InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Village of demons ❯ Chapter Eight: The Old Man ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: The Inuyasha story does not belong to me but to Rumiko Takahashi and I thank her for bringing it to us.

Chapter Eight: The Old Man

The last of the leaves had fallen from the trees and a harsh chilling wind blew, as if warning of the coming winter, but Kagome and Inuyasha couldn’t have been more comfortable as they walked hand in hand to the village. They made small talk and shot each other loving looks as they went. The cold forgotten to them as they seemed to have a lovers glow. This glow did not go unnoticed as the reached old Kaede’s hut.

Miroku tried to hide his perverted grin while Sango blushed beside him. Kaede looked up and raised an eyebrow over her good eye while Shippou sat beside her coloring, completely clueless to the silent conversation going on in the room by the adults.

Any doubts were put to rest when Kagome blushed and Inuyasha puffed out his chest. The mating stone around Kagome’s neck glowed brighter than ever.

Miroku cleared his throat and broke the uncomfortable silence in the room before he spoke.

“ Inuyasha, the village seers have predicted a hard winter is coming. We need to get the last two jewel shards soon.” He reached into his robes and pulled out a scroll. When he stretched it out on the floor they saw it was a map.

“ This map was given to me by a messenger from Sesshomaru. He wants the jewel to be complete and under our protection so Tousoku can not use it to aid his army. The village that is being attacked by the raven twins is here, beyond these two mountains.” He pointed to a spot on the map that said Raven Village. It sat inside what appeared to be a circle of large cliffs with two larger mountains in front, almost like a gate.

“ The messenger told me that if the weather gets to bad the path between the mountains will become impassible, and we wont be able to get to the village until spring. By then Tousoku and his army will be on the march.”

Inuyasha kneeled down to get a closer look at the map.

“ I know this area, shouldn’t take more than a few days to get there. I don’t like how close it is to the eastern border though, we’ll have to stay on our toes. We need to hurry and get the shards, we leave at noon.”

Everyone nodded and went about getting ready to go, Inuyasha went to get some water from the river. He was stopped by someone yelling his name.

“ Inuyasha! I’m glad I found you. I wanted to talk to you.”

Inuyasha turned and saw Ryouta coming towards him.

“ What do you want Ryouta? I am in a hurry.” Inuyasha said, folding his arms together and tapping his fingers.

“ I heard that you were leaving to retrieve the last of the jewel shards. Is that true?”

Inuyasha looked Ryouta over, he still didn’t completely trust him but he had a human wife and child so he couldn’t be that bad.

“ Yes its true, we are headed east to Raven village. Why do you want to know?”

“ We passed by that village several times in our search for a home. We became good friends with that village and the raven twins. They did not have room for us, but they helped us when they could. Please Inuyasha, I have to ask that you spare the raven brothers if you can. They are not bad… it’s the shards evil that is doing it to them.”

Inuyasha nodded, “ I’ll do what I can, don’t worry.”

Ryouta thanked him, and Inuyasha walked back to his friends who were now ready to go.

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They walked down the old road towards the east, the sun was behind the clouds but they could tell it was around late afternoon.

Kagome pulled her jacket up to cover more of her neck against a frigid breeze. Seeing that she was uncomfortable in the cold Inuyasha took of his haori and offered it to her.

“ Here Kagome, take this, it will keep you warm.”

Kagome shook her head and gently pushed it back to him. “ No Inuyasha you need it, its getting really cold out here.”

“ Keh, I’m a half-demon, I barely feel the cold. You need it more than I do.”

“ Are you sure?” Kagome asked, looking up at him with searching eyes.

“ Yes, I’ll be fine now take it.” He handed it to her again and she took it and smiled.

“ Thank you Inuyasha, its so warm.” She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“ Keh, that’s just the fur of the fire rat, its always warm.”

When they reached a small inn on the road east they decided to stop. They let Miroku obtain rooms for them the way he usually did, and they laid down together in their room.

They all sat around the fire pit in the room, a stew was cooking in a small pot.

A little while later there was a knock at the door and when Inuyasha slid it open the old man that was the inn keeper came in with an arm full of small logs.

“ Gonna’ be a cold night, I can feel it in my bones. I brought you folks some extra wood for the fire.”

Miroku reached up to take the wood from the old man. “ You are most kind to us traveling strangers. Please may we know your name?”

The old man bowed formally and smiled before replying, “ The name’s Taku, and I’m always happy to help when I can. Tell me something though, if you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you guys are traveling for anyway? The weathers not getting any better.”

Taku listened intently as Miroku told him a little of what had happened and of their quest to the Raven village. When he finished Taku folded his arms and sighed, thinking.

