Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. No money is being made from this work, and copyright infringement is not intended.

Chapter 7

Inuyasha lounged in the branches of Goshinboku and watched the colours of dawn begin to stain the sky. Thin wisps of cloud bled orange and red before they dulled to an ominous-looking grey. The weather was beginning to change. A prickling scent in the air told him a storm was coming.

When the sun rose above the hills, he rolled from his perch and dropped to the ground. As much as he'd like to avoid his problems, he knew he didn't have the time. The longer they hesitated before they faced Naraku, the more powerful he would become. If they were going to have any chance this time around, they would have to strike early. He wondered if Kagome was awake yet.

Inuyasha had only taken two steps down the path towards the village when a familiar scent was carried to him on the breeze. He grimaced, easily able to recognize the little toad's stench. It seemed his brother had come to pay him a visit, for where Sesshomaru traveled, Jaken was never far behind. "I have the fucking sword, if that's what you've come for," Inuyasha yelled peevishly.

Jaken squawked indignantly at his disrespect. The imp awkwardly scrambled over the gnarled roots of Goshinboku, hindered rather than helped by the large two-headed staff he carried. "How dare you address the great Lord Sesshomaru in that fashion?!" Inuyasha ignored the irritating toad's lecture and squinted into the underbrush. He saw only a flash of white against the foliage before Sesshomaru strode forward, coldly stoic.

"You will give me Tetsusaiga, half-breed," he said, as if his command settled the matter.

Inuyasha scoffed. That unfeeling bastard didn't have the slightest idea how precious Tenseiga was. Inuyasha would have done anything to possess the sword's restorative power during those final moments on the battlefield. He would have been able to save Kagome; he would have been able to prevent her agony. White-hot anger pulsed within him. Why had he been given the power of destruction, while Sesshomaru had been given the power of resurrection? That sword was wasted on him! The asshole had no empathy.

"You have no idea how lucky you are that our father gave you Tenseiga," Inuyasha hissed, once more feeling his inner youkai attempt to ascend. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. Inuyasha had no doubt that his brother had sensed the flare of demonic energy.

"As the Inu no Taisho's true heir, I claim the right to both Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga. You are a bastard child, borne of a noxious union, and a filthy stain on our father's bloodline. You deserve nothing." Inuyasha grit his teeth, and felt sweat break across his forehead. He would not let himself transform. As much as he loathed his brother, he had no wish to attempt to tear him apart in a mindless fit of blood-lust.

"You couldn't use Tetsusaiga, even if I handed it to you, you asshole," he snarled. "The sword can only be used to protect." He supposed that now was as good a time as any to test Shippo's theory. If the runt had it right, there was no way Sesshomaru could get his hands on Tetsusaiga. Even if he did manage to find his way to their father's tomb, his full youkai heritage would prevent him from being able to extract the sword from the dais.

Inuyasha severed a low-hanging branch with his claws, and almost immediately the power that had been building within him flowed outwards. There was a burst of blinding yellow light, and he felt the familiar hilt of Tetsusaiga against his palm. Inuyasha's heart thundered. This was a completely new ability. It looked as though he was able to channel the demonic energy of Tetsusaiga into the branch. Now that he held the sword in his hands, the turbulence inside him calmed. He wondered if the surges of demonic energy he had experienced lately had been tied to the sword.

"You will give me Tetsusaiga, half-breed," Sesshomaru growled. A whip-like cord of power coalesced in his brother's hand a moment before he struck. Inuyasha raised his arm instinctively to block the blow, and the energy coiled around his sword's blade. Instead of resisting when Sesshomaru attempted to wrench the weapon from his grasp, he let go.

The sword left his hands and the massive influx of demonic power brought him to his knees. A painful buzzing sensation wound its way up his sword arm and took up residence at the base of his skull. Sesshomaru snatched the tree branch from the air. "What trickery is this?" he demanded, steel entering his voice. "What have you done to father's weapon?!"

"Tetsusaiga belongs to me," Inuyasha replied, bracing his palm against his knee. He grasped a stone from the path below him and once more the sword flared to life in his hands. It seemed that Tetsusaiga was able to possess a variety of objects. Inuyasha unsteadily rose to his feet. This new ability could prove useful, if only he could become accustomed to the surges of power.

"You do not possess the sword, hanyou, it possesses you," Sesshomaru said, disdainfully. "Your energy flares like a terrified child's."

"Keh!" He lifted the blade. "I ain't afraid of you," he said. He'd had enough skirmishes with his brother to realize that as much as Sesshomaru postured, the bastard had no real intention of killing him.

