Chapter 4: A Houshi, a Nomi and a Subeta Part 1 (A Buddhist priest, a flea and a sword)
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them. Only the story belongs to me.
Over used clichés not in this fanfic take 4: FYI not all of these come from Kag/Sess stories but in case anyone is using this as guide lines to stay away from gonna add some other clichés as well.
1. AU in high school...about every third or fourth fic I read the summary for is an AU high school story. Heck I've stopped reading when ever I spot high school lol.
2. Others falling in the well and going in the past. Now unless they use some kind of idea like the well being damaged or something this can't work since the only reason Kagome could go through the well was the Shikon and Inuyasha the necklace that links him to her.
3. Shippo learning sword fighting and becoming a warrior. Really don't see this one happening since kitsunes are more into tricks and illusions rather than weapons. But almost ever fic I have read that had an older Shippo he was either fighting or learning how to.
4. Kagome's scent being either Jasmine or Sakura blossoms. She almost always smells like one of these two.
5. Sess and Inuyasha having a sister or brother no one knew about. I think if there was someone that closely related they would have been mentioned.
6. Oddly enough Inuyasha really being Sess's son. I've seen quite a few of these.
7. Game of truth or dare. Done way too often.
Edited on 8/9/07
Two more weeks had passed and they finally arrived back at Edo, they would have been there much sooner had ever village they passed not been under attack by demons or sickness. But either way it gave them both more chances to practice. Now, a few minutes before sunset, they were entering Kaede's hut to find her cooking dinner over the small fire pit in the middle of the room.
"Child ye have returned." Kaede said with a smile when she noticed her enter and walked over to give the younger miko a hug. "How have ye been child?" Kaede asked as she gestured for her to sit down across from where Kaede had been seated moments ago.
"Huh?" wondered a mostly asleep Shippo as he stuck his head outside of the large backpack he had been resting it and spotted Kaede as she sat back down to tend to dinner. "Oh hello Lady Kaede." Shippo greeted with a smile as Kagome placed the bag on the ground and he jumped out of it and into her lap as she took her seat.
"Hello Shippo." Kaede said with a smile as she began pouring the stew she had made into three bowls before passing them out. "How are things going in ye travels?" Kaede wondered as she looked up from her meal.
"Rather interesting so far. Since the last time I visited I've managed to get wounded -although healed now so don't worry-roped a taiyoukai into a challenge, met a priestess named Junsei who helped me with the basics of barriers, and have gotten pretty far in teaching Shippo about herbs." Kagome told her as she ticked off each point by raising a finger.
Kaede stared at her for a moment trying to decide which event she was most interested in to question the girl further on and finally decided on the one that made the least sense. "Roped a taiyoukai into a challenge?" Kaede wondered as she raised her eye brows at the young miko.
"Yes kinda a funny story too." Kagome answered with a laugh before taking another bit of her meal. "Sesshoumaru showed up the day after I had gotten injured and ended up spending part of the day with us so Rin could play with Shippo. Well anyways the children and Jaken took off to go find flowers and he made a comment about me finally submitting to him since I kept calling him Lord Sesshoumaru. Well me being me, I corrected him and told him I was just being polite and that I would never submit.
"Well as you can imagine that didn't go over real well and I had to come up with a way to get him to not kill me without him thinking he won. So I did the only thing I could think of and challenged his ego by saying that if I was to submit to him I would call him milord. Well it seems to have worked." Kagome explained as she finished off the stew and handed her bowl to Kaede as she reached for it to refill it.
"I find it rather interesting that ye were able to challenge him so easily." Kaede decided after thinking about what Kagome had said for a few moments as she refilled Shippo's bowl as well.
"I think he was just bored." Kagome informed her with a laugh as she looked over and saw Shippo trying to stifle a yawn while eating.
"Odd I would think he would be rather busy at the moment." Kaede commented after a minute more to herself than to Kagome who was currently setting up her sleeping bag on the other side of the room.
