Author-chan's notes: Chapter Eighteen! Things are really rolling now!
A Clean Slate
(Chapter Eighteen: Journeys and Arrivals)
Back with Sango, Shippo, Kagome, and Miroku
"He's -he's not breathing!" Sango gasped again, her hands shaking. Miroku lay on the forest floor unmoving. Kagome felt faint. Shippo whimpered a bit. The whole group was in shock. Luckily, Kagome recovered quickly.
"Sango!" Kagome yelled, "Move out of the way so I can help him!" The demon huntress, although still stunned, moved so that her friend could get to the monk.
"Okay," Kagome murmured half to herself and half to Sango, "I once took a CPR class in school. I hope I remember everything." Taking a deep breath, Kagome began.
"Step one: Tilt the head back to open the air way," Kagome murmured, reciting each step for CPR as she did it, "Look, listen, and feel for breathing. If there is none, go to step two." Sango sat next behind Kagome, wringing her shaking hands.
"Okay," Kagome said, "He's not breathing, so I deliver two rescue breaths." Bending over Miroku, Kagome pinched his nose, and gave him mouth-to-mouth.
"Alright, now let's check for circulation," Kagome murmured after giving him the breaths. She sighed in relief when she noticed he had some.
"Good I don't have to do chest compressions," Kagome said with a smile, "I always went too fast according to my teacher."
"What next?" Sango asked, some color coming back to her cheeks when she noticed Kagome was relieved. Kagome frowned, and checked Miroku's breathing again.
"Still no breathing," Kagome muttered. Sango's face became pale again.
"WAHHHH!!!" Shippo cried, "Miroku's going to die!"
"No he's not!" Kagome yelled, "I just need to keep giving him rescue breaths until he starts breathing on his own." After saying that, the miko gave her fallen comrade another breath.
"Please, Kagome, can I do that?" Sango asked. Kagome frowned slightly, but nodded without any hesitation.
"Okay," Kagome nodded, "Just make sure his head is kept tilted, and that you pinch his nose when you give him breaths, okay? And it's one breath every five seconds." Sango nodded and took Kagome's place. Kagome watched her, making sure she didn't make any mistakes. She also monitored Miroku making sure he still had signs of circulation. Kagome looked towards the sky. The sun had set, the day was done, and the stars had begun to herald the night.
***
In the forest with Miho and Masato
Miho sighed to herself. Her parents had quickly given their permission for Masato to accompany her on her journey, and the two had started right away. Masato didn't bother waiting for sunrise. Miho wasn't sure what bothered her more: Masato's eagerness to be alone with her, or her parents' speed in allowing him to be with her. She always knew that they wanted her to marry someone from the village, but she had never shown any interest in any of the boys there. She guessed that her parents were hoping that she and Masato were in love. Her father had even told Masato that he had her father's permission to marry her. All Masato had to do was ask.
Meanwhile Masato was in high spirits. He was in a dark forest with the girl he loved. And what made it better was that Miho wanted to be here with him! Life was good. Life was very good.
Unknown to Masato, there were three people waiting to ambush him. The tallest of them possessed crazed red eyes.
"Now?" Kumo whispered to Aki, unable to hide his glee. Aki sighed and nodded. An insane smirk spread across Kumo's face.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Aki murmured to Shiro, who was also with them, "You shouldn't even be here; you're still wounded."
"Do you really think I'm going to just stay at home and miss the chance of a lifetime? This is going to be fun," Inuyasha said, ignoring Aki's concerns. Aki sweat dropped when he noticed that the five-year-old boy had a smirk identical to Kumo's on his face. But he soon forgot about this as soon as he noticed that Kumo was no where to be seen.
"Kuso," the magician swore.
"Die, human!" Kumo snarled in his youkai voice. Masato didn't know what hit him. One moment he was having the time of his life, next he was pinned on the ground with an insane youkai at his throat trying to choke him to death.
"So much for our original plan!" Aki cried, rushing over with Shiro on his heels.
"Oh dear," Miho murmured, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Run, Miho-san!" Masato yelled, trying to be heroic, "I'll take care of this monster!"
