Sesshoumaru was fast. Faster even than Sango had thought he would be. As a youkai that could take human form, she knew he must be very powerful indeed, but the strength and grace he displayed in even this initial attack against Inuyasha told her she had dangerously underestimated him. And he had not even drawn his sword yet.
"Die, Inuyasha," he said with a calm that belied the situation.
"Hah!" Inuyasha sneered in return. Despite his brother's speed and skill, he easily avoided the blow as Sesshoumaru landed and swiped with one clawed hand. The Tessaiga was in Inuyasha's hand an instant later. "I'll just beat you again!"
At the first sign of danger, Toutousai had moved to put Kagome between himself and the fight. From this relatively safe vantage point, he commented, "Such violent brothers they are."
Kagome visibly bristled. "Weren't you the one provoking them?" she demanded.
"Was I?" he asked, staring with obvious and deliberate absentmindedness up into the heavens.
Irritated by the old man's antics, Sango focused her attention back on the two brothers. She hoped that Inuyasha could manage a fight with his brother, but if things got too heated, she knew she might need to step in to break things up or protect Kagome and the others.
"Eat this!" Inuyasha snarled, countering Sesshoumaru's most recent advance with a sweeping slash of the Tessaiga. It was no use at all—Sesshoumaru simply stepped out of the way, then seized the opportunity Inuyasha had thus handed to him. The hanyou had overreached himself, and no matter how quick he was, there was no way he could recover before Sesshoumaru could close the distance between them.
Sango watched, breathless, as Sesshoumaru stepped past Inuyasha's guard. Standing in the vulnerable place directly at Inuyasha's side, Sesshoumaru prepared himself… and punched his brother in the face. The single hit carried enough force to send Inuyasha to the ground. He recovered quickly, but it seemed a bad sign that he had been struck at all. Especially because Sesshoumaru had managed all of that with only one arm, and without even once reaching for his own sword.
"What's the matter?" the elder brother asked. "Aren't you going to beat me, as you boasted?"
But no matter what Inuyasha tried, Sesshoumaru was ready to counter. As they traded blows it quickly became clear, to Sango anyway, that Sesshoumaru was, if not the stronger fighter, at least the better trained fighter. Inuyasha would be lucky to land a hit at all, much less a decisive one. He might have won against his brother in the past, but to Sango's judgment he had little hope of winning today.
And Sesshoumaru, at least, was well aware of this. He slashed relentlessly through Inuyasha's guard, finding a new point of weakness each time Inuyasha retreated. "Heh. Same basic moves as ever, brother."
"Whatever!" He brought the Tessaiga around in what he clearly meant to be a finishing blow, but it was no use. The blade slammed into the ground as Sesshoumaru neatly sidestepped. Even Sango could see how anger was getting the better of Inuyasha, making him sloppy. It seemed Sesshoumaru was well aware of how to slip past Inuyasha's emotional defenses, as well as his physical ones.
"No way," Toutousai murmured. "He's no good at this at all."
Inuyasha ignored him in favor of wrenching the Tessaiga free from the ground.
"Hey, Myouga, has Inuyasha really mastered that thing?" the old man demanded, speaking more loudly this time. It almost seemed as if he wanted Inuyasha to overhear. Was Toutousai goading him? Sango didn't know him well enough to be sure, nor did she understand what he might stand to gain from further provoking the brothers.
But this time it was Kagome his words provoked. "It's the truth!" she protested. "I saw it with my own eyes. And as for this fight… it'll end just like the others. In the end, Inuyasha will beat Sesshoumaru!"
Inuyasha abruptly ceased his offensive to glare toward Kagome, though Sango couldn't tell if the target was Kagome or Toutousai. Certainly, the two of them were being quite distracting, and he was lucky Sesshoumaru had not immediately taken advantage of the opening.
"You say something, old man?" Inuyasha asked.
Ignoring him, Sesshoumaru asked, "Well, Toutousai, don't you think it's a pity for the Tessaiga? To see such a sword wielded by one like him, who does not care if he wields a powerful sword or a log... Either way, he just smashes it into his opponent, with no skill or finesse." Was that a smirk? It was hard to tell. "Or tries to."
