A Dragon's Fang, a Human's Heart

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

A human with the power of a demon. To many such an idea sounds ludicrous, does it not? Well he's here to prove them wrong. He will journey across time with the love of his life on his journey as he fights for friendship, for honor, for life, and above all, for love. Rewrite of the Rise of a Warrior: Inuyasha.

30. The Panther Demon Tribe

(The Panther Demon Tribe)

"When the ten Fangs of Ryuhogo reunite after thousands of years, the Dragon Guardian shall at last fulfill his destiny and rid this world of the Jewel that has caused so much suffering, and begin a new era for all."

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The sun was rising over the skies above Higurashi shrine.

"Alright I'm gonna go in early and study at the library, I'll see you later." Kagome waved a goodbye as she made her way out the door and across the shrine grounds, only to stop when she noticed something in the form of a certain someone standing in front of the shrine 'Hold on a second, isn't that… Hojo?"

Sure enough, it was none other than Hojo (the megahunk as Kagome's friends had proclaimed him), standing in front of the shrine, and then he turned to Kagome and gave a small smile full of sadness "Oh hi Kagome. Sorry, I know you guys probably aren't open right now or maybe it's still to early, or-"

"No no, it's fine. Are you okay? You seem kind of upset."

"I… I'd like to tell you I'm fine, but… it's been a rough couple of months. My dad, he… he was diagnosed with a disease and… there's no cure" this earned a small gasp from Kagome "I've been told it's terminal, he's got a matter of weeks before…"

"I… I'm sorry."

"Thank you. Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time at my family's shop, helping out since he couldn't, and that's why I haven't been at school much lately."

"Oh, that… makes sense. Now I feel bad, I've been going to the Feudal Era with Tatsu so much I haven't even noticed he wasn't in school. But I wonder… Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think so. I mainly came here to the shrine because, mainly someone out there would hear me and help, bring about some kind of miracle."

"...Maybe they did."

"What's that?"

"I can't really go into detail, but I've been working on some things with my grandpa, certain… abilities that I have. One of them is being able to heal people. He taught me a bunch of mantras to go with it. If you give me a chance to try it out, maybe I can help him."

"...Are you sure?"

"I can't say for certain, but if there's someone in need and I think I can do something to help, then there's no way I'm not gonna try."

"If that is the case… then please, do what you can."

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Meanwhile, 500 years in the past…

At the same time, Sesshomaru was leading Rin and Jaken to the Valley of Ryukotsusei, whic was known for being the place where his and Inuyasha's father Toga had sealed Ryukotsusei into a dormant state 200 years ago. Jaken was quick to be as tactless as ever, stating his disbelief over the thought of Inuyasha being the one to kill Ryukotsusei.

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Meanwhile, 500 years in the future…

Hojo looked down at his father laid down on the futon in front of him, and then he glanced over to where Kagome was looking over a scroll "You're absolutely sure you can do this?"

"It's like I told you before, I won't sit by and do nothing when I see someone who needs help, and I think I can do something to help them." Kagome set down the scroll, then set it down as she began forming a series of hand seals "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen." she placed her palms down on the man's chest as her arms began glowing with white energy "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen." all seemed fine for a moment, until the sound of the heart monitor speeding up became audible.

"His heart rate is going up, this is bad isn't it?"

"Calm down, I just need a moment." Kagome looked back at the scroll, then formed another series of hand seals before placing her hands back on the man's chest "Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son. E. Sai. Nyu. Rai. Kak." white energy flowed from her arms into the man's body, followed by the sound of the heart monitor slowing down "That was close."

"What does that mean, is he still…?"

"So far I've been able to stop it from getting any worse, but he's not out of danger yet. I'm not done either though."

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Meanwhile, 500 years in the past…

"Lightning CLAW!" with a mighty roar, a blast of lightning was unleashed and left a sizeable crater in its wake, courtesy of Koga, the metal claws on his right hand surging with electricity 'So this the true power of the Goraishi. Oh hell yeah, I could get used to this.' he was about to fire another blast, but he stopped when he picked up a certain scent "So much for that."

"Hey Koga what gives, is something wrong?" this was when Hakkaku and Ginta came rushing up to him, along with their wolves "I thought you were practing with the Goraishi."

"I was, then I picked up that foul stench in the air. Haven't you noticed it?"

"What do you mean?" Ginta took a whiff of the air, and then he frowned "Oh I get it, it's the stench of a bunch of cats."

"Yeah but they're not from around here, I can tell that much."

"What do you think they want?"

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care."

"So what then, you're just gonna let them go."

"We don't need to go looking for trouble, finding Naraku is the most important thing we have to do right now, so let's go."

"...Yeah I guess you're right, it's not like they have anything to do with us."

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Even though Koga and his group had chosen not to bother with the group of cat demons they had discovered, a certain demon by the name of Royakan was another matter. As it turns out, when he had been woken up by the scent of the cat demons he picked up, he seemed particularly freaked out by it.

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Meanwhile, 500 years in the future…

'Come on, come on…' Kagome looked through the scroll in her hands amidst the sounds of loud groaning in agony "Listen to me Mr Hojo, I'm doing everything I can to slow down the cancer, but only you have what it takes to defeat it. Your will is the key."

"What does that mean?" Hojo glanced up at her "I thought you said that…"

"I know, but right now I'm telling him what he needs to hear. The fact is that right now, these healing mantras my grandpa taught me might be the only thing that can save him." so with a deep breath, Kagome started forming another series of hand seals "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen. Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son. E. Sai. Nyu. Rai. Kak." with this lengthened manta, she let her arms glow with healing energy as she placed her palms down on the man's chest one last time, both of their bodys glowing with the healing energy, and after a minute she looked down to see the man's eyes slowly flutter open.

"Dad, you…" Hojo didn't hesitate in throwing his arms around the man, though as he did so he looked up at Kagome and gave a genuine smile "You saved him. Thank you."

"It was… It was nothing really…" Kagome breathed a sigh as she dropped down onto her hands and knees, panting heavily as she did so 'Okay, note to self. Saving a man from dying from an incurable disease, it takes a lot out of you.'

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Meanwhile, with a certain half-demon…

'Alright fuck it, they've had enough time to screw around.' by this point, Inuyasha was bolting across the rooftops, his mind racing over certain events 'It's been two days since we got back to the village after all that hell with the demon bats, and since I got the Red Tessaiga that lets me break through barriers. Tatsu and Kagome are fucking late, what the hell else is new? I know we really can't do anything until Kagome senses any more jewel shards or Naraku makes another move against us, but we can't just sit around doing nothing until then!' he landed on the ground in front of a certain building, actually the dojo that's been referenced multiple times, but just as he darted around one of the walls…

"We've been over this, we have doors you can use."

Inuyasha whipped around to find Akira standing before him, a glowing blue sword in hand "Son of a bitch, how do you keep sneaking up on me like that? And how do you keep finding me so easily anyway?"

"Well to answer your first question, I always keep some incense lying around. You never know when you're gonna need the stuff. As for the second question, as I'm pretty sure I've already told you multiple times, Tatsu isn't the only one who can sense Ki."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. Speaking of which, if Tatsu and Kagome are the ones that you're looking for, they're both at school and they aren't gonna be done until pretty late in the day."

"Fuck."

"My thoughts exactly. Anyway if the last few times you came around are anything to go by, you most likely plan to wait around until they show up, right?"

"Not like I have anything better to do."

"As to be expected. Well in that case, there's only two things to do." he pulled out two things from within his robe, one being a cup of ramen, the other being a glowing blue piece of metal in the shape of a hilt "You wanna eat or spar first?"

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Meanwhile, with the two main characters…

Hours had passed, and lunch break was in full swing at school.

Tatsu glanced out at the horizon from his place on the rooftop, then let out a low whistle as he heard what Kagome telling him "Sounds like you had one hell of a morning Kags."

"That's one way to describe it." Kagome rolled her eyes slightly at his enthusiasm "I guess I was just in the right place at the right time."

"Hey you literally saved a man's life today, I think that's worthy of some praise. Besides, if that doesn't show how much you've improved in controlling your spiritual powers, then I don't know what will."

"Maybe I have, but that's not really important right now. I wasn't gonna let anyone suffer if I thought there was something I could do to help them, and the fact that I was able to help at all was more than enough for me."

"I get it Kags, I'm not objecting to that." it was then that he noticed the downcast look on her face, and his expression softened "You okay Kags?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just thinking." Kagome breathed a sigh as she gazed out at the horizon in front of them "Do you ever stop to think about the other people out there, the ones that you know are suffering or in need of help of some kind, and you want to help them, even though you're not sure if there's really anything you'll be able to do?"

"...This sounds oddly familiar."

"What do you mean?"

"I actually asked Raidou, or Guardian as it were, about the same thing awhile back, after the whole thing with that moth demon Gatenmaru, and Inuyasha going full demon."

"You mean the one where…"

"I got that scar on my chest? Yep, that's the one. Anyway, I talked to Guardian about it and he said some things to me that actually make a lot of sense. I think about what you said, and I do pretty often. For all we know, there are people lying in pools of their own blood begging for help and we would never even realize it. It can be pretty frustrating at times, but even with the powers we have, we can't save everyone or solve every problem in the world. Even with these powers, the fact is that, as frustrating as it is, we're only human. Both Ryuhogo and Guardian made that point very clear to me, and as much as I hated the thought, I knew they were right."

"So how do you deal with it?"

"There is one big factor to take into consideration. Even if we can't save everyone, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. If that were the case, then you wouldn't have been able to do what you did today, and it's sure as hell something that you should be proud of."

"So then… what you're saying is that rather than just sit around moping about what I can't do, I should just focus on what I can do?"

"That's the short version, but yeah pretty much." he promptly pulled her into a hug, earning a quick "eep" as he did so "You've come a long way Kags, I'm proud of you."

Kagome's face turned red as she buried it in his shoulder.

"Well anyways we'd better get going, we've got work to do and chances are Inuyasha is gonna show up and try to drag us back. Let's just hope Akria can keep him occupied until then."

"What exactly do they do over there?"

"Pretty much the same stuff Akira does in his free time, eating and looking for someone he can beat the crap out of. You know, typical guy stuff. Well, that and one other thing. Let's just say that sometimes his methods can be a little… dodgy."

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Meanwhile, at the dojo…

"Dodge! Dodge! DODGE!" by this point, Akira had drawn Inuyasha into a hardcore sparring match, using a sword made of glowing blue metal as he unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks without hesitation.

One of these attacks managed to hit Inuyasha square in the jaw, sending him stumbling back a fair distance and drawing blood from his lip "Why the fuck do you keep yelling dodge?! That's a hell of a lot more distracting than helpful!"

"What do you think the point of it is?!" Akira leapt into the air and raised his sword, the blade suddenly morphing into a large spiked mace as he brought it down, missing Inuyasha by a mere few centimeters "Shit, that's gonna be a fair number of 0's on the bill. Or maybe when Tatsu gets here I could ask him to use his powers to reinforce it so stuff like this doesn't happen. I mean granted there's a pretty fair chance that's misusing his powers, but you have to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, am I right?"

"I don't have a clue what the fuck you just said." Inuyasha promptly sheathed Tessaiga and then started looking over what had become a glowing blue mace, and then suddenly morphed back into a sword "What the hell is this thing? Taking on the forms of multiple weapons, I've never seen any kind of demon magic like this before."

"That's because it's not demon magic, it's modern technology. This is something that we refer to as programmable matter weaponry, something of Kazuma's own making."

"And that's Tatsu's brother."

