Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting Back ❯ Ten Demon Artifacts ( Chapter 3 )

Tori the Hanyou: Okay! Once more, I got nothing to say, so I'm just giving you guys the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Nope

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Fighting Back

Chapter 3: Ten Demon Artifacts

Tori awoke once more in the hospital room. She sat up, making sure her eyes were fully dry before attempting to stand up. Thankfully, her energy was fully recovered, and she didn't go toppling to the floor again. She slid on her shoes, all the while remembering Hiei's kind gesture of trying to calm her down. Maybe he wasn't so bad . . .

Just then, Kagome and Botan came bursting in, obviously happy to see her, for they were jumping up and down extremely fast.

"Oh, Tori! You're Ok! You're Ok! You're Ok! We thought you'd be in bed forever!" squealed Kagome. Tori slapped a hand on her ear to keep it from ringing.

"No, I'm fine, Kagome, like I said. So will ya calm down already?" But she didn't, neither did Botan. "Okay, what're you on?" asked Tori, wondering if maybe she didn't want to know.

"What are we on? We're not on anything!" squeaked Botan (Hard to imagine the great Grim Reaper on a sugar-rush, isn't it? Seeing as this is Botan we're talking about, you'll have to get over that, lol).

"We found some of this GREAT chocolate in the warehouse-thingy!" said Kagome.

"Yeah, Kuwabara was stuffing his face with it, and he offered us some, and now we can't stop jumping!" said Botan excitedly.

Sighing, Tori got up, and walked into the warehouse, where she saw Yusuke running around after a hyperactive Kuwabara.

"Quit it, you moron! I'm not babysitting you all day!" yelled Yusuke.

"Nah, Nah, can't catch me!" called Kuwabara. Tori raised an eyebrow at the scene. Kurama was watching, too, apparently amused. He noticed Tori's appearance.

"Oh, hello, are you feeling better?" he asked. Tori nodded, continuing to watch as Kuwabara tipped a crate down in front of Yusuke, making him trip on it.

"Oh, that's it! SPIRIT GUN!" A beam of energy erupted from Yusuke's finger, which was pointed like a gun. It missed.

"HAHA! You can't hit me with your gun! Now it's my turn!" Kuwabara whipped around, pointing his finger like a gun, too. Instead of an actual bullet or something, Kuwabara was making shooting noises, moving his hand like it was actually firing. "HAHA! You're dead! I win!" He ran around in circles, doing some weird victory dance. Kurama chuckled softly to himself. Kagome and Botan were screaming with laughter.

"WHAHAHAHAHAHA! YUSUKE MISSED! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Tori shook her head, sweat-dropping.

"How did I ever get stuck with these idiots?" she mumbled to herself. Kurama looked down at her. The scene didn't amuse her. He found that quite odd.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Why don't you look out there? I'll say something's wrong! They're acting like little kids, running around like that! Something's wrong all right, something's wrong with their heads," replied Tori, sighing. "I'm a babysitter and everything, but this is overdoing it."

"Why aren't you at least amused? Are you always this serious?" asked Kurama. Tori glanced up at him.

"Why do you care?" she asked snappily.

Kurama chuckled again, this time at her attitude.

"You're just like Hiei . . ." he started.

"NO! I'm not! He's an evil person! I'm not evil!" snapped Tori.

Kurama glanced at her.

"I didn't mean as in evil or not, I meant your attitudes are very similar," he said. Tori closed her mouth, unable to come up with a clever comment. There was no way she was anything like him! He could care less about his friends' safety, whereas she would do anything for them. He also had this odd air about him, like he hated absolutely everything around him, and he was just plain creepy. Tori couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was more to Hiei than she was sure she'd like to know, not including the fact that he was a demon, she knew about that. But, there was also the small show of kindness he'd given her back in the hospital room. He'd been trying to get her to stop crying, but he had absolutely no idea of the kind of pain she'd been through, twice now. 'First Riku, who was a control- freak, then Yugi, who was not only creepy, but also he right-out rejected me. I can't take it anymore! I'm sick of this! I promised I'd never fall in love again, and I'm sticking to it!" The stare in her eyes hardened, and her anger arose at being played twice in a row. Kurama sensed it.

'I wonder what she's thinking . . .' His thoughts were interrupted by a yell from up high.

"HEY, DOWN THERE! YOU GUYS LOOK LIKE LITTLE ANTIES!!!" Tori and Kurama's heads shot up to see Kagome way up high on a teetering pile of crates. Yusuke covered his eyes in exasperation.

