"So, that's all it was." Nakaru concluded as both Hakudoushi and Kagura reported their findings. 'They must have revived Jakotsu with those soul collectors to trick me into thinking Kikyo was somewhere else. Clever.' Naraku thought inwardly. "Did you retrieve those jewel shards from that village?" he then asked. "No. They were gone when we got there. It seems Inu Yasha and his friends now have them." Kagura responded, fearing her master's reaction. "No matter. We'll have them soon enough. Find the wolf and take his in the mean time." Naraku ordered. "And Kagura…" he stopped her departure, "Yes..?" she questioned. "…don't fail me." Naraku coldly uttered. After Kagura left, Naraku summoned Kanna to him. "Have you located it yet?" Naraku asked as Kanna appeared before him. "I have." she softly replied, showing Naraku the results of her findings in her mirror.
"So what do we do?" Hakudoushi asked wanting to know their next move, Naraku pondered for a moment. "Kanna. Go now and find out as much as you can." he ordered and she quickly departed. "Are you sure you should send her? Since it showed up she has been acting strangely." Hakudoushi cautioned. "Do not concern yourself with such things. If all goes well I'll have no use for her or that conniving Kagura." Naraku smirked.
"That's positively morbid." Kenjiro said with a shudder as he looked away from Jakotsu. "Is not! It's soft and fuzzy!" she said defensively while playing with the head of a rabbit that was their lunch. "So. You sure this Totosai will know anything? I mean he doesn't seem the sharpest." she thought aloud about the swordsmith. "I'm certain he will know a way. You should give him more credit, you know." Kenjiro admonished his traveling companion. "What I want to know is have you ever thought about grabbing Sango's butt or how come you don't hit the ground whenever Kagome sits Inu Yasha?" she asked, Kenjiro just stared blankly at her. 'Bankotsu…I should have had that girl revive Bankotsu.' he bitterly thought, "Anyway, we should reach Totosai's in another day or so. So let's not lose track of our goal, shall we?" Kenjiro attempted to focus Jakotsu's mind as they headed off.
"Wait! Wait! How about sitting yourself or grabbing your own butt?" Jakotsu questioned. 'Bankotsu. If I just sat him down and explained the situation…' Kenjiro then looked to his smiling, care free partner and sighed. 'No. I couldn't do that.' and smiled back as they walked along. "And when am I getting my body back the way it was?" Jakotsu continued as they were interrupted by several soul collectors. "Hey they're early!" Jakostu exclaimed then noticed they carried nothing with them. The demon serpents circled around Kenjiro uttering low hisses. "They bring a message. Our counter part wishes a meeting. Please tell them that it is not possible yet. But I'll meet with them soon." he told the soul collectors as they departed with his reply. "We will reach Totosai soon." he noted as he picked up a scent. "We're being followed again…" he pointed out. "Those two from the forest?" Jakotsu questioned. "No. Just Kagura this time." Kenjiro rechecked the scent. "Awww…That little Hakudoushi is so cute you should have let me kill him when we had the chance." Jakotsu whined.
"There they are. If I can learn how he did it…" Kagura thought as she followed at a distance. "First the wolf then him." she reasoned as she left to track down Koga.
"Master Totosai! I see someone coming! I think it's them!" Myoga reported as the old sword smith looked out to see who was coming. "Well now this should be interesting." Totosai commented as both Kenjiro and Jakotsu approached.
"Master Totosai? I wish to make a request of you." Kenjiro asked, bowing respectfully while the old man studied him carefully. "And that would be?" the old man inquired as Kenjiro produced a fang. "I would like this fang as well as one of my own forged into my Tetsusaiga." Kenjiro asked as he held in his hand a demon tooth. Totosai stared at him for a moment after examining the fang, "And one of your own you say? Are you sure about that? It will make the Tetsusaiga's power unpredictable if you're not prepared for it." he cautioned as Kenjiro nodded as he handed over his sword. 'Kids these days…can't leave a classic alone…always have to have something bigger.' Totosai thought
Totosai unsheathed the demon blade and instantly gave a cry of horror. "You ding bat! What have you done to the Tetsusaiga?" he shrieked as he struck the hanyou over the head with his hammer, flooring him. "Wow! Didn't think the old guy had that kind of strength!" Jakotsu amazed. "My apologies master Totosai but it was broken and I had to repair it the best I could." Kenjiro pleaded for the old man's forgiveness. "My poor Tetsusaiga! This will need a miracle to be useable again! Alright let's have that fang of yours." Totosai grumbled as he grabbed a pair of pliers.
"EEEEYYYYAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!""Maybe that will teach you to respect your weapon more in the future!" Totosai scolded. Jakotsu laughed as Kenjiro growled in pain. "Yes, well…How long will it take to complete the work?" Kenjiro asked only to get a blank stare from Totosai. "Well…to forge the two fangs into the blade AND repair the previous poor repair job…." Totosai started, "I'll need at least a week." "A week!" Kenjiro groaned in dismay. "Damn youngsters can't wait for anything these days. Besides that should give you enough time to explain who you are and why you're here." Myoga brought up to Kenjiro's displeasure. "I prefer to keep my objectives concealed for now." Kenjiro answered back. If you don't tell us then your Tetsusaiga isn't getting repaired." the old flea threatened. "That's extortion!" Kenjiro raged. "We're old! We have nothing better to do." Totosai pointed out. Kenjiro gave a low growl, "Very well but it goes no further and neither of you will interfere in anyway."
