Scroll 7- The second clue

Sesshomaru remained still, holding tokijin at a angle facing the path of which he believed Rykemina would strike. The cave's depths howled as if a monstrous insanity was lurking below them. Aside, skeletons lay shackled to the ground, and while none locked them, they appeared to have endured something more heinous than what thoughts maneuvered inside Sesshomaru's mind. Despite the cave's trembling shift of a narrow, frozen chill that surfaced through the stone surrounding the atmosphere, not a single breeze had voyaged through the air. The ground was rough, immersed with the same chill that escalated deeper in the cave. Rykemina continued to hold her staff beside her, not noticing Sesshomaru held tokijin in a piercing attack position. Yet while the air was thin, Rykemina remained to have an even more revolting smile, lingering the moment that Sesshomaru noticed was more a menace than the staff that remained motionless at her side.
" If introductions don't suit you, Sesshomaru perhaps I can proceed to my next interest. In spite of running into an old enemy with new, infuriating threats…you progressed into the depths of this cave seeking the truth of your inherited sword that, until now you supposed was merely a weapon with no sting. How desperately tormenting the idea must be…so edger to resolve the immeasurable obscurity of tenseiga. Conversely, I will spare you the journey of looking for its secrets, to inform your agitated mind….there is nothing more to your sword's history than a sword of resistance, a fang without edge and a blade without determination." Rykemina darted through the path between him and Rykemina, Sesshomaru's thrust onto Rykemina's staff that had within seconds been drawn into defense.
" Your nothing more than a severed fragment of someone else, if not for this minor detail…rest assured my blade would already have engraved your endless mouth that erupts nothing more than the insipid debris that Naraku has already dispatched." Sesshomaru diverted back further then where he once stood, clutching -tenseiga by his side, looking at Rykemina who's staff had somehow shifted to her side again.
" If your combat will be nothing more than defense, Sesshomaru I'd say eliminating your chance for survival is a more accomplishable task than was once predicted." Rykemina then was holding her staff again, aiming it at a distant rock mound off in the distance. Sesshomaru seized the time to dive at Rykemina again, but somehow was diverted by her staff that shielded Sesshomaru from her once again.
" Don't understand my crave to have some fun as well, Sesshomaru? Tokijin is merely a residue of Goshinki, a demon that was created by Naraku at a time when Narku was no where near what he is now. You can defend and try to peruse the attempt to retain the true secrecy behind Tenseiga, but you will find nothing. It is merely a fang that never progressed into an advanced format. There's no way out of my clutches Sesshomaru, and before you realize that….I will have gotten you." Rykemina thrust Sesshomaru back, holding her staff back into it's former position. Sesshomaru held tokijin at attack position a few paces away from Rykemina.
" Should you attempt to gash me with your sword while I aim at these rocks that will ultimately seal your fate, you will be in pieces before can even thrust its first motion in the air." Rykemina continued to hold her staff at the pile of rocks, the wicked smile returned, piercing the pathway between them more than swords could. " Consider this my apology for not allowing you to progress further ahead, though for not dying by Naraku, I'm giving you a bonus." The four crystals around Rykemina's staff glowed, while the middle crystal began to glow a brilliant crimson red.
" Farewell, Sesshomaru."

Totosai clutched the tetsusaiga, examining it's hilt. The blade had endured excess scratches from the previous conflict with Naraku, and yet there was no expression that overtook the judgment developing inside Inuyasha. Covering ash began to engulf the banks of the land outside totosai's hut, the sky remained its shade of colorless gray, etching a mood of sulk over the atmosphere. As the harsh dust blew through the dry lands outside, inside Inuaysha was getting anxious. If Naraku really had destroyed his sword, could there be anything else to do? Dark clouds began to gather over the hut. Night's breath of chill stretched across the misty land of shadow, but inside Totosai's hut hope lingered in Inuyasha, who for the first time was far from being impatient.
