Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha blah blah blah, etc
Whoohoo! I finally updated! And it's a long one! Aren't you proud of me?
The bright sunny sky slowly, but steadily began to turn into a warm musky orange color as the sun began to disappear beneath some far off grassy hills to the west. The east was already turning a breath-taking shade of lilac, signaling the end of day was soon. Sango silently urged Kirara on faster, wanting to find a village of some sort to spend the night in before it got too dark. Kirara let out a little grunt in protest and kept on with her steady pace. The taijiya instantly became worried. Her faithful neko had never been like this before, so why now? What was wrong with her? Sango quickly recalled the events of the day. In the morning she had left the others and gotten on Kirara and basically nothing had happened and now she was still on the neko and it was sunset… Oh, that must be it! Poor Kirara! I've been riding her all day! Sango thought, her guilt rising. Kirara is probably dying from exhaustion right now!
The exterminator glanced around, looking for a nice place to land. To her left, she could see a tall, rocky promontory, stretching out into the deep blue sea. No, that wouldn't do. Being so high up in the air would leave them both vulnerable to winged demons. To her right was a tall, lush evergreen forest. Before Sango had time to consider it, a loud bang echoed from the forest, followed by the clanging of metal, assumingly swords on armor. Interested, the slayer gazed in that direction. Suddenly, a big huge ball of red-hot flame shot from the battle directly toward her. Sango quickly tapped Kirara's side in the right places and the large fire cat dropped out of the sky a good ten feet or so. The fireball whizzed past them and harmlessly exploded into the sky, adding even more color to the sunset, making it look like some kind of a messy rainbow with shades of red, orange, pink, and purple.
Enraged that someone would dare attack them, Sango wheeled Kirara around to face toward the right. Sure, they could fight all they want, it's none of my business, but they dare try and attack us? I'm going to get to the bottom of this! The exterminator angrily thought, watching as electric blue energy flowed through the forest, destroying everything in its path. Not even considering the fact that demons perhaps even more powerful than she could handle would be in there, Sango nudged her pet down into the chaos beneath the leafy canopy of trees.
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The Taiyoukai's breathing grew heavy and came out in quick, ragged breaths as he allowed himself a few seconds to try and catch his breath before dodging another massive fireball. Sesshomaru's long silvery hair flew out behind him as he appeared behind the scaly cobra with impressing speed. He was just about to draw out the Tokijin when an icy blast came soaring toward him. Sesshomaru quickly sped away, but it was too late. The blast hit him indirectly at his shin, ripping the skin open. The dog demon cursed his ignorance. Of course! How could I have forgotten about the ice brother? Inhaling deeply, Sesshomaru continued after the fire snake, ignoring his wound and hoping that the ice serpent didn't attack anytime soon.
Sure, a snake demon would have usually been easy to defeat, but there two slight disadvantages to Sesshomaru's part. One: He had been searching all day and night for the past week for Naraku in vain. Sesshomaru was a taiyoukai, but even they got tired after some time. And Two: There were two of them. Fire and Ice together. Alone, they were hardly a challenge, but together, their strength made even Lord Sesshomaru wary. No, they weren't invincible, but it would take some energy to take care of them. And this demon was not about to run away and quit. Whirling around, Sesshomaru faced his opponents, his long furry pelt twirling around him in an ostentatious manner. He carefully examined them with his cool, golden eyes, determining their strengths and weaknesses. And the battle went on.
The fire serpent hissed in a bemused way at the dog demon, his scaly tail flicking back and forth with anticipation. The snake's scales shone a bright red, making the shiniest of rubies seem dull. He was a terrifying looking thing with heavy indestructible scales, a long smooth body about thirty feet in length finishing with a spiked tail filled with its venom. The cobra's brother stood in the back, letting icy frost evade the forest, making it even chillier than it already was with all his demonic breath. It was hard to tell which one was more intimidating; the younger fiery red brother with the hot temper or the older quiet brother whose movements were subtle but very damaging.
