The screen flicked for a bit before the author appeared with a wave.
*Hey guys Hakuorofan7 here and welcome back to another chapter of Hanyo of Snow.*
*Quite a bit late with posting this chapter as I had originally had hope to publish it on November 12th…but got quite busy this month and still am. So I decided to publish it on Thanksgiving to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving, or just a good day in general if you don't celebrate it.*
*Anyway this chapter brings an end to the New Moon arc, so let's get this started anyway.*
*First I do not own Inuyasha, it belongs to the amazing Rumiko Takahashi.*
*Secondly just sit back, relax, maybe put some music on, and enjoy. I will see you all at the end of this chapter.*
The author snaps his fingers, getting the screen to turn to static before the chapter began.
New Dawn
(Kagome POV - A few hours later)
I felt myself start to wake up when the light started to hit my eyes...
Wait a minute, light.
I groggily rubbed my eye as I woke up, still seeing that we were still stuck in that room in the temple. Honestly I would have thought that the Kumogashira would have broken in. But from the light of the window it seems like we were able to make it to dawn.
"It seems like we were able to sleep through the night." I heard Touma yawn out from next to me. "I would have thought that the Kumogashira would have at least tried to break in here by now."
I just groggily nodded in agreement before turning to face him.
The swarm should have tried to burst into the room if it was dawn by now. Not that I am complaining as the longer we slept the more rested we were to face them. Along with it being dawn Touma's and Inuko's powers should returned by now.
Looking over at them I saw that they hadn't moved from there spot and Inuko was still leaning against Touma fast asleep.
And from what I could see she was still human.
Wait, I thought that she should have been a hanyo by now?
"It's good to see you up master, and you as well girl. As you can see while the sun is rising, the new moon is still high in the air." Yura said, getting our attention. "And as you can see those filthy headhunters did try to break in. But it was only a through the back wall."
Getting up I turned around to see that the where several cracks, scratches, and thin burn marks against the back wall, especially the window.
"So while we were asleep only a few of the swarm tried to get in." I said, looking for where I had put my hama ya and quiver.
"Not the master, I assume that false monk was probably healing from the wounds it got last night. But I just checked and what remains of those filthy headhunters are gathering outside of the window." Yura said, not that I risk looking.
I have had enough of spider yokai for one life time after seeing that horrendous sight last night. So for now I will just have to take her word for it. That and I think I could sense the master of the swarm.
Although I could only sense what felt like one shard compared to the four before, so I can guess they must've melded together like Touma's did with one of Hiten's.
"Considering the amount of sun light, they could try breaking in any moment now before mine or Inuko's powers could fully return." He said before he stood up and ran towards Shippō while I went for my weapon.
They could attack any minute now while Touma's and Inuko's powers could return any minute now. We just need to hold them off until then.
Easier said than done, but we have survived far worst than the Kumogashira.
And from the looks of it I only had five arrows left. It wasn't much, but it should be enough for now.
"Come on Shippō, you need to get up." I heard Touma say, turning around to see him trying to wake Shippō up.
"No..." The kit groaned out as he rolled away from him.
I would have admired at how cute the sight was before a pain filled roar erupted around us and the walls of the temple began to shake and crack.
Safe to say that the master was trying to break in.
Myōga and Nazuna woke up with a start, Shippō shot straight up and land on his hands and feet. His hair and the fur on his tail standing straight up.
"What was that?!" He cried out.
"The false monk must be trying to crush the temple." Yura said as the Kumogashira roared out again and the walls cracked even more. Before the temple shook once again and the Tessaiga fell out of the door and clattered onto the floor.
Followed by the the sounds of the master roaring, and the roof of the room being torn off by what seemed like typhoon.
You have got to be kidding me, he could do that too!
With the roof blown off the Kumogashira began to pour into the room. Yura wrapped some in her hairs and began to break them before an arm from above snatched up Shippō.
"Let go of him!" I yelled as I notched an arrow towards the Kumogashira master, who looked heavily exhausted as he shook the kit around!
I let loss the arrow and it struck it's arm, severing it with a burst of reiryoku as Shippō was released! I took some satisfaction as it roared out in pain before a newly awoken Inuko caught the kit.
"Thanks." Shippō said shakily as Inuko lowered him to the ground.
