Chapter 1
The Newcomer
Three years.
It had been three years since she left.
Looked about his surroundings, a troubled half-demon looked about form his seat on the raged fence. He reached up into his snow-white hair and scratched into his pointed dog-ears. Inuyasha grumbled to himself and looked around again. He had already checked the Bone Eater's Well earlier, finding nothing, of course, and now he had nothing to do but wait.
"They should be here by now," the man muttered. "It's alright past noon, and they said they'd be here."
Just as he slipped off the fence, a couple came walking over the hill, two perfect twins following. The woman was beaming at the bundle in her arm, and it lovingly cooed back, drawing the attention of the man beside them as well.
"It's about time you all got here," the half-demon growled. "I've been waiting all morning for ya."
"Well I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but the twins just wouldn't get dressed in time," the woman sighed. "Plus Miroku here stopped for a quick exorcism on the way. He just couldn't help himself…"
The dark haired man beside her smiled meekly, rubbing his beaded hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, Sango, it wasn't very long, and it did give us enough money to buy lunch for everyone." Sango only huffed again and walked by Inuyasha, heading to their luncheon spot on the hill. Miroku, clad in his traditional monk robes, followed swiftly behind, and then Inuyasha, who fell victim to the attentions of the twin girls. Laughing and giggling wildly, they jumped on the hanyou, riding on his back as he climbed up the hill. Once all had settled, the girls wandered to picked weedy flowers while the adults conversed. They had been friends for four years now, having met through the combined toils of battling a fierce evil of long ago, and since they met their victory three years ago, the trio agreed to meet regularly, finding no reason to completely separate. The couple, Miroku and Sango, had finally settled down and started their family, while Inuyasha remained stagnate, waiting for their fourth comrade to return.
In the era of feudal Japan, humans and demons resided throughout the land, and as of now, they all were experiencing a sense of calm, a peace that hadn't settled until the death of one of most powerful and evil forces, Naraku. With the famous half-demon vanquished, the people could rest easy, thanks to their efforts of Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku... and Kagome Higurashi.
Four years ago, the fifteen-year-old girl, originating from a 20th century Japan, fell through the mystical Bone Eater's Well and came back in time to their world. She saved Inuyasha from a life of sleep, sealed against the Tree of Ages, and together they traveled to collect the shards of the broken Shikon jewel, an item of immense power. With the help of her found friends, the girl fought and struggled to rebuild the jewel and destroy it, defeating the great Naraku himself in the process. But as a result, the girl was sent back to her own time, as was Inuyasha, and the well was deactivated as a portal. Three years had passed, and as his sign of devotion to her, Inuyasha returned to it every three days, waiting for her return.
There had been no sign of change from the ancient well; not for three long years, and though Inuyasha was still clinging to hope as if his life depended on it, it was getting harder to keep his grip. Every now and again he would smell something different about the well, his half-demon blood giving him the heightened senses to detect subtle nuances in the air. Never would he find anything of importance. More often than not he would smell the lingering stench of the wolf-tribe that passed by the well frequently, but never had the sweet scent of Kagome returned to that spot.
Still Inuyasha made the tri-daily trip, hoping, waiting for the return of his quasi lover. There were days when it rained and Inuyasha would sulk in the branches of the old God tree and watch the well as if the sound of the storm would call the girl back to him. Though the proud half-demon would never admit it, over the year she had been a part of his life, the hanyou had fallen in love with Kagome.
As the day progressed, the little family socialized with the lonely mutt as always, and Sango had important business to inform him about this time.
After the death of their common enemy, Sango, a member of the fallen demon hunting clan had retired from hunting to settle with her family. But as she looked around she saw that even with the great evil vanquished, there were still demon and human conflicts, needing of mediation. After traveling with Inuyasha for so long, she grew to know that human and demon kind could coexist, and that the snuffing of demon tribes was not always the answer, a lesson the rest of humanity had not come to realize. So with news of squabbles in other villages, Sango decided to return to her post at the fallen clan base, and eventually rebuild the group to keep peace throughout the land.