"Yep. See, the programmable matter core in this hilt I carry allows me to 3D print various types of offensive, defensive and enhancement capabilities." he was met with a blank look "Yeah okay that's fair, I'm pretty sure that would confuse most people from this time too. The point is, using this hilt here I can summon weapons…" he summoned a sword, a chain-sickle, a mace and a bo staff to prove this point "Shields and armored plating…" he morphed it into a shield, a mask and then a chestplate "And various other enhancements." he stepped outside and latched the hilt onto the back on one of his shoes, causing it to glow blue as he leapt high into the air, the matter enhancements propelling him upwards as he did so, before returning to the ground and taking the hilt off "It's pretty effective in a fight, but it's only supposed to be used for the sake of protection and self-defense."

"I didn't know you guys had these kinds of weapons, but if you had them all along then why the hell haven't you used them before?"

"Because we didn't have them all along. Kazuma didn't get the idea to create these until after his experiment with Tatsu's teleporting. You know, the one that released that army of lizard creatures from the other dimension. Anyway, he asked Tatsu to leave behind some samples of his metal as a basis for him to use, and from those he created the programmable matter cores like the one that I have here."

"...I don't really get it, but it's protecting people and stuff right?"

"Pretty much yeah, and as for whether or not it pans out… Well I think we're just gonna have to wait and see." Akira let out a sigh as he put away the hilt "So how have things been on your end lately? Tatsu said something about you learning some kind of new technique?"

"You're damn right, and it's all I need to get my hands on Naraku and rip him apart." he drew Tessaiga from its sheath and the blade started glowing crimson "See what I mean? It lets me break through demonic barriers like they're made of wet fucking paper."

"Nice, but it raises another question. Does it make your attacks more powerful?"

"No clue, I haven't used it in a fight yet."

"...Wanna find out?"

"Fuck yes!"

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Meanwhile, 500 years in the past…

At the same time, Sango and the rest of the group were waiting for the others to return through the well, and during that time Hachi showed up looking for a place to hide, taking the time to warn them about an army of cat demons, or panther demon to be more accurate, seeing how one of them by the name of Karan appeared in the village looking for the priestess who carried the shards of the Shikon Jewel, or Kagome to be more specific. After finding that Kagome wasn't there and a brief skirmish ensued, Karan and her forces decided to retreat.

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Hours passed, and the sun was beginning to set, though as far as calm was concerned…

"Dodge! Dodge! DODGE!" Akira and Inuyasha had engaged in another sparring session, and the former was doing pretty much the same thing he did in the last one, though now it was a lot more even than before.

"Looks like you two have been busy."

Akira glanced over to see Tatsu make his way into the dojo building "No more than I am on a typical weekday. You wrap up everything you need to for school?"

"More or less." Tatsu glanced around the inside of the building, specifically the number of holes and debris scattered around the place "You know I could always use my metal manipulation to reinforce the place for you."

"I've actually been meaning to ask you to do that, it would save me a fortune on repairs."

"As long as you don't waste the money you save on something stupid, and yes I'm talking about those red cowboy boots."

"Hey I pull those off!"

"About as debatable as whether or not sequel animes are worth it." to that end, Tatsu shot a glance over at Inuyasha "Let me take a wild guess, you got sick of waiting for me and Kagome to get back so you came to get us right?"

"Well it's not like you can blame me." Inuyasha let out a snort "If I don't do something about it then you two take forever to get back."

"Be fair man, it's not like I sit around doing nothing when we come home. Even if I can't get a new Fang for myself, I still take the time to work on new techniques I can use, and that can only help us in the long run. Speaking of which, how did things go on your end? You find what it was you needed?"

"You tell me." Inuyasha held up Tessaiga as the blade started glowing red "This is all I need to shove my sword right up Naraku's ass."

"Nice, so does it make your attacks more powerful."

"Yep."

"Nope." was Akira's blunt input.

"Fuck off! Anyway what about you, if you spend so much time training and bullshit, then did you get anything useful?"

"As a matter of fact, you're about to find out." Tatsu stepped out of the building and dropped into a stance, and in a matter of seconds his body was engulfed in an azure blue aura "So what do you think, you like what you see?"

"What the fuck am I looking at?"

"I call it the Ryuken, and to put it in simple terms, it's a power amplification technique I learned from Ryuhogo. Not only does it make my attacks more powerful, it also lets me break through demonic barriers."

"So you spent the whole week working on that?"

"Actually I got this the first day we came back, I went into the meeting of the minds and asked him to teach me this. I got it after about a month in there." he was met with a blank look from the others "What?"

"So what you're saying is that you went to sleep for an hour and woke up stronger?"

"That's the short version, but yeah pretty much."

"...You fucking suck sometimes."

"Hey come on man, I just have a good teacher. Anyway, since I had that taken care of, we spent the rest of the time focusing on Kagome's training, helping her get better control of her spiritual powers."

"And how did that go?"

"From what we can tell, she's able to pack more power into her sword and arrows now, and her healing has improved a lot too. Actually today, she used her Healing Hand to save a man from an incurable disease." he was met with a raised eyebrow "My thoughts exactly. Anyway we've got done most of what we needed to, I figured we'd get a good night's sleep and head out in the morning."

"Fine, but no more stalling then."

"You can crash here tonight if you want." Akira told him.

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies above.

"Yeah sorry, I probably should've warned you about this." Tatsu held out a hand to Kagome as he helped her out of the well "The weight training gear is great for building muscle, but it's a real pain in the ass when it comes to pulling yourself out of this thing."

"Kagome you're back!" this was when a red furball ambushed her in the form of Shippo rushing forward and throwing himself at her, knocking her to the ground as she pulled him into a hug.

"Hey Shippo, hey guys."

"You know it's really too bad that you've come back." Miroku let out a sigh as he looked up from the book he was reading "It's kind of a shame you didn't stay in that world for a little while longer." he was promptly met with a rock to the face that knocked him to the ground.

"Think of it this way Miroku, if I didn't then Inuyasha probably would've. One hell of a greeting on your part."

"I don't need a reason to wanna smack him upside the head." Inuyasha bolted out of the well and cracked his knuckles.

"Down boy. So what gives, something happen?"

"Technically speaking, it's more like it's about to start." Sango told him.

"You gonna elaborate on that?"

"To put it in simple terms, we're talking about cats, and a lots of them."

"...Oh god, it's gonna be one of those days isn't it?"

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Meanwhile, with a certain dog demon…

'This scent…' having left Rin and Jaken to play in the river a ways back, Sesshomaru made his way up the stream until he noticed the water beginning to freeze over "If it isn't Toran."

Sure enough, making her way towards him was none other than Toran, a female panther demon with blue hair and pale skin, clad a one-sleeved darker blue kimono with a katana strapped to her side, a confident smirk plastered across her face "You noticed me quickly Sesshomaru, I can see that your senses haven't dulled even after all this time."

"I thought that you had died."

"That's a fine way to greet someone after 50 years. Be prepare though, because this time I fully intend to settle things once and for all."

"We had settled things a long time ago, but if you insist on rushing to your death so readily, then so be it. You won't be as fortunate as you were the last time we fought."

"I can see that you're still as boorish as you ever were. I will agree with you that things will be very different from how they turned out 50 years ago though, because now our master is waiting for you."

"Your master?"

"Yes that's right, the Great Panther Demon and the one that leads our tribe. I realize that your dear father is no longer among the living, but our master is going to be resurrected after being gone for so long."

"You intend to resurrect him, for what purpose?"

"In order to attack the lands in the East once again, but more important, it's so we can claim our revenge on you and all your kind."

"Such a thing will never happen. I will personally see to it that he never again draws breath in this world." Sesshomaru placed his hand on the hilt of Tokijin.

"I'm glad to hear that you've accepted my challenge. There's no need to be so hasty though, we won't battle it out here. Come to our castle when you're ready, and then you'll be able to bring all of the reinforcements that you require." and so she disappeared in a column of ice as the mist surrounding her subsided.

'I need no reinforcements. I fully intend to kill you and your kind with my own claws.'

"Lord Sesshomaru over here!" this was when Rin came running up to him with a number of fish being carried behind her "Take a look at how many fish Jaken and I just caught! Do you see, so many of them!"

"Yes I see Rin, well done. Jaken."

"Y-Yes?" Jaken screeched to a halt in front of him, gasping for air as he did.

"The Panther Demon Tribe is back." this earned a squawk of terror from him.

"What are they doing here again?!"

"Mounting another pathetic attempt at revenge. Rin, listen."

"Yes?" Rin looked up at him.

"I have some business to attend to, I want you to wait here with A-Un until I return."

"Alright, I promise I won't move from here."

"Good. I will return for you within a day."

"Just make sure you don't forget to come back and get us."

"Forgetting something important is beneath me." to that end, Sesshomaru grabbed Jaken by the staff he carried and left the scene."

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Meanwhile, with the main group…

"Wait a second, so we're dealing with an army of pissed off cat demons?" Tatsu shot a glance over at Inuyasha "To be honest, I'm kind of surprised something like that hasn't happened to us sooner."

"I think it has actually." Hachi told him "I distinctly remember something similar to this happening about 50 years ago."

"Go on."

"There was a tribe of cat demons that swarmed in and attacked from the West."

"Uh huh."

"I say he's talking a load of bullshit." Inuyasha spat out "Sounds like another one of his stupid stories."

"Don't be so sure about that Inuyasha, if it happened 50 years ago then there's a pretty fair chance that it happened after Kikyo sealed you to the tree."

"I guess, but I wouldn't know about it."

"And that's why."

"I've never heard of something like that either." Shippo muttered.

"That's probably because you're just a little kid, I mean you're what, 5? 6?"

"So? That doesn't mean I'm stupid or weak."

"I never said it did."

"But you are." Inuyasha pointed out dryly, earning a smack upside the head, which he promptly tried to return, only to miss and fall flat on his face.

"At least he's got a reason for being so immature, what's your excuse?"

"Knock it off guys." Kagome called them off, then turned back to Hachi "So what exactly happened between you and these cat demons?"

"Nothing, I ran away before they arrived." Hachi told her.

"Now that I believe." Miroku commented dryly.

"I returned after I heard that they had all left, and sure enough, there wasn't a single cat demon in sight."

"So where did they go?" asked Kagome.

"Oh dearie me, I'm afraid that's all I can remember."

"Don't worry about it."

"It seems the stories were a little bit off." a new voice came that scared Hachi into freaking the hell out as Karan and two others by the names of Shuran and Shunran revealed themselves to the group "I had heard that you were a strangely-dressed priestess that carried around a sword along with a bow, but clearly the strangely-dressed part was exaggerated."

"The cat demons!" Shippo was promptly snatched up by Kagome and hidden away from the panther demons.

"Stop calling us cats you little raccoon dog."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm a fox!"

"And we're panther demons, if you're gonna be scared of us then at least have the decency to get it right."

"Alright alright, enough with the butthurt stereotyping." Tatsu took a step forward and gripped the hilts of his twin swords "Who are you guys and what do you want?"

"We don't want anything from an ordinary human like you." Karan ignored the series of snorts that came from the others "What we want is the priestess with the Shikon Jewel shards."

"Not gonna happen, she's under my protection. If you want her then you're gonna have to step over my lifeless corpse."

"We can manage that." Shuran gave a confident smirk "You're nothing but a weak human, even if you do have some level of skill by human standards you can't hope to challenge us."

"So I take it you know who I am then?"

"We know enough to know that you have Inuyasha as a companion." Karan told him, earning a few raised eyebrows.

"You know him?"

"We've never met him, but we know enough of his accursed family."

"Enough of your bullshit!" Inuyasha stormed forward and drew Tessaiga from its sheath "You can either start talking or I can shove this up your tail hole."

"So you're this Inuyasha we've been hearing so much about. You must be him, the younger brother of Sesshomaru."

"Yeah well, we're not exactly a close-knit family."

"It doesn't matter to me eithe way. Shuran I'll take Inuyasha, you can handle the rest of his human companions."

"As if you had to ask." Shuran let out a primal roar as he charged at Tatsu and the others.

