InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Broken Horn ❯ My Favorite Place ( Chapter 5 )

AN: Another update?? In the same month…? No…I don't think you're the only crazy here…

 

 

The Broken Horn

 

Chapter 5

My Favorite Place

 

 

 

Zephlin - a city full of life, lights, and tall buildings. It was famous for its growing fondness for technology. Nicknamed the Electric City, Zephlin was the place where all mobile phones, computers, and all gadget-related technology came from. But most of all, Zephlin was literally a city of lights. Many towering buildings had large electronic billboards, flashing commercials and the like, and streets were constantly illuminated. As for the fashion, the people of Zephlin wore semi-tight clothing and basically, the funkier the style and the brighter the colors, the trendier you were.

Walking down the busy street, Kagome watched the people around her. Many had bright-colored hair, carrying flashy handbags and were chattering animatedly into their cell phones. Vendors sat along the sidewalk, selling jewelry and many other odd little trinkets. Across from them were department stores, mostly ones that sold clothes and electronics. The cars that filled the streets were electric cars, sleek and curvy. Kagome looked excitedly around her. It was like a Neo-Tokyo fast forward a couple of decades.

“Zephlin is actually one of the few cities that doesn't have some sort of station or headquarters for the military,” Inuyasha said. Occasionally, he would feed her some tidbits of information about the bustling place. “The Zephlin officials wouldn't let them so they had to settle in a smaller city that's pretty near here.”

“Why?”

“No room, and the officials refused to knock down any of their buildings in the areas that the military wanted. That's the `official' reason but everyone knows that the real reason is that they hated the military's uniforms. Said they were too ugly and it would be disgraceful to see people walking in those uniforms in Zephlin's streets.”

Kagome raised an eyebrow. “That's rather superficial.”

“That's Zephlin for ya.”

They turned at the corner and down the street was a large and busy marketplace.

Inuyasha gestured to the café next to them and told Kagome, “Hang around here for a while. I'm going to get some stuff and I'll be right back. Don't wander off.”

He left her and once he entered the marketplace, he pulled out the list Charlotte gave him and his flip phone. He dialed and held the phone to his ear with one hand while he looked for radishes.

When he spotted them, the other line picked up. “So how's the date going?” It was Toji, in an annoyingly playful tone.

“I'm getting the stuff for Charlotte,” Inuyasha said, ignoring Toji's question. “I need someone to come down here to pick it up. I'm in the Jouza marketplace.” Not waiting for a response, Inuyasha immediately hung up.

He quickly went through the long list, thinking if he was not hasty, Kagome would get bored and go off on her own. He was picking out plums, the last thing on his list, when he noticed a teen with bright green hair and piercing on his nose, eyebrows, and ears, standing near an ice cream stall was giving him a toothy grin. Inuyasha dumped the plums into a plastic bag and paid for them. He then collected all of his things and approached the green-haired boy.

“I think I look dashing, don't you?” the boy said.

Inuyasha stared at Chiaki. “Compared to what?”

Chiaki grinned and was just opening his mouth when Inuyasha shoved the bags of food into his arms.

“It's not a date,” he snapped. He turned on his heel and left, muttering incoherently.

When he reached the café, he saw that he had guessed right seeing that Kagome was leaving. He caught her arm. “Where do you think you're going?”

She looked at him innocently. “I was going to go look for you.”

He gave her a brief wry smile. “Nice.”

She pulled her arm away from him. “Well, you were taking too long.”

“I was in there for like, twenty minutes,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Come on, I'm getting bored. Take me someplace interesting.”

“Fine,” he said flatly. He turned around and immediately twisted his face in the most disgusted expression he could make. This day had better go by fast…

Kagome walked quickly to his side. “You know, you're a lot more famous than I thought you'd be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, while I was in the café, there was this guy telling stories. What did he call them…oh! `The grand adventures of the heroic Inuyasha and his loyal crew'!” She said in a mocking tone.

“Was it an old guy? Curly white hair? Big ugly nose? Yeah, he's a loon. Don't ever believe a thing he says.”

“Well, that kind of explains it,” Kagome said thoughtfully. “'Heroic' is a hardly the word that describes you. So I suppose that you didn't kill the wailing cat demon, Eera, with only one hand?”

Inuyasha snorted. “Finished her off with one shot of my gun.”

“Did you protect a village from a group of evil shinigami who were trying to steal the village's treasure?”

