InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning my way... ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

Sorry I took so long with this guys!

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Mariko yelped as the electricity shocked her painfully and dropped her soap as her body convulsed from the contact.

 

It hit the water with a plop and promptly sank.

 

The woman scowled at her, her red eyes glittering. Mariko swallowed nervously, feeling suddenly very cold in the warm onsen. Her body ached from the electrical shock and she knew that her hair was fried. In a way, she was surprised that she wasn't dead.

 

“Well?” said the demoness disdainfully, glaring down her small nose at her, “who are you?”

 

Mariko couldn't really speak, she was still speechless with surprise and recovering from the shocking. Here she had been, minding her own business, taking a bath and suddenly she's zapped by God knows how many volts of electricity and some pompous demoness demands to know who she is and what she's doing in the demoness' onsen… Mariko shook her head, trying to reign in the instinct to scream for help.

 

“To scared to speak human?” demanded the woman, tossing her magnificent head slightly and red lips pursing into a slightly annoyed expression. Mariko glanced at her sword and fans on the bank, no more than a metre away.

 

“Oh, so you think you could poke me with that little sword of yours, ne?” taunted the demoness with an amused grin, following her gaze.

 

Mariko shook her head. She knew that she didn't have a chance. At least she wasn't dead, Perhaps this demoness wasn't interested in scorching her off the face of the earth.

 

“My name's Fujita Mariko,” she said, finally regaining her voice and bowing respectfully, “I didn't know this was your spring, Gomen nasai… My friend saw it earlier and brought me here, because I wanted to take a bath,”

 

“I see,” said the demoness in a slightly bored voice, sinking back down into the warm water “It's not my spring by the way,”

 

“Oh… I thought…” Mariko stopped herself before saying anything more. Instead, she dropped her gaze and began studying the bottom of the pool, trying to see where her soap bar went. Locating it, she held her breath, sank down under the water, and snatched it up, before surfacing once more. She glanced at the demoness and realized with a twinge of apprehension that the woman was watching her.

 

“You're not scared of me girl, are you?” said the demoness smoothly, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Um…. Not really, just really nervous,” replied Mariko uneasily, still shivering a little, “Getting shocked with electricity isn't pleasant,”

 

“Neither is having your bath intruded upon,”

 

“Well, just be happy I'm a girl too, not some hentai bastard playing peeping Tom,” answered Mariko, rolling her eyes. The demoness nodded her head slightly.

 

“You have a point, human girl,” she acquiesced.

 

“I have a name you know,” said Mariko with a frown, “By the way, what's yours?”

 

The demoness fixed her with a stern expression for a few moments, before answering;

 

“Souten,”

 

“Well… um… Nice to meet you Souten, How about I just quickly finish washing and leave?”

 

“Very well,” replied Souten, turning away.

 

Quicker than she ever thought possible, Mariko fumbled for her tiny bottle of shampoo and washed her hair, dunking in the onsen to rinse out the suds. Within a minute, she clambered out of the onsen, rapidly toweled herself dry and dressed and buckled the belt that held her weapons around her waist.

 

“Those are a Taijiya's weapons,” remarked Souten. Mariko glanced up, surprised.

 

“How did you know?” she asked.

 

“They are made of bones,” replied Souten with a faint frown, “Are you a Taijiya?”

 

“Sort of… I'm apprenticed to one,” answered Mariko apprehensively as she adjusted the belt so that it sat comfortably on top of her hips.

 

“You are a demon slayer and I am a demon, yet you didn't try to kill me, Aren't you breaking some moral code of yours, human?” said Souten, her red eyes narrowing, a nasty smirk on her face.

 

Mariko shrugged, her fear vanishing despite the expression on the demon woman's face.

 

“I don't like killing people, and I know that not all youkai are bad, and since you didn't really try to kill me, I figured you must be an Okay demon, besides, if I had made any move for my sword, you'd have zapped me so hard that I'd probably be charred to a crisp. I'm not stupid. Water conducts electricity,”

 

“I see,” replied Souten noncommittally, her brow furrowing slightly as she noticed the pink jewel that the girl removed from a pouch in her clothing and place around her neck.

 

“Yah… um… Bye!” Mariko walked away, albeit at a quicker pace than she normally did.

