Continuing Tales

Dragon's Prey

A InuYasha Story
by CiraArana

Part 4 of 10

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Second Chances

For a moment there was silence within the hut. The drizzle had stopped and only now and then a drop fell from a tree onto the roof of the hut. The small flames of the fire lightened the faces of those sitting around it, shock, worry, and in one case a lascivious smile clear on them.

The sudden sound of a slap jerked the small group from their thoughts. Eyes instinctively darted to Miroku, but this time the monk's face wasn't adorned by the imprint of a hand. Instead, Inu Yasha removed his hand from his own face, and with this gesture a tiny figure fluttered down. They all watched it fall.

"Myoga-jiji," grumbled Inu Yasha in annoyance.

The flea squirmed a bit on the floor and popped back into his usual self.

"Inu Yasha-sama!" the old voice was shrill with delight. "Finally I found you! I have heard rumours of your brave deeds! Ah, your father would have been proud of you, Inu Yasha-sama!"

"Eh? Brave deeds?" asked Inu Yasha in confusion.

"All the dragons you killed in order to protect mankind!" The diminutive demon waved all four hands.

"More like woman-kind," remarked Miroku to nobody in particular.

"Keh. That wasn't brave deed, Jiji. Couldn't simply allow them snakes to flutter around."

"Ah, Inu Yasha-sama! You are too modest. You were brave and noble when you slew these beasts."

"Whatever."

The flea smiled and turned around to bow in front of the others. "Ah, the ladies! I see you were well-protected. Very good. Yes, it's very good to see you all well and in health."

Inu Yasha frowned and picked the old demon up. Holding it in front of his eyes he gave Myoga a sharp glare. "Why so concerned, Myoga?" he asked ironically.

The flea gave his master a reproachful look. "Inu Yasha-sama! I heard these strange new dragons only preyed on human females. So I was naturally concerned about your companions!"

"And you dared to put yourself in danger by coming here where you knew possible dragon's prey is?"

Myoga's tiny face showed the expression of a man deeply offended. "Inu Yasha-sama, you are so unkind to your faithful servant."

Inu Yasha snorted and let go of him. Myoga bounced upon the floor and retreated to sit on Miroku's knee. The monk eyed him curiously.

"So, Myoga, you know about the peculiarities of these dragons?" he asked.

Myoga nodded gravely and sat down. "Yes, well, I know the one or other thing about them. The most important thing probably is..." he interrupted himself and coughed. There was a slight blush on his face.

"The most important thing to know about these dragons is that they eat only female human virgins," Miroku said in his stead. "Yes, we have just figured that out."

Myoga shifted a bit uneasy. "Well, em, then... ahem... good."

Under the scrutiny of all three humans, one kitsune and one mononoke he began to sweat a bit and dabbed his brow with a minuscule handkerchief.

"Myoga-jichan," Kagome took pity. "Do you know where they are from?"

"Yes, Kagome-sama. They come from the Far West."

"West?!" exclaimed Inu Yasha. "You mean from Sesshomaru's domain?!"

Myoga shook his head. "No, no, Inu Yasha-sama. Listen to what I say. The Far West! That means even farther west than the most western point of Japan."

"How do you know?" inquired Kagome.

The old demon puffed his chest out. "I know a lot of things, Kagome-sama."

"Yeah, amongst them when to hide."

"Hush, Inu Yasha! Let him speak."

"Thank you, Kagome-sama." Myoga bowed. "Well, as I said they come from the Far West. There they are regarded with great fear because of their powers."

"And because of their diet, I'd say."

"Sh, Miroku!"

The old demon bristled. "I might as well refrain from sharing my knowledge with you!"

"There you are! Now you have offended him!" Kagome shook her finger at Inu Yasha and Miroku. "Will you shut up and let him speak?"

"I thank you once more, Kagome-sama. Well, these dragons are very different from the dragons we know in Japan. As you have probably noticed by now, the powers of monks and mikos do not prevail against them. Though in the lands they come from, there are wise men that are able to overcome them and banish them. I have heard that the wisest and holiest man of these lands, a man who is called the pope, and his followers have endeavoured to drive all of these creatures away. As it seems, they have now taken residence in Japan."

"I've heard about the pope," said Kagome with a nod. "He's the high-priest of... of... darn, what was the name? Ah, yes, the roman-Catholics."

At the surprised and blank looks of her friends she shrugged. "I was told about that in school."

This did nothing to help her friends understand her words, but Kagome did not pay heed. Curious, she leaned forward. "But, Myoga-jichan, why were those holy man able to defeat the dragons, and we are not?"

