Quartets couldn't get odder than the four-member party walking through ancient Japan's lovely environment and fields. Of course, no matter the situation they'd stick out like a sore thumb. A skimpily clad kunoichi at the lead, a sensual-kimono wearing dog girl, a boxer carrying a massive backpack for a schoolgirl, and said high school girl armed with a bow and arrows.
"Huh, that's odd." Yura stopped before an odd statue. It seemed like a traditional ginza statue, but it was badly made, as if drawn by a kid.
"Looks like some cheap knockoff." Naruko bluntly added her two cents cross-armed.
Currently wrapping the bandages on his hands, Haruto asked, "What's it doing in the middle of the road?"
"Wait." Naruko sniffed the air, "It's a trap!"
Right as she said so, the statue burst into smoke and what appeared before them was... a pink, circular... thing. It had big cartoonish eyes, stick limbs too short for it to move around, and floated. It also possessed a set of shark teeth as if drawn by a preschooler. Essentially, its existence could be described as a child's first attempt to make a monster after seeing a cereal infomercial and trying to make their own mascot.
"Beware, foolish mortals!" it said in an attempt to sound menacing, but the voice was so high-pitched that even Kagome just stared incredulously.
"Is it trying to be intimidating?" she asked out loud, "I kinda feel sorry for it."
"You've entered the domain of a great and powerful spirit! Leave the Shikon Jewel here with me or else I shall devour you!" it then started to nibble at the one he found the most intimidating in the group, Haruto. Said blond just arched a brow as the creature tried to bite his head but mostly annoyed him.
"Stop it." He said, still looking annoyed as he pinched its cheek.
It felt pain, "Ow! Ouch! Leggo!" tiny tears started to well up at the corners of its eyes.
"Listen, you seem to have been following us to know about the jewel, so explain yourself." Haruto pinched harder, and in doing so he revealed the creature's real form with a cloud of smoke.
An adorable kitsune was hanging from his pinching fingers by the fox's cheek. Instead of feet there were fox paws, a fluffy tail poked out of a hole on the back of his clothes, and atop a head of auburn hair stood two fox ears. Adding to that a cute bow to keep his ponytail in place and the fact the kitsune was tiny like a plushy made Kagome fight back the urge to hug it.
Haruto let go of the fox boy and allowed him fall on his behind. "Owowowow..." The young spirit muttered, wincing as he rubbed his red cheek.
"A fox yokai, a rather young one at that." Yura muttered, more eyeing his hair than his other peculiar traits. "We should probably ki—" when she glanced at Haruto's face, she could've sworn she saw a horrible aura form around him. Same for Kagome, though to a lesser extent albeit still frightening. "Q-question! Question him!" Yura said, immediately correcting herself nervously.
"Alright, brat." Naruko snarled, lifting the child up by his kimono so she could look him in the eyes. "Mind telling us why you thought it was a good idea to... attack us like that?" She couldn't have used the word attack any more loosely.
"I don't have to tell you anything!" The boy growled back, doing his best to seem not at all intimidated. He turned to Haruto again, who was making a gesture reminiscent of what he did to the boy just a few seconds ago. The fox child flinched. "But to answer your question, I need the Shikon jewel."
"What could an adorable child possibly want with that?!" Kagome exclaimed.
The boy narrowed his eyes at her. "First off, the term is handsome." Yura and Naruko gave him a deadpan stare while Haruto felt a sense of déjà vu.
The correction just made him all the more adorable to Kagome, So cute... must pat... she heard her inner-self mumble as if in a trance.
"And second, I'm on a quest for vengeance." This grabbed everyone's attention, especially Haruto's.
"Vengeance?" He gestured for Naruko to let him go and she did so uncaringly.
The boy dusted himself off and faced the group with a determined glare. "My name is Shippo. And for my father, I won't stop until I slay the Thunder Brothers for murdering him."
"Can you even fight?" Naruko bluntly asked.
"Let me show you!" Shippo threw a palm forward, a blast of azure fire getting Haruto on the shin.
"Ah! Hot!" he threw his leg back, and started patting it, but besides the heat there wasn't any sign of damage to his limb, "Huh?"
