InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound to Tomorrow ❯ The Sage's Blessing ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Shameless plug: I'm a beta on Fan Fiction for a wonderful writer called BreakAnotha. She's writing a nifty version of Battle Royale that I think anyone could enjoy reading. So, if you're interested I highly recommend checking it out and sending her some review love.

Note: Just to make sure everyone's up to speed, the date of this chapter is 1569. I had intended to summarize the next 30 years in this chapter as well but the summary had to cover so many people and events that I had to put it in a new chapter. It just didn't fit. I apologize for that. I promise the next chapter will be much longer and more involved!

The residents of Edo had never seen their resident miko look quite so imposing as they had that fine sunny day. The chaos ensued so suddenly no one was quite sure when it had started. One minute Kagome and Miroku were out in the center of town speaking with Inu Yasha and in the next a sharp, authoritative bark issued from the miko. A single word sent the mighty hanyou crashing to the dirt. In that instant the miko, like a red and white avenging angel leapt upon the twitching dog demon and straddled his chest. From her yukata sleeve she produced a wicked-looking pair of tongs she had borrowed from the local blacksmith. She then proceeded to bear down on the face of Inu Yasha while he growled and barked and swished his head from side to side.

“Damn it Kagome I said I would give it to you!” He howled as the girl struggled above him.

“It's been three hours! You're taking too long now SIT STILL!” She bellowed back, completely ignorant to the crowd that had begun to gather around them.

The subjugation beads did the trick as the hanyou's body shuddered from the impact of the command. Seizing the opportunity the miko bent over her stunned husband. There was a loud crack, a yelp of pain, and followed quickly thereafter by a triumphant shout from Kagome. She grasped her prize in one hand as she scrambled up from her perch. She admired the fang tooth in her hand for a few minutes and quipped casually.

“See? That wasn't so bad.”

“Easy for you to say…” Inu Yasha grumbled as he rolled onto his stomach, willing the subjugation to wear off a little faster so he could get back up into a sitting position.

“Sorry…”

Kagome's dark eyes flicked over to him and he squirmed at the remorse he could see in them. He knew Miroku needed one of his teeth but it just hurt so damned much! Eventually Sango had been forced to sic his wife on him in order to pry the fang from his mouth. He sighed and shook his head, knowing that he would have put it off for longer had she not been sent out after him.

“Feh, don't get all worked up about it. I was gonna do it…”

“Kagome!”

Inu Yasha's pointed ears swiveled in the direction of Shippo's voice. Moments later the kitsune, bearing the appearance of a human boy with ginger hair, shoved his way through the crowd of people. He stopped beside Kagome and pressed his hands to his knees in order to catch his breath. The dog demon tensed for a moment, concerned that the boy had come running with some sort of bad news, but stilled when he realized he could not smell any fear off of him.

The miko smiled and handed the tooth to the child, “See? I got it! There's nothing to worry about.”

The kitsune inspected the fang for a second and then suddenly burst into nervous laughter. “Oh shit, I guess I was too late.”

Inu Yasha raised an eyebrow, having just eased back onto his feet moments earlier, “Too late for what?”

“Eh heh…” Shippo giggled again, shifting slightly closer to Kagome, now he was starting to smell like fear, “You see… uh… Miroku just realized that we uh… we can't…ah… use Inu Yasha's teeth.”

“What?!” The dog demon was upon him in a heartbeat, his fist curled into the folds of the kit's yukata. “Why the fuck did he get Kagome to pull one of my teeth if he didn't need it?”

Shippo whined piteously and wriggled in his grasp, “Ah c'mon Inu Yasha, lemmie go! It wasn't my fault he realized the sutra required the tooth of a different being.”

Kagome reached out to press a restraining hand on her husband's shoulder, “What kind of a being?”

Shippo realized that Inu Yasha was not going to let him go any time soon so he huffed and went lax in his grip and dangled in his clothes. The miko had a way of taking all the fight out of him anyway, “A youkai that walks between the realms of demons and deities.”

Kagome tilted her head to one side. “What on earth does that mean?”

“Beats me.” The kitsune responded; he wiggled in a way that, had he been on the ground, might have been a shrug.

The spike of scent that suddenly emitted from the small boy seemed to indicate otherwise. It made the hanyou smile evilly; the boy reeked of fear. It could only mean one thing…

“He's lying.” Inu Yasha grunted, narrowing his golden gaze on his prey.

Shippo's face went pale; his green eyes grew as large as saucers as he began to babble a long string of nigh-incomprehensible denials. Still, the fear remained and it only made his captor smile more as he put two and two together.

“…Oh, I'm mistaken am I?” He replied, raising the kid so that he was face to face with him, “Then let me ask you something. Kitsune are youkai, right?”

“Y-yeah…” Shippo shivered under his amused gaze.

“Yet, they can also choose to serve the Kami Inari, right?”

“I-I might have heard that somewhere… yeah…”

“So that means…” Kagome began.

“…We can use your teeth.” Inu Yasha finished with a smirk. “If I'm going to guess anything I'd say you've known for a little while now… you haven't told Miroku yet, have you?”

The boy shook his head no, he looked ready to faint. The hanyou cackled and cracked the knuckles of his free hand.

“Well it's about time you contributed to the gang.”

A few minutes later Miroku was startled out of his afternoon nap by the clamor of youkai outside his front door. He stumbled out of his house, staff in hand, only to find Inu Yasha grinning wickedly while Kagome tended to a sniffling Shippo. The hanyou quickly deposited two short fang teeth into the befuddled priest's palm.

“The little brat brought you a present, houshi.”

Shippo hiccupped and rubbed at eyes that stung with tears, “I was gonna tell him!”

The miko gave Miroku an apologetic look as she spoke, “It seems that Shippo figured out what kind of youkai tooth you'd need to make those talisman… and, well, he didn't get to Inu Yasha in time to mention it…”

“More like he waited until you sat me and took one of my teeth before mentioning it…” The hanyou grumbled.

The Buddhist monk scratched the back of his head; then it seemed to dawn on him. “Oh… kitsune… I see now…”

“So, can you make it work, houshi?”

“I think so…” Miroku replied, then glanced in Kagome's direction, “Kagome, I'll need your help purifying these teeth, would you mind giving me a hand?”

She stood up from where she had been kneeling next to Shippo and dusted off her robes. “Sure thing.”

Arts and crafts had never been one of Kagome's strong suits and the creation of the Sage's Blessing talisman required a good deal of skill. Fortunately, Shippo turned out to be quite the master craftsman. He managed to manipulate both teeth into the shape of the immortal serpent Ananta, as indicated in the texts Miroku translated. Kagome then purified both teeth. In the center of the rounded teeth was placed a hollowed out piece of wood shaped into an egg and then lacquered. Within the egg held a tightly folded sutra of Markandeya written by Miroku. Again, Kagome purified the object. Sango then provided two sets of braided silk thongs so that the talisman could be worn as a pendant about the neck. Finally, husband and wife both donned their respective talisman and Kagome blessed them once more.

When it was finished the miko stepped back and almost immediately felt a difference in them. “Your auras… they're different now.” She spoke in an astonished whisper.

Miroku grinned, “You felt that too? Good. Hopefully that means it worked.”