InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Journey ❯ 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The group got up the next day, and were all apparently aware of what
had transpired the previous night. Sango nad Kagome renewed their efforts
to push the two together, and were VERY successful. Not that either
Kohaku or Nari minded. Most of the trip was spent in silence, until Sango
requested that Kagome read the next clue. Kagome complied and read the
next riddle:
I have many mirrors,
About the size and shape of a fingernail,
I swim and can't breathe air,
If I did, I'd rot on the shore.
What am I?
No one, of course had any clue. Tiny mirrors? Can't breathe air? What
kind of animal or thing was it? They decided to stop at the next
village, which was close to the next border, about a two-day walk as humans,
half a days run as youkai.
Miroku, as usual, requested rooms for the night. They were granted
rooms, of course, on the condition that they catch their own food. The
supplies had been running short in the village lately. Apparently a
fish-youkai about the size of a man's eyes had been attacking people. The
youkai could talk, and was very scary to the villagers. the river was their
life, and all those who could move out had already. The remaining
villagers saw it as a matter of time before the youkai killed them all. The
group went aside.
"Who will go?" Shippo asked. Only one person could travel with any
degree of safety to the stream and back. If they all went, they'd be
noticed.
"I will." Inuyasha nad Koga said at the same time. They glared daggers
at each other, before Kagura pointed out the weak spot in their plan.
"No, you can't. You can't defend yourselves as humans. You can't
transform, either. What if a villager saw you?" Both boys looked rather
sheepish, and they figured that a human would have to go. Kagome and Kohaku
weren't good at catching anything; they had relied on Inuyasha and
Naraku for that. Nari had relied on her mom and her guards. That left:
Sango.
"Of course I'll go!" Sango said. "We need to eat after all." Secretly,
she was a little nervous. It appeared that this youkai was very
difficult to stop, the villagers described it as being extremely slimy so that
no one could touch it without the person's hands sliding off. There
would be no help for her if spotted. The youkai hadn't actually killed
anyone, just left them severly wounded. It had infected them with some
sort of poison that didn't let the wounds heal for about a month, and that
would seriously hinder their mission, if she aquired non-curable
wounds. Sango picked up her boomerang and changed into her exterminator gear.
It felt comfortable to be back in her old clothes.
"I'll see you soon!" Sango exclaimed with false cheerfulness. She
hugged each of her friends goodbye, and left for the stream.
Once there, Sango started to set up the net to catch fish. She was on
her knees when it felt like something hit her. She gasped for breath,
and saw pictures in her mind. Feelings came with the pictures
though.........
(A/N: These are the pictures and feelings until stated otherwise.)
Death, dying......... choking, no water, no air........... I flap my
gills, can't breathe....... help............... rope scratching
scales.......... Murky water, bloody now............ my scales flost around
me............. Blackness...............help........
Sango was weak from lack of air, but she managed to cut the ropes of
the net, letting the fish go free. Immedietly, the pain subsided, and a
fish-youkai's head popped up. Sango reached out to touch it, actually
making contact before realizing that this must be the youkai attacking
the villagers.
"Why.......are you here?" Sango wheezed, still recovering from her near
suffocation. She kept her hand on the youkai's head.
"I.......Will.......Ask...........You......The............Same" ; The
youkai wheezed as well. It seemed to have been choked, then thrown out of
it's enviorment. Sango took little notice. Her body had gone numb,
realizing what this meant. She and the youkai had experianced almost the
same thing. Everyone else had problems touching it, but she didn't. It's
scales shone...........exactly like mirrors.
"You..... are the youkai that has been attacking the........villagers,
correct?" Sango said, not yet fully recovered.
"They have........ slaugherted my......slaves. I have...... that
right........ to avenge my............slaves. Why can you.....touch me?
None.........of the others ever......could." The youkai was appaerently
getting over the suffocation as well.
"Yes, but they have no food. They need you, and you have many slaves.
Am I correct? Your slaves were all normal fish. I think........." Sango
stopped herself before finishing her thought.
"Yes...... My slaves were all normal. They would have died before their
eighth suummer. What do you think..... human?" The fish was very rude.
"I think that you are a talisman. Am I correct?" The fish nodded. Sango
didn't know how she'd known to ask the fish, but then she figured that
all creatures should know if they were or weren't a talisman.
"I am waiting for my youkai master. What's it to you human?"
"Do you know who I am?" Sango asked rising up before the youkai.
"A dead human." The youkai cried out gleefully. It's tounge flipped out
of its mouth and wrapped around Sango's ankle. Sango had time for a
moment of surprise before she was pulled under. Her body tried to save
her, morphing into a youkai form, and Sango managed to pry the tounge
loose from her ankle and swim up, but not before swallowing what felt like
half the stream. She cawled up on the bank, coughing and sputtering for
a few minutes. All she did was rest until she got her breath back. She
morphed back into human form, and noticed something odd. The youkai
wasn't on the warpath anymore. Instead, it's head was bowed in respect and
awe.
"What are you doing?" Sango asked. First it attacked her, then
worshipped her?
"I'm so sorry! I had no idea that you were my master!" The youkai
babbled on like that for a few moments, then Sango brought her hand up.
"Hold it! I know that you're my talisman, I wouldn't be able to touch
you then, but how did you figure it out? And what is your name?"
"I am called Shif. You were able to touch me, like you said, and you
transformed into a youkai. I need no more proof." Shif said contendedly.
"At least you didn't drown me. Could you join my group? Do you have a
human form?" Sango asked. She knew that most youkai who weren't at least
semi-human in appearence normally got human forms after a while. Their
600 birthday, to be exact.
"Yes. I got mine last year." With those words, Shif transformed into a
human. He was handsome in this form. He was tall, with sea-gray eyes
and a blonde hair color, like the sand on many beaches. His voice was
like the wind in conchshells, beautiful, poetic, and stunnigly musical. He
was a very handsome guy, and his facial expressions always showed up on
his face.
"My lady." Shif said, bowing respectfully.
"Enough of that! We have to catch fish so that my group and I will have
food and a place to stay!" Sango exclaimed. Shif looked at her
quizzacally.
"The local inn offered us rooms in return for more food." Sango
explained. "Come on, we must catch something else now. Is there much game in
the area? Many creatures would rather not live in this ungodly heat, but
I'm sure there must be some animals around?" Sango asked, her eyes
hopeful.
"I know some rabbits that I'd be happy to escort you to, my lady." Shif
turned and started leading her to the rabbit hole. "Here is where they
reside."
"Thank you. I'll take it from here." Sango quickly dispatched of the
rabbits. She placed them in a sack meant for carrying fish-the reason she
started out, remember?- and headed back, motioning for Shif to follow.
He did with a polite bow.
I really must get him out of that habit....... Sango thought to
herself, hoping no one would see Shif as a youkai when they reached the
village. They passed some people without incident, but one woman looked up,
and stared in shock.
"What.......?" she asked. Sango stiffed, preparing for the explosion
that was sure to come. It came, all right, but not in the way she
expected.
A/N: Reviews=Chappies!