Disclaimer: I haven't done these in a while…
Hey everyone, sorry it's late, AGAIN. I'll try to do my very, very best to get it up this Monday on time! Of course, I have been busy with the moving and the Anime North and everything. I know you all secretly hate me for a con. C'mon. Admit it. I don't care. *grin*
Shoutouts:
Leina: Congratulations, you're my 500th reviewer! For a chapter that didn't count! W00t!
Litwolf689: For your question about the well… well in the anime it explains that the only people who can go through the well are those that have Shikon shards, but that doesn't make sense on one instance where Inu-Yasha comes through the well and watches Kagome sleep. Because the well's secretly controlled by people who want to make the plot twists funny?
Lily:, Kristen Sharpe, Fate: Yes, Anime North! It ruled! Did you go? Did you see me? Did I see you? And Kristen, you have a lot of questions. Try to write them down and ask at the end of the latest chapter, just so I know which ones are answered and which aren't. And I'm trying with the updating!
Ayame: Yeah, well you suck then! Nya! *sticks out tongue*
Chapter 38:
Strength
"Well this is interesting…"
"Interesting? How the hell can you say that? This is totally against the rules!"
"What rules?"
"Oh, you know what I mean." The second shadow crossed it's arms grumpily, snorting. "It's bad enough he went feral. The stupid girl didn't have to go and kiss him."
"I think it's quite romantic." The first shadow smiled and the second shot a green-eyed glare at it.
"You're a freak." It retorted before raising it's hands in the air again in disgust. "I mean, what the hell? This has never happened before! It wasn't even supposed to happen now! That stupid Kagura had to go and spoil the plans! And how let her? Who let her? You were supposed to be watching her!"
"And you're supposed to be watch the threeblood and the Reborn."
The second demon paused for a moment. "I hate you." it said finally, turning it's back partway to the first demon.
"No you don't."
"Oh shut up, I do."
The first demon sighed. "Listen sister, what happened, happened. We're just going to have to take this into stride."
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." The second grumbled. "Now what are we going to do? If something doesn't happen fast they might all die or at least everything's gonna be screwed and Ma's gonna be mad at us…" It whined, fidgeting like a child.
"Oh come on now sister, you're over-reacting." The first demon said, putting a shadowy hand on the other's shoulder. The second demon pulled away, glaring at her brother.
"Oh, come on now brother. Why the hell are you so calm, cool and collected?"
The first demon's red eyes smiled. "Why the hell are you so annoying?"
The second had no reply.
The red-eyed trespasser sighed and sat back. "Listen, it won't be all that bad. The undead Guardian is the first problem in this picture and in order for everything to work out we'll have to dispose of her first. Just being near the Reborn is killing the both of them, and then we're screwed, as you eloquently put it."
"Jerkoff." The second demon muttered.
The first continued as if he heard nothing. "I say let the Reborn live as she is now. I like the way she thinks, and she's obviously quite brave. She may be able to keep herself alive through the entire time in Hell. It may change some few things, but if we're more careful everything will end as it should."
"Fine." The second demon said, green eye's glinting dangerously. "But let me do something too. The Guardian gets to live. She's one hell of a bitch and I hate her guts, but it could lead to some interesting fun near the end. And then we could lead to the repeat of before, like we planned. All we have to do is keep some certain people out of the way. Got it?"
"From immature to cruel, all in one heartbeat." The brother smiled.
The sister returned the smile, but malice shone in her eyes. "And one more thing."
"Yes?"
"If we do get screwed, you're the one who's gonna get in trouble with Ma, alright?"
Power.
That was the first thing he noticed. The unbelievable, undeniable, consuming, seductive power. It coursed through every vein of his body, through every thread of his being. He felt as if he were drowning in it, and he loved every moment of it.
After power came the senses.
He was full demon and he knew it. Not only could he hear Hatonomaborishi's heartbeat, but he could smell his blood, taste his scent, see every twitch muscle, hair and feather, almost predict every movement the fallen angel would make. He was just an open book, ready to be read.
