Chapter 29: The Water God
We sit upon a tall cliff overlooking village that has partially been drowned out by a flood. Inuyasha sits on a boulder, Sango sits on a small incline on the cliff with Kirara at her side and Miroku and I stand while we wait for Shippo to return from investigating. My fingers gingerly play with the strap of Midoriko's sword that is tied to my back. We found a sheathe to hold it in, that is just a tad too big, but enough to keep the blade from cutting me as I carry it, in the last village we came from.
"I guess even a large castle can be difficult to find, especially when we don't have any directions or landmarks to go by," Miroku sighs.
"Come on, Sango. You gotta be fully recovered by now." Inuyasha says. "You wanna hunt down that Naraku creep, too, right? You could show some enthusiasm for my offer! We know a lot more about Naraku than you do! Plus…You're alone now. You've got nothing to lose from tagging along with us."
"He's right. Let's take it one step at a time and focus on gathering the jewel shards. We won't have to chase Naraku. If we keep collecting shards, he'll eventually come to us." Miroku agrees, but when he turns towards Sango, he receives a very serious expression from the demon hunter. It doesn't stop him from kneeling down in front of her and continuing, "I know you must be hungry for revenge but you must be patient."
"I see." Sango mumbles.
"Believe me. I understand how you feel."
"Thank you. But monk, must you stroke my legs while you talk!" I glance down at Sango's lap and notice the monk was indeed stroking her leg with his left hand, at which she pinches at the top of now. He blushes brightly and nods, removing his hand from her grip.
Frowning, I shake my head. He could have waited till she was fully recovered before he begins to flirt with her.
"Miroku try to control yourself, will ya?"
From the cliff's edge, we spot Shippo's pink round mass hovering from next to the cliff. He floats over the land until he's a few feet away from Inuyasha and I, and pops himself midair, returning to his normal form.
"Tell us, what were you able to see, Shippo?" Inuyasha asks. He's relaxed on the boulder he sits on, his arms crossed, and one leg dangling along the edge.
"There's a huge lake just over that hill to the North. A huge shrine is right in the middle of it."
"Is it Naraku's castle?" Inuyasha questions fervently, throwing his hands to the sides of the boulder, and leaning in towards Shippo.
Rolling my eyes, I sigh. I already know the answer. We would have most likely have sensed something by now if it were Naraku. Or at least, I would have. With the amount of shards, he has, I would have heard them crying out to me or sensed their presence. But nothing. Yet Inuyasha and Miroku were sure on trying; desperate to get a hold of our enemy that has caused them so much tragedy already.
Shippo shakes his head slowly and sighs, "I don't think so but it'd be a good place to check out to rest."
I look over to Inuyasha who watches me, and we both nod in unison. "Let's go check it out then." I state.
We look over a decimated landscape within the village surroundings. The land is moist and barren of trees, huts and other scenery, except for a large uprooted tree dead in the center. Several of the village men are working out in the midst of the area, digging, moving rocks and some sitting there crying. Something traumatic must have happened here recently. It is a good sized area to have been destroyed. And by a flood from the looks of it from where I could see from the cliff.
"Must have been a flood." Miroku is first to exclaim the obvious.
Across the way of the sunken, damp land, is a line of villagers with two flags, and a group of men carrying a small red kago.
The men in the sunken field stop what they are doing and turn their attention to the line of men.
"Behold the human sacrifice." One said in blue, still holding a rock in both hands.
"I wonder whose child it is?" Another chimes in.
Human sacrifice?
"That is utterly barbaric!" Miroku says.
Inuyasha is the first to go ahead and round the destroyed land to intercept the line of men. We follow close behind him, as he leaps his way to them. With one final leap he disappears behind the kago where we can't see him. We're near enough to be able to hear the conversation the men in the back of the kago are saying, earning questioning glances from the men in front as we pass them by.
"Please reconsider, headman!" An elderly man says to another man who wears a blue short sleeved open up shirt with a green long sleeved shirt underneath. All their heads are down and their expressions scream sadness and despair.
