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Chapter 19: Slayers

Inuyasha and Kagome approached the central house in the neighborhood. As Kagome explained, it was the head slayer's house and the entire neighborhood had been bought up by slayers. Inuyasha looked around Sango's neighborhood, taking in what he had never noticed before. The dojo he was familiar with, but the layout was unusual, it was meant for odd weapons and a lot of space. Many, many buildings were covered in sutras and what looked like other charms. And from a strategic point of view, there were blind spots and hiding places everywhere which were protected by layers of thick concrete and possibly buried metal. Being here in hanyou form, he could now make out some odd smells: a weak lingering scent of various youkai, an uncomfortable scent of blood, weird metals, and recent construction. He approached the home wearing his signature black beanie, but his clothes were more casual. He wore a red hoodie with the hood up to hide his hair, sunglasses to cover his eyes, and his hands were tucked in his pockets. His sword was hidden as a kendo sword strapped to his bag. Apparently it was considered insanely rude for a youkai to enter their territory with a seal, but it also worked out for him since he didn't want to be known as Inuyasha. Despite that, it was still an open neighborhood and he had to hide his youkai features. Most trained slayers, despite not having spiritual powers, could still pick up on the feel of youki. And that was apparent by the glares he was getting. Kagome, meanwhile, was in her priestess attire. It was a little odd to be walking around in it, but she did live on a shrine.

"Sango!" Kagome called out to the woman in front of the building. There was another burly man beside her.

"Kagome. Crimson. Come in." She led the two into the house to a room he hadn't been in before. It was some kind of meeting room. There were a few others inside.

"Welcome, my name is Hanzo. Please remove your accessories," instructed the burly man. Inuyasha removed his hood and glasses, and he took his sword out before fixing it to his belt. He then pulled the beads out of his hoodie and let them rest against his chest. He was still trying to figure out how to manage them. As the vigilante, he could just wear them, but he didn't want to be seen wearing them as a human. They could be hidden under his clothes for now, and he was figuring that eventually he'd be able to wear them and say he was just a fan of the vigilante.

He was about to call out the man's continuing rude glare until Kagome whispered too low for a human "beanie". Oh. He was so used to wearing it even as the crimson vigilante, that it hardly felt like an unnatural accessory. Technically his ears were the unnatural part. Still, he removed the beanie, letting them be on display.

"Have a seat," instructed Hanzo. Inside the room was a long table surrounded by cushions on both sides. Seeing the slayers, including Sango, go to one side, he opted to sit next to Kagome who was heading for the other side.

This is awkward. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us like this." Leave it to Kagome to break the ice.

Before she could continue, another man entered and sat between Sango and Hanzo, "Sorry for the delay, a youkai has been causing all sorts of problems the past few days. Kagome, it's good to see you again. And you… er crimson vigilante, that's an odd title to be stuck using. I don't suppose you'd be willing to share your real name?"

Judging by the intricate armor the man wore and the scent emanating from him that matched Sango a bit, he could guess that this was Sango's father, Tanaka, the chief. Remembering the question, Inuyasha shook his head, "I'd really rather not, but maybe you could call me InuShinku?" He had thought about it a lot. The crimson vigilante was the title he was stuck with, but it worked poorly when he just needed a name.

The man nodded, "Crimson dog, rather literal, but it will serve its purpose. My daughter mentioned it, but I see the beads of subjugation around your neck." Inuyasha thought to comment, but the man continued, "As I am in a hurry, let us cut to the chase. Somehow, you convinced my daughter and one of our young, talented priestesses to defend you. You are apparently the son of the Inu no Taisho who helped us form the treaty with youkai centuries ago. And you are hanyou. Beyond that, you technically have only bent our rules, but haven't broken them." With a very serious expression, he looked Inuyasha in the eyes, "I'm willing to accept that you actually want to be a vigilante for no more a reason than to simply help people. But I can tell that you are young, and often that will mean naive. Tell me, do you fully understand the consequences of your actions?"

Inuyasha wanted to reply with 'yes'; he knew to be careful with his abilities, and he knew he could gain unwanted attention too. He knew this, but figured there was something he was getting at if the slayers were so insistent on having a meeting with him. "I believe I understand the obvious risks."

Tanaka nodded again, "and your current guardian, have they given you any specific warnings?"

Sesshomaru wasn't much of a talker. "To be careful and not showboat?"

Without loosing his serious tone, the man sighed, "Tell me, in one of your appearances, a young child was taken hostage by an escaping thief. You were able to quickly take the man down, but what might've happened if he had harmed the girl? Would you have been angry?"

