Author's Corner

Ahmm… thanks for the reviews guys. I really wasn't expecting that many. I had suddenly got bored so I just wrote a chapter. I had no intention of falling into a regular pattern of updating or anything. But you guys seemed to like it, so I put this chapter up as well. Don't know when I'll update again; I'm working on another project. The OC characters will be around...

The Chill Fury

Chapter 9

Run down industrial buildings and abandoned apartment houses covered the majority of the so called 'Fire Pit Area'. Desolate roads, overgrown weeds, and charred street lamps gave the whole area a very grim atmosphere, and this was when the sun hadn't even reached the middle of the sky!

Four shady characters were hanging around on the roof of a building, all of them demon/men.

"Yo mun, did ya find the nit who stole ya wheels?" A demon with braided hair, wearing pink shades and a red golfer's cap, questioned the well muscled demon sitting a few feet in front of him… who bending and straightening a steel crowbar.

"Yeah… I caught the little punk." The demon threw the crowbar and sent it sailing over a few buildings before it disappeared from view.

A few seconds later several cars met with an accident… The suspect was a twenty inch crowbar who refused to co-operate with the police.

"So mun, what'd ya do to the nit?"

"Broke his arms and shoved him down the garbage disposal in his apartment building." The other demon replied with a grin, exposing two silver teeth.

The demon with the golf cap grinned as well.

"So where the car mun?"

"Oh… yeah, I knew if forgot something…" the well muscled demon said, scratching his bald head.

He then grinned, and the other demon mimicked the action.

"You dumbbells!" a short looking demon shouted at the two. "That means we need a new car!"

The grins on the other demon's faces vanished. "Oh… yeah" they said in unison.

"Ahhh… you should not worry about it Midgu sama." a tall, thin looking demon said, coming up behind him, and pushing his reading glasses up. "We shall find a new means of transportation before the day is done."

"Oh! And how can you be so sure Hariseikou (Arthur)!" the short demon, puffing a big Cuban cigar, shouted, lifting up his top hat to look at the demon towering over him.

"Well we are the best gang in Fire Pit area for a reason Midgu sama." Arthur said, trying to calm the short demon.

"Yes. We are the best. We will definitely have a car before the day ends." Another demon said, appearing beside the demon with the braided hair, a sparkle in his eyes and twin swords at each side of his waist.

"And where have you been Kirakiraken (Ken)!" Midgu shouted at the demon with the two swords.

Ken scratched his head sheepishly. "My alarm clock didn't go off."

Midgu sighed and shook his head, replacing his cigar with another.

"I believe a car is approaching as we speak Midgu Sama."

Midgu jumped at the voice that came out of nowhere. Re-adjusting his top hat that was almost half the size he was, Midgu looked up to see a demon with long brown hair, wearing black clothes, and having a small goatee, sitting in a meditative posture with his eyes closed.

"How many times have I told you not to scare me like that Museikaze (Sulong)?" Midgu shouted. Shouting seemed to be his natural way of talking. He was a short demon after all, so where his arms could not reach, his voice would.

"My apologies Midgu sama." Sulong still had his eyes closed.

"Midgu sama, shouldn't we go see about this car that is approaching?" yet another demon appeared from behind Museikaze and regarded the leader of their gang with a yawn. He had a giant sword strapped across his back, and had Mohawk hair colored red.

"Been sleeping as usual I presume…" Arthur said as he adjusted his glasses, to which the other demon yawned again before shrugging. "Too much sleep is not healthy Nemutaikoshi (Ronin)."

"Reitaiga (Rei), Tetsubutokai (Brock), you two go and check out this car that is supposed to be coming this way." Midgu ordered, looking at the demon with the braided hair and the well muscled one respectively.

The two were instantly off.

"Was that a wise decision Midgu sama?" Arthur asked, pushing his glasses up again.

"What are you ask-" Midgu stopped mid sentence when he felt the powerful demon aura. He immediately became serious.

"Very Powerful…" Sulong noted, opening his eyes to look in the direction in which the two members of the gang had left. Sulong was very sensitive to demon aura's and had an uncanny ability to sense the energy from a working machine, be it a car or a blender.

