Blades of Destiny
folder
InuYasha › Het - Male/Female › InuYasha/Kagome
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
2
Views:
2,156
Reviews:
7
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
InuYasha › Het - Male/Female › InuYasha/Kagome
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
2
Views:
2,156
Reviews:
7
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter 1: The Hunter and the Hunted
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does.
Summary: She hid from her past. He refused to let go of his. Two people who had lost everything would find everything in each other in the midst of a battle 500 years in the making. AU I/K, M/S
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Previous Chapter:
“What are you telling me Papa?” Kagome asked herself as she faced her 22-year-old reflection. She held her father’s enchanted beads and absently twiddled with it.
Water dripped from her washed face and hit the sink. The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the bathroom. She wiped her face with the towel and stared at her tired expression. Eerie silence filled the room. The air around her heated up as the mark on her hand lit silver.
Her heart stopped. A shiver ran up her spine. And she whispered dreadfully, “Something’s wrong… Something’s coming… And it’s coming for me.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHAPTER 1: THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED
Tiny feet briskly walked, soiling pale skin as every stride sank each foot ankle deep to the muddy ground. Equally soiled but bigger set of feet followed the tiny footprints with difficulty, as its owner clutched his side gasping to breath. He instructed the small girl with blue ocean pools to cross the hanging bridge once they had reached the cliff.
“Go, Kagome,” Muso told her.
“But how about you?” she asked, as she hesitantly stepped forward and held the rope of the bridge. She grasped her yellow backpack’s strap tightly, as she waited for her godfather’s answer.
“I will stay and continue to protect this place. Don’t worry, I will take care of your Mama and Papa for you. And as for you, you need to go and find yourself a town where you can stay there and live,” Muso told her and coughed out crimson blood.
“But!” Kagome protested but he glared at her. “Okay… But you take care okay?” she told him firmly and he smiled nodding at her.
“You are so much like Akira. Kagome… Remember, trust your instincts. Danger lurks in every corner so you need to be careful. Our enemies work sinisterly. They will hurt those close to you to get to you, and so you need to be careful with your identity. Never tell even the people close to you who and what you are, do you understand me Kagome?” Muso told her.
Kagome nodded and crossed the bridge. As soon as she was at the other end of it, she waved at Muso. He smiled, waved at her. He then cut the bridge’s ropes, destroying it completely, leaving it to hang on Kagome’s side of the ravine. He continued smiling at her, as his mark lit bright green and his aura exploded, sacrificing his life force to form a chameleon-like barrier around the city camouflaging it and completely hiding it from the world.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
12 years later… New York City…
A hooded figure sighed deeply. It’s raining again. Kagome thought. She hated the rain. It reminded her of that night when her whole race was massacred. She placed the wireless earphone of her MP3 player and tuned in to 92.3 WXRK “K-rock,” her bestfriend’s favorite FM station.
“Good morning New York City. It is 10 passed 8 on a rainy but busy morning. Here’s a song for Kagome Higurashi. Your bestfriend Drake Garrett wishes you all the luck coming to school on time today. Well good luck! And those waiting for the upcoming planetary alignment happening 12:01 midnight tonight, don’t lose hope, the weather station have reported we have clear skies tonight. Make sure to catch this one in a billion event with everybody at Times Square here in the Big Apple. Oh, and Miss Higurashi, please do hurry up.”
Um boom ba bay
Um boom ba bay
Um Um boom ba bay bay
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
She snorted. Typical Drake, he just loves Queen. She scoffed in her thoughts shaking her head, as she mounted her mountain bike and rushed through the streets of New York City under the pouring rain. For four years now, she had been living in New York ever since she was 18 and had gone to college there. Her foster family, the Higurashi objected to her decision. However, she had insisted because when she turned 16, she had foresighted the death of her foster family if she stayed, and she couldn’t bear that. She wouldn’t. She refused to be responsible for their deaths, so here she was, 22 years old and a premed student of Columbia University.
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
She drove her way along the familiar street side, as she listened to Queen’s Under Pressure.
“Hey Kagome! Late for school again?” a chubby man who owned a bakery called to her, as he wiped his hands with his apron.
“Yeah, Mr. Brown. Gotta hurry up or I’ll have Professor Twinklebee breathing fire on my neck again. Nice tie though!!!” Kagome yelled out her response. Mr. Brown had always loved wearing ties and Kagome always had complimented him with it.
“Okay! Thanks Kagome!” Mr. Brown said waving at her, as he fixed his tie with his other hand.
“Kagome! Catch!” an old woman who owned a fruit stand called and tossed Kagome an apple. She caught it easily with her left hand. She took a bite from it and grinned widely.
“Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Hunter!” Kagome yelled.
“No problem, Kagome. And thanks for babysitting Snuffy for me,” Mrs. Hunter shouted as Kagome had gone further down the street already. Snuffy was Mrs. Hunter’s cat.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Hunter!” Kagome replied as she continued riding down the sidewalk only to stop abruptly when she almost hit someone. Someone who was purposely blocking her way with a determined look.
“Shit! Mitheal… What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill us or something?” she scolded the 29 year-old man before her. He had been hitting on her ever since she had arrived and lived around his block. She had turned him down every time but he was relentless. So she just ignored him.
“Kagome,” Mitheal uttered her name with sheer reverence that it was scary. “Be my girl,” he continued and stuffed her face with a bouquet of daisies.
She laughed falsely, and said, “Uhh…NO!”
She quickly maneuvered her bike around Mitheal when a car skidded on the road crashing against the fire hydrant, as another car hit a crossing pedestrian.
“Hey you there… Watch out!” a passer-by called loudly, but it was too late as the person was thrown 15 feet in the air and landed on his back with a deadly thud. The traffic police ran towards the guy and shouted “Call an ambulance!”
Kagome quickly stuffed her earphones inside her jacket pockets and ran towards the scene; she knew basic life support.
“Hey man, are you okay?” the traffic police asked once he had reached the unconscious guy. Kagome quickly checked for the unconscious guy‘s breathing and pulse.
“None,” she told the traffic police.
“Kagome,” Mitheal called running towards her. “I know CPR, Kagome,” he told her still holding the bouquet of daisies. She rolled her eyes.
“Mitheal!” she scolded frowningly, as she and the traffic police started to do CPR. The traffic police did the rescue breathing while she compressed the guy’s chest. However, as the traffic police bent down to blow air into the dead man’s mouth, he was roughly pushed away by the seemingly dead man back from hell!
“What the fuck!” the traffic police said unbelievingly, as he looked at the supposedly dead man with wide-eyes.
“Disgusting!” the guy spat, as he threw the traffic police sending the poor law enforcer flying across the street to hit a car’s windshield. Everybody gasped and some cried out. Kagome stood rooted on the spot.
“What the fuck is going on?” Mitheal uttered sacredly as he trembled.
“I have found you,” the guy said icily. His back faced Kagome.
She stepped backward, as she watched the guy dreadfully. His dark crimson hair clung to his coat as the rain soaked his form. He turned around to face her and she gasped and readied herself. He smirked evilly showing a fang and his crimson eyes pierced hers gravely, his corneas jaundiced as he studied her form.