Inuyasha just stared at him like it was a trick question, "course I woulda been angry!"

The man calmly continued, "and what might have happened? If you continue on this path, you will not be able to save everyone. You, as a hanyou, have a human heart and perhaps the desire to help. And yet, we humans are known to become clouded by emotion. If a youkai or a hanyou harms a human using their abilities, we must act. What if, in a single moment of anger, you were to use too much strength and permanently harm, if not kill that human? You would be punished and forbidden from acting as the crimson vigilante any longer. We cannot make exceptions. It is perhaps why other hanyou have never chosen to be so bold with their magic."

"But-"

But he continued, "or perhaps put another way, human law enforcement has a certain responsibility to not harm their targets. This is then enforced by human law and their superiors. To you, a hanyou vigilante, we are your superiors. The circumstances are technically the same, but the primary difference is the ease in which you can cause harm. You have no need for a weapon to kill, and with one, you can cause untold destruction." At Inuyasha's silence he continued, "a vigilante operates outside the law which is why they can become considered outlaws, criminals. If you wish to work with us, you can operate within our laws and help save lives. But we only deal with cases concerning our own. As I said, you have thus far only bent our rules, not broken them. So the choice you have to make is do you wish to continue to operate freely as you have been, but be bound by our shared laws and risk becoming a criminal, or do you wish to limit the work you do but be able to operate more freely when called upon? I'm sorry, but we can not ignore the rules, you must choose one path before it is chosen for you."

He didn't have an answer. Sure, he knew being a vigilante meant he was bending the human laws a bit, but that's what secret identities are for. And sure, he knew Sesshomaru warned him about using his powers carelessly. But… the slayers were threatening to hunt him down if he accidentally hurt just one criminal? But then, the slayer's deal… he didn't just want to be another part of their team. That was the human path. And his mom had actually been happy about what he was doing… "I don't care. You're saying that as long as I don't maim or kill a human, then the slayers won't interfere with me." At the man's nod he continued, "Ok, then I'll simply not maim or kill a human. I'll keep up my brother's training so that I know my own strength, and everytime I put on my father's armor, I'll remind myself that I want to help people, not harm them. I'll take the risk, I've never backed down from a challenge." With every word he spoke, the confidence the others could hear only grew.

Tanaka smiled, "Something had told me from the moment I heard of a youkai vigilante, that things would be more interesting around here. Word about your costume had been floating through the police chatter, but then your first sighting scaling Musashi Manufacturing to catch the window washer? Your appearance had been so sudden that the only photo they got was terrible, and yet things were thrown into a frenzy. A youkai vigilante hero. Well, hanyou. I guess there isn't much to say but keep out of trouble. We'll likely keep in touch from time to time."

"I -" Beep. Beep. Beep. "will." The chief's phone went off. Looking at everyone, he excused himself with a 'sorry'.

Kagome stood up next to him, "that went well." Did it? What even happened?

Sango got up too, "Well, Inuy-shinku. I guess you're now a slayer-approved vigilante as long as you don't hurt anyone."

"Yah…" The conversation really hadn't been what he expected, but apparently the slayers weren't planning to try to stop him, only warn him.

Sango walked over to the wall where he just now noticed a huge boomerang, "want to spar?"

"Spar?" Actually, that sounded exciting. He'd only ever sparred with Sesshomaru and fought with the wolves. He smirked, "you're on slayer!"

Thus, he, Sango, and Kagome went to the dojo he was familiar with. It was fortunately empty besides the three of them. "So Inuyasha, Kagome says you've only been a hanyou for a few months." She grabbed a couple more weapons from the wall, "let's see if you're a fast learner. Kagome, you want to signal us?"

Kagome nodded and walked to the wall to get out of the way. "Good luck Inuyasha!"

"Luck? I don't need luck," he said confidently.

"Oh I don't know about that. You may be a hanyou, but I've been training for years," was Sango's reply. It was then that Inuyasha noticed something. In the excitement to be able to spar with someone new, the two of them still hadn't talked out this whole hanyou vigilante thing in private. How does she feel about this whole mess? Seeing her ready the giant boomerang, he drew his sword.

"Alright, start!"

"Hiraikotsu!" He wasn't expecting her to just fling the giant thing at him! Fortunately, he was able to jump over the thing in time. By the time he landed though, Sango was on him. She swung her blade, where'd that come from, but he was able to dodge by taking a step back, only to then be hit full force in the back. Ow! I'm an idiot. Boomerang! He managed to duck into a roll and land on his feet instead of falling on his face. He did have a martial arts background.