 

When she had reached the small clearing where she had left Shippou, she found it empty and still.

 

“Shippou?” she called out curiously, “You there?”

 

There was a rustle above her, to the right and Shippou dropped down from a nearby tree, looking distinctly taken aback.

 

“That was a quick bath,” he said in a surprised voice, “I thought you'd be longer, Kagome and Sango always took ages it seemed,”

 

“Nah…” replied Mariko, deciding not to mention Souten, “Let's head back, Keitaro's probably wondering where we are,” She began to walk in roughly the direction that she thought their camp was.

 

“I told Miroku where we were going,” protested Shippou, sliding an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer so that her walking direction changed nearly 20 degrees to the right. “Camp's this way,” he said with an amused grin, “You don't want to get lost, do you?”

 

Mariko eyed hand that rested on her left shoulder for a moment with a slightly nonplussed expression and then frowned when Shippou didn't let go. Reaching up, she lifted his hand off her shoulder, stepped out from under his arm, and let go of it so that it dropped beck to his side.

 

“Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Shippou,” she said with a small smile and began walking in the direction that he had indicated. With a frown and a shrug, Shippou followed, looking somewhat disgruntled.

 

~~~~

 

“So, you're saying all these aura colours tell us what someone's personality is like and sort of like what they're going through at the moment?”

 

“Precisely,” replied Miroku with a smile, “It takes time to learn the different interpretations of the colours though,”

 

“Well, that shouldn't be to hard to figure it all out… I have a pretty good memory,” answered Keitaro, a pensive look on his face, before he spoke up once more; “What does jade green mean?”

 

Miroku didn't get a chance to reply.

 

Ffffffffffffpppppphszzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggg

 

Keitaro jumped straight into the air, startled as a figure suddenly dropped out of the sky. In an instant, his sword was drawn as he took in the sight of the woman before him. She wore a flowing blue hakama and white kimono with red detailing. Her breastplate was made of a silvery metal and her hakama knot was an intricate one. Every inch of her oozed high-class nobility, with her glittering red eyes and raven black hair that seemed to crackle with electricity. She was youkai of high status without any doubt. She hovered above the campfire by the means of fiery wheels that seemed to be attached to her feet and she held an elegant trident, made of metal and a dark, polished wood.

 

Miroku had risen to his feet with a wary expression on his face and he held his staff so tightly that his knuckles turned white and he rubbed the hand that had once possessed his Kazaana nervously. The only sign of the wind tunnel now was a circular scar on the monk's right hand.

 

“Who are you?” demanded Keitaro, glaring at the newcomer, ready to start swinging if the youkai female made a wrong move.

 

“Don't worry yourself hanyou, I'm looking for a girl who was here,” replied the youkai woman calmly, “She has something that interests me.”

 

“Whatever the hell it is, you're not getting it,” snarled Keitaro, edging around the clearing as he noticed Mariko and Shippou's scents on the air. He heard the bushes across the fire from him rustle as Mariko stepped into the clearing, followed by Shippou.

 

“Souten?!” gasped Mariko, her eyes widening, “What are you doing here?”

 

“Souten?” inquired Miroku curiously, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Souten?!” cried Shippou, his jaw dropping open, his tail fluffing out like a bottle brush and his eyes widening to nearly comical proportions.

 

“Who…?” asked Keitaro, puzzled, still holding his katana at ready. There was a reigning silence as the Demoness Souten studied each member of the party in turn with a something of a stunned expression. Starting at Mariko, she worked her way around, slowly rotating in the air on the fire-wheel things.

 

Her gaze seemed to change when it finally landed on Shippou, softening almost imperceptibly, before sliding across to him.

 

“You're the son of Inuyasha and the Lady Kagome,” said Souten in a tone of voice that was completely laden with disinterest. Keitaro wasn't fooled.

 

“Yes, I am Higurashi Keitaro,” he answered with a nod, still eyeing her warily.

 

“I am Souten of the mighty Thunder clan,” she announced, in such a way that it was though she expected them to throw themselves at her feet in worship. No one moved.

 

“May I add that you are the last of the Thunder clan?” muttered Miroku under his breath.

 

Keitaro couldn't hold back the snort of laughter that suddenly welled up in his system as Souten twitched visibly. Her staff was suddenly upright, instead of held lazily at her side and she had drawn herself up to her full height, which wasn't exactly impressive. Keitaro knew that despite the fact that she hovered at about his eye level with those crazy wheels of hers, she was still a good six inches shorter than he was; which ironically, amounted to her being an inch shorter than Mariko.

 

