Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
A Dig to the Past
Chapter 5
During the gathering of firewood Rin had somehow managed to talk Sesshomaru into discussing the matter the next morning after a bath. Miroku had slept the rest of the night after a soak in the hot springs and slept through the night. The rest of the guys were a bit uneasy and didn't sleep well. They slept probably half of the night so that they could keep an eye on everyone. They didn't want to let their guard down especially after what had happened. Reality was slowly setting in for them as they realized that the danger was real in this time. It wasn't going to be like home where there were rules and the law to take care of the dangerous issues. Here there were no rules and everyone did as they pleased.
"I don't know how you did it Rin but you must have some serious skills of persuasion." Sango smiled as she soaked into the hot springs once more. "If it weren't for them having to bathe in groups then we could've done this last night."
"At least we get to take it easy since Miroku isn't up to full strength and we get to leave a bit later today." Rin smiled. "I don't understand why guys can't bathe together like we can."
"It's a guy thing. Besides I don't think any guy wants to see their brother naked or vice versa." Kagome sighed. Miroku had bathed alone, then Sesshomaru and Kouga, and finally Inuyasha and Shippo leaving no time that night for the girls to get back in. "Even if they are grown men."
The girls started laughing and after about twenty minutes of relaxation they dried off and changed. But they started to smell something burn and ran back to camp. Instead of any danger the guys had just burned breakfast. "Great leave men to cook and they destroy it." Rin rolled her eyes and inspected it. "It's not too bad but I suggest you leave the cooking to me."
"We can rotate our daily routine." Kagome said. "It's best to stay in groups for safety especially after what happened yesterday."
"I think until we can find the temple the chances of us getting back are less likely." Shippo spoke up. "I think the temple itself had a great deal with our travel back in time. From what I can tell, something about our presence in the temple was significant. Some type of power was still in the temple."
"You think the temple had enough power to send us back in time?" Kouga asked.
"That's impossible they wouldn't have had this type of power." Sango had seen much of the temple that night to examine it but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"Not really. This is the feudal era." Shippo stated. "Here there's magic and a lot of it. It's not like in our time and we've even seen an example of it. Miroku is obviously showing signs of spiritual power and the man in the pelt said Kagome was a miko and its not the first time we've heard of that. We heard it from Kaede that someone was eliminating them. He must've succeeded well since in our time we don't have nearly as many miko and monks like we do youkai. In fact I've never come across any or even heard of it. It could be possible that they were all killed."
"If that were the case how did Miroku and Kagome end up with powers?" Sango asked. "Wouldn't it have had to stay in the family?"
"I can't explain it but it's the only thing I can think of. Maybe they activated the temple's dormant power and somehow transported us into this era." Shippo folded his arms. "I won't know for sure until I examine the temple. We can't rule out that explanation though."
Miroku lifted his hand and looked at the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist and palm. He definitely had something since he had injured the man. "That man, was he a youkai?" He asked.
"I felt nothing of that from him but he wasn't human either." Inuyasha said. "We didn't even feel his presence until he got close to the hot springs."
"He didn't have any spiritual power or youki." Sesshomaru said. "I can only assume after seeing him that he's more powerful than he wants us to know."
"Do you think he'll be back?" Rin asked.
"We can't assume anything." Kouga said. "We'll exhaust ourselves if we constantly think he'll be back but we can't assume he won't be. We just need to be prepared for any type of situation."
"Last night only made us aware of the dangers of being in this time." Sesshomaru stood up. "We need to start moving."
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Luckily for the group that evening they had reached a village and wandering around they got the same reaction at Kaede's village. Mothers were grabbing their children to usher them back inside their homes. "We should probably leave the village." Sango said.
"It's not like we have money to stay at an inn anyway." Rin shrugged. "We can just quickly pass through."
"That's not fair. Just because their youkai doesn't mean they're a threat." Kagome frowned.
A villager walked up to her and grabbed her arm. "Miss we must ask you're...ah companions to leave the village."
"Because they're youkai?" Kagome asked outraged. She couldn't believe he actually had the nerve to approach her to say that. "They won't bring any harm and I don't appreciate you assuming that they would."
"We've had too many attacks lately to trust anyone." Another man stepped up to her grabbing her arm violently. "If you choose to associate with these monsters then you should leave with them whore."
Inuyasha began growling at the man's comment not to mention he was hurting Kagome. She jerked her arm back from him and immediately rushed to Inuyasha's side. "You're only going to make things worse by acting on this." She whispered to him.
"Hansuke-sama! The youkai are coming!" A group of villagers ran to him.
"So you've brought friends to throw us off guard?" He shouted angrily at him. "Gather your weapons and we'll ward them off. You three guard this group!"
"What should we do?" Sango asked as the three men surrounded them with pitchforks. Of course they could take them since they were outnumbered but it wasn't worth the trouble and accusations it would bring.
"We wait. If we don't do any damage they can't blame us for anything." Kouga crossed his arms and sat on the ground.
