InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Ain't Forgotten Easily ❯ Sit boy? *CRASH* Inu-Yasha, what happened?! ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter 17

“Devils?” Kagome and Sango echoed.

“Yes.” The monk came back into the room and sat down. “The most wicked of evil creatures. They're cunning, they're intelligent, hurting anyone does not trouble them, and, most importantly, they're not afraid to die. I had read somewhere that all of them were wiped out in the eighteenth century by an army of monks, but this Sadie proves that wrong.”

“Three of the full-bloods survived.” Sesshoumaru appeared out of a wall. “And she was born in 1799, a good sixty-seven years after that army was around. Her father is one of the remaining full-bloods, and was their leader when their species still walked the earth. She learned everything she knows from him and whatever reading material she could get her hands on, so she is quite powerful.”

“How do you know all this, Fluffy?” Inu-Yasha demanded.

“Did you forget I followed Naraku for centuries? They've been married seventy-five years, and I was around for seventy-three of them.”

Inu-Yasha snorted. “And you were preaching to me about withholding information?”

Sesshoumaru cast his brother a fierce look even though he knew the hanyou was right. “Anyway, your best course of action would be to join up with them. Sadie is a powerful ally, and Myli is no slouch either.”

“How do you know we won't be betrayed?” Kagome asked, voice heavy with doubt. “She stole our jewel shards, and now her friend comes and wants us to join forces?”

“Devils are loyal to their friends first and foremost, then to their family and spouse.”

“How do you know that?”

“She told me. And I've seen it proved quite often.”

***

Sadie snorted at the image of Sesshoumaru in the little round mirror. “He actually believed that? What an imbecile.”

“You forget that Myli believes it as well,” Naraku added, a hand running down her leg. She smacked it away.

“Hands off,” she snapped. “I'm trying to plot.”

How amusing, Naraku thought. She thinks she can be an evil mastermind instead of just a pawn for my use. “Trying to plot what, exactly?”

“Inu-Yasha and his group's demise; what else? Myli's inadvertently put them in the perfect position to be destroyed.”

“Yes, but getting rid of them now would make Myli realize you're not actually on her side. Besides, since you didn't kill them, we can use them for gathering shards.”

“I know. I don't plan on getting rid of them any time soon.” She produced a jar from her pocket. “And I wonder if I should give them back their shards, just so that they really think I'm with them.”

“Only if you make sure they don't lose any of them.”

“I don't want to travel with them, Naraku; there are other shards, ones they won't get to. New information came in about five minutes ago about several of them on a nearby island. I plan to head there next.”

“I'll send one of the others. You need to stay here and keep an eye on this group.”

“Jeez, Naraku, it won't take me more than thirty, forty minutes to get the damn things and come back here.” Sadie rolled her eyes and smacked away his hand again. “Can you handle watching them for that long by yourself?”

He took a swing at her, not surprised when he missed. Now standing, she gave him a sharp kick in the back of the head and vanished out the door. His hand came up and rubbed the sore vertebrae. “I've got to quit doing that.”

***

The night passed without incident; Miroku had to behave due to his bandaged hands, so there weren't even any slaps.

Kagome woke with the hope that the fantasies would work like last time, and not return to bother her today. She got her wish.

At dawn, all were awake and waiting for Myli to show up.

The sun was showing halfway above the horizon when the cat-eared head appeared from the roof. She smiled at them from her upside-down position, then flipped and landed gracefully.

“Are you for negotiating an agreement, or do I have to kill you now?” she asked sweetly, fingers hooked and claws ready to mangle.

Miroku, being the obvious choice for talking things out, stepped forward. “We'll work with you on the condition that we keep what shards we collect.”

“I'm not the one you should be talking to about conditions.” Myli stepped to the side, and within a second Sadie had appeared out of nowhere and taken her place.

“That's fine. I believe these are yours.” Reaching into her pocket, she produced the tiny jar of shards and handed them to Kagome. “I would also like to leave Myli to travel with you, though she may leave to collect other shards. Is this all right?”

