InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Lost and The Found ❯ Which Way to the Waterhole? ( Chapter 2 )

“Feh, feh, FEH! It'd be worth this stupid trouble if we would've gotten the shard! Instead, I'm covered in SNOT! Dammit! I just washed this thing!,” Inuyasha barked in frustration pulling the green goo off his haori, trying not to freak out.

“The battle was a torturous one, I must admit,” Miroku added coyly.

“Yo, what the freakin' hell are ya talking about, ya pervert! Don't think I didn't see you turn tail, you lousy-good-fer-nothin'-unholy hentai!”

“No need for such inappropriate language, InuYasha. In the future, I will use my Kazaana if that makes you feel better,” the monk answered with a hint of sarcasm, at the same time trying to look innocent.

“We lost the shard and you're the only one clean!,” Kagome cried out, all covered with the odorous slime. “Yuck! I got some in my mouth! Yuck!,” she complained, squeamishly.

“I have to agree with Kagome-chan and InuYasha, Houshi-sama. You headed for the safety of the rocks leaving us having to deal with those….things…Oh, Kagome-chan, I hope you have more of that CHAM-PU?,” tears build up in the Exterminator's eyes as she vigorously strived to squeeze the slime out her ponytail. It was too thick and sticky, to her dismay. “NOOOOOO! This atrocity cannot be happening to me!,” she wailed in panicked frustration.

“Well, get in line, Sister! I, have first dibs on the CHAM-PU and the Conditioner,” Inuyasha laid claim by pointing his thumb at himself and making his voice sound like screeching glass. Sango simply glared at him with pursed lips; then tossed her head back to ignore him. Unfortunately for Miroku, she had flicked some of the slimey substance onto his robe and face.

“Gross! Watch where you throw that thing!,” he protested, trying to clean his robe off a bit, but to no avail. “Damn! Damn! DAMN!”

“ Good! That is for being so crafty. Anyway, no one told you to sit behind me,” Sango stated, raising her nose up in the air.

“This is disgusting! I've never felt so dirty!,” cried Shippou fighting with the goo. Kirara just sat patiently on her Mistress' lap. The small fire-cat knew it was no use. She would have to try to bare the horrible stench the slime emitted.

They were so close to obtaining the shard. It was a BIG one! But, the battle was gruesome. The monsters were flinging pieces of themselves all over the place. Disgusting, disgusting!!, Kagome thought. There was a moment when InuYasha was in midair in a futile attempt to use his Kaze no Kizu attack, instead, he was rendered to the ground by a huge glop of mucus, which there seemed to be an endless supply of. To their disgruntlement, the stuff just kept on coming—and coming. There seemed to be no end to this madness of pure-- evil? Kagome found no proper way to better define what happened to them.

Shippou kept shaking his head, hoping to dispell the memories of his terrible ordeal with one of the beasts; it swallowed him-- literally. He desperately tried using his foxfire to burn a hole into the youkai in order to effect his escape. However, his attack only gave the monster a bit of heart-burn. Kagome, on the other hand, had seen everything. To witness Shippou struggling for dear life, gagging on the demon's snotty fluid, was most excruciating. It was horrible to watch Shippou being slowly digested since the creature was totally transparent. She decided she could not take anymore; so she did the best thing she could think of. Kagome loaded her bow with one of her trusty arrows, purified it, and sent the thing soaring right into the monster's gelatine-like heart-- violently, blowing it to pieces, freeing little Shippou from its deadly hold.

The demon's remains were splattered all over the field; Shippou struggled to free himself from one of the glops. Kagome smiled to see how cute his head looked poking out from the ooze. Too bad, though, Kagome thought, the kitsune had not been swallowed by the one that possessed the shard. No, as soon as that one saw his kin blown to bits by her spiritual goodness, it started as a defensive last resort for survival to splatter all of them with shitloads of snot, making a run for it.

“I wonder if it's worth all this hassle?,” InuYasha voiced aloud.

