Nobunaga?
Yes, wandering down the hills was none other than one of the very first friends Kagome and Inuyasha had made throughout their long and arduous journeys: Amari Nobunaga, a goodhearted albeit thickheaded ronin with absolutely no sense of direction.
Kagome could identify him from afar; his azure colored kimono and jet-black hair flowing forward in bangs and also plaited from behind. She bet he had those same clueless brown eyes- and there was no doubt his little monkey companion was resting on his shoulder at the minute. But once Nobunaga stumbled even further, giving Kagome a clearer view of the unaware wanderer, she gasped in sheer shock.
Since she had last laid eyes on him, easily a year or two ago (in feudal time, that is), Nobunaga had changed dramatically, at least in terms of weight!
It seemed that the closer Nobunaga ventured toward Kagome and company, the more remarkable of a size increase it turned out he had undergone.
Even from more than thirty yards away, Kagome could begin to make out the fact that his blue kimono was left open, leaving a large, round tummy exposed for all the world to see.
“My goodness …” Kagome choked watching the now pudgy boy descend from the hills.
“What’cha looking at, Kagome?” Shippo chirped from Kagome’s shoulder carrying a pork dumpling in his paw.
“Inuyasha,” Kagome blurted, pointing incredulously to the approaching figure, “Is that Nobunaga?
“Nobu-whaa-whaa?” Inuyasha growled in between stuffing his face with dumpling and ramen.
“Nobunaga,” Kagome reminded the hanyou, “Remember? He was the brave young samurai who was in love with the princess in that one village whose lord, also her husband, was possessed by a demon?”
“Meh,” he yawned, rubbing his filling belly, “Doesn’t stand out to me. Sounds like almost every other village we stop by.”
Kagome gave Inuyasha an irritated glance.
She took a closer glance at the approaching boy and saw an uncharacteristic concerned look on his face, in contrast to his usual carefree nature, “He doesn’t look very well either. I think something might be wrong with him. Maybe we can find out and help,” she thought to herself.
Just then, Nobunaga approached the group in earshot.
“Is that you, Nobunaga?” Kagome waved, unable to completely wipe a small look of bewilderment from her face.
Hearing his name called, Nobunaga turned his head to see the group picnicking beside a group of tree. Confusion soon etched its way across his face, “Uhm…”
But in an instant, memories started flooding in his head. The identity of the girl dressed in an odd green and white outfit, currently calling his name, and waving to him was coming back to him.
… Oh yes, her name was Kagome! A year or so ago she and a hanyou, Inuyasha, had helped him infiltrate Lord Fuyama’s castle and stop his frog demon-possessed self from devouring the soul of his beloved Princess Tsuyu . . .
“Ah, Tsuyu…” Nobunaga sighed, his little heart fluttering, “What wouldn’t I do for you. Tsuyu, Princess Tsuyu…” he rustled, eyes closed in lamentation.
When they finally opened, he found the girl in green and white glaring back at him, “Nobunaga?”
Kagome shook her head. At least he was the same on the inside; that was for sure.
Nobunaga looked a little flustered, “Kagome?”
***
Having led Nobunaga to their picnic, Kagome picked out an instant food bowl for him, which he instantly tried to pick apart to instantly get food.
“This tastes like ice,” Nobunaga mumbled, his tongue frozen to an ice-cold piece of chicken. Kagome just shook her head.
“Just let me cook this first, okay?” she asked, taking the bowl away from him as he tried to crunch the frozen chicken bit to pieces. Apparently, his initial encounter with potato chips, a future food Kagome brought that he seemed to like, didn’t prepare him the strange ways of other bizarre foods of the future.
Now that she was setting his food on a flame before him, she could get a close survey of Nobunaga’s appearance.
Something was going on. He wasn’t his previous svelte, happy self. He was definitely anxious, definitely plump now and had definitely put on at least a hundred pounds by her estimates- not that Kagome’s Sacred Jewel comprehending powers extended into weight guessing territories only the carnival populace dared to venture. His face had grown rounder since long ago; Nobunaga was on the verge of fully growing into a double chin. His lavender robes as well as the upper half of his blue kimono had been left open, just like a Hawaiian shirt; this allowed his soft, pale, beach ball sized belly punctuated only by a deep navel in the center to drape lazily below his obi-line. And Kagome noticed while the lower half of his flowing kimono still was bound; it did seem a smidgen tight, not to mention the once loose line that held the young samurai’s sword was taut against his waistline. She could only conclude his tush and legs had bulked up since..
“So this is the fabled Amari Nobunaga,” Miroku remarked coolly, gently sipping a dish-shaped cup of green tea with a single overturned hand
Nobunaga scratched his head and fed his snowy monkey associate a morsel of the instant curry Kagome had provided for him, “Huh?” he blinked.
“Well, you see,” Kagome started, “During all our journeys to and from the next village or to some sacred site, castle, or the like we usually camp out. And it does get quite boring just eating and jeering at each other out here in the wilderness.”
Sango nodded, “So after dinner every night, we end up telling stories around the campfire, sometimes even our own variations on past adventures.”
“It has the power of turning even the most ominous of forests into a warm, calm sanctuary,” Miroku affirmed.
