-1Fragments ch.3
Sango felt pretty good after that little extermination trip. They had saved to the village and made a little money to support themselves with. While she suspected Miroku had driven up the price somehow, she could never pin down when he had had the chance to do so. Suddenly a chill ran along her spine, causing her to stop in place along the road. It was a beautiful day and they weren't in any rush so she, Miroku and Shippo were walking while Kilala was napping in her backpack.
"What's wrong Sango? Why did you suddenly stop?" Shippo asks in his typical, bubbly voice. Climbing onto her shoulder he smiles and whispers. "Is it something the monk did?"
"No Shippo, I just had a bad feeling. Like the Kagome and Inuyasha are in danger or something." Sango replies hoping she didn't sound as worried as she felt.
"I am sure those two can take care of themselves. You are probably just nervous considering our job went so smoothly." Miroku smirks as he sidles up next to Sango.
"I swear monk if your hand…" Sango begins the threat before Mirkou cuts it off laughing.
"My dear Sango what makes you think I was going to try anything?" Miroku tries smiling innocently.
"Like I believe you weren't intending the to try something you pervert."
"My dear Sango, I can assure you that I have no intention of putting my hands anywhere that they were not welcome."
"Don't believe him Sango, he just wants you to drop your guard." Shippo cautions, sticking his tongue out at Miroku.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of letting that monk do anything perverted. However, we should hurry back to Kagome and Inuyasha." A worried frown creasing her brow as she speaks.
"While I doubt Kagome would have let Inuyasha do anything too reckless while we were away perhaps we should hasten our return. Best to err on the side of caution." Miroku winks his hand moving with ghost like stealth towards Sangos behind. However, highly trained reflexes and a great of deal knowledge of the monks habits allows Sango to smack Miroku before he can make contact.
Back at the well, Kagome remains frozen in place while Inuyasha stares down his opponent. Damn it. That skin of his is too tough for the Tetsaiga to cut normally and he knows it too. That's why he didn't attack me first, he's too slow and he knew he could survive my attack. He just wanted me close enough to get a good swing in.
"It seems your blade is impotent. I suggest you sheath it and hand over what I came for." Deimos comments.
"Yeah right pal. If you think I am going to hand over the Jewel Shards that easy to an idiot like you then your even more of an fool then I thought." Inuyasha snarls back. Already he was letting his senses pick up the currents of the Wind Scar. In an instant he had found the place where his demonic aura clashed with Deimos's and struck. The blazing energies released lash outward as a wave of golden light towards Deimos. Gouging deep furrows in the earth with their passing Inuyasha watches the Wind Scar as it travels.
"Inuyasha wait!" Kagome screams already too late as Inuyasha unleashes the Wind Scar.
Inuyasha watchs in amazement as Deimos appears to make no effort to evade the attack racing towards him. Moron, he can't think he's tough enough to take the Wind Scar head on. This guy must have a serious death wish.
Deimos stands fast in the face of the golden blades of light and power. It was an interesting light show, but certainly not one of sufficient strength to seriously wound him. Experience had taught him exactly what the limits of his invulnerability were. Positioning his massive sword in front of himself he drives the blade deep into the ground using it as both a brace and a shield. An instant later the Wind Scar crashes over him in a torrent of terrible power, the power to slay a hundred demons in a single stroke. Breaking against the sword much of the energies are dispersed to the sides. The impact still drives Deimos back a good foot, straining his arms against the attack. Superficial cuts carve themselves into his flesh, giving him a tiger stripe pattern of marks. Billowing smoke and debris cover the area, concealing him from view.
"Ha! Did you see that Kagome? He didn't try to get of the way. Guess he knew he was doomed and just accepted his fate." Inuyasha grins triumphantly turning towards Kagome.
Kagome barely sensed the movement of the jewel shards before catching glimpse of something moving in the slowly clearing dust. Running at what was a good speed for a human but painfully slow compared to most demons came Deimos. His sword trailing behind him in preparation for a powerful swing.
"Inuyasha watch out!"
"No way!" Inuyasha curses, jumping back nimbly to avoid the slow swipe of his opponents sword. Damn it, apparently this guy is tough enough to take the Wind Scar head on. Inuyasha sprints nimbly around Deimos buying himself time to think. Fortunately for me this guy is slower then Kagome. But the Tetsuiga is no good against him, even the Wind Scar can barely scratch this guy.
"Inuyasha, back off. This may be a fight you can't win." Kagome shouts trying to get Inuyasha out of the melee. If she could just get a good shot, her holy arrows had proven in the past to be extremely effective against even the toughest demons. But with the way Inuyasha kept charging in and retreating after each futile swing of his sword it would be nearly impossible to make the shot. At least without possibly hitting Inuyasha and more then likely killing him. She could tell that Inuyasha is starting to get tired by the way he is breathing. Each time he is forced to stop one of Deimos's powerful swings Kagome can hear the sword stress under the impact. It was like watching Inuyasha's fight with Seshomaru, when his older brother had used a dragons arm as a replacement for his own lost arm.
