Forge Me a New Sword

(Back to the present)

"He . . . revived her?" Kagome asked in surprise. "With Tenseiga?"

"You've got to be kidding me," InuYasha mumbled.

Totosai heavily sighed. "Look. I'm only going to tell you this one last time. The orb doesn't lie. Now, do you want to see what happens or not?"

InuYasha and Kagome glanced at each other, shrugged, and continued to watch the orb once again.

(Back to the past)

Rene blinked a couple of times to straighten her vision. It did little good. What? she thought. How . . . How am I . . . Rene slightly moved. She felt an arm wrapped around her shoulders and looked up to see who it belonged to. Though her eye lids were still dragging and halfway open, she could see clearly who was holding her. A demon with white hair and a moon on his forehead had an expressionless demeanor. It's him. But . . . how did . . .

"What the? That's incredible. Lord Sesshomaru, you just brought that girl back from the dead!" yelled Jaken. What the little imp said made Rene gaze into her savior's golden eyes. He had saved her? A demon had saved her? Sesshomaru returned the gaze, but only for a short time.

After cradling Rene for a while, Sesshomaru gently placed her on the rocky floor. He then stood. As he stared down at the revived girl, he thought, Why, father, would you give me this sword? A sword that heals a hundred in one stroke. The dog demon turned around and began to walk away. This saddened Rene.

"Wait for me, me Lord," yelled the imp as he ran past Rene to catch up with Sesshomaru.

Rene stumbled, trying to hurry onto her feet. She began to try and run after Sesshomaru as well, but she was stopped by a harsh command. "Don't follow me," said Sesshomaru. She gasped and fell to her knees. The two stared at each other with opposing looks. Rene began to shake her head. "If you follow me, I'll have to kill you like I did your precious prince." Rene shook her head even harder. She hated Joji. He was far from precious.

Sesshomaru turned around and continued to walk away. Rene watched as he disappeared into the mist.

(Back to the present)

"Man, Sesshomaru is such a jerk. Why does he keep dissing Rene like that? The nerve of that guy," said Kagome while franticly waving her arms around.

"Uh, Kagome, what does 'dissing' mean?" asked little, innocent Shippou.

"It means to put someone down," she said with a little anger in her voice.

"I told you he was ruthless," entered InuYasha.

"No one asked you!"

"Oh, is that so?! Well, let me tell you something . . ."

While InuYasha and Kagome bickered, Totosai gathered and packed his white orb. The others didn't notice the forger's actions till Totosai stood up, preparing to leave.

"Hey, wait. What are you doing?" asked Kagome with a finger still pointed at InuYasha.

"Yeah," entered Miroku. "Don't leave with the orb. Just because Kagome and InuYasha are ruining the show doesn't mean the rest of us can't watch."

"I agree," began Sango. "I for one want to know what happens next."

Totosai sighed. "I happen next." Everyone looked confused. He scratched his head, wondering how to rephrase. "OK. Listen. After Sesshomaru left Rene, he came to me and asked me to forge him a sword. Well, he didn't actually ask. He threatened. Anyway, I denied his request, so he ruined my hide out and tried to kill me in the process."

Sounds like him alright, thought Kagome and InuYasha.

Totosai continued. "Somehow I managed to escape. Nonetheless, Sesshomaru searched for someone to forge him a sword. A demon sword. One day he succeeded. The forger's name was Tokijin, my ex-disciple. He asked the forger to create him a sword like no other. However, there was a catch."

"What was it?" asked Miroku.

"Tokijin wanted two things: the head of a purple demon named Goshinki and . . ." he paused. Everyone eagerly waited for the second thing. "A beautiful, young maiden." Silenced hushed over the room. What did a demon forger need a young maiden for?

"So . . . what happened next?" Sango broke the silence.

Totosai scratched his head again, paranoid. "Ugh. Look. It's a lot to explain, OK."

"Then let's watch the damn orb!" yelled InuYasha.

"I don't know."

"Come on, Totosai," entered Kagome. "We promise not to interrupt anymore." Everyone, including InuYasha, nodded in agreement.

Totosai removed the orb from his bag and placed it on the floor. "Fine, but if you don't keep your promise-"

"We will," everyone said in harmony. Totosai nodded and everyone continued to watch the magical orb.