Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 60: Doctor Suikotsu: A Member of the Band of Seven?

We had decided to camp on the river not far from where we had retreated to earlier in the day. InuYasha and I had taken opposite spots near the fire while the others slept. I was lying down watching the stars when Miroku spoke. He had woken up and offered to take watch while InuYasha got some sleep. InuYasha refused and I sighed quietly. I wish he would get some sleep, although, with four members of the band of seven still on the loose, I don't blame him staying awake. Lucky for us half-demons we can run on no sleep for a while. After some convincing, Miroku went back to sleep, leaving InuYasha and me as the only ones awake. I sat up and looked at the fire before InuYasha spoke. "You should get some sleep, too." I was shocked by his statement. "I'm fine and it should be you getting some sleep. You've had a rough few days and your body needs rest," I told him. He just huffed in response. "I'm not going to lecture you, and I know why you're not sleeping. The Band of Seven are still out there and we will take them down, no matter what." I sounded a lot more confident than usual. InuYasha nodded before we fell into mutual silence.

The next morning, we headed off to search for the remaining members of the Band of Seven. After we had been traveling for a bit, Kagome informed us that she could sense a Jewel Shard. This caused us to pick up speed, which was not in my favor. Even with InuYasha carrying Kagome on his back, he was a lot faster than I was. Soon we had reached the man who had a Jewel Shard. Even I could tell the aura was pure, unlike the ones of the Band of Seven. My problem with all of this was that he reeked of death just like the others. As InuYasha was accusing the man in front of us of being a member of the Band of Seven, I caught another scent of graveyard soil and took off towards it. I soon found a small hut in the middle of a field and on the porch sat an old man with a priestess. Once the wind blew, I knew who the priestess was. Lady Kikyo was helping the man with an injury on his arm and having a polite conversation with him. Once she had finished, the man left and she turned to me. "Hello, Kaya." She greeted. "Good afternoon, Lady Kikyo." I greeted with a slight bow. I went and sat next to her, the children who had been with her fled to inside the hut. "It's alright, this girl is a priestess, as well." Lady Kikyo explained to the children. A couple of the older children poked their heads around the door to look at me and I gave them a small smile, but none of them came out of the hut. "Lady Kikyo, are you here with another person? A doctor, perhaps?" She nodded but didn't elaborate. I leaned slightly closer to her, "Is the doctor using a Jewel Shard?" "Yes, he is." I forgot she wasn't much of a conversationalist. At least she told me what I needed to know, the doctor was using a Jewel Shard which meant he was a member of the Band of Seven. "His Shard is pure. There is no trace of evil in it." Her statement took me out of my thoughts. "I'm surprised. Most humans normally have tainted Shards." I told her. She nodded in response. We sat there in silence for a moment before we heard an explosion from the other side of the nearby village.