Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale
The Ringenkai Plant
Chapter 13: Shinobi of Lightspeed - Tarensei Attacks!
A heavy fog was draped over the lands of the mountain ranges far up in the east as far as the human naked eye could see. Like a massive blanket it had barely kept anything visible from above the infinite sea of grayness that shrouded the tall stone pointed structure that stretched towards the skies. The further it ran along, the less fog appeared until the lush warm climate of a volcanic habitat swept through the air. The mist almost appeared as if it was clearing a direct path for the single silver haired figure walking upon it, dividing itself into an open triangular line until it disappeared from view.
Inuyasha approached a small open valley just in between two large mountains, having scoured a great distance to arrive there on foot alone. With hot fiery coals embedded into the grounds like a searing oven, Inuyasha effortlessly crossed onto the main rocky road that ran right into the mouth of an open cave. Inuyasha felt a shred of annoyance as every time he had to come to this place, it was always for a problem that needed to be solved. Yet Inuyasha had clearly known that this was possibly the biggest problem that he could lug into the hands of the man who awaited inside the cave.
"Hey, Toutousai!" Inuyasha greeted loudly upon his entrance into the cave. The old sword smith was calmly sitting at his usual spot banging his hammer onto the blade of a recently created sword. Thinning out the sharp blade he then gently lifted it into the air and proceeded to blow a long stream of fire from his mouth onto it as he usually did. The daily chore of making swords was nothing more than simple thought to the old man, as he has been nearly doing the same kind of work for as many years as his rusty brain could recall.
Turning around immediately upon hearing Inuyasha's voice, Toutousai faced the half demon with his large bulging eyes. A lost kind of expression doused upon the man's face, he set down the heated blade and stood up.
"Inuyasha? Back so soon already? The last time you were here you told me you were on a search for some kind of plant, wasn't it? Don't tell me you've screwed up. I swear, I'm getting mighty tired of cleaning up after your mistakes all of the time. Had your father still been alive he would have extracted some strict discipline! Children these days..." Toutousai said, shaking his head.
"Cut me the old age lectures, old man. This is very serious, and I'm heavily pressed for time. Does it look like I've come all this way to play games?" said Inuyasha in a determined tone as he reached for the Tetsusaiga and pulled it loose from the band on his pants. "Its about the Tetsusaiga, and it isn't any good news, I can grant you that."
"Master Inuyasha! Is that you?" a tiny voice squeaked from out of nowhere. Inuyasha suddenly felt a small prick at the side of his neck, and instinctively he slapped that same area very hard with his hand. "Ackkkkk! And I barely... got a drink!"
"Should have known you'd be still hanging around here, Myoga. Things never change with you, does it?" Inuyasha said, narrowing his eyes as a flattened Myoga slowly fluttered down onto the center of his palm. The flea's tiny body popped back into the correct size, where it proceeded to hop up and down excitedly.
"Master Inuyasha, must you do that to me every time? I can tell you that being squashed isn't really a fun thing to experience." Myoga groaned.
"And why don't I tell you that getting your blood sucked out by a flea who runs from the slightest bit of danger isn't nothing to write home about!" Inuyasha furiously shook Myoga around in the air with his closed fist, twice as annoyed than ever.
"Ahhh! Gahhhhhhh! Forgive me, master! Please! Stoppppp!" Myoga yelled, with Inuyasha finally letting go and flicking him onto the ground like a loose pea. Regaining his bearings back, Myoga furiously dusted his clothes off. "Ahem, excuse my rude actions. But Master Inuyasha, may I be as so bold to ask what brings you back here?"
Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha momentarily paused before speaking in earnest. "Listen, I'll just cut to the chase. The Tetsusaiga..." Inuyasha went on, explaining the entire situation to both Myoga and Toutousai.
"... and that's what happened as of late. No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to be able to unleash the true transformation of the Tetsusaiga." Inuyasha finally finished.
"So that explains everything! I understand now..." Toutousai said as he grasped the Tetsusaiga in his frail hands, inspecting the blade's surface. Myoga hopped up onto the old man's shoulder with several sweat drops flying from his tiny head.
