Kagome, in a panic, ran her hands over every square inch of her body, desperately trying to find their half of the Shikon Jewel. "I-I-I...I don't know!" she stammered. "It was around my neck like it always is...and then Kagura lunged for me..." Kagome gasped. "Quick! Go check Kagura's body!" Inuyasha wheeled around to where Ash had moments ago blasted Kagura's head off with the Boomstick, yet to their horror, her body was gone.
Instead of what should have been the blown away remains of Kagura, instead showcased a large carter, the ground scorched with what appeared to be burn marks.
"What the hell?" Ash exclaimed. "She was just here a minute ago! You saw it, right? I split her open like an over ripe melon!" Miroku furrowed his brow in worry, his face a grim display of dread. "This is not good...if Kagura had been influenced by the Necronomicon, that means Naraku must have it.."
"And this Naraku guy you keep mentioning, he's bad, right?" Ash said.
Kagome nodded slowly.
"So what's the big deal? We find Naraku, pump him full of lead, you hit him a couple of times with your over-comepnsating sword and we get the book and your jewel back." It seemed so simple to Ash.
Kagome opened her mouth to object, but she was cut off by a slow wail that quickly worked it's way louder and louder and louder, till finally it was right below her.
Ash studied the source of this noise, what appeared to be a small boy with bright reddish/orange hair, but upon closer inspection, the boy had a bushy fox tail! Ash merely shook his head...at this point nothing surprised him. The fox child jumped in Kagome's arms and from what he could tell, the child was crying, with a large bump on his head.
"K-K-Kagome..." the boy moaned, causing Kagome to brush the child's hair back and smile lovingly. "What's wrong, Shippo?" She said soothingly. Shippo looked up at Kagome's eyes and finally managed to croak "I...I tried to go into town to buy food like you asked...but this snake demon...he...he attacked me and stole the money!"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Oh how wonderful!" he chimed sarcastically. "First this moron 'Ash' shows up and costs us the Shikon Jewel and now Shippo can't even defend himself against a pitiful snake demon! Do I have to do all the damn work around here?" Ash clenched his fists.
"Listen Fido, you better thank your damn lucky stars I don't have a rolled up newspaper, or so help me..."
"SIT BOY!" Kagome interrupted and once again, Inuyasha crashed into the ground with a loud thump. "There is no time for this! We have to get our money back. We're all starving and we desperately need something to eat!"
Inuyasha snarled and as he stood up, brusing the dirt off of his hakama. Ash had to smirk a bit, getting a huge kick out of the fact that this petite 15 year old girl had complete control over this loud mouth named Inuyasha.
"Who's he?" Shippo said timidly, looking at Ash. "Oh him?" said Kagome. "That's Ash. He's from my time. He wound up here thanks to some crazy book and now he's going to help us get the entire Shikon Jewel!" Ash merely nodded. "And you are?" he asked.
"I'm Shippo..." the child replied.
"Right...and you're some sort of fox creature?"
"Fox DEMON, actually..."
"Oh good, a fox demon? So that gives us a dog demon, a snake demon and now a fox demon! WONDERFUL! I'm in a damn Dungeons and Dragons game here!"
Miroku, not wanting to cause another scene, quickly interjected.
"Ash, perhaps we could work out a business arrangement? You help us retrieve our money back from the snake demon that robbed Shippo and we'll help you retrieve the Necronomicon and send you back home..."
"Look at this point I'd sit through 5 years of a Barbara Streisand concert if it means I can get home."
Miroku nodded before turning his attentions towards Shippo. "Where exactly did this snake demon go after he took your money, Shippo?" Shippo, his eyes still red from crying, spoke "He ran into the Red Dragon Inn..."
Miroku nodded. "Then that's where you shall go, Ash. Do us this favor for us and we will join you in your quest."
As Ash walked off in the distance, Sango leaned towards Miroku.
"You sent him off because you were scared of the snake demon, right?"
Miroku looked shocked.
"Why of course not, dear Sango! What would ever give you such an idea?"
Sango merely rolled her eyes.
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Wang Ono loved his job. He tried going straight as a farmer, but it never really worked out for him. Being a thief gave him such a thrill, a rush like no other. He knew he had hit jackpot seeing that fox demon. One little surprise of his snake mask and a good punch in the head and now he's sitting pretty in the "private room" of the Red Dragon Inn. Any minute now, the prostitute he had ordered from the bartender would be arriving. Almost as if his thoughts were read, he heard a gentle knock on the private room door.
Grinning devlishly, Wang stood up pressed his hear against the door. "Whooo is it?" he called out in a sing-song voice,
"Boomstick..." came the reply.
"Boomstick who?"
BOOM!
The door was blown to pieces, the force of which sent Wang flying back to the other side of the room. Before the smoke and debris could even clear a man with some sort of spinning blade for a hand stomped in and pinned him to the wall, the spinning blade inches from Wang's face.
"Now listen here ass-hole, I'm going to ask you once and only once...where is the money?"
"Wha-what money?" Wang stammered. The man was not amused. He took his spinning blade and swinging it wildy, cut a wooden pillar in the middle of the room completely in half.
"See that? That's going to be your face if you don't tell me where you took the kid's money!"
"H-here! TAKE IT!" Wang screamed, handing him the small leather sack, the coins clanging inside. The man with the spinning blade looked at the money before throwing Wang down on the ground.
"And if I ever catch you around these parts again, I'll open up a serious can of whoop ass...now go on, get the hell out of here!"
Having no clue what a "can" or what "whoop ass" even was, Wang "ran the hell" out of the Red Dragon Inn, not wanting to find out the exact meaning of these phrases.
"Time to get back into farming..." he thought to himself.
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Ash stormed out of the back room carrying the money, before a random patron cut him off at the door. "Leaving so soon, Ash?" the man said cooly and void of any and all emotion. He seemed to have a large brown hooded robe on, obscuring most of his face, except for the mouth.
"How the hell do you know my name?" Ash inquired.
The man simply smirked before grabbing Ash's neck and lifting him high off the ground, effortlessly threw him into a collection of wooden tables, splintering them into pieces, the frightened patrons running for dear life. Ash stood up slowly, slightly dizzy, as he rubbed his head, trying to gather himself quickly.
"Look buddy...I ain't exactly having the best day here and that didn't help anything at all. So tell me, are you an educated man?"
The cloaked man slowly let down his hood and stared at Ash. His eyes seemed to burn deep into Ash's soul, spooking the S-Mart Housewares Manager. The man's hair was jet black, just like everyone else's around this area.
"I know many things, Ash..." the cloaked figure said.
"Oh that's great." Ash replied. "Cause I'm about to enroll your ass in Boomstick 101!"
The man merely smirked ever so slightly.
"Such bravado, Ash. Really, it's going to be quite a shame to see you die."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...save your chit chat for when you're begging for mercy. Oh one last thing, what's your name? I want to know who I'm gonna be tearing a new one." he said, making sure this mysterious man heard the mighty roar of his S-Mart Wood-Pro 9000 Chainsaw.
The man merely raised an eye brow ever so slightly as he replied 'Naraku. My name is Naraku."