Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.

Chapter 11 - Desperate Fights

In a medium sized clearing eight teens stood, six team members lost without their leaders and two more teens feeling out of place as depression seemed to roll around the clearing in waves of teenage angst. The younger Comet, the brunette Keiko, was feeling unnerved being in the presence of so many creatures that ate energy. Miroku was attempting to put himself between her and the Setrans without making it obvious he was doing so. He wasn't having much success.

He didn't really believe they were dangerous, but he didn't want Keiko frightened of them so early on. She'd had some bad experiences with energy eating demons since the boy part of the eight-member team had last seen her. Everyone seemed to have gone through a lot, more than anyone should have. What right did fate have to pick those eight teenagers to do anything? Or the rest of the people the Prophecy spoke of, including, apparently if he had been reading the signs right since they'd been sent here, him and Keiko?

With a sigh, the noncombatant with monk like training sat down, frowning as his attention was drawn away, to the sky. He sensed something weird. If he didn't know any better, he'd have said it was...

"Demons," Miroku heard the fire apparition, Hiei, say. "Many of them, all weak."

The group seemed to shrug off the depression and were in an instant on their collective feet, getting themselves ready for battle. Sango had her boomerang with her, as always. Did she never put that thing down? Then there was Botan, she had a number of guns on her person, but she seemed to be going for her usual, the standard gun they were all issued. Having no offensive powers to speak of, it was easier to use the gun and the energy within.

Miroku frowned and looked in the direction Yusuke and Kagome had gone. Kagome could sense demons better than anyone. Why hadn't she come running? She had left the clearing a good half an hour ago and after a brief energy spike he hadn't sensed much. Not that he himself could stay long. Comets were strictly non-combat, at least on the ground.

"Oi, kit, go see what Yusuke and Kagome are doing. They'll be even angrier with us than they already are if they miss a fight." Inuyasha managed a good representation of his usual smirk and Shippo leapt up, Tairi and Elako leaping with him, looking oddly sly for horse like creatures.

'Zasar, do you know what they're up too?' Inuyasha asked his black and white overly large birdlike Setran. It just glared at him from where it had been playing with the larger dragon Setrans and Kikyou's purple bird. He seemed angrier and wilder than the other Setrans, and all of them still seemed less mature than Tairi or Elako seemed to be.

The Setran send a negative, not in words, but in feelings. Inuyasha looked frustrated and Kurama peered at his own egg that he could have sworn was shaking slightly before looking over to Inuyasha. "I don't believe they'll speak too much until their older. Apparently, from the reactions I see from Yusuke and Kagome, the horse ones do, but... they hatched so soon after the Shikon no Tama incident."

Inuyasha actually grinned. "It's much easier to let it go when you don't even know what's going on."

Kurama took the slightest offense and raised his head slightly. "I'm sure when mine hatches, I'll be able to figure it out in an instant."

"If everyone could be so kind, perhaps we can focus on the impending demon horde instead of chatting about the mysteries of our Setrans," Kikyou said dryly. Despite that she was speaking to them, her gaze was fixed firmly in the direction she had last sensed Kagome, watching anxiously for her appearance. Surely she wouldn't leave them to fight by themselves just because she was slightly angry with them?

"Here they come," Botan said nervously. Surprisingly each boy was by the side of one of the girls, and whether from choice or simply because there was no one else, she caught sight of black fabric out of the corner of her eyes. Still nervous after his intrusion in her mind, she shifted her gaze away, up into the oncoming horde.

-

Shippo had stopped the moment he saw Kagome and Yusuke, unable to do anything but gape at two teenagers who were... kissing! And they even looked like they were almost cuddling! What was wrong with them?

Tairi and Elako were having the time of their lives watching the young kitsune watch their respective bonded's touch gently as their lips met. A part of them didn't want even the kitsune to disturb them. For once, they had forgotten the outside world and were pretending they were normal teenagers. Just new and gentle touches, still hesitant and awkward and unsure. The two Setrans didn't understand everything this implied, but they understood they were happy. Wasn't Yusuke's happiness important? Wasn't Kagome's?

