DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters of the Inuyasha series nor do I own the original storyline.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks for waiting everybody! Here's another new chapter! Hope you will like
it! I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, the coming two weeks,
I'll be spending a lot of time studying so no quick updates until then ^-^.
Anyway, enjoy reading!!
Italic: thoughts or emphasized words
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
~*~*~*~*~: time gap or change of perspective
*...* : noises
-by Kittymui-
And their journey began...
Previously:
The hanyou smiled at her. "Ready to start our journey in search of Kagome
together?" he asked.
His smile made her forget all her worries and she nodded before she even knew
it. "Uhn!" she returned a smile.
With his help, I'll surely be able to find my promise...
~*~*~*~
"Thank you for taking care of me all this time," Maya said as she
made a polite bow to the manager.
She and Inuyasha were leaving the city today to start their journey and the manager of the brothel came to the citygates to see them off.
"Don't be silly girl, no need to thank me. I should be thanking you instead for helping me with my goal to make a fortune," the manager smiled and turned to Inuyasha. "You better protect her well or me and the girls will never forgive you," she warned him jokingly.
The hanyou smiled. "Don't worry, I'll will."
After he said that, they both turned to the gate and walked away.
[AN: Kagome is wearing a plain white dress with a V-shaped neckline. And Inuyasha is wearing his usual outfit ^-^.]
~*~
Their journey started in silence, as both of them felt extremely awkward, being
in each other's company.
Who would have thought that I would find the maid sooner than the lady? And now we're actually traveling together to search for her... Inuyasha thought amused. Although I kind of hoped that the girl WAS Kagome instead of her maid, I shouldn't be complaining too much...since I had found a first real clue in twelve long years...
Maya, on the other hand, was deep in thoughts as well. I don't know him
very well, yet why do I have the felling that I've known him my whole life?
she mused. Back then, I even agreed to travel with him before I've really
thought about it...I trusted him automatically and unconditionally...I wonder
why... She slowly turned to peek at Inuyasha, who was just staring out in
front of him. Maybe...because he's saved my life for four times already...
she smiled inwardly.
Deep in her heart, she knew this was not the true reason, but since she couldn't explain it otherwise, she'd decided to stick to this one for now.
Inuyasha felt her eyes on him and turned to look at Maya. "What's the matter?"
Maya snapped out of it and turned her eyes back to the path again. "Ah...nothing...it's just that...I was wondering how you always managed to be there whenever I'm in a pinch."
He smiled. "Yeah, maybe you were somehow meant to attract trouble and I was meant to get you out of it."
She frowned. "Hey! What do you mean by that?! I don't get into trouble THAT often!!"
"Yeah well, each time we meet, you always seem to have gotten yourself in a fix, there's no denying it girl," he grinned.
"Yeah yeah rub it it..." Maya scowled, folding her arms together and turning her gaze as far away as possible from her companion.
~*~
"Maya!!" his voice called.
"Save it! I don't need anymore mean remarks coming from you!!" she yelled back without stopping.
"Maya!! Come back here!!!" he yelled again, sounding extremely serious.
This time she felt the warning tone in his voice and turned around to Inuyasha, who had stopped walking several minutes ago as he felt an incoming danger. Just when she was about to run to him, something fell from above and landed behind her with a small thud. A claw grabbed her by her neck and pulled her backwards to a firm chest.
"You better stay still love or I might ruin your pretty little face," a sly voice breathed in her ear from behind.
Inuyasha scowled. "You!" he growled, recognizing the lizard from several days ago.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill her!!" the lizard threatened.
"What do you want?" the hanyou snarled.
"You humiliated me in front of everyone back in the city so now it's payback time!" the lizard yelled, causing Maya to wince.
"Let her go! I'm the one you want then!" he reasoned.
He smirked. "No way...this time, I'm going to get what I want, and I want the Phoenix of Ice," he said as he lowered his head to the girl's neck.
"You bastard!!" Inuyasha cursed.
~*~
Maya was scared at first when she felt the lizard's breath on her neck, but then she remembered Inuyasha's remark earlier.
"Yeah, maybe you were somehow meant to attract trouble and I was meant to get you out of it."
Without second thought, she swung her elbow as hard as she could backwards.
"Arck!!" the lizard cried in pain as her elbow hit his stomach right-on and immediately released her from his grip. "You b__" he cursed but before he could finish, he realized that the girl had jumped aside and that the hanyou was charging at him with his claw first.
