InuYasha and his friends walked down a mountainside in the light of the afternoon. It was a fairly open area, with a few trees here and there, and many rocks and boulders littered everywhere on the slanted land. There was even the odd cabin built near or inside clusters of trees in some places. They had only made it halfway down when they decided to stop for lunch in the shade of a patch of trees.

InuYasha had perched himself on a high tree branch, where he ate his bag of fried potato chips alone. Miroku sat leaning against the trunk of a tree neighboring the one InuYasha was on. Kagome, Sango, Shippou, and Kilala sat on a blanket Kagome set out for them while they ate. Miroku joined the others' picnic when the food was ready for them, and InuYasha joined them when he exhausted his bag of chips.

"Once again an excellent meal brought to us by Kagome," Miroku complimented.

"Yes, I agree. This is delicious," Sango added.

"Yes, Kagome's meals are the best," Shippou also added.

InuYasha sat there and continued eating. He looked up to see Miroku staring straight at him. "What? Ah, the food's alright, I suppose." After adding his comment in, he continued eating, unaware of the annoyed look on Kagome's face.

"Sit!" Kagome shouted the word firmly, and InuYasha slammed hard into the ground, as if gravity had multiplied on his body. Kagome stomped off away from the picnic and away from the trees, rambling on about how insensitive InuYasha was about her cooking.

"This seems to happen every time we eat with them together," Miroku commented with obviousness.

"Yet he never seems to learn," Sango added.

Kagome had walked a fair distance from the trees now, and when InuYasha was able to get up again, he noticed a shadow of a figure racing towards Kagome. "Kagome! Wait!"

"Oh no! If you think I'm gonna forgive you that easily, then you're sadly mist-ahhh!" The shadowed figure leapt for Kagome, and she ducked out of the way for his attack. It turned around, and went for her again. This time InuYasha was given just enough time to pull his sword, the Tetsusaiga, jump in between the two, and deflect the attacker with the enlarged blade. The shadow went flying backward, landed, and revealed himself.

He was slightly taller than InuYasha, and very muscular. He had a black pair of jeans on and no shirt. He had almost no hair except for a single ponytail that came out of the back of his head. His eyes were black and cold. All down his left arm was a line of spikes on the outside, each the size of one of his index fingers. They started at the shoulder, and ended at his forearm, with a single spike on the back of his hand. Each of the spikes slightly curved in the direction away from his shoulder. In his right hand he held a blade about half the size of a normal sword.

InuYasha looked back at Kagome. "What are you waiting for? Get to safety!"

"Right," Kagome answered, and ran back to where the others were by the trees. After he could see that she was safely far away, InuYasha switched his gaze back to the unknown assailant.

"You! What's your problem? What do you have against Kagome?"

"Nothing at all," the attacker replied. "I just needed to use her to draw you out in the open like this. You're so predictable."

"What? What do you want from me?"

"Only the weapon you currently hold in your hands. The Tetsusaiga. I'll assume you're not just going to hand it over, so it looks like I'm going to have to take it by force." The attacker got in a battle stance.

"Yeah, I guess you're gonna have to try." InuYasha also got in a battle stance.

After a few moments of staring each other down, InuYasha was the first to strike. He lunged at his opponent with his huge blade, but his target was too fast. By the time he was half way with his attack, the enemy had already leapt behind him, used his blade to knock the Tetsusaiga out of InuYasha's hands, and kicked the half demon forward out of the way.

The attacker walked up to the blade, and tried to pick it up, but received a shock when he touched it. "Ah, so it's true. There is a barrier on the blade."

InuYasha got up quickly, and started walking toward his opponent. "Heh, so you are a demon. You can't even pick it up, let alone use it. You still want it?"

"Of course. I don't intend on using it myself."

"Well, you're still not getting it!" InuYasha lunged forward again, bringing one of his claws out. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" he shouted as he slashed at his opponent. Once again, the enemy demon was too quick. He stepped to the side, let InuYasha's attack through, and grabbed his attacking arm at the last second, swinging him around and throwing him off to the side.

"Who the hell are you?" InuYasha said as he stood back up again, using his hand to wipe a small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth.

