I know, I know. It's late. Sorry, I've been going through a lot lately and I haven't been able to write...until NOW! This chapter is more than likely going to be one of my favorite chapters yet! I love fight scenes, and I've got as long as I need to put in detail today! grins evilly Mwahahahaha! Oh, and BTW I got a review, which pointed out the fact that Sesshomaru's swords hadn't yet been removed from his sash. Well, since I'll have to change that later, for now Sesshomaru's swords are with Jaken and Rin. But all else aside, enjoy chapter 9!

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha stared at each other as they both stood, braced to gather energy. However, it was only Sesshomaru who still held his hand in front of him as his youki began to rise. Inuyasha knew not of the youkai's actions, and began to growl in anger.

Inuyasha's powers at this point were all pretty much by instinct, and most of what he did was acted completely upon just that. His anger and will to protect the human was rising to a penetrable climax and he began to show his fiery red battle aura.

The red that was also in his eyes was no longer that of merely his pupils, or physical appearance, but now his sheer battle miasma glowed through his eyes making them a bright, blood thirsty red. He began to growl, and he bared his fangs at his enemy. This would normally be a warning, a final sign giving the opponent one last chance to back down, but not in Inuyasha's current state.

This was a battle cry that just began to expose itself, which would eventually build up and give an all out roar. His voice showed few signs of intellect, as his anger rose as well as his strength. The miasma that now surrounded him became so potent, that the very earth seemed to shake. Small rocks and pebbles near him slightly began to rise, and the tall grass which was also near him heated and eventually caught fire.

Sesshomaru began to growl as well as HIS true features began to show themselves. His eyes also reddened, and the marks on his cheeks became slightly more jagged; giving a visible truth that these ones shared the same father.

The bluish purple aura that surrounded Sesshomaru also became more potent, as he took one last look at his brother before their fight began. He thought to himself for a moment, and remembered the plan that he had come up with and reason he had for coming here. "Inuyasha, if you can understand me, I ask you now the whereabouts of your comrades."

This question however fell on deaf ears as the last bit of Inuyasha's personality was swept from his transformed body, and he gave the only response he knew how to give. His eyes reddened to an absolute climax and he let out a mighty howl. A howl of howls, straight from the abyss; one that seemingly tore a hole through time and space itself. It was of such magnitude, that the sheer power it put off caused Sesshomaru's sight to be displayed to him momentarily in black and white.

This shocking response caused even the mighty Sesshomaru to clench from decibel amount and even somewhat in fear. But he quickly gathered himself, as he knew that he was perfectly capable of such a feat in HIS transformed state.
He feh'd to himself. 'Surely his friends heard that. They will no doubt be here within five minutes. I will tell them then of my proposition.'

Every other thought in both warriors minds were set aside at this point, and without even thinking they shot off at each other nearly too fast for the human eye to see. The force they put off caused a small whirlwind in both directions, and they began their fight long before either dispersed.

They both began with a rather signature attack, as Inuyasha landed with his right leg and pushed off with it as well giving him the force he needed bring down a mighty and slightly altered version of the Sounkutettso. Sesshomaru purposely ran into this in an attempt for a fake out. But he shortly realized that it was he who became faked out, as he felt absolutely no force from Inuyasha's claw marks which had remained in the air.

The marks soon dispersed and Inuyasha's image flashed before Sesshomaru and reappeared behind him before giving him time to react. Inuyasha then dragged his arm through the air and cut Sesshomaru square in the back, but was left with the repercussions of this move and spun while airborne, giving Sesshomaru ample time to spin around and land one good right uppercut to Inuyasha's jawbone.

This force sent Inuyasha flying into the air, but not too long after he began his little flight, he kept his ki about him and used his internal energy to give a stopping force and spin him in the direction corresponding to Sesshomaru. He used the remaining ki he had from his force opposition and shot off towards the one he once knew as his brother.

The youkai lord observed this and quickly devised a counter attack. But this time, he suspected a counter move so he readied himself into a right back stance. His left shoulder was risen just enough so his left arm was able to naturally stay just left of his left most cheek mark and his hand remained next to that mark in an open handed claw like fashion.