Casting a final “last-chance” glance back at his friends, Miroku extended his hand towards her. “Yes.”

“Good.” She shook it, and then smiled at them. “Now, I have to leave; Naraku needs a steady income of shards or else he'll get suspicious. However, I have told Myli rumors of several shards; you can go after one, and she will go after the other. Farewell.”

She disappeared, and Myli turned to the group with a huge smile on her face.

“She'll find us tomorrow morning, hopefully with more rumors for us to chase. But for today, there's one—confirmed—near here. It's a small village just to the north, and their miko is protecting one. Make sure to ask nicely for it, she's old. Otay?” She grinned again. “I'll come find you later, as long as I don't get killed.”

She bounded away.

Silence reigned until Inu-Yasha finally remarked, “That was quick and painless.”

They all turned to give him a weird look, to which he “Feh”'d and retreated back into the room.

***

“This must be it,” Miroku commented.

Sweatdrops appeared on the rest of the group's heads as they took in the shops lining the main road.

SHIKON SHARD TOWELS AND OTHER BATH ITEMS SOLD HERE! declared a sign in a window to their left.

Get your very own SHIKON SHARD! claimed another in big red letters.

“You think so, Miroku?” Inu-Yasha muttered.

“It's…a tourist trap,” Kagome stated in disbelief.

“It's not as small as Myli might have supposed,” Sango added, glad she was in normal clothing and not her taijiya outfit.

Kagome reached into her backpack and pulled out something red, then leaned up and tied the bandanna over Inu-Yasha's ears. He growled, but did not otherwise protest.

“The clothes will just have to do,” she murmured, glancing briefly at him. “Well, let's get going then. Something tells me it won't be too hard to find the shard.”

“Somehow, I agree.” Miroku pointed to a nearby sign.

See the real SHIKON SHARD! Follow Main Street to the fountain and turn left, going down Orange Avenue until you reach Old Miko Jade's Museum of Artifacts. AND don't forget to buy a hat!

“Oh, brother.”

***

After buying admission into the museum—not really a museum, more like an overstuffed one-level log cabin—Kagome glanced around at the crowd.

“I think this shard may be the hardest one to get so far.”

“For being so obviously cheesy—” Miroku popped out from between two overweight women, being careful that his hands stayed away from them. “This place is packed.”

“Yeah.” Sango was not quite so lucky with the two women, ending up pinned between them as they walked away. “Ack! Help!”

The monk leapt forward and caught her hand, digging in his heels until poor Sango finally came unlodged. She crashed into him, but instinct—and years of being around him—made her automatically back up out of range.

Inu-Yasha, never a people person, was starting to get annoyed in a big hurry by the constantly moving crowd. The only thing keeping him sane was the thoughts of the Shikon shard—or maybe the fact that Kagome was holding his hand to keep him from getting lost.

“The other museum wasn't like this,” he said to her.

“Yeah.” She stood on tiptoe and looked around. “Darn! Inu-Yasha, can you find any signs that say which way the Shikon shard is displayed?”

The hanyou glanced around, wishing he was still a ghost so that these people would go through him instead of running into him. He finally located something that would help.

“There's a directory that way,” he told the group, pointing.

“Lead the way,” she replied, eyeing the crowd between them and it warily.

He rolled his eyes. Damn. “Grab those two and we'll get moving.”

Sango reached out and took Kagome's other hand, then grabbed one of Miroku's that was aimed for a very pretty young woman. “C'mon, lecher.”

He grinned innocently as Inu-Yasha started making his way through the swarm of tourists.

***

Kagome's face fell as she finally saw the line that led to the Shikon display. “This is going to take longer than any other shard too.”

They had been in line for five minutes when Miroku offered his hand out to Kagome. “Thumb war?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

Inu-Yasha raised an eyebrow as they counted off. “One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!”

Miroku made the first move, but Kagome expertly dodged and pinned him within seconds. She smiled and released his hand.

“That's from years of playing with Sota,” she explained.

