UMR 2 4 2001-11-05T01:07:00Z 2001-11-05T01:07:00Z 5 2965 16902 University of Missouri - Rolla 140 33 20756 9.3821 0 6 pt 6 pt 0

                Miroku was braced for the slap he knew was coming. He was surprised that it hadn't occurred yet.  Meanwhile, he was enjoying the feeling of Ryoko's bottom in his hand. The youkai woman was still looking at him with an indeterminable expression on her pretty face.

                Ah, here it comes, he thought, tensing for a blow and closing his eyes in anticipatory dread as her arm began moving. He was doubly shocked, therefore, when he felt her hand touching him gently--on his crotch. Opening his eyes wide, he saw her smiling face inches from his, a glint of mischief in her eyes.

                Leaning forward, she whispered in his ear, her breath tickling, "Perhaps some other time." She giggled and gave him a light squeeze, then teleported away, leaving the monk with blood pooling in two places. One was his nosebleed.

                The next morning, Ryoko was still asleep as Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku were finishing breakfast. She slept through the clean up of the dishes, too. In fact, as no one was willing to attempt to awaken her, she was still asleep by late morning when Jaken appeared at the edge of the village. "Inuyasha! Are you going to meet Lord Sesshoumaru's demands? Give me the Tetsusaiga and the Shikon no Tama and I'll bring them to him. Then he'll return your little friends."

                Inuyasha's yell of "You Bastard!" could be heard throughout the village. "I'll send you--"

                "Wait," interrupted Miroku. "Let me handle this," he whispered to the angry Hanyou. Turning to Jaken, he continued, "Why should we trust your word? How do we know that Sesshoumaru will return them unharmed? He isn't even here! How do we know that you will even return the items to him, rather than keep them yourself? That wouldn't do us any good, our friends would still be his hostages. Bring your master here to make the exchange."

                Jaken looked taken aback. "W-what? You would suggest that I would go against Lord Sesshoumaru? N-never! You'll regret refusing me; my master is less forgiving. Maybe you'll only get back one of your friends now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jaken ran off, laughing maniacally.

                No one noticed the humanoid figure following the green youkai from the air.

                So, that little creature is Sesshoumaru's servant. He'll lead me right to him, thought Ryoko, smiling maliciously. He was proving surprisingly difficult to follow--more due to his small size allowing the foliage to hide him than any attempt at stealth--as she flew through the forest in incorporeal form to avoid making any noise and to stay close to him. He wasn't even aware of her presence.

                Suddenly, the little thing she was trailing entered a clearing, where it stopped and bowed to a beautiful young man with white hair, eyes the same color as Ryoko's, red streaks on his cheeks and a crescent moon on his forehead, and a white, fuzzy fur wrapped around him like a scarf. "Lord Sesshoumaru! They refused to release the items to me! They insist that you come yourself and bring the hostages to make the exchange! I don't trust them, it might be a trap!" Then, he seemed to choke after hearing what he'd said. "N- not that you couldn't handle a trap if it was!" he hastily appended.

                The youth--he must be Sesshoumaru; Ryoko could now see that he wasn't human--looked lazily at his servant. "So, they think I'm bluffing, do they? We will go to their village this evening. If they do not give me what I want, we will leave one of their friends with them--as a corpse," he said, smiling. His voice was soft, threatening, velvet-covered steel. Standing up, he paced over to a tree, from which hung a cage with two unconscious figures in it. Sesshoumaru reached in and pulled one of them into a standing position. Ryoko recognized it as Ryo-Ohki in her child form. "This one will do."

                "Release her, or whether or not your little brother gives you what you want will be the least of your worries," said Ryoko as she descended to the ground in the midst of the clearing, wearing her black-and-red battle costume.

                The little green creature interposed itself between her and its master, holding a long staff upright before it. "How dare you threaten Lord Sesshoumaru?! Be gone!"

                Ryoko ignored it. "Release Ryo-Ohki now, and I will let you live," said Ryoko.

                Sesshoumaru smiled, but his servant didn't see it and spoke before he could. "You fool! You're not worthy to die at Lord Sesshoumaru's hand! I'll destroy you myself!" With that, the mouth on the man's head topping the staff opened and spewed forth flame. Ryoko calmly raised her left arm with the back of her hand to the fire, and the gout of flame splashed off of the force field, not coming anywhere near its target. Then she turned her palm towards the source of this minor annoyance and energy blasted it. The small green demon was flung backwards, the staff the only thing keeping him from being destroyed by the blast.

