Thanks to Sayuri Chan 16, Sesshoumaru Minion, Silver Wolf Pups, premierarchange for reading and reviewing :-)
Chapter 3
Something was drawing Inuyasha away from his comrades, his friends, where they were now sleeping under the tree. He'd felt compelled to drop from the branches, to come walking into the forest, whose shadows caressed him with malicious secrets. Friends, he thought amused, as dead leaves crunched beneath his bare feet. If someone had told me a year ago that I'd have friends, I'd have killed them then died laughing.
His smile faded as his thoughts returned to why he felt compelled to go into the forest. For a moment he felt a tinge of fear, then he pushed it away.
Inuyasha's bare feet swept over the ground; he shot a glance over his shoulder, the breeze snatching at his red fire-rat kimono. Will they be okay? If I leave them for a second? He rested his hand on the hilt of his beloved sword. They'll be okay, won't they, Tetsusaiga? he thought affectionately, and walked faster towards the source of the noise.
It was a constant sound. A soft, silky sound like the sea eating at the shore. Deeper into the thin forest that lay alongside the road, he trod, his bare foot easily brushing aside the leaves without a sound, his ears pricking constantly, gauging each sound: the wary hoot of an owl, A demon is near...
The trees were bowing higher over him, the ground was sloping down. There was the trickle of a thin stream.
His ears pricked higher as he prowled towards the sound. Then something thudded against the grass. The sea sound grew a little louder for a few more moments then there was another thud like rock against the grass. But it's a very light type of rock, Inuyasha thought suspiciously. There was that thud again, but this time it fell against something hard, and resonated: now Inuyasha knew the sound. His hand flew to the hilt of his sword and he stepped forward, leaning forward, waited a second.
Silence. Did it know he was here?
He lost patience and ran forward, his Tetsusaiga flying from its sheath, transforming as he charged forward, glowing in the dark. Already he could feel the Wind Scar throbbing to explode...Something's near! He raised his head, searching the leafy shadows above him, but there was nothing there. Was it behind him? Keep a grip! Inuyasha told himself urgently. I must get back to Kagome safely!
He leapt just in time over the small skull that lay on the ground, grinning up at him in a contorted scream. It was a very small skull, pale and stark in the darkness, with dainty incisors. Inuyasha gritted his teeth and raised his head, "How could you?" he snapped at the immense darkness around him. "It was a kid! A demon kid, wasn't it?"
The demon chuckled from the shadows, and Inuyasha jerked his head towards the source of that sardonic, cruel chuckle. A shred of flesh was still threaded onto one of its awkward and oversized fangs. A fingerprint's worth of blood was smudged over the demon's chin. Its skin was the purple colour of a bruise. Its forelegs were strange: there were no claws on it and it had tentacles like forked branches. "So much sweeter when they're innocent," it said in a deep voice.
"Disgusting!" Inuyasha snarled, raising his sword.
The demon stood up taller, a large tapered tail swinging back and forth behind it, back and forth. Inuyasha's golden eyes followed it instinctively, then he realised too late, after 4 swings of its tail, that it had made him stand still... My arm! he realised, horrified: it had lowered the Tetsusaiga without him even knowing. Then the Tetsusaiga hissed, its blade shrinking, then it was the sword with the blade that was sharp as junk.
Inuyasha gritted his teeth, "I'm not as easy as that!"
The demon stepped towards him, raising those weak, tentacle-like forearms stretching out towards him.
A snarl rising in his throat, Inuyasha tried to fight the pull, but it was like the air was becoming heavier. His foot barely scraped an inch over the ground, and then the demon was there, breathing heavily upon him: he stank of warm flesh and blood: Inuyasha's nose was twitching in agony: his pupils dilated so wide that the whites were drowned, as he struggled to hold his breath against that terrible, drowning stench...
With a last choking sound, he forced the billowing sleeve of his kimono over his mouth and nose, burying his face into the red cloth, and forced his legs to move back...now his mind screamed for him to fight, not to step back from the opponent...
The demon took another step closer, its reek sinking deeper against the half demon. Inuyasha fought not to gag, or worse, throw up. Kagome would never let me live it down, he thought grimly, willing his Tetsusaiga to transform...
Then the demon stretched its tentacles out: they were cold as they touched his clenched hands. Inuyasha swallowed a gasp as the tentacles wrapped around his arms, then he was staring at the sky, and screaming, and screaming, but no sound came out.