As for Karan, she pounced at Inuyasha and unleashed a fireball that forced him to fall back a short distance "I won't kill you just yet, but I do intend to enjoy myself. Just try and see if you can land a single blow on me." she promptly covered her entire body in demonic flames.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself you smug little bitch!" Inuyasha barred his claws as he charged forward.

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Meanwhile, with the battle against the other panther demon…

"Iron GAUNTLET!" Tatsu easily weaved his way around Shuran's attack and dealt him a brutal iron-enhanced uppercut to the jaw, sending him hurtling into the air "Sango, you and the others stay with Kagome and keep any of the other cat demons from getting to her."

'Like heck I'm gonna stand around and do nothing when the others are fighting. Just give me one second Tatsu, I'll back you up." Kagome drew her sword from its sheath (albeit somewhat slowly due to the effects of the weighted clothing she wore) and prepared to back him up, only to notice a series of flower petals blowing past her and the others, and that was the last thing she saw before she and the others (with the exception of Kirara) all blacked out and fell to the ground with a series of soft thuds.

"What the-"

"Well that was easier than I thought it would be." as it turns out, the flower petals and the sleeping spell came from Shunran, the last of the four main panther demons.

"Kagome hold on!" Tatsu suddenly blitzed over to her side and dealt Shunran a single kick to the head that sent her hurtling away "You're not gonna get your hands on her."

"That's what you think human scum, now take this!" Shuran gave a cocky smirk as he suddenly unleashed a powerful blast of lightning that engulfed everyone in a blinding white light. When the light subsided, he and the others stood a fair distance away, him holding Kagome slung underneath his arm "Yeah there's no doubt about it, this girl has the jewel shards with her."

"You touch her and I won't hesitate to drive my sword down your throat and burn you to a fucking crisp!"

"Easy little man, no need to get so worked up. I can see that this girl means a lot to you, so how about this. If you want to get the girl back, then you and Inuyasha are just gonna have to come to our castle, and even then that's only if you can. We'll be waiting for you when that happens, if you can." and so they disappeared in a flash.

"Get the fuck back here!" Tatsu burst forward with a blast of flames from one foot, only to find a group of panther demons waiting for him "Inuyasha."

"On it. Wind SCAR!" Inuyasha didn't hesitate in unleashing a Wind Scar that wiped out all of the panther demons in front of them before they even had time to scream "I can still pick up their stench, go straight ahead and keep on running."

"Good enough for me, you and Kirara take care of the others and then catch up with me once they wake up." Tatsu then bolted off without waiting for response, using a fire blast from one foot to propel himself forward at high speed 'They're not getting away that easy, as soon as I get my hands on them I'm gonna… No, get your shit together Tatsu, losing your cool is the last thing you need right now. I have to take my own advice about saying calm. If I lose my cool and fly off the handle, that will probably just put her in more danger.'

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At the same time, Royakan had taken it upon himself to confront Sesshomaru and Jaken and offer his assistance to them, only for Sesshomaru to turn him away, and then threaten to lop off his head if he didn't leave. He then told Jaken that he was all he needed, which moved Jaken to tears, and then scared him into fearing for his life. You know, the usual for him.

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Meanwhile, with the main protagonist…

'Come on Kagome, come on…' using his fire blasts to propel himself, Tatsu continued onwards in search of the panther demons, and Kagome 'Dammit, I'm still too far away to sense her Ki and there's no sign of her or any of the cat demons.' it was then that he noticed a cyclone appearing in front of him, and he had to force himself not to groan 'Perfect, the last thing I need or want right now is to have to deal with Koga.'

Sure enough, the cyclone dissipate to reveal none other than Koga as he came screeching to a halt, which forced Tatsu to do the same "Alright start talking meat sack, what are you doing off on your own like this, and where the hell is Kagome?"

"Koga look, I seriously don't need this right now."

"And you think I do? I've been picking up the foul stench of cat demons in the area a lot over the past few days. At first I was just gonna ignore it, seeing how it didn't have anything to do with me. But then I noticed that Kagome's scent is suddenly mixed up with them, you gonna explain why that is or do I have to guess?"

'Resisting the urge to incinerate him with a fire blast. What are you getting at?"

"You know damn well what I'm getting at meat sack, I'd better not find out she was kidnapped by the cat demons." Koga was met with silence, and that was all the confirmation he needed "So it's true, you let her get kidnapped?! What the hell were you thinking you little-" he was silenced by a blade beind pointed at his throat.

"Koga I'm seriously on edge right now, and I don't have the time or the patience to deal with any of your bullshit right now. One of two things is gonna happen next. You're either gonna shut up and get the fuck out of my face, or you're gonna stop bitching and help me get her back." he then retracted his sword "Which one is it gonna be?"

"...Can you sense her Ki?"

"She's gotta be within a mile or so for it to work. Can you pick up her scent?"

"I can smell her clear as day."

"Good, then let's get moving."

"Koga hold on!" this was when Ginta and Hakkaku came running up to him, panting heavily as they finally caught up "Finally, we found you… Oh hey Tatsu."

"Listen up you two, we don't have time to screw around. Kagome got captured by a group of cat demons, Koga and I are going on ahead to get her back. Inuyasha and the rest of my friends should be coming up any minute now, tell them where we went and then have them catch up with us." and then he bolted off using another fire blast to propel himself.

"...Yeah, basically what he said." and then Koga took off after Tatsu, using his enhanced speed to keep pace with him "It's this direction, not much long if we keep at this pace."

"Good, and once we get there just take out as many of the underlings as you have to, focus on grabbing Kagome and getting the hell out of there. Leave the stronger ones to me."

"What, you don't think I can handle the stronger ones?"

"Two reasons. One, with your enhanced speed you can get Kagome out of there before things get too bad."

"Fair point."

"And two, because I don't have the time or patience to be tactful about it, no you can't handle the stronger ones, at least if your last fight with Kagura was anything to go by. I hate to break it to you, actually no I don't, but unless you can get your hand on a weapon that can shoot out huge blasts of demonic energy, you're out of luck."

"...Oh I'm gonna enjoy seeing the look on your face."

"You mean the look of awe when you finally shut up for once?"

"Not on your fucking life. Check it out." he held up his newly-restored right arm, revealing the deep scar that ran along it.

"Didn't you have me hack that thing off?"

"Yeah, but I got it back."

"...Okay then. But seriously, no weapons of mass explosions or anything like that, no chance against these guys or Naraku."

"Then feast your eyes on this." Koga held up his right arm, and in a flash of light he summoned forth the silver claws of the Goraishi, surging with electricity "Well?"

"My first thought is, claws are so much more fitting for you than a sword. My second thought is, nice. So what is it?"

"This is the Goraishi, the most powerful weapon known to the Wolf Demon Tribe. The scroll you got for me was full of instructions on how to get it, and how to pass the tests set up by the ones who guarded it. I passed them all and claimed the Goraishi for myself, and then it merged with my body, so now it's a part of me. You'll see what it can do when I get my hands on those damn cat demons."

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The sun was beginning to set.

"Let me go, put me down you creep!" Kagome struggled to try and free herself from Shuran's grip, though she had little luck in that regard 'For crying out loud, of all the times for me to start wearing weighted training gear!'

"Quit squirming and pipe down already wench." Karan snapped at Kagome, though it did little to quell her protests, so she ignored it and turned her attention towards Toran "She's a feisty little pest but she had what we needed, now we've got the jewel shards just like we planned."

"Hey give those back, those don't belong to you!" having had enough, Kagome held out one hand to Shuran's face and unleashed a burst of spiritual energy, hitting him square in the face and causing him to drop her as he howled in pain, allowing her to get to her feet and rush back a short distance.

"Looks like this one's got some spunk." Toran studied Kagome intently, then suddenly blitzed in front of her and grabbed her by the arm "So who is this girl anyway?"

"She's the priestess that kept the jewel shards with her." Karan told her "Seems like she's part of a group of humans that was travelling with Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha, you mean the younger son of the old mutt? The half-demon?"

"That's the one. She seemed like she'd be a good piece of bait, so we decided to bring her along with the jewel shards."

"Huh. Sounds like a sound move."

"What do you people want?" Kagome struggled in Toran's grip, to no avail "Tell me what you want with Inuyasha and the others!"

"I think it's been pretty clearly established that you're just here as bait, and we have no need for your other human companions. As for Inuyasha, it's actually quite simple. We're going to kill him."

"I won't let that happen."

"I can see that. Clearly you have determination, and a considerable amount of spiritual powers at your disposal. I can't have you getting in the way of our plans, so…" Toran tightened the grip she had on Kagome's arm, and in one swift movement she ripped the arm right out of its socket, causing Kagome to scream in pain as her arm fell limp at her side "A bit brutal for my taste, but I do what needs to be done."

"So what about the other son of the old mutt?" asked Shunran.

"I don't need to take any sort of bait for Sesshomaru, he'll be sure to come." it was only a few seconds after she finished this sentence that she noticed an iron club land in front of them, and then subsequently explode, forcing them to retreat "Well it looks like we have some unwelcome visitors."

Sure enough, standing at the top of the nearby cliff were Tatsu and Koga, the former covering his body iron dragon scales, the latter summoning the Goraishi, and both of them looking incredibly pissed off "Consider that attack a warning shot, the next one is gonna involve me slamming your skulls into the ground."

"How you about you take your pet wolf and fuck off meat sack, we don't need or want either of your kinds here!" Karan pounced towards them and unleashed a large ball of fire, being backed up by a number of nameless panther demons as she did so, and in the process she and the others all taking the chance to leave, taking Kagome with them.

"Sea God's Shield!" with a wave of his hand, Tatsu summoned the water shield that caused the fireball to evaporate within seconds, resulting in a large cloud of steam "Now!"

"Right! Lightning CLAWS!" with a wave of the Goraishi, Koga unleashed a powerful blast of lightning that engulfed the panther demons that surrounded them and incinerated them all in an instant, with the exception of one that took off running "At least that one is smarter than the rest of them."

"Not that much smarter, he's gonna lead us right to the others, and give me the chance to try out something new I've been working on. Fire Dragon FLAME ELBOW!" Tatsu summoned a burst of flames from one of his elbows and used the energy to propel himself forward at a rapid speed, with Koga following close behind him, only for both of them to be forced to screech to a halt when they came across a large rock wall that covered the area in front of them "Dammit, now we've gotta deal with this. Kagome! Kagome are you there, can you hear me?!" he was met with no reply "Dammit, they vanish without a trace and I can't sense her Ki either. I don't suppose you can track her?"

"I can't pick up her scent, there isn't any trace of left of it. Dammit, this is just like what happens with Naraku's barrier."

"...And suddenly I feel like an idiot, this must be what you feel like all the time."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means that you can either stand there and see what I'm about to do, or you can back up a few feet so the backlash doesn't melt your face off."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Shut up and watch and you'll find out. Ryuken!" Tatsu dropped into a stance, and a blue aura of demonic energy started surging around his body.

'What the hell is he doing, it's like I can see his power coming off of him.'

"Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" Tatsu coated one of his arms in flames and let the fist fly forward, slamming it directly into the rock wall in front of them, causing it to evaporate and reveal the forest lying in front of them "Looks like I was right, it was just a barrier they set up."

"Where the fuck did you learn how to do that?"

"You're not the only one whose learned a few new tricks lately. Now enough barking like an angry dog, we've got shit to do." the reply he received came in the form of Koga speeding past him into the forest "At least he's got his priorities straight."

"Get the fuck back here you filthy wolf!" a crimson blur suddenly burst onto the scene, which turned out to be none other than Inuyasha, about as pissed off as usual.

"Nice to see you finally show up."

"Koga wait up, we're coming too!" this was when Ginta and Hakkaku rushed past them and chased after Koga into the forest.

"And so did they apparently."

"They're not the only ones." this was when Sango and the others arrived on the scene "I take it this is the entrance to their hideout?"

