Last time: Kagome and InuYasha had a fight about Kikyo, and later Kagome got kidnapped by a strange demon named Katakoutai. Who is this demon, and what did she mean by her sister? Now they are headed to Totosai's, but why InuYasha wants to land there, no one knows.

Chapter 12: Aoirohiken and Papuruhiken

The cat and dog landed in front of Totosai's home and they walked in. "Hey, old man! I need you to check my Tetsusaiga. I think something might be wrong with it," InuYasha said, looking for the sword smith.

"Who is that?" said some crazy old man. Totosai popped up from out of no where and he smiled. "Ah! InuYasha! Let me see your sword," Totosai said, walking to InuYasha. He took the sword out and transformed it before the half-demon could do anything.

"Hey!" InuYasha growled.

Totosai swung the sword around and then touched the tip of the sword. "Yup, your sword is dull. Unless I sharpen it, it won't be as strong," Totosai said. He then just stood there, holding Tetsusaiga carefully.

"Well?"

"Huh? InuYasha? When did you get here?" Totosai asked, looking at InuYasha. "And who are these three?"

Totosai walked up to Kay, Michelle and Charlie and looked at Michelle so close that Michelle could feel the heat from his face.

"That's Kay, Michelle, and Charlie," Sango said, pointing to each of the people in turn.

"Back off, you old geezer," Michelle said, before pushing Totosai away from her face. He blinked his giant eyes twice before turning towards the sword in his hands.

"You said you were going to sharpen my sword, old man," InuYasha said irritably.

"And I was wondering if you could check our swords, too," Kay said, taking her sword handle out. Michelle did the same.

"Ah, yes. I have to sharpen your sword, InuYasha," Totosai said, getting his hammer and sitting down. He blew on it with his fire-breath and started to sharpen it. The rest of the group sat down also, watching him do this.

"Can't you go any faster, old man? I need to go save Kagome," InuYasha growled.

"Why did we stop here if we are going to save Kagome? Why didn't we just go?" Kay asked, looking at InuYasha like he was the stupidest thing alive.

"My sword wasn't good enough to take anyone down. I realized that when I fought you. I would have done better if my sword was sharper," InuYasha said, explaining it all to Kay.

"But, when it's not transformed, then it's not very sharp at all!" Kay said, confused by what he was talking about.

"Done!" Totosai said after about 10 minutes.

"Now can you check our swords?" Kay asked as Totosai returned the Tetsusaiga to InuYasha.

Totosai looked at Kay and Michelle and said, "Who are you?"

"What a moron..." Kay said, sighing. She slapped her forehead and then said, "Anyway, we need you to check our swords."

The two girls handed their swords to Totosai and he looked at the handles carefully. He grabbed them both, one in each hand and then swung them, making the swords appear. "Ah! Some of my greatest swords. Aoirohiken, the blue fire sword, and Papuruhiken, the purple fire sword. Alone they are very powerful, but together, they can rival that of Sounga," Totosai said, smiling.

"You mean the third sword of the three worlds? The one that could only be banished by the Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga?" Kay asked, looking at the two swords carefully.

"Yes, and I know a way to make them even more powerful. The holder of the Aoirohiken can use the Dragon Fire, an attack that will surround the enemy in fire, and protect yourself from their next attack. It also has the attack Hell's Flame, which can melt the strongest of metals," Totosai said, handing the sword back to Kay.

"Papuruhiken can use Fire Snake, the attack that will circle the enemy, slowly closing in on it. The enemy usually dies from the fire, or lack of oxygen. Though, the enemy doesn't always die. Then, it's other attack is Holy Fire, an attack that doesn't work on humans, but has strong effect to demons, almost fully purifying it, and weakening it greatly. It has it's full effect when wielded by one with spiritual powers." Totosai handed Papuruhiken back to Michelle.

"And the attack they can use together is Fire Storm, an attack that can match the power of the Backlash Wave."

"Can you teach us how to use those attacks?" Kay asked Totosai.

"You'll have to learn them on your own."

"Damn..." Kay muttered.

"Great. Thanks a lot, bastard..." Michelle said, glaring.

"I've got sheathes for you though. And I can make them so you don't have to transform them," Totosai said, standing up and going over to his wall and grabbing a couple of sheathes.

