Chapter 114: The Band of Seven (Shichinintai), Resurrected!
Recap:
It's been some time since Inuyasha and company had continued their journey in Edo to find all that remained of the fabled Skikon-no-Tama, as well as track the whereabouts of their greatest enemy, Naraku. From battling a future-born Ninjitsu master descended from the old clans, overcoming their worst imaginings marred within their souls, all the way to erasing the illusions of a woman's spirit that had become as cold as the white powder dusting the highest mountain peaks, they've had but one trial after the other.
Their most recent encounter with danger (indirect though it was), however, would certainly mark among the strange and disturbing.
A being that was neither human, nor demon, but no more than a corpse reanimated from the ground-up! Thankfully, they met their defeat by the capable strength of Kōga the Wolf Demon before it could ravage the Northern Mountains to ruin.
...But was that undead monster truly a one-time deal?
"Sooo, Kyokotsu's dead, huh?"
...Or was their death, merely the starting gun blast of a whole new kind of peril for our heroes spread throughout Edo?
"Haaah, I can't wait...Inuyasha. (Grin) I wonder what colour your blood is..."
Now...
We turn to a new day casting sunny rays across the rich, fertile lands of the Northeast, as our main band of travelers move on in their trek past another village that had very large flooded fields bordering a river on the right side of the path, while tall conifers made up the left.
Today, Coraline was wearing a light blue cropped t-shirt that exposed her stomach (which was slowly gaining muscle tone from all the hard exercise she's getting in her journey), dark blue jeans with a small rip in her right knee, and her black combat boots. She also wore her long red hair in two side braids...Meanwhile, her twin brothers decided to coordinate their clothes, they being onyx tank-tops, green cargo shorts and monochrome high-top sneakers.
...Just as they and everyone else made it halfway past the distant village, something catches the attention of Coraline and her Will O' Wisp partner, Lumos.
"Hm?"
"(Ghostly moan)"
"Yeah, I see them too, bud."
The group stops with the redhead and creature as Inuyasha asks the former,
"What is it?"
"(Point) Over there, soldiers..."
Looking over into the path cutting between the fields and huts, we see several warriors on horseback steadily make their way through. Inuyasha comments with a grim disdain,
"Warriors off to another battle."
Miroku seemed to think otherwise:
"I don't think so: I didn't sense anything of an uprising in this area."
Sango wonders,
"Maybe they're going to subdue some demons or troublemakers."
"Look at them, all geared up. Talk about overkill."
Freeman nods in agreement with the dog demon:
"I'm with him. Those guys look a bit too armed for a simple hiring job...Something's off."
Besa then postulates,
"I'm almost wondering if this might have to do with what Ayame and her pack warned us about yesterday..."
Inuyasha asks him,
"You mean the specter that was devouring everything up in the Northern Mountains?"
"Yeah...I think it might be worth some trouble to walk closer to where the locals are and listen for anything related to the incident. I just...have this gut feeling..."
Miroku nods and replies,
"That's not a bad idea," before they and everyone else begin moving towards another path that connected into the main section of the village...
At the same time, deep within the nearby forest, we see several of the Saimyōshō buzzing along through the air, with Kohaku following close behind from branch to branch using his combat acrobatics...
Moving higher up a tall hill bushed with greenery and camouflaging a shrine-house, we find that same priest and apprentice duo who had briefly encountered the undead Kyokotsu catching their breath near a tall trunk after barely escaping with their lives the night before.
"Hah, hah, hah, that was terrifying...! I thought we were doomed!"
"Kaaaamiiii! That was punishment from Buddha: Now there is no denying the fear that exists deep within your heart."
The apprentice looks at his senior with exasperation, before turning to spot the stairs leading up to the shrine.
"There's a mountain temple up ahead. (Smiles and prays) This a Heaven-sent gift, a variable Heaven in Hell."
The elder priest thought differently:
"Enough! You have a weak heart and you depend too heavily on the help of others, which is why you see such illusions!"
"(Bows guiltily) Yes, master."
"Now then, let us seek some shelter."
