Yes, my faithful readers! As I have promised, I cranked out Chapter 11 before the end of the year (yay-- happy writer dance)! This chapter took a kind of funny twist to it, as you may notice. The Muses were having their Yuletide parties early it would seem. Spoilers of movie four (Fire on Mystic Island) are in this one, so if you haven't seen it yet--oops! Folly on you! (smile) As usual, I don't own Inuyasha or Lady Death (folly for me!), this story is an original from the dark recesses of my mind (a slight warning when I get to future fight scenes!), and I am not getting paid any monetary compensation for this. My payment is your reviews, and my compensations are Hershey's Extra Dark chocolate, Pocky (tm), Ramen (tm), and Yan Yan (tm), all of which are at my expense. It's my brainfood to keep the Muses happy. Ever seen a Muse on chocolate? It's quite disturbing! But enough of that. Brightest Blessings to you and yours this holiday season, and once again, ENJOY!! )O(
Terms used in this chapter:
"nozomi"- Japanese for "hope"
"nanoka"- Japanese for "seventh day"
"nashi"- Japanese for "pear"
Chapter 11
Ramen and Horai Island
"Mmmm!" Slurp. Gulp.
Inuyasha's joyous eating of Ramen was dwarfed only by Lady Death's silent sideways stare. He glanced up with a dredge of noodles hanging out of his mouth that were barely being tamed by his chopsticks. He blinked at his Sensei when he realized that his indulgence in lunch must look to her to be a combination of atrociousness, comedy, and disgust. He looked at Kagome who had stopped mid-bite and looked back at him with barely a suppressed twitching grin of her own. He looked back at his Sensei, who just let out an exacerbated sigh, closed her eyes, and slowly shook her head. Gasps of suppressed giggles and guffaws ensued from everyone around.
The group was used to Inuyasha's "wonderful table manners", and Lady Death found herself laughing along in due time. A rare moment for her.
Gods above, are simply eating manners to be added to his training as well? She thought.
"Mwaph?" Inuyasha asked with noodles still hanging out of his mouth, which only made the laughter turn into roars. Shippou rolled around, gasping for breath, and smacking the dirt floor. Tears of sheer enjoyment wetted his cheeks as he sat up, breathed in deep, and wiped them dry. Kagome reached into her backpack and handed him a napkin, grabbing one for her and the others. She handed one to Lady Death, who eyed it warily. The White Goddess then noticed Sango wiping her mouth free of something with the strange object.
"It's to help prevent your food from falling out of your mouth, or to stop excess liquid that might ruin your…"
Kagome paused briefly, not really sure if the word she was about to use was appropriate… "your clothes."
She finished, as Lady Death received the napkin and felt it curiously. She looked up at Kagome with a questioning expression, to which Kagome explained.
"It's made from paper—wood pulp—the inside of a tree that's been cut up into little bits and had water added to it. It's then spread out really thin to where it looks like bread dough, but sticky, and left to dry. When it's dried, it's cut up into whatever the need is."
Lady Death stared in barely discernable awe as she let her fingers rub together with the napkin between them.
This… was once a tree! There is still life within this strange item from whence it came as well!
She then eyed the meal in front of her. A bowl of Ramen, a small cup for tea, and three smaller bowls of yet more strange items. At the top of the ensemble was a pair of chopsticks. Laying the napkin into her lap, she picked up the bowl of Ramen and chopsticks, eyeing them strangely. She had no clue just how these were supposed to pick up the noodles… two simple sticks? She may as well use her hands. Better yet, if Kagome had a pair of tines in her strange pouch…
Inuyasha sensed the confusion in his Sensei and responded. His mouth still full of noodles, albeit no longer hanging out, he leaned forward with his own chopsticks to show her how to use them.
"Mere," he tried to say over his munching, "mike misph." He showed her his hand holding the sticks.
"Poppet, swallow your bite before trying somewhat coherent speech. The soldiers of Rome have more eating manners than you, and are far more barbaric." She admonished.
He quickly chewed and swallowed his bite down. His look was a cross between a glower and guilt. Miroku smirked as he sipped down the remaining liquid of his, blotting afterwards with his napkin, then reached for more soup. Kagome watched on as Inuyasha proceeded, ready to add in if needed.
Inuyasha continued on with clear thought. He was the sensei now, if only for a brief moment. Relishing the thought, he showed her step-by-step process in the fine art of using chopsticks. He took the sticks out of his hand and began his teaching.
"Spread your hand like this," showing his clawed fingers lightly spread. She complied.
"Good. Now take one of the sticks and lay it like a bridge across your third finger and behind your thumb. Okay, now take the other stick and lay it over the knuckle of your second finger to go alongside with the first one. Like this."