The attacker gave a small chuckle. "My true name is Ryetsu, but I'm more commonly referred to as Stinger, for obvious reasons." He raised his left arm in front of him as he said this to showcase the string of spikes on it.

"Stinger, eh? The names for you demons just seem to be getting more and more pathetic."

Stinger gave another small chuckle. "The fact that you're a demon with human blood in you is far more pathetic."

"Yeah, well I'm the only one that can wield the Tetsusaiga because of that fact."

"That's what you think, dog-boy." Stinger gave a smile.

"What the hell are you talking about?" InuYasha wondered aloud. Instead of answering, Stinger charged at InuYasha, and attacked him with the spikes on his arm. InuYasha leaned back and to the side at the last second, and the spikes whizzed by his chest, a hairs width from his robe. InuYasha ran around the outside of that spiked arm, and made a dash for his sword. His attention wasn't even on his opponent anymore. He was just worried about the sword.

InuYasha's friends all watched the fight from a distance, knowing that it probably wouldn't be a wise choice to interfere. Kagome could see Stinger going for InuYasha again, but InuYasha had his back turned and wasn't watching his opponent at all. She could see that he was more worried about getting his weapon back.

"InuYasha!" she shouted. "Watch out! He's still attacking you!"

InuYasha didn't respond. He just kept racing for the Tetsusaiga. He figured that talking would only slow him down.

"InuYasha!" Everyone was trying to shout at him now, but the half-demon was still too stubborn to listen.

Kagome had to think of something fast. There was only one thing she was able to come up with at the moment. "InuYasha…sit!"

InuYasha was immediately halted from running, and slammed into the ground by those words. Stinger went flying over the body now pressed into the ground, because he had leapt into the air to make his attack. InuYasha looked at Kagome with annoyance until he saw the body flash over him. Then he understood.

InuYasha grabbed his sword immediately when he was able to move again, and, thinking strategically for a change, decided not to get up, and let his enemy come to him instead. Stinger tried to strike again, and when he was in range, InuYasha brought the blade up in an upward slashing motion. Stinger caught it just in time, and did the best he could to stop his attack and leap backwards. He managed to prevent himself from being sliced in half, but there was a large slash across his chest and torso, going from his waist on his right side to his left shoulder.

"And here I thought your brain didn't have the capacity for a maneuver like that, dog-boy." Stinger was holding his torso with his right arm. He dropped the blade it was holding during the slash.

"Yeah, you better watch out, I'll surprise ya," InuYasha said, out of arrogance.

"Yeah, we'll just see how many surprises you have left when your precious Tetsusaiga is torn away from you. You'd be useless in a fight without it. That day will come, I assure you." With that, Stinger dashed off into the distance. InuYasha chased after him, but somehow lost him when he hit a patch of trees. It was like he had disappeared in the bushes.

When he got back to the group, they quickly packed up their stuff, and started walking down the mountain again. InuYasha and Kagome took the front, with Sango and Miroku a few steps behind them, and Shippou and Kilala teetering back and forth between the pairs.

While they were walking, Kagome suddenly looked at InuYasha. "Aren't you glad I was there to help you? You could've been killed…"

InuYasha didn't even return the look. "What are you talking about? I didn't need any help. I was in control of the situation the whole time."

"You weren't even paying attention to your opponent!"

"I had my eyes on him at all times!"

"You had your back turned to him when you went for the Tetsusaiga!"

"Maybe I was lulling him into a false of security! How did you help at all?"

"Does this ring a bell? Sit boy!" With those words from Kagome's mouth, InuYasha slammed straight into the ground again. Kagome kept walking, annoyed and ranting about how ungrateful InuYasha is.

"She sure seems to be getting used to saying that word." Miroku commented.

Sango noticed something rubbing against her behind, and glared dangerously at Miroku when she discovered it was his hand. "And you seem to be getting used to the feel of my butt!" She put a handprint on the monk's face with a slap, and stormed off like Kagome just did.

While the two girls walked off, Miroku stopped for a moment by InuYasha, who was still lying on the ground from Kagome's "sit" command.

"Some things never seem to change, do they?" Miroku said to the half-demon.

InuYasha looked up at him. "Yeah, tell me about it. Those girls are impossible."