Chapter Nine- The Demon of the Mountain
!Warning! Some scenes are found not suitable for children. This story includes violence, mild language, and adult content. Reader discretion is advised.
Naori was the last to get up. She stayed in bed for a long time, just listening to the sounds outside. The events of the night before played over and over, yet she did not remember actually killing Kuro. It was just a blank space with the desires for blood and the waves of anger and confusion. She felt ashamed of herself for letting her demon loose so easily. It took almost nothing for her to be a blood thirsty monster, and what if it happened again? What would she do?
Inuyasha walked in and saw that Naori's eyes were open,"You're awake." Naori didn't move or even look at him. She felt like she didn't deserve to be with him."We're about to leave so you might want to go take a bath with the other girls." Naori hesitantly got up and walked outside.
Mazuki was holding a bucket with rags and when she spotted Naori she smiled and called out,"Sango and Kagome are already in. I decided to wait for you." Naori just nodded to her and they made thier way to the hot springs.
"Naori, you're up,"said Kagome when they walked up to them.
"Come on in, the water's great,"said Sango. They stripped to thier birthday suits and climbed in. Naori scrubbed her body down while Kagome got her back.
She knew why they were so nice to her. They didn't want to talk about what happened, and Naori was glad. They climbed out and dried off and put on thier clothes on, this time Kagome was in her school uniform. Inuyasha put out the fire that cooked thier breakfast.
"There's a village a few miles ahead, we could stop there,"he suggested.
"Sounds good to me,"said Miroku. They walked along the road when they saw a man on a horse charge down the road, coming towards them.
"What's he running from?"Inuyasha asked.
"Well lets see," Miroku jumped infront of the horse's path causing him to stop,"My kind sir, can you tell me what it is you are running from?"
"I'm not running from anything, I'm the lord's personal messanger and he has a reward for anybody who can destroy the demon terrorizing our village." The man stared at them all, mostly Inuyasha.
"A demon?" Miroku stepped closer to him,"What demon are you talking about?"
"The mountain demon. He demands awoman every night to see which one will be best for his bride."
"His bride?" Sango asked.
"Yes, but he has rejected all of our offerings saying the women weren't good enough for him."
Maybe he's yoai. Thought Naori.
"You mean you actually gave the demon the village women!" Mazuki said angrily.
"We had no choice, but now he has rejected all of them and he plans to destroy our village, so the lord has sent me to find someone to stop the demon."
"So in other words, he sent you to find more women in the nieghboring villages."Miroku eyed him.
"Uh. . . "
"Don't worry, we'll end that demon and he won't be asking for anymore women."said Mazuki giving him the thumbs up sign.
"You mean you guys can destroy the demon?" The man eyed them all closely.
"Why yes we can,"Miroku crossed infront of her,"What kind of reward are we talking about?"
"You destroy the demon, and then you get your reward,"said the man.
"Fine by me, lead the way."Miroku did a curteous bow.
"Are you sure monk that you and your comrads can destroy the demon?"asked the lord. He was very old with long grey hair and looked like one good scare would kill him. He seemed to be weathering before thier eyes.
"Why yes we can, we have fought many demons before and Sango and Mazuki here are fully trained demon slayers."said Miroku.
"I see, the demon lives in the tallest mountain. Everyday he comes down at night to see the woman and pick his bride. You can destroy him tomarrow when he comes down. For tonight, you may sleep here and dine with us as our guests."
Miroku bowed his head,"I thank you my lord." The lord's servents showed them to thier rooms and served them the most delicious foods they had in a long time.
"I wonder why the demon would want a human bride."Sango asked Miroku.
"He must be the only one of his kind or is very lonely and weak since he can't seem to get a demon female."he answered.
"Well, tomarrow you guys will take it down and they won't have to worry about it no more,"said Naori. Mazuki blinked at her. Usually she said 'we' in stead of 'you' because she loved to fight demons.
"Yeah, we'll slay the demon and gather the rest of the crystals and return to our own time and Mazuki, Kenta, and Naori can be with the future us,"said Shippo.
"What do you mean we? You never fight demons, you're always chicken out and runaway,"said Inuyasha.
"Hey, I'm only a kid ya know!"He shot back.
"Yeah, so is Mazuki and Naori and they fight demons all the time. Admit it, you will always be a big chicken,"Inuyasha and Shippo glared at eachother.
"Actually, Shippo fights with us too. He trains Naori when Inuyasha can't. He's actually very brave and strong and a great fighter,"said Kenta,"He also watches out for me and calls me his little buddy."
"See! Told ya!"Shippo laughed in Inuyasha's face and Inuyasha punched him in the head."Ow, that hurt!"
"Inuyasha,sit!"
"Oof! Damn!"
They were all asleep in thier rooms except for Mazuki. She kept thinking about what Naori said. Was she not going to fight the demon? Is it because of what happened to her with Kuro? Mazuki got up and walked along the village. The sound of a Japanese lute filled the village.
"Who's that playing?" She followed the sound into the forest. She thought it might be a trap, so she got her boomerang and entered the forest.
She followed the heavenly sound to tall tree where Naori was playing the lute.Mazuki stepped up,"I didn't know you could play."
Naori set it down,"I'm just learning. When I have a lot on my mind, I use music to deal with it."
"It sounded beautiful, please play some more."
Naori smiled and continued to pluck the strings of the lute, giving off a vibrating sound. Mazuki sat down and listened to it. Naori sang one of the songs that she remembered her mother would sing. It was a song from her time, so Mazuki would have never heard of it. She sang the TLC song Unpretty. Mazuki thought it was beautiful.
