InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ The Second Semester: Lesson 5 ( Chapter 35 )

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 in this story.

Lesson 5: Patience is a Virtue

 

Inuyasha stood to the side of a large gathering wondering again what possessed him to travel in the company of the lecherous monk. Namaiki was in the center of the crowd selling his charms and trying to convince the people they were worth the price he was asking for. Inuyasha was in his human form again so no one gave him a second look. When Namaiki unashamedly flirted with the girls in the group, Inuyasha, in disgust, turned and walked away.

 

Where does he get the audacity to do that? What are those women to him, toys? Inuyasha kept walking until he heard a cry of distress coming from behind the buildings. Stopping, he looked around. This part of the town seemed more rundown than the rest. Inuyasha sighed; in his anger he had walked right into the town's nest of outcasts and criminals. The cry of distress came again.

 

Unable to ignore a cry for help, Inuyasha found a space between the buildings and slid through. On the other side he found a narrow alley and now he could hear cruel laughter as well as the frightened gasps of a woman. He stepped up to the wall where the noise was coming from and placed his ear against it. He then jumped back, his body throwing itself away from the boards before he was even aware of the reason. The wall exploded as a giant fist punched through.

 

“Thought I smelled a rat,” said a thick voice. The stench of decay and blood poured from the breach and Inuyasha, though still human, gagged.

 

“Help us!” a high pitched voice screamed from within. Another voice just screamed.

 

“Oi! Keep your yaps shut,” said a different voice but just as thick sounded at the first. The sound of flesh colliding with flesh echoed from the hut and something hit the ground within.

 

Inuyasha growled and shouted, “You're so brave picking on little girls. Come out here and face me if you have courage left to!”

 

“I think we were just insulted, little brother.”

 

“I think we were too.”

 

“We should go out and teach the whelp not to be so rude.”

 

“Yes, that we should.” The boards splintered and Inuyasha jumped back as two hulks came out appearing more ogre than human. The alleyway was not big enough to contain them.

 

The ogre men grunted and one said, “This place is too small I can't swing good here.”

 

“Then let's take the rat to a bigger place.”

 

“Good idea, big brother.” The two behemoths reached toward Inuyasha with their large meaty hands. Inuyasha jumped back and his back hit another wall. He may not be as constrained as the ogre brothers but he didn't have much room to dodge them either.

 

I have to rescue the girls at least. If I run away I'm sure to escape but what will happen to the girls in the mean time? Seeing an opening, he dived between the men's legs and rolled a few times. When he stood again he was standing next to the opening the ogre brothers had made. He leapt through the opening as the pair struggled to turn around.

 

Inside was a nightmare. Skeletons and bodies in various states of decay littered the floor. The walls of neighboring buildings had holes punched through revealing more rooms with corpses. In the corner of the room he was in sat a young girl holding another in her arms. He ran toward them as he heard the shouts of the brothers behind him. They had finally figured out how to turn around in the narrow alley and began stomping toward the entrance. He grabbed the conscious girl's arm and pulled her to her feet while he lifted the other onto his shoulder. He turned toward the hut's true door and ran for it dragging the terrified girl with him just as the brothers' shadows appeared at the hole. Their howls of outrage followed him to the street.

 

Namaiki was still at his spot selling his charms and charming the ladies when a scream erupted from somewhere behind the crowd. The monk stopped and the crowd turned to see what the commotion was then ran screaming themselves. Namaiki, alarmed, stood up and gasped. Inuyasha was running toward him with two ogres chasing after him and a girl on one shoulder and another hanging off his arm.

 

Inuyasha spotted him and shouted, “Namaiki! Do something!”

 

Namaiki looked at the ogres then turned and ran himself.

 

Inuyasha thought he would blow a blood vessel he was so furious. “You useless fraud! Get back here and fight those demons!”

 

“You fight them! You're a priest!” shouted Namaiki over his shoulder.

 

“If you couldn't tell, my hands are full right now or otherwise I would!” Inuyasha shouted back.

