Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha
"Get out of my way wolf!" ordered InuYasha pushing the wolf demon to the side if any one was going to get help from the Fire and Wind elements it was going to be him not this stupid wolf.
Kouga looked at InuYasha in shock which then turned to anger, "Your way? Kagome is my woman!" he bellowed. How dare this half breed tell him, Kouga leader of the wolf clan, what to do especially when it regarded his future mate.
"You shouldn't have even been there!" InuYasha whipped around to face Kouga; his hands were clenched tightly at his sides trying to restrain himself from jumping the demon in front of him and tarring him limb from limb.
"And if I wasn't?" Kouga barked back, "Your lucky I caught Kagome's scent and came when I did otherwise she and the rest of you would have been dead!" Kouga's fist were raised up in front of him, he could feel the anger radiating from the hanyou and was ready for him to attack.
InuYasha's eyes went wide at this thought, as much as he hated to admit it the wolf was right, but of course he wouldn't let the wolf know this. "Keh, we would have been fine." He huffed turning away from the wolf crossing his arms across his chest; no way would he lose to him.
Feeling the anger subside from InuYasha Kouga relaxed a little, "Listen, I don't like this anymore then you do," he replied while putting his one hand on his forehead and the other on his hip, "But in either to save Kagome we need to work together, so let's just get this over with ok?"
"Fine by me," InuYasha agreed while starting to walk forward, "The sooner we find Fire and Wind the sooner I can get rid of you,"
"The feeling is mutual," Kouga growled under his breath. He then started to take in his surroundings; under his feet was fire hot sand that was being lightly blown around by a whistling wind. "Well this definitely feels like the right place" he stated.
"Ya, and there is no sign of any kind of water or vegetation in sight," InuYasha agreed. "What now?" he asked while turning to face the wolf.
"That!" cried Kouga pointing to the sky, InuYasha turned to see what the wolf was staring at. He followed Kouga's gaze to the sky and saw something coming towards them, he lifted his arm to shade his eyes from the blaring sun, it was a dragon. The two demons looked at each; they nodded to the other and took their battle stance waiting for the first attack from the mighty beast.
The dragon landed gracefully bringing his gigantic tail around his body like a cat and stared at the two demons with piercing sapphire eyes but did not attack. The Dragon towered over the demons, they only came up to his ankle, and his scales looked like they were pure gold. "You have come to the sacred ground of the elements. Why have you come?" the Dragon's voice boomed. The demons relaxed knowing that they were in no immediate danger.
"To save my woman, now let me by!" Kouga yelled up to the Dragon.
"What the wolf means is we have come to the Elements by the advice from Lumius the controller of light, we need help defeating Lunius, even though I think we could have defeated him ourselves," InuYasha yelled but mumbled the last bit so not to be heard by the beast in front of him.
"What makes you think that you are worthy to be in the presence of Fire and Wind?" asked the Dragon with no emotion to his voice.
"Worthy?" snarled Kouga clenching his fists, the nerve of the dragon asking him if he was worthy to see anyone. He turned to InuYasha looking at him for what they should do next.
"Alright that's it! We don't have time for these pointless questions Kagome needs help now and no over grown lizard is going to stand in my way to save her!" InuYasha yelled as he unsheathed the Tetsusaiga, his patience for the Dragon had disappeared completely.
"Couldn't have put it better myself!" Kouga smirked as he got ready to attack the messenger.
The Dragon's eyes narrowed at the two impatient men in front of him and spoke, "Very well, then you both shall parish." With this said the Dragons immense wings expanded to their fullest and with unbelievable speed attacked Kouga. Luckily Kouga was just as quick as the dragon but just barely the razor sharp wings just clipped a couple of his hairs.
"Bad mistake Dragon you should have gone after me instead! Wind Scar!" InuYasha yelled swinging the Tetsusaiga at the Dragon sending the attack right on target.
The Dragon just looked at the attack, when it came within inches of him it stopped instantly. He chuckled at the half demon, "You think you can defeat me with wind? I was created from the wind itself!"
