Chapter 37: The True Owner of the Great Sword!
Continuing where we left off, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have gone sword to dragon arm in yet another battle. As they clashed, Sesshomaru taunts to the other,
"Is that all of the power you can muster?"
Inuyasha only grunts in response, focusing on holding his ground. Sesshomaru then raises his free hand, cutting across Inuyasha's face with his poison claws:
(Slash)
Inuyasha slides backwards, remaining upright, and says to his half-brother,
"I see you found another ugly arm for me to chop off, Sesshomaru."
"Go ahead and try. This replacement will act as a shield against the Tessaiga."
On the sidelines, Sango recognizes the origins of the arm:
"That's a dragon's claw." Coraline looks at Sango in worried confusion:
"Dragon's claw?"
"Yes. A dragon's claw will have a great deal more power than a regular demon's arm. I wonder how he's going to use that thing in battle?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Sango. But I got a bad feeling..."
Inuyasha scoffs a bit:
"Keh, a dragon's claw? Whatever. It doesn't look like it's gonna do any better than the last arm. I've already taken a good chunk out of it with my sword."
Sesshomaru's monotone frown shifts into a smile:
"...The Tessaiga is amazing. Despite not being wielded by its true owner, its power is still formidable. However, it refuses to reveal its Wind Scar to the one it has received as its master. Tessaiga, cut through the emptiness, and reveal your power."
Tōtōsai is in awe of Sesshomaru's knowledge:
"Aaah, Sesshomaru must be able to see the Wind Scar." Coraline asks the swordsmith,
"What is the Wind Scar? Is it a special sword technique of some kind?"
"In a nut shell, the Wind Scar is the secret to the Tessaiga's ultimate power. Slaying a hundred demons in one sweep would be virtually impossible without being able to see the Wind Scar. Sesshomaru must be able to see it."
"Can't Inuyasha be taught to see it as well?"
"It is impossible to teach. Inuyasha must discover it within himself. And if he does not discover it in time, he will surely die."
Coraline felt her blood run cold:
...Inuyasha...die?
No...No! I won't let him die!
If he can't find the power, then...I'll do whatever possible to make sure Sesshomaru regrets even coming here...
As Coraline silently vows to herself, the fight begins again, with Inuyasha blocking swipes from the dragon arm:
(Clang, clang, clang...)
Inuyasha slides back from one particularly strong swipe, only to hear Tessaiga's blade begin rattling...He curses:
"Damn. All he's using against me is that claw's brute strength."
He then looks up, only to block another clawed attack from Sesshomaru just in the nick of time! So the continuous swipes began again, with each attack causing more strain on Tessaiga:
(Clang, rattle...)
Inuyasha is flown back by the attacks, much to everyone's worry, Coraline's especially:
"Inuyasha!"
That's when everyone began seeing the throbbing and rattling of the blade...Sango says,
"I think the sword's crying!" Miroku adds his observations:
"From what I can see, Sesshomaru is actually attacking the sword itself."
Tōtōsai becomes troubled:
"This is appalling! He keeps hacking away at the sword, sending mighty waves of power ringing throughout the blade! Even the great Tessaiga will break under this pressure!"
As he keeps blocking the dragon claw, Inuyasha realizes what Sesshomaru was doing as well:
Sesshomaru isn't fighting with me: He's fighting with the Tessaiga!
(Swipe, crash)
"Gyaaah!"
Inuyasha is thrown back by the impact of the dragon claw uprooting the ground in front of him. It was then Sango decided to try and step in:
"Inuyasha!"
As she begins to rush over ready to throw Hiraikotsu, Inuyasha calls back to her:
"Stay back!"
Sango stops, and Inuyasha adds,
"Don't interfere. I will kill Sesshomaru, and I'll do it with the Tessaiga! (Turn) And Coraline, don't think I can't see you readying to get your knife out. You stay where you are, and don't even think about jumpin' in here!"
