Pages: 10

Words: 5, 263

Chapter Eighteen: Master

"I- uh- that was what I was just about to say, brilliant plan and we will just have to deal with that obstacle when it comes along. This mission has become too dangerous, especially for Kagome-kun's first mission this is-"

"Psst, sumimasen! [Excuse me!] I am the village leader here, I was the one that requested you come and I need to talk to you very quickly! Help me in before anyone hears me," Once they had pulled him in they could see that this man was bald and pudgy. His black beady eyes were almost set to the side of his head, his skin was grayish in color but had big splotches of brown all over his face, he had long whiskers coming out of a round face and had a nose that was stubby, he had a mustache and there were two pointy tusks sticking out from the corners of his mouth. "Yo-you're ju-just a- bunch of chil-children! Oh no, this simply won't do at all! Oh no what have I done? Right this-this is not good at all."

"I am the supervising Jounin and I was given this mission by the Hokage of our village. We were just on our way to deliver the herbs…. what is the problem-?"

"The herbs right, Buu is the name. I thought that Konoha would send more intimidating looking shinobi then you guys! This is not good at all! I got you guys into this though so…right then right." Buu was starting to sweat he pulled out a napkin and dabbed at his forehead.

"What's the problem Buu-san?" Miroku asked looking at the village youkai leader, who closely resembled an aquatic mammal, the walrus.

"Alright you bunch will have to do. There is simply no time, no time left at all. Where to begin, hmmm were to begin indeed, right then. This village you're residing in now it's a youkai village. Now don't freak out, the freak out is unnecessary because contrary to popular belief not all youkai are-" Buu's eyes suddenly widened and he jumped out the window.

"Did he just-? Why did he-?" Ebisu's mind was spinning he surely had to be dreaming. He must be at home still in bed because he was so mentally exhausted from completing his other mission.

"This is getting rather complicated." Sango said placing her head into her hands looking down at Kirara, who was sitting in her lap, nodded back.

Tap. Tap

"Is everything alright in there, it is awfully quite." The same youkai's voice hissed after knocking on the other side of the door. She knew that they were most likely already dead. Only on a rare few occasions did it take a couple hours longer for the poison to work through certain ningen's system.

"Hai! Everything is alright." Ebisu said making sure he was breathing deeply and relaxed so the youkai didn't smell the fear on him. He was a Jounin, so if he put his mind to it he could do anything, like not pee in his pants!

"Nani?- I mean that is good! I will come in now and take those bothersome plates away from you," She came in and gathered them all in one swoop, her yellow green eyes were narrowed and she hissed when none of them seemed to be showing the effects of the poison just yet. "How was the meal? Did you find it to your liking?"

"Hai." Was everyone's response to the question, making the youkai seethe in anger, but if she were to blow their cover now she would be punished by the others. So she forced herself to bow low to the ground before leaving the room.

"Ano, Buu-san she's gone now." Kagome said looking out of the window where he was hiding in a haystack.

"Right then, right help me back in. Same as before right," Buu sat back down brushing the pieces of dried grass from his expensive looking suit. "As I was saying before not all youkai are bad, take me for example. None of these youkai living here were bad, not until a man with a long hair and a long tongue, a snake youkai if you will, that was travelling with the company of younger girl. They came here and placed that glowing purple orb thing in our village telling us that it would protect us from the ningens- I mean all humans that wanted us all dead. Only after a couple of days everyone in the village started to change- everyone was shedding their human disguises and walking around in their youkai forms more or less! For the safety of our villagers and regular humans that walk by it was agreed that we have our disguises in place! It's terrible! I'm one of the few that haven't lost their minds yet. I would remove that orb myself but it is too high and its being guarded closely and the villagers will surely kill me if they think that I am turning against them."

"There was nowhere else for you to turn," Ebisu was starting to understand the situation now. "Why did you write in the mission description that that all we were supposed to be doing was 'get rid of some youkai that keep attacking peaceful villagers who come out at night' that's the only thing that I don't get. This could have been classified as a higher mission class."

