Deadpool...
The man - if that's what they were calling him - stood a head taller than the merc and was inordinately hairy and ugly, and smelled like a dumpster full of sauerkraut on a hot day, but that wasn't what bugged Deadpool. His borrowed face contorted as he struggled to decide whether the lump protruding from the middle of the creature's head was a stubby horn or a really big zit.
"Yes, his mother was a mountain ogre, I believe," stated the daimyo with a slow smirk as if reading his mind.
Deadpool raised an eyebrow at this, "How do you know his mother? Ooooh, this is your love child! I see the resemblance now."
"Begin," barked the lord without further preamble.
Deadpool turned back around just in time to dodge a large club swung at his head. "Whoa there, big boy, you sure you wanna swing that thing around in a tight space like this?" His hand reached behind him for the piece he carried.
"Nah, too easy," his grasp switched instead to a pair of sai. Ducking under the other's massive body, Wade plunged the twin blades between his opponent's metatarsals, pinning his feet in place before aiming a point blank punch to the ogre-man's genitals.
Deadpool lept to his feet on the other side of the angrily bawling brute holding his sack, quickly unsheathing his katana. With an agility the merc never would have expected, his opponent twisted round and knocked him off his feet with a wide back-hand to the side of the head.
'Was I just bitch-slapped by a drooling pimple farm?' wondered a dazed Deadpool where he lay sprawled against the dojo wall.
The beastly man reached down, plucking out the sai nailing him to the floor and tossed them aside like toothpicks. His club retrieved, he lunged again at Deadpool. All at once, a projectile rocketing straight at the ogre's face, socked him directly in the eye. Bellowing, the behemoth stumbled backward as P-chan landed on the floor between the two men, grunting heavily.
Ogre-man rubbed his eye, still watering from the pig's head-butt. "Pork bun!" he bellowed, lifting his club and taking aim at the black morsel before him.
P-chan's hooves scrabbled over the wood floor; he veered, squealing, in a circle around the large, wildly swinging body, winding in closer and tighter until he was out of reach of the lethal iron club, but not the enormous feet attempting to stomp him.
A shadow skirted the periphery of the the pig's vision and P-chan suddenly saw the glint from a blade emerging through his attacker's chest, warm liquid dripped onto the end of his snout. P-chan dove backward to avoid the spray of blood that immediately followed.
Ogre-man looked slowly down at the sword tip jutting through his pectoral and grunted.
Wade slid his katana cleanly out, flicking the remaining gore from the steel.
With a gurgle that brought up more blood oozing from between his lips, the bestial man made one last wild swing at the entire room at large before sinking to his knees.
"For the honor of the Smogkage and all of the Villagers Hidden in the Smog," cried Wade with a flying axe kick that sent his opponent splaying face-first into a growing pool of his own blood.
The merc let out a long sigh, stabbing the end of his sword blade between the floorboards. "He's not a bad kid really, he just needs some guidance and a father figure who's a little more..." Deadpool glanced back at the daimyo who had his face buried in the girly magazine yet again, "present." The merc shrugged, "With a little help from Clearsil, I'm sure he could make some lucky sasquatch very happy one day."
An abrupt squawk from P-chan caught his attention long enough for Wade to feel a strong grip suddenly seize him around the neck and slam him head-first through the floor.
The daimyo looked up belatedly to find the supposed ninja lying with his head at an odd angle and the floor boards splintered around his cranium. The pig ran squealing in a circle as the unsteady oni glared down at his quarry, panting raggedly, "My pork bun," he seethed before toppling over once again.
"Oh dear, did I just loose both of my candidates," mused the lord aloud after a long pause.
P-chan let out a defeated grunt as he slowly approached the lifeless form of his only ticket out of the feudal era. The man's neck had been snapped like a twig along with all the pig's fragile hopes. Sinking to his haunches, the pig bleakly began pondering his options when something caused him to instantly leap up in horror.
The hit-man's corpse shuddered violently. Without warning, Wilson's legs pushed up from the floor, followed immediately by his arms. The pig looked on, terrified, as the dead man rose to a sitting position, his head lolling grotesquely to one side. Planting both hands on either side of his face, he swiveled it around like a ball bearing, bones grinding together sickeningly, until it sat more or less correctly in position between his shoulders once again.
"I take back what I said earlier," grumbled the merc in a gravely voice as he whipped his head carelessly from side to side - his vertebrae emitting one final thundering pop, "he's a douche!"
