Twisted Accusations

Chapter Four



\"How big is this wolf?\" Sano sat inside the small home sipping the tea. Him and Saitoh had passed the girl somehow, more than likely gotten ahead of her. Their guess the girl would stop at the village within the next day or two. They were being asked for assistance in killing a rabid wolf that had been plaquing the place.

\"Huge, twice the normal size.\" The old man spoke, scratching his chin in thought.

\"It\'s an evil spirit, sent to punish us for our deeds. This village is filled with sinners, full of those that won\'t repent. We will all be killed unless they do. I say we need a houshi, not some retired officer. The youkai will tear him into pieces, you can just look at him and see he\'s a sinner.\" She sneered at Saitoh and shook her head.

\"Don\'t mind her, too set in her ways. Dear, there\'s no such thing as youkai or evil spirits. Now, hush all that nonsense before you scare the nice men away. It usually attacks right after sunset, kills several people if we aren\'t careful. Think you can help us? We can pay you if you are successful in bringing the beast down.\" The man showed them a small pouch that jingled.

\"We are here looking for a girl, if the wolf shows while we wait then fine.\" Saitoh walked outside, the old crone was begining to get on his nerves.

\"Old people and their beliefs, right old man.\" Sano came out all smiles, \"So should you kill this thing or should I?\"

They waited until dusk, watching the townsfolk all scrambling to get to a safe place. The wolf had been coming for the last week, killing whomever he could get to. All the people were piled into the largest home, guards posted.

Saitoh was leaning against the tree when the first howl was heard. It was loud and ear piercing, it caused a shiver to run down his spine. What kind of wolf howled like that? Sano came walking up to him, the same question etched on the lines of his face. They scanned the area, everything was deathly quiet, the calm before the storm.

He dropped his cigarette when it finally came crashing out of the woods not too far from where the pair was standing. The man had lied about the things size, it was huge. There was no way that was a wolf, a monster stood before them. He\'d never seen anything like it before in his life.

\"What the hell is that thing?\" Sano stared in disbelief, it was three times the size of a horse. \"I\'ll let you take care of this one.\"

\"Thanks.\" Saitoh decided even with the size it was still an animal. He took the gun he\'d been given; one shot, problem solved. He took careful aim, between the eyes. His finger squeezed the trigger, the rifle fired. The thing howled when the bullet grazed it\'s forehead. \"Shit, something tells me the old man knew that wouldn\'t work.\"

\"I\'d say we\'ve just volunteered to be it\'s next meal.\" Sano watched the thing turn it\'s head to look their way. He spun on his heels when rustling came from behind him, prepared to fight. His eyes dropped at seeing the girl and an old man come out.

Kagome could feel the youkai aura, \"There it is.\" She walked next to the two men as the wolf began to show teeth looking their way. \"Minoru, I\'ll take care of it.\" The old houshi came up behind her gasping at the sight.

\"Of course, do be careful.\" He smiled and took the bag from her.

\"What the hell do you think you\'re going to do? Go up and make friends, I don\'t think it\'s someone pet lady.\" Sano frowned when she turned to glare at him.

Kagome thought of shooting him first but the menacing growl across the way changed her mind. She started walking forward, the two men stared at her. Had they followed her? The one guy was glaring at her, probably hoping the wolf would bite her head off.

\"The jewel? You have it don\'t you, it\'s been centuries since I\'ve sensed it\'s power. I shall consume it as I eat your flesh.\" The wolf spoke suprising everyone but Kagome, it opened it\'s mouth releasing a black mist.

\"Stay behind me,\" Kagome notched an arrow and released it into the poison. The mist disappeared, showing the wolf charging at them. \"Shit!\" She quickly notched another one, and released. Her aim was off managing only to take out the left shoulder. It stumbled and fell to the ground, another arrow was taken out.

\"Magnificent!\" The houshi squeeled in delight, his face showing his excitement.

Kagome tried not to blush at the compliment. If she\'d been with Inuyasha he would have bitched about her not being able to hit the damn thing. The youkai began to climb back up, she waited.

\"What the hell are you waiting for shoot it.\" Sano watched the beast begin to get up, he\'d never heard of an animal being able to speak before. He wasn\'t sure what it was but it was about to charge again. The girl was just standing there, the bow aiming at it.

It charged the same time she released the arrow, the pink light streaked. The shot was deadon, taking out the head and then the body. She sighed in relief when it was done, the first youkai she\'d seen in this era. The only reasonable explanation is something had happened to majority of the them. Either they had been killed or breed out. Minoru had been telling her tales of men that were exceptionally skilled in fighting and in combat. One was a man named Himura, everyone seemed to know of him and his skills. There was a few others he\'d named as well but she couldn\'t remember them. Most humans could only move so fast, there was a limit to what their bodies could do. It led her to believe that what youkai hadn\'t been killed in the last four centuries were bred out. Every generation becoming more and more human in their forms. Would explain some of these people\'s abilities, even the smallest amount of youkai blood would make them different.

Her gaze landed on the man leaning against the tree once more. It would also make it possible for her to purify them. Her power had lashed out at the man, who was he? His blood had to be tainted in order for her to have injured him. His deamanor showed that he was no one to be played with along with his build. Very tall compared to her, then again most people were.

