Update (October 2020): Chapter edited and lengthened!
Chapter 37: Dog Fangs, Dragon Claws and Wolf Jaws
Continuing where we last left off, Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru have once again started another battle over who should lay claim over the more destructive fang sword of their late father, the Tessaiga...However, it seems the older half-brother may have more of a challenge to offer this round, thanks to the new arm he acquired only yesterday.
"...Is that all of the power you can muster?"
The silverette in red only grunts in response, focusing on holding his ground...Sesshōmaru then raises his free hand, cutting across Inuyasha's face with his poison claws!...Thankfully, the latter doesn't take too much damage, other than a new wound on his right cheek. Sliding backwards, the swordsman forces himself to remain upright before saying to his half-brother,
"I see you found another ugly arm for me to chop off, Sesshōmaru."
"Go ahead and try. This replacement will act as a shield against the Tessaiga."
On the sidelines, Sango recognizes the origins of the appendage.
"That's a dragon's claw."
Coraline turns to her for clarification, worry etching into her sky/dark cerulean blue irises.
"Dragon's claw? As'n from an actu'l dragon?"
"Yes. A dragon's claw will have a great deal more power than a regular demon's arm. I wonder how he's going to use that thing in battle?"
"Your guess is as good as mine...but I go' a bad feeling..."
Inuyasha scoffs a bit, having heard the chatter between the women.
"Keh, a dragon's claw? Whatever. It doesn't look like it's gonna do any better than the last arm. I've already taken a good chunk out of it with my sword."
Sesshōmaru's monotone frown shifts into a smile.
"...The Tessaiga is amazing. Despite not being wielded by its true owner, its power is still formidable...However, it refuses to reveal its Wind Scar to the one it has received as its master. Tessaiga, cut through the emptiness, and reveal your power."
Tōtōsai is in awe over the older brother's knowledge.
"Aaah, Sesshōmaru must be able to see the Wind Scar."
Coraline asks the blacksmith,
"What is th' Wind Scar, exactly? Is i' a special sword technique of some kind?"
"In a nut shell, the Wind Scar is the secret to the Tessaiga's ultimate power. Slaying a hundred demons in one sweep would be virtually impossible without being able to see the Wind Scar. Sesshōmaru must be able to see it."
"Can't Inuyasha be taught to see i' as well?"
"It is impossible to teach. Inuyasha must discover it within himself...and if he does not discover it in time, he will surely die."
The young Croft feels her blood run cold on that last sentence.
...Inuyasha, die?
No...No! I won't let 'm die!
...If he can't find the power, then I'll do whatever possible to make sure Sesshōmaru regrets even coming here.
At the same time Coraline makes that silent vow, the fight between the dog demons really heats up as Inuyasha hurries to block swipe after swipe from the dragon arm...He's eventually driven back by one particularly strong attack, only to hear Tessaiga's blade rattle from the pressure.
"Damn. All he's using against me is that claw's brute strength."
He then looks up, only to block another claw strike from Sesshōmaru just in the nick of time!...The continuous swipes would begin again, with each attack causing more strain on Tessaiga's blade...Something that everyone else on the sidelines would see as well.
"Inuyasha!"
"I think the sword's crying!"
Miroku adds his observations after the women's exclaims.
"From what I can see, Sesshōmaru is actually attacking the sword itself."
Tōtōsai becomes troubled by the realization.
"This is appalling! He keeps hacking away at the sword, sending mighty waves of power ringing throughout the blade! Even the great Tessaiga will break under this pressure!"
As he keeps blocking the dragon claw, Inuyasha sees through his half-brother's tactics.
Sesshōmaru isn't fighting with me: he's fighting with the Tessaiga!
(...Ba-bump, ba-bump)
He then spots some familiar glyphs throbbing onto his blade...only this time, they were glowing a pale mint green color.
Those weird symbols again...I dunno what that color means, but it can't be good.
(Swipe, crak-boom)
"Gyaaah!"