"I sense a miko." Ronin added, letting out another uninterested yawn. Ronin, to put it simply, was… a lazy demon. But his skills as a warrior were exceptional.

"They are together?" Midgu asked for confirmation.

"Hai Midgu sama, it appears to be so." Arthur answered, narrowing his long black eyelashes.

"Hm! Let's go!" Midgu said and headed off in the direction of the approaching demon aura, creating a gust of wind. The rest soon followed, but were unable to match the short demon; their leader, in speed.

OoOoOo

Sesshoumaru was not in a good mood! There seemed to be only a few gangs in the Fire Pit Area, and most of them had run away when they had sensed the power of his aura. Finding this place had been no problem for Sesshoumaru, but finding any of the gangs to threaten seemed impossible.

However, about five minutes ago, he had actually got out of his car and hunted down one of the random gang members, and threatened his life. It was not illegal for demons/hanyous to kill other demons/hanyous. The mortals stayed out of the immortals matters and left it to them to settle whatever problems they had, by themselves. If demons happened to attack humans, a council formed by elite demons would intervene on behalf of the mortals.

Sesshoumaru was a demon. The gang member was a demon. Killing was noooo… problem.

It hadn't taken more than three quarters of minute for Sesshoumaru to leave and return to the car with the information he needed. The gang member that he had caught had promptly fainted after spilling what he knew, so Sesshoumaru simply tossed him aside and chose not to kill him.

"What did you find out?" Kikyo asked as soon as Sesshoumaru got into the car.

Sesshoumaru frowned before answering. "The 'Blade Gang'."

"Are they the ones we're looking for?"

Sesshoumaru didn't answer. Instead, he drove forward, his aura flaring momentarily.

Kikyo narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll take that as a yes."

Five minutes later, they turned into another road, before the both of them felt demon aura's approaching them. Sesshoumaru eased the car to a stop and looked through the wind shield with narrowed eyes.

Several yards in front of them, stood two demons, dressed in the most absurd clothes he had seen. It seemed that they had no intention of leaving, and the bigger of the two was eyeing his car in strange way. And was that drool coming out of his mouth? 'Disgusting.' Sesshoumaru thought.

The two demons seemed ready for a fight. He wondered whether they did not feel the power of his aura, or were just too stupid to understand its implications. Either way, it appeared that he was finally going to be able to vent out a little of his anger and a lot of his frustration. He was a patient demon by all demons. But when the child he considered as his own pup, was missing, patience was not something that he particularly cared for.

Sitting beside the Taiyoukai, Kikyo could feel the intensity of his aura as it seemed to steadily rise in its restlessness. The hair at the back of her neck was starting to stand up again. It appeared that his aura would continue to have this affect on her. It was unnerving.

Sesshoumaru got out of the car and stood in front of it.

"Yo mun! Nice setta wheels ya got there…"

Sesshoumaru ignored the comment and the strange accent. "Who are you?" His tone was neutral. He had a feeling that he already knew who they were, if the symbol of a sword on their chests were any indication, but he needed confirmation.

"We are the Blade Gang chump."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the large man. He was glad that the demon had wiped off the drool, though his eyes would occasionally look past him to his car.

As soon as Kikyo heard the name, her own aura spiked. She immediately got out of the car and went to stand beside Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru watched with disgust when the two demon's eyes went as wide as saucers when the human stepped out of the car. He didn't know what she was doing getting out of the car. She would only be interrupting him.

Rei whistled when he saw Kikyo, his pose automatically shifting to give his coolest pose. Rei was a naturally good looking fellow, and he was cool for a reason. He was a ladies man too…

"Oh babe, you one fine lookin doll."

(CRACK)

Rei yelped and somersaulted back when a flash of purification power hit the spot he had previously been standing in.

Sesshoumaru watched with amusement at the two shocked looking demons. He thought that they really must be fools. Even he had had a time dealing with the miko, and these idiots would be nothing more than flies for Kagome's sister, to swat.

"She packs a punch, eh Rei?" the big demon said, scratching his bald head.

"Ya can say that again mun…" Rei voiced with another whistle.

"She packs a punch, eh Rei?" the big demon repeated, following what Rei had said.

Rei sweat-dropped, while the other two stared impassively.

