|
Another Inuyasha Story....
The rain beat hard on the dirt road, the sky lit up at random intervals by the occasional lightning bolt. The wind was strangely calm however, uncharacteristic of the foul weather that was besetting the small group that was walking calmly down that dirt road. Miroku was calmly strolling holding a rice paper umbrella across one of his shoulders, offering it as refuge against the elements for Sango whom lay close by his shoulder. She was eyeing him precariously. Not far ahead of them was Kagome, wearing a rain slicker, with one hand on the handlebars of her bike pushing it and her other hand holding a much more modern plastic umbrella. Shippo was riding in the basket of the bicycle, shielded from the pouring rain by the umbrella that Kagome carried, staring off at Inuyasha, who was defiantly walking by himself, needing not anyone's pity or comfort against what he viewed as a little water. The thoughts in all their heads were clear on what they were doing. Kagome had sensed a sacred jewel shard's energy coming from this direction. It was uncomfortable to all of them that it seemed the closer and closer they got to their destination the more foul the weather became, yet oddly, the calmer the wind was. It was unnatural; all of them felt that. The path they were walking was leading them through the rolling hills of the feudal Japanese countryside, but the pouring rain made the visibility at the top of the rolling hills strangely difficult.
They had been traveling several days, with the occasional banter and conversations they shared, it had been mostly uneventful. As they peaked another hill, suddenly, looming in front of them was a large castle. The walls looked thick, made up of what looked to be one solid piece of stone; the normal latticework of lines showing individual bricks were nonexistent. The top of the wall had an overhang, shingles characteristic of the architectural style lay over the overhang. The castle looked very uninviting, however, Kagome could feel the power of a sacred jewel shard close by.
"I can feel it," Kagome said, finally breaking the silence, "It's here."
"Odd," Inuyasha interjected, "I don't catch the scent of a demon nearby."
"Guys, I don't like this one bit. Jewel shards aren't just left out and about," Shippo replied, speaking uneasily.
"Perhaps there is more to this situation than we are currently seeing," Miroku said insightfully, almost musing to himself.
"Whatever it is, I can handle it," Inuyasha boasted with his customary bravado and carelessness.
With that, Inuyasha whipped out the Tetsusaiga. With a flourish the slender blade of a typical katana glowed and expanded, forming into a formidable and large blade as he unsheathed it. Having found the door after that last statement, he cut the door in half with the same recklessness and bravado he spoke with. The door, having no resistance to such attacks, fell open easily. The halls inside the castle were vacant, and the musty smell of dust hung heavy in the air. Kagome brought a kerchief up to her face as the dust stirred from the heavy doors to the castle falling inward. Inuyasha coughed a little. Miroku and Sango were standing back, Miroku was standing calmly, still with his rice paper umbrella over his shoulder. The group gathered their wits and started walking into the musty old castle. Something nagging the back of all their minds, why would there be a jewel shard here totally unguarded? The answer was sure to present itself as they ventured forth into the castle.
It didn't take long for them to traverse the inside of the castle finding their way into the courtyard. It was lovely, flowers blooming in well kept planters, the sun beaming down. Naturally, their eyes were drawn skyward where they saw the storm clouds that had beset them the last few days neatly around the castle, but breaking just past the castle walls, creating this refuge they found themselves in. As they looked across the courtyard, they could see the doors to the central chambers, where feasibly the lord of the castle would stay. But, instead of seeing any signs of life, they saw only a small table. On the table, beaming brightly and placed very aesthetically was a sacred jewel shard.
* * *
Thin hands expertly poured a thick red liquid into a mixing bowl. The lighting of the room was dark, perfect for the magic that was being brewed; only a faint illumination shone from a lone window. Moonlight poured from the window, creating a focus around the bowl that was now being filled with the liquid. After pouring the liquid the hands went to throwing leaves and powders into the bowl. In a bright flash the bowl ignited, reducing the mixture to a powder and the hands brought forth a small stone stub in which to grind and mix the concoction further. Obviously feminine lips pursed into a gentle but malevolent smile.
"Soon," the lips murmured softly, "the debt will be repaid."
With that, a lone shadow behind her rose up, garbed in a heavy cloak, the mysterious shadow's identity was obscured. The one that was mixing the concoction turned her head, looking over her shoulder, speaking few words, but the message was clear: "you have your orders"
The shadowy figure rose to full height, bowing, and in a whispered tone responded, "Yes, mistress" and with that vanished, leaving only a faint cut mark in the air behind it.
* * *
Kagome looked puzzlingly at the sacred jewel shard, wondering what it was doing here. Alone and unguarded, this didn't feel right. Even the normally stalwart Inuyasha looked around uneasy. "This doesn't feel right" he spoke, vocalizing everyone's feelings on this matter. Inuyasha stepped forward, his Tetsusaiga sheathed, but his hands resting on the hilt, ready to unleash it should the unexpected happen. He strode forward, keeping his gaze intently on the sacred jewel shard that lay there, his ears perked up as he sniffed the air trying to sense for anything that could indicate that this was a trap. Kagome stood behind him as she readied her bow, slowly drawing an arrow out and knocking it into place. Miroku and Sango stood back, also getting ready should things take an unexpected turn. A slight breeze rustled through the castle as Inuyasha grabbed the sacred jewel, turning in a cocky stance looked at Kagome, then replied boastfully "Ha, this was just too easy, maybe when the shikon jewel shattered, this piece fell back here and just hadn't had a chance for any demons to find it!"
