The Long Road to Freedom 3: Birth of an Empire

Interlude

"Well, well, ain't this a surprise," Inuyasha quipped.

Kintsuke smiled gently at him, and they shared a quick respectful nod.

"I hope I find you well, Inuyasha."

"Eh, as well as can be, I guess." He glanced over her shoulder at A-un and Jaken in the distance and sneered. "Looks like you brought Sesshoumaru with you."

"We travel together often these days," she shrugged.

"That so..."

The suspicion in his tone was unmistakable. Kintsuke began walking the path that led away from the village and into the forest.

"Perhaps, we should talk."

Inuyasha eyed her sharply for a moment, then fell into step to follow.

"Yeah, maybe we should."

Deep in his forest, well outside earshot of prying ears, Inuyasha snarled.

"The fuck did you do that for?!"

"I had no choice, Inuyasha," Kintsuke said defensively. "He would have found out eventually, and it was better that he didn't think he was being deceived. You know how your brother is."

"But to show him...that," he flustered. "Did you even consider that he'd think I turn human, too?"

"I did, and it gave me pause, I promise you, but..." She sighed heavily. "As I said, he was going to find out sooner or later, and I did my best to make it seem to be less of an inhibition than he might have thought it to be before."

Inuyasha scowled, and for a moment, Kintsuke's ears flattened shamefully.

"I don't think he'll come after you," she tried to assure him.

"Oh, really? And what exactly gives you that idea?"

"He doesn't desire the Tessaiga anymore," she explained, "and considering he finds a use for our mortal forms, especially with General Nobunaga bustling about..."

Inuyasha caught the hint from her trailing tone and deflated some.

"Maybe..."

He crossed his arms, frowning at the ground as the insinuations roiled in his mind. Kintsuke dipped a little to catch his gaze. She needed to change the subject.

"You said it was a good idea that we spoke. Does that mean there's something you wanted to talk about?"

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably. How to put it into words?

"Call it a gut feeling, I guess."

She nodded, urging him to continue. He decided being blunt, as he always was, would be best.

"One of my brats found something recently. Turned out to be some kind of container with a sutra inside that drains the power of demons. Miroku and Kagome are still trying to figure out what the writing on it means."

Kintsuke's shoulders tensed at the very idea of such a contraption.

"Was it the only one?"

"Sango and I scoured the area. We didn't find any others."

"And I've not encountered anything like that on my travels."

The two hanyou frowned, both considering.

"I've been through Shinano," Kintsuke continued, "some of Musashi and the rest of the Western domain, as well as all of the South..."

"Which leaves North and East," Inuyasha finished.