Author's Note: Since there's so much going on, I've split the following up into three chapters so that I can concentrate on one group per chapter.
Chapter 25: A Fox, A Rooster, and Two Wolves
"Why are we going to this Katsu guy again?" Kouga asked impatiently. Sanosuke shot the wolf an irritated look.
"Because I need to talk to him," Sano replied icily. This had been the third time that the wolf youkai had asked him that. Sano's already short patience was starting to wear thin.
"And I don't see why I have to wear this stupid human disguise," the wolf continued to complain. Finally having enough, Sanosuke unstrapped the Hiraikotsu from his back and swung it at the wolf.
"Because you have to!" Sano yelled. He was beginning to regret having gone alone with Kouga and Shippo.
"Sano's right Kouga," the kitsune finally said. "We can't exactly walk around as ourselve in the middle of Edo during broad daylight."
"Tokyo, not Edo," Sano corrected.
"And what the hell's up with that?" Kouga asked. "Why the hell did you mortals bother to change the name? It's still the same city." Sano gritted his teeth at the wolf, but Shippo prevented an arguement from brewing by quickly slipping a leaf over the wolf's mouth. The wolf glared darkly at the fox as he attempted to rip it off. When that failed, he resorted to punching the kitsune. Sano sighed to himself. At this rate, they'd NEVER get to Katsu, let alone find Saito.
The fox had used his fox magic to make Kouga appear to be human. However, he had failed to also dress him in human clothing. The wolf was still stalking around in his armor and fur kilt. Shippo himself had merely shapeshifted into a raven haired human version of himself. Both youkai would also still be openly wearing their swords if Sanosuke hadn't convinced them to hide their weapons.
"Mmmphf!" Kouga raged. People were staring to stare at the strange trio.
"Shippo, the leaf's drawing attention," Sano pointed out.
"Kouga's drawing attention WITHOUT the leaf." Kouga glared at the kitsune. Shippo sighed before snapping his fingers and causing the leaf to release its hold on the wolf.
"You mangy fox!" Kouga yelled. "I should..." Sniff. Sniff. "I smell food." Before Sano could react, the wolf zipped off to find the mysterious source of food. Moments later, he returned with two large handfuls of dark chocolate. Sano stared at him before daring to ask.
"Did you...pay for that?" As if on cue, faint shouts of "Thief" drifted in from the next street. Sanosuke muttered darkly as he glared at Kouga. The wolf merely ignored him as he happily shoved the stolen candy into his mouth and licked his lips.
"Finished?" Shippo asked dryly. Kouga licked his fingers in response and grinned.
"I haven't had chocolate since Kagome died. I can't wait until potato chips finally get invented."
"Come to think of it," Shippo mused. "I miss those lollipops she used to give me."
"And the cotton candy and ice cream," Kouga added.
"I miss those cupcake things," the fox said. Sanosuke suddenly couldn't take it anymore.
"SHUT UP!" he bellowed.
The two youkai blinked and looked over at the irate human. For a brief moment, they had forgotten about him in their daydreaming.
"Oh right," Kouga said. "We're supposed to find this Katsu guy aren't we?" Sanosuke made a passable imitation of Inuyasha's growl as he stalked off down the street.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Katsu stared at his three visitors in shock. The moment after their arrival, Kouga had proceeded to rip off the foxleaves disguising his pointed youkai ears. Shippo had sighed before shapeshifting back into his normal form.
The former fighter eyed the swishing fox tail and the furred animal feet on the other pointed eared stranger before raising an eyebrow at Sanosuke.
"They're youkai," Sano answered.
"Youkai?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yup. Look Katsu, I don't have time to explain. I'll tell you later. Right now I need to...borrow a few things."
"Borrow? As in bombs?
Kouga sniffed the air at that before walking over to a closet. He not so gently slid it open and a pile of Katsu's homemade weapons came tumbling out.
"I thought I smelled gunpowder," the wolf said. Sanosuke gaped at the pile before jabbing a finger at his long time friend.
