Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Harry Potter. Takahashi Rumiko and J. K. Rowlings own them respectively. Please give rise to the curtain for another skit featuring Inutaisho, Inuyasha and Naraku…
INUTAISHO: It is foolish of you to have made that abominable monster become me, Inutaisho. How do you expect me to fight my own son?
ME: But… but…
INUYASHA: Yah! And now you gave Naraku some nasty ideas on attacking us!
NARAKU: I was not thinking of that, but now that you have mentioned it, I think I have an excellent plan to get rid of you and your annoying brother.
INUTAISHO: WHAT? HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF SUCH OFFENSIVE IDEA! DIE!
INUYASHA: Yeah! Get him dad!
NARAKU: Nooooooo1 I shall absorb your youki!
INUYASHA/INUTAISHO: Screw you!
ME: It's not a pretty battle… lets just read some sappy stuff, which is presented down below (crashing sounds from the background and Naraku screams in anguish as Inuyasha and Inutaisho club him to the death with anything they've got)… yes, on with the story, ignore them fellow readers, Naraku really deserves that.
NARAKU: Get these thugs off me!
Chapter Six: Sesshoumaru's captive Heart
How Harry hated potions. If only Snape wasn't the professor, then he might have enjoyed potions, but alas Snape was the potions master and so Harry failed the class miserably. However, things in Potions seemed to be a little lighter despite the fact that it got colder now that it was October. Much to Harry's liking, many of the girls had seemed to forget about Malfoy and instead of "DRACO'S #1 FAN" buttons, they wore: "I LOVE SESSHOUMARU" buttons. It was a black button with an opaque photo of Professor Sesshoumaru that glared around the room at anyone who looked in his direction. The words "I LOVE SESSHOUMARU" glowed blue and from time to time, the Sesshoumaru in the photo would mutter: "Ningens…" or "If you do not remove these stupid things off my face at once, I will kill you." Then it would say in a deadpan way, "I've warned you once. Die." Then the image would zoom out so that Sesshoumaru's whole body was shown in the button, hair whipping and all as he released his poison light whip. The whip would hit the letters and the glow would vanish for a second. Then, Sesshoumaru would settle back into his old place, before the letters would glow blue again. It was actually a lot cooler than the "DRACO'S #1 FAN" buttons provided that Malfoy kept on bragging about how good-looking he was and pushing his hair back.
Why the girls loved Professor Sesshoumaru, he never understood. Professor Sesshoumaru seemed to treat everyone as if they were the dirt in his toenails. He was never seen during meals and would sometimes disappear into the Forbidden Forest. That happened during every meal, and remembering that Professor Sesshoumaru just said (this Sesshoumaru does not eat human food), Harry deduced that he probably hunted his food, but he did clearly hear him say, "This Sesshoumaru does not eat unless it is an absolute necessity." What was even more frightening was that Professor Sesshoumaru's senses were horribly accurate. If anyone were passing notes around in class or whispering during the lesson, he caught all of it and instead of promptly handing them a detention gave them the hardest whacks across their calves, forcing them to count aloud. He was also good at tracking down students who decided they didn't want to come. He was out the door and back holding the student by his throat in a second.
"Harry!" Harry's head snapped up to see Snape glaring at him. "Detention tonight, and ten points from Gryfindor for not paying attention. Now, to work the Pension potion, you need…" Once more, Harry's thoughts zoomed out and away from Snape and now, this time, to the upcoming Halloween feast, then that wandered to the Quidditch game against Slytherins that day. Luckily for him, he got to leave potions early to prepare for the game. Throughout half the class, Harry kept his eyes on the clock that seemed to slowly tick away making one minute seem like one hour. They were to leave at 9:00, which meant that they would also be missing out on Defense Against the Dark Arts and Defense Against Demonic Energy. Harry didn't mind missing out on Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he was sure that he was going to miss Defense Against Demonic Energy.
Especially since for the last few weeks the class had witnessed awesome things. Sure, they had to put their wands away, but Professor Sakura's demonstrations made up for the boring walls and the wandless work of the class. To add on to that the members of the I LOVE SESSHOUMARU club were forced to put their buttons away by none other than Professor Sesshoumaru himself. Once Lavender came into the class wearing it, and he neatly severed it into two with his poison light whip. He could have punished her with ten smart taps across her calves, but Sakura didn't allow it (if any of you have no idea what "smart taps" means in Sesshoumaru's definition, it means hitting them nearly as hard as he could). Anyway, some of the great things they saw were the purity arrows that could only be used by muggles with strange priestess powers. According to Professor Sakura, priestesses were very rare although monks were quite populous. Part of the reason was because anyone could exercise their spiritual powers to become a monk. But to be a priestess, one had to be born with the powers. The best part of Defense Against Demonic Energy was the fact that they were able to go outside many times.
Sighing to himself, Harry looked up at the clock and it read fifteen minutes to nine. Unfortunately for Harry, he was paired with none other than Malfoy himself. Malfoy smirked at him as they continued to dump the ingredients into the cauldron. He was obviously planning to do something very nasty and knew he was going to get away with it. Once they finished their potions, Harry scooped up some potions and put it in its small vial, while he had miraculously gotten Malfoy to write the label and stick it on. Once Malfoy had grudgingly done that, Harry took the potion sample and set it on Snape's desk. So far, everything went fine, not until he came back to his desk and they had to clean up. Because Harry had none most of the work he asked Malfoy to clean up, which wasn't very hard, provided that with one flick of the wand made the table brand-spanking new. At least they were better off than Shippou and Neville, who had to clean everything by hand because Shippou had only had demonic powers. So, they had argued and Malfoy somewhat agreed. But instead of clearing the table with his wand, he raised the cauldron so that its contents spilled onto Harry's head, pissing Ron off.
Ron rushed at them and landed a fist smack into Malfoy's pointy nose, only to be held back by Herminone. Harry couldn't touch him because he wasn't sure if the potion on him would give Ron any harm. Neville had joined Hermione in trying to hold Ron back while Semus and Dean began yelling at Malfoy, who had the biggest smirk on his face. Neither of them noticed a very angry Snape. "Weasley, Granger, Malfoy, Longbroom! You shall all be joining wonder boy in detention tonight! And a hundred points from Slytherin! That potion may not cause any physical harm, but it is just as dangerous. As for you, Potter, do not touch anyone until we had found a counter-potion for that. Quidditch players may now leave." With one flick of his wand, Snape cleaned the potion mess off Harry and with another flick, sent the three boys out of the classroom.
The Quidditch members: Ron, Harry, and Malfoy slunk away. Luckily, Gryfindors didn't lose any house points. If Snape had taken away points from Slytherin, then he was definitely very angry. Malfoy glared behind his shoulder at Snape's closed classroom door, only to be punched by Ron. Harry nearly jumped in to pull Ron back, but: As for you, Potter, do not touch anyone until we had found a counter-potion for that… So he decided against it and used his wand instead to pull the two away from each other. "Ron," He started, "I would have pulled you back myself, but I can't touch anyone until the counter-potion is made. I'm guessing that it won't be made in a long time. And, please stay out of fighting with Malfoy, he's not worth your time." Ron shot Malfoy daggers before reluctantly following Harry towards the Gryfindor locker room.
Katie was obviously very upset because she had to miss out of Defense Against Demonic Energy. Harry heard from some of the students that all she did was drool on her parchment while Professor Sesshoumaru glared across the room and Professor Sakura glared at him as she did most of the teaching. Ginny, who had just come from Defense Against Demonic Energy told them the latest update in the class. "Hey guys! You won't believe what happened in Defense Against Demonic Energy!"
"WHAT?" Katie gasped while the rest gave them questioning looks. "WELL?" She continued to prod. Ginny looked extra excited as she started her update in the class.
"You see, today Professor Sakura and Professor Sesshoumaru showed us a demonstration of what a duel between a demon and a priestess were like. It was better than the last time they fought each other! Professor Sakura also showed us the magical work of fudras thrown by priestesses. It was very interesting. She told us that Professor Sesshoumaru had a special type of Poison light whip, which it could change colors. She told us that when his poison light whip changed to blue, then it could slice through the fudra and then tossed one at him! It was really cool how his green whip changed to blue and sliced it neatly in half!" Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows. "The whip grazed Sakura's face, but it healed almost immediately. So then she told us that powerful priestesses such as herself were able to do some other little things to fudras. And she plucked one from her sleeves and held it up in between her forefinger and her middle finger," Ginny gasped for some breath, "And concentrated on it! You'll never believe what happened!"
"WHAT?" Katie was practically screaming.