All the while Inuyasha listened and considered the plan, agreeing that the human race needed counsel about demons, and the demonic population needed to be controlled, but lingering in the back of his mind, the thought of the family moving on and continuing life without their friend bothered him. He had been faithful for three years, and he didn't blame them for living without her, but as the demon huntress spoke of rebuilding her clan and going on with life, he heart sank. It looked as if things would go on without her, making it more and more unlikely for her return.
The hanyou's spirits were only dragged further downward when the friendly gathering wound down and Sango declared that it was time for them to depart. A wide yawn from one of the twins as she tried to use the half-demon's knee as a pillow finally decide it, and the old friends parted ways with Inuyasha. His ears folding back, a feeling of abandonment crept up on the hanyou again, the weight of loneliness feeling ever heavier. He spent a long time stewing in his own brooding thoughts before finally he decided to take the long walk past the Bone Eater's Well before finding a cave to settle in for the night.
As he walked up the hill, he ran through the paces of his life since she left, and found the results bleak. While everyone kept on, he stayed and let himself slip into depression, which only pissed him off. He felt weak for clinging onto her so tightly, but after the disaster of his first love, Kikyo, he vowed to make his relationship with Kagome better, staying true even in the face of defeat. He stepped warily into the tree line, making his way along the trampled path to the familiar clearing, knowing he'd find no one there.
But as his hand swept thoughtlessly over the bark of a random tree, he paused. A thread of human scent caught his attention, and he couldn't place the owner. All he knew for certain; it was from the well.
He was on the ancient portal in a heartbeat, his nose pressed into the grain as he tried to flood his senses with the scent of the newcomer. His ears stood on end as he drunk in the smells of the future and two distinct human odors. He could tell by the sharp, pungent scent that at least one was male, and from the freshness of the lingering essence, had emerged from the well and returned to the other side recently. The second scent was more difficult to define. It was weaker, fainter with the time that had passed and almost drowned out by a powerful, earthy aroma. But this smell lingered on. Clearly this person had not quit the parallel time through the well, and remained in feudal Japan.
Inuyasha parted his jaws slightly and drunk in the odd, new scent. The smell of the stranger still lingered in the air, leaving a razor thin trail that led deep into the heart of the forest. He let his body follow the trail, picking through the trees towards the invader. He could tell by the scent it could not have been Kagome, but anyone skilled enough to get through the magic of the well was worth seeking out.
Sandaled feet pounded against the loamy forest floor as their owner stomped his way through the unknown territory. The man wore a long, black cloak with a high collar that covered his face all the way up to his nose. His long blonde hair was tied up into a high ponytail, and his hands were crammed into two tan bags attached to the belt fastened securely around his waist. The man blew his blonde bangs furiously out of the left side of his face to keep the long hair from irritating his nose. As he stormed through the strange woods, he grumbled angrily to himself.
"Abandon me with a bunch of smelly heathens my ass un. If Itachi thinks I'll sit back and play bitch to a pack of savages while he's off with his 'other business' then he's got another thing coming un"
Further back, Inuyasha was fast onto him, following his lingering scent. With a new human emerging from the well, a renewed anticipation roused in his chest. By the testosterone in the signature, it was obviously not Kagome, but with any living thing crawling out of the portal was sure to have come from her time. For all Inuyasha knew, the well only went to her time, and if it had reactivated, letting anything in, then he needed to know who had come out, and if they knew anything about Kagome.
The man, unwittingly being pursued by the urgent half-demon, continued in a meandering direction, turning slightly north, and veering south again, still following ever eastward. There wasn't any real purpose to his path, and naught followed him but a trail of irate profanities and the silver-haired hanyou. The cloaked traveler locked his jaw and cursed past his teeth, seeming to grow more furious the further he walked.
