Chapter 96: The Three Sprites of the Monkey God

A new day dawns, and our main ragtag group of five humans, three demons (one half human) and a Will O' Wisp were on their way again, shifting from the forest path and entering a large grass field near an incoming village. As they walked along, Besa brings up a minor subject that's been irking him the littlest bit since he and his siblings came back to Edo...

"You really think that stranger that came to the dojo before class started is bad news?"

"I dunno...It's just, there was something in the way he was exchanging stares with Master Yoshi that seemed, off and foreboding."

Flashback

It would have been close to ten in the morning when Coraline and her brothers had finished their more private training with their martial arts teacher, and they were just reentering the dojo after coming back from the concrete grounds of the abandoned warehouse district:

(Ka-chank)

"The three of you have made substantial progress in this last while. You are wielding your weapons with both the confidence and intelligence of true warriors."

The redhead smiles at the words from the older male:

"That's appreciated, sensei."

Besa and Freeman add,

"I think we'll attend one of the regular classes today too."

"Where can we store our weapons meanwhile?"

"Back here in my office will do."

(Ka-chank)

"Hm?"

Before they could all walk there, however, the door opens again, revealing a new face: He was a tall man, about six feet in height with pale skin, slick-styled black hair that stopped just past his ears, strong jawline, piercing brown eyes with a purple outline, and wearing a rather expensive looking black suit with a red tie and brown, low-heeled shoes.

The three teens stared at the stranger with wary expressions, whispering to one another,

"Who is that?"

"Beats me..."

"Yikes. He looks like one of those guys who moonlights as a crime lord or the Devil..."

Yoshi narrows his own softer brown irises at the man, the rest of his face set neutral:

"Saki...I did not expect you so early."

The man, identified as Saki, smiles in a way that may have looked pleasant to the untrained eye, but was really covering the complete opposite:

"Heh, my apologies for coming at such an inopportune time, Yoshi, (glance) especially as it looks like you were in the middle of educating more young minds..."

His eyes fall on the weapons in the three teen's hands:

"My. Those are quite the unique choices you young ones have made. It has been a long time since I last saw anyone wield the long hammer and sickles, and, that sword...That is a foreign blade, is it not?"

Coraline replies stiffly,

"Yes...Pardon my rudeness, sir, but who are you to our master?"

"Merely an acquaintance, a, business partner so to speak..."

"...I see..."

Saki turns back to the man he came to see:

"Unfortunately, I am forced to arrive early for our discussion due to an issue that had risen with my company. I trust this isn't a problem?"

Yoshi nods, remaining passive:

"Not at all. My main class will not start for another half hour...Shall we take this in my office?"

"Of course."

With that, the two men walk to and through the door near the far left corner of the dojo, leaving the teens behind to wonder and speculate on the cloaked intensity they felt:

"(Shiver) Was I the only one who sensed some major tension goin' on between Master Yoshi and that Saki guy, or did you guys feel it too?"

Besa and Coraline nod:

"Yeah...They definitely know eachother, but it didn't look like in a good way."

"And did you see the way he was looking at our weapons? He obviously knows something about the martial arts; he might even be a rival dojo master...Then there was that quip about business and company? That sounded like a cover..."

The redhead looks toward the closed office door with a suspicious glare:

"That man is hiding something...Something that Master Yoshi is obviously against."

End of Flashback

Besa shakes his head as the memory came and passed, before stating,

"Cora got the right of it: That man is trying to keep something hidden...And not only that, but...there was something about his character that seems, familiar..."

She then asks,

"How so?"

"Wish I knew for sure. Excuse me if I sound paranoid, but...his mannerism almost reminded me of Naraku, only more secretive and human-like."

Everyone felt a shiver go down their spines, and Inuyasha scoffs,

"What? That's crazy; like any human could match that bastard."

"Mm, you're probably right...Still, I can't help but worry for Master Yoshi."

Freeman puts an arm over his brother's shoulder and says with a reassuring smile,

"I'm sure he's fine, bro. We can always check up on him next time we head back home if it'll put you at ease."

Besa nods, a small smile forming on his lips from the kind words. Coraline, meanwhile, hmmed to herself with a frown of thought:

There was one thing that struck me as odd: His asking about my sword...

And, the way he looked at me...almost suggested he knows something about me and my blade, but that can't be right...

Or could it?

...Maybe it wouldn't hurt to scope out some information about this Saki person, just to be on the safe side.

She comes back to reality as her eyes glance over at the village she and everyone were passing:

"Moving onto current events, this village seems to be humming with a normal quiet..."

Miroku agrees:

"Yes. There's no sign that Naraku has been here."

Sango on the other hand, seemed to think there was a problem:

"Something's odd here, though..."

Freeman asks,

"Like what?"

She points over to some crop fields, which getting a better look, had numerous large holes dug into the dirt, and very few, wilted green remains of what was suppose to be growing there...

"All the fields are in ruins." Shippo adds,

"She's right. What could've happened?" Miroku and Besa suggest,

"A wild boar, perhaps?"

"Or maybe some hungry weasels looking for insects?" The slayer wasn't so sure:

"I dunno; that's alot of damage..."

"It's him!"

The group came to a stop when they heard someone shouting from a distance, and turn around to see a group of people from the village they were passing rushing towards them rather hectically:

"Stop! Don't go!"

"Villagers?" "What's got them so riled up?" Two of the men point to Inuyasha:

"You, with the fair hair!"

"Look at those ears: He's not human!"

Coraline side-glances said dog demon and mutters,

"Uuh, I think they're talking to you. They don't seem to be hostile, but..."

Inuyasha places a hand on his Tessaiga to be cautious and asks the approaching crowd,

"You've got business with me?"

The reaction was one that no one of our travel party saw coming: The men stop in front of Inuyasha and kowtow while begging,

"Save us, Dog God! We beg you!"

"Huh?!" "Dog God?!"

As soon as the gang was directed back to the village, its people seat Inuyasha in front of the chief's house with two young ladies fanning him, while the rest of them knelt before him in front of a small altar piece:

"Honourable Dog God..."

"Dog God!"

"Dog God!"

"(Collective) Dog God!"

The silver-haired demon wonders to himself in bewilderment,

"These people think I'm a Dog God...?"

