InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strawberry Gummies ❯ Beetle This ( Chapter 2 )

         Climbing with renewed vigor, the sun a few fingers high in the sky, Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippo reunited. She did not, as expected, see Inuyasha but she noticed Sango fiddling with her mouth. The clouds churned pregnant with rain. The mountains boomed as they moved inside. The night before Miroku had bartered comfortable beds.

"I smelled everything," Shippo said having performed as stand in "demon nose."

         It began to pour. They laid the food out on a blanket and redistributed it; it never paid to have provisions in a single pack. They would be stuck sitting out the storm, which had blown over from the far side of the mountains. Kagome sighed inwardly. The day was little more than the smell of blood and rain today in a time before Saturday had been invented.

"Focus on your breathing," Miroku said. There was a crack of thunder. Not for the first time she resisted the urge to peek at him. Or check her hair for rocks. Or sneeze. "Meditation is power over the mind."

         Several hundred years later Sango and Shippo returned with wet wood. There were review sessions. She and Sango paired off for drills and exercises while Miroku oversaw Shippo at the lip of the cave. They lost about half of the wood to foxfire but the rest was dried. Soon they sat around boiling water and a cheerful fire, breaking for tea.

"Kagome?"

"What Shippo?"

"Can I have some gummies?"

"No."

"Why?" Because we don't have any more.

"No Shippo."

"But I was so good," he whined. "I was so good. Ask Sango how good I was."

"I'm sure you were very good." 

         He tried sulking but was soon distracted by trying to transform himself into a beetle he'd found. It was a new habit, one he'd cultivated to annoy Inuyasha.

"Very good Shippo," Sango encouraged. "Focus on your outline," Miroku supplied.

The grinning figure had gone lopsided and started to droop.

-- 

 Although he'd meant to make it in one it was two stormy days before Inuyasha returned to camp.

"Damn wind." It hurt his ears.

"Damn rain." It covered their scent. 

"Fucking Shippo." Again with the beetle.  

         Once Inuyasha was fed the group geared up and cleared the site. The sky was quiet and gray. Tiny droplets streaked human figures, smearing hair and eyelashes. Sango hummed and Miroku joined in. They shared a smile. This was not unlike the appreciation training they'd endured for their vocations. The light faded as they reached the mountains bottom, surrounded by pines, coming out north. The Manor grounds would be clear and it wasn't far, but navigating in the dark could turn an hour into four.

"We can skirt the edge and head towards the light."

Inuyasha sneezed. He noticed Miroku was favoring his right ankle. Human eyes were useless. 

"I should get you guys headlamps," Kagome murmured as Sango stumbled next to her, grabbing her arm. They interlaced their hands in the dark.

"We can always camp. Start a fire." Sango carried a chord of dry wood. 

Inuyasha agreed. "Maybe we can find the shard in the forest; forget the manor." The less human bullshit he had to deal with the better. Before long all were seated, or leaning. They got out the tarps. 

Kagome went down to a stream the next morning to find Sango ahead of her, hands in her mouth.

"Sango?"

"Mhm."

"Are you alright?"

"Mouf just hurts." She gifted Sango a toothbrush on the spot. 

  Back at camp Kagome worried as she dressed, hopefully Sango was alright, hopefully they wouldn't have to attempt dental surgery in the fedual era. Miroku, Kagome, and Inuyasha walked the path to the manor, posing as respectable. Kagome in plain robes, Inuyasha in red. Isolated by Eastern mountains they were at the throat of the West Land. Naroku had unitied portions of humanity but this was not so in the demon world. Attitudes notable more uniform towards demon hunters however. Not in the mood for a scene, Sango volunteered to stay behind with the kit.