The Same
Book 1: Coming Together
By James Moore
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not mine.
Chapter 9
Unexpected Visitors
When Kagome and Inuyasha reached the edge of the forest closest to the village, they took a quick look at the village. They could see that a few people were up already. Jogging over to her hut, they were about to see if Kaede was up when she surprised them. They thought she would still be asleep. Being the village priestess, Kaede was supposed to be one of the first up each morning.
She had been going about her morning duties when she saw the two about to enter her hut. Walking quickly to them, she called out, "I see thee have returned. We were distraught that something had happened to ye both" Not expecting her to be up, both half-demons jumped in surprise. When they both wheeled around to face her, she continued. "Breakfast is almost ready. Will ye go and get the others?" Seeing as they had nothing else to do, Inuyasha and Kagome nodded.
Inuyasha headed for the hut where Miroku, Kohaku, Shippo and he had been staying, muttering something about "old hags". When he entered, he found Miroku and Kohaku, but Shippo was missing. Though he wouldn't admit it, he cared for the little runt. Kicking him with his foot, Inuyasha succeeded in waking Miroku up. "Hey, monk. Where's the runt?"
Miroku just chuckled. "That's some way to greet someone who had been expecting you yesterday and you never showed." "Whatever…..So where is he?" "He's asleep over in the girls' hut." "WHAT!"
This yell woke Kohaku. "I'm awake. What's with the yelling?" "Miroku says Shippo is sleeping with the girls." Miroku and Kohaku looked at each other. Turning back to face Inuyasha, Miroku said, "It might be better if we wait until everyone's present." Inuyasha grumbled about "lousy monks" for a few seconds before growling, "FINE" The three of them exited and headed to Kaede's hut for breakfast.
Kagome headed to the girls hut. When she arrived, she smelled something odd. Well, 2 odd smells. Not used to her new nose, she did the best she could. One smell smelled like Shippo, but why would he be in there, and the second was unknown to Kagome. A bit curious at the smells, she entered the hut.
As expected, she found Sango, but she also found Shippo and a girl sleeping against Kirara. Looking closer, Kagome noticed that the girl was, in fact, a fox demon. Tiptoeing as quietly as she could, she walked up to Sango. Tapping her on the shoulder, Kagome was expecting Sango to wake up, but she just continued on sleeping. Kagome was about to try again, when something hit her from behind. "KAGOME!"
"AHHHH!" Unfortunately, in the position she was in, Kagome couldn't keep her balance, and ended up falling on Sango, hence Sango got a big wakeup call. "Oooof" Kagome quickly got back up and apologized. "Oh my god. I'm sorry Sango!" Trying to catch her breath, Sango waved her off. Seeing Sango was ok, Kagome looked behind her to see what had hit her. Standing behind her was Shippo, who looked apologetic. "Sorry Kagome"
Sango sat up. "Its ok. No damage done." "Hey, Shippo? Who's the girl you were sleeping with?" "Her name's Sakura." At the mention of her name, Sakura woke up. "YAWN Good morning" Kagome smiled. She's just as adorable as Shippo. "The same to you. Hi! My name's Kagome," She introduced herself. Kagome continued, "Why don't we go to breakfast, and you can tell me about yourself, Sakura?" Both foxes immediately said, "Sure"
When everyone was ready, they all proceeded to get breakfast. They were only a few yards from their hut, when a vine lashed out. Kagome, who was leading the group, just barely dodged in time. Looking at what attacked her, she saw a group of 5 tree-like demons. They had pointy teeth and what seemed to be extendable vines with thorns on them. When one spoke, it was in a raspy voice. "Give us the female fox demon, and we will spare your lives"
Shippo stepped in front of Sakura. "No. She's my new friend, and I'm not letting a bunch of demons take her away. I will protect her from anyone who tries to hurt her" Kagome, who didn't have any weapons that she knew how to use, went and picked up Sakura, to protect her. Sango only had her katana on her, so she drew it. Shippo, seeing Sakura was protected by Kagome, moved up next to Sango and prepared his Foxfire. The demons were not impressed.
