True Power

A/N: Hello there, readers! Here's chapter 4 for you. I hope you enjoy. Please review and let me know of what you think.

Disclaimer:I do not own Inuyasha. The credit goes to Rumiko Takahashi. My credit is the storyline and my OC Rikka.

Four

It had taken Rikka a long time in order to fall asleep. Her hunger had proved to be most uncooperative. What mainly kept her awake that night was her uneasiness and the power she could sense. It thickened the air, stroked against her skin, and just made her unable to close her eyes for hours. In the end exhaustion had won. She had been too exhausted to even think of casting out protective magic. And now she was regretting it. Thankfully, no trouble had found her when she was knocked out.

'Baka, baka, baka,' she muttered to herself as she trekked through the forest, unable to believe she had left herself unprotected for a few hours.

Dark lines were smudged under her eyes, and her steps were lagging from tiredness and lack of nourishment. Her stomach was persistently annoying her and her throat was dry. Her body felt icky wearing the same dirty clothes as the day before and from not being able to wash it off. She hoped that she'd find a source of water soon. She did not want to go days on end without having to at least wash.

She wished she had some way of tracking Kagome. And though she was a witch, her tracking spells were absolutely pathetic. She was a fighter before anything else, but she had undertaken years of honing her defensive abilities. From the minute that she could walk, Rikka's been undergoing training to become an official witch. She spent most of her childhood honing her defensive magic, her healing magic more than anything else. And then she was taught the offensive magic, a feat impossible for lesser witches. She was still an apprentice witch, still far too young to become an official witch. With so few witches in the modern era, it was harder for witches to train and become officially approved by the Witch Council.

'I wonder how witches lived in this era,' she thought aloud. 'I guess I'm going to have to find out.'

As Rikka walked, ignoring her grumbling stomach and parched throat, she had the sudden sense that something was wrong. Gritting her teeth as she rose her guard, she cursed her inability to recognise what was and was not a danger. She could not feel the aura of power last night nor could she feel any aura of power. Instead, what she could feel was a danger on a slighter scale than what she's felt recently. It was different to the yōkai she destroyed last night in order to protect the pup. And while it was completely different, Rikka did not doubt the level of danger she was sensing. Despite being a witch, she was still a woman, more human than these yōkai. She could be killed as easily as any human if caught off guard or gotten around her magic.

It wasn't long when she found out exactly what caused this feeling.

A group of men were headed her way on horseback. A few of them were burly men, a couple looked like sticks, and there was the odd two that had potbellies. They were unshaven and wore armour that clashed at every movement. Swords were strapped at their waists, and the horses carried bales of loot. What was most intimidating about these men weren't the swords, but the expressions they wore. Upon noticing her, a lone woman, their expressions twisted even further.

Rikka felt the feeling increase tenfold and knew that they were dangerous.

'Hey, babe, want to have fun with us?' one asked, steering his horse round the side of her.

The others encircled her, cutting off any escape plan she had been formulating.

'No thank you,' she said as calmly and politely as possible.

'Aw, c'mon,' another whined. 'We'll show you the time of your life.'

They all laughed at his dry humour.

Rikka wanted to sneer, but kept her emotions and expression in firm check. She did not want to needlessly kill humans, if you count men like these as human.

She eyed the dried blood patches on their armour and kosode. If they were samurai, they would have cleaned themselves off. If they were any respectable citizen, they would have seen to their clothing and armour. Since they failed at that, it was clear that these men were common bandits. They might be rapists and who knows what else. And she was surrounded by the lot of them.

Why didn't she disappear into the forest? Why did she have to follow the path?

It was because Kagome was somewhere along this route. She couldn't divert in case she completely lost her way.

'My idea of a good time differs entirely from yours,' she said, closing her eyes in an attempt to push down her anger. 'Now I'm going to ask nicely. Stand aside or pay the consequences.'

The men laughed again, this time louder as if deeply amused.

'Listen here, wench. You're just a little girl. What can you do against the nine of us?'

With a sharp forceful blast of her magic, Rikka sent them hurtling from their horses and into the trees. Sensing the unusual energy, the horses reared and neighed loudly in panic. They then galloped away from her as fast as possible, leaving behind their riders. Turning away from the disappearing horses, she eyed the men who slowly got to their feet, eyes wild and crazed. She could see their need to spill her blood.

This was what separated them from the rest of humanity. Their senseless need to spill blood. They were no better than the yōkai that preyed on humans.

As the bandits unsheathed their swords, Rikka realised that she shouldn't have revealed herself. Had they suspected her as a human being, they probably would not have resulted to such extremes. And since she had indeed shown that she was far from human, completely different to them, they were probably going to kill her. Who was she kidding? They were going to kill her from the very start.

I'd like to see them try, she thought stubbornly.

