InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Bind a Soul ❯ New Developments ( Chapter 34 )

Chapter 34- New Developments

"My village is just around the bend," Morio announced as he led Inuyasha and his Pack to a large human settlement.

They had had a late start in the morning. When time came to go, Inuyasha and Kagome were no where to be found. An hour later the couple turned up, Kagome slightly pink and Inuyasha smiling arrogantly. Both of their hair was wet.

The sun was setting as Morio led them straight to the monastery. His village did not in the least welcome youkai, and while they allowed Aiko to trade, it was only because they feared Kouga.

Kagome sighed when all the humans quickly moved out of her way and muttered insults under their breath. Inuyasha growled at them and moved to wrap an arm around Kagome's waist, whispering reassurances in her ear. Morio frowned at his neighbors but ignored them as opened the monastery gate and held it for everyone.

"Wait here and I'll go fetch my master," Morio said as he raced into the large wooden structure.

Kagome stared down at her feet, still upset at the villagers' words. She was not use to such ridicule and she never thought it could be so upsetting.

"Don't listen to them, Kagome-Chan. They don't know what they're saying," Sango informed her friend when she saw the frown on the miko's face.

"Sango's right," Inuyasha agreed, pulling Kagome up to his chest and tucking her head under his chin. "You shouldn't listen to stupid people."

Kagome giggled and buried her face into Inuyasha's haori, lifting her arms to wrap them around Inuyasha's waist. "You shouldn't call people names, Inuyasha," she chided, but a smile tinted her voice.

"I'm not calling them names if I'm stating a fact," Inuyasha replied calmly.

Kagome couldn't help but giggle again. Inuyasha was raising her spirits quicker than she would have imagined, but then the hanyou always had that power over her. Whether she felt like she was on top of the world or rotting in hell all depended on Inuyasha.

Inuyasha smiled when Kagome lifted her head to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered quietly, taking a deep breath.

Inuyasha was refrained from replying when a new human walked out of the monastery to greet them. His robes were similar to Miroku's, but a deep blue instead of Miroku's purple. His head was shaved and he kept his hands clasped in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Rinji. I am to take you to your rooms and get you settled before you meet my master. Please, follow me."

When Inuyasha hung back, Miroku moved to follow Rinji, Sango close behind. Shippou jumped to Inuyasha's shoulder and Kirara `meowed' at Inuyasha's feet. "Is something wrong?" asked Sango when she noticed Inuyasha wasn't following.

"There's ofuda blocking the doorway," Inuyasha replied.

Sango moved to rip the ofuda off the doorway when Rinji's voice stopped her. "Don't you'll allow demons in," he said.

"Well, that's kind of the point," Sango replied, surprised at how dense the monk was.

"Our companions are youkai," Miroku informed him.

"You travel with youkai?" Rinji looked at Miroku in disbelief. "But you're a monk, and you're a demon exterminator," he said turning to Sango.

"You mean you can't tell were youkai?" Inuyasha asked, realizing just how dense and dumb the human was.

Rinji took a double take of Inuyasha's appearance and then turned to Kagome and Shippou, last looking down at Kirara. "Morio did not tell me," he began.

Kagome was getting pissed. So what they were youkai, or at least partially. That was no reason to be rude. Growling to cut the human off from babbling anymore, she walked up to the doorway and ripped the ofuda off, burning it in a blue flame of miko power.

Rinji was taken aback. How could a youkai do that to ofuda? "You were leading us to our rooms," Miroku turned to Rinji. He was beginning to lose his temper, and for Miroku to lose his temper . . . Well, that was just not Miroku.

"Okay," Rinji squeaked, turning away from the group and walking hurriedly down the hall.

Inuyasha smirked and wrapped his arm around Kagome's waist, using his other arm to lift her chin into a kiss. "I think you made that monk just about wet his robes," he told Kagome as they followed Sango.

Kagome blushed and hid her face behind her hair. "I didn't mean to lose my temper," she said meekly.

