Blaze Cat: there was a semi-description of her in chapter 2, I'm sorry, but if I say any more I'll ruin something I want in the later chapters. Sry!

Sero Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, god damnit. Stop stalking me. YOU! IN THE BUSHES! GO THE FUCK HOME! DON'T MAKE ME SHOOT YOU, BECAUSE I WILL!

The Ghost Emerges

HALF AN HOUR FROM TOKYO, ASHLEY'S AIRSHIP

The ride to Tokyo was very awkward. Sero kept cleaning his transformed Tetsusaia, and shoot a look at Miroku, as if he was thinking of saying something to him. Just as he opened his mouth, he would close it quickly and go back to cleaning his sword. Wait five minutes. Repeat.

This was making Miroku feel very unsettling. He was expecting a stupid insult along the lines of "you stupid hippie, why didn't you tell me the secret to the sword earlier?" but it never came. Sango was talking to Ashley the whole time, and Ashley was driving happily.

Eventually, Ashley picked up a radio-transmitter thingy and called Tokyo. "Hello?" a deep and dreamy voice said through the intercom.

"Jinenji! It's me, Ashley!"

"Ashley! Why were you gone for a whole week? Your father's worried sick!"

"You forgot to refill the emergency engergy reserves you dimwit! Anyway, we're a half hour from home, and we found us a dog boy in the city!"

"You… you did? YOU DID!?! I'll tell everyone the good news!" and with that the converstion ended.

30 MINUTES LATER

They came over some land before landing in the hanger. They could see where the future Tokyo started. There was a large, 18-foot wall encircling it, and at the entrance is a large gate. A few miles in the distance, they could see an area where there were no houses, just a gigantic hole. The largest building in Tokyo was the airship hangers, and Ashley found their correct hanger, and landed. They didn't expect to see a crowd of about thirty people waiting for them, but you can't always expect everything. Miroku was observing the crowd as they landed. There was Nobunaga, Jinenji, several townspeople they knew, Sesshoumaru… SESSHOUMARU?!? Hold the phone!

This sudden realization made Miroku jump, slaming his head on the celing, and catching the attention of Sango. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Sessho… Sess… Se… oh, just fucking look!" he said. As he positioned her face in the window and pointed. Sango gasped. It was him. The person that nearly killed them several times was waiting to greet them from a journey. Suddenly they saw Ashley walking up to Sesshoumaru and talking quite kindly, even if his face was carved in stone.

"Are you guys coming, or are you just going to stare out the window after we've landed?" asked Sero, walking down the stairs to go outside.

"No Sero, WAIT!" Too late. He was already outside and advancing towards Sesshoumaru.

"I can't watch this!" Sango said, covering her eyes.

Sero walked up to Ashley who was talking to someone who smelled like a dog youkai. "Where's Sango and Miroku?" she asked.

"Staring out the window. They weird me out some times." He held his hand out to Sesshoumaru. "Name's Sero."

"I'm Sesshoumaru" he said in a flat monotone, "and I'm your uncle."

This caused Sero to squeeze Sesshoumaru's hand a little too hard, judging from the blood seeping from between their fingers. Sesshoumaru didn't even flinch. By this time Miroku and Sango had crept out of the WoLf and up behind Sero, noticed the blood, and freaked out, entering their fighting stances.

Sesshoumaru looked up at them, and realization hit his face. "You are the ones that followed my brother around. It's about time you broke yourself out of that barrier. You know my name. But you do not know that now I own Tokyo."

This calmed down Miroku and Sango a bit, until Miroku asked "so, you're the mayor?"

"Mayor is such a dismal little word. I perfer owner, but whatever you wish to call it is fine by me."

After that, Sero was cheered on by the crowd for returning, Jinenji apologized about the energy reserves, and Sesshoumaru uncharacteristically held a small party for the return of his nephew.