A third girl then steps up and presents a large bowl of food onto the altar, obviously meant for Inuyasha to have...

"What is this, pickled vegetables?"

The chief of the village, a middle-aged man with a slightly heavy built body, balding black hair tied in a topknot and wearing a gray green kimono with a blue robe overtop replies,

"We realize that for someone of your stature, pickled vegetables are but a meager offering..."

An older gentleman wearing a light blue kimono explains,

"But this is all the food we have to offer, your eminence!"

Another man with tanned skin and wearing a gray purple kimono adds desperately,

"We have no choice but to appeal to you, Honourable Dog God!"

The chief says to the two girls sitting on Inuyasha's left and right,

"Quickly, ladies, what are you thinking?! Fan him!"

The rest of the group was standing off to the side, and Freeman scratches the back of his head while mumbling with a weird expression,

"I think these guys might've tied their topknots too tight today. Since when is Inuyasha a deity?"

Coraline hms and puts a finger under her chin in thought:

"They must be mistaking him for the Inugami, a god that can be summoned to invoke vengeance. Though, the actions have usually been depicted as rather destructive, and can even backfire on the summoner if they don't account for it..."

Miroku hums,

"They must be very desperate if they're appealing to Inuyasha for his help..."

Inuyasha's ears don't miss the conversation, and he sends a mildly threatening glare to the monk:

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Before Miroku opened his mouth to try (and most likely fail) to defend his word choice, the old man in light blue speaks up:

"All of our fields have been ravaged by a band of monkeys."

"Monkeys?" The chief says,

"We have long heard that monkeys hold a deep fear of dogs."

"Please, Dog God: Lend us your assistance!" All of the villagers kowtow and beg,

"Drive out the monkeys and save our village!"

Miroku steps forward to assure them that help would be granted:

"Of course we'll help you. We'll drive out the monkeys."

The villagers hum in an awe, and Inuyasha whispers to Miroku in an annoyed way,

"Hey, I may be good, but I'm hardly a god!" The monk whispers back,

"So, what's a little monkey business on the side?"

"We don't have time to be monkeying around!" Freeman quietly groans with a bemused smile,

"Enough with the puns already, you two!" Miroku assures Inuyasha,

"Rest assured, Sango and I will carry on in searching for Naraku while you take care of the troublemakers."

The dog demon growls irritably, while said slayer agrees with the monk:

"He's right."

Coraline chides with a small smile,

"Come on, Inuyasha: These people clearly need help, and they're reaching out to you."

The twins add,

"Yeah, who cares about a mix of identity?"

"This'll more likely be a quick job, anyway."

Inuyasha sighs, but chooses not to argue further...

Small Time Skip, Coraline's POV

With Miroku, Sango and Kilala going on ahead to keep searching for leads in finding that half-demon creep, Naraku, the rest of us went into the forest near the village where the chief said that these monkeys were hiding out at. Of course, Inuyasha wasn't pleased with the job he got roped into doing:

"This is a joke! Why do I gotta handle these monkeys for those villagers?"

I link his arm with my own and reply with a half-smirk,

"Oh chillax, 'Dog God'. It's not like you're doin' this alone."

He shoots me with a mild pointed glare, obviously for the title reference, but Shippo, who was sitting atop Freeman's shoulder, keeps the inside joke going:

"An honourable Dog God..."

"You there!"

We froze to a halt at the sound of a deep, raspy voice calling out from the trees and bushes, and the next thing we knew, a giant one-eyed monkey demon with brown fur springs out from the leaves with a roar! My bros and I shout before Shippo,

"Whoa!" "What the heck?!" "Gah!"

"Owah! It's a monkey demon!"

I let Inuyasha's arm go so I could ready to pull out one of my weapons if necessary, as the giant calls to he,

"Pathetic dog demon! The villagers must've sent you to come after me knowing how much I despise mutts! You'll be dog meat!"

Inuyasha sprints forward to attack with his usual cocky smirk:

"You're makin' me glad I was forced to volunteer!"

(Punch)

"I'll take on a demon like you any day!"

Though what we'd learn shortly after that suckerpunch, is that the demon was not who they appeared to be:

(Whirl, poof)

It was in fact an illusion, created by three small monkey demon children no taller than Shippo, with light brown fur, pink skinned faces, tiny ears at the top of their foreheads, hand-like paws and feet, and were wearing vests of red, red/black stripes, and blue respectively.

"Little monkeys!" I hum after Shippo,

"Huh...Didn't see that coming."

Inuyasha squats down in front of the three and asks,

"Hey: Are you the monkeys that have been plunderin' the farmer's fields?"

They whisper among themselves, before turning to kowtow:

"I guess you got us."

"Sorry, sorry!"

The one wearing the striped vest says to Inuyasha with a kind smile and quick pace,

"And to prove that we'll never do anything naughty again, we'll give you our special spiritual stone."

He takes out a small round rock with sutras tied around it, and places it in Inuyasha's open palm, who smiles with a slight chuckle:

"You didn't have to do that, but I wouldn't turn down a gift."

I hear my brothers hm, and turn to see them eyeing the monkeys with skeptic frowns:

"Somethin's fishy here..."

"Yeah, this was too easy..."

Shippo then says to my boyfriend with a wary tone,

"Inuyasha..."

"What do you want, Shippo?"

"It's a standard trick in the mini demon world to catch your enemy off-guard by giving them a gift, so, I'd think twice about accepting that if I were you..."

Unfortunately, his warning came too late, and the stone enlarged into a huge boulder!

"Guess it's too late now..." Freeman quirks back with wide eyes,

"Uh, ya think, little dude?!"

The weight of the rock would force Inuyasha to topple to the ground, causing the monkey demons to laugh...He then kicks Shippo down with his foot and grumbles,

"Could've told me that sooner!" The monkeys jeer,

"(Laugh) Serves you right!"

"Rightly served: The dog demon's stuck!"

They then turn and shake their rears while shouting in unison,

"Foo~led ya~! Monkey bums are bright and red, more rants here and in your head!"

Note: Sorry if I got that cheer wrong; I did my absolute best to listen for it in the English dub! Lol, still funny either way XD

(BONK)

Inuyasha clonks all three of them on their noggins while barking,

"Says you! Watch where you're pointin' those things or I'll really have to brand ya!"

