Curiosity - Chapter 12 - "Will All The Dead Please Rise?"

Kaede's warning came all too late to help Kagome any. Oh if only she or the young miko had noticed the sutra on the doorframe sooner, none of this would be happening. Kaede was sure that the tension in the air was only going to thicken with this new development.

As Kagome placed her left foot just on the inside of the entrance of the hut and pushed her upper body forward to make her exit when all of a sudden sparks flew throughout the air and a great scream was let forth. Next thing everyone knew, Kagome was on the other side of the hut, slumped against the wall and breathing heavily, like she had just run five miles straight without any kind of break.

A heated glare was pointed towards Kikyo as the elderly miko got up to check on Kagome. When she got to her side Kagome still hadn't moved from her spot. "Child, are ye alright? Are you in any pain?" Surely Kagome must have felt some sort of pain after flying through the air and being hurled into a wall. It surprised Kaede that the wall of her hut didn't break under the force that Kagome was slammed into it with.

A semi-pained moan was her reply. "I'll get ye some herbs to take away the pain." Making her way over to the shelves full of various herbs and potions, Kaede's eye scanned the many jars before finally landing on the one that would take away pain. When she began reaching for the jar, a hand gripped her wrist to stop her movements. She turned her head to the right to see none other than Kikyo with Kaede's wrist tightly in her grasp.

"You will not help my reincarnation. She has done nothing this day to deserve any sort of kindness."

Her single eye widened in shock, "Ye mean to say that you would let Kagome suffer just because she refused to answer you questions? Ye know as well as I do that being a miko means that you have to help people. I will not let Kagome suffer because you wish to pry answers out of her."

Kikyo clutched her wrist tighter to the point where Kaede winced at the pressure. "As your elder sister you will do as I say. Blood is thicker than the bonds of friendship. If I have to I will seal you outside of this hut so that you will not interfere with my doings. Would you like that?"

Kaede looked towards Kagome who seemed to be regaining some sort of consciousness. "I might be Kagome's only chance to get out of this hut since Kikyo is my sister, so I'll have some sort of advantage. I still don't understand why she is asking so many questions about Kagome's home. Could she possibly be gathering information for Naraku as Kagome said?"

Her arm being jerked brought Kaede out of her reverie. "Well, what is your answer Kaede? Will you leave her be or choose to help her and force me to seal you out of this hut?"

Glancing at Kagome one last time she turned back towards her sister to give her decision, "Forgive me child." "Aye sister, I will leave her be, but ye will not deny me to examining her to make sure she doesn't need bandaged."

With that said Kaede wretched her wrist from her elder sister and made her way back to Kagome's side and began to examine the back of her head. Her touch apparently was bringing Kagome back around for she started moaning painfully a bit more frequently, but not louder to indicate that she was in any more pain than Kaede thought. "I would still like to give Kagome some herbs though, but I guess that isn't going to happen."

While Kaede was checking the rest of Kagome's body for cuts and broken bones, Kagome was slowly becoming aware of the world around her. "Ugh, what happened? I was heading out of Kaede's hut when I felt a jolt... like I was electrocuted. But how could that be? Electricity won't be invented for another three hundred years at most. Oh boy does my body hurt."

Chocolate eyes opened up slowly to see Kaede examining her arm, which felt horrible might I add. Kagome closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, "Did anyone get the number of that truck?" She asked, still not fully aware of her surroundings.

The old miko's head jolted up to look at Kagome who was looking back at her with her eyes partially opened. "Child, I don't know what this 'truck' is, but you weren't hit by one if that is what you mean."

"Oh, well then what did happen? Did a demon attack? Are you alright Kaede?" Kagome asked becoming hysterical.

Lightly laughing at the worrying young miko Kaede relayed the past few minutes. "I am perfectly fine and a demon did not attack. My sister wouldn't just let you walk out on her questioning. Apparently when neither of us was looking she placed a sutra beside my door that when activated will keep the person she chooses, be they human or youkai, inside my hut until she decides to let you go. The sutra became active as you were leaving the hut due to Kikyo saying the incantation which in turn made you fly into the wall of my hut. I am sorry I didn't realize it was there before you left. Do ye feel any better Kagome?"