Until the Kumogashira master sucked up the shards and roared out as he swallowed them. His skin beginning to melt before being replaced a darkish green exoskeleton while his eyes turned a yellowish color.
He roared out in laughter, which was promptly silenced as Yura threw several broken Kumogashira and it's chopped off arm towards him. The Kumogashira grunted out in what I could guess was annoyance.
Touma rushed forward with Shūsui while I notched another arrow and shot it.
Only for his sword and my arrow to deflect off the Kumogashira's exoskeleton.
You have got to be kidding me.
"It seems the jewel shards have given me quite the boon besides making me feel decades younger." The Kumogashira master said before letting out a massive strand of webbing towards us.
Only to pull back quite a few steps when foxfire and a flaming corpse came in his direction a burned down the webbing.
"Nice one kit." Inuko said to Shippō, getting the kitsune to puff his chest out in pride as he threw a firecracker into the face of a nearby Kumogashira before Touma cut it down.
"Girl you might need this." Yura said as she handed me back the arrow I just shot before rushing towards Touma as he blocked an attack for a despondent looking Nazuna with Shusūi before Yura snapped the Kumogashira in two with her hairs. "Master how much mist do you think you can create?"
"Quite a bit but it will not last long. So what do you have planned?" He asked.
"We only need a minute or two, but we need to renter the temple before you do so." Yura said as she tossed the broken Kumogashira towards the several other members of it's swarm as they retreated from a bit of foxfire.
I was going to ask what she meant by that, before looking up at the sky.
Dawn was nearly breaking over the temple, so it wouldn't be long before Touma and Inuko regained their powers. And within the temple we would have less to worry about the Kumogashira pouring in around us.
Along with possibly setting up a trap for the Kumogashira.
I have no idea on what Yura could be planning it should be worth a shot, and judging by the look on Touma's face I would assume he thought so as well.
"We need to head back into the temple, Inuko can you grab Nazuna?" Touma asked as a Kumogashira tried to jump him, but Shippō blinded it with a ball of foxfire. Before Inuko grabbed it and tossed the yokai into a pile of debris.
"You better have something good planned. Come on girl." Inuko said as she proceeded to grab Nazuna and pull her back towards the doorway.
I began to pull back as well by notching the arrow and began to draw on my reiryoku as Touma and Shippō were doing the same. Yura jumped back, as a massive string of webbing had crashed were she was as the Kumogashira master return. Parts of his exoskeleton on his fore limbs looked like it had been charred.
"Did you really think that you all could-" The Kumogashira master tried to say, but it was cut off by a firecracker exploding in his face.
"Good arm Shippō!" I called out to him, seeing the kit puffing his chest with a smirk before he ran with Touma into the temple.
"Kagome can you try and aim for one of the false monk's right legs?" Yura asked as she landed right next to me.
I looked over as he started to approach us and I noticed that several hairs were attached to a few Kumogashira, and I grinned at what she had planned.
"Of course." I said as I aimed just above the master's shoulder and shot it.
The arrow flew through the are and was deflected on part of the webbed limb between the one of it's legs, but not before releasing a small burst of reiryoku.
The Kumogashira master roared out in pain and stumbled a bit as he lost a small chunk of the limb before stumbling into Yura's trap.
"Oni-bi Gushi!" Yura shout as she lit her hairs on fire, catching parts of the Kumogashira on fire and startling the master as we ran back into the temple. With the fire that should keep the master busy for a few moments.
Yura closed the doors with her hairs and I got to see that at least half of the temple was ruined, possible from the master in attempts to breech into the room during the night.
She unsheathed Benigasumi and used her hairs to put it in front of Nazuna, surprising her.
"You are going to need this girl, Inuko is going to need the Tessaiga back." Yura said seriously, getting her to nod as she shakily took the wakizashi.
Yura pulled herself into the air with her hairs to around the roof of the temple before mist began to generate around Touma.
"And this should by use enough time." Touma said before releasing a burst of mist quickly began to fill up the temple around us. Making it so that we could barely see each other.
"So that is what you are planning, waiting that damned pest out before killing him. This is actually a good plan." I heard Inuko's voice called out from the mist.