                Sesshoumaru looked at her, seeming bored. "So, my little brother is sending women to fight his battles. I'm sorry, I just don't have the patience to fight you. You'll have to be satisfied with him," he declared as he jumped up into the trees. Following him with her eyes, Ryoko noticed a huge ogre-like demon towering above the canopy. It swung its mammoth hand down to strike her, but she just went incorporeal, allowing it to pass straight through her.

                "So," said Ryoko as she levitated off the ground to stand on a branch on the other side of the clearing, "you would summon another creature to fight for you. Very well. I am Ryoko the Demon Summoner! I can play that game, too!" As she called on the power of her wrist gems, ghostly wisps began to gather in front of her. Within seconds, they coalesced into a cohesive form: a translucent blue demon with six red eyes. Exerting her will through the appropriate wrist gem (she smirked as she thought about the last time she had tried this...and forgotten that she couldn't control it while missing that gem), she ordered her summoned minion, "Destroy that ugly thing." The blue demon streaked towards the black one, and their fight was on.

                "Now, pretty-boy," taunted Ryoko, as she again took to the air, "you're mine!" With that, she unleashed a hand blast at the white-haired youth.

                Sesshoumaru was slightly impressed. This youkai-woman had style. She had issued her challenge, then knocked out Jaken and neutralized his minion with one of her own, and now was pressing her attack. However, she was moving much too slowly to be a real threat. Her first attack was predictable--he'd already seen her energy ray when she used it on Jaken--and when it got to him he casually batted it away with his right hand. Maybe her left arm could be used to replace his after he killed her.

                He was swiftly brought out of his inattentive state of mind when he realized that she had vanished from his field of view while he was batting away her energy beam. Sniffing quickly, he smelled a cat-youkai behind him. He jumped forward into the air, turning quickly. When he looked at her, he saw that he had narrowly missed being slashed with a sword of energy. She leapt at him, sword extended to impale him. He used his hand to block it, then shot up into the sky to get away from her long enough to prepare an attack of his own.

                As he ascended, he glanced at his oni, and saw that it was still locked in combat with the youkai-woman's demon. Once clear of her, he extended his index finger, and a green tendril shot out from it. When the woman--she had called herself Ryoko--reached him, he caught the swing of her sword with the poison energy whip. While she was dealing with that, he shot downwards at her, catching her in the face with his foot. She fell downward a good fifty feet before catching herself. Pressing his advantage, he attacked her with the whip, hitting her several times before she caught it in her empty hand. Looking up at him, anger plain on her face, she threw her energy sword at him.

                She was so slow! He just seemed to vanish as he dodged the projectile and moved behind her. She didn't even realize he had moved until he hit her in the back, yelling "Poison Claw!" As the green acidic mist came from his fingernails, she arched her back to get away from it. Reaching over her shoulders, she pointed her hands at him, fingers together. When she clenched them into claws, a red field of energy surrounded his body, causing him to cry out in pain. Kicking her hard in her back, he pushed away, escaping the crackling attack. Catching his breath, he took stock of his opponent. She was returning the scrutiny. Amazing! She was no more winded than he!

                "Had enough, Sesshoumaru?" taunted Ryoko. "I'll go easy on you, and let you escape with your life, if you release Ryo-Ohki now."

                Sesshoumaru smiled dangerously. Jaken, who had just managed to regain consciousness and get back to the clearing, took one look at his master and fled screaming, not even noticing the two servant demons still fighting--both looking rather the worse for wear.

                "I do not give up to fools who threaten me. You cannot win, and for challenging me, you will die," was Sesshoumaru's response. He charged her, seeming to blur. She was ready for this attack, however, and his poison claw attack only hit the force field generated by one of her arms. The other arm swung the energy sword at him, forcing him to fly backwards to dodge. She shot an energy blast at him, which he deflected with his hand in the same motion that he lashed out with his green energy whip. This was blocked by Ryoko's sword. He was moving faster than the eye could follow, but she would vanish every time he was about to strike, reappearing somewhere else and unleashing an energy blast which he would have to use another burst of speed to dodge.

                Jaken, meanwhile, was working up enough courage to return and support his master. "Lord Sesshoumaru needs me! What if that Inuyasha or his friends come while that youkai woman is distracting Lord Sesshoumaru? They could take away the hostages! Then Jaken would be in trouble! I must get back to guard them."

                Jaken finally got back to the clearing nearly an hour later to see his master and that woman still fighting in the air. His lord was moving faster than he could follow, and the woman was teleporting around. When he looked around, he was just in time to see the blue demon disintegrate and the black oni collapse from a fatal wound.

