Chapter 18: The Tomb

Kagewaki was very aware when the jewel shattered across the sky. He had planned his moves carefully. He knew where Asano castle was so he and Avalon left to visit Asano castle and wait for the moment Sesshomaru would show. He would unleash his dear, Avalon on the wounded demon. He knew there was no way she would lose and Kagewaki would absorb the corpse and be stronger for it.

Sesshomaru sees the pink light shoot across the sky. 'Was Avalon telling the truth?' Sesshomaru sniffs the air looking for Avalon's scent. 'I will find her, then I will hunt the halfbreed down.' He's confused when he can't catch a hint of her in the wind. 'Is she dead or behind a barrier?'

"Where are we going, my Lord?" Jaken asks confused and amazed by the light show in the sky.

Sesshomaru ignores his question and makes his way slowly to the miko's village to find the strangest sight, men and women floating in the air as if possessed.

"What in the seven hells is that?" Jaken freaks out seeing the floating humans.

Sesshomaru whispers, "Hikari," more to himself than anything. He picks up her scent and runs with all his speed to find her. Jaken clings to his pelt. Her scent leads out of the village but he also smells blood. He comes across Hikari tending to the wounded old miko Keade. Jaken Jr. stands guard over them.

"Sesshomaru what are ye doing here?" Keade's withered voice rasps.

"This Sesshomaru is looking for Avalon," he answers flatly.

"Why do you care?" Hikari pipes up defensively.

"She has gone to train and is not here," Kaede's says unsteadily. Hikari wraps the wound.

He can smell the hanyou on them but the scent is stale and old. 'Where has he gone?' "This Sesshomaru will leave then."

"Yeah just go! You're not wanted anyway," Hikari says bitterly.

Jaken follows Sesshomaru but looks back at Hikari and Kaede worriedly then turns back to see where his Lord is going.

He explores the area and finds a group of warriors missing their heads.

"Well these guys are goners for sure," Jaken says, looking at the corpses.

There is a faint scent of the demon that had once captured Avalon. His nose leads him to one man in particular. He zeros in on his chest and reaches in and finds a scroll. Pulling it open, he reads:

Destroy the village where the Miko Kaede resides and kill a child named, Hikari if the castle falls.

Sesshomaru's feels rage. 'Why target Hikar? And what castle does Naraku care about?' His Dokkasō melts the scroll in his hand. 'These men are harmless now.'

Jaken watches fascinated by what Sesshomaru is doing. "My Lord?"

"We go Jaken." He turns to leave.

Just at that moment a small lithe oni jumps down in front of him. She has a voluptuous body, with curves and ample breasts, barely covered by a skin tight black dress. "Oh me, oh my, such pretty silver hair. I really must have it."

Sesshomaru looks at the woman with disdain.

The oni pulls her sword and jumps at Sesshomaru, ready to take his head.

Sesshomaru produces his whip and spins on his heels. The whip cuts into the oni, slashing through her body, up and down, right and left. She falls to the ground in tiny pieces. Sesshomaru walks stepping on the pieces with Jaken right behind him.

Yura slowly puts herself back together. "Drats. That did not go as planned. Too bad," she pouts.

Sesshomaru walks away leaving the oni behind, searching for a trace of Avalon or the demon Naraku. He had questions and he wanted answers.

After several days of not finding any hints of Avalon or Naraku, he makes up his mind to get his father's sword. 'Let's see if you were correct about Tetsusaiga as well Avalon.'

Making his way to Kaede's village, he can smell the tainted blood of the hanyou, and it's fresh, letting him know the baka is there. A wicked smile graces his lips momentarily. 'A black pearl hidden in his right eye.'

Sesshomaru walks in the moonlight with Jaken following behind. He follows his nose to the scent of the hanyou. He hears a funny little conversation:

Inuyasha calls. "Get down!"

An unknown female voice says, "Inuyasha!"

The hanyou says, "Something's coming. Can't you feel it?"

The female says, "Inuyasha what's wrong?"

Sesshomaru makes his way slowly walking to see the pair and says flatly, "Jaken."

Jaken shrinks under his Lord's words. "Yes miLord?"

He continues monotonically "Once we are through, I want him dead."

Jaken shiver but answers, "Yes miLord."

The young man clad in red, with silver hair points his finger at Sesshomaru yelling. "It is you, Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru feigns being touched. "Indeed I have quite missed you as well, little brother."

