Chapter 10: Ninja vs Priestess, the great gathering
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha, Mortal Kombat, or Ninja Gaiden. They belong to their respective owners. I only lay claim to this fabricated fiction birthed of my imagination.
The group looked at Kikyo as the dead priestess zoned in particularly towards Inuyasha. "Kikyo, what are you talking about? Do you know what you are saying!?" shouted Inuyasha, the look of astonishment written across his face.
"Naraku has corrupted the sacred jewel even more, Kikyo! We can't let him complete it!" supported Kagome.
"...There is no other way." Kagome's ancestor replied blantly after a slight pause. "There has to be another way!" Kagome shot back.
Kikyo then turned towards the newcomer in the group who's been keeping himself silent. Kikyo didn't recognize this man. Her eyes twitched and as if on instinct, reached for her bow and drew an arrow towards a unsuspecting dragon ninja.
"Who are you! Why do I sense a great evil in you?!" Kikyo demanded, pointing her arrow right at the ninja.
Everybody gasped at what Kikyo said and looked back at Ryu. The ninja only cautiously stood there, peering right into the seemingly soulless eyes of this woman. Said ninja, Ryu, stepped foward slightly, not exactly sure what to make of this situation.
"Kikyo stop! What are you doing? He's with us!" Inuyasha yelled.
Kikyo did not listen to him and only kept her gaze at Ryu Hayabusa who took a defensive stance and looked Kikyo right in the eyes.
"My name is Ryu Hayabusa, I'm a ninja from the land of mt. fuji." Ryu answered, hopefully to this strange woman's satisfaction.
However she kept her ground and her bow aimed directly at his heart. Kikyo tugged at her arrow tighter, pulling the string further back.
"Skip the formalities. My eyes see the truth, vile creature!" Kikyo exclaimed.
At the blink of an eye, before Inuyasha or anyone else could react, Ryu instantly teleported and reappeared in under a second, behind Kikyo with the dragon sword drawn. He held the sword right at her neck, both shocking and terrifying Kikyo.
"Whoa whoa! Now hang on Ryu, back off! She's off limits!" Inuyasha shouted at Ryu.
The ninja ignored the loud half-breed and kept his focus on Kikyo.
"I am not a threat, but how are you able to sense the dragon blood?" Ryu asked calmly, with narrowed eyes at the woman who attacked him.
"My powers specifically afford me the ability to do so." Kikyo said, her voice going back to being stoic and emotionless. She looked back towards him. Suddenly two small children appeared out of the forest in small shrine outfits with the kanji for maiden on each of them. Ryu was sort of familiar with them, since the shrine maidens in his home village would use these children to ward off evil spirits.
"Lady KIKYO!" They both cried, running towards them.
"Look, it's Kikyo's origami." Kagome said.
'Origami? This woman is a priestess.' thought the dragon ninja.
"You let go of Lady Kikyo right now, mister!" shouted one of the children.
"Let us take care of him for you, lady Kikyo." the second child suggested.
"Stay back, you two! I can handle this." Kikyo ordered.
Kikyo then concentrated her spiritual power and generated a sphere of bright light around herself and Ryu. Ryu quickly jumped back as the light exploded in the surrounding area. Inuyasha and the others scattered away as the people at the docks started to panic and hide in the boat houses. Ryu landed down a few meters back, but was quickly met with a spiritual arrow shot by Kikyo. Thanks to his quick reflexes, Ryu snapped his arm up, holding the dragon sword upward. He blocked the incoming arrow with little to no effort.
"Hu- What?! Tch.." Kikyo grunted.
She shot more arrows at the dragon ninja, hoping to strike him one good time. Ryu perfectly dodged each arrow shot at him until Kikyo shot an arrow where Ryu had landed next, throwing his balance off. Kikyo took this opportunity to shoot Ryu directly in the stomach. The immense spiritual power rendered Ryu stunned. He pulled the arrow out and was in pain. Kikyo seeing he was still standing wanted to finish it so she kept firing at him. However he quickly jumped forward so fast he left afterimages of himself, and he zipped forward, past Kikyo. But as he did so, in the midst of passing over her, he threw a few shurikens at her wrists, holding her bow so fast she couldn't even register what just happened. The bow was knocked out of her hand and Ryu landed back down in one, quick succession.
