Ep 5: Blood Brothers
For several days, Akimoto and Inuyasha traveled across the land searching for jewel shards. Akimoto was mostly distracted by the homework Taiitsukun had given her in trying to help her control her destructive wind magic. Even as time went on, along with her near constant efforts, Akimoto had a hard time keeping that magical marble from shattering in her hold. What's worse, she couldn't even keep it together for even a second. Regardless of this setback, she was determined to pass this test.
Oddly enough, the pair hadn't encountered any jewel shards yet. Even though the jewel had shattered into what looked like thousands of pieces, it was hard to believe that none of them were showing up.
As they continued to search, most of the time was spent in silence between them aside from the occasional complaint or demand from Inuyasha. Akimoto mostly ignored him as she tried to focus on trying to get the marble to not shatter.
It was the early afternoon. Akimoto and Inuyasha were walking along a dirt road. Akimoto's leg wound hadn't completely healed yet, but she was walking a lot better on her own.
Walking several feet behind Akimoto, Inuyasha loudly growled in frustration before shouting, "Anything?!"
Looking down at her right hand, Akimoto tried to hold the fragile marble once more. As always, however, it shattered and reverted back to golden light. Undeterred, she tried again, not turning back to face her companion. "No, Inuyasha. I'm not detecting any more shards now than I did five minutes ago. The glowing symbols will show up on my skin when a shard is near. You just have to be patient."
Not appreciating the reply, Inuyasha said, "Well, maybe if you actually put some effort into finding them instead of trying to hold that stupid thing in your hand, we'd have better results."
Akimoto ignored him.
Inuyasha scowled. "Give it a rest already!"
Unfazed by his annoyance, Akimoto told him, "Trust me, Inuyasha, when I detect a shard, you'll be the first to know."
"Tch." He then muttered under his breath, "Stupid girl wasting my time…"
Staying focused, Akimoto kept at her task. Each time, though, the round object still shattered.
She frowned. How much longer can this honestly last?
"Lord Inuyasha!"
Upon hearing the small voice that came out of nowhere, Akimoto and Inuyasha stopped walking.
Looking around, Akimoto didn't see anything. "Who…said that?
Peering towards the ground behind him, Inuyasha groaned.
A tiny creature no bigger than half an inch quickly approached the two, jumping along as he came. Before long, it had made its way to Inuyasha's neck.
"My lord! How wonderful it is to see you awakened from your slumber! This is the most joyous of occasions!" A slurping sound could then be heard.
Inuyasha proceeded to slap the side of his neck where the creature was and then held out the palm of his hand to look at it.
Letting go of the marble, Akimoto allowed it to revert into golden energy so that it could orbit around her freely. She approached Inuyasha to see what he had. "What…is that?"
The little creature in his palm was definitely no bigger than half an inch. It looked like a tiny old man with large eyes taking up most of his face, a balding scalp, and a skinny moustache. His most notable features, other than being tiny, was that he had four arms and a long cone-shaped nose-like beak(?) on his face.
Inuyasha frowned in annoyance. "A pest, that's what it is."
"Lord Inuyasha, that hurts! You know that I am the most noble of flea demons! I've been so worried about you all these years and all you can refer to me as is a pest?"
"Well, maybe if you weren't trying to butter me up just so that you could get close and drink a little of my blood, I wouldn't have to call it like it is!"
The creature gasped. "You say such terrible things about me, my lord. To think I only come to you for such a reason." The creature jumped up and down in Inuyasha's hand with an angry expression.
"And what'dya mean you've been worried for 'all these years?' What exactly have you done to get me down from that tree?"
The creature's eyes widened as he spoke nervously. "Oh! Uh...well, you see about that...I definitely tried to get that arrow out of your chest, I did! Night and day, for years at a time, I tirelessly jumped on it, hoping that my loyalty to you would give me the strength I needed to make it come out. But alas, fortune was not on my side as you remained asleep. Refusing to give up, I packed up my things, gave a sorrow-full good-bye, and searched the world for a possible solution to this conundrum. I was actually quite brave," he nodded to himself.
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "You're so full of it. I bet you either gave up within the first few moments of realizing the arrow wouldn't budge, or you ran away the moment the humans decided to buckle down and guard me."
The creature's body twitched and then he gave a light cough. "I would never turn my back on you, my lord. I am your faithful servant!"
"That faith starts to run real dry when the dangerous stuff happens and you're nowhere to be found."
"Hey! That's because...um..." Finally realizing that they weren't alone, the creature looked over at Akimoto. "Lord Inuyasha! You've been so rude; you haven't even introduced me to your friend!"
Inuyasha began to raise his voice. "She's not my friend and don't change the subject!"
The creature jumped from Inuyasha's palm over to Akimoto who instinctively caught him in her hand as she looked down at him.
"Hello there, miss! My name is Myoga! I am Lord Inuyasha's faithful servant!"
This is weird. "Oh…um…I'm…Akimoto. And Inuyasha is just…helping me with something."
"Well, it's nice to meet you Akimoto. Are you the one who freed my master from that cursed tree?"
Shaking her head, Akimoto said, "No. It was my…" Huh…what is Taiitsukun's relationship to me? "My…uh…mentor…I guess."
"I see! Well, tell your mentor 'thank you' for me! I had been so worried for Lord Inuyasha all this time and he isn't even grateful. He's probably just grumpy from sleeping for so long."
"I heard that, you flea!" Inuyasha shouted.
"So! Akimoto, may I ask, what are you?"
She glanced over at Inuyasha and then back at Myoga. "What do you mean?"
"I apologize if my question is too forward, I'm just curious as I have never smelled the scent of whatever creature you are before."
Frowning, while feeling a bit apprehensive, Akimoto asked, "I don't smell like a human?"
"I can smell humans on you, but you yourself do not smell human. Were you trying to smell like a human by any chance?"
"No? I mean…" She thought for about it for a moment. "Did Inuyasha tell you to ask me that question?"
"My lord? Not at all! This is the first conversation I've had with him in 50 years!"
"Hmm…" He could be lying…after all, there was a small moment in time where I was unconscious, and they could have met up… But if he's being sincere…then…
In the middle of her thought process, Inuyasha swiped Myoga from Akimoto's hand and held him in his grasp. He brough the small demon up to his face to make eye contact in the most intimidating way possible. "Alright Myoga, tell me why you're here. You never just stop by to say 'hi.'"
Eyes widening, Myoga gasped, "I can't believe I forgot! I got distracted, please forgive me!"
"What is it?!" Inuyasha demanded.
"It's your brother. He's on his way over to you! He found out that you were released from your slumber and believes you have something that belongs to him."