InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Wishes Granted ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“I told you not to use the Wind Scar,” Sango stated, wiping black goo from her arms and face.

Inuyasha scowled. “How was I supposed to know he was going to explode like that?”

“Maybe if you would listen to someone who is more knowledgeable for once,” Kagome said, glaring at him. “We wouldn’t get into these messes. Now, I suggest you find us a place to take a bath. If I don’t get this gunk off soon, you’re going to be making a rather large crater in the ground.”

“I agree with Lady Kagome,” Miroku said, smiling brightly. “We could all use a bath.”

Sango gestured to her boomerang. “Don’t get any ideas, monk. We’ll be bathing separately. I don’t care how bad I stink.”

“Sango, my dear, you could never offend me with your stench - I mean scent.”

“I wish I could say the same for you,” Sango said, rolling her eyes.

“Let’s get going already,” Inuyasha said impatiently. “We aren’t getting anywhere standing around talking about it. Come on, Kagome.”

He leaned forward for her to climb onto his back. Kagome eyed him with a barely concealed look of disgust. His once red haori and hakama were now black. Inky globs were dripping from his long silver hair onto the ground. For all his strong senses, he seemed impervious to the stench surrounding him.

“No, thank you, Inuyasha. I think I’ll walk. You’re covered from head to toe in demon intestines.” Kagome turned up her nose and sniffed lightly. “And no offense, but you really stink.”

“Well, you’re not exactly a bed of roses yourself,” he retorted. “But you don’t hear me complaining about it.” Instantly, he regretted his out burst. He could almost see the flames of anger emanating from her body. He braced himself for the impact of hanyou meeting dirt. He wasn’t left waiting long.

Kagome clenched her fists tightly to her sides. “Inuyasha!” Eyes blazing, she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Sit!”

“Idiot,” Shippo muttered from his perch atop Kagome’s shoulder. Dog-boy just couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. He was a little kid and even he knew that some things were just better left unsaid.

Shippo couldn’t blame Kagome for her short temper. From the moment Inuyasha roused the three humans at the crack of dawn with a “Get up, lazy weaklings. Time’s wasting,” until their fight with the giant wormlike creature; things had been going from bad to worse. For some unknown reason, Inuyasha had been in an especially foul mood today and had been looking to pick a fight at every turn.

When the slimy demon had crawled from the soil, Inuyasha had leapt into the fray with childlike glee. The battle had not been an easy one. Even though the creature was massive and seemingly blind, it moved quickly, dodging each of the hanyou’s attacks easily. Almost as if it had been perceiving his every move before he made it.

Growling in frustration, he pulled the Tetsusaiga free from its scabbard.

“Bastard! You are through. I’ll finish you off with my Wind Scar.”

“Inuyasha! No! Don’t use the Wind Scar,” Sango yelled from behind him, where they had all been content to stand and watch, letting him work out his frustration, but able to back him up at a moment’s notice.

Despite Sango’s protests, he raised the sword above his head and unleashed a might wave of power straight at the beast’s gaping mouth. Smirking, he watched it become engulfed in a brilliant golden light.

“Got you. Hey, Sango–“ he turned to make a snide remark at the exterminator, but stopped on seeing the wide-eyed expression on her face.

As Sango turned around and began running to get as far away from the monster as possible, she yelled, “Run!” Miroku and Kagome quickly followed, while Inuyasha stood where he was, perplexed by their actions. Unfortunately, Sango’s warning came too late. With a loud explosion, black blood began raining down upon them.


Kagome started walking down the path intent upon finding a stream or small pond. “Where’s a river when you need one? I’d settle for a mud puddle at the moment. Anything is better than his stench,” she muttered to herself.

Hesitantly, Sango and Miroku followed at a safe distance. They certainly didn’t want to be on the receiving end of her wrath. Better to let her blow off some steam before they told her she was headed in the wrong direction. The village they had been traveling toward was to the northeast and she was walking southwest.

Miroku looked at Sango. “Maybe we should tell her before she gets too far. If we have to double back, she’ll only get angry again.”
Sango was about to respond when Inuyasha’s spell wore off and he lifted his head. “You’re going in the wrong direction, stupid girl. If it wasn’t for the rest of us you’d be wandering around lost for days,” he said, spitting out grass and dirt between sentences.

The rest of the group stiffened waiting for Kagome’s response, hoping she wouldn’t blow up at them. Without a word, she spun on her heel and preceded in the opposite direction. Passing Sango and Miroku, she pinned them with a malevolent glare.

Inuyasha was beginning to stand when she approached him. She pointedly ignored him as she walked by with her pert little nose in the air. Without warning, he roughly grabbed her by the arm and swung her up on his back. Hitching her legs securely around his middle, he took off at a fast run before she could begin to protest. Resting her hands upon his shoulders and her cheek on his back, the raven-haired girl heaved a sigh of defeat and relaxed into his hold.

