Author's Note: Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.
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There and Back AgainChapter Eight: A F'ing Centipede
Looking up, they saw open sky above them. Hoshino started to say something, but a look from her senpai silenced her. After a few seconds of listening and smelling, Inuyasha was satisfied no one was around. He picked up Hoshino and leaped out of the well to the ground above.
"Shit."
"What?"
"Look. It just rained. Figures that the Fates don't want to make it easy on us." Reading Ruri's eyebrows, Inuyasha explained, "I'd hoped to follow their trail then go around in front of them and 'accidentally' run into them on the road. Looks like it won't be so easy."
"So what do we do now baka-senpai?" [1]
"Visit Kaede-sama and hope we don't freak everyone out."
As they walked, Ruri picked her traveling companion's brain on any errata she didn't get yet.
"So, if you know where the village is, why don't you know where your uncle is going?"
"Keh, that one's easy. The village is, obviously, near the bone-eater's well and the Goshinboku. My aunt and uncle visited the miko there often, so they could easily describe where it was. However, when it comes to where they're going, they could only describe in terms of days of travel, and that always varied - sometimes they all traveled together on foot, sometimes Inuyasha-sama carried Kagome-obasan."
"Ah." She pointed at Tenseiga. "How do swords get different powers?"
"You're full of easy ones today, aren't you? If you combine a Hydrogen atom with two Oxygen atoms, what do you get?"
"Water."
"But if you add a Sulfur atom to it?"
"An acid."
"Bingo. On the molecular level, benign atoms combine in different ways - some remain benign, some have devastating results. Same thing on a macro level. A sword can inherit the powers of the items used to make it."
"And the total is greater than the sum of the parts."
"Exactly. Toukijin, father's sword, was forged from the fang of a demon slain by Inuyasha-sama. The sword itself wishes to exact revenge on Inuyasha-sama, and would posses any lesser being, youkai, hanyou, or human, who tried to use it."
"Final question. You did not carry that second sword before."
"Tenseiga can neither kill nor maim. For your defense, I need to carry a sword that can cause permanent injury if need be. This sword isn't imbued with any magical powers, other than it's forged from a new titanium variant instead of normal steel. It's far stronger, lighter, and flexible than a normal sword. Besides... " the youkai paused, sniffing the air. Ruri stared up at him. "Ruri-chan. Ever read Starship Troopers or see its movie?"
"Hai."
"'Remember your training, and you will come back alive.'" He tossed his pack and traveling cloak at the nearest tree; Ruri chose to carry hers there. The youkai loosed the katana in its sheath.
Ruri heard a crashing noise from across the clearing. She gripped Hanyou's Protector tightly, hoping to not have to use it. A large hump with protrusions appeared above the trees. The protrusions turned out to be arms and legs.
"A centipede. How many fucking shits like you were there in this time?" The youkai stepped into the middle of the clearing.
"How dare you confuse me with any mere centipede demon! I am endowed with the power of the Shikon no Tama!"
"Well, then you'll just make my uncle's gift a little sweeter!" Inuyasha the younger retorted, neatly dancing around the centipede's stabs at him.
The lesser demon stopped mid attack and looked over at Ruri. "Yummy... a little hanyou. You'll make a tasty snack before I dispense with your father...mmmm... where's your mother child? I'll bet ssssshe's tasssty tooooo...."
The youkai raced towards his charge, causing as much damage with the katana as he could without slowing down. "RURI!"
The young girl's eyes flashed fire as she removed Hanyou's Protector from its sheath. Once the small blade was in her hands, the fire consumed her eyes changing them to the bright red the youkai had yet to see in his own eyes and had only seen in his father's eyes once. The centipede stopped mid-attack to enjoy the show thinking her prey an easy kill, the jewel shard making it blind to the debilitating cuts it was taking on its side.
Ruri's blade pointed square at face of the beast. "He is my friend and senpai, but HE. IS. NOT. MY. FATHER!"
With the last syllable she lunged up at the beast, burying Hanyou's Protector in its forehead. Inuyasha saw the jewel shard fly out the back of its head. He followed her lead, jumping lower at the beast, a single stroke of the katana severing the head. He saw Ruri dislodge the blade and leap to safety, catching the jewel shard on her way down. The youkai landed a few feet from her, looking around to make sure the felled beast was really down.