Kagome placed her hand to her forehead, "Well, I can feel my limbs again. I was numb for awhile there, but my head is still pounding, that's what hit the wall first. And did I hear you right when you said I couldn't get through the door?"

"You will not be leaving this hut until you tell me where you go when you leave for your home and your reasoning for tugging on my partial piece of soul!" Kikyo practically bellowed to her reincarnation.

Kagome just stared at Kikyo before gradually standing up and stepping over to stand in front of her, leaving Kaede sitting by the wall, only to watch the blowup that was about to take place.

"What do you mean 'I won't be leaving'? You have no right to keep me here!"

"Oh but I do. That is my soul inside of you which means it is mine to do with as I please!"

"No you don't! This is my soul not yours! And you can't tell me what to do; you are not in charge of me." Kagome fumed.

Kikyo's eyes narrowed as she looked the young miko straight in the eyes and spoke lowly, "It doesn't matter, and you will not leave this hut until I get some answers."

"How can you even do that! I thought miko's were supposed to help people, not hold them someplace against their will! I have to go home Kikyo, there are things I have to do, tests I have... I mean duties I must complete." Darn Kagome and her stupid slips of the tongue. "If I keep going I'll be telling her everything without even realizing it. Me and my big mouth!"

"This is the last time I will repeat myself so listen closely. You will not be leaving this hut until I get some answers OR you take me to your home. Understand?"

From the hard look on Kikyo's face, Kagome could tell she meant every word. So instead of answering her, she walked back over to her bag and pulled out her text books, intent on studying until Inuyasha came to knock some sense into Kikyo's brain, or what was left of it.

Sitting back down where she had slammed into the wall, she began to work out the problems in her math book. Kaede sat by her side watching her as she tried to make heads or tails out of all the strange symbols. Before getting up, Kaede placed a knurled hand on Kagome's shoulder, "I am sorry child, and I would take the sutra off if I could. Hopefully my sister will come to her senses and let you go home to complete your... 'duties' before it is too late."

Kagome turned and smiled at Kaede, "It's ok, at least your hut is quiet. With any luck I'll be able to get a lot of reading done so that I'll be able to do well in school."

Suddenly, the weight of the text books disappeared from her lap, only to see them floating in front of her in some sort of transparent pink bag. With widened eyes, Kagome turned to glance up at Kikyo through her ebony bangs, looking for an answer.

With a smirk on her face, Kikyo used her priestess abilities to raise Kagome's books to the rafters and let them hang there. "As long as you avoid answering questions, you will spend just as long not reading these strange varieties of scrolls." Kikyo's gaze turned to a 'scroll' that she missed which she promptly bent down and picked it up. The front cover was written in Japanese, "What is this 'In-glee-ish'?" She wondered. Flipping open the book, Kikyo's eyes widened as she gazed upon the strange writing written on the pages and she instantly became infuriated with the thoughts running through her mind.

"Sister, what is it that has angered you?"

Narrowed eyes turned to gaze upon Kaede before turning to Kagome with an accusing look, "This girl is not a priestess. She is a WITCH!"

"How dare you condemn me of such an act! What ever gave you such an idea?" Kagome gasped out.

Kikyo thrust the book out in front of her. "This proves it! Why else would you have such strange scrolls? Plus the inside bears no words, only odd shapes, so this must be filled with all of your spells!"

The one thing Kikyo didn't expect was for both Kagome AND Kaede to start laughing at her. What was so funny? She had just proven that her so called reincarnation was a witch, this was no laughing matter.

After a few moments both miko's calmed down enough to where they could speak. "Kikyo you've got it all wrong. That is not filled with spells and hexes, that strange writing as you call it is a different language called 'English' and I am studying it so that I can learn."

