Disclaimer (applies to all chapters): I lay claim to no part of the Inuyasha Universe. It's not mine. So stop calling me.
A/N: Here we are again. FirstChapterVille. Enjoy. This is for the Captain and Evan who really need a brain-break from Fma and Shigo.
The Road to the West
Chapter One
The little temple on the hill was barely discernable through the sheets of falling rain. From the foot road below, it was nothing more than a dark gray collection of angles against the gray background, all of which lamely peeked through the light gray haze of the foreground. Between the steel gray sky and the green-gray earth, Rin thought she might just fade out entirely. Even her canary yellow kimono was beginning to blur around the edges, she thought.
Trudging through the mud was proving more exhausting than she had anticipated; Rin felt her calves aching from pulling her ankles free and her thighs aching from pulling her calves free, but she was not one to complain. No one was there to hear her anyway. When the path began to slope upward at the steeper angle, she simply set her mouth firm, hoisted her hem up to her knees and traipsed onward. After so many weeks of travel, with her goal in blurry sight, her determination was keener than ever.
She came to the entrance, panting and dripping and rather pathetically wiping the rain from her eyes; it seemed the wide, circular brim of her hat lacked her sense of perseverance. For that reason, it was now floating down one of the impromptu rivers that flanked the path.
Having never had an introduction to organized religion, Rin was not exactly certain what to do. She had seen over her travels to various temples in the area that Buddhism was nothing if not fastidious and disciplined; she knew she must take off her shoes. She also thought it might be frowned upon to drip on the floor of a House of God. For a moment, she considered stripping off her kimono, using it to wring out her hair and continuing on nude until she recalled the reactions of the people around her the last time she tried that tactic.
With little other choice, Rin remained shin-deep in the mud, holding up her kimono, and leaning forward to try and see into the adumbral passage. At the back of the room, she thought she could see a tall man seated on a dais. He seemed to be looking directly at her, so Rin waved at him awkwardly while holding her hem.
"Excuse me!" she called with vigor. "Hello, sir!"
The man did not reply. Rin thought that was rather odd; perhaps he could not hear her over the rain.
"Sir!" she called again, dropping her hem to wave her whole arm emphatically. "Miserable weather, isn't it, sir?"
He still said nothing.
"Sir?" she attempted once more. He was clearly ignoring her. "Well, if you'll excuse me, sir, but there is no reason to be rude." With a firm frown, Rin planted her hands akimbo. "I know you can see me, standing out here in the rain, sir. I could understand if you don't want me tracking all this into your nice clean shrine, but the least you could do is say hello."
The man had the audacity to remain aloof.
"Well, I've never in all my life-"
"Miss?" a voice sounded from inside. "Are you all right?" A young man appeared in the doorway, garbed in the black robes of a monk and squinting through the rain.
"Oh!" Rin said. Suddenly faced with a responsive priest, she could not remember what one was supposed to do in the presence of a holy man. Was there a specific protocol to follow? She want to stomp her foot in the mud and curse the silly practices of humans; why must they always complicate things? She could recall, however, someone once telling her that it was inappropriate to curse around monks, so she did the only obeisance she had learned to mimic. Bending rigidly at the waist, Rin bowed quickly, sending the tendrils of her wet hair flipping forward over her head. With her eyes down, she did not see the deluge rainwater flung from her person and showered on his. The monk yelped and stepped back, raising his sleeve to cover his face.
"Sir, my name is Rin. I've traveled a very long distance to find a man. Could you perhaps help me?" she asked, repeating the same tired question she had asked anyone who would stop long enough to listen. She hoped she sounded enthusiastic while still sounding deferential enough.
"Miss Rin," the monk said, swiping a few errant drops from his face. "I am the monk, Kado." He gave her a brief bow. "Perhaps if you came inside, I may be able to help you."
Rin stood up straight again, flinging more water at Kado. "Oh, thank you very much, sir!" She gleefully hauled up her skirt to give her legs freedom to step onto the porch. Before she could put her foot down, Kado made a strangled sound and held up his hands. Rin paused and felt herself blush.
"Oh, forgive me, sir. How careless of me!" She put her foot back down and wriggled out of her sandal. She then lifted her foot again and planted it with a muddy squish on the floorboards. When she had risen to her bare foot, she squirmed out of her other sandal and let it fall back into the mud. "I truly appreciate your generosity monk. I could use a sit."
Kado met her bright grin with a rather helpless look. "Why don't you wait under the awning here, Miss Rin, while I fetch you something warm and dry to wear?" he suggested.
The notion of something warm and dry had Rin lit up instantly. She nodded and bowed again. Kado managed to dart inside before being doused once more. "Please and thank you, sir." As he disappeared into the shadows, Rin squished her way under the awning, leaving a sloppy trail behind her. When she turned around to see her mess, she felt a vibrant blush spread across her face. She would have to apologize for that later.
Kado returned shortly with a square of folded brown cloth and a towel. After wiping her feet clean, Rin changed into the fresh kimono. Carefully, she stashed her purse in her sleeve before adjusting the outfit on her shoulders and tying the thin obi supplied. It was obviously a peasant man's kimono, oversized and coarse. It was, however, better than the sodden, cold cloth of her buttery yellow kimono which she handed to Kado. He seemed uncertain with what to do with the garment, so he said he would hang it up somewhere to dry. After showing Rin inside and offering her a seat on a small cushion, he left to take care of her kimono.
Rin, in the rather scratchy comfort of dry clothing, settled on the floor. She bundled down with appreciation before taking a look around. The room was large and barren with open passages on three of the four walls, one leading out the way she came and two opening onto covered walkways. Rin discovered, in the dim light, that the man she had been scolding was actually a large, austere statue. He was bronze and heavily adorned, his eyes closed in what appeared to be deep meditation. Immediately, Rin had the distinct feeling that this was probably not a man she should be reprimanding.
"I'm sorry, sir…" she said to the statue, dropping her forehead and palms to the floor. The kimono piled up at the back of her head and wrists, hiding her in a messy tent of brown. "If I had known you were… a statue, I would not have scolded you so. That was terribly rude of me."
Tentatively, she looked up. The man had not moved, which was always a good sign when said man was a statue. He certainly appeared entirely human, no tusks or horns. Still, Rin thought she ought to be safe. "Um… if, by chance, you're a god, please don't smite me. I would certainly be offended if I were you, but you see, I'm on a bit of quest right now, and I could use all the good luck I can get." She dropped forward again dramatically. "I humbly apologize… or repent… or whichever you wish."
Rin lifted herself up when she heard the gentle padding of bare feet on the floorboards. From her right, Kado entered the main hall, carefully carrying a tray laden with a steaming kettle and two teacups. He sat gingerly and served them both.
"Now that you are quite comfortable, Miss Rin, how may this humble monk be of service to you?" Kado asked as he set his earthen cup down on the floor between himself and Rin.
"I've been looking for a man, sir."