At that moment, the air behind Kagome cracked, as a sword split the air behind her in two, crackles of energy could be seen along the rift. Inuyasha sprang to life, drawing his Tetsusaiga, the blade cracking to life exploding into the form of the excessively large curved blade that had become Inuyasha's trademark. From the rift, a heavily cloaked figure emerged, grabbing Kagome around the neck with his forearm. Inuyasha hesitated, seeing Kagome being taken hostage, unable to use the windscar without hurting her.
Miroku stood stunned, and cried, "This isn't a demon, I can't sense any demonic aura."
"You idiot, you think I need you to tell me that?" Inuyasha snarled frustrated more at the figure for using such cowardly tactics than Miroku for stating the obvious.
Sango grabbed the humongous wooden boomerang shaped blade that she kept strapped to her back; named Hiraikotsu, and hurled it at the mysterious intruder, hoping to hit him from the back, trusting it to knock him away from Kagome. However, the mysterious cloaked stranger matched her move unflinchingly whipping around the blade, cutting through the air as he did so, leaving a tell tale rift as the blade was brought up, knocking the cumbersome weapon away and burying its edge into the ground a dozen or so feet away. Sango leapt towards it, retrieving it quickly. Miroku surged forward, bringing his staff to bear, swinging it in a downward motion to bludgeon the mysterious one across the head. In so doing, he left himself open for a deft blow to the stomach from the cloaked individual's hand.
"You are lucky," he whispered softly into Kagome's ear, "I wasn't paid to kill anyone today."
With that, he swiftly brought up his blade slicing a triangular pattern in the air to his side, and leapt through, holding Kagome tight. Kagome screamed for Inuyasha to help her. Inuyasha leapt forward with full ferocity, crying out the word: "KAGOME!!"
As Inuyasha's charge hit the place the mysterious cloaked man had been, the rift was sealed, and Inuyasha came crashing to the earth, his face sliding across the cold dirt of the courtyard. He turned to the others that remained and said, his voice full of anger and hatred, "We MUST find kagome, but I can't track someone who doesn't leave a trail I can scent out"
Miroku, struggling to his feet coughing slightly from the force of the blow the mystery assailant hit him with responded "things *cough* look very grave indeed, we *cough* can't just let him go like that"
Sango shook her head, not knowing what to say, not really knowing what to do. Shippo stood there, almost forgotten, ready to work magic, and had the battle lasted longer than a few seconds probably would have been able to help, as it was, the little kitsune just stood there in shock, seeing the group handled so easily.
The silence lasted a several minutes until Miroku spoke, "It seems this was a trap, and whoever did this was very skilled, attacked with knowledge of who we were and what we could do." Inuyasha turned, and let out a scoff of anger, making an audible "hmph" noise, as he stormed off, pissed off at both himself and the stranger. Himself for being unable to protect Kagome, and the stranger for kidnapping her. As he strolled off, Miroku ran stiffly, still hurting from the blow to the stomach he took, towards Inuyasha. He looked to Inuyasha, and spoke to him, trying to ease him and calm him down, to help them think rationally "There was nothing you could have done," he said calmly, "things just... unraveled too quickly"
* * *
The cloaked assailant let go of her, plunging her into darkness. It was so dark here she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. At least in the hands of the assailant she knew she was safe, here, she didn't know where she was. She moved her hands slowly to the ground, and felt around. The floor was made of hard stone, the ground was cold, and the air was heavy with moisture. A cave perhaps? As she felt around, she could feel cracks, like those that would be found between two cobbles, feeling around a bit more she found the ground to be cobbled together from stone, definitely artificial. A dungeon or cellar perhaps?
It wasn't long before the answer was provided for her as a heavy wooden door shod in iron opened up, revealing an obviously female form. Looking at her from the doorframe was a woman, she was dragging herself around on a bloated slug-like body, not easily capable of free movement. Her breasts were large with generous amount of fat; yet strangely her head, shoulders, and arms were slender and well built, looking for all purposes that of a well sculpted beauty. She heaved her stomach forward, sliding her body across the stone floor, her movements were by no means graceful as she approached Kagome. Grabbing Kagome's face in her right hand, pushing hard against her cheeks, she brought Kagome's face inches from her own. She turned Kagome's face first to the left, then right, inspecting her carefully as a butcher might inspect a cow. She looked intently into Kagome's eyes; turning her shoulders she looked back towards the doorway. Standing there in the doorway was the cloaked assailant that had kidnapped Kagome. The mystery woman fixed her gaze at the cloaked figure. Speaking in a hushed yet venomous tone, she uttered "You are sure this is the one, the one that can sense the jewel shards?"
The cloaked assailant shifted uneasily, as if offended by the question, thinking carefully before he responded, he spoke in a whispered tone "Yes, milady, it is as you planned, leaving the shard out for them to find, her companions provided little resistance, but I stake my reputation on it, she IS the one."
