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They were heroes that travelled the world defeating evil wherever they found it – particularly good heroes, too.
And, like any truly good group of heroes, they were not only ragtag, seeming like they should never have become friends, let alone a really successful group of heroes, but when you first met them, they seemed really…
…unreliable was probably the nicest way to put it.
And yet, the further south they went, they noticed, the more people just accepted their help without comment.
“Oh, well, it’s not like you’re the strangest group to come through,” one of the villagers said when they commented.
“Oh yeah,” another agreed. “The one with the funny-dressed miko and the female slayer.”
“Now that was a strange group,” the first said, and the other nodded.
“You’re pretty normal, all things considered.”
Taking it as a compliment, however backhand, the group continued without comment, until they began losing work.
“Demons?” the villagers repeated with a grin. “Around here?”
“You have to be kidding. No demon is stupid enough to attack us,” they said, and then all laughed, like it was a joke.
“This close to Inuyasha Forest?”
Their leader, Kaneda, finally surrendered after their third night without lodgings and demanded, “Just what the hell is this Inuyasha Forest? What’s so special that no demon would come here?”
“You don’t know?” the villagers asked. “Well, I guess you are from pretty far north…”
“Inuyasha is the great dog demon. His village is a day’s walk from here,” they explained, pointing East. “Even when he and that monk aren’t exorcising, no demon would be stupid enough to encroach on Inuyasha’s territory.”
“It would just be asking to die.”
“By sword or by claw.”
“What do you mean, ‘his village’?” Nikki, the smart one of the group, asked curiously. “Is it a demon palace?”
“Huh? No, it’s just a village,” they said blankly. “But he’s been there forever.”
“Has a thing for the miko that come outta there, I hear.”
“Why hasn’t anyone asked for help?” asked Daisuke, the strong one. “Hired a slayer?”
“A slayer?”
“For Inuyasha?”
The villagers all looked at each other, then shook their heads. “Not likely. Especially not there.”
The third time they heard this story, with only vague “Well… it’s… he’s… Inuyasha…” as a further explanation, Juuen, the last and most spiritual one, nodded firmly in decision.
“I’ve heard of this: demons bewitching entire villages. Entire areas. They’re convinced of his goodness even when he keeps them as slaves.”
“Well, that settles it then,” Daisuke said firmly. “We have to go slay this Inuyasha creature. Rescue the villages in the area.”
“Why?” asked Nikki. “It seems rather… peaceful around here.”
“And we haven’t been hired,” Kaneda added. “There’s no money in it.”
“But it’s the right thing to do!” he cried. “And besides, once we free them, they’ll be so grateful they’ll pay us plenty!”
And that, for Kaneda at least, was a good enough reason.
The problem started when they tried to find the damn place. At first, the villagers were friendly and helpful, until they mentioned Inuyasha.
That was when their reputation began to get the better of them.
“Inuyasha, huh?” one young girl asked, heaving a basket of herbs onto a bench. “What do you want with him?”
“We’re going to destroy him,” Daisuke said bluntly, and Nikki slapped a hand to his head while the girl raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, really, now? Well, then, don’t let me stop you. Keep travelling West and you’ll definitely run into them.”
“I thought they were to the east of here?”
“Hm. Can’t I say I know for sure,” she said, and wandered off.
“He might not even be at the village,” a man said, when they asked. “He travels around, you know. With that monk and the miko.”
“That’s fine, we can wait at the –”
“Better to just try and run into him on the road,” he advised.
Eventually, though, an old woman became frustrated and stalked into the town square. “On their own heads be! Their lives depend on the mood of the miko, so let them risk it!” she declared, and the villagers grumbled but didn’t object. She then pointed to the eastern gate. “Continue on this road and you’ll eventually reach the village. But be warned –”
She was interrupted by a sudden appearance of red and white in their midst. For an instant, they saw a flash of a young man with silver hair, carrying two small girls on his back, and then he was gone again, only two fading, feminine squeals in his wake.
The villagers blinked once, then continued looking at the group expectantly, waiting for them to leave.
As they did, Juuen swore he heard, “Well, at least they’ll live, given that mood.”
