Episode 5

Umeko's First Battle

"Inuyasha," Miroku said slowly, "That is not Kagome."

The groups went very still then as the monk's eyes narrowed on me and his hand slid to the staff at his side. My own fingers tightened around the blade at Inuyasha's back and I let a wicked smile curl their friend's lips.

"Fine," I sighed, "Ruin all my fun. My name is Umeko."

"What?" The dog looked bewildered and a little frightened. With one last wink, I pushed off of him, slashing the blade across his cheek and flipping onto my feet several yards away. The dog cursed, ignoring his injury to draw his sword while the other two did the same. The tiny fox child coward behind their cat-demon. I paid him little attention.

"Quick question," I said, smiling at the monk, "How did you guess?"

His eyes fell to my core, then back to my face and scowled. "She has taken over Kagome's body." He spoke to the others, ignoring me. Part of me was irritated by this, as if he didn't feel the need to bother with me yet. "But just now, I felt it. A demonic aura, like it's seeping through the cracks of her control."

"So Kagome's still in there?" Inuyasha asked.

The monk gave a short nod. "And she's fighting."

I didn't like being ignored and flipped the short blade in my hand so that its edges rested against Kagome's forearm. I had no reason to keep this body protected.

"You should follow her example." I cried and sprung forward before they knew what was happening. My first strike caught only the monk's robes, and I cursed as he jumped back. The second caught air and still he fled me. He didn't want to hurt the girl, I realized. He couldn't attack me without harming his precious friend and refused.

His mistake.

With a grin, I feigned left with the blade and spun to catch him as his jumped in the other direction. This time my blade met the flesh of his chest, and ripped down a good half-inch before he managed to pull away. Sango, the demon-hunter cried out his name, catching him in her arms as he fell.

I did not have time to gloat, however, because a blur of red crashed into me from the right. I went down hard, but rolled back to my feet, knife held aloft. Inuyasha growled.

"I thought I smelled Naraku." He was so angry. I could smell it, the rage that flowed from him in great waves. All for this body, because it was in danger. I titled my head at him, still smiling. "You're one of his incarnations, aren't you? Is he still too afraid to come for us himself?"

"I wouldn't know what that thing fears or doesn't." I shrugged, "And if I did, I certainly wouldn't be wasting time with you, half-demon. No," I stood strait, stretching out the girl's body for his benefit and bringing the blade down to her left arm. "I'm here because I have nothing better to do. I'm just looking for a little fun." And with that, I slid the blade across her arm deep enough that the blood flowed immediately, soaking the white sleeve of her strange clothes.

"Kagome!" The dog cried out her name as if she could answer while the other's looked horrified.

"The demon is damaging its own body. Why would it do that?" Sango asked, still cradling the monk. I felt a momentary flash of pleasure at the pale caste his skin was taking. I'd cut him quite deep it seemed.

"She would do so because it is not her body." I replied to the demon-hunter, "Because I do not feel the pain, nor do I take the damage."

"Keep that weapon on me, you filthy demon." Inuyasha grit out. He looked quite cute when he was angry. His eyes especially drew me. Such a lovely gold color. "Don't you dare hurt her!"

"Like this?" I asked innocently, slashing the girl's side. The smell of blood was filling the air around us, and I felt the steady drip of it off the tips of the girl's fingers. Inside she was trembling. She felt the pain.

"Damn you." The dog growled, sliding into what must have been his aggressive stance. He would not really attack me, not while I wore this body, so what did he plan? "I'm sorry Kagome."

The blinding yellow light was too sudden to avoid, and when it hit me, I felt my hold on the girl slip just a moment. In that second of her freedom, I felt the crushing pain of his attack and landed hard a few feet away in the dirt.

The girl pushed up from her cell and grasped at the brief control. "Again Inuyasha!" She cried while I shook off the daze, "If you hit her enough she will lose control. Don't worry about me!"