It was Shippo, finally remembering his mission, who disturbed them. The Setrans had been silent both physically, and to the new couple, mentally for a long time now. "Um... Hiei said there are demons coming this way... They, uh, were sorta wondering where you two were."

Yusuke and Kagome sprang apart, looking a bit rumpled and Kagome unconsciously licked her lips. Shippo wrinkled his nose then backed off as Yusuke glared at him. "I'll... tell them you're coming."

The kitsune was quick to dart off. The Setrans split, Elako going with him to guard the kitsune, despite the fact that the kit could probably do more than he could. Tairi stayed and pranced around the two, her clawed feet lifting high as she half reared and let out a little laughing neigh at the two. 'Come on, you're being slow. Don't you want to fight the demons? That's gotta be more fun than that...kissing you were doing. Hurry up!'

Like a child the fanged horse raced around them before bolting off towards the rest of the team and other five hatched Setrans. Kagome and Yusuke exchanged glances, hers nervous and still full of bitterness at her sister. Yusuke could already feel the dreamy quality of the past few minutes falling around them. He walked close to her, hoping she was also remembering the conversation they had just had, before they'd started doing other things.

Kagome herself was hoping the last few minutes had not just been comfort, but something else. Hesitatingly, insecure and wanting to snatch the appendage back, she slipped her hand towards Yusuke's, raising her face with a tentative smile when he didn't pull away. He was smirking at her silently. They walked back to group preparing for battle, hands interlocked.

There was no time for gaping as Kagome picked up her quiver and put it over one shoulder, the picked up her bow, one hand still holding Yusuke's. At least, there shouldn't have been time for gaping. There was, however, time for Yusuke to smirk at a dumbfounded Inuyasha before swiftly kissing Kagome once more and reluctantly withdrawing his hand to look up to the sky for the demon horde they could all sense.

"Kagome?" Botan called tentatively. She was perhaps the only girl who would dare talk to Kagome at this point. Kagome gave her a soft confident smile and mouthed 'Later'. Botan's relieved smile twisted at Kagome's heart but then the first demon came into view and they began settling into a fighting routine. Unfortunately, the group had only fought twice together and it was a bit confusing in the first few moments.

"Excuse me, but I do believe arrows should be aimed that way," Kurama pointed out as one of Kikyou's arrows swept through the arrow a bit too close for comfort.

"Watch where you are aiming," Kikyou said coolly to Yusuke, deciding to assume that the Spirit Gun shot barely missing her was an accident. She ducked swiftly as one of her sister's arrows went over her, opening her mouth before feeling the demons behind her turn to ashes.

"Oh dear," Botan said. Things weren't going so well and she and Hiei were probably the only two without scratches of some kind. Mostly thanks to Hiei burning anything that came close. Unfortunately, that wouldn't work forever and though the demons were weak, there were a lot of them, even more than Tetsusaiga could clear up in the times when Inuyasha managed a clear shot.

A sudden cracking sound briefly distracted Kurama and he was just in time to see his own egg disappear in a flash of light, replaced by a very strange creature. It looked much like a lion cub, perhaps a bit bigger, except that it's tail had feathers attached and its head was shaped like an eagle's until the head met its shoulder where they turned cat like again. Of course, it also had wings. The strangest thing was that it was all green. A lighter green for the lion fur, a darker green on its feathers.

The instant it hatched the creature had launched itself forward, sharp hooked beak biting into the closest demon. Immediately the demon screeched and disappeared, not into ashes, but as if sucked out of energy. Kurama blinked as it looked at him, managing to speak two words. 'Sako hungry.'

Kurama stared as it attempted to do the same thing to another demon... and was promptly thrown away. At the same time the newborn hit the ground Kurama gasped at the sudden flash of pain tearing through his head. The demons seemed to notice his response, and the other Setrans nearby.

