20th chapter! Whoo! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Only the plot :)
~Stars Of The Mooon~
Chapter 20
"We should have left her behind," Jakotsu growled.
"So you noticed too?" Renkotsu asked in a whisper.
The two were the ones leading in front, and Bankotsu, Hikari, and Rin stayed behind. They were on their way back to the village to let Hikari rest after the fight against the demon. Okay, so she surprise attacked it, but she still moved around too much.
"You mean about that girl?" the cross dresser replied. "Yeah. She's the kid following Inuyasha's older brother around all the time."
Renkotsu nodded. "We really should've left her there. If she was there, then Sesshomaru must be close. No doubt he'll come looking for her."
"What do we do when he arrives?" he asked as he bit his lip. "Will he recognize us?" He certainly didn't want Mukotsu's old killer to appear. It was already bad enough that he himself has threatened to kill Rin long ago. Sesshomaru will never forget that.
"Even if our scents have changed, our appearances are obvious to someone like him. So we do the only thing we can do while we're here: Hide," the second in command said. "We can't fight, especially not now."
Renkotsu glanced behind him. He looked at Bankotsu first, then at Hikari. He didn't want to look at the little girl. He turned back to Jakotsu. The sword-wielder asked, "Do you think Bankotsu or Hikari noticed?"
The bald man frowned. "Big Brother might have not, but Hikari must've known. She knows practically everything about us, about our deaths, so she should know... But by the way she reacted, she didn't seem to know anything about her."
"Could it have been an act?" he thought. "Hikari isn't a fool, she can easily act out anything and get away with it... yet she seemed so calm just until we saw the child in the clearing... and she should have shown a little surprise at the presense of Sesshomaru's aura... And if she sensed the demo earlier, she would've ran off to sace the girl."
Suddenly, another thought came to his head. "Could it be... that she can't sense auras as well as she did before?"
Behind them, Rin was playing nervously with her fingers as they moved along. "I should say something... But what can I say at all? I haven't spoken a word since I met these people..."
"Lord Sesshomaru!" she thought of her master. "What will he do once he knows that I'm here? Will he kill..." She looked up at Hikari. She didn't want to see this woman die. She had such a kind face...
Hikari felt eyes on her, and looked at Rin. Realising that she was staring back, she smiled. "What's your name?"
The child was taken by surprise at the sudden question. "Oh!" Then, she said softly, "Rin..."
"That's a nice name," the healer commented. "A bright, sweet name. Was it your mother who named you?"
Rin shook her head. "No. I don't know. I never got to know my parents very well. They were killed by bandits."
Hikari stiffened. Her eyes were apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't know..."
She grinned. "It's okay, though. I've got great friends I stay with everyday!"
Seeing the little girl brithgten up in an instant brought a warm smile to her face. "I see. They're really special, aren't they?"
Rin nodded eargerly. "Yup!"
"Probably just like me and the rest," Bankotsu said as he grinned to Hikari. "We're one of a kind in this world, believe me. Hikari's lucky to have us."
She rolled her eyes. "Can I consider myself as 'lucky'?"
He raised a brow. "Oh? Then what do you think?"
Her eyes were playfull. "I'd say... it's just another way to find your perfect 'husband'," she addressed to him, "Only you have a lot of friends with you, and every single one of you are unique... in some ways. Some good ways... and some bad ways..."
Rin giggled. So found it amusing how the two spoke to each other. Like the best of friends. But it seemed like it was more than that... Just now, she mentionned the word 'husband'... She felt happy that the kind lady found someone special in her life.
"We're back!" Renkotsu announced loudly.
The orphan children were playing in the grass and singing old songs. The sun shone brightly and made each of the children's faces shine. They were all smiling, and suddenly, Rin wondered if this was how the life of a simple villager was like.
When she looked around, a few familiar faces flashed. She recognized some boys and girls... But where had she seen them before? She gazed at the scenery. The children were playing out the a small house. "Do they all live in there togtether?" she wondered. A well wasn't too far from there either. And next to it, there was a garden.
"Is Lady Akari inside?" the 'monk' asked one of the children.
"Yes!" the girl exclaimed.
"She's taking care of an elder so we have to be quiet!" another boy chimed in.
"Yes, they're being so very quiet right now," Jakotsu mumbled.
Bankotsu took the lead. "We'll let Hikari go inside and get treated. Then, we head back to help the girl find her friends."