"Considering they went to the trouble of hiding it behind a barrier, I'd say we're definitely on the right track, and if the cat demons are here then that means Kagome probably is too."

"Then let's move, the sooner we find her the sooner we can tell the wolf to shove that fancy claw up his hole." Inuyasha suddenly bolted off into the forest at full speed.

Tatsu had to force himself not to groan in annoyance as he and the others followed him into the darkness of the forest.

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Meanwhile, with the current head cat demon…

"Alright, put her in here." Toran motioned for a few cat demons to throw Kagome (her arm still hanging limp at her side) into a cell and shut the door behind her "Stay in here and don't try to do anything foolish like you did earlier." and she promptly walked away, leaving a few cat demons to guard the place.

'Great, I don't have a sword or bow or any arrows, and I've only got one good arm. Awesome day Kagome, definitely in your top five.' Kagome grimaced as she looked down at her useless arm 'That one said they came from the Panther Demon Tribe, or cat demons as pretty much everyone else calls them. This is bad, I can't do much with only one good arm. I can't even form the hand signs for the Healing Hand. Wait a second, what am I sensing?' she turned around and noticed a group of figures huddled together in the shadows, in the same cell as her "Is there someone else in here? Show yourself!"

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Meanwhile, with the main group…

"What the hell is this place?" by this point, Tatsu and the rest of the group had made their way into a sizeable village, only to find that it was apparently abandoned "Looks like an ordinary village as far as I can tell, I can't sense anyone around."

"And it does seem like a decently sized town built around the castle." Sango noted as they started searching around in the various huts and buildings.

"I don't see why though, what's the purpose of a village in a castle occupied by an army of pissed off cat demons?"

"Are you sure can't sense the presence of anyone else?"

"Nothing, not even a twitch of it. You guys find anything?"

"There's no one around as far as I'm able to tell, but there are definitely signs of people living here." Miroku told him "And there's no sign of Koga and his men either."

"Damn shame, with them around we'd at least be able to deal with the lackeys a hell of a lot faster." Tatsu glanced at the number of cat demons that were surrounding them "So this is where you guys were hiding."

"Looks to me like you catch on pretty quick." Karan shot him a smirk as she sent a number of cat demons forward to attack, leaving the others to fend them off.

'Great, she's trying to use the underlings to pick us off. She's underestimating all of us, a big mistake on her part.'

"Kagome where are you? Kagome!" Shippo scrambled around trying to find Kagome, only to end up finding himself cornered by a bunch of cat demons.

"Shippo hold on! Cascade Destroyer!" Tatsu blitzed over to Shippo and picked him up in one arm, and with a wave of his hand he summoned a series of water streams that ripped through a large number of cat demons and left them with bloody holes in their chests, and then he went on to throw Shippo over to Kirara 'The one good thing about no one else being here is that I don't have to worry about any potential collateral damage, which means I don't have to hold back with my attacks.' his attack prompted the remaining cat demons to take off running 'Tactical retreat huh?'

"Get the fuck back here you damn dirty cats!" Inuyasha charged after the remaining cat demons in his typical rage, cutting them off in their attempt to escape.

"For once, I think you have the right idea about this." Tatsu blitzed over to Inuyasha's side via the Dragon Warp as he covered his body in iron dragon scales.

"I have to say, you're definitely the impatient one." this was when Karan got their attention from her place on a nearby rooftop, leering down at Tatsu as she did "You know that was actually pretty rude of you even by the low standards of humans, charging in and breaking our barrier like you did."

"My heart bleeds for you, now tell me what you did with the priestess with the jewel shards."

"You don't need to worry about her, she's not dead. Not yet anyway."

"Quit pussyfooting around already, tell me where she is before you and the rest of your friends here get an impromptu bath."

"Fine fine, you have to threaten me with water like an ass. When the moon is directly overhead, that's when the time will come for us to sacrifice her and the others to our master. No need to fret though, you and the others will be joining her soon enough." this was when she summoned a large cloud of black smoke from within the various huts.

'I can't feel anything out of the ordinary, seems to me like it's just a normal smokescreen.'

"Dammit, what the hell is this?!" Inuyasha was left to recoil from the stench of the smoke, feeling his strength draining in the process, the same happening to Shippo and Kirara.

'Or an incredibly potent one.'

"How do you like that for potent?" Karan let out a chuckle full of malice "Consdiering how keen our sense of smell is, it must be even worse for you pathetic mongrels."

"The little fox and the cat aren't too fond of it either. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that you set this little trap for Inuyasha?"

"Yes, but it's not going exactly according to plan." Karan waved her hand and had her cat demons hurl a barrage of spears at the group.

"I've got this. Iron Spear Storm!" with a series of swift movements, Tatsu fired a series of iron spears that ripped through each weapon being hurled at them, forcing them to recoil "Your plan didn't account for Inuyasha having backup did it?"

"Actually it did, but it didn't account for one of his human companions being the one who wields the Fangs of Ryuhogo."

"There's one other thing you didn't count on either."

"And what would that be?" Karan was answered in the form of an energy blast hurtling towards her, forcing her and the remaining cats at her side to retreat.

"You didn't count on the arrival of Sesshomaru."

"...Oh. Well it's about time."

Sure enough, from within the smoke emerged Sesshomaru, with Tokijin in hand and looking as stoic as he ever did "Tell me Karan, what is the meaning of this? Am I the one you have business with, or is it this group?"

"And now we see the arrival of the elder brother, your timing could've have been better eldest son of the Dog General. We'll be waiting for you at the castle." and so Karan disappeared from the scene, with her cat followers doing the same.

'So they retreated, most likely to try and lure me into some sort of pathetic trap.'

"Start talking Sesshomaru, what the fuck are you doing here?" Inuyasha let out a snarl as he pointed Tessaiga at him.

"I was wondering the same thing about you. You should take your human companions and leave this place."

"What the fuck did you say?!"

"This battle is mine to fight, not yours, and I refuse to let you get involved."

"I don't need your permission to do anything, the only thing I need is to shove this sword down your throat."

"You're as much of a pathetic fool as you ever were." Sesshomaru pointed Tokijin forward and promptly unleashed a burst of demonic energy, sending him crashing into a nearby hut, before turning his gaze to Tatsu, though slightly calmer than before "The same can be said for you, this is not your battle to fight. Take your human companions and leave while you still can."

"Putting aside Inuyasha being him, that's not an option for me." Tatsu told him flatly "Your cat demon playmates showed up at the village this morning looking for the jewel shards Kagome has with her, and they took her along with them. And then one of them ripped her arm out of its socket for pretty much no good reason."

"That would be Toran, the one currently leading them. From what she's told me, they intend to resurrect their master."

"They told us about that, and they plan to use Kagome as a sacrifice to do it. You know I can't and won't stand around and do nothing while she's in danger."

"A point you've made abundantly clear in the past. Do what you must, but know that this battle is mine to fight."

"Like hell it is!" Inuyasha bolted upright from within the rubble and rounded on Sesshomaru in his typical rage "What the fuck are you coming after me for?!"

"Be silent Inuyasha." the fierce look in Sesshomaru's eyes was enough to make him recoil, if only slightly "Remember your past Inuyasha, you lost your heart to a mortal woman and ended up under the effects of a spell for years. As are the consequences of that failure, you have no right to be a part of this battle." and so he turned on his heel and walked away from the group, stepping on Jaken as he did so.

"Who the fuck does that bastard think he is?"

"I've never seen him show that much emotion before." Tatsu noted "So what did you do to piss him off this time?"

"Why the hell do you think it was me?"

"Well one reason might be the first thing you did when he showed up was point a sword at him, but in any case, I'm getting the feeling he's got more going on here than he's willing to let any of us know."

"Master!"

"And it looks like we've got more incoming."

"So we do." Miroku and the others glanced up to see Hachi drop down onto the scene "Hachi you came, I'm… honestly quite surprised you did."

"You're not the only one, I figured he would've been halfway across the country by now."

"I wouldn't go that far, but I thought for sure he would've run out on us."

"I did, or at least I was trying to anyway." Hachi looked rather sheepish as he said this.

"So what changed your mind?"

"That would be me!" this was when Myoga popped up and leapt onto Inuyasha's cheek in order to suck on his blood, only to be smacked off a few seconds later "It's as much of a pleasure to see you as always Master Inuyasha."

"The feeling ain't mutual you old flea." Inuyasha rolled his eyes "What the hell are you doing around here anyway?"

"The main reason why I came here was to lend my assistance to you and your companions, given the current crisis."

"The cat demons."

"Panther demons to be more accurate. Something tells me that this has to do with the great war that your father raged against the Panther Demon Tribe many eons ago."

"Eons ago? I thought the pathetic raccoon dog said it happened 50 years ago."

"Nothing of the sort, the war I refer to took place long before that. This took place back when your father was still in the Western province."

"This is all news to me."

"The Panther Tribe of cat demons launched an attack on the West and tried to conquer all other demons in the land, but your father stepped into the fray in order to stop them, with some extra help from Lord Kirinmaru."

"Who now?"

"I'll explain that to you at another time. The leader of the Panther Tribe was an enormous cat demon, and your father went into battle against these demons to protect his men. It was a fierce and gruesome battle, but as was to be expected, your father was the one who emerged victorious, and the demons who escaped domination by the Panther tribe were extremely grateful. However, the anger of a cat is known to run deep and they cursed your father and his family for the rest of eternity, and swore that the day would come where they would get their revenge."

"And look how the fuck that's turning out."

"Like you, Lord Sesshomaru did not participate in the Great War either, seeing as how he was only a young one at the time, but I'm certain that the remnants of the cat demons are coming after him in order to get their revenge, considering the fact that your father is no longer amounts the living."

"And what the hell were you doing when all of this was going on?"

"It was only natural that I was watching over his home while he was away."

"Isn't that just fucking typical."

"He was pretty adamant about wanting you to get lost during all of this." Tatsu pointed out, only to be met with a snort.

"As if, he just doesn't want to admit to himself that a half-demon can share the same blood as someone like him."

"I don't that's it, but in any case we've got other things to worry about right now. Normally I try to make it a point to stay out of stuff involving your father, like with Ryukotsusei or when you discovered the Wind Scar. But they crossed a line when they took Kagome, and that's when I can't and won't stand by doing nothing."

"I think we all imagined as much. Well I've gotta run now, farewell my friends!" Myoga gave a tiny salute with two of his four hands, and then he leapt off Hachi and disappeared from their sight.

"Oh great, him running usually means something bad is about to happen, and right now I'm being proven right. Sea God's Shield!" Tatsu promptly summoned a water shield to protect everyone from the barrage of fireballs being hurled at them, though it didn't stop Hachi from getting scared into dropping his transformation and leaving them to be sent flying, only for most of them to be caught by Kirara while they were still in mid air.

Tatsu on the other hand, he landed on the ground in front of Karan and her forces "Seriously, try and ambush us in mid air? That's a coward's move."

"I prefer to think of it as using the element of surprise." Karan gave a shrug, and then her cocky smirk returned "I take it you're going to rely on Sesshomaru for help?"

"I don't need his help, he doesn't need mine either."

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Meanwhile, with a certain wolf demon…

'Dammit, I've got nothing.' Koga looked around in the darkness of the forest, a low growl escaping from his throat as he did so 'There's no trace of Kagome or any of the others anywhere around here, where the hell could those damn cats have taken her to anyway?'

"Hey Koga?" this was when Hakkaku spoke up "Isn't this place supposed to be the hideout for those cat demons?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"Do you really think it's a good idea for us to try and fight them on our own?"

"If you've got some kind of idea on how to fight them, then go ahead and spit it out already."