As the elder leads them towards the shrine atop the hill, the younger grumbles under his breath,
"Sounds like I'm not the only one who depends on others..."
Coraline's POV
We kept moving down the path before shifting to one that bordered closer to the tended fields and huts of the village as Besa suggested we'd do, and kept our ears open for any tidbits related to what Ayame and her wolves gave warning to back North...
That's when my own hearing picks up on a conversation going on between three men just below the knoll we were walking along the top of.
"I heard that the border patrol was totally annihilated."
"It was terrible, I hear. No man could've done it..."
"Are the rumours true, that the phantoms of the Band of Seven mound have been resurrected?"
Uh! Resurrected from a mound...Dead men from the grave.
I shared a glance with my brothers Freeman and Besa, who nodded with serious expressions that said they heard the words too. Apparently, so did Miroku, who suddenly called to the men and started fast-walking down the knoll for more information.
"Excuse me, gentlemen! Can I speak to you for a moment?"
Inuyasha folds his arms into his sleeves and mutters,
"Hmph, what's he doing?" I turn to him and reply neutrally,
"Not like we were gonna pass without one of us wanting to hear more...Besides, (narrows eyes) I have this sneaking suspicion that the undead creature Ayame's pack fought, along with this new talk, may have connections with our main target of inquiry."
That caught my boyfriend's attention, and his face contorts to reflect a more serious air...A moment later, we were all listening to the three village men who were kind enough to reveal the tale that blankets these lands, if a touch reluctantly.
"Well, there is a temple around here that was built to quiet the souls of the Band of Seven, or to use their original name, the Shichinintai."
Miroku, who was kneeling down with Besa to the one man's eye level, asks,
"And what is the Shichinintai?"
"Their story started over a decade ago. It is believed that they traveled to our territory from somewhere in the East."
One of the older men speaks up next:
"They were ruthless mercenaries, the whole band of them. They served no one lord; instead, they lived as ronin, finding temporary employment in any battle they happened to come across."
"There were only seven of them, but their strength was incredible. They could do the work of a hundred men. And their raids were unnecessarily savage: Those who were slain by the Band of Seven were slashed to pieces, and burned alive."
The man kneeling shudders from an old fear as the third man occupying his left comments,
"The only ones who were capable of such atrocities were ones with a pension for murder."
Hearing such a description...made something inside my heart quiver, as my memories recall a similar cruelty I was forced to witness once before.
...They sound like-
(Flash)
Sounds of gunfire trying to overtake the screeches of many victims...
The stomping boots making the shadow black of the men responsible of this tragedy.
The young me, forced to watch as these monsters shot or slashed the throats of people who did nothing to provoke such terror and brutality.
...Me, wrestling on the ground with one soldier...
The echoing bang of that dreaded gun, the one I'd keep using with the trigger-happy mind of a video game character being controlled by the gamer...
...Sunset's blood-red sky reflecting over the distant River Krishna, a beauty to which I could not absorb into my little body, the one shaking in paranoia and insanity, over what I had done to survive.
(Flash)
I had just come out of that terrible flashback, muscles stiff with tension and my chest aching with an old fear, just as the men reach the closing of their tale, my ears deaf to the rest.
"...They were each beheaded and their bodies were buried."
"Still, the villagers feared they would be cursed, and decided to quiet the seven souls. They eventually erected a tomb at the base of the Sacred Mountain. The Tomb of the Shichinintai."
Sacred Mountain...Mount Hakurei!
My heart calmed slightly as I thought about my conversation with my Soul Sister as Miroku and Besa reply to the men,
"I see."
"We heard you speaking of their Souls being resurrected. Would you mind, explaining what you meant?"
The three men hm among themselves, before the third one obliges:
"It's true: They say that the tombstone split into two...and there was no lightning that day either."
"It's believed that the Seven Souls escaped. Isn't that right?"
The two others nodded to their comrade, leaving us with a growing unease in our own spirits...
Soon, we were on our way again, discussing what we had learned.
"Hmm, wandering spirits..."
"What do you think of the villagers tale, Miroku?" He replies to Sango,
"It's possible that with all of Naraku's evil gone from here, all the ravel have become free and possibly have even resurrected."
