Chapter 11: Lessons of the Sword!
Inuyasha returned shortly before midday. Rain had fallen asleep next to Seven and had her head on his chest. Kagome had started a fire and was boiling water; there were several Ramen cups next to her. He jumped out of the trees and landed across the fire from Kagome. She started in surprise spilling water into the fire but quickly regained her composer quickly. "Good morning Inuyasha!" she smiled cheerily. He glanced at Seven and rain to make sure they were asleep, then he smiled as well. "Yes, good morning Kagome." She blinked in surprise and handed him a Ramen cup. He took the cup "has Seven improved?" she nodded. "I think his blood is strengthening, he is breathing normally now and his face is no longer pale." He nodded, "good, I couldn't find a single damn Miko to come help." Kagome giggled. "I wonder why?"
A low moan from the direction of Seven caught the attention of the pair next to the fire. Seven moaned again and opened his eyes. With his free arm he rubbed his eyes and looked down at Rain. She was still breathing slowly. He smiled warmly and rested his hand on her back, her eyes clenched and her fist flew up, straight into Seven's jaw. He bit back a curse as his head snapped back. Rain sat up "Hentai!" Seven rubbed his jaw slowly. "What are you talking about woman!" she glared at him. "You know damn well, trying to feel my up!" he looked at her in shock, "I assure you I had no such thoughts!"
Kagome couldn't keep her laughter in any more. Seven and Rain looked at her and Inuyasha, both shaking with laughter, "are you sure you aren't related to the Monk?" Inuyasha asked. Seven blanched and then smiled. "You never know!" then he started to laugh as well, Rain looked mad for a moment, then unable to help herself she started to laugh as well. They continued to laugh for several minutes, it seemed to ease the memory of the previous night.
Inuyasha was the first to stop, returning to his usual tough guy act. Seven tried to stand and gained his feet with the help of the tree. Rain stood as well walking over to the fire. "What's that?" she asked pointing to the Ramen cups. Kagome laughed and spent a minute explaining them to Rain. Seven staggered over and plopped down next to Inuyasha. "Damn she has a good upper-cut." Rain smiled wickedly and sat between Seven and Kagome. Seven inched away and poured water into his cup. Kagome laughed again.
By that evening Seven was up and about. His wounds had disappeared and he seemed back to full strength. Inuyasha was up in a tree and Kagome was showing Rain her schoolbooks, the girl seemed fascinated by them. Inuyasha had gone out again to retrieve Seven and Kagome's bags, arriving just before sunset. Kagome had lent some of her clothes to Rain, as hers were in terrible condition. Rain was now wearing a knee length blue skirt and a blue short sleeve shirt. Seven had discarded his shirt and coat and was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and had a black trench coat next to him. His case was open and he had placed his sword back inside. Inuyasha got his first look inside and saw that Seven did not like to travel lightly. Seven looked up at the Hanyou. "Hey Inuyasha, want to try your luck?" Inuyasha smiled down "you think you stand a chance?" Seven laughed, "bring it on!"
Inuyasha jumped down landing between Seven and the girls. Seven reached into his case and drew out two matching katana's. One was the one he had been using before but they were obviously a pair. He held both in his left hand. "Hey Kagome, Rain, I'm gonna go teach Inuyasha a lesson in humility, want to come?" Inuyasha barked a short laugh and headed away from the camp. Rain jumped up and followed him, Kagome sighed. "Men!" and then stood to follow.
Inuyasha stood across the stream from Seven. They had chosen a spot at the top of a waterfall to duel. The two men faced each other; Rain and Kagome were at the edge of the woods. Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga; once again it failed to transform. "Come on!" he yelled in frustration. Seven held each katana by the hilt and stabbing each into the earth drew them out of their sheaths, leaving the sheaths protruding from the ground.
Seven went into an on guard position, holding one blade before him and one behind. Inuyasha held the Tetsusaiga with both hands in front of him. "Inuyasha, transform the sword!" Seven called. Inuyasha shrugged "it doesn't want to." Seven charged jumping across the stream landing next to Inuyasha. He swung up and Inuyasha barely deflected one sword before the other was swinging for his head. Seven didn't stop for a moment, driving Inuyasha into the trees. "Come on boy!" he called. "Search the sword, seek its answers!" Inuyasha growled and deflected a blow that was aimed for his leg. Then it hit him. Seven was not playing; he was trying to make him transform the Tetsusaiga. As in the past he was forcing Inuyasha to learn or die.
