DISCLAIMER: Geez, how many times do I have to say it?! I DON'T OWN INUYASHA!!! Just my cute Sesshy poster...(cuddles with Sesshy poster)
Chapter 16 is up and running! And it's actually longer than usual! REJOICEMENT!!! lol Enjoy!
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"Where is he?" Kagura wondered aloud, looking around. "Maybe he'll come a bit later......" She sat on a rock and sighed. If she had been paying attention, she would've seen how beautiful the waterfall was. The water, as it fell from the high cliff, glittered in the midday sunlight and made a rainbow with beautiful colors.
"Maybe later....." she repeated, sighing again.
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Inuyasha and the others looked up to see Toshiro jumping from a tree and landing on the path before them. He held up a few throwing stars, ready to throw them.
"Who the hell are you?!" Inuyasha shouted, drawing Tetsuiga.
Toshiro smirked. "Why don't you ask Naomi?"
Everyone turned to Naomi, who was staring at him in horror. No one knew what she knew. They had no idea about any of it. All they knew was that this guy and Naomi knew each other. They didn't know that Keitaru was likely lurking around, waiting for his chance to strike. They didn't know that Toshiro was simply a distraction for them. They didn't know that Naomi's arm was hurting worse than ever before.
"Well, whoever you are," Inuyasha said, turning back towards him. "You're goin' down!!" He ran at Toshiro, raising his sword to strike.
"If you can catch me!" he replied as he ran off into the woods.
"Why you...Get back here!!" Inuyasha ran after him, and everyone else followed.
All except Naomi, that is. She slumped against the cliff, clutching her arm. 'He knows I'm too weak to fight him,' she thought. 'So why doesn't he just hurry up and come out already?!'
Suddenly, blackness settled around her. It was a cold, silent darkness that sent shivers running down her spine. Pain, anger, annoyance all emotions were replaced by a single one......
Fear.
She shivered uncontrollably. She stood against the cliff and looked around frantically. There had to be light somewhere! Anything would do! Anything!!
She almost sighed in relief when she saw two red eyes. At least it was something besides the darkness. The sigh caught in her throat as a figure appeared around the eyes. The figure was, somehow, darker than the blackness around it. A dark cape covering its wearer's body, and a dark hood to cover the face. No other features could be seen, yet no more were even need. Naomi knew who it was. And I'm sure that you do too.
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"You coward! Stop running!"
"That's a fine idea." Toshiro stopped immediately and turned around to face Inuyasha again, throwing stars already in hand.
They hadn't gone very far from Naomi. In fact, as they all stopped and got ready to attack, they found that a darkness barrier was just being put up and that it was right behind them. Inuyasha turned, but it was already too late. "Dammit! We were tricked!!"
"Too late to do anything about it!" Toshiro called as he threw his weapons. Inuyasha dodged just in time.
Round 1, Toshiro vs. Inuyasha
FIGHT!!!
"Wind Scar!!" Inuyasha yelled, using – What do ya know? – the Wind Scar.
Toshiro dodged easily. "Throwing Stars!" (Hey, everyone's gotta announce their attacks in matches like these.....)
Inuyasha dodged. "Regular Attack!" (Maybe this is a bit overboard......)
"Dodge!" (Ok, this is DEFINITELY overboard! But hey, I'm lazy, so deal with it.)
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"Naomi," the figure said. Its voice frightened her more than the darkness had. It walked towards her slowly, laughing a low chuckle.
Suddenly, the fear was pushed aside and all her other emotions came rushing back. "You!" she spat. Her eyes were filled with hatred and anger. She drew her sword, ignoring the pain in her arm.
Keitaru simply laughed. "You fool! You can hardly lift that sword!"
Suddenly, another spasm of pain went through her arm and she dropped to her knees, her sword lying forgotten on the ground. The pain was so intense....She felt like she was going to die. If she did, then at least she wouldn't have to feel the pain anymore....
Keitaru laughed once more. "You will die, just your pathetic mother!"
'NO! I can't die! Not like this!' her mind screamed. 'I have to get up and defeat him! For mother....' She grabbed her sword and leaned on it while she got up, trying her best to forget the pain.
Keitaru simply watched her with amusement. Did nothing faze this guy? "You are stronger than I thought," he said. "But you are still no match for me!"
There they stood – two black clad figures hardly visible in the darkness that engulfed them.
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"Wind Scar!"
"Dodge! Throwing Stars!"
"Block!"
"Throwing Stars! Throwing Stars! Throwing Stars!"
"Dodge! Doge! Get Hit! Collapse From Exhaustion....."
The winner is...Toshiro!
"Inuyasha!" Kagome ran to him and knelt beside him.
"I'm fine....just tired...that's all....Miroku, you take over....."
"Got it!"
Round 2, Miroku vs. Toshiro
FIGHT!!!
(Don't worry, I'll stop making them yell out their attacks now....)
Miroku started to unwrap his rosary.
"You don't want to suck up the jewel shard, do you?" Toshiro asked, holding it up for him to see.
Miroku re-wrapped his rosary, cursing. "Well, I'm of no use, so Sango will have to take over."
(Wow...round 2 was pretty short...)