The one in the blue vest wobbles back upright first and says,

"Sticks and stone may break our bones..." The one with the striped vest adds,

"But words will never hurt us! 'Til our spell is broken, you'll stay here stuck to the stone!"

I watch as a smirk mixed with irritation and threat formed on Inuyasha's lips, which in my eyes, was not a good sign:

"Keh, so that's what you think?"

I glance at my brothers, who occupied worried expressions similar to mine, and we all mutter,

"Uh, oooh..."

My boyfriend, ticked off as hell, then lifts himself to his feet while holding the boulder up in a manner that automatically translated as 'I'm gonna crush you' to the frightful monkey demons:

"You forget: I still have one free hand to clobber you monkeys!"

While two out of three panicked, the one with the plain red vest suddenly tosses out another one of those spirit rocks...However:

"Nope!"

(Whack)

Freeman suddenly dashes forward, and uses his hammer to knock the trick rock away, sending it flying towards the west over some trees and into another nearby clearing:

(...Crash...)

The monkey demon triplets were flabbergasted:

"Whuh?!" "What?!" "No fair!"

My brother smirked a little:

"Nice try, wise guys, but you'll have to wake up early in the morning to pull the same trick twice. (Peers over his shoulder) You alright, man?"

Inuyasha shakes off his surprise and replies back with his own smirk,

"Keh, I'm fine. Thanks for the swing."

"No probs."

The rest of us broke into grins and cheer,

"Nice one, bro!" "Alright, Freeman!"

"That was awesome!"

The monkey demons bristled with anger that their plan failed, before turning to dash out of the area, much to our protests:

"Auh!" "Hey!"

"Get back here!"

Shippo exclaims to me,

"Let's follow them, Coraline!"

"Right. (Looks at the other three) You guys hang back here and try to find a way to get rid of the Spirit Stone. It can't be next-to-impossible to remove it without those little brats."

"Okay." "Righty-o."

"Kuh, just be careful and don't take all day."

With that established, I began running off down the path left where the monkey demons scampered off to, with Shippo on my shoulder, and Lumos floating beside us after I called him out of my satchel to help. Shippo says to me,

"We can't let them get away: Inuyasha's gonna be stuck to the stone until the spell's broken, and they're the only ones who can break it!"

"...Still hesitant to believe that's true, but I agree we can't let them get off it scot-free."

It was then he hopped off my shoulder and began moving faster than I did:

"Guh! Shippo?"

He's really determined to do this...

(Smile) Alright, go get 'em, Shippo!

Miroku's POV

After we exited the village, I lead Sango and Kilala to a quieter area in the nearby forest so we could have a break from these last couple days of travel and battles...As I laid on my back in the soft grass under the tree we chose, Sango, who was standing with Kilala in full form by her side, asks me,

"Wait a minute, Miroku: Weren't we supposed to be looking for any signs of Naraku?"

I reply casually,

"We don't have Inuyasha to sniff him out, and we don't have Coraline who can sense the Shikon-no-Tama. What good is searching on our own?"

"Huh?" I further explain the other piece of my motive:

"I had to say that we'd keep searching or Inuyasha wouldn't have lifted a finger to help those villagers."

Hopefully for their sake, I didn't just do something to make their problem worse.

Shippo's POV

"I gotta keep it together, I gotta keep it together, I gotta keep it together!"

After sprinting ahead of Coraline, I finally caught up with those triplet tricksters, and was prepping to throw down my own counterattack. We end up sidestepping a few feet across from eachother using our demon speed, before I used my dragon illusion:

"Go!"

"Oh yeah?!"

The one with the striped vest counters my dragon with a tiger, and after meeting in a static-filled clash, they revert back to their original forms (a tiger fang and my snake toy) in a puff of smoke...

We leap over bushes and branches, before I hopped up high in the air and shifted to my balloon form:

"Raaaaahhhhhhh!"

(Pop)

"Brothers: Merge!"

(Pop)

They in turn transform into a skinny yellow balloon, and we bump heads until our illusions cancelled out, before I met fist to fist with the stripe-vested monkey. We keep up the pace and power for a minute or two, before kicking eachother backwards and somersault to use our other tricks, mine being my top, and theirs a giant acorn:

"Top this!"

"That's nuts!"

Once again, it ends in a tie after the top and acorn couldn't spin anymore, and we all land back on the ground facing eachother. I gotta say, they weren't half-bad:

Almost reminds me of my fight with Souten...

"(Grin) You're pretty good."

"Yeah, you too."

"(Ghostly moan)"

"Hm?" "Huh?"

It was then Lumos came flying from the treetops right of us, and moves to hover in the middle while bobbing up and down in an excited manner. The three monkey demons were a bit freaked by his presence:

"Gah!" "Aaah!" "What's that, a mad Soul?!"

I laugh a little and explain,

"No, he's something called a Will O' Wisp, and he's really friendly. His name is,"

"Lumos!"

Coraline's voice finished my sentence before I could, and she came out from the bushes panting a little:

"Geez, humans can only run so fast, ya know...Anyway, it looks like you've all reached a stalemate, am I right?"

"Uuuh, I guess?"

"Hm...In that case, how 'bout we try talking about this more civilly over some snacks? I'm sure you all must be hungry by now."

We all agreed to that plan, and after finding this old and broken-down shrine to sit at, Coraline brought out four lollipops for us to eat while she ate an apple...Once she was done eating, she asks,

"So tell me, Goso, was it: What's with you and your bros causing so much damage to the farmer's fields?"

He answers insistingly,

"We haven't been wrecking them on purpose: We're looking for the Monkey God who's been kidnapped!"

"Monkey God, you say?"

"Yes. The deity who was enshrined in this village."

Buso and Keso (the ones with the blue and red vests) add,

"We're the three sprites who serve under the Monkey God."

"Part of our training was to make sure that we protected this shrine." Goso and Buso then say,

"But the shrine was burned down in the wars and all..."

"And the sacred object containing the spirit of the Monkey God was stolen from inside the shrine."

Coraline nods and states,

"So you three believe the artifact in question is hidden somewhere in the village..."

