Inuyasha
Coming of Age
Chapter 15
'You are the only one who knows where the last shard of the Shikon Jewel is. Now tell me!'
'No! I would never tell you. You can do what ever you want to me because the answer to the last shard doesn't rest with me but in another...'
Kisho slowly opened his weary eyes. His dream he had during the night had been filled with things he didn't quiet understand, but at lest he got a good nights rest. He raised his large dog like head from the grassy ground to see where he was. Kisho still hadn't reverted back to his human form since he wasn't exactly sure how just yet. There was something he needed to trigger emotionally, but what that was he wasn't sure. He shook his head to greet the morning air as he stretched his sore jaws. While he did a rock flew from the sky and pegged him right between the eyes. The impact against his head made a loud thunk sound, "Ow...where did that come from?"
"From us!"
Kisho used his right clawed hand to rub his head lightly as he looked over to where the voices had originated. Walking out of the bushes was a small group of children armed with nothing more with a few handful of rocks and a few sticks. Kisho rubbed the mark on his head a little more before he rested his hand/paw back against the ground, "Hey, didn't your parents ever tell you not to throw rocks?"
"We're here to slay you, youkai!" the leader of the little group yelled out as he threw another rock.
Since Kisho was aware of the rock throwing, he just ducked his head down slightly letting the rock fly over his head, "Youkai? Oh, you mean me. Well sorry to break it to you. I'm not a youkai."
The children all looked at each other with strange looks before they spoke up again, "Well what are you?"
"Well..." Kisho rubbed his muzzled with his clawed hand as his fluffy tail behind him swayed back and forth in the grass, "...uh to be truthful I have some youkai in me. Not a whole lot." The children were silent for a brief moment before they shouted, "Slay the youkai!"
Kisho rubbed his head, "Christ, is everyone just wanting to make a name for themselves now by killing me?"
The kids began throwing their rocks and sticks at him. Kisho just ducked his head down or he swiped their attempts with his claws. He was still injured pretty badly so he wasn't going to waste his energy in standing up to dodge. Plus they were just kids after all, they weren't going to really succeed in killing him.
After about a minute or so the children all sat down trying to catch their breaths. Kisho just watched them with perked up ears, "Uh...give up?"
The children shook their head, "No...the youkai here have been slaying the people of our village...we won't let you take any more of our parents or friends..." the leader of the group managed to say between gasp.
Kisho was a bit surprise someone so young was willing to take up the responsibility of protecting a village, "Hey..." Kisho had begun to say when a foul smell caught his nose, "Get out of here! There's other youkai coming..."
"Good, we'll get those too."
Kisho growled lightly, 'Great, they are too stubborn to leave and the youkai can smell my blood from my wounds.'
As the children got back up on their feet they were instantly thrown back against the ground by a large creature with a slender body. Kisho looked over in their direction to see it was a small dragon youkai. This youkai was way smaller compared with Ryo and it wasn't nearly as strong, but it was still a youkai. It had knocked the children against the ground while it circled around in the sky. Once it was satisfy with its prey against the ground it swept down from the skies and landed a few feet away. The children scrambled back against the trees as they stared up at the hissing creature coming towards them. The dragon used its wings to walk on while it raised its head up to release its fire breath. In one giant breath of air the creature released a stream of scorching hot fire at the cowering children. In a quick response Kisho leapt into the air and landed just in front of the children. His injured back leg gave out from under him, but he held himself up with his front legs and gave a large roar. The intensity of the roar reflected the flames right back at the small dragon. The move was similar to Tora's since Kisho had learned it from the tiger. The small dragon had used its wings like a shield to block the attack from harming it.
The children all huddled behind Kisho, while he panted from exhaustion. He noticed that they were all trying to hide behind him and he gave them a light glance while he tried to keep a focus eye on the dragon, "Go hide in the forest. Don't worry, I'll get this guy."
The children nodded slowly and took off into the forest. The dragon youkai hissed and tried to go after them, but Kisho gave a sharp snap of his jaws in a warning, "Where do you think you're going?"
The dragon youkai hissed again, "You...what sort of creature are you? You are letting the food go."
"I'm not what you think. Take your little friends and leave this village."
"You are not in the position to tell me what to do!" The dragon youkai roared and charged at Kisho. As the dragon charged, Kisho slowly got to his feet fully and leaped again at the dragon. The two collided with each other and rolled across the ground. The dragon youkai wrapped its long slender body around Kisho trying to crush him, but Kisho was swinging his claws and biting down on what ever came near his neck or face.
The children peeked out from their hiding spots to see the Inu and the dragon fighting it out on the ground. The forest was filled with the two creatures roars as they struggled against each other. As the children watched the leader of the group whispered to one of his friends, "I hope the dog one wins."
Kisho and the dragon rolled across the ground until Kisho rolled on his back and kicked his hind legs right into the dragon youkai, launching the creature right into a tree. Kisho tried to get back up, but he found he just couldn't get his injured leg moving again. The dragon youkai shook its head as it looked at Kisho, "You'll pay for that!"
The dragon youkai flew up in the air above Kisho and dove right down for him. Kisho was a sitting duck...or dog. He shut his eyes anticipating the attack to strike him, but before it did someone yelled out something.
"Wind Scar!"
Kisho opened his eyes just in time to see the power of Tetsusaiga fly right above him and into the dragon youkai. The dragon youkai was engulfed in the swords power and nothing was left of him as the power past on. Kisho blinked lightly as Inuyasha landed on the ground with his sword over his shoulder, "I leave you for a moment and you're fighting a damn youkai."
Kisho couldn't believe his father just saved him. It was a first for Kisho, "Uh...sorry? I couldn't let it eat the kids."
Inuyasha sheath Tetsusaiga and stared at Kisho, "What kids?"
The children came running out and over to the two, "Wow that was great. Can you do that again? How about you help us with the village?"
Inuyasha stared at all of them before growling, "Hey, go home already."