The half-dog demon is suddenly thrown back by the impact of the dragon claw uprooting the ground in front of him...
"Inuyasha!"
Sango prepares to throw her Hiraikotsu into the battle, but Inuyasha calls,
"Stay back!"
She stops, and he adds,
"Don't interfere. I will kill Sesshōmaru, and I'll do it with the Tessaiga! (Turn) And Coraline, don't think I can't see you readying to get your knife out. You stay where you are, and don't even think about jumpin' in here!"
Said redhead freezes, and slowly straightens up again after letting go of her weapon's hilt...Inuyasha nods firmly at her compliance, before focusing back on Sesshōmaru.
He's hitting the Tessaiga over and over again to try and break it. As if I'm gonna stand by and let him do that...
Miroku comes to stand by Sango, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We have to remember that Inuyasha has tapped into the full strength of Tessaiga before. I know it was only once, but it proves that he is capable of doing it again."
He sends a similar expression to the other woman in this mismatch audience.
"Coraline. You understand that too, right?"
She nods, before directing her vision ahead with worry tracing her features.
Maybe so, but if this battle keeps up, tha' one time may only be the only time.
Inuyasha, please, be careful.
"I want to hear you roar, Tessaiga. Then you can die along with your weak master."
On that note, Sesshōmaru charges forward the same moment Inuyasha swings his weapon in a downward cut...allowing the blade to get caught by the dragon's claw!
(PUNCH)
"Gghh!"
Sesshōmaru then sends his free fist against his half-brother's skull...But as it turns out, that wasn't the original target area.
"You...You're protecting your sword...!"
"(Smirk) Heh. Why would I let you bust the Tessaiga before I've learned how to control it?"
...This shred of victory is unfortunately short-lived, for the dog demon's claws release their poison, causing Inuyasha to flinch back as his eyes are blinded by the toxic mist!
"D-Damn it all. I can't see!"
...
...
However, this new impairment proved to be an advantage! As Inuyasha looks up in the direction where Sesshōmaru leaped back for, he senses something, different in the atmosphere.
(Whoosh...)
I can see it.
Sesshōmaru brings the dragon claw down on Tessaiga again, pushing Inuyasha back...But the latter was more focused on what he could now sense.
"The vortex of its power...I can smell the wind scrapping. It's against the fissure where the power flows through...I bet I can slice through the fissure and release its full power!"
(...Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump)
The glyphs shift back to their normal silver and crimson, before fading altogether as the weapon prepares to allow their wielder to share in its power...As he slides backwards, Inuyasha readies to swing Tessaiga at the wind vortex.
"I see it!...Hrraaaaahhhhhh!"
(SLASH)
The Wind Scar erupts on point, and Sesshōmaru would get the full impact.
"Rrrrhha-aaah...Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"
...But just when it looks like the acrimonious dog demon would meet his end...
(Ba-bump...)
Tenseiga began to throb with their own power, billowing it over their reluctant wielder's body in a strange coal blue light...! Everyone else ducks behind Mōmō as the Wind Scar's energy blows through the area, while Inuyasha held his ground...
And just like that, the katana had done its duty, leaving a giant claw mark in the dirt...After a few minutes, Miroku, Sango, Shippō and Kilala would find themselves looking at the aftermath of the Wind Scar, while Inuyasha knelt on the ground, panting heavily from the use of power.
"Hah, hah, hah...Is it over?"
"It is."
"Huh?"
He turns to Coraline's direction as she settles her steps taken to stand beside him.
"Coraline? Is that you? I can smell you, but I still can't see."
"Yeah, i's me."
She kneels down and places a hand on his shoulder with a proud smile.
"You did amazing, Inuyasha. I had no doubt, despite m' fears."
"Keh, thanks."
...
...
"So that was the Wind Scar..."
Everyone would soon move back by the river again, and we see Inuyasha washing his eyes clean of any remaining poison, while Coraline sat beside him with a beaming smile.
"Aye. It seems Tessaiga's reached a new stage of trust in yeu, so now you can work on mastering the power d'eir choosing t' share."