"A hanyou has no hope of wielding the true power of that weapon." Sesshomaru's pompous certainty made him grit his teeth.

"I've mastered this sword," he replied.

"Do not lie to me, half-breed." Sesshomaru crushed the tree branch in his fist and sent a flurry of splinters to the ground. "You have just been released from a spell that sealed you to Goshinboku for half a century. It is impossible for you to comprehend the power of Tetsusaiga."

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed, and casually raised his weapon. It looked like the bastard wouldn't believe him until he had demonstrated the wind scar. Sesshomaru launched himself forward, taking advantage of Inuyasha's open stance. Inuyasha yelled in surprise, unable to defend himself against his brother's sudden attack. His head struck the trunk of Goshinboku with enough force to rattle his teeth.

"You dare to raise father's sword against me, brother?" Sesshomaru's claws pricked the sensitive skin of his neck, but Inuyasha found he could still draw breath. He forced himself to relax against his brother's hold. He hadn't expected the fucking asshole to be so jumpy.

"I wasn't going to attack you, you bastard," Sesshomaru's eyes flashed, and his grip tightened. Inuyasha gagged, but continued to force the words out. "If I wanted to fight," he coughed, "I would have already hacked off your fucking arm." Inuyasha berated himself for his own stupidity. Sesshomaru had devoted himself to his quest for their father's sword. He would kill for it, even if Inuyasha had no intention of fighting him to the death. The uneasy truce they had achieved during the quest for the jewel no longer existed. Inuyasha had been a fool to forget that.

"Your confidence sickens me," Sesshomaru said softly, and the scent of poison stung Inuyasha's nostrils.

"Let go," he sputtered, straining against his brother's hold. Sesshomaru raised his hand and Inuyasha could see the venom dripping from his brother's claws. He had to act. Despite his hanyou abilities, he doubted that his eyes would be able to fully heal if Sesshomaru used his poison to extract the black pearl. "Last… chance," Inuyasha breathed. He had always felt guilty for cutting off Sesshomaru's hand, but if pressed he'd do it again.

"Useless hanyou," Sesshomaru growled, and curled his fingers forward with deliberate slowness.

Inuyasha attempted to raise his sword but quickly discovered that Tetsusaiga was trapped between them, useless. The flat edge of the blade was wedged tightly between their bodies; there was no way he could free the sword without harming them both. While he didn't relish the idea of inflicting himself with a gut-wound, he supposed it was preferable to blindness. With his back pressed against the rough bark of Goshinboku, there was little else he could do. Unless…

Inuyasha closed his eyes, focusing inwards. Sesshomaru chuckled, mistaking his action as a sign of total submission. Inuyasha's chest rumbled as he desperately tried to direct the demonic energy back into his arm, away from the stone he knew he held in his palm. If he could redirect the energy, he could free his sword and break himself from Sesshomaru's grip. If he let go of the pebble now, he knew for certain that he would transform into a mindless beast. He only had one chance to do this. He had to focus!

Something inside him tore.

The air exploded around him and the concussion of power was strong enough to throw him backward. Only when his palms scraped against the compacted rocks of the trail did Inuyasha realize he had been released from his brother's grasp. He shuddered, nearly unable to hold himself upright on his hands and knees.

"What is the meaning of this?" Sesshomaru snarled, his normally stoic voice roughened by pain and anger. Inuyasha managed to roll himself into a shaky crouch. "What have you done?!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Inuyasha's voice was a coarse, almost animalistic rumble. He stared down at his hands and was shocked to see the blue patterns twining around his wrists. How was it possible that his demonic side had taken control but he had not lost himself to bloodlust?!

"You have destroyed Tetsusaiga!" Sesshomaru roared. Inuyasha's head snapped up to see his brother cradling what remained of his leftarm tightly against his chest. His normally pristine robes were quickly becoming stained with gore. Sesshomaru's armor had shattered and shards of the spiked shoulder plate lay strewn across the space between them. The taiyoukai staggered as he forced himself to his feet.

A shallow crater marred the ground where they had stood moments before. Fragments of twisted metal lay at the centre of the depression, instantly recognizable despite their current appearance. "No," Inuyasha whispered, feeling his blood run cold. What had happened?! How had Tetsusaiga been wrenched from its secure position in the tomb of the Inu no Taisho?! How had it been damaged so extensively?!