"Hey he's got cute ears!" one of the girls yelled.
Kisho smiled since he was glad he wasn't the only one that went through the whole cute ears saga, "Maybe we can help them."
Inuyasha gave Kisho a cold stare, "We don't have time for this now. We have to find the others."
"We just can't leave them!"
"Oh yes we can!"
"Please," Kisho said trying to sound pathetic, but his 'please' sounded more like a demand, "I'm too injured to travel far anyways."
Inuyasha snorted, "Fine...I swear you take after your mother with this helping everyone thing."
Kisho blinked lightly to Inuyasha before he gave him a playful nudge with his head. Inuyasha was about to say something, but his words got caught up in his throat when he saw the happy expression Kisho had. He just crossed his arms and turned his head away, "Well if we're going to do this then lets go."
Kisho nodded his head as he slowly got up on his three good legs, "Right."
"Hey you can't go injured like that," One of the smaller children said as they ran up to Kisho.
"The runt has a point," Inuyasha said as he looked down to Kisho, "You'll just slow everything down."
"Hey!" Kisho said as he stood there, "I can still walk and run on three legs. Not to mention I still have my claws and my powers. I'm not sitting the sidelines on this...and" Kisho lowered his head down to the children's level, "I promise we'll take care of everything. So you can go back to your village."
All the children nodded their head reluctantly as they slowly began to turn and walk home. Kisho watched them for a moment before he raised himself back up to his normal position, "Let's go."
Inuyasha nodded his head as he leaped up into the trees running along the branches until he leaped into the air to land on the next set of branch of trees. Kisho ran after him on the ground using his three legs. Despite his injury he was still extremely fast on the ground.
One of the children looked over his shoulder, "Can they be trusted?"
"I don't know. They seemed nice enough."
"I don't trust youkai though..."
Meanwhile in the village that neighbors the one Kisho and Inuyasha were helping was having problems of it own with the sudden increase in youkai, but they already had a solution. They had managed to acquire a priestess to help them ward the demons off and she was kind enough to stay with them until the youkai left.
"Lady, Kikyo..." a small girl mumbled as she pulled on the priestess robe.
"Yes? Is something wrong?"
"There's a strange youkai by the river bed. It looks injured."
Kikyo nodded her head lightly as she walked over to her things to pick up her bow, "I will go see to it then. Stay here in the village until I get back."
"Yes, Lady Kikyo."
She walked slowly out to the riverbed to finish off the injured youkai. Kikyo was still determine to finish Naraku off, but right now she was just binding her time. She had heard the news about Inuyasha, yet somehow she still didn't really believe it.
The sound of the river was just up ahead and Kikyo pulled out an arrow just incase the creature would attack. She slowly approached the running waters with caution, looking around for the creature. At first she didn't even see anything until the blood in the water caught her eyes. On the far bank was a large tiger youkai laying their on its side. It was mortally injured and it must have tried to cross the river, but it didn't have the strength to go on. Kikyo brought her arrow to her bow and she pointed it down at the creature. She had no pity for it and she wasn't going to preserve mercy either. She let her purifying arrow go and the glowing arrow whizzed right for the injured youkai, but the youkai quickly got to its feet and leaped into the air. The arrow just missed its hind legs as it lunged for Kikyo. She quickly readied another arrow, but she underestimated the tiger's speed and he landed right on her. His heavy massed caused her to fall against her back and her arrow and bow were thrown into the river. His claws were pressed against her shoulder as a terrible growl rumbled from his throat.
"So...you're Kikyo," the tiger mumbled.
Kikyo wasn't in the mood for talk and she used her purifying powers in her hands and she touched the tiger's leg that had her pinned. The purifying energy reacted under her touch and sparks spited out as the painful energy ran through the tiger, but he remained unmoved.
"Rumors are true about you. You truly are the walking dead and you bring death to others. Why do you keep to this world when you have no purpose anymore?" Kikyo narrowed her eyes at the creature as she let go, "A youkai like you has nothing to say on the matter."
"I have plenty to say," The tiger hissed, "You are in a time that you don't belong to. Inuyasha has moved on and yet you linger here in the shadows. Do you have some hope in taking him away? Or do you lie to yourself by saying you want Naraku gone?"
Kikyo was silent for a brief moment, "I have not seen him, so I truly can't say, but what you say isn't true. I want to know if Kagome and Inuyasha are truly happy..."
The tiger youkai nodded as he let her up. He slowly limped down to the river banks again as he stared at the waters. Kikyo rubbed her arm as she watched, "You are dying and yet you are trying to cross the river. What keeps your soul bounded to this world?"
"...Regret," the tiger said silently as he leaped into the waters, "Perhaps I don't deserve the privileges of death."
Kikyo watched silently as the tiger made his swim across the cold waters. It had been awhile since she met a challenge like that. She turned around to walk back to the village to finish the job she was there for so she could continue on her real journey.
Meanwhile Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Keiji and Kyoko were all waiting for any signs of Inuyasha. They all had decided to remain in one spot since Keiji was sill unconscious and Inuyasha had a good enough nose to track them down. Everyone was eating dinner when Keiji woke up. He had been out for a day or so and he was lucky Kyoko had got him out of the caves before they collapsed.
"Where am I?" Keiji asked as he rubbed his head.
"Out of the caves, we were all lucky we got out in time before they collapsed. I hope I can say the same for Inuyasha and Kisho-"Miroku was saying before Sango hit him across the head.
"Don't listen to him. We're all safe, but you lost you shard in your leg."
"I saw that girl with the bow..." Keiji said as he held his knee's close to his chest.
"What girl with a bow?" Miroku asked as he placed a wet cloth on Keiji's head.
"The one that shot Kisho...his mother..."
"What?!" Everyone shouted.
"She...uh helped me. I remember when I fell I saw her shoot the demons. I don't remember anything else after that," Keiji said as he looked back to everyone.
"That means she isn't controlled completely," Miroku said as he rubbed his chin, "There's still a chance to save her and your brother Sango."