Deimos pauses in his attack. Taking the opportunity for a break Inuyasha watches Deimos warily, breathing hard and sweating slightly. "What? Ready to give up already? I haven't even begun to finish up with you." Trying to sound confident. His arms were aching trying to maintain their hold on his sword.
Ignoring Inuyasa, Deimos turns to Kagome casting those empty eyes upon her. "I think you are more likely to see reason. Perhaps I should talk to the master and not the pet."
"PET! I ain't no ones 'pet' pal!" Inuyasha shouts indignantly.
"Don't you take another step closer or else I'll shoot." Kagome steadies her aim, trying maintain her composure under those eyes. "Why do you want the jewel shards anyway?"
"That isn't your concern. Turning over the shards in your possession before I am forced to kill your pet is. Or perhaps that is not incentive enough. Would my threatening that village over there be enough?" Deimos inquires, dead serious.
"You wouldn't..." Kagome inhales sharply. "You couldn't..."
"If that is what I need to do to gain possession of your jewel shards I will kill them all. It will take me 6 hours to kill your pet if we continue to fight. After six hours he will finally tire and I will kill him. It will take me considerably less time to kill that entire village."
"You're heartless. How can you so calmly discuss killing an entire village?"
"You would not understand."
"Understand what pal? That you are like any other demon out there and will do anything to possess the Shikon Jewel?" Inuyasha snarls.
"How many demons have you killed in pursuit of the shards in your possession?"
"Thats different!" Kagome begins to protest.
"How so?" Deimos asks levelly.
"Waddya mean 'how so'? We're the good guys and they wouldn't hand over the jewel shards when I asked them nicely."
"And what did you do when they would not give you what you wanted?"
"Well I took them of course."
"Very well then." With that Deimos turns and begins to head towards the village.
"Where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha snaps.
"Wait you aren't going to the village to try and kill everyone are you?" Kagome asks worriedly.
"Of course I am not going to try."
"Well thats good..."
"I will kill everyone, until I get what I have come for. And I highly doubt your pet can stop me." Carefully inserted insults had proven to bear fruit in the past for Deimos and given the temperament of his opponent it was likely to work again.
Drawing the arrow back Kagome takes aim at Deimos's chest. "Don't you dare. I will fire."
Deimos regards Kagome for a moment. It was clear the girl firmly believed that her arrows were capable of doing him harm even after seeing Inuyasha's futile attacks. It was also clear that she found looking into his eyes disconcerting, which was not unexpected. Though the amount of composure she was maintaining was higher then he would have initially calculated. Taking a moment to analyze the situation Deimos decided to take a calculated risk to find out what the girl was capable of. He could always fall back on his trump card, as it were, if need be. But no need to rush the situation, perhaps letting the futility of attacking him sink in would encourage a peaceful submission of the jewel shards. "I am... curious. What makes you think that your arrows will have any greater effect then his sword?"
"Cause my arrows are charged with holy energies."
"The powers of a priestess. Unexpected." Thinking for a moment Deimos reassesses his situation. He had faced a priestess once before and the confrontation had not been an easy victory. He needed more information on the girls powers before engaging her. "I will return in two days to collect what I have come for. And when I do I will also be requiring some information from you girl."
"Kagome. My name is Kagome, not girl."
"Two days Kagome." Turning his back Deimos begins to stalk away.
"Hey, wait a minute I pal I wasn't finished you yet. Who do you think are turning your back on me?" Inuyasha lunges at Deimos with his sword as he finishes his sentence.
"Inuyasha sit boy!" Kagome screams, flattening Inuyasha into the ground with the magic of the beads around his neck.
Rubbing his neck and glaring angrily at Kagome Inuyasha barks "What the hell was that for Kagome? I could have taken him."
"Oh really Inuyasha?" Kagome retorts. She was more frightened for Inuyasha then angry at him for his stubbornness. "Cause it looked to me like he was about to wipe the floor with you!" Fighting back the tears she continues her tirade. "You don't have to fight every demon we run into alone! One of these days you are going to get yourself killed. Is that what you want Inuyasha? That way you could be with your precious Kikyo again!"
For a brief moment Inuyasha looks as if Kagome had just sucker punched him. Recovering quickly he shouts back. "What are you stupid? Of course I don't want to die. And how dare you drag Kikyo into this."
At the other end of the village Sango, Shippo and Miroku were just returning from their demon hunt.