daniel's disclaimer: Life is such that I don't even speak Japanese, let alone own Inu-Yasha.
"Twixt" is a real word, by the way (The candy bar just dropped the last letter to make pronunciation easier). It's an archaic synonym for "between."
Ginta yawned, stretching his arms and smacking his lips as he regretfully pulled himself out of his nap. He blearily looked up into the sky, checking to see if Kouga was coming back yet. He squinted, frowning. There was the smudge off in the distance that meant Kouga was flying in. It looked a little misshapen, though.
No...
Ginta stood, rubbing the crud from his eyes and bringing himself fully awake. He looked again, squinting hard as the ambient glow began to dim as Never-Never Land darkened for 'night.' He looked closely. It was Kouga.
He wouldn't...
He did.
There were three kids hanging from his left leg and a suspiciously nubile girl hefted across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kouga was looking inordinately pleased with himself, despite being half a day late and having kidnapped four people from the Normal World and brought them to a trippy place like Never-Never Land.
"Oh no..." Ginta whispered, half-consciously resting his spear on his shoulder as he stepped out of the shade of the palm trees and walked down towards the beach. He began running as the group set down, the three kids-- all boys--clustering together to glare at Kouga as he carefully set the girl on his feet.
"Kouga!" He called. "Kouga!"
Kouga turned and smiled. "Ginta! What's up?"
Ginta came to a halt, ignoring the four humans that were frowning at him. "Kouga, why did you bring humans here?" He asked, preparing to hear the worst.
Kouga frowned. "My shadow wasn't cooperating again." He frowned, tapping his chin with his right index finger. "Miroku did a bad job with the animating spell; my shadow is getting more and more disobedient each time."
Ginta sighed. "Well, did you get Shinta where he needed to be?"
Kouga nodded. "Yeah, and I was coming back when my shadow unattached itself, and then I slammed into their house." He said, waving his hand towards the humans. "Oh!" He said, hitting his palm with his fist. "I haven't introduced you, have I?"
He smiled as Ginta's face faltered. "Everyone," he said, "This is Ginta." He finished, pointing. Ginta nodded self-consciously. "And Ginta," Kouga said, continuing, "this is everyone." He concluded, with a vague gesture.
"...Right." Ginta said. "Anyway, why are they here?"
Kouga shrugged. "They saw me." He paused. "But that's not all! This girl," he said, pointing at Kagome, "could see my shadow!"
"...So?" Ginta asked, frowning. "Any human with strong spirit awareness could see it."
"Well..." He paused, thinking. "I think she'll really be helpful."
"Now wait a minute..." Kagome said, deciding enough was enough. "We didn't agree to any of this at all. I think you should take us right back, Kouga." She concluded.
"I can't." Kouga responded, shrugging.
"You can't?! Not even you won't?!" Souta yelled.
"Nope." Kouga responded. "Miroku's spell wore off as I got here."
Ginta sighed. "I'm afraid that the only way you can get back to the Normal World is with Miroku's help." He apologized.
Kagome glowered. "So I'm stuck with you idiots until some weirdo sprinkles me with pixie dust?!"
"Hey!" Kouga protested.
"So, is Miroku 'Tinkerbell' then?" Shippo mused.
"Maybe." Kohaku said, shrugging.
"Tinkerbell?" Ginta asked.
"Whozzat?" Kouga added.
"Never mind." Kagome said. "Just take us to this Miroku person so we can hurry up and go back home."
"Ok, ok." Kouga agreed. "Me'n Ginta will take you back."
"Ginta and I." Kagome automatically corrected.
"But you don't know the way." Kouga said, frowning. Ginta slapped his forehead.
"I meant, you should say 'Ginta and I will take you back.'" Kagome elaborated.
"But, Kagome," Kouga said confused, "I already said me'n Ginta will take you. You don't even know what Miroku looks like, so how would you know?"
"Kouga, that's not..." Ginta whispered, trailing off as Kouga got annoyed.
"Oh, I get it." Kouga said. "You don't trust me to show you the way!"
I don't believe this... Kagome thought. "Of course I don't trust you." She said out loud. "You kidnapped us!"
"Oh yeah." Kouga said, rubbing his chin. "But, I have to get home anyway, so why wouldn't I bring you?"
"Never mind." Kagome said, sighing. "Just lead the way."
"See!" Kouga said, setting off. "Just leave it to me'n Ginta!"
"He's not the brightest bulb in the box, is he?" Souta whispered to Ginta.
Ginta sighed, and scooped Souta up to ride on his shoulders. Souta whooped once and Kagome spun around, glowering. She sighed when she saw that Ginta wasn't hurting Souta. "If you drop him I'll break your shins." She threatened.
