Naraku was sitting in his dark room. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping – he had taken control over Kohaku and had just stopped talking with Kagura. Slowly his eyes opened and in front of him was Kanna with her mirror. The girl made a few steps closer to her master and held her mirror in front of his face.
"He is stronger than I thought." the evil hanyou said and touched the mirror with one finger. An image of Inuyasha running through a forest appeared. "He is actually able to draw energy from me through my shouki crystal."
"His shards are absorbing your youki and he is loosing to his demon side faster." Kanna said with her emotionless and quiet voice. As Naraku waved his hand at her, sending her away, she saw Inuyasha's eyes turn toward her as if knowing they were watching him. "Naraku..." she started.
"What?" he asked but didn't look at her.
By the time Kanna had moved her mirror to show her master that Inuyasha was aware of them spying on him, the hanyou had already turned his look away and was running through the forest. "Nothing..." the girl said and left the room.
"That annoying hanyou..." Naraku almost growled once he was left alone. He stood up and walked toward the wall across, then turned around and returned to his previous place. "He is draining my energy." he said angry and sat back down. "...caught me unprepared again, huh? No. I'll let you kill your friends and then take your shards... to make you see what you have done." with that the evil hanyou started laughing.
As Inuyasha was running he suddenly skidded to a stop on a small clearing. A dangerous smirk formed on his lips as he sniffed the air. Although he still had a way to go he could already smell them. He could tell that they hadn't moved from where he had left them and this was making things a lot easier. He already knew the terrain from his fight with the wolf demon. 'What was his name?' the hanyou wandered but quickly gave up. 'Doesn't matter... If they hadn't killed him I will.' He sniffed again and this time none of their scents made him feel uncomfortable. He didn't have feelings anymore – he had wants and needs. He wanted to kill them, he needed to taste their blood.
Inuyasha snickered at the thought of being able to see their horrified and filled with pain eyes. He would start with the dog demon. Yes, that creature not only looked dangerous – he really was. His eyes, his stance, the way he moved, even his scent was threatening.
Then he would kill the monk and the demon exterminator. They both looked to be strong but only for 'scum demons' as they were called. Inuyasha didn't think they would cause him trouble, in fact they would be dead in a blink of an eye.
Next were the two-headed demon and the cat demon. They were just wild animals to him and they weren't going to be a big challenge. So, he would kill them fast. There was a small girl, a kitsune and a strange toad-like demon – he wasn't going to waste his time in killing them. Perhaps they would be long gone went he would get there.
"Wasn't there someone else?" he asked no one in particular and rubbed his forehead. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air again. He noticed a tenth scent but he had no idea whose it could be. "Doesn't matter... Whoever it is, will die like the others." with that the hanyou ran again.
The sun had already set and it was dark. After his talk with Kagome and the others, when she had woken up, Sesshoumaru had gone outside the cave. He sat on a large rock at the right side of the entrance. He didn't want to admit it to anyone and he sure wouldn't, but he was really worried. He thought about how easily Inuyasha had managed to catch him off guard and send him unconscious on the ground.
'If it wasn't Kagome, he would've killed me then.' the dog demon thought and placed some of his hair behind his ear. A light wind blew and he held his hand there, he thought he smelled Inuyasha. He stood up and sniffed but there was nothing. 'I must've imagined it. He can't be that fast...'
"Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin took him out of his thoughts.
"What is it?" he asked turning toward her.
"Kouga-sama and Miroku-sama want to guard the cave too." the girl said and Sesshoumaru could hear the two men's voices trying to make Rin shut up. She just smiled at her savior and he turned away, sitting back down on the rock.
"They are afraid to ask, aren't they?" he asked with his cold and indifferent voice, but he raised its volume on purpose and heard shushing sounds from inside.
"Yes!" Rin smiled, she was obviously having fun. "What do I tell them?"
"I don't care." the dog demon simply said and a small smile formed on his lips – it was actually relaxing to tease somebody.
Jaken wanted to show the stupid humans and demons that he wasn't afraid of his mighty master and exited the cave just when Sesshoumaru smiled. Seeing him the toad-like demon ran back inside the cave with horrified screams. Rin couldn't surpass her laughter and she barely managed to go back inside without falling.
"Jaken-sama, you're so funny." she said trying to catch her breath and sat next to Kagome, while he hid behind Ah-Un, mumbling something about the end of the world.
Kagome and the demon exterminator were also laughing but not that hard like Rin. Soon the cave became quiet again and Kouga and Miroku, who finally understood that they didn't need to be afraid of Sesshoumaru, went outside. The hours passed on after another and Inuyasha wasn't coming. The moon raised and the whole clearing could be seen clearly.