"Why do you even ask? It is only natural we give up our firstborn children to protect the village." The headman says. Natural? Nothing about it is natural. They pause when they notice Inuyasha sitting on the back of the kago, and us approaching from the side.
"The sacrifice is for your 'water god'? I bet he's just some hyped-up demon. A demon taking advantage of his newfound strength from a jewel shard." When the man began to speak Inuyasha quickly interrupted him. "Don't even try hiding anything."
"W-who are you?" The headman stutters.
"Look at his ears!" One man calls.
"Are you a demon?" Another asks.
"This is a peaceful village protected by a great water god. Demons are not welcome here!" The headman yells.
"Old man, are you talkin' to me!" Inuyasha shouts back. He climbs off the Kago and approaches the headman, lifting up his sleeves as if about to hit the man.
Miroku smacks his staff down on top of Inuyasha's head from behind, "Stop it!" He orders, "Our mission is to assist those who are in need of help. If you allow me to exorcise your village." Miroku suggests.
"Are you really that powerful?" One man questions.
"An exorcism is an excellent idea!" Another excitedly says.
"Do not be so easily deceived, men. They are conniving imposters!" The headman demands. "If we indulge the whims of shysters and rely on their trickery only to raise the ire of the water god, who knows what else might befall our village. How can I justify an exorcism now, when it's my son's turn to be sacrificed? How can I risk undoing all the sacrifices made by all the children who went before him? We must deliver the sacrifice before the sun sets! Hurry! Continue the procession!"
From my left peripherals, the red cloth kago opens up the slightest, revealing a young boy wearing a skin toned three holed wooden mask. The mask is emotionless with its three holes; two for the eyes and one for the mouth. It reminds me of me in the beginning of their journey but has me wondering how the boy feels underneath. Has he readied himself for this? How terrified he must be knowing that his own father is willing to sacrifice him without even trying alternatives?
Without another word, the line of men continues on, passing us by as if we're nothing but a fly to swat away.
"The guy with the moustache is weird. I don't trust him," Shippo refers to the headman.
"I agree he's acting as though he wants his son to be sacrificed." Inuyasha grumbles.
"He was strangely upset with our interference." Miroku chimes in.
"Well, I guess we move on and let them dunk the kid." Inuyasha says carelessly.
But as Inuyasha starts to head off along the route we were taking, the rest of us don't follow. My eyes linger over to the large lake nearby, it's pristine blue, but murky waters glitter as the sun threatens to go down beyond its horizon. A deep frown creases my face, and I let out a frustrated sigh, earning everyone's attention.
"We should really be doing something about this." I mutter.
"Are you serious?" Asks a little voice coming out from nowhere. We look around for a brief moment until we see a reed blanket off in the ditch to our right. The reed blanket lifts just slightly to expose a pair of dark eyes of a little boy who hides underneath. "Then follow me. And hurry it up!" He scurries away from the ditch the red blanket dragging behind him.
"What's with him?" Inuyasha asks out loud.
We followed the boy cautiously into the forest, and once deep within the confides of the trees and away from the prying eyes of other humans the boy drags out a purple blanket from the underbrush of a tree. He throws it open and reveals clusters of precious items like pearl beads, gold coins, rolls of fine silk, ornate boxes and pottery.
"Take your pick!" The boy exclaims.
I gingerly kick a roll of pink and purple silk, and ponder how the hell he got all this stuff to begin with.
"What is this garbage?" Inuyasha asks.
"Ooh, there are some valuable articles here." Miroku says, picking up a blue vase, and looking over its decorative outside.
Sango kneels down beside the pile of valuables and grabs a blue roll of silk, her fingers running across the soft material. "I've never seen such fine silk!"
"You done choosing? Good! Then consider yourself hired!" The boy shouts.
"What do you mean 'hired'?" Inuyasha glances over to the impatient boy.