"You will die for this disrespect, half-breed," Sesshomaru said, his voice hard. Inuyasha barely heard him. He was vaguely aware that his brother had withdrawn into the forest, leaving him alone to face the eerily silent morning.

xxxxx

Kagome's eyes flashed open. A wave of youki so strong it was nearly tangible washed over her. The power knocked her breathless and made the hair on the back of her neck prickle with dread. She sat up, quickly scrambling out of her sleeping bag. Shippo sat by the fire with Kaede, his small eyes wide. "Ye gods," Kaede breathed, rising to her feet. "What manner of disturbance is this?"

"It's Inuyasha. Something's happened." She looked to the corner of the hut, expecting to find her bow, only to realize she had yet to acquire it. Kaede grasped her own weapon, and rose to her feet. The old priestess started towards the hut's entrance with grim determination. Kagome's heart thundered in her ears.

Making a split-second decision, Kagome darted forward and wrenched the bow from the miko's hand. She couldn't allow the old woman to face Inuyasha if he had been overwhelmed by his feral, demonic side. It was too dangerous. Plucking a hand-full of arrows from the astonished woman's quiver, Kagome dashed through the doorway and called an apology over her shoulder.

"Kagome!" Kaede cried after her. Alarm and worry infused the old miko's voice, but it wasn't enough to make Kagome's feet slow. She plunged down the forest path, shoeless and dressed in the rumpled school uniform she'd slept in. The adrenaline coursing through her masked the sting of gravel against her bare toes.

"Please be alright," she whispered. The explosion of energy that had awakened her had been unlike anything she had ever encountered. What could have caused it?!

There! A familiar figure knelt on the path ahead of her, only meters away from Goshinboku. She slowed and began to approach more cautiously, adjusting her grip on Kaede's bow. "Inuyasha?" she called, alarmed by the absolute defeat that emanated from him. "Are you hurt?"

"Stay away, Kagome," he warned, and the coarse quality of his voice anchored her where she stood. He had transformed. Even though his back faced her, Kagome could see the dark blue patterns that swirled about his wrists and disappeared up his arms beneath the voluminous sleeves of his fire-rat.

"Inuyasha," she breathed, letting the stolen bow and arrows clatter to the ground around her. "What happened?" Though her voice quivered, she was not afraid of him. Hadn't he proven again just yesterday that even if his youkai blood surfaced, he would never hurt her? Even if he did lose control momentarily, she still had the protection of the rosary. "What happened?"

"It's over," he said.

"What's over?" she pressed more insistently. What could have shaken his confidence to this level? She began to step forward, but recoiled when her toes encountered something wickedly sharp and infused with a very familiar demonic aura. Kagome swallowed her rising panic when she looked down to find shards of Sesshomaru's armor littering the ground. "Where's Sesshomaru?"

At the sound of his brother's name, Inuyasha shot to his feet and roared. "How the fuck should I know?! The bastard took off when he realized he'd never get what he came for!" Kagome cringed back, startled by the violence of his response. Inuyasha's explosive anger dissipated as quickly as it had erupted. "Tetsusaiga…" he whispered, falling to his knees once more.

"Did he take Tetsusaiga?" she asked, inching towards him. It hurt to see him like this.

"Tetsusaiga's gone, Kagome," he rumbled, looking down at the ground before him. She took another step forward, her mind whirling dizzily. Had Sesshomaru managed to get his hands on Tetsusaiga? There was no way that Inuyasha could have allowed his brother to take the weapon from him. The sword had been secure in the crypt of the Inu no Taisho.

"The sword has been destroyed." The softly spoken words held a note of finality that made her shiver. "I'm no good to you now."

Kagome took a deep breath, more than startled by his words. Did he really think that she would abandon him so easily? "Even if Tetsusaiga is gone, I won't leave you."

"Keh," he snickered darkly. He growled something about the bone eater's well just below her hearing. Kagome started forward, catching just enough of his statement to become furious with him. How could he possibly think that the only reason she would keep her word was because the well's inactivity forced her to?

"Inuyasha," she began, and the ferocious tone of her voice caught and held his attention. "I'll stay with you whether or not you have Tetsusaiga. Even if the well was still working, I wouldn't just abandon you!"

"You already have!" he snarled, standing to face her. The swift fluidity of his movement was alarming. He stalked forward, drawing so close that she could feel the supernatural warmth radiating from the cloth of his haori. What was he talking about? She tilted her chin stubbornly. Even though she knew he wasn't quite himself, it was still a shock to see the crimson of his eyes and the patterns on his cheeks. If she hadn't felt so secure in his presence, she might have been cowed by his volatile show of temper. As it was, she was more than a little frustrated with him for attempting to intimidate her. "You'll leave me," he rasped. "A miko will not be given a choice."

