Ch. 8 Playtime With Bandits

Ch. 8

The next morning, Kagome noticed Jei was nowhere to be found. He had told Kaede he was going out to check something and that he'd be back later.

Last night he asked her if she would go to the demon slayer village with him to learn more about the origins of the Shikon Jewel.

She couldn't give him a response immediately. She was after all, just a normal 15 year old girl, and this was a dangerous adventure across feudal Japan.

She needed time to think about all this. She walked around the village to help clear her head but the reactions of the villagers only made it harder for her.

They would all stop what they are doing when they see her now. Word had gone around she was the second coming of a priestess named Kikyo and they would all stop what they are doing and start praying to her.

It annoyed her but not as much as her situation as a whole.

"Ugh! Why do I have to go through this?!" She screamed to herself. She had already wandered outside the village and was on her way to the dry well she appeared there from.

She wanted to see if there was a way to get home.

After Jei and Kaede told her about the danger of possessing the sacred jewel, she wanted to get rid of it and go home immediately.

Unfortunately, her conscience was leaning toward staying. If only until the jewel has been dealt with since her family could end up being in danger if she returned with the jewel in her possession.

On the other hand she didn't know if bad things that happen in this feudal era will reflect onto them in the future.

What if Kagome abandoned the jewel and the feudal era and then in the future her loved ones suffered as a result?

She couldn't bare to do anything that would bring harm to her family. But if she could just visit them quickly and let them know she is alright, she would be happy.

"Ah, there it is! The dry well I came here from." Kagome had entered Inuyasha forest again and saw the well in the distance.

'Just a little further and maybe I can visit home!'

"Hahaha!"

"We got her!"

"The boss is gonna be happy!"

Kagome had her thoughts interrupted when a group of bandits suddenly jumped out of the trees and grabbed her and started dragging her with them.

"Help!!!" She screamed, but the bandits kept going. They didn't think anyone could hear her cries.

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"Well Snek? Anything?" Jei asked impatiently.

They were currently at the bottom of the Bone Eater Well. Before Jei went on an adventure to learn about the sacred jewel, he wanted to make sure he could leave freely. After all, he is still worried about Yuma, but he is in a foreign world, and he also has no leads to where she is.

If she was in this world, he would eventually feel her energy signature if he stayed long enough.

But if she wasnt in this world, staying here would be pointless. That's why Jei decided to find the origins of the sacred jewel, its spiritual power is no joke. Snek had told him many important things about the jewel even he didn't sense and his curiosity was eating up his thoughts.

'Being a spiritual beast comes with alot of perks huh? Hehe' Jei mused to himself.

He had finally asked about the changes Snek went through inside the dark tunnel. Apparently by absorbing so much of the dark energy he was able to have a small evolution and now can manipulate it to an extent. Among other things.

Shha... shhaa (Well... it's both good and bad...) The little snake just shook it's head after it checked the well.

After hearing the reason, Jei went from curious to downright anxious.

The good news was, Snek could open a portal and get them back into the dark tunnel. The bad news... he can't do it right now. There's a strong interference and the source?

The Shikon Jewel.

Yes, it seems the jewel itself is keeping them here. As if saying they could not leave until it said so.

"Shit! So we have to settle that jewel somehow in the end huh..." He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He had taken an interest in the jewel and now it seems the jewel has taken an interest in him.

'Is that woman's soul responsible? Or does the jewel have a will of it's own? He gets more and more curious the more finds out about this jewel.

Cutting him out of his thoughts, a loud feminine cry for help echoed into the well, but it was faint and a normal human would likely not have heard it.

"Snek... time to go..." He recognized that voice.

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Kagome had been taken to an old house in the outskirts of the forest. She was thrown to the dirty wooden floor and surrounded by disgusting bandits.

They made remarks about her skirt and groped her behind, even suggested making her thier wife. Kagome felt disgusted by them but that shifted into fear when they held her arms while their boss walked toward her.

"Give me... the jewel..."

He was a large man with a bald head. His eyes looked soulless and his skin was pale like a corpse. His voice was slow and deep, that sent chills up her spine.

His gait was awkward as he closed the distance to Kagome. His appearance holding a sharp sword as he shambled toward her sent her into fright.

"Hey wait!" She yelled, but they ignored her, instead they egged on the boss.

"Cut her in one clean strike, boss!" The bandit chuckled.

"Let me go!" She tried to pull her arm away, but couldn't pull them away from the grown men.

She closed her eyes as he lifted the sword in his hand and swung down. With a squelch the blood of the man holding Kagome sprayed out, causing him to slump to the ground.

"Oops... made a mistake..." the boss's expression was still expressionless and he began swinging his sword wildly. Nearly taking the heads of his men along with Kagome. The walls and a stone statue had been cleaved by his powerful swings. But he was completely uncoordinated...

"Boss! Where are you aiming?!"

"She's the one you need to slay!"

They tried to appeal to thier boss and began pushing Kagome forward. They didn't know why thier boss was trying to kill them but once he kills the girl, he'd calm down, right?

Kagome was trying to push back against them. She could tell something was very wrong with thier boss.

She didn't know what it was exactly, but she could feel he was abnormal.

"What are you- There's something wrong with your boss!" She smacked thier hands away and continued to berate them. "Snap out of it or you will be next? Get it?!"

If Jei had been there, he might have have asked if she was Yuma in disguise or if he was just cursed to be around nagging women.

Kagome yelped as she ducked another sword swing and rolled between his legs to get away from him and ran to the other side of the building. 'Why... is this... happening to me?!' She screamed internally. She just wanted to go home!

The boss was swinging his sword indiscriminately, destroying the walls and pillars as well as more unfortunate statues. The damage was causing the structure to start collapsing.

One bandit got hit by falling debris, seeing this Kagome went up to help him stand. Even if he was a bastard that brought her here, they were both in the same danger. And not to mention Kagome is just kind by nature even if she nags alot.

"Give me... the Shikon jewel..." the boss said in that same strange flat tone.

'He wants the sacred jewel...' Kagome thought back to what Kaede had said, that all manner of evil demons and humans would come for it.

'Why me?!' She wanted to cry, but it wasn't the situation for it. Maybe if she threw the jewel away, he'd go too?

The boss slowly walked towards them and Kagome made her choice. She glanced down at the Shikon jewel that had been dangling on a necklace she wore that Kaede had made it for her.

She pulled the jewel off the necklace and prepared to throw it outside the collapsing building.

The boss was approaching and he was holding his sword high preparing to swing down on her in a few seconds.

Just as she was about to let the jewel go and throw it away, a hand caught her wrist.

"Are you stupid, Kagome?" The voice was condescending but held a trace of worry.

"You can't just go around throwing sacred jewels... I'm pretty sure that's sacrilege or something."

"Jei!"

Kagome didn't care if he was being sarcastic, she was ready to cry in happiness that he came to save her.

The boss who didn't even register Jei's presence swung down his blade. The other bandits cowered in a corner, while Jei was right in the way of the blade's trajectory.

*Ting!*

The blade snapped and no one could believe their eyes.

As the blade fell on Jei, he casually raised his hand and flicked it, causing the broken blade to fly and stick into an intact wall.

The bandit standing there shivered, and glanced to his side where the blade was embedded only a hairs breadth from his face.

Seeing that the boss had been stopped momentarily, the rest of the bandits scrambled out of the building and fled, leaving Jei and Kagome alone with the boss.