"They have different powers than you or Miroku-sama have, Kagome-sama. Your powers come from the kami, and Miroku-sama's power come from Buddha. These men are granted their powers by their god, and these are the only powers that are able to harm the dragons."

"I see."

"Myoga," Sango threw in, "houshi-sama assumed these dragons are afraid of swords. Do you know whether this is true?"

"Yes, this is true."

"Huh? Why so?"

"In the lands these dragons come from there are some brave, valiant men that fight the dragons. Their weapons are mostly swords. The dragons fear those knights as much as they fear the holy powers of the... urmen-gathlic?" Myoga looked at Kagome for affirmation of that name.

"Roman-Catholic," she corrected gently.

"Ah, yes, thank you."

"So these dragons are afraid of swords because some of their kind were killed by men with swords?" Sango asked again.

"Yes, that is right." The old demon assured.

"Hm, sounds very odd to me. I've never heard of a demon to be afraid of a special weapon because another demon was killed by the same kind of weapon."

"Myoga just said these dragons are different, my dear Sango," answered Miroku the incredulous remark of the huntress. He looked down at the flea on his knee. "Is there anything more you know about them?"

"No, I am sorry, Miroku-sama. This is all I know." Myoga shook his head in apology.

"It's okay, you knew a lot and that somewhat helped to make the situation more clear. So what do we now know about the dragons: they eat female human virgins, are afraid of swords, can't be defeated by either mine or Kagome-sama's powers, the wind-scar can't be used against them."

That was news to Myoga. "Inu Yasha-sama! You cannot use your sword's full power against the dragons?"

Inu Yasha snorted. "Nope. Not enough energy from ‘em."

"But how did you kill the others?"

"Cut of their heads."

Myoga shuddered. "Very... effective." He eyed Tessaiga, resting in Inu Yasha's arms. "I wonder, though, why you cannot use the sword."

"Keh, I told you! There's no enough energy coming from ‘em. If there's no wind-scar I can't use it."

"Not enough energy? Hm, that is odd, very odd indeed..." Myoga became immersed in deep thoughts for a while.

"So," he went on when his attention returned to matters at hand, "you killed all dragons by severing their heads?"

Inu Yasha nodded and opened his mouth to answer, but Shippo was quicker.

"And Miroku sucked the others in with the air-rip," he chirped in.

Myoga nodded at that. "I see, you are well prepared for them. Very good. I think you will have to fight them a lot more often, since there have come so many into these lands."

Inu Yasha frowned. "Fight ‘em?" He thought about his inability to use Tessaiga properly. "Can't we do something against ‘em? So that they leave us alone?"

Myoga gaped at his master. Then he blushed violently. Miroku fought to suppress a manic laughter. His body shook so hard from his efforts that Myoga dropped off his knee.

"Miroku?" asked Inu Yasha. "What's up with you?"

Miroku waved with his cursed hand. "Choked," he gasped out, face alarmingly red.

"Oh, is it still stuck?" Sango asked worriedly and leaned over to the shaking monk. "Let me see, houshi-sama!"

At that Miroku couldn't hold back and burst into wild gales of laughter, tears streaming down his face. Sango glared at him indignantly and retreated.

"Well, I just tried to be kind," she said.

Miroku literally rolled on the floor.

"What's up with him?" asked Shippo. "Has he gone mad?"

"Keh, he's always been mad," Inu Yasha shrugged the hysteric monk away and caught Myoga, who had tried to steal away, by his collar. "Hey, Jiji! You wanted to tell me what can be done about the dragons!"

The flea squirmed. "Ah, Inu Yasha-sama. Uh... ahem... I don't know how to tell you this... ahem..."

"C'mon, what is it? What can we do to make ‘em stop attacking us?"

Myoga flushed again, harder this time, and desperately searched for a way to escape this. "Uh, hm, well, aha.... Hm, this is mostly something... ahem... yes, something... the... ahem... girls can do... ahem..."

"Huh?" Inu Yasha's face was nothing but confusion. "What do you mean?"

Kagome felt a slight dread creep up her spine. She cast a look at Sango. The other girl looked back, the same expression on her face that Kagome felt graced her own.

"Uh..." she said.

Miroku finally managed to reign in his mirth. "Oh, Inu Yasha," he gasped, "isn't it obvious? The girls have to get rid of their virginity!"

Dragon's Prey

A InuYasha Story
by CiraArana

Part 4 of 10

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