Chapter 99: The Suspicious Faith Healer & The Black Kilala
The sun shines brightly over a path cutting between a small slate cliff and some bushes of wild daisies that were getting a visit from one of the local Cabbage White Butterflies, as our group begins their trek to Edo's northeast almost straight after Inuyasha, Coraline, Freeman and Besa's return from modern Tokyo...
"Finally, we can get back to tracking Naraku. We sure wasted alot of time on that trivial junk..."
Coraline becomes a bit bristled by Inuyasha's careless comment:
"(Glare) Beg, pardon? What happened to my boyfriend that was taking good care of me during that asinine cold and was kind enough to help Souta out with his girl troubles?"
Everyone stops, as the dog demon forms a nervous expression upon cluing to his choice of tone and words, while Sango mutters with a sigh,
"Oh boy, what a fool. He's digging his own grave again..."
Shippo and Miroku follow with their own comments of exasperation:
"Yeah, what a doofus."
"Eh, it's not his fault he's a dimwit..."
Freeman roll his eyes and whispers into Besa's ear,
"Guess his more sensitively-inclined side can only last for so long, eh?"
"Mhm. He's got a long way to go."
Coraline hmphs and turns away from Inuyasha, opting for silence rather than blowing her temper, while he himself scoffs the tension off.
Miroku then steps in to get everyone back on track:
"(Clears throat) So, Naraku disappeared into the direction of the Ox-Tiger, correct? (Looks away from the cliff face) That's northeast, meaning it's in that direction."
Inuyasha quickly replies in a forced enthusiasm,
"Ha-ha, good call, Miroku! What're we waiting for? Let's get going!"
(Leap, leap, leap...)
"Just you wait, Naraku! I'll find you!"
Coraline, her minor spout of anger fully dissipated, starts running after the dog demon while calling in a better mood,
"Eager much? At least slow down a little!"
...Not too far ahead of the group, stood a large village nestled near a thick, mountainous forest, where several of the men, hoes and shovels in hand, were surrounding a defensively-agitated twin-tailed cat demon that bared similar countenance to Kilala, but with more black-shaded fur around its calves and collar.
Near them, stood a man with scanty eyebrows and whiskers, pointed ears, straight black hair that went to his neck, small, rodent-like teeth, wearing the outfit of a faith healer, including a green robe over a cherry-red haori, a cream-white hakama and a pointed black hat. He thumps his wooden staff on the flat rock he was standing on, before calling out to the villagers in a reedy voice,
"Hear me out: The divine oracle has been received! The twin tail invites calamity!"
"Twin tail? You mean that cat?"
"It is said that when a cat's tail becomes two, it possesses supernatural powers. You must expel the twin-tail from the village, or there is sure to be misfortune!"
(Gleam...)
The faith healer's eyes flash red, and reflects off the pupils of the village men, shifting their expressions to that of a zombie state, before they proceeded to throw rocks at the twin-tailed cat demon. The faith healer sneers and laughs, before he's pounded on his noggin by the cat, knocking him to the ground while the latter escapes into the forest...
"Gh, you'll do well to stay out of this village! Damn you to Hell, cursed twin-tail!"
Time Skip
It's been a couple days since the twin-tailed cat demon was cast out of the village, and as a murder of crows caw overhead the rosy-orange hues reflected in the sky above for the coming evening, we turn to the mountain-high forest by the human populated homes, as someone weaves through the trees searching for another.
"Kuroro...! Kuroro! Kuroro!..."
Getting a closer look, we see the individual to be a young girl with pale-pigmented skin, light nut-brown eyes, short black hair tied into two small pigtails on the sides of her head, and wearing a short lilac kimono with pick cherry blossom designs lightly decorating it and a red ribbon sash.
"Kuroro...? Kuroro!"
(...Rustle)
Not too far away from where she was standing, Kilala (in dormant form) was bounding along up front Shippo in some tall grass, leaving the fox demon to speed-walk after her confused.
"Where are you going, Kilala? Kilala? Kilala!"
As soon as he got into a thinner patch of the green, Shippo found that his friend had gotten too far ahead of him to know where she was.
"Ugh, where did she get to now?...Kilala? Hey, Kilala!"
He shoves his way out of some bushes, and comes upon a river running through the forest. He decides to pause in his search for Kilala, and hopped down to the stony riverbank to scoop up some water to wash his face.
(Splash)
"Much, better..."
"Kuroro?"
"Huh?"
Shippo turns his head to the right, and sees Kilala standing near the young girl from earlier:
"Kuroro..."
