Monday, May 30, 2005

The Soul Cages: Frozen In Time
*episode 11*

Rin is in the twenty-third verse of her ode to ice. Shippo hasn’t gotten bored and he has even joined in from time to time. Suddenly, the fox’s ears twitch. He throws himself at the girl and shouts, “Get down!” Fortunately, seeing that the fox doesn’t have the weight he would need to topple the girl, she is good at following instructions quickly. She and Shippo just barely manage to dodge a huge beam of purple energy which spans the chamber. When the beam fades, the two getup. They see that a huge cylindrical tunnel now bisects the cave. Without words, the two get to their feet. Rin takes Shippo’s hand and asks, “Which way should we go?” Before he can answer, a strong wind floods the tunnel and sweeps into the room. Koga pops out and says, “Hey you! Where’s Kagome?” Shippo is about to say that he has no idea, when Rin screams. This is an honest shriek of terror. It is the call of a child faced with the utter horror of mortality. She tries desperately to hide behind Shippo; it’s a futile exercise. Koga shouts over her cries, “SHUT UP!!!” Rin stops screaming, but she continues to cry, sobbing into the fox’s tail. Koga tells Shippo, “If you don’t shut her up; I will!” Shippo turns to her and says, “It’s ok. Don’t worry; it’s just Koga. He can be kind of jerk, but he won’t hurt you. What’s the matter?” She fights the tears and says, “…w…wol…wolf.” Shippo says, “Ya, he’s a wolf demon. So what?” Rin’s attempts to stop her crying fail and she begins to howl again. Koga stretches his claws and says, “I said, shut up!” He pulls his claws into a fist and strikes at her. Shippo blocks the punch; taking it to his face. Koga says, “Don’t get in my way!” Shippo says defiantly, “Kill me and Kagome will never talk to you again; and if you don’t leave now, I’ll make sure she hates you. I can do it. You’ve seen how much she cares for me. If I tell her about this, you’ll lose any chance of her being your mate. So go! Get out of here!” Koga turns and leaves, clearly not liking the circumstances which have led to him taking orders from a fox-child. With the threat gone, the young hero turns back to the damsel. He wipes her tears and says, “He’s gone. It’s ok; I won’t let anything hurt you. Please, tell me why you were so scared of Koga.” She tries to get her tears under control; she can’t. With a fresh round of sobs, she throws herself on him; crushing him in an embrace. As she holds him in her arms, she feels the presence of his foxfire, encircling her, protecting her. Gradually, she calms down and loosens her death-grip. He asks, “Can you tell me about it?” She nods. “I was…there were wolves and…I had just met lord Sesshomaru …it hurt so bad…I was near a village …they were chasing me …I felt their teeth…I couldn’t escape …ripping into my flesh…I was so afraid…and then I died. I died, but lord Sesshomaru saved me. I had thought that he had left; that he didn’t care about me. But, he did. He came back for me and he saved me.” Her tears have not stopped, but she is smiling now. Shippo says, “He isn’t here now, but I’m sure he’s looking for you and I’ll protect you until he finds you; ok?” She nods. She sets him down. He takes her hand and leads her into the tunnel in the opposite direction from the one Koga took. As they travel, they see skid marks on the wall from Koga’s passage. They come to a fork in the tunnel, Koga had come from the left; they go right.
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