*O*~*O*~*O*
"So?" Kagome urged. "Can you smell Rin?"
"Will you pipe up?" Inuyasha grumbled. "I'm trying to sniff her out."
Of course, so was Sesshomaru. There they all were, in a field of hundreds of flowers, searching for Rin's kidnappers, and where they would've went. So far, there was not much progress.
"With all these flowers around, it must be hard to catch one scent," Sango said.
Miroku sighed. "The least we can do is stay out of the way and watch."
"Hey!" Shippo exclaimed. "Look at what I found."
Inuyasha rushed to him and looked down at the burned corpse of a demon. Jaken came behind him and said, "Oh yes! The strangers saved Rin from this demons by burning it..."
The dog wacked the little elf on the head. "You should have told us that earlier," he mumbled. "It would have saved us the trouble from searching around the whole place."
It didn't take a while before they all caught onto something. Inuyasha's eyes were wide yet again. "She was here again!"
Kagome knew who he was talking about. "Hikari?"
He nodded. "She was here. And not too long ago. Probably with Bankotsu and the rest of 'em too. And that means..."
He whipped his head towards Jaken, glared at him, whacked him once again, and yelled, "You idiot! Rin wasn't kidnapped by savages, she was saved, and she probably followed the strangers to wherever they were going!"
"And they went to the village, didn't they?" Kohaku asked as he stood up. "We know that Rin's safe in Hikari's hands, so let's just go to the village. That's our next stop anyways."
Sesshomaru was the first to bolt off, along with Ah-Un. Inuyasha growled at his brother's stuborness and went off with Kagome on his back. Even if Sesshomaru had a head start, the Inutachi caught up with him.
Sango wondered what they would do when they encounter Hikari and the Shichinintai. What could they do? Sesshomaru would probably try to kill at least one of them... And who knew what Inuyasha would do. He didn't even decide if they were going to side with the band of mercenaries or if they were going to stay enemies.
"There can't be a fight," she thought in pain. "We can't let blood be shed on the day we meet our friend after a long time... And she's injured! Who knows what else can happen to her..."
She wasn't the only one thinking that. The rest of the Inutachi were praying for something good to happen.
When they arrived in Suikotsu's village, where the orphans were cared for, the children stopped playing to stare at the newcommers. Two of the children the Inutachi recognized, the rest were all strangers. It was quiet. The children didn't like these people. They seemed... different from any other normal people they knew.
Kagome was aware that they were feeling uneasy about their presense. In fact, so did someone else. Akari took a look out of the hut, as if she sensed that something was wrong, and walked towards the strangers. Her voice was warm, but her eyes were apprehensive. "Welcome. Are you... looking for anything?"
Kagome was the one to speak. "We're looking for a little girl, and possibly a woman accompanyed by a few men."
The priestess blinked. "Are you maybe... speaking about Lady Hikari and her friends?"
Inuyasha butt in. "Yeah, did you see them anywhere?"
She was surprised when she saw his dog ears. But she put that aside and answered them honestly, "They brought a little girl with them when they arrived here. They said they were going to return the girl to her friends later..."
"May I ask which way they went?" Miroku asked politely. Even he was trying to hide the rush in his voice.
The miko seemed more at ease when she spoke with the monk. "They said they would pass by the village before going to the forest."
"Let's go!" Inuyasha exclaimed. This time, he didn't even bother bringing Kagome on his back. Apparently, he was too busy competing with his brother, who had another head start.
Miroku sighed. "I'll run ahead. Kohaku, you stay here in case Hikari comes back."
The boy nodded. "Alright."
Kagome, Sango, and Shippo got onto Kirara. The children watched in awe as the giant cat flew away and as the monk ran after them as swiftly as the wind.
Akari frowned. "Who were they?"
Among the group of children, two of them, the eldest of them all, stepped forward. The girl spoke shyly, "We... might know them from somehwhere... The ears of that scary man seem familiar..."
As Inuyasha sped through the crowd of villagers, he tried his best to catch both Rin and Hikari's scent. They were together, so it wasn't hard to keep track. Of course, he also took care of looking at where he was going. The gloomy village in flammes that he remembered was no more. After months of reconstruction, it was as good as new.
The screaming villagers was bound to catch Hikari's attention. "And if she's still here, then good. With all the commotion right now, she'll stop to see what's going on."