"Why do you say that?" Kagome wondered as she lifted Shippo, who was currently more busy falling asleep rather than eating, into her arms and brought him over to the sleeping bag and laid him down inside before covering him up.
"I have heard news of attacks near the border of the western lands. One would think he would be dealing with the threat." Kaede explained with a shrug.
"Hmm." Kagome said more to herself than Kaede as she thought that over in her mind while the older miko gathered the dishes to wash them.
Deep within the forests, just on the south's side of the border with the west, a man could be seen staring off into the trees. What he was looking at his followers couldn't be sure, but at that moment there were most pressing matters to worry about. Such as what was on the mind of the men, something they had been worried about for days, and currently on the mind of a young man that was heading toward their leader.
"Tadashii-sama do you really think it wise to cross over into the west? The taiyoukai of the west is supposed to be very powerful and it is rumored that he is already angry that we have attacked so close to his borders. Wouldn't it only further aggravate him to do so on his own land?" the young man wondered out loud as he caught the attention of his leader, though he did not turn to face him.
"Worry not over that aka. We will continue on as planned hitting the west next and then north. We are on a mission and would not do well to veer off course because of a simple oni." Tadashii replied with a wave of his hand as though the mention of the taiyoukai did not required his attention or worry.
"What if he attacks Tadashii-sama?" the young man wondered after a moment of silence as he looked up at the back of his leader's head.
"Simple, we kill him. In fact even if he doesn't attack, we shall kill him none the less." Tadashii replied turning to look at the young man before walking back toward camp using his staff as a walking stick. "Keep camp until I return. I have heard rumors of someone we would do well to have in our fold and I will go and search them out." Tadashii told his men before gathering three of them to make the journey with him and heading out of camp.
AN: o.O so anyone else feel like killing Tadashii for talking like that about Sexy-sama...err...I mean Sesshy-sama?
This might be easier than he originally thought. It was almost too good to be true but if it indeed turn out to be false, well he could always kill the messenger. Either way it seemed win/win to him and he liked when outcomes were in his favor. He had been itching for some blood ever since he heard that Tadashii had been attacking villages not far from his border and now with this bit of news, his claws would be dripping in blood soon, one way or the other. If it turned out to be false then they would be covered in the messenger's blood but if it was true, which he truly hoped it was, then it would be Tadashii's blood. Oh yes he was hoping that the news of Tadashii being seen heading east with only a few men was correct.
He had returned to his home not long after he had first received word of the attacks and it had begun to seem like time had slowed down while was waiting on news. But now he had it and he was really looking forward to spilling Tadashii's blood. He was still a bit sore he wasn't able to do it last time they had crossed paths. How long ago now was it? He couldn't really remember, he was never one for keeping track of the years since he'd seen so many already. But about 20 years seemed about right. Like now, there had been attacks of youkai villages -it had been in the north last time- but until they entered his land or the northern taiyoukai asked for aid he decided not to worry about it, it wasn't his problem.
He had put the whole thing at the back of his mind and pretty much forgotten about it until one day he had been scouting around toward the northern border and had been wounded in a battle with some buta youkai. He had won of course, he was Sesshoumaru after all, but he was injured none the less. He had been just leaning against a tree waiting for himself to heal when he felt him approaching.
He was expecting, hoping really, for him to run away scared when he stumbled upon the great taiyoukai but instead he had decided to be even more cowardly and tried to attack him. Shouting some pathetic nonsense about how he, Tadashii, was going to rid the world of another kitanai akuma, as if he, Sesshoumaru, were the unclean one. A quick whip to the face got rid of that notion and he finally decided to turn tail and run, the smell of burnt flesh left in his wake. He had thought about going after him and finishing him off but decided at that moment it wasn't worth it. He figured he had at least gotten a nice scar from it and that was good enough for now, he could always kill him later when he was feeling more up to it anyways.