                Taking up a guarding position near the cage, he turned his attention back towards the battle in the sky. It had become a close combat with Sesshoumaru's speed making up for his missing arm. The woman was using one arm like a shield with a force field, her other hand wielding an energy blade. Finally, the combatants separated violently, resorting to ranged weapons again. Sesshoumaru was lashing out with his green whip, but the woman kept teleporting out of the way. His speed allowed him to dodge her energy blasts.

                Unfortunately for Jaken, neither combatant was paying attention to where the energy blasts were going when they missed, and at one point Sesshoumaru was between Jaken and the youkai-woman. When the white-haired dog-youkai dodged, the energy beam struck the ground between the green youkai and the cage holding the hostages. The ground detonated with concussive force and heat, flinging Jaken several meters through the air. When he picked himself up, he saw that the blast had broken the cage. Worse still, the warding strips had been burnt off, and the two youkai were stirring. And he didn't have any more sealing wards available at the moment.

                He walked over to where they were standing up, using the Staff of Heads to support himself--that energy blast hurt!--and stood over them as they regained their feet. "Don't try anything, little ones. I'll burn you with this staff if you try to run.

                The little kitsune growled, but subsided. He turned to the fuzzy girl. "Do as he says, Ryo-Ohki," he said with a sigh.

                The girl's response was a questioning "Meow?"

                "We're no match for his staff," explained the little fox youkai.

                "Ho ho ho ho! Just sit there, or I'll burn you up!" laughed Jaken as the battle raged behind him.

                The fuzzy girl looked behind Jaken, and her eyes widened. Then she smiled a cute little malicious smile. "Come on, Shippo," she said, grabbing his arm, "we're leaving."

                Jaken was flabbergasted. "No you're not! Stay right there, or I'll burn you!" he held up the staff threateningly, and the man's mouth opened.

                The little girl ignored him and leapt into the air. Jaken was so startled that she was three meters up before he unleashed the gout of flame from the man's mouth. The flames enveloped the pair as they rose.

                Shippo was screaming in panic. He had just awakened sore with the sealing ward burnt off his forehead, and now his new friend was trying to get them killed by Jaken. She had grabbed his arm and leapt into the air. Shippo just knew that Jaken was going to roast them alive, and it was going to hurt.

                Ryo-Ohki let loose a very loud "MEOW!" that drew Shippo's attention to her. When he looked, black crystalline spikes were shooting out of her body, and her body was disappearing in their midst. As she was small, and holding onto his arm, he was quickly being swallowed up as well. When the fire from Jaken's staff sprang at them, it was deflected by a force field of some sort.

                Just when he thought he was going to be crushed by the crystalline spikes, he found himself in a large, open room. It was circular, with a hemispherical dome forming the walls and ceiling. The predominant color was pale blue, which sometimes faded to white or deepened to navy. In the center of the room was a stand with a dome on it, and there were little lit up squares flashing about its surface. Hovering about the chamber were dark blue crystals that sometimes brightened to red.

                There was no visible entrance to indicate how Shippo might have gotten in, and he couldn't see Ryo-Ohki anywhere. This examination of his surroundings took less than five seconds. Nervously, he spoke to the room around him, "H-hello? Is there anybody here? Ryo-Ohki, where are you? How did I get here?"

                One of the larger crystals glowed red and flew over to hover in front of him. It was twice his size, and its sudden motion scared him and made him fall over onto his tail. When he righted himself, he saw that the crystal had an image in it: Ryo-Ohki was standing inside it, looking at him!

                He pressed his hands against the crystal, and shouted so that she could hear within it, "Ryo-Ohki! How'd you get in there? Are you trapped? Can I get you out?"

                The girl within the crystal covered her mouth and giggled. "I'm not trapped, silly," she said. "You're inside me. I am this space ship."

                Shippo stepped back, looking completely confused. "'Space...ship'?"

                Ryo-Ohki considers for a moment, then says, "Never mind. I transformed into a fighting form. You're inside it. This is just an image of me that you see. Let me show you what's going on outside." Another crystal floated over, and in it formed an image of Sesshoumaru. Another had in it a woman, and the way the crystals moved showed the two fighting. A fourth crystal showed Jaken on the ground, looking in shocked horror straight out of the crystal.

                "He's scared!" giggled Shippo.

