Fragmentation

Chapter Three- Demon Scouting


Crimson eyes watched the woman walk alone through the trees, almost silently. A silver knife was in one hand, showing her intent clearly. She was hunting something, hunting… him? He nearly sneered. Like a mere human could ever sneak up on him. Never mind that Yusuke had once brought him down with a single sly attack… but that was a long time ago and he was much stronger now.

Taking out his sword, he smirked cruelly before jumping down, aiming his sword at her neck, ready to take her head off in a quick, neat fashion. His sword, however, only sliced through air as the woman quickly ducked and rolled across the grass before springing to her feet once again, just missing his blade. He landed in the spot she was standing in moments before.

The short demon met the woman's brown eyes with his crimson ones.

"You're quick, I'll give you that," Hiei told her, "but not as quick as me."

He made another slash at her and it took all Sango had to see the swift attack and jump back, but he managed to catch her, ripping her shirt. She looked down at the rip in her shirt and saw a thin, shallow cut appear on her stomach, a few drops of blood running down her stomach.

She glared at him as he stood a few feet away, just watching her, not even attacking again. He was… mocking her because he knew he could win this fight easily. Sango didn't deny it. With only a small knife against his speed and sword, she couldn't win. If only she had a sword, then she could have held him off and defended herself, but as she was…. Still, she didn't let the negative thoughts consume her. She'd fight until her last breath—even if that happened to be in a few minutes. Hell, a few seconds if she did something stupid.

"It's almost cruel to use my sword against a mere human," he told her.

Sango ignored him and put a hand to her shirt, surveying the damage. The shirt was ripped and would soon be stained with a few drops of blood.

"This wasn't my shirt, you know," Sango told him, annoyed. Ignoring the stinging that came when she dropped the shirt, she let the material brush against her wound.

"Hn," was all Hiei said as he attacked again. She only jumped slightly to the side, however, letting him slice open her side, but not before she struck out at him. She caught the side of his arm with her knife before he was five feet away from her in the blink of an eye.

Shit. She thought that if she at least let him wound her, he'd be close enough to fatally wound as well, but he had moved aside it time so that she only caught his arm.

He must have been only toying with her before because after that, he seemed angry that she had even gotten the chance to wound him, although not without a price, which she had her wounded side that was gushing blood to show for it. Nonetheless, he began attacking quicker and with more deadly blows. The only reason Sango was able to avoid them was dodging through the trees. The demon had already knocked down quite a few trees with his sharp blade.

"Running like a coward?" the demon asked her, "You even can't face a challenge?"

His statement annoyed her more than a little, but she knew it was what he wanted. If only she had her other weapons… then she would show him.

A small gust of wind passed her as Hiei stopped in front of her, making her come to an abrupt stop. "I'd love to fight you fairly," the slayer began, "if only I had the right—"

She chucked the knife she had in her hands at him with all her strength. "—weapon!" she finished.

Hiei only jumped up into a tree and the knife embedded itself harmlessly into the tree's trunk. Sango quickly drew another knife from her boots—hey, at least the boots were coming in handy. They were ideal for keeping small knifes in as long as they were sheathed, that is. Otherwise, slicing yourself while taking them out was not so much fun.

Nonetheless, the rest of her outfit only hurt her—not literally, of course. The skirt wasn't ideal for running and was tight enough that she couldn't do any kicking if she wanted to. The boots as well were hard to run in and she found herself tripping and almost falling, but catching herself just in time. Her hair up in a ponytail was a blessing though, keeping it from getting in her eyes.

"What's a poor human like you doing out searching for demons anyway?" he asked. He wasn't even sure why he was talking to her so much. Normally he just killed his victims quickly in a manner of seconds but her… she was interesting.

"That's none of your business," she snapped at him, but said anyway, "I'm a demon slayer."

Hiei lazily swung his sword at her, causing her to drop suddenly and roll away. She remembered seeing on the television how people should drop and roll when they were on fire. There wasn't a fire, but it worked just as well in this instance.

Sango tried to get up quickly but the second she did she found Hiei's blade pointed at her neck. She froze before lying flat on the ground, grudgingly.

"And you're doing a wonderful job slaying," he mocked.

She tightened her grip on the knife in her hand and brought it down forcefully where his foot was, but he was five feet away and then back with the sword's tip pressed against her neck before she could blink, the knife planted innocently in the grass.