"My God, no way in hell am I going up to get her," he said, coming over to stand next to Kurama. Kurama suddenly became alert as he watched Kagome starting to lose her balance.

"WHEE! THIS IS FU-WHOAAA!" Kagome suddenly fell off the top of the pile.

"Kagome!" yelled Tori. There wasn't any way she'd be able to catch her before she fell, even with her super speed. She watched in horror as Kagome plummeted to the hard cement floor.

Kagome's sugar-rush instantly vanished the minute her feet lost their hold on the crates. She felt the wind rush past her as she fell, but it suddenly stopped. Instead of the hard floor, she was in a pair of arms. Her eyes snapped open, blinking, and her face turned up to look at the one that greeted it. Kurama's green eyes looked softly down at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Kagome nodded, feeling her cheeks coloring. Her face had never been this close to his before. Kurama floated down and let her go. Tori nearly fainted from relief.

"Oh, my God, Kagome, give me some warning next time before you come within a millimeter of your head turning into a pancake!" Kagome giggled.

"Awww, I never knew you cared," she said jokingly. Botan came running over and freaking out, too. Good thing her sugar-rush was gone, or the freaking out would have been a little overdone. Tori shook her head. Kurama smiled softly at Kagome, glad she was ok. Yusuke raised an eyebrow at him.

Soon, Botan led them all into an elevator up to Koenma's office (after Kuwabara calmed down), where he was busily sorting through papers. Goblins and demons were running hither and thither with huge stacks of files and forms, and pens/pencils behind their ears.

"Oh, good! You're up again!" he greeted Tori. He led them all into a meeting room, where everyone took a seat. He snapped his fingers, and a projector popped out of the floor. He rolled it over to where it would reflect on the large, blank wall. As he was busily setting it up, Hiei appeared in the doorway.

"What've I missed?" he asked boredly. Tori narrowed her eyes. Ever since her and Kurama's conversation, her bitter feelings towards him had dramatically increased.

"Oh, hi Hiei! You haven't missed much of anything, I don't think," greeted Koenma. There were a few clearings of the throats and heads being scratched. Hiei ignored them and sat at the farthest end of the table. "Now, the mission," continued Koenma, "It seems that there are ten demon artifacts to be found. I will show them to you."

He placed a picture of a small white tiara on the projector. "This is called the Tiara of Growth. When worn and used, it can make any kind of plant grow in seconds." 'Boring,' thought Hiei. "This next one," he placed a picture of a small golden ring with a purple jewel on the screen, "is called the Blaze of Water Ring. It can be used to shoot fire or water from the jewel in the center." 'That might come in handy,' thought Yusuke.

Koenma then showed them a picture of a long, gray staff with a clear stone at the top. "This is the Weather Staff, its ability is to control the weather." The next one was a boomerang with many animal drawings on it. "The Boomerang of Summoning can create any animal out of light . . ."

"Like a kitten?" asked Kuwabara. Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Um, yes, Kuwabara, a kitten, except you must be in light for it to work," said Koenma. Next was a soft, cream-colored ocarina. "This Ocarina of Peace instantly calms everything within hearing distance. If played enough, it'll put its audience to sleep." The next artifact was a white pendant shaped like two outstretched wings. "The Flight Pendant lets it user fly. Pretty simple."

Then came a forest-green bow (as in weapon, not a hair accessory). "This is the Hyper Bow. Instead of normal arrows, it conjures up super arrows out of light. Like the Boomerang of Summoning, you must be in light for it to work." Next came a diamond-studded mirror. "The Mirror of Truth can tell if you are lying or not. Any liars that this mirror catches are cursed for eternity until they come clean with the truth." Next was a coin with an eye engraving on it. "The Eye of Invisibility turns its user invisible." The last artifact to come was a deadly looking sword with strange, purple gems on the hilt. "This is the most powerful of all of the artifacts. It's called the Demonic Blade. If its special ability is not activated, it alone is already a lethal weapon. But, when you slice someone with it while using the special ability, that person is immediately placed under mind control, and they cannot be released until either the sword is broken, or the holder of it releases them. Also, the victim is under the control of only whoever is holding the sword." Hiei perked up at its description. 'Now THAT'S something I could use,' he thought.

When Koenma had gathered up all of the pictures, he then turned to the group. "Kagome, some of this news might be a little shocking. Five of these demon artifacts were detected at your house," he said curiously. Kagome pondered for a minute, but her head shot up, her color draining.

"Oh, no . . ." she started.