And after the senses… came the hunger.
The hunger for blood. He could smell it, taste it in the air and it was exhilarating. He wanted more, to smell it fresh, taste it on his claws, hear it gushing out of wounds as his victim's hearts beat and wheezed out their last.
And how convenient. There was one before him. Who's blood was just waiting to be spilled.
The angel drew a sword from his hands. Keh, a weapon. Weapons would be of no use to anyone, they could easily be turned against the owner in the hands of the enemy. Besides, he had his claws and they were the only weapons he could need. He would crush this fool and drink his blood. What a pleasure that would be.
Except for interruptions. A noise, like that of a beast being crushed, came from beside him and he could hear the air parting, giving way to some missile being launched at him. Quickly glancing and seeing the weapon he leaped and avoided it, as it exploded beneath his feet. A human weapon, he knew that much. And a human by the smell. He growled at the strange smelling creature, angry at it for interrupting his feast. It would pay, he thought has he readied his claws.
"Wolf!" Jaken clamoured down the corridor, nearly tripping over his robes. "Oy! Wolf-boy! Get over here… oomph!"
Kouga picked up the foot Jaken had tripped over and shook it fickily. "What the hell do you want toad? There's nobody coming." He stood there casually as Jaken picked himself up and straightened himself out, glaring at the young demon.
"You idiot!" He shouted, pointing his staff accusingly at Kouga. "Don't you sense it?"
Kouga's face turned thoughtful, as he cocked his head slightly as if listening. After a moment, he shrugged. "Feels like there's a war going on." He shrugged. "It's on the mortal realm right now."
Jaken gritted his teeth, almost at the point of exploding. "Moron! Idiot! Imbecile! What in hell did Sesshoumaru-sama ever hire you except because that stupid feline wench told him too! Damn you!" He shouted, jumping up and down. Calming down and taking a few large, raspy breaths, and old toad demon tapped the cold stone floor with his staff. "There's not just a war going on, you idiot."
"There's a problem."
"Have I any other reason to bring you here?" Sesshoumaru said, not even looking at the blacksmith. "Do you feel it, old man?"
The ancient demon glanced at the wall, his old eyes half-lidded but thoughtful. "Yes Sesshoumaru, I feel it as well. You forget that I am the one who has made and mended that sword many times. I'm afraid this will be the last." He hung his head sadly. "It is beyond repair."
"What?" Sesshoumaru said, his voice tense. He was not one to take stress and bad news lightly, and so far this entire damned month was filled with that. He twitched his nose ever to so slightly, wondering just what was happening. Still, his eyes retained their calm demeanour as he watched the ancient blacksmith, his face a stoic mask from the turmoil within, a long practised and perfected feat.
"You can only break something a certain amount of times before it is either beyond repair or useless now." The blacksmith responded, as cool as the demon Lord. "Tetsusaiga's purpose can no longer be served. As it's master has been reduced to dust, so shall it. Inu-Yasha's father and grandfather are long since dead. Inu-Yasha himself has never fully mustard nor claimed right to the sword. It was not suited to him before and has never been used for it's purpose."
"You're speaking in riddles, old man." Sesshoumaru said impatiently. "You know how I hate riddles."
"What I am saying," The old demon said, watching the demon Lord through his hooded eyelids. "Is that the sword which contained the demon blood of Inu-Yasha's father and grandfather, never did contain the blood of the him. The threeblood was as susceptible to transformation now as he was two hundred years ago. There is another factor in this transformation."
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "And you're point to this is? Who's ambition would this fill?"
"Many." The demon replied. "But one important you yourself should know. After all, it was you who hired her."
Sesshoumaru raised one eyebrow slightly, before looking thoughtful again. "I see. However, while that is what I came to ask you, that is not what you came to tell me, is it?"
"No Sesshoumaru. An old man's words should be taken with a grain of salt. But I shall give you a warning. After the assassination attempt that will happen shortly, I believe you should take up your own armour and take part in this war."
