Hi again. I'm sure none have you have reviewed yet because I'm writing this before I got any reviews.

Inuyasha leapt through the rest of the forest that he was going through on his way to fight his elder brother. He could feel an adrenaline rush begin to build, and the excitement of battle coming upon him. He never actually told anyone, but it was true. He loved to fight, especially in near death situations.

It seemed rather pointless though lately. No one was a challenge for him anymore, except for those rare occasions that he got an opportunity to test his skills against his rival, the leader of the Youkai Wolves. The only problem when he fought with him though (Koga, in case any of you haven't taken the time to watch the best show on earth) was that it always ended peacefully thanks to that meddling Kagome. But no matter, he knew he was on his way to a duel that would be most enjoyable.

He seemed to know why he had a sudden urge for battle lately; he noticed it the first time or so when he transformed into his full youkai state; or so he thought. Ever since then, he loved it; the feel of his claws massaging flesh, the scent of warm blood on his hands, the joy of battle! His instincts told him that nothing was better, or at least when ever he transformed.

When he was in his hanyou state, all he really cared about was protecting Kagome, killing Naraku, and collecting the rest of the shards of the Shikon jewel. That's all that seemed to matter, besides the fact that he wanted to use the jewel to become a full-fledged youkai at all times. But none of that was important now, he thought to himself. He was on his way to fight with Sesshomaru and he would enjoy every bit of it- even if he thought that he might die.

On his way, he decided to make the trip a bit of an enjoyable one- even thought it would most likely be a five minute jog to him, he was feeling a bit bored and decided to have some fun. He was dashing along in the underbrush when a smirk crept its way on to his face, and he leapt into a tree and proceeded from there. The tree was about 145 feet high, and he was at about the top of it when he pushed off effortlessly, not even beginning to feel the tension from his legs. His hair and kimono flapped in the wind, as he looked upon the forest that he was so high above. After spending about 20 seconds or so in the air he landed in an open spot towards the exit of the forest. He began running faster and faster as he enjoyed the feel of the moving air that he created as he moved. The winds picked up behind him and seemed to howl due to how fast he was running, encouraging him to go on. Kirara held on tightly, for she knew that nothing would stop Inuyasha from achieving his destination. Inuyasha spoke to himself feeling suddenly bit nervous about what he was sub-consciously thinking. "Why am I feeling so happy all of a sudden?" he had 'snapped out of it' and was realizing that it would be foolish not to be serious at a time like this. He began to become a little angry, seeing how his and his friends' lives could be on the line at any given moment, but yet deep inside of himself there was still a voice that cried out to him and commanded him to fight, and enjoy it! Inuyasha grew even angrier with himself. "How could I be such an idiot!" he scolded. "There's no way that I can win against Sesshomaru if I keep acting like this!" Inuyasha became a bit worried, and he stopped to think for a moment, then decided to stand where he was and scold himself. The poor hanyou began to wrestle with his emotions, wondering why he had such an urge for battle; mabey something was missing in his life, which caused such violent tendencies? He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew that something was not right. He began to think of all of his latest past events, about all the things he had done recently. He thought about all of the main points in his life. 'Mabey it's just because my youkai blood has awakened now.' He thought. Of course he knew that that wasn't the real answer, but what was it? He thought more and more about the void that seemed to take up so much of his heart, it was like a vacuum, sucking the very soul and joy out of him. Then an idea came to his head. It was such a powerful thought, that it seemed to haunt him everywhere he went in his mind. He couldn't get away from it, it was one of those sub-conscious thoughts of which he lacked the power to just toss aside and throw away. Was the void, perhaps, in the shape of... love? Is it possible that since Kikyo's demise he felt the need to love someone? Then an even more difficult thought came to his mind. Could it be. Kagome? Was that it? The thought had crossed his mind far more than once, but each time it became a little bit harder to forget about. He pondered a bit more, failing to realize that each second was precious and with each passing gust of wind, death could be making its way to Kagome and the others. Just then he jerked his head forward and looked straight in front of him, as his nose once again detected Sesshomaru's powerful scent. He bolted off in its direction almost immediately after smelling it, surprising a certain two-tailed youkai sitting on his shoulder, almost knocking her off.