"Did I not tell thee to die?!" Kumo snarled, punching Masato in the face. Masato got swirls in his eyes, but miraculously didn't pass out.
"Kumo, you baka spider!" Aki yelled, running over next to the deranged youkai, "Get a grip! We're not supposed to kill Masato!"
"Why not?" Inuyasha asked, also coming over, "I think that baka Masato deserves it!"
"My sentiments exactly," Kumo growled.
"I might as well be talking to a bunch of rocks," Aki muttered to himself, "We need Masato to finish out plan!"
"Why?" Shiro asked, blinking a few times, "We don't need him anymore."
"We need him to appear to come back with Miho-san when the quest is over!" Aki reminded the boy.
"Can't you cast an illusion of him or something?" Inuyasha asked.
"Well, um, yes, but that's beside the point!" Aki cried angrily.
"Methinks that we can kill this here fool, and the plan thou made would still work," Kumo stated calmly. Masato "eeped". Kumo punched him again.
"Would you stop that!" Aki snapped irritably, "I already explained, we do NOT kill Masato-san."
"How about later?" Shiro asked.
"NO!"
"Aww…"
"We're going to keep Masato-san locked up until Kumo and Miho come back. When they do, we erase Masato's memories, and let him loose," Aki told the group before him, "We don't need any unnecessary blood on our hands."
"This is unnecessary blood," Inuyasha retorted, "This is Masato's blood!"
"Now look here, Shiro-chan!" Aki yelled. On the ground Masato snorted, temporarily forgetting his life-threatening position. Maybe that last hit he got from Kumo rattled his brains or something.
"Would you fools hurry up and stop arguing?" Masato huffed, "I have a date with Miho-san."
"You idiot!!!!" Aki yelled at Masato, "You are a hair-breaths away from getting your throat ripped out by an insane youkai and all you can think about is your 'date'?!"
"Shut up, freak!" Masato snarled. Aki's eye began to twitch. Normally the magician had a lot of patience, but once that patience had met its end then he tended to give into the pure rage that magicians were famous for.
"'FREAK'?!" Aki snarled, an angry aura of flames appearing behind him, "I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU WORTHLESS HIDE, AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!"
"I think he's lost it," Shiro whispered to Kumo. The spider demon nodded in agreement, and wisely moved out of Aki's way. Meanwhile, Aki's eyes switched to a magician's trademark yellow and a giant fireball was forming in his hands.
"Eep!" Masato squeaked, sounding exactly like a frightened mouse.
"Aki-san! Matte!" Miho cried out, quickly stepping in front of the fallen Masato. Aki, surprised at Miho's antics, lost control of the fireball he was holding. The magically created sphere disappeared in an instant. Miho sighed in relief. Then she turned to look down at Masato. Masato paled. The angry looks that Aki, Kumo, and Shiro/Inuyasha had directed his way were nothing compared to Miho's.
"You fool," the girl spat, her voice more icy than winter, "You have three people who all want to kill you just inches away from you, and you try to make them angrier! I ought to just leave you to them. You almost deserve what's coming."
"M-Miho-san!" Masato sputtered.
"Be silent," Miho hissed, her eyes narrowing. Needless to say, Masato shut up pretty quickly.
"Does this mean we can kill Masato now?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes falsely wide and innocent.
"No," Miho said that icy tone still in her voice. Inuyasha/Shiro sighed loudly, but didn't push the matter.
"Come on Shiro-chan let's tie this fool up," Aki sighed, his former anger having disappeared without a trace.
"Can I tie the knots?" Shiro asked eagerly. Aki raised an eyebrow at the boy, but then shrugged in consent.
"Sure, why not?" Aki murmured as he summoned some ropes out of thin air. The hanyou-turned-human looked at Masato with a look of insane glee as Aki gave him the ropes. Masato "epped" again.
"I suppose we better get going, Kumo-san," Miho said, holding her hand out to the spider demon. Kumo looked at the offered hand for a moment before clasping it eagerly. The two headed off on their journey leaving Masato, Inuyasha/Shiro, and Aki behind.
"Hey wait!" Masato protested as the two were leaving, "I was supposed to go with Miho-san!"
