Chapter 20: Muso

"Kagome!"

She looked back. "Please tell me they had one." After receiving the text, Kagome asked Inuyasha to return to the slayer neighborhood as fast as he could to retrieve her a real bow. She really didn't want to go into a real fight with only a mini crossbow. At least she had already been in the right clothes.

He nodded, "a bow and a bunch of arrows." He watched as she reached out shaky fingers to grab them. He reached out and grabbed her hands. "Kagome, you have to calm down. You'll really be in trouble if you're too shaky to shoot."

She looked up at him before taking a deep breath, "I'll-I'll be fine."

"Course you will. You've got the experience and I've felt your crazy barrier. You can do this."

"Experience? I'm not…I've never done this!"

He paled, "What do you mean never done this? You said you help in emergencies."

She shook her head, "I'm registered to help in emergencies, but how often do powerful youkai suddenly go on murder sprees in this day and age?" Another beep came from her phone, she could guess who it was from. "I have to keep moving." She didn't get very far with him gripping her wrist. "Inuyasha!" She looked back at him only to see him… removing his hoodie?

He threw it to her. "Put that on and pull the hood over so you're not seen." Out of his own bag, he quickly pulled out the sword and fire rat and put it over his clothes. He then knelt with his back to her. "You think I'm letting you out of my sight after hearing that? I'm going with you."

Doing as she was told, she climbed on his back and showed him her phone, "At the dot, that's where they have a perimeter set up. There will probably be sirens and emergency vehicles."

With a nod, he leapt.

Only with them now moving did she let them talk some more, "Inuya-shinku." She had to get used to not calling him by his name when they were out like this. "Are you sure you want to do this? Have you ever fought a youkai trying to kill you before?"

"I fought a couple of lame wolves," he answered.

Her grip tightened, "Are you sure you want to do this? You're not -"

"Stop overthinking it," he interrupted. "If nothing else, I can help keep you mobile while you shoot. These beads mean you can let loose even with me around, right? Think you can shoot from my back?"

Taking a calming breath, Kagome let herself relax a little. He was going to stay, "it's just up ahead."

He nodded, "yah, I hear the sirens."

x

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The scene they arrived at was insanity. The entire area was surrounded by emergency vehicles and there was damage everywhere. The ground was cracked and several cars had been overturned. A few smaller buildings had been completely knocked over. He could smell blood, a lot of human blood. The area was also surrounded by a spiritual barrier which Kagome helped him cross.

"Is that Sango?" Looking in the direction she was pointing, he could see several people in slayer uniforms looking like they recently arrived. One of them definitely looked like the outfit and weapon Sango had. Kagome's grip tightened again, "it's her first time too. I mean, she's looking to be promoted so she was wanting a real fight, but this is bad. Miroku might even be here, depending on where he was."

The two continued towards the fight ahead. Inuyasha tried to find a building that was minimally damaged, and thus stable to stand on when they heard someone screaming. Turning, they could see him: Muso, and he was holding a victim. He, and several other victims they could see on the ground, had their faces damaged or removed. Kagome's alert had included a picture, but it failed to show the tentacles and spikes he seemed to be growing from every inch of his body.

"Can you get a little closer?" was Kagome's request. Hesitantly, he did so.

Before taking action, both knew to observe and knew it did not bode well. Several slayers were able to land blows on him, but every time the pieces reassembled themselves, leaving him completely unharmed and free to counterattack. Inuyasha could feel Kagome shifting on his back. Her arms let go and her bow came into view. A pleasant warmth soon covered him where he could see the glow of Kagome's power. "Inuyasha." She saw an ear twitch. She hadn't expected it from him of all people, but the worst case scenario for her would be that he'd freeze completely upon seeing the scene. She did the first time being brought along to observe and it wasn't even anything like this. "I'm going to shoot as soon as I have a clear shot. Be ready to move." She saw him nod and felt his grip on her strengthen. She tuned him out and focused everything on her shot, maybe taking out all of him in one shot would work? Her own power was considered phenomenal, enough to easily be an elite if she had wanted.

She whispered, "hit the mark," before letting the arrow fly. She hit him! And Muso's body shattered!