"I dunno if they're suppose to be specters or demons..."
Freeman replies to Inuyasha as he recalls Ayame's words,
"It's more than likely they're related to the zombie that was terrorizing the Wolf Demon Tribe...Might've even been one one of the members of that band."
Besa comments with a glared frown,
"The dueling descriptions of destruction certainly fit together well enough for them to be one in the same. The real question we should be wondering, is where are the possible others right now?"
I was only half-listening after catching the word destruction, my blood still feeling a chill after hearing about the Band of Seven's level of cruelty...and how closely it mirrored another mercenary group...
"...You're tensing again."
"H-Huh?"
I snapped out of my descending thoughts to the sound of Inuyasha's voice, and stopped to glance at him to see his amber irises looking me over with a mix of suspicion and concern.
"And there's that expression again, the one you've been makin' in your sleep a couple times since we battled that creep moth demon in that illusionary forest..."
"U-Um, I-um..."
I suddenly found myself unable to speak, and looked down to avoid his eyes...But knowing Inuyasha, he wasn't going to let a subject like this drop, which he'd confirm by lifting my chin with two of his fingers so we were looking at eachother eye-to-eye again, now convinced something was wrong.
"...What's up with you? Did that freak, make you see something you didn't want to see?"
It surprised me how close he was to guessing the right answer...and on that note, I felt that great urge to spill everything, despite how afraid I was to speak about the incident aloud. Taking a deep and slightly shaking breath in, I nod and quietly reply,
"...Yes. I, was forced to pay tribute to one piece of my past, that I've never told anyone about...because I didn't want to look back on it ever again."
The tone in my voice caught everyone's attention, and Inuyasha's fingers drop as his face contorted into confusion.
"What?"
"There's, a part of my journey to Tokyo, that I've never spoken about to anybody...A part that left me in the worst possible state of being for months afterward."
With that, I reluctantly told my friends and lover about what happened in India, from my capture with the surviving villagers, to when I went into an almost psychotic rampage with the dead man's gun to escape the destruction...
By the time I was done, everyone's eyes were as wide as saucers, while my voice had dropped to a dead tone, my blue irises reflecting grimness and a dulled fear.
"The second I pulled that trigger, was when every emotion in my body dived into a panic room to hide. Most of the details are a blur, because my own brain didn't want to believe that I was really, (grit) killing men with no second thought...Once it was all over, I would be standing outside the ruined village, blood on my shaking body, the gun abandoned, and my eyes reflecting craziness. I should've screamed to the heavens in horror over what I had done...but, I couldn't. My insides were as hard as stone..."
Besa chides my name softly in a worried tone, and I looked away with a depressed expression while adding,
"None of the Higurashis know why I seemed so, dead when I first came to live with them and the months afterward...I plan to keep it that way. None of them can know about my horrible act. It's a miracle I can even tell any of you."
"H-How come?"
I reply to Shippo with a bite of bitterness,
"Why else? Because that day opened up a part of me that only spoke of 'kill or be killed' in ways I never want to encounter again."
My fist clenches so hard, my knuckles crack, as I muttered fiercely,
"I never, never want to let that part of me take over my reason again, ever!"
...I felt a clawed hand squeeze my shoulder, and I look up to see Inuyasha looking at me with a sympathetic expression...Neither of us moves for a moment, until he pulls me in for a tight hug, whispering,
"I get it. I, understand."
He, wha-Oh!
...Oh my-of course he'd get it...because he has similar problems with his own inner self.
I just leaned into his hold, burying my face into his fire rat robes...But the moment would be cut short, when I sensed a familiar gem close by.
"Uh!"
Inuyasha pulls back a bit, but doesn't let go of me, and asks,
"What's wrong now?"
"The Shikon-no-Tama...I sense a piece of it near here."
That was when Kilala suddenly hops off of Sango's shoulder without rhyme nor reason, prompting the latter to ask,
"What's the matter; where are you going, Kilala?"
Shippo, he resting in Freeman's arms, was just as curious:
"What's with her? She's sure acting strange..."
