Hmm… I have run out of clever things to say… -world implodes- I do not own One Piece or Inuyasha, enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!
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Scroll eight: The mystery of Ai forest!
"La la la la la…. Lord Sesshomaru, where are you?" Rin sang her simple song as she waited for her lord to return.
"That girl is soooo annoying…" Jaken held his head as he leaned against Ah-Un, having a headache from listening to Rin.
At that moment, Sesshomaru jumped down from the trees gracefully and landed inches next to Jaken, startling the imp and causing him to fall over. "Come Rin." Sesshomaru closed his eyes and began slowly walking again.
"Yes Lord Sesshomaru!" The girl's eyes lit up as she ran after the demon, arms extended at her sides.
"Aye Milord!" Jaken stumbled and stood up, also chasing his master while tugging on Ah-Un's reigns.
Just as the group had gotten started again, a wind stirred up. As the twister died down, Kagura stood in its eye. "Yo…"
"Yo yourself!" Jaken shouted, startled by the sudden appearance of the wind witch.
"What do you want?" Sesshomaru showed no emotion whatsoever, although looked slightly annoyed at having been impeded yet again.
"I'm sure you've sensed it Sesshomaru… the aura around the Yokai Ki no Ai has diminished greatly, its spores used to cover this whole forest, now it only reacts in select spots."
"Of course… but it is of no concern to me…" Sesshomaru closed his eyes and began to walk around Kagura, stopping as he was at her side, eyes still facing front.
"You should stick around this forest if you wish to destroy Naraku. I'm not quite sure what, but he has something planned with his latest incarnation and the demon tree."
"And why should Lord Sesshomaru listen to a wench like you!?" Jaken protested.
"Silence Jaken." Sesshomaru looked at his impish henchman calmly but sternly. "I will do as I please…" he began to walk off again, quickly followed by his vassals.
"Master Jaken, I think that lady likes Lord Sesshomaru..." Rin whispered.
"Be quiet… foolish child." Jaken closed his eyes and continued walking.
"Just stay alive… Lord Sesshomaru…" Kagura whispered as she watched them leave, taking off in a gust of wind herself after they were out of sight.
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"The Yokai Ki no Ai, or Demon tree of love…" Miroku explained, rubbing his head after having been dragged away from the tree by Inuyasha. "It is a tree that creates a demonic aura that can make others fall in love, not really dangerous, but powerful and an annoyance."
"It emits a type of spore that acts as a pheromone and attracts any two people that come across it and breathe the spore in." Sango continued, blushing heavily after having kissed Miroku in front of everyone.
"I've studied a lot of herbs to become a doctor, but I've never heard of a tree like that." Kirsty blinked.
"Me neither," Kagome thought for a moment. "So why did it effect Miroku and Sango and not the rest of us."
Myoga picked up where Sango left off. "The key feature of this tree is the heart-shaped scar in it's bark, although not many people actually get this close without falling to the Yokai Ki no Ai spore, it must be weakened for some reason and that's why it only has an occasional effect on select people."
"That's why I was inspecting it." Miroku nodded, "I recognized it immediately and noticed a large purple vein in the trunk of the tree, the same color as Naraku's miasma."
The group looked slightly shocked upon hearing this. "So Naraku's poisoning the love tree?" Niri asked, raising an eyebrow.
"But why would be the question." Chizuru bit her thumb in thought.
"Who cares?" Inuyasha stood up and pulled out the Tessaiga, swinging it around in the air. "All we have to do is kill Naraku before he has a chance to do whatever it is that he's planning." The half-demon grinned broadly.
Axe took all of this in, nodding softly to show that he was still awake. He looked around to his crew to see how they were reacting, his attention was drawn to DJ, who looked very sullen all of the sudden. "What's wrong MacLeod? Thinking about something?"
"Yeah right…" Devon cracked.
"No… it's nothing, don't worry." The speedy swordsman said flatly, ignoring the other's taunting. Damn, I thought Dusty-chan was really worried about me back there, she was crying and everything. Just wishful thinking on my part I suppose, that is rather unlike Dusty-chan, musta just been that stupid demon love tree. He growled almost silently.
"Anyway…" Myoga continued after being interrupted. "The woods that contains the Yokai Ki no Ai is called Ai forest, this must be that place. The demonic spores usually spread out among the trees and extend over the entire forest, creating a loving atmosphere. Demons don't really travel in this forest and it's become a safe haven for humans seeking refuge."
"Didn't seem to help those humans in the village on the outer edge of the forest." Inuyasha mumbled.
"Naraku is one of the only demons I know of who's strong enough to withstand the spores and have no effect. His miasma would most likely kill the spores before reaching him, as well as anyone infected with a tainted sacred jewel shard." Miroku looked to Devon and Axe.
"Well… that's all good, but Naraku's trail seems to have gone cold, what do we do now?" Dusty asked and looked around.
"Well it is getting late, maybe we should find a town, get some rest and look for clues in the morning." Kagome suggested.
"You guys are too weak, you rest too much." Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked away.
"Aww, come on Inuyasha," Shippo jumped up on the half-demon's shoulder. "They're only weak humans, they need rest every once in a while."
"Who are you calling weak you little shrimp?" Devon picked the fox demon up and noogied him. "You look pretty scrawny to me yourself."
"AH! Kagome! He's being mean to me!" Shippo shouted.
"Sit boy!"
"Inuyasha fell to the ground. "What the hell did I do!?" he protested.
"Oops, sorry, force of habit." The girl chuckled nervously.
"Wow, that was impressive, how'd you do that?" Kirsty asked.
"Necklace of subjugation, whenever I tell Inuyasha the s-word, he gets slammed to the ground."
