A/N: sorry if the formatting is kinda weird, im copy and pasting it from ao3 haha. also hi! im working very hard on this fic. lookin back on it the first few chapters arent too great but if you get past them because theyre so short, they get a lot better. to the point that im proud of it!
The iron tight group of six headed down the faded brown road, intending to find another village to help, but to rest in for a night or so. Their "leader", Inuyasha, walked ahead of them all, arms folded in the long red sleeves of his robe. Kagome lagged closely behind him, almost next to him, struggling with the heavy yellow backpack she lugged around on her shoulders. Sango and Miroku followed behind closely, Shippo on one of Sango's shoulders and Kirara on the other. They slowly approached an oncoming forest to cross through.
"Inuyashaaaa," Shippo whined, hanging himself sluggishly over Sango's shoulder. "Can't we just rest in the forest tonight? How long are we gonna keep walking?"
"What are you complaining for? You're not even walking." He said, glancing back at him. "I know, but I'm so bored! And tiiredd."
"Oh, quit your complaining! If we're lucky, we can probably reach a village by sunset."
" If we're lucky? The day just started! I can't take any more of this!"
"Exactly, the day just started so quit your whining and save that energy for something useful, hmph."
Shippo growled, shuffling in his pockets. He pulled out a tiny top in his palm, snickering and shooting a glance at Inuyasha, who was blissfully unaware of the plot.
"Shippo..." Sango said.
He shushed her playfully, snickering quietly. Readying himself, he hopped off of her shoulder, tossing the top in Inuyasha's direction. "FOX TOP!" He shrieked, making Inuyasha turn around. It poofed into a big cloud, emerging as a significantly larger top. Kagome screamed and frantically jumped out of the way.
It slammed into the half demon's stomach, grinding him into the ground as he couldn't respond fast enough. He let out an ungodly screech as it kept digging him further into the dirt before poofing back into its original state, falling next to him in the newly formed crater.
Inuyasha groaned, dazed in the ground. He pressed both of his middle and ring fingers against his palms, while the rest of his fingers pointed out.
Shippo's tiny hands covering his mouth did not contain the loud laughter echoing inside his cheeks. His laughs sprung out, throwing him onto the floor, his fluffy fox tail breaking his fall.
Sango, Miroku, and Kagome watched the young fox demon go hysterical, holding back on their own laughter so that they wouldn't have to deal with Inuyasha's backlash. Miroku struggled, forcing his lips to stay shut, though his whole body rattled with internalized laughter.
Before Shippo could respond this time, he was seeing black and blue and some stars in his eyes as Inuyasha pounded three or four hard punches directly into his skull.
The little boy cried out, holding onto his head, feeling some knots rise up.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, SHIPPO?" He yelled, squatting down next to him.
"I JUST WANNA HAVE SOME FUN!"
"Fun? Oh, I'll show you fun." He growled, gripping on the top of Shippo's head. He stood up, aiming to throw him straight into the oncoming forest. Shippo screamed, flailing around, but unable to do anything to get out of Inuyasha's grip.
"KAGOME! HELP!"
"HUH? W... INUYASHA, SIT!"
The command made the beads around his neck glow, forcibly dragging him face first into the ground. Not letting go of Shippo, he dragged him down with him. He wailed before his own face made contact with the dirt.
"Sorry!" Kagome said.
"You're gonna pay for this, Shippo." Inuyasha growled, his voice muffled by the dirt.
The orange and pink hued sky illuminated the group as they entered a village shortly after exiting the large forest. Kagome stood in front this time, making sure she was the face of the group rather than half demon Inuyasha.
She approached a villager who carried a basket of vegetables and herbs.
"I'm sorry to intrude.. but do you people have any empty living quarters for us..? We're taking a long journey and we'll only be staying for a night or so.." Kagome asked meekly.
The villager looked at her group before looking back at her. Three demons, three humans.
"That's quite the peculiar group you have! I'll be more than happy to show you our guest house. Please follow me." She said.
Kagome sighed with relief, following behind the villager, the group doing the same.
The little house was run down, on the edge of the tiny village. It wasn't much, —dusty, run down, falling apart— but it was enough to handle with for one night.
"Thank you very much!" Kagome said, bowing in respect.
"It's my pleasure." The villager said, handing the basket she carried to Kagome. "Feel free to eat this, I'm sure you need it."