Her scent became clearer and clearer. Almost as if she was right next to him. Same with the lavender smell. He was out of the village now, but the screams of shock were still clear.
In all the greenery, he was finally able to see some colors... light blue... orange... purple, yellow... And finally, everything was clear when he called out, "Hikari!"
He was standing in front of Rin, Hikari, and only three members of the Band Of Seven.
*O*~*O*~*O*
The surprise on everyone's faces was undeniable.
Inuyasha was breathless, trying to keep his balance steady so he wouldn't flop over. Though the three men seemed to have changed very much - especially Jakotsu -, he could recognize them.
Bankotsu's expression was a mix of surprise, disgust, and hatred. "What the..."
Sesshomaru's appearance from the sky made Jakotsu stiffen. Rin didn't seem to notice the tight and tense atmosphere at all, and ran happily to the dog demon. "Lord Sesshomaru!"
And finally, the rest of the Inutachi fell from the sky as well. And Miroku came a little later.
The two girls jumped off of Kirara's backa and looked at the friend they've missed so much. "Hikari!"
Hikari blinked, surprise all over her face. "Kagome... Sango... What are you..."
Bankotsu was the one to ask the question first. His voice was filled with hostility, and his eyes glared accusingly at Inuyasha for simply showing up. "What the hell are all of you doing here?" By 'all of you', he meant Sesshomaru as well.
Inuyasha growled back, "We were searching for Rin, when we figured out that you took her. Where's the rest of you? Did they end up dying like the other times you were brought back? "
Renkotsu glared at him and got ready to defend himself. He stood his ground next to his leader. "That is none of your buisness, half-breed," he said coldly. " nd we didn't take her, we took care of her. She's still in one piece after all."
"Says the old killer," Inuyasha accused.
"Does it look like we're killers right now?" Bankotsu asked as he took a step forward. His voice was cold, unlike his usual carefree attitude. "All our weapons are back with the priestess. Did you see any one die in that village? I'm sorry, but I think you did a better job at that."
Inuyasha stiffened at his comment. "What did you say?" he barked.
"Inuyasha-" Miroku tried to stop his friend from picking a fight.
"We don't know for sure if any of you hurt Rin or Hikari. That battle you fought with those demons? Yeah, we know that Hikari's hurt. But what says that her blood was spilled because of a demon?"
Everyone saw Jakotsu cringe.
That was when Hikari finally spoke directly to him. Her eyes weren't warm. "Inuyasha, I got hurt because of my own doing, they've been treating me well, so don't try to bring any blame on them!"
"That's what you say now, but what about what they've done to you before?" he demanded. "I can't imagine they went through a whole month without killing a whole village! Hell, their leader killed two thousand beings in just a few years!"
Rin looked from one team to another. She didn't understand. She didn't even know who the four strangers were. And yet, Inuyasha seemed to have known them very well... "They can't be the bad guys, can they? There isn't anything bad with Miss Hikari at all..."
Hikari spoke through gritted teeth. "Did anything go through your head when I told you they've been good to me? That incident with the demons was completly my fault! If I had sensed those demons earlier, Bankotsu, Renkotsu, all of us could have ran away without any wounds at all!"
Inuyasha growled. "That doesn't change the fact that they're killers! Hikari, open your eyes and look at them! What do you see?"
Her eyes were cold, and she didn't even bother looking at the three men next to her. "I don't need eyes to see who they are. They are men, humans who have friends, loyalty, pride, and hearts." More calmly, she added, "They're the same as us."
He snorted. "Did they brainwash you? Or did you completly lose every sense of good you had?"
That made Bankotsu snap. He punched him right across the face. "Don't you dare insult her that way!"
The half demon took a few steps back. "You bastard..." His hand went to Tetsusaiga's hilt.
The memebers of the Band Of Seven braced themselves.
"I can't watch..." Shippo whimpered as he closed his eyes.
"Inuyasha, you idiot, what do you think you're doing?" Hikari yelled, outraged, as her eyes went to Tetsusaiga. "You're trying to pick a fight without any reason? Have you-"
She stopped in mid-sentence because she started coughing again. The atmosphere suddenly changed. The hostility disppeared completly. One of Hikari's hands went to cover her mouth, and the other went to her stomac.
When she looked at her hand, it was red.
Renkotsu and Bankotsu were already by her side. The bald man said to his leader, "Let's get her back to Lady Akari." Bankotsu nodded, his worried blue eyes never leaving's Hikari.
