You'll have to fight me, first.
Those words stunned him, and for one, brief moment, Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, just stood there, staring at the human girl who would dare defy him.
She did not move from her agressive position, and she wondered what was taking him so long to attack.
Finally, he blinked, once, and his golden eyes pierced her own green ones.
"You will move, wench. This Sesshoumaru does not bother to fight weakling little girls."
Makoto's fists clenched and her eyes burned with an inner fire. "Weakling... little... girl?..."
Tired of waiting for her opponent, she rushed forward. Sesshoumaru was taken off guard by her attack, not having expected it at all, and so her fist glanced off his right shoulder. It was a strong punch, though, stronger than he would have thought, and forced him a half-step backwards to compensate.
He raised his poison whip just as she ducked behind him and made to punch him in the back. He twisted, bringing the whip down. It hit the ground where she'd been a mere second ago, causing the grass to die and start smoking.
Sango and Shippou watched the fight with tense and worried eyes, hoping that Inu-Yasha would get back soon.
Inu-Yasha was half-way back to camp before he heared the fight. Cursing his position for being down-wind, and himself for being too distracted to hear this before, he took off through the trees quickly, hoping that Sango wasn't having too much trouble with whatever or whoever it is...
However, when he got to camp, he received two shocks. One was that it was his half-brother there and fighting, and two, that the person he was fighting against was not Sango... but Makoto.
He dropped the animal he'd killed for supper, and ran towards the two fighters. He was stopped by Sango, a hand to the shoulder.
"Wait. Look."
Angred at this, and itching to fight Sesshoumaru, he looked towards the two combatants.
What he hadn't seen clearly before, in his haste to get to them, was that Makoto was holding her own against the demon lord.
Shock registered on his face, and he heared a slight giggle from beside him. He paid Sango no mind, though, watching the fight intently now.
Rei looked up from where she'd been filling up the water skins, frowning.
Kagome slanted a look over to her cousin, a questioning eyebrow raised. "What is it?"
"I feel... a great power nearby." Her head twisted towards the camp, and she shot up. "The camp! Sango, Shippou, Makoto!"
Kagome stood as well... and yes, now she could feel it as well. She'd been getting better at controlling her priestess powers, and it allowed her to feel if there's a very powerful demon nearby. Not very handy, not yet, but she's still developing. She wondered how Rei could feel it though.
A loud scream, and they both ran back towards the camp, Kagome's concern completely forgotten.
When they arrived, they found Miroku (who'd gotten back sometime earlier) and Sango trying to hold Inu-Yasha back, and not doing a very good job of it.
The clearing before them, though, was what drew their attention next. Makoto was fighting a tall, white haired man. No, not man, demon.
"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome gasped out, looking slightly horrified. Rei's eyes were drawn to him, and she gasped as well.
"That's the power I felt... Makoto! What are you doing?!"
Makoto and Sesshoumaru were still fighting, though the girl looked worse-for-wear now, and slowing down somewhat. Still, she'd managed to get a few hits in on him, not enough to damage certainly, but one of them had disarmed his poison whip, for which Makoto was immensely grateful.
He'd gotten hits in on her as well, and hers were far worse, dripping blood from slashes across her torso and arms.
She made one, fatal mistake though. When Rei shouted her name, Makoto looked over towards her...
And Sesshoumaru took the opportunity, grabbing Makoto by the throat and lifting her off the ground. Wisps of smoke curled up from his long nails, and when he squeezed, they pierced her flesh.
Sango and Miroku finally stopped trying to get Inu-Yasha to stay still, and he ran towards the two-
Only to be blinded by a bright, green light, and nearly defeaned by a yell of "Jupiter Eternal Power, Make Up!"
AN: Ahem... I want to thank the reviewers that pointed out I had switched tenses profusely. I went back and fixed it. If anything like that happens again, please, point it out. Sometimes I get so busy I don't know which way is up, and it reflects in my writing. However, it's all fixed now, and the next chapter is up as well.
