Decided to upload both of these today. Why? Because thanks to a glorious
action from a friend how what living in Guadalajara with me I now have no
internet ¬¬ the nearest café is not near and at school I have to wait for
about an hour to be called to use a computer which is just about the amount
of time I have off. So I'll be doing it as often as I can. I do have all of
the chapters already so no need to worry I won't take a year.... again ja!
Ehem *nervous giggle*
Anywho here we go again... ^^
¬¬ ah yes, I almost forgot to mention I'm just a bored girl with nothing whatsoever to do who enjoys the occasional fic,
-_-' I don't even see why these things are necessary. "Oh yes my name is Betty and I own all of the Inu-Yasha characters, I'm so rich and famous sometimes I get bored of my glamorous wonderful life and go to a place where people write fan fictions about my cartoons and write one myself!"
........... ¬¬ come on now people!!!
Respect and admiration to Takahashi-sama.... -_-' dammit I can't even do a normal disclaimer......... let's try again......
I own nothing!!!! ................................. *runs away sobbing*
~ Past Encounter ~
He sniffed the air while running "Are you sure it's this way Kagome?" asked Inu-Yasha
Kagome nodded from over his back already preparing her bow and arrows. "About three shards."
"Then we must hurry." Voiced Miroku from Kirara's back along with Sango
Inu-Yasha felt the adrenaline rush through his veins, it had been a long while since they had had a lead on so many shards at once, sine Naraku had taken care of almost all of them, few were left to recollect, and they had to take advantage of each chance they got.
Something shot through the trees with amazing speed scattering the group quite suddenly. The slimy vine like extension squirmed through the trees before returning back to it's beholder. Inu-Yasha perked up, he smelled something other than the youkai.
"There's a human."
Finally reaching the clearing, they came upon the most disgusting creature they had seen yet, at least in Sango's opinion. It looked like an upside down sake bowl with greasy slimy tentacles. And underneath one was, just as Inu-Yasha had said, a human.
Inu-Yasha having set Kagome down took out Tetsusaiga and lunged at the beast. It simply looked up or at least rose the part of it's body where four slimy balls of red goop were incrusted, and let Inu-Yasha slice through it, sticking itself back together with Inu-Yasha along the way.
"Inu-Yasha!" cried Kagome.
The hanyou was looking, more than in trouble, highly disgusted and somewhat pissed inside the youkai's body. He managed to break out screaming very colorful words at the beast. Still the man under the tentacle gave a yelp as electricity surged from the youkai's body to all of its tentacles.
Miroku still from above Kirara had noticed Sango hadn't moved sine they had seen the creature. The only other time something like this had happened was the first time she saw her brother after his 'death'. Or, was she afraid? Not able to believe that this could be the cause of her lack of action, he leapt off the feline beast and looked back to Sango who did not follow. She was instead staring in shock at the beast, but more specifically... He followed her line of sight, to the man pinned below its tentacles.
Not knowing why this caused a void to form in his stomach he barely had time to turn before Sango was rushing faster than he had ever seen her move towards the beast, Hiraikotsu raised over her shoulder.
She took a fearful swipe at the beast followed by a deep slash of her katana at the tentacle that was holding the stranger down. As soon as she landed again she took out a familiar seashell container passing the blade of her sword through the blue powder. She dodged an electrified tentacle as another approached behind her. Looking back she saw the tentacle crackle with blue energy rushing towards her. A familiar ofuda landed on the gooey skin stinging and crippling the limb. It was all the time Sango needed. She jumped high in the air throwing her sword at the beast like a harpoon. It cringed and shrieked in pain. Miroku did nothing more but follow her with his eyes then looked towards everyone else in the group. As he suspected they had similar expressions, never had they seen Sango battle this fiercely against anyone but Naraku before.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled.
The youkai didn't even see the giant boomerang as it sliced cleanly through its drying skin, once when she threw it, and another as it came back. The monster, being as it wasn't the most stable creature there was, exploded after the second impact with the giant boomerang, onto everything and every one.
Sango clutched the returning slime filled Hiraikotsu expertly the way only she knew while Kagome and Shippou looked disgustedly at themselves covered in greenish warm mucus. Inu-Yasha wasn't too happy either, as this melting flesh didn't exactly smell like roses. Miroku on the other hand, although covered in the gross substance was oblivious.
