Holy Crusader
Ch1: Meet Sada
"Yes, we ARE!"
"No, we AREN'T!"
"SIT BOY!" Sango sighed. This scene had been repeated for the past five days, ever since they had gotten an unexpected windfall. While chasing the shards, as usual, they had come across a small town in dire need of help. The town had been over run with demons, who were catching, tearing apart, and eating anyone and anybeast that left shelter. The demons had the same social structure as bees; every worker's mind was really belonging to the Queen. Unfortunately, this Queen had a fragment of the Jewel, and the lesser demons shared in that increased power. It had been a long, tiresome, and difficult fight, finally ending with the death of the Queen. Every lesser demon under her power had dropped dead.
The small town was a mining town, secretly chipping away at the lush gold veins in the hills, trying to keep the knowledge of the gold from spreading too far. The mine had been the town's only source of income, then the Queen and her hive had taken up residence in the tunnels. In their enormous gratitude for keeping the town alive (in more ways then one), the people had given them each a sack of gold.
That's when the fighting had started. Kagome wanted to go to a real inn, where they had good food, soft beds, and hot baths. Inuyasha, of course, was the only one who opposed her idea, because he didn't like the thought of spending money to be surrounded by smelly humans.
"STOP DOING THAT!"
"SIT! SIT! SIT!" It was getting really old. "FINE THEN! YOU CAN STAY HERE, IF YOU WANT! WE ARE GOING TO THE INN!" Inuyasha twitched in his hole, but said nothing. When he didn't respond, Kagome sniffed loudly, and started walking her bike away. Quickly, Miroku, Sango and Shippo followed. A few minutes later, Inuyasha appeared, but was oddly silent.
The inn was only twenty minutes away, a short distance when compared to the five days it would take to reach the Well. It was in a little known village that you could only reach by boat; the boat ride took up ten of the twenty minutes. That's right; the village was on an island just off the coast. Because you could only reach it by boat, it remained a village, but thanks to it luxurious hot springs, it had become a sort of tourist's destination, a rich man's getaway. Miroku had heard of it by chance after exorcizing a client's house. The man was in high spirits, even though his house was possessed; that's just how relaxing this place was. At first, Shippo hadn't really wanted to go either, because he gets seasick, but Kagome had convinced him that he would be that much more a man after the boat ride, and dazzled him with tales of how much fun it would be there.
The ferry man had been extremely kind, and very patient with Shippo, distracting the kitsune with stories about the sea, apparently not minding that the child was a demon. He didn't even give Inuyasha any odd looks, just cheerfully helped them onto the boat, and took them all across for a pittance. That was the first sign that something wasn't quite right.
The second was the village itself.
Though it was small, it was a lively place, with children running about, playing, and adults walking, talking, buying, and in a few cases even playing tag with the children. The business part of the village was clearly separated from the residential homes themselves, showing clear planning and forethought. 'Everyone is so... happy here.' Kagome thought, kind of dazed. It was very different from the rest of Japan. There was no fear hovering in the air, no wary or hateful glances were cast at the hanyou, though currently there were no other demons about.
"There's something wrong with these people." Inuyasha said, growling slightly.
"There's nothing wrong with being happy and at peace," Kagome snapped at him. But soon the atmosphere of the place cheered her, and after asking directions, they went to the inn.
They were greeted by smiling faces, and escorted to a table to eat lunch. Inuyasha didn't trust the place. While the rest chatted around him, he fidgeted in his seat, keeping a hand on the Tetsusaiga at all times, and surveyed the room they were in. His amber gaze locked with a pure white one (except for the pupil and iris ring, I mean. All the rest was white). Shocked, Inuyasha studied the owner of the eyes.
It was a girl, perhaps twelve years old, twisted around in her seat to look at him. The girl herself was all white; white hair, white eyes, almost transparently white skin, just all as pale as possible, though she was dressed like everyone else at her table, who appeared to be wearing a uniform. When she saw that she had his attention, she smiled brightly and waved at him. Self-consciously, he gave a small wave back, though he didn't smile. The girl looked like she was going to come over, but one of the adults at her table tugged on her sleeve; their lunch had been served. With another wave to Inuyasha, she turned and sat down properly. When Inuyasha looked back at his table, the food had already been ordered, served, and they had just begun to eat it. It smelled delicious; and the gnawing hunger in his stomach forced the hanyou to stop his surveillance long enough to eat.
