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Wednesday night, while a half demon chased a woman through the rain, another dog was at work. Sesshomaru walked through the hills not ten miles from his brother. Before him lay a large tomb. Hopefully, the tomb of his father. Sesshomaruapproached and searched for a name. He quickly found it and frowned in frustration. Another wrong lead.
As he turned to leave, two beings, who had long ago been cursed to guard the tomb, burst forth from the ground. Sesshomaru cooly drew a Sykes-Fairbairn Commando knife from the sleeve of his suit. He swung the dagger, and a thin green line appeared on the beings. The acid ate through them in an instant, and they split in two.
A shift in the wind brought a familiar scent to Sesshomaru's nose. 'By some grace of God my half brother still lives. Very well, I shall rectify that.' Sesshomaru turned toward the scent and began at a leisurely pace toward our heroes.
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Wednesday night was morning now as they walked on in the rain. The birds screamin' in his ear were drivin' InuYasha insane. Half the clouds were empty now, so the sun burst through the sky. The puddles showed the reflection of a face about to die.
'Godamn Kikyo.. disappearing and making me drink so much.. Godamn, my head... and these FUCKING BIRDS WON'T SHUT UP!' InuYasga and Kagome had spent the night in a road house before heading back to town via a muddy dirt road.
Kagome walked around him, trying to find the driest path. InuYasha trudged straight forward, hand around his dyin' head, through puddle, mud, hell or highwater. A particularly loud call from somewhere on the right added to the violence exploding in his head.
'Godamn, when did it get so fucking bright out? Godamn sun...' He stepped in a puddle and cold water came up to his knee. 'Godamn puddles.' A mess of feathers flew in front of him and screamed his name. He reached for a rock and yelled after it. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! FUCKING RATS WITH WINGS!" He whipped the rock toward the next call.
He stopped for a moment and let the after effects of his out burst play hell on his head. "Mother fucker..." he grumbled and flattened his ears against his head. Kagome giggled. InuYasha tilted his head enough to focus an eye on her. "What the fuck's so funny, girl?" "Nothing, the way ya moved yer ears, ya looked like.." She trailed off. InuYasha reflected that a sit would finish him off in this state, and growled at her.
Up ahead, the road took a right turn into town. Someone else was coming just around the corner. They were goin' round the bend when they ran into the staggerin' fool.
The man swaggered drunkenly and bumped into InuYasha. "Outta me way." he snarled, pushing the man back. The man looked shocked, but quickly recovered. He leaned forward, squintin' at InuYasha. "You.. I know yer name.." He began, pointing. "Yer InuYasha right?" "What of it?" "Name's Myouga." "Myouga? Aye, I heard about ya." "Listen, I got somethin' to tell ya." The man looked around, searching for eavesdroppers, "But it ain't safe to talk 'ere, spies an' the like ya know."
Apparently, it was safe to talk in a bar. He bought himself a whiskey and his face began to glow. "I knew yer dad, I worked for him for years!" "That right?" InuYasha asked, trying to create a buffer between his brain and too small skull with a whiskey of his own. Kagome was using the rest to use the bathroom.
"Yeah, he told me to tell ya somethin' when I found ya too.." The man trailed off. "Fuck, can't remember it at the moment. Well, anyway, the name's Myouga." He said motioning for another. "Ah!" He exclaimed, his memory jarred by a shot. "He wanted you to find something!" "Find what?" InuYasha asked, his achin' head starting to go numb. "A.. weapon or something. Well the important thing is ya find it!" "So, where is it?"
Myouga stared blankly forward. "Ahh.. damn. There was a poem or something..." "A poem?" InuYasha asked, looking through his empty glass. "Somethin' about a.. black rock.. an'.. seeing but not seen.. right, above the nose... Ah fuck it." "Nice work, Myouga." "Well, he was your dad! You should know!" "How should I? He died before I could remember anythin'!"
When a mental challenge reared its ugly head, they sat there, two men without an answer like two dogs without a bone.
Four shots later, Myouga again remembered. Or was drunk off his ass and made something up. Either way, he led them out of the bar and back onto the road.
Sesshomaru watched them leave. He had heard the whole conversation. He had considered killing them, but decided instead to try and unravel Myouga's ramblings.
Five minutes, later he had an idea where. It was a long shot, but better than anything he had heard yet. He got up and left, slipping the small deep green jewel that had kept his scent hidden in his pocket.
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"Where the hell are we going?" InuYasha demanded, as the banes of his existance began to sqawk again. "To a town a mile or two away! They got some kinda black rock." "You better be right about this." InuYasha mumbled, falling a small distance behind Myouga.
Kagome picked this time to catch up with him. "So, you believe this guy?" "Yeah. I've heard his name before actually." "From who?" "My ma." It took a moment for this to sink into Kagome's head. "You.. have parents?" "Of course I do!" Kagome had always assumed he was built in a factory, or had just appeared somewhere with a pack of smokes and his switch. "He used to work for my dad." InuYasha informed her. "So where are your parents?"
"Well, if ya went from my old home, about fifty feet south and six feet straight down." He said picking up the pace and moving away from Kagome.
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"The town's called Black Rock actually, it's not a real rock." The pedestrian had informed them. InuYasha tried real hard not to kill Myouga. "Unless you mean the black dog.." He began. "The what?" Kagome asked. "The black dog. A demon around these parts has been attacking travelers. Only at night though. The victims had their hamstrings and throats slit like a dog attacked them. We called him the black dog. He hasn't really been bothering us, but a traveler just passed through saying he saw a large dog outside of town."
"This is his territory.." Kagome heard InuYasha mutter under his breath. Before she could question him, he turned to the man. "Where did he see it?" He asked coldly. "I'm not going out there, but I can point it out to you." He said, pointing toward a hill with a single boulder on it.
"Let's go." InuYasha said, heading for the boulder. "I'm going to stay here, if you don't mind. I'm not the fighting type." Myouga said in fear. "Fine." InuYasha spat, not even turning his head.
InuYasha knelt down beside the boulder and sniffed the ground. He had smelt it before he got there, but he made sure. He stood up and let out a low angry growl. Kagome could see his hair begin to rise. He balled up a fist and punched the boulder, cracking it. "It's him..." He growled in hatred. "Who?" Kagome asked.
InuYasha turned around and look behind Kagome at his brother. "Sesshomaru..."