InuYasha's and Kouga's eyes went wide with amazement. Sure other demons have been able to stop the Wind Scar but to stop it just by a glance? Only a hand full of demons had been able to do this in the past and they all had been unbelievably powerful. Just how powerful was this Dragon of Gold? The Dragon wasted no time and this time went for InuYasha. There was no way he could dodge him he was fast but not this fast, he couldn't even use the Backlash Wave, the Dragon had only been fighting physically. He stood his ground and was ready to defend even if he died he knew that he would have died trying to save Kagome. As he was ready for the Dragon's talons to tare at his flesh he felt nothing, and then realized why, he was over Kouga's shoulder. "Wolf let me down!" bellowed the hanyou.
"Is this how you treat everyone who rescues you, or do you just have a death wish?" laughed Kouga but before InuYasha had the chance to snap back Kouga continued, "Listen we need to start working together on this one, your sword and my speed." The playful smirk that he usually had on his face was now replaced with a look of business.
InuYasha hated the idea of working with Kouga, but new that the proud wolf hated it just as much as he did. "Wolf you got a deal," InuYasha said, "Now let me down!" Kouga stopped running and threw InuYasha in the air with ease and InuYasha landed with grace beside him. "We need to make him send a wave of demonic energy at me, and then I can use the Backlash Wave to stop him."
"Alright that's fine but how?" asked Kouga more to himself then to his comrade. He was just about to lean up against a nearby rock when a large scaly foot crushed it too pieces. Kouga jumped into the air doing a twist to face his foe and landed in a kneeling position. "That was way to close," he thought to himself.
"Thought that I wouldn't catch up to you?" scoffed the Dragon. Bringing his head to the canine's level, his eyes narrowed in on whom to attack next.
"That's it!" shouted Kouga as he sprinted towards the Dragon at top speed.
"What's it?" asked InuYasha completely confused at Kouga's behaviour, I mean common how stupid would you have to be to go charging at an enraged dragon! He saw the Dragon's eyes go wide with shock; obviously he was thinking the same thoughts that he was. The Dragon reared back and was about to pounce on Kouga but at the last second made a sharp right to avoid the attack. But instead of running away he started to circle the dragon, the more he circled the more sand whirled around the Dragon. "I get it, he can't attack what he can't see, and maybe this will draw him to use his demonic power instead of just brute strength." InuYasha thought as a smile came across his face, the wolf wasn't completely hopeless after all.
Kouga heard the Dragon growl, he was beginning to get impatient, excellent. Now for what he enjoyed and did best, mocking "Hey lizard breath why don't you just let us by, you obviously don't have the power to destroy us."
"Power!" the Dragon's voice growled and shook the ground beneath him almost making Kouga loose his footing; his voice was full of anger and annoyance towards the wolf demon who continued to circle him. "I am the Wind's guardian how dare you mock me demon! I will show you power that you can only dream of!"
With that the dragon outstretched his enormous wings and with one powerful push the dragon was soaring far above them. He stopped and looked down at the duo; Kouga, who stopped running when the dragon took flight, could have sworn he saw the dragon smirk before he started to slowly turn around on the spot. The Dragon was now a golden blur but you could tell his speed was still increasing. Kouga's instincts kicked in telling him he needed to look down now, when he did so he noticed that the sand around him started to swirl slightly. "Damn!" he yelled. Then took off at top speeds at InuYasha hoping he would make it to him before the Dragon's attack was unleashed.
InuYasha continued watching the Dragon until suddenly a large golden tornado surrounded it. He continued to follow the tail of the tornado wondering where it would strike, however his eyes led him to Kouga who was running at him at top speeds with the dry hot sand already swirling behind him from his own speed and of the awaiting attack from the guardian. InuYasha's eyes went huge with shock, "Wolf what are you doing running at me!" he demanded.
"You asked for it and now you've got it!" Kouga yelled at InuYasha while quickly jumping to the side out of the way of the attack which continued its path directly at InuYasha.
"You would destroy your own comrade in order to save your own life, how pathetic!" scoffed the Dragon, yet you could here the amusement that laced his voice.
"Actually, I would call it more of a favour!" yelled InuYasha to the Dragon, "Backlash Wave!" he raised Tetsusaiga and with complete accuracy sliced the attack sending it hurtling back on the exact same path it had come with, plus an added boost from the Wind Scar.
