Inuyasha and related characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and VIZ Media.
Yay! I'm working on it......... finally.
Onward!
Prologue
Wind whistled to their alert ears as the shadowed foliage rushed past at dizzying speeds. The rapid tempo of their thundering heart was matched by the equally swift pumping of strong leg muscles beneath billowing robes, legs carrying the being farther away from sure death. The haunting sounds of her erratic breathing were her only companions as she traveled deeper into the heart of the land. She was determined to reach it even if it took her last breath. Her tired muscles screamed in protest as she forced herself to run faster, her figure nothing more than a mass of swirling robes dancing in the wind behind her, exposed by the light of the moon.
She was overflowing with relief when a small, seemingly innocent wooden well came into view. Sitting alone in the middle of the dense forest clearing, it was illuminated by silvery tendrils through the leafy canopy. It garnered all attention. She swiftly came to a stop at the edge of the clearing, and shifted the now visible bundle of cloth in her arms. At a much more sedate pace, she made her way to the timeworn structure. As she reached the lip of the empty, dry well, rustling filled her ears, and she whirled around to face the intruder, a hardened scowl across her face. “Who's there!?” she snarled, her blade-like growl cutting through the darkness. She strained to catch any response while her eyes skirted the clearing's end. An almost imperceptible shift in the bundle she carried drew her attention down to meet the innocent blue eyes of a young babe now watching her. Smiling gently, she stroked a finger down the child's soft, pudgy cheek. “It is for us all,” she spoke softly as she slipped a small necklace from around her neck, kissing it, slipping it over the young babe's head. She replaced the cloth before turning to face the well once more. She stared into the dark abyss that was the well, struggling to get her body to cooperate. She knew she had no choice when she first set out.
Without warning, a distant cacophony of trampling feet, crackling and splintering of vegetation, the clanging of weapons and armor filled her ears. Knowing as she did when she first set out on this journey that her choice was taken long ago, she moved as quickly as she could. Taking out a small vial, she briskly moved around the edge of the well, drizzling the red liquid upon the rim. Crushing the now empty vial beneath her feet, she held the baby over the empty well. Her arms shook as she struggled with herself, eyeing the cloth wrapped baby suspended over the open well with hesitant eyes. She squeezed her eyes tightly and shook her head whispering to herself in desperation. “I must for the safety of my lord and lady.” The sounds of the heavy footsteps steadily grew louder until it thundered in her ears. Taking a deep breath, she opened her watery eyes and released the baby, watching as it began to descend into the deep, cloying darkness of the well's bottom. Seeing the baby continue to fall, she leaned over trying to catch the baby only to grasp air. Her heart tore at her chest and her breath lodged in her throat as the baby further plummeted, before a bright blue light filled the clearing and the baby was gone. “I’m sorry.” She breathed in relief.
A band of dark gray armored soldiers broke the clearing's edge as the last of the light faded, swiftly surrounding her, barring her escape. “I, General Hidemasa, am charged with bringing your traitorous person back to the holy one, where you will be thoroughly punished for your treasonous actions. Surrender now, or face your death!” snarled a violet eyed soldier standing across the clearing. His imposing figure was enhanced by the steel gray armor that seemed to glow under the flickering of the moon’s wavering touch.
Slowly lifting her arm, she slid it underneath the back of her robes and grasped the hidden sword, gradually sliding it down her back from its ornate sheath. She turned to face the soldiers, flicking her sleeve to the crux of her elbow and pointed the tip of her blade at the General. “The only corpse you'll be producing… is your own!” With a ruthless slash of her blade, she sent the nearby soldier's head flying through the air, blood spurting from the body, coating the ground in warm blood. She danced and weaved between the remaining soldiers slicing at every exposed, defenseless body part that crossed her vision. The sounds of the colliding of swords, fierce battle cries, and the tearing of flesh filled the clearing as she battled her way towards the one who thought to capture her. Determination burned in her eyes as she sliced through the soldiers one by one. Her blood pumped furiously in her ears. Bringing her sword down in a magnificent arc, she sliced the last foot soldier in two, the body slumping to the ground with a dull thump. Flicking the blood from the blade, she pointed it at the General once more. His eyes swept over her form, his face indifferent.