"I hope so...I don't want the same fate as Kohaku to happen to Kagome."
The whole group looked down with depressing moods, but Keiji slapped his hands together, "Come on. Stop looking depressed! Everything will work out. We'll save everyone and this world will be freed from Naraku! Because we're the only ones who are crazy enough to fight him."
Miroku pressed his hands against Keiji head, "Are you really that sick? You seem like the kind that hates everyone."
Keiji growled before Kyoko cutted in, "He is. Normally he fights with Kisho."
"Shut up," Keiji said while everyone in the group laughed. As much as Keiji hated to admit he missed hearing everyone laugh, but what he missed the most was fighting with Kisho. He was never serious and neither was Kisho when it came to their little arguments. Keiji glanced to the sky, 'You better be ok you damn mutt.'
Kisho pounced on a small demon he had been chasing until he destroyed it completely under his claws. He swung his tail from side to side as he walked through the woods, "And that makes one hundred."
"Wind Scar!" Kisho looked up to see a giant light streak across the forest ground, destroying what ever was in its path.
He sat down on his hunches as he waited for his father to come back, "I swear that's cheating."
Inuyasha landed on the ground with a light thump near Kisho, "Ha that makes one thousand."
"That's cheating! I don't have a huge sword to swing around."
"That's not my problem! You have two huge claws. Use them!"
"As loud as ever..." a cold voice from behind said. The two Inu's hair stood on end as they looked behind to see who had manage to sneak up on them.
"Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Kisho's ears perked up, "Its uncle Sesshomaru."
Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were both caught off guard by what Kisho said as they stared at him, he just sat there with a clueless expression.
"Kisho! Don't say that. He's a bad guy..."
Kisho tilted his head, "No he isn't. He helped me find you. You know he just has his special ways in helping. It's kind of painful sometimes, plus he's your brother, right? "
"Stop speaking mindless gibberish!" Sesshomaru ordered them both.
"What do you want Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha ordered as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"To see how he faired," Sesshomaru said as he looked to Kisho's direction, "I was warned about his condition."
"Yeah, by me," Inuyasha mumbled the last bit as he stared at his brother. Sesshomaru had no real expression on his face as he looked to Kisho who stood behind Inuyasha.
"I see why. You truly didn't think he'd make it through the blue moon."
"I didn't know what would happen. He already has to deal with trying to master his powers. This was not something I wanted him to go through."
"That's what you get for mingling with humans. Blood as pure as our fathers doesn't deserve to be close to a human," Sesshomaru spitted out as he walked past them both, disappearing in the forest shadows.
Inuyasha shook his head, "He really pisses me off."
"You know, I think he just came to make sure we were ok," Kisho commented as he stepped forward.
"You give him way too much credit, Kisho."
Kisho laughed lightly as Inuyasha just shook his head. As the two stood there they both caught the scent of another youkai and leaped into the air just as a blast blew the ground they were standing on away. Inuyasha landed perfectly against the ground while Kisho landed on the other side on his good three legs, "Where the hell did that come from?" Kisho said as he looked at the large hole.
"From me!"
Inuyasha and Kisho looked up to see a monkey like youkai leap out of the trees and down to the ground in front of them, "I'm here to stop you from killing my precious youkai I have created."
"So you're the bastard that's been doing this. Good, we can just kill you and finally leave this place, "Inuyasha said as he reached for his sword.
"Not so fast," the youkai monkey said as he held up one of the leader of the group of children, "You make a move and I'll tear this little mortal apart."
Inuyasha growled as he moved his hand away from his sword, "To afraid to fight us head on?"
"Hardly," the monkey youkai said as he tossed the boy to the ground with a barrier around him, "I want to fight, Kisho. I have to finish what Ryo had set out to do."
"Had?" Kisho said in confusion.
"Yes, he's been destroyed sadly, by that traitor Tora," Kisho smiled in hearing Tora had finally destroyed Ryo, "But, Tora also was destroyed as well so there's some good to that."
Kisho was shocked to hear he was destroyed. His ears laid sadly against his head as he tucked his tail down. Inuyasha noticed the sad look on Kisho's face and he wanted to say something to comfort him, but he just couldn't find the words. He opened his mouth to make an attempt, but Kisho interrupted what he was going to say.
"Fine, I'll fight you. Just one on one."
"What!?" Inuyasha shouted, "I mean...you're injured. You can't take him on right now."
"I have to...I made a promise to those kids, right? Plus I have to have avenge Tora's death by destroying the rest of these guys."
Inuyasha saw his point, but he still didn't like it. He didn't argue the subject anymore since Kisho was set on his decision. Inuyasha backed off while Kisho limped forward towards the monkey, "This better not be some sort of trick."
"No trick," the monkey said as he held a spear out in front of him, "Ready?"
"Ready," Kisho said with his ears pinned back against his head in an aggressive display.
The monkey back flipped towards the trees while Kisho lunged forward after him. Once the monkey made it to the trees he back flipped onto one tree and the he pushed off the trunk to fly through the sky over Kisho. As he flew over head Kisho had to slow down to turn around. Since he only had one back leg to use it took him a tad bit longer. While he struggled to slow down the monkey pointed his spear down at Kisho and launched another huge energy of power down at the Inu just like before. Kisho leaped out of the way, but the explosion behind him threw him off balance. He failed to land properly and he tumbled against the ground like a useless piece of garbage.
The monkey landed on one of the turned up rocks and looked at Kisho pulling himself off the ground, "I'm surprise you're so weak. The other guardians had so many problems with you before; I guess you've gotten soft. This should be easier then I thought."
Kisho growled as he barred his teeth. He got back up on his feet and charged again. The monkey used his spear again and this time ice energy shot out and struck Kisho in the shoulder.
"What the-"
"That should freeze your body completely. Killing you once it reaches your head."
Inuyasha was perched up in one of the taller trees watching, "Come on...don't let some ice finish you off."