"Well we could join Tatsu and Inuyasha, and the rest of their group." Ginta told him "I know I know, you hate the idea of asking anyone for help but-"

"You're probably right." that caused both of them to do a double take "Yeah yeah I know, I'm probably gonna hate myself for it later. I'm all for taking out the Goraishi and ripping these cats to shreds, but Tatsu has the right idea. Getting Kagome somewhere safe has to come before anything else."

"...Oh. Well if you're just thinking about her, then I guess that makes sense so-"

"Hold it, you two smell that? Someone else is coming, someone I don't recognize."

"You must be Koga of the Wolf Demon Tribe." this came from an unfamiliar voice as a large hulking figure.

"Wait a second, I know you. You're Royakan aren't you? The demon that's the keeper of the forest, the demon from hell that devours anyone that ends up in his territory? That guy?"

"Indeed I am."

"Huh. Go figure. So what the hell are you doing around here anyway?"

"That's what I was about to ask you, you haven't come to aid Lord Sesshomaru during this battle have you?"

"Sesshomaru? Am I supposed to know who the hell that is?"

"So you haven't come to aid him?"

"Why would I? Is that why you're here."

"Of course, after all it's only right that I come to serve him once again after my performance in the previous war."

"This has happened before?" Koga shared a glance with Ginta and Hakkaku.

"The original war took place long ago, during which Lord Sesshomaru's father, Lord Toga, had saved myself and many other demons, and as such I am indebted to him. The Panther Demon Tribe came looking for revenge 50 years ago, and since his father had long since passed by that point, my men and I went to aid Lord Sesshomaru in his place. However, in the end my men and I had failed in that duty. We told him that we would defend the frontlines, and he was battling in fine form at the time. The rest of us however, we suffered enormous casualties and were forced to retreat."

"Oh…" Ginta and Hakkaku looked at each other "I guess they lost, they ran away like a bunch of cowards." they were whispering when they said this, but not doing a very good job of it.

"I fought as hard as I could, and so did the rest of my men! The fact is that those wretched cat demons were nothing but cowards!"

"Alright enough is enough, cut the bullshit already." Koga cut them off "Whatever happened in the past doesn't mean a damn thing anymore, we've got other things to focus on right now. For starters, where in the fuck are we? I can't even tell if we're going in circles or not, at this rate I might as well just use the Goraishi to blow them all to hell."

"No need for that, let me take care of this. My wolves can sniff out the area in a matter of moments." Ryokan promptly spawned a number of his three-eyed wolves and sent them out into the forest, only to find them suddenly running in numerous different directions "What the?"

"So for much that, now it's time for me to take over." Koga promptly leapt up into the trees, only for a powerful gust of wind to try and force him back to the ground, but he managed to power through it and leapt above the trees, which gave him a clear view of Shunran and a number of her cat demon suboordinates standing just outside the forest 'That's one of the cat demons that took Kagome, did she put up some kind of barrier around the forest? Lightning CLAW!" he burst towards the ground and unleashed a blast of lightning from the Goraishi.

Shunran was able to leap out of the way of this attack, though her suboordinates all ended up being vaporized by the blast "I see that you have a couple of Shikon Jewel shards in your legs, not to mention a powerful demonic weapon. Not that they'll do you much good." she gave a playful giggle as she unleashed a powerful gust of wind and flower petals aimed at Koga, which proved to be enough to send him tumbling back into the forest.

'Dammit, that could've gone better. The only thing I can smell now is flowers.' Koga pulled himself back to his feet and shook off the disorientation, and he let out a sigh "Well that sure as hell could've gone better."

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At the same time, Sesshomaru and Jaken had been making their way through the village and towards the castle, only to find that Toran was waiting for them with an ambush in the form of her and at least a dozen cat demons. Being the valiant sidekick that he was, Jaken used his Staff of Two Heads to try and take out Toran himself, only to fall short to Toran's ice manipulation, resulting in Sesshomaru being forced to step in to save him, and then fight Toran himself.

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Meanwhile, with the others…

"Fuck, this isn't getting my anywhere." Inuyasha glanced around from his place atop Kirara's back with the others, and he scowled at the results he was getting "I can't track Tatsu's scent from up here. Fuck it, I'm doing this from the ground."

"Wait I see him, he's down there!" Shippo pointed down to where a lone figure was standing amidst the flames, surging with demonic energy, only to be met with hardened looks from the others in response "What?"

"...That's not him, get the fuck down!" Inuyasha leapt in front of them and used his body and Robe of the Fire Rat to shield the others from the lightning blast Shuran fired at them, thought they were all sent flying by the explosion that followed.

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Meanwhile, with the main protagonist…

"Die you filthy human scum!" Karan dodged an iron club in mid air and launched a barrage of fireballs at Tatsu.

"Cascade Destroyer!" Tatsu countered Karan's barrage of fireballs with his own barrage of water streams, and then he dealt her a solid roundhouse kick to the face that sent her crashing to the ground, but then an explosion from nearby attracted his attention

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Meanwhile, with Koga…

'Dammit, that could've gone better. The only thing I can smell now is flowers.' Koga pulled himself back to his feet and shook off the disorientation, and he let out a sigh "Well that sure as hell could've gone better."

"What happened over there?" asked Hakkaku.

"It was one of the cat demons, I think she put up some kind of wind barrier. At this rate I might as well just blow this place to hell with the Goraishi. You might wanna take a few steps back before I do." that prompted them all to back up a fair distance as he summoned the Goraishi onto his right arm, the claws surging with electricity "You ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Ginta told him.

"In that case… Lightning CLAW!" with a mighty roar, Koga brought down the Goraishi and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, ripping the surrounding forest to shreds in a matter of seconds, and that allowed him and the others to continue on their way.

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Meanwhile, with the love interest…

'Okay, just two or three more and that should be all of them.' Kagome looked down and tried to concentrate on what she was doing, only to look up at the sound of the cell door being opening behind her "What the-"

"Here, you've got some more company." this was when Shuran got her attention as he promptly threw the unconscious forms of Miroku, Sango and Shippo onto the ground in three simultaneous unconscious heaps.

"Miroku! Sango! Shippo! What did you do to them?"

"Nothing compared to what I plan to do to you later on, it's the least you deserve after what you did to me." he gestured to the burning gash where his left eye used to be "But that'll come soon enough, you and your friends are going to be offered as sacrifices to our master. You're going to give us your jewel shards, along with your lives, and our master will walk the earth again. You'll be the first one to die, that much I'll make sure of." and then he turned around and walked out of the dungeon.

Seeing that he was now gone, Kagome was quick to rush over to the others to try and wake them up "Shippo, guys, get up."

"Wha- Kagome!" Shippo stirred after a moment, and then when his gaze locked onto Kagome he pretty much bolted into her arms, only for his nose to twitch after spending a moment in her gentle embrace, and he let out a gasp at what he saw "Your arm!"

"What, you mean this?" she looked down at the deep red stain on one of her sleeves "One of the cat demons broke it when I tried to free myself earlier, and I need both hands to use my healing powers so I couldn't fix it, but I had a little bit of help setting it back into place, and then I used my Healing Hand to stop the bleeding. I'm okay though, you don't need to worry about me." she hugged him tighter to try and calm him down and reassure him, just as she noticed that Sango and Miroku were waking up "Oh thank god, you're both finally awake."

"Kagome!" Sango quickly rushed over and pulled Kagome into a hug "We were all so worried about you, are you okay?"

"Aside from the dried blood here, yeah I'm fine. I've just been kind of busy in here."

"So where are we anyway?" asked Miroku "Is this some sort of prison cell that they're keeping us in?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just a dungeon they're using, but yeah more or less, and I found out pretty fast that we're not the only ones in here. Take a look and see for yourself." she gestured to where a number of villagers were huddled together on the other side of the cell.

"Those must be the people who live in the village." Sango muttered "No wonder there wasn't any sign of life in the town."

"I figured that it was some sort of secret village, probably made up of people that were able to escape from the wars."

"I see, so it was a perfect place to hide and live in peace." Miroku noted "At least until the cat demons had discovered it and decided to use it for their own means, am I correct?"

"That's about what I figured. Anyway one of them was nice enough to set my arm back into its socket, and since then I've been working on healing the injuries that I could and trying to help them in any way I could."

"You have to help us." many of the villagers started bowing to Kagome and pleading with her in desperation "We beg of you Lady Priestess, if you don't do something then we're all going to be killed by those demon cats for sure! Why did those demons have to come here all?"

"It's alright everyone, you don't have to be afraid anymore." Kagome was quick to try and reassure them with a gentle smile "It's not going to be long now, I can confirm for a fact that help is definitely on the way."

"But the demons will get wind of it for certain."

"It doesn't matter if they do or not, because I can assure you that the ones fighting off the cat demons are a lot stronger than they could ever be."

"But those cat demons are so powerful, who could be stronger than them?"

"Tatsu for starters, he's strong and kind and he always fights to protect people, he has for as long as I've known him. And besides him, there's still Inuyasha and Koga too. All three of them are really strong and they're definitely coming for us."

"I wouldn't hold my breath about Sesshomaru though." Sango told her "We saw him earlier, he's here fighting against the Panther Demon Tribe too. We don't know the specifics, but apparently he has some sort of business with them and he made it pretty clear he doesn't want us to get in his way."

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Meanwhile, with a certain imp…

"Lord Sesshomaru, where are you my lord?" by this point, Jaken had taken to wandering throughout the village on his own in search of Sesshomaru, his mind racing 'I don't get it, where could he have gotten to? Lord Sesshomaru where are you, please give me a sign!" it was then that he turned around, only to find himself being ambushed by a large number of cat demons that were crowding around him "Oh no, no no no no no, not the cats again, stay away from me you wretched felines!" and so he unleashed a blast of fire from his staff to try and fend off the cats, only for them to avoid the flames and pounce at him from above, when…

"Fire Dragon TALON!" this was when Tatsu burst onto the scene and dealt one of the cat demons a roundhouse kick from a leg that was coated with flames, incinerating it as a result and causing the other cat demons to take off running.

'Now's my chance to get away!' seeing that Tatsu was apparently distracted, Jaken took the chance to try and run away, only to be picked up by the staff "Uh…"

"Hey, how's it going. I don't suppose you've seen any of my friends around here?"

"No, but do you know where Lord Sesshomaru might happen to be?"

"Not a clue, if I did then I'd probably try to meet up with him. Speaking of which, what exactly is his business here anyway?"

"His business is none of yours filthy human, and even if it was, you couldn't possibly understand the situation he's in! How could he just defile the memory of his father in such a callous way?!"

"You only somewhat had me before, and now you've completely lost me."

"It was many centuries ago that his father Lord Toga waged a war against the Panther Demon Tribe."

"Yeah I knew about that, Myoga gave me the short version a little while ago. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought he said Sesshomaru didn't even fight in that war."

"Not in the initial war, but the remnants of the Panther Tribe showed up bent on avenging their fallen 50 years ago. Lord Toga had long since passed on by then, but they still came to ravage the countryside and kill his people to claim their vengeance. At that time however, Inuyasha wasn't going to be much help."

"Because this happened after Kikyo had sealed him to the tree."

"That was actually how I found out about it. I went to fetch Inuyasha with great reluctance, he might be a filthy half-demon but he's still the son of Lord Toga and I knew that we would need help to combat the cat demons."

"To be fair, considering this is Inuyasha we're talking about, even if he was awake during all of that he probably would've said no."

"You think I don't know that? Of course neither myself or Lord Sesshomaru would've expected him to lend his assistance in the first place, but if we had the Tessaiga at our command then the victory would've come so easily."

"Which Sesshomaru can barely touch, let alone wield in battle. You do realize that."

"Of course I do, but that's not the point you wretched human!"

"Well in any case, what happened back then doesn't really matter anymore. We've got stuff to do, so we'd better get moving."

"To where exactly?"

