Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own its characters. I do own the ideas of this story and the characters I have created for this story (i.e. Saphira). Please respect patent laws. Comments and reviews are appreciated.
Chapter 4: Saphira's First Battle
"Ah, nothing like battle," breathed Saphira. She was wearing garments similiar to Inuyasha's, but hers were blue instead of red. Her garments were also made out of material that was actually fireproof. She pulled a blade from the inside of her garments. It wasn't as long as Toukijin, but it wasn't a short dagger either. It was about three feet in length, and the blade was thin, it was known in her time as a semaikatana.
"Keh! Going into battle with play toy?" Snorted Inuyasha with laughter.
Within seconds the blue blade was at his throat, Inuyasha found it was razor sharp.
"Does this feel like a toy to you?" Saphira asked smiling. She lifted the blue blade away from Inuyasha's throat and began to remove her outer garments. She was wearing a tight, black jump suit underneath, but it shimmered blue in the sunlight.
Inuyasha, curious, took a closer look. "That's chainmail! Really light chainmail too!"
Sesshoumaru only shot Saphira a narrow look before facing the wolf pack.
"Now that's how I like my woman to dress!" Shouted the wolf pack's leader.
Saphira recognized the voice to be the same one mourning her mother's absence. She growled loudly at the wolf prince, saying, "You have no woman, inbred!"
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha smirked at her comment.
"Yeah, well, we all have our faults, don't we?" Kouga smiled. "Yours seems to be traveling with bad company."
"Enough," came Sesshoumaru's cold voice. "You have three days to vacate these lands, wolf."
"Over my dead body!"
"So be it," came the cool reply and with that the battle began.
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha didn't even bother with their blades, but relied on tooth and claw.
Saphira eyed the battle between the brothers and dozen or so members of Kouga's pack. She jumped in when Kouga was coming up behind a distracted Sesshoumaru.
"Nuh, uh, uh," Saphira said landing inbetween the inuyoukai and the wolf prince. "We want to play fair now, don't we?"
The prince howled his frustration and charged Saphira. She easily knocked him to the ground.
"I heard you knew my mother," Saphira said casually.
"I wouldn't want to know the bitch who whelped you!" He said spitting out a mouth full of dirt, only to be knocked down again by the blunt side of Saphira's blade.
"Now, now, now, no one 'whelped' me my dear prince," Saphira said, her voice slightly laced with anger. "Even the dog could smell my mother on me. I thought wolves had the better sense of smell? Guess I was wrong!"
"You stupid..." Kouga began but then caught it. That flowery scent that belonged to only one woman he had known. "Kagome?"
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Laughed Saphira. "Now what else do you smell?"
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had all but finished the wolf pack, and were watching the scene between Kouga and Saphira.
They could smell Kouga's fear when he realized that she was part dragon.
"Dragon...halfblood...?" Kouga shuttered. He could deal with dumb dogs, but not a dragon, even a dragon halfblood. He was suddenly glad that none of his bitches had come into heat this season.
"We...will...be gone within three days..."
He tucked tail and ran.
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha looked at one another.
"Oh, that's no fun!" Saphira whined, reminding Inuyasha instantly of Kagome. "I don't see how either of you have fun!"
"What did you expect, girl?" Came Sesshoumaru's cold, careless voice, and began walking northwest towards his mansion.
Inuyasha felt the power of Saphira's dragon as she released some of her anger. The wave was stronger enough to stop Sesshoumaru in his tracks.
"Do...not...threaten me, girl," he said quietly. Before Inuyasha had time to blink, Sesshoumaru had assumed his youkai form and was charging right at Saphira.
Saphira was smiling as her own eyes turned red. Her dragon form was slightly smaller than Sesshoumaru's because of the difference in age. Her dragon form was elegance, beauty and ferocity all wrapped in one form. Her scales were the color of her eyes, and her spine was the color of her hair.
She spread her wings and snapped at Sesshoumaru with blue fangs as he ran by missing her with his poisonous fangs. She circled above him in the air, as a raptor would circle it's prey. Sesshoumaru howled in frustration, his own prey just out of his reach.
She dived at him, grabbing and picking him up with her claws. She then threw him across the river into a field. He rolled, then sprang up growling angrily.
Suddenly, she flew into the blinding sun, neither Sesshoumaru nor Inuyasha could see her.
"Sesshoumaru!" Yelled Inuyasha, but the warning came too late. Saphira was already diving at Sesshoumaru and there wasn't enough time for him to move. She crashed into him at full speed making the ground quake from the power of her flight. Inuyasha was blinded by the dust of the collision.
What he saw when the dust cleared was unbelieveable.
Both Sesshoumaru and Saphira had reverted back to their humanoid forms. Saphira had her blue blade against Sesshoumaru's throat. Inuyasha knew that Sesshoumaru had reverted to save himself from the attack, what surprised him was that Saphira had reverted just as quickly.
Suddenly, Saphira smiled at Sesshoumaru, "We should spar again sometime. That was fun!"
She lifted the blade away from his throat and offered him a hand up.
He took her hand, grudgingly, muttering, "...fun...?"
"Yes, fun," she said pulling him up easily. "Didn't you ever spar with your father?"
"No." Was the icy reply.
"Too bad," Saphira said shaking her head, "I learned everything I know from my father."
She sheathed her blade and donned her outer garments once more, humming quietly to herself.
"...'Am I more than you barganed for'...yeah!" Saphira sang out loud. "...'I'm just a notch in your bedpost...but you're just a line in a song'...!"
She looked up to see the brothers eying her warily. "Sorry...where to next?"
Sesshoumaru looked from Inuyasha to Saphira, "I have business to attend to. Entertain yourselves for three days then meet me back here."
With that he disappeared into the trees.
"So, now what?" Saphira smiled turning to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha's mouth was still hanging open from the shock of Sesshoumaru's departure. "Uh...well, I could show you around...?"