First, a shout out to readers that have read my fanfic and those that have subscribed! Thank you very much! I am working on a drawing of Jade so there is an actual picture of her. Note, there will be switches in perspective this chapter and I have labeled them clearly where I deemed needed. As always, I do not own Inuyasha or Fairy Tail- they solely belong to their creators. I do own my OCs and my plot twists. Please no flaming, but constructive criticism is appreciated- it lets me know where to improve. And now, here is Chapter 5!
"Augh, why does this thing hate me so much?! Just work already!" Jade yells, fed up.
The focus of her ire? A drowsing pendant. It had been a better part of two weeks since she had parted company with Kaede and the others.She glares at it, seriously tempted to smash it to pieces. Soren calmly chews grass, unconcerned with Jade's fit of temper.
"It should work, dang it! Just a little bit of magic to focus it and voila! Ley line located! Graaaaaaaah!" She stamps around the clearing, fuming. The pendant remains unchanged in the face of her anger, stubbornly refusing to react. Jade lifts her fist up, ready to smash it-
"If you break, damage or even scratch ANY of my creations, I will make your life a living hell Jade-onee!"
Her arm stops mid swing and Jade visibly flinches at the memory. Carefully, she repacks the pendant in the special case for it and stows it away in her pocket.
"Ugh, that was close." Jade scratches her head.
"I'd hate to see what Ryo'd do if I broke it. She's scary enough most of the time-" Abruptly she stops talking, eyes fixed on Soren.
He had stopped eating, his eyes wide and ears twitching. Nervously, he stamps his foot. A warning. Jade takes a deep breath and inhales.
Soren, grass, dirt, leather, fresh water, birds, dust, sweat, jerky, apples, rice, oats, spices, gems, dog-
Wait- Dog?
Jade takes another breath, sifting the scents for the trace of 'dog'.
Dog, flowery perfume, human, demon, steel, old blood, sweat, dragon but not dragon- Fluffy Ears?! No, not Fluffy Ears but LIKE Fluffy Ears- without the 'human' mixed in the dog smell. How many? One, two, three, four. Four of them.
Her eyes trace the scent path and she looks deep into the woods, waiting. A long silence, devoid of any sounds of wild life or insects, grows. Jade stays patient: if Not-Fluffy-Ears-But-Like-Fluffy-Earswants to meet her, then they will. If they don't, they don't.
After a long while, she scents the confusing Not-Fluffy-Ears-But-Like-Fluffy-Ears come closer, without their three companions. A white spec appears in the forest, moving smoothly closer. Jade waits, observing them.
Long silver hair, pale skin with magenta markings on their forehead and cheeks, slim but well-built body, fancy clothes and spiky armor. As they grew closer, Jade decided that this was probably a 'he'- as he was at least her height and with no discernable curves.
And there was his scent- normally she doesn't bother with trying to differentiate sex by scent alone. Erza was female with a distinctly masculine scent while Nab smelled more feminine, for example. But her gut seems to be telling her this is male, a demon and his aura tipped her off that he is a powerful one at that.
She grins. Finally, someone fun to fight!
He stops and stares at her, amber eyes assessing her and his face impassive.
Sesshomaru's Point of View
It was a mortal female. A human, at that. She was surprisingly tall, able to look him dead in the eye. Her black hair is an undisciplined mess bound back out of her shockingly green eyes. Her body also had markings, not unlike the Daiyoukai's, which indicate his status. They are not exactly ugly, but foreign and unrefined. Angular, in many shades of green with sections of silver and black drawn in shapes that rather remind him of crystals.
Her clothes are simply strange- a woman, wearing something like a hakama but far too tight! He can see the shape of her legs! And her 'top', not that it qualifies as such, revealing her stomach and too much of her cleavage. Sesshomaru couldn't deny that the style of top was striking on her, but it remained far too indecent.
Yet for all her strangeness, he could not ignore or dismiss the feeling of power that surrounds her. Power he wants to test.
Jade's Point of View
She's tired of the silent staring contest. Ok, her clothes are weird, she has tats, and she's really tall and probably the strangest person this guy has ever met- BUT COME ON! Say something, don't just stare like a creepy stalker!
If she was being honest with herself, Jade acknowledges that she really wants to go a few rounds with this guy.
Let's see if he's agreeable. She decides.
"So." He blinks once, eyes focusing on her face instead of her clothes.