"It started to glow blue, and she tossed it at Sesshoumaru, who tried to slice it in half, but nothing happened! It went straight at him and hit him square between the eyes!" Katie and the rest looked mortified provided that Sakura had already told them what fudras could do. The members of the Gryfindor Quidditch team stared holes into Ginny, which meant they wanted her to continue. "Anyway, at first nothing happened, and then she muttered a language, which sounded like Japanese, but was really Korean, and a huge bolt of blue electricity exploded around him and vanished. Professor Sesshoumaru looked really angry and it looked like nothing happened, but when he tried to move, he couldn't!"
"He couldn't?" Ron asked amazed.
"Yeah. He couldn't. Every time he moved even one muscle, a blue bolt of energy would crackle and he would be in great pain! He couldn't even glare or grimace! It was really scary!"
"Wow…" was all Harry said, "But if Professor Sakura's four-fifths demon, how did she take it off him?" Ginny turned slightly red.
"She didn't. She just turned and walked away leaving him in the middle of the Quidditch field…" She didn't finish her sentence, because no sooner had she even said field, the rest of the team ran out to indeed see Professor Sesshoumaru standing in the middle of the field with a fudra on his forehead. He glared at them, but no sooner had he narrowed his eyes, a crackle of blue electricity exploded and forced him to remain emotionless and stock still.
"I'm going to take it off him!"
"No Katie, don't! Professor Sakura told us that Demons usually kill humans even if they help them!" Ron shouted after their retreating captain. Katie ignored him and reached up to Sesshoumaru to rip the fudra off. "Aw, shit! Now he's going to shred you to pieces!" But Katie was not torn to shreds after pealing the offending piece of paper off Sesshoumaru's forehead. All Professor Sesshoumaru did was glare down at her before walking coolly away. "Now he's going to shred Professor Sakura to pieces… creepy man…" Sesshoumaru immediately stopped dead in his tracks. Although he didn't turn around, Harry knew that he was glaring at Ron through the corner of his eyes. Without warning he turned around and at the speed of the gods rushed at Ron with his fist ready to punch him. Harry, by instinct, protectively stood in front of Ron and got a full frontal of his fist. Suddenly he felt his body tingle and then shoots of electric white spots danced in his eyes before everything turned white. The last thing he felt before his vision turned white was a stinging sensation in the spot where Sesshoumaru had punched him…
Harry woke up with his face in the grass, or rather a field of flowers; he didn't remember the Quidditch field having flowers on it, it just had grass. Harry pushed himself off the ground to find himself not in Hogwarts, but in a field of different colored flowers. The flowers were obviously magical, because they seemed to glow white. Around the flowers was a bunch of red Japanese maple trees and Cherry Blossoms. A gust of wind blew throughout the place as a trail of cherry blossom petals around him along with some of the petals of the flower field. At first Harry didn't see anyone, but when he looked up he saw Sesshoumaru standing up ahead by himself. He looked a little different from the one he knew. He wore a white shirt with a huge yellow flower pattern on it, and looked considerably younger. He wasn't wearing his armor or a sash, but just had his pelt on his shoulder. It was much larger than he was, so he had tied the pelt over his chest and under his arm. His hair was shorter too, but the moon on his forehead and the stripes on his cheeks confirmed him to indeed be Sesshoumaru.
All in all, Sesshoumaru was a very different person when he was young. He looked immensely bored and was tapping his tiny underdeveloped claws on his knee as a girl with long silvery hair sat next to him humming to herself as she picked some of the flowers. For a second, she looked like his younger sister, with the golden eyes and all, but she didn't have any stripes on her cheeks and had three red dots on her forehead. She wore a pink yukata printed with elaborate dark pink designs with a fairly thick and large white obi around her waist that was printed with flowers. Like Sesshoumaru, she had a pelt around her, only it was arranged in its proper way: around her shoulders like a shawl. The pelt was so large for her that it covered up most of her body. Her long silver hair, which was much longer than Sesshoumaru's, was braided loosely and tied with a pink cord. She was humming a song as Sesshoumaru looked awfully bored, but it was not his usual disdainful look that Harry knew.
"Are we going to sit here all night and pick flowers? They stink!" The little girl stuck her tongue out at him and he frowned, visibly. Sesshoumaru sneezed several times before whining, "Come on! Let's go pick on Hakaru! He's always bored and needs cute little inu youkais like us to brighten his life!" Sesshoumaru's golden eyes flashed with giddy mischievousness. Harry wondered how he got here, and when. He pushed himself up off the ground and walked over to the pair. They didn't notice him and continued to speak. "PUH-LEASEEEEEE?" Sesshoumaru begged the girl clasping his tiny hands together as if begging her. As he begged, his pelt got in the way and he tossed it off to the side irritably.
"Sesshoumaru," The little girl finally spoke, her golden eyes shimmering under the moonlight, "Remember the last time we bothered him? He fell into the lake and nearly drowned to death and Inutaisho-sama punished us greatly. Oh and you shouldn't just toss your pelt around like that, it's considered rude to your mother." Sesshoumaru pouted and looked away, with his eyes closed, he looked a lot like Inuyasha like that. He reached out and snatched the now grass-juice stained pelt and put it back on. "There, all done!" The little girl smiled and held up a garland of flowers that were done surprisingly professionally compared to her own age. There were purple, red, and white flowers. In the middle of the garland was a fairly large white flower that had a long thin stem handing out of its center with a tiny glittering gem at its end. "I made it just for you!"
"WHA-? NO! GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" Sesshoumaru began to sneeze as the little girl placed the garland on his head anyway. "AIEEEEEE!" He rolled around in the flowers staining his shirt with reds, pinks, blues, greens, and purples. The little girl giggled at him as he tore the thing off his head. "I think it looks better on you!"
"But I made it just for you!"
"KEH!" He indeed sounded just like Inuyasha. Perhaps this whole KEH thing came from their father? "So? It looks like a girl's anyway!" With that he jammed it on her head, breaking it. The little girl's eyes quivered and her chin began to quiver as well. She was going to cry. Sesshoumaru looked as if he didn't know what to do and immediately asked her in a softer tone not to cry. But ignoring his pleas, the little girl burst into surprisingly loud tears. Sesshoumaru began to make funny faces to keep her from crying but all those proved to be futile, so instead he ran around her in circles not knowing what to do and burst into tears himself. Then he tripped over something and landed prostrate in the ground. The little girl stopped crying and started to giggle. Harry immediately stood in front of Sesshoumaru who had angrily pulled his face out of the dirt. Harry half expected him to ogle at him, but he didn't. He pushed himself off the ground and sat as far as he could from the laughing girl and kicked dirt her way. "I'm never speaking to you again!"
Harry was shocked. Suddenly it occurred to him that he was inside Sesshoumaru's memory. This was obviously his childhood memory, provided that he looked no older than seven, in human years. Obviously, the younger Sesshoumaru was completely different than the Sesshoumaru he knew. "Aww… come on, Fluffy!"
"HEY! Don't call me that!" He yelled from his spot. The little girl giggled as she ran towards him with flowers in her tiny fists. "ARRGH! Get those things away from me! DAAAAAD! HELP!" Sesshoumaru got up and ran away from the little girl as fast as he could. But the girl, who was several years younger, was faster and pounced on his back. The moment she did so, that sent him once more flat into the ground, face in the dirt and all.
"Don't worry Fluffy-kun, this won't hurt! I promise. Harry stepped over to her to see her fingers moving very quickly as she wove flowers into his hair. She was couched on his back and when she jumped off him, Sesshoumaru had a bunch of nicely knotted hair with flowers in them. He looked annoyed and well, cute. Harry had to admit that it was hard not to smile at him. "Sesshoumaru! You look so pretteeeeeeeeeee!" The little girl sang as she danced around him.
"SAKURA! GET THESE THINGS OUT OF MY HAIR!" He whined yanking at his tightly knotted hair. A jolt of surprise triggered inside Harry's head. That silver haired girl was Sakura? But Sakura had black hair, not silver hair. Sakura ignored Sesshoumaru and sat next to him, with her legs stretched out in front of her. Unlike Sesshoumaru, she was barefooted.
"I wish I could keep my hair silver like yours…" She whined as Sesshoumaru tried to yank the flowers out of his hair. But as soon as he touched his head, Sakura swatted his hand away, "Be glad you look so pretty, Inutaisho-sama told me that when I grow older, my hair would turn black. Humph! It's not fair!"
"Well, it's not fair how you stuck these dumb flowers in my hair!"
"IS NOT!" Sakura stood up yelling into his face.
"IS TOO!" Sesshoumaru stood up to shout back at her.
"IS NOT!"
"IS TOO!"
"IS NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT TO THE INFINITY OF NOTS!"
"KEH!"
