During that first night there, Inu no Taisho had departed at some point, so silently that even Inuyasha didn't detect him disappearing as he slept. It was only in the morning did he realize that his father had gone. They weren't alone though, for Myoga had made another appearance, and jumped up to attempt to suck his blood this time, which resulted in him being temporarily flattened.
"I'm not food. And what are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked, as he pinched the little flea to hold him up.
"Master Inu no Taisho requested that I stay and inform you he will be returning by midday today, so not to be concerned at his absence and leave," Myoga reported.
"Right. Now don't bite me again," Inuyasha flicked the flea aside and lay back down. He felt pretty good this morning, as Kagome had healed him a bit more before they fell asleep the night before. Since there was plenty of food left over from the boar, he chowed down, filling up on the protein. When Kagome woke, she didn't look too thrilled at the cooked, cool meat, but she ate a decent amount.
Inu no Taisho returned early to mid afternoon, carrying a large red bundle. "This is for you, Inuyasha. You'll find it rather useful, I'm sure, far more so than the strange clothes you currently wear. This fabric is woven from the fur of the fire rat. Go change and we can start more official training."
"It's so red. And bulky," Inuyasha commented, as he held the garments up. There was a kimono top and a pair of hakama pants, both the same shade of fire engine red. As ordered, he ducked out of sight to change his attire. When he returned, he could see Kagome's amusement as his new wardrobe choice. It was hard for him not to feel a bit silly, for it wasn't exactly the sort of thing he had ever worn before.
"Do I look that weird?" he asked her. She was sitting on a boulder, reclining slightly with her hands on the rock behind her back, holding herself up.
Kagome just grinned at him. "Only a little. You kind of remind me of Santa though, but if he was young and sexy." The words escaped her mouth before she had a chance to realize what she was saying, and she couldn't help but blush as his eyes widened for a second in surprise.
"You're crazy," Inuyasha muttered at her. Secretly he appreciated the accidental compliment. Did she really think that of him? He hoped so, even if he did think she was a bit crazy for having such an opinion. His father strolled over to join them, giving them the chance to focus their attention elsewhere and let the awkwardness fade away.
"You look more like a proper inuyoukai now," Inu no Taisho said with approval. "I wore the robe of the fire rat previously, back in my youth, before I became the Ruler of the Western Lands. Now it is yours. Maybe one day you'll have a son to pass it on to as well."
"Hah. I'm way too young to think about being a father," Inuyasha smirked. The robe was heavy fabric, but not overly warm. It also came with a tan kosode, which peaked out in the seams on the shoulders. Crumpling up his modern day clothing, he shoved them into Kagome's yellow knapsack for safe keeping.
Once again, Kagome hung around so she could watch them train. And by train, it was really watching Inuyasha get his ass handed to him. It was clear that he was getting frustrated quickly, for he spent more time being knocked to the ground than he did standing. All he could do was try and block his father's attacks, and never managed to get the chance to attempt to deal a blow in return.
"You're as slow and clumsy as ever," Inu no Taisho snorted. He was concerned at their lack of progress since yesterday. It seemed so odd to him that his son had never actually been in a battle before. He had declined receiving any knowledge about the future, but he guessed that he had been born in a time of great peace, and that was all he had known growing up. In these current times, being soft like this was a death sentence.
Inuyasha groaned as he found himself flung about fifty feet once again, hitting the ground hard on his left side, as he hadn't been able to right himself in time to land on his feet. Most likely his rib was cracked once again, judging by the sharp pain that suddenly intensified in his side as he made impact on the rock hard dirt. His father lashed out another attack, which he barely dodged.
"You're too hot-headed and don't try to think very critically about your opponent," Inu no Taisho chastised him, after his son snarled out more curses from the ground. "Try learning to read my movements and calculate what I may do next. We can't move on until you start figuring out how to actually dodge my blows."
They continued sparring, and Inuyasha attempted to slow down and think, taking his father's advice. Sure enough, he slowly began to have success in evading the attacks. He wasn't sure if his father was intentionally slowing down, or if he was actually improving on his own, but either way, he was glad that he seemed to make at least some progress.
