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Chapter 5

Me no own

Their swords met again, but there was so much feedback once they clashed that the two backed away from each other to rethink their fighting technique. 'Interesting, he said that his sword was a gift from his father. How is it possible that his sword could be given to him? He is obviously a mortal, so his father must be one. The Tenseiga is reacting with his sword, so it must mean it's one of my father's fangs, but if that's true, then how did his mortal father get it?' "You're a liar."

"A liar?" Inochi questioned. "Watch your tongue demon; you know not of what you speak!"

"I know that the sword you possess was constructed by a fang of a dog demon, my father. It was probably made by a man named Toutousai. That sword has no business being with a mortal. It perplexes me how a mortal man was able to get his hands on such a thing." He prepared himself to strike Inochi with Tokijin. "You had better start explaining yourself in a more sensible manner or you won't get the chance next time."

"How would you happen to know anything about my sword, dog demon? You know nothing of my father or his origins."

"Then why don't you explain them to me?"

"Because the only thing I know of my father is the fact that he left me this sword. I've heard nothing more of him." Inochi slashed his sword forward and a yellow wave of energy, similar to the wind scar, began ripping through the ground. Sesshoumaru did the same and where the two energies meet, there was a piercing light and the two of them waited to see whose attack was stronger, and to Sesshoumaru's surprise, Inochi's fang over came the Tokijin's attack, but Sesshoumaru got out of the way before any damage was done. "You will fall demon, like so many other demons that I've killed."

'His sword overcame Tokijin. His sword must have been made from my father's fang. There is no question about it now. No other sword could over come Tokijin, but there still remains the question of how a human ended up with the sword, why I have not heard of such a sword, and why he is even able to wield it.' Sesshoumaru placed Tokijin back on his sash, which raised some question for Inochi.

"Are you giving up demon? I wanted to make good sport of killing you."

"Silence mortal" Sesshoumaru said. "I would much rather kill you than hear your useless babbling." Sesshoumaru formed a light whip and flung it towards Inochi, but he was quickly able to dodge it. 'Why is this human so fast?' He continued on, trying to strike him down with his light whip, but Inochi moved with such a familiar agility and grace that it baffled Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru was however faster than Inochi and there came a time when he couldn't dodge it anymore and he held his sword up and was able to avoid the attack from hitting him. Sesshoumaru did it again and again, and Inochi was about to lose his grip on his sword until finally he did. Sesshoumaru then smirked, finding pleasure in killing this prey "Die mortal!" Right before he was able to deliver the final blow, he felt the Tenseiga pulse so strongly that it hurt him. His light whip disappeared and he gazed down at his Tenseiga. 'Why does it react so strongly?'

Inochi decided to take a different approach. He tossed his sword away quite a distance and got into a fighting stance. "Prepare to die."

"But you are unarmed, mortal. How do you plan on destroying me?" Sesshoumaru asked with only a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Inochi slightly smirked. "Just watch!" A blue aura began to surround him, and Sesshoumaru knew what he was capable of. He would have to watch himself. "I'm not your ordinary demon slayer. My spiritual powers are unrivaled. I didn't want my demonic sword to be destroyed by my power." He began running forward to Sesshoumaru with his right hand especially smoking a blue aura. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon. You'll probably explode, and if that doesn't happen, you'll instead slowly melt away." The way he reached at Sesshoumaru seemed so familiar to Sesshoumaru, as if he himself was trying to strike him with his poison claws.

Sesshoumaru couldn't touch him or he would be damaged by his spiritual powers. 'I've never seen a mortal with such strong powers. His power is greater than the priestess that sealed Inuyasha for fifty years. I've never encountered a mortal with stronger spiritual powers than her. There's more to him than meets the eye.' Sesshoumaru held his left hand up and it began smoking green as poisons came to his hand. Sesshoumaru just couldn't out right attack him. He had to wait for the opportune moment. He did reach out a few times, but Inochi blocked it. 'The way he reaches it…'

'He reminds me of'

'Myself.'

"Myself.'

At the sudden realization, they both backed away from each other and took down their entire defenses. The spiritual aura around Inochi faded and so did the poison on Sesshoumaru's hand. They were just staring at each other, trying to figure out the other. They both finally realized the resemblances, but it wasn't just in looks, even the actions and the dialogue was the same. "Who are you?" they both asked to each other. They had both spoken it at the same time. They asked each other another question. "What are you?" They had both spoken it once more. They waited for the other to speak, but no one said anything.