"I heard you bragging to the villagers, your mission is to help others!" The boy states, "So I want you to live up to your reputation, you're working for me now to destroy the water god."
Inuyasha silently takes the few steps he needs to approach the boy, and once up close he throws his fist down onto the boy's head. A thunk can be heard, and I frown at his action.
"What was that for!" The boy cries out.
This only prompts Inuyasha to continue. He grabs the boy by the scruff of his shirt and continues to beat the top of the boy's head. He's not using his full strength, and isn't possibly causing too much damage but the sound is still making me uncomfortable.
"Inuyasha." I mutter out.
"What?" Inuyasha looks over to me, his eyes full of curiosity, as if, what he is doing isn't a bad thing at all. "He needs to be taught who's the boss around here!"
"Just apologize! Inuyasha can be really childish sometimes!" Shippo says, approaching the boy from his other side.
It's night time when we creep up to the lake in the brush following the boy. We kneel low so that the grass is above our heads so not to be seen. There is a mist over the black water top but not enough for us to not see the pier that stretches out into the lake. A young boy sits in the center of a round pavilion at the end of the dock while two men set fire to torches along the wooden pier.
"The human sacrifice is taken to the shrine on a boat. So, we'll follow the boat and attack it when the water god is about to devour the sacrifice. Got that?" The boy demands, looking over his shoulder at us.
Miroku is behind me, lugging an armful of silk rolls. Inuyasha, at my side, looks over at him with Shippo on his left shoulder.
"These are stolen goods. I just know it." Inuyasha whispers.
"That's none of our concern!" Miroku replies.
"Are you paying attention?" The boy hisses.
"Who are you anyway?" I ask raising a brow. I scuttle closer to the boy and look at him more closely. He looks familiar the closer I get, much like the headman we argued with before. Then it hits me, and I sink back onto my heels. "You are the real son of the headman."
Miroku drops the rolls of silk and both he and Inuyasha step to my sides.
"Now that you mention it, they've got the same eyebrows and forehead." Miroku nods.
"And the same attitude." Inuyasha says.
My eyes search the pier where the other boy sits in the center of the pavilion. I frown knowing his fate is about to come to an end if we don't intervene. The boy is a decoy, so that the headman wouldn't have to sacrifice his own child. But whose child is it?
"Yes. My name is Taromaru, and I'm the headman's heir." The boy introduces himself.
"Why are you so eager to do this?" Inuyasha asks.
"The water god started demanding sacrifices from our village about half a year ago. We've had heavy rains and flooding. The water god said that in order to lift the curse, a human sacrifice was necessary. A child is selected by a white arrow. Father always says please bear the loss, for the sake of the village. But when the arrow landed on our roof, he told me to go and hide."
"That's when he must have found another kid to take your place." I mutter.
"What a stupid, selfish parent." Miroku sighs.
"I agree with you there." Inuyasha rolls his eyes.
"He's one of my very best friends, we grew up together. There is no way I'm going to let him take my place." Taromaru says.
"Well, I hope you have a boat. That demon has to be exterminated. I have a reputation to uphold. I'll take care of the water god by myself." Sango says coming from out of the brush wearing her demon hunter outfit with her heavy boomerang being held behind her back. Kirara sits comfortably on her shoulder. There is lack of confidence in her face, and more of a wary exhaustion replaces it.
"You're still recovering! Stop trying to act so tough, showoff! I bet you can't even lift that heavy weapon over your head yet." Inuyasha gripes.
"Is that a challenge?" Sango's eyes narrow.
"Bring it on, anytime!" Inuyasha lifts up his right sleeve and steps forward.
I grab him by his left shoulder preventing him from moving any further.
"Listen we all received payment for our services. So let's band together and finish the job." Miroku suggests.
"Tell her that, not me!" Inuyasha lowers both arms and scowls. "She wants to work alone all the time and doesn't want to join our team!"