The young woman wearing a blue short skirt and a long sleeve shirt with black hair says. "He called you his brother does that mean he's-"

Sesshomaru zeros in on the girl. "Hmmm a mortal. How interesting?"

The young raven haired female becomes defensive. "Yeah what of it?"

Sesshomaru looks over at Inuyasha. "Others would be shamed but with you little brother, the girl quite suits you. These human creatures, I should think you've had enough of them. Or is it a taste from father?"

Inuyasha growls at Sesshomaru and says, "That's not all, is it? You couldn't have come all this way just to tell me that."

Sesshomaru replays patronizingly, "Be not a fool. I have no such time to waste. The tomb of our father, where must I seek it?"

Inuyasha inquires, "Our father's tomb, why ask me?"

Sesshomaru replies in a bored tone, "Seen yet never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector. No other clues are known."

Inuyasha gets into a fighting stance. "I got no idea what you are talking about. Besides, even if I did, there's no way I'd tell you."

Sesshomaru replies in a deadly tone. "I see." He rushes forward.

"Sesshomaru you bast-" Inuyasha starts just as Sesshomaru reaches him and grabs Inuyasha by the neck, lifting him up.

The young woman jumps back and gasps.

Sesshomaru plunges his finger into his brother's right eye, testing Avalon's words. He feels a solid mass and pulls it out. "Father was determined to keep it a secret. Which is why he chose to hide it here." His heart pounds lightly in his chest. 'She was right.' A part of him wonders where she is that he has been unable to find her.

The young woman screams at Sesshomaru. "Stop it!"

Sesshomaru drops Inuyasha.

Inuyasha covers his right eye and looks in slight awe at the item that came out. "What?"

Sesshomaru looks down at Inuyasha realizing he really didn't know about it. "Well then little brother, since it was obviously done without your knowledge, come." He leaves no room for argument. 'This will be entertaining.'

Just then, a small voice can be heard and a little speck calls, "Lord Inuyasha!" It hops on the young woman's shoulder. The young woman rushes to Inuyasha and crouches next to him. "Inuyasha?"

Sesshomaru continues his monologue, "No wonder searching beneath ground was useless. Seen yet never seen. Protected but never known to its protector. Our father's tomb was hidden inside a black pearl deep within your eye." 'Avalon was right,' the thought refuses to leave his head. 'Does this mean she was right about Bakusaiga? About loving a human child?'

Inuyasha gets up, jumping at Sesshomaru, slashing with his claws. "You bastard!"

Sesshomaru moves quicker than his brother and responds by using his whip, lashing out at him while saying, "Die." Sesshomaru strikes Inuyasha several times until he knocks him down.

Just then the young maiden shouts, "Hey you!"

The call momentarily distracts him from attacking Inuyasha. 'How like Avalon.' A smile threatens to curve his lips but he keeps his face stoic.

The small speck on her shoulder says, "Kagome, don't or he will kill us both!"

Sesshomaru turns from both, sweeping his eyes about for his vassal and calls,"Jaken."

Jaken comes to his side. "Hai miLord." He hands Sesshomaru Nintōjō.

Sesshomaru raises the staff high in the air. "At last the moment has come." He stabs the tip of the pearl with the staff, until it glows bright pink, emitting a rose hue around them. The old man's head on the staff laughs.

Jaken speaks, "the old man laughs. It means the tomb will open."

The pink light erupts into a swirling white and black patrol. Sesshomaru and Jaken step in.

Kagome watches in amazement and exclaims, "They're gone!"

The little speck of a flea jumps onto Inuyasha's shoulder, exclaiming desperately, "The portal! We must move quickly before it closes! Do you want your brother to take your father's treasure? It's your sole possession from him!?"

The white light shines on Inuyasha's face as he stubbornly says, "Let him. What do I care?"

The flea's voice distressed as he jumps up and down. "But sire…"

Inuyasha grits his teeth before saying, "I never said I'm not going in there, okay. Say your prayers Sesshomaru. YOU'RE DEAD!" Inuyasha looks back at Kagome and says. "You stay here, it's too dangerous for yo-." He notices she is no longer behind, he turns looking back at the portal. "Huh?"

Kagome steps into the portal calling over her shoulder, "What do you want? An invitation?"

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouts as she steps completely into the portal.

Inuyasha enters and calls in a patronizing voice. "You realize Sesshomaru's there?"

