Inuyasha wiped the sweat off his brow as Kagome came to him with a cup of water. He downed it, leaning on the axe. He was chopping down trees for the new houses. It was exhausting work for Humans, and Inuyasha was no exception. With all of the sword work he had done, this gave him new callouses and his arms burned with exertion.
"Most of the villagers who were injured in the attack are healed now Inuyasha." Kagome passed most of the bento boxes she had to the others, holding one out to Inuyasha. "It shouldn't be long before they can rely on themselves."
"Yeah, they keep trying to brush my help off." Inuyasha nodded. "We've been idle here too long. We need to chase after Naraku. He fled south and I think he's still down there. The villagers have all heard about this Ghost Fox thing too."
A villager gasped and glanced around. "Please, sir, don't say that near here."
Inuyasha blinked and frowned. "What? Why?"
"They say he's in the forest," he whispered very quietly. "A red fox was seen running into Inuyasha Woods after the fight with Naraku and the demons. They say he was him, come to haunt us in material form."
Inuyasha scoffed. "Ghost fox, yeah right! It's just some pesky demon who's found a way to be all over the place. It's probably one of the new ones from the other world." Inuyasha noshed on the lunch Kagome brought for him and the other villagers.
The man shook his head. "I saw him with my own eyes. He was killing the other demons, he was not one of them."
Inuyasha mused, watching the man. "So he's in the woods, huh?"
The villager nodded.
"Well then, I'll just have to flush him out," Inuyasha brushed his hands off. "I could use a good fight. It's better than all this tree chopping." He gave Kagome his axe and headed for the woods.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called after him as she got up. She left the axe with the workers. "Inuyasha you can't just come out here like this all by yourself. What if they're right? What if that fox is out in these woods?" Kagome demanded.
Inuyasha scoffed. "You can't seriously believe that Kagome."
"So what if I do! There are a lot more strong demons out here than there used to be. They never used to attack the village, let alone Naraku, and now these bloodthirsty demons are after everything. They're everywhere. Why not here?"
Inuyasha shook his head, "Shippo's kind are super rare now. They're mostly peaceful. If there is a fox out here, he's not going to be some vicious man-slaughterer like everyone seems to think."
Kagome sighed and followed Inuyasha through the woods staying close just to avoid getting too scared herself.
As they dug deeper and deeper into the woods, Inuyasha began to get more on edge himself. He kept turning his head, and taking deep long breaths as if trying to keep his barring.
"That's odd." He took another breath and knelt down by the ground. They were following up a river.
"What do we have here? Two love birds out to play footsy?" A set of demons began to circle them.
Kagome pulled off her bow and arrow, as Inuyasha stood up. "I could use a good fight, but you're not who I'm looking for," he remarked with his back still to the offensive demons.
The pair had long horns curling out of their head and smashed in faces. "We would be happy with just taking the girl and killing you, half-breed. Man, your planet is just overrun with your lot. So disgusting!" the demon shook his hand in front of his face.
"Go away," Inuyasha warned again as Kagome stepped back, aiming her bow at the two of them.
"Or what? Your missie's bow will poke us?"
They laughed and lunged forward.
Inuyasha spun around drawing his sword in a second and decapitating the two almost quicker than Kagome could see. She gasped and fell back into the river from her own shock. She laughed and pushed herself up grabbing for the edge of the river to crawl up the side. "Man Inuyasha! You've really improved."
"Having all these jerks around to fight has made it easy." Inuyasha held out his hand.
Kagome giggled nervously and grabbed his hand. "Sorry. I'm still a bit of a clutz."
Inuyasha just smirked and turned away, leading her through the woods. "You said you gave Kurama a shard of the jewel, right?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yeah. Once I get my week there instead of just this every other day thing, I'm going to see if he wants to come help us." Kagome chattered. She wrung out her skirt as they walked.
"You remember how Jaken and Rin said Kohaku was taken by Naraku?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome nodded. She looked around, starting to recognize where they were. "Yup." She nodded. "Sango's been real beat up about it. She keeps saying that things were good for so long, she forgot he still had it in him."
Inuyasha pulled her up the last incline to the 'sacred tree.' They stopped to stare as it loomed overhead. Kagome gasped as she saw a ring of rocks at the base.