Beside us the water starts to churn, and we look to the pier to see a boat with a dragon head, neck and wings at the front, pulls up to the pier. The boy is led onto the boat, and while the men retreat the boat starts to take off from the pier as quick as it came. We're running out of time. We can't let that boat get away.
Taromaru leads us to a small boat off the lake's shore not too far away, and we quickly follow. Sango guides us through the murky and foggy lake on the top of Kirara who swims silently just in front of the boat. Miroku sits at the end of the boat with a long pole he uses to direct us if we are to change directions.
Amidst the fog that disperses as we near, a Torii gate soon becomes visible. The red wood looks new, and beyond the gate is a large palace that expands on the sides, with steps leading down into the water from the center where double doors lead into the palace. Up ahead in front of the door are two pinkish red looking gate men who scuttle back and forth.
"Gate keepers, hide!" Taromaru ducks down into the boat, but the rest of us keep still. They are ugly, short men. Their mouths are large and frown, and their skin is a sickly pink with leg-like prawns sticking out of both sides of their heads. They are thick in the waist and are holding five-foot-tall spears.
Inuyasha doesn't wait another moment. He leaps from the boat and lands one foot onto a guard face, crushing him into the pavement below. He throws the other into the water far from us and breaks open the door with one swoop of his arm.
"He's so strong," Taromaru says in awe.
Our boat collides with the steps, shaking beneath us as we stand to step off the boat and onto the steps.
"We're going in." Inuyasha says.
With each set of doors, we reach, Inuyasha breaks with his fist. The breaking of the doors gains the attention of other fishy guards of the palace. First came a fish man, the body shaped as a human but the head, hands and feet, like that of a fish. His silver skin slimy and wet. This doesn't stop Inuyasha and Sango from plummeting him out of the way.
"How dare you charge in here? This is a sacred house!" Yells another incoming guard whose head reminds me of the guards that were outside the first set of doors. But now that I am up close I can see that the head is like that of a crab. Inuyasha charges at him, Sango at another and Miroku at a fish guard who just enters the room. With each beaten and drop of a guard, retreats the guard back into his original form. The fish guards, turn to fish, and the crab guards turn to crabs.
"All the guards are just a bunch of fish and crabs put under a spell!" Shippo says from my side.
Inuyasha breaks through another set of double doors, and beyond them stands a very tall- over seven feet tall- skinny pale man with purple rings around his eyes. His left arm is elongated and holding the boy who was to be sacrificed by his face. The boy's face is covered by the tall man's hand but I can tell he is no longer wearing the mask because it lies in pieces on the floor below him.
"Did I interrupt dinner?" Inuyasha chuckles as he barges in further into the room. We all quickly follow, Sango and Miroku with their boomerang and staff ready in their arms.
On both sides of me, stands Shippo and Taromaru weaponless and useless in this fight. I reach back for Midoriko's sword that is tied to my back. My hand wrap around the leather bindings of the handle, and I slide the blade up and out of place, bringing it to my side just in case.
"Master!" The sacrificed boy cries out, his word slightly muffled from the hand that holds him high above the ground.
"Suekichi!"
"You're dressed like a dirty urchin, but you're the headman's son, aren't you?" Hisses the tall, slender man.
Taromaru steps forward towards the man, but is quickly grabbed by the back of the shirt by Inuyasha who holds him still. This doesn't seem to bother Taromaru. "That's right! Now that you got me, release Suekichi! I am the real human sacrifice!"
Inuyasha grumbles to himself, and lifts Taromaru off the ground, pulling him close as he glares at the boy in his grip, "Why'd you hire us if you're just gonna throw yourself at him?" He then turns his attention to the supposed water god, "The only thing strong about you, water god, is your scent." Inuyasha drops Taromaru and charges at the tall man whilst grabbing Tetsusaiga's handle and ready to unsheathe.
The tall man reaches behind himself with his elongated right arm and grabs a wooden staff with a gold trident on top and jams the tridents three prongs into the incoming blade, throwing Inuyasha back onto the ground. He comes to a skid and stops, in his hand Tetsusaiga reverts back to its weaker form.