No blood. How disappointing.
He sniffed his claws, receiving only the hints of the great scent, but it was poisoned with other stenches, of strange liquids pouring from the mysterious creature's body. He had started out with blood, the beast's head was flesh enough, but the rest of the body was steel and iron, parts breakable, but not with the same satisfying result. He wanted flesh. He wanted blood.
And now, with no further interruptions, he would get it.
He turned to Hatonomaboroshi, grinning. He could smell the angel's blood from here, mixing with the liquids of the strange beast and the blood of his own wounds he received from destroying the creature of metal and explosions. This was going to be gloriously fun.
The angel had raised his sword, challenging him. He was speaking, but words meant nothing to him right now. All he wanted was the taste of blood. So he waited and waited for the perfect moment, when the angel finally stopped his tirade and attacked him. A fair fight. He'd even let him keep the weapon. He was going to enjoy this.
Inu-Yasha met Hatonomaboroshi in mid air, his clawed hand deflecting the sword downward, pushing the fallen angel down as well as Inu-Yasha leapt over his back. Spreading his wings Hato stopped his fall and managed to turn around, catching Inu-Yasha in the chest as the demonic threeblood hit from the charge at Hato's back. The blow knocked them both to the ground, Hato swinging the sword, horrible at such close range, madly, knicking off the top of one of Inu-Yasha's ears. The threeblood snarled, rolling away as Hato pushed himself up, neatly dodging another wild attack from the demon.
Hato was beginning to understand the way Inu-Yasha moved now, and could almost predict it. Inu-Yasha kept attacking and dodging, ignoring and nervous of the sword at the same time, like two personalities trying to fight. He quickly dodged another few attacks, before finally catching Inu-Yasha on his arm. Realising he was caught the threeblood quickly went to desperate measures and dug his fangs and claws into the angel's arms. Hato screamed in pain and dropped the sword, trying to stop his arm being ripped off even as he felt Inu-Yasha crushing through the bone. Completely ripping the limb rather then taking it off, Inu-Yasha three Hato over his back, jumping up to meet him with a knee in the gut.
Hato coughed up blood as Inu-Yasha grabbed his wing and slammed the angel to the ground with it. Hato rolled just as Inu-Yasha stabbed his hand into the ground where he was, the angel kicking the demon's legs from under him, trying to crawl to reach his sword, his useless arm trailing behind him. He was about to grab the hilt when Inu-Yasha landed on his back, crushing the angel's chest into his hand and hilt instead.
Inu-Yasha dug his claws right into Hatonomaboroshi's back, digging right between the shoulder blades, cutting through every muscle. Hato cried out in pain and tried to arch his back, freeing the hilt from underneath his chest. In one swift movement Hato turned and plunged the sword right into Inu-Yasha's gut.
The demon paused for a moment, eyeing the blade that had buried itself inside of him. Frowning he grabbed Hato's wrist that was holding the sword and dragged it away from him, pulling the sword through. Then, with an angry snarl, Inu-Yasha broke Hato's wrist and turned the sword around, hitting the angel so quickly that he broke the angel's neck and shattered the blade around them.
He sat there beside Hato's body, panting as he healed himself, the bloodflow slowly blotting. Then a new scent hit him and he looked up, seeing a human. More blood, he smiled, standing up. Better than the angel's.
Except he couldn't attack the girl. There was something about her that was painful, that made him want to escape. He took a step back but she yelled at him, calling to him. Something inside of him was ripped, wanting to flee from the girl, wanting to stay with the killing, wanting to kill the girl. Angry and confused, he turned to run away when she grabbed one of his arms. He snarled and slashed at her, but she was unmoving. Instead she retaliated herself and drew her lips up to his.
There was nothing he could do, for all reasons his struggles were helpless. This girl brought a sense of warmth into him. The less he struggled, the less he wanted to struggle against her. Slowly Inu-Yasha could feel his demon blood dying down and sinking away as he found himself kissing Kagome. His first reaction was to run away and hide. But he decided to stay and enjoy this.