“I have finally found you, Kagome,” he said causing Kagome to gasp wide-eyed. She moved her coat sleeve to reveal her mark. It glinted silver.
“Shit!” Kagome cursed and immediately ran towards the alley. She extended her aura and detected three, three demons - 2 from the rear moving fast, and 1 just around the corner at the end of the alley.
How did they find me? She thought to herself, coming to a complete halt. It was time to be resourceful. Inside the garbage container was a smashed up piano. She took a piano string and a piece of malleable but hard wood, wounding the piano string on the wood’s ends making it a makeshift bow. She took several metal rods from a damaged antenna, mounted one on her makeshift bow and readied her stance drawing the bow taut. She breathed evenly and centered her aura on the metal rod until it was covered by her silver aura. And she shot, as soon as she saw the 2 demons.
“Shit!” she cursed. The makeshift arrow didn’t even reach 5 feet and it lacked velocity. The two demons were now moving closer, as the rain poured harder. Kagome she stood there and continued to cuss, becoming more frustrated that out of it she hadn’t noticed that her mark was bursting with silver. A ribbon of energy peeked out from her mark to curl around her wrist. She shot again. Now, the metal rod had now reached its target. However, she missed, as her makeshift arrow had only graced the demon’s cheek.
“Is that all you got?” the demon shouted, as he licked his blood that trickled down his cheek. He laughed loudly, belittling her, as he and the other demon charged at her. They leapt in midair, claws drawn out and hungry for her flesh.
“God damn it! WORK! You fucking piece of crap!” Kagome yelled; her frustration fueling her aura to grow as the silver ribbon curled further up reaching her elbow. She shot randomly, piercing the first demon’s chest, dissolving him into dust in midair.
However, she didn’t have the time to make another shot because the other demon was only a second away from slicing her to half. So she blocked his claws with the only object she held at that moment, her makeshift bow. Now, she was weaponless. But that wasn’t the case, as she grabbed a metal rod and stabbed the demon dead center in the eye, squashing the demon’s eyeballs and piercing his eye sockets to the bone.
The demon howled in pain, and she ran as fast as she could while she searched her mind for ways on how to escape. She had done it many times. She had survived her race’s extinction, had fled her birthplace when she was still a child, had left her second family in Japan for the fear of their lives. Surely, she could get out of this alive.
She searched her past memories for whatever it was that could help her. Her Papa had always told her to concentrate and her powers would materialize before her eyes, to picture in her mind what it was that she needed at the moment. And she did.
A bubble… She thought.
A sphere…
A shield…
“One heck of a good barrier!” she said loudly, doing a 180 degree turn. Her aura burst to form a barrier, as she stood her ground against the very angry demon trailing her. The demon clawed his way against the barrier; his eye juices flowing out of his sockets with each strike of his claws.
“Eat this, asshole!” Kagome said and her barrier collapsed to burst forward, blasting the demon with purifying energy and bringing him straight to the wet alley floor.
Kagome sighed deeply and stepped backward to lean on the alley wall. She looked up the dark sky as raindrops squarely hit her face. She closed her eyes savoring it. She really hated the rain.
“Was this the warning you were telling me, Papa?” Kagome asked placing her hand against her neck where her father’s beads rested under her shirt. This was the first time she had used her powers ever since that day 12 years ago. And this would be the first that demons had blatantly attacked her in public. She had kept her identity a secret to everybody, and she had been very careful about it. So how did they find her?
Kagome took the hood of her jacket and placed it on top of her head. She started to jog, totally forgetting the fact that she had sensed 3 demons earlier and had only killed two. When she reached the end of the alley, she started to walk; she wouldn’t want to look suspicious. She hoped Mitheal had taken her bike back to her apartment. She reached an electronics store and stopped for awhile to listen at the news. She may as well listen, since she would be late anyway. Maybe she could get an excuse from the news. A traffic jam maybe? But she drove a bike and now she was on foot, so not a chance damn it!
“A one in a billion event will be happening tonight at exactly 12:01 midnight when the sun and 9 of our solar system’s planets will line up in a 180 degree angle. Known as the planetary alignment, scientists say that this event only happens one in every billion years and everyone should witness this once in a lifetime event.”
“In other news, some religious groups and various cults all over the world think this is the end of all things and has called this day, the day of the Apocalypse, as many of them believe that the planetary alignment will open the gates of hell and the devil will come forth to destroy the world.”
“We have Matthew Wedderman in downtown New York to see what everybody thinks about the upcoming planetary alignment tonight. Matthew?” the anchorwoman finished and smiled from the TV screen.
“Thank you Katherine,” Matthew Wedderman responded. Kagome stared at the screen. She recognized where Wedderman’s at. He was exactly at the end of the block she was in. She started to walk. She was near the University so there was no use taking a cab. She was now passing by Wedderman’s crew when…
“We have a young lady here, Katherine. Excuse me miss, what you do think about tonight’s planetary alignment?” Wedderman asked her and all of a sudden, a camera was directed at her face. She stood there with wide-eyes, obviously taken by surprise and obviously mindful on how she looked on TV. Hell, she had killed two demons just minutes ago and now she faced America.
She stuttered.
“Um… Ah… I think it’s a chance for us to… you know… be part of something phenomenal so I think we should just enjoy the event when it happens,” Kagome said. However, Wedderman had suddenly kept quiet. His head was bowed down and his shoulders were tensed, which were very unlikely for a reporter like him.
“Sir?” she asked. “Mr. Wedderman?” She was about to shake him. Was he asleep? Had her answer bored him to death? Or did he have narcolepsy?
Apparently not, because what happened next shocked her and the people around them, and most probably the people watching TV and tuning in because suddenly, Matthew Wedderman dropped his microphone, launched at Kagome, grabbed her neck and choked her.
“Die!” he hissed and pierced her with deathly crimson orbs, not his eye color obviously.
She gasped and immediately extended her aura to defend herself. But it was useless because he was human. She was sure of that, since he didn’t emit any demonic aura. That was when she realized he was possessed. But by whom? She didn’t need to know that. For now, she needed to get out of his deadly hold, and to do that, she needed to kick his ass… with the cameras rolling.
Grounding her left leg, she kicked his crotch as hard as she could, kneed his gut, and finally, landed a strong kick in the head knocking him out sprawling him on the wet sidewalk. Simultaneously, she sprinted out of the scene and disappeared at the end of the block to take a shortcut to the University.
“What’s happening?” Kagome whispered asking herself. Every corner she took, there was someone ready to pounce on her and kill her.
She had reached the University after a 5-minute run and had gone straight to the research department. She didn’t have any classes today. She got worse, because today she was on research work with Professor Jacques Twinklebee, a half toad-youkai and head of the anthropology department, who happened to be the head researcher of the research team that she belonged to together with her bestfriend Drake, and 3 other members from different departments. Professor Twinklebee happened to have a strong interest on ancient mythology, races and civilizations, including the history of the Shikon no Tama, the presumably extinct Sanggres, and everything about the great battle that happened almost 500 years ago.
She panted, as she reached the door of the researched department. She was immediately greeted by her bestfriend, Drake Garrett, who at the moment was confused about his sexuality. He was also the number one student of Professor Twinklebee, as his interests were also the same as the professor’s.
