Sunday, May 29, 2005

The Soul Cages: Frozen In Time
*episode 9*
Kagome is struggling through an ice cave. The ice is giving off a strange blue light. She is alone and she is freezing. As she stagers along, her mind wanders…
[Flashback]
It is the morning after Kagome was kidnapped by Kohaku. She is sitting by Inuyasha’s favorite tree. The half-demon comes to her and sits down. He says, “Kagome look, last night we got into a fight and I didn’t get to ask you some questions. As for my brother kissing you; if you tell me that he didn’t hurt you, I’ll accept it and let it be. But I got’a know, what did he want from you? He didn’t go through all that so he could kiss you. Seems, he didn’t do it so he could kill you either. So what happened; other then that?” She says, “He asked me questions. Mostly about you; some about me.” Inuyasha asks, “Why would he ask you about me? He knows everything he needs to know about me. Well, ‘cept how to beat me. But you wouldn’t tell him that. Would you?” She says, “That’s not what he wanted to know. He asked about us, and about our relationship. After I mentioned her, he asked a lot of questions about Kikyo.” Inuyasha comes alert. Before he can say anything, Kagome says, “Not her. I didn’t tell him about her. I mean the one 50 years ago. He knew that you had been trapped by a priestess you loved, but he didn’t know anything about her.” He asks, “Why would he care about the two of you, unless he was trying to hurt me?” Kagome says, “I think he wanted to get to know you better. He couldn’t talk to you, so he talked to me.” “You must be joking!” Inuyasha says. “He must have had another reason.” Kagome says, “Well, he did say something about your father having planned all of this. That you were doing what the Tetsusaiga told you to, and he was doing what the Tenseiga told him to do.” “What?!?” Inuyasha asks. “I don’t know!” Kagome says. “That’s what he said.” There is a long silence. Finally Kagome says, “That wasn’t all you wanted to talk about.” The half-demon shakes his head. She says, “Kohaku.” He says, “Even though you weren’t hurt; we gotta make sure this doesn’t happen again. I got an idea; it would settle everything. But I’m gonna need you to not try and stop me.” Kagome nods. “I’m sure you’ll do the right thing. But Inuyasha, make sure you don’t hurt Sango too much.” He says, “I know. Help me round everybody up.”
[End Flashback]
In part because she isn’t paying attention; Kagome loses her footing and falls into a ravine. She doesn’t think she’s broken anything, but there is no way she’s going to climb out. Her mind is going numb, but she knows she’s in trouble. “Cold!” she says. “So cold. Cold…cold…cold. Cold…ice? Ice…Kanna…ice…magic…ice magic! Ice magic…magic…spell! That’s it!” She pulls her bow off her shoulder. She draws an arrow. Her hands are shaking; she can barely pull the bow taut. She says, only half joking, “Hit the mark.” The shot is pathetic; if she wasn’t surrounded by her target she would almost certainly have missed. The sacred arrow thuds against the ice; the arrow half falls to the ground. However, the sacred spell nullifier enters the wall. Kagome can’t see it, but her spell spreads throughout the block of ice in great veins of energy. It isn’t strong enough to break the entire ice spell; but it leaves a network of tunnels connecting the honeycomb of ice caves. Kagome presses onward, drawing warmth from her movement.
Comments (4)