"Take this!! Sankon Tessou!!" Inuyasha cried as he slashed at him.
With a loud shriek, the lizard fell backwards to the grass and didn't get up again.
Inuyasha swung his claw to get rid of the blood and turned to Maya. "Hey, not bad for a girl!" he grinned.
The maid smirked in reply. "Give me a bow and some arrows and I might surprise you even more."
"I know..." the hanyou mumbled with a smile, remembering the Archery Contest.
"What was that?"
"Oh nothing!" he quickly replied and looked up at the sky. "We better hurry, or we might not be able to reach the next town before nightfall."
"Where are we going exactly?" she asked.
"We're heading south towards a nearby village that I've passed before arriving in Omoshi. We'll get you some weapons and some clothes and then we'll continue our journey further south," the hanyou explained.
Maya tilted her head a little. "Why south?"
"I already searched most parts of the northern regions of the Western Lands. So we'll continue our search in the southern regions."
"Oh...okay," she understood and together they set out for the South.
~*~*~*~*~
"Just you wait! From this day on, this Maya won't need anyone's help anymore
to get herself out of trouble!" she smiled confidently as she lifted up
the black bow she just acquired, as they walked out of the weapon shop.
"Keh! The less I have to worry when we encounter dangerous youkai," the hanyou retorted. "Just don't cry out for my help when they break your fragile little bow!"
Maya quickly walked in front of Inuyasha and turned to him. "Aha!!" she grinned with a mischievous expression on her face.
Inuyasha stopped walking and frowned. "What?"
"You're just sulking because I don't need your protection anymore," she chuckled.
"Feh!" he spat.
Maya's grin grew wider. "You're not denying it, so it must be true!!"
Without replying her, Inuyasha walked pass her and headed towards the exit of the village. And Maya followed with a big smile on her face as she repositioned her black quiver on her back and lowered her hand that was holding her bow.
~*~
Inuyasha was still sulking, even after leaving the village and entering a forest.
He had quickened his pace and refused to walk next to Maya.
But then suddenly a suspicious rustling of leaves caught his ears and he stopped walking. "Maya?" he called, turning around.
He became alarmed when he couldn't find her behind him. "Maya! Where are you?!" he yelled. Kuso!! Me and my stupid pride!! he scolded himself for sulking and being careless.
"Aw...your little companion left you all alone?" a girl's voice spoke out of nowhere.
Inuyasha's eyes darted around, searching for the speaker. "Who's there?! Show yourself!!" he growled.
A figure appeared from behind a tree and stepped into the sunlight. "What's the matter dogboy? Feeling insecure?" It was a girl with short black hair and dark eyes with thick pink eyelashes and bloody lips. She was wearing a short and tight, sleeveless black dress that didn't even reach her knees and showed an awful lot of skin. She carried a short sword around her waist and was holding small red comb in her hand.
"Who the hell are you!?" the hanyou inquired.
The girl bowed gracefully. "Yura is my name," she introduced herself before straightening back up. "And I've come to save your beautiful hair."
Inuyasha raised a brow. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Yura suddenly disappeared in a flash and reappeared again, right behind him. "Aww...look how careless you are with your beautiful hair. If I add them to my collection I'm sure I can make them more soft and shiny," she smirked as she reached out to touch the silver strands.
"Don't you dare touch my hair bitch!!" Inuyasha cried as he turned around and swung his claw at the girl. He widened his eyes when he hit nothing but air. What the...?!?
He was even more surprised when he couldn't retract his claw. As he looked more closely at his wrist, he realized that strands of black threads were causing the local paralysis. The girl's a hair-demoness!! he realized alarmed.
Just when he was about to reach out his other claw to free his wrist from the threads, a swarm of hair suddenly came out of nowhere and hit him straight on.
It pushed his body up to the sky and changed its direction to disappear behind the trees again. But Inuyasha didn't fall back to the earth; instead, he was forced to remain in the air by four groups of threads, each tied around each of his four limbs.
"Chikusho!!" he cursed aloud, finding himself in such defenseless situation.
"Hihihi," the girl giggled as she appeared behind the hanyou again. This time, she was standing on several black threads of hair in the mid-air like a rope-dancer. "This won't hurt dogboy," she reassured him as she slipped her comb between her breast and her garment and unsheathed her sword.
Inuyasha struggled with all his might. "You bitch..."
"You better hold still, or I might not be able to get a clean cut and stain your gorgeous silver hair with your blood," Yura warned as she raised her sword.