Souta whispered "Don't mind her." in Ginta's ear. "She's just worried about Kouga."
"He means well, but... he's kinda impulsive." Ginta admitted.
"Plus he's a few fries short of a happy meal." Shippo added.
"A donut short a dozen." Souta giggled.
"I can hear you." Kouga said without looking back. Kagome slapped her forehead and Ginta winced.
Shippo walked on for a little longer before turning his pouty face on Kagome.
"I'm not carrying you." Kagome stated, not breaking stride.
"I'll carry the kid." Kouga offered, smiling.
"No." Kagome said, before Shippo could speak up.
"Why not?" Kouga asked over his shoulder, looking hurt.
"Because you're our kidnapper. I'm not letting any of us closer to you than we have to be." Kagome retaliated.
"You're letting Ginta carry the other one." Kouga said, stopping to point.
Kagome drew up in front of him as Ginta begged Kouga not to drag him into this.
"Ginta didn't kidnap us." Kagome said, glowering.
Kouga frowned. "So you like Ginta more just because he didn't kidnap you?" He said, pouting as he crossed his arms.
"Duh!" Kagome responded.
"...How about we keep going?" Ginta suggested.
"You stay out of this." Kouga grunted.
"Come on, guys. Fighting won't accomplish anything." Shippo pleaded.
Kouga sighed. "The kid's right. Let's keep going." He turned, and kept walking up through the trees, away from the beach and up the mountain. He frowned. "We should get back before dark." He said.
"What happens after dark?" Kagome said, apprehensive. Did demons rise up and feast on the souls of captured mortals when the light faded in this sepulchre place?
"It's hard to see." Kouga responded. "Well, for you humans, anyway. Me'n Ginta, we'll be fine."
"Ginta and... you." Kagome finished lamely, not wanting a repeat of last time's fiasco. She frowned. "Wait...why will it be easier for Ginta and you to see, Kouga?"
"Because we're demons." He said matter-of-factly, stepping over a log. He turned to offer Kagome his hand to help her over it.
She frowned. "Demons?"
Kohaku tensed, freezing for an instant, before he looked up. "You're... bakemono?" He asked quietly.
"Not monsters." Kouga corrected. "Demons. Youkai in human form."
"Oh." Kohaku responded.
Kagome frowned. Kohaku was painfully shy--why would figuring out what sort of creatures these things were matter anyway? The ears meant they obviously weren't human, and she'd noticed Kouga had a tail.
Ginta cleared his throat. "Are we there yet, Kouga?"
Kouga stared. "You know just as well as I do that the lair is only on the other side of this hill." He said, pointing.
Ginta sighed, not wanting to explain that he'd been changing the subject.
"Lair?" Shippo squeaked.
"Yeah." Kouga said, shrugging. "The lair." He smiled. "Come on, we're almost there!" He said, smiling.
"Whatever." Kagome sighed. She trudged up the hill behind him, with Shippo and Ginta behind her and Kohaku taking up the rear.
Miroku sighed. "Hakkaku, I sure that wherever he is, Kouga is fine."
Hakkaku shook his head. "That's not what I'm worried about. I'm afraid he's late because he did something really stupid like kidnap a girlfriend."
Miroku frowned lightly, looking up from the pot of stew. It was on the verge of boiling, and he stirred the peppers and beans to make sure that they'd cook evenly. "Kouga does tend to be a little impulsive, but he's not foolish." He said finally. "I'm sure that there's a perfectly good reason for him to be late and--yes Mayu?" He interrupted himself, looking up at the girl that stood next to him.
"When's dinner gonna be done, Miroku?" She asked tremulously.
Miroku smiled. "Dinner will be done in just a little while, Mayu. Why don't you play with Hakkaku to pass the time?" That would distract both of them.
"Ok..." Mayu said, thinking. Then she smiled. "Hey Hakkaku?"
"Whassup, Mayu?" Hakkaku responded, still staring distractedly out the entrance to their cave complex.
"Wanna play 'pirates' with me?" She asked hopefully.
Since Kouga wasn't there Hakkaku looked to Miroku for direction. He waved Hakkaku on.
"Sure, Mayu. Why don't you see if some of the other kids want to play, too?" Hakkaku responded.
"Ok!" Mayu said cheerfully, racing off to tell the other kids.
Hakkaku grunted. "Dinner's gonna be late tonight, isn't it?"
Miroku shrugged delicately. "I just put the food in the pot, Hakkaku. Dinner won't be for another hour or so."
