Ghost Busters
Seeing Ms. Sato there was one of those weird, awkward moments that cause one to wonder why they're seeing a teacher out of school, and who knew teachers could dress casually, only it was made worse by the fact that Inuyasha was seeing her outside of school while getting ready to attempt exorcising ghosts.
Before Inuyasha could come up with an answer that didn't involve ghost hunting, Mine smiled brightly and said, "Oh, hey Ms. Sato! We're going to get rid of the ghosts haunting this street! Well, Inuyasha's going to get rid of them, and I guess his friends are going to help. I'm going to help too! Or I'm going to try and help. I'm not sure what exactly I can do, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?"
…So what's the point of having special powers if I can't make the earth open up and swallow me when I want it to? Or better yet, swallow annoying people who don't know when to keep their mouths shut!
"You're hunting ghosts," Ms. Sato said. She glared then, and to Inuyasha's surprise, she wasn't glaring at him, but Sensei. "I can't believe any supposedly responsible adult would encourage such foolishness."
Sensei glared back. "I don't think it's any of your business."
Am I missing something here?
Ms. Sato took an angry step toward them, and as she did so, Inuyasha suddenly saw a pair of arms fade into view behind her. "Look out!" he shouted as the arms shoved her, and suddenly Ms. Sato was falling into the path of an oncoming car.
Sensei reacted quicker than any of them, grabbing Ms. Sato's hand and yanking her back onto the sidewalk. Inuyasha ducked around them, pulling out one of the ofuda he'd made and slapping it on one of the arms before they could disappear again. There was a crackle of energy and flash of light accompanied by a howl that tossed Inuyasha back. He would have fallen to the sidewalk if Kagome hadn't caught him.
"I think that's one down," he said. "Thanks for catching me, Kagome."
He turned to check on Ms. Sato who looked rather shaken but unhurt, and she was clinging to Sensei's wrist with a white knuckled grip. Her glasses were missing, and she asked, "Can someone hand me my glasses?"
Looking at the road, Inuyasha spotted the mangled mess that was left of them. "Um, looks like the car ran over them." It was her second pair of broken glasses in only a matter of weeks.
"How bad is your eyesight without them?" Mine asked, all concern.
Ms. Sato squinted in Mine's direction. "Very," she answered shortly, which probably explained why she was holding onto Sensei's wrist still.
"Inuyasha," Miroku said. Inuyasha looked over at him, but the monk's attention was focused on the sky. "I think you made the rest of the ghosts mad."
Inuyasha followed his gaze up and sucked in a breath at the sight. It was like a dark cloud hung low over the street, radiating malevolence. Within that cloud Inuyasha could make out flashes of the ghosts. By his count, there were at least ten of them.
And Ms. Sato and Mine are completely helpless against them.
"What is it?" Mine asked. "What do you see?"
Inuyasha ignored her question to say, "Sensei, you need to get Ms. Sato and Mine out of here now."
"Inuyasha," Sensei stared, but he didn't let Sensei finish.
"Now, Sensei!" Inuyasha ordered with an authority he would never had dared to use on the older man before. But Sensei had no spiritual abilities either, so as strange as it was for Inuyasha to think it, it meant Sensei was just as vulnerable as Ms. Sato and Mine in this situation. Getting the two women to safety was the only things Sensei could do in this situation.
"Fine," Sensei said.
"But, hey!" Mine cried, and Inuyasha didn't need to look to know that Sensei was probably dragging her off. That would look really suspicious to any passerby's who happened to see them, so Inuyasha absently hoped that no one else would, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the mass of ghosts to check.
"What can I do?" Kagome asked.
"Can you see the ghosts?" Inuyasha asked.
"No," she admitted.
"Then just do your best to keep an eye on anyone who comes by and try and keep them out of the way," Inuyasha said. "Miroku, what do we need to do?"
"I'm going to try and exorcise them," Miroku said. "I'll be vulnerable while I'm doing it, so I need you to guard me, Inuyasha. If any of them attack, and I expect they will, I need you to use your ofuda to stop them."
"Got it," Inuyasha said, moving into position beside the monk.
