Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.
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"Why do we have to let this guy come with us?" whined InuYasha. "For all we know, he's some kind of closet pervert or something!"
"InuYasha..." Kagome frowned. "You shouldn't say things like that about someone we just met."
"And I am also standing right here," Miroku reminded them, giving the barest hint of a pout. "Really, InuYasha. I won't molest you in your sleep or anything like that, if that's what you're worried about."
InuYasha turned a visible shade of green. "You'd damn well better not... because I would kill you," he added with conviction.
"Besides, he's the best lead we have on Naraku," commented Kikyou helpfully.
"More like the only lead," snorted Shippou. "None of the rest of us even know what Naraku looks like."
"And trust me, you're better off not knowing," promised Miroku.
"So where do we go to find Naraku?" asked Kagome, fidgeting in boredom. "We can't find him by just hanging around this empty town, right?"
Miroku put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I believe the best plan would be to scout out the many hot springs that Naraku created, in hopes that he still lingers around one of them."
"Do you really think that we need to visit all of the hot springs?" queried Shippou. "It sounds like overkill, if ya ask me."
"Absolutely," confirmed Miroku. "Beyond a shadow of a doubt."
"And you're sure you're not just hoping to get a glimpse of my lovely, naked body?" asked Kikyou.
"Of course not... " Miroku's wide violet eyes blinked innocently. "I would never dream of such a thing."
"Okay. Just making sure... one can never be too careful of their girlish modesty," confided Kikyou.
"As a monk, I couldn't agree with you more."
"Hold on. A monk?" InuYasha raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were a bath house attendant."
Miroku assumed an air of superiority. "I may have been employed as a bath house attendant, but a monk is what I am, inside."
"What the hell?" spluttered InuYasha. "That makes no sense--"
"Stop being so suspicious, InuYasha!" Kagome stomped her foot impatiently. "It's absolutely ridiculous! Miroku is obviously a nice guy, and he's going to help us find Naraku if you'll just let him already."
InuYasha folded his arms angrily and turned his back in a huff. "Fine. We'll leave then. But I'm telling you, something is off about him."
----------------earlier that morning...----------------
Naraku lounged on a water-slicked rock in a secluded hot spring. He had to admit that he felt a certain satisfaction is using a spring that he'd created himself, rather than patronizing a commercial bath house. There was such an unparalleled... refinement to bathing in a natural water source such as this.
Not too far away, on the dirt path that led to the spring, a young boy balanced a sizeable clay jar on his shoulders, having been sent to get water by his older sister. His annoyance over being forced to do the chore was tempered by the fact that he didn't really mind getting the water. He actually thought it was pretty neat to visit the springs, especially since they had mysteriously appeared only a few nights ago.
Kohaku stepped into the clearing around the hot springs and froze in horror.
Naraku looked up from his musings in the hot spring and gazed with mild interest upon the human boy who'd fallen to his knees, clutching his head and moaning, his water jar shattered on the ground.
Kohaku rocked back and forth as he tried to purge his mind of the image he'd just seen: Naraku, naked, sprawled out in the hot spring. Tentacles and all.
Perhaps the steam was going to his head, but Naraku felt strangely merciful toward this insignificant mortal. "Boy," Naraku addressed the young man. "I can see that the sight of this Naraku in all my glory was too much for your puny human mind. I can take the memory away for you, if you agree to become a minion of this Naraku."
Kohaku nodded frantically. "Whatever you say. Make it go away..."
Naraku gave himself a mental high five. Yes! I finally got myself a minion!
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"Well, here we are." Miroku grinned widely at the rest of the group, gesturing towards the vacant spring.
"That's it?" asked InuYasha. "That was like, a five-minute walk, tops." InuYasha scowled. "What exactly did we need you for, anyway? We could have found this by ourselves, easily!"
Miroku shrugged. "Come to think of it, you probably didn't need me..."
"Kohaku!"
Five heads whipped in the direction of the deafening yell, just in time to see a black-haired girl clad in body armor come crashing down the path.
She screeched to a halt in front of the group of travelers. "Have you seen my brother?" she demanded anxiously. "He's... about this tall," she gestured to about her shoulder level, "And, has short black hair and clothes like mine..."
"Nooo..." answered Kagome. "Was he supposed to be here?"
"I just... just sent him to get some water..." sobbed the girl. "But that was this morning, and, and... he's gone! I can't find him anywhere!"
"That's terrible!" agreed Kagome, throwing an arm over the distraught girl's shoulder's. "But... maybe we can help you look for him?"
