A/N: Hojo thought his investigations were over...
Credit: Stuff you're about to read in this chapter is highly influenced by headcanons from stories The Return and The Accession by Sweet Inu Girl - totally go and check them out, they're out of this world.
I recommend listening to Madoka soundtrack while reading this chapter - I wrote it listening mostly to Pugna cum maga and Pugna infinita.
12. ...Or Not?
Hojo felt a shiver run down his spine when suddenly the sunlight around him faded. It was odd since the day was pretty warm, but for some reason the boy felt as if the previously warm breeze was now almost freezing. He looked around and couldn't spot any other person in the close vicinity. Only the limbs of the tree in the park were moving, swaying on the cool wind, their leaves rustling. Nothing around him seemed to be different than just a minute before, but the park around him felt so eerie, out of place.
If Hojo had to describe the feeling he felt he'd say it was like the feeling just before a really bad storm with many lightnings. Hesitantly he pulled the hand with the notebook back against his chest and took a deep breath. Whatever it was, whatever was going to happen here Hojo knew he shouldn't linger to witness it. Maybe it was his instinct telling him about approaching earthquake or something like this? He had read that animals could sense stuff like this and some humans had the same ability. It felt like something was pushing on him, as if the air was thicker.
He was about to shake this odd feeling off and resume walking home when suddenly he realized he was hearing something beside the rustling of the leaves. Hojo frowned when he realized he heard... Was it a child screaming mixed with a roar of an engine and some scratching noise? The school boy turned his head when he realized from which direction the noise was coming - it was approaching fast from his left, from behind a thick bunch of trees preventing him from seeing what was drawing near him and the big open space where kids usually played football.
And then it was too late to move from his spot on the edge of the field when the source of the sounds stumbled from behind the trees, running across the open space. Hojo didn't feel the notebook sliding from between his suddenly limp fingers.
In a cloud of dark purple mist was a huge, four meters tall and around seven meters wide spider-like creature. It's multiple limbs were moving in grotesque way, scratching the concrete alleys. The monster had a semi-humanoid upper body growing out from the center of the arachnid bottom. While the bulk of the spider and its legs were covered in black hair the upper body glistered with obsidian scales. They covered its four arms and bald head, which was similar in shape to the triangular head of a snake. Three orange eyes were glowing beside each other on top of that head while the bottom was occupied by widely opened maws full of pointed teeth more similar to needles than normal teeth.
Hojo felt his limbs froze and he couldn't move, he couldn't run or even look away from the beast from nightmares. His ears registered a high-pitched scream while his eyes saw a small boy in the monster's grasp.
"Ma-ma! Ma-ma!" was screaming the child. It took a minute for Hojo's mind to register that the boy had blue scales himself and from a hole in his pants was sticking out a long tail hitting around as the child was fighting against his captor.
All thoughts left Hojo's mind and he'd probably stand there till the morning, motionless and with his mouth open, but when the mist spread around the field and reached him he coughed. This stuff smelled like something long dead and almost choked the school boy. Hojo swayed a few steps back and leaned against a tree trunk, trying to stop the nausea suddenly overwhelming him...
...Which probably saved his life - or at least health - because a few seconds later through the spot he had stood earlier in went a motorcycle. The bike, which was the source of the roaring engine he could hear from a minute now, stopped when it came around the running monster, causing it to stop in the center of the field. Hojo could see who was riding it. The machine practically did one eighty when the driver stepped on the brakes, giving him a good view.
The bike was angry red and looked expensive. A woman in an office worker's uniform was sitting behind the driver, crying in terrified voice "Luoi!", which Hojo suspected was the boy's name, because the boy's wails intensified.
But Hojo barely noticed the woman who had her make up running down the blue scales of her cheeks. He was staring, almost forgetting to breathe, at the driver.
It was a female, seemingly a little older than him. Her long black hair was braided in a loose plait thrown over her shoulder. She wore a pair of red pants and a white tunic resembling a kimono top with elbow-long sleeves, her feet hid in black combat boots. But the most capturing was her face - it was pretty, with big brown eyes. It held so much determination and raw anger Hojo unwillingly took a step back to hide behind his tree, even if she wasn't looking at him. Her undivided attention was on the monster, who was in turn glaring and hissing at her.
"Luoi!" called the distressed passenger of the bike while the driver with confidence pulled a big contraption similar to a crossbow from a holster attached to the bike.
"Inu no Miko," hissed the monster and used the boy as a shield while the woman was aiming her weapon at him.
"Put the kid down and step away from him and I won't shoot off your balls," she replied. Somewhere in the back of Hojo's mind a part of him thought the woman, who looked so familiar, sounded familiar as well.
"Kukuku, how dare you think you can harm me, miko?" asked the spider-like beast. "I'm the great-"
"Wind Scar!" came a loud shout from another direction, coughing everyone on the field off-guard. Hojo had enough time to think that this new, rough voice sounded familiar as well. The next second rays of bright light plowed the ground, coming from a shadow of a tree and reaching the monster in an instant. The spider-like beast had enough time to scream and halfway turn around. A few hairy limbs flew up from the impact of the light, the huge creature collapsing to the ground. The distressed mother cried again, but the sound was caught in the sound of the massive body hit the ground. The monster dropped his victim while reaching down to cover a gaping hole in its side through which some steaming liquid was pouring down and pooling around it.
