Chapter nine: Ningen's first hunt

"Are we there yet?"

"He already said no, you little brat!"

"What about now?"

"Oy Shippo! Shut up already! He'll tell us when we get there!"

"You shut up!"

"No! You shut up!"

"Will you both stop fighting now? What is Hayashibara-san going to think?" Sango interrupted and her two companions turned away from each other.

"Not to worry Sango-san," the man said.

Sango moved her head and gave a sigh before answering, "still, I apologize for their behavior, but please tell us more about this youkai."

"Oh… it has attacked the castle four times already and it has murdered many men, but no matter our efforts… we haven't been able to kill it. We're afraid it will strike again and maybe finish off what's left of our people." Iota Hayashibara's voice faded out at his last words, Sango related to his pain.

The man had arrived that same morning to Kaede's village looking for help, apparently he had heard that the famous taijiya and the valiant former hanyou who vanquished the terrible Naraku, lived there and that's how he found them and hired their services.

Sango was more than ready to accept the job, considering that it would be the first time Inuyasha would put practice all she had been teaching him. Besides, from what Hayashibara-san had told them, the youkai appeared to be a kuma-youkai, and those were easy prey, generally. They hadn't encountered one since the last time in that castle, where the daimyo Kuranosuke Takeda, had proposed her marriage.

"And the bear is very big? Is it scary?"

"Eh… yes, it's five times the height of a man, more or less." The man looked at the kitsune with some nervousness. He found strange that two youkai slayers kept company with the kind they were supposed to kill. In fact, they had wanted to travel on top of the small two tailed neko that traveled with them, only that in that moment, the neko was a lot bigger and a lot scarier, luckily they desisted at his reluctance. Well, they seemed to know what they were doing and he wouldn't say anything as long as they managed to free them from that bear from hell.

"And its eyes are red? Does it have large fangs?" Shippo left Sango's side and started walking next to Hayashibara, who stiffened considerably.

"Y—yes, it does."

"And does it eat the cattle and people? I've seen many youkai doing so and also…"

Sango left Shippo to torture the poor man and held her pace to catch up with Inuyasha, who had been very quiet during the journey, except when he argued with Shippo.

"Are you nervous?" she asked him.

"Me? Why the hell should I? It's not the first time I've faced danger in my human form, you know." Absently, he took his hand to his waist and gripped the wakisashi Sango had lent him.

"I know."

"Good."

They kept quiet as the castle started appearing in front of them but she wanted to tell him something else.

"You are not alone, you know that. Don't you? I'm here, and Kirara, and even Shippo, we'll watch each other's back like we always do."

Inuyasha wouldn't admit it but he did feel a little apprehension. All those times he had fought as a human, he had known that if he resisted long enough, dawn would come and he'd recover his hanyou form. And then the poor bastard who had the bad luck to challenge him would have hell to pay.

But this time there would be no dawn to change the balance of forces. He was a human and he would keep being one no matter what the moon looked like or if the sun rose. He just wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Trust me, I promise I won't let anything happen to you, as I know you won't let anything happen to me." Sango's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He nodded and somehow, her promise gave him some confidence.

---------------------------

Night came --you said we wouldn't be gone more than a day! Inuyasha had protested-- and still there were no traces from the kuma. Sango had studied its tracks and discovered the youkai was hiding in a gully near the village. They decided it was too dangerous to venture into the cavernous ravine and decided to better expect for the bear to attack. Funny, when traveling with the others, they had always relied on Inuyasha's nose to find their enemies; he didn't even know Sango could follow tracks.

Once thay had arrived to the castle, they had been given food and accommodation and were readying themselves to rest when a hysterical shriek was heard.

"Youkaiii!" And all hell broke loose.

They exited their room at once, Sango with Hiraikotsu at her back and Inuyasha with the wakisashi unsheathed. They were followed by an already transformed kirara. Shippo was told to keep inside. Inuyasha's hands started sweating.

The kuma-youkai was already causing mayhem as his huge paws lowered over the huts and pagodas, which crumbled under the attack; people were running in every direction, trying to escape from the monster while a useless rain of arrows impacted against the hard skin of the bear, causing no damage at all.

A boy fell while he tried to save a few possessions and the next thing he saw when he raised his eyes, was a black shadow descending over him.

"Hiraikotsu!"

The boomerang went flying through the air and severed a furry ear, causing the bear to roar in pain and fury and forget about the boy, instead it fixed its attention on Sango, who was already receiving her weapon back.