"Gahhh! This is absolutely terrible! There is no way the Tetsusaiga can be repelled by its owner like this! The sword has been designed to only belong to the one strong enough to wield and exhibit its true power, so why can't Master Inuyasha use it now? Oh, this is truly a horrifying turn of events!" Myoga bawled, very upset at the current problem.
"You've hit the nail on the head with that one. But instead of telling me the obvious here, are there any ideas for what I can possibly do? I can't afford to trek on having a sword that's rendered useless in battle, you know." Inuyasha said solemnly, a glint of hope stirring in his voice that the old man was able to help.
"Hmmm... this is a very serious problem, indeed. But from what I can tell... I believe that..." Toutousai said slowly while rubbing his chin. Inuyasha leaned in closer with his arms crossed, more than eager to hear what the smith had to say. Myoga also froze with anticipation, as the cave fell silent to everyone's ears upon Toutousai's supposed solution.
"... To be perfectly honest with you, I have no clue where to go from here. I'm more stumped than a piece of old tree bark." Toutousai scratched his head, his blank expression never changing. Both Inuyasha and Myoga face faulted hard onto the ground, their prayers completely crushed. Inuyasha sat back up and punched Toutousai in the head, knocking the old man down and causing a large bump to appear on his wrinkled head.
"DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS IF YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY TO BEGIN WITH!" Inuyasha yelled, his anger seething. Toutousai fixed himself back upright, seemingly unfazed by the half demon's powerful punch.
"Ahem!" Toutousai cleared his throat, then continued on. "Before you start going off on another one of your typical rants, keep in mind that this is a sword smith you're talking to, not some sort of a magician! I can take one good look at the Tetsusaiga and tell you straight off the bat that its very difficult to determine a proper way to release the aura lock on the blade itself."
"Terrific. I guess I should have known that deep down from the start, but I guess I ended up placing my own wishful thinking ahead of reality." Inuyasha muttered while clenching his fists.
"If you truly wish to unlock Toukijin's evil aura, both you and I know that you will have to find a way to do just that." Toutousai replied, carefully sheathing the faintly glowing Tetsusaiga and setting back onto the ground between Inuyasha and himself.
"That's the reason why I came to you in the first place! Don't you get it by now, old man? You're really being a big help right about now." Inuyasha remarked sarcastically.
"Say all you want, Inuyasha. In all of my life while I could have forged many a sword, I can tell you right now that not even in a hundred years... or even a thousand that I could ever physically break down the elements of a blade itself. With the kind of raw power that Sesshoumaru's Toukijin seeps, I can't begin to imagine how to rid the kind of aura it can create without taking the risk of destroying the Tetsusaiga."
"Then let me intercept from here." Myoga chimed into the conversation. "From what Master Inuyasha has told us from his previous battle with Sesshoumaru, if both the Tetsusaiga and the Toukijin have indeed become locked in a distant power struggle it is no surprise that both the Bakuryuuha and Toukijin's energy overrode each other by some means. While the Bakuryuuha is definitely the Tetsusaiga's strongest attack, my guess is the Toukijin remained unaffected by its blast. However on Master Inuyasha's end, the Tetsusaiga was the one to fully partake in the loss. Provided that the Toukijin's energy rays constantly brush against the Tetsusaiga enough times, the rays must have broke through and affected the sword... thus putting this evil aura to seal the power within." Myoga said as he hopped onto the scabbard.
"That does make sense. Judging from what happened, Sesshoumaru probably wasn't even aware of the case right after I had attacked him with the Bakuryuuha. I guess I was pretty lucky to have gotten dragged out of the fight by Miroku and the others... as I probably would have been put at a major stalemate if I couldn't use the Tetsusaiga any further to defend myself." Inuyasha admitted, thinking back to the exact moment of when he and Sesshoumaru had both drew their swords at each other simultaneously.
"With this aura cleanly surrounding the sword, not even power lent from the heavens could revert it back to its normal form. Its not even fit for any kind of battle." Toutousai nodded.