"(Blush) Oooh...what a cute girl. So that's what you were following, Kilala: The sound of her voice."
He snaps out of his daydream when the girl calls to Kilala (mistaking her for a 'Kuroro'),
"Kuroro...so this is where you were. I was so worried."
She kneels down and beckons the cat demon closer:
"Here, kitty, come on..."
The young girl then picks up Kilala after she nears close enough, and starts to pet her happily:
"That's my girl. There you go; you're safe now! (Giggle) I'm so glad I found you, Kuroro."
Shippo walks over to clear up the mistake of identity:
"(Clears throat) That one is not Kuroro. Her name is Kilala."
"Let's put this collar on..."
"Kilala is Sango's partner...huh?"
He opens his eyes back up when he realizes the girl wasn't paying attention to him, and sees a ribbon collar with a small bell now around Kilala's neck!
"There, it's on. Now let's go home, Kuroro."
As she stood up with the cat demon in her arms, Shippo tries again to explain the misinterpretation, becoming a bit exasperated.
"I told you: That's not Kuroro! Her name's Kilala!"
Before she could respond, the girl then sees three of the villagers heading their way on the path above the riverbank...
"(Gasp) It's the villagers again. (Sets Kilala down) Run away, Kuroro, quickly! Don't let the men capture you!"
She then takes off, with Shippo mumbling while watching her form,
"I keep telling her, it's Kilala...She's cute, but kind-of a strange girl."
He then picks up on the growling that his twin-tailed friend was directing at the approaching villagers:
"Hm? What's the matter with you, Kilala?"
By this time, the men see Kilala's form on the riverbank:
"Look over there: That cat again!"
"I thought we chased it far away from the village!"
They start climbing down to the stony shore with angered expressions, and as a bristled Kilala continued to hiss and growl at them, they start throwing rocks at her.
"Let's get it!"
"Get outta here!"
Shippo rushes to shield his friend:
"Stop it! What do you think you're doing?!"
He gets hit with a particularly large stone and falls backwards, prompting Kilala to become all the more agitated, readying herself to shift forms...But Shippo waves his hands frantically at her in protest:
"Wait, no, Kilala! You mustn't bear your fangs against humans!"
As the fox demon shields himself from some more rocks...
"Hey, Shippo! What's wrong?!"
"What's going on here?"
"Hey! What do you lot think you're doin' to the little dude and Kilala?!"
Inuyasha, Coraline and Freeman's voices ring in, and Shippo looks to see that everyone else had arrived on time.
"Ooh, thank goodness..."
The three men stop, and turn to the rest of the group while readying more rocks on the offensive:
"Who are you? Are you in league with that demon cat?"
Inuyasha believes they were talking to him:
"Who are you calling a demon cat?!" Miroku stops him from doing anything rash:
"Come, come now, Inuyasha..."
"What's your problem?"
"I think I better handle this..."
The twins pull the dog demon further back and whisper in his ears,
"Besides, I think they're talkin' about Kilala, not you."
"Yeah, what he said."
The three men become more wary and ready to throw, as the monk tries to appease them in a calm manner.
"Villagers, violence never solved anything."
(...Thwap)
"I'm sure we can talk things out."
(...Thwap, thwap)
Unfortunately, come the third rock to his head, Miroku would take a page out of Inuyasha's book and lets his temper rise.
"Why, you...!"
Coraline and Sango move to calm him down, knowing that squeezing his staff can only help control his anger for so long.
"Whoa, easy there, Miroku."
"This isn't very monkish of you..."
Thankfully, before the situation could really start to fall to pieces, the village headman, an older gentleman with gray hair tied back in a bald topknot, a gray moustache, tanned skin, dark eyes, and wearing a dark green kimono with teal leaf patterning under a tan-lilac vest robe, a brown hakama and wooden sandals, comes rushing over from the village.
"Stop that, men! Stop that at once! Please, don't do anything violent! Cats are vengeful and will curse you for seven generations. Besides, that cat is not Kuroro."
The three men take a second look at Kilala, and realize their mistake...A few minutes pass, before they and the headmen are bowing to the group in apology for the misunderstanding.
"Oh dear. The villagers have been awfully rude to you." Inuyasha replies to the headman,
"Never mind that. Tell us, though: What's all the fuss over one little cat?"
"Well, it is not that simple..."
As they spoke, Shippo holds up the bell collar he took off of Kilala to his eyes and muses to himself,
I wonder who that girl was? Kilala seemed to like her...
She must have a kind heart. (Smile) I bet she does.