"I suggest you two little ones just leave the car here and go. We don't want to hurt you, so don't make us." Brock said with a grin, his voice directed at the thin demon in white, as he slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.

Sesshoumaru smirked, It usually is never a good sign when the eldest son of Inutaisho smirks.

It was too bad that the two members of the Blade Gang didn't know that.

Rei's eyes widened; one second his friend Brock was standing a few feet in front him, the next the good looking demon in white was there in his place. He had felt the wind smashing all around him.

Sweat running down the sides of his face, Rei turned around to see his big made friend flying through the air before crashing into a burnt down old car, completely crushing it to a crisp with his weight and the force of the impact.

Rei slowly turned back to look at the white clad demon. And when gold eyes on a slightly lowered head solely moved to focus on him, Rei Audibly gulped.

"Oh shi-!" Rei was already hurtling through the air before he could get the curse out.

Suddenly though he was stopped in mid air and made to land safely. Rei looked behind him to see Ronin holding him by the collar of his open overcoat, letting out another yawn.

"Midgu Sama, this guy is.."

"I know Rei!" Midgu said in an unusually, not so loud voice. "You idiot, use your aura!"

Rei did as he was told. "Holy shi-"

"What is he?" Brock questioned with a groan, getting up from the car and stepping out of the crater that surrounded it. "He took me out with one punch!"

"This, my friends, is Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands of our homeland Japan." Arthur answered Brocks question as he stepped out from behind Ronin, pushing his glasses back.

"Who?" everyone except Ronin asked.

Arthur sweat-dropped with a sigh. "The eldest son of the Legendary Inutaisho 'The dog demon'."

"Who?" they questioned again. Arthur sweat-dropped again. It was at times like this that he wondered what he was doing here, being part of a gang instead of using his brain to do more productive things.

"Well who ever he is…" Midgu took a puff on his cigar, "we are going to put him in his place. We are going to trash him and then take his car too."

"Hey, Ronin," Rei whispered. "..ya can put me down now mun…"

Ronin shrugged and released Rei's coat, causing his friend to fall to the ground in a heap, which he soon recovered from; he had to maintain his image as gang 'cool guy', after all.

"Did you do a kidnapping job recently?" Kikyo's angry tone cut through, gaining everyone's attention, though the stoic looking Sesshoumaru didn't show it.

"What makes you think we are going to tell you lady!" Midgu shouted.

"Boss.." Rei again spoke in whispers. "..that doll's strong too…"

"I know, you idiot!" Midgu shouted in indignation.

"Enough." This time it was Sesshoumaru's steely voice that gained everyone's attention. "Answer the human's question, or die."

Sesshoumaru was always to the point. And he had given two simple options for the demons to choose from. There was no need for things to get complicated. Either they answer or they die. It was that simple.

But of course not everyone agreed with Sesshoumaru's thinking.

Midgu spat out his cigar. "ATTACK!" he shouted.

Rei never hits women, but he decided that in this case, with this particular woman, it would be better for him and his gang if she was unconscious. He appeared beside Kikyo intent on just knocking her out, but his body came directly into contact with a barrier. He was thrown back and over a metal fence.

To Sesshoumaru's irritation, he found that the short demon was really fast. He was nowhere near as fast as him, but his short stature gave him an advantage. Sesshoumaru wondered how the top hat stayed on at those speeds.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sesshoumaru saw Brock pick up another car and hurtle it towards him.

Ronin watched with droopy eyes as green whips sliced through the car that Brock had thrown, like a glowing hot knife through butter. Ronin had been making plans for an afternoon nap, but now it was all ruined. With a sigh, followed by a yawn for good measure, he removed the giant blade from behind him and sailed through the sky towards Sesshoumaru, intent on cutting off his arms or knocking him out cold, which ever came first.

But when Sesshoumaru impassively caught the blade in his palm, Ronin regretted his method of attack.

Ronin barely dodged the claws that ripped through the air where his head had been only half a second ago.

Ronin took into mind that even though this 'Sesshoumaru' was fast strong and powerful, his moves all held a certain flow to them. And having lived a long time in America, he and many, if not all of the gang members, had adapted American moves into their fighting styles. It was a squat he had seen in a dance move that had just saved his life. Ronin made a mental note to thank Rei for the videos later.