Miroku closed his eyes and held his staff out in front of him. He began to chant, a different one than Inuyasha had learned from Gramps. The reaction among the ghosts was instant. The mass above them began to writhe, and a figure shot down straight at Miroku. Inuyasha jumped in the way and snapped out one of his ofuda. He was prepared for the rush of energy this time, and so managed to hold his ground. As soon as the light faded, two more ghosts rushed down, coming from different directions this time.
Frantic to keep Miroku safe from the attack, Inuyasha threw an ofuda at one, and jumped in the way of the other armed with another paper. He felt the rush of energy from behind him, and realized that somehow against all odds, the paper had still managed to hit the other ghosts and exorcise it.
Inuyasha was dimly aware that a car was coming up the street and that they must make for a ridiculous sight, but he was too focused on waiting for the ghosts' next attack to care. Two more ghosts detached themselves from the mass, but instead of flying toward Inuyasha and Miroku, they went for the car. Inuyasha only realized what they intended when they shoved one side of the car and the vehicle suddenly veered toward them.
Before Inuyasha could shout for Kagome, she was between them and the car, and the car slammed into her. Inuyasha's heart jumped into his throat, but the portion that hit her crumpled and it only shoved her back a few feet. She bounded over the driver's door, and bracing herself with one foot, she used her left arm to actually rip the door off the vehicle while her right arm hung limply.
She's hurt!
He didn't have time to ask what was wrong with her arm though before she dragged the stunned driver out of his car and dashed off to get him out of the way. Behind him, Inuyasha could hear Miroku's voice take on a new intensity as he chanted, and Inuyasha felt a fleeting moment of respect that Miroku could have kept chanting without missing a beat during that moment.
The mass of ghosts roiled in response to Miroku, and suddenly they scattered in different direction, setting up a high pitched wailing so intense Inuyasha thought his eardrums would burst. Storefront windows shattered, and Inuyasha could faintly make out the sound of the people inside them screaming. The glass coverings on the streetlamps blew out one by one, sprinkling Inuyasha and Miroku with broken shards of glass.
Inuyasha wanted to dash after all the ghosts that were now within his reach, but he held his ground knowing that Miroku would be completely vulnerable without him standing guard. Now that the ghosts were no longer packed in together in one large mass, he could see there were even more than he had first thought.
Miroku's chant ended on a sharp note, and Inuyasha felt the wave of power roll out from him. When the power met with the ghosts, they fizzled out of existence, until the sky was bright and clear again.
"Is it over?" Kagome asked, making Inuyasha start. He hadn't noticed her return.
"It is," Miroku said. He glanced around and winced at the sight of the damage. "But I think we should be on our way out of here."
Probably a good idea; no one else had been able to see the ghosts, so there was a good chance Inuyasha and his friends would somehow end up being blamed for it. They rushed off, and Kagome led them straight to Sensei and the others who were waiting a few blocks away. Sensei and Ms. Sato both looked equally grim, and Mine was biting her lip with worry. Sensei and Mine both looked relieved when they spotted them coming.
"You're back!" Mine said.
"Are you alright?" Ms. Sato asked. By the way she squinted at them, she couldn't see well enough to tell, but her question made Inuyasha remember Kagome's arm.
He turned to her. "Your arm!"
"I'll be fine," she said. "I think my shoulder is dislocated, but we should get out of here before we deal with it."
"We'll go to the dojo," Sensei said. "I know how to set your shoulder."
They went as quickly as they could without looking too suspicious. Mine lead Ms. Sato, but her green eyes kept darting over to Kagome. Inuyasha couldn't quite figure out why until it suddenly hit him that during the exorcism Kagome had lost her hat, leaving her dog ears on display.
Crap, how am I supposed to explain that?
When they made it to the dojo, Sensei had Kagome sit down, and he held her arm with one hand and placed his other hand on her shoulder. "On the count of five," he said. "One, two."
Kagome yelped as her arm snapped back into place. "You said on the count of five!" she accused.
"I lied," Sensei said. "Is anything else hurt?"
Kagome shook her head. "No, it was just my shoulder."
"How did your shoulder get dislocated by ghosts?" Mine asked.
"She stopped a car from hitting us," Inuyasha said without thinking.
Ms. Sato's head snapped in his direction. "She stopped a car? And only dislocated her shoulder?"
Ground, open, swallow, Inuyasha thought, burying his face in his hands. Why had he gone and said something so stupid?