Kado gently arched an eyebrow. "What sort of man?"
"A specific man," she said. "He has dark hair and eyes. The last time I saw him, he was wearing the robes of a monk. That is why I came here."
"Is he affiliated with this temple?" Kado asked.
Rin looked away. "I'm not certain. I've been to temples all over the east, searching for him, but I haven't found him. I don't recall him name, but I know that if I saw him, I would recognize him immediately. He wore his hair in a tail, bound back like this." Rin demonstrated the style by pulling the dripping mass of her long, dark hair into one fist at the base of her skull.
Kado pretended to think deeply for a moment; it was the least he could do for her. "In truth, Miss Rin, nearly every monk I know has dark hair and eyes and wears the robes of a monk." Kado feared for a moment that he had come off condescending until Rin's shoulders sank in true dejection. "Perhaps if you could recall anything more specific."
"Well," Rin began before taking a nervous sip from her tea. "There is something more, but I don't like to speak of it."
"It is certainly your choice if you wish to describe him," Kado replied. Despite his apparent indifference, Kado felt a slight swell of sympathy for the young woman. She was obviously searching blindly; her account was hardly a clue. He hoped that she would opt to tell him this secret detail. Perhaps then he could be of a little more help.
"When I saw him last," Rin failed to mention that it had been more than a decade since her last encounter with him. "He… well… he appeared to be cursed."
"Cursed?" Kado asked, recoiling slightly.
"Yes. He had a hole in his right hand that, when he uncovered his palm, would pull at everything. It could swallow a demon whole. He called it something that I can't recall," she explained. When Kado appeared disturbed by this, Rin added, "It was a catchy sort of name for something so terrible, though. I remember thinking it was rather clever." She flashed Kado a grin. It did not seem to improve his reaction.
"A hole in his right hand, you say?" Kado repeated. Rin thought he looked rather pale when she nodded. "That certainly would be a defining characteristic."
"I would say so," Rin replied. "Can you think of anyone? Anyone at all who would fit that description?"
Kado thought in earnest. Dark hair, dark eyes, dressed as a monk, grotesquely marred by a curse. He seemed to think that, had he encountered anyone with those characteristics, he would remember it. Since nothing in particular stood out, Kado shook his head regretfully.
"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Rin. No one at this temple or any temple I have visited matches your description. Was he a traveling monk?"
"I'm not at all sure," she replied. "I've never really met him, you see."
"Oh? Then why are you looking for him?"
Rin's face abruptly split into a bright, disarming grin. "I'm actually looking for… something else entirely. But to find this something else I need to find another something else, and I'm hoping that this monk can help me find the other something so I can then find the first something. Does that make sense?"
Kado stared at her for a moment before shaking his head in the negative.
Rin laughed loudly and waved a hand at him dismissively. "That's all right. It's actually very silly, this whole search. I'm sure it will amount to nothing in the end."
Kado hummed in thought for a moment before finishing his tea. "Well, however silly you say it is, I can tell your journey is important to you. For a search of this magnitude, you must be well rested. I invite you to spend the night here at the temple. Perhaps the rain will have passed by the morning."
Ducking her head, Rin replied, "Thank you very much, sir. That's terribly generous of you. I accept."
After they had both finished their tea, Kado showed Rin to a room where she could sleep. They left through the passage to the right of the statue and walked out onto a raised walk with a wooden roof overhead. Rin was not at all sure why this place had suddenly put her on edge, but she felt her defenses rise like the hackles on a dog. To the right of the path was the sloping side of the hill, thick with trees and brush. She watched inconspicuously for any movement in the undergrowth, but the steady fall of rain and flow of mud made it difficult to tell one rustling from another. Kado did not notice her sniffing the air and silently berating the rain for diluting her already dampened sense of smell. Not for the first time, she wished she were not unarmed.
"I fear the grounds are not much to see this time of year," Kado explained, gesturing to the cloister to the left of the path. Rin was not particularly interested in the garden, but she humored the young monk.
"Really?' she asked, hoping her interest did not sound feigned. The garden was large and perfectly square; forming the perimeter were small buildings and the covered path linking them. The trees and bushes drooped, looking rather battered by the rain; the single, forking path that cut through the garden was muddy and blurring around the stones set to line it.
"Oh yes," Kado said, brightening considerably. "The lilies are lovely in spring. It is my responsibility to tend to the garden when the weather permits; I've come to enjoy it very much."
"That's nice," Rin said absently. She had lost interest in the garden itself and was now distracted with the small, rather pathetic looking shed in the far corner of the garden. The structure appeared to be holding up against the rain but undoubtedly fighting a downhill battle. It pagoda roof looked very simple; it lacked the graceful curve and instead resembled a rickety, wood pyramid. Rin supposed she could not berate the architect for that. The roof cut through the rain very well, even if it were crude. And there was nothing wrong, in her opinion, with anything that served it purpose, even if it were entirely unsophisticated.
"What is that room there?" Rin asked, pointed to the shed.
Kado glanced at the shed and gave it a dismissive wave. "That is simply a storage shed. There is nothing of importance in there."
"Ah," Rin replied. Then Kado could not sense it, she thought. There was a distinct aura of something powerful in that shed. The energy was very old and substantially faded, but Rin knew demonic energy when she felt it. "Then why store it?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Kado asked.
"If there is nothing of importance in there, then why bother storing it?" she repeated.
Her host was quiet for a long, telling moment. "You will have to ask that of my master,"
Rin interpreted that to mean the young man had no idea what was in the shed and had never been bold enough to ask. This only made Rin more curious. "Could I meet your master some time?" she asked, skipping a few steps so she and the monk walked abreast.
"My master is terribly busy. He is away at the moment, tending to something in the village."
"Tending to something?" Rin asked.
"Yes, a demon problem." Kado spoke as though he were describing a disease. Rin furrowed her brow. That was the quandary with demons, she felt. Humans rarely stopped to discern whether a demon was a "problem" or not before they killed it. She would be terribly displeased if Kado's master returned after exterminating something harmless, which was typically the case.
"When do you expect him to return?" Rin asked, feeling her fists tighten spontaneously.
"He should be back before dark; however, he will most certainly be tired. I will tell him you wish to see him, though."
"Do you think he'll agree?" Rin probed.
Kado stopped walking at the sliding door to a long, rectangular building. He turned and eyed Rin for a moment. "How old are you?" he asked.
Rin gave him a puzzled expression. She did not see the relevance of that but answered anyway. "I'm seventeen, sir."
Kado gave her a sage nod. "Oh, yes, he will most definitely see you."
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The stark temple was really beginning to grow on Rin. After two nights of sleeping outside in the rain, a thin futon, a rough blanket, and a sputtering brazier could have been nirvana, not to mention the bliss of a roof over her head and floorboards under her body.