“My God Kagome! What has happened to you? This must be the ugliest you have ever been! I mean, look at you. You look like a worn out rag. You look like crap!” Drake exclaimed, as he fingered Kagome’s wet and very untidy hair with a raised brow. “And by the way, you’re very late. Twinklebee’s not rejoicing about it,” he added and proceeded to his desk.
“Thank you for that absolute display of best friend love, Drake. I really appreciate how you so have blatantly told me I look like shit. How may I ever make it up to you?” Kagome said sarcastically and gave him an I-don’t-care-I’m-just-happy-to-be-alive-look. She was glad she was alive after what had happened.
“You could treat me to lunch. That would be good, since I had treated you dinner yesterday. Besides, I was so thoughtful I even requested a song for you this morning,” Drake winked at her and faced his computer.
“Here,” he said and tossed her a towel. “Pat yourself dry before you go in and face Twinklebee. Might as well be gorgeous while he rants at you, right?”
Kagome only rolled her eyes, while he chuckled.
“You’ve been literally living here, haven’t you?” Kagome asked, while she toweled her hair dry.
“Only for this week… I am going home tonight as a matter of fact,” Drake answered, as he scrolled down the images he had in his computer. Kagome peeped at pictures of modern Shikon no Tama imitations, people believed to be Sanggre, close up images of the Sanggre marks, pictures of demons, humans and warriors from the past presumed to have lived 500 years ago or more.
“Oh yeah, I’ve made a fascinating discovery last night, Kagome. You won’t believe what I’ve found out. Here, look at this,” Drake told her, his eyes brightening with enthrallment.
“Last night, I was going around our files and discovered this,” he said, as he clicked the folder named Setsuna open to reveal dozens of pictures of a demon with familiar crimson orbs, jaundiced corneas, and dark crimson hair. The only difference was that the demon in the computer had a horn on the right side of his head, and his right cheek was adorned with demon markings. Nevertheless, Kagome had recognized the demon. He was the demon who was hit by the car and injured the policeman earlier.
“Who’s he?” Kagome automatically asked, as she stared at the demon on the screen.
“Oh, his story is really fascinating,” Drake said excitedly, facing his very serious friend. “You see, Naraku apparently has 5 generals as what the records tell us: Kagura, the wind sorceress; Menomaru, the lord of hell demons; Kaguya, the time witch; Kanna, the soul catcher; and finally, we have Setsuna, master of the corpse demons. It has been believed that all Naraku’s generals, minions, whatever you call them have been sent to hell together with their master. But apparently, that isn’t the case because as what you can see here, he‘s still here. By some means Setsuna has escaped that fate and has stayed in the land of the living disguising himself frequently as evident in the following pictures,” he explained and clicked for the slideshow.
“Look at this picture,” Drake said and a Setsuna wearing a blood red gi and black hakama appeared on the screen. “This was during the bakufu period.”
“And look at this one,” he continued, as the next picture showed a Setsuna wearing a World War I soldier’s uniform.
On the next picture, the demon was a refugee. “This picture was probably taken during the end of World War II in the outskirts of Austria outside the German border,” Drake said. All Kagome did was stare at the screen and gripped the towel tightly.
“Clearly, he has traveled around the globe. And look at this one, Kagome. Judging by the hairstyle…” he said, as he jokingly pointed at Setsuna’s afro hair style. “This was taken during the 70s.”
He chuckled, then asked, “Funny, isn’t it?”
No. Kagome thought dreadfully, as she glared at the screen.
“Just imagine... Naraku’s general wearing the trendiest hairstyle during that time… Hilarious,” Drake laughingly said, unaware of Kagome’s thoughts. “But isn’t it creepy? If you can examine his mind, what must he have been thinking - doing all this time?”
Probably hunting… Kagome further thought. But her thoughts were interrupted by a bang of the door. The scornful Professor Twinklebee emerged from his office.
“Higurashi, in my office, NOW!” he shouted. Kagome immediately stood up and briskly followed him in his office.
“Told you he was not rejoicing. His eyes were almost popping out!” Drake laughingly remarked.
“Shut up!” Kagome yelled and closed the door to Twinklebee’s office. She meekly stood before the door, as she faced Professor Twinklebee.
“Higurashi!” Twinklebee shouted at her.
“Sir!” Kagome answered and stood erect.
“What is the meaning of this?!” he asked pointing at the television screen. She gasped; it was her kicking Matthew Wedderman’s ass this morning. She opened her mouth to explain but he continued on.
“And this!” he said turning another TV on that was still showing her beating up the reporter.
“And this…!”
And another television set was turned on.
“And this…!”
She really wondered why he had so many TV sets inside his office.
“Sir, let me explain. He attacked me first,” Kagome answered.
“Higurashi, can’t you have just shouted for help?! You do not need to actually kick his fucking ass out literally!” Twinklebee told her.
“But Sir,” Kagome began but was cut off.
“I am not telling you that you play the damsel in distress, Higurashi. I am just concerned that the people financing the research might have seen this senseless bravado and decide to back out from the project. You know the people behind this research have seen the whole research team. They recognize you, since you have contributed greatly to this research. You are a capable researcher, but this… this… ass kicking thing on national television might hurt the team and the funding,” Twinklebee said.
“I am sorry, sir,” Kagome said dejectedly.
Twinklebee only sighed.
“It’s… it’s okay, Higurashi. You’re indistinguishable on TV anyway. You look like crap on television. I mean. you look like crap now,” he said looking at her. “But most days, you look far more pleasant than crap,” he added and Kagome frowned at him.
The door suddenly burst open and Drake went inside carrying a folder. His eyes went straight to watch the 4 television sets showing the same thing.
“Oh Shit! Is that you Kagome? Oh hell yeah! You‘ve whooped Matthew Wedderman’s ass quite good. And on national TV! Grrrrrr… feisty!” Drake exclaimed.
Kagome rolled her eyes.
“Lessen the caffeine, Garrett,” Professor Twinklebee scolded him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Murderous amber eyes followed the graceful walk of the cloaked form that was his target.
“Setsuna,” he hissed hatefully, as he gripped Tetsaiga‘s hilt. Finally, after years of searching, he had found him. He had found the vile creature who took his mother’s life right before his eyes when he was still a pup; the conniving demon whose schemes ended up of him murdering the only woman he loved. He had sworn vengeance, and now he would be getting it. The grip he had on his sword tightened and with light feet, he stealthily stalked his prey, barely making a ripple on the puddle of rain beneath his feet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“That would be 2 dollars and 57 cents, Ma’am,” the cashier told Kagome.
Kagome smiled and handed over 3 dollars taking her change and take-out quickly, and sauntered outside the fastfood joint to walk under unrelenting rain and back to the University. It was still 3 in the afternoon but it looked like early evening, and the street lights were already turned on. She felt chills ran up her spine once she had turned around the corner where the abandoned and to-be demolished apartment complex stood. The building was believed to be haunted, but that was not the case. Someone was watching her… following her.
Then all of a sudden…
CRASH!
She was hit in the gut by an invisible force knocking her straight through the main door of the building. The door quickly gave way stripping the “Keep out. Building unstable” sign. She slowly stood up from the dusty floor when she was hit by that invisible force again. This time, she struck the worn out wall of the lobby.