Inuyasha had his back to a tree now. It was unreal how fast Seven was attacking. The two blades were barely visible as he attacked again and again. Inuyasha knew he couldn't keep it up for long. Seven swung at his head and Inuyasha ducked under the blade, and darted foreword. He hit the ground and jumped back to his feet only to be attacked again. He backed into the stream, fighting for his life once more every time he tried to look into the heart of the sword his search was shattered by Seven's attack. He was desperately trying to buy the time to try to transform the sword. Seven called out again. "Prove to the sword you can fight, prove to the blade your soul fights for something other than yourself, prove to its heart that you have the will to survive!"
Inuyasha was almost to the edge of the waterfall. The water fighting against him as well as Seven, it was all he could do to keep up his defense. Seven swung both of his blades in. Inuyasha darted foreword and locked all three blades together. Seven smiled cruelly down at him. "Fool boy, I thought you were better than this, I was wrong!" he thrust him back over the edge of the falls. Inuyasha stepped back into nothingness, time seemed to slow. Then he seemed to move out of himself. He stopped and felt his body fall away, yet he did not move. He stepped back foreword onto the water; it was as solid as ice. Seven was standing in front of him, but he was looking past him over the falls. Inuyasha turned and saw himself falling, but much slower than normal. Then he remembered. He darted foreword, unlocking the power of the sword.
Seven stared over the falls at Inuyasha. Could he have been wrong? Then Inuyasha's body flickered and disappeared. Seven smiled and whirled around, the fight had begun! Inuyasha darted out of nothingness wielding the fully transformed Tetsusaiga. Seven yelled and met his charge. Inuyasha however had other ideas. He threw himself out of his body again, straight through Seven, then pulled his body to him. He dove at Seven's unprotected back, and sunk the Tetsusaiga into Seven's shoulder. Seven fell into a roll and came up facing Inuyasha. "YAHAA!" he laughed waving his good arm in the air. "Hot damn it worked!" Inuyasha glared at him. "Don't you ever do that again."
Seven ignored him and started jumping up and down. "Stupid boy, do you realize what you just did?" Inuyasha frowned. "What do you mean?" Seven threw his swords to the bank near their sheaths. "You have reached the heart of the sword! Now all you have to do is master it!" Inuyasha looked down at the transformed Tetsusaiga. It glowed and pulsed in his hands, feeling the soul of its master and binding them together. Inuyasha could feel the song of the sword; he could feel his strength grow. He smiled. "You did that on purpose didn't you?" Seven nodded. "It was either that or attack Kagome, I thought this way best." "Damn straight!"
Kagome and Rain had watched the fight in awe. Now that it was over they ran to the riverside. "Inuyasha!" Kagome cried running to his side. He smiled and sheathed the Tetsusaiga. "Its ok Kagome, no harm done." She stopped a few feet from his side staring at him in shock; the shock quickly turned to anger. "Inuyasha you scared me half to death." Inuyasha frowned "you to huh?" she glared at him "you, why you, SIT!" he slammed into the stream, Seven jumped in surprise. "Did I miss something?" she glared at him and stormed off. Rain shrugged and turned to follow Kagome. Seven sighed and went to help the waterlogged Hanyou up.
The next day Kagome was the first one up. Inuyasha was above her as usual in a tree and Seven and Rain were sleeping on either side of his case. She decided that it was a good opportunity for a bath so she gathered her supplies and headed for the stream. She reached it and quickly took off her clothes and slid in. the water was cold, she quickly washed her hair and then swam around to rinse. "Why good morning Kagome-samma."
Kagome gasped and turned around. To her surprise Miroku was standing on the bank smiling. She blushed and sank even deeper into the water. He laughed and turned away as to give her privacy, unfortunately for him it was to late. SMACK! Sango met him mid turn and slapped him hard across the face "HENTAI!" she grabbed his ear. "You go back to the camp right now and get breakfast ready." He nodded and tried to free his ear. She released him after a moment and smiled. "Be a good boy now." She kissed him on the cheek and he went off into the trees. Kagome slowly swam to the stream edge and got out. Sango handed her a towel and sat on the bank. "Sorry about that Kagome, I didn't think you would be up yet," Kagome smiled. "That's ok, welcome back." Sango smiled. "Thank you, its good to be back."
