Chapter 3
(Warning! Gross stuff lies within. Well moderately gross. What do you expect? Its me. LadySesshoumaru41)
Three days later....
The rumors were correct. There was indeed a lot of trouble in that village. A demon named Tokiri and his brother Tayko had entered that town nearly three months ago. The two had a terrible reputation and a horrible appetite. All the women in the village had been rounded up and taken to the palace in the center of the village. All of them served the perverse pleasures of the demons.
As for the men of the village, they were made to fight each other in battles with the looser being awarded to the lords who would then devour them alive.
Each one of the brothers had two shards in them, one on each temple. They were very strong and had withstood the efforts of many monks and priests to remove them.
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had been watching all this for some time. They knew their enemy and were now preparing to do something about them.
It was decided that Miroku and Sango would enter into the village with their usual offer. They would take Sugumi because of his human-like form. Inuyasha and the sons of Sesshoumaru would go around to the back of the palace and take up positions in the trees. Sesshoumaru would attack from above.
Katame and Kagome stayed at the camp. Sesshoumaru didn't want to risk the women on this one. It would be difficult enough with the hunters being human. Besides with the two demon's appetite for females they would be smelt and in danger the instant they got to town.
Tokiri and Tayko were at sport. Tokiri loved to toy with his victims. Today he had the wife of one of the combatants with him as he watched the fight.
"If you win this battle I will let you use your wife." He gloated and held out the naked girl. "But if you lose you will watch me use her myself, then she will watch you die." He smiled at the thought. He knew that this would force the men to battle all the more fiercely. "Oh." He added with glee. "Your opponent has the same offer." He held up another naked female.
"Now lets see. Who will I rape today?" He pulled the two frightened girls close to him. "If you please me maybe I won't beat you so hard this time." The girl squealed, she was crying.
The battle was just about to begin, when three strange humans walked into the courtyard.
"We have come to free this village of it's demon tyrants." Miroku spoke and held out his staff toward where the demons were seated. "Leave now and I will show you mercy."
"You're either crazy or you're a fool, monk. I am Tokiri and I eat monks for fun. Come here and I will give you a quick death." He laughed. He had defeated many monks and priests. He had no fear of them. This one would be no different.
"Why must they always want to do it the hard way?" Miroku looked at Sango.
Sango looked back and said. "Suits me just fine. I hate letting these things live." She took her demon-bone boomerang off her back and readied herself for battle.
She threw the great thing at the demons. The demons had constructed a covered stand from which they could watch the fun. Sango's Boomerang hit it with such force that the whole thing collapsed.
Tayko grabbed one of the females and ran to the palace. He thought that the hunters might trade her for his life or at least she would make an excellent shield. Wrong.
His brother on the other hand was much more brazen. He too had grabbed a female but now he was waving her around like a rag doll.
"You think you pitiful humans can spoil my fun. Think again. Tokiri transformed into his true form. The brothers were bear demons. He was immense. His claws were like daggers and his teeth were huge.
The sons of Sesshoumaru were up in the trees behind the demon. They saw and heard every word. Inumouru let out a low growl. His eyes were turning red. "We can't allow him to do this. A woman should never be treated like that." He looked at his brother.
Samotoyame was thinking of his mother. She was carted off by a demon such as this. She was shamed in much the same way. He drew his sword. "We do this for momma." He lept from the tree and slashed down the back of the demon.
Inu caught the woman as she flew from the injured demon's hand. He carried her off to safety and put her down. He took off the top of his clothes and wrapped the frightened woman in it. "Stay here you'll be safe." He ordered and went off the join his brother.
Samoto was being especially fierce. The demon was being hacked to death by the angry half demon.
"Mercy. I beg you have mercy. Ahhh..." The demon pleaded but Samotoyame was in no mood for it. He had seen the look of horror on the faces of the women. He had seen their shame. He would avenge that for them. For his mother.
"You wish mercy from me? Would you have shown any mercy at all to those women? I don't think so. I'm not going to show any to you." He leveled his sword at the head of the cowering demon. He raised it high and then swung down hard on the neck of the demon. His head rolled away. Samoto then used his sword to cut open the chest of the demon and pulled out the heart. Samoto looked at the bloody mass.
His brother came up beside him. "What do you want that for?"
Samoto looked up at his brother. It is the price he paid to a young woman whom he shamed. And he walked off to where the woman was hiding. Samoto crouched beside the frightened girl. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. Here I brought you something. He put it into her hands. It is the demon's heart. I took it for you, to redeem you from your shame." He smiled at the girl. "You don't need to feel that shame or fear again, he's dead." He stood and took her by the hand. "Where is your mate?
The girl looked up at the demon and shook her head fiercely. She was afraid he would hurt her husband.
"What's the matter? I'm not going to hurt you. Just point to him and I'll bring you to him." Then Samoto thought for a moment. He looked full-grown by human standards. She was probably afraid he would want her for himself. He smiled at her. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm far too young to take a mate yet. Now, which one of these belongs to you?" He said guiding her toward a group of men.
She broke away from him and ran to a man and hung on to him fiercely.