He gave her a confused look. “Huh? Where did he get…Oh! No! That senile bastard…There were just a group of cricket demons and they were trying to steal my ship's food. And shinigami just regulate the dead; stealing treasure doesn't benefit them at all.”

“Well, how about being nearly seduced by a beautiful necromancer but then your loyal and invincible crew saved you and finished off the evil necromancer in…what was it…oh, vengeance.”

“Uh, noo…it was Miroku who was being seduced until I knocked him out with the butt of my gun.”

“And the necromancer?”

“We tied her up and threw her into this underground temple that's supposedly cursed.”

“Did she die?”

Inuyasha shrugged. “Haven't seen her since.”

“Okay, what about being enchanted by a demon and then running into a gay strip club with only a towel on?”

“Hey!” Inuyasha snapped. “You wanna get somewhere interesting fast, then stop asking me questions and slowing me down.” He turned and stalked away.

Kagome blinked. What was he getting all testy about? She only made that one up…Kagome sighed and hurried after the fuming hanyou.

----

The Higurashi Shrine was quiet and serene as Tetsuya walked up its steps. Hefting the books in his arms in a more comfortable position, he approached the house and knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a weary - looking Mrs. Higurashi.

“Mihara!” She said, surprised. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

“Sorry for coming here so suddenly.” Tetsuya frowned in concern. “Is something the matter?”

“Oh no, no, of course not,” Mrs. Higurashi rushed. “I didn't sleep well last night so um…what brings you here, Mihara?”

“Ah, well, I just brought some books that Kagome wanted to borrow. Um, is it all right if I see her?”

“Oh…um…” She began to look troubled.

“Did something happen? Is she sick? Did she collapse?” Tetsuya said in a worried tone. “I told her to take it easy -“

“Mihara, calm down,” she said. “Kagome's…” Mrs. Higurashi paused, unsure whether she should tell him. She looked at him again. When she saw the genuine worry in his face, she let out a heavy sigh. “Mihara, why don't you come in? There's something I think you need to know.”

----

He took her every place interesting he could think of. He took her to Methpor Plaza, Zephlin's most popular shopping area. Then they went to the roof of Zephlin's tallest skyscraper where Kagome practically screamed at him when he pretended to fall off. He got a pretty good laugh out of that until she clocked him over the head with one of her heavy shopping bags. In the end, he brought her to Zephlin's famous Blossom Park, which was located in the middle of the city. It was known for its many blossoming trees, cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, and basically all the blossoms that existed.

With two ice cream cones in both of his hands, Inuyasha walked over to the bench that Kagome was sitting on. He handed her one before sitting down, stretching out leisurely with one arm hanging lazily over the back of the bench.

Kagome licked her strawberry-vanilla ice cream. “You know, this park is awfully clean,” she commented. “Not to mention, it seems a little out of place in this electronic-modern city.”

“Well, Zephlin is obviously a very techy like place so you probably noticed that there isn't a lot of nature-like stuff on the streets. This park is the only place that's full of, you know, nature, so the people here try very hard to preserve it. It's like a 30,000 yuro fine if you litter.”

“Yuro?”

“It's the equivalent of yen in your world.”

Kagome frowned slightly as she looked back to her ice cream. “You know, in some ways, this world is a lot like mine.”

Inuyasha shrugged. “I never said it would be completely different. But when I went over to your world, I saw that there were a lot of major differences.”

“Like what?”

“For one thing, you guys don't have Undead things, Hollows, and wild demons running around.”

She turned to look at him. “You know, I never really understood this whole exorcism thing. Why don't you explain it to me?”

“What?” he said in a reluctant tone. “It's long and complicated, and I don't really -“

“You promised you'd answer any question I ask.”

He gave her a strained look. “Fine,” he said. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, first off, what's a Hollow?”

Ha, easy question. “Hollows are basically fallen souls. You see, there're two types of souls. There are the normal spirits - which we usually call ghosts. Then there are Hollows which basically evil spirits. They attack the living and the dead indiscriminately and eat their souls. They usually take form of monsters with white masks, and they have a hole in their chests because they've lost their hearts.”

Kagome gave him a skeptical look, wondering if he was adding unnecessary details in attempts to scare her. She began eating her cone and said, “I see, so people like you get rid of them?”

“Basically, but not everyone can see a Hollow, only people with a lot of spiritual pressure - or power can. Like I can see them, which is a given because I'm half-demon. Daisuke can; also a given since he's somewhat of a shinigami, and Miroku. Chiaki and Shun can kind of see them; it's more of a blur for them. But yeah, only certain exorcists can deal with them and some people in the Holy Orders - which is basically a department of the Church that specializes in what I deal with: Undead, Hollows, and unruly demons. But Hollows are usually the shinigami's job. Anything that involves spirits and Hollows involves shinigami.”