"You're not human, are you?" Mine asked staring at Kagome curiously. "I mean, those are dog ears on your head, right?"
Kagome's ears flatted on her head, and she sent an uncertain look in Inuyasha's direction, clearly remembering Inuyasha's admonition that no one in the future should find out that she wasn't completely human.
"Dog ears?" Ms. Sato demanded, her voice an octave higher than normal.
"Everyone sit down, and shut up!" Sensei's voice cracked like a whip, and everyone obeyed without protest. "Good," Sensei said and then turned to Inuyasha. "Clearly keeping everything a secret from them isn't possible. You may as well explain it."
And here I go again.
He went through the story again, keeping it as short as he could without being too confusing. But he made sure to take the time to explain about the Noh mask, so that they could understand where the ghosts had come from.
When he'd finished, Ms. Sato said, "You do understand this is a very difficult story to believe."
Sensei snorted. "You were almost killed by ghosts an hour ago."
"And Kagome definitely isn't human," Mine said. "Not with those ears."
"I'm half human, actually," Kagome said. "I'm also half dog demon."
Ms. Sato huffed, squinting in Kagome's general direction. "I can't see them."
She can't see them? Kagome's only five feet away from her. Her eyesight must be really bad.
Kagome moved so she was beside Ms. Sato. "If you still need proof, I'll let you feel them."
"Very well," Ms. Sato said, raising one hand. "You may want to help so I don't accidentally poke you in the eye or something."
Kagome obligingly took hold of her hand and placed it on one of her ears. With a look of concentration on her face, Ms. Sato felt Kagome's ears. Her eyes widened and she pulled her hand back quickly. "They are real!" She turned to Inuyasha. "So that's why you've been missing so much school? Because you've been going back in time using that well of yours to hunt down some magic jewel?"
"Basically," Inuyasha said.
Ms. Sato crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't think I approve of this. This seems like an awfully dangerous task for someone so young."
Inuyasha bristled a bit at the young comment, but supposed that to a teacher all of their students must seem very young. "I have to do it," Inuyasha said. "I'm the only one who can track down the jewel shards. The longer it takes to get those, the more people who get hurt or killed."
Ms. Sato looked like she was about to argue with that, but just then the door to the dojo slid open and Usagi stuck her head inside. "Dad, should I set the table with extra plates for lunch?"
"No, that won't be necessary," Sensei said. Usagi nodded and left. Sensei stood then. "We should probably postpone this discussion for now. I suggest everyone go home. Kagome, we can continue your training once your shoulder has finished healing."
Kagome nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"I'll walk you home, Ms. Sato," Mine volunteered.
Ms. Sato sighed, but allowed Mine to pull her to her feet. "Better take me to my eye doctor instead. I'll be useless until I get a new pair of glasses."
"Maybe you should think about getting contacts?" Mine suggested as they left.
"We'd better head out then," Inuyasha said. "Thanks for your help today, Sensei."
Sensei nodded, and the three of them headed out. "Now then," Miroku said. "Since our lives are no longer in immediate danger, I have some questions."
"What?" Inuyasha asked.
"To start with, those things," Miroku said, pointing to the vehicles on the road. "I believe you called them cars? How do they work?"
"A combination of electricity and gas I guess," Inuyasha said. "I don't really know the details of it; I'm not a mechanic."
"What's electricity?" Miroku asked.
Scratching his head, Inuyasha tried to figure out the best way to explain electricity. "Um, lightning. We use it to power stuff."
"How do you trap lightning?" Miroku asked.
"It's not literally trapped lightning," Inuyasha said. "Look, I don't know how it works, but it does."
Miroku seemed disappointed with that response, but he had more questions to turn to. Inuyasha had never realized just how curious Miroku could be, and he was hard pressed to come up with an answer for all of his questions.
The flood was finally stemmed with they made it back to the shrine. "We should get going," Kagome said. "Shippo and Kaede will be waiting to hear how things went and that we're all okay."
Before Miroku could protest too much, Kagome dragged him off to the well house. "See you two later," Inuyasha called after them. He entered his house and found his family waiting for him like usual.
"You're back!" Souta said. "What happened?"
Inuyasha flopped down on the couch. "We handled it. The ghosts are all gone."