He placed the sticks in position for her. "Use your thumb to keep the lower one in place… yeah, that's it. Use the tip of your middle finger to hold it still, and use your index finger and the end of your thumb to work the top one. Like you're going to pinch something. Move the tip of your index finger like this," he showed her, "bringing the tips of the sticks together. There ya go! Now try picking up some noodles."
Lady Death balanced the chopsticks as she felt new muscles she never noticed before working in her hand. She reached for the bowl of Ramen, and stuck the chopsticks into the noodles. Forcing the sticks open, she clumsily closed then together in the pinching motion described, grabbing a small amount of noodles.
Carefully, she brought the portion towards her mouth, only to have her fingers let go at the last minute, dropping the portion of noodles into her top.
Inuyasha smirked and stifled a giggle quickly, remembering the first time he tried to master chopsticks
Lady Death cast an exacerbated look skyward and sighed. Reaching for her napkin after moving the sticks out of position, she retrieved the noodles and offered them to Kilala, which the neko gently took from her.
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it the more you use them. Just gotta develop muscles in areas you didn't know you had before is all." Inuyasha said, satisfied that she had enough determination to try again until she succeeded.
Lady Death set the sticks in place again, grabbed the bowl of Ramen while remembering to hold the sticks in position as she did, and this time held them open as she stuck them into the bowl. Pinching them together, she gathered a sizeable amount of noodles that was larger than her first attempt. Mentally willing the sticks to stay in place with their prize, she brought it to her mouth in success.
It was a very different taste—a very different everything—than the food she was used to. She had no need to eat while in Hell, let alone time away from constant war to do so, but when she did eat it was mostly of animal flesh and drink of wine. She missed wine almost as much as her humanity, but was finding the brew of tea much to her liking.
She eyed the other three bowls curiously. One had some powder of a blood red color in it, one of a green paste, while the third had what looked like small, golden leaves of oddly-looking lettuce.
"Pray tell, what are these?" She asked while pointing to them with the sticks.
Kagome jumped in this time.
"The green paste is wasabi, or horseradish. The stuff that looks like lettuce is ginger root, and the red powder is curry, which is a spice. They are all used to enhance the flavor of your food. Ginger is crunchy, spicy just a bit, and a little sweet. The wasabi is VERY spicy—I just use a little bit, but you might like a lot more after you try it. The curry is also spicy, and it reacts differently to different people…"
"I'll say it does—that stuff burns my tongue!" Inuyasha piped up while sticking out his tongue to emphasize.
The White Goddess tried the ginger root first, setting a piece of it as is into her mouth. It was indeed as Kagome had stated—spicy just a bit, crunchy, and sweet but with a slight peppery taste as well.
I like me this root, but it would be eaten by me just as is.
She tried the wasabi next. Heeding about it being very spicy, she smelled it first. Its odor was faint and seemed tame enough. She gathered a small amount placed it on the noodles, taking the portion in whole to her taste test.
The others all stopped eating in synch, watching and waiting to run with tea to her rescue, or to burst into laughter again, depending on how her taste would react.
Inuyasha's mouth twitched in one corner as he remembered his first taste of wasabi, although not as hot as curry, it still had a burn to it. His face frozen in macabre curiosity as he watched his Sensei examine the wasabi-tipped Ramen thru her tongue as she chewed. She furrowed her brow as she stared at the floor, unfocused. She noticed all eyes were on her for her opinion of the wasabi, to which she just pursed her lips together and sniffed. She glanced around at her audience with an expression of 'that was a tickle', a slow grin across her lips.
When she noticed Inuyasha's incredulous look, she decided to try the curry, as if answering a silent challenge.
Lady Death grabbed a large pinch of the red powder and sprinkled it on top of the noodles. She grinned to herself as she saw Inuyasha scooting away in a bit of a hurry from her.
Not only did he remember curry burning his tongue, but also he remembered running around the room, howling something that sounded remotely like "Hot! Hot! HOT!!" flailing his arms in an attempt to cool his flaming tongue, all the while with said tongue hanging out.
The end result was him running at top speed outside to tackle the nearest poor villager that was carrying a pail of water.
He was going to clear the way in case there was a repeat event.
Lady Death gathered her chopsticks and attacked the noodles with curry on them, grinning like a mad woman as she did.
It smells wondrous as it is melding with the noodles, she marveled as she placed the portion inside her mouth.
It danced like sparks of fire on her tongue, heating up with each chew. The powder slowly worked its way to the back of her throat and up into her sinuses, causing her to cough and sniff simultaneously. She exhaled slightly as small droplets of sweat started to form around her nose and under her eyes, which started to water. She continued chewing as if unfazed, but did reach for her cup of tea in a quicker motion. She looked up at her group after washing the noodles down, exhaling in a "whoo!"
