InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Inuyasha Diaries ❯ Chapter 6

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 6


Okay, so maybe some of the other times he might have deserved to have this damn book as his punishment, but how could anyone fault his behavior this time? Why did he have to try and justify his perfectly justifiable actions in these pages? And on top of everything, there wasn’t even a decent tree for him to write in.


It hadn’t even been his idea to stop in this damn village. The monk had insisted that this was a village in need of exorcisms as soon as the hoshi had seen the grandness of the homes.


But he hadn’t been fooled. He’d seen the glare of greed in the lecher’s eyes. It wasn’t only women Miroku lusted after, was it? The seduction of easy money was a strong motivation for the monk, too.


Kagome and Sango had taken one look at the elaborate baths and decided that if Miroku needed a month the exorcize the evil spirits of the village, they would let him have that much, and more.


Shippou was quickly surrounded by a group of village girls who had never seen a fox demon, before. The promise of sweet dumplings and all the attention he could want was enough to guarantee the kitsune wasn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.


How could he have picked such a soft bunch for his pack? Didn’t they realize that there were shards to find, and demons to fight? How much rest and pampering could they take, before they lost their fighting edge?


They had already been here for three days, and the bouzu still had the village convinced that the number of spirits that remained would necessitate an extended stay. The village might have had spirits and minor demons that needed to be taken care of when they’d first arrived, but they’d been cleared out in the first morning.


It wasn’t going to be easy to convince them to leave, but he was patient, wasn’t he? He’d learned that much from Kagome’s insistent harping, after all. He would just have to use his diplomatic, persuasive skills to the height of his ability. He would charm their asses off! And if that didn’t work, he still had Tessaiga, didn’t he? The sword could be damn persuasive!


The biggest problem with his plan was the village priest. The old goat was even worse than Kagome’s Jii-chan. The old faker couldn’t write a sutra that would stop an ant, let alone an evil spirit. The ji-jii had been most appreciative of their arrival and help in eradicating the problems that had been plaguing the village. Now, the old guy was encouraging the monk in insisting that the evil wasn’t completely gone from the village. If there were no more evil spirits, there would be no need for the old priest, would there? The fool had gotten comfortable with the offerings of thanks, just as much as Miroku had.


Since he was the only one to see the need to move on, the priest had decided that he was a demon in need of eradicating. The old man had taken to following him around, throwing useless sutras and charms at him. Just yesterday, while he’d been out fishing, the ji-jii had tried to put a barrier around the whole village. Not that it had stopped him. No damn fool was going to keep him from his Kagome!


He’d had no choice but to make sure the priest didn’t try to do that again, didn’t he? He wouldn’t have hurt him much, anyway. So just when he’d been about to teach the old guy who was boss, why did the very person he wanted to make sure was always protected have to say the one word that rendered him helpless?


Keh!

He couldn’t seem to shake the old guy. Everywhere he went, he could see those beady, wrinkled eyes looking at him. Hell, every time he’d felt the call of nature, he’d had to run miles outside of the village, just to be able to relieve himself in private. Talk about things getting personal!


Maybe he had taken it a little too far when he’d put the priest in the cave, and sealed the entrance with a boulder. He would have let the old man out before they left. It would have served to speed their departure, if he’d only remembered to tell the others of the priest’s hostage status. It had been a good plan, all the way around. He’d simply forgotten the last step.


Besides, the ji-jii had only been locked away for a day and a half before Miroku had realized he was missing. Even weak humans could survive that long, couldn’t they? So why had she exploded like that? He’d never realized that she could say that word so often in such a short period of time. And with such clarity and force!


Keh!


After the spell had worn off, he’d been forced to not only free the old man, but to apologize to him, as well. All the while the old faker had been giving him the evil eye. It was enough to make him want to seal himself in the cave, just to have some privacy.


He’d just decided to find the monk, and try a little of his persuasive skill, when he noticed the old man’s beady little eyes looking at him from behind one of the village huts. He couldn’t see anything else of the priest, but he would recognize those eyes, anywhere! Looking around, he couldn’t see anyone else in the vicinity.


Quicky drawing his sword, he took careful aim. This would probably be the only chance he had to rid the world of the curse of the meddling priest. He brought his sword down with a might cry of “Wind Scar”, and rushed over to survey the damage.


Turning the corner of the hut, he’d been surprised to find one semi-conscious, fluffy bunny in the place he’d expected to find the old man. Looking further, he’d noticed a stack of stunned squirrels just beyond the hut. He had no desire to give aid to the damn tree rats, but the little bunny was another story, altogether. He was glad that the little thing had been closer to the ground than he’d been aiming, or there wouldn’t have been enough of it left to make a good rabbit stew. Not that he would do that with something this adorable and fluffy.


He’d picked up the cute, lop-eared bunny, and looked closely at it. It had opened it’s tiny black eyes, and twitched it’s little pink nose at him. He could have sworn that it was looking at him with gratitude for saving it’s life. He’d conveniently forgotten that he was the one that had caused the rabbit’s life to be in danger in the first place.