"Uh, GIRL TALK!" cried Tori, grabbing Kagome's arm and dragging her out of the room. "What're you gonna say? You can't tell them about the well!" she whispered fiercely. Kagome put her head down.

"I know, but we're being forced on this. I've gotta tell them," answered Kagome.

"Do you know what this means??" asked Tori. Kagome nodded.

"I've gotta see . . .HIM again." She walked calmly back into the room, a worried Tori following behind her. "Listen up," said Kagome. She told them about the well behind her house, where she could travel back in time to the feudal era. She didn't mention any of her friends there, but talked about the fact that the place was overrun with demons.

"Oh, well I can see now that those artifacts are most likely in demon hands now," said Koenma, shaking his head. "So much paperwork . . ."

Kagome could care less about the paperwork. Going back to the feudal era would mean going back within a mile radius of the one who tried to kill her. That alone was too close.

The small group, consisting of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, Botan, Tori and Kagome, were soon at Kagome's house, heading to her family shrine. Kagome had packed her big yellow bag like it was another normal trip. But it wasn't. Tori was patting Kagome on her shoulder; she looked like she was going to her deathbed. They stood next to the well, and Kagome stepped forward. She shakily reached her hand forward over the well doors, and gingerly pulled of the sutra sealing them shut. She jumped backwards, right into Kurama, half-expecting the doors to come flying open by the pissed-off hanyou wondering where she'd been. But it didn't come, and her awkward position against Kurama was getting strange looks from Kuwabara and Yusuke, not to mention a couple from Hiei and Botan. Tori gently pulled her away from him, noticing the slight color on his cheeks, too. Tori opened the doors and gasped. All over the inside of the doors were fist-shaped dents and deep claw marks, slashed here and there, across the entire thing. It looked like someone had tried to slash it open. Kagome's eyes widened.

"Come on, girl, maybe we won't see him," said Tori. Kagome knew this wasn't at all possible, but she reluctantly let everyone hang onto her, since she had the jewel shards, and they all jumped into the well in a chain formation.

The first thing Kagome expected to hear when she landed on the other side was 'his' voice, yelling the usual, "Where have you been, wench?" But it didn't come. She stood up, and looked at the vines. Kurama took her by the wrists and flew up to the top of the well. He let her go, and went to go get Tori. She politely refused, and the minute Kurama was back on top of the well, she'd skillfully scampered up the vines in a few seconds. Hiei flew out, followed by Botan on her oar with Yusuke on the end, leaving Kuwabara to climb the vines.

Ten minutes later, Kurama extended a hand to Kuwabara and helped him out. The guy never was much of a climber. Kagome was glancing nervously around. Tori gave her a hug.

"It's alright, I don't think he's around right now," she whispered. They headed off. Botan pulled out the detector Koenma had given them. It was sensitive to the artifacts' auras, so it would lead the way to them. Kagome seemed to jump at every small sound she heard.

"What's her problem? Is it all those demons she was telling us about?" asked Yusuke. Tori was just about to retort back with a smart comment, but decided against it.

"Yeah, the demons here are so terrifying, that must be what's scaring her," she said, hoping she wouldn't be caught off-guard. Kagome smiled a thank you smile at her. They soon came upon the fields of Kaede's village. Kagome sighed. They'd been able to repair the damage 'he' caused.

"Why the hell would people want to live in a place so overrun with these 'terrifying' demons?" asked Yusuke.

"Let's go look," said Botan. Kagome was about to object, but Tori shook her head. It'd be better if they kept a low profile. They entered the village, where people were hard at work. Kagome was looking around nervously again, fidgeting with the end of her hair. They were getting some strange looks from the villagers, mainly because of the boys' and Tori's outfits. Suddenly, Kagome heard an all-too-familiar voice,

"KAGOMEEEEEEEE!!!!" She spun around to see a tiny redhead bowl into her. She gasped.

"Shippo!" She scooped her 'adopted' son into her arms. The little kitsune cried into her shoulder.

"We were sure you were gone this time!" he sobbed. Kagome smiled, stroking his hair. She heard two more voices not too far away.

"Kagome!"

"Lady Kagome!"

She saw Sango and Miroku running towards her. Sango gave her a big hug, tears forming in her eyes.

"We almost didn't believe Shippo when he said he smelled you! I can't believe you're back!" She squeezed her best friend tight, not wanting to let go. Miroku was looking curiously at the others, who'd stood silent during Kagome's reunion with her friends. Kagome giggled when she saw Miroku looking Tori up and down.

"Don't try it, Miroku," threatened Sango. Before he could make a move, she hit him upside the head.

"But I didn't do anything yet," he said.

