InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Journey ❯ 9 ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"What a handsome man!" The girl exclaimed, causing several others to
glance their way. Sango reddened. The girl continued her chattering. She
was obviously not married, indicated by her lack of a hat.
"Do you live near here? Do you have a wife? Would you consider me as
your girlfriend? I really think that my family would adore you!" The girl
kept prattering on and on. Poor Shif didn't know what to do. He looked
at Sango for help. Sango stopped the girl's nattering by dragging Shif
away.
"Just ignore her." Sango advised."I'll get you to the others."
"Thank you, my lady!" Shif said, obviously relieved. "Are any of your
friends like that?"
"No!" Sango said. "I wouldn't like all that prattering on......" Sango
shuddered. "I'll introduce you to my frends. They are all couples, so
no ideas!" Shif nodded solemnly. They finally arrived at the inn.
"I'm back!" Sango called. "And I have a friend!" That brought everyone
running. Miroku was the first to arrive. He looked shocked that Sango
had brought a man here. His mouth dropped open. Catching his look, Sango
said:
"It's okay, I'll explain when everyone's here." Sango took Miroku's
hand and gave it a squeeze. Staring into his eyes, she also smiled. Just
then, everyone arrived.
"Wha-?" Kagome asked. "I think that you better explain this Sango."
Sango sat down, and motioned for the others to do the same. Once everyone
was seated, she told them who and what Shif was. Once the tale was
told, everyone understood Sango and Shif's relationship, master to servent,
and that it couldn't harm Miroku's and Sango's in any way. Miroku was
very happy that Shif wasn't a threat, and treated him like a brother.
Shif was surprised. He knew that everyone knew that he was a youkai, and
he knew that his master was one as well. The humans of the group seemed
unawae of that though. Shif figured that they weren't like Sango, so he
said nothing, thinking that they'd kick them out of the group if he
said anthing. He kept his mouth shut and slept until the next morning.
The next day, everyone was anxious about the upcoming section of the
lands. They were to head into Western territory that day, and none knew
what to expect. You see, the Western Lands had once belonged to a
certain dog-demon who had had two sons. One, a full-bred dogdemon, the
second, a hanyou. It had been Inuyasha's father who had ruled the Western
Lands, but Sesshomaru ruled them now. He had banished Inuyasha from the
lands, so Inuyasha couldn't appear as anything but human. The others
would have to take care of him, he couldn't be seen. sesshomaru would have
his head for sure, and possibly his group members as well, even though
Kagome ahd aved Rin earlier from a nasty cold.(A/N: See last fic!) They
had no clue what to expect of the people, youkai, animals, climate,
etc. Sesshomaru never let anyone leave his lands, and he was very sure
that no news leaked out to anyone, ecspcially his half-brother. They
traveled as youkai for most of the day, and arrived at the first villag
e before sunset, in human form of course. Miroku requested rooms, and
asked for any news. No news was really worth anything to anyone who
hadn't lived here for thier entire lives. Miroku thanked the man, and they
headed up to their rooms.
"Kagome, could you read the next riddle?" Shippo asked excitedly.
Kagura and he were the only people without talismens.
"Okay Shippo!" Kagome said happily.
I am part of the land, but not really.
I am slaughtered for my beef, my furs, my everything.
I am many, but I am seen as one group.
Four feet, two, none,
Moose, deer, snake, alligator, elk,
I am all.
What am I?
That had everyone's head spinning. It was hard to keep their voices
down, and not call Inuyasha Inuyasha. They had decided to call him Matru,
a short version of Matruseiu, which means 'charade'*. Kagome and the
others only slipped a little, and not often. They eventually went to
sleep, deciding to move at first light and think more.
The next morning, Everyone was woken up, rather rudely, by Inuyasha.
"We have to get moving! I overheard something about how my brother is
collecting funny items! I heard talk about some untouchable objects, and
I think taht they're the talismen's! they were discovered at the
palace, whch mean we're going to have to sneak in there and get them out!"
"Hold on, Inuyasha!" Kagome said, yawning. "Start over?" Inuyasha did.
