A Complete Meido

As the heroes were passing through a valley, Kagome alerted everyone that she could sense a shard of the Sacred Jewel. Emily even sensed a few shards of the Cobalt Star. This sounded troubling. It was Kohaku's Sacred Jewel shard that Kagome was sensing and Emily was sensing Max's Cobalt Star shards. On top of that, Inuyasha picked up Sesshomaru's scent, meaning the three of them were together. This definitely did not sound good.

Sesshomaru followed a strange being promising to reveal the secret of Tenseiga and helping the demon to achieve creating a complete circle of Meido Zangetsuha. He knew it was a trap, but did not care. Either way, he was going to kill whoever it was that summoned him. "Are you so desperate to learn the secret of Tenseiga that you would deliberately walk into a trap?" A masked man named Shishinki asked Sesshomaru.

"How is it that you know about Tenseiga?" The dog demon asked.

"Because long ago, I faced it in battle," Shishinki answered. "Although back then, it looked completely different then than it does now. I remember how it looked when I fought against your father."

Max was astonished to hear that. Tenseiga looked different in the past?

Sesshomaru tried to attack Shishinki with his poison claws, but his opponent eluded him. "Your tactics amuse me. You fight without your sword in order to learn its secret? You underestimate me." The masked man demonstrates his own power and forms a complete circle of Meido Zangetsuha.

Max helped Kohaku and Rin get to safety. "Whoa, that was a complete circle, except it's smaller than the one Sesshomaru can produce," Max observed.

"I'll have you know that Meido Zangetsuha was originally my technique," the masked man claimed, "until your father stole it from me. He took it along with my face." He removes his mask, showing that the upper left half of his face is gone.

This disgusted Max. "How can this guy even still be alive? He lost most of his brain, so his body should have stopped functioning and he should have died."

Jaken was becoming irritated with Max's questions. "Well, you yourself aren't entirely human, so you should know demons function differently from humans."

"Be that as it may, my argument should still stand thus," Max snapped.

It was clear to Sesshomaru that his opponent had no intention of telling him the secret to perfecting Meido Zangetsuha. For that matter, he was going to kill him. He tried to attack with his own Meido, but the masked man used his Meido to absorb the attack and remove it.

Finally, the heroes arrived into the fray. Shishinki looked at Tetsusaiga in shock. He tried to attack with Meido Zangetsuha, but the heroes managed to escape. Inuyasha tried to attack with his Windscar, but Shishinki already disappeared.

It was just as Shishinki heard. The Great Dog Demon had two sons and he bequeathed a sword to each of them. The masked man tormented Sesshomaru. "Tell me, shouldn't the elder brother be the one with the Tetsusaiga? Why would your father leave it to your brother instead?"

Sesshomaru had been tormented about that many times, wondering why his father left him Tenseiga and not Tetsusaiga. He had always deemed Inuyasha unworthy of such a powerful weapon that would never be used for its purpose.

Shishinki revealed something neither Inuyasha nor Sesshomaru learned before. Their swords used to be one before they were split into two. When the Great Dog Demon acquired the power of Meido Zangetsuha, he was unable to master it despite being able to comprehend it. So he cast it away by dividing the power of his sword and the sword itself. "Poor Sesshomaru," Shishinki taunted, "it seems your father passed you by in favor of your younger brother."

As if being feeling treated lesser was bad enough, Sesshomaru couldn't understand why his father acquired such a powerful technique only to cast it away.

"Do you understand?" Shishinki asked Sesshomaru. "Because your sword is incomplete, it cannot perform my technique. It is only a part of Tetsusaiga and can never perform a complete Meido." He attacked again, but Inuyasha stopped it with his Windscar. Sesshomaru didn't thank Inuyasha for helping him. He punched his brother and warned him not to interfere.

Some brother, but no one could really blame Sesshomaru for being angry. He began charging towards Shishinki to attack. The masked man started launching a barrage of Meidos, but was unable to stop his opponent. Sesshomaru got close enough to strike Shishinki's face and destroy his mask. Furious, Shishinki launched another barrage of Meidos. Inuyasha stopped them with his Adamant Barrage.

Suddenly, Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga began pulsating to each other's presence. Reluctantly, Sesshomaru drew his sword and swung it, unleashing a complete circle of Meido Zangetsuha and absorbing Shishinki's attack and pulling him into the underworld.

Everyone was awestruck. "I've never seen anything like that," Kaiba gasped in astonishment.

"Yeah, but just think, it could have taken Inuyasha and Sesshomaru with that guy," said Joey.

Inuyasha was hesitant at first, but he gathered his courage and spoke up to his older brother. "Sesshomaru, that was a complete circle. I can assume that means you've mastered Tenseiga, right? Look, Father died before I was old enough to even remember him, but all those things Shishinki said about Tenseiga being cast off from Tetsusaiga couldn't be true, could they? Father had faith in you that you would be able to master Tenseiga and because you were a full demon."

"You know, Inuyasha's assumptions make a lot of sense," Emily wondered. "Being a half-demon, Inuyasha probably wouldn't be able to fully comprehend the incredible demonic energy of that attack."

"You think that's the real reason their father split Tetsusaiga?" Joey asked.

Yugi agreed. "He had faith in Sesshomaru and it was to protect Inuyasha."

"What concern is it to you?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Because I'm sick and tired of you giving me trouble because of this sword," Inuyasha barked.

"I was asking the princess," Sesshomaru retorted.

Emily gasped. Did Sesshomaru know who she was because of Max? No, surely there were many demons in this world who were familiar with the history of the age of the Shadow Games and knew about the Heroes of Millennia. "Please don't mind me. I have a tendency to think out loud and can't always help it. But if I'm wrong, you can tell me."

"Don't worry about it, Emily," Inuyasha told her. He faces his brother again. "Can't we just agree that Tenseiga is your proper inheritance from Father and leave it be?"

"Princess Emily," Sesshomaru said sternly. Emily tensed at his tone. "I was only able to perform a complete circle because Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga responded to one another. Also, Inuyasha and I are destined to fight each other until the day we die just as you and Max are."

That was true. As long as the girls were bound by the Stars, they would continue to battle each other on behalf of the Great Goddess and the Dark Lord and one of them would have to kill the other.

Up ahead, Rin heard and asked Max, "Is what Lord Sesshomaru said true, Lady Max? Do you and the princess have to fight until one of you dies?"

At first, Max was hesitant to answer, but she didn't want to lie to the girl either. Honestly, she didn't like the idea either. "Sadly, Rin, it's true. Whether Emily and I like it or not, we must fight and one of us is going to have to kill the other."

Rin didn't like the sound of that. She didn't want Max to die. It was also hard for her to imagine ever killing anybody.

Max decided to change the subject. "Kohaku, shouldn't you at least talk to your sister before we go?"

He didn't want to, but not out of selfishness. He wanted to try and avoid more heartache than he and his sister should have to bear. "No, we should keep up with Lord Sesshomaru." Max understood and agreed. She went with the children as they followed Sesshomaru. Sango looked on in sadness for her brother.