Chapter Two ~ Transformations

_______________________________________________________________

            Sesshomaru hovered menacingly over his younger brother.  He knew that last clause he added at the end would toil at the hanyou's core of raw emotions, which his human half granted him.  He had nothing in mind as of yet for a favor that he would ask.  Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands was not one who did not cover all his bases.  If he was not in control all the time, he did not deserve the title that bore his name.

            InuYasha's eyes shivered.  His brother was cold and calculating, what could he want as a favor in return?  'He must have something in mind; otherwise that clause would not have come up.  Sesshomaru has everything: lands, a castle, and unlike me, he is a full youkai.  He doesn't have a left arm thanks to his me, but he surely cannot use mine, could he?  No. The human half would reject him.  Besides, Sesshomaru wouldn't want any part of him to be hanyou. Feh. What do I have to lose?'

            The hanyou shook his head, 'I can't keep thinking about the worst to come when what matters most right now is my chance to save Kagome.' "Sesshomaru, I accept your deal, if I lose, I lose my life, Kagome's chance to live again, and you get the tetsusaiga.  But if I win, you will restore her life with Tenseiga-"

            "...and you will owe me a favor of my choosing, not tetsusaiga or your life."

            "Yes."

            InuYasha stood up, a bit off balance after having taken a partial hit from toukijin, though he was somewhat relieved that it wasn't a direct one, not even his fire-rat armor could have protected him then. 'Kagome was my shield.' "Kagome, please wait a little longer, I will save you, for sure."  He then took care in seeing that Kagome's body was removed from the area where they would fight this deciding battle.  Before he set her down, he stroked her hair, looked at her and spoke for what could be his last time. "I promise you Kagome, I will put my life on the line, and save you. Your sacrifice won't be in vain."

            Before he had a chance to turn and face his greatest foe, Sesshomaru called out to him, "Dear brother, the longer you wait to fight me, the less likely it will be that your wench can be saved, so I suggest that you hurry up."  InuYasha just growled.

******************************************************

            Their battle began the same way that their first one began, with neither wanting to make the first move.  This time, Sesshomaru charged at InuYasha with his demon speed at his advantage.  All InuYasha could do was slightly avoid his aniki's attacks from toukijin and his more specialized poison whip and claws.  The only time InuYasha even had a chance against his brother was when his brother was in his inu-youkai form.  For that, InuYasha would have to get Sesshomaru really angry, and that was hard, even for InuYasha.  The great demon lord was always calm in his battles, and never showed anything to the contrary.

            "Tetsusaiga was meant for me Sesshomaru! Never for you!  The proof is that our old man's resting place is in me. Father would have never left something so powerful to a demon who would use it to kill humans, of which my mother was.  He loved my mother, and had my sword forged to protect her and other humans from the likes of you! You may be able to use tetsusaiga if you find a magic powerful enough to charm the sword, but you will never be able to use it as I use it - you will never be able to unleash its' true power!  That's because all you can protect is your land!"  With that InuYasha started to feel the wind start to wrap around the blade of the sword and concentrate at the tip.  He stood with the sword in both hands, centered in front of him with more determination than ever before. 'It's now or never-' charged with the kaze no kizu destroying the path in front of him.

            Sesshomaru shocked at the hanyou's words just barely missed the brunt of the attack, he was still hit nonetheless.  Red started to glow in Sesshomaru's eyes, his youkai blood beginning to boil.  "Do you want to lose another arm brother?" InuYasha countered tauntingly, begging for the transformation.  Sesshomaru started to fill the battlefield with his poison smoke, if his brother was going to dodge his attacks all day, he would just have to add a little something else to make it more painful for the hanyou.  Then something unexpected happened, tetsusaiga answered its' owner's call for protection, and winds started to whip around InuYasha, keeping him safe from the poison that Sesshomaru was emanating.

            Sesshomaru then did something that he rarely did, he lost his cool and began to transform.  Within seconds he was a grand inu-youkai, with a silver hair. However, he was not on all fours, Sesshomaru was missing an arm, which translated into missing a front leg.  Sesshomaru knew that he traded his absolute advantage in speed and agility for power, but he did not know that he was playing into InuYasha's hands.

            'Now I have him where I want him!' InuYasha thought victoriously.  He knew he could compete with his brother in raw power, but in speed and agility, Sesshomaru was at a big advantage.  Even if InuYasha was a full youkai, he could never match his brother's speed, and that meant with every attack InuYasha exerted upon himself, Sesshomaru could dodge it, but InuYasha was not as skilled to avoid Sesshomaru's attacks. For that reason, Sesshomaru could last much longer in a battle of stamina. Fighting a three-legged dog was easier than fighting one with all four limbs. 

            'I can do it now.  I have to go for it, this is my last and only chance-" With that thought in mind, he charged at his aniki. Sesshomaru countered with his poison breath.  InuYasha ran through it trying not to breathe any of it in and threw a kaze no kizu to the ground as he leapt into the air to propel him further.  He knew he couldn't kill Sesshomaru because then he wouldn't be around to use Tenseiga on Kagome. So instead of using Tetsusaiga's most powerful attack, InuYasha sent the most powerful kaze no kizu he could muster pummeling down from the sky like a hundred lightning bolts. Before Sesshomaru could see where the attack was coming from, a strong storm thundered down upon him.

**********************************************

            After the dust and dirt that was sent to flight settled, Sesshomaru was on the ground, badly wounded and in his human form.  InuYasha wasn't spared either, he was wounded from the chunks of ground that tore up and hit him.  They both lay on the ground, sparsely breathing, but alive.  Then it dawned on InuYasha, 'I am alive.  I am really alive.  I won.  I defeated Sesshomaru! I can finally save Kagome - Kagome!' He sat up and looked frantically for her body and saw it still out of harms way.

            "Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru!" He looked around and saw his brother a few yards away, but he looked unconscious.  InuYasha crawled over to him and started shaking him, calling his name to get him to come to.  Suddenly a pair of golden eyes shot open and a fierce growl knocked InuYasha back in surprise.  "Sesshomaru! I won our battle; you have to keep your end of the pact.  You promised to revive Kagome, and there isn't much time." InuYasha went over bring Kagome her to Sesshomaru.  The great demon lord unsheathed Tenseiga and peered at the wench through narrowed eyes. He tried to stand as best he could with the bones and energy he had left.

            "Hanyou, remember the other part of our deal.  I revive your wench, but you still owe me, and will always continue to owe me until your debt is repaid. Is that clear?"

            "Yes."

            Sesshomaru looked at the human girl, and could see the post death decay already started.  A deal was a deal, and thus this girl would be the third one blessed enough to have been saved by Tenseiga. 'The only other two to receive such an honor were Jaken, who I killed to revive as a test and Rin to test my power on humans.' He concentrated his power on the sword and with one diagonal sweep across her body, he was finished.  A sharp pain crossed his chest, the same thing happened when he revived that little girl. He quickly recovered, sheathed Tenseiga and shot InuYasha a menacing glare.  "I will take my leave now, and will hunt you down when I decide what your repayment shall be." With that last promise, Sesshomaru took to the skies faster than the wind.

            "Kagome! Kagome!" If shaking brought Sesshomaru back into consciousness, it had to work with Kagome.  After shaking her, he realized it wasn't doing any good. Sesshomaru was just knocked out, Kagome had been dead. That had to be the reason. InuYasha finally felt the fatigue from battling take over and he collapsed to the ground with Kagome in his arms.

************************

Please review now that you have read!  Do you like where the story is going?  Am I missing something so far?  Let me know!