Sesshomaru thought for a moment. It had to be the ice serpent. He was definitely the superior one, which meant that he would have to die first in order for his brother to be defenseless and share his fate. A small ghost of a smile flickered on the dog demon's face as he realized who the fire and ice brothers reminded him of. Inuyasha and I are just like them, he thought, but of course, I would never defend my brother. Foolish ice serpent. He would have lived longer if it weren't for that pathetic snake he's protecting. Making up his mind, Sesshomaru drew out the Tokijin; it's blade glinting silver in the dim sunlight.
However, the fire serpent stepped in front of him, his long, yellow fangs dripping with venom. "Are you going to fight me or are you just going to cower in defeat like the filthy dog you are?"
Sesshomaru's sharp eyes narrowed in disgust. Forget the plan, this snake had no right to insult me and now he shall pay with his life. Time seemed to stop as the two opponents stared warily at one another, comparing strengths and weaknesses.
Sesshomaru coolly stood there; waiting for the opportune moment while the fire serpent hungrily licked his lips. There was nothing more appetizing to a hungry cobra than a dog demon, especially a powerful one. Oh, he could already hear the dog demon's bones crunching into bits with his sharp, painful teeth. And his warm blood flooding into his mouth and trickling down his throat made the snake's mouth water. Not being able to help himself anymore, the serpent charged toward Sesshomaru with a hiss, bloodlust making his ruby eyes gleam in the dying sunlight.
Prepared for this, the dog demon lazily flicked up the wrist holding the Tokijin, but not moving a step to defend himself from the snake's attacks. Hissing with glee at the thought that the dog had just surrendered, the cobra opened his mouth, flashing an impressive set of fangs with the venom dripping from them at Sesshomaru.
Still, the inuyoukai waited. Just one more step and he'd be dead… "Dragon Strike," came the subtle, but very terrifying whisper that seemed to silence everything, as though the whole forest was holding its breath. For a nanosecond, nothing happened. The cobra hesitated in his charge, fearful of what was about to come out from the cursed sword.
A delicate blue light suddenly began to flood out of the sword but with startling speed. The red serpent howled with pain at the slightest encounter with the blue energy and immediately began to back away. The dragon strike was like a cat, purring up against your legs and gently wrapping itself around you. That is, until it got mad like it was right then. Angered, the little kitten turned into a huge, roaring feline, cavorting all over the place and destroying everything in its path. And the two serpent brothers were in its path.
The wiser cobra understood that their lives were going to end soon, but he wouldn't allow that without a last injury to the enemy. Blinded with pain, the ice serpent followed the dog's scent with his dying senses and bit down as hard as he could muster with the remains of his strength. Satisfied by the sound of tearing flesh and the hiss of his venom, the ice serpent let the blue flames of the dragon strike wash over him and rip the life out of him.
The fire brother, seeing no other way of survival, cried with outrage and let a final red-hot ball of flame shoot through the sky before, he too, joined his brother in the afterlife. The fireball missed Sesshomaru by a lot, soaring out of the forest and exploding in the sky like some kind of deadly firework.
Seeing his work completed, Sesshomaru patiently waited for the aftereffects of the dragon strike to die down. After a minute or so, the blue energy finally began to calm down and with one more purr of satisfaction, the beast disappeared in a flash of blinding light. The battle won, Sesshomaru bent down to examine his wound. It was bleeding severely and he could smell the burning of his own flesh as the poison threatened to consume his life away. All the inuyoukai wanted to do right then was to transform into his large demon form, then curl up into a ball and stay that way until his youkai blood kicked in and healed him, but Sesshomaru did not allow himself to do just that. Curling up like a hurt puppy was something lesser demons would do. He was not a lesser demon. So, Sesshomaru just sat down, resting against the trunk of a tree, waiting for the healing process to start and trying to ignore the immense pain radiating from his shin. Little did he know that the pain was so excruciating that he began to slip out of his consciousness like all demons did when they lost that much blood. Sesshomaru's last thought was that he hoped Rin did not do anything stupid while he was gone before he tumbled into the dark void of unconsciousness…
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Once they were about ten feet from the ground, Kirara stopped her diving and forced her body erect so that they wouldn't hit the ground so hard. The moment Kirara touched the ground, Sango hopped off her back and landed with poise on the ground. Now who was that damned demon that fired at me? She wondered, looking around. A battle had definitely taken place there and the environment clearly showed that. The trees that had survived (which weren't very many) were covered in black soot and were missing many branches and leaves. The other trees lay in blacken ruins on the ground, giving off an awful burning odor. It seemed as though the blue energy she had seen earlier had destroyed everything in a crooked path leaving nothing alive for perhaps a mile. The dust of what appeared to be snake skin that was draped all over the place was another sign that there had been a battle over there, but the biggest sign was the lack of life.