"Actually you would have to thank Yura about it for this one, though I might want to get out of here when time runs out." Touma said, getting me to wince at the thought.
Probably for the best, he was already in the middle of a burning building once already a little over a weak ago...
"Though if this goes where I think it does than Nazuna-" "You were planning on destroying this temple, if it means killing that monster than do it." Touma was trying to say, but his voice was soon cut off by Nazuna's voice.
And I could practically feel the frustration that was in her tone.
"Wait so you know about our plan or at least suspected it? Good to know you are willing to bring this place down then." I said before the mist started to dissipate.
"If it means avenging everyone these swarms have killed and freeing my master's soul from that monster so be it." Nazuna said determinedly, but Inuko sighed at her words.
"Hate to tell you girl, but the master of yours never existed. Ever since before you knew him he had truly lost his humanity, that damned pest had already lost it years ago to the Kumogashira! And he was planning on making you like him!" Inuko said, before she growled out towards the end.
"And I still plan to do so!" I heard the Kumogashira master yell out through the mist before he let out a loud roar, releasing a strong guest that blew through and clearing up all the other mist in the room.
Revealing us and that he was right in front of a shaking Nazuna as she gripped Benigasumi tightly, Shippō right next to me, and Yura balanced on one of her hairs directly above Y/N and Inuko.
And underneath the what remained of the temple's roof and connecting at some parts of the wall was strands of Yura's hairs.
So this was Yura's trap, I think that I can get what she was planning with this. Yet with the Kumogashira master wasn't in underneath the roof, we couldn't spring it without also being caught up in it.
"You, you killed my family and had your swarm kill everyone in the nearby villages! All the while you gave the bodies we were able to recover from the Kumogashira, prayed for them, scattered their ashes, and made sotobas for them! Including my parents! So it was all a lie so you could turn me into a Kumogashira!" Nazuna yelled out as over a dozen of said yokai poured into the temple.
Half of them climbing the walls and spitting strands of webbing towards Yura while the other half trying to attack us, with Shippō driving a pair of them away from me with his foxfire.
The other four were going after Nazuna and where being fended off by Touma and Inuko while the Kumogashira master was trying to grasp at his former ward with his multiply limbs. Grunting in pain as Benigasumi at least seemed to be able cut small gashes into his exoskeleton.
And I drew an arrow and notched it. With it trained to the master of the swarm, focusing on drawing out on my reiryoku and making he suffers for everything he has done.
Along with small s small smirk gracing my face as I started to see Inuko's hairs turning white as she jabbed Tessaiga into the eyes of a Kumogashira while Touma cut another one down.
"Of course, to keep the charade up until the time came when you were ready to inherit the swarm. Very few of my kind are born naturally and there are the rare humans like I was once can become the master of the swarm. I was waiting to turn you in your sleep once the swarm has grown large enough, to make the process as painless as possible. But that is no longer possible!" The Kumogashira master roared out before spitting out a massive strand of webbing.
Nazuna, Touma, and Inuko barely got out of the way as the webbing caught the rest of the Kumogashira on the ground while Yura finished stringing the ones that attacked her in her hairs.
But that only proved to be a distraction as he grabbed Nazuna with 4 of his arms.
"Let me go!" Nazuna said as she tried to cut into the Kumogashira master's arms, but he was hardly phased by Benigasumi cutting into his exoskeleton.
"Oh I will, after I kill everyone else here for destroying our swarm! I do not care if they will give rise to new Kumogashira or not I will see them all dead before the dawn breaks before transforming you!" The master roared out, before he found the arms holding Nazuna being pulled away by Yura's hairs. "What!"
"You wasted your time you damned pest! I'm content with making you suffer, but I'm not the only who want to do so before sending you to Yomi!" Inuko roared out as she rushed forward, her hair pure weight and Tessaiga fully transformed.
Dawn had finally broken.
Now it is time to exterminate this faux monk once and for all.
"This is for everything that you have done!" I shouted and let lose my arrow, it embedded itself on of his legs.
Before that it took out most of his web of limbs on the left side of his body in a burst of reiryoku, causing the Kumogashira master to roar out in pain. Which only increased further as Inuko lopped off the arms holding Nazuna before Touma caught her while raising a small platform of ice.