"Ah." Hakkaku said, standing up. "In that case, I guess that means that I'll be playing pirates for about an hour, eh?"
"As insightful as always." Miroku complemented. "And don't forget your eyepatch, Hakkaku." He added helpfully.
"Humph." Hakkaku grunted.
"Let's play!" Mayu shrieked, the other kids bouncing around happily as they swarmed Hakkaku, dragging him outside to play in the clearing, illuminated by the fire at the cave entrance.
Hakkaku's ears twitched when Mayu proclaimed the fallen log at the end of the clearing their pirate ship. He frowned, concentrating, and then grimaced, biting back the epithet he wanted to mutter.
"Ok, everybody, back inside the cave!" He commanded, and frowned when he was greeted with a unanimous round of "Awwwww!"
He frowned. "If you don't go back inside you'll go in time out!" He threatened.
"But Hakkaku..." Mayu wheedled.
"No buts!" Hakkaku interrupted. "And you'll go in time out during storytime!" He said, amending his threat.
The kids filed in dejectedly and Hakkaku went to the entrance to meet Miroku's concerned expression. "Kouga's not to far."
Miroku closed his eyes, focusing on his spirit senses, and then grunted. "I sense him. And he's with a human with strong spirit awareness." He opened his eyes.
"Yeah, and there's three more humans with the two of them." Hakkaku added. His hearing was remarkably good, even for a wolf youkai.
Miroku choked the fire with a few handfuls of sand so their dinner wouldn't burn. "I suppose we should greet them and try to control the damage." Miroku said, resigned. He was worried inside, though. Going from the Normal World towards the Spirit World was extremely easy--from a magical perspective, Never-Never Land was in the middle--but going from the Spirit World to the Normal World was an uphill battle. It took a lot of energy. Moving two people was a strain for Miroku; moving five or even just those was way beyond him.
Hakkaku grunted as they walked outside, waiting patiently in the center of the clearing for Kouga and whomever he'd managed to drag back with him.
Miroku could hear them before he could see them.
"I don't care if Miroku's a Bodhisattva; I'm not trusting anyone associated with you!" A voice rang out. Miroku winced. It seemed that Kouga had managed to antagonize her.
Then he perked up. At least it was a girl!
Hakkaku slapped his forehead. He hadn't been serious with the "kidnapped girlfriend" comment, but apparently there was more truth in his words than he'd hoped.
"Kagome, maybe you shouldn't be so mean to..." Shippo's voice trailed off as they entered the clearing. There in the firelight stood two men; one looked a lot like Ginta, except his hairstyle was completely different. And the other looked like a Zen monk, since he was wearing a kesa. Except he had hair. Zen monks definitely didn't have hair.
"Who are you?" Kagome demanded bluntly. Behind her, Ginta winced. She had gotten steadily more annoyed as their little hiking trip had progressed.
"My friend here is Hakkaku," Miroku said happily, pointing at Ginta's best friend. "As for me, I'm the priest you have such an esteemed opinion of, Miroku." He finished, pointing at his chest. "A pleasure to be of service."
Kagome didn't trust smooth guys. Like Miroku. "I'm Kagome. This is Shippo, Souta, and Kohaku." She said bluntly, pointing to each in turn.
"Is dinner ready, Miroku?" Kouga asked hopefully.
Kagome grunted sourly. She was hungry, too, but Kouga really needed to get his priorities straight. And his first priority was returning them to Earth.
"Hmn?" Miroku blinked. Kohaku, eh? Then he smiled and answered Kouga's question before the wolf-demon got a chance to ask again. "No, Kouga, it still has about an hour to go."
"Oh." Kouga sighed, deflated.
Miroku sighed and went back up to the cave to stoke the fire and start the meal again. Hesitantly, the four humans followed the three wolf-demons back up to the cave, plopping down in a circle. Kouga slid his sword out of his belt and tossed it over to the side of the cave, and Ginta did the same with his spear.
"How'd it go, Kouga?" Hakkaku finally asked.
"Went good." Kouga said. "Got Shinta to the drop-off point no problem. Until," here he scowled at Miroku, "until my shadow got loose and dropped me from the sky."
Miroku looked at his vegetables with great interest. "The spell is as focused as you are, Kouga."
Kouga frowned. "So you're saying that it's my fault that the spell screwed up?"
"Well..." Miroku began.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Kagome interrupted darkly.
"Hello?" Mayu asked hesitantly from the back of the cave. "Are you the new kids?"
"Mayu!?" Souta asked, shocked.
"Souta? Is that you, Souta!?" She squealed, running over to the fire.
"Oh man..." Souta said. "You're alive, Mayu!?"