He told Jakotsu, "You go to the others to tell them what's happening." He glanced accusingly at the Inutachi from the corner of his eye.
In some cases, Jakotsu would retort, saying that he wanted to stay with Inuyasha. But clearly, this was not the case, and he understood that. He nodded nervously, casted one last nervous glance at Hikari, and ran off.
She said weakly, "No... I can..." She started coughing again.
"We'll go too," Kagome said.
Renkotsu shook his head without even looking at her. "Lady Akari would want her friends to accompany her. Not a band of strangers she doesn't know."
They turned their backs to them and walked away. Inuyasha stared at them leave. It took a while before everything registered in his head. "Hey! Get back here! Both of you!"
"Inuyasha..." Kagome mumbled.
The dog turned around and looked at his friend. She had her back turned, and her head bowed. As if she were guilty of something. The same expression was on the rest of the friends as well.
"What?" he asked a little too harshly.
"SIT!" she yelled in fury. "SIT, SIT, SIT! You IDIOT!"
Inuyasha's face burried itself in the ground. At every 'sit', it would only go deeper into the earth. At the 'idiot', it went even deeper than it was supposed to. However, the force wasn't strong enough to make him unconcious.
He glared at her, and barked, "What the hell was that for?"
Kagome's eyes were menacing. She was so mad she could almost cry. "You... idiot! This is all your fault!"
With that, she turned heels and headed towards the priestess Akari's hut.
Inuyasha was left wondering what was wrong with her. He glanced at Miroku questioningly, and the monk only shook his head in disappointement. So did Sango and the rest of his friends.
"What?"
"You're an idiot, Inuyasha," Miroku said, and he sighed.
*O*~*O*~*O*
Kagome waited patiently outside the hut while Akari, Bankotsu, and Renkotsu were inside taking care of Hikari.
She closed her eyes shut as she tried not to imagine her friend like that again. Coughing up blood, so small and weak, barely able to push back Renkotsu's hand away from her. And Kagome couldn't do a thing to help her.
"Is it really better to leave her with Bankotsu?" she wondered.
It wasn't like she thought he was a harm to her friend or anything, but... Kagome felt like she should be the one inside there. Because she was one of Hikari's good friends. Because she hasn't seen her for such a long time. Because she was hurt.
Sango and the rest of her friends appeared, followed by Rin and Jaken. The demon slayer assumed, "We can't go in, can we?"
Kagome shook her head. "Four adults are already enough. And Lady Akari doesn't trust us like she trusts those two. Where's Inuyasha? And Sesshomaru?" she noticed that the two demon brothers were missing.
Miroku said, "Sesshomaru ran off somwhere, and Inuyasha's taking a walk to... think about things."
"You mean what to do after Hikari's healed?" she asked, her expression almost emotionless.
They nodded, and Kagome looked at Rin and Jaken. "What are you two doing here? Usually, you'd go following Sesshomaru."
Surprisingly, the little girl was the one to explain. "I never got to thank Lady Hikari for saving me... She even got hurt because she wanted to help me..." She looked down in guilt.
"And of course, I had to accompany her!" Jaken peeped in.
"It's not your fault," Kohaku assured. "Hikari was already injured. She knew the consenquences, but she wanted to help you. That's just how she is. She puts her own needs aside to risk anything to save anyone."
The monk smiled. "Well said, Kohaku. I couldn't agree more."
Rin still seemed upset. "That may be true, but... she still got hurt..."
Kagome told her softly, "Well, when she gets better, you can thank her for everything she's done for you, alright?"
This brithghed her expression a little. "I'll do that."
"Monk," they heard from inside, "Could you please go get some more water?"
Miroku reacted. "Oh! Umm... well..."
Then, they heard, "Of course," right after.
Renkotsu walked out and glanced at Miroku. "She wasn't talking to you."
The purple monk tried to keep calm. This man standing in front of him wasn't a monk at all! Sure, he lost the tattoos, he had the clothes, he even had the knowlegde of a monk - but his piercing cold eyes gave him entirely away. They all knew that. Lady Akari was the only one who couldn't see it.
Renkotsu walked a little more, then, spoke without turning around to look at them, "We told Lady Akari you were friends of Hikari." They were surprised to hear this, and he continued, "No matter how much me and Bankotsu want you out of here, we know Hikari would hate us if you were ever treated badly here because of her."