"What's stranger still is that little by little I can transfer some energy in contribution to transforming the sword, but with that strong electrical current repelling the majority of it there's not really much of a point for me to use it in the first place. Not even in a desperate situation." Inuyasha sighed in frustration.
"Unfortunately, that is correct. No matter how much you attempt to do that, there's an off chance you could still transform the sword but it will not quite pack enough of the right punch to slay your enemies. Not meaning to seem so negative, but you would be lucky to even cut through a piece of wood or pierce another's flesh." Myoga concluded.
"So tell me this, isn't there virtually anything I could do to get rid of this goddamned aura for good?" Inuyasha further pressed. Myoga closed his eyes and folded his four arms, thinking as hard as he could. About few moments later, his eyes suddenly flashed open.
"Wait! It just hit me! Why of course, why didn't I think of this sooner!" Myoga squeaked. "The only possible way to return the Tetsusaiga back to normal again is to simply have a similar collision like he did with Sesshoumaru's Toukijin. Except this time with a different offending property altogether!"
"Huh? Come again? You're not making much sense as usual." Inuyasha asked.
"Umm... to be more clear, what I mean is the offending energy has to be of a holy element. Basically from my educated guess, a dash of holy energy is the only chance you have at ridding of the aura that is concealing the Tetsusaiga... destroying it just the same and therefore giving you full control of the blade again." Myoga said, feeling idiotic for the fact that the idea had not hit him anytime sooner.
"I have to hand it to you, Myoga. You're a genius. But there's one problem. How in the HELL am I supposed to do that? Do I LOOK like a sorcerer to you?" Inuyasha barked. "Just like always, your so-called bright ideas always have a flaw somewhere along the line."
"Yikes! But... but Master Inuyasha, that is the only solution that's feasible enough to try out, but other than that I can tell you the truth that I have no clue as to where to find that kind of energy. You have to at least grant me that much thanks for even thinking of that alone! Please forgive me!" Myoga yelped, running to hide behind Toutousai's back.
"For once I finally get some decent information from you and yet I have no way to carry it out!" Inuyasha stood up, knocked Toutousai out of the way and grabbed Myoga, shaking the flea around in a very violent manner.
"Ahhhhh! That's all I know! Honest! Honessssssttttttt!" Myoga cried, until Inuyasha finally let go, flicking the little flea aside into the stone wall. "Ackkk! Why am I always the one to get the most injuries around here?"
"Well, from here on out the only solution is the best solution I guess." Inuyasha said as he took the Tetsusaiga and reattached the sheath to his side. Leaving the cave, he stopped and turned around one last time to Toutousai and Myoga. "Without a source of holy energy I can consider the Tetsusaiga rather useless to me for the time being. But I won't give up. I'm confident that I'll find some way to deal with this problem." Inuyasha said, storming out of the cave in a huff.
"Wait! Oh, Master Inuyasha!" Myoga called, getting up from the ground. However it was too late as Inuyasha was already long gone from the area.
"Leave him be, Myoga. The boy can be brash most of the time, but he at least always gets the job done whenever it presents itself. I'm going to have to give my greatest wishes that he finds that holy energy to restore the Tetsusaiga in time. Amazing how bad things always seem to happen at the worst times." Toutousai commented.
"Yes, and in addition to his search for the Ringenkai Plant to help aid Kagome's severe poisoning, this will put a great deal of decision making on Inuyasha's part." Myoga said forlornly, standing at the entrance of the cave and watching the silhouette of his master fading away into the distance.
As time passed, Inuyasha was soon treading his way through the mountainside. Placing himself back on track to head in the northern direction, his mind was racked with misplaced thoughts and various events that led up until now. Leaping from cliff to the cliff and sliding down steep rocky hills and coming ever so closer to ground level, Inuyasha could not stop himself from thinking of the poor disposition he was placed in.
"This is the worst disposition I could ever be placed in at this point. While I now know how to get rid of the aura on Tetsusaiga's blade, where exactly do I plan on finding the exact kind of energy that could cleanse it away? How pointless! Always getting to the answers only for it to lead to many more questions! Could it get any more worse at this rate?" Inuyasha grimaced while his thoughts remained scattered and lost, eager to find a saving grace to his fresh growing tree of problems. A mental image of Myoga flashed before him.
