InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Whispers Of A Treasure ❯ The People ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I've recieved lots of great feedback and reviews so far. Sorry for the prolonged update. I've been really busy with work. Yesterday was my last day and I was so sad at leaving, I had made so many friends there that I both respected and admired, as well as new skills that I learned that may come in handy for future basis. Bu at the same time I'm kinda happy that I'm not working there anymore, it was nice yes, but I prefer to move on to other things now and I want to learn new experiences and everything. So for all of you speciall ppls who have waited patiently for my updates I'll try to get 2-3 chapters done this week. Love ya all..and enough with the chit chat so on with the story!!!



Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha..Rumiko the very rich woman does.
Me?...Im dirt poor and I pay for alot of things so please do not sue...because in all there wont be much to sue for...maybe four or five dollars...but i need it for my ice cream and noodles (mmmm). So in the end there's not much money at all to take from me.(sigh). I just use Inuyasha and Co for my evil purposes...(strikes a Doctor Evil pose..with pinky near the mouth). for fun. Oh and I don't own any game concepts either. I'm just a regular person with a passion for random sports.





Chapter 7~~~~ The People.


"I swear if you do that one more time I'll rip your head off!", the tall general, with moonlight kissed hair, spat.

The warrior dressed in black hakama pants, and a muscle bound shirt, snorted as he jabbed at the man, who threatened him, in the side with the dull end of the spear once more.

Inuyasha growled in warning at the big and stout man's direction before he rounded up on him and punched him squarely in the jaw.

The man let out a grunt of distressed pain while he spun with the punch, and flew back into the ground, face first.

Inuyasha huffed in anger a couple times before the remaining warriors surrounded on him and grabbed each one of his limbs, to prevent further damage on the man lying unconcious on the ground.

"Get the hell off me you bastards!", Inuyasha roared, before one of the warriors successfully bonded his arms together with thick rope.

He wrestled with the men for a couple of minutes till he heard a roaring laughter from behind him, which made everyone stop in their actions and turn to the imposing sound.

A tall and well built warrior dressed in a pair of white hakama pants and a very short sleeved white shirt, that showed off his well toned bisceps, was bent over in laughter.He slapped the side of his leg a couple times to regain control before he turned his attention to the audience in front of him.

There was a glint in his dark coloured eyes as they landed on the tall foreigner before him.

This man had a strong aura about him, and Inuyasha could tell that he held a strong air of authority when the men around him stiffened in order ready poses.

"Bankotsu, I have direct orders form the princess herself that requires your attention", the tall lanky looking warrior held his head high in a dignified pose.

The man named Bankotsu cocked his head to the side while his face took on a look of amusement, "And just what were those orders?", he scratched the back of his neck casually.

"That we bring you this imposter...and that you would know what to do with him."

"Really?'', he looked at the sky, interested more in the stars above him than the man before him.

"Yes, and that we leave him in your custody".

There was an awkward silence for a long stretch of time before the man in white clothing turned his attention back to the group of men holding the captive roughly by the arms.

"Just what exactly has he done anyways?", he finally asked, with a hint of boredom etched into his tone.

"He uh...well he happened by close to our village when he was following the princess."

"Yeah and then he was sentenced to remain here until it was decided tomorrow of what was to become of him", another warrior added.

"I see...", Bankotsu clicked his tongue, before he dug his hands into his pockets. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds looking pensive and in deep thought.

Inuyasha was getting slightly annoyed by the man's odd behavior, he was just taking too damn long and at the moment he felt pissed off enough to go over to the man and knock him out as well.

He was about to make his mental image of the man being knocked out cold a reality, when the warrior in white opened his eyes once more and nodded firmly.
"All right. If the princess wants me to take this man into my custody then I guess I will".

Inuyasha snorted, ' Idiot, he just finally had enough brain to make that decision or what?'

"You can cut off his ropes, I'm sure he won't be much of a challenge if he tries to attempt anything", Bankotsu grinned.

The three warriors dressed in black blinked hard a couple times, while they looked at each other in concern for a moment. They came to a silent conclusion with each other and shrugged as one of them took out a small blade from his side and cut the imposter's ropes in a single slice.

Inuyasha cocked his wrists a bit to get the blood rushing into them back to normal, before he turned a threatening glare at the man they called Bankotsu.

"Want to rephrase that", he growled.

The warrior just shrugged and leaned againts a nearby tree casually.
"Don't think of starting anything stupid here pal....you'll only get yourself killed".

Inuyasha huffed, "What makes you think I'm so easy to take down", he cracked his knuckles by bending his hand into a fist.

Bankotsu just yawned and scratched the back of his neck casually once more.
"Look, it's too damn early in the morning to start a fight. We'll only make a rucus, make the people pissed off, and then we'll be in a big trouble. So let's just let bygones be bygones and go get some rest."

The general's dark glare turned into a frown of suspicion.

"Look...it's up to you all right. You can follow me and I'll show you a place where you can stay. Or you can sleep out here where anything can come and get you. It's your choice", with that Bankotsu turned and began to walk away from the group.

"Uh...Bankotsu...what about Goro", the tall, lanky warrior known as Akio indicated at the man lying unconscioulsy on the ground.

"Beats me. The guy did tell him to cut it out and he didn't listen. If you ask me he deserved what was coming to him", the white dressed warrior shrugged casually.
"You guys decide what to do with him...not me", he added before he walked off.

Inuyasha was at a loss, ' just why in the hell would this guy say that...what's up with him'. Not bothering to think on it further as the small throbbing in the back of his head began to increase in its pain slightly, he just headed off into the direction that the warrior called Bankotsu had left.

~~~

It was silent in the village, Inuyasha contemplated as he passed by many unlit huts.
They didn't seem like any ordinary huts that he had ever seen in his travels before. They looked sort of better built, and more comftorable for larger families.
He didn't take time to completely observe his surroundings, instead his attention was focused on the warrior dressed in white before him. There was something odd about him, and he just couldn't quiet place what it was exactly that made him so irritated about the man walking so casually.

"This is where you'll stay for now", the warrior pointed with his finger to a small, but not too bad in shape, hut.

Inuyasha snapped out of his own little world and turned his attention to the place where he would be staying.

"There are some mats inside and a couple blankets. You'll be fine for tonight so you better get to sleep now. Who knows what the elders may decide tomorrow".

"The elders?", Inuyasha asked curiously.

"Yeah a group of old guys that decide all the rules around here...and if I know them, they're not going to like the fact that our princess had left this village in the first place, and brought you along with her", Bankotsu turned his bored features into a mask of worry.

"Hold on a minute...are you telling me that she might get in trouble for having left to go and get herself almost killed by Tsubaki and her men? Damnit, she's hurt! They can't possibly...",

"She went to go fight with that blasted woman?", Bankotsu hissed.

Inuyasha stopped in midsentence and had a deep sinking feeling when he realized that maybe the girl had not told anyone what her intentions had been. ' Maybe she did it all because she knew what she was getting into. Maybe I've said too much".

The warrior then huffed and scratched at the back of his neck hard, only to leave red scratches over his tanned skin.

"Forget it...don't even mention that part to the elders if they ask you. It will only cause her trouble ya hear?"

"Whatever", Inuyasha crossed his arms stubbornly. He felt somewhat relieved that the guy wasn't going to get her into trouble. Not that he really cared, but he didn't want to be the cause of someone else's problems.

Bankotsu just yawned once more before he turned and left the General, heading towards his own hut just a couple of blocks down.
With an irritated snort, Inuyasha went inside the the hut and examined the inside carefully.

He located a fresh futon on the floor in the corner, right next to a window covered by a flap of bamboo reeds.
He sighed as he settled onto the mat. He could feel all of the days exertion's release out of his body like a rush of air. He didn't know what to expect of the day's coming, but whatever it was...he just didn't feel any fear or anything in relation to tremor. He felt...calm for some reason. If anything he just had a deep feeling in his gut that these people here wouldn't kill him...not when all he did was make sure that their princess was all right.

As an image of the girl swam before him in the front of his mind, he too knew that this girl wouldn't want to order him dead too. But then again they might not let him go either. Whatever punishment they had in store for him...he would take it. He was one who could face danger and never back down for any reason. No matter what.

With that last thought he let his mind drift to random thoughts, too blurry to grasp onto in his state of half conciousness, and yet too focused on to let sleep to completely overwhelm him.

This is the way how he always slept.

Not only to stay alert in case of any nearby danger in which he would have to protect his life, but also because of his blood.

It was unlike any other demon's blood. His father was once a great Inu Youkai, whom was above all, nothing short of powerful.
And he had inherited his father's strong blood...even if it was only half of it.

The only nights in which he let sleep truly oversome him, was on the night of the new moon and the cycle that followed it for three days.

But that was all.