Coraline freezes, and slowly straightens up again, letting go of the knife handle...Inuyasha nods firmly at her, before focusing back on Sesshomaru:
He's hitting the Tessaiga over and over again to try and break it. As if I'm gonna stand by and let him do that...
Miroku comes to stand by Sango, placing a hand on her shoulder:
"We have to remember that Inuyasha has tapped into the full strength of Tessaiga before. I know it was only once, but it proves that he is capable of doing it again."
He turns back to Coraline:
"Coraline. You understand that too, right?"
She nods, before directing ahead with worried eyes:
Maybe so, but if this battle keeps up, that one time may only be that one time...
Inuyasha, please, be careful...
Sesshomaru then says,
"I want to hear you roar, Tessaiga. Then you can die along with your weak master."
(Dash)
As he charges forward, Inuyasha swings forward, the blade then caught by the dragon's claw! Sesshomaru then brings his free fist against Inuyasha's skull:
(PUNCH)
"Gghh!"
...But as it turns out, that wasn't the original target area, so Sesshomaru was a bit taken aback:
"You...You're protecting your sword."
"(Smirk) Heh. Why would I let you bust the Tessaiga before I've learned how to control it?"
Sesshomaru's claws then release their poison, causing Inuyasha to flinch back, his eyes blinded by the toxic mist!
As Inuyasha rises, he rubs his eyes, but found his vision too clouded:
"D-Damn it all. I can't see!"
...However, his new-found blindness proved to be an advantage! As Inuyasha looked up where Sesshomaru leaped, he sensed something, different:
(Whoosh...)
I can see it.
It was then that Sesshomaru brought the dragon claw down on Tessaiga again, pushing Inuyasha back. But he was more focused on what he could now sense:
"The vortex of its power...I can smell the wind scrapping...It's against the fissure where the power flows through...I bet I can slice through the fissure and release its full power!"
As he slides back, Inuyasha readies to swing his sword at the wind vortex:
"I see it! Hrraaaaahhhhhh!"
(SLASH)
His hit was dead-on, and Sesshomaru would get the full impact:
"Rrrrhha-aaah...Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"
But just as it looked like the end for Sesshomaru:
(Pulse...)
The Tenseiga began to throb with power, before surrounding the dog demon's body in a strange, black/blue light...!
As everyone else ducked behind Tōtōsai's bull companion from the Tessaiga's impact of power, Inuyasha held his ground...And just like that, Tessaiga had done its duty, leaving a giant claw mark in the ground...
While Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kilala were looking at the aftermath of the Wind Scar, Inuyasha knelt on the ground, panting heavily from the use of power:
"(Pant, pant...) Is it over?"
"It is."
"Huh?"
He turns to Coraline's direction, she now standing beside him:
"Coraline? Is that you? I can smell you, but I still can't see."
"Yeah, it's me."
She kneels down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder with a proud smile:
"You did amazing, Inuyasha. I had no doubt, despite my fears."
"Keh, thanks."
Small Time Skip
"So that was the Wind Scar..."
Inuyasha was now by the river, washing his eyes clean of any remaining poison, while Coraline sat beside him with a beaming smile:
"You did it, Inuyasha. Now that you've found Tessaiga's true power, you can work on mastering it."
Meanwhile, everyone else was sitting on some boulders, watching as Tōtōsai worked on the Tessaiga. Shippo wonders,
"So does this mean that Sesshomaru's dead?" Miroku answers,
"Most likely. I dunno how he could've survived: He received a direct blow from the fully-empowered Tessaiga."
Tōtōsai did not agree:
"...I did not see Inuyasha make a direct blow. All he did was wildly swing his sword around because his eyes were blinded with poison."
As he wipes his eyes of any excess water, Inuyasha asks with a bit of edge,
"What are you tryin' to say?"
"Hmph. Listen, Inuyasha: You have discovered the Wind Scar, I'll give you that much. But all it means is that you now know what your brother knows. You are still not his equal, and now he is more formidable than he was before."
