Omoide no Mori
Forest of Memories
chapter nine:
*Propositions, Promises, and Partings*
The sun didn't really give off much warmth that afternoon.
It was peculiar...it beat down upon the earth, wide and unblinking like some sort of omniscient celestial eye, glaring down upon the planet as if in constant scrutiny, but the rays just didn't seem enough to quite warm the ground or the air around it. Clouds drifted lazily past, casting irregularly-shaped shadows upon the grass, barely moving in the faint wind that swept over the hills and ruffled the long grass in the fields until they undulated lazily like swells upon the ocean. It had been such a peaceful daybreak, and a tranquil noontime, that one would hardly have guessed what a ferocious battle had already been fought that day as the birdcalls rang through the air.
And then suddenly, there was an explosive sort of sound from one of the buildings at the far end of the village, and a few of the village workers paused a moment in the streets, exchanging confused glances.
Then, with unconcerned shrugs, they continued on their way, chatting lightly.
"Gesundheit," Miroku said with a stifled chuckle as Inuyasha rubbed one finger under his nose.
"Feh, why's it so bloody dusty in here, anyway?" the hanyou sniffed, glaring at the hundreds of books lining the shelves as though they might have directly had something to do with it.
"These are ancient texts that have been in this village for decades, Inuyasha," Kaede explained, ignoring Inuyasha's exaggerated sniffling as she pulled a thick volume down from its shelf. "These books probably haven't been used or opened for years... They may well be far older than you...so show a little respect."
"Well, would it kill you to do a little Spring Cleaning from time to time, you old crone?" Inuyasha grumbled, grabbing the heavy old book roughly from Kaede's hands. "Feh," he snorted, holding it up, gripping the cover to shake it upside-down, as though he might have been able to wring out the answers they sought, "how are these dumb old spellbooks gonna help us find that onineko anyhow?"
Miroku quickly snatched the book from him and held it gently, as though fearful the ancient publication might crumble and fall between his fingers like sand.
"Many of these books are thousands of years old, Inuyasha," the monk explained quietly. "Apparently, there are very few records on the history of the jewel the onineko carries...but if there are any to be found,"--he swept one hand out, grandly gesturing at the endless shelves of old manuscripts--"we'll find them here."
He blew some dust off the cover of the book, and opened it.
Inuyasha turned away, swiping his hands through the air, swatting at the dust.
"I still think this is stupid," he said. "We should forget about doing all this research and just go out there and--ah...ah..."
Shippou leapt up onto Inuyasha's shoulder and clamped his tiny hands over the hanyou's nose.
Inuyasha pouted.
"I'b leavig," he said gruffly, Shippou's hands still pressed against his face.
And with that, he plucked the kogitsune from his shoulder and shoved him into Sango's arms as he stormed out of the hut.
Sango looked at Kagome, who blinked and cast a glance at Miroku.
The houshi shrugged.
"Wah-choo!"
They all shook their heads as they heard Inuyasha grumble something to himself, and then leap off, probably to go skulk in a nearby tree.
Kagome giggled.
"It would seem that, among other things, Inuyasha's nose is also particularly sensitive to dust..."
They all chortled.
"Well, all joking aside," Sango said lightly, placing Shippou on a nearby shelf, much to the startled dismay of the kitsune, "what do we do about this Nanatsu no Tenkei? Is there a way to stop its power?"
"We're not even sure what it is we're looking for, though," Shippou reminded them, hopping from the shelf onto Miroku's shoulder. "We know she's got the jewel, but we dunno what it looks like."
"But the shards of the Shikon no Tama are usually inserted into a part of the body," Miroku pointed out, tapping his forehead with one hand. He glanced at Shippou. "Remember Rouyakan?"
Sango slapped her fist into her palm, though she honestly had no idea what a "Rouyakan" was...
"That's right...so we may not have been able to see where the jewel was, even if we did know what it looked like."
"But I did not notice anything glowing," Kagome told them rather sheepishly.
"Nanatsu no Tenkei does not work in the same way as the Shikon no Tama," Kaede explained, plucking another book from the shelf and thumbing through it. "Hora," she said, and everyone leaned in close to gaze at the page she had opened to, "look here." She cleared her throat. "'The Nanatsu no Tenkei'," she read, "grants its holder power over the seven oracles of Kisetsu."
"Kisetsu?" Sango asked.