"Right it was in my haste in trying to write the letter and get it delivered before any youkai noticed I must have mixed up what I was trying to say. What I wanted to say was this is a request from the leader of a peaceful youkai village. Villagers who come to this village are at risk of being attacked by youkai at night however they are not in their right minds. I was going to inform whoever was sent here of the other details before they arrived at the village but the villagers had already smelled you guys. I was too late!" Buu whispered urgently under his breath his eyes looked wild and crazy. "It's not safe here, especially for children like yourselves you should all leave right that's it you have to-"

"What's this! Buu you're such a sneaky little scoundrel! I knew we couldn't trust you!" The woman who had served them had come back and broke through the door hissing angrily as her body started to change she grew a long whip like tail and her skin started to become yellow and scaly. More of the other youkai workers there were also changing and trying to fight their way to get through the door.

"Kinu sweetheart you're not thinking straight, no one is this is village-" Buu was cut off when a clawed hand swiped at his face drawing out some blood. This youkai was his mate, but she wasn't acting like she normally did and it was tearing him up inside and now on the outside. He slumped to the ground feeling defeated, he had let this happen.

"Buu-san you can't stay here you're coming with us." Ebisu said grabbing the heavy man and went out the window after he was sure his students had already jumped through.

"It's that orb it's what's doing this and soon it will be dark out, right, which will make it even harder for you ningens to see! I've dug you all a very deep grave, right that's it we're all doomed!" Buu cried flattening down his mustache as he jumped out of Ebisu's arms.

"Kagome-kun you find a hiding spot and make sure you guard Buu-san while Sango-chan, Miroku-chan and I go retrieve that orb. Make sure you can see us incase anything happens. Guard him to the best of your ability." Ebisu said as they all crouched down with their backpacks back on their backs he then nodded and Miroku, Sango, Kirara and himself took off.

"Getting that orb is no easy task at all! Right that's it they're doomed, I'm doomed!" Buu groaned closing his eyes and rubbed his bald head furiously with his chubby hands.

"Don't worry I'm here to protect you!" Kagome said cheerily pointing to her face though it only seemed to make everything worse.

"Doomed tiny human child right, I appreciate you trying to comfort me but- right it's only making it worse! They'll tear you into pieces and use your bones for- right well for toothpicks! Everyone lived such normal lives here there wasn't a care in the world until that man brought that orb here. Am I really safe with you, right, probably not you should get away, get as far away from this village as you can! Right, but you stand no chance there bigger, stronger and faster than you running away will only make it worse! You're short! Right that means that your legs will certainly not carry you very far-"

"Ano…." She looked on as Buu continued to rant her eye was twitching madly as he continued to insult her. Just one swift punch to the head...

"Found the traitor and one of the ningens! ALL OF YOU, OVER HERE!" A woman's head announced as it wrapped itself around the corner her body was that of a large snake and she started to coil her body around Kagome and Buu in an attempt to constrict her prey.

"That's our queue that it's time to get out of here." Kagome said wrapping her arms over Buu's arms grabbing him like that, so they were back to back since he was quite larger than her and a lot heavier. If she carried him in her arms she wouldn't have been able to see over his blubbery stomach. She bent down then pushed off and jumped onto a rooftop where a giant skull with horns, teeth and had an ox's body was up there waiting for them. It was snorting and throwing its head around excitedly stomping around.

"Ningen!" It cried drooling at the mouth, tearing up the tiles of the roof with its hooves as it charged its horns heading straight for her body.

"Right, what's going on I can't see a thing!" Buu cried struggling against the small girl who was carrying him around on her back. As he was turning his head slightly to look at what youkai was coming at them she jumped back down to the ground and ran into an alleyway but ran back out almost immediately as she went in as youkai continued to tear up the sides of the buildings as they all went after her. They climbed over reach other wildly trying to be the first to dig into her flesh. Buu's grunted as a chunk of his body was almost taken out by the village's baker, in order to get to the ningen child. "Stop this all of you at once you're acting like a bunch of animals! We used to be civilized, remember that?"