The woman turned once more to face Kagome, Kagome's face looked shocked for a moment as she suddenly sensed a fragment of the shikon jewel, buried in this woman's heart! Kagome tried to push off this realization and hide her expression, but it was obviously too late. The woman continued looking at her, and spoke in the same hushed tone leaden with venomous intent; "You sense it don't you, young one, the jewel fragment buried within me" her lips pursed into a malevolent smile as she turned once more for the door speaking softly to the cloaked figure "you have done well, you have performed as promised, this is indeed the one that I have been asked to find" She pushed her bloated abdomen forward as she began to drag her ponderous form out of the room Kagome was in, the cloaked figure staring intently at her, almost daring her to try to escape. Once out of the room, the woman snapped her slender fingers, and the cloaked figure slammed the door to the cell that Kagome was being held in.
Kagome looked around for a window or other portal to the outside of this room, finding none, slumped down against one of the walls and started weeping, wondering what was going to become of her. Thoughts turned to Inuyasha and hoping that he would get to her before this witch was going to do whatever it was she was going to do to her. Eventually she fell asleep against the cold stone that made up the walls and floor of this uncomfortably confining room.
* * *
She awoke slowly, eyes blinking in the dull light. Standing above her was that cloaked assailant that had dragged her here. Suddenly awake with that, she bolted up scooting against the wall bringing her hands to her skirt to cover her modesty. Wondering how long the figure had been standing there over her. The figure moved with speed and grace as it grabbed her by the wrist pulling her to her feet. Kagome didn’t know what was going to happen, but being that she wasn't in a position to fight back, she went with him.
She was escorted into brightly lit room, sun filtering in through the paper doors and walls, the room itself appeared to be pretty solidly closed off; if it were night, this room would be very dark, save a window along the top edge of one of the walls. In the center of the room lounging contently on her bulk was the demoness she had met the night previously. Kagome could see her quite a bit better in this bright room. Her face was cold and rigid, her expression was an emotionless mask, long black hair hung around her shoulders which themselves were quite defined, appearing to be chiseled out of marble, her arms were long and thin, moving with a grace all their own. It provided a stark contrast to the rest of her body, her bosom was held in place by a sash of cloth that went over each shoulder, keeping her massive obese chest in place. Below her bust line was her gut, composed of what appeared to be nothing more than a bulbous mass of fat covered by skin. her lower half tapered off behind her remiscent of a slug-like tail. The demoness turned her girth, shoving her belly forward her gut rippled as she moved, and matching the movement with the rest of her body so she could turn to Kagome. She looked squarely at Kagome, her dark blue eyes meeting Kagome's, her lips slowly creased into a malevolent smile, the light seemed to accentuate the deep crimson of her lips in a vivid contrast to her pallid skin. She spoke softly; her voice, though carrying through that same malevolence, had an almost harmonious sound to it.
"Well now, you are soon to be leaving us you know?" she spoke, a hint of venom in her voice
"W-What do you mean?" Kagome stutted, her thoughts already thinking the worst. Obviously this demoness could tell what she was thinking by the expression that Kagome had suddenly showed.
"Come now dear, you don't think we would go through all this trouble to capture you just to kill you?" The demoness asked, her voice taking on a condescending and patronizing tone, as she brought her hands to Kagome's cheeks, caressing them as one would caress a the cheeks of a child. "You have two choices at this point, you can take your medicine like a good little girl, or I can make it VERY painful." As she spoke she reached for the small table that she sat near, shifting her massive bulk as she did, picking up a small bowl filled with a carefully prepared mixture. Kagome looked at it as she was handed the bowl. "Drink it up dear, after all the work I did preparing it," the demoness said, again, keeping the patronizing and condescending tone, almost expecting Kagome to defy her.
In the bowl was a thick red liquid smelly quite pungent full of herbs and containing a gritty texture almost like poorly mixed in powders. Kagome looked at it, her stomach churned at the thought of drinking this. With little thought she threw it to the ground, the liquid splash across the floor spewing out everywhere. Surprisingly, not a single drop landed on the demoness, as the spray seemed to spill everywhere but on her, creating a neat little circle around her. The demoness' eyes narrowed, her expression hardened, but still contained the placid calm in her eyes, only belying the burning rage with her posture.
"That... was... not... very... nice..." the demoness spoke, rage almost choking her words. With that, she raised her hands and the liquid rose up off the floor, leaving not a drop, as it coalesced between her hands into a dark red ball. Kagome took several steps back, before she felt two powerful hands on her shoulders rooting her in place. Her head instinctually jerked to look behind her, seeing only a dark cloak and nothing else. She turned her head back to the demoness just in time to see that ball shift into the shape of an elongated dart, almost like a javelin, but far too short. Her last conscious vision was the elongated dart being hurled into her chest, and the demoness was right, it was VERY painful. As she slipped from consciousness she could feel demon blood pouring into her veins from the wound... everything went black at that point...
* * *
She was waking up again, slower this time. It felt like she had been hit by a bus. Her eyes were heavy, her whole body tingled. She could feel demon blood flowing through her veins. Her first thoughts were wondering why there was demon blood in her. Then as reality set in, her mind slowly cranked into gear, waking up from wherever it had been, she started to remember what happened. The bloated demoness, she had hit her with something. She tried forcing herself awake, but it wasn't easy against the haze of sleep. Her body was numb, feeling much akin to the way her legs did when they fell asleep, complete with the feeling of pins and needles. With much effort she slowly dragged her body backwards. She was in a bed of some kind, sliding up against what could only be a headboard, she brought herself to a sitting position. It hurt to move. She managed to slowly get her eyes open. As she awoken, she realized she could hear sounds outside, realizing she was moving somehow. Whatever she was in was rocking gently.
