Sero Hour

Disclaimer: Inuyasha don't own, I do.

Ashitaka/Raynin/Whaterverthefuckyouareatthecurrenttime: Yeah, Tim's a slow half-ass. You get used to it, though.

Maleficent

MOUNTAINSIDE

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

You guessed it. That was a Sero scream. He had just tripped and nearly fallen to his death again, but was saved when he fell on a platform that really WAS stable. He sat on it for a few minutes collecting his thoughts before the platform began to shake and he was off again!

Now Sero could see where this gauntlet ended, and was nearing it when not just the platform he leapt off of but an entire section of the mountain came loose and began to tumble downward. Sero dodged for five minutes nonstop begore he overcame the gigantic piece of rock and with one mighty leap he was on stable land once again.

"…. *pant* *pant* *pant*… fuck… yes…" And with that Sero fell to his knees and let the air he was deprived of for five minutes pour into his lungs. He was only able to stand up because of the one emotion coursing through his body: anger at the hippie. No, he didn't have a reason to be angry with Miroku but he was the most logical scapegoat at the moment. "I'm gonna kill him," Sero muttered through clentched teeth as he began to swiftly travel farther up the side of the mountain.

After about ten minutes of climbing, Sero could smell wolf close by. And human, too. He followed the human scent until he reached a small cave behind a waterfall that reeked of wolf to the point he almost couldn't smell the humans. Sero hid behind a rock and peered into the cave. At the entrance there were two wolf demon guards with spears, and behind them were dozens of wolf demons wadering aimlessly about. At the far end of the cave Sero spotted the three humans talking to a wolf demon. Not that he noticed anything but the fact that Miroku was at the far end of the cave, and that if he ran full-speed he could most likely get to him untouched.

Sero ran up to the two guards at the entrance and they crossed their spears as if to bar his path. "Halt. Who are yo-" they began, but Sero had already leapt over them and began running at full-speed straight towards Miroku, who looked up at him.

"Hey, Ser-" *WHAM* Sero tackled Miroku to the ground and was on top of him, choking him as if to squeeze the pervertedness right out of him.

"LEAVE ME BEHIND, WILL YOU!?!? I'LL SHOW YOU!" By now four wolf demons had pried Sero away from Miroku, and Sango was at his side while Ashley tried to calm Sero down. Kouga, wide-eyed, crouched next to Miroku.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live."

"Do you know that man?"

"There's the son of Inuyasha for you…."

Kouga frowned and looked at Sero, who was sitting in a cave corner being lectured by Ashely where several armed wolf demons stood nearby. "Why am I not surprised?"

After another five minutes of lecturing Sero and Ashley came over to sit with Kouga, Sango, and Miroku, who edged away from Sero with a fearful expression on his face.

"Sero," Sango said, "meet Kouga, leader of the wolf tribe." Sango motioned to Kouga. Sero stood and bowed, as did Kouga.

"Name's Sero. I'm the son of Inuyasha, nephew of Sesshoumaru, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah…" Kouga began to chuckle at this. "What's so funny?"

"You're much more laid back than your father. But it also seems you're just as violent as him."

"I'll take that as a compliment and hope you never say it again."

Kouga laughed at this, too. "Maybe you aren't as laid back as I though you were."

They talked for another half-hour about Sero's journeys since he left America and of the events that had transpired in Japan. Finally Sango asked a question that was pissing her off.

"Sero, why did you attack Miroku?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr…." Sero growled, making Miroku take cover beind Sango. "Well…." Then he told the story of his battle with Ghost and of his lucky escape. He left out the part about the tree being stuck to his head. Then he told them about his dangerous climb up the booby-trapped mountainside, and Kouga remarked that his booby-traps were a relative success.

"So you're telling, me," Miroku said with confidance regained, "that that loon is still wandering around?"

"Pretty much."