“Alright. So this demon clearly has an entire domain under his spell. Going in there swinging is just going to end with the bespelled villagers trying to protect him.”
“So we’ll have to be sneaky about this. What do we know?”
“He’s a dog demon. They have a strong sense of smell.”
“He’s obsessed with miko.”
“He doesn’t expect to be attacked in his own domain.”
“I have a plan!”
Kagome sighed as she set Sango’s son on her hip, watching the slayer wash the countless sheets that seemed to crop up with so many children. “I suppose it does seem like a lot of work.”
“Kagome?” she prompted, glancing back at her.
“Having children,” she said, and Sango blinked, then smiled conspiratorially.
“My, Kagome… are you and Inuyasha…?”
She hesitated, then grimaced and looked down at the boy on her hip. “No…” she said, and sighed again. “No, we’re not.”
“Ah. Inuyasha doesn’t want children?”
“I haven’t asked. But it’s not –” The conversation cut off at the sound of leaves being pushed aside, and both women immediately turned, on guard and ready. Whoever it was froze, and then slowly moved into view, still a few dozen metres away.
It was a young man, dressed all in blue and white, with a shrine on his back. He all but lit up when he saw Kagome. “Ah, forgive my interruption! Would you be the miko of this village?”
“Uh… one of them,” she said awkwardly. She still thought of Kaede as the miko. She was just making her way in the village, doing what she could.
“Wonderful! I have been searching for you!” he said, and hurried forward.
Sango slowly stood up, moving in front of Kagome protectively. “Who are you?”
“My name is Nikito, a travelling salesman!” he said cheerfully. “I had heard the miko of this village was most beautiful, and thought to ply my trade.”
“We grow our own herbs,” she said coldly. “And for that which we don’t grow, we already have a herbalist.”
“Not herbs, my dear lady,” he said, and pulled off the shrine to open it. Both girls twitched when they realised it was only a shrine on the outside – inside, it was filled with shelves and shelves of makeup. “I know it is strange to want to sell a miko such trivialities, but I had heard that the miko of this village can be swayed to want such…?”
“Well…” she said slowly, exchanging glances with Sango. They both grimaced, then gave into the urge and knelt down in front of the shrine, curious.
“I will confess, I had a plan,” the salesman whispered. “My thought was to offer you, miko-sama, some free merchandise, on the condition you wear it today. Show it to the other village girls. Then, perhaps, they would see how beautiful it made you, and be tempted to buy from me when I visit the village tomorrow, you see?”
“A wise plan,” Sango said with a smirk.
“Let me see,” said Kagome, and she began pawing through, always curious about how things were done before technology made it simple. Sango soon joined her, marvelling at the colours.
Nikki grinned.
It was with his usual amount of decorum that Inuyasha dropped the twins at their front door – that was to say, he straightened up and let them hang from where they clutched his shoulders.
“Awright you two, off!” he snapped. “I’ve wasted enough time today!”
“Aw, come on, Inuyasha!” they wailed, and one tugged his ear, just to annoy him. “Just one more run!”
“What do you think I am, some kinda carthorse?”
“Yup!”
“Arghh…! Hey, Miroku! Sango! Come get your brats!”
After a moment, Miroku’s neighbour, a seamstress known as Eriko, poked her head out her door. “They’re not home. The monk is at the river and I believe Sango-sama is still out with Kagome-sama.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” he groaned, while the girls squealed in joy.
“One more run! One more run!”
“I’m not taking you guys anywhere,” he growled, and began the difficult task of prying them off his shoulders. It had always been so much easier with Shippou – not only had he been so tiny that it was literally just a matter of snatching a handful and yanking, but as a demon, he could handle some force without getting hurt. The girls, however, were practically glass in Inuyasha’s hands. And they knew it.
“Mother and Father aren’t home!”
“You wouldn’t leave us to fend for ourselves, would you?”
“Neeeee, Inuyasha?”
“Damn straight I would, now get off!” he cried, trying to snatch a kimono and failing miserably. “Hey, girl! Don’t just stand there!”
But Eriko just smirked and leaned on the doorway. “Consider it training for when you and Kagome-sama begin your family.”