She looked around. She was in a bed, red satin hung down forming drapes around her, four posts rose up around her, making her think of a Victorian bed. She could hear the footsteps of four to six people outside and she realized she was in a palanquin. As her mind started to form more and more coherent thought, her body started to gradually come out of its numbed state. She looked down at herself, her eyes widened at what she saw, as her mind reeled from the absence of reason behind this. Her hands were stiff, and only had two fingers and a thick thumb, her now thicker digits were made of a hard material, making her think of hooves. She could feel two of her teeth protruding from her lower jaw, feeling awkward in her mouth. She lifed a hand to her mouth and felt her nose protruding from her face, forming a gentle snout. Her hands then instinctually went to her head feeling her larger floppy ears drooping lazily over each other. Anger set into her mind next, as she realized what she had become.
"How DARE she turn me into some sort of....pig-demon?!" she snorted to herself, her voice choking on her own anger, but still unable to make sense of what she was going to do to herself. Her anger quickly subsided into depression. There was no way she could return to her era looking like this. She felt a new homesickness stir in her heart. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. As she was pondering what was to become of her, feeling stuck in this era, the palanquin she was riding in came to an abrupt halt. She felt the palanquin descend slightly, as if it was being lowered to the ground. The curtains parted to reveal four thickly armored warriors, their heads were like that of boars, and each carried a well-made, very vicious-looking scimitar. "Out" one of the sentries grunted at her, obviously disgusted with her.
Not knowing what to do, Kagome quickly tried to move her legs to get out. She found it slightly more than difficult as her legs had also seemingly changed. It was like trying to walk on her tip-toes; her feet had completely changed into cloven hooves, her ankles were jointed at where her knees used to be instead of her heels, and her knees were pushed slightly higher up on her legs, forming her entire legs into something more porcine than human. She stumbled around, quite uneasy with the way her body had to balance itself. One of the guards was quick to offer his assistance, as she reached for him, he smiled backing away suddenly. Unable to correct her balance she fell onto her side, more tears started streaming down her cheeks. Thats when a voice boomed from not far from her, as she heard heavy steel doors rip open. "ENOUGH" the voice boomed. There was an aura of command in it, the voice was deep and powerful, sounding resonant enough to command the forces of nature itself. "I WILL NOT HAVE MY FUTURE WIFE REDICULED BY MY OWN PERSONAL GUARD!!" With that, the guard that had assisted in planting her body against the ground shuddered and quickly scooted away to what Kagome could only assume was back to whatever duties he normally did.
As the being with the powerful voice walked forward, she opened her eyes, seeing only cloven hooves, much like hers were now. As her gaze started moving upward, she saw a powerful man donned in heavy armor, carrying a powerful curved blade that looked very much like the Tetsusaiga in its transformed state. His head was that of a boar, but carried in it the look of nobility, strangely regal in its own way. He looked down at her, laying on her side on the hard earth. He held out his hand, it was much like hers, bearing only 3 digits, each made of hard hooven matter. She gingerly held out her hand, taking his, to allow herself to be brought to her feet. She was not sure what to make of this situation. Her thoughts turned to Inuyasha, as she was holding out some hope there was a cure for this, some way out, "Inuyasha," her inner voice spoke, "I need help"
"W-What's going on" she found her voice speaking, almost independently of her own will.
"HMMM, I HOPE THAT WITCH HASN'T DAMAGED YOUR MIND" the Boar-Lord spoke, his voice carrying that same power, his voice seemed to tone down as he looked at her. To him, she was sitting there with a certain vulnerability that he found soothing "Hmmm" he said, speaking again, his voice assuming an almost familiar tone with her in contrast to the booming formal tone he had been speaking with.
He held her, stabilizing her, as he turned her towards the direction he was going to go. There rising out of the ground was a stalwart fortress, its battlements looked impressive, and its construction looked very sturdy. Its walls stood well over twenty feet high, and looked impressively thick from this standpoint anyways. The doors she was going to enter into were heavy, and made of solid steel, looking to be at least a foot thick. As she was brought into the fortress, she was ushered towards a room, its decoration was very much that of nobility. "That," the boar demon lord said, "is to be your room. When you have settled in, I shall inform you of what is to become of you."
Kagome stood there rattled at what had happened to her, pondering the events of this day, contemplating heavily what the boar-demon lord had meant by "future wife". And finally her thoughts turned to Inuyasha. It suddenly dawned on her, there was no way she would want him to see her in the state she now found herself. Not knowing what to do, she found herself rising to her feet, trying to walk straight, wobbled around her room pacing nervously.
* * *
It had been almost a week, and there was no sign of Kagome, that is, until about 2 days ago when Inuyasha picked up the scent of Kagome's blood. They had been tracking it since then. They were all sure they were getting close, they could feel it in their bones.
It wasn't long until they reached a lone mountain rising up out of the ground. Not wasting any time, they scouted around it until they found a path leading up the side of the mountain. Following the path didn't take more than an hour or so until they reached a formidable stone door carved into the side of the mountain.
