The Will of the Sword
Disclaimer: Well…I still don't own Inuyasha and crew, but at least the story is mine…*laughs*. I hope you enjoy it, and that you will review, even if you don't like it…..^_^
Chapter Two: Waking up
"My head", exclaimed Jessie, as she lifted a hand to rub her forehead. Looking around, she took note of her surroundings. She was no longer in the museum, but in the center of a luscious green field. To her left it seemed the field went on forever, lush green blending into the deep blue horizon. To her right, off in the distance, she could see the tree line of a massive forest. Glancing at the ground beside her, she noticed her black sword case lying there. She opened the case, withdrawing the sword. Sighing, she stood, attaching the sheath to her side.
"I don't know exactly where here is, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing a lot of walking. I can't afford to be carrying extra weight", she said aloud to herself. Taking another look around, she decided that the forest would be her best bet at finding civilization, since all she could see in the other direction was grass, and nothing else. It took her a while to finally reach the tree line. Glancing at the sky, she saw that the sun was directly overhead. Midday. "That took long enough", she thought as she entered the forest. The trees were rather close together, blocking out almost all of the sun's rays. It gave a most foreboding atmosphere to her surroundings.
She hadn't walked too far into the forest when she came out into an enormous clearing. She stopped then, listening for any signs of life. All was absolutely silently. No wind, no birds, nothing. 'Hmmm…' she thought, 'Awfully quiet for a forest. Too quiet.' Her hand immediately went to the hilt of her sword and rested there. Almost as if on cue, she heard a loud rustling sound, then stomping. She faced the other side of the clearing. 'I don't know what that is, but I know it is something big.' She drew her sword and waited, mentally going over every possibility she could come up with. When the creature finally emerged into the clearing, her jaw dropped. Never had she expected this. A large bear youkai stepped into the middle of the clearing, sniffing, then looking straight at her. 'I hope all that training was worth it', she thought as met her opponent, trying to keep her mind focused on surviving this battle.
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"Inuyasha. I sense a jewel shard nearby!" Kagome suddenly blurted out as the small group walked through the forest.
"Are you sure, Kagome?" Inuyasha stopped and looked back at the girl, who seemed intent on figuring out which direction the shard she was sensing was located. She turned to him and nodded slowly.
"That way," she pointed in a northern direction and Inuyasha came over to her, bending down and letting her climb on his back.
"Come on, you two. Kagome found a jewel shard!", he called to Sango and Miroku, hesitating a second to make sure they had heard him. The two sighed, then Sango set Kirara on the ground, allowing her to transform into her larger form, then they climbed on and followed Inuyasha through the trees.
"Are we getting close, Kagome?," Sango called to her. Kagome looked back over her shoulder through Inuyasha 's flowing silver hair and nodded.
"Not much further now!", she called back to her friend. She peered over Inuyasha's shoulder, down through the treetops that he was skimming over, and finally saw the bear youkai in the clearing. "There", she shouted pointing at it. They slowly dropped down through the trees to the ground, and emerged into the clearing, weapons in hand and battle ready. Then they noticed that the youkai was not alone.
"Who the hell is that?", Inuyasha asked to no one in particular. The small group stood at the edge of the clearing watching a golden -haired young woman battle the creature. They were all shocked at her skill, as each move seemed perfectly choreographed. A deadly dance where the wrong step meant certain death. Each step was made with deliberation, each sword stroke made with deadly percision. The youkai's paw came crashing down as the girl spun quickly out of the way. The force of it landing sent her a little off balance, but she recovered quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough as the youkai brought it's other paw down at her with lightning speed. It hit her, sending her flying into a tree with tremendous force. She was a bit dazed by the blow, and her landing, but was on her feet again in a matter of seconds. Still a little shaky, she jumped right back into the melee as if nothing had happened.
"Her skill is incredible!", Miroku said in a slightly shocked voice laced with admiration.
"Feh. She doesn't stand a chance of defeating that thing. She's just a girl with a sword.", Inuyasha mumbled as he crossed his arms in front of him. "I suppose we will have to step in and save her. Of course, we have to retrieve that jewel shard anyway." He shrugged slightly, drawing his sword.
"Inuyasha, there is more than one shard here. I didn't feel it before, but I do now," Kagome said, confusion lacing her words.
As they prepared to join the battle, the girl seemed to get a lucky break. The bear youkai left himself wide open for a chest attack, and she took the opportunity. Charging it, she struck it in the chest with her sword. She lunged, throwing her entire body weight against her sword, driving it home, straight into the creatures heart. The creature let out a horrific moan before falling to the ground. It's body twitched for a moment, then was still. Panting, the girl looked at it's dead body, slightly shaking her head. Then, from exhaustion and relief, she fell to her hands and knees beside the dead demon.
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Jessie couldn't believe that she had actually defeated the demon. She stayed on her hands and knees, where she had collapsed after the battle, breathing hard, and wondering where she had found the strength to survive the encounter. She heard footsteps then, someone or something else had entered the clearing. Looking up, she saw that it was a boy dressed all in red, with long silver hair, and what seemed to be dog ears on his head. She tried to stand then, but just didn't have the strength.
"Damn," she muttered under her breathe as her legs refused to obey her. Her arms felt like they would give way at any moment. She looked past him, to the edge of the clearing and noticed that he wasn't alone. There were two girls and another man with him, and a large cat-like creature as well.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the man in red, drawing her attention back to him.
"I'm Jess..ie," she managed to get out between breaths. "Who are you?" She shook her head slightly, trying to break free from the dizziness that was suddenly impairing her senses. 'I can't pass out now', she thought, 'not when this could be yet another attack.' She looked back up at the silver haired man, her vision blurring, making one last attempt to stand. Her body overly exhausted from the walk, then the battle, finally succumbed, her arms collapsing, and just before her head made contact with the hard packed earth, darkness engulfed her.
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AN: Well, here is the second chapter! I sure hope you like it, and even if you don't, please review. I'm always open to suggestions and ideas. I would also like to send out a special thanks to Kougagurl666 for her review of the first chapter. I hope that you will like this one as well…I am hoping to update this with chapter 3 very soon. Again, thanks for reading!