After the small party, they walked to Surburban District #03, where they slept for the night. One of the townspeople contacted one of their friends about the return of the son of Inuyasha, and word spread quickly. Soon, there were people coming to Tokyo just to see Sero.

Anyone who tried to meet Sero, however, was sourly disappointed. The hanyou wanted to make friends as badly as he wanted Miroku's stick shoved up his ass, and bored people to death by just sitting in the Goshinboku and insulting them until they left him alone. All the news of him being terribly powerful could not be proven, seeing how he hardly even moved to eat. Every time Miroku walked by Sero he would just remark about how much he acted like his father, and sometimes you could hear the hanyou mutter something about hippies and elaborate sticks.

His favorite thing to do would be to sleep away the afternoons in the Goshinboku, and only awoke to eat or talk to Ashley when she visited the tree. They talked a lot and got to know each other better and even eventually enjoyed eachother's company.

Then one night, at around 8:00, Ashley ran to the tree in a hurry, and stopped at the bottom to catch her breath. "What's wrong?" Sero asked as he jumped down from the branaches of his tree.

"Someone… at the… gate… says they want to see you."

"So? They can come here!"

"Let me rephrase that, a DANGEROUS person is at the gate, and they want to see you!" Ashley said.

Sero was alarmed by her fear, and decided to go meet this stranger. He bent over. "Get on my back."

"What?"

"Get on my back. We'll get there quicker." Ashley did as he told and he zoomed away at top speed. Ashley was scared shitless from their speed, and they neared Suburban District #10, right next to the Tokyo Gate.


They didn't even reach the gate, but stoped at District #10 where there was a crowd of people. Sango ran up to Sero, and told him to follow her. They went up to the crowd and heard a man yell in an evil-sounding, raspy voice that said, "Where is the Son of Inuyasha? Where is Sero?"

Sero smelled that it was only a human, and put on a smile. "Right here!" he yelled, and the crowd parted. When he saw the man, Sero gulped.

He was at least eight feet tall, and was wearing skin-tight armor. The armor was mostly black, but had some white parts. On his golves there were two knives that were huge, and on his back was a zambeateu. His hair was short in the back, but his bangs were long and covered one of his eyes. None of that caught Sero's attention, however, as much as his eyes. They were blood red. And he wore a fanged smirk on his face as he stood towering over Sero.

When he saw Sero, his face lit up into an unearthly smile that showed off too many unnaturally sharp teeth for a human. "Finally. I know who you are, but you have no idea who I am. My name is Ghost, and I believe that I am the strongest human alive. I have trained for years against every opponent imaginable, and then I heard that the son of the great Inuyasha had returned. I have come here to test my strength against you."

"A human? Hah! A waste of my time! Go back to hiding from Naraku, and forget about trying to kill me." This Sero said to reassure himself. This Ghost's scent was almost hidden by the stench of over one hundred dead deamon's blood on his sword.

"Well, if you don't want to fight, I can't stop you, but you'll have to defend yourself at least!" Ghost yelled as he pulled his collossal sword off his back and swung it downward at Sero. Sero dodged it, but watched as the force of the blow made a trench in the ground.

"Okay then, human, but I can't be accounted for what I might do to you!" Sero yelled as he unsheathed Tetsusaiga and ran at Ghost.

"That's fine by me! But lets see if you walk away from this battle before you can be accounted for anything!" The two locked swords, and Sero was struggling for dominance, as was Ghost. Finally they broke apart and rushed eachother again.

Let me remind you, Sero only used Tetsusaiga once. His fighting style was based on the idea that an opponent's sword would not be as big as his. Having no actual sword training, Sero would just swing Tetsusaiga around blindly. Ghost would block, and use the momentum of blocking Sero's strike to spin around and slash at Sero, who would use his speed to dodge.

Finally, they broke apart again, and Ghost jumped at least fifteen feet into the air and brought his mammoth blade down in front of himself. Lucky for Sero, he moved back a few feet to dodge, but was blown backwards by the force of the blow. He had a huge gash on his shoulder.

