Recap: The last time we left Shippo, Saito, Kouga, and Sanosuke, they had been following a renegade youkai that they had come across accidentally. While chasing him, they also ran across the three monkey sprites. Through this accidental meeting, the quartet learned from the monkey god that Naraku's evil could be felt throughout all the islands.
The monkey god told them that he could feel Naraku most strongly to the southwest, to which our group has set off to. They suspect that Naraku may have spies within the Meiji Government.
Also in that same chapter as well, Shippo's hanyou son Namu also ran away from Inuyasha's home. He has hopes of proving himself to be as strong as Inuyasha. Unknown to him, Kirara is quietly trailing the young fox as an unseen guardian.
The Samurai of Tomorrow
Chapter 32: The Fukushima Revolt
Amaya growled as she glared at the young fox youkai in front of her. Sango tried to hide her trembling as Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter proceeded to lecture her young charge. As this was going one, her husband Akio, well accustomed to his wife's temper, had taken refuge in the next room.
"You mean to tell me," Amaya continued with barely controlled anger, "That you have no idea where your brother is?" Her golden eyes glinted down at the young kitsune. Sango gulped as she faced the irate woman.
"N..no Lady Amaya, he didn't say anything to me, I swear!" she protested. "I didn't know he was going to leave!"
"Leave the child be," Megumi finally said calmly. "She doesn't know where Namu went." Megumi's voice of reason had the effect of calming Amaya's temper a few degrees. Even so, she was still angry that the young man had given her and Akio the slip.
Amaya muttered to herself. Megumi was correct of course, but she was too stubborn to admit it. After another glare at the child, she finally relented and stalked away.
"Amaya."
She looked over at her husband as he stepped out of the next room. The wolf youkai looked gravely back at the upset kitsune girl before looking back at his wife.
"Kirara is gone," he said. "I'll bet she went after him." Amaya felt a little better at that bit of news. The cat youkai would keep the young fox hanyou from harm. Even so, she couldn't let him wander around by himself.
"Akio, can you send some of your wolves looking for him?" she asked. Akio nodded as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"I sent them out a few minutes ago," he answered. "But I'm sure he's okay. Only a fool would mess with Kirara."
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Namu clutched his injured arm as he stared up at the falcon youkai towering over him. It was just his luck to run into a more powerful youkai. The falcon youkai, having learned that Namu was a hanyou, had decided that he was easy prey.
The young hanyou fired a small blast of foxfire, which had no effect on the youkai. Being only half youkai, his foxfire was considerably weaker than his father's. In fact, it was only a mere illusion.
The female youkai screeched as she swooped down to the young man. Namu bared his teeth and slashed his claws at the youkai. His claws raked her face at the same time her talons dug his leg.
"Give it up half-breed," the youkai laughed. "I need you to feed my children. Your warm flesh should do quite nicely."
"Go to hell," he spat. The young fox managed to rip off her leg and jump back down the ground. The falcon screamed in rage and dove down to meet him.
A flash of white and black fur rushed between the two opponents. Namu gaped in surprise as a transformed Kirara set herself upon the equally shocked bird of prey. Within seconds, the cat youkai had ripped the other youkai to shreds.
A stunned Namu stared at the cat as she carefully began to lick her paws clean. Then she transformed back into her smaller form and mewed up at him.
"Kirara!" he yelled. She mewed again. Namu balled his hands into fists as he stared at the cat.
"I'm not going back," he declared stubbornly. Kirara stared at him impassively. "I can't go back," he protested again. "Inuyasha's only half youkai, but even full blooded youkai are careful around him! I have to be as strong as Inuyasha!"
The cat seemed to think about that for a moment before she mewed again and hopped up onto his shoulder. Apparently she was going to allow him the freedom to stay, for now.
"Thank you Kirara," Namu said. The cat stared at him with undisguised intelligence before looking into the distance. She understood the reasoning for this. The kit needed to grow up and now was the time to do it.
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"Fujita Goro, is it? What exactly is it that you want with the good Captain?"