Stunned by their friends abrupt departure, it took Miroku and Sango a few seconds to realize they were being left behind. With a slight motion from Sango, Kirara transformed into her larger size and the two quickly climbed aboard. Sango made sure Miroku’s hands were in a safe position before they began following the hanyou.

They made it to the village within an hour’s time thanks to Inuyasha’s exceptionally fast pace. Kirara, who had been doing her best to catch up with the hanyou, poofed into her kitten size and wearily climbed into Sango’s arms. Giving a soft sniff of disgust at Inuyasha’s “took you long enough”; the cat demon was soon fast asleep.

Miroku using his “black cloud over your house” scheme, soon procured them all dinner and rooms for the night at the finest inn. However, seeing as they were all covered in demon innards, the proprietor pointed them to the nearest river to bathe.

Once, at the river, the party separated with the boys traveling farther up the river, at Sango’s request after Miroku again suggested bathing together. The girls found a small inlet where the water was calmer and began taking out bathing supplies from Kagome’s bag. Shippo, intending to join them as he always did, began searching the large back pack for his floaty. Before he could pull it out, Kagome called to him.

“Shippo, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Okay, Kagome. What is it? Do you want me to wash your back for you? Let me get the scrub brush.” He turned to her bag once more, digging through the seemingly limitless depths. With almost his entire body inside the back pack, his little feet were all that was visible, kicking as he worked his way to the bottom. Both girls bit back laughter at the site.

“Actually, Shippo,” Kagome said, as she pulled him out. “Sango and I were hoping you would watch out for Miroku and Inuyasha for us. We would really like to take a bath without having to worry about any peeping Toms.”

Shippo looked puzzled for a moment. “What’s a peeping Tod?”, he asked.

“Peeping Tom.” Kagome laughed at his mistake. Fluffing his hair gently, she explained. “It’s a figure of speech we use in my time. It means someone who likes to spy on others, particularly men watching women undressing.”

“Oh! You want me to make sure Miroku isn’t hiding somewhere trying to watch you two. But won’t he be too busy bathing?”

“We will likely take longer than those two,” Sango replied. “We need someone to stand guard just to be sure.”

Grinning mischievously, Shippo looked to Kagome. “Do I get candy?”

Surely, he should get a reward for his protection. He gazed at her with wide green eyes, giving her his best pleading look. There is no way she can say “No” to me now. This always gets her.

“Yes,” she told him.

Sucker.

“But only after you have eaten your dinner,” she added as an after thought.

Darn!

The little kitsune sat deep in thought with a small pout upon his face. “Okay, but you owe me,” he said, pointing his small clawed finger at her.

The teenager picked him up and gave him a quick squeeze. “Thanks, Shippo! You’re the best. Now why don’t you wait for us on the other side of those bushes,” she said, pointing to some shrubs just up the stream from where they planned to wash. “If they’re going to hide anywhere, that would be the best place for it.”

“I’ll keep good watch,” the tiny fox boy proclaimed, striking his best warrior’s pose. When there was no reply he glanced back. Both girls were stripping off their dirty clothing and carrying them into the stream to be washed. He shrugged his small shoulders and continued with his guard duty.


“Man. I can’t believe I got talked into this.” Shippo kicked a stone into the rushing water. It had to have been at least twenty minutes and there had been no sign of Miroku or Inuyasha. And he had heard nothing from either of the two young women. Had they forgotten about him?
“Surely, they’re done by now.”

He began walking back to where he had last left Kagome and Sango, when a flashing light caught his eye. It was coming from the edge of the river. Being a kitsune and a little boy, Shippo couldn’t pass up the shiny object. Kneeling in the mud and long grass of the bank, he found a gleaming white stone imbedded in the ground. Carefully, he extracted it using his claws. He carried it into the water and gently cleaned his new prize.

The stone was small, no bigger than the palm of his hand. He was lucky to have found it amongst all the tall grass. Carefully, he examined it. It was pearly white with all the colors of the rainbow reflecting across its surface.

Turning it over and over in his hand, he admired the way it glinted in the sunlight and changed colors with each turn. As he was turning it, he realized that one side appeared to have an image stamped on it. Studying it carefully, he thought he could just make out a hazy face. Just to be certain he wasn’t seeing things, he rubbed the stone to try to improve the appearance.

At first, he lightly rubbed his thumb over the surface of the rock, but when that didn’t seem to help he began rubbing more forcefully. Suddenly, a bright white light burst from the stone. Blinded from the brightness, Shippo abruptly dropped the stone and it rolled a few feet in front him. When he recovered from the sudden onslaught, he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Blinking in disbelief, he watched as the stone, still radiating an inner light, hovered three feet above the ground.