Meanwhile, off in the distance, Sesshomaru made his way towards the scent of a certain half-breed of, which was the name he so commonly referred to his little brother as. Sesshomaru wondered how on earth Inuyasha's scent could be getting stronger so fast, but it mattered not. The youkai lord made his way towards him anyway. He decided that walking through the forest he was in was no longer sufficient, and he turned around to speak to Rin and Jaken. "Jaken, watch over Rin while I do battle with Inuyasha. I shall return shortly and all the pieces of this puzzle shall be put together." Sesshomaru returned to the original direction he was facing and began to dart off, as he was farewelled by a "Yes master Sesshomaru!" in a rather high pitched, annoying voice. Sesshomaru flew at top speed through the underbrush of the forest as he made his way incredibly quickly to Inuyasha to once and for all witness his half-brother's full transformation; and see what he could do in his youkai state.

Eventually, Sesshomaru came to an opening in the forest; it was a huge open field with relatively tall grass in all-visible directions. He decided that he would meet Inuyasha here, in the center of this meadow. So, he traveled the short 3 blocks or so to its center and awaited Inuyasha's arrival.

In the mean time, he thought to himself. 'I must destroy Inuyasha at all costs. He is the only being ever, to make I, Sesshomaru, tremble with fear; for even a moment!' Sesshomaru pondered that thought as his true features began to show themselves on his face while the memory that was so fresh in his mind, and still quite embarrassing. After a while of more considering how to eliminate those thoughts from his mind, he decided that he would simply destroy Inuyasha in his transformed state. Well, he would soon get his chance because Inuyasha had just about made it to the field!

Sesshomaru stood deep in thought, not realizing that even now a mere human could quite easily detect the sound of Inuyasha's feet rapidly bringing him through the forest. This would be a disadvantage for Sesshomaru, especially seeing that now, Inuyasha made his appearance.

The hanyou shot out from the trees in the forest around 50 feet in the air, and landed about 60 feet in front of Sesshomaru. Inuyasha thought to himself. 'Heh. The fool. Doesn't even know I'm here.' He smirked, and almost laughed. 'But I've gotta say, this will be the first time I've ever caught him off guard.' Inuyasha was prepared to end it quickly, and in the most sufficient way, when an instinct arose in him, and seemed to speak. Tell him you're here.let him look upon his destroyer, so he may tremble with fear before you kill him! Inuyasha just snapped and gave into this instinct like nothing. He cracked his knuckles, which would be enough for Sesshomaru to snap out of it. krick krack was all it took for the youkai lord to look over in Inuyasha's direction, and of course, Inuyasha smirked. "Well Sesshomaru, deep in thought are we?" Inuyasha chuckled to himself. Sesshomaru looked over at him to see his little brother taking joy in his distraction from battle. He became furious. "Inuyasha, how long have you been standing there?" the hanyou just stood tall with a smirk. "Long enough to kill you, I'll say that much." Sesshomaru became enraged at this embarrassment and charged Inuyasha; who was suddenly no longer accompanied by Kirara- the cat youkai whom took off in the direction that Inuyasha came from. Inuyasha however made little note of it, he figured he'd kill his elder brother long before Kirara brought back Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Shippo. But then again he didn't really care at all anymore, perhaps he got a confidence boost from optional preemptive strike that he turned down, which could have inflicted a fatal blow to Sesshomaru. It didn't matter, because in any case, Sesshomaru was charging at him right now and Inuyasha was about to have a fight of a lifetime!

Inuyasha drew Tetsaiga, which transformed so quickly it seemed to happen right as it was drawn. Sesshomaru drew Tokijin and made a downward slash at Inuyasha, who side stepped out of the way while thrusting his claws at his face. Sesshomaru arched his back to nimbly and quite luckily dodge the blow, for it would have made Inuyasha's already good chance of winning even better. The two both flipped backwards, Sesshomaru slightly more graceful than Inuyasha; who of course decided to take the time to draw blood from his wrist and fire "Blades of Blood!" Directly at Sesshomaru's head who blocked with Tokijin and returned fire with his whip of light. Inuyasha observed the attack and dodged every one of the whip's strikes, like a dance almost. He dodged left, up, down, left, right, but eventually got hit by the 6th strike; Sesshomaru never made a 6th strike. "Well Sesshomaru, I see you've grown your arm back." Inuyasha said with a smirk. Sesshomaru made no comment back however, he just simply struck at Inuyasha again landing a blow from his whip to Inuyasha's face.