Kisho couldn't even move his shoulder that was already frozen completely in ice. He tried his hardest to pull it out, but it wasn't budging. While he was stuck the monkey swung his spear like weapon again creating small whirlwinds that sparked youkai energy. As they came towards Kisho, he could feel the power in them serge and he struggled to get away, but he still couldn't move still as the ice was taking over more and more of his body. As the winds came closer to him they sliced through one of his dog like ears while he could feel the rest of his body being cut through like butter by sharp winds.
The winds kicked up a huge amount of dust creating a large cloud that covered Kisho. Inuyasha couldn't see a thing in the big dust cloud and neither could the monkey youkai. Once the winds dyed down and the dust began to settle, Inuyasha looked back down to where he last saw Kisho.
Lying slump against his frozen shoulder was Kisho. He was injured beyond belief while parts of his body were covered in ice. Large gashes covered Kisho's body and one of his eyes dripped blood from being damaged. His white fur was stained in all the blood that was spilled and yet Kisho was still some what alive.
The monkey held his spear out again to create another whirlwind, "Why don't you just die! What sort of creature are you? I don't see why you still fight on. You've lost and there's no hope in you winning against me."
Kisho moved his eyes towards the monkey youkai as he began to swing his spear again, "You wouldn't understand what I fight for. Hope isn't lost as long as I'm still willing to fight, I made a promise to these kids and...I don't think Tora would like it much if I died like this."
"Take this!" The monkey swung his attack at Kisho again.
"Kisho!" Inuyasha shouted as the dirt blocked his view again. Inuyasha frantically tried to see where Kisho was, "He...better be ok. I can't believe I allowed this."
The monkey youkai stood there laughing as he watched his winds engulf the entire area. In one of the whirlwinds there was some sort of gap in the middle which made the youkai wonder what it was doing. His eyes stared at it for a moment when he suddenly saw a twinkle of light, "What is that?"
Inuyasha looked down to see what the monkey youkai was looking at when suddenly the whirlwinds exploded in a burst of energy.
The monkey youkai stumbled back, "That's impossible. No one could have survived that."
"Nothing's impossible!"
The monkey youkai looked up just in time to see Kisho's claws extended out at him, but Kisho had reverted back to his human looking appearance and the ice shattered away from his body, "No!" the monkey youkai cried out, "Impossible you should be dead!"
"Purifying Claws!" Kisho ripped the monkey youkai right in half with his attack and the energy from his purifying claws made him turn into dust within second. Once the monkey was destroyed it released the barrier it had on the small boy child.
Kisho stood there for a moment motionless before he fell backwards in exhaustion. Before he even hit the dirt, Inuyasha caught him. "Don't ever do that again, Kisho."
Kisho smiled lightly as he shut his eyes to rest, "Sorry..."
Inuyasha thought his heart was going to stop ten times over during the entire fight, "I'm going to die of a heart attack at this rate."
"Um..." the young boy said as he walked over to Inuyasha, "He needs cloths. I can get him some back in the village."
"That would be good. Wait, I'll take him there," Inuyasha wrapped Kisho in his fire rat robe as he carried him off to the village with the young boy leading the way.
Iluska watched Kisho defeat the monkey youkai from Kana's mirror. She glanced over to Naraku who was silently looking out the window.
"Naraku? The guardians are almost gone. Soon you will not be able to hide your self from them."
Naraku looked to Iluska, "I hardly find that a problem. Especially since you're the one hiding something from them."
Iluska was silent as she tossed her hair back, "I'll reveal it to them out next meeting then. It should sure throw them off there little happy cloud"
"Good, the girl has located the last shard as well..."
"You mean Kagome has really found it?"
"Do you doubt what I say?"
Iluska shook her head, "No I was just thinking it took her long enough. I thought you needed Kisho."
"I still do, so we are to set a trap for all of them soon. It will be the last battle. Be sure you can handle it," Naraku snapped as he walked out the room.
"I can handle anything," Iluska mumbled as she followed him out.
-- "Thanks for the cloths," Kisho said as he looked at his new cloths.
"We're sorry if they are a little torn, but we don't have much now," the elder of the village said as he helped Kisho outside. Kisho had gotten about a half's day rest at village and it was enough for his healing powers to begin working again on his wounds. He was already partly healed.
"Oh, no that's ok. I like my new look," Kisho said as he pulled on his vest. He now had a vest over a shirt that was a dark red trimmed with green.
Inuyasha leaped down from the roof, "Move over pops, I'll take it from here."
The village elder bowed and let Kisho limp over to his father. Inuyasha grabbed Kisho gently and lifted him up on his back, "Let's get out of here before they ask us to stay for the night."
Inuyasha leaped on top of the roof to leap over the village gates leaving the village behind. As they left, the villagers all waved good-bye to the two as they slowly disappeared from sight. Kisho rested his chin against Inuyasha's shoulders.
Inuyasha felt Kisho rest his head and he glanced back lightly, "Are you feeling ok?"
"Yeah...just tired is all."
Inuyasha nodded as he continue running through the forest. He felt somewhat proud that he was carrying his son. It felt very satisfying that he was able to help Kisho for a change.
Sesshomaru stopped walking as he saw Inuyasha leap through the forest with Kisho. He had witnessed the entire fight and he was somewhat satisfied with the results. Sesshomaru knew a lower demon like that wasn't going to get the best of his nephew even if he was injured in the start. It was strange that Sesshomaru felt the need to watch over his nephew and that feeling was beginning to annoy Sesshomaru. Jaken and Rin came trotting along from behind. They had also witness the fight.
"I can't believe he jumped right through the whirlwind. What an idiot!" Jaken said as he rubbed his chin, "Takes after his father."
"I don't know. It was rather brave," Rin said with a smile.
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow to Rin for a brief moment before he continued on, "Come we're leaving."
"Ok!" Rin said as she ran after him.
"Wait for me!" Jaken ran as fast as he could to keep up with Sesshomaru who was following Inuyasha and Kisho into the forest.