" You fear your fathers sword is for once destroyed, eh?" Totosai spoke in a whisper. It had been the first sentence totosai had whispered in days as the hour drew close to the following morning.
" Despite what Naraku did to it, I feel you can fix it Totosai and you better… my father wouldn't just forge a sword that could break that easily."
" You're speaking in terms of everything that tetsusaiga's endured, right? It's happened once before, Inuyasha don't forget that instance. If you can recall, it had been only broken in a figuratively spoken manner and re-forging it was possible with the help of his continued bloodline." Totosai then returned to the blade where he withdrew a pair of iron clogs and began smoothing it's edge.
" Bloodline? Just what instance are you speaking of old man?" Inuyasha was now becoming aware that this could be the last time tetsusaiga could do combat, in fact he was sure of that since it was difficult fixing it before, an even more imperative incident had happened on it this time.
" I managed to forget all this time including that event far too back for my memory to recall. It was a simple structure of gathering tissue from your tooth, but in an essence Inuyasha, it was the blood's combined structure with your father's bloodline that essentially allowed tetsusaiga to be repaired the last time. As then, as now, there is a similar process that goes to re- forging one of your father's swords. In his desire to protect your human mother, your father realized that for the tetsusaiga to truly be a sword of unbeatable odds, the current wielder had to develop a bond or relationship with the sword. He studied deep into the combination of will and determination and discovered something about swords that would've taken me an age to figure out." Inuyasha was now listening cautiously, his interests fixated into Totosai's story. " There is a union between determination and choices, Inuyasha. The determination to do good or evil makes the choices we decide to conduct and the more we're determined, the more powerful our choices are carried out and acted on. Your father built the tetsusaiga so that no matter what evil tried to consume it, it's will would always fight back harder and even more so if the intentions of the wielder were good. So you see, Inuyasha, this is why the tetsusaiga has refused an evil wielder because it was built a good sword. Your father would never surrender to the forces of evil and in the process of combining his good intentions for the love of your mother, the sword remains entrusted to serving only the purpose of good." Totosai put down tetsusaiga and stared at Inuyasha " If you want to truly mend back your sword, you must do what you have never done Inuyasha, retrieve the bond between you and tetsusaiga.
Inuyasha continued to stare at Totosai then slowly got up and headed for the hut's exit.
" Listen Totosai, as far as I'm concerned the sword has worked just fine since we re-forged it last time. I don't believe my father wanted me to bond with the sword and if he did, why did you not tell me before?…" Totosai had never heard Inuyasha speak in such a small tone before. Remaining seated, Totosai grabbed tetsusaiga.
" Inuyasha, sit back down." Inuyasha continued to stand, glancing out at the dust that was pouring into the hut.
" Totosai you don't understand. I can't learn such a difficult process in a matter of minutes, which is all it'll take now for ----- to devise a new conspiracy against me. I can't let Kagome go into the state of fear she's had to endure since I last transformed. She…I won't…..the sword's broken Totosai You can't detect it, but without the sword….Kagome is…"
" She's not, Inuyasha! You said yourself a long time ago that you would never let yourself forget that no matter what trick Naraku unleashes you'd be a step ahead to prevent it! My insight tells me that this is the time, there is no more instances for saying this or that. You must learn to truly connect with the tetsusaiga in order to make an equal comeback that Naraku will surely give you. For now, the answer to your question is yes, it has broken. Last time we could repair it because it still belonged to your father, the fang was not your own. Now, it's different. Before, it had to be re-forged not because it was broken but because it was time for you to take up the responsibility that your father had pressed upon you. You had to learn to master the sword yourself and now that you have, you must learn to bond with it. Doing so will allow you to uncover this sword's true abilities far more greater than the backlash wave. The time is now Inuyasha, connect with your sword and then Naraku will not be able to break it. It is the second clue to defeat Naraku" Inuyasha stared down at the sword, looking into his mind he saw only Kagome, and the smile that still was there.