Funny. The dangerous ones always come wrapped in tiny packages, Thought Keitaro with a grin. This was going to be interesting.

 

Souten was rapidly changing colours, from a pale skin tone that was made sallow by the firelight, it rapidly flushed a bright, cherry red. Crimson eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

 

She couldn't seem to think of anything to say though.

 

“So, you're the last of your clan?” asked Mariko curiously, “Is that why you were all alone at the hot spring?”

 

Souten's gaze shifted so that she was staring at Mariko out of the corner of her eyes before she nodded.

 

Mariko grimaced.

 

“That's gotta really suck,” she said, “Why don't you travel with us?”

 

“WHAT?!” yelped Shippou, his tail exhibiting the Bottle-Brush effect once more.

 

“You've got to be kidding me,” replied Keitaro with a groan as he squeezed his eye shut for a moment and massaged the bridge of his nose. A sense of dread hung over the inu-hanyou's shoulders like a wet blanket. Miroku stayed silent, but appeared shaken at the thought of Mariko's proposition.

 

“What's with you guys?” demanded Mariko, “She hasn't got anyone sticking out for her,”

 

A small, sly smirk appeared on Souten's face, unnoticed by those around her.

 

“She doesn't need anyone to stick up for her,” retorted Keitaro darkly, sheathing his sword and crossing his arms, “Look at her, No one's going to mess with her when she's looking like that!” Souten's smile promptly vanished and a pitiable look took hold of her face. She dropped lower, so that she hovered just off the ground.

 

“Well, has she got anywhere else to go?” replied Mariko, her voice hard and her hands on her hips. The dangerous glint in her blue eyes brokered no argument.

 

Keitaro raised a questioning eyebrow in Souten's direction and the crimson-eyed demoness shook her head, a gesture that seemed distinctly out of place from what one would assume the woman's normal repertoire of motions. Something about her aura didn't sit to well with him either.

 

For a moment, he cast a glance at Miroku, silently asking the monk for his opinion. In reply, Miroku gave a helpless shake of the head and a shrug from where he stood just behind and out of sight of Souten. He didn't know what to make of the demoness either. For the moment, he was trying not to think about how good-looking she was.

 

Getting no help from Miroku, Keitaro made a series of lightning fast decisions.

 

“You can travel with us if you wish Souten. Just know this, I don't trust you. I don't think I ever will, short of a miracle occurring and I'll be watching. Try anything towards any of us and I won't hesitate to kill you,” snapped Keitaro, “We'll share our food and supplies, but if we're attacked, don't expect anyone to watch your back,”

 

“Very well,” replied Souten, suppressing a smile.

 

Fool… she thought.

 

~~~~~~

 

As they settled down for the night, Keitaro neglected his sleeping bag in favour of sitting awake by the fire, his katana on his lap and his eyes were darting about, scanning the bushes. His white ears twitched and swiveled towards every rustle that he heard. He doubted he had ever been so highly strung before.

 

Consciously, he had sat down next to Mariko's sleeping bag, intent on keeping watch over her. To his right, Shippou slept curled in a ball, having transformed into his elegant kitsune form and to his left and sitting slightly away from the fire, Miroku slept leaning against a tree, covered in a fleece blanket and snoring softly. Across the fire, Souten sat silently, her crimson eyes hooded, yet Keitaro wasn't sure if she was actually sleeping or not.

 

He glanced down at Mariko, but noted with pang of amusement that he could only see her hair. The rest of her had sunk down into the bag. Reaching out, he stroked the strands of hair gently, but stopped when Mariko stirred and rolled over in the sleeping bag, mumbling something that sounded like “Go away Akihiro…”

 

Quietly he watched her for another few minutes, before shifting closer and reaching out to touch her hair once more. He brought a longer stand to his nose and inhaled the sweet scent, and noted that she was coming into heat again, which could be considered both a good thing and bad thing. The good thing was that it made her smell even better than she usually did and the bad thing… or more bad things… One was that a few days after she cycled out of heat, she became increasingly irritable and often took out her frustration out on his ears - the only part of his body where she could actually injure him and the other was the fox demon on his right. Without a doubt, he'd have a harder time keeping the kitsune in line. He knew from experience that the intoxicating scent was difficult to resist.