Goso nods,

"Yes, that's right: We believe that the sacred object is buried in a field somewhere nearby. I had a premonition in my dreams, so I'm sure it's true."

Keso and Buso chime,

"I had the same dream."

"Don't forget about me!"

"In my dream, our god was in a place that was very dark and very damp."

"In mine, he was in a place that was small and suffocating."

"And in mine, he was complaining that the place stunk of vegetables."

...Wow, that sounds really specific.

(...Thump)

"Huh?"

The grounds suddenly began rumbling a little with a loud thumping noise that kind-a reminded me of when Coraline sometimes used the beads on Inuyasha (which in this last while has become really rare). Goso looks left and right for the source:

"Something's coming this way...!"

Coraline hms, and uses her Aura Reader ability to make her eyes glow, before it quickly faded away with her sigh:

"Guess the guys couldn't find a way to do it themselves...(Looks at Boso) Look, I'll be nice and not scold you so heavy, but it would be in your best interest to remove that spell you put on Inuyasha."

"No way."

"And why not?"

"Because...we've forgotten how to undo the spell."

I cringe in disbelief:

Aw man, you've gotta be kidding! Inuyasha's not gonna be happy to hear that...

And my guess was correct, when he, Freeman and Besa reach us at the shrine from the thicker part of the forest and learn of the news:

"Wait, what?!" "You forgot?!"

"You, monkeeeeeys!"

The three monkey demons huddle up in fear (which I couldn't blame them for), so I step over to tell them seriously,

"Uh, if I were you guys, I'd end the joke right now. Take it from me: Inuyasha won't go easy on you just 'cause you're little guys."

"But we're not joking: We've really forgotten how to undo the spell!"

(...BONK)

That answer would earn another thwack on their skulls by Inuyasha...Coraline groans,

"God, this didn't take long to become a mess, did it?"

The twins nod, before speeding backwards out of Inuyasha's way as he lifts the boulder up with the intent to crush the monkeys, again:

"(Growl) You're dead!"

Goso quickly shouts,

"No, wait: Once we find the Monkey God, then we can break your spell, okay?!" Buso adds,

"Yeah, right, the Monkey God! He's the one who taught us the trick in the first place!"

Coraline lets out a puff of air before nodding firmly:

"Alright: Let's find the artifact quick before anything else happens."

She then has me and Freeman hang back with Inuyasha, taking Besa with her to follow the monkey demons back to the village:

"Don't push yourselves in a rush: We'll meet back in the village!"

"You should've waited back there in the first place!" Besa retorts,

"Not helping, Goso!"

I just sigh in exasperation:

What a day...

Inuyasha's POV

I wasn't just gonna sit around and let Coraline and Besa take care of this with those little pranksters: Despite the weight of the boulder holding me back some, I started marching down the hill on the path back to the village, with Shippo and Freeman walking beside me. The squirt asks me,

"Aren't you getting tired?"

"Duh! No way I'm gonna keep hangin' onto this stupid boulder forever..."

I don't even wanna think about how much that could backfire on me...and yet I am.

(Flash)

My damn half-brother Sesshomaru would give me a look of scorn, not that it'd actually appear on his stony face or in his dull tone:

"How clumsy of you, Inuyasha."

Then that mangy wolf cub Kōga wouldn't waste the opportunity to make fun of me, smug grin and all:

"Nice rock you got there, mutt!"

And...what if Sesshomaru doesn't bother with pickin' a fight with me, and just takes my blade?

"Such a shame you can't use the Tessaiga. (Walks away) Pitiful, really..."

"No, don't! Give it back! Gimme back my sword!"

"I shall gladly use the Tessaiga in your place, little brother."

(Growl) That would be so like the jackass...Of course, I know that can't really happen, since my sword seems to have it out for full-blooded demons...

And really, putting my brother and the wolf aside...there's one possible scenario that could happen if this boulder isn't removed, and it's enough to make my blood run cold.

"(Dark chuckle) Inuyasha. It seems you've lost your ability to move freely."

That bastard, Naraku, showing up to start a fight, and I'm completely incapable of fighting properly, leaving just as wide open to get killed than if he were to find me in my human form...And if he didn't kill me...

"Inuyasha!"

He could always swoop down and take Coraline away from me! The very image of that monster holding my girl hostage in his arms is enough to make my skin crawl:

"(Laugh) Tell me: How does it feel knowing that I have your woman and there's nothing you can do to help her? That I can easily snap her neck, and you would be too late to stop me?"

"(Struggle) Let, go of me! Inuyasha! Inuyasha, help! Inuyashaaaa!"

Coraline...No! No! NO!

(Flash)

I felt a very deep, feral growl bubble in my throat, my teeth gnarling and eyes narrowing in anger like I was about to lose myself to my demon blood:

Never! I will never let that happen!

"...Inuyasha? Inuyasha."

I give myself a good headshake, before turning my eyes to Freeman, who was looking at me in concern:

"You okay? You look like you're preppin' to commit murder...Did, something bad go through your head?"

It surprised me how close he was to knowing my thoughts, and I nodded with a quiet snarl:

"Yeah...Somethin' that only affirms this."

"What?"

I didn't answer right away, as I was concentrating on putting all my strength into rushing down the hill as fast as I could with the dang boulder thumping up and down behind me:

"I can't afford to lay around!"

"Whoa! Slow down, man!"

I ignored his and Shippo's panicked yelps, keeping up my pace and focusing on the one thought:

Gotta get this rock off, and fast!

Besa's POV

As soon as Cora and I arrived back in the village with the three monkey demon sprites, we sought out the chief and his friend in the ruined crop fields to explain what was really going on...

"The sacred artifact of the Monkey God?" We nod in confirmation:

"That's right."

"According to some visions seen by these three, it's suppose to be hidden somewhere in this village."

Goso and Buso hop onto her shoulders, while Keso rests on my left:

"You have it!"

"Give it back!"

"Right now!"

"I know of no such thing, honestly."

(Thump...)

Ulp, sounds like Inuyasha, Shippo and Freeman will be here soon...

"He's here already!"

Buso and Goso wave their arms frantically in a panic while exclaiming,

"Hurry up and tell us where you've hidden him!"

"Our lives are at stake here; you gotta help us!"