Sesshoumaru was pulled out of his memories when he realized he had reached his destination, the gardens, and those who he sought were currently coming toward him. "This Sesshoumaru is going to the east." Sesshoumaru informed them choosing to ignore Jaken and instead look at Rin.
"The east?" Rin thought for a moment before a large smile appeared on her face and for a moment, though he had no idea why, Sesshoumaru felt the slightest bit of unease. But as it was he didn't have to wait long to find out why. "Can Rin come too? We can go see Kagome-sama and Shippo-chan! Please Lord Sesshoumaru." Rin begged with, what he thought, was a pretty good imitation of puppy dog eyes, for a human at least.
He had to think about this for a moment, he didn't really mind Rin coming along but with Rin Jaken would come along to in case she needed to be watched. Now traveling alone would no doubt be faster but it would also be silent and he was rather used to the girl's non stop chatter. But again he would have to have Jaken come as well. Oh well, he could always throw rocks at him if he be. "Come." Sesshoumaru said as he walked away and didn't bother to see if they would follow, why bother, he knew they would, they always did.
"Yea! Thank you Lord Sesshoumaru." Rin called out happily as she followed after him while Jaken grabbed Ah-Un and joined them.
Kaede was busy preparing lunch, while Kagome was down at the springs and Shippo was off playing with kids somewhere, when there was a knock at her hut door. She decided it must have been a visiter since all of the villagers would just stick their head in around the bamboo hanging door and call out for her. And sure enough, when she pulled back the door to see who it was, she found a man she didn't know staring back at her.
Said man, who was quite obviously a houshi, was wearing a long midnight blue robe and carried a staff, that seemed to have three bells at the top. And other than a scar, that went from his eye brow to the middle of his cheek below his right eye, he was pretty much like almost every houshi she had seen before. Bald, slightly taller than she, couldn't tell his build since his robe wasn't form fitting, and by the looks of things, she was probably at least 10 years his senior if not more.
"How might I help ye houshi-sama?" Kaede asked returning her eyes to his when she decided she wouldn't find any thing else about him which might stand out.
"I am looking for a miko who is rumored to work in this village, miko-sama, but I heard she was younger. Perhaps I heard wrong, might you be her?" the houshi asked after giving Kaede his own once over.
"Nay ye must mean Lady Kagome. Might I ask what ye need of her?" Kaede inquired as she moved aside to allow him room to come inside before sitting down next to the fire.
"I have come seeking help aid with a demon problem but I really should not linger." the houshi replied declining her gesture for him to have a seat.
"Lady Kagome is currently at the springs, but she will return here when she be done. Ye may wait her arrival here. Tea?" Kaede asked with a smile as she began making some without waiting his reply.
Kagome had just been stepping out of the nice hot springs, after relaxing there for close to an hour, when she heard the scream. Grabbing her towel she ran as fast as her legs would carry her back to the village, wrapping the towel around her as she went and cursing the fact her bathing suit had been destroyed a month ago and she was unable to replace it.
She had forgotten her bow, quiver, clothes and bag back at the hot springs, but at the moment she didn't care. She knew Kaede would head toward the scream since it was coming from the village and she would have her bow with her and if need be, Kagome could always borrow it. None of that matter at the moment, nor did her state of undress. No there was only one thing on her mind at that very second, her son.
When she had a chance to look back on it after all was said and done, she was glad she hadn't wasted time grabbing her bow or getting dressed, had she, she would have been too late. As it was, she just barely managed to throw her body over Shippo, who had just a moment ago tripped over a tree root as he ran, as the sword came down and pierced the flesh on her shoulder.
Thankfully the attacker had noticed the seemly crazy woman at the last second and managed to pull back. It could have been worse, she could have been dead, but none the less the injury hurt like hell and she could already feel her warm blood flowing down her back. She would need stitches, no way around it.