"Basically from my educated guess, a dash of holy energy is the only chance you have at ridding of the aura that is concealing the Tetsusaiga... destroying it just the same and therefore giving you full control of the blade again." Myoga said...
Inuyasha shook his head, his awareness becoming crystal clear again the moment he hit the very foot of the mountains, landing with an effortlessly daunting fall. The palm of his hand gently pressed against the hard terra firma, its cool surface feeling soothing to the very touch of his half breed produced skin.
"Yes, I already get the idea. Now the only question that remains is HOW." Inuyasha gave one last lingering thought as he took a swift run ahead into the swerving shower of raindrops that blasted its way into his sensitive face. As he knew it, it wasn't long before Inuyasha had arrived back into the pale green scenery he was so normally accustomed to. Coming out onto a small plain, Inuyasha's spirit felt as if it were paralyzed by the oncoming rushing rain that slapped onto his body bit by bit and little by little. He slowed himself down to a moderate walking pace and stopped directly in the middle of a small plain, his gaze long ago lost into the grey and white clouds above.
"I honestly don't know what to do next. But time is working against me right now, and if I want to get to the Ringenkai Plant in time to save Kagome I'm going to have to make this search the first priority. I can't go off trying to make the Tetsusaiga useable again if I'm over pressured to still catch up with Miroku and the others." Inuyasha spoke to himself in a low voice. "While I'm beginning to have less confidence about my next move, I made a dead set promise that I was going to protect Kagome no matter what happens. And I'm not going to back down for anyone or anything."
A brief flash of white light flickered in the sky, sending a shocking jolt of lightning and startling the drums of anyone within earshot. As nature would permit, the fast lightning streak was soon followed up by the further darkening of the skies and an even heavier sheet of rain than before. With the weather not showing any kind of sign of letting up with its torrential winds of foreshadowing, Inuyasha immediately broke into real time and took cover into the opening of a bamboo forest nearby, seeking shelter from the freezing hail of water.
"Brrr... I'm sorry I even asked if things could any worse. Had I'd been human I'd probably come down with some sort of lagging cold." Inuyasha shivered, kicking out his feet while wiping off the loose droplets on his red clothing. With this being his usual distraction, he found himself emerging onto a lone and dry path that was cleanly lined up by a vast row of bamboo trees all around. The farther that he walked, the wider the forest became with several large pools of rainwater displayed on the dirt ground, going as deep as three feet due to the land erosion.
Hundreds of leaking water sources poured down from the field of green leaves from the trees above, contributing to the source of the puddles' origin. However a mysterious wave of ominous darkness filled the entire forest the deeper Inuyasha was drawn into it, and with that the senses of both his nose and eyes had detected something in the very eye of the black pigment that shrouded itself around his body.
"Hold on a moment! There's a peculiar scent wavering in the air..." Inuyasha stopped short, taking a light sniff. He then ground his teeth in response, realizing that something was awry. "I knew there wasn't something right about this forest at all. I'm sensing a heavy presence... yet the scent seems to be misleading. It smells exactly like... a fresh rose? What the hell is going on here?"
Inuyasha was puzzled as much as he was suspicious, his amber eyes peering into the black void. His demon senses allowed him to draw in an outline of a single figure standing alone. With the mysterious one having their back turned while shrouded in the pitch black zone that seemed to reach out to grab Inuyasha's immediate attention, the half demon's suspicions were correct as he witnessed a light whisk of rose petals float in a circular motion by the slender person's clothed legs.
"Ha ha ha... so you must be the infamous Inuyasha I've heard so much about on short notice." the person said, stylishly spinning around in a half pirouette and making his lengthy hakama blow aside in the air. The darkness around the questionable male had then lifted, making Inuyasha's vision more visible to see the one facing him.