“So what do the shinigami do exactly?”

“For the good spirits, they perform this thing called `konsou', which is sort of like a soul funeral that sends them to the Soul Realm - it's a place where souls hang out `til they die a final Death. For Hollows, shinigami kill them with swords called zankpatou.”

“And you categorize them?”

“Oh, well, I don't know if anyone else does that. We only do that so we know what we're up against. There are five levels and you can usually tell what level they are by their masks.”

“Ooh,” Kagome said, understanding. “That clears up a lot of things. Well, what about demons? Will the cleric people actually go after you and try to kill you?”

“The people who go after demons are the demon bounty hunters and the Church. If a certain Order wants to exorcise a demon, they have to get clearance first.”

“Clearance? From who?”

Inuyasha popped the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth. After he chewed enough of it to speak, he said, “The higher echelons of the Church. This society consists of both humans and demons. If some Order kills off some innocent demon, they'll get in trouble for that. But, most of the demons that screw around are the much weaker kinds with half-developed minds and no common sense. They mostly live by instinct so they pretty much attack indiscriminately. And bounty hunters don't need clearance because the demons they're after are already on the `wanted' list so it all works out in the end.”

“It seems like when you add everything up, this world is pretty dangerous.”

“Not really, depends on where you go. This world has its perks. To be honest, I'd rather be here than in your world.” He glanced at her. “Any more questions, princess?”

Kagome nibbled on her cone as she thought. She pulled up her legs onto the bench and smoothed out her skirt so it covered her knees. Her eyes were then suddenly drawn to the trinket that hung around Inuyasha's neck.

“That's an interesting looking pocket watch,” she pointed out.

Inuyasha looked down at the odd-looking thing. “This old thing? Doesn't even work.”

“Then why you do still carry it around with you?”

He shrugged. “It was a gift.” End of discussion.

Kagome sighed and pulled her legs up onto the bench. “You know, sometimes, I find it very hard to figure you out.”

He looked at her at the corner of his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when I first met you, you were - well, now I see you as conniving and deceitful but then, you seemed like a clever, smooth-talker. Then afterwards, you became this loud, pompous jerk and then…and then, you do something like this,” she said, implying this outing.

Inuyasha stared nonchalantly at the crystal blue lake far in front of them. “I'll be whatever I want to get what I want,” he replied lightly.

Kagome turned her gaze away from him and said softly, “Apparently so.”

Inuyasha's jaw twitched; he needed a change of subject. “So,” he said in a fake hearty tone, “of all the places we've been to, which one's your favorite?”

“My favorite place?” Kagome looked thoughtful. “I don't know…”

“You don't know? Puh-lease, there's gotta be at least one spot that you really liked.”

“Well, looking down from the roof of that skyscraper was nice. Seeing all those lights from so high up - it was a nice treat for the eyes. And this park is really pretty too, not to mention it smells wonderful.” She turned her head to look at him. “What's your favorite place?”

He gave her a slightly surprised look. “My favorite place in Zephlin? Oh, I don't really have a -“

“Nuh-uh. If you think that I have to have a favorite spot, then you got to have one too.”

Inuyasha's lip quirked. He stayed quiet for a short moment as he thought.

“Is it a place we've already gone to?” she asked.

He looked back at her with a hint of a smile. “Finish up your ice cream and then I'll take you there.”

----

Daisuke yawned and stretched his arms as he walked up to the deck from below with Nina close on his heels.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”

Toji, who had spoken, tossed a small ball to Laurence who was all the way on the other end of the ship. Daisuke looked around him and noted that they were anchored since the ship was not moving.

“You know, I know you sleep a lot and I know you probably been told this before, but recently, you've been sleeping a whole lot more than usual. Is something the matter?” Toji asked as he caught the ball Laurence had tossed back.

Daisuke shrugged. “I just felt adding a couple more hours to my naps, that's all. Where are we?” he asked.

“About a mile off from Zephlin.”

He looked at Toji confused. “Why?”

Toji threw the ball again. “Inuyasha took the little miss out for a little sightseeing.”

“Ah.”