Still garbed in her oversized, brown kimono, Rin snuggled down into her futon. Kado had been kind enough to bring her a thin, broiled fish soup for dinner, which Rin ate with fervor. She had lost her hunting knife somewhere a few villages down the path and did not have the money to purchase a new one. Since then, she had been chewing whatever familiar vegetation she could find; foraging was not foreign to her, but it certainly did not appeal more than a bowl of hot soup provided by someone else. Kado laughed at her vehemence before bringing her a second bowl.
Now well-fed, warm, and dry, Rin could hardly remember her disappointment at not finding her man. This certainly was not the first time that she had left empty-handed; she was becoming accustomed to the feeling. She was, however, beginning to fear that she needed to extend her search. Perhaps he had left the east, or worse, perhaps he had died. Rin could recall him being an adult when she had met him, but in her childish recollection, he could have been anywhere from eighteen to thirty. All she could remember was that he much taller than she was, therefore making him an adult. Of course, she had been seven at the time, so truly, there was no telling how old or young he was.
Rin sighed. She refused to become overwhelmed. She resolved to be more determined than ever; her stomach was fuller than it had been in weeks, she could hardly give up now. She knew she would be able to speak to Kado's master when he returned; he would have an answer for her when she awoke.
She recited to herself what had become a mantra, "I'll continue in the morning."
With her fortitude set, her entire body began to feel heavy. She sensed the exhaustion and gratitude in her muscles before closing her eyes and promptly falling asleep.
Nearly an hour of chilly, rainy night had passed before Rin jolted awake. She felt a familiar wash of heat over her body, making her heart thud so hard that her vision shook in time. She drew in deep breaths through her nose but smelled nothing beyond the smoky brazier and cotton. She could sense nothing else in her room and did not see any iridescent eyes peering at her from the corners.
Outside something let out a distinctly human yelp. Rin sat up straight and concentrated. Through the droning rain, Rin could hear the ever-constant rustling of dead branches. Suddenly, through the cacophony, Rin heard a very loud, heavy crash.
Rin leapt to her feet and fumbled her way out of her room and into the hall. On the walkway outside, light from the lamp Kado held shone through the cracked door at the end of the corridor. Rin hoisted up her hem and charged outside, flinging open the door. Kado jump in surprise, his face ashen in the flickering firelight.
"What was that noise?" he asked her.
Rin had been ready to ask him the same thing. She shook her head. "I'm not certain. There is something in the forest."
Kado opened his mouth but no sound came out. Rin could see his chin trembling when he turned to look back into the shifting, shadowy trees.
"Has your master returned?"
"N-no," Kado replied. "Perhaps it is he." His voice was bleak, shaking and entirely unhopeful.
Rin could tell that, should some disaster befall them, she was on her own. Kado looked like he might swoon at any moment; clearly, the coming demon was hers to handle.
She did not dare tell Kado that it was a demon. He could not sense the aura, and if he could, he would probably wet himself and faint there.
"Why don't you go back inside, Kado," Rin suggested gently. "I can wait here with the lamp for your master."
"P-perhaps-" began Kado. A loud rustling in the trees and the frantic shaking of a large bush cut his sentence short. Kado let out squeak of terror. "It's here!" he cried, grabbing Rin's arm and taking a trembling step away from the edge of the walk.
Rin was quite certain that, when a man-sized shape burst from the bushes, that this creature was not the source of the aura she felt. It was far too small to produce demon energy that potent. The shape cut directly across the short distance from the forest to the walk very quickly and stumbled into the small circle of lamplight. Kado yelped again and threw his hands in front of his face, dropping the lamp. It hit the floorboards and blinked out, leaving Rin, Kado, and the newcomer in complete darkness.
"Kado!" the shape asked. Rin quickly discerned that it was a man when he came to stand at her side. She could sense that he was a monk as well but clearly a far more powerful one than Kado. "Get inside immediately and relight this lamp!" he commanded.
"Yes, master," Kado bowed quickly and stooped to find the lamp. Rin watched him patting down the floor, searching for the fallen lamp and making plaintive whimpers to himself. She wondered for a moment how his eyesight could possibly be so poor before leaping over the inner edge of the walk into the garden where the lantern had fallen.
"Here!" she said, holding up the lamp. Kado spun around, snatched it from her outstretched hand, and dashed inside, stumbling over his robes and feet.
"I fear this is not a good night to be at this temple, visitor," the unnamed man said, his voice high and tense.
"On the contrary!" Rin chirped, feeling her adrenaline rushing. She stepped back onto the walk and wiped her hands on her kimono. "This looks like great fun! What sort of demon have you goaded?"
The monk wasted no time wondering how a young woman could find the situation to be great fun. "A cat of some sort. It's very-"
He did not need to finish the description as the beast chose than moment to come galloping through the trees, roaring and thrashing. It was a quadruped about the height of a horse, but much thicker. Rin wished she could get a better look at it, but it smelled of cat and felt of demon; that was all she really needed to know.
The demon's aura flooded the grounds, nearly pushing Rin over. She saw the shape of the man waver and start to dart into the garden, but he did not move fast enough. The demon raised a massive claw and swatted at the monk, sending him flying to the ground to Rin's right and knocking out three support posts for the ceiling over the walk in one swipe. The cover over the fallen beams crumbled and, like dominoes, the rest followed.
After leaping off the walk into the garden, Rin seized the monk under the arms and dragged him to his feet. "Come on, up, up!" she commanded, helping him steady. "What kind of fool turns his back on a demon?" Rin asked as she pulled the dazed monk further into the garden.
"You'll have to excuse me," the monk bit back. "It's been chasing me for the last mile!"
The demon let out an ear splitting yowl and shook its head, flinging strings of saliva over Rin and the monk. Rin gasped and stopped where she stood as the monk continued inward.
Spreading her hands and rubbing the vicious spittle between her fingers, Rin whined, "Eeeeew! She just spat all over me!"
"You can bathe if you survive," the monk exclaimed, grabbing Rin by the back of her obi and flinging her into the garden just in time to avoid the demon pouncing on her. Rin hit the mud and slid on her back.
"Oh, thank you," Rin retorted. "Now I'm covered in spit and mud!"
"Would prefer blood and entrails?" the monk called as he flung two sutras at the demon. One hit it below its right eye and burst into flame, momentarily illuminating the demon's face. The flash lasted long enough for Rin to note the particular markings on the demons brow. The second sutra struck the cat in the chest; it lingered a little longer before singeing and exploding as well. The demon shrieked and pawed at its face.
"Direct hit!" the monk exclaimed.
"If only you had hit it with something more substantial than an exploding piece of paper!" Rin shouted over the rain as she clamored to her feet. She could only imagine the monk's glare.
After clearing its eyes, the demon snarled and turned on the monk. He began to ready more sutra from his sleeve before a loud clatter sounded from the edge of the garden by the fallen walkway. Rin, the demon, and the monk all looked over to see Kado standing in an open doorway, proudly holding up a lighted lamp.
