Inuyasha:The third sword

Inside the huge corpse that Totosai uses as a home, there are three people. The first is Asahiko, who at some point has made some scales appear next to him, the second is Kikyo who simply listens to the conversation and the third is the owner of the house. 

"Just letting you know, but even if you ask me I don't know how to use that sword."

Scratching his bald head that surely glistens in the sun, Totosai speaks quickly, as if he already knows the topic at hand in question. 

"You really are unreliable when it comes to me. Whatever, that's not why I came here, as I've already fixed it with a little extra help."

"Okay, okay, I'll fix that. Wait, you've fixed it!"

"You damn old creep, jump off the top before I stab you!"

Hitting Totosai with a kick to the face as he lunges at himself upon hearing the news, Asahiko then pierces him with a look of contempt, though this has no effect. 

Totosai seems fully ready to return to the charge again, as his eyes seem to glow and his whole being prepares for this sacrifice. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but Totosai is a master blacksmith, he lives by and for blacksmithing, which makes the riddle of Asahiko's sword call out to him. 

"Stop it, stop it, stop looking at me with those eyes, I don't have it."

"What did you do with the sword, boy!"

"I swear I'm going to beat the crap out of you when you get out of this state. I couldn't use it, or maybe I could... Whatever, Kikyo is using it."

Pointing her finger at Kikyo who has remained ever silent, Asahiko puts on a "Come on go ask, let's see what she does to you" face, getting the ecstatic Totosai to calm down. 

"Miss..."

"Heart or chest?"

Without letting Totosai finish speaking, Kikyo's soft voice echoes in the depths and causes Totosai to be left with a confused face. 

"What?"

"The arrow, where do you want it, in the heart or chest?"

"Sorry."

Even the blacksmith's instinct couldn't in the face of Kikyo's cold words, making Totosai can only accept the loss and turn his attention back to Asahiko. 

...Christopher/Asahiko pov....

"Do you understand, Totosai? It should be something stylish, not like Inuyasha's clothes, but more like Sesshōmaru's."

Stating my wishes, or would it be imposing? Since Totosai has no say... Whatever, the thing is, he made it very clear what I want for the wardrobe and he won't be able to refuse.

"With, with that?"

"Of course not, these scales are a special material, that one that's used in small quantities... All the other materials, well, they'll have to go on their own."

"Because, ahvvg!"

Hitting Totosai who was trying to come to his feet, even going so far as to make his opinion known, I leave him with a mental scar and speak again. 

"Do you think so little of me, Totosai? Of course I'm not going to make you look for the materials, you'll just give me a list and I'll look for them on my own."

"Why, why, why didn't you say so before?"

"I just wanted to hit you, didn't I, Asahiko?"

"Kikyo, Kikyo... It's not hitting for the sake of hitting, it's about the ancestral method of the carrot and stick."

Nodding my head, I give a very eloquent explanation for the things I'm doing. I really just wanted to beat him up for being so untrustworthy, plus for wrecking my fun by giving up so quickly and getting out of the wall. 

With that said, he held up his index finger and twirled it in a full circle to get his attention. After a small flash of white covering everyone's view, Onmyōji's usual clothing changes to something more refined. 

For the lower area it is a pristine white full hakama, without any dirt. For the upper area an equally white kosode is used, although the sleeves are longer than the arm and the width as well, achieving that there is no kind of limitation to movement. Over these garments appears an armor of scales that covers the chest and for the feet black boots with the hakama inside.

"All white?"

"Not everything, the boots are black, plus it looks amazing on me. Just look at my blonde hair, blue eyes and white clothes... I'm perfect."

Puffing out my chest and raising my head to the sky, just as if I were a peacock showing off its feathers, I reply to Kikyo who keeps her face stoic with no difference. 

"Ye, Y, Yes you can do that... Why do you need me?"

"Because it's fake, it's not real. It's just the same clothes, only with an illusion on top, like a mirage."

Sighing at how hard life is, Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha have amazing clothes and I'm still here in tattered clothes that make my skin itch... God bless my illusions and being able to erase certain senses. 