"Knowing what Sesshomaru is like, he's probably heading for the castle, since that's probably where the cat demons are hiding out. We find them, we find him, plain and simple. Now like I said, let's get moving." and so he hoisted Jaken onto his shoulder and took towards the castle, but as he did he glanced back at Jaken "So… why the little kid?"

"You're talking about Rin aren't you? Honestly, I have no idea why Lord Sesshomaru would ever keep a little brat like that around to begin with."

'My first thought is that he doesn't want to be stuck alone with you.'

"I don't even understand why he used the Tenseiga to bring her back to life to begin with, even if she was attacked by wolves and after she had the audacity to-"

"Back up a second. You said she got mauled by wolves?"

"Yes, after the village she came from had been attacked and slaughtered."

"So… what village was this?"

"Some remote village near the Eastern mountains."

'Does he mean… is he talking about that village where we first met Koga? This could turn out to be a problem.'

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Meanwhile, with the main cat demons…

At the same time, Toran was making the preparations for the ritual that would be used to revive the Panther King, while at the same time she sent the other Panther demons to guard the various entrances to the castle, where they awaited their was the first one to encounter her opponent, that being none other than Sesshomaru himself. As one could imagine, she didn't last very long against him, forcing Toran to step in and save her.

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Meanwhile, with Shuran…

"Get lost already you pathetic wolf, nobody wants you here!" Shuran encountered his opponents in the form of Koga and the rest of the wolves, and he promptly attacked them with a powerful blast of lightning.

"Get the fuck out of the way!" Koga shoved the others out of the way of the attack, and then he charged at Shuran with a kick aimed at his head.

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Meanwhile, with the main protagonist and his new sidekick…

"Well that was easier than I expected." Tatsu glanced back at the numerous corpses of cat demons sprawled out all over the place, and then he and Jaken continued along the path to the castle, only to find Shunran standing in front of the entrance "I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you were waiting for us?"

"You guessed right, I've been expecting you." Shunran let out a playful chuckle "You did well to get as far as you have."

"You'd be surprised how far a man with a mission can push himself, now how about you try and tell me where you've got Kagome and the others and we can make this easy."

"Big talk for such a little man, if you think you can get past me then go ahead and try."

"If I have to then fine, let's do this." Tatsu burst forward and charged at Shunran, only for her to suddenly multiply into numerous copies of herself, and then for all of them to phase through his atack in a gust of wind, and then for more to appear 'Great, so in addition to what I'm assuming is the wind user of an elemental quartet, we've got someone who can create illusions.'

"Don't bother trying to attack, you can't tell which one of me is real."

"I wouldn't be to sure about that. You and your friends look down on humans and think they're so incapable in your eyes, but even without these Fangs I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. The first one that comes to mind is sensing your Ki."

"Oh?"

"Yep, and that alone is enough for me to know where to aim this. Fire Dragon ROAR!" he let out a roar and breathed out a large stream of flames that dispelled the illusions, revealing none other than the real Shunran standing before him "I rest my case."

"Well what do you know that wasn't too bad for a mere human. I guess I can't underestimate you any longer, but orders are orders. What do you say we continue this at the castle." and so she unleashed another gust of wind as she disappeared from the scene.

"...Okay yeah, that's starting to get on my nerves."

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Meanwhile, with a certain half-demon…

'Fuck, my head…' Inuyasha let out a groan as he opened his eyes and pulled himself out of the wreckage he found himself in, along with Kirara, and pulled himsel back to his feet 'I thought that was gonna go differently. That's the last time I act like a fucking meat shield. Speaking of which, where the hell is everyone? I can smell them and the cat demons… Fuck, all of them got dragged away didn't they?'

"So you're alive Master Inuyasha, I was so worried about you!" Myoga leapt onto Inuyasha's neck and started sucking on his blood, only to get smacked off almost immediately.

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Meanwhile, with the battle of lightning users…

"Get the fuck out of the way!" Koga shoved the others out of the way of the attack, and then he charged at Shuran with a kick aimed at his head.

"Not on your fucking life you worthless wolf!" Shuran met Koga's kick with one of his fists, the collision sending both of them skidding back, and then he charged at Koga and attempted to land a fierce barrage of punches from his oversized fists.

Koga dodged every strike of his fists and charged at Shuran again in an attempt to hit him with a counterattack, only to stop in his tracks when he saw electricity surging around him 'Shit, again with the lightning.'

"DIE!" Shuran unleashed a blast of lightning that forced Koga to go on the evasive, with the others following his lead, though this didn't stop Royakan from being hit by the blast, and then his charred form falling to the ground with a thud "Well that's one down, you're not doing that bad though little man."

'Dammit, this guy is tougher than he looks.' Koga failed to suppress a growl as he went onto the evasive to avoid the incoming barrage of lightning blasts 'He doesn't move too fast, but his lightning has some serious power to it.'

"What's the problem little man, you're not holding back for my sake are you?"

'His lightning bolts are fast, but that's all he's got going for him. I just gotta get around them and stick the Goraishi in his face, then I can blast him to hell.' Koga gritted his teeth, but then he let out a sigh as he glanced down at the scar on his arm 'No calm down, I can't be so reckless like I was before. Look at where that got me. I had to go through I did to get the Goraishi and to prove myself worthy, but even after I got the power I didn't know how to use all of it. I had to spend days on end practicing it, and I learned that I had other abilities I can use, aside from the lightning blasts. I can harness my enemy's power and send it back at them. The elders said that a true warrior knows how to manipulate the flow of energy, to bend it to their will, and let their defense to become their greatest offense, to turn their opponent's energy against them. The power of the Goraishi lets me do this with lightning. I can redirect this bastard's lightning attacks, and I can use them to make my own attacks stronger too. I can only do it for a few seconds, and then I have redirect it, or else my body will be forced to reject it, and that might end up killing me. Hell, it almost did. The technique for it isn't an easy one, and they made it clear that if I let the energy within my own body flow, then my enemy's electrical current will follow it. I have to create a pathway that starts from the claws of the Goraishi, guiding my arm down towards my chest, which acts as the source of the demon energy housed within my own body, and that is where I draw my power from. At least, that's what they said, but I don't really understand a lot of it. From my chest, I use the claws to direct this energy upwards again, and then I direct it out of the claws and back towards the enemy. But it is pretty risking, seeing how letting the energy flow through me isn't easy to do, and I can't let the energy pass through my heart, or else it could end up killing me. At least, that's what they told me. I guess I got the form right, but I haven't actually tried it out in a fight yet, but if they say it's gonna work then I'd have to be an idiot to not at least try it."

"Quit talking to yourself and fight you filthy wolf!" Shuran quickly directed Koga's attention back to the battle as he fired a barrage of lightning bolts towards him.

Koga dodged the first few of them, but as he got close to Shuran one of the blasts was hurled directly at him without giving him the chance to dodge, sending him skidding backwards as the Goraishi surged with electrical energy that wasn't its own, but he quickly calmed himself and started going through the motions 'Remember what they said… down to my chest, and then with the Goraishi, give it nowhere to go but OUT!' and so with a primal roar, he stuck out his arm and projected the lightning back towards Shuran, hitting him square in the chest and blasting him through the wall behind him, leaving him in an unconscious heap "Alright the big one is down, so who wants to be the next one get a face full of lightning?"

"Meow meow meow meow (Lord Shuran is down, retreat to the castle!" the other cat demons frantically rushed over to Shuran and carried him with them as they retreated back towards the castle.

"Huh, that worked out pretty well." Koga glanced back at Ginta and Hakkaku and saw them attending to Royakan "So what about the big guy, is he still alive?"

"We checked to make sure he's breathing, and it turns out he's snoring." Hakkaku told him "I doubt he fainted, if anything that means he just fell asleep."

"...Are you fucking serious?" he was met with a series of simultaneous nods "So much for the big bad guardian of the forest. Whatever, just go ahead and leave him there. We've got other stuff to deal with. Kagome and the others are in there, I can already smell it." and so he grabbed onto the two of them and took off towards the castle at full speed.

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Meanwhile, at the castle…

By this point, Toran and the rest of the cat demons (with Shuran being heavily wounded) had all reunited outside of the castle, having completed the preparations for the ritual "The time is now upon us master, the moon is almost directly overhead. In only a matter of moments, the filthy dogs that we despise so much will be slaughtered and the Panther Demon Tribe will at last reign over this land." and then a barrier suddenly formed around it.

"Azure Dragon Wave!" this was when Sesshomaru burst onto the scene and tried to attack them with a blast of demonic energy from Tokijin, only for the blast to be dispelled by the barrier and send him skidding backwards 'So they erected a barrier.'

"You're wasting your efforts Sesshomar, it's only a matter of time before our master is brought back to the land of the living, and then your death will be at hand."

'They believe a barrier is going to save them from me. Pitiful.'

"I want it…" the zombified carcass of the Panther King towering over the castle suddenly lurched forward and devoured the jewel shards in front of him, which caused his body to start glowing "Give me blood, flesh… and soul…"

'The shards of the jewel awakened their master, but the resurrection is incomplete.' Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as he glanced over to where the villagers were being held nearby, and he took notice of how Kagome and the others were trying to break the barrier trapping them, but were failing to do so 'The priestess, it seems she has grown stronger and has greater control of her own spiritual powers, but even those are unable to break a demonic barrier.'

"KAGOME! LIGHTNING CLAW!" that was when Koga suddenly burst onto the scene and attackted the barrier with a powerful blast of lightning from the Goraishi, only for the barrier to repel the attack and send him crashing to the ground.

'That wolf demon… I recognize this scent… It seems that he's acquired a powerful weapon, but even that cannot penetrate the barrier.'

"You claim to use us as sacrifices? That's not going to happen!" Miroku tried to use his Wind Tunnel on the Panther King, only for a pusling effect to take him over, and he suddenly fell to his knees in an almost catatonic state, which prompted the Panther King to reach for Kagome and devour her instead, when…

"SEA DRAGON'S ROAR!" this was when Tatsu burst onto the scene, his body surging with a blue aura of demonic energy, and he attacked the barrier with a large water dragon, dispelling the barrier surrounding the captured villagers within a matter of seconds, allowing him to rush over to Kagome's side "Sorry I took so long getting here, are you okay?"

"Kind of working through this mentally, but otherwise I've been worse." Kagome breahed a sigh as she pulled herself to her feet "So to summarize it, but spiritual powers can apparently save a man from an incurable disease, but they can't break through barriers."

"Live and learn Kags, live and learn. Looks like the gang is mostly here, now the only one that's missing is Inuyasha. Speaking of which…"

"Wind SCAR!" this was when Inuyasha burst onto the scene and unleashed a Wind Scar from the Red Tessaiga, ripping through the larger barrier like it was nothing "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"About time you showed up, so you satisfied with what you got from the demon bats?"

"You're damn right I did, I guess that sadistic old bastard knew what he was doing."

"Give me the details later, right now we've got work to do." Tatsu glanced over at Sesshomaru and noticed him eyeing the Red Tessaiga "Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we've been pretty busy over the past week."

"So it seems." Sesshomaru's tone was even, his eyes hard "The priestess is still in danger of being sacrificed to their master."

"So I've heard. Anyway a deal's a deal, I'll let you handle this. As for Inuyasha, I think we both know his answer to that."

"Give me BLOOD!" the Panther King apparently ran out of patience and reached down to grab the others.

"Shit, Kagome!"

"I've got her!" with rapid speed, Koga hoisted Kagome into his arms and carried her out of the zombie cat's reach "Don't worry Kagome, getting you out of here is gonna be easy."

"I can't just leave everyone else behind, we've gotta get them somewhere safe."

"Get the fuck back!" Inuyasha suddenly pounced at the Panther King and promptly cut off one of its hands using the Tessaiga "This ugly bastard have any jewel shards?"

"There's three of them in his throat, just give me a second to-"

"Fuck it, I've got this one. Do whatever you want, but don't even think about interfering in this fight."

