Scroll Seven, Jewel of Four Souls and Armors

Cye wadded through the river, almost waist deep. He had left the search to clean the water of the blood that running into the village's only source of water.

Inuyasha watched from the banks. "Why bother. These people deserve a plague or something once and a great while."

Rowen was busy turning over bodies stapled in golden arrows. "We made a mess, we always clean it up if possible." He winced at one of his shots, surprised he had made a couple of nasty hits in the face. "It's also a pet peeve of Cye's. He doesn't take well to dirty water."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and cast a dark look at Lea. The woman hadn't moved in a little over five minutes. It was really starting to bug the hell out of him as she stared off across the after math of the battle, almost in a trance.

The half breed started to say something crude to her when she finally spoke. "There is one survivor."

Rowen looked up. "Where?" He asked.

Lea pointed down the bank to a clump of bushes. "In there."

Inuyasha stormed down the banks of the river, drawing the Tetsusaiga. Rowen hurried over to physically disarm him if he was intending to kill the creature. "We need answers! Put that damn thing away!"

"I don't take orders from stinking humans." Inuyasha growled and continued marching.

"But you'll take orders from a fellow demon." Lea said coldly from were she stood by the water's edge. "Kill that thing before we find out what we need and I'll smear your ashes across all of Japan."

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder. "Before or after I cut your heart out?"

Lea's eyes narrowed at the threat.

Rowen growled in annoyance. "Knock it off." He snapped and pulled out his bow. He reached for an arrow and loaded his weapon as he neared the bushes, gently kicking and pushing away the shrubs.

Cye swam up river to cut the thing off if it went into water.

"Come out you ugly creep." Rowen ordered. "Got a few questions we want answered!"

A low and slurred grunt rose from the hedge. "Whhhhat do you hhhhummmanssss want…."

"We're not all humans you filth." Inuyasha barked. "Get out here where I can see you!"

The bushes shook just beside Rowen, making Strata back up as he finally spotted their target. He kept his loaded bow trained to the monster's forehead as he crawled from the hedge onto the sandy banks.

Lea studied the damage. He was missing a leg and a few fingers…and bleeding from a shallow gash across his belly.

"Why are you here?" Rowen asked first.

The monster grunted. "The Sssshhhhikkkkon"

Inuyasha flexed his claws. "He wants the Jewel of Four Souls. Lets just kill him." He took a step forward when the flat of Lea's sword fell across his chest.

"You take another step and I'll make good on my threat, puppy." Lea hissed.

Inuyasha's fangs flashed at the title 'puppy'. "Wretch." He snarled.

"Thhhe jewel…" the monster winced. "You hhhhhhave it…" He reached for Rowen.

An arrow landed just a hair short of the monster's head. "Ah-uh-ah…" Strata reloaded his bow. "Come and closer buddy and I'm gonna nail you one between the eyes."

Inuyasha growled. "What do you mean he has it?!"

The monster turned his eyes to the other warriors. He spoke the work Shikon over and over as he looked between Lea, Rowen, and Cye. This was really starting to burn on the dog knight's nerves.

"Okay you poor excuse for dung…what in the seven hells do you mean that these humans have the Shikon Jewel?"

The monster grunted weakly.

Lea took a step forward, "Rowen, keep him down." She ordered, sheathing her sword. Cye came rushing to the bank with his yari open and ready. Inuyasha growled a little as he watched the Guardian kneel on one knee and place a armor covered hand on the thing's head.

The look of confusion in her face bothered the other Ronins.

She pulled away from the monster and looked at Inuyasha. "What is the Shikon jewel?"

The dog knight scoffed. "Feh…I'm not telling you! For all I know you could be here trying to take it away from us."

Rowen growled. "Answer her!"

"These monsters think that we are the Shikon Jewel." Lea declared in a cold voice.

Inuyasha stared. "What? how?"

Cye blinked several times in thought before answering. "The armors." He whispered. "It's out armors."

Lea nodded slowly. "Our armors are emitting a power almost identical to this jewel. Now…what is it? Where is it?"

Inuyasha growled. "Kagome has a piece of it, and there are a few shards in a little jar in my room." He hissed. "I don't know why Kagome didn't notice the power from your armors since she can see the jewel shards."

