02. Nine Tails
"It's rude to be snooping around, haven't your mother taught you?"
…
"Shippo!"
"Sorry…I must've soaked too long in the hot spring." The beauty locked her apathetic gaze onto the little fox demon who had sneezed. This group of travellers is like a gong show as they stepped out from hiding along the balcony. A fox demon, a two tailed cat demon, a half-breed, a monk, a demon slayer and an oddly dressed priestess. The ones who have come to apparently ward her off. This must be a joke. If only they knew she is no ordinary demoness.
"More like you shouldn't have ran around unclothed as Inuyasha chased you—Oh wow…hello there, this is a even more pleasant surprise." The monk garbed in black and purple steps forward as he finally comes face to face with the ethereal woman in front of them.
"Oh wow…She is unbelievably beautiful." Shippo comments as he jumps onto Miroku's shoulder. The two of them gape at the moonlit visual in awe; the way the moonlight hits her is simply breath taking. The jewels she wore sparkles like the dew during a spring morning and her eyes did no less.
"Miroku, Shippo, snap out of it…She is the soul sucking demoness of this castle!" Kagome yells as she aims her arrow at the calm stature of what still appears to be a human woman in front of them.
"Momoka-sama, what is going on?!" The beauty's loyal child servant arrives at the scene. Her wide eyes darts between the six uninvited guests.
"Its not a big deal Mei, our visitors here just thinks I'm one of those demons who have been devouring souls of lords."
"Enough of the chit-chat! Show your true self demon!" Inuyasha yells unsheathing Tessaiga. Momoka smiles with amusement. What a short-tempered mutt…
"How dare you speak to Momoka-sama like that you half-breed?! My lady is one of the Nine Tailed Jade Foxes who have once obtained celestial status!" Mei snarls back, the amber of her demon eyes glowing through her human façade.
"She said once." Shippo comments matter-o-factly with which Miroku and Kagome agree with a nod.
"I can care less if that nine tailed demon was once a saint!" Inuyasha shouts, the way that Momoka stood there with nonchalance angers him even more. Her arrogance is through the roof…not to mention her arrogance reminds him of a certain someone with displeasure.
"Mei, you can deal with them…I'm going to try to find what I came here to look for."
"Yes, my lady." Mei complies with a snarl directing towards Inuyasha and his gang. Her features slowly changes from a human to her demon form—starting from her forming large fox ears and her face morphes to form into a protruding snout as she went on all fours, her tail static with hostility.
"She's a Fennec fox demon!" Shippo announces his observation with awe.
"You want us to deal with this small fry while you scrimmage around? Fine, this won't even take three seconds!" Inuyasha charges towards the fennec fox demon and swings his sword in its direction, only to find out this fennec fox has mastered the art of speed. She darts quickly from every swing—Inuyasha doesn't even come close to grazing her. Momoka rustles through the human Lord's desk in search of the treasure she has travelled far to find. This treasure did not belong to this stupid human nobility who knows nothing of the origin of this treasure. She being one of the surviving Nine Tails Jade Foxes is the rightful owner, her family heirloom, the 'Jade Moon'. This heirloom holds the celestial status of the nine tailed foxes…If it weren't for the goddess Nuwa who had withdrew this heirloom and their celestial status, the great Nine Tailed Jade Fox, Momoka, would not have to deal with such shameful ordeal for the past two hundred years. Sometimes even she has to ask—is she a deity or a demon?
A silk wrapped square box appears in the secret compartment of the desk. This must be it!
"Inuyasha…I think we might have mistaken…" Kagome says as she furrows her brow in confusion while the woman they deemed to be a soul-eating demon shows more interest in a little box than the human lord she had so conveniently casted aside. It seems while she was searching the desk his limp body was in the way.
"What?! You're saying all this time she didn't want to devour that lord's soul?" Inuyasha looked back at Kagome in disbelief. The Fennec fox demon leaps back into a defensive stance and watches as her opponent withdraws.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along." Momoka rolls her beautiful eyes, now the color of silver—the natural eyes of the nine tailed fox. She lifts the cover of the box and discards it as she smiles down at the glowing orb in her hands. The jade orb is a clear lake green that emits a blindingly stunning purple light…Momoka has always seen it from afar but this close? This is certainly a first.
Inuyasha's companions stare in awe as the glow of the orb shaped jade mesmerizes them. The way a piece of emerald colored jade can emit such a mystical purple light is a first for any pair of eyes, even the nine tailed fox herself cannot help but sigh a breath of amazement.
"Wow…what is that?" Sango wonders out loud.
"This is the Jade Moon and my real intentions for getting close to that human lord. No human soul can compare to the worth of this heirloom. Not even a hundred."
"So you didn't come here to steal a soul you came here to steal a treasure?" Shippo continues to question ignorantly. Momoka shifts her gaze onto the small critter making him quiver in fright at the ferocity behind a mask of calm. She lifts the glowing jade out of the box and the cold friction of the jade caresses her porcelain hand.