"You're hanyou and pregnant. You'll be losing your temper a lot more now," Inuyasha said.

"What does being hanyou have to do with my temper?" asked Kagome.

"Youkai emotions are more intense than human, mainly because we have instincts mixed up with everything. It's harder to control your emotions when you're hanyou because the human blood weakens the control," Inuyasha informed her, revealing a bit of knowledge.

"Oh. Is that why you were always acting so immature?"

Inuyasha scowled when he saw that Kagome was taunting him. "Bitch."

"Only for you," Kagome was able to reply without blushing.

Inuyasha smirked and leaned down to nip her neck.

They were given one large room, which was separated by a screen. "Morio will be by shortly to take you to our master," Rinji said and quickly fled from the room.

"How rude," Shippou muttered as he climbed into Kagome's lap.

"I quite agree," Kagome replied, running her fingers through the kitsune's hair.

"You scared he half to death when you ripped the ofuda off the doorway, Kagome-sama," said Miroku as he settled himself across from Inuyasha.

"Serves him right," replied Sango, sitting down next to Miroku.

There was a knock at the door before Morio entered. "Please excuse Rinji-San, he is not the brightest."

Kagome smiled and bit back a laugh. Morio looked quite embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, Morio-Chan, I'm sure Rinji will think twice about running into us again," Kagome said happily.

Morio smiled sheepishly and smiled. "I'm here to led you to my Master, so if you would all follow me."

Inuyasha nodded and helped Kagome stand, absently setting Shippou on his shoulder.

Morio led them to a large room that looked over a garden. The room had no decorations except for a single katana that hung over the window. Inuyasha noticed ofuda attached to the window frame but said nothing. By the window stood an elderly man, dressed in dark blue robes with short while hair.

"Greetings," he said, "My name is Jomei. I am master here."

"Greetings," Miroku replied politely. "I am Miroku. This is Sango-sama. Inuyasha is the one with the white hair and the one standing next to him is his mate Kagome-sama."

"Greetings," Jomei said again.

"What about me?" asked Shippou, jumping to Miroku's shoulder.

"And this is Shippou-Chan," Miroku replied, giving the kit a smiled.

"And that's Kirara," said Shippou, pointing down to the fire cat in Sango's arms.

"You all travel together?" asked Jomei.

"We're a Pack," Inuyasha replied shortly.

Jomei smiled and nodded. "It is a great honor to meet you all. Morio-Chan told me that you have all come here to rid us of the youkai that has been plaguing us."

"Hai," replied Kagome. "A friend of ours live nearby and asked for help. We couldn't refuse."

"And who is this friend of yours?"

"Aiko-Chan," said Kagome. "Morio-Chan told us that she has been coming to the village to trade."

"Hai," Jomei became grim. "The people here do not welcome youkai-"

"I noticed," Inuyasha replied quietly.

"-And she caused quite a stir. When we refused to trade, the wolf youkai with her lost his temper. It is only because of Morio-Chan that nobody lost their life. Perhaps you could rid us of the wolf youkai as well?"

"NO!" Inuyasha replied evenly. "Kouga wouldn't hurt any humans without them throwing the first stone, at least not anymore." He might not like the wolf youkai, but he liked him a hell of a lot more than the humans in this village, Morio excluded.

"Than you know him?" asked Jomei.

Inuyasha snorted. "Of course we know him. Well enough to know he wouldn't kill any humans needlessly. If he ends up killing someone it's your own fault."

Jomei looked ready to dispute that but Miroku interrupted. "I must agree with Inuyasha, Jomei-sama. Even though Kouga was not always so hesitant to kill humans, he has change greatly within the last year, and he would not kill needlessly."

"Hai," added Kagome. "My advice would to just trade with Aiko-Chan. She won't hurt anybody. In fact, her last home had many humans. She's a good girl, you would see that if you would just give her a chance."

"She's youkai," replied Jomei.

Miroku sighed. He could see there was more than just one person who thought like Rinji. "Perhaps we should leave," Miroku began. "I am not so rash as to sleep in a place where someone may bare us ill will."