"Hiya, I'm Jade. Who're you?" His posture becomes even stiffer and he glares at her.
Jade smiles a little.
He wants to be stoic? Then let's tease him a bit.
"If you don't tell me your name, I'll have to make one up for you. Can't just call you 'you'. Hmm," She taps her chin, thinking aloud.
"Since you smell similar to Fluffy Ears, maybe I'll call you Floofy? Nah, you're too aloof for just Floofy. How about Sir Floofy? That sounds nice and regal."
He twitches.
Jade inwardly grins to herself.
Ooh, proud are you? He's too easy to tease!
"Sir Floofy it is! Say, Sir Floofy, aren't you going to bring your companions over so I can greet them properly? Rather rude of you to leave them in the woods like that."
Jade chides him, hand on her hip.
Sesshomaru's Point of View
This- mortal.
She dares to mock him? Question him? Threaten his pack?
This Sesshomaru will not have it.
Jade's Point of View
Sir Floofy has moves. It was only thanks to her considerable experience and instincts that let her avoid that first strike.
He was standing there one second, the next he was right in her face trying to run her through. Jade twists to the side and uses one hand to push his shoulder to continue the turning motion. It also has the added bonus of pushing Sir Floofy off balance for three seconds before he righted himself.
His eyes are narrowed as he deliberately cracks his knuckles. But Jade is ready now.
"Hey, you know it's polite to let someone know if you want to have a match. Not that I mind, but just saying, most people would be dead right about now." She comments as she watches his body language. Stiff, but well balanced, no clear tells on which way he will attack next.
Again, Sir Floofy says nothing before going on the attack. Jade blocks the thrust for her torso with one arm, dang he's strong-! And slams her own fist into the breast plate. It cracks. Quickly, she grabs his outstretched arm and throws him.
Or tries to. At the last second, he kicks her in the head to give him the height to completely the rotation to land on his feet. Jade shrugs off the pain, accustomed to it. Unbidden, a grin grows on her face. Jade's blood is singing in her veins, telling her this is a worthy opponent. She laughs aloud.
"I was right about you, Sir Floofy! Now," Her grins turns feral.
"Let's have some fun!"
Sesshomaru's Point of View
The mortal is laughing. Sesshomaru wonders idly if there is something broken in her head. Then the air around her changes slightly. To the ordinary person, the difference would be unnoticeable- but not to him, a Daiyoukai.
Before, she had been fighting without any seriousness beyond protecting herself- she had no killing intent, no bloodlust. He had to admit she was skilled and did not lack power- his cracked breastplate and her continued existence is proof enough of that. But now the mortal has that edge of viciousness, of battle lust, and his beast's hackles are raised in warning.
She stops laughing and surges forward, but not with the reckless abandon that hanyo favors. The move was only to close the distance, not ram him, and when she steps in range he counters her first punch. But she doesn't stop moving- if one attack does not land, she immediately flows into another. Kicks, punches, chops, thrusts… Gradually a few strikes make it through, but they are glancing.
His eyes narrow.
She is still holding back.
He can feel it, much the same way he can assess another demon's yoki for danger.
Unacceptable.
"Do not insult this Sesshomaru with this paltry display."
Jade blinks and lets out a short laugh.
"Wow, you can talk!"
Sesshomaru feels the veins in his forehead throb. He summons his poison whip and lashes at her impertinent face. She leans back to avoid it and plants her hands on the ground to support her, then thrust kicks his stomach. Sesshomaru leaps backward to avoid it, coldly eyeing her as she regains her feet.
Green eyes dancing merrily, the mortal glances at his whip and then at him.
"So, you like whips? That's a fun weapon! Smells nasty and is kind of annoying to counter, but still fun!" She chatters, completely ignoring the fact he had tried to decapitate her with it.
"Wench. Do not insult this Sesshomaru. Fight with your full strength- or die." He states, rage simmering under the surface.
Her eyes narrow in consideration, amusement gone.
"First off, I gave you my name, so use it Sir Floofy- or wait, is your name 'Sesshomaru?' Weird name. Any who, secondly- are you absolutely, positively, completely sure you want me doing that? I might accidently injure your companions. And I would definitely hurt you."
Sesshomaru has no hesitation, despite her claims.
"Fight this Sesshomaru with your full strength."
She looks at him, reads his resolve in his eyes and body, and nods once.