Coming of Age
Chapter 15
'You are the only one who knows where the last shard of the Shikon Jewel is. Now tell me!'
'No! I would never tell you. You can do what ever you want to me because the answer to the last shard doesn't rest with me but in another...'
Kisho slowly opened his weary eyes. His dream he had during the night had been filled with things he didn't quiet understand, but at lest he got a good nights rest. He raised his large dog like head from the grassy ground to see where he was. Kisho still hadn't reverted back to his human form since he wasn't exactly sure how just yet. There was something he needed to trigger emotionally, but what that was he wasn't sure. He shook his head to greet the morning air as he stretched his sore jaws. While he did a rock flew from the sky and pegged him right between the eyes. The impact against his head made a loud thunk sound, "Ow...where did that come from?"
"From us!"
Kisho used his right clawed hand to rub his head lightly as he looked over to where the voices had originated. Walking out of the bushes was a small group of children armed with nothing more with a few handful of rocks and a few sticks. Kisho rubbed the mark on his head a little more before he rested his hand/paw back against the ground, "Hey, didn't your parents ever tell you not to throw rocks?"
"We're here to slay you, youkai!" the leader of the little group yelled out as he threw another rock.
Since Kisho was aware of the rock throwing, he just ducked his head down slightly letting the rock fly over his head, "Youkai? Oh, you mean me. Well sorry to break it to you. I'm not a youkai."
The children all looked at each other with strange looks before they spoke up again, "Well what are you?"
"Well..." Kisho rubbed his muzzled with his clawed hand as his fluffy tail behind him swayed back and forth in the grass, "...uh to be truthful I have some youkai in me. Not a whole lot." The children were silent for a brief moment before they shouted, "Slay the youkai!"
Kisho rubbed his head, "Christ, is everyone just wanting to make a name for themselves now by killing me?"
The kids began throwing their rocks and sticks at him. Kisho just ducked his head down or he swiped their attempts with his claws. He was still injured pretty badly so he wasn't going to waste his energy in standing up to dodge. Plus they were just kids after all, they weren't going to really succeed in killing him.
After about a minute or so the children all sat down trying to catch their breaths. Kisho just watched them with perked up ears, "Uh...give up?"
The children shook their head, "No...the youkai here have been slaying the people of our village...we won't let you take any more of our parents or friends..." the leader of the group managed to say between gasp.
Kisho was a bit surprise someone so young was willing to take up the responsibility of protecting a village, "Hey..." Kisho had begun to say when a foul smell caught his nose, "Get out of here! There's other youkai coming..."
"Good, we'll get those too."
Kisho growled lightly, 'Great, they are too stubborn to leave and the youkai can smell my blood from my wounds.'
As the children got back up on their feet they were instantly thrown back against the ground by a large creature with a slender body. Kisho looked over in their direction to see it was a small dragon youkai. This youkai was way smaller compared with Ryo and it wasn't nearly as strong, but it was still a youkai. It had knocked the children against the ground while it circled around in the sky. Once it was satisfy with its prey against the ground it swept down from the skies and landed a few feet away. The children scrambled back against the trees as they stared up at the hissing creature coming towards them. The dragon used its wings to walk on while it raised its head up to release its fire breath. In one giant breath of air the creature released a stream of scorching hot fire at the cowering children. In a quick response Kisho leapt into the air and landed just in front of the children. His injured back leg gave out from under him, but he held himself up with his front legs and gave a large roar. The intensity of the roar reflected the flames right back at the small dragon. The move was similar to Tora's since Kisho had learned it from the tiger. The small dragon had used its wings like a shield to block the attack from harming it.
The children all huddled behind Kisho, while he panted from exhaustion. He noticed that they were all trying to hide behind him and he gave them a light glance while he tried to keep a focus eye on the dragon, "Go hide in the forest. Don't worry, I'll get this guy."
The children nodded slowly and took off into the forest. The dragon youkai hissed and tried to go after them, but Kisho gave a sharp snap of his jaws in a warning, "Where do you think you're going?"
The dragon youkai hissed again, "You...what sort of creature are you? You are letting the food go."
"I'm not what you think. Take your little friends and leave this village."
"You are not in the position to tell me what to do!" The dragon youkai roared and charged at Kisho. As the dragon charged, Kisho slowly got to his feet fully and leaped again at the dragon. The two collided with each other and rolled across the ground. The dragon youkai wrapped its long slender body around Kisho trying to crush him, but Kisho was swinging his claws and biting down on what ever came near his neck or face.
The children peeked out from their hiding spots to see the Inu and the dragon fighting it out on the ground. The forest was filled with the two creatures roars as they struggled against each other. As the children watched the leader of the group whispered to one of his friends, "I hope the dog one wins."
Kisho and the dragon rolled across the ground until Kisho rolled on his back and kicked his hind legs right into the dragon youkai, launching the creature right into a tree. Kisho tried to get back up, but he found he just couldn't get his injured leg moving again. The dragon youkai shook its head as it looked at Kisho, "You'll pay for that!"
The dragon youkai flew up in the air above Kisho and dove right down for him. Kisho was a sitting duck...or dog. He shut his eyes anticipating the attack to strike him, but before it did someone yelled out something.
"Wind Scar!"
Kisho opened his eyes just in time to see the power of Tetsusaiga fly right above him and into the dragon youkai. The dragon youkai was engulfed in the swords power and nothing was left of him as the power past on. Kisho blinked lightly as Inuyasha landed on the ground with his sword over his shoulder, "I leave you for a moment and you're fighting a damn youkai."
Kisho couldn't believe his father just saved him. It was a first for Kisho, "Uh...sorry? I couldn't let it eat the kids."
Inuyasha sheath Tetsusaiga and stared at Kisho, "What kids?"
The children came running out and over to the two, "Wow that was great. Can you do that again? How about you help us with the village?"
Inuyasha stared at all of them before growling, "Hey, go home already."
"Hey he's got cute ears!" one of the girls yelled.