Realizing that everyone understood how weak he was, the fox boy tried to save face, "Oh... I can cover you in coal and watch you burn!"
Obviously, it didn't quite work out, "Little bugger." Yura groaned and grabbed him by the tail, "For harming my master—even if it pains me to call him that—, I shall be taking your lovely fur."
Narrowing his eyes, Haruto replied with, "Stiffen." Yura's body became a living statue, her eyes wide and her mouth twisted mid-yelp.
"W-Wait, you're this yokai's master!?" the kit asked in shock.
"Something like that." The boxer sighed, "Anyway, clench your teeth."
"What, why-ah-ah-ow!" yanking him with a swift pull out of Yura's hand wasn't pleasant.
"So..." the blond lifted the kitsune by his blue vest, "Can you—"
"W-Wait, sir!" The kit's words at the end of his exclamation confused the blond, who echoed it silently and questioningly as the fox spirit continued, "How strong are you!?"
"I'd say..." he hooked a thumb to Naruko, "She's as strong as me, though I'm getting stronger." He gave her a grin, which she replied with one of her own.
"Any time you wanna test that, say the word." She put a hand near her sheathed sword.
And then Shippo's next question was like a bomb, "So, a member of your harem is as strong as you?"
"What!?" all three girls exclaimed with various degrees of red on the face. Yura was still frozen, but her eyes turned furiously to the kit. Naruko's claws were up as she bared her teeth with pink dusting her cheeks. As for Kagome, she had to take a step back while trying not to look at anyone directly in the eyes.
Haruto tilted his head to the side with an annoyed sigh, "What a pain. I get this joke all around school with my fans following me..." he mumbled under his breath before addressing the kit, "They're not my harem. At least, with Kagome as an exception, you could've chosen some better girls to pair me up with."
Kagome blushed with a small smile and happily closed eyes, "Well, at least he has good taste."
"What're you talking about!?" Naruko was mad, puffing up her wonderful chest at him, "I'm plentiful womanly, much more than you deserve!"
He stared blankly at her, "Yeah, and if I ever wanted a kid, I'd choose girls like Kagome. You're definitely no mother material and Yura creeps me out with her hair fetish."
Both glared as best they could at him, which Shippo gleefully ignored, "Still, even if they're not your harem, to have them follow you as their master is impressive."
"Alright, pipsqueak!" Naruko growled at him, "Do not call him my master, I'm nobody's bitch! And most importantly, don't think that girl..." she aimed a finger at Kagome, "...is my equal. I am far more mature as well as better sculpted than such a bland woman."
A vein popped in the schoolgirl's forehead, "Excuse me!?" Naruko froze and immediately grabbed her necklace, "Run that by me again! I'll have you know there's at least a couple guys who talked to me!" she blushed, trying to glare with a rather bashful expression on her face that showed she was making that up.
Shippo didn't care, "So, despite how unruly they are, the fact they follow you shows you have to be strong, sir." He jumped up, extending his arms to his sides, "You got to be pretty impressive if a kitsune like you is capable to be with such a group and command one of them so easily."
"Kitsune, me?" Haruto repeated with a baffled expression, pointing a finger at his face, "Um, I am still human." His revelation shocked the kit.
"B-But those aura, your face, and even your hair!" the boy aimed a finger at the boxer's features, "Your everything screams fox, like a golden kitsune!"
"Huh, that could be a fun nickname for myself in the professional ring..." he mused calmly before shaking his head, "Anyway, no, I'm not a fox spirit. I'd probably have figured out if I was possessed by one. I mean, it's not like I have one hidden in my gut giving me super powers."
"Ugh, and I was hoping you could teach me your techniques..." Shippo groaned under his breath.
"Oh, you wanted to come along?" Kagome stepped forward, looking at the adorable kit, "Perhaps Haruto could teach you some boxing."
"Wait, what!?" both boys exclaimed.
"Yeah, I mean, we want to beat those Thunder Brothers, and he may know where they are." Then she leaned closer to Haruto, "Besides, it's best to keep an eye on him." She said in a barely audible voice.
"But he wants the Jewel..." he paused to let her get the hint.