I rush to Inuyasha's side with the rest of the group, and kneel down to one leg to look him and the tetsusaiga over, my own blade pulses in my grip.
"The Tetsusaiga transformed back!" Inuyasha growls.
"Fool," The tall man hisses. I glance back over to the ugly man, who holds his long trident in front of himself. The trident glows a silvery white light around its blades. "A petty demon's sword is no match for the power of the trident of Amakoi. You have committed a grave sin in defacing my shrine. You will pay for this with your lives!" He pats the trident's butt onto the ground, and waves come off of it and hits us hard with a gust of wind.
Suddenly, seconds after the wind blows us back a little, water blasts from the second wave and bursts towards us. I leap to my feet and grab a hold of Taromaru, throwing him hard against my chest while facing my back against the incoming water. The water takes over the entire room, thrusting us out of the large palace and into the depths of the lake. Shippo holds onto my leg for dear life, and I frantically glance around for a way to stop us from moving with the current.
"Keara!" I hear the muffled sound of Inuyasha's voice through the deep water, and when I look in the direction, I see him holding his hand out to me. I reach back for him, though the distance between us separates us farther and farther apart. A large rock comes up from behind him, and I scream out his name just in time for it slam into the back of his neck, knocking him out. His body goes limp as it falls into the darkness of the water below.
A bluish light encircles and soon envelopes us and within seconds, we are no longer in the depths of the water but hovering above the wooden floor of the palace. The light disappears and we drop to the floor, my sword clattering beside me and Taromaru rolling away from my body. Quickly, I snatch the blade and kneel. Ahead of me stands the tall man, glowing blue around his body. He hisses.
Behind him, the young boy named Suekichi crawls to a tall candle lamp and grabs it with his right hand. He gets to his feet slowly and then rushes at the tall man with the lamp in hand. But the tall ugly man knew he was coming, and snatches the boy with his elongated left arm, like a snake coiling around its victim. This is my chance.
I leap to my feet and sprint for him with my sword in both hands, holding tightly as I thrust the blade at the tall man. He intercepts by dropping the boy and using his left hand to grip the blade. Taking this chance, I focus all my energy into the blade, and it surrounds itself with the familiar purple aura of my spiritual power, and the aura blasts the flesh off his skin all the way down to his elbow. Leaving a long line of snake-like bones in its place. He's thrown back a little, falling onto his butt as his eyes widen staring at my blade.
"Impossible. How can this body succumb to a human sword?"
Suekichi gets up and runs over to Taromaru behind me. Stepping back and I gently pat their backs and encourage them to run out of the room. My eyes remain on the tall ugly man until we pass the door way. I twist for the boys and we jet out of the palace as fast as we can.
"Keep running, don't look back!" I order. My eyes glancing throughout the fog over the lake in search of Inuyasha and the others. When we reach the outer gate, our boat is no longer where it was. Cursing to myself, I search for a hiding place for us and find a small upraised building to our right. "Over there!" I shout. We bolt for the building, circling it until we hide behind its back wall.
Shippo looks around the corner of the building, "The footsteps have stopped!" He announces. But that doesn't comfort me. Instead of the sound of footsteps, the sound of slithering replaces it. The wood creaks above us and when I look up I see silver snake body encroaching the building, tightening and constricting until the building creaks and breaks before our eyes.
The two boys and Shippo leap away from the building, landing on the platform a few feet away. I remain still, my back stiff and ready to attack once again, with Midoriko's blade in my right hand, surrounded by the purple aura from before.
Out from the fog, slithers the ugly man, who now appears more snake-like the closer he comes. "I will destroy you first, wench."
"I beg to differ." I snap back.
He throws his good right arm out at me, and I go to defend myself from his attack not realizing until the trident crosses my vision that it was a ploy. Cursing to myself, I step back just in time for Inuyasha to pass me by, deflecting the trident with his transformed Tetsusaiga. When the blade hits the trident it is pushed away, but Tetsusaiga reverts back to its weaker form once again.
