The Retainer
Two
The Quest Begins
Two days had passed since that first night. The first day was filled with annoyances, irritations and misgivings as Akiyama's patience was tested for the first time in five decades. His lord, InuYasha, lacked any consideration for the young girl, Kagome, Kikyo-san reborn according to Kaede, and did much to antagonize her. These attempts frustrated the samurai, because it ended with his lordship face down in the dirt and grime, unfitting of his station as the son of a demon lord, and a Taira princess. The blood of Emperors flowed through the boy's veins, and he was being forced to wallow in the mud due to his own stubbornness.
In the deep night of the second day, Akiyama went to his lord and consulted with him. "Do you enjoy this? Order me, and it will be done, no power or curse is held over my body, my lord. Order it to be done, and she will die." He bore no ill will to Kagome, none whatsoever, despite his irritation, all of it was directed at the young hanyo who sat in a tree above his head as he dithered. InuYasha after a scant moment, cast one of his golden eyes down on the samurai, his retainer, and did not look amused at all…
The Sun rose, morning came again.
The small group was gathered in Kaede's hut once more. InuYasha lounged at the fore of the room, Akiyama was exiled to the outside, he leaned against an outer wall, listening to their talk and merriment. Trouble, did not begin to describe what had occurred the night before. He had not fought his lord, not ever. He regretted the decision of teaching him how to fight all those years ago now as he nursed a concussion. The wound would heal swiftly, it was not the physical impact that had done the most damage. He had wounded his lord's trust, for a time at least, and that left him most unsettled. His lord was forgiving to a fault, but he had finally found and tested his patience in the wrong direction. He did not doubt that he would come around in time, or if he didn't, he had only to command him, and the samurai would see an end to the troubles he had caused his lord.
From within the hut he heard Kagome-san speak, and he perked his ears to listen. "I'm leaving." It was a statement, not a request, not a plead. A scant few seconds later, the girl walked out of the hut in her odd clothes and began walking towards the forest named after Akiyama's lord. "My lord, should we follow her?" The samurai inquired to the interior of the hut.
"Yeah." Inuyasha was standing next to him already, Akiyama had forgotten how fast his lord was, as well. "Which way did she go?" The question was rhetorical, InuYasha was already moving, his servant falling into his shadow, as was proper.
They traveled swiftly to the outskirts of the village, where the old growth of the forest encroached on the people's lives. "You smell that?" The red-clad outcast questioned as they stepped into the undergrowth of the trees.
"I'm a fox, my lord, my sense of scent is weaker than yours." Akiyama admitted tersely as he drew his wakizashi, brandishing the shorter implement carefully as they advanced through the trees. Idly, he remembered he'd need to replace his actual sword, and soon.
"Smells like death." InuYasha cracked his claws as they went on, following his nose. "Geh… Did people just stop coming here when I was dead?" Another rhetorical question was uttered as the hanyo nearly tripped over the thick carpet of the undergrowth.
"Almost entirely, my lor-" Akiyama went silent, listening intently. While his lord had the sense of smell, his boon was hearing. "A struggle, cries of pain, laughter… Kagome-san." The samurai darted off, his lord outstripping him easily as he caught on to the same sounds. The forest increasingly gave way to a dilapidated building in a shallow clearing. It was not a shrine, but a larger construction, likely a former inn for wayward travelers judging by the size of both it and its surroundings. The main entrance was collapsed entirely, and recently by the fact that the dust was still settling, and shouts were coming from within.
"If it isn't kinda obvious, there's something wrong with your boss!" The walls of the structure dented the yell, though it was distinctive enough at this point to the two that they knew who it was speaking. There was a glint in the sunlight as InuYasha darted around the side of the building and knocked out one of the walls with ease. The compromised nature of the structure in addition to his own immense strength making the weakened wood little more than the quality of paper. Akiyama moved to follow at first, stopping short as a gleam came to his eyes. There, in the shimmering light of the Sun Goddess, there it lay, the Shikon no Tama. Katsurou considered it for about a second before he rushed off to assist his lord. His happiness could not be found in the depths of that bauble, and he was quite pleased with his own strength.
The interior of the building was in ruins, bodies lay scattered across the floor, fresh kills judging by the blood that was pooling around the desecration in addition to those, broken and unbroken weapons were discarded across the length of the building, and a small group of… Bandits was hiding behind a small girl while their leader, a hulking human, wildly swung an ōdachi around like it was a party favor. InuYasha placed himself between the two opposing forces, while Akiyama sifted through the discarded weaponry for a decent sword, his lord was capable and competent, he did not require his aid for a mere bandit. Of course, then the crow flew out of the bandit's chest and out a crack in the door right over Akiyama's head. "What the hell, Akiyama! Why didn't you kill it!?" The samurai, finding a sword for his liking lifted it from the floor, weighted it, making sure it had no imperfections and belted it. "My apologies, my lord, I was looking for a new sword. Surely you could have handled a b-" The samurai cut himself off, seeing the others fleeing the place in the case of the bandits, and pursuing their quarry in the case of his lord and Kagome…
The samurai ran alongside them as best he could. His lord was faster, only just, but faster still. InuYasha bade Kagome-san to invest herself in a skill that she obviously did not have, the girl handled the bow she was handed, which stood almost as tall as she was, clumsily, and while she did have the strength to pull it fully back, how arduous a challenge that was played across her face. The girl simply lacked the refinement in her muscles necessary to do it well, and aim? Akiyama watched another arrow fall short of the winged serpent that was once a bird to answer that question. The fox yokai put effort into the movement of his legs as the serpent dove down on the village from whence they had come. Its claws snatching up a small body, returning to the sky carrying a now, understandably, screaming child in its grasp. No one had to think about what it was going to do to the child should it get away.