Small Time Skip
After walking to the village, the headmen leads our travel party into his home to have dinner as a way to make up for earlier, and explained the issue that was going on currently.
"A smart cat named Kuroro lived in this village. She used to play often with the children of the village, but, several days ago, a very important faith healer passed through the village and found out about our friend the cat. And he read an oracle that said the twin-tail was bad luck, and he commanded us to expel it from the village."
Everyone glances at Kilala, who was drinking some milk from a saucer in content, and Shippo concludes mentally,
I see. That's why the girl mistook Kilala for Kuroro...
The headman adds with some regret,
"I feel badly for the children, but, we cannot afford to have any calamity befell our village."
Coraline hms in thought, placing her bowl and chopsticks down before placing a finger under her chin while her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"The only time I've ever heard of a cat being a symbol of bad luck is when they're pitch black, but even then, that superstition isn't always sound...Something doesn't add up."
Inuyasha agrees:
"Yeah, somethin's fishy about that faith healer."
"I attend to agree. I think we ought to pay the man a visit."
Besa remarks after Miroku,
"The guy's more than likely a swindler of sorts with a complex against cats."
Freeman asks aloud,
"But why pick on felines? What's the deal with that? That sounds oddly specific..."
As this went on, Shippo pulls out the bell collar from his robes and looks at it for a moment...before standing up to walk out of the room, much to Coraline's confusion.
"Hm? Shippo? What's wrong?" Inuyasha causally suggests,
"Well I think all this rich food is givin' our little guy a bellyache..."
The fox demon offers no answer, and slides the door closed on his way out...
Shippo's POV
After leaving the headman's home, I stop to gather myself and figure out where to start my search for the girl that this ribbon bell belonged to.
"I wonder where I can find that cute girl I saw down by the river?"
"Kuroro..."
"Uh! I know that voice..."
I look back and forth, before spotting the source down the hill from the headman's home, walking along the path between the irrigated fields.
"That's the same girl!"
"Kuroro...Kuroro..."
I run down the path to meet with her:
"Hey! (Holds up the bell collar) I think this is yours."
"Hm?"
"My name's Shippo. I just wanted to tell you that wasn't your Kuroro that you put this collar on. It was Kilala."
She tilts her head to the side in enlightened confusion:
"Uh? Kilala?"
Good. Finally got that cleared up...Now then.
"You're looking for a cat named Kuroro, right?"
She nods, and I give her a beaming smile before offering,
"I'd be glad to help you look for her."
That seemed to please her, for she smiles a little bit at me in return before taking back the collar:
"Thanks. My name is Koume."
"Koume? Oh, that's pretty."
I felt my cheeks heat up a bit, and I noticed hers did too...I shake myself loose and say to myself,
Get it together, Shippo! Focus on helping her find Kuroro, not flirting!
No POV
At the same time the fox demon child offers to lend Koume a hand in searching for the other twin-tailed cat demon, and everyone else learns more details about this supposed faith healer, we turn our eyes to a small shrine sitting on the outskirts of the village, the faith healer inside and deep in chant while sitting in front of a strange tapestry altar...
The volume of his voice suddenly jumps a bit higher come a certain point in his passage, and his eyes open to flash red like before, just as black fumes emerge from his shadow, spreading outside the shrine and into the atmosphere...!
...Come nightfall, and Inuyasha and company were walking past the flooded fields and homes in the village in the direction of where the faith healer was currently located...well, all expect one.
"Damn that Shippo! Where'd he go?"
Sango comments after Inuyasha's annoyed exclaim,
"He was sure acting strange..."
Freeman hms and says,
"I think I saw him lookin' at a ribbon with a bell attached to it before he left the headman's home. Maybe he's trying to find its owner?"
Just before anyone could respond, Coraline suddenly points to the sky and calls out,
"Guys, up there! Look!"
Eyes follow her direct of sight, and spot the giant cloud of blank fumes slowly spreading into the sky above the village. Inuyasha asks,
"What is that?" Miroku answers,
"An ominous Demonic Aura." Besa narrows his eyes and concludes,
"It's gotta be that so-called faith healer. He's finally showing his true colours."
Coraline prompts,
"In that case, let's step on it. The headman said that the faith healer was housing in a shrine just out of here."
With that decided, everyone breaks into a run for that direction:
"Right!"
Shippo's POV
It's been close to an hour or two since Koume and I left the village for the forest heading up the mountain to search for Kuroro, but so far, we haven't had any luck, even with her calling out to the cat while I combed the thicker bushes incase Kuroro was hiding...
