Love of Friends

Chapter 14: The Guys' "Girl Talk" & clash of the Half-demons!

Cricket 13: (Hiding in a corner, cowering)

BC: (Protecting Cricket 13 from PLP, QJP, and Baka-chan) Guys! Calm done!

QJP: Calm down?

PLP: How can we calm down! He locked us in your Maze of Doom! (Lightening and thunder flash, lights flicker)

Baka-chan: Knock off the special effects!

BC: (Laughs sheepishly) Sorry. Couldn't resist.

QJP: This is no time to joke!

Baka-chan: We could have died down there!

BC: I'm sure he wouldn't have let that happen...

PLP: Don't care! I'm killing him!

BC: (Laughs nervously) Look, he's my responsibility. I'll punish him. (Reaches down and grabs Cricket 13) You guys just enjoy the fic. Remember readers, I don't own the Inuyasha gang. So don't sue me. Come on 13! (Swiftly walks out of the room)

Soon after they had awoken, Inuyasha and Miroku quickly freed themselves of their bandages. Sango and Kagome were amazed that the demon salve had worked so well on Miroku. While Kagome started breakfast, Sango decided to examine the few wounds Miroku still had, just to make sure that they were healing well. Carefully, she inspects each mark on his arms and face, "Wow Miroku, you're really not looking too bad."

"Why thank you for the compliment, Sango."

Inuyasha, sitting by the fire, shakes his head. "Monk you never learn, do you?"

Sango looks between Inuyasha and Miroku, and is left just a bit confused. It didn't help that Kagome, standing by the fire, or Shippo and Talgi, a little ways behind her, were all trying to stifle giggles. She was just wondering what compliment he was talking about, when it hits her. Sango blushes, "W-what are you talking about Miroku? I'm just saying your injuries are looking much better!"

Miroku gives her a sly smirk as he unrolls the sleeve of his robe. "Oh, my mistake." He then goes and sits down by the fire, watching as Sango's face reddens as well as when she eventually turns away in embarrassment.

Talgi just happens to be right there and waiting, a questioning look on her face. "Are you okay Sango?"

"Yes! It's just... ooh, that monk!" Sango stalks over to the fire, hiding her uneasiness with anger, and sits as far away from Miroku as possible.

"Kagome! Is the food done yet?"

"Inuyasha, that's the third time that you've asked me that..." Kagome momentarily stops stirring and carefully looks in the pot. "And the answer is still no!"

"I was only asking wench!"

"Well, even if I'm not on this journey for the same reason as the others, looks like I won't ever be bored." Jokes Talgi.

Shippo smiles up at her, "Are you kidding? This is only the beginning!"

It only being the beginning appeared to be true. Inuyasha and Kagome's normal arguing, as well as the occasional wayward hand from Miroku, kept things from getting boring. And in the slower times, Talgi would shimmy up trees and amuse Shippo. Compared to the last two days, this one was dull, and Talgi had taken to the trees.

Carefully, she hangs off the branch by her legs and swings her arms. "Hey Shippo!" Shippo giggles and the others smile, except for Inuyasha. He just ignores her... but he'd probably be more amused if he wasn't so concerned about Naraku.

After scrambling up she starts to jump from branch to branch as Shippo runs bellow. After getting the hang of it, Talgi jumps backwards, flips, and uses her hands to get even higher leaps; all without stopping. Things are going well for a while till she flips backwards a couple times and doesn't realize that there's no branch to land on. Shippo tries to warn her, but too late, and she takes a hard hit from the ground.

Shippo runs forward, "Talgi! Are you all right?"

"Yeah… it just knocked the breath out of me. And I think I hit my head."

"Are you stupid? You're a half-demon and you can't even land on your feet!" Inuyasha shouts from a ways back on the path.

Talgi rises from the ground and rubs a slight bump on her head. Then she waits for the others to come nearer. "I can too land on my feet, but thanks so much for the concern Inuyasha."

"Then next time, land on your feet!"

"Are you sure you're okay?" worries Kagome. "That bump looks pretty bad."

"Really! I'm fine. Let's, just keep going..." She walks farther down the path, but stops at the edge as it disappears into forest and vegetation. "Or maybe we can't go any farther."