The dimension shifts around them with purple and pink swirls. Kagome looks back at Inuyasha and says, "Well duh! That's why we gotta go. No one does that, no matter who he is." she states matter-of-factly.

Suddenly they are falling from the sky over a wasteland with rock formations and an extremely large skeleton in the distance. Fog whips about the world. A flying skeletal birdlike creature catches the pair.

Inuyasha looks at the huge skeleton and says, "Father."

Kagome looks at the same skeleton. "Huh? Those bones there, are your dad?"

Inuyasha replies defensively, "What else would they be?"

Kagome says considerately, "Not that he wasn't alive once too, but-" Her face contorts with annoyance. "What do you mean what else? They're huge, okay?"

The flea clings to a bead on Inuyasha's nihongo and speaks wisely, "It's true. They're huge because he himself was of incomparable stature. Here he is in truest form, undisguised. The treasured sword was embedded in his bones. That is what Lord Sesshomaru is after."

Inuyasha and Kagome steer the birdlike creature towards the large skeleton.

Sesshomaru stands in front of a platform with swirls that mimic flames. "Here is what I have sought. At last I will take possession of the sacred sword, the lethal legendary blade known to kill a hundred in one stroke. Tetsusaiga."

Jaken says in reverence, "They say it was forged from the fang of your father's own mouth. Once you possess the blade, Tetsusaiga, you possess his power as well."

Sesshomaru wraps his hand around the sword only for it to reject him, burning his hand in a blue flame.

Jaken says disheartened, "It's not stuck is it?"

Sesshomaru says indifferently as he looks at his hand. "Father has done his work well. The blade is ensorcelled. There is a barrier around it." 'Did you know it would reject me, Avalon? Was this what you kept from this Sesshomaru?'

Inuyasha screams, "Sesshomaru! We're not finished yet." He leaps at Sesshomaru, claws ready to strike. But when Inuyasha lands, Sesshomaru has disappeared. "Now where'd he go? Huh?"

Sesshomaru perches on a rib behind Inuyasha and higher up. "Be more respectful, it's our father's tomb."

Inuyasha turns to him and says angrly, "Look who's talking! You're the one who's here robbing his grave. Why not respect him by leaving?"

Myoga jumps on Inuyasha's shoulder excitedly. "Lord Inuyasha! Look back! Look back!"

Inuyasha glaces around. "Back where? How come?"

Myoga continues, "Do you see it? The blade from your father's fang, Tetsusaiga!"

Inuyasha goes over to the sword stuck in the platform, walking around it. "What? You mean this? What a piece of junk. Tetsusaiga what? It wouldn't even cut paper wet."

Myoga insists, "Lord Inuyasha, you must draw the sword, please and you Lord Sesshomaru, you couldn't pull it out? Could you?"

Sesshomaru scoffs. "Do you mean to say Inuyasha can?"

Myoga backs into Inuyasha's hair as he speaks "Of course, it was always intended that Lord Inuyasha should inherit it. He...he...he was entrusted with the tomb, wasn't he? That should be proof enough, if you ask me. Now hurry, hurry! And claim what's yours!"

Inuyasha becomes frustrated with the conversation. "What entrusted? What inheritance? For all I care, he can keep the rusty piece of junk." Inuyasha yells at Sesshomaru, "What I do mind though, is all the other stuff! Good thing you're in a grave, because you're going to die!"

Inuyasha dashes at Sesshomaru aiming to hit him.

Sesshomaru effortlessly dodges. "Now was that aimed at me?"

"Damn!" Inuyasha curses.

Sesshomaru's condescending voice comes out, "You fight as though you're still a child."

Myoga pleads with Inuyasha, "You can't fight unarmed. The sword. Get the sword."

Inuyasha turns on Myoga. "You, shut up!"

Kagome's angry voice grabs Inuyasha's attention, "Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha looks up at Kagome. "Huh?"

Kagome continues, "Get the dumb sword."

Inuyasha confusion is clear for all to see. "Kagome?"

Kagome feels like rolling her eyes. "Sesshomaru couldn't pull it out right? If you can't hit him in the body, hit him in the ego. Hurt his pride."

Inuyasha finally understands what she is getting at and laughs. "I get it. I'll do it. If only to see the look on your face. This is going to be more fun than I thought."

Inuyasha leaps up onto the platform, pulling at the sword.

