Threads of Fate: The Secret of the Cursed Mask

The Mysterious Kakuju and a Power Awakened

After leaving Kaede's Village, Michiru followed Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippo north and east of the village as they made their way towards Akebi Village, where they could hopefully find some answers on how to get the human boy back home. As they made their way through the forest between the villages, as Shippo and Kagome had warned before, some demons tried to get the jump on them. Due to lacking any kind of fighting abilities, Michiru and Shippo were forced to take cover out of sight while Inuyasha fought the demons with Kagome providing covering fire with her bow and arrows. Thankfully there weren't too many demons, nor were they that big or strong compared to Inuyasha and Kagome, so they were dealt with rather quickly. Once the danger had passed, the group of four continued their way through the forest until they finally reached the entrance to Akebi Village.

"So, this is Akebi Village?" Michiru asked for the sake of clarification, to which Kagome confirmed with a nod.

"Let's hurry up and find those villagers of yours," Inuyasha directed at the human boy, the impatience quite evident in his voice, before making his way into the village proper.

"Is he always like that?" Michiru questioned.

"Always," Shippo answered as he clung to Kagome's shoulder.

The schoolgirl let out a nervous laugh in response, "Come on, let's not keep him waiting."

The group then made their way into the village, Kagome chatting with the local villagers about recent goings-on while Michiru tried his best to look for the ones that had chased after him before, though all they'd learned about was how the village's primary source of income, its charcoal, was quite famous. As they approached what would probably be the village centre, they were approached by one of the villagers instead.

"Hey, travellers!" An older man called out to them with a cautionary tone, prompting the group to stop for a moment. "Have you heard about the old temple near here? It seems there's a bunch of demons in there."

"In the old temple..." Kagome repeated as though to commit the information to memory.

Michiru's body shivered a little from fear at the thought of an abandoned temple infested with demons, "That's a little scary."

"Demons," Inuyasha scoffed, his arms crossed over his chest dismissively. "Yeah, right. Whatever. There's nothing to be scared of."

"I sure hope so," Shippo's voice trembled a bit, feeling just as afraid as Michiru at the thought of a bunch of strong demons in one location.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to frighten any of you, just thought I'd give you a bit of a warning in case you ever considered heading that way," the villager apologized with a light bow before walking off.

The group continued their way through the village, heading to the western side where they learned demon activity in the area had been increasing as of late, making it riskier for merchants to make the journey to buy the village's charcoal. They also learned that a child had been kidnapped from the village by a demon. Kagome insisted on finding out about the demon terrorizing the village and decided to ask another villager about it.

"Um, excuse me," the schoolgirl called out to a nearby older male villager.

"Hm?" the male turned to face Kagome and made note of her outfit. "Oh, you guys can't get out of the village either?"

Needless to say, she was confused by the question, considering the group had been able to enter the village with little issue, "Huh? Why?"

"My apologies, it's just that your clothes are different, so I figured you weren't from around here."

"You're right, but why can't people get out of the village?" Michiru asked, interjecting himself into the conversation.

"Because of the spider," the man answered. "Lately, there's been a big spider demon wandering around the place. No one's been able to leave the village because everyone's too scared."