Meanwhile, Kirara made her way back to Sango and the rest of the group to retrieve them for their assistance.

She finally arrived, who was greeted by a loving touch from Sango to her faithful pet. But now was definitely not the time. Sango called back to Miroku and Kagome. "Kagome, Miroku, arms yourselves, we are about to do battle with Sesshomaru!" Miroku grabbed his staff and Kagome her bow before hoping on the back of an already tired Kirara. Luckily for Shippo, he managed to grab on to Kagome's shirt before Kirara took off and eventually became situated in Sango's lap. On the way, Sango explained to them what had happened in Inuyasha's absence.
Kagome made a fist and put it up to her heart. 'Oh, Inuyasha.please be okay.' she thought to herself as she held on to Kirara's back the best she could. Miroku noticed that Kagome wasn't looking like her normally cheerful self, which was understandable at the moment considering the circumstances. Miroku tried to think of some ways to raise the poor girl's spirit, but could think of nothing; so he did what anyone would do. "Don't worry Kagome, I'm sure Inuyasha will be just fine when we get to him." Kagome still didn't feel any better, but she did appreciate Miroku's concern for her condition. "Thanks, Miroku." Was all she managed to get out before she returned to that incredibly sad, sinking feeling that she always got whenever Inuyasha might be in mortal danger.

Sesshomaru's fist connected with Inuyasha's face yet again, as he quite enjoyed his revenge for something he took rather serious. However, he became annoyed at the fact that Inuyasha had not yet transformed and was beginning to wonder why. "Inuyasha, tell me.why have you not transformed to your full youkai state?" Inuyasha looked up at Sesshomaru from his knew hole in the ground and smirked. "You just haven't quite beat it out of me yet, Sesshomaru." The great Sesshomaru, who now had grown back his left arm, became extremely annoyed at that one statement. "What do you mean, I hav-" just then he remembered what was different about his previous battle with his brother. The last time they fought, Tetsaiga was far too heavy for Inuyasha to wield so Sesshomaru made him toss it aside. 'Hmm.perhaps Tetsaiga has something to do with Inuyasha's transformation.' He thought silently to himself. That idea suddenly made a lot of sense to Sesshomaru. 'Perhaps father,' he thought 'placed some sort of magic barrier on Tetsaiga that would seal up Inuyasha's potential as a youkai.' That idea seemed to work, especially since his father must have known of Inuyasha's incredible hidden power. Sesshomaru had decided that that had to be it, beyond the shadow of a doubt. So, with the new knowledge that he had just acquired, Sesshomaru leapt over to Inuyasha and thrust Tetsaiga from him, somewhere to the north. Sesshomaru picked up Inuyasha by his throat with his left arm and spoke. "Now, Inuyasha. Show this Sesshomaru your true power." Inuyasha closed his eyes as Sesshomaru continued his thought. "Or die." Suddenly, with those last two words, Sesshomaru felt Inuyasha's pulse quadruple in repetition and felt a fiery burst of energy shoot out him. And just as that was happening, Kirara and the others arrived at the scene. Kagome jumped off of Kirara and began to run towards Inuyasha, but Miroku stopped her. "Kagome, do not be foolish. There is nothing you can do for Inuyasha at present." Said the monk, even thought he had an extreme urge to aid Inuyasha as well.

Sesshomaru's grip on Inuyasha's throat tightened, as he became bored with his little charade. "Inuyasha, I've seen all I need. Die!" Said an irritated Sesshomaru; who's speech was soon cut down as Inuyasha began his transformation to his full youkai form; too late for Sesshomaru's recognition. 'That scent again!' was the only thing that ran through Sesshomaru's mind as he almost shook in fear.

