Time Traveler Katsumi

The Oni Sword

Katsumi wrinkled her nose slightly. The noxious fumes were making her nose itch. She was really glad they left Rin behind now. She could see the skeletons of birds and other animals that had been unfortunate enough to wander into the area. The trees were dead, and the area looked like a swamp... one where the water had been replaced with acid. Katsumi stayed as close to Sesshoumaru as she could without annoying him. The place gave her the creeps... there was something evil about it. As Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Katsumi entered the shop, a mysterious gust of wind blew the cloth hanging over the door out of their way.

'Well that was convenient,' Katsumi thought. Sometimes she suspected Sesshoumaru had psychic powers, the way things like that just seemed to happen for him... or maybe he was just too cool to be constrained by the laws of physics.

"Hnn? Who are you bastards?" a balding youkai who was lounging on the floor asked lazily. He had two small horns on his head, a mustache, and skulls hanging around his neck. The youkai reminded Katsumi of a fake voodoo priest she'd met one time, only the youkai was wearing a kimono... and he looked and smelled slightly drunk.

"So, you're Kaijinbo, huh? Because you forged too many evil swords, you were expelled by your swordsmith teacher, Totosai, right?" Sesshoumaru said stoically.  Kaijinbo narrowed his eyes.

'Eh? Totosai's apprentice?' Katsumi thought, surprised. Her hand subconsciously brushed against her sword, the Taifuu Kochou. Sesshoumaru noticed, but didn't say anything.

"Totosai, huh... It's been a long time, but the name still sickens me." The large youkai head hit the floor with a loud thud when Sesshoumaru dropped it in front of Kaijinbo.

"How about it, Kaijinbo. Can you forge a sword from this oni's fangs?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Hnn?" Kaijinbo said. He leaned over and inspected the fangs. "Bah, don't play around. A worthy sword cannot be forged from such... dead fangs..." Sesshoumaru drew Tenseiga.

'Sesshoumaru-sama...?' Jaken thought in confusion.

'Is he going to use Tenseiga on it...?' Katsumi wondered, taking a step back to give him room to swing the sword. Sesshoumaru gazed at the oni's head and watched as the same strange creatures that had surrounded Rin before appeared around the head.

'I see them... the pall-bearers of the next world...' Sesshoumaru thought. He narrowed his eyes slightly and struck, cutting the strange creatures down in one stroke.

"Huh?" Kaijinbo said, not getting what was going on at all since he was out of the loop. "!?" Kaijinbo gasped in surprise. He could feel the energy pulsing though the oni's head. "This looks... quite different from earlier..."

"Kaijinbo... I'll tell you this..." Sesshoumaru said. "The sword Tessaiga, forged by Totosai... The hated teacher who expelled you, was bitten apart... by this oni's fangs."

"Th-This is something else! They'll make an amazing sword!" Kaijinbo said in awe.

Rin sat beside Ah-Un, patiently waiting for Katsumi-nee and Sesshoumaru-sama to return, like she had promised.

"How much longer do you think it'll take, Ah-Un?" Rin asked the two-headed dragon.

It glanced at her and snorted, shaking its heads. The motion reminded Rin of an impatient horse.

"That long, huh?" Rin said, sighing.

"You have something to say to me," Sesshoumaru stated. He could tell Katsumi wanted to speak to him. Her aura was slightly agitated and nervous.

"I have something that's bothering me, but I don't know if I should say it..." Katsumi replied.

"Then don't," Jaken said arrogantly. Katsumi narrowed her eyes at the toad, but resisted the impulse to whack him over the head.