"Master!" he called triumphantly. "I've brought… the…" his voice faded and flickered out as he connected the massive cat demon with the iridescent eyes now leveled on him. Even over the rain, Kado's squeak of terror sounded loudly.
The demon growled and curled backwards onto its haunches, readying to spring.
"RUN!" Rin and the monk shouted simultaneously.
The young monk let out a shriek, flung the lamp into the air, and ran back inside, flailing his arms helplessly. The lamp spiraled through the air and crashed onto the rubble of the demolished walk, sending oil splashing over the planks. Neither Rin nor the monk, nor even the demon expected the damp wood to catch fire as quickly as it did.
"Into the fire!" Rin cried. "Force it into the fire!"
"It's going after Kado!" the monk shouted back, paying little attention to Rin's suggestion. He began scrambling toward the demon, brandishing sutras.
From where she stood, Rin had a clear shot directly to the demon, no trees or bushes in her path. The demon was already preparing to pounce on the building where Kado was inevitably cowering inside; the monk would not hit the demon before it ripped apart the walls and plucked Kado from within.
"Ooooh," Rin breathed, knowing she was going against the cardinal rule of demon combat. She was completely unarmed, yet she found herself charging toward the demon anyway.
With a battle cry, Rin slammed her shoulder into the demon's ribs just as it sprang for the building. From the resulting projectile of claws and fangs, Rin took a paw to the flank and a kick to the head, sending her skidding to a pile a few meters from where the demon landed. She heard the monk shout something but could not understand over the ringing in her ears.
"Ooh, I must be the biggest fool," she whimpered, holding her head. She painfully pushed herself up to her hands and knees then to her feet where she swayed for a moment but eventually found her balance.
She had little time to recover before the monk cried, "Look out!" from a distance away. Rin looked back to the demon just in time to see a paw swipe in and send her sailing into a wall.
The world swam wretchedly for a moment before Rin could open her eyes. All she could see at first was a jagged circle of shifting orange light hovering before her. When her eyes could focus completely, Rin realized that she had crashed through a wall and was gazing at the consequent hole her body had left.
She remained sprawled out for a moment longer as she did a quick review of her body. "Ooooh," she groaned. "I've broken everything."
Rin was immediately roused from her pain when she heard the monk let out a yelp outside in the garden. Scrambling in the debris, she clamored to her feet and started for the hole. She stopped, however, when she felt something tug on her. It was an odd feeling, not like her clothing was stuck on something. Something was pulling on her hara, her center behind her navel. Pivoting around, Rin realized that she had barreled through the wall of the storage shed and was standing in the midst of a stockpile of demonic weaponry. No wonder she had sensed such an intense aura from the shed.
Reaching her hand out in the dark, Rin closed her fist around the first object she touched. It was hard and cylindrical, grainy like wood. When she pulled it toward her, she could feel a good, solid weight to it, not too heavy for her but heavy enough to do some damage.
Stumbling frantically, Rin charged out of the shed and examined her weapon in the light. It was a long, wooden staff, slightly taller than she was and tipped with blunt, bronze caps. Had there been time, she would have given it an experimental swing, but when she looked up to see the monk desperately throwing rather ineffectual sutras at an encroaching demon, Rin knew she would have to test it later.
The fire was growing high, having nearly consumed the entire walk despite the rain. The garden was now flooded with dancing, orange light that seemed to bring out Rin's defenses even more. There was something terribly bestial about fighting by firelight; she rather liked it.
"Monk!" Rin shouted as she ran toward him. He looked up, his eyes bright and wide in the firelight. "Oh, watch out!" Rin cried, cursing herself for distracting him. Without thought, the monk sprang backwards, avoiding a swinging paw. Once steady, he took out another sutra and flung it with accuracy. The spell hit the demon in the left eye, making it shriek and flail.
"This way," Rin said, gesturing toward the fire. ""I have an idea! Lead it this way!" The monk, certainly looking worse for wear, nodded wearily. When the demon recovered, the monk darted in the direction Rin indicated and started inching toward the fire. He flung another sutra to keep the demon a distance away.
"What do you suggest we do?" the monk asked before wiping his eyes with an already sopping sleeve.
"You'll see!" Rin replied, tightening and loosening her grip on her staff nervously.
"I would really rather you tell me!" the monk shouted back.
"Trust me," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
The monk fired another sutra and looked over his shoulder. "I am not convinced!"
"We're going to send it into the fire."
The monk coughed out a mirthless laugh. "With your inhuman strength or mine?" He delayed the demon with another sutra.
"With mine, silly!" Rin replied.
Not expecting that reply, the monk turned and gave her a puzzled expression. With him facing her, Rin saw the demon recover from the sutra and charge. She gasped and cried, "Bow!"
"What?!" the monk shouted. He looked back at the approaching demon and did just as Rin said. Bending at the waist and covering his head, the monk bowed forward and braced himself.
Rin darted forward, thrust one of the bronze ends of her staff in between the demon's front legs and used the poor, unsuspecting monk as a fulcrum. With the staff resting on his lower back, Rin threw herself down on her end. The other end of the staff flew up, caught the demon between its front legs and launched it in an arc overhead.
Both Rin and the monk crumbled to the ground with the inertia and tumbled to a muddy stop in time to see the thrashing, airborne demon come crashing into its pyre. The air was rent by the demon's howling as it scrambled and scratched in the flames.
Rin felt the staff underneath her jerked away, tossing her aside painfully. She opened her mouth to chastise the monk but stopped when she saw what he was doing. With the staff in hand, the monk began beating the demon's skull repeatedly.
Then the night was filled with the sounds of a crackling fire, falling rain, and panting breath, but the demon was silent. The weary, slumping monk slowly turned back to where Rin was laying in the mud. For a moment, they remained silent, watching each other as though to prove their survival through the presence of the other.
Rin's face suddenly split into a grin. "That was brilliant if I do say so myself!" she chirped, pushing herself to sit up. The monk seemed to slump even more. Letting out a series of moans and squeaks, Rin stood up and came to stand before the monk. "I believe we make a wonderful team, Mister… uh…"
"Miroku," the monk breathed, exhausted.
"Miroku?" Rin asked, her eyes widening. She let her mouth fall open. She stared at him for a long moment, absorbing his bruised, wet face.
"Yes," the monk replied.
"I once knew a girl with a cousin named Miroku," Rin said matter-of-factly. Suddenly she furrowed her brow and looked away. "But maybe his name was Jin. And now that I think of it, he wasn't her cousin either."
Miroku blinked.
"Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Miroku, sir."
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Dawn arrive far too soon for the inhabitants of the temple. The night before, they had managed to douse the fire using water collected in the rain barrels but opted to leaving the cleaning up for the next morning. They had then tended to themselves; Miroku all but insisted that Rin allow him to dress her wounds, but Rin humbly declined, saying instead that she could care for herself. She thought the monk looked oddly disappointed when they said their goodnights and retired to their sleeping chambers.