The two of them suck their tongues out at each other and turned away. Sesshoumaru blinked at the long braided hair of Sakura and got an idea. Smirking to himself happily, Sesshoumaru reached into the ground and grabbed a fist-full of flowers out by their roots not caring if he mashed some of them. Harry noticed that the flowers immediately grew back from the spot where he removed the flowers by their roots. He advanced towards Sakura and let out a loud war hoop before flattening her face-first into the ground. "I'll make your hair as girly as mine!" He said gleefully as Sakura struggled under his firm grasp. Unlike Sakura, however, he just stuck a bunch of flowers here and there getting dirt in her hair as well. When he was done, he jumped off her back to admire his work. "Not bad, in fact it's so much better than what you did to my hair!"
Sesshoumaru was dead wrong. The hair looked very messy and dirty. Sakura pulled her hair to look at what he had just done and glared at him. "YOU STUCK DIRT IN MY HAIR!"
"So?"
"I'M TELLING INUTAISHO-SAMA!"
"WHAT? NOO! YOU WOULDN'T!"
"I will!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake and a huge dog the size bigger than a mountain popped up. Harry let out a yell in surprise, but the two children didn't seem very afraid… or at least Sakura didn't. Sesshoumaru whined like a wounded puppy and backed away from it. It had a huge shaggy mane on its head and had white fur and long fangs dripped some saliva into the ground making it melt away into vapor. Its eyes were reddish-purple with green irises. In fact, its fangs were extremely big and hung down over its lower jaw. Its tail was long and fluffy, which swished back and forth and it's claws were even larger than Ron. In fact, it was so large that a least fifty people could stand on top of it alone. "Inutaisho-sama!" Sakura cried out, "Look what Sesshoumaru did to my beautiful hair!" Sesshoumaru immediately began to quiver.
"Sakura, please move out of my way." Inutaisho spoke. His voice was surprisingly deep and scholarly compared to the way he looked. It only took him half a step to get to the shivering Sesshoumaru, and for a second, Harry half expected him to snap his head off like a kid ripping off a Barbie Doll's head. But instead he vanished in a puff of pink smoke. Harry thought he had disappeared leaving Sesshoumaru there, but instead saw a man standing in front of the now less-terrified boy. The man had very long silver hair that was tied up into a ponytail. On his back was a long and large pelt that didn't look as fluffy as Sesshoumaru or Sakura's own pelts. From the side Harry could see huge spikes poking out from his shoulders, but that was all he saw really. "Sesshoumaru, you know it's not nice to stick dirt in a girl's hair."
"But daaad, she stuck flowers in my hair!" Sesshomaru whined pointing to his own, "And they won't come out!" Inutaisho chuckled, making the boy frown.
"And my son looks very cute with them in his hair!"
"BUT I DON'T WANT TO LOOK CUTE! NO! I DON'T LOOK CUTE, I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO! I'M SUPPOSED TO LOOK FEROCIOUS LIKE YOU!" With that Sesshoumaru burst into loud tears, making Sakura smirk.
"Sesshoumaru, I will not punish you very harshly for sticking dirt into Sakura's hair, but you will have to follow me around with that hair of yours."
"N-n-no! NEVER! Everyone will laugh at me! Th-th-that's the worst punishment ever! Please spank me!" Harry still could not see Inutaisho's face, but he guessed that the great dog-demon was amused.
"I will not spank you. Come now, Sesshoumaru, it's late." With that, Inutaisho bent down and picked Sesshoumaru up and turned around. He had thick black eyebrows and his eyes were also of a golden color. He had two thick purple stripes, one under each eye and his armor was huge. "Come Sakura." He said as he walked away with Sesshoumaru squirming in his arm. Sakura happily complied and he picked her us as well before preparing to run. Harry barely managed to grab onto the end of his pelt, but again was not noticed. After all, this was just a memory…
Harry opened his eyes to find himself looking up at the brilliant blue sky before him. He thought he had been out cold for several minutes. Everyone was standing in their usual positions before he went on his own little trip. Sesshoumaru was glaring down at him, Harry moved his head from side to side trying to decipher what had just gone on. Suddenly he felt pained in his cheek and reached up to touch it, only to wince. He looked at his hand and found his blood on his fingers. "Don't touch it Harry! It's a nasty wound!" Herimone screamed, at the same time Sesshoumaru stooped over and lifted Harry clear off the ground grabbing him by his throat.
"Ningen, what did you do to me?"
"I don't…" The hands tightened around his throat momentarily cutting off all air to his lungs before they loosened only slightly. "…Know."
"When my fist came in contact with your filthy face, I saw my past, something I don't want to see or remember. Now tell me, what did you do?"
"I really don't know!" Harry cried out. "When your fist collided with my face, I saw a vision!" Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed in annoyance and suspicion. Obviously he didn't want anyone to know about his past. Why, Harry didn't know.
"You saw… my past?" He asked now a little softer, but so much colder. His grip tightened once more and his voice dropped several degrees below zero. "Then you must die." Black dots danced around his line of Vision as Harry made failed attempts to breathe.
"SESSHOUMARU!" Harry saw Sakura appear behind him now holding her staff at the base of his neck, "Release him at once." She growled, pressing the tip of her blade closer to his neck. Ignoring the blade in his neck, Sesshoumaru released Harry, who fell to the ground choking and gasping for fresh air. Immediately the Gryfindors gathered around him asking if he were okay. Harry nodded coughing and sputtering. "Now walk away before I really kill you." Sesshoumaru glared at Sakura through the corner of his eyes before coolly starting to leave the scene. But he stopped.
"Sakura, he saw it." Was all he said before walking back towards the Hogwarts building; a soft breeze fluttered past him as he faced Sakura still gripping onto her weapon. Their hair swayed softly before settling down in their original position. For a second Harry thought he saw a softer look flicker in Sesshoumaru's eyes before they were the hard cold eyes he usually had. Perhaps it was the trick of the light? Whatever it was he didn't think he saw it. Sesshoumaru calmly turned around and walked away, the wind now blowing slightly harder, sending his hair to fly back from him along with his pelt.
But it wasn't the trick of the light, it really happened. Do you want everyone to see our past and our weakened state? He wondered to himself. Sakura, the one who once loved him unconditionally, Sakura who promised to stay by his side until the end, whether it be bitter or sweet. Sakura, who now hated him beyond belief, Sakura who wanted to kill him, Sakura, who he thought he killed. Sakura, his one and only love, who would always hold his heart in her hands no matter what. Why? Why did the threads of fate make us like this? He wondered as he reached into the collar of his haori to retrieve a simple flower garland. If you hate me that much, then I too shall hate you. He tried to cast the garland out the window but stopped. No, he couldn't do it.
Was this his weakness? No, he didn't have any weaknesses! He was strong. He made it alive out of the war with the neko youkai, so what made him feel so sad? If anyone had passed him, they would have sworn that they saw his eyes water slightly. Although he had changed from his younger ways, his love for Sakura had never changed, even if he gave her the cold shoulder. He was still willing to spend the rest of his life with her, but she broke their promise and told him that she never wanted to see him again. She also told him she was going to take Inuyasha with him. Although it seemed as if he wanted to kill his younger brother, Inuyasha was still the last of his relatives and although he tried so many ways to kill him, he always felt some sort of foreboding feeling that he should not kill his younger brother and spared his life one too many times.
Tucking the garland back into his shirt, Sesshoumaru calmly sliced the door to his classroom down. In fact, this door was the eight hundredth replacement. The classroom had changed dramatically since the first time he came to this ridiculous place with humans that carried around magical sticks. The classroom was slightly elevated from the ground leaving a small area to leave the shoes. The stonewalls had been covered with rice paper, now giving it a smooth look and the floors had been made from the finest wooden planks and had a thick mat that covered the planks. The windows had had once held glass were removed and replaced with wooden windows that were covered with rice paper. On top of the mats were tightly woven straw mats that were small and tied together. They covered the entire floor and chalkboard had been removed. Up front was a low wooden table that had various writing brushes, an inking plate made from pure ink-stone, and several papers. A small pot containing an oriental plant stood to the left next to the table sitting on a wooden box. To the right of the table was a long candlestick with a small white porcelain dish that held a white stub of a candle. Behind the table on the floor was a simple blue mat and there were separate tables facing Sesshoumaru's own table. Unlike his own desk, these desks were empty and less elaborately decorated and they also lacked the cushion that Sesshoumaru sat on. Next to each desk were the same candle stick holders, only theirs were made of wood and porcelain. Each candlestick holders stood to the left of the desks. Most of the students were already there and were kneeling behind their desks as they were required to. They had taken their shoes off and left them in a disgusting heap at the door.