~~~~

He wasn't sure how long he stayed in his half state of unconciousness. It must of been only a couple of hours when he closed his eyes, and soon enough he started to hear people moving about outside, and he noticed that there was light protruding from the fine lines of the bamboo flap that hung over the window.

He stretched his tense muscles before he got up from his futon, and as he was cracking every bone in his arm, he then noticed that his arms were bare. Last night came flooding back to him as he remembered that he had ripped his favourite white juban, but what was worse was that his traditional haori was missing.

'I'm such an idiot! I must of forgotten it back in the woods', he fumed silently. It was the only heirloom his mother had left for him. Sesshomaru was the one who had given it to him when he had passed all of his training in the imperial army.
But his mother had left it behind...for him.

He felt slightly annoyed that he had kept his father's sword securely by his side throughout the entire ordeal, even when they had bound and gagged him.
But not his mother's heirloom.

'I'll just have to go and find it then', he shrugged, 'Hopefully it will still be there by the creek where I had left it'.

After making his mind up in retrieving the red garment before anyone realized that he was leaving the village, he quietly opened the wooden shoji doors at the entrance and cautiously walked far from the opposite direction in which he saw the warrior head in.

He knew it was a bad idea to leave the village, they had warned him that it was futile. But damn it all, there was no one around! How the hell would they even know if he escaped or not? What kind of guard would leave his hostage unattended?

He snorted disdainfully, 'Some threat!'

"Hey you there!"

Inuyasha was mildly distracted with his unexplained situation when he had heard someone yell from behind him.

'Well it's about time if you ask me. I was beggining to think if these bastards even remembered I even existed'.

"Hey you. Guy!", the low pitched, masculine voice breathed out heavily, as if he had been running for a while.

"Fine then I'll go back to the damn hut then", he half growled as he turned to face the warrior who had spotted him.

His brow furrowed in confusion when he spotted a young man dressed in brown clothing, instead of black, and who looked about a year or two younger than himself.

"Huh, what are you talking about guy? I didn't ask you to go back to your hut. I was just wondering if you wanted to come join our game? We're one player short and we're loosing badly", he stated, looking at the man before him oddly.

Inuyasha snorted, "You're kidding me right?", he asked in disbelief. Never in his life had he been asked by a total stranger to participate in a game. Not even in his youthfull days when children would often invent games that involved alot of of them to play together.

"No I'm not. Um...are you new or something cause you don't look familiar and believe me I know almost everyone here".

Inuyasha slightly stiffened, 'Now what if I say anything they'll definately know I'm trying to leave this place and then I'll get busted'.

He looked at the young man before him, noticing for the first time that he had really dark eyes and catlike features.

'In fact', he thought as Inuyasha took a small sniff of the kid, 'He's a cat youkai! What the hell is going on here?'

"Well...", the kid continued to probe at the non responding general.
"I uh..", Inuyasha began.

"Look if you think I'm going to bite you because you're part dog, then think again. I just want to know if you want to help us win this game. You look like you're tough and I need someone like you on my team. So how about it?"

"I guess", Inuyasha scratched his head in confusion. 'Guess my haori will have to wait'.

"All right!'', the young man cheered before he pushed a confused Inuyasha all the way to a vast, open, lush green field.

There was a small group of men settled on one side of the field looking beat, and tired. While the other group on the other far side, looked as if they had won some kind of challenge.

"Hey Mokuba who's the guy? Is he new around here?", a tall, but slightly thick looking teen as if he had one too many plates of food, walked up to the cat youkai with an air of confidence.

"I don't know...hey what's your name guy", the cat youkai poked the tall, silver haired man next to him in the ribs.

The general snorted before he crossed his arms defiantly, noticing the challenging look the confident teen was giving him. "The name's Inuyasha".

"Ha! Another loser for me to beat", the big bellied teen slapped his thigh as he doubled over in laughter.

"I wouldn't count on it kid. Im not so easy to beat", the general growled in warning.

"Is that so...then fine. Mokuba you're on. Let's just see what this new guy can do", with that the big bellied teen left with a smirking grin stretching across his face, from ear to ear.

"That guy there is Hanzo and he's the best player in all the village. Don't let his size fool you, he's actually pretty damn fast for a big guy like him".

The general snorted, "And I should be worried because?"

The cat youkai gave him a small smirk, "And do you have a plan that involves bringing this guy down? Please do share".

"Heh, I don't exactly have a plan, but I do know that the word loser is not on my list of vocabluary".

The cat youkai's grin grew even wider, resembing that of the big bellied Hanzo's.
"I see...well then it's a good thing that you're on my team then", and with that they walked over to the end of the field to brighten up the spirits of the dreary looking group of young men.

"Come on you guys cheer up. Look who I've brought to help us", the one called Mokuba chirped.

The group of young men looked up at the general with weary stares and then back down.
"Are you sure he knows how to play...the last time you brought someone we ended up loosing...remember", a teen with brown, long and disoriented hair whined.

"Yeah, but this time I know we'll win let's just give him a chance and see what happens. Besides he looks pretty tough!", Mokuba pointed out to the muscular biceps on the general's arm.

"Fine", another with dark hair added.

The five men got up from the spots of where they had been sitting on the grass, and heading back into the field with the same depressing attitude as before.

"Okay let's play", Hanzo shouted with excitement when his team ran foward, kicking a ball amongst themselves back and forth.

Inuyasha watched with interest when the ball came towards him. He had no idea whatsoever in what to do, and he wasn't even sure if he was suppose to let them pass him by like that, with the ball towards their side of the field.

"Guy!", Mokuba deftly shouted, "You're not suppose to let the other team near our posts. You see those two wooden poles over there", he pointed to two large poles sticking out of the ground with a reasonable amount of space in between. "Try to take the ball away from the other team before they even get near our goal, you can use your feet or head, but don't touch the ball with your hands all right?".

Inuyasha nodded. Now he was starting to understand the concept of the game...well just a little.
A big smirk formed across his features as the opposing team came towards him once more with the ball flying straight at him.