 

The night dragged on and Keitaro watched the gibbous moon meander across the sky, his thoughts wandering between abstract wonderings and sudden periods of hyper-awareness when he heard a leaf rustle or a rabbit move.

 

As he calmed down after one of those periods, he studied the moon's pockmarked surface pensively. As far as he knew, he had never had a human night, when his youkai powers faded and he became a normal human. Perhaps fate had decided that he had enough human blood to contend with and didn't need to loose his youkai side once or twice a month to remind him of how powerless and venerable he could be at times.

 

After what seemed like forever, Keitaro saw the gray line along the eastern horizon that marked that dawn was approaching and he looked forward to it.

 

As the dawn chorus began, Shippou's fox ears flickered and he opened his eyes. The fox demon sat up, so to speak, so that he was sitting on his haunches, much as actual dogs did.

 

Shippou, unable to speak properly in his kitsune form, gave the smoldering leftovers of the fire a pointed look and then glanced around at the three still sleeping and made motion that indicating eating.

 

“I'll stoke it up, if you don't mind catching and cleaning breakfast,” replied Keitaro dryly. Hunting was still something he didn't enjoy all that much. Shippou nodded silently and disappeared into the trees, leaving a slight rustling in his wake.

 

Standing up, Keitaro scoured the ground for dry sticks and twigs under the bushes next to their camp. He dropped a bundle of them on the fire, arranged and struck a match. When Shippou returned an hour later with three cleaned and skinned rabbits, Keitaro had already rigged an apparatus to cook them and Souten had woken up and was polishing her staff. Or, at least, that's what Keitaro figured she was doing as she continued to rub the metal part of it vigorously with a soft cloth. She hadn't said anything though.

 

It was approaching eight O'clock when the rabbits had finally cooked properly and Mariko woke herself up by some sudden movement in a dream of hers.

 

“Ohayo” said Keitaro, poking her lightly as she sat up, her long dark hair matted and falling in her face. Her blue eyes took a moment to focus on him after she had rubbed the sleep out of them.

 

“Good Morning to you too…” she murmured foggily, blowing her bangs upwards with a puff of air. Slowly, she clambered out of her sleeping bag and dug around in her backpack for several minutes, before pulling out a hairbrush and set to work on the knots while sitting cross-legged on her sleeping bag.

 

“How far are we from the next village Miroku?” asked Keitaro, turning from her to where the monk sat.

 

“Half day's walk,” replied Miroku solemnly, “If it's still there.”

 

“Why wouldn't it be there?” asked Souten pointedly, her ruby-coloured eyes trained on the monk.

 

“There's a rogue youkai on the loose, destroying villages. It's be moving further West and we're going to go slay it,” replied Keitaro as he divided up and served breakfast, “hopefully before it kills any more people,”

 

“They say it might have Shikon shard,” added Mariko as she rolled up her sleeping bag and stuffed it in her backpack. Keitaro winced and his ears flattened against his skull with irritation. He had been aiming at leaving Souten ignorant to the fact that they were after the few remaining Shikon shards. Souten perked up immediately and her eyes lost the chilling edge that they had possessed.

 

“Interested in the Shikon jewel, are you now Souten?” asked Miroku pointedly, before Keitaro could comment scathingly. Souten was silent and there was a stubborn set to her jaw. Shippou sat silently in his kitsune form, watching, his tail occasionally flicking. It was unnerving to see the fox demon like that, for normally he was the type to keep talking. And talking. And talking; If you let him.

 

Shippou watched Souten with an inscrutable glare, his vibrant green eyes narrowed and his narrow golden-orange ears trained on her, his mouth pulled into a delicate frown and suddenly, Keitaro got the impression that there was something more between these two youkai, but for the moment, that wasn't what he was worried about. If Souten tried to steal the jewel and hurt Mariko in the process…

 

“If you want the Shikon jewel, you're not getting it, no matter how much you try to buddy up to us Souten, if that was your plan,” he ground out, his lip curling back.