"Kagome?" the dog asked. The hope in his voice was disgusting.

I cursed through her mouth and bashed her back down into the dark. This time I stuck the blade right into her thigh and twisted. "Shut up, you stupid little bitch."

He wouldn't really listen, would he? Not if it meant hurting his precious Kagome.

"Do it Inuyasha!" Sango cried, and that bastard monk joined in.

"You have to. If you don't, she'll only end up killing Kagome herself!"

At that, I arched a brow and turned back to the dog. "He's got a point." I agreed with a shrug, fingering the wound on Kagome's arm. "I will kill her when I'm done here."

"I won't let that happen." Inuyasha growled, claws brandished for my benefit, but I only laughed.

"And makes you think you can stop me?" I grinned, "Or them?"

It was different taking control of the humans from within this body. Harder, but not so much that it would matter. The power I used was not meant for humans and caused the girl great pain, but I ignored her cries in my head and focused of the demon-slayer and monk.

The first to strike was Sango, flinging her great weapon with an accuracy that surprised even me. It caught the dog off guard, crashed into him from behind and sending him to the ground with a grunt of pain. Her cat demon let out an angry yowl, swiping at her just as she caught the returning weapon, but she leapt out of the way. At the same time the monk was swinging his bladed staff at the dog, his eyes dead and empty.

The cat was a nuisance.

Jei! I called, and smiled as I heard the heavy sound of my wolf crashing out through the trees to collide with Kirara. Sango, now free of distraction, turned back on Inuyasha and drew her sword.

"She's controlling them too! Inuyasha, don't hurt them!"

For a moment, I was startled by the tiny voice, until I saw the fox demon standing up on a nearby rock. I'd completely forgot he was here, insignificant thing that he was. But now that I had a few moments of time, a little fun wouldn't hurt.

The demon child cried out in fear when I turned to him with a smile and moved to scramble away, but I reached out and caught the front of his shirt. In the commotion of the other's fight, his screams were nearly inaudible. I watched the glint of fear in his huge eyes when I raised the blade above him and delighted at the sight of welling tears. Taking only a moment to enjoy this fear, I slashed the blade down toward his scrawny neck.

Then grunted when I was jerked backwards and sent hurtling through the air.

"Run, Shippo." The dog snapped, fending off the monk as he once more attacked. He'd pulled me off the fox brat, the bastard.

"That was rude." I scowled, slinging blood across the dirt from the girl's wounded arm. With my movement, the others froze, pulled away from the half-breed and turning their weapons on themselves. Inside me, the girl stirred, fearing for her companions and rattling against the bars of her cage. I ignored her. "You should focus on your other friends."

Inuyasha growled, "I'm gettin' sick of this, Umeko. Why don't you quit with the stupid games and come out to fight me already?"

"But I love games." I smiled in what I hoped came across as deranged. It was slightly hard to tell with another's face. "In fact we're playing one now. It's called, which friend will you choose to save." He bulked at the thought, glancing to his friends. "You can only reach one, Inuyasha, before I make them slit their own throats."

No! I heard the girl's cry loud and clear as if she'd screamed into my ear. Her cage within me rumbled and I felt the dull ache of a far-away pain. Her pain, I realized, with a quiet curse. She was dragging herself back to the surface the little bitch. For her friends. She was fighting away my hold.

"If you even try-" Inuyasha, completely unaware of this was threatening me, but I didn't have time to listen. Instead I drew all my energy into shoving Kagome back into her cage. The monk and demon-slayer fell to their knees with groans, tossing away their weapons. I wrapped my arms around myself and shook my head.

"You can't!" I hissed at her aloud. "I'm in control. ME."

Get. Out. Of. MY. BODY!!

The girl's voice rang like the oppression tong of a bell. I felt as if her voice were stripping away my skin, peeling in back from the bone to leave me bare and weak. With a scream of pain, I grabbed handfuls of her hair and squeezed my eyes closed.