He looks over his shoulder at me, "Is everybody safe?"
"As safe as can be." I assured, but I wasn't entirely sure myself. I search the platform and fog for the two boys and Shippo and find them slightly hidden under the debris of the building.
"Hey, the water god is escaping!" Shippo cries out pointing in the direction the ugly man was before. I follow his point and see the water god has submerged into the water below.
Inuyasha makes his way to the edge of the platform and looks around the water's edge, "Where are you water god!" But just as he says this, the water splashes up, and a long tail-like appendage wraps around Inuyasha foot, and drags him down into the depths below.
We four run to the edge of the platform where Inuyasha disappears from and find nothing but murky dark water, with bubbles rising up to the surface.
"Keara!" Shouts Sango's familiar voice. I look up just in time to spot Sango and Miroku running through the fog from the palace to us. Miroku is holding something in his hand that is very small, I can't make it out what it is until they approach us fully.
"Are you all right?" Miroku asks.
"The water god dragged Inuyasha into the water, I think he's trying to drown him." My heart starts to beat painfully; has Inuyasha gone too far away from me that my senses are going crazy?
As they reach us, I notice a tiny person in Miroku's hands. She is beautiful with strikingly long black straight hair with half her hair-do rolled up into buns on either side of her head with coral as decorations. She wears a very beautiful pink kimono dress with a blue long vest over it and red sea grape earrings.
"Let me down. I shall subdue this imposter!" She says in a smooth and calm voice.
"Yes, Goddess." Miroku follows her orders, and kneels down to place her at the edge of the platform next to me.
From the sounds of it, she's the real God of this lake; the one the village used to worship before this imposter snake came around.
She takes off one of her red water grape earrings, and throws it into the water, "I command the waters to part!" She orders. And just like that, the water disperses from where the earrings had fallen revealing, the serpent imposter and Inuyasha, on the lake floor. He's coiled up in the serpent's long limb.
The ugly serpent throws the trident up at us, as sea foam and water explodes in front of us. Halting us from making any moves to help Inuyasha.
"I don't know how you freed the goddess, but it doesn't matter! I'm the reigning water god!" The serpent lifts up high above the water's edge and glowers down at us.
"Even though she's the real water god, she's powerless without her sacred trident." Miroku informs us.
"Prepare to die!" The imposter hisses, trident back in hand, he swings the three prong blade towards us.
"Not so fast!" Inuyasha shouts. Just barely making it out of the serpent's constriction but it is Sango is able to proceed.
"Kirara!" She summons, and in one leap she's up on Kirara's enlarged back. She flings her Hiraikotsu at the water demon, but he manages to dodge her attack.
"You fool!" He hisses. He lifts up the trident towards the sky and it starts to glow blue. "Now you shall feel the wrath of the trident of Amakoi!" The sky begins to roar and coil into dark oppressive clouds.
"The trident is making rain clouds!" Taromaru says beside me in shock.
"Catch this, water snake!" Sango yells but before she's able to throw her Hiraikotsu once more, but three massive tornados swirl around us, one from the trident. He aims the tornado down towards Sango and releases it. It flies top speed to her, throwing her off Kirara's back.
As she falls, the snake demon thrusts the trident back and rushes for Sango's falling form in an incoming attack. But out from the lake's floor, Inuyasha leaps into the air and slams against the snake demon's body. He grabs a hold of the trident and prevents the snake demon from reaching Sango's fallen body.
Kirara twirls around, catching herself midair and dashes down to Sango just before she'd make landing and Sango lands on her back.
