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Timewriter: Of course I revised; it's kinda in the job description... :P I know, I'm slacking majorly in the transitional ways... T-T I'm gonna try to fix that with chapter 10 and 11 for sure :)

Chapter 9: A Frightening Moment

Naraku stared at the saimyosho hovering before him, a frown marring his features. The troublesome group had reappeared—not only that, but there were new additions. The new members could pose a threat to his plan. The addition of a wolf demon, the special kitsune, and the new miko were sure to complicate things. As well as the replacement of Kikyo's incarnation with another female of a similar appearance. The information was not something that Naraku had wished to receive after thirty years of collecting the fragments without much competition—and believing them to be gone for good. Add to this mixture that Kikyo herself was still walking amongst the living, and Naraku found himself teetering on the edge of a plateau that could lead to the destruction of his plans. On top of that, Naraku found himself still unable to kill the undead miko. He was now immersed in a problem that held too many variables for his liking. Something must be done. With that thought in mind, the black haired hanyou began devising ways to resolve his conundrum.

When an idea finally came to mind, a malicious grin slithered onto his lips. It would be rather complicated and must be properly executed; one foul-up could send the entire plan crashing to smoldering smithereens. It would also require his direct involvement—something he was not overly fond of doing—but if it meant the end to one major variable, he deemed the outcome worth the risk. With that thought at the forefront of his mind, he summoned an incarnation that he had been saving for a special occasion. A young girl appeared out of the darkness; a small, silver mirror was held to the abdomen of her white robes by pale hands. Her deep, black eyes held no emotion as she approached her master.

"Your time has finally arrived to earn your keep."

The demoness knelt down in a bow, her white hair covering her face. "Of course, Master Naraku."

"One of the saimyosho will assist you in your mission."

"Yes, Master Naraku."

"Go." He tossed a fragment of the Shikon no Tama toward the demoness. She placed it onto the frame of her mirror, and in the next second, he was alone. Lowering his robe from his torso, his scar that resembled a spider located on his back began to pulse and bubble along the surface of his skin. Soon, he was faced with an infant, and his chest felt much lighter. He grinned maliciously. Phase one should begin shortly.

Saya sighed on the return trip from training with Hiyori. It was yet another session of dodging fatal objects with the light miko. On the bright side, she seemed to be improving—she didn't get hit with nearly as many of the projectiles hurdled in her direction as she had the first time they had played the light miko's game. This fact, however, did not keep her from being completely and utterly sore and tired after said training was finished. She was less so than the first time (she could still walk!), but her muscles were still aching with fatigue.

Saya glanced at Yue as she rode on Hiro's head. The young pup seemed quite content to remain there for the entirety of the day. Saya was thankful to discover another decent sitter for (one of) the kitsunes. She had been quite confused that morning when Hiyori had told Saya to not bother giving the pup to Sango while she trained; when they arrived and Hiro sat on the sidelines, Saya quickly understood and gave the slumbering kitsune to the wolf to watch while the mikos trained. Yue woke up some time during her training but seemed content enough to stay lying on the wolf as to not bother her adopted mother. As the duo finished the training session, however, the pup was once again fast asleep, and she stayed that way throughout the remainder of the trip back to camp. Upon arrival, the two females quickly gathered their belongings, and the group set off not long after.

"Hey, Hiyori, got a question for ya." The light priestess turned toward her student. "You said that before I could begin my real, spiritual training, I had to improve my physical abilities, right?" She received a nod in reply. "Well, about how much longer do you think it will be before I start the actual training?"

The other woman put on a thoughtful expression. "You have progressed quite well in the short time that we have been together, so I should say within the next month you will begin training your strengths on the spiritual side of the spectrum."

"A month?!" Saya groaned. "I thought it would be a lot sooner than that."

Hiyori chuckled. "You wish to increase the difficulty of your training? I was under the impression that you were not yet comfortable enough to move on."

"Maybe, but I just really want to get this done and over with."