And he left to the well to get the water.
Rin knew this wasn't going to make the mood any brighter so she suddenly asked, "Lady Hikari was your friend?"
She was relieved when someone replied. Shippo said, "Yup. Although Sango knew her longer than us, we became real good friends!"
"What happened? Why is she with those people?"
And that brought the mood back down again.
Sango still answered, but her tone was low. "You've already heard from Miroku that enemies are coming back to life." Rin nodded. "Well, one night, the Band Of Seven captured Kagome, and made a deal. Hikari had to be their captive if we wanted Kagome back."
She ignored Rin's gasp and continued, "Of course, we couldn't accept this, but Hikari insisted we deal the matter without any blood shed. And there you have it. We gave her in, and it's been like that for over a month now."
The little girl had nothing else to say. Anything else would probably make the atmosphere worse than it already was. So instead, she thought about the time Hikari saved her. "She was fast," she noticed slightly admiringly. "And she moved so quickly." She wondered what she was.
"Is she a demon slayer?" she asked Kohaku.
Everyone bit their bottom lip. Miroku sighed, and took Rin's shoulder. "That's right, you were probably very young back then. You see... Hikari is what we call... or what we used to call... a lengendary healer."
"Huh?" she tilted her head.
"Ah, yes, them!" Jaken said. "Yes, it's been a while since I've last seen one!"
Miroku ignored him and continued, "Long ago, there were many legendary healers," he said with a small smile. "They could wield demonic weapons, and knew almost everything about medicinal herbs. In fact, some priestess were tought by them to learn about herbs. They knew how to fight and how to protect, and were one of the strongest beings you could ever think of."
She knew what was coming up next wasn't going to sound good. "What... happened to them? You keep on saying 'were', and 'knew'... Why haven't I ever heard of them?"
Miroku sighed. Sango and Kohaku looked away, and Kagome gazed down at her feet. He closed his eyes as he remembered the same words he told Inuyasha, the first time they met Hikari. "Their village was completly annilated six years ago."
Rin's eyes widened. Her hands came to her mouth as she gasped. Jaken's eyes would have been able to jump out of his head.
Renkotsu cleared his throat from behind them. They turned their heads to glare at the 'monk', and his eyes were just as hostile. He walked past the group, and growled lowly, "In case you've forgotten, Hikari is barely fifteen feet away from your conversation.
When he entered the hut, Akari was giving the medecine to Hikari. But surprisingly, the patient was pushing it all away. "No... I can't go to sleep right now..."
Akari assured her, "Please, do not worry, I will make your other friends feel at home, you need to rest."
"Hikari, she knows your condition better than any of us," Bankotsu added. "We'll be fine, we'll take care of the mutt and everything's gonna be fine..."
"That's just what I'm worried about!" she exclaimed.
Bankotsu was trying not to raise his tone. He didn't want to get mad at her, and he was very concerned for her. "We might need to force it down your throat, just eat it!"
Renkotsu knew this wasn't going to help. He rested the bucket of water down and said soothingly, "If something bad happens, I'll take care of it. I give you my word, we won't get into any fights, and I'll keep Bankotsu from harming any of them."
Since Akari was righ beside him, of course he couldn't say 'kill'.
Hikari narrowed her eyes. That 'I give you my word' was suspicious. But in the end, she nodded and took the medicine. She grimaced, gulped it down, and shudered in disgust. "I've always hated these kind of herbs."
"Lady Akari," Renkotsu said politely. "We need to speak to Hikari in private. May you please leave us be?"
The priestess nodded. "Of course. I'll speak with your friends outside. If you need me, do not hesitate in calling me."
With that, she left the three alone in the room. Renktosu didn't wait for anyone to ask why he did that. He went straight to the point. "Hikari, did you lose your power to sense things from a lon distance."
Bankotsu's eyes widened, and Hikari looked away. She didn't answer, and his leader was surely wondering why he'd ask that, so the second in command explained, "Back when Rin was about to get attacked, you didn't know of her or the demon's presence. And just now, you didn't know Inuyasha and group was nearby. You didn't know Inuyasha was the one making everyone in the village panic."
Her voice sounded like a whisper. "I don't know. I don't know if it's because I'm injured, or if it's because I have a fever that I'm losing my ability. I don't even know if it's going to come back. From what I know, this has never happened before."
"From what you know?"