Kagome caught sight of the monk, ofudas still out and ready, and like him, stared back at Sango whose hair was plastered against her back and face. That had been one of the most impressive displays of Sango's abilities with youkai's probably since they had met her. She had fought with her heart and spirit... but why?
"Shinosuke!!" she yelled at the recovering victim of the beast.
He perked up at the sound of her voice and looked up at the name she had given him. Both stared at each other for the longest time. Sango, still trying to catch her breath with Hiraikotsu still in hand. The young man, looking at her with a mix of fascination, confusion and somewhat disbelief. Inu-Yasha along with everyone else simply stared from one to the other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Miroku didn't take his eyes off Sango. The silence was finally broken when the stranger said something no one but Sango was expecting.
"Sango? Jou-chan?"
At that moment Kagome could have sworn she felt the air crack around Miroku. Possibly the use of a nickname by the stranger for his Sango? Sango on the other hand looked as if she had just defeated Naraku, her lips turned up into a smile which was then invaded by a quivering lip and sad eyes. She dropped her weapon and ran to the man. Miroku took an involuntary step forward as she leapt into this man's open arms.
Shinosuke, as Sango had called him swung her around twice before setting her down and digging himself into her shoulder. She clutched his gi tightly and dug her head into his chest where she was apparently crying. Inu-Yasha looked surprised at the couple; Sango was never a gal to show much affection to anyone, at least to anyone in their own group. Kagome was trying really hard not to smile like an idiot at the tender scene before her; Shippou had simply been staring curiously at his friend and the stranger she seemed to know.
Miroku was a different story. Just by looking at him you couldn't tell there was something like fire running through his very soul that angered, and hurt him at the same time. His face was calm and motionless, the only thing that gave him away was the way his eyes gleamed longingly at the couple before him. That, and the creepy aura he was giving off.
Kagome turned to him, knowing better than to trust his physical expressions. The air seemed to vibrate off his skin, unconsciously making her take a step back towards Inu-Yasha. And she knew it wasn't just her imagination because Inu-Yasha turned like her, well aware of the negative energy the houshi was sending off. Inu-Yasha looked curiously at Miroku. This jealousy was particular... he recognized it immediately... it was territorial.
It seemed like an eternity before Sango finally let go of the stranger, with tears streaming down her face mixed with the gooey substance of the youkai. This was the first time Kagome had ever seen her so happy, she was practically glowing. The young man it seemed was in a similar state, a huge smile adorned his quite handsome face as he looked down at her.
"I can't believe it. Is it really you Jou-chan?"
Sango laughed wetly looking up at him and nodding.
"You're alive. And you. You saved me. What are you doing here?"
"I should." Sango started but found her voice cracked easily. She cleared her throat and tried again "I should ask you that question. I thought you had..."
His smile died down faintly to reveal sad eyes, Sango too became solemn knowing what their next topic would be.
Kirara, who had been at Miroku's side since the incident, shrunk back to her cat form and rushed at the couple.
"Kirara!" called Shinosuke gleefully as the small youkai leapt up to his arms and stroked her face against his cheek. "You're here as well?"
Sango smiled again sharing her pet's joy still trying to get it in her head that this was really happening. She couldn't believe it, it was as if her best friend had come back from the dead. Still she needed to find out why he was alive. A familiar feeling of dread overcame her as she vaguely remembered her brother. She shook her head. 'Not now'
The memory came back clearly now. Shino had been called out for a mission in a village up north a few days before the whole Naraku incident had happened. He hadn't returned when the attack occurred. She was surprised she didn't remember, not even half a year had passed after all, but it seemed her history before Inu-Yasha and her new friends was distant now, even if it hadn't been that long ago.
She still had trouble believing it, as nothing good could ever happen to her without it turning horribly wrong from one second to another.
"I'm so glad you're alive Jou-chan..."
His voice broke her train of thoughts. She looked back up at deep sky blue eyes and let his words sink in, then smiled. "Me too Shino..."
The sound of someone's throat being cleared made them both turned followed by the scowl of Kagome
"Inu-Yasha! Mind the moment will you?"
Sango smiled looking up at her friends; taking Shinosuke's hand she led him to where everyone was 'patiently' waiting.
"Gomen minna... I guess I got a bit carried away..." she explained to her friends.