With a steady flow of steamy mist replacing the former blackness, the figure's appearance had revealed that of Tarensei. His eyelids once closed now popped open and his striking emerald pupils were exposed to the surreal image of the white haired half demon he had anticipating to meet for the longest. Sullen with a low volume with giggle like laughter, Inuyasha was already annoyed with the stranger's mystifying allure.
"No... not a woman. A man! That and something tells me he's not a regular human happening to take a stroll through here, of all places." Inuyasha thought. "That's right, and just who do you happen to be? How do you exactly know me?" the half demon barked defensively.
"Hmmm, now that isn't a way to talk to a someone who considers you for your hand in possible marriage is it? Tarensei replied softly.
"From your joker looks, I can tell you're not here to have a friendly chat. So quit the acting. Your scent may be that of a defenseless child but your demeanor says completely otherwise. As if you could've fooled me in the first place." Inuyasha said, hunching downwards at a snail's pace while placing his right hand onto the handle of the Tetsusaiga.
"Indeed, you're correct! You certainly don't hold back on your perception, but since you too are obviously experienced in doing battle that would be quite pointless to mention." Tarensei smirked. "But we're not here for idle chitchat. As much as I'd like to dabble in the various subjects of the stewed peach we call life, case in point I have come to test your strength. In other words, to find out if you are worth the trouble to eliminate."
"I still haven't a clue as to who you are exactly, pretty boy. But if its a fight you want, then I haven't any other choice but to send you back to whatever hole you came crawling out of." Inuyasha scowled, still holding his ground.
Tarensei smiled in return, taking a pose similar to the dog demon's. "I'm quite happy that you're agreeing to do battle, my friend. Not only you're handsome but your quite chivalrous as well! Oh, and where are my manners? I didn't answer your question. My name is Tarensei. Any other information I oblige to withhold... strictly remaining confidential if you were to ask any further."
"I don't think that'll be for long, once I beat the rest of it out your bloody corpse!" Inuyasha shouted, as he sprung forward and attempted to slash Tarensei directly across the chest with his claw. But Tarensei instantly disappeared from his location, leaving Inuyasha swiping at nothing but thin streak lines.
"What the!" Inuyasha said as he caught his footing and hit the ground. He spun around to see the purple haired wonder standing from behind. Tarensei's right arm was crossed and hidden beneath the sleeve of his gi, while the other remained limp at his side. He gave a cocky grin once again, making Inuyasha clearly irritated.
"He's fast! There was no way he had any ample time to dodge my attack so quickly. He's definitely not an ordinary demon. I can just forget about fighting a regular human, or else I would've torn him to shreds before he could even move." Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "Don't mean to disappoint you, but I don't plan on turning this into a wild goose chase. If you're serious about fighting, then you'd best stand still and fight like a true swordsman."
"Oh, but I am serious Inuyasha. I just wanted to start things out with a little spark of fire. Or should I say a brush of roses? Don't get so mad so early in the game. The fun's about to begin soon." Tarensei said this while reaching into the inside pocket of his gi. Inside his ivory palm lay some neatly trimmed rose petals. Raising his palm to his soft red lips, he gently blew them out towards Inuyasha.
"What's he planning now!" Inuyasha said to himself. His eyes caught on quick to see the rose petals float like magic into the air and suddenly whisk themselves to form a spinning circle of light pink. Catching on quick, Inuyasha rolled to his left to avoid the mini cyclone. "Those aren't ordinary petals! I can sense the aura alone just from these things!"
Inuyasha cut it too close, but evaded the majority of the petals. However he was not quick enough as he recovered from the roll. At least four petals zinged by both of his legs, their razor sharp edges cutting deep through Inuyasha's tough skin. Blood easily seeped out and splashed down onto the ground, staining the red of his pants. "Gyahhhh! I was right... somehow he must've used his demon power to sharpen those things in order to kill his targets. Now I have to be more careful..." Inuyasha muttered, realizing that the gashes on either side of his legs had stung him deeper than he anticipated.
"How disappointing." Tarensei shook his head while pouting. "I honestly expected you to be a little quicker on the draw than that, but then again my rose petal attacks tend to catch people off guard. But as for you, I won't be so quick to pass judgement too soon. I can already feel the unnerving tingling of a soon to be fantastic battle!"