'Oh yeah...now I'm definately getting the hang of this game'.

~~~~~~~

"Mokuba I'll get you next time ya hear! Next time! I won't be easy to beat the next time we meet!", the large bellied Hanzo yelled defiantly, although he was smirking the entire time he was making his threat.

Mokuba and the rest of the team were whooping and giving each other friendly slaps on the shoulder.
"This is the first game we've ever won Guy and it's all thanks to you."

"Yeah where did you learn to play like that, you're a pro".

"Man you better be on OUR team all the time Guy, cause there's no way we're letting the best player go on Hanzo's team. No way!".

Inuyasha had been scratching the back of his head throughout the entire time they were giving him compliments. He wasn't really use to people complimenting him, especially since he has never really actually been given a chance to show others his skills.

"Thanks", he smirked. It actually felt really good to be liked and to have a sense of belonging. Never in his whole life had he ever been this carefree and had this much, well...fun?

"Nice job there Guy!", Mokuba interrupted his thoughts."You can seriously run alot faster than that Hanzo guy for sure, and have alot of a better aim than their team has."

"Heh, it was easy", he shrugged. But deep down he felt cocky and proud.

"Really? Aw man then you have gotta come to our other game next week. You see we always do these type of random games that we make up, just to sharpen our hunting skills", the long, disoriented Mokuba explained.
"This one we so happen to call foot field ball", he let the concept sink in before he continued, "Because we're usually playing with our feet, in a field and with a ball", he cackled loudly at his own humour.

Another disoriented hair looking young man also jumped up excitedly behind, wanting to make his own little realization speech to the newcomer. "And this other game we play often is called Sacks and Hoops. That game we also use to sharpen our hunting skills with aiming. We use these little sacks filled with seeds and try to throw them into these bins. It's a pretty dull game, so we're trying to improve the rules and the strategies so it could become as interesting as our current game Foot Field Ball."

Inuyasha gave the young man next to him a weary look.

"It's a working process", the man shrugged his shoulders and grinned playfully.

"So guy do you just want to hang with us today then?", Mokuba chirped. "We're going fishing and you can join us if you want to?"

'Great, I could use this opportunity to get my haori back'.
"Fine by me. I got nothing better to do", the general shrugged casually.

The small group started walking across the field, their strides filled with pride over their day's winning. Inuyasha felt surreal and carefree the entire time, feeling as if he belonged.

'Is this what it feels like...to have fun and meet people who don't look down on you for what you are?'.

Although he did have two best friends that had never looked down on him before. Here was this group of young men whom also accepted him as he was.

He was in serious, deep thought the entire time the group made their way into the village. He didn't even notice the small crowd that had been gathering in the middle of the village.

"She's back. Our princess is back", one of the disoriented hair looking youths shouted excitedly.

"I told you Hiboshi that she wasn't kidnapped. She was probably out in the forests like she usually does all the time".

"Mokuba shut up, don't tell me that you weren't worried for her last night either. The guy was pratically crying when they sent us to search for her", the one named Hiboshi turned to Inuyasha.

"Hey was not! I knew the entire time that she was safe she is the princess after all. If she can kick anyone's butt, then I'm sure she can take care of herself.", he crossed his arms stubbornly, fighting off the blush that was staining his lightly tanned cheeks.

'So she just left without telling anyone that she was going to sacrafice her life in order to stop Tsubaki', Inuyasha mentally contemplated.

"Honestly I don't see what the big fuss is...she just wasn't there last night when old Lady Kaede went into her rooms. I bet she was out on one of those special missions she usually does anyways".

"Yeah, but look at all those bruises she's got", a pudgy, and short looking young man whispered.

"Prooves she can definately take care of herself", Mokuba indicated.

The others nodded their heads in agreement, while Inuyasha looked deep in thought.

'These villagers really care for the girl. They were even worried about her to the point of sending people out to search for her.'

"Hey Mokuba are you going to battle her anytime soon like ya always said you would", the pudgy young man whispered.

Mokuba turned a deep shade of red and tried to hide his burning cheeks away from the other men who were currently teasing him.

"Battle?", Inuyasha frowned in confusion, although he doubted that anyone had heard him while in their midst of teasing the messy haired young adult.

"Oh look she's looking our way I think. Oh Mokuba! I think she sees your red face", the one named Hiboshi teased.

Currently enough the one whom they were secretly talking about was making her way towards the group.

Mokuba pratically fainted out of nervousness, while the others teased him endlessly.

Inuyasha stared in awe at the girl that was coming towards them. Walking elegantly and yet with determination towards them. She was dressed in a beautiful lilac coloured cheongsam dress, that ended an inch past her calves. There was aslo a slit on her right side starting about at the top of her knee and ending with the length of the dress . The material was outlined in a deep voilet colour near the top neck area , and had a darker shade of sakura petals uniquely scattered across the velvety, rich cloth. She held a bouquet of flowers all a rich, deep colour of their own in her arms. As she grew closer, Inuyasha noticed that she wore the same cloak that she had worn during last night's commotion. What he also noticed was that she wore the same captivating, and mysterious mask. The one with the large, stunning pair of eyes made from what seemed like pieces of adamant, sparkling with different colours with every ray of the sun reflecting off of it.

It was alluring and very eye catching he had to admit. He felt himself pulled into them, bewitched by their beautiful colours when she was passing by the small group of young men.

He gulped when she pratically stopped a couple of feet in front of him.

"I wish to speak with you alone stranger. Care to follow me?", she indicated towards a simple path towards a remote area.

He nodded and didn't even look back to the group of young men he had made plans earlier with to go fishing. But he did hear them grumble about 'how lucky he was to be alone with the beautiful princess'. Rolling his eyes slightly, he then followed after her quietly, deep in thought about what was to happen next.

'They must of decided my fate already', he mused, as he observed her delicate form. 'She looks alot more calmer today than she did last night. But she's still badly bruised', he frowned, not liking one bit that the dark blotches on her ivory coloured skin stood out too much.

She kept silent the entire time they walked towards a destination only she had knowledge about. The only indication of communication between them were the occasional smiles she would give to every villager that passed by, or a small wave in return. But he kept silent and still during the whole process, while it bothered the heck out of him when he really had alot of questions to ask her.

They had been walking for only a couple of minutes and it seemed endless with where they were going. He finally began to get irritated with the awkward silence between the two of them and decided to ask a question even if it sounded lame.

"Where are we going anyways?", he crossed his arms stubbornly.

She heard him, this he knew of for sure because she had turned her head slightly towards him and then turned back to face in front of her, but she kept silent and decided not to answer his question.

"I see...so you've decided to give me the silent treatment again huh? Just great!", he mumbled annoyed at the fact that she wouldn't even respond to a simple enough question.

There was a small clearing ahead of them with a tiny slope to one side. Underneath the slope was a beautiful pond that had a couple of birds floating lazily on top of the crystal clear water.

The princess walked straight towards an enourmous weeping willow and sat underneath the cool shade that the tree provided.

She indicated with her hand for the general to sit next to her in the lush green grass when he just stood there pratically in a daze as he took in the scene's marvelous beauty.

He frowned slightly before he sat in the grass a mere couple feet away. Not far away enough to call it rude, but enough to give each of them their own personal space.

They took a moment of their own to marvel at the magestic nature around them before they spoke on any important matters that invaded their minds.

"Tell me stranger do you wish for me to speak first, or would you rather have your own questions answered beforehand?"

"Heh, don't matter to me", he snorted.

"Stranger, I am not trying to be difficult here. We have an important matter on our hands now and I would appreciate it if you could cooperate here with me", she replied sternly.

"What important matter that I need to cooperate with? Oh wait you mean the one about my death from trying to make sure you were okay", he half growled.

She pursed her lips and was about to make a smart comment herself when she sighed and looked towards the pond instead.
"Look, as I have said before your help was not needed in the first place. But!", she interrupted him when it looked as if he was about to reply to her statement, "I really do appreciate with what you have done for me. The elders were even suprised at how you had risked your life in order to save mine, and because of that they are allowing you to live on one condition".

"And what is this condition?", he frowned, not liking were this was going.

"That you are to remain here and look for this so called treasure that Tsubaki herself is looking for."

"Huh? What do you mean by that...I thought you guys had it hidden around here somewhere."

"No. Unfortunately, I am afraid we do not. My people know not what this woman Tsubaki is looking for something, but nobody in this village even has a clue to what exactly the treasure is", she frowned and turned to face him with her dazzling, adamant, masked eyes.

"We have suffered a great deal for years now because of this woman's persistance with the treasure. She has killed many friends and family, just because of something she says exist within my forests".

Inuyasha didn't respond to her statement so she kept going.

"We are but simple people here in this village. If something so small as a treasure could cause such devestating effects to those whom we care for...then we would gladly give up such a thing without a second thought", she took a moment to collect herself before she could turn back to the stranger sitting next to her.
'Even after so many years...it still breaks my heart to think of you mama and papa'.

"Stranger...I ask of you to please help us out, help my people".

"Me, but...you said that you don't even have this treasure that Tsubaki is looking for, how am I going to find it?".

"You are the only one with a knowledge of the treasure. Only you know exactly what it is that she is looking for."

The General sighed, "All right...I'll do it. I'll look for this treasure then. I may not be exactly sure where to start looking, but I'll give it a shot", he frowned at himself for allowing his cheeks to turn a dark shade of red.
'Why the hell should I be so embarassed about this...I don't even care! I'm doing it for my own benefit, so I can get the hell out of this place without getting my head cut off.'

"Then may it be so. You shall remain here in this village until you find the treasure which Tsubaki seeks", she stated as she picked up her beautiful bouquet of flowers, that had been currently laying by her side on the grass, and got up from where she had been sitting near the trunk of the willow tree.

She dusted herself off and then began to walk away from general, not bothering to even mention a farwell bidding towards him.

"Wait! Is that all you are going to say to me, what about an explanation of what's going to happen to me?", he got up abruptly and began to march behind her, furious at the fact that she was being so selfish at the moment.

"I have already explained it to you stranger...that you are to remain here in this village and look for the treasure", she stated as a matter of factly.

"Yeah but...".

"Listen stranger the elders in this village believe that your heart is not as tainted as Tsubaki's is, and I agree with them. But you still stink of city filth, and your stench is making me sick. So stay away from me stranger!", she growled at him before she huffed and walked away. Clearly pissed.

He was so taken back by her sudden attitude, that it took him almost a full minute to respond to the retreating princess, walking away with such determination.

"Hah! Well you don't exactly smell too nice either. In fact you smell awful!", he yelled angrily.

Before she had dissapeared from his line of vision she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, and then continued walking away.

"Stupid girl", he fumed under his breath. He waited a couple of minutes, just to make sure that she was really gone, and then took a good sniff of himself.

"Phew", he nearly choked on his own scent. It may not be powerful to a human's nose, but when someone's nose was as extra sensitive as his, damn! everything was just overwhelming.

"I really do need a bath", he gaged, 'must of been all of that running that I've been doing lately', he frowned.

'She was right I do reek...and her, well she smelled really nice like rose petals and honeysuckle.'

"Ha! who am I kidding. That little bitch smelled like a garden full of weeds...stupid wench", he huffed as he stormed back towards the village.

To get a decent bath.