Kagome smiled and simply shook her head looking the stranger over; she lifted an eyebrow as one word came to her mind. 'Nice...' the young man was tall, probably about Miroku's age, with chilly ice blue eyes, short black hair with thick locks coming over a bit of his eyes.... even though now they were covered in mucus. He had on a navy blue gi, and a plain black hakama. Still, dirty, bruised and covered in youkai remainders... he managed to look really good.
"Shinosuke." Sango started looking at her friends "These are the people who now mean the world to me. This is Kagome, she comes from the future."
Kagome stepped forward and shook the hand of the boy "Higurashi Kagome, very nice to meet you."
Shinosuke seemed a little off by the future thing; he looked down at Sango who simply smiled. Maybe she would explain later... "Shippou is a small kitsune who travels with us," she continued. The mentioned waved energetically at Shinosuke from Kagome's shoulder.
"Hello Shippou."
"Hi! Where do you know Sango from Shinosuke-san?"
"We lived in the same village and met when we were seven."
"Five..." corrected Sango
"You were five... I was seven..." he defended
She smiled and waved her hand nonchalantly "Hai hai... That's Inu- Yasha, in case the dog ears and fangs and the white hair didn't give it away. He's a Hanyou."
Inu-Yasha turned indignantly with a familiar 'feh'. Sango smiled. "You'll get used to him. And. Miroku-sama," the mentioned turned at his name. It had to be the first time he or anyone for that matter had ever heard Sango say his name. Too bad it was under these circumstances. "He's a houshi." Miroku somewhat expected her to go on. She didn't.
"Minna this is Shinosuke, a....... dear friend, from my village."
That pause definitely didn't go unnoticed by anyone.
"It's very nice to meet all of you, really, thank you very much for your help. I probably wouldn't have made it on my own back there."
At some point Shinosuke had looked over to Sango and said the last part to her, which was probably only fair as she had more or less taken out the youkai by herself.
"Oh! I almost forgot." the voice of Kagome attracted everyone's attention before she ran to the place where the youkai had exploded, digging a bit in the sand she recovered two shards, odd, she had sensed three earlier on, brushing away the dirt she wondered if she had missed one when something gleamed below her fingers, she tightened her grip on the thing.
"Ouch!" she took a dirty finger covered with blood to her mouth. A second later she turned blue tasting the horrible gooey thing that had dried up on her finger.
Shinosuke perked up and ran beside her "Oh I'm sorry Kagome-san that must be my Niken." He said lifting the object off the floor.
"Niken? Oh my." said Kagome staring at the weapon
Indeed, both of the boy's hands reached the slightest bit towards their own weapon when they saw the 'Niken'. It was about the size of Shinosuke himself, a double bladed staff of some sort. With very large blades.
"God damn... You couldn't beat the youkai with that thing?" asked Inu- Yasha still admiring the weapon
A gleam of uncertainty crossed Shinosuke's face before he smiled and turned back to Sango.
"We should really get cleaned up. If this dries up it will be impossible to get off." He said to everyone.
Kagome stood up and nodded at the suggestion realizing again that she was covered in something gooey and disgusting. "But we haven't seen a village in days, Shinosuke. Do you know of any near here?"
"Villages? I've been traveling myself. But I left the last about a week ago. I was heading south to another one but it's about a days way. I did however see some nice thermal ponds close by. If you like I could take you there."
"Kya! Warm waters are just what we need!" Smiled Kagome.
Shinosuke smiled strapping his swallow over his shoulder with a leather strap much like the one Sango used for Hiraikotsu. He searched the grounds a bit before heading over to recover a cloth pouch just like Sango's, who promptly jogged along to where Shinosuke was, taking a comfortable position by his side.
"Are they far away?" she asked him
"No, at a good pace we should be there before dusk."
Sango nodded, and looked casually up at the afternoon sky, and then to the forest floor covered in leaves... they would have to speak of it sometime. She knew this, but it was very uncomfortable for her to just blurt out, "Hey you want to know who massacred our village?" she had a bit more common sense than that, still no ideas came to her head on how to board the topic. Luckily for her, he started
"How did you survive Jou-chan...?"
She looked up at her friend who was staring fiercely at nothing "I came back to the village to find nothing but graves where I had left my friends and loved ones. In less that a day I had been left with nothing."