"Very well. If you prefer to die, so be it." With that they charged, vines trying to grab Shippo and Sango. Firing off his Foxfire, Shippo managed to burn and kill 2 of the demons, before he was captured by the vines. The vines wrapped his arms to his sides, stopping him from using either his Foxfire or his illusions to attack. Sango was hard pressed just trying to deflect the vines of one of the demons with her katana, until a vine grabbed her leg and flung her against a hut, knocking her unconscious. Kirara, seeing her master felled, bounded to her side and, after transforming, defended her master. The only problem was that the demons just regenerated when cut or slashed, so Kirara couldn't destroy the demon, just stop it from getting to Sango
The last of the demons was approaching Kagome. With no weapons, all Kagome could do was back up and hold Sakura tighter. "Now, die" The vines came shooting towards Kagome. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She turned around to shield Sakura. Kagome could sense the vines were about to hit her, when she heard words she was all to glad to hear. "Claws of Steel" She turned around to see Inuyasha and Miroku standing in front of her. She watched the vines crumple to the ground and turn to dust. She looked at the wood demon, thinking it was about to be destroyed, and saw a new set of vines grow from the demon.
"So, more fighters. Its matters not. We can not be destroyed" "Feh. Yeah right. Let's just see if you can't be destroyed by my Tetsusiaga. Miroku, check on Sango, then get Shippo." Miroku nodded and headed to Sango. Inuyasha drew his sword, leapt at the demon, and slashed him clear in half. "Ha. How do you like that!" Instead of dying, the two halves of the demon began growing to become 2 demons. "We like that very much. You've added another number to our force" Inuyasha was flabbergasted. "What the hell! Why didn't you die?" The "leader" of the demons laughed. "I told you. We can not be destroyed."
"But they can be destroyed," Sakura informed Inuyasha, "With fire. I'd kill them myself, but my own Foxfire is very weak. You have to free Shippo!" Inuyasha understood, but couldn't go free the little fox himself, because he was defending Kagome and the girl fox demon. He yelled to Miroku, "Hey, monk. Forget Sango for a second and free the runt. Unless anyone here has fire handy, he's the only one who can destroy these things at the moment. Miroku reluctantly left Sango's side and charged the demon that was trying to suffocate Shippo. With his staff, Miroku slashed the vines holding the little fox demon. Guarding him while he regained his breath, Miroku asked Shippo, "Shippo. Did you hear what Sakura said and can you do it?"
Still gasping a little bit, Shippo said, "Yeah" Whew. If he had come any later, I would've been a goner. Creating 2 balls of Foxfire, the boy fox threw them at the demon who had caught him and the one trying to get to Sango, but fighting Kirara. They both burned and turned to dust. Creating another Foxfire ball, he threw it at the other demon, killing it, and leaving the leader the only one still alive. Miroku, Inuyasha, and Shippo surrounded the demon. Instead of Inuyasha asking the questions, Shippo took the initiative. Creating one last ball of Foxfire, he said, "Why are you after Sakura?" The demon just smirked at him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" The demon charged the young fox, attempting to make a getaway, but Shippo didn't let him. Throwing the ball, Shippo watched as the lead demon burned, died, and turned to dust.
With the last demon gone, Inuyasha sheathed his sword. Miroku quickly went and checked on Sango along with a detransformed Kirara. Inuyasha and Shippo went over to Kagome, who was still holding Sakura protectively. Shippo asked, "Are you both ok?" Nodding, Kagome saw that the demons were gone and let go of Sakura. Sakura run to Shippo and hugged him, crying. "Oh, Shippo. I was so scared for you. You almost died" Blushing at the close contact between him and Sakura, he put his arms around her and said, "There, there. I'm alright and the demons are gone."
After Sakura had clamed down, Kagome knelt beside Shippo and Sakura. "Sakura?" The little girl looked up at her. "Why were those demons after you?" The girl looked down at the ground and muttered, "Because I'm the guardian of the Miko Tsurugi."
Grandpa Myoga hopped onto Kagome's shoulder. "Did you say the Miko Tsurugi?"