Kagome felt Inu-Yasha respond to the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. She could feel that he was back to normal, his familiar aura of mixed bloods. She felt so happy and a bit giddy from the kiss. Slowly they pulled apart, both with embarrassed, dorky grins on their face. Then Kagome hugged Inu-Yasha tightly, crying.
"Hey, hey, hold on, what's wrong?" Inu-Yasha asked before wincing. His wounds from the fight with Hato weren't completely healed and now that his demon blood was dormant again, it would heal much more slowly. Kagome pulled away from Inu-Yasha, her face red, when she noticed his blood on her clothes.
"Ohmigod, Inu-Yasha!" She cried, looking at his bloodstained chest, just realizing with a blush that most of his upper clothes were gone. "What happened to you?"
"You hugged me." The threeblood winced, put a hand to his gut. "Don't worry, it's not bleeding that much."
"Inu-Yasha you big, stupid, ugly, jerkface why the hell did you have to go and do that now you idiot!" Shippo's high voice came out in a string as he jumped forward and bit Inu-Yasha's shoulder.
"Hey, fuck off!" Inu-Yasha snarled, ripping the kitsune child off and throwing him at Miroku, who was walking over and supporting Sango.
"Inu-Yasha, what happened here?" Miroku asked inquisitively. Inu-Yasha's ears flattened, but he said nothing.
"Inu-Yasha…" Kagome said, putting a hand on his arm. Inu-Yasha looked at the hand and the girl, blushing.
"Keh." He sat down, crosslegged, ears folded back. "It's a bit of a long story."
"Then give us the short version of it." Miroku argued. Inu-Yasha sighed and was about to speak when he was interrupted.
"Kagome!" A sudden whirlwind whipped up the sand around them, as Kouga suddenly appeared, dressed in full battle armour and looking really worried. He looked at Kagome and gaped at the blood on her. "Kagome! You're bleeding! Are you alright, what happened to you?" He asked, taking her hands.
Feeling Inu-Yasha's eyes on them she pulled her hands away as politely as possible. "It's not my blood, it's Inu-Yasha's."
"The puppy?" Kouga raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the sitting, sulking, half-naked and blood-doused threeblood, who was glaring back up at him. "So you're back to normal, eh?"
"If you don't mind, asshole, I have something to tell these people." Inu-Yasha hissed.
"I can hear it too." Kouga said as about fifteen other wolf demons, one carrying a wounded Netsuna, trotted up. "I think we could all use an explanation."
Inu-Yasha glared at the sudden increase in the group. "Keh. Fine." He said as Kagome sat down beside him. "Well, it's pretty much have to do with my grandfather's blood…"
"He was a great and powerful demon, as you yourself know, Sesshoumaru." The old man said. "However, he carries within his blood the blood of a trespasser. Some favour he did for the beast earned him it's respect and after one particularly brutal battle, when your father was dying, the trespasser did a blooding to save his life. So this blood was transferred to his children as well: yourself and your brother."
"A trespasser's blood?" Sesshoumaru said inquisitively. The would explain a few things…
"However, as we all know, trespassers are probably the most superior of all beings. You yourself must have felt the madness try to overcome you more than once. But your brother's half-blood was not able to take it. Because of that reason, and that he was strong enough to withstand the blood, your father had the Tetsusaiga sword made with not only his fang but his blood as well, to seal your brother's. However, first your brother must to have earned the sword and earn it yet again when he broke it. But you're nephew…"
"Has never earned it." Sesshoumaru finished.
"Yes." The old man nodded. "He inherited it as a child and merely grew accustomed to it. It was a mask for his blood, but not a successful one. Because he never fully learned or mastered the techniques of the sword, he does not deserve it. Therefore it is easier than previously thought to take control of Inu-Yasha through his demon/trespasser blood."
"But who would be doing such a thing?" Sesshoumaru glared outside the window, trying to ignore the storm clouds.