"Nnnghhh... you won't be having fun much longer after I'm through with this fight. Your annoying banter is more than enough to give me a reason to kill you." Inuyasha glared while rising back to his feet.
"You've certainly got a lot of spunk. Friskiness even. I like that in a man!" Tarensei beckoned, trying to verbally give Inuyasha more gumption to fight. "Yes! This is exactly what I've been asking for. After over five hundred years of imprisonment, this could very well be the most interesting and glorious kind of fight I've had yet. But I'll see..." he thought.
"You done talking, Tarensei? Because I've had it up to here with your nonsensical talk!" Inuyasha said, mentally preparing himself for the next attack.
"I beg to differ. I'm not the type to hold back my own strength if by any means to annihilate my enemies. But to be courteous, enough with the light talk. Let us begin for real this time." Tarensei announced, at last drawing out his masamune. Without a word more, he then dashed forward in a streak of instant light and disappeared into thin air.
The sounds of a sword slashing through thin wind repeated itself over and over as the bamboo trees surrounding the two warriors had started to collapse and crumble down with loud crashes, almost in unison with the crackling of thunder that popped in the cloudy skies above. Inuyasha held one arm up, bracing himself for an attack until he realized what was happening.
"Wait a second! What's he doing? He must be trying to confuse me! His speed is simply so immense at that! It's almost as if I can barely track his movements. He's way faster than Kouga or even Sesshoumaru in terms of speed on both legs, that's for sure..." Inuyasha's mind raced, his amber eyes zigzagging all around to try to sense where exactly Tarensei was amidst the falling trees. "There's no doubt that this guy's a demon, judging from the insane aura I've felt the moment I walked into this forest. But the real question I still want to know is, what is he exactly after?"
As Inuyasha finished his last thought, he saw a rather large tree begin to fall down towards his location. "No time for questions..." the half demon jumped out of harm's way. However he was only leaping deeper into the forest as the greenery surrounding him continued to fall around in several places. This visual distraction had kept Inuyasha from properly trying to detect, or at least take a decent guess as to where Tarensei exactly was. "Shit! He's moving so fast I can't even draw a scent on him! I could only do it when he's still!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tarensei's serene laughter echoed throughout the empty hollows of the forest, seeming as if they were coming at Inuyasha in all directions. "Disoriented yet? It reminds me of an old game I used to play when I was a small child. It was called hide and go seek. And guess who's the tiger seeking the prey? ME!" Tarensei shouted, appearing right out of the blue at Inuyasha's right side, delivering a heavy slash to the shoulder.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Inuyasha groaned, the blood flying up in the air. The impact from Tarensei's brutal slash sent him sprawling to the ground. However Inuyasha pounced with a cat-like reflex back off of the ground to break his fall. "Not yet!" he shouted and jumped into the air to slash Tarensei right back, but the slender shinobi faded back into the black background before the attack could even connect.
"Damn it!" Inuyasha slashed apart a row of trees and landed back on the dirt soil, his adrenaline now heightened. "You're really beginning to piss me off! What the hell do you want from me, you bastard?" the annoyed half demon shouted. His question was only answered by the return of another flash of white light, headed straight for him.
Inuyasha leapt into the air just in time as the light hit the ground, creating a deep crater in the ground in a short but explosive burst of debris flying outward. Easily dodging the hard rocks and dirt, Inuyasha's eyes fluttered back to the area from which he formerly stood in time to spot Tarensei himself standing in the middle of the shower of dirt.