"Hmm…. We could use a few of those." Niri chuckled darkly and looked to some of her crewmates.
"Anyway… Hakkaku, Ginta and I have been searching around this area for a while now since the demon spores died down, we were hoping to claim this place for the demon wolf tribe but we ran into a town on the other side of the forest."
"Perfect! We can rest there tonight and keep looking for Naraku tomorrow."
"A great plan my fair maiden." DJ grinned and got that look in his eye again and walked over to Kagome, holding both of her hands in his.
"Please tell me this is the tree effecting him." Kagome groaned and sweatdropped.
"Unfortunately, no." Herman sighed and shook his head.
"Hey! Get away from her you speedy bastard! Kagome's my woman!" Koga shouted, pushing the two apart.
"What do you mean YOUR woman, you mangy wolf!?" Inuyasha snarled as the three of them glared at each other in a triangle, Kagome in the center.
"Alright you three, break it up." Sango had enough time while everyone was talking to change from her Demon Slayer's uniform to her regular kimono. She held her boomerang high and whapped all three of them on the head.
"Anything you ask, my vision of beauty." DJ turned around with an expression of love on his face, this being the first time he had seen Sango in somewhat casual clothes. He quickly ran into a bush. "Ow… ow… ow!" he screamed, coming back with many thorns sticking out of him, but a rose in his hand which he gave to Sango.
This caused Miroku to have a very peeved look on his face as he attempted to hit the speedy swordsman on the head with his staff, which was intercepted by DJ without even taking his eyes off the woman.
"Uh… maybe we should get going to this town before things get any weirder?" Kirsty suggested.
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As the sun set and the town got closer, the sounds of the group talking became increasingly audible to the townsfolk. "Feh, I still think we should keep chasing Naraku, we can't risk losing him now." Inuyasha complained.
"Come, come Inuyasha, even Naraku has to rest sometime." Miroku sighed as he watched his friends, both old and new.
"Alright, I'm leaving, no way am I staying in a human town with dogface over there." Koga growled and pointed to Inuyasha.
"Aww, please stay with us tonight Koga-kun?" Kagome asked in a deliberate attempt to act cute. They would probably need his help in the hunt for Naraku soon enough.
The wolf demon easily gave in. "Alright Kagome, but only because I don't like trusting your safety to that mutt and the speedy freak." He held one of her hands in his as two low growls emitted from Inuyasha and DJ.
"Welcome brothers and sisters of the earth." A man with long brown hair in a colorful kimono walked up to the group, hugging a few of them and earning a few strange looks. "I am Kabaji, the village headman for Ai village. You are welcome to stay for as long as you like." He said in a spaced out voice.
"We're very grateful." Miroku bowed. "I'm afraid we don't have much money…"
"Oooh bummer dude… sorry, can't let you into the hotel without money, circle of life and all… But we can give you some tents if you wanna sleep out here…"
"Aww man, I was really hoping not to have to sleep on the ground tonight." Kagome complained.
"Don't worry Kagome, I have a plan." Miroku whispered. "Perhaps I can offer you my demon exterminating services in exchange for a room?"
"Love to dude, but we don't have any demons around here, the tree of love protects us all from that sort of thing."
"Guess me, Shippo and Kilala don't count…" Inuyasha muttered.
"Oh…" Miroku moaned, "without the threat of demons, I can't even do a fake exorcism."
Axe chuckled, looking at his crew. "Don't worry monk, you'll get to do your thing…"
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"AH! Help! A demon is attacking the mansion!" A villager ran out of a rather large house as the group was beginning to set up their tents.
Kabaji ran inside the mansion, the richest house in the village, to find things in shambles. A strong gust passed by the village headman as letters appeared on the wall. B-e-w-a-r-e. "Is that blood?" The villager asked his leader as he looked around, the gust continuing to knock things over, though he could see no one there. "It's some kind of ghost!"
"I prefer Phantom…" A ghostly voice said as it knocked over an expensive looking vase. Good thing we had that fake blood from Dusty-chan's act.
A loud bang was heard as Miroku and some of the others ran up to the door. "Oh no! The demon has some kind of projectile attack!" Kagome shouted as holes appeared in the paper wall of the mansion. Right on time Niri. She grinned slyly.
Dusty, in her powerhouse form, knocked down the side door to the mansion and began knocking things over. "I hunger for human blood!" She shouted in a distorted voice.
"AH! The demon!" Kabaji shouted.
"It's hideous!" the villager added.
The transformed fox girl turned her head in disgust. Hideous? Why I oughtta…
"Save us monk!" Kabaji pleaded with Miroku.
The monk pulled out a fake sutra that he had just made, making sure it would have no real effect on his friend. "Begone demon!" Miroku shouted, placing the sutra on Dusty's forehead.
"ARRRG! Curses monk, you have defeated me…" The fox girl gave a fake death rattle and fell over.
Miroku went over to her and picked up her 'dead' body. "Don't worry about this, we'll dispose of the body properly. And don't worry about paying us, just leave the key to our room under the mat." The monk chuckled and walked out.
Kabaji and the mansion owner blinked as they watched the group leave. "O-okay then…"
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Kagome: Ah, finally some relaxing time…
Inuyasha: I can't believe this! Naraku's out there planning something with the Yokai Ki no Ai and you're taking a bath and stuffing your face!
Koga: Ah calm down muttface…
DJM: Miroku-sensei, you have such luck in protecting the women of this world, will you teach me?
Miroku: Why I'd be honored to my young pupil…
Niri: -shakes head- This is not the kind of thing he needs to be learning…
Kagome: Next time! Calm Night, Hidden Dangers! See ya soon!
Naraku: Descend on the village… destroy it!