Although the fire rat robe did offer a lot more protection than his jeans and t-shirt, Inuyasha still found himself a bit bruised and banged up, especially on his forearms, where the sleeves fell back. Once again he allowed Kagome to work on honing her healing abilities as they sat around the fire cooking dinner that evening. He wasn't going to admit it, but he was enjoying having her fuss over him, and he did like the warm tingle her healing powers gave him.
The next morning, Inuyasha did his best to start his training session out with a clearer head, struggling to keep his temper from getting the best of him. He found that he spent less time eating dirt today than he previous had. "Is it just me or are you getting slower?" he smirked to his father, as he quickly dodged his fist, albeit by a hair.
"You're getting faster," Inu no Taisho replied, the tiniest of grins on his face. "Might even be able to land an attack on me, at some point, if you keep it up."
Eventually Inuyasha found himself able to dodge at least six or seven of every ten attacks. He definitely was getting faster, but he was still sloppy, and had yet to deal a blow of his own. They had taken to sparring in the forest, engaging in a high speed chase through the trees, using the giant tree trunks as an added challenge to work on dodging and maneuvering skills.
As his father rushed for him once again, he dodged to the right, only to pause as he heard the thunder of wood splintering. A second later, he launched himself up just in time to avoid a massive oak landing right where he had been standing. "What the fuck?" Inuyasha exclaimed, glancing between his father and the tree that had just been taken down.
"You don't even know your own claws. Unfortunately that doesn't surprise me," Inu no Taisho told him dryly. "Let's see if you can figure out how to use them on your own. It's a deadly attack, using your own youki, and not the only one your claws are capable of. This one is sankon tessou." Without pause, he slashed at the air again, golden arcs flying out of the tips of his claws. Inuyasha had to leap out of the way once more, when another tree came crashing his way.
The chase was on once again, this time with Inuyasha dodging the attacks that came from his father's claws, along with miscellaneous branches and small trees. 'So that's youki?' he thought to himself. If it came out of his father's claws, that must mean he was channeling it or forcing it out somehow. 'How the hell do I actually channel it?!' It took several attempts, but eventually he managed to have some yellow sparks fizzle out of his own claws.
Meanwhile, Kagome had decided to continue figuring out her own abilities. Off in the distance she could hear the faint sound of commotion, and she couldn't help but wonder what they were up to. The training was pretty hard on Inuyasha, but she knew his father was holding back accordingly, to what his son could handle for the time being.
Sticking close to the giant skeleton, she spent the majority of the rest of the day shooting arrows at trees. That funny sensation came back again, and she had been working out how to channel it through her weapon. That part turned out to be a bit easier than expected, with the difficult part still being successful at hitting a small target.
That night, Inuyasha found himself distracted by a faint pulsing sensation. It almost sounded like a heartbeat, kind of. He was puzzled, for his nose wasn't detecting any living beings in the general vicinity, save for the three of them. It was coming from the very back of the tomb, behind the giant column of spine that supported the Great Fang.
"What is it?" Inu no Taisho asked, cocking his head a bit as he studied the young hanyou. He had been observing his son's subtle looks of suspicion and confusion, every time his eyes flicked to the far right.
Inuyasha shook his head and frowned. "Don't know. It seems like I'm feeling some kind of pulse. Tell me you can sense it as well?"
"I don't sense anything like that," Kagome frowned and sat up a little straighter. "Is it something dangerous?"
"No, not at all. I myself can not sense the pulse, however I know exactly what it is. Only you can sense it, because it is calling out to you specifically, Inuyasha. I'm a bit surprised that you are able to sense it already," Inu no Taisho mused.
"What is it though?" Inuyasha asked, leaping to his feet. He was curious now and started to make his way towards the rhythmic pulse. It was soft and gentle, luring him in. Kagome rushed to her feet to tag along and see what he was acting so strange. Behind them, Inu no Taisho made his way at well, to witness it.
Making his way around the spinal column, the pulsing got louder the closer he got. Upon reaching the center of the back, he stopped dead in his tracks, blinking in confusion. "A sword? That's what is making the pulse?" There, stuck deep in the boulders behind the vertebra, were three swords. His attention was immediately drawn to the middle one, as if some sort of unnatural force was pulling him in.
