Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 73: The Cursed Wall Scroll and the Possessed Women

We had been traveling for about a week now with no sign of the Jewel or Naraku. The journey had been relatively uneventful, minus the small-scale demon we took out a few days ago. It started to get exciting when we ran into an old man who claimed to have found a village of demon women. He told us he had watched them throw what he thought was a dead person into the river nearby. It didn't pique our interest, at first, that is until Kagome pointed out we needed to check anywhere even rumored to be demonic to make sure we get the last Jewel Shard before Naraku does. As we headed in the direction the old man told us, we found a living, unconscious man floating in the river. InuYasha fished the man out of the river and once the man woke up, we gave him some food. The man, whose name was Shinosuke, told us he was looking for a village filled with solely women in hopes of finding his fiancé. Just as we were talking about finding the village, InuYasha and I heard a noise and found two women looking down at us. It seems we didn't have to track down the village, after all.

When we arrived the leader of the village explained the village was home to women who had lost their husbands and children to war. Shinosuke explained he was looking for his fiancé but didn't find her. Kagome, Sango, and I felt bad for him, especially after he vowed to find her no matter what it took. When we had decided this wasn't the village of demon women we decided to leave but the villagers suggested we stay for the night. Miroku agreed, and we were shown to our lodgings. I was on edge for some reason, maybe it was the fact that they had separated our group. I found that rather strange, but then again, a village full of just women was strange on its own. After it had gotten dark, I was staring out the holes in the door at the moon when Kagome began asking Sango about what happened between her and Miroku on Mt. Hakurei. Granted the two did spend two or three days up there alone, but honestly to me what happened between them was private. After Sango denied anything happened, Kagome continued to explain that she thought Miroku liked her too. I wish she was this perceptive with her relationship with InuYasha. I audibly sighed when I heard Miroku's voice approaching the hut we were staying in. When Miroku's voice reached directly outside, Kagome and Sango moved to the door to watch, prompting Sango to announce she was going to sleep. Not long after the other two had fallen asleep, I caught a weird scent almost like water but not quite. I looked over and saw Sango putting on her armor, that's when Kirara's mew woke Kagome up and the three of us peeked outside. Sango decided to go after the village women and told me to stay with Kagome, while she checked it out. Kagome and I went to go find InuYasha, and when we found him he revealed he had caught the same scent I had. After that, the three of us took off after Sango. Unfortunately, we lost her scent at the river, which meant she probably went in. When we were about to continue the search, the village women emerged from the water and I felt a faint demonic aura surface. The women were possessed by something, so we were going to have to fight our way out without injuring the women.

Fighting the women without harming them was proving to be quite difficult. I was using the sheath of my sword to fend them off, while InuYasha used a pole he had wrestled away from one of them. After fighting the women for several minutes, a hanging scroll flew past and plunged into the water with the women following right after. After several moments, a giant salamander demon emerged from the water. It had several patches of flesh missing on its body. This must have been the demon that was controlling the village women. She told InuYasha she wanted to devour him, and he attacked only to be slapped with the demon's tail. The salamander demon stated that all women were weak, and I personally took offense to it and tried to attack, as well. In response, she spewed acid from her mouth causing the rocks we had just been standing on to explode and break. Kagome and Shippo were sent flying backward, only to be caught by Miroku. InuYasha went to attack again but three of the women attacked him. Miroku informed him that he knew what to do with the women, so InuYasha threw them his way. Miroku punched the women in the stomach using sutra charms and each one threw up a small salamander. As Miroku took care of the women that way, I shot a couple of sacred arrows at the ground to disintegrate the tiny salamanders. More women emerged from the water and were starting to overpower us, I was surprised when Miroku began calling for Sango. He hadn't even noticed she wasn't there with us. A moment later, Kirara appeared, she trying to get Miroku's attention and Miroku requested we finish up. Kagome ran over to watch Miroku, leaving InuYasha to deal with the women. It didn't take us long to finish what Miroku had started, but about the time we did InuYasha and I caught the scent of Miroku's blood.

It was daybreak when wecaught up to Miroku. He had been wounded by Sango because she had gottenbewitched like the other women. Sango, at this time, was lying unconscious onMiroku's chest as Kagome scolded him for flirting with the village women. OnceKagome had patched Miroku up, we left. Shinosuke and Wakana, his fiancé, leftto return to their homeland and after they said they good-byes, Kagome decidedto go spy on Miroku and Sango. As I watched the two talk, it made me realizehow much I missed Ryu. The feeling got worse when Miroku proposed to Sango in aroundabout way. The moment soon ended though, when Sango asked Miroku if hewould quit his womanizing, prompting Miroku to go silent. It looks like I'magreeing with InuYasha on this one, they won't last a day.