"Goddess—Dragon's Blood! This is a wondrous spice indeed!" She exclaimed as she reached for more curry, foregoing the wasabi altogether. An even larger pinch was placed on her noodles as she relished more of this spice, dubbed Dragon's Blood by her. She knew of the scent, now she had the taste.
Inuyasha snapped in disbelief as he scrambled without looking.
"Aww, HELL NO!!!"
In his haste to clear himself from the crazed woman that was his Sensei, he bowled over Kagome,
"Hey! Watch it!" who in turn fell into Sango,
"Whoa—look out!" and ended up in Miroku's lap, drenching everyone in Ramen soup.
The monk was not opposed to the idea of pretty girls being in such 'close quarters' with him, but it usually was him who was doing the "falling"—into his tried and true speech: would you do me the honor of bearing my child?
There they were, the four of them, a tangled mess of three humans and one hanyou, covered in Ramen.
Lady Death watched the scene happen that was all the grace and gusto of circus clowns portraying dominoes. She stopped her enjoyment of curry-topped Ramen as her eyes followed the kinetic energy unfold. She eyed her companions after the melee'… noodles hanging from limbs, hair, and sticking in clumps to other areas not mentioned.
There was a long silence as everyone assessed themselves and each other, slowly picking noodles off here and there.
Shippou, Kilala, and herself were the only ones that were spared. Kaede, being in the cooking room the whole time, came out to see what the noise was about. She stood in the entrance between, stunned. Looking at the White Goddess, and not missing a beat,
"So, do ye enjoy Ramen with curry then?"
Lady Death resumed stirring in the curry, replying, "Aye," glanced at her friends, then at Kaede, "that I do. It reminds me of mealtime at the castle when I was a child. Complete," she motioned to her Ramen-ites, "with the court jesters!"
Realizing that she was making light fun of a "sticky situation", the laughter once again ensued.
"Gods, Poppet. I have never laughed so much, so hard, and in so long as I have in the past moments here! It would appear that you will paying the stream another visit, aye?"
She eyed her charge. Inuyasha blew his Ramen hair out of his eyes. He hated baths, but in this case he would make an exception.
"I know of a hot spring that is near the next village from here. It's large enough for all of us, well there are rocks dividing it for privacy, thank Kami, so the boys can bathe in their own and be boys, and us girls can have privacy." Kagome stated.
Sango agreed. "I could use a hot spring right now." A startled "Kya!" followed by a smack across skin broke the tension. In her efforts to get up from being a Ramen-ite, Miroku had seized the opportunity for a cheap feel.
"But Sango, I was only trying to help you up…" he sheepishly grinned. She glowered at him.
"As much as I like Kagome's Ramen for lunch, I don't like wearing it." She gritted her teeth and refrained from further scolding.
She shook her head free of the crown of noodles. "Besides, it would be a good chance to learn of any jewel shards in the area."
Kagome agreed. "And it would give Nozomi a chance to see us in action as well!"
Lady Death stopped mid-bite and cocked an eyebrow. She quickly chewed down her bite without her gaze wavering.
"Nozomi?"
"Hai. It means 'hope'. It just… sounds better, to me at least, than what sounds so dark and foreboding as Death. Not that your name is bad," she waved her hands cautiously.
"I just feel weird calling you that, and I can't call you sensei because I'm not your student, and well…" Kagome shrugged.
"Nozomi, aye. It is, in its own way, my mortal name. It is acceptable. But," the White Goddess raised her finger for emphasis.
"I ask that you only call me this when we are in the company of each other, and not outside."
"And why is that?" Inuyasha inquired.
"Because, like she said before, to call one's self a certain name means that you own it—it is a part of who you are, and gives it power." Miroku explained.
"He's right. Besides, would you want someone like Naraku learning a part of your power—to use against you?" Sango added.
"Precisely." Lady Death's voice an icy monotone.
She set her bowl down and headed for the door, her cloak billowing as she walked. Grabbing Apocalypse, she glanced over her shoulder at her charge.
"Come Poppet, mistresses, and young masters. No time unlike the present to do such."
They all finished the rest of lunch and grabbed their items before heading out the door. Shippou gulped down the rest of his Ramen, letting out a small burp from too much air swallowing.
Lady Death grinned his way. "Well, make haste, young kit. You do not want to be left behind." She waited for him to scurry out of the shack with Kilala before turning to smile at Kaede, a silent thanks for the meal, and following herself behind.
The sun was a white-hot ember high in the sky. Lady Death closed her eyes and relished its warmth against her face.