"Hey!" Kagome shouted, outraged. At first Sango thought she was trying to get Sesshoumaru's attention, a baffling and seemingly suicidal impulse, but a quick look showed she was railing at Toutousai, not Sesshoumaru. "What are you nodding for?"
"What? It's a fair assessment," Toutousai protested. Of course, now he was not the doddering, forgetful old man he'd played at being earlier. Now he was once more the savvy assessor of swordsmanship.
"Bah," Inuyasha grunted, and Sango was inclined to agree. "Don't give up on me yet, old man! This fight is just getting started!"
Sango almost winced when he said it, but managed to mostly suppress the urge. Inuyasha might have boundless energy and enthusiasm for fighting with his brother, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before Sesshoumaru emerged victorious.
"Say your fucking prayers!" Inuyasha continued. He threw himself at Sesshoumaru again, painfully oblivious to the way he was all but announcing all his moves ahead of time. Anyone could anticipate what he was about to do and move to counter it. Even someone still in training. Inexplicably, she thought fondly of her younger brother, before Naraku took him. Even he would have been able to anticipate the outcome of this fight. But this was not the time to be thinking of the past, or letting grief distract her.
There was, after all, no guarantee that Sesshoumaru's violence would stop if he defeated Inuyasha. If he was as angry and determined as he seemed, he might not ever back down.
This time when Inuyasha attacked, attempting a crushing, overhand blow, Sesshoumaru ducked beneath the attack and came up gripping Inuyasha's wrist to break his momentum. There was no visible change, but Sango heard a strange sizzling sound and the scent of burning flesh filled the air. Inuyasha tried to reel back, in obvious pain, but Sesshoumaru held on.
"Do you feel like making a sword for this Sesshoumaru now, Toutousai?" the youkai asked. Again with the mild, impassive tone, as if this were all in a day's work.
"Umm," Toutousai mused, drawing out the syllable. "Not a chance." And with that he sucked in a huge gulp of air, cheeks bulging, before expelling it in a rush of flames aimed directly at the dueling brothers. If she hadn't jumped back quickly, Sango would have been caught in the blast, and so would the others.
At first Sango thought Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru would be stubborn enough to continue their fight in spite of the flames, but after a few moments the heat drove them apart.
It was hard to see Sesshoumaru through the smoke and flames, but Inuyasha was not at all pleased at the interruption. He smashed a fist into Toutousai's head, saying, "What're you doing, asshole?"
"So you still refuse, do you, Toutousai?" Sesshoumaru demanded, his voice carrying clearly through the billowing smoke and the dying crackle of the flames.
"For one thing, you have already been given a wonderful sword, haven't you?" the old man shouted. "And that sword is Tenseiga, the sword at your hip, which you refuse to use!" It appeared that, having reached the end of his temper, he was just getting started. "That sword was also forged from one of your father's fangs. It is a renowned blade, exactly as powerful and worthy as the Tessaiga. It was your father's will that the Tenseiga go to the elder son and Tessaiga to the younger."
Sesshoumaru cursed the swordsmith then, adding, "This blunt, useless sword is in no way worthy of this Sesshoumaru."
Toutousai fell back, looking chastened. "Well, he's pissed. I'm out of here," he declared.
Inuyasha managed to get out a, "wha-?" before Toutousai slammed his mallet into the ground hard enough to crack it. The earth shook and rumbled, as if he had summoned an earthquake with the strike, and molten rock and flames boiled forth from the crack. Smoke spewed forth in abundance, providing convenient cover.
"Time to go!" the old man announced. In an instant he had grabbed Inuyasha and clambered aboard his ox with the hanyou and Kagome in tow.
"Hey!" As Kagome protested, Sango realized that the smoke screen really was intended to mask a retreat.
If Toutousai planned to run, they had little choice but to scramble after him. "Kirara!" she called. "Come on, monk, let's not be left behind."
When she had suggested they practice flying together, she hadn't thought their first test of that practice would be today… but at least it meant they were prepared. The moment Miroku was in place behind her, Kirara launched into the air and raced after Toutousai, who had carried off Inuyasha and Kagome without bothering to wait for the rest of the group.