Flame On Part One: Renkotsu vs. Kendra

Kendra was tired, as she had been walking for eight hours straight, and she take it no longer. She looked over at Sesshoumaru whom she was walking next to and she sighed.

"Can we please rest for at least a few minutes..?" she asked pitifully.

Sesshoumaru shook his head some. "We have to at least reach the Western end of the river, then we can stop."

The exhausted neko twitched. "So cruel…" she sighed as they continued to walk.
The demon lord smiled a bit at the girl's protests but continued on his way all the same.

Mercifully, they soon reached the prior said point and Kendra flopped onto the ground, her tangerine eyes were closed before she even hit the ground. Rin giggled some at Kendra.
"Aww hush you! I'm tired!" Kendra retorted rolling over.
Rin smiled "Good night Kendra." Said the little human girl, and she too fell asleep.

Eventually the other three companions (Jaken was the third) fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping four, a group, called The Band of Seven were planning against them, and others.
The youngest, but leader all the same, Bankotsu, stood before what remained of The Band of Seven. Renkotsu, the Fire Manipulator of the Band, Jakotsu, the rather effemenate, homosexual member, Suikotsu, the Man of Two Faces, and Ginkotsu, the silver tank member. Ginkotsu was also the Band's transport, as well as their brother.

Jakotsu was miffed at Bankotsu, who was assigning them missions. Poor Jakotsu was stuck with Renkotsu. Whom he hated. And if that wasn't enough, Jakotsu wasn't even being assigned to Inuyasha! He was going to assist Renkotsu in defeating Lord Sesshoumaru.

"Ooo Bankotsu! I can't go with Renkotsu!" Jakotsu complained.

"And why the hell not?" Bankotsu asked sounding a bit annoyed.

"Because, I want to see Inuyasha!" Jakotsu replied angrily, as he had said this twelve times already.

"Why won't you just settle for Sesshoumaru!" The leader asked exasperatedly.
Jakotsu placed his slim hands on his hips and scowled.
"Because he is too stuck up for me Brother." He replied.
Bankotsu sweatdropped "You are too picky, that's what it is…"

"Oh leave me alone, Bankotsu!" Jakotsu growled.
"For the love of God, Jakotsu! Renkotsu isn't complaining!"

"He never complains! He doesn't care! But unfortunately I do…"

"Will you two stop bickering like an old married couple?" sighed Suikotsu, rubbing his temples, he was in his normal (evil) mode.
"Roar!" agreed Ginkotsu.

"Look Jakotsu, you will you just deal with Sesshoumaru for awhile? Please, Brother. Bear with me." Bankotsu turned pleading eyes to the feminine man.

Jakotsu sighed and nodded to his brother, the one he loved most.
"For you Brother, for you."
The next morning, Kendra woke up to a strange, and unpleasant smell. The smell of death. This worried her as there was no villages anywhere near the camp. She sat up and crawled over to Rin and shook her, fearing the worst. Thankfully, the little girl woke up and looked at her.

"What is it Kendra?"

"Wake up Jaken, sweetie." Kendra said, standing sand walking over towards Sesshoumaru.
Kendra poked the sleeping demon lord, who just rolled over.

"Go away"

The cat demon frowned at this and poked him again.
Impatiently, Sesshoumaru waved her hand away.

"Away with you!"

Kendra just sighed, opened her waterbottle and upended it's ice cold contents onto his sleek white head. This woke him up quickly.
He shot straight up, his hair soaking wet and he slowly turned to Kendra.

"What….in..the..world..was..that..for..?" He growled at her.
"What do you smell?" She inquired, staring him right in the eye.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?"
"Answer me dog boy." Kendra said darkly.

Sesshoumaru sniffed the air delicately. He widened his pale golden tinted eyes. "Death…I smell Death."

The young cat youkai nodded. "But where is it coming from?"
Sesshoumaru sighed some. "The Band of Seven, Kendra."