In any forest, no matter how ominous it was, there was some kind of life. Regular animals would live in normal forests and demons would live in ominous forests, but there was no life whatsoever in the forest Sango was in. The exterminator frowned, What could have been so powerful that it can frighten every single living thing out of sight? Still frowning, Sango began to cautiously step around, looking for anything that could have hinted to why nothing was alive. Her brown eyes wandered around, then focused on a flash of pure silver. It all makes sense now; it was Sesshomaru who did this. She realized, her eyes resting on the Taiyoukai.
Sango gingerly placed one foot after the other as she silently crept toward him, her senses on high alert. She, being a skilled demon slayer, was highly trained to detect any sign of youkai, even the weakest ones with barely any hint of youkai in their blood. So, Sesshomaru, being a powerful, full-blooded Taiyoukai obviously would make her senses tingle with anticipation. Even though the sun had long set and it was now dark and cloudy without even the moon to guide her, Sango could clearly see the dog demon. It was hard not to. His long silvery hair, pale face, and light clothing were strong contrasts against the dark eerie forest. Sesshomaru had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping.
Inching closer, Sango instinctively reached for the Hiraikotsu strapped to her back. Finally, when she was less than a foot away from him, she sank down to a crouch to examine the demon. Is he sleeping? She wondered, staring at the beautiful inuyoukai. She moved one more inch forward, but then recoiled when she stepped in something warm and sticky. Sango quickly looked down, a feeling of disgust in her stomach. To her surprise, it wasn't snake guts or anything nasty like she had been expecting, but it was blood. But where did this blood come from? Sango followed the trail of blood with her eyes and the trail ended at Sesshomaru's leg.
The taijiya's eyebrows knitted into a frown as she gazed at the long, deep rip in the demon's skin. Blood flowed freely out of the wound and onto the earthy ground. To make matters worse, Sango could see the green glow of venom from deep within Sesshomaru's leg. Sango winced at the pain it must have caused. In fact, she was surprised that he was still alive.
Sango's head turned as she heard a familiar growl from behind her. It was Kirara warning her to get away. That growl was exactly what the slayer needed to snap out it. Sango quickly backed away from the hurt dog demon, remembering an important lesson all slayers were taught at an early age. Never forget that no matter how badly wounded a youkai is, he could still easily kill you in his weakest state. Sango recalled, biting her lip in frustration at her own ignorance. "How could I have forgotten?" She muttered out loud, "Thanks, Kirara, for that," She said, giving her companion a little smile.
Kirara gave her a little growl in response and turned so that she could offer her back to Sango. Like all the others demons, the fire neko wanted to escape from this dreadful forest as soon as possible. However, Sango did not accept the ride she was offered. The slayer stared at the youkai lord with a thoughtful expression on her face. The poison that is in Sesshomaru's body… I recognize it. It is the poison from a cobra demon. Their venom is very deadly, but also very curable. Sango reached over and took the white medical box from inside her little sack of supplies and laid down her giant boomerang on the ground. As I thought, Kagome does have the Vergam root, the only cure to cobra poison… Sango stared at Sesshomaru, pondering the situation. But why the hell should I save Sesshomaru? Isn't he my enemy?