At first, the light of their dying fire was too much for my eyes, and then I felt the first blow from Inuyasha in my gut. I was out of the girl and now I felt everything.

He didn't want to kill me yet, it seemed. Instead, the half-breed pounded me down into the dirt with his fists while Sango ran to the heavily bleeding Kagome. With a growl, I swung my hand back, catching his across the jaw. Inuyasha stumbled back, giving me time to get to my feet and spit blood onto the ground.

For a moment, I could only stare at it, the dark red that damned the ground, and then my eyes snapped up to him again and narrowed into furious slits. The bastard had made me bleed.

"You son of a bitch!" I cried launching myself toward the mutt and swiping him across the chest with my claws. It tore through his kimono, and when I leapt back away from him, I licked away the blood on my fingers with a cold smile. "Tag."

"That's it." He seethed, and I felt an icy spike of fear as his blade transformed when he unsheathed it. Naraku had warned me about this sword.

"Jei!" I cried and leapt onto my wolf's back.

"Oh, no you don't." Inuyasha took to the air, raising his sword to slash up both.

Jei howled in pain and I was hit with a splattering of his blood just before the edge of the mutt's blade cut like fire down my back. I tumbled from Jei to hit the ground hard enough to lose my air in a harsh exhale. Inuyasha landed in front of me and raise his sword again, but I rolled in time to catch only the tip of the blade between my ribs. Still it ripped through flesh and left me panting and my vision hazy.

"Naraku should have tried harder." Inuyasha scoffed. "Without your tricks, you're hardly worth the fight." Then he raised the blade up over his head and began to speak the words of his most efficient attack. With a cry I threw up my hands focused on only his arms.

When he didn't bring down the blade, I could have laughed in relief, but instead decided to play it off and smiled to him. "Half of you is human, Inuyasha. That means half of you is susceptible to my power."

He trembled with the effort of fighting against me, but couldn't move. I didn't have the strength to puppet him, but I could hold him in place to save myself.

"Jei." I called; thankfully my wolf was still alive. I wasn't sure yet what it would mean to lose him, being that we were each connected to the other. The wolf knelt down to let me climb onto him and I did my best to keep the pain from my voice and expression.

"The second you drop control, "Inuyasha grit out pashed his bared fangs, "I will kill you."

It was true, I realized, and cursed myself. Why couldn't I have killed him while the other's slept? While he wasn't expecting it. Without him I could have torn the others into little pieces without problem, made them do it themselves even, but I'd been cocky.

My eyes slid to the other's, to the girl bleeding into the grass. She still gripped the Sango's blade, as if she imagined killing me herself. My smile was impossible to hide.

"What the hell are you grinin' at?" Inuyasha demanded, and Jei backed away from them steadily.

"Oh, nothing." I sighed, "Just a parting gift."

With that I ripped all my control from the half-breed and threw it at Kagome. The mutt heard the other's cry, and turned to find her holding the blade tip against her heart with both hands. One push from me and she would be dead.

"Damnit!" He cried and nearly left the ground with the speed of getting to her. I didn't bother hold the connection simply grabbed onto Jei's fur.

"Run, Jei. Now!"

He took off, bursting us through the trees in less than a second. My wolf was fast and not even that bastard half-breed could catch us now. As the world became nothing but blurred motioned and the repetitive beating of Jei's paws against the ground, I fell forward, lying down along his spine. He was massive enough that I wouldn't slip off.

"Well." I laughed, coughing out a speckling of blood into his thick black fur. "Guess I showed them."

Just before I slipped out of consciousness, I heard Jei's growl. He didn't like my joke much.

It's been about forever, since I last posted for this fic. Sorry, just lost the inspiration for it, I guess. Then I had an Inuyasha marathon with some friends and now I think it's back. Anyway, for what it's worth, the next chapter is Sesshomaru's first appearance.

Tell me what you thought of Umeko's first fight.