He explained about the talismen's and everything else he thought
relevent. Kagome listened silently, very surprised. When the others were
woken up and the story relayed to them the others were just as shocked.
"That's the ball game then, huh?" Shippo asked, using a phrase he'd
learned from Kagome.
"Not quite, Shippo." Nari said, speaking up for the first time in a
while. "I have a bit of a plan." Everyone listened intently while she
relayed her plan to them. Inuyasha looked thoughtfully at her when she
finished.
"It could work." he said quietly. "Would everyone be willing and able
to complete thier parts?" Everyone nodded.
"Then lets get to work!" Inuyasha cried. "We need the people to act the
parts. Miroku, you'll be the head. Sesshomaru hasn't really paid much
attention to you. Nari, Shif, Kagome, and Koga will go in. No touching!"
Inuyasha practically shouted this last part. "Got it!? Make it look
real, but not that much!" Everyone nodded."Kagome, demon, Koga, same. Shif
and Nari will pose as humans. Kagome, do you have that sewing kit
thingly you have? If not, then just borrow the town's things. Get some guazy
cloth and more solid ones for underneath the outfits. Does everyone
understand? The others and I shall await your signal. Got it? Shippo and
Kagura will be the only ones to sneak in after the signal. They need to
get the items then get out. Kagime, after you've found both of them,
get out. The same goes for any of you." Inuyasha studied them for a
moment. "Let's get working!" They set to work, grabbing materials and
carefully stitching the pieces of cloth together. they had to be care
ful, the village had very little of the cloth, and they couldn't
afford to waste any. Three days later, the outfits were finished. They were
stuck into Kagome's pack for safekeeping until they reached the castle.
The hardest part would be to stay in character and not drop their
disguises. The easiest thing would be to locate the talismen's. The castle
wasn't that big, the parts that were used anyway. Kagome and the others
should be able to get out in a matter of days, if they weren't executed
first.
* Matruseiu doesn't mean charade. Author made-up word.
*At Sesshomaru's Castle*
'Who are ye, and what do ye want with m'lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken
demanded of the strange band who had come to the castle door.
"I am a humble slave-trader. These are the slaves I'm selling. Would
your lord like to inspect my wares?" the slaver asked. He was a well-off
slave trader, obviously. The cloth he was wearing looked expensive. All
that guazy material!
"I may just buy them myself. M'lord may be busy. In fact, I think
m'lord is busy. I'll just purchase them all. How much for the youkai? The
humans?" Jaken knew a bargain when he saw one. Cat and wolf youkai were
supposed to be good at following orders, and humans weren't that bad at
it.
"Tweleve for the youkai, and nine for the humans." Jaken was surprised
at the low prices. Normally, youkai were much more expensive. Around
100 at least. Humans sold for around 50 if they were either good looking
or strong.
"Okay, I'll get you your 42 gold pieces." Jaken left the door, calling
over his shoulder. "Leave the slaves in the front hall and follow me."
The slaver did as requested, and breathed a small sigh of relief.
Part 1 is going very easily, Miroku thought, Inuyasha will be happy.
Chuckling, he followed after Jaken. All that was left was to collect the
money and hope that they'd be able to find the talismen's quickly, and
that they'd go unrecognized.
*Outside*
"What's taking that monk so long?!" Inuyasha demanded angerily. Miroku
had been gone for about an hour. It shouldn't take that long to sell
them. Inuyasha was on the verge of ordering Sango to go to get him. Sango
was on standby in case something happened, she would be the only other
unrecognized person. In all the time that Sesshomaru had been near
Sango, he hadn't paid her much attention. He wouldn't remember who she was
unless someone had introduced them.
"I'm back!" Miroku called out, walking up to them. He had tied the
small bag of money on his belt. "May I change into my normal clothes now?"
Miroku asked. He really hadn't liked the toad-demon that he had met at
the front door, and it had complimented him on his elaborate wardrobe.
Anything that it had liked, Miroku wanted to be rid of.
