Sango noticed Miroku acting strangely. Several moments pass. Miroku wouldn't stop hitting on a girl he was alone with unless… Then she realized what was happening. She reached for her gas mask and covered his mouth. She didn't know what direction to go in. She chose north, for no reason other than it was a lucky direction. She didn't notice herself get delirious. How does your brain know when it is failing? Miroku noticed. It took several minutes of arguing before she would accept the mask. But the poison was still there. It would take more than a gas mask to heal them. They traded the mask like this for several hours, until Sango collapsed. Miroku put the mask on her face, grabbed her ass, propped her head on his shoulder, and tried to keep walking. Fortunately, they were finally able to walk out of the forest. They collapse about 50 meters out of the forest, Miroku still grabbing her ass.
"A man as to have his principles" says an old demon. He looked more or less human. He was probably 7' tall, carried a massive sword (obviously not a Katana), and was grievously scarred all across his body. The odd thing, as Sango would later say, was that he wasn't ugly. Not good looking, but not what you'd expect from a man that had massive scars and calluses on his hands that would withstand tank fire. Somehow he managed to pull off his look just fine.
That wasn't what Sango thought when she woke up. She clubbed a sleeping Miroku so hard that he stayed asleep. He would be glad. He was having a nice dream, and Sango was part of it. But so were about 12 others.
"Are you related to Midoriko? You smell like a family member of hers." The old demon asked.
"Who are you? How do you know my family?" Sango retorted.
"More important is that you smell of Inuyasha. I lost his sent in that forest, and my servants started to die so I left. Where is Inuyasha?" asked the old Demon.
"We were separated in the forest. Why do you look for him?" asked Sango readying her weapon in case this was a trick set by Naraku.
"I am Blaine, the Scarred Teacher. I teach the sons and grandsons and now great-grandsons of Hokkashido, Inuyasha's Great-Grandfather and the late emperor of the Western Empire. Inuyasha is 68 in two months. That is when he begins his schooling. So relax your weapon, unless of course you mean to avenge someone then by all means remove it." Blaine explained.
"Who do I have to avenge… that you killed?" Sango asked prepping for a fight even more.
"I don't know. You demon hunters tend to have that kind of luck, and I have the luck to be on the receiving end," said Blaine.
Sango was beset by two questions. The first was meaningless and she forced it out of her mind as soon as it entered. It was "Can I beat him?" The answer being, of course, "If there's a fight, there's a fight." The second was both important and unknown. The question being "Is he telling the truth?" She hadn't known Naraku to be this subtle with minions, usually when he had a detachment, he sent it to war. But still, a simple ruse wouldn't be above or below him. She decided to take a chance and put up Hiraikotsu.
"That's a good girl. So how is Hiraikotsu? You know I killed those demons. I cut a bloody swath through a small army. Then Midoriko, before she got famous, waltz in and shoots me with an arrow. I later learned that that year's crops had died because of all the blood. I don't brag because they were blood zombies. They were in my way and refused to yield. So, anyway, I'm here shot with a holy arrow. And it hurts, one of the most painful things I've ever felt. So I draw my sword, and I run over. I went ballistic and got about 8 more arrows on the way over. Then she draws her sword, which a slice in half, and then I grab her. Big mistake. Her magic starts working. Bam! I fall down. It wasn't like being on fire, I've been light on fire several times, it was much worse. So I'm bleeding and I can barely see. I aim at her, the leftmost one out of about seven, and just through a punch. I knock down a barn, collapse, and pass out. You listening?" says Blaine.
"Yes, yes. I was just wondering when you got lit on fire?" Sango asked.
"Many times. I got hurt a lot when I was a Janissary. I think it is fates way of getting back at me for escaping being neutered. And I survived, that's always nice. I've also eaten everything under the sun. We used to call bird droppings 'salt' and rat droppings 'pepper'. After marching 200 miles in full armor and fighting an army, you didn't turn down any food or sleep that you could get. But enough about me, my lady, after 20,000 years you grow tired of your own story," says Blaine.
"Twenty thousand years! I'm afraid I don't have a story to match that," said Sango.
By this point they had sat down in the shade of an apple tree. It was an odd apple tree, apart from the forest as if to say, "Forest, I don't need no stinking forest." Blaine had laid Miroku on the tree. Blain had grown up a slave/soldier but has spent thousands of years in a palace and etiquette was as second nature as a drunken fight with a dragon. That last one, as he would be the first to say, was a far too common situation for him.
"Length of years is not an assurance of a good story. I have done a lot and happen to have one. But you, traveling with a lecherous monk and a half-demon, must have a good story. Tell me, my lady, how you came across Hiraikotsu or better yet; tell me your story, the whole story," said Blaine.
She opened her mouth to say no, but instead the story of her life poured out. Every last detail wanted to pour out, from her first memories of being held by her dad, to how they got into the poisoned forest (The Poisoned Forest as it would later be called). Blaine listened. It was an interesting story, but one he had heard before. What amazed him was her story telling. He thought of the castle historian telling tall tales to the young nobles. As the story went on she became more visibly unstable, until after a half-hour she burst into tears. Blaine didn't know what to do. Even if he had a lot of experience with crying women (which he didn't) all women emote differently. He called this "what the hell do I do now." She got up, excused herself and left. He looked at the passed out Miroku.
"From the look of your face, I wish I was you right now," said Blaine.
Miroku didn't wake up until the next morning. When he did he was all alone in a plain. When he finally saw Sango, she was talking with some old dude. Finally she took out Hiraikotsu and tried to hit him with it. It was at this point that Miroku realized he was a demon, and a powerful one. He just grabbed Hiraikotsu and ripped it out of her hands. Miroku ran towards them, threw a paper scroll at him, and jumped to hit him with the staff. He never connected. He was smashed in the stomach with a nice haymaker from Blaine.
Next time on the Kill Chiba show, More on The Others wonderful life, plus what befell Shippo and Kirara.
Coming up next Face-off! On this episode Godot and guest commentator the Doctor (Doctor? Doctor Who?) discuss whether Sesshoumaru is really evil, plus the pros and cons of hiring the A-Team