Kagome smiled. It was true. What made it even more special was that it helped them grow closer together. Everyone knew each other so well and everyone had their own style of telling stories. Surprisingly, Sango was excellent in her delivery, techniques of suspense, and had a vast memory containing hundreds of folklore tales passed down to her from the demon village where she was raised. Predictably, Miroku was very Shakespearean in both mood and content. Shippo was like a standup comedian in the respect that he liked to go on little rants, subject to subject. And Inuyasha, well…
“Inuyasha never tells stories,” Shippo chirped, “Because he has the creativity of a rock.”
“Shut it, runt,” Inuyasha growled, bopping Shippo in the head.
“Oww…” the little fox demon moaned, “… Sure, that one was real original…” he remarked snidely, glaring up at the hanyou.
Again, Kagome took a double take of Nobunaga. She still couldn’t get over how much he had mysteriously blimped up over the course of even a year. Kagome wanted to find out what had befallen Nobunaga, what had him so distraught, but she didn’t want to be rude.
But Nobunaga had gotten remarkably plump, meaning it was impossible for him to be seen without bringing about remarks, so Inuyasha got right to it and saved her the discourtesy.
“Hey you!” Inuyasha yapped, “What happened to you? Why are you such a freakin’ fat-“
“Inuyasha!” Kagome scolded.
“Hey, I’m no brat!” Nobunaga exclaimed.
“Huh? I didn’t say that” he scowled back, “I said why have you suddenly gotten fat?”
“I’ve suddenly gotten that… that… that what?” he blinked, cocking his head.
“Fat!” Inuyasha barked.
“Rat?” Nobunaga repeated, before grabbing his monkey friend, “He’s not a rat!”
Inuyasha fumed and just poked him repeatedly in the belly.
“No, you idiot, fat!”
Nobunaga just blinked cluelessly, as if nothing had happened.
Inuyasha gritted his fangs and grabbed Nobunaga by his shoulder and started poking his large belly repeatedly, “Grr… don’t you just ignore me!”
“Eeeh. Why are you touching me?” Nobunaga squirmed, a little alarmed.
“Inuyasha, sit, boy!” Kagome snapped, forcing Inuyasha to come crashing to the ground.
Whimpers of pain aside, Kagome ignored the hanyou and asked Nobunaga kindly, “Nobunaga, could you please explain why you… well, why you’ve gotten kind of chubby since we’ve last seen you?”
Nobunaga blinked. Then he kept on staring at Kagome, “What?”
“Well, Nobunaga, you’ve put on a few since we’ve seen you last. What happened?”
As if it slipped out one ear and out another, Nobunaga blinked and continued to look at Kagome, “What?”
Kagome sighed, getting a little frustrated herself, “Nobunaga-“
“Just a minute, Kagome,” Miroku interrupted, rising from his cross-legged position. He grasped one of Nobunaga’s hands and looked clearly right into his eyes. For a second, Kagome was afraid Miroku had actually been drinking sake and was about to propose to him.
“Nobunaga,” he repeated, loud and clear, “Kagome says you’ve gained weight since she last met you. Can you tell us any reason why you’ve put on so much weight?”
Again, like the words didn’t even enter his stream of awareness, Nobunaga just kept on staring, as if still waiting for Miroku to say something, “… What?”
Miroku walked over to Kagome and whispered, “Clearly, Nobunaga isn’t understanding, or even hearing what we’re saying when it’s in regards to his weight. I think he might even be completely unaware of it.”
Once more, he turned to Nobunaga, clearly enunciating, “Can you at least tell us what’s the matter?”
“Oh yes,” Nobunaga cheered, as if someone had offered to help him with a deep burden, “I desperately need to get to a holy site before the new moon starts to wax,” Nobunaga explained, “But despite my long journey through the land, I haven’t found it. Hopefully, I’m only a few miles away, but I haven’t seen its peaks in the distance. Perhaps you’ve heard of it- Mount Hakurei?”
“Yes,” Miroku stated tentatively, “Well, I’m afraid to say you have more than a few miles to go… in fact, you have to travel several days as the crow flies before you’ll get to see the peaks as you’ve mentioned.”
“What?” Nobunaga exclaimed before groaning morosely, “But I had been following the signs to go east.”
“The road you were going down is due west,” Miroku added sadly.
“But the sun rises in the west!” Nobunaga exclaimed on the verge of tears.
The red-orange rays of the dying sun stained the sky as it was setting (in the west, of course).
“Nobunaga,” Sango stepped in, “Not to be rude, but why do you need to get to Mount Hakurei in such a hurry?”
Nobunaga took a breath and composed himself, “I’m afraid I’m under a terrible curse,” he sighed, “that is so terrible, I’m not even entirely sure of what it’s doing to me.”
Miroku looked at Kagome. Behind them, Inuyasha hastily threw together a stack of dry wood that Shippo ignited with his foxfire.
Nobunaga sat his wide haunch down on a stump before the new campfire and sighed.
“Nobunaga, could you tell us a story tonight?” Miroku asked, “Your story?”
With all eyes on him ready to listen, Nobunaga nodded, trying to think up where to start.
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