InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sayonara, Kanashi Houshi ❯ Itamu no Kokoro ( Chapter 4 )

Sayonara, Kanashi Houshi

(Goodbye, Sad Monk)

By Golden-sama

Rated: PG-13, for Mild Language, Violence, and Miroku's usual habits

Summary: Miroku discover he has only one week to live before his Kazanna devours him. How will he live his last week alive? Read it! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll get to read one dam' good story. So what are you waiting for?

Chapter Four

Itamu no Kokoro

(Pain of the Heart)

They say that the innocence and purity of a child is a wonderful thing. The ability to remain faithful to something, the ability to remain hopeful even when the worst is happening around you is something that many old men who have seen the horrors of war wish for. And yet Kohaku did not have the purity of a child. He had not only seen the worst the world has to offer, the closest thing to hell you can find on earth, but he had committed the atrocity himself.

"Kohaku, you're awake!"

Kohaku turned his battered head to the left of himself to look at Rin. She had found him yesterday, and she had been taking care of him. Jaken's herbs had helped sooth the pain, and it seamed that Rin enjoyed taking care of him. He sighed, knowing he didn't deserve anyone caring about him. Though he was glad of one thing, he was glad that it was Rin, and not her who was caring for him. He could not face her now. Not knowing what he did.

"Yes, I'm fine Rin." He said, then thinking it rude to ignore her he spoke again. "Arigato."

"You're silly Kohaku." Rin said happily. "You don't need to thank me, you are Rin's friend. Rin wanted to help you."

Kohaku shut his eyes again. Friend? He didn't deserve any friends. He deserve to be alone. He wanted to be alone.

"Kohaku?" Rin asked again. He looked over at her. "Would you talk to Rin? Jaken-sama has run off to catch some fish."

Kohaku really had no interest in talking to the odd younger girl, but she had saved his life, so he nodded his head and agreed. When Rin saw him nod, her eyes became wide and an even wider smile filled her face.

"Where have you been since I last saw you? What have you been doing? How did you get here? Are you hungry? Did you miss Rin?"

Kohaku sighed; he had forgotten just how much this girl liked to talk. Yet he had agreed to it, and she had been very nice to him so far, so he began to think of answers. Yet before he could even begin to speak, another voice cut him off.

"Rin. We're leaving."

Sesshoumaru said those three simple words and walked off without a second glance at Rin or Kohaku. It was then that Rin bit her lip. She had never once questioned Sesshoumaru, she had never argued with her beloved Sesshoumaru. He had saved her life; he had been nice to her. He was the only one nice to her since her family died. Yet still...

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked, but her voice was timid and much shyer than was normal. Sesshoumaru stopped walking and turned his head to look at her.

"Rin was wondering… can Kohaku come with us?"

Sesshoumaru turned his cold eyes towards Kohaku, and Kohaku stared back up at the Lord of the lands of the West.

"He is your responsibility."

And with that Sesshoumaru turned back around and continued walking. Rin became very happy and ran over and hugged one of Sesshoumaru's massive legs.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Sesshoumaru said nothing, nor did his expression change. He simply waited for a moment for Rin to release her hug on his leg, and then he once again began to walk.

Rin quickly ran back over to where Kohaku lay, and she began to help him up and lead him over to where Aun, the two-headed Dragon stood. With some help from Rin, Kohaku was able to climb up onto the saddle of the beast and sit there. Rin followed next, climbing up as well. And they began to leave as a water soaked Jaken returned, no fish, but a few bruises.

"Ah, Sesshoumaru-sama, Jaken is sorry but -- Whaaaaaaa!?" Jaken noticed that Sesshoumaru was already far ahead in the distance, and Rin and Kohaku were leaving next on the back of that blasted dragon.

"Wait, wait, wait! Wait for Jaaaaaaaaaaaaken! Why must I always be last?"

------------

The hissing voice of whatever it was that had brought Sango here was beginning to annoy her greatly. She didn't have Hiraikotsu, but she did have her Wakizashi*, and she was skilled with a blade. It wasn't a demon that had brought her here that the youkai taijiya knew. Whatever it was was worse than a youkai.

