Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Four: Another Day in the Life ( Chapter 4 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Four: Another Day in the Life…

 

“Look, the mist cleared.”

 

Shippou finally stopped interrogating Kurama long enough to verify Kagome's statement. Kurama had concluded earlier that of all the groups, they were least likely to find whatever was causing the mist first, so they had decided to just sit down and rest. Since that point, Shippou had been talking Kurama's ear off, asking him about anything and everything that came to mind. How Kurama kept his sanity was anyone's guess.

 

“Well, I suppose that means we should go find the others then,” suggested Kurama as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

 

“Come on Shippou,” said Kagome, also rising to her feet. “You can annoy Kurama more latter.”

 

“I wasn't annoying him!” denied Shippou. “Was I, Kurama?”

 

“No, Shippou, you weren't annoying me at all,” assured Kurama with a kind smile as the trio began to move out. “Curiosity is to be expected from one so young.”

 

`If there is such as thing as being kind to a fault, then this guy is it…' thought Kagome and moved to follow the two fox demons.

 

They hadn't taken more than a few steps when Inuyasha burst through the trees like the fate of the world depended on how fast he ran. A huge cloud of dust from his skidding stop greeted Yusuke as the Spirit Detective arrived in the same manner, though judging by the look on his face it wasn't his idea to do so.

 

“There you are, Kagome! Do you know what a pain in the ass it's been finding you in this damned forest? You're just such a…”

 

`And if Kurama's Yin, then Inuyasha's Yang,' finished Kagome as she watched said half-demon continue to rant about the happenings of the last few hours with an amused smile.

 

“You get pissed off way too easy there, Spot,” taunted Yusuke after he had rubbed the dust out of his eyes. “It's no wonder she uses that magic shock collar on you so much.”

 

“Spot? What the hell does that mean?” demanded Inuyasha.

 

“He's calling you a mutt, mutt.”

 

Kuwabara sauntered up to the group followed closely by Miroku, Sango, and Kirara. Inuyasha repressed his anger to a growl as he realized there was no way he was going to out insult the boys and abandoned the argument.

 

“Hey…how come you guys are here when I'm sensing the Jewel Shard from way over there?” asked Kagome, indicating the direction in question with her finger.

 

“Hiei has it,” answered Sango. “He said he was leaving the forest.”

 

“Can we be sure he's not taking the shard for himself?” questioned Miroku, mostly directing the query to Yusuke and Kurama. “He is a demon, and I don't think he cares much about the fate of anyone else.”

 

“Naw, Hiei wouldn't do that,” responded Yusuke. “He may be an arrogant asshole, but he's still got some messed up honor code. Taking that shard thing for himself would violate it for sure.”

 

“Besides, if he did that he'd be stranded in this era. I doubt he has that in mind,” added Kurama, seeing as Miroku was still unconvinced.

 

“Are you people done talking yet? My sword doesn't fix itself you know,” complained Inuyasha as he started to move towards the forest's exit.

 

The rest of the group followed Inuyasha's lead, and began the trek through the woods.

 

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The rest of the journey to Totosai's volcano had passed without any incident worth noting, aside from a fiasco involving Kuwabara and several large beehives. However, when they arrived, they found Totosai's hut empty, and decided to spend the night at the base of the volcano while they waited for the blacksmith's return. Kurama and Inuyasha had left to gather any food or supplies they could from the forest shortly after sundown while everyone else made themselves comfortable around the fire. Everyone save Hiei of course.

 

“…and then I was like `You're toast!' and he was all like `Nooooo!', and I punched him into the lava,” recounted Kuwabara, animating every word with a ridiculous looking reenactment. “And that's how I beat the big tiger demon Saint Beast guy, Bianca.”

 

“For the last time it was Byakko, stupid,” corrected Yusuke and shook his head in exasperation.

 

“Whatever, the point is that I kicked his ass,” concluded Kuwabara.