"Let me see." Inuyasha runs forward to look and soon the others crowd around. Past the overgrown path are rocks and a lot of steam.

Kagome's face fills with glee, "Oh wow! A hot spring!"

"Just great." Sighs Inuyasha.

"The path doesn't go any farther." says Miroku. "Maybe we should set up camp. I know it's much too early to stop for your liking Inuyasha, but it's going to take time to find a new path."

"Yeah!" Talgi pipes in, "We could use some early resting, I'm exhausted. If I'm getting tired, these humans must be half dead."

Miroku clears his throat. "I do pride myself in not being quite that tired yet, Talgi."

"Well, neither am I. But Inuyasha didn't need to know that."

"Whatever." Inuyasha's attention turns to Kagome. "So I guess that means you plan to come back here after we set up camp?"

Talgi grabs hold of her head, "I hope not. I don't think I could stand hot water so soon."

"Well... it actually wasn't that long ago since our last trip to the hot springs. Why don't you and Miroku go on ahead? We'll set up camp. Don't worry about a thing. Let's go guys!" She smiles and pushes Sango, Talgi and Shippo ahead of her. Before completely leaving, Kagome waves to Inuyasha and Miroku, who are looking slightly perplexed. "Have fun!"

A little later, the guys are relaxing in the hot spring with serene looks on their faces. Miroku interrupts the picture by yawning and stretching out his back muscles. "It was very kind of Kagome to suggest that we use the hot springs."

"Hm..."

Miroku sighs and leans against the rocks behind him, "The only way this could be better is if we had some food, a little sake, and the company of some lovely young women." He laughs, but before long there's a sharp pain at the back of his head. Quickly he clutches at it, "What was that?"

Slowly Inuyasha opens his eyes. He moves next to Miroku and leans to give an unconcerned look over the short, rocky, 'wall'. "It's a rock." He picks it up and shows it to the monk, it seemed to be the only thing possibly out of place. The color of it was off from the rocks of the surrounding area.

"And how did I happen to be hit by this rock?"

Bushes behind Miroku lightly rustle and Inuyasha glances at them, "Somebody threw it."

"I thought that might be the case..."

Slowly Inuyasha rises, and suddenly the bushes rustle furiously. Quickly he runs over to them and pushes down the tops to see over it. On the other side is Talgi, boredidly resting her head on her palm with two buckets of water sitting nearby. Without looking up, she waves in a small greeting. "Yo."

"Talgi? What the hxxx are you doing here?"

"Don't ask me! Kagome and Sango dragged me along." She grabs the buckets and hangs them over her shoulders, "I think they were going to dump cold water on you guys, and then Sango got angry at Miroku. And then, when you got up Inuyasha, they were sure you'd jump over the bush and attack. Probably a sight they'd rather avoid. It's a sight I'd want to avoid too, but I think I was brought along to be a diversion or something. Good thing you didn't jump over. Now if you really don't mind, I'm going back to camp. I don't want to be anywhere near all this hot water. See you later." She turns and walks away, mind still churning in thought. 'Dragging Shippo and me into this... and then Sango threw that rock. They probably weren't even planning to use any of this stupid water...'

Inuyasha shakes his head and gets back into the hot spring. "See monk, it's you that causes all this trouble! Sango reacts to your pervert ways! And then Kagome goes on about it being her only why to 'act out her frustration' or something. If you would knock it off and go tell her how you feel about her, you wouldn't get hit so often, and you'd get me in less of your messes!"

"Inuyasha, I don't believe you are really the one to be handing out advice."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sango lost her village, her father, and her brother is under the control of Naraku. I would not wish, and will not, for dear Sango to grow stronger feelings, only to lose me if Naraku can not be stopped. And if by some miracle, she did agree to bear my child, and we fail to stop him in time, I would also not wish to place such a burden on her. So I must not act on those feelings I have... but you Inuyasha, are just being foolish."

"Who are you calling foolish?"

"Two women Inuyasha! Two! One alive now, the other just barely even being! Yet, you can not decide."

"Monk, it's not any of your business! So just shut up before I beat you!"

"Fine! But think of this for a moment Inuyasha, when has Kagome tried to change you!"

Inuyasha was in the process of stepping out of the hot spring, "What?"