"Yet?" asked Sango angrily. Miroku shut up. Kagome introduced her friends to the rest of them. After a few strange looks at each other's clothing, Kagome told her friends why she was back.

"You have to look for artifacts?" asked Sango. Kagome nodded.

"We could help," offered Miroku. The rest agreed it was fine. Shippo cheered.

"YAY! We'll get to travel around again, Kagome!" he jumped onto her shoulder happily. "It's been really boring around here. All Miroku does is try to grope Sango, and she just slaps him. It's gotten to where I've been keeping a record of it!" Kagome giggled at the fox's antics.

Tori picked up a strange scent on the wind. It was demon, and human? She smelled more, like a dog scent sort of. After hearing Kagome's description of 'him', Tori recognized it. She snarled viciously as a figure came leaping out of the trees, landing neatly on the ground next to the group. Kagome gasped as the figure stood up, the long white hair flowing in the wind.

"I-Inu-yasha . . ."

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Tori the Hanyou: I think I should leave you there, *gets pegged by angry readers* ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT! Here's the rest . . .*mumbles something about evil people*

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"Well, well, well, look who's back after 6 goddamn months of abandoning us," said the annoyed voice Kagome had feared in her sleep. Inuyasha saw the girl standing near the group of strangely dressed people. His comment had been meant to tick her off. He hadn't expected the reaction he was getting now.

Kagome backed away, eyes growing wide with fear. It was him. Before she even had time to say anything, her instincts turned her feet around and she fled into the forest, heading for the well. Tori raced after her.

Inuyasha stood, dumfounded. Kagome had run away from him. Kagome was afraid of him. He watched her retreating form into the forest, confused. What had he done? She was the one who'd just vanished like that one night. He remembered it. He'd been walking through the forest, and fell asleep in a clearing next to a tree. When he awoke the next morning, he was back in Kaede's hut with a huge lump on his head, and Kagome was gone. Since then, for the past six months, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were mad at him for some reason, and they wouldn't tell him why. He'd tried to go get Kagome from her own time, but her well had been sealed shut. He'd tried numerous times to open it, but to no avail.

He suddenly shot off after Kagome, wanting to know the answer. He leapt from tree to tree, and caught the girls in the clearing, heading for the well. He shot off the tree branch, landing between Kagome and the well. Kagome froze, only yards away from him. The demonic, yellow eyes pierced into her own. She stood, frozen, until Tori jumped between them, giving Inuyasha her deadly snarl.

Inuyasha looked at the girl between him and his query with annoyance.

"Back off, girl, I got no time for you." He attempted to push her aside, but the fangs flashed, and Inuyasha drew back his wrist, which was now flowing freely with blood, staring at it. He looked from the girl to his hand. "Holy shit! Who the hell are you? What are you?" Kagome shook her head at Tori, who backed away, giving Inuyasha a true death glare. Kagome stood, facing Inuyasha. Inuyasha approached her at a fast walk, but before he came within two feet of her, Kagome's eyes narrowed, and she shot out, lightning fast, punching Inuyasha in the face, knocking him backwards. "What did I do?" he yelled. Kagome stood over him, ferocity in her eyes.

"Oh, you don't remember, Inuyasha? You don't remember wanting to KILL ME???" She pursed her lips, fighting back the tears.

"K-kill you? Kagome, I . . ."

"Save it! Do you not remember, that loving night you had with Kikyo? She asked you to retrieve the rest of her soul, and what did you do? YOU FOLLOWED HER FUCKING ORDERS! YOU TRIED TO DICE ME UP, AFTER ATTACKING KAEDE'S VILLAGE, JUST TO MAKE HER HAPPY!" She fell to her knees, and she felt the tears coming on. Inuyasha still seemed confused. But he could smell the saltiness of her tears, and he immediately wanted to comfort her. He came over to her, but she slapped him across the face. "Don't you DARE come any closer!" she snapped. Inuyasha stared at her, a mixture of hurt, sadness, and confusion in his gaze. His ears drooped sadly.

"I-I didn't go with Kikyo . . .did I?" he asked. Kagome stood up, marching away. "W-wait! Kagome! I don't remember any of that! Can anyone tell me what the fuck is going on??"

Tori followed her, looking at Inuyasha with a glare of utter despicability.

"I hope you're happy, Inuyasha, I really do . . ." She hurried off, leaving one confused hanyou to think things over.

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Tori the Hanyou: Okay; now I really gotta stop here. I'm tired, my mom's hassling me, and I'm out of ideas.

Cya! ~*Tori the Hanyou*~