She took in a deep sigh knowing she had a lot of explaining to do. "Shino... the village wasn't attacked by accident... that's the first thing you have to know. It was a trap, set up by a powerful demon called Naraku." He sensed the rage as she said the name.
"A trap... to kill the villagers? Why?"
Sango nodded. "It was planned from a start... Kohaku, who came in your absence, my father, Ryu- san, Kenji-san, Eiji-san, Notaro-san and myself were sent to a palace that was in need of the best exterminators we had. Meanwhile the village was left unprotected, it couldn't resist the horde of monsters 'he' sent to destroy it... all this to get a single shard of the Shikon Jewel I had recovered. I'll explain later why it was reduced to shards. Meanwhile back at the palace, we found ourselves with nothing more than a giant spider I took out easily, I sensed it had been to easy... that's when he attacked." She took in some air "The dirty bastard didn't get a drop of blood on his filthy body."
Shino looked over at Sango's trembling figure with a feeling of guilt build up inside. He could help think that it should have been him, not Sango's brother. He was still a kid. The expression on her face mellowed as she continued.
"It was Kohaku's first mission, and I couldn't save him. I couldn't do a thing..."
Sango took in deep solid breaths hating her cursed memories, every time she thought of this frustration seemed to eat her from the inside, and she could do nothing but clench her fists. She felt a large rough hand come down gently over hers.
"But you haven't give up... it is because of that that you're alive isn't it?" he said softly to her.
She looked up to him with sad eyes and exhaled deeply.
Miroku hated this feeling, he knew it was incongruous, pointless, uncalled for. But frankly he couldn't do anything about it. He decided the least he could do was not stare at them, which was difficult as he had to be following them. Miroku took a place at the very end of the line behind Kagome and Inu-Yasha, who were also watching the couple intently, no doubt eavesdropping. He just wished he would let go of her hand...
~~*~~
¬¬ hmmmm, this was the boring chapter, the next one definitely gives a new twist to the story, and BTW, for those of you who have seen Rurouni Kenshin fics, well you know where I got the Jou-chan from, it means little lady or little missy or something along those lines, and for those of you familiar with Chrono Cross you know where Shinosuke's weapon comes from.... kinda copying Serge's swallow. As for the name Niken........ Hell I don't know! It just came to my head!
Anywho stick around for the next chapter -_-' promise it'll get better.... I hope a week isn't too long a wait...!
Review! I need to know what I'm doing!!!
Anywho here we go again... ^^
¬¬ ah yes, I almost forgot to mention I'm just a bored girl with nothing whatsoever to do who enjoys the occasional fic,
-_-' I don't even see why these things are necessary. "Oh yes my name is Betty and I own all of the Inu-Yasha characters, I'm so rich and famous sometimes I get bored of my glamorous wonderful life and go to a place where people write fan fictions about my cartoons and write one myself!"
........... ¬¬ come on now people!!!
Respect and admiration to Takahashi-sama.... -_-' dammit I can't even do a normal disclaimer......... let's try again......
I own nothing!!!! ................................. *runs away sobbing*
~ Past Encounter ~
He sniffed the air while running "Are you sure it's this way Kagome?" asked Inu-Yasha
Kagome nodded from over his back already preparing her bow and arrows. "About three shards."
"Then we must hurry." Voiced Miroku from Kirara's back along with Sango
Inu-Yasha felt the adrenaline rush through his veins, it had been a long while since they had had a lead on so many shards at once, sine Naraku had taken care of almost all of them, few were left to recollect, and they had to take advantage of each chance they got.
Something shot through the trees with amazing speed scattering the group quite suddenly. The slimy vine like extension squirmed through the trees before returning back to it's beholder. Inu-Yasha perked up, he smelled something other than the youkai.
"There's a human."
Finally reaching the clearing, they came upon the most disgusting creature they had seen yet, at least in Sango's opinion. It looked like an upside down sake bowl with greasy slimy tentacles. And underneath one was, just as Inu-Yasha had said, a human.
Inu-Yasha having set Kagome down took out Tetsusaiga and lunged at the beast. It simply looked up or at least rose the part of it's body where four slimy balls of red goop were incrusted, and let Inu-Yasha slice through it, sticking itself back together with Inu-Yasha along the way.
"Inu-Yasha!" cried Kagome.
