Encounters with Obakemono by tenchi no mai
Kashambo
This was written in response to MontiK's challenge.
Theme: Kashambo
Due: August 09, 2009
Required Word Count: 700
Actual Word Count: 2562 Story Only
Universe: Canon
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: The characters of InuYasha are not mine, they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz Media. Only the plot to this story and my original characters, Shun and Hayato, are my intellectual property. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
'Italics' = thoughts
Kashambo
Kagome sat in the shade underneath a brilliant red Japanese maple tree, fanning herself with her hat. They were taking a short break from their trek southwards towards the rumor that Naraku had taken up residence in the palace of a local lord.
After cooling down somewhat from the unusually hot summer, the weather had been almost unbearably warm the past few days. It was now autumn, close to the end of October, soon to be quicky heading towards winter, but it seemed they were destined to suffer a few more days of this unseasonable warmth. 'What had Miroku called it? Oh, yes, koharu bi youri - small spring weather - something the American exchange student at school had called Indian Summer. I like that phrase better, it sure feels more like summer than spring.'
Thinking ahead towards the winter, Kagome gave an involuntary shudder. Since the summer had been so unusually hot, she wasn't looking forward to finding out if this winter was going to be abnormally cold. It was always such a chore to haul around the additional provisions they needed while wearing the thickly padded jackets such weather required. Another problem was making sure everyone had enough heavy clothing to ward off the cold and help keep any sickness at bay. 'Yes, I really do dislike winter in the Feudal era.'
~*~
After scouting the area for rogue demons and finding it free of the low level pests, Sesshoumaru had taken up a position in the maple tree the miko was resting under. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone else, he enjoyed watching Kagome. She was extraordinarily unpredictable, something that aroused his curiousity about her. That was in addition to all of the odd things from the future that she carried in her ugly backpack. The puzzle that was the miko, and his ever inquisitive mind, often made him wonder if he was part neko.
From his standing position on the lowest branch of the tree, leaning cross-armed back against the trunk, he could keep an eye on all of the members of the tachi. The monk and the slayer were sitting in the shade of another tree off to his left. The fire cat was trailing after Shippo and Rin as they searched for acorns. Jaken was slowly following behind them, grumbling about overly active children who should be taking a nap while they had a chance. Sesshoumaru turn his head to his right to see Ah-Un stretched out, half in the sun and half in the shade, already partaking of said nap, starting to snore. The only one currently missing was Inuyasha.
The hanyou had departed rather quicky once the tachi had come to a halt, darting swiftly through the treetops in a southeasterly direction. Sesshoumaru could already smell the change in the air. They were nearing the coast, and would probably arrive at one of the two human villages that bordered the bay within a days walk if they kept in the direction they were going. Possibly by tomorrow night or fairly early the following morning.
Peering down at the miko, Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow as he watched her get one of the folded scrolls out of the side pocket of her backpack. Thinking she would probably get out her direction finder, he decided to vacate the tree and join her on the ground.
~*~
Kagome was aware that Sesshoumaru was perched in the tree above her, she could sense his aura, it was enormously powerful and unmistakeable. Deciding that Inuyasha would probably be gone for some time, she was debating on whether to pull out her books and start some homework, or get out her maps and satisfy her curiousity about their current location.
It was actually an easy decision. The homework could wait for later when they set up camp for the night, there wasn't that much more that had to be completed before her next trip home. She had barely gotten the maps out of the side pocket of her backpack before Sesshoumaru had gracefully landed beside her.
Settling into an agura posture, Sesshoumaru noted with a sideways glance that the miko was also sitting cross-legged. While considered improper and uncouth for a female to sit in such a position, they were in an extremely informal situation and he refrained from mentioning it to her again. Deciding to solve several objectionable situations with one action, he reached out and pulled his miko over into his lap. Now she was close enough to satisfy his sudden possessive streak, she was sitting in a more proper position, and he had a better view of the map she had spread across her lap.