"You're so generous.."
She chuckled and waved them off, going back to her own home for the night. "She's very sweet, isn't she." Miroku said.
Everyone nodded in agreement, heading inside the little beat up home. Kagome handed the basket to Shippo, who carried inside on the top of his head. She used her hand as a visor to shade her eyes as she looked at the sunset. She sighed, her muscles relaxing at the sight. It was good getting a view like this, since around this time she'd often be cooped up in her room doing homework.
"Wait." Inuyasha said sharply.
He tensed up, sucking in a quick breath between his gritted teeth and standing up straighter.
Kagome perked up, getting on guard herself. "Inuyasha?"
"Something's coming," He took a few whiffs of the air around them, his face tightening with disgust and frustration. "And it reeks of Naraku."
Everyone gasped, racing out of the house and preparing for a fight. Sango reached for her Hiraikotsu, gripping the handle in case she needed to throw it. Kirara jumped onto the floor, fire engulfing her as she grew to her large sabertoothed form. Shippo squealed, hopping off of her shoulder and over to Kagome who was taking a few steps behind the monk and demon slayer.
Inuyasha unsheathed his Tessaiga, a glow of light emitting from the blade as it grew larger, the guard covered in fur. The ground rumbled, and the sounds of panicked villagers slowly grew louder. It came into vision, from the forest they'd just exited. A huge demon raced towards them, on many legs that looked like tentacles rather than actual legs or even arms. It was mainly a body, with tentacles protruding from it and big, beady, pale yellow glowing eyes.
It tore through the village, demolishing empty houses of villagers who fled with their lives intact. Inuyasha jumped forward, raising his sword over his head to strike the demon as the distance between it and his group got smaller. The blade's contact on the demon's hard skin sparked and flashed, but it hardly made an indent or a wound. It slowed down the massive demon to a halt, the sudden stop throwing Inuyasha back onto the ground.
Sango stepped forward yelling, "Hiraikotsu!", then threw the oversized boomerang right at the demon. Its free tentacles batted the boomerang off course, it spinning back into her. She dodged it, letting it spin into the ground, then up in the air again. As the Hiraikotsu passed, Kagome and Shippo nearly averted getting hit by it too. Sango raised her arm, grabbing the Hiraikotsu's handle as it returned.
"Miroku, it'd be best for you to take cover too, I don't think it'd be a good idea to unleash your wind tunnel here."
He nodded, taking several steps back.
Kirara took to the sky, trying to get in close to the demon to attack, but its tentacles waving around warded her off.
"Kirara! Come back down, it's too dangerous!" Sango yelled.
Kirara roared and avoided getting hit, placing herself back down next to her owner. Inuyasha raised his sword at the demon again, this time firing a new attack.
"Wind Scar!"
Slamming the Tessaiga back into the ground, streaks of energy shot out of the Tessaiga, hitting the demon head on and it let out a guttural screech. "Direct hit!"
The ground exploded into a cloud of dust in front of them, obscuring their vision of the demon. The screeching died down, but they heard no sound of the demon's body hitting the ground. Instead, its tentacles jutted out of the dust, impaling themselve into the ground as it tried to attack each of them. Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo successfully jumped out of the tentacles aim, the only damage received was a bit of dirt to the eyes.
Kagome, on the other hand, could not react fast enough and the tentacle came way too close for comfort. The impact of it stabbing into the ground, threw Kagome into the walls of the guest home, breaking through the wooden wall. Shippo rushed up to her to checking to make sure she was okay.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed, snapping around to face her.
It only took a second of distraction for Inuyasha's guard to be let down, in which the Tessaiga was snapped right out of his hands by a deft tentacle. His mind went blank, and at the same time started to race.
What do I do? Go for the demon with my bare hands? Get the Tessaiga back? Go and see if Kagome is okay?
His thoughts got the better of him, allowing the demon's tentacles to wrap around his abdomen and yank him away from his group.
"Inuyasha!" The unharmed members of his group called out. "Inuyasha...!" Kagome whimpered, reaching out for him.
Though he was tight in the demon's grip, Inuyasha's arms remained free, trying to tear at the limb to escape. His cuts were rendered useless, barely chopping off pieces of the hard and rigid flesh.
He was met face to face with the demon, isolated from everyone else due to the dust that lingered in the air.