Silently, Inu no Taisho stood there with arms crossed, watching his son stare at the sword before reaching out to grasp the hilt of the one in the middle. Slowly, he pulled it out of the boulder. His eyes widened in surprise. "Tessaiga? You were chosen by Tessaiga?"
"I don't know. Is that the name of this sword or something?" Inuyasha frowned, as he held the blade up to examine it. The entire length of the blade was full of nicks. Even the hilt looked a bit of a mess, covered in tattered strips of cloth rather than being neatly wrapped. "Why is is all beat up? I don't think this sword can even cut paper right now."
"Yes, that is the name of the sword. And there is more than meets the eye, with Tessaiga. If it was in its true form, it would never fit inside its sheath," Inu no Taisho explained. "It's not a mere mortal sword, like the humans carry about. With time, you will learn its techniques and it's secrets. You can feel the power in it, can't you?"
"Yeah, I can't really describe it, but I am sensing some sort of energy. Where is the sheath?" Inuyasha asked. Turning his head as if he sensed it, he started to walk over behind another cluster of boulders, as if he was silently guided there. To his surprise, he uncovered a black sheath with a red sageo. At least the sheath appeared to be in decent shape, unlike the blade. Tessaiga fit perfectly, and with the sword now sheathed, he rejoined the other two.
Inu no Taisho merely watched him, pondering what just happened here for a few long moments. "Looks like the sword is now yours, since it allowed you to both grasp it and withdraw it. However, that was just the first test you passed. In order to truly possess the right to wield it, you need to be able to actually use it. I do suppose it is fortunate that a legendary sword such as Tessaiga has its own mind, so to speak, and can choose a master, for that particular sword is coveted by many inuyoukai. In particular, your brother. All of his attempts to possess Tessaiga have failed, as he couldn't grasp the sword without getting severely burned. He has resentment towards the sword that chose him, Tenseiga."
Inuyasha blinked in surprise at that. "I have a brother?" he exclaimed.
"Yes. A full-blooded youkai brother named Sesshomaru. He is very much the opposite of you in terms of demeanor, which is very likely why Tessaiga consistently rejected him. Like me, he is extremely powerful, of course, but he is much like his mother in terms of non-physical traits. This sword here, named Tessaiga, possesses the power to destroy anything in its path, even an entire village, but its true purpose is to defend human life.. While Sesshomaru seemed very interested in the sword, most likely for its sheer destructive power, Tessaiga itself denied him the right to wield it. The sword has energy of its own, and a mind of its own, it seems. It takes a powerful youkai to be able to wield such a sword, which Sesshomaru is, however his heart is not in the right place," Inu no Taisho explained.
"So it was a surprise it chose me, because you don't consider me a powerful youkai?" Inuyasha asked gruffly.
"No, I have no doubt you possess a sheer amount of untapped power, you simply lack the experience and current ability to fight at your full potential. After all, it is my blood that flows through your veins, even if you are a hanyou. If you didn't have the potential, such a legendary sword would never have chosen you," his father replied.
"This sword is legendary?" Inuyasha asked, raising his brows as he unsheathed the damaged blade to take another look at it. "I hope it's made out of something sturdy, because it looks like it will break the next time it hits something."
"It is made out of a canine of this very skeleton we stand inside of, the Great Fang. As I told you, it is not just a regular human sword. A handful of legendary swords were made from his teeth, including Tenseiga, and So'unga, which is the one I carry. My advice is to listen to your sword, respect your sword, and learn from your sword. Now that you've obtained a sword of your own, I suppose we may as well incorporate it into our training tomorrow.
While the men fought, Kagome spent most of the time by herself, practicing hitting the target, but also on drawing out that weird sensation she got whenever she was aiming the bow. Eventually she had been able to shoot arrows that glowed and sparkled with pink light. It was pretty freaking awesome, she thought, although she wasn't sure just yet what it actually did, aside from look cool.
