Chapter 4: The Fang of the Tiger

As we opened the door to the house, we gasped. It was baffling. The inside looked much homier and safer than the look outside. The walls were bright blue and there wasn't any dust. The chandelier wasn't chipping and the bulbs were glowing as if they were new. The majestic paintings seemed like they were just dusted. Kinshi and I awed over the beautiful interior. "This is really cool," I said to her. Kinshi turned to me and smiled. "It sure is," she said. Then she went into deep thought. "Now, which door do we choose?" she asked as she pointed to the row of doors in front of us. It was just like a mansion; there were so many doors, you could get lost in here.

I started to think. I was fresh out of ideas. "We could try guess and check," I said. Kinshi just shook her head. "No, that would take too long. Did you see how many floors there were in this house?" I smiled stupidly. "A lot?" I asked gleefully. "Well duh," she said as she rolled her eyes. "There were about three floors to this place, plus an attic and a basement." I laughed. "All right, it was a stupid idea," I replied. Then I added, "but that would be five floors, not three." Kinshi glared at me, then raised her hand and extended her claws. I pissed her off again, I thought with a smile. Now she's going to kill me.

Just when she was about to strike, a figure appeared. It was a small boy, not any older than seven. He appeared to have blond hair and blue eyes. His shirt was torn and ragged, and his pants were several sizes too big. His black shoes were all muddy, giving it a dirty look. He squealed with excitement when I looked at him. "Ahh!" Kinshi screamed as she was startled by this young mysterious boy. He was about four foot seven with sandy blond hair and blue eyes like the rolling waves of the sea. His shirt was torn in several places and his pants were very baggy. I called to him but he ran away before I finished.

I shook my head. "Well, should we follow him?" I asked her. Kinshi glared at me. I laughed nervously. "I guess... I guess we could follow him. It wouldn't hurt." I flashed a stupid smile. Kinshi sighed. "All right, let's go," she said monotonously. I laughed as I led the way toward the door to the left.

As I opened the door, I felt a blast of cold air breathing down my neck. The room looked a lot more ominous than in the Great Hall. The chairs were splattered with blood, and it was smeared all over the walls. The windows were bricked, and there weren't any curtains. The rugs were torn like a knife just spliced through it. But the worst part was the feeling I had about the desk in the corner. I stared in silence, trying to figure out what happened in this room. Unfortunately, Kinshi broke the silence.

"What are you waiting for, Tetsu?" she asked. I sighed. It looks like I have a new nickname. I turned to face her. "Hang on! Jeez, you really gotta-" I stopped. "Did you hear that?" I asked Kinshi. "Hear what?" she asked me with bravado. I turned to the desk in the corner. Something rattled inside of it. I took a step forward, taking out my shuriken (A/N: Shuriken are ninja throwing stars). I was ready to throw them if something came out of the demonic desk. Suddenly the drawer flew open. Something came out. It was that boy again. I let out a sigh of relief. "God, kid, you scared the shit out of me!" I said to him. "I almost would have killed you with these!" I showed him my shuriken as I put them away. The boy was silent, staring at me with those awful blue eyes. I looked at him blankly. "Uh... are you all right?" I asked him with a hint of concern. Finally, the boy walked over to Kinshi. Instinctively, Kinshi extended her claws. But the boy didn't attack, nor did he flinch from the threat. But he did say something. He whispered something to her and I couldn't hear. When I stepped closer, the boy turned to me and stared at me. All of a sudden, I felt dizzy, light-headed. Finally, I couldn't take it any more. I fainted. The last thing I heard was Kinshi's beautiful voice. "Tetsu... Tetsu, come on, wake up!"