"Cover me!" she shouted and Inuyasha saw her ride on Kirara and both soared through the air. He watched in amazement as the fire neko maneuvered as the bear lashed out with its claws while Sango looked for a strategic point to unleash Hiraikotsu again.

What could he do? It seemed she had everything under control, but the demon deflected Hiraikotsu each single time and Sango was obliged to land again, not before throwing some smoke bombs into the bear's eyes, blinding it temporally.

"Inuyasha," she panted. "We need to work together on this, that youkai is faster than I thought, he doesn't seem to have spotted you yet so, I'll try to distract him while you get near him and slice his belly."

"Slice his belly? What for?" he asked, confused.

"Don't you sense how his force comes from it?"

A blank stare gave her the answer. How silly of her, Inuyasha wasn't trained yet to feel youkai auras in his human state. The bear roared as it started to uproot trees and smash buildings in its blind rage.

"Don't worry, just listen to me, go for his belly, slash it as deep as you can, then get away from it as fast as you can, I'll handle the rest, alright?" She was up in the air before he could answer.

Inuyasha grasped the handle nervously and took several deep breaths.

You can do this, you can do this. Keh! Of course you can!

And he charged against the bear, who, oblivious to his presence, was trying to clasp Kirara between his giant paws.

Inuyasha saw his target, it was uncovered and within his reach, he was going to make it. He sprinted to the youkai's midsection and readied to give the final strike but the blade never met flesh.

At the last possible moment, the bear sensed the upcoming human and caught him in middle air, throwing him hard against the ground. Inuyasha saw it raising its paw again and then saw it coming to him, ready to smash him into a pulp of ningen. So that was it for him. He closed his eyes.

"Inuyashaaa!"

He never felt the stroke but a piercing shriek forced him to open his eyes. The youkai was there, standing as if surprised, a deep gap was visible across his stomach and some feet apart was Sango, her face in a fierce expression, Hiraikotsu bathed in blood.

In a second the bear was enveloped in a sickening green light and after a final growl, it disintegrated and disappeared.

"Inuyasha! Are you okay?" Sango was at his side in a moment. He felt a little dazed as she tried to raise him up, but still he yanked his arm free from her clutch.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted and gave a couple of steps back.

"Why? Are you hurt?" She tried to reach for him again, but he retreated, not even looking at her.

"Inu… yasha? What's wrong? What's the matter?"

"Sango! It was great! You got him! That demon didn't have a chance!" Shippo came out of the hut and ran toward them. Some villagers and inhabitants of the castle started emerging from their hiding places.

"And you, Inuyasha, what a shame you are, you should have seen how you were tossed around!"

"Shippo, that's enough. Go and gather our things, we're returning right away." Sango's firm voice made the kitsune drop his teasing at once and he went to do as ordered, but Inuyasha still didn't look up, instead he buried the wakisashi deep into the ground; anger, hurt and frustration flooding into his being.

"Inuyasha?"

"I'm a failure," he sad with a mix of shame and fury in his voice.

"No, you are not, please, look at me." But he didn't.

"I almost got myself killed, as I told you I would! But you were stubborn and insisted on it!" He looked at her for a moment and then lowered her head again.

"I failed." His dark locks covered his face, making impossible to read his expression, but Sango didn't have to see him, his tone betrayed him. She got closer and passed an arm over his shoulders, for a moment he wanted to slap her arm away and run, or hit something real hard. He also wanted to bury his face in the crook of her neck and imagine what her essence would smell like, but didn't give in to the impulse. He stiffened instead.

Sango's voice carried her own guilt. "No, it was my fault, I… I'm sorry, I am so used to your old battle style that I forgot you have new limitations. I asked you to do something you were not ready to perform and for that you could have died. As your sensei, it was my fault, not yours, Inuyasha. Forgive me, please."

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You don't have to make pity comments. You don't mean it."

"Yes, I do, actually, you surprised me, the way you sprinted was amazing, you reached a great height and using only your human strength, I bet in no time you'll be an awesome warrior."

He didn't sense any deceit in her voice. Did she really mean it? He dared to look up and found a repentant, worried face staring back and her beautiful eyes piercing him. Those eyes.

Inuyasha reached for the object attached to his red yarn, hidden under his haori and clutched it, trying to shake off the image of those chocolate orbs out of his head.

"Oh, Kami-Sama, thank you both! You did an excellent job! Thank you thank you so much!" the owner of the castle ran to them and bowed uncountable times, the inhabitants had gathered around them by then, praising and giving thanks and bows once and again.

Inuyasha felt his anger leaving him and smiled.

The early morning hours found the travelers returning to the village burdened with clothes, rice, some quilts and more money that they would have dared to ask for.