Meanwhile, the others in their circle were sitting atop some boulders watching Tōtōsai work on the Tessaiga...Shippō suddenly wonders aloud,
"So does this mean that Sesshōmaru's dead?"
Miroku thinks so:
"Most likely. I dunno how he could've survived. He received a direct blow from the fully-empowered Tessaiga."
"...I did not see Inuyasha make a direct blow. All he did was wildly swing his sword around because his eyes were blinded with poison."
Said half-demon wipes his eyes of any excess water, and asks Tōtōsai with a bit of edge,
"What are you tryin' to say?"
"Hmph. Listen, Inuyasha: you have discovered the Wind Scar, I'll give you that much, but all it means is that you now know what your brother knows. You are still not his equal, and now he is more formidable than he was before."
The monk comments,
"You refer to him as though he were still alive..."
"Sesshōmaru is still alive. And even though he despises the Tenseiga, it protected his life."
That caught everyone's attention, with Sango and Shippō exclaiming respectively,
"It protected his life?"
"You mean Sesshōmaru is still alive somewhere?"
Tōtōsai blows some more fire onto Tessaiga and hammers the blade some more as he asks its wielder and his closest companion,
"Inuyasha, when you used the Wind Scar against Sesshōmaru, you didn't fell it strike him, did you?...And young lady, you likely felt the aura from Tenseiga beat with your strange quirk, correct?"
The pair turn to one another to confirm what the blacksmith was calling them out on.
"I do recall feelin' a secondary pres'nce of energy aroun' 'im during the Wind Scar's impact...Wha' about yeu?"
"Uh, well, it's hard to say. I was blinded...It felt like his body disintegrated from the blast of Tessaiga. I didn't pulverize him or nothin'; he just sort-of disappeared, evaporated."
Nodding at their truths, Tōtōsai then explains,
"Tenseiga protected Sesshōmaru against the power and light of Tessaiga. It acted on its own accord."
Coraline hums,
"So it's as I suspected: each sword born from Inuyasha's fath'r's fangs has d'eir own developed will."
And I have'a feeling Tenseiga will need all th' patience in the world to ge' their wielder in check, assumin' it's possible.
Sango and Miroku each comment on the irony that presented itself.
"And here Sesshōmaru called the Tenseiga a useless sword, and he despised it as his birthright."
"Tenseiga is a sword of life, and when Sesshōmaru's life was in danger, despite his dark soul, Tenseiga chose to save him, and that is what makes him invincible."
Tōtōsai mutters,
"So, how do you defeat a foe like that? I have no idea; it's beyond me."
...
Soon enough, the demon blacksmith was done redefining the Tessaiga, giving it back to Inuyasha before setting off on Mōmō the bull again.
"I've sharpened the sword to perfection. Now you just have to train yourself to defeat Sesshōmaru's Tenseiga, like when he was trying to defeat the Tessaiga."
...As he rode away, Tōtōsai muses to himself,
So before he died, he gave each of his sons a sword. He gave the Tessaiga to Inuyasha, and the Tenseiga to Sesshōmaru.
That cunning old hound must've made it so that it is futile for the brothers to fight eachother.
"I guess they'll learn that eventually..."
...
...
...
As the sun sets over the lush green forests of Edo, we catch up with Sesshōmaru, whom despite receiving a great deal of injury from the Wind Scar before Tenseiga teleported him away, was still alive. He's currently laying atop that thick boa-like garment and up against a tree, slowly returning to consciousness...
Suddenly, a small figure emerges from the bushes, only to just, stare at the great dog demon...Sesshōmaru feels their presence, and snaps up, his inner demon snarling at any who dare to come his way now. A small gasp emits from the little silhouette, and they move from the shadows to reveal themselves in full.
