InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mind Reader ❯ The Squirrel of Doom ( Chapter 1 )

Mind Reader

 

Chapter 1: The Squirrel of Doom

 

 

“Kagome, are we getting any closer to the shard?” Miroku asked of the young girl who was currently walking beside him.

 

“Yeah, I can definitely feel the shard's strength increasing,” Kagome replied, silently praying that they would soon come across this unlucky soon. Unlucky, because this youkai would be forced to face a very annoyed and pissed off Inuyasha. Just because she happened to be a couple of hours late in coming back he had thrown his standard little hissy fit. So what else could she do? She sat him a few times and than left him in his new hole while she walked back to the village. Of course he had been more than a little pissed off when he arrived at the village, and ever since than he had been ignoring her. So Kagome was hoping that once Inuyasha was able to kick some poor unsuspecting youkai's ass he would start talking to her again.

 

Now Miroku was silently thrilled about this little dispute going on between Inuyasha and Kagome. Sure, it wasn't good for the gang's morale to have the two main people ignoring each other, but than again it wasn't everyday that he was able to walk alongside Kagome for an extended length of time. She was normally always walking beside Inuyasha or Sango. And Sango was currently trying to talk some sense into the hardheaded hanyou. It didn't appear to be working though cause Inuyasha still refused to talk to Kagome. But while Inuyasha was acting like a spoiled rotten little kid Miroku decided to take advantage of his alone time with Kagome.

 

“Kagome, why is Inuyasha not talking to you?” asked Shippo, suddenly popping out of nowhere and jumping onto Kagome's shoulder.

 

Miroku inwardly groaned when Shippo had to come and ruin the moment. `So much for that alone time.'

 

“I already told you Shippo, I sat him until there was a nice sized Inuyasha hole in the ground.”

 

Shippo grinned, “I know, I just like hearing about it!” And that was the truth- whenever Shippo would hear about Kagome getting mad at Inuyasha it would make him happier than he normally is. Shippo still couldn't believe how the stupid hanyou kept getting in trouble, sometimes Shippo even thought that Inuyasha secretly liked getting thrown violently into the ground. Shippo started laughing at the thought of Inuyasha one day begging Kagome to sit him, which earned him a couple of weird glances from Kagome and Miroku.

 

As Miroku stared at Shippo wondering what had caused the amusement of the kitsune this time he came up with an idea to get rid of the pup. “Hey Shippo, I think that Kirara wants you to play with her!”

 

And Shippo fell for it without a second thought. “Really? Normally all she does is try and run away from me. I can't pass up this opportunity. See you later Kagome!” and with that Shippo was gone in a flash, running towards the poor cat demon. As Shippo caught up to Kirara she turned around and gave Miroku a death glare before she took off from the suffocating clutches of Shippo.

 

Miroku gave an innocent grin in the direction of Kirara and turned back to Kagome. “So Kagome, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted by Shippo?”

 

Kagome looked at Miroku with confusion etched all over her face. “Ehh, we were, and still are, walking through a forest trying to find a youkai for Inuyasha to beat up and probably kill.”

 

“That's not what I meant…wait? Did you just say probably kill? Ha, hopefully Inuyasha didn't hear you say that. His poor ego would be hurt. The only ones Inuyasha has ever let get away would be Naraku and Sesshoumaru, and in my humble opinion I believe that they let Inuyasha go.”

 

And of course Inuyasha did hear what both Kagome and Miroku said. “Feh, stupid wench, of course I will kill the youkai! And Naraku and Sesshoumaru did not let me go! I got away with style!” he grumbled under his breath.

 

“Hmmm? What was that Inuyasha?” Sango inquired of her currently pissed off friend.

 

“Hmph, nothing. Ask the stupid baka how much farther the shard should be.”

 

Sango was very happy to oblige. “HEY! MIROKU!”

 

“No you idiot!” Inuyasha interrupted Sango roughly, “I meant Kagome! Miroku knows nothing about anything except for how to get a woman mad. What would he know about shards?”

