A New Pack

The Heavenly Path

A sword. That was something they weren't expecting to be in a dragon's stomach. It looked like a katana of some sort. The handle was blue braided with gold rayskin in between and the kashira was gold as well.

"What's a sword doing in Yamata's stomach?" Kagome asked. She knew that Yamata did have a sword in his stomach before, the Kusanagi. But she never expected that he had another sword in him. Quite a shocker really.

"I think this sword is from Jigoku's stomach." Masahiro said, staring at the sword.

"Huh?" Kagome asked, turning towards Masahiro.

"Jigoku must have had a sword in her before she was swallowed." Masahiro said, "Yamata probably absorbed this sword without knowing it was in her stomach."

"I think you're right, Masahiro." Kagome said. Masahiro slowly reached for the sword. As soon as he grabbed onto the handle, the sword's glow turned brighter until he and Kagome had to cover their eyes. When the light died down, a ghost like figure appeared. The figure was a woman with long golden braided hair and green eyes. She wore a green colored fighting kimono with armor pads on her shoulders and a chest plate in front. Somehow she looked familiar.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked, gazing at the ghost like figure.

"I'm Asahi, Jigoku's mother." Asahi said.

"Mother?" Masahiro asked, shocked. He never thought that he would meet Jigoku's mother inside of her stomach. To his point of view, a very weird meeting place.

"Hai." Asahi said, "My daughter is dead, isn't she?"

"I'm afraid she is, Asahi-san." Kagome said.

"I see." Asahi said with a sad face.

"Are you by any chance a golden dragon?" Masahiro asked.

"Hai, I am." Asahi said.

"A golden dragon?" Kagome asked, confused. What does her being a golden dragon have anything to do with her being inside of Jigoku's stomach?

"The golden dragons were once a proud, strong, and honorable race. We fought along side by side with other dragons. But we were wiped out by Ryūkotsusei." Asahi said, "None of us were able to defeat him. He was more powerful than any other dragon we had ever come across. Ryūkotsusei made his move when we were at our weakest point." Asahi said, sadly. Masahiro's eyes widened at the mention of his grandfather's name. He never knew that his grandfather had killed an entire clan of dragons. What a monstrous thing he had done. Then he realized something: if the golden dragons were a powerful race, how were they unable to defeat his grandfather? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Weakest point?" Kagome asked.

"This sword, Sukaiburēdo, belongs to my great grandfather, Lord Ryuunosuke, a golden dragon. It's a powerful demon sword. Our great ancestor's fang was blessed by one of the Kami many years ago. After his passing, it was given to his son who passed it onto his son, who also passed it on his son. When I turned 3,000 years old, it was given to me. But the sword only gave me half of its power." Asahi said.

"How were you unable to receive its full power?" Masahiro asked, confused.

"We hold a blessing ceremony when the next heir receives the sword. It requires a lot of our youki to power the sword. But the ceremony was interrupted when Ryūkotsusei attacked us." Asahi said, "Because of the blessing ceremony being interrupted, I was unable to receive its full power and Ryūkotsusei was able to destroy us all."

"But why did Jigoku want to destroy her own clan?" Kagome asked. It really did confused her. She thought Jigoku would protect her clan, not destroy it.