Rather than an enemy demon, they're nothing more than a harmless young human, a girl in their late single digit years, standing a little over four feet and with an average body shape. She has long, thick coal black hair cut to allow a set of bangs, the right side having a small amount of tresses tied into a small pigtail jutting in front of her face. Her irises are a bright russet brown, her complexion a fair beige, and on her body is a dirty and rather worn watermelon pink kosode kimono tied on with a simple light green obi.
...The small girl looks at Sesshōmaru warily, before gulping back her fear and cautiously steps forward...Soon enough, nighttime completely blankets the lands, and we see a bamboo container of water sitting near the dog demon, who only stares at it monotonously...The little soul who brought it comes back, this time carrying a large leaf of wild mushrooms and fish. She sets it down, and turns to leave...only to pause when Sesshōmaru finally addresses her.
"Mind your own business, girl...Your generosity is wasted; I do not eat human food."
She could only send a worried glance at the dog demon, her child's innocence clouding the obvious truth to that statement...Eventually, the little human decides on gathering more provisions for herself and the entity in the forest regardless of his words...Her first stop is a small water bank, trying to catch some fish with her bare hands.
"Ah, uh...Ah."
"I knew it!"
"Huh?"
She turns her vision right and upward, meeting eyes with several men carrying torches and looking at her with scorn.
"I knew that you were the dirty culprit, Rin!"
They proceed to kick and beat the identified Rin as punishment for trying to take from what's revealed to be a part of the village preserves...
"You're a lucky orphan to have the village take you in, but you must not steal fish from the preserve."
"Never do it again, you understand?!"
After receiving one more slap to the face, the brown-eyed girl is seen walking away calmly with a small limp, remaining silent through the entire ordeal...
"Damn, that is the freakiest child. She never shows any signs of remorse or fear."
"Disasters left her a mute. Her entire family was slaughtered by thieves and she hasn't spoken since, so can you blame her?"
...
...
Come the next morning, Sesshōmaru would hear the tell-tale rustle in the bushes, and Rin returns with another offering, her body carrying the subtle markers from her rough encounter in the darkness. Unfortunately, this round would be a little lackluster, being just a few edible plants.
"...No thanks."
The young one persists, feeling brave enough to come closer to the dog demon and hold out the offering to him.
"Uh...Uh."
"I told you, I don't need anything from you."
...Rin becomes discouraged, letting out a sigh...
"Where did you get those bruises?"
"Uh...Huh?"
She looks up at Sesshōmaru in surprised confusion, never once hearing anyone take a more neutral interest in her...
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Rin stares in wonder at the dog demon, and as he turns to look at her...she suddenly breaks into a small smile and laugh, much to his own befuddlement.
"What are you smiling about?...I simply asked a question. I don't care, I'm just curious."
...Later on, the young girl is seen hopping on one foot down a path to her small hut near the riverside, her mood considerably brighter than it likely has been in a long time...But as she approaches the entrance to her home, she would discover that someone else was there.
"(Slurp) Ahh..."
The intruder is a short man with an average build and tanned complexion, balding black hair tied in a topknot, exposing his pointed ears, a scarred right eye while the left is bloodshot, and wearing a grey-blue kimono with a dull brown fur hifu vest and black obi over top. Sensing the owner's presence, the man turns to Rin in confusion.
"Huh? What, girl?...Does this old hut belong to you?"
She moves to grip one side of the entrance with a scared look, and shyly nods in confirmation...Suddenly, there came a chorus of shouts coming from the main area of the village, and the man comes out cursing,
"Damn it, they've caught up already," before turning to run while lightly pushing Rin aside...
We then see a pack of wolves bounding into the village, pouncing against every inhabitant they could reach while the man tries swimming away across the river...only to be tackled to a stop by more wild canines.
(Splash)
"Oh! Aaah!"
He's dragged out of the drink just as the leader of this wolf pack - a demon - steps into view.
We see they're a young man just under six feet tall, his body the mesomorph type and in a trapezoid shape. His eyes are a periwinkle blue, his hair black and long enough for a ponytail, leaving his pointed ears on display. Making up his outfit is a series of golden brown fur pieces, including a loincloth, shoulder plates, shin guards, a left arm guard and a right wrist band, and a headband keeping his bangs from obscuring his vision. The only non-furry garment is the silver and black cuirasse on his torso, and on his left hip is a sheathed tachi sword...