“Awww,” Kagome moaned painfully, coughing out dust. Good thing she wore a backpack; it somehow cushioned her blow and lessened the shock from hitting the wall roughly.
“You Sanggre are really tough, aren’t you?” a gravely voice slithered through the silent lobby.
Kagome held her breath as she heard soft thuds moved closer. Something was coming.
“Who’s there?” she called, as the building creaked eerily with its unstable foundation. The silhouette of a cloaked form appeared in front of her, slicing through thick dust to reveal the most dreaded demon she had come across.
“Setsuna!” Kagome hissed and stood up, wobbling a little. But nonetheless, she steadied her stance. Setsuna’s lips curled to an evil smirk.
“I have to say. I am impressed. You’ve only met me this morning, yet you already know my name,” Setsuna uttered clapping his hands, yet no sound even came out. Kagome swallowed hard. Her hands grew cold and sweaty, and it shook but she didn’t let him see it.
“It’s a good thing. I have already known yours… Kagome Higurashi,” he drawled out slowly as if tasting her name. “Or is it Kagome, daughter of Akira 1567th, the last of the Sanggre,” he leered lethally, as he watched Kagome‘s shocked expression.
“How did you know me? And how did you find me?” Kagome asked him fiercely.
“Simple Kagome… I have traced the aura of what and who has killed all my corpse demons 12 years ago. You see. Your aura is so powerful I still have felt traces of it even a month after the invasion. Isn’t that awesome?” Setsuna replied and then chuckled darkly.
“But that’s not how I have found you. You must know, Sanggre, I am not the one who has found you. It is her,” he said and stepped aside, as a very old woman wearing black and purple miko robes walked forward.
“I’m sure you remember her, Kagome,” Setsuna said looking at the said woman lovingly, and then back at a puzzled Kagome. “Don’t you remember?” he asked again.
Kagome only looked at the ugly and aged form of the miko confusingly.
“How dare you insult me child! Can you not even recall the person responsible for your parents’ death?” the old miko rasped slowly, yet harshly as she moved her robes to reveal a sword, a rather familiar sword. Kagome’s eyes narrowed. She knew that sword. She knew it so well, since it belonged to her father.
“I thought I killed you,” Kagome hissed with venom.
“You thought wrong, child. I lived,” Tsubaki replied. “Don’t you know? I have eternal youth. But your powers have stripped me off of that and shorten my life span making me age faster than usual. Look at me now! This is what you have done to me!”
“You deserve it,” Kagome said and smirked smugly.
“Silence!” Tsubaki yelled, her aura bursting forth. “I will get my youth back, Sanggre. I will get it back by spilling your blood and drinking it from your veins. I will slowly take your life away and regain mine,” Tsubaki drawled, as she pierced Kagome with a predatory gaze. Her serpents emerged from her aura and slithered around her body delicately.
Kagome snorted. She was intimidated, but obviously not showing it.
“Not if I kill you first,” Kagome whispered dangerously. Her aura exploded unevenly, cloaking her. A silver ribbon of energy flowed out from her mark, curling up, appearing like a silver water dragon tattoo around her right arm. She took the elastic band from her hair and mounted it tight around her thumb and index finger, as she cloaked it with her aura.
Tsubaki laughed. “What are you trying to do? Kill me with an elastic band filled with your aura?”
“No! Purify your wrinkled ass!” Kagome said, as an arrow materialized from the tips of her fingers. She pulled the elastic band towards her shoulders and released the arrow quickly, which flew straight towards Tsubaki. But a serpent intercepted it and was purified instead.
Setsuna whistled.
“She’s a strong one, my love. Do you need some help?” he offered and gave Tsubaki a maliciously loving smile, as he kissed her wrinkled knuckle. Tsubaki nodded, and in an instant, Setsuna was at Kagome’s back, ready to strike her out cold. But he never got the chance because he was sent flying across the room by something, or someone wielding an enormous sword.
“I’ve finally found you, you fucking bastard! Now fuck yourself and go to hell! Wind Scar!” the silver-haired intruder whom Kagome needed to thank for unintentionally saving her said, as he struck his sword against the floored Setsuna. Setsuna was a crumpled pile of dust and rubble on the floor, as parts of the ceiling had broken and had fallen right on top of him.
“Setsuna!” Tsubaki called alarmingly.
“Shut the fuck up, old hag! This fucking piece of shit is fucking mine!” the intruder shouted. His silver mane gracefully swayed side to side, as he walked towards Setsuna’s unmoving form. Tsubaki fumed and ordered her remaining serpent towards him but it never did reach its target.
“No fucking way! Your fight is with me bitch!” Kagome yelled and shot the serpent, which hovered closely to the silver-haired intruder’s head, down with an arrow.
“What the fuck!” the intruder cursed. The arrow had nearly hit him. “You almost fucking shot me, bitch!” he complained raising Tessaiga against Kagome.
“Shut the fuck up! I fucking saved your ass…” Kagome paused, not knowing how to address him. She noticed a pair of dog ears on top of his silver mane and immediately uttered the first the two words that came to her mind. “DOG BOY!” Kagome said causing “Dog Boy“ to glare at her. However, she ignored him. Kagome faced Tsubaki once more and glared.
“I will kill you this time,” Kagome said lethally and gathered her aura. Her aura sparked and whirled dangerously. It was volatile, as that of a ticking bomb. Kagome was an untrained Sanggre priestess after all, and she didn’t have total control of her power, but she couldn’t stop now. She wouldn’t.
With the commotion, they hadn’t noticed that Setsuna had already recovered and had gotten up. In an instant, he appeared behind Tsubaki. The intruder cursed. The wench had caused him to ignore his prey.
“Inuyasha… I should have known, it was you,” Setsuna uttered and smirked.
“You should. I wouldn’t want anything else before I’d kill you,” Inuyasha replied and raised Tetsaiga. Setsuna only chuckled. Inuyasha charged, not even noting the dangerous purifying aura mounting exponentially around Kagome. He drew Tetsaiga and sliced… nothing but dead air.
“Good luck being purified, hanyou. And send my regards to the lovely Izayoi and Kikyo in hell,” Setsuna said. Then he and Tsubaki blurred and vanished. Inuyasha now stood before a ball of Kagome’s volatile purifying energy.
“Shit!” Inuyasha cursed and raised Tetsaiga. “Backlash Wave!” he yelled followed by, “Wind Scar!”
Their powers clashed. Inuyasha’s first strike halted Kagome’s energy ball, while Wind Scar sliced through it, dissecting it to pieces. And it exploded powerfully, throwing them both in opposite direction. Kagome hit the wall pretty hard and was knocked out immediately. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was a demon so he could sustain more damage than her. He recovered a moment later after the impact. The walls of the building shook, and the ceiling started to fall, unable to take the abuse it was subjected to. Inuyasha hurriedly bounded towards the unconscious woman on the floor and carried her out of the building, just in time before it completely collapsed.
The dust settled quickly with the pouring rain. Inuyasha looked around. None… No witnesses; not even a single soul in sight.
“Good,” he sighed, as the oblivious rain continued to fall, soaking their forms.
