The only sound she heard was her panting breath and the crunch of leaves under her foot as she bolted through the forest. She ducked another low-hanging branch, cursing in her mind when it stole a few hairs from her head.
The hairs on her arms and neck stood on end suddenly and she dodged to the right, barely having time to notice the thunk of the arrow now embedded in a tree as she continued to fly through the autumn forest.
She heard the screech of a few birds she startled and absently hoped they would poop all over her pursuer. 'Honestly, what did I ever do to him? Did I kill his kitten?'
Her lungs were beginning to burn, and her the muscles of her legs were twitching as if she was being electrocuted. She again started to concentrate on the sounds of her breathing and her footsteps, and those of... no on else's?
She slowed, trying to listen harder, as she continued to flit between the trees and heard nothing. Deciding to play it smart, she dodged behind a rather wide tree and tried to slow her breathing. When she wasn't gasping and gulping for air, she pressed her back firmly against the tree and began to ease her head around for visual conformation that her pursuer had been lost among the treacherous vegitation. When she saw nothing moving she sighed in relief. 'Thank the gods above. I don't think I could've kept ru-'
He thoughts cut off as she felt something cold and sharp against her throat.
"Well, well, little girl" came a sinister voice from behind her, "You lead me on a very merry chase. However, it is time for you to give me back what is rightfully mine"
"What" she began, but felt the sting of his knife as it bit into her throat.
"The jewel shard you stole from me! Give it back girl, or I will slit your throat here and leave you for the carrion to devour."
Slowly, she raised her empty hands and nudged his blade away from her throat. She had already felt the trickle of blood from the would, and did not want a repeat as she explained herself.
"Look, Mr." she began, angry that this was once again about the damned jewel, "I did not STEAL anything okay?"
"Then why do I sense it somewhere on your person?"
"Sense it?" she asked as she slowly turned. Before her was a youkai of very high breeding donned in very expensive (and functional) armor. She had not had a chance to see him until now, due to his very rude and boisterous entrance into her temporary campsite causing her to bolt immediately. Now she understood why she hadn't heard him coming, or felt him for that matter.
"Yes, little miko. Sense it, much like you must, calling in the night to you."
"Yeah... not really." she mumbled. "Dude, I have never seen you before in my life, and these are my own jewel shards that I have collected, okay?"
He sniffed at her and frowned. "You do not smell as if you are lying," he intoned, speaking mostly to himself.
"Because I'm not!"
His eyes narrowed as her looked at her. "The being that came to me told me that your kind has the power to manipulate the senses and hide the truth. He swore to me that you stole my shard..."
"Did this 'figure'" she queried, over-emphasizing the term, "wear a baboon pelt that hid his face and body, and have a deep somewhat sinister voice?"
Once again he gave her a strange look. "Yes. Why?"
"Because that was Naraku, the guy that is always creating mischief and problems for me and the rest of the world. HE probably took your shard and then told you that I took them so that YOU would come kill me since he's too much of a coward to do it himself." she explained, managing to come off like a petulant and wronged five year old. "Don't feel bad though, he tries to get everyone at least once."
The youkai took a step back, confident he could still grab her should she try to run, and thought about what she had told him. It sounded plausible that he had been duped, however he did not like that it was even a possibility. And what if she was the one lying to save her own skin? Then he came up with a plan.
"Well miko. This will go simply. I shall kill you and take your shards, in case you are deceiving me. And if I run across this Naraku again, I shall kill him as well and take back my shard if you are telling the truth."
The poor girl's eyes widened in terror at his crooked line of thinking. Was he mad? Involuntarily she took a step back, and noticed how he shifted his weight to go on the offensive. She steeled her will and began to call on her reiki.
"So, might I have the honor of knowing who I am to engage in battle with today," she intoned, allowing her dry humor to get the better of her.
"Impudent girl! One of lower ranking must introduced themselves first." he growled obnoxiously, not noticing the rise of electricity in the air around him.
