InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Lost and The Found ❯ To Hurl or Not To Hurl...What Will It Be? ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Lady Sai
First Snot, now Salt! There's too much of it in the air and InuYasha feels sick.

InuYasha's in a state of unease. Sesshoumaru had been here, his scent was everywhere despite all the scents around him; but they could not mask his half brother’s scent. There was something about Sesshoumaru’s scent that smelled like a fresh waterfall and a hint of…snot?

Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku are searching for a suitable inn to stay. Will Miroku be able to scam his way to room and board and a free meal?

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.08.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 237 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter Five
Searching for the proper inn was harder than they thought. Miroku, on the other hand, did not grunt any complaints. It was apparent that the monk was used to this, besides the fact that he was too damned picky- not only for his own good but the good of the company.
As they searched, the women got sidetracked looking at every shop they passed by. InuYasha grunted at realizing that this was why they were slowing down and not getting anywhere fast. The smell of fish was really getting to him and it was extremely sickening when there was a lot of it going around. But, the fish was not as much a problem, it was what was also caught with the fish that seared at his nostrils like a sharp ice pick drilling its way to his brain and down to his stomach, causing the juices to swirl and turn. He was feeling incredibly nauseas. The smell had already overwhelmed poor Shippou so as a resort, he tucked himself neatly inside Kagome's backpack. At the same time, Kagome hoped she would not find any disgusting surprise if she were to open up the bag again. It was one thing to be covered up with snot but she did not feel like washing her backpack again if Shippou were to hurl inside. She had all her schoolbooks there. She did not need fox puke drenching the pages.
They had stopped before an inn. It was small. Miroku gestured everyone to stay outside while he conducted business within. They agreed without protest. He went in, sliding the door shut. InuYasha sat on a nearby bench. Sango and Kagome remained on their feet, looking around the busy streets of this fishing town. Business went on everywhere.
Kagome noticed people of different social backgrounds perusing the streets buying wares from the shops. To Kagome's amusement, she noticed…foreigners? Oh, duh! This was a commercial center; no doubt they received outside commerce to trade with. The foreigners she noticed seemed Chinese in origin; there was a big group of them, more than five men walking together speaking in their funny sounding dialect. Apparently, this was not the first time they had come here. They seemed very familiar with the place for they lacked that lost look that anybody would possess coming to a place for the first time. Kagome could easily relate. Last summer, she had gone to Hong Kong as part of her school trip. The experience was unique. But, the most she remembered was feeling lost. If it were not for the help of their tour guide, they would have been goners. One of the first things she learned while over there was to avoid drinking the water. One of her classmates did not paid heed to that advice and wound up with a bad stomach virus. It was a good thing that the tour guide had taken him to a great hospital to get treated. For that time, she had to spend an entire week without InuYasha. InuYasha did not like the idea of her leaving him for that long but he had to swallow it whether he liked it or not.
She laughed when the thought of InuYasha's expression popped in her head when she returned from the trip. It reminded her of a lost puppy waiting by a door until its owner returned. Now, the lost puppy was sitting quietly on a bench with his arms crossed before him. He, as usual, pouted. The salt air must really be getting to him. Inuyasha looked sick and tried keeping himself from hurling up his breakfast.
From out of the blue, the memory of the conversation they had earlier sprang back into view, 'What would happen if Kagome were to encounter Sesshoumaru before Inuyasha did? ' What would she do? What would be the smart thing to do? Playing dead would be stupid; Sesshoumaru's not a Grizzly Bear to be easily fooled by that tactic. She could beg for mercy but that would only anger the youkai more. Damn! Why did Sesshoumaru have to be so difficult?
Inuyasha, minding his own thoughts, was at unease. Sesshoumaru had been here, his scent was everywhere despite all the scents around him; but they could not mask his half brother's scent. There was something about Sesshoumaru's scent that smelled like a fresh waterfall and a hint of…snot? InuYasha's face twisted. Could his brother have encountered the slimy youkai as well? And in the process, have gotten smothered by their grossness? Suddenly, the very thought of his brother covered from head to toe in that slime, messing up his silky hair and his well-kept kimono, brought a smile to InuYasha's face. The schmuck probably passed himself more than a hundred times under a waterfall just to rid himself of that disgusting, sticky smell. And still, there were traces of it that remained behind. There was another scent stuck to him, it smelled human. Could it be that little girl that followed him around? No, the human smell was male, but it was faint with a hint of waterfall. Hmmm? To InuYasha's reasoning, either Sesshoumaru recently slayed one or he had acquired a new interest in lifestyle.
The door slid open, ushering out one discouraged Miroku. InuYasha jumped to his feet to question their status. Miroku simply replied with one of his heavy sighs, “Homeless.”
“Let me guess, they didn't buy into your ominous mumbo jumbo?”
“That is perfectly correct. I have seemed to neglect that not all people are spiritual. These people are one of those non-believers.”
“Well, one look at your lecherous face, I would be a non-believer too,” Sango shot mercilessly.
“Why do you have to be so hard? I do not see you looking for a place,” he shot back.
“True, but I do not possess your quickness of tongue, Houshi-sama.”
“True, true,” he concurred.
“We can't give up now, there's bound to be the perfect inn for us,” Kagome chimed in with a singsong.
“I appreciate your optimism, Kagome-chan, but you are not making me feel better,” Miroku answered with a sigh. “If my gifts are not enough to get us one night in this dump, what makes you thing they are enough in a place much more luxurious than this?”
“If this is a dump, like you say, I surmise you didn't put much effort in your gifts to grant us one night's stay,” she rebutted, her eyes gone into boorish slits.
“Heh, heh, heh! You are perfectly right!”

