1
"N-now, hold on," Ginta stammered as the Yourouzoku tribesmen formed a circle around them. He and Hakkaku had been challenged by Kyouken and his sister Sakaki for right to lead the tribe. "Couldn't we just talk this out?"
"Our laws clearly stipulate," explained Sakaki, "that if one wolf is not in accordance with another, he or she has the right to challenge the other wolf. And that is exactly our current situation, Brother."
"We do not agree with the way you are leading us," Kyouken added, "That is why we are challenging you. You either accept, or forfeit your positions as leaders to us."
Ginta and Hakkaku gulped. It seemed that they had no choice. They both knew that Kyouken and Sakaki were right. And if they didn't fight, they'd have to relinquish their roles as tribe leaders. "We can't fight you," Ginta sighed. "I know that the laws say we must. But..."
"We're not strong enough," Hakkaku moaned.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kyouken said with a smile. "Then you forfeit your positions." They looked to the ground, nodding dismally.
Sakaki turned towards the other tribesmen. "Brothers and Sisters, did you hear that? Ginta and Hakkaku have given up the role of leadership to us. We promise we will succeed where they failed."
The circle of tribesmen dissipated with murmurs of disappointment. They were not disappointed with the lack of a fight, but with Ginta and Hakkaku's cowardice.
"Now then," Kyouken said, clapping his hands together, "Down to business..."
2
"You're not really going, are you?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha sheathed the Tessaiga. That boy at the bathhouse the previous night, Mousse, had challenged him to a duel outside of Yubaba's bathhouse. The duel was to be held that morning, and he had no intention of ducking out, excuse the pun.
"It'll be a piece of cake," he said as he opened the front door, "I go in, I beat the shit out of him, I come back. Simple." They exited the house and he shut the door.
"I still don't think it's a good idea," Kagome said, looking down at the ground. "I've got," she paused, "a bad feeling about this."
They arrived at the bathhouse a little while later. And as prescheduled, Mousse was sitting on the front steps, waiting for them. The little old hag, Yubaba, was also waiting there with much anticipation. Mousse rose to his feet and walked over to them, smiling. "I'm glad you decided to come, Inuyasha. I really could use the help to deal with this witch." Nobody noticed this, but as he said that last part, Yubaba began to fidget very nervously.
Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "Let's just get this over with."
Kagome ran over to the front steps of the bathhouse and sat down next to Yubaba. The witch looked at her carefully, then looked back to the two combatants who were staring each other down.
"Let's begin then," Mousse smiled, and dashed towards Inuyasha with above average speed. From the enormous sleeves of his kimono, he brought forth a trio of blades attached to a glove. He slipped it on and began to slash at his opponent, who dodged with much skill. Inuyasha had claws of his own, and slashed at Mousse a few times, but missed each try. Mousse then began to run away from the bathhouse, towards the surrounding trees. He leapt into one and landed on a branch. Inuyasha glared at him with fascination.
"How can he jump that high?" he whispered to himself. He shook it off, and dashed towards the tree and jumped himself, landing on the next branch over from Mousse's. He then slashed at him with his canine claws, but only got a nail-full of tree bark. Mousse was already back down on the ground. "Dammit," he muttered, "This kid is fast." He leapt back down to the ground and ran full speed towards the strange Chinese boy.
Mousse just chuckled. "Inuyasha," he said, "You have not seen anything yet." He leapt out of the way just in the nick of time, dodging Inuyasha's slash.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded.
"Let's just say I have a few more tricks up my sleeve."
'Literally.'
3
After the boys had gotten dressed and everyone had calmed down a bit, they all sat in Kikyou's living room, awaiting an explanation. The pig that turned into a boy (actually it was the other way around) was named Ryouga. He said that he had gone for a walk one day, and had gotten lost in the woods. He apparently had a horrible sense of direction, and found himself miles away from his home. And he had been splashed with some cold water. So there he was, alone in the woods, cold, small and scared. Jakotsu found this last part particularly sweet, whereas Renkotsu just rolled his eyes. Then, by chance, a little girl and her family who were camping came across him. She took great care of him, but her parents would not let her keep him. So they offered him to the pet store owner to be sold to someone with a good home.
Boy, were they ever wrong.
"What an interesting life you lead," Jakotsu smiled. "Tell me, do you often have exciting adventures like that?"
Ryouga leaned over to Sekka, who was sitting beside him, and whispered, "Is he hitting on me?" She nodded, and he shuddered with disgust.
"So where do you live?" Kikyou asked, handing him a cup of tea.
"I live with my girlfriend at the Tendou's Martial Arts School of Indiscriminate Grappling," he said with much pride. Then he sighed, looking at his feet, which were bare.
"Don't worry," Kikyou smiled, "You're invited to stay here as long as you like, and then we can take you back home."
Ryouga looked up at her and smiled for the first time. "Thank you."
"Wait, wait, wait," Bankotsu, who was sitting on Sekka's other side, said. "What about me? I paid good money for you, ya know!"
"I'd be happy to reimburse you," Ryouga said with a bit of an annoyed tone. Bankotsu stared blankly at him.
"You have to use small words," Renkotsu laughed. "He's a little slow." Bankotsu glared at him.
4
Inuyasha pretty much had this fight in the bag. Mousse's attacks were becoming slower and weaker. He seemed to be losing his breath and was looking very fatigued. Only one or two more slashes would bring this fight to its end. But before Inuyasha could unleash his finishing move, Mousse did something that he wasn't prepared for. From his sleeves he brandished a toy duck. It had a small wind-up key on its tail, and he twisted it. It sprung to life in his hands, quacking loudly, head spinning around, wings flapping and leaving Inuyasha with a blank look on his face.
"What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed.
But Mousse did not give him an answer. Instead, he threw the duck at Inuyasha, and upon impact, it exploded into a rain of confetti and streamers. The confused dog demon was totally unprepared for Mousse's sudden punch to the gut, and he fell to the ground.
Mousse scoffed. "You, my friend, are not all what you make yourself out to be." He folded his arms across his chest and sighed. "I'm really disappointed."
It was at this moment that Inuyasha had decided he had had enough. He leapt to his feet, dashed towards the Chinese Martial Artist Mousse and punched him right in the kisser. He went down. "Is that better?" he smirked.
Mousse got to his feet and shook off the pain. "Ya," he smiled, "Okay, you've proven yourself."
"You mean that's all I had to do?" Inuyasha exclaimed. "What was the point of that?"
"I needed to see how well you fight," Mousse explained, "We're going up against a pretty tough witch, you know."
"Just who is this witch anyways?" Inuyasha asked, completely oblivious to what was happening at the bathhouse.
"I'm not sure," Mousse said, being equally oblivious. "I'm not even sure what she looks like, or what she's planning to do. But I hear it's huge."
Then the scream rang out from the forest. Inuyasha and Mousse turned to the bathhouse where Yubaba was gripping Kagome's arm so tightly that she was drawing blood. "You fools!" she exclaimed. "You're after a witch you say? Well I'm not going to let the likes of you ruin my plans!" And with that, she began to vanish, taking Kagome with her.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed, running towards them. She called out for him, but by the time he arrived at the bathhouse's front steps, they were gone. "Kagome! No!"
"That Yubaba," Mousse whispered, "She was the witch all along, huh?"
"Where did she take Kagome?" Inuyasha growled.
"I'm not sure," Mousse said. "I'm really sorry, Inuyasha. I had no idea that..." he trailed off. Then he added, "We'll get her back. Don't worry."
The blossoms on the trees began to whither and fall.
