"There's a shard of the Shikon jewel nearby!" Kagome stood up suddenly, her voice shrieking from surprise as the rest of the group gathered around a fallen samurai looked at her.
Miroku remained knelt by the man in purple with blank eyes as his calm, patient tone spoke up to Kagome, "Are you sure? How far away is it?"
"Not far," Inuyasha interjected, "I smell demon. I'm on it!"
To the unastomishment of the group, the Tetsusaiga was drawn, the large blade emerging from the small sheath in a rather unreal manner only to barely illustrate it's immense power; and Inuyasha was off following his nose, it always knows.
"Hey! Wait up!" Kagome rushed after him, wondering how he really expected to find the jewel shard without her, after all.
"Kirara!" Sango barely had to call before the once small kitten of a demon sprang forth after her, growing to an immense size with flames shooting from it's paws and lifted her to it's back. Turning to the others while pulling her great bone boomerang from her back readying for action, the demon slayer in battle armor looked to the monk from her mount upon Kirara, "Miroku, can you take care of the Samurai?"
"Shippou will help me, you go help Inuyasha and Kagome."
"Hey, Miroku, is the guy gonna be okay?" the little fox demon stood by the fallen man as the others sped off to fight. Shippou leaned in for a closer look at the still man who didn't quite seem dead.
"I don't know, Shippou, it's definitely a spell. I don't think this was done by a demon, or not an ordinary one . . . " he replied solemnly.
A tiny spec hopped up onto the rim of the golden mask covering the lower half of the samurai's face, and Myouga seemed to examine the man's empty eyes with great intent.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha stood in silence at the edge of the woods near the water just as Kirara bore Sango, weapon at hand, and Kagome came trotting up behind him to see a shockingly familiar sight.
"It's a boy pinned to a tree. Is that one of . . . Kikyo's enchanted arrows?" Kagome spoke Inuyasha's obvious thoughts just as a great worm demon rose from the water to loom over the tree where the spectacle was pinned. The child, or it appeared to be a child, with fur-like silver hair and folded triangular ears much like Inuyasha's was dressed in strange foreign cloths of greens and browns with lots of leather and buckles, and a bushy white tipped tail swayed in the breeze of the beast's movements below the silent child. A long, slender blade which tapered to a sharp stabbing point hung from a round, strange looking hilt which was keeping the blade attached to the child's gloved hand even in unconsciousness.
Did Kikyo do this to that boy the same way she trapped Inuyasha fifty years ago, Kagome wondered to herself, but didn't have time to wonder for long as the demon thrashed and roared above them causing her to squeak suddenly, and braise herself for balance.
"Never mind that! Where's the shard, Kagome?" sword already raised as it protruded from the fur lined hilt in a thick curve, ready for battle, Inuyasha sounded rather recklessly eager.
"Umm..." she focused and looked carefully at the beast as it writhed its way to shore from the muddy river floor and passed dangerously near the tailed child.
"That child is alive!" Sango cried out suddenly, and as she pointed with her bone boomerang; she was right.
Head lifting slightly, lids opening from under long silvery bangs, bright yellow eyes were revealed looking rather sleepy, and that bushy tail curled upwards a bit as the child became aware of what was going on. Then both ears slid forward, eyes wide like twin full moons and tail bristled as the hilt-bareing hand slashed at the air violently and free hand clutched at the shaft of the enchanted arrow. Strange, unrecognizable words were shouted in a squeaky, youthful voice as the child watched the great beast slither past--and stop, seeming to notice the suddenly animate boy.
With a loud screeching hiss and a fanning of flames, Kirara leapt forth as Sango let her weapon fly and it sliced the tip of the beast clean off as it neared the struggling child.
"Inuyasha, it's in the center at it's heart!" Kagome soon realized that it was a giant worm and squeezed her face in disgust as she slid back to hide behind a tree while the half-demon flew forth in a streak of red and a fluttering of cloth in the wind.
"All right! We'll just dissect this worm!"
In a loud swoosh of air parting past the sword slicing through it, Tetsusaiga cleanly cut into the flesh of the already wounded demon as it wiggled and swung it's long body upwards, sticky meat and slime splattering in the air.
