Sesshoumaru ran toward Inuyasha and swung his sword to hit his brother. Inuyasha managed to avoid the hit with little effort, ducking under the blade and trying to trip Sesshomaru. But the dog demon wasn't one to be underestimated and predicted the hanyou's move. He jumped back and found himself just a few meters away from the monk's body. As Inuyasha took his place in front of his brother Miroku's body remained between them.
"How are we going to get him now?" Kagome asked mostly herself.
"If they don't move away we can't." Kouga said the obvious just to make things worse and received angry glares from the girls.
Shippo had been left in the cave with Jaken, Ah-Un and Rin but quickly got irritated with the green demon's behavior. He wasn't stopping talking about how Sesshoumaru-sama was going to show the stupid hanyou who's the strongest one. So, disobeying Kagome's order to stay inside, the kitsune had crept toward the exit of the cave and had seen everything. One thing about the fight and his friends pissed him off...
"Kagome!" Shippo screamed and she turned toward him. "The rosary! Sit him!"
Kagome's eyes widened and she would've cursed herself if she was Inuyasha for her stupidity. The kitsune was right to be angry – with the rosary there it wasn't necessary to be a fight and Miroku wouldn't have to be hit like that and lying unconscious in the middle of the fight field. Having absolutely the same opinion about this matter Sango and Kouga encouraged Kagome to try with the spell.
"Sesshoumaru," the girl shouted, "I'm gonna try something so stay away..." with that Kagome stepped closer.
The dog demon didn't know what she was thinking but didn't attack his brother, like he had just wanted to do. Inuyasha just smirked and looked at the girl, immediately catching the scent of the Shikon shard she was carrying. If she wanted to come to him he wasn't going to stop her. He even made a step toward her.
"Inuyasha," Kagome started and made another step toward him, "sit."
Everyone who knew what usually happens when that word is said expected Inuyasha to hit the ground. But when nothing happened they were left in utter shock, the rosary beads didn't even glow. Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome but when he saw she wasn't in the condition to answer just decided to deal with Inuyasha his way and attacked.
Inuyasha's smirk widened when after the girl had said the word nothing happened. Before he could enjoy the shocked expression on her face he noticed that the dog demon was attacking. He jumped back as Tokijin's blade hit the ground where he had stood seconds before. Taking the opportunity Sesshoumaru quickly went to Miroku and took him to the cave entrance.
"Hide inside." he said to the others and turned toward Inuyasha, who was already ready to attack.
Strangely, but it seemed that the hanyou was holding back. Everybody noticed that and Sesshoumaru was ready to swear that his brother was just playing with them. 'I'm not going to let him humiliate me like that.' the dog demon thought and allowed himself a low growl before attacking his brother.
Inuyasha snickered and jumped toward Sesshoumaru. 'That's more like what I expected from you.' he thought and attacked the dog demon with his Sankontessou.
With only one swing of Tokijin, Sesshoumaru was able to stop Inuyasha's attack but he still had the feeling that this wasn't everything his brother could show. As if purposely proving his thoughts to be true in a blink of an eye Inuyasha was in front of is brother and hitting him in the stomach with his knee. Sesshoumaru doubled over and coughed while Inuyasha hit him on the back with his elbow and sent him on the ground barely able to stay conscious.
Seeing what was happening with Sesshoumaru, Kouga immediately knew that his turn was coming. By the way the dog demon looked and was struggling to breathe, coughing blood, it was clear that his ribs were broken. Inuyasha turned toward the cave where the wolf demon was standing and the two girls and kitsune were trying to bring to consciousness the monk. He smirked and started slowly walking toward them.
"Kagome, you better get ready." Kouga said, making the others lift their heads and see the nearing hanyou.
Miroku was just coming to his senses when he was forced to get up and move deeper into the cave. He saw the condition Sesshoumaru was in and immediately regretted that he was awake. Sango and Kagome took the monk and Shippo to Jaken, Rin and Ah-Un and returned to Kouga. Sango drew out her sword and Kagome prepared an arrow to shoot.
"Kagome-chan, where are the shards?" the demon exterminator asked and the transformed Kirara stood by her mistress' side.
"In his chest." the other girl said.
"I'm sorry, Kagome, but there's no way to make him remove the shards himself." Kouga said, turning half way to look at her.
"I know." she sighed. "We'll have to take the risk of removing them ourselves."
"Finished talking?" Inuyasha's voice was filled with mockery as he spoke. "I want my shard. If you give it to me I will consider not killing you." he said and stopped walking about ten meters away from the cave entrance.
"I thought you've become smarter, dog-shit." Kouga laughed and stepped outside, but not before receiving a warning from Kagome and Sango to be careful and that they were going to attack at any possible opportunity.
"And I thought you had learned your lesson." Inuyasha snarled and not wasting anymore time charged at the wolf.
