Chapter 23

A shattered mirror and a broken blade

Elsewhere

.

The Inuyasha’s group left another village after defeating a minor demon and replenishing the supplies.

“Kagome, don’t you have any of the snacks from your time?” the hanyou complained. Kagome sighed.

“Inuyasha, you ate all the snacks.” Kagome reminded him. Inuyasha groaned and kept walking, lazily observing Miroku trying to grab Sango’s bottom, only to get whacked with Hiraikotsu on the head. 

Then he stopped and sniffed the air. Shippo looked at him.

“What is it, Inuyasha? Is it Naraku?” asked the fox demon. The whole group turned their attention to the hanyou, gripping their weapons.

“No.” answered Inuyasha, shaking his head. “Humans and horses.”

After a while they heard the sound of galloping horses and a small unit of samurai appeared in front of them, blocking the road. The hanyou gripped Tessaiga and assumed a battle stance, but Miroku and Sango dashed between him and the samurai. The monk looked over his shoulder.

“Don’t do anything rash, Inuyasha. Let me and Sango handle this.” Said Miroku. The monk turned to the soldiers and asked in a gentle voice: “Which one of you, honorable samurai, is the commander?”

“It would be me.” Said a young man, riding forward. Miroku noticed, that he was merely a boy, about of Kagome’s age. “I heard, that you are a group of youkai slayers. You will accompany me to the castle. The lord has a job for you.”

Kagome gripped hanyou’s sleeve and shook her head. She didn’t like the idea of a fight with the samurai – she hoped, that Miroku will be able to get them out of the situation.

“Why should we? We don’t even know, who you are!” exclaimed Sango and gripped Hiraikotsu tighter. The young man looked, as if he lost some of his confidence.

“Forgive me for my rudeness.” He said, bowing his head to them. “My name is Hiroyoshi Shinji and I am a samurai in the service of Lord Asakura, who rules the entire Echizen province. I have orders to bring youkai slayers to the castle. I didn’t want to threaten you.”

Miroku furrowed his brows. “Is there a problem with a youkai?”

Shinju nodded and frowned. “Yes, but you will have to talk to the Lord about the details. I am forbidden to say more. However, the slayers, who will kill the demon, will be handsomely rewarded.”

“Rewarded?” repeated Miroku with a glint in his eye at the mention of the money. The fact was, that they spent the rest in the village and would use some. And if the Lord would pay a huge reward, it would suffice for months of journey. The young monk glanced at his hanyou friend. Without doubt, Inuyasha could handle most demons, so the risk was marginal. He clapped his hands.

“Samurai! We’ll take your offer!” he stated. 

“What?!” the whole group exclaimed, staring at Miroku with disbelief. The monk smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll explain along the way.” Said monk.

“We can’t waste time!” Inuyasha yelled at Miroku, waving with his fist. Kagome patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s only a little detour.” She said, taking Miroku’s side.

Kagome and the group followed the samurais to the Asakura Castle. The schoolgirl wondered at the size and the splendor of the castle. An older woman greeted them at the gates and led through the endless halls to a great room, where only one man sat, presumably the Lord. The woman motioned the group inside.

“Welcome to my castle, slayers.” Said the man in deep baritone. As they approached him and were seated near him, Kagome noticed, that he looked very weary, as though he experienced something, that broke him. In the room were the Lord, the old woman and their group. The lord sent Inuyasha a distrustful look.

“What task would you have for us?” asked Miroku, bowing politely.

“I want the youkai, who kidnapped my daughter dead. And I want my child back.” Stated the man straightforwardly, his eyes showing lots of emotions from pain and sadness to anger.

“The princess was kidnapped by a youkai?” asked Sango curiously. “Please tell us more. It could be helpful.”

