This is kind of a long chapter but it's one of my favorites. It's super entertaining and kind of Halloween-themed.
October 31
The strange disappearances of women around the village have continued. Rin is also still missing. No one is really sure what's going on but people are very scared. About 20 women have gone missing in the past two weeks. Now women won't leave their houses and men have been acting like guard dogs. It's been bizarre around here, to say the least.
Inuyasha has continued to be extra protective of me. He hardly leaves my side and when he does he tells me to lock the door and don't open it for anyone. He's started keeping the tetsusaiga in his belt even when he's at home again. "No one is going to hurt my wife and get away with it," he said to me the other day.
We spent another evening at home relaxing. This third trimester has been really kicking my butt. My stomach is continuing to grow, I'm craving certain foods like crazy, and I'm sore all over. Inuyasha has been giving me daily massages lately and that's what we were doing tonight when someone started knocking on our door.
Inuyasha went to get it and Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku were there. To our surprise, they looked ready for battle.
"So...what's going on?" Inuyasha asked as they came in.
"We think we've figured out how all of these women have been disappearing," Miroku said.
Now Inuyasha and I were interested.
"What is it?" I asked.
"There's a certain type of fish demon that uses this as a strategy to consume villages," Kohaku explained. "The demon lures a group of women in to do its bidding. It controls the women from the water and has them murder the villagers. Then the fish demons come out of the water and eat the dead villagers and whoever happens to still be alive."
"Oh my god!" I said, horrified by this.
"He's such a genius!" Sango said, putting her arm around her brother. "I wish I had known this."
"I was in the demon slayer library a couple of weeks ago reading about this," Kohaku said modestly. "I'm glad I just happened to come to visit today or you guys might all be dead."
"Me too," Miroku said. "It's already started. The women are coming out of the river in a zombie state carrying axes."
"Are you going to go down there now to stop them?" Inuyasha asked.
"We sure are," Kohaku said. "Do you want to come? We could use your help."
Inuyasha looked like he wanted to but then looked over at me obviously worried for my safety.
"Inuyasha, go," I said. "I'll be fine. Our house is far enough away from the rest of the village that I think this would be the last place they'll go."
"Okay." He placed a kiss on my lips. "Stay inside. Lock the door. Don't leave the house for anything, got it?"
"Yes, Mr. Overprotective," I said before giving him another kiss.
After he left I locked the door as he said to then I settled down in front of the fire with Nico. As I worked on finishing up the blanket I was knitting for the baby, I wasn't worried about the zombie women in the village. I knew that Inuyasha and our friends would take care of it quickly so I had nothing to worry about.
Then all of a sudden there was a loud crash. I screamed bloody murder at the sight of an ax smashing through the back window. I backed away from it still screaming and freaking out as the woman smashed the ax into the remaining bits of the window again as she tried to break in. I noticed my bow and arrows across the room and ran to grab them. With shaking hands and a pounding heart, I shot the arrow at her, not with the intention to kill her but to seal her away until I could figure out what was going on.
I slowly crept over to the broken window and looked out of it. The woman was actually Chiyo. Her eyes were closed and she was still, pinned to the ground with the arrow and the ax on the ground next to her.
Now I was scared to be alone. I had thought I would be fine here but now I wasn't so sure.
For the next 20 minutes, I kept my bow and arrows on me unable to relax anymore. Every sound made me nearly jump out of my skin. I kept looking out the windows into the darkness to see if anyone else was coming.
I also desperately hoped Inuyasha would be home soon. I considered going after him but there was no way I'd get very far in my condition. I felt trapped and scared and I felt like I was in the middle of a slasher film waiting for the serial killer to come to find me.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when the front door started to open. I screamed at the top of my lungs and shot my arrow.
Inuyasha jumped out of the way just in time. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Inuyasha!" I dropped my bow and arrows and ran over to him. "I'm so glad you're home!"
"You're shaking," he said as he wrapped his arms around me. "Did something happen while I was gone?"
I pointed to the back window and he gasped.
"Holy shit," he said in shock. He went over and when he looked out the window he spotted Chiyo on the ground. "Did you kill her?"
"No, I was just trying to stop her. Did you guys find the demon?"