"You can't dodge two attacks at once! Try this on for size! HAH! HAH HAAAAAAH!" Tarensei yelled, swooshing his masamune through the air about ten times. The energy seaming from his blade separated and flew through the air directly at Inuyasha. The width and sheer size of the energy blades alone was almost impossible to evade due to the trajectory and speed at which they were coming. Inuyasha was hit by at least seven out of the ten slashes, his red kimono being ripped into ribbons and a volley of demon blood spurting from his additional open wounds.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Inuyasha yelled, his body shooting like a comet backwards into new section of the forest. He tumbled and crashed hard onto the ground, landing directly on his left side and barely mustering up the rest of his strength to get back on his feet. "This is getting ridiculous! He's so fast my eyes can barely track a mere afterimage no matter how hard I try. His aura alone weaves in and out of this place it makes it difficult to tell exactly when and where he's coming from to make an attack. What's worse, I can't even use his scent to pinpoint him out. I didn't think a fight this bad couldn't happen at even a worse time..." Inuyasha thought hastily.
"Damn it all!" Inuyasha seethed, forcing himself to stand back up. His clothes were splattered with blood from the two vertical wounds that were on either sides of his chest and legs, but he refused to stumble.
"Well, Inuyasha it seems like you're heading in the direction of a decent stalemate. But since your inquiring mind is probably repeating the question of my origin over and over again, I'll leak the info you're seeking. You see, not only am I here to take your life, I'm also looking for a certain jewel shard that you're holding as a secondary objective of mine." Tarensei said as he reappeared a few feet away from Inuyasha, staring ahead dauntedly.
"What? Grrrr... why am I not surprised? Gyah!" Inuyasha cried as he sank down onto one knee, experiencing a sharp numbing pain shooting up his right leg. "Nnngh! What the? I can't move my leg as much all of a sudden! What the hell is going on? It's paralyzed!"
"Hmmm... So you've taken notice of my poison tipped rose petals. It usually takes a little longer for much stronger demons to take effect but I knew you wouldn't last more than at least six to seven minutes. But struggle all you want, it only makes you that much more attractive. I always did appreciate determination in a man." Tarensei smiled a little, standing in place. "However I can't help but find it strange that no matter how much I goad you, you have yet to actually draw your sword. Maybe you're holding back your true power and you're toying with me? The code of a warrior certainly has degenerated over the years."
"Hmph! Think what you want, pretty boy. I'm not even warmed up yet!" Inuyasha boasted, his mind racing. "Calling a bluff is the only choice I have, really. I know the Tetsusaiga is useless in its current form since its power is locked within. A bare bladed sword like this would only do wonders to slice bread but not a demon's flesh." he thought.
"Well you have tact, I have to at least give you that. But I simply implore you to go all out if you even plan on surviving this battle. In my honorable view it would be pointless to slay a supposed half-demon of such great strength and take the jewel shards. I was taught better than that as a shinobi. The code alone defies such kinds of actions and plainly shadowing any kind of proper honor." the green eyed warrior said while shrugging.
"Heh! An obviously bloodthirsty guy like you actually has honor! What kind of stupid codes are you learning from?" Inuyasha scoffed, with Tarensei simply smirking in response. "Grr... I can't get angry right now, or else it'll only make my rational thinking even worse. Clearly Tarensei has the upper hand here mainly because of his speed. Wait a second! I think I may have an idea. It's a long shot, but since I can't use the sword I don't have much of a choice." he thought.
"I'm assuming at the very most that you already know the norm is - if you desire to know more about my intentions, I won't be saying much else unless you put up a good fight. I expect the best if you choose to do so." Tarensei stated.
"Bring it on, then!" Inuyasha smirked, narrowing his eyes.
"So be it! HAAAAA!" Tarensei dashed forward, his masamune outstretched to the side. Instead of opting to slash Inuyasha head on, Tarensei began his circular dashing once again, disappearing and moving at an even faster rate than before. The dust kicking up from the shinobi's feet were causing small tornado like winds to rise into the air, storming all over Inuyasha from any random direction.
"Good. Now the only thing I have left to rely on is perfect timing..." Inuyasha thought, bracing himself up for what he was about to do. He lowered his claw to the upper right area of his chest while ignoring the dust trails swerving in front of his eyes.
It was almost as if time had froze, and with the tiny hairs on the back of Inuyasha's neck and each nerve radiating throughout his body, the tension swarming through every passing second stood still in preparation for the conclusion of this unexpected battle.
The End of Chapter 13.