"In that case, you still would go first, but since you know not who you are dealing with, I'll start." With that her power surged forth a bit and embodied itself into a bow slung across her back and two katanas in her more than capable hands. " I am the Guardian of the Shikon no Tama, the High Priestess of Japan, Higurashi Kagome. And please, do not refer to me as 'girl', I'm like, over fifty now."
She saw the questioning look in his eyes, and rolled her own. "And you are?" she once again prompted.
"I am Uotate, leader of the spider clan," he hissed at her in anger of her high standing. There were not many of his people left, and they were no longer considered a driving force in youkai society, which left a bitter taste on his tongue. "Come and meet your doom, girl,"
"I really don't want to make an enemy of the spider clan, okay? Now that you know who I am, and the mistake that has occurred, why don't we just go our separate ways?"
"No!" he all but roared, "I cannot return to my village without the shard to protect it. Besides, do you not feel my clansmen closing in around us?"
"Now that you mention it..." she whispered, "I do." Kagome tried not to let panic seep into her voice as she attempted to reason with him once more. "You really do not want to do this. It doesn't matter how many of you stand against me. You will all fall."
"Enough talk!" He shouted and sprung at her.
She raised one of her katanas and deflected his blow, she then stabbed at him with the other which he deftly avoided by twisting to the side. Once again Kagome felt that tingling sensation and dropped to the ground, hearing the arrow whiz above her head. Quickly she rolled to her left as Uotate's sword ran through the soil she had been on a mere second ago.
'That was underhanded!' she thought as she once more bolted up and began to run. She knew she could not outrun them, extended lifespan be damned. She was still only human afterall. But she sure as hell would be a fast moving target before a sitting duck. She dodged through the trees, twisting and turning to avoid the barrage of arrows, praying to every god that Miroku had ever instilled in her that she would make it out of this alive.
As if the universe was telling her that she was a profound screw-up, she dodged one arrow, only to move into the path of another. The barb pierced the front of her thigh, and she crashed to the ground.
'Shit! Shit, shit shit!' she thought as she got up and started running again. 'Where are the bastards anyways?' she thought, realizing that she hadn't seen a single archer. She dodged behind another tree, noticing that there was a clearing not too far ahead where cover would be virtually non-existent. Were they herding her?
She bit down on her lip as she grabbed the shaft of the arrow. 'Here it goes!' She yanked hard and tried to keep her self from screaming. The jerks used serrated arrow heads that were only meant to go one way... So it hadn't even budged. Knowing that she had to keep moving, she gripped the shaft with two hands and broke it off as close to her thigh as possible. Her eyes welled up with tears, and once more she fought the urge to scream as she began to move. Darting from behind her cover, she ran to an adjacent tree.
Movement!
She knew their little secret now. Really it didn't surprise her. They were spiders after all. They were swinging along invisible webs in the trees, and shooting from their bows. She noticed the many icky legs that were flailing around as they found purchase at odd angles. But that's okay. She was about to kick some disgusting spider ass.
Swirling from behind her cover with her arrow knocked with three arrows comprised only of her spiritual energy, she fired shouting her famous line of 'hit the mark!' and saw three begin to drop to the forest floor before another slew of arrows came her way. She successfully ducked behind another tree, and took a mental tally.
"Three down, eleven to go" she whispered, also noticing that she was a little bit closer to that clearing she wished to avoid.
"Oh no you don't" she said as she felt them begin to spread around her into a semi-circular formation. She knocked another arrow and fired at one trying to get even with her to the right of the tree. She heard him drop on the leaves below. She knocked another spiritual arrow, and aimed at one to her left, grimacing when it missed. Realizing that they were gaining the upper hand, she forced herself to move. She turned and ran toward the clearing, hoping to put a bit of distance between them and her.
"Damnit!" she yelled when an arrow pierce her shoulder. Anytime she was going to draw back from now on to shoot, she would feel it.
