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Itty Bitty Pretty Fifteen

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'Sutras. Arrows. Even a bow. What I wouldn't give for something that I can harnass power though right now,' Inuyasha thought desperately as he watched the dark miko circling him wearily, 'Tessaiga is about as useless as tits on a boar right now. It requires freaking demonic energy to work...doesn't it?'

Dread crept over him like an icy chill, numbing his brain to the point where he felt like he was repeatedly hitting his head against a stone wall. He had no fucking clue how to proceed from here. Not only was he human with the highly improbable addition of spiritual powers but for the first time during battle, he was terrified that he might not survive. It wasn't his usual train of thought. Usually, he told himself that everyone was gunna die so why fear it. Apparently that line of thought only worked when you felt like you could take on anyone and walk away alive. When you knew you had the skills to live to fight another day. Not when you were basically a sitting duck with no way to protect yourself because you had no fucking clue what the hell you were doing. Inuyasha'd never felt so helpless in his life. No wonder villagers got slaughtered right and left. How the hell were they even supposed to compete with someone with powers?

"I wonder how she's faring. It's rather pathetic how easily I was able to curse her with you right there," Tsubaki taunted as she continued to circle him like a lion honing in on its pray, "Although – if we're being truly honest - you've never been able to protect the people you love, have you? Kikyo and now Kagome. They died because you were weak as a half-demon. Now you're merely human. How do you expect to defeat me?"

"That's some pretty big talk from someone who won't get close enough for me to touch her," Inuyasha spat back with false bravado – his efforts to formulate any type of spiritual attack being fruitless as ever, "Why don't you come over here and fight me?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Now why would I want to do that? It's obvious you don't have any control over your powers and are merely trying to harness them in the only way you have any confidence," Tsubaki crooned, "Besides, I don't need to touch you to kill you. There are so many ways to do that."

Grimacing, it was then that Inuyasha remembered the albino serpent was still on the loose – neither having been killed or flung back into that bitches eye this go around – and his violet eyes began anxiously scanned the grassy meadow around him for some sign of movement. If there was ever a time he wished he had his demonic powers back…

A rustle in the tall soft green grass had him whirling on the spot and barely time to reflexively grab the serpent as it flew through the air – its fangs dripping menacingly as it snapped at him and writhed angrily in his grasp. Allowing himself a soft sigh of relief, he struggled to keep the threat neutralized while still keeping track of exactly where Tsubaki was in proximity to himself. Without his demonic hearing and vision, he felt completely blind to the world around him.

"Clever boy," Tsubaki crooned – her voice a little too close for his liking, "I must admit I'm impressed. How long can you keep my pet at bay I wonder? A few minutes or will it be hours?"

"Bi..bitch," Inuyasha panted as he closed his eyes and tried to focus his energy into zapping that damn serpent into the next century. Being a human sucked. He could already feel his grip weaken the longer he held that damn thing that refused to hold still – the hanyou turned human's stamina clearly much less than it would normally have been. In all his life, he'd never cramped up but now…oh but now it felt like his entire forearm was spasming from the effort of holding that damn serpent away from him. It was a losing battle and he knew it. It'd only be a matter of time before that bitch slit his throat or that serpent broke free. What he wouldn't give to know how the fuck to project a barrier right now.

Eyes still closed, Inuyasha desperately tried to focus his energy on the hand that held the snake – blocking out everything else bouncing around in his mind and purposefully trying to harness his inner Miroku. Before each attack, he'd close his eyes and pray. Maybe…maybe that's just what he needed to do. He had never been a religious guy – kinda hard to believe in anything when you were constantly told you were the scum of the earth but fuck it, it was worth a shot. So it was that Inuyasha took a long calming breath through his nose and asked for help from 'whoever the fuck is up there' and miraculously…the moment he finished his little prayer the serpent hissed angrily as a pink light burst forth from his hand frying the little fucker who writhed for a few moments before going limp.

Tossing the sizzling corpse of the snake aside, Inuyasha turned about face and stared down the miko who had been advancing steadily and repeated the move – holding his hand out as he'd seen Kagome do way back in the beginning. A blast of pink light emanated from his hand – blowing Tsubaki back several yards….just in time for Miroku and Sango to come over the horizon with utterly shocked looks on their faces.