Miroku, embarrassed, turned to Sango. “Would you care to face me, love of my life?”

“If Kagome can beat you, what makes you think you stand a chance against me?”

Crazy people. Inu-Yasha yawned. “Kagome, why don't I just run up there and steal the shard?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Then the police would be after us, and that would make all the other shards even that much harder to track.”

“Fine.” He leaned against the wall, only to bounce back up and look around.

“What's up?” Kagome asked.

“I thought I heard someone call me. Guess not.” He went to relax, but his ears perked up. “No…wait…”

“Inu-Yasha.” An old woman suddenly appeared through the crowd. “I knew it was you. How've you been?”

The inu-hanyou growled, causing Kagome to jump. “I should've realized it was you.”

“So you do know me! I was so afraid that you had forgotten!” With a poof and lots of brightly colored smoke, the old woman became a young red-haired beauty.

She promptly glomped Inu-Yasha.

“Oh, when they said you were dead I was positively heartbroken! But no, my love, you're alive and well and we can finally be together like you said we would!”

Miroku snickered as Kagome's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. Sango restrained her laughter and set a hand on her companion's shoulder.

“You know, Kagome, I had this same situation with Miroku in our past life. He asked a girl to bear his children even though she was too young, but then he had to leave. When he met her again he had already found me, but she was still determined to have his children. He had a hard time—”

“And what makes you think that relates to me and Inu-Yasha?” Kagome asked dangerously, pushing Sango's hand off of her shoulder.

The taijiya gulped. “N-nothing, Kagome. Forget I said it.”

On the floor, Inu-Yasha finally managed to push the girl off and climb to his feet. “Jade, I told you a long time ago that I said it before I really understood the concept.”

“Yes, but—” Jade looked around. “Come, let's continue this in my office.”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him away. He tried to loosen her grip, but upon failing he sent a look back at his companions. They hurried after him, though Kagome got lost in the crowd.

Miroku and Sango ducked into Jade's office just before the door shut. She looked annoyed at the sight of them but didn't order them out; instead she just took a seat behind her desk after releasing Inu-Yasha.

“Where've you been?” she asked him quietly.

“Dead and floating around the Tsukino's old mansion.”

“What?!” Her eyes widened. “You really did die?!”

“Yeah, I did,” he replied crossly.

“Then…why are you…why…”

“I exhausted my ghost power and am now stuck alive for a year. However, at the end of that year I will be moving on.”

The door suddenly burst open and caused a very harried-looking Kagome to fall into the room and land on the floor.

“Kagome!” Sango hurried over to help her up.

“Sorry about that.” She looked up at Jade and Inu-Yasha, grinning sheepishly.

Jade let out a loud shriek. “Inu-Yasha! Why the hell is Kikyo here?! And alive?!”

“What? No, wait, I'm not Kikyo!” Kagome shouted.

Jade froze. “You're…not? Then why do you look so much like her?”

“Reincarnation,” was all she needed to say. The redhead nodded, calming down at once and settling back into her chair.

“Good. I was afraid Inu-chan had left me for that miko again.”

The inu-hanyou covered his face with one hand. “Jade, for the last time, I am not going to marry you. I told you this five hundred years ago!”

Miroku walked over to Kagome and Sango. “I'm afraid I know what the price of our shard is going to be.”

Kagome nodded, but Sango shook her head. “You forget, Miroku, that she knows he's going to disappear in a year.”

“True…” He sighed. “Perhaps we should just—”

“Inu-Yasha, that's it! I am tired of your imperial ass going back on your promise!” Jade reached into her drawer and pulled out an interesting-looking necklace made of blue beads and fangs. She set them on the desk in front of her, then clasped her hands together and murmured a short spell. The necklace started to glow.

Before Inu-Yasha could even think to dodge, the beads had reappeared around his neck. Growling in annoyance, he tried to yank it off. Nothing; it wouldn't budge.

“Kagome?” Jade asked. The schoolgirl looked up. “Say something.”