It has been far too long away for me. I like this. I like it here.
"Hey—are you coming?" Inuyasha called back to her.
The White Goddess' visions were white as the sun. A new path lay ahead for her, and with it, new friends, and new challenges. She nodded her head at Kaede's waving goodbye as she followed after the group, a rare smile showing as she walked on.
The walk to the hot spring and the next town was but a few miles, but it seemed to Lady Death to be forever. She was used to flying anywhere while in Hell, and at times walking was a rudimentary nuisance. She had almost forgotten the sensation of the earth giving way under her boots, the small snapping of twigs, or the soft crunch of gravel. She marveled to herself as the sensations reacquainted themselves to her. Before she knew it, they had reached the village and the area slightly beyond where the spring was.
A few of the people glanced strangely at her, but Inuyasha reassured her.
"Don't worry about it too much. They're used to my looks, and to them, you look just like another human that might need a lot of sun!" He kidded with her. She quirked an eyebrow.
"I'm going to find and speak with the village elder a moment. Maybe I'll get lucky." Miroku said, his voice trailed off just enough to attract Sango's ears. She turned his way to find him ogling yet another group of girls, and gave him a look that was burning a hole into the back of his head. He turned around and quickly flustered, stammering for an explanation to secure him from her wrath.
Sango's expression never changed as she approached him. Wrapping her arm around him, she drew him closer. Miroku flustered even more.
Wha? What is she doing??
Her wrathful glare melted into a softer look as she drew his head towards her. His heart was racing, his pulse quickening his breath in short, nervous gasps. His pupils dilated in excited anticipation.
Is this it? She's finally going to kiss me?
Sango's eyes were locked onto his as their faces drew closer. They were just a few hands width apart. She laced her fingers into his hair on the back of his head, drawing him to within inches of her lips. Miroku closed his eyes and puckered his lips in hopes of her kiss. When the kiss didn't come, he opened his eyes quizzically, mouth still puckered.
She smiled, raised her brows, and whispered,
"Don't… even… THINK about it."
Miroku's eyes bugged as he glanced to both sides, mouth still (again) puckered. Sango let go of his head and walked into the heart of the village, leaving him standing there with his impression of a fish.
"Uhh… Sango? Where are you going?" he called after her.
She turned slightly, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Aren't you going to seek out the village elder? You might get lucky, after all…"
"Dowhahuhduh?" His jaw dropped. He wasn't too sure how to interpret just what she had said, much less the implication. He stood there, raising his hand to flag her back, and realizing he was at a loss for words.
Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou looked amongst themselves with expressions of "What was that?"
The Goddess of Death shook her head and chuckled. The three looked at her wondering what she found so humorous, to which she simply smiled and walked towards Miroku. Still standing there, looking very much like he should be likened to a fountain with water spouting forth, Lady Death stopped at his side, raised a hand, and closed his mouth.
"My lord monk," she started, "I think me that you have just been outwitted. By the very fox you do so hound. And where did it leave you? As a simpleton, dumbfounded and speechless. A classic example of what it is to be bested. Take note, Poppet, this is but one example of humility."
The rest giggled at Miroku's expense. He quickly decided to save face and chase after his "quarry".
"Uhh… Sango? Wait for me!" He ran after her with Kilala following into the crowd.
"BROTHER!"
The sound of an ecstatic, high-pitched squeal came forth from the crowd ahead of them. No sooner did the attention of the group focused towards the new sound, and then it did take shape. A little girl about the age of Shippou came running forth and tackled Inuyasha in a flying leap. He wasn't prepared for it, and staggered a couple of steps back as the child latched on to his midsection.
"Oomph!" A slight gasp from having been tackled escaped his lungs. The child raised her head and gleefully smiled. She had blue hair and her ears appeared to look like fins. Inuyasha recognized her then and returned her hugs, giving her a noogie on her head.
"Heya runt—how ya doing?"
"I'm so happy to see you! Look—I lost a tooth!"
She pulled back the side of her mouth to show a hole where a canine had been on the bottom. She wiggled the tip of her tongue thru it.
Inuyasha grinned. "It's about time you got some real teeth."
He set her down and glanced at the group remaining. Kagome and Shippou beamed happily, while Lady Death looked questioningly.
"Brother?" she inquired, crooking an eyebrow.
"Ahh… heh heh… well, not exactly." Inuyasha flustered. "She's a half-demon, like me. I guess she finds me a 'brother' in that sense." He scratched his head and smoothed down his robe.
Kagome bent down to be at eye level. "Hello, Ai. Do you remember me? And Shippou?"