The girl sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "That would be nice... my name's Sango."
Kagome smiled. "I'm Kagome, and this is Miroku, Shippou, Kikyou, and InuYasha. We're all doing this kind of... quest thingy. If you come with us, maybe we'll find your brother, since we'll be searching around all the springs here."
Sango's eyes brightened. "Okay. I'll come with you guys." She sighed and looked into the distance with a dismal expression. "It's not like I can go back to my family..."
"Why? Did something happen to them, too?"
Sango gave Kagome a incredulous look. "Do you think I'd actually go and tell my parents that I lost Kohaku? They'd kill me."
Kagome nodded. "I see what you mean." Souta had always had an uncanny ability to make her mother hysterical with his "hilarious" fake injuries.
"Hey..."
"Yeah, InuYasha?" asked Sango.
"Do you think Naraku did something to your brother?"
Sango looked confused. "Who?"
InuYasha shook his head. "Never mind. Come on, Miroku. We're going to look around for any trace of him. I want to get this quest over with before football season starts."
"Is that so?" said Miroku. "In that case, we'll get going. Although, I can't say that I like sports myself," he added, smiling in the direction of the girls. "I'd rather spend time with my family... not that I have one, of course..." Miroku looked wistfully into the distance.
"Oh, that's so sad," sympathized Sango. Kikyou and Kagome nodded in agreement.
InuYasha looked rather disgusted. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Now get your ass in gear, we're going to look for Naraku."
Kagome, Sango, and Kikyou glared at InuYasha as he proceeded to drag Miroku out of the clearing. What an insensitive jerk!
"Well," began Sango, "Since we're here at a hot spring already, do you want to...?"
Kagome and Kikyou looked at each other, then turned back to Sango and nodded. "Sure, why not?"
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Miroku rolled his eyes. Why did InuYasha make such a big deal about going to look for Naraku if he was just going to do that thing where he used super-duper demon powers to jump up into trees and run really fast and just generally leave him behind anyway? It was all so pointless, really.
Miroku ambled back in the direction he remembered leaving the girls in, and abruptly ducked behind a bush when he heard splashes coming from the hot spring.
"You know, Sango, this is actually kind of boring," grumbled Kagome. "Can't we leave yet?"
Sango gave a little sigh. "Well it may be boring, but what else do we have to do around here?"
Kikyou chuckled. "Well, I can think of something that would make this interesting... too bad the guys already left."
"I dunno about that, Kikyou," said Kagome dubiously.
"Yeah," agreed Sango. "I mean, not that it's a bad idea... I just don't think they'd want to."
"I say we don't bother them," concluded Kagome.
Kikyou rolled her eyes. "You two really aren't any fun."
Miroku fell back in shock, eyes widened. They wanted... ?
Well... if that was the case, who was he to complain?
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"InuYasha!" Miroku was leaning over and breathing hard, having just run the entire way from the springs without stopping.
"What is it?" asked InuYasha, glaring at Miroku. "And what were you doing, slacking off like that? You were supposed to help look for Naraku, but instead you wandered off!"
Miroku straightened up and glared right back at InuYasha. "You," he declared, "Have a messed-up sense of priorities. The girls need us right now, and you are not going to be the one to let them down!"
And with that, he proceeded to grab InuYasha by the hair, dragging the hanyou (who was still wondering what the hell Miroku had been talking about) back down the path to the springs.
"Fear not, ladies!" bellowed Miroku. "We are here to serve your every need!"
Kagome, Sango, and Kikyou looked up from where they knelt by the spring, the entire set of dirty camp cookware set out in a sudsy mess.
"You want to help us wash the dishes?" asked Sango blankly. "Really?"
Kagome beamed. "How thoughtful!"
InuYasha scowled at Miroku. "What the hell? I ain't doing any dishes. You've gotta be kidding me!"
Three females glared in InuYasha's direction. "That's okay. Since Miroku here is so considerate, we don't need you!"
InuYasha blinked. Why would Miroku want to help with the dishes? He felt, once again, that something was very, very off about that self-proclaimed monk.
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AN: Very, very sorry that it took me so long to write this. If anyone is still reading this, thanks... I promise I won't leave this unfinished, no matter how sporadic my writing habits are. I still haven't decided what the next chapter will be about, although I have lots of ideas. Personally, I want to write Kouga in as soon as possible, but I also want to inroduce Kagura and Kanna... actually, maybe I'll cover InuYasha's human night. If any of you have an opinion, maybe you could let me know?