'He's fast!' thought Inuyasha. 'I couldn't see him move at all!' Miroku thought also in shock.
Ryu merely stood there with his sword pointed towards Kikyo. "Give up. You can't win." he said.
Kikyo only stared at him coldly. She then summoned the soul of Midoriko as the many orbs of light started to envelop the priestess, shocking the inu gang.
"What is that? I've never seen her like this!" gasped Sango
"Kikyo! What is that? That looks like more than just mere womens' souls." Inuyasha asked.
"This is the soul of Midoriko, Inuyasha." Kikyo answered, not so much as really focused on him.
The gang except for the ninja gasped again. Ryu was getting annoyed with everyone's constant astonishment. Sure, this priestess's power was impressive, more impressive than the young one, Kagome's. But it was merely a display of her ki output, nothing he hasn't handled fighting the holy vigoorian emperor with his godly spiritual power.
"I do not know what your purpose here is, demon, but I will see to it that you cannot harm another innocent soul." Kikyo announced.
She then started shooting blasts of Midoriko's soul at Ryu. The dragon ninja evaded the blasts with quick succession as her blasts purified the areas of destruction. Each of the spots that were hit by Kikyo soul barrage made a crater, all the debris and rubble turning into an evaporating white mist.
(Kikyo's Soul Barrage - O.C. ability I gave her which allows her to harness Midoriko's soul and channel it throughout her body and generate orbs of mystifying lights that she can rapidily launch in huge numbers to tank enemies. The areas of damage hit by her attacks create craters the size of small buildings in diameter and at least 10ft deep with all the rubble turning into a white mist as they have been instantly purified. Anything hit by this are, unless higher than her in power, instantly purified.)
"Lady Kikyo! Watch out, he's fast!" Shouted one of her origami.
Ryu Hayabusa kept dodging the spiritual attacks from Kikyo. The more and more he swiftly moved away, the more fierce the attacks seemed to have gotten. Kikyo shot some on the ground in which he'd land on, shot a few in the air and said an enchantment and the lights from the ground connected with the lights in the sky, enevloping Ryu and ensaring him in a prism of spiritual power.
"HAA!" Kikyo screamed. The light prism exploded in immense spiritual power and Ryu staggered to the ground, overwhelmed by her spells.
"You have great speed, but that will not stop my conviction. Surrender." Kikyo said as she approached a stunned Hayabusa, who only baited her as he summoned his fiery pheonix art. The sacred spirits of pheonixes drew their holy flames to push away Kikyo, threatening to burn her to a crisp. Ryu then stood up and summoned the ninpo, art of the inferno. He shot blasts of flame to meet with the priestess's attacks. Some of the blasts then launched towards Kikyo. Inuyasha, not going to sit idly by any longer intervened and drew Tetsusaiga and slashed the fireballs away. Ryu stood guard, with the dragon sword in hand.
"Stay out of my way, Inuyasha." Ryu told him.
"Hah! Like I'm going to sit here and let you hurt Kikyo?! Like I said.. She's off limits." Inuyasha warned the ninja.
"Please! Stop it you two! You don't have to do this." Kagome shouted, hoping to put away this petty scraubble.
"Stay out of this Kagome! Somebody's gotta knock some sense into this guy and it's going to be me!" Inuyasha shouted back at her while starring straight at Ryu.
"I'll ask this once. Are you my ally or are you my enemy?" Ryu asked the hanyou, his grip on his sword not letting up.
"Take the first shot bastard! I'll gladly hack you away and that demon blood of yours." Inuyasha said.
"Demon blood? So that is the source of the demonic aura Kikyo feels from him." Miroku said.
He, Sango, Kagome, and Shippo had looks of shock on their faces. Kikyo stood there, unmoved behind Inuyasha. The people at the dock were hiding, scared of the scene that's going on at the moment. Ryu was about to step further and begin his assault. He could finish this quicker than they'd realize if he wanted, but he had a second thought and remembered the mission he was on is more important. There was still the Black Spider Ninja looming about in the wayside. He put his sword downward.
"Huh, you're giving up Ryu?" Inuyasha asked
"You're not worth the sting of my blade." The ninja only said to him, with Inuyasha glaring at him.
"Hah, don't get so full of yourself, I can handle my way around a sword just fine, buddy." Inuyasha shot out.
The dragon ninja put the sword back into his sheath and then abrubtly and downright answered why they sense a wickedness within him.
