Sakura: Sorry about another long wait… dodges stuff thrown by the angry audience, which include a tomato (feh, too overused), an opened can of spaghetti soup (yum, what?), a mallet, a flaming arrow (a prietess in the audience?), a midget (what was that all about?), and a french puddle named Max.

Sakura: Ok, ok, I said I was sorry! Sheesh. Anyway my parents said I have to cut computer time from now on. But I still have enough time, however, to babble on endlessly in the Author's Note section. This chapter did not go quite as planned. The story seems to have a mind of it's own. I'll stop talking now, on to the story… just kidding, to the reviewer's section. (gets hit by another mallet) Ouch!

Allasrya: Thank you for you constructional criticism. And every word of it is true! Anyway I do feel that the story is rushed. What happened was that when I first started this fic, I got so excited and started to pile things up. Then after I cooled down I found I left a lot of the stuff out. And now, I'm trying head over heels to fix it. You can see that I'm not a very experienced storyteller. As for the verb tense, yeah, old problem. But in this fic it's mostly just editing errors I missed. Just like I make stupid mistakes in Math. I hope it's not affecting your reading pleasures too much. (puppy dog eyes)

Sakura: Suzaku, please do the disclaimer.

Suzaku: What, feeling guilty about sealing me away and only allows me minimum appearance?

Sakura: actually, no. Look, do you want to do this or not?

Midoriko: no, he doesn't. I haven't entered the story at all yet and I should do it. I'm a much better public speaker.

Sakura: How do we know? You are dead, you don't speak at all. Besides, I'll start your very own fic soon.

Midoriko: Yay!

Suzaku: She, (points at the authoress), doesn't own Inuyasha and Fushigi Yugi. I, however, do own the Suzaku seishi & miko. Ok, not quite the miko…

Sakura: you can shut up now.

Chapter 10, The Wind and Lightning Sorceresses

"Why did the sky turn black?" Ai asked in a somewhat shaky voice. This is not right, she thought. "I sense a strong dark energy approaching," Chichiri exclaimed. Suddenly, he became even more alarmed, "Oh no! There are two of them, no da!" Inuyasha sniffed the air. "One of them is demon," he said, "and she reeks of Naraku's scent." "Kagura!" Koga gritted his teeth. "The other one," Inuyasha continued with a puzzled expression, "is human. But how can a human female possess such strong dark aura?" Chichiri grabbed on to his staff tighter, his palm was sweaty. Could it be…The monk tried to hide the worry, but he had to focus because at that moment, a lightning bolt was shot out from the looming dark clouds overhead, aiming directly for Ai.

His suspicion was confirmed.

Ai watched the speeding lightning bolt blasting toward her and decided to make a run for it. She jumped aside, and the lightning hit the spot she had been standing just seconds before, shattering a rock boulder. Her heart beat faster as her mind raced. This is definitely not ordinary lightning, she thought, I'm under attack by someone who can control lightning. Suddenly, she remembered what Chichiri had told her about a Seiryu seishi when he was "showing her the ropes." One of them, a woman named Soi, could manipulate lightning. But why was she with Kagura, one of Naraku's incarnations. Maybe Suzaku was right, Ai thought grimly, Naraku and Nakago had joined forces. Or was it Narako and Nakagu? "Ahh," she groaned in frustration. "Ai, watch out!" Inuyasha's yelling brought her back to reality. Another lightning bolt was shot straight at her. This time, there was no time to jump away. Ai closed her eyes, waiting for the lightning to hit, sending unbearable pain throughout her body. But the pain never came. Seconds later she realized that she was being lifted through the air by Inuyasha. He was carrying her securely in his arms while jumping fifty feet up. Inuyasha landed firmly onto the ground, he put Ai down. "You really should pay more attention," he said, "it doesn't pay to let your mind wonder during a battle." Ai nodded, "Thank you." "Feh" was all he said.

As Ai directed her glance towards the sky once more, she realized that some of the clouds had parted, revealing two people floating on top of a giant feather. "Kagura!" Inuyasha growled. The two women on top of the feather jumped off, one of them spoke, "Inuyasha, how nice of you to remember me." "Heh, I'd know Naraku's stench anywhere." For a second the smirk on Kagura's face faltered. "It's not as if I want to follow Naraku. But," she added, "I'll get rid of you nevertheless." "I'd love to see you try." Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga. "Wind Scar!" The golden wave of light that shot from the sword was almost too bright to look at, but it didn't scare Kagura for even a second. She casually flipped open the fan she held in her hand and waved it in the air to create wind. "Dance of the Dragon!" Kagura attacked. She twirled around in the air, fan soaring in a beautifully deadly dance. A tornado was formed and it sped straight for Inuyasha.

