InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chained ❯ Waterfall ( Chapter 25 )

A\N: All I got to say is that this is the fifth and last update for today. ^_^

Disclaimer - Don’t own the Inuyasha characters. Do own the story. Do own the OC. I make no money off of any of this.   ~*~   Waterfall

Amaya frowned as she circled around the outer regions of the mountains again.

If there was one thing she wished was better at, it was smelling things.

The more she transformed into falcon form, the more acute her hearing and eyesight became, and her speed increased greatly, yet she could not smell worth a damn, and ningen senses were useless to her at this height.

Curse it all, she should have asked that damn slayer if this mountain the monk was on had a name or some sort of defining characteristic, because she could not see any traces of life in any of these mountains.

She sighed, preparing to call it a day, as she flew low over one of the forests on the mountain side, when something caught her eyes.

A large, deep hole in the ground that looked to be more than several feet deep and wide. She could feel the strange aura around it-- not demonic, but most certainly evil, and she started slightly as she realised that a similar aura surrounded the cursed monk.

She circled around it repeatedly, searching the cliff face for any signs of life, but again came up empty.

The sound of rushing water reached her ears and, frustratedly, she flew toward it, her throat singing with relief as she landed on one of the rocks near the base of the waterfall and began drinking.

She tensed as she felt the presence of something approaching, and looked up to see, with much amusement, a fish coming tumbling down the waterfall.

Not hesistating a moment, she swooped over and caught it before it hit the water, sending water droplets flying as her wings skimmed the waterfall.

She sunk her talons into the creature’s flesh, killing it before it could even try and struggle, and then settled down on the banks to being with her meal.

She was only about halfway through when the sound of feet moving uneasily over rocks reached her ears, and her head immediately shot up from her prey, her eyes narrowed as she glared around for the source of the noise, which appeared to be coming from the waterfall itself.

She frowned and glared over at it intently for a moment, because she could feel someone approaching, she just didn’t know what.

After a moment there was a quiet muttering, and then a small space appeared, interrupting the waterfall’s progress, as a man walked (though it was really more of a stumble) out through the door-like gap and made his way toward the bank.

Amaya watched the man, who appeared to be slightly drunk, as he stumbled onto the bank, seemingly unaware of her presence, and kneeled down next to her, nearly falling on her in the process.

She let out an angry shriek, flapping her wings and fully prepared to rip the man’s eyes out as he jumped in surprise, lost his “footing” on the slippery edge, and fell into the water.

The cold water certainly seemed to wake up his blurred senses, because the man jumped up and began shouting wild curses onto her and all birds.

She watched in amusement for a moment as the man pointed the staff he carried threateningly at her, yelling at her to be gone, and then a thought occurred to her. The staff the man held was not an ordinary staff, but one that eminated a holy sort of aura about it, even if the man himself did not. Indeed, she had felt that aura increase when the man had created the door in the waterfall for him to walk through.

She cocked her head to the side, taking in the man’s appearance for the first time: He was overweight, that much was certain, and his stomach bulged under the sopping clothes he was wearing. However, they were, in fact, the clothes of a monk, even Naraku could not have mistaken them otherwise, and Amaya looked at the man, wondering if this pathetic excuse of a ningen could really be the one with the powers to heal the monk.

She decided to risk unveiling herself-- if the man wasn’t who she thought, she could very easily kill him and no one would notice-- and so summoned her transformation powers, effectively stilling the man as the wind surrounded her.

When it finally disappeared and she was back in her true form, the look of astonishment on the man’s face was priceless, though it quickly turned to a glare.

‘Who are you, witch? Why do you come to disturb the peacefulness of my temple?’ The man asked roughly, though the effect was slightly ruined by the occasional hiccup that punctuated his words.

Amaya raised an eyebrow and glanced around. ‘Forgive me, but I have seen no temples in my many flights around the mountains-- are you sure you are simply not hallucinating in your drunken state?’ She asked, and the monks already red cheeks seemed to get slightly more so, though it was really hard to tell.

‘Of course you wouldn’t have! The temple is hidden from the eyes of evil beings like yourself!’ He said, gesturing wildly around behind him, the motions looking like they were going to unsettle him again and send him flying back into the river.

Amaya glanced at the waterfall his hands were waving at, and smiled. ‘Ah, so you have placed it behind the waterfall have you? What happened? Did you get frightened of Naraku and hide your temple from sight? For I know that the temple was not always hidden there.’ The monk’s face blanched slightly and then he glared again, opening his mouth, but she did not give him the chance to speak.

‘Tell me, are you the monk they call Mushin?’ She asked, and the monk seemed slightly shocked at this.

After a moment of silence in which she waited for an answer the drunkard did not give, Amaya decided to try a new tactic. ‘It is simply that his friend Miroku is very ill-- his curse is swiftly killing him, and I was told the only one who could help him was a monk by the name of Mushin.’

The monk stared at her for a moment, then seemed to shake out of his stupor and looked at her, his brow furrowed slightly with concern. ‘What is wrong with him, has he nicked it again?’ Amaya frowned.

‘Again?’ She decided she must inquire to the slayer about when this had happened before. For now, though, the important thing was finding out if this rambling, fumbling idiot was the monk she needed or not.

‘His curse has reversed itself, sending it’s suction inward instead-- everyday it absorbs more of his energy and life. He will not live long if I cannot find the man called Mushin and get him to repair the boy’s hand.’

The monk stared at her and again said nothing, and now she was simply getting annoyed.

‘I do not have time for staring matches, monk, so I suggest you tell me whether you are the man I seek or not so I can be on my way.’ She said irritated, and the man blinked, and took an unsteady step forward.

‘I am Mushin.’ The man said slowly. ‘But this is like nothing I can remember dealing with.’ He said, sounding slightly uncertain. Amaya’s brow furrowed.

‘Can you fix it or am I simply wasting my time here with you?’ She asked. The monk stared at her, then his face darkened slightly, though not quite in an angry way. ‘I may be able to help Miroku-- but I must see him first.’ The monk looked around as though expecting to see the boy standing there, then frowned as he noticed he wasn’t.

‘Where is he?’

Amaya looked at the man consideringly, than said ‘In Naraku’s palace-- if you wish to see him, than you must go to him, he cannot come to you.’

Mushin’s face paled slightly and he blanched again, but Amaya did not have time for another one of his drunken stares, and so simply turned away and whistled twice loudly, then turned back toward the baffled monk.

‘I am sure he will be happy to see you. If you can get him to wake up.’ She said, and then anything else they may have had to say was drowned out by a loud thundering sound that filled the air as the two fire-horse youkai came charging toward them, one landing beside her, the other landing beside Mushin.

Amaya mounted quickly, while the monk looked quite unsure of whether or not he liked the idea of riding on the back of one of these creatures, let alone with the intent of going to Naraku’s castle.

She rolled her eyes and then gave a nod of her head to the other horse-youkai, who lowered it’s head and charged the monk, throwing him into the air, before leaping up to catch him in such a way that the monk had no choice but to catch him.

She kicked her own horse into movement, and it reared slightly in angry surprise, then tore off up into the sky, racing with the other toward the purple miasma that Amaya could smell even at this distance. ~*~  

A\N: Well I hope I did a good job on Mushin, but it’s kinda hard considering the fact that we don’t actually see the real him for any more than five minutes in that one episode where Miroku hurts his wind tunnel and the rest of the time he’s possessed by a worm charmer, but I tried to make him work. Hope I got it right.