"GWARWEERRRRR, GIVE US THE NINGEN!" They cried closing in on their prize their eyes were wild and feral.

"Buu-san you're too heavy and they're after me so I'm going to toss you into that dumpster over there and I want you to stay in there until all of this is over." Kagome informed the heavy youkai she was carrying just as she tossed him into the open container of garbage. Once Buu was off her back she was able to run away much faster and could defend herself using her arms if she needed to. Using her chakra to stick to a side of a building she pushed off of it and grabbed onto the side of the other building landing behind an enormous horse demon that had pure black eyes and fangs but it was too late when she sensed the youkai in front of her.

"Fresh ningen!" It roared out batting its orange wings behind it, this youkai was round its one giant purple eye took up most of the space on its body, there was a small horn on its head and as it spoke, sharp rows of teeth smashed together. It reached out to swipe at the tasty ningen child with its short arms.

Kagome brought out her leg with reiki infused into it and kicked it straight in the eye the youkai's screams of pain did not detour the others from coming. She quickly jumped onto another rooftop narrowly avoiding a mouth with serrated teeth from chopping off her leg. 'What was happening-?' she crumpled to her hands and knees and gasped for air.

"It's a miracle, the youkai guards have left." Ebisu panted those monsters just kept coming back for more they were fast fighting machines with lots of muscle. There had been a couple of moments he thought their claws or jaws would impale through his body and kill him. It was ironic now that he thought about it. This was always how he imaged Naruto would behave. Naruto came nothing close to acting like these real blood thirsty youkai. Sure on other missions he had encountered youkai but it was only two or three of them, they were nothing in comparison to these ones.

"Maybe it has to do something with that orb, it has changed color and the pulses coming off of it has changed too! This must be controlling all of them it must have just changed the orders it was giving to those youkai, but to what? I'll get the orb. Kirara doesn't look like she can do it." Miroku announced looking up as he jumped up onto the first level of the tall fountain. As he continued to gain height he found that the bowls were slowly getting smaller, more slippery and the flow of water was also getting stronger. Luckily his chakra control was superb but even then it was still a challenge.

"Kirara, what's wrong girl?" Sango asked worriedly holding her bleeding left thigh in pain, as her neko companion placed her head on the ground- in between both her paws and furiously started to shake her head back and forth and growling loudly in pain. All four of them looked worse for wear and everyone's clothing was torn, they were all bleeding.

"The orb has turned into a whitish color this- this is reiki! It's drawing it straight from a nearby source too, over there….on that rooftop. KAGOME! KAGOME LOOK OUT! KAGOME!" Miroku yelled as more youkai were surrounding her, all of their eyes were gleaming blood red. They didn't look like they wanted to kill her just capture her, for reasons unknown.

"Miroku-chan you focus on getting that orb and Sango-chan you take care of Kirara I'm going assist our newest squad member." Ebisu ordered before running off in the direction all the youkai were going to. 'Even if she can be a gaki she's still a part of my team. No part of my team is going to die, not if I can help it! I can't let her hurt by these beasts. That would also look bad on my part, as a supreme jounin leader. My reputation will not be ruined!"

Someone was calling her name out. Who was it? It sounded like Miroku. Kagome forced her eyes open and moved out of the way but hadn't properly judged how far to move, claws swiped along the front of her body tearing her flesh as a paw tried to grab her. Clutching her mid-section she slid through the legs of the youkai and fell straight off of the roof. She lay there where she had fallen in a daze, then remembered that she had to get away. So scrambled up and ran unsteadily behind a building and slid down the rough surface. This was unimaginable pain on a whole new level. Never had she experienced anything like it. Every centimeter of her body felt like it was being slowly unraveled and stretched apart. When she breathed out it her reiki burned its way out of her throat. Tears had started to burn their way out of her eyes sliding down her cheeks before dripping off of her face. After a couple moments of resting in that spot she forced her muscles to keep moving so that she could crawl away from all the youkai that were still following her.

