Disclaimer: The characters of the anime InuYasha are the property of Takahashi Rumiko/Shogakukan and Yomiuri TV Sunrise 2000. I do lay claim, however, to Eadoin and Aine.

Chapter Nine: Into the Mountains

The group was pleased to finally have a specific destination, though InuYasha grumbled at having to wait until morning to leave the village. However, Kagome pointed out that the mountain trail would be more negotiable for the rest of them in the daylight.

'And, besides,' said the girl, as she passed him a rice ball, 'this is the crow demon's home territory. It won't take long to find it now.'

'Huh,' grunted the half-demon, accepting the food. He sniffed it suspiciously before biting into it. 'Well, at least now I know why the damn thing always had a burnt stench to it. It's been feeding on what's left of those ronin.'

Eadoin frowned slightly as he considered this observation. 'Doesn't that make it even more odd that the creature has ventured so far afield? Wouldn't it remain and gorge?'

'Maybe it already ate 'em all,' said Shippo, shovelling rice into his mouth.

Kagome turned a faint shade of green. 'Okay, guys – we're eating, remember?'

Aine patted the girl's hand sympathetically. 'Kagome is correct – enough of gruesome things for now. What do you say, Eadoin? Is it time to repay this good man's hospitality?' she asked, nodding toward the headman.

Eadoin nodded in response, his face relaxing into a smile. He had introduced himself to the headman as a harper and seanchaí or storyteller from Eire, which was technically true, and had already offered to provide entertainment as thanks for the man's offer of food and shelter for the night. He had no difficulty choosing a story, since he had promised the tale of the Sons of Nemed to his travelling companions.

He did not play his harp this night, but simply told the tale. His rich, baritone voice carried his listeners into the story of the Dé Dananns skilfully, though he never said just how connected he was to the characters, one of them being his own and Aine's great-grandfather, Dian Cecht. Neither his travelling companions nor the headman's family interrupted as the bard took them to 'long ago and far away'. They sailed with the Sons of Nemed, wounded and driven out of Eire by their enemies, across the western seas to Tír na nÓg , the Land of the Young. They saw the five marvellous cities of Danú, and the wondrous treasures and gifts bestowed on the Nemedians. Finally, they saw the Nemedians return to Eire to reclaim the island as their own, and take the new name of Tuatha Dé Danann – the people of Danú.

As the tale concluded, Kagome felt as if she had just woken up from a wonderful dream. The headman was bowing in thanks to the bard, claiming they had not had such an enjoyable evening in a long time. Kagome turned to Aine.

'How does he do it?' she asked the Dé Danann, her voice soft.

''Tis his gift,' she whispered to the girl. 'There was no Power involved tonight – he's a natural storyteller, so.' She looked around the room – though the largest dwelling in the village, the hut was still small, consisting of only two rooms.

'Kagome – I think we must postpone your reading until tomorrow,' she said quietly.

Kagome nodded in agreement. 'Yes,' she grinned. 'It is a bit crowded.'

'Tomorrow, then. At our next camp,' promised Aine.

The morning dawned clear and cold. The grass was silvered with frost and crunched underfoot as the group left the village and headed into the higher slopes, following the directions of the young farmer, Sato. The rising sun quickly warmed the air, however, and a mist began to form around them as the frost evaporated from the ground. Once out of sight of the village, Sango and Kirara again took to the air for a quick reconnaissance, but still saw no sign of the carrion crow.

By afternoon, the terrain was becoming rockier and the mountain road had become no more than wagon tracks. They soon saw that the land was indeed riddled with caves, as the old man at the village had claimed, and also with streams. Springs bubbled from fissures in the mountains and cascaded down cliffs and steep slopes only to disappear underground again. The wind blowing down from the peaks passed through the needled branches of the many conifer trees growing on the mountain slopes and created a soft, persistent murmur of sound around them..

InuYasha continued to scent the breeze, searching for that whiff of burnt ground that would lead him right to the site of the explosion. He had set a quick pace up the trail, eager to find their prey and dispose of it. The hanyo felt that they had already wasted too much time hunting the crow demon – time that could have been spent seeking jewel shards and searching for Naraku. If they could only get close to the thing, he thought, they could destroy it in no time.

The group had paused briefly for a light lunch, not even taking the time to start a fire before continuing their journey into the wilderness. It was late afternoon before InuYasha was finally forced to stop, Kagome and Miroku making it abundantly clear that not everyone shared his constitution and it was time for a proper rest and food.

Kagome sighed. 'I should have left my bike in the village for safe-keeping. It's getting hard to push it up these slopes.'

'You're always lugging around too much junk,' said the half-demon. Nevertheless, he took the bicycle from the girl and lifted it onto his shoulder.