Her scream echoed out around everyone as Kaede and the houshi arrived and the attacker backed up staring at the woman in shock. "Shippo? Are you okay Shippo?" Kagome asked softly as she leaned up a little bit to look down at him. Too frightened to speak he merely nodded his head. After flashing him a quick smile, Kagome stood up, trying her best to ignore her pain.
Turning to face the attacker, she took a couple of deep breaths trying to at least remotely calm herself, it wasn't working and after a moment she decided to give that up, at least for now. "What in the name of Kami do you think you were doing?!" Kagome screamed at him, causing those around to flintch.
"What did it look like wench? I was killing a demon!" the man shot back after a moment when he had regained his senses and tried to pretend not to notice the woman was standing in nothing more than a towel.
A collective gasp was heard from the villagers wondering who would be so rude as to call the miko a wench but said miko decided to ignore this fact for now for more important matters. "And why were you trying to kill a little kid?" Kagome inquired, had any other demons been around they would have felt the anger rolling off of her in waves, but as it was the only demon around was currently to scared to take notice.
"It isn't a kid, it's a demon!" the man shot back, seemly unaware of the danger he was digging himself deeper into every passing moment.
"Demon or not he is but a child! Why did you attack a defenseless child?!" Kagome screamed vaguely wondering if her eyes would have been bleeding red at the moment had she been a demon.
"It is a demon, what more reason do I need?" the man asked, now seemly bored with this line of questioning.
"You are very lucky you are not a demon at this moment." Kagome decided trying to best to regain control of herself before she did something, that well. she probably wouldn't regret it but it would be frowned upon.
"And why is that?" the man asked with a snort.
"Cause I would purify you." Kagome answered in a calm and cold voice that just might have even made Sesshoumaru proud.
The houshi hearing this, must have decided that she was the miko he was looking for, for he stepped forward and cleared his throat causing Kagome to shoot her glare toward him. "Would you be Lady Kagome?" the houshi asked trying his best to keep his voice steady under her gaze.
"I am houshi-sama. But if you need something of me you will have to wait, at the moment I need to take care of my son and the wound on my shoulder." Kagome declared turning and further ignoring him as she walked over and picked up Shippo and headed toward Kaede's hut. "Lady Kaede can you send someone for my things by the springs please?" Kagome called over her shoulder not bothering to stop, if she did she wasn't sure she could start back up again, the pain was becoming unbearable.
AN: Warning bit of OOCness for Kagome in this scene, just keep in mind she's injured, the guy is insulting not only her son but also most of her friends, and he's an ketsunoana.
"Shippo are you up for practicing your stitching?" Kagome asked with a sweetly, trying her hardest to keep the pain out of her voice, hoping that if he was distracted it would help him calm down. She briefly wondered how bad the pain would be if he messed up, not bothering to worry about his stitching since if he messed that up she could always have Kaede fix it later. But after a moment she decided a little extra pain was well worth calming her shaking son.
After a moment she wondered if he had not heard her question and just as she was about to ask again, he nodded his head and crawled out of her arms as her stuff was brought in by a villager. "Lady Kaede might I borrow a bucket for him to stand on?" Kagome inquired with a slight smile as she looked over to her and noticed she was carrying a bucket of water over to her.
"Aye. I shall get it." Kaede said with a nod after thinking for a moment and heading to the other side of the room for where she kept an extra one before returning to them and placing it upside down behind Kagome. After ringing out the cloth in his hand, Shippo climbed up on the bucket and began to wash the blood from her shoulder.
"How can I help you houshi-sama?" Kagome asked when she noticed he had joined them in the hut as well and decided it would be best to get her mind off of the pain.
"Lady Kagome my name is Tadashii and I am here to ask for your help against demons." Tadashii replied after shaking his head and blinking to clear the odd image on a young miko sitting in nothing but a towel and having her wound attended to by a kit.