She looked up, her eyes worried. "This may have happened when I was a child, when I still couldn't control my power completly. But I'm not sure."
The two men didn't need to ask her if there was anyone who knew about her past. After all, they were all dead and gone.
She groaned and put her head in her hands. "Nothing's going right. First, I get injured at such a bad time, and now Inuyasha's here... I'm getting everyone in trouble!"
"Hey, that's not true," he said soothingly. "It was supposed to happen someday."
"But not today!" she wailed. "Not when I'm... like this..."
"If you're talking about your appearance, you look just fine to me," Renkotsu said.
She shot him a glare and sighed. "What... are we going to do?"
The bald man looked at Bankotsu. "What will we do? Inuyasha is probably asking himself the same thing, so both of our groups have to make a decision fast."
The young mercenary closed his eyes, thinking it through. "There's no way Hikari's going to let us fight, and let any of us die. Battle is out of the question, no matter how much I want to fight that damn mutt. On the other hand, it's not like we can just go our seperate ways. I can't imagine what those girls are going to do," he thought as he pictured Kagome, Sango, and Hikari against the men. "Those three are going to be stuck together for a very long time."
"Our last option would be... Oh, God."
To join the Inutachi?
Bankotsu knew he already thought about it before, but now that he's facing the real thing, it's hard to accept. Joining the enemy isn't so easy, especially if that enemy's already killed you and your friends once. Now he understood better why his brothers were so shocked.
But working together would mean traveling together. And he couldn't imagine the six members of the Shichinintai walking along peacefully with Inuyasha. On top of that, Sesshomaru was with them. Mukotsu's cold-blodded, emotionless killer.
And Bankotsu wasn't even sure if Sesshomaru wasn't going to kill any of them. Especially since they took the little kid Rin.
"I've got it!" he suddenly exclaimed. Hikari and Renkotsu looked at him with interest. "We'll be allies, sure, but we'll still be seperated in two groups."
The L. Healer narrowed her eyes. "Which means..."
"We aren't going to fight. We're going to stay on the same side, but one group will go one direction, while the other goes the other way. That way we'll find clues seperatly, but when we meet again, we'll have more information."
Renkotsu seemed impressed. "That's not a bad idea. In fact, it might actually work. It satisfies both groups."
However, Hikari didn't seem to like the idea. "I don't think that's... really nice."
"That's because you want to stay with those two girls," he thought. He seemed to have forgotten she could hear him clearly.
She glared at him. "Jerk. That's not why. Think about it. We barely stood a chance against the huge flock of demons who attacked us. Look at what happened to us because I was too careless!"
"That was none of your fault!" Bankotsu retorted.
She ignored him. "With more people, we'll be able to win easily and not let any of this happen again. Besides, if we stay together, chances are the demons are going to be too scared to come out to get us! And if we seperate and find more clues, what garantees we're going to see each other again? For all we know, some one of our groups can end up dying."
Renkotsu inwardly sighed. Another discussion. Just what they needed right now.
Bankotsu replied with his own arguments, "But if we're in one whole group, we have more mouthes to feed. And we're gonna be such a big group, we'll scare the prey away! And since we've already met once, we can always find a way to meet again! And you have to know how hard it is for us to deal with them. You know there will be problems."
Hikari knew very well it was hard for all of them. But they'd all have to endure it, right? She wanted to mention that Kagome had better medicine and food thanks to the supplies in her era. But apparently, she'd have to keep that for later.
Renkotsu stood up. "I'm going to talk to one of Inuyasha's friends about this."
"Miroku," Hikari immediatly said. "If there's one person you should talk to in their group, it's him." "He may be a lecher and a two-timer, but he's good when it comes to keeping his cool with enemies."
He guessed she was talking about the monk and nodded. "Alright."
As he started walking out, Hikari called, "Renkotsu. Let them in if they want to talk."
"And what about me?" Bankotsu asked. "You know I'm not leaving."
She shrugged, and had a sly smile on her face. "Whatever. If you insist on seeing women gossiping about what happened, be my guest."
He stiffened and stood up. "You know what, I think I'll go see how Jakotsu's doing with the others."
He grabbed Banryuu from the wall, and when he was right next to Renkotsu, he told him, "If they ask, tell them what we already know, but be on your guard. Don't spill anything that might make them think we're weak."
His brother nodded. "Understood." Bankotsu took off first, and Renkotsu followed.