Whatever their reason for being there, she had no business with them. \"Let\'s go Minoru, we are done here.\"

\"Wait a damn minute, we came all this way to ask you a few questions. We aren\'t leaving until we get some answers.\" Sano stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

\"What did you do to my hand girl? Why does it refuse to heal?\" Saitoh left the tree to walk over to her, \"You have some explaining to do.\"

\"I told you to release me, you were warned. What do you want? I have did nothing wrong, so why are you hounding me?\" She stomped her foot, close to having a tantrum.

\"Who did you kill?\" He was direct and to the point, he didn\'t like being left in the dark. He wanted to know exactly what she was and what was going on.

\"Nobody, the blood was mine. There wasn\'t a wound because I healed myself, are you happy now? Stop bugging me already, don\'t you have anything better to do with your time?\"

\"The wound would have been in your chest, you expect us to believe you were able to do that?\" Saitoh sneered at her, did she think him a fool?

\"I don\'t care what you believe. Look give me your hand, so you\'ll leave me alone. Unless you are scared of me.\" She threw the taunt out there knowing it would force him into doing as she asked. His hand extended, figures. The skin was rough, still blistered from where she\'d sent her power in. The flesh would stay that way unless she healed it. As it was a scar would remain but it had to be painful to move. She placed her hand over the flesh and concentrated.

Saitoh felt something warm and soothing washing over the injury. The sting that had been there constantly was starting to recede. The skin was begining to smooth out, only to leave a faint line. \"Amazing, how?\" The hand was almost as good as new, movable without pain.

\"Call it a gift, now we must be going. I think they will want to speak to you.\" She nodded towards the townspeople coming out now. The elder came running up, grabbing the man\'s hand.

\"You did it, you got rid of the beast.\" He bowed before Saitoh, praising him.

\"He was truelly magnificent, you owe him.\" Kagome smiled, then winked at him. \"Have a pleasant evening gentleman.\" The two men were soon surrounded with people, all thanking them. She grinned and began walking away, the houshi hot on her heels. That was her good deed for the week, now it was time to get to Kyoto.




The city was extrememly busy as the two made their way down the street. People nodded and gave them room to walk, showing some respect. A few people greeted the old man, stopping him for a few seconds to speak. She took this time to inspect the large city, it was indeed a sight to behold. This was the Kyoto she had read about in history class. She was seeing the real thing, being able to experience the grand city.

Children ran past her, playing without any cares. A small boy bumped into her before giving chase after his sister. Laughter rang out as the girl ran from him. The sight made her miss Souta, it had been months since she\'d seen him last. Was her family worried about her? She decided she wanted to take a look around.

Minoru told her to meet him back at the spot in an hour, which would give her time to look around. He was nice and gave her some coins to spend, she accepted it. Her stomach was growling, food was sounding good at the moment. He held onto her bag, it was one less thing for her to worry about. She come to like the old houshi and trusted him.

Some of the buildings were large and stood out from the rest. She wondered which one was the temple, not like it would be hard to find. Someone went by in a carriage forcing the road to clear. Off the road an elderly lady was selling riceballs. It wasn\'t much but one would keep her until dinner was seen to.



\"Come on Aoshi, I wanna get back already. You are so slow,\" Misao smiled at him, trying to get him to hurry. The Oniwabanshu was starting to reform and grow, taking on odd jobs. It had been one of her decisions as leader. She wanted the group to be known for good reasons not as mercs. Everyone respected her as the leader and listened. Aoshi still came around but never tried to take up his claim as leader again. Instead he seemed to be making up for all the wrong he had done.

Okina had forgiven the man but things were still tense at times. She had hopes still, things were slowly improving for them. Slowly her dreams were coming true, except one. Her and Aoshi\'s relationship had hit a dead end it seemed. They had gotten close again up to a certain point, then it had stopped. He treated her more like a kid sister than a woman. She had plans to change all that, she wanted more.

After seeing him almost kill Okina she\'d thought herself to finally being over her crush on the man. Then he\'d started coming around again after giving up his pursuit of defeating Kenshin. She realized that her feelings for him were begining to develop into something more. She was in love with their former leader and wanted it returned.

One worry she had was that he didn\'t seem in a hurry to settle down with anyone. He never spoke of any females, she never heard of him spending time with one either. That could prove to be a good thing, she didn\'t want any competition. Getting him interested in her as a woman was proving to be hard enough.

Aoshi sighed trying to speed up to appease her, he\'d been enjoying the walk. He let his eyes roam over the people walking towards them. Normal people going about their day, enjoying the warm weather. He stuck his hands in his pockets. An elderly man bent over to retrieve something and that\'s when he saw her. His breath caught in his throat, she was beautiful, astonishing. She smiled at the old couple, it lit up her whole face.

She was dressed in strange clothing, who was she? Did he know her from somewhere? Her head turned causing her to look right at him. He met her eyes across the distance, the vibrant blue called to him. He continued to stare unable to look away. His feet became glued to the road, she blushed and lowered her eyes.

Someone bumped into her causing her to turn away but she kept walking. Walking away from him, leaving only her back to his gaze. He didn\'t turn around until he could no longer see her, a hand grabbed his arm.

\"What are you doing? Let\'s go!\" Misao broke into his thoughts, demanding his attention.


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