"Heheheh, I had to search high and low for you, you dirty thief."
The teen wolf demon grasps the older soul by his head and says with a menacing smile,
"Now hand over the Shikon-no-Tama shard, which you've stolen from me."
"A-Alright! I won't run away..."
The demon with the scarred eye reaches into his robes and pulls out the gem piece, placing it on the ground for the pack leader to take back with a toothy smirk...The latter then turns to walk away, much to the former's surprise.
"Y-You're letting me go? Thank you for your mercy."
The young man stops with a hum...before-
(SLASH)
"Aaaaaagh!"
Rin watches fearfully from her hut as the home invader and thief is killed, while the young leader says with a smile and casual shake of his bloodied claws,
"You fool. I would've forgotten."
He then turns to the wolves and says,
"Alright, I've gotten what I wanted; I'm going on ahead. You stay in the village and feast to your heart's desire, then catch up with me when you're done."
These wild canines needed no other order, turning to run back and mercilessly slaughter every tasty human they could sink their teeth into...Realizing that staying here would mean getting snuffed out, Rin snaps out of her shock and horror, and turns to run for the forest.
...
...
"...Hm?"
Zooming back over to our more familiar band of faces, the young woman born many centuries from now suddenly slows to a stop, detecting a familiar beat of energy.
...A jewel shard...
"Is something the matter, Coraline? You seem rather quiet today."
"Hold tha' thought, Sango."
(Sheen...)
The redhead's eyes cloud over with the icy blue glow representing her soul power...
"Hm, as I suspect'd. (Narrows eyes) It's not very strong, but d'ere's definitely a jewel shard close by."
Inuyasha and Miroku stop, and the former asks,
"Are you sure, Coraline? Which direction' can you tell?"
"Gimme a second...Got it. We need t' keep going straight, then West."
Rin's POV
"Hah, hah, hah, hah...!"
How did it come to this...?
My life hasn't been a very happy one up to now. I lost my family to thieves about a year ago when they broke in and killed them without so much as a second thought. I was hiding in the river when it happened, so my life was spared...yet the event petrified me to the point where I feel no need to speak to anyone, least of all the other villagers. They say I'm lucky to have been taken in, but what good is it having to fend for yourself and getting only scorn from people who are supposed to care about your well-being?
...Still, even they don't deserve to be killed in such a terrible way.
I think I'm the only one who managed to escape the village, but, even so, some of those scary wolves were still after me...As I keep running as fast as my small legs would allow me to, I thought back to that strange demon I met yesterday...The only person that actually seemed the slightest bit interested in my existence.
Ooh...if only he were here now...
Tears form in my eyes at the thought of never seeing him again, causing me to miss a tree root my foot catches.
"Aah! Uh!"
...Just as I try to get back up, the wolves leap at me from behind, and I let out a quiet scream!
Help, me...!
Jaken's POV
"Lord Sesshōmaru!"
It's been a few days since I last saw my master, and I'm currently atop of the two-headed dragon, trying to figure out where he could have gone. This of course isn't the first time he and I had been temporarily separated in our travels, but I do get worried nonetheless...
"Lord Sesshōmaru, where are you?! Please answer me!"
I sense him nowhere close by, and begin to wonder,
"Is it possible that Lord Sesshōmaru was cut down by Inuyasha when he went to battle with him? Cut down...Speaking of being 'cut down'..."
The memory demonstrating one of my lord's more negative qualities comes to mind, making me frown.
"Hmph, why should I care if Sesshōmaru was cut down or not? He used me as a guinea pig in his sword experiment, and hit me with the Tenseiga to see if it would cut me through or not! He said that he was testing his sword, but maybe he was just teasing me. He wouldn't have struck me down if there wasn't any hope of me being revived..."