With cackles of glee they refocused their efforts in an attempt to go for what looked like the easier target. There was a flash of hooves and horn as the first demons went near the phoenix and dragon types and a mental cry that none of the humans or demons heard. 'Like this. You hit them like this!'

Elako, despite that he had done much better than the others had been doing, was soon surrounded and the other Setrans quivering in fear, thoughtless emotional waves of anguish and desperation making their bonded wince and clutch their heads.

The newborn Sako gave what unaccountably looked like a sneer before launching his small body into one of the demons lashing out at Elako, his mind remembering the simple instinctual process the winged foal had shown them. A little bit of energy in his claws and teeth, and the attacks went that much farther!

Elako's terrified neigh made the whole crowd wince even as the team desperately fought towards the group of hatchlings. Kagome's way was simpler, if more dangerous.

She had dropped her bow, holding her hands out straight towards the demons in front of her and towards the hatchlings. A glance towards Kikyou was all the warning she was able to give, but it was enough time for the other miko to signal Botan to either shield or pull back Hiei. One glance at Hiei and Botan immediately chose shield. He didn't even appear to remember exactly what he was doing anymore, so focused on the next slash of blade and fire.

Yusuke had flinched as his bonded cried out. It was intensified by the bond between them, echoing through his mind and almost numbing out the sensations around him. Even with the fear tumbling through his mind from another being, he focused, feeling the energy gathering into the familiar form of the Spirit Wave. He never had to use it.

There was a pink flash through the clearing and a few screeches. It continued on in an endless wave for almost ten seconds, going farther and farther out before it stopped and Kagome swayed on her feet, glaring at the now much smaller horde of demons that were hovering above the clearing. Tairi's clawed hooves padded across the clearing to Elako. Somewhere during the fight, the other horse type had also fought a few demons and blood coated her fangs and claws, a greenish black blood. A childish look appeared in her eyes before she plopped herself down next to the blue alicorn and nuzzled the unconscious creature. 'Elako's sleeping,' She informed Kagome and Yusuke.

"God damn it, why won't they just die," Inuyasha growled as he watched what was left of the demon horde, mindlessly hovering above them. Hiei glared around him, then up at the demons above, raising his right arm. The Jagan eye began glowing and Inuyasha swore. "Everyone down!"

"Wha-" Sango was cut off when Kurama pulled her down firmly to the ground. She had no time to snap angrily as a dark fire raced up Hiei's arm, forming a shape that had Dedran, the black dragon Setran raising his head in curiosity.

"Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" There was a roar and a black fiery shape that ripped through the remaining demons, chasing down strays and causing damage wherever it touched. Trees were shred and earth torn up as the dragon roamed free after its prey, a hissing mass of certain death.

Botan had thought she'd seen it all, but even before she'd been human, in the memories she only now could really remember, she hadn't remembered anyone ever having actually been able to control that dragon and keep it from a rampage. But here was the proof that she had definitely not seen it all.

Kagome was exhausted from her brief explosion of power that was a follow up from a seemingly endless battle with Tairi and Yusuke fighting beside her. Now she didn't even know if she could get up. She closed her eyes, her head swimming at the demonic energy in the clearing, shuddering at the oppressive and impressive aura of the dragon killing and hunting and murdering above her.

Then there was a blessed silence and Kagome relaxed. With a sigh she opened her eyes and struggled into a weak standing position. Shippo was there, nuzzling her and burying his head in her face, commenting, "I like purified demons better. There's no burnt smell left behind like my fire, or... or that fire."

The clearing was now a mess, no longer the green meadow it had been, only three glistening eggs remaining, two small and one larger one with spider web designs across its shell.

Kagome frowned and looked closer at the egg, her eyes soon widening. Those weren't spider web designs, those were thin little cracks! "Sango!"

Briefly forgetting she should be angry with the girl, Kagome grinned at her friend and pointed to the egg. "It's hatching!"