It was then that the creature began to squirm in the distance, and begin to move towards her. The cave was too dark for sight to be of any help, but she heard a scraping noise, almost like a slithering. The two pinpoints of light that she took as eyes were now coming closer to her, and Sango would be ready.

Drawing her Wakizashi she held the sword firm in her right hand, her head still ached and she was dizzy from the loss of blood and from the head injuries, but she would not be defeated by this creature. Sango would not die, not in this God forsaken cave. She would not die here while Miroku was off spending the last few days of his life doing God knows what. If it was her fate to die, then she would die next to Houshi-sama, she would die next to her love.

"You picked the wrong person to mess with." Sango spoke into the darkness.

"Now I don't think sssso. I think I picked the right person, Youkai Taijiya-sssama."

Sango suddenly felt the wind breaking, and she thrust her blade upward, it collided with something that felt like a trident, or a pitchfork. The beast on the other side let out a hissing laugh of glee and pulled the trident back. Sango couldn't see her enemy, and she was hurt, but she was determined to see Miroku again before she died, and that was a determination which burned inside the young girl like a undying flame. It was consuming her, the need to see him again. It kept her fighting against anything. Naraku and all the forces of hell could stand in her way, and she would still fight.

She heard the sound of the trident break through the air of the cavern and she countered it again, blocking with her sword. This time it was much less impressive than before, for Sango's hand was scraped by the Trident's edge and blood covered her enemy's weapon. Sango ignored the paid, she ignored the fact her sword's hilt was covered in her own blood. She could nurse her injuries after she killed this thing.

It was then Sango got an idea, and leapt forward in a blind rage, slashing and stabbing in the dark; she heard a hissing scream and felt a hot liquid spray at her face, she assumed that this was blood which made her happy, she had wounded it. Then she ran, ran in the dark. Ran as fast as she could looking for a light source. She needed light; she needed to see what she was fighting.

She heard the slithering behind her and she knew that this beast was following her; she knew it was mad now and if it caught her she would die. But she would not get caught by this miserable beast.

It was then she looked out across the distance and saw a small flicker of light. She moved faster than she ever had in her life, running towards that light. Towards the cave exit. With a great dive she hit the exit, flying out into the daylight sun. The cave was atop a mountain, that she realized at once. There wasn't much room to fight out here, but it was better than fighting blind.

She turned around and watched her enemy exit the cave. It was a horrible beast, from the waist up it was a woman, a horribly ugly woman, instead of skin she had scales and her hair was matted and black and untidy as it had ever been. Her eyes were a fierce yellow and her teeth were like that of a snake. From the waste down, however, she was a snake. A serpent. Her enormous snake's body moved over the ground quickly, crushing small rocks as it passed. In one of her jade-skinned arms was the trident, still smeared with Sango's blood. And just below the creature's breast was a large open wound, where Sango had stabbed it, still spewing blood out of it.

Sango knew what it was at once; she had heard stories about them from her father. Naga. Great snake people who live deep under the ocean. They only come up to the surface through caves. They enter deep underwater caverns and follow the path to the surface. They hate the sunlight with a passion, but this creature's lust for the kill, her need to end Sango's life, was greater than her hatred of the sunlight.

"Where do you run to, you pathetic bitch? Where do you plan to leave? You cannot essscape!"

The Naga raised it trident high over its hideous head, but Sango leapt forward and with a quick slash she took the arm clear off the beast. It howled it pain and glared at the youkai taijiya with the utmost hatred. The Naga leapt at Sango with it's teeth bared and bit her shoulder painfully, however what it wasn't ready for was the poison pellets she kept in the shoulder pad of her demon taijiya suit. The Naga spewed out a cloud of purple smoke as it began to choke. Sango jammed her blade into its chest and with a push the sword and the monster in which it was buried went off the edge of the cliff. Sango just collapsed onto her back, she had lost a lot of blood and she was short of breath.

"Houshi-sama…" She said to herself and to the wind. "Just hold on a little longer…"

------------

It was odd to Miroku that he would be spending his last days like this. Now with only four days left until he would die, he was walking beside Kikyo, on his way to a obvious trap set up by Naraku. That wasn't so odd, he had been in many of Naraku's traps before, what was odd was Kikyo was helping him. He had never really be enemies with her, but never had he been friends either.

