Disclaimer: this isn't a fanfic if I owned inu yasha's ass. Jen and Zirik are mine, and I will kill any who say otherwise or use them for their own devious or perverted selves.
Last time: Zirik and Jena talked about themselves to the groups they were with. While Jen was getting bandaged up and talking about how she got there four years ago, Zirik spoke of himself and Jena while searching for Inu Yasha and Kagome. Needless to say, both parties were reunited when Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Kirara, and Zirik met with Inu Yasha. Things got a little mushy between the new chars.
Chapter 5: Two Surprises and an Ambush
Both groups sat near the fire as Kagome cooked some ramen for all nine mouths to feed. Inu Yasha's showed the most drool, rivaled only by Jena, who hasn't eaten anything from her time for the past four years (not to say she hasn't eaten at all, it just wasn't Mc Donalds or anything). The group tried to find something to talk about, but the couple had basically said enough about each other to everyone before the big rondevus. That left only the origional inu crew to speak about themselves. All spoke about most of their pasts to the young mismatched couple, although Inu Yasha did leave out alot of details about Kikyou, who still walks the earth unable to shake the shackles of hatred or love. (damn bitch can't seem to maku up her mind, although she does seem determined to bring our favorite hanyou to hell) Zirik and Jena learn the full story about the Shikon no Tama, not to mention how dangerous it is to fight a demon who has even a single shard of the jewel on him. Throughout the talks, Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku worried about a bit of information that Zirik mentioned. They knew that Inu Yasha and Kagome are aware of Jena having some demon blood in her, but were unsure if they realised how severely tainted she actually was. Talks went on until Shippo and Kohaku fell asleep. Considering it would be dangerous to move that night, they decided to sleep where they were, with the men being lookout. The girls found a hot spring and chanced a dip, Jena only recently learning how perverted Miroku really was. She was surprised by the large scar on Sango's back, as were the other two shocked by the scars visible on Jena's chest and shoulder blade, right where the heart probably is.
It was a rather uneventful night. Zirik and Inu Yasha talked about how their adventures were at length as they kept a very close eye on the girls most importaint to them, who were sharing the same sleeping bag that night. Both Jena and Zirik realized that in the morning, Kagome was probably going to have one hell of a scare if they lingered. They thought it best to try and awaken as early as possible and get away before Kagome does, so that she wouldn't have to reveal Jena's dark secret to her as well.
The sun rose the following morning. Everyone was still asleep, although the hanyou's would awaken at a moment's notice if something was wrong. Everything was peaceful, until Kagome woke up. She stirred from her sleep and rolled over, and would have faced her friend. What she saw wasn't the same girl that crawled into the bag last night. This girl had brown hair, and had ears like Inu Yasha's sticking out of her head. There was a hanyou sleeping in her bag with her. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!"
The loud yell Kagome emmitted woke up everyone. The demon in her sleeping bag woke up with a start, her brownish yellow eyes met Kagome's as she stuck a clawed finger into her ear. "Jeez, Kagome, what the hell are you yelling about? That was loud enough to wake the de......." The demon's eyes opened wider as she noticed the look of fear on Kagome's face, and the demon gasped on horror. It was as if it knew something horrible had happened or something. Without a second to spare, the demon bolted. Just when Inu Yasha showed up with Zirik, the demon had already entered the forest line.
Inu Yasha saw how terrified Kagome was at the moment. He knew something really spooked her to have her react like that. "What happened Kagome? Tell me!"
Kagome studdered as she spoke. "A-a-a...a DEMON....w-w-wa-was in m-m-my b-b-b...."
Zirik interuppted her. "Take a breath for a minute." She took her breath, and was about to try speaking again when Zirik continued. "A demon, eh. Let me guess, brown hair with almost matching eyes, claws, dog ears, and fangs." She nodded. "Look what the 'demon' left behind."
Kagome stared where Jena was sleeping just last night, and noticed that her sword was still laying where it was. "I-It couldn't be....."
Sango and the others finally made it to Kagome and wasted no time in asking what happened. Zirik answered for her. "Nothing serious, we forgot to tell Kagome about Jena's little secret. You, Inu Yasha, you know what happens to hanyous at certain times, right."
"Of course I do,they become human when.... WAIT A MINUTE, YOUR SAYING THAT THE DEMON IS ACTUALLY KAGOME'S FRIEND."
Zirik sighed. "Afraid so, and that sword is to blame for it."
"That was Jena? Oh man, I really messed up her day today screaming like that." Kagome thought. "I've got to find her and apologize. I don't want her to get hurt because I scared her into the forest." Kagome grabbed Jena's sword and ran after the hanyou.
Zirik failed to stop her in time. "DON'T USE THAT SWORD, ITS TOO DANGEROUS FOR HUMANS." She was out of earshot by time he was able to yell that.
"Why can't she use that sword, Zirik?" Kohaku asked. "It looks normal enough to me."