"Whoa. He heals fast," Yusuke muttered, watching as his setran glowed and the scratches and bruises began disappearing.

'He's using energy taken from demons he managed to kill before they surrounded him. Eating it gives us energy to live and grow. When he's done healing, he'll start growing. When I sleep, I'll grow too! So will the new one, Sako.' Tairi informed both Yusuke and the distracted Kagome.

Sango's egg disappeared in a flash of purple light, revealing the same type of setran as Kurama's, a gryphon type. But where Sako had the front legs of a lion, this new female's bird parts extended to her taloned legs and feathers and fur met on her front legs. But, instead of feather lion's tail, it was an ordinary lion's tail. The feathered parts were silver, the lion hindquarters, back, and tail a shimmering gold color. Her hooked beak clicked open and closed once as she yawned, promptly falling backwards and to one side, folding her wings tightly and curling up to sleep.

"She seems a bit lazy," Kurama remarked with a chuckle. Shortly afterwards his own setran, the size of a large lion cub, bounded up to him and wrapped itself around one leg, gnawing energetically.

"And he seems a bit wild. The only normal ones are the dragons, and they enjoy trying to kill each other. Inuyasha's bird tried to eat him, Kikyou's bird is just a bit odd, and theirs are just really odd." Sango ticked off the different items on her fingers, jerking her head to Yusuke and Kagome at the end. The two had separated themselves slightly from the others.

Inuyasha frowned as he looked around, noticing a certain lack of two messengers. "Oi, where's the pervert and that girl?"

"Here," came a cheerful voice from across the clearing. Miroku was brushing himself off from where he had hidden himself and Keiko inside the ground. "We are, unfortunately, not supposed to fight except in extreme situations."

"Keh. Yeah right. Cowards." Miroku's eyes flashed and he gripped something stiff in his hand and it soon extended into a staff. "Care to test that theory of yours?"

"Ye-"

"No, he would not. Inuyasha, you should know that of anyone, Miroku has one of the best reasons to want to fight." Kagome's gaze was flinty as she stared grim-faced and determined at the hanyou who flattened his ears and looked away from both monk and miko. "Keh."

Meanwhile, Botan was attempting to start a conversation with the fire apparition. "Who did you learn that from, anyway? I didn't think there was anyone left who knew about that technique, but obviously you've used it before since the other boys knew about it."

Hiei's crimson eyes slid to her and for a moment it seemed he was going to answer. Her shoulders slumped when he didn't and his eyes simply slid off of her again.

"Hn," Hiei said suddenly when Botan turned her back and began to walk away. She turned around and saw, for the first time, he seemed to hesitate. Then it was gone and she was sure it was trick of her imagination. "You dropped this."

He threw her a gun and then was gone. Her lips quirked into an amused smile and she went over to her scared dragon trying not to laugh. Sango looked up inquiringly as she began to hum. Botan just shook her head. "It's nothing Sango. I just think it's amusing that just because I can't use much of my own energy everyone believes that I can't see when they use theirs."

Sango looked at her in confusion and Botan smiled happily. Maybe eventually he would answer her questions. Because she hadn't dropped a gun. He'd taken it from her to have reason to turn her back.

-

Another day passed and that night Kikyou was feeling her sister's absence in the tent. She had once gotten up to try and find her. Hopefully she could have patched everything up. The sight outside had broken her heart. Her little sister was having a nightmare, and a terrible one at that. Inarticulate cries rang through the air and Kikyou had begun walking over to wake her before she woke everyone else.

There had been no need for her there. Instead, she had seen Yusuke, his usually slicked back hair messy and lying more natural on his head after the day of fighting. It was the most identifiable trait in the moonlit night. He had crouched down beside her and hadn't even had to wake her. He had simply whispered her name to the wonderfully clear and silent night and touched one shoulder as if about to wake her. And the younger miko and quieted down, sighing audibly and falling into a more comfortable sleep.