The Dragon had no time to dodge the attack but to just stare at his awaiting death. "But how? Only the wind has the power to defeat me!" the Dragon roared in defeat as the attack hit its destination with an eruption of power throwing the duo several feet backwards. Recovering quickly they looked up to see the Dragon disintegrate and ash fall to the ground only to be carried away by a slight breeze.
"Ha! We did it!" Kouga crowed with pride, slapping InuYasha on the back grinning ear to ear.
"We?" asked InuYasha recovering from the rather aggressive congratulation slap that Kouga just bestowed on him. "It was my Backlash Wave that killed it," he responded while starting to walk in the direction that the Great Guardian had come from not too long ago.
"I don't think so Mutt Face," Kouga shot back glaring daggers towards the back of the hanyou's head, "If it wasn't for my idea and speed you couldn't have even used that stick of metal."
"Keep telling yourself that wolf" stated InuYasha dryly as he sheathed the fang as he continued walking not even looking back.
Kouga growled in his chest, "The nerve of that Mutt!" he thought, "For Kagome don't kill him, you need him to help find the Elements to rescue Kagome." He continued telling himself this as he began to follow the dog demon from a distance; oh gods help him not to slice the mutt in two!
They walked for several hours in the hot sun and burning sand with the hot winds whipping at their faces. Their strength was literally being cooked out of them. "This heat is unbearable," said InuYasha while wiping his brow as he continued trudging along eyes on the path in front of him not daring to look up any where near the sun.
"I have to agree with you on this one, if we don't have shelter or water soon we will be in trouble." Kouga stated as he stopped and looked around putting his hand over his eyes to protect them from the glaring sun to get his bearings. As he looked around he noticed a large tower in the distance, "Fire and Wind," he said under his breath more to himself then to anyone else, he then turned towards his companion and said "Look theirs a tower in the distance…," However as he turned towards InuYasha his sentence stopped midway at the site that lay before him. It took all his strength not to laugh uncontrollably, InuYasha was jumping up and down throwing sand in the air "What are you doing mutt face?" asked Kouga trying so hard not to laugh at the hanyou who was making a fool of himself.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" spat InuYasha, "I've found water and now I'm going to drink it."
"Suit yourself," Kouga said while turning around to hide his smile from him, he didn't want to give it away this was way too funny. He could hear InuYasha humph behind him and he turned slightly to watch him out of the corner of his eye. InuYasha brought two hands full of sand, which was running off the sides, close to his mouth. Kouga was now fully turned around now leaning closer too get a better look of what was about to happen.
InuYasha threw the water into his mouth and was about to shallow, then his eyes bulged and he spat out all the red hot sand which moments ago looked like delicious water. "What was that!" he said with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he tried to get off the rest of the sand that was in his mouth. He turned around to see Kouga on the ground laughing hysterically. "What are you laughing at you flee bitten wolf?" InuYasha asked as he spat some more sand from his mouth.
"You, you idiot," Kouga said through laughs getting up while holding his stomach, "You just had a mirage there dog boy, and if your done eating and playing in the sand there is a tower up ahead we should be there in a couple hours." He continued to chuckle to himself as he walked towards the tower.
"Stupid flee bitten wolf thinks he's so good," grumbled InuYasha while spitting sand out after each word as he followed Kouga to the tower.
Another hour passed full of InuYasha grumbling to himself and Kouga chuckling remembering the dog demon's face as he realized that it wasn't a cool liquid that was in his mouth but salty hot sand, he wouldn't forget that look for a long, long time. After this hour they finally made it to the base of the tower, it was enormous and appeared to be made of bricks of gold and ruby. A large door stood before them that was ruby red and was outlined in gold. It seemed to go on for miles above them, no wonder they could see it hours ago.
InuYasha took his eyes off the tower and started to look around and asked, "Hey Kouga, do you think its getting hotter?"
Kouga was still looking at the tower's height trying to use his demon sight to see if he could see the top of the tower, but instead found the answer to InuYasha's question. "It's about to get a whole lot hotter!" Kouga said raising his voice while he pointed to the top of the tower.
InuYasha gave a puzzled expression at the wolf beside him and then followed to where he was pointing to. He looked up just in time to see a large bird of fire spread its wings and come swooping in at them, InuYasha jumped on top of Kouga to protect him from the flames that the bird sent at them with his fire rat kimono. "A Phoenix," said InuYasha more to himself then anyone.