Hiyori giggled at Saya's deadened tone. "Impatience will only lead to later troubles. It is best to progress at the rate you are and not strain yourself. If you were to attempt to train your spiritual abilities, you would not last long. While your reflexes and stamina have improved greatly, you are not quite at the level required for my spiritual training. Just give it time."

Saya groaned but didn't protest further. She perked up, however, when she heard Hiyori speak again. "It seems as though your pup is getting stronger each day. She has been livelier recently, has she not?"

Saya nodded with a smile. "Yeah, she's been up and about while we break for lunch. She seems to have taking a liking to playing with Shippo at that time too."

"Perhaps your training will be started ahead of schedule after all." The way the miko smiled at Saya made her believe that the other woman knew something she didn't and found great amusement in the information.

"You know something you aren't sharing?"

Hiyori shook her head. "You shall see. Come, it is almost time to break for lunch."

Saya scowled but said nothing more on the matter. She redirected her attention when Inuyasha suddenly stopped.

Inuyasha gazed warily down a particularly deserted road the group traveled upon. Something felt off. He sniffed the air, trying to discover if the breeze carried any scent of the ominous feeling he was receiving. He picked up the scent of blood, no minute amounts either. His body instantly tensed. In his peripheral vision, he saw Haru approaching him on his left.

"So you smell it too, huh? This can't be good."

"What isn't good?" Saya spoke as she approached with Hiyori and Sango right behind her. Shippo rested upon Miroku's shoulder who brought up the rear. "What isn't good, Haru? What do you guys smell?"

"There's blood in the air. A lot of it. Get ready, and then we head out. Just be on alert." Everyone followed Inuyasha's orders without hesitation. Sango walked a short distance into the woods to change. Hiyori guarded her. Saya made quick work of setting up her bow and arrows and maneuvering her bag in to a better position as to not get in her way. Shippo shook on Miroku's shoulder, the scent of blood already almost overwhelming the small child, while the monk checked his inventory of sutras and the sturdiness of his staff. Inuyasha glanced at the wolf demon next to him. He hoped he wouldn't get in the way.

"Hey, Mutt. Do me a favor and don't get in my way."

The hanyou tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword at his side. "Funny, I was gonna say the same thing."

Haru turned to him with a cocky grin before it vanished a moment later. "Seriously though, be careful."

Inuyasha blinked, taken aback. "Uh, yeah. You…too." He was confused. His curiosity, however, would have to wait as everyone finished preparing and stood behind him once again. Kirara walked faithfully next to her human. The group took off in silence, everyone tense as they ventured down the path.

As they continued, the scent of blood grew stronger. Inuyasha had to cover his nose with his robe. Haru looked pained as well. Shippo, however, was completely gone. He passed out due to being extremely nauseous and lightheaded from the overwhelming scent. Kirara whined quietly due to the scent. Thankfully, Hiro and Yue appeared to be faring much better. Sango directed Kirara over to them in hopes that she would feel better as well. Her condition improved almost instantly. Miroku then placed Shippo on the wolf as well. He regained consciousness not long after and slowly crawled onto the wolf's back to lay down. When asked why that was so, Hiyori simply smiled and stated that Hiro was not an ordinary wolf. Soon, even the humans could smell it.

"Agh," Saya whispered in disgust. "This is horrible. Now I know why Shippo passed out on us a while back."

"Yeah," Sango whispered back, though her voice was slightly distorted due to the mask she wore. "It must be horrible for Inuyasha and Haru. Their sense of smell is even more sensitive than ours."

"So is our hearing, now shut up." Inuyasha's eye twitched when he heard Saya's quiet giggle and Sango's huff of annoyance. The group continued in silence once again. It wasn't until they reached the village that anyone made a noise again.

Saya gasped in horror at the vision before her. The entire town had been massacred: bodies laid in pieces, entrails of organs could be seen, a limb lay near them but was too distorted to identify what it was and the worst part: the village was literally painted in blood. It was splattered all over the buildings and soaking into the dirt, giving it a muddied hue of brown and red. Not even the children had been spared—their corpses mangled, eyes still open in fear. Saya's vision blurred as tears gathered in her eyes. Who could do such a thing? What could do such a thing? Her question was soon answered as maniacal laughter filled the air.