"Kuroro...! Kuroro! Kuroro...! Kuroro!"
Darn, still nothin'...
I pop out of the bush I was currently looking in, startling Koume:
"Oh! Shippo!"
"I don't think she's around here."
Her face forms a look of disappointment, making me a little sad at first, before smiling a bit when I realized,
"You really cared for this cat. I can tell."
"Yeah...'cause, Kuroro's going to have a litter of kittens soon."
Oh! Kuroro's an expecting mom? Oh boy, we really need to step up the search!
I don't let my slight jump in panic show on my face, keeping a calm smile and tone:
"She is? She's going to be okay! I promise I'll help you find her, Koume."
She smiles and nods, and I hop down to the path with her while urging encouragingly,
"Come on. Let's go further into the forest!"
...But just as we ready to continue along, the wind starts to pick up in an unnaturally fast pace, making the leaves and branches on the top of the trees shake wildly! I knew from an instant that the cause wasn't one of the good kind:
"I-I don't like the looks of that..."
...That's when a large could of black smoke came flying down from the sky, and struck the ground in a bright red light!
Uh! A demon?!
When the light dies away, it leaves behind a huge swarm of rats! Koume shrieks, and I quickly use my own powers to distract the vermin:
"Fox Magic: Spinning Top!"
(Pop, spin...)
My illusion does its work, spiraling on top of the rats and scaring them, giving me enough time to get Koume to hop onto my back.
"Here! Hang onto me!"
She climbs on just as my magic exhausts out, and I start leaping up the rocky slope of the mountain:
"We have to get to higher ground!"
Oooh man, if only I could warn Inuyasha and the others about this!
No POV
While Shippo took Koume to a safer locale away from the rat horde, we cut briefly to a path on top a knoll overlooking the village just as three men return home, only to spot something approaching over the flooded rice fields.
"Huh? What's over there?"
Getting a closer look, we see that it's the swarm of rodents that appeared just a few moments ago, the size being much larger than previously thought!
"Uh! Rats! A huge army of rats!"
The three hurry to warn the rest of the people of the army of pests closing in...
Not too far away from the village, stood a large Buddhist Temple, and a monk was making his rounds in the outside corridors, when his ears pick up on a squeaking sound coming from one of the rooms.
"Hm? What's this?"
He slides open the door, and gasps, finding several dozen rats nibbling their sharp teeth on some scrolls, climbing all over the floors, walls and even the bronze Buddha statue set up inside!
"Rats! W-What's going on here?! The Scared Scroll!"
The ones chewing on the rolled paper turn their eyes to the horrified monk, their irises flashing red...
We now check in with the 'faith healer' inside the shrine he was housing in, as he uses a mystic mirror set up on the altar to watch as the rats he summoned eat away at the bales of grain in a storeroom, and lets out a laugh.
"Foolish villagers! Not a sign of the frightful twin-tail in the village! While the cat's away, the rats will play, and devour everything in sight!"
The mirror flashes away the second sight, and looking in its reflection, we see that the true guise of the faith healer is actually a giant, gray-furred rat demon!
Shippo's POV
It's been close to twenty minutes since I started my run with Koume riding on my back, but the rats were still chasing us, and my stamina was beginning to wear off...
A few of the pests catch with me and bite on my legs, making me wince:
I can't go much further...!
...Suddenly, a twin-tailed cat demon dashes out from the bushes and lands on the path between me and the rats!
"It's Kilala!" Koume corrects me:
"Kuroro! It's Kuroro!"
...Oh, right! Kilala doesn't have as much black fur as this one does!
"Your cat has two tails also."
"Oh, you came for me!"
Kuroro nods her head at Koume, before her body wraps itself in a faint red glow, and she springs forward at the rats, killing them with stealthy speed!
Whoa! She's fast!
Once most of the rats were dead, with some scampering off in the opposite direction like the cowards they were, Kuroro walks over to us, stares, then motions us to follow her...
No POV
At the same time Shippo and Koume received help from Kuroro, the rest of the Inuyasha group had finally reached the shrine outside the village, only to find access blocked by a green-shaded domed barrier!
"Shoot..."
"Just as we thought: The Demonic Aura's created a barrier." Sango adds after Miroku,
"Which means that the faith healer is a demon in disguise!"
Inuyasha grins and remarks,
"Well I ain't standin' for that: I'll break through that stinkin' barrier!"
He then pulls out his Tessaiga at the ready, and leaps up high to swing the blade down hard on the barrier:
"Tessaiga!"