'I don't bring anything I don't need,' snapped the girl. 'I have homework, you know.'

'Huh.' He added, 'The next water source we find, we'll stop for a while. But I want to reach that cave before it gets dark,' He looked back at Aine and Eadoin who were walking at the rear today. Neither seemed particularly fatigued by their long hike. They're in pretty good shape for humans, the hanyo thought.

'I don't notice you two complaining,' he said to them.

Eadoin adjusted the pack that contained his harp and looked up at InuYasha. 'Wouldn't dream of it, lad,' he answered. 'Aine and I are well used to walking, though I won't object to a break. I was just after saying that if these slopes get any steeper, we'd have regretted bringing horses. This is better terrain for mules.'

He turned again to his cousin. 'Aine, a stór, do you sense the beast, yet?'

'Nothing. The creature has certainly gone to ground, though...' she stopped for a moment and looked up the trail.

'Yes?' Eadoin halted beside her.

Aine looked as if she was straining to hear a very distant sound. It's not a life energy, but... She called to the half-demon. 'InuYasha – do you scent anything unusual?'

'Why? What is it?' The group stopped, all facing the Dé Dananns.

'Níl a fhíos agam...I don't know...' The healer's face was serious, her eyes looking as if they were focussing on a point far ahead.

The companions looked at each other. All could sense demonic auras at various levels of proficiency, but no one had noticed anything like a yoki. 'You told us you can detect life energies – that you could feel InuYasha and Sesshoumaru before either arrived at the port. Is that what you sense?' asked Miroku.

'No,' she answered.. 'Nothing like that. More like... a spell.'

'A spell?' Eadoin shook his head. 'I felt no magic, Aine.'

She shook her head. A light shiver went down her back. 'We should continue with caution,' she urged. 'I can only say that there is a great... wrongness ahead.'

They rounded the edge of a cliff face, and came across a small open meadow through which yet another mountain stream flowed. InuYasha set down the bicycle and sniffed the air.

'I can really smell burnt rock and trees, now,' he said. 'It's not much farther.'

'Well, the rocks and trees aren't going anywhere,' said Kagome. 'Let's start a fire and get something to eat.'

InuYasha didn't move. He continued to stand and sniff the air, his ears twitching back and forth. To his frustration, there was still no sign of the demon. However, in that moment, he so resembled Eadoin's favourite hunting dog at home that the bard, who had been covertly watching the hanyo's performance, had to look away.

Eadoin set down his packs, and stretched. He looked with concern at Aine, who had become very quiet. His cousin wasn't given to fancies – if she said something was wrong, he believed her. He rolled his shoulders, stretching the muscles, and decided that, given the circumstances, a few practice drills with his sword would not be inappropriate.

InuYasha, Miroku and Sango watched as he drew the weapon from its scabbard.. He held it easily and it was obvious that the blade was well crafted. He noticed their interest.

'Just limbering up,' he said, his handsome face serious. InuYasha nodded in understanding and approval.

'May I look at your sword, Master Eadoin?' asked Sango.

He nodded, then smiled. 'Aye, of course. May I also examine your blade?' Sango agreed and they exchanged weapons.

The demon-slayer inspected Eadoin's sword with a practised eye. Neither she, nor her companions, had seen anything quite like it. The steel blade was as long as Sango's single-edged katana, but there the similarities ended. The Dé Danann's sword was double-edged and straight rather than curved, with a single, central fuller. Its hilt consisted of a grip and pommel but had no hand guard. A bronze wire, embedded in and wrapped around the grip to provide traction, entwined further onto the base of the blade, forming an intricate pattern of knots and the pommel itself was engraved with the image of a harp.

'It's not the Fragarach,' he said, speaking of the wondrous sword of Nuada, one of the four treasures of the Dé Dananns he had described in last night's story, 'and cannot cut an enemy in half, but it suits me.'

'So,' observed Miroku, 'this sword does not hold any enchantments like the Tessaiga?'

'No,' said Eadoin, looking at the sheathed sword in the hanyo's lap. Inu Yasha's eyes narrowed and he gripped the sheath more tightly – he hoped Eadoin was not going to ask to examine the Tessaiga. He had decided he the foreigners weren't so bad after all, but he wasn't ready to put that much trust in the bard. Eadoin, accomplished at reading faces, saw the anxiety behind the frown and guessed the cause.

'No,' he said again, 'though it has the distinction of having been crafted by my people's finest smiths. It has no inherent power, but I can use it as a conduit for certain spells of protection.' He hefted Sango's sword, and swung it through two cutting strokes.

'Nice balance,' he said, returning the blade to her. Then, to Sango's surprise, he bowed to her – the same courtly bow he had performed yesterday morning outside the inn. Looking up at her face with his startlingly blue eyes, he smiled and asked, 'Lady demon-slayer, would you care to spar? Warm-up drills, of course.'