Kagome let out a deep sigh wondering the very same thing.

“Feh! And to think I useta complain about Sesshoumaru's drool. Even THAT'S better than THIS!”

“Oh, stop your ankle-biting! Least we're alive and somewhat, well…er, very sticky. Anyhow, we know where to find that shard. We gotta be thankful for that!”

“Oh, but Kagome-chan, this is NOT fun, if you get my meaning?,” Sango whined, Kirara mewed to add her own two yen to the subject.

“True, it's not fun but it could be worse, guys!,” cried the young miko, throwing her arms up in the air to emphasize firmly on her point.

“Worse than this? I do not think so,” Miroku opinionated.

“Hey, prick! What are ya complainin' about?!!! You hid while we were getting our butts kicked in more ways than you can list the times Naraku tried killin' us!,” the hanyou yelped, purposely flinging some of the garbage off his kimono and onto Miroku.

“Hey! Stop that!,” the monk demanded with protest.

InuYasha flicked some more to express his annoyance towards his teammate. “You're gonna make me?,” Miroku glared at him when InuYasha said this. “You and WHAT army?,” challenged the hanyou, flinging a lot more demon snot from his own hair, throwing it at the monk.

“Hey, I washed this!”

“Too bad!”

“Hopefully, there's a hotspring nearby,” Kagome directed her comment to Sango.

“A hotspring, a cold spring, anything with water! I don't care…Oh, Kami, I am starting to itch in places I rather not make mention of,” she whimpered uncomfortably. “Forget it, by the time we find one this thing will be so hard it would take much more than Inuyasha's Sankou Tessou to crack it off…I could cry.”

“Is this somehow affecting your personality, Sango?,” Kagome asked, her eyes beady with sarcasm.

“Forgive me, Kagome, I am two days within my cycle so I am not feeling very good.”

“That's good to know, eventhough, I'm not sure why?”

InuYasha's ears perked up at the mention of the word, “Cycle? What cycle?” Before anyone could answer, a loud thud echoed throughout the forest, scaring off birds of every sort when a hanyou met face-first with Mother Earth.

Miroku sighed, shaking his head slowly from side to side, next to the fallen body near him in reprimand, “You never learn, InuYasha.”

***

 

Sesshoumaru had told them that he would be back soon. It had already been more than an hour and Rin was already figetting and whining. This annoyed Jaken far from belief. He was beginning to hate the sight of her so he decided to turn his minute body on the rock he sat on to look away from the disgusting human he knew his master had grown very fond of. Sesshoumaru, HIS Sesshoumaru, never expressed his feelings so much in words but the toad knew all too well how the demon lord adored her. In effect, he ignored Jaken. How that thought caused his blood to seethe with venom!

Rin hummed a melodious little tune to relieve tension building up from her lord and master's absence. He had to go somewhere and refused to tell either one of them where he would be. Rin did not like to be left alone too long. She wanted her Sesshoumaru-sama to return soon.

Before their Lordship left, he had left specific orders with Jaken, in which Rin was present to hear. He had said:

“Jaken, do not let Rin out of your sight if you know what is best for you?” Sesshoumaru had said before heading towards the direction of the fishing town.

“Y-y-y-yes!, Me Lord!,”Jaken replied with trembling legs.

 

“Why me? I get stuck with an ugly duckling when I could be helping Lord Sesshoumaru,” Jaken sulked. “If only a kappa would take her away. I would be free from this burden. Free to help my Lord Sesshoumaru.”

“Jaken-sama!,” Rin called from her spot among the flowers.

“What do you want!,” he yelled at her.

“How long will Sesshoumaru-sama be away?”

“How should I know?! I just follow Me Lord's orders, you silly girl!”

Rin scrunched her face in irritation and gave Jaken the tongue, and continued playing with the flowers around her. “Jaken-sama is so grouchy,” she said under breath. The two headed lizard bobbed its head up and down to show its agreement with what she said. Sesshoumaru had decided to leave the beast behind for added protection. This forest was infested with dangerous youkai and beasts. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Suddenly, Jaken had hopped off his rock. Ah-Un roared, wondering where he was leaving to. Jaken turned abruptly to answer the nosey beast, “Where I go is none of your concern!”

