Chapter 3: Bad Timing

Taiki, the fox demon that they were looking for, lived in a demon town in the middle of the forest. The town is a peaceful demon village that wishes to keep away from the other savage demons. So that's why an illusion spell was cast over the entire town. Now the town appeared to all the world as just part of the forest with trees, poisonous plants and giant boulders (used to deter people from coming to this area).

The last time after Inuyasha saved Taiki's life, he led them to his hidden town to get the book from his shop to give to Shippo. He owned a shop selling magical items and strange stuffs for making potions.

It was night when they finally found the town. Luckily for them it was a full moon night and gave them enough light to find their way in the forest. They would be surely lost if they hadn't been there before or didn't know what they were looking for.

The town people were already getting ready for the night. Some shops were already closing for the night. Only the taverns still stayed open.

When they reached Taiki's shop, they found it in a mess. Outside of the shop was littered with stuffs that seemed was supposed to be sold in the shop. It seemed as though someone was tossing stuffs out of the shop.

"Now…this is weird," Kagome said slowly.

"Yeah, like his simply throwing things out of his shop," Inuyasha said.

"Well, never mind that," Miroku said. "The important thing is—where is he?"

That got their attention back to search for the fox demon. The shop's door wasn't lock so they entered it.

They were surprised to find that all the shop's goods were all packed into a few bags. The shop's shelf that was usually lined with unusual stuffs was all empty.

"Is he moving or something?" Shippo asked.

"It sure looks like he is," Sango said.

"Actually, he is kicked out by his landlord," a voice said. They turned to see a bull demon carrying a bag of goods and setting it beside the other bags. He had a bull head, tail and grey skin. He was very muscular and stood seven feet tall. He wore a sleeveless haori and a pair of hakama. Now they noticed the bags contained only valuable goods such as enchanted weapons, potions, enchanted jewelries and rare creatures' parts.

"What do you mean by that?" Sesshomaru asked coldly. He was getting a bit impatient to get back into his own body. He loathe being in a human's body because of the weaker senses and strength. He could not get use to not be able to smell his surroundings. It made him feel vulnerable.

"He couldn't pay the rent for two months so the landlord decided to kick him out," the bull demon continued.

"He couldn't pay for just two months and the landlord decided to kick him out?" Kagome was shock to hear that.

"Yeah," the bull demon answered. "He's broke anyway. His business isn't good lately so he couldn't pay up."

"So where can we find him?" Miroku asked.

"He's now at the Rat in the Pot Tavern. The landlord promise to give him another chance if he can finish drinking fifteen bottles of sake continuously."

"Wow, do you think that's a bit too much?" Kagome wondered. The bull demon tossed a bag to Kagome. She caught it easily.

"Take his things with you; I think he's going to need it," the bull demon chuckled.

"Why? Is like you think he's already loss already," Kagome was puzzled.

"How do you expect a demon that never drinks sake to win a drinking contest?" They sighed except for Sesshomaru. He got a point.

When they arrived at the tavern, they were surprised to find everyone in the tavern crowding around a demon drinking sake. They were urging him on with glee as he down another bottle of sake.

"Could that be Taiki?" Inuyasha asked.

"Who else?" Miroku shrugged. They headed towards the crowd and push their way to the front to see if it was Taiki.

And it was. And boy, the state he was in. His usual pale elfin face was now red from being drunk and he could not even stand straight anymore. He was swaying already. He had long flowing crimson red hair that reach down to his waist and, a pair of fox ears on top of his head and a tail with red fur. He was wearing an old white sleeveless haori and a white hakama with a white obi.

He slammed the bottle of sake down on the table hard after finishing drinking it. He looked like he was about to faint at any moment because his eyes were kind of half closed.

"Oh, come on Taiki!" A fat orc-like demon with one eye and a straight horn on his forehead urged. "Only three more to go and you'll get your shop back!"

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" the crowd chanted.

"Sorry, I---"

He did not get to finish the sentence before he collapsed in a heap on the tavern floor. Some demons in the crowd laughed and some booed him.

"Too bad," the fat orc-like demon said with fake sympathy. He turned to his two guards and said, "Throw him out!"

"Stop!" Miroku quickly yelled when they were about to carry him. They stopped and turned to look at him.

"He's our friend. We would like to take him with us," Miroku said.

"Alright then," the fat demon said. "That saves us the trouble of throwing him out. Now get him out of my sight!"

Miroku knelt and place him on his back. He was going to give him a piggy back ride. Then they headed out of the tavern.

Once they were outside Miroku wrinkled his nose. "He stinks of alcohol." Kagome and Sango chuckled.

"Can any of you carry him? My back is getting tired," Miroku said. He was using it as an excuse not to carry him.

"How do you suppose we can carry him?" Sango asked matter-of-factly.

Then Miroku turned to Kagome, "Kagome?"

"No, I got only one arm and this armor got spikes."

"Kirara?"

Kirara mewed and snuggled closer into her mistress's arms. Miroku sighed in defeat.

For once, I'm so glad I'm not in my body right now, Inuyasha thought with relief.

Taiki then began to move. "Who…are you? Why…are…you helping…me?" he asked soberly.

"I'm Inuyasha. Remember me?" Miroku asked.

"Inu…yasha?" he asked like the name sounded familiar. He tried to look at his carrier's face. The world seemed to be spinning when he tried to lift up his head. He felt sick and his stomach heaved, causing him to throw up.

"EWWWWW!!!!" Miroku shrieked. He dropped Taiki after he vomited over his shoulder. Taiki stood up and vomited some more on the town street.

"Gross!" Inuyasha said, covering his nose. Now, he's really glad he is not in his own body now.

"Eww," Kagome covered her nose. Her superior sense of smell made the smell of vomit fouler. Shippo, Sango, Sesshomaru covered their nose as well. Sango handed Miroku a cloth to wipe the vomit off.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Let's find a place to lodge for the night," Sango said.

"Yeah, but where? We don't have money to get a room in the tavern." Miroku said moodily as he knelt down to let Taiki climb on his back once more.

"How about the abandoned house not far from this town that we saw earlier when getting here?" Sango suggested.

"That should do," Kagome said.

Shippo sighed. "Yeah," Inuyasha agreed. They all turned to look at Sesshomaru to see if he will disagree.

"Fine," he said at last.

Sango yawned. "Let's go then. I'm getting tired. We'll talk to Taiki tomorrow morning."

"The sooner I get him off the better," Miroku muttered foully. Taiki appeared to have fallen asleep on his back.

Then without further delay, they set out for the abandoned house. If only they knew the reason behind why the house is abandoned they would have prefer to sleep in the middle of the forest instead.

A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner. I was kind of run out of ideas what to write next. Hehe. Well, hope you enjoy this chapter. Please write me a review after reading.