Daisuke slowly walked to the side of the ship and folded his arms on top of the wooden rim. He closed his eyes and relaxed in the soft ocean breeze. He tried to reflect on the dream he had just woken up from when he felt a very faint negative wave pulse from the direction of the city. He frowned and opened his eyes. The city looked normal, with its bright lights flashing. But then from his side, Nina began to growl. The hair on the back of her neck rose and her lip curled up to reveal nasty-sharp teeth.

Daisuke softly shushed her and placed his hand on top of her head. He closed his eyes again and honed his senses to make sure what he felt wasn't a false alarm. He then heard Toji speak up from behind him.

“What is it?”

Daisuke didn't answer as opened his eyes again and his frown grew deeper. He knew what this aura meant but something familiar about it was bugging him - suddenly, his eyes widened and he turned on his heel, and headed toward the Control Room.

“Get everyone to the Control Room,” he ordered in a “don't ask questions, just do it” tone. “Now.”

-----

“Iced pearl tea drinks! Get your pearl tea drinks! Freshly made and absolutely delicious!” the boy shouted, standing next to his drink stall. He had just finished making one and he placed it along side of the others. “Get your pearl tea drinks!”

He spot a couple past him and he stopped the white-haired young man, and asked, “Excuse me, sir, would you like a freshly made pearl tea drink for you and your ladyfriend?” He secretly eyed the girl and noted that she was exceptionally pretty.

The young man held his hand up to decline the offer and continued to walk down the street with the girl along side of him.

“Excuse me.”

The boy turned around and his face brightened at the sight of a customer.

“Hello!” he said in a cheery tone. “Which favor would you like?” He turned to the row of drinks that he had lined up. “We have -“ The boy stared and blinked. He suddenly looked around with an expression of bewilderment on his face.

One of the pearl tea drinks was missing.

----

Inuyasha took a sip from the cup using the extra wide straw. He held the melon pearl tea drink out to Kagome. “Want some?” he asked.

Kagome blinked in surprise. “Where did you get -“ she looked disapprovingly at him. “Did you steal it?”

“Hey, do you want it or not?”

After a couple moments of thought, Kagome plucked the cup out of his hands and took a sip from it herself. Before long, she found herself following Inuyasha down alleys. The clean, silver buildings began to disappear and in their place stood shorter, shabbier and gloomier buildings.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“We're in the slums of Zephlin - or what used to be.”

It sure looked like a “used to be”. There were no signs of any life in the any of the buildings and the atmosphere seemed a little dreary. Most of the buildings themselves seemed dirty and drab. The sun still shone through, creating soft spotlights throughout the area that gave off earthy warmth. Then they stopped walking.

Kagome looked up and saw what seemed to be a run-down church. Its large circular stained glass rose window above the doors was dirty and had some missing pieces. Dirt wedged itself between the intricate patterns that ran across the wall and along the doorframe of the double doors. The doors themselves had a special design and seemed to be made of a heavy metal.

She was instantly reminded of the cathedrals that she had seen during her family trip to Europe. Souta, who was only five at the time, burst into tears when he found out that it wasn't a hunchback who was ringing the bells of the Notre Dame cathedral, but just an ordinary monk. Kagome smiled as she remembered Souta's cries, amplified by the large cathedral for all of the tourists to hear, and how her mother and she had tried to calm Souta down while they hurried out. Once they exited, Kagome couldn't help but burst out in laughter and her mother and grandfather soon joined her while Souta smiled, embarrassed.

An ache started to grow within her chest. She had left without even leaving a note and she was starting to regret her decision to leave home. How was her family? She knew they must be extremely worried about her. And what about her grandfather? Was he okay? Did he leave the hospital all right? Was Souta sleeping okay? She knew that he wouldn't sleep well for many days without at least one story being told to him. What about her mother? She must have so many more things to do now, having to take over Kagome's responsibilities over the shrine and the house along with her own.

Kagome's fist clenched. How could she be so selfish?

“Hey, are you coming or what?”

Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha had opened one of the church's double doors. He disappeared behind the door and with a sigh she quickly followed after him.

There were two rows of stained glass windows on both of the walls and in front of them were pillars of gray stone and wooden pews that ran further down into the church. Above, simple, black, iron chandeliers hung candle-less from the rafters. As Kagome walked down the aisle between the rows of pews, she saw the pews that were closest to the end of the church were broken and the front row of pews were shattered into wooden pieces. Against the back stone wall hung a plain dark wooden cross. Next to it on both sides were maroon banners with ripped ends. Before the cross was a small stone altar and in front it were missing floorboards. In their stead was a flowerbed of white and yellow flowers. Right next to the bed, that section of the wall had collapsed and all that remained was a high rubble of gray rock and blocks of the stone pillars. The part of the ceiling above the collapsed wall was gone and its remains were scattered among the pile of rock. Warm sunbeams poured through from the hole in the ceiling, the flowers soaking in the light. Despite its many imperfections, the church seemed to radiate beauty.