In the heat of the battle, one determined leather glove gave a good yank to the arrow and released the child from the enchantment, boots loudly clapping against the roots of the tree. That loud, squeaky voice shouted out angrily once again as both ears folded back and the thin blade was lifted over the opposite shoulder. Abandoning the arrow to the ground, the free hand clasped over the odd hilt and the kid sprang towards the demon, apparently to aid Inuyasha who already appeared to have won the fight.
Bare feet landing at the base of the worm as it slithered to either side of him, Inuyasha crouched a moment, then stood in triumph over the two demon halves, "Ha! Too easy!"
And Sango caught her great weapon on it's return flight, looking at the scene from Kirara's back seeming quite surprised that it was over so quickly.
"Not so easy!"
"Huh?" with a jerk, Inuyasha turned to the child who'd abandoned the obviously enchanted arrow to the ground and was standing ready for battle even though the kid barely stood to the half-demon's waist, "Oh yeah?" lifting Tetsusaiga once again this time aimed at the young, tailed child, Inuyasha answered to what seemed to be a challenge.
"Dash'n Slash!" in a zipping motion of green and silver, the child whipped that long, pointed blade more quickly then Inuyasha could pull his own weapon to defense--but fortunately for Inuyasha, he didn't have to.
A squishing slice was heard just past Inuyasha's ear and he turned just in time to see the worm rising once more, each half pulling itself together and even the part that Sango had previously removed was reforming upon the body, closing up the wound around the Shikon jewel once again. That is, until the speedy child sliced into the healing wound.
One of the slices still unrepaired, swept over the child's head and towards Inuyasha who darted away, bringing down his great sword to remove the new limb from the worm. It's body writhed again, this time more violently as it slung it's severed body through the air and onto the land. The child and Inuyasha both leapt this way and that, hopelessly hacking at the demon which seemed to be healing itself even before their blades could touch it.
"This is just great! I can't get to it's heart long enough to kill the damn thing! What am I supposed to do now?" yelling in frustration, Inuyasha lowered his brows even further upon his face then they already were.
Perched for a moment upon the swaying tail of the slime covered demon, the child called out in a squeaking voice, "This calls for some teamwork! Your sword's much bigger then mine and you did a great job slicing it in half before, just focus on that again, I'll get it to stand upright and deal with the rest!" In mid-sentence, the kid had already sprung into the air as the creature's tail slammed into the ground causing small brown trees to shatter, and the point of the child's smaller blade poked a temporary hole into the juicy flesh.
Inuyasha stood back a moment, wondering how he really thought he could trust this total stranger and why he really didn't care to question it. The toes of bulky leather boots danced up the length of the beast as the child kept poking and slowly yet surely, the creature was led to a nearly upright position once again.
"All right, here I come!" in one more great leap, the Tetsusaiga was lifted and it's wielder launched into the air. In a tearing decent, the blade sliced through the slimy meat again and the beast was left shredded in half once more.
"Ha-HA!" as soon as the heart and a sparkling shard was exposed, the child dove downwards with sword at hand and pierced straight through the demon's life source before the wound could cover itself up again.
Slime and meat splattered everywhere as the demon seemed to melt into the river it came from and a sparkle flew forth into the air from it's hiding place as the warriors stood amid the destruction, swords swung over each wielder's shoulder.
One hand coolly caught the jewel shard as it fell downwards again, and Inuyasha smoothly pulled the blade of the Tetsusaiga along the opening of it's sheath once, then pushed it deep into its holding place as the great sword squeezed to fit into the smaller space.
Kagome slowly stepped forth, tiptoeing along the edge of the slime pool which was created.
Then the child shouted out in that high-pitched voice once again in strange unrecognizable words, ears pointing outwards, tail curling up and wide eyes looking straight past Kagome.
"Hey," Inuyasha said annoyedly as the kid pushed roughly past his arm and scampered by Kagome towards where Miroku had just shown up with one of the masked samurai's arms slung over his shoulder, and the other over Sango's. Myouga, who had been conveniently preoccupied during the battle, hopped over to where the arrow Sango indicated had fallen.