Kaede pulled down another book, handing the first one, still open to the page she had been reading from, to Miroku, setting it on top of the book he was already holding. The monk blinked at the text in his hands, then watched as the old woman thumbed through yet another book.
He shifted his weight.
The volumes were so thick that they surely weighed ten pounds each!
He closed the one Kaede had just handed to him, and straightened the second book atop the first. Shippou quickly decided to find another shoulder to roost upon, and decided that the taijiya's looked relatively safe.
"Kisetsu was the priestess of a mountain village that existed over three-hundred years ago, not too far to the South of where this village now stands," the old woman told them. "She was born of the joining of a priestess and a mage."
"A mage?" Shippou echoed as he scrambled back into Sango's arms, clambering up onto her shoulder. He eyed Kaede speculatively. "That's sorta like a wizard, right?"
"More or less," the old miko said. "A mage is a wizard of the highest level of magic...the most powerful of mortal sorcerers. Very few existed, even in that time. Now, since more than three centuries have passed, I doubt any of their kind are still around..."
She paused a moment, as though she had to relocate her train of thought.
"Anyway..." she continued after a moment, "Kisetsu was quite an adept magic-user herself. Being that her mother was a priestess, she was born with the spiritual powers of a miko. Add to the powers she would inherit from her mage father, and the magical energy flowing through her body was a force to be reckoned with."
"So she was responsible for the creation of Nanatsu no Tenkei, then?" Kagome asked.
"Yes, she was" Kaede stated, closing the book. "Kisetsu's magical powers seemed concentrated on the elements."
She pulled down another book (adding the one she had already checked to the pile Miroku now struggled with), and flipped through the pages. Then she held open a page for Kagome to look at.
"'Earth, Air, Water, Fire'," Kagome read, "'Lightning, Cloud, and Wood'."
"I thought there were eight," Sango said. "Isn't metal usually listed as one of the elements?"
"Technically, yes," Kaede said, and Miroku let out a soft moan as she placed the book on the pile he held, which was now stacked to four thick volumes.
He swayed a little, and hefted the books to get a better grip on them. Kaede walked around a corner to another row of shelves, and the others followed.
"It was always believed that there were five elements that made up everything:" she told them, "Fire, Water, Wood, Air, and Metal."
"So where did those others come from?" Kagome wanted to know.
Kaede pulled two books down this time, thumbed through one and, not finding what she was looking for, placed it atop Miroku's stack. He grunted, and leaned against the bookcase.
"Ancient magic law stated that there were eight elements," Kaede explained, and closed the other book. She extended her hand to place the book on top of the pile as Miroku staggered to remain standing.
"Eight?" Shippou asked, and before Kaede could clarify, there was a yelp, and a crash, and suddenly Miroku was gone, buried beneath the pile of books.
"Miroku-sama!?" Kagome gasped, kneeling down to lift a few of the books. "Daijoubu ka?"
Miroku rubbed his forehead, and dug himself out of the pile of books. He coughed into his fist in an effort to brush off the fact that the books had gotten the better of him.
"I'm fine," he said flatly, and knelt down to help Kagome pick up the books.
This time, they split the pile between them.
Kaede rubbed the bridge of her nose, and turned to Shippou.
"Yes, eight," she said, picking up the conversation where they had left off.
"Wood, Metal, Fire, Water, Earth, Thunder, Wind, and Lightning," Miroku recited flawlessly, and Kaede blinked at him as he stood up, now carrying only four of the six books. "Kisetsu combined Thunder and Lightning as the two were so closely related, and she believed that Metal was too man-made...too artificial to be considered a basic element, even in the laws of magic, so instead replaced it with Cloud."
He smiled, looking quite pleased with himself.
"So Kisetsu basically rewrote the ideals of elemental magic with the powers she possessed." He lifted his eyebrows. "I was not aware that she had been able to create a magic jewel that could hold her magic, however."
Kaede grinned.
"Impressive, Houshi-dono," she said. "Very few people know that legend and the story behind Kisetsu's magic."
Miroku set the books down on a table at the end of the bookshelf, and placed his hands on his back, arching it. He glanced at the others, then rubbed his chin.
"I dabbled once in some elemental magic myself, you know," he said pragmatically.
"Wa~a~ai, hontou?" Kagome gasped. "Sugoi, Miroku-sama! Magic? Did you have any success? Can you still use any of it?"