Miroku says,
"You refer to him as though he were still alive..."
"Sesshomaru is still alive. And even though he despises the Tenseiga, it protected his life."
That caught everyone's attention, with Sango and Shippo asking respectively,
"It protected his life?"
"You mean Sesshomaru is still alive somewhere?"
Tōtōsai blows some more fire onto Tessaiga and hammers some more as he asks its wielder,
"Inuyasha, when you used the Wind Scar against Sesshomaru, you didn't fell it strike him, did you?"
Coraline turns to Inuyasha in surprise:
"...Inuyasha?"
"Uh, well...It's hard to say. I was blinded; I felt his body like it disintegrated from the blast of Tessaiga. I didn't pulverize him or nothin'. He just sort-of disappeared, evaporated."
Tōtōsai explains:
"Tenseiga protected Sesshomaru against the power and light of Tessaiga. It acted on its own accord."
Coraline wonders aloud:
"Wow...So much like Tessaiga, Tenseiga has a will of its own, too." Sango adds,
"And here Sesshomaru called the Tenseiga a useless sword, and he despised it as his birthright," followed by Miroku:
"Tenseiga is a sword of life, and when Sesshomaru's life was in danger, and despite his dark soul, Tenseiga chose to save him, and that is what makes him invincible."
Tōtōsai asks,
"So, how do you defeat a foe like that? I have no idea; it's beyond me."
Soon enough, the old swordsmith was done with his work on the Tessaiga, giving it back to Inuyasha, before setting off on his own again:
"I've sharpened the sword to protection. Now you just have to train yourself to defeat Sesshomaru's Tenseiga, like when he was trying to defeat the Tessaiga."
As he rode away, Tōtōsai muses to himself,
So before he died, he gave each of his sons a sword. He gave the Tessaiga to Inuyasha, and the Tenseiga to Sesshomaru.
That cunning old hound must've made it so that it is futile for the brothers to fight eachother...
"...I guess they'll learn that eventually."
(Mmmmooooooooooo...)
Time Skip
As the sun sets over the lush green forests of Edo, we zoom in on Sesshomaru, who despite being greatly injured from the Wind Scar, was still alive.
He's now laying on his boa near a tree, slowly returning to consciousness...
(...Rustle)
Suddenly, a small figure came out from the bushes, and was now staring at the great dog demon...
Sesshomaru feels their presence, and snaps up, his inner demon on the defense:
"(Growl)"
"(Soft gasp)"
The figure is revealed to be a little girl with long black hair (a small bit tied at the side), big brown eyes, and was wearing a rather worn kimono. She looks at Sesshomaru warily, before gulping back her fear, and cautiously steps forward...
Soon enough, night falls, and we see a bamboo container of water now sitting near Sesshomaru, who only stares at it monotonously...The little girl then comes back, with a large leaf of wild mushrooms and fish. As she turns to leave, Sesshomaru finally addresses her:
"...Mind your own business, girl. Your generosity is wasted; I do not eat human food."
The girl stops, and turns back to look at the dog demon with a worried look...
Eventually, she decides to go and gather more provisions, and is now standing in a small water bank, trying to catch some fish with her bare hands:
"Ah, uh...Ah."
"I knew it!"
"Huh?"
The girl turns to the right, and sees several men carrying torches, looking at her with scorn:
"I knew that you were the dirty culprit, Rin!"
The men then proceed to kick and beat Rin as punishment for trying to take fish that is revealed to be a part of the village preserves.
"You're a lucky orphan to have the village take you in, but you must not steal fish from the preserve."
"Never do it again, you understand?!"
After receiving one more slap to the face, Rin is seen walking away calmly with a small limp, remaining silent through the entire ordeal.
The men comment,
"Damn, that is the freakiest child: She never shows any signs of remorse or fear."
"Disasters left her a mute. Her entire family was slaughtered by thieves and she hasn't spoken since, so can you blame her?"
