Twisted Well
An Inu-Yasha / Sorcerer Hunter fan fiction by Iapetus
Standard disclaimer: insert here + I only claim ownership to my Original Characters and places. Everything else doesn't belong to me.
Thank you for reminding me that there are still readers out there who want to find out what happens next. I appreciate it. And, as you requested, here is the next chapter.
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Chapter 14: On the Spot
Maye's mind was reeling. The Sorcerer Hunters were here - she'd be able to keep her promise to Chili. Thoroughly exhausted from the battle, she longed for some repast. It wouldn't come, however. They needed to get going back home. Who knew what the Count might have done in her absence?
Glancing back, she saw the two dominatrixes chasing the boy who had asked her to have sex with him. Well, one of them. The other one was now sporting several large welts on his head, yet looked perfectly happy. The girl with the large boomerang sat a distance away from him, still irked by his actions. The half-demon was arguing with the oddly dressed girl, and the rest were looking on in either amusement or embarrassment.
The Legendary Sorcerer Hunters were human too. It comforted her, knowing that there were others in her predicament. Sometimes, you couldn't be human in order to do your job. In her case, she had to rise above it, and stand as an example to her people. With them, they either rose or sank; it depended on what they had to do. But, who was she to question the logic of God?
She reached the tree where her bow and flowers were, and sighed with relief. The snake had not seemed to notice that she was hiding something - it was too concentrated on killing her. Basil and the girl Tira had restored the field to how it looked approximately, the trenches could not be filled in. Yet, around this tree, there were none to speak of, so she knew that the tree had not been disturbed.
She hoisted herself into the tree, and felt her body's tension leave. It was how all the Juune children calmed down - when stressed, climb a tree. Even the prim and proper Dicimbrina would join them, though she scorned most of such actions as "childish." Her mother had approved of her daughters doing this, and the 12 of them could often be found in the orchard of their garden.
It was one of the reasons Septembre had tried to make the rose-tree...
The flowers had no damage done to them, and Maye breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to grab her bow when a voice from the base of the tree called up to her.
"What're you doing?" She looked down; it was the girl they had called Éclair- the one who had been helping her with the monster.
She jumped down, and landed lightly on her feet. Then, she showed the bouquet, thinking it would explain itself. Éclair just looked puzzled.
"Why did you put the flowers up there?" she asked, curious.
It surprised Maye even more that, being a sorcerer hunter, she didn't know the religious ritual involved. Well, it didn't matter. She explained its importance.
"So," she paused after the girl had completed her explanation, "you knew we were coming today?"
"Yes," now it was HER turn to look confused. "Didn't you know Basil told me?"
"I never met Basil before this morning," Éclair explained. "In fact, I don't know most Sorcerer Hunters. This is my first mission as an actual hunter."
"What were you before, if you had former missions?" Maye asked, politely. She was incredibly curious about their lives, and what their missions actually were.
Éclair hesitated. It looked like she didn't want to divulge the information. Maye picked up the hint, and tried to change topics. "We're you in training or something similar?"
Relief swept across the young woman's face. "Yes. I had just completed my trial mission with Sensei when we were told about your situation. Big Momma said that she needed as many Hunters as possible for the job," she smiled as her client's jaw dropped.
"Basil told me that I was getting more than I asked for," she said, still amazed, "but no one ever said that she needed as many people as possible..."
Sango wanted to get as far away from the pervert priest and his new "friend" as soon as possible. Kagome felt the same way - it wasn't that she was afraid of the priest, but Carrot didn't seem to mind being abused while propositioning another woman. Their resident pervert had more sense than to get on Inu-Yasha's bad side.
It looked to Sango that Tira and Chocolat were fed up with Carrot, and left him with the other men. Both looked like they had been deeply offended. She understood. She had that feeling every time the priest would grab her butt.
The two Sorcerer Hunters headed in the direction of their client. Sango understood the concept. After all, being a demon-exterminator didn't seem that much different from their job. Except for the fact that they kill humans...
Glancing at Kagome from the side, she could tell that she felt uncomfortable as well. There was no hesitation in any of them to kill a demon that had a shard of the jewel, but a human was quite different. Yet, the humans they had met on their journeys who had shards of the jewel were so corrupted by the point of liberation that there had been no hope to save them.
"That boomerang of yours is impressive, Sango," came Chocolat's voice.
"Huh?" She snapped back to reality, "Oh, thank you."
"Do your people all use such large weapons back where you come from?" Tira asked curiously.
She stiffened, and Kagome met her eyes. Nothing was said, but the warmth and support flowing from the girl gave her strength.
"Some did, but I had the only boomerang," she spoke with a finality in her voice. As nice as they were, Sango didn't feel the need to gush her life story to people they had only just met.
The two sisters didn't seem to notice that something was being hid. If they did, they didn't push the topic, and moved their focus onto another.
Tira had been watching their client very closely. There was something about her that nagged at her memory. The girl was composed, and incredibly polite. She had the posture of a noblewoman, which only made her appear taller.
No, Tira thought, she can't be a noblewoman. Who in their right mind would let a person of such importance go on a dangerous mission like this?
Her sister had sensed her appraisal of their client, and walked a bit closer.
"She must have been a maidservant in the Lord's house, for her to carry herself like that," Chocloat whispered. "Yet, my experience with maidservants has led me to believe that they were all snobs."
"Well, not all maidservants can defend herself like that either," Tira whispered back. "It just proves that you can't judge by appearance-"
"-Or status," her sister finished. They separated slightly, the private exchange over. Éclair, Sango, and Kagome had all been making small talk with Maye. The two sisters were relieved - no one had heard their private conversation.