For what seemed to be the thousandth time, Kagome raised her bow, taking a deep breath as she narrowed her eyes and aimed the arrow. Power flowed through her, and a pink glow enveloped the arrow. "My hands are killing me," she murmured to herself. Having fired her arrows for hours on end, day after day, her fingers were quite raw. At least her healing powers worked on herself, but they still ached, and the pain kept coming sooner than before. She was determined to push herself through the pain though, because in a real life battle, she wouldn't be able to stop and heal her fingers every two minutes.
"Noooo," Kagome groaned in frustration, when the arrow grazed the side of the tree trunk. She had improved quite a bit, but was just getting tired. Even lifting her bow up made her arms ache. Just as she was about to go fetch the arrows, since her quiver was now empty, she found herself crashing to the ground, as something large pounced on her. She let out a shriek of panic, as she expected to slam into the ground, only to find herself being gently laid down, as Inuyasha prevented her from a hard landing.
"You gotta learn to pay attention to the demons that'll sneak up on you from behind," Inuyasha teased, baring his fangs a bit at her. "First lesson is don't keep your guard down."
Kagome punched his shoulder hard. "I'll get you back for that, I swear. Scaring me half to death like that."
"Oh, you can try," Inuyasha teased her again, before leaning down to playfully headbutt her upper arm. He had her pinned beneath him, and he found himself liking the fiery look she was giving him right now. With a smirk, he reached down and pinched her side. Kagome just squealed and grabbed his shoulders, shoving him onto his back so that she could attempt to wrestle him.
Inu no Taisho merely watched his son with his friend, as he called her, with much puzzlement. They were currently rolling around on the ground, but it was clear that they were pretending to fight each other, although his son seemed to have no problem with readily taking a submissive position to her. It was a great mystery to him, how they still remained so oblivious to each other's feelings, when he could see the obvious attraction as clear as day. He sighed, for in due time they were sure to realize it. It was also a very strange method of courtship, in his opinion, but she seemed to like it.
After taking back dominance once again, with their little wrestling match, Inuyasha started to playfully push Kagome onto her side in the soft grass, when the scent of blood made his nose twitch. Forgetting all about their play fight, he froze for a second before quickly grabbing her hand to take a look at it. "What did you do to yourself?" he frowned, observing the red, blistered skin on her fingers.
"I was just practicing archery until my fingers were about to fall off," Kagome grimaced. She must have opened the wounds somehow during their playful little romp, for she was suddenly aware of the dull ache.
"Don't do that, dummy," Inuyasha retorted.
"I need to. You're not the only one who needs to work at getting stronger," Kagome argued back. "Besides, it's fine. I can just heal myself and be good as new. Watch." To her surprise, instead of letting go of her hand, Inuyasha merely kept her fingers cradled in his, with his thumb gently pressing the inside of her fingers. She had to squirm a bit to move her other hand to her injured one, so she could channel her healing powers onto the injured flesh.
"I'm all for you getting stronger, but don't wreck your own body. That's my job. To wreck my own body for training purposes, I mean," Inuyasha muttered at her. "My body was made to handle it, unlike you."
Kagome started to protest, but thought the better of it. She knew he was just saying that out of concern for her, and not insinuating that she was weak. "I'll try to be more careful," she told him. He nodded and released her hand, now that she was done healing her blisters, and let her scoot away to get to her feet. It took her a moment to brush all the grass and dirt off of her kimono, thanks to their wrestling match.
Leaping to his feet as well, Inuyasha bent over to retrieve his sheathed sword, to secure at his hip once again. As he peered around to see where his father was, he realized the two of them were alone. Before he could open his mouth to comment on that, the sound of something very large crashing through the forest made him spin around, his heart instantly racing. Whatever was coming their way was moving fast, and he could sense some serious youkai radiating from it.
A split second later, a massive white dog-like creature burst forth from the trees, snapping a few in half as if they were matchsticks. Between the loud growls rumbling from its throat, and the slightly crazed look in its eyes, Inuyasha instantly deduced that it was not a friendly pup. Just as he was about to grab Kagome and leap away with her to get her someplace safe, the dog was on them in a single bound, knocking him into the side of a tree with a single swipe of its paw. Sharp claws raked across his chest in the process, staining his robe with his blood.