Ruri sheathed her blade as the youkai approached her. As he knelt before her, he saw the fire began to go out from her eyes. She held out a clenched fist towards him. As he opened and held the box containing the shards before her, she slowly opened her hand to let it fall into the container.
"Ruri-chan, are you okay?" He watched her slowly nod yes.
"Inu-kun, is this the power of Shikon no Tama?"
"Hai."
"I think I saw that thing go this way Kaede-sama!" Thundering hooves slowly approached them where they were. No way to disguise who they were now.
"Senpai..."
Her now-former mentor smiled. "You can drop the senpai, I think you passed the test. You fought well, I'm just sorry it had to be so soon."
"Inuyasha!" Miko Kaede called, mistaking him for his uncle. "Is Kagome-sama with you? I must speak with ye both at once!"
The youkai stood and turned to face the priestess. He bowed low before her. Unsure of what to do, Ruri followed her friend's lead.
"I fear, Kaede-sama, that you have mistaken me for another, though I am honored at the mistake."
Ruri sat back up and blinked at her friend, shocked that he spoke the old High Japanese so fluently, especially, after, well, the fucking centipede. She watched as the miko dismounted her horse.
"Either the hanyou is possessed by a youkai, or thou art as thou say. Thus I ask of ye, who be thee?"
The youkai raised himself and addressed her standing. "My name is indeed Inuyasha, Inutaishou Inuyasha, and this is Hoshino Ruri, and we seek conference with thee, Kaede-sama."
"Very well, need we provide thee transportation?"
"Nay, Kaede-sama." As the horses rounded and thundered back towards the village, Inutaishou gathered the belongings left under the tree onto his shoulder.
"Inu-kun no baka. We can't catch up with horses."
"Ruri-chan no baka. A human couldn't catch up with a horse, but since when am I human?" he retorted, offering his free shoulder. Once she was settled there, he bolted after the horses, easily catching up with them.
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"So, thou art from the future of Kagome? And thou art the son of Inuyasha's half-brother Sesshoumaru?"
The youkai nodded over his food. He sipped from his stew bowl before continuing. "Exactly. We had four, now five, shards to give to Kagome and Inuyasha. We would like to complete our task here and return to our own time."
"Why is that, child?"
The youkai shifted uncomfortably on the floor. Ruri's compulsion for directness overcame her tact.
"Inu-kun feels that our presence here is not natural, and fears altering the course of history."
"Indeed, does he? Aye, I cannot deny that such has troubled me as well. I was raised that our future is not set in stone, but after dealing with someone casually coming from the future into what she considers the past... it speaks to me that all of time has been etched upon stone. Though we make decisions every day, it would seem that all that we do is already known."
The youkai relaxed at hearing this from someone who'd never followed the debates of the physics professors.
"Indeed. That is one theory, and one which my mind wished to believe but could not. My main concern is that such is not the case, that my very existence in this time might have catastrophic effects on the course of history."
"Yet ye know that the child Kagome's presence here doesn't seem to have altered time very much. Do ye remember any such events occurring?"
"There is one of the flies in the ointment. I wouldn't. I was not born until after the events with Kagome and the Jewel. My father does not count, either, having lived through this time. I never knew Aunt Kagome's mother or grandfather to say if they noticed any changes, other than the event with the time trees. At the same time, Kagome-sama does not know the outcome of her actions as well as I do. If it is possible to change the course of history, then I am in a far better position than she to do that.
"However, in the interest of time I should change the subject. You were seeking out Kagome-obasan and Inuyasha-sama. What have you learned?"
"They had decided to travel to the northeast this time in search of Naraku. Since they were last here, we have seen many demons going towards the southeast. At first, I thought that they were on the correct path; that these were demons that were fleeing from the possibility of being joined to Onigumo."
"Yet from all of the stories I was told as a child, the other demons did not seem to know that they were being pulled into Naraku. They were deluded by him into thinking that they would be given power by him. Instead, they were giving power to him."
The old woman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Exactly."
"Very well. Hoshino and I will leave immediately to try to catch up with Inuyasha-sama and Kagome-obasan to divert their path." With that, the two travelers gathered their things, threw their cloaks around themselves, and took their leave of miko Kaede.
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Footnotes:
1. Senpai – If you're a Love Hina fan and/or Shinobu fan you can probably skip this footnote. Most people are familiar with the honorific "sensei" meaning teacher, but I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with the concept of "senpai". "Senpai" is akin to "mentor", in the sense that it's something a student will call an older student who takes them under their wing, so to speak.