Her light brown eyes lost its shine as she allowed the warrior within her to take over. As much as she wanted to release the dark power that was brimming at the expectancy of spilling blood, she held herself back. She had to keep reminding herself that they were humans. Humans that were going to rape her. But still human beings. She wanted to discard that reasoning and just slaughter them. But that would make her exactly like them. She would be spilling needless blood.

'I don't know what you are, wench, but you certainly aren't no human,' the leader stated, hefting his katana and pointed it at her.

'I'm as human as you are,' Rikka said coldly, eyeing the men and their swords. 'Just on a different scale.'

'As if!' he said charging.

She dodged the swing of the sword and kicked his feet out from under him. She sidestepped another man's sword and kicked him in the stomach. She kicked the third attacker's sword out of his hands. Ducking under the forth, she kicked the fifth in his face sending him hurtling back against a tree. Attacker number two came back for another round, grabbing his wrist she twisted it until it snapped and he cried out in pain. Sensing an attack from behind, Rikka twirled out of the way and watched as the sword cut clean through attacker number two's wrists. This time he screamed.

Sidestepping a sword, she ducked under another, and bent backwards to avoid the third. Two came at her at the same time. She jumped and kicked them both in the face. Landing on her feet, she quickly ducked another swinging sword and brought her leg up in an upper kick. She felt the bite of a sword cutting clean through her left side and she screamed in pure agony. Twirling on the attacker, she eyed the leader with a very heated glare that caused him to shudder at the black that had seeped into her light brown eyes. Another sword bite into her back from a downwards strike. Another agonising scream ripped from her mouth.

Her legs collapsed beneath her, the blood loss making it impossible to maintain an upright position. Her stomach smacked the ground, hard, making all the air whoosh out of her. Straining to lift her head, Rikka glared up at the four men that crowded around her with sick twisted expressions. Victory lightened their blood crazed eyes, smirks twisted cruelling at the corners. They were clearly going to kill her, completely forgetting about their previous plans. What better chance than now? She was completely at their mercy.

Her vision blurred, their faces coming in and out of focus. The blood loss was finally getting to her. Her head swam, her vision clouded, and she could feel her heart trying to pump blood, but it was only seeping out the two fatal wounds. Even if she miraculously escaped, she was going to die. There was no way that she was going to be able to survive these wounds. It'll be better if she just let them kill her.

No! she screamed in her head. I am not going to let these lowlifes be the death of me! I have a mission to complete. I have to find Kagome.

Mustering the last of her defiance, her power swam to the surface in a searing frenzy just as she fell unconscious. Just as the men stabbed their swords down, Rikka's power burst forth in the form of black fire. The wave of power that accompanied the appearance of the unusual flames knocked the men off their feet, sending them crashing into the trees. The flames wrapped around Rikka's body, cradling her in its centre. They did not burn her, but they burnt everything else.

The flames pooled on the ground like water, licking up the trees and clung to the unconscious men. The four that remained conscious tried swatting at the flames, but they only caught fire. Their blood curling screams echoed through the still forest as the fire ate away at them, forcing animals to burrow deeper in their homes in fear. When the threat was turned into the finest ash, the flames retreated leaving behind a scorched land where its centre remained untouched and in the form of a body.

Vulnerable, alone and unconscious, Rikka was in danger, more so than ever. Anyone could take advantage of her at this point. Anyone could target her.

Not much time passed when a large black dog yōkai stepped onto the scarred land, red eyes glowing as it took in the extent of the damage. Not far behind him was a slightly smaller black dog yōkai, more feminine in features. Clustered beneath her stomach were five black pups, each baring eyes as red as their parents'. Four of them cowered back, bumping into their mother's hind legs. The fifth was more daring and darted out from beneath the safety of his mother. He jogged over to his father and stood at his side, red eyes searching, black nose twitching.

The father spotted Rikka first. In three steps he towered over her unconscious form. Lowering his large head, he opened his jaws ready to eat the tasty smelling human.

'No! Stop!' two little barks made his ear twitch back, but did not stop him.

His fang grazed her arm when he was suddenly scratched on his nose. He reared back, a deep growl rumbling from his throat as he glared down at the bold pup. Surprise lightening the glare as he watched his pup protect the human. Smaller, younger, version of his own red eyes glaring back at him.

'Son, stand aside,' he growled.

'No!' he barked, lowering himself in the stance to pounce.

Raising a non-existent eyebrow, his father stared down at him, amused. 'What are you doing?'

'What does it look like?' he growled.

'Stop back talking to your father and get over here,' his mother's stern voice came out as a growl.

'She protected me! She healed me! I won't let father kill her!' the pup snarled angrily.

'This is the human?' the father mused.

