Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. doesn't belong to me. But Torikari and her family do!

AN: My first Inuyasha fic. Please don't flame me if you think it's really bad. Hopefully this
chapter will be longer and better than the first.


Swords, Talons and Love
Part 5

Stryke turned as she felt the hand of her brother on her wing joint. He sighed and closed his eyes
as he shook his head.
Lady Torikari was still mourning.

On the other side of the well at the Higuarashi shrine, Souta twisted and turned in his sleep.
Images and words pierced his dreams.
But the two words that haunted him the most were spoken by a blurry outline that seemed
female. Why did the voice sound like that woman who had taken care of him after he fell into
the well.
'Forgive me.'. The melancholy words echoed dismally in the dreamscape.

Inuyasha and Kagome sat quietly on the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley, in the light
of the setting sun she rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder. Not really wanting to disturb this
rare, quiet moment he picked her up and put her in his lap.
She allowed this with nary a word or sound except a contented sigh.
Inuyasha was a very happy dog demon, if he had a tail it would have been wagging up a
windstorm.
Actually wait a minute, there is a tail!
It was small and white, obviously still growing but it was barely noticable even by Inuyasha.
A gentle breeze fluttered by his ears and with it the words of his pack were carried, telling him
news.
A wolf demon, Kouga by the smell of it, had been prowling around earlier. But now he was
gone. With a mental shrug he decided to ignore it, that bastard was gone now.
He flicked his ear at the Pack, a silent message to continue what they'd been previously doing.
The fifteen dog demons vanished like silent wraiths.
With the back of his hand he gently stroked Kagome's face, her only response was to snuggle
closer to him and fall asleep.
~I'll protect you forever Kagome-chan.~ Inuyasha thought as he gazed at her fondly with a
content smile on his lips.

With wide-eyed fascination and admiration he watched the bird demon literally rip the trees to
ribbons while screeching about the unfairness of it all. He wasn't sure what that was all about
but her screeching he could hear from the village and ran here to see what was going on.
No way had Kouga expected to see one of the prim and proper Southern bird demons ripping this
part of the forest apart. Kouga had never seen one slightly annoyed, but now he was treated to
watching one in a full rage.
He'd never thought of them as fighters or capable of violence. He was wrong and he wasn't
upset about that at all.
~And what a way to find out I'm wrong!~ He thought as the bird demon drew a black katana
only to cleanly slice through four thick trees in one swing.
The minute he saw her he had forgotten his original reason for stalking the village, he instantly
forgot Kagome as the uspet she-demon continued to release years of pent up stress.
He finally had enough, he had to meet this she-demon face to face.
Her katana was ready to decimate another poor tree but mid-swing a strong hand gripped her
dragon scale gauntlet.
A scream of fury echoed through the forest and a phenominal fight began.

Stryke flinched as her Lady's scream blasted through her sensitive ears at an almost supersonic
level.
Some poor youkai had interrupted her and was probably getting beaten very badly. Lady Torikari
was the best fighter they'd had in many generations, even surpassing her father.

Kouga lay groaning in absolute agony on the ground as the she-demon flew away, much calmer
then she had been hours before.
Smiling peacefully she smoothed her ruffled feathers and entered Kaede's hut only to see
Kagome and Inuyasha straightening themselves up. Around them a familiar, musky odour
hovered and Torikari smiled.
~Almost Inuyasha, your change will be gradual over the next five days. Other dog demons are
sensing the shift and I am sure that Sesshoumaru-san is just discovering he has no absolute
control anymore.~

Indeed, this was true. And Sesshoumaru was not happy about it.
~It's too soon. Inuyasha's still too young!~ He growled to himself as he paced irritably in his
room.
Despite what others thought, he did care for his younger sibling. And it hurt that Inuyasha hated
him so much. Sesshoumaru hid the hurt behind his mask of uncaring.
He'd seen the girl Inuyasha had chosen, and he sort of approved.
~She's certainly better for him than Kikyou.~ He thought as he glided to his balcony.
He knew what was going on, he just didn't know that it was Torikari and her machinations that
were triggering the transformation process.
All hanyous had a way to become full youkai, it differed for some species though. Inuyasha had
started the process.
Aggrivated, the current Lord of the Western Lands transformed to his true form and leapt from
the balcony, intent on hunting down his little brother to make peace and to find out what was
going on.
He sped across the land with a speed unseeable by the naked eye, his black pupils dialating in the
darkness and absorbing the light of the half moon to see by.
Despite his massive size, his paws made nary a sound on the leaf littered forest floor.
At the edge of his half-brother's territory he paused and tasted the air.
Sesshoumaru growled.
It was *her*!
That impertinent little Tori-youkai!
But what was she doing so far from the Southern Lands?
His lip curled into a snarl as he transformed to his human-shape and stalked to the village,
suddenly having a feeling he knew who had convinced his little brother to unknowingly start his
youkai transformation.