Time Skip
Come the next morning, Sesshomaru would hear the tell-tale rustle in the bushes, and Rin, despite the beating she took the other night, would return with another offering.
"...No thanks."
Rin did not give up, however, and was brave enough to come closer to the dog demon, holding out the offering to him:
"Uh...Uh."
"I told you, I don't need anything from you."
"Uh...(Sigh)"
Rin becomes discouraged...Sesshomaru then asks,
"...Where did you get those bruises?"
"Uh...Huh?"
Rin looks up at Sesshomaru in surprised confusion...He replies,
"...You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Rin stares in wonder at the dog demon, and as he turned to look at her...she suddenly breaks into a smile, laughing a bit.
"What are you smiling about? I simply asked a question. I don't care, I'm just curious."
Later on, Rin is seen hopping on one foot down a path to her small hut near the riverside, her mood considerably brighter than it likely has been in a long time...But as she approached the entrance to her home, she would discover that someone else was there:
"(Slurp) Ahh, (munch...)"
The intruder, revealed as a short man with balding hair tied in a top-knot, pointed ears, a bloodshot eye (the other scarred), and was wearing a blue kimono with a fur vest over top. Sensing her presence, the man turns to Rin in confusion:
"Huh? What, girl? Does this old hut belong to you?"
Rin moves to grip the side of the entrance with a scared look, and shyly nods...
Suddenly, there came a chorus of shouts coming from the main area of the village, and the man comes out of Rin's hut, cursing,
"Damn it, they've caught up already," before turning to run out of the area while lightly pushing Rin aside...
We then see a pack of wolves bounding into the village, pouncing on the villagers, while the man tries swimming away across the river, only to be tackled by some of those wolves:
(Splash)
"Oh! Aaah!"
As the man is dragged out, we then see someone else step in from behind the pack, likely the leader of the wolves:
He was a young man with blue eyes, pointed ears, long black hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a fur headband, brown-furred shoulder plates, silver/black armor, a fur pelt, and has a long, bushy brown tail. Clearly, his origins were that of a demon...
"Heheheh, I had to search high and low for you, you dirty thief."
The young wolf demon then grasps the man by his head and says with a menacing smile,
"Now hand over the Shikon-no-Tama shard, which you've stolen from me."
The man reaches into his robes, replying,
"A-Alright, I won't run away..."
He places the stolen shard onto the ground, to which the pack leader would take back with a toothy smirk. As he begins walking away, the man asks,
"Y-You're letting me go? Thank you for your mercy."
The young man stops, and hms...before:
(SLASH)
"Aaaaaagh!"
Rin watched fearfully from her hut, as the man is killed, while the young leader says with a smile,
"You fool. I would've forgotten."
He then turns to the wolves and says,
"Alright, I've gotten what I wanted. I'm going on ahead. You stay in the village and feast to your heart's desire, then catch up with me when you're done."
The wolves disperse, and Rin gasps, realizing that her safety as well as the other villagers, will soon be snuffed out...
Meanwhile, Back with the Inuyasha Gang...
As they moved on in their journey, Coraline suddenly slows to a stop, feeling something, off...
"Is something the matter, Coraline? You seem rather quiet today."
"Hold that thought, Sango..."
(Sheen...)
Coraline's eyes glow that icy blue, as she used her Aura Reader senses to help her confirm something...
"Just as I thought...(Narrows eyes) It's not very strong, but there's definitely a jewel shard close by."
Inuyasha and Miroku stop, and the former asks,
"Are you sure, Coraline? Which direction, can you tell?"
"Gimme a second...Got it: We need to keep going straight, then West."
Rin's POV
"(Pant, pant, pant...)"
I managed to get out of the village, but those scary wolves were still after me...As I kept running as fast as I could, I thought back to, that strange demon I met yesterday...
Oh...If only he were here now...
As I began tearing up, I tripped on a tree root:
"Aah! Uh!"
Just as I turn around, the wolves leaped at me, and I let out a quiet scream...