Searching for the source, everyone tensed. Beneath the pile of corpses nearest to them, rose a bloodied body. It was exceedingly tall (well over eight feet was Saya's guess), covered in dark, purple fur, and possessed a large mouth filled to the brim with sharp, serrated fangs. Its eyes, when they turned in the group's direction, were large and dark. The sclera was the darkest black Saya had ever seen. The irises were a red the color of the blood the creature had shed from its victims. It walked upright, and had sharp claws on both its hands and feet. The claws looked as though they could shred right through a person without as much as a bat of an eye. When its gaze finally settled, it rested solely on Saya's person. It grinned, fangs glittering dangerously.

"You are in possession of some jewel shards. I want them now." Its voice was deep and gravelly. "Give them to me now, and I may just let you live."

The hanyou scoffed. "Is that what you told them too?" he asked indicating with his thumb the townspeople. The beast laughed, a loud noise that did not seem to belong in such a beast.

"Oh, a wise guy, huh?" He chuckled again. "Well, it appears you have seen right through my pretense. Give me the jewel shards now."

"Like hell we're going to do that."

In the time it took Saya to blink, Inuyasha was sent flying into the nearest standing structure, which happened to be a sturdy barn. When it came down around the hanyou, the bodies of the animals inside were exposed as well. This thing killed everything. Not even the animals had been spared. Why? What was the purpose of it all?

Righteous fury welled up inside Saya. "Hey!" It turned its attention from Inuyasha, who was struggling to get back up, to her. "Why did you do this?"

"Do what?" The malicious and knowing grin on its face showed that it was anything but ignorant as to the answer of the question.

Saya answered anyway. "Kill everything. You spared nothing in this place. Even the children and animals have all died at your hand! What did you have to gain by doing all this? What was even the point?!"

"The point?" The thing scratched his chin. "Well, I guess you could say the reason I did this was because I was just…bored." It even had the audacity to shrug nonchalantly.

Saya started vibrating with anger. All of this destruction and death was because this bastard was bored?! Before she could do anything about her anger, she saw a flash of red that knocked the demon back a step or two. Inuyasha landed before their group. His sword was still in its scabbard at his hip, but his fists were clenching and unclenching in his anger. His claws were out and he was pissed. Saya could feel the anger radiating off the irate hanyou.

The giant of a demon quickly recovered with a loud bark of laughter. "Oh, it seems that I set off a nerve. Come now, try me again. This time, I won't be surprised." Its thin lips pulled back into a malicious grin.

Inuyasha wasted no time in withdrawing his sword and launching another attack on the demon. The demon was surprisingly agile for how large it was. It dodged Inuyasha's attacks as though they were nothing. It had a bit of a more difficult time when Haru decided it was his time to join the fray. With Inuyasha and Haru working together, they managed to land several solid blows to the demon. It was not enough, however.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, the demon swung its massive arms and knocked both opposing demons away. Sango rushed in, releasing Hiraikotsu. It was deflected before it could do any damage. Saya readied an arrow and released. It hit the mark, creating a medium sized hole in the demon's shoulder. It turned to the miko in training; its gaze was murderous. It flung its arm in an attempt to grab onto Saya. Instincts kicked in, and Saya dove out of the way. Huh, looks like those training sessions were paying off…

Hiyori dashed to stand before her, erecting a solid barrier before them. Offering a hand, the light miko quickly pulled Saya to her feet. "Shall we try again?" With a nod, Saya notched another arrow before loosing it as well. This one hit closer to the target than before, creating a small cavity in the demon's pectoral. It roared in pain before lashing out at the females again. Hiyori's barrier held strong as the two stood their ground, Saya notching another arrow. Inuyasha and Haru jumped back into attacking the demon.