“Huh?” Kagome blinked. “Why?”

Jade sighed. “To be more specific, say something to Inu-Yasha.”

“Like what? I don't know what you're getting at here.”

“Arghhh…sit or something like that.”

Kagome had the most disbelieving look on her face as she turned to share a look with the hanyou. “Sit?”

There was a loud thump, and all of a sudden Inu-Yasha wasn't there anymore. The girl's head whipped around until she realized that he was on the floor. “What the—Inu-Yasha, what happened?!”

There was a muffled reply that she couldn't quite discern, so she knelt down beside him. “What did you say?”

“I said—” His head came out of the crater that he had formed. “That I'm going to kill Jade because she pulled her enchanted bead stunt again.”

“…Again?” Sango repeated.

“Yeah, when we were little I did the same thing, except the command was `koinu' and I was the only one who could activate it. Now, it's `sit' and all four of us can say it.”

“Oh, no.” Inu-Yasha dropped his head again. “Kill me now.”

“No can do there, bub. Now, since you evidently don't love me anymore and haven't for quite a while, why the hell are you here in my museum?”

“Well, you see…” A sweatdrop formed on the back of Kagome's head. “We kinda came…for the Shikon shard.”

“Ah. I can see why you would be nervous about that.” Jade scowled. “I'm not giving it up. That sliver of jewel pays my bills and most of the rest of this town's. And I can't replace it with a fake because too many holy people come through here and they'd be able to tell.”

“Listen, witch, we need that shard!” Inu-Yasha's head appeared above the desk.

“Sit, boy,” Jade ordered. He disappeared again. “Why exactly do you need it?”

“Because we're seeking to restore the entire thing.” Kagome took a seat across the desk from the other stubborn miko.

“Ha! It'd take years, girly. The shards are widespread, and the core—which belonged to the great Kikyo—went missing a long time ago.”

Kagome glanced back at Miroku and Sango. After a moment they nodded imperceptibly, the monk's hand on a sutra in his pocket.

The young miko pulled on the cord around her neck, the huge chunk of jewel coming into view. Jade's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull.

“The…heart of the sacred jewel!” she breathed. “How did you find it?”

“Kikyo. I'm her replacement, as it were, sent to gather the pieces and keep them from evil incarnate.”

“Well!” Jade leaned back. “That changes everything. If the reincarnation of Kikyo wants the sacred jewel shard, she can have it!”

Kagome didn't trust her for a second. “Really?”

“Yeah!” The elder miko stood. “Just let me go clear out the showing room and replace it. But I need you to do something.”

“What?”

“I need you to project an aura similar to that of the shard in the room, `kay?”

“What?” Kagome said again, but Jade was already gone. “Wait! I can't project an aura! I've barely mastered sacred arrows!”

“Come here, Kagome.” Miroku gestured. “I'll give you a quick lesson.”

Sango saw Inu-Yasha moving to get up. “I think you should just stay sitting down there.” He hit the floor. “Oops. Forgot it worked for me too.”

***

Jade came back into the room a short while later and held out the shard. “There you go, Kagome. Now can you go put up that aura for me?”

The schoolgirl gave the shard an odd look but took it anyway. “Yeah. Lead the way.”

Kagome had mastered the technique quickly enough that the aura gave of an almost exact feeling of that of the Shikon.

“There you go.” She walked down the dais, then surprised everyone by reaching into Jade's pocket and producing a shard. “And thank you for holding the shard for me.”

“Wasn't counting on that,” the other miko muttered, watching the group as they walked away.

“Hey, Inu-Yasha,” Miroku called. “Sit.”

“Miroku, what the hell was that for?”

“I was feeling left out!”

Jade smiled as they walked out the door and were joined by a ghost and a two-tailed neko youkai. The world is resting on some weird shoulders this time.

***

A/n: For those of you that read this before the edit, yes, I changed it from Jes to Jade…Jes was a friend of mine, but then she turned into a bitch so I kicked her out of all my stories. Jade is her replacement.