The hanyou was looking, more than in trouble, highly disgusted and somewhat pissed inside the youkai's body. He managed to break out screaming very colorful words at the beast. Still the man under the tentacle gave a yelp as electricity surged from the youkai's body to all of its tentacles.
Miroku still from above Kirara had noticed Sango hadn't moved sine they had seen the creature. The only other time something like this had happened was the first time she saw her brother after his 'death'. Or, was she afraid? Not able to believe that this could be the cause of her lack of action, he leapt off the feline beast and looked back to Sango who did not follow. She was instead staring in shock at the beast, but more specifically... He followed her line of sight, to the man pinned below its tentacles.
Not knowing why this caused a void to form in his stomach he barely had time to turn before Sango was rushing faster than he had ever seen her move towards the beast, Hiraikotsu raised over her shoulder.
She took a fearful swipe at the beast followed by a deep slash of her katana at the tentacle that was holding the stranger down. As soon as she landed again she took out a familiar seashell container passing the blade of her sword through the blue powder. She dodged an electrified tentacle as another approached behind her. Looking back she saw the tentacle crackle with blue energy rushing towards her. A familiar ofuda landed on the gooey skin stinging and crippling the limb. It was all the time Sango needed. She jumped high in the air throwing her sword at the beast like a harpoon. It cringed and shrieked in pain. Miroku did nothing more but follow her with his eyes then looked towards everyone else in the group. As he suspected they had similar expressions, never had they seen Sango battle this fiercely against anyone but Naraku before.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled.
The youkai didn't even see the giant boomerang as it sliced cleanly through its drying skin, once when she threw it, and another as it came back. The monster, being as it wasn't the most stable creature there was, exploded after the second impact with the giant boomerang, onto everything and every one.
Sango clutched the returning slime filled Hiraikotsu expertly the way only she knew while Kagome and Shippou looked disgustedly at themselves covered in greenish warm mucus. Inu-Yasha wasn't too happy either, as this melting flesh didn't exactly smell like roses. Miroku on the other hand, although covered in the gross substance was oblivious.
Kagome caught sight of the monk, ofudas still out and ready, and like him, stared back at Sango whose hair was plastered against her back and face. That had been one of the most impressive displays of Sango's abilities with youkai's probably since they had met her. She had fought with her heart and spirit... but why?
"Shinosuke!!" she yelled at the recovering victim of the beast.
He perked up at the sound of her voice and looked up at the name she had given him. Both stared at each other for the longest time. Sango, still trying to catch her breath with Hiraikotsu still in hand. The young man, looking at her with a mix of fascination, confusion and somewhat disbelief. Inu-Yasha along with everyone else simply stared from one to the other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Miroku didn't take his eyes off Sango. The silence was finally broken when the stranger said something no one but Sango was expecting.
"Sango? Jou-chan?"
At that moment Kagome could have sworn she felt the air crack around Miroku. Possibly the use of a nickname by the stranger for his Sango? Sango on the other hand looked as if she had just defeated Naraku, her lips turned up into a smile which was then invaded by a quivering lip and sad eyes. She dropped her weapon and ran to the man. Miroku took an involuntary step forward as she leapt into this man's open arms.
Shinosuke, as Sango had called him swung her around twice before setting her down and digging himself into her shoulder. She clutched his gi tightly and dug her head into his chest where she was apparently crying. Inu-Yasha looked surprised at the couple; Sango was never a gal to show much affection to anyone, at least to anyone in their own group. Kagome was trying really hard not to smile like an idiot at the tender scene before her; Shippou had simply been staring curiously at his friend and the stranger she seemed to know.
Miroku was a different story. Just by looking at him you couldn't tell there was something like fire running through his very soul that angered, and hurt him at the same time. His face was calm and motionless, the only thing that gave him away was the way his eyes gleamed longingly at the couple before him. That, and the creepy aura he was giving off.
Kagome turned to him, knowing better than to trust his physical expressions. The air seemed to vibrate off his skin, unconsciously making her take a step back towards Inu-Yasha. And she knew it wasn't just her imagination because Inu-Yasha turned like her, well aware of the negative energy the houshi was sending off. Inu-Yasha looked curiously at Miroku. This jealousy was particular... he recognized it immediately... it was territorial.
It seemed like an eternity before Sango finally let go of the stranger, with tears streaming down her face mixed with the gooey substance of the youkai. This was the first time Kagome had ever seen her so happy, she was practically glowing. The young man it seemed was in a similar state, a huge smile adorned his quite handsome face as he looked down at her.