"Get off!" growled Kouga as he threw InuYasha off of him as he looked up to see the new challenge that they needed to defeat. The bird landed in front of the door guarding it from two new guests, his powerful wings tucked to his sides, his entire body was flames, his beak was a beautiful gold like his feet and his eyes were sapphire like the Dragons and he was about the same size if not a bit smaller.
"Interesting," the bird said to himself, his voice was less harsh then the Dragons and seemed to be more soothing. "No one has made it this close to the tower before." The bird's judging eyes examined the demons in front of him wondering why these two triumphed when so many had failed in the past.
"We're not just any one, now move or meet the same fate as your Wind friend," InuYasha said while unsheathing the Tetsusaiga and taking his stance, Kouga followed suit.
"Fools," scoffed the Phoenix as it narrowed its eyes at the pair before him. "Your journey ends here!" the bird flew into the air and with a powerful blow from his wings fire rained down on the duo.
InuYasha and Kouga dodged the flames with ease but if they didn't defeat it soon they would die from the heat that the bird was emitting. They needed a plan and fast they couldn't take much more of this.
As they continued to dodge the bird followed them, InuYasha noticed however that the bird could not keep up with Kouga's speed at all, although the bird was far from slow it was a lot slower then the Dragon. This gave him an idea. "Kouga," said InuYasha, "I'm going to try and hit it out of the sky and then I want you to attack it." Kouga nodded, any plan, even by dog breath, was better then getting roasted alive by an over grown turkey.
Realizing that these attacks had no affect on these two the Phoenix decided to take a different approach. He put his wings in front of him, after a second a large fire ball was swirling in front of him; he then spread his wings sending the ball hurtling at Kouga wanting to kill the faster of the two. Kouga dodged it, however it nearly singed every hair on his body, he then looked around him fire surrounded him and InuYasha, soon the fire would take the oxygen that they needed if they didn't burn to death then they would suffocate. Kouga growled as a bead of sweat run down his face.
"Wind Scar!" InuYasha yelled as he sent the attack hurtling at the Phoenix, who unfortunately dodged it, but came swooping in at InuYasha instead, either way the bird was coming down. "Any time now Kouga!" he screamed at the wolf.
The bird was inches from his head, about to slice into him with its long talons when Kouga came up over a large flame kicking the bird in the head with his demonic strength, speed and momentum from the gravity pulling him down it sent the phoenix on a direct course to the ground skidding several feet. But with his speed Kouga raced after it. The Phoenix tried to get back to the sky where he had the advantage but his speed was nothing compared to Kouga's. "I don't think so!" Kouga growled at the bird. His claws extended he jumped into the air aiming for the Phoenix's throat. He hit his target and dragged his claws down the bird's flaming body, where there should have been blood there was blue flames.
The bird looked down in amazement, he was defeated, they had proven themselves worthy to see the Elements, the Phoenix then let out a bone chilling screech and fell to the ground bursting into blue flames sending Kouga flying backwards into InuYasha. "Should have seen that coming," said Kouga getting off of the poor hanyou. He looked over to where the Phoenix once was, like the Dragon all that was left was ash and a small gentle breeze blew it away. He then looked down to his clawed hand which had just sliced the Guardian in two, he flexed and closed his hand feeling the sting of the burn that would slowly go away in time.
InuYasha glared at Kouga brushing sand from his kimono. Both demons were now breathing hard as sweat was slowly trickling down their faces. "Let's go into the tower," Kouga said plainly way to tired and hot to gloat that he had just taken down a Phoenix.
"Fine," InuYasha said in the same tone, he just wanted to get out of this heat, even if it was his plan that destroyed the Phoenix. The demons both started walking towards the two monstrous doors, once they were in front of them the doors swung inwards. When the doors were fully open a hot breeze assaulted them causing black and silver to whip behind them. They looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes they had finally made it, the tower of Fire and Wind. They walked through the large ruby and gold doors guards on high, waiting, watching for any other obstacle that they would have to face.
A/N: Well I think that this chapter made up for the length in the last one wouldn't you agree?..haha.
I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile but then again I haven't been getting any reviews so its hard to write when it seems that one is reading it. So in other words the more reviews I get, the faster I will update! So plz review:).