Putting the Damage On

Chapter 16 : Appreciate Your Skill, But…

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long. Computer is still broken:whines: Hope you all enjoy this installment though. ) Please let me know if you want!

Warnings: Violence. Tee hee.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

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"Shit." Kagura muttered. Sesshomaru was headed right for her. His sword was drawn and in seconds it would pierce her flesh... Kagura's eyes closed unconsciously…

The hard, cold ground connected with Kagura's head as she was unceremoniously shoved aside by Sango, who's right arm was glowing a deep violet. Sango raised her arm above her head and Tokijin pierced her skin, and would have cut straight through, had Sango not focused a great amount of her power in her forearm.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. Sango smirked, as blood trickled down her arm and dripped onto her face, sliding down her forehead. She winced slightly then.

Sesshomaru jumped back, pulling tokijin clean out of Sango's arm. She tripped backwards and nearly fell, but caught herself and instantly cradled her arm against her chest.

Kagura had gotten to her feet, her head spinning from the fall. At least Sango looked okay… stupid girl… You could have died, Kagura almost yelled but refrained. It was pointless. She would do as she pleased. Even if it was foolish.

Sesshomaru was growling now, holding his sword tightly in his hand. He glared at Sango, "I will kill you with the next swing of my blade."

Sango narrowed her eyes, "Is that so?" She then smirked and held up her right arm. It was completely healed. The wound in her shoulder had healed as well. Suddenly, the miasma from the hair strands ceased. Sesshomaru's eyes darted to his arm and then back at Sango.

She shrugged, "I lied. It was just a fluke that my hair actually attached itself to you… and that reaction of spilling out miasma is just something my hand strands tend to do." She laughed slightly.

Kagura raised an eye brow. Sesshomaru had a slightly puzzled look as well. Kagura then placed her face in her hand, "Idiot."

"Now! Had I actually cast them on you, well that would be a different story. The amount of miasma in that circumstance would have consumed you." Sango stated.

Sesshomaru's eyes had returned to their regular color, "You annoy me greatly."

Sango grinned, "This battle is just getting started. I wanted to test you. You're very ruthless. When you believed you were cornered, the reaction and amount of power you demonstrated was monstrous." Sesshomaru continued to stare at her, "But I'm not ready to retreat just yet…"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes and Kagura blinked. Sango seemed to be gathering power inside of her. The Taijiya sprang forward suddenly, her speed matching Sesshomaru's from a moment ago. Sesshomaru braced himself and their swords connected.

Kagura watched for a moment longer, and then out of the corner of her eye she noticed the girl that traveled with Sesshomaru. Kagura quickly appeared beside Rin and grabbed a hold of the girl. "Hey kid, if you've got one of the jewel shards, it'd be in your favor to hand it over to me."

Rin was shaking in fear. This was not something Kagura enjoyed, but it was something she had to do. She straightened her lips and repeated, "Give it to me if you have it, brat."

Rin reached into her kimono and with a shaking hand held out the shard, "I-I only wanted to give Sesshomaru-sama a present!"

"Sesshomaru has the other one?" Kagura asked, snatching the shard and tossing the girl to the ground. Rin gathered herself and backed up against a tree. Jaken ran forward and stood in front of Rin protectively, but he did not attack Kagura.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kagura snorted.

"Be gone witch!" Jaken squawked.

Kagura narrowed her eyes in annoyance, but before she could reply, Kohaku appeared beside her. "Naraku-sama requests that you kill the toad and take the girl."

Kagura raised one eye brow, "What use would she be?"

"Bait." Kohaku replied and held his weapon before him. He darted towards Rin while Kagura directed her fan at Jaken.

"See you in another life, imp." She said and attacked.

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Sesshomaru turned his head slightly when he heard Rin's scream, but was unable to go to the girl as Sango attacked him once more with her sword. The taijiya's power had doubled since before. She was becoming more than just a nuisance.

"I will kill you," Sesshomaru growled out once more.

"You've told me that before, I think," Sango laughed, her right hook catching him across the cheek. Sesshomaru fell back more in shock than by the force of the blow.

He growled and blasted Sango with power from his finger tips. It hit her directly and she flew back, hitting the ground with a thud. The taijiya got back to her feet and pounced at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru slashed Sango's side and returned her punch with one of his own. She spit out blood and quickly moved away from him so that she could retain her ground. Even using so much power he was a monstrous opponent. Sango gulped; there was a chance that she wouldn't survive this little battle.

She ducked his attack. Naraku-sama! I don't want to die yet… She slammed her blade against his and felt the blade weaken against the power of tokijin. If the battle lasted too much longer her sword wouldn't make it in one piece. Sango focused more of her power into her blade to help hold it together.

Their blades clashed and the force made both Sesshomaru and Sango release their blades. The two swords went flying far from the two combatants, and Sesshomaru gritted his teeth while Sango frowned and then shrugged, "Damn."

Sesshomaru glared at her, "Who the hell are you?"

Sango blinked in surprise and ducked the swing of his fist. "Sango."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, "And you're one of Naraku's detachments?"

"Yes." She replied, throwing a smoke bomb at Sesshomaru as she jumped away. Sesshomaru brought his sleeve to cover his nose, his sight and sense of smell blocked by the suffocating powder. From behind him Sango's boot connected with his back, knocking him to the ground. Sesshomaru skidded forward and got back to his feet once he came to a stop. He growled, his sight slowly returning.

