Ch. 9 A New Plot

Ch. 9

The bandit boss didn't seem fazed at all that Jei appeared and destroyed his sword with a flick.

But Jei already knew why. He had heard many of the feats his Grandpa accomplished. Over the years there were many demonic parasites that would possess a human body and control it, whether that body was still living or dead.

And this was a case of the latter. He could sense that the bandit boss had already died, and something had burrowed into his body and was puppeting it. Definitely some type of demon.

Jei kicked the man back, causing him to fly through a wall and land outside. The armor the bandit boss had been wearing broke and now the exposed chest of the bandit was visible.

In the center of his chest was a hole torn where the heart would be. And nesting into that hole was a black demonic crow with 3 red eyes.

"So you're the one, eh?" Jei stepped over the rubble as the demon crow puppeted the corpse to stand once more.

The bandit's body staggered toward him again, but this time vines erupted from the ground and ensnared it.

[Thorn Bind Hostage!]

This particular power was one of the ones his Grandpa Kurama taught him first. A demon plant with thorny vines that he can manipulate to capture a target. The more the target fights the bind, the more the thorny vines dig in.

Shha! (It's trying to leave now.)

"I know buddy." Jei heard Snek say the demon bird was getting ready to escape. Parasitic demons are cowards without a useful body after all.

The bird began wriggling through the thorny vines to escape the now ensnared body. It was mildly intelligent and knew staying would mean it's death.

"Did I give you permission to leave?" Jei smirked as the bird sensed he was brewing something powerful. Something that triggered its instincts to flee.

His right hand made a gesture like a gun with one finger pointed at the bird.

The crow became frantic as it sensed the amount of spiritual energy aimed at it. The vines, however held it from escaping.

"This isn't a great victory over a worthy opponent but hey, it's my turn to shine..."

[Spirit Gun!]

Blue energy gathered at his fingertip. It pulsed with energy that would leave weak beings gasping for air.

When he released the attack, a blue ball of energy blasted toward the corpse with the demon crow still struggling to escape his fleshy prison.

*Caw?*

*Bang!*

The last thing the demon crow saw was blue before everytime faded to black.

Jei inspected his handiwork. The entire torso of the dead bandit had disappeared. And everything else splattered to the ground.

Jei blew air over his finger as if it were a smoking gun. 'How anti-climactic...'

"There, all taken care of.~" Jei turned to Kagome who was just staring at the aftermath of his attack with her mouth open.

"You okay?" He approached her and waved in front of her face to break her trance.

"That... y-you pointed and then..." Kagome.exe stopped working as she kept staring at the gory aftermath. Too many question's mixed with astonishment filled her head.

But Jei had a different thought process. This event had opened his eyes to a significant problem.

'This girl is too weak to be left alone. And I can't always be there to protect her by myself... maybe I should find some help...'

He couldn't always be there to hold her hand, either he trains her to be stronger or... he finds someone that can stay by her side and protect her. Maybe both?

A plan was forming in his head, and he didn't feel it was a wrong choice.

'That dogboy could be useful...'

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"Ye want to free Inuyasha?!" Kaede's eye widened in surprise. She still didn't think her sister's seal could be broken by this young man, but once again, she didn't want him to try.

"Listen, old lady. Kagome was almost killed after I took my eyes off her for a few hours. If we are going to settle the Shikon Jewel, I'm gonna need some help protecting her."

Kaede understood his point but... "That Inuyasha can't be trusted! He betrayed my sister and tried to steal the jewel already. What makes ye think he wont do it again?"

Jei sighed. He also could understand her point, but she couldn't feel a person's soul like he and Snek can.

When they inspected Inuyasha, they didn't find any malice in his soul's energy. There was loneliness, sorrow, loss, even a bit of some happiness and love, but no evil intentions.

After hearing Kaede's story, Jei and Snek felt there must have been more to story that even Kaede doesn't know.

She said he attacked Kikyo and then stole the jewel and fled. But if he was evil, why didn't he finish Kikyo off right there?

Then Kikyo found him a bit later and sealed him to the tree before she succumbed to her wounds.

Something about the whole story smells fishy and this time it wasn't the villagers...

The two of them were lovers and spent alot of time together. Why would Inuyasha suddenly have a change of heart and go for the jewel, when he already had access to the jewel and Kikyo's life all that time?

The time they spent together, there must have been numerous times where Kikyo was vulnerable, but Inuyasha never made a move.

The puzzle pieces Kaede had given him just didn't seem to fit together, and this piqued his curiosity once again.

'Time to interrogate the dogboy!' He thought.

Kaede eventually relented, but she brought out some prayer beads and handed them to Jei. He had to promise that if anything went wrong, he would eliminate Inuyasha immediately and to use a necklace on him before removing the seal.

"What's this?" He could tell they held spiritual power but he couldn't tell what they do.

"The Beads of Subjugation. They belonged to my sister. She had planned to put them on Inuyasha but ended up not using them after being deceived by him." Kaede smiled bitterly. "If you are going to awaken Inuyasha to force him to protect Kagome, then she will need the power to control him..."

Jei just nodded and handed her back the beads. He had no objections to that, in fact that benefits him greatly.

If the dog has a collar, he doesn't need to spend time domesticating it. And Kagome gets a bodyguard. It's a win-win for everyone. Well... maybe not the dogboy. Hehe.

[Author here. How are liking the story so far? Enough to give some shiny stones? Perhaps support it with an honest review? Either way, look forward to the coming chapters. My next update wont be until Saturday or Sunday. I'm want to get some chapters stocked up so I can set a consistent schedule for release. That's all. Later!]