Inuyasha: The Story Continues

Chapter 22: The Village of Half-Demons Pt. 2

Izayoi's POV 

It was hard to believe what I was seeing. There was actually a village for half-demons. As we walked towards it, all the children ran to look at us. They all watched as with fascination. "The little ones are just curious." Haruo explained.

As they rest of the day went by, Haruo explained to us how the village of half-demons came to be; "Several years ago, a priestess started taking in half-demons. However, her village was against it. One day, they burned down the hut where she and the children were staying. Many of the half-demons died in the fire.

"The priestess led the remaining children to a place in the woods where she placed up a sacred barrier in order to hide the children. There she built the village. After she died of old age, her spirit made the barrier stronger, only allowing those with a kind heart to enter the village."

"What a sad story." Kayuma said.

Haruo nodded. "I was part of the group of survivors. The others who survived are out getting food currently. They should be back soon." Haruo told us.

I walked around the village alone after a while and watched the children playing with each other. While they played, I practiced with Tensoga. I sliced at the air and took down a tree or two using a small wind scar attack. As I was doing that, I saw the little children circulating around me, trying to see what I was doing. 

"What are you doing?" one child asked. 

"I'm training." I told them. 

"For what?" a boy asked. 

"Well....." 

Before I could explain anything, there was a large sound heard from the front of the village. The children quickly ran that way and left me standing there with confusion. I followed the children and found the others were there as well. Looking over the crowd, I saw that three half-demons, who were much older looking (around Haruo's age), had arrived on top of horses with large crates of food. 2 of them were boys, who looked to be brothers, and one was a girl. 

The girl, who had reddish-black hair, green eyes, and claws looked over at me. She glared for a moment and then got off the horse. As she did, Naomi ran out from the crowd and hugged the girl. "You're back sister Natsuko." Naomi said. 

Natsuko knelled down to look at Naomi and smiled. "Yes, and I've brought food." Natsuko said. Naomi smiled. 

'Why did she glare at me?' I thought. 

"What did you bring Isamu and Isao?" I heard a child ask the other two. 

"We've brought plenty of fruit and vegetables." the older looking brother said. 

"Yes, and there's some meat as well that will be good for a few days." the younger one said.

The children all lined up and helped bring the food to the biggest hut in the village that was about the size of 5 huts combined. While the children were busy, the brothers and Natsuko walked towards our group. 

"Who are you?" Natsuko asked. 

"They are friends," Haruo answered, coming out from one of the huts. "They took care of Naomi actually." 

Natsuko kept glaring towards me, making it a little uncomfortable to look towards her. 

"Well I'm Isamu," the older brother said. "And this is my younger brother Isao." 

"Hello." I greeted. 

"Why are you in the village though?" Natsuko questioned. 

"Haruo said it was fine with us staying here for the night." Ayuma told her. 

Natsuko sent a glare at Haruo and then turned towards us. "Fine," she spat with some venom in her voice before walking towards a hut. "But you will immediately leave in the morning." When she disappeared into her hut, everyone was silent. 

"What's wrong with her?" Shippo asked. 

"Girl, what half are you?" Isao asked. 

"Dog," I answered. "Why?" 

"Well Natsuko is half-panther demon and I've heard that panther demons and dog demons do not get along very well." Haruo said. 

"Yes, but I thought that dog demons and panther demons no longer show any resentment towards each other." I said. 

"You see though, Natsuko's father and mother were killed by a dog demon when she was very young," Isamu said. "She's despised them ever since." 

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Later that night, everyone in the village sat in the large hut and had dinner. (There were 40 children in all, not including Natsuko, Isao, Isamu, and Haruo!) There were a few half-dog demon children that looked at me with curiosity and played around me like little puppies. (No joke there okay?) The whole time we were eating though, Natsuko glared at me. I tried to ignore her but it was very difficult to since it felt like she was burning a hole in the back of my head. 

Suddenly, an earthquake began to happen and all the children began to scream. Some ran and hid in my lap while the shaking was happening. The others grabbed a hold of some of the children and protected them from falling objects. Several minutes passed by before the shaking stopped. "Everyone okay?" Natsuko asked. 

That's when a foul scent came into my senses. "We've got trouble," I said. "And it's in the form of Kagura." 

We all raced outside and found the wind witch Kagura was there with a young girl with white hair and soulless black eyes was there with her. "Kanna?" Shippo asked. 

'Not another incarnation of Naraku.' I thought. 

"Dance of the dragon!" Kagura yelled as she waved her fan. 

Mochigo and I put up a sacred barrier that protected the children from the attack. When it died down, we put the barrier down. 

"Quickly, get the children to safety!" Natsuko instructed. 

Kilala transformed and allowed several children on top of her back in order to get away. I got in front of Kagura and held my sword threateningly while the others helped the children get away. As I was preparing to battle with my sword, I found that I couldn't move. I then noticed my reflection in Kanna's mirror. 'She has me trapped inside her mirror!' I thought. 

"Now you can't move," Kagura said with a smirk. "Dance of blades!" 

The wind was about to hit me when someone pushed me out of the way. I hit the ground hard and heard the wind tear apart one of the huts. As I sat up, I noticed that Natsuko had pushed me out of the way. She sat up slowly and I noticed the large gash in her legs. She was bleeding intesly, keeping her from moving. Before Kagura could attack again, I placed Natsuko on my back and ran towards the others. I placed her there and then went for my arrows. When I turned to fight though, Kagura and Kanna were gone. 

"They're gone." Kayuma said. 

As we looked around, we saw that only one hut was destroyed and the barrier that was guarding the village had gone up once more. 

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"Thank you for your help." Haruo said. 

"You're welcome," Ayuma said. "Watch out though, Naraku's incarnations might come back again." 

"We will, thank you." Isao said. 

I looked over at Natsuko who was sitting on the porch of the hut. She had bandages on her legs where she had been cut. Naomi was next to her sister, leaning against Natsuko. Natsuko looked over at me and instead of seeing hatred in her eyes, I saw sympathy and compassion, the same thing that Naomi probably saw whenever she looked at her sister. 

As we began to leave, all the children waved goodbye and wished us off. "Goodbye!" Naomi called from the porch. 

"Take care everyone!" Shippo said back. 

I waved too and then saw Natsuko wave back at me with a small smile on her face. As soon as we passed through the barrier, the village was gone from our sight.