"I thought you weren't going to make that much anymore!" he yelled.
"They're experimental ones!" Katsu protested. "Once I started, I couldn't stop!" Sano muttered 'Yeah right' under his breath before jabbing another finger at Shippo.
"Hey Fox, do us all a favor and don't use your foxfire in here," he suggested. The kitsune smirked as he sauntered over to join Kouga in inspecting the homemade bombs. Katsu watched them for a second before turning back to Sanosuke.
"So, what do you need?"
"Weapons, information...a little money," Sano said.
"You still haven't paid me back for the last time," Katsu pointed out.
"I will!" Sano promised. "Eventually." Don't know how though.
"I won't hold my breath," Katsu muttered. He looked up as both youkai finally sat down next to him and Sanosuke. "What kind of information?" he asked finally.
"You have any idea where Saito is? He's not down at the police station." Katsu rubbed his chin as he sat a moment in deep thought.
"Word has it that an anti-government group was causing trouble this morning down in the east end. Some rag tag group that calls themselves the Avengers. I hear that one of their major members had connections to Shishio."
"Anyone to be worried about?" Sano asked in concern.
"Not really, I think your friend Saito's got it under control."
"That mangy dog's not my friend," he protested.
"Maybe not, but that's probably where he'll be." Katsu stood up and walked away before coming back a few moments later with some money.
"It's not much Bird Brain, so use it wisely. This time I expect to be paid back."
"Yeah, sure," Sano said. Katsu smirked at him.
"Get a job Sano."
"Shut up."
With that, Sanosuke, Shippo, and Kouga left to find Saito Hajime.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
An irritated Saito took a long puff of smoke from his cigarette as he glared down at the prisoner in front of him. Tagara Yokio had apparently been one of three financial backers for Shishio Mokoto.
Slay. Evil. Immediately.
Unfortunately the Shinsengumi motto didn't always work with police protocol. That didn't mean he had to play nice when interrogating him though.
Saito let out a long, deliberate cloud of smoke before he brought the burning edge of his cigarette down on Tagara's forehead.
"Speak," he ordered. Tagara smirked at him and spat in his face. Saito backhanded him.
Slay evil immediately.
The assistant police inspector calling himself Fujita Goro calmly picked the man up by his collar as he glared at him.
"You really don't want me angry," Saito said. Tagara continued to smirk at him.
"You're nothing compared to Naraku," he announced smugly. Saito raised an eyebrow.
"Naraku?" he asked. "And who is that?" Tagara clamped his mouth shut and refused to speak another word. Saito was considering just gutting the man to be done with it, but somehow he didn't think that would go over too well with the higher ups. Besides, he still needed information from him.
"Fujita," an officer said. Saito glanced over at him.
"What?"
"Ah...a Sagara Sanosuke is here to see you. And he has two companions with..." Two strange men, followed by an amused Sanosuke, were already bursting uninvitated through the open doorway before he could finish. The former Mibu wolf raised an eyebrow as he took another long puff of smoke. Strangely, both of Sanosuke's companions wrinkled up their noses and glared at the cigarette in his mouth.
"What the hell is that?" One of them asked. He was wearing a strange combination of armor and what looked like a kilt.
"It stinks like..." the other started.
"It's called tobacco," Sano answered impatiently. "Now would you two shut up?"
"Which one's Saito?"
"I'd say probably the one glaring at us Kouga," one said.
"Would you take that damn thing out of your mouth?" the one identified as 'Kouga' commanded. "What the hell is it with you stupid mortals putting poison in your mouths..." A pair of hands clamped over the man's mouth.
"Stupid mortals?" Saito asked dryly. "Tell me Rooster, who are these...upstanding gentlemen that have tagged along with you? Where is the Battousai?"
Sano was busy glaring at him when the two youkai at his side suddenly stiffened. He whipped his head around to stare at them.
