up and spun to face her causing Kagome to jump and look around wildly. When she started to curl in on herself in a frightened manner, Dusty got InuYasha to put his sword away and take his place next to Kagome.

"InuYasha! The client can't come here without a pass, and you are the only one's with passes right now. So calm down and stop threatening the only one that can tell you who did this to Kagome!" she said, "Besides, Kagome probably thinks everyone is fighting some sort of giant monster right now. Comfort her."

InuYasha looked back at the Kagome ball then turned to Dusty briefly, uttered a harsh "Keh", and returned to Kagome's side.

Tora smiled at Miroku, "what makes you think that Miroku?"

Miroku straightened slightly, "It was quite a coincidence that two foreign vengeance demons from the same area should be in the country at the same time. I doubt that Dusty gave you our names and descriptions when she didn't give either for you. And you didn't spend that long looking at Kagome, or in the right place."

Tora nodded, "For the most part you are correct, Miroku. Your logic is good, if not completely solid. But it changes nothing. I can not tell you anything until the spells are complete."

"What about the Ogres spell?" Sango asked, "Can't you remove that one?"

Tora smiled, "I do not miss, Sango."

"Well," Dusty spoke up, "now what?" her question was directed at Tora.

"Feel free to stay here at the resort, in my bungalow." Tora answered rising from the bench and walking to the door, "As Dusty said, you are safe here. No one can sense that you are here and the client can not get in without a pass. If the client enters the resort, you will be told. Now go, have fun. I will try to find some… food for you."

"Meaning that she will tell the resort staff of our needs." Dusty shook her head in mock shame for her friend. "Come on, Let's go to the beach!"

"What about Kagome?" InuYasha asked, standing slowly to allow Kagome to follow him.

"Bring her along! As long as you're touching her she'll feel safe." Dusty replied from the porch as she ran to the sandy beach.

"If only more girls shared that view." Miroku lamented to Sango.

Sango's eyebrow twitched. Miroku had behaved himself as long as Kagome was in immediate peril, but now that they were safe and without anything to do, she would have to watch her backside. Literally.

Down on the beautiful beach, in the beautiful weather, they frolicked. Or rather Shippo and Dusty frolicked, Sango and Miroku enjoyed the sand and water in a more relaxed manner befitting their age and state of dress. For many hours Miroku managed to behave himself, only slipping into innuendo every now and then.

InuYasha took Kagome down to the beach. Shippo managed to communicate the want to remove Kagome's shoes, and though she was obviously confused she removed them. She understood immediately, Shippo wanted her to enjoy the late afternoon sand in her bare feet. With some trepidation Kagome left her shoes and socks behind, and continued to walk with InuYasha on the soft warm sand.

He took her down to were the surf met the sand. Kagome was delighted. In this new world that was made only of touch, everything felt so… real. Everything had new depth. And everything was slightly scary. With InuYasha by her side that made it thrilling. As long as he was near she knew everything must be all right.

As the sun made a wonderful sun set Shippo and Dusty were still playing. Sango and Miroku were somewhere down there on the beach too, but InuYasha and Kagome sat on Tora's porch. InuYasha watched Shippo and dusty splashing each other with salt water with a wistful smile, sense he was sure no one would see him.

Kagome was happy, mostly. She had spent some time walking on the sand and along the water line feeling the water wash over her feet. She even timed one rush of water and managed to kick it, if she was able she would have giggled. Now she was sitting… some where, with InuYasha. The temperature of the breeze and its direction made her think it must be getting late, maybe the sun had already set. She leaned her head against the shoulder whose arm she had tightly in her grasp. She was struck by an idea and released her hand from InuYasha's.

InuYasha looked down at Kagome in curiosity, why had she let go of him? He didn't think she would be trying to leave, her head was on his shoulder after all. When he realized what she was doing, all he could do is watch. Why was she doing that?

Kagome took the hand that had been holding InuYasha's and grabbed his wrist, bringing it up a little into the air. She took her other hand off of his arm and placed the tips of her fingers on the back of his hand. Slowly, she ran her fingertips up his hand to his fingers, then up his fingers. Finally she took two of his fingers in her hand, released his wrist and used that hand to turn his hand over. Carefully she let her exploring fingers trace up to his claws. She felt the hard smoothness of the back of his claw, and then the tip. They were very sharp, but not so much that you could accidentally puncture yourself. The edges were sharper and Kagome almost cut herself with the same pressure that had been safe on the tips.