"That bastard thinks he can keep me locked up like some goddamn trophy because he's got special eyes then we'll see just how well he can see me once I'm gone un. That'll teach that fuckface, Itachi, not to ditch me in the middle of nowhere un." The blonde man's brow furrowed with frustration, knowing that getting himself lost wasn't the best of plans, but he also was too furious to think of anything better. "We'll see how he likes being left alone un, then next time I see him, I'll blow his fucking ass up un!"
Inuyasha's ears cringed to the malice in the male voice, but he continued on, getting closer and closer to the wandering trespasser. As they wound through the wood, Inuyasha knew his target was reaching the clearing just over the hill, and once on top he could see just what this other-worlder looked like.
Angrily shoving the vegetation out of his path, the newcomer shouldered his way into the clearing just ahead. The saplings snapped back into place behind him, but for a moment Inuyasha caught a glimpse of bright blonde hair and pitch black fabric. The half demon could still hear the vulgarities hissing from the other man's lips and picked up his pace in hopes of catching the blonde before he made it to the other side of the open ground.
Before he gained too much ground, the long-lived hanyou found an opening in the trees and climbed through the limb to it, viewing out to the clearing were the man was storming to. With his demon blood, the launched himself into the air and over his mark, landing before him crouched in the dirt. He stayed silent and still, seeing the blonde man before him tense, even holding a black dagger in each hand in a fighting stance. But when neither made a move after a few breaths, Inuyasha rose slowly to his feet, and he saw that he was a few centimeters taller, giving him right to look down on the newcomer.
The stranger narrowed his eyes, or rather the one eye that was visible, the left being covered again by a thick curtain of blonde hair. When still Inuyasha did not move after a long moment of heavy glaring, the other man's lips curled downward and he snorted in annoyance.
"Goddamn it un, not another one. Look, It's clear you don't know me un. 'OOooh yeah, look at the funny guy, he's dressed weird and smells funny, and I must investigate.' I've only gotten that like a billion times today, and I've got someplace to be, now why don't you stand aside un?" The newcomer adjusted the knives in his hands to silently tell Inuyasha that he had no problem with using them against his foe. "I really don't have time for your stupid games un, so why don't you quit following me like you think you're stealthy and leave me be hm?"
Inuyasha did not move. He had gotten worse threats from greater beings, so he merely huffed.
"Did you come from the well?" Inuyasha growled.
"What are you un? A troll? Gonna make me answer your questions three to get through your forest un?" The blonde finally became comfortable enough to lower his weapons but did not tuck them away. His frown disappeared but that's not to say he smiled at Inuyasha, it was more of a look of cocky importance, as if even still he was far too special to waste his time with the other man. "All right un, and what if I did come from the well un? You looking for someone I can assure you I'm not your guy un."
The elder man simply looked over the other man. He was young, barely past his twenties, but by the look of his face, he had lived hard, probably through battle as his hands held the weapons with skill. Kagome's time was of leisure and technology, and as Inuyasha looked over his trained body, he found the man out of place in the Feudal Era, and 20th century alike.
"Do you come from… uh…T-Tokyo?"
"That's two un" the blonde replied, a smirk beginning to form on his face as he was expecting something. "Never heard of any place called Tokyo un, I'll give you a feebie though, I'm from Iwagakure un." The man adjusted the headband that covered his forehead, making sure that the silver plate of metal fastened onto the front was visible. The band of metal had a strange symbol carved into it, and a long slash mark through the engraving. "Now you got one more question before we've got a real problem, so better make it a good one un."
Inuyasha nodded and mulled over his thoughts. If he'd never heard of the place of Kagome's birth, it was almost certain he knew nothing of her. With his initial hope dashed, Inuyasha still pondered. He had still come from the Bone Eater's Well. That was proven by his scent laced all over the wood. So the obvious question remained.
"Why are you here?"
The blonde man shrugged to that, closing his eyes as if the whole question was so obvious it wasn't worth answering.