The chief looks at them confusingly, when his older friend suddenly spots the arriving dog demon:

"Uh, look: It's the Dog God!"

We turn around and see him, Shippo and Freeman standing at the entrance to the path leading into the forest, just as our unfortunate friend sets the boulder down while demanding,

"Where's the Monkey God?! You better get this boulder off me or you're all dead!"

As we approached, my brother tries to help keep Inuyasha's temper in check before it could rise any further:

"Take it easy, dude. Homicide's not gonna solve anything..."

I walk up to Freeman and ask in a lower tone,

"How'd you all get here so fast?" He replies in a wary whisper,

"I dunno for sure, but somethin' scary in his imagination must've motivated the hell outta Inuyasha..."

Meanwhile, my sister was smiling exasperatingly at her boyfriend:

"Oh hun, you can't catch a break today, can ya?"

The sentiment in her rhetorical question caused Inuyasha's cheeks to lightly dust over, while Goso warns my sister,

"Don't get too close; that guy's dangerous."

Glaring at him, Inuyasha asks,

"Are you positive you can't remember how to take this spell off me?!"

They all move to stand in a line on the ground before stating outright,

"Not, at all."

(...BONK)

Once again, the monkey demons received a clonk on the head by the currently foul-tempered dog demon...The men working on the ruined field walk over to us, having heard it all, and the chief asks,

"Your hand is stuck to the boulder because of the monkey spell? Are you sure you're a real Dog God?"

I facepalmed and mutter in disbelief,

"Now they see through their ignorance?" My brother adds in his own grumble,

"Took 'em long enough..."

Inuyasha made his heavily annoyed mood more obvious, yelling with a slight pitch jump in his voice,

"Of course not! That's what I've been tryin' to tell you!"

Shippo adds more calmly,

"Actually, he's about the furthest thing from a god..." Coraline explains,

"According to these monkey sprites, only Monkey God has the power and know-how to undo the spell."

"And you gotta find him! If you people are hidin' anything from me, I swear I'll destroy this whole village!"

Cora shoots Inuyasha a glare before bopping him offside the head:

"Ouch!"

"Kindly refrain from such threats, thank you. We've already got enough of a problem; don't make it worse."

She then kisses his cheek to half-apologize for the hit and further her message of 'shut your yap', while I looked to the villagers and warn,

"He might not be a deity, but unless your village wants to experience vengeance from a pissed-off dog demon, then you might wanna start rackin' your brains for answers to where the object might have vanished to."

The chief and his friend turn to one another and say,

"Shall we split up and search?"

"I suppose if it would stop the plundering."

My siblings and I smile before bowing in appreciation:

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

"We'll need all the help we can get." The chief then asks the sprites,

"What's it look like?"

Goso holds his arms out and replies,

"Well, it's a rock and it's about this big, I think," while Buso adds,

"It's engraved with the symbol of the Monkey God," and Keso finishes,

"And it's round as a monkey's head."

Hm, doesn't sound too hard to distinguish...

The chief's friend then recalls,

"Hang on now: There was a rock like that up in the mountain in the back."

The three sprite demons and Inuyasha cheer,

"To the mountain!"

"The mountain!"

"Mountain!"

"Alright! I can handle one more mountain!"

So we all head back into the forest and up the mountainside to where the old man said he saw the sacred object...But when we got there:

"(Pant, pant) That it?"

"(All three sprites) Nuh-uh!"

Inuyasha slams the boulder back down while chiming sarcastically,

"That's not the one? That's great!"

...Though in hindsight, he should've paid attention to where he sat it on: Because we were standing on a slope, the rounded rock couldn't stay in one place for very long, and it began rolling back down the path where we came, taking Inuyasha with him!

"Gaaaaaaah!"

"Inuyasha!" "Oh crap!"

Once we caught up to him at the bottom, a second man leads us to the riverside outside the village where he claims to have seen the object:

"I recall seeing a stone like that in this river..."

"To the river!"

"The river!"

"River!"

We wade into the shallow part of the water that reached our ankles, and found ourselves examining another rounded rock...

"Is, this the one?"

"Nuh-uh." "And it doesn't look godly at all."

I hear my brother curse under his breath as Inuyasha mutters,

"This isn't the rock either..."

He sets the boulder stuck on his hand into the river...but it turned out to be in a spot that had deep water:

"Waaagh!"

(Splash)

"Inuyasha!"

"Not again!" "Dive, dive!"

My brother and I pull a quick underwater rescue (thankfully, it wasn't that deep a hole, though helping push the boulder out was a chore...), before we were all off again to the next possible locations courtesy of more witness testimonies:

"I dunno, maybe it's that rock in the forest?"

"Wasn't it next to the Giso shrine in the east?"

"I know: It's over in the south valley!"

"...There was a rock under the house..."

But no matter where we looked, we came up with squat...Eventually, evening came to cast over the village, which would be around when Sango, Miroku and Kilala returned:

"Hello, we're back!"

Freeman and I were sitting down by a tree that had an odd statue standing by it, and wave at them with pained smiles, our clothes just drying up from that swim we took a few hours ago:

"Hey." "Howdy."

Inuyasha would've waved too, but...he was too busy recuperating from all the lugging he was forced to do, and by recuperate, I mean he was face-down on the dirt path with the boulder on his right, not moving an inch even when one of the little kids from the village hanging about here pokes him with a stick.

Miroku would ask,

"Inuyasha, what, are you doing?" He replies in an exhausted tone,

"Don't just stand there: Start lookin' for the Sacred Monkey Stone. Ow..."

Miroku and Sango turn to Freeman and I with perplexed expressions, and we sigh before standing up again while I waved at them to follow:

"Come on, we'll explain on the way back to the chief's house. (Glance) Inuyasha, you gonna be alright on your own for a little bit?"

"(Grumble) Fine. Just hurry, please..."

Oh wow, he's actually using one of the courtesy words. This is gettin' serious.

No POV

By the time the twins, Miroku, Sango and Kilala had reached the village chief's home, the two former would've caught the three latter up on recent events. Now everyone (minus Inuyasha, who was too tired to move from his spot on the path outside the village) was gathered in the courtyard, with Miroku sitting in the porch's middle with his feet on the stone step, the monkey sprites on his right and the chief further down, Shippo and Sango on his left, while Coraline and her brothers stood by them with Freeman leaning casually on one of the structure posts...