The two attacking waves met and they fought each other. In the end the wind scar prevailed and broke through the tornado. But it didn't hit Kagura. For although the Wind Scar was stronger than her Dance of the Dragon, her attack bought her valuable time to jump away. "Not bad Inuyasha," Kagura smiled dangerously as she closed her fan. "But there's someone else I want you to meet." The other woman, clad in armour, stepped out. "Hello Suzaku scums. Do you remember me?" "Soi!"

"Soi, is this the woman who shot lightning at us?" Inuyasha asked. Chichiri nodded, "Yes, she's a seiryu seishi, and our enemy." "It doesn't matter who she is, she's going down!" Inuyasha said. "Inuyasha don't be so foolish!" Miroku exclaimed. "I sense a strong energy coming from her. It felt almost divine, like a god's power or something."
"It's true," Chichiri confirmed, "all celestial warriors' power come from their god. Seiryu is the blue dragon of the East while Suzaku is the red phoenix of the South." "I have come across that theory in my readings on the Continent, though it seemed no more than a pagan myth at the time," Miroku rubbed his chin as he recalled. Inuyasha was unimpressed. "Feh, stop your babbling," he held his sword in battle stance, "I'll take her down. I have a problem with dragons anyway. Tetsusaiga!" "Is that all you've got?" Soi chuckled. She agilely dodged the attack and with a flick of a finger, sent lightning bolt blasting towards Inuyasha. The half demon used Tetsusaiga to block the attack. But to his surprise, the lightning did not bounce back, instead it wrapped itself around the great fang, zapping and humming like a thousand angry bees beating their wings. "What the hell?" Inuyasha swore as the sword transformed back, once again became a chunk of useless scrap metal. "I told you not to underestimate her!" Miroku scolded.

In the meantime, Koga was more than ready to launch himself at Kagura. "Wind Witch!" he shouted furiously, "how dare you show your face in my domain after what you've done to my kinsmen! You'll pay for this!" Kagura was totally unmoved by his threat. "Koga," she said while twisting her fan between her fingers in a casual but threatening way. "Remember last time you tried to mess with me? I nearly crippled you and took your shards, if that half-breed runt hadn't interfered. Besides, I don't have the time to engage in useless battles, I merely came for the jewel shard you and your friends have recently acquired. I'll spare you today." "Why you…" Koga growled. Kagura ignored him and turned her attention to Ai. "You," said Kagura, "you have the shard. Give it to me." As she spoke, she jumped right in front of Ai. "Hand it over right now!"

Ai suddenly realized that Kagura's face was only inches from her own. Her blood-red eyes stared down on her threateningly. Ai suddenly felt her knees quiver, she was scared. The feeling was not unfamiliar to her. She remembered feeling it hundreds of times before in her not-so-distant childhood. And there would always be a pair of blood-shot, crazed eyes which no amount of sobbing and pleading would soften. And that's when something inside her snapped.

At that moment, Ai's sole aim in life was to fight back. She wouldn't let the owner of those cruel eyes hurt her, or anyone else she loved. Fear deserted her body and strength fill in its place. Somehow she managed to grab on to Kagura's sleeves. "I won't let you win," Ai heard her own voice saying. Before she knew what she was doing, she sent reddish-pink energy sparks down her arms and onto Kagura.

Kagura screamed in pain. The angry sparks of miko energy wrapped themselves around her body and were attacking ferociously. They tore at her clothes and burned her skin. The pain clouded her senses and thinking. Her own shrieks of agony seemed distant and blurry. The only thing that's real and clear was the pain, the unbearable pain. She stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Eventually, the pain lessened and she could think straight again. "Who are you?" she snarled, "how come you can use miko energy? Wait, you are the new miko Naraku was babbling on about. I'll kill you!"