"Ningens, I will not tolerate to see a filthy mass of shoes at the door. Arrange them into their proper positions." He said smoothly as he removed his boots. He stepped neatly up onto the elevated floor and calmly walked towards his desk as the students scrambled to rearrange their shoes so that they were sitting in neat rows. They carefully made sure that none of their shoes got too close to Sesshoumaru's own boots. The last time, a student left their shoes next to his and was glared at. They weren't going to make the same mistake. Sesshoumaru reached up with a clawed hand to take out a roll of clean rice paper to write on then moved over to open the windows so that the harsh cold air swept into the room making the students shiver. This was to keep the students from falling asleep from his dictation. Their bags were set to the right of their desks thus making the room appear extremely organized and neat. Sesshoumaru walked back to his desk and sat down behind it, cross-legged. A long thin stick was balanced at the front of his desk. If any student misbehaved or fell asleep, he or she would be immediately punished with ten smart taps across the calves. The unlucky student had to lift their robes and pants so that they could be hit directly onto bare skin.
"I trust all you girls, who constantly flash that annoying thing of yours, have put those things away." Sesshoumaru glared across the room. Satisfied with the complete silence and the now wide-awake students, he began his class. Each student already had their inkbottles and feather brushes out… or so that was what Sesshoumaru called it. In reality, they were quills, but they still did the trick. Their strange type of slightly yellowed paper was set out in front of them some of them neatly sticking out from their bags ready to grab when they needed new paper. With that, he unrolled the role book, which he had taken out of the strange contraption that held the necessary papers for his class. He started the role and when he was satisfied that all the students were there, he began his lesson.
The seventh year students kneeled before him, some of them fighting a wince as they began to lose feeling in their legs once more. Most of the students hated his classes. They were strict, militaristic, and immensely boring. The one with the bushy brown hair didn't seem fazzled by how boring it was, she stayed alert in class and listened intently, scribbling down notes and scoring the highest in the class. Sesshoumaru liked that type of student, but he hated the way her hand kept on shooting in the air. Unfortunately nobody seemed to raise their hands except her, thus, he really had no choice but to call on her. Once she had tried to correct him and was punished with his usual smart taps. In fact, they weren't very smart at all. Sesshoumaru took the pleasure in hitting their calves with brute force, slicing open the skin on its first blow. Many students winced as the unlucky one tried their best to be patient and not collapse onto the ground hollering in pain, because Sesshoumaru would add another ten. When he was done, he would tell them to heal their legs with their: "Strange sticks" and resumed. The bushy haired girl, however, rarely got into trouble. Probably the ones that got into the most trouble were the greasy-haired boy's two friends, or retainers, as Sesshoumaru saw them. They were incredibly stupid and fell asleep during his classes, and even picked their noses flicking the disgusting stuff to the side without care. Sesshoumaru glared at the two who were on the brink of falling asleep.
And then of course there was that strange looking girl who drooled on her desk. Sesshoumaru would snap at her to clean up the mess and then punish her. "I hope, ningens, that you read your required pages." Each student nodded, some muttering: Yes, Sesshoumarau-sama. That was another thing that Sesshoumaru required in his classes. He did not want them to call him Professor Sesshoumaru, it was either Sesshoumaru-kun or Sesshoumaru-sama, preferably Sesshoumaru-sama. The bushy-haired girl sat waiting eagerly for him to start. "Ningens, please give me a brief overview." The girl's hand shot up into the air. Sesshoumaru's golden orbs flickered around the room nearly begging for another student to raise his or her hand. Alas, nobody but the girl had their hands in the air. He nodded at her, giving her permission to speak.
"Demons were said to have originated from the gods as the counter part of humans. Unlike Humans they were stronger, faster, and had more powerful senses. When the gods brought the demons to earth, they came down as balls of light, scattering all across eastern Asia. Demons were most populous in Japan, Korea, and China. The first demons all looked alike. They were very small, much smaller than regular humans, and were said to be very weak. When the first demons descended from the skies, most of them were killed instantly for they were not accustomed to the strange new lands. The first demons were of humanoid shapes and had no hair. They closely resembled monks with round, circular eyes and small mouths. They were clad in white and were considered virtually defenseless. The remaining thousand of demons scattered from their landing spots. Some went up into the mountains and became what was known as wolf demons. Others disappeared into the ground becoming insect demons and some into the water, thus becoming water demons, fish demons and so on. The dog demons originated in the western lands. They were the first to gain their strength, from a magical spring that gave them vitality and energy. The once bald demons became massive. They morphed into enormous dogs with red eyes and were able to transform into humanoid figures as a mask. The dog demons were the first to have what is called taiyoukai. Their characteristics were their extremely keen sight, speed, and nose as well as their hearing. One of the main characteristics of these demons was their immensely golden eyes and their Dokkasou, they also had stripes on their faces as a special marking. It didn't matter what the stripes looked like. They usually went across the face under their eyes and the stripes varied in color. Some of them had markings on their forehead, some being dots, moon eclipses, writing, etc. The second…"
"Good. You know your materials." Sesshoumaru interrupted, "Is there anyone else who had managed to read what I asked them to read?" Sesshoumaru's eyes swept across the room and stopped on the round-faced human that constantly smelled of fear. "You." He said, "Continue from where she left off."
"Y-yes… Sesshoumaru-sama." The stench of fear seemed to grow. "The second m-most powerful…" He did not need to use the aid of scent to figure out that this human creature was more than extremely afraid, because the creature was visibly shaking.
"If you stutter one more time, I will take the liberty to punish you severely." Sesshoumaru spat his eyes now resting on the stick that lay across his desk. It looked as if it were ready to leap up and bite anyone. "Continue." The boy took a deep breath to calm himself before starting again, now completely stutter-less.
"The second most powerful demons were the cat demons, who once shared the western lands with the dog demons. The cat demons, however, were not of the original inhabitants of the western lands. They actually originated in a field of flowers and in the woods further southeast. Their characteristics were even faster than those of dog demons and most of them had strange almond shaped eyes. The cat demons, unlike dog demons, had very weak senses, and could not transform into giant cats, but small ones, that were considered defenseless. The only cat demon that could transform into a large cat form was the leader. It was said that ever since the great Inutaisho, former lord of the western lands, had expelled them from his lands after committing a grave crime: an attempted assassination of his son and to kill any dog demon in sight. Inutaisho destroyed their clan, first killing their leader Ginten and then completely depopulating them. The cat demons were forced to flee from his lands and the dog demon clan lived prosperously for many years."
"That is enough. You know your materials as well as the know-it-all ningen." He said calmly, "Now, place your homework on your desks for me to see." Sesshoumaru made no move to stand. Once all the students stopped the rustling of their papers, he used his pelt to grab every single one of the homework scanning the contents briefly before nodding or frowning. His pelt stopped at the now trembling retainers. Their desks lay empty. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at them before using his pelt to slap the one nearest to the aisle across the face. The heavy thing's head clunked against the other one's head knocking them off their knees. "You two shall write an extra five pages of the topic, which you are to hand into me first thing tomorrow morning." He snarled, as his pelt moved away to snatch the round-faced boy's paper. "If you do not hand them to me, I shall kill you." Sesshoumaru scanned his paper and much to his surprise, the boy seemed to have written an excellent paper that rivaled to the bushy haired girl. As far as he heard, this boy was a complete failure in most of his classes except for the one considering herbs. Once he had collected all the papers, Sesshoumaru stacked them together as his pelt returned to its regular position around his left shoulder. He rolled them up and called for Jaken, who was hidden in the back corner of the room. "Jaken, place these in my room." Jaken bowed deeply before taking the scrolls and taking them out the room. "And Jaken?" Jaken re-entered the room carrying the scrolls. "Make sure that Ah-un is fed well and cleaned. Do not forget to keep Rin occupied. I will not stand to see her cause another horrible mess. If you fail to keep her occupied I shall see to it that you are killed." Jaken gulped before complying and leaving the room. Sesshoumaru turned his full attention to the class. They were waiting patiently for him to begin his lesson, but the two retainers hadn't picked themselves up. Sesshoumaru realized that he knocked them out. Letting them lie around, he began the next chapter.