“Now, what am I supposed to do with you?” he said and stared at the woman in his arms. The woman who nearly killed him, unintentionally of course. But more hauntingly, the woman who looked just like his lost love… Kikyo.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AN: Under Pressure was sang by Queen.
Summary: She hid from her past. He refused to let go of his. Two people who had lost everything would find everything in each other in the midst of a battle 500 years in the making. AU I/K, M/S
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Previous Chapter:
“What are you telling me Papa?” Kagome asked herself as she faced her 22-year-old reflection. She held her father’s enchanted beads and absently twiddled with it.
Water dripped from her washed face and hit the sink. The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the bathroom. She wiped her face with the towel and stared at her tired expression. Eerie silence filled the room. The air around her heated up as the mark on her hand lit silver.
Her heart stopped. A shiver ran up her spine. And she whispered dreadfully, “Something’s wrong… Something’s coming… And it’s coming for me.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHAPTER 1: THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED
Tiny feet briskly walked, soiling pale skin as every stride sank each foot ankle deep to the muddy ground. Equally soiled but bigger set of feet followed the tiny footprints with difficulty, as its owner clutched his side gasping to breath. He instructed the small girl with blue ocean pools to cross the hanging bridge once they had reached the cliff.
“Go, Kagome,” Muso told her.
“But how about you?” she asked, as she hesitantly stepped forward and held the rope of the bridge. She grasped her yellow backpack’s strap tightly, as she waited for her godfather’s answer.
“I will stay and continue to protect this place. Don’t worry, I will take care of your Mama and Papa for you. And as for you, you need to go and find yourself a town where you can stay there and live,” Muso told her and coughed out crimson blood.
“But!” Kagome protested but he glared at her. “Okay… But you take care okay?” she told him firmly and he smiled nodding at her.
“You are so much like Akira. Kagome… Remember, trust your instincts. Danger lurks in every corner so you need to be careful. Our enemies work sinisterly. They will hurt those close to you to get to you, and so you need to be careful with your identity. Never tell even the people close to you who and what you are, do you understand me Kagome?” Muso told her.
Kagome nodded and crossed the bridge. As soon as she was at the other end of it, she waved at Muso. He smiled, waved at her. He then cut the bridge’s ropes, destroying it completely, leaving it to hang on Kagome’s side of the ravine. He continued smiling at her, as his mark lit bright green and his aura exploded, sacrificing his life force to form a chameleon-like barrier around the city camouflaging it and completely hiding it from the world.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
12 years later… New York City…
A hooded figure sighed deeply. It’s raining again. Kagome thought. She hated the rain. It reminded her of that night when her whole race was massacred. She placed the wireless earphone of her MP3 player and tuned in to 92.3 WXRK “K-rock,” her bestfriend’s favorite FM station.
“Good morning New York City. It is 10 passed 8 on a rainy but busy morning. Here’s a song for Kagome Higurashi. Your bestfriend Drake Garrett wishes you all the luck coming to school on time today. Well good luck! And those waiting for the upcoming planetary alignment happening 12:01 midnight tonight, don’t lose hope, the weather station have reported we have clear skies tonight. Make sure to catch this one in a billion event with everybody at Times Square here in the Big Apple. Oh, and Miss Higurashi, please do hurry up.”
Um boom ba bay
Um boom ba bay
Um Um boom ba bay bay
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
She snorted. Typical Drake, he just loves Queen. She scoffed in her thoughts shaking her head, as she mounted her mountain bike and rushed through the streets of New York City under the pouring rain. For four years now, she had been living in New York ever since she was 18 and had gone to college there. Her foster family, the Higurashi objected to her decision. However, she had insisted because when she turned 16, she had foresighted the death of her foster family if she stayed, and she couldn’t bear that. She wouldn’t. She refused to be responsible for their deaths, so here she was, 22 years old and a premed student of Columbia University.
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
She drove her way along the familiar street side, as she listened to Queen’s Under Pressure.
“Hey Kagome! Late for school again?” a chubby man who owned a bakery called to her, as he wiped his hands with his apron.
“Yeah, Mr. Brown. Gotta hurry up or I’ll have Professor Twinklebee breathing fire on my neck again. Nice tie though!!!” Kagome yelled out her response. Mr. Brown had always loved wearing ties and Kagome always had complimented him with it.
“Okay! Thanks Kagome!” Mr. Brown said waving at her, as he fixed his tie with his other hand.
“Kagome! Catch!” an old woman who owned a fruit stand called and tossed Kagome an apple. She caught it easily with her left hand. She took a bite from it and grinned widely.
“Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Hunter!” Kagome yelled.
“No problem, Kagome. And thanks for babysitting Snuffy for me,” Mrs. Hunter shouted as Kagome had gone further down the street already. Snuffy was Mrs. Hunter’s cat.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Hunter!” Kagome replied as she continued riding down the sidewalk only to stop abruptly when she almost hit someone. Someone who was purposely blocking her way with a determined look.
“Shit! Mitheal… What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill us or something?” she scolded the 29 year-old man before her. He had been hitting on her ever since she had arrived and lived around his block. She had turned him down every time but he was relentless. So she just ignored him.
“Kagome,” Mitheal uttered her name with sheer reverence that it was scary. “Be my girl,” he continued and stuffed her face with a bouquet of daisies.
She laughed falsely, and said, “Uhh…NO!”
She quickly maneuvered her bike around Mitheal when a car skidded on the road crashing against the fire hydrant, as another car hit a crossing pedestrian.
“Hey you there… Watch out!” a passer-by called loudly, but it was too late as the person was thrown 15 feet in the air and landed on his back with a deadly thud. The traffic police ran towards the guy and shouted “Call an ambulance!”
Kagome quickly stuffed her earphones inside her jacket pockets and ran towards the scene; she knew basic life support.
“Hey man, are you okay?” the traffic police asked once he had reached the unconscious guy. Kagome quickly checked for the unconscious guy‘s breathing and pulse.
“None,” she told the traffic police.
“Kagome,” Mitheal called running towards her. “I know CPR, Kagome,” he told her still holding the bouquet of daisies. She rolled her eyes.
“Mitheal!” she scolded frowningly, as she and the traffic police started to do CPR. The traffic police did the rescue breathing while she compressed the guy’s chest. However, as the traffic police bent down to blow air into the dead man’s mouth, he was roughly pushed away by the seemingly dead man back from hell!
“What the fuck!” the traffic police said unbelievingly, as he looked at the supposedly dead man with wide-eyes.
“Disgusting!” the guy spat, as he threw the traffic police sending the poor law enforcer flying across the street to hit a car’s windshield. Everybody gasped and some cried out. Kagome stood rooted on the spot.
“What the fuck is going on?” Mitheal uttered sacredly as he trembled.
“I have found you,” the guy said icily. His back faced Kagome.
She stepped backward, as she watched the guy dreadfully. His dark crimson hair clung to his coat as the rain soaked his form. He turned around to face her and she gasped and readied herself. He smirked evilly showing a fang and his crimson eyes pierced hers gravely, his corneas jaundiced as he studied her form.
“I have finally found you, Kagome,” he said causing Kagome to gasp wide-eyed. She moved her coat sleeve to reveal her mark. It glinted silver.