As soon as the food was gone, a woman working for the inn came up and asked how many rooms they would be needing. 'All these smiles are starting to get creepy.' Kagome thought, but she said,
"Four, please. Shippo and I can share one." The woman started to write it down, but Inuyasha interrupted her.
"They only need three. I'm not staying. There are other places where I could sleep for free. The woods on the other side of the island, for instance." Kagome started to argue with him, and it escalated into a shouting match, with Sango trying to make them quiet down, while Miroku started to hit on the woman who was just trying to do her job.
Basically, their table erupted into chaos, which quickly came to an end as Inuyasha abruptly got up and walked out the door. Everyone at the table was silent (the woman had fled), though all the other patrons of the inn were striving to pretend that nothing had happened.
The brightly white girl who had been staring at Inuyasha came over to the table, smiling, despite the small protests of the people she was with. As they stared at her, she sat in the place Inuyasha had just vacated, then grinned innocently at the people at the table.
"Don't worry," she said, with a voice like a bell. "Your friend will be safe here, anywhere on the island, as long as he doesn't try to cause trouble. You too will be safe here." When no one responded, her smile didn't falter one bit, though it did become slightly embarrassed. "Excuse me, I forgot to introduce myself. The Keepers of the Shrine are always after me to remember my manners. My name is," here she said something unpronounceable, sorta like 'zhing-'pop'-al-en-tere', "But everyone calls me Emiko."
"Something about the girl was not quite right. With the exception of her odd coloring, she looked normal, but something about her just seemed... different.
The girl was also on Inuyasha's mind as he walked swiftly away from the inn, and toward the soft green of the woods. No one stopped him. She had made him feel distinctly uneasy, like he knew her, but couldn't remember her. Even her scent was elusive, plucking at his memory, but not bringing anything sensible forward. A picture of Sesshomaru did flash through his mind, but he pushed it away. If the girl had met Sesshomaru, she wouldn't be alive right now to bother him. Most likely she had been someplace his brother had been before, and picked up the scent. That was a whole new train of though right there. If she smelled a little like Sesshomaru, then he must be close, but the trace had been so small as to suggest that he had already been long gone when the girl had come by.
He was deep in the woods when he heard the crash and following screams.
"KAGOME!" He shouted, and took off toward the inn. Almost immediately he was bowled over by a brightly shining figure, heading in the same direction he was. Picking himself up, Inuyasha ran even faster, but the shining figure reached the inn long before he did.
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Emiko had quickly charmed everyone at the table, though Kagome had left earlier to get a hot bath (and some time away from the smiles, and to think on why Inuyasha had been acting so weird). The girl was just challenging Shippo to a game of tag when the roof caved in, and the screams started. A massive demon stood among the wreckage, laughing as the people in the inn scattered. It only laughed harder when Sango attacked it. Picking her up, it tossed her into the air like a ball, then batted her across the room.
"Sango!" Miroku yelled. He too had started to fight the demon, but was distracted by Sango being thrown. The demon picked him up as well, but instead of throwing him, it bit him. Miroku barely moved in time, so the fangs didn't get his head, but they got his shoulder. He screamed in pain as the poison in the demon's fangs flooded his body. As he started to lose consciousness, a bright shining light flooded his eyes.
'Sango.' He thought, not even noticing the blinding light.
And then there was darkness.
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The same shining figure passed Inuyasha once more, this time carrying something. For a moment, he was torn over whether to go to the inn or follow the figure, but quickly he went with the inn, somehow knowing that Kagome would be there.
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Emiko was not fazed at all when the shining figure burst through the hole in the ceiling that the demon had made, and didn't bat an eye when the demon exploded into millions of tiny pieces, or when the figure picked up both her and the monk that Emiko had just been talking to.
