There are two kinds of 'knockout'. The technical knockout (TKO) is when the physical condition of the fighter makes it impossible for them to continue the fight - the ref will call it. A knockout (KO) is when the fighter has lost consciousness or when they've been knocked down and don't get up before the count of ten is completed. The knocked out fighter is the loser of the bout.

This one-shot is 1354.

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Knockout

Naraku was good - he didn't telegraph his strikes, and he moved with a finesse that some seasoned fighters hadn't achieved. He wasn't as good as Sesshoumaru when he was healthy and whole, of course, but accomplished nonetheless. The problem was that Sesshoumaru was neither healthy nor whole, despite the infusion of some of his demonic energy. He could feel the bite of the bullet still in his leg, and it dragged. His arms drooped, no matter how much he concentrated on it. He felt as if he'd already gone three rounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kagome biting at her lip - she could see it too.

It was his second fight inside a year where someone would die, and Sesshoumaru did not have total confidence that it would not be him.

Naraku came at him with a flurry of strikes, and Sesshoumaru was forced to cover, shift, move. He felt blood streaming down his arms where the spider demon had caught him on his claws. He stepped back and shook off the ruby droplets.

"If you had just done as I requested, this could have ended differently," said the spider demon. He shook his head in a slow, mocking manner that suggested that he wasn't sorry at all.

"And what would that end be?" asked Sesshoumaru. "Certainly you would not suggest something so trite as us running Tokyo together."

Naraku smiled, his head tilted. "Of course not. I never planned to share. But you could have returned to your glory and forestalled your death for a bit longer."

"I prefer to face my death not cloaked in gold and deceit," said Sesshoumaru. And without waiting for a response, he pushed forward, putting his weight behind his punches - jab, jab, cross, hook. As Naraku covered the side of his head, Sesshoumaru saw the opening. He dropped his back hand, ignoring the scream of his thigh, and slammed his fist into the underside of Naraku's jaw in an uppercut.

The spider stumbled, his eyes glazing over. He stepped forward to hit him again.

"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome's voice cut through his moment of impending victory.

The taiyoukai turned his head to see Bankotsu leveling a pistol at him. He grabbed the dazed Naraku around the back of the neck and swung him around so that the spider demon was between him and the gun. Over Naraku's shoulder, he saw Kagome grab Bankotsu's arm. The pistol lifted and went off, the shot echoing through the warehouse and into his ears.

"Kagome," he called, as she struggled with Bankotsu. He shoved Naraku away and moved toward her when she kneed the human male straight in the groin. Bankotsu dropped to his knees.

Kagome whirled. "Stop being a gentleman! This is a street fight!" She kicked Bankotsu in the face as if for emphasis, and a spurt of blood flew as his nose broke. He crumpled, and the gun clattered to the ground at last.

Sesshoumaru blinked and then dodged a punch that Naraku had aimed at the side of his head in his distraction.

He squared off with Naraku again. No octagon. No tags. It had been centuries since he had done anything else. Honor and law bound him to keep the peace, to play nice, to be human.

That was enough of that.

A green glow swirled around his hand as he attacked, forcing the spider demon back. Naraku stumbled as Sesshoumaru's claws caught his already burned forearm, and he hissed. He wasn't thrown off for long - he struck back with a vicious speed, forcing Sesshoumaru to sidestep.

Sesshoumaru's poison dripped, eating through the concrete under their feet. Somewhere in the back of his senses, he could hear Kagome shouting encouragement at him. She wouldn't dare try to shoot - they were moving too fast - but at least she was protected from Naraku's other henchman, although they all appeared to be transfixed as well. No one stepped in as the taiyoukai traded blows with the spider demon.

They were both bleeding - the blood on the ground would become a hazard soon. Naraku's wounds seeped with a purple haze that Sesshoumaru recognized as a powerful poison of his own.

Naraku darted in, his hand closing around Sesshoumaru's throat. "We are so much alike, you and I," he laughed.

The taiyoukai wrenched his body around to the side, loosening Nararku's grip, before he crashed his elbow down on his forearm, breaking it entirely. He didn't allow the spider to reclaim his hand though - Sesshomaru held onto it, turning his elbow and smashing it into Naraku's cheekbone. He heard a satisfying crunch. "We are nothing alike," he said as he came around with another hook to the head.

Naraku rocked back, his hand flying up to cover his injured cheek. Already, an angry red mark was forming and creeping up toward his eye. "Power. That's what we both want. And we could have had it, had you just submitted to me," he snarled.

Sesshoumaru advanced.

He saw it a millisecond before it struck him - a long, bony appendage, like a tarantula's leg, that had sprouted from Naraku's back. But he didn't move fast enough. It hit on the side that he'd been shot, where his leg dragged.

"Sesshoumaru!" cried out Kagome.

He looked down and saw the bone where it had pierced the flesh just over his collarbone. A wave of nausea threatened to overcome him, and he realized that some of that purple poison pumped into his body. Three more bony limbs coiled above Naraku's shoulder, poised to plunge into his body, and he knew they would not miss.

"You could have been of such use. You have no idea how much you disappoint me, Sesshoumaru."

He closed and opened his eyes slowly. He could still hear Kagome. Her voice cut through the sound of his blood pumping and the sound of his rapid breath. He had heard her when he was in the ring like this - he could focus on her voice, clearer than the bell that started and ended a round. When had she become his touchstone? She had told him that she didn't want him to fight for her, but it was no longer his choice. He no longer wanted to fight for anything but her.

Sesshoumaru lifted his eyes and met Naraku's crimson gaze. "Not nearly as much as you disappoint me," he said.

His hand twisted, and a whip of green light sprang from his fingertips, slicing away the bone that had pierced him. Another twitch, and the other appendages coming from Naraku's back fell away and to the floor.

The spider recoiled with a gasp, and Sesshoumaru followed. The whip snapped across Naraku's flesh, leaving red welts and making his eyes go wide. Snap. Naraku dropped his hands away from his head to block it from spilling his intestines across the floor.

Sesshoumaru spun and kicked his leg toward Naraku's uncovered head, catching him on the side of the skull. The spider's head snapped to the side, and he fell.

He followed him down, pinning Naraku with his legs as his whip snaked around his throat. The blood from his shoulder wound dripped on Naraku's skin, sizzling with the poison that Sesshoumaru was sending to his fingertips. "You will find that your mistake was threatening her," he said, his teeth bared. He drew back his glowing green hand and prepared to pluck out Naraku's heart.

A crash of metal echoed through the warehouse, and the cavernous floor flooded with light. Yells and screams bounced off the walls, swirling into a painful cacophony. A smoke grenade rolled past him as it exploded with a black haze.

"Police! Police! Police! Show us your hands! Hands!"

He looked up, into the muzzles of a dozen guns. This is going to hurt, he thought.

"Stop! Stop!" Kagome shoved herself between him and the men with guns, her hands raised. "I'm police!"

"Hold! They're alright," came another voice. A figure stepped through the smoke, and Sesshoumaru watched him pull off a gas mask to reveal a boyish, grinning face. "Hey, Kagome. Cavalry's here. Are we late?"