Stranger Revealed

Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo all stop in their tracks, startled by the person's statement. Gijo, however, just kept on walking towards the man. He stopped just short and said to the person "C'mon give me a break, ok? That was a long time ago, and the past should be forgotten. Besides, we were just leaving, and my sister was kidnapped, so I have to get her back. Please let us pass."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha and Shippo worriedly, saying "I wonder what's wrong with this guy that people wouldn't let us go through?" Inuyasha replied angrily "See? See why I told you we shouldn't help this guy? Now look what happened. The townspeople probably want to kill us, since we're walking with guy. Nice job on picking the wrong person!"

"Well, don't blame me, Inuyasha! I didn't know. How come whenever something happens, its always my fault, never someone else's? Its not like you're so perfect either, you know. You could try and be a little more thoughtful towards people." Kagome shouted, getting more and more mad at Inuyasha. Shippo sighed "Here we go again, more fighting from the two idiotic people that I always have to be around."

"I heard that, you little cretin" yelled Inuyasha. "So I would be quiet if I were you" Shippo got a really scared expression on his face and promised he would be quiet.

While, Inuyasha and Kagome were arguing, Gijo and the man trying to prevent them from passing, things got more and more heated between the two. Gijo trying to explain the situation to the man, which seemed not be working very well.

"Please let us go through! These people will help me out, and that way, I'll be gone even quicker and won't do anything at all, I promise. So can we go ahead now?"

"No, I have a better idea, lets ask these people you're traveling with and see what they, ok? They will decide whether you'll pass or not." The man responded. "Alright," Gijo complied. And with that the man looked towards Kagome and Inuyasha still arguing and Shippo trying to stop it and not get hit by Inuyasha at the same time. "Hey, you three travelers! In order to pass through here, this man, Gijo, is going to tell you why he's being stopped. You will decided his well-being. If you think his crime is too big, he will leave from this place, if not, then he will accompany you to till he finds his sister. Either way you will be able to pass, but whether he does, is up to you three."

"I say we just leave him here to rot. That way we don't have to worry and we can be about what we were doing in the first pla- OW!" yelled Inuyasha. "SIT, BOY!" ordered Kagome. Inuyasha slammed to the ground, making a hole in it. "I don't think it really matters, as long he didn't kill anybody, does it? Besides, if he's already been punished for it and it happened a long time ago, shouldn't you guys let him go where he wants now? We also need a guide through those mountains and do not know this part of the country very well. He seems to know it pretty well, so we'll just go on and that is that!" and with that, Kagome grabbed everyone and started leaving, shoving Inuyasha along.

"Hey, we can't let you just leave like that, miss, with Gijo with you. I'm sorry." The man replied.

"You know, I'm getting sick and tired of you guys babbling all the time. So how about you all just shut up and let us go about what we were doing, alright? Otherwise, I'll have to sharpen my claws on you guys, just for fun." Inuyasha told them, grinning evilly.

"You're a demon?"

"Yea, I am, what's it to you" Inuyahsa retorted, growling at the guy menacingly.

"N-Nothing! I just meant that please don't hurt us, ok? You can pass, just leave us alone in peace!" shouted the guy, running away, while he was saying this.

"Ha, see? That is how you solve a problem." Inuyasha replied, feeling satisfied in being able to scare them off that easy. "Now, let's get going before anything else happens."

They started going up towards the mountains, all the while, Gijo thanking them for helping him go along and putting up with him. "No problem, Gijo," Kagome happily said "That's what we humans do, we stick up for each other."

"But what about Inuyasha, is he really a demon?"

"No, he's only a half-demon, but lots of people don't know that and tend to stay away from him."

"I'll soon be a full-fledged demon pretty soon, once we collect all those Jewel Shards, though" Inuyasha broke in. "You better just not be a waste of my time, ok Gijo?"

"I promise you, this'll be worth your while for sure." assured Gijo.

As they started to walk towards the mountains, it was beginning to turn dark and also slightly cloudy. Continuing on, Inuyasha said "Well, its getting dark, we might wanna stop soon." "I know of a good place right inside of this mountain pass." Gijo offered. Shippo tiredly was plodding along and stated "Good. My feet are killing me and I'm starving. What kind of food do we have?"

As it turned out not a whole lot of wonderful foods, but Kagome pulled put some noodles from her backpack, which Inuyasha promptly grabbed out of her hands and started wolfing it down hungrily. He only got about a quarter of the way through when the noodles suddenly disappeared from his hands. "What the-?" he exclaimed. "Give that back, Shippo, or I'll hit you again!"

"No way, you gotta come get it." challenged Shippo. So they went chasing each other around the campsite they had setup trying to get the food back from each other.

Meanwhile, Kagome went closer to Gijo, looking at him curiously. He looked to be in his mid 50's and the only weapons he had was a staff which didn't seem too in great of shape, either.

Finally, she piped up "Um, Gijo, if you don't mind me asking? Why did that man back there in the village stop you? After all, we did save you, so I think we deserve an explanation."

Gijo sighed and reluctantly he spoke "Ok, if I must, since I am in debt to you guys. I will tell you what happened. A long time ago, before my sister was a priestess, I and she went to this village, getting supplies for our own village, because our village wasn't very well stocked with certain types of herbs, used for healing. So, we went to every herb shop there was in the village, and they didn't have anything of what we wanting. So we went to the temple, because we knew it would be there. Because as you know, every temple has all the essential healing herbs for those still in training, such as my sister was. We found the herbs we were looking for and took them. I know, it was very wrong of us and we did eventually pay them back, but they still haven't forgiven us, especially that person you saw today. He was the guard on watch of the temple at the time, so he feels responsible and hates us most of all, cause he was blamed for it originally. But we found out in the end. So that is the reason why I was stopped at the village today. I am sorry to put this burden on you, but I need to find my sister."

Kagome sat in silence, as well as Inuyasha and Shippo, who had finally stopped chasing each other. Shippo was furiously trying to find something else to eat, while Inuyasha was happily content, eating what was left of the noodles. Inuyasha started yawning and said "Well, from that wonderful story, lets try and get some sleep, alright?" At that, they all went to bed, and slept through the rest of the night.

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