'I do not feel pain, I do not feel fear' she began her well-learned mantra from Sango in her head 'I am strong and confident, the gods smile upon me with favor.' She turned once more and picked off another two of the assassins. "I shall crush my enemies," she began to say aloud, "and will stand victorious."
She ran to her left, keeping parallel to the ever approaching clearing. Once more she was running low on breath, but she repeated her mantra. "I do not feel pain, I do not feel fear" She took another successful shot as she wove in and out of cover. "I am strong and confident, the gods smile upon me with favor."
She suddenly stopped behind a tree, anticipating her enemy trying to anticipate her running past it. Sure enough, about fourteen arrows flew past.
'Fourteen?' she thought vaguely, 'Are they shooting two, or did they get reinforcements? By my original count, there should be seven.'
Arrow knocked, she once again swung from behind the tree and picked off the first one that she saw. In a millisecond she scanned the rest of the trees and ducked back behind her cover. Several arrows passed through the spot which she had just stood in, but their reaction time improving was not what worried her... it was that there had only been six in the trees. Including the one she had just killed. 'Enemies, unaccounted for, always lead to death.' Another adage of Sango's.
Her heart seized in throat, so she began chanting her mantra again. "I shall crush my enemies, and will stand victorious!"
Once more she twirled from behind the tree and took a shot, felling another of the arachnids. They were learning though. They assumed that every time she took aim after being behind a tree, that she was aiming for them from whatever formation they had been in when she dodged behind her cover. Thinking that this was true, they had shifted their positions. However they did not realize that Kagome was a far better warrior than that, and she never functioned under any assumptions of her enemy's whereabouts. But they still were adapting.
"I do not feel pain!" She yelled as she drew back another arrow, refusing to flinch. "I do not feel fear!" she continued as she came out from her cover once more. They were expecting her this time and loosed their arrows before hers had even pierced her target's skull. She turned in the opposite direction of her previous concealment when she noticed most had been aiming between it and her. However, a few had wised up, and she ducked behind another tree with an arrow in her ass and another in her arm. She did not have it in her to even try to break the shafts this time.
"I am strong, and confident!" She once more yelled, running a bit closer to the clearing before turning mid stride into a jump, knocking another arrow and firing. Now only three pursued her as she continued her turn in mid air to land facing her original direction and taking a zigzagging course closer to the place where she would have a final showdown. "The gods smile upon me with favor!"
She ducked behind another tree when an arrow brushed through her unbound hair and grazed her ear. Only the best where left now. And they were doing very well at cornering her. Her chest was heaving in order to supply oxygen to her overtaxed muscles. For a second she knew she was going to die with certainty. But not before killing them all.
"I shall crush my enemies" she shouted, defiant, and picked off on that was trying to creep up to draw even with her left. "And I shall stand victorious!!"
With that she let loose a battle cry and charged head long into the clearing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Lord Sesshoumaru, Rin heard something. What was it?" asked the wizened old woman sitting next to a figure whose head was cocked to the side.
"Nothing that concerns us Rin," was his unusually verbose answer to her. She shrugged and went back to making his evening tea, something that he had been surprised to find that he liked. He did not have the heart to tell her that it was something that concerned him, greatly. She was too old to know that the priestess she had favored from her youth was right then fighting for her life. Feeling eyes boring into him, he turned to watch Kagura enter into the camp. She, like the wind, blew through occasionally to upset the order of things.
Respectfully she bowed her head. He, as usual, did nothing to acknowledge it.
"Go," she said.
Sesshoumaru snarled. "You presume to order this Sesshoumaru, or give your permission wind witch?"
"No, Lord Sesshoumaru, only to allow you the ease of mind that I am here to protect Rin."
His hackles once more smoothed down. She knew that when Jaken had died, he would never leave Rin to be on her own, especially now in her old age. She was not without the means of protecting herself, but her movements were slowing through the years, and those of her youkai enemies were not.
He nodded his head briefly, and stood. "Rin, I will return."
"Yes my Lord. Rin will wait."