“Shit!” Kagome cursed and immediately ran towards the alley. She extended her aura and detected three, three demons - 2 from the rear moving fast, and 1 just around the corner at the end of the alley.
How did they find me? She thought to herself, coming to a complete halt. It was time to be resourceful. Inside the garbage container was a smashed up piano. She took a piano string and a piece of malleable but hard wood, wounding the piano string on the wood’s ends making it a makeshift bow. She took several metal rods from a damaged antenna, mounted one on her makeshift bow and readied her stance drawing the bow taut. She breathed evenly and centered her aura on the metal rod until it was covered by her silver aura. And she shot, as soon as she saw the 2 demons.
“Shit!” she cursed. The makeshift arrow didn’t even reach 5 feet and it lacked velocity. The two demons were now moving closer, as the rain poured harder. Kagome she stood there and continued to cuss, becoming more frustrated that out of it she hadn’t noticed that her mark was bursting with silver. A ribbon of energy peeked out from her mark to curl around her wrist. She shot again. Now, the metal rod had now reached its target. However, she missed, as her makeshift arrow had only graced the demon’s cheek.
“Is that all you got?” the demon shouted, as he licked his blood that trickled down his cheek. He laughed loudly, belittling her, as he and the other demon charged at her. They leapt in midair, claws drawn out and hungry for her flesh.
“God damn it! WORK! You fucking piece of crap!” Kagome yelled; her frustration fueling her aura to grow as the silver ribbon curled further up reaching her elbow. She shot randomly, piercing the first demon’s chest, dissolving him into dust in midair.
However, she didn’t have the time to make another shot because the other demon was only a second away from slicing her to half. So she blocked his claws with the only object she held at that moment, her makeshift bow. Now, she was weaponless. But that wasn’t the case, as she grabbed a metal rod and stabbed the demon dead center in the eye, squashing the demon’s eyeballs and piercing his eye sockets to the bone.
The demon howled in pain, and she ran as fast as she could while she searched her mind for ways on how to escape. She had done it many times. She had survived her race’s extinction, had fled her birthplace when she was still a child, had left her second family in Japan for the fear of their lives. Surely, she could get out of this alive.
She searched her past memories for whatever it was that could help her. Her Papa had always told her to concentrate and her powers would materialize before her eyes, to picture in her mind what it was that she needed at the moment. And she did.
A bubble… She thought.
A sphere…
A shield…
“One heck of a good barrier!” she said loudly, doing a 180 degree turn. Her aura burst to form a barrier, as she stood her ground against the very angry demon trailing her. The demon clawed his way against the barrier; his eye juices flowing out of his sockets with each strike of his claws.
“Eat this, asshole!” Kagome said and her barrier collapsed to burst forward, blasting the demon with purifying energy and bringing him straight to the wet alley floor.
Kagome sighed deeply and stepped backward to lean on the alley wall. She looked up the dark sky as raindrops squarely hit her face. She closed her eyes savoring it. She really hated the rain.
“Was this the warning you were telling me, Papa?” Kagome asked placing her hand against her neck where her father’s beads rested under her shirt. This was the first time she had used her powers ever since that day 12 years ago. And this would be the first that demons had blatantly attacked her in public. She had kept her identity a secret to everybody, and she had been very careful about it. So how did they find her?
Kagome took the hood of her jacket and placed it on top of her head. She started to jog, totally forgetting the fact that she had sensed 3 demons earlier and had only killed two. When she reached the end of the alley, she started to walk; she wouldn’t want to look suspicious. She hoped Mitheal had taken her bike back to her apartment. She reached an electronics store and stopped for awhile to listen at the news. She may as well listen, since she would be late anyway. Maybe she could get an excuse from the news. A traffic jam maybe? But she drove a bike and now she was on foot, so not a chance damn it!
“A one in a billion event will be happening tonight at exactly 12:01 midnight when the sun and 9 of our solar system’s planets will line up in a 180 degree angle. Known as the planetary alignment, scientists say that this event only happens one in every billion years and everyone should witness this once in a lifetime event.”
“In other news, some religious groups and various cults all over the world think this is the end of all things and has called this day, the day of the Apocalypse, as many of them believe that the planetary alignment will open the gates of hell and the devil will come forth to destroy the world.”
“We have Matthew Wedderman in downtown New York to see what everybody thinks about the upcoming planetary alignment tonight. Matthew?” the anchorwoman finished and smiled from the TV screen.
“Thank you Katherine,” Matthew Wedderman responded. Kagome stared at the screen. She recognized where Wedderman’s at. He was exactly at the end of the block she was in. She started to walk. She was near the University so there was no use taking a cab. She was now passing by Wedderman’s crew when…
“We have a young lady here, Katherine. Excuse me miss, what you do think about tonight’s planetary alignment?” Wedderman asked her and all of a sudden, a camera was directed at her face. She stood there with wide-eyes, obviously taken by surprise and obviously mindful on how she looked on TV. Hell, she had killed two demons just minutes ago and now she faced America.
She stuttered.
“Um… Ah… I think it’s a chance for us to… you know… be part of something phenomenal so I think we should just enjoy the event when it happens,” Kagome said. However, Wedderman had suddenly kept quiet. His head was bowed down and his shoulders were tensed, which were very unlikely for a reporter like him.
“Sir?” she asked. “Mr. Wedderman?” She was about to shake him. Was he asleep? Had her answer bored him to death? Or did he have narcolepsy?
Apparently not, because what happened next shocked her and the people around them, and most probably the people watching TV and tuning in because suddenly, Matthew Wedderman dropped his microphone, launched at Kagome, grabbed her neck and choked her.
“Die!” he hissed and pierced her with deathly crimson orbs, not his eye color obviously.
She gasped and immediately extended her aura to defend herself. But it was useless because he was human. She was sure of that, since he didn’t emit any demonic aura. That was when she realized he was possessed. But by whom? She didn’t need to know that. For now, she needed to get out of his deadly hold, and to do that, she needed to kick his ass… with the cameras rolling.
Grounding her left leg, she kicked his crotch as hard as she could, kneed his gut, and finally, landed a strong kick in the head knocking him out sprawling him on the wet sidewalk. Simultaneously, she sprinted out of the scene and disappeared at the end of the block to take a shortcut to the University.
“What’s happening?” Kagome whispered asking herself. Every corner she took, there was someone ready to pounce on her and kill her.
She had reached the University after a 5-minute run and had gone straight to the research department. She didn’t have any classes today. She got worse, because today she was on research work with Professor Jacques Twinklebee, a half toad-youkai and head of the anthropology department, who happened to be the head researcher of the research team that she belonged to together with her bestfriend Drake, and 3 other members from different departments. Professor Twinklebee happened to have a strong interest on ancient mythology, races and civilizations, including the history of the Shikon no Tama, the presumably extinct Sanggres, and everything about the great battle that happened almost 500 years ago.
She panted, as she reached the door of the researched department. She was immediately greeted by her bestfriend, Drake Garrett, who at the moment was confused about his sexuality. He was also the number one student of Professor Twinklebee, as his interests were also the same as the professor’s.
“My God Kagome! What has happened to you? This must be the ugliest you have ever been! I mean, look at you. You look like a worn out rag. You look like crap!” Drake exclaimed, as he fingered Kagome’s wet and very untidy hair with a raised brow. “And by the way, you’re very late. Twinklebee’s not rejoicing about it,” he added and proceeded to his desk.