"So that's why I've never seen you in other clothes, they were different, only with the same illusion on top."

"Umm, um, but if you want to see me in another outfit just tell me, I'm more than willing to satisfy you... Okay, I'll stop talking now."

"That was smart of you."

Wiping off the fake sweat and giving a death glare to Totosai who looks at me with an expression of: "You're just like Inuyasha, they dominate them", I snap my fingers and ask him the obvious. 

"Now before I run out of the good stuff, tell me Totosai, what materials do you think you need to do this?"

"Ehh... Ehhh... The scales are clearly for armor, though they can also go inside the hakama and kosode for more strength. Then for the garments you can use thread from a spider yokai, white, resistant to anything normal and comfortable."

"I like what you paint, Totosai. Now just tell me where I can find that and each to his own business."

Totosai's smile at hearing the last part of my words made me for a few moments want to punch him, but I didn't, of course I wanted to... But I wasn't going to give in to those base desires. 

Taking that out of the equation, Totosai scratches his bald patch of hair and seems to fall into mildly serious thoughts. I guess he's a bit reliable, at least when it comes to work. 

"Weak spider yokai, they have a hunting area and won't move easily from that place. Maybe in abandoned temples, mountains on lightly traveled roads and such."

"Basically where people disappear easily and no one notices."

I guess I'm going to have to follow the classic horror stories the shopkeepers talk about, they must already know where strange things happen... Or I just go that way and try my luck. 

"Yes, that's right."

"Perfect, now it's time to run towards... Kikyo, which way do we go so we don't run into those moths?"

I'm not... Bad with directions, but Kikyo is much better at guiding herself than I am, whether it's by the stars at night or with a spectacular memory. 

"Towards."

"Where to, moths!" 

"You better have a good explanation for having interrupted me!"

The pig squeal spreads throughout the room, getting both Kikyo and I to make a displeased face, which makes Totosai shudder. Perhaps threatening wasn't the best thing Kikyo could have done, though she probably just spoke without a filter.

"Those yokai named Hyōga? Maybe a... a... Mano, Chew, Menōmaru, that 's his name?"

"I really don't even remember, Kikyo, anything to add?"

Obviously it's not that I'm afraid because of the saying "The more you know, the more likely it is to happen", but maybe, just maybe it's better not to know... Kikyo, no!!!. 

"She named him Ruri, the one who was pitted against me. She called him Master Menōmaru, but she never spoke of Hyōga."

"So he's the son of that invader, but it was certain that..."

"No, no, Totosai. Now go on with the story, since I'm interested now."

Cowed by the murderous look I was giving him earlier, Totosai chokes on his words and tries to stop talking, though he now has my full attention. 

"Menōmaru and Hyōga are both great moth-like Daiyoukai, but that's not what's important, it's that their origins are."

"Origins?"

Forming a : (?) sign above my head with a simple illusion, I stand waiting for Totosai to continue with his explanation.

"They are not from this land, but come from outside... beyond the sea that separates us from the mainland."

"Chinese, Koreans, maybe they were Mongolians? But not them!"

"That's right! The humans came from something called the Mongol Empire and the yokai from all over Asia. I remember correctly, since Master Inu no Taisho went to fight them."

Staring slightly open-mouthed at this revelation, literally this old man was alive during the cursed Mongol Empire... He's a living relic. 

"The battle between the two of them was so great that a massive storm formed over the Mongol troops, devouring, destroying and wiping out all their men."

"Wait right there, you're saying that storm was made by them! That one called Kamikaze by humans... Wow, just wow!"

I don't want to exaggerate but Wow, what the hell did I just hear? Basically a historical fact was created by one man... Wow, damn, what an amazing thing. 

"That's right, Master Inu no Taisho was amazing, not for nothing was he one of the strongest and most famous Daiyoukai in all of Japan."

"Tsk, another sellout, just like Saya."

Clicking his tongue at Totosai's lowering gaze, he dropped that business of being loyal followers and I moved on to the topic at hand.