Kagome gaped. Wasn't Mayu the girl that...
"No." Mayu said cheerfully. "I'm dead."
"Geah!" Souta replied. Shippo eeped and inched behind Kagome.
Mayu giggled. "I'm not a vengeful spirit, Souta. Kouga's looking after me until I'm reincarnated!" She said cheerfully.
Kagome shot a look at Kouga, who just shrugged. He never had explained what exactly he did with himself, but looking after dead ghost girls...
He was either really compassionate or he took pedophile to a whole new level.
"Are you ok, Mayu?" Souta said, concern winning over the willies. Mayu hadn't died under the best circumstances, and...
"Yup!" Mayu said cheerfully. "Miroku's helped my be happy again, and he apologized to mommy and Satoru for me!" She responded.
Kagome glanced at Miroku, who just smiled innocently. She'd thought that Mayu's mother had been speaking metaphorically when she said an angel had helped her get over Mayu's death, but apparently not... on the other hand, Kouga described the guy as a supernatural fence.
"That's nice." Souta responded awkwardly.
Hakkaku sighed. "I thought I told you to stay in the cave, Mayu."
She frowned up at him. "I'm still in the cave."
Hakkaku grunted. "I meant... never mind."
Miroku knew just the solution. "Dog pile on Kouga!" He shouted out.
"Hey!" Kouga sputtered, and with wail Mayu ran over and leapt on him. Instantly other kids ran from their hiding places deep inside the cave, sprinting over to leap on Kouga. Desperately he tried to squirm away, but he was tightly bound.
"Why don't you join them, Souta?" Miroku suggested. "And you too, Shippo?"
Shippo began to protest, but Souta just said "ok!" and dragged Shippo with him. He could tell when the adults wanted to talk.
Ginta sighed and set his spear down. "I better go make sure they don't pull Kouga's tail." He stood and walked over.
"OW!" Kouga screamed.
"Too late." Hakkaku grunted, standing up. "Guess I better go with Ginta and make sure it doesn't happen again."
"YOUCH!" Kouga yelped from under the pile.
"Too late." Miroku murmured. He stirred the pot for a while before glancing at Kagome, and Kohaku behind her.
"So, what do you want to know?" He asked cheerfully.
Kagome glared at him. "Answer truthfully." She demanded.
"I'll do my best." Miroku cheerfully equivocated.
She didn't quite catch it. She stared at him for a minute before just blurting, "Are you guys pedophiles or what?"
"H-huh?" Miroku said, nearly dropping his ladle into the soup.
"You heard me." Kagome said. "Are you three just smuggling children in some sort of sick, Eastern-European-esque child prostitution ring."
"No! Of course not!" Miroku sputtered, scrunching his nose. He sighed, composing himself. "This one is a staunch follower of Buddha, and although they are demons, those three are too." He gestured to the soup. "If you'd notice, we're eating a vegetarian dinner. No animal flesh for us."
"Ok..." Kagome said, frowning. "Then what are you doing?"
"Smuggling kids into the Normal World." Miroku responded. Seeing the look she was shooting him, he hastily added, "Not as prostitutes!"
"Go on..." Kagome urged.
"Ok, it's like this..." Miroku sighed, setting the ladle down so he could talk with undivided focus. "You see, when children die in birth or at a very young age, they cause there parents great emotional pain because of their death, right?"
He continued. "Because causing suffering is bad karma, that means that children that die young amass bad karma for dying young. But since they were still just children, they didn't have the opportunity to amass any good karma, right?"
"It's a little messed up, but it makes sense." Kagome nodded.
"I concur." Miroku said. "Anyway, since they have substantially more bad karma than good, this means that children that died young led bad lives, and need to be punished in Hell for leading bad lives. They spend their sentence on the banks of the River Sanzu, collecting pebbles to pile as restitution for their bad lives."
"And their piles are smashed by ogres from deeper in Hell, but Jizo protects them and drives the ogres away." Kohaku added.
"That's terrible!" Kagome said.
"Yes, on both accounts." Miroku sighed. "So I smuggle as many children from the banks of Sanzu to Never-Never Land and try to help them amass good karma before sending them back to Earth with Kouga to be reincarnated."
"So that makes Kouga your delivery boy and Hakkaku and Ginta babysitters, then?" Kagome said, frowning.
"Well, essentially." Miroku deferred, picking his ladle up again to stir his soup.
"That's really compassionate." Kagome said. She blinked. "But, if you're going against the cycle of punishment and restitution, doesn't that make the gods angry?"