Jaken managed to get into Sesshoumaru's quarters. Like his classroom, his quarters gave off an oriental feel. Only this room had the door removed and replaced with a bamboo mat that covered the entrance. The room was slightly elevated and covered also with the straw mats. In the far corner a large white futon was folded neatly and tucked into the corner, with its blankets folded and piled on top. The two smaller futons that belonged to Jaken and Rin were also folded neatly and laid on top. Rin was in the middle of the room folding her blanket, and Jaken's was already folded and placed on top. In the spot where Sesshoumaru's futon once lay, was a low desk similar to the one in his classroom, but slightly smaller. Behind the desk up on the wall was a sliding window, also framed with wood and was covered with rice paper. Stacked neatly to the sides were books bound by strings, and his textbooks for his classes. In fact, along the wall to Jaken's right was a bookshelf filled with books and scrolls. Next to the desk were two candlestick holders, both needed their candles replaced. In the corner close to Jaken's left, the Nintoujou leaned against it along with Ah-un's saddle, and Sesshoumaru's traveling bundle. Other than those, the room was completely empty, except for the small brass basin to Jaken's left. That was used to wash his foot so that he didn't get dirt onto the room's floor. Jaken called for Rin, who immediately stopped trying to get her blanket on top of the large pile. "Take this and place it on Sesshoumaru-sama's desk." He commanded. Rin quipped a cheery reply and placed it on Sesshoumaru's desk as told. Jaken took the moment to wash his feet and when dried scampered across the room.
"Jaken-sama, you don't need to feed Ah-un, the big shaggy man already fed them! Now you can play with me all day!" Jaken rolled his eyes at the happy girl… too happy for his own taste. Nonetheless, he still liked her. "What are we going to do today? Can we draw pictures?"
"Of course, but do not make a mess. I do not wish to end up like the last time where you foolishly spilt the ink all over your futon and I got kicked in the head."
"OKAY! I'm going to draw you!"
"Foolish girl! You will not draw me!"
"Then I'll draw Sesshoumaru!"
"Girl!" Jaken thundered, or attempted to thunder, "You will not do that either."
"Okay… then…" Rin dipped her brush into the inking-stone and began to draw something. In minutes, she was done and held up her drawing. It was a picture of Inuyasha, who was kicking dirt at a well. "How about this one?"
"Ningen, what if Sesshoumaru-sama sees that?"
"What's wrong with doggy man?"
"Clean your place up and follow me. We shall play outside and you will not go near the forest and the lake. I would hate to fish you out of it. Rin jumped up and down with joy. She quickly and diligently cleaned her area, making sure she didn't spill the ink, which she placed back on Sesshoumaru's table. She washed the ink out of the brush and hung it up in its respectable place before scampering after Jaken, who had taken up the Nintoujou. "Might as well visit Ah-un… I hope that halfling had taken good care of them. I'd hate to see Sesshoumaru-sama angry at me because of him. Come Rin."
"Yes Jaken-sama!" Rin bounced after Jaken who now left the room. He stopped in front of what seemed to be a blank wall, but because he was youkai, he could see the door. Jaken reached out and yanked the door open. Rin gawped and jumped up and down again. "The wall opened, the wall opened! Jaken-sama! Wait for me!" She ran after the strange demon and the two of them left the castle to a little hut near the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.
"Remember Rin, you shall stay with that Halfling and you are not to go into that forest, is that clear?"
"YES!"
The quidditch game was about to begin and all the students sat in the risers to watch the game commence. The Slytherins came out from their side of the stadium and the Gryfindors came out in the one opposite of them. Inuyasha was bored out of his skull; whatever he was watching, he considered it extremely boring. All there was were a bunch of kids standing in the middle of a bunch of grass half of them were dressed in red and gold while the other half was in green and silver. Inuyasha had just kicked a group of disappointed students off the bench. He lay on his side with one arm supporting his head and his legs stretched out so that they covered half the bench. He tapped his finger on his knees and his foot on the bench. He wondered why he had to sit around to watch a game he didn't even understand. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were sitting at the end of the bench. Shippou was on Miroku's head. Kagome shot Inuyash a glare, but that was all really. "Mount your brooms!" A woman in the middle shouted. All the kids chorused: "UP!" And the brooms they were holding shot up into their arms. The kid with the messy black hair didn't need to hold onto his room, it floated next to him waiting to be ridden on. The kids jumped onto their brooms and at this shrill noise that made Inuyasha land face first into the ground, were in the air. Inuyasha cursed loudly as he got up from his spot.
He looked up at the sky to see kids zooming here and there on their strange looking brooms. There were these black things whizzing around the air following some of the kids around, and a red one continued to pass back and forth between some other students. Four of them wildly swung their clubs at the black thing at each other or to the ones who seemed to be aimlessly wandering around. The announcer called them the seekers. "The seekers continue in search of the snitch!" A teacher boomed from afar. Whatever the snitch was, obviously they hadn't found it. Among the whizzing and the tossing and the smacking, Inuyasha's eyes followed this tiny golden ball with wings attached to it. He guessed that was what they were looking for. If he were there, he would have already found it. One of the players holding the clubs glared maliciously down at him. For whatever reasons, Inuyasha didn't know. The kid was huge and ugly, and Inuyasha immediately identified him as one of the Slytherins. The kid swung the club at the black ball letting it fly directly towards him. "Zambini swings the bludger at… PROFESSOR INUYASHA?" The announcer seemed to choke on his words.
Inuyasha simply said aloud, "Eh?" As he caught the black ball single handedly. "Oh my goodness! Professor Inuyasha catches the bludger without breaking his wrist! HE CAUGHT IT!" The announcer continued to scream. Inuyasha glared up at the kid who hit the black thing over at him. Obviously, the runt was trying to hurt him. Inuyasha's free hand twitched along with his eyes. Why those stupid, impudent little… Inuyasha wasted no time in hurtling the black thing back at the kid with all his strength. The kid tried to block it with his club, but Inuyasha had thrown it with such force and strength that it smashed the club in half, ramming into his face. Blood and tooth spurt out everywhere, while Inuyasha jumped up and down in his seat screaming obscenities.
"Why you little RUNT!" Inuyasha yelled flying to his feet. He crouched low on the bench and jumped up in the air. The students gasped. They had heard that he could jump very high but haven't really seen it. The announcer was shouting about him jumping in the air. Inuyasha pulled the Tetsusaiga out. "You're dead meat!" He shouted.
"INUYASHA! SIT!"
"ARRRRRRRRRRGH!" He screamed as he fell two hundred feet from the sky. He landed with a thud in the ground creating a huge crater about fifty feet deep. All the students scrambled over to the front of the bleachers to see what had happened. They have already seen Inuyasha's sitting sessions, but they never saw him drop two-hundred feet into the ground. Inuyasha groaned as he pushed himself out of the ground. Murmurs of surprise spread around the stadium as Inuyasha cracked his back with a resounding POP! POP! "Kagome… the runt tried to smash my face with that stupid…" He didn't finish his sentence, because the black thing smacked him across the back of his head before mischieviously trying to flee, but it was not fast enough. Two clawed hangs grabbed the ball bringing it close to Inuyasha. Inuyasha glared at the thing before sinking his teeth into it growling, "Grrrrr…" When the ball didn't break, he punched it into tiny fragments. No sooner had Inuyasha punched the bludger, something small and tiny hit his head. A vein popped out from Inuyasha's temple. The nerve of these balls! Inuyasha charged at the culprit, which turned out to be a small golden ball with wings. Come to think of it, these humans called it a snitch… Inuyasha thought to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted when the snitch smacked him square between the eyes and shot away almost mischievously. "Oh no you don't!" He shouted angrily. He left the remains of the bludger on the ground and went running after the snitch.
In the human's eye, it would have vanished by then, but Inuyasha, even being half demon, could trace its path. He ran after it jumping off the ground. He flew around using his newly retained demonic powers. "Get back here!" He shouted, "You can't get away with hitting me, dammit!" He ran around punching some of the kids out of their way when they weren't fast enough to get out of his way (that's technically everyone). He used the kids' heads and brooms to jump from place to place although he could fly. "You think you're too fast for me, don't you?" He snarled narrowing his eyes at the thing. But a red-sleeved fist grabbed the thing and the whistle sounded.
"Gryfindors win!" Sure enough the messy-haired kid was grabbing onto the golden thing. Inuyasha punched Malfoy out of his way with a loud remark that sounded oddly like move. He reached over to snatch the thing out of the kid's hand. The kid he recognized as Harry Potter. Surprised, Harry released the golden thing.
Harry gawped at Inuyasha who tried to grab onto the snitch in his hands. The snitch immediately left his hand and whizzed crazily around the place, now weaving in and out of the audiences. "Oy! Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Inuyasha shouted as he sped up. Harry watched open-mouthed along with the rest of the Quidditch members. Professor Higurashi shook her head sadly along with the rest of her friends. Inuyasha was obviously very fast and it took him less than a second to grab the snitch, which was hovering next to Snape's ear. Inuyasha bit the wings of the snitch and began to shake it back and forth like a dog. He took it out of his mouth and glared at it before being bonked over the head by none other than Sesshoumaru. "Don't hit me!" He barked as the snitch fell to the ground, its one wing flapping uselessly, provided that Inuyasha and torn the other one out. With the speed similar to Sesshoumaru's he bonked him on the head back. Sesshoumaru's eyes glinted slightly before he punched him in the face. Inuyasha flew away from Sesshoumaru landed on his two feet. He drew the Tetsusaiga in midair and was holding it in front of him glaring at Sesshoumaru who had just taken the Toukijen out from its scabbard.