"Is that a campfire?" Kagome asked.
Inuyasha nodded. "This place is covered with that herb Sango smears on places were we've slept when we're trying to sneak up on Naraku."
"Sango!" Kagome yelled as she waved her arms running through the town at full tilt. "Sango! Inuyasha found something-" she came to a halt by her friend in the garden. She panted heavily as she leaned on her knees. "He found something. The tree." she gasped for air a few times and grabbed Sango's arm, who stood up. "Come on!" she took off towards the well.
Sango followed after Kagome. When they finally made it out to the tree, Sango gasped herself. "Kohaku?" she asked sinking down next to the tree where a bit of green was stuck. She picked it up and sniffed the herb, then pulled back, smiling. "What was he doing out here?" she asked quietly as she looked around the camp. Inuysaha stood on the far side while Kagome panted on the side of the well. They watched Sango move about the area like she was reading something, following patterns.
She sighed and dropped her head. "Thank you for showing this to me, but I can't tell where he is from it." Sango whispered.
"Naraku does not camp in the woods," Inuyasha remarked. "Plus if he was this badly wounded, he wouldn't have stayed this close," he added. Inuyasha took a few steps closer and brushed aside the leaves that were spread over the ground near the tree. The dirt was dark with dried blood.
Sango gasped and began to clear away more of the leaves. "He's not with Naraku!" she exclaimed happily. "You're right. We've never seen him act like this. Kohaku would never tend his wounds, and since the demon isn't buried near here or dead, he must have lived!"
"Why didn't he come into town?" Kagome asked quietly.
Sango sighed and shook her head. "I don't know."
Inuyasha huffed. "Well I have to find that red fox hiding in here for the villagers still, so I'm going. Sango, take Kagome back to the village."
"Stay safe Inuyasha, whomever this demon is," she pointed to the blood, "They managed to live through something they should have died from."
"I want to go with you Inuyasha," Kagome scampered across the clearing by the tree. "If they really are strong like this, then you could need help."
"I have a guess who it is Kagome. You need to go home."
"Home?" Kagome frowned. "Why?"
"Because if it is him, we all might be in danger." Inuyasha whispered.
Kagome sighed and went back to Sango. "Fine, just come back in one piece," she requested.
Inuyasha nodded. "I will."
Once Inuyasha was gone, Kagome settled out of the way while Sango continued to look around the clearing. She took her time, examining every detail she could.
"Who does Inuyasha think it is?" Kagome asked offhandedly.
"There was a rumor among the slayers," Sango started. "That the mountains near here, Mount Kurama, and Mount Hiei, sprung forth two ferocious beasts."
"What sort of beasts?" Kagome asked curiously.
Sango shrugged. "We just heard about them as kids. Mount Hiei's demon was said to be a giant black cloud which could freeze the world and kill everything by turning it into ice, but he was just a boogeyman to keep us inside at night, especially in the winter."
"What about Mount Kurama?"
Sango sighed, "There's not much we know about him. What we do know is that he's not there though. Mount Kurama became something of a hideout for Demon Slayers after a while because demons refused to go anywhere near it. Some humans even think it's cursed because of the absence."
Kagome nodded. "What do you know about him?" Kagome pushed.
"It is said that Mount Kurama is just an illusion permanently held by him to hide his treasures, and that anyone who crosses him, or rivals him in treasure, is brutally slaughtered, demon, human, or otherwise. Since no one ever really sees him, and he uses snow as cover, most people think it's the same demon who rules both lands."
"What do they call the two of them?"
"The Ghost of Mount Kurama, and The Snow of Mount Hiei."
"I wonder if it's Hiei and Kurama from my time," Kagome mused.
"Kurama? No, it couldn't be. The Ghost of Mount Kurama goes farther back than nearly any other story. It's nearly as old as the Gods. Some even say that Mount Kurama was created by Inari to end eternal winter. In these legends, The Ghost of Mount Kurama is the ghost of the missing snow."
"Man, these legends all die out by my time." Kagome mused.
"Let's head back to the town." Sango offered Kagome her hand. "If it is The Ghost of Mount Kurama who is rampaging against these demons, we do not need to interfere. Kaede's village isn't strong enough, or wealthy enough, to be a target."
"I hope you're right." The two walked gradually back to the village.