“Thank you for that absolute display of best friend love, Drake. I really appreciate how you so have blatantly told me I look like shit. How may I ever make it up to you?” Kagome said sarcastically and gave him an I-don’t-care-I’m-just-happy-to-be-alive-look. She was glad she was alive after what had happened.
“You could treat me to lunch. That would be good, since I had treated you dinner yesterday. Besides, I was so thoughtful I even requested a song for you this morning,” Drake winked at her and faced his computer.
“Here,” he said and tossed her a towel. “Pat yourself dry before you go in and face Twinklebee. Might as well be gorgeous while he rants at you, right?”
Kagome only rolled her eyes, while he chuckled.
“You’ve been literally living here, haven’t you?” Kagome asked, while she toweled her hair dry.
“Only for this week… I am going home tonight as a matter of fact,” Drake answered, as he scrolled down the images he had in his computer. Kagome peeped at pictures of modern Shikon no Tama imitations, people believed to be Sanggre, close up images of the Sanggre marks, pictures of demons, humans and warriors from the past presumed to have lived 500 years ago or more.
“Oh yeah, I’ve made a fascinating discovery last night, Kagome. You won’t believe what I’ve found out. Here, look at this,” Drake told her, his eyes brightening with enthrallment.
“Last night, I was going around our files and discovered this,” he said, as he clicked the folder named Setsuna open to reveal dozens of pictures of a demon with familiar crimson orbs, jaundiced corneas, and dark crimson hair. The only difference was that the demon in the computer had a horn on the right side of his head, and his right cheek was adorned with demon markings. Nevertheless, Kagome had recognized the demon. He was the demon who was hit by the car and injured the policeman earlier.
“Who’s he?” Kagome automatically asked, as she stared at the demon on the screen.
“Oh, his story is really fascinating,” Drake said excitedly, facing his very serious friend. “You see, Naraku apparently has 5 generals as what the records tell us: Kagura, the wind sorceress; Menomaru, the lord of hell demons; Kaguya, the time witch; Kanna, the soul catcher; and finally, we have Setsuna, master of the corpse demons. It has been believed that all Naraku’s generals, minions, whatever you call them have been sent to hell together with their master. But apparently, that isn’t the case because as what you can see here, he‘s still here. By some means Setsuna has escaped that fate and has stayed in the land of the living disguising himself frequently as evident in the following pictures,” he explained and clicked for the slideshow.
“Look at this picture,” Drake said and a Setsuna wearing a blood red gi and black hakama appeared on the screen. “This was during the bakufu period.”
“And look at this one,” he continued, as the next picture showed a Setsuna wearing a World War I soldier’s uniform.
On the next picture, the demon was a refugee. “This picture was probably taken during the end of World War II in the outskirts of Austria outside the German border,” Drake said. All Kagome did was stare at the screen and gripped the towel tightly.
“Clearly, he has traveled around the globe. And look at this one, Kagome. Judging by the hairstyle…” he said, as he jokingly pointed at Setsuna’s afro hair style. “This was taken during the 70s.”
He chuckled, then asked, “Funny, isn’t it?”
No. Kagome thought dreadfully, as she glared at the screen.
“Just imagine... Naraku’s general wearing the trendiest hairstyle during that time… Hilarious,” Drake laughingly said, unaware of Kagome’s thoughts. “But isn’t it creepy? If you can examine his mind, what must he have been thinking - doing all this time?”
Probably hunting… Kagome further thought. But her thoughts were interrupted by a bang of the door. The scornful Professor Twinklebee emerged from his office.
“Higurashi, in my office, NOW!” he shouted. Kagome immediately stood up and briskly followed him in his office.
“Told you he was not rejoicing. His eyes were almost popping out!” Drake laughingly remarked.
“Shut up!” Kagome yelled and closed the door to Twinklebee’s office. She meekly stood before the door, as she faced Professor Twinklebee.
“Higurashi!” Twinklebee shouted at her.
“Sir!” Kagome answered and stood erect.
“What is the meaning of this?!” he asked pointing at the television screen. She gasped; it was her kicking Matthew Wedderman’s ass this morning. She opened her mouth to explain but he continued on.
“And this!” he said turning another TV on that was still showing her beating up the reporter.
“And this…!”
And another television set was turned on.
“And this…!”
She really wondered why he had so many TV sets inside his office.
“Sir, let me explain. He attacked me first,” Kagome answered.
“Higurashi, can’t you have just shouted for help?! You do not need to actually kick his fucking ass out literally!” Twinklebee told her.
“But Sir,” Kagome began but was cut off.
“I am not telling you that you play the damsel in distress, Higurashi. I am just concerned that the people financing the research might have seen this senseless bravado and decide to back out from the project. You know the people behind this research have seen the whole research team. They recognize you, since you have contributed greatly to this research. You are a capable researcher, but this… this… ass kicking thing on national television might hurt the team and the funding,” Twinklebee said.
“I am sorry, sir,” Kagome said dejectedly.
Twinklebee only sighed.
“It’s… it’s okay, Higurashi. You’re indistinguishable on TV anyway. You look like crap on television. I mean. you look like crap now,” he said looking at her. “But most days, you look far more pleasant than crap,” he added and Kagome frowned at him.
The door suddenly burst open and Drake went inside carrying a folder. His eyes went straight to watch the 4 television sets showing the same thing.
“Oh Shit! Is that you Kagome? Oh hell yeah! You‘ve whooped Matthew Wedderman’s ass quite good. And on national TV! Grrrrrr… feisty!” Drake exclaimed.
Kagome rolled her eyes.
“Lessen the caffeine, Garrett,” Professor Twinklebee scolded him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Murderous amber eyes followed the graceful walk of the cloaked form that was his target.
“Setsuna,” he hissed hatefully, as he gripped Tetsaiga‘s hilt. Finally, after years of searching, he had found him. He had found the vile creature who took his mother’s life right before his eyes when he was still a pup; the conniving demon whose schemes ended up of him murdering the only woman he loved. He had sworn vengeance, and now he would be getting it. The grip he had on his sword tightened and with light feet, he stealthily stalked his prey, barely making a ripple on the puddle of rain beneath his feet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“That would be 2 dollars and 57 cents, Ma’am,” the cashier told Kagome.
Kagome smiled and handed over 3 dollars taking her change and take-out quickly, and sauntered outside the fastfood joint to walk under unrelenting rain and back to the University. It was still 3 in the afternoon but it looked like early evening, and the street lights were already turned on. She felt chills ran up her spine once she had turned around the corner where the abandoned and to-be demolished apartment complex stood. The building was believed to be haunted, but that was not the case. Someone was watching her… following her.
Then all of a sudden…
CRASH!
She was hit in the gut by an invisible force knocking her straight through the main door of the building. The door quickly gave way stripping the “Keep out. Building unstable” sign. She slowly stood up from the dusty floor when she was hit by that invisible force again. This time, she struck the worn out wall of the lobby.
“Awww,” Kagome moaned painfully, coughing out dust. Good thing she wore a backpack; it somehow cushioned her blow and lessened the shock from hitting the wall roughly.