Sero slowly rose to his feet. "This is not what I was expecting. I wanted a fight, not a target." Ghost said, his smile disapearing momentarily for the first time. This comment made Sero fume with anger, and he ran at Ghost again, this time with renewed speed. Eventually, they both deflected each other's swords out of their hands, and began to fistfight. Sero punched Ghost in the gut, and Ghost headbut Sero. Sero was about to use his claws, when Ghost rushed him.

Ghost ran at Sero and gave him a shoulder to the stomache, sending him sliding across the ground. He landed next to Tetsusaiga, and saw Ghost pick up his zambateau. Just as Ghost reached Sero, he grabed Tetsusaiga and blocked his downward strike while still on the ground. The force of Ghost's blow was pushing him into the ground and making a small Sero shaped crater.

"You are much easeier than I thought you would be. I wanted a challenge. Oh, well." Ghost said. Sango saw that Sero was losing badly and threw her boomerang at Ghost. Seeing this he leapt back to dodge it.

Sango caught her boomerang, and Ghost moved his gaze to her. Behind her there were dozens of people with guns. He smiled his unsettling smile as he sheathed his sword, then made a break for one of the buildings. He leapt on the roof of a low one, then jumped from building to building until he reached Tokyo Gate, all this time being shot at. He made it to the gate and ran straight up it vertically, and leapt over the top and out of Tokyo.

Sero slowly stood up and sheathed Tetsusaiga. His shoulder was driping blood, and his arms and face were covered in cuts.

He walked past everyone, his bangs covering his eyes, and went back to his tree to go to bed. Miroku and Sango went with Nobunaga to his house. Once there, they sat down in the kitchen. Then Miroku spoke up.

"Who was that guy? He was really strong. Strong enough to defeat Sero without much physical strain." Nobunaga waited a few seconds before answering.

"He is a Gaijin. No one knows where he came from and no one has any record of him. His past is a mystery and he has no name, which is where he got his nickname, Ghost. He has always possessed a hatred of Naraku, and that had driven him to become the greatest fighter ever. He was found one day out in the wilderness, destroying trees by using them as punching bags."

"He possessed a strength and speed beyond even Sero, and he was completely calm the whole time. How can he hold that sword and wield it the way he does?" Sango asked.

"Ah, Sango, I can answer that for you." Miroku stated. "I watched him fight, and he can wield it pretty well, but mostly his speed comes from the way he rebounded his sword off of Tetsusaiga. He was using momentum to enhance his strikes. But I have no idea how he can leap that high into the air."

Nobunaga rubbed his temples. "It seems we have a new enemy. Ghost is not done with Sero yet. His fight was interrupted. He will be back."

ONE WEEK LATER

Sero got over his loss and was back to his old cocky, lazy, boring self. You'd think he would want to train just in case Ghost would return, but not Sero. He had to be the laziest hanyou in the world. One day, Nobunaga went to the Goshinboku looking for Sero.

"Sero! Could you come down here? I want to talk to you." Sero just woke up, and meant to do a dramatic drop out of the tree and land on all fours, but being half-asleep, it looked more like he fell out of the tree and landed on his face. After Nobunaga was done laguing, he told Sero what he wanted.

Nobunaga had decided to visit the Blast Crater of the Awakening and was wondering if Sero wanted to come with him. Sero had nothing better to do (figures) and decided to follow.

They exited Tokyo through the Tokyo Gate, and entered a forest. After about five minutes of treking through the forest, the trees suddenly stopped. Nobunaga stopped at the edge of the forest and motioned for Sero to go on. He slowly walked to the edge of the crater. It. Was. Huge. It must have been mile across and eight hundred feet deep.

Sero gaped at the hole before him. Naraku did this. Then Nobunaga spoke. "This is not just a crater, it is a memorial for all those that died that day. This reminds us of all our hatred for Naraku." Naraku, who attacked us without warning or provokation, Sero thought. No one had to die, but they did anyway. He had to pay for this. He would make him pay dearly for this.