"We have to get that ningen! It is her that has reiki powers! Naraku will be most pleased with the youkai that bring her to him. They will be able to get anything they desire." A youkai's gargled voice said to another as they tracked down the scent of the girl. All the youkai around her eye's also glowed red as they gained part of their thinking ability back. It was telling all of them to get the girl with the spiritual powers and bring it to their master. The same phrase was repeated over and over again in their skulls, becoming in sync with their heartbeats.

"Naraku! Well then I will find that ningen before any of you do! I want Naraku to grant me unimaginable power as well as make me the most beautiful youkai there is!" They were only too happy to want to capture the ningen in exchange for whatever they wanted. That was Naraku's promise to them through one of his detachments who travelled alongside a girl who kept them all in line with her powers.

"EGGGGGGGGRRR!" The noises of fighting breaking out among all of the youkai made it a little bit easier for Kagome to drag herself away from them in an attempt to escape. They all wanted to be the ones who brought the ningen to Naraku! There were just too many of them and they started to fight among themselves.

"Right, where do you think you're going? I will be the one to take you to my master Naraku right then don't try and run away!" Buu said, human disguise gone when he felt the calling of the orb. His youkai form was not surprising, he was a supersized walrus. The dangerous looking parts of him were his massive gleaming tusks and his spiky tail. Swinging his tail around the spikes pierced the side of her body, making it easier for his tail to lift and throw Kagome's body against a tall building, creating an indent. He was going to knock the girl out so it would be easier to bring her to his master.

"Kagome-kun!" Ebisu yelled arriving there to see his genin falling to the ground. He quickly pushed off buildings and caught her as she was falling before she hit the ground. A thin layer of sweat coated her body and she was panting. He tucked her under his arm as he escaped from the walrus youkai. The sounds of youkai roaring was getting louder more of them were coming down the alleyway! He was already forming hand signs. "Doton Doryuuheki no jutsu! [Earth Rising Barrier]" Out of his mouth he rapidly spat out mud as he jumped away he continued to strengthen the mud wall with more balls of mud that messily flew out of his mouth. Some of them missed the muddy barrier he was trying to create, making it slightly weaker than it normally would have been. When he was done he used his tattered sleeve to wipe the corners of his mouth. Then he cloned them both and sent the clones running onto the rooftops in the direction the youkai were in, so that they could serve as a distraction.

'They're already destroying the barrier! I'll have to use it there is no other way out.' His eyes narrowed. "Kori shinchu no jutsu! [Mind Affect]" He didn't want to use the genjutsu, since he knew it would drain almost all of his leftover charka that he had left from the jutsus he used against the previous youkai. The ones he had been fighting in order to get to the orb. On the bright side the jutsu would keep a vast majority of youkai from getting to them. Since it would greatly confuse all of the ones he had captured in the illusion. They wouldn't be able to dispel it. It would seem that they kept going around and around in circles until they become too mentally and physically exhausted to continue.

"Ebisu-sensei?" Kagome asked finally opening her eyes to look up to him. Her breathing was slowly going back to normal as he ran down the street trying to get as much distance between him and the mud wall that had already crumbled. 'Those youkai were talking about Naraku…' Her senses were greatly dulled, but she was pretty sure some youkai were still following them scaling the rooftops waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on them. Turns out she was correct, they jumped down and were stalking them from behind.