"Shut up, baka," Aki and Inuyasha growled at the same time.
***
Back with Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Miroku
'Come on, houshi-sama!' Sango thought as she gave him another breath, 'Live! Live for me!'
It had only been a few minutes since Miroku passed out, but to a certain demon huntress it seemed like hours. Miroku had stubbornly refused to breathe on his own. Sango was becoming more anxious by the second as was Shippo and Kagome. Luckily, Miroku's heat kept on beating, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"This isn't working!" Kagome cried helplessly, "If he doesn't start breathing on his own soon, he might really die!"
"Don't give up hope yet," Sango said quickly before she gave the monk another breath. Kagome expected Sango to rise up again quickly, but instead the huntress stayed down, her lips locked with Miroku's. Kagome's eyebrows came together in confusion. What was Sango doing? Then suddenly, Sango sat up strait, and slapped the sleeping man before her.
"HENTAI!!!" Sango screamed. Kagome and Shippo blinked for a moment before they quickly realized that Miroku was awake, breathing on his own, and had groped Sango while she was giving him mouth-to-mouth.
"Miroku, just how long have you been awake?" Kagome asked weakly.
"Just for a minute or so," the monk admitted.
"Just couldn't resist getting kissed by Sango, huh?" Shippo snickered.
"I ought to kill you for making us worry like that," Sango growled.
"You were worried over me?" Miroku asked innocently, "Why thank you, Sango." Sango slapped him again
"Hentai," she hissed darkly, glaring at the hand that had tried to rub her backside.
***
Back with Inuyasha/Shiro, Aki, and Masato
Masato was not in a good mood. He had recently gotten beat up by a psychopathic youkai (his face was beginning to get swollen and there were ugly bruises forming around his neck where Kumo tried to strangle him). Then soon after that, he nearly got burned into cinders by a raging magician. He shuddered just remembering the look in Aki's freaky yellow eyes. And after that the worse thing in the world happened -Miho scolded him and called him an idiot. Yep, Masato felt very low. But that's not all. To make matters worse he was trussed up like a stupid chicken and was being carried like a sack of rice by a nearly homicidal magician. Masato's hands and feet had been lashed together quite expertly and there was a dirty rag in his mouth that served as a gag. Masato gave a pathetic little tug at his bonds.
"Don't even try, baka," Shiro smirked triumphantly, "You can tug and pull with all your might, but you aren't going to get out of those ropes any time soon. The harder you tug, the tighter they'll become."
Masato scowled behind his gag, but knew what the boy said was right. One part of Masato's brain wondered how the pipsqueak -who had tied the knots -had learned how to tie them. Masato knew that the kid had no memories of his past -by this time the whole village knew -and he pondered where and how he learned how to tie such strong knots. Perhaps he had grown up in a fisherman's family…
All of Masato's speculations were pushed aside when he realized their little partly had stopped. Looking to the side with his right eye (the other one was currently swollen shut) Masato realized that Shiro was sitting on a fallen log panting a bit.
"Are you alright, Shiro-chan?" Aki asked, concern coloring his voice.
"Yeah," Shiro shrugged, grinning weakly. But suddenly he winced, his hand going to his shoulder. When he withdrew his hand, it was covered with blood.
"Kuso!" Aki growled, tossing Masato to one side as if he was a piece of garbage. Masato made an indignant noise that both Shiro/Inuyasha and Aki ignored.
"I'm fine!" Inuyasha snapped when Aki bent down to take a better look.
"And I'm a rabbit!" Aki snapped right back, "That shoulder of yours is in bad shape. We need to change the bandages."
"I'm fine!" Shiro repeated. Aki ignored him and began pulling strips of cloth out of thin air. Aki wrestled off Inuyasha's top garments, and began cleaning and bandaging the boy's wounds. Shiro growled in annoyance.
"It looks as if you reopened your wound in your shoulder, Shiro-chan," Aki murmured, examining the arrow-created gash, "The wound on your side looks better than the one on your shoulder, but we still need to change the bandages."
"Stop fussing over me, Aki," Inuyasha demanded, "I'll survive. We need to get back to the village and hide the idiot over there before he figures out how to free himself."