 

Namaiki looked back and finally took in the whole scene. He hadn't gained any ground since he started running from the ogres and Inuyasha, who was carrying a woman, was maintaining the same pace. The girl running alongside of him appeared to be tripping every third step; he was more carrying her then she was herself.

 

He supposed to be restricted to his human form and yet he's still this strong? Namaiki grimaced. The ogres weren't that far behind Inuyasha. If the priest stopped the ogres would be upon him in seconds. He didn't have enough time to put down the girl he was carrying, never mind move to attack. I guess I do need to help him.

 

Sighing, the monk stopped and spun around while he drew his sutras. “Sebai!” he shouted and the sutras lit up with blue flames and flew toward the ogres. The ogres howled and started dancing as they were burned by the paper spells. “Yatta!”

 

Inuyasha blazed passed him and shouted, “Good! Now hurry and run before they get over it.”

 

Namaiki blinked at him then ran after him. “Weren't you going to fight them?” asked the monk as he ran alongside the priest. He took the girl's arm and helped support her. The ogres roared behind them and began chasing them again.

 

“You think I'm crazy enough to fight them within a crowded town? I would like to keep the collateral damage to a minimum,” replied Inuyasha. “I'm heading for the fields outside of town.

 

“Then what was the point of me attacking them?”

 

“I was sort of hoping you could have destroyed them. Your attacks aren't nearly as flamboyant as mine. Also I needed to check something and your sutras were the only things available,” replied Inuyasha.

 

“If you didn't have two beautiful young ladies with you I wouldn't even have considered assisting you,” stated Namaiki with a sniff.

 

“The ogres are actually chasing me because if these two girls. If I put them down they'll stop chasing me and grab the girls instead and there is no way I can do that even if I hadn't seen what was in those huts they lived in,” said Inuyasha. The monk glanced at him but just then they cleared the huts and were now in the fields. They ran a few lengths more then Inuyasha stopped and placed the woman on his shoulder down on the ground and released the girl.

 

“Namaiki, can you put up a barrier?” asked Inuyasha as he turned toward the approaching ogres.

 

“Hai,” replied Namaiki, wondering what his companion was about to do that would require it.

 

“Then stand back and create one over yourself and the girls. At this point I need to fight alone,” said Inuyasha as he stepped away from the monk.

 

“But I can only maintain it for a short time,” cautioned Namaiki.

 

“That's fine,” said the priest. “This won't take more than fifteen seconds.”

 

“You won't get away now, little rat,” said one ogre brother as the pair ran up to him.

 

“You'll pay for stealing our women,” said the other.

 

“If there are to be any thefts punished today it will be your multiple thefts of life,” said Inuyasha. He raised his left hand and held out the first finger. A light appeared at the tips and then he lunged forward. He ducked between their outreaching hands and touched each ogre at a spot over their hearts then he was passed them. Namaiki had erected his barrier but he wondered what Inuyasha had just done.

 

“Did you feel something little brother?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“How stupid, we got you now little rat!” The ogre brother turned and reached for him but Inuyasha didn't move this time. When their hands were inches from his neck the pair suddenly erupted in bluish flames. The ogre brothers screamed and waved their arms before falling to the ground and burning to ash.

 

Namaiki stared in awe and horror. Inuyasha glanced back at the ash piles and blew out a breath in relief. “So that's what happens when you do that inside a person,” he muttered.

 

The monk blinked then yelled, “You mean you've never done that before!”

 

“Now, who is it that told me to loosen up,” said Inuyasha while staring at the monk. He walked toward him and said, “I have a whole arsenal of jutsu that would have done the job but I wanted to see what this one could do. It was a jutsu I was still developing based on something I saw occur several years ago. I had figured it out already, this was just the first time I had used it on a living being.”

 

The monk stared at him not understanding a thing he just said, his face expressionless for a moment. “Flamboyant is an understatement,” said Namaiki then he dropped his barrier.

 

Inuyasha knelt down beside the unconscious woman then held his hands over her. The palms glowed and the swelling on her face began to shrink then she stirred and opened her eyes. She blinked and looked at the two men.