Now, with diffused, gray light pouring in through every window, Rin and the monks resigned themselves to the grueling task of clearing away the rubble.
They had a humble breakfast of sweet rice balls and pickles that Rin inhaled.
"What brings you to our humble temple, Miss?" Miroku asked. They sat opposite each other on the floor of the lecture hall, both he and Rin holding rather stiff postures to compensate for bruised and broken ribs. Kado refused to look either in the eye, embarrassed that he was the only one entirely uninjured.
Rin dropped her eyes; it was as much of a bow as she could muster. "Sir, my name is Rin. I've traveled a very long distance to find a man. Could you perhaps help me?" she recited.
Miroku glanced at Kado only to find the young man terribly interested in a fleck of rice that had fallen on his knee. He looked back to Rin, who was now giving him a doe-eyed, beseeching look. Miroku immediately put on a winning smile. "Will any man do, or are you looking for one in particular?"
Rin clearly missed his insinuation. "A particular man," she replied. Miroku put on the same slightly dejected face he had worn the evening before when she denied him the opportunity to dress her wounds. Rin did not understand but decided that perhaps there was something wrong with the man; he had, after all, taken a rather hard blow the night before.
"I have not seen him in a very long time, and I've been searching endlessly. I must find him."
"How long?" Miroku asked, taking a sip from his tea.
"Ten years, I believe."
Miroku swallowed quickly and coughed. "You've been searching for ten years?"
"Oh no," Rin waved her hands. "I have not seen him in ten years. I've been searching since the spring."
"Ah, I see," Miroku replied. "Can you recall what he looks like?"
"Rather average, I fear," Rin replied, poking at one of her rice balls before popping it into her mouth. "Dark hair and dark eyes. He was dressed at a monk," she added around her mouthful.
"Hmm, that doesn't narrow the search very much, does it?" Miroku said, his charming smile flickering slightly at Rin's uncouth eating habits. "You don't have a name for this man?"
"Mmm-mm," she answered, shaking her head. She glanced at Kado to see if he would mention the curse, but it appeared the younger monk was not interested in joining the conversation. She hesitated, considering telling Miroku about the curse, but she could not bear to talk about something so evil after they had such poor luck the night before. "That is all I know," Rin continued.
"I'm sorry, Miss Rin, but with that description, he could be almost any monk in the region, even the country."
"I'll know him when I see him. I know I'll recognize him!"
Miroku smiled warmly. "If you are so determined, then we will pray for your success," he offered. "As much as I enjoy chatting with beautiful young women, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Kado," Miroku prompted. Kado bowed quickly, gathered up their dishes and hurried out of the lecture hall.
Emitting a chorus of grunts, both Rin and Miroku climbed to their feet. The monk gestured toward a door at the end of the long building, "I'll show you to your kimono."
Rin looked down at herself and stroked her rough obi . "I would prefer to wear this one, sir. Not to insult the quality of care you and Kado have given me, but… well, this one's already brown. The mud won't show as much."
Miroku revealed a crooked smile. "Certainly a woman of your beauty needs a finer traveling kimono than this."
Rin blinked owlishly. "Who said anything about traveling?"
"I'm sorry?" the monk asked.
Rin put her hands on her hips and replied tartly, "There is work to be done. You said so yourself, sir. I can't very well expect you and Kado to do it. Plus, I want to see that staff of yours, again."
"My staff, you say?" Miroku took a step closer.
Rin nodded, apparently unfazed by the monk's proximity. "The one you had locked away with the other weapons," she said, having to tilt her head upward to look at Miroku's face; however, he quickly took a small step away as his smile flickered. "Why did you have a shed full of weapons, by the way? They seemed very powerful even before I went inside."
The monk seemed rather taken aback by that. "You could sense them?"
"Of course I could! Any monkey with half a brain could sense that much demonic energy!"
Miroku snorted. "Don't mention that to Kado."
-
-
-
They took shifts, rotating out between shovels, rakes, and baskets. A great deal more than Miroku had anticipated was salvageable, and he and Kado carried the intact planks under the awning to let them dry. Rin gave an enthusiastic protest against allowing the men to do the lifting, but Miroku was, among other things that often seemed mutually exclusive to his chivalry, chivalrous. He gave Rin a long handled rake and asked her to push the ash into the lifeless plots in the garden.
As unpleasant as the cold and rain can be, it certainly wins over hot and dry when manual labor is required. Soon, they were all thoroughly soaked by the weak, relentless drizzle, but that only served to keep them cool and wash the sweat from their brows.
"If I weren't in this terrible pain, I might find this very refreshing," Rin said brightly as she squinted through the rain at Miroku, who had just tossed her small chunk of blackened wood.
Miroku opted not to reply. He was beginning to find Rin's unending gusto less endearing and more exhausting; her commentary was bordering on annoying to him, so he focused on how the rain added weight to her kimono, and how the weight added neckline. And when she leaned forward to gather debris… yes, Miroku could easily tolerate her personality.
"Are you all right, sir?" Rin asked, bent at the waist as she sifted through the muddy ash for the last shards of wood. He had stopped digging at the blackened rubble with his rake and was leaning against the handle, clearly in the midst of reverie.
He could almost see her navel like that. "Oh, yes, just fine," he replied quickly, sliding seamlessly back into focus. He tightened his grip on the handle and continued pulling ash into a pile around the skeletons of the azaleas. "Simply resting for a moment."
As the morning wore on, both Rin and Miroku had to pause to rest more and more frequently. As they slowed, Kado became more diligent, fueled entirely by guilt. He offered to take this task and that tool until he eventually insisted that Miroku and Rin take a seat while he continued working. By then, they were nearly a quarter done.
"My, Kado's working very hard," Rin remarked as she pulled up and rebound her sodden sleeves. "I think we're making good progress."
Miroku did not agree. "I agree."
"What do you suggest we do with the demon carcass?" Rin asked. Her eyes slid to the charred hulk of the demon. She felt it was a rather gruesome way to go, but, truly, the demon had been asking for it. Her pride quickly beat down the twinge of guilt. This was one more win for her, not that she was keeping a tally. The numbers did not matter very much; whatever the count, the first fight she lost would be her last fight. Regardless of the otherwise looming morbidity, she felt this kill had been artfully executed.
"Move it into the forest, I suppose," Miroku replied.
"What?" Rin asked, sitting straight abruptly. She winced but continued. "We must either bury it or eat it, sir. That's only respectful."
"Take another look at the body, Miss Rin," Miroku replied, gesturing in the direction of the body. "Would you really like to eat that?"
Rin shifted her eyes back to the carcass with a frown. "Well, not really."
"And the prospect of additional digging sounds even less appealing," he said knowingly.
Rin thought it terribly shameful to simply heave the body into the woods, but the monk had a very good point; however, she could not give in so easily. Chagrined, she crossed her arms. "I think that shameful, sir."