"What?" he asked warily. Two two youkai ignored him as they stalked up a bound man sitting in a chair. Kouga bent down and sniffed the man before looking at Shippo.
"Smell that Fox?" he asked. Shippo sniffed once and nodded.
"He faintly smells like the youkai we killed at the Kamiya dojo. This guy's definately human, but something about him reminds me of the youkai."
"Yeah," Kouga agreed. "I caught the same scent when the shrine was attacked. The stink of gunpowder covered up most of the scents, but I do recognize it."
"Smell what?" Sano asked. "How can he smell like those other youkai?" Saito, who had been listening, finally stepped in front of Sanosuke.
"What the hell's going on fool?" he asked. Saito couldn't help noticing that Tagara was now regarding the two strangers with something close to fear. The two humans heard a sudden pair of growls behind them and they whirled around to stare at Kouga and Shippo. The two youkai had ripped open Tagara's shirt to reveal a spider mark on his chest.
"Naraku," Kouga spat. Saito's eyebrows shot up at the name. That had been the very name Tagara had mentioned only minutes before.
Tagara swallowed a sudden lump of fear in his throat as he stared up at the glowering duo in front of him.
"You...you're youkai..." he sputtered. Kouga growled at him.
"Where's your master mortal? I didn't know that Naraku had suddenly come into the habit of employing humans."
"I can't say," Tagara said.
"And why not?" Shippo growled menacingly.
"Because he won't let me," he answered simply. Kouga was on the verge of slaying him when the kitsune stopped him.
"Remember your promise to Kagome," he murmured. "Whatever he is, he's still a human."
"So were the Band of Seven," Kouga muttered back. Even so, he back off. However, he couldn't resist smashing the table next to him in anger. Saito turned to regard the younger man at his side.
"Care to explain?" he asked sarcastically. Sanosuke glared at him before finally agreeing.
"Yeah, but we need to talk in private."
Saito looked over at the young officer still standing in the doorway. He dropped his the butt of his cigarette on the floor and squashed it before leading Sanosuke and his companions into a back room. As soon as they were alone, Shippo and Kouga dropped the disguises.
The former Mibu wolf stared silently at clearly non-human features on their faces before crossing his arms.
"Explain."
With a sigh, Sanosuke launched into a brief explanation. The full length would require a little more time. Even so, Saito still got the general idea. After awhile, he finally agreed that this needed to be looked into.
"I'm in," Saito agreed. "Let's go interrogate our prisoner." However, on their way back to the front room, they met with an unexpected problem.
"Fujita! The prisoner! He's..."
Saito sprinted into the room, followed closely by the others. They stared in shock at the now dead Tagara Yokio. For whatever reason it was, his body suddenly decided to decay. In a matter of seconds, the flesh had already sunk into the bones.
"Apparently Naraku had other ideas," Shippo said. Saito cursed and kicked the wall. Damn. He finally turned to the horrified young police officer in the room.
"Yara, get some people to clean this mess up," he commanded.
"I'd be careful," Kouga suggested. "You might be better off not even touching it." He looked over at Shippo and the kitsune nodded.
"I'll take care of it." Shippo eyed the young man still in the room and Saito ordered him to leave. As soon as the officer left, the kitsune ignited the corpse with his foxfire and burned it down to ashes.
The four men stared at each other a long time before Saito finally pulled out another cigarette.
"Apparently I'll be going with you after all," Saito said. He lit the stick of tobacco, causing a look of distaste from the two youkai.
"Feh," Kouga growled.
"Want a smoke?" Saito asked dryly.
"Go to hell."
Sano ignored the two of them as he surveyed their little group.
"A fox and two wolves," he murmured.
"Two wolves?" Kouga asked.
Saito ignored him as he stuck his now lit cigarette into his mouth and inhaled the smoky substance. Then he blew out a slow cloud of smoke as he answered.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked Sanosuke.
"What?"
"Wolves and foxes eat roosters."
"SHUT UP!"