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Riquo took her time walking towards
the hot springs, since she was extremely aggravated. I can't
believe him! Trying to make me feel worthless like that! And I just met him!
That's it…. I'll show him! She stopped as she entered the shaded clearing of
the hot springs where Kagome and Sango were sitting in the water talking. Riquo
laughed to herself, feels like I was just here.
"Hey Ri! Inuyasha wasn't mean to you
was he?" Kagome asked as Riquo took off her clothes and slid into the hot water,
relaxing as the water spread to the tenser parts of her body.
Riquo snickered, "No, no, we just
talked." Considering the fact that her and Inuyasha did just meet she
decided to leave out the fact that the two of them mindlessly flirted since she
knew how uptight Kagome might get about that.
Kagome scowled, "Well I have to 'sit'
him every time he gets snotty with me!" Sango nodded in agreement.
Riquo raised an eyebrow, "'Sits?' I'm
not following you." Kagome smirked and sat up a little straighter as if she'd
just slain Naraku all by herself.
"Well, to make a long story short,
when me and Inuyasha first met, he was rude-ahem- ruder than he is now," she
laughed as Sango snorted, "yea I know, anyway Kaede made this necklace and told
me to say a word to subdue him. I had not idea what the hell she was talking
about until I saw his cute little ears twitch and then I said sit and he fell
face first into the ground!"
Riquo stared at her dumbly, "Ha, well
I guess that makes sense but just be careful cause I resent that ear remark,"
she said twitching her black ears.
They all laughed, relaxing and
enjoying each others company and the beautiful day. Riquo stretched her torso
and absently asked, "So uuhh..." Riquo laughed dumbly at Sango, not knowing her
name.
Sango smiled, "My name is Sango.
The monk in the hut, his name is Miroku. And this little furball," she said
picking up the fire cat who meowed in response, "is Kilala."
Riquo nodded in response, glad the
awkwardness of not knowing anybodies name was over and closed her eyes
against the sunlight. Sighing she sat back against the muddy bank of the spring.
Before Riquo could even open her mouth to make another statement Kagome popped
up and grabbed her yellow backpack, "Wait! First things first!" she pulled out
soaps and shampoos from her enormous backpack. Seeing this, Sango immediately
reached over and grabbed a few select items that she's grown accustomed to
using. Kagome then turned to Riquo, holding out a jar with orange liquid in it.
Riquo's eyes widened as she snatched the jar from her examining the contents,
"Is….is this what I think it is?"
"Yep, I went back home to get a few
things I thought you might like while you were here with Inuyasha. I figured you
haven't gone back to the future (A/N: haha sorry I had to put
that in there!) in a while so I brought it back with me, as well as some
other stuff you used to use," she smiled as Riquo giggled insanely. Riquo
reached over and hugged Kagome tightly, "Thank
you! I've missed using this so much. Hell, I've missed you! We had some great
times!" she laughed as they reminisced on old times. Sango coughed gently and
then pointed to the jar when she had their attention.
"What is that? It doesn't look like
anything I've ever seen Kagome bring back before."
"This is a special mixture Kagome's
mom used to make for me. You see, demons or half demons don't like to wash
themselves with anything that might cover up their natural scent. My scent is
mangos and night air," she held up her hand at Sango's questioning look, "it's
confusing I know. But if you ever take in the scent of the day and compare with
the scent of the night, it's different. Well, her mom would smash up
mangos and then leave the mixture outside at night so it could soak up that
scent. And amazingly enough it matches my scent perfectly and intensifies it.
And I've had to make my own ever since I left."
Sango looked at her for awhile and
then laughed, "You demons will never cease to amaze me."
Riquo smiled and made a face. They proceeded to wash their hair and
bodies silently until curiosity got the best of Riquo.
"Hey Kagome, I heard Inuyasha say
something about 'shard hunting?' Does he mean the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls?"
Kagome nodded, "Yea, that's a long
story too but-"
"Oh no, I know about all that," she
chuckled to herself playing with her wet hair, "word gets around fast among
demons. I know what happened to the shard. What I don't get is why Inuyasha is
making you gather the shards with him. Is he doing it to make you feel bad or
something?"
Sango laughed, "It sure seems like it
the way he acts towards her."
Kagome nodded, "Yea, but actually I
can sense the jewel fragments so he has me find them and then he retrieves
them."
Riquo nearly slipped under the water,
"So he's just using you!! No way, Kagome that's not fair!" Riquo seethed.
"No, no, I'm responsible for the
jewel being broken so I felt it only proper for me to put them back together
again. Besides, you know what happens when bad demons get a hold of them."
"Yea, ok. But it seems like he
treats everyone like garbage. Why?"
Kagome and Sango both shrugged,
"That's just Inuyasha." Not satisfied with the answer she got, she made a mental
note to ask him later.
Riquo sighed with content as she took
in her surroundings. The tall trees and bushes surrounding her and the clear
blue sky. Birds could be heard above her head and this wind felt good going
through her ears. She sighed again, I wish I could go home...I miss my home,
so beautiful compared to this ugly forest. I miss the beach and running through
the jungle.