Before anyone could stop him, Inuyasha ripped the door open with his bare claws in a state of blind rage. Anyone could see he was upset and worried about Kagome. The group traveled into the hallway cautiously. Down the hallways could be seen heavy iron doors, looking very much like some kind of prison. In one of the rooms was a small kettle set over an open flame. Mist was exuding from the kettle, becoming transparent the more it was exposed to the air, one would think it was nothing more than boiling water, except it exuded the scent of Kagome's blood. Inuyasha was furious! Raging, he whipped out the Tetsusaiga, the blade transforming into its oversized and formidable version as he did so. Whipping it around, he knocked the kettle to the floor cleaving it apart. An alchemical concoction made to smell like Kagome's blood spattered all over the floor.
The racket had drawn attention however, as the group turned around to see the cloaked assailant that had beaten them so easily in the mysterious castle. He stood there for a few seconds. Inuyasha whipped around his weapon, ready to go a second round. Miroku put his staff in front of Inuyasha, sensing that this time the assailant wasn't here to provoke violence. Nevertheless, Miroku was still ready, gently placing his free hand on the rosary beads holding the cloth around his right hand, ready to release the cloth should things turn ugly. Even sango and shippo were getting ready for combat. The assailant stood his ground as an immense girth pushed its way around him, It was a demon, everyone could sense that. The demoness pushed her way to the assailant's side, resting herself just slightly behind him, so that he could protect her should things get ugly.
"Your precious girl," the demoness spoke in an even and calm tone, "was here, however, she was taken from me almost a week ago. If you want to get her, I know where she was taken."
Miroku could sense the deceit in her voice, it was almost palpable. Her entire demeanor oozed a venomous aura. Trust was something that couldn't really be afforded in this instance though, as it was evident that they had to get Kagome back. Miroku seemed to mull this over for awhile. It was no surprise that Inuyasha broke the silence.
"You better tell us where she is then witch, or I will beat it out of you" Inuyasha said with unfounded bravado, though it was evident that he felt he was a formidable threat to her.
"Hold on Inuyasha," Miroku said, calmness flowing from him, "If she has something to say, she will say it"
"Hey, hold on a minute, how do we know we can trust her" Shippo said, his voice grating in an almost whiny tone.
"I suppose we have no choice if we want to rescue Kagome" Miroku responded to Shippo's uneasiness.
"Exactly" the demoness spoke, her lips slowly arching into a malevolent smile, the venomous intent in her voice inconcealable. It was apparent to everyone, even the normally dense Inuyasha, that she was up to something. "Well then," she said continuing, "The ones who took her from me aren't too far from here, they are holed up in a castle, though I do warn, there are a lot of them, and they are quite formidable warriors" grabbing at her side, she pulled a small but smoothly polished cylinder from inside one of the folds of fat that made up her slug-half and opening one end, pulled out a well detailed map, with a red mark displaying the location of the castle she spoke of. Tossing the cylinder to the floor she pushed her gut forward dragging the rest of her body, with that motion, she made her way to Miroku.
"Such a handsome young lad," She spoke, with the same venom and aura that she had displayed thus far, stroking her hand across his cheek, a gesture that made Miroku shudder in disgust at this... creature in front of him. After making this gesture she slid the map into his hand, and with her customary mode of movement left the room. Tailing behind her, the cloaked assailant also left.
The group stood there, not expecting this to have been so easy, and everyone was nervous. She was up to something; of this there wasn't any doubt.
"Do you think they know what’s going on mistress" the cloaked figure said, whispering to the demoness.
"I think they know something is going on, but I highly doubt they know exactly what, I just hope they care about that stupid little girl enough to do what I need them to do," the demoness responded, annoyance in her voice as well as concern. This was a well thought out plan, with a lot of care taken into making it this far. She had invested too much into this for it to fall apart now.
* * *
It had been over a week now, and Inuyasha still hadn't come to rescue her. In one way, it relieved her, as she didn't want to be seen looking like this, not by him anyways. In another way, she really was hoping he'd come, she didn't like living like this, and if there was a way out of it, she knew they'd be able to find it, if only they were together. She let out a long sigh, it felt like it had been such a long week, perhaps in many ways it had been. Being such crossed with a pig meant that her body wasn't holding its shape as well, she had already gained close to 80 pounds, putting her on the threshold of 200 pounds. Her bust line was a lot larger than she'd have wanted, feeling large and heavy on her shoulders. Her hips were pretty wide as well, making them sway a little more as she walked. She found that after only two or three days her school uniform couldn't fit any longer. That was when the Boar-Lord saw fit to bring a kimono that fit her new, larger body. However, in the time she had been here, she did manage to figure out most of what was going on. Apparently, the demoness she had encountered belonged to a tribe of demons thought long dead, they practiced a form of blood magic that was quite potent. The Boar-Lord boasted to her about how he had offered the demoness a shard of the shikon jewel to see to her capture and subsequently to have given her the body she now found herself in. She despised him for this. She even eventually found out that he owned a fragment of the jewel that he was keeping himself. He told her that she would never be accepted outside this castle again, that he did this to her so that she would be his queen, and give him children. And being half-demon now as she was, she would give birth to pure-blooded demons to keep his family line strong, and would bless them with her spiritual strength.
