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Chapter 7: The Great Demon Uekya, Lord of the Trees
As Myoga was about to start his story, at Hasu's lake, Hasu rose from the water and stepped on the upward lotus path.
Takashi landed on his usual boulder and stood silently.
"That was a perfect diversion today, Takashi. It would be more difficult to get close to that village with Inuyasha there." Hasu playfully stroke a strand of her hair. "Sesshomaru is indeed powerful."
Takashi glanced at her.
"I think Sesshomaru's mother must possess the Meido Stone. I expect she will make her appearance soon, and we shall confirm it."
"Why do you think she will show up soon?"
"It's only a guess. Sesshomaru has just come of age." She changed to a playfully salacious tone. "He's about to experience his first taste of physical desire."
"So what? Is the mother going to come and mate her son?"
"There must be a reason why the descendants of the Inu Demon are perfect in stature and power. I do not imagine she will mate her son, for that will tarnish their virtuous bloodline. Though, I imagine she would make sure Sesshomaru doesn't take any random creatures as his mate."
"Hmm! Then we shall wait for her." Takashi smirked. "Meanwhile, I'll continue to raid the human villages."
Hasu kept quite. She looked toward the southeast direction, pensive.
A human army of five hundred men stood in front of the mountain. They could not reach Uekya because he was standing on the platform in front of his cave high up on the mountain.
The general of the army, clad in a thick metal armor from head to toes leaving only his dark eyes unguarded, which was the fashion of the whole army, raised his hand.
"Coward demon, come down here. We need a talk of negotiation."
Uekya looked at the army with a calm demeanor. Then he descended toward the army below.
When he came within their range, the general swung his arm forward.
"ATTACK!"
Hundreds of arrows pasted with talisman paper swooshed from the men's bows toward Uekya.
He dashed backward and spoke in a thunderous voice that echoed through the valley below.
"YOU, SHALL, KEEP, TO THE RULES OF BATTLE!"
He spun around and swung his arm. The leaves from the surrounding trees left their branches and formed a blurry green trail following his hand's movement.
When the spin completed, he pointed at the men, sending the leaves furiously forward to counteract the arrows head on.
At the clash, the arrows evaporated. The leaves continued on their paths as they turned into metal, heading fiercely straight for the men's eyes, the only parts of their body unshiedlded.
The leaves suddenly stopped when they almost reached the men's eyes, turned back to normal leaves, falling down.
Uekya landed on the ground, standing with his side toward them. He glanced with a gentle glaze in his eyes.
"Enlighten me. I do not know who you are, and I do not know of any matter to be discussed between us."
The whole army stood speechless.
Suddenly, the sound of a horse's gallops approached. From that direction, a helpless scream called out to him.
"UeKYAAA!"
On the horse was a young human woman with her arms tied behind her on a horse. Sitting behind her was a warrior holding a knife across her neck.
Uekya turned toward the voice, "Akaibara!"
The general approached the horse when it reached the battleground and spoke in an arrogant tone.
"Princess Akaibara, today, it would be either your death or this demon's death. You choose. If you tell this monster to submit to his execution, we'll let you live."
The general pointed his sword at Akaibara's chest, "Now, princess, TELL HIM TO SUBMIT AT ONCE!"
"No! Don't hurt him. Please, I shall die in his stead."
"Akaibara, you shall NOT die in anyone's stead this day," Uekya said in a firm tone.
"NOOOOO!" Akaibara shook her head vigorously. "I don't want you to die."
Akaibara lunged her neck into the knife that was held securely against her when the ground started to shake, causing the men to teeter back and forth. Cracking sounds erupted around them as a surge of trees shot up from the ground. Their branches soared around the men, encircling their bodies, rendering them immobile.
A branch looped around the horse, brought it upward and turned it upside down, shaking off the warrior on its back. A vine caught him right before he hit the ground.
As Akaibara fell down from the horse, Uekya sent several soft vines in her direction, encasing her, spinning her toward him, unharmed.
The vines evaporated, and Akaibara fell into the circle of his arms.
Uekya held Aikabara and glided upward to his cave. Once there, he released a small drop of white sap into the ground below. From its flow, an impenetrable wall of trees sprang up, surrounded the army, leaving only one small path open that led them back to the direction where the horse had come from.
The branches that held the men loosened and let them free as they heard Uekya's voice in the air.
"Go back to your human world and never again disturb my peace."
After the men were gone, Hasu ran toward Uekya, "Uekya-sama, those men are evil. Why did you let them go unharmed?"
Uekya let go of Akaibara and approached Hasu. He patted the crown of Hasu's head and smiled gently.
"Hasu, my child, whether they are evil or not, we shall not meddle with the natural course of their life. Our power is to defend and protect, never to harm."
He knelt down beside her and playfully pinched her chin, "Don't you remember anything I teach you?"
She jumped into his arms and faked a pout, "NO!"
He caught her and stood up, carrying her upward, "Now, Hasu. You are misbehaving."
She pounded on his chest with her small fists, "They will come back and hurt you."
"You will protect me, won't you?"
"NO!"
"Why not?"
"Because I would have to kill those humans, and you don't want me to kill anything, especially the humans!"
Uekya pushed the tip of her nose teasingly, "You did learn something, my lovely Hasu!"
Hasu sighed. 'As you wish, I will not kill your beloved humans, Uekya-sama.'
She looked downward. 'However, a courtesy from me, you shall witness, from your grave, how those evil creatures will kill each other with their own hands by their own greed.'
She finally answered Takashi, "No, Takashi. It's imperative that we find the Meido Stone. We must also strip the Tenseiga from Sesshomaru. Those will not be easy tasks. Stay close. We work together and seize any opportunities we have."
"But the death of the humans is also needed."
"Yes, indeed. But we will borrow their hands to kill each other for us."
"You mean - "
"We will retrieve the Shoheki Star to release the Rainbow Phoenix." Her eyes darkened as she chuckled. "And by their greed, the human kings will wage war upon each other to possess it."
When she finished the sentence, a line of lotus petals appeared and disappeared in quick succession that looked like a thin white line dashing through the sky. Hasu stepped on them and flew forward, leaving just a blurry pink shadow behind her.
"Come with me, Takashi."
Takashi leaped through various platforms on the ground, following closely behind, leaving his own blurry shadow in an uneven zigzag pattern.
They headed toward the southeast corner of the land.
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Note:
Sgt. Sporky. Thank you so much for your awesomely detailed and honest review, and the humorous part also. I appreciate very much the feedback. I do try to take your advice wherever I could in the story. I do agree with you about Jaken. I will try to keep him more in check. ^ ^. Thank you so much.
And I would like to thank all the followers of the story. I hope you are reading it and so hope you enjoy it. But if you don't, in any details, I would appreciate some feedback, either in a reviews or pm if you don't like to write public reviews. In that case, I would kinda have a feel for what kind of stories, or details that SessRin readers look for. Thank you so much.