When they got back to camp all hell had broken loose. Miroku was hiding behind Inuyasha and Seven was trying to restrain Rain who was screaming curses at the monk. Kagome frowned. "What did you do this time Miroku?" the monk peeked over Inuyasha's shoulder. "Ah Kagome, Sango, thank God." He quickly walked over to them avoiding Rain and Seven. "All I did was introduce myself." He explained. "Sango glared at him. "And how did you introduce yourself?" he scratched his head and smiled "well that's not that important is it?" SLAP! Once again Sango's hand connected with his face. He sighed and sat down hard, rubbing his cheek. Sango sat next to him and smiled at Rain. "I'm sorry my husband can be a little ecchi at times."
"HUSBAND!?" Inuyasha screeched staring at them in shock and horror. Kagome likewise was staring down at her friends in surprise. "You got married?" Sango smiled and nodded taking the monks arm. Miroku smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. Inuyasha was still sputtering red faced and shaking. Seven started to laugh, "well that's a relief." He ran to Miroku's side and started to shake his hand. "Congratulations, I know you two will be happy together!" Miroku nodded. "Thank you Seven, I am sure we will." It was several minutes before Inuyasha had calmed down enough to speak. He looked from Sango to Miroku and then to Kagome, then he leapt off into the trees and raced away. "I wonder what's wrong with him?" Kagome asked herself. Seven smiled. "I think he just needs some time to think." She gave him a questioning look "what do you mean?" he shook his head. "I will let him tell when he is ready."
Inuyasha stopped a short distance from camp. He dropped to the ground and stared at the trunk of a tree damn it how could they have gotten married? How was it possible? He paced back in forth wondering what to do. He had promised himself that if Miroku and Sango had gotten married that he would marry Kagome. What was he going to do, wait! Nobody else knew, he didn't have to go through with it. After all he had only been joking. But, I want to marry her. He stopped staring at nothing. I want to marry her, I want her. The monk could give me some advice, wait that's the worst idea I ever had. Seven!
Inuyasha returned shortly before midday. Rain had fallen asleep next to Seven and had her head on his chest. Kagome had started a fire and was boiling water; there were several Ramen cups next to her. He jumped out of the trees and landed across the fire from Kagome. She started in surprise spilling water into the fire but quickly regained her composer quickly. "Good morning Inuyasha!" she smiled cheerily. He glanced at Seven and rain to make sure they were asleep, then he smiled as well. "Yes, good morning Kagome." She blinked in surprise and handed him a Ramen cup. He took the cup "has Seven improved?" she nodded. "I think his blood is strengthening, he is breathing normally now and his face is no longer pale." He nodded, "good, I couldn't find a single damn Miko to come help." Kagome giggled. "I wonder why?"
A low moan from the direction of Seven caught the attention of the pair next to the fire. Seven moaned again and opened his eyes. With his free arm he rubbed his eyes and looked down at Rain. She was still breathing slowly. He smiled warmly and rested his hand on her back, her eyes clenched and her fist flew up, straight into Seven's jaw. He bit back a curse as his head snapped back. Rain sat up "Hentai!" Seven rubbed his jaw slowly. "What are you talking about woman!" she glared at him. "You know damn well, trying to feel my up!" he looked at her in shock, "I assure you I had no such thoughts!"
Kagome couldn't keep her laughter in any more. Seven and Rain looked at her and Inuyasha, both shaking with laughter, "are you sure you aren't related to the Monk?" Inuyasha asked. Seven blanched and then smiled. "You never know!" then he started to laugh as well, Rain looked mad for a moment, then unable to help herself she started to laugh as well. They continued to laugh for several minutes, it seemed to ease the memory of the previous night.
Inuyasha was the first to stop, returning to his usual tough guy act. Seven tried to stand and gained his feet with the help of the tree. Rain stood as well walking over to the fire. "What's that?" she asked pointing to the Ramen cups. Kagome laughed and spent a minute explaining them to Rain. Seven staggered over and plopped down next to Inuyasha. "Damn she has a good upper-cut." Rain smiled wickedly and sat between Seven and Kagome. Seven inched away and poured water into his cup. Kagome laughed again.