Sango suddenly felt naked with a strange outfit on, no weapon in her hands and no chance to reach one before he could impaled her.

He gazed down at the woman, her eyes still meeting his defiantly with… not hatred but definite anger at being defenseless and at his mercy. Her chest heaved from all the running she had to do to escape him, unsuccessfully and her face didn't show any of the pain that she must have felt due to her wound he gave her. Now, whatever he willed she'd have to do, for he held her life in his hands…

His blade slid down her neck and to her chest above her heart, also ripping the shirt further. The sudden cool metal against her warm body made her want to shiver, but she resisted the urge.

"What, are you trying to infuriate me more by ruining my shirt further? Considering you're about to kill me, I don't think my friend will want it back after this," she told him. Good, she could still talk normally. As long as she talked, she'd stay calm.

"Aren't you afraid?" he asked her, pushing the blade harder against her to emphasis his words more.

She closed her eyes for a second as he pressed the sword to her before looking him in the eyes once again. Crimson eyes, the color of blood…

"I'm not afraid to die."

Hiei lifted the blade off her, though still had it pointed threateningly, in case she decided to move. "Then what are you afraid of?"

A small bitter laugh escaped her lips. "Oh, yes, I'm going to tell the demon that's about to kill me all my fears so he can exploit them. "Do you think I'm that dumb?"

"Hn," he said. I bet it would have worked if I'd asked someone like that orange-haired idiot, Hiei thought.

Neither one moved for awhile, Sango, because she couldn't and Hiei, well, Sango couldn't understand what he was doing.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" she asked.

Silence.

"So anxious to be dead, are you?" the fire demon responded after a second.

He lifted his sword up and Sango was about to close her eyes, then thought better of it, and watched him instead. She wasn't sure by lifting his sword if he was about to strike the final blow or… let her go?

Sango never found out, however, when she heard voices not too far away.

"Sango!" That was Kagome's voice.

They both glanced to where the voices were coming from.

Taking her chance, Sango quickly rolled away and got on one knee while the other knee was bent, foot firmly on the floor. She began reaching for yet another knife when she saw Hiei sheath his sword. She looked at him inquiringly as she fell to both knees, immediately bringing a hand across her side to hold her wound.

"You're lucky this time," he told her. "Next time, I won't go easy on you."

"Next time?" she asked, but her voice only reached the wind since the short demon was gone from sight. She smirked. "I'll be looking forward to it."

And next time, I'll have the weapons to give you a fair fight, the slayer thought.

Though she couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't finished her off then and there. He certainly could have killed her and escaped before her friends reached her. Then why…?

Abruptly, Inuyasha dropped to the ground beside her with Kagome and Miroku running not too far behind.

"Sango, are you okay?" Kagome asked, going to her friend's side, "Inuyasha could smell your blood."

"Yeah, fine. My side looks worse than it really is," Sango told them. Before she could continue, she was being lifted up in someone's arms. She glared at Miroku. "Put me down, monk."

"But, Sango," he replied innocently, "you're injured."

Of course, that didn't stop him from resting his hand that went around her back on her breast as he held her bridal style. She hit him hard in the back of the head and he wisely decided to put her down, though he did slip an arm around her waist, helping her stand. Though it made her feel slightly uncomfortable and a slight blush came to her face, she'd allow it as long as his hand didn't slide any further downward.

Inuyasha handed Sango his jacket. "Put it on. You'll get people's attention if you're bleeding all over the place," the hanyou explained gruffly, "and the jacket's long enough to cover the wound."

Kagome sighed, defeated. "I just bought him that jacket…" she said while shaking her head sadly.

After Sango put the jacket on and retrieved her knife, the four quickly began their way back to their apartments.


"So a short demon, faster than any demon you've seen before, did this to you?" Kagome inquired to make sure she had heard right, pointing to her bandaged stomach.

"That's about it," Sango told her.

"Did you find out anything about Naraku?" Inuyasha asked as he leaned against the wall.

Sango looked startled for a second, then answered, "no… no I didn't."

To tell the truth, she had honestly forgotten all about Naraku during their fight the night before. Which was weird because since Naraku had killed her brother her mind had been on nothing but him. But when she was fighting that demon… she had been so focused on fighting and her anger… she had honestly forgotten to ask. Not that she had been the position to ask anything with her at the end of his sword.