Kagome blushed bright red as she landed in Sesshoumaru's lap. They would occasionally sit like this when they were alone after their evening walk, but he had never done this in front of the rest of the tachi. She tried to get up, but his arm was like a steel band as he snaked it around her waist and held her firmly in place.
Miroku looked over when he heard Kagome 'eep'. Poking Sango in the side with his elbow he inclined his head slightly, directing her attention towards the demon lord and the miko. His expressive violet eyes seemed to infer 'I told you so".
Youkai rarely needed such things as maps on a regular basis, they all had an inate sense of direction, which along with their other senses made a map obsolete. If he needed an overview of an area, he would form his youki cloud and ascend to get a better view. Sesshoumaru had some maps of his own back at the Fortress, but they were more for the army to use with battles, none of them were as detailed as the one he was currently viewing over Kagome's shoulder. She had called this one a topographical map, and it showed the contours of the land as well as its natural features, such as rivers, mountains and forested areas. "Where do you show that we currently are located, miko?"
Kagome shivered as his breath tickled her ear and neck. "We are in the Mie Prefecture, you would probably know it as the Ise Provence, close to the Isuzu River." Pointing to the map, she noted that they were probably within two days walk to the Bay of Ise.
Miroku's ears perked up when he heard they were close to the towns of Uji and Yamahada. "Kagome-chan, have you ever been to Kotai Jingu, the shrine of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu-omikami?"
Before she could answer him, Inuyasha dropped down out of the trees, giving Sesshoumaru and Kagome a strange look. "Keh. I've found us a place to stay for the night. There is an abandoned hut not too far from here, near the river. If you humans weren't so lazy and would have kept walking, you would have found it."
With Shippo and Rin riding on Ah-Un, they arrived at the clearing about an hour later. Kagome looked over at Inuyasha with a question in her eyes. 'I thought he had said a hut, this is more like a lean-to and it appears to be all but falling down.'
"Well, it's not much but at least it'll give you some shelter for the night." Inuyasha went to the river to get some fish for dinner, while the rest of the tachi set up camp for the night.
The discussion over dinner centered around the shrines, the goddess Amaterasu, the sacred mirror, Yata no Kagami, which is housed within the Jingu Inner Shrine, and the local legends about the kappa water imps. During a lull in the conversation Sesshoumaru rose from his spot underneath a nearby tree, gesturing to Kagome that it was time for their evening walk.
Following a path along the bank of the river, they walked in campanionable silence. Kagome knew by now that Sesshoumaru rarely initiated their converstations, so she asked if he knew any more about the story Miroku had started about the kappa.
"Yes, the kappa are also called gorambo. They live in the rivers, but in the autumn they begin their trek to climb into the mountains for the winter and become Kashambo. They will leave footprints like waterfowl, and sometimes spirit away horses." Sesshoumaru could think of many other things to talk about rather than the odd smelling kappa that were related to Jaken.
"Do you think we will see any of the Kashambo while we are here in this area?" Kagome looked around, uneasy with the possiblilty of having relatives of Jaken stumbling around their campsite. She had tried repeatedly to make friends with the little green kappa, but he didn't especially like her and often made it known loud and clear.
It was just past dusk, and not quite fully dark yet. In response to her question, Sesshoumaru lifted his hand and pointed across the river. There in the shadows under the trees, just barely visible to her human eyes, Kagome could see several figures walking along the bank of the river. They appeared to be about the size of young child, taller than Rin, and dressed in clothing similar to Miroku's robes.
"You don't think they will try to hurt us, do you?" Kagome asked, backing up tight against his chest, as Sesshoumaru settled on the ground and pulled her into his lap.
"Do you honestly believe that this Sesshoumaru would allow a lowly kappa to harm you?" He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering at the sudden foolishness of this female in thinking he would allow anyone to harm a member of his pack, let alone his intended. However, if it served his purpose in getting her closer to him maybe he should have let her flawed reasoning alone for the time being.
"Ah, no, not really. It just kind of slipped out." Kagome let him pull her closer as they began to talk of other things, while she kept an eye on the creatures on the other side of the river.