Round 3, Sango vs. Toshiro
FIGHT!!!
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango shouted, throwing her boomerang. (Hey, I'm not starting that again, it's just what she does! Really! If you watch the anime, she usually shouts "Hiraikotsu" whenever she throws that huge boomerang of hers! That's because "Hiraikotsu" is the name of that boomerang!! Don't believe me? Well, it's-Oh, you just want me to continue with the story, don't ya? Ok, fine....)
Toshiro dodged and threw his stars. (I'm gonna call them stars now, ok? Typing "throwing stars" every time is making my hand hurt....)
Sango blocked them with Hiraikotsu once it returned to her. Then she threw it again.
(Ok, let's fast-forward for a few minutes.....Sango gets exhausted and hurt, Kagome uses up all her arrows and gets exhausted, Miroku uses his staff but also gets hurt, Kilala tries to fight but gets hurt, even Hikaru takes his chances but winds up losing, then Shippou walks up shaking like a leaf, Toshiro says - Wait, back up, there we go. Shippou's walking up to Toshiro.)
Round 7, Shippou vs. Toshiro
FIGHT!!!
Shippou looked around, looking for anyone who could take his place, but everyone was either hurt or exhausted. So, it was up to him. He had to be brave for the others. He had to stand up to this Toshiro guy and fight. He had to be the strongest and defeat his fellow fox demon. He faced Toshiro, confidence and strength in his eyes.
"I have to fight this little runt?" Toshiro asked, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face. "This'll be easy." With a single sweep of his hand, he threw about five or so stars at Shippou, all of which just barely missed.
Shippou squeaked. Brave? Strong? Fight? Yeah right! The poor kid just cowered against a tree, waiting for the final blow to come.
But it didn't. There were two reasons for this, one of which you'll learn now, and one of which you'll learn when you find out about Toshiro's past.
"Kagome!" a voice called.
Everyone looked over, and most were glad to see him. Except for Inuyasha and Toshiro, that is. They were both annoyed.
"Kouga!" Kagome called. Maybe he could help them beat Toshiro!
He ran over to, squatting beside her. "Are you ok?! That flea thing told me you were hurt! Was he lying? You don't look hurt....but I could be wrong! Tell me, has Mutt-Face been taking care of you right? If he let anything happen to you, I swear he'll die! Are-"
"I'm fine!" Kagome said, surprised. "Did you say that a flea told you I was hurt?"
"Myouga!" Inuyasha growled. "Where the hell is he?!"
"R-Right here, Lord Inuyasha!" said a voice from Kilala's fur. He had jumped there from Kouga just a few minutes ago.
Inuyasha dug in Kilala's fur for only a few seconds before he pulled out a certain flea who was in a lot of trouble.
"And why did you tell him that Kagome was hurt?" Inuyasha demanded.
"Well, that was the only way I could think of to bring him here," he replied.
"Why?"
"Because he wouldn't come when I mentioned Naomi."
"But why did you even ask him to come?!"
"Because when I simply mentioned Naomi to Lord Sesshoumaru, he squished me and got Jaken to burn me with that staff of his."
"Why did you ask anyone to come?!"
"Because I know you need help to rescue Naomi."
Inuyasha sighed. "Fine, whatever." He turned to Kouga. "So you're gonna help rescue Naomi, huh?"
"Who?" Kouga raised an eyebrow. "I don't care about this Naomi girl! I just came to make sure that Kagome was alright!"
"I'm fine," Kagome said. "Could you please help us? Naomi's one of my friends, and I'll be grateful to anyone who can help us save her!"
Kouga looked at her pleading face and answered immediately. "Anything for you. What should I do?"
Kagome smiled. "Great! We just need you to help us defeat Toshiro!"
Kouga turned to Toshiro and cracked his knuckles. "Easy."
"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha said, stepping in front of him. "I'm gonna beat him!"
"Kagome told me to!" Kouga protested, getting back in front.
Kagome sighed. "Why don't you two just work together?" she suggested.
Inuyasha and Kouga, getting ready to fight, stopped and looked at her. Then they switched their glances to look at each other. Then they both crossed their arms and looked away from each other. "Fine!"
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Keitaru watched Naomi fight the illusion of him. He laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. He was really on top of the cliff, outside his own darkness barrier. He could see through it only because he could do those kinds of things. To anyone else, it was an impenetrable fortress of darkness that could not be seen through.
Below, Naomi was struggling with that simple copy. She could hardly hold her sword up, and she was trying to use it to slice him. The copy dodged, jumped, ran, whatever it needed to stay away. The fight was clearly one-sided, and it was clear who was going to win.
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"He'll come....He'll come....He'll come....He'll come...." Kagura paced up and down the stream, still waiting. The sun was moving across the sky, and she was getting worried. She kept reassuring herself that he'd come, but she still wasn't so sure.
She sat down on the rock again and tried skipping pebbles to pass the time. "He'll come...."
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So we have Kouga and the Inuyasha group fighting Toshiro, and Naomi fighting Keitaru. Or so she thinks....Evil Keitaru!! lol Time for the next chapter!In it, we learn of Toshiro's past and someone's surprising power. Review please!