By that evening Seven was up and about. His wounds had disappeared and he seemed back to full strength. Inuyasha was up in a tree and Kagome was showing Rain her schoolbooks, the girl seemed fascinated by them. Inuyasha had gone out again to retrieve Seven and Kagome's bags, arriving just before sunset. Kagome had lent some of her clothes to Rain, as hers were in terrible condition. Rain was now wearing a knee length blue skirt and a blue short sleeve shirt. Seven had discarded his shirt and coat and was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and had a black trench coat next to him. His case was open and he had placed his sword back inside. Inuyasha got his first look inside and saw that Seven did not like to travel lightly. Seven looked up at the Hanyou. "Hey Inuyasha, want to try your luck?" Inuyasha smiled down "you think you stand a chance?" Seven laughed, "bring it on!"
Inuyasha jumped down landing between Seven and the girls. Seven reached into his case and drew out two matching katana's. One was the one he had been using before but they were obviously a pair. He held both in his left hand. "Hey Kagome, Rain, I'm gonna go teach Inuyasha a lesson in humility, want to come?" Inuyasha barked a short laugh and headed away from the camp. Rain jumped up and followed him, Kagome sighed. "Men!" and then stood to follow.
Inuyasha stood across the stream from Seven. They had chosen a spot at the top of a waterfall to duel. The two men faced each other; Rain and Kagome were at the edge of the woods. Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga; once again it failed to transform. "Come on!" he yelled in frustration. Seven held each katana by the hilt and stabbing each into the earth drew them out of their sheaths, leaving the sheaths protruding from the ground.
Seven went into an on guard position, holding one blade before him and one behind. Inuyasha held the Tetsusaiga with both hands in front of him. "Inuyasha, transform the sword!" Seven called. Inuyasha shrugged "it doesn't want to." Seven charged jumping across the stream landing next to Inuyasha. He swung up and Inuyasha barely deflected one sword before the other was swinging for his head. Seven didn't stop for a moment, driving Inuyasha into the trees. "Come on boy!" he called. "Search the sword, seek its answers!" Inuyasha growled and deflected a blow that was aimed for his leg. Then it hit him. Seven was not playing; he was trying to make him transform the Tetsusaiga. As in the past he was forcing Inuyasha to learn or die.
Inuyasha had his back to a tree now. It was unreal how fast Seven was attacking. The two blades were barely visible as he attacked again and again. Inuyasha knew he couldn't keep it up for long. Seven swung at his head and Inuyasha ducked under the blade, and darted foreword. He hit the ground and jumped back to his feet only to be attacked again. He backed into the stream, fighting for his life once more every time he tried to look into the heart of the sword his search was shattered by Seven's attack. He was desperately trying to buy the time to try to transform the sword. Seven called out again. "Prove to the sword you can fight, prove to the blade your soul fights for something other than yourself, prove to its heart that you have the will to survive!"
Inuyasha was almost to the edge of the waterfall. The water fighting against him as well as Seven, it was all he could do to keep up his defense. Seven swung both of his blades in. Inuyasha darted foreword and locked all three blades together. Seven smiled cruelly down at him. "Fool boy, I thought you were better than this, I was wrong!" he thrust him back over the edge of the falls. Inuyasha stepped back into nothingness, time seemed to slow. Then he seemed to move out of himself. He stopped and felt his body fall away, yet he did not move. He stepped back foreword onto the water; it was as solid as ice. Seven was standing in front of him, but he was looking past him over the falls. Inuyasha turned and saw himself falling, but much slower than normal. Then he remembered. He darted foreword, unlocking the power of the sword.
Seven stared over the falls at Inuyasha. Could he have been wrong? Then Inuyasha's body flickered and disappeared. Seven smiled and whirled around, the fight had begun! Inuyasha darted out of nothingness wielding the fully transformed Tetsusaiga. Seven yelled and met his charge. Inuyasha however had other ideas. He threw himself out of his body again, straight through Seven, then pulled his body to him. He dove at Seven's unprotected back, and sunk the Tetsusaiga into Seven's shoulder. Seven fell into a roll and came up facing Inuyasha. "YAHAA!" he laughed waving his good arm in the air. "Hot damn it worked!" Inuyasha glared at him. "Don't you ever do that again."