"Hey, buddy," Rowen nudged the monster with the toe of his boot. "I hava question for ya." He waited until the thing focused on him. "Do you know of any other humans that have powers of the Shikon Jewel?"

The monster grunted. "Ffffar wesssst." He winced. "Demon woman hhhhhassss man with sssssssshhhhhhikon."

Cye looked over to Lea. "We're in feudal Japan. That could be anyone of our ancestors." He whispered in dismay.

Lea shook her head slowly. "No, it's Sage. The armors haven't been created yet, so there is only one set in this time for now."

Inuyasha snarled. "Are we done yet?"

"Impatient little bugger…" Cye muttered to Rowen. Strata smiled a little as he stepped away from the demon and started to walk away. Torrent came slowly after him.

Lea pulled her helmet off and shook her hair back into it's usual style as she marched behind the two Ronin Warriors. Inuyasha gapped in shock. "You're not going to kill him!?"

Rowen stopped at the top of the bank and looked skyward in annoyance. "That thing is suffering…isn't it." He muttered.

Lea bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Yeah…it is."

Strata sighed in dismay as he lifted his loaded bow. He turned around, took aim and fired a quick end to the pain.

Inuyasha smiled. "Much better."

"Well it was better than what you would have done." Cye snapped. He took off his helmet and whispered something under his breath before finally leaving. Rowen put away his bow, starred distantly into the forest beyond the river and then left.

The dog knight's brow came together in confusion.

"You did not just pray…" He said in a cool voice.

Lea glared at him.

"Dynasty soldiers and warlords with on track minds are one thing." She said in a low voice. "Monsters and people only doing what their instincts tell them is another."

"You are a bunch of weak fools…praying to some god."

Lea turned and walked away, rather enjoying the company of weeping wives over Inuyasha's banter.

"They pray?" Miroku blinked in surprise.

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah. Not as much as you do, pervert."

The monk frowned a little. "I think that was kind of them."

Inuyasha growled as he sat crouched on the porch of their little quarters. "They will go out and kill a horde of those monsters, and then pray for the carcass of one they put out of its misery."

Miroku sighed in dismay. "You didn't hear them very well. For all you know they might feel guilty of killing everyone of them." He leaned on the door. "I was quite surprised to see Kento take death so seriously. He was joking around yesterday with his friend Cye."

"What did that cretin Sanada do?" Inuyasha muttered.

"He was very quiet. I think it bothers him…not being able to stop those monsters before they killed the villagers." Miroku closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool gray morning air.

The dog knight snorted again.

Miroku crossed his arms. "They are right."

"Who is? The Ronins?"

"Yes, the Ronins."

"Feh." Inuyasha scoffed. "Praying to a god shows how little faith you have in yourself—"

Miroku smacked the dog demon with his staff. "Damn it! Not that. They are right about that fact that we need them to find their friend as much as they need us!" He glared at Inuyasha as he nursed his aching head. "You're the only one here who isn't willing to work with them!"

"What good are a bunch of warriors with armors that give off powers like the Shikon jewel to us!?" Inuyasha growled.

"They find out which direction we need to start looking in." Miroku protested. "At the same time it answered our questions as to why their friend Sage was pulled down the well!

"You have to stop this Inuyasha. Kagome is right when she says shadowed heroes."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed in thought. "How so?"

Miroku sat down beside the dog knight. "When we fist met them, I heard one of them mention the 'Neither Realm' when explaining why Lea's blood is tainted. There is a monk that calls himself 'The Ancient'. I saw him once, talking to a mission about some evil that was rising up from a world called the Neither Realm.

"Most people dismissed him as a mad man, and it was soon forgotten." The monk explained. "It wasn't until a few months ago I heard of these armored beings appearing in a village in the south. Nobody is inside them, and when they are broken, they fill the air with black mist. The monk suddenly reappeared again and started gathering forces for a battle."

Inuyasha shrugged. "So there are demons coming. Maybe we could take a detour while looking for that guy Sage and clean up the mess before it gets out of control."

"Lady Kaede warned me to stay far away from the battle. And the same goes for you and Kagome."

The dog knight turned in surprise. "That hag knew about it all!?"