Kendra twitched some. "Ohhhhh-nooooo…."

The demon lord stood up and looked around. "But..where..are they?"

"Hello Lord Sesshoumaru." said a rather feminine voice from the trees above them.

Kendra looked up and saw Jakotsu accompanied by his brother, Renkotsu.

"Aww man not you two." Kendra muttered to herself.

"Hello Jakotsu. Renkotsu." Sesshoumaru said icily, as he too stared up at them.

Jakotsu and Renkotsu both jumped out of the tree they were in, to land on the ground infront of Rin and Jaken, who both squealed and scurried away. Sesshoumaru placed his only hand on his Tokujin, eyes intent on the two infront of him.

"Kendra, take Rin, Jaken, Ah and Un and get out of here. I will deal with these imbeciles.." He growled softly to show his seriousness and concern.

Kendra nodded, grabbed Rin and Jaken, hopped on to Ah and Un's back, and gently nudged their sides to get her to move. The draquine (A/N: Draquine is just my creative mix of the word Dragon and Equine which is in fact the species name for the horse family ) started to move at a decent speed, with Rin hanging on to her reins, Jaken holding on to her, and Kendra hanging on to both of her charges.

All at once Ah and Un's gait turned from cautiously fast, to a breakneck speed that frightened Kendra.

"Ah, Un! Slow down girls!" Cried the neko youkai.

But they would not slow down and they looked frightened.
Quickly Kendra looked around and she spotted Renkotsu tree jumping after them.
"Where do you think you are going, cat demon?" He smirked.

"Away from you, you psychopath!" She replied sounding angry.

"You can never escape me, Kendra." He chuckled as he landed five feet infront of the group.

Ah and Un reared back in fright, and the three riders fell hard on the ground, the two littlest using the poor cat demon as a cushion. She winced but recuperated quickly, for there was an injury worse than a few cracked ribs coming her way.

Renkotsu's smirk widened considerably as Kendra stood and pushed Rin and Jaken behind herself, shielding them.

"You defy me Kendra?" the twisted monk asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"Must you even ask, Renkotsu?" Kendra replied amusement in her voice as well, "I defy my own mother."

"Do not think you can win, chibi neko." He replied smiling, as he pulled a bottle out of his pocket.

"I don't think, I know." She replied pulling her glaive off of Ah and Un's back.

"I do not wish to harm you, my dear. Please do not force me to do something I do not want to do." Renkotsu said, eyeing her as if he wished for nothing more to devour her, tail and all.

She twitched. "Let's just get this done, you freak of nature."

"I shall take you down easily." He said taking a drink from the bottle, and sending the wires from his fingertips at the same time, wrapping them around her arms and torso.

Kendra gasped and her eyes widened for she knew what he would do next.

Grinning, Renkotsu blew fire from his mouth, catching the wires afire. Kendra panicked as the fire neared her, and she closed her tangerine colored eyes, not believing that she could go down so easily. But when the flame did not come, and she heard Renkotsu growl with rage, she reopened them.

Rin stood with Kendra's other water bottle, cap off and empty, her little brown eyes wide. Kendra smiled.

"Thank you Rin-chan."

Just as Rin was about to reply, wires wrapped themselves around her little body, and flames began to dance down the wires towards her, and she screamed.
"No! RIN!" Kendra cried running over and slicing the wires with her talons, and feeling the fire lick her right side, sending her clothing afire, which she did not notice.

Kendra, did not notice how close Renkotsu was, until she felt his breath on her neck and his voice in her ear. "Hot are we?"

Kendra's once tangerine colored eyes, turned a red deeper than that of her friend Lily's, and she stepped away from him, only to turn and face him.

"How dare you even attempt to harm a child, you heartless bastard!" She growled as she curled her small hands into fists, on fist wrapped around her Glaive of Shadows.

Renkotsu's cold gray eyes widened some at Kendra's sudden mood change.