Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
Summary: Naraku poisons Sango and insidiously forces her to relive her worst memories. With the night of the new moon upon them, Inuyasha must watch over a weakening Sango. As he gets to see glimpses into the tragic past of the slayer, Inuyasha discovers new aspects of their friendship.
Chapter 1 Harmony of Movement
"Wind Scar!"
The feral demon was quite elusive as it skillfully dodged Inuyasha's powerful attacks.
The latest demon was unexpectedly giving the group a difficult time. It possessed the stature of what would merely be considered a tall human, but it was anything but human. Covered all over in a heavy, golden coat of fur and armed with sharp talons, the demon would crouch down on all fours before pouncing off of its muscular hind legs to attack with a rabid, bloodlust look in its amber eyes. It had the perfect combination of power and agility united under its truly ferocious, fiery nature in battle.
"Inuyasha, the demon has two jewel shards in his left leg and one in his right shoulder," informed Kagome. Inuyasha nodded in confirmation.
"Damn wench," the demon said, "why did you have to spoil my secret?" He directed his attention towards Kagome and swung his claws with full force sending a barrage of talons at her. Miroku quickly jumped in front of her and spun his staff as fast as he could effectively deflecting the talons.
"Hmm…not bad monk," said the demon smugly as he regenerated new talons with a sickly crunching sound coming from his claws.
"Miroku, protect Kagome," instructed Inuyasha as he charged towards the beast and swung his Tetsusaiga. However, the demon leapt off from the ground and onto the broad side of Inuyasha's sword. "Haha too slow," mocked the demon arrogantly before he pushed his entire body weight down onto Inuyasha's sword, causing Inuyasha to lose his balance and fall forward. "Whaa," remarked the surprised Inuyasha as he looked up to see the spinning form of the demon doing a flip over his head. Then Inuyasha grunted as he felt a sharp pain across his shoulderblade.
"Inuyasha!" screamed a concerned Kagome. Inuyasha clumsily took a few steps forward before regaining his balance and composure enough to quickly distance himself from the demon.
"Dammit," Inuyasha thought to himself, "this guy is too fast for me. With those jewel shards in his leg he can dodge my attacks. But he is way too cocky. I'm going to have to play this smart."
As Inuyasha recovered from the demon's attack, he heard the whizzing of Sango's Hiraikotsu as it intercepted the course of the demon, who had already begun approaching with unnatural speed to attack Inuyasha again.
Inuyasha studied the dodging movement of the demon and he smirked.
Sango, seated on Kirara, quickly swooped by Inuyasha and grabbed him by his arm, lifting him up into the air.
Inuyasha had taken note of it earlier, but Sango's attack confirmed his theory. When the demon was attacked, he would favor his right side when he dodged as he used his left leg strengthened by jewel shards to push off the ground.
"Sango, I have a plan," said Inuyasha.
Inuyasha and Sango made eye contact and gave each other a nod of understanding.
Sango gripped Inuyasha's arm tightly and swung him into place on the ground before she hurled her weapon from the sky with a yell, "Hiraikotsu!"
"Are you kidding me, the half demon couldn't even catch me and you think you can hit me," the demon gloated as it casually dodged Sango's attack.
Then Inuyasha, carefully noting the Hiraikotsu's rhythmic movement as it continued to fly through the air, waited for the right moment to unleash his attack.
The demon snorted, "I'm too fast that won't work on…"
The demon was cut off as he caught a glimpse of a bright flash of yellow light heading towards him from his left. "Wind Scar!"
The demon barely escaped Inuyasha's attack earning him a slight cut across his left arm. In his evasion, he leaped predictably to his right and inadvertently into the path of Sango's unrelenting rebounding weapon. Shrieking as the weapon drove into his shoulder, the demon plummeted forcefully to the ground, uplifting the surrounding ground and rocks. The resulting hazy cloud of dust and dirt was illuminated only by the tiny glimmer of the jewel shard that had been extracted from the demon's shoulder by Sango's attack.
Inuyasha gave Sango a smirk of approval before he entered the cloud of dust.
He was impressed by how well Sango, a mere human, could keep up with him. She had skillfully thrown her Hiraikotsu at the perfect angle and with just the right amount of force to distract the demon for both Inuyasha's attack and her own devastating second blow to hit. Their movement had been so in tune with each other during the battle that the demon was no match for their teamwork.
After picking up the jewel shard, Inuyasha headed towards the crater that cradled the unconscious demon to collect the remaining jewel shards. But he was stunned as he felt an immense surge of power erupt from the center of the crater. He squinted to see past the lingering dust particles in the air down towards the crater's lowest point of depression. His eyes finally focused on the darkened figure of the demon through the hazy cloud. The demon violently jerked upright before escaping Inuyasha's sight in an instantaneous moment.
"Huh, where'd he go?" Inuyasha thought aloud as he frantically spun around trying to locate the ferocious demon. When he couldn't sense the demon's presence near him, Inuyasha determined that he was no longer the target.
Alarmed, he protectively rushed towards his friends fearing for their safety. Only after two large strides did Inuyasha hear a loud yelp.
His heart sunk as his sensitive nose drew in the infectious scent that floated through the air…
this overwhelming, familiar scent of blood…
Sango's blood.
TOBECO.
Sneak Peak of things to come...
"All she saw was the bloodied ground before her, and all she heard was the deafening drone of nothingness around her."
My first fanfic. All feedback is welcome.
-Thanks for reading-