197 5.86 The Wonder 8 Traverse Towards Haga District on Tochigi.

I checked the pocket watch on my neck and it showed just slightly 7 am and the sun that was already past the horizons welcomed us in its warm rays of sunshine. We made our pace moderately and planned to make a few pitstops to replenish our water supply as we would finish our supplies faster than intended.

We walked out of our little town and heads towards the direction of Aizuwakamatsu where we followed the Aga River that leads right to our destination. If we have a wooden raft, then we would easily traverse through the rivers instead of walking down the riverside. The idea of having a raft would make our journey faster since it is flowing downriver.

We walked until its nearly 1030 am when we first had our break. There is ample fresh water supply and we ate our onigiri and grilled fish for our break since we knew we would be reaching some settlements that offer some refreshments along the way.

We rested for a while before we continued our journey towards Mount Jeans Nasu. There was a slight elevation and Kikyo soon found this there were quite a number of herbs found near the area that grew in abundance. There were herbs and plants that had not been seen at Kitakata little town, and she picked several of them as we walked through the mountainside.

We reached the foot of the mountain past 2 pm and headed to a settlement not too far from the path that we were walking. There were wisps of smoke from the chimneys of several houses and we made a beeline towards them. Fortunately, we had our early lunch of onigiri and grilled fish and we weren't that hungry, except we need to stretch our legs first for a short while.

The settlement was called Nishigo and had a population of over a 1000 residents there. It is a small settlement that was independent and catches fish for their livelihood and grows crops at the terraces of the mountainside such as rice since the water from the rivers were easily irrigated to supply for their crops.

There is a small tavern and we stepped inside for our meal of steamed rice, grilled fish (again!) and some stir-fried greens. We had green tea afterwards and rested our legs after the long hike through the Mount Jeans Nasu. We paid the owner and continued our journey ahead.

"It is going to be dark soon, we try to cover as much distance as possible and by looking at your time, we should stop by 530-6pm before dusk so we could gather some wood and set up camp."

Hiko-sama advised and we all agreed and we could do away without any supper and we could fish if we wanted to, as we would be camping near the river. We soon reached a fork between Yosasa and Kuro River and decided to pitch the tent while the rest picked firewood for our fires tonight.

There were some fruit-bearing trees and there were Kaki and Kinkan for us to pick. The kaki was good enough to eat on its own, but the Kinkan was a bit sourish and which made everyone cringe their faces after taking a couple of slices. However, we soon find out that the softer the Kinkan, the sweeter it is. So the ones we picked which were a bit harder to peel were thrown into our packs to be eaten much later.

We rested on the big tarpaulin sheet as the sky above were filled with glimmering stars that indicate that the weather ahead would be fine with no indication of rain. Inuyasha kept watching nearby with Kikyo sitting near the Riverside. Kikyo had her bow and arrows and would be able to take action once Inuyasha smelled any hostile demonic scent coming towards our encampment.

Sango and Hoshi-sama were sitting near the fireplace while Kohaku, Shippo, Kirara, Hachi and I were rolling about on the ground and watched Shippo took some of his toys to entertain us. There was this toy with a cup on each end of the handle and a ball attached to a piece of string at one end. I have forgotten the name of the toy, which you need to toss the ball and catch it in one of the cups.

When it was my turn to try it out, I made the ball with the attached string to be acrobatically twirled in my hand and ends up in the cup. I also used my twinkie to flick the string like a Yoyo and makes the ball into the cup. They were surprised at what I could do to the toy to make it more enjoyable to play with.

"Is this toy also be used as a weapon?" I asked since it was quite insignificant for the toy to be a weapon when Shippo imbued it with an acorn.

"Not really, this is my collection of toys... Hehehehe. I do not have anyone to play with and my father.... *ahem* my father made this for me." the mentioned of Shippo's father made him choke a little and he quickly dismissed it.

"Come, look at this spinning top... Its a toy and also a weapon of illusion." I held the small top with a flat head and I used the guiding rope to wound it against the sides, rather than the bottom part of the top. I explain that this would make the top spin faster. When I released it on the ground, I used the rope and flicked it up in the air to everyone's amazement. I took a silver coin and held in it my palm and I did the same manoeuvre again, this time landing it on my palm on top of the coin.

The bottom nail was quite sharp and by using the coin, it sort of turned to be a gyroscopic stabilisation effect. Since it landed on my palm, I showed how I could turn it on the back of my hand and I made a short throw upwards, took the coin and place it on the back of my hand and I caught the spinning top directly on it. Shippo was literally clapping his little hands and remarked I could have so much fun with it.