The fang blade wraps itself in static, before melding over in the blood-shaded colour completely, just as Inuyasha slices down on the green dome.
(Slash)
The energies collide, with the Tessaiga coming out as victor, and the barrier dome rippling out of existence!
"Heh. That should do it...Huh?"
Suddenly, the grounds begin to rumble, and the whole shrine collapses, the giant rat demon emerging out of the rubble with a cackle! Inuyasha scoffs,
"Finally show yourself, huh, Rat Demon?"
"Hnh, I see that you're actually a half-demon. How dare you, a half-demon, defy the great Lord Tesso!"
"I'll show ya how!"
Kilala then rushes forward to Inuyasha's left and shifts into her true form, growling fiercely at Tesso and making him nervous.
"(Gasp) A feline!"
Miroku comments,
"Hey, he may be large, but he still fears cats..." Freeman turns to Besa and says,
"You called it, bro: Swindler with a cat complex." Coraline remarks,
"This would explain his reason for fearing the cat that the children loved: Big or not, he's still cat bait!"
Inuyasha smirks and exclaims,
"That's all the information I need: I'm takin' you down, rat!"
(Leap)
"Wind Scar!"
(SLASH)
The three-clawed attack hits Tesso dead-on, making him shriek in pain as his body is sliced into pieces!
"Ha! Should'a known he was all nothin' but talk!"
...But just as Inuyasha made that boast, the pieces of flesh suddenly form back together and morph into Tesso, alive and well! The rat demon laughs and jeers,
"Is that the extent of your so-called power, half-demon?" The dog demon mutters to himself,
"The Wind Scar won't work on him..."
"What's wrong? Paralyzed with fear?"
"Hardly!"
But just as Inuyasha makes the move to run forward and try his Wind Scar again, Miroku stops him and warns,
"Wait, don't be a fool: That's not the demon's true appearance."
"It's not?" The monk nods and explains in a low tone,
"I'm fairly certain that he's created from the Demonic Aura of the other rats. A sword will pass through without doing any damage."
"Huh. Then what do we do?"
"I can handle this...My Wind Tunnel should take care of that rat instantly!"
But just as Miroku readies to unleash the power of his cursed hand, Tesso's body dissipates into a cloud of red fumes!
"What happened?!"
A strong wind carries the fumes away, leaving nothing behind except the shattered remains of the shrine...
"He completely disappeared...!"
"He escaped!"
The twins comment after Sango and Miroku,
"Tch, seriously?!"
"Talk about playing chicken!"
Coraline hms and casts narrowed eyes back in the direction of the village:
"The fight's not over yet...Lumos?"
The Will O' Wisp pops out of her satchel pocket and hovers to meet her eye-level, as she politely requests,
"Please help us find the Demonic Aura's trail."
Lumos 'nods' and floats over to the wreckage of the shrine, his body emitting a soft in and out white-blue glow...before he takes off at a steady pace back to the village. Coraline motions the rest to follow:
"He's got a beat on him; let's go!"
Shippo's POV
Koume and I follow the twin-tailed cat demon further up the mountain forest, to an area where the trees thinned to leave room for large rock formations to spike out from the ground...
"(Pant, pant) Kuroro, where are, ya tryin' to lead us to?"
She doesn't really give a straight answer, instead motioning us to come inside a small cave...We do, and come across a really cute sight: Three little kittens sitting on some straw!
"Kuroro! Your kittens are safe!" I smile and think to myself,
Guess they must've been born early...
Koume and I move closer, kneeling by the kittens and Kuroro:
"That's great!"
"(Nod) Let's go back to the village."
Koume takes out the bell collar and attaches it around Kuroro while adding,
"We never have to be apart again, Kuroro!"
...But just as we all get ready to leave the cave, I sensed a dark energy approaching fast, as did Kuroro.
"(Hiss)"
"A Demonic Aura!"
The cat demon then yowls angrily and runs out of the cave, prompting Koume to try and follow:
"Kuroro!" I stop her and tell her seriously,
"You can't go out there, Koume! It's way too dangerous!"
"But, I..."
"Kuroro can handle whatever's out there. She wants to protect these kittens!"
Koume looks down at the three babies in her arms...and nods, while I added in my head,
And I'll do what I can to keep us out of harm's way too.
No POV
Just as Kuroro dashes outside the cave to stand against the source of trouble coming their way, the cloud of black fumes cloaked with red energy manifests into the rocky clearing.
"I found her!"