"Are you alright?" He asked her as Yura was pulling the Kumogashira Master away as he flaked about with what remained of his limbs.
I notched my last arrow incase he tried anything else, and it seemed like Shippō had the same feeling by holding an armful of fire crackers. He grinned at me before he began to walk over to Touma while trying not to knock over the fire works.
I smiled at him while I watched Yura continued to drag the Kumogashira to right below her trap. Inuko looking over it with a sadistic grin as he struggled to get lose.
"I'm alright." Nazuna said before the Kumogashira spat out strands of webbing at them.
"Take this!" Shippō shouted as he threw his firecrackers.
Only for the webbing to be incinerated by Shippō's fire crackers. Before I shot my arrow and it embedded itself into his shoulder as Yura dragged him against the wall, with him roaring out in pain before blanketed in mist.
Which quickly cleared up to reveal what was left of his limbs was frozen to the wall and floor.
"Thanks for the help you two. Now I suggest we should leave the temple now, it is time to end this." Touma said, getting Nazuna to nod shakily as Yura landed next to him.
"I would suggest that you would get back now master." She said evenly, before turning to face the Kumogashira as he and Nazuna began to back away from her. "I told you that I would make you pay for what you did for master. And now I will, by giving you a first look of what awaits you in Yomi! Oni-bi Gushi!"
She lit her hairs of fire and they immediately traveled through the other ones she had strewn around the temple. Along with the Kumogashira corpses above catching fire as it quickly spread onto the ruins of the temple. The remaining Kumogashira struggling in the webbing as it quickly caught on fire.
Touma, Nazuna, Shippō, and Yura pulled back to the temple's entrance while Inuko walked towards the Kumogashira with a grin. I just stayed behind close to the enterance while notching my last arrow.
I wanted to see how this would all end...and maybe get another shot at the Kumogashira master for poisoning Touma and Inuko. Seems like Inuko had a similar idea, but I couldn't go further into the temple as I am not fireproof unlike her.
"Damn you all!" The Kumogashira master shouted as he thrashed about, the ice holding him down starting to crack while trying to break free.
"Pretty sure that you did that all yourself, turning from a Buddhist monk into a monster who gleefully mocks your former religion while spreading out your damned pests. I take it that as soon as you were turned into a Kumogashira you embraced it, am I right?" Inuko asked with a smirk, getting the Kumogashira master to spit out strands of webbing with a furious roar.
Confirming that as Inuko stepped away from the webbing, and I shot the arrrow.
I took some enjoyment as he roared out in agony as the arrow was embedded in his eye.
"Nice shot Kagome." Inuko complimented before facing the Kumogashira. "It seems that if there was even a chance of power you would embrace it wholeheartedly throwing everything else away like a damned fool! You did so when you became a yokai and you did the same tonight at the promise of jewel shards when you admitted that were content to die. All that ever did was lead you to a foolish death instead of dying peacefully like you wanted. I believe there are entire pits full of fools like you in Yomi and that is all that awaits you!"
The Kumogashira broke free of the ice and charged at Inuko, only for her to swing Tessaiga.
Just like with Sesshōmaru, the strike cut through the remaining limbs of the Kumogashira and it continued onward until he crashed into the back wall of the temple. The power even cutting through a section of the wall before it stopped.
And the rest of his body was soon trapped underneath flaming supports of the temple's roof. Getting him to yell out in agony.
"You would have lived longer if you weren't foolish enough to try and take the jewel shards. Now try to enjoy what little life you have left, cause this is what you are going to experience for the rest of your existence in Yomi." Inuko said before turning away and running out of the temple.
With myself following afterwards cause I did not want to be caught up in a burning, collapsing temple.
After emerging from the entrance I saw Touma standing back from the fire as much as he could with everyone else.
"Got to say, that was the worst new moon I have been through in a while especially with being poisoned by that damned pest. But I've got to say knowing that their dead after everything that swarm pulled last night is a good enough. Don't you agree Kagome?" Inuko asked me with a grin.
"Somewhat." I said, not really wanting to admit how much I was enjoying to know that the Kumogashira were dead. That and especially after getting rid of those horrid things they called offspring.
Especially since I took some satisfaction at hear the Kumogashira's roars and hisses over the roaring flames and the temple crumbling apart.