"Yet it remains more pleasant than eating it," replied the monk, holding up a finger as though to make a point. "Keep in mind," Miroku opened his fist and moved it so his index finger hovered before his mouth, He closed his eyes and continued sagely, "In the great chain of life and death, all is assimilated in the end; all things are eaten eventually."
Miroku paused, waiting for Rin to follow with something as pious and poignant. When she said nothing, the monk opened his eyes and looked to her. Her furrowed brow and wrinkled nose surprised him; he had been expecting to see her bowed in prayer or staring in adoration or something.
"Ew," Rin said.
Letting out a sigh, Miroku allowed his shoulders to slump. "Perhaps we should get back to work."
"Good idea," Rin replied, her voice still taut with revulsion.
Just as they rose, Kado came around the side of the building after leaving an armload of half- and quarter-planks in the bathhouse. He waved at them and jogged closer.
"Would either of you like to stop to eat something? I'm getting rather hungry."
"No," both Rin and Miroku replied simultaneously.
-
-
-
With the mounting exhaustion of the injured, work progressively slowed through the day. Kado worked as furiously as he could, offering his companions more and more breaks while he attempted to pick up the slack. It was no use however, and by sundown, they were nearly halfway done clearing away the wreckage.
As the wooly gray sky darkened to black, Rin, Miroku, and Kado settled on the edge of the porch surrounding the lecture hall and observed their work. Neither Kado nor Miroku had the heart or the energy to silence Rin when she praised them for their teamwork and endurance.
"One more day of work like this and we'll be done," she reminded them. Miroku sighed and slumped while Kado flopped backwards against the floorboards. Rin smiled at them both and stuck her feet out under the fall of the runoff from the awning to rinse them.
Miroku had many times insisted upon Rin going inside to rest and only once after she had coughed blood into her palm did he say it out of concern for her. Even after that, Rin remained, pulling her weight in rubble. She was, despite her propensity for noise, very helpful in the process. Miroku resolved to accept the best of her officiousness and call upon his training to ignore the worst. Not that she was that difficult to endure; Rin was very supportive of them, working constantly when on her feet and cheering them on when she was resting. Kado seemed to find her attention very embarrassing since Rin's encouragement for him was more teasing than that which she gave Miroku. When Rin left to get them water, Miroku leaned over to Kado and murmured, "It is unbecoming of a monk to flirt so." Kado blushed bright red, ducked his head, and apologized. It was not that Miroku was put out by receiving less coquettish cheer from their lovely young companion in the clingy kimono. No, that was hardly the case. He was simply upholding his responsibility as Kado's master and teacher.
In the gloaming, Miroku and the others headed inside for dinner; however, with no one having the energy to cook, they ate dried sweet potatoes and water until they were either sated or sick of it.
Rin helped with the meager clean up before announcing that she was going to take a bath.
"Would either of you gentlemen care to join me?" she asked amiably.
Kado promptly turned scarlet and shook his head. "No thank you, Miss Rin," he said, studying his sweet potato wedge closely.
Miroku, on the other hand, sat up very straight, the weary, drawn expression on his face vanishing. "How generous of you to offer, Miss Rin," she said, dripping with charm. "I believe I could use a good soak."
Kado blinked and watched them both leave for the bathhouse, his face betraying all the woes and unfairness of his life. He had to keep from laughing out loud when Miroku experimentally touched the small of the girl's back, causing her to wriggle away and laugh at him teasingly. As though in retaliation for the laughter Kado suppressed, Miroku called over his shoulder a command to ready the fire in the bathhouse.
Once laden with towels, Miroku showed Rin the way to the bathhouse. With the one walkway unusable, they took the long way and went around the perimeter the other direction. They passed through the main hall where the statue of Buddha sat placidly against the wall. In the gentle light from the lamp Rin carried, the meditating man appeared golden and shifting, his sober face more peaceful, as though he were no longer in rigid devotion and more in calm repose. Rin could not help but stop before the Buddha and gaze. She lifted the lamp as high as she could and took a step closer.
"Are you a follower of Buddha?" Miroku asked from the door. He had paused there when he noticed Rin was not following and lingered for moment, reluctant to interrupt whatever spiritual stirrings were occurring in the silence.
Rin shook her head, still watching the Buddha's pleasant face. She took another inquisitive step forward and reached her free hand to the man's chest. Miroku expected her to give the Buddha a reverent stroke, but she instead fisted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the left pectoral.
"This is very nice work," she said, nodding. "Solid it sounds like."
"It is," Miroku said, shaking his head exasperatedly.
"What did you say his name was?" Rin asked, turning her golden face toward Miroku.
"His name is Buddha," Miroku replied, his voice low and smooth. He obviously held some respect for this Buddha, Rin thought.
"Hmm." Lifting her lamp one more, Rin looked back to the statue. "He looks very calm."
"He is meditating."
"Oh." Rin felt herself bite her lip as her fear from earlier resurface. "He wouldn't… well… happen to be a god would he?"
Miroku watched her for a moment before nodding his head. "He is the great Lord Buddha. Though, if you fear he is vengeful, he is not."
Rin put a hand on her chest and sighed. "That's a relief! When I first arrived, I mistook him for someone else and scolded him." She spun back around and gave Buddha a pat on the cheek. "Glad to hear you're the type with a sense of humor, Buddhi."
"Buddha," Miroku corrected.
"Right, Buddha." She blew him a kiss before jogging to stand at Miroku's side. He was giving her an expression that Rin did not recognize. "Is something the matter, Mr. Miroku?" she asked.
"Have you never been introduced to Buddhism before?" he asked. Rin shook her head. "Then what is your path of choice?"
Rin looked out onto the dark, windswept walkway and tightened her grip on the lamp, making it sway. "Whichever is the shortest," she replied before stepping out of the main hall and into the autumn gusts. Miroku considered her reply for a moment before walking quickly forward to catch up with her.
They were quiet for a time since the wind was blowing hard enough now to make conversing rather difficult. Only when Miroku's curiosity grew strong enough, did he sidle close to Rin's flank and ask close to her ear, "Where are you from originally, Miss Rin?"
He saw her shoulders tense slightly, so slightly that, had he not been expecting such a reaction, he would not have noticed. Her wide brown eyes flicked over to him momentarily before flicking back to the path. He imagined that, with her rather unorthodox ways, she was probably asked this frequently; why, he wondered, would she be uneasy with the question?
She replied, "Far away," when Miroku remained hovering near her face with passive insistence. He wanted to probe further but felt her opposition conspicuous enough that he could not pretend not to notice.
They made the rest of the way in the deafening silence of the swinging lamp and progressively mounting rain. Miroku tried to position himself so that he blocked most of the wind and carried rain, but Rin made it rather difficult by persistently inching just ahead or behind him. Finally, Miroku gave up and took the lead.