Next, I stood up and dropped the spinning top on the top of my foot and juggle with it on the other foot. Inuyasha and the rest came over to look as I took turns juggling the spinning top on my thick tabi and then drop it on the ground before it slowly loses its stabilisation gyroscopic effect.

Shippo was clapping his hands and he never imagined that his toys could be so much fun to play with and gave him more ideas.

"Hahahaha... I am used to playing with these toys, Shippo. In fact, I grew with them in my childhood. It had been years since I played with them too... I..... Aya-yai...! "

I didn't realise I made a blunder in my speech that made everyone looked at me in wonder except for Hoshi-sama. Everyone wanted me to explain further and Inuyasha made a body gesture that I find it funny then I laughed and changed the subject.

"Shippo, you do have a lot of wonderful toys that could entertain you for hours right? Like this, it's a kind of toy but can be used as a weapon too but this toy has a longer string which is unsuitable for your height. But I think you can manage this."

I took a toy that almost looked like a Yoyo but was shaped like a spool for a thread. I took it and stood up while making a loop with the string on my middle finger. I flicked my wrist and made the spool rolled down and when I jerked it back, the momentum rolled the spool upwards.

I made it fling behind me and I snapped the spool to spin faster forward from a downward angle, making it spin 360 degrees around my sides when I caught it in my hands.

"See that Shippo, if you imbued your yoki, this toy here would be used as a close-ranged weapon like Kohaku's kurisagama. Here Kohaku, give this a try, it works like a kurisagama where you threw and flicked it back to you and be careful, this spool spins faster on its return."

Kohaku tried the 'thread spool' yo-yo and was delighted that this toy was not only enjoyable to play with but also could turn into a weapon. I asked Shippo how could he handle this top when he was so close to the ground and told us that he would stand on a tree stump and played with it.

Kohaku handed the spool back to me and I showed Shippo how to 'walk the dog', do the 'loop the loop' and also a 'pendulum' while the spool was still spinning on the end of the string. I handed it back to Shippo and asked him if he intends to make the string shorter for its own use but then Shippo had other ideas.

He said, "Walk the dog...just like walking Inuyasha? Hahahaha... Hehehehe... Himura, you're so funny at making up names for this game!" Shippo rolled on the ground laughing so hard and we all wondered what is going on in his imaginative mind while he tried to sit on Kirara and jokingly said, "Let's walk the cat too... Hahahaha..."

We all laughed at Shippo's antics but Inuyasha took it slightly to heart and asked if Shippo was hungry. When the latter said he was, Inuyasha gave a knuckle sandwich on the latter's head and he began to bawl as the bullying starts once more. Kikyo pulled on Inuyasha's doggy ears and warned him sternly and jokingly at the same time while Kohaku tried to relieve the bump on Shippo's head by gently blowing on it.

It was a lighthearted moment for us all. We made light supper by grilling all the sweet potatoes that we had and ate them when the outer skin was charred. It was nice and Kikyo helped in making tea for us. While Kikyo was pouring tea for me, she asked me if I liked Izumi or not.

I told her casually that it was the first time Izumi had reacted in that manner and I inadvertently kissed her lips and held her closer to me. When I was saying this, I saw Kikyo face flared a little. Maybe I spoke too casually that her feel embarrassed since her lover is just a foot or two away and listening in.

Hoshi-sama was listening in too and advised me about taking care of a woman's feelings. Never to give false hopes and never to undermine them.

Hahahaha. He was the total opposite of the Miroku that we all knew in the anime and manga series.

Shippo asked me what was the kiss felt like and I said it is like pinaatsubata on toasted bread. He laughed and then he looked at me as if he wanted to ask me something. I asked what's the matter that he needs to ask but he said nevermind to me since he decides to ask me at a later stage.

"I think this little guy is thinking about the girl he liked back in our little town." I thought to myself as everyone finished their tea and baked sweet potatoes. "I'm going to prepare sweet corn for breakfast tomorrow, so I would boil them tonight and we can have them tomorrow and need not wait for it to be cooked."

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They all agreed and passed their portion of sweet corns with its ears and all while I took water from the river, stoked more firewood and set the pot aside with 8 corns inside it. Kirara doesn't eat corn so we made grilled fish that we had caught using our hook and line with some healthy and wriggly earthworms that we dug beside the riverbank.

In fact, we had made enough grilled fish even for tomorrow. It is good to stock up on food as we could eat grilled fish on our way towards Haga District. It would take another day and a few stops before we reach it.