Saito glared at the baby faced man in front of him. Ochiba Benjiro was the personal secretary of Captain Buntaro. A money loving bureaucrat if there ever was one, Ochiba loved to flaunt his so called influence in front of others.
Saito exchanged glances with a transformed Shippo. The group had stopped at Fukushima when both Shippo and Kouga had picked up the scent of a youkai. Their noses had led them to the district police office in the center of the city.
"We have urgent business with him," Saito lied. "We have received important information that could very well affect the future of the Meiji government. We believe that there are political dissidents hiding in Fukushima."
Ochiba laced his fingers together in a show of deep thought as he raised an eyebrow at the pair. On cue, Shippo handed a false document to the cynical secretary. Following Saito's instructions, the kitsune had created a false "letter" with his fox magic that had supposedly been intercepted from the dissidents.
The fat security made a show of examining the document before he studied the pair. According to the document, the political offenders were supporters of Socialism. They were supposedly on route to receive armaments from a rogue Socialist group from within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Since Saito himself had arrested several people in possession of The Communist Manifesto, it wasn't an unbelievable story.
"Captain Buntaro isn't in right now," Ochiba finally said. "I can make an appointment for you to see him tomorrow. I'll pass on your…evidence to him." Saito held in his anger as he glared icily at the fat bureaucrat.
"I'm sure you will," the former Shinsengumi replied dryly. Ochiba smiled charmingly at him.
"Now," Ochiba said as he dipped his pen in a bottle of ink, "What was the name of your companion again?"
"Higurashi Yudono," Shippo replied easily. "My family operates a shrine in Tokyo."
"I…see…." Ochiba muttered. "Well gentlemen, I'm afraid we can't help you today. Please return tomorrow when Captain Buntaro is here."
Saito bowed stiffly before he and Shippo exited the building. The two of them then spent the next twenty-minutes walking around Fukushima and stopped briefly for tea at a local restaurant. They were being followed and they knew it.
As soon as they were able, the two men slipped out of sight and headed unseen over to the outskirts of town. An impatient Kouga and Sanosuke were waiting for them.
The wolf had been tapping his foot impatiently over and over again, much to the annoyance of Sanosuke. He had been about to plant a fist into the irritable wolf when their two companions had finally shown up.
"Well?" Kouga asked impatiently. "What'd you find out?"
"That we should feed all of the human bureaucrats to your wolves," Shippo replied. "They tend to be fat enough."
"I don't know," Saito replied dryly. "Kouga's wolves might not find much meat on their over indulged carcasses."
"So, what else is new?" Sano asked. "You expect anything else when it comes to politics?" Saito grunted at that. Of course he hadn't expected anything else. Even so, it was still irritating.
"Buntaro's secretary was human," Shippo said. "And I didn't catch that strange sent from him like Naraku's other human followers have."
"What about Buntaro?" Sano asked.
"Apparently it is beneath Captain Buntaro to speak with us at the moment," Saito answered. "Ochiba assured us that we could speak with him tomorrow."
"What about the youkai," Kouga asked. "Any sign of him?"
Shippo and Saito looked at each other. They had discussed this in length on their wayward journey across town.
"The youkai smell was very strong in the district office," Shippo said. "And my sword was glowing violet. It only does that if there is a strong youkai presence nearby."
"We think that Buntaro himself is the youkai," Saito finished. "If that's true, he's most likely aware of our presence in Fukushima." Kouga smirked at that as he smacked his fists together in anticipation.
"That's just fine with me," Kouga stated. "I'm up for a good fight."
"It probably will come to that," Shippo agreed. "But Saito and I think that perhaps we should have a look around there tonight. We may find something useful."
"Won't they be expecting that?" Kouga asked. Saito lit a cigarette as he smirked mercilessly over at the wolf.
"A major civil dispute in the city might be enough to draw off a large number of their police forces," Saito mused. "It's just too bad that several Socialist supporters are going to strike tonight."
"Socialist supporters?" Sano asked. Both Shippo and Saito smirked at him and Kouga. Oh hell, Sano thought. That bastard's talking about us.