"Of course I do. How could I forget the people who helped get the others and myself off of Horai Island and away from the Four War Gods? We owe everything to you. Especially you, brother!" Ai turned around and smiled again at Inuyasha. She turned back and focused on Lady Death, eyes slowly panning up her height to meet her face.
"Wow… you're really tall! For a lady. What's your name?" Ai blinked up.
Lady Death followed Kagome's example and crouched down. Placing a hand upon Ai's shoulder, she marveled at her eyes. Ai had the biggest, sea-foam blue eyes she had ever seen.
"You have the bluest eyes. I am called," she paused and glanced at Kagome. Kagome bit her lower lip in slight apprehension. The White Goddess interpreted Kagome's nervousness and turned back to Ai.
"Hope. You may call me Hope."
Ai smiled wide and pointed to her missing tooth. "I lost a tooth!"
Inuyasha stifled a giggle. Kagome motioned for Shippou to come forward, noticing that he was being shy. Ai squealed in delight and hugged him with as much fervor as she did in tackling Inuyasha. Shippou blushed madly and struggled to get away.
Lady Death stood up and surveyed the village. It was like her childhood home. People bustling thru the homes, the smells of food cooking, children playing in the roadway. She smiled, as the memories remained strong despite her harsh life as an adult.
"Ai, where are the others? Where do you live now?" Kagome inquired. She was eager to find the village elder and learn of any Jewel shard rumors, but more so to get to the hot spring and get clean.
"Over there. At the end house. We all live there now, Shion, Moegi, Roku, Dai, Asagi, and me, with the elder. She liked us so much when we came here that she looks after all of us now!"
Ai grabbed Shippou's hand and dragged him down to the end house, with the others following. The Goddess of Death hung back with Inuyasha. This was another part of him she was curious about.
"Horai Island? Four War Gods? Clearly, Poppet, you have had some excitement other than hunting Jewel shards. So, you have defeated gods? Do share."
She felt triumphant at having discovered something else about him, and she also knew that, as per their agreement, there would be no secrets between them. There was no way out of this past adventure for him, not even if he tried.
Oh boy, Inuyasha thought. Well, it happened in the past, so I won't have to explain a lot.
"Horai Island was an island that was home to families of demons, humans, and their hanyou kids. For a while everyone lived in harmony, until a few families started to come here to the mainland." He sounded regretful.
"Was that a bad endeavor?" She inquired.
"Not really, except for the fact that there were people, human and demon alike, that not only looked down at the parents, but were even worse with the kids." His own memories as how his mother and himself were treated flashed in his mind.
"Just like me, they found that they didn't really fit in anywhere, and when they tried, they were either shunned or persecuted. So the priestess of the island, Lady Kanade, sealed the entire island and its inhabitants away from the mainland with an invisibility spell. Every few decades, however, the spell would weaken, and the island would reappear. When that happened, demons in hoards would come on a blood-lust killing spree. The Four Gods were among the hoard, killing everyone—men, women, and children—demon, human, or hanyou, no one was spared. Lady Kanade was able to seal their power spheres away, but not their bodies, entirely. The act ended at the cost of her life."
As they walked on, his voice trailed off with the ghostly image of the one-time meeting with Lady Kanade in his mind. His gaze unfocused as they neared the end house where the village elder resided, wondering about the one person who was with him when he met the fated children, the cursed island, and the Four War Gods… ironically enough, fifty years ago.
Kikyou, the Keeper of the Shikon Jewel, before the evil of Naraku came.
The Goddess of Death noticed the slight shift in his voice, but more so the change in his aura. The grey of sadness had returned.
"You think of Kikyou, aye?" the Goddess asked. He merely nodded as they walked. She pondered on whether or not to tell him of her meeting the tragic priestess, let alone that she would be the one to end Kikyou's half-life when Naraku was finally destroyed. She decided to not put any more energy into it when the time was not at hand.
"These children are all that remain of the island, why is that? As for the Four War Gods, they sound like an excellent challenge."
Her steel eyes glinted at the possibility of a good rouse.
"They were nothing." Inuyasha smirked. Although, the most difficult one I faced was Ryura. Damn! He almost succeeded in defeating me, had it not been for my stubbornness… and Kagome's determination by my side…
He smiled as the memory replayed itself: he had struck again and again with the Wind Scar, and each time Ryura was able to smack it away like a pesky fly. Ryura had an advantage in having two swords, the Wind Blade and the Thunder Blade. The Wind Blade's power was the drawing of a sphere of energy around its host—the Earth Dragon Gale. Not even the Red Tetsusaiga could break it. When the Wind Blade was stuck into the ground, Ryura was able to call upon the Thunder Blade's power—Dragon Lightning. The two swords used in combination were more devastating than anything Inuyasha had encountered, save for Sou'unga's powerful Dragon Twister.