Miroku was just about to give Sero holy hell for letting that murderer loose when a wolf demon ran into the cave screaming for Kouga. "What is it?" Kouga ran to the wolf demon to receive the message.

"An intruder wearing a black cloak attacked us and is now marching swiftly up the South side of the mountain. Our weapons were useless against him." Kouga then gave orders to his men to spread out and search for the intruder and kill on sight.

"Sero," Kouga asked, "is this the person you fought?"

"No. The freak that attacked me wore armor, not a cloak. And we were never on the South side of the mountain."

"This is bad, now there's two of them!" Ashley was getting gittery.

Everyone talked for about another half-hour until they got word again from one of the wolf demon forces patrolling the mountain.

"We encountered him but our weapons couldn't touch him! We have many wounded and he is still advancing quickly."

Kouga was agrrivated by this sudden turn of events. "Don't worry, I have a new plan. Pull back and let him come here. They are probably after Sero, but once they get here I have a surprise for them!" Behind him Ginta and Haggaku (the wolf demons with a mowhawk and spiky hair) loaded handguns. (O_o)

"Right!" The wolf demon seemed to be quite happy to be pulling out of the battle with this invader. He just hoped that Kouga could handle this guy.

They walked outside near the waterfall and waited. After about five minutes or so a wolf demon ran down the path towards them.

"Kouga! We pulled back, but I was sent to inform you that the intruder is coming! Not only that, but he's right on my tail!" The wolf's voice was obviously filled with fear.

"Don't worry, I have this all under control," Kouga said calmly. "Now we wait."

They stood there in silence for five whole minutes, only the waterfall could be heard. Then, a man was seen coming down the same path the wolf scout walked down. He was standing hunched over, and was covered in a black cloak with several rips and tears in it. He stoped suddenly about ten feet from our "heros" and didn't say a word. Without warning Kouga sprang into action.

"FIRE!" Kouga's command shattered the silence as Ginta and Haggaku drew their handguns and fired at the cloaked stranger, who's hand shot out and threw his cloak off, obscuring everyone's view of him. Ginta and Haggaku emptied their entire clips firing at the man behind the thrown cloak. but when it fell from the air and let them see their "visitor," they were stunned in more ways than one.

For one, he was alive and standing. The second thing that startled them was his appearance. He seemed to posess the size and face of a fifteen year old boy, but he had a yellow triangle painted on his forehead. The expression on his face was totally unreadable, much like Sesshoumaru. He wore a most elaborate red kimono that's colors would ripple as if it were alive.

Ginta and Hagguaku backed up slowly. There was no way they missed every shot. Kouga got into a fighting stance. "I don't know who you are, but your leaving… NOW!" Kouga leapt into the air and aimed his fist directly at the boy's face. The boy merely sidesteped, and Kouga was thrown forcefully at a wall with a loud crack.

Everyone rushed to his aid but he stubbornly stood up with much difficulty, ready to fight again. "No, Kouga, sit down. He's here for me." Kouga looked over at Sero and tried to protest his actions, but was too late as he was already walking towards the boy.

Sero drew the Tetsusaiga and got into a battle position. He ran at the boy and swung. Once again, the kid merely sidesteped a little and Sero's sword was flung in another direction. Unluckily, Sero was still holding onto it, and slid across the ground. He quickly stood back up and ran at the boy only to be tossed across the ground again. He repeated this vicious cycle many times before he stoped to think about what he was doing.

Sero looked over the boy. There didn't seem to be anything special about him. Wait… why couldn't Sero smell him? Now that was strange. Then he saw it, the boy's aura.

"This may possibly be a little bit of overkill on my part, but you started it!" The Tetsusaiga crashed down on the ground and sent the Kaze no Kizu careening towards the boy. The moment the beams of light hit him, a flash of light appeared and obscured the views of eveyone. When the light dimmed, the boy was still standing there, but everything around him lie broken and decimated.