He put about 75 of his body weight on his left leg as the toes of that foot faced north, and his right leg's ankle was in front of him on a line with his left ankle as his right toes faced west. His face and right arm also were directed west, and the right arm was about a foot in front of his eyes at eye level. His torso and hips faced north, and all that was left to do was to wait for Inuyasha to reach him so he could counter attack.

Inuyasha shadow darted down towards Sesshomaru and prepared to claw him as he flew at about a 45 degree angle while his left knee was risen to his torso and left leg extended just enough to reveal his open handed claw forms resting about faced and risen just below his hips.

Sesshomaru reassured his stance as Inuyasha's image became closer and closer until it was just about time to strike. Sesshomaru cleared his mind and awaited Inuyasha's fake out move, but was unable to sense where his image would reappear.

And in that moment, sheer horror struck him in realization that there wasn't going to be a fake out move, but it was too late to dodge! All he could do was brace for impact as Inuyasha used his ki to stop himself just before he hit Sesshomaru and spun around 6 times within half a second, in order to gather the force needed to put Sesshomaru out of action for quite a while.

He then decided that the force required was ready, and he let loose his claw attack blindly at Sesshomaru's body. The force and speed of the attack was just enough to boggle Sesshomaru's mind and all moving things stopped for a moment. The attack created a sizzling crater where Sesshomaru had stood, and Inuyasha used the remaining g-force to spin himself around and land with one knee up, one knee down, and a hand on the ground, the other extended in the air. This also caused a small sizzling crater, and the smoke from both cleared just in time to see the after image of his claws and a badly injured Sesshomaru.

The youkai lord had managed to dodge a good portion of the blow, (thanks to how blindly Inuyasha had swung at him) but the sheer after force that it put off was enough to leave one hell of a mark on Sesshomaru. His upper kimono was ripped nearly completely off, however the lower portion was only slightly torn. But this quite obviously was not even hardly a contributor to his anger.

He was mainly angry with himself for not foreseeing such a blow, but nonetheless naturally agitated that his younger brother nearly killed him again. He spent a few more precious seconds scolding himself, but rather quickly found that it was both childish and foolish so he refocused his attention on the fight.

Sesshomaru gathered his ki and rose his right fist as he shadow darted towards Inuyasha while he let his other arm and legs flow freely in the wind. He quickly closed the distance between him and his brother and let loose the punch of which he was nearly certain would miss-and so it did.

Inuyasha foresaw the attack and it was almost embarrassing, but dodged anyway using his ki to swing his body around Sesshomaru and prepared to punch HIM in the back. But surely Sesshomaru is more cunning as to fall for the same trick twice. The youkai lord used his current g-force to flip around backwards and land an upperpart front kick on Inuyasha from below, causing the 'hanyou's' head to slam into the ground.

Sesshomaru then reached his right arm as far back as his body would allow and focused his Dokacho (poison claw) attack into the direct center of Inuyasha's shoulder blades; causing him to growl in pain. The youkai lord then did his best to subdue Inuyasha by forcing him into the ground with that same fist; but quite unfortunately for him, to no avail.

Inuyasha spun around inside the mini crater that Sesshomaru had created and grabbed his hand with both of his. He then, using that leverage, pulled Sesshomaru in and bit his face, causing him to drop his guard long enough for Inuyasha to grab Sesshomaru's right arm with his left.

Using his now more dangerous leverage, he curled his legs up to his chest and pulled Sesshomaru in for a nice double kick to the stomach. But that's not all. He tightened his grip on Sesshomaru even more and spun around so that the youkai lord was now closer to the ground.
And THEN, he landed on the ground (still with his grip) and pushed off straight up, causing the rest of Sesshomaru's body to dangle in the air. They then came to a stop at about 250 feet in the air and the hanyou devised his next attack. Only now Sesshomaru had had about enough.

Sesshomaru used Inuyasha's grip on his hands to swing his legs up to his younger brother's head and get a nice good grip around his neck. Sesshomaru then tightened the grip and twisted his legs in an attempt to get Inuyasha to drop his guard just long enough for Sesshomaru to free his arms. And so it happened.

Sesshomaru then spun several times in the air before using his ki to shadow dart towards the ground at a speed, which COULDN'T be detected by the human eye. He then, just before they both hit the ground, let go his grip on Inuyasha giving the youkai lord the time he needed to push off of the ground and move out of the way, permitting Inuyasha's body to slam head first into conveniently placed boulder.

