"Are we there yet?" a little boy with a fluffy tail asked.
"No Shippo," a man with long, white hair and dog ears answered.
A few seconds later, the fox demon called Shippo asked again but was answered with the same answer but in an irritated tone from the dog demon. Shippo looked to his right of nothing but forest then a minute later he asked, "Are we there yet?"
"No!" the dog demon yelled.
Shippo jumped behind the human girl carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow he was walking next to and whined, "Kagome! Inu-Yasha's being scary again!"
"Stop scaring Shippo," Kagome said to Inu-Yasha trying to conceal her laughter of how easily these two demons got into the stupidest of fights.
"Hmph," grumbled Inu-Yasha. He titled his head up and sniffed the air. "We're close to a village," he said. Shippo gave a small smile that said that all his questions finally paid off.
After about half an hour of walking, Inu-Yasha, Shippo, Kagome, a monk, a demon slayer, and a cat-looking demon arrived at a small town beside a lake.
"Sango," Inu-Yasha turned to face the demon slayer, "Is this the place?"
"Yes, it is," Sango replied.
"So why exactly did you want us to come here and why did you keep it a secret from us on the journey?" the monk asked.
"I thought it would be better if I told you when we arrived here for some reason," Sango said. "And the reason for bringing you all here is because I heard that Onigumo once lived here."
"Hmm…" the monk thought, "How are we going to retrieve the information?"
"Miroku," said Shippo, "Why do you have to ruin good moments?"
"Miroku's right," Kagome said, "We have to figure out how we're going to get the information we need. The bigger question is what we're going to say. You know, we can't just go up to someone and say 'hey, do you know anything about a demon who wants to control the world?' We should…"
Kagome stopped when she realized that the group was not paying attention to her but to a person standing in front of a closed, iron gate. "Isn't that-?"
"It can't be," Sango said shocked.
"It's Naraku!" Shippo and Miroku yelled.
Inu-Yasha quickly drew his sword, the Tetsusaiga, and ran toward the person by the gate.
"Naraku," growled Inu-Yasha. The person turned around then jumped back at the sight of the sword. "It is you! Prepare to die!"
"Excuse me?" the person asked without a hint of fear and a feminine voice, "I do not know of this Naraku you speak of."
Inu-Yasha raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, he doesn't sound like this," he thought, "This person sounds like a woman."
"Naraku, we found you, you don't need to disguise you're voice anymore!" Inu-Yasha yelled.
Now the person looked confused. "What are you talking about? I am not this so called Naraku."
"Enough games," Inu-Yasha said, "It's time for you to-"
"What's going on here?" a deep voice boomed. Inu-Yasha and the person that claims not to be Naraku turned to face a short, elderly man with a cane in one hand. At the same time, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, and the cat demon caught up with Inu-Yasha. The old man turned to the person that Inu-Yasha was arguing with and asked, "Migomi, what's going on?"
Migomi watched Inu-Yasha sheath his sword then said, "I'm sorry Konichi but I was distracted from my work." It was said as if she did not care that she was interrupted at all.
Konichi stood for a moment to think then turned to Inu-Yasha. "And who might you be?" he asked.
Inu-Yasha took a step back and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Miroku. "We are just adventurers seeking answers to some puzzling questions and we thought we might seek our answers here."
"Hmm…" Konichi turned to face a handsome young man leaning against the gate.
"When did he get there?" was all could think Kagome because she didn't see anyone there before.
"Hemaru," Konichi said, "Take these few to the shrine."
"Yes, sir!" Hemaru said gleefully. "Follow me," he said to the group.
Konichi and Migomi stood behind, watching them leave to the east toward a beautiful shrine, surrounded by a garden of various flowers.
"Is it her?" Migomi whispered to Konichi.
"Yes," Konichi answered.
"So," Hemaru said cheerfully once they reached the shrine, "What kind of answers are you looking for?"
"Ones about a man named Onigumo," Inu-Yasha said.
Hemaru quickly glanced at Inu-Yasha then chuckled. "Well, good luck."
"Why?" Sango asked.
"Only a couple people know about him and some who know a lot won't speak of him." Hemaru smiled.
"Why?" Sango asked again.