"I, see. So all this happened while Sango and I were away?" The chief nods:

"It's quite the problem," and Coraline adds,

"I dunno how much more Inuyasha can take of this craziness. In fact...I'm gonna head back and keep him company."

So while the redhead begins jogging back to the incapacitated dog demon, Miroku lightly claps his left palm on his thigh and states,

"Alright, then I'll use my powers somehow to remedy the situation."

Everyone gasps, and Goso asks,

"Do you mean you'll be the one to find the Monkey God?"

"Of course I will...however, my spiritual powers are only effective in the morning."

The three monkey sprites chime excitedly,

"That's okay!"

Sango then asks in a whisper,

"What do you mean?" Miroku whispers back,

"We might as well find ourselves a place to sleep for the night."

The monkey demons cheer to eachother completely oblivious to the monk's intent,

"The monk is gonna save us!" "Yeah!"

Shippo, on the other hand, saw through the farce real quick and mutters in a deadpan,

"Tricked is more like it..."

Sango asks Miroku in a honestly skeptical tone,

"Are you certain you want to tell such a lie?"

"It'll work out, somehow..."

The twins, having been standing next to the other two, heard their conversation clear as day, and facepalm at the same time mumbling,

"Oh great..."

"It's Inugami all over again..."

Meanwhile, the villagers huddle and say to eachother in low tones,

"There's something fishy about this..."

"Yeah..."

Once that was all set up, our group heads over back to Inuyasha, who was now sitting up in a crouch with Coraline sitting cross-legged next to him on his left. Miroku lightly scolds the dog demon at his situation:

"I can't believe you fell for such an obvious trick."

"Hey! Spare me the lectures and get this thing off me, or you'll regret it!"

Coraline puts a hand on his arm to calm him down while giving the monk a pointed look:

"Come on, Miroku, he's already had enough salt poured on his wounds today. And I agree, the faster we get this rock off him, the better."

"And how's that?"

Inuyasha smirks bitterly and answers,

"With my hand stuck like this...(Stern) I can't exactly use the Tessaiga!"

...A rumble of realization seemed to pass through everyone, and Miroku and Sango mutter with wide eyes,

"Inuyasha's stuck..."

"If we don't do something..."

(Flash)

The two imagine a scenario regarding how they would fight demons if Inuyasha's hand was handicapped by the boulder permanently, using a centipede as an example...

"Hiraikotsu!"

(Toss, spin...)

"Wind Tunnel!"

Inuyasha stops him from releasing the power of his cursed hand:

"Get back, Miroku!"

"Huh?"

He then rushes forward after lifting the boulder over his shoulder to attack:

"Stone wielder, boulder cleaver!"

(Whack)

The outcome ends with Inuyasha using the giant rock as a club to slug the centipede demon headfirst!

(Flash)

The monk and slayer found themselves laughing at such a possibility, causing Inuyasha to ask with a suspicious glare,

"What are you two laughin' at?" Miroku replies jokingly,

"This boulder could be a good thing, Inuyasha," and Sango adds with a giggle,

"He's right: You could use it like another weapon."

The twins catch onto the scenario and start snickering themselves, while Inuyasha barks,

"What're you fools imagining, anyway?!"

In contrast to the lighthearted joking, Coraline's thoughts drifted to a more dark scenario:

"If Inuyasha can't remove the stone from his hand...then...what if..."

(Flash)

Her imagination brought her to an area where it was just herself, Inuyasha...and Naraku, the two half-demons standing a few feet away from eachother in fighting stands while she stood a distance away in the middle...

Suddenly:

(SLASH)

"Inuyashaaaaaa!"

The dog demon was cut down by the spider-scarred demon in just one swipe of a monstrous, clawed hand before he could even try to attempt moving fast enough! He falls hard face-down, his blood pooling from his fatal wound, leaving the poor redhead with her heart caught in her mouth, tears of anguish forming in her eyes to the tune of Naraku's evil laughter:

No...No, this can't be happening! Why, why didn't I move to help him?!

What do I do now?!

"Now then..."

Coraline's breath hitches, as the despicable half-demon turns his red eyes to her, smirk on his face:

"With your one true protection gone, you shall die next, woman."

(Lunge)

"Perish!"

She reaches back to pull out her ShatterSoul sword, but in this world, Coraline would not survive her brief fight with Naraku, ending after a few clashes of claws to blade, with his hand plunging right through her torso:

(SHOOM)

"UH!"

Inu...yasha...

(Flash)

Coraline shifted her position so she wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to steady the shaking that was beginning to ensue, and barely bit down a whimper of fear:

No...That, that won't happen. It can't...It can't, happen.

Of course, Inuyasha's sensitive ears would pick up on the slight squeak that slipped between the redhead's closed lips, and he turned his head to see the frightened expression on her face, making him become concerned in an instant:

"...Coraline?"

He places a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch back to reality:

"H-Huh?"

"What's wrong? You look like a rabbit that got cornered by a snake..."

After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Coraline leaned over to whisper in his ear what she had just pictured, finding herself too scared to say it aloud...When she finished, Inuyasha was wide-eyed:

"...You seriously pictured that?"

"Mhm..."

Seeing the fear dancing in her blue irises, the dog demon sighed before pulling her to his side with his one good arm and gave her a comforting kiss on the cheek before stating seriously,

"That is not going to happen, period. You know that, right?"

"I-I do, but-"

"But nothing. There's no buts about it. Do you understand me?"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Coraline nods with a tiny smile:

"Crystal clear."

"Good."

Everyone else watched with wary and confused expressions, but chose to be smart and not ask about it, with Miroku partially changing the subject by suggesting,

"I know, Inuyasha: Why don't I try sucking the boulder with my Wind Tunnel? That's a good idea."

The rest of the group looks at him funny, with Freeman coughing under his breath,

"Can I get a second opinion on that?"

Inuyasha, on the other hand, seemed a touch more open to the idea:

"Could you really suck up the boulder and not me?"

