Seven Godly Treasures by Phaedairu

Chapter 1

Author's Note: So I know I still have some fics I need to be updating but I've barely been able to write lately. Life is mean. This fic is inspired by dokuga_contest's Seven Treasures challenge. I plan for this to be an awesome and lengthy adventure, but we'll see! I hope you enjoy!

Long ago, before demons and humans came to be, there existed the gods. They reigned in the skies above the earth. With nothing much to do but bicker amongst themselves, the gods grew bored. They decided to create human beings; small, weak creatures that would serve as their entertainment. However, humans grew boring quickly, with nothing to do but eat, sleep, multiply and repeat. The gods then decided to create some higher form of beings, in order to give the humans a challenge. These higher beings were called demons. They started out fairly stupid, unable to even speak, but they were strong and could tear apart humans like it was nothing. This entertained the gods for quite some time. That is, until the demons started evolving and becoming intelligent life forms. Some decided it would be better for them to get along with the humans. Some even decided to mate with them. This did not sit well with the gods; all they wanted was entertainment and nothing they did seemed to work out as planned.

Then, one of the gods had an idea for a game, a scavenger hunt. It sounded silly at first, to the other gods; however, they quickly warmed up to the idea of a scavenger hunt. Not just any scavenger hunt; one that involved seven powerful items hidden all over the world for the humans and demons to find. Together, the seven items would allow the person, whether human or demon, to be the most powerful being on the earth. In order to make this hunt known to the beings on earth, the gods possessed some of them and spread the word discreetly. Sure enough, the news of the legendary scavenger hunt spread like wildfire. The demons and humans searched, but their efforts were futile. They had no idea where to look. The gods realized this and decided to give them a scroll that would include details of where to find the items. However, they hid the scroll and made it so that only a certain group of people could find it. They did not want to make it so easy that just anyone could find it, of course.

These seven items were known all around the world as the Seven Godly Treasures.

- - Present Day - -

"I wonder if Sesshoumaru is doing alright," Kagome pondered while pulling up herbs absent-mindedly.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Who cares?" He sat against a tree, watching her and letting his mind wander to the past. She looked so much like Kikyo in the traditional miko garb. His heart still throbbed painfully when he thought about her, even though he promised that he loved Kagome. He did love her; it just wasn't in the same way. He knew eventually he would have to tell Kagome, but every time he went to tell her, he looked into her eyes and wimped out. They were filled with so much happiness and love that he couldn't, wouldn't, do anything to make it go away.

Kagome approached Inuyasha and sat down beside him, nudging him with her elbow. "You seem a little spaced today. What's up?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at the foreign word. "Well, I dunno what that means but I'm fine. You worry too much."

At that, Kagome smiled. "Well yeah, dummy. I love you so I worry."

Inuyasha's heart throbbed painfully again and this time he knew he had to tell her, he couldn't keep feeling this way. He couldn't keep leading her on. "Kagome…there's something I need to tell you. I don't…I can't…this just isn't gonna work."

Looking at him with a worried expression on her face, Kagome cleared her throat. "What exactly do you mean, Inuyasha? What's not gonna work?"

Inuyasha stood up abruptly and stomped off to another tree. "I can't be with you anymore. I just…don't love you like that. I tried so hard and I thought that maybe, after Kikyo died, I would be able to just completely move on but…I can't. And looking at you doesn't help. You look so much like her…especially in that outfit." Before Inuyasha knew what had happened, he was planted face down in the ground, mouth full of dirt. He should have expected it, but it hurt all the same.

Kagome stood, tears falling from her eyes. "You should have told me that from the beginning, Inuyasha. I can't believe you led me to believe you actually wanted to be with me. No, I can't believe I was so stupid. I won't be a bother to you anymore, Inuyasha. Consider me out of your life for good." She then ran off after several more tear-filled 'sits.'

- - - -

Hunting down powerful objects seemed to be a reoccurring event for Sesshoumaru. First, it was the cursed Shikon Jewel and now it is the Seven Godly Treasures that may, or may not, even exist. Staring intensely at the scroll sitting on his desk, Sesshoumaru contemplated what his first move would be. The only reason he was even considering this was because an old wise priestess told him that he must be the one to find the items, or this world would surely end. Trusting others wasn't something Sesshoumaru did easily, or at all, really. But something in the priestess' attitude convinced him that she was telling the truth. Unfortunately, she also said that he would need a companion; someone of equal strength but of opposite race. Sesshoumaru immediately shot down that idea, informing the old woman that there was no one of equal strength to the great Sesshoumaru. The wise woman had just smiled and told him that he needed to find a human priestess that was not of this time. Sighing softly, Sesshoumaru rolled up the scroll and stored it in his obi. He knew what he had to do or, more importantly, who he had to find. And he was not happy about it.

Usually at this time he would call for Rin and Jaken to prepare but he was to go alone on this journey. Rin was in a human village and he didn't have the patience for Jaken at the moment. Something inside Sesshoumaru stirred and he wondered if it was because of Rin. He felt this exact strangeness inside of him when he left her at the human village. Not knowing what it was irked Sesshoumaru but he could not do anything about it at the moment except ignore it.