“ Ah yes, I remember talk of that village. It is protected by the raven brothers. The village itself is very secluded within the mountains with only one pass in and out. They say the Raven twins would soar over the mountains and get food and other things for the village when it was cut off, but I have had several people stop here that had fled from that very village. They said the twins had gone mad, and would attack different homes each night. The village is deserted now and any who enter it now do not return.”

“ We need to hurry and get there and get those shards so the evil the jewel spreads will be stopped.” Inuyasha stated, and the others nodded.

They thanked Taku and he excused himself from the room. After they had eaten their stew they laid down and went to sleep.

No one said anything about it, but it was a bit different without Shippou there with them. They had decided to leave him with Kaede because she needed a little extra help around this time of the year and he would be safer there. Nobody said anything as Sango and Miroku settled down beside each other and Inuyasha wrapped his arms around Kagome as they laid down.

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*BOOM!!*

The ground shook and there was a large crash that brought the group quickly out of their sleep. When Inuyasha looked up he saw a huge hole in the side of the inn where a large bear demon had torn right through it. He quickly drew tetsusaiga as the bear came closer. He pushed Kagome behind him as the bears intentions became clear.

“Give me the shikon jewel!!” It roared as it launched itself towards them.

Normally Inuyasha would have finished it quickly with the wind scar, but he knew at this range he would destroy the inn and hurt the old man. So he jumped and met the bear half way pushing his blade against the bears razor sharp claws and throwing him back towards the forest.

The Bear demon roared again and slashed with such ferocity that it caused four large blades of wind to fly from his claws towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha easily dodged them, but the inn behind him wasn’t that lucky. The blades ripped through the building leaving nothing but ruble behind. He looked back to make sure his friends made it out ok and was relieved to see them walking safely out of the ruble.

In the moment that he was distracted he barely had enough time to stop the demons mighty claws from cutting him in half with tetsusaiga. The force knocked him to the ground and he was pinned by the large beast. As the bear drew back to make the final strike a flash of white energy came from behind it and hit it in the back. The demon roared and snarled as the skin that the energy had hit sizzled and burned. For a moment it was stunned and Inuyasha took the opportunity and thrust tetsusaiga upward, cleaving the bear demon in two.

When Inuyasha stood up he looked for the source of the blast of energy. It was strong, but different from anything his friends could do. He was shocked when he saw the old man standing behind the corpse in strange clothes almost like a priest, but with armor plating.

“ What the heck was that Taku? Why didn’t you tell us you could do that?” Inuyasha yelled as he made his way over to him.

Taku shrugged, “ You didn’t ask.”

“ Taku what’s going on? Why are you dressed that way?” Kagome asked, as she made her way over to them with Sango and Miroku.

Taku sighed and told them what was going on.

“Well… I was supposed to be retired, but I couldn’t help but jump in for a little action. In the days of my youth I traveled with a sect of warrior monks, they taught me their ways and their fighting techniques. One of which was what you just witnessed. We traveled the land slaying demons with evil auras, but one by one the warrior monks fell, until I was the only one left. I was not yet a master when my teacher died so I never took on any students. It has taken me into my old age to perfect the techniques I learned so long ago on my own. The ways of our sect die with me sadly…”

After he had finished talking Kagome looked over to what was once the inn. It now was nothing more than a pile of stone and wood.

“ Taku, I’m so sorry about your inn. I wish there was something we could do.” She said, with a sorrowful expression.

After a few seconds Sango came up with a solution.

“ Hey what if he goes to live in the village? It has plenty of room and its only a day’s travel from here. The village could also use another defender like him in the coming troubles.”

Taku thought it over and smiled, “ That sounds like a wonderful idea Sango, thank you.”

They spent about a half an hour going through the mess to find a few things left that Taku could take with him to the village. After several things had been gathered they all laid down beside a large tree and got what sleep they could the rest of the night.

In the morning Taku was packed and given directions by Miroku. They waved goodbye to him as they walked off into the other direction. Hurrying toward what was once raven village, in hopes of getting there before anything else bad happened. As they made there way closer to the mountain pass they never noticed the sleek, black, beady eyed stalker that followed them in the trees, watching them…

A/N: Just three more chapters to go until this story is back to its former glory. As for after the tenth chapter, I have good news. I already had half of the never released chapter 11 already made, so a brand new chapter should be posted pretty soon after chapter 10 is finally reposted. Also a reminder that I have no set in stone plot for the future of this story, so any plot ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and have a very high chance of showing up in the story. In fact, if a good idea is posted I will work it into my story if at all possible. So if you have any ideas or if there is a little something you have always wanted to see in an Inuyasha fanfic just leave it in a comment and who knows. As always, thanks for reading please R&R