When his son didn't deny his words, he found himself locked in decision. Eat the human or repay the favour? It was a quick decision. He was not going to leave a debt unpaid, regardless of how insignificant the debt was, or how tasty the human smelt. Besides, this human had saved his pup's life, therefore he owed her a big debt. And with the severe wounds she's sporting, it was clear that with saving her life the debt would be repaid.

'Very well,' he finally growled unhappily. 'We'll take her with us.'

The mother nodded her head and nudged her other pups back in the direction they had come from. Her fifth pup stayed back and watched as his father gently picked his saviour off the ground by her clothing. They then caught up with the others, the four pups peering curiously up at the human from beneath their mother's stomach. Their brother looked proud and smug as he trotted by their father. The mother was concerned about the human. Was she dangerous? Was she really her pup's saviour? But she was more concerned with the human's waning condition. It was clear that death was approaching, but there was a stubborn refusal to succumb to it.

The father's ears flicked back as he was buffeted by a powerful yōki just before he could smell the yōkai. A fellow dog yōkai, but one a lot stronger than he ever hoped to be. Had they delayed a tad later, they would have encountered him, and it would not have been a pretty sight. They would have all been slaughtered.

Not wanting to encounter the powerful daiyōkai, because that was what he clearly was, he urged his pack faster.

~ ~ ~ Here's a bonus for you ~ ~ ~

Sesshōmaru entered the charred clearly, golden eyes narrowing at the sight. The area was that badly burned, it was impossible to see the life on the outside from within the circle. The trees were blackened, all life having been sucked away. What dirt and grass there had been was gone, replaced by a thick black substance that was probably the grass itself. The animals avoided the area, not even a bird flew overhead. It was almost as if this scarred land had been cursed.

'Oh my,' Jaken stated from his side. 'What happened here?'

'Ah!' Rin exclaimed excitedly. 'Look at all those pretty flowers!'

'What are you talking about, insolent girl?!' Jaken exclaimed angrily.

'Over there!' Rin said pointing to what appeared to be the centre of the scorched land.

'Oh,' Jaken commented as he finally spotted them.

Sesshōmaru seethed on the inside of not having spotted the only patch of life in this whole charred glade. It looked as if it formed a pattern, but the flowers had overgrown it. There was a variety of colours, white, red, pink, yellow and orange. Sesshōmaru easily identified them as roses but they were not the ones native to Japan. It was unusual to see such foreign roses, especially ones this beautiful. But there was something strange about these ones. There was a distinctive scent of power around them. They had not grown naturally here. Whatever had killed the area and grown the roses.

Sesshōmaru walked over to the patch of flowers and knelt beside it.

Golden eyes raked over them, trying to glean information.

His eyes narrowed when no information was forthcoming. Outstretching his only arm, his forefinger and thumb went to grab the large white rose that seemed to peer up at him beseechingly. As soon as he touched the stem, a spark zapped at the contact. His beast woke with a mighty roar and pounded at the mental cages that held it back. Sesshōmaru forced his beast down, struggling to contain his instinctual form.

Unknowingly, his yōki burst forth from its restraint and washed over the area.

In reaction, the power surrounding the flowers surged to life and fought against his yōki.

Enraged that he could not overpower it, Sesshōmaru released more yōki, completely forgetting about his companions at the edge of the clearing. The power did not back down. What it did only pissed Sesshōmaru off more. It delved inside of him, causing jolts of electricity to spark. His anger eased when it felt an unusual tingling in the stump of what used to be his left arm. Easing off his yōki, he rolled his sleeve up and watched as his arm was restored to its former glory. As soon as every digit was counted, the foreign power inside of him vanished. The only evidence of it being there was his newly restored left arm.

He eyed the four claw markings, two on his wrist that extended to the muscle on his palm and the two on his forearm muscle. Clenching his fist, he marvelled at the power that had restored what was lost to him.

It was only when the power had disappeared that he could smell blood. The air was heavy with it. And while it made him want to scrunch his nose up in distaste, he could not deny the sweetness of it. He wondered if it tasted as delicious as it smelled.

He shook those thoughts away as soon as they emerged.

His golden eyes then spotted the blood on each of the flowers, right in the centre. There was power in the blood, he realised, power that made the flowers bloom despite the death that hung so heavily in the air. The blood on these flowers belonged to someone with power, while the blood that was splattered elsewhere belonged to those who were vile, disgusting and completely human.

'Sesshōmaru-sama?' Jaken squeaked out in a concerned tone.

'Let's go,' he ordered as he soon found a trial of fresh blood leading away into the forest from the opposite direction in which he had entered.

He headed for that opening in the trees, aware that something large had caused it. Possibly a yōkai. A strong one at that.

Behind him, Rin, Jaken and A-Un's footfalls accompanied him through the forest.

He was going to be extra careful. He did not know if the yōkai involved contained great power, or if they were two separate individuals. Either way, he was going to find out and put an end to both yōkai and the power.