'Why does this mortal mirror my movements?'

'Why does this demon mirror my movements?'

Right before their fighting and questioning continued, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kagome, Kirara, and Bejin showed up at the battle scene. "Inuyasha?" They both questioned at the same time. Inuyasha knew they weren't the same, but seeing them at the same place at the same time was a little more comforting.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha asked.

"I could ask you the same question, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru drew Tokijin and Inochi quickly ran to retrieve his sword. "How long have you known of this mortal? What is he?"

"I was hoping you could answer that same question" said Inuyasha. "He doesn't look exactly like me, so how should I know him?" Inuyasha smirked. "Is there something that you've been hiding? Is there some dark secret that I don't know about?"

Sesshoumaru recalled his own secret of how he would spontaneously die from time to time. He didn't want Inuyasha to know of it, even though he was certain he wouldn't take advantage of the situation. After all, Sesshoumaru knew of Inuyasha's human state and had never been so low and dirty to attack him while he was in his mortal form. But nonetheless, he still didn't want to give his brother the satisfaction of knowing. "And what are you implying, Inuyasha?"

"There's something strange about all this, and I think you know something. He's got to look exactly like you for some reason, Sesshoumaru. Why don't you explain that reason?"

"Explain what?" Inochi asked. "I've never seen this demon before today either and I thought you left my village!"

"Come on" Inuyasha said to his brother once again "you've got to know something" he said amused "you've got to know something. There's got to be a reason why you've been hiding something with you suddenly getting sick and all." Sesshoumaru was already angry, but he was slowly beginning to fume. "Come on; is there something that our old man has been hiding?"

Sesshoumaru quickly attacked Inuyasha with a blue wave of energy. Inuyasha jumped out of the way, but not without being hit a little bit, which did wound him. "Inuyasha, if you actually had a good idea instead of meaningless speculation, then perhaps I wouldn't think so little of your pathetic half breed existence."

Inochi finally noticed Bijin's presence. "And what business is this of yours, half breed?"

"Well I…" she backed away "I do not know. I thought you were in trouble, and I…" she lightly blushed. 'What should I do?'

'Half breed?' Sesshoumaru looked at Bijin. She didn't appear to be a half breed, but somehow he just knew it for some reason. He just knew she was. 'Strange.'

"Hey" Kagome yelled "she's just trying to help. Don't treat her badly for that! She's just concerned for you."

"I was wondering" Miroku said to Inochi "how old are you exactly? According to Bijin, you've been ruling this place ever since her stay in this village, making you already older than what any mortal could hope to live. How exactly is that possible?"

Sango nodded her head. "It is strange."

Sesshoumaru was also curious. He only looked around twenty human years. It was impossible for him to be any older than that, if he was indeed a mortal. 'But he is a mortal. He reeks with the scent of a mortal. He's the purest of pure. There's no way he could be anything else. And even if he was, there's still no possible way he could possess so many features similar to mine.' He grunted quietly. 'Then again, that Myouga said that this mortal would have the answers that I seek. He must know something. Or perhaps, I'm supposed to figure it out.' Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha began sniffing the air and picked up the scent of demons. "Demons" 'Rin.'

'What demon would be so bold to attack my village?' Inochi asked himself.

"We'll finish this some other time" Sesshoumaru told Inochi. He then slowly began to take off into the air with Inuyasha calling after him, but Sesshoumaru didn't answer. He just flew away.

'This demon is strong' Inochi thought. 'Perhaps he's the strongest demon I've ever met.'

"What were you implying?" Sango asked Inuyasha. "What do you think of Inochi and Sesshoumaru? What connection are you suggesting? A relation is impossible."

"And a coincidence is even more impossible" Inuyasha practically barked from frustration. He wanted to know the truth! This was getting out of hand. 'This human has a connection to Sesshoumaru, but none of them know how.' "Where's Myouga when I need him?"

"How is it possible that this demon looks like me?" Inochi asked Inuyasha. "He is your brother, is he not?"

"Unfortunately yes, and I'm not sure why he looks like you. I wish I knew."

'Whatever is happening, it's evident that there's something going on, something wrong. There's no reason why these demons would come here.'

To be continued…

A/N: Yeah, I know, short chapter! What do you expect me to do? Next one will be long, I promise, and filled with answers! Answers to questions you…didn't know the answers to before, but only if you bums review!