I'm in the Feudal Era!

I’m in the FEUDAL ERA!

Chapter 18

On the fourth day we wasted no time in getting up and moving out. But no matter how fast we were going it wasn’t fast enough for me. I was starting to get the same uneasiness now like I had the night before I got knocked off the cliff. I tried to write it off as my being anxious to get across the wasteland, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling. The only real comfort I got was that the feeling wasn’t as intense as before.

My mood must have been obvious because Rin asked, “Are you okay Tora?”

“Huh? What Rin?” I replied.

“You seem worried or something. I’ve been talking to you, but you weren’t listening.”

“Oh. I’m sorry Rin. I just have a bad feeling.”

“Are you sick?”

“No Rin, never mind.” I said laughing slightly. “I’m not sick. What were you saying before?” She then proceeded to tell me about all sorts of things, like her adventures with Lord Sesshomaru. I proved to be a good distraction for me.

We stopped once for lunch around noon and then continued on our way. Just as the sun was beginning to set we left the forest and saw the wasteland that Daisuke had been talking about. It surprised me that it looked the way it did. It looked like it had been torched yesterday. You would think that after hundreds of years the forest would have started to retake the area.

While I was taking in the scenery, Lord Sesshomaru carried on. I rushed forward to keep up with him. “This place is kind of creepy.” I said. “What is that?!” I yelled slapping my hand over my nose. “Is that miasma?”

“Naraku is close. You will make sure Rin stays safe.” Lord Sesshomaru ordered.

“Of course. You can count on me.” I replied. ‘Great. I was so close to my goal, now Naraku has to get involved.’ I thought angrily. It was then that I made another connection. The smell of Naraku and the miasma coming out of Aya was the same scent. ‘Well now I have proof that Naraku was the one who stole my body, not that I had much doubt. Of course that just gives me more reason to avoid him.’

We were walking only for a short while before coming to a fortress. It was huge, so huge that we should have seen it as soon as we stepped onto the wasteland. ‘Magic must be hiding it.’ I thought. Our group may have made it to the fortress, but we weren’t the first one’s there. “Oh that’s just perfect!” I said out loud. For right at the main gate stood Inuyasha and the others.

“What are you doing here Sesshoma….” He stopped short when he saw me, or rather what was once my body. “Amaya?” He asked confused.

“Hey Inuyasha.” Aya said. “Long time no see.”

“Long time…. Stop fooling around! We thought you died!” Inuyasha yelled.

“Is that really you?” Kagome asked with tears in her eyes. She rushed forward to give Aya a hug. The others, except for Inuyasha, gathered around Aya as well.

‘The smell of Naraku must be so strong that it is concealing the smell from Aya.’ I thought. ‘Otherwise Shippo and Kirara would have picked up on the scent by now.’

Then and evil laugh resounded around us. “Well isn’t this a touching reunion.” The voice of Naraku said.

“Stop hiding and show yourself!” Inuyasha yelled. Naraku obliged and appeared on the ramparts above us. But he wasn’t alone, with him were hundreds of demons.

“And here I thought that this was going to be easy.” I muttered to myself while drawing my swords.

“Go, destroy them all.” Naraku ordered.

The demons, some laughing, screaming, and roaring, came swooping down upon us like some demonic tidal wave. I wasn’t thinking, all I knew was that Rin and Jaken were behind me and anything that appeared before me was cut down.

The others were busy as well. Everyone was fighting, but I noticed that Kagome had stepped protectively in front of Aya while offering assistance to the others with her holy arrows. With everyone working together the firs wave of attack had nearly ended. I just happened to look over towards Kagome.

“NO!” I yelled furiously as I tackled Aya. While Kagome was distracted Ayah d been about to plunge a knife into her back. We were struggling for a minute, with my demonic strength I could have defeated her easily. But I didn’t want to injure my body.

“Get off of me demon! This has nothing to do with you!” Aya screamed.

“Like I would do that! You won’t hurt anybody while I’m around!” I yelled back. It was then that I was hit by something and knocked aside. It turned out to be one of Naraku’s tentacles. It then wrapped itself around Aya’s waist and carried her over to his side.

“Well this had been fun.” Naraku sneered. “But it seems it’s time for me to go. I will leave behind this gift for you.” He said gesturing to even more demons than before. He laughed evilly before disappearing.

“Amaya! No!”

“Damn you Naraku!”

“Shit! Get back here!” Kagome, Inuyasha, and I yelled at the same time.

The demons attacked just as I lurched forward to go after Naraku. ‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! I was so close! Naraku you will pay for this!’ I thought angrily while on the verge of tears. I was steadily making my way to the fortress walls when I heard a voice scream, “Tora! Help!” ‘Shit! I left Rin all alone.’ I turned around and fought my way back to her. A demon popped up in front of me to block my way. “I don’t have time for you!” I yelled and quickly dispatched him. I looked over at Rin to see her surrounded by demons. ‘Just like when we first met.’ I knew I couldn’t reach her in time so I needed something else. ‘I’m going to regret this.’ I thought as I tried to get my demonic juices flowing. ‘Come on, come on, come on!’ “YES!” I yelled in triumph as my swords became engulfed in flames.

I aimed for the demons surrounding Rin and released a wave of fire. I got an opening and went running towards Rin. As I was going I sent wave after wave of flames hurling towards the other demons. I didn’t wait to see if any of them hit their mark. Finally all the demons surrounding Rin collapsed, screaming in agony. As soon as I reached her I asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She said wiping a tear stained cheek.

“I’m so sorry Rin. I’m here now so I’ll protect you.” I apologized. Rin only nodded her head. I stood up and continued slaughtering any demon who was foolish enough to get near us.

Eventually all the demons were killed and nobody important died. I was exhausted, but I knew something worse had happened. Near the end of the battle I couldn’t maintain my flaming swords. Something felt broken on the inside. It wasn’t a bone or anything physical, but something was wrong. Like when you put on to big of a shoe, there was a lot of wiggle room. ‘Damn, I probably overexerted myself. I hope I didn’t damage the connection too badly.’ My thoughts were interrupted by Inuyasha’s yelling.

“Why would Amaya go over to Naraku’s side and try to kill Kagome?”

“Maybe she was being controlled.” Sango answered.

“No, she didn’t look like she was. We ran into that before, if she was we would have picked up on it.” Miroku interjected.

“There has to be and explanation.” Sango persisted.

“Amaya betrayed us. That’s all there is to it.” Inuyasha grumbled. “What we have to do now is find her and beat some sense into her.”

“Little brother it seems you are blind to what is actually going on around you.” Lord Sesshomaru said surprising everyone.

“What the does that mean Sesshomaru?! Do you know what happened to Amaya?” Inuyasha yelled.

Lord Sesshomaru looked at him for a second before turning around and walking away. I didn’t know what to do. ‘It would be so easy just to tell them the truth. But they probably wouldn’t believe me. Inuyasha is adamant about me betraying them.’ I thought depressed. ‘My best course of action would be to fin Daisuke. Lord Sesshomaru seems to be heading towards Akito’s Tomb. I guess I’m sticking with him for a little while longer.’ I rushed to catch up with Lord Sesshomaru and the others who were quite a bit a head of me by that time.

As we were walking away I could hear Inuyasha yelling for Lord Sesshomaru to come back and explain himself. But the person in question completely ignored him.

It was very dark out by the time we reentered the forest on the far side. According to what Daisuke told me, we were a little to the east of where Akito’s Tomb was located. Lord Sesshomaru, after hearing Rin and Jaken complain about how tired they were, decided to stop for the night. That was alright with me because I needed to separate from the group anyway. After everyone was asleep would be the perfect time.