Then it struck her. All the while she was here in Zephlin, she had not spotted one church.

In front of her, Inuyasha inhaled deeply and took a seat on one of the fallen pillars.

“Is this the only church here?” she asked him.

He thought for a moment. “Of what I've seen of Zephlin, yeah.”

“That's a bit strange,” she commented. “This is the city's only church and it's practically in shambles.”

“Zephlin used to be a religious city,” Inuyasha said as he lifted his head and slowly looked around the church. “It used to be full of churches and that sort. But back then, for some reason, the city slowly began to be infested with Undead and demons. Then, I think it was about 40 years ago, the Shinigami and the Church made a pact and to start off their new partnership they started the project to clean out Zephlin. When they came, they realized that they had underestimated how infested the city was so cleaning it out took longer than expected. Battles were violent and people were getting killed. Even creatures that never bothered anyone came out and attacked.

“Civilians then started to take shelter in their churches, praying for protection. But churches were getting destroyed, sometimes during the midst of battles. It came to the point where this church was the only one left and the remaining civilians hid here. What was weird was that incomplete as it was,” Inuyasha gestured to the rubble behind him, “everyone who stayed in here stayed unhurt. No demon or Undead creature could enter or even touch the church. After the city was cleaned out, the church was revered and plans were made to rebuild it. But then Zephlin became wrapped up in technology and just as quickly the church was forgotten. This neighborhood turned into unoccupied slums and this church along with this area was abandoned.”

“And then Zephlin rebuilt itself and turned into a city of technological advancement,” Kagome finished for him softly.

Inuyasha shrugged. “Yeah, that's basically it.”

It was a bit of a pity, really. If this church were to be rebuilt, it would have turned out really nice. Kagome put down her shopping bags and twiddled with ends of her hair as she gazed at the stained glass windows.

“Hey, you know,” she said suddenly. “You never told me what you needed my help for.”

Inuyasha groaned. “Still on that, are we?”

“You have to tell me some time. Really, what is it?”

“I'm looking for something.”

Kagome raised her eyebrows.

“Fine, okay. I'm looking for this thing called the Shikon Jewel.”

She frowned, never having heard of it. “What is it?”

There was a gleam in eye. “It's the ultimate treasure.”

“Hmph, so there is some pirate in you,” she said, feigning an accusing tone.

“I like to use the term `treasure hunter'. And it's a different kind of treasure,” he said idly. “It's not the gold and silver type that you're thinking.”

“So then what kind of treasure is it?”

He paused. “…I'm not sure yet.”

Kagome deadpanned. “You're kidding me.”

“Well, a lot of people are looking for it,” Inuyasha said defensively. “So that probably means it has a lot of value.”

“So then what? I'm supposed to help you find it?”

He grinned. “Bingo.”

“And how does that work? I don't even know what the thing looks like!”

“I don't know either. But, we'll figure it out when we get there.”

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly. “You seem to be going out on a limb here.”

“Not exactly. Remember, I told you that I didn't think our meeting was by chance? It wasn't. The device that I used to get to your world led me to you.”

“Maybe you made a mistake,” she countered.

“Doubt it. The instructions on the device were decrypted by my boys, and my boys don't make mistakes.”

Kagome fidgeted. “I get the feeling that you don't really know what you're doing.”

Inuyasha frowned at her. “Hey, it's not like we picked you up and then decided to go look for the jewel. We've been collecting information and a whole lot of other things beforehand. Now just happened to be the best time to go and find you.”

“So, truthfully,” she said slowly, “You don't know specifically what I need to do to help you.”

“Nope.” He eyed her strangely. “Isn't that a good thing for you? Until then, you can now spend your time having fun instead of doing work.”

“I-I…guess so…”

But it was still very weird. He wasn't even sure what was it that he needed her to do for him and he didn't even know exactly what he was looking for. But even after all of that, he didn't seem very worried about it, which was what bothered her the most. She doubted it had anything to do with him trusting her; it appeared more to be his reliance and confidence in his crew. It made sense after all since a ship wouldn't truly be able to go anywhere if the captain didn't trust his crew.