It shoots to the ground, and reforms into Tesso the Rat Demon. Kuroro moves closer on the offense and hisses at him, while he shouts,
"You! Why must you keep interfering?!"
Using his large tail, Tesso slaps the twin-tailed cat demon into the rocky face of the mountain next to the mouth of the cave...Inside, Shippo and Koume's ears pick up on the ruckus ensuing outside, and the fox demon says to the young girl in a whisper,
"Koume, stay here and don't move a muscle."
"Shippo!"
He rushes to the cave entrance to see what was going on, and spots the injured cat demon:
"...Kuroro."
She struggles to get back on her paws, her resilience making Tesso infuriated:
"Persistent creature! Now you die!"
He flings his tail at Kuroro again, but this time she was ready for the attack, and she hops up onto the appendage before biting it hard with her sharp teeth!
"Daaaaah! Release me! Gaaaah!"
Kuroro lets go after being shook around a bit, before shooting down from midair and claws Tesso across his face:
(Slash)
Shippo praises from his spot by the cave entrance,
"Good work, Kuroro!" The rat demon curses, his face now scarred by the cat demon,
"Damn! Feel my magic rat power!"
He then opens his jaws and spits out a beam of pink energy, splitting the ground and upturning the rock face of the mountain right above the cave!
"Oh no!"
Shippo ducks back into the cave and helps Koume shield the kittens from the dust and falling rubble, until the cave opening was completely blocked off by large rocks...
Once the shaking stopped, the fox demon sits back up and checks on the young girl:
"Are you alright?"
She sat up with the kittens still in her arms, they too being okay, and replies,
"I'm fine, but it looks like the entrance has been sealed."
Shippo stands and proclaims with a reassuring smile,
"Don't worry, Koume! (Pats his chest) I'll find a way to get us out of here!"
He licks one of his fingers to test for wind current to figure out which way to start digging...
"Ah! (Points to his right) The exit has to be over here!"
At that, the fox demon started scooping handfuls of rocks away, determined to get himself, Koume and the kittens to safety...At one point, his finger catches on a sharp flint, forcing him to pull back with a wince:
"Gh!"
"Shippo!"
Koume quickly kneels by his side with a concerned expression:
"Are you alright?"
She then takes his digit into her mouth to suck out the flint, causing the young fox demon's face to flush a little. Once the task was done, Koume then rips a small piece of fabric off of her kimono to use as a makeshift bandage for his finger. As this was going on, the kittens mewled and cuddled up to one another...
"Does it hurt?"
Shippo smiles and shakes his head at Koume:
"You don't have to worry about me. I'm immortal!"
At that, he gets back to work on digging their way out of the cave...
Coraline's POV
We followed at a steady pace behind Lumos as we reentered the village, trying to figure out where that rat demon, Tesso vanished to. Inuyasha comments aloud in irritation,
"That damn rat. I bet we scared him and he took off and escaped from the village."
"Not likely. I doubt he'd abandoned the village after he went through all that trouble to get rid of the cat..."
I nodded in agreement with Miroku:
"Yes, and Lumos hasn't stopped yet since he searched for the demon's Aura. The vermin is close."
I hear my brother Freeman half-joke to Besa,
"Gee, bro, we came back from a rat job only to get roped into another one."
That earned him a light smack in the back of his head:
"Ouch!"
"Wait until after the faker's taken down before you start crackin' jokes, thank you."
"Fine, fine..."
Just as we make it more than halfway down the path cutting through the flooded rice fields, we all stop when our eyes and ears catch three of the men from the village heading in the opposite direction with torches in their hands.
"Kuroro!"
"It's that twin-tail; she's back again!"
It would be those shouts that made my Will O' Wisp companion stop, before he whirled around and started darting after them.
"Oh! Lumos?...Looks like we're changing course, guys. Come on!"
We head back towards the forest outside the village heading up a mountain, and notice several villagers have already begun searching for the twin-tailed cat demon, Kuroro, their flamed torches casting spooky orange glows in the shadows of the trees.
"Where is she?"
"Flush her out!" "Don't let her escape!"
"Show yourself, twin-tail!"
We stop for a moment, and Freeman puts his hands on his hips while commenting on the agitated shouts of the search party.
"Hmph, you'd think they would've realized by now that the cat's not to blame..."
(...Rustle, jingle-jingle)
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a cat demon who bore similarities to Kilala (though with a bit more black fur) comes walking out of the bushes near us, looking a bit worse for wear, but was also wearing that bell ribbon that was in Shippo's possession not too long ago!
"Is that...?"