"I'll fight you to the end!" Inuyasha shouted brandishing the Tetsusaiga at Sesshomaru who was holding the Toukijen with an air of arrogance. "KAZE NO KIZU!" Sesshoumaru humphed and sent one of his many attacks at Inuyasha, the wind scar and the sword attack slammed into each other before dispersing into a huge explosion of white and yellow electricity. Sesshoumaru wasted no time in throwing another one of his sword attacks at Inuyasha. This time Inuyasha didn't have time to use the wind scar and the sword attack hit him full frontal tearing his red shirt off and cutting up his under shirt. Inuyasha yelled in pain, and when the bright light faded, he was floating in midair, semi-conscious.
"I see that you managed to survive my sword attack…" Sesshoumaru trailed off to see that his sword attack had shrunk into a tiny ball that glowed above Inuyasha's forehead. It was fairly large, but not as large as the sword attack. It continued to glow white until the light faded and all that was left was a large crystalline ball with some gaseous light floating inside it. As for Inuyasha himself, he was bleeding heavily and the Tetsusaiga had fallen out of his hands and into the ground so that its handle was facing the sky. Blood seeped out from his body and dripped onto the ground in a steady thin dark red line. Sesshoumaru seemed as if he regretted it, in fact he did. He had just landed on the tall tower of the Quidditch stadium decorated in red and gold. He hand dropped the Toukijen, which fell to the ground as well and landed in the cement with a loud clatter. He had his hand on the handle of his second sword, which began to pulsate wildly. "Inuyasha…" He muttered, "What have I done?"
He slowly drew the Tenseiga, which was now pulsing nonstop. He stared at it then at Inuyasha who continued to bleed nonstop. Obviously, his wounds weren't ready to close anytime soon. Gripping the hilt of the Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru forced himself to swing the Tenseiga once. With one swing a huge blast of pink energy flew towards Inuyasha's semi-conscious form. Instead of hitting Inuyasha as Sesshoumaru had aimed, it slammed into a barrier that had formed around the strange thing floating above his forehead. The barrier crackled for a minute, then the powers of the Tenseiga entered hitting the thing smack in the middle. The crystalline cover shattered into a million pieces and the thing floating in the air hit Inuyasha moving into his body. The body seemed to glow bluish as the gaseous thing continued to flow into his body.
Finally, it was gone and to his astonishment, the blank look in Inuyasha's eyes returned to the normal glittering eyes with its pupils. Harry watched as the wounds on Inuyasha began to vanish and his blood, which he had lost a considerable amount stopped streaming out of his body. The scars around him vanished, healing completely leaving nothing but smooth skin, then he dropped into the ground. But something else had happened to Inuyasha. His eyes flickered red and he began to pulsate. Kagome had a look of horror on her face. Without hesitating she jumped down into the field snatching the Tetsusaiga from the ground. By then, things were too late. Inuyasha didn't look very different, but his eyes were red and his claws elongated so that they were two inches long. His fangs elongated as well so that they stuck out of his mouth with saliva dripping out of it. "Sesshoumaru…" He growled whilst cracking his knuckles and chuckling evilly. This Inuyasha was completely different from the one that Harry knew.
Suddenly, Inuyasha launched his attack on Sesshoumaru who barely managed to dodge him. Inuyasha mercilessly swiped at Sesshoumaru with his long claws while Sesshoumaru dodged him. He no longer had the Toukijen on him and Inuyasha was mercilessly swinging his claws at him. Sesshoumaru let fly of his light whip, which Inuyasha dodged easily. In fact, with one swipe of his claws, he sliced it neatly into two. Sesshoumaru continued to dodge Inuyasha. "You may have gotten stronger, but you are still the hanyou I know!" With one swing of his fist, Sesshoumaru tried to punch Inuyasha. To his and everyone's surprise, Inuyasha clamped his fangs into it, chuckling evilly. Sesshoumaru looked very angry and kicked Inuyasha away from him so that he landed next to Kagome.
Seeing Kagome, he chuckled again and made an attempt to claw her, but he only got the Tetsusaiga that Kagome tried to hand to him. The Tetsusaiga flew out of her hands and skittered across the ground. Chuckling some more, Inuyasha raised his claws to kill her, but in a flash, Sakura stood in front of him and placed her two fingers on his forehead. She pulsed twice and a blue glow came out from her fingers. Inuyasha suddenly landed face first into the ground. "Give him the Tetsusaiga so he doesn't transform again." She commanded Kagome. Kagome nodded and ran off to get the Tetsusaiga and placed it in his hands. When Inuyasha got up, he was normal again.
Inuyasha sat among his friends as they gathered around him in front of the fire they had made in the Forbidden Forest. "Inuyasha," Kagome started, "You collected the second soul-stone."
"Huh? Soul-stone? What's that?" Shippou asked. Inuyasha shot Kagome a glare. Kagome ignored him and explained to Shippou about Inuyasha's soul-stones along with the ultimate attacks of the Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha jumped up and down yelling at her for being a loudmouth. When Kagome was done, everyone was silent, except for Inuyasha who was panting, tired from jumping up and down trying to cover her mouth. Kagome had simply swatted him away as if he were a fly. "Then maybe if Inuyasha collected all five of them, then he might be strong enough to kill Naraku once and for all!" Shippou exclaimed.
"Hmm… good point Shippou… once he gains all the soul stones, then he would be able to use the ultimate attacks from the Tetsusaiga. I think the Miko-Power blade could do the trick. Besides, Kikyou told you that Naraku could only be killed when he was purified, with the Miko-power blade, Inuyasha can purify Naraku's soul, thus killing him." Miroku spoke as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "About the Glowing White Fang, I'm very curious about what it could do."
"Kagome already explained to you what it can do, you idiot."
"Yes, I know that, but I want to see it myself and I want to see the damage it could make, killing ten thousand youkai in one swing, huh?"
"YES! SHE TOLD YOU, YOU IDIOT! OY! WHY'D YOU HIT ME?" Miroku just whacked Inuyasha over the head with his staff. Inuyasha now sported a huge bump on his head and was glaring at Miroku.
"Because, you fail to be polite. I was just curious."
"KEH! So? It's none of your damn business!"
"Well, suit yourself." Miroku's hand inched towards Sango's bottom, but immediately drew his hand away when Sango punched him away from her. "Why Sango, couldn't you possibly let me touch it once?"
"NO!" Then Sango proceeded to kicking the sobbing Miroku over and over.
"Sigh… I get no respect…" Miroku said while Sango continued to kick him over and over. Inuyasha, Shippou, Kirara, and Kagome sweat-dropped as they watched Sango yelling at Miroku. She proceeded to grab him by the front of his monk robes. She shook him back and forth as Miroku sobbed rivers. He had a lump on his head.
"It's started again." Shippou said absent-mindedly.
"It's started again." Kagome agreed as Sango chased after Miroku with the Hiraikotsu, swinging it with all her might.
"It's started again." Inuyasha agreed with a nod as Miroku tripped over a rock and Sango jumped on him bonking him over and over with her boomerang.
"Mew." Was all Kirara said as Sango gave Miroku one last blow in the head with the Hiraikotsu. By the time Sango calmed down, Miroku was lying unconscious on the ground with ten lumps on his head. Sango let out a huge sigh and took her seat next to Kagome. Everyone except Sango was looking at Miroku.
"Sango, don't you think we should drag him over by the fire? I heard that they have the strangest creatures in here…" Kagome immediately shut up when Sango shot her a funny expression. "Uh… never mind… we'll just leave him there until he regains conscious. Sango turned away from Miroku's unconscious form. Miroku had spiral eyes that moved as his fingers twitched slightly along with his leg. Sango savagely snatched her share of fish and bit into it.
"Great! We can eat now!" Inuyasha chirped for the first time in his life. "I've been eying the fish since an hour ago." Inuyasha quickly grabbed his fish and downed it in one bite. Then he snatched Shippou's fish away from him and ate that as well. Shippou wailed and told Kagome that Inuyasha stole his fish. Inuyasha ignored him, and rolled his eyes. The trees in the Forbidden Forest grew so thickly together that their branches covered the skies, making it utterly impossible to see even a star in the sky. This made Inuyasha more alert; there was no telling what could pop out in a place like this, especially where they were. Usually, Inuyasha camped in a clearing where one lone tree grew out in the middle so that he could see the skies clearly. They had purposefully chosen this site because it covered the smoke that came from the campfire.