Jaken stutters, "N-n-no! Inuyasha is immune to the spell that thwarted Sesshomaru-sama?"

Myoga's voice holds an air of superiority, "I knew it. Tetsusaiga is fated to become Lord Inuyasha's!"

The sword remains in place as a circle of light forms around it, while Inuyasha pulls on the sword.

Kagome yells. "Pull harder! Draw it out!"

Inuyasha struggles, grunting before giving up.

Kagome is stunned. "What?"

"Huh? Yo!" Inuyasha says to Myoga.

"Hai," Myoga answers.

"I couldn't pull the sword out, could I?" Inuyasha squeezes the flea slowly while Inuyasha's brow twitches

"Not really, no," Myoga replies.

"Are you done? I am." Sesshomaru dashes at Inuyasha slashing at him. Inuyasha barely dodges his attack as Inuyasha runs to get some distance and Sesshomaru catches up to him, slamming Inuyasha's body against a rib. "Dokkasu will sublimate you!" Sesshomaru's hand glows green as it sprays an acrid green substance that melts the bones where Inuyasha's head had been only moments ago. 'Damn you Avalon! What other secrets were you hiding from me?'

'That was too close,' Inuyasha thinks.

Sesshomaru catches up with Inuyasha again asking, "Running?" Sesshomaru leaps up using his whip to slap at Inuyasha as he blocks only to fly back after receiving a powerful strike.

Jaken waves his staff menacingly. "Don't worry Milord it's all taken care of -"

Kagome jumps down crushing the imp. "You coward!" She leaps off to face him.

Jaken is momentarily stunned and gets up, raising his staff. "Oh why you?" He slams his staff down at Kagome.

She catches it saying, "You stinking toad!" And struggles to push it back.

Jaken pushes back. "You stinking human!"

Kagome pants as she pushes the staff further back. "This human's going to kick your-"

Jaken screams over her. "I don't think so!" He knocks her over.

Inuyasha sees Kagome fall and is momentarily distracted. "Kagom-ugh" Sesshomaru lands a punch directly to his gut and then hits Inuyasha in the face knocking him down.

Jaken taunts Kagome, "What's the matter? Is that all you got?"

Kagome reaches up on the platform regaining her bearings and grabs the hilt of the sword. "Not even started."

Inuyasha lays on his back, struggling to get up before leaping at Sesshomaru. "Ahhhh!"

Sesshomaru's left hand reaches claws out hitting Inuyasha in the chest stopping his advance. Sesshomaru draws his right hand back as it starts to glow green. "The time has come...die." 'You would think I would spare the hanyou.' Sesshomaru leaps and smashes Inuyasha into the ground with his left hand still gripping Inuyasha's front. He flexes his fingers on the right hand, cracking them as they glow green 'First I kill this one, then find Avalon.'

Kagome bearing witness cries, "INUYASHA!" Tetsusaiga pulls from the platform in her grasp. "Oops."

Sesshomaru hears her and stops his advance. The green light fades away instantly as he turns his head looking over to the girl. "Huh?"

"It just...came out." Kagome gazes at the sword in her hand.

Jaken gasps flabbergasted.

"Sorry," Kagome says. 'Now what?'

Jaken speaks, "That's impossible. If the two of them couldn't do it, how could a mere human ever hope to -"

Inuyasha slashes at Sesshomaru. "Don't look at her! Look at me! Huh?" He misses looking around for Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru stands before Kagome. "What are you? How were you able to draw the sword?"

Myoga speaks, "Good thing he's after her now and not us, eh Lord inuyasha?" He sighs in relief.

Inuyasha scolds Myoga, "Be quiet!" He raises his voice, "Sesshomaru leave her alone! She's not involved in this!"

Kagome looks past Sesshomaru, yelling to Inuyasha, "Inuyasha!" She threatens Sesshomaru, brandishing the sword. "One step closer and I'll kill you."

Sesshomaru turns back to look at Inuyasha. "Neither you or I could draw Tetsusaiga. Yet she was not stopped by the barrier. You expect me to let her go?" 'Avalon, was this another omission? Treacherous Onna.' His mind fumes with hatred for Avalon and a desperate need to find her when this battle is finished and throttle her until she spilled all her secrets.

Inuyasha admits, "You're right it is weird she could do it and we couldn't, but she's still just a human girl. Kagome, give him the sword. There's no choice!"