"Sure. Why? I thought that you liked those clothes?" Shippo
asked,smiling as innocently as a kitsune could.
"I met something at the door and it complimented me on my clothes. It
seemed vaugely familier........." Miroku voice trailed off. "Anyway, it
was warty and green. I never want to see it again. It looks like a
blown up frog that was trampled on and then stood on two legs. Do you know
of it Inuyasha?"
"Of course. It's Sesshomaru's little assistent, Jaken." Inuyasha stated
simply, not bothering to correct Miroku's description of Jaken. It was
being too kind to Jaken. Miroku went around some bushes to change so
that the girls wouldn't see him. He didn't really need to worry. Kagura
and Sango had cornered Kohaku and were asking him all about Nari.
Apparently Nari had talked about his marrige proposel to Sango who had leaked
it to Kagura. Sango had been dying to chat with her brother about it,
but there hadn't been time until now. Kagura and Sango were pelting him
with questions. You had to feel sorry for him.
"Why did you ask her?" Sango.
"Do you really have a crush on her?" Kagura.
"Okay, okay! Yes to both questions! Enough, I'll answer questions
later!" Sango and Kagura just looked solemnly at Kohaku for a minute, then
launched into another set of questions.
"How and when did you know that you liked her? When will you have the
wedding? Are we invited?" On and on the questions went. Kohaku had
stopped answering long ago. Clearly, no amount of pleading would get his
sister and Kagura off his back. Inuyasha, watching the procceedings,
finally put a stop to the questions by posing one of his own:
"Aren't we going to make camp? Where?" Everyone looked stunned for a
moment, not having thought of this before, then Shippo piped up.
"Why don't we stay near the stream? The bushes will probably hide up
unless someone really looks for us if we lay down."
"It's brillient!" Miroku declared. there were rocks and bushes all
around, protecting them from all but the best searches. It was decided.
They would sleep here, on the cold ground.
*Inside the Castle*
Jaken had shown them to their rooms. Kagome and Nari would sleep in the
girls bunkrooms, and the boys in theirs. There were seperate sections
for youkai and humans, but it wasn't a rule that they had to sleep on
the opposite sides of the room. Nari and Kagome got a bunk bed-one bed on
top of the other- to sleep on, and the boys managed to find one of
their own.
Kagome had spent a lot of time thinking. She might not be able to see
Inuyasha until a week from now. It might take even longer to be able to
find the talismen's, mark them, and get back out safely. Kagome felt
like crying, but Nari wasn't- Kagome would be able to smell her tears.
Kagome thought that she should be strong. Nari would break down if she
did, so she had to keep quiet. It was harder then she expected. She tried
to console herself with thoughts of how it would be easy to find the
talismen's, that all she had to was wait, but it wasn't working all that
well. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine where Inuyasha was now.
He'll be so happy when we get back together, all I have to do is keep
my chin up and find those talismen's fast. When she did, she couild run
back to her Inuyasha with open arms, and they'd be able to live
together forver as the rulers of the lands. Thinking those happy thoughts,
Kagome drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the slaves were awoken by a loud bell. The bell was
the signal to stand up and make your bed, to ready for inspection. Jaken
would come in everyday to both the bunkrooms and ascertain that the
slaves were ready for another day. He took Kagome, Koga, Nari, and Shif
aside, and explained to them, in a bored sounding voice, the rules and so
forth of their lives from this moment forward. He then gave everyone
thier assignments for the day. Koga and another guy whose name the group
didn't know got guard duty over some untouchable object. Kagmoe and
Nari had to help out in the kitchens, and Shif guarded over Sesshomaru for
the day, as one of his personal attendents. The group gasped inwardly.
They'd be able to find a tailsman so soon? They could hardly believe
their good fortune. The only problem was that the other guard would
probably tell Jaken about a kitsune and a wind-demoness sneaking in to grab
the object, whatever it was. They all knew that they'd have a ha
rd time finding the other object, and a hard time getting them out.
Koga, Shif, and the two girls parted, going their seperate ways, each
hoping for the best.