He knew that his Kagome would be upset if she found out that he’d tried to use the wind scar on a cute, defenseless, little fluffy bunny. She had a soft spot for things like that. Hell, look at how she took to Shippou. The brat had been trying to steal their jewel shards, and all she had wanted to do was give the kit a hug. He’d like to give the baka something, alright! His sneer widened as he thought of his persuasive sword whacking the kitsune’s bottom a few times.


The state of the little bunny’s health might be able to serve his desire to leave this village, though. If he could just find a way to point the finger of blame at the old priest, Kagome would demand to leave.


He’d tucked the cute-as-could-be little bunny into his haori, given the still stunned squirrels a dirty look, and set off to find Kagome. He hadn’t taken more than two steps, when he felt the sweet little woodland creature moving around inside his shirt. It felt like the little guy was scratching and biting in there.

Maybe the fluff-ball was afraid of the dark. He couldn’t blame the little thing if it was scared, but did it have to bite that hard? If he didn’t know that he’d been the one to rescue the cute little critter he might think that it was trying to hurt him. But this sweet little thing wouldn’t do that, would it?


He’d pulled the little cottontail out of his haori, and looked at it’s innocent little face again. The little guy just sat there, twitching it’s cute, little pink nose at him. How could anything that huggable have ulterior motives? It had been the epitome of ingenuousness. Well, all except for those beady, little eyes that were so much like the damned fool priest’s. They were really starting to give him the creeps.


While he was holding the furry ball of felicity, the damn thing had bitten him! He’d had no idea what would have made the little guy do that, but the poor little thing must have been scared out of it’s cute, little mind, right? Something as precious as his new little bunny friend could never be as vicious as to bite him, could it?


And why had those damn squirrels kept following him and his little, fluffy friend? He’d thought that they would have been knocked senseless for the rest of they day. But no, there they were, not ten paces behind him, chattering in that maddening tone that every squirrel he’d come across insisted on using.


He’d known that the tree rats were sneaky, vindictive creatures. The vile little beasts liked nothing more than to goad you into doing something rash, and then laugh at you. They were almost as bad as cats. Hell, he’d learned his lesson about both species, hadn’t he?


He’d just decided that he might need his sword again, if he was to persuade the band of squirrels to go back to the forest, when he ran into Miroku. The monk was explaining to one of the village elders that another week, or two, should take care of the spirit problem. The hoshi had the nerve to inform the official that follow-up visits would be required, periodically, to make sure that the village was never plagued by such evil, again!

Honestly, how could the monk live with himself?


Looking down at his handful of hairy hare, he’d decided that he might have better luck trying to control his temper if he looked for Kagome, instead. So he’d set off in the direction of the girl’s scent.


He’d heard the chattering behind him that had reminded him that the squirrels were still a matter that had to be taken care of. But his bunny buddy seemed to find comfort in the continuing presence of the stupid squirrels. He’d begun to doubt the rabbit’s loyalty with all the scratching and biting that it had been doing, and now the seemingly misplaced affection for the flea carrying, tree climbing rodents.


Looking at that innocent, furry face again, he’d known he’d been mistaken. There was no way that this darling of the den could be deliberately trying to hurt him.


He’d put these thought to the side, and recommenced his search for the missing miko. It had seemed like his warded ward was silently communicating with the treacherous tree lovers. Every time the squirrels had chattered, the bunny would do that precious nose twitch, again. He’d decided that the twitch probably signified that the little guy was as annoyed by the squirrel’s screak as he was. He’d conveniently forgotten that the bunny had twitched it’s cute pink nose at him quite a few times.


So why did he have the feeling that his jumpy friend was plotting with the enemy?


Just as he’d seen Kagome and Sango emerge from the most well appointed bath in all of Japan, his lively liporid decided to leap out of his arms. His little burrowing good luck charm had run over to Kagome and sat there shivering and twitching as if it had been in fear for it’s very life.

Kagome has looked at the pitiable lump of quivering fur, then had given him a look that made him think fondly of the cave he’d used to seal the priest. He would have given almost anything to have the protection of the boulder in front of him, then.


How could Kagome think he could have been responsible for the sad state of his new friend’s fur? The singing and burns might have been caused by his wind scar, but he hadn’t meant to hurt the sweet little thing. He’d been aiming at the priest. But he hadn’t been able to tell his miko friend that, either. She wouldn’t understand how much the old guy pissed him off.


He’d bent down to gather up his carrot munching friend, when the band of kamikaze squirrels decided to attack. Two of the tree dwelling gnawers had hit him from behind. Just as he’d started to spin around to see who could possibly be insane enough to attack his back, three more came at him. Trying to dodge the flying rodents, while attempting to dislodge the sharp little claws from his back, had him dancing the strangest jig that the girls had ever seen.


Feeling his temper escalate in time with the increasing volume of laughter from Kagome and Sango, he grabbed for his trusty sword. So why did she think it was fair to say that word?