"Itachi dumped me here with a bunch of smelly cave-savages while he did some other shit un. He's been gone for 'bout half a day and I got sick of waiting around, so I left… see how he likes it un." The stranger looked back to Inuyasha, studying the hanyou's face for a moment before again opening his mouth as if he were about to demand that the other man step aside. There was a rushing of wind as if a storm had blown up from out of nowhere.
"I'd say I don't…" a voice rumbled from the opposite edge of the clearing, making the blonde man's head jerk around to face in that direction. Perched on a low tree branch and crouching in the shadows was another man, clad in the same kind of cloak as the blonde but with black hair done into a long pony tail down his back. Suddenly a shiver shot up the first man's spine and forgetting Inuyasha, he took a step backwards. "What are you doing so far away from the wolf's camp Deidara?"
The aforementioned man stood rigid as if the words had frozen him in his tracks.
"I… what un? You weren't coming back un, was I supposed to j-just wait around for you forever un?" Deidara took another step backwards until he nearly backed into the half-demon behind him.
Inuyasha stepped back, feeling a fight coming on. He for one wasn't going to get involved if he could… but he had questions. Inuyasha decided to shut his mouth and wait for the calm to find out about these strangers, and what they wanted.
"So you snuck off and found yourself a stinking peasant to bed? How very much like you…" The raven haired man's voice was low and dark, almost like every syllable carried a threat.
"That's not what I'm like Itachi un!" The blonde protested, stepping forward, adrenaline jumping through his veins and giving the courage, or stupidity to become angry. "Only in your mind un… only-!"
There was a moment when Itachi disappeared from where he was perched. In the next instant he reappeared in a dark cloud of black feathers directly in front of the blonde. Before Deidara could so much as yelp in surprise, the other man had launched his fist at the younger man, digging his knuckles deep into his abdomen and sending the blonde sprawling backwards. The injured man's body rolled and skidded through the dirt as the force of the blow sent him tumbling across the ground until he finally came to rest at Inuyasha's feet, not daring to move.
The hanyou crouched down, having taken another step during the blow, and instinctively he had his hand clenched around the hilt of the Tetsaiga. Taking a quick glance down, he saw the blonde man curled and clenching, his face twisted in pain. The hit hadn't seemed that hard, but he had no seen the full impact. Looking back, the dark haired man's eyes locked with his, daring him to interfere.
With a low groan, the blonde man placed a hand in the dirt and shuddered as he struggled to stand. Deidara looked up at the raven haired man, his visible eye narrowed with a kind of mixture between determination and agony.
"If you know what's good for you, you will stay down, Deidara" the older man hissed, not taking his eyes off of the silver hanyou.
"Itachi-san… what the hell un?" the blonde shuddered and eventually gave up on his struggle to stand, his guts screaming in pain as if the punch had tied his organs into a knot. Deidara coughed slightly, finding he couldn't get a full breath of air, only filling his mouth with blood in the process. "What did you do to me-?"
"Shut your stupid mouth" Itachi snapped, successfully silencing the blonde. Still the older of the two men refused to let down his glare directed at the hanyou. After what felt like ages of the two men locking eyes and Deidara cringing in the dirt between them, Itachi's voice came rumbling again, low and sinister. "If you haven't any qualms here, I suggest you crawl back to the cave you came from, demon, before this becomes your battle too."
Used to battle, Inuyasha slowly stood, hand still on his hilt and ground his heel in the dirt, bracing.
"This is my home… I'm not leaving. You all came from the well, so I suggest you take your fight somewhere else."
"I'm not going anywhere with that bastard now un." Deidara hissed, spitting a gob of blood from out of his mouth and into the dirt. The blonde man's eyes narrowed and he gave Itachi a resentful scowl, only angering the raven haired man further. Slowly the older man rose from his fighting stance, looking down at his victim still bent over his injured belly. The large collar around the raven's cloak hid the smirk that was stuck on his lips, but his eyes seemed to flash briefly with a fury that almost glowed red.