I think I might be hanging around Inuko a bit too much...
"Have to admit it you hairy bitch, that was a good trap. Though I could do without the smell of burnt hair." Inuko said before taking another sniff. "Though I think you might have been close to lighting yourself on fire again."
"Wort it to make that false monk suffer for what he had done to master. Shame I couldn't gather any Kumogashira venom. Though that would probably be for the best." Yura sighed out, getting me to wince and step back for her.
Before noticing that Touma and Shippō were right next to Nazuna, the girl on her knees and tears streaming from her eyes.
"So it's over, they're all gone?" Nazuna asked tearfully as I walked closer to the girl. The roars of the Kumogashira master dying out as the roof collapsed.
"With the master gone if they were any left in the area he didn't bring to the temple, they would be little to no threat. And even than any new swarms would be hesitant to entire an area where another had been wiped out. They wouldn't dare come back for years." Touma said with a smile as he bent down to her. And I did the same.
"They are all gone, you don't have to worry about them anymore. You don't have to worry about them attacking any villages or anyone else again. That everyone they have killed has been avenged." I said, giving her a small smile and Touma doing the same. "So just let everything out. It will be alright."
Nazuna looked between the both of us for a moment and Shippō before breaking down in tears.
"Thank you, thank you for everything." She cried out in front of us. Shippō patting her shoulder without her flinching or pulling away from him.
It will be for the best for Nazuna to let everything out now and for us to comfort her in a minute. After spending who knows exactly how long she had been living in fear of and wanting revenge on the Kumogashira it was finally over.
She no longer had any reason to worry about the Kumogashira ever again.
(Touma POV - 1 hour later)
Nazuna had been praying in front of the sotobas for quite a while now after we were able to calm her down after she cried her heart out.
Right now both me and Kagome were keeping an eye on her while Yura and Inuko were at the temple as the fire had died out a while ago. Me and Kagome had asked the former to look for the jewel shard out of the remains of temple.
Shippō was just happily munching on a rice cake nearby us. I have it to him cause he was the only one of us that was hungry.
Inuko just went with her cause she wanted to see if anything remained of the Kumogashira master. Probably wanting to destroy anything that remained that wasn't reduced to ashes.
Which would be pretty ironic now that I think about it.
One of the tradition ways Buddhists handle their dead is to cremate the body as to release the soul before scattering the ashes in a place holy to them. That or a nearby forest or source of water.
Fitting for a former Buddhist monk, except his ashes would probably just be scattered by Inuko destroying everything that remained of that Kumogashira. That and this place wasn't holy for who knows how long.
Probably a good thing we burnt the temple to the ground with the Kumogashira.
Though that did leave one issue that needs to be dealt with.
But I am pretty sure that both me and Kagome had the same answer.
Nazuna stopped praying and turned to face the two of us. While her eyes were still misty from crying earlier she was smiling.
"Thank you all for everything you have done." Nazuna said.
"You have already told that a few times already Nazuna, but still we were glad that we were able to help." I said to her with a smile.
"Though their is still the question on where you are going to go from here Nazuna? With the temple gone you have nowhere else to go right?" Kagome asked, getting Nazuna to shake her head.
"No there isn't, the closest village to the temple is quite a bit always from here. All of the surrounding villages had been wiped out by the Kumogashira including my own... I suppose that I could go there." Nazuna sighed out.
Both me and Kagome looked at each other and nodded at one another. We knew what to do.
"Then you should come with us, at least to a village nearby where Touma and I are from. We often stay there or visit it most of the time lately." Kagome said, surprising Nazuna.
"You can stay there for as long as you need to, I think that Kaede might be more than willing to help." I said.
"Are you sure?" Nazuna asked, sounding hopeful.
"Pretty sure." I said with a smile.
"Oh I'm pretty sure she will, Kaede spends time with the kit sometimes when not doing her duties as a priestess. I'm pretty sure that she would appreciate some extra help if you." Inuko said as she and Yura walked up to us, and Nazuna flinched at the word priestess. "And no she is nothing like that former master of yours. I've known Kaede since she was a few years younger than you girl."
Nazuna thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"All right, I will come." Nazuna said, getting Inuko to smirk and Shippō to smile.