Kagome admired herself in the water's reflection. It was not much of a reflection but she had a grand imagination, and imagining herself far lovelier than she actually was, was her department. The kitsune was right beside her looking down at the water below. He could see some fish feeding and giggled each time one of them poked its little head to the surface. In the back, keeping his distance from the water's edge, InuYasha sat looking grumpy. The salt was really, really getting to him. Already, he felt it sticking to his skin, making him feel grimy all over. As soon as Miroku found a place, he was taking a nice warm bath. He was a bit light headed, too.
Sesshoumaru had also graced this area with his waterfall-mucus infested scent. Feh, was his mental protest. He watched Kagome and Shippou's forms looking with concentration into the water. The salt was REALLY getting to him. There was too much of IT! There were too many people around, more than he was willing to deal with. He wondered how his brother was fairing with this ordeal. Feh, who cared about his brother! He cursed Miroku and Sango for leaving them on the docks. True, it was Kagome who agreed to the idea but he would have liked to have been asked. There was no way he was eating now. He felt too sick to eat. And the taste of fish, somehow, found its way to his mouth without him even touching the stuff.
The noise was too much for his sensitive ears to take. His head started to hurt; he felt the pulsing vein in the middle of his forehead beat with the strength it to break out his skin. The taste of bile was present; it was like tasting the metal off Tetsusaiga's blade. Finally, InuYasha came to the conclusion that any second, he was going to let it all go up stream.
One moment, Kagome admired the fish crowding up below her, the next minute she had to witness them scatter away as InuYasha heaved his guts out into the water, causing Kagome to fall back in disgust as the hanyou threw up, leaving a very undelightful smell. Shippou froze on the spot, watching in utter dislike. He then looked up at Kagome, who covered her mouth with both hands trying to keep herself from losing her breakfast, too. People around were frozen stiff; surprise and disgust plastered their faces, as the hanyou bared his spirit and soul into the water's depths. To Shippou's disgust, the fish had returned gobbling up InuYasha's sacred offering. The fox's lips went completely straight-lined. His eyes watered, which was a clear indication that it was a good idea to look away before it climbed higher in the gross factor.
InuYasha felt the burning as he heaved up stomach fluid after the food went. His eyes were in tears; it really did hurt as he also coughed heartedly. Kagome, seeing this, gathered the courage to go up behind him and rub his back in comfort. With the other hand, she gently moved his hair away from his face, placing it on his back. She continued to rub as he kept ridding his stomach of its contents. Slowly, the convulsions dissipated. He heaved the last of it. His breathing was deep and labored. Sweat drenched his face and hair. But, at least, he was relieved. He was even more relieved when Kagome placed her arms around his shoulders. He wiped his mouth on his haori; the taste was there. Then, he closed his eyes taking in Kagome's fresh strawberry scent. He was relieved.
“Sorry,” he apologized, his head touching hers.
“You don't need to be sorry, Sweetie,” she confirmed in her soft voice. She ran her fingers through his coarse hair while rubbing his back, with the other hand, to comfort him.
Shippou looked up at his friend with concern. Asking in his cute voice, “InuYasha, are you alright?”
He was still trying to catch his breath however; he managed to reply the kitsune, “Yeah.”
Shippou then remembered something. He quickly went into his pouch and pulled out one of his leaves. Offering it up to InuYasha, “Here.”
Inuyasha took the offering, sniffed at it, finding the smell very welcoming, “What's this?”
“Medicine to help your tummy feel better, eat it,” Shippou urged on. Inuyasha took his cue from the runt and chewed on the leaf.
Kagome noticed the wonderful smell it had. “Shippou, that leaf…”
“Don't worry, not only it'll make InuYasha's tummy feel better but it'll purify his wreaking breath,” he said with confidence, which earned him a thwack from InuYasha's fist. In retaliation, a teary-eyed Shippou bit him on the thigh.
“Ow! Dammit,” bellowed the hanyou, trying to get at arm's length of the jumping kitsune. While this went on, Kagome saw the same leaves fall from Shippou's pouch onto the boardwalk. She picked it up, taking a whiff.
“I should have known,” Kagome came into revelation, “it's mint.”