 

Sango tried to make sense of what Inuyasha just said than finally gave up. She instead grinned at Inuyasha, “I'm quite aware that Miroku was the wrong one to ask. I was trying to get you to say Kagome's name. It was the first time you said it all day.”

 

Inuyasha immediately saw his error, and in his best comeback to date he crossed his arms and stalked off.

 

Sango laughed, and than proceeded to pick up the frantic Kirara, who was currently running around a tree attempting to escape the wrath of Shippo.

 

“Aww Sango, put her down! We were having fun!” complained Shippo, completely unaware that his version of fun was the same as Kirara's hell.

 

“How about you conserve your energy for the upcoming battle? You will want to protect Kagome from the youkai right?” Sango mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with a quick response that Shippo would fall for.

 

Shippo thought for a second and than nodded his head in agreement. “You're right. Kagome will need me in the upcoming battle. So you better carry me so I can rest!” and with that Shippo jumped onto Sango's shoulder. Sango sighed in defeat and than turned around and waited for Kagome and Miroku to catch up. When Kagome caught up with her friend she noticed a missing hanyou.

 

“Sango, where did Inuyasha storm off to this time?” Kagome asked to the demon exterminator.

 

Sango let out a little laugh before answering. “Who knows. He ran off when I outwitted him.”

 

That didn't surprise Kagome at all. Inuyasha hated to lose at anything, even in a battle of wits. He just didn't seem to understand that his strength fell into the physical category and not the mental category by any stretch of the imagination. Kagome sometimes thought that it actually hurt Inuyasha to think, seeing as how often Inuyasha actually thought before doing something. Kagome was interrupted from her thoughts by Miroku.

 

“That's my lovely Sango! You are such a bright, beautiful woman! I would be honored if you would be…” Miroku crashed violently to the ground, which was of course Sango's doing.

 

“How many times must I tell you monk, I will not BEAR YOUR CHILD!”

 

Kagome smiled at their antics. `At least some things never change' she thought. She looked through the forest hoping to catch a glimpse of silver hair or red clothing. With no such luck she turned back to everyone else, and than jumped 5 feet into the air and let out a little yelp. Inuyasha was standing right in front of her.

 

“Feh, don't look so surprised wench. I just came back because I could smell the youkai just a little ways ahead. Knowing you you would have been so preoccupied with who knows what and would have ran right into it. So I was forced to come back to prevent that from happening.” Although he would never tell her, Inuyasha actually cared for Kagome a great deal. So to hide it he always remained gruff with her and kept her mad at him. Makes perfect sense, right?

 

Upon hearing what Inuyasha said both Sango and Miroku snapped to attention. Sango's hand went instinctively to her boomerang, comforted by its presence. Miroku grabbed his staff and looked at his wind tunnel, `hopefully I won't have to use you.' Kirara jumped out of Sango's hands and transformed into her bigger, and much more dangerous, form. And Shippo jumped down from Sango as well, but he was looking for the best plant to hide in if the battle required him to hide. So much for protecting Kagome. And Kagome grabbed her bow and arrows, ready to aide her friends with her magical powers.

 

“Are you all ready now?” asked Inuyasha, momentarily forgetting his petty dispute with Kagome. Everyone nodded their heads, so Inuyasha started walking in the direction of the youkai. In just a few minutes they entered a clearing and there before them stood the youkai. A smirk quickly crossed Inuyasha's face as he saw what they would be facing. It was nothing more than a squirrel. Granted, it looked a little different from a normal squirrel, but Inuyasha assumed its changes were because of the shikon shards imbedded in its forehead. (we all know what assuming does, right?) This squirrel stood about a foot high and had long, shaggy brown fur. Its eyes were blood red and it's ears were the size of small dinner plates. Other than that it looked like a mirror image of a squirrel, all the way down from the little paws to the big bushy tail.

 

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and grinned maliciously. “You guys can sit this one out. I believe that I am enough to take this little squirrelly.” And before anyone could abject, Inuyasha was running towards the squirrel with his claws ready to rip into flesh.