He took the swords back and then hit them both twice with his hammer and then blew fire on the jewels in the hilts. When he let them go, the swords did not return to their original state. He handed the sheathes and swords to the two girls and said, "There you go!"

"Thank you," Kay said, smiling brightly.

The group left Totosai's cave and set off again, heading for where Katakoutai left with Kagome.

- - -

"Ugh!" Kagome groaned as she was thrown into a dark room, landing against the hard floor. She turned around and saw the purple haired demon stand there with a smirk on her face.

"Why do you want me?" Kagome asked.

"Well, to lure the half-demon here, of course. We need him in order for Naraku to get rid of that nuisance. He wants to get rid of him personally," Katakoutai said, clicking her black nails together.

i InuYasha/i

"Naraku will never kill InuYasha. Never," Kagome said.

"You keep telling yourself that, missy," Katakoutai answered, closing the door and locking her in the room.

Kagome looked around and backed up into a corner, putting her head on her knees and started to cry. Her tears fell down her cheeks and onto the floor. By the time that she was done, she had cried herself to sleep.

Suddenly a loud noise woke Kagome up, making her jump and look around urgently. The door to the room opened and Katakoutai pushed in young Rin.

"You'll see! Lord Sesshomaru will come and save Rin!" Rin yelled, her face red and frightened.

"That's exactly what we want," Katakoutai said, a smirk on her face. She slammed the door and locked it, so they couldn't get out.

Rin sighed and turned around. Her face brightened a little bit when she saw Kagome. "Kagome-chan! You are here too?" Rin asked, running over to Kagome. Kagome nodded. "Why do they want us?"

"I think they're trying to lure InuYasha and Sesshomaru here," Kagome said, looking out the window. She stared at the sky that shone through the window, and she sighed. Where are you, InuYasha? Kagome asked herself.

- - -

"InuYasha, we should make camp. I know that you want to find Kagome, but we can't find her when we're barely awake," Miroku said, slowly moving his hand towards Sango's rump.

SLAP!

"We aren't stopping," InuYasha said, walking in front of the group. Then he stopped.

"Hypocrite," Kay muttered under her breath.

InuYasha sniffed the air and then said, "There is a demon coming this way."

"I'm sensing a fairly strong demonic aura," Miroku said, putting his hand out and holding onto the prayer beads that covered his right hand.

"Kirara, get ready!" Sango said, readying her Hiriakotsu. Kay and Michelle drew their swords, as did InuYasha, and they got ready for whatever was going to show up.

"You guys are so much better prepared this time. Last time you practically gave that girl away. I guess I can expect a real fight now," a familiar voice said. Katakoutai walked into view from the forest, looking at the group with a smirk on her face. Following her were poisonous insects, flying around her head.

"Damn! I can't use my Wind Tunnel," Miroku said, rewrapping the beads on his arm.

What's she gonna do, bore us to death? Kay asked herself. She doesn't even have a weapon! How will she defend herself? Not that I'm complaining.

"Where's Kagome!" InuYasha demanded.

"Is that all you think about? You must really love her," Katakoutai said.

"I promised her that I would protect her. You aren't going to make me break that promise," InuYasha growled.

"You must be a really bad at keeping promises, then," Katakoutai answered boredly.

InuYasha growled and then ran towards Katakoutai, screaming and holding up his sword. He swung down on Katakoutai, but missed as she jumped up and landed on his head, jumping off of there and landing on the ground.

"You have no idea how to use that sword, do you?" Katakoutai said, taunting him. Katakoutai took out a small bomb and threw it at InuYasha, having a cloud of awful smelling smoke surround him. When it cleared, he was on the ground, unconscious. The smoke was too much for his delicate nose to take.

"But I do," Kay said, stepping forward and holding out her sword. Katakoutai smirked.

"Ah, the famous Aoirohiken. I never thought I'd see it," Naraku's incarnation said.

"You know about it?" Kay asked.

"Oh, yes. I do. I know every demonic sword I come across. The one that the half-demon is holding is Tetsusaiga. But, Aoirohiken and Papuruhiken are the only demonic swords that can be properly weilded by humans. All the other swords made by demons either work for demons and humans, or just demons, except for those two. These won't work for demons. Now, isn't that strange?" Katakoutai said, smirking the whole time she talked.