"No!" They could see it, what Muso couldn't recombine, he was regenerating. It seemed to all be starting at a piece of flesh with a spider mark.

It was good that Inuyasha was holding her so tight, otherwise she would have fallen for sure. Out of nowhere, a solid limb had shot up at their location, utterly shattering the concrete that had been the edge of the building. Inuyasha had managed to get them out of the way in time. He looked up at her, "Kagome you ok?"

The jolt wasn't comfortable, but better than being skewered, "I think so- AH!"

"Muso?!" he had only taken his eyes off the guy for two seconds and he was suddenly in front of them on the roof.

"Look out!" And in another instant, the guy was trying to run his humongous, outstretched arm, through the two of them. Inuyasha barely got out of the way in time.

"You look familiar. Have we met before?"

No! I think I'd remember a man with tentacles for arms and a face removal fetish trying to kill me! He didn't think it would do much, but they had to get away from the lunatic. "Sankon Tessou!" He noticed Kagome launched an arrow at the same time. As expected, the damaged flesh began to recombine.

He tried jumping to the next rooftop only for Kagome to shout, "Inuyasha!" Then there was pain, searing pain in his shoulder. He did his best to land safely, but it was hard. Using his claws, he quickly cut the flesh spear away. "Oh no!" He heard something of a squeak from her before he noticed a barrier surrounding them. He could tell it was a lot more powerful than the shrine barrier, but she also seemed to be focusing all her attention solely on forming it. She didn't hear Muso speak.

Muso approached, "I know I've seen you before… but didn't you have black hair?" He's seen me as a human or is he just crazy? Suddenly, Hiraikotsu flew by, forcing Muso to retreat from the barrier for a moment. Unfortunately, that's all it did. They thought they'd have a strategic advantage on the rooftop, but now it ended up isolating them from help. "Yes, I'm sure I saw your picture in Onigumo's office." What?

Sankon Tessou didn't work. Kagome's arrow didn't work. Kagome's protective barrier wouldn't hold long. With his good arm, Inuyasha reached into his clothes and pulled out his phone, and called the one person who would never lose a fight like this.

"I'm busy," was the answer he got. At least he picked up.

"A youkai called Muso is trying to kill Kagome and I. The slayers are here, but we're trapped, he-he got my shoulder… help." What else was he supposed to say? Kagome was right, a couple months wasn't enough to train for something like this.

"Location?" There was a snarl to his voice that surprised Inuyasha.

"Near Meiji Jingu. Track my phone. But Sessh, you have to give me something, we are literally dead as soon as Kagome's barrier falls."

"You used Sankon Tessou?"

"Yah. Nothing works. He can regenerate endlessly."

"Hn. You are bleeding, have you tried Hijin Kesso?"

"I-I can try, but I doubt it will do any better." He hadn't succeeded in training yet.

Inuyasha suddenly let out a pained grunt. "Inuyasha?" He heard it from two voices, but he couldn't answer. His head was pounding. His blood felt like it was boiling. And it hurt. This didn't feel like just his shoulder wound.

"You are panicking. Grab the Tessaiga!" he could only vaguely tell it was Sesshomaru's voice. It sounded oddly worried though. Tessaiga? Why? It was odd enough that he did exactly what the voice said and drew Tessaiga. Suddenly, everything was clearer and the pounding stopped. "Little brother?"

"I'm ok." I think.

"I am on my way, you must buy time."

"Inuyasha, he cracked the barrier!" came Kagome's worried shout.

"How?" he questioned Sesshomaru.

"Put your phone in your pocket and listen." He did.

"Place both hands on Tessaiga and focus on your opponent." He forced his injured arm to work. "Feel the power of father's blood that runs through our veins." He could feel it, tense and overflowing. "Feel your opponent's energy." Dark, disgusting, heavy. "Feel the vortex of his power." Vortex? "Use your nose, smell the wind." He could feel something, the flow of energy shifting around Muso every time he struck Kagome's barrier. "Cut the wind. Use the wind scar."

Kagome's barrier broke. Letting all of his senses guide him, Inuyasha raised Tessaiga, and brought it down towards Muso.