If any of the girls had been more observant, they might have seen his ear twitch, but as it was, they only noticed his exasperated growl. “Don’t you joke around with me, you little –”
“Inuyasha!”
He turned just enough to see Kagome and Sango hurrying down the road, arms full of blankets, the boy, and some strange bottles. He scowled. “You guys are late! Help me get these two off!”
“Girls!” Sango said sharply, and they both froze their squirming, even though she was still only just in sight. “Inuyasha is not a toy.”
“But Mother…!”
“Inside!” she snapped, and they obediently slid off and disappeared inside. Sango sighed, shaking her head as she came within quieter speaking distance. “Sorry, Inuyasha. I think they get it from their father.”
“Well, obviously,” he said, but his frown was now fixed on Kagome, deepening with every step closer that she took. Eventually, he actually took a step back to keep a distance. “What have you two been doing?”
“Huh?”
“You guys smell awful,” he said, and lifted a hand to cover his nose with his sleeve. “Like old fruit.”
“Hey!” Kagome cried, pulling back with an offended scowl. “Can’t you ever say anything nice? It’s perfume, and I think it smells wonderful.”
“Why would you want a stupid thing like that?” he demanded.
“Maybe I want to smell nice, you ever think about that?”
“What’s nice about old fruit?”
“Honestly, you’re such a –” She cut herself off when she took a step forward, exactly matched by his step backward. She huffed. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.”
“Yes, it is,” he said firmly, his sleeve still over his nose. “I mean it, it smells like rotting oranges.”
“Oh, please, there are way worse –”
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” he muttered, and jumped up onto the roof, wincing when it brought him a little closer to her. “I’m gonna sleep in my tree tonight. See you tomorrow.”
“Ah, wait, Inuyasha!” she called, but it was too late. She sighed, then touched her neck, where she had dabbed the perfume as the merchant directed. “I guess I should’ve seen that coming. Ah-ahh… I don’t know why I even thought to try that. He likes my scent as it is.”
“I did wonder,” Sango agreed, and continued on to the house, eyeing her sideways. “I thought it might have something to do with that… special effect the trader mentioned.”
“Sango-chan!” she squealed, and followed her inside, where the girls were now wrestling, apparently just to make their mother sigh.
“It’s not like I need it, with my lecherous monk, but sometimes I swear Inuyasha is more innocent than Shippou-chan…”
“Sango-chan…!”
It took a lot of washing, and even more waiting, but eventually Kagome watched with some satisfaction as Inuyasha jumped down the cliff-side to the river. He just stood there for a moment, blushing a little but wearing the defiant look that she had eventually learned meant he was battling his insecurities about social situations and, more common these days, how many liberties he could take with her. She smiled and waved him forward.
“I washed the perfume off.”
“Think I don’t know that?” he snapped. “Honestly, I could smell that stuff across the village.”
But he still jumped over to crouch on one of the rocks near her, though his eyes strayed off to the side. She buried a sigh and swam a little closer. Almost a year now, they’d been living together – over six months since she’d thought they’d finally put this sort of thing to rest.
“Inuyasha…”
“M’not going to apologise,” he grouched. “It smelled bad and –”
“Inuyasha,” she said again, and reached up to grab his haori. The surprise almost pulled him off balance, but more importantly, it made him look at her directly. For a second, he only blinked, until her look apparently sunk in, and his expression softened. He obediently ducked his head down to meet her, and she half-climbed up to wrap her arms around his shoulders.
“You’re not mad, then?” he mumbled into her mouth, and she chuckled.
“I am. So be a good boy and take your punishment.”
“H-hey, don’t treat me like –!”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, and kissed him just firmly enough that he ignored the very small slight. He even rearranged himself on the rock so he could slowly slide down into the water with her, and she began peeling off his haori.
“You’re such a weirdo,” he said, somehow getting the words out around her tongue. “This is –”
“I screwed up. I know you like my smell normally,” she said as she pulled away to take off his kimono. “I just wanted to do something nice, I guess.”
“You’re not letting me finish any sentences,” he muttered mutinously. “I was gonna say doing this here is weird.”