With that he turned and walked from camp, curious to see what trouble the Sunset Miko had gotten herself into this time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kagome allowed her eyes to adjust to the setting sun, which had been blocked by the trees and their canopies for only a second, but that was her mistake. She only saw the glint of metal as it slashed across her chest. Her instincts had allowed her to avoid the worst of it as they had told her to step back. But still, crimson blossomed from her chest in a beautiful, but morbid arc.
"Uotate, you coward," She spat as she stumbled back a few more steps, pulling her katanas from their place in her sash. "Decided to let your men wear me down at the expense of their lives, all so you could have the killing blow, eh?"
He smirked.
Kagome felt something rip into her upper back and cursed, and yet rejoiced that it did not go in deep enough to puncture an organ. How could she have forgotten about the two still chasing her? She feinted to the left, and then ran to the right, watching as Uotate mirrored her moves. She ran alongside the forest, unable to break back into cover while the archers dodged among the tress. They were sparing in their use of arrow in order to not risk shooting their leader, which gave Kagome an idea. She edged closer to Uotate as she ran, then when he was within range, she stopped and swung at him. She simply wanted to engage him, not caring if she hit or miss for once.
The spider clan leader stopped as well, backing up, then charging at her with his blade pointed straight at her chest. She squatted at the ready, as if to block his blow, but at then at the last second stood and pivoted to the right. He was a few paces past her when he realized he missed. Quickly he turned as to not leave his back open to his enemy, and raised his sword to strike again. Kagome stood facing him, the picture of poised perfection.
"I do not feel pain," she said calmly, waiting for him to come at her. He did not disappoint.
"I do not feel fear," she intoned quietly, blocking his low sweep with her right sword, and slashing at his head with her left. He leaned back, surprised at the length of her reach, to avoid having his nose chopped off. The movement put him off balance and allowed Kagome to strike with the sword that had been blocking his blow before. She aimed at his stomach, but he was youkai, and he was fast. He disappeared from her sight, but not from her senses.
She felt him behind her and ducked throwing her body weight into a twisting motion to once more be behind him, twisting her sword as she went. She smiled, triumphant, when her sword made contact with his Achilles' heel. That should slow him for a while.
She stood behind him and was prepared to strike, when he surprised her by swiftly turning to push her attack away and deliver one of his own. She barely was able to react fast enough to get her swords up for defense, and as a result, his steel bit into her shoulder. What would have taken off her arm was merely a crippling blow. He pressed down harder though, planning to let the pressure of his sharp katana cut through the sinew that held her shoulder in. But Kagome was tough enough to push right back.
"I am strong and confident," she gasped, pushing with all her strength. She felt the blade slide from her shoulder, and still gave more. "The gods smile upon me with favor," In one final burst, she pushed him from her. She savored his shocked expression as she finished her mantra again. "I shall crush my enemies, and I shall stand victorious!"
He smiled then, and her heart fell into the pit of her stomach right before she felt another arrow pierce her lung. She turned to see the missing archer on the other side of the clearing, gloating over his shot. She shouldn't have given Uotate her back though, as her took the opportunity to once more try to sever her spine. The cut was deep, but not deep enough.
Shot to hell, and cut up in several places, she wasn't sure she would win this one. But she sure as hell wasn't going to lose the Shikon no Tama to them.
Angrier than Hades, she rawly flared her powers, singing Uotate. Her energy and drive was running low, but her soul, which constantly replenished itself, was brimming with power.
She formed a low-grade barrier around her self and angrily yanked her bow from her back despite the pain from it pulling against the arrow in her shoulder. She formed another spiritual arrow and knocked it, aiming for the damned creepy crawly that had just shot her in the BACK. That was one thing that pissed her off mightily.
She let her eyes unfocus as she scanned the tree line for movement, while trying to ignore Uotate as he beat against her barrier. There! He was circling around to join the other two... couldn't have that now could we? She drew back and waited, patiently, until he was almost there, until he wasn't paying as much attention to her, then fired.