"This it like a deleted epesode of the Twilight Zone!" Sero was furious, and ran at the boy full-speed. This time, the boy thrust his arms out at Sero when he was about two feet away, and sent him flying into a wall at high speeds just like Kouga.

Sero looked up at the boy, anger written all over his face. He was having trouble standing up, and fell back to the ground. He looked at the boy once more, and watched the falling leaves from the trees cascade around him (it's fall. Sorry, forgot to mention that). Literally. A leaf was going to land on his shoulder, but whipped around him in a two-foot radious. He was untouched by the leaves. He had a barrier. A god damn, mother fucking invisible barrier.

Suddenly, everyone heard a clanking to their right, and looked in that direction in awe. Sero just wished that he wasn't so preoccupied with his current fight that he would have noticed that Ghost had walked right up the path towards them, directly under their noses.

"What is going on here?" Ghost looked from Sero to the young boy, his face showing puzzlement. Miroku whispered something to Kouga, whose eyes suddenly lit up.

"YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT GHOST WAS THE PERSON THAT WAYLAYED YOU!" Kouga was screaming in Miroku's ear. Ghost merely ignored everyone but Sero and the young boy and drew the Akujin.

He ran at the kid and thrust Akujin out at the boy's face, but just like Sero and Kouga before him, Ghost's weapon slid around the boy. Before the kid could stick his hand out to blast Ghost backwards, he leapt away.

"Just as I thought." Ghost smile turned into a frown. "I hoped I'd never have to battle YOU, Maleficent." Kouga gasped and the boy called Maleficent smiled. "Yours is said to be the strongest barrier ever, nothing is supposed to be capable of bypassing it." Now Ghost smiled. "That's why I had Totousai make me this sword…."

Ghost slid his hand across Akujin's blade. Slowly, four runes began to glow a soft blue across the blade. Soon the runes were a bright blue that radiated light. Ghost leapt into the air and brought Akujin down upon Maleficent's head!

"AKUJIN! BARRIER BREAK!"

When Akujin was two feet away from maleficent there was a flash of light and suddenly the barrier was visible! There was another flash of light, and Ghost was thrown back against the ground. More runes appeared on Akujin, and once again he tried his Barrier Break tecnique, but he was bounced back again. Once more, runes appeared. Now the sword seemed to be covered in blue runes, and he performed the Barrier Break one last time. This time, however, he was only knocked back a few feet.

Maleficent created a green enery ball in his hand and threw it at Ghost, who sliced it in half. Maleficent began to throw several energy balls at Ghost, who blocked all of them, sending them flying in every direction and demolishing their sourroundings.

These two seemed to be at a draw. Ghost could not get through Maleficent's barrier, and Ghost's sword was allowing him to block Maleficent's projectiles. Everyone was silent as Ghost and Maleficent stared eachother down. The silence was broken when a loud clicking was heard. Ghost reached over to his right shoulder and checked a small device that seemed to be a compact Geiger counter. His eyes widened.

"So, Maleficent, since when have you become radioactive?" Ghost's eyes narrowed at his adversary, who's face remained impassive. Ghost's face twisted into a menacing sneer. "Was it since Naraku defiled your master's shrine? Is that why your after the son of Inuyasha?" Ghost was becoming visibly angry. "Out with it!"

Without warning, a large demonic aura began to fill the sorrounding area. Sero, who supposedly was too injured to even think clearly stood up slowly and caught everyone's attention. He looked up at his two opponents, and his eyes glowed blood red.

"How?!?" Ghost whispered, his eyes wide with amazement. His amazement was halted, however, when he clentched his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he ran full speed at Sero.

Ghost swung Akujin at Sero's head, and he ducked under the blade. Then he thrust at Sero, who sidesteped the strike. This went on for about five minutes, and Ghost's fury only grew. Finally, Sero sidestepped another swipe of Akujin and flung his hand at Ghost, his claws out and prepared to wipe every feature from his face. Ghost dodged backwards, causing all but one claw to miss, and that claw dug a deep diagonal gash from his chin to his forehead across his nose.

