Chapter Twenty-Eight
I'll Make a Man Outta You
Disclaimer: Don't own InuYasha but I do own what I make the characters do -
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Kagome awoke to Sesshomaru wearing something she had never seen him wear before, a martial arts outfit. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up, rubbing her eyes again. He looked like her Sesshomaru except that for one, his long hair was in a long braid, two, he was defiantly not wearing his usual clothing and three, it looked like he had wrapped bandages over his knuckles on both of his hands. He obviously hadn't noticed his mate had woken up much less was staring at him like he had just crash landed a space ship into the castle because he began practicing a few martial arts moves.
"Sesshomaru?" Kagome voiced quietly. Although it was strange, it was making her more and more curious with each passing second.
"Oh, Kagome. Did I wake you?" Kagome shook her head and crawled out of bed, pulling on her robe.
"Why are you wearing that? And … your hair … it's braided." Sesshomaru chuckled at his mate's curiosity.
"Today is the training day for all new recruits, our children included." Kagome blinked and then narrowed her eyes.
"Surely you're not going to enlist our youngest son and poor little Haku are you?" Sesshomaru shrugged a little bit, acting a little like InuYasha.
"Their idea, darling, not mine." He leaned over and gave Kagome a peck on her lips before walking out of the room before she could get a word in edge wise. Kagome blinked a little bit before quickly getting dressed and tearing out of the room.
"Oh no you don't! Mate or not, I'm not letting you turn my last baby into some killing machine!" However, when Kagome looked around, there was pretty much no one in sight.
Sango came out of her room, carrying Hana, the infant that Takara had adopted a few months ago. Kagome blinked and then ran over to her friend.
"Sango! Why do you have Hana?" Sango looked to her friend and smiled.
"I'm looking after her while Takara trains with everyone else." Kagome eyed the other woman.
"What do you mean by 'everyone else', Sango?" Sango blinked at her friend, completely confused by Kagome's suspicious actions.
"Well, the twins, Katsu, InuYasha and his kids … even Haku, Shippo and Rin are training with the new recruits in Sesshomaru's army. I'm sure everyone will be fine, Kagome." Kagome looked at Sango, a mixture of frustration and fury rising up in her.
"That's not what I'm worried about, Sango." Kagome stated and took off towards the training grounds. Sango blinked and hurried after her friend.
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Sesshomaru walked with his hands behind his back as hundreds of humans, half demons and youkai alike, ranging from young to old were bowing before him. It only proved more interesting that his brother, his nephews, his sons and daughters were all among the new recruits.
"You are going to be worked to the very core of yourselves and there will be no 'going easy', this is not play time and this session is not a game. You will all learn to be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. You must be swift as the coursing river, with the power of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire. I will choose my sparring partner first and then the rest of you shall follow. I will not allow failure. You're the saddest bunch I've ever met but you can bet that before we're through, I'll make a man out of you." Sesshomaru stopped pacing the front of the line and stopped his hands still behind his back.
"Katsu. You will be my partner." Shocked murmurs came from the recruits and Shippo stepped forward.
"My lord, wouldn't you rather choose a more experienced partner?" Sesshomaru looked to the boy.
"I have chosen. Get back in line, solider." Shippo nodded and stepped back in line.
"Katsu, come forward."
"Yes sir!" Katsu called, running over to his father and standing beside him. Sesshomaru looked to everyone and nodded, holding up a clawed and bandaged hand and then swiftly bringing it down.
"BEGIN!!!" Commotion broke out and everyone chose partners quickly and began sparring with each other. Kasei and Takara sparred with one another while Shippo sparred with his cousin, Kyoya and Rin sparred with her cousin, Kazune and InuYasha was sparring with Haku.
Sesshomaru turned to Katsu and Katsu turned to his father. A smirk was upon his father's features and a trickle of fear ran down his spine but he quickly hid it.
"I will not go easy on you just because you are my son." Sesshomaru stated and Katsu bowed.
"I would not have it any other way, father." Sesshomaru smirked and then lunged at his son, using his demonic speed. Katsu was having trouble dodging them and was soon hit, thrown into the cement wall. Sesshomaru stopped and a frown marred his features. He honestly expected his son to put up more of a fight. Turning his back, he didn't notice the identical evil smirk on his youngest son's face that he had worn so many times.
Katsu moved so fast that Kagome couldn't even see him and all she saw was Sesshomaru being thrown several feet. She gasped and the whole camp stopped and stared, whispers going through it quickly.
InuYasha just stood, shocked out of his skull. He hadn't been able to land anything like that on his brother until he got Tetsusaiga and even after that, he had some major trouble and yet, this kid got the better of the legendary lord just minutes after they started.
Sesshomaru got up and wiped a bit of blood from his lip. Looking at the blood on his hand, he turned and sent a piercing glare at his son and then gave a chilling smirk.
"Well done but, be warned, I will not make the same mistake again." He got into battle stance, as Katsu and everyone just watched as sparks flew between father and son. They would attack each other, matching move for move, jump back and then attack each other again.
Kagome stood, watching the entire thing, her eyes wide, her hands clasped together. On one hand, she was amazed at her youngest and on the other; she was so worried she wanted to stop the entire thing.
Finally, after both side landed severe blows, Sesshomaru could easily see that his son was having severe trouble even seeing straight. He stood tall and held up a hand as the healers came and carted him away. He chuckled to himself as he looked at the blood that stained his clothing. He certainly underestimated that boy of his. Fortunately for him, he was already healing, thanks to his youkai blood.