She took a sip of her pearl tea and thought quietly, sorting through her thoughts. Then it occurred to her that she had a question that had been nagging to be asked. “Inuyasha?” she finally said.

“What?”

“Why are you an exorcist?”

Her question caught him off guard. “What?”

She sat down on a slab of rock in front of him. “Why did you decide to be an exorcist?”

He paused. “It's what I'm good at.”

“Is that it?” she asked with a skeptical look. “To be honest, you're strange assortment of things. You're a pirate, but you don't steal from people. You're a hanyou but you exorcise demons, something that's half of who you are. It's hard for me to believe that you don't have some sort of motivation for doing what you do.”

Inuyasha said nothing at first. He just stared at the floorboards, contemplating his answer.

After a long silence, he said in a quiet voice, “My mother was once part of a Holy Order - well, she wasn't a nun, she was just…special and the Church took her in. Specifically the Midoriko Order, which is one of the biggest Holy Orders around. Then…she fell in love, left the Order, and had me. I was still young when my mom died. When I came back to become part of the Order they wouldn't take me in. My mother was no longer there to support me so, then I was just a hanyou that they could close their doors to - and that's what they did. Because I was part demon, they didn't think I was capable of exorcising demons, or of anything. The fact that my mom ran off with a demon didn't exactly give me a good head start and being a creation of their relationship, the echelons of the Midoriko Order aren't exactly fond of me.”

“And then what?” Kagome said. “You pulled together a crew and now you're exorcising things to show them that you're better?”

He shrugged. “It's working. For most of the missions that they get sent to, I just get there before they do, do the job quick and clean, and down the drain of embarrassment they go. I'm a hanyou that they kicked out and now that I'm beating them at their own game, it doesn't make them feel so good.”

“What are you going to do afterwards? Are you just planning for them to admit that they're wrong, go on their knees and beg for your forgiveness?”

Inuyasha's gaze hardened before looking away. “It's more than that.”

Kagome gave back a hard look but decided to drop the question. “So what about the crew? Why did they decide to tag around with you?”

He shrugged. “They got their own personal reasons. Ask them if you want to know.”

She frowned. She had got him to talk a little and now he was distancing himself back.

Kagome sighed softly. She stood up and handed him what was left of the drink. He took it without looking up. Biting her bottom lip, she turned away and approached the flowerbed.

“Who tends to these flowers?” she asked.

“Don't know. Every time I come around here, the flowers look the same but I never see anyone around.”

Kagome smiled to herself. It was kind of a neat thought that maybe someone here remembered this church and would come every once in awhile to care for the flowers; or maybe even that there was something about this church that kept the flowers thriving.

“So…this is your favorite place?” she asked.

“…Yeah.”

It made sense, didn't it? He was hanyou, a creation of two very different beings. He had gone back to where his mother has been taken care of and he had been rejected. And now, this place that kept out evils even at the worst hours opened its doors to him. It made sense if this church was one of the few places where he felt that he belonged.

Kagome stared at the flowers, watching them glow under their warm spotlight.

She turned around and smiled at Inuyasha. “It's my favorite place too.”

He gazed back at her with an unreadable expression before looking away to the floorboards. Then a humming sound broke through the peaceful atmosphere. Inuyasha dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his vibrating mobile phone.

He flipped it open. “Yeah?”

It was faint but Kagome was able to recognize Toji's voice. The playfulness was gone from his voice; his tone was serious.

“I got bad news for you, bro.”

 

AN: I haven't been asked any questions so I hope I'm right to assume that everyone is following the story well so far?

Ah yes, and there's something that I just want to clear up. First off, I don't know if my disclaimer wasn't that clear in the first chapter, but what I was trying to say was...Well, The Broken Horn is basically made up of many elements, each from different sources, stories, or what have you. Hence, the metal arm thing being from Fullmetal Alchemist and also, I don't know the extent as to how much you guys know about the series but the government system in BH will be pretty much based off of the one in Fullmetal. Then through the progression of this story, you'll probably notice some of the elements of it are from other stories. That's why in the beginning I already doubted the originality of the story itself.

This story, in my opinion, is sort of like a melting pot of pieces and tidbits of many stories (but I disclaimed it so I hope that's okay then...>.<) along with some hopefully original ideas (that are actually my own ideas >.<). So when people say, "Oh my god! This is totally original!!" I cringe because it's not particularly true and I then know that people aren't reading my author's notes very carefully. So please read them. They're not always full of gibberish and nonsense.