All too quickly Kagome was yawning and starting to fall asleep. Sesshoumaru led her back to the camp, watching while she settled into her sleeping bag with Rin and the kitsune pup, under the shelter of the lean-to with the other human members of the group. Taking up a position across the campfire from the tachi, he relaxed back against the tree where he would keep guard for the night. As the time slowly passed, he narrowed his eyes, realizing that while Ah-Un was curled up beside the shelter, Jaken was nowhere in sight. 'I wonder where that troublesome kappa has gone?'
~*~
While Sesshoumaru was aware of the gorambo on the other side of the river, Jaken had known all afternoon what was happening and was biding his time until everyone was asleep and he could slip away to see them for himself.
He had first spied the kappa water imps when he was foraging for berries for Rin and the rest of the humans. Somehow it had become his job to find vegetables and fruits for the combined tachi. 'To think that I, Jaken, have been reduced to search for food for these lowly humans.' Although he did have to admit that the priestess always served him food along with the other members of the group before she served herself.
Once he managed to sneak away from the campsite, he quickly stumbled along the river bank, looking for a place to cross to the other side. Finding a spot where a tree had fallen into the river, he hesitantly stepped onto the trunk and made his way across the largest portion of the water. There were some large rocks jutting out of the river which he used as stepping stones to jump across to the opposite bank.
Thanking the Kami he arrived in one piece, Jaken didn't have to wait long for several of the Kashambo to come striding along the path towards him. Jaken had served Sesshoumaru for many centuries, and his father, the Inu-Taisho for untold centuries before that. He had not been around any water kappa since he was a young demon himself, and even though these were not of his birth clan, he had many questions to ask them.
They were taller than he was, and Jaken had to trot quickly to keep up with them. The tallest of this group was named Yoshi, and he answered most of Jaken's questions.
Yoshi told Jaken that the local kappa, or water imps, in the Mie and Wakayama provinces have two forms. In the summer months they lived in the rivers and streams and were called gorai or gorambo, depending on which river or stream they lived in. Once autumn arrived and the water began to get cooler, they emerged from this river at specified places and took the form he currently saw them in and were called Kashambo. Dressing in the blue travelling robes of a monk, they made their way up the river and into the mountains to spend the winter in the caves above the headwaters of the river. Once winter was over and the water warmed they would return to the rivers and streams to follow the water back towards the sea.
Laughing, the imp explained to Jaken that they often tossed pebbles into the houses along their route. That way the residents knew that the Kashambo were migrating into the mountains and that winter would be arriving soon. Continuing on, Yoshi also told Jaken that they would sometimes wander into someones home, causing mischief and leading horses some distance away from the human settlements or make their cows sick.
After a while, they stopped to eat and asked Jaken to join them. They shared some abalone that they had brought with them from the sea and asked Jaken if he wanted to spend the winter in the mountains with their clan. Quickly finishing their meal, they continued on their way.
Jaken stood there for some time thinking about what they had said. It would be interesting to be able to spend time with some kappas even if they weren't related to him, and they seemed friendly enough. 'Could I really leave my Lord Sesshoumaru and my duties to him?' Finally deciding that he was unable to leave Lord Sesshoumaru, Jaken started back towards the campsite. Following the path along the river bank downstream, he hadn't realized how far they had travelled. It was going to take him most of the night to get back to where he could cross the river again.
Walking back to his lord, Jaken thought long and hard about everything the Kashambo told him. Just before dawn, he arrived back at the campsite. He had been picking up small pebbles along the way and by the time he arrived, both his pockets were full. Grabbing two handfuls, he threw them into the lean-to where the humans were sleeping. Apparently his aim wasn't the best, he accidently hit the priestess, waking her up.
Jaken suddenly found himself being held by the throat against the trunk of a tree with a growling Sesshsoumaru glaring at him. "Jaken, you will explain youself to this Sesshoumaru this instant!"
Jaken began to quiver at the look in his Lord Sesshoumaru's eyes. 'Maybe a winter in the mountains wouldn't have been such a bad idea.'
~*~
Fin