Part 7

Inuyasha grit his teeth and sneered at Bankotsu. "That's mine!" he said, pointing at Tetsusaiga. "Hand it over!"

The Band of Seven leader held Tetsusaiga in his left hand, his Dragon Sword in the other. "Oh yeah?" he said with a laugh. "Well, come and get it! On second thought, it's my property now. It's much too valuable an item to give back to the likes of you." He plunged Tetsusaiga's blade deep into the ground and all the way to the hilt. "It'll remain there until I retrieve it after I cut you to ribbons, you filthy dog!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently beneath his feet, both of them rocked side-to-side, and they tried to settle themselves, counterbalance to the earth's quaking. Bankotsu dropped to one knee, why Inuyasha widened his legs to remain standing. The land sometimes moved on its own, it was a natural phenomenon. But why now? Was it because of Tetsusaiga?

"What in the world is that?" Bankotsu asked.

And all of a sudden he got his answer.

From the tops of the trees came a huge demon. It was a giant dragon demon and it stood at least fifty feet tall. It was blood red in colour and had large, bony wings sprouting from its back. Its nose steamed out plumes of smoke as it approached the battlefield.

Bankotsu had never seen a bigger demon.

"Fear not, Big Brother," Jakotsu said calmly. "It's merely that sly, insufferable, changeling of a fox demon. I should've destroyed him when I had the chance. If it wasn't for Sesshomaru's interference he would be dead."

Bankotsu pointed past Jakotsu. "Wait! Do you mean him?"

Jakotsu turned and saw Shippo standing next to the girl from the future. Bewildered Jakotsu looked back up at the giant dragon demon.

"Bankotsu!" Jakotsu said loudly. "That is a real dragon demon!"

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," Bankotsu said back.

"What should we do?"

The giant dragon demon suddenly opened its maw with fangs of sharp teeth and breathed out a large blast of fire at Naraku and his cohorts. They scattered in every direction avoiding the attack. Inuyasha and the others also ran.

The giant dragon demon fired another stream of fire, directly at Naraku, and he was engulfed in flames. Naruku disappeared, leaving nothing but charred remains of his baboon disguise behind.

Inuyasha said, "Yeah, kinda figured it wasn't really him," about Naraku. "It was another one of his stupid doppelgängers."

Bankotsu looked from his crouched position. He swore, then said, "He had us fighting on the battlefield while he cowered away in some safe location. He'll get an earful from me!"

With their leader gone, Bankotsu, Jakotsu, and even Kohaku quickly fled, without further engagement—the giant dragon demon was more than incentive to leave. Even his Dragon Sword would be no match for such a powerful demon.

But before Kohaku fled, he took one last look at his elder sister, and gave her an almost good-bye nod before running into the near-by forest, where they were protected by trees.

Inuyasha ran over to Tetsusaiga and pulled his sword from the ground. With a grip of both hands around the hilt, the sword grew to ten times its size. He ran back to his friends and prepared to fight the new threat of the giant demon dragon.

Inuyasha was just about to charge when the dragon demon suddenly said, "Stop! I'm on your side!" in a booming voice.

The dragon demon suddenly shrunk, disappeared behind the trees, and then something else came out of the denseness of the trees.

Shippo bounced happily to them, naked. "Shippo?" Inuyasha looked at what he thought was Shippo standing beside Kagome. "B-but how?"

"A trick," Kagome said. "The greatest magic trick to fool even a master illusionist like Jakotsu." Kagome smiled and revealed that the object everybody thought was Shippo was in fact a tree stump dressed up to look like Shippo, and very life like. Shippo went over to his clothes and got dressed. "When everyone was distracted with Sesshomaru and Naraku, Shippo and I devised a plan, so Shippo undressed, snuck away, and I dressed the stump."

"Great plan, Kagome," Sango expressed.

"I'm impressed," Miroku said. "I've always said brains are better than brawl."

Inuyasha grumbled under his breath as he reverted Tetsusaiga and sheaved it. He knew it was a jab at him, because he always charged ahead without thinking. But that was just the way he was, and it worked most of the time. So, he figured why knock a successful front.

Miroku examined his hand. "What happened? My hand doesn't ache any more," he said. "I think an explanation is in order."

"Sesshomaru, he saved us all—" Kagome started to say, and turned around to thank Sesshomaru, but he was gone. "Did anyone see where Sesshomaru went to?"

But no one did.

"Miroku, are you well enough to travel?" Sango asked, a moment later. "Maybe we should rest more here before we continue on—"

Sango suddenly felt his hand rub across her backside and she instinctively slapped him, and every one of their party cringed when they heard it, as loud as it was in the open valley.

Miroku recoiled. "Ow!" he cried out, but for some reason he smiled afterwards.

Sango huffed, and then left. Things were back to normal.

Miroku felt his face. "And the pain returns," he said, "but it's a good pain."

"Freak!" Inuyasha said. "You know, the offer is still on the table, Miroku."

"What offer is that, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

"The one where I cut your hand off." Inuyasha laughed.

Miroku swallowed. "I'll review the offer and get back to you," he said.

Inuyasha smirked.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Don't start, Inuyasha," she said. "We should be celebrating. Naraku's curse is broken on Miroku's prayer beads. And we have the Shikon Jewel shards again. Naraku failed—again." She went over to the remains of Naraku's baboon skin and picked up the jewel shards from within his charred remains. "I, for one, welcome the old Miroku back—"
Kagome suddenly screamed.

Miroku touched her rear when she bent down. "Just checking for warmth," he said,

"I warned you, Miroku!" Inuyasha said, and he started to chase Miroku across the open, putting out Tetsusaiga, the sword bursting forth to ten times its original size.

"Inuyasha! Stop it!" Miroku said as he ran. "My hand was feeling cold. I wanted to make sure it wasn't further cursed—other than from the wind tunnel."

"Yeah, right!" Inuyasha growled. "C'mere, you pervert!"

Sesshomaru continued on his journey walking a similar beaten and worn path that he had followed earlier before running in Naraku. Rin and Jaken rode his two-headed horse again. It was like nothing had altered their original course.

Naraku had lost, but Sesshomaru knew that he'd be back. Evil could never be destroyed, it only took on a different form.

In the meantime, he would stand firm and do what he felt was right, even if it meant diverting from his intended course every once in a while.

Rin looked and smiled at him, as if she could read his thoughts, and he nodded at her, benignly. He then looked at his own hand, and much like the monk Miroku's cursed hand, he too, felt he was cursed—but in a different way.

His father chose to hand down Tenseiga to him instead of Tetsusaiga—and yet, in this case, it had been a blessing, and he was able to save innocent lives. He was a demon, and didn't care about saving people, and he felt disheartened that his father choose Inuyasha over him to possess Tetsusaiga. He wanted the sword, but every time he tried, it would reject him.

At the moment he felt content. And as he walked his path to nowhere in particular, he smiled mildly, pleased with himself that he had chosen selflessness over narcissism. He vowed Naraku would never get the sacred Shikon Jewel shards, not as long as he was alive.

He had no regrets.

END