"That's the collar Shippo was holding before!" Miroku ponders after Inuyasha,
"Is this the cat the villagers were talking about before?" Besa replies in a sure tone,
"Yes. This has to be Kuroro."
She mews at us weakly and wobbles a bit on the spot, making me frown sympathetically:
"Poor girl. Must've gotten in a recent squabble."
Lumos floats past me and hovers by the cat demon while moaning in concern, but she just turns around and starts walking back the way she came, motioning with her front paw for us to follow, which Sango would note.
"That cat wants us to follow it. I think it wants to take us somewhere."
Nodding, I call out softly,
"Lumos. Lend our new friend a hand."
He 'nods' as he kept bobbing along with Kuroro, and moves so he was hovering over her body before releasing a small burst of his energy to the cat demon.
(Twinkle...)
Some of her injuries heal over, and her next mew came out more easily and a little stronger than before, before she started to up her speed. We all start following after the two, myself smiling at my partner's kind act, which quickly shifted into a concerned frown.
If Kuroro came to us looking this battered, then Shippo must be in trouble too.
He's a capable boy, no doubt...but still...Please be alright, Shippo.
Shippo's POV
Come on, come on, I gotta be close to the outside by now...!
I kept digging as fast as I could, ignoring the strain in my muscles and hands, while Koume moved to lay against the wall of the cave with the kittens in her lap, she becoming weakened by the shrinking amount of oxygen in this closed space.
"Hah, hah...I can't breathe...no air...I'm losing air..."
I pause for a second and urge her to stay positive:
"I think I'm almost to the other side! Hold tight, Koume!"
I get back to work, as she replies a bit tiredly but assuredly,
"Okay...I'm, alright..."
(Scoop, scoop, scoop...)
"Just a bit, more! I'm, almost there! Hold tight, Koume! I'm almost there!"
Come on, outside, come on! Show yourself!
After a couple more minutes, I finally broke through the major rock, and stumbled onto the dust cover:
"Gah!"
(Crumble...)
Once it cleared away, I could see the outside, making me grin widely:
"I did it! (Looks back) Koume, we're through!"
She smiles at me and nods, a bit too winded to speak. I help her sit a bit closer to the new opening so she could get some air (and the kittens too), before moving to see if the coast is clear.
Alright. Let's see if that rat is still hanging arou-Doh!
I'd cut my thoughts off with wide eyes when I saw that the demon was looming right at the entrance way of the cave!
"(Laugh) A young little demon? Out of my way! I know there's a human child inside that cave. Move and let me devour her!"
He wants to eat Koume?! Not while I'm breathin'!
I glare hard at the rat demon before making my charge:
"Not this time!"
"Move, you little pest!"
(Crash...)
I leaped up in the air to dodge the rat demon's fist, it connecting with the ground, and as I flew through the air, I notice that his face was intact.
The scratch he got from Kuroro has vanished!
But I should've also paid attention to his tail, for it suddenly came swinging in my direction!
Oh no!
"Hrrrah!"
(Slash)
Luckily for me, that was when one my friends came in to help me with his own claws:
Inuyasha!
We land back on the ground, and Inuyasha readies his sword while scoffing in disgust at the rat demon:
"Huh, eatin' a human child to increase your own demonic power. How repulsive can you get?!"
"Silence, you! Have you forgotten your half-demon tricks don't work on me?"
His body then glows in a red demonic aura, before his tail morphs back whole again! I then remark as the others arrived to lend a hand,
"He's an illusion! He doesn't have the scratch!" Miroku caught onto where I was going:
"An illusion? Now it all makes sense..."
He then pulls out one of his magic sutras:
"This should work."
He channels some of his spiritual power into the paper, before shooting it into the air, and it flies up to the top of the cave where another rock was, plastering onto it and revealing another cloud of those black fumes!
That's gotta be the real rat demon!
Miroku then says to Inuyasha,
"Inuyasha, behind him: Aim for that rock there!" The illusion forms a horrified expression:
"What?! No!"
"So that's where you've hidden your true self! Wind Scar!"
(SLASH)
The clawed attack shoots straight for the rock and blows it apart, revealing the real rat demon, who gets hit full-blast by the sword's energies and shrieks in pain and horror as he's destroyed instantly, which also cancels out his giant illusion...!
Coraline smiles and exclaims,
"He did it!"
Freeman high-fives with me, grinning widely like I was, before attention was turned to Kuroro as she collapsed.
Uh oh. She must've exhausted herself out getting back here...
"Kuroro?"
"Uh?"