"I can't believe it. Is it really you Jou-chan?"
Sango laughed wetly looking up at him and nodding.
"You're alive. And you. You saved me. What are you doing here?"
"I should." Sango started but found her voice cracked easily. She cleared her throat and tried again "I should ask you that question. I thought you had..."
His smile died down faintly to reveal sad eyes, Sango too became solemn knowing what their next topic would be.
Kirara, who had been at Miroku's side since the incident, shrunk back to her cat form and rushed at the couple.
"Kirara!" called Shinosuke gleefully as the small youkai leapt up to his arms and stroked her face against his cheek. "You're here as well?"
Sango smiled again sharing her pet's joy still trying to get it in her head that this was really happening. She couldn't believe it, it was as if her best friend had come back from the dead. Still she needed to find out why he was alive. A familiar feeling of dread overcame her as she vaguely remembered her brother. She shook her head. 'Not now'
The memory came back clearly now. Shino had been called out for a mission in a village up north a few days before the whole Naraku incident had happened. He hadn't returned when the attack occurred. She was surprised she didn't remember, not even half a year had passed after all, but it seemed her history before Inu-Yasha and her new friends was distant now, even if it hadn't been that long ago.
She still had trouble believing it, as nothing good could ever happen to her without it turning horribly wrong from one second to another.
"I'm so glad you're alive Jou-chan..."
His voice broke her train of thoughts. She looked back up at deep sky blue eyes and let his words sink in, then smiled. "Me too Shino..."
The sound of someone's throat being cleared made them both turned followed by the scowl of Kagome
"Inu-Yasha! Mind the moment will you?"
Sango smiled looking up at her friends; taking Shinosuke's hand she led him to where everyone was 'patiently' waiting.
"Gomen minna... I guess I got a bit carried away..." she explained to her friends.
Kagome smiled and simply shook her head looking the stranger over; she lifted an eyebrow as one word came to her mind. 'Nice...' the young man was tall, probably about Miroku's age, with chilly ice blue eyes, short black hair with thick locks coming over a bit of his eyes.... even though now they were covered in mucus. He had on a navy blue gi, and a plain black hakama. Still, dirty, bruised and covered in youkai remainders... he managed to look really good.
"Shinosuke." Sango started looking at her friends "These are the people who now mean the world to me. This is Kagome, she comes from the future."
Kagome stepped forward and shook the hand of the boy "Higurashi Kagome, very nice to meet you."
Shinosuke seemed a little off by the future thing; he looked down at Sango who simply smiled. Maybe she would explain later... "Shippou is a small kitsune who travels with us," she continued. The mentioned waved energetically at Shinosuke from Kagome's shoulder.
"Hello Shippou."
"Hi! Where do you know Sango from Shinosuke-san?"
"We lived in the same village and met when we were seven."
"Five..." corrected Sango
"You were five... I was seven..." he defended
She smiled and waved her hand nonchalantly "Hai hai... That's Inu- Yasha, in case the dog ears and fangs and the white hair didn't give it away. He's a Hanyou."
Inu-Yasha turned indignantly with a familiar 'feh'. Sango smiled. "You'll get used to him. And. Miroku-sama," the mentioned turned at his name. It had to be the first time he or anyone for that matter had ever heard Sango say his name. Too bad it was under these circumstances. "He's a houshi." Miroku somewhat expected her to go on. She didn't.
"Minna this is Shinosuke, a....... dear friend, from my village."
That pause definitely didn't go unnoticed by anyone.
"It's very nice to meet all of you, really, thank you very much for your help. I probably wouldn't have made it on my own back there."
At some point Shinosuke had looked over to Sango and said the last part to her, which was probably only fair as she had more or less taken out the youkai by herself.
"Oh! I almost forgot." the voice of Kagome attracted everyone's attention before she ran to the place where the youkai had exploded, digging a bit in the sand she recovered two shards, odd, she had sensed three earlier on, brushing away the dirt she wondered if she had missed one when something gleamed below her fingers, she tightened her grip on the thing.
"Ouch!" she took a dirty finger covered with blood to her mouth. A second later she turned blue tasting the horrible gooey thing that had dried up on her finger.