Zirik looked to the group. "No time to explain. We have to get to those two before something happens. That sword is cursed. A hanyou can use it without trouble, but it has serious consequences on a human who wields it." Without another word, he took off after the two girls, with the rest in pursuit.
"Jena, wait." Kagome was running through the forest, following the parted leaves and trees that were knocked out of the hanyou's way. "Jena, wait up. I'm sorry I yelled at you."
Jena wasn't listening. She just kept running through the forest until she made it to a clearing. She stopped only because a group of tiger demons were in her way. "Dammit, not this lot again. Guess their pack is real sore that their comrades are dead." She gritted her teeth. This was going to be tough for her, ten of these demons were around her. And she could smell that at least two of them were stronger than the others. She waisted no time. She knew what they wanted, and she was going to give them something they don't want. "Tetsu Slash!" She flung herself at a demon, claws extended. She unfortunately missed as the demon donged the attack. Before she could turn, two of them grabbed her arms and held her. One of the tiger's walked in front of Jena, who snarled at the bitch. She wasn't much different from the others, she wore enough clothing to cover her private areas and had a couple demon bones formed into shoulder guards.
She grabbed the hanyou by the chin and had Jena stare her down. "So this is the strength of the skilled Knight hanyou." She spat on Jena's face. "Pathetic. To think you caused our employer this much trouble when you can't even save your pretty little hanyou ass." The tiger bitch began to circle Jena. "Heh, such a pretty little hanyou, barely even in her teens. Maybe if you didn't fuck around with my employer's work and minded your own business, you probably would have lived long enough to have your own little pups." She stopped and grabbed Jena's hair, yanking on it as she brought her closer. "But, as it stands, you and your friend have gone ahead and pissed off both our employer and us."
Jena growled at the bitch. "Excuse me for saving the villages that your bastard employer attempted to destroy. I just hate it when demons of his caliber send minions to slaughter countless innocent lives." She got her face clawed by the tiger demon bitch. "I also hate it when demons like that arrogant asshole send a bunch of fools to kill those that interfere. You make me wretch just knowing your doing his dirty work." She spat in the demon's face.
Kagome broke through the forest and saw Jena just being held there. "I have to so something. Guess I'll have to wait for Inu Yasha to show up, I'm useless without my arrows. But if I wait for him, Jena's going to die." She made up her mind, unsheathing the sword as she charged in. "The girl demon has a Shikon shard in her back, as does that one standing behind Jena. I'll get him first." She positioned the sword to stab the tiger with his pants down as she continued to charge.
Unfortunately, he sensed her coming. He got out of the way and grabbed Kagome's wrist, lifting her up off the ground. "Hey, looks like we got a live one. She's got a sword all ready to kill a demon."
The tiger girl smiled. "Guess we'll have the human stab this hanyou then, seeing as she was hoping to stab something." The tiger demons all laughed as the one took Kagome and prepared to thrust the sword into Jena with Kagome unable to get her hands off it. Jena looked behind her when Kagome got caught, and had eyes wide as saucers when she noticed the sword she was holding.
"They're going to stab me with my own sword? With Kagome still holding it?!?! I've got to break free, or else Kagome..." She struggled and managed to throw one off her arm. She turned to smash Kagome's captor in the face when he thrusted Kagome with the sword striaght into Jena's stomach. "Oh SHITTTT!!" The pain from the sword was pretty bad, but not the reason she said shit.
Tiger girl was angry for her own reasons. "You should have stabbed her heart, you bafoon. You know how he wanted her to die quick and painless."
"So, all I got to do is withdraw the sword and then....eh?" He looked at Kagome, who was, at that moment, surrounded in an unusual aura. It burned the captor's hand, forcing him to let go. Kagome landed on the ground, but the aura didn't go away yet. Instead, it became a visible pink color, which started to shift from being pink to violet and back. Kagome screamed in pain as the aura engulfed her and started to expand. Jena smashed her captive in the face and jumped in time to avoid the aura, which now looked like color shifting flames. The other demons tried to get away, but the five closest to her without the Shikon shards died as the flames engulfed them and burned them alive.
When the flames died down, Kagome was lying face down in the ground. She was still alive, Jena could smell that from the sky as she came back down, but the five that didn't get away were going to be someone's well done breakfast. Jena landed next to Kagome, noticing her scent beginning to change as Jena picked up her friend. "Dammit!! Why did you follow, Kagome?" She stared at her unconsious friend. "Why did you bring my cursed sword with you? Didn't you know the danger of it hitting a demon or a hanyou? Now you have been cursed as well." Jena's eyes flashed red with hatred. She got Kagome to safety near a tree, knowing that she would be safe there until the group arrives to find them. She then grabbed her sword and sheathed it, making sure it would stay with her, then went back a short distance before encountering the five surviving playmates.
The tiger girl was relatively annoyed that a girl had killed five of her minions. She was even more pissed that it was a human girl who killed them. And her fury went even further as she saw her hit still alive. In a rage, she lunged at Jena, claws fully extended, the intent to kill seen in her face. Jena just stared back as she fought, the red in her eyes clearly showing her own fury.