"Takara!" He called out. His half demon daughter ran over to him and he looked at her.
"You are now my new sparring partner. Don't disappoint me." Takara smirked, looking a lot like her father.
"You don't have to worry about that."
A little ways away, Kyoto, who had heard of the training session, as had all the other villages in the western lands, came to see what all the fuss was about. Then he saw her. Her hair was done in a braid almost identical to the lord's and she wore the same outfit as everyone else and she had a look of concentration, calculation and determination on her face.
She was truly amazing to see. She lunged at the lord and even had him retreating of all things. He pried his eyes away from her and looked at the others and recognized Kasei, Shippo, Rin, InuYasha and his sons but there were two boys that he didn't though the half demon was clearly related to the lord but, the other boy, he had no clue about.
A pained cry brought his eyes back to Takara and he gripped the stone hard as he saw her lying on the ground, unmoving. Just as the lord began walking away, he turned back. Kyo's eyes widened and he gasped a little as Takara dragged herself up from the ground. She was bleeding heavily but nearly bit the healers when they came to collect her.
"I don't give up that easily. I'm not through with you yet." For the first time in his entire life, he actually heard the lord laugh. Sure, he'd heard tales of it when he was a child but he never in his wildest imaginations, thought that he would hear it for himself.
"You've got your uncle's stubborn determination. Very well, then. Let's continue." Kyo was so shocked he nearly fell off the wall as she dodged the next attack and literally vanished and appeared behind her father, sending him skidding to a halt from her blow.
"No way … " He whispered, watching in complete awe and fascination. So far, they were evenly matched and even he could tell that the lord was beginning to tire. Then he saw it. The only weak point he'd ever seen on the lord. Apparently Takara saw it, too because she swooped in and took full advantage of it, sending the great Lord Sesshomaru face down into the dirt.
His jaw dropped and he was leaning so far forward that he nearly fell again. Some of the local village children were standing with Lady Kagome and cheered happily.
Takara turned to them and grinned, giving a thumbs-up. The victory was short lived, however as he watched as her legs suddenly gave out from under her and sent her toppling to the ground and to his utter bewilderment, it was the very Lord she had defeated that saved her from a nasty fall and he was surprised yet again at how gentle he was as he handed her off to the healers.
Everyone had stopped and watched the battles with the lord and every last one of them was surprised that they even managed to land a single blow on the lord. All except for InuYasha, of course. He knew how powerful his brother really was and he was actually pretty proud to be known as his brother, especially since he also earned all his power and had surpassed their father in strength long ago. InuYasha also knew that even though the twins and Katsu were half demons, they were also the children of Kagome, the most powerful miko alive and Sesshomaru, the most powerful demon alive.
Sesshomaru looked to Kagome and walked over to his mate. Kyo watched him and felt a little uneasy looking at the Lady, she didn't look like her normal, cheerful self. Sure enough, he watched her take a deep breath and once again, everyone on the grounds fell silent and watched as the Lady let loose her wrath on her Lord with one single word.
"DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! DOWN!!!!!!!!" Kagome turned her eyes on InuYasha and he instantly tried to get away.
"And you! You're no better than him! SIT BOY!!!!!!!!!" Both brothers were impaled in the dirt, face down and Kyo couldn't help but feel a little scared. Everyone was silent, no one dared to turn the infuriated Lady's wrath upon them.
Kagome spun on her heel and stalked away, leaving the two brothers in the dirt. The only thing scarier and more powerful than Sesshomaru was an infuriated pregnant miko.
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Later that night, Kagome was walking the grounds, just enjoying her time alone when she heard Katsu's voice. Curious as to why the twelve year old would not be in bed at this hour, she followed the voice and found him on his knees, bowing before Sesshomaru. She hid quietly and just decided to watch for now.
"Please father, I beg you. Train me to become strong like you and my brothers." Sesshomaru looked down at his son with an indifferent look upon his face but Kagome could see that he was torn between training his son and probably facing herself.
"Why do you want to become so strong, Katsu?" Sesshomaru's question surprised the boy and he looked up at his father and then looked away. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and began walking away when the boy's voice stopped him.
"Because … because … " Sesshomaru didn't turn back but listened.
"Because what?" Katsu clenched his fists and his body shook a little.
"Because … I … I WANT TO PROTECT OKKA-SAN AND THE OTHERS! I WANT TO HELP FIGHT AGAINST OUR ENEMIES! I WANT TO BE A MAN!!" Though he didn't show it much, the shock of the boy's statement got to him. Turning around, he studied his son a little and nodded.
"Very well then. Katsu, I will train you and I will make a man out of you."
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A/N: Well, what did you all think? Aren't I the greatest? Three chapters in one day If any Mulan fans are reading this then they must know the song that I've quoted at least twice in this chapter.
For those of you that don't know, it's "I'll Make A Man Out Of You". I found an AMV with this song to it (and the AMV is good, too lol) and I felt so inspired that I just HAD to write. It's slightly longer than the other chapter that I updated today and the one I did yesterday so I hope you all like it. I'm going to try to update more often again but, I'm moving again but this time I'm going back to good ol' Powell River. Back home. Yay! Anyways, my hands and my wrist is really hurting from using his crappy keyboard so I'm just going to cut it short by sending a big thank you to all of my reviewers.
You made this entire possible, people!