She looked at her larger form once more, before heading out her door again this morning. She could smell the heavy air, it was going to rain today. She found over the past several days that her sense of smell was far more than what it used to be, better in fact, than she thought Inuyasha's was. Walking across the courtyard she could hear the sneers in her direction from the other members of the boar-tribe. It didn't take long for her to learn that they didn't like her, feeling that even though she was now a half-demon she would be unable to keep their lord's line pure. Her stomach growled again. She found herself eating more and more. She didn't want to eat, she knew thats why her body was swelling up the way it had, but she also found that if she didn't eat, her body would start to ache, and put her in agonizing pain. She could only guess that her body wanted to be large and fat, and that it would cannibalize her bones and muscles if it was unable to get the nutrients it needed to do so. Begrudgingly, she headed into the dining room. Sitting down as nicely as she could, a pair of maidens stepped out from behind the shoji walls. They were obviously human slaves that had been captured from somewhere. They looked at her, noticing her increasingly large figure, and gently set a plate of food down in front of her. She breathed in the smell of the food, for her enhanced sense of smell also added to it an enhanced sense of taste, and despite knowing what it was doing to her figure, her mouth watered, and she could only give in to the desire to sink her teeth into the food that was placed before her.
She had barely taken a bite when she smelled newcomers, they were obviously just outside the castle walls. The boar-tribe guards were in a flurry of activity as they scrambled to battlements. Kagome's new ears twitched, her hearing was also far better, as she could hear Inuyasha's cry from outside the castle. "Oh no," she thought, "I can't let him see me like this," her thoughts echoing through her mind as she looked around in panic and scrambled to the residence area of the castle.
The doors of the castle were ripped open, being blown clean off their massive hinges. The war cry "wind scar" could be heard echoing through the castle. Miroku was grabbing at Inuyasha's arm, trying to get him to calm down, charging into an unknown castle wasn't the smartest idea he could think of. Miroku let out a sigh, knowing at this point that it was useless to try to get Inuyasha to listen to reason. Grabbing his staff, he decided that backing him up at this point was about the only way they were going to get through this.
Along the battlements and roofs of the buildings in this castle rose up numerous warriors, clad in solid steel traditional samurai armour, the warriors had boar heads and legs. Most of them carrying heavy curved blades, the ones behind those were carrying heavy crossbows. The boar warriors looked at the small party standing in the courtyard, there was a moment of silence as each member of the party and the group of warriors standing there surveyed each other. A chill wind blew across the courtyard, unsettling the dust. Overhead the skies darkened slightly as a light rain started to fall.
Sango looked at the imposing figures of the warriors standing at their elevated positions, and yelled for Kilala. Immediately, the two tailed foxlike creature leapt forward, springing to the size of a large horse as it did so, following suit, Sango leapt onto the back of it with shippo doing so as well. With a mighty leap, Kilala launched itself into the air. Almost with flawless precision the heavy crossbowmen brought up their crossbows to match Kilala's position.
Back on the ground, Inuyasha clenched his fist, opening them with his finger tensed, ready to unleash the power he had with his bare claws as the boar-warriors with their heavy curved swords leapt down off the battlements charging him. Inuyasha leapt at them with a level of ferocity that caught the boar-warriors off guard, screaming "IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER" as he did so, blazes of power leapt off his fingertips tracing the slash he made across the air with his claws. The first boar warrior was caught unprepared for the onslaught, his armour shredded like paper under the fearsom assault. clutching the area he was hit, the boar warrior coughed as blood spewed from the serious injury he sustained. Unfettered by their fallen comrade, the rest of the boar-warrior surged forward. Inuyasha was surprised by the sheer toughness these warriors possessed, normally that attack would have shredded the warrior into ribbons.
Across the courtyard, Miroku was standing resolute, twirling his staff, parrying off the blows the warriors were whipping around at him. His gloved hand needed for the readying of his staff prevented him from utilizing his wind tunnel; the strange curse that had afflicted his right hand. He looked at the sheer determination these boar-warriors had in protecting their castle. thrusting his staff at the nearest boar warrior, he managed to repel him long enough to remove the beaded rosary string that held the bindings over his right hand.
In the air above them Kilala swerved dodging the arrows, despite the demon creature's skill, still several crossbow bolts found their way into it's flesh. It howled in pain, running across the air straight towards the boar-demons. It didn't quite make it, crashing hard against the rooftops of one of the buildings, sango getting knocked from the back of kilala as she landed on her feet, sliding across the roof as she was getting up from a somewhat crouched position. whipping her hand behind her she grabbed her Hiraikotsu, hurling it towards the nearest group of crossbowmen as she dived, rolling for cover as crossbow bolts hammered the rooftop tracing her dodge-roll. Finding its mark, the hiraikotsu slammed into the demons, knocking their weapons away, and throwing them back with incredible force.
Inuyasha was thrown back against the wall of the building that Sango was fighting on top of. A number of boar-demons closing in on him, their faces alight with determination in beating these intruders. Inuyasha put his sword in the ground, using it to bring himself up to his feet, he quickly gathered himself; hoisting his tetsusaiga over his shoulder, grabbed it with both hands, screaming "TESSAIGA" as he swung it in a wide arc. A shockwave of white energy cracked off the blade reaving the boar warriors around him in twain.