She pulled back, her arms still around his shoulders. He was resting on the rock still, holding her against him, so they weren’t still swimming. Like so many of her experiences of this kind, she’d never done anything like this before, but it seemed romantic. She had the feeling he didn’t really mind either – he was just complaining because he didn’t know what else to say.
He still felt awkward.
She sighed bent her forehead to rest against his. “I want to say something that’s going to start an argument.”
“Huh? Now?”
She chuckled and pressed closer, pushing upward so he knew she was still interested. “I’m not going anywhere. Now or ever.”
“I-idiot. Like I’m worried about that!” he cried, blushing, and she kissed his jaw, where his ear would be on the new moon. He stiffened, then sighed, tightening his hold a little. “You’re my wife.”
“That’s right,” she whispered. Not that they’d ever had the ceremony, or anything. Inuyasha had asked once, if she wanted one, but she knew he would hate being the centre of attention like that. But she still considered herself married, and so did everyone else. “So you don’t have to be nervous. You’re not going to hurt me, and if you ever did anything I didn’t want you to, I’d tell you, and I know you’d stop.”
“Keh. You mean you’d subjugate me,” he muttered, and she twitched, but managed to hold back her snappish response. Three years had done wonders for her maturity, and she knew Inuyasha was saying this stuff because he was uncomfortable. However many years he went through being treated worse than dirt were not going to go away just because a few people cared about him.
She kissed him again, then opened her eyes to meet his gaze. “I love you.”
That earned a flinch, and then a warm, glowing smile. “Yeah. You too.”
“Say it…” she teased, and he tried very hard to scowl.
“Why should I have to –”
“Sa-a-a-ay it…!”
“Kagome…!”
She just grinned at him, watching him try not to grin back. Eventually, though, he got out of it by pushing them both off the rock and into the water, playing instead.
He did say it, later, on the shore, with the moonlight playing on his hair as he traced droplets across her skin. It came without prompting, when they hadn’t even been talking, and Kagome decided she didn’t want it any other way.
“I thought you said he’d keel over half-dead just from the perfume!”
“He would have! If they’d done… that… before she’d bathed!”
“…”
“Wha- oh, honesty, we’re on a job! Keep your hormones in check!”
“Were you watching that? How are you keeping your hormones in check?!”
“Willpower!”
“That doesn’t look like willpower to me.”
“Looks like a promise to his hand, to me.”
“Sh-shut up! We need a new plan!”
“I hear that he leaves the village every so often to perform exorcisms.”
“And he’s a demon.”
“I have an idea.”
“I’m thinking about going back to my world for a little while,” Kagome confessed, and Kaede glanced at her in surprise.
“Can you?”
“I think so. I think the well only closed as long as it did because of my feelings,” she said, and paused in the picking of herbs to look up at Kaede. “I won’t be too sad if I can’t, but it can’t hurt to try.”
“Why do you want to go back? Did Inuyasha make trouble again?”
“No. I just want to check something,” she said quietly, looking away again. “I don’t think it’s possible to know for sure, here.”
“Hm?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing, I just –”
“Kagomeeeee!”
They both cut off at the loud wail, looking down the hill toward the edge of the village. Kagome frowned as it continued, recognising the cries. “Shippou-chan…?”
“That sounds like he’s truly upset for once,” Kaede said thoughtfully, and they stood up, setting their baskets on their hips as they headed down to where the crying was coming from. Eventually, they saw a little orange fox sprawled in the dirt, and it took them a few seconds to realise it was crying in Shippou’s voice.
“Kagomeeee! Inuyashaaaa! Help me!” it sobbed, and Kagome rushed forward, setting down her basket to instead scoop him up in her arms.
“Shippou-chan! Is that you? What happened?”
“Kagome!” he wailed, but she found herself a little sidetracked at the sight of a fox actually speaking. She’d known Shippou for so long as a very tiny human child – it was jarring to suddenly remember that was a disguise. “I was w-walking and s-something hit me and it m-made me transform and –”
“Something hit you?” she asked, and then looked around as Kaede hummed in her throat. The older miko bent down and picked up a stick with a very familiar looking scrap of paper. Kagome frowned. “A protection spell?”