"The darkness you can sense within me comes from my ancestors, the dragon lineage. Long ago in ages past, my ancestor's blood was infused with deities, during a time of war between the heavenly deities and the evil ones." Ryu began to explain
Inuyasha's gang were quite fascinated by his story so far.
"Those of the Dragon Lineage possess the blood of the 12 Dragon Gods, flowing in their veins." he continued.
"And I assume the evil gods infused their blood into your ancestors?" Kikyo asked, rudely interrupting him at the same time.
"Correct. The same blood that coarses through my veins, is the same blood that runs in the veins of the fiends. These are the same monsters that were the result of the evil deities mixing their blood with the entire human race, including my ancestors." Ryu answered.
"Hmph, well that explains why your blood smells like that, I've noticed it ever since you joined our group, I was just quiet about it. So I guess this is a withdraw huh?" Inuyasha said, then asked as he put away his testusaiga and crossed his arms. Kikyo remained calm, but on guard.
"That wicked power.. Do you think you can control it?" She asked the ninja as everyone collected themselves.
"I'll have to.. As far as completing my mission, it's a hardship I will face." Ryu answered Kikyo, still keeping his eyes peered onto her.
They all stood there for a minute, soaking all of this in. The townspeople on the docks came out from cover, seeing if the scruffling has ended. The dock bells rang, signaling everyone to prepare for sail.
"This is it! Come on, let's go." Inuyasha shouted excited. The rest of the people at the docks looked at the inu gang warily, as they awaited the ships to arrive. As everyone in the group walked to the rest of the masses, prepared for the ship to arrive, they noticed Kikyo following along.
"So you're coming with us, Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked her.
"I will accompany you for the time being. If Naraku is ahead of where you all are going, then that is where I'll go too." Kikyo answered him.
"Well.. This should be one interesting journey.. mhhh.." Kagome said, not so satisfied the woman who spites and scolds her for everything was joining with them.
"How right you are." said Sango.
Cottage Clearing
Meanwhile a terrifying demon appeared out from a cottage. There were a few commoners outside doing their daily chores when suddenly they heard a loud roar coming in the direction of the forest it emerged from. People started to scream as the beast started to get louder, and louder. Then it attacked. It stood about 8ft tall. It had pale, long-white thin hairs running all the way down to his legs. He wore only an x-shaped harness with spikes on it over his torso. He wore a burlap sash that was bloody-burgendy and tethered, over his waist. He wore no shoes, had spikes all over his body and his eyes were cold and yellow, like a cat's. The people were terrified as the demon began to blast an inferno from his mouth. The blast of heat, sent houses across the lands, as charred, brimmaced piles of rubble and asphalt. The slayers of the small villages tried to put up a good fight, but the demon quickly overpowered them and even killed a few of them.
The demon then looked over as more people had attempted to run. He inched over and saw a small girl, crying her eyes out and fearing the inevitable. The demon would've followed suit and proceed to devour her. His clawed hand was closing in on his prey when a sickle came soaring through the air and sliced the demon's arm off.
"AAaaaaHHH! Who did that?! I'm going to crush you!" The demon yelled out.
The demon turned towards his back to see where the weapon came from. The one who attacked him, was Kohaku. Kohaku pulled his sickle and chain back towards him and held it at the ready. The demon then suddenly turned around fully towards Kohaku and he suddenly regrew his arm. He had a creepy smile on his face.
"so, a child is it? Well boy I hope you have a heat tolerance, because I will incinerate your bones and devour your soul!" said the demon, his claws growing longer and appearing sharper.
... 'Why did Naraku order me to hunt strong demons?' Kohaku thought.
The demon stood tall, a fire blast at his mouth, it blasted it towards Kohaku, forcing him to dodge out of the way. The demon kept firing blasts at Kohaku's direction. The child took out a sword and blocked some of the fireballs away while with his other arm, hurled and launched his sickle right at the demon's face. It impaled him right between his eyes at the bridge of his nose.
"Aaaahhgh!" Shouted the demon.
'And why does he have a saimyosho buzzing around, following me around?' thought the young demon slayer.
Said insect was indeed buzzing in the air in the background watching. Back at the hideout, Naraku sat back with Kanna sitting beside him with her mirror revealing Kohaku.