Miroku had miraculously regained his conscious and joined them in the circle around the campfire. He made an attempt to sit next to Sango, but she placed one hand on the Hiraikotsu threatening that she was going to knock him unconscious if he so much as neared her. Sighing dolefully to himself, Miroku sat next to Inuyasha. "Serves you right." The hanyou spat, "If you don't shape up on your groping habits, then you'll never be able to sit next to Sango again." Miroku sighed. He obviously didn't know what he did wrong. He lifted the hand with the Kazanna and muttered that if only he didn't have the curse. "Sure… blame the Kazanna, but I think I remember specifically that you still groped your hands off even after the Kazanna disappeared momentarily." Inuyasha continued before snapping irritably, "KEH!"
"I'm afraid that this I received from my father."
"And that isn't something to be proud about!" Sango snapped.
"Ah, Sango, you're still speaking to me!"
"Kirara!" Sango called out so that she could transform and attack Miroku. But Kirara didn't change, so Sango's face enlarged and Kirara shank down to a dot. "Transform…" She growled, menacingly.
"Okay, okay! I won't talk to you!" Miroku said quickly waving his hands in front of him defensively. Just as he said that, a gust of wind whirled around then and the whole group looked up to see Kagura sitting in her feather with her fan opened covering her whole lower face except for her ruby-red eyes.
"Kagura! What the hell are you doing here?" Inuyasha shouted angrily, his hand immediately going to his waist.
"No need to fight, besides, I'm only here to talk. Naraku sent me to tell you that with his new plan at ease, it would be much harder to fight him." Kagura's glanced at the hell bees hovering behind her. It was not worth risking her life to tell Inuyasha extra information. "Naraku has become stronger and so has his barrier. I highly doubt that you can destroy it Inuyasha." Giving her best evil smile, Kagura vanished flew away.
Sesshoumaru stared down at the garland he placed on his desk. He had taken his armor off along with his Sash and handed Rin his pelt. Now he sat around only in his white Haori and his pants. It was now or never. How many times had he come to try and destroy this garland? But he was afraid that if he destroyed it, then his promise with Sakura would break. No, she probably destroyed the fang he gave or she could have thrown it away. Who knew? Forcing himself to move quickly, Sesshoumaru grabbed the garland and started to pull on it and stopped. He sighed out loud, which was very un-Sesshoumaru-like. Then he lowered the garland back onto the table to stare at it for the umpteenth time, thus making it a vicious cycle. The candlelight flickered slightly from the slightly opened window. He hadn't even noticed that it was opened. No wonder Rin looked so cold. He got up from his position on his futon and shut the window. At least that was something to keep his mind off of the garland.
But that was only for a minute. Sesshoumaru sat back down on his futon. He could not sleep, although he rarely slept, if not ever, ever since they came to this place, Sesshoumaru found the chance to sleep. He glared down at the garland hoping lasers would shoot out of them to destroy the garland to pieces. But alas it didn't. "Why can't I just destroy you?" He asked aloud to no one in particular. "You continue to grab onto this Sesshoumaru's heart and twist it." He made an attempt to glare at it but only succeeded partially. "How dare you make this Sesshoumaru sigh?" He growled at the garland.
He silently unsheathed the Toukijen. If he had to destroy it then, he might as well make it swift. He closed his eyes and raised the Toukijen up high to bring it down on the garland. The sound of the blade slamming into the table was heard. Did he do the job? He opened his eyes and saw the Toukijen lodged into the desk, but it had not inflicted any harm on the garland itself, not even a petal. He angrily threw the Toukijen back into its scabbard. It was no use. He took the garland and stuck in back into his shirt. The sound of Rin whimpering slightly in her sleep was heard. He watched her kick the pelt away from her through the corner of his eyes. It was too hot for her once the windows were closed. Rin muttered in her sleep about running after Jaken.
Jaken, in the meantime, snored loudly. Sesshoumaru got up and stomped his foot into Jaken's face. The snoring immediately stopped, but Jaken didn't wake, which was fine by him. Sesshoumaru returned to his spot in the room and pulled the covers over him. He stared up at the wall now wondering if that Potter human knew about one of his deepest secrets, he probably did. He wondered how a mere human was able to do that. For now he concentrated on sleeping, but it didn't work. He rolled over to his side and lay like that a second before flopping into a different position. That didn't work either. He flopped on his stomach, but was worried that if he did that then the flowers would get squashed, so he rolled over on his back again. Finally he kicked the covers off him. He decided to take a walk so he got up and blew the candle out. His pelt lay in the middle of the room abandoned by Rin.
Sesshoumaru picked it up and placed it over his shoulder again. He didn't bother pulling his armor on, but he did tie his sash to his side and placed the Toukijen and the Tenseiga to his side. Cold wind met his face when he came out of his room. The place was obviously very cold in the winters. These humans weren't very smart, making the place out of stone. He calmly walked down the hall barefooted not picking a particular place. He wandered around the building, ignoring the ghosts that bobbed around him. Sesshoumaru ignored their irritating remarks as he continued on his journey. He continued to walk around the place until he eventually found himself back at the dorms standing in front of Sakura's door. How did I get here? He wondered to himself. He slowly backed away from the door and walked away. Humph, how dare you make this Sesshoumaru stand in front of your door? Deciding that it was better if he walked around outside, Sesshoumaru stepped out in the cold air. The night wind bit into his nose, but he ignored it.
The stars winked down at him as he slowly made his way across the lawn until he stopped in front of the lake where he heard from some of the humans that a giant squid lived in it. Curiosity got the better of him and he turned around and disappeared into the building. Minutes later, he emerged from the castle holding onto the sleeping Jaken by the leg. He coiled his arm back in a motion to fling the toad-like thing into the water, but thought against it. It wasn't worth it, and Jaken was one of the best retainers he could have ever asked for… even if he made the stupidest mistakes very often. He was loyal, devoted, and willing… not that he cared much about the toad-like thing. Sesshoumaru stood there wondering what to do, still holding Jaken by the ankle. His eyes flickered to his own quarters, where the oriental window was, but that could cause a hole in the window and Rin would be cold. His eyes flickered to the tower where the Gryfindors slept. That was a better location. Sesshoumaru set Jaken on the ground, reared up and kicked him as far as he could as if he were playing soccer. Jaken had woken up and disappeared screaming: "SESSHOUMARU-SAMA! THAT WAS TOO MUCH!" The crashing of the window was heard, confirming that Jaken had landed square in someone's dormitory. The shouting of boys was heard, so obviously, Jaken had landed in the boy's dormitory. He wasn't too sure of which year, but it didn't matter, neither did he care.
He took a seat by the lake and watched it intently before carelessly tossing a rock into it. The surface of the water broke and sure enough he saw a tentacle wave in the air. So they were right. Humphing to himself Sesshoumaru decided to throw another rock at it. The rock collided with the tentacle and landed in the water with a splash. The tentacle waved around the air almost as if it were shaking its fist at him. Sesshoumaru decided to leave; he found that picking on a squid was very low. Also, it reminded him strongly of the time he and Sakura tossed rocks at a similar demon and nearly got themselves killed. He walked towards the castle again, but a lone figure clad in white was seen, she had very long hair that was not tied back and nearly touched the ground. Sesshoumaru stopped and stared. The wind blew from her direction and hit him full on. The figure was Sakura. Sesshoumaru could have just walked away, but curiosity got the better of him. After all these years, he may have lost the ability to show any emotions, but he certainly retained his sense of curiosity. Eventually, it got the better of him and he silently followed the figure into the woods.
Sakura pushed her way through the branches. Even at the start of the woods, the trees grew thickly together. The air was chilly, and she had neglected to put even her pelt around her. She wandered around in her traditional white pajamas. She could have worn shoes, but had none, not that it mattered. Some of the trees seemed to glare maliciously at her. Sakura stopped and looked up at the trees. She squinted at them and realized that they were similar to tree demons. No wonder some people never made it out alive. But she was mostly demon, so it didn't matter. The branches suddenly turned into thick vines and blocked her path. The tree-demon-things spoke in a strange language she did not comprehend, probably Gaelic or old English. Sakura humphed at them and pulled out the sword of fire. She blasted the vines away from her with the flames and moved on. The other tree demons murmured in their strange dialect, probably disapproving her entrance.
"If you continue to try and stop me like that, I shall purify all of you." She said coldly. The trees stopped murmuring amongst themselves and their forms melted into old, sinister-looking trees. She sheathed her sword and continued on her journey until she reached her destination. It was an old tree that stood in a clearing of beautiful white flowers. In fact, it strongly reminded her of her past. Unlike Sesshoumaru, she didn't mind thinking about what happened before and what could have happened. She jumped up into the tree sitting on one of the highest branch. The North Star shone down on her brightly in the sky like a lone diamond. She enjoyed the silence of the woods, in the distance, she could hear the students in detention as they waddled through the woods. Obviously they were with Hagrid. Suddenly the sound of a twig cracking was heard. Sakura abruptly switched her direction from the students and transformed the Surra bracelets into a staff. "Halt! Who goes there?" The wind blew right in her face. "Sesshoumaru…" She snarled, "What business do you have here?" Sesshoumaru stepped out of the shadows.