 

“You guys seem to have a lot of experience in fighting demons,” complimented Kagome. “How did you become Spirit Detectives?”

 

“Well, Urameshi here d-” began Kuwabara before Yusuke slammed his face into the dirt.

 

“I…uh…sort of got recruited,” said Yusuke, ignoring Kuwabara's muffled curses as he tried to free himself from under Yusuke's palm. “Ugly here tagged along enough times that my boss decided make him an official member.”

 

Kuwabara finally managed to throw off Yusuke's hand, coughing from the lack of oxygen, but still managing to continue cursing. By now, everyone had become used to the boys' antics. They'd even learned to find amusement in them, which they did now much to Kuwabara's chagrin.

 

“What about Hiei and Kurama?” Sango asked after Kuwabara had calmed down. “Did they get recruited as well?”

 

“Nope, I had to take `em down first,” answered Yusuke with a smug look. “By myself, I might add.”

 

“They were criminals?” Kagome said with a shock. “Well, I could see Hiei, but Kurama? He was a criminal?”

 

“Well…it was mostly Hiei,” recalled Yusuke, stroking his chin as he tried to remember the details. “Kurama kinda' gave himself up. I had to fight Hiei, though. He almost killed me, too.”

 

“I'm beginning to notice a pattern here…” Miroku remarked, drawing a chuckle from Kuwabara.

 

“Well, shorty's on our side now, even if he's a little punk,” stated Kuwabara, before making his way over to the rations bag. “Any more of that beef in here?”

 

Kagome quickly rushed over to try and stop Kuwabara from eating all of their remaining food, and the two were soon locked in a battle of wills. The others watched with amusement as the stubborn Spirit Detective tried to convince the equally stubborn school girl to let him satisfy his growling stomach. While the feud continued, a thought came to Sango.

 

“Hey, Yusuke,” she began a little hesitantly. “Why does Hiei refuse sleep in the camp? Does he still not trust us?”

 

“Don't worry. It's got nothing to do with you people. He's just got a serious loner thing goin' on,” replied Yusuke.

 

The boy paused for a moment before he continued. His face had become somber and his gaze seemed a little distant.

 

“He's acted like this ever since I've known him. The truth is…I think he's just used to being alone. I'm pretty sure that he never had any friends at all before he joined the team,” he said in all seriousness, but the look on his face quickly changed into a lopsided grin before he finished. “But the guy always shows up when there's something that needs killing. Not that I need the help or anything, since I'm such a badass.”

 

Sango shook her head and smiled. One didn't have to know Yusuke long to realize that he couldn't stay serious for more than a few moments at a time.

 

“Well, I'm gonna' get some shut eye,” stated Yusuke with a yawn before finding a comfortable position to sleep in. “Got no idea when this Totosai guy is gonna' show, so I might as well try and get as much sleep as possible.”

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By the next morning, Totosai had shown up, but with this fortunate turn of events came so bad tidings. The old blacksmith was being chased by demons, and demanded them destroyed before he fixed the Tetsusaiga.

 

“Not a chance, old man! You're fixing this sword right now or I'm beating the hell out of you!” roared Inuyasha imperiously upon hearing the demands.

 

“I won't have time to fix the sword unless you stop them you whelp,” reiterated Totosai stoutly. “Use your head for once.”

 

Totosai received a lump on the back of his head for this, but everyone including Inuyasha knew he was right.

 

“What did you do to get into trouble this time?” asked Kagome, a little exasperated by the whole ordeal.

 

“Well, a large big bear demon wanted me to make him a weapon that could make him immune to the spiritual powers of humans. Naturally, I refused such a foolish request, but...now what did he do?” he paused momentarily, scratching his head as he tried to remember. “Oh yes, he told a large group of demons that if they killed me, they'd get to keep some of my weapons, so I ran away.”

 

“What a sissy,” commented Kuwabara. “Can't even fight a old guy by himself.”