Kagome stubbornly holds the sword. "No way! Why does he automatically get to keep it? If he couldn't pull it out, it means he's not supposed to have it. He'll have to come and take it."

Inuyasha yells at Kagome in frustation, "Don't be stupid! You're only a human! So back off! Shut up! And butt out!"

Kagome points the sword at Inuyasha. "Butt out? What do you know? You're just a-"

Sesshomaru interrupts their squabble, growing bored. "Inuyasha you seem very interested in the actions of this human. Why protect her? Why let her go?" Sesshomaru brings his left hand to brush his hair back behind his ear. "Why love her?"

Inuyasha blushes and mumbles.

Sesshomaru walks closer to Inuyasha as his fingers glide through his own hair and his hands drop. "Certainly these feelings of mercy of yours are not something I inherited from our great and terrible father." Sesshomaru looks off to his right as he speaks, "It was this feeling for a mortal woman, your mother. This weakness of heart that led our father to his demise. Tainted blood courses through your body. Is it this blood that endears you to humans? I do not pay heed to such vulgar creatures." He outstretches his right hand before turning to Kagome and spaying a green mist on her

Kagome clings to the sword. "Inuyasha!" She turns the sword in the path of his poison mist as everything melts consuming the girl, leaving a pile of green goo.

Inuyasha rushes forward screaming, "KAGOME!"

Sesshomaru lowers his hand as the green light fades from it. "So fragile, don't you agree?" he asks flatly.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha says in a deadly tone.

"And not just humans- half breeds too." Sesshomaru moves to look over at his brother.

Inuyasha rushes at Sesshomaru screaming, "Sankon Tessō!"

Sesshomaru leaps out of his way as he uses his pelt to wrap Inuyasha up, bringing the hanyou close to his face. "With tainted blood like yours, you cannot touch me." He slings Inuyasha away with force, causing Inuyasha to slide along the ground and crash into the side of a large rib, cracking it.

Inuyasha struggles up. "You," he say darkly.

Sesshomaru uses his light whip, striking Inuyasha in the arms, face and legs. "You forget your station. WORTHLESS HANYOU!" He sends Inuyasha flying back and up to a high rib crushing it.

Inuyasha blocks his face with his robe of the fire rat remembering his childhood. "A half-breed am I. That's right. I remember my mother, she was crying, crying for me. She knew what it meant and what my life would be like." Inuyasha rises up looking where Kagome's grave now sat. "Half-breed or full-breed, to me it doesn't matter but when you insult my mother that's when I get angry!" Inuyasha dashes at Sesshomaru. "I'm gonna make you pay!" He strikes Sesshomaru's chest plate as Sesshomaru moves to dodge leaping away from Inuyasha. "That was for mother and this- this is for Kagome." Inuyasha leap up striking Sesshomaru again in his chest plate as yellow sparks erupt from the contact.

Jaken runs forward in disbelief. "This can't be happening. A moment ago he couldn't hit Sesshomaru-sama at all."

Both brothers land. Inuyasha on his knees and hand. Sesshomaru stands tall, looking down as the carrass breaks on his armor. A smirk crosses his face and he mocks Inuyasha. "All that for a memory and a dead mortal girl? If I'd known that's what it took to make you fight, I'd have killed her sooner."

Inuyasha turns ready to tear Sesshomaru apart threatening him, "I'm gonna slit your stomach, take out your guts and put 'em in a bowl! By the time I'm through, you're gonna wish it was you who was dead!"

Kagome emerges from the goo. "Shoo, I thought I was a goner."

Inuyasha is shocked to see her alive. "Huh?"

Kagome looks angrily over at Sesshomaru. "Hey you! You tried to kill me! Didn't you? Don't go thinking you're gonna get away with it." She holds the sword pointed at Sesshomaru as she walks sideways to Inuyasha and places the blade in his hand. "Here, I think we underestimated it. Don't let me down."

Inuyasha holds the blade, still stunned seeing her alive. "Hey, uh...how come you're still alive?"

Kagome looks down at her hands. "Mmm...uh...I don't know."

Sesshomaru speaks. "The sword. That's what protected you."

The ground rattles under Sesshomaru's feet.

Myoga hops on Inuyasha shoulder. "It's true those claws of his are deadly poison. It had to be the sword or she really would have died. Why not put it to a real test and try it on Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru speaks darkly, "Big words for such small vermin." Sesshomaru starts emitting a red aura as a wind circles his body and skulls fly up circling him. A few fly forward smashing into Inuyasha as Kagome hides behind his back.