I don't know what she's trying to accomplish. And her mind, it's blank. It's like things are just popping out of her mouth at random... Wait! She doesn't even have a mind! Kay said as she searched for something to give her a clue of where her thoughts would be.

"You don't have a mind!" Kay said, grasping her sword tighter.

"Ah, so you finally figured it out. Naraku knows about you and your friend's mind reading abilities, so my mind isn't even connected with my body, like Kagura's heart isn't inside her chest." Katakoutai smirked and jumped at Kay, holding out her long, black claws, ready to swipe at Kay's body.

Kay held out her sword and blocked her claws, then took a swipe at Katakoutai, barely missing her stomach.

"How can someone have no mind? It is impossible!" Sango said to Miroku.

"She said that her mind was somewhere else. I'm sure that Kay had planned to attack her mind directly, hurting her from the inside," Miroku said.

Actually, Kay just wanted to find out what she was going to do next, but she wasn't going to argue with the monk. Katakoutai jumped up and then swiped at Kay with her claws again, and again having her attacks blocked by Kay's sword and a small tree that Kay had pulled out of the ground with her mind.

"Ah. Naraku didn't tell me you could move things with your mind, just that you could read them. This will prove to be more interesting than I thought," Katakoutai said, holding her hands out to look at her nails.

Katakoutai ran at Kay, but before Kay could block the blow, Katakoutai hit Kay in the stomach, sending her flying. Kay held onto her sword tightly and gripped her stomach. Blood started to stain her clothes and get on her hands, and she looked up at Katakoutai with hatred filling her eyes.

"Aw, now that wasn't fun... You've got a ways to go before you pose as a real threat. Though, for someone who isn't that strong, you did pretty well," Katakoutai said. "Now, it's time for your death."

Katakoutai ran towards Kay and held her claws out, the black nails shining in the moonlight.

She was knocked aside with a purple blade against her armor. Katakoutai turned to look at Michelle, holding her sword ust as tightly as Kay was. Michelle smirked and then said, "It's my turn now."

Michelle blocked the first barrage of claws, and then tried to strike Katakoutai again, but only met more claws. She kept at it, moving her sword much like InuYasha would.

"You are stronger than your friend, but your style is sloppy," Katakoutai teased.

"Shut up!" Michelle yelled, taking a swipe at Katakoutai. She jumped, but not in time for the sword to brush against her cheek. Katakoutai stopped and held a hand up to the wound. She held out her hand, two fingers covered in thick blood. Strangest thing is, the blood was purple. Not red.

Katakoutai turned towards Michelle, her eyes glowing deathly black, though the purple part was still visible.

"I'm done playing," Katakoutai said, flicking the blood off of her hands. She came at Michelle with tremendous speed, too fast for the others to react. In a matter of seconds, Michelle was on the ground, wounds covering her body in too many places to count.

Michelle struggled for air and Kay got up. "You!" she yelled.

"Hiriakotsu!" Sango yelled as she threw her boomerang at Katakoutai. The demon jumped over it and smirked.

"Since you didn't let me kill your little friend, I guess I'll kill you!" Katakoutai yelled, running towards Michelle at a speed so fast that she could hardly be seen. Charlie ran towards Michelle, barking and trying to block the attack, as did Kay.

Miroku ran towards Michelle and Sango threw her boomerang again. Shippo was hiding behind a rock, being the coward that he was, and then gasped. "Michelle!" yelled the young fox demon.

Michelle moved slightly and saw the demon coming at her too fast. She wasn't going to be able to stop it. Michelle also wouldn't be able to dodge it either.

Next time: While I dodge random objects, Michelle fends for her life. But what is this strange barrier?

Michelle: Thanks a lot, Kay! You just let me get beat up by that stupid demon!

Kay: Well, it is a demon... And I got beat up by it too.

Michelle: Just shut up! And cliff hangers suck!

Kay: Yeah, so? What'ja gonna do about it?

Michelle: I'm going to... Stab this pickle!

Kay: --; You do that. While Michelle stabs a pickle, you should get ready to read the next chapter, Close to God!