P-chan's mouth fell open.
"Wonderful," the daimyo leaned forward, expressing true interest for the first time since the match began. "What a remarkable resiliency you possess."
"A cheap shot like that," waved off the mercenary, "I've had more epic battles with my octogenarian roomie about the superiority of The Golden Girls over Matlock."
The spectator stood up, making his way over to where his prone contender lay. He frowned thoughtfully, "You seem to have gone through a lot of trouble to pierce him in just the right spot to avoid outright killing him."
Deadpool gave a start, eyeing the other in surprise. "Oops, did I do that?" He shrugged sheepishly, "Well, I didn't think it would be very sporting of me to off your baby boy in a friendly sparring match."
Abruptly, the daimyo threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "You are obviously suffering under some sort of delusion - this abomination is not my son." He grabbed the merc's sword that still remained jabbed into the floor, and with a single swift stroke, the ogre-man's head was neatly rended from his shoulders.
Wade observed, in uncharacteristic speechlessness, the torrent of gore rushing over the ruined floor. Noticing the ashen-faced piglet crouched nearby, he reached down and scooped P-chan up. "If you don't mind me saying so, your honor, you really seem to know your way around a sword," he belatedly remarked without taking his eyes from the other's handiwork.
"I do not mind," he smiled, handing the weapon back to its owner. "And now I have one final question for you."
"Shoot."
"Would you by any chance know anything of the ninja who was captured by my predecessor's guards only a couple days ago?"
"Oh yeah, I've heard about that guy - he's a real legend among ninja. Sexy as hell too. Why? would you rather give him the job?"
"I'm very interested in getting to know more about him, but don't worry," he looked up at the incognito Wade with a glint in his dark eye, "you've got the job."
Inuyasha...
For a brief moment their eyes met before she quickly broke the gaze to stare down at her bent knees.
Inuyasha suppressed a sigh as he, in turn, peered into the dying embers glowing in the fire pit. Undoubtedly he'd have to endure the same awkwardness for a least half a day before Kagome would warm up to him again. He'd grown to accept it more or less. The alternative was to endure her wrath if he dared confront her about her sulking. Miroku had told him once that such was the fate of those who waffled between women. The jerk.
He tried instead to concentrate on what was being discussed rather than continually picture Kikyo's cold, sad stare that sank into his bones like a dull ache.
"From what I can put together from the information Lord Starling gave us and what we saw for ourselves with the toad poison, I'm thinking this person we're looking for - human or not - has the ability to use demonic power," stated Sango to the group.
"An interesting theory," Miroku remarked, picking the cooked fish from the fire and distributing them around, "our demon lord mentioned that the subject 'devoured youki', so perhaps he can also manipulate it."
Sango took her fish, blowing gingerly on it before taking a bite, "So he could have killed the toad himself and somehow used its youki against the four villages - that seems the most plausible explanation I can think of."
"But..." all eyes darted to the hanyou who now spoke up, "how?"
"How what," returned Miroku.
"I mean how does someone just do that?" Inuyasha waved his skewered fish as he spoke, "I've never heard of demonic energy working like that - it's easy to say that's what happened, but it sounds like you're just jumping to conclusions."
"Do you have a better explanation," Sango narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm just saying don't assume crazy theories with no evidence - the last thing we need to do is rush into a situation under some kind of delusion and get our asses handed to us."
"All of a sudden you're being cautious," deadpanned the demon slayer dubiously.
Inuyasha reflexively turned to Kagome for backup, but the girl merely shrugged, "I don't know how he does it either, but I think Sango and Miroku are probably onto something."
"Keh," snorted the hanyou, crossing his arms. Shippo quietly snatched the fish from his stick.
"Hey," barked the white-haired boy in belated outrage. Inuyasha lunged for the fleeing fox child when he abruptly halted. "What in the-" his canine ears twitched as he whipped completely in the opposite direction for the sound he thought he'd heard, his nose scrabbling for the scent that eluded him.
"What is it," demanded Miroku while he and the rest jumped to their feet.
"There's someone there!" His finger jabbed the darkness beyond the firelight, "Someone's spying on us!"
Everyone looked wildly around, straining to see in the pitch darkness. Kirara, bursting from a ball of flames into full form, darted into the night, leaving the others staring bewilderedly after her.