"And so did that samurai that passed through 8 nights ago."

Inuyasha growled. "I don't like the way he looked at me. And the creepy thing is…that wretch Lea there looks at me the same way."

Miroku smiled. "If you had shut up when he was talking, you would have known that his last name is Lea's middle name."

"Great." Inuyasha growled.

Miroku sighed and stretched out on the stairs of the house and closed his eyes. "I can't wait for Sango to return." He said with a warm smile on his face.

"So you can grope her again?" Inuyasha said wickedly.

"Unless you want me to hit you again, you'll shut up." Miroku hissed.

Inuyasha remained crouched on the edge of the platform, watching as the sun came up into their valley. He listened for the first signs of big game to come alive so he could hunt something…

His ears flicked back to the sounds of boots on the hard wood floor. He turned his golden eyes to the corner of the building, listening as the steps remained steady. Some one was pacing.

The dog knight crawled over the corner and peeked around to see Ryo's red and white armor clad form. He looked sorely deprived of sleep, and distressed in some way.

A small voice stilled him in his pacing.

"It's those nightmares again." Lea whispered, coming from inside with a blanket draped over her arm. Ryo nodded weakly, running his hand through his matted black hair.

"I didn't think we'd be killing anyone or anything." Ryo murmured. "We've gone from one battle to the next no-stop." He sat down heavily on the edge of the porch, staring at the ground.

Lea nodded. "I know. It's getting hard on all of us." She draped the blanket in her arms over his shoulders. "The training, the close quarters…"

Ryo sighed in dismay. "We need to find Sage. There is a fight waiting for us back in modern Tokyo." He looked up at Lea. "How long has it been since I said anything besides orders to you and the guys?"

The Guardian rubbed the Warrior's shoulders as she thought. "A little over a week." She answered.

"I know. And it doesn't make me feel any better." Ryo whispered. He looked down at his hands and flexed them slowly. Lea rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I know you don't like this guy Inuyasha since he tried to take my head off." She said gently. "I think you made your point last night and at least gained a little ground. But I want you to try and be pleasant with him. Okay? Don't let him taunt you. Walk away and not start something that will strain what little friendship we need to find Sage."

Ryo nodded slowly. "Alright."

Inuyasha gapped in surprise. Lea was asking Ryo to be nice to him. Who did she think she was? A peace keeper? The cold look in her eyes completely denied that thought. Was she trying to protect Ryo for his own good? Inuyasha smiled. He knew he could beat this dumb human with his little pinky if he wanted too.

Ego Trip.

"We'll find Sage and get back to the future to deal with the Dynasty." Lea assured.

Ryo nodded slowly. He lifted and arm and draped it over Lea's shoulders. "One of these days I'm going to make sure we can spend more than five minutes alone."

Lea smiled as she leaned up and whispered into his ear. "We've been spied on the whole time."

Ryo looked up in surprise, and started to turn his head to glare at Inuyasha when the Guardian whispered something. He groaned a little and said something back that made Lea giggle.

Inuyasha decided to make his escape now. He returned to his spot by Miroku, stuck out his tongue, gagging. How on earth could these humans be so sappy!?

The monk smiled. "You eavesdropped a little too much there. I think Ryo was actually going to get up and kill you. Promise or no promise."

Inuyasha growled. "Pervert, you looked too." He said distastefully.

"I can hear them just fine from here." Miroku said sweetly. "Though, I'm curious to know why it suddenly got so quiet."

A stone hit the back of Inuyasha's head. The dog demon hit the ground hard, growling as he looked up to see Ryo standing at the corner of the building, livid. "Don't you have a tree to mark you mangy mutt."

Inuyasha growled at the Ronin leader's retreating back. Ryo slipped into his room he was sharing with the other Ronin Warriors, and closed the door shut behind him.

Miroku blinked a little in surprise. "Woah…what was that all about?"

Inuyasha snorted and marched away to kill something.

~~~~~~~~~~

AN—Ego Trip. ~_^ \/.. There was going to be something else in this chapter, but I left it out fo a later one. BTW…the whole thing about the Ronins being just a little religious…ah…heh…it's something that came out of my other novels. Miroku will get it out of Cye and Kento later just for all you confused readers.