Sesshoumaru raised an amused eyebrow at the demon wielding the giant sword, that looked a lot like Bankotsu's, as he jumped back to take a defensive stance.

Sesshoumaru got tired of these games. Deciding to end this, and end it quickly, he blurred towards Ronin, his hand glowing a violent green that promised excruciating pain before death.

Sulong appeared out of nowhere, like he usually does – much to Midgu's continuous chagrin, and brought his thin blade that resembled a Samurai's, down in an arc to slice Sesshoumaru in two.

(TANG!)

Ronin nervously opened his eyes to find Sulong's blade inches away from Sesshoumaru, but there was a glowing blue sword that was effortlessly blocking its path.

"You seem to be a worthy opponent." Sulong voiced in just above a whisper, his eyes closed and his blade glowing a strange yellow as it continued to strain against Tenseiga.

Sesshoumaru smirked in irritation. 'How many more of them?'

Both Ronin and Sulong had to jump up high when Tenseiga roared to life and destroyed the side of the building that the three of them were gathered near.

'A worthy opponent indeed.' Sulong thought as he continued to sail up through the air. 'His sword… That kind of power… It must have been forged from a fang. Interesting."

Demon aura's flared when a sudden burst of purification power momentarily shook the air, thrashing the wind and violently pushing it.

Sesshoumaru remained expressionless when both the big demon and the short one flew past him, and crashed into the wall of a building quite a distance in front of him. Their clothes were singed and there was smoke coming off of the both of them.

Sulong's momentary distraction resulted in him seeing a white blur appear in front of him, and then being sent crashing down through the roof of the three storey building that he had landed on after his jump.

Ronin was the next to suffer when he felt something lift him from behind before being slammed back down into the tar road.

Midgu hauled himself out of the collapsed wall that he and Brock were under, just in time to see Ken go flying through the air after the human zapped him and Ronin's limp body being raised up in a choke hold.

"Wait!" Midgu shouted. Saving the gangs reputation was not worth loosing one of their members.

Sesshoumaru regarded the short demon, who was both bleeding and suffering multiple burns, as he limped towards him.

"Sesshoumaru, wait!" Kikyo voiced. She had noticed that none of them gang members were trying to kill her, but only trying to knock her out. She knew about gangs as much as the ordinary person did, but one thing she noticed here was that they were all willing to protect each other. That maybe usual in any gang, but to Kikyo, it said something about their loyalty. "Let's give them another chance to speak."

Sesshoumaru was about to ignore the human woman and crush the neck of the demon he had in his hold, when he heard the short demon speak again.

"Please… don't hurt him. I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Sesshoumaru decided to deal with the turn of events the way he usually would, "Give me one good reason why………"

OoOoOoOo

Kagome rushed down the stairs as fast as she could, worry etched all over her face. "Momma! Pappa!"

Inuyasha choked on the turkey sandwich he was attempting to eat halfheartedly, when he heard Kagome shout.

Stumbling out of the chair he was sitting in, he ran in the direction of his mate's voice.

The scene that greeted him was a worried Kagome clinging onto his father's shirt, and his mother standing behind her, an equally worried look on her face.

"Kikyo left a note saying that she was going out. She didn't say why or for what!"

"Kagome relax." Inutaisho said calmly, holding the girls shoulder to steady her.

"What the heck is going on?" Inuyasha asked in his usual loud way.

"I know where Kikyo is."

Kagome looked at her papa, stunned and relived. "You do?"

"But you're not going to be believe me if I told you." Inutaisho said humorously, trying to lighten the mood. Everyone was still worried about Rin and it showed with their restless fidgeting.

"Stop playing games dear and tell us where she is!" Izayoi half shouted half pleaded. This was the last thing they needed; another person to be worried about.

"Common where is she dad?" Inuyasha looked serious.

"Okay, okay." Inutaisho raised his arms in mock surrender. "Your sister, Kagome, is somewhere out there, with my son."

Silence exploded into the giant hall.

"WHAT?" Inuyasha yelled disbelievingly.

"Are you sure… dear." Izayoi asked a little nervously, though she wasn't as tense as before.

Kagome was till speechless, and before she could open her mouth, her husband asked the question for her.