Kisho smiled since he was glad he wasn't the only one that went through the whole cute ears saga, "Maybe we can help them."
Inuyasha gave Kisho a cold stare, "We don't have time for this now. We have to find the others."
"We just can't leave them!"
"Oh yes we can!"
"Please," Kisho said trying to sound pathetic, but his 'please' sounded more like a demand, "I'm too injured to travel far anyways."
Inuyasha snorted, "Fine...I swear you take after your mother with this helping everyone thing."
Kisho blinked lightly to Inuyasha before he gave him a playful nudge with his head. Inuyasha was about to say something, but his words got caught up in his throat when he saw the happy expression Kisho had. He just crossed his arms and turned his head away, "Well if we're going to do this then lets go."
Kisho nodded his head as he slowly got up on his three good legs, "Right."
"Hey you can't go injured like that," One of the smaller children said as they ran up to Kisho.
"The runt has a point," Inuyasha said as he looked down to Kisho, "You'll just slow everything down."
"Hey!" Kisho said as he stood there, "I can still walk and run on three legs. Not to mention I still have my claws and my powers. I'm not sitting the sidelines on this...and" Kisho lowered his head down to the children's level, "I promise we'll take care of everything. So you can go back to your village."
All the children nodded their head reluctantly as they slowly began to turn and walk home. Kisho watched them for a moment before he raised himself back up to his normal position, "Let's go."
Inuyasha nodded his head as he leaped up into the trees running along the branches until he leaped into the air to land on the next set of branch of trees. Kisho ran after him on the ground using his three legs. Despite his injury he was still extremely fast on the ground.
One of the children looked over his shoulder, "Can they be trusted?"
"I don't know. They seemed nice enough."
"I don't trust youkai though..."
Meanwhile in the village that neighbors the one Kisho and Inuyasha were helping was having problems of it own with the sudden increase in youkai, but they already had a solution. They had managed to acquire a priestess to help them ward the demons off and she was kind enough to stay with them until the youkai left.
"Lady, Kikyo..." a small girl mumbled as she pulled on the priestess robe.
"Yes? Is something wrong?"
"There's a strange youkai by the river bed. It looks injured."
Kikyo nodded her head lightly as she walked over to her things to pick up her bow, "I will go see to it then. Stay here in the village until I get back."
"Yes, Lady Kikyo."
She walked slowly out to the riverbed to finish off the injured youkai. Kikyo was still determine to finish Naraku off, but right now she was just binding her time. She had heard the news about Inuyasha, yet somehow she still didn't really believe it.
The sound of the river was just up ahead and Kikyo pulled out an arrow just incase the creature would attack. She slowly approached the running waters with caution, looking around for the creature. At first she didn't even see anything until the blood in the water caught her eyes. On the far bank was a large tiger youkai laying their on its side. It was mortally injured and it must have tried to cross the river, but it didn't have the strength to go on. Kikyo brought her arrow to her bow and she pointed it down at the creature. She had no pity for it and she wasn't going to preserve mercy either. She let her purifying arrow go and the glowing arrow whizzed right for the injured youkai, but the youkai quickly got to its feet and leaped into the air. The arrow just missed its hind legs as it lunged for Kikyo. She quickly readied another arrow, but she underestimated the tiger's speed and he landed right on her. His heavy massed caused her to fall against her back and her arrow and bow were thrown into the river. His claws were pressed against her shoulder as a terrible growl rumbled from his throat.
"So...you're Kikyo," the tiger mumbled.
Kikyo wasn't in the mood for talk and she used her purifying powers in her hands and she touched the tiger's leg that had her pinned. The purifying energy reacted under her touch and sparks spited out as the painful energy ran through the tiger, but he remained unmoved.
"Rumors are true about you. You truly are the walking dead and you bring death to others. Why do you keep to this world when you have no purpose anymore?" Kikyo narrowed her eyes at the creature as she let go, "A youkai like you has nothing to say on the matter."
"I have plenty to say," The tiger hissed, "You are in a time that you don't belong to. Inuyasha has moved on and yet you linger here in the shadows. Do you have some hope in taking him away? Or do you lie to yourself by saying you want Naraku gone?"
Kikyo was silent for a brief moment, "I have not seen him, so I truly can't say, but what you say isn't true. I want to know if Kagome and Inuyasha are truly happy..."
The tiger youkai nodded as he let her up. He slowly limped down to the river banks again as he stared at the waters. Kikyo rubbed her arm as she watched, "You are dying and yet you are trying to cross the river. What keeps your soul bounded to this world?"
"...Regret," the tiger said silently as he leaped into the waters, "Perhaps I don't deserve the privileges of death."
Kikyo watched silently as the tiger made his swim across the cold waters. It had been awhile since she met a challenge like that. She turned around to walk back to the village to finish the job she was there for so she could continue on her real journey.
Meanwhile Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Keiji and Kyoko were all waiting for any signs of Inuyasha. They all had decided to remain in one spot since Keiji was sill unconscious and Inuyasha had a good enough nose to track them down. Everyone was eating dinner when Keiji woke up. He had been out for a day or so and he was lucky Kyoko had got him out of the caves before they collapsed.
"Where am I?" Keiji asked as he rubbed his head.
"Out of the caves, we were all lucky we got out in time before they collapsed. I hope I can say the same for Inuyasha and Kisho-"Miroku was saying before Sango hit him across the head.
"Don't listen to him. We're all safe, but you lost you shard in your leg."
"I saw that girl with the bow..." Keiji said as he held his knee's close to his chest.
"What girl with a bow?" Miroku asked as he placed a wet cloth on Keiji's head.
"The one that shot Kisho...his mother..."
"What?!" Everyone shouted.
"She...uh helped me. I remember when I fell I saw her shoot the demons. I don't remember anything else after that," Keiji said as he looked back to everyone.
"That means she isn't controlled completely," Miroku said as he rubbed his chin, "There's still a chance to save her and your brother Sango."