“Good afternoon, kind woman. I cannot help but notice that your place of business in possessed by ominous spirits of the hateful kind. If you allow me and my assistants to stay the night free, I will gladly exorcise them from your vicinity,” Miroku concluded, flashing his prize-winning smile. In that precise moment, the door slid shut to his face. Miroku's eyes doubled. He chuckled nervously.
“Where to now, Houshi-sama,” Sango asked from her sitting position on a bench, her boomerang making weight against her shoulder blade.
“To another inn, of course. These people are obviously non-believers.”
“This has been the seventh one and they all slid the doors to our faces. This is hopeless,” she threw her arms up in exasperation.
Kirara, who sat close to her mistress' leg, mewed her own protests. The poor fire cat echoed Sango's exhaustion and overall, her hunger. She glared up at the monk like a rabid animal. Miroku took it as a hint to find a place quick before the cat decided to go her true form and mangle Miroku for a bite of one of his limbs. He scanned around.
“How about that one,” he asked with a start.
“I want to stop, to tell you honestly.”
“Sango, where is your faith?”
“I left it on the docks with Kagome, Shippou, and InuYasha.”
Miroku sat down next to her, concern scribbled on his face. He sighed. “Look, just one more, I promise,” his voice went gentle, like a breeze in spring.
“Oh great, just one more. And what if they refuse us?”
“We sleep under the stars tonight.”
“Like we have been doing every night. I want a warm bath and a warm bed. Hopefully, a warm meal to occupy the emptiness of my stomach,” she whined, panning out her frustration.
“I promise you, we'll eat a warm meal, have the pleasure of indulging in a warm bath, and sleep in a warm bed, tonight,” he said, staring warmly into Sango's eyes. Sango responded with a warm look of her own, a smile drawing itself on her soft lips.
Sango felt his warm breath on her face. She loved the warmness of his breath. His lips looked tender and soft. If only, she could touch them with her own lips. To feel how they really felt. To feel the warmness of them caressing the softness of her cheeks. If only she could feel them. If only…he would stop groping her ass like it were a kettle! Out of impulse, she landed his face with a hard slap, knocking him hard to the ground.
Seeing her standing over him, he begged, “Sango, what did I do now!”
“You pervert! You take advantage of my vulnerability to make a pass at me! This I will not forgive, Miroku!”
“I can explain it!”
“Explain rubbing my rump like a tea kettle? I do not think so!”
“But Sango, I swear! My hands have a life of their own, you cannot blame them for wanting to taste that voluminous package you have padding your backside! I cannot control their urges!” he whined.
With that, Sango marched right passed him, towards the next inn, leaving Miroku on the ground sulking. When she was plain out of view, Miroku stared down at his hands; and talking to them like they were people, “Was it as good for you as it was for me?” Miroku grinned, nodded satisfaction, and quickly picked himself up. He dusted his garments off, picked up his staff and calmly followed Sango's angry trail to the next inn that lay ahead.
The imprint Sango left on his left cheek burned like hot coals. He rubbed at it, hoping it would help soothe the stinging effect. He had to confess, though, it was well worth it. To have the crap beaten out of him, to have the wind knocked out of his lungs, demonstrated the true power of this woman.
“It is well worth it,” Miroku, again, said under a smug grin.