"I thought…" Itachi began as he began to walk closer to the blonde man. "I told you to…" he stood over Deidara who still glowered at the older man. "Shut" the raven haired man shoved his cohort violently with his foot, bringing Deidara again to sprawl on the ground, "your stupid mouth."
The hanyou finally stepped between the pair.
"Kicking a man while he's down… that's low. Back off." There was no valid reason in his mind to interfere, but one sided battled always pissed him off. "Let him at least get up."
Itachi's head bowed slightly as if in recognition of his err, leading the hanyou to give a triumphant snort. In the next instant, many things happened. The raven haired ninja's eyes snapped open, his irises having shifted from obsidian to bright scarlet. He darted forward with a blinding kind of speed and was on Inuyasha in a fraction of a heartbeat. Itachi's elbow darted out and jammed forcefully into the half-demon's chest, knocking the air out of Inuyasha's lungs and pushing him backwards.
"I'll see you to your grave, floozy, rest assured Deidara will receive his own reward soon enough."
Inuyasha's mind reeled from the speed of the attack, but as he recovered, he growled, only cracking his knuckles.
"Who the hell are you calling a 'floozy'?"
"Now, did that man not tell you he was spoken for?" With a sigh almost successfully mimicking remorse as his eyes fell down to Deidara still recovering as he struggled to regain his feet. "Dei-chan, what have I told you about lying to strangers?"
Staggering, the blonde man couldn't help but take a hold of the sleeve of Inuyasha's blood-red robe as he tried to steady himself. The younger ninja gasped, finally filling his lungs with not much more than a mouthful of air. Never taking his eyes off of his attacker, Deidara opened his mouth, about to use his first breath to retort back spitefully. He was cut off quickly as Itachi's lightning fast speed was again implemented. In the next instant, the blonde man's head was jerking to the side under an invisibly fast blow, shaking him and crumpling him to the ground again.
But before the aggressor could strike again or retreat, he was pushed back himself by the hanyou, taking his own fist to the smirking face. As Itachi slid back from the blow, Inuyasha unleashed his mighty blade and stepped in front of the wounded stranger, holding the Tetsaiga between them and the red-eyed man.
"I don't wanna fight you, but I won't watch you kill another human and do nothing to stop it. I think you're mistaken, because I don't know either of you… but there won't be any death today, so I'll tell you again… Back. Off."
"You have me mistaken…" the raven haired man replied in a low voice, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his lip. "You must have me confused with a man who intends to kill a human." The red eyes narrowed as if in a way, Itachi was sizing up his opponent, trying to judge whether or not he could best the hanyou in combat. Finally deciding that the foe was manageable, Itachi's smirk returned to his lips. "I, on the other hand, intend to kill a filthy lecherous demon."
With that the man launched himself at his enemy, and Inuyasha barley had enough time to block him. Taking the flat of his sword, the half-breed blocked Itachi, holding him off and pushed him back once more. With the space between the two of them, Inuyasha let loose his main attack, the Wind Scar, at the raven-hair, carving a path towards him in the earth, As the energy blast cleared, the hanyou looked around, and found his foe gone from his place of attack.
While Inuyasha looked around the clearing for where the enemy might have gone, the attacking shinobi took his opportunity to strike. Reappearing seemingly impossibly from behind, the raven haired man exploded from the trees, launching a volley of shining black blades at the hanyou as he arced through the air.
Inuyasha almost didn't duck behind his blade in time, letting one of the blades catch his cheek. As the wave seemed to stop, the hanyou held up his fingers to his cheekbone, and finding blood, he smiled. Running the back of his nails over the wound, his blood coated the tips of his claws, and finding his target, threw his Blade of Blood in his direction. Itachi easily avoided the bright stripe coming at him, but as he dashed out of their way, another force of bright light came crashing into him, Inuyasha having sent another Wind Scar slash in his path of escape.