 

“Kuwabara…you got beat up by an old guy too,” Yusuke reminded his friend mockingly.

 

“He wasn't really an old guy, stupid!”

 

“Yeah, he was a clown. Much less embarrassing.”

 

“Can it, Urameshi!”

 

“Both of you shut up!” mandated the angry half-demon before turning back to Totosai. “Fine, we'll save you from these demons, but you'd better fix the Tetsusaiga extra good!”

 

With that, Inuyasha exited the hut, and the others quickly followed. As they prepared for the demons Miroku approached the Spirit Detectives, sans Hiei who had simply decided not to show up for the moment.

 

“If you don't mind, we'd like to take care of the demons on our own,” said the monk. “I doubt these demons are very strong.”

 

“If that is your wish, we'll stay out of the battle if possible,” responded Kurama before Yusuke could object. “I'd like to see the extent of your abilities anyway.”

 

“Thank you. We need to keep our skills sharp, and if you three slay too many demons it won't help in that respect at all,” answered back Miroku and moved towards the lip of the dormant volcano where Inuyasha and Sango were surveying the forest below.

 

“Looks like we've got some demons that think the know strategy,” remarked Sango as she saw the group of demons in the distance split into two groups. “You tow probably wont even need my help.”

 

“Hell, I could beat `em all myself if I wanted to,” said Inuyasha confidently, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. “Which one o you want Miroku?”

 

“I'll take the left side, you can have the right. Let's wait for them to come to us, though. These demons don't merit the effort of running towards them.”

 

“Heh, I hear ya', monk.”

 

The two quickly moved into their stated positions to wait for the demons, and Sango walked back towards the others.

 

“They'll take care of it,” she announced as she sat down on a large rock.

 

“Hn, it would be embarrassing if they couldn't.”

 

Sango was so surprised by Hiei's sudden entrance that she barely avoided jumping in surprise, with Shippou and Kagome sharing her reaction. The fact that he was now standing on a large boulder that had been unoccupied when she was sitting down was startling enough, but his ever icy voice only added to it.

 

“The half-demon probably can hold his own, but that monk is weak,” Hiei observed, ignoring the surprised looks going his way. “It would be fairly amusing to see him be pulverized by some lower level demons.”

 

“Miroku could defeat all of these demons himself,” Sango retorted, a little defensively. “Just watch, and I don't think you'll be thinking anything like that afterward.”

 

“Hn.”

 

Miroku would have to wait a few moments to prove Sango right, though, as it was Inuyasha's side that received the first wave. Letting loose a battle cry Inuyasha cut down the first few demons with an energy enhanced strike from his claws with animalistic ferocity.

 

Despite the easy defeat of their comrades, the other demons continued to charge with considerable idiocy, and Inuyasha rushed to meet them. He simply charged through the first few, but then abruptly leapt into the air and came down right on top of another set of opponents in a barrel roll with his arms outstretched, tearing apart the demons like a blender. Bobbing here, weaving there; he was artfully carving a bloody path through the throng of demons.

 

The bystanders watched the dog demon with amazement, but their attention quickly shifted to Miroku. Demons of all variety began to charge over his side of the hill in a fury. Some ran on two legs, some on four, and others flew, but every last one of them would soon be wiped out of existence.

 

Yelling out the name of his Wind Tunnel, Miroku undid the prayer beads around his right hand with a flourish, and the terrible maw opened to greet its new victims. The sudden vacuum of wind was enough to make a few of the more intelligent demons stop, or at least try to. For in truth, their feat or wings may have stopped moving, but it was much too late for them to change course. The very ground they stood on was torn apart by the awesome power of the Wind Tunnel, and both it and the demons were sent flying into the void. After a few moments, there was nothing but scattered debris and Miroku, reapplying the beads to his right hand.

 

“Fools! You have not won!”

 

The giant bear demon that Totosai had mentioned earlier had managed to make its way to the rear of the mountain, and was now charging towards Totosai's hut as fast as it could. The other demons had been a decoy. This had been the bear deomon's plan all along.