Inuyasha nodded at Miroku, pleased that his friend would defend him so. "Do not be absurd," replied Jomei. "No one here would harm a monk like yourself."

"But they might try to harm our friends," Sango said evenly, beginning to lose her temper.

"I don't understand," Jomei sighed. "Are you not a demon exterminator? Why do you travel with youkai?"

"I do not feel the need to answer any questions from you," Sango said, allowing more anger to enter her voice.

Kagome and Inuyasha stood silent through the entire thing. Kagome wouldn't have known what to say even if she was told to speak. She wasn't use to this kind of discrimination. It hurt. Now she knew what Inuyasha went through growing up. It must have been hard on him.

Kagome buried her face into Inuyasha's haori and held him tightly. "Maybe we should leave. After the last place we stayed at near the mountain, I'm a bit hesitant to stay here," Kagome whispered, remembering the village that had wanted to slit their throats in their sleep.

Inuyasha nodded and turned to Miroku. "Kagome doesn't want to stay here. Let's leave before it gets too dark to find a decent camp ground."

Miroku nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait," Jomei called, in complete disbelief that a monk would side with a youkai. "You would really chose youkai over human?" To him it was just unbelievable. Why would anyone want to share the company of a youkai?

Miroku snorted and for once he dropped the `monk act'. "Yes," he said heatedly and followed Inuyasha out the door.

Sango was right behind him, Shippou clinging to her shoulder. The little kitsune turned back to Jomei before they left the room and stuck his tongue out then smiled when he saw the monk draw his arms up in a defensive motion. "Stupid human," he muttered, before jumping off of Sango and running to catch up with Kagome.

Morio was already in the room when everyone entered. "Please forgive me for taking you here. I had hoped you would be safer here than in one of the inns in the village. Please allow me to take you to a hut not far from the village. It would be better than sleeping outside when there are so many dangerous youkai around," he said bowing.

Inuyasha could practically smell how upset the boy was. "Calm down," the hanyou muttered, bending down to pick up Kagome's bag. "Just lead us to this hut your talking about and all is forgiven."

"Thank you, Inuyasha-sama," replied Morio.

^_^

The hut wasn't half-bad. They had to share it with one other human, who happened to be Morio's mother, but no one complained.

"I can't believe you tried to take them up to the monastery," Morio's mother said for perhaps the tenth time to Morio. Presently she was passing around soup she had cooked earlier. "Those fools' noses are stuck so high up in the air they have no idea what's going on around them."

"What do you mean?" asked Kagome.

"It isn't just youkai they're baring ill will towards. Witches and even mikos! Have you ever heard of such a thing? They say that the Kamis would never bestow such power upon a woman and so they are youkai. All are idiots I say! Mikos being youkai, I mean really!"

Kagome giggled. "Well I know for a fact that most mikos aren't youkai."

"You being the exception?" the old woman asked.

Kagome raised an eyebrow than nodded. "Hai. I am both youkai and miko. How did you know?"

"Morio told me about the trick you did with the ofuda. I wish I could've seen it! Must have been a sight. And besides, I'm a seer and a witch all in one. I know these things. I also know you should take a little more soup for the extra life you're carrying," she said, handing Kagome another full bowl of soup.

"Uh, thank you," Kagome replied meekly, blushing a bit.

"Don't mention it. Now after you finish that everyone should try to get some sleep. You're going to want to see your friends first thing tomorrow."

"Ah, thank you Hostess-sama," Miroku replied, bowing deeply.

"Don't mention it," she replied.

Kagome smiled and leaned back against Inuyasha who cradled her in his lap. One hand was wrapped around her waist and resting on her stomach, the other on Tetsusaiga. He was as alert as ever. "Inuyasha?" Kagome made his name a question.

"Finish your food and try to get some sleep. I don't know how much of it you'll get," he replied.

"What do you mean?" asked Sango who had overheard the conversation.

"The area around here stinks of something that isn't youkai, but just a dangerous."