Future Crisis: Chapter 4
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"Hey everyone! The monk is going to exorcise the demons!"
Villagers shouted in rejoice as a man in a purple cloak approached the village shrine. He planted his staff into the ground and pulled out a stack of seals. "Show yourself, demon," he said. He fanned out the seals in his hand and threw them towards the walls; the seals stuck to the walls and sizzled.
"Are you ready, Inuyasha?" he asked.
"We've been doing this for thirteen years, Miroku" said Inuyasha. He wore red robes and had long, white hair. On top of his head were two dog ears. "If I ever die on the job, I'll give you Tetsaiga," he said.
Miroku chuckled. "I'll look forward to that day, then. But this one should be larger than the rest." And he was right: what came out of the shrine was a massive creature with red scales. It was almost shaped like a turtle, minus the shell.
"Still pathetic!" said Inuyasha. He drew his sword, and at first glance, it was a rusty old blade. However, it quickly enlarged into a sharp, wicked weapon that looked too big to be wieldable, but Inuyasha swung it like it was made of air.
"Go! Tetsaiga!" He shouted. His first cleave cracked open the demon's scales.
The creature roared and flung its tail at Inuyasha, who promptly blocked it with his sword. "Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha sweeped his sword like a fan, sending sharp tendrils of wind through the demon's body.
"Glad that's over with," said Inuyasha, who poked at the monster's head. "It was an eyesore to begin with." Tetsaiga's transformation disappeared, and he sheathed his sword.
"Well, you know the drill," said Miroku. He sighed. "It's time to collect payment."
"The monk has exorcised the youkai!" exclaimed the villagers. "We are saved!"
Inuyasha's face was buried in his palm. "I don't have the best feeling about this."
With his linguistic skills, the monk was able to fill his carriage with rice, vegetables, and treasure. "All in a day's work, Inuyasha. I'm surprised that, after ten years, you're still not used to the routine." Miroku drove the horses while Inuyasha walked barefoot on the ground.
In the relatively safe feudal Japan, Inuyasha and Miroku overcharged customers around the country for demon extermination, in order to make a living. After the death of Naraku, the number of threats to humans has drastically decreased.
"Humph, ten years of peace gets boring, you know. I kind of miss the days when you could be killed any second…" Inuyasha looked into the sky as he walked.
"Only you, Inuyasha," said Miroku. "But it is getting dark out. We should head back quickly."
Miroku looked around him. The path before him felt pure from evil energy, as it had been for years. Trees grew high up into the sky, and the mountains in the distance were beautiful and topped with snow. He could faintly see demons in the sky and in caves around him, but he knew that, after destroying Naraku, there was nothing that could daunt him.
The carriage shook, and a scroll rolled onto the ground. Inuyasha picked it up, and it opened by accident.
"What kind of junk did we get this time? The fountain of youth? Pfft." Inuyasha closed the scroll and threw it back onto the cart.
"The fountain of youth is an old legend," said Miroku. "In this day and age, anything can happen. For a story to survive for so long, who knows?"
"You're saying that the rubbish sprinkler is real?" Inuyasha inquired. "But a fountain of youth would be nice…"
"If you do survive long enough," said Miroku, "with the fountain's power, you would end up in Kagome's original world. Things will get complicated from there on."
"Bah! Forget about this," said Inuyasha.
"I know that you want to live longer, Inuyasha," said Miroku. "Hanyou don't benefit much from demonic longevity. And frankly, I want the fountain as well. I need to keep my facial features intact, you know."
"You are obviously forgetting about your wife and children," said Inuyasha.
Miroku opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped. He started a new topic: "You said that the scroll described the fountain of youth, right? Where is the scroll now?"
"It's with the other stuff," said Inuyasha. "If you want to look at it, knock yourself out. It's got a weird drawing on it, though. There are a lot of smudges on it, as well."
Miroku stopped. "What? Drawing? Show it to me now."
Inuyasha hopped into the cargo and produced the scroll. "Don't know why you would want it, but alright." He handed the scroll to Miroku.
Beads of sweat rolled down Miroku's forehead as he read the scroll. "We… we can't sell this! This is a map to the fountain of youth!"
"Go home, Miroku," said Inuyasha.
"Yes, we must show it to the others! Tomorrow we will set off for the fountain! I can't believe that we found something like this in such a humble village!"
Humble? Inuyasha looked through their cargo. "That place was anything but humble," he said. "There's only valuables here."
Miroku ordered the horses to move, and he rolled up the scroll. "I don't think that I'll be getting any sleep tonight," he said.
Suddenly, a scream was heard from the direction of the sunset. "You're right about that," said Inuyasha. He jumped off the carriage and ran toward the voice.
Inuyasha saw a man on the ground, his shoulders pierced with two holes. He dug his fingers into them, and the man tensed up. What he pulled out was something that he could not comprehend. "What is this…?" he asked. The strange metal pellets between his fingers were soaked with blood.
"That… man… he raised some strange weapon," said the wounded. "He… he didn't even move! There were only two flashes. The sound was muzzled, too! It's almost as if he hid the noise of his weapon…" He screamed again.
"Don't move, you fool!" said Inuyasha. "You're losing too much blood!"
"Be… careful… he's got a much bigger weapon on him…"
A sharp wind zoomed past Inuyasha's ears and hair. He turned around and saw a hole sizzling in a tree.
"You've seen too much." A much younger voice spoke softly. "I guess I don't need the silencer anymore," he said. There was a click, followed by an audible "bang", and a metal pellet ended the life of the wounded man.
"Bastard! Show yourself!" shouted Inuyasha. He drew Tetsaiga, and it transformed into a great fang.
Miroku followed from the trees. "I heard the sound," he said. "That didn't sound human."
Inuyasha's nose twitched. "No, he's perfectly a human," he said. "It's that strange weapon."
The man stepped out of the bushes; his backpack rustled with the leaves. A big silver cylinder was holstered on his back, and a smaller one on his belt. Miroku looked at the later.
"That thing on his waist doesn't feel right," he said.
The man looked at Inuyasha. "You must be Inuyasha. I am Akuhei," he said.
"Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha swung his sword and summoned the cutting winds, but two jets of fire propelled Akuhei into the air from his backpack.
"He can fly!" exclaimed Miroku.
"Bastard!" Inuyasha raised his sword. "I'll rip you apart! Kaze no Kizu!"
As Inuyasha swung, Akuhei unloaded the cannon from his back and turned the dial on it. The opening of the barrel opened up, and he pointed it at the blades of wind, with Inuyasha behind it. He was unfazed by the threat of the Kaze no Kizu.
Akuhei's index finger touched the trigger. "Begone… Inuyasha."