"They have their reasons, but 'they' might only be one person. Remember that now. Umm, we should go in. Konichi will be expecting you to wait for him there," Hemaru opened the door and lead the group to a large room filled with unlit candles and a statue of a lady with long hair, smiling as if welcoming you to come in.
"I have my own work to attend to. Konichi will be with you shortly," Hemaru informed the group and bowed out the way.
Once he left the room, Inu-Yasha said, "The girl's a demon."
"What?" Kagome asked not quite hearing Inu-Yasha completely.
"Shippo," Inu-Yasha said, "Could you not smell a demon?"
"Yeah, I could," Shippo answered.
"She looks awfully a lot like Naraku," Sango said petting Kirara, the cat demon.
"We can't prove that she is really him," Miroku said looking at his cursed hand. "What do you think is behind the gate?"
Inu-Yasha shrugged, "Probably a road out of the village."
"It can't be," Sango said. "The only thing that's back there is the lake."
"Why would they put a gate leading to the lake where the rest of it is open to the village?" Kagome asked. "Even considering the fact that the lake was dangerous, it still would at least have wards or guards constantly around the gate."
"Beats me," Shippo said wandering around the statue. At that moment, the door slid open and Konichi walked in.
"What was it you wanted answered?" he asked calmly.
"We would like to know anything that can be said about the man called Onigumo," Kagome said.
Konichi shook his head. "I am sorry if this might come as a disappointment but not much can be said about the man. I was young when he was alive. From what I remember, he was a kind hearted man and I know that he traveled often. He had a wife, a son, and a daughter. They all lived in the village even when Onigumo traveled."
"Kind hearted?" Inu-Yasha thought.
"Are they still alive now?" Kagome asked.
"Yes, one of them," Konichi said, "His daughter."
"What about the rest of them?" Inu-Yasha asked.
"They were killed many years ago."
"Do you know by who – or what?" Sango asked.
"Yes, but it is not my place to tell you this."
"Do you know where we can speak with his daughter?" Miroku asked.
"Just beyond the gate to the west but I don't think that it's a good time to talk to her right now."
"Well," Kagome got up and bowed before Konichi, "thank you for you're time." She turned to face the rest of the group, "Let's go," she said and they stood up and bowed before Konichi then walked out of the shrine.
It was sunset already and the sun painted the group's surrounding's red.
"We should go find Onigumo's daughter," Miroku insisted.
"Not so fast mister," Kagome said, "Did you hear what he just said. 'I don't think that it's a good time to talk to her right now.'"
"And I don't think we should waste time unnecessarily," Sango said, "We should go."
"There's nobody in here!" Inu-Yasha yelled banging his fist into a tree and leaving a dent.
"Calm down Inu-Yasha, maybe she left before we got here," Miroku said gesturing Inu-Yasha to calm down.
"That son of a bitch! He probably set us up!" Inu-Yasha yelled, not listening to a word that Miroku just said.
"Leave him," Kagome said. The group watched Inu Yasha swear and curse while leaving more dents in the same tree.
"That tree is really strong," Shippo thought.
"Outsiders aren't welcomed here."
The group turned around to find Migomi standing behind them with her arms folded, looking extremely serious.
"We're looking for Oniguma's daughter," Sango said. "We were told that she might be here."
"Outsiders aren't welcomed here," Migomi repeated sternly.
"Don't tell me you're her," Inu-Yasha said doubtfully.
"Would it make a difference if I was or not," Migomi said even more seriously. "Leave or face the consequences!"
"We want answers!" Inu-Yasha growled.
"I'm warning you, leave now or else." Migomi warned.
"Or else what?" Inu-Yasha taunted.
Migomi jumped over their heads and landed on top of the water in front of a large rock with four symbols inscribed in it; each representing the four elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. She then morphed into a woman with long, light green hair and even lighter green skin that could easily be mistaken for normal colored skin. She raised one hand up and the water began to flow into it and form a ball. The water then began to circle her.
"The statue," Kagome whispered remembering the statue of the women in the shrine.
"Leave now!" the changed Migomi yelled.
"I think we should leave," Kagome said scared while trying to hide behind Inu-Yasha.
"We want answers!" Inu-Yasha yelled at Migomi.
Migomi turned her hand a little to the left and more water began to circle around her then the water burst in all directions then it came flying toward Inu-Yasha's group in the form of a tidal wave.