Chapter 3
"You're starting to get sloppy. Try that jab again."
"How about this…"
BAM!
"Geez! How'd you do that!?" Inuyasha shouted at Mina.
Mina did a double jab and then a backwards flip and hit Inuyasha from behind. The two have been out in the forest for about four hours. Inuyasha thought that they would be out longer, but Mina was a fast learner.
"A mix of gymnastics and watching way too many kung fu movies." Mina replied, as she helped Inuyasha up.
"No kidding." Inuyasha said, as he brushed himself off.
"Look it's getting late. Let's head back to the village."
"No can do. I'll be out here for a while. I'll be back soon." Mina said, as she went back into practicing her moves.
Inuyasha shrugged and headed off towards the village. From the way Kagome talked about her, Mina was the kind of person able to take care of herself.
As the sun was about to set, Mina was about to head back to the village when…she heard a scream. A little girl's scream from the sound of it. Mina ran further away from the village just to find where the source of the scream was coming from.
"Master Jaken! It's coming!" the little girl's voice said.
"Isn't it that obvious you stupid girl!?" a green toad like thing said.
Mina saw that a giant spider demon was chasing them. Mina groaned.
Why spiders? It's always the evil spiders… Mina thought to herself. But then Mina felt an odd feeling over her. The spider demon has a light glow on its back. Could it be a Shikon shard that Kagome and the others kept on talking about? Mina was willing to take the chance of getting the shard, so she ran down the hill.
Mina got in front of the Spider's path.
I thought tarantulas were bad enough… a/n: Mina really doesn't like spiders
"Ok, daddy long legs! Hand over the jewel shard!" Mina shouted.
The demon lunged its stinger at Mina, which she was miraculously able to dodge.
Mina then did her little number that she did with Inuyasha and hit it on one of its legs.
"Ya! Get him!" The little girl shouted.
"You're such an idiot Rin! We don't need help from anyone!" the toad said.
Mina's sword then did something strange. With her next swing, it released spiritual energy at the demon, leaving it greatly injured.
"Wow. Talk about special effects." Mina said to herself, as she took a quick glance at her sword.
"I'll retreat for now. Tell your lord I'll be back another day." The demon said, in a voice that sent chills up your spine. Then it turned to Mina.
"Our business is just beginning…" It said, and then it disappeared.
"Damn it! I didn't get the shard. I was so close but…" Mina's thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone tugging at her shirt.
"Thank you for saving us." Rin said, giving Mina a big smile.
Mina smiled in return.
"Stop That! Lord Sesshomaru will not be please with this at all! Now come on!" the toad spoke again.
"Who?" Mina asked.
The toad creature then just turned his back to Mina and stormed off into the forest.
"That was Master Jaken. I'm Rin." The little girl went on. "Well, I gotta go now. Hope to see ya around sometime." Then she turned and followed Jaken.
Mina stood there dumbed struck.
"Well, that was interesting," Mina said to herself. Then she went back into the direction of the village. Unknown to her, a pair of yellow eyes followed her as she disappeared into her side of the woods.
Kagome ran up to Mina as Mina entered the village.
"Mina where were you!? I was starting to get worried!" Kagome said.
"You really need to learn how to chill, sister." Mina said. Kagome was always over reacting to simple things. She knew that from experience fro when the two were growing up.
"So what were you doing?" Sango asked, as she caught up with Kagome.
"Well, I was trying out these techniques that Inuyasha taught me, but then this demon came along and my sword did this weird energy thingy and cuts off one of the demons legs and…"
"Mina, no need for the exaggerations tonight. Let's just go to bed. We got a long day tomorrow." Kagome said unaware that what Mina was saying was actually true.
Mina sighed. Kagome never really took anything seriously before. Mina then shrugged and went after Kagome and Sango into the village.
While everyone was finishing their breakfast the next morning, Mina sat there, about ready to fall asleep in her rice.
"Wake up Mina!" Kagome said, as she slapped Mina on the back.