"Steal? I am the rightful owner of the Jade Moon."
Momoka cups the jade in her hands and waits to feel the power to react to the nine tailed fox blood flowing in her. There is supposed to be a surge of warmth, a change in color, a feeling of familiarity…but…
…But there was nothing.
Only the calm of the night, the cries of the cicadas…
…And six strangers staring at her; waiting for something to happen.
She lifts the jade to eye level—a crease forming between her brows, momentarily disturbing the perfection of her smooth porcelain skin.
"Mei…"
The fennec fox demon morphs back into her humanoid form, "yes my lady?"
"We are leaving to the next destination to find the Jade Moon…" Momoka lets the jade orb roll out of her hands with a 'thunk', "…this is just a piece of ordinary jade."
"I-It's a fake?" Mei mumbles in misbelief.
"How would you know that it is a fake?" Kagome asks, her curiosity getting the best of her.
"You would never know unless you're a nine tailed fox, but you are a human girl…so I guess you will never know." Momoka replies back rather curtly, not particularly directing her sharp tone towards the girl but more so through the tinge of annoyance from the fake jade. What does that human girl even know? So nosey, such ignorance… "Mei—next location." Her tone slowly develops impatience instigating the fennec fox demon girl to perform a few hand movements under a quick breathe of "yes, my lady".
"Yin of the Sun, Yang of the Moon…" With Mei's chants a round mirror appear between her palms and an image of constellations gradually appear on the surface, her round eyes glance over it, "my lady, we are to head three hundred miles west."
"What?! So you're just going to leave?!" Inuyasha shouts, "I'm not done with you yet!"
Momoka quirks her brow at the half dog demon, can't quite figure out if she is still amused by him or appalled by his lack of grace...Her eyes met with the pair of deep golden filled with raging questions and a bruised pride.
"Mei…We are leaving." Like she said with a swift leap past the travellers and her disciple following close behind, Momoka the nine tailed jade fox propels towards the night sky leaving behind six layers of fine silk. As the fabrics drifts down from the sky the jewels of the embellishment refracts the light of the moon into little flickers yet there was no longer a trace of ebony locks contrasting striking porcelain nor a pair of bottomless enigmatic silver eyes.
…
"She's gone…"
The slight breeze catches the ends of his long silver mane as he tilts his head up in hopes of catching the wretched scent of a certain calculative, deceptive half-breed. He need not let that excuse of a demon live for another day.
There is no fresh scent of him—or to put it more correctly, there is none.
Although disappointed he did not let it show and carried on, on his way. There were his companions following behind him, oblivious to where they were going but so obediently complies with his lead.
"Wow! Jaken-sama, do you think there is a peach blossom tree nearby? I think I smell peach blossoms!" the human girl on a two-headed dragon's back asks in delight. The kappa demon beside her shot her a indifferent look with his bulgy yellow eyes with a 'hmph' as he crosses his arms over his little chest, "Be quiet, Rin! There are no peach blossom trees around these lands!"
"Why Jaken-sama?!"
The little kappa demon huffs with impatience, "because it's too humid in these lands for peach blossom trees to grow, you dumb girl!"
Jaken is right. Any ordinary peach blossom tree would not be able to survive in these kind of marshy terrains, but there is someone the silver haired great dog demon once knew who naturally produces such sweet scent. Yet he knew it couldn't be that nine tails of an excuse…because if it is indeed that woman, she had once promised with her return she would come find him. Then again…that was two hundred years ago. He could care less…who would trust a fox anyways? They are wily by nature…scheming and untrustworthy by heart…
…
It doesn't matter anymore.
…
"Are we lost?" Rin pipes in at their sudden halt.
"How dare you! Sesshomaru-sama always knows his way!" Jaken shrieks, although it also crossed the imp's mind the last thing he needs is getting on the wrong side of his lord from the crack of dawn. Being under his lord's service for many decades, Jaken knows Lord Sesshomaru of the Western lands is not one to easily please for one, for two—he can hold a very long and deep grudge.
"Jaken. You stay here with Rin."
"Y-yes my lord!" Before the kappa could even catch up to the stoic form of his lord. The man of the highest demon social standings had already disappeared into another direction of the thick morning fog. Jaken can only muster himself to think of what little positives as he dragged his feet back to where Ah-Un and Rin were; because there is only a few spots of dry land for them to rest on…because finding food for Rin in the middle of no where is hardly a challenge…because it will only take about more than three days till he returns…
"Jaken-sama, is Sesshomaru-sama going to leave us here for a long time?" Rin asks out of curiosity, she never really can pinpoint when he would come back but her faith tells her he would never abandon her. All she usually has to do is wait…but for how long?
"No! He is going to come back very soon! Stop asking so many questions!" Although Jaken shrieks with such certainty it sounds more like reassurance for Jaken himself.
[End of Chapter 02]