Ghost stumbled backward and fell to the ground, droping Akujin and covering his face with one of his hands. Eyes of pure loathing gazed upon Sero through Ghost's fingers as blood poured through them and onto the ground. The Geiger counter's clicking was even louder this time, and Ghost didn't even have to look at it to reach a reasonable conclusion.

"The radiation does this to you, doesn't it!?!" Sero only smiled sinisterly at him. "How?!?"

"When you were blocking the radioactive energy attacks from Maleficent, I was hit by a stray one. As for why radiation works on me like this, that is not a story for your ears." Sero turned his attention to Maleficent and drew Tetsusaiga, and was sent another wave of shock: the sword was red.

Miroku saw the red blade and knew from that instant that Sero could win. "Sero! Now the Kaze no Kizu can break barriers!"

Sero nodded and extended his aura to meet his opponent's once again, saw the void, and sliced. Red waves of energy flew towards Maleficent and tore through his barrier leaving him unprotected and bare. Sero rushed him, slicing Maleficent's thrown projectiles in half as he ran. Soon he was within striking range. Maleficent rose his arms over his face to shield his eyes as the Tetsusaiga split him in half diagnoally. There was no blood, but when Maleficent's body hit the floor it turned to stone.

Satisfied, Sero balanced Tetsusaiga on his shoulder and turned to Ghost. Rather than seeing fear in Ghost's eyes, Sero saw anger in its purest form. Ghost removed his hand from in front of his face and picked up Akujin as he got to his feet, and covered his face with a sneer so fueled by anger you could feel it. He ran at Sero and fought with all the skill, strength, and speed he could muster. Yet this seemed not to be enough, for Sero's radioactive-enhanced body was more powerful than ever before, and it got to a point where Sero was blocking moves that Ghost hadn't even done yet. Finally, Sero blocked a swing, spun around, and kicked Ghost in the face, sending him sprawled across the floor.

Ghost slowly stood to his feet, the cut in his face was bleeding uncontrollably as a new black eye was placed neatly upon his visage. Still his body shook with anger and his eyes burned with hate. Akujin's runes all went out one by one, and the sword then was sheathed at Ghost's back.

"He's gonna make a break for it!" Upon Miroku's announcement, Ghost sprung away at high speeds before Sero could react. Ginta and Haggaku were on Ghost's tail immediately. Ghost leapt off the side of the mountain and into the nearby waterfall, causing Ginta and Haggaku to halt their persuit.

"Quickly, we must go to the bottom of the waterfall and search for him!" Ginta shouted, and the two of them were off. As soon as they were gone, Sero fell on one knee and balaced himself on the Tetsusaiga. Ashley quickly ran to his side.

"My enhanced state is helping me deal with this pain, but I'm pretty sure that I have a broken rib or two," Sero muttered before falling over and blacking out.

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

Sorry this is late. I've been busy doing shit. So sue me.

Note from Tim: Dear Ungrateful Reader,

This is Dante, a.ka. Tim. There are several factors that contributed to the loss of chapter 7's schedual. One of them is my computer. Microsoft Word, in which I write, deleted itself forty-seven times. Always overnight, when I was trying to sleep. It also deleted all related components, such as word documents. I lost parts of my fic, and so am doomed to time loss. Reason 2 is laziness. And reason 3 is evil. When I find your address, you will be bombarded with the Infini-mix. You must also know that after giving up in frustation and doing research (playing Viewtiful Joe and watching Yu Yu Hakusho), I decided to do it out of consideration for Random. Now, I hate everyone except relatives and close friends. We were also working on other concepts for future chapters. So, in short: Fuck off, it's not my problem.

Dante Away!!!

Note from Random:

Raynin, if you think that was harsh, have pity on the guy. It's his time of month ;). I'll keep the Infini-mix away from your comp, too.

Stay tuned.