"I'm tired of lookin' at your scaly hide, you big faker!" Inuyasha grips the snake demon's right shoulder with one hand, and his right wrist with the other, ripping off his arm from the elbow. The demon hisses loudly, transforming itself into a gigantic silver serpent with red eyes with purple rings around them. His clothes flutter to the ground, leaving the snake bare. The snake lunges for Inuyasha with its mouth open wide and catches Inuyasha's left arm that holds the trident with its massive mouth. Inuyasha punshes the snake in the head, but the demon doesn't release its grasp. They both slam into the water below.
The tornados' that the snake demon released before start to head in the direction of the village.
"The winds are going to blow the whole place apart!" Taromaru cries.
"Calming a twister is a simple matter. I could do it in my sleep." The goddess says, closing her eyes and nodding her head in confirmation.
"Then don't just talk about it, do it!" Taromaru demands.
"I would be happy to, young man, as soon as you retrieve my sacred trident!"
The snake demon rises from the depths of the water below with Inuyasha still locked in its jaws. The trident is still in Inuyasha's caught left arm.
"Don't worry guys, it'll take more than this pathetic reptile to get rid of me!" Inuyasha calls out.
"We need the trident!" I yell.
Inuyasha grumbles out something I can't hear, and they both slam back down into the water once again. This time, Inuyasha emerges from the depths and throws the trident at us. As he does, the snake slams into his body, and thrusts it long tail into the trident, flinging it into the water.
"I'll get it!" Taromaru shouts, and leaps into the water before I have the chance to stop him. He's in there for seconds, upon seconds. We all watch in panic until the snake's body emerges, throwing Taromaru up in the air; the trident in his hand.
Taking this chance, Sango uses her Hiraikotsu to cut through the snake's massive body. The creature roars, and Sango and Kirara dive into the water below. All three come back up out of the water, Inuyasha gripping Sango's hand as she drags him free of the water.
"Pretty slick maneuvering there, Sango!" Inuyasha exclaims.
"That's nothin'."
"Okay, I'm gonna aim for his head!" Inuyasha yells.
"Gotcha!" Sango replies.
Kirara aims down towards the water and Sango helps Inuyasha dive by thrusting him forward. He slams through the water like butter where we can no longer see where he is at, and how he's doing.
In seconds the water snake's body coils out of the water in two pieces, cut in half by the Tetsusaiga.
"Don't worry, I'll handle the clean up!" Miroku opens up his right hand to release the wind tunnel, and it sucks up the two parts of the snake demon into its open void.
From the depths of the water, Inuyasha leaps out with Taromaru in arm. He lands beside us on the platform and hands the trident over to me. Taking it, I quickly kneel down to the Goddess and hand the trident over to her.
"Now can you help us?" I ask.
She gently touches the staff of the trident and begins to glow a pink light. She releases the staff, closes her eyes while still glowing and focuses on calming the lake and the twisters all at once until the raging water calms and the twisters disappear back up into the sky. And all while this is happening, she grows and grows until she's the size of us humans. She grabs the trident and lifts it up to the sky. "Clouds disperse!" She demands. The sun breaks through the clouds from the horizon, showing us that not only has the battle ended but it is morning as well.
"Man, we spent all our time fighting an overgrown snake, and no jewel shard!" Inuyasha whines. But there isn't much to complain about. Miroku had some sort of conversation with the headman, and came back with a horse and cart load of goodies such as; a basket full of food, rolls of silk, decorated jars and more. Miroku sits on the horse, guiding it along the center of the dirt road we are walking on.
"It wasn't all a waste. We helped out the needy." Miroku smiles.
"Hey, whatcha got in the cart, monk?" Inuyasha asks. Not having been there when we received the cart and the items.
"Well. I mentioned to the headman that I wouldn't be opposed to telling the villagers that his son acted with tremendous bravery, and for some reason he gave me these gifts."
"You blackmailed him, didn't you!" Inuyasha accuses.
"Does he always pull stunts like this?" Sango whispers to me.
I nod in response, "well, sometimes."
"I think we should sell these things off in the next village and have a big party to celebrate!" Miroku suggests.
"That's the last time I do any 'acts of human kindness' with you!" Inuyasha grumbles.
