Deciding My Fate

Chapter 42: Miroku joins the Group

Emi's pov

Inuyasha's fight with the painter was far from over but I had a feeling that Inuyasha was going to win this time, hopefully he wouldn't pass out again if he smelled the ink and blood.
Inuyasha slashes the bamboo container away from the painter. He swings Tetsuiga again, slashing the container into two. Ink bursts out of the container, making me grimace as the smell reached my nose. As a result of the bamboo container being slashed, the giant snake demon turns back into ink. The painter falls on the ground, rolls and crashes onto a tree letting out a shout of pain. The painter immediately got back up onto his feet, looking panicked at the damage done by Inuyasha. If you ask me, he deserved everything that was coming to him. "My ink...! I'm losing my ink!" The painter shouted, he picks up a sword and thrusts it into his arm. I grimaced in disgust as blood started spilling out, he throws the sword aside and looks up at the floating droplets of ink. "Oh, ink of mine!" He raises his bloodied arm, "Here is blood!" I watched him in terror as he smiled wildly, it was very scary to see him doing this. "Come and suck this blood! Gather round this blood!" I stayed by Miroku, horrified as I watched the ink rush towards the painter and surround him.

"That fool!" Inuyasha snapped.

"He's crazy.." I said.

"I will not let it go...no one shall have my ink!" He laughed, shivers ran down my spine. This man is absolutely crazy. The painter suddenly gasps as he was surrounded by ink, which caused his body to start shriveling. "Blood... My blood is being devoured by the ink! Help me! Help...me!" The painter screamed, I stood up to go help but Miroku grabbed my arm. I looked back down at him as he pulled me to sit down, "It's too late, Emi. There's nothing we can do to save him." He said, I looked back at Inuyasha who watched helplessly as the ink devoured the painter. I watched quietly as the painter falls over and collapsed, I helped Miroku to his feet as we headed over to Inuyasha.

"Stupid fool... Devoured up by ink!" Inuyasha stated, "How did this happen?" Kagome asked, "Why did this happen?" I asked, my voice coming out quiet. Even though the man was doing horrible things, the way he just died was awful. "The evil ambitions of the artist turned the ink into evil blood-sucking ink. He let his own blood be sucked up before he'd part with the Jewel. He went mad because of the Jewel fragment." My eyes shifted to a spot on the ground which glowed because of the Jewel shard fragment in the puddle of ink that used to be the painter. Kagome picked up the jewel fragment which seemed to shock Miroku for some reason, "Who wants to hold it?" Kagome turned around to face us, "Why must we discuss it?!" Inuyasha snapped, he didn't like the idea of giving the fragment to Kirkuk because of his pride. "Well, Miroku saved us." Kagome stated, "That's true. Miroku did risk his life to keep us all safe when you passed out. I couldn't take that entire demon horde on by myself and he stepped in to help. If anyone should hold it, I think it should be Miroku." I agreed, crossing my arms. "Thank you, Emi. Kagome, you hang on to it." Miroku smiled, "Huh?!" Inuyasha looked confused as to why he said that. "Are you sure?" Miroku nodded and she smiled to Inuyasha, "Aren't you lucky?" Kagome quipped, making me snicker. Inuyasha sent me a look and I continued snickering, looking away from him. Shippo jumps onto Inuyasha's head, "Miroku is so mature." He commented, "Yes, he is." I agreed. We left the area, heading back to the mansion to talk with the Lord and let him know that everything would be okay.

"I have a question.." I started, Miroku and I were walking behind Inuyasha and Kagome. "What is it?" He asked, "Why were you so surprised to see Kagome pick up the jewel shard earlier? Did you think she would get hurt?" Miroku looked at me, "Yes.. I was surprised to see that she could purify it just by touching it." He answered, "Yeah, I get it. The first time we found out the Jewel was in Kagome, it was jarring. That was when we first met Inuyasha, another demon had pulled us down the well and we needed Inuyasha's help. It's not like I knew how to fight the thing, demons don't really exist in our time. When the jewel shattered, I was nervous that we would never find all the pieces but we both somehow possessed the ability to see the jewel shards. The thing is..." I paused for a moment, my eyes shifting to Kagome. "I'm scared about the fact we possess such an ability. I'm even more afraid for Kagome's safety than my own, if something were to happen to her... I wouldn't forgive myself. That's why I'm so protective over her. That's why I trust Inuyasha with our lives, he's proven himself to be a reliable friend who knows just how to protect us from this time period." I explained to him, "Well, now you have another friend you can rely on." I looked at Miroku, "I may have only just met you four but I can guarantee that I'm not going to stab you in the back for those shards. You're good people." He smiled, my ears twitched as I noticed that his hand was moving downward and closer to my butt. "And so are you, you perverted lecher. If you touch my ass, I'm going to hurt you." I smiled at him, he just gave me a nervous smile and scratched the back of his head.

The next morning, Kagome and the rest of us were headed on our way to find more shards. I was happy about the fact that Miroku was going to be traveling with us from now on, things were definitely going to be much more lively with him around. "Huh? You're coming with us?" Kagome asked, she seemed just as happy as I was. "Yes! I think it's much more fun in the company of not one but two pretty girls." Miroku complimented, making both Kagome and I blush. "Oh dear!" Kagome blushed, "You certainly have a way with words, Miroku." I shook my head, "Keh!" Inuyasha sulked, I knew he wasn't going to like this but I didn't care. "Besides, despite his looks and manners, Inuyasha seems to be quite nice." Miroku added, "Huh?" Inuyasha turned around quickly, making me chuckle at the look on his face. He wasn't expecting the compliment from Miroku, I didn't expect it either especially because they argued a lot yesterday.

"I have to agree with that. Inuyasha actually is a nice person when you get to know him. Though, he can be a bit of an idiot." I chimed in.

"Hey, who are you calling an idiot?!"

"You, you idiot!"

"Oh yeah?!! You're the idiot."

"Here we go," Shippo sighed, Kagome only shook her head as they watched Inuyasha and I started arguing. "Do they always argue like that?" Miroku asked Kagome, "Yeah, I'm afraid so." Kagome stated, "They act like siblings." Shippo stated, "Yeah, I agree."