“A powerful one, at that,” she said, and they both looked around. Sure enough, a dozen metres away was another spell, on either side. Kaede frowned. “Did the monk lay them to protect the village while he and Inuyasha are gone?”
“I wouldn’t think so. We have too many friends who would be kept out with those.”
“And it doesn’t look like the monk’s work, regardless,” she agreed. “You take Shippou home. I’ll remove the spells.”
“Well, that was anti-climactic.”
“It would have worked! Look what it did to the fox!”
“Bah. Anything that can be removed by someone knocking them over isn’t something that ‘works’.”
“Hey, leave him alone; I don’t see you doing better!”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Damn right.”
“Fine. You guys are so caught up on schemes. I’ll show you how it’s done. Nothing like the direct approach.”
Inuyasha sighed as he hefted the rolls of fabric back up onto his shoulder. “You’re ripping people off again.”
“Nonsense!” Miroku cried with a laugh. “Consider: half of that is yours. It was easier when I was the only one taking payment – now we have to take more or there simply won’t be enough for both our families to survive!”
“You’re corrupt,” he said bluntly. “Two rolls of fabric is expensive. Five is ridiculous.”
“Now, now, we had this discussion yesterday.”
“And the last time we did this. And the time before. And we’ll probably have it again next time. You’re a thief in monk’s clothing.”
Miroku turned to lift a reproving finger at him. “Listen: you and I are both victims of bad rumours. Monks are said to be thieving, womanising fools. Hanyou are violent, dangerous, and sins against nature.”
“You’ve yet to say anything untrue,” he pointed out blankly, and Miroku frowned. This conversation was much easier when Kagome was around to argue for Inuyasha’s good points.
“My point is that if people are so willing to believe these rumours, then I feel kharma owes us the opportunity to make a profit on such falsehoods. If people expect me to rip them off, then by all means, I shall.”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and pushed past him, utterly unimpressed, and Miroku chuckled before hurrying after. They made it to the next rise before Inuyasha stopped again, this time because of the young man stepping onto the road, a large axe resting on his shoulders.
They gazed at the man for a few moments, and Miroku leaned into Inuyasha’s shoulder. “Bandit?”
“Probably. Doesn’t matter,” he said lazily, and with his usual decorum, just continued walking.
As expected, the young man swung his axe around at the ready. “Halt, demon! Stand and be purified!”
“Move,” he ordered, without stopping, until the axe swung close to his chest. His eyebrow ticked. “You’re in the way.”
“Of course I am! Now draw your sword so we can fight.”
Miroku winced. Inuyasha had gotten much better about this sort of thing, but his patience didn’t stretch very far. “Um, you may not want to do that.”
The man drew himself up a little higher, wearing an expression that looked like some strange combination of cold arrogance and warm, very sweet pity. “Fear not, good monk! You don’t understand now, but I shall soon save you from your chains!”
“Mine?” he asked blankly. He didn’t have many chains, now, except for Sango and the children. “But I like my chains…”
“Oh, whatever! I don’t have time to deal with you!” Inuyasha snapped, and his arm snapped out to whack the axe aside and grab the man’s haori in one movement. He yanked him close, barely noticing the dust that exploded out of the man’s clothing and up into his face. “You’re so annoying! When someone tells you to move, you move!”
He then shoved the man off the path, growling in a way Miroku hadn’t heard for a while, and crouched down to snatch up the fallen axe. He held it for a moment, obviously considering breaking it, then tossed it beside the man with a real, honest bark of warning.
Miroku bit back a smile, impressed, as they continued on without further words. It never ceased to amaze him that for as human as he looked, Inuyasha had some extremely… doggy traits. His unending loyalty for one, of course, and his deep-chested growls for another. He almost never barked, though; Miroku had only ever heard it a few times in the years they’d known each other, and usually only because he was particularly frustrated.
But as they continued walking, Miroku noticed, the growls faded, and Inuyasha began wandering a little, meandering off the road every so often to look at trees or flowers. It was… unusual.
“Inuyasha?”