"When has she tried to make you change yourself from being what you are?" He sighs and rubs his temple, "I really do not mean to cause grief, and I apologize. But it isn't fair, to any of you... are you ready to head back to the others? I believe I have had enough of this spring, for one day."

"Yeah, sure. I'm ready to go."

Inuyasha sits up in the branches of a tree, watching the setting sun and thinking. For a long time, Kikyo had been the only human other then his mother, to treat him normally. And yet what they had, had been so easily broken. He had loved her, and would have done anything for her. He was once going to become human for her. He didn't know how he'd even be able to survive in such a weak state. But he hadn't given a second thought of what would happen after. Just as he hadn't about going to the underworld with her. And he would have if he had not remembered already making a promise to Kagome.

On the other hand, Kagome liked how he was, as a half demon. She had said so at least once before. And she didn't really think much about him being a half demon, though she did seem to enjoy his ears. It bothered her as much as Shippo being full demon did.

Kikyo had died, she would never again be how she had been. Love and hate both flowed from her, and through her. And while he himself didn't hate her and probably never could, he... didn't love her. Least, not how he had before. He missed how she used to be, but it seemed he had finally realized that Kikyo moved around and seemed to be alive but she wasn't there. The only thing that he wished for her now, was for her to just rest. And to get revenge for her on Naraku. Kagome though, was alive. Maybe, maybe...

"Hey Inuyasha "

Inuyasha looks down, Talgi was standing by the tree waving up at him. "What do you want?"

Talgi jumps from branch to branch and stops next to Inuyasha, She sits down and swings her feet off the side. "Kagome asked me to track you down. Gee Inuyasha, you look to be thinking pretty deeply up here. Aren't you worried about hurting something?" She giggles, but Inuyasha just rests his head in his hand and drifts back to contemplating, without really realizing it. "Inuyasha, I was just kidding."

"Whatever."

"Come on, dinner's done." She slides off the branch and lands on the ground, "See, I told you I could land on my feet!"

Inuyasha smirks and slides off as well. Then he starts to meander away. "Sure, when you jump you can… but not when you're falling."

"Hey! I couldn't catch myself in time!" Talgi makes faces at the back of his head, but has to stop to catch up with him. She runs forward and slows when she finally reaches him. "I have a favor to ask."

"After making faces at me? Yeah right."

"What, do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

"No, it's not like you even tried to hide them!"

"Look, now I'm serious. I really do need your help."

Inuyasha folds his arms and sighs, "What do you want?"

"A fight."

"What?"

"A training fight, with swords. I need a target that fights back. And I told you that you'd get a chance to get back at me for that punch in the stomach."

"All I'd have to do is drop my sword on you, and win."

"Well if you agreed I wasn't going to use swords. There'd be too much of a chance of killing each other. I was going to use something else."

Soon the two are walking again, but slowly. Talgi was thinking about something. "So you really believe your sword to be that great?"

"Well, maybe it's not that heavy. But it's powerful. You wouldn't be able to stand up to it for long."

"Ha."

Inuyasha pulls the sword from its sheath to show it to her. "Look for yourself."

She raises an eyebrow, "This old and rusted junk is supposed to give me problems? I'd be surprised if it could cut through a fish."

"I used to think so too, but the Tetsusaiga transforms." He holds out the sword and it changes before Talgi's eyes.

"Can I take a closer look at it?"

"Huh? A closer look?"

"Yeah, my father knew a lot about swords and taught me some things. A transforming sword is something I have to get a closer look at. I'm not going to run off with it." Quickly she draws her own sword and points the handle to him. "Here, you can take a look at mine if it will make you feel better."

After staring at the handle, Inuyasha accepts it and cautiously hands her his own sword after untransforming it. He only takes a quick look at the foreign sword in his hands. A little longer, wider, heavier, and made of a thicker metal then the average, but it was still in the normal katana shape. He was more concerned about his sword being in Talgi's hands.

Talgi though, was carefully looking at the details of the blade. She waves it around a bit. Inuyasha can see what she was trying to do. "Don't expect it to transform for you. The only reason you can even get through the barrier is your human blood. It took me awhile to…" All the while he had been talking, Talgi waved the sword around. His pause had come after Talgi slashed at the air in a fighting pose and the sword transformed. As comical as it was to see Talgi strain at the sudden new weight, It left him shocked. "How the hxxx did you do that so fast?"