"Izumo." Kikyo spoke to the man who led them. "Tell me of this Tsune."

Izumo began to speak. He was a elder man, nearing his fifties. His hair was graying and his knees were knobby. There was a flare in his eye when she asked him this, and he began to speak with pride.

"Well, many, many years ago, the founder of our village picked this spot because it grows Vanilla. However this place is within the domain of the Western Lands, which at that time were controlled by a great youkai called Inutaishou. The founder of the lands caught a Neko Youkai spy, for Inutaishou was having a war with the Neko, and Inutaishou rewarded the founder by giving him a robe made from his fur. He also blessed the village and allowed us to live here. For many years that fur robe was an heirloom, but then…"

Izumo began to speak in a undertone, almost as if he hated the next part of the village's history.

"Inutaishou's mate died, and as the stories go he left his palace and took a human bride. I don't know how much truth is in this, but for whatever reason one day Sesshoumaru, Inutaishou's son, came to this village. He was angry about something and he said we didn't deserve that robe of his father. He killed the village elder and took the fur from him. But the elder knew that the fur could easily be stolen, so he cut off a piece and hid it long before Sesshoumaru came."

Miroku listened to the story eagerly, and he began to piece something together. The only thing the monk could think of that infuriated Sesshoumaru like that was his brother, perhaps the birth of Inuyasha had something to do with the village.

"Well, about a month ago our lord was a different man, his name was Shalom, and he was not as good a lord as Tsune-sama. He would take the fairest girls in the village for his own purposes, and he would take most of the harvest. Then one day a white baboon called Naraku appeared. He said he wanted the fur of Inutaishou, and Shalom said it was taken years ago, but Naraku knew otherwise. Naraku disappeared but the next day a great horde of demons attacked the village, that's when Tsune-sama and his nephew, Kohaku-sama appeared and saved us. Shalom and his sons were dead so we made Tsune-sama lord."

Miroku's heart skipped a beat when he heard Kohaku's name. Sango's brother? How could that be possible, unless…

"Izumo, is this Tsune-sama human?"

Izumo turned around and he looked very upset. He stared at Miroku with the utmost hatred.

"Well of course he's human! What the hell else would he be?"

"I meant nothing by it!" Miroku said at once, seeing how upset he had made the old man. "I just wondered how a human could fight off an entire horde of youkai."

The old man began to get even angrier, but Kikyo stepped between him and Miroku.

"Izumo, if you do not mind we are in a hurry." The old man still had a look of disgust on his face, but something about the dulled grayness of Kikyo's eyes informed the man it was not wise to argue.

The path upon which they walked was a narrow dirt road, leading from a small valley where the tavern sat up a mountain path. It was steep and slender and most dangerous to travel on if not prepared for the unanticipated. There were thick green trees all over the valley, but they faded away on the mountain trail. And finally at the top, far beyond where Miroku and Kikyo walked now, was the village. A row of trees all around it, and a shallow mountain stream that flows right through the center of the town. And there beyond the village is the red roofed castle that smells like vanilla and candle wax. There is the chamber of Tsune-sama.

And beyond that is a low mountain, and sitting upon the mountain is a white baboon with wicked eyes.

------------

Inuyasha was following Sango's scent. It had been hard to decide what to do, Miroku was missing and if they didn't follow him soon they may have no chance of finding him, but as Kagome pointed out Sango had obviously been kidnapped by some kind of youkai, and so it was that they set out after Sango.

Inuyasha was still running, as fast as his feet would carry him. Nearby Kagome and Shippou flew on the back of Kirara. Inuyasha and Kirara had easily followed Kagome's scent, but it seamed to go on and on. Now they were moving over a large grassy plane. It was then Kagome felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. The hairs all down her spine were tingling and standing up straight.

"Shikon shard, Inuyasha, not far ahead."

It was then Inuyasha stopped running, because he could smell it. He knew those smells. One of them was the smell of human blood, Kohaku's blood. And the other was . . .

"Damn." Inuyasha's hand went to the Tetsusaiga's hilt and he ran forward more, leaving Kagome confused and urging Kirara to follow. Inuyasha knew what that smell was who it was.