As Miroku pulled the beaded rosary off his right hand, he held it forth. Gale force winds whipped up around the edges of his hand as a great roaring noise could be heard all over the courtyard, the boar warriors tried standing their ground but the sheer force of the vacuum that existed in the monk's right hand was drawing them towards it. Screams and squeals of the boar warriors were heard amidst the roaring wind sound as they drawn into the dark void into the oblivion that the monk contained within himself.
The group looked around the courtyard, seeing nothing but the destruction they had caused, as dead or severely wounded boar warriors littered the courtyard. Inuyasha looked up, still a look of anger in his eyes, the sheer determination to get to Kagome burned within him. Seeing no more threats of the boar warriors he stalked forward, with rest of the group looking around cautiously following him with steadfast loyalty to the dog demon. Miroku was placing the beaded rosary back around the bindings that held the void he carried as he rubbed his wrist as if it was stiff and sore, the wind tunnel wasn't something he liked using, and the effort of using it was quite taxing to him, he knew in time that eventually the void that it was would consume him, destroying him in the process.
Continuing on, Inuyasha kept calling for Kagome, feeling in his gut that she was around but her scent wasn't here, hints of it were, but it wasn't the familiar scent he knew. This was burning into the back of his mind, he could tell that if she was here, she was in trouble.
It wasn't long before the earth shook, and rising up in front of the group was a great boar warrior, his stature was much more bold and imposing than the boar warriors they had fought before, he stood at least twelve feet tall, and his solid steel forged armour was much more elaborate than those of the previous boar warriors, looking to have been masterfully tempered by a true demon master armoursmith. Under the armour it could easily be seen that his form was powerful containing well honed muscles and he moved gracefully despite his form, power seemed to ooze from this being as much as venemous intent had oozed from the demoness. He looked at the group and immediately his expression could be seen as one of annoyance. His voiced boomed, echoing across the courtyard as the very ground beneath them seemed to shake from it "HOW DARE YOU INVADE MY CASTLE AND KILL MY WARRIORS" his eyes blazed with ferocity, looking as hot as embers of magma, and glowing with the same orangish red tones. His imposing demeanor and appearance of power gave pause to even the normally stalwart Inuyasha. The rest of the group looked uneasy, it was clear to see that this was a demon lord being fueled by one of the sacred jewel shards that they had been seeking. It was also plain to see that if Kagome was anywhere within this lord's domain, he would know.
The Boar-Lord looked down on the group, his lips moved into a twisted grimace as he knew that this would only end in violence. Hefting his giant blade over one of his shoulders, he raised his other hand, and with a small gesture of his fingers, invited the group to attack. It didn't take much to convince Inuyasha, as he hoisted his blade over his head, and with a mighty leap he launched himself at the Boar-Lord. There was a ear splitting resounding boom as the Boar-Lord brought his blade across, and parried the powerful tetsusaiga with his own blade, the sheer force of the impact knocked Inuyasha back, as he landed on his feet sliding back several yards even after he braced himself. An audible "tch" could be heard from Inuyasha as he looked at the boar-lord still standing resolute, keeping himself in a defensive stance. Miroku quickly approached Inuyasha to make sure he wasn't injured, as Sango lept into action, throwing her Hiraikotsu at the Boar-Lord. The Boar-Lord, having his attention focused on Inuyasha was caught blindsided, there was a loud crack as the demon-bone weapon slammed into the side of the Boar-Lord's head. With a crash the Boar-Lord fell to the ground. Turning his fierce gaze toward sango, he lashed his hand into an arc, the ground itself seemed to obey his command as the stone and earth ripped up out of place forming a wave of destruction knocking sango back stones crashed all around her, Miroku turned to Sango, yelling her name ran towards her, it was apparent that Sango was badly injured. Miroku closed the distance, and grabbing her in his arms as she lay there. She looked up at him with eyes that showed the pain she was in, she let out a weak smile before passing out, blood trickling lightly from the side of her head, her face awash in abrasions. Miroku looked up, a hint of fury in his eyes.
Inuyasha already gathering himself looked up at the Boar-Lord saw his command of the earth as he knocked Sango out. Fury clouding his judgement he stood up to his full height, and grabbing the tetsusaiga with both hands yelled out "WIND SCAR" as 3 blades of white energy split off the blade and started ripping up the ground and roaring across the courtyard towards the Boar-Lord. The Boar-Lord stood there resolute as he lashed his own blade, slamming it down onto the ground, with a great sundering sound the earth started splitting and erupting around the impact forming a greater shockwave than before as it expanded from the impact point, the 2 powers met and there was a terrible thundering noise as the tetsusaiga proved itself mightier as the shockwaves continued their path. The Boar-Lord's eyes widened seeing this, and crossing his arms over his face and head braced himself for the impact. The wind scar slammed into him, and as the smoke cleared the Boar-Lord was standing there, the dusty cloud peeling off him like a second skin. Inuyasha looked thoroughly impressed, He has used the earthy dust to help break the full effect of the wind scar.
