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Strangled Time

Chapter 30

Bright and early, Kagome rummaged in her bag to grab her bottle of Bufferin before entering the men's half of the hotel rooms. She didn't take any for herself, it wasn't necessary. The pills rattled in their plastic bottle when she stretched her arms up above her head, drawing Saburo and Toga's attention.

"Good morning!" She greeted them, as chipper as a spring nuthatch. "I hope you two slept as well as I did!" Teasing, she added, "Whose awesome idea was it to stop here, again? Because she's brilliant and we should all be thanking her!"

Saburo finished straightening his sash and popped his shoulder. He gave her a lopsided grin after giving her state of health a quick appraisal and deeming her right as rain. Relief was evident in his voice. "Thank you Miss Kagome." He answered as if her request hadn't been rhetorical. I couldn'ta overslept without ya. That ground out there really isn't kind on the back, is it? You're lookin' much better."

The priestess pointed the pill bottle at him. "Hey, I warned you about that. And I'm feeling great today, thanks for noticing. Which is a good thing, since I've got a lot to do. Toga?" The demon sitting against the screen frame cracked an eye open in response to the nickname. "Sleep okay?"

"Not very much." He admitted. "But the little I found throughout the night was quite restful."

Worry pinched her brow. "Thoughts keeping you up again?"

"Memories." He smirked. "Enjoyable memories."

Kagome smiled, thankful that he wasn't worrying himself into a tizzy anymore. A little bit of good sleep was better than a long bad sleep, she figured, especially for a demon who hardly needed to sleep at all when he wasn't injured. Satisfied, she gave the pills a little shake. "You want to hold onto these? I don't need them anymore and they seemed to help you out a bit. That way you don't need to ask permission every time you need one."

Blinking, Togashimaru seemed to quickly realize that she was making the offer in respect of his pride. It was a small step forward for his autonomy, but a step nonetheless.

"I would very much appreciate that. Thank you, Kagome." He said with a warm smile and raised his hand to catch the bottle when she gently tossed it underhand across the room.

In the middle between them, Saburo intercepted the play by snatching the Bufferin out of the air. Both the demon and the priestess stared at him as the blacksmith looked down at the odd container in his grip. Kagome stiffened as he studied it, hoping for the love of all that was good that he didn't find the futuristic expiration date—which was a silly worry, really, since Japan wasn't even on that calendar system yet and the dates would be meaningless to him—heck, the Romanized numbers themselves would be meaningless to him! Then, slowly, he extended his arm to offer the bottle to the silver haired dog behind him.

Narrowing his eyes, Togashimaru took it in a cautious exchange.

It was weirdly tense between the two men. But just like that the tension eased as if it had never been there in the first place.

When he caught Kagome's befuddled expression, Saburo shrugged.

"It coulda spilled."

…

"Kids?" Kagome asked, looking up from her breakfast bowl with a grain of rice stuck to the corner of her lips. She brushed it away with the pad of her thumb. Why in the world would he be asking about kids? He had enough of his own children to worry about; they didn't need to start taking inventory of the youth populations in every village they stopped at. "I haven't been looking for any. None have jumped out at me yet though, why?"

"Merely a curiosity." Toga said without looking up from his meal, not giving away anything with that innocent mask of his.

She had no idea what he was getting at.

"I'm not taking home anymore strays, Toga." She replied flatly.

"That is a shame." He said without skipping a beat in their tempo. "Your little fox might enjoy a playmate."

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Kagome lowered her bowl of food to the tabletop. Her mouth tightened into a severe line as she stared across the table at him.

"Do we… have to have a conversation about kidnapping?"

To her left Saburo choked on a pickle.

Unaffected, the old dog topped his bowl off with what remained of the grilled mackerel.

"There should be no need." The damn demon didn't even have the nerve to look up as he brushed her off with a blasé wave of chopsticks. He was laughing at her. "I do ask that you inform me if you happen to see any while you are out in the village today."

Skeptically, Kagome squinted at Togashimaru.

She wasn't sure if he was being serious or if he was just totally messing with her.

Knowing him… well, it could honestly go either way. He did like to joke, but so far not like that. He was a silly, dorky, witty-dad sort of funny, not a lets-go-snatch-kids-and-watch-the-world-burn sort.

"Okay seriously," Kagome bit the bullet and asked. "Why am I on the lookout for kids?"

"To see if there are any, of course." He responded, not helpful in the slightest.

The smile ghosting his lips was sly.

He was totally messing with her.

"Of course there are kids here." She retorted, exasperated. "What kind of village doesn't have kids?"

Nonchalantly he shrugged.

The priestess rolled her eyes and picked her food back up to finish her breakfast. She was going to ignore him for the rest of the morning because obviously he'd hit his head at the bottom of the well much harder than she originally thought and he wasn't thinking straight.