The child ran straight up to the man between Sango and Miroku, pointed a gloved finger from one hand while the other still clutched the strange sword, wagging it sillily at one side while shouting out strange words at the unconscious samurai.
"Hmm, just as I feared," Myouga said in a serious tone as he hopped up to the child and perched upon his shoulder, gaining the attention of those curious yellow eyes. First, the flea addressed the group as Kagome and Shippou gathered around, concerned, "The spell and the enchanted arrows both have the same origin."
"And what origin is that?" Shippou squeaked from the strangely dressed kid's chest level.
Triangular ears swiveled first down to the child's own shoulder, then to the little fox demon, then back to the talking spec once again.
"Well, I would like to have their origin verified by our witness, but it seems he is foreign and unable to speak or understand our language," the flea answered, looking up at the child's face.
"Humph, that's not true, he talked perfectly well during our battle," Inuyasha sounded rather unimpressed as he approached.
But just then, a pair of gloved fingers reached over and squished the little talking flea, "If I knew I was attracting mutant fleas, I would have taken a bath like Mister Mitsukaru told me to!"
Kagome and Shippou gasped.
"See!" Inuyasha took an I-told-you-so tone of voice.
The flattened image of a flea slowly fluttered down towards the ground as Myouga squeaked, "Looks like he can cross the language barrier after all . . . "
Swinging that thin blade forward forcefully, taking a suddenly aggressive stance, the kid shouted in a loud, boastful voice, "Ha! I can break any barrier, and that includes stupid magical arrows from stupid magical ladies! Don't worry, Mister Mitsukaru, I'll pay her back for what she's done to us and get our friend Tristan back from her evil clutches!"
Kagome walked around and leaned in to speak to the sword fighting kid, "Was it really Kikyo that pinned you to a tree and put a spell on that man?"
"Kikwho? I dunno, all I know is there's a witch out there stealing people's souls with her little snakie things, caught one in the act and sliced it nice and clean! She wasn't too happy about that, stole my friend and did . . . well I don't even know WHAT she did to Mister Mitsukaru there! He just won't move!"
Kagome's eyes widened in realization, "Stealing souls? So it Was Kikyo, wasn't it? That means she can't be too far away . . . "
"Hey! Is my friend gonna be all right?" the kid scampered past Kagome and Shippou and straight up to Miroku and Sango.
The monk's calm, even tone answered the child's desperate question, "It's a spell and I'm afraid there is nothing we can do until it is broken. I am sorry."
One ear slid back as a brow slid downwards, the kid leaned back a moment to examine the monk suspiciously with his words, "Uh . . . okay. Yeesh, you sound just like Mister Mitsukaru. But don't worry! I'm a pro at breaking spells, just tell me where this Kik-lady is and I'll smite her! Boy, she'll be sorry she ever crossed paths with me!"
Myouga suddenly hopped back up into view once more, this time taking a perch on the samurai's head to face the kid at a bit of a distance, "I am still curious as to how you managed to release yourself from Kikyo's enchanted arrow."
Staring a moment at the talking spec as the child absentmindedly sheathed the sword behind the buckle of the huge leather belt, the kid then reached forth with both free hands and slapped the flea between them, squashing Myouga flat once more, "I have a high magic tolerance I guess, never really was affected by much magical stuff good or bad." Then looking back over to the red clad warrior, the child took a more serious tone, "You're a great and skillful warrior, do you know where I can find this witch and free my friends, I really kinda need them back. I really like them and all, you know."
Inuyasha's face lit up with anger, "Why am I supposed to know where she is?? Why are you asking me?"
Ears slowly peeling back, the fox child blinked up at the red robed warrior for a moment, only to be interrupted from a stuttery reply by a woman's gasp.
"Sango!" Miroku sank in his black and purple robe to lower the samurai to the ground once more as the woman dressed in demon slaying armor fell to her knees abruptly, then collapsed without a word.
A feline roar was heard as the great cat stepped forth to help slow her fall with the top of it's skull, then Kirara loomed over the woman with concern in those large red demon eyes.
"What? What happened?" Inuyasha and Kagome rushed forth as the monk knelt over the fallen demon slayer.