"I don't know if they did or not. I was about to go with them but I got worried about you and decided to come back. I'm glad I did."
I hugged him again. "I'm glad you're back too."
"I'm staying with you for the rest of the night. Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku will take care of the demon."
We decided to leave Chiyo pinned to the ground until everything was settled. Instead, the two of us cuddled under a blanket on the couch and played with Nico who came over to sit with us.
After a while, I spotted something outside.
"What are you looking at?" Inuyasha asked.
"There's someone outside." I stood up and went over to look.
"Kagome, don't get close to the window…"
"It's Rin!"
"Huh?"
He went over to the window with me and sure enough, Rin was walking by the house.
"Maybe she got away," I said.
"Come on, we've got to bring her inside."
We went outside and spotted Rin wandering off into the woods.
"Rin!" I called as we went after her. She didn't seem to hear us and kept walking.
We kept following her until we caught up with her.
"Rin, what are you doing?" Inuyasha said. "It's dangerous out here. Come back to our house with us…" His voice trailed off when she turned around and he noticed the vacant look in her eyes.
Then I spotted the ax in her hand. "Yasha, get out of the way!" I exclaimed as I grabbed his arm.
Rin lifted her ax and Inuyasha jumped out of the way with me in his arms just as she swung it at us.
"She's possessed too!" I said.
"We've got to get out of here!" Inuyasha said as he started to run away with me.
"We can't just leave her out here."
"What else are we supposed to do with her?"
Whatever was possessing Rin seemed to increase her speed and reflexes because suddenly she was in front of us and swung the ax at us again. We just barely had time to get away.
Then all of a sudden, Sesshomaru landed on the ground next to us. When he saw Rin in the zombie-like state with the ax in her hand he looked shocked.
"What's going on around here?"
"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked him.
"I was in the area and there was a strange scent in the air. What happened to Rin?" he demanded.
"There's a demon controlling women in the village," I said as we dodged Rin's attack again. "It took Rin away a couple of days ago. It's trying to have the woman kill the people in the village."
Rin went for Sesshomaru with her ax and he quickly dodged it. Like us, he didn't want to attack her for fear of hurting her. When she went for him again he grabbed her wrists.
"Rin, what are you doing? Snap out of it!"
For a moment, I could see a flash of consciousness in Rin's eyes but she still didn't seem to be in control of herself.
"My lord...run away…" Her strength must have increased as well because she was able to push Sesshomaru backward until he was right in front of us.
"I'm not leaving you!" Sesshomaru said. "I told you, Rin, I'm not leaving you again and I meant that!"
Rin came for all of us swinging the ax back and forth and it was all we could do to dodge her attacks. Then I noticed something. There seemed to be a thread attached to her back. I wasn't sure what it connected to but maybe this was how the demon was controlling her.
"Do you see that? There's a thread on her back," I said to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru.
"I see it!" Inuyasha said after a moment.
"If you cut it, I think she'll be freed."
So Sesshomaru and Inuyasha went towards her dodging her ax attacks as best they could. Sesshomaru managed to grab her arm with the ax. He took it from her and threw it into the bushes. While she was distracted, Inuyasha managed to get close to her and cut the thread. Once it was severed, Rin collapsed into Sesshomaru's arms.
"Rin? Are you okay? Speak to me," Sesshomaru said, full of worry.
"Lord Sesshomaru...I'm so sorry."
Sesshomaru hugged her tightly. "It's okay. I'm glad you're safe."
"The other women," Rin said. "They're still being controlled too. You have to save them."
"Where are they?"
"The women have been sent around the village to kill people. But the demon is in the river. If you stop it, everyone will be saved."
Sesshomaru stood up silently, still holding Rin. Then he turned to Rin. "Take her home with you. I'm going to go stop this demon."
"You are?" I said, surprised.
"They've hurt Rin. That's where I draw the line." Sesshomaru turned to her and gave her another hug then sent her over to us.
"We'll make sure she's safe," I said.
"You'd better." Then he started to fly off.
"Be safe, Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin called to him.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and had an annoyed look on his face. "Did he just threaten us?"
"It doesn't matter. Let's get out of here, it's giving me the creeps," I said.
We made our way home on the lookout for any possessed women. Rin gasped when she saw our broken window. "What happened?"