Down at the end of the path Inuyasha stopped abruptly at what he saw. It wasn't as he expected. There was Rin, sitting on her knees eating a large green fruit. Next to her lay Kohaku, he was covered in bruises and cuts but he looked oddly happy. Not far from then was Jaken, who scream out in shock upon seeing Inuyasha. Rin and Kohaku simply turned their heads and stared at him.

"Ahhhhh! Inuyasha!" Jaken prepared his staff of heads, but in one quick motion Inuyasha grabbed the staff, threw it, and knocked the small toad demon on his head. Jaken fell to the ground as Shippou did when he was punched similarly.

"Ah, Jaken-sama? Are you ok?" Rin asked. The toad said nothing.

Kagome arrived a moment later, riding on Kirara's back with Shippou in her arms. In an instant she and Shippou were over at Kohaku's side.

"Kohaku-kun, what are you doing here?" Kagome asked. The brown haired boy said nothing. He remembered what he had tried to do to Kagome. He remembered how he had almost ended her life.

"Hey you, girl, why the hell is Kohaku with your lot?" Inuyasha asked. Rin was far from happy. She stuck one of her small hands into her yukata and drew out a small tanto**, holding it without fear she looked at Inuyasha with a cruel look.

"Don't be mean to Rin or my friends!" The young girl said with a fearless tone. Inuyasha just blinked. Of course never in his life would he harm a child, no matter what kind of tough guy image he had, or no matter how angry he was, he would never think of fighting Rin.

"Rin, where did you get that?"

The voice was as icy as it ever was. Inuyasha spun his head around to face his older half-brother. Sesshoumaru, however, was adverting his gaze to the small black haired girl.

"You don't need a weapon Rin."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama." She said, and she tossed the small sword aside. Inuyasha stood up and continued to stare at his brother, and now Sesshoumaru's eyes meet his own gaze. Then Sesshoumaru's emotionless face curved into a smile.

"So Naraku is around here. Good. Rin, we're leaving."

Inuyasha nearly fainted from shock, but instead he shouted: "Hey jackass, you better not ignore me!"

Sesshoumaru stopped walking and turned around again. "I do not have time to play with you half-breed." The one-armed youkai had a truly cold expression on his face, even colder than was usual for him.

Behind him Rin began to help Kohaku onto the back of Aun, but Kagome stopped her.

"Rin-chan, come on now, won't you just talk to me?"

Rin stopped and looked up at Kagome, her face broke into a smile. She had always liked Kagome, she was nice. Despite what Jaken said about her. It was odd how Jaken was so wrong about Kagome, but everything he said about Inuyasha was true.

"Ok, Rin can talk, but only for a minute."

"No." Kohaku said suddenly. The freckle-faced boy picked himself up to a standing position, both Rin and Kagome tried to help him, but he pushed away all of their helping hands. He was moaning in a low growl from the pain, but he ignored it as well.

"Kagome, please, do not interfere with me. Just tell my sister I am sorry and I love her. Now please leave me alone."

Kagome watched Kohaku, and knew that if the circumstances were different, then she would never agree to what the boy had just said. Yet Miroku would be dead in less than four days, and Sango was missing and could already be dead. So she merely nodded her head.

"Rin, I said we are leaving." Sesshoumaru said once again. He was still walking away, but Inuyasha wasn't ready to let him walk off yet.

"Sesshoumaru, I know your busy playing with your little human friends, but you better give me some answ--"

Before Inuyasha could finish his smart remark, Sesshoumaru had leapt towards him and buried his poison talons into Inuyasha's neck. The hanyou let out a cry of pain as venom dripped into his neck, he pushed himself away from his brother, but already he was writhing on the ground in pain.

"I said I don't have time to play." Now Sesshoumaru's arm was resting on the hilt of the Toukjin, the sword made from the teeth of the beast that broke Tetsusaiga. And it was just as strong, for Toukjin was an even match with Tetsusaiga, and Inuyasha was already too weak to draw his sword. He said nothing, but continued to grasp his neck in pain.

As Kagome knelt down beside Inuyasha, and buried her head in her bag to try to find some medicine for her poisoned friend, she watched Sesshoumaru walk away, Rin and Kohaku following him on back of Aun.