"Who could?" The old man corrected. "To merely turn him feral is a difficult enough feat already, for despite his arrogance and rashness, he has a firm grip on his mind. However, to completely control him, as like two-hundred years ago, would take a pure trespasser."
"Truly…?" Sesshoumaru said thoughtfully.
"See, what did I tell you?" the trespasser smiled to itself as it prepared to leave. "Interesting…"
End Chapter 38
There, was that better at least? I know what you're thinking, she made us wait for that? Well, it does have an important key factor in it, and I wanted to show just how crazy and dangerous Inu-Yasha's blood was. There. Happy?
Wow! I really suck at this, don't I? *sheepish grin* Well, I'm settled at the house and aren't doing anything now, so things should calm down and everything should be done. I've been pushing myself hard to get these chapters out both faster and better, instead of later and worse. I'm already finished the skeleton for chapter 39, so don't worry, this one will be on time, will be as action-filled and as good as my chapters of earl days and will be long. So be happy! And I have some good Kouga and Mizuki jokes. They're fun to write ^_^
Shoutouts:
Silver Magiccraft: I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!
link no miko: Anime North ruled! But you got to go to Otakon? I wanna go there! AN was my first ever con, but if I'm really, really lucky I might be able to go to CNAnime, although unlikely. So I'll probably just save up my money for AN next year, and maybe save up enough to go to Oatkon! Whee! And yes, the reviews make me feel that you still love and support me even despite the fact that I SUCK. Thank god I don't have a webcomic. But when I put up my big corporate House of Bishes business/fansite, I'm going to have a weekly comic there too. It'll only be a tiny thing. But still fine. (The GA doujinshi kinda died…) Yes, I was kinda a bit famous for all my scrounging and buying of plushies. I hung them all over myself and called myself the 'Bish hunter' and people actually took pictures of me! I bought about ten in total, giving most of them away. And there was a Kurapika plush, but it was a bit weird.. the head was kinda loppy and the hair didn't look right. And he had a dorky grin. But I wanted the Leorio and now really regret not buying it. And the Ein. And the Sanji. And Zorro. And Stephy got the Horohoro… Shaman King, One Piece, Naruto, HxH, Inu-Yasha, Saiyuki and Trigun are all my favourite manga at the moment. One Piece and Shaman king are funny, Naruto has ninjas (which is just cool itself), HxH and Saiyuki have really pretty art, especially Saiyuki and Inu-Yasha and Trigun are just cool. And Otakudom rocks! I'm orderinga copy. Smash Brothers? You were Pikachu, right? Jk. I always play as Link too, because his sword is so cool and he's really nice to handle. And that AMV about the end of Cowboy Bebop… what song was that too? Because if it was to 'How You Remind Me' by Nickleback, there's a really good chance it's my ex-boyfriends. No spoilers in the masquerade though, good enough. Just the AMVs. And a Van and a drunk Vash! I want! There were a few Zelda cosplayers too, and one good Link. I'll send you a pic as soon as it's developed.
Okonomiyaki-chan: well, neh.
Preview: Chapter 39 (name to be announced)
"Kouga, stop!" Kagome shouted at the rapidly running wolf demon. The wolf turned around, but didn't stop running, trotting backwards and waving as though running to his imminent death was no problem.
"Don't worry Kagome, I'll be fine!" he shouted cheerfully!
The snake-like, conjoined sword of Jakotsu acted almost alive, twisting about and catching Kouga around the arm like a sentient thing, the zombie-like human manipulating it with ease.
"Caught ya!" Jakotsu grinned wildly. "I got one, Ani-ki!"
"That asshole's crazy." Inu-Yasha mumbled as Kagome turned to him. "Inu-Yasha, you have to save him!"
"Save him?" Inu-Yasha asked quizzically. "Why don't we just let him die?"
End preview.
Okay, okay, so you probably all know that it's just Inu-Yasha being his usually jerk self. But what if it's not? And what about Jakotsu kidnapping Kouga? Eh? Eh?
~Ama
Quotacular: Save the whales! Eat more dolphins.