The cat demon would then shift into her full form and dashes off ahead of us, to which her partner would do shortly after.
"Uh! Sango!"
She ignores my call and hops onto Kilala's back as they took off for the skies, leaving us all wondering where they were off to...
Sango's POV
"Kilala. Was it, Kohaku's presence that you sensed?"
My companion grunts, indicating a yes, which leaves me to conclude,
He must be somewhere on this mountain...
...My ears then pick up on the sound of a familiar buzzing, and looking ahead-downward from up in the air, I see the familiar image of that loathsome swarm.
"Uh! The Saimyōshō..."
And resting on a treetop branch just a few feet ahead of those insects...was my younger brother!
"Gh! Kohaku!"
I signal Kilala to land on the mossy forest bed below, to which he would jump to stand on opposite of us shortly afterward...I had to fight hard to not tear up at seeing my only living kin once more, while he...he seemed agitated by my presence.
"...Kohaku?"
He backs up slowly, his hand inching towards his kusarigama:
"...Who are you?"
Kohaku still does not remember who I am...
"It's me. Are you still under his control?"
Or...is it like what Coraline said way back when, about his Soul...
(Flash)
"...His light is sending waves against a piece of his darkness, which I believe represents his amnesia...if Kohaku can gather his courage to face the ugliness in his memories...he'll have a chance at life."
"...thanks to Naraku's manipulation, the Light in his Soul is suppressing his darkness, making his Aura...unstable."
"...Unless Kohaku can find a way to face his fears...the Light in his Soul could kill him before Naraku does."
(Flash)
Whatever the case may be, bottom line, Kohaku needs to gather himself and break away from the hold of that bastard's influence, or he may not live for much longer.
...I don't want that. I don't want to lose the last of my kin.
"Rgh, why? Why do I remember your face?!"
Kohaku...
The sight of him wincing in pain from the pounding conflict in his being made my heart clench, but I knew deep inside that my persistence can only do so much, and that the true strength had to come from him willingly.
...But I had little time to worry about that, when he suddenly thrusts the sickle end of his kusarigama at me, which I thankfully dodged in time!
"No, stop!"
Kohaku pulls back his weapon and readies it with a menacing expression:
"...Die."
"Kohaku, you gotta try and wake up! Gh!"
I flipped to the side to dodge again, only to become stuck using my Hiraikotsu as a shield!
"Kohaku!"
My tears could not be held back any longer, and I let them free as the two of us pause our moments, the forest heavy with our shared tension...
Suddenly, both Kohaku and Kilala stiffen, before the former jumps out of sight and the latter hoists me onto her back before taking off to the skies. From up high, I then see the trouble:
"...What is that?"
A smog of poison, perhaps?
...Whatever it is, it forced my brother away from my eyes again.
"...Brother..."
I buried my face into my twin-tailed friend's fur, sadly asking in a mental call,
Oh Kohaku...just how long do you plan on wandering the dark, to avoid the truth of our lives?
Kohaku's POV
I watched as the woman whose face haunts my muddled mind leave the area atop her twin-tailed cat demon ally, a strange feeling of conflict in my heart at seeing her go...
I then turned to address the one responsible for bringing forth this new poison smog with a scolding glare.
"You shouldn't be so careless. You're being watched."
He merely shook his shoulders with a chuckle, before he retorts,
"You were taking far too long, so we came instead...Fuh, that woman: Did you know her?"
I don't reply verbally, choosing instead to answer mentally while watching said person's form shrink into the distant skies,
...No...and, yes.
Something in me, doesn't want me to know her...because of something attached.
Small Time Skip, No POV
We now turn overhead a valley cutting through the green grassy hills bordering the backs of the tree trunks making the fencing forests, one side making a cliff edge and the other a large knoll.
Walking leisurely along the path cutting straight down the middle, was Jakotsu, who would soon meet the eyes of the company of soldiers from before riding up fast from the opposite direction...
"...Hm? Hey, you: Make way and get off the path at once!"
The man who reflected femininity only looks up with a carelessly lazy expression, prompting the leader of the soldiers to call with annoyance,
"Men, stop your horses!"