"What are you…" she began, baffled by his words. Her voice trailed off when one of his ears flickered and he glanced skyward. "We'll talk later," she threatened, following his gaze to see a familiar figure swiftly approaching. She was not going to let Inuyasha get away without explaining himself, but that would just have to wait. Kagome didn't think she had ever been so grateful to see Totosai and his three-eyed ox.

xxxxx

It was mid-morning by the time Sango awoke. She bolted upright, astounded that she had managed to sleep so late. She was supposed to have vacated the guest house at dawn. Light filtered into the room from high windows, making the white walls of the space glow. It looked like it was almost noon. Why hadn't anyone come to wake her?! She didn't have enough money to pay for two night's lodging.

Slowly she became aware of a soft, but insistent scratching noise issuing from near the guest house entrance. Sango quickly gathered her belongings and packed them neatly into her carrying cloth. She vigorously brushed the dust from her clothing, painfully aware of her travel-worn appearance. Fighting a youkai in her kimono hadn't helped to preserve its cleanliness.

She carefully pressed the sliding door aside, and started when something leapt up at her. She cried out at the impact, and her carefully packed belongings were flung form her arms. A rumbling purr came from the small creature she now held. "Kirara!" Sango cried, hugging the small cat close.

Kirara mewed disapprovingly at her and Sango winced. "I looked for you before I left," she said. "I wanted to say goodbye, but father… I ran out of time." The cat's purring cut off abruptly. "Father's just doing what he thinks is right," Sango explained, feeling the foreign urge to defend her father's decision.

"Has something happened to the village?" She asked, suddenly realizing what Kirara's presence could signify. The cat demon swished her two tails in what Sango had come to interpret as a negative response. She sagged, boneless with relief.

"You have to watch over Kohaku and father for me while I'm gone," she said solemnly, and was startled when Kirara leapt from her arms and transformed. The large cat pressed her head against the back of Sango's hand. "You want to come with me?" she whispered, feeling tears rise to her eyes. It would be so nice to have Kirara's warm support on her journey, but somehow it felt almost selfish. "If that Naraku character is plotting against the village, there needs to be someone there to defend it. Father won't listen, and Kohaku… Kohaku hasn't had much experience as a taijiya. You should stay with him."

Kirara sat on her haunches and rumbled with discontent. "I know," Sango sighed, beginning to gather her meager possessions once more. "But I won't be traveling alone," she admitted, fastening the carrying cloth around her shoulders. "A monk will be coming with me. He's been cursed by Naraku so he has just as much cause to hunt him as I do. We're going to see if Inuyasha and the miko have any more information about our enemy."

Kirara growled, rising to her feet. Sango blinked, realizing her friend's intent. With Kirara's help, she and the monk could make the week's journey to the distant village in a single day. "Would you help us find the miko? It shouldn't take too long." If they left now, Kirara could probably be back in the Taijiya village by nightfall. The large cat nodded, padding towards the doorway. Sango swung Hiraikotsu over her shoulders and followed.

She came to an abrupt halt, however, when she found the houshi leaning against the outer wall of the building, his eyes closed in apparent meditation. "Ah," he said, opening one eye and glancing up at her. "You're awake." Sango flushed. "You must have been very exhausted after last night." Sango ground her teeth. Though she knew he was talking about their conversation, she was beginning to see that he had a tendency of making innocent comments appear lurid.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she demanded.

"I thought you needed the rest," he replied calmly, igniting her anger. Who was he to decide something like that? "It seemed like the pragmatic thing to do. We have a long and vigorous journey ahead of us," he said in response to her steadily deepening scowl. "The matron was most obliging once I had rid her establishment of any lingering youki from the demon we faced last night."

Sango blinked. Not only was this houshi a flirt, he was also a con artist. What had she gotten herself into by agreeing to travel with him? The blank look Kirara was giving her seemed to ask the very same thing. She cleared her throat, suddenly embarrassed. "It looks like it won't take long to reach Kaede's village, after all. Kirara has agreed to help us."

A flicker of something that looked suspiciously like disappointment flashed through the monk's eyes before he adopted a charming smile. "Thank you for your assistance," he said to the feline. He rose to his feet. Kirara remained wary, but allowed him to approach.

Sango perched upon Kirara's back, and carefully arranged Hiraikotsu behind her. She could only hope it would be enough to discourage the monk's wandering hands. When he sat behind her she felt the back of her neck tingle. Had he just sniffed her hair?! She could tell already that this was going to be a very, very long day.

A/N: I want to thank doggieearlover who kindly responded to my question concerning Japanese grammar. Happy new year everyone, and thanks for reading!