Once in the arms of the figure, she still did not panic.
Instead, she laughed.
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"KAGOME!" Inuyasha shouted again, also entering through the hole in the ceiling. A battle had obviously taken place, but there was no sign of Kagome. Thundering up the steps, he ran smack dab into her as she was racing to see what was going on.
"Kagome! Are you all right!" He grabbed her shoulders and started at her intently, looking for any damage.
"I'm fine. Are you okay! What was with all the noise? Where are Sango and Miroku? Is Shippo hurt? What's going on?" Seeing that she was alright, Inuyasha calmed down considerably.
"I don't know. There was a battle downstairs and–" he was cut off by a maid who came rushing up to them, and jerked forcefully on Kagome's arm.
"The woman you came here with, the one with the large odd object on her back, id wounded! Sister Kaiya says she will pull through, but the woman is conscious and calls for you." As Kagome followed the maid down the hall (Inuyasha following her), she asked,
"What about the monk! And the child! How badly is Sango hurt!" The maid answered without stopping.
"The kitsune is with the woman - Sango. Do not worry about the monk. He is with the Holy Crusader. He will be fine."
"Holy Crusader? Who the heck is that!" Kagome asked, confused.
"The holy being sent to protect this village from all evil! A being made of light, sent to guide us in these dark times!" The maid would have gone on if they had not reached the room right then. "Enter quietly, in case someone is sleeping." The maid left.
Opening the door as silently as she could, Kagome peeked in. A woman dressed in silver was surrounded by younger people dressed in gray, and they all bustled busily around the several cots in the room. Kagome entered, Inuyasha close behind, and quickly made her way to the cot with a kitsune sitting on the edge. Shippo quickly leapt off the bed and hugged Kagome fiercely. Hugging him back, she peered over his head to look at her friend, and gasped.
A deep cut above her right eye was bandaged, though it had started to bleed through a bit, and it looked like Sango would have one mother of a shiner. The demon slayer looked worried, but smiled at Kagome nonetheless.
"Stop worrying. It's not as bad as it looks. The worst thing about all this is the nasty medicines and the forced bedrest.." Her smile faded. "They were too busy to tell me; do you know where Miroku is?"
"Not exactly, but he's with someone called the Holy Crusader. The maid that told me said not to worry about him, though, that he is good hands." Inuyasha started to walk away. "Where are you going!"
"To rescue this Holy Crusader person, the fool." But as he went outside, he found a much more intriguing scent on the wind.
Sesshomaru was coming to the island.
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Miroku groaned weakly and opened his eyes. He was looking into a green/gold canopy of leaves, and was resting in a grassy hollow at the foot of a small hill. It was extremely comfortable, and he had almost fallen back asleep when he heard footsteps. Pretending to sleep, he waited until whoever it was was quite close, then snapped out his hand and grabbed at where he thought the person would be. He heard muffled laughter from the other side, and realized there was nothing in his hand.
"Now now, monk, don't be thrashing around. You'll make me spill the antidote." Recognizing the voice, he opened his eyes. It was the pale girl from earlier, Emiko, though her coloring had changed. Instead of being all white, now she was a very light silver. She knelt next to him, lifted his head, and helped him to drink the contents of the cup. When it was empty, Miroku said,
"How... who... what is going on? Where are my friends? What happened to Sango!" She smiled kindly at him.
"Don't stress yourself. If the slayer or any of the rest had been in danger of dying, the Crusader would have taken them too. But you were the only one poisoned, so the Crusader had to rush you here. You're lucky, in a way. The village medicine tastes horrible." She made a comic face of disgust, and Miroku chuckled lightly, earning him a bright smile. "The 'Holy Crusader' said that Sada would come soon to check up on you, and that if any of your friends arrive, I am to be most courteous and offer them food and drink, but not let you go with them until the poison's have fully left you." Emiko got up, and started toward a small cave not far from where Miroku lay. Now that her charming presence was gone, he started to wonder if this was all a trap, and if that 'antidote' he had just been given had in fact been more poison. Studying the small firl, he reluctantly started to calculate whether or not he could over power her long enough to get away, if need be, in his weakened condition.