When he arrived outside, Inuyasha's friends were staring at Bankotsu walking away. Lady Akari was nowhere to be found. "She must have left to get herbs after explaining everything."
He cleared his throat to catch their attention. It worked. "If you'd like to go in to see Hikari, you're free to go."
The girls didn't need to be told twice. Sango and Kagome ran inside, and since Kohaku didn't seem to know what to do, he followed his sister, his Kirara on his shoulder. Rin ran inside quickly, with Jaken at her heels.
Miroku was about to go in, but when he was about to walk right past Renkotsu, he stopped him with his arm. He kept his gaze on him. "Apparently, we need to talk."
Shippo, who was on the monk's shoulder, trembled. "Miroku..."
"It's fine," he said, without taking his eyes off this 'monk'. "Go on in with the others."
The kitsune hesitated a moment, before taking off into the tiny hut with the rest of his friends.
After he left, Renkotsu got straight to the point, as usual, but without looking at the monk, and never dropping his arm. "We've decided to deal with this situation peacefully."
Miroku blinked in surprise, but he too, didn't look at Renkotsu. He certainly didn't expect this. But then again, he's seen them taking care of Hikari. "Did her presence... influence them somehow?"
"Bankotsu decided to become allies," Renkotsu explained. "You know things we don't know, and we have things you may need. It seems right to work together. However, our leader sees that working in one big group may not be right. So he suggested we seperate in two."
"I see. That sounds... fine." He found it great. "It turned out all right in the end."
"Hikari objects," the bald man said before Miroku could say anything else. "She thinks staying together would be better because demons wouldn't bother attacking big groups. We'd also get more help when it comes to medicine from the priestess. And nobody knows if we'll see each other at all."
Miroku frowned in thought. "As usual, she has a good point."
Renkotsu 'hmph'ed in satisfaction and let his arm fall to his side. He started walking away, until Miroku stopped him. It seemed that everyone that day wanted to stop him from getting away. It was annoying.
"You said earlier that you've found things of the Resurrector. What are they?"
"So that what we're calling him now? 'The Resurector' does seem to fit the guy rather well," he commented. He knew Miroku wanted and answer. "A black stone, white powder, herbs, and purple liquid. We went to Mt. Hakurei to find anything. I've gathered the black stone, the white powder, and herbs, but they're... not here right now," he added as he remembered to keep his mouth shut about anything suspicious. He left it all with the rest of his brothers.
Miroku only recognized one of those ingredients. "By any chance... was the purple liquid..."
"Disgusting?" he finished. "Yes, it smelled horrible and didn't look like anything I've seen before. And what about you?" he asked. "I've revealed everything we know, it's your turn."
The lecherous monk knew it was only fair to share information if they were to work together so he said, "The Resurrector can give those he brings back powerful abilities. Like poisonous claws, or sharper fangs." He glanced at Renktosu, wondering if he had any new abilities as well as Mistress Centipede.
His thoughts were answered. "We don't have anything of the sort, from what I know."
Miroku continued, though he expected to get a negative answer from this one, "Also, he is able to go through time."
Renkotsu narrowed his eyes, wondering how in the world they'd know that, and Miroku knew he should explain somehow... without telling him Kagome was from the future. So he only told half of the truth. "The moment we arrived in our village, we were attacked by an old enemy. The Resurrector must have known we'd arrive at that very moment."
He didn't know if the 'monk' bought it, but he seemed convinced. "That... would be a big problem. But that would also mean that he could be watching over you. Right now. Watching over all of us."
Miroku stiffened. "It's true. For all we know, we can be watched right now."
"Which gives us more reason to stick together," Renkotsu said. "The Resurrector knows that we will be working together. He'll want to eliminate one of the groups. And we don't know if everyone's going to make it out alive." He remembered how the Shichinintai had difficulty against that hord of demons.
He sighed. "For the moment, we can't do much," he said as he looked at the tiny hut. "Hikari's injured, and none of us can actually make the right decisons. And where is Inuyasha?"
If Miroku knew, he wouldn't have told him. But he didn't know. "We don't know. He left off some place. Sulking, I guess. Or thinking. Maybe even explaining things to Sesshomaru."
"Either way, make sure you tell him what Bankotsu thinks we should do."
With that, he left to the village, and Miroku watched him walk away. After a long moment, he turned around and entered the small hut.
I wanted to finish this quick. That's why this chapter kinda sucks :3
~FoxRain7~