((authors note))
((hey readers... sorry it took so long. I know you guys don't want to hear my excuses.. but alot of unexpected stuff has been going on in my life... and I just haven't had the time to type... so please forgive me... and enjoy the story XD))
Next thing they knew they were sitting inside Miyuki's hut in her master.
"So your traveling," Miyuki's Master said after they told him, "you could stay the night here, if you'd like, it's the least we could do for you, for saving Miyuki."
"Thank you very much," said Kagome.
"No, thank you, I'll bring you some food, you look hungry," her master said standing up.
"Oh, that's not nessesar-" Kagome began.
"Yes it is, wait here," he interrupted as he walked out the door.
"So, Miyuki, what were you doing in the woods all by yourself?" asked Sango.
"Oh well, you see, that same demon attacked our village a few days ago, and I volunteered to go collect herbs to help the people injured by the demon. I thought it had fled farther, but I was wrong," Miyuki explained, "so I ventured into the forest carelessly, and I was attacked."
"Oh, I see, uhhh Miyuki, I was wondering about your master," said Sango.
"What about him," Miyuki asked curiously.
"Well doesn't he seem a bit young to be your master?" asked Sango. ((Did I forget to mention that Miyuki's Master is only about 21))
"Well, yes, of course, he's only my temporary master," Miyuki said happily.
"What do you mean?" asked Kagome.
"When I was young my parents died of a fatal disease, so I was sent to live with the head priest of the village, he died just recently, so his son is now my master until I grow old enough to care for myself," Miyuki finished. Then Miyuki's Master walked through the door holding a tray with five bowls of rice.
"Here you are," He said setting the tray on the floor. Every one took a bowl except for Miyuki and her master. Miyuki began to blush and looked at her master.
"Oh, Master Keitaro, you didn't have to get me anything," she said.
"I didn't," he said picking up the bowl of rice, "this is for me."
"Huh," Miyuki said, blushing even more.
"I'm just kidding," he said handing her the bowl of rice.
"Oh," she said taking the bowl and forcing a laugh. Every one began to eat; Miyuki's Master happily watched them. Miyuki was obviously embarrassed, she didn't say anything, and she didn't even look at anybody.
"That was delicious," Kagome said as her and Sango finished. They all put their empty bowls back on the tray.
"InuYasha, Miroku, I almost forgot, our things are still at the hut, would you two mind going to get them?" Kagome asked.
"No, not at all," Miroku said standing up. Every one gave him a weird look.
'Oh crap, why did I say that,' Miroku thought 'that isn't something InuYasha would say.'
"We'll go," InuYasha said standing up.
"Well, I'd better go clean these dishes, I'll be back," Miyuki's Master said picking up the tray and standing up. So InuYasha, Miroku, and Miyuki's Master walked out of the hut together.
"I really shouldn't have done that," He said when they shut the door.
"Done what?" InuYasha and Miroku asked in unison.
"Pretended like I had gotten the rice for me," he said, "Miyuki get embarrassed very easily."
"Oh," said Miroku. Miyuki's Master sighed.
"Oh, I can't wait until her birthday, I am no good at this," He said pushing his hair out of his face.
"What happens on her birthday?" asked InuYasha.
"On her next birthday she turn sixteen, you see in this village, when a person turns sixteen they are allowed to care for themselves."
"Well, how did it all come about, I mean do you remember when Miyuki first started living with you and your father," asked Miroku.
"Oh, well, when Miyuki was first sent to live with us, when I was a young douji, I didn't even know about it, I wasn't even home, I was at the hangaku," he answered.
"What," Miroku said in surprise, "you're a samurai?"
"Well," Miyuki's Master began.
"Miroku, It's almost sundown," InuYasha whispered in Miroku's ear.
"Oh, well uh, I guess we really need to get our stuff now, alright, well we'll talk to you later bye," Miroku said quickly, running toward the hill, InuYasha following him.
"Oh wait," Miyuki's Master said, both InuYasha and Miroku stopped abruptly and turned around, "call me Keitaro, okay, it would be kind of weird if you called me master."
"Okay we'll do that bye," Miroku said so fast that Keitaro almost didn't understand it. Then Miroku began to run as fast as he could up the hill, and InuYasha ran after him. Keitaro gave them a weird look, and then walked of to wash the dishes. InuYasha stopped at the top of the hill to catch his breath.
"Why are you stopping?" Miroku asked stopping himself.
"Two reasons," InuYasha said breathing hard, "one, your body's weak," Miroku rolled his eyes, "two, I said it was almost sundown, I didn't say it was, we have some time we don't have to rush."
"Okay, good," Miroku said sitting on the ground.
"What are you doing?" said InuYasha.
"Sitting," Miroku said looking up at InuYasha, "you said we have some and I want to conserve energy."
"Yeah, but I never said that we have all the time in the world," InuYasha said giving Miroku a weird look.
"Well then what do you want to do?" Miroku said beginning to get annoyed.
"I want to get our god damn stuff, do you mind," InuYasha said angrily, then he began to walk toward the forests edge.
"Whatever," Miroku said standing up and following InuYasha. InuYasha walked into the forest, Miroku followed. They walked in silence through the mess of trees.
'What's wrong with him,' Miroku thought, 'he got in a really pissed mood all of a sudden, and I know he's usually stubborn, but this is different, maybe it's the new moon.'