I direct the dragon to a nearby field, and I try to settle the conflict of what my lord was really doing with the Tenseiga.
"He was testing...He was teasing...He was testing...He was teasing...He was testing...He was teasing..."
I stop at the last flower petal.
"He was testing. (Eyes bulge) He was testing?! Lord Sesshōmaru! Would you have really risked my life to test your sword?!...You ungrateful dog!"
(Thwap)
"Daaaah!"
I'm suddenly knocked off the dragon by a small rock, and when I turn around, I see,
"Hauh! Lord Sesshōmaru!"
I jump onto one of the heads of the creature to, 'greet' my master.
"Before I continue in your service, I must know, were you testing your sword on me?"
"...I expected a relieved welcome, Jaken. Not an interrogation."
My jaw drops, and I scramble to make up for my actions with a nervous smile.
"Ah-heh, right; I'm glad to know you're well! I thought you might be dead!"
(Thwap)
"Dooo-oh!"
Such is the life of a lowly servant...
No POV
Glaring slightly at the two-faced reply of his imp vassal, Sesshōmaru's attention is then directed to the winds when a strong and familiar scent blows pass.
Blood. Blood and the smell of wolves.
"...I recognize this blood."
He follows the trail to a path cutting back into the forest he was previously resting in...And at the end of the trail laying in the middle of the dirt road, was Rin, having been slaughtered by the wolves from earlier...
"What is that?"
Jaken had followed after the dog demon, and found himself wandering over to examine the little human's body, cringing a bit from the blood and injuries.
"Phew, she's a goner, that's for sure. She must've been attacked by wolves. Look at the teeth markings. (Turn) Do you recognize this pathetic human?"
...Sesshōmaru does not answer, thinking back to the selfless acts Rin performed, and her little smile...He suddenly unsheathes Tenseiga, much to Jaken's surprise.
"Wh-What are you doing, sire?!"
(...Ba-bump, ba-bump)
"Interesting..."
The dog demon turns his eyes back down on Rin's body, and sees several tiny imps with scythes surrounding her.
"...I can see them. They're from the Underworld...I'll do another test. I'll use the Tenseiga."
"Hh! Another test? W-What are you doing, sire? What are you doing?"
Ignoring Jaken, Sesshōmaru raises his blade...before cutting away at the familiars from the Underworld.
(SLASH)
With that done, the dog demon sheathes Tenseiga and reaches down to pick up Rin's body, staring at her for a moment.
(...Ba-bump, ba-bump)
Sesshōmaru's breath hitches slightly when he feels a small heartbeat...and in a twist of fate, Rin blinks awake alive and well! Jaken was certainly amazed:
"She came back to life! Lord Sesshōmaru...you resurrected that human girl with the power of the Tenseiga?!"
...He says nothing, and begins walking away once Rin was standing upright, much to imp's dismay.
"Uh, hello? Lord Sesshōmaru?...Lord Seshōmaru saving a human life is surprising enough, but then again, more importantly, didn't Lord Sesshōmaru just say that he was going to test the power of the Tenseiga once again?"
He then stutters in horror,
"Th-Th-That would mean I was cut down with no guarantee of survival! (Blubber) And to think I've devoted myself to you for all of these years!"
As Jaken kept crying in disbelief, Rin began to slowly walk forward, then bound after Sesshōmaru, having found her second chance for a purpose in life...
"Huh? Lord Sesshōmaru, wait, I'm coming!"
As he continued to walk away, barely paying any heed to the vassal - now vassals - following, Sesshōmaru thought to himself,
Humph, Tenseiga...You compelled me to save a human life today.
Coraline's POV
Following my directions, which soon corresponded to a scent that Inuyasha picked up along the way, we reach a small village near the river which had been savagely attacked!
"A massacre!"
Shippō calls out after Miroku,
"Hey! Is anybody left alive?!"
We then see a set of tracks, belonging to...wolves...
As Sango and Shippō comment on the imprints in the ground, I look around at the area, noting the carnage, these tracks, and found myself thinking back to one of my father's nature lessons...