“Very well, then. It is to be your corpse that returns with me.” The General replied as he unsheathed the vicious looking blade at this waist. Without a sound, or warning, he was before her swinging his darkly gleaming blade at her neck. She barely lifted her sword in time to block his heavy swing; her arms trembled under her struggle to keep her neck attached to her body. He sneered and forced more of his strength upon the blade. With a rough twist, she slid out of the way, leaving the General's extra force to carry him forward, and swinging at his unprotected back. But before her sword could meet its target, he dropped to the ground, sweeping her legs from beneath her, and sending her crashing to the ground. He leapt to his feet, swinging his blade at her body, catching the edge of her robes as she rolled away. She scrambled to her feet, once more facing off against the gray armored General. Silently, they charged each other, slashing, parrying, and striking, making for a morbidly beautiful dance. The moonlight bent and reflected off the sharp edges of their blades as the moon glided across the night sky.
A pained cry, and the thudding of metal hitting the ground filled the clearing as the sun's rays began to peak over the horizon. “You could never have beaten me.” The General sneered down at the kneeling form of the now bloody woman as she clutched at her deeply wounded arm. “You, a worthless maid with dreams of being a warrior? You, who could not even keep to the first code of never betraying your righteous Lord. You dare think you could defeat me? A true warrior?” His eyes burned with fury as he once more lifted his sword. “You, you traitorous slut of a low born woman, could never beat me.” As he began his thrust, she firmly grasped the handle of the hidden dagger and threw it right between his violet eyes, his sword piercing her chest. Gasping of pained shock, she slumped back, the dark sword gruesomely protruding from her chest reached for the morning sky, while her opponent crashed to the ground opposite her. Breaths labored and slowing, she strained her senses searching for any more soldiers. When she felt none and the light of the sun finally fell upon the well, she sighed in relief, the fight seeping from her bones with her blood. Darkness began to creep into her vision as satisfaction filled her soul. 'It is done.'
oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo
Across the land, under the cover of darkness, ten figures frantically raced in the opposite direction. They appeared dark spirits as they sprinted across miles of shifting terrain, before they were swallowed by the thick copse of the Aokigahara Forest. They pushed through the dense towering trees and wildly sprawling undergrowth of the forest completely devoid of wildlife, light, and sound, until they reached a cave hidden deep within its depths at the base of Mount Fuji.
Nine armored sentries holding ornate, undoubtedly deadly spears stood in a precise formation around a single figure veiled in dark blue robes, effectively betraying their higher status. Once more, a cloaked figure’s arms were claimed by a young babe wrapped in fine cloth. Silently and ceremoniously, eight fell in line behind the noble as they began entering the stone chasm. The last soldier remained before the cavern entrance, his spear firmly grasped in hand, while he scanned the darkened forest before him.
The guards dutifully followed the highborn figure as they moved through the dark labyrinth with ease, walking through the maze as if the disorienting effect of the web of channels was nonexistent. Though the journey was becoming lengthy and the temperature steadily lowering, they kept their thoughts, instead letting the sound of their shuffling feet, and shifting armor fill the silence.
They came to a stop before the entrance of a sizeable rain-carved cavity with unnaturally smoothed and polished walls. A substantial pool of blue mountain water rested in the middle, claiming most of the space within and it was to be the new home. In the cave’s upper plate, a small hole allowed the moon’s favor to fall upon the heart of crystal pool, while leaving the stone edges shrouded in darkness. Quickly evaluating the space, the blue figure began stepping across its slightly limited threshold towards the water’s edge. Breaking away in fours, the guards split and militantly filed around the stone edges while the noble steadily treaded through the cooled water, ignoring the steady increase in weight from the water logged cloth.