...Once they slowed, the men on horseback get a better look over Jakotsu, whom we see had the left side of his purple kimono pulled up to his thigh, his scarf around his shoulders like a shawl, the butterfly hair pin holding his black hair up in an up-do style, and was carrying a rather dangerous-looking long sword over his right shoulder. He sends a somewhat polite and causal smile to the company and asks,
"Did you say something to me, warrior?"
The general in turn asks a bit perplexed,
"What manner of being are you? Your appearance is strange..."
"You better be careful if you're going on ahead: I hear a frightening specter is in the area."
"Spare us your warnings, stranger! We're here to slay it."
Jakotsu laughs a bit and comments,
"I assume you have no idea what the specter looks like, do you?"
The general asks suspiciously,
"Meaning what? Do you know its appearance?"
The other man's laugh drops to a menacing level, before he replies with a sneer,
"Of course I do, for I am the phantom you seek!"
Both riders and mares would become spooked by Jakotsu's reveal, before the general shakes his fear off long enough to order,
"Gun battalion: To the front!"
His men don't hesitate in meeting the command, and quickly form a squatted front line with the barrels of their Matchlock Guns raised...The specter cocks his head in curiousity:
"Hm? What are those?"
"A specter over a decade old wouldn't be familiar with this new kind of weapon!...Fire!"
The popped bang of the guns echo into the air, and one bullet lands in Jakotsu's shoulder.
"Uh!"
...Moving back to the roadside bordering between the forest and valley, Inuyasha and company were still waiting for Sango and Kilala to return, when they hear the distant echo of the guns from the soldiers.
"Hm?" "Uh!"
"Was that...?"
Shippo asks with rising nerves,
"U-Uh...Did you hear that? What were those strange popping sounds?"
Coraline's eyes narrow in suspicion:
"I might be wrong...but that sounded similar to gunfire."
Inuyasha tenses, recalling the last time he heard similar sounds and their source.
"Gunfire?...As in the weapons those Trinity bastards wield?"
"Yes, but it's definitely not them."
Eyes fall on Besa, who notes in a matter-of-fact fashion,
"It's been long enough that we can safely assume Trinity won't be making any beelines to come after us again...On another note, most of their guns were built with silencers to cut down on the boom from the trigger fire and make knowing where the bullets were coming from more difficult. What we just heard was too loud...and a bit sloppy. It's more likely we just heard the first echoes of the Matchlock Guns."
Miroku asks,
"Matchlock Guns?" Freeman explains,
"Yeah, it's a type of weapon that was traded to Japan and India around this time period by the Portuguese. They're the early, crappy-compared-to-later versions of what you guys have seen as guns. Takes the patience and concentration of a saint to deal with the pain-in-the-ass load and fire process...Still, the Matchlock Gun, will soon change the very nature of human-fought wars well into the few centuries to come..."
...It certainly came as a surprise to the undead man in purple, who we turn our view back to as he reaches his right hand to touch his wounded left shoulder, staining the tip with crimson...He stares at his reddened finger for a moment, before licking away his blood and curves his lips into a smirk.
"Ah, now I understand: This is the Matchlock Gun I've heard so much about."
The general was taken aback by Jakotsu's nonchalant tone, before he glares and orders the next line of soldiers at ready.
"Retched spirit! Drrh! Second battalion: To the front!"
The first battalion steps down to make way for the next line of barrels at ready, making the specter smile in amusement.
"Don't tell me you're gonna try that again...Alright, if it's a fight you want..."
He reaches to pull out his long blade:
"Fine!"
(Thrust, SLICE)
The metal of the zombie's weapon billows over like a wave from an ocean of razors, killing the line of soldiers instantly, their outcries ringing through the air!
...And the scent of their blood would be caught by Inuyasha's sensitive nose.
"Uh!"
Freeman asks,
"What's wrong, man?"
The dog demon leaps up onto a tree branch with glaring eyes directed towards where the group heard the gunshots from, before answering,
"...I smell human blood."
Everyone tenses, and Miroku asks,
"Human?"