As soon as Talgi hears this as Inuyasha's reaction, she lowers the sword till it almost touches the ground, and puts one of her hands on the back of her head. "It's the same sort of thing you do with the Binusayou, though in a sideways sort of way…"

"Oh." Inuyasha lifts up Talgi's sword, looking intently at it.

"But don't try to use it!"

"What, I'm just supposed to let you show me up at being able to transform my own dxxx sword? I don't think so."

"No, it's not that. If you try it, you're going to end up hurting yourself…"

"You don't need to make stupid excuses like that, just say you don't want me messing with your sword!"

"No really! It's how the sword was made. Some of its power comes from blood of the owner, and if anyone else tries to even just use it in a fight, the fire heats up the handle. It can char a humans hands till they can no longer be used, or a demon and half demon to a whole lot of pain."

He gives the object a small look of distrust and holds it an arm's length away, "So it's been smeared with your blood?"

"Um, actually I don't know if it has. I can't remember, but at least it has both of my parent's blood on it. It has something to do with blood, fire, and chanting, but I don't know exactly how. And it's not like there's still blood on it."

Inuyasha shoves the handle of the blade towards Talgi. "You could have told me all that before handing me this thing "

"But it doesn't hurt me, so I wasn't thinking about that." She takes her sword and puts it back into its sheath. Then she tries to untransform Inuyasha's sword, but no matter what she does, it won't. "Um, can you give me a hand?"

He sighs and puts the Tetsusaiga in its sheath, making it untransform; "You're hopeless."

"Yeah? Ok then. After dinner, we fight. We'll see how hopeless I am."

After what has seemed like forever, Talgi and Inuyasha enter the camp. Kagome had just about been ready to ask Sango and Kilala to try and find them. She runs up to them almost instantly, it wasn't too hard to tell she had been worried.

"What took you guys so long? I didn't think you'd have that much trouble finding him "

"Well…" Talgi starts to say, but Inuyasha interrupts her.

"I ran over to the next village, trying to find out anything about Naraku."

"Oh no wonder then. Don't you ever rest…? Talgi, are you all right?"

After hearing Inuyasha's excuse, Talgi had tilted her head in confusion. But now that Kagome was talking to her, she snaps it back into a more natural place. "Um… Yeah! Sure! I'm just fine! Nothing wrong with me!"

Kagome wasn't exactly convinced, but she brushes it off as Talgi being Talgi, and leads Inuyasha and Talgi to the campfire. As soon as the food is set before them, the two half demons start to devour it. She watches them in shock, "If you two were that hungry, you should have come back sooner!"

"It's not that." Inuyasha sets down his bowl and stands up. "We'll be back later. Come on Talgi."

Talgi looks around at the sound of her name. Once she realizes what's going on, she looks at the last of her dinner. Looks like she wasn't going to get anymore. Rather then take the time to finish up, she stuffs as much into her mouth as she can and runs after Inuyasha, waving goodbye to the others.

And then only Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Shippo, and Kilala were left. Shippo was watching after them, his arms folded in front of him and a frown on his face. "Um, that was just a little strange... right?"

The others nod slowly, or meow, in agreement.

"So why were you being so secretive?" They were a good distance from camp, but Talgi had only just cleared her mouth.

"I didn't want them to watch us fight."

"Why? In case you lost or something?"

"No. So they wouldn't distract me." He stops in a mostly clear area. "This should be a good place. So, what are we going to use instead of our swords?"

Talgi places a hand over her mouth in thought, "Hold on a second." Then she jumps into one of the surrounding trees. When she comes back, she has two straight sticks in her hand, close in size to a normal katana. "There... I even tried to get them as close to the same size as I could, just to be fair."

"So we'll be fighting with sticks, as if we're two little kids."

She holds out one of the sticks, "Hey, at least neither of us will accidentally kill the other."

Inuyasha grumbles, but accepts the piece of wood.

"Ok Inuyasha, there's really only one rule to follow, step out of the clearing and you lose. And make sure you fight me as if this was a real fight, I want the practice. Just keep in mind that if you hit too hard, these sticks might break in pieces."

