Sorry it took awhile. Enjoy and please R and R.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the characters .
Chapter 2
Clues to the missing Tomokahkah and the old man
The next morning Inuyasha was the first one up. He looked at his comrades, then to the boy. There was something about him that wasn't right, but Inuyasha just couldn't figure it out. He examined his scratches from the previous day then he went to catch some fish for breakfast. He jumped into the river, forgetting about the sharp rocks.
"Damn it!" He yelled as the acuate objects pierced his foot. Birds in a nearby tree escaped from the possibly dangerous outburst.
He put the pain in the back of his mind, and caught a big fish and a smaller one. Then he clambered out onto the river bank and picked the shards of rock out of his feet.
"Frigin' rocks." He mumbled to himself.
Kagome had woke up and went to find him. He was just flicking the last shard into the water when she caught up to him.
"Hey!" She announced. "Good morning, what was that you just through into the water?"
"Pieces of that cursed rock on the bottom of that bloody river!"
"Oh." She giggled.
"It's not funny!" He yelled.
She picked up the fish and brought it back to where the others were too. Miroku had built a fire with Kirara's help, Sango and Tomogot was still sleeping, and Shippo was off collecting wood.
"Too bad you can't sense the Tomokahkah like you did the Shikon Kagome." Said the monk as he put the fish on the fire.
"Yes it would really speed things up." Kagome agreed.
Shippo came back with all the wood he could carry and dumped it next to the fire, then he sat down and waited for the fish to cook.
Inuyasha was itching to find out what was up with Tomogot, he knew something wasn't quite right about him.
"Hey, do you two find something funny about that kid?" He said in a low voice so Shippo wouldn't hear. "He isn't a demon, but there is still something, not right."
Miroku and Kagome thought about it then shook their heads in unison. Inuyasha still wasn't convinced that the boy was normal.
Sango got up just in time for breakfast, the boy woke just after her and showed his appreciation for the food.
"Where do we go from here?" Asked Kagome.
"There's supposed to be an old man in a hut near here." Explained Miroku, "Maybe we should go ask him what he knows about the gem."
"I saw that hut when i was flying over," Said the boy excitedly, "I'll show you the way. Wait a minute, what gem?"
Kagome told Tomogot about the Tomokahkah gem and how they were looking for it because it was supposed to have great healing powers and they needed it for a friend. Inuyasha kind of grimaced at this word. He didn't think of Kaede as a friend, more of a burden he thought to himself.
"Oh, well I will help you," said Tomogot eager to show his appreciation for the groups hospitality, "It's the least i can do to repay you for saving my life."
"You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like, we could use the extra help." Said Sango.
"Yay!" Yelled Shippo.
"Great," mumbled Inuyasha, "someone else for me to protect."
The boy led them up a small bank and into a forest.
"Are you sure you know where you're going kid?" Inuyasha asked, a little annoyed that they were following a boy instead of him.
"I'm positive, on the other side of this forest is a small field, that's where the hut is."
Inuyasha kept a close eye on the boy to try and see why he was different.
They reached the field and sure enough there was a hut on the other side. The boy took a step into the tall grass. He quickly stepped backwards and yelled upon hearing a voice.
"Why are you trying to cross this field?" Said the voice.
"To go see the old man in the hut." Replied Miroku.
"Then you'll have to get past me!" Said the demon, who popped out of the tall grass.
He put his sword right through the boy without even a warning.
The boy fell backwards onto the hard, root-strewn forest floor.
Inuyasha lept forward with the Tetsaiga out and ready. The demon retrieved his sword and lunged at Inuyasha.
"Wind scar!" Yelled Inuyasha. The demon disintegrated into the air. Now every body's attention turned to Tomogot. To their surprise he was sitting up, eyes open, breathing. There was no hole in his chest and he wasn't full of blood.
"What the hell." Said Inuyasha. "Then he grabbed the boy and said to him, "you getter tell us how you did that! Are you magic! Are you a demon!."
Tomogot laughed, "no I'm not magic, I'm not a demon. I don't know how I did. I just did it."
