Wings of Prophecy

Chapter 3: Reemergence

"The jewel will be MINE!"

Time seemed to slow as the demoness dove for Kagome. Inuyasha watched with horror as Kaede was shoved away harshly while the demoness sank its fangs into Kagome's abdomen. The demoness lifted the poor girl off the ground and proceeded to shake her from side to side violently until the chunk of flesh came loose. With the flesh ripped from her body, a small, round blood covered object flew out of her side, landing on the grass nearby. The demoness was quick to drop Kagome and head straight for the object. Inuyasha knew that whatever it was, he couldn't let the demon have it.

Mustering up every last ounce of strength he had in him, he hauled himself off the ground and charged the demon with his claws poised and ready to tear into her. Luckily, she was so preoccupied with the mysterious little object that had come from Kagome, she didn't notice Inuyasha until it was too late. He took a swipe at her, this time succeeding in gouging a good chunk of her chest out. The demoness reeled back with a screech before taking another swipe at him with her tail. He dodged it this time and landed out of range so he could formulate an attack strategy. The demoness leaned down to the little round object in the grass and made sure she was locking eyes with Inuyasha as her tongue slithered out of her mouth and wrapped around the object, before she pulled it back into her mouth and swallowed it.

"Ah yesssss... The power is overwhelming!" The demoness hissed as her body began to revitalize itself. The gouges in her chest closed, leaving no scars. Inuyasha watched in disgust as her somewhat human skin began to melt and fall off in wet globs onto the ground below, soon leaving behind a creature much uglier than before. He almost gagged at the smell of it, the stench of rotten flesh nearly causing him to heave. However, he swallowed his disgust and moved to attack her before she was able to focus her attention on him once more.

He ran quickly, the pain from his broken wing causing him to falter slightly. Despite the enormous pain he was in, he ignored it and jumped into the air, his limp wing flailing about in a sickening fashion. He raised his claws and struck the demon a second time, this time successfully splitting a section of her lower body in half and separating it from her main body. The demoness screeched in pain and tried to focus her attention on her attacker, but it was all too late. Just as she turned to retaliate, Inuyasha swiped at her upper body, ripping it to pieces. He landed nearby as the remains of the demoness fell in heaps around him.

He panted heavily from his efforts, his wing throbbing painfully in response to be jostled so violently. He ignored it in favor of rushing over to where Kagome had landed after being dropped by the demoness. The poor girl was clutching her bleeding side in an attempt to quell the blood flow. Inuyasha assessed the situation and reacted quickly; ripping a piece of his inner kasode off and wrapping the girl's side. She winced at the applied pressure, but said nothing.

Kaede approached them and observed the situation before speaking, "Inuyasha, we need to find the jewel and remove it from the demon's flesh before she revives!" Kaede said hurriedly.

"Got it," Inuyasha obeyed and stood up, searching each of the pieces of the demoness's body for the glow of the object that he strongly suspected was the Jewel of Four Souls from the prophecy. It didn't take long for him to find it. He walked over to the glowing chunk of flesh and sliced it open, confirming his suspicions. He plucked the jewel from the flesh and the body of the demoness immediately began to disintegrate, leaving nothing but bones in a matter of moments. Satisfied with the result, Inuyasha hastily returned to Kagome's side. Kaede was beginning to tend to her wound when he approached with the jewel in hand.

"Good. Now, if ye will carry young Kagome to my hut, I will tend to both of your wounds," Kaede instructed.

Inuyasha scoffed quietly before replying, "Don't worry about me. I ain't human remember? My wing'll be better by tomorrow," He waved dismissively as he tucked the jewel away in his Kimono.

"Ye are sure?" Kaede asked as he scooped Kagome off of ground.

"I'm sure. Now quite yer naggin'!" He demanded as he followed the old woman back to her hut.

Inuyasha walked in first and went about situating Kagome on a futon. He heard one of the villagers asking Kaede what to do with the demon's remains and she simply told him to gather up the bones and dump them down the Bone Eater's well in the forest. He briefly wondered why she would tell them to do such a thing but decided against asking, knowing the old hag would go on a tangent. Kaede joined him in the hut shortly after the villager left and went about gathering the supplies she needed to tend to Kagome.

Inuyasha let her be and quietly exited the hut. He found a suitable tree nearby and jumped into its branches. He went about grabbing a fistful of leaves and carefully laying them over where he suspected the break in his wing was. Once he was satisfied, he held his hand over the leaves and his palm began to glow a bright gold. Whisps of golden tendrils surrounded the area of his wing and flitted about while he concentrated on using the energy from the leaves to heal his broken bone. The leaves dried up and browned as their life energy was sapped from them. The glow from his palm disappeared when he was sure that the break had been healed. Removing the leaves, he stretched his wing experimentally. Satisfied when he didn't feel any pain, he folded his wing and settled in the tree's branches for some well deserved sleep.

It truly had been a very long day.