When the water was about the waist, and the pool was illuminated just before their figure, the noble stopped, listening as the guards took their final places evenly spaced around the border. The garbed figure offered the babe to the shining moonlight, while a strange chant began flowing from the guards at all the points around the hollow. The guards were focused on the specifics of the ritual, moving their spears in precise figures, the moonlight occasionally bouncing off their spears in spurts. A stifling energy began to grow within the cavern, cloying at their lungs. It steadily grew until the required four figures materialized just above the water, all standing at the four directional points around the babe and noble. The chanting was quieted, while they continued to languidly carve symbols in the air with their spears.
“Kami-sama, we are ready.” A distinctly feminine voice came from beneath the blue hood.
Four unnatural pairs of eyes, stared at the child before the northern woman finally moved. Her unnatural lava red tinted gold irises darted to the others sending an unspoken message, before she began to weave a slender stream of controlled fire to lazily swirl around her. The deadly fire, matched the wild, fire colored flip she sported-her hair seamlessly flowing from red roots to yellow tips. Random tufts of hair escaped flipped out from odd places, matching the wild and unpredictable element she toyed with. Something in her actions triggered a chain reaction. The western woman, a lady of gently waved silver hair and strange blue eyes, began to stream internally glowing blue water, its soothing flow a mildly rippling and rocking curl. The southern green haired woman with her hair oddly pinned, swirled, and decorated in a various differing styles across her head followed suit. Her velvet purple colored eyes shone proudly as she moved an odd strand of soil and tiny pebbles in a rising and falling dance. The final woman, with what appeared to be translucent hair constantly changing colors reflected around her, pinned her pitch black eyes upon the babe and moved her hands in a surprisingly soft dance, filling the air with a gentle wind, though the wind remained visible only by the sway of the fabric and hair it moved.
“I am sorry, my sister.” The wind whispered for all four of them, while their voices still could not be heard here. A subtle nod from the first, and they all sent their element’s manifestation swirling around the babe in accordance with their earthly placement and the sealing ritual by the guards. The baby began to scream in pain, as the power within her was being forcefully removed and her body sealed in return. The swirling wind steadily picked up speed until it began to create a fierce and forceful vacuum around the young babe, pulling at the power inside her. The water slid across and around the baby’s skin, trying to soothe the pain and lubricate the pathway for steadily stolen power. The swirling sands hovered around it, confining the power to the immediate area. Fiery red eyes stared at the scene before her, waiting for the necessary sign.
The wailing only became worse the longer her body resisted, twisting and struggling trying to get away from the pain being inflicted. Their power strained to remove her godly power without destroying her young body. Sweat broke out across the concentrated faces of the guards, as their bodies were waging war against the deceivingly powerless baby. When their arms began to weaken, their muscles trembling from the long ritual, the baby seemed to pulse and a stream of blue fire was flashed across the swirling sands and severed the child’s link with her powers. Staring down at the scene before her, a strange orb slowly formed in each of the god’s hands, two in her own.
The baby’s last piercing scream rang out, echoing in the confined space of the cave, before she fell limp. Glancing to the guards, their abnormal eyes observed their now stone figures. The once hooded woman turned to stone as well, holding her arms up towards the now suspended baby, both in air and between consciouses. The babe seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and she would remain here until she could safely return home. Silently, they conveyed their sorrow, before they were gone in a flash, each taking their strange orbs with them.
Still standing before the cavern’s entrance, the last guard was startled when the Eastern Wind was suddenly standing in front of him, her endless black eyes pinned on him. He was so startled, he didn’t bow or take his eyes off of her. Tilting her head, she observed him, taking in all of his features, and then addressed him.