 

“Who said that was my plan?” replied Souten coolly, “I don't need that jewel,”

 

“Uh huh. Sure. You just decided to accept Mariko's invitation, even though there were humans in the group, who are insignificant to youkai like yourself… you know… of the higher caste and despite the fact that you are of so called `noble' blood, you have `nowhere' to go and you need us to protect you,” replied Keitaro levelly, his voice icy.

 

“Watch how you speak to me, lowly hanyou!” snapped Souten angrily. There was a taught silence, broken only by a short, rumbling growl from Keitaro.

 

“Tsk tsk,” murmured Miroku under his breath as he ate, “Keitaro is the grandson of the Great Inu no taisho Toga of the Western Lands and the son of Inuyasha, who defeated both your brothers in battle Souten, and he is the nephew of Sesshoumaru, the current Lord of the Western Lands. His youkai blood, though diluted, is of a race and caste far superior to the Thunder clan, in both influence and strength.”

 

Both Souten and Keitaro jumped at this information and even Shippou and Mariko looked mildly surprised. Keitaro resisted the sudden temptation to stick his tongue out at Souten in the childish way of saying “Ha! I win!”

 

Instead, he settled for a slight smirk to grace his features, knowing that the expression would irritate the demoness more than anything else, but at the same time, he felt a twinge of sympathy towards her.

 

Otou-san killed her brothers? I'm surprised she didn't kill me on sight… Wait… the Thunder clan…I recognize that… Didn't the thunder brothers murder Shippou's father? Now did my eyes deceive me last night or did I see how she was watching Shippou? Oh boy, this is going to be an interesting mess…

 

Climbing to his feet, Keitaro began kicking dirt into the fire.

 

“We should get going if we want to cover any ground today,” he announced, slinging his small knapsack onto his back.

 

“Yeah,” replied Mariko, putting on her backpack also. Miroku stood and brushed the dirt off his robes and there was a flash as Shippou suddenly reappeared in front of them in his humanoid form.

 

“Couldn't agree more,” he said quietly, still frowning at Souten, who had activated her wheels and was now hovering a metre or so off the ground. Without much fanfare, the motley group set out, heading North West along one of the dirt packed roads that crisscrossed the country side.

 

The going was rough, for the heaven's decided to cloud and dump buckets of rain on them around ten O'clock, making the road a muddy lane of quicksand and essentially wiping out the effectiveness of Keitaro's sense of smell. Mariko was the only one who had a jacket and it wasn't a very good one at that. Keitaro shed his running shoes and socks and slung them over his shoulder by the laces, before switching them to around his neck when Mariko ended up tripping on a root and falling face first into the muck and puddles. So he ended up carrying her on his back as he jumped from tree to tree while Shippou and Miroku helped each other in picking their way through the mud.

 

Only Souten seemed completely untroubled by the rain and difficult to navigate road. She had zoomed along ahead above the trees, on the pretense of scouting out the road. Keitaro made occasional bounds high up into the air to check to see if she was still in sight.

 

Three cold hours later, they caught sight of their destination, a slightly larger than normal village which had a reputation for producing excellent clay bowls. The leopard youkai had apparently been harassing their village continuously, and the two village mikos had barely been able to stave him off. Lookouts had been placed around the village's perimeter and the fields looked unkempt and trampled.

 

Putting on a burst of speed, Keitaro caught up with Souten and they both landed at the edge of the village. It was at that moment Keitaro saw the barrier that had been put up as the lookouts began shouting.

 

“Souten!” he hollered, “Get back or you're going to get fried!”

 

Souten shot him a haughty glance and kept going, only hit the barrier and with a sinister sizzling noise, she was catapulted backwards several metres into the mud. Whether she hadn't seen it, or hadn't thought it would affect her, Keitaro wasn't sure.

 

With an angry hiss, Souten was on her feet again and charging up her staff, ready to take out the barrier and kill whoever had forced her to suffer such an indignity.