"Hit the mark." she wheezed, feeling her lung as it collapsed all the more. And it flew true.
She watched as the other two scattered further into the forest out of her sight, but she knew better than to think they were gone.
Desperation hit her then. This was her last chance! Her last stand before the Tama would need a new guardian. She prayed Shippou would be the one to find it on her.
She turned to face the enraged Uotate, and let her barrier fall as he put his weight behind another downward swing. As he stumbled past her, she ran him through the side, where is well-intentioned armor failed to protect him.
He turned, his eye crimson, hissing and calling for blood. He swung wide at her, leaving room for her to dance around him and strike at a few of the leather thongs holding his armor together.
"Oh," he snarled bestially, "I get it. You want me to fight you without my armor, eh? Fine. It's wasted on a weak opponent such as you!" He began to divest himself of the cumbersome protection. "What your forgetting girl, is that we spiders have armor for skin!" he laughed.
Kagome somehow managed to refrain from rolling her eyes. This guy was honestly one of the biggest assholes she had recently met. However, she owed him for making this tons easier.
He charged at her again, once more not having a sound form in his rage. She slashed and stabbed and parried, waiting for just the right moment. But in the meantime he gave as good as she, and she was ready to swear that there wasn't a part of her that wasn't bleeding when he finally gave her what she wanted.
He had tried to stab her shoulder but overextended, leaving his entire side exposed. She yelled, drawing back and stabbing him beneath his arm, right through to his heart. He turned and looked at her before smiling, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Her eyes reflexively closing as she felt the spray from the left side of her face down to her waist. He began to laugh as his knees gave out and he slid down, and off of her sword.
"What's so funny?" she wheezed, wondering at the dying youkai's humor.
"My saliva..." he chuckled, "is poisonous!"
And that's when the burning started.
Angry, she swung and decapitated the leader.
Another arrow whizzed by and thudded in the grass next to her. They were too far into the forest for her to see them in the dying light, and she was too far into the clearing for them to get a proper shot. She weighed her options. Chase after them and die, or go off to lick her wounds and die. She of course chose the first. Nimbly she ran back into the brush and hid behind a tree, allowing her eyes time to adjust, but she knew it would be a useless endeavor in this twilight forest. She called her bow, which she had dropped for the swordplay, to appear once again in her hand, along with arrows. Now that they were the only ones left, and their fearless and stupid leader was dead, they would be sticking close to each other.
They knew her position already, she just needed to wait for them to tell her their's.
She heard the rustle of leaves almost simultaneously as the two slung through the leaves, and knew exactly where they were. Eyes closed, she knocked to arrows in a slight V, and went from behind the tree. InuYasha would have been proud as she knelt, taking two arrows in order to confirm their location, then released her own. The twang of her bow was followed shortly by to thuds and the sound of the last two hitting the forest floor.
She opened her eyes, able to see a bit better in the dark, and looked down at herself. One partial arrow protruded from her thigh, another arrow stuck out from her behind, one now from her stomach and one through her collar bone. She felt the one in her shoulder, the other in her arm, and one in her back as her lung began to inflate with her own blood. She even felt the arm that was partially severed. And her face burned hotter than the sun from his acidic poison/
"I'm a mess!" she laughed, but it quickly turned into coughing, which made her dizzy. She allowed herself to fall onto her side, and curled up as much as she could. She could feel her own breathing slow, and could sense all the things that let her know she was dying, but she only focused on how she could see her breath, since it was only winter, and how the birds were singing as the moon was rising, and the sound of all the things in the forest that were living and breathing.
Sango's creed once more came to her, and she felt the urge to say it once more.
"I ... do not... feel pain. I do not feel... fear. I am strong... and confident... The gods smile upon... me with... favor..." she wheezed to get enough breath to finish. "I shall ...crush ...my enemies" She did not know why it was so important that she do this, but it was...
"And I shall stand... vic- vict-"