"Not so fast! Listen, whoever you are, I won't let you hurt her!" Soi became alert instantly, the voice was awfully familiar. Anger rose inside her as she realized who the speaker was. "Amiboshi," she smiled dangerously, "You are a bigger traitor than I thought. You ditched your own priestess and brother to protect HER! I think I should knock some sense into your head!" "Listen to me, Soi," Amiboshi said sincerely. "I don't understand your loyalty for Nakago. He has no feelings for you. He's just using you…" "Silence." Soi cut him off in a dangerously quiet voice, "I don't need a traitor telling me what to do." "This conversation is tiring me out," Kagura interrupted with finality, "it's time for me finish you off, all of you! Dance of the Dragon!"

A giant wind tornado formed as expected. But what's not expected was that Soi shot a lightning bolt at the exact same time. The two attacks met and combined. The tornado, now soaring in lightning, thundered towards our small band of heroes, hurling rocks and dust into the air. It destroyed everything in its path, determined to reach them and kill them all.

"Boy, how do we get ourselves out of this one?" muttered Nuriko. " A combined attack! We need a combined attack too!" shouted Chichiri. "I'll use my arrow!" Ai said immediately, her mind racing. Kagura and Soi are from two different worlds. If I was to attack with my arrow, which, according to Miroku, is from Feudal Japan, then I need someone from the World of the Book to combine his attack with mine. "Tasuki!" Ai shouted, "When I shoot the arrow I want you to flame it with your tessen!" "Wha…" "Just do it!" Tasuki nodded, he could see the fire of determination burning in the girl's eyes. Ai wasted no time. She quickly pulled out an arrow and concentrated all her energy on it. The arrow glowed a fierce reddish-pink light. The tornado was a lot closer now, it looked more frightening than ever. Ai carefully took aim. If she should miss, then they were all doomed. When the moment was right, she released the arrow. Immediately, Tasuki flamed it with his iron tessen.

The fire did not burn the arrow. Instead it integrated into the arrow's light, surrounding it, making it glow more fiercely than ever. The flaming arrow pierced through the air as if nothing could stop it, then flew directly into the center of the tornado.

What followed after was a second of total silence. It was one of those moments that people stopped to stare, to wonder what would happen next, and everything seemed to be frozen. But that moment quickly passed, for a golden light, more brilliant that the rays of the sun, shot out of the tornado and made it completely disintegrate. It happened in just a few seconds. Then, it was all over.

"Y… you did it!" Nuriko shouted in sheer joy, then he jumped up and down. "Go Ai, go Ai!" "Hey!" Tasuki protested loudly, "What about me? I did half the work!" "Don't celebrate too early!" Ai said sternly, pointing to Kagura and Soi, whom, of course, were still there. "Don't worry," Inuyasha made Tetsusaiga transform once more, "I'll finish them off." But Kagura and Soi had both jumped back to the safety of the giant feather and were already ascending into the heavens. "I promise we'll be back," Kagura said coldly, promising revenge. And then, they flew into the clouds and disappeared out of sight.

Just seconds after they were gone, the clouds parted and completely evaporated, letting the bright sunshine pouring down on earth once more. The birds sang and the flowers bloomed as usual, as if nothing had happened.

"Well, no use chasing after them now," Miroku sighed, glancing up at the clear blue sky, "I guess we all owe it to Ai." Everyone nodded. Inuyasha walked up to the young miko, his usual smirk disappeared. Instead, his face was serious. "You know," he began very awkwardly, "You fight very good. For a miko, that is." He quickly added. "What's that supposedly to mean?" Ai narrowed her eyes, "Do I sense a stereotyper?" "Feh," Inuyasha said, obviously annoyed. Koga looked at Ai apologetically, "Sorry Lady Ai, it's time for me to go back to my tribe. I wish you luck on your quest." "Thank you Koga," Ai smiled. Koga smiled back and took off. Soon, the small cyclone formed and disappeared down the mountain path.

"Well," said Miroku, "We should get going too. The sun is setting. We have to get back to the village before dark." "We left our horses at the base of the mountain. We have to get down quick and then do some serious riding. Or, in some cases, running," Chichiri said while taking a glance at the proud hanyou. "Great! Let's get going then," said Ai, and they started trekking down the mountain.

Amiboshi watched as his friends all walked ahead, but didn't budge an inch himself. Something bothered him. Ai's behavior while confronting Kagura had him very worried, but he did not know why. His thoughts were cut short by Tasuki's impatient shouting, telling him to catch up. He strode along, though the shadow of worry still hung around his heart.