"Waiiiiiiiiiit! Sesshoumaru-samaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Jaken had woken up from his painful punching and was running to try to catch up with the rest of his group. Shippou shot a nasty look at the toad as it ran.

"Kagome, do you think Sango is alright?"

Shippou hadn't spoken much since Sango had disappeared. He and Kirara had both easily been knocked out and hadn't helped her at all. And he blamed himself. He missed Sango, for she was a wonderful friend to him.

"Oh, Shippou-chan! Of course Sango is alright! Sango-chan is going to be just fine." Kagome hugged the small Kitsune to try to cheer him up.

"Hey, baka, I'm the one with a frickin' hole in my neck." Inuyasha growled. "Forget that fox and his stupid worrying."

Kagome shoot Inuyasha a glance full of more poison than his brother's claws, and the hanyou shut up, Shippou and Kirara also cowered in fear. When Kagome gets mad, she can be a scarier foe than Naraku.

-----------

Akiko's eyes had been closed for so long, that when she finally opened them it was hard to see anything. She was clothed in a kimono that reminded her more of a rag, and she could still feel the many painful and bloody cuts from Kagura's whip. She didn't remember what had happened after she had fainted.

"Howdy honey." Kagura said in a voice so sinister that Akiko wanted to break down and cry. "Sleep well?"

Akiko turned her head and realized she was lying down, no longer on a wall. And Kagura no longer had a whip, only a fan. And yet somehow even that fan in her hands looked dangerous.

"So you love Tsunenoku, do you?" Kagura smiled, but it was not a sweet smile, it was a smile of pain. Still Akiko didn't speak. Was this Tsunenoku, her beloved Tsune-sama?

"You know he's youkai, don't you?" Kagura said. Now Akiko knew that Tsunenoku could not be her Tsune-sama, for Tsune-sama was not a youkai.

"He's a detachment of Naraku, just like I am." Kagura said quietly. "And yet he did what I could not. He got his freedom. How did he do that? What is his secret?"

Still Akiko was quiet.

"Damn you bitch!" Kagura spat, losing any tone of compassion that was in her cold voice. "You better tell me what I want to know or I'll do a lot worse than just beat you! How the hell did Tsunenoku get his freedom!?"

Kagura was holding Akiko by the front of her Kimono, shaking the young human with a force that made her cuts hurt even worse.

"Look, maybe he didn't tell you he was a youkai, but he is! And you've been serving that bastard for a month, so tell me every last little detail of his daily routine or you're going to feel some real pain." Kagura's crimson eyes had a menacing glow to them, but Akiko would not talk.

If what this demon said was true, if indeed Tsune-sama was a youkai, it didn't matter to her. She loved him just the same. And she wouldn't betray his trust.

"Alright." Kagura said, dropping Akiko to the floor, the force of it caused her to scream out loud. "Have it your own way."

Kagura slashed her fan and cut Akiko's kimono off, then she crossed over to the corner and picked up a small cup filled with something Akiko couldn't see. Kagura stood over Akiko's nude, bloody form and began to empty the contents of the bowl into her cuts.

Akiko then realized what was in that bowl. Salt. She could tell from the pain she now felt from each of her many, many gashes and cuts.

"Let the screaming begin." Kagura said happily.

---------------------------

Author's Notes: Holy crap.

I have a TON of reviews! *Bounces around happily*

Listen, to all of you readers, I haven't got this many reviews on a single story in over a year. This is a wonderful thing. I've been getting a new review by the half-hour! So I thank you.

And because you all have been so good to read and review, I'm going to make a very special chapter later on, and I hope you all like it.

Anyway, here are the translations.

Wakizashi = A Samurai sword, not as long as a Katana, but longer than a tanto. Mainly used for one armed combat.

Tanto = A samurai's dagger, about six to twelve inches long. The smallest of a samurai's bladed weapons.

Sake = a Japanese wine made from rice.

Oh and I know I'm missing a few translations, but I'll catch up later. ^_-

Anyway, thanks again for reading and reviewing, and keep it up! And I'll keep up the writing!

Ja ne

~ Golden-sama