One of the nearby houses in front of them collapsed and a group of youkai that looked like tigers began to assault the villagers. One of them was thrown near the group. "We have to do something!" Rin shouted as she tried to run and help him.
One of the men grabbed her wrist and threw her on the ground. "We can't have you helping your youkai friends." He shouted.
Sesshomaru was in front of the man and took his weapon from him. "We aren't here to help the youkai and if you lay a hand on her again you'll regret it. Rin are you alright?" He asked as he helped her up.
"I'm fine thank you." She ran to the man who had been thrown towards them and checked for wounds. He had three claw marks on his wrist and she pulled out some bandages to wrap them with. "Once this is over make sure you wash the wound with cold water or it could get infected and you'll break out in a fever."
He nodded and thanked her but more screams could be heard. "Miroku, Shippo stay with the girls." Kouga cracked his knuckles. "Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and I will take care of the youkai."
"Why do you keep thinking we're so useless?" Sango shouted.
"Sango you have no weapon and you're not a youkai. Right now this is not the time to argue about it." Miroku took her hands. "It would be awful if I allowed something to happen to any of you."
"Shippo come with me so I can help the injured villagers!" Rin ran without letting him object.
Most of the villagers ran into a frenzy screaming. They noticed that a few of the women were trying to round up the children to get them to a safer place but one of the tiger youkai noticed the easy targets and was running towards them. Miroku had picked up one of the hoes that was lying on the ground and moved in front of the group to help them. He successfully knocked the tiger youkai back but also made it angrier. He wasn't going to be able to do much against it without a proper weapon. He held his hand up and saw the prayer beads. The youkai was ready to attack once more as it lowered itself to the ground to jump. Miroku did the only thing he could think of and when the youkai jumped at him he removed the beads around his hand and opened his palm facing the youkai. The vortex sucked in the youkai without problem and Miroku covered his palm before turning to the group of children.
"Are you alright?" He asked them.
"Yes, we're fine." One of the mothers thanked him and they escorted the children to safety.
Miroku turned around to get back to Sango and Kagome but to his horror they were surrounded by two more of the tigers. They were too close to the girls for him to use the wind tunnel in his hand. "Kagome, Sango!" He shouted.
"Any ideas Sango?" Kagome asked.
"No, if they'd have let me I would've grabbed something to protect ourselves with." Sango said angrily.
"Ok then plan B." Kagome knelt down and picked up two rocks. "I'm going to throw these and distract them. Run to Miroku and I'll go to Inuyasha."
"What no that's too dangerous!" But it was too late. Kagome had thrown the rocks and the youkai growled at her.
"Kagome you idiot what are you doing?" Inuyasha saw what she had done but was too late to stop her from doing it.
She kept running but eventually was back up against one of the villager's huts. They had stopped running and were slowly making their way to her. Kagome looked around to find any kind of weapon. There was a bow and arrow near her and she counted herself lucky since she'd taken archery in high school. Picking it up she notched an arrow and aimed at the one on the left. Even if she could hit it there was no telling it would stop it and she wouldn't have enough time to get another arrow for the other one. Hitting one of them was better than nothing and Kagome released the arrow.
The arrow flew towards them and a white light began surrounding the tip. When it hit the youkai on the left it roared in pain and the white light had consumed it completely and dispersed leaving no trace other than the arrow that fell onto the ground. "What the hell?" Kagome looked at the bow in her hand but was quickly reminded of the other youkai as it took off in a sprint towards her.
She closed her eyes tightly waiting for the impact and pain but was grabbed by the shoulders instead and when she opened her eyes she saw Inuyasha staring at her obviously mad. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He yelled. "That thing could have killed you!"
"I had to do something! You can't always expect us girls to be weak and defenseless this is exactly what happens." Kagome shouted.
The pack of youkai had been defeated and the villagers stared at the group as they got together. The villager that was yelling at them earlier had approached them again. "Thank you for helping the village." He murmured and walked away.
"What he really wants to say is thank you and sorry for accusing you of associating with those youkai." An elderly man stepped up to them. "My grandson Hansuke is very proud and does his best to help the village. Sometimes he can be so stubborn and blinded. I'm Masato I hope you will accept our invitation and stay in the village, to thank you for your help. We insist."
"That's very kind of you." Rin smiled.
"I'll show you to the inn." Masato escorted them to one of the inns. "Our accommodations aren't of the highest standards. It's not often we get visitors especially youkai ones. My grandson has it in his head that all youkai are evil but you'll have to excuse his way of thinking. He lost both of his parents when he was young. The last two rooms are for you. Natsumi will bring you dinner and draw your baths. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need something."
"Thank you for everything." Miroku said.
"That was a bit unexpected." Sango said as they all filed into one room together. They would part later that night when they laid to sleep.
"Seems no where we go is safe right now and we haven't even been traveling for a week!" Shippo fell onto his back. He ran around the entire village with Rin while she examined the villagers. Even for a youkai he was exhausted. He had no clue how Rin was able to run around that much without passing out.
"At least no one was injured too seriously." Rin moved into a cross legged position.
