Disclaimer: All Anime characters are the property of their respective creators, not me. This also applies for the original characters that are based on my friends who wanted to be in this story.

Author's Note: Clearly it has been a while since I've updated, but I needed a little break so I could find my inspiration again. In these months my writing style has changed considerably, but I have no intention of re- writing what I already have... it will simply change from this point on. Thanks for your support and enjoy the Fanfic!

WARNING! There Be Spoilers Ahead!
The Dragon's Shadow

A month passed without disturbances of any kind. For this reason most of our heroes had gotten bored with training if there wasn't going to be anything to fight against. Even if it was just the calm before the storm, there were those at the Masaki Shrine that were simply restless for battle. Among these were Inuyasha and Lip.

"This Warmon is as bad as Naraku," complained Inuyasha.

Miroku sighed, "It is indeed troublesome dealing with an enemy that you can only fight when they happen to reveal themselves to you, but the fact is that we have no choice so we have to wait."

"You seem awfully calm about all this," Inuyasha gave Miroku a skeptical look.

Miroku shrugged, "At least we have a chance to prepare for the next attack while we wait."

------------------------

Lip on the other hand was simply bored because he hadn't had a chance to pound Shiva. He didn't really understand why the other guy bothered training with Ranma and Ryoga, but it left him without a decent sparring partner [or punching bag as the case may be.] As a way to vent his frustration, Lip began firing off energy blasts into the sky and at the surrounding mountains.

When a loud roar emanated from one such mountain, Lip decided to make himself scarce and flew off. He wasn't actually afraid of whatever had made that sound, but he felt it would be more fun to see how the rest of them would react. He made himself comfortable up in the sky, well out of attack range and just decided to observe how the rest of the day would play out.

------------------------

"Hn?" Crystal cracked an eye open when she heard a loud roar. She had been quite comfortable sleeping on the roof of the Masaki House, but that sound seemed to register as a good excuse to get up. She stretched absently and dropped down to the ground outside the front door.

Inuyasha already had Tetsusaiga in hand and looked ready for a good fight, "Finally, some excitement around here!"

"Uh... it really isn't wise to rush into battle against an unknown enemy," noted Miroku trying to dissuade the hanyou.

Crystal shrugged, "What the hell? This is a good way to see how much my powers have improved." She darted off with the Dragon Blade in hand and disappeared into the nearby mountainside.

"... She's even more reckless than you," Miroku watched her disappear with a sweatdrop.

Inuyasha gawked, "Now wait just a second... haven't we told her not to run off by herself like this?"

"Does she listen to anyone?" Tyriel manifested himself from the shadows drawing his own sword. "It just means we have to go after her." He suddenly grew a frightening pair of demonic wings as he left Xakis take over and flew off in the direction Crystal had disappeared in.

Inuyasha turned to Miroku with a serious expression on his face, "Rally the others and tell them to get ready to deal with a powerful enemy... I don't know what that sound came from, but it has very powerful youki."

Miroku nodded, "Right..." Inuyasha took off after Xakis determined to reach the scene first. Miroku shook his head and started searching the surrounding area for anyone who was available to help.

------------------------

Crystal ventured into the tunnel that Lip's blasting had formed at the base of one the surrounding mountains. After a little while she reached what appeared to be a dead end. A few minutes later, she ran out of that same tunnel screaming.

------------------------

Kirara glided toward the scene of the upcoming battle, bringing Sango and Miroku. Ranma and Ryoga were following from the ground. Shiva had said that it didn't seem right for him to get involved and had opted to stay behind and guard the house. Kagome was a little ways behind them with Shippo since Inuyasha had gone off ahead without much prior warning.

"What do you think we're going to be up against?" asked Ranma with a little excitement in his voice. He wanted to see just how much he had improved from Shiva's special training.

Ryoga shrugged, "Whatever it was, it sounded big."

------------------------

Inuyasha skidded to a halt in time to see Crystal running away from the nearby mountain as a burst of white flames exploded behind her. Then the mountain crumbled altogether, revealing a creature that was roughly 40 feet tall. It was dragon-like, had eight heads, six wings and looked like it had just woken up from a very long sleep.

"What the hell is that?!" Inuyasha demanded of no one in particular.

Xakis had stopped several paces ahead of Inuyasha, "If I knew that, I might actually consider attacking it."

Inuyasha shook off his confusion and held out the Tetsusaiga, "I have my own method of dealing with enemies... namely attack first and wait for explanations later!" He swung the Tetsusaiga and released a lot of power in the general direction of the eight-headed monster, "Kaze no Kizu!"