"What kind of demon?" Kagome asked after a moment as she noticed Shippo was trying to get the thread to go through the eye of the needle. "Relax Shippo you're shaking too much. Take a deep breath and steady yourself, then try again." Kagome instructed sweetly and smiled when he looked up at her. He nodded once and then closed his eyes and she could hear him taking a long deep breath.
"All of them." Tadashii replied coolly and Kagome was sure she had heard him wrong and for a moment just stared at him confused. Looking over at Kaede she noticed she had the same confused look on her face and glancing at Shippo she realized he was holding his breath.
"Breath Shippo." Kagome whispered softly so only he would hear her and after he opened his eyes at her, he let out the air and took another breath. Turning her attention back to Tadashii she asked, "What do you mean all of them?" Kaede seemed to be shaken out of her daze for she blinked a few times, Tadashii however seemed unaffected by it all.
"I mean just that, all of them. Everyone one of those katanai akuma." Tadashii clarified wondering how she couldn't grasp that concept but then again she couldn't be very bright since she was currently helping a youkai to thread a needle to be used on her own person.
"Why would you want to kill all of them Tadashii-sama? There are many good youkai out there." Kagome insisted idly wondering if he was this era's Hitler.
"There is no such thing as a good youkai. Surely a miko, who was powerful enough to defeat Naraku single handedly, would be intelligent enough to know that." Tadashii said although more to himself than to the others in the hut starting to worry if he had gotten the miko wrong after all.
"I do not know what you have been told houshi, but Naraku was not defeated by me alone." Kagome informed him not bothering with honorifics anymore, the longer she was around him, the less she felt he deserved it. "Naraku was defeated by a miko, an inu hanyou, a youkai taijiya, a houshi, a young kitsune, a twin-tailed neko youkai, a full blooded inu youkai and a ookami youkai. You were correct about me being the miko and you have already met the kit. Tell me houshi what part of them risking their lives day after day after day to stop an evil hanyou from becoming all powerful and never asking for a damn thing in return...what part of that makes them evil?" She demanded before biting back a hiss of pain when Shippo began stitching her wound.
"Sorry momma." Shippo whispered when he felt her tense and stopped what he was doing for a moment to lay his hand on her uninjured shoulder.
"You should have someone who knows what they are doing tend to that rather some idiot kit." Tadashii laughed as said kit cringed digging his claws ever so slighting into her shoulder where his hand still rested.
"No one is perfect on their first try and my son is far from an idiot. Now I am done wasting my breath on a pathetic little man who seems to think the murder of innocents is acceptable. Leave houshi before I rethink my decision to not purify a human even if they deserve it." Kagome demanded as is turned toward Shippo to run her hand through his hair and try to calm him back down.
Tadashii snorted in disgust and got up heading out of the hut. Just as he reached the doorway her voice stopped him but he didn't bother to turn around, had he done so, he would have seen a icy stare that could revile Sesshoumaru's. "If you or your men ever attack my son again or I find out you have slaughter another innocent child, I will not hesitate to send you to what ever hell it is you belong in." When she had finished speaking, he stepped out of the hut without another word and quickly made his way to his men and together they leave the village.
After about five minutes of silence, other than the quiet soothing noises Kagome was making to try and get the kit to relax, Kaede startled them by letting out an undignified snort. Looking over at her Kagome raised her eye brow in question and continued to stroke the kit's hair. "Have ye ever met anyone more idiotic? I have not!" Kaede insisted shaking her head as she rose and went to the fire to prepare some tea.
"No I can't say as I have." Kagome said as she began laughing soon joined by Kaede and not long after by Shippo and they didn't stop until their sides hurt and they found they were having trouble breathing. "Ready to get back to work little one?" Kagome asked with a smile when the laughter finally died down and she looked over her shoulder at him.
"Yeah momma." Shippo replied as he handed her the needle and picked back up the cloth he had used earlier to reclean her wound since it had bled again. Not long after he had finished stitching her up and moved to put on the bandage but Kagome stopped him.