Without his shards Kouga was close to helpless against Inuyasha. The hanyou knew that and thought that the wolf demon wasn't a big challenge. Kouga also attacked. He jumped in the air and tried to hit Inuyasha in the head. For a moment he thought he did it but then Inuyasha hit his leg and he fell on the ground. A loud crack was heard as Inuyasha's fist collided with Kouga's leg and everyone could tell that that leg was broken.
"I told you that if you struggle it'll hurt more." the hanyou said and walked toward the fallen demon.
Just then he heard the demon exterminator's battle cry. He spun around and caught her wrist just when she was going to stab him with her sword. He gripped and flexed her hand so that she screamed and dropped her sword. Inuyasha caught the falling sword with his other hand and threw it at Kirara, who was heading toward him from behind Sango. The sword made a big gash on the cat demon's back and Kirara fell on the ground, transforming to her smaller form. Then he just threw the demon exterminator at the cave entrance, toward the other girl who was running toward him. Sango hit Kagome and they both fell on the ground.
"Sango-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked worried.
"My hand is broken." the older girl said through gritted teeth and held her injured right hand to her chest. Kirara slowly stumbled to her and she took her in her good arm. "We'll be ok. Go help Kouga."
Kagome turned her head to her demon friend and stood up with her bow ready. Inuyasha had kneeled down and was holding Kouga's throat with his left arm, his right one raised in the air ready to strike at any moment. Kagome was just about to release an arrow, which was aimed for that right hand, when Sesshoumaru's green whip wrapped around that hand and pulled Inuyasha away from Kouga.
"Get them inside and this time don't come out!" the dog demon growled at the girl and she hurriedly obeyed.
Inuyasha rolled on the ground and tried to get free from the whip but Sesshoumaru just pulled harder. Then suddenly the whip loosened and was pulled away allowing Inuyasha to stand up. But then it wrapped around his neck and Sesshoumaru pulled the hanyou toward him to give him a hard punch in the stomach. Inuyasha doubled over just to be hit in the face by Sesshoumaru's knee and straighten up again. His brother loosened the whip and his hand headed toward the hanyou's chest.
Having heard Kagome where the shards were he didn't want to loose this opportunity and dug his claws in Inuyasha's flesh. The hanyou pulled back, not carrying about the claws in his chest, and now Sesshoumaru was holding the front of his haori. Somehow Inuyasha whirled inside of the haori and slopped out of it. He then jumped away, leaving a very pissed off dog demon with only a bloody cloth in his hand.
As Inuyasha landed the front of his shirt hung in shreds and it could be seen how the wound quickly healed. Sesshoumaru cursed and Inuyasha smirked. By that time everybody were at the cave exit and saw everything. Kagome stood outside of the cave and seeing that things weren't going well she made a decision. She dropped her bow and stayed only with the arrow in her hand. The others looked at her confused but she didn't pay attention to them.
"Sorry, guys." she smiled and held the arrow in front of her. "I'm the cause of all this mess and I'll fix it." with that the arrow started glowing and she dug it in the ground.
Being a monk and knowing what a Miko was capable of Miroku immediately knew what Kagome was doing and tried to go to her but it was already too late. As the arrow's tip dug in the ground a blue barrier appeared in front of the cave entrance, blocking it. Kagome stood up and mentally thanked Kaede for teaching her this. She ignored her friends' protests and took her bow.
Sesshoumaru threw the red haori aside and drew Tokijin out. Inuyasha smirked and shook his head. "Again with that sword?" he said mockingly and cracked his fingers. He was just about to attack the dog demon when he noticed an arrow flying toward him and barely avoided it. "Ah, good." he smirked. "I was hoping to have some fun with you. Don't get in my way until I deal with him, ok?" with that he jumped toward his brother.
This time Sesshoumaru was ready. He met Inuyasha's right fist with Tokijin and dropping the sword managed to hit him in the face so hard that he flew a few meters back. For the first time since the fight had started Kagome really felt they had a chance, well if we don't count the try with the rosary spell, but Sesshoumaru wasn't easily fooled.
The moment Inuyasha hit the ground he was up again. 'That's it!' he growled and stood in front of his brother. He's had enough, this wasn't fun anymore. He wanted his shard and it was time to get it. 'The dog dies now!'
Suddenly Sesshoumaru and Kagome felt Inuyasha's youki grow stronger and they saw a faint glow in his chest. The hanyou's claws grew longer and the pupils of his eyes turned green, the white of his eyes turned red and a whirl of youki started to form around him. Kagome's eyes widened – she had seen something like that before. For the first time in his life Sesshoumaru was stunned and speechless – Inuyasha was transforming to a dog demon's original form. The others just watched with horror.
"I will drink your blood." Inuyasha's growling voice echoed in everybody's ears.
'No...' Kagome shook her head and dropped her bow and arrow. 'This can't be happening...'
In Naraku's castle the evil hanyou was watching everything in Kanna's mirror. He couldn't believe his eyes – one of his enemies was going to destroy his very own allies and friends. There couldn't be a better day for him. His laugh filled the dark room and Kagura knew things weren't going well for her.
TBC