Sesshomaru barely dodged the hidden blade Sango kept in her forearm. It nicked his face and Sesshomaru cursed. Sango jumped back as he attacked with the poison from his nails. She countered with miasma.

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Naraku was grinning, "She can stand toe to toe with Sesshomaru…."

Kanna stared in silent awe, "Sango is indeed your finest creation master."

Naraku glanced down at the pale little girl and smirked, placing a hand atop her head, "Kanna, signal Kohaku and Kagura to return."

She nodded and held her mirror in the air, sending forth a pale light. Within moments Kohaku and Kagura appeared, an unconscious Rin slumped over Kohaku's shoulders.

Naraku glanced at them, removing his hand from Kanna's hand, "Did you kill the imp?"

Kagura nodded. Kohaku stepped forward, "Should I return with this girl to the castle, Naraku-sama?"

"Go ahead. Kagura return with him." Naraku looked at Kagura.

The wind sorceress glanced at the battle between Sesshomaru and Sango. "Naraku, if this keeps up much longer Sango will probably be killed."

"I'll stop it before then," Naraku replied, "I merely wanted to see the extent of her powers. I am not disappointed."

Kagura looked away and refrained from growling aloud. Bastard. Naraku noticed her struggle and chuckled. "Leave, witch."

Kagura vanished and Kohaku followed suit. Naraku returned his eyes to the battle. They would make their appearance soon.

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Sesshomaru broke the blade in Sango's forearm and she was knocked back onto her butt. She looked up as he towered over her.

"It has been a long time since I've battled an opponent of your level." Sesshomaru stated, "And though you are annoying I appreciate your skill."

"Thanks," Sango wondered if she should even reply at all.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, "But you've made a mistake that you will indeed regret."

"Yeah, yeah," Sango snorted, "Just kill me already. I don't need to hear your speech."

Sesshomaru smirked then, "Truly annoying."

"At least I'm consistent." Sango said and shut her eyes. She had to think of something! She could not fail Naraku-sama here.

Sango jumped when Sesshomaru brought his claws down. He narrowed his eyes, but he had expected that retaliation. Despite her talk the Taijiya would fight until she could no longer move. Sango made a bee line for her sword and just as it was in reach she was abruptly grabbed by her throat as Sesshomaru appeared in front of her. He held her before him and readied his palm next to her stomach.

"This is the end, Sango of Naraku." Sesshomaru then slammed his palm through Sango's stomach, tearing her flesh and spewing her blood all down his sleeve. Sango's eyes widened drastically and blood shot from her mouth, spreading across Sesshomaru's face. The youkai continued to stare at her expressionlessly.

An image flashed before Sango's eyes and her breath caught in her chest from the pain and sadness that suddenly swelled inside of her. Why was she seeing this now? Why had that boy appeared in her mind, just before her death?

"Ko…haku…" Sango sputtered out, her eyes tearing up.

Sesshomaru suddenly released her and jumped away. Sango was caught by someone. She clung to the strength of her savior's arms. She slowly lifted her head and looked into his red eyes, and her body recoiled and then went limp as she fell unconscious.

That is all!

That's all for now! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! My computer STILL isn't fixed so I transferred this via disk to my sister's computer and uploaded it that way. I really don't like doing this because it's a waste of my disks, but since Robot Killah is so insistent and wonderful, I did. :huggles you:

And thank you so much for drawing a fan art. That really makes me happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I was going to prolong the fight between Sango and Sesshomaru and have Sango do some really bad ass moves that I thought up, but I don't want there to be so much focus on fighting, since this is mostly a romance/drama story.

Well, tell me what you think in your comments. I really love those. Tee hee.

Now! To respond to you wonderful reviewers:huggles you all some more:

Robot Killah - :huggles you lots more: I would absolutely love to see the fan art, so if you don't mind doing all that, then please! Oh and if and when I ever get around to working on my website, you wouldn't mind if I posted it would you? Anyway, thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. I'm glad you liked the fighting scenes. Milano are good too. Tee hee. You're reviews are always a delight to read. I hope you like this chapter as well! Thank you and see you later!

Angel-Shae – I'm so glad you like this story. Yes, I was trying to show that Naraku was gaining feelings for Sango. I'm happy to see that someone noticed it. Tee hee. Thank you, you rock as well! I hope you like this chapter, so enjoy!

Warrior Angel of Truth – I agree that its too bad that there aren't many Sango fics out there. Would you know of any really good ones to recommend? I'd like to read some but I don't have much time to search… but anyway, thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you like this chapter. Bye for now!

Hoppy-chan – Hoppy! Lol. Nope, Rin-chan isn't going to die. At least, not yet. Neither is Sesshomaru, at least not yet. Lol. I'm glad you liked that chapter and I hope you like this one as well. Bye for now!

HotPink89 - Well, in regards to Naraku falling in love with Sango, I had it relate to the Prince Kagawaki, whose identity Naraku stole. I just kinda decided that the prince had a thing for Sango for a basis of the story. :shrugs: Its fandom right? And not totally unbelievable. Anyway, I'm really glad you liked the story! Thank you for your review! Bye now!

Youkosangohiei – I guess it's a little of everyone. Tee hee. Well, I mean, possibly Sesshomaru but definitely Miroku, Inuyasha, and Naraku. Lol. Anyway, thanks a bunch for your review! Hope you enjoy this chappie too.

Chigirl, Obsessed-anime-lover, icygirl2, SanMirLover, AddictedtoInuyashaFics, Dirt Bag, Azure Tigress, Bunny, and everyone else! Thank you so much!

Taijiya