"Lay a finger on her, and you're dead." A cultured voice said softly. Whipping his head around, Miroku beheld the most lovely female he had ever seen. Her features were so perfect they looked like a work of art. She was even paler then Emiko, if that were possible, but instead of a silver sheen, her's was the palest blue, completing the impression of ice. Her hair was in thousands of long thin braids. Near the scalp, it was the amazing blue of a pool of water trapped inside a glacier, then faded to a blinding white near the end. Her eyes were the same coloring, though instead of a black pupil and iris ring, they were only another shade of blue. She dressed in the same plain, serviceable clothes as everyone else in the village.
Yes, she was the most beautiful creature the monk had ever seen.
As his hand began to twitch, he realized something.
The woman was a demon.
"SADA!" Emiko cried, and ran up to the demon woman. "I missed you!" Sada's face, which had until now been a countenance of anger at the monk, thawed out and became joyful as she picked the girl up and twirled her around, the girl shrieking with terror and happiness. When she was done, Sada said,
"How could you miss me! I saw you just this morning!"
"That's enough time. The Keepers were teaching me my manners again." The woman pretended to be horrified.
"Oh no! How terrible! How ever did you live through it!" Emiko giggled, and Sada became serious. "Now, my Aiko, I want you to go pick me the three herbs, okay? I'm going to stay here and look after the monk. Be careful now." Emiko (though Sada often called her Aiko: 'Beloved One', or 'Little Love') nodded and quickly ran over the hill. Sada turned to see Miroku staring at her. "Yes, monk?"
"You are a demon, aren't you." He said the question like a statement. Sada shrugged.
"Yes. The villagers, though, can't tell a demon from an angel, so I let them go on thing what they want. However... you must promise not to tell them. I don't want word that I am here to spread."
"Sure. Where are my companions?"
"Back at the inn still, I suppose. Though the slayer took a nasty blow, the demon was just playing, and did not inflict fatal injuries. That particular demon much prefer to eat young men."
"Then that was really an antidote, not just more poison?"
"If you weren't sure, why did you drink it? Yes, it was the antidote, but you'll have to stay here over night, I'm afraid, so that you can drink the final infusion in the morning. This will clear out any lingering after effects, and finish healing your shoulder."
"Who is the 'Holy Crusader'?" The mystery of who Sada was had been solved already.
"I am, of course. Emiko might have spoken of me as two different people because that's who I am to the villagers. To them, there is the Holy Crusader, a spirit of light who defends the village, and then there's the reclusive priestess Sada who 'calls forth' the Crusader whenever it is needed. But Emiko knows I play both roles. She is my voice in the village." In his mind, Miroku compared them.
"She's your daughter, isn't she. Another demon." Sada look steadily at him.
"Yes, she is, on both accounts. That is another thing the villagers do not know, and neither does Emiko. They all think that she is an orphan I found and blessed. They think my touch drained her of color, and gave her powers, thus giving them more reasons to stay away from me. They think me god-touched, and fear me. Only Emiko has seen me fully unmasked. If I am forced to go into public, I do so fully masked, which means even the traces of blue disappear. As you see me now is half masked, because I am at home, yet a human is present."
"Why are you answering all my questions?"
"So you'll know exactly where you stand." Miroku thought a moment, then asked the inevitable question.
"Will you bear my children?" Instead of slapping him, Sada raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want to die so badly after regaining your chance at life?"
"No." Miroku said hurriedly.
"There's your answer. Now, I have a few questions myself. What's your name; what are your companion's names; and how soon can we expect them to arrive?"
"I am the monk Miroku. My friends are Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and–" Sada interrupted him.
"And your friends will be here any second. I can hear them." Sure enough, Inuyasha and the rest soon came into view, Inuyasha carrying a Sango that did not want to be carried, but was too shaky to travel on her own two legs.