"Are you rady to go back?" Nobunaga asked solemnly. Sero only nodded and turned to leave, when his nose acted up again.

"NO!" he thought as he turned around slowly.

"What is it Sero?" Nobunaga asked, but Sero was too busy making the angriest face he could muster. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the forest some twenty feet away. The figure that emerged was about five feet tall and was bright yellow, with one horn on its forehead, and its eyes glowed an eerie blue.

"Why didn't you die?" Sero asked the creature. He noted two very large differences about the creature. One, it's legs had grown back, and were now a silverish color. It's tail, likewise, was silver, and was also not entirely visible through all the trees. Sero guessed it's tail must have grown.

"Are you disapointed? I'm sorry, but I didn't feel like dying, so I adapted to death." It replied with a smile.

"Whatever, you still look like a turd, but now you look like an unhealthy silver one." Sero said as he reached for Tetsusaiga. "Nobunaga, get back, this is going to get bloody." Nobunaga nodded and retreated.

Sero drew Tetsusaiga and attacked the creature, who's tail suddenly appeared out of the forest. Sero compensated by slicing the tail, but his sword rebounded off its new armor, and then it hit Sero and sent him sliding across the ground.

Ashley suddenly had a vision of Sero at the Blast Crater fighting with the creature from New York. "Miroku, Sango, Sero's in trouble!" she yelled to them, who grabbed their weapons and followed her to the gate and into the forest.

Sero now had a full-size view of the creature's tail, and it must have been at least thirty feet long. He had no way of getting close to it without being swat away like a fly. He leapt at the monster, who manuvered it's tail in front of Sero and hit him out of the air.

After getting to his feet again, he stared at the creature planing his next move, when suddenly he heard Ashley yell his name and run out from the forest. He looked at her and yelled "Ashley! Get the fuck back!" but while he was distracted the creature whacked him with it's tail…

…right into the Blast Crater.

Sero fell about twenty feet, hit the ground, bounced, and fell the rest of the way down. Then he landed on his head, and was knocked out.

"SEROOOO!" Ashley yelled, but received no response.

"Ashley, go with your father! We'll fight this thing!" Sango yelled, readying her boomerang. They battled for ten minutes, and they were losing energy.

At the bottom of the crater, Sero slowly opened his eyes. His head was bleeding and everything was a blur. Where's my fucking… sword. He thought. Thinking was straining. His head hurt like hell. Ha! Found it! He picked up the Tetsusaiga and used it as a cane to ascend the crater, which was much more difficult than it sounds because he couldn't see a thing.

When he reached the top, he saw Sango's boomerang get deflected by the tail of death and thrown right into Miroku. Suddenly, he saw wind, no, youki sourrounding the enemy youkai. Then he saw his own youki collide with the monster's youki and create a void in front of him. Then, the youkai's tail came straight at him. He ducked and meant to block, but in his delirious state it came out as more of a weak slash. Unexpectedly, the slash cut the void between the two youki's, and a beam of energy shot out of his sword and tore the opposing youkai into smithereens.

"….Wow…." Sero said, before falling unconcious again.

THE NEXT DAY

Sero awoke to find himself in a hospital room, and everyone, even Sesshoumaru, in the room with him. Apparently, his fall gave him multiple concussions and broken bones, meaning that it might take a few days to heal. Sero told his side of the story and how he cut the void, and Sango informed him that it was officially called the "Kaze no Kizu" or the Wound of the Wind.

"He figured it out just like his father, through madly swinging, blindness, and a near-death injury." Miroku said. Sero was the only one who didn't think this was funny.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There's your longest chapter yet. Nine pages. Though I kind of don't like the way it came out.

Note: Ghost is not just a character I used so I could add a fight, he is important later on if you pay attention and watch out for important plot elements. The story is about to get a lot deeper.