Deciding to leave Ah-Un behind as well, Sesshoumaru informed his officers to keep watch over the lands while he was away and then he took to the skies. He wanted to get there as fast as possible so he transformed into his youkai orb and arrived in what felt like a few seconds. At first he stayed hidden, knowing Inuyasha and the human woman were nearby. The great Sesshoumaru did not approve of sneaking, but he would rather wait for the woman to be alone. He didn't have to wait for long, the woman took off running from Inuyasha and she seemed to be upset. Naturally, he assumed it was something his stupid brother had said.

Still masking his scent, Sesshoumaru took off after the woman. She was running but he could not figure out where. It seemed she knew where she was going but to Sesshoumaru, it didn't appear to be towards anything in particular.

After a few more seconds of following her, she disappeared. Or her scent did, at least. Sesshoumaru approached the place where her scent ended and, sure enough, she was nowhere to be found. He did notice a well, however, and he looked down into its disgusting depths. His brow furrowed in confusion, something that visited Sesshoumaru very rarely.

All of a sudden, a mystical pink light exploded from the well and there was the human girl he had just been following, down at the bottom. As she was climbing up, Sesshoumaru reached down and grabbed her to pull her out. Instantly she started screaming and kicking, trying to get away. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Cease this useless racket, woman." He spoke quietly but she must have heard him because she stopped moving completely and stared at him, open mouthed.

"Ses-sesshoumaru? What on earth are you doing here?" She continued to stare at him with her mouth open and again he fought the urge to roll his eyes. Realizing that he was still holding her by the belt of her miko garb, he set her down unceremoniously on the ground.

"I am here, woman, to collect you. You must assist this Sesshoumaru with a scavenger hunt." Sesshoumaru glared down at the miko, daring her to defy him. Instead of defiance however, he was met with laughter.

In Kagome's world, scavenger hunt meant something entirely different and the thought of going on one with Sesshoumaru made Kagome hysterical. Surprisingly, Sesshoumaru was calm and waited for her laughter fit to finish and she finally stood up, brushed herself off and took a deep breath.

"Well, I have to say this is the worst and most hilarious day I have ever had. But…a scavenger hunt sounds fun, just what I need actually." Kagome smiled up at Sesshoumaru but he did not return her smile. Instead, his right brow lifted slightly and he crossed his arms. "I am not sure why you think it would be fun, woman, but this is going to be a dangerous hunt. One that many have attempted and never succeeded; the hunt for the Seven Godly Treasures"

Kagome pondered the idea of a dangerous scavenger hunt for awhile and considered the fact that she had already had many dangerous adventures here. "I can handle a little danger, Sesshoumaru. I mean I DID fight Naraku, you know. Plus, you'll be there to save me if I'm in trouble!"

"I will do no such thing, woman. The only reason I must bring you along is just that, I must. The scroll with the whereabouts of the treasures can only be found by a powerful demon, an equally powerful priestess and an equally powerful human. Unfortunately, there is such a human in this world and we must find him. You will act as…bait, luring him out and convincing him to join us."

The look on Sesshoumaru's face was one of complete seriousness which made Kagome furious. He actually expected her to act as BAIT? "I'm not even going to explain how wrong that is. I'll ignore it for now, but if you EVER refer to me as bait again, I will burn that pretty hair off your head. Miko powers can do that, you know."

Taken aback, Sesshoumaru merely glared at the priestess in all her defiant glory. Sesshoumaru wasn't afraid of this pathetic miko, or of anyone really, but her 'threat' angered him. However, he knew when the time to argue was and it was not now. They needed to be on their way.

"Come, woman, we must go find the human." Sesshoumaru turned, expecting Kagome to follow him but instead she was walking towards the well. "What are you doing?" he barked.

"Um, I'm going home so I can tell my family that I'm not coming home. Wow, that makes total sense." Kagome snorted and rolled her eyes.

Still, Sesshoumaru seemed a tad confused so she demonstrated by hopping in the well and disappearing with a flash of pink light. Staring down into the depths once more, he concluded that the miko did, in fact, vanish.

It did not take her long to reappear and this time she had a ghastly yellow sack attached to her person. Deciding to ignore all of the strangeness for now, Sesshoumaru once again pulled her out of the well and threw her down. "Hurry up, woman."

Kagome glared at his back and brushed herself off, making sure that he didn't break her bow and arrows. Once she was satisfied that everything was in order, she skipped up beside Sesshoumaru and smiled. "So, where are we headed?" She was excited to meet this other human that was apparently as powerful as Sesshoumaru. Honestly, she didn't see how her involvement in this made sense. Sure, she had power, but she wasn't nearly as powerful as Sesshoumaru. She ignored it, however, and felt content to enjoy the time away from pain, away from Inuyasha.

Sesshoumaru stayed quiet for a moment and then spoke, "We are headed to the South. The human is the Lord of the Southern Lands."

Kagome's smiled brightened. "Oh! Kind of like you are with the West, right?" This did not warrant a response from Sesshoumaru so Kagome continued walking alongside him and wondered what the human lord was like. She wondered if he was as cold and ruthless as Sesshoumaru, or if he was kind and caring.

They made their way through the forest of Inuyasha, towards the South, and embarked on what would be the journey of a lifetime.