"Ku ku ku, Go ahead, Kohaku! Show, me the valor and fortitude you so blessingly were granted by your masters.." said Naraku, peering into the mirror.
"..For you are a strong noble demon slayer, who fell prey to pitiful self-grief over his own claimed inferiority. The hunt for strong demons will be to adapt your fighting skills and improve your strength. I will help you discover your vanity, Kohaku. Once then will I place you in the tournament to slaughter them all! Ha ha ha ha hn hn hn." he continued.
Kanna remained silent, only glossifully and stoically staring into the eyes of her creator.
Back at the fight, Kohaku was still battling the brute of a monster when the yokai suddenly phased through the air and in the process created two clones of himself. All three demons then attacked Kohaku from different sides. In mere moments the entire forest was enflamed and destroyed as Kohaku was sent flying into the open terrain. One of the beasts slammed his clawed fists down on the ground, blasting Sango's brother in the air. Another demon zipped into the air and scratched him across his chest, ripping out pieces of his armor. Kohaku fell to the ground losing his balance.
The three fire demons surrounded Kohaku, attempted to finish him off when suddenly a mass of wind blades came hurtling at the beasts, dismembering and ripping them to shreds.
"Kagura!" shouted Kohaku, upon seeing her descend towards him.
"What are you doing out here, Kohaku? You are seriously wasting your time with these small fry." Kagura stated.
"Naraku ordered me to hunt down strong demons an-" Kohaku started but was cut off.
"Naraku has new orders, Kohaku." Kagura interjected
"There is an island off-country in a remote land at the continent. Inuyasha and his pathetic friends are making their way to this island to take part in some tournament that's supposed to take place. He wants you and I to go there and take part in it as a surprise." she finished.
"Huh? But w- why fight in a tournament? Would he rather me trap Inuyasha and the others?" Kohaku asked
"Don't question his intentions Kohaku! I'm only supposed to tell you the message and fly you there to the island with Kanna and I." Kagura replied, not finding it too pleasant to be sent handling the dirty work as usual.
"Rrgh, very well. *I don't like this, first Naraku orders me to hunt strong demons, now he tells me to go to some strange island to fight in some weird tournament? Naraku, what are you scheming?*" Kohaku answered and then pondered to himself.
Kagura and Kohaku thus fly off to meet with Kanna and now all three are making their way to the lost sea, trailing Inuyasha and the others slowly without detection. The sun has set with the ships finally about to approach at last. The dock was full as more people gathered together. Inuyasha was growing impatient as he was ready to get the whole thing over with.
"Rrgh... Where the HELL is that damn boat!? It's been freaking hours! Naraku's probably already there wherever the hell we're suppose to go. It's probably too late now." complained Inuyasha
"Please try to calm down Inuyasha. The dock master said the ship will be here in 30 more mins so it's fine." Kagome said, trying to reassure the hanyou.
"Fine? FINE!? Forget that, we can get there fine on our own without that damn boat LET'S GO!" Inuyasha commanded
"Come on, be reasonable Inuyasha, we can't cross a vast amount of water on our own without the assistance of a ship. What's 30 more minutes to wait?" said Miroku
"This is a bunch of BULL and you know it Miroku! Right now, Naraku could be getting way stronger every second! We should be there by now!" Inuyasha continued to shout, grabbing the attention of the many people there and the annoyance of the dragon ninja.
"I understand that, but there's nothing we can do about it right now, Inuyasha. We just have to wait." Miroku told him
"AWWRRGHGH!" Inuyasha groaned
"Is he always this rowdy?" Ryu Hayabusa asked to one of his friends, namely Sango.
"Yeap, pure hot head." She replied.
"SHUT UP! What the hell would you know, huh? You just started journying with us, a few days ago. You have no idea what kind of demon we're up against!" Inuyasha yelled at Ryu
"Of course I do, you've only mentioned it like a thousand times. (-_-)" Ryu replied to the half-demon turning away from him
"Please, don't get involved, Ryu. He loses his temper." Kikyo said
"DON'T DEFEND HIM, KIKYO!" Inuyasha really yelled to the top of his lungs
"Inuyasha, what's your problem? You've been acting crazy since we came here." Shippo asked Inuyasha
"Be quiet, squirt!" the hanyou replied.
Inuyasha began to scare some of the people at the dock with his constant yelling. It didn't become apparent til he looked and seen the many pairs of eyes staring at his group.
