InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Young Ones ❯ Chapter 20 - Tsuru's Tsuris ( Chapter 20 )

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Chapter 20 - Tsuru's Tsuris*

Walking down another boring stretch of road, Tsuru sighed for what he estimated was the hundredth time since he had joined the odd questors. Almost a week had gone by since his rescue and while the band had made steady progress over the mostly even terrain, there was absolutely no progress in their search for the elusive - “whatever it was” - they were looking for. Not to mention the “crown” the little princess pursued. All in all Tsuru, along with everyone else, was frustrated beyond measure.

At least the evenings were not too boring, Kagome had been persuaded by the two children to retell the story of the Shikon No Tama and Tsuru was fascinated. This tiny miko, her young hanyou (not that he would ever be so rude as to ask, but the boy could not be much over 200), a lecherous cursed monk, a young female demon slayer, and a kitsune kit had taken on and ultimately destroyed an unimaginably evil being. Kagome was telling them the story in great detail, one sub adventure each evening and the girl could have made a living as a professional storyteller her skill at making her story come to life was so great. What was almost more unbelievable than the battle against the evil Naraku was the fact that the Inu hanyou had managed to cut the arm off of his brother, the great and powerful Lord Sesshomaru. Even if his alternate universe version of the terrible Inu Lord was only a faction as powerful as the one who lived in this world, InuYasha's feat of slicing the great Lord's arm off - while in his true form - was no less than mind boggling.

Unfortunately, good stores were not getting them any close to their ultimate goal, not to mention getting Tsuru his powers back. Even their ever vigilant study of the prophecy was getting nowhere. From the moment of his arrival Tsuru's very presence seemed to put an end to the prophecy's usefulness. Every line of the prophecy following the arrival of their new traveling companion seemed to be useless; lots of mumbo jumbo about fate and destiny, but absolutely nothing that could guide or help in any manner. Tsuru felt guilty as if his very presence was causing their lack of progress and so Tsuru sighed once again.

The only even vaguely interesting occurrence happened the day before; the band had come across a tiny abandoned village (if it could be called such). The village consisted of five or six small dilapidated huts, a barely useable bath house and most importantly an abandoned smithy.

After rummaging around the smithy for a bit InuYasha came out brandishing a serviceable short sword which he presented to Tsuru commenting “At least you have a chance of defending yourself now. Even without your normal powers you have a long reach and should be able to inflict some sort of damage with this - it's not a half bad sword.”

Tsuru nodded in agreement, despite his human appearance, he was in reality a bird with hollow bones made for flying and he certainly did not have the impressive claws or fangs of the Inu hanyous, but he was very tall and had very long arms so he did have a natural advantage when it came to close combat, if only in the advantage of his long reach.

After utilizing the bath house and spending the night in the least damaged of the huts the band was once again on the road the next morning. The only thing interrupting their progress was the Princess's insistence that Yasha and she give the now armed bird youkai some practical sword fighting lessons. Noticing the older hanyou's impatience Tsuru suggested that they hold off on his lessons till they stopped for lunch.

Even InuYasha had to admit lunch had been amusing. The little princess took it upon herself to start Tsuru's sword fighting lesson, correcting the tall youkai's stance and grip the princess confidently invited the crane to attack. Faster than a human's eye could register the princess found herself disarmed and on her back.

Finally, unable to control himself InuYasha burst out laughing, after several seconds he was able to choke out “Princess, Tsuru obviously comes from a good family, and just like humans of his rank he would have had lessons in weapons and self defense. Cranes are generally not known as fighters, but he still would have been taught to defend himself and even if most of his youkai powers have been sealed he is still much stronger and faster than a human of a similar size would be.”

Tsuru nodded in agreement adding “I really should have said something earlier Princess; lacking the natural weapons of the more aggressive mammal youkai we cranes have to rely on flight or weapons. Also, I am considerably older than even InuYasha, so while I have never had to fight without my youkai powers, I have had to defend myself on more than one occasion.”

~~~~~~~~

Tsuru grunted as he swung his sword, connecting with the large lizard youkai - so much for boring!

Ever since they had returned to the road after their midday meal it had been nothing but trouble. It first started out with a few very low level demon attacks. Nothing to worry anyone, youkai with so little power they were barely more dangerous than regular mortal animals, then a rather vicious boar youkai, followed by an even more aggressive mantis youkai. Now several large lizard youkai were making a very determined attack on the entire group.

Tsuru continued to swing his sword, he might not have all of his youkai strength, but he did have years of experience which put him on a better level than the little princess, though he was no where near as dangerous as the two Inu hanyou.

As the crane continued fighting, InuYasha finished off the two largest lizards that had attacked him and then helped Tsuru with his. Little Yasha had dispatched his opponent without much trouble, had already helped his princess and was just making sure Kagome did not get injured while she was purifying the lizard that had gone after her.

Seeing that all of the lizards were dead Tsuru voiced his thoughts “OK this is now officially suspicious, way too many attacks in too short of time. You told me that you had been attacked very few times since you were separated from your traveling companions, now suddenly continuous attacks. Either I am attracting all of these attacks or someone has become aware of you and your quest.”

Joining her mate and Tsuru, Kagome commented “I really don't think it's you, since we got here we have made no effort to hide our presence. These attacks could be some sort of natural response to our merely being here, or an actual attack being fueled or perhaps caused by the very relic we seek. The relic itself may be trying to protect itself by sending these attacks. There is really no way for us to know. I say we just continue as we are and see what happens.

*Tsuris is Yiddish for trouble