Miroku facefaulted.
"Well..." he said haltingly, "I burned off my eyebrows the first time I tried using a fire spell...and took it as a sign to stick with my Houriki..."
There was a moment of thick silence, and then Sango burst into peals of laughter, undoubtedly finding the mental image of Miroku, sans eyebrows, exceedingly humorous.
The houshi flattened his eyes.
"I am overjoyed that you find such amusement in my lack of success..." he grumbled, sinking his neck down into his shoulders in an exaggerated pout.
Kaede cleared her throat in an effort to return to the subject at hand.
"In any case," the old miko said after a moment, "when Kisetsu grew old and neared the day of her death, she decided to seal her powers into a jewel."
"How come?" asked Sango.
"Kisetsu never married, and never had a child," Kaede told them. "She had no daughter to pass her priestess powers to, and thus created the jewel so that her magic might be used to protect the village after she died."
She pulled another book down from the shelf, and Miroku suddenly looked ill.
"Thus was born Nanatsu no Tenkei, with the power of the seven oracles of nature Kisetsu could control."
She opened the book, and the houshi quickly made his way to the back of the group, as far from Kaede and the manuscript as he could and still be able to hear what she said.
Kaede paid him no mind, and read aloud, "'Jishin, which bends rocks and earth to your command; Fuujin, which turns the wind to knives; Nijin, which controls the currents of water, Kajin, which creates a cyclone of intense flame; Raijin, which harnesses the power of lightning; Kijin, which rules over tree and wood; soshite Tejin, commanding clouds and fog'."
"Tejin was probably what she used to make everything in the clearing bleary," Kagome said. "It was like my whole head was in a fog..."
"Seven spells locked into a single gem," Sango said reverently, sounding impressed, "that could grant total control of the elements..."
"But we didn't see any gem anywhere," Shippou said.
"Didn't we?" Kagome asked, holding up one finger. "Didn't you see the tassel on her fan? There was a big blue ball on it, like an oversized bead."
"Sou da!" Shippou cried. "That must have been it!"
"Most likely, it was," Kaede said, showing Kagome the image on the page of the book. "Nanatsu no Tenkei was said to be the color of the river, the color of the midnight sky, a blue that could be reproduced by no means of color this world could offer. But..."
Kagome frowned.
"But...?"
Kaede closed the book and, to Miroku's relief, held it in her own hands.
"But I thought that jewel was destroyed years ago, with Kisetsu's village," the old miko said. "The mountain village where Kisetsu was born was ravaged by a flood more than a hundred years ago, when Spring set upon the earth early, and the snowcaps on the mountain melted too rapidly for the streams to compensate. The village was destroyed, the people who dwelt there killed or swept away by the raging waters... The jewel was lost, and though to never be found again... It was believed to have been destroyed in the flood..."
"Apparently, it was not," Miroku said, his features severe, "and, somehow, that onineko has mastered use of the spells it offers..."
Kagome clutched the collar of her vest.
"Kaede-baa-chan," she said meekly, and the old woman glanced at her. "How...how do we stop it?"
Kaede shook her head.
"Unfortunately, that is an answer I do not believe we will find in any of these books," she said, and started to walk back toward the doorway. "Kisetsu's magic was unparalleled...I don't know of any way to stop the power of those elemental spells short of destroying the jewel itself."
Miroku's shoulders sagged, and he turned his palms skyward.
"But we couldn't even land a hit on her."
Kaede dropped the book she was carrying into his upturned palms, and the monk flattened his eyes.
"Perhaps you shall have to try a different strategy, then," she said with a cryptic smile.
Miroku glared at the book in his hands, and hurried after Kaede as she started to leave, pressing the book into Kagome's hands as he passed her.
"Kaede-sama," he asked, "how would that cat girl have gotten ahold of the jewel, anyway?"
"Shiranai," the old woman confessed, pausing in her stride. "The village was destroyed decades ago...but if she truly was a youkai, then she could have easily lived long enough to have been there at the time it was devastated. She could have gotten it then."
Kagome placed the book Miroku had shoved at her on a shelf, and frowned.
Why did it seem that things were getting foggier rather than clearer...?
*
They returned to Kaede's hut on the other side of the village, only to find Inuyasha seated on the steps just outside it, a fierce scowl upon his features.
"Feeling better, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked sweetly.
He huffed, but made no effort to reply to her query.
