SUMMER HAS COME
Kagome grunted as she climbed out of the Bone-Eater Well. Although she was happy to be back in the feudal era again, the summer heat was beginning to get to her. She hadn't been outside for more than five minutes and already she was sweating up a storm and her clothes were sticking to her. Kagome had read the weather report before leaving and it said that it would be in the 90s for the next week with very little wind chill. She sighed at the thought of it. The thought was made even worse by the fact she'd have no A/C to retreat to for the next couple of days.
As Kagome climbed out of the time travelling well she put her arm over her face to protect herself from the sun's hot rays. She thought she would've been able to escape the heat while she was in the feudal era, but that was clearly not the case. Perhaps the weather acted synonymously with the time from which she had just arrived.
Despite the fact that things would be hell for the next couple of days Kagome was still eager to see her friends again. She always enjoyed spending time with them, especially with Inuyasha regardless of how irritating he'd become.
"Kagome! You're back!" Shippo exclaimed happily as he jumped up to hug her.
"It's good to see you too Shippo," Kagome said as she caught the little fox demon in her arms.
"How's everyone else doing?" She asked.
"They're all right, but Inuyasha has been acting strange," Shippo replied.
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked.
"Don't know. I've tried asking him, but he won't say anything, not to me at least."
Kagome sighed patiently when she heard him say that. She'd expected something like this would happen while she was here. Inuyasha was known for being a stubborn reclusive pain in the ass, but she was sure she'd be able to get him to talk.
As the two trekked back to the village Kagome became aware of something strange. She couldn't explain what the feeling was but it felt like something was out in the forest. For a moment Kagome stopped and stared out into the forest. She wondered what was out there. She wasn't sure if it was a demon, but whatever it was it was close. After a couple of minutes however the feeling subsided and Kagome brushed it off as nothing.
"Kagome!" Shippo called out to her.
"I'm coming Shippo," she said as she ran to him.
/
"Hello Miroku, Sango." Kagome called out as her friends came into view.
"Kagome, It's good to see you again," Miroku greeted her as she approached.
"Good to see you as well Miroku," Kagome replied.
"How are things back in your time?" Sango asked.
"School's all right, the family is doing okay. All is well," Kagome answered. "So what's wrong with Inuyasha?" she asked curiously.
"We don't know what it is for sure, but we think he's looking for something," Sango said.
"He's been patrolling the area off and on, sniffing around," Miroku said. "I tried asking him what it was he was looking for but he couldn't answer. It was like he didn't even know what it was he was looking for," he explained.
"Huh," Kagome said thoughtfully. "Didn't he say anything to you Shippo?" She asked.
"You know how mean Inuyasha is to me. Whenever I asked he'd just tell me to shut up and smack me on the head," Shippo replied.
Right as he said that a red streak bolted up a nearby tree. It was Inuyasha. Kagome watched curiously as the half-demon sniffed at the air.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" she called to him.
"Shaddup! I'm looking for something!" Inuyasha said rudely.
Kagome grunted before smiling. She had her way of pacifying him whenever he got rude or unruly. "Inuyasha, sit."
Inuyasha yelped as his beaded necklace glowed, slamming him to the ground forcefully. The impact of the fall was so strong it left an impression on the ground.
"What the hell, Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled as he got back up.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked again, her smile still visible.
"I already told you I'm looking for something!" he snapped. The only thing more annoying than her telling him to "sit" was her enjoying it.
"What are you looking for?" Sango asked.
Inuyasha paused with an impatient grunt before answering. "I don't know. I've been getting a strange feeling about something for a little while now. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it."
"Is it another demon?" Sango asked.
"Naraku, perhaps?" Miroku added.
Kagome thought it may have been part of the Shikon Jewel for a second, but if that had been the case she would've been able to sense it, so she discarded the idea.
"No. I've been trying to track it. I can sense it from time to time, but it doesn't smell like a demon, not one I've ever smelled at least. That and I can't sense an aura." Inuyasha said.
Kagome's thoughts were drawn back to the feeling she had sensed in the forest again. She wasn't scared but it did make her shiver a little.
"C'mon. Let's go talk to Kaede," Miroku suggested.
"I think that's a good idea," Kagome agreed.
"I'll be with you in a moment," Inuyasha told them as he stayed behind to monitor his surroundings for a little while longer.
It'd all started a week ago when the summer heat came. Inuyasha had been up late that evening when he saw a falling star. Normally he'd think nothing of it, but there was a wrongness about this one. After that, the smell came. The odour was unlike anything he'd ever encountered before, but it had the familiar scent of blood to it. Since then he'd been trying to look for it, but he'd found nothing yet. Whatever it was, was keeping its distance, but he still didn't like it.
Before he began following his friends to Kaede's hut, he swore to himself that he'd find this unknown being and get rid of it. This was his home and he didn't tolerate trespassers.
/
"Come men! We will show this demon what we are made of!" the chieftain said as he held his katana high. His horse neighed as he motioned for it to move.