"I know you're one of Naraku's demons! Where is he?! " He yelled, furiously.
He was answered with the demon's tentacles wrapping around his wrists and spreading his arms out, making them immobile. He thrashed his head around, struggling to even contract his arms again.
Miroku and Sango stood, peering into the cloud of dust to see if they could identify what was happening.
"Miroku, I take it back. Open your wind tunnel quickly to clear the dust. We need to see what's going on."
"Got it." He grabbed the beads wrapped around his right wrist and pulled it off, the cloth unfurling from his hand to unleash the eternal vacuum inside his palm. "Wind Tunnel!"
Opening it for a brief second, he pulled in the dust in the air quickly to see Inuyasha stuck in the grip of his opponent.
With no hesitation, Sango threw her Hiraikotsu, for another tentacle to hit it away again. She hissed in frustration as it spun around again, and back into her hand.
Inuyasha growled, spotting much thinner tentacles coming into view. His thrashing started again as it slowly got closer, aiming into the sides of his head. It pressed against his temples and pierced his skin, forcing its way inside his head.
The agony of it all forced a pained scream out of his throat, his eyes glowing hazy yellow like the demon's.
"Inuyasha!" Everyone panicked at the sound of his distress.
Kagome fumbled around, pulling out her bow and an arrow. She sat up on her knees, aiming at the demon holding her friend captive. Pulling back the string, a ray of purple light followed the arrow as she released it. It pierced through the air, striking the demon, leaving a gaping hole in it. Its body quickly disintegrated and let Inuyasha fall to the ground. His screaming stopped, his voice fading into a light groan as his body plummeted towards the ground.
Kirara leaped forward, soaring underneath Inuyasha to break his fall. She gently brought him back down, shifting to the side to rest him on the floor.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called out, wobbling back onto her feet to go meet up with Inuyasha. She pulled the Tessaiga out of the ground, then ran to join her comrades. Kagome dropped on her knees next to Inuyasha, shaking his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up. Blood trickled out of both of his temples, where the demon had slipped through his skull.
"Inuyasha! Inuyasha wake up, please!" She cried.
His hearing was muffled, hearing slurred voices as consciousness came back to him. His eyes flashed open, his pupils shrinking. His eyebrows knitted, unfamiliarity flooding over him. He saw a sword in a girl's hand. She gripped his shoulder, and a wave of relief washed over her face as Inuyasha looked up at her.
"Inuyasha, your Tessaiga!" She proclaimed, offering it to him.
Tessaiga?
His eyes darted back and forth between the blade and girl, snatching it from her at the handle. He quickly got to his feet, jumping back about two yards from them. He stared at the sword in his hand curiously, maneuvering it to observe its handle and guard. Why did she give it to him?
"I..Inuyasha?" She asked, getting back up on her feet. "Are you okay?"
Inuyasha's brows knitted, cocking his head to the side suspiciously. "Who the hell are you, and why are you acting like I know you?" He asked, subtly taking steps further away from them.
The girl's eyebrows furrowed, her friends gasping at the question.
"You don't think... that demon erased his memories?" said another girl, carrying a large boomerang.
"It can't be.." The strangely dressed girl responded. She looked at Inuyasha, taking a step forward to him.
He snarled, remaining on guard with his grip tightening on the sword. This girl...
"You.." He said. "You're Kikyo. You smell just like her."
"Kikyo?" She gasped, almost offended. "Something is wrong."
"You damn bitch... Why'd you seal me to that tree! Why are you dressed like that! And why do you smell so awful!" He lunged at her, reaching for her with his claws rather than with the sword.
She screamed, bracing herself and covering her face with her arms. The other girl stepped in front of her, using her boomerang as a shield against his claws. She pushed Inuyasha back, making him stumble and lose his footing. A large demon cat slammed into him, throwing him back onto the ground. It snarled at him, the fur on its back standing up.
"Inuyasha please, calm down! It's me, Kagome!" The first girl said, emerging from behind the other who guarded her.
"Stay back! I won't hesitate for a second to kill you if you get close to me." He said, cracking his hand.
She froze up, and he smirked, though it quickly faded away. He turned around and leaped on a roof, taking large strides against the rooftops as he made an escape to a nearby forest.
He could hear the girl calling his name, quickly getting more distressed every time she repeated it. "Inuyasha! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"