"What'd you find in those books?" he asked.
"We discovered that we'll be battling the ancient powers of a sorceress miko who sealed her magic into a jewel that can wield control over forces of nature," Miroku deadpanned.
Inuyasha snorted, and rubbed his nose with one finger.
"Feh, is that all?"
Miroku's eyebrows shot up, and he exchanged a sidelong glance with Sango.
"No sense of humor on that one, ne?" he asked, jabbing his left thumb toward the disgruntled hanyou. Sango merely shrugged, and they all followed Kaede back into her hut.
Once inside the hut, Kaede offered to make some tea, and Inuyasha reclaimed his space on the wall, leaning against it with his arms folded in his sleeves.
"Besides," he said after a moment, and everyone looked at him.
He closed his eyes and raised his brow.
"Besides," he said again, "what's with all this 'we' stuff, anyhow?"
"Ehhh?" Sango gasped. "Of course 'we'! What were you expecting?"
"We're a team," Shippou added. "It's like dinnerware. What good is a plate without the chopsticks and a soup bowl?" he demanded.
Inuyasha lifted one eyebrow at the peculiar analogy.
"I'm...not hungry," he sniffed.
"Inuyasha," Kagome said softly, walking on her knees over to where the hanyou stood pouting.
He didn't look at her. She frowned, a frustrated look crossing her features.
"Inuyasha, why are you acting so weird? You haven't been yourself all day!"
He leered at her.
"Feh," he said. "Nandemo."
Miroku snorted as Kaede came back into the room with a tray of tea.
"It's always 'nothing'," the monk muttered, more to himself than to Inuyasha, and took a cup of tea from the tray as Kaede set it down on the floor.
He took a sip of the tea and then looked at Inuyasha.
"Even though you say it's nothing, Inuyasha," he began, "I'm sure you're planning some devious escape plan to go and rendezvous with your feline friend..." He looked at the hanyou over the lip of the teacup, his eyelids half-closed. "You're not going."
He sipped the tea again.
It was really good tea...he made a mental note to compliment Kaede on it later. Then his eyes snapped open when he realized that Inuyasha had made no rude comeback to his statement.
"Inuyasha?"
He glanced at the hanyou, who had moved to sit on the floor, his legs crossed Indian-style, his hands still in his sleeves.
Inuyasha stared at his feet.
"I...have to," he said, and looked up at Miroku. "I have to go."
"Datte--!"
A cold glare in her direction silenced Kagome's protest.
"I know you all object," Inuyasha admitted, suddenly sounding wiser than his years, "and I know you're going to give me a hard time about this..."--he clenched one fist--"but I really have to do this...I just have to..." He raised one hand to his forehead and kneaded his brow, as though he suddenly had a headache. "Any other situation...under any other circumstances, I might hesitate, simply on account of rotten timing..."
He cast his eyes to the window, his expression troubled.
"Any other time, I might think twice..."--he met eyes with Kagome--"but something's strange. Something isn't right..." He fisted both hands, and they quivered in anger and frustration. "This time...it's different."
There was a moment of absolute quiet as they all seemed to let his words soak in.
"Different?" Shippou echoed finally, eager to break the eerie silence.
Inuyasha nodded.
"I'm not sure what, exactly, but something feels weird...something feels wrong..." He paused. "It feels...I dunno...familiar..."
Miroku choked on his tea.
"Fa...Familiar?" he wheezed between several hacking coughs as Shippou jumped up on his shoulders and patted him on the back.
He quickly placed the teacup back down on the floor and ran the back of his hand over his mouth.
With his dark eyes locked seriously on Inuyasha, he asked solemnly, "So...you feel it, too?"
"Ehhh?"
Inuyasha folded one pointy ear in an expression of confusion.
"You...you mean you...?"
Miroku cleared his throat in an effort to expel the rest of the tea he had inhaled.
"I'm glad it's not just me," he admitted with a chuckle, "I thought I was going crazy..."
Inuyasha lifted one eyebrow.
"Miroku, I've always thought you were crazy."
The monk ignored the comment, and gave his chest a pound with his fist, clearing his throat one last time. He supposed he would be coughing tea for the rest of the afternoon... He glanced at Inuyasha, one eye closed, rubbing his chin.
"I've been feeling it all morning...like a familiar aura..." he said.
"Aura?" Shippou asked.
Miroku nodded, then paused and tapped his chin with one finger.
