Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 6:
Promises
Himitsu hovered around the castle, her footsteps inaudible as her feet never touched the flooring to begin with. Waru-sama had given her an order, and mentioned that she was the only person left that he could trust the job with. A faint smile appeared on her shadowed lips. If the job had been entrusted to her, it means Jikiko refused to follow orders, and if she refuses to do orders, nothing more could be done to make her accept it. Oh well, it wasn't as if she minded the job that she was going to do anyway. Besides, Waru-sama had made a promise to her.
He had just finished explaining what she had to do, and added, "In return, I'll give the hanyou to you once it's over."
Her eyes widened, at the same time her heart speeding as excitement pumped into her veins. "Really? I can make him my toy?"
"Yes... after I'm done with him, you may do whatever you please."
Her smile widened, but then it disappeared and a frown took over. "But what if he's not that pretty? I hate unattractive toys," she stated. If it was true that the hanyou does not fill all her requirements, then she'll just have to forget about it.
Her master gave her a knowingly smirk, his hands interlocked with each other. "How about you see how he looks first, then you decide."
She suppressed a squeal. The way Waru-sama spoke, this... Inuyasha sounds cute. If he is what she imagines, then with no doubt, she was going to make him her toy. She'll get to play with him, and test out her spells on him. No one would be willingly to offer themselves to her for her spells, but if he was her toy, then she would have someone to do all those things with.
"Oh, I can't wait to see this Inuya—" she stopped midway as the front doors were being pushed open, and the twins, who she recognised as Rima and Mari, entered, their bodies somewhat limping. She stared at them. Anyone would have found the gesture itself rude, but it wasn't as if they could see her eyes looking at them. "What happened to you two? You two look like someone had beaten the life out of you," but then she remembered, "Oh, you were sent to battle someone, right?"
"Himitsu-sama," Rima and Mari said at the same time and bowed. Rima continued, "We have done what we can. As a result, four of our comrades were slain by our target..."
"Well, that's to be expected," Himitsu said, unfazed. "I heard that your target is the great Lord of the West. It's a miracle that you two are still alive," she said teasingly although now was probably not a good time. "Were you two at his mercy?"
Mari pushed herself away from Rima, causing her twin to lose balance and almost collapse to the ground. She marched over to Himitsu, pointing a finger at the cloak figure as she glared daggers towards the shadowed face. "You have no idea what we've been through! Kirochi-san, Toroto-san, Seichi-kun, Ryokuu-kun... they all died because of him!"
Himitsu laughed, her voice genuinely light and cheerful. "Ah, and I care because...?"
Mari was about to launch herself to the sorcerer before her body froze, fear crawling against her skin. The female youkai blinked, her limbs refusing to move on her will. Beads of sweat started tracing down her forehead, and she questioned on what would cause her fear to trigger, until Himitsu's hooded-face appeared right in front of her.
"I'm sorry for your lost, child," Himitsu said, her voice too sweet to sound earnest. A hand slipped out between the folds of the cloak, showing weird markings and symbols across her pale arm, and causing Mari to freak out at the sight. Her hand caressed Mari's cheek. "Don't worry, when the time is right, I'll make sure you get your revenge. I promise."
Mari nodded frantically, wanting the fear to stop immobolizing her. Himitsu chuckled and retreated her hand back inside the cloak, hiding the appendage back into the hidden darkness.
Mari could suddenly move again, and she dropped to the ground, bottom first. She looked up and found Himitsu floating pass her. Her eyes widened when, for a brief moment, she could see Himitsu's lips curled into a devious smile underneath that hood. Soon, the sorceress floated away, exiting the building without another word.
"Inuyasha!"
"Kagome!"
"Inuyasha!"
"Kagome!"
"Inuyasha..."
Inuyasha swallowed a lump in his throat and instinctively took a step back, ears perking straight up and eyes widening. He knew too well what was going to happen when she used that tone of voice.
The small audience who had been witnessing the scene for the past twenty minutes yawned when the arguing wasn't over yet. Days had passed and it was finally time for Kagome to return back for one of her 'tests'. They had been on each other throats and none of them had made the move to give in. Here, we have a hard-headed hanyou who claims that a 'test' is unimportant and suggests that they should continue to look for jewel shards—even if he was aware that someone was targeting him, and here, we have Higurashi Kagome who owns the same level of stubbornness and once in a while would like to pass her test.
They were surprised that Kagome hadn't use the sit command yet. Inuyasha may possibly be at her mercy because she was still shaken that he had almost been taken away, but now, they notice that her patience was thinning and soon, the hanyou might just face the dirt beneath him.
"Please, Inuyasha! Just five days! Five days!" Kagome shouted, her voice hinted with some desperation in it.
"No! That's too long and you know it, wench!" Inuyasha yelled back.
"Four days then! Please!"
"No!"
Kagome took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Osuwari."
Inuyasha slammed to the earth, muttering a list of unintelligent sounds as his body hit the ground. Kagome tapped her foot impatiently with her hands over her hips, waiting for him to argue with her again and repeat the word. To her surprise, Inuyasha lifted his face with an expression which displayed that he wasn't going to argue with her any further.