Keh!


He’d found himself face down, on the ground, with a swarm of snapping squirrels on top of him. Looking toward the dominating priestess, he seen the beady little eyes of his bunny friend. He hadn’t understood the look of apparent glee in those wicked little eyes. If he didn’t know better, he would think that his fluffy little buddy was happy seeing him face down, in the dirt.


Something about the way that those eyes had looked at him had made him uneasy. The eyes bore a strange resemblance to those of the worthless priest. He’d thought about it for a fleeting moment, and decided that it was his imagination.


With as much speed as he could muster, he’d divested the squirrel’s claws from his clothing. All those tiny tears were going to be hell to have to try and mend! He’d found himself sitting in the center of a ring of mixed animals and humans, the only connection they shared had seemed to be their anger. Anger that was directed solely at him.


Looking for any ally in this storm of wrath, he’d focused on the cuddly little rabbit. With a twitch of it’s cute little nose, the rabbit had let him see the wrinkled face hiding behind the fur.


It was that worthless bastard priest! How had the old man managed to disguise himself that way? More importantly, how was he going to be able to convince Kagome and the others of this deception?


The only option that presented itself to his beleaguered brain was to force the priest to confess. Lifting his hand to the handle of his sword, he heard the dreaded word, once again.


Keh!


This time, he could hear the clattery laughter coming from the band of tree dwellers, too. Roasted squirrel was beginning to sound like a very appetizing dinner. It tasted like chicken, anyway. Looking closely, he could make out the features of the village headman under the fur of the largest squirrel. The faces revealed behind the false fur covering worn by the other tree dwellers had looked familiar, too.


There was no way that the others would believe that all the cute woodland creatures led a double life as the village residents! He wouldn’t have believed it himself, five minutes ago.

He’d had no choice, but to gather his group as fast as he could. He’d made a leap for the two women standing near, and had braved the levels of their screams of surprise to insure their safety.


He’d seen Shippou surrounded by the familiar group of girls. He’d been able to see the faces of small field mice hiding behind the young females’ human heads. Was the entire town made up of these imposters?


Grabbing the kit, and making his way toward the spot that he’d last seen the monk, he’d passed a transformed Kirara. The giant cat had one of the older village residents backed up against the side of a hut, sniffing the old woman intently. He’d decided that the old hag must be a rat in disguise. He could always trust the cat to know what was going on.

He’d deposited the stunned slayer on the cat’s broad back, and continued on with his search for the missing monk. The small group had just turned a corner, when he spied the lecherous bouzu holding the hand of a beautiful, young woman.


He’d slid to a halt as he’d been able to make out the form of a young she-bear beneath the mask of the willing maiden. He’d thought of just leaving the monk to suffer the consequences of his constant flirting, but he’d learned that the females of his group would not approve of such actions.


So, he’d pulled the monk away, just in time to help the hoshi avoid the most traumatizing embrace of his life. Throwing the bewildered monk onto the back of the fierce cat, to join the still screaming slayer, he’d taken the shortest route out of the strange village. It wasn’t his fault that the quickest escape route took them through the village’s refuse site, was it? At least she’d waited until they were past the dumping ground before she’d said that word!


Keh!

He’d managed to pick himself and his precious cargo up, and had set off at an even greater rate of speed. He’d been glad that Kirara had refused to let her passengers disembark. The cat had more sense than the rest of them, most times. Kirara hadn’t been fooled by the village people, like Kagome, Sango, Shippou and Miroku had. He’d had that convenient memory lapse again, that precluded his remembering how he’d been taken in by a cute, little bunny.


He’d kept running until there were no trees in sight. He’d decided that he hated trees, and all the creatures that made their homes in trees. He’d seemed to have forgotten how often he’d slept in trees.


He’d found himself in the middle of the biggest damn meadow that he’d ever seen! Stopping to deposit the miko and kitsune, he seen Kirara doing the same with the monk and slayer. He hadn’t been prepared for the volley of shouting that came from all around him, as his friends realized that the comfort of the village was theirs no longer.


And the cry of “sit, sit, sit” that reached his ears was unexpected, too. Hadn’t he just saved them all from whatever it was, back in that strange village?

Keh!


So now he sat, at the highest point of the meadow, writing in the damn book, again. Maybe, if he wrote it down, he could make them see that the village was not what it appeared to be.


So he wrote:


I protected my friends from a village of shape altering animals.
I prevented whatever the shifty little animals wanted to do to us, while keeping my pack from getting lazy, and was rewarded by being punished, once again.

Giving the book over to Kagome, he’d been surprised to hear his friends talking about returning to the well-appointed village. How could they think that would be a good idea? And just what did they mean when they said that no one had been hurt, and why did that mean that it would be safe to go back? And when he’d refused to take them back, why did she get so mad that she’d said that word, again?


Keh!


Smiling into the dirt, he realized it really didn’t matter. He and Kirara were the only ones that knew the way back to the damned village, and he knew the cat wouldn’t tell, either.