"Perhaps demons don't feel it the same way...but humans have a sort of...inherent sixth sense, if you will. It's sort of like...being able to feel someone's presence without having to see them, like Kagome-sama can do with the shards of the Shikon."
He looked at Shippou.
"For example...if I was in a completely dark room, and Kagome-sama was to enter that room, I'm quite certain I would know it was her, without even seeing her, for I would be able to sense her presence...feel her soul."
Sango snorted.
"That isn't all you'd feel..." she muttered.
Ignoring the remark, (did they all delight in ridiculing him? Mou!) the monk turned to Inuyasha.
"I've sensed it all day," he said, "like déjà vu, only not quite."
The hanyou nodded.
"Aa," he said, "not like the feeling I'd been somewhere before, or done something before...but more like..."
His voice trailed off.
"Like being watched by someone you know," Miroku concluded.
"Aa."
Kagome frowned.
"Okashii..." she said, and they looked at her.
She put her finger on her chin.
"It's odd...I haven't felt anything like that today..." she told them, "but I did wake up today with a start...as if I'd had a nightmare I didn't remember..." She twitched her nose. "I came right here...I thought something might have happened..."
She looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling foolish.
Shippou jumped to his feet.
"Either way--" he shouted suddenly, and stopped short, dropping back down to sit on the floor. "Either way," he said again, a little softer this time, "whether it's a familiar feeling or not..."--he looked desperately at Inuyasha--"you can't go, Inuyasha! That neko onna will kill you easily when you're a human!"
Miroku nodded.
"I agree," he said, standing, "you won't stand a chance against her."
"Not alone, anyway," Kagome added, getting to her feet as well.
Sango tensed.
"So, it's settled, then," she said, and fisted her hands as she rose.
Shippou pumped one fist in the air.
"We're all going!"
"Dame."
"Ehhh?"
Everyone gasped in disbelief as Inuyasha rose, using the sheathed Tetsusaiga as a sort of crutch. Though the gash on his ankle had closed over, the wound where the arrow had punctured his skin was still painful to walk on. He only hoped it would heal up the rest of the way before the sun went down.
"No," Inuyasha reiterated, tapping the Tetsusaiga against the floor in emphasis. "She said I had to go alone, so go alone I will." He huffed. "Feh, besides, you guys would just get in the way. I won't need your help."
Miroku lifted an eyebrow.
"Uh huh..." he said, sounding less than convinced. "How do you figure?"
Inuyasha glanced at Kagome.
"You saw it," he said to her in an accusing tone.
She blinked.
"When Sango threw her boomerang, it might well have killed us both..." he reminded them.
He cast a glance at Sango, who suddenly looked a little green around the gills, though there had been no malice in the hanyou's stare.
"Well, you don't have to be so blunt about it," Miroku said flatly, patting Sango on the shoulder consolingly.
The taijiya sidestepped quickly before that hand moved any further south.
"She pulled me out of the way," Inuyasha said.
"Ehh?" Sango gasped.
"Before I could even react to dodge, she had grabbed me by the hair, and pulled me down out of the way." He looked to his left, at Kagome. "She even covered my head when Hiraikotsu smashed a tree and sent wood splinters flying everywhere. Kagome...I know you saw it, you had this look in your eyes like someone had slapped you across the face."
He turned to glance at Miroku.
"I...I don't think she really wants to kill me," he continued, "so I have to find out what it is that she's after. I need to know what's going on."
Inuyasha balked at the frightened look in Kagome's eyes.
"Don't give me that look," he scolded contritely, "I'll be fine. I promise I'll be all right. If I'm not back by morning, you have permission to send out a search party."
Sango cocked one eyebrow.
"Was that supposed to be reassuring?"
Inuyasha smiled, and Kagome was startled to see that it was a sincere smile, not a sardonic one.
He sort of chuckled as he scolded, "You lot worry too much."
"Well," Kagome said slowly, "perhaps if you stopped giving us reasons to worry..."
Miroku stood slowly, leaning on his shakujou, and tapped the tip of the staff against the floor, nodding toward the window.
"The days grow shorter with the approach of winter," he said cryptically, "there is only perhaps another hour before sundown..." He paused, then gave Inuyasha a small smile. "Take care, Inuyasha," he said. There was worry in his eyes, but confidence in his voice. "Don't do anything stupid."
Inuyasha blinked.