In response, their eyes glowed red but Jaken did not care. He yelled back at the beast exposing his rage. “I am going for a walk!” The dragon purred in return. Rin looked on like a spectator, keeping silent in wonder. Why was Jaken-sama angry at her?, she did not know. She blinked her large eyes contemplating the matter before her. Jaken turned on his heels heading the other way, towards the river, it seemed. He did not look back. Then, Rin concluded, “He must've ate those funny mushrooms.”

 

***

 

Jaken marched angrily through the forest. He had not the foggiest idea where he was headed. For now, it seemed, it did not make the slightest difference to the cold-blooded youkai. At least, he had the comfort of knowing that his Staff of Heads, the staff HIS Lord Sesshoumaru had given him to use, was with him to grant him the protection he needed in case an enemy decided upon itself to bother him. There was no way they could mess with the power of this blessed staff.

Jaken stopped. He could smell moisture in the air. He felt his skin thirsting to be quenched. The river was straight ahead, he remembered. A good soaking in the water was in good order. His kind needed water to keep their delicate skin from going dry. Without a moment to lose, the toad put wings to his feet carrying himself off, following the scent of dampness in the air.

***

 

The bath was marvelous! What more could a toad ask for?, he thought. But, then, it crept back into his head. The girl…if only a kappa would carry her off and make her his servant forever. He sighed, washing his hands and his face at the edge of the water, not realizing that someone was watching him all this time, waiting patiently for the right opportunity to present itself.

Jaken paused to take a quick glance around. Was he alone?, he wondered. No, something watched him. “It is a hungry animal wanting to eat me,” he trembled, slowly reaching over for his staff that lay beside him. There was a rustle in the bush.

Feigning bravery, Jaken stood up where he was, holding the staff in threat, “Whoever you may be, show yourself! I am not afraid to use this!”

There was an eerie silence that flowed between him and whatever hid on the otherside like the very river that separated them. Jaken did not move. He kept in his defensive stance in case anything carnivorous were to jump upon him, suddenly. He wanted to be ready if that were to happen. “I give you one last chance to show yourself!,” He exclaimed.

Dead silence. Only the wind wailed its cryptic song sending a chill through the frog's hollow bones. “Rin! It better not be you playing an awful prank on old Jaken! It is not funny!” No answer. Jaken looked intently at the other side. He,then, looked around. There was absolutely nothing to threaten him. Slowly, but cautiously, he let the grip around his staff go limp for a bit. “Ha! There is nothing there! It was all in my imagination!,” he cried with a sigh of relief. As if trying to convince himself, he started to laugh.

“It is all in my head. Silly me, I must be going senile,” said Jaken as he tried to reassure himself, wiping the sweat off his brow using his free sleeve. The howl of the wind continued taunting him with its song. His legs began trembling again. “I must be going senile. It's all that stupid girl's fault!”

“Of course it is,” a voice hissed right in back of him. Jaken's bulgy eyes bulged up even more upon learning that he was far from being paranoid.

“Wh-wh-wh-who's there?,” Jaken squeeked, a cold chill traveling up his spine.

“The answer to ALL your problems,” Whatever- was- in- back- of- him hissed its answer again.

The frightened imp dared not to turn around. “Who are you? And what do you want?,” he whimpered.

“What you do NOTwant,” it replied, low breathed and haunting.

“Which is?,” Jaken asked in more like a squeak than in brave demand.

“You know what it is and I am here to help you be rid of it,” it replied, snarling.

“Say the word and your wish will be granted, water-brother.”

Forgetting all fear, Jaken quickly turned to see behind him. Utter shock washed over him like a cold shower when he saw what had been standing behind him all this time.

“K-k-k-k-Kappa.”

The creature sneered.

Jaken fainted.