Kikyou hadn't bothered watching for the boy leader's surprised response, instead flinging herself onto her bedroll, her teeth clicking together in the only visible sign of the envy running through her. She, even when they were children, had never been able to silence Kagome's nightmares so easily.

Keiko and Miroku had slept in their ship, in two different bedrooms, but Miroku, like many nights, had crept onto the roof of the ship and looked up at the sky, contemplating his fate and clenching his cursed hand. He too had seen the scene, so normal looking, but had grinned instead, especially at the boy's shocked reaction. But, when Kagome fell, she always did fall hard. Just like now Inuyasha's presence at night would probably immediately wake the girl, Yusuke's sent her into a peaceful sleep. If only it was that easy for everyone.

Hiei and Inuyasha both slept outside as always, but Hiei had ignored the cries and Inuyasha knew he would only make them worse. Inside the tent that now only Kurama seemed to be using, Shippo had crept in, letting his favorites of the team help each other through the night. Kurama, silently, had agreed. It wasn't like Yusuke ever slept much anyway; a reaction to something Resurga had done once to him perhaps, or perhaps just because he was so paranoid.

Whatever it was, by the time everyone was awake in the morning, it was almost noon and the two who usually were up early, and Yusuke always first, were for once last. Yusuke had fallen asleep by Kagome's side, one hand caught in her hair in a tender touch that was rare to see from any of them. Kagome had awoken first and blushed, moving away from the too close position. She was used to sleeping with Shippo curled up near her and another body in the tent, but she had never slept that close to a boy who wasn't related to her or Miroku.

Kagome was careful not to wake him until she was an appropriate distance away and then she leaned forward to shake Yusuke awake, unknowingly giving Yusuke a nice view as he awoke.

"We should wash up and get dressed and find out if it's closer to lunch or breakfast. It's pretty late in the morning I think." Kagome was thoughtful, and then noticed the smirk on Yusuke's face as he opened his mouth and she shot him a glare. "And no, I didn't mean to wash up together."

"I was thinking no such thing," Yusuke attempted, failing when he grinned at her.

"Please, I grew up with Miroku who had hit on ever girl in the neighborhood by the time he was thirteen and used every innocently made statement to his own advantage." Still, Kagome couldn't help her own smile from spreading across her face, soothing her still upset emotions that jumped up at the prospect of seeing Kikyou, knowing they'd have to talk soon.

The two quickly ate and followed their friends auras to the demolished egg clearing, noting with relief the two leftover eggs had been moved, Shippo's and the unbonded one. There they found some things had changed. Kagome squinted thoughtfully at Elako and Tairi. They looked bigger, and it could have been her imagination, but their coats seemed darker, Tairi's light blue no longer sky blue but a light sapphire and Elako's deepening to nearly blue-black. Kurama's Sako had also grown, it seemed, which would have made the creature's play a bit more dangerous if they had been a normal group of teenagers.

"There's something coming today," Miroku informed them calmly as they entered the clearing. "Of the spider variety, I believe. Big, stupid, but special."

Kagome looked at him sharply as everyone else, including Keiko, looked confused. Sango gave a tolerant snort. "Some kind of old friend's code? So, what's coming?"

"We just had a fight," Kagome grumbled, still feeling the effects of draining so much energy in so short a time.

"What? What's attacking now?" Yusuke asked, frustrated at the secrecy.

"I'm not sure actually. As I told Kagome, it's something from Naraku, not very smart, but it has something special too it. Being a monk I can sometimes sense danger and it's form before it comes. Considering I was not going to be allowed in battle, I honed that talent the best I could so those that could would have some advantage." Miroku went silent, but it was interrupted as everyone, no matter the race heard the next statement coming from the woods behind them.

'That is no advantage when the one you are getting information of know of the advantage already. It's no great thing when I can pluck the thoughts and emotions out and laugh at how many beings think they can still beat me.' Everyone froze and twisted around to look at the large purple thing that had appeared. He had crimson eyes and purple skin, and was three times the height and width of any of them easily.