Kagome-san dropped off of InuYasha's back, standing firm the girl was allowed a greater deal of her strength to pull back the yumi, another arrow flew towards the crow, missing only barely. InuYasha leaped, his claws rending through the profane creature's form, though missing the child, and naturally, they fell. Motions slowed to a standstill, InuYasha was falling back to the earth, unable to render assistance, not, glumly, that he would have, Akiyama thought, Kagome cast her bow aside and was running towards the bow. The samurai himself was not close enough to the child to make a difference. He breathed a sigh of temporary relief when the boy struck water, instead of hard ground. The frightened screams morphed into yelps about how they couldn't swim. Unfortunately, neither could he, and from the looks of it a lot of others couldn't either. Kagome leaped into the water in the stead of anyone else, casting powerful strokes to bring herself to the child swiftly, assisted by the small rapids of the river's natural motion and reached them easily, pulling both of them ashore.
Akiyama sheathed his new sword and held a small smile on his face as he watched the interaction between the girl and the small child, who thanked Kagome profusely, bowing as properly as a terrified and waterlogged child could. A few seconds passed before the child began screaming again, a claw of the demon was caught on their clothing and it was moving still. He could not hear what Kagome said to another of the villagers, but the samurai caught on rather quickly, watching from afar as she lashed the claw to an arrow and let fly.
In the next moment, the sky was filled with resplendent glory… Akiyama cast his eyes skyward, towards where the demon-bird had been. He was greeted with the light of a million stars playing across his eyes, and he could hear the screaming, not from mortal peoples but somewhere else, he shook his head and it was gone, as though it had never been, perhaps he imagined it. Still, he knew better than to think that the light show was just a show. The samurai trotted up to Kagome a few seconds behind his lord, and caught the absolute tail end of their conversation. "You what!?"
He slammed into the ground a second later while Akiyama growled inwardly. It was going to take some getting used to this young lady.
The day bled into the night, and another day followed it. Three guests continued to occupy Kaede-san's home. Kagome-san did not end up leaving as she intended, her reasons were her own. Akiyama slept lightly by the door, his master did not sleep at all, unknown to his attendant. The odd group of four ended up leaving Kaede's hut in search of a significant pool of water, Kagome-san desired to bathe, understandable, he supposed. Respectfully, Akiyama sat far from the lake-side that the troupe came to with his eyes closed. He gave thought to meditating, however he did not, instead keeping alert in the event of threats.
InuYasha sat next to a fire that Kaede was attending, the miko had chased away curious (or perverse) villagers by telling them that their newest addition was undergoing a purification ritual. No one questioned that, leaving the four alone. "Ah! The water's freezing!" Akiyama's eyes shot open as Kagome went into a small tirade, lamenting the lack of hot water. "We tend to boil water before bathing, my lady." The samurai respectfully replied to her rant, bowing his head slightly to the girl, who shot him a look of murder for intruding. He sighed and closed his eyes again.
Kaede started discussing a theory that she held in regards to Kagome, that she was the reincarnation of Kikyo, her departed sister, his lord's lady. The miko went into detail in regards to the spirit world, religion and theology, discussing the intimate nature of reincarnation how it 'worked'. Akiyama said nothing until he heard a great crash directly succeeding venomous denials about the nature of where his lord's eyes were pointed. "Must you always do that, my lady?" The samurai inquired to the young woman, he stopped cold however. The slight resemblance he had seen the days before was stronger then, as Kagome-san stood there in the raiment of Kikyo-sama's office. "I apologize, my lady." He said quickly and bowed to her, albeit for entirely the wrong reasons. Kagome huffed and stomped off as his lord demanded she change.
One of Kaede's villagers came running up to the miko, explaining a situation which demanded her immediate attention, wordlessly the miko left at a decent speed considering her age.
"Are we following Kagome-san, my lord?" Katsurou asked warily, his lord punched him.
"Not this time." InuYasha insisted...
Author's Notes: As I get further in, I will try my damnedest to keep characters as unchanged as is sensible. I will also be deviating pretty strongly from canon in regards to events after Kikyo's appearance. For now, know this will be a long endeavor, and I will try to keep things sensible. Lemme know what you think at your convenience.
An odachi is the Japanese equivalent to a two-handed longsword called a claymore.