Jaken's POV
"Lord Sesshomaru!"
I was now on top of the two-headed dragon, trying to figure out where my lord had vanished to:
"Lord Sesshomaru, where are you?! Please answer me!"
I sense him nowhere, and begin to wonder,
"Is it possible that Lord Sesshomaru was cut down by Inuyasha when he went to battle with him? Cut down...Speaking of being 'cut down': Hmph, why should I care if Sesshomaru was cut down or not? He used me as a guinea pig in his sword experiment, and hit me with the Tenseiga to see if it would cut me through or not! He said that he was testing his sword, but maybe he was just teasing me. He wouldn't have struck me down if there wasn't any hope of me being revived..."
I'm now sitting in a field, trying to settle the conflict of what my lord was really doing with the Tenseiga:
"He was testing...He was teasing...He was testing...He was teasing...He was testing...He was teasing..."
I stop at the last flower petal:
"He was testing. (Eyes bulge) He was testing?! Lord Sesshomaru! Would you have really risked my life to test your sword?! You ungrateful dog!"
(Toss, thwap)
"Daaaah!"
Suddenly, I'm knocked off the dragon by a small rock, and when I turn around, I see,
"(Gasp) Lord Sesshomaru!"
I jump onto one of the dragon heads to greet my master:
"Before I continue in your service, I must know, were you testing your sword on me?"
"...I expected a relieved welcome, Jaken. Not an interrogation."
My jaw drops, and I scramble to make up for my actions:
"Ah-heh, right, you're well! I thought you might be dead!"
(Thwap)
"Dooo-oh!"
No POV
As a strong wind blew pass, Sesshomaru suddenly picked up on a strong scent:
Blood. Blood and the smell of wolves...
"...I recognize this blood."
He's then seen walking down a path to the source of the scent, and what he found, was Rin, having been slaughtered by the wolves from before...
As he stared at her body, Jaken comes up beside him:
"...What is that?"
Jaken then goes to look at Rin's body, cringing a bit from the blood and injuries:
"She's a goner, that's for sure. She must've been attacked by wolves. Look at the teeth markings. (Turn) Do you recognize this pathetic human?"
...Sesshomaru does not answer, as he thinks back to the selfless acts of Rin, and her little smile...He then grabs hold of the Tenseiga, much to Jaken's shock:
"Wh-What are you doing, sire?!"
As Sesshomaru held out the blade...suddenly:
(...Pulse...Pulse...)
"...Interesting."
He then looks up back at Rin's body, and sees several imp-like demons with scythes surrounding her:
"I can see them. They're from the Underworld...I'll do another test. I'll use the Tenseiga."
"(Gasp) Another test? W-What are you doing, sire? What are you doing?"
Ignoring Jaken, Sesshomaru raises his blade...before cutting away at the Underworld demons:
(SLASH)
...With that done, Sesshomaru moves to hold up Rin's body, staring for a moment...It was then, he felt it:
(Heartbeat, heartbeat...)
Sesshomaru takes in a sharp breath...as Rin blinks awake, alive and well! Jaken was amazed:
"She came back to life! Lord Sesshomaru...you resurrected that human girl with the power of the Tenseiga?!"
...He says nothing, and begins walking away once Rin was standing upright, much to Jaken's dismay:
"Uh, hello? Lord Sesshomaru? Lord Seshomaru saving a human life is surprising enough, but then again, more importantly, didn't Lord Sesshomaru just say that he was going to test the power of the Tenseiga once again?"
He then stutters in shock,
"Th-Th-That would mean I was cut down with no guarantee of survival! (Blubber) And to think I've devoted myself to you for all of these years!"
As Jaken kept crying in disbelief, Rin began to slowly walk forward, then bound after to Sesshomaru, having a new purpose in life...It was then that Jaken looked up from his sleeve, noticing that he was going to be left behind:
"Huh? Lord Sesshomaru, wait, I'm coming!"