"You heard the chief! Let's kill this thing!" The chieftain's right-hand man, and good friend, Ejiro said bravely as he pointed forward with his hatchet.
The rest of the villagers cheered when they heard their lord's words. The men all held their farming tools up as they roared courageously. Most of these people were simple farmers so many of them did not have swords like their masters did. Not that they needed them, their farming tools worked well enough and plenty of them had bows and arrows.
"You'd better hide you demon! We're coming for you!" one of the villagers yelled enthusiastically.
"We won't let you harm our women or our children!" Ejiro could hear another person say as he clutched his hoe tightly in his hands.
Something had gone on a killing spree in their village. These mysterious killings had started almost a week ago. At first, all they had been able to find of the victims was their blood and viscera and they thought it was bandits, but once they found the bodies they realized they were dealing with something far worse.
Bodies had been found skinned and hung upside down by their feet, and others were missing their heads and spines. They reckoned it was a demon of some kind that was carrying out these murders. What kind they didn't know, only one of them had managed to see the creature and live.
A boy had gone to fetch water for his family when he noticed something moving in the trees. The thing was human in shape but the boy could see right through its body. It was almost as if he was looking at a ghost. The boy said that the thing made an odd clicking noise as it watched him before three red dots marked his chest. At first, he thought the demon had marked him for death when suddenly it disappeared into the forest. The beast had spared him.
Armed with this vague description of the demon, they headed off to face the being.
As they went deeper and deeper into the forest, Ejiro felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It felt like he was being watched. He looked around at the rest of his comrades. Although the men looked ready for a fight he could tell that they were just as scared as he was if not more so.
He'd seen some of the bodies himself. Some of those men had been friends of his, friends he'd known since he was a boy. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake the thought of their skinned corpses from his mind. Their dead eyes watched him as they hung upside down from the trees, their mouths agape with horror as if screaming for help. The thought sent a nervous chill down his spine despite the warmth of the day. That was no way for a man to die.
Regardless of how horrified they were, they weren't going to allow this thing to continue. Most of these men had families they needed to protect. So far the demon had only taken men as its victims, and although it had let the one boy live, they weren't convinced that it wouldn't harm the rest of their women or children.
Ejiro had no family to call his own, but most of the men around him did. He recognized that they were doing this for them. They were willing to risk being mutilated and killed by this unknown demon to protect their families. He honored their bravery and prayed that if they were to die, they would meet an illustrious end.
As he continued, Ejiro thought about a story he'd heard in one of the villages on the other side of the western mountains. The village elder had told of a demon that came every so often during the hottest of summers. They told him that the creature came seeking worthy sport to hunt and that it made trophies of its victims.
Ejiro had been unable to make neither head nor tail of it and he soon forgot the story altogether, but the recent events made him remember. He remembered the village elder calling it...
Just then one of the men called out, "Hey, did you hear something?"
"Hear what?" the chieftain asked.
"I don't hear anything," some of the others responded cautiously.
"What did you hear?" Ejiro asked the man.
"I don't know. It sounded like..." Just as the man was about to finish his sentence a large spear punched through his chest, and then he was lifted up in the air. Everyone recoiled fearfully as they watched the man being suspended before he was tossed aside.
Ejiro looked up and saw a figure standing over him. The being was humanoid but that was all he could make out about the creature's appearance. As the beast moved its transparent body bent and twisted in the light underneath the trees. The invisible demon twirled its spear around before looking down at him. The monster's eyes burned like fire as it disappeared.
"DEMON!" Ejiro screamed in terror as he brought his hatchet up. Just as he was about to strike, the demon caught his arm and tore the weapon from his hand, but before it could do anything else, Ejiro's men began attacking.
The demon dropped Ejiro to the ground as it leapt back into the trees. As quickly as it had appeared the monster disappeared back into the forest without a trace.
"Where'd it go?" one of the villagers asked, having expected a fight.
"I-I don't know where it went!" The farmers began to panic as they scanned the trees.
"It disappeared!"
"How could it do that? W-We just saw it!"
As they continued searching, one of the men screamed in anguish as he was stabbed from behind. The men turned around and watched in horror as the demon impaled their friend. The monster dug its clawed hand into the poor man's back before effortlessly tearing out his spinal column. The beast let out an unearthly screech as it did so.
"Attack!" the chieftain cried as he charged forward on his horse.
The monster jumped forward, digging vicious claws into the animal's leg. The chieftain's beast screamed as its leg came off. The chieftain went flying off of the horse's back, landing just a couple of paces away from where Ejiro lay.
The demon landed gracefully on its feet before charging at two of the villagers. The monster moved its claws up, slashing them both with its dual-bladed wrist knives. They groaned as they fell lifelessly to the ground.
Another villager attempted to strike the beast with his hatchet, but the demon moved its arm around catching the weapon in its hand. The beast pulled the man forward stabbing its blades into his gut. Blood leaked from the man's mouth as he looked up at the shimmering horror. The demon clicked with pleasure before it tore its knives upward, dissecting him in one easy motion.