Towards the end of the final battle, the Gods had regained their power spheres and combined themselves into one being, with Ryura being the most powerful. Inuyasha was finally able to conquer Ryura's powers only with Kagome's help. He had seen that the Adamant Barrage of Tetsusaiga was enough to stagger Ryura back, but not enough to kill him. Kagome's purifying arrows did make a bit of a scratch. They tried something that had never occurred to either of them before—combining their powers into one ultimate attack. Kagome had fired off an arrow, then he unleashed something he had never tried before: an Adamant Backlash Barrage.
The energy seemed to move in slow motion as a spiral of jaggedness before he continued the release. It was similar to the Backlash Wave, merging with the energy of Kagome's arrow and struck home, hitting the combined Gods squarely in the chest, not only purifying them, but ripping them apart with shards of adamant and exploding them into nothingness.
The vision faded with him displaying a somewhat arrogant smile. He turned to his Sensei and explained.
"Yeah, they are the last living reminders of an island that is no more. As for the Four War Gods, you probably would have had fun taking them on, if they were still alive."
"Folly for me." The Goddess of Death tilted her head slightly. "But the children are the only survivors, what happened to the rest of them? The parents?"
"The island's power source was the Cauldron of Resonance. Lady Kanade used its power to seal off the island. The Four War Gods got it into their heads to start throwing inhabitants here and there into the Cauldron to regain their powers. First they tried the demons. That didn't work. Then they tried the humans. That didn't work, either. But when they turned to the hanyou offspring, they found that they could recover some of their lost power, if only just a bit. They decide to mark the offspring for the rest of their lives on the island as their captives, never to be free to leave, and to serve no other purpose than to be their sacrifices."
Inuyasha shook at the memory of how horrible it must have been for them, to know that they would have to willingly throw themselves into the Cauldron to keep the others safe from harm, and to keep the Gods at bay a little while longer.
"So, why the hanyou children? How where they marked?" She was as curious as a cat could ever hope to be.
"As it was told to me by Lady Kanade, normally, the power of a demon is too strong while the power of a human is too weak. But when this energy is merged, as in the case of a hybrid kid, it is combined equally. The Gods marked the kids with four deep slashes across their backs, like some kind of binding spell that prevented them from leaving the island. Ai was the only one who was able to escape, probably because she 'was too young' at the time to be even consider fuel for the Cauldron. Those bastards made the mistake in marking me as well, when Kikyou and I first discovered Horai Island over fifty years ago."
Lady Death noticed his back unconsciously twitched in where the scars must have been.
They had reached the end house at last where the others waited inside, catching up with the other kids on their lives since being rescued and coming to the mainland. But it was singing that they heard, not conversation or laughter. Lady Death and Inuyasha both looked at each other as the words became clear.
"Father once told me, 'the hand of the demon defends'.
Mother once told me, 'the hand of the mortal nurtures'.
Put both hands together and open the gate,
Thou shalt go back into the crimson flames,
Become the light and protect the children."
Inuyasha added as they stepped into the house. "That is what they were singing when I returned with Ai and the others to rescue them from their fate."
As they stepped inside, there was their group, an old woman who must be the elder, and the rest of the kids sitting in a circle, playing musical instruments and singing while in the center. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing as all eyes focused on the pair entrancing. The elder was the first to speak.
"The Megami Shi Fujin! No, you can't come for me—I am… the children are not ready…"
The Goddess of Death raised her hand. "Stay yourself, my lady. I have not come for you. Not yet."
She glanced at her group while removing Apocalypse and resting it at the entrance, Inuyasha following suit. They both took up the only spaces left near the doorway, already accustomed in doing such. A protector's nature never changes.
"That was a most… sad song. Pray tell, children, what was that?" She asked.
The tallest, most likely the oldest also, replied. "It's called the Song of Parting. It's what we used to sing before one of us was to go to the Cauldron. It reminded us of our parents, and that how we'd never truly leave the others or be alone when we died. Our parents turned into fireflies that watched over us after they had died."
This one had teal-colored hair. Lady Death noticed the others had odd coloring as well, save for one, who almost looked like a younger version of herself at perhaps ten years old. She had blonde hair. There were three boys and three girls. They stood up and introduced themselves.
"My name is Asagi. I'm the oldest." The girl with teal hair said, reaching her hand out. Lady Death held her hand with her own as images of what had been Asagi's tortured life displayed in her mind. They were all fading now, but the strong feeling of despair still lingered.
Asagi broke contact and introduced the others. "This is Moegi, she's the most human-looking; this is Shion, he has a gentle nature; those two are twins, Roku and Dai; and of course, Ai you know."