 

Swearing, Keitaro let go of Mariko and she slid off his back and took a running leap forwards, tackling Souten in the midsection just as she was about to let loose a barrage of energy from her trident. With a crackling of static energy that made Keitaro's long hair stand on end, the attack was deflected into the ground as they both crashed into the mud, with Souten screaming obscenities. Keitaro snatched her staff away from her and lightly flipped away, landing in a crouch.

 

“IDIOT!” he bellowed, “We need shelter here and you just screwed that up for us!”

 

“Give me back my trident hanyou!” snarled Souten, rushing him. Keitaro easily bounded out of the way, but found out immediately that he need not have done so.

 

“Kitsune Youjutsu!”

 

A large top knocked into Souten, catching one of her flaming wheels and spun her around a few times before sending her sailing off into a mud puddle, ripping the wheel clean off her boot, causing it to drop to the ground with a clang and extinguish itself.

 

Keitaro couldn't help but grin as Shippou stalked up, followed by Miroku.

 

“Nice one,”

 

“No problem,” replied Shippou distractedly as he strode by to where Souten was on her feet and covered head to toe in mud, to angry to do anything but stand there, clenching and unclenching her fists.

 

“How dare you…” she ground out, shaking with rage.

 

“How dare I what?” replied Shippou, crossing his arms, “I can do whatever I like to someone who's trying to wipe out a village just because they were to stupid not to notice the Holy barrier. That was always one of your failings Souten. That arrogance. It's what drove away your allies, drove away me and got you covered in mud,”

 

“Shut up Shippou, you were lucky to get under my guard,”

 

“What guard? You didn't even notice Miroku and I, you weren't even paying attention,” shot back Shippou caustically, “It's what got Koryuu killed, because you didn't notice that he was in trouble.” Keitaro and Mariko exchanged glances with Miroku.

 

“Maybe I don't need to notice,” growled Souten, “I'm powerful enough to take on anyone,”

 

When Mariko sneezed violently as the two youkai continued to argue in the pouring rain, Keitaro decided that he had heard enough. Stepping forward as he twirled Souten's staff in his left hand like a baton, he came up to stand beside Shippou.

 

“Yah, you can take on any one person… but what about two? Remember, I've got your trident and I'm not too keen about giving it back,” he said quietly, “Unless you do some major apologizing to the villagers and Mariko for making them stand out here in the rain,”

 

Souten glowered at them, the rage that coursed through her body made her as tense as coiled spring. Keitaro raised an eyebrow.

 

“I'm waiting,” he said with a smirk.

 

“I apologize to NO ONE!” screamed Souten. Several of the villagers watching the spectacle from the safe side of their barrier winced. Keitaro noticed two figures garbed in red and white among the assembled crowd.

 

“Suit yourself,” replied Keitaro with a shrug, walking over to Mariko and bending down so that she could climb onto his back. “C'mon Shippou - Miroku, let's leave her out here without it for a night and see if she wants to say sorry in the morning when she figures out how nerve wracking it is to be stuck outside in the dark with no real weapons and a mad leopard youkai stalking her,”

 

Mariko gasped faintly at his announcement, but didn't say much else as she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling utterly worn out. Miroku and Shippou followed Keitaro silently, curious to see what he would do.

 

When he reached the edge of the barrier, his eyes sought out the miko's in the crowd. There were two, a wizened and thin older woman in her fifties at least and her young apprentice, who looked about fourteen or fifteen.

 

“My name is Keitaro, son of Inuyasha and the Lady Kagome, Good priestesses,” he said, bowing as low as he could without dislodging Mariko. “My companions and I heard that your village and several other have been harassed or destroyed by a leopard youkai and we wish to aid you slay it, but for the moment, I wish to request shelter for the benefit of my companions, particularly Mariko,” he continued, nodding to the girl who had suddenly fallen asleep on his shoulder.

 

The elder miko stepped forward and scrutinized him carefully.

 

“Inuyasha and Lady Kagome… I have heard those names before boy,” She murmured pensively, “Mostly in stories… they have passed on to the next world then?”

 

Keitaro nodded.

 

“I heard great things about them and their companions and how they destroyed the evil hanyou Naraku,” continued the old miko, “They were a monk, a Taijiya and a kitsune, am I correct?”