Riquo glanced at Sango and opted to
try again with her questions, "So, Sango, what did you do
before you joined this little shard-hunting group?"
"Um, well I was part of a demon
exterminator village," Sango grimaced as she saw Riquo's eyes widen in concern,
mostly for herself.
"No, we only exterminated demons that
were reported to us as dangerous. We were pretty successful until…."
Riquo looked at her, noticing the
pain in her eyes. She sniffed the air, confirming that Sango's scent had
definitely changed to one of deep pain.
"You don't have to tell me, Sango. I
understand that you've had some pain in your life, and it's none of my
business."
Sango sighed and closed her eyes as
Kilala, who had been resting on the edge of the bank, reached over from her
perch and nuzzled Sango's head trying to give some consolation. Then she looked up
and shook her head, "No, you deserve to know about it."
Then Kagome turned to her and said,
"In fact, you need to know about us all if you're going to be traveling with
us," she smiled as Riquo smiled sheepishly in gratitude. I guess that
means I have somewhere to stay. That might be a relief...
And so they told her everything.
About Miroku's ancestor's cursed hand and how Naraku tricked them as well. And
about Sango's entire village being slaughtered and her brother being used as a
puppet, because of Naraku. But at the mention of Inuyasha and Kikyo deceiving
each other, Riquo let out a vicious snarl, baring her teeth and scaring Sango
and Kagome speechless.
"Ri, what's wrong? Why are you so
mad?"
"You said Kikyo right? The undead
priestess walking around stealing dead women's souls?"
Kagome nodded, unsure of whether she
should have kept her mouth shut on the issue.
"I hate her! She's a thief and a
murderer and she needs to burn in hell!!!"
Kagome glanced at Sango and nodded
for her to say something instead, "How do you know of Kikyo? Why do you hate her
so much?"
Riquo hissed, "After Naraku murdered
my mother, Kikyo came by with her soul serpents, stealing my mother's soul. She had the soul
snatchers hang onto it until she found me, and then made me watch her absorb
it," she wiped away her black tears and sighed, "I swore on my
mother's grave that
I would send her to hell."
Kagome winced at that, "Um, Ri,
honey, there's a problem with that. For one, Inuyasha still loves Kikyo and
would flip at the thought, and…I'm her reincarnation. She goes, I go…"
Riquo snorted, "First of all babe,
Inuyasha will have to get over it. This bitch has been nothing but trouble to
him. Besides from what she's told me during all of our encounters, she ASKED
Naraku to kill Inuyasha fifty years ago so he could get the jewel. But he went a
little overboard on their deal and killed her too. Though he still didn't get
the jewel."
Kagome and Sango gasped at this,
"But, how…why would she still work with him if he killed her!?!?"
"Because she is one twisted chick. Anyway,
second of all, yes you are her reincarnation, but a reincarnation is a
continuation of someone else's life. And since she's walking around with part of
YOUR soul, she's considered undead. But if she died…again, you'd gain all of
your priestess powers as well as that missing part of your soul. But if she were to actually live again, with a body and
all of her soul, then you would die. And believe me that bitch has lived her
life and I'm here to make sure she doesn't live another one."
The two girls gawked at her. She was
serious. She absolutely did not care how attached Inuyasha was to Kikyo or vice
versa. She wanted her to burn in hell.
Sango glanced between Kagome and
Riquo, "Well, we should be heading back the guys are-"
Riquo suddenly sniffed the air
scowling and whirled around towards the village. Sango glared at her and then realized what she was doing. She
grabbed Hiraikotsu as Kagome loaded up with rocks.
"They're spying on us again! Damn
they're persistent!"
Riquo looked down at them and
laughed, "No, it's not that. But we do have a visitor back at the village."
Kagome looked around the forest,
wishing for the entire world she had senses that good, "Who?"
"Kouga," Riquo didn't miss the look
of delight that quickly flashed across Kagome's face before she quickly put a
frown on her face and groaned, "Inuyasha's going to try and kill him again. We
should get back to the village. You see, they don't get along because Kouga
wants me to be his woman," she snickered and smiled to herself.
If only…..
Riquo smiled, "Alright, let's go," she
got out of the hot spring and squeezed the water out of her hair. Sango and
Kagome followed suit.
Kagome glanced at Riquo's ensemble and
grinned while she watched Riquo get dressed, "By the way Riquo, I love your
outfit. Looks very islandy."
Riquo laughed at her terminology,
"Thank you. I see you're still wearing those silly school uniforms?"
Kagome shrugged, "They withstand a
lot of damage so why not?"
The three girls laughed and finished
dressing. Sango had just hitched her boomerang onto her back when Kilala growled
in the direction of the village.
Riquo looked where Kilala was
growling and sensed someone approaching at a fast rate and smiled to
herself. This ought to be interesting.
Kagome was humming to herself when
suddenly a gust of wind hit her face and someone snatched her hands up and
clutched them in their hands. Her head shot up and she allowed herself a small
smile, "Hey Kouga, how are you?"
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