They stopped at the sealed entrance to a small, outlying building. The path to the bathhouse was neither raised nor covered. Instead, a narrow strip of flat river stones stretched from the walk to the entrance, and water was collecting and threading through the path. Rin jumped nimbly from one stone to the next, the sullen silence vanishing in the face of good fun. Miroku wondered how she moved so agilely; she was certainly as wounded as he, if not more so. Perhaps it was because she was young, he thought glumly.
Miroku slid the door open and took the lamp as Rin stepped inside. Once closed inside the warm bathhouse, Miroku walked around the perimeter lighting the oil lamps. He turned around rather suddenly when he heard a short splash of water, as though something was being dunked and removed.
To his surprise and great pleasure, Rin had promptly removed all her clothing upon entering, folded them rather haphazardly, and begun washing herself. She was sitting with her back to him on one of the benches over the slatted floor. She looked up suddenly when she sensed him watching her and flashed him a bright a smile.
"I haven't had a good scrub in ages!" she chirped, working a sudsy cloth over her narrow shoulders. Miroku managed a smile and a nod before Rin turned back around and continued rubbing at her skin.
Perhaps in his younger days, Miroku would have quickly run around and seated himself facing her; however, at his current age – a sort of limbo between being an adult and being old that felt something like a second adolescence – he had learned appreciation. Women had always been works of art to him, but he had, in his childish haste, typically found the focal point and lingered there. The back, he later found, was a wonderful accent piece to the focal point, or rather points. Women had such graceful line to their backs, the way they unconsciously shifted this way and that, stretching here and curving there like water or honey or whatever other mellifluous matter he could name.
Miroku watched the gently ridged groove down the middle of Rin's back as she turned slightly to work the lather over her flank. The shelf of her shoulders tilted momentarily before becoming parallel with the lucky bench on which her round buttocks rested.
As she stretched to wash her other side, Miroku noticed for the first time in his haze of distraction that her ribs were rather pronounced. While she still seemed arched and curved in all the right places, her corrugated side seemed to take away from slippery smooth slope his eyes followed.
"How did long did you say you had been traveling, Miss Rin?" Miroku asked.
"Far too long," she breathed. "Since the spring. I'll keep searching though." She paused to take the soap into her hands, rub it into thick, white foam, and begin scrubbing at her scalp.
That explained her state, Miroku thought. He remembered his days of solitary traveling. Despite his reputation for being a predator in all kinds of metaphorical ways, he could not hunt anything more animate that wild vegetables and the occasional shitake. On the few spans of long road between villages, after he had eaten the last of his rations, Miroku usually resigned himself to hunger. Though he could never recall specifically looking himself over, Miroku believed he probably looked much the same as young Rin; however, she had, in his opinion, a much cuter butt.
But back to the focal points. As casually as he could, Miroku came around and seated himself on a bench opposite Rin. She did not seem to mind or even notice that he was watching her. In fact, she was humming pleasantly to herself as she lathered her hair.
Again, her ribs were more accentuated as Miroku would have liked and her breasts looked rather deflated. Miroku, however, had never been accused of lacking imagination, and he began considering insisting that Miss Rin stay until she was well fed and prepared for another stretch of traveling. Miroku, of course, would be the judge of when she had eaten enough.
"I've never been watched so intently in my life," Rin remarked. "Is there something wrong with me?" She looked down at her stomach and thighs before craning her neck to examine her back. Lifting her hands to her face, she scrutinized both palms. When she felt Miroku still watching her, she stuck out a foot in his direction. "Am I malformed?"
"Far from it," he said, silky smooth.
Miroku could not be counted as someone lacking experience. He had seen all kinds of women, in every shape and size, all demeanors and classes, all shades and tints. And yet, not once in his repertoire of pussy, had he met a woman as absolutely clueless as Miss Rin. She seemed almost unaware that she was naked, as if it had not occurred to her to leave her clothes on in the presence of a man. Miroku wondered if she were trying to seduce him – not that she truly needed to make an effort if that were her intention. He had been seduced in his past by woman removing their clothing; that always seemed like the quickest route to the goal, but those women always acted naked, swaying their hips and flipping their hair and batting their eyes. Rin was hardly paying attention to him as she grabbed at the sole of her foot and began scrubbing between her toes.
No, Miroku resolved that Rin was not trying to entice him. She was just that dim.
"Is there something wrong, Mr. Miroku?" Rin asked when he looked toward the ceiling and shook his head. He opened his mouth to say that he was only thinking but was promptly cut off as Rin, still holding her foot, lost her balance and flipped backwards off the bench.
For a moment, they sat in stunned silence, Miroku staring at Rin's soapy feet sticking up into the air. Miroku managed not to laugh at her until she let out a whiny, "Ooow."
Rising to his feet, Miroku stood and came forward to her bench. "Are you all right?" he asked through poorly repressed laughter. His amusement only faltered slightly when he realized that he was standing, peering between her naked legs at the rosy, young cunt that resided there.
Rin did notice Miroku staring at her upturned vagina, and she scowled. "Oh, it's not that fascinating," she grumbled before awkwardly rolling to the side and pushing herself up to all fours. "Really, what is it with men?" she asked rhetorically before standing and rubbing her sore backside.
"You simply carry yours so well," Miroku said with a vague gesture to the shiny tuft of curls between her legs.
Rin let out an irritated hmph before picking up the bucket of warm water by the bench and pouring it over her head. Miroku was sorely pressed not laugh again at her scrunched up face and the way she shook her sopping head, flinging water around the room. He thought the gesture was rather doglike and terribly amusing.
"Aren't you going to bathe?" Rin asked as she set down the empty bucket.
Miroku, who had been expecting a steamy tryst when he initially accepted her invitation, had not actually planned on bathing. Now that he realized that Rin's invitation was innocent and entirely hygienic, the prospect of bathing seemed rather unappealing. He was, however, feeling less than fresh from the day spent laboring and decided that since he obviously was not going to be participating in any other activities in the bathhouse, he might as well go for a scrub and soak.
"I believe I will," Miroku said, sounding rather disappointed.
"Don't take too long. You don't want the water to get cold." With that, Rin walked around the dejected monk and moved in the next room where she stepped into the large, round tub. Rin let out a long sigh and called through the open passage, "This is wonderful!"
Miroku made quick work of cleaning himself, silently bemoaning his female companion's lack of clue and his poor, pathetic blue balls. All the while, Rin hummed to herself and made soft splashes from the dimly lit next room.
When he made his way into the soaking room, Rin had her hands clasped at the surface of the water and was sending little spouts into the air. She noticed him and promptly slid down in the water until only her eyes remained above. Miroku thought for a moment that she was embarrassed or trying to be coquettish, but then she started humming under the water and giggling at the bubbles she blew. Miroku resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stepped into the tub with a long sigh. Once submerged, Miroku thought that soaking – and only soaking – was really not so bad.
"So, Miss Rin," Miroku began. She popped back up from under the water and smiled. "How long do you intend on staying with us?"
Rin replied, "Until the leftovers from the fire are cleared away."