Souta grinned at him. "I knew you could do it!"
"It wouldn't have happened without the others," Inuyasha said.
"No one was hurt, I hope," Mrs. Higurashi said.
"Kagome was, but not seriously," Inuyasha said. "She says she'll be better by morning."
"Give us details, boy," Gramps said. "What happened?"
So Inuyasha recounted it, telling them all that had gone on, including Ms. Sato and Mine finding out about his trips to the past.
"So your teacher knows now," Mrs. Higurashi said when he finished. "Maybe that will make things easier for you at school."
"I hope so," Inuyasha said. "But I guess we'll see."
"Well, I think we could all use something to eat," his mother said. "Lunch is just about ready. Why don't you all come to the table?"
Inuyasha didn't care for the idea of moving. Now that he was sitting somewhere comfortable and he didn't have to worry about anything trying to kill him or anyone else, he was realizing just how much that exorcism experience had worn him out. "Actually, Mom, I'm not really hungry right now," Inuyasha said. "But I am tired. I think I'm just going to go lay down."
"Okay, dear," Mrs. Higurashi said. "Whatever you need to do."
So Inuyasha went upstairs and flopped down on his bed. Within moments, he was asleep.
Though Miroku had protested when Kagome dragged him off to the well, he wasn't truly all that resistant to heading back. The effort it had taken to exorcise those ghosts had really worn him out, even though he hadn't been willing to show it.
I'm sure Inuyasha's just as tired as I am, if not more so.
After all, the younger teen had exorcised a number of the ghosts himself with his ofuda. Miroku hadn't expected Inuyasha to be able to do that. The amount of power it took to exorcise as many as he had in that manner was staggering.
I think we've all been underestimating just how much power Inuyasha has. With the proper training, I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to become the most powerful priest alive.
It probably shouldn't be all that surprising. After all, Kaede had informed Miroku that Inuyasha was Kikyo's reincarnation, and the stories of Kikyo's power were near legendary. She had left a large role for Inuyasha to fill, and Miroku didn't doubt that he would manage it.
Miroku was distracted from his thoughts when Kagome's left arm went around his waist and she jumped out of the well. "Thank you for the assistance," Miroku said.
"You're welcome," she said.
Shippo was waiting for them, and he bounded over to Kagome. Miroku watched with some amusement. Shippo made his favorites among them well known. Inuyasha came first, but if he wasn't around, Shippo usually clung to Kagome.
"You guys are okay!" Shippo said. "Did you get rid of the ghosts?"
"We did," Kagome said. "Everything is handled there."
"Let's head to the village," Miroku said. "I'm sure Kaede will want to hear the story too."
Kaede was actually in her hut now, and Miroku and Kagome gave their report. "It is good that you were able to go through the well and assist him," Kaede said.
"I agree," Miroku said.
"How come you could go through it and I couldn't?" Shippo asked.
"I'm not certain," Miroku said. "I really have no idea how the well works."
"I don't think anyone knows," Kagome said. "Though Myoga said he thought it might be sentient, and chose who it does or doesn't let through."
"That could make sense," Miroku said. "But how has it gained the ability to connect two times at all?"
"There are some things in life," Kaede said, "that we may never have the answer for."
And that well is probably one of them, Miroku added mentally. But admitting that didn't stop him from being curious about it.
"Boy, Sango is going to hate that she missed all this," Shippo said. "I wonder if she could go through the well too?"
"If she wants, she can try it when she comes back," Kagome said.
Shippo looked over at Kaede. "Are you going to try it?"
Kaede shook her head. "No, child. At this point in my life, I have no interest in seeing the future. I am more concerned with what is going on now."
Miroku recognized the subtle warning her words offered. The future was a fascinating place, but the most important thing for them all was tracking down the jewel shards to prevent their misuse by others.
And to kill Naraku, Miroku thought, absently flexing his right hand. He wasn't sure if that was as high a priority for the others as it was for him, but that was still his ultimate goal, even over collecting the shards.
Miroku frowned. Naraku should be weaker right now. Is this really the best time to be taking a break? If we could find him, we might be able to finish him off.
Ah, well. It was probably a little late for these thoughts now. Besides, if Naraku was busy trying to heal himself, he probably wasn't causing trouble for others.
At least, I hope.