The whole night passed only with a few false alerts from a passing animals and small harmless demons. It was close to sunrise when Sesshoumaru and Kouga heard a faint rustle in the bushes around them. The wolf demon made a sign to the other men not to move – it was the same as when Inuyasha had attacked him and he wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. But...
"I don't smell anything." Kouga said. "He must be against the wind."
"Go warn the others." Sesshoumaru said quietly to Miroku and the monk entered the cave.
"Houshi-sama, what is it?" Sango asked him when he came to them.
"Be ready." he said. "Inuyasha might be outside."
"Might be?" Kagome asked a little confused. "Don't they smell him or..."
"No." Miroku interrupted her. "It might be a false alarm. Just be ready..." with that he turned to go outside.
Kagome took her bow and Sango her Hiraikotsu. Kirara transformed and followed Miroku, along with Ah-Un. Rin and Jaken stayed with the two girls and waited for whatever was going to happen outside. It was a mystery for everyone how Inuyasha would act, fight. They didn't even have a suggestion about what he would do when he comes.
'Finally.' Inuyasha thought and snickered as he closed the clearing. He made sure to stay against the wind so his enemies wouldn't catch his scent. 'That wolf is there. Let's see if he'll fall for the same trick twice.' the hanyou snickered again and jumped on a tree, just across the cave entrance.
The dog demon, the wolf demon and the monk were outside. 'The others must be in that cave.' the hanyou thought and jumped down behind a bush, then jumped to another tree. He looked at the reaction of the three men and smirked. 'He's learned his lesson.' he thought as he saw Kouga warn his companions not to move to see what is behind the bushes.
Then the monk entered the cave and now Inuyasha was sure that the others were inside. 'My shard must be there.' he thought and snickered again. He saw that the dog demon had herd him and quickly but noiselessly jumped to another tree. "No more time wasting..." Inuyasha growled and jumped toward Sesshoumaru.
Miroku was just at the cave exit when he saw a white-red blur jump toward Sesshoumaru. A loud almost animalistic growl was heard and in a blink of an eye the dog demon was hit in the stomach by the blur, his armor breaking. Kagome and Sango also heard the growl and ran after the monk, telling Jaken and Ah-Un to keep Rin safe.
When the three humans and the cat demon were outside they saw Inuyasha jump away from Sesshoumaru. The dog demon was doubled over, leaning to the rock and holding his stomach. Inuyasha snickered and charged again, this time toward Kouga. He was too fast for the wolf demon and jumping in the air kicked him in the head. He sent him flying toward the left side of the cave. Kouga made a small crater hitting the hard rock and slid on the ground barely staying conscious.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed as he was going to attack Sesshoumaru again.
He didn't seem to even notice her and was just going to hit his brother again when Sesshoumaru straightened up drawing Tokijin and trying to hit the hanyou. Inuyasha easily stopped his attack and jumped back, landing in a crouching position.
Sesshoumaru breathed heavily and made a step forward. From his brother's punch in the stomach and the movement he had made to draw out his sword his armor completely shattered and fell in pieces on the ground. Kouga was just standing up when he saw what happened.
"Kagome, get back inside!" the wolf demon yelled at the girl but she didn't pay attention to him.
"Inuyasha," she made a step forward and he growled. "Inuyasha, it's me, Ka..."
Not waiting her to continue Inuyasha jumped toward her. Sango ran in front of her friend, despite her protests, and threw Hiraikotsu at the hanyou. He stopped just for a second to smash the large boomerang to the ground and then continued toward the demon exterminator. The next one who stood on his way was the monk. He ran toward Inuyasha and tried to hit him with his staff but the hanyou was faster and hit him in the stomach, sending him on the ground about twenty meters away from the fight.
"Stay back." Sesshoumaru said just when Sango was drawing her sword. "You will just get in the way." he then stood in front of everybody and pointed his sword at Inuyasha.
"But we can..." Kagome started but was interrupted by Kouga's hand on her shoulder.
"He's right." the wolf demon said. "Besides we must get the monk away form them."
The two girls nodded and waited for a good opportunity to go and get Miroku. While that the two brothers were just standing in front of each other, glaring. Sesshoumaru made a step to the right side of the cave entrance and Inuyasha followed him. He was well aware that his brother was trying to take him away from the others and was going to make him think that he was falling for it.
Sesshoumaru noticed that Inuyasha was sniffing the air and immediately knew that he was searching the Shikon shard. To take his thoughts away from that matter he attacked and Inuyasha followed his brother's example.
TBC