Shippo jumped down from his spot on Miroku's shoulder as his nose informed him on the current situation. He ran over to Kagome to tell her the news, speaking frantically to the battle mesmerized girl. "Kagome! Kagome!" he shouted in a desperate attempt to obtain the young miko's attention for even a second. He pulled on skirt as a last resort, and that did the trick. Kagome looked down at the little kitsune seeming to be very sad. "What Shippo?" she asked in respondence to her skirt being yanked on. Shippo was relieved that he finally got her attention, and almost forgot what to tell her but then remembered. (Luckily for him) "Kagome," he began to explain. "Inuyasha's scent." Kagome looked terrified. "What! He's not dea.d. is he!" Shippo's gaze met her's and he quickly explained. "No! What I'm trying to tell you is that Inuyasha just transformed!" he shouted. "Inuyasha is now in his full youkai state!" Kagome's eyes widened as she gasped. "Oh, Lord.help us." was all she could say because she knew what he could do like that, and it wouldn't be pretty.

Sesshomaru blinked as he realized what kind of power had just erupted from Inuyasha's body. None the less, he stood there holding him by the neck above the ground with his left arm. Inuyasha opened his eyes to reveal a strong, bright red light, which illuminated from them; also giving off just enough light to show the purple lightning marks on Inuyasha's cheeks. Sesshomaru stared into his eyes- not the eyes of a hanyou, but a youkai; A youkai with one single desire. The desire to KILL. Inuyasha spoke, slightly startling Sesshomaru in his gaze to imagine what might happen to him at this range. "What's the matter, brother? I thought you were about to run me through with your sword!" Inuyasha taunted.

All Sesshomaru could do was to look at Inuyasha and be horrified as the youkai placed his claws around Sesshomaru's left arm and let himself down. Inuyasha looked at his older brother for a moment. "I should kill you where you stand." He said, halfly reminding Sesshomaru about what he was attempting to do to his younger brother only seconds ago. Inuyasha stared at Sesshomaru for one more moment, with a smirk, and then shot his right hand out like lightning, clutching Sesshomaru's neck. Inuyasha began to smile. "I'm going to rip you apart." He said to a horrified Sesshomaru as he began to do as he said. He then (Using only one hand mind you) slammed Sesshomaru's legs into the ground using the grip he had on his neck, and punched him in the solar plexus so hard, he vomited. Inuyasha then rapidly sunk his fist into Sesshomaru's gut at about that same power as before, except this time, every now and then he would leave a nice cut across his abs. And after he was done with that, his gaze met Sesshomaru's and all the poor youkai lord could do was watch and feel pain, because Inuyasha would just catch him if he tried to leave. (Plus his feet were stuck in the ground at present.) The now enraged Inuyasha once again began his onslaught on his elder brother's body by jumping on him, slamming him to the ground, end beginning to stomp on his gut after gauging out Sesshomaru' left eye. Inuyasha began to laugh, chuckling a little louder every time his foot connected to his brother's gut; and each time, death came closer and closer to Sesshomaru.

For now Inuyasha decided that some other type of assault was fitting and he was just about ready to stop toying with him. His instincts screamed at him Now.KILL HIM! Take his life! End it now! Smell his fresh warm blood on your claws! Was what they commanded, So he looked at Sesshomaru, and smirked. He then suddenly jumped back, crouched, and flew at Sesshomaru to land a nice juicy punch again right in Sesshomaru's gut. Sesshomaru screamed in pain and thought to himself. 'So.Little brother.THIS is your power.Curse you!'