"Yeah, and not just from a handful of people either."
Inuyasha then leaps on ahead, convinced something wasn't right, just as Lumos pops out of Coraline's satchel while calling out warning moans, his orbed presence glowing in and out red/blue...
Meanwhile, those soldiers who still lived after Jakotsu's attack were in shock from the ease of the latter's assault.
"Impossible. How could he have slain so many men from that distance?!"
The general gazes over the fallen bodies of his fellow men, before turning eyes to the one responsible for their deaths, their blade dripping with blood.
"This brings back such fond memories of the past..."
"Rrrrgh! Get a hold of yourselves; do not fear! Surround the phantom!"
Though the air hung with slight hesitance, the desire to get revenge for their fallen comrades was stronger, and the soldiers do as their leader ordered, forming a large circle around Jakotsu with spears pointed at ready.
"He's using some kind of strange magic!"
The zombie laughs and retorts back,
"Nice try, but I don't use any such thing. (Smirk) I didn't then...and I don't now!"
(Swing)
Inuyasha's POV
I ran on ahead of the others to find the source of that strong surge of human blood, when my senses picked up on something else.
"Huh?"
This scent...It's weak, but it's so familiar...
...That's it: The smell of graveyard soil!
Once I reached the valley where the scents interlinked, I hopped onto the main road...only to become taken aback by the sight before my eyes.
"Uh!"
I barely had time to fully register what I was seeing, when everyone else caught up with me. Coraline calls,
"What'd you see? How bad is it?"
Worried more for her safety (mate instincts to blame on that), I whirled around and called in return,
"Stay back!"
She heeded my warning, and slowed to a stop a couple feet back from where I was, along with Besa who had Shippo on his shoulder, while Miroku and Freeman moved to stand with me on either side, and Lumos was hovering between all of us on alert.
Making note that my intended was standing a good enough distance from the new danger, I focused back up front to what had me on edge: An entire circle of soldiers (the same ones we saw in that village a while ago), all dead with only one person squatting in the middle while examining one of what I'm assuming is those Matchlock Guns Besa was talking about earlier.
"Hmm, this is unusual. I'll take it back to brother Renkotsu..."
Miroku and Freeman note,
"Those were the warriors we spotted at the crossroads."
"And they're carrying the Matchlocks...Looks like they didn't work, though."
I hear the sound of metal scraping sheath and holsters, and glance over to see Coraline and Besa (the kid still on his shoulder) approach closer to us, their weapons out in a defensive manner.
"How could they have been all killed by just one?"
"Keep in mind what we've seen before, sis: The idea of one person taking down more than a dozen isn't really impossible anymore."
"Fair point. (Squeezes the hilt of her sword) All the more reason to have ShatterSoul at ready."
On that note, the said source of trouble picks up on our presence, and rises to his feet to face us.
"Hauh! Are you the one I'm searching for? (Excited smile) Are you Inuyasha?"
He knows me?
"I've never met you before; how'd you know my name?"
His next reaction...was not one I'd ever, and I mean, ever expect from an enemy.
"Auh, you're adorable!"
"What?!"
"I especially love those fuzzy ears of yours...I want them."
The licking of his lips definitely sent a small shiver of the creeps down my spine...
Who is he; what does he want?
"Just who are you and whadda you want? You don't smell like a living person; you reek like corpses and graveyard soil!"
My ears catch the sound of my intended, Besa and Freeman grit their teeth in realization, Shippo shiver a bit in fear, and Lumos moaning in warning. Miroku then asks me,
"Inuyasha...could he be...?"
"Yeah. Some villagers were talkin': They said some disgusting specter rose up from the grave! That'd be you, I presume?"
"They told us of a group of seven mercenaries who loved to kill..."
Besa adds after Miroku in a tone that was also getting fired up,
"Their atrocities were so great that it costed them their lives by beheading...You. (Points ahead) Are you a member of the Band of Seven?"
The guy just looked between the monk and twin with cornrow hair in silence, prompting them to call in a stern unison,
"Answer us!"
...The specter smiles before replying,
"Inuyasha is handsome, but you're pretty sexy yourself, monk. (Glances at Besa) And you, dear boy, are quite the dark beauty."
