A/N: chapter bomb part 1 of 2

bet you didn't see this coming...

Hideoko had known that the youkai he would be fighting would be strong. He had no idea he would be this strong. He hadn't accounted for the blades in Sesshomaru's possession, since he hadn't seen them before at the festival. In fact, at that time he had only seen one very ordinary looking blade at the white-haired man's side, when he clearly now had three. Two of those swords, one without a scabbard and the other in his hand, clearly glowed with a dangerous demonic power, on top of Sesshomaru's formidable strength. Hideoko would have to take him down a peg if he had any hope of winning.

Sesshomaru was staring intently at the man as he stayed behind his barrier, plotting his next move. His sword, Bakusaiga, glowed faintly in his hand. He was standing in front of Rin's prone form in the middle of the courtyard, protecting her from any potential further harm. He couldn't help but worry for her, able to smell her blood as it stained the dirt beneath her from her wounds. He remembered again that a knife to the kidney was fatal to a human…he could not lose her now!

Seeing the split concentration, Hideoko smirked, pouring some powder into his hand from the little bag of dried herbs he'd brought out and tossing it into the air. It was a blend of the same type he'd used on Rin earlier, and would vastly weaken the Youkai while doing nothing to him, a human. Sesshomaru covered his nose with his sleeve the moment he caught a whiff of the dangerous drug, feeling it start to affect him immediately.

"something wrong, mononoke?" the man taunted as Sesshomaru growled again, keeping his sleeve up to prevent him from breathing more of the dust until it settled to the ground safely. It clearly didn't affect humans, he noticed. He had also noticed the barrier waver when he'd hit it with his sword. One more good hit should destroy it…but he'd have to stir the dust and risk breathing in quite a bit of it.

"did you figure out yet, that it was I who cursed dear Rin?" Hideoko asked Sesshomaru with a wicked grin. "but that doesn't matter now, does it? For when she wakes once more—if she wakes—she will be a hanyou forever. The curse has been sealed by the surge of youkai blood, and tonight marks six months as well. There's nothing you can do to get back your human pet any longer." The dust had mostly settled and Sesshomaru lowered his sleeve once more to reply shortly.

"I didn't fall in love with a human. I fell in love with Rin. Her soul, not her form." He tensed slightly, preparing to attack to bring down the barrier once the dust was finished settling.

"all the better, then, that when she turns savage again and again that soul you love will slowly be destroyed before your eyes, until she's nothing but a mindless animal, like you just saw!" Hideoko crowed in triumph. "a fitting end, I think."

The sudden blow from Sesshomaru's sword shattered the barrier and split the house in half—hideoko only barely managed to get out of the way. "even if it does nothing for her, you will die tonight!" Sesshomaru spat, ignoring the draining feeling as the powder was stirred up and he breathed in quite a bit of it with his attack. The awful glow of his sword dimmed significantly as he was weakened, and the man's smirk returned at the sight that his drug was working against the youkai.

"somehow, I doubt that," Hideoko told him, dropping the bag of herb dust at his feet and redrawing his knife. It honestly looked like quite a pathetic thing against Sesshomaru's sword, but it was wickedly sharp and he was able to easily coat it in poison if he chose to. He'd refrained from poisoning it for Rin, wanting her to have a better chance of survival, but had replaced it in a separate sheath that contained a potent poison when he'd put it away. It would surely be perfect to take down the youkai easily.

Sesshomaru was unaware of how much the drug had weakened him until he moved to run toward the man and stumbled, nearly falling for a moment. He hadn't felt so weak in living memory, especially when he wasn't wounded in the slightest. He glanced down at his sword, seeing it would now be next to useless with the little aura he could muster. He sheathed it and snarled, still walking forward, determined to kill Hideoko with his bare hands if he had to.

The sorcerer watched as the youkai stalked determinedly toward him, visibly weakened by the drug to near the level of a human. Surely Hideoko was more powerful than him now! Sesshomaru was frustrated that he could not even summon his whip or his poisonous aura to use against the sorcerer. He focused harder with every step, surprised the man wasn't running. Only fools didn't run.

"how nice of you to conserve my energy for killing you," Hideoko mocked as he watched the youkai come closer to the porch. He held the poison knife loosely, waiting for him to come in range. "it won't make it any more merciful, I'm afraid." He heard the man snarl as his eyes started to glow red.

Sesshomaru resorted to his last reserves of demonic energy, feeling they would be necessary to defeat this man as quickly as he could. Since the man was a sorcerer, so long as he could kill him before dawn, or before Rin woke, he could still save her from the curse. The man just smirked at him as he grew closer. "look at you, nothing but a beast. You don't deserve Rin. She could bear a worthy man fine children, but her talents would be wasted on a monster like you."

Hideoko wasn't expecting Sesshomaru's sudden burst of blinding speed. He suddenly found himself slammed against what remained of the wall of his house, held up by a clawed hand around his neck. "you don't deserve her either," Sesshomaru snarled lowly. "a man less worthy of Rin's affections does not exist." Hideoko realized he had the white-haired man right where he wanted him and quickly stabbed him in the upper arm with the small poisoned knife, expecting an immediate reaction.

Sesshomaru did not seem to even notice the knife beyond a momentary flash of annoyance at the pain. He knew it was probably poisoned, but he was immune to almost every natural poison because of his own abilities. For the first time, Hideoko actually looked scared.

The red-eyed youkai tightened his grip on the man's neck and he started to choke, grabbing his wrist with both hands in desperation. "Die," Sesshomaru commanded, tightening his grip further and further until something gave under his hand with a sharp, awful crunch and the light in the sorcerer's eyes was gone. He dropped the body to the ground in disgust, then pulled the knife from his arm and dropped it on the corpse, turning away.

Sesshomaru moved as quickly as he could to Rin, scooping her gently into his arms, brushing her bangs from her face. She was a little feverish and sweaty from pain and still bleeding, but a lot less than he'd expected her to. He gently turned her body to the side for a moment, finding the wound only superficial, all the internal damage healed by her bout of youkai blood. He gave a deep sigh of relief and hefted her into his arms, surprised how heavy she seemed to be now. Life-threatening or not, her wounds needed immediate treatment. He walked as quickly as he could to the nearby village after field-dressing her wound with part of his sleeve. "hold on, Rin…I've got you."