Chapter 2: Lycanthrope?

"Half-demons" She rolled her eyes and wiggled her tail "I am Saphira, a lycanthrope of the leopard clan. I, myself, am a mixture of leopard breeds, dominated by the Snow Leopard. And in case you forgot, lycanthropes have tails, you half-demons don't"

InuYasha's eyes widened. He had never seen a lycanthrope before. "So that's why I couldn't smell you! You were just another animal scent"

Sira nodded and Kagome looked at her, confused. "Lycanthrope?"

"Lycanthropes are like mixtures of humans and animals. They can either shift to full or half animal. It seems that she can only shift half" InuYasha explained with ease, adding "But half-demons are much stronger"

"I see you do know a lot about us. But I doubt you could beat me in a fair fight" She replied

"Oh yeah?" InuYasha cried "Let's see about that!"

Sira raised an eyebrow and sighed "Only if we make a deal. I win; you guys let me travel with you for a while. You win; you can have my jewel shard"

InuYasha's jaw dropped "You have a jewel shard?"

"Course" She replied, offhandedly "Why d'ya think I'm here? Now try and get it"

InuYasha leapt at her, unsheathing his Tetsusaiga as he went. Saphira stood, unmoving as he brought the sword down towards her. To both Kagome and InuYasha, she seemed crazy. There was no way she could move in time. A satisfied smirk bloomed as the sword stopped, inches from her face.

InuYasha hesitated before pushing against whatever opposing force was there, but the energy seemed to simply drain out of him. After a few minutes of useless hacking at Sira, he let the sword rest on the ground, panting. "Force field"

"Eh?" InuYasha replied to the girl, who had finally spoken "What'd you say?"

"It's a force field" She smirked.

Rage filled his face at these words. He seemed both surprised and angry. But mostly angry. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you were a psychic?"

"You didn't ask" She replied innocently "Besides; I wanted to see how long you'd last. You are pretty strong. What a rush!"

He glared at her, sheathing his sword. Kagome gaped at him. "You're giving up?"

"What the hell else am I supposed to do!" He demanded "That force-field just sucked up all my energy"

Not all your energy, She thought as she watched him rant. Both she and Saphira zoned out as they watched the half-demon pace around, yelling. Finally, Saphira broke through his monologue.

"I'd love to listen to this all day, InuYasha, but I've got hunting to do" And with that, she vanished into the darkening forest.

InuYasha blinked after her, then turned to Kagome. "I didn't tell her my name… Did I?"