The great cat landed lithely onto the fleeing figure, pinning it to the ground under her paws. A ferocious hiss escaped between her fangs as she endured the sharp stab of a blade jammed into her abdomen from the mysterious man's foot. She maintained her position until Inuyasha reached her side.
"Good work, Kirara," growled the other, snatching the pinned man out from under the demon. Even holding him within arms length, Inuyasha could scarcely make out his scent. He scowled hard at the darkly clad, dirt-smeared individual, determining he was indeed human. "You'd better start talking!"
The half-demon caught the spiked foot that attempted to jab him too. He simultaneously heard a soft crunch. The sneak bit down on something hidden in his mouth. Suddenly the wily captive spat a burning, putrid mist directly into the boy's face.
"Shit," exclaimed Inuyasha. The man broke out of his grasp, making a hasty escape from the temporarily blinded hanyou.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango's bone weapon whipped through the night sky, thudding into the ground directly in the escapee's path. The spy turned one direction to find Miroku sprinting up to meet him, Kagome quickly followed from the opposite side. Sango and Shippo were not far behind.
"Bastard," sneered the dog demon through streaming eyes and nose, "you're surrounded!"
Miroku stood, feet apart and staff brandished. Kagome's bow was loaded. Sango unsheathed her sword, "You won't escape; come quietly and no harm will come to you."
Inuyasha leapt resiliently back to his feet, steadily closing the gap between himself and the surrounded enemy, "I'm not going to make any promises - you'd better start talking to us about where your boss is holed up or else you're going to taste some of my blade technique." He cracked his knuckles loudly as he menacingly exposed the row of claws on his right hand.
Without a word, the man reached into his jacket, an object was thrown and a smoke screen arose, momentarily blocking everyone's view. Miroku's staff, nevertheless, swung out and made a connection. The struck spy was sent sprawling to the ground.
"Sorry," apologized the monk to the stunned figure at his feet.
The recipient of the blow recovered quickly, in a flash, retrieving a pair of ninjakin from his back. The collective group braced for the inevitable fight to follow, but without warning, the combatant plunged the twin swords deep into is own belly before their amazed eyes.
Tossing aside her bow, Kagome automatically dashed over to the man who sank to his knees in a growing pool of dark gore and spilled innards.
"Kagome," cried Inuyasha, rushing after her.
The girl's hands were immediately on the gaping wound, attempting with every ounce of spiritual power she possessed to heal the damage enough to keep him from bleeding out on the spot. "Sango-chan, quick, help me sew him up!"
The flustered demon slayer, fumbled into one of her shoulder guards for a needle and something to thread it with.
The ordeal continued for a several nerve-wracking minutes, only prolonging the inevitable, the results of their rescue attempts ultimately fruitless. Kagome clenched her fists as she bowed her head defeatedly over the lifeless man. "I'm sorry everyone; I couldn't do anything."
"No one blames you, Kagome-chan," insisted Sango.
"Are you crazy," Inuyasha automatically erupted all over the pallid girl, "What if that bastard had one last surprise attack waiting as soon as you let you guard down and placed your hands on him!"
"But I was hoping," the girl flinched slightly at his reaction, "we could at least save him and find out what he knew." She cast her eyes morosely back down at the obscured dead face of the life she'd failed to salvage.
His gritted fangs glistened in the moonlight, Inuyasha bit back another snarl. "It isn't worth every secret in the world if - " he broke off angrily, taking several brisk steps away from the group before he managed to make matters worse.
The man had somehow managed to erase his own scent to the extent that even Inuyasha hadn't noticed him lurking in the wet aromatic dirt. He cursed his own carelessness - he should have been able to pick out that scum before he'd been allowed to jeopardize Kagome's and everyone else's safety. He felt like a useless fool. A cool night breeze sweeping over his hot face, tousled his pale strands and the boy breathed deeply of it to settle his nerves. Abruptly, he caught a scent of blood that didn't belong to the expired encroacher.
"This wound looks bad, Kirara," muttered Sango as the hanyou glanced over.
"It smells poisoned," informed Inuyasha, coming over to inspect the twin tailed cat's gash; it was rapidly turning an ugly shade of greenish purple.
"Oh no, poor Kirara," cried Shippo, scurrying over as well.
Kagome joined the group, moving in for a closer look. "That does look nasty. Maybe I can help; I have a special salve we can try."
Inuyasha watched her sprint past him without a second glance, indefatigably toward the campsite where her satchel awaited, her hands and sleeves still stained with blood.