"Don't blame me if you don't like how this ends," the wench warns him before her power spikes again.
"Earth Dragon's Battle Scales." Her skin changes. Skin turning into something hard and glittering, a strange black-grey color with streaks of red. Her skin looks… like… scales. But it was her scent that took him by surprise. She always smelled faintly of dragons, but now? Now she smells exactly like one. His eyebrow rises in surprise.
The mortal breathes out slowly and looks him dead in the eye.
"Here I come."
Naraku's Point of View
Naraku watches intently as the stranger, who had proclaimed herself 'Jade', clashes with Lord Sesshomaru in Kanna's mirror. It is an impressive fight. The mortal, even without her unusual powers, is able to land strikes on the Daiyoukai constantly.
It's also frustrating.
He wants to know how she does it- the stone skin, the roar, all of it. And yet she has not even once used those abilities with the Daiyoukai. She is fighting Sesshomaru with raw physical strength and speed. It shouldn't have been enough. The woman should be dead by now. But it is enough.
His fingers taps the floor restlessly as he observes the pair- this Jade seems to have a liking for bestowing odd names.
'Sir Floofy?' What sort of name is that?
Naraku visibly is more attentive when Sesshomaru speaks for the first time, demanding the foreigner to fight with all her skills.
"Yes, good, goad her- show me her strengths and expose her weaknesses for me, Lord Sesshomaru." Naraku whispers to Kanna's mirror.
Nearby, Kagura carefully watches her creator.
What could have him staring at Kanna's mirror so intently?
Her thoughts are interrupted when Naraku hisses, eyes glued to the reflection. Kagura chances closer, curiosity egging her on. She sees a strange woman, clearly a foreigner, say
"Earth Dragon's Battle Scales."
And is stunned by her shocking transformation. Kagura is confused, and clearly so is Naraku since he snarls.
"Again, again with the strange powers!"
What? How-?! Her skin! It's- it's like stone! Living, shiny stone! Kagura thinks frantically, trying to weight the implications.
Both creator and incarnation spy with bated breath as they watch this stranger start the fight anew with Sesshomaru.
Jade's Point of View
Jade breathes out slowly and gives Sesshomaru a fair warning before launching herself at him. Again, he brings out the whip, but she simply blocks it with her arm, which does not melt as Sesshomaru expects it to. His eyes widen at that.
Why would he-? Oh, wait, right. Poison.
Jade muses as she grips the whip and then pulls it toward her. Sesshomaru uses her pull to add strength to his own attack as he slashes her, his fingers glowing green. Weird gunk splashes on her and smells wrong. Like, really wrong. The claws themselves leave scratches but no further damage. Jade growls and kicks viciously into his stomach, her stone-coated foot finishing the job of breaking his breastplate. Sesshomaru uses the momentum of the kick to land behind her and attacks again.
She whips one of her fists back and aims for his face- which is suddenly not there as he dodges and slams hard into her. Jade goes into a roll and takes a breath.
Ok, that actually hurts a bit- didn't crack my scales but I will definitely have bruises on my ribs later. Sir Floofy- you better not get KO'd by this!
As she halfway finishes the roll and can see Sesshomaru, she unleashes her attack.
"Earth Dragon's Roar!"
From her mouth hundreds of crystals shoot out, starting small and growing huge as they travel further from Jade. Sesshomaru manages to dodge a majority of the roar, but has some cuts on his shoulder where crystals had sliced through. The forest behind him was not as lucky. Trees are impaled or sliced through, but the majority of the damage was the trees being ripped up by the initial force of the roar and carried further away. The sheer scale was staggering.
Sesshomaru glances at the destruction and his eyes widen fractionally.
That was comparable to Windscar!
While Sesshomaru is distracted, Jade surges to her feet.
"Earth Dragon's Ruby Spears."
As she runs, her legs suddenly transform explosively into two spears made out of ruby, throwing her violently forward.
"Earth Dragon's Twin Swords!"
Jade midflight changes the spears into swords and slashes Sesshomaru. He avoids the first and blocks the second with Tokijin. Jade lands on her hands and spins, slashing again with her legs. Sesshomaru blocks both strikes again, but feels the ground shatter under him. He leaps away to give himself some room.
Jade pushes off her hands high into the air and lets her legs change back to normal. She considers the sword and grins at him.
"Earth Dragon's Ruby Sword."