After Inuyasha had smelled Sesshomaru, he had gone back into the inn to gather up his friends. He couldn't just leave them nearly defenseless if Sesshomaru decided to come to the island, and the hanyou certainly didn't trust the mere human warriors who studied at the dojo attached to the shrine to protect them, and like HELL was he going to believe that some shining idiot was really going to do the job. So, he just decided to bring them all along, walking as smoothly as possible to avoid jostling Sango too much, and straining his nose to follow the Holy Crusader's scent. It was so faint as to almost not be there. He was just starting to think it was useless when he heard the monk's voice and some woman's. Entering the small clearing, he saw Miroku lying comfortably on the ground, talking tensely with an exquisitely beautiful woman. 'Demon', he thought, noticing her coloring.
Sada studied the group, but paused when she saw Inuyasha. To her, it seemed as if the whole world stopped for just a moment. Eyes wide, she looked like she had just taken a fierce surprise blow to the stomach. "I–Inu–yasha!" She whispered, the syllables dropping from her lips without her really noticing. As the group watched, tears gathered unexpectedly in her eyes, but she swiftly blinked them away, and regained control of herself.
Kagome was baffled by the woman's reaction. "Do you know her?" She whispered to Inuyasha.
"I don't think so." Inuyasha answered, also in a whisper. He did not know this demon, but to see tears in her eyes brought him a swift stabbing feeling of pain in his heart. "This is really weird, Kagome. It's like I know her form somewhere, but I can't really place her." It was so well hidden that Inuyasha did not see the fleeting pain this brought to the woman, swiftly followed by a just as hidden guilt, but Kagome did see (Sango was busy looking at Miroku), and she wondered at it. But the woman swiftly rose to her feet and smiled in greeting, though she did not bow.
"Hello. I'm guessing you are all this young man's friends? Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and I-Inuyasha?" There was a slight catch in her voice right before she said Inuyasha, but she continued. "Well, as beautiful a day as this is, I can hardly leave you all out here, can I?" A sharp snapping noise announced Emiko's presence as she ran over the top of the hill, not stopping until she reached Sada. Grinning up at her, the child said,
"I got the herbs, and put them on to boil! I even remembered to cover the pot so the fumes wouldn't leak into the rest of the house!" She was obviously proud of herself. Sada smiled lovingly at her.
"That's wonderful, my Aiko. Could I ask you to lead us all to my house? Fresh air is no longer so important in the working of the antidote, and we certainly wouldn't want to leave guests outside all night, right?" Emiko laughed at Sada who was pretending to be a child, then did her best to answer with a straight face and a gruff voice.
"Right. What do I keep telling you about your manners?" Then she couldn't do it anymore, and burst out into a fit of giggles at the sight of Sada's mockingly sheepish face. Sada turned to Miroku and asked,
"Can you walk under your own power or would you like help?" Miroku felt the limpness of his limbs - one of the 'after effects' of the poison, he supposed - and said,
"Help would be nice." Sada nodded, and slipped an arm behind his neck, helping him sit up, then get slowly to his feet. Being careful not to touch his wounded shoulder, she helped him walk, motioning to the rest to follow. When she felt his hand drifting toward her butt, she growled so only he could hear, "Do it and die." Something in her voice told him that she wasn't lying, and his hand returned to it's proper place.
Emiko importantly lead the way around the hill, and a bit into the woods, where a comfortably sized home sat, the wood grayed from age, but otherwise in fine condition. Inuyasha walked beside Sada.
"How do I know you? Who are you?" He asked her. She flashed a smile at him and said,
"All things in due time. Follow me, please. You can put Sango near the fire for tonight. I'll toss some herbs in it that ease chest pain when breathed in, because if I'm not mistaken, you have a cracked rib or two, Miss Slayer. Shame on you for not mentioning it to the good sister." Sango had the good grace to look abashed. Sada turned to the others after settling Miroku down on the other side of the fire and throwing some sweet smelling herbs into the flames. To Emiko, she said, "Now you go back to the shine, dear. You'll have the Keepers worried if you stay gone for too long. When you get home, I want you to practice your masking, but do it in private, you know how the villagers are."