Inuyasha let out a painful grunt as his back collided with the tree, just barely catching himself as he then landed face first onto the ground. The dog had skidded to a stop, its huge paws leaving wide trenches in the ground, as it whirled around to face him. "Kagome, run! Get inside the tomb!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. If this thing was after him, it would be best for him to not rush back to her to drop her off somewhere safe. Right now she was roughly halfway between his current position and the Great Fang.
The huge demon dog snarled and rushed in to take a bite at him, its massive jaws snapping shut around the tree he had been standing in front of less than a second ago. Inuyasha's heart was pounding at that close call. He could smell the toxic saliva of the dog, and the leaves and grass on the ground sizzled as droplets of saliva hit fell.
In an attempt to lure the giant beast away, as Kagome still had a ways to go before making it into the opening of the tomb, Inuyasha used his newly discovered claw attack to incite it a bit to keep its attention on him. How he was actually going to defeat or stop this thing, he had no idea. However, the dog merely ignored his attack and instead, turned tail to lurch itself in Kagome's direction.
"Oh, fuck no!" Inuyasha snarled, his eyes wide open in horror. The human girl was still running back around to get towards the opening in the giant skeleton, which was in the front, but as they had been playing around in a clearing that was a bit downhill from the tomb, she wasn't making very fast progress with the incline. His heart pounding with sheer panic, Inuyasha rocketed forward at full speed, as the dog leapt towards her as well.
Between the two of them, the giant dog was faster, and landed in front of Kagome, effectively blocking her path to escape. She screamed and tumbled back a bit, as the dog opened its mouth to snarl at her, toxic saliva dripping from its gums.
On his hip, Tessaiga pulsed as Inuyasha closed the gap between them, leaping in to put himself directly between Kagome and the snarling, hungry looking dog. "Stay the fuck away from her!" he yelled, grabbing the hilt of his sword to pull it out and aid with shielding her, as he landed. So caught up in the commotion was he, that he didn't even feel Tessaiga's second pulse, and it took him a full moment to realize that he was now wielding a six foot sword.
At the sight of the fully transformed Tessaiga, the dog froze in place, before beginning to shimmer. Within seconds, it was gone, replaced by Inu no Taisho himself, standing there with a wide grin on his face. "Well, well. I almost didn't think you would have it in you. Took extreme measures, but now we have proof that Tessaiga has chosen you." He couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"What the fuck was that about?" Inuyasha shouted, as he pointed the sword straight at his father, fury blazing in his eyes. "You were seriously hell bent on attacking Kagome!"
"I was hell bent on seeing if you would actually be worthy of that sword or not," Inu no Taisho snorted. "We wasted enough time as it was, fighting with a rusty blade, so there wasn't much point in continuing if you didn't prove that you could use the sword in the first place. Fortunately, you passed this test with flying colors. I'm proud."
"I'm fucking pissed," Inuyasha growled, ears flattening as he glanced back to check on a wild-eyed Kagome, who seemed to have forgotten to take a breath. "Is that the key to getting this damn sword to work? Getting pissed off?"
Inu no Taisho snorted at him again. "If that was the case, it would have chosen your brother. The will to protect another, to protect a human, is what draws out the power of the sword. With the way the previous training has gone, apparently you don't have much will to protect another when it's only yourself in danger. Hence why I had to go after somebody you care deeply about."
Inuyasha opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out. There was no denying it, for he would be outright lying. He had been attracted to her since day one, but they never got along all that well in modern times. Things between them had definitely changed once they fell through the well together, but was that just because they were the only familiar soul to each other in this strange world? Or did she also have similar feelings? Right now he was feeling a bit vulnerable at hearing that so blatantly stated, right in front of her nonetheless. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed that it was so obvious to others, especially someone who didn't really know either of them.
"Keh!" was all he could hiss, as he removed the tip of Tessaiga from his father's face and let the sword fall back to prop on his shoulder.
Amused, Inu no Taisho merely watched the emotions play across his son's face. "Well, now that we've established that bit, you just need to learn to work with Tessaiga to draw out its power at will. Now, let's see you try and fight with it, while you have it transformed the first time. Congratulations. You've officially and fully earned the right to wield the legendary Tessaiga."