~~~~~~~~~

It took him a while to fill up the wooden tub with water, considering they didn't have any running water like back at home. The process might have made him sweat more, but as he sat back againts the tub's rim a slow, lazy grin twitched at the corner of his mouth.

'This feels so good and it was worth the effort', he sighed. 'Stupid girl! Your stench makes me sick she says. Well I'll give her something to complain about, how about I throw a nice pile of mud at her and then we'll see who really stinks', he frowned. It was a good idea, but the thought of marring her creamy looking skin, when it was already badly bruised looking, seemed pathetic and inconsiderate of him to do. He decided to take his mind off on the mysterious girl for now, and to just relax in the lukewarm water instead.

After a good soak in the water he reached over the ledge of the rim and picked up a wrapped parcel. The package was small, and wrapped up in thick white rice paper. An old lady next door had given it to him when he had inquired about a bath and where to fetch some water. The old lady was certainly blushing a deep shade of red when she looked upon the young general, and imagined him having a relaxing bath. Her imagination certainly did let it get the better of her.

As he recalled it, the old lady did seem kind and friendly, but what he also noticed was that she didn't wear a mask over her face. Like some of the village girls he had seen on his way back to the hut.

'I wonder what the significance of these masks are?'

Kepping that thought in mind, he opened up the small parcel, tied loosely with a string, and took the brown coloured bar of soap.

After bringing it up close to his nose for a small wiff, he shrugged his shoulders and began to scrub his body madly.

The smell of scented pine assualted his nose a second later when his body was good and lathered up with the creamy substance. He then turned his attention towards his long, silk mane and began to give it a good lather as well.
When he finished he ducked underneath the water and scrubbed off the remaining soap spus on his body and hair.
With that done, he stepped out of the water and picked up the towel that the old lady had also given to him.
He frowned at its size, the white fluffy material reminded him of Sesshomaru's favourite cloak, but it wasn't as expensive looking as his mane of fluff considering the guy was pratically made out of money. What irritated Inuyasha about the soft, downy material was that it was barely even big enough to wrap around his well toned torso.

'That old lady, just what was she thinking of when she gave this to me all giggly and stuff?', he thought sourly as his left eyebrow began a sudden twitch.
He shook his head and tried to ignore the distracting thought of her having given this to him on purpose. After all she was a kind, old lady there was no way she could be anything else either than that.

His thoughts were interrrupted when he heard a knock at the front door. He was about to jump into the clothes that were thrown about on the floor, but they were torn and dirty, and he had just bathed too.

He decided againts it, but had no other choice, so he walked out of the spare room and went straight towards the front entrance. He hid his body, from waist down, againts the wooden panel of the sliding door. His other half peeked out curriously at whom had been knocking at his door.

He raised his right eyebrow in curiousity when he saw the small group of eldery ladies standing shyly outside his hut door.

"Um...can I help you ladies?", he asked confused.

The group of elderly women began to giggle excitedly as they examined the well shaped chest in front of them.

"Oh here sonny, we have brought ye a new set of garments. Your other ones looked torn and dirty.", one of the old ladies with the most wrinkles stepped foward, blushing as she held out some black material before him.

"Uh...thanks", Inuyasha responded nervously. He couldn't help but feel uncomftorable that the elderly women before him were drooling at the mere sight of his bare chest, literally.

The old laddies squealed in pleasure when he stuck out his arm, he had to use one hand to hold up his towel while the other deftly snatched the clothing from the ever gawking, wrinkly woman. As Inuyasha had feared, while one of his hands was drastically holding onto the small material wrapped around his torso, the front of the cloth had began to slide down slowly. One of the ladies had passed out from the mere excitement of the strip tease while the others screamed like young school girls.

He gasped in embarassement and quickly shut the front door, leaving a bunch of groaning old ladies behind in dissapointment. He didn't care if it was rude, but he did it to salvage what modesty he had left in him.

"Don't be a stranger now handsome", he heard one of the old ladies chirp behind him through the closed door.

"If ye ever needs anything...and I mean anything, do not hesitate to ask for it", another elderly lady yelled loudly.

Inuyasha groaned, 'Now all the village hags will start to spread rumours on how I pratically displayed myself right in front of them to see. They must think I'm a total pervert!'.

In all his musings he couldn't help but see the odd humour behind it all, 'Those old ladies were pratically wishing for the towel to have fallen. Now I'm starting to wonder who the real pervert here actually is?'

He quickly pushed the distracting thoughts of old perverted women away, and turned towards the fresh pair of clothes that they had given him.

After throwing the clothes on he felt alot better that he had something clean to cover up his body with. The material neither soft nor rough, and yet comftorable to move around in and wear all day. The pants were long and baggy, with a string at the front with a string at the front which he tied into a knot. The shirt was long, black and it stuck to his body like a second layer of skin. There were no sleves attatched to the shirt, allowing his well shaped arms to catch attention more easily and the sun to darken his skin. He felt like a fighter in his clothes, well balanced and with easy movement, without the heavy weight of many layers of clothing holding him down. The texture and feel of his new clothing was to give an upperhand in combat. He had long since forgotten this advantage considering he was always busy keeping up with his regular training or it had never crossed his mind when he was in the midst of battle. This was certainly something he could get use to, he felt more unconstrained and comftorable in these new clothes than his old ones.