Damn it all!! he cursed inwardly as he continued to struggle without much success.
Suddenly, the sound of an arrow flying through the air could be heard.
*FWWWIISSHHHHH*
Followed by a clash and the sound of iron hitting the earth.
Inuyasha jerked his head aside to see what had happened and realized that the hair-demoness wasn't holding her sword anymore. He saw that her eyes were fixed on something below them and so he followed her gaze.
His eyes widened. "Maya!!"
The girl was standing with the pose of an archer who had just fired an arrow. "Get away from Inuyasha or my next arrow will be hitting your lovely comb!!" she threatened as she pulled another arrow out of her quiver.
The hair-demoness widened her eyes. "You annoying brat! How did you__"
"I read about your kind before," Maya cut her off as she notched her arrow to her bow and pointed it at her. "Your original form is a red comb used to comb the hair of the deceased, but you were displeased with that and became a youkai instead. So if I destroy that comb...there will be nothing left of you."
Yura expression immediately darkened after hearing this and pulled out her comb again. "I will NEVER lost to a mere human!!" she cried and sent a swarm of hair towards the girl below.
"Maya!!" Inuyasha cried worriedly. Much to his surprised, the girl dodged the attack with ease as she rolled aside over the grass. He watched how she managed to point the arrowhead at the hair-demoness again within several seconds and sent it flying towards the youkai.
The way her hair billowed in the air when she straightened herself up and the determination in her eyes reminded him of the first time he saw her during the Archery Contest. Amazing... he thought to himself. Strangely enough, it reminded him of Kagome again, but he quickly shook it off. That's Maya you stupid! Kagome's personal maid remember!?
He was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts again when he heard Maya call out to him. "Inuyasha! Hold still! I'm going to cut those threads with my arrows!!" she cried, aiming an arrow at him.
Inuyasha did as he was told but widened his eyes when he saw that Yura had secretly sent a strand of hair to the the girl's ankle. "Watch out!!" he warned but it was too late when he heard her gasp in pain.
The thread tightened around her ankle and pulled at it, causing her to fall to her side.
But Maya ignored the pain and aimed for the group of hair again that was tied around one of Inuyasha's wrists. Without hesitating, she fired her arrow and sent it flying through the air.
The arrow didn't miss its target and freed one of the hanyou's wrists.
Inuyasha quickly slashed through the other groups of annoying hair and within seconds, he found himself standing on the ground again.
When he turned to Maya, he realized that Yura had reappeared again and was pulling the girl closer to her over the floor by the thread around her ankle. He immediately unsheathed Tetsusaiga and changed at the hair-demoness. "Die!!!" he cried and aimed for the red comb in her hand.
Inuyasha's attack caught Yura off guard and the comb snapped in two.
The hair-demoness widened her eyes. "No...this can't be___" without finishing her sentence she became dust in a flash.
Inuyasha sheathed his blade and quickly turned to Maya on the floor. Much to his surprise, the girl had started to laugh.
"Hehehe, I guess I'm not the only one attracting trouble here," she smiled.
Inuyasha frowned. "Where the hell were you earlier?!" he asked with a growl, sounding angry to hide the fact that he was almost worried to death a moment ago.
The girl reached into her sleeve. "I'm sorry for worrying you," she apologized as she pulled out something and handed it to him. "I saw this thing at the armory this afternoon and I pondered the whole day whether I should buy it. I went back to the village earlier to buy it. I'm sorry..."
The hanyou dropped his gaze. It was a flat and circular white jade stone with beautiful carvings on it and a braided red string was attached to it.
"You can either carry it around your waist by tying it to your sash using the red string or decorate your sword by attaching it to the hilt," Maya explained. "It's my way of thanking you for saving my life and helping me whenever I'm in trouble."
His eyes softened but then he scowled again. "Baka! You could have gotten yourself into trouble!! Running off alone like that!!"
A small smile appeared on her face. "If that happens...you'll be there to get me out of trouble again...won't you?"
"Feh!" the hanyou spat as he quickly looked away to hide the blush that was about to appear on his cheeks.
Maya's face dropped when she realized that the gift was still lying in her own palm. "Y-you don't like it? I'm sorry...I could go back and__"
Before she could finish, the hanyou had already taken it from her hand. "I never said that!" he argued and put it into his sleeve.
She smiled and decided that she had been lying on the grass long enough. However, she forgot about her injured ankle and a surge of pain ran through her leg as she tried to stand up. "Ite!" she winced.