The villagers huddled around the remaining town square all out on open fires with large black pots hanging over them, stewing. Kagome and Sango walked around the outskirts checking on people, injured, homeless, otherwise, before gathering in the center where Shippo and Kilala were with the other kids of the village. Miroku watched over the people as darkness closed in around them.
"Kagome, Sango, you two have been gone all day, what's the matter?"
"Nothing's wrong, Inuyasha found signs that Kohaku was staying in the woods and we took our time getting back, that's all. It was already past noon when Kagome came and got me." Sango sat down on the bench beside him.
Kagome scooped up Shippo and kissed him on the cheek as Kilala ran over to crawl into Sango's lap and give her attention. Sango pet the little kitten as she watched the others mull about and get the children back to their parents. "Inuyasha's still gone."
"Inuyasha went to look for the red fox in the forest."
"What?" One of the villagers came over to them and frowned. "What did you say?"
"Inuyasha has gone to see who the red fox in the forest is that you're all so scared of."
"Oh! He shouldn't have done that! The red fox might kill him. He's very vicious. He didn't kill any of the villagers, but he killed hundreds of the demons. It was amazing to see how quickly he could cut through them when our best warriors were having issues. Please, you must go after him and make sure he's alright."
"He'll be fine. If he needed help, we would know," Kagome assured the villager. "Thank you for your concern, but it is unfounded."
"It is not unfounded Priestess! It is from seeing that fox fight!"
"Did you see him in the battle?" Miroku asked curiously.
The villager nodded and grabbed his wounded arm. "I saw him fight right in front of me. He was absolutely deadly. The grass rose all around us into spikey blades to cut through their feet, and he tossed out specks of dust which turned into these monsters that devoured people whole! Anything that moved, that squirmed or tried to run, they ate. I only managed to make it out of there because I was outside of the range he had."
"What did he look like?" Sango asked.
"He was blood red, hunched over in the middle of the field with a silver tipped red fox tail. He had silver tipped ears and hair as well. He was facing Naraku when he killed the field of demons."
"If he doesn't return before we go to bed, then I'll go look for him with Miroku, otherwise we have to have faith that he can make it on his own."
The rest of the villagers milled about, settling down for the night and gradually going home, or at least where they were staying. Even if the town was conserving food by potlucks, they wanted to maintain that home was home.
Sango and Kagome sat outside of Kaede's temporarily empty hut, whispering to one another. She was visiting a neighboring town.
"It's not like I've been acting that different, it's just that he's been acting nicer. I really don't know what's going on?"
"I've noticed it too, but I didn't really want to say anything. I'm really happy that he seems to have come around though." Sango smiled towards Kagome. "Now if only Miroku would straighten up, you know?"
"He will, I mean, he's a monk in training. He'll have to if he wants to move on at all. It's just that hand of his."
"It's a shame really, because if Naraku wouldn't have done it to him, then I wouldn't have met him, but it's going to kill him if we don't get rid of it."
"Yeah. I asked Kurama about it once while we were walking. He doesn't know any way to stop it either."
"Do you think we'll make it in time?" Sango asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Thanks Kagome. We haven't seen Kikyo in a long time, have you noticed?"
Kagome nodded. "I was trying to ignore it in case speaking of the devil brought him closer."
Sango chuckled and smiled. "It's weird that she hasn't been around at all though."
"Naraku might have finally killed her again. He did remove his heart."
Sango sighed. "Maybe."
They watched Inuyasha as he walked closer.
"You know," Sango began. "If we want to beat Naraku, you're going to have to go get Kurama so he can help us kill him."
"I'll leave tomorrow to get him. I am just going to need some time in my own time for school before I can head off for a long adventure."
"We understand." Sango patted Kagome's shoulder and stood up. "Inuyasha! Did you find the red fox?"
"Nah, he left with Kohaku. There aren't any signs of them actually being in the forest still."
Kagome sighed and got up brushing herself off, "That will relieve the villagers."
"Yeah."
"We should get to bed." Sango stood up and offered her hand to Kagome. Kagome nodded and took her hand as well.
"Inuyasha, there's some leftover dinner if you want it," she led the two into the little empty cottage and pulled a bowl out of the low heat fire, holding it out to him. He took it gratefully and headed back outside.