'Oh crap...I forgot all about my haori again', he groaned. 'But now that it's been decided that I would stay here until Tsubaki's treasure was found, I'm allowed to roam the village as much as I want to...right?'.

He didn't ponder on this question further because at that moment his stomach had decided to interrrupt his thoughts.
It gurgled once more when he ignored it at first and a third time when he began to clean out the bath area.

'Damn, I forgot to ask where do I get some chow around here', he thought back to the group of old ladies that had told him not to hesitate in asking if he needed anything. But then again those same old ladies had been eyeing him as if were a piece of candy on display.
He shook his head, 'Nah, I think I'm just gonna go look around and see what I can find to eat'.

After making sure the bath area was clean, he pulled on his black tabi boots and headed outside.

~~~

He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't spot a single old lady in sight, they were starting to scare him the more he thought about how much they had wanted the towel to have fallen off his waist.

He took a random route that led into the village's main square. There were many booths that had fruits, vegetables, fish and a variety of other products, sold by pleasant looking people.

'This is just like back at home...these people are no different than the merchants in the city.'

He heard the sound of a sizzle behind him, followed by an all familiar and unique smell.

'Okonomiyaki?', he scrunched his forehead in both confusion and delight.

He walked closer to the booth were an overweight looking senior was busy flipping giant pizza looking pancakes.

Inuyasha allowed his nose to take over his body and it led him towards the booth, where he stood there pratically drooling at the sight of the scrumptious flour based delight.

The senior at the booth gave him a toothy grin as he flipped over one of the Okonomiyaki and served it to a customer with Yakisoba, who was also drooling at the delicious sight as well.

Inuyasha gulped and mechanically reached into his side pockets for his wallet. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he found his pockets empty, and he frantically began to search in his other pocket out of despair.

'Gah! I'm such an idiot! I forgot my wallet back at Magasaki town', he nearly swore loudly for his own stupidity, 'Now how the hell am I gonna be able to afford food?'

He sighed and looked longingly at the wonderful smelling food before him.
'Guess I'm just gonna have to forget about buying food here until I can get some money'.

He turned and was about to leave, when the old man caught behind him yelled for him to stop.

Inuyasha turned around slowly and gave him a confused look.

"Didn't you want to try one of my okonomiyaki there young man?",he gave the general a huge grin, showing a couple of dark gaps in between a couple of white, shiny teeth.

"Well...yeah, but I do not have any money to pay with sir", he stated politely.

The old man gave out a hearty laugh, shaking his bulging belly a couple of times to the rhythm of his of his laughter.
"I don needs no monies from you young man, that's all city talk you got'er goin der. Here we share what we gots wit others, and in return they do the sames. It is our way o life in dis here village. I was pretty sure you was da newcomer everyone is gossiping about round's here dese parts."

Inuyasha nodded, "Guess you can tell huh? Man does news spread around here fast"

"Yup, it shurry can. Tell you what...how 'bout I make you one scrumptious looking Okonomiyaki and you tell me if it even compares its taste as the ones they gots der in the city."

Inuyasha grinned, "You got yourself a deal there old man". Grateful that he was going to get some free okonmiyaki, and some delicious looking ones too.

The old man gave Inuyasha another toothy grin before he began to place a couple of ingrediants into a bowl and mix them together. The old man then proceeded to place the batter onto a small pan in front of him. There where a couple of logs encased by a small, clay furnace that kept the flame going for the grill to remain hot and ready for cooking.

"Choose your ingrediants der mi boy", he indicated when the batter was placed into the pan.

Inuyasha gave him an astonished look.

"What? You can't have Okonomiyaki if you don choose your favourite ingrediants now can you's?", the big bellied, old man grinned.

Inuyasha grinned, "Oh uh yeah, well...I want beef, chicken, shrimp and alot of Yakisoba", he licked his lips in hunger.

The man chuckled his jolly laugh and began preparing the ingrediants according to what the newcomer had requested.

Finally when he had flipped it one last time and it was cooked and ready to eat, he placed the okonomiyaki in a large wooden bowl, dripped some sauces on top and put an extra heaping of yakisoba, all for the general pratically drooling at the mere sight of food.

"Thanks I really appreciate it old man", he mumbled quickly before he dug in noisingly, slurping at every mouthful of noodles and grilled okonomiyaki.

The old man with grey temples, and a large bald spot in the middle of his scalp chuckled at the comical scene of a hungry newcomer before him.

"You must o' been really hungry der young man", he stated as he wiped down his cutting board and little grill.

"I was....star-...ving", he replied between mouthfulls.

When Inuyasha had finished the last bite of his food, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand of any excess sauce still lingering on his lips, and slapped the wooden bowl on the big bellied man's booth.

"Old man that's gotta be the best darn tasting okonomiyaki ever. And I gotta say it beats the city's any time day or night, believe me I've tried plenty", he grinned.

The old man quickly shook his head from being startled so abruptly and began to laugh his jolly good old laughter.

"Well I'll be darned, that's gotta be the best compliment I ever'd recieved. You here mi boy are welcomed back any time for more."

"Will do old man", Inuyasha bowed politely before he left the jolly good old man.

'Man that was some good food...and I can't believe my luck, I got free grub!. This place sure is something', he nodded silently to himself.

He was uncertain of where he was going, but it didn't bother him much considering he had no fixed schedule, or specific appointments of where he was supposed to be. Having this type of good opportunity, he roamed wonderously around the village square and along the near outskirts of the village.
Plenty of times he had thought about dashing off into the woods and finding his way back to Magasaki town. But he had given his word to the princess that he would help find the treasure that Tsubaki was seeking, and he always kept his word no matter what the circumstances were. Even if he did want to escape from this village anyway, it seemed that there were warriors patrolling the edges of the forest and some of the other areas of the village.
A couple of them had glanced his way every so often, and every time Inuyasha would look their way in return they would end up giving him a friendly wave or a thumbs up.

At first he felt pissed and was even tempted to go and smack a couple of them over the head because It had only been just last night that they were threatening to throw him into the man eating centipede's pit. Now they were all acting as if the incident had never occured.

After seeing the same grinning faces and friendly gestures though, he just shrugged and accepted the ill fact that he might not get his revenge after all since there was no good reason in starting a pointless fight. After all they were doing there job and were protecting their village, if they hadn't of captured him then they would of been dishonoring their titles as protectors of the village.

That alone would of been enough to irke him, for he hated corrupt bastards and lazy good for nothings.

The time flew by quickly the more he explored the village, he noticed alot of differences here and there, especially with the people. He had never had so many people acknowledge him in friendly greetings and gestures as he took route after route throughout the entire village.
He even noticed a couple of young women here and there wearing odd looking masks, blushing and smiling all too cheerfully towards his way. The first young girl who had smiled at him like that, he had to even look behind him to see if she was perhaps smiling at some young guy behind him. When he noticed that there was no other person besides him walking down the same route that the blushing girl was also walking on, he had to scratch his head in confusion for a second. After a full minute when the girl had dissapeared around a corner, the realization had fianlly sunk into him about what the girl had actually been blushing about.

'It can't be...do all these young girls actually think I'm...', he gulped before he accepted his own statement as a fact, '...attractive?'
He nearly doubled in laughter at his own stupid assumption, 'Man I'm definately loosing it. Maybe I still got some sauce on my face somewhere and they're too embarassed to tell me I got something on my face', he huffed as he passed a small group of young girls doing laundry, all wearing strange looking masks, and whispering to each other about something even his super sensitive ears couldn't quite catch.

He ignored their happy smiles towards him and continued making his way throughout the village to where his hut was.

Almost reaching the top steps of his hut, he stopped suddenly when he heard heavy footsteps approach from behind him.

"Yo! I was starting to wonder where you had gone off to", the deep, masculine voice stated as the same owner of the voice clamped a hand onto his right shoulder.

Inuyasha whisked around quickly with his fists raised into the air, ready to strike if the person behind him was an enemy.

"Whoa, calm down there buddy! It's me Bankotsu remember?", the tall warrior exclaimed as he grinned widely, showing a set of pearly white teeth.

"Yeah, I knew that", Inuyasha huffed, slightly annoyed at the fact that the guy had an odd way of obtaining people's attention.

"Sure ya did. Anyways the princess has asked me to check up on you every so often to make sure you're doing all right. So I gotta ask...are you doing all right?", he crossed his arms casually.

"I...guess. What, she still thinks I'm gonna run off or something?", he pratically spat, 'And even after I gave her my own word, she still doesn't believe I'll stay and help look for the treasure'.

"Nah! She believes that you won't, says you wouldn't be able to find your way back to Magasaki town anyways", Bankotsu half grinned in amusement.

Inuyasha resisted the urge to sweatdrop. "She...said that?"

"Yeup, she did. Anyways its the last meal of the day now and I was wondering if you'd like to join the hunters and I at the dinner hall for some chow".

"You kidding, I'm pratically starving again".

Bankotsu slapped the side of his leg while he bursted out in laughter, "Then ya should of said something then. Come on I'll show you where it is. The hunters usually come to get their meals here when they feel too tired or lazy to cook for themselves. It's not bad food there either and sometimes you get to see a really cute girl there every so often", Bankotsu smirked playfully, nudging the man beside him in acknowledgement to his own slyness.