The hanyou slid off the boulder and lay on the ground, front side down. Sesshomaru stared at him as he could only hope that it was over. He rose to his feet and gathered his nerve, as he approached the seemingly dead hanyou.

However, it would be quite foolish to assume his younger brother's demise at this point. A dropped guard could mean death in a battle such as this. He walked silently over to Inuyasha's position, ever so cautious as to not wake him, should he be perhaps unconscious.

But as he approached what seemed to be living and breathing, he felt a sudden jolt of burning energy as realized that what he saw was merely a doppleganger. And just then the true Inuyasha revealed himself and with enough time to get a grip around Sesshomaru's neck with all ten of his iron claws.

All Sesshomaru could do was wonder in sheer awe at Inuyasha's ability level. 'But...HOW!' was all that ran through his mind at this point. 'Inuyasha NEVER knew of such abilities!' And that much was true, but there are many secrets and catacombs within the instinctual abilities that Inuyasha inherited from his father and mother.

All was lost for Sesshomaru at this point. Death was at hand, and there was NOTHING he could do about it...or should it be said, as for the doppleganger Inuyasha now held in his claws. The phony Sesshomaru that Inuyasha had a grasp on dispersed and the true Sesshomaru shadow darted out of the forest as fast as he ever had and landed a piercing flying sided kick right in the center of Inuyasha's back.

This force caused Inuyasha to slam back into the boulder and slide off once more, but before that could happen, a popping sound was heard upon impact from the kick. And this indefinitely caused Inuyasha to howl out in pain.

Sesshomaru knelt on the ground where Inuyasha had held his doppleganger captive, and began breathing rather hard. "Heh...I knew that was a good idea..." he sighed. The energy he had used for the doppleganger was more than he had to spare, but he suspected that it was essential for victory.

He looked over at Inuyasha's body and hoped dearly that it wouldn't move. Because by now, Sesshomaru had almost NO energy left. The doppleganger that he made was a special one, and it took a bit more ki than most ordinary ones. And the youkai lord had next to NO energy left, barely having enough for his flying kick and consciousness now.

He observed Inuyasha's body for just a bit more, and finally decided that he could lay down and rest for a moment. He gently laid down and tried to stretch his legs out but became nervous because the popping in them grew too loud to hear anything else. But it was soon gone and he lay comfortably.

Sesshomaru gazed into the afternoon sky and congratulated himself on completing the first part of his plan. But that inner boasting immediately rested as his ears detected perhaps the most terrifying noise they ever had. It was the sound of Inuyasha's body rising up, and gaining consciousness. 'NO!' he screamed out inside of his head as he lacked the energy to sit up and see what was happening.

And just then, Inuyasha's figure became evident as the hanyou peered over Sesshomaru's body and stared him directly in the face. Sesshomaru stared back. "Kill me now, or I'll return to slay you." The response he got from that was not at all one that he expected, as it was a sound, intelligent voice. "Heh heh. Don't kid yourself Sesshomaru. You couldn't kill me now and you won't be able to kill me in the future."

The voice of his younger brother had returned to normal, and Sesshomaru now noticed that his eyes were once again golden, and the purple marks on his cheeks had disappeared as well. "Inuyasha, but how?" was all he managed to get out. "Dunno, but I guess I'm back to normal now. And anyway, why the hell were we fighting!" he exclaimed, as if there was a reason other than why they usually fought.

"Well, I'll explain." Began Sesshomaru, as he tried to keep his pride as Inuyasha stared at him in his current position on the ground. "I had a proposition for you, brother." "Oh?" "I discovered that you needed the power of the Shikon Jewel to control your powers, and-" he stopped, as he was rather effectively cut off. "And how the hell'd you find that out! You been spying on me!" he interrupted, and demanded rather angrily. "No, calm yourself. I have not." "Then how'd y-" as now INUYASHA is cut off, "Never mind that. I have my sources. Anyway, after discovering this I came here to test your strength and I told myself that if you somehow managed to beat me at my full strength, that I would help you search for the sacred jewel."

Inuyasha became confused. "But...why?" "Because up until not too long ago I have seen you as worthless. But since our most recent battles, you have proven to have rivaled my prowess twice. And in any case, do you accept my generous offer, or am I merely wasting my time?" he responded, causing an already confused Inuyasha to become even more so. "Yeah...I guess."

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