"Are you drunk DAD!" Inuyasha exclaimed, sniffing the air for traces of demon alcohol.

Inutaisho seemed genuinely offended by his son's outpour of words.

"I am not!" he retorted. "I saw them leave together this morning, in one of Sesshoumaru's cars."

"But.. how?.. why?.. what?.." Kagome was finding it hard to form a proper question, probably because there were too many, and the information she had just learnt was on par with 'unbelievable.' Two people who tried to kill each other only last night went out together! Sesshoumaru who hates humans went out with her bossy demon hating sister! It was just plain unbelievable!

OoOooo (In hell)

"Damnit!" the devil cursed, pulling a red blanket to keep himself from freezing his tail off, literally. "I knew hell would freeze over one of these days!"

"My Lord," one of his minions called out to him, hugging his own blanket that had pictures of Tweety Bird in it. "Perhaps… this would be a good time to declare peace with the man upstairs…?"

"Huh!" the devil smirked, outraged at the suggestion. "I'd freeze my ass in hell before I give up being bad and evil!"

"My Lord," the minion called again, eyeing the flames that were dying out on the devils horns. "I hate to point out the obvious but… isn't that what you are doing."

"Oh SHUT UP!" the devil bellowed, after which he pulled out a bar of Toblerone and began eating it noisily. "Damn that Sesshoumaru… and that miko…! In fact, damn them all!"

"Ey minion, you wanna trade that pocky for my toblerone…?"

OoOooo

"Knowing Sesshoumaru, I think he went to look for Rin his own way." Inutaisho said, staring out of a window. "And I think Kikyo wanted to do the same…"

"But isn't it strange…?" Izayoi questioned.

"They both love Rin very much, probably more than anyone of us. It is not surprising that we would see drastic changes in character from the both of them."

"Keh!" Inuyasha smirked. "I only hope they don't end up killing each other first."

The other three could only nod and agree.

OoOoOoOo

At a branch of the Tenseiga Corp. in America…

The wind twirled around the slender figure of a woman, wearing a knee length black skirt, a white blouse, and a white lab coat that hung up to a little below her knees. She glanced mischievously at a male lab technician as she walked by, causing him to walk straight into a wall. Grinning to herself, Kagura made all male heads turn her way as she went further into Taisho Corp, heading for the Robotics Department, to find her boss.

Kagura was a carefree demon. She was a little evil, as all demons were. She was still a virgin, though nobody would think it or even believe it with all the flirting she did. She was smart, beautiful and deadly. An aspiring combination for a female demon, that made her the envy of others. She wasn't someone who cared much about others, and gave very little of her attention to what others thought. She walked her own path and she did only what she wanted …well unless when it came to the man she worked under.

Stopping in front of the door, she pushed her breasts up to show more cleavage, ran her hand through her shoulder length hair to give it that extra bouncy look, took a deep breath and then pushed open the door to enter.

Naraku, was sprawled across his desk, his long wavy raven hair spread behind him and one hand clutching a few sheets of paper with the other holding a stapler.

Kagura sighed. It looked like Naraku hadn't gone home last night either.

"Naraku." She prodded his shoulder with a finger. "Wake up!"

Naraku woke up with a jerk, and only remembering what he had been doing last night, he pressed on the stapler.

"OWW! CURSES!" Naraku held out his bleeding index finger and haphazardly got out of his chair, uttering curses all the while.

Kagura rubbed her forehead. For a supposed bad guy and all, he sure wasn't much in the department for being silent and cold even in pain, not to mention he wasn't completely idiot resistant.

"Curses Kagura!" Naraku yelled, still shaking his finger. He was a genius and all but, he knew very little about what to do when he stapled his own finger. It was at times like this that he wished he was a youkai and not a hanyou. But there was apparently something wrong in his genes, because even though he was hanyou, he had the features of a normal human. Naraku never bothered to find out why. He had more important things to do, like being evil, and becoming powerful, not forgetting he had to water his plants and feed his fish. There was no time for genetic research, for crying out loud. And besides, robotics was his specialty.

"Calm down Naraku." Kagura said with another sigh, staring at him in irritation. He wasn't even aware of how much cleavage she was showing! 'Idiot!' Kagura scolded mentally.