Her left arm transforms into a blade nearly four feet long ((about 1.2 meters)). She salutes him and dashes forward again. The swords slam into each other, sparks flying. Her sword skills were surprisingly good- thanks to Erza giving her tips over the years. In terms of physical strength, Sesshomaru is stronger but lacks the second arm to truly overwhelm Jade. The exchange of blows came down to skill and endurance.
But this is Sesshomaru and an S-Class Dragon Slayer- simply fighting to exhaustion is in neither of their styles.
They break apart and Sesshomaru takes the opportunity to use one of his own magical strikes.
"Dragon Strike!"
Jade's eyes widen when she sees the wall of lightning coming for her, but she doesn't panic. Instead, she charges. When the lightning is right on top of her, she rams one of her fists into the ground in front of her.
"Earth Dragon's Rampart!"
The ground rolls beneath her hand and groans as it suddenly splits apart. A massive wall of stone rises, forcing the lightning to strike that first. Jade jumps, using the energy of the wall rising to further power her leap. Sesshomaru is partially blinded by the dust and doesn't see or smell her immediately. Jade smirks.
"Earth Dragon's Wing Strike!"
The scales detach from her arms and hail down on Sesshomaru, surprising him. He snarls and unleashes a second lightning strike, hitting Jade directly. She grits her teeth and hangs in there, enduring it. Jade lands hard but closes in fast with Sesshomaru, giving him no breather.
"Earth Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
Her fist connects with Tokijin and rips it cleanly out of his grip. He does not falter but again draws his poison whip. Jade hisses as it slashes at her legs, taking it, but she can feel the poison trying to eat through her magic protection.
I need to finish this!
With that in mind, Jade increases her speed and attack power by lessening her scale armor- it was damn useful and very strong but costs in stamina and magic to maintain. She looks into Sesshomaru's amber eyes and says softly,
"Let's end this."
Sesshomaru's Point of View
His eyes narrow at her words and Jade takes that opportunity to transform her arms.
"Earth Dragon's Sapphire Claws."
Her hands become brilliant blue, nails lengthening into claws even the Daiyoukai could approve of and her arms covered with scales to her elbows of the same color. She rips into his stomach with one hand while grabbing his clothes with the other to prevent his escape.
The world seems to still.
Then Jade coughs up blood. Sesshomaru's face is impassive as he removes his own claws from her stomach, ignoring his own wounds. She staggers back, panting, and lets out a low sound. Sesshomaru's eyes widen when he realizes, yet again, the mortal is laughing. Despite her injuries, despite their battle, she grins at him and gives him a nod.
"Sesshomaru was it? Congrats!" He stares at her in mute confusion.
The mortal is- congratulating him? Why? And did she just use his name?
Jade seems to read the confusion on his face and smiles at him. There was no animosity in it. None. Only a strange kind of mirth and happiness.
"You are the seventh person to ever break my scales, much less met me head on in a fight! It's not often I meet people I don't have to pull my punches with. I appreciate it, seriously! You're the first person I met in this country that gave me a real fight. Let's do this again some time!"
She grins widely and whistles sharply. Soren trots over, snorting at the smell of blood and dog demon. With some difficulty, Jade gets on and gives a wave before Soren races off into the woods. Sesshomaru watches the strange mortal ride away on her beast and muses her words.
This Sesshomaru doubts you will survive this one's poison claws… but, it would not be completely repulsive to fight such a powerful foe again.
As he turns to go himself, he feels the damage of bruised and punctured organs from her claws. A deep and debilitating injury that could open him up to attack from weaker foes. Such a blow is worthy of acknowledgement.
Wench- no, she referred to herself as 'Jade'. If you survives this Sesshomaru's poison, we shall trade blows again.
Jade's Point of View
Shit, getting hammered by Gildarts hurts less than this!
Jade is visibly unwell, sweating and bleeding everywhere. Soren bunks down in the nearest cave, understanding in his way his partner needed to be inside the earth. Staggering, she pulls out the veiling device Ryo made and activates it. Weakened, her fingers fumble as she removes Soren's saddle and sets up food for him. That done, she leans against the cave wall and closes her eyes and keens softly.
The feeling of foreign magic inside of her makes her want to vomit, but she forces herself to scrap rocks off the walls and eat them. Fever sets in and the pain tears through her constantly. But it abates, if only a little, when she eats the rocks. So she eats, sleeps and tries to not succumb to the poison inside of her.