Inuyasha only snorted through his nose, took on a serious expression and placed his two hands stiffly behind him while he straightened out his back.

Bankotsu found it awkward that the newcomer didn't laugh at the harmless joke along with him, so he stopped laughing and scratched the back of his head a couple of times.

"So...", he quickly tried to find a different topic to discuss about, "What do they call you back at that city of yours?"

"They call me Inuyasha. Inuyasha West", the tall, well built general stated formaly.

"Ah! West huh?...One of the sons of Inu No Taisho I assume?".

Inuyasha stared in surprise at the warrior dressed in clothing such as his, but the difference being white in colour, and with dark blue armour on his chest and shoulders.

"I thought so...you do resemble the man quiet a bit a I must say", Bankotsu chuckled lightly.

"How did you know my old man?".

"Uh well, my own father had served under him long ago. He was a great General, that old man of yours, strong, intelligent and well respected by everyone who knew him. And by the looks of it, it seems as if his youngest son has chosen to follow in his old footsteps", Bankotsu observed the way the man beside him walked stiff straight and with a commanding air of authority.

"Yeah, but...I'm not as great as he was", the general mumbled.

"Well we all gotta start off somewhere now don't we? But I guess that it's not all that easy when you're looked down in the real world by your half demon inheritance, now is it?".

"Heh, so what you got a problem with my half demon blood now?", Inuyasha growled.

"Calm down, I didn't mean any offence. In case you havn't noticed I'm also half demon myself", Bankotsu stated proudly.

Inuyasha gave the warrior next to him a stupified look.
"What? You're a..."

"The term they like to use around here is a hanyou...and yes I am one of them. My father was a full youkai, while my mother was a beautiful and ordinary human. In the end I guess I just inherited my mother's human blood more", he shrugged, "But it doesn't matter to me cause I'm alot stronger than the average human and that's way better than anything".

Inuyasha had begun to develop a new found respect towards the warrior dressed in white, with long, black hair tied back into a braid and ending a couple of inches just past the waist. 'He doesn't care at all that he's a half breed, he's actually proud'.
It was so unexpected and yet amazing all the same that there were actually others just like him who could actually handle their blood inheritance alot better than he ever could.
'Then again this village does have both demon and humans living together in peace. There may be a chance that there could be other half demons as well'.

Bankotsu and Inuyasha kept walking until they were in front of a large, open sheltered area. There were rows of neatly alinged, large tables with many cushions on each side. The two men took their footwear off at the front entrance, placing them in polished, wooden cubby holes, and then proceeded to walk across the clean tatami mats. The tables were large enough to hold at least ten men each, five on each side of the table where they could face each other and exchange words of communication.

"Hey Inuyasha, just a word of caution", Bankotsu whispered as they neared towards a table with a small handful of men, "You see that oddly dressed looking warrior over there?".

Inuyasha turned to look to his left and noticed a warrior...or was it warrioress, with too much face colours on, making the person look ridiculous.

"Yeah and?"

"Well he's one of my men, goes by the name of Jakotsu. He's a bit of an oddball, but don't let him freak you out...the guy is harmless", he quickly whispered before he chose a particular table and sat on top of a large, grey cushion.

Inuyasha scrunched his brow in confusion and just shrugged as he went to go sit beside Bankotsu, whom was already signalling for him to hurry up and sit beside him.

"Oh my gosh what a pair of adorable ears!"

Bankotsu sighed as he slapped the side of his face, turning a weary look towards his new companion on his right.
"Too late you've been spotted", Bankotsu whispered.

"Huh, what are you taking about?", Inuyasha didn't have much time to ponder on his meaning when he felt a pair of hands touch his scalp gently.

"Oh I must touch them, they are so cute!", a high pitched voice squealed behind the startled general.

Inuyasha turned to look at the person behind him and jerked away from the person's curious hands.
"Gah, what do you think you're doing?", Inuyasha snapped in anger.

"Oh you must let me touch them. Please?".

The general flinched under the man's gaze, 'It's the same guy Bankotsu had warned me about earlier, just what is up with this guy anyways, and why is he dressed like that!?'.

"Jakotsu, you're scaring him. Go back and sit down at your spot", Bankotsu replied slightly annoyed and yet light heartedly towards the man in the light coloured kimono.

"Oh Bankotsu! You never let me have fun with the cute ones", Jakotsu slightly pouted, making his overly painted, ruby lips stick out tremendously. With a sigh, he picked up the rim of his kimono delicately in one hand and went to go back to sit down at the other end of the table. Far away from the newcomer with the pair of adorable ears.

When he was gone Inuyasha breathed a sigh a relief, 'That guy gives me the creeps'.

"What's up with him", he indicated to the warrior next to him dressed in white.

"He doesn't find women as attractive as he does men, and let's just say that you are most definately are his type", Bankotsu smirked.

Inuyasha blanched, "I shoudn't of asked", he made a sound of disgust and avoided the gaze and flirtatious grins the odd looking man sent his way.

"Cheer up", Bankotsu nudged his ribs playfully, "The food's ready".

At the back of the dinner hall a set of shoji doors were pushed aside and two young looking girls wearing masks, followed by a large handfull of slightly older women not wearing any masks, walked through carrying many plates and bowls of food.

The general was about to ask why some of the women wore masks while others did not to the warrior dressed in white beside him, when a large plate of steaming, hot food was placed directly in front of him.

He drooled at the sight of grilled chicken and steamed vegetables before him, forgetting his earlier question at once. Inuyasha was grateful for the food and had to wait a bit before the rice was passed around the table, followed by steamed buns.
When everyone at the table was ready to dig into their food, there was a moment of silence throughout the entire room. Each warrior had their heads bowed down respectfully and were quiet for a minute or so before they looked up back again and began digging into the delicious meal before them.

The general felt at a loss when everyone around him grew quiet and had their heads bowed down respectfully. He didn't know how to properly respond to the situation, so he just kept quiet in respect to the others around him.

When Bankotsu looked up again he gave the general a friendly grin, before he dug into his own food, not even commenting or mentioning the general's actions during the moment of silence.

Deciding it wasn't important enough to comment on, Inuyasha quickly dug into his food and savoured each tasty bite.

The atmosphere became comftorable as each group of men related their stories to each other about the various hunts and kills of the day.

Inuyasha was just finishing the last of his meal when he spotted a young, tall looking warrior, lean yet slightly built, with short brown hair that was at the moment sticking up in small spikes. But what was the most noticeable trait about this mysterious warrior was the fact that he was dressed in all white clothing and blue armour across the chest and shoulders, exactly the same way Bankotsu was dressed.

"Hey!", Bankotsu waved excitedly towards the mysterious warrior, "Over here Souta, come join us!".

The warrior that was acknowledged as Souta came towards the table Inuyasha and Bankotsu were sitting and sat across from the two, so he could face and communicate easily with them.

"Kind of late for the chow bro", Bankotsu chuckled.

"Nah! I already ate at Baba's. So...is this the newcomer everyone is talking about?", Souta turned large, light brown orbs towards the general dressed in the warrior's traditional clothing.

The general could tell that the warrior before him had the eyes and features of an innocent youth, and by the looks of it he was probably a year or two younger than he was himself. But the hands that were neatly folded out in front of him on the table were that of a fighter; rough, calloused looking hands. The warrior also held an air of commanding respect, unlike Bankotsu this one seemed more fitted for whatever title and authority he held in this village.

"Yee-up, this is him all right and guess what too...he's the youngest son of the late General Inu No Taisho".

A silent hush had filled the room the moment those very words were spoken, and every single pair of eyes had fixed themselves on the golden eyed, tall man, with a well built body of muscle, and long flowing, silver hair.

"Inu No Taisho?", Inuyasha heard someone on his right gasp out in surprise.

'Damn father, even out here your reputation was well known. You really were a great General...weren't you'.

A huge man with a solid rock body, and thick bulging, muscular arms walked towards the General and bent on one knee before him.
"It is an honour to have the late Inu No Taisho's son here in our village", he then reached out to grasp his hand and give it a good, firm shake.

Inuyasha nodded, "Thanks".

"Welcome!"

"Yes welcome to out village".

''We hope you enjoy it here".

There were many greetings spoken towards the general, before they went back to gossiping and eating once more.

Souta accepted a cup of tea from a young lady with a strange looking mask that resembled a type of bird, before he turned his attention to the newcomer once again.

"What is your name son of Inu No Taisho?".

"My name is Inuyasha West", the general indicated before he too also accepted a cup of tea from the same girl that was going around from table to table handing out the hot beverage.

"Then I welcome you, here to our village Inuyasha West", Souta indicated genuinely.

For some strange reason, Inuyasha felt as if the warrior before him was welcoming him for himself, and not because he was the son of his well known father or any other reason. Just himself and nothing else.
In a way it made him feel...more comftorable.

Bankotsu had let out a booming chuckle, interrupting Inuyasha out of his train of thoughts. The warrior beside him was currently speaking with the same girl, who had been serving them tea just a moment ago. Bankotsu grinned a couple of times towards the girl, making her blush a shade of red and almost spill the sake that she was trying to pour into his cup for him.

Souta raised an eyebrow of question towards the fellow man sitting across from him. He shook his head and raised the cup of tea to his lips, ignoring the chuckling warrior as he flirted with the kitchen maiden.

An elder woman came out from behind the young girl and cleared her throat, loud enough to capture the attention of the blushing girl.