"I hope so...I don't want the same fate as Kohaku to happen to Kagome."
The whole group looked down with depressing moods, but Keiji slapped his hands together, "Come on. Stop looking depressed! Everything will work out. We'll save everyone and this world will be freed from Naraku! Because we're the only ones who are crazy enough to fight him."
Miroku pressed his hands against Keiji head, "Are you really that sick? You seem like the kind that hates everyone."
Keiji growled before Kyoko cutted in, "He is. Normally he fights with Kisho."
"Shut up," Keiji said while everyone in the group laughed. As much as Keiji hated to admit he missed hearing everyone laugh, but what he missed the most was fighting with Kisho. He was never serious and neither was Kisho when it came to their little arguments. Keiji glanced to the sky, 'You better be ok you damn mutt.'
Kisho pounced on a small demon he had been chasing until he destroyed it completely under his claws. He swung his tail from side to side as he walked through the woods, "And that makes one hundred."
"Wind Scar!" Kisho looked up to see a giant light streak across the forest ground, destroying what ever was in its path.
He sat down on his hunches as he waited for his father to come back, "I swear that's cheating."
Inuyasha landed on the ground with a light thump near Kisho, "Ha that makes one thousand."
"That's cheating! I don't have a huge sword to swing around."
"That's not my problem! You have two huge claws. Use them!"
"As loud as ever..." a cold voice from behind said. The two Inu's hair stood on end as they looked behind to see who had manage to sneak up on them.
"Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Kisho's ears perked up, "Its uncle Sesshomaru."
Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were both caught off guard by what Kisho said as they stared at him, he just sat there with a clueless expression.
"Kisho! Don't say that. He's a bad guy..."
Kisho tilted his head, "No he isn't. He helped me find you. You know he just has his special ways in helping. It's kind of painful sometimes, plus he's your brother, right? "
"Stop speaking mindless gibberish!" Sesshomaru ordered them both.
"What do you want Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha ordered as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"To see how he faired," Sesshomaru said as he looked to Kisho's direction, "I was warned about his condition."
"Yeah, by me," Inuyasha mumbled the last bit as he stared at his brother. Sesshomaru had no real expression on his face as he looked to Kisho who stood behind Inuyasha.
"I see why. You truly didn't think he'd make it through the blue moon."
"I didn't know what would happen. He already has to deal with trying to master his powers. This was not something I wanted him to go through."
"That's what you get for mingling with humans. Blood as pure as our fathers doesn't deserve to be close to a human," Sesshomaru spitted out as he walked past them both, disappearing in the forest shadows.
Inuyasha shook his head, "He really pisses me off."
"You know, I think he just came to make sure we were ok," Kisho commented as he stepped forward.
"You give him way too much credit, Kisho."
Kisho laughed lightly as Inuyasha just shook his head. As the two stood there they both caught the scent of another youkai and leaped into the air just as a blast blew the ground they were standing on away. Inuyasha landed perfectly against the ground while Kisho landed on the other side on his good three legs, "Where the hell did that come from?" Kisho said as he looked at the large hole.
"From me!"
Inuyasha and Kisho looked up to see a monkey like youkai leap out of the trees and down to the ground in front of them, "I'm here to stop you from killing my precious youkai I have created."
"So you're the bastard that's been doing this. Good, we can just kill you and finally leave this place, "Inuyasha said as he reached for his sword.
"Not so fast," the youkai monkey said as he held up one of the leader of the group of children, "You make a move and I'll tear this little mortal apart."
Inuyasha growled as he moved his hand away from his sword, "To afraid to fight us head on?"
"Hardly," the monkey youkai said as he tossed the boy to the ground with a barrier around him, "I want to fight, Kisho. I have to finish what Ryo had set out to do."
"Had?" Kisho said in confusion.
"Yes, he's been destroyed sadly, by that traitor Tora," Kisho smiled in hearing Tora had finally destroyed Ryo, "But, Tora also was destroyed as well so there's some good to that."
Kisho was shocked to hear he was destroyed. His ears laid sadly against his head as he tucked his tail down. Inuyasha noticed the sad look on Kisho's face and he wanted to say something to comfort him, but he just couldn't find the words. He opened his mouth to make an attempt, but Kisho interrupted what he was going to say.
"Fine, I'll fight you. Just one on one."
"What!?" Inuyasha shouted, "I mean...you're injured. You can't take him on right now."
"I have to...I made a promise to those kids, right? Plus I have to have avenge Tora's death by destroying the rest of these guys."
Inuyasha saw his point, but he still didn't like it. He didn't argue the subject anymore since Kisho was set on his decision. Inuyasha backed off while Kisho limped forward towards the monkey, "This better not be some sort of trick."
"No trick," the monkey said as he held a spear out in front of him, "Ready?"
"Ready," Kisho said with his ears pinned back against his head in an aggressive display.
The monkey back flipped towards the trees while Kisho lunged forward after him. Once the monkey made it to the trees he back flipped onto one tree and the he pushed off the trunk to fly through the sky over Kisho. As he flew over head Kisho had to slow down to turn around. Since he only had one back leg to use it took him a tad bit longer. While he struggled to slow down the monkey pointed his spear down at Kisho and launched another huge energy of power down at the Inu just like before. Kisho leaped out of the way, but the explosion behind him threw him off balance. He failed to land properly and he tumbled against the ground like a useless piece of garbage.
The monkey landed on one of the turned up rocks and looked at Kisho pulling himself off the ground, "I'm surprise you're so weak. The other guardians had so many problems with you before; I guess you've gotten soft. This should be easier then I thought."
Kisho growled as he barred his teeth. He got back up on his feet and charged again. The monkey used his spear again and this time ice energy shot out and struck Kisho in the shoulder.
"What the-"
"That should freeze your body completely. Killing you once it reaches your head."
Inuyasha was perched up in one of the taller trees watching, "Come on...don't let some ice finish you off."