Miroku frowned, deliberating. "What I'm about to share with you is not to be told to anyone, even Kouga." He said, looking up. "And I'm only telling you so you'll understand." He sighed. "Jizo... looks the other way. And the other gods don't really keep tabs on how many children are on the Sanzu."
"Why shouldn't we tell Kouga?" Kagome asked. "Not that I want to tell him anything, but shouldn't he know?"
Miroku grunted. "Ginta and Hakkaku suspect, but Kouga never even thought about it... the truth of it is, if Susano, who is in charge of Hell, ever found out... he'd be very angry." Miroku looked up. "I don't want Jizo to be implicated if we're ever found out."
"And we're going back to the 'Normal World' very soon, so it's not an issue." Kagome said leadingly.
"Of course, of course." Miroku assured her. "Until that happy day, just try and enjoy Never-Never Land, alright?"
"Then why did Ginta have a spear, and why does Kouga carry around a sword?" Kohaku questioned. Kagome blinked. Come to think of it... why where they armed?
Miroku grunted. Made sense he'd catch that. "Our little daycare project is not the only group to inhabit this place."
"And the other group is dangerous." Kagome finished, slightly angry.
Miroku frowned. "Imagine that Never-Never Land is shaped like the Greek letter theta. Never-Never Land has two long, sweeping arms that extend around two lagoons, each one on either side of a ridge; it's an oval of enclosed water bisected by a line of raised rock. Anyway, that divide is called the 'Head Ridge,' and on the other side lives a terrible demon and his group of minions."
Kohaku glared. "And you fight them often?"
"Never." Miroku said, shaking his head. "They never bother to cross the Head Ridge. Sometimes I wonder if they even know or care that we're here."
"Ok..." Kagome said, frowning. "If you say so..."
Kohaku grunted. "I don't believe you."
Miroku shrugged. "I gain nothing by lying."
"You sure don't." Kagome replied, leveling a glare.
"Hey Miroku, is dinner ready yet?" Mayu interrupted. Miroku flicked a glance at Ginta who shrugged and went back to horsing around.
Miroku frowned at the pot and took a little taste, then smiled at Mayu. "Yes, it is." He replied.
"Dinner! Dinner!" Mayu shouted, running back to rejoin her friends.
The scene was chaos as the group of children swamped Miroku, and Kagome was pleased he made sure to feed his 'guests,' but she couldn't help but feel that Mayu's distraction had been a little too convenient.
It was a good cigarette.
He took a careful drag, filling his lungs up with smoke and holding it in as he contemplated the little wound up strip of paper smoldering between his fingers, pausing in his climb.
He blew out his nose, slow, taking a hedonistic pleasure in the terrible, terrible scent of the cigarette. It smelt acrid and toxic and very very strong.
He couldn't smell anything but the ashy scent of cigarette. That was kinda nice.
He shifted, his robes beginning to itch. He needed to wash them, he supposed, and then started walking again, up to the top of the ridge. He had been a little messier than normal tonight, and got a guy from right in front. He'd been caught in the spray.
He dragged on the cigarette again to burn away all the other smells except tobacco smoke.
He grasped the cigarette carefully in between the index and middle fingers on his right hand as he leapt slightly, going up over a sheer face that he didn't feel like circumventing. He landed lightly.
The severed heads he was gripping by the hair knocking against his knee. He tightened the grip, the hair splayed between the fingers of his left hand.
Three more that crossed Head Ridge were staying there for a while. It had started out as a warning, but now it was The Rule: cross Head Ridge and your head stays on the ridge. Simple.
He took the last drag of the cigarette regretfully and stubbed it out on his thumb, ignoring the shiny little burn that caused. He tucked the cigarette back into the packet, instead of throwing it on the ground.
Then he picked out three long poles.
A big shout out to "Shinobi-chan" for reviewing.
Anyway, you know a guy's at least a little evil if he's smoking when he's introduced. But that's only because the EPA lied and said second-hand smoke is a measurable carcinogen. Smoking ruins your health and makes your teeth ugly but let's stop telling ourselves that Satan is the CEO of Phillip Morris, ok?
...Ignore the "free-market" propaganda of the last paragraph. Anyway, I also wanted to mention that "Bodhisattva" is the Merriam-Webster spelling, since it's actually a Sanskrit word for one that's attained enlightenment but stayed on earth out of compassion instead of passing into nirvana. They're worshipped as deities in Mahayana Buddhism; Tenzin Gai'aitsu (I'm guessing on the spelling of that one), the fourteenth Dali Lama, is a bodhisattva (allegedly, I grant).
Well, that's all I can think to say except for a pathetic plea for reviews. 'Course, in order for you to review you have to have read the story so I'm not holding my breath.
That's all I got.