With the wind once more, she gave his last orders. “You will guard this cave until the keys to unseal her power are returned. The other ones are never to know of its contents nor reach its depths. No matter how many should come under your protection, you will keep the knowledge. If you should fail, young Captain, you shall know of no worse punishment. Your life shall be the determinant of the years of torture.” With that, she left to rejoin her sisters.
………………………………
“What do we do now?” She asked as she focused her violet eyes on the large glowing orb in her hands. “And how do we turn off the glowing?” Turning it from side to side in front of her face, she tried to find an off switch. Glancing over at the mountain’s edge, she contemplated carefully.
“We wait. Father has laid out all the plans and pathways. We just have to follow them the same as the others. He has already sent the mapkeeper back to her home. We are to have the keys ready. All the orbs we took have to be forged into the keys needed for her return.” She ran her fingers through her fiery hair listening to the banging of her sister’s childish actions. “Aiko; stop whacking at the orb. It will do you no good, and is only making a racket.”
“I can’t turn it off, though.” She pouted, holding the orb for her sister to see.
“It is not meant to turn off.” Exasperated, Anko turned away from her sister, now once more beating the form of her baby sister’s power upon the mountain side.
A gentle voice swept in, before the air collected and formed the black eyed woman. “The Captain has been given his new orders. He will not be returning to Tsurugaoka and the others will hide with him.”
“Then it is time for us to do our part. We only have 100 years to form these keys, so we must get to work. We will return here on the last day of the hundredth year. I need not warn you to keep the power hidden as you do.” Erupting into a fireball, she shot off to the north.
“Hmph. Always ordering me around. She’s so mean to me.” Pouting again, Aiko gracefully slid down the mountain side, willing it to shape and reshape underneath her feet.
On the wind, and as a large storm cloud, the last two, headed off in opposite directions to do their part to save their sister.
oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo
“My lord!!!” a male in gray armor and dark blue clothes yelled as he ran down a tall marble and gold encrusted hallway. He yelled with every step, his voice bouncing off the jeweled walls and columns, moving to enter a room bearing nothing more than a simple chair and a large gaping, glassless window spanning the length of the entire room. “My Lord!” he yelled again coming to a kneeling stop before a male adorned in white silks and jewels staring out at the land before him. “They come, my lord.” He panted, fear painted into every crevasse of his face. The male spared him no response, only to continue to stare out with an unreadable expression. “My Lord, they are almost upon us. We cannot stop them.” he tried again, panic sprawled across his face.
“I do not intend to.” The Lord finally responded as he turned to stare at the male kneeling before him, his faintly jeweled attire, pleasantly jingling with his movement.
“But my lord…” the soldier tried again, terror setting in at hearing there would be no fight.
“Evacuate the castle and take them to Chionin. The keys and the map keeper have been sent. She will lead them to our salvation. Watch the gated wall for her coming; she will need help to get in. I will buy you time.” He said, walking over to a wall and opening a hidden door. He turned to face the relieved soldier before stepping back, a signal for him to proceed. The soldier quickly stepped through, whirling around when he saw the door was closing and his Lord was still on the other side. He had not yet given him the name of their savior he needed to look for.
“My lord, who is the one to save us? ” He called through the steadily shrinking crack.
“Higurashi, Kagome.” With that the door completely shut, sealing once more as the door to his room blew open sending wood chips and now damaged precious jewels sprawling across the floor. A completely concealed figure in black robes stepped into the room, their hooded head sweeping from side to side. The sound of shifting armor brought his attention to the small band of charcoal gray armored soldiers filtering in after them. A dark violet, almost black blade appeared in the figure's hand as he finally spotted the Lord standing by the once more seamless wall. He moved further into the room until only a sufficient amount of space remained between the two of them. Trying to contain the anxiousness and rage, the hooded figure began to pace, swinging the sword in intricate loops and dips.
“Where is the child?” The voice was stony and calm, while the mounting flash of threatening movements belied fury and impatience.