 

Keitaro nodded again, starting to feel impatient. Rain streamed down his face and into his eyes and soaked his hair and he, despite the fact that he was a hanyou, was starting to feel uncomfortable in his saturated jeans and drenched T-shirt. He didn't even want to guess what Mariko and Miroku felt like.

 

“Yes,” he replied shortly, “The said monk and kitsune are standing behind me,”

 

“They are?” asked the miko in a surprised voice, stepping to the side to peer around him, for she was too short too see over his shoulder. Several of the villagers also began to give Miroku and Shippou curious and interested looks.

 

Miroku stepped forward and bowed. Shippou inclined his head slightly.

 

“I am Miroku, and this is Shippou,” he said with a motion of his hand towards the Kitsune.

 

“Well met, Miroku and Shippou,” replied the miko, “but what about that demoness over there… she is a dangerous one,”

 

“Souten will learn her lesson,” answered Keitaro stoutly.

 

“Are you truly the son of Inuyasha then?” asked the miko suspiciously. There was a round of muttering from the assembled villagers.

 

“What? Yes!” replied Keitaro, quite taken aback.

 

“The stories that I heard of Inuyasha say he was most loyal, and would never leave a friend to fend for themselves,” answered the miko, her eyes narrowing. Keitaro's mouth opened and closed several times, at a loss of what to say. Well… Just because I'm his son doesn't mean I'm like him… I think… ummm…

 

“Souten is not a friend, merely a travel companion until she learns to curb her arrogance and control her temper,” said Shippou darkly, glaring over his shoulder at the hissing, mud stained figure standing several dozen metres away.

 

“I see,” replied the old miko with a raised eyebrow, “Well then, perhaps the demoness should learn to be humble, come, you may find shelter in our village if you say the reason that you are here is that you wish to slay the demon that troubles us,”

 

With her words, she nodded to her young apprentice and a door sized gap appeared in the barrier. Keitaro strode through it, followed by Miroku and Shippou.