"Hai. I'm going to place you down for a moment okay?" Ebisu quickly propped her up against a building had giant claw marks tearing through it. She was just within his reach incase a youkai tried to grab her. He stood back from the alleyway he was going to perform the same technique he had used before. "Doton Doryuuheki no jutsu!" Mud once again spewed out from his mouth in balls, piling up to create a strong barrier to hinder the movement of all the youkai that were still after them. They were the few that had not been in the group that he cast a genjutsu on. Ebisu was panting as well as sweating heavily as he grabbed Kagome and placed her under his arm again as he took off again.

"Mou, I don't get it! Why do my eyes feel funny?" The frustration in her voice could be heard when she questioned herself, out loud, holding her hands to her eyes. It wasn't itchy feeling they just didn't feel like they normally did. One thing she had noticed was that they always felt this way whenever hand signs where shown to her, it was getting on her nerves. Sometimes she would rub at her eyes to make the unusual sensation go away but it didn't help.

"This has been a long day, you're just tired. The second mud barrier is holding up for now, that's good," Ebisu said his eyes darting around all over the place, it was dangerous and he was almost completely drained. There were just too many youkai! Ebisu let out a breath of relief when he could finally see Miroku, who was still climbing up the fountain. The boy was almost at the very top only twenty more or so levels to go before he reached the orb. "Everyone's up ahead and rubbing your eyes will only make them turn red."

"Un, un I've heard that saying so many times." She muttered dropping her arms to her sides. At least her body was starting to hurt less…that was until Ebisu accidentally let go of her in mid jump. It may have been partially due to his leg was punctured by ten inch long teeth that where attached to the jaws of a massive white fury mouth. Air hastily exited out from her lungs when she crashed into the armored chest of some sort of half bird half reptile youkai. It screeched loudly spreading out its wings and puffing out its body angrily. The talons from its feet dug into both of her shoulders as it lifted her off the ground. Strong gusts of winds were created with just one flap and soon everything on the ground was becoming smaller and smaller…

"Urgrawr!"

The bear youkai that had attacked Ebisu growled thrashing its head around madly in order to tear off his leg. Through all the pain Ebisu reached down into his holster and retrieved a kunai and sliced into its sensitive snout. He grunted in pain when his body connected with the hard stone pathway, salvia flew out from his mouth. Drawing in a jagged breath he formed some hand signs as the youkai that was starting to become blurry and out of focus. "Suiton Suijinheki no jutsu!" The water bullets shot out of his mouth and smashed against the bear pushing it back as Ebisu pumped out more water, using the fountain as the source of liquid for the jutsu.

"Hiraikotsu!" The giant boomerang came whizzing down the street and twirled around continuously hitting the youkai's legs until it was forced to drop its prize in order to defend itself from the weapon. Sango ran as fast as she could as her eyes followed Kagome's free falling body that was already so close to hitting the ground. "KAGOME!" Using her knee guards on her fighting outfit Sango slid on them holding her arms out ready for the impact. Only a familiar shape jumped out of the shadows and managed to grab the girl first. "Kirara!" The neko landed then roughly dropped the girl into Sango's arms before running at a building and smashing her head against it growling. Naraku's disgusting voice was in her head trying to bring her youkai blood to boil by telling her to get the girl and bring it to him and he would reward her. Kirara's mind had become strong from being controlled by other youkai, as well as all the encounters with Naraku and through sheer willpower she was able push the command to the back of her mind.

"Konoha Senpuu [Konoha Hurricane] sensei you just can't lay on the ground like that!" Sango scolded after kicking back the bear youkai that was charging at him. "And to think you yell at Miroku and I for taking too long of a break in between you training sessions, hypocrite. Kirara go make sure Miroku can get that orb and then bring him here onegai."

"Grrawrrr." Kirara nodded and took off down the street her claws clacking against the stones growing quieter the further away she got.

"Ha ah… Sango-chan, ahh….I hate to admit this to you, but I'm almost out of chakra and I've lost a lot of blood," Ebisu chuckled with a weak grin on his face, he leaned back against a building, assessing how badly the injury on his leg was while his sweaty black hair escaped from the Konoha hitai-ite he always had tied around his head. "An excellent shinobi, like me, knows when they have to call it quits. If I use anymore chakra, I'll die. After casting that genjutsu I should have stopped…too late to say that now. Kagome-kun how are you doing, are you alright?"

