InuYasha's

Sango's Lost Sister

Chapter 3

As Saika and Keiko finally landed on the roof of the temple fortress and ran closer to the action. The young hokage reached in to a pouch behind her back at her belt line and pulled out three small round balls. She quickly handed them to her student who knew exactly what to do with them. They were balls of catnip; an excellent way to distract a feline.

Keiko quickly jumped down to join the others fighting as Saika ran forward on the roof. As she jumped, her left hand opened a pouch on her right leg and grabbed a Flying Dragon shuriken blade by its handle.

"Oh no you don't. You leave those people alone!" Saika growled as she dove towards a bull demon. As she landed, she flung her weapon towards the creatures neck, severing it clean off his body before it had a chance to react.

As Keiko had said, this group of demons were indeed strong. It took nearly every experienced fighter there to cut down all the demons in short order. After a half hour, Saika was becoming irritated and angry. Why wouldn't they retreat or die already! As she released star shuriken at a demon, she felt a presence slowly come out and surround her; strengthening and guiding her. The young hokage paid no attention to the gasps of surprise as she straightened and pulled her chakram off her left hip.

"We are tired of your nonsense! Leave now!" Saika commanded angrily. The only thing was, her voice now sounded ethereal. Not of this world. With all her strength, she flung her chakram at the five demons standing twenty feet away. Just as her weapon returned to her, all five demons were dead, missing their heads.

"Now, would someone please tell me what that...thing was surrounding me. From wha I heard, you all saw it." Saika asked firmly.

"Lady Saika, it looked like a spirit came from you. I may be wrong, but it looked like the spirit of Tomoe Gozen. She was a well known samurai woman that lived around two hundred years ago. I believe she was assisting you." Inari replied, stepping forward.

"I see...thank you Inari. If you could tell me where the nearest hotsprings are, my students and I would like to clean up before the evening meal." Saika answered, breathing a sigh of tiredness and relief.

"Of course lady Saika, our bathhouses are in that direction. If you will give your weapons to my servant here, he will clean and polish them while you are in the hotsprings." Inari replied.

"That would be great, Thank you." Saika replied as she handed over the weapons she had used to the servant. She smiled gently at him and nodded her thanks before following Inari.

"Here we are milady. The men's bath is to the right and the women's is to the left. I hope everything is to your satisfaction. The evening meal will be in an hour." Inari replied. He bowed and left the small group to enter the baths.

Saika and Keiko entered theirs and quickly chose a tub. They quickly striped off their clothes and slid in to the hot water. Keiko giggled at the silly face Saika made as she slide in slowly. Saika chuckled, happy to help the young girl laugh and finally relax like this after a long day.

"This feels wonderful sensei! If it isn't any trouble, I would like to ask if I could learn how to use the sword. I feel like I am ready for one now." Keiko asked after a few moments of silence.

"This bath does feel good. I was ready for a good soak myself. And yes, I believe you are ready to learn how to handle a sword. You must learn with a wooden sword first. I will talk to Inari when we leave the baths to see if he can help us." Saika replied, smiling at the eager girl. Keiko was good student and learned her lessons quickly.

After twenty minutes, they stepped out of the out of the large tub and got dressed. Saika had to smirk as she could hear Injuro and Mihano chattering like a pair of squirrels while they got dressed again. They were obviously excited for some reason.

"Hey you two, stop acting like a pair of squirrels and get dressed. The evening meal will be ready soon and you won't be ready." Saika chided the two playfully. She and Keiko stepped out and closed their bathhouse door just as Injuro and Mikano stumbled out of theirs. "I see the bath did the two of you a world of good. You are rather wound up."

"Lady Saika, I just came to tell that your weapons have been made ready and are in your room. This man I would like to know if you would all like to stay for another day or so. We would llike to learn some of those moves and attacks you did, fighting the demons." Inari replied, hoping Saika would say yes to his request.

"Lady Saika, my name is General Wakano. I would be grateful if you and your students would stay and teach us." the man introduced himself.

"This must be fate. Keiko has told me that she wants to learn how to use a sword. Injuro, Mihano, is there a weapon you would like to learn to weild?"

Saika asked her other two students.

"I would like to learn how to use a chakram sensei. I don't know of any other ninja, than you, who knows how to use one." Mihano replied, eager have an effective weapon at his side.

"I would like to learn how to use the Kyoketsu-Shoge sensei. It's is effective in short and long distance fighting." Injuro stated.

"Well, if General Wakano and Inari agree, we will stay two extra days and you can learn how to use these weapons. Mihano, I will teach you how to use the chakram. I will warn you now, it's a tricky weapon to learn." Saika replied.

"I understand sensei. I will pay strick attention to what you teach me." Mihano replied firmly.

"I will be more than happy to help you in this. I know the fort has these weapons in our storeroom. You are more than welcome to use them." General Wakano replied.

"Then it is settled. We will take a rest from travelling and do what we can to help out as well. In the meantime, I think the three of us had better get back to our room and check out our weapons." Saika stated.

She couldn't help but chuckle as her three students whooped in excitement and raced for their room. When she got to the room, at a more leisurely pace, she saw Mihano admiring their newly cleaned weapons. Keiko and Injuro gawking in to the room next to theirs; their private diningroom.

"Well, it must be something amazing if you three are this still for more than a moment." Saika quipped. Her students were good people; and very energetic.

"Sensei, you should see our weapons! They look brand new!" Mihano replied quietly, obviously awed at the look of his weapon.

"I would have to agree. The people here obviously know how important it is to keep weapons in good shape." Saika answered, going over and picking up her chakram.

"And you should see the feast they left us. It's still steaming." Keiko replied, a little drool coming out the side of her mouth just then.

"Well get in there before I beat you to it." Saika replied as she put down her weapon and made a short jump to the next room, teasing her students.

She may be quite tough on them at times, during her training, but that didn't mean she wasn't a caring and loving person as well. The platters of food smelt wonderful as they sat down to enjoy them. It wasn't surprising that even Saika had managed to stuff herself. After a pleasant evening on the balcony with drinks and just enjoying the evening they went to bed and slept soundly. They would need the sleep if they were to learn how to use their new weapons.