 

“I am vi-” began to declare the demon, before he was cut off by a pink ball of energy ripping through him and ultimately disintegrating him down to ashes.

 

“That wasn't very sneaky of him,” remarked Kagome as she put her bow back into its quiver. “Yelling and all.”

 

“Well…damn,” summed up Yusuke, unsure as to what question he should ask first.

 

Hiei, however walked right over to Miroku without hesitation.

 

“What was that attack and how did you come to wield it?” asked Hiei, although from his tone it seemed more like an order. “It's far too powerful to be a creation of someone as weak as you.”

 

“That was my wind tunnel,” answered Miroku as he made a conscious effort to avoid being intimidated by the demon. “And you are correct, it is not my creation. It was Naraku's.”

 

“You expect me to believe that your sworn enemy gave you something that powerful?” scoffed Hiei, clearly determined to get the whole story.

 

“Believe it or not, it is the truth,” said Miroku, and with a sigh he continued. “I suppose that you will learn eventually, so I may as well tell you. Almost fifty years ago, my grandfather hunted Naraku across the land. However, Naraku tricked him, and created the wind tunnel in his right hand. It will be passed down through each generation of my bloodline until Naraku is slain, or there are no successors to be had. Now this would seem a good thing at first, but it is not. With each day, the wind tunnel grows, and eventually, the beads will be unable to control it…”

 

He did not need to finish for Hiei to understand the rest; that the Wind Tunnel would swallow anyone and anything that came close to him, bet it friend or foe, and that eventually, it would swallow Miroku himself. Hiei looked down at his own right hand, wrapped in tattered bandages. It appeared that the two had at least on thing in common. Both of their right hands had something that gave them immense power but at a cost, although Hiei paid considerably less for his power.

 

“Hn. Don't think that your sob story or your Wind Tunnel puts you any higher in my eyes,” stated Hiei after ending his moment of thought. “You are still a weakling. Just a weakling with a large vacuum.”

 

On that note, Hiei walked away from the visibly offended young monk and towards the entrance to Totosai's hut, where Kuwabara was asking Kagome all sorts of questions about her powers.

 

“You don't even have to try? Really? You just shoot your little arrow thing and it gets all shiny and blows up demons and stuff?”

 

“Yeah, basically.”

 

“Is why you can make dog-face smash his head into the ground?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Awesome! I wish I could do that. Can you do it to Urameshi?”

 

As this line of conversation continued Inuyasha was inside the hut, ordering Totosai to start fixing his sword. Unsure as to which punishment they should subject their ears to, Kurama, Yusuke, and Sango stood in the entrance to the hut, looking extremely exasperated.

 

“How long until the half-demon has his sword fixed?” queried Hiei, his voice filled with impatience.

 

“Tommorow, based on what Totosai's saying,” responded Sango. “So, I suppose we should head back to camp, then.”

 

“Hn, I don't care what you do,” snapped Hiei, and in an instant he had disappeared down the ridge of the volcano.

 

“Why don't we just stay up here?” suggested Yusuke. “I think I saw a couple shacks we could sleep in, and I don't wanna' walk all the way down this damn volcano and back up again.”

 

The other two agreed, and after finally convincing Kuwabara to stop interrogating Kagome, they made to pick up their supply bags and find a camping spot. Sango was about to bend over and pick up her bag when she stopped abruptly and sighed.

 

“You're just waiting for it, aren't you?” she asked Miroku, who was now standing behind her with his hand already halfway towards her butt.

 

“Waiting for what? What could I possibly be waiting for, Sango?” inquired Miroku with mock innocence, quickly retracting his hand.

 

“I swear, if you grab my butt when I pick up this bag…” she warned.

 

“I would never dream of such a thing,” assured Miroku…and when Sango bent over, he began to stroke her butt.

 

The left side of Miroku's face would be numb for the rest of the day.