"Go play outside for a while Shippo, you could use a break. I will have Lady Kaede bandage it. You did a great job son." Kagome said with pride as she pulled him in front of her and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead.
"Okay momma." Shippo said with a smile as he started out of the hut. He knew she was going to have Kaede check to make sure the stitches were done well enough but that was okay, it was after all only his first try.
"Stay close to the hut." Kagome called after him as Kaede moved behind her and checked the work before deciding it didn't need to be fixed and after she applied some herbs for the pain, bandaged up the wound.
"He did a fine job." Kaede commented when she had finished and moved to sit next to the fire to wait on the water to boil. Kagome just smiled at her and nodded her head in agreement.
Early the next morning Kagome awoke when her hand reached up and slapped the side of her face to stop what ever was biting her cheek. Opening her eyes as much as she could so soon after waking up, she looked at her hand and saw a flea gliding in the air before landing on her open palm. "Good morning Myoga." Kagome said groggily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her free hand.
"Lady Kagome nice to taste..err...I mean see you again." Myoga stumbled as he smiled up at her.
"Sure sure." Kagome replied waving her hand, unfortunately for Myoga, it happened to be the hand he was in and he was sent flying across the room. "Oh sorry." Kagome said absentmindedly as she moved to restart the fire so she could begin making breakfast and give Kaede a break that morning.
"Are you wounded Lady Kagome?" Myoga asked off hand when he noticed she winced slightly when she bent over to add breakfast to the now going fire. "What happened?" Myoga asked deciding not to wait for her answer since it was quite obvious she was indeed wounded.
"Yeah some poor excuse for a houshi named Tadashii came up here yesterday with a few men to try and get my help to destroy all demons and anyways one of his men tried to kill Shippo and I stepped in and took the hit instead." Kagome explained as she her rustling behind her and turned to see Kaede waking. "Morning." Kagome called to her with a smile before turning back to Myoga as he began speaking.
"Did you say Tadashii?" Myoga inquired and at her nod he seemed thoughtful for a moment before continuing on. "It seems you and Lord Sesshoumaru have a common enemy once again." Myoga informed her with a small chuckle.
"Huh?" Kagome asked unintelligently as she tended to breakfast.
"Have you not heard of the attacks on demon villages just south of the border to the west? Tadashii is behind those." Myoga explained and after a moment could see understanding clearly written on her face.
"Yes Lady Kaede told me about that, I was not aware it was the same man. Wish I knew I would have had him stay until a certain taiyoukai could show up." Kagome replied with a snort before turning to gently shake Shippo out of his slumber. "Time to wake up little one, breakfast is almost ready." Kagome informed him as he opened his eyes part way and then yawned causing Kagome to giggle.
"Hey Myoga can you do me a favor?" Kagome wondered turning her attention back to him for a moment before she started dishing up the food. At his nod she continued, "Can you tell Lord Sesshoumaru if he needs my help..." Kagome stopped here to shake her head "No tell him if he wishes to demand I assist him in the matter of Tadashii that I will be here in Edo and would be more then willing to comply." Kagome finished deciding that was a better idea then sending poor Myoga with a message that might make it sound like Sesshoumaru might be so weak as to need help from a ningen.
Yes that would go over real well. Kagome thought to herself with an inward smirk.
"Of course Lady Kagome." Myoga said with a bow before jumping off the upside down bucket he was standing on and a moment later he was gone.
Translations
Miko-priestess
Ningen-human
Taiyoukai-demon lord
Aka-filth
-sama-honorific for lord
Tadashii-Righteous
Youkai-demon
Buta-pig
Kitanai-filthy
Akuma- demon
Houshi-Buddhist priest
Taijiya-slayer
Hanyou-half demon
Ookami-wolf
Inu-dog
Kitsune-fox
Ketsunoana-ass
AN: Well there's the next chapter. Please R&R, good and bad reviews are both welcome however I will just ignore flames. Let me know if it sounds to cliché so I can edit it correctly