"And where do you go from here?"
She sorted of patted the surface of the water in thought. "I'm not sure. To the next temple, I guess."
"And after that?"
"I don't plan on stopping until I find him, Mr. Miroku."
Miroku found her determination admirable while still entirely foolish. He thought she knew how improbable success was, but she was clearly resolved to continue plowing on blindly. The prospect of convincing her to stop now seemed more merciful than cruel. "If I may, what is the importance of this man? Is he family?"
Rin shook her head. "No, I need him to help me find something."
"And what is that?"
She sunk down into the water until her chin was submerged. "Someone, actually. Another man I haven't seen in ages. Then, once I find this man, he is going to help me find another man. This last man has something I really want."
"Sounds complicated," Miroku said as he stretched his legs out. He thought the girl's vagueness frustrating at first but then recalled that this was Rin and could only be expected.
"It makes sense to me. And I think it will make sense to this man when I find him."
"For the sake of being realistic, Miss Rin, I must warn you that you're not going to find your man on that description alone. Unless you can recall something more—"
"There actually is something more," Rin interrupted, watching her feet through the water. She contorted her mouth slightly. "I mentioned it to Kado, and I hoped he would tell you so I wouldn't have to."
Miroku eyed her. She seemed terribly uncomfortable suddenly; whatever this secret characteristic was must have been very shameful to make her that nervous. If nudity and nonexistent table etiquette did not embarrass her, what did?
"I would rather not talk about it, but if you think it would help…" Rin brought up her knees and put her arms around them. Miroku waited. By this point, he was not too terribly invested in Rin's search. He expected her to tell him that her mystery man possessed a phenomenon like curly hair or long fingernails.
"He was cursed," Rin said, her eyes focused on the round lip of the tub to her right.
Miroku sat up a fraction straighter. "Cursed?"
"Yes. He had a hole in his right hand that had been put there by a terrible demon. At least that's what I think."
The monk felt himself go rigid. "And what," Miroku continued cautiously, "was the nature of this hole?"
"He always kept it wrapped up, but when he uncovered it, it was a void. It pulled everything to it, sucked in the air. It was terribly destructive."
Miroku snuck a glance at his right hand where it dangled from the edge of the tub.
"I think it caused him a great deal of pain."
On his palm was a scar, a circle of pink, puckered flesh that still got tight and sore in the cold. It had been there for almost a decade now.
"He had it bound up in prayer beads. Have you ever seen anything like that?"
There was an indention across the scar that wrapped around to the back of his hand. The groove was permanent, he had found, after having been cut and held for so many years. He could still see the indelible border of pale and tan skin that stretched across his knuckles.
"Have you, Mr. Miroku? Please tell me you have. Or you know a rumor. Or anything. I must find him."
The monk was quiet for a long time. He snuck glances at his right hand, having forced the paranoia of a naked palm from the foreground of his consciousness a long time ago. He thought no one knew. He thought perhaps everyone had forgotten. Miroku began to wonder who exactly this girl was. And why did the name Rin sound familiar all of the sudden?
"This monk," Miroku said, directing his unsettled attention to the damp girl across the tub from him. He abruptly became aware of how small the tub was. "You say he had dark hair and eyes?"
"Yes, but not too dark. His eyes were… a sort of odd shade. Not exactly black and not brown. The same with his hair."
"You recall all that but not his name?"
"Well," Rin blushed and looked aside. "I remember thinking he was rather handsome. He had a striking sort of face."
"Handsome, you say?" Miroku grinned.
"Not in the usual way. But he had a very nice smile with nice white teeth. He had all of his teeth. I remember that! He wasn't… how would you put it? He wasn't…" Rin paused to search for the right word. "He wasn't masculine-looking, really."
Miroku's grin faltered.
"He was tall and skinny." Rin wrinkled her nose to add emphasis. "He had skinny arms, too." Rin became too absorbed in her gesticulating to notice the smile slip off Miroku's face entirely and fall with a splash into the tub where it promptly sank from sight. "But he seemed sturdy. And he was very powerful, too. He had such a unique face, though. I know I would recognize him." She frowned in determination.
"Would you?" Miroku asked, his pride having recovered from the barb about his build. He considered himself slender. Skinny was so… emasculating.
"Certainly."
"What if I told you that you've already met this man?"
Rin sat up so fast that her breasts bounced from the inertia. "What?"
"What if I told you he resides at this very temple?"
Her eyes grew very wide and her mouth sagged as she sat forward. Her brow suddenly furrowed. Her gaze flitted across the surface of the water as though watching her racing thoughts zip by.
Miroku thought this display amusing, and it only got funnier when her searching expression turned into a solid, wounded frown. She glared up at him. "I don't appreciate that, Mr. Miroku."
His amusement stayed strong. "What?"
"Toying with me so," she snapped. "Kado's too young to be the monk I need!"
Miroku grinned. He wondered how she could have been so struck by all his white teeth – a rather uncommon phenomenon – and still manage not to recognize them. "I wasn't talking about Kado."
Rin's face became curious once more. She cocked her head slightly to the side. "Is there another monk here I haven't met yet?"
Miroku dissolved into laughter before slapping his forehead. "Wait! Why are you laughing?" Rin exclaimed. She raised her hand to punch at the water but froze mid-motion. Slowly, understanding came to her. If the monk was at that temple, and Miroku and Kado were the only monks there, and if Kado was not her monk…
Rin gasped and flew forward. She snatched the hand off Miroku's face and jerked it toward her. Miroku, having been jarred forward, stopped laughing and watched Rin's wide, brown eyes rake over his right palm. He felt her thumbs rub over the round scar. Her uneven fingernails scrapped gently as though she were testing the scar's authenticity. "This is it, isn't it?" Rin cried, tugging Miroku forward and thrusting his palm into his face. She pointed at his scar. "Is this the hole?"
"It was," Miroku said, recoiling from almost having had his nose crushed by his own hand.
Rin suddenly threw his hand aside and seized his shoulders. "It's him! It's you! I mean, you're you! Y-you're him!" She shook Miroku, who felt rather like he was being taken along for a ride he had not anticipated. Rin shoved her face forward until it was inches from his. "You don't look the same," she muttered.
Apparently Rin was either unaware or completely uncaring that she had inadvertently pressed her naked body against the monk's. Miroku, on the other hand, was painfully conscious of every inch of skin – it had been a terribly long time since he had felt anything like that – and he felt an odd sort of mix of relief and disappointment when Rin vaulted over the edge of the tub, spun around to face him, and collapsed into a beseeching bow.
"Please, monk, you must help me find the half-demon!" she cried, her rosy, wrinkled fingers trying to dig into the floor. Miroku looked down at her, naked and wet. She seemed to be trembling from the magnitude of her discovery. The sight of her was so unnerving, he almost forgot that she had asked something of him.
"The half-demon?"
"Yes," Rin looked up. "The half-demon, Inuyasha. I must find him!"