Kagome managed to sneak away from the group while they were talking and walked outside to get some air. She looked down at her hands confused at what happened earlier when she shot the arrow. It had glowed and she managed to defeat the youkai. Maybe the miko thing had some credit. But if she was one then how come she didn't know about it earlier? How had the power suppressed itself inside of her?
The floorboards creaked behind her and she spun around to see Hansuke. He stood beside her and looked up at the night sky. "I'm sorry about my comment to you. I meant no harm, but the village has been attacked many times and more frequently it seems." He turned towards her and grabbed her hands. "I hope that you'll forgive me and accept my apology."
"Of course." She smiled hesitantly. "I could understand your doing it for the good of the village."
"Yes, and I noticed you were a miko." He held her hands tighter and took a step forward. "You would be a great asset if you could stay in the village."
"I can't stay here." Kagome tried to take her hands away but Hansuke wouldn't let go. "I can't leave my friends."
"But your powers can help protect the village. I'll protect you and make sure you don't get hurt." Before Hansuke could say any more he was slammed against the wall of the inn with a clawed hand around his throat.
"I suggest you back off and leave her alone. She's mine." Inuyasha growled and dropped the man to his feet.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome hit his shoulder. "I'm sorry Hansuke."
"Don't protect him!" Inuyasha shouted as Hansuke left.
"You're not helping change anyone's opinion about youkai if you go around choking people! He didn't do anything to me and I don't remember agreeing to be yours. This is one of the reasons I didn't want us to be together anymore. Your jealousy drives me insane."
"I can't help fighting my instincts Kagome. You belong with me and nothing will stop me from thinking that." He brushed his hand gently over the bruise around her neck. "It drives me crazy when you get hurt or when other men touch you."
"Inuyasha when we were together did I ever give you any reason to think I was unfaithful? Did I ever flirt with anyone? No, because I was happy with you. And if you trusted me enough then you wouldn't get so jealous all the time. I never left you for anyone else or even thought about it but you couldn't get it through your head." Kagome sighed.
"I never thought you were going to cheat on me." Inuyasha pulled her in for a hug. "But it still drives me crazy when you get too close to someone else."
"Inuyasha why do you want us to be together again?" Kagome looked up at him. "What made you change so that you're more committed now than before?"
"I was just too comfortable where we were and when you asked me it threw me off. Being apart made me realize how fucking stupid I was for letting you go." He leaned in to kiss her and for the first time since they had gotten to the past it felt like things were okay. But then Inuyasha's stomach rumbled with hunger.
Kagome laughed and grabbed his hand. "Come on lets get something to eat. You youkai have to eat well since us women can't do anything to protect ourselves."
"You need to stop trying to get yourself fucking killed!" Inuyasha stopped in the hallway. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"We had to do something! Besides I killed one of them."
"You guys should probably stop yelling in the hallways and get in here so we can discuss it." Miroku poked his head outside of the room. "They brought dinner already."
"Kagome is indeed a miko." Sesshomaru said as they sat down. "She purified that youkai and without any training means she could be quite powerful."
"It feels like we're getting off track with what happened in the last couple of days." Kagome sighed. "Things are getting way too complicated."
"We'll be fine as long as we know what we need to do. Finding the temple is our goal right now. There were just a few distractions." Kouga shrugged. "We can't help that."
They finished their meals and after a few minutes of settling the innkeeper knocked and entered the room. "We've drawn baths for you and as you requested there are enough for three different groups."
"I suppose we'll bathe and then go to sleep. We'll take the room at the end of the hallway." Sango said.
The girls were taken to one of the baths. The innkeeper opened the paper door and waited for them to get in before she closed it. "I forget that these are paper thin walls." Rin smiled as she slowly lowered herself into the bath.
"No kidding, we can hear you in there." Kouga said.
"The baths must be right next to each other." Sango looked around at the walls before being satisfied that they couldn't see through the walls and joined Rin and Kagome. "Before we leave this village I think we need weapons."
"We don't use weapons." Kouga stated.
"Not you, but us humans." Sango narrowed her eyes in the direction she could hear the voice. "We can't always have someone protecting us. You saw how well it worked today. And I'm not saying Miroku did anything wrong. I would've much preferred he protected those children. Kagome and I could be doing something too."
"What kind of training have you had, anything in self defense?" Kouga asked.
"Actually yes." Sango said as a matter of fact. "If you'd have asked earlier instead of assuming I would've told you I've had training with a katana. My father owns a dojo and I learned a few things while I was there. Kagome has shown some skill with a bow and arrow."
"Yes, but that was in high school." Kagome looked at her.
"Then we'll just have to practice and if you guys weren't so thick headed you could help us train." Sango said. "We've all seen the dangers and we can't expect one of you guys to be around us and watch."
"Where do you expect we get these weapons?" Kouga asked. "We don't have money from here."
"We'll discuss it in the morning." Sesshomaru silenced the group. They spent the rest of the bath in silence and parted into their rooms for sleep. "I'll take watch tonight."
The guys nodded in agreement and they laid down to rest.