"Nonsense, how do I know that you aren't casting curses on innocent villagers using this language? Well I know a way to keep you from doing that." With that, Kikyo thrust the book into the fire. Kagome immediately tried to go pull it away from the flames, but Kikyo summoned her soul collectors to hold her back.

Turning away and walking towards the door, Kikyo left one parting message. "I suggest you start thinking about answering my questions, else you be stuck in this hut for a very long time."

*Later*

Eight hours. That was how long Kagome had been sitting in Kaede's hut. Eight long hours of being alone, only starring at walls. Ever since Kikyo had left the hut, Kaede had been called to pretty much every nook and cranny of the village, which was most likely Kikyo's doing in attempt to get Kagome to crack under the so called "pressure." Moments ago, a very frazzled looking Kaede finally made her way back into her hut and began to prepare stew for dinner. Kagome immediately took over the preparation of dinner when she saw Kaede almost fall asleep twice while stirring the stew and almost falling into the fire.

Half an hour later the stew was ready and both miko's ate in silence until a knock was heard. Kaede got up to see who it was so early in the evening, "Aye, may I help you?" Before Kaede stood a beautiful woman, with waist length ebony hair and beautiful brown eyes, she looked as if she was a princess of some sort.

"Yes Priestess, I was told that I could find Priestess Kagome here. She is known far and wide for not being prejudice to demons and I would like to enlist her help with one who is a... friend, if she would allow."

Kagome answered without even looking up from her stew, "Yes I will help in any way I can."

"Alright, if you will please excuse me for a moment I will go and get my friend." The woman bowed and quickly made her way back towards the forest to get the demon. Only one minute went by before the woman and the demon were back in front of the hut and being ushered in by the elderly miko.

They saw Kagome wiping her mouth before standing up and finally taking a look at them. "Now, what is it that I can help..." Her sentence was stopped short as she took in the two people standing before her, her eyes widening even more with every second that ticked by.

Kaede didn't understand why Kagome was acting in such a way. "Child what is it? What is wrong?"

"It can't be. It just can't be." She whispered.

"What are you talking about child?"

The young miko took a step forward towards the human and demon. "Who are you two? And what do you want with me?"

It was the demon that spoke on their behalf, "My name is Touga, former Dog Demon Lord of the Western Lands, and this is my mate Izayoi. We wish for you to help us with re..." He stopped short, for Kagome cut him off.

"NO! You're lying. What is this, another lame attempt at getting Tessaiga? One parent didn't work last time so now he's trying two? My gosh, I didn't think he would stoop so low as to try this stunt again!"

"I assure you we are truly alive and that we are not lying. All we wish is for your help in meeting our son again peacefully. And what do you mean by 'last time'?" Izayoi asked intrigued.

Kagome took a deep breath before answering, "About a week after I met Inuyasha, a carriage was flying through the sky one night. A woman was chained up inside and I heard him utter one word, 'mother' before he took off to try and see if she was the real deal. Long story short, it turned out to be an Un-Mother who was helping with trying to steal the Tessaiga. If I hadn't been there Inuyasha would have been killed by the Un-Mother that night because of that demon's foolish actions." Boy was she fuming now.

"Child, what does that have to do with Lord Touga and Lady Izayoi?"

"How do I know that he didn't just go and, pardon the expression, dig up another Un-Mother and now an Un-Father to try and fool Inuyasha again into relinquishing the Tessaiga?"

Touga took the chance during her pause to pose a question in his quickly rising anger. "From how you speak this has happened multiple times. Who has tried to take Inuyasha's birthright from him?"

Kagome didn't hear him though, she just continued her ranting while pacing back and forth, waving her hands in a wild manner. "I mean, I know he can be crude at times, but to attempt using the same idea twice how idiotic is that? That demon cannot be that stupid!"

Suddenly a gust of air flew through the hut, blowing hair and billowing kimonos every which way, and for the second time that day, Kagome found herself slammed into a wall. Only this time, she didn't collapse into a heap like last time, she was kept suspended to the was by a recurring pressure on her neck.