------------------------

Miroku's eyes widened at the sight of the creature that Inuyasha was attempting to attack, "That thing has eight heads, appears to be 40 feet tall and breathes white fire... and we're expected to fight that thing?!"

"What else would you have us do with it?" called Ranma from the ground.

Ryoga sweatdropped, "Ranma, he has a point... we don't actually know how to fight something like that."

Sango added, "Whatever it is... Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had absolutely no effect."

Indeed, the energy had fizzled out upon contact with the huge creature's scales. They all watched as Inuyasha tried again and the same thing happened.

"Alright, so maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I thought," admitted Ranma.

"You have a talent for understatement," muttered Ryoga.

------------------------

Crystal skidded to a halt having reached the conclusion that no amount of running was going to get her away from the giant creature that was pursuing her. It seemed somehow familiar, but she wasn't about to dwell on that fact with an eight-headed creature several paces behind her capable of burning her to a crisp if she didn't watch her own back. Even so, she had a sword and it was about time she used it.

She grinned dangerously as her aura flared up around her and then transmitted the necessary power to her weapon of choice. The form of the usual serpentine dragon formed around the Dragon Blade before she thrust her arm forward, "Gozen Reiji Ryuurensha!" The blue, serpentine dragon took shape in the air above her, with electricity crackling around it.

This seemed to surprise the eight-headed monster because it had stopped its pursuit and was staring intently at this mysterious force floating in the sky. The dragon that Crystal had manifested from her own energy opened its mouth and unleashed a massive blast on the eight-headed beast. This blast seemed to vaporize one of the creature's heads, but the victory was short- lived as three new heads sprouted in place of the one that had been destroyed.

"Oh hell, a hydra!" Crystal took several steps back while the dragon she had summoned continued to hold off the hydra. Somehow this resulted in her ending up in the same section of the woods as Inuyasha and Xakis.

Inuyasha was getting ready to use the Bakuryuuha, "I don't care what it is... I'm going to destroy the whole thing at once..."

"That might work," said Crystal before Inuyasha had actually realized she was there. "It's a hydra, so if you mess up and only damage the heads... that means we'll have more mouths targeting us with fire."

Inuyasha smirked, "Don't worry. I intend to finish this with one attack."

------------------------

"Now is a good time for us to stop our advance," said Miroku catching on to what Inuyasha was planning to do. "If we get much closer, we might get swept up in the attack with that much power involved."

Ranma shuddered, "That doesn't sound like much fun."

"Still want to try to fight that thing?" asked Ryoga.

"Not if I don't have to," replied Ranma sheepishly.

------------------------

The hydra directed all heads toward where Crystal had run off to, apparently convinced she was the that had woken it up. Crystal's dragon had expended its energy and had disappeared, but the way the hydra was attacking was perfect for Inuyasha. All ten heads unleashed blasts of white fire in that general direction.

Inuyasha swung the Tetsusaiga for all he was worth, "Bakuryuuha!" The hydra's attack got swept up in the twisters released by the Tetsusaiga and the hydra was apparently ripped to shreds by its own attack.

------------------------

After Crystal was scolded for running off by herself things returned to more or less normal. Well, that is to say it was about as normal as it could be with the wrecking crew of Nerima District Tokyo living in the Masaki House along with Inuyasha and company. At least it was quiet and nothing was exploding.

Shiva joined Lip in the sky, "If you don't tell them what you did, I'll expose you anyway, so they will find out about that stunt either way."

"So what, it was getting boring," replied Lip.

Shiva shrugged, "If you're really that desperate to spar with me, I'll be happy to beat you again."

------------------------

Crystal was on the roof again, rather deep in thought. Something about that hydra had been alarmingly familiar and then it hit her. She sat up with a slightly alarmed expression on her face, "Was that Ryuukage?!"

"What's a Ryuukage?" asked Inuyasha from a nearby tree.

Crystal closed her eyes for a moment before responding, "Well, I had an encounter with that creature roughly eleven years ago... somehow before and after I was transported to this time... I know that before that encounter I certainly hadn't been in this era, but I don't remember how exactly I got transported into the future."

"So, it had something to do with that monster?" asked Inuyasha.

Crystal sighed, "If I'm right, it might have."

------------------------

"Oh look, Shiva and Lip are fighting again," commented Ranma.

Ryoga shrugged, "Like that's supposed to be surprising."

"I wonder who's going to win this time," said Ranma.

"I don't really care," replied Ryoga.

------------------------

Then night fell over the Masaki House and all was quiet. Then there was a loud rumbling from the mountain that had collapsed when Ryuukage had emerged.

To Be Continued...