"Fine! Four days," Inuyasha said with his face scrunched up, his hand scratching the back of his head. "But any longer than that and I'm draggin' you back whether you like it or not!"
"Really? Thank you! I promise I'll be back in four days!" Kagome said, her mood immediately changed into a cheerful one. She turned her head to her friends and waved at them. "See you guys later then. I'll be back real soon."
"Alright, Kagome-chan. Be careful over there," Sango said with a wave.
Kagome nodded and gripped the strap of her backpack. She stepped over the wooden casing of the well and glanced over to her Sengoku Jidai friends one last time, a longer gaze for the hanyou—which was able to make him flush. With a smile and a final wave, she jumped inside and disappeared back to her time.
"Well, that went surprisingly well," Miroku said, the first to break the silence.
"Huh? Whaddaya mean?" Inuyasha asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
Shippou commented, "Usually it would end up with Kagome sitting you a hundred times, then she goes back to her time whether you approve it or not. I'm glad that for once, you two didn't argue and make Kagome leave for weeks."
"Yeah," Sango said and nodded. She tilted her head to look at her hanyou friend. "You seem to be in a good mood today. What happened?"
Inuyasha's face turned slightly red (without him noticing). He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, refusing to tell them. He tried recalling previous events. Honestly, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Maybe it was because Kagome was in a good mood. She smiled a lot lately—which was very contagious—and she had been giving him a good amount of ramen. He wasn't sure whether or not it has something to do with him almost getting kidnapped, but he doubted that was the case.
"Keh!" was all he decided to answer, before spinning around and heading back to the village. "I'm gonna head back to Kaede-baba. If you wanna stay here and wonder what happened, be my guest, 'cause nothin' really happened."
His ears flickered when he caught the sound of his friends' footsteps. He could hear the muffled laughter and he clenched his fist inside the sleeve of his suikan. He heard them whispering about him, then about Kagome, then... He stopped. He turned around slowly, giving them a menacing look, telling them with his face alone not to jump to their own conclusions before he starts giving them the same pain equivalent to an 'osuwari'.
"Don't you dare start making assumptions, especially you, you lecherous monk."
"It's not our fault, Inuyasha. You and Kagome-sama fight like husband and wife. Soon, I'm confident that you two will marry and make—"
It was Sango's cue to stop the lecherous monk right there. She grabbed the Hiraikotsu on her back and knocked the end of it towards the monk's head. "Houshi—" some pressure on the monk's skull "—sama..."
Inuyasha glanced away. Kagome and him being husband and wife... could that really happen? Well, he was a hanyou, and hanyou were filthy creatures. And being paired with Kagome, who is likely going to become a miko... wouldn't that tarnish her purity? He frowned. Would Kagome even want him if it affects her status? He knew that Kikyou wouldn't, which was possibly the reason why the dead miko wanted him to be human. A wave of anxiety hit him and he shook his head. Now was not the time to think about marriage. They still had the shards to collect, then there's Naraku, and then there's the guy that's aiming for him and he still had no clue what the hell he wants. It seemed that when the time comes, only then he'll have to hear about Kagome's choice. For now, he can relax and enjoy life as it is.
"My dear Sango, we all know how making children works—"
"Yes... yes we do," Sango said and allowed the Hiraikotsu to keep in touch with Miroku's head. "But we do not need the details, and you can keep your perverted thoughts to yourself."
"Pull yourself together, Miroku," Shippou stated with his arms crossed, head bobbing and his eyes shut.
Kirara meowed softly as if she agreed with Sango's statement.
Inuyasha silently thanked Sango, because his face was already crimson in colour. If anyone was standing in front of him now, they would notice immediately the darker part of his face.
After three knocks from Hiraikotsu, Miroku finally gave up on the topic and decided to change the subject. "Anyway, have you figured out who is out there targeting you, Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "Who knows? Kagome said it was this guy named Waru. I don't even know him or what he wants. All I know is that if I see him, I'm gonna use Tessaiga on him. It's payback for using that puppet on me."
"But you said you wanted to continue the hunt for those jewel shards. Are you sure you don't want to search for this person first?"
"It sounds like a waste of time," Inuyasha said, eyes roaming around as they arrived Kaede's village. "We have no clue who this guy is, where is he now, or what he wants from me. If we start searching, I doubt we'll find anythin' interesting. Let the guy show up and we'll take care of him from there."
Sango nodded. "It's a good plan. We don't have a lead to begin with, so that's probably the easiest solution."
They reached the old miko's hut. Kaede pushed aside the noren and headed out with an empty bucket. She noticed the group was back and realised that things had taken way shorter than she expected.
"Is Kagome back at her time?" the old miko questioned.
"Yes, Kaede-sama," Miroku answered.
"Hm," Kaede said and her eyes landed on the hanyou. "That was quite... fast. I expected it to take longer, considering that ye two often fight."
"What's with everyone thinking that we always fight?!" Inuyasha snapped, his hands balled into fists.