Sango flushed, then agreed, unstrapping her hiraikotsu and passing it to Miroku.

InuYasha looked at the expression on Miroku's face and smirked. The half-demon felt repaid for every lecture the monk had given him about how to handle women.

Meanwhile, Kagome and Shippo had gathered some dead branches and had made a small fire pit in the gravel by the stream. In no time, the fire was burning and a tin of water was beginning to boil. Kagome dug into her big yellow back-pack and pulled out a round container of Ramen noodles. InuYasha was mad about the instant noodles, calling it ninja food, and the girl was surprised he wasn't already hovering over the pot. She then saw that he was watching Sango and Eadoin as they sparred.

Kagome noticed that both the demon-slayer and the Dé Danann seemed to be enjoying the match. Sango was grinning, she saw, but... I wonder why Miroku looks so depressed?

Aine joined the girl by the fire; Shippo bounced over to the healer and scrambled into her lap. During their journey into the mountains, the foreign woman had quickly formed a rapport with the little kitsune, whom she thought a charming little fellow. Between Kagome and Aine, Shippo's feet had never touched the ground on this trip. In spite of the threat of the crow demon, the young fox was having the time of his life.

The Dé Danann watched as Kagome poured boiling water over the noodles and then looked at the girl, her eyebrows raised in an interrogative. Kagome smiled. 'They're edible' she said.

'Are you still worried?' Kagome asked the healer. Aine sighed.

'I'm not fond of mysteries,' she answered. 'But,' she smiled and winked at the girl, 'I suppose I must endure. This land has so much old magic in it, Kagome – it is quite unique in this day and age. Everything here is just very different to me. The power I can feel from InuYasha, and which I felt in Sesshoumaru, is nothing like that of our own people. Or even that of the Elves.' She stroked Shippo's fox brush absently. 'Let's do that reading I promised you after we eat,' she added. I could use the chance to focus – perhaps grounding myself in a basic reading will help me to better interpret this ominous feeling...

'Ah,' Aine said then, looking up, 'here comes the hungry man now, so.' InuYasha was jogging toward them, his golden eyes fixed on the container of noodles.

Sesshoumaru had resumed travelling at sunrise. As they left the pine grove, he noted with silent approval that Rin seemed no worse for wear after her nighttime fright. She shivered only a little in the frosty morning air as she climbed uncomplainingly into Ah-Un's saddle. Once they entered the open slopes and the sun's rays dispersed the chill in the air, the child was soon humming happily to herself.

As they walked deeper into the mountains, Sesshoumaru briefly explained his suspicions about the carrion crow to Jaken, and how he planned to approach the matter. They would continue their journey on foot – though flying would be faster, Sesshoumaru believed that he could more thoroughly scan for other demonic auras from the ground. Once they were close to the site of the explosion, the dog demon intended to find a sheltered location for Rin. Then, he and Jaken would investigate the area.

'It should be no trouble to find a secluded and safe place for Rin, my lord' said Jaken. 'There are many caves in this region. It was even reported that the explosion came from a cave.'

'A cave? Interesting.'

By late afternoon, the reek of scorched earth and human flesh was noticeable in the air, at least to the demons. The carrion crow was not in evidence, however. As they drew closer to their goal, Rin remarked on the faint scent of charcoal; Sesshoumaru decided it was time to find a place to deposit the child.

Before too long, Jaken had discovered a shallow cave with a dry floor. Tucked behind some rock slabs, it was very well sheltered. The roof even sloped appropriately to allow any smoke from a fire to escape.

Sesshoumaru nodded his approval – and his servant almost turned inside-out with pleasure. His master rarely issued any praise, so Jaken would treasure this acknowledgement for weeks to come. The little kappa bowed low.

'This Jaken is most pleased to be of service, my lord.' He shouldered the Staff of Two Heads and stood at straight as his diminutive height would permit. 'Lord Sesshoumaru, shall I precede you to the blasted ground? Examining human remains would be beneath your demon greatness, after all...'

'Silence.'

Jaken looked up at his master, startled – but instantly quiet. The dog demon was looking to his left, the pupils of his amber eyes slightly dilated in spite of the late afternoon sun he faced. 'I feel it,' he said. That same signature of power. It can be no one else.

'My lord?'

Sesshoumaru glanced back at his servant. 'Jaken, wait here. Watch Rin.' And before Jaken could speak again, his master had gone.

'Lord Sesshoumaru! Where are you going, my Lord?' Jaken's plaintive wail fell on deaf ears.

A/N: What, you may ask, has Sesshoumaru sensed? Read on... :D