At that moment there was a resounding SMACK near by, and InuYasha quickly put Kagome's exploration to an end.

Sango stomped into the cabin shortly after that, and Dusty and Shippo arrived with a tray of food. InuYasha followed them, or the food, inside, leading Kagome along as well. And soon Miroku walked in, nursing his often-abused cheek.

That night Dusty managed to convince InuYasha that he needed to maintain contact with Kagome throughout the night. Futons were produced from the dark room, this time by Dusty, their true "host" hadn't been seen since they went to play on the beach.

So with much blushing, and only after everyone else was fast asleep, InuYasha lead Kagome to her futon, lay down next to her with one arm draped around her waist. Kagome blushed at this, which only made his own blush worse. But they both managed to fall into a peaceful slumber eventually. InuYasha hadn't meant to but Kagome's scent had that effect on him sometimes.

Late into the night, Tora emerged from the dark room and carefully approached the slumbering hanyou and his girl.

She looked so peaceful, not that Tora thought that she couldn't handle it. After all, extensive research went into the planing of these spells. More so than most of the others. But how would the butterfly handle the owner of the spells?

Tora knelt next to Kagome and sighed, "Perhaps you've been through enough in this part, yes?" then, with a furtive glance at InuYasha, she place her finger tips on Kagome's forehead and brushed the bangs from her face.

The smell of cooking breakfast woke Kagome early the next day. Her eyes fluttered open, about the same time as InuYasha's. Before her was the room from last night, the room she couldn't see. She was facing the fire pit where Dusty was fussing over a pan of meat and dutifully wearing her gloves.

"Is that breakfast?" Kagome asked. The sound of her own voice startled her and InuYasha.

Dusty smiled, "Such a pretty picture." She whispered, referring to InuYasha and Kagome, his arm was still around her waist. Quickly they jumped apart, blushing, and looked around to see who else saw.

Thankfully everyone else was still asleep and only just beginning to awaken.

"My voice and sight and hearing and, and smell is back!" Kagome jumped up and shouted, then immediately put her hands over her ears, "That was loud." She said confused, and why did I wake up before anyone else?"

Dusty put the pan on the floor next to the fire, "I think that Tora forwarded you through the last part of the spell. I think that by this afternoon you should be through with this part."

Kagome smiled brightly, until InuYasha spoke up.

"Then someone gains control of the spell."

Kagome's smile faded. Dusty scowled at InuYasha, "Let's just enjoy the day Ok? And your new senses!" she turned a brilliant smile on Kagome, "there isn't that much to hear here. No birds or anything, but I'm sure you'll be fine with exploring the sounds and sights around here."

As the group reached fully awake, they all voiced their happiness at Kagome having regained her senses. InuYasha snorted.

The day passed much like the other, only now Kagome joined Shippo and Dusty playing in the surf, and InuYasha had Kagome to watch have fun from the porch.

When mid afternoon came, Dusty ushered them back to Tora's cabin. She wasn't really sure what to expect from the ending of the spell and figured that they should be on guard.

But when the time came, Kagome just fell unconscious on the bench along the back wall.

The group gasped as she fell over heavily. Tora sat on the bench near Kagome. She placed her hand on Kagome's head, "Well, That's it then. The curse is complete."

"What did you do to Kagome, bitch?" InuYasha yelled.

Tora looked at InuYasha crossly, "Silence, you'll wake her, and she needs her rest. After all she must still deal with the owner of the remaining spell."

"And who is the owner, Tora?" Dusty asked quietly.

Tora smiled, "Haven't you figured it our Dusty?"

"I think I have." Dusty replied, "I knew that it was you that cast the spell and that helped."

Tora nodded, "It was I that was contracted to construct and cast the spells." she leaned forward, her eyes sparkling, "And I am ready to reveal the identity of my client to you."

*

A/N: Sorry I was late, I've been sick. That's also my reason for the bad sections near the end. This, in case you missed it, is the last chance to make or change your guess.

The count now stands at:

Kouga- 1

Kagome- 1

Just a Test- 1

Remember this is your last chance to guess who did it, or to change your current guess. And you don't have to guess to review ^_~

Happy guessing!