"That's a wonderful song, even though I barely understood it, but I think I got the message. Why did you choose to sing that one?"Mazuki asked her.
"I used to get very upset about me being a hanyou so my mother would sing me that song to make me feel better. It's really hard being stuck in a society that you don't belong in, but you have no where to go, like you have no place where you belong." She jumped down from the tree and sat next to Mazuki. Mazuki had always been the kind of person who would listen and you would find yourself spilling your heart out of all your secrets."My dad told me that the same thing happened to him and that he thought he didn't have a place, but he then realized he had a place, he was just the only one in it. And now he shares it with me"
"I never knew that being a half demon would be so hard."Mazuki wasn't sure what to say.
"It's no big deal. I'm proud of my heritage, the demon and human side. Dad told me to be myself and if the others don't like it thenwhy should I give a damn. I keep those words in mind all the time. They help guide me through my moments."
"Moments?"
"Yeah, like when somebody calls me a half breed I think about that and I ignore it, but sometimes it's hard to ignore."
"I know somewhat of how you feel. People wouldn't respect me because I was a female demon slayer and they took me as a joke. They said I wasn't feminin enough and that I wasn't fit to be anyone's wife. Of course the same things happened with my mom and she's happily married and has two children. My dad always taught me to fight for what you beleive in, and to not be afraid to get a reward out of it"
Naori giggled. It was just like Miroku to teach Mazuki how to smuggle items for money and take rewards from villages. Naori stood up,"We should head back if we're going to slay that demon." Mazuki nodded and they walked back.
"Are you sure you're up to it monk?" the lord asked once again. Sango was in her armor and so was Mazuki. Inuyasha sat on the floor and continued to eat the rice they were served and Kagome was packing arrows and checking her bow.
"Yes, when does the demon usually come?"asked Miroku.
"He comes unexpectantly, to catch us off guard."
"I see, well alert us when he is spotted."
"Yes I will." The lord bowed himself out.
Miroku sat down and took a sip of the drink on the table. Kenta sniffed the bottle and his face twisted in disgust,"It smells bad."
Naori sniffed the bottle,"It's sake."
Sango grabbed the bottle andstuck it under the monk's nose,"What are you doing drinking sake?"
He rubbed the back of his neck,"They just served it, I guess to numb our bodies so we won't feel any pain."
"The only thing this does is numb your brain. You'll be too drunk to fight."She poured the bottle out on the back steps. Kagome sighed through her nose. Inuyasha looked at her.
"What's wrong?"he walked over to her. She was taking out all the things in her bag.
"That storm that Kuro caused ruined all my stuff."She sighed as she put her damp math book back in.
"That's it?"Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"What do you mean that's it! Everything is ruined! How am I suppose to go to school when I have a soggy pile of garbage for a math book! My mom will have to pay for another one!"
"Whatever." He got up and ate the rest of the food on the table. After awhile, the sky turned to the evening orange. Inuyasha felt the hair on his back stand up,"Feel that?"
"Demonic aura,"said Miroku,"He's here."
Sango and Mazuki got thier boomerangs and they all walked out into the village square. A lookout came bouncing towards them. The lord stepped out to witness it all. The lookout approached them out of breath,"The demon-"
"We know, we could feel the aura,"Miroku looked past him. The man blinked and quickly left.
Naori heard the lord say,"They must be better than I thought"
The sound of giant pounding feet filled the village. People sought protection in thier huts. The trees seperated to allow something large to pass through, and it was large. The demon was around thirty feet and was very fat. He was nothing more than a large piece of fat with huge eyes and a wide smile filled with rows of sharp teeth.
"That's the demon?"Naori looked at the lord and rolled her eyes.
"Have you decided on a bride for me yet?" asked the demon in a booming voice.
"We're here to cut you down, fat ass!" Inuyasha swung the Tetsaiga at him and made contact, but it went right through him,"What the"
Mazuki sent her hiraikotsu at him and the boomerang went through and she caught it.
The demon laughed,"You cannot defeat me."
"It's an illusion, that's not the real demon!"Miroku sent out his sacred sutras and sent them at the demon. This time they stuck and the demon yelled in pain. Its' skin was boiling and it was melting back to it's regular size. What was left was a green toad demon that went up to Inuyasha's knee.
"This is the demon that demanded all those women?" He stepped on it and the demon struggled and he finally killed it by snapping the back with his foot. The villagers cheered and praised them.
Naori blinked,"But we didn't do anything."
Mazuki slapped her on the back,"Who cares, more free food!" They were invited to a dinner party where they were served with delicious food and drinks and had the entertainment of female dancers. Miroku payed them close attention and Sango shot glares at him when no one was looking. After a long night they returned to thier previous rooms and changed for the night. Naori thought she wouldn't get much sleep since she didn't use any energy to fight at all, but as soon as her head hit the pillow she was sawing logs.
The village paid Miroku and left him with gifts of clay pottery, which they planned to sell in the next village. They walked through the morning mist to a river where Inuyasha and Miroku fished and caught them lunch. The fish fried over the fire until it was tender enough to eat. Inuyasha practically ate his raw. Naori, Mazuki, Kenta, and Shippo were playing in the river while the others watched and talked.
When they went farther down the river, the crystals around thier neck dimly glowed.
"A crystal is nearby!"gasped Naori. The others looked up at them. She turned her head to see a horse drawn carriage,"It's in there."
A/N: Okay, this story had absolutely nothing to do with it, but I just liked the way Mazuki says "Who cares, more free food!" She acts alot like Miroku, without the perversion. Review for moi!