"Ok. Whatever."

"Just don't say I didn't warn you." Talgi smiles at her echoing of Inuyasha from a few days before, and that's when Inuyasha rushes forward for an attack. At first he's aiming high, but just as he's gotten closer, he aims to thwack her in the knees. She blocks it. He looks up to her grinning face, 'So she does know how to fight...'

After that slight pause, he tries to make a quick strike to the side of her head, but she blocks again. Then he slowly starts to force her back. The hits aren't fast paced; they're just hard enough to shake Talgi to her core. She can't concentrate on attacking; she's having enough trouble just blocking. Soon he would push her out of the clearing, but she kept her steps small, it would take some time. So to speed things up, he takes another swing at her head, hoping to make her jump back. Instead she drops to the ground, just before the edge.

He could work with this. Inuyasha holds the stick with one end hovering above her throat, as if it actually was a sword. "You want to give up now?"

Talgi was panting, and gave a worried look around the clearing. She was trying to find an escape, but it wasn't going so well. Her lip suddenly curls up in a small smirk, "Not just yet." She kicks out with both feet, one of them just manages to hit Inuyasha's leg and he lifts away the stick. Talgi takes the opportunity and scrambles up a tree, still within the perimeter of the clearing.

Inuyasha gestures angrily at her with the stick, "Now wait, I thought this was a sword fight!"

"You mean to tell me you don't fight with anything but your sword?"

"Well, uh..."

"Exactly. And I didn't even kick that hard!" Inuyasha moves a little bit back, and Talgi jumps to the ground in front of him. "Look, we'll keep to only regular punches and kicks, and nothing that would cause too much damage, alright?"

"I think I get it..." And without further warning, he cracks his stick on the right side of her neck, just where it connects to the shoulder. She topples and grabs hold of her neck.

She looks up, waiting for the sharp pain to subside, "You couldn't even let me finish?"

"No rules, remember?"

"Well I know that!" She staggers up, right hand on the stick, left on her neck. "Except for no going out of the clearing, but still...!"

"My strength too much to handle?"

"You may be stronger, but I probably can use what I have a lot better."

"And what do you have other then a stick?"

She takes her weapon, jumps forward, and raps it against each of Inuyasha's hands a couple of times as hard as she can. The shock of it makes him drop his stick but he quickly retrieves it and jumps back. "I can be fast."

The two stare at each other, Talgi's still holding on to her neck. She releases it, and both her and Inuyasha jump forward to attack.

After about an hour of the fast-paced normalcy of attack, block, and being smacked with a stick, the half-demons break apart. Both are heavily panting from exertion, and both are covered in very large and angry red marks.

Talgi grins tiredly at Inuyasha. "Are… are you ready… to give up, Inuyasha?"

"Not just yet!"

"Ah… well I am." She drops the stick at her feet, and walks right past Inuyasha.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Heading back to camp, what's it look like I'm doing?"

"No ones lost yet, so this fight isn't finished!"

She slowly steps out of the clearing and looks back to him from the path. "There! Now you win."

"But…"

"Inuyasha, I'm tired of being beat with a stick. I haven't even been able to attack for the last couple of minutes! I just wanted to practice, I used to have lessons regularly but… that was a while ago. I just wanted to bring back what I had learned That's why I asked for your help, and it did help. And now I'm exhausted. You'd have won anyway, but I still have some fight left and it would just take up time. If you really want, you can stay here and practice. But I'm done."

Inuyasha carefully looks at the stick in his hands, and then drops it. "Fine. You want to quit, go ahead and quit."

"It sounded good to me." Talgi smiles and they both make their way back to camp.

Kagome was the first one to notice their return. She had glanced at the path Talgi and Inuyasha had left on every few minutes, worried. Had they been attacked? What if they met up with Naraku? When she saw them a little ways off, she was joyful. But when they had gotten closer, and she could see the marks… "What happened to you guys?"

The others suddenly lift their heads up. Shippo's face turns to one of extreme worry, while Miroku and Sango just look shocked.

Sango stands up, and takes a closer look at some of the markings on Talgi. "Are you ok? You two look like you've been attacked!"

Suddenly Miroku's look drops and he frowns. "Let me guess Inuyasha. Something Talgi did when she went to fetch you, angered you, and you wanted to get back at her, right?"