Chocloat decided to break their silence. "We were really amazed at your fighting skill." She directed her observation at Maye. The girl blushed.
Tira continued, with the question that everyone wanted to know, not only her and her sister. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?"
She seemed startled by the inquiry. "My father..." she answered after a moment of hesitation. To Tira, it sounded as though her new acquaintance had gotten an obstruction in her throat. But when she blinked, and listened to hear better, it was gone.
"Also," the girl continued, "My brothers."
There it was again. She wasn't the only one to notice. Was it, a prelude to tears?
Sango could hear the pain in Maye's voice. It was obvious to her what she was talking about. After all, the same thing had happened to her... But then, she seemed to shake it off.
"My father was always a busy man. He'd teach me whenever possible... whenever-" Another pause, and then she continued. "Then J- I mean, my oldest brother would take me aside, and teach me strategy."
Sango was surprised. Why did she hesitate to say her brother's name? Then again, she thought, if I am not expected to tell my story, than neither should she. Sango knew otherwise, though. The girl would have to say something - it would probably have to do with the mission. Still, knowing the feeling, she was not going to push it.
The girl continued. "My twin brothers would teach me how to go up against more than one opponent, and-" Éclair looked on, encouraging her to continue. Sango could see a bond already forming between the two girls.
"And-" it seemed that she couldn't get the words out. She took a deep breath, and said the next part very fast.
"Julyewouldteachmenewmovesandkatasand-"
"Jeez, slow down!" exclaimed Kagome. Sango doubted any of them had caught a single word the girl said, except the first sounded like a name. Who was that?
"Sorry," Maye smiled sheepishly. "I MEANT to say, 'My fourth oldest brother would teach me new katas and techniques.'"
Here, Sango noticed Éclair smile. "Well, I don't have four older brothers, but the one I DO have did just that." She looked over towards Gateau, who was flashing his muscles at Marron. "He trained me ever since I was a little kid."
Chocloat chuckled. "I don't have a problem believing that Gateau would be training himself to fight ever since he could walk." She looked Éclair in the eyes. "I am also not surprised that he started to train you as soon as you wanted to start." Éclair nodded in agreement, and smiled back at the older girl.
"My brothers were like that too." It was getting harder for her to hide the 'obstructions.' There was an uncomfortable pause.
"Did... Did they die from the sickness?" Éclair asked quietly. Maye nodded her head. She seemed like she was about to tell why, Kagome silenced her.
"Don't explain now. I'm sure they're going to want to know what happened later tonight," the girl looked over, seemingly happy that she wouldn't have to repeat it twice.
"Anyways," Tira pointed out, "they're going to question you about a lot of other stuff as well. After all, you are the person who knows the only way into the Valley."
Maye paused before speaking. "I know why not many people would know about it. If they used it, it would be a LARGE insult to those who owned the property."
"What?" Éclair asked, surprised, "who owns the property we're going into?"
"They won't mind, if you ask permission," Maye smiled mysteriously. "I already have it. Anyways, I'm a close relation to the Juune family."
Suddenly, Chocolat realized something. "Hey, isn't that really large family in the Citrus Valley? I heard that they were the most powerful, next to the actual Sorcerer." This question was not only directed at Maye but her sister as well. Tira knew more about noble families she did.
"Huh?" Maye asked, startled by the sudden question.
"The Lord Janus I and Lady Guacamole?" Tira pondered. "I heard it said that they had twelve children..." The facts were flowing back into Chocolat's head.
"And, the eldest daughter is supposed to be this beautiful, prim and proper girl." Chocloat remembered, and then paused to add dramatic effect. "She is said to be so beautiful, that her father wasn't going to let her court any man until after her coming of age-"
"You're not supposed to court a woman before her coming of age," Maye said quickly. "It's considered improper."
"Yeah, but that's beginning to fall out of style," Chocolat waved the statement away.
"I'll bet Carrot and Miroku will go berserk when they see her," Tira rolled her eyes. It was just what they needed, the perverts ogling over another pretty girl...
This was not the direction that Maye had hoped the conversation would have turned.
"They already did," she muttered to herself.
"What did you say?" Chocolat asked, head snapping out of the daydream.
"Nothing," she covered, quickly.
They didn't speak again until they reached the church gardens. Maye smiled at the corner which she had worked so hard to improve only days ago.
"Do you know if she is still alive?" Tira wondered.
"Who?" Maye asked carefully.
"The eldest daughter of the Juune family!" Chocolat said quickly.
"Even though that life wouldn't be for me, I still want to meet her," Éclair grinned.
"You like being able to be in fights, don't you?" she asked with a smile.
"I like protecting others," Éclair simply responded. "Don't you?" She nodded.
They were almost at the back door. "So?" Sango wondered.
"So what?" Maye laughed in response.
"Is she still alive?" Kagome pondered now.
Jeez, how am I supposed to answer this one? Maye knew that hesitation was out of the question. Instead, she decided to do something that only some of the haughtiest of the girls her age did - refer to themselves in third-person.
"Yes. She is the one who sent me."
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Heh, heh, heh... I get reviews asking for more action, and what do I write? A chapter that is almost 100% dialogue! Sorry, but I really wanted to get this in. Next chapter, you'll see... Nah, I'm not going to spoil it for you guys. However, the action should pick up soon. I CAN tell you that they will be going back into the (demon full) forest, and that there will be a bonfire! Well, sort-of. Anyways, Inu-Yasha will have a pretty big part to play soon.
I hope you have been enjoying this story. I got over some of my writer's block, and had to rewrite this whole chapter. Someone went OOC originally, and so I had to correct it... (For me, having characters go OCC is a crime)
So, until next time... (Whenever that will be)
-Iapetus