“Very well.” The man took a deep breath. “Amayami-hime is my only daughter and heiress to the Asakura line. About two weeks ago she was on her way to the temple, accompanied by her fiancée, servants and escort. Suddenly, a youkai appeared out of sky, slaughtered the men and took my poor Amayami…”

“How did he look like?” asked Kagome. The old crone spoke instead of the lord:

“It is hard to say, the servants fled in panic and none of them saw him clearly. It is only certain, that he had human-like form.”

“Feh!” Inuyasha spoke up. “You don’t know how he looked like, who he was and you expect us to find him?”

“Inuyasha!” Kagome scolded him. “Can’t you track her by the scent?”

“After so many days it’s impossible. She was probably eaten already.” The hanyou said with a snort. 

Kagome sent him a warning glare. Miroku sighed heavily and excused them from the room, declining lord’s offer.

As they were on their way back, Kagome noticed the young samurai, Shinji, waiting for them at the gates. When he saw them, he approached their group. He carried a wrapped package and a scroll.

“Did you accept the task, miko?” he addressed Kagome. Surprised girl only shook her head. Shinji sighed, disappointed.

“Oh. I understand. But, please, can you take a look at these, please? Maybe it could give you some clue!” he pleaded, as he passed the package and scroll to Kagome. His face showed desperate determination. “Please, the princess is a special person to me!”

Kagome took the items without word, feeling pity for the man. She passed the scroll to Shippo, who was sitting on her shoulder. She stared to unwrapping the parcel. When she did, she gasped in shock. It was mainly shattered glass and a plain wooden frame. She recognized the pentagonal shape.

“Where did you get it?” Kagome questioned the young samurai frantically.

“It belonged to the princess! Before she was taken, she went to the temple every day and discussed 

some things with the priest, including this mirror. I thought, it was important and…” Shinji answered nervously.

“Where is the priest?!” Kagome interrupted him.

“Dead.” Said the samurai. “Killed by the youkai.”

“Kagome-chan?” Sango questioned the girl, surprised and worried by her behavior. “What’s wrong?”

Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I think it’s Mai. The princess.” She said slowly.

“Your friend?” asked Inuyasha. Kagome nodded. The group sighed heavily. The girl took a scroll from Shippo and unrolled it. She saw Mai’s face, but with longer hair and make-up. She rolled the scroll back and passed back to the fox youkai.

“That’s definitely her.” She said with a grim expression. The group fell silent. When they finally found out Kagome’s friend’s new identity, it turned out, that she was kidnapped by a demon.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome.

“She may be still alive.” He said quietly. “We’ll find her, Kagome.”

The girl looked at hanyou, grateful, that he comforted her. Inuyasha furrowed his brows and turned to Shinji with a newfound enthusiasm.

“You! Tell us exactly, what the girl did before the youkai took her!” the hanyou ordered, scaring the young samurai. “Tell where she went, who she met, what she touched, everything.”

“Ehh… she was going to the temple every day, through the village and Aiko-san taught her etiquette in the evenings…” began Shinji, eying at the half-demon, who began to lose patience.

“Did she meet someone suspicious, someone not from the castle?” Inuyasha continued questioning. The young man was thinking for a while and then paled, as he remembered something.

“Oh no… She met someone like that. Amayami-hime played near the temple with an orphaned girl for couple of days. The child wasn’t from the village and one day was just gone. And soon after the princess was kidnapped!” Shinji buried his face in hands.

“A little girl?” asked Sango. The samurai nodded.

“About eight years old, looked like a normal, cheerful child.” He answered. 

The monk turned to the demon-slayer.

“Do you think, that it may have been a demon in disguise?” Miroku asked her.

Sango was about to answer, but she was interrupted by Shippo’s sudden cry of surprise.

“Everyone, that’s that suspicious woman!” the fox demon exclaimed, showing the scroll to everyone. 

Miroku came closer and examined the painting closer.

“Shippo’s right. It’s the same woman, we met in the merchant town three days ago. She had shorter hair, though.”

Kagome sighed with relief. “She’s alive.”