The whole group blinked at the boy. Then Sango remembered that when Inuyasha got out of the river he was scratched to pieces. But when Tomogot got out he was fine. They all thought this over, but neither one of them could figure out why.
"Let's go to the old man, and figure this out later, Kaede needs the Tomokahkah now!" Reminded Shippo.
Kagome remembered how awful kaede had looked after the attack by the demon. Sashaying had simply said that the 'old hag had to die sometime', but he was the only one who had thought this. The rest of them were determined to get the Tomokahkah, and save Kaede.
They walked, carefully, to the hut door. Tomogot, being the brave adolescent that he was knocked profusely on the door.
An old man answered, "What do ye lackies want? He asked eying them suspiciously. He whistled when he pronounced his S's.
He was around eighty years old Miroku figured. He had stringy, ghost white hair that came down to his shoulders in a tangled mess. He wore a shabby brown tweed...sack it's just as well to call it. And used a carved, weathered piece of wood to keep his old beaten body from surrendering to gravity. His teeth were 'misplaced'.
"Ahem, pardon the intrusion sir, we come from a place far away and our friend is very sick," Miroku started to explain.
"Yes, I can see tha'." The old man chuckled. His eyes wandered to Inuyasha's ears.
"Not me you moth-eaten bum!" Defended Inuyasha.
Kagome explained the rest of Kadae's story in fear of Inuyasha causing the old man to slam the door in their faces, if he has enough life left in him to close the door.
"Well why din' you say so? Come on in." He hobbled back into the hut and sat down on an old stump.
It was a belittled hut, it had two stumps-he signaled Kagome to sit on the other-, a cupboard, and a fireplace in the middle.
Kagome sat on the stump, it was noticeably in better shape than the old man's. He musn't get very much company Kagome decided.
The hut stenched of onions and rotted fish. Inuyasha got the whole blast of it with his sensitive nose.
There was one window in the hut, and through it you could see a vegetable garden which explained the smell of onions. The old man looked less tiresome when he was sat 'comfortably' on the stump. However he still had the old scraggly look about him.
Inuyasha kept his eyes on Tomogot, still unsure what to think of him.
"Now, ye youngins' what can me old self do for ye?" Continued the old man.
"Well sir," Kagome began, "we heard that you might know where the Tomokahkah gem is kept."
The old man stared down at the fire place, "Ya, I know where it tis. I'll warn you like I warned da udder crazy youngins that went afer it." He said sadly in his old, tired, whistling voice.
"Tis at da bottom of Crooked Cove. Or is it Eerie Cove, Crazy Cove? No, maybe Carnage Cove? Or perhaps tis Eric Cove?"
"Listen old man, our, friend is very ill, so quit your bullshit and just give us the directions."
"Ye know, ye really ought to chain dat dog on, tis bad for people's health." The old man whispered to Kagome.
Kagome giggled.
"I heard that old bum!" Inuyasha sneered back.
The old man simply stared at Inuyasha's ears for a few moments, then he seemed to have remembered where left off.
"Take da river east, or tis it west?" Inuyasha was getting annoyed.
"No tis west." The old man decided. "When ye come to a fark in da river take da right, or is it-" Inuyasha gave a low growl, "Right! Tis deffly' right." The old man said in a rushed whistle. "Dat'll lead ye to Eerie Cove, Crooked Cove? Crazy Cove?"
"If it was Crazy Cove you'd be living there!" Sneered Inuyasha.
"Wha was dat mutt?" Said the old innocently.
Kagome decided it was time to go, before Inuyasha removed the old man's gums and threw them wherever his teeth were too. They thanked him for the help-except for Inuyasha, he thanked him for the headache.
"No problem puppy, if dat dere gem don take dem ears off, ye come back, i gotta axe ou' back, I'll chop em' off for ya!" The old man said once again, innocently.
"Why you frigi-"
"Sit!" Interrupted Kagome.
The rest of the group headed towards Creepy Cove. What new dangers awaited them? It's not exactly an attractive name, is it?
(A/N Please R and R. Next chapter is to be called 'Into the Black Abyss'.)