Some of the villagers gasped as the man's blood sprayed them.
"Die you, bastard!" one of the farmers shouted as he attacked the demon with his hoe.
The beast saw the man coming and sidestepped just as he brought the tool down. The monster spun around, grabbing its spear before clubbing the man to the ground with it. The demon made a shrill sound as it plunged the spear into the man's back. Two of the villagers tried to attack the monster, coming at it from opposite sides. The demon saw them approaching and swiftly it swung its spear around, slicing both of them across their stomachs. The men looked down in disbelief for a moment before they were kicked away by the demon. They did not rise again.
The demon clicked as it saw five of the villagers charging at it with their farming tools. The beast blocked them with its spear before punting them out of the way. One of them, however, had managed to move behind the monster and stab it in the back with his knife. The monster roared angrily before throwing its arm back, slitting the man's throat with its claws.
As the other farmers tried to get back up, five of the villagers took aim with their bows.
"FIRE!" the chieftain ordered.
The beast saw the arrows sailing towards it. With impossible speed, the demon dodged the projectiles and the farmers were struck instead. The archers stood, dumbfounded by what they'd done.
Ejiro watched as the demon sped up a tree and turned to look at the archers. He jumped as he heard a loud zapping noise and saw blue fire erupting from the demon's shoulder. The fireball soared towards one of the archers, blasting a hole through his chest before erupting out of his back.
Some of the men ran, but one stayed to fire another arrow at the demon. The man foolishly fumbled as he tried to find an arrow. Before he could locate one, his head exploded into pieces as a blue fireball tore through it.
One of the villagers used the distraction as an opportunity to fire at the monster, but his arrow did not affect it. Three red dots formed on the man's shoulder before another shot rang out and his arm came flying off. The villager screamed as he held at his arm and fell to the ground. The man tried to crawl away, but the monster jumped on him and sank its spear into his back.
Suddenly an arrow hit the beast's wrist. Lightning crackled and danced as the beast became visible. Finally, they could see it.
The demon was tall, taller than any human. It wore armor, unlike anything they'd seen before, it's weird belts adorned by skulls. Ejiro saw something on the monster's shoulder swivel as the beast adjusted the armor piece on its left arm. Long hair-like tendrils hung off the back of the beast's head. The eye holes on the monster's smooth mask briefly flashed with yellow fire.
Two remaining archers fired arrows at the demon again. One of them hit the monster in the face, and another sank into its arm. The creature growled in irritation as it tore the arrow from its arm. The beast quickly moved its spear up before hurdling it at them. The spear caught one of them in the chest, pinning him up against the tree that was right behind him.
The last remaining archer dropped his bow and went for a hatchet, but the demon caught him by the throat as he went for it. The beast growled as it held him up. He kicked and clawed at it, but nothing he did fazed the demon.
Just as it was about to plunge its wrist claws into him the chieftain called out. "Let him go demon!" The chieftain had his sword drawn in a ready stance.
The demon turned and clicked when it saw him.
"Let him go, beast. He is of no worth to you," the chieftain said.
The demon clicked again, dropping the archer and slowly stomping towards the chief. As it came the archer got up and drew his bow. The armor on its shoulder shifted before a blue blast took the man's head off.
"You bastard!" the chieftain roared in outrage. "I'll kill you!" he said as he swung his katana at the demon. The demon blocked with its wrist knives. The chief spun around for a horizontal strike, but the beast blocked that as well. As the chieftain manoeuvred for another attack, the demon came down with its claws. The chieftain dodged to the side before bringing his weapon down on the monster's arm, but his blade only managed to scrape the armor on its shoulder.
The demon spun its arm around slicing the chief's abdomen open. The man gasped as he fell to his knees. He looked down and saw that his intestines had fallen out. The demon clicked as it watched him fall to the ground.
With a shrill roar, the monster reached into the chief's back and tore out his spine and skull in a brutal display of strength. The demon threw its arms in the air as it continued to shriek.
Ejiro was crouched behind a tree. He'd watched as the demon effortlessly cut down the villagers and the chieftain. As he watched the beast mutilate their corpses, he felt a sense of guilt and dishonor swelling inside his chest. He should have fought alongside them, but he had been too scared. He'd never been so scared that he cowered from a fight, especially with a demon, but this was unlike any demon he'd ever seen.
Once he was able to regain his composure he got up to sneak away. He'd come back with more men and they'd fight it again. Perhaps then he'd redeem himself, but not right now. To fight the thing would've been a foolish idea.
As he began to sneak away though, his foot fell on a stick. The demon growled as it turned to face him. Ejiro cried out as he began to run. He heard the sound of the beast's shoulder cannon firing. Ejiro ducked to the side as the blue fireball tore a tree into splinters. Foolishly he turned around to look at the demon and screamed.