 

And just before Inuyasha reached it, the squirrel let one the most evil grins come across its face. When Miroku saw the squirrel's grin something clicked in his head, the same something that had been gnawing at his mind since he had laid eyes on the so called `squirrel.' Getting a firm grip on his staff he took off after Inuyasha, shouting to Kagome and Sango, “Hurry! Inuyasha is gonna need out help!”

 

As Sango and Kagome stared after the monk their attention was abruptly brought back to Inuyasha as he cursed in pain. Seven of his claws had been violently ripped off his hands and now both hands were oozing blood. And the squirrel, although they were now positive that this was no ordinary squirrel, kept standing still, the only indication that it had done anything to Inuyasha was the fact that its grin got wider and even more evil looking. Realizing that Miroku was right, Kagome and Sango grabbed their weapons and went to help their friends. Kirara ran after them, but Shippo had decided, after seeing Inuyasha's mangled claws, that this battle would require him to hide.

 

As Miroku, Kagome, Sango, and Kirara raced to assist Inuyasha, Miroku started yelling out instructions. “Do not, I repeat, DO NOT attack this youkai directly with your hands. Only use your weapons. Any part of your body that comes in contact with it will soon be turned into a bloody mess. Also, do not look at it directly in the eyes. Everyone who has ever made eye contact with it has sadly ceased to exist. Finally, if its ears start flapping, dive for cover immediately as it is getting ready to unleash a furious wind attack.”

 

As Sango ran to help Inuyasha she took in everything Miroku had said. `How,' she thought, `could something so small and ordinary looking contain so much power?' But she soon threw those thought out of her head and concentrated only on the battle ahead.

 

Inuyasha had heard everything Miroku said. He glanced at his hands which were now drenched in blood, shrugged, and than grabbed his sword, trying to ignore the pain that shot through him when he put pressure on his hands. As he drew his sword out of its scabbard, tetsusaiga transformed into its true form. Inuyasha swung and brought tetsusaiga down as hard as he could on the squirrel's head. However, the swing never made contact as suddenly a bright light flashed around the squirrel which caused Inuyasha to go flying backwards into a tree.

 

Sango saw Inuyasha fall, so she swung hiraikotsu and let it fly towards the youkai. But again, a bright light surrounded the youkai and the giant boomerang reversed direction and slammed into Sango, knocking her out in the process.

 

When Miroku saw Sango crumple to the ground he threw his staff on the ground and prepared to unleash his wind tunnel. But quicker than even Inuyasha could have anticipated the youkai twitched its ears and sent Miroku flying into a tree.

 

Kagome stared in awe as she watched all 3 of her friends fall at the hands of the tiny youkai. Kirara was by her side, determined to at least protect Kagome since she couldn't directly attack the youkai without getting severely injured. As Kagome watched Inuyasha slowly struggle to his feet she snapped out of her daze and prepared to fire an arrow. She pulled back the arrow and filled it with as much of her miko power as she could muster. She aimed at the youkai's sinister grin and let it fly. She and Inuyasha both watched the arrow soar through the air, making a beeline for the youkai. The youkai surrounded itself with its shield and waited patiently for the arrow to arrive. To the youkai's great surprise when the arrow came in contact with the shield it didn't reverse direction or even fall to the ground, it was actually pushing against the shield, attempting to pierce it. As the youkai stared at the struggling arrow it realized that it would lose this battle. So it did the last thing it could, it made eye contact with Kagome.

 

When Kagome felt the squirrel's eyes on her she forgot everything Miroku had said and looked back at the squirrel. When she made eye contact with it she immediately froze, unable to tear her gaze away from the squirrel's.

 

Inuyasha saw Kagome freeze, and when he saw that Kagome and the squirrel had made eye contact he took off at a dead sprint towards Kagome. Before he could reach her the squirrel's eyes flashed bright red for a split second, and than the arrow broke through the shield and pierced the squirrel right thought its evil grin, which had never once left the youkai's face.

 

When the squirrel's eyes flashed Kagome immediately felt her mind open up, but when the arrow pierced the youkai she felt immense pain and started falling towards the ground. Before she could hit the ground a pair of strong arms grabbed her. And the last thing Kagome heard before she let the darkness take her was someone frantically calling her name.