"Are you all right?" Inuyasha asked worriedly.
"M-my ankle..." she replied, dropping her gaze to her feet.
He shifted his gaze to her ankle and realized it was bleeding. He pulled a white cloth out of his sleeve and motioned for her to sit down.
"Gomen nasai..." she suddenly apologized as she sat down.
"Baka, what are you apologizing for?" he responded as he started to bandage her ankle.
"I'm going to slow your down with my injury..."
He finished bandaging and finally turned to look at her. "Don't worry about it. If it weren't for you back there, I might have lost my head by now," he smiled.
Maya felt relieved to hear this and returned a smile as she slowly stood up again.
"All right! Climb on my back, I'll carry you until you've recovered,' the hanyou suggested as he knelt down before her.
"B-but that's__" she wanted to argue but was cut off when he spoke again.
"Maya, I won't ask it again," he told her.
Knowing that there weren't any alternatives, she obediently climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Don't mention it," he replied, looping his arms around her legs and standing up. He figured he shouldn't jostle her too much since her wound might open up again, so he decided to stay on the ground for now.
Maya repositioned her bow around her shoulder and leaned her head onto Inuyasha's back. It's that warm, nostalgic feeling again... she thought to herself.
Little did she know that the hanyou was thinking about the same thought as they
continued their journey to the south on foot.
I know, I know...nothing special happened in this chapter. Hey but that's how stories are, right? You can't actually expect every single chapter to be extremely fluffy or full of emotions. Anyway I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I cannot guarantee anything okay? But I can promise that from the next chapter on, it will get quite interesting ^-^. Please look forward to the next chapter!!
Next chapter: Unexpected reunion
~*~
\\Please don't be so nice to me...//
\\I wonder if I'm pushing her too hard with this journey...it's not like
she has the obligation to search for her mistress with me...//
\\"Hold on Maya!! Please don't die on me!!" he cried and looked around
them. He stopped when his eyes caught a shrine not very far away. "There!!"
he said aloud. He quickly scooped up the girl bridal style and dashed into the
direction of the shrine.//
~*~
Vocabulary:
kuso: shit/damn
chikusho: damn it
baka: idiot
gomen nasai: I'm sorry
ite: ouch
~*~
REPLIES ON REVIEWS:
osuwariIYK: Thanks for reviewing. Haha well using a pig will magnify the contrast between ugly and pretty ^-^.
Rhexi: Thank you very much, I'm so glad to hear you love my story ^-^. Haha personally I don't think myself to be such a great author but thanks anyway.
Dragon Man 180: Hahaha I hope you're still following the plot. Thanks for reviewing!
The Turmoil Twins: Hahaha thanks for the review. I think I understand what you're trying to say. But I won't let them reunite that way, don't worry ^-^ for I, am a master of twists! *evil grin*
Ks-Starshine: Thanks!! Honestly I'm quite having a hard time keeping in mind what kind of twists and turns I've used ^-^.
brazil: Pfew...I'm glad you understood the plot ^-^ thanks for reviewing!
Clearwater-Faerie: Hahaha yeah, you're absolutely right. He IS dense, if not stupid hahaha. *receives death glare coming from the hanyou* Gulp...never mind...
Hana-maru285: Hey don't worry about it ^-^! It's not that I expect readers to review every single chapter, but it's great to know how many are actually reading it.
Chibi-Call: Thanks!
LadyJynjr: Thanks! My compliments for understanding the storyline ^-^ because even I myself got confused after writing it hahaha. Hmm Miroku and Sango? I haven't written about them for a long time now have I? Don't worry, they'll be back hehe.
berty: You're right about the mistake, thanks for telling me ^-^ I've corrected it.
Inukamisashi: Thanks for reviewing!!
LiLsTuBbOrNgRl: Thanks! I hope you still understand the storyline ^-^
michelle: Thanks! Don't worry, it won't take too long before Kagome remembers him again ^-^ but then again...I AM a master of twists *grins* hehehe. Anyhow, just wait 2 more chapters ^-^!!
nekomoongirl: Thank you very much!!!
Kyia: Hehehe I can't wait either. I just hate it when I'm too slow with writing my chapters hahaha. Pretty pathetic huh?
Guardian-of-the-night: Thanks!!
~*~
Lots of greets
~Kittymui~
Posted: 2 April 2004
Last Edited: 2 April 2004
Spelling check: YES