"Another possessed woman tried to break in," I explained. "Would you like some tea, Rin?"
"Sure," she replied.
We all sat around the fire with our tea but it was hard to relax. We were very on edge thinking about the possessed women and what could be happening to them as well as Miroku, Sango, Kohaku, and Sesshomaru out trying to stop the fish demon.
"It's really scary," Rin said. "The demon had us in some kind of pods underwater and then it released us out of the water to kill everyone."
"What did the demon look like?" Inuyasha asked.
"The leader was this big catfish demon and there were a bunch of smaller ones hanging around. I guess after they kill everyone, they'll all come out of the water."
All of a sudden we heard screams outside. Inuyasha and I went to the window and saw the people in the village were being chased around by the possessed women swinging their axes.
"This isn't good," Inuyasha said.
"We've got to do something," I replied.
"What can we do besides kill them?"
Then an idea came to me. "I've got it!" I went across the room and grabbed my arrows. "Come with me, Yasha. Rin, stay here."
"Um, okay," Rin said, sounding kind of nervous about staying by herself. She glanced at the broken window fearfully.
"What are you doing, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked as we went out into the night.
"I was able to seal Chiyo and stop her from breaking in. Hopefully, I'll be able to do it to the rest of them."
One of the women spotted us. It turned out to be Kimiko. She didn't say anything or make any expression noting that she saw us. She had the same dead eyes that Rin had earlier. She raised her ax as she made her way towards us but I was ready. I strung my bow and arrow and shot at her. The arrow sealed her to the tree behind her. She dropped the ax and went unconscious.
"Nice job, baby!"
"Thanks, honey. Let's go see who else is in trouble."
We went into the village and Inuyasha stayed close to me. For the most part, the village was like a ghost town. Doors were locked and lights were off. People were trying their hardest to stay safe. We came across a couple of other possessed women, all of whom I sealed with an arrow.
"Over there!" Inuyasha said, pointing to our left.
There was Kina who was poised to attack young Kento. I raised another arrow and pinned her to a wall. Kento looked at us in surprise.
"Go home, Kento," Inuyasha said. "You shouldn't be out here right now."
Kento nodded and fearfully ran off.
More possessed women appeared. There were about 16 of them and they all started to close in around us.
"I think you've really pissed them off, Kagome," Inuyasha said nervously.
"Looks like it…" We had to think quickly. I was a good shot but I couldn't take them all down at the same time.
But just as we were thinking of a plan, all of the women fell to the ground and dropped their axes. Inuyasha and I were shocked.
"What the…?"
"Do you think they stopped the demon?" I asked.
"Could be," Inuyasha said.
Our suspicions were confirmed when the women started to wake up. They were disoriented and looked around in confusion unsure of where they were. Inuyasha and I explained what happened to them and offered to escort them home. Once we did that, we also went around to the women I had pinned with my arrows. I pulled the arrows out and they woke up unharmed but just as confused as the rest were. Finally, we went home and I did the same for Chiyo.
"What happened?" she said as she rubbed her head.
"You were possessed by a demon," I told her.
She noticed the broken window. "Did I do that? I'm so sorry!"
"Don't worry about it," Inuyasha said. "The important thing is that you're alive."
She went home and Inuyasha and I went inside where Rin was hiding under a blanket with Nico. "You're back!" she said happily.
"Sorry, we were gone for so long. Were you scared?" Inuyasha said in a teasing way.
"A little, not that much," Rin said stubbornly.
"The curse has worn off," I said.
"You mean, Lord Sesshomaru stopped the demon?" she said with excitement.
Just then, Sesshomaru came through the door. Rin ran over to him and jumped into his arm. "Lord Sesshomaru, you're alive!"
"Of course I am," he said hugging her back.
"How did it go?" Inuyasha asked.
"All of the demons in the river have been properly disposed of."
"Are Miroku, Sango, and Kohaku okay?" I asked.
Sesshomaru nodded. "They went straight home."
"That's a relief. I'm glad everything is back to normal."
"Would you like me to walk you home, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Yes, please," Rin said happily. She turned to us. "Bye you guys, thank you for saving me."
Once they were gone, I put away my bow and arrows and started to get ready for bed. This night was way too exciting for me.