InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Shards of Jaken ❯ A Warrior of Exceptional Stature ( Chapter 20 )

Theme: Secrets

 

Genre: General

 

Rating: K

 

A Warrior of Exceptional Stature

 

“One more time,” Kohaku said firmly. “Show me again.”

 

“Like this. Hah!” With a sweep of his arm, Jaken struck the earth with the end of his two-headed staff. Instantly a wall of powerful, continuous flame rained out of one of its carved mouths, completely decimating an area of wood before them. Grass was singed, trees were blackened and charred, leaves curled up and died. It was an impressive show of power from a youkai as small and seemingly harmless as Master Jaken.

 

Kohaku was looking at him wide-eyed. “Remarkable,” he said, breathless. “We could have used a weapon like that in the taijiya village.”

 

“Ah,” Jaken said with a smug smirk, “but it would have been impossible for any of you to have wielded it.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The Nintoujou,” Jaken said importantly, puffing his chest out, “cannot be mastered by a mere human.”

 

Kohaku had not been traveling with Lord Sesshomaru long, but already he knew the signs of Master Jaken's telltale bravado well.

 

“It looks simple enough,” he said innocently.

 

“Oh ho, you think so?” Jaken countered, clearly bristled by such an insinuation. “Here, try it then, and you will see just how easy it is!”

 

Kohaku took the staff from Jaken's outstretched hand, and for a second he was amazed. “It feels hardly heavier than air!”

 

“And yet it is sturdy enough to withstand hot lava and poisonous miasma,” Jaken gloated. “Such is its power!”

 

Kohaku was impressed. He had handled many different weapons before, but none as mysterious as this. Admiring its craftsmanship for a moment, he then took aim at a bare patch of forest ahead of them. “Rin,” Kohaku called back protectively over his shoulder even though the little girl was nowhere near them, “you stay clear of us.”

 

“Right,” she said, watching the display happily from under the shelter of a tree a dozen meters away. Then she added quietly to Sesshomaru, who was standing near her, “You think Kohaku can do it, Lord Sesshomaru?”

 

Sesshomaru said nothing, hardly appearing to be paying attention to the matter at all. He was looking skyward, probably considering their next course of action against Naraku, and had no time for children's games.

 

Kohaku was readying himself. “As far as I could see, there was no great skill involved—” Jaken harrumphed at this “—you simply raise the staff like so and hit the ground like this!”

 

There was a thud as Nintoujou connected with the forest floor, and then—nothing. No burst of flame, no barrage of fire, not even a wisp of smoke.

 

“You see? You see?” Jaken cried as Kohaku stood there dumbfounded. The little imp swiped the staff back from him triumphantly.

 

“I don't understand,” Kohaku said. “I did exactly what you did, didn't I?”

 

“Ah,” Jaken said, “but the action is useless unless the one who wields Nintoujou is worthy. Nintoujou accepted me as its master long ago, and will obey no other.”

 

“What's the secret?” Kohaku was dying to know at this point, embarrassed that after all his years of hard training learning to slay youkai and mastering the most difficult of weapons that he had failed where the imp succeeded.

 

Jaken made a big show of sighing as though speaking to one much lower than himself. “I suppose I'll tell you,” he said with a great air of magnanimity, and Kohaku leaned in close to hear him. “This staff was given to me by Lord Sesshomaru long ago, when I first came into his service. He told me then that the Nintoujou was a great weapon, forged by his inuyoukai fathers of old and passed down through the generations.” Jaken's voice sounded both haughty and commanding, and with a pleased eye he saw that Kohaku was captivated by his story.

 

“My lord told me that very day,” Jaken went on, “that the Nintoujou could only be mastered by a warrior of exceptional stature.” Jaken's eyes were swimming with grateful tears just recalling the happy memory. “And so my most wise and honorable lord entrusted it to me, his most worthy and faithful and exceptional servant.”

 

Kohaku could tell from the swell in Jaken's voice that the imp considered it one of his life's greatest moments. “Amazing,” he said.

 

“And so you see,” Jaken's voice was smug again, “why no human could ever hope to wield it.”

 

“Of course,” Kohaku said.

 

“You thought a great youkai such as Lord Sesshomaru would keep a vassal of less than stellar power?”

 

“No, never.”

 

“Good.” Jaken smirked. “Let that be a lesson to you.”

 

 

Later that night, when Jaken and Rin were passed out in front of a glowing campfire and Kohaku was sure he heard the little imp's snores, Kohaku got up and walked over to Sesshomaru.

 

“What is it?” Sesshomaru said without looking at him. So, he was awake, as Kohaku had suspected.

 

“Is it true, Lord Sesshomaru, about the Nintoujou, I mean? Can only Master Jaken wield it?”

 

“Did you not try for yourself? I saw you fail. Does that not answer your question?”

 

Sesshomaru's golden eyes pierced him, and suddenly Kohaku felt very foolish for bothering the daiyoukai with such nonsense.

 

“I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru… I just thought… well, I wondered…” Kohaku lowered his head, mumbling incoherently.

 

“You have trouble believing that Jaken is a `warrior of exceptional stature'?”

 

Sesshomaru's voice was low, cold, and serious, and Kohaku was about to apologize profusely when he looked up and realized that Sesshomaru's eyes were laughing.

 

“Kohaku,” Sesshomaru said. “It is true that the Nintoujou was forged by my ancestors. The power they gifted it with will bend only to the will of a warrior of exceptional stature—an exceptionally small stature.”

 

“What?” Kohaku said, startled.

 

“The Nintoujou was designed for one purpose only: To protect small, weak children. It did not work for you today because, to put it plainly, you are too big for it. But for one such as Jaken, even though he is not a child, he is…”

 

“Really short,” Kohaku finished Sesshomaru's sentence, almost laughing. “I see.”

 

“Go to sleep,” Sesshomaru said. “We rise early tomorrow.”

 

“Yes, Lord Sesshomaru.” Kohaku bowed, and turned to go.

 

“And Kohaku?”

 

“Yes, my lord?”

 

Sesshomaru glanced in the direction of the campfire. Jaken was snoring softly with Nintoujou stuck in the crook of his arm.

 

“Let's keep this conversation secret.”

 

Kohaku smiled. “Of course, my lord.”