"Do you think he'd be able to get it with everything, keeping it away from others?" she retorted and hinted with her eyes at their friends.
"Good point." He conceded while the kit stared at them intently. "Alright, Shippo, I guess I can teach you a couple things about throwing a proper punch."
"Yes!" the boy cheered.
"But before I do." Haruto went on, interrupting the younger demon's bout of cheering. "Tell us more about these Thunder Brothers."
Shippo nodded and his facial features hardened. "They're horrifying siblings with the powers of thunder and lightning. The older one is Hiten and the younger one is Manten..."
And not too far off, people could see how horrifying they were:
A young-looking man and a young-looking lizard man stood amongst a fallen army, almost all the corpses charred save for one, a lone and bleeding samurai general.
"So how many men was it this time?" The young man asked, lazily twirling his spear in his hand. He wore feudal armor with a light blue wrappings and orange pads and wrist guards. His eyes were red and his ebony hair was in a braided ponytail. "Gotta admit, they did better than the last bunch. Took us a second longer to roast them all!" He laughed.
"Indeed!" The lizard man agreed. He wore the same type of armor only he lacked the wrappings and his arm armor was deep blue. The most distinctive part of his clothing was a fox pelt wrapped around his waist. He had the same hair style, albeit showing much baldness, as in he only had a short pigtail and that was it. "I counted at least one hundred and fifty this time. They were finer samurai too."
"You damn... monsters." The general rasped, blood pouring from his mouth thanks to the hole in his chest.
"Monsters?" Hiten asked, a light yet cold smirk on his face as he picked up the dying man by his throat. "Maybe, but at least I'm young enough to move my neck with no trouble."
"What?" Those were the man's last words, for the demon set his spear down and bent the man's neck to an inhuman degree in the blink of an eye, a loud crack echoing through the momentarily silent field.
"Look at you, all stiff." He chortled before tossing the corpse away carelessly and picked up his spear. "Man, following us all this way, what was this fool thinking?"
"From the looks of it, Hiten, probably revenge." The lizard answered, now relaxing by a tree.
"Pointless. All we did was eat one girl." Hiten shook his head and shrugged. "An idiot to the end, right Manten?"
"Of course, but to be fair, I think that was his daughter." Manten answered, stroking a few loose hairs atop his head.
"Really now? His loss for not being strong enough." Hiten nonchalantly stated. "Get up, brother. From the looks of it, I think we're getting closer to the location of the Shikon jewel." He gave off a quiet chuckle and looked towards the sky. "I can feel it. Imagine our power with the jewel in our grasp."
"Even a demon like that woman wouldn't stand a chance." Manten hissed with enthusiasm, eager for power. "The thunder demon tribe will be rebuilt to its former glory."
Hiten turned to his brother. "Correction." He said with a grin. "A higher glory. One that bizarre priestess won't be able to comprehend or look down on with that stupid arrogance of hers."
"Kekeke... I can't wait, she did look like a fine meal." Manten cackled, holding up a fist, "But for her to tell us where the Jewel is..."
Hiten snockered darkly, "Doesn't matter, brother. Far as I care, she was just another bitch pleading for her life. Didn't you see how fast she ran off?"
"Heh, yeah, I must be overthinking things." He stroked his non-existent chin in thought, "Although... I wish I could've gotten her. Her hair was so long, it'd have worked for a wonderful hair potion."
"Always worrying about that, aren't you?" Hiten snickered, "Eh, don't even sweat it. Let's just hunt down those who have the Jewel."
"Right behind you."
Soon, both departed.
Only a lonely figure observed them, covered in fur, "It seems those two are too foolish to realize how outmatched they will be." the voice of an elderly woman said, cackling madly as if she were a fairy tale's witch, "Lovely, just lovely. I cannot wait to see this outcome... However, patience is still a virtue, and my body is in need of work..." a grin was flashed, "Although, I can't hardly wait to see horror in those eyes..."
Snapping her fingers, the old lady's body started to morph, becoming taller, more alluring, and far younger. Keeping the fur covering her, she turned as a shadow leapt over her.
It took flight, going after the brothers.
Needless to say, things were about to get far more complicated for Haruto.