"Are you saying that you don't fight then, Inuyasha?" Shippou asked, and everyone turned to look at the hanyou at once, giving a disagreeing look.
Inuyasha stared at them with eyes blinking rapidly before deciding to wave his hand around, an indication that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore—which everyone knew that it meant he had given up, and they've won.
"Anyway, some of the village men has spotted a few youkai roaming around the forest while they were out to chop wood," Kaede said, and her eyes looked up to gaze at the hanyou. "Inuyasha, if ye have the time, do you mind—"
"Yeah, yeah, Kaede-baba," Inuyasha interrupted and swung his arm in a circular motion to release the pressure in his muscles. "I'll handle it."
"We'll come too, Inuyasha," Miroku said.
"Yeah, I have nothing better to do anyway," Sango added.
"Keh! Do as you please," Inuyasha said before leaping off into the forest.
Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara looked around for any youkai that Kaede had mentioned. Shippou decided to stay back at the hut and help Kaede out, so now it was only the four of them. Inuyasha kept his senses on full alert. Every now and then, he would catch the faint sound of rustling coming from the bushes, and the sound of low footsteps, but so far, they haven't caught this said youkai in the forest.
Miroku sighed. "I wonder if there is youkai here to begin with."
Sango nodded. "I don't sense any demonic aura, so I'm guessing it's not that strong?"
"Don't lower your guard," Inuyasha said, his body tensed. "My instincts are practically yelling at me that something isn't right."
"Well, if Inuyasha says that..."
"Then that means there is a youkai," Miroku finished for Sango. "Since dogs have sharper instincts, we should trust—"
"Oi!" Inuyasha yelled and landed a fist on top of the monk's head. "Who are you, callin' me a dog?!"
"Why is he always offended when we relate him to a dog? His name basically has the word 'dog' in it," Miroku whispered to Sango, which was heard by Inuyasha... which earned the monk another good smack on the head.
Their bodies went rigid when a white puff of smoke started surrounding them. Soon, the amount of smoke kept increasing and by the time they realise, it turned out that the whole forest was already covered in mist. With the white cloud of smoke in their vision, they could barely make out the outline of each other, and knew something was definitely going on.
"Houshi-sama? Inuyasha?" Sango called the moment she couldn't see her friends anymore. She could still sense Kirara with her, the neko staying as close as possible, but she couldn't seem to find her other friends. "Houshi-sama! Inuyasha!"
She felt something tracing her back and immediately swung her Hiraikotsu, planning to cut whatever it was in half, until Miroku's panicked voice stopped her from doing so. She squinted and could finally see the monk scratching the back of his head nervously, his face expressing that he was about to do something... very perverted.
"Houshi-sama, do you think this is the time for games?!" Sango hissed, relief mixed in her voice as she found one out of two of her missing friends. But now that she knew this one's intentions, she wished she had found the other first.
"You're right. Forgive me, Sango," Miroku said and had a sheepish smile. He pointed towards her Hiraikotsu which was close to his face. "So... do you mind removing that?"
Sango narrowed her eyes. "We both know what you were trying to do," she said and looked around. "Where's Inuyasha?"
"Hm, good question," Miroku said and glanced at their surroundings. "Inuyasha!"
"Inuyasha!" Sango called.
"This must be a trap. I'm thinking this is the same one that tried to take Inuyasha," Miroku said and held his right hand. "Sango, I'm going to use the Kazaana to suck in some of the mist. Please stand back."
Inuyasha motioned to wherever his mind tells him to. In truth, he had no idea where he was going, or where the others were at. But one thing for sure was that he knew he was trapped. The mist just doesn't seem like a normal occurence and his instincts were constantly telling him that something was wrong. He could only hope that the others were okay. Though, he knew that they were capable of defending themselves. And, with the fact that someone was after him and not them, that was an addition to ease his worries.
He snarled and unsheathed his Tessaiga, feeling a presence and knowing that if he isn't prepared, they might attack first. His ears swiveled to every direction, and his nose was always checking for any new scents. He gripped the hilt of Tessaiga, shifting uncomfortably at the silence. His ears weren't picking any sound, and it was too silent for his liking...
His body became tensed when he heard a feminine chuckle. He turned to where the sound was coming from, and saw a sillouette in the mist, before the person emerged from it and revealing itself. He stared, confused, at the cloak figure that was hovering in front of him. He noticed that the cloak the person was wearing covered their entire body, not revealing anything, even their feet. But what alerted him was that this person was capable of using magic, since they could float in the air, and it was unlikely that this person had wings.
"Inuyasha," the person said, her voice having the same pitch as Kagome's giddy friends, and he immediately assumed she was a girl. "My master is right. You are cute."
A/N: Sorry that this update took so long. I had very little motivation to write for some reason, and had to deal with writer's block. Originally, there was suppose to be another chapter before the events here happen, but that chapter was going to be another boring chapter where it's about explaining stuff, so I decided to skip all that and explain them later. I hope the pace of the story isn't too fast since things are in action, but I'm trying to avoid it from dragging too.
- Replies -
Alannada: They were really underestimating Sesshoumaru if they think they can make it back alive after challenging him.