"Can we go already?" Shippo asked impatiently, nearly jumping up and down on the couch in all his eagerness.

When he did actually start bouncing, Inuyasha caught him in mid-leap. "Calm down, runt," he told the kitsune.

Kagome glanced at the clock which "somehow", or so she claimed, had lost its ability to tick in the last few days. It did still work though, it just didn't make any sound anymore.

It was almost eight o'clock at night and considering they didn't want to go out until it was completely dark outside, Kagome told them they could go in another half an hour. It was nearing the end of summer, so Kagome figured eight thirty would be dark enough for their cause. There weren't that many people—if any—in the park at night and that meant they could bring larger weapons, like Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga and Sango's Hiraikotsu as long as it was dark enough and they stuck to unused alleys to get there.

The half an hour passed by quickly and they reached the park not too long after that. The park was void of all people, especially since, by the look of the dark clouds above, it seemed that it might pour at any second.

"So how do we find this demon guy?" Shippo asked. Shippo usually used his fox illusions to make himself appear human most of the time in public, but since there was no one around, he stayed normal.

The rest looked to Kagome, who they assumed would be able to find the demon. The demon they were looking for did have a jewel fragment after all and Kagome could sense them.

Kagome took a deep breath before bracing herself for the explosion to her mind. The jewel shards had spread all over Tokyo, a much smaller space then when they had spread all over Japan in the Feudal Era and when she closed her eyes, every shard came to her mind—that was still close by that is. (In six months, quite a few had moved around). She tried to differentiate and see what direction, but seeing every shard at once left her disoriented.

Kagome fell to her knees, panting slightly. "It's no use," she told them miserably, "there's one nearby… but it's moving around so fast." She sighed, before mumbling, "sorry."

"Feh, don't beat yourself up about it," Inuyasha said gruffly though there was a certain gentleness to it that told Kagome that he didn't blame her.

"At least we know he's somewhere in this park," Sango commented, "it's not too big, we should be able to find him soon."

It did, however, prove difficult to find the demon. None of them seemed to be able to sense the demon's presence, meaning it was masking its energy from them and more then that, it probably knew they were hunting it. Yet still, the demon remained hidden. Or maybe it was hunting someone else…

"This demon has been killing humans as well, or so that other demon let slip. I don't know how true it is," Inuyasha cautioned.

"Is there any way to make this go faster?" Kagome asked, starting to get irritated with the demon's lack of appearance. "I want to get inside before it starts to pour."

Miroku had on a thoughtful expression, which was never a good sign. "Well, there is a way to speed things up…"

"How?" Shippo asked, eager to get home and sleep in a warm bed with some dessert before he slept, of course.

"If we weren't in such a large group, then maybe the demon would have attacked us already, but as we are now he won't be coming out anytime soon," the monk explained, "but if we had bait…." He looked at Kagome.

Kagome balked. "What! Oh, no, you can't mean…. Why me!" she cried indignantly.

Miroku looked at her seriously. "Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara are all demons so the demon wouldn't show itself to them. Sango has too many weapons and has this certain air about, that gives off power and definite sexual vibes…"

"Move on, monk," Sango growled.

Wisely, he heeded the slayer's advice. "…and I need to put up a barrier around us to mask us from the demon so he doesn't know were around, so I can't be the bait either," Miroku clarified, "plus you're young and tasty looking, I'm sure any demon would love—"

"Miroku," Inuyasha said warningly.

Kagome sighed, defeated. "Fine, but I don't have to be happy about it. And for the record, I didn't agree to this."

Inuyasha still didn't look too happy with it, but didn't say anymore. The group searched for a good place for Kagome to wait and finally they found a bench that was ideal. It was in a small clearing in the woods part of the park and on each side of the bench there was only grass until the trees and bushes began. Behind those bushes on one side, waited her friends, covered by Miroku's spell.

And so Kagome waited for the demon to make its move to try and kill her.

Oh joy.