Haru managed to land a few punches and hard kicks, but he was quickly pushed back again. Inuyasha stood his ground and concentrated on finding the clashing energies where the wind scar resided. Upon finding it, he swung his blade, shouting his attack. The demon's reflexes proved to be great as it jumped to avoid the attack. It wasn't able to completely avoid the blow, only managing to escape with its right arm injured by the wind scar. Multiple lacerations adorned its arm; all of them dripped a blueish-purple liquid. When the liquid came in contact with the ground, the ground began to sizzle and steam. Sango quickly approached the duo of females taking refuge behind the erected barrier.

"It would be wise for us to avoid all physical contact with the demon from now on. It's acid, and from what I can see, it is extremely potent. It will likely eat away at your skin in seconds."

"Noted," came the tense reply from Saya. Hiyori nodded.

The demon slayer stood and prepared to release her weapon. Before she could do so, however, the demon swung its injured arm in their direction. "We'll never get anywhere at this rate," the demon slayer grunted. The females watched as Miroku threw sutra at the demon. They were, unfortunately, ineffective against their opponent. It only laughed at the monk. Miroku ran forward, raising his staff, and began attacking the demon as much as he could. He was knocked back shortly after. The monk made his way toward the females, hand clutching onto his side in pain, and Hiyori expanded her barrier to accommodate everyone.

Saya took a quick survey of her surroundings. Inuyasha and Haru were giving the demon their all: swinging with sword, fists, and legs. When they would get batted away, they would instantly rush back in to continue their assault. Sango's Hiraikotsu seemed unable to make a solid blow, while Miroku's staff could, but he was injured. Hiyori was protecting the group of four with her barrier. Saya could fire off some sacred arrows, but there wasn't much else she could do at this point in time. An idea struck Saya. She turned to Sango and Miroku.

"Do you think you could use Miroku's staff as a means to help Hiraikotsu do more damage to the demon?"

The demon slayer and monk shared a look before shrugging. "I suppose that could work. It's worth a try, at least."

"Good, why don't you two go over there and set that up? I'll stay here with Hiyori and distract the bastard to keep his focus off of you two. Sound good?" Everyone nodded before dispersing. Saya turned to Hiyori. "Shall we?" With a smile and nod shared between the two, Saya prepared herself for what was next.

Saya stood and took aim. Releasing another arrow, she ducked back down below the protection of the barrier when the beast turned its attention back toward the mikos. When it struck out with its arm again toward the barricade, Inuyasha and Haru jumped back into the fight. The demon had a difficult time keeping up with which side was attacking and eventually had enough. Using both arms, it attacked both groups at once. That was when Sango released her boomerang. It tore through both arms before either made contact with either party. The demon roared in pain as the appendages fell to the ground with a jarring thud. That was when it turned its attention toward the demon slayer and monk. With a cry of fury, it dove after them. Kirara abandoned her post on Hiro's back (who stayed back and out of the way, protecting the young kits) and ran toward her human, flames engulfing her small form before she swooped down and took to the sky in order to avoid the attack. It only angered the demon more.

By this point, it seemed to Saya that the opposing demon was delirious with pain and rage. It seemed to have no plan of attack, only to try to stomp on whatever came close enough to it. Inuyasha and Haru kept trying to land more blows on the demon.

Inuyasha jumped up to take a swing at its head, but was surprised when the demon turned its head and bit down on the Tessaiga. Inuyasha was forced to leap away without his weapon. To the shock of everyone, the demon proceeded to crush the fang sword until it broke into three pieces.

"It…broke Tessaiga…"

Inuyasha was so stupefied that his brain did not register the fact that the demon was charging his way. Inuyasha was sent skyward and had no time to avoid the second blow as he was falling. The demon jumped up to reach him and sent him crashing to the ground, landing on top of him. Inuyasha cried out in pain. Saya heard the sound of bones crunching from her distance away. Haru attempted to get to Inuyasha, but the demon kept jumping onto the downed hanyou and kicking everything else way without care. Only when Inuyasha ceased moving and shouting in pain did the demon stop, apparently bored with his now dead plaything.

It turned its attention toward Haru, who growled in anger. He charged toward the demon in a blind rage. It had killed one of his comrades: Someone he could almost consider a friend; a potential brother-in-arms. It would pay dearly—with its own life! Haru began to pummel the ever-living daylights out of the demon for a few seconds before he was sent soaring through the air. He crashed painfully into one of the buildings nearby.