Seven ignored him and started jumping up and down. "Stupid boy, do you realize what you just did?" Inuyasha frowned. "What do you mean?" Seven threw his swords to the bank near their sheaths. "You have reached the heart of the sword! Now all you have to do is master it!" Inuyasha looked down at the transformed Tetsusaiga. It glowed and pulsed in his hands, feeling the soul of its master and binding them together. Inuyasha could feel the song of the sword; he could feel his strength grow. He smiled. "You did that on purpose didn't you?" Seven nodded. "It was either that or attack Kagome, I thought this way best." "Damn straight!"
Kagome and Rain had watched the fight in awe. Now that it was over they ran to the riverside. "Inuyasha!" Kagome cried running to his side. He smiled and sheathed the Tetsusaiga. "Its ok Kagome, no harm done." She stopped a few feet from his side staring at him in shock; the shock quickly turned to anger. "Inuyasha you scared me half to death." Inuyasha frowned "you to huh?" she glared at him "you, why you, SIT!" he slammed into the stream, Seven jumped in surprise. "Did I miss something?" she glared at him and stormed off. Rain shrugged and turned to follow Kagome. Seven sighed and went to help the waterlogged Hanyou up.
The next day Kagome was the first one up. Inuyasha was above her as usual in a tree and Seven and Rain were sleeping on either side of his case. She decided that it was a good opportunity for a bath so she gathered her supplies and headed for the stream. She reached it and quickly took off her clothes and slid in. the water was cold, she quickly washed her hair and then swam around to rinse. "Why good morning Kagome-samma."
Kagome gasped and turned around. To her surprise Miroku was standing on the bank smiling. She blushed and sank even deeper into the water. He laughed and turned away as to give her privacy, unfortunately for him it was to late. SMACK! Sango met him mid turn and slapped him hard across the face "HENTAI!" she grabbed his ear. "You go back to the camp right now and get breakfast ready." He nodded and tried to free his ear. She released him after a moment and smiled. "Be a good boy now." She kissed him on the cheek and he went off into the trees. Kagome slowly swam to the stream edge and got out. Sango handed her a towel and sat on the bank. "Sorry about that Kagome, I didn't think you would be up yet," Kagome smiled. "That's ok, welcome back." Sango smiled. "Thank you, its good to be back."
When they got back to camp all hell had broken loose. Miroku was hiding behind Inuyasha and Seven was trying to restrain Rain who was screaming curses at the monk. Kagome frowned. "What did you do this time Miroku?" the monk peeked over Inuyasha's shoulder. "Ah Kagome, Sango, thank God." He quickly walked over to them avoiding Rain and Seven. "All I did was introduce myself." He explained. "Sango glared at him. "And how did you introduce yourself?" he scratched his head and smiled "well that's not that important is it?" SLAP! Once again Sango's hand connected with his face. He sighed and sat down hard, rubbing his cheek. Sango sat next to him and smiled at Rain. "I'm sorry my husband can be a little ecchi at times."
"HUSBAND!?" Inuyasha screeched staring at them in shock and horror. Kagome likewise was staring down at her friends in surprise. "You got married?" Sango smiled and nodded taking the monks arm. Miroku smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. Inuyasha was still sputtering red faced and shaking. Seven started to laugh, "well that's a relief." He ran to Miroku's side and started to shake his hand. "Congratulations, I know you two will be happy together!" Miroku nodded. "Thank you Seven, I am sure we will." It was several minutes before Inuyasha had calmed down enough to speak. He looked from Sango to Miroku and then to Kagome, then he leapt off into the trees and raced away. "I wonder what's wrong with him?" Kagome asked herself. Seven smiled. "I think he just needs some time to think." She gave him a questioning look "what do you mean?" he shook his head. "I will let him tell when he is ready."
Inuyasha stopped a short distance from camp. He dropped to the ground and stared at the trunk of a tree damn it how could they have gotten married? How was it possible? He paced back in forth wondering what to do. He had promised himself that if Miroku and Sango had gotten married that he would marry Kagome. What was he going to do, wait! Nobody else knew, he didn't have to go through with it. After all he had only been joking. But, I want to marry her. He stopped staring at nothing. I want to marry her, I want her. The monk could give me some advice, wait that's the worst idea I ever had. Seven!