"That means I can eat more of her cooking!" Shippō cheered out, getting both myself and Kagome to chuckle at his enthusiasm.
Still I was glad that Nazuna was coming with us. At least this way she wouldn't be alone after everything that has happened.
"Master I have found the jewel shards, but it would be more accurate to say shard." Yura said, breaking me from my musings as she used one of her hairs to hand the newly formed jewel shard to Kagome.
It was larger than any other shard we had collect, mainly on the fact that it was the collation of all the shards that we had gathered that wasn't currently embedded into my chest. From the looks of it we had only gathered a portion of the Shikon Jewel's outer side along a good chunk of the jewel's interior.
Fortunately it didn't seem to be drawn to my jewel shard like the other had been due to already absorbing their energy.
Thank Amaterasu for that.
It was already painful enough dealing with this accursed shard in my chest, I would prefer it to not get any bigger.
"The hairy bitch had found it in the Kumogashira's stomach, we'll after I cut up his charcoaled corpse. It is much smaller than I thought it would be after all the shards we gathered, but it is at least better than nothing. Or it trying to enter your chest once again." Inuko said, getting me to wince.
"Still it's hard to admit that you have the equivalent of this plus your jewel shard in your chest." Kagome said as she put the shard in her bag.
"So does that mean you had something like what ma-" Nazuna said before stopping herself and speaking once again. "The Kumogashira had?" She asked, getting me to nod.
"Yep, but there is a lot to unpack about that particular issue." I said to her.
"There will be plenty of time to tell you on the way to Kaede's village. Let's just get away from this damned temple." Inuko said as she was leading Nazuna away.
"Wait!" Nazuna called out, getting Inuko to stop in her tracks before she looked back to the sotobas. "Do you think I can come back here sometime in-"
"Of course, though give it a while. Believe me you wouldn't want to visit this place for a good while." Inuko said as she once again began to lead Nazuna to the temple's entrance. The girl nodding as they began to walk away.
"It's about time we head back anyway home anyway." Kagome said, getting me to nod.
"Alright then." I said, before turning to see Shippō walking back towards the temple. "Shippō."
"I've got this." Kagome said before picking up Shippō. "Come on we will not be on the boats for long."
"I would prefer the Kumogashira invested temple over the boats!" Shippö cried out as Kagome began to walk away rolled by myself and Yura.
I just chuckled at the sight as we walked through the ruins of the temple on our way out. It was time to head back home.
The walk down from the temple had been nice and quiet, might have been a bit too quiet for everyone's tastes after what happened last night. But thankfully nothing happened or attacked us.
Though I did have to pry Shippō from a tree once we got back to the shore.
Right now Yura was getting the boats back from where she had hidden them, for now we were waiting for here to come back with them.
Kagome was with Nazuna and Shippō, I just sat back against the riverbanks. I was keeping an eye out for Yura while Kagome was filling out the details that Inuko had already told her about. Before Inuko took off, said that she was looking for Myōga as she picked up his scent.
So I guess that we would have to-
"That old flea has certainly gotten better at covering his scent in the last 50 years. I'll squash him the next time I see him." Inuko grumbled out, breaking me out of my thoughts as she sat down next to me.
"I take it this is for leaving us while the Kumogashira attacked?" I asked, although I had the feeling I already knew the answer.
"Of course, Myōga could have stuck around but he always books it away from me on the night of a new moon if he remembers. He could have at least said something." Inuko said while shaking her head. "So how are you holding up after last night?"
"Still a little sore, but alright. Easily the worst new moon bar none." I said, getting her to chuckle.
"Haven't had one of those in decades, but this night was easily up there with them. You get used to them after sometime." Inuko said, getting me to shrug.
"Perhaps, but I think the next time the new moon happens in our era you should at least stay there for the night. Wouldn't it be nice to have at least one night without being attacked by yokai." I said, getting Inuko to ponder what I said before smiling.
"Might take you up on that, that does sound nice. Although despite the Kumogashira last night wasn't all that bad." Inuko said, getting me to look at her curiously.
I didn't expect that answer.
"How so?" I asked, getting Inuko's face to flush a little bit before speaking.
"Don't tell the girl or the kit this." Inuko said with a sigh before steeling herself. "Although it had been 50 years since my last transformation during a new moon, I'm glad it wasn't alone."
