InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ The Second Semester: Lesson 4 ( Chapter 34 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot from this story.

Chapter 26: The Second Semester

 

159 - 149 years before the search for the jewel shards.

 

Honestly! Why must men be such pigs?

-Inuyasha

 

Lesson 4: Nothing is Coincidental

 

Namaiki held the young girl's hand and stared meaningfully into her eyes as he asked, “Will you bear my child?” The young girl stared back not sure how to answer the monk's question.

 

“You impertinent whelp! Get away from my daughter!” yelled the girl's father as he came tearing across the fields with his hoe raised above his head.

 

Namaiki grinned sheepishly and said, “I guess this is good-bye then, beautiful maiden.” Then he turned and ran for his life. This wasn't the first eviction he had suffered. With his habit of flirting with every pretty thing in a kimono he had lots of poor encounters with fathers. Being a monk didn't always protect him from their wrath as some actually believed him to be a fake. The nerve of them!

 

He stopped running as soon as the village was out of sight. He sighed and muttered, “I'll just have to hurry to the next village before the sun sets.”

 

The sun was only a finger's width above the horizon when Namaiki strolled into the next village. He was preparing his act for when he approached the village head about shelter when he noticed a gathering surrounding one hut. Curious, Namaiki walked closer.

 

“Will they be alright?”

 

“The priest said he could save both mother and child. All we can do is pray.”

 

“But to have a man with a laboring mother… it isn't normal.”

 

“My daughter has been in labor since dawn! That's what's not normal! I'll take any help if it can save her life!”

 

Off to the side of the gathered women was a gathering of men. In the middle of them one man sat crouched low to the ground his head bowed, the obviously distraught husband. The others stood around him but seemed at a lost to how to console him. Namaiki looked between them and wondered if it would be better to just discreetly leave and camp out in the forest.

 

I'm no good when it comes to these things and if there is already a priest here then I won't be able to work any exorcisms, he thought. Just then a scream echoed from the hut and the women leaned closer while the men inched away. The man on the ground leapt to his feet and tried to run toward the hut but the others held him back. They tried to calm him as he cried out the name of his wife. More screams came from the hut then silence fell. After a moment a baby started crying. The women all gasped and smiled as the men clapped the beleaguered father on the back. The reed screen was pushed to the side and a man wearing the white and blue of the priesthood stepped into the dying sunlight covered in blood. His face was ashy gray and he was sweating profusely.

 

“Master Priest, are you alright?” asked the woman to his right.

 

“How is the mother?” asked the woman to his left at the same moment.

 

“She'll live but she is very weak. She'll need everyone's help for a time,” he replied, his voice soft and shaky. “There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the baby boy.” He took a step forward then toppled over, unconscious. The women cried out and the men came forward.

 

Namaiki blinked when he sensed something emitting from the fallen priest. Youki? He turned to an elder who was beginning to give orders to the men. “Excuse me, Elder,” he said as he stepped forward. The villagers turned to him, noticing the monk for the first time.

 

“Yes, young monk?” inquired the elder.

 

Thinking fast, Namaiki continued, “I believe the priest and I were drawn here for the same reason. I sensed an evil spirit from a distance away and came to this place to exorcise it.”

 

“An evil spirit?” said the elder. “The master priest said nothing of this when he entered the village.”

 

“No doubt, he did not wish to alarm you when your village was already distressed by the mother's troubles,” Namaiki said smoothly. The women gasped and looked at each other with knowing expressions.

 

“Hmmm, I thought it strange that the priest was so adamant about aiding my daughter. Not that I'm ungrateful, mind you. Now I see, he was trying to spare us further worry,” said the elder while nodding.

 

As if you really were wondering. He probably didn't need to do much convincing, thought the monk but he continued with a concern look on his face; the youki was increasing. “I fear my colleague in spirit may have done something extreme to save the mother and child.”

 

“Oh?” said the elder, looking worried.