…

"…And after we're done here we should scope out the food vendors for some road snacks. There's got to be something around here that'll last, like dried fruits and jerky. We can pick them up tomorrow morning before we…" Kagome trailed off from her soliloquy once she glanced at the empty space behind her. "Saburo?" She stopped.

He was just there, commenting about something from over her shoulder while she slowly moved from stand to stand in the market district of the main street. Then he was gone, poof, without warning. She spun around hoping to find his tall frame amongst the people in the crowd. "Saburo?" She called again.

"Yeah?"

At the thunderous boom of his voice, Kagome jumped and turned on her heels to face him, small hand clutched over her pounding heart. He was so close and towering over her smaller frame that she had to take a step back.

Saburo looked up from the cloth bag that he was refastening to his back.

"Don't do that!" The priestess snapped.

"Do what?" He asked, completely oblivious.

"Sneak up on me! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The grin on his lips was crooked. "Sorry, Miss Kagome. I thought ya heard me."

"No I didn't hear you, I was talking! Have you even been listening to a single word I've said?"

"Of course I…!" Awkward he looked away and then up. His hand started to move up to his neck but he physically held it back add tapped his fingers against his leg. "Remind me of what you were saying?"

"Unbelievable!" The young woman cried as she threw up her arms. "Men! All of you!"

"Miss Kagome!" He reached out to grab her as she stormed past, but his fingers only came away with air. Stumbling, Saburo followed after her. "I said I had to get somethin'! I'm sorry, I thought ya heard me! I'm listenin' now! All ears!"

"I don't feel like talking anymore." Kagome snubbed. Even to her own ears it sounded childish, but when she looked back up at him she saw that Saburo was watching her with the most pathetic case of puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen. When he saw that he had her attention, the large man tugged at an earlobe as if to prove that his hearing was, in fact, unhindered.

Rolling her eyes, she snickered.

Soon enough Kagome was right back alongside him and chattering away.

…

The little paper map in her hands had a sharp crease down the middle and was marked up with the small and very precise handwriting of the old hostess from their inn. Without it she and Saburo would have been completely lost. Sure, the village wasn't all that big, but the few roads they had twisted and tangled in such a horrible jumble of a mess that it was a miracle anybody knew their way around without a map. It was almost as if the entire place was designed to get people lost!

Kagome paused to look up from her directions and double check that they were where she thought they were. The little bit of snow on the ground from the night before had melted away as soon as the rays of the dawn touched it, leaving about puddles of slushy mud that made her really glad she was still wearing her normal shoes beneath her kimono and jackets. Around them there were a couple restaurants with serving girls trying to get the attention of the few travelers and pedestrians that joined them in the streets, and they'd already passed the brothels. That had been fun, shooing away the soliciting comfort women from the dazed, confused, and far too kind Saburo.

The place had plenty of bars, but it wasn't a drink that she was in the market for.

Four streets in, they were heading in the right direction, but Kagome couldn't help but feel strange. She turned around, eyeing each one of the businesses and then looking to the scarce crowds. One by one her gaze chased the passing people then skimmed the homes further down the way.

That conniving little devil… What in the world did he know?

"Miss Kagome?"

Kagome turned to where Saburo had stopped a few paces away from her. "Somethin' the matter?"

She turned again to look at a restaurant hostess. The pretty young woman in blue looked demurely away the second their eyes made contact. Unlike the other passerby's, she didn't try to summon them over. A breath of air left the priestess in a bewildered laugh.

"Son of a gun." The priestess said under her breath. "He wasn't joking."

"Hmm?"

His voice was much closer that time and she jumped again, bringing her attention back to the curious expression of her tall companion hovering over her. His body heat was like a furnace against the chilly breeze.

Leaning in to whisper in conspiratorial tones, Kagome quietly said, "There aren't any kids in this village. Like, none. I haven't seen a single person that looks younger than seventeen."

"Is that strange?" He asked, trying and failing to lower his deep voice to the same levels without looking suspicious.

"Yeah." She bit her lip. "It's really strange."

"Where do ya think they all went?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen any signs of plague and all of the residents seem to be pretty happy, so I don't think they died or anything. And I really doubt they were used as human sacrifices—that usually leaves the villagers looking pretty dead inside."

"You've… seen places that used their kids as sacrifices?"

Kagome's mouth formed a grim line as she looked about again. The hostesses had all but disappeared inside, presumably to tend on the customers they'd wrangled. Kagome knew better. The longer they stood there in that one spot, the more people began to creak open their doors and windows to peer at them. They were being watched. Evaluated.

"We've come across it once or twice." She replied warily. Taking a hold of his sleeve, Kagome tugged Saburo forward until they were walking again, out and away from the prying eyes that were sending chills down the back of her neck. "Let's hurry up and find this guy so we can get back. I don't want to be out here longer than we have to be; this place is starting to give me the heebie-jeebies."

"Are we in danger, Miss Kagome?" Saburo asked, a thread of worry stitched in his voice. His shoulders had gone rigid as he primed himself for the unexpected to jump out at them from the shadowed alleys.