The response wasn’t so much a hum as a rumble, though Inuyasha immediately spun in place to look at him directly. Miroku furrowed his brow and stepped closer, frowning when Inuyasha didn’t stiffen as usual. It took him a few moments, but he eventually noticed that Inuyasha’s pupils—usually thin and elongated like most demons—were almost rounded now, adding a glazed look to his mild, interested smile.
“Inuyasha,” he said again, and lifted a finger to see his partner follow its movements with his whole body. Well. This was… interesting.
“What do you mean, he’s high?” Kagome shrieked, and then flinched when Inuyasha nuzzled into her shoulder. “Miroku-sama, what did you do?!”
“It wasn’t anything I did!” he cried, grinning despite himself. It was a wonderfully entertaining end to his trip. “He was fine this morning. It was only after we met that bandit…”
Sango didn’t seem to notice Kagome’s spluttering, staring at Inuyasha blankly. “Cute…”
“What?” they asked, and she blinked, then gestured to Inuyasha.
“He’s rather… cute… like this, don’t you think?”
They all blinked as well, then looked down at Inuyasha, who made a happy mumble and settled his chin on Kagome’s shoulder, smiling at them all. Until a moth fluttered in, and immediately caught his attention. He began following it around the hut, instead.
“When he pushed the bandit away, there was a cloud of dust,” Miroku continued mildly, as Inuyasha half-heartedly batted at the moth, apparently just to make it fly higher. “Perhaps it wasn’t dust, so much as…”
“Well, obviously,” snapped Kagome. “But why would a bandit have so much… whatever you guys use to get high, just there where something like this could happen?”
“Maybe that was the intent,” Sango pointed out, reaching out a hand to Inuyasha. She grinned, delighted, when he leaned away from the moth to crawl closer to her, and let her rub his ears. “Oh, you’re going to be so furious when you come back to your senses. I always wanted to do this!”
Kagome winced, smiling despite herself, and giggled. “Sango-chan…”
“But this adds to my point,” she said, as her rubs turned into something more like standard petting. They could only hope Inuyasha wouldn’t remember it. “Although I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it as an effective tactic in open battle, the use of such powders for assassinations and the like are common. If someone were to come in here now, pointing a sword, he would hardly be in any shape to wield Tetssaiga and defend even himself, let alone us.”
They immediately straightened and glanced toward the door, as if an enemy would appear at any moment. When none were immediately forthcoming, Kagome let herself relax a little and look back to Inuyasha.
“If that’s the case, then… why would anyone want to assassinate Inuyasha?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Miroku said thoughtfully. “Before you rejoined us, Kagome-sama, it was not uncommon for young demons to attempt to ‘test their worth’, as it was, by killing him.”
“What?! When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Inuyasha believed it had something to do with the disbelief that a hanyou could be strong,” Sango explained. “He probably never mentioned it because he didn’t want to worry you. Besides, he never seemed surprised.”
“Part of being a hanyou, even one to have found peace,” Miroku agreed. “Just because we and the villagers accept him, that doesn’t mean anyone else does.”
“Still, this is a human method of assassination,” said Sango. “I can’t think of why a single human might target him…”
They frowned down at Inuyasha, who gazed back at them with large eyes, vaguely aware something was wrong, but not sure what. Miroku sighed and stood up, thumping his shoulder with resignation. “Well, I suppose it’s been long enough that I haven’t had to keep watch. I’ll walk around the village and make sure nothing’s amiss. It’s too bad. I’d really gotten used to the easy life.”
Sango just rolled her eyes and went back to Inuyasha’s ears, while Kagome chewed her lip.
Between this and what happened to Shippou…
“This is your direct approach?” Nikki hissed, as he and Daisuke crept behind the huts toward the one they’d seen the demon enter. “This is cheap!”
“This is going to work,” he corrected. “His defences are down, which means his control over the villagers will be weakened, and no one will be able to stop my axe from making its mark!”
“You should have been a shinobi, you freak,” he ground out, just as they arrived at the hut. Daisuke silently held out his cupped hands, and Nikki stepped up ono them so he could be lifted up to a small gap between the hut wall and its roof, where he could peer inside.
The demon, crouched on the floor between the two women Nikki had met before, stared directly back at him.
He ducked back down, hissing. “He knows we’re here!”
“Inuyasha? What’s wrong?”
...