"Dude, I haven't slept a bit at all last night. I'm too used to having a soft bed and two pillows." Mina said with a yawn.
"You really need to make adjustments if you're going to travel with us." Kagome said, as she handed her a really strong cup of tea.
"Ya think?" Mina replied bitterly, but took the cup with gratitude.
A few hours later, Inuyasha and company were on their way again.
Mina got ahead of the group, due to being more awake, and more reckless.
"Mina! Wait up! You don't even know where we're going!" Kagome shouted.
"Since when does anyone know where they're going?" Mina shouted back, as she climbed over a giant fallen tree.
"Does she ever stop?" Sango asked Kagome.
"Only for food." Kagome replied.
Mina's energy level was able to rival that of Inuyasha's. She could just keep going and going and never stop. The group stopped at a fallen Buddha for lunch.
"Inuyasha! Quit hogging all the Ramen!" Mina shouted.
Kagome groaned. Mina, since she started living in America, had grown obsessed with real Japanese Ramen.
"I'm the one that always saves everybody so I should be more important to keep in shape!" Inuyasha snapped back.
The others watched as Mina and Inuyasha tugged a war with the ramen.
"Really? I had no idea that round was a shape." Mina said. Inuyasha stopped to figure out what Mina meant by that, thus, Mina won the Ramen.
"Witty Repartee. She's a clever one isn't she?" Miroku said, as he watched Mina Cook her ramen.
"Try challenging her to mad libs. She'll come up with the craziest things that you always give up half way through." Kagome said.
"What's 'mad libs'?" Shippo asked.
As Kagome explained to Shippo the concept of Mad Libs, Mina finished her ramen and wandered off from the group. She had the weird feeling again. The shikon shards? If that's what causes this feeling every time, then she's going for it. She reached her hand for the hilt of her sword. She managed to get two miles away from the group. Then she noticed something behind her. She unsheathed her sword and swung in the direction of the shadow. She missed and was pushed from behind.
Mina came face to face with a snake demon.
"You look delicious!" the demon hissed, with a shikon shard shining from its forehead.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in becoming lunch." Mina replied back, preparing herself for a long fight.
The snake demon lunged at her, fangs bearing out. Mina manages to dodge it, though getting nipped a bit in the arm. She then flipped in front of it and manages to give the demon a deep cut.
So far so good. Mina thought to herself.
Then the snake made a high pitched noise. Mina covered her ears. What was it doing? Trying to sing? Then Mina saw that it called in reinforcements.
"Let's see…one, two, three, four, five…. So there's seven of you and one of me. That's interesting." Mina said, as she prepared to start fighting again.
Above the battle scene, Sesshomaru was watching the battle progress. This was the Demon Snake territory, but this human was by herself.
Sesshomaru recognized her as the human that saved Rin the other day. It caught his interest that the female human had not called out for help yet. What on earth was she doing?
Mina lunged and swung at any snake that tried to attack her. Mina was trying to remember what it was that Kaede often said that ward off demons.
"Im, pou, tou, kai, shin, ren, sou, sen!" Mina shouted. Then the spiritual blast from before destroyed all of the snakes but one. The one with the jewel shard.
Suddenly, Mina started to feel dizzy.
"Ah, at last the poison is starting to take effect. Most humans would have fallen at the instant the poison made contact." The demon sneered.
Mina was breathing hard. She wasn't able to move her body the way she wanted to anymore. Soon, everything became blurry. But she never let go of her grip on her sword.
"Akuryo … Taisan!" Mina said. The last bit of energy blasted off her sword and into the head of the snake demon, therefore, shredding it into pieces and leaving nothing but the jewel shard. Then, Mina fainted.
Sesshomaru jumped from his perch and landed next to Mina. The cut on her arm looked terrible. The blood turned purple as it touched the infected area. But he knew these kinds of injuries well. He looked around for the right herbs and applied them to Mina. He then ripped a piece of his Kimono and wrapped it around the wound.
Why he was helping a human, he didn't know. But didn't care. As soon as he was finished, he left her alone and walked back into the forest.