"Mi...Miroku...?"
The monk narrowed one eye, and shook the staff at him.
"I'm warning you, Inuyasha," he said severely, and the hanyou took a small step back, "if you do something rash and end up dead, I swear, I'll kill you."
Inuyasha facefaulted, then cleared his throat.
"Well," he said uneasily, sure he was being tricked in one way or another, "I'll be going then."
This just seemed way too easy...
They were really going to let him go?
He recalled once when he had been injured, Kaede and Miroku had locked him in a hut sealed with spells so that he couldn't escape until the wounds healed...were they really going to allow him to leave so easily now? He rolled his shoulders back as he headed for the exit. He was sure Miroku was going to smack him with the shakujou at any second to try and render him unconscious. He cleared his throat again.
"It's quite a ways to the Great Camphor," he said dumbly, "and a pretty good hike through the Northern territory of the forest."
He paused when the shakujou attack didn't come, and slid the sheathed Tetsusaiga into the waist of his hakama, though he didn't really see the point. He couldn't use it when he was human, anyway...but still...he liked having it with him. It was sort of reassuring.
He frowned.
Something still seemed way too easy...
He paused near the doorway, his hand poised to brush aside the bamboo curtain, and glanced back over his shoulder at Kagome.
The frown deepened.
Well...he supposed that, if they were really going to allow him to go...
He turned, taking a single step back toward Kagome. She blinked as he dropped to one knee and began to untie the ribbon she had wrapped around his foot.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" she asked.
He didn't look up.
"Returning your ribbon," he said simply, as if that was a very stupid question. "My foot has healed enough, Ireally don't need it anymore..."
He felt his face flush when Kagome knelt down and placed her hands overtop of his, stopping him. He snapped his chin up to look at her.
"N-Nani--?"
"Keep it for now," she said with a small smile, "for good luck."
"Good luck?"
"I know you won't let me come with you," she explained, her smiled fading, "but I want to...I want to help you...I want to stay by your side..."
He blushed again.
"So," she went on, "keep the ribbon, and think of me, okay?"
The small smile returned.
"Ganbatte ne. Fight strong, Inuyasha...because if you don't come back...if you don't return the ribbon before I have to go home, I won't forgive you."
He blinked.
"A...Aa," he stammered as she retied the ribbon over the wound on his foot. He quickly stood up again.
And with that, the hanyou left Kaede's hut, bounding off, headed North toward the far corner of the forest.
Kagome sat on her knees, staring at the bamboo curtain, still swaying from when Inuyasha had roughly shoved it aside.
Inuyasha...she thought, staring hard at her hands, please...please come back safe...
She glanced up when she heard the jangle of Miroku's shakujou, and watched the monk adjust the wrap around his right hand, and start for the door.
"Miroku-sama?"
"Houshi-sama, doko ni iku no?" Sango asked. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"After our hot-headed hanyou, of course," he replied, as though that was a positively absurd query.
"I'll come, too--!"
Pok.
"No, you won't, Shippou," Miroku said firmly, and the kogitsune glared at him through the rings of the shakujou, which had been quite firmly planted onto his forehead.
"Demo, demo--!"
"No, Shippou, you have to stay here and protect Sango and Kagome-sama."
"Ehhh? Iya yo, Houshi-sama," Sango protested, leaping to her feet. "No way in hell! I'm coming too! I'm not just gonna sit here and--"
He gave her a look, and her breath caught in her throat.
Houshi...-sama...?
There was a strange sort of conviction in his eyes, a manner of sober severity that stopped the taijiya in her tracks. For the most part, Miroku was an easygoing and humorous character, with a kind of mischievous sparkle in his dark eyes that let you know immediately that he would be a fun person to have around, the sort of friend who would do anything for you, the more adventurous, the better. But...
But...today...
Sango frowned.
Today...something was different. There was an unusual fire to his deep dark eyes, one that sent shivers up and down Sango's spine. He'd been acting so strangely all day. Not once had he made a lewd remark, and the only time he had bothered to caress her bottom was when she had made a comment about it...
Why, now that she realized it, he was acting downright austere!
Gods...was he ill?
"Houshi-sama," she said, her voice soft, "are you okay?"
He blinked, then nodded.
"I am," he said, "but I won't risk you or Kagome-sama coming along this time. Something is definitely strange today...and whatever it is, it appears that only Inuyasha and I have been affected by it."