Unlike the usual, he didn't have his armor on, only his pelt and his sash with the Tenseiga and the Toukijen tucked firmly in place. He was also barefooted. Sakura glared at him and he glared back up at her. "Did you follow me?" She growled.
"Whether I follow you or not, is none of your business." He said simply. Sakura continued to glare at him.
"Leave Sesshoumaru." She said coldly, "Or I will remove you by force."
"I come and go as I please."
"Then so be it." She hissed. She raised her staff in the air and swung it sending a blast of white at him. Sesshoumaru jumped out of the way, landing on the other side of the field.
"I did not come here to fight."
"Then get lost." She lowered her staff, but didn't transform it back into its bracelet form. Sesshoumaru jumped up onto the same branch Sakura was standing on. Shooting him a glare of annoyance, she jumped up onto a branch higher up, because she was a woman it would have been able to support her weight, but if Sesshoumaru were to jump on it, it would snap. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here because I want to be here. Why are you here?"
Annoyed, Sakura sat on the branch sitting closer to the trunk, while Sesshoumaru stood on the branch several steps down. "I'm here to think. With you here, makes it impossible." Without warning, Sesshoumaru jumped on the branch Sakura was in, making it snap. The two fell towards the ground. But Sakura caught one of the lower branches and swung herself up so that she sailed through the air and landed on a tree nearest to the continued darkness. Sesshoumaru landed gracefully on the ground. Shooting him ice-cold daggers, Sakura turned and vanished deeper into the woods, her hair swaying behind her like a cape. She landed quite gracefully on the ground before stalking angrily away, deeper into the heart of the woods. As she got deeper into the woods, she noticed that the trees grew closer and closer together until she was covered in complete darkness. Sesshoumaru, she thought to herself I still love you, but I have made my mind and I cannot go back on it.
Harry and the others followed Hagrid. They were lucky not to get Umbridge or Filch as their detention teachers. Ron and Malfoy were directly behind him and Neville was grabbing onto Ron's robes in fear, while Hagrid led the way. The forest got darker and darker as they waddled deeper into the forest. "We're 'ere to ga'her special Oriental 'erbs that would 'elp the demons. Fer now, I want all of ye to keep be'ind me, and stay close toge'ter, unless ye don't value yer lives." With that, Hagrid led the students deeper into the forest, when they saw a flicker of fire. Hagrid stopped and motioned for the students to stay back. Harry watched Hagrid silently push the roots of a bush aside. Before he knew it, Harry found himself watching Inuyasha, and his friends gathering around a fire. For a moment, neither Harry nor Hagrid knew what they were talking about until Shippou mentioned Naraku. Upon hearing the dreaded half-demon's name, Hagrid stepped back and realized all the students were listening intently to the conversation. "Alrig't! Wha' are ye nosy students doin'? Nar'ku is not really our business. Less get a move on!" Hagrid hissed, pulling an unhappy Harry away from the group.
But Harry had heard enough. They were talking about Kagura and were guessing what Naraku had done to make him stronger. "He probably gave more Shikon shards to that that Voldie bastard!" Inuyasha snarled before he slammed his fist into the ground with a, "Dammit!" Professor Higurashi and the others looked particularly worried. "I swear over my dead body that I'll slice that Naraku sonuvabitch to ribbons, if that's what it takes! Smug bastard, with his stupid barriers!"
"Speaking of barriers, I thought Kagome told me that you strengthened Tetsusagia's kekkagiri…." Miroku spoke up. But that was all Harry heard before Hagrid pulled him away. He wondered what kekkagiri was. He had never heard of it, nor had anyone spoken about it to him. Harry racked his mind. He was sure he heard of this somewhere, but couldn't put his finger on it. What relationship did this so-called Kekkagiri have with barriers? Speaking of barriers, what were their purpose? Suddenly it hit Harry like a ton of bricks. Of course! A barrier was the force-field magic that youkais used to protect themselves from harm. Of course priestesses also used it, but their barriers were more like purifying powers.
"Alrig't students, we're here. Less get down to business." Harry snapped out of his thoughts and found himself standing in a vast field he had never seen before. There were a whole bunch of weeds and small flowers growing around him. Hagrid handed all the students a large wicker basket with straw backpack straps connected to them with a hoe. Harry did as Hagrid told him, and bend down to begin his search for the herbs along with the other students. Malfoy complained that he was doing servant work, but was shut up when Hagrid told him that the faster he collected the herbs, then Malfoy would be able to sleep or do whatever he did. "Now listen ter me, t'is 'erb is spikey 'nd is very small so it's gonna be 'ard to find them. They 'ave a white 'nd red flower. Now search." Harry got down on his hands and knees and began to search. He looked in vain and still could not find the herb. He reached into his wicker backpack and realized that there was a magnifying glass in there. He pulled it out and began to cover his section flipping herbs backwards and brushing them aside. Still, even with the help of the magnifying glass, he could not find them.
"Put that strange contraption away." An old man's tiny voice floated from out of nowhere. Harry frantically looked around, but did not find anyone. Suddenly he felt a sting at the side of his neck and smacked it. He pulled his hand away and inspected his palm to see if it was a mosquito that bit him. Upon seeing an old man who was completely bald, save for the patches of gray hair on the side of his head, Harry let out a gasp. The Old man stood up and pinched his nose then blew until he inflated with a tiny pop. He had bulbous eyes and a small red needle in place of his mouth. On his face, he sported a tiny and sharp moustache. The old man stood up. "My name is Myoga. I am Inuyasha's retainer, but please do not tell him that I am here. He does not respect this old man. You are searching for the herb that can heal even the most deadliest wounds and disease are you not?" Harry simply nodded, he was lost at words. "Well, the little-kikyou is very hard to find. Only those who are immensely pure can see it. Look again, but concentrate. You will be able to see it."
Harry skeptically squinted down at the ground. Suddenly, right before his eyes, there was a small blue light and a small plant that matched Hagrid's description shimmered into view. Harry turned to face Myoga, who was sitting on his shoulder, "Thank—" But Myoga was gone. "You." Harry carefully dug the herb out and placed it into his basket. After finding one of the little-kikyou, Harry was soon on a roll. It seemed as if once he found one of them, then the whole place was filled with this little-kikyou.
Ron and the others had searched and searched and came up with nothing. Harry wished that they could find something, but they always came up with nothing. Malfoy scowled at Harry's wicker backpack, which was already filled to the top with the little-kikyous. Harry couldn't help, but feel a pang of pure satisfaction. Malfoy thought he was so great, just because his family was rich and powerful. Harry didn't see anything in Malfoy that have him the motive to be such a show off. Up until now, Malfoy had been mocking Neville, while Ron savagely defended him. Even if Malfoy turned up with nothing, that didn't stop him from jeering at Neville, who was also empty-handed. For a while, Malfoy stopped taunting Neville and went back to finding the herbs, but came up with nothing. Serves the arrogant fool right! Harry fumed to himself. That prick doesn't even deserve to… suddenly, a triumphant cry rang through the night sky. "I found it! At last!" Harry turned around to see Neville holding up the delicate little-kikyou in his hands. Everyone turned to face him. Malfoy turned around to spit mean comments at him, but shut up when he saw the tiny white and blood-red-tipped flower flowing elegantly in the wind…
A/N: Well that's all… anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter! It's been a while since I've updated. For regular reviewers: SORRY! But I really have so much in my hands! Voldermort (Inutaisho wannabe) won't appear until like chapter 15. I'm planning on making this story super long… approximately a hundred chapters, maybe? Anyway, preview for the next chapter (they are not in chronological order)…
Inuyasha gets into a fight with Umbridge… who will be the victor (you all know the answer to that!)
Neville turns out to be something that nobody ever expected! Who or what could he possibly be? Well, I'm hesitating between making him a soul youkai or just a miko-training priest.
Why Harry can see the little-kikyou… explanations, guys! Explanations.
We get a sneak peak into Kagome's class with Inuyasha…
Sneak peak at Miroku and Sango's class…
Halloween dinner…
And Lucius attacks Hogwarts… he became youkai! Damn Naraku! Damn him! Anyway… Bellatrix also comes and she battles it out with Sakura!
Sakura and Sesshoumaru need to settle their unstable relations… but how? And… we see what Sakura's single classes are like!