The girl nodded her head, pushing against the side of a building to help her stand up. The smell of her own drying blood that was all over her tattered remains of her clothes, invaded her nostrils. Fresh blood leaked from her shoulders that had recently been pierced by the talons of the last youkai. Her head was hanging down as her fingertips brushed along the brick wall, sweat dripped off her nose. "…Un."

"I'll have to get Hiraikotsu later," Sango reminded herself as she reached back and unzipped her backpack and pulled out a sickle and chain made from youkai bones. Wielding it she blocked a powerful attack from the paw of the youkai who had come back. Swinging around the sickle she waited for the perfect moment to attack. None of them were trying to kill any of these youkai. They were just trying to knock them out. It would have been easier if they could just kill them. Rolling underneath the youkai she wrapped the chain around its legs and ran out from underneath it and pulled as hard as she could on the chain making the bear topple over. Sango could see Hiraikotsu protruding from the side of a building just a couple of blocks away.

She had turned around and was just about to run off and get it but the youkai had decided that the battle still wasn't over. It turned its head around and was about to snap its jaw close around Sango's chest. Instead the bear got its mouth jammed open with the sharp end of the sickle. She was struggling to push back on the weapon to keep the youkai's body from getting closer to her so it couldn't use its claws. If she was pushing back then the bear could be using all of its legs to push back against her. This was just her luck; the bird youkai that had grabbed Kagome before had come back and was headed directly for- "Ebisu-sensei watch out!"

Ebisu shut his eyes as the youkai from before circled in the sky before coming at him with glistening blood coated black talons headed to pierce through his body. He had no energy left to even move. This was the end for him. There was a smirk on his bruised and swollen face. So this is it? His heart rate skyrocketed. Now that he thought about it, there were so many things he wished he had done but there were also a lot of things he was thankful for. He was glad to have met such wonderful people in his life and was honored to be given a team of such talent Genin even if he only knew Kagome for a short while she was still able to change him. Though he did regret not spending as much time in the company of the other sex, he waited for the impending death, continuing to list the moments that had made his life worth living. He was just sorry that his Genin's would have to get another jounin instructor. One that would not be as talented and wouldn't know as many skills and techniques as he does… or did, do people remember the jutsus they learned when they're in heaven? Perhaps for all the people he had killed he would be going elsewhere. He was about to find out….suddenly Ebisu was brought back down to earth when he was roughly shoved out of the way.

"Oi, wari! [sorry!] You can't have him. This guy still owes me an all you can eat ramen at Ichiraku Ramen!" Kagome grunted out as the talons from the youkai dug into her the arm that she used to shove Ebisu out of the way. Breathing heavily she tore her bloody arm back. Black chakra engulfed her right hand in a big burst that was twice the size of Kagome. Throwing all of her body weight into the punch the bird youkai went completely through a building before slamming into the one behind that one. It stayed there momentarily before removing itself from the rubble and dove forward in order to swipe its talons at its prey. Somehow Kagome had already foreseen the attack coming and dodged one of the scaly feet and blocked the other. Then the youkai took off in flight again waiting until the injured victim became too tired to fight back. Kagome relaxed and slid down the side of the building holding her left arm to her chest. She slowly turned her head to face her wide eyed sensei. "It was a promise. Was it not?"

"Hai Kagome-kun….it was," Ebisu could feel his mouth slacken when she finally faced him. There was no mistaking it, it was staring him directly in the eyes. How could he not notice? That Kagome Higurashi had the Uchiha signature clan trait in her eyes. It was a breathy whisper that came out of his mouth, "Sharingan…"

What do you believe is the true purpose of life?

Best review for the last chapter: WraithReaper