"Hm, no wonder Deidara was so drawn to you…" the ninja's voice rumbled deep and calm in the moment's reprieve. The hanyou was powerful like his demonic kin, but seemed to have a soft spot for human kind, perhaps a weakness that could be seized upon. Itachi closed his eyes almost somberly as his right hand found its way to the katana sheathed at his hip, drawing the pure steel blade and holding it out before himself. Like being galvanized by a core of fire, the metal began to glow and radiate a blue light like the lapping of very intense flames. With the power of his very chakras coursing through his glinting sword, Itachi's eyes finally snapped open and he launched himself again at the half-demon.
The half breed cringed at the unnatural speed of his opponent. The very skill of this man was almost as great as the Band of Seven, and he struggled to keep his ground. At the moment, all he could do was block and push back the raven-hairs blows, not having enough space or time to unleash the Wind Scar, or Blades of Blood for that matter.
From looking into the clearing, one might have mistaken the battle at first to be a ballet. The movements, though fast and ending with the added ring of steel as punctuation, were graceful and unfaltering, leaving both men at an impasse neither being able to land a blow on the other. Finding his patience wearing thin, Itachi broke apart from the battle, using the razor edge of the Tetsaiga to push off from. The ninja landed easily on the opposite side of the clearing, taking only a short moment to lash out with his katana and deflect another scarlet claw of blood.
"Why the hell are you fighting me," Inuyasha called out through heavy breaths. The constant struggle to block had tired him, but he knew better than show it and kept his blade in front of himself and the victim still on the ground, as a shield. "What did I do?"
Coolly the raven haired man lowered his blade and slid it back into its scabbard. Still the man refused to allow his face to change; the offending shinobi remained completely stoic, not showing a shred of feeling.
"You have looked upon and touched that which is mine, and for that I will pluck out your eyes and kill you."
"I have no-" Inuyasha paused. Looking quickly to the blonde, and meeting his eye after a moment, the man's stare almost apologetic, the silver-hair looked back to the other in shock. "What? I don't even know this guy! I ran into him only a few seconds before you showed up. I'm just trying to find Ka-"
He was abruptly interrupted as the other man's hands flew through a series of hand seals almost faster than could be seen. In less than a heartbeat's time Itachi's lungs were filled to the brim and heaving a deep breath from his chest, unleashed a humongous ball of roaring fire at the hanyou. The attack was reckless but powerful, and part of it was using its dangerous path to insure a hit. The fireball thundered towards Inuyasha, and the injured man just behind him.
Acting on instinct, Inuyasha rushed to throw himself over the man's body, cloaking his exposed body in the fabric of the Fire Rat hamaka, knowing no flame, magic or otherwise, could penetrate the cloth. After the blaze subsided, Inu stood again and looked over his shoulder, glaring at his enemy.
"If you tell the truth, then why not let him perish?" Hearing the threat, Deidara's breathing hitched and he struggled to shrug the protective man off of himself. There was an urgency about it as even with his wounded gut the blonde scrambled to his feet and made a break for the trees. The younger man didn't get far however until he was face to face with Itachi again. The raven haired man struck his counterpart down with a powerful fist, sending him crashing to the ground where he didn't move.
Inuyasha scrambled up and blocked Itachi's second attack on the younger man, sending the foe into the trees with a successful blow to his face.
"I may not know him," Inuyasha growled. "But I'm not gonna watch you beat him until he's dead. This is my forest, damnit."
Itachi's body landed awkwardly on a branch, hanging like a broken rag doll, his back bent a near perfect 180 degrees. For a moment, Inuyasha's heart stopped, feeling ice pour through his veins at the thought of having slain someone. His eyes widened with surprise as the ninja's body seemed to fall to pieces. In a flurry of coarse, black feathers, each of the portions of flesh and fabric that fell away from the killed man took wing and dispersed into a cackling flock of crows.
As the last of the birds flew away, the hanyou sighed and turned and knelt next to the limp body. Deidara had closed his eyes, but Inuyasha counted his breaths and knew he was still conscious. Looking over the blonde's body, he sighed at the awkward way he held his chest and stomach, not realizing how bad the beating had been. But before he could offer his help, Inuyasha's ear turned back to the sound of rustling, and as his head turned, his face was met with another blow that threw him away from Deidara to the ground.