"If I stop in the nick of time, it just might work. (Stretches out his cursed hand) Now, here's the plan: I'll open my Wind Tunnel like this, suck up the rock and just as you get near it, I'll close my-"

Miroku cuts himself off, realizing a very possible problem with his plan. Inuyasha urges,

"What now? What'd ya stop talkin' for?" Besa mutters,

"I think I might know," and Miroku hesitantly answers,

"Well, it's just, if you're half-sucked in, then-Oh, nothing, never mind."

"(Growl) Now what are ya imaginin'?!"

The monk takes a couple steps back while chiding in a half-confident tone,

"Guh, nothing, let's give it a try. Don't worry, I, probably won't suck you in."

Sango rushes out of the way with Kilala on her shoulder, while Coraline clings to Inuyasha in a protective manner, Shippo starts panicking from his spot on the boulder, and the dog demon yells as the twins sped over while waving their arms,

"STOP!"

"Dude, no!" "Bad idea! Really bad idea!"

Small Time Skip, Coraline's POV

It's now nighttime, and while everyone else was back in the village lodging in the chief's home, I chose to stay with Inuyasha back on the dirt path, pulling out the blue blanket I packed in my satchel to wrap around me and keep warm...I let out my second sneeze of the evening, prompting Inuyasha to ask,

"Why don'tcha go on inside with the others? You don't have to stay out in the cold with me..."

"Mm, it's not that chilly out here...(Sad smile) Besides, I don't think my heart's in a good state right now to leave you by yourself."

"Tch, is it because of that stupid scary thought that went through your head? I told you not to let it get to you."

I look down at the ground, muttering while sitting my chin on my knees,

"I know...but it's hard..."

I hear him sigh before he pulls me to his side again, moving me so my head was resting on his chest while his free arm wrapped around my shoulders securely...

"I, also had a freaky thought run through my head about that bastard."

"...You did?"

"Yeah...He came out of nowhere and snatched you into his arms, giving me one of those dumb evil smiles and taunting me, while you were squirming to get away, calling for me to help. And, that damn boulder prevented me from moving an inch. I was helpless to watching as he, took you away..."

I could hear the edging anger in his voice as he described his scenario, so being the good girlfriend I am, I shifted my body to lightly cup his right cheek and turn him towards me, before leaning in to claim a kiss from his lips...It lasted for a sweet thirty seconds, before we parted again, and I nuzzled my forehead against the crook of his neck while whispering,

"Then let me say the same thing you're telling me: Don't let it get to you. We both know that will never happen; this is just a minor setback we've yet to find the solution for...But, I am flattered by how protective you sound."

He grunts in response, not replying verbally, but does turn his head in a way to rub his nose against my neck affectionately in return to my action, making me smile...A couple minutes pass, as my earlier worrying thoughts slowly slip away, my focus shifting back to the current issue:

We really need to get this boulder off him, for both our sakes if not just him alone...

Only question is how?

"...Hm?"

It was then that a middle-aged woman with black hair tied in a bun, wearing a mahogany red kimono and a white gray skirt wrap matching her headscarf, walks past us a distant away where the outer huts of the village are, carrying a bowl of what I'm assuming is vegetables...

But what struck me, was this odd, faint glow my eyes picked up emitting from the contents:

What on earth...?

"What is it?"

I turn to Inuyasha to reply,

"I'm sensing something strange from the contents of that bowl she's carrying. One moment."

I then stand up and jog over to the woman, calling her to stop:

"Excuse me!"

She pauses her steps, and turns to me with a confused expression:

"Mm?"

I pointed to the bowl she was carrying:

"Would you mind if I had a closer look at that?"

"Um, alright..."

The woman holds it out for me, and I use my Aura Sight to examine it, startling her a little but not so much that she would've dropped the bowl in shock. What I saw was, astonishing:

This energy...!

I would then call on everyone else, including the chief of the village, and we gathered at the courtyard of his home with the bowl of vegetables...

"This is about, all we can offer, I'm afraid...So, is there a problem?"

I shake my head with a small smile:

"Quite the opposite, actually, (Glance) right, Lumos?"

My Will O' Wisp partner has been circling around the glowing bowl since it was set down on the porch, he too sensing the godly energy, and he chirps back in an enthusiastic fashion. Miroku comments,

"This is quite amazing...!"

And as I correctly predicted, the monkey sprite demons recognized the origins of the energy:

"Look!" Goso says to his friends,

"Look at this stuff, guys: Wasn't this cabbage grown in the fields here?" Buso adds,

"And it has the glow from our Monkey God!"

They then go over the clues they received in their premonitions:

"It's dark and damp just as it appeared in my dreams..."

"Small and suffocating..."

"And it stunk of vegetables!"

Inuyasha sets the boulder stuck to his hand down with a thud, smiling in anticipation:

"Ha-ha! The Monkey God has to be in the fields!" Goso exclaims excitedly,

"He must be buried somewhere deep underground!"

"We'll turn the village upside-down if we have to!"

The monkey sprites cheer, but the village chief was obviously not too keen on anymore damage to the crops:

"(Tearing up) Oh please, not our fields again...!"

Thankfully, my partner was faster than I was in stopping my boyfriend from running off with the monkey sprites to cause more unnecessary trouble, and flies over in front of the dog demon before whacking him in the forehead a couple times:

"Ow, ow, ow!"

My brothers snicker and mutter,

"Who needs the S-Word when you've got a Will O' Wisp?"

"Yeah. He's definitely beginning to emulate Cora's attitude."

I shot them a smirk-glare, before calling to said creature,

"Thank you, Lumos. Now, I trust you'll be able to track the Monkey God's artifact?"

He 'nods', and begins floating at a steady pace away from here towards the back of the chief's home and past a few homes, while I ushered everyone to follow...Our path would end in a storehouse at a barrel used for pickling vegetables, and just as I had hoped, there was a spherical stone with an odd symbol carved in it sitting on top of the container, wrapped in a beautiful crystalline glow!

I smile and nod in a knowing way:

"Mhm, I figured this would be the case. (Glance) Good work, Lumos."

He bops up and down happily from my praise, while the monkey sprites confirm,

"This, is the sacred object!"

"Honourable Monkey God!" The chief and his friends were understandably confused:

"Glow?"

"I don't see anything at all..."