“You Sanggre are really tough, aren’t you?” a gravely voice slithered through the silent lobby.
Kagome held her breath as she heard soft thuds moved closer. Something was coming.
“Who’s there?” she called, as the building creaked eerily with its unstable foundation. The silhouette of a cloaked form appeared in front of her, slicing through thick dust to reveal the most dreaded demon she had come across.
“Setsuna!” Kagome hissed and stood up, wobbling a little. But nonetheless, she steadied her stance. Setsuna’s lips curled to an evil smirk.
“I have to say. I am impressed. You’ve only met me this morning, yet you already know my name,” Setsuna uttered clapping his hands, yet no sound even came out. Kagome swallowed hard. Her hands grew cold and sweaty, and it shook but she didn’t let him see it.
“It’s a good thing. I have already known yours… Kagome Higurashi,” he drawled out slowly as if tasting her name. “Or is it Kagome, daughter of Akira 1567th, the last of the Sanggre,” he leered lethally, as he watched Kagome‘s shocked expression.
“How did you know me? And how did you find me?” Kagome asked him fiercely.
“Simple Kagome… I have traced the aura of what and who has killed all my corpse demons 12 years ago. You see. Your aura is so powerful I still have felt traces of it even a month after the invasion. Isn’t that awesome?” Setsuna replied and then chuckled darkly.
“But that’s not how I have found you. You must know, Sanggre, I am not the one who has found you. It is her,” he said and stepped aside, as a very old woman wearing black and purple miko robes walked forward.
“I’m sure you remember her, Kagome,” Setsuna said looking at the said woman lovingly, and then back at a puzzled Kagome. “Don’t you remember?” he asked again.
Kagome only looked at the ugly and aged form of the miko confusingly.
“How dare you insult me child! Can you not even recall the person responsible for your parents’ death?” the old miko rasped slowly, yet harshly as she moved her robes to reveal a sword, a rather familiar sword. Kagome’s eyes narrowed. She knew that sword. She knew it so well, since it belonged to her father.
“I thought I killed you,” Kagome hissed with venom.
“You thought wrong, child. I lived,” Tsubaki replied. “Don’t you know? I have eternal youth. But your powers have stripped me off of that and shorten my life span making me age faster than usual. Look at me now! This is what you have done to me!”
“You deserve it,” Kagome said and smirked smugly.
“Silence!” Tsubaki yelled, her aura bursting forth. “I will get my youth back, Sanggre. I will get it back by spilling your blood and drinking it from your veins. I will slowly take your life away and regain mine,” Tsubaki drawled, as she pierced Kagome with a predatory gaze. Her serpents emerged from her aura and slithered around her body delicately.
Kagome snorted. She was intimidated, but obviously not showing it.
“Not if I kill you first,” Kagome whispered dangerously. Her aura exploded unevenly, cloaking her. A silver ribbon of energy flowed out from her mark, curling up, appearing like a silver water dragon tattoo around her right arm. She took the elastic band from her hair and mounted it tight around her thumb and index finger, as she cloaked it with her aura.
Tsubaki laughed. “What are you trying to do? Kill me with an elastic band filled with your aura?”
“No! Purify your wrinkled ass!” Kagome said, as an arrow materialized from the tips of her fingers. She pulled the elastic band towards her shoulders and released the arrow quickly, which flew straight towards Tsubaki. But a serpent intercepted it and was purified instead.
Setsuna whistled.
“She’s a strong one, my love. Do you need some help?” he offered and gave Tsubaki a maliciously loving smile, as he kissed her wrinkled knuckle. Tsubaki nodded, and in an instant, Setsuna was at Kagome’s back, ready to strike her out cold. But he never got the chance because he was sent flying across the room by something, or someone wielding an enormous sword.
“I’ve finally found you, you fucking bastard! Now fuck yourself and go to hell! Wind Scar!” the silver-haired intruder whom Kagome needed to thank for unintentionally saving her said, as he struck his sword against the floored Setsuna. Setsuna was a crumpled pile of dust and rubble on the floor, as parts of the ceiling had broken and had fallen right on top of him.
“Setsuna!” Tsubaki called alarmingly.
“Shut the fuck up, old hag! This fucking piece of shit is fucking mine!” the intruder shouted. His silver mane gracefully swayed side to side, as he walked towards Setsuna’s unmoving form. Tsubaki fumed and ordered her remaining serpent towards him but it never did reach its target.
“No fucking way! Your fight is with me bitch!” Kagome yelled and shot the serpent, which hovered closely to the silver-haired intruder’s head, down with an arrow.
“What the fuck!” the intruder cursed. The arrow had nearly hit him. “You almost fucking shot me, bitch!” he complained raising Tessaiga against Kagome.
“Shut the fuck up! I fucking saved your ass…” Kagome paused, not knowing how to address him. She noticed a pair of dog ears on top of his silver mane and immediately uttered the first the two words that came to her mind. “DOG BOY!” Kagome said causing “Dog Boy“ to glare at her. However, she ignored him. Kagome faced Tsubaki once more and glared.
“I will kill you this time,” Kagome said lethally and gathered her aura. Her aura sparked and whirled dangerously. It was volatile, as that of a ticking bomb. Kagome was an untrained Sanggre priestess after all, and she didn’t have total control of her power, but she couldn’t stop now. She wouldn’t.
With the commotion, they hadn’t noticed that Setsuna had already recovered and had gotten up. In an instant, he appeared behind Tsubaki. The intruder cursed. The wench had caused him to ignore his prey.
“Inuyasha… I should have known, it was you,” Setsuna uttered and smirked.
“You should. I wouldn’t want anything else before I’d kill you,” Inuyasha replied and raised Tetsaiga. Setsuna only chuckled. Inuyasha charged, not even noting the dangerous purifying aura mounting exponentially around Kagome. He drew Tetsaiga and sliced… nothing but dead air.
“Good luck being purified, hanyou. And send my regards to the lovely Izayoi and Kikyo in hell,” Setsuna said. Then he and Tsubaki blurred and vanished. Inuyasha now stood before a ball of Kagome’s volatile purifying energy.
“Shit!” Inuyasha cursed and raised Tetsaiga. “Backlash Wave!” he yelled followed by, “Wind Scar!”
Their powers clashed. Inuyasha’s first strike halted Kagome’s energy ball, while Wind Scar sliced through it, dissecting it to pieces. And it exploded powerfully, throwing them both in opposite direction. Kagome hit the wall pretty hard and was knocked out immediately. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was a demon so he could sustain more damage than her. He recovered a moment later after the impact. The walls of the building shook, and the ceiling started to fall, unable to take the abuse it was subjected to. Inuyasha hurriedly bounded towards the unconscious woman on the floor and carried her out of the building, just in time before it completely collapsed.
The dust settled quickly with the pouring rain. Inuyasha looked around. None… No witnesses; not even a single soul in sight.
“Good,” he sighed, as the oblivious rain continued to fall, soaking their forms.
“Now, what am I supposed to do with you?” he said and stared at the woman in his arms. The woman who nearly killed him, unintentionally of course. But more hauntingly, the woman who looked just like his lost love… Kikyo.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AN: Under Pressure was sang by Queen.