 

~~~

 

Several minutes later, Keitaro, Shippou and Miroku were listening to the old miko in her hut as they ate rice and pork soup from earthenware bowls. Mariko was sleeping on the miko's futon, having stopped coughing almost as soon as she had been brought into the warm little hut.

 

“The Leopard youkai has been alternately attacking our village and two villages to the north for the past two weeks. The four other villages that used to be in this area have been destroyed, because they didn't have any sort of protection. They used to rely on us for exorcisms and other demon related affairs,” explained Youmi, the old miko. Takako, her young apprentice was making rounds of the village, `recharging' the stones that anchored the barrier. The two miko's were rapidly tiring of the monumental task of keeping the barrier operational enough to cover all of the forty-odd huts in the village, sheltering just over a hundred people.

 

“Have you sensed anything odd about this leopard youkai? The presence of a Shikon shard perhaps?” asked Miroku cautiously. Youmi nodded slowly.

 

“Yes… There is something odd about the energy of this youkai… I sense a glimmer of another power… yet I do not know whether it is a Shikon shard or not,” she replied pensively, “It is an unpredictable monster, and we havn't seen it in over two days. I presume it must be harassing one of the other villages,” Youmi concluded wearily.

 

“Do you have any idea of what it is after?” asked Keitaro curiously, “I mean, does it have a reason for attacking the villages?”

 

“It does not need a reason, Boy, It is a youkai,” she answered softly. Shippou scowled.

 

“Everyone has a reason for doing something, I don't think this youkai suddenly said `Hey, I feel like destroying a few villages'. It just doesn't sit right…from the descriptions that you told us, right after we came in here, I don't think this guy is some random low-class demon” replied Keitaro with a frown, “You said he had a star on his forehead?”

 

“Yes,” said Youmi, “between his eyes, I only saw it for a moment as it was flailing against our barrier, The youkai is large… taller than three huts put together,”

 

Keitaro nodded, thinking hard.

 

“Miroku… Do you know anything about the other demon lords?” he suddenly asked.

 

Miroku looked startled.

 

“Only rumors,” replied the monk, “Why?”

 

“Do you know what clans govern the North, East and South?” Keitaro inquired once more, his mouth pursed thoughtfully and his ears flicking about.

 

“Actually Keitaro, the power is not divided as such,” answered Miroku. Keitaro's eyebrows shot up.

 

“Really? Then how is it? They don't exactly cover the demon land holdings in history class… All I really know is that the Inu clan governs the western side of Honshu,” answered the inu-hanyou wryly.

 

“Well, I know the Yourouzoku Wolves hold Northern Honshu, but the Thunder clan used to have a small portion of it also; the Laimei Valley, before Inuyasha killed Hiten and Manten,” replied Miroku, thinking hard, “and the Eagle clan possess most of Hokkaido… A clan of serpents govern Kyushu I believe. Shikoku is held by the Fire youkai. Eastern Honshu is governed mostly by the - Oh my…” Miroku's eyes widened.

 

“Who is this area governed by? I know I don't really keep track. They all bow down to Sesshoumaru either way,” said Shippou. Keitaro shot the kitsune a bemused look.

 

“They do?”

 

Both Miroku and Shippou nodded.

 

“All the demon lords keep track of their own lands and for the most part, they govern separately from the daimyo, but when it comes to the important stuff… They all look to Sesshoumaru. He has the largest territory and he's the strongest of them. He caused quite a stir a few years back when he took Rin for his mate. Everyone was thinking he was getting weak and whatever, but he showed them,” replied Shippou with a laugh.

 

“Rin? Who's that?” Keitaro asked, confused.

 

“Ningen girl…Or woman now, I suppose; either way, it's a long story, involving Tensaiga and the Youroukozu,” replied Miroku, “I heard news that they actually have a daughter now,”

 

“Whowhatwhenwherehuh?” Keitaro's mind was whirling with all this new information. Even Youmi was looking somewhat confused at the facts that the Monk and Kitsune were shooting back and forth.

 

“Really?” asked Shippou.

 

“Yes…” replied Miroku.

 

“How old?”

 

Keitaro was distracted from their conversation by a change in Mariko's breathing patterns and rustling noises from the futon. Turning, he smiled when he saw that she was awake and sitting up.

 

“Feeling better?” he asked.

 

“Yah… what's that good smell?” she replied, sliding out of the futon's quilts and coming to sit next to him by the small fire pit in Youmi's hut.

 

“Rice and pork,” he replied, offering her a bowl of the soup and some chopsticks. She accepted them with a grateful smile and set to work on eating.

 

“Is Souten still out there?” she asked in a concerned voice between mouthfuls.

 

Keitaro nodded.

 

“She is standing where you left her,” answered Youmi enigmatically, “Still quite angry I'm afraid,”

 

“Maybe I should go and talk to her when I'm finished eating…” said Mariko quietly. Miroku, Shippou and Keitaro all shot her horrified looks.

 

“No!” they all said vehemently in unison.

 

“Why not? Her weapon is right there,” demanded Mariko irately, “Besides, I'm a girl too, she'd probably be more open with me”. A sharp laugh came from Shippou and he muttered something that distinctively sounded like “Yah right,”

 

“Keh” snorted Keitaro, “You're not going out there, you'll just start coughing again and that's not even taking into consideration the large Leopard youkai that's been killing people left and right for the past two weeks.”

 

“I don't think it's going to show up in the next ten minutes,” shot back Mariko, setting down her bowl, pulling her coat on and standing up. Keitaro was on his feet in an instant, standing in her way.

 

“What's your problem Keitaro?” she demanded, her voice sharp and her eyes an icy blue, “If I want to go out there, I'm going out there. Souten doesn't deserve to just be left out there, even if she's being a complete bitch,”

 

Recognizing the Death tone in her voice, Keitaro backed down and Mariko pushed past him and out the door, Keitaro stuck his head out the door and watched her disappear into the inky blackness of night, his sensitive ears picking up her splashing footsteps and Shippou's whispered comment;

 

“Wow, She can't even Sit him and he's still scared of her…”

 

 

 

 

~~~~

 

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Tom: Neat! And no… my teachers don't tell us about the marine corps (This might be because I live in Canada, but I'm not entirely sure.) I don't know all that much about the military, to tell you the truth, with the exception of what my two friends who are in army cadets tell me and some of the books I read. I feel sort of honoured though, because someone who's been around a lot longer than I have is reading my attempts at anime fan fiction and likes it.:)

 

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