After settling the pot of sweet corns and using its radiating heat to slowly boil the water in the pot, we all settled down and rested. Shippo sauntered near my head and asked, "Himura, what does it feel to fall in love with someone?"

"Oh, it's a nice, warm fuzzy feeling when you are thinking about that someone and also being close to her. You can get for the gifts that you crafted on your own or buy them in other towns. In case you need some coins, don't be shy to ask. I have enough for this trip."

"What kind of gifts a girl would like? I mean, if I were to craft one for her."

"Oh... You can take a piece of wood and whittle something like a greeting or a phrase like 'LOVE' or 'BEAUTIFUL' or anything you could think of. It would look like how a carving should be."

"Or you can find those rocks near a quarry and find one that looks like a heart, or if you're good at chipping stones, you can make a phrase like 'Forever Yours'..."

"Hehehehe... Thank you, Himura. I can't chip at stones but I think I could use my Fox Fire to carve it. Goodnight then... Thank you for the tips."

"Hehehe...No problem, Shippo. Goodnight everyone. We will wake up by first light and move out after breakfast."

Everyone wished each other goodnights as well and soon we all fell asleep except for Inuyasha, whose ears were pricked for any intruders.

+-==The next morning==-+

We went about our tasks as I made a small fire and warmed the water in the pot. I sprinkled a bit of salt that I had brought along into the pot. As the fire died off, the embers heated the pot and the contents, while soon we were chewing in sweet corns in the morning.

After breaking camp, we walked along the stream and headed towards our next stop, Takaoka village that nearly took us half a day. Since we had grilled fish from the night before, we trudged on and soon reached the small village where we could at last stretch our legs.

The settlement doesn't have a tavern and we requested if they could serve any lunch and we would gladly pay for it. Considering that there are 9 of us including Kirara, we requested for steamed rice and other stuff.

Hearing that the food served would be paid by us, a simple dish was prepared. We welcomed it even though it was steamed rice and miso soup which there were lotus roots, yam and tapioca. We gave the owner some of our yam and some coins to compensate for the lunch.

We asked how far is it towards our next destination and was told that it would take an hour since the next town we would be reached was only about 5 kilometres away.

We thanked the owner that had accommodated us for lunch and made our way and before noon, we had reached Haga District and asked for the chief. We introduced ourselves and told them we were on foot and thus we were late.

However, the chief informed us that we weren't late because the chief later stated that a giant turtle would be seen in the rivers and destroying their bamboo fish traps and eating the fishes within. It had a knobby outer shell and would normally be seen after midnight. The fishes that were caught would normally be a native salmon that would be moving upstream to spawn.

With the presence of the youkai turtle, it would scare the fishes away and also be destroying the fish traps and eating the fishes up. Normally these traps were laid by the local fisherman before they leave by dawn and return during daybreak to check in their catch.

After explaining that the youkai turtle would only be seen after midnight, they took the opportunity to have a rest there and waited for the time to strike. Hoshi-sama planned to snare the youkai and exterminate by destroying its yoki. He later explained that this youkai had somehow manifested from its original form.

The chief welcomed us into his home where we could have a rest and enjoy afternoon tea. His house was a two-storey mansion and had spare rooms on the ground floor. At least we were in a more relaxed environment and planned on how we would deal with this youkai tonight.

The chief informed us that it had appeared nightly and hoped that the threat would be eliminated soon. He bade us have a rest before dinner and went about his business, leaving us to discuss the best way to deal with it.

Soon we had the best approach on dealing with this troublesome youkai since Sango, Kohaku and Hoshi-sama would be involved. When things get out of hand then Kikyo, Inuyasha and I would be involved. They would try out the first method and if it works, then it would be safe to move into the next one.

Once we had successfully tackled this matter, we would be heading to the next one also from Tochigi Prefecture and this time it was from Motegi of the Haga District. They were saying a large earthworm-like youkai had burrowed through their vegetation fields and created a few sinkholes in them.

Although it doesn't seem to threaten the humans, its burrowing had destroyed part of their livelihood and there's more than one sinkhole that the youkai had created and it is been troublesome for the villagers to produce enough vegetables to supply.

Dinner was served and it was sumptuous. There were steamed salmon, stir-fried green vegetables, baked eggplant, whole eggs cooked in yellow curry with potatoes and steamed rice. We ate dinner and Kirara shared the meal too, and even though its a nekomata if rice was served, it will still eat it as long as there's fish in it.