"...Tatsu what do you think?"

"He's got this, we've got other things to worry about right now." Tatsu pointed out "To put it in simple terms, we've gotta get these people out of here. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are more than enough to handle this."

"Right. Alright everyone no need to panic, we're gonna get all of you out of here. We just need to clear a path, Tatsu have you got this?"

"One clean shot is all that I need, just give me a second to-"

"Lightning CLAW!" Koga suddenly broke into the conversation as he unleashed a blast of lightning from the Goraishi, creating a sizeable hole in the wall of the castle "So is that a big enough hole for you?"

"...Kagome?"

"Yeah, that definitely works." Kagome snapped out of her momentary stupor and quickly got back to directing the villagers "Alright everyone, stick together and make a run for it! Through the giant hole in the wall!" and that was enough to prompt them to run away screaming in fear for their lives.

"Stop them, don't let them escape!" Toran barked out the order (the description is ironic I know), and sent dozens of cat demons out to stop them from escaping.

'There's so many of them, I know that me, Tatsu and Koga could stop them no problem, but just to be safe… What do you think you're doing?" Kagome suddenly rounded on the cat demons as she drew her Seishin Rozu from its sheath "Aren't we supposed to be these live sacrifices you need to go through with your plan, you're not supposed to kill us you know!" she started forcing her way through the crowd, which just prompted Toran to roll her eyes.

"Change of plans, capture the rest of them but you can kill her." that prompted the cats to pounce forward with their weapons and claws barred.

"...I imagined that going differently." so with a deep breath, Kagome raised her sword and brought down the blade, unleashing a powerful wave of spiritual energy as she did so, which was more than enough to purify almost all of the cats in front of them "Sorry about that guys, but I figured it was at least worth a shot."

"No worries Kags, and truth be told I actually prefer doing it this way. It gives me the chance to test out something I've been working on. Blazing Spear Storm!" to that end, Tatsu extended both arms and fired a barrage of metal spears coated in flames, hitting the remaining cat demons dead on and piercing through them with ease "Looks like that one worked out."

"Using two elements at once?" Koga raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"I worked out breaking through a demonic barrier pretty easily, so along with Kagome's training, I spent the past week or so working on something new, combining the power of two Fangs into a single attack."

"That sounds… convenient as fuck."

"Not when you know how hard it was for me to make it work without blowing my face off. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that made you feel better."

"No, it really didn't." the two of them glanced ahead to see more cat demons pounce onto the scene holding weapons "And there's more coming."

"Not as much as the first wave of them, but Kagome will probably need backup, and I can see that Miroku and Sango are lagging behind. You help Kagome and the others clear out the cats, I'll go and help them." and so he quickly rushed to the back of the crowd, where he found Sango and Shippo carrying the apparently catatonic form of Miroku "What happened to him?"

"He tried to use his Wind Tunnel to break us out of the barrier." Sango told him "It didn't work, and ever since then he's been like… well like this."

"Catatonic, huh? I guess now we know what happens when he tries that. Just give me a second, I'll snap him out of it."

"Are you sure you can?"

"Oh yeah I've seen this plenty of times, it's actually pretty easy. You just have to be sweet, caring and sensitive. And then smack him across the face as hard as you can." and then he proceeded to do just that.

"Keep your hands away from there or I'll shove my sacred sutras up your-" Miroku snapped out of his little tirade and blinked a few times as he calmed down "Oh, I… Thank you for snapping me out of that."

"No worries, I usually like to think of myself as a peacekeeper for those around me. Now let's get moving already, I don't want to leave Kagome alone with the wolves for any longer than I have to." he was met with a few odd looks "What? I've still got my priorities right."

"Speaking of priorities, I need to find out what they did with our weapons." Sango was almost immediatley answered by her Hiraikotsu and Miroku's staff dropping to the ground, and they all looked up to see Hachi and Kirara "So… I guess help has arrived then."

"Don't complain, just enjoy it and move on. Now let's get moving, we've got people to get the hell out of here. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru can handle the giant zombie cat."

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Meanwhile, with the dog brothers in question…

"Get a face full of my sword mother fucker!" with a primal roar, Inuyasha slashed at the face of the zombie Panther King with the Tessaiga, the force of the blow sending him crashing to the ground in a heap "What do you have to say about that?"

"Give it to me…" the Panther King slowly lifted his decaying head, a low growl escaping from his throat as he did so "Give me blood… and a soul…"

"Not on your fucking life."

"We will master, please just wait a little bit longer." Toran tried to plead with him "You don't need to worry master, I promise you that I will bring you the head of the son of the Dog General on a platter."

"I don't give a damn who or what the hell your master is supposed to be, there's no chance in hell I'm letting you resurrect him if it means you use human flesh and blood to do it."

"That's where you're mistaken, we will follow through with our plans and you shall be the first to be sacrificed."

"Try and say that again after I take this sword and shove it up your tail hole!" Inuyasha leapt into the air to dodge Toran's next attack and countered with a Wind Scar.

'The Tessaiga…' Sesshomaru stood in his place on the sidelines with Jaken by his side, watching as Inuyasha charged into battle against the cat demons 'In the aftermath of the previous war against the Panther Demon Tribe, it became clear to me that the Tenseiga did not have the power to grant me my desires. I could not slay my enemies with a sword intended for healing. What I need is the Tessaiga, the sword with the power to slay 100 in a single stroke. I need its power to make my ambitions into a reality, and yet I do not have the power to wield it.'

"Now you're through little man!" Shuran took advantage of the moment in which Inuyasha had been trapped in the middle of a barrage of elemental attacks by the others, and took the chance to pin him to the ground and leave him unable to move "What's the matter, you can't use your sword like this?"

"Azure Dragon Wave!" this was when Sesshomaru blitzed into the fray and unleashed a blast of demonic energy from the Tokijin, sending everyone present hurtling backwards from the force of the explosion.

Inuyasha was the first one to pick himself up out of the rubble and shot a dirty look at him "I told you not to get involved."

"You said nothing of the sort, you simply charged blindly into battle like a fool. Stay where you are, you are not to involve yourself in this any further. These Panther Demons belong to me and me alone."

"Not on your fucking life, I've got no problems with shoving my sword up your ass too."

"I've had enough of your prattling." Sesshomaru promptly brought down the Tokijin, which forced Inuyasha to use the Tessaiga to block it, and that led to the two of them fighting each other for the umpteenth time.

"Not on your fucking life, now get the hell out of my way before I really do shove this sword up your ass!"

"Your presence is not needed or wanted halfbreed, and you are fully aware that I will not hesitate to drive my sword through your heart."

'And just like that, the sons of the Dog General are fighting each other.' Toran just watched the exchange unfold in front of them, his expression dull 'Why does this not surprise me? It's just like how the old mutt and Kirinmaru used to do with each other.'

"So… what do we do about this?" Shunran was the first of them to snap out of her stupor.

"We do the only thing an intelligent warrior would do, stand united and take advantage of this opportunity. Let's combine our powers and strike all of them at once."

"Yeah, about that Toran, here's the thing." Shuran spoke up "We're talking about the two sons of the demon that was powerful enough to kill our master when they fought."

"And?"

"And fighting them one on one they were able to beat us pretty easily, but now that it's the two of them together… Are you sure ganging up on them like that is a good idea?"

"That depends, are you sure that showing cowardice in front of our master is an even better idea right now?"

"...Yeah okay, we attack."

"That's what I thought, now let's do this." and so the four of them let their demonic energy surge around them in a powerful vortex.

"Give it to me…" the zombified Panther King "Give me life… give me flesh… give me blood… give me a soul…"

"We fully intend to do so master, please be patient with us. We will offer their souls to you in a matter of moments…"

"No… I'm done waiting… Give me your souls!" as his eyes glowed green, the Panther King suddenly unleashed a wave of energy that struck three of the cats (Toran being the only exception to this) and took their souls into himself, bathing him in a blue light as flesh and fur grew over his skeleton, allowing him to take on the form of an enormous cat demon.

That provided to be enough of a distraction to make Inuyasha and Sesshomaru break off from their little spat, the former being the only one to express his disgust 'That bastard… he actually devoured his own kin so that he could bring himself back to life.'

"You two… sons of the Dog General…" the Panther King finished his revival process and turned his hate-filled gaze towards Inuyasha and Sesshomaru "You will die next… slowly and painfully…"

Toran on the other hand, now the only survivor of her quartet, she could only look on in horror at the sight of the lifeless bodies prawled out on the ground "Shuran… Karan… Shunran… It can't be…" and that provided to be enough to make her break down sobbing.

"Hear me, filthy dogs… You will now feel the full extent of my wrath!"

"I've got a better idea, you stop living in your fucking fantasy, and I cram my sword down your throat through your mouth, which actually isn't that hard since apparently your mouth doesn't move when you talk." Inuyasha paused after he said this "I'm questioning small stupid stuff that nobody gives a damn about. Fuck, I've been spending way too much time around Tatsu's group of idiots." his musings over this were cut short when he was forced to dodge of the sweep of one of the Panther King's claws.

"Azure Dragon Wave!" Sesshomaru took this chance to blitz into the air and attack the Panther King with a blast of energy from the Tokijin, causing him to howl in pain.

"Get the fuck out of my way! Wind SCAR!" Inuyasha, having finished his existential crisis, rebounded and fired a Wind Scar at the Panther King, hitting him dead on and engulfing him in the explosion that followed "How do you like that one asshole?!"

When the smoke cleared however, the Panther King was standing where he was before, not even a scratch visible on him "No such luck, filthy dog."

"You might have the bruth strength to fight my old man, but it didn't save you from him and it sure as hell isn't gonna save you from me. You having jewel shards doesn't make a different to me, I'll still shove my sword through your gut."

"We shall see mongrel!" the Panther King let out a snarl as he fired his claws forwards as a series of projectiles, that Inuyasha and Sessomary to go on the evasive, and then he proceeded to follow up on that with a series of lightning blasts from his fingertips, snarling and laughing maniacally as he did so.

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Meanwhile, in the village…

The battle unfolding against the Panther King was visible from a sizeable distance away, and a large number of the rescued villagers were particularly freaked out by it.

"Okay, so the cat demon came back to life." Tatsu observed the situation unfolding from his place with the others, his expression oddly calm and dull at the sight "Two dog demons fighting it out with a giant cat demon… I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm honestly surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened before."

"You don't seem very concerned by all of this." Sango pointed out "A Great Demon was just brought back to life with the power of what I'm assuming is at least three jewel shards making it even more powerful."

"Oh come on, it's not the first time this has happened. If anything it's the third time we've had to deal with some insanely powerful demon that was killed or sealed away at some point. Frankly, I'm pretty much resigned to it by now. The only real question is, if he needed live sacrifices to restore himself then how did he get brought back to life?"

"Who knows?" Koga gave a shrug "Maybe he had some fresh dog meat." he was promptly smacked upside the head by pretty much all of the others except Kagome "Ow!"

"Next time don't run your mouth, if I don't put up with that from Inuyasha then I'm sure as hell not gonna put up with it from you."

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Meanwhile, with the main battle…

"Die!" the Panther King let out a snarl as he fired more claw projectiles forward.

"Perish and return to the Netherworld! Azure Dragon Wave!" Sesshomaru blitzed through the barrage of projectiles and tried to hit the Panther King with another Azure Dragon Wave, only to be backhanded by one of his claws and sent flying back, but he was able to rebound before he hit the ground.

"Pathetic, and now you shall be my next victim."

"Don't count on that happening you fucking cat!" Inuyasha pounced at the Panther King and started slashing at him with the Tessagia "Nobody gets to shove a set of claws through his skull except for me!"

"Lord Sesshomaru!" this was when Jaken, being Sesshomaru's ever faithful sidekick, rushed over to his side, only to see him tense up considerably "What is it my lord, what's the matter?"