...Once again, I briefly lost my ability to respond, as did Miroku and Besa...until the monk suddenly asks in an irked tone while inching to his cursed hand,
"Nobody minds if I suck him up, do I?"
Me and Besa reply with deadpans,
"...No." "By all means."
That was when Freeman bursts into muffled chuckles while holding his sides, and the three of us turn to glare at him while I ask,
"What the heck are you laughin' at?"
"Sorry, sorry, I know, bad time, but, your reactions to a gay guy's compliments are hilarious, gehehaha!"
Gay?...Oooooooh.
...Well, that kind-a doesn't help, but does explain some of this creep's personality. Emphasis on 'some'...
A look of understanding washes over Miroku and Besa as well, before the other twin suddenly calls out with a wry smile,
"Gotta say, much as I hate the fact you're a stone-cold killer, I do love your confidence to flirt!"
Coraline and Shippo whack him on the sides of his head:
"Freeman!" "Why?!"
"What? What'd I say?"
The zombie was a bit taken aback by Freeman's careless comment (or at least I think it's pretty dumb to compliment an enemy), and a swear I saw a dust of pink on his cheeks before he smiled and called back,
"Thanks, and you're not so bad yourself, stud!"
Aw geez...
Thankfully, my girl got us all back on track when she suddenly says,
"Wait, Miroku, don't use the Wind Tunnel: That undead menace has a shard of the Shikon-no-Tama!"
We look to her in surprise, before focusing back on him as she adds,
"It's possible the shard is providing him a life force energy."
"Makes sense. Who gave you the Shikon-no-Tama shard?"
He doesn't answer my question, instead commenting with that stupid smile of his,
"Mmm, you know, you're cute when you're angry."
"Shut up!"
I leaped closer to where he was, and prepare to start a fight incase a more aggressive approach doesn't get this guy in the mood to spill his guts.
"Okay, dead man!"
I pull out my Tessaiga for emphasis:
"Start talkin' to me and I want all the details!"
"Ooh, that's an interesting sword you have, Inuyasha..."
He swings his own blade a few times in a sizing manner before positioning it at the ready with the blade tipped straight down, a more serious smirk on his face.
"Which is stronger, though: My sword or yours?!"
Next thing I knew, a strange bend of sharp metal comes flying at me, leaving me little time to use my own sword to block the other!
"Grh!"
What in the name of kami-?!
I hear Coraline call my name, with Miroku warning she and everyone else,
"We must stay back; it's some kind of trick sword!"
The bastard behind the trickery pulls back his sword with a chuckle, while I think to myself,
I knew there was somethin' strange about him: Those soldiers looked awfully weird for being dead.
He got them in the first strike...He didn't even give them the chance to block the attack.
I figured there'd be something tricky about his assault...
It's his sword!
Speaking of, the specter thrusts his blade at me again, and one of the blades bends to cut me across the arm!
"Inuyasha!"
"Holy crap!" "Did you see that?!"
"It's a bending sword!"
He in turn curves his lips into a smirk and replies back to our surprised expressions,
"So tell me, Inuyasha: What do you think of Jakotsu of the Band of Seven, huh?!"
"Not too much!"
Using my Tessaiga, I clash against he, Jakotsu's blade to stop it...only to find out that his weapon, was made of a series of connected curved blades, riveted by their tips so it bends! He tries to attack me twice more, and because it was so fast, I was just barely able to scramble back from its path...Miroku comments in an exclaim,
"It comes right back even if he repels it!"
Coraline adds in her own characterization,
"It's like a sword tribute to a cobra!"
This guy really had me testing the limits of my speed, continuously sending attack after attack my way with little windows of time between for me to leap back to safety...
"Keep running~!"
Damn!
"Isn't this fun?"
For who?!
Just when it looked like one of the strikes from Jakotsu would get me at ground-level...
"Inuyasha!"
(Swing, crack-RUMBLE...)
Freeman came to the rescue with his long hammer and threw down one of his upturn shots through the underground to block the bending blades with a geyser line of dirt and rock!