'What's his problem? What a jerk,' Kagome thinks.

"Let's see if a half-breed can even wield the Tetsusaiga. I, Sesshomaru, shall be the witness." Sesshomaru's eyes glow red and his face elongates and white fur covers his skin before the red aura consumes his entire body as it shoots up and around before he lands as a giant white dog.

Kagome gasps. "He changed!"

Inuyasha looks on unimpressed. "Good cause now we know his real form."

Sesshomaru barks at Inuyasha aggressively several times, bearing his shark teeth.

Inuyasha chuckles. "Now that I'm using this, I'll win for sure." Inuyasha backs up as Sesshomaru advances on him. "Yup I'd say this battle's just about finished before it ever starts. You go hide until it's over."

Kagome says, "Ok sure...but where?"

Inuyasha leaps forward. "Here goes. This is it sword, time to show me what you're made of!" Inuyasha hits Sesshomaru on the back of his head as Sesshomaru leaps to crush Kagome.

Kagome screams running out of the way.

Inuyasha looks at his sword. "Didn't even make a scratch, huh?" Inuyasha dodges as Sesshomaru leaps to crush him. Sesshomaru tries hitting Inuyasha and Inuyasha dodges over and over again before Sesshomaru's fangs drip with dokkasu, creating a mist of poison on the ground that melts whatever it touches.

Inuyasha looks over at his shoulder Myoga. "What's the deal? This sword can't even bruise, let alone cut!"

Myoga tidies a bag ready to sling it over his back. "Well...uh...Lord Inuyasha, I suppose that, uh it'll make a lovely heirloom if nothing else. Besides, it's the thought that counts. Now if you'll excuse me." Myoga leaps from his shoulder running away.

Inuyasha calls, "Hey, hey, whoa."

Myoga calls right before he takes off. "And don't let that Sesshomaru push you around ok?"

Inuyasha sees the poison gas and yells, "Kagome, quick get up off the ground!"

Kagome backs away. "What do you suggest?"

Inuyasha motions with his sword. "Just climb, up, up, up!"

Inuyasha dodges as Sesshomaru attacks over and over again.

Kagome looks over her shoulder as she climbs crying, "Inuyasha!"

Myoga stops to warn Kagome, "No! Just climb! Even a demon can't stay in those fumes for long!"

Jaken scampers up the vines and bones. "Lord Sesshomaru I can't -"

Kagome looks down concerned. "What about him? What about inuyasha? Will he be ok?

Myoga goes to shrug and loses his balance. "Uh probably not huh forget the heroics it's every flea for himself come on!"

Kagome calls down. "Inuyasha!" And then climbs higher as the gas rises.

Inuyasha dodges Sesshomaru's attacks, enveloped in the green poison fog, coughing. "Even I can't stay down here too much longer." Inuyasha leaps up out of the gas grabbing onto a rib high up. He couches, more struggling to lift his body up on top of the rib. "My arms and legs are going numb."

Just as Sesshomaru comes out from the fog clamping down on Inuyasha with his jaws and pulls him down back into the cloud of green gas. Sesshomaru thrashes his head left and right.

Inuyasha says, "Even a useless sword like this has to be more irritating than a mosquito bite." He stabs the blade into Sesshomaru's right eye.

Sesshomaru rolls around trying to dislodge the sword before leaping out of his father's body, breaking through the right shoulder.

Inuyasha manages to get out of Sesshomaru's mouth and holds on to the fur on his chin.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screams as she sees them both emerge from the skeleton.

Inuyasha lets go, landing gracefully.

Myoga jumps around in the bushes. "Now do you see the power of Tetsusaiga? Oh you're giving Sesshomaru what for I hope. Woo-hoo!"

Inuyasha looks over his shoulder. "Where have you been? This thing's about as useful as a walking stick!"

Myoga squints looking at the blade. "Oh? So maybe it isn't from your father." He drops into the bushes and runs.

Kagome looks surprised at where Myoga was just a moment ago. "Hey, he left!"

Inuyasha looks at Sesshomaru as he says, "Why am I not surprised? In the meantime what am I gonna do with this thing?"

Just then Sesshomaru leaps at Inuyasha trying to smash him with his claws. Inuyasha doges, then Sesshomaru's paw comes at Inuyasha and Inuyasha slashes at it with the sword.