Samoto picked up the heart the woman had dropped and handed it to her husband. "This is her shame. Bury it and never let her feel it any more. I have killed him for her." He touched the girl's hair. "You should be fine now."
The man thanked Samoto. "I am Yuroku, thank you for saving my wife. Please allow me to extend hospitality to you and your friends. We do not have much but what we do have, is yours. Please, come to my home and have a meal with us. We owe you all so much."
Samoto bowed. "I will tell my father. He is over there destroying the other demon." Samoto pointed over to where his father was.
Sesshoumaru had caught Tayko as he fled with the woman to the palace. Tayko thought that he could successfully use the woman as a shield. He held out the woman and shook her at Sesshoumaru.
"You wish to protect this do you? Or is it that you wish to use her yourself? Either way she is mine to do with as I please." He transformed and threatened to crush the woman if Sesshoumaru took one more move.
"Iron reverse soul stealer!" Came a loud cry from behind him. Inuyasha slashed the arm of the demon sending the girl flying. Sugumi caught the girl in mid flight, and brought her to her waiting husband.
"Thank you sir, thank you!" The husband was ecstatic to have his wife back in one piece. He wrapped her in a blanket and took her away from the action.
Sesshoumaru was angry. This demon had been terrorizing the village in this way for who know how many days. Each day two new women would suffer under them. Each day more men would die. He would end this. He could not let this one live no matter what. Tayko would have to die.
"I will take your heart Tayko. You have lived too long already. Your crimes are too great for me to ignore any longer." Sesshoumaru brought down his great sword on the demon cutting through the shoulder and into the chest.
The demon screamed and grabbed his wounded shoulder. "I will not die today. For you too are a demon. Do you not also sport with the useless pathetic humans?" All the while he was trying to back away from the angry lord.
"I do no such thing. It is true that I have no use for them, but I also have no desire to destroy them in this way." Sesshoumaru's hands glowed green with poison. "I don't need to sport in this fashion. I am much greater than that." He lunged at the demon plunging his hand into the chest of the demon. "However, I will show you one small mercy, Tayko. I will kill you quickly." He grabbed hold of the heart of the demon and pulled it out. The demon screamed and crashed to the ground. Sesshoumaru took the heart to the woman that Tayko had been abusing. He took her hand in his and pressed the heart into her palm. This is your shame woman, bury it and think of it no longer.
"Father!" Samoto ran up to his father with a man and one of the young women that had been abused by the demon brothers behind him. "This man is Yuroku, He is the husband of the woman Inumouru and I rescued. He has asked that we join him at he house for a meal.
Sesshoumaru looked down at the man and his wife and nodded his approval. He was not one to accept the hospitality of humans, but he would make an exception this time. They all followed the man into his home.
The man had three daughters who were now released from the tyranny of the two evil demon lords. They worked to prepare a meal for their guests. It was a simple meal, only rice and a few vegetables.
"Eat my lords, please. I would that I could better repay you for your kindness to our village. After the meal Yuroku called his daughters to him. My lords I have little to give you. But this I have. These are my daughters they have not been with any man. Please take them to be your own. They should be wives to your sons.
"No." Sesshoumaru's tone was flat. "The boy's are not of an age yet for such needs. Keep your daughters with you. No doubt there will be others who would have use of a wife." Then he thought a moment. "Miroku, my wife told you to take a wife, yet you have not done so." He looked at the monk intently. "Take the eldest. I insist on it." He rose to leave.
Miroku looked at Yuroku. "I am but a simple monk. I do not have much to offer her. I would understand if you refused to give your daughter to me as a wife."
Yuroku smiled broadly. I would not dare go against the wishes of the ones who freed us from such a hopeless situation. You shall have Hikarame my eldest daughter.
Hikarame bowed to her new husband and went and knelt by his side.
Yuroku looked up at Sesshoumaru as the lord was preparing to leave. "My lord will you not spend the night with us. It is late and the ....."
"No. We have others waiting for us. I will not delay." Sesshoumaru was insistent.
"Go on without me, we will meet up will you at the camp in the morning. The wild is no place for a girl to spend the first night with her husband." Miroku was warming to the idea of having her.
"A word with you first, monk." Sesshoumaru's tone was harder than expected. Miroku went outside with Sesshoumaru. He was more than a little nervous of the great lord. He had come close to loosing his eyes to that one, and wasn't sure he wanted to tempt his luck. "Miroku, this one will be your wife. I expect that you will do her the honor of only looking at or touching her, and only her. If I find that you have acted contrary to my words, Miroku. You will lose your life at my hand. Do you understand me, monk?" Sesshoumaru glared at the monk. "I accepted the woman on your behalf to help you to keep your impulses under control. If you have needs monk, you should be looking to your wife and only your wife, to fulfill them." With that he left.
Miroku stood a moment looking as Sesshoumaru left. He thought how strange the demon was. He shook his head and returned to the house and asked if he and Hikarame might have a private room for the night. He had never been with only one woman in terms of having a wife. This would be new. Miroku was thinking to himself. 'How was it that Sesshoumaru could give him a wife then threaten his life at the same time.
That demon was a hard one to figure out. Perhaps he would ask Inuyasha later. Maybe he might be able to explain it.'