"Shut up, Shiro," Aki growled his eyes shining yellow for a brief moment, "Your well being is more important right now."
"Stop treating me like a little kid!" Shiro snarled.
"You are a little kid!" the magician countered, "And you're wounded. So stop complaining and let me help you!" Shiro growled, but stopped resisting. In the meantime, Masato was still tugging at his bonds and getting nowhere.
"I'm going out to find some firewood," Aki announced after re-bandaging Shiro, "There is no way I'm letting you walk all the way back to the village in your condition, Shiro-chan. We'll camp out here tonight. Stay and watch over Masato and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Too late," Inuyasha snorted as he watched Masato give a vicious tug at his bonds and make a squeak of dismay when the ropes around his wrist cut of his circulation.
***
Back with Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Miroku
"You really had us worried, Miroku," Kagome gently scolded, "Next time don't pull a stunt like that."
"Hai, Kagome-sama," the monk said gloomily. Sango rolled her eyes.
"Well, since you seem to be doing much better, can you gather us some firewood, Miroku-sama?" Kagome asked.
"But of course, Kagome-sama," Miroku said ask he got up to do her bidding. As soon as he was out of sight, Sango too stood up.
"I'm going to go find some water," Sango said quietly, walking away. Kagome noted that the demon exterminator was taking the same path as Miroku.
"Okay, take your time," Kagome called back. As soon as she knew that Kagome could no longer see her, Sango broke into a run, trying to catch up with a certain hentai monk.
***
Back with Aki, a little while later
Aki walked around the woods, gathering up firewood. Part of him was worried about leaving Shiro alone with Masato, but the firewood was important. He growled in annoyance at the fact that although he could conjure up small things like rope and bandages, he couldn't do bigger things like a pile of firewood. The magician grumbled to himself and grabbed another piece of wood from the ground.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" a small voice nearby said. Aki froze. Pushing aside a few bushes, Aki discovered a small clearing. In it was a young girl about Shiro's age and two youkai?!
"Watch out!" Aki yelled. He ran over to the girl and pushed her away from the youkai, dropping his bundle of firewood in the process.
"Ah!" the girl gasped as she hit the ground. Aki turned to the demons, his eyes narrowing.
"Keep away from the girl, monster," Aki hissed, "Or deal with me."
"Correction," a silky voice behind Aki stated, "Keep away from Rin, or this Sesshoumaru will slice you do ribbons."
"AHHHHHH!!!" Aki cried out, as a searing pain lashed out on his back. Falling to the ground, the magician realized with a flash that the taller of the youkai had moved behind him and had slashed his back with its claws. Turning his torso around, Aki tossed a handful of flames at the white-haired creature. The demon simply stepped to one side, letting the flames pass by him harmlessly. Suddenly the young magician found it hard to breathe as his opponent grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.
"You are a very foolish human to attack Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands," the handsome youkai said calmly, "Your idiocy has cost you your life."
Aki began to gasp for air. Grabbing the youkai lord's arm, Aki tried prying him off, knowing it was a futile attempt. But then suddenly, he was dropped to the ground. The magician sat in the dirt, gasping for air.
"Name yourself, human," Sesshoumaru ordered. Aki didn't look up at him.
"Why should I?" Aki asked, still gasping for air.
"I hold your life in my hands," Sesshoumaru said, his voice empty of any emotion, "Your answer might save your life."
"I doubt it," Aki all but snorted. Again, the magician found himself in a strangle hold, courtesy of the Western Land's Demon Lord.
"You reek of the scent of my idiotic half-brother, human," Sesshoumaru said, looking at Aki coldly, "Where is he?"
"'Half-brother'?" Aki questioned, gasping for air, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Do not lie to this Sesshoumaru," the youkai ordered, tightening his hold, "Where is Inuyasha?"
'I-Inuyasha?' Aki thought to himself, 'Isn't that the name of that hanyou Kumo is after?'
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Aki said again.
"Fool," Sesshoumaru growled, flinging Aki to one side. Aki crashed into a tree, moaned once, and lay still. Sesshoumaru looked down at the crumpled heap, disgust clear in his hard golden eyes.