"Uh! Freeman!"
The dust cloud created falls over the area to reveal his form standing a few feet away from mine, panting a bit while sending a glare at Jakotsu, who retracts his odd sword while gazing at the other in surprise from his interference.
"Huh, that was unexpected...Hehah, yet it only makes me all the more thrilled! The fear for your friend's life is exciting to see on you, stud!"
This time, Freeman had his head on straight and grimaced from the comment before retorting back fiercely,
"Like hell I'm gonna let a zombie freak me out! Hit me with your best shot!"
"Gladly! I wanna see more fear from you!"
Jakotsu then swings his sword straight at Freeman, prompting the rest of us to call his name with worry as I rush to get him out of the way.
No!
"Hiraikotsu!"
(Spin...TOK-tok-tok-tok-tok, thwump)
Luckily, a certain someone else was faster than I was, and that familiar giant boomerang comes crashing in to tangle with the bending sword!
"Inuyasha! Freeman!"
I turn around and look up to see that slayer and Kilala come to land between me and Freeman.
About damn time she got back...
She turns to address the one who was nearly skewered:
"Freeman, are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks to your fast thinkin'. You saved my hide."
Of course, what we didn't expect, was how pissed the zombie man would get from her jump into battle.
"That, wench...! Hrrrah!"
He tossed Hiraikotsu right back at her from the tangled blades, which she'd barely dodge to the side from save her wrist that got cut by part of that damn sword. Retracting it back, he then spits with rage,
"Stay out of this, you vile, despicable woman; no one interferes with me, Inuyasha and Freeman!"
Okay, I've heard enough of this noise.
Acting quick, I leaped in front of the undead freak to suckerpunch him in the side of his face.
(WHACK)
"UH!"
"I'm sick of listening to your pointless babble!"
And to my mild surprise, that move was quickly followed by Freeman who rushes to swing the blunt end of his weapon into the guy's torso.
(WHAM)
"GAH!"
"What he said! And nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it!"
Jakotsu barely recovers in a slide back on his feet, landing in a crouch while rubbing the new bruises on his face and between his chest and stomach.
"Mmh...oh my, that was cruel."
"Oh get over it, and tell where you got the Shikon-no-Tama shard before I seriously have to hurt ya."
Freeman moves to stand right beside me while holding his hammer over his shoulder before adding,
"He's not kidding, either: That was him restraining himself. (Narrows eyes) By the way, any shred of mercy I might've considered havin' for you went straight out the window when you tried to kill my two friends, so prepare yourself, bucko."
Huh. Wow: He almost sounds as serious as his brother now.
Speaking of, I catch his voice after the others as their footsteps crowd around the returning slayer.
"Are you alright?!" "Sango!"
"You're bleeding!"
"Hold your wrist out to me and I'll heal the cut over, Sango."
Feeling that faint wave beat, she must've allowed him to use his Seven Light shard, even though she assures everyone,
"It's just a graze...but something tells me that the shard was from Naraku."
Naraku?!
Everyone else gasped before Sango added a bit sadly,
"Earlier, when you sensed the Shikon-no-Tama...it was Kohaku...I, saw the Saimyōshō were near him as well."
"Meaning that he is still under Naraku's spell."
She hms in confirmation to the monk, and my intended chided Sango's name, while I growled lowly at the thought of that bastard whose schemes have been driving us all to the brink...
No POV
As Inuyasha and Freeman continued to glare at Jakotsu with a new air after Sango's reported theory, the zombie in turn would smile slightly with an adoring blush on his cheeks, causing the former to mutter,
"Filthy vermin."
"No arguments, dude."
...Unbeknownst to either parties, the scene was being overlooked by another from atop the grassy knoll side of the valley, they being that figure who released the smog in the forest earlier. They were short and pudgy, wearing a full-bodied white cloak and mask that covered him save his eyes, his back carrying a basket filled with assorted jars of mystery items that could only be guessed for ill intentions.
"Excellent. He's at it again...Jakotsu hasn't changed one bit."
The figure lets out a throaty chuckle, his irises gleaming yellow...