Besa says to them with a wise smile,

"It takes a special set of eyes to sense the extraordinary..."

Goso and Buso weren't quite as forgiving, scolding the villagers for their actions regarding the artifact:

"What a terrible thing to do to the sacred object!"

"See?! You did steal it, just like we said!"

The chief replies defensively,

"Not at all! I found it on the outskirts of the village. I-I thought it would be perfect for pickling."

I ask,

"So you found it outside the forest? Hm..." The monkey sprites spoke of a different side to the tale:

"Liar! The sacred object was kept in the shrine deep in the forest!"

"We sprites guarded it closely all night and all day!"

"Yeah, even on the day of the fire: We gave everything we had to get the sacred object out of the shrine!"

But as soon as they spoke about what they actually had done after getting the object out of the burning shrine...they realized their absentmindedness...

I say in a deadpan,

"So you three wound up forgetting the Monkey God by accident thanks to your distracting appetites for acorns?"

My brothers facepalm and I roll my eyes while sighing in exasperation...With the mystery cleared up, Miroku got his hands on some water in a bucket and added his power with a touch of Lumo's energy to it before pouring it from a ladle onto the stone:

"Now then, the purification water..."

There's a pause...before the stone glows, and unleashes an entity in the guise of an old monkey with white fur wearing the robes of a sage!

"At long last, I am free!"

The sprites were certainly happy to see he was okay:

"Monkey God! It's good to see you!"

"It reeked, of vegetables!" Buso chimes his name again, and the entity asks,

"So tell me, sprites, has anything noteworthy happened in my absence?"

They reply,

"Nope, not a thing!"

Inuyasha shouts annoyed,

"Hey!"

I sigh before clearing my throat to get the Monkey God's attention:

"Actually, sir..."

Time Skip, No POV

Come the next day, the monk of our travel group and the villagers will gather in the courtyard of the chief's home again, with the Monkey God's sacred stone placed on an altar with a plate of vegetables added as an offering. Miroku informs the people on the entity's behalf,

"The Monkey God has given his promise to protect you. In return, you must make a new shrine and regular offerings."

They all say thank you in relived unison, and over by the road, Inuyasha was flexing his arm that was now stone-free, while Coraline smiled at him:

"Feel better without the extra weight, I take it?" He grumbles,

"What a waste of time. I knew we shouldn't have stopped here..."

The Monkey God says to the redhead,

"You are a very shrewd young girl. I commend your powers of deduction; you and your friend did well to find me."

She replies modestly,

"Oh, it was nothin' really. Your dream messages helped narrow the search down, and Lumos did most of the work in actually finding you."

Said Will O' Wisp was circuiting around the group, stopping briefly in front of the Monkey God to chirp in appreciation, while Inuyasha says to the monkey sprites,

"You three were just too stupid to figure it out."

They all bristled and shouted collectively, making it hard to distinguish their sentences from eachother, while the Monkey God says to Coraline,

"I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. (Looks to the sky) I was concerned about the strange occurrence outside..."

"Strange occurrence, you say?"

"Shortly after I was placed in the pickling tub, I felt a terrible Demonic Aura pass over the skies above the village. It was an enormous and sinister presence, the like of which I had never felt before..."

Coraline tenses up, wondering,

Could it, be...

Her brothers, Shippo and Kilala stiffen, and Inuyasha and Sango ask with serious expressions,

"A Demonic Aura?"

"So what was it, Monkey God?" He answers,

"I don't know what it was or where it came from, but, I felt its presence while I was in the pickling tub."

Freeman and Inuyasha urge,

"What happened after that?"

"Which direction did it go?"

"It disappeared."

Everyone's eyes widen, and the Monkey God adds with his own concern,

"It didn't just pass over completely: It suddenly vanished into thin air."

Coraline turns to meet Inuyasha's eyes:

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"(Nod) It couldn't have been anyone than Naraku." The Monkey God then turns his head right:

"The Demonic Aura headed in the direction of the Oxen-tiger."

Freeman quirks a brow:

"Oxen-Tiger?"

Besa clears his confusion:

"He means the Northeast."

"Oooh..."

The entity apologizes,

"I'm sorry. I can't pinpoint exactly where it disappeared."

Coraline smiles and shakes her head:

"It's fine. What you've told us is as good a lead as any."

It was then Miroku returns to the group, having finished his business with the villagers:

"So, shall we go?" Inuyasha agrees:

"Yeah. Alright: We've got the direction, so let's move!"

Everyone nods, and bids their goodbyes to the Monkey God and his sprites before leaving the village to the northeast...After a little while of walking down the path cutting between the trees, they were suddenly showered in, acorns?

"Ah!" "What's that?!" "Hey!"

Shippo would be the first to identify the the 'ammunition':

"Look, they're acorns!"

The source of the attack would then pop out from the leaves of a tree, revealed to be the monkey sprites, who laugh and jeer at the group. Inuyasha calls up in an agitated tone,

"You little monkeys!" Goso calls back tauntingly,

"Ha! Scared ya~!"

The three then turn around to shake their butts with Goso and Buso jeering,

"Mooned ya, Shippo!"

"Mooned ya, Inuyasha!" Keso adds,

"And we're off! Bye!"

They then jump out of sight, laughing as they went...Inuyasha groans,

"What's with them?"

Freeman muses with a chagrin,

"I think that was just their own personal farewell to you and the little dude..."

Said fox demon bends down to gather up the acorns, and says to Inuyasha with a smile,

"Those guys were some tough rivals, weren't they?"

The dog demon scoffs,

"Just pesky monkeys," before turning to continue on his way.

Everyone else moves to follow him, minus Shippo, Kilala and Besa, the former sending a smile and wave in the direction the sprites left for, while the third bends down with a small cloth pouch that had a drawstring on it:

"Here, Shippo, put those in here. We can add them to our food provisions."

"Thanks!"

As soon as the bag was full...

"Hey, Shippo, Besa!"

The dark-skinned boy pulls the bag closed, and he and the other two rush to catch up with the group:

"Hey, wait up, Inuyasha!" "We're comin'!"

"Quit dawdlin'! We're headin' northeast!"

And with that, our travelers were off, starting their new course in the search for the evil half-demon, Naraku...