"Where do you want us to go?" he asked reluctantly. Kouga rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Causing trouble was what he was best at.
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"What do you want me to do Captain?" Ochiba asked nervously. Captain Buntaro Nikkou didn't bother to look up at the fat secretary as he studied a military map. The captain idly scratched a few characters onto the side of the parchment before looking up.
"You made an appointment for them to see me tomorrow, did you not?" he asked.
"Ye…yes Sir."
"Then I will deal with them tomorrow."
Ochiba bowed and left the captain to his work. He had learned the hard way not to detain the other man any longer than was necessary.
Buntaro waited until the human had left before leaning back in his chair. These two visitors intrigued him. He looked down at the supposedly intercepted letter and smiled. It looked like an ordinary letter, but he knew it for what it was.
Fox magic.
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Kouga tentatively sniffed the cup of sake before gulping it down. He and Sanosuke had spent the last half hour in one of the local bars. Saito had decided that it was one of the best places to start a false riot.
After all, a drunken man was more easily manipulated than a sober one.
To ensure that it looked like a real riot, Shippo had given them a few "toys". When they were ready to begin, these toys would come to resemble real people. The fox had described them as "shadows". After their purpose had been served, the imitations would revert back to simple leaves.
"So whaddya guys think of th'Meiji govermemd," Sano slurred. In all actuality, the human wasn't as drunk as he pretended to be. At least, Kouga hoped that was the case.
"Hah," one of the men replied. "You call that a government? So much for equality!"
"Yeah," another replied. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer! There's not supposed to be a samurai class anymore, but there might as well be!" There was some murmuring of agreement from among the other people in the bar.
"In Socialism, everyone's supposed to get an equal share," Kouga hinted slyly. In all actuality, he had no idea what the heck Socialism was. Saito had given him a crash course. Even so, the wolf still didn't understand the concept.
"Karl Marx had the right idea for a Westerner," another man replied. They were now drawing a small crowd. "In the Communist Manifesto, he wrote 'When in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character. Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another.'"
There was a round of cheering at that. Sanosuke gave Kouga an uneasy look. What was supposed to be a false riot was starting to get a little out of control. Saito would kill them if this turned into an actual revolt.
There were a few more speeches from other customers in the bar, all apparently well versed in Socialist ideology. Sanosuke was beginning to plot their escape from the bar when their little ploy suddenly spun out of control.
"Death to the Meiji government!"
"All hail Karl Marx!"
Kouga and Sanosuke gaped around at the suddenly active bar that seethed with drunken, irate, angry people. Like an explosion of a firing flintlock rifle, the drunken crowd had surged out into the street. Within minutes, the streets had become one large cesspool as more people began to join the forming mob.
The two men stared around them before pointing at each other.
"This is your fault," Kouga accused.
"Like hell it is!" Sano protested. "How was I supposed to know that there were actual Socialists around here?"
"Then we're both agreed. It's all Saito's fault."
Some random flying object beamed Kouga in the head at the same time that some stranger punched Sanosuke. The two men grinned at each other before launching themselves into the brawling mob. Now they could finally get into a good fight.
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Shippo and Saito smirked at each other as the sounds of whistles, horns, and yelling began to be heard around the city. Within minutes, several squads of policemen were running through the streets.
"That's a bit more than I expected," Saito mused quietly. Their eyes widened as they caught sight of a burning building in the distance. Another squad of policeman ran out of the gates.
"What the hell are they doing?" Shippo wondered. He was starting to wonder at the wisdom of their diversion.
"We don't have time to wonder about that," Saito advised. "Let's get going." The fox nodded in agreement before jumping down from the wall. Saito landed silently beside him.
Before long, the two men were crouching inside the Western style building. They had entered through a second story window and were now inching their way through the offices.
The two men paused before Captain Buntaro's office. Shippo sniffed the air uneasily. He very quietly pulled his sword out a few fractions from his sheath. It was glowing a bright shade of violet. They exchanged looks before Saito nodded.
Saito kicked the door open as Shippo flung a large ball of green foxfire into the room. To his surprise however, it was deflected by bright blue shield of fire.