Need to go on the offensive. "Sankon Tessou!" It was no good. She had caught the boomerang and used it as a shield.

"That the best you can do?" she taunted.

"Hardly!" He decided to leap straight at her with his sword. He swung and she again used the boomerang as a shield so he jumped over her and again, "Sankon Tessou." She pivoted to get her body behind the Hiraikotsu, but that wasn't his target. Her blade was cut in half. "Gotcha!"

"I guess I'll have to take you more seriously." She quickly backed off him, taking the Hiraikotsu with her, before reaching to her side and putting on her mask. Inuyasha gave her a quizzical look though the possible purpose of a mask was obvious.

She threw down some pellets and the area was consumed by a large black cloud. Risking the barest of sniffs, he realized it didn't bother anything but his eyes. His ear twitched at her sudden footsteps. Too light to be holding her weapon. He took pride in being the master of stopping sneak attacks. Letting her get close, he suddenly turned towards the noise and grabbed her arm, which was holding yet another blade! He pulled her forward, letting her own momentum drag her to the ground where he pinned her down. "Ha! I won!"

"Should've grabbed my other arm!" She opened her hand to show more pellets which were promptly smashed on the ground, releasing the contents. Does she think I'm stupid enough to breath it in?

"Gah!" Fucking boomerang! There was no catching himself that time as he fell in front of her. He also breathed in the stink pellet.

Recovering faster, she climbed on his back and pinned him down as best she could with her weight and brought the blade to his neck, "I believe I win."

The impact and smell had his brain rattling painfully in his skull, "Boomerangs ain't supposed to act like that. Did you seriously throw it as a contingency if I caught you?" He was covering his nose and trying to breathe through his mouth.

Accepting that as admitting defeat, she got off him and offered a hand, "slayers are at a disadvantage to youkai. If we don't train harder, fight smarter, then we'll lose."

Seeing the hand offered, he realized this was her way of accepting him. There were no heated glares, or words of contempt. She must've understood the explanation Kagome passed on and accepted him, hanyou blood and all. They'd sparred with simple martial arts before but now, she was welcoming him into their world. He went to accept it and stand up, before getting extremely dizzy, collapsing, and passing out.

Kagome came over, "Sango! Did you really have to use a stink pellet on an inu, indoors?"

She just shrugged, "he looked like he needed the lesson."

Realizing he was out cold, the two girls dragged him outside.

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"Chief!"

Where am I again? Oh, an ambulance. He looked down. Lucky. It doesn't look like he hit anything too vital. Not that he needed to with how much blood coated him. He wouldn't be doing any slayer work for a few months. He was lucky though, far too many others had already perished.

"Chief Tanaka!"

"I hear you," he managed to force out. Taking a few steadying breaths, he spoke once more, "on my authority, summon all nearby level three reserve fighters. We must stop Muso before he flees again."

Level one referred to their most elite fighters of slayers and spiritualists. Level two were a large group consisting of all those who were well trained, and who volunteered their services. When their services were called upon, it was the level one and two groups that were summoned. Level three was the largest group. It consisted of all spiritualists and slayers who had the talent and training, but not necessarily the desire to fight. They were the reserves called in emergencies. "Sir!"

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"Poor Inu, does your head still hurt?"

He blushed, "I'm fine!"

Kagome laughed, "Well at least everything is finally settled. Everyone now knows about you."

Kagome was right. Since leaving Sango's, he'd thought about it. All his closest friends did know now, and all of them stood by him. He'd only recently learned about this whole other side of him, and the worst part was trying to interact with others. He wasn't quite human, but he wasn't quite a youkai either. He'd suddenly felt out of place. But talking to Kagome, and sparring with Sango, he felt right.

Kagome couldn't quite tell what Inuyasha was thinking, but the calm smile on Inuyasha's face made her smile as well. Beep. "A text? Hmm, I wonder if it's from Miroku, he said he had something exciting to tell you in class tomorrow Inuyasha."

"Did he?" Hopefully it wasn't too weird. Miroku sometimes got some strange ideas in his head. Odd though, Miroku was the only one he hadn't talked to about all this despite him being the first to figure it out. He wasn't worried though, Miroku was usually a pretty laid back, accepting person. Surprised she hadn't said anything further about the message, Inuyasha glanced over at her only to find a complete look of terror staring down at her shaking phone. "Kagome?"

"I've been summoned to fight a youkai."