As he continued to walk away, Sesshomaru thought to himself,
Humph, Tenseiga: You compelled me to save a human life today...
Small Time Skip, Coraline's POV
Following my directions, which also corresponded to a scent that Inuyasha picked up along the way, we all came across a small village, which had been savagely attacked!
Miroku would be the first to comment vocally on it:
"A massacre!"
Shippo then called out,
"Hey! Is anybody left alive?!"
We then see a set of tracks, belonging to, wolves...
As Sango and Shippo commented on the tracks, I looked around at the area, noting the carnage, the tracks, and found myself flashing back to one of my father's lessons...
Flashback, No POV
"Father, what are these?"
A young Coraline points to the ground, and Mathias Croft, a man in his mid-thirties, with short, thick red-brown hair and matching beard, and blue eyes, smiles down at the curious girl, as they looked down at a set of animal tracks on the forest ground.
"Those are deer tracks, young one."
"Ah...How can you tell what animal it is?"
"Well, some of it depends on the tracks, while the rest is on the surrounding area. For example, we're now in an area that deer primarily use as their feeding grounds, such as those berries over there, and the bushes here. Yet it isn't just deer: Other animals can share this area as well, such as birds, squirrels, and even the occasional bear."
"Wow...Do special creatures use this area too?"
"Haha, well, it's been a while, but I did see a dryad here once. The extraordinary are usually more hidden."
"How come?"
"Because they have secrets they wish to keep, and unfortunately, humans are not as well-trusted as they were back in the old days."
"Oh..."
Mathias comes to kneel in front of his daughter with a wise smile:
"You see, Coraline, nature is full of secrets and mysteries. In order to navigate in a given environment, you must learn to read the subtle signs, and slowly earn the trust of others who dwell. Respect nature, and it shall respect you."
"(Smile) Okay, father. I got it!"
End Flashback, Coraline's POV
"...Father..."
As I end my remembrance of one of my lessons with Father, Miroku then says,
"There must have been a great deal of them. (Turn) Do you think they were possessed by the jewel shard that Coraline sensed?"
Inuyasha nods at him and replies,
"Probably. This slaughter has demon written all over it."
(Growl...)
I then hear the sound of low growling, and I look up, to see dozens of wolves!
Shippo leaps into my arms in fright:
"Aaaah! Look out, that wolves are surrounding us!"
As I held him close, the rest us form a tight circle back-to-back...Inuyasha then cracks his knuckles and says,
"Keh, let's teach these wolves a lesson. They're strayed, it looks like their leader isn't even here. They're useless in a battle unless they're in a pack."
(Leap, dash)
(Slash, slash, slash)
"Grraaah!"
Inuyasha takes down a good bulk of the wolves with his claws, before several of them rush onto a hill, and begin howling:
(Aaaarrrrrrooooooooooowwwwww...)
"Awah, they're howling!"
"They're calling for their comrades."
As I stared at the wolves, I felt another flashback trigger:
(Flash)
...Storm...
(Growls)
...Footsteps splashing in puddles...
(Flash)
"Gh!"
Damn...Why did that memory have to show up?
It was then, I sensed something else, distracting me from my memories:
"(Soft gasp) There's a jewel shard coming, coming in fast, real fast!"
Everyone tenses up, and Inuyasha comes back in front of us, just as a whirlwind came out of nowhere! As the dust settled, a young man (obviously a demon) comes sliding out a few feet away from us!
Shippo exclaims,
"That guy just flew right out of the tornado!"
The wolves then come up to him, and seemingly inform him in the language of the wolves of what happened, before he steps forward:
"Just who are you? Explain yourselves: Why are you killing my wolves?"
I could see that he had more than one shard than I previously thought:
"He has, three shards of the jewel: One on his right arm, and one each in his legs."
Inuyasha says to the wolf demon,
"Feh, so you're the one controlling this bloodthirsty pack."
As we all stood and stared at one another, I think to myself frantically,
Wolves...Why did it have to be wolves?!