Sesshomaru blocked the swarm of rocks that collided with fire and thrust it back into Rykemina's direction. The dense air in the cave along with the chill from the cave's depths swept the atmosphere into a silent realm of mystery as Sesshomaru and Rykemina collided their weapons.
" My, your sword's everything they say it is---a dull and utterly representation of the thing you are not Sesshomaru, strong enough to overcome me. Your sword speaks of weakness, it's stained with something else….." Rykemina thrust her staff into four halves, all tips began to glow lava red. " That something else is what you hope to achieve, but it's only the shear force of what you seek….the will to outmatch everyone whom you see is below you. Yet you're only so naïve, the only one whom you don't notice is the weakest is yourself. You fight with strength but not with force. You thrust with determination but cannot carry it out. You're nothing but a mere intrusion into my path, Sesshomaru and your time of talking big is coming to a close, my time of oozing your pain is just starting." Rykemina released the tips of her staff which dived into the ground. Slowly, the ground turned orange red, submersing the rock and stone into melted crimson liquid that began to engulf their dueling space. Before Sesshomaru could counter attack, Rykemina thrust her staff into the ground and stared at Sesshomaru " Now, sink into the earth----awaken, lava of the earth…." Rykemina's staff shot a glow of orange smoke into the ground. More quickly than it came, the ground transfigured to a fire-scoped nightmare. Rykemina held her staff at Sesshomaru her eyes pierced his like the lava that began to pierce the stone ground. " Say goodnight, son of the dog warrior." A blast of heated fire more greater than she had shown darted from her staff and hit the rocks above. The cave was turning into a volcanic tunnel of destruction that began to collapse. Rykemina had vanished to a lower outside cliff on the mountain. Smoke, ash and fire began to pour out of the mountain as if a fierce eruption was engulfing the surrounding atmosphere. The cave was collapsing, stones and chunks of the rocks inside and out began to burst in all directions, shooting off for miles that soon became a continuing cycle. Rock departed from stone that departed from the mountain that melted and soon was nothing but a liquid lava pool. Rykemina now stood a distance across a rocky field below the mountain.
" I'm sorry to inform you, but the attempt to consume me with your childish and frankly tacky tricks have failed. You're no different than the rest of Naraku's incarnations, Rykemina. Your staff hold noting but the same force and might that Kagura or Kanna hold. No matter what you shot at me, Rykemina the force of Naraku cannot kill me." Rykemina remained tight lipped. Her smile did not vanish from her face, she indeed remained still, staff clutched at hand.
" You're becoming quite interesting to defeat, Sesshomaru My first opponent and hardest to defeat yet. You're still not quite convinced are you? The surge of fire that powers my staff is more than enough to overpower you. I feel as if my first attack only sharpened your combat skills, not weakened them…well, that can be changed."
" Put your fire where your mouth is Rykemina and prove to me. I have yet to discharge my sword at you and you talk as if you've already won. I see nothing before me but the same thing I've seen from Naraku the same incarnation believing she's the smartest and most cunning. I will not heed to accepting your words because like your master, they are stained with meaningless garbage. If in fact you can defeat me, release your ultimate attack and I might shift my mind. Regardless, Rykemina, you will kneel to me after defeat so I can slice off that head and then present you to Naraku as a trophy."
" My, my what description…you make me want to cut you up even more. My fire will engulf you and send you to the abyss, and it is you who'll bow to me and feel my wrath for I've already released at you my second attack-----the fire's whip that cannot be seen." Sesshomaru detected a long red spark in the air that soon pierced his chest and began to dismember his sword. He could not see his sword collapsing, but his mind could feel it's ability to conjure attack weaken. The spark thrust its way out of him and returned to Rykemina's staff.
" I will break you, Sesshomaru Oh, believe me….you'll begin to feel the fire soon……..

TO BE CONTINUED…..