"Saito!" he yelled. "Down!"
Saito hit the floor as a massive wave of fire blasted them. Shippo gritted his teeth and threw out his hands in defense. If not for the fact that his sword amplified his youkai powers, he very well may have been thrown back.
"Well what do we have here?" a voice mused. "A human and a youkai working together? How very odd indeed."
Shippo glared as their quarry stepped out of the shadows. Bright blue eyes framed by long bangs raven black hair studied them as a black fox tail swished back and forth. It was just his luck.
Buntaro was a kitsune.
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"You think that maybe this has gotten a little out of hand?" Sano yelled over to Kouga. The wolf smirked as a nearby building exploded. Somehow, Sano had yet to determine exactly when, a bundle of military weapons had made their way into the crowd's hands.
In fact, more people seemed to be joining the growing riot every minute. He'd even seen a few posters proudly displaying the image of some European that he soon realized to be Karl Marx.
Apparently there actually were Socialist supporters in Fukushima.
Sanosuke gleefully punched a few more people before grabbing the wolf's tail. Kouga's human disguise, courtesy of Shippo, had since slipped off. Yet for all the mass of people milling around, no one seemed to have noticed the barefoot, wolf tailed, pointed eared man wearing a kilt and armor.
Then again, Sanosuke had just seen a burly man run by wearing a woman's pink kimono. Maybe Kouga's appearance wasn't all the strange to these people.
"Hey wolf, let's get over to the police station!" he yelled over the crowd. "We're probably missing the real fight!"
The wolf's teeth glinted as he grabbed Sanosuke and began to jump from one house roof to another.
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"Tell us," Shippo asked quietly. "Are you from the Shadow Fox clan?" The Shadow Foxes were a well respected and powerful clan of Kitsunes. However, their territory was in the far northern most part of the Hokkaido Island, close to the Russian border. In fact, it was right across from part of Siberia. What was one of their own doing way down here?
"I am," the other kitsune answered. "My name is Yoichi."
"Why are you helping Naraku?" Shippo demanded. He wanted to believe that this kitsune was innocent of that charge, but his nose was telling him differently. The very same faint smell that he had picked up from Naraku's other followers was centered around the black haired fox.
Saito watched the two foxes silently as he stood guard at the door. They had come primarily for information. If they could do this without a fight, then all the better. But if it came down to it…
He silently fingered the hilt of his sword. If it came down to it, then they would have to make sure they killed this youkai.
"Why are you helping him?" Shippo repeated. Yoichi seemed to struggle internally, as if he was fighting some inner battle.
"I…have no…choice," the other kitsune forced out. "I…I'm sorry." Yoichi unsheathed his sword and lunged at Shippo. With no other choice, the red haired fox unsheathed his own blade.
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"Well well, would you look at that," Sano said dryly. He and Kouga had paused on top of a roof top. Down below them, Ochiba, Buntaro's fat secretary, was giving a pro-Socialist speech to the already incited mob. They knew it had to be him because Shippo had shapeshifted briefly into his image.
Kouga scratched his ear before leaping down to the crowd. He smirked with sudden mischief as he landed on top of Ochiba's head. The fat secretary gave an undignified squawk as the wolf hopped once on his balding head before sending him tumbling into the crowd.
The wolf leapt back up the rooftop to grin at Sanosuke. The young human grinned in reply before they continued on to the police station.
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"Yoichi! Stop this! I don't want to fight!" Shippo yelled. Ignoring his plea, the other kitsune pressed on with his attack. Saito muttered a bit under his breath. That sounded like something that Kenshin might say.
Why couldn't they just fight and not complain about it?
Luckily for Shippo, he soon realized that he himself was the better swordsman. Perhaps he had Inuyasha and Sango to thank for that.
Having come to the same conclusion, Yoichi decided on a new strategy. With a puff of blue smoke, the kitsune shapeshifted into a large dragon. The wooden walls of the building splintered and cracked from the sheer bulk of his new form.