 

Namaiki nodded and said, “I believe he may have ingested the evil spirit into his own body to allow the poor woman relief so she could safely bear her child. He would then exorcise it from within but the effort to drag the spirit away from the pair has apparently exhausted him.” He kept his satisfaction to himself when the crowd inhaled in awe and horror.

 

“Fortunately, my powers are fresh. I can perform an exorcism for the priest and save him, but I'll require one full night at least and a solitary place. There is no telling what will happen when the spirit is being exorcised and I don't want to endanger the other villagers should it try to flee.”

 

The elder's reply was instant and exactly what Namaiki was hoping for. “Of course, I shall allow you to stay within my residence. It is separate from the rest of the village. We will provide meals and then leave you to save the master priest. Such a brave man, to endanger his own soul by taking in such a dangerous spirit for the sake of my daughter and her newborn son. I would be the most ungrateful fool if I did not aid him to the best of my ability.”

 

The elder turned to the young men and they picked up and carried the priest to the elder's house with Namaiki following behind. The monk went through the pretense of putting up shields to trap the evil spirit within the house then entered. When food was ready it would be brought up and left at the door to keep from disrupting the “dangerous exorcism”.

 

Not my preferred sleeping arrangements, thought Namaiki and settled down on the other side of the shoji, but at least I'm not sleeping in the woods and I have a fine meal to look forward to.

 

“I wonder about a monk who can lie so easily.” Namaiki looked around then down at the priest lying on the futon before him. The priest's eyes opened and he met the monk's gaze.

 

“You should be grateful. An honest monk wouldn't have covered for you,” said Namaiki with a smile, hiding his surprise to see the priest awake. “To tell the truth I am curious about two things. Why are you so exhausted after helping a woman give birth and why do you have youki pouring out of you right now?”

 

The priest gazed at him for a moment then closed his eyes. Several minutes passed and Namaiki was beginning to think the man had fallen asleep when the youki increased. The man's long black hair turned silver white and his ears became pointed and moved up the sides of his head until two perked dog ears sat on top. The priest sat up and when he opened his eyes they were hazel gold.

 

“Well that answers the youki question,” said Namaiki, “but not the exhaustion one.”

 

The priest sighed and replied, “I don't like discussing my abilities with strangers.”

 

“Yet you reveal yourself to one,” said the monk.

 

“I was hoping you would back off when you saw,” said the priest now perturbed.

 

“Nice try, but that only works on novices or fanatics neither of whom would have covered for you,” said Namaiki, smiling again.

 

“You didn't cover for me out of the goodness of your heart,” said the priest.

 

“You know, you're way too serious for your own good,” said Namaiki, changing subjects. He got up and walking closer to the demon priest. “You also seem way too gloomy.” He sat down next to him. “What you need is a woman.”

 

“Pardon,” said the priest, his face stone.

 

Namaiki patted the man on the back and said, “One night with a good woman will do wonders for all your stress.”

 

“Excuse me!” The priest started leaning away from the monk.

 

“I know, a hanyou like you is frustrated because he can't get any girls due to his low status. But since you've obviously learned how to transform into a full human that is no longer a problem.”

 

The priest eyed the monk for a moment then asked, “You're great grandmother didn't have an encounter with a man calling himself Suigetsu did she?”

 

“Who?”

 

“Nevermind.”

 

“Anyway what say after you get your second wind I show you where you can find some real beauties more than willing to help loosen your… tension,” Namaiki said with a wink. The hanyou priest stared back at him his cheeks flushed red. “Dumpling?” he asked offering one from the meal the villager had brought them.

 

“Hentai.”

 

_________________________________________________________________ _____________

Namaiki: obnoxious, conceit, brazen, audacious, impertinent

 

Sound like a good name for Miroku's ancestor?

 

I couldn't picture Namaiki without seeing Miroku so that's why he doesn't get a description beyond monk.