"But I want to stay!" Emiko pouted, and Sada's face became stern.
"But you won't. I want you home by night fall. If you continue to whine, I will give you extra work to do." The girl turned to go, her shoulders slumped. "Aiko, I want you here tomorrow as soon as you wake up. If one of the Keepers tries to make you stay, tell them I said you were to come here to help me look for... something. Make up a nice impressive name, that's slightly scary. If you want to, tomorrow we can go to the pond." That cheered Emiko up, and she ran to give Sada one last hug before zipping out the door, headed for home. With a smile, Sada addressed the others.
"The rest of you can stay or go as you wish, with the exception of Sango-chan and Miroku-kun. Miroku-kun needs to stay until the last antidote is fully ready, because it has to be drunk immediately to have a real effect, and it would be most unwise to continue to move Sango around. If you stay, I'll make sure to get you a full refund from the inn."
Kagome pulled Inuyasha aside. "I don't know if I want to stay here..." she mumbled. She did not like the effect the woman was having on Inuyasha. He kept staring at her, looking thoughtful. The hanyou shook off his thoughts and said to Kagome,
"Ah... we really shouldn't split up if that ass is coming around... she is really bugging me, Kagome. She reminds me of someone, but I don't know who. Her scent is barely existent, but so familiar..." Inuyasha got the look in his eyes that he always got when he was thinking about his past. Kagome's shoulders sagged.
"I guess we can stay until our friends are better Miss..." The miko blushed with embarrassment when she realized that she didn't even know the woman's name. The blue-ish woman smiled and blushed a bit herself (her blush was blue too, of course).
"I apologize profusely. I know all your names, but I have not told you mine... perhaps I should join Emiko in her manner lessons. I am Tayentor Sada, village recluse. And yes, before you ask, I am a demon. Also, since you are staying, be careful what plants you touch: some can have some very negative effects caused by even the lightest brush against it." She saw their faces, and knew they all wanted to ask questions. "All right, don't sit there and fidget – ask away. I will answer to my best abilities."
"How do I know you?" Inuyasha asked first, in a forceful tone.
"Now is not the right time. It is a long story, and you have other questions."
"Who is the Holy Crusader?" Sango inquired from where she rested by the fire.
"I am. Every building in the village has a bell inside that I can clearly hear from anywhere on the island. When there is trouble, I throw on an illusion and rush to help. My Holy Crusader illusion looks something like this:" Inuyasha noticed that Sada's scent changed subtly, became more metallic. Sada herself became a huge shining pillar of a person, with vague arms, legs, head, torso, and an extremely long (also shining) sword. "This is Holy Crusader." Her voice had changed dramatically, becoming more resonant and awe-inspiring. Swiftly the illusion ended.
"How did you do that!" Kagome wondered. Sada shrugged.
"When you get to be my age, you know things."
"How old are you?" Inuyasha asked bluntly.
"That's such a rude question to ask a lady. I refuse to answer."
"What's masking? Miroku asked. He had meant to do so earlier, but had forgotten.
"Masking is a gift given to - my- type of demon. It is where we are able to... 'mask' our powers and our scent. That is why you have such a hard time placing me, pup... I mean, Inuyasha. There are three levels of masking. Fully masked," Sada became stark white; not a single drop of color anywhere but her clothes, "which is how I appear to the villagers. The positives of being fully masked is the hiding of my scent and power; the negative is not being able to use the powers we possess. Then half masked," she returned to her 'normal' white-blue color, "and fully unmasked." She did not change. Miroku quirked a brow.
"That's fully unmasked? What's the difference?"
"No, this is not fully unmasked. I don't want to show you my unmasked form."
"What kind of demon are you?" Inuyasha asked quietly. This time Sada ignored him.
"How about a story until dinner?" she said. They blinked at her. This... was not what they had expected her to say. "It will answer your questions." She continued in a soft voice, looking with sad, faraway eyes at Inuyasha. The half demon nodded instantly; the questions were driving him mad. Miroku, Shippo, and Sango also nodded, while Kagome just sat there, looking expectant. "All right."