“What child? There are many children in Auzrah.” The lord replied amiably as if he were chatting with an old friend rather than the irrational being in front of him, erratically swinging a dangerous sword.
“Do not play innocent! You will tell me the location of that child!” They roared, the erratic movements stilled, while their hidden grip tightened at the lord’s unaffected countenance.
“I will do nothing. The child has been sent and hidden beyond even your sight. Now, no one can reveal her location; not even I know of where she has come to hide. I do know, however, that she is safe from your wretched grasp.”
“Sent beyond my sight? Your words speak for you. You’ve had her removed from this plane by those pathetic adherents you call servants. That child cannot hide her powers. She need only flare once, and I will have her. I now possess all I need. You are no longer necessary.” The thin, violet sword was once more pointed at the Lord from beneath the robe’s generous sleeves.
“You are quick to rise to ignorance. I am not so half-minded as to leave a trail. The child’s powers have been sealed, and the keys scattered. Only one knows the location of them all, and she cannot speak of their location if she chose. She has been sent back to whence she came. When she is old enough, the child will be ready to be released and she will be ready to face you.” He spoke, satisfaction filling him. “You have failed.” His amusement was clear in his finality as he turned to inspect the pieces of the broken door, planning the repairs.
Snarling at the dismissal, the cloaked figure strangled the urge to run him through, “I have only been postponed! I just need find that child and I will obtain what I wish.”
“Both the map-keeper, keys, and the child are needed, and all are beyond your reach.” The lord chuckled to himself. He turned again, now inspecting the wall behind him bearing the secondary damage from their forceful entrance. The jagged cracks would be much harder to repair than the door, quite annoying as well.
“You will not deny me.” Furiously the blackened sword was moving towards the Lord. “This is the end for you!”
“No, It is just the beginning.” Lazily, he turned to face the figure, pulling a purely gleaming sword from the air. “It is only the beginning.”
oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo
“Your highness, how are we to locate the child now?” A soldier lay prostrate before the shadowed throne.
“We must wait.” The rustling of fabrics filled the spacious hall, as they reached over to grasp the glass precariously perched on the armrest of the throne’s pair. “The child’s powers have been sealed and the only one with knowledge of her and her release remains beyond even my reach. “
“But Your Highness, you hold power over all space. How can the child’s location remain unknown to you?”
“Chronos holds power over time. He has used that power to return her to “whence she came”. They are beyond my grasp only because he moved her through time. Forward or back, I cannot reach the one with the map, and therefore, the child. I have gleaned some enjoyment from this encounter, however. To see his desperation was gratifying. He turned to this, so he could keep the child out away from me. He finally realizes he cannot defeat me. To have taken a woman from her home in time itself to save that child, I would have never seen it coming. Perhaps, that is why he chose this course of action. While he did obtain this win, the war has yet to end.”
oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oo
Standing in front of white haired male, she held out the strange object for him to take. “Guard it for the mapkeeper. If you should die, your child shall take over its protection. Only the strongest can fulfill this duty. Train them well.” With a fleeting touch to the male’s forehead, she disappeared. Studying the strange bauble, he rolled in between his fingers, attempting to locate the source of the unparalleled power emanating from it. Soon, the faint linger of her touch became an annoying itch, drawing his attention to a now burning sensation centered in the middle of his forehead that did not cease at his own, and he headed for water. He did not have to go far to find a young pool, that was steady enough to use as a mirror. Glancing down, he stared at the crescent moon now imbued upon his forehead. His wife was not going to like this one.
Well I hope that fixed that up. I thank Ms. S and Ms. M, for all your help. I will get back to you dear readers, after I get back from Church and pigging out at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yay food! Please review with your thoughts. Thank you.
Well I hope that fixed that up. I thank Ms. S and Ms. M, for all your help. I will get back to you dear readers, after I get back from Church and pigging out at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yay food! Please review with your thoughts. Thank you.
--Kaminoko_2012