Confused, the taijiya went over to lean on Kirara as though that would give her the answer to her problem. No, he's Inuyasha's enemy… Does that make him my enemy as well? So if he's my enemy, should I finish him off? Sango gazed at the Hiraikotsu, knowing that one slash of it and even the Great Sesshomaru would die. It would be so easy to just kill him… Yet, it would also be so easy to save him as well… What would she do?
Sango sighed heavily as she glanced back and forth between the Hiraikotsu and the medical box. "Oh, why not?" She said out loud as she grabbed the white box and dug her fingers through it for the necessary root…
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Sango bit her lip as she slowly approached the demon lord with the crushed mixture of the root and antibiotics in a bowl. When she was a few inches away, she cautiously waited for his reaction, but he kept on sleeping (or whatever inuyoukai do when they are hurt). Relieved, Sango dipped her head to look at the bloody mass of a wound and gingerly began to dab the wound with her homemade medicine. However, the second she touched the dog demon's wound, Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open, glowing bright red. He growled and hissed at her menacingly, making Sango back off in fear. What happened? Why is he so volatile? I thought he was asleep! Sango glared at the dog demon, "Damn it Sesshomaru! I'm trying to save you here!" Her angry outburst seemed to have calmed him down, for his eyes closed once more and he fell silent.
Scoffing slightly at him being so unappreciative, Sango carefully began to rub in the mixture, ignoring the fact that she was getting warm blood all over her hands.
A couple minutes later, Sango sat back and leaned against one of the only trees left in the forest, waiting for the medicine to kick in and for Sesshomaru to regain consciousness. Kirara was a distance away, her back turned to Sango. The demon cat was still upset with her master for reviving Sesshomaru. Kirara hated Sesshomaru with a fierce passion for the obvious reasons: he was a dog demon and she was a cat, but it went deeper than that. It was very, very slight, but knowing Sango for all those years, Kirara could sense the slightest hint of the beginning of affection toward the filthy dog from Sango. She didn't want to believe that he strong, proud mistress would ever love Sesshomaru, but who knows? Why else would she have spared the demon? This was not like her at all and Kirara didn't like it. A small growl emitted from her throat. Then, Kirara moved herself even further way, her rump an unpleasant view in Sango's face.
Sango sighed, "Kirara-" She started, about to comfort her pet, but a hiss from the newly awaken inuyoukai a couple yards away caught her attention. Wary of what he might attempt to do, Sango picked up the Hiraikotsu that lay at her feet and braced herself for the worst.
Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open, and to Sango's relief, they were their usual golden, not youkai red. He slowly got up and straightened himself and then looked at his wound with mild surprise. "You did this?" He questioned laconically.
A subtle nod was his answer. Those brilliant sunshine eyes narrowed slightly at her, "Why?"
Sango bit the inside of her cheek, not sure how to answer that, for she herself did not even know the answer. "You… You were hurt… I don't know. I had the root with me and you needed it so…" The slayer shrugged. When the demon lord's blazing stare continued, Sango sighed then continued, making something up from the top of her head. "I could have finished you off," she said smoothly, "But I guess I was too nice to."
Sesshomaru arched an eyebrow at her, signaling his disbelief. "Ok, fine, the truth is I don't really even know… I think the reason may be that I was saving your life so that Inuyasha could kill you or something like that…"
"Humph," The demon lord grunted his satisfaction of her answer. He flashed his blasé eyes once more at Sango before twisting around and walking away, "If that was your reasoning behind your actions, I suppose I don't have to thank you. Besides, you did little help for me anyways. It was my youkai blood that healed me."
Sango's jaw fell open in outrage as she watched Sesshomaru disappear from her view. "Why that arrogant bastard! He oughta go and-" Kirara meowed her relief as she watched the exterminator stomp around and curse the inuyoukai with the harshest language she could muster. Maybe things wouldn't go as the fire neko feared. Hopefully they wouldn't meet the appalling dog demon anymore. But, who knows?
Any suggestions? I have most of the plot thought out but it's hard putting it on paper (or the computer screen) so any suggestions would be helpful!