 

“Sister, you're alive! I'm so glad!” cried the girl and she threw herself on the woman crying.

 

The pleasant scene was short-lived. Armed men came up from the town behind them and marched over toward the little group. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and said, “I have a feeling they aren't here to praise our work.”

 

Namaiki blinked at him and asked, “What makes you say that?”

 

“Just a hunch.” The two girls coward behind him.

 

The men stopped short and the leader stepped up and demanded, “Was it you who killed the brothers?”

 

Inuyasha stood up and turned to face the samurai. “And if I was?”

 

The samurai drew their swords and the leader said, “Then you are under arrest for their murder.”

 

“What?” squawked Namaiki as the girls whimpered.

 

Inuyasha smiled and said, “Now it makes sense how a pair of monsters like them could live in the middle of town without slayers being hired or monks being summoned. I take it your lord in the castle up yonder gave this order.”

 

“Those brothers were our greatest weapons against enemy forces. You'll pay dearly for destroying them,” stated the leader. Namaiki stared in disbelief.

 

“If they were such great and important weapons then you should have stored them in a more appropriate location so this wouldn't have happened. Or does the reason why they were being kept in town have something to do with their taste for humans? Your lord couldn't have them eating his princesses now, could he,” said Inuyasha. He was still smiling but a chill emanated from his body.

 

The leader flinched at the priest's words. “Men, seize him!” he shouted. The samurai charged.

 

“And here I promised myself that I wouldn't get involved in the local politics,” said Inuyasha while dropping into a fighting stance, “but I'll make an exception this time.” His dark eyes started to glow. He snapped his palm forward and flames shot from it toward the samurai. The men screamed and dived to the side.

 

Fire moved through the air like a mass of ropes being pulled by horses. They spread throughout the area like a giant net and rose and fell like waves at sea. Inuyasha felt the fabric on his back part and great white wings with flames sliding down the feathers spread themselves.

 

“What-what are you?” squeaked the leader from where he coward on the ground.

 

“Me? I'm the Avenging Fire Angel of the West!” replied Inuyasha, his expression insane and made more insane by all the fire swirling around him.

 

“Forgive us!” shouted the leader as the samurai all ran for their lives.

 

“You, I'll forgive, however, your lord's head is forfeit!” declared Inuyasha and launched himself in to the sky.

 

Namaiki stood with the girls sitting before him staring after the departing priest, one hand raised to shield his eyes from the sun. “Oh my, he seems a tad upset,” said the monk. The girls looked at him like he was insane himself.

 

“He's going to kill the lord?” asked the leader staring wide-eyed in the direction of the castle.

 

“Looks like it,” said Namaiki with a glimmering smile.

 

“This is a disaster! I must defend my lord!” shouted the samurai leader and staggered to his feet.

 

“I think the lord is already dead,” said Namaiki still gazing at the castle.

 

“What do you mean?” shouted the leader. Namaiki simply pointed back at the castle and the samurai turned around. Inuyasha was already winging his way back toward them no longer surrounded by ropes of flames. He landed and began walking toward the monk and the girls passed the stunned samurai.

 

“How did you do it?” asked Namaiki.

 

“He died by the same method as those brothers,” said Inuyasha in a cold voice. Sweat broke out on the monk's forehead and he didn't say anything else. Inuyasha stopped in front of the girls and looked down at them. “I think it would be better if you two came with us. We'll find you a better village than this place to live. You'll be happier there.”

 

“Hai!” they both cried and rose to their feet. The samurai leader knelt sobbing on the ground.

 

“Let's go,” grunted Inuyasha and walked passed them.

 

Namaiki kept smiling as he turned to follow and said, “I see I need to work on your charm. They would both be in love with you right now if you hadn't scared them half to death with all that fire and ice.”

 

“Shut up.”

_________________________________________________________________ _____________

 

One has to wonder whose patience is actually being tried. Inuyasha or Namaiki.

 

Somehow Inuyasha's nickname is going to stick and that's how everyone outside of Tenji is going to know him as. The Avenging Fire Angel of the West.