“She mentioned, that she was working for a man, who was searching for Naraku…” Miroku was thinking loudly. “And if the little girl is linked to this somehow…”

The group members looked at each other, coming to the same conclusion.

“SESSHOMARU!” they exclaimed at the same time.

“Impossible.” Stated Inuyasha. “She’s a human.”

“But Rin-chan is a human too.” Commented Kagome.

“But to kidnap a woman…” Sango wondered.

“Slaughtering the men would fit.” Miroku pointed out.

“I’s going to be a big problem.” Shippo sighed.

“Excuse me…” Shinji interrupted shyly. “Who is that Sesshomaru?”

“My brother.” Inuyasha answered. “And an evil bastard.”

Back in the camp…

The next day Mai got up earlier and went to wash herself in the river, when everyone in the camp, except Sesshomaru, was soundly asleep. When she returned, she saw, that Jaken was already making breakfast, chatting with Rin. Sesshomaru was fastening his armor. The dog demon drew Tokijin and examined it. Satisfied, he stuck it back in place and unsheathed the other sword. Mai noticed, that there was a large crack along the blade. Jaken made a loud squeak.

“Sesshomaru-sama, Tenseiga is broken! Your father’s fang!” the imp wailed. Sesshomaru sheathed the sword. Mai could see, that he was unusually bothered – obviously the sword was important for him.

“Can’t it be fixed somehow?” she asked Jaken. The small demon had tears in his eyes.

“Stupid! Maybe Totosai could fix it, but…

”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Mai interrupted him. “Sesshomaru should ask him for help!”

“There is a problem.” Jaken sighed. “Totosai doesn’t like us.”

“Oh.” Mai thought, that it was to be expected. Knowing Sesshomaru, he must have terrorized that Totosai in some way. If only the dog demon could behave normally once…

“I’m sure, that Totosai would fix the sword, if he was asked nicely.” She said sarcastically, looking at Sesshomaru. 

“Hn.” Snorted the demon. He turned around, but he seemed to have changed his mind and looked back at Jaken and Mai. Both his servants froze, as if expecting something terrible.

“Woman,” he addressed Mai after a moment. “Are you certain, that you could persuade Totosai?” he asked. Confused girl looked at him suspiciously. What was he up to?

“I guess…” she answered hesitantly.

“Jaken.” The demon ordered. “Watch Rin. We shall be back by the end of the day.”

“We?” Mai repeated, suspecting the worst. “What do you mean we?”

Sesshomaru stalked to her and grabbed her obi. She tried to push herself away from him, but he was holding the cloth firmly.

“You are coming along as my servant.” Sesshomaru explained patiently.

Mai felt, that her nightmare was coming true. She wanted to avoid him as long as possible after the incident during the previous day and now she had to spend a whole day alone with HIM. Why?

Jaken glued himself to Sesshomaru’s leg, wanting to take Mai’s place.

“Sesshomaru-sama! Don’t leave me behind!” Jaken wailed. Mai nodded vigorously.

“Take him!” she agreed. Sesshomaru tried to shake the imp of his leg, but he was gripping strongly and looking up at the tall demon with teary eyes.

“Take me instead of the stupid human woman!” he continued wailing. Mai wanted to murder him at first for the insult, but reconsidered.

“He’s right! I’m only a stupid human woman. He’s a demon – take him!” she tried to convince Sesshomaru. The dog youkai growled.

“Enough! Both of you!” he yelled, throwing Jaken of his leg. “Jaken, you stay. Mai, you are coming along. Do not dare to disobey me!”

His both servants fell silent, startled by a sudden display of anger. Mai whimpered, as Sesshomaru violently pulled her closer to him and formed a cloud beneath their feet. When they started to lift off the ground, she reached out with her hand desperately.

“Jaken!” she cried. 

“Don’t fail Sesshomaru-sama, Mai!” the green demon shouted back.