At the port trade market…
"Would you go somewhere!" a woman snapped at Inu Yasha as another buyer was scared off by his presence. "Yeah! You are ruining our sales with that scowl of yours. Would it kill you to smile?" another put to him. "Hmph! Fine! Just let me know when you're ready to leave!" he snapped and headed off to find a quiet place to take a nap.
'Just as I thought! A bunch of useless stuff. They can't even get rid of it!' a young girl thought as she rummaged through the women's goods then scanned the area for her main worry. 'Where did that demon go to?' she wondered as she walked off and tried to figure out how she was to succeed in her plot to steal the groups earnings.
Inu Yasha settled himself on a rooftop, overlooking the harbour and the many ships that were anchored. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the salt air as his mind went back to figuring out their latest member. 'He's too damn happy! Way too polite! Hmmm…Rin's attitude and Sesshomaru's manners…Still sounds way too weird though…The great Sesshomaru falling for a human! That's gotta be a lie!' he reasoned as his eyes followed a seagull. 'Powerful souls…what the hell did he mean by that…whose souls…Kagome's?' the hanyou wondered as he thought back to what Hakudoshi had said about Naraku taking Kagome for his own purposes. 'When I get back, Kenjiro is going to answer all my questions…' he thought determinedly as he stared absent-mindedly at the floating ships.
"You guys ready to go yet?" Inu Yasha grumbled as he came back to check on the progress of the village merchants. "Where have you been? We've been waiting for hours!" one of the women criticized. "Yeah. Whatever." Inu Yasha grumbled as they headed out of town under the watchful eye of another as they prepared to make their move.
An hour later…
Loud protests were exclaimed as Inu Yasha dragged the young, bound thief along the forest path. "Quit your whining! That high pitched voice of yours is murder on my ears!" Inu Yasha demanded as he dragged her along. The young girl gave an extra shrill scream for effect, which resulted in the group stopping momentarily to gag her. "Maybe it will be quiet for a while now." One of the women thought as they prepared camp for the night.
'Mean demon dog! Tie and gag me will you? Then all of them to sit and eat in front of me when I'm starving! When I get free…' the young girl thought as her stomach growled louder as she eyed the food. "Hungry huh? Well tough!" Inu Yasha commented spitefully to receive several muffled threats. One of the women came over and untied the girl so she could eat as well to Inu Yasha's surprise. "She'll only try to rob us again!" Inu Yasha pointed out as the young girl glared at him while she gulped down a bowl of food. "After you eat, get lost! We can't waste time dragging you to the proper authorities." the woman told her. "And if you don't I'll tear you to bits!" Inu Yasha added, making sure she got the message.
"Geez! You dog demons sure are a varied bunch." the girl declared as she stuck her tongue out at Inu Yasha to emphasize her dislike of him while Inu Yasha gave a grunt of indifference. "The last one was so kind and let me steal him blind." she recalled an encounter she had with another dog demon. "Couldn't have been all that smart if a klutz like you could rip him off." Inu Yasha laughed at the dog demon's stupidity and instantly provoked another raspberry from the young woman.
"At least he wasn't a complete jerk like you! Even I felt bad for stealing from him after he rescued me and another from a bunch of demons near mount Hakurei when it collapsed. He treated us better too. Who'd have thought a demon would be so kind to humans?" she remembered then looked at Inu Yasha. "You know…you kind of remind me of him…looks wise that is and I was wondering if that type of sword is something all dog demons carry?" she noticed that Inu Yasha's sword and the other demons sword looked alike.
Inu Yasha quickly grew suspicious of the thief's recounting. "Did this demon have a name?" he asked as the girl tried to remember. "Gee…I don't remember… that happened so long ago." she said trying to remember. "That other girl kept calling him Inu…Inu…" "Inu Yasha?" he asked as the girl's eyes lit up with remembrance. "Yeah! That's it! Inu Yasha! She was hurt pretty bad. I hope she's doing all right." she said sounding concerned for the woman.
"Well I got bad news for ya! My name's Inu Yasha and I don't remember seeing you at mount Hakurei!" he said confident he caught her in a lie. "That must be a common name among you dog demons then because that's what that priestess was calling him." she shot back in a truthful tone. "What? A priestess!" Inu Yasha gasped as he grabbed hold of the girl. "Did you get her name?" he demanded.
Elsewhere…
"I want those jewel shards!" Kagura demanded as she came at Koga again. 'If I'm right then it was him that attacked Naraku and stole that jewel shard! Well if it's jewel shards he wants…'
"DANCE OF BLADES!"
"I don't know what your problem is but I'm glad you showed up! Saved me all kinds of trouble trying to track you down!" Koga yelled as he dodged and countered. "First I'm gonna kill you then that bastard Naraku!" he confidently sneered as he took her down with a powerful kick. 'Arrogant fool!' Kagura snickered inwardly as she lay on the ground as Koga came up to her. In one quick motion, her fan slashed the two jewel shards from Koga's legs and into her waiting hand. "Getting them is one thing…Keeping them is going to be the death of you!" the wolf growled as he lunged at her only to be knocked back by a gust of wind as Kagura escaped. "Later wolfie boy! I have other plans today!" she laughed as she quickly flew off to plan her next move.
At Totosai's…
"Well perhaps this would be a good time to have that meeting now. When the sword is finished…bring it to me…you'll know where I'll be." Kenjiro said to Jakotsu as he left. "You got it!" she said and went back to watching Totosai work.
"How much longer were you going to make me wait?" Hakudoshi grumbled. "All good things to those who wait…" Kenjiro smiled as he mounted Entei, "Let's go."