Comforting and strong, a tingle of purity rose up to the surface of Kagome's skin. Glowing blue power surrounded her, unseen by all without the sight for the supernatural, including Saburo. The lumbering human flinched as if shocked by the bite of static electricity, but didn't seem to notice anything beyond that. Stretching out her senses wide throughout the village, Kagome scoured for the familiar scorch of an aura tinged with malicious intent, the black of taint or miasma.

There was probably a lot of little trickery going on, which painted the village in varying shades of grey, but nothing unusual for a little wayside village trying to make a living. Nothing inherently evil stuck out to her. Still, she felt as if she were missing something.

Then she felt it. An aura, seemingly human on her first cursory glance, was suddenly not. It shivered under her inspection and fell, revealing the true colors of its host.

A demon.

She searched harder, prying beyond the assumptions of what she felt on the surface. Another appeared. Then five. Quickly thereafter the entire village was awash in demonic auras, tucked away tight behind concealments. It was like turning on the lights of a cell phone carrier's service map, red dots springing to life in each direction. Ten to one they outnumbered the humans wandering about, blending in seamlessly. They were everywhere.

Gasping, Kagome's powers retracted back inside of her to sit heavy in the pit of her stomach.

They were in a demon village.

Passing a pub, Kagome caught sight of one of the working girls as she shuffled inside. For a brief moment their eyes met, the girl's wide and startled against the shadows of her pointed face. Kagome had figured it out. She knew. More than that, they knew she knew. The door slid shut behind the demoness.

The bad part was that they were absolutely surrounded and it was almost impossible for her to tell who was what just by looking; their illusions were fantastic. Not the greatest situation to be in. But on the bright side, there wasn't any malice in the village. No clouds of ill intent hung in the air above their heads. If those demons had wanted to attack, they would have already done it, right? There were already plenty of opportunities for them to do so. No, the demons weren't on the hunt, they were just ordinary criticizes trying to make a living in a time of hardship and war by catering to—and possibly tricking—passing travelers.

As long as they weren't hurting anybody, there was really nothing to worry about.

Actually, there was probably no safer place for Toga to be! Since he was obviously cool enough with the situation to be making jokes then that meant the village demons were peaceful—allies even.

Toga, that goon. He should have just told her what was up in the first place instead of making her figure it out on her own! What if she'd freaked out and hurt someone on accident?

You know, aside from that ronin guy.

Was he a demon, too?

"Miss Kagome?"

Startled, Kagome realized that she'd stopped walking again to stare into space.

Oh, right. Saburo.

Crap.

He would have a litter of kittens if he found out!

The big guy was trying his hardest to be good with Toga, she realized that, and he was doing great considering that Toga was the first real demon he'd ever actually met. But getting to know and helping out a single demon who was already down for the count and a pretty lousy threat to begin with was a completely different ball game from realizing you were in a hive of unknown and potentially dangerous beasts.

He was a pretty good friend and she trusted that the smith had her back, but he was still a sheltered guy from an old fashioned human village. He was unpredictable. She didn't know what move he was going to make next. If he felt threatened and lashed out? Then what? Could he fight back against a night parade of one hundred demons? Rescuing another dude in duress really wasn't exactly at the top of her bucket list at that moment, and she'd prefer to avoid that highlight in their trip if at all possible.

So… Kagome decided not to tell him.

"Sorry, I'm over thinking things!" The teen laughed, waving away his concern. "Toga wigged me out this morning with his weird talk. There's nothing here for us to worry about., honest. I bet you the kids are all off playing together on the other side of the village! It's not as though we've covered the entire town yet."

It was Saburo's turn to look skeptical, but Kagome didn't feed the disbelieving raise of his eyebrows. She walked right past him and continued down the street, map high in her hands.

"Uh huh." He said, arms crossing as he followed.

"Come on, we're like two blocks away. The sooner I have a new bow, the sooner we can leave tomorrow. Just… don't stray away again. I don't care how pretty the call girls are, we've got to stick together, okay?"

Turning his signature beat red, the easily flustered blacksmith skipped a few large steps forward until he was just ahead of her like a huge, intimidating bodyguard. That protective drive of him was the only predictable thing about him. That and—ah, there it was.

He started to scratch the back of his neck.

"I'm stuck to yer side." Saburo promised without looking back at her. "I ain't goin' nowhere if you don't want me to."

Kagome smiled at the back of his head, watching the bob of his topknot as he walked. Reaching up as high as she could, the young woman grabbed the tie securing his hair in place and pulled it free, releasing the cascade of wispy black hair from the prison he so obviously hated. His hands flew up to touch his head before looking back at her, incredulous.

"Oops." She giggled and stuffed the ribbon in her sleeve, feigning an innocent look.

His ears burned an even deeper shade of red and he spun back away, perfectly distracted away from the huge secret of the village she'd decoded.

Once he was firmly focused back on the road, her smile fell to a frown.

It was going to be a long day.

End Chapter