"Come on Inuyasha, you're making a scene! Calm- huh? Wait a minute, I can sense two sacred jewel shards, caming at us fast!" Kagome suddenly said
"OOH, NO!" Inuyasha groaned in anger
In a fast gust of whirlwind, Koga jumped out and ran straight to Kagome.
"Hello Kagome, my woman." Koga seductively said to her as he grabbed her hands, making her squeal and chuckle a little.
"KOGA! I knew I was smelling your damn stench this whole time! What the HELL are you doing way out here!?" Inuyasha hollered at Koga, really not wanting to see him.
"Can't you see I'm talking to my woman right now, mutt?" Koga taunted Inuyasha.
"Why YOU!.." the half-demon barked
"Inuyasha SIT!" Kagome said quickly. The half-demon plummeted to the ground hard.
"Can't you be a little more civilized Inuyasha? I mean honestly... show some dignity." Kagome said to him in pity. There was only growls coming from the crater in which the hanyou was smashed in.
"..So Koga, how did you wind up finding us way out here?" Kagome asked, indeed curious to know.
"My dear Kagome, your rosey scent can never escape my nose." Koga said.
The others then felt quite awkward at what the wolf was saying.
"He's quite the charmer." Sango said
"But more importantly, I caught up with that bastard Naraku a little earlier." Koga said, shocking the others.
"You saw Naraku?!" Inuyasha asked loudly
"Did you fight him?" asked Miroku
"It wasn't him exactly, one of his puppets. When I killed it, it told me to come to the lost sea if I want to kill the real bastard." explained Koga
"That bastard told us the same thing! Don't think I'm going to be looking after your scrawny butt!" Inuyasha declared
"Hah! As if I'd ever need help from a pathetic, defenseless half-demon like you!" Koga shouted
"We'll see who's the pathetic and defenseless one, scrawny wolf!" Inuyasha retorted back to him and swung a fist at him.
Koga and Inuyasha start scruffling. The whole commotion has alerted the people at the dock. Some of them being common passengers, sat in the boat houses in fear, while some of them were actual fighters and they stood back and watched the whole thing.
"Damn you KOGA! *Punches Koga right in the jaw* I'm sick of you always showing up when things don't concern you!" shouted Inuyasha
"Shut up mutt!" Koga shouted
They threw a series of punches and kicks to one another. Inuyasha went in for another punch, but Koga using his jewel shards, burst-sprinted out of the way, circled around the half-demon and kicked him in the side of his head, sending him down to the ground. Koga tried to stomp his feet down, but Inuyasha dodged out of the way, grabbed Koga's descended legs, and flung him around the ground. Inuyasha ran up to claw him, then Koga popped up and uppercut kicked Inuyasha in the jaw, knocking him away.
"Man, look at them go!" shouted one of the random fighters at the dock
"Do you think they are demons?" asked another passenger looking on
"Forget the lost sea, they need the tournament right here, those two are already getting at it!" laughed another one of the passenger fighters there.
Kagome happened to shift her head over to the side by the water and the built houses and seen the people whispering about inuyasha and koga fighting.
"C'mon guys, this isn't the time for this." she said
As Kagome struggled to quiet the two down, Ryu, who had been standing off to the side with his arms crossed, began to sense the presence of a powerful being approaching. Kikyo happened to notice him twitch slightly.
"What is it, Ryu?" Kikyo asked.
"Something's coming.." Ryu said.
Suddenly as if right on que, a massive demonic energy flooded the skies above, the area became slightly dark. A powerful demonic aura blasted right where Koga and Inuyasha were fighting, knocking the both of them out of the way.
"Ah, what, the hell?" Koga asked
"Hu- This aura.. dammit." said Inuyasha
As everyone gathered their bearings, they looked on to see what caused that big and bright explosion. The very smoke emminating from this phemonenon seemed to be comprised of an acidic nature and this scent was all to familiar to Inuyasha.
"Great! As if I didn't have enough damn problems to worry about." Inuyasha said in frustration.
Beyond the smoke, everyone saw the entity that has appeared before them.. Sesshomaru.
Thank you guys for patiently waiting for me and for the release of the 10th chapter of this crossover... Now the entire cast except for the enemy has gathered in one place, how will things turn out? Find out in which the time will be very soon. on 02/28/17
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