Kisho couldn't even move his shoulder that was already frozen completely in ice. He tried his hardest to pull it out, but it wasn't budging. While he was stuck the monkey swung his spear like weapon again creating small whirlwinds that sparked youkai energy. As they came towards Kisho, he could feel the power in them serge and he struggled to get away, but he still couldn't move still as the ice was taking over more and more of his body. As the winds came closer to him they sliced through one of his dog like ears while he could feel the rest of his body being cut through like butter by sharp winds.
The winds kicked up a huge amount of dust creating a large cloud that covered Kisho. Inuyasha couldn't see a thing in the big dust cloud and neither could the monkey youkai. Once the winds dyed down and the dust began to settle, Inuyasha looked back down to where he last saw Kisho.
Lying slump against his frozen shoulder was Kisho. He was injured beyond belief while parts of his body were covered in ice. Large gashes covered Kisho's body and one of his eyes dripped blood from being damaged. His white fur was stained in all the blood that was spilled and yet Kisho was still some what alive.
The monkey held his spear out again to create another whirlwind, "Why don't you just die! What sort of creature are you? I don't see why you still fight on. You've lost and there's no hope in you winning against me."
Kisho moved his eyes towards the monkey youkai as he began to swing his spear again, "You wouldn't understand what I fight for. Hope isn't lost as long as I'm still willing to fight, I made a promise to these kids and...I don't think Tora would like it much if I died like this."
"Take this!" The monkey swung his attack at Kisho again.
"Kisho!" Inuyasha shouted as the dirt blocked his view again. Inuyasha frantically tried to see where Kisho was, "He...better be ok. I can't believe I allowed this."
The monkey youkai stood there laughing as he watched his winds engulf the entire area. In one of the whirlwinds there was some sort of gap in the middle which made the youkai wonder what it was doing. His eyes stared at it for a moment when he suddenly saw a twinkle of light, "What is that?"
Inuyasha looked down to see what the monkey youkai was looking at when suddenly the whirlwinds exploded in a burst of energy.
The monkey youkai stumbled back, "That's impossible. No one could have survived that."
"Nothing's impossible!"
The monkey youkai looked up just in time to see Kisho's claws extended out at him, but Kisho had reverted back to his human looking appearance and the ice shattered away from his body, "No!" the monkey youkai cried out, "Impossible you should be dead!"
"Purifying Claws!" Kisho ripped the monkey youkai right in half with his attack and the energy from his purifying claws made him turn into dust within second. Once the monkey was destroyed it released the barrier it had on the small boy child.
Kisho stood there for a moment motionless before he fell backwards in exhaustion. Before he even hit the dirt, Inuyasha caught him. "Don't ever do that again, Kisho."
Kisho smiled lightly as he shut his eyes to rest, "Sorry..."
Inuyasha thought his heart was going to stop ten times over during the entire fight, "I'm going to die of a heart attack at this rate."
"Um..." the young boy said as he walked over to Inuyasha, "He needs cloths. I can get him some back in the village."
"That would be good. Wait, I'll take him there," Inuyasha wrapped Kisho in his fire rat robe as he carried him off to the village with the young boy leading the way.
Iluska watched Kisho defeat the monkey youkai from Kana's mirror. She glanced over to Naraku who was silently looking out the window.
"Naraku? The guardians are almost gone. Soon you will not be able to hide your self from them."
Naraku looked to Iluska, "I hardly find that a problem. Especially since you're the one hiding something from them."
Iluska was silent as she tossed her hair back, "I'll reveal it to them out next meeting then. It should sure throw them off there little happy cloud"
"Good, the girl has located the last shard as well..."
"You mean Kagome has really found it?"
"Do you doubt what I say?"
Iluska shook her head, "No I was just thinking it took her long enough. I thought you needed Kisho."
"I still do, so we are to set a trap for all of them soon. It will be the last battle. Be sure you can handle it," Naraku snapped as he walked out the room.
"I can handle anything," Iluska mumbled as she followed him out.
-- "Thanks for the cloths," Kisho said as he looked at his new cloths.
"We're sorry if they are a little torn, but we don't have much now," the elder of the village said as he helped Kisho outside. Kisho had gotten about a half's day rest at village and it was enough for his healing powers to begin working again on his wounds. He was already partly healed.
"Oh, no that's ok. I like my new look," Kisho said as he pulled on his vest. He now had a vest over a shirt that was a dark red trimmed with green.
Inuyasha leaped down from the roof, "Move over pops, I'll take it from here."
The village elder bowed and let Kisho limp over to his father. Inuyasha grabbed Kisho gently and lifted him up on his back, "Let's get out of here before they ask us to stay for the night."
Inuyasha leaped on top of the roof to leap over the village gates leaving the village behind. As they left, the villagers all waved good-bye to the two as they slowly disappeared from sight. Kisho rested his chin against Inuyasha's shoulders.
Inuyasha felt Kisho rest his head and he glanced back lightly, "Are you feeling ok?"
"Yeah...just tired is all."
Inuyasha nodded as he continue running through the forest. He felt somewhat proud that he was carrying his son. It felt very satisfying that he was able to help Kisho for a change.
Sesshomaru stopped walking as he saw Inuyasha leap through the forest with Kisho. He had witnessed the entire fight and he was somewhat satisfied with the results. Sesshomaru knew a lower demon like that wasn't going to get the best of his nephew even if he was injured in the start. It was strange that Sesshomaru felt the need to watch over his nephew and that feeling was beginning to annoy Sesshomaru. Jaken and Rin came trotting along from behind. They had also witness the fight.
"I can't believe he jumped right through the whirlwind. What an idiot!" Jaken said as he rubbed his chin, "Takes after his father."
"I don't know. It was rather brave," Rin said with a smile.
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow to Rin for a brief moment before he continued on, "Come we're leaving."
"Ok!" Rin said as she ran after him.
"Wait for me!" Jaken ran as fast as he could to keep up with Sesshomaru who was following Inuyasha and Kisho into the forest.