He noticed tendrils of light moving towards Muso obliterating everything in their path, including the building they were standing on. He quickly grabbed the exhausted Kagome while Muso was off balance and noticed that he, even injured, again, tried to stab Inuyasha midair. He didn't have a good angle with his claws so instead he used the blood on his hands from clutching his wound, "Hijin Kesso!" It stopped Muso's attack and one blade even went on to hit him.

Inuyasha landed clumsily on the ground below where several slayers, including Sango, quickly moved to his location and released their weapons. They caused damage, but he just started repairing himself. Before he could counterattack again, Inuyasha forced himself to his feet, feeling drained from that last attack. He forced his sword up and poured the last of his strength into it, before quickly reaching out for Muso's energy and smelling it. "Wind Scar!" He brought his sword down and once again watched several tendrils of light, even larger than last time, rapidly approach and hit Muso.

It was only moments later that Muso's flesh began to recombine and he was whole. No.

Several slayers readied their weapons and several spiritualists, including the almost collapsed Kagome, poured their energy into putting up another barrier. A few threw sutras.

"Bakusaiga!" Coming from the side, all they saw was a green glow before Muso was knocked aside.

Sesshomaru!

"You! Master wants you dead!" They were Muso's last words.

"Your master will follow you in death soon. Bakusaiga!" His attack struck the downed Muso. He did not regenerate.

Inuyasha let himself collapse to his knees.

Seeing Muso defeated, one of the slayers he recognized as Hanzo cautiously approached the new youkai, "Who are you?"

"Lord Sesshomaru, son of the Inu no Taisho," he surprisingly bothered to answer.

At the answer, Hanzo turned towards Inuyasha, "that true?"

Inuyasha blinked, "the resemblance is obvious, ain't it?"

Many of the slayers looked on in amazement. First of all, a youkai got involved in their battle. Second, the feared and ancient inu lord actually saved them.

Without a word Sesshomaru approached Inuyasha and began sniffing at his injury, "Hn. You'll live." Thanks bastard. He started to walk away.

"Wait!" he called out. Sesshomaru didn't turn around, but he did stop. "The youkai said something weird while we were fighting, that he recognized me. Other-me, not hanyou me. And you mentioned his master like you knew him. He had said a name uh…"

"Stop." Turning back, Sesshomaru locked eyes with him, "have your wounds tended. We will speak later."

Hanzo spoke, "If you know something about what happened, we need that information."

"This incident had nothing to do with us, so I am not required to share. I was hunting Muso for my own reasons." He turned into an orb of light and flew off, right through the spiritual barrier like it was a piece of paper.

"Little brother." Didn't he fly off? That's when he realized he was still hearing Sesshomaru's whisper through the phone in his pocket. "If you care for your female, maintain a distance. You are likely being watched by our enemies right now. Return to Taisho headquarters when you are able." He heard the tell-tale sound of a call being ended.

The next several hours had been a blur. The wounded were being tended to, which was quite a number. Kagome, although very drained, took out one of the medical kits, and personally tended to his wound. He tried to just act very tired and unresponsive to her so it wouldn't draw attention. She was too tired and shaken to engage much either. Eventually, the slayers separated them for questioning and he told them what he knew. Which, at the moment, was basically nothing except the name Sesshomaru didn't want him to give. For now, he'd listen. And since he hadn't accepted the slayers' offer to work for them, he was protected by the youkai laws and they couldn't try to force him to talk. Surprisingly, they didn't fight his refusal any except to urge him to talk if he changed his mind. Apparently, it was standard for youkai to refuse and they couldn't blame him after he was ordered not to by his lord and elder brother. Most of the chatter was about Sesshomaru. Centuries of him staying out of human affairs and suddenly he appeared to save his hanyou younger brother that they didn't know existed, the crimson vigilante. Or was he just there to kill Muso? It really wasn't clear. But he needed answers, so he finally headed to Sesshomaru.

AN: And that concludes our first epic youkai fight. Our Inu had a little trouble, but hey, what do you expect from his lack of experience? It's good that he's a fast learner. Surprisingly, the fight scene was easier to write than I expected, although I do hope it came across the way I intended.

I'm going to be a bit busy this week so the next chapter might be a little wait. Till then!