Shinosuke perked up and ran beside her "Oh I'm sorry Kagome-san that must be my Niken." He said lifting the object off the floor.
"Niken? Oh my." said Kagome staring at the weapon
Indeed, both of the boy's hands reached the slightest bit towards their own weapon when they saw the 'Niken'. It was about the size of Shinosuke himself, a double bladed staff of some sort. With very large blades.
"God damn... You couldn't beat the youkai with that thing?" asked Inu- Yasha still admiring the weapon
A gleam of uncertainty crossed Shinosuke's face before he smiled and turned back to Sango.
"We should really get cleaned up. If this dries up it will be impossible to get off." He said to everyone.
Kagome stood up and nodded at the suggestion realizing again that she was covered in something gooey and disgusting. "But we haven't seen a village in days, Shinosuke. Do you know of any near here?"
"Villages? I've been traveling myself. But I left the last about a week ago. I was heading south to another one but it's about a days way. I did however see some nice thermal ponds close by. If you like I could take you there."
"Kya! Warm waters are just what we need!" Smiled Kagome.
Shinosuke smiled strapping his swallow over his shoulder with a leather strap much like the one Sango used for Hiraikotsu. He searched the grounds a bit before heading over to recover a cloth pouch just like Sango's, who promptly jogged along to where Shinosuke was, taking a comfortable position by his side.
"Are they far away?" she asked him
"No, at a good pace we should be there before dusk."
Sango nodded, and looked casually up at the afternoon sky, and then to the forest floor covered in leaves... they would have to speak of it sometime. She knew this, but it was very uncomfortable for her to just blurt out, "Hey you want to know who massacred our village?" she had a bit more common sense than that, still no ideas came to her head on how to board the topic. Luckily for her, he started
"How did you survive Jou-chan...?"
She looked up at her friend who was staring fiercely at nothing "I came back to the village to find nothing but graves where I had left my friends and loved ones. In less that a day I had been left with nothing."
She took in a deep sigh knowing she had a lot of explaining to do. "Shino... the village wasn't attacked by accident... that's the first thing you have to know. It was a trap, set up by a powerful demon called Naraku." He sensed the rage as she said the name.
"A trap... to kill the villagers? Why?"
Sango nodded. "It was planned from a start... Kohaku, who came in your absence, my father, Ryu- san, Kenji-san, Eiji-san, Notaro-san and myself were sent to a palace that was in need of the best exterminators we had. Meanwhile the village was left unprotected, it couldn't resist the horde of monsters 'he' sent to destroy it... all this to get a single shard of the Shikon Jewel I had recovered. I'll explain later why it was reduced to shards. Meanwhile back at the palace, we found ourselves with nothing more than a giant spider I took out easily, I sensed it had been to easy... that's when he attacked." She took in some air "The dirty bastard didn't get a drop of blood on his filthy body."
Shino looked over at Sango's trembling figure with a feeling of guilt build up inside. He could help think that it should have been him, not Sango's brother. He was still a kid. The expression on her face mellowed as she continued.
"It was Kohaku's first mission, and I couldn't save him. I couldn't do a thing..."
Sango took in deep solid breaths hating her cursed memories, every time she thought of this frustration seemed to eat her from the inside, and she could do nothing but clench her fists. She felt a large rough hand come down gently over hers.
"But you haven't give up... it is because of that that you're alive isn't it?" he said softly to her.
She looked up to him with sad eyes and exhaled deeply.
Miroku hated this feeling, he knew it was incongruous, pointless, uncalled for. But frankly he couldn't do anything about it. He decided the least he could do was not stare at them, which was difficult as he had to be following them. Miroku took a place at the very end of the line behind Kagome and Inu-Yasha, who were also watching the couple intently, no doubt eavesdropping. He just wished he would let go of her hand...
~~*~~
¬¬ hmmmm, this was the boring chapter, the next one definitely gives a new twist to the story, and BTW, for those of you who have seen Rurouni Kenshin fics, well you know where I got the Jou-chan from, it means little lady or little missy or something along those lines, and for those of you familiar with Chrono Cross you know where Shinosuke's weapon comes from.... kinda copying Serge's swallow. As for the name Niken........ Hell I don't know! It just came to my head!
Anywho stick around for the next chapter -_-' promise it'll get better.... I hope a week isn't too long a wait...!
Review! I need to know what I'm doing!!!