Inu Yasha, Zirik, and the others were running through the forest to try and catch up to Kagome and Jena, only to look in shock as a pink and purple flame shot up in the distance, then vanish. Inu Yasha had a very bad feeling about it. "That pink flame, its as bright as Kagome's arrows. Something's wrong, very wrong."
Zirik knew what had happened from the distance. "She used the sword on something. That definately isn't good. She'll be safe for the moment, as all enemies near her would be dead already. But I smell something nearby." He sniffed again. "Five wolves, burned alive," he thought. "And five more not too far away. STILL ALIVE." He shouted, "THIS WAY!" He and Inu Yasha quickened their pace, almost leaving everyone else in the dust.
They arrived to what would be a cat fight, if you could call it that. Jena was locked in battle with the bitchy tiger, both of them clawing and snarling at each other like animals. Then the demons noticed the fresh meat and the other demon that was to be killed. They immediately went after the hanyous that had arrived. When the rest showed up, all hell was breaking loose. The only other demon with a shard went straight for Inu Yasha, both their claws at the ready as they entered their own conflict. Zirik had drawn his katana and was busy fighting one tiger that liked to evade attacks. It drew its own weapon and the two instantly went into a sword fight. The remaining two went after Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kohaku, and Kirara. Sango threw her boomerang bone at the incoming demons, but only managed to split them up. One of them smashed the boomerang deeper into the forest as it was returning to Sango, making her draw her sword and try to stop it. Kohaku helped her by using his sickle to contain one of its arms, the chain binding it to its body. Shippo dug into his little bag of kitsune tricks, using the old 'Giant Top' illussion to subdue the demon long enough for Miroku to use another scroll on it. Kirara finished the demon off by ripping its head off after the top returned to its non-illussioned self. Sango and Kohaku had their hands full trying to kill their demon, but when Kohaku ran around the demon and trapped its other hand in the chain, it was over with a swing. That, however, was nowhere near how full handed the three hanyous were with their demon partners (no do-si-do). Zirik was having a hard time beating his sword wielding partner on sword skill, but he was beginning to combine unarmed tactics after his swings. This tactic eventually caught the demon's leg and sent him on the ground, where Zirik's sword met with the demon's heart a moment after.
Inu Yasha was busy dealing with his foe, passing swears left and right as he battled the shard fueled tiger. His rage was getting to him, but Tetsusaiga was able to supress his youkai form every time. Both demons were clawed up pretty good, but Inu Yasha was just about having enough of this. "I can't just stay here and battle this bastard till one of us dies," he thought, "Something happened to Kagome. I haven't a clue exactly, but I know something very bad has happened to her." He stared right into the demon's eyes as he swung his claw into the demon's face, giving it everything he had. "I can't allow myself to die while Kagome is in trouble!!!" The demon tried to block, but lost both his arm and his head as Inu Yasha's trade mark Iron Reaver Soul Stealer hit, shredding those parts to bits of flesh and blood. The Shikon shard laid at Inu's feet, bit he didn't care. He sniffed the air, trying to find Kagome's sent before going his own direction.
The group tried to follow him, but couldn't when they remembered about the last demon. They looked in time to see Jena send her claw right into the bitch's heart, ripping it out of the demon as her other claw took its head. The shard fell to the ground, but noone dared get near. That was because Jena had started to laugh. An evil, mischevious laugh came through her lips as she saw the corpse bleed into the ground. She then took the heart and devoured it in several bites. Sango and Shippo were disgusted by the display. Shippo had seen Hilten eat Manten's heart after Inu Yasha had felled him, but he doubted that Jena did this to gain any abilities. She then turned at them, and everyone looked in shock. The whites of her eyes were completely red, with her eye color changing again from brownish yellow to a soulless grey. She licked the blood from the heart off of her cheek, and then growled at the group. "W-wh-what WRONG with her?" was all Shippo could manage to get out of his mouth.
Zirik looked at who was standing over the corpses, both hanyou's now growling. "Its her condition. After her near death experience at home, her existing demon blood became unstable. With that, her anger fuels her transformation. She's a youkai now."
Inu Yasha had found Kagome's scent, but he was rather confused about it. It was her, yet sonething unfamiliar about it. "Doesn't smell like death, thank goodness for that. It isn't dirt either. That rules out Kikyo being here. Dammit, what am I saying?!? Where the hell is Kagome." He turned towards a tree and noticed a body laying in the shade. A body with raven black hair and clothing not of his era.
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First cliff hanger. God I'm beat. Good news too. In about a week from today, Inu Yasha is back on Adult Swim. And this time, its going to continue after he had slaughtered the bandits of the Giant Moth. Please Read and review. New chapter coming soon, say tomorrow or so.
Next time: What's wrong with Kagome, and how will the gang subdue Jena without killing her. Don't want to spoil the surprise, but Myoga will return with info that may be quite interesting.