I think I see what she was saying.
"The last time you experienced a new moon was with Kikyō." I said, getting Inuko to nod with a frown.
"Despite my feelings for her after everything is still...conflicted, I enjoyed our time on those nights together. We even met during the night of a new moon. It was on those nights that I didn't feel alone for the first time in years. I guess last night was a close second, but it was still nice to be alone." Inuko admitted with a flushed face before glaring at me. "You better not tell anyone I admitted that."
"Don't worry I won't." I said, smart enough to know not to risk angering my fellow hanyo.
That seemed to placate her as her expression softened and she looked away.
"I know...and thanks for staying with me last night." Inuko grumbled out, getting me to smile.
"It's no problem, we hanyo have to look after each other. I'm sure you would have done the same thing for me." I said with a smile, getting Inuko to do so in turn.
"Yeah I would, especially with my second wish for the Shikon Jewel once we find the rest of the shards." Inuko said, surprising me.
"And what would that be?" I asked, never expecting for here to admit such a thing.
Would have figured she would still wish to be a full yokai and she probably will. Yet what could her second wish will be?
"Simple, I would wish for you to become human or back to a regular hanyo." Inuko said shocking me. "Believe me I would love to being a full yokai, but you are not exactly thrilled with the effects the shards are having on your body. So I figured I would wish for that before getting rid of the accursed jewel. So you could still chose whether to be human again or half human."
...I certainly never expected for Inuko to make a wish like that for me, so it took me off guard.
But I was still happy enough that she would at least consider such a thing. And the possibility of becoming a human again or a regular hanyo. I will admit the abilities were helpful at times and was partly one of the few thing I have left of my mother, but I did spend most of my life as a human and the effects the shards were having were something I would be glad to be rid of.
So I will have to be plenty to think about what I want, but for now...
"Thank you Inuko." I said, getting her to smile.
"We hanyo have to have each other's backs and it is the least I can do, but we still have a longways to go for that." Inuko said. "...And at this point I can't imagine what it would be like without you looking for the shards."
"I couldn't either." I said with a small smile as I could see Yura coming with the boats and got up.
"Time to go then." Inuko said as she did the same thing.
It was about time to start off back home, but there is something that I needed to say.
"Hey Inuko, there was something to say that I didn't get to last night." I said, getting the Inugami hanyo to raise her eyebrow at me.
"And what is that?" She asked.
"While under the new moon, you certainly looked like Lady Izayoi. Have anyone ever told you that?" I asked, getting Inuko to pause before she smiled.
And was it just me or her face aflame for a moment.
"No one who didn't mean it as an insult or knew her in life, so you are the first to say that without being either or and meant it...so thank you for that Touma." Inuko said, getting me to smile.
"It's no problem Inuko." I said as Yura pulled the boats to the riverbank and the two of us walked over to the others.
We should be heading back to Kaede's village soon enough and hopefully a few days of rest after that. We all could use that after the night we had tonight.
But for now I think I will just enjoy the trip back with everyone and Nazuna...that and keep Shippō from throwing up too much.
The screen flickered into static for a few moments before the author reappears with a wave.
*Hey guys Hakuorofan7 here and I hoped that you all enjoyed this chapter.*
*So to keep things short this is the end of the New Moon arc and the group is bringing Nazuna back with them to Kaede's village, because quite frankly it would be for the best. Being alone in the era of the Sengoku Jidai without the means to defend yourself is quite frankly doesn't give you the best life expectancy and that is even without factoring in yokai. Considering that and there is literally nothing left thanks to the Kumogashira it is probably for the best.*
*Nazuna will have a role to play that I will hint in the chapter after the next one. Although for a while she will remain in the village.*
*And aside from that as you can see the bond between Touma and Inuko has been increased deeply…this might cause some complications down the line especially with what happens next. What that maybe you ask, well just wait and see…*
*Anyway that is all for now and the last chapter of this story for 2022.*
*The next chapter will be a between chapter for arcs focusing on Touma's and Kagome's first date. It should be out January 19th so I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out.*
*If you have any questions leave a review or PM me and I'll get back to you all when I can. So until next time, ciao!*
The author waves good ye as the screen fades to black.