Shippo grabbed Saito and leapt outside just as the building came crashing down around them. The kitsune growled softly to himself as he deposited Saito on the ground and leapt back up at Yoichi.
He considered transforming as well, but decided against it. Two battling dragons in the middle of a human city might cause a little unwanted attention.
"Yoichi!" he called out. "This is your last chance!"
The transformed Yoichi spewed out blew flames from his mouth. Shippo sighed as he held his Kadouki in front of him. The Kadouki had been made by Totousai for him when he had become a teenager. The sword worked as an amplifier on the person who wielded it. Without it, his foxfire was a formidable force. But used through the Kadouki…
His sword glowed with the aura of green flames as he raised it above his head. Shippo then sliced down with the Kadouki, causing a shockwave of green fire to blast forth from the blade.
The force of his Fire Wave was nearly equal to that of Inuyasha's Wind Scar.
The other kitsune screamed in pain as the green flames cut through his body. Weak from the fatal attack, he transformed back into his normal body.
Saito watched as Shippo resheathed his blade and walked up to the dying youkai. It was at that same moment that their other two companions showed up.
"Dammit!" Kouga yelled. "I missed it!" Sanosuke, for his own part, gave a low whistle as he surveyed the surrounding area. The police station had been smashed, as had other nearby buildings. Green flame could still be seen fading in some of the rubble.
"What the hell is that mangy fox doing?" Sano asked.
"Leave him be," Saito said. "This was his fight."
The three men stood back as Shippo bent down to the other fox. Yoichi's torso had been ripped in two. Shippo studied him sadly as the other man grimaced in pain. Then, to his shock, a repulsive spider crawled out from within his chest.
"What the hell?" he muttered. Strangely, a tranquil look grew on the other fox's face.
"F..finally it's gone," Yoichi gasped. "Thank the gods…"
Shippo stared down at him, stunned. What the hell? What the hell was this thing?
"Please…kill it…" Yoichi whispered. "It…it's how…Naraku…controlled…."
Shippo scorched the strange spider with his fox magic and watched it burn to ash. This brought a weak smile to the dying Yoichi.
"There…are…more…" the kitsune gasped weakly. "…More…in…Kurashiki…" Shippo grasped one of Yoichi's hands and held it.
"I'm sorry," Shippo apologized. "I didn't know. I didn't know he was controlling you."
"Y..you freed me. Now I can die…in peace."
Shippo watched silently as the other man coughed up blood. Yoichi's skin grew increasingly cold and pale as the man continued to fade away.
"Please…stop Him…" Yoichi pleaded. "For my clan…for…all of us…"
"I'm sorry," Shippo repeated softly.
"Kurashiki…go to…"
Shippo gently reached out and closed the dead man's eyes. Yet another life dead because of Naraku.
The kitsune laid down the hand and sat there for a long time, overcome with remorse.
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"What were you two thinking Rooster!" Saito practically yelled. "I should have you and that mangy wolf arrested!"
"Shut up Saito! It was your idea in the first place!" Sanosuke protested. They had since properly cremated the dead Yoichi at Shippo's request. Now, nearly two hours later, Saito was finally showing his disapproval at the consequences of their plan.
"I told you to start a fake riot, not an actual revolt!"
"Yeah, what are the odds," Kouga smirked in amusement. "Turns out that there really are Socialists in Fukushima." Saito muttered incoherently as he glared from one man to the other. Even Shippo, who was still troubled from recent events, chuckled to himself.
"Who would have guessed that Ochiba was a Socialist," the kitsune added. Saito cursed softly under his breath as he turned to glare at Shippo. Then unexpectantly, his sides began to shake in mirth as a peal of wry laughter rose in his throat.
"Who would have guessed it?" Saito agreed dryly. "It's just my luck to make up a lie and it turns out to be partially true."
"In any case," Shippo said quietly. "I think we should go to Kurashiki. There's something going on there."
"Yeah, I agree," Kouga said. "It's the first solid lead that we have on that Bastard."
After another look around, the quartet set off for Kurashiki. Little did they know of the danger that lay ahead.
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