The ninja was after him with blinding speed, following to land another powerful blow to the hanyou's chest just as the white haired man met the ground. Looking up at Itachi wish a startled look on his face, Inuyasha took in a good view of the human's eyes. Like perfect drops of blood on starch white paper, the raven's kekegenkai, his inherited gift, stared back with a kind of cold fury Inuyasha had never seen before in the eyes of a human.
Before another blow was struck, Inuyasha rolled away to his knee, bringing the Tetsaiga in front of his chest.
"You're really annoying, you know," the hanyou chuckled spitefully. "Like a fucking gnat." He wiped is chin of the sweat and collected blood for his cheek and smirked, drawing all the attention from the shinobi he could. He could take a beating… better than the blonde could. He could outlast.
The raven haired man made no movement of retaliation; the words made no difference to him in the slightest. Itachi remained perfectly stoic. The two stared each other down, another stalemate bringing each man to silently dare the other to move first. Taking it as a kind of queue, Itachi nodded slightly, keeping his eyes on his foe.
"You really have no idea who it is you are fighting, do you? I could destroy you so completely that there wouldn't be so much as a speck of you remaining, if I felt so inclined." The threat wasn't hollow, and had his previous business on the other side of the well hadn't run his chakras so thin, he might have had the energy to follow through.
Inuyasha ventured a cocky smile.
"Show me what you got then."
"Hn," the shinobi grunted slightly in response, "another time perhaps…" As much as he desired the hanyou's head on a stick, Itachi could feel that however long he could make the battle last, he had not the strength left in him to claim victory. Instead he would gather Deidara and return to the Akatsuki base on the other side of the well to plot his next attack on the demon that dared to touch his property. Turning his head to the man still clutching at his wounded torso in the dirt, Itachi narrowed his eyes as if weighing the damage done to his counterpart.
"Deidara!" he snapped, not needing to say no more in order to call the blonde to him. Much to Inuyasha's surprise, the younger ninja let out a slight groan of agony but struggled to his feet, shuddering and stumbling as he took a step towards the red eyed man.
The hanyou invisibly clenched his teeth, as the blonde wobbled over towards the other cloaked male, and Inu said nothing. No matter how hard he wanted to deck the raven-hair, it wasn't his place if the younger man went back to him.
The blonde man paused for a moment, holding his gut with one hand and his knee with the other while his balance returned. His steps still being unsure, his footing threatening to give out beneath him, Deidara made his way slowly back to the other ninja, fighting for all he was worth to stand before Itachi. Wavering slightly where he stood, the younger man locked eyes with the raven haired man, making a face as if he were about to say something. Taking in a deep breath in preparation to speak his mind, the blonde ninja pursed his lips slightly and spat a gob of blood directly into the other ninja's eye.
Startled completely by his counterpart's action, Itachi flinched away in the first instant. In the next heartbeat, however, Deidara had received another blow from the older man, crumpling him to the ground yet again.
Before the battered body could touch earth, a strong demonic hand held his head up, and pulled the weight away from the attacker. As Itachi rose a foot to curb-stomp the blonde, Inuyasha merely knocked his foot, making him stumble back.
"He obviously doesn't want to go with you, so I suggest you leave. There's nothing for you here, cause I'm not letting you fight a downed man." Inuyasha gently laid Deidara's head back to the ground and gripped tightly to his hilt, sending an apparent warning.
Itachi narrowed his blood-red eyes, knowing that his chances of defeating the demon were less than dismal in his current state. Instead the raven haired man snorted, his face remaining stoic even as he spoke.
"I won't be gone long, and I will return for my things, you can be sure." Being a man of few words, the ninja left the threat at that, retreating in a flurry of wings and black feathers. With that Inuyasha and the blonde stranger were the only ones left in the clearing and with Deidara not to be called conscious, the forest was silent.