He gripped his staff, and tapped the toe of his sandal on the floor of the hut.
"I have to figure out what's going on," he continued, "and, like Inuyasha, I have to go alone." He took a step toward the door, and paused. He looked back over his shoulder and winked. "Besides," he said jovially, "someone's gotta keep an eye on that idiot Inuyasha."
He chuckled to himself.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm not so reckless as our dog-eared friend, ne?" He smiled at Kagome. "I'll bring him back, so you lot sit tight until we get home, okay?"
"But, Houshi-sama--!" Sango protested, and he sighed, turning away to brush the door aside. He did so hate to see her worried.
"I promise, Sango," he said without looking at her, "we'll both come back safely...okay?"
He gave a small smile over his shoulder.
Sango balked and blushed.
"Th-That's not--!" she began, and then looked away.
There was a pause of silence, then a collective sullen nod, and Miroku slid aside the bamboo curtain.
"Houshi-sama."
He paused in mid-stride and looked back at Sango, who had her hands clasped together tightly near her abdomen.
"Ki...Ki wo tsukete..."
He smiled again, and stepped outside, the curtain swaying behind him.
Don't worry, Sango, he thought, hurrying toward the forest, I'll be fine. I have to find out what this is, though...I have to know. If this strange feeling I have ends up being a threat to everyone...if any of you end up hurt because of this...I...I won't be able to forgive myself.
He sighed.
So just wait for me...I'll be back soon...
Inside, Kagome was still seated on her knees on the floor. She looked at Sango, and stood up slowly.
"Daijoubu, Sango-chan," she assured her. "Miroku-sama is stronger than we give him credit for, I think..." She smiled. "Besides," she added, and Sango looked at her, "he promised. Miroku-sama would never break a promise...not to me, and especially not to you."
Sango blushed.
"I hope you're right, Kagome-chan," she said, stroking Kirara's ears as she felt her knees grow weak and she sank back to the floor, "I hope you're right..."
She cast her gaze to the window, then closed her eyes softly.
Houshi-sama...come back okay...
* * *
Hitomi wo tojite
Kokoro no naka wo mistumete'ru
"Dare wo matsu no?"
Chiheisen no mukou kara
Aruite kuru
Hito wo mitsumete'ru
"Koko ni kite..."
Closing my eyes
I gaze deep into my heart
"Who are you waiting for?"
I'm looking
For the man
Who is walking across the horizon.
"Come here to me..."
~Onoe Aya
* * *
Author Notes:
Allrighty then...nine full chapters complete. How do we like?
One thing I feel must be said, that really has nothing to do with my story...but what does everyone think of the Inuyasha dub showing on Adult Swim? Personally, I don't think it's all that bad, in comparison to many other English dubbings *cough cough Cardcaptors cough Sailor Moon cough*... Granted, there are things left to be desired...like I can't believe how they've butchered poor Kaede...and it made me mad that they dropped the titles...Miroku just doesn't sound right calling Kagome Kagome, y'know? There's a formality to his character that just really needs the -sama suffix in his speech... Plus what the hell is up with Kagome being a total Valley Girl??
But other than that, it's not too shabby. Inuyasha's voice actor has come a long way, I think he's really gotten into character well...and Naraku's voice is great! I hope Miroku's voice does the same and gets into character a little more... Come on, Man, with feeling!! A and maybe Kagome will stop being such a dork after a little while longer... I wish they would pronounce things better (it's KA-ede and Ka-GO-me...!), but all things considered, they've definitely done at least a C+ job...maybe even a low B.
Just felt it needed to be said. ^_^ I'm done now.
Any thoughts?
*Glossary of Terms*
I am assuming we all know the Inuyasha basics, like youkai, hanyou, Shikon no Tama, etcetera, so those will not be translated here.
gesundheit: is actually German...and yes, I know there's absolutely no way Miroku could know German... -_- You people think too much... ^_~
Hora: Look here, more or less.
Kisetsu: Kisetsu is just the priestess's name, but I thought it was relevant to let you know that it means "season".
Okashii: Odd or unusual.
Ganbatte ne: Go for it! Sorta like saying "You can do it!" or "Hang in there!" Basically a sort of encouraging line.
Doko ni iku no?: Where are you going?
Those were pretty easy, too, ne? ^_^
So how so you like it? Review! Or drop me an email and let me know!
~~hikari