(Flash)
"Father, what'r these?"
I can still recall how he looked during his better days, his auburn hair which he always had tied back in a small ponytail, the matching beard which tickled my skin every time we hugged, and his eyes...The same eyes I inherited from him, that strong sky/cerulean combination. Most of my appearance comes from my mother, or so he told me many times, but the eyes and power of the Aura Readers are what he gifted me...
Anyway, the day in question was fairly average. We were in the woods out behind our home, he teaching me about how to recognize the signs of nature that are both normal, and abnormal.
"Those ar' deer tracks, young one."
"Ah...How can you tell wha' animal it is?"
He smiles at my eagerness to learn and explains,
"Well, some of th' knowledge comes from the shape of the tracks, while the rest is on th' surrounding area. We're standing in'a place that deer primarily use as their feeding grounds, such as d'ose berries over there, and the bushes here...Yet it isn't jus' deer: other animals can share this area as well, such as birds, squirrels and even the occasional bear."
"Wow...Do special creatures use this area too?"
"Haha, well it's been a while...but I did see a cert'n dryad here a couple days ago. A rather mischevious one at that...Perhaps one day yo'll meet him."
I would meet that particular forest spirit later on that week, and he became a really good friend of mine...I sometimes wonder how he's been after all these years...
"The extraordinary are usually more hidden."
"How come?"
"Because they have secrets d'ey wish to keep, and unfortunately, most humans are no' as well-trusted as they were back in the old days."
"Oh..."
Father would then kneel in front of me with a wise smile.
"You see, Coraline, nature i'self is teeming with mysteries. In order to navigate any environment, you must learn to read th' signs, and slowly earn the trust of others who dwell. Respect nature, and it shall respect you."
"(Smile) Okay, father. I got i'!"
(Flash)
...Fath'r...
Miroku's voice snaps me back to reality.
"There must have been a great deal of them. (Turn) Do you think they were possessed by the jewel shard that Coraline sensed?"
Inuyasha nods at him and replies,
"Probably. This slaughter has demon written all over it."
...I then hear the sound of low growling, and I look up, spotting a large pack of wolves coming our way!
Shippō leaps into my arms in fright:
"Aaaah! Look out, that wolves are surrounding us!"
I hold him close as we all form a tight circle back-to-back...Inuyasha then cracks his knuckles and says,
"Keh, let's teach these wolves a lesson. They're strayed; it looks like their leader isn't even here. They're useless in a battle unless they're in a pack. (Leap) Grraaah!"
He takes down a good bulk of these wild dogs with his claws...but some of them managed to get out of the line of attack, rushing onto a small hill and belt out a call of arms.
(Aaaarrrrrrooooooooooowwwwww...)
"Awah, they're howling!"
"They're calling for their comrades."
...As I stare at the wolves, I felt another flashback trigger.
(Flash)
...A stormy night...
The sound of snarls bounding after my smaller body...
My own footsteps splashing in puddles...
(Flash)
"Gh!"
Damn...Why did that memory hafta show u' now of all times?
It was then I sense something else, something more demonic, distracting me from my memories.
"Uh! I feel a demon approachin', very fast...and d'ey have the shard...!"
Everyone tenses up, and Inuyasha comes back in front of us just as a whirlwind came billowing into the area!...As the dust settles, a young male demon with black hair and dressed in fur and armor comes sliding out a few feet away.
Shippō exclaims,
"That guy just flew right out of the tornado!"
The wolves then come up to him, informing the guy in their language of what happened, before he steps forward to get the full story for himself.
"Just who are you?...Explain yourselves: why are you killing my wolves?"
I could see that he had more than one shard than I previously thought.
"He has, three shards of th' jewel. One in 'is right arm, and one each in his legs."
Inuyasha says to the wolf demon,
"Feh, so you're the one controlling this bloodthirsty pack."
...As we all stare one another down, I think to myself frantically,
Wolves...Why did it have te be wolves?!