At the inn, Miroku and Sango stood before the innkeeper genuflected to show respect towards the man, who was seated before them. On his right was a younger woman, probably about 14 or 15. Miroku guessed that she must be his daughter or his extremely young wife. Miroku smiled hoping it would be the daughter. It did not take Sango long to figure out what was on the monk's perverted mind, that she took it upon herself to nudge him hard in the ribs. This brought him out of whatever sick contemplation he was in at the moment. She feigned clearing her throat, cueing Miroku to deliver one of his many lies to win them a free night's stay and a free meal, if they were lucky.
“Good afternoon, kind sir,” started the holy man with one of his famous speeches, “we are lowly travelers who have lost our way and we need a place to stay. However, we have no money and no way of paying for your kindness. Nevertheless, we can help you with your demon problem as our way of payment.”
Suddenly, the girl looked at the older man with worry in her eyes. “Father,” she said, tugging on his sleeve.
The man cleared his throat, “What makes you say we have a demon problem?”
“Well, kind sir, I have been feeling an ominous presence hovering over your very house while walking here with my companions. And since I am a man of the cloth, I am certified to exorcise all your demons before the matter gets any worse,” he pulled one of his innocent looks of concern. The older man did not appear like he was buying it. Miroku had to press on, “Sir, I have seen many of these cases and have dealt with many types of demons to even take the most lowliest of them lightly. If not taken care of, they can bring plagues, famine, death…but even worse, they can really bring down the property value of your business.”
The man and his daughter reflectively looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight mint leaves were popped in InuYasha's mouth, one after the other, to get rid of the sickly, metallic taste the stomach fluid left. Thanks to Shippou who, bless his little soul, had many of these things stashed in his pouch. Now, they were sitting in a shaded area near an Udon shop, trying to cool off. No one said anything. InuYasha continued eating the leaves like they were dinner mints. The little fox child was right, though, his belly did feel a whole lot better. He just did not like the crack the child had made earlier. Speaking Shippou, he was comfortably on Kagome's lap as Kagome rubbed the bumps on his head with a wet cloth. InuYasha growled low, feeling rather annoyed with the way people stared at them as they walked by. He delivered each and every one of them a scowled glare, managing to scare quite a few out of their skins.
Children played nearby, singing a song that sounded very familiar to him. Don kuri koro koro, don kuri ko, was how the song went It sent back memories of when his mother used to sing it to him. He would be sitting on her lap at the edge of their koi pond looking down at the different colored carp. They would rotate their hands together like windmills and sing the song at the water's edge. He could hear it now, his mother's angelic voice singing the words of that song, which was one he would hear the other children sing, playing a game he never had a right to partake in. All of this because he was different from them.
He remembered how cruel his mother's family had been. He remembered playing their games alone. He had seen his mother cry often times. That was something he would never ever forget. At least, with her around, he was not as lonely, although, that was somewhat a lie. However, she was his only true love. When she died, he was all alone with no one to give a damn about him.
Kagome noticed him deep in thought and wondered what he could be thinking of. He seemed disturbed and she could almost swear he was on the verge of…crying? She was going to see what was wrong, until, Sango showed up yelling at the top of her lungs. The three of them looked her way. She appeared excited as large smile adorned her once frustrated face.
Huffing and puffing, Sango finally delivered the confirmation they had all been waiting for. With excitement in her voice, she announced, “Miroku's found us a place! And it is to die for!”
Kirara meowed in gleeful agreement.

How did you all like this chapter?
For those of you that think my fic is going pretty slow, have patience. This is how I normally work. I like to develop my plots well so then, towards the end, all of you can walk away satisfied.
Concerning this chapter, Yes, it was a bit up there on the gross factor, but that's what makes it funny. I made sure to do it as tastefully as I can. However, if I've made you guys sick, I've done my job.
Anyway, stick around! Chapter Six is A-Coming soon! The plot thickens!