Before anyone could react and resume their assaults on one another, a surging demonic energy reached everyone's senses. Everyone turned to see Inuyasha slowly standing, his hunched over form seemed off somehow to Saya. When his head snapped up, Saya understood why. There were purple marks across his cheekbones. His fangs had lengthened, as had his claws. However, the most startling change of his appearance was his sclera had changed from white to blood red while his irises changed to a cerulean blue. He truly looked demonic. Inuyasha turned his attention to the armless demon and growled.

The opposing demon stared at Inuyasha for a moment before laughing. "It seems as though our fun is just beginning."

Inuyasha growled menacingly before he charged the towering demon. The large demon was taken by surprise from the increase in the hanyou's speed as the smaller demon seemed to blink into existence before it. Inuyasha jumped into the air and lashed out his claws, tearing into the already handicapped demon with extreme force. The demon stumbled backward away from the attack. Inuyasha followed it. The behemoth of a demon attempted to break Inuyasha like it had his sword, but the hanyou proved to be much too fast for the demon. With a flash of his elongated claws, Inuyasha tore his enemy into pieces.

When the chunks fell to the ground, Inuyasha remained crouched on the ground. When he finally stood, he turned back toward the group. The hanyou rose his now bloodied hand to his face and stared at his claws with a sort of fascination.

Haru slowly stepped closer to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, you okay?" Inuyasha's head snapped toward the wolf demon and he began to growl, baring his elongated fangs. "Hey! I'm on your side, here! Back off!" Inuyasha lunged at Haru.

Saya stared at the scene before in shock. Her brain did not seem to be able to process what exactly had happened or was happening. She knew that he was called a hanyou because he was exactly that: half human and half demon. She didn't understand what was happening. He had died, hadn't he? Had his demon side kicked in because he had bit the bullet, so to speak? Was he not able to tell what was going on? Why was he attacking Haru? She knew he didn't exactly care for the wolf demon, but to attack him like this? Like he's out for his blood? Without thinking, Saya shot forward, saying the first thing that came to mind, "Tsuke!" The subjugation beads reacted instantaneously, pulling him to the ground mid-strike. Everyone followed her, as a means to stop her while she slowed down a bit to approach the downed hanyou. It wasn't long before he popped his head up from the ground, an angry look on his face but markings and transformation gone.

"What the hell, wench?! What was that for?" His features instantly became confused when she dropped to her knees in front of him. He was surprised to see her body slightly trembling.

"Thank God" was her only response, albeit shakily given, before she latched onto the fallen half demon in a tight hug.

I would just like to say that I am proud of myself for updating this story sooner than once a month. Woo! Go me! I am going to try to work on this story more than I have been. It's a slow season for my work, so hopefully I won't be nearly as exhausted as usual. I will try my best!

As usual, if you have something to say about this story, please let me know! I would love to hear from people! The reviews help keep me motivated on keeping this story alive and running. I was mildly disappointed that I only got one review from the last chapter, and that person was my beta... I am exceedingly grateful for her and all she does for me, but it would be fantastic to hear from my other readers on what they think about what is going on and how this fanfiction is progressing. So please, let me know.

In other news, I have a couple of ideas for some other stories as well as this one. I am going to try working on all of them a little bit at a time. For those who have read my Tall, Blonde, and Annoying story, a rewrite is in the mix of ideas that I'm working on, as well as a rewrite for my Hiei story. I have a couple of ideas for another show that I found, Miraculous Ladybug (don't judge me, it's an adorable show!) that I will also be thinking about working on and posting as time goes on. I have no intentions of writing multiple stories and posting them religiously at the same time. I, unfortunately, don't have enough free-time for that. If I do write and work on other stories, it will only be a little bit at a time. My main focus is going to be this story. I have it posted and have followers that would like to see what happens next. I'm working on this fiction for you! That being said, please, please, please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Until next time!

~Saph