"W-what's wrong with Sango?" Shippou shouted as he hopped closer rather carefully upon his furry fox feet, "Wait a minute, where's Myouga? He's not here! That must mean it's dangerous! He always leaves when there's danger!"
As the monk lifted Sango's head into one hand, careful of the sacred beads bound around his palm, he looked into her face and began to speak until his voice failed, "I do not . . . know . . . " and he bowed until he too met the ground.
"Miroku!" Kagome started for him, but her hand was carefully caught by the clawed fingers of the half-demon.
"Kagome! Isn't it obvious, there's something wrong and you could catch it too! Let me see what's wrong instead!" he sounded probably more harsh then he should have, but as his brash stare met Kagome's startled one, it was apparent he at least held much concern.
"Hey! It looks like what happened to Mister Mitsukaru!" that squeaky voice sang out as the two fox-tailed children were knelt by the fallen humans, the stranger in green cloths and metal buckles rolled the monk's face to the side to show the smaller fox demon the human's empty, pupiless eyes.
"AHH! Kagome!" Shippou's hair stood on end as the child leapt into the air, startled, and then found Kagome's shoulder, grasping on to her upper arm as tightly as the little fox could.
Feeling a slight pull from Kagome's wrist, Inuyasha's gaze suddenly slid from where it had met the fox stranger to the girl's now blank stare, "Kagome!" his grip tightened on her wrist as he tried to steady her a moment before the girl finally slid to the ground right before his eyes.
"Wahhh! What's wrong with Kagome? What's wrong with everybody?" Shippou began to panic as he jumped up and down, wagging both arms in the air, eyes wide with alarm.
"Oh no, look! This must be their souls! That witch is back!"
Inuyasha and Shippou turned to where the fox stranger was knelt over the samurai, Sango, and Miroku just as Kirara snarled at the trees near by. Small, glowing clouds of what appeared to be a mist rose out from the mouths of the humans laying upon the ground.
"Kikyo . . . " Inuyasha said to himself in near silence as a sort of realization of the situation was dawning upon him, "KIKYO! What have you done to Kagome?? Where are you??" in a swift motion, he stood and Tetsusaiga was drawn.
But the fox stranger was already on it along side Kirara as the two darted into the woods, sword drawn and held up over one shoulder, "Come out, you witch! Give me back my friends and the friends of the red-clothed man!" Shooting up into the air, leaping from tree to tree, landing and pushing with the soles of thick leather boots, the child followed the four traveling souls, "Up there!"
"I see it!" Inuyasha shouted as he followed in much the same manner, catching up to the speedy child and flying cat just as a glowing circle of light could be seen through the darkness of the dense wood.
"The souls! They're heading straight for it!"
Boots and bare feet slid to a halt on the mossy forest floor as they came upon the orb which produced a green aura, seeming to float in midair; just in time for the two warriors to see the souls of their friends get swallowed up into the light and a pair of fair hands cradling the ball.
"K-kikyo . . . ?" Inuyasha stared up at the priestess robed in white and red as she held the ball containing their friends, "Kikyo! What have you done to--"
But before he could finish, a streak of morning blue and sky gold shot forth as the child stabbed for the woman, "I HAVE YOU NOW!" but the blade was held back by an invisible force. Ears sliding forward and yellow eyes widening in surprise, the child blinked, "Huh?"
"I have been told all there is to know of you, Fox, you cannot interfere with my soul gathering this time." Her voice held no emotion, nor did her face as narrow eyes slid to look at the fox kid in mid-strike, "And now I shall take my leave. Good bye, Inuyasha." this time, there was more of a chill to her tone as she pronounced the half-demon's name and turned away.
"Kikyo!" he shouted as he started after her, but stopped short as the fox child persisted much more loudly then he was.
"TRISTAN! Hey! Stop her! Come back! You can't let her get away with this! We're heroes!" the kid violently hacked away at the invisible barrier just as the silhouette of a man Inuyasha did not before notice turned, a skirt slightly billowing in the breeze of his own movements as he silently followed Kikyo away, "TRISTAN MCGREGOR I'm going to kick your Caledonian arse if you don't fight her spell and come back!!! Come back! Come . . . back . . . to me!!!"