Shion had purple hair and indeed, quiet eyes displaying his nature. Roku had green hair atop of orange, while his twin Dai's was opposite. That will not be hard to remember, the Goddess of Death thought.
"And you, my lady, what are you called?" She focused on the elder, a short round woman perhaps in her sixties, maybe the same age as Kaede, with long silver hair tied into a bun at the back of her head.
"I… my name's…" she stammered, not quite assured that Lady Death wasn't there for her soul. The Goddess' face displayed only calmness, quietly urging her to continue.
"Nanoka. That is my name, but the children call me Nashi." A small smile displaying not much teeth left was shown as the woman finally relaxed in the presence of Death's Avatar.
The groups shared a giggle. Inuyasha muttered, "It fits." The White Goddess glanced sideways at them, curious as ever.
"Nanoka means 'seventh day", as she had just told us prior to your arrival that she was born on the seventh day of the first week of the month." Miroku explained.
"Her name's Nashi," Ai squeaked. "She reminds me of a pear!"
More laughter ensued. Lady Death did notice then, indeed, the woman was shaped like a pear.
The old woman waved her hand about. "Nanoka… Nashi… it doesn't matter to me. Call me what you wish."
"Lady Nanoka, we have come from the neighboring village not very far from here. As I'm sure the children have told you, we are the ones who rescued them from Horai Island and the clutches of the Four War Gods." Miroku explained.
"Ahh… so your lot were the ones, then. I thought it was just Ai and her fantastic imagination at first until all of them seemed to share the same tale." The elder stated.
"We are curious of a couple of things, my lady. First, may we use the hot springs near this village? Secondly, have you had encounters with any "out of the ordinary" people, or beings, lately?" Sango asked.
"Out of the ordinary, eh? Like how so?" Nanoka replied.
Sango began listing off some things. "Crops being destroyed for no reason in the night, missing people, animals acting strangely, or appearing around certain times at night or during the month…"
That struck a familiar cord with the elder. "We have had a run in with a small band of animals that have been destroying our crops lately, and a few children have gone missing, now that you mention that."
Roku interjected. "I was at the spring one night and a small pack of wolves chased me out. They were big for wolves, and had really huge red eyes. I never ran so fast before than I did that night."
"Ookami youkai, to be sure, would go after kids. The only other types of animals I know of that would destroy crops would be either boar or oxen." Sango confirmed.
"The wolves couldn't be from Kouga's clan, could they?" Kagome looked around to her friends, hoping to be denied her thought.
"Naw, we're still too far south to be near that flea-bag's territory." Inuyasha huffed. Lady Death sensed obvious hostility towards the said name of said wolf.
"You are not on good terms with this Kouga, nay?" she leaned into his ear, not knowing if it was a sensitive subject or not with him.
"I could care less about that Bag of Bones, and he never misses the chance to hit on Kagome, claiming her to be 'his woman'…" his fur on his ears bristled and they lay low to his head, indicating his annoyance.
"Inuyasha, Kouga's just being nice when he says those things to me, you know that. He also knows that there is someone else in my life because I've told him such." Kagome reminded him.
PTAH! "Whatever…" He snorted and turned his back to her, arms in his sleeves of the Fire Rat robe.
"Jealous, are we?" Lady Death inquired. He whipped his head around to glare at her warningly, only to remember that such a look would get him into trouble. Not only an issuing 'sit' from Kagome, but most likely a public admonition from his Sensei as well. The smirk on Lady Death's face told him that she meant no malice in saying such, and he turned back around, sulking.
Nanoka continued remembering about the possible youkai bothering the village. She had noticed that the attacks on the crops and people mysteriously disappearing seemed to coincide with the full moon. Lady Death found this intriguing, having prior knowledge about wolves and their behavior during full moon nights, gave a suggestion.
"If these animals are the ones that come here, and if indeed they are affected by the power of the full moon, then we have some time to stay. The full moon is in thirteen days, and that is more than enough time for us to prepare for said adventure."
She looked over at Inuyasha while projecting the thought of training him now into her thoughts towards him. His eyes grew bigger and his pupils dilated a bit when he picked up on her meaning. He grinned madly, eagerly awaiting her next thought.
Nanoka gave them permission to use the hot spring, stating that it "wasn't hers to give anyways". The group thanked her and the kids for the hospitality and set off towards the spring with a good clip in their steps. The dried Ramen stickiness on them and their clothing was starting to get a bit… smelly.
Inuyasha didn't really care about a bath at that point; just the image of being able to rouse with a wolf and think it to be Kouga was enough to get him stirred up.
"Too bad those wolves aren't from Kouga's clan. I'd just love to see the look on his face when I…"
"SIT BOY!!!" Kagome yelled.