"Damn him… Damn that wretch…" Sesshomaru slowly picked himself back up, his eyes turning crimson and his features turning more animalistic as he sheathed Tokijin and prepared to transform into his true form (the giant dog form that we only seem him do like three times), but he stopped when he noticed a certain pulsing sensation coming from his side 'Tenseiga… so you wish for me to draw you, is that it? Why?'

"Alright ugly, let me teach ya why they call me the Legendary- FUCK!" Inuyasha didn't get to finsh his claim before a single sweep of the Panther King's claws sent him crashing to the ground in a heap.

'I still don't understand Father, why did you choose to leave the Tenseiga to me?' so as he took a moment to compose himself, Sesshomaru slowly made his way towards the Panther King, and then in a flash he drew Tenseiga from its sheath and blitzed through him with a single stroke of its blade, before returning it to its sheath 'And now your request has been fulfilled.'

"You waste your efforts mongrel." the Panther King let out a snarl filled with arrogance "You will never be able to harm me with a sword as useless as that… The blade is far too dull to use for killing. Now perish!" he prepared to pounce at Sesshomaru, only to freeze when a surge of energy began emerging from his body, causing him to fall to his knees "My power… What have you done to me? I'm losing my power…"

'Perhaps it cannot condemn lives, but in this case, saving lives is the same as condemning you to death once again.' Sesshomaru suppressed a smirk, and then he glanced over to see Tatsu flash onto the scene "Your interference is not necessary."

"I figured as much, I just had to be sure." Tatsu gave a shrug, then glanced up at the Panther King as it began deforming back into a zombified corpse "So apparently overpowering him didn't work, and you decided to go with Plan B, use Tenseiga to call back the souls that it absorbed to bring itself back to life. I guess I'm not needed then."

"Clearly not, unless you wish to help Inuyasha finish off that wretch."

"Nah, I think he can handle this one on his own. You hear that one Inuyasha, the big ugly bastard is all yours."

"As if I needed your permission to do that, but whatever. Wind SCAR!" Inuyasha let out a mighty roar as he brought down the blade of Tessaiga and unleashed a Wind Scar, which proved to be more than enough to rip through the Panther King and sending him crashing to the ground as a charred corpse. So basically the same, only covered in burns "And that's the end of that fucking cat."

"And hopefully the rest of his followers to." Tatsu promptly fired a single iron spear into the Panther King's neck, and then he subsequently retracted it, revealing the jewel shards attached to the end of it "Can't forget about these things, now all we need is for Kagome to purify them and we're good to go."

'Dammit…' Toran could only grit her teeth at the sight of Inuyasha and the others claiming victory, only for a set of groans to suddenly attract her attention "What the-"

As it turns out, that series of groans belonged to Karan and the others as they slowly began to regain consciousness, and then they suddenly snapped to attention "Toron?"

"Karan… Shuran… Shunran… you're alive… but how?"

"I don't get it, what the hell happened to us? I was so sure that the Master had killed us all, but we're alive, so…"

"Well you're back in the land of the living, and you have Sesshomaru to thank for that." this was when Tatsu made his way over to the group "From what I can gather your master sucked your souls out to bring himself back, but Sesshomaru used his Tenseiga to summon your souls back into your bodies."

"You mean… he was the one who saved us? That mutt."

"That would be the one."

"How dare you so such a lack of gratitude?" Jaken suddenly popped up on the scene and started squawking at them "Lord Sesshomaru went out of his way to save your lives, so show him the respect he deserves, right Lord Sesshomaru?"

"He already left."

"What?! Oh please don't leave me behind again!" and so he subsequently ran off.

"Yet again he proves himself as the ever faithful sidekick. Speaking of which, what about the rest of you? You wanna pick up where we left off?"

"Say the word, I'm still looking for a fight." Inuyasha dropped to the ground and gripped the hilt of Tessaiga, with Tatsu drawing his twin swords in response.

"It's your move."

"...You know what? That won't be necessary." Toran's hardened gaze softened considerably, and she gave a small smile "This is finished, there's no longer a reason for us to seek revenge."

"You sure about that?"

"We spent 50 years craving revenge against the old mutt's people on behalf of our master, and look at how that turned out. As far as I'm concerned, revenge isn't worth what we would have to lose. So in short, we'll be returning to lands in the West. You can tell Sesshomaru I said that the next time you see him."

"He and Inuyasha aren't exactly a close-knit family and he only shows up around us when it's actually important, but I'll give him the message next time I see him. Just one other thing before I go."

"What's that?" Toran was suddenly met with a kick to the face that sent her tumbling back a considerable distance.

"Consider that a little preview of what I'll do next time you lay a hand on Kagome, only much worse." on that note, Tatsu promptly grabbed onto Inuyasha and the two of them disappeared in a blue flash.

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Morning came, and as the sun rose, the situation seemed to finally be coming to a close.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes from his place sprawled out against a tree as he watched the villagers crowd everyone, Kagome in particular "Isn't that fucking typical, we do all the fighting for our lives and she gets all the gratitude."

"In all fairness, she was the one who was more concerned about keeping everyone alive, whereas we were more focused on beating the every loving crap out of an army of pissed off cat men bent on revenge." Tatsu pointed out dryly.

"Yeah well, you'd think we'd get some credit for killing them."

As for Royakan on the other hand, he was left pretty much bawling his eyes out over how things had turned out "I came all this way just to assist Lord Sesshomaru, and in the end I wasn't even able to do that!"

"Yeah well, get the fuck over it already. I don't even get why the hell you came here in the first place, all you do is sit around on your ass and give other demons a bad name."

"You know this guy?" Tatsu raised an eyebrow.

"We all do, expect for Sango anyway. Naraku used him to try and kill us once." he was met with a blank look "Big wolf guy, seriously fucked up in the head, had a few jewel shards and tried to kill us." still a blank look "You hit him in the face with a tree."

"Oh. Oh, you mean that guy. Yeah, that was kind of a mixed bag of a day."

"Like you've got any room to complain, at least you got the chance to beat the shit out of a pain in the ass wolf demon."

"You got something you wanna say mutt?" Koga leapt back to his feet "Go ahead and say it to my face."

"The hell with saying it, I'd much rather shove my sword through your skull!"

"Go ahead and try it, I fucking dare you!"

"Hold up." Tatsu cut off their little grudge match by sticking an iron club betweenthe two of them and coating it with flames "We've still got people around here, and Kagome too, and there's gonna be a cold day in hell before I let one of your little dog-on-dog grudge matches catch her in the crossfire."

"So what do you suggest?"

"There's a pretty sizeable clearing about half a mile that way." he pointed in a direction leading away from the castle and village "If you're gonna kill each other, do it over there."

"...Fine fuck it, move your shit mutt." and so Koga promptly took off, with Inuyasha following hot on his heels, the two of them still snarling at each other the whole way.

'On one hand, part of me thinks I should be concerned they're about to kill each other. On the other hand, this is gonna be a hell of an epic fight to watch. Shippo go ahead and grab some snacks out of Kagome's bag, this is gonna be epic."

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The fight was well underway, one hotheaded canine jackass duking it out with another.

"Lie down and die like the filthy mutt you are!" Koga ducked underneath a slash of Tessaiga and blocked the blade using his Goraishi, then subsequently spun around and dealt Inuyasha a solid roundhouse kick to the face that sent him hurtling away.

"The only thing I'm gonna lie down is the fucking pelt I'll make out of you!" Inuyasha was quick to rebound and charge at Koga at full speed, Tessaiga and Goraishi clashing against each other with overwhelming force "The way I see it, you might as well just hand over your jewel shards and maybe I'll make it quick and painless."

"And what, let you lose them to Naraku just like you let him steal all the others? Not on your fucking life mutt."

"I'm gonna be the one that shoves my blade through Naraku's skull, stay the fuck out of it and I might go easy on you!"

"Don't act like some sort of fucking hero, you're all bark and no bite!" Koga ducked underneath another slash of Tessaiga and unleashed a surge of electricity from the Goraishi, eradicating a few trees surrounding him and forcing Inuyasha back a short distance "It doesn't matter if you do have some kind of fancy robe and sword, you're nothing but a half-demon! What the fuck do you think you could do on your own?!"

"A fuckton more than you could, and better than you too! So what if I'm just a half-demon, the fact that I've one-upped you over and over again proves that you're nothing but a pathetic mutt yourself! Wind Scar!" Inuaysha promptly brought down the blade of Tessaiga and unleashed a Wind Scar.

"This is it mutt, this is what I've been waiting for! Now you're about to feel the full power of the Wolf Demon Tribe! Lightning CLAW!" Koga let out a primal roar as he brought down the claw on his right hand, unleashing an enormous blast of lightning as he did so that clashed against the force of the Wind Scar, and it began to slowly overpower it.

"It's about fucking time you did something more than talk out your ass, now things are finally getting interesting! BACKLASH WAVE!" Inuyasha let out his own primal roar as he unleashed a fully-powered Backlash Wave, which clashed against the force of the Goraishi in a massive collision of energy.

'He's pushing back against me… against the Goraishi… against the legacy my ancestors left behind…' Koga gritted his teeth as he struggled to hold his ground, and then began to slowly push forward 'Growing up in the pack, I was taught by the elders that the Wolf Demon Tribe was the greatest tribe in all of the land, that none could challenge our might or wisdom, and in some sad and fucked up way, preying on and devouring humans and lesser demons of sharing our greatness with others. Only now do I understand how much of a fucked up lie that was. The people of the world, humans and demons, are terrified of the Wolf Demon Tribe. They don't see our greatness, they fear us and they hate us and… okay we don't totally deserve it, I still hate most humans, but they're not totally wrong either. We're part of the fear and hate that covers the world, and worst than that, we're one of the causes of it. As the leader of the pack, I have to make sure that we don't end up destroying ourselves, I have to let go of that hatred. I have to use reason over emotion. I have to let go of that fear and hate, to make my pack do the same, and replace it with unity, prosperity and true strength.' with a mighty roar, he took one final step forward, and then the explosion went off…

A/N:

Following the events of what was more or less a training chapter, now we get back to dealing with more of the usual, that being a pack of powerful demons wanting to use the power of the Shikon Jewel shards for their own purposes. Since I watched Inuyasha for the first time, these episodes have always been some of my favorites, and rightfully so as far as I'm concerned. We see a war between dogs and cat demons, which is as hilarious as it is awesome, and we even get to see Koga get in on it for some reason.

Yeah that's right, in this chapter I had Kagome save the life of a man who had an incurable disease using her healing powers. It was exhausting as hell to her, but it still happened. As crazy as that might seem, it's mean to accomplish a few objectives I had for her. First, it's to show how much more control she has over her spiritual powers. Second, it's to reinforce a claim that she's made before in canon, that if there's someone in need and she could help them, then she would do everything she could. Now she has the power to do it, and so I showed that she has the resolve to do it too.

One thing that I think is worth noting here is that, as powerful as the Goraishi is on its own, I gave it a certain set of new abilities never seen in canon. Now the Goraishi has the ability to absorb and redirect lightning and electricity. As badass as the Goraishi is, I wanted to give it another set of abilities that helps it stand out, and after a fair amount of brainstorming, that's what I decided on. I also got a few suggestions on other abilities to include, which I'll try and incorporate during something I have planned later on.

Adding onto that, I figured that the best way to close out this chapter was to end things with a clash between the Inuyasha with the Tessaiga and Koga with the Goraishi, a fight that would've been so epic but we never got to see in the anime (which in all honesty, is probably because Takahashi waited so long to give Koga the Goraishi in the first place), but I still think would've been totally epic. It's been stated numerous times that the Goraishi has power rivalling the Wind Scar, so I decided to put that claim to the test. As for the ending of it however, it's left as intentionally ambiguous, to be left to the interpretation of the viewer as to who won the battle. For now at least.