The blue-haired deity flew swiftly through the night's air, the speed at which she was going tousling her hair. Her grip on her oar was lazy, but a grip nonetheless. Having years upon years of practice made her confident and she knew she could fly perfectly without even dreaming of falling off with her good balance, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Botan came to the slightly unfamiliar apartment building, dropping hesitantly to one of the windows and peering side, to make sure it was the right one. Yusuke had moved out of his apartment with his mom a few months ago and had moved into a new one, with Kuwabara as a roommate. The two argued frequently and Yusuke had threatened him often that he would kick him out, but in reality, he needed Kuwabara to pay half the rent. So he tolerated Kuwabara in his apartment.

Sliding the unlocked window open, Botan flew into the room and dropped daintily to the floor next to the bed. Yusuke lay on top of the bed, passed out, with his clothes from the day still on. He had either been very exhausted or very lazy, Botan couldn't decide which. Though she couldn't help but wonder why he was passed out so early, it wasn't even ten at night yet.

Without a second thought, the grim reaper took her oar and whacked the sleeping figure with it. He toppled out of his bed with a yelp, his blankets that his feet had been tangled it cascading to the floor as well. Immediately, he jumped up and looked angrily at Botan.

"What the hell was that for!" he yelled.

"That's what you get for leaving your window open," she chided him.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to lock it next time," he mumbled as he climbed back into bed and pulled his fallen blanket on top of him and over his head.

"Don't go back to sleep!" Botan screeched at him and pulled the blankets off him in one quick motion. Yusuke protested and tried to grab it back, but she threw it to the other side of the room. He glared.

Yusuke ruffled his hair as he yawned widely. "Wha'd ya want?" Yusuke half-yawned.

"Oh shush," she told him, "I came to tell you that Koenma wants you and the others to start searching for the hanyou."

"You woke me up just to tell me that?" Yusuke asked, pissed.

Botan swung her oar at him again, but he smartly ducked just in time. No way he'd let her hit him twice with that weapon of hers.

"No dummy, I also came to tell you that Koenma got a report that there is a human-killing demon loose in the park that might or might not be the same demon."

Yusuke jumped to his feet. "What, and you just tell me this now!" Botan opened her mouth to answer—and from the look on her face it was going to be an angry reply—but he interrupted. "I'll go wake up Kuwabara, you go find Kurama and meet us at the park."

Botan nodded swiftly and then was out the window, flying off into the night.


"Kurama, can you sense anything?" Yusuke asked the kitsune.

The emerald-eyed fox shook his head as he ducked under a low hanging branch. "There's something faint… but the demons around here seem to be masking their energy."

Yusuke sighed, annoyed. "This may take awhile then." He glanced upward. "I just hope it doesn't rain on us."

The continued walking through the trees, the twigs under their feet making small snapping noises, except for Kurama, who walked in complete silence. Damn sneaky fox… Yusuke was just thankful Kurama was always on their side.

Kuwabara was walking next to Yusuke when he suddenly stopped, his attention diverted. "Woah, there's a girl over there," he said, pointing.

Botan slapped his hand away. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to point?" she told him with a wry smile.

They did, however, follow his gaze to a small clearing within the woods of the park. Yusuke stared in surprise as he saw the girl from the day before—Kagome, he remembered—sitting on a bench by herself. What as she doing here? And all alone at night, at that. Didn't she know it was dangerous to be on her own? She was just asking for trouble, wasn't she?

"She's pretty," Kuwabara commented.

"Down boy," Botan said as though talking to a dog and for good measure, grabbed his ear and tugged him back as he took a step forward toward her. Botan shook her head. "What would Yukina think…?"

"We should probably get her out of the area," Kurama reasoned, "or the demon might get to her."

"You guys stay here," Yusuke told them as he walked toward her, "I'll get rid of her."


Kagome sighed silently as she waited, her feet tapping lightly on the ground as she began to grow impatiently. If something didn't happen soon, she'd fall asleep and that would lead to no good if the demon suddenly appeared.

She leaned back further against the back of the bench, slumping slightly when she heard the snapping of twigs nearby. She turned her head sharply, her eyes searching through the dark trees when she saw a familiar figure walk out of them.

"Yu—Yusuke!" Kagome said in surprise as she stood up.

He stood with his hands in his pocket, eyeing her with a small smile. "Kagome, right?" Yusuke asked, as though he was trying to remember her name. Of course he had remembered instantly(though he still wouldn't know her name if it wasn't for that piece of paper), but she didn't need to know that.