The boy didn't reach the ground. One minute he was falling, screaming for help, the next he was gone, snatched from the air. Hojo looked around and saw the last participant of the fight.
He was standing on top of a lantern. He was dressed in red, old-fashioned kimono, contrasting with very modern-looking combat boots. A black obi belt was wrapped around the man's waist, it's ends hanging almost to his knees and displaying a red crimson moon embroider on it. The mane of white hair of the man was pulled in a high ponytail, but it still easily reached his waist. The hair style was exposing a pair of triangular dog ears trained on the monster below the man. Two purple stripes were adorning his cheekbones, making his yellow eyes stand out even more. The man held the boy in his left hand, in his right hand he had a huge, fang-shaped sword. The boy was wrapping his tiny arms around the man's neck.
"Taisho!" hissed the monster when it focused its eyes on the man. It spat something vibrant yellow liquid at him, but the man easily leapt away, the spit melted the post in a few seconds.
"Hit the mark!" exclaimed the woman who held the crossbow-like weapon. Hojo felt his hair stand up when another light - this time radiating from a small projectile, passed by him. The monster roared in pain when it hit him square in the center. In a burst of blinding light the beast was eradicated, leaving behind just a pile of smoking ashes. The mist which was previously filling the area started to disappear, seemingly pushed away by the fading light of the last attack. Hojo felt fresh air enter his lungs and it was as if it was healing the dizziness caused by the mist.
Hojo saw the man in red land near the bike and hand the boy to the woman who had left the motorcycle and ran to grab her son. Both were crying. After a long hug the woman bowed to the man who hid the sword in its sheath.
"Inu no Taisho, thank you so much!" she turned to face the female who was still sitting on the bike, its engine humming quietly. "Inu no Miko, thank you! You saved my son."
"Is he alright?" asked the bike driver and smiled in relief when the office worker confirmed, her child wrapping his arms and tail around his mother. Hojo noticed a tail sticking from under the woman's skirt wrapping protectively around her child as well.
"Keh, just go home," the man walked around the grateful woman and stood beside the one called Inu no Miko. The pair looked after the leaving woman. "Put your concealments back on!" the man reminded. The woman nodded and did something around her neck - Hojo saw her appearance change to resemble a normal human being, as did the boy's. The school boy was staring after them for a second before turning back to look at the familiar-looking couple. The man had produced from somewhere a cell phone and was holding it beside his mouth like a walkie talkie.
"Hi, Sesshomaru. We had a situation," he announced while the woman walked the bike to the nearest alley. "Some stuff wrecked, but I think we can pretend it's an earthquake or something... Yeah... Just one asshole dead... Holy shit!"
He ended the call and practically ran to the woman, who was already waiting for him. He smoothly jumped on the seat behind her.
"Move, wench. We need to clear the area, the Noble Mother's around and Sesshomaru lost her!"
The bike roared and almost stood on the rear wheel when the woman kicked the gas.
A gust of wind went through the empty, silent field. It blew away the pile of ashes. All that had transpired here took less than fie minutes and now the park looked as if nothing had never happened here. At lest as long as you didn't look at the deep gashes in the ground and melted pile of metal.
Hojo felt his legs give way and sat down on the cool concrete, his jaw dropped, his eyes staring blankly at nothing in particular.
After a long minute Hojo reached stiffly for the discarded notebook. He pulled it to himself and stood on his unsteady legs to walk to the nearest bench to sit down.
There were many secrets - some wonderful, some horrible - in the world. There were mysteries just waiting to be revealed. There was truth hidden behind an illusion of normality. Hojo knew that now. He knew a lot of things he had not known just a few minutes ago.
Monsters were real. Some were pretending to be humans. Some were vile while others seemed harmless. He opened his notebook and with shaking hand wrote one sentence, which was going to be the start of his new investigation.
"There is one Higurashi, a schoolgirl with kind heart, but there is another Higurashi, who is a fierce warrior of light; there is one Inuyasha, a troubled youth who wants to fit in, while there is another, who stands between the meek and the vile."
His work here wasn't done yet. He wanted to know the truth, see what was hidden from ordinary humans. He knew now that his adventure was only beginning.
A female walked through a park, smiling at some pretty flowers. Her ponytails were swaying behind her back when she was striding to a lone boy sitting on a bench and writing something in a red notebook.
A/N: Aaaaaand... Done! ~cackles~
Thank you guys, for reading and commenting! I had so much fun reading all your suspicions. opinions and just seeing that th story was fun to read in general. Thank you for encouraging me to continue. It sure was fun to write! Tell me what you think about the ending!
The epilogue featuring some of the mystery characters (and probably poor Hojo) will appear soon. Expect officer Kyuubay, cute librarian and the Nobe Mother herself. And some explanation why Mama Higurashi is the best.