"Wait here, Rin. Jaken, stay with her," Sesshoumaru commanded.
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" the two piped up. Sesshoumaru walked towards the scent of his younger brother, noting that it was devoid of any youkai scent and was completely human.
'Odd. Tonight is not the new moon,' Sesshoumaru thought as a small smirk graced his normally cold features, 'How very interesting…'
***
Back with Sango and Miroku
"Hmm?" Miroku blinked, hearing a sound behind him. Turning around, the monk came face to face with Sango.
"Why Lady Sango, what a surprise," Miroku began with a smile, "What can I -"
*SMACK!* The monk was cut off by the slap that Sango gave him across his cheek.
"Sango?" Miroku blinked rubbing his sore cheek. He wondered what was that he had done this time to provoke such an attack from the Hiraikotsu welding exterminator. It couldn't be that he tried to grope her. For once, his disobedient hands were behaving themselves.
"You -you baka!" Sango yelled, tears in her eyes. Miroku blinked again. But before he could ask what was wrong, Sango began ranting at him.
"How dare you make me worry like that," the girl cried, "I thought you were dead or dying! How can you be so selfish?"
"I'm sorry, Sango," Miroku began quietly.
"Well, 'sorry' doesn't cut it," Sango growled. Miroku took one of her hands into his.
"Then what does?" the monk asked quietly.
"Promise me you won't do that again," Sango whispered. Miroku smiled at her.
"But of course, Lady Sango," Miroku murmured, "I suppose it was very selfish of me to do that. I won't worry you like that again."
"Good," Sango nodded, and before she knew what she was doing, she found herself hugging the monk. Miroku smiled to himself and hugged her back. That is until…
*SMACK* And once again Miroku found himself to be sporting the handprint of Sango's right hand on his cheek.
"Hentai," Sango growled, glaring down at the hand that had been poised over her backside, "Can't you go one minute without trying to grope me?"
***
Meanwhile with Shiro/Inuyasha and Masato
"Oi, brat," Masato grunted. He had been unable to until his bonds, but somehow the young man had spat out the gag that had been his mouth all this time.
"What do you want, baka?" Shiro growled, wearily. Shiro was not in a good mood. He was sitting in a forest in pain -although he'd never admit it to anyone -and was stuck babysitting an idiot while Aki wandered off. And to top it off, he felt too tired to go over and put the gag back into Masato's mouth, meaning he was forced to listen to the idiot's constant insults. (Of course he had too much pride to say that he was that tired.)
"Can you untie me?" Masato asked, "I promise I won't run off." Inuyasha simply growled and flicked him off, too tired to do much else. Masato bristled with rage.
"You brat!!!" Masato yelled.
"Shut up," Shiro growled, turning a bit to face the older boy. Shiro opened his mouth to say something else, when waves of pain overcame him.
"Chikuso," Inuyasha hissed, clutching his wounded shoulder. Blood began to seep through his bandages and clothes, to run all over his small hand.
"Damn, pipsqueak," Masato whispered, his horrified tone taking the sting out of his words, "What the hell happened to you? I had no idea you go hurt this bad."
"I don't need your pity, teme!" Shiro snarled, trying to fight another wave of pain.
"Ah, but you do need his pity, Inuyasha," a cool voice said from behind him. Shiro/Inuyasha slowly turned around to fix his wide violet eyes on the demonic specter before him. And then, without realizing it, his mouth and voice formed a word, a name, that he had forgotten.
"S-Sesshoumaru…"
Author-chan's notes: And there you have it, Chapter 18! Oh my, but it took me a long time to write this one! Nice little fluff with Sango and Miroku, some Sesshoumaru… Yep, this chapter isn't half-bad. I hope this pleases all you reviewers who have been complaining that this fic has been focusing too much on my OCs. Although, I will admit that you are kind of right. I can't help the fact that I grew to like Kumo, Aki, Miho, and Yumeko. Originally, Kumo and Yumeko were only supposed to appear briefly and then get killed or run away. But what do you know? I start giving them backgrounds, personalities, and reasons, and they took on a life of their own. *sigh* Hopefully soon I'll break out of that bad habit.
Please R+R and keep this story alive!!!