My eyes flittered. I woke up. "Huh? Wha... where am I?" I glanced several looks over the area. I was still in the room. Nothing out of the ordinary. I strained to get up. Luckily, it didn't feel like I had anything broken. As I got up, I heard Kinshi scream. I felt alert as I screamed her name. "Kinshi! Kinshi, where are you?" Silence. Then I heard, "I'm in here!" I smiled. Kinshi was all right. "But where's here?" I asked her. She barked out instructions. "Do you see the part of the wallpaper where there's a small tear?" I scanned the wallpaper, trying to find this tear. Unfortunately, it was small. After two minutes, I found the minute tear. "I see it!" I screamed. Kinshi replied, "All right. Tear behind the wall, and you should see a carving of a tiger. When you find it, press down on it." I tore the wallpaper as fast as I could until I found the switch. There was a complex carving. It was a tiger, and the details were so well chiseled, I don't think that I could have even done this, even though I have a talent for crafts. I snapped out of my amazement, and pressed the switch. The door next to me opened suddenly. When the door stopped opening, I stared into the eternal darkness. I whistled. Now this is darkness, I thought. I decided to enter the abyss and find Kinshi.

After about what seemed like an hour, I found a torch. Not only that, I also found... "Kinshi! You're all right!" She turned around suddenly. "Tetsu! I knew you would do it!" (A/N: Cheesy, I know) I laughed and ran up to her. She squealed with delight and hugged me. When we finished, I told her that we should keep looking for the fang. She nodded in agreement and led the way.

An hour passed. Then, after feeling our way through the hallway, we found a door. I saw the handle and twisted it. The door squeaked open, and I gasped at what I saw inside. It was a torture room. It had the works: the burning coals, the chains, and the table that stretches your bones apart. I looked around, and I saw that I wasn't alone. Skeletons hung around the walls, and the wind blew through their bones, creating a whistling sound. But something was very odd about them. Their hands were pointing in the same direction. I looked to my left, and I saw this huge room that was built inside the torture room. This is it, I thought. It'sin here. I turned to Kinshi and grabbed her on her shoulders. "Kinshi, the fang is here. Let's split up and look for it," I told her. Kinshi gasped. "You sure?" she asked. I stared at her. Kinshi nodded. "All right, let's start looking," she said.

After several minutes of searching through that torture room, we found it; the saber-tooth tiger tooth. "All right!" we yelled as Kinshi ran toward the tooth. I gasped. "Wait! Come back here!" I yelled after her. But it was too late. This door opened at the end of the hallway. What appeared was a huge boulder, and it was rolling right at us. We screamed our lungs out. Well, we might as well take the fang, I thought. If we get out alive somehow, we'll leave with the tooth. "Kinshi, get the fang and get the hell outta there!" I roared at her. She did what she was told and followed me towards the Great Hall.

The boulder was picking up speed. I dared a glance behind me and saw that it was inches away from squishing Kinshi! I yelled to her. "Kinshi! Give me the fang!" Kinshi looked at me and did what she was told. It was now or never to be crushed by the rolling stone of death. I decided to grab her and use one of my special abilities; my speed. Being a dog demon under ninja training, my speed was faster than Kouga's, Inuyasha's, or even Sesshoumaru's (We raced each other about a year before Sesshy's death. I smoked them)! I scooped up Kinshi and muttered some ninjutsu spells. Suddenly, the wind in my face was blowing harder than ever, and the boulder seemed like it was slowing down. That was because we were sprinting faster than ever. I looked back at the boulder. I laughed at how slow the boulder seemed to be. My laughter ended when I looked ahead. I screamed as I grazed my left shoulder on the corner of the wall. I winced in pain but, seeing as I was carrying a demon, I tried to endure it.

When we reached the hall, we looked at each other. I was gasping for breath and, at the same time, massaging my bleeding shoulder. Kinshi gasped. "Don't worry about me," I assured her. "I'm fine." After saying that, I finally realized that the fang was in my pocket. I pulled it out and showed Kinshi. "We did it," I said. "We have the fang. Now we need only two more special items."

A/N: Here's a sneak peek of the next chapter.

"What do you want?" I asked the boy. "What have you done?" Kinshi looked over towards me. Kinshi spoke in the boy's voice. "I took over her body, and now you will die."

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