"Don't think your cheap tricks will help you forever, pig demon" Inuyasha growled out at the Boar-Lord
With a look of displeasure and annoyance, the Boar-Lord glared at Inuyasha, his voice booming creating almost miniature shockwaves around his feet, rage burning in his eyes as he responded "WE ARE NOT PIG DEMONS, DO NOT CONFUSE US WITH OUR LESS CIVILIZED DISGUSTING BRETHEREN, WE ARE THE BOAR TRIBE"
With that statement, he brought his blade across, swathing a wide arc in front of him. Explosions resounded through the entire courtyard as buildings were blown asunder, earth and stone being torn every direction as the blade the the boar-lord held gleamed. The Explosion caught Inuyasha off guard in its sheer ferocity as large stones knocked him in the head throwing him to the side as other stones slammed into his back knocking him forward. Inuyasha stumbled to stay on his feet as it could be easily seen he was heavily injured. Stabilizing himself with the tetsusaiga, Inuyasha looked at him fury still blazing in his eyes "YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE KAGOME IS, YOU ROTTEN PIG DEMON" Inuyasha yelled at the boar-lord.
The Boar-Lord strode forward raising his great blade one handed over his head, he brought it down for what he thought was a deathblow. With surprising determination and stubborness that was the dog-demon's trait he brought his own great blade to parry. The strength of the Boar-Lord was surprisingly overwhelming as the 2 blades met, Inuyasha was forced to his knees in his weakened conditioned and strained as the Boar-Lord kept force applied on his own blade. Inuyasha grunted in frustration, he couldn't believe he was losing to this demon.
Without warning a blast of holy energy roared through the air from across the courtyard, slamming into the boar-demon's neck. Stumbling back clutching an arrow sticking out of his neck the boar demon tried to pull it out, his control of the earth broken as rocks and rubble fell to the ground. Slowly recovering, Inuyasha rose to his feet uneasily, his body still shaking and weak from the strength the Boar-Lord overwhelmed him with. He turned to look in the direction that arrow had come. Tracing its path with his blurry vision, he could see the silhouette of a woman, his first thoughts were that it couldn't be Kagome, her form was too heavy, wearing a kimono rather than the typical school uniform he had come to know her to wear. As his vision cleared, he could see that it was her, yet it wasn't. Her form was very fat, easily over two hundred pounds, her body wasn't hers either, marked by the boar-tribe, her nosed was upturned into a gentle pig's snout as she had floppy pig's ears extending from her head, two tusks gently breaking extending beyond her lower lip.
Inuyasha turned to the boar lord as Kagome yelled toward him, her voice still was clearly hers "there is a sacred jewel shard in his right arm" seeing the gleam of the gem between his bicep and tricep.
Inuyasha, not wasting another second lunged forward while the boar-demon was still occupied by the sacred arrow stuck in his throat. Cleaving downward, slammed his tetsusaiga at what he suddenly realized was remarkably well crafted armour. The tetsusaiga managed to dent the helm.
Suddenly realizing that he was in danger, the Boar-Lord lurched forward, and surprising Inuyasha again with his toughness and fortitude, managed to grab Inuyasha around the neck. Another blast of holy energies screamed across the air this time embedding itself into his forearm. Looking to Kagome, he cursed at that vexing woman. His arm no longer having the strength to hold Inuyasha, slumped back, knowing defeat, he lowered his head, waiting for death.
Inuyasha raised his blade high ready to give this Demon-Lord his wish. With that motion, a spray of blood erupted from the shoulder of the Boar-Lord as his right arm was reaved right off. Inuyasha stepped back, having not swung his own blade yet. Confusion set in as a cloaked figure rose from behind the boar-lord, slicing a second time cleaved the area where the sacred jewel shard was, and slipped it under the cloak he wore. Quickly and in the same motion cleaved the head off the boar lord, an almost arrogant stance being taken up as he looked toward kagome.
Kagome fell to the ground, it felt like her body was on fire, she could feel the demon blood within her dying, she gagged, coughing began heaving up the blood, Inuyasha could see the pain she was in, as her pig like feature began to smooth out slowly.
Inuyasha turned towards the cloaked figure, and with a vow to make sure he wouldn't escape whipped the tetsusaiga around with the remaining strength he had from the fight with the boar lord screaming "WIND SCAR"
With a simple motion, the figure brought up his blade, carving a warp in the air in front of him. Miroku, having tended to Sango saw what was going on, and dove toward Inuyasha, knocking him out of the way from the brunt of his own windscar as the warp in the air in front of the cloaked figure was gated to a point behind inuyasha. Unable to get there soon enough to avoid the shockwave entirely, both Inuyasha and Miroku were caught by the edges of the shockwaves, still able to avoid the full effect. Combined with the blows that he had taken at the hands of the boar-lord Inuyasha was past his breaking point, as his body went limp in Miroku's grip. Miroku only being human couldn't even stand after taking the hit and collapsed on top of Inuyasha.
Bowing his head, the cloaked figure glanced at Kagome, Kagome stood there, body still wracked with unimaginable pain as she heaved up more blood. With that motion, the figure slashed the air to the side of him, and then stepped to the side and through the rift.
* * *
Returning to her own time, Kagome was just glad to have her own body back, she had retained a majority of the weight she had gained, but she was working hard to get back to her normal slim self, she knew that the activities of both the modern times and feudal era would get her back to shape quickly. And it was only a month or so for that to be true...
|