It was then Koume comes running out of the cave with Kuroro's kittens in her arms, and stops to kneel in front of the cat demon with concern.
"Kuroro..."
She sets the kittens down to pick up Kuroro, and Miroku says to her gently,
"You should be proud: Kuroro is extremely brave. She ignored her injuries to lead us to you two."
"Kuroro...Thank you so much, Kuroro."
Koume hugs the cat demon to her with a sad frown, making me frown a little bit too:
"Koume..."
"Don't worry."
"Hm?"
Freeman and Besa then kneel by Koume, and the second says to her with a reassuring smile,
"If you'll allow us, we have these special crystals (gestures to his wrist) that have the power of healing. My brother and I can relieve a good deal of Kuroro's injuries."
"(Soft gasp) Really?"
"Mhm...What do you say, Kuroro?"
She mews at Besa with a slight nod, giving him and Freeman permission to assist, so Koume holds the cat demon out a little, and the twins hover their Seven Light Shards over her body...before:
(Sheen...) (Sheen...)
The crystal pieces emit that soft rainbow light, which spreads onto Kuroro's body, and erases almost all signs that indicated injury, save a bit of scuffing in her fur! Once it was done, Freeman and Besa pull their wrists back as Kuroro lets out a more relieved mewl of content, making Koume smile broadly with a giggle in her breath before she hugged the cat demon close to her, making me smile too.
Everything's gonna be okay...
Time Skip, No POV
Come the next morning sunrise, our group would begin exiting out of the village, the people seeing them off with grateful smiles and waves.
"Thank you very much!" "We will never forget you!"
"You saved us!" "Goodbye!"
...Shippo glances back at the village once, and sends the following message through his thoughts:
Take care, Koume...
We check in on the young girl at her hut which sat just a bit outside the rest of the village homes near the forest entrance, as she opens the door to see to Kuroro's kittens.
(Slide)
"Come on, kitties. Time for something to eat."
Standing near her was the twin-tailed cat demon mother, whom thanks to the healing energies of the Seven Light Shards, looked alot better than she did last night. She walks up to her babies, and they immediately began suckling for some milk from their mother, while Koume knelt near with a smile.
"We're going to be together forever...Kuroro."
...We catch up now with the Inuyasha gang as they traveled on their way to elsewhere down a path in an expanse of drier ground outside the forest with few patches of grass spread about, as the dog demon and his mate-to-be praise the fox demon on his efforts.
"Shippo. Looks like you did a good job."
"Koume told us all about you protecting her and Kuroro's kittens."
He crosses his arms proudly with a serious expression and replies,
"Yup, just doin' my job, protecting a woman in trouble."
Freeman smiled with a head shake as Besa comments,
"He keeps growing with each experience like this..."
Miroku says to himself with mild surprise,
"A rescue mission without ulterior motives," prompting Sango to comment with a disapproving frown,
"It's too bad a certain monk doesn't always practice what he preaches..."
As the monk grimaced from the coolness in the slayer's tone, Inuyasha teases to the young fox demon,
"Hey, Shippo~. I'll bet that you were in love with that little human girl."
He of course, tries to deny the suggestion of an innocent crush:
"No way; I was not!"
"You had a thing for her."
"(Hops up) Did not, did not, did not!"
Shippo's eyes began tearing up, his sensitivity starting to reach its full peak, but Inuyasha kept going:
"It must be true, otherwise you wouldn't be so mad!"
"You're wro-ong! Don't, tease me!"
"(Sniggers) Stupid!"
"Oooh~, so what you're sayin' is that Shippo's no different from how you used to get pent up?"
"Huh?"
Both dog and fox demon turn to Freeman, who smirks at the former and adds in his own jeer,
"If I recall, someone used to get rather frazzled whenever someone commented on their crush on Cora, usually by getting really mad and denying it in almost the same fashion Shippo is right now. In other words, way to be a hypocrite, my friend."
"Wh-What?!"
As Inuyasha sputtered, said fox demon broke into a happier smile, frustrated tears forgotten, before he started laughing at the dog demon.
"He's right! You're one to criticize me: Maybe I did like Koume a little, but you have no right to work me up when you used to act the same way!"
"Grh, s-shut up!"
Shippo just kept on laughing, Freeman joining in, as those two started jogging up ahead with the dog demon in pursuit.
"Get back here, you two jokers!"
"Try and make us!" "That's what you get for being the pot that called the kettle black!"
The rest of the group sighed with amused smiles on their faces, and started walking after the three, as Coraline muses to herself,
(Sigh) Boys...