Kagome sighed, having a feeling that she would be doing that a lot tonight. How irritating! There was only a slim chance that Saya's 'scientific mind' would accept something such as time travel, and that was probably if she was inebriated, or hallucinatory, courtesy to the eucalyptus leaves... She opened her mouth in an attempt to answer the questions, when smelling her frustration, Inuyasha cut her off with a menacing, low, guttural growl.
"Those are some pretty demanding questions, wench... And what a terrible attitude you have... You would do well not to piss me off..."
To emphasize his words, Inuyasha unfolded his arms, and flexed his hands, cracking his knuckles and flexing his claws, gleaming dangerously in the moonlight.
Kohta nearly rose from his seat to voice himself and defend Saya, or at least to hastily apologize on her behalf, but upon seeing the inhuman claws, he gulped, beginning to perspire, abandoning the thought immediately, rooted to the spot.
Kagome inhaled slowly and gradually exhaled, Saeko cast a worried look at her, and Sango was immediately by her side, her arm around her shoulders as moral support. A strange feeling gnawed at Saeko at the sight.
"It's okay, Inuyasha... I guess we can't ask some people to just believe. It is difficult to have blind faith, as they say. They deserve some information if we are to be comrades..." Steeling her nerves, Kagome began with something simple. Some proper introductions would at least be necessary.
"This, is my husband Inuyasha. He specializes in hand-to-hand combat. This is Miroku. He is a monk who fights with his staff, sutras, among other things. Sango uses her boomerang, but also knows swordplay very well. Sango and Miroku are married too, and have children. I... I use archery as my main means of combat, though I'm not limited this." She gestured to each person as she introduced them.
Kohta listened avidly, even though that was hardly even ample information to judge them on, but he was apparently satisfied with it. Perhaps he was listing off every notable person he could possibly remember that used such weapons, along with their specs. It would be slightly problematic if he made the connection too soon, but the time would come... They could only truly avoid it for so long.
"During my trek through the forest, I found them in a hideout. They're friends of mine from the mainland of Japan, and well..." She gestured to Inuyasha's head thoroughly fibbing her way through all of this, "he was born with those. It caused quite the ruckus, but I think they look cute..." She trailed off, reminiscing of the first time she ever laid eyes on him, and how, now, she almost immediately felt compelled to touch his ears once more...
Saya gave a half-satisfied sniffle, turning her head to avert her gaze, staring off into the vast sea. Kagome had a feeling that she didn't entirely buy the story, but was grateful for the reprieve all the same. Her friends talked in an old-fashioned manner, more stiff than the Japanese used today.
Saeko cleared her throat and smiled warmly, beckoning to the group, speaking for the first time in a while. "I think it'd be rude if we didn't introduce ourselves either..." She turned to Kagome's group. "I am Busujima Saeko. I practice kendo and compete nationally."
At this point, one of the boys coughed into their fists, mumbling into their fist, with a cough punctuating between the words, semi-masking it: "Modest. Kendo champion." This elicited a grin from Kagome, and a twitch of the ears from Inuyasha.
Saeko continued blushing a bit, but pressing forwards. "This is Miyamoto Rei. She's the best spear martial artist I know." Rei blushed a bit from the compliment, staring down at the ground. "This, is our favourite nurse, Shizuka-sensei." Saeko winked, pointedly looking at Shizuka, who gave an extremely friendly greeting, though she insisted everyone could call her Marikawa if they so choose. "This, is Hirano Kohta, the weapons specialist. You name a weapon, and he can tell you all about the specs, its history and how to use one... Particularly guns." Kohta puffed up his chest proudly, flashing a thumbs up. "And last, but certainly not least, Komuro Takashi. Our team leader and baseball enthusiast. More so, baseball bat enthusiast."
"Hey! When was this decided?" He looked incredulously at the group who shrugged, providing no satisfying response for him, much to his confusion. "We never actually decided!"
"You're just a natural." Saeko supplied, grinning at his reaction.
After a quick banter, Saeko added, "Oh, and Alice is inside the house with Zeke. They've been in there to keep warm. She's a nice girl, and Zeke is a dog."
Inuyasha responded with a nod, ears twitching a bit as he finally labelled the two other new smells with names.
"If you don't mind me asking, how'd you get to this island? By boat?" Kagome inquired.
Takashi nodded, being the first, other than Saeko to answer. "Yeah. It wasn't too far off, actually."
"Japan, and the rest of the world have been affected by this." Rei added, a worried frown on her face.
"And some of you haven't checked if your family are alright!" Marikawa exclaimed, piling on to the worries.
"Kagome? Are the infected everywhere? Even on this island?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome shook her head. "Not anymore, no. We've blocked off the only way here by foot. But what you're getting at... Yes, what you're smelling is their rotten flesh. They've run rampant."
Inuyasha scrunched up his nose. They most certainly smelled despicable. Even at this distance, it set him on edge to have such an unpleasant smell invading his senses. "So what are we waiting for?"
Kagome grinned at his eagerness. "We'll set out early tomorrow morning, but tonight, we should garner what little rest we can. Besides, we need a bit of planning. We can't rush in blindly as you please. As you so often do." The last bit was added under her breath, and only Inuyasha caught it, and he scoffed lightly.
Inuyasha grumbled something unintelligible, but stalked off to the nearby palm tree, and with two leaps, sat himself on top of the tree, overlooking the ocean, the moonlight playing with his hair.
Sango and Miroku promptly unfroze, trying to dispel the shock of what Inuyasha had just performed by launching into mundane tasks. "I have something for a fire!" Sango exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm, much to everyone's joy.
"I'll gather some wood." Miroku added, sprinting off into the forest again. Kagome watched with a wide a grin. How she loved her friends. They were more like family.
"So..." Kagome grabbed the long forgotten food she brought, taking a seat on the sand, as a blazing fire flickered to life. "Berries, anyone?"
A/N: Updated on October 18th, 2014