BAM! He hit the ground face first. Lady Death's eyebrows both rose up at the sight of this. He was rendered immobile for a bit, muttering a few profane things before he was able to regain standing.
"What the hell was that for, wench?" He said, dusting himself off.
"SIT!" She stamped her foot and he hit the ground again. Lady Death shut her eyes in what could only have been described as being empathetic.
Inuyasha growled while glaring up at Kagome. She bent over to stare at him in the eyes while the spell was still in effect.
"You may as well stay down there if you're going to be a jealous puppy again! The first one was for your rude comment about 'how you wish it was Kouga', and THAT one was for calling me wench!"
She stormed off faster down the path towards the spring with Shippou and Sango trying to keep up. Miroku gave a shrug at Lady Death, tilting his head to the side. His indication of such to her was that this was a normal occurrence, and hurried after the others.
Lady Death stayed behind while the Subjugation spell wore off. Inuyasha sat up and huffed, glancing up at his Sensei. He wished she hadn't seen that—it was embarrassing.
She stood with her arms folded, eyeing him in thought. He hadn't made an attempt to stand as he watched the others disappear down the path. He puffed a stray lock of hair out of his face in frustration. He had the chance to ask her something now.
"Do I get to start off with my sword skills first?" His excitement level rose in hopes of learning some new moves.
The Goddess of Death didn't wish to disappoint him, but he would have to unlearn everything he knew of swordplay and retrain his body as well as his mind in order to become one with Tetsusaiga. She held out her hand to help him up, a faint look of uneasiness in her eyes.
"Unfortunately, no. In order for you to acquire any new skills, you must first unlearn everything, break all of the habits that you have, and strip your mind and body down to the very core, where everything begins to imprint. Only after you have nothing left will you be able to obtain everything, and truly become one with your sword."
His ears sagged a bit as he felt his disappointment. It felt to him like something had grabbed his center and squeezed. He stared dejectedly at his Sensei, waiting for the other 'bad news'.
"What is my first lesson, then?" He finally swallowed the growing lump of doubt.
"The necklace around you… they have a power over you, aye?" She gave him a sideways look.
"What does that have—" he started to ask, baffled.
"Aye or nay will do, Poppet." She interjected. Inuyasha stared at her with slight shock, unable to tell if she was seriously teaching now, or serious as if he'd just angered her.
"Hai, Sensei. The necklace does. It has a power over me."
He waited for her reply, but when none came, he figured that she waited for more explanation.
"They are called Beads of Subjugation. Kaede placed then around my neck shortly after Kagome freed me from Kikyou's sealing spell on the Tree of Ages. All Kagome has to do is utter a certain word and… well, you saw the result."
He didn't dare speak the dreaded word for fear that it might have the power to be self-inflicted. He could see that she was thinking about this simple power, but as to her response on it, he was caught off guard.
"Why were they placed around your neck?" Her face calm and unrelenting.
"So Kagome can torture me, it seems." He rolled his eyes at the memory of the many times she sat him.
"Do you truly believe that, Poppet?" There was a method to her madness in the questions.
"What do you mean—that I deserved to be sat???" His brow furrowed as he stood up, not using her offered hand, and brushed himself off again. She did not answer him, which caused him to think about what was said.
"Do I truly believe that this thing was put upon me to be a torture device and that I deserve it… hmmm." He scratched his ear, a sign she came to recognize that he was thinking.
She grinned as his aura changed colors rapidly from the blood red of slight anger to the true red of his own calmness. A light went on in his head as he had a revelation.
"She doesn't sit me if I don't deserve it. If I mouth off, or am rude, or whatever, I get sat. I guess I have been, and still am a little uncontrollable. Huh… imagine that." He rubbed his chin and looked her way to confirm his thought.
"Very good. For every action, there is an equal and opposite RE-action. Remember this. If one does not like to have their face in the dirt, said one would make every opportunity to not have said action occur, nay?"
"That makes sense. I just want to be rid of this accursed thing, it makes me feel like I am a dog." He tugged at it, wrinkling his nose and hoping it would snap apart.
"It is likened to a curse. It will only have power over you if you give it power. Meaning that, if its purpose is to still your tongue with your face in the dirt, then I would take care of thinking before I speak. Eventually, the power will no longer be effective; Kagome will take note of this, and just may remove it from you. I was cursed to never walk upon the Earth again, yet here I am."
She started down the path towards the spring. Inuyasha's mind was reeling with what he had just learned. There was no denying in anything that his Sensei had said—he had smelled her truth in it. This was not bad to experience, and if her teachings were going to be as such, he decided he could live with it.
Already, unbeknownst to him, his mind and body were being stripped down. The training had begun.