                The image of Ryo-Ohki smiled mischievously. "Of course he is. I'm a menacing space battleship," she said. Then her smile turned malicious. "He's looking right at us. Let's get him!" Shippo nodded his agreement. Several smaller crystals moved to spin around the one showing Jaken, and began to move upwards so that the plane of the circle they formed was above the crystal showing Jaken. They began to glow red, then shot an energy beam down at him. It entered the crystal and impacted the image of Jaken, blotting out the entire image in red light.

                Jaken stared in shock at the large, black object into which the little youkai girl had transformed. It looked like a red sphere resting in the center of a crown of black spikes, with one spike projecting out the bottom of the structure. The flame from his staff hadn't even touched it as it formed, and now it hovered several hundred meters above him, menacingly. It began to swivel the large spike towards him. Once it was pointing at him, it began to glow red. A bright beam of energy shot out from it. When it hit him, Jaken couldn't even scream as it incinerated his body.

                This Sesshoumaru was a tough opponent, tougher even than Kagato. She had to devote her whole attention to this fight, and this man was still taking everything she had and dishing out the same. She was injured, but so was he. He was impossibly fast, but her teleporting and his missing arm evened the match. Both their summoned servants had fallen some time ago, and Ryoko's opponent was still going strong. At one point, she had heard a very loud "MEOW!", but she didn't have time to pay attention to its source, as Sesshoumaru was using his speed to its fullest effect, forcing her to teleport repeatedly.

                It was only when the blast of red energy exploded on the ground, distracting both combatants, that Ryoko was able to notice a minor detail: Ryo-Ohki was free, and in her mammoth space battleship form. Realizing that this fight was both unnecessary and now easily won, she flew towards her servant battleship, dodging Sesshoumaru's energy whip. When she was close enough, she teleported inside.

                There, a surprise met her. Several of Ryo-Ohki's crystals were clustered together like they were showing someone something. When she floated over to see what was going on, she saw a small boy with a furry tail watching the crystals, which showed several views: Sesshoumaru hovering outside; a large, burnt swath of forest where Ryo-Ohki's main gun had fired into the ground; and several tactical maps of the surrounding area.

                Ryoko queried Ryo-Ohki telepathically, Who is this? What has happened to you since you arrived here?

                Ryo-Ohki sent images and reports streaming into her mistress's mind, catching her up to date on everything she had experienced since left with Sota to play. Now Ryoko knew who this little intruder on her bridge was.

                "Well, hello, Shippo," she said, startling the kitsune. "I understand you have befriended my little Ryo-Ohki. Thank you for trying to help her."

                Shippo, for his part, had leapt almost five feet in the air. "Wh-wh-who are you?" he chittered.

                Ryoko laughed kindly. "Ryo-Ohki is my...pet, for lack of a better word. Or perhaps ward would be more appropriate. Anyway, she is my servant, and I care for her. Thank you for trying to help her. Now, let's take care of that fool who dared challenge me and kidnap Ryo-Ohki!"

                Another loud "MEOW!" echoed through the bridge, and the crystals flew to life. Holographic projection screens sprang into being about the place, showing the surrounding countryside in various sensor readings. Ryoko walked over to the console in the center of the room, and Shippo jumped up to cling onto one of the crystals so he could watch.

                Unfortunately, there was no sign of Sesshoumaru on the readings. "Damn!" swore Ryoko. "He must have fled. Well, I will continue this fight some other time. Ryo-Ohki says she has already had her revenge--against that demon Jaken--so let's just get you back to your friends, shall we?" The last was directed towards Shippo, who nodded his emphatic and greatful agreement. The little fox-demon looked exhausted.

                Sesshoumaru watched the strange mononoke that had absorbed his opponent as it flew back towards the village. That woman may have escaped his wrath this time, but he would deal with her again later. She was even more of a challenge than his little hanyou half-brother. The workout of destroying her would be good. Unfortunately, his hostages had vanished. He did find the charred, desiccated corpse of his servant Jaken. Drawing the Tenseiga, he studied the demonic messengers from the world of death as they swarmed over Jaken's corpse. He swung the Tenseiga through them.

                "Come, Jaken," he said, walking away, "we should get back to Rin."

Author's Note: I know this took a long time, but I wanted to get this story arc's climax right. There is more plot coming...the whole point of this story is upcoming. I just recently finished episodes 30-45 of Inuyasha, so have met Rin. I've only seen her personality in one episode, but found her to be cool. She will be making appearances later. Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get translated episodes beyond 45, I'd appreciate a heads up in either a review or at cej@umr.edu.