She nodded. "What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Yusuke replied, moving closer.

"I hardly know you and yet we keep having these meetings," Kagome said. She was about to smile but it wavered halfway through when the reason she was out there came back to her. "You shouldn't be out here," she told him firmly.

"Neither should you," he countered.

She could not let him stay. Sure, he looked tough with that I'm-a-punk-don't-mess-with-me thing going on and—after talking with human friends the other day— she found out he had a reputation for his ferocity (mainly after beating people up), but Kagome doubted he'd be able to handle himself against a demon. With her and the rest of the gang looking for that demon in league with Naraku that may be killing humans nearby, she could not have him sticking around.

"Be a gentleman and leave," Kagome said, sitting down on the bench, gripping it firmly so that she could not be moved without a fight.

"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I left you all alone? In the dark. At night. In the woods. Not exactly the safest thing when you're a woman," Yusuke informed her.

He had to get her out of there. If a demon came by when she was by herself…. Well, lets just say he wouldn't be seeing her again any time soon. And that demon they were looking for was said to be in the area. He could not leave her to his mercy. Plus, even though he had not known the girl too long, he did kind of like her. She was just too damn nice and cute to dislike.

"Well you shouldn't be out. It's not exactly safe for you either," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

Damn, she looked adorable when she was annoyed. "Fine, both of us shouldn't be out, so come with me and we'll both leave," he declared as he grabbed her by her upper arms, actually lifting her off the bench when she wouldn't get up on her own.

Kagome faltered. "Go with you? Like… on a date?"

Not exactly what he meant but…

He was not thrilled with the idea. Not that he didn't want to go out with her, it would have been an… interesting evening if he did, it was just that he wanted to stay and fight the demon. But he supposed for once he could miss a fight since he had to get the girl out of the way anyway.

"Not a date… just hanging out. Between two friends," he asked, pulling her along.

The idea of a date had startled her and she was glad that it was not, though was mildly disappointed. She was tempted to leave with him, but she had been volunteered to be bait to get the demon to come out so Inuyasha could kill it. Inuyasha would not be happy if she left now with a strange boy. Actually, she was surprised he hadn't jumped out already and dragged her away. So, she still had to try and get Yusuke to leave.

He grabbed her arm, trying to get her to move faster.

"You're touching me too much to be a gentleman," Kagome told him, taking her arm from his grip.

He smirked at the comment but said, annoyed, "well maybe if you left with me, I wouldn't have to be so rough."

"Getting a little rambunctious, are we now?" she asked, eyebrow raised, "or is that too big a word for you?"

He gritted his teeth and said sharply, not really caring at the moment that he sounded like an idiot, "too big a word."

Yusuke must be very irritated and in a hurry to actually admit his ignorance, Kurama thought, slightly amused, from where he was hidden by the trees.

"It means… frisky."

"Frisky?" His face broke out in a grin and he moved closer. "Frisky I can show you." Wait, no, he had to focus. He had to get here out of there so him and his teammates could search without worrying about her.

Kagome blushed, though frowned in an attempt to cover it up. He sounded as bad as Miroku, though Miroku would have probably groped her by now after such a comment so maybe not as bad, but he was not better by much. God help woman everywhere if those two ever meet up and compared notes.

Yet she was saddened by the thought at the same time. If he was like Miroku, none of this meant anything, did it? Just meaningless flirting.

"Can we just go somewhere?" he asked, tugging on her arm.

"No!" she exclaimed, then blushed at her outburst, "I—I need the fresh air. You go and have fun. Maybe I'll join you later."

Why does she have to be so difficult! Yusuke thought.

"It would be boring by myself, come on," he told her.

"I don't want to!" she responded.

"You don't want to have a good time? Just come on," he said.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

They went on back and forth for a long time, while Yusuke pulled on her arm every time he said yes and she tugged her arm back every time she responded. If someone came upon them now they would definitely get the wrong idea, call him a pervert, and then chase him away for her. That would actually be a blessing at this point.

Both abruptly froze when they heard a woman scream loudly through the seemingly quiet night air.

"Gotta go," both chorused at the same time and spun around, quickly heading off in opposite directions.


A/N: Aw, so cute. They're each trying to get the other to leave 'cause they care about one another:)