The midday sun shines with all its splendor over the village where Kaede currently lives, marking the moment in which the sun is at its strongest and in which the peasants begin to take out their straw hats.
Of course, that is only effective for those who are working in the fields, while others more fortunate stay inside their homes, and the children take the opportunity to go play in the nearby lake.
"So what's wrong with him?"
Inside Kaede's house, which has all the windows open to air out the interior, the old woman with a patched eye asks the only person nearby a question.
"She's afraid, though well, it's quite understandable."
"Afraid, Your Excellency?"
"Oh, yes, old woman Kaede. Asahiko is trembling with fear, he said near Inuyasha that there was no problem... Poor man, fear is an understatement for what he must be feeling."
Expressing himself clearly and deeply saddened, a small imperceptible smile spreads across Miroku's face as he observes Asahiko in detail.
Our protagonist is in an extremely contradictory state, he has one of his tails out and fully bristling, while a pair of fox ears are alertly perched atop his head.
Obviously those tails and ears are merely energetic constructions.
energetic constructs, Asahiko is a pure demon, though he seems to quite like having them, even if it does make his inner nervousness clear.
"Hush, Miroku... I'm not afraid that a problem has not yet erupted."
Taking a sip of her green tea, courtesy of Kaede, Asahiko unconsciously lets out her fear. She is justified in her fear, easy is trouble that comes quickly, but trouble that takes time to form... Easy, it is not.
"Do you really believe in such a thing as Inuyasha calling trouble?"
"Don't you?" x2
"Well, I'll leave you, it's time for my afternoon rounds."
Lifting her body from the seiza pose she was sitting in, Kaede grabs her old longbow and calmly walks out of the house, all without crossing glances with the group of boys.
"We're screwed, aren't we?"
"No, no, you're screwed. You know it, you called the problem and now you're going to solve it."
"We'll see, Miroku... We'll see."
Letting out a chuckle between his sealed lips, Asahiko seems to be hatching a plan to deal with whatever has to come for him.
...Christopher/Asahiko pov...
Night has come to Kaede's village, though sleep keeps escaping my grasp, so much so that I'm already starting to consider punching Inuyasha... Since it's all his fault, damn automatic trouble caller.
Letting out a snort at those recurring thoughts, I let my body fall backwards, and lean back on the roof of the watchtower the village has.
"Kagome is gone again, now really isn't a bad time to beat Inuyasha up."
Yes, Kagome has left again for her original era, according to her to replenish the supplies we spent, though I heard her talk about her hair being hard and her skin being dry.
Basically she needed a break, but I don't blame her. She was literally cursed by a witch, she accompanied us to deal with Clouded Fang, she put up with that fool Inuyasha, so enough did the poor girl.
"Master Asahiko, Kagome has told me to warn you about any action you take against Inuyasha during the time she's gone, so you'd better not do it."
"Ohh, but if it isn't my beautiful priestly club 3000!"
Taking my eyes off the starry sky for a few moments, I easily detected that the incoming voice was Hitomiko, so I went back to reveling in the beautiful view of the night sky.
"It's only been a few hours since Kagome left and you're already back to that, you really are... I've already thought about it, Asahiko."
"Umm... Now you have my attention, Hitomiko."
Even without looking away from the starry sky in front of me, it's easy for me to notice the nerves running through Hitomiko's entire body. Maybe she's going to reject my offer? Well, that Naraku stalker turned me down too, so I don't need her to balance the teams and act from the shadows.
"I accept, I'll stay with Kagome's team and the others... But I won't do anything that could hurt them, they've also gone through the same thing as me."
Does he think I'll infiltrate her as a spy or something? The truth is a conclusion anyone could come to, but my intention was just to support Inuyasha's team from the shadows, a backup in case Naraku accepted the deal for Clouded Fang.
Too bad Naraku was so full of himself, so much so that he even passed up a really good deal, but that matters little now. The thing is, Hitomiko has lost her original purpose, but not all usefulness, whether it be to annoy Naraku by turning Inuyasha's group stronger, or simply serve as a placeholder for the latter.
"So what good are you to me? You're simply a pawn that I can't move at my whim. I think it works better for me to keep those two fragments that keep you alive."
To give more weight to my threatening words, I made my tails come down from the roof, and surround Hitomiko who is inside the watchtower.
"Do it, but I don't plan to betray a group like them. I've heard about the curse placed on Miroku's family, about the total murder of Sango's village, and Inuyasha's failed love... I"
"Tsk, what a beautiful self-sacrifice, though this one didn't show up with the poor villagers you lived with, Hitomiko."
Surrounding every bit of space inside the watchtower with my tails, they're energy so they can be made bigger at will, I slowly put more pressure on Hitomiko.
"Don't talk like you know anything, you damn demon! They were already infected with the spider eggs, they had no salvation at all!"
"Oh, but only infected, I'm sure their screams and pleas were very real, Hitomiko~"
Stretching out her name much longer than necessary, I noticed how Hitomiko's heart went from going a mile a minute to a more controlled beat. Sure, there were other signs of anger and nervousness, such as clenching her scrolls, squinting her eyes, or tapping her foot on the floor, but they were all going downhill.
"You're testing me... You're testing me, aren't you?"
"What makes you think that, Hitomiko? If it's because I haven't attacked you yet, I remind you that you're completely surrounded~"
"I've already heard from Miroku about this 'other' Asahiko, I don't know which one is the more 'real' one, but I'm sure the last few days haven't been fake... Besides, a cautious animal has two dens."
Unexpectedly, who knew someone like her would bet on something such as trust, but also on my intelligence... I guess she had these thoughts from the start, that's why she came without hesitation.
Hahaha, the truth had her as a small animal with no destination, no place to return to or even family... Someone totally defeated and consumed by pain.
But wow, she's still pretty rational, as well as having her principles straight, so much so that she's not willing to sell out Inuyasha and his group just for the sake of defeating Naraku.
"Hahaha, good point, good point... Everything can have a second use. But it's time to"
"Stop, what are you doing, leave me. Ummm."
Silencing Hitomiko by surrounding her with all my tails, I start squeezing like an anti-stress ball, making my state improve so much that even this sudden snow matters little to me.
I guess in the end she'll stay as a tracking collar around Inuyasha's neck, the best part is that she won't even know it. Looks like in the end giving her that shard purified by my power was a good idea, I've made her stronger and a trouble locator.
Snow, snowflakes, repentine snowflakes falling during the night? Like there's something weird here, Mmm, wait, that's it.
"Oh, no, not cats again!"
Watching the streak of blue ice flying straight here, I get flashbacks of those cats we encountered with Kikyo. Damn Inuyasha, damn Inu no Taisho, and damn family full of trouble!.