Kagome cheers, "That's it! Sock it to him Inuyasha! I think the first one hit!"

Inuyasha looks at Kagome like she has lost her mind. "What are you nuts? That wasn't even close."

Kagome smiles. "But the sword's yours now. All you gotta do is believe in it like I believe in you!"

Sesshomaru whimpers as he brings the paw Inuyasha stuck up to lick.

Inuyasha chastises Kagome. "You are nuts. This sword is good for nothing. Me I'll live, I'm half demon. You though, you ain't got a chance."

Kagome's voice falls as she starts to cry. "So I should just give up hope?"

Inuyasha freaks. "What...what are you doing? You're not crying are you? NO CRYING!"

Kogome yells back. "Oh should I laugh!"

Inuyasha counters harshly, "No, you should shut up and let me protect you."

Kagome gasps.

Inuyasha walks away to fight Sesshomaru. "You stay here and watch."

Kagome becomes reflective. "Wait a sec...I didn't imagine that, did I? Did he just say he'd protect me? " 'In some ways, he is like his brother but in others, he's totally different.'

Inuyasha stands at the ready. "Yeah, yeah. Roar, roar to you too buddy. Let's get it over with." Just then Inuyasha hears his sword pulsing like a heartbeat. Buh-dump, buh-dump, buh-dump.

"Tetsusaiga is pulsing. I can hear the sound from before. No, this time it's different."

Jaken cheers, "Get him Lord sesshomaru! Bite his little head off! That's right nibble off his little - ow" A skull hits Jaken in the back of his head.

Kagome had thrown it. "We'll see who eats who." She tosses several more skulls at his head. 'You can do it, I just know it'

Sesshomaru leaps in the air to pounce on Inuyasha with his front left leg.

"Now!" Inuyasha jumps slashing as the sword transforms, slicing up Sesshomaru's leg before cutting it clean off.

Sesshomaru collapses on his side as blood pours from his severed limb. 'Shit,' Sesshomaru struggles to stand. 'I'm losing too much blood.' Black flecks, sprinkle into his vision. 'I can't breathe.' Shock washes through his body at the sudden removal of a limb.

Inuyasha notices that his sword has changed. "Huh? It looks like a fang." He waves it around. "It is a fang. The old man did leave me something worthwhile."

Sesshomaru stands with his limb still hemorrhaging blood as Inuyasha stands in front of him.

"So here we are, two brothers fighting over father's sword. But compared to him, you and I are nothing. Don't you get it? We're like a couple of fleas jumping around on his body. We would be lucky if he didn't squash us flat! So maybe I don't have too many memories of him, but it was me father chose to hide his tomb in. I'd rather give up an eye than give up his sword. Maybe I'm not so worthless than. Am I?"

Sesshomaru launches himself at Inuyasha as Inuyasha slashes him across the chest several times. Sesshomaru flies backwards with yellow light protruding from his chest. He transforms into a ball of blue light and transports away as Jaken runs after him.

A/N Thank you for your continued support. I was so nervous about posting my last chapter. I thought of re-writing it but it seems my readers enjoyed it and yes not pregnant thank goodness. I tip my hat to my lovely co-writer and beta Elohiniar. Thank you again. Please leave a review.

Itzatakahashi- No the spell did not change. Avalon unfortunately is trapped in a body that must do as Naraku says. But she is in full control of her conscious so she can deny speaking but she is awake and aware of everything she does and everything that is done to her. Thank you for reviewing.

ASJS- Yes let us hope Sesshomaru realizes what is going on with her before he kills her. Stress plays a part but she also has a medical condition called endometriosis she mentions to Hikari that she doesn't think she can have children. Please have a look at what endometriosis is. The condition goes undiagnosed a lot and many women suffer from it. It would have been funny if Nisshoku broke the spell and Naraku's plan was shot in the ass but that would still leave Avalon in the same position. Trapped by Naraku. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing

Smmahamazing- Yes rejoice she is not pregnant she was only ill, Yes Naraku has been impersonating Lord Kagewaki for some time now. If he is a good actor or not really wouldn't matter. Back in that time a Lord pretty much could act as he wished if he wanted to kill his subjects it was frowned upon but not opposed. The Lord could cause enough uproar within his subject to be killed but just because his personality changed there would be no question. Yes, let Avalon out of Naraku's grasp already. Thank you for your review.