'Puny creatures. I am Goshinki, and I will be the last thing you pathetic thorns in the side of my father ever see. I will slaughter you, rip your bones from your flesh, I will-' Goshinki stopped and moved surprisingly fast to one side, avoiding the whip that hadn't even been fully transformed when Goshinki had begun to move.

"What the hell?" Yusuke and Inuyasha unconsciously snarled in unison. Goshinki focused on those two and his teeth bared into a terrible grin. 'I have heard of you both and what Resurga and Naraku have done to you. Your energy is very special to Resurga, is it not, human? And you, hanyou, with your precious sword, broken and reforged. Ah, I have plucked the secret from your very thoughts. All of you hold nothing.'

He dodged two arrows as he spoke, one Spirit Gun, and a fiery sword. Then he slashed at the charging setran, Elako, throwing him into a tree. This fight was going downhill fast, and Kagome could feel everyone getting desperate as they threw attack after attack after them. As long as they were thinking beings, they could not touch Goshinki. Only the younger setrans were having any progress, and their instincts were too new to guide them well.

Tairi, having woken up from her own sleep, was, like Elako and Sako, had grown slightly, though most of the energy was kept in reserve. She did her best to dart to and fro; protecting both Yusuke and Kagome as best she could while Elako was knocked unconscious. Her claws churned in the soil as she desperately pulled back on Yusuke as Goshinki's claws came a bit too close. It was during this she sensed the plan churning in her desperate bonded's mind.

'No!' Tairi screeched mentally as Kagome dropped her useless bow and arrows and tried to grab Goshinki's dangerous claws. Her hand, she felt it briefly touch, a small bit of energy came out and for a moment triumph attempted to light itself.

Pain ripped through her side. Kagome let out a brief half scream half whimper before being thrown into a tree rather brutally, blood running out of her side. The whole team was going berserk, Yusuke especially, but Goshinki was laughing. The odd thing was, Kagome could feel Tairi, but she felt no thoughts. Struggling against the black covering her visions, she opened her eyes.

The last thing Kagome saw before falling unconscious was Tairi, or something that at least looked like Tairi, if the horse had been blood red with glowing eyes. She didn't see Goshinki's fall from the combined efforts of an enraged human boy and setrans, nor did she hear Shippo calling her name desperately. All she saw was blackness and the haunting image of a laughing demoness holding a beautiful pink jewel quickly turning black.

---------
A note, if anyone is in the group and would like to participate in a Round Robin, go check it out. And if anyone wants to know more about Toushin Yusuke, MajinShodaime has a wonderful essay about it in the new Essay section of Files. For those of you who want to read that but not be permanently in the group, you can join just to read it, I don't care.

Preview: Yusuke panics needlessly, Kagome gets grumpy over being injured and weird dreams that seem to only get harsher as the Shikon no Tama begins to pulse behind her barrier, everyone wonders more about the setrans, and they finally actually start to get off of the planet!

Review Responses:

Thank you to: inu.-sess.fan, Shadow Stone, sunstar kitsune, Kakarlena, blazingsunstar, Night Beauty, Cheeza-13, bittersweet-memory, Nishigirl, IY and YYH lover, and InuyashaJunky(btw, I do have other stories to update besides this, you know) for reviewing!

Winged Knight - What? A boy falling for Rin. shifty eyes I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. innocent look

helen: Yeah, he can. Actually, he can see things slightly ahead of time, but no longer can he see them in a large enough time span to do anything about any of it. Only Great Prophets can do that. There is usually only one capital P prophet per generation.

Edainme: I update so slowly that it's alright if you don't review, or don't review all the time. Besides, you're one of my best reviewers and I definitely like the quality better than the quantity. Apparently for everything good that happens to Kagome and Yusuke one(or a few) bad things have to happen! I'm so mean to them.