The girl quickly piled up all the empty dishes onto her tray and sped quickly out of the room and back towards the kitchens. She really had too much work to be done to just be wasting it on flirting with cute looking men.

Inuyasha remained silent when Bankotsu was flirting with the young girl. He noticed the dissaproving looks the warrior named Souta kept giving his way. But he was in deep thought to even ponder on the warrior's meaning . The masks were just puzzling. Some girls wore them, some didn't and all of the senior women of the village didn't wear one. This he noticed today when he was wandering around in the village today. But why...just what do these masks really mean?'.

When the girl had left, Bankotsu turned back to sitting properly in his seat and sipped on his sake with a large grin on his face.

"Bankotsu, did you know that the Princess is making you something special for your birthday?", Souta stated, with his eyes closed and looking as if he was in deep thought.

"Really? I can't believe it...and here I've been thinking all day that she has forgotten about it all. Well this is certainly a surprise", Bankotsu chuckled as he downed the rest of his sake in a single gulp.

Inuyasha's ears twitched slightly when he heard a slight sound from the corner of the dinner hall's entrance.

"Psst Souta! Over here".

The person whispering was obviously too shy at the moment to enter the dinner hall for some reason.
Inuyasha craned his neck to the side to get a view of the person, but the pillar was blocking the person's form and the person seemed to want to remain hidden for sure.

Souta got up from his seat and went over to the front entrance and exchanged a couple of words with the person before he walked back carrying a big, white parcel in his hands.

"She says to have a Happy One Day Bunk...and she also says that she especially made this for you", Souta placed the large parcel onto the table before Bankotsu.

Bankotsu nodded and took the package, while everyone in the dinner hall crowded around the warrior to get a peak at what was inside.

Inuyasha also became curious, especially since he had a feeling that the person who had made it was the princess.

The warrior in white deftly undid the white, cute bow that was placed on the side of the box, shaped parcel and lifted the cover.
Everyone gasped around him as they eyed the beautifully decorated treat inside the box.Bankotsu looked up towards the entrance of the dinner hall, and Inuyasha was able to catch a glimpse of the princess waving shyly before she left.

A small pang of something unknown stirred in the pit of the general's stomach, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. As he eyed the exquisite treat inside the box, the feeling just became more intensified.

'Why do I feel this way? I don't even care what or who the princess gives these types of things to. Heck, why should I?', he quickly dismissed the thoughts invading his mind and making before they made him utterly confused.

"Mmm, that lookes really good. Can I have a piece?", a warrior eyed the various fruit and multicoloured treat in front of Bankotsu.

Bankotsu sighed, "I can't believe she remebered my own special day. Man do I ever feel great now".

"Maybe this is a sign that she has accepted you and will take it easy on ya when you battle her", the warrior named Jakotsu crept towards the table where everyone was crowding around at the moment. And not because he wanted a piece of the sweet. He was definately eyeing a different piece of treat at the moment. One with long, silver hair.

"What! Bankotsu is battling the princess?", a couple warriors gasped in surprise.

Bankotsu's grin became wider and if it was possible, and in this case it was, he looked like a canary who just outsmarted a cat.
"Well...", he scratched at the back of his head a couple of times.

"I can't believe it he actually is going to battle with the princess! When? I must come and watch this event!", another chirped excitedly.

"My turn is coming up next week", Bankotsu crossed his arms defiantly.

The whole room erupted into laughter, save for Inuyasha who didn't see what was quiet so funny at the moment, and Souta who was calmly sipping his tea.

"Good luck Bankotsu, you know you're definately gonna need alot more time to train if you're thinking of beating the princess".

"Yeah, you'll never beat her that easily. Unless she decides to go easy on you".

"I doubt it...you know how the princess has a reputation to keep up no matter who she challenges".

Bankotsu frowned slightly at the comments the men were saying around him, but said nothing in return.

"Hey Bankotsu are you even gonna cut up the wa-gashi, cause if you don't hurry it up there I'm cutting off a big piece of it myself!", a warrior heartedly chuckled.

"All right, all right I'll cut it up already", he grabbed for a knife and began to divide the sweet into many small pieces, so everyone could at least have a taste of the delicious treat.

"I'm confused here...just what is this battle that everyone keeps on taking about?", Inuyasha asked as he accepted a piece of the sweet himself.

Bankotsu was too busy bragging about how the princess had given him all this attention so Souta was the one who had answered the general's question for him.
'I'm sure you've noticed some of the women in this village wearing various masks, there comes a time when a female reaches a certain age in learning the skills of being a caregiver. In our village here young girls are given the skills to learn to properly handle things and understand the concepts of raising a family. When a young female reaches the age of ten they are then sent out into the deepest part of the forests, where they must fend for themselves and use all the skills they have learned thus so far without the aid of any family or friends. During those three days, they are also required to find a type of inspiration, meaning something that has made them feel inspired throughout their whole ordeal, and has kept them going even when it became hard for them. After the three days are over they then keep to themselves and make a unique mask out of their own inspiration and place it over thier faces. The masks are all symbolic really, first of all they are like shields that hold the innocence of a young maiden in secret until their chosen champion is able to take off her mask in battle. Second, our ancestors believe that the eyes of maiden reflect the inner soul, and that a male is not supposed to look upon a maiden's eyes, unless he be bewitched by them. And third, the masks represent virginity, once taken off she belongs to no other than the champion who has taken off the mask. It's all common sense really, the young girls learn to follow the examples of other older women and apply their own knowledge as they grow older. When they finally reach the age of fifteen that's when the girls must be ready to show all they have gained throughout their learning years. If they havn't trained properly then they are easily brought down when they partake in the battle of the courtships. These courtship battles are not allowed to be denied by the women, but they are not as common considering everyone takes them seriously and only with the ones whom they really want to be with forever".

Inuyasha stared back in shock and amazement when Souta had explained the very last part about the courtship battles.

"When it's been decided, for example in this case with Bankotsu and the Princess, that they will be willing to battle with each other, not only will they battle because pride and honour are important to each one, but also they must battle with their hearts. The match will determine if they are a set couple or not...and if it so happens that if Bankotsu does not want the princess if he so happens to take off her mask then she must go back into the woods and find a new inspiration. But I hardly doubt that will be the case here", he mumbled the last part sourly to himself, thinking Inuyasha couldn't hear him. After all his sensitive ears could pick up on almost anything, even within a one mile range.

"Why is that so?", Inuyasha asked, suprising Souta that he had actually heard with what he said.

"Because, if Bankotsu were to win then he would be...the people's king", he picked up his cup of tea and took a couple of sips, his face contorting into that of a troubled one.

"So he's battling her so that he could marry the girl?", Inuyasha resisted the urge to ask of what was troubling him? He really looked like he didn't find the idea of Bankotsu being King too appealing. But then again the two seemed close and he didn't want to jump into any conclusions, lest he cause some trouble.

"Yeup, and he's not the only one who's been trying to either. Ever since she has turned fifteen there have been alot of men who have come challenging her, but believe me when I say this...she is not exactly easy to beat", he grinned to himself at the last comment.

"What! I can't believe it...but that's...that's...", Inuyasha huffed.

"Is there a problem Inuyasha", Souta asked calmly, well aware that there was something that was bothering the newcomer.

"No..it's nothing. Forget it", he ran a hand through his hair, a bit frustrated with himself for not being able to openly speak with what was on his mind at the moment. 'I can't believe they would even force their own princess into something she wouldn't want to do. How can these people just accept this so calmly?'

He took a bite out of the sweet pastry that the princess had brought for Bankotsu. The delicious, sweet texture of the wa-gashi immediantly assualted the taste buds on his tongue when he took his first bite out of it. The middle part of the pastry had a darker colour, indicating that it had been filled with a kind of sweet bean paste. The outer part was like a soft layer of sweet bread, almost like a sponge cake but not quite, and was lighter in colour compared to the middle part. The top of the sweet was covered in different kinds of fruits from pieces of peaches to strawberries and had some decorative sugar on top.

'This is another treat Sesshomaru would defiantely drool over for', he thought as he took another bite of the wonderful pastry.

'Too bad he's too far away to enjoy this'.

He was lost in his own little world that he failed to notice the sneaky Jakotsu come up from behind him and touch his hair.

"So soft", he cooed.

Inuyasha growled at the irritating and odd looking man behind him.

Jakotsu raised his hands innocently and backed off awkwardly away from the scary, handsome man with the adorable, cute ears.

Bankotsu just laughed when he turned and spotted this and then went back to bragging with some nearby warriors.

"And when I win...I'm gonna have a huge celebration for my victory", Bankotsu hollered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Souta frowned at this, 'He's always trying to make a scene...when will he ever learn'.

Inuyasha also frowned, but instead of sitting still and continue to hear the man's boisterous laughter, he got up from his seat and began to walk away from the dinner hall.

No one noticed him leave, everyone was having fun and drinking around the ever so lucky warrior, who might be their future king in a couple of days. None, except one that is.

'Hmm. This guy sure is alot different than most city people I've met. I wonder if there is actually a purpose for him in coming here', the warrior dressed in white, and with blue armour, looked intently into the dark liquid of his tea.