Kagome and the others could no longer bear to watch, so they all ran closer to him but stayed roughly 20 feet away. Kagome cried out to Inuyasha in an attempt to halt his horrible onslaught. "Please, Inuyasha, stop! Let him go, he is no longer a threat to you!" Kagome shed tears of sadness and fear, as Inuyasha didn't even for one moment listen to what she had to say; he simply continued to brutally assault Sesshomaru's gut/ribs/solar plexus with his fists. Sesshomaru almost asked for mercy, but not quite. He had more honor than that, so he continued to take the beating to his torso all the while listening to Inuyasha's constant laughing. Then suddenly, Inuyasha pulled away from him. He turned around and his back faced Sesshomaru. He seemed to omit a red aura that looked as if to evaporate off of his body. "Sesshomaru, do you remember when I protected this human girl and you shot your hand through my back and out my stomach?" Inuyasha growled, and Sesshomaru's heart skipped two beats. Inuyasha let out a low- pitched chuckle, which eventually became more climactic and turned into a full-blown evil laugh. Sango fainted, Shippo and Kirara ran away, Miroku stepped back, and Kagome cried as Inuyasha spun around so fast as if he were already standing in that direction and thrust his hand with extended claws through Sesshomaru's stomach and out his back. Kagome felt sick, she had never been this scared before. She thought to herself, 'What's he going to do to us? Will we live to see tomorrow?' she became extremely saddened; but all she could do was watch Sesshomaru's gut shoot out blood like a cannon. Just then Inuyasha put his hand on Sesshomaru's neck, extending one claw. "DIE." He said, as Kagome screamed out Inuyasha's name and ran in front of Sesshomaru. She pleaded with him. "Inuyasha, stop! You have to stop! Please, PLEASE don't kill him! I beg of you!" Inuyasha pulled away from Sesshomaru and took a second to think about her request. He remembered all the things that they had been through and he figured that he might be able to give her this one favor. Inuyasha looked at Kagome, and decided that he at least wanted a reason for him to not kill his brother, so he asked. "Why should I?" he demanded to know as Kagome cried. "Because!" she pleaded. "It's wrong Inuyasha! Don't, please, doh." Inuyasha looked at Kagome. He was rather moved by her tears. And luckily for her he hadn't quite snapped; there was still one more step of his transformation to complete it, so he wasn't completely full youkai. (Yet!) He considered her request, and came to the conclusion that she was right. Sesshomaru was no longer a threat, he had surely learned his lesson. He decided to let his anger subside and kill Sesshomaru another day. The red in his eyes and purple stripes on his cheeks disappeared, and he stopped emitting his evil aura; and finally his body went back to its original temperature.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome, who held her hand in her other while crying and fearing for her life, when suddenly, Inuyasha started to complain the way he always does when things don't go his way. "Hey Kagome, what's your deal! Why do you always cry your head off whenever anything like this happens!" he moaned. Kagome's tears suddenly stopped pouring out, and she looked up to see Inuyasha's beautiful golden eyes. She screamed for joy "Thank You GOD! Inuyasha, I'm so glad you're back to normal!" she said as she threw herself on him and hugged him. Sesshomaru flew off as hurt as he was, and said nothing. Inuyasha was a bit surprised, and didn't hug back at first, but then he decided that he might as well. "Oi, Kagome, what are you talking about?" he whined. " I've been back to normal ever since you pulled me out of that blasted tree." Kagome didn't care what he said, as long as he was no longer full youkai. She looked up from her spot on his chest and stared into his eyes, seeing her own reflection back in them. Then they both realized what kind of position they were in and they both pulled away. Inuyasha was the first to say anything, who was probably just as embarrassed as Kagome. "Hey, whadya do that for!" he said, acting as if he was unaware of their situation for a while. Kagome looked at him, blushing. "Oh, come on Inuyasha, you know you liked it!" Inuyasha could feel his anger building. "Oh, yeah! Whatever!" he said defensively with a sarcastic tone. "You're the one who was blushing!" He said as he pointed at Kagome's cheeks. "See! See!" he blabbed indicating the redness on her face as it began to get darker. Kagome felt embarrassed, but not ashamed. And with a 'Hmph' she turned towards the forest and started to walk back to the tent. "Well mabey I did like it." She taunted as she kept walking, being quite sure not to make eye contact with Inuyasha. He however, was quite surprised. The poor hanyou scrambled out his sentences as he desperately tried to understand Kagome. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" He yelled at her as she calmly walked off. Inuyasha noticed that she probably wouldn't be turning back, and he decided that he would give her some time to think to herself. So, he turned to go pick up Tetsusaiga, which was still laying somewhere towards the northern direction of the field. After which he planned to head back to the tent and speak to Kagome, who had done a successful job of confusing poor Inuyasha.

Well, that's it! Chapter 2! Please R&R! Death threats, suggestions, and comments are all welcome!