"No he didn't I… err…" Talgi's statement hangs in the air. She didn't know if Inuyasha wanted the others to know, or not.

"She asked me to help her practice fighting."

Finally Kagome seems to find her voice. "Practice fighting? Why?"

"Yeah, practice sword fighting. That's why we're covered in these marks, from the sticks we used instead of swords." He sits down next to Kagome. "And you'd have to ask her why."

Kagome turns to look at Talgi, and Talgi grins back at her. "A couple days ago, everyone was warning me that we'd fight demons. It's been a while since my sword skills have been put to use. That's why."

"But why didn't you tell us anything?"

"Because if Inuyasha lost, he didn't want anyone to know about it."

"I did not!"

Talgi grins, and sits down between him and Shippo. "I know. But the reason you gave me, didn't make as much sense as mine."

"I didn't want you guys to distract me. With all of you there, it'd be a performance, and not training."

"Well that makes sense…" Sango's attention turns to Miroku. "Why did you think Inuyasha did it to get back at Talgi?"

"Well… knowing his temper, it's the first thing that came to my mind. My apologies Inuyasha…"

"I'll show you temper, Monk…" He starts to stand up, but Kagome sticks at a hand and puts it on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Inuyasha, you didn't tell us who won."

"Uh…"

"He did."

"Only because you got tired and started to head back to camp!"

"I was losing anyway!"

"There was still a chance!"

"No there wasn't!"

"Yes there was!"

They both stand up, teeth gritted, and look ready to fight. Talgi tries to resist against a grin, but she can't, and ends up on the ground. Laughing.

"What the hxxx you doing that for?"

"I can't… help it! We're both exhausted… and you still want to fight!"

"That's because you left the clearing!"

Kagome had been sitting, a little confused by their fighting, but now she was smiling. "I get it, you feel like she let you win!"

"I could have beat her without her having to give up!"

Talgi's laughing fit has finally calmed down. "Really, I didn't let you win! Much more fighting, and I wouldn't be able to walk back here without help. And I probably wouldn't be able to help tell everyone that you didn't just beat me up, that I had asked for your help."

"You're half demon, you couldn't have been that tired!"

"I haven't had a chance to practice lately, so actually I was. But if we fight again, I'll be able to do better. Then you might have a challenge you can't handle!"

"Feh…"

"See Inuyasha? She didn't just let you win." Kagome yawns and rubs at her eye. "It's really getting late guys, we should get to sleep." Everyone moves out, and tries to find decent places to get some shut-eye.

Talgi moves away from the fire to a cooler spot. She lies down, and stretches out. Shippo is right there, and leans against her side. He had been quiet while listening to all the facts, but now he let's out a noisy yawn. "Talgi, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, all the red marks are going away. I'm fine. They don't even hurt anymore, so you don't need to worry."

"That's good." He yawns again and snuggles closer, "Goodnight Talgi."

"Night Shippo." He was asleep before he even heard her.

BC: (Drops Cricket 13 onto a table)

Cricket 13: Boss, really! I can explain...

BC: How?

Cricket 13: With a lot of groveling and begging of forgiveness, I think...

BC: No... I mean, how did you get them in my Maze of Doom?

Cricket 13: I... told them that there was something down there that you wanted to show them.

BC: Really...? that was a pretty good plan.

Cricket 13: It was?

BC: Yeah, wish I could have been part of it. Oh well, maybe you can help me with something...

PLP: (Pounds on the door) BC! Remember that you're supposed to be punishing 13! And it better be good!

BC: Oh, right. I almost forgot... no butterscotch syrup for the next two months and your candy supply is rationed.

Cricket 13: Noooooooooooo…

BC: (Sitting at the table, bored) You done yet?

Cricket 13: Yeah, I think so.

BC: Good. Now for the reviewer responses. Sorry this took so long by the way, I was distracted by Summer Va-ca-tion. Don't forget to review!

QJP: I don't care if there's not much to say, say it! I have to have something more then half-responses to run on, don't I?

PLP: OK, Daniel Jackson. And thank you for the good update bit, unlike some people. Ah! Just kidding QJP! No hurty with the pursy!

BC, over and out.