"Hey," InuYasha said loudly interrupting Miroku's thoughts, Miroku stopped walking. InuYasha looked back at Miroku and stopped walking, "Stop going so slow, or I might as well just leave you here." Miroku gave InuYasha a confused look, and then began to walk, a little quicker than before. InuYasha rolled his eyes and began walking. Miroku looked up at the canopy of trees and sighed. The sky was not at all visible through the trees. Then Miroku saw the edge of the forest, and then he saw the hut. He smiled because it was still light. The edge of the forest came closer as they walked. Then they walked out of the forest. Miroku looked at the sky, it was golden yellow and the sun was close to the horizon.
"Are you sure we'll have enough time?" Miroku asked looking at InuYasha.
"We'll be fine," InuYasha replied. InuYasha walked to the door of the hut, then he pushed it open. They both walked in and saw all their things stuffed in the corner. They both hadn't noticed that before.
"Hey InuYasha," Miroku said, kneeling in front of Kagome's bag, pulling it toward him, and opening it, "I think Kagome has some purple cloth in here." He rummaged through it until he found a small purple blanket.
"I knew it!" He said pulling out the blanket and holding it up.
"How did you know that?" asked InuYasha. He felt a bit reluctant to ask, afraid of what the answer might be.
Miroku gave him a look and said, "You don't wanna know." Miroku put the blanket to his fang and ripped a small hole in the blanket.
"These fangs are useful," Miroku said looking up at InuYasha. InuYasha gave him a confused look, he wasn't sure what he was doing. Miroku put both of his fingers through the hole, and pulled. The blanket ripped, Miroku dropped the other half of the blanket, so he only held a long strip of purple cloth. Miroku took InuYasha's right hand and began to wrap the strip of blanket around it.
"Jewelry," Miroku mumbled as he unzipped a small pocket in the front of Kagome's bag. Miroku pulled out a golden ring. Then he searched some more.
"Perfect!" he said smiling as he pulled a pearl necklace out of the pocket. Miroku took InuYasha's right hand again and began to put the beads on InuYasha's hand, and twist and fold them over so it looked especially like Miroku's beads. Finally he took the golden ring and put it on the middle finger of InuYasha's right hand. Miroku smiled and InuYasha's jaw dropped in amazement. InuYasha held up his right hand and examined it. He cooldn't believe how much what he wore on his hand looked like the real prayer beads Miroku wore.
"I did good, didn't I," Miroku said zipping up Kagome's bag. InuYasha put his hand.
"Well," Miroku said picking up Kagome's bag and standing up, "my work here is done." Miroku began to walk toward the door.
"Wait," InuYasha said standing up. Miroku stopped and looked back at InuYasha.
"We have to get our stuff, thats what we came for," said InuYasha.
"Well, you can carry everything else, and I'll take this," Miroku said gesturing to Kagome's bag.
"You have to at least take something else," InuYasha said looking back at the pile of thier things.
"I was expecting you to take them, because you're stronger," Miroku said smiling, "I can't carry to much, I'm no demon." InuYasha looked back at Miroku quickly, an evil grin appeared on his face.
"You are now," InuYasha said. The smile on Miroku's face quickly disappeared.
"I'll take that," InuYasha said plucking Kagome's bag out of Miroku's hands, "and you can carry this." InuYasha picked up the Hiraikotsu and dropped it in Miroku's hands. Miroku almost fell over because of the weight.
"And this," he said picking up Miroku's staff and putting it on top of the Hiraikotsu.
"Come on InuYasha, this is really heavy," Miroku whined.
"And this," InuYasha took the tetsaiga and put it on top of the pile of things Miroku carried.
"InuYasha, please have a heart, I was just kidding before, please, could you at least take the tetsaiga?" Miroku asked almost callapsing under the weight of what he carried.
"Hmmmm... nah," InuYasha said walking out the door.
"Hey, InuYasha, where are you going, you can't just leave me here," Miroku whined walking out the door with much trouble.
"InuYasha," Miroku said catching up with InuYasha, who just ignored him and kept walking, "please, just help me with this."
"No," said InuYasha, "you're a strong demon now, remember... besides, we wouldn't want Kagome and Sango to get suspicious, I mean, why would a weak monk carry as much as a strong demon?" InuYasha stopped and looked back at Miroku.
Miroku stopped walking and said, "Because he's a very generous person and he likes to help people."
"No," InuYasha said, then he turned and began to walk again.
"InuYasha," Miroku said trailing after InuYasha, "wait up." Miroku wasn't going to give up that easily, he began to nag at InuYasha to take one more thing. He wouldn't stop. InuYasha tried his best to ignore him, but it wasn't working. By the time they were half way through the forest, InuYasha had had enough.
"God dammit Miroku," InuYasha yelled turning around to face Miroku, he stepped forward and grabbed the end of the hiraikotsu, "shut the hell up!" He pulled the hiraikotsu out of Miroku's handsand swung it around his back. He turned and began to walk in the direction of Miyuki's village, growling.
"Well," Miroku said smiling, "I knew he would give give in eventually." Miroku walked much easier than before. As they approuched the edge of the forest, Miroku spoke.
"So, InuYasha, do you think-" Miroku suddenly stopped as InuYasha did. Miroku held his breath, both of then terrified of what they saw; only one weak ray of light shown over the horizon. There was only a few seconds before the sun was completely set.
((alright you guys... I know this is probably the last thing you wanna hear... but I'm delaying the post of part five... I know that it's gonna take a while to get it done cause like I said before... there is alot going on in my llife, alot of things I can't control and I just haven't had time... but once every thing gets straightened out... I promise to go back to the regular posting schedule... I'm extremely sorry... please forgive me...))