"Calm down! What do you mean calm down!" he exclaimed. "Look at how much blood I'm loosing! I must have lost a pint already!"

"You're overreacting again." Kagura said, calm as ever.

"Overreacting! Well it's easy for you to say now isn't it? You not the one who stapled your finger! Overreacting, she says! Huh!" Naraku looked back down at his still bleeding finger and glared at it, thinking that that would make the bleeding stop."

"Oh… come here!" Kagura said exasperatedly. She took his finger and placed it in her mouth, secretly smiling to herself.

Naraku was shocked to say the least.

"Kagura! What are you doing? Do you know how many germs could get in that way?" He tried to yank his finger out of her mouth and her grip.

Kagura felt like biting his finger instead of sucking on it. 'He doesn't have a clue! This is what happens when you spend day in and day out holed up in a dark lab. At least it didn't affect any of his good looks. Hmmmmm………'

Failing to pull his finger away, he glared at his subordinate. He wasn't surprised however when Kagura ignored it and refused to let his finger go.

Pulling his finger out Kagura studied it first before showing it to him. "See! It's healed already!"

"Hm!" Naraku scoffed. "Yes, well, it's as it should be." His remark however didn't stop him from taking a closer inspection of his finger and checking to make sure the wound was completely healed.

"Naraku, are you sure you're up for this whole bad guy thing?" Kagura questioned seriously, not bothering to mask her worry, since Naraku wouldn't recognize it anyway.

"What!" Naraku all but yelled. "What do you mean by that!"

"I mean look at you, you're not exactly the creepy bad guy looking type, though the hair is very nice." Kagura explained.

"Huh! I'll have you know..!" Naraku stopped mid sentence and looked behind him to see the open screens that allowed the sunlight to seep into his office. "I'll show you…!"

Kagura watched with a bored expression, as Naraku closed the screens and plunged the room into partial darkness.

Naraku turned around to face Kagura and closed his eyes. He tool in a deep breath and remained silent for a while. Then… slowly the air around him started to vibrate and twist.

Surprised, Kagura was about to speak when a demonic tentacle shot out of the palm of his hand and slammed her into the wall behind her, holding her around her neck. Gasping, she watched with wide eyes, as Naraku's long strands of hair started floating upwards as they spread about him, a few locks covering part of his face.

"Still think I am not good enough to be bad, Kagura………?" His voice dripped like acid, soulless and deadly. The way he said her name sent shivers up her spine. She had never seen him like this.

But suddenly, the tentacle retreated and Naraku collapsed onto one knee, squeezing his eyes shut from the discomfort.

The powerful aura he had exuded vanished so quickly that Kagura doubted whether she had felt it at all. Recovering from the shock first, and then the fear, she scrambled over to kneel next to Naraku, who was gasping for breath.

She quickly took in him in her arms and helped him regain his breath.

"Heh… told you… I was… good… good at it." Naraku voiced, leaning against Kagura, his ragged breaths, 'unintentionally', falling against her exposed cleavage.

"Yes you did…" Kagura said, helping him to his feet. "Now do you mind telling me what that was!"

Naraku shrugged. "Apparently, it's my powers."

"Hanyous aren't supposed to have powers like that!" she argued.

"Well I'm no ordinary hanyou then! Huh!" with that said, Naraku straightened his coat and made to move towards his normal 'non-secret' lab. "Follow me Kagura. You wouldn't want to experience what you just did again would you?"

Maniacal laughter echoed through the shady office.

The laughter stopped however, when Naraku found that the door leading into his lab wouldn't open.

A little unnerved by the laughter, Kagura now sighed again. "What's wrong?"

Naraku cursed. Then he scratched the back of his head. "Heh heh… I think I locked myself out of my own lab…"

Kagura hit her forehead, with her palm. Naraku had a long way to go before becoming a successful bad guy.

She watched with a hidden smile as he fiddled with the lock. 'He looks so cute when he is frustrated. And curses, he didn't say anything about how I look.'

"Kagura! Stop standing there and find a way to get this blasted door open!" Naraku yelled, still fiddling with the lock, his back turned to her.

Kagura sighed. 'Maybe I should try not wearing a bra next time…'