~~~~~

Just the thought of that man caressing the soft skin of the princess was enough to make his blood boil. He didn't care for the girl, but he had seen the way he had been eyeing the girl with the bird's mask, he heard how he commented on some girls that had captured his attention in the village and what he would like to do with them. He said that when he had been talking with some of the men after they had found out he would be battling the princess. But had he once even mentioned the princess herself, No! And that's what irritated him. He probably didn't even care for her and just wants to be king so he can have all the power that he wanted. Poor, girl she doesn't know what she's getting herself into by giving the guy all these wrong messages.

He thought back on the innocent smile and gesture she had given Bankotsu right before she left. 'She'd make the worse mistake of her life if she did allow the guy to win'.

'I don't care though...she can do whatever she wants. It's not like its any of my business anyways', he thought as he looked up at the stars that were starting to come out againts the darkening sky above.

'Just what reason do I exactly have for being here anyways...It can't just be for looking for the treasure that Tsubaki desires now could it? I just feel like...there is something more for me to do here.'

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Sorry it took so long for me to update guys. So much stuff to do, so litte time.
But fear not for I shall never abbandon this story..nuh uh..no way.
I realize that someone actually sent me an email saying that if i didn't update sooner that they'd find out where i lived, tie me to a computer and make me update. I found that so funny i was laughing about it through dinner, its just one of those wierd humourous jokes that isn't too funny unless you spend time thinking about it.
O and by the way I aslo had someone say that i need to put the definitions down as well...oops my bad i kinda forgot in my other chapters to do that, but here's one for this chapter.

Juban-undergarment. The white kimono shirt we all see that Inuyasha has underneath the red fire rat material of his.

Haori- a short sleeved jacket worn over a kimono (but Inuyasha's are long sleeved...I guess there's different styles..cool.) This is his red fire rat jacket.

Hakama- can be either pants (like Inuyasha's red one's) or a skirt. Has ties at the waist for the user to tie without letting them fall off the waist (blush)

Michiyuki- I used this word in chapter 5 when Tsubaki draped it over her shoulders. They are three-quarter length coats that have square collars and necklines. (like a long coat sort of)
Oknomiyaki- yum. yum. i actually had a chance to try one of these in grade 7 long ago when I lived in Alberta. It is like a pizza pancake and you get to choose whatever you want on it and then they serve it to you with these sauces..like soya sauce, mayonnaise and aonori. and Yakisoba (which is fried noodles)...^_^
Wa-gashi//Wagashi- (Bankotsu's cake) it actually means Japanese style sweet. It is much lower in calories considering they do not use butter or milk in it, and instead use ingrediants like azuki (red beans), sugar and rice flower. I just didn't know a specific type of cake to call mine (there were soo many) so I just used the simple word wagashi. (it's got a cool zip to it too)
I also realize that I used happy one day in here instead of happy birthday. I dunno why, but as i thought about it...did they really celebrate birthdays as "Happy birthday" back then? Oh well I kinda like Happy One Day, because in all, it actually is celebrated only one day of the year. (Do I make sense?)
Neways I'm already starting the next chapter...so don't worry there's more to come. Love you all. and please review. Please ^_^!!!!