Chapter 12:

The Rage and Death of the Dragon

"My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

"We are close to the village, I can smell it." Ryura announced. Most human villages were awfully...vile in scent. It would have been hard for Ryura to miss it.

From the corner of her eye Kagome took in Ryura's appearance. He was still covered in blood. Seeing him would possibly scare the hair off of the villagers.

"Um, Ryura, I don't want to be rude, but if you were wanting to come with me, you might want to clean off first. You're kind of...scary looking," Kagome said with a nervous laugh.

He blinked and, for the first time since fighting Naraku, looked down at himself. She was right. His armor and clothing were stained with blood, as were his hands. Now that he was more aware of his appearance, he could feel dried blood on his face, neck, and when he raised a hand to his hair, he felt the crusty substance there, too.

Kami, he hated feeling crusty. He grumbled loudly and cursed. "Damnit. I guess I was really out of my mind not to notice how bad I looked," he said darkly.

"Well, it's not like you have a mirror or anything."

Ryura looked at her briefly, "No, but I should have smelt the blood."

Without speaking further Ryura's eyes closed and he tilted his head up, sniffing the air with a slightly twitching nose. He could smell the waters of a natural hotspring nearby.

"I will take you to the village's edge. When I am sure you are safe, I will leave," he said.

Kagome's eyes widened, "But you-"

"Will return after I and my belongings are free of blood." Ryura finished her sentence for her. Suddenly feeling a playful streak he grinned and slanted his eyes in her direction, "Unless you wish to come with me?"

Out of surprise she almost missed a step and fell flat on her face, but managed to grab onto the green dragonscaled gauntlet covering Ryura's left forearm. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Kagome blushed and mumbled, "N-no, it's okay. I can wait."

Ryura grinned wider. "You are sure? I could use help washing my hair. After all, it is awfully long," his words were teasing. "Washing it by myself takes such a long time."

Realizing just what he was doing, Kagome smirked. "I guess I could come. I do love playing with hair, and Sesshoumaru nor Inuyasha never let me play with theirs. I've always wondered if a youkai's hair feels as soft as it looks."

Now it was Ryura's turn to sputter. He didn't expect her to agree!

Kagome laughed loudly and patted Ryura on the arm, "I'm joking, I'm joking. Go on, take as long as you need. I need to talk to Kaede anyway."

He released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding until then. While the idea of not having to wash his hair was appealing, he couldn't imagine how he would react if Kagome was the one who did it for him. He didn't act like himself whenever he was around her. But, then again, did he really want to act like himself? Ryura wasn't for sure what his real personality even was.

Was he the dark, violent Daiyoukai General of the Four War Gods, or...something else?

As they neared extremely close to the village, Ryura gave Kagome a light tap on the back to get her to move forward. "I'll be back soon, go on," he said with a smile.

"I'll see you later then! Be careful!" Kagome called out as she jogged towards the village.

She disappeared from his vision for a few minutes, concealed by the darkness of night, but thankfully he could still feel her aura. He waited until she was on the outskirts of the decently sized village, showing the prowess of its defenders just from the sheer size. When he saw her again he turned to leave but a curiosity struck him and he decided to hang around and watch.

With her form lightly outlined by the lanterns casting a warm glow over the village and its outskirts, Ryura saw farmers who had yet to finish their chores for the day stand up and wave at Kagome, calling her Miko-sama in the process. She slowed down to stop to talk to a woman and her child passing by on their way home for the night, when they were finished Kagome returned the small bow they gave her. When she finally disappeared into a hut, Ryura nodded to himself then turned to leave. It was still fairly early in the evening, considering, and he knew Kagome would be safe now inside of the village.

He was only able to make it a few steps before he turned back around when he heard Kagome yell Inuyasha's subjugation command loudly enough for even the farmers to look up in wonder. Ryura leaned against the nearest tree and watched as the screen to the hut billowed out violently, showing how hard Kagome had sat the hanyou.

She was back outside a little bit later, and boy did she look angry. Ryura could feel her anger from even his distance and he had to wonder just what Inuyasha did to deserve the sitting. Her aura was going absolutely crazy. Kagome stopped in the middle of the path and those passing by her gave her a wide birth. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, her shoulders hunched, and her feet were spread apart.

"RYUR-!" she was cut off by Inuyasha running out of the hut and grabbing her by the arm to yank her until she was facing him.

The hanyou looked far from happy, as well.

With his left foot, Ryura took one step forward. He was preparing to launch himself at the couple. Muscles coiling tighter and tighter along with his youki commanding the air around him to swirl at his feet, Ryura's body shook with the effort it was taking him to keep himself in place as he wound his body up. He began to shake even more to the point his armor was rattling against his frame once his red eyes took in the sight of Inuyasha taking hold of Kagome's other arm. The hanyou was shaking her slightly now and yelling words Ryura couldn't hear at this distance.

Beneath him the ground began to shake. Pebbles and smaller rocks bounced away from him due to the amount of power he was trapping inside his own body. Leaves were ripped from their branches from close by trees as the wind wrapping around Ryura began to blow with tornadic like winds.

He shot off from the ground like a rocket. The earth split apart, looking as if a meteor struck not too long ago, as all the pent up energy was released in one massive burst of youki.

Ryura was unable to stop himself from bouncing forward a few steps on one foot after landed and his fist connected with the side of Inuyasha's head. The hanyou was flying across the village at an alarming rate, stopping only when he crashed into the side of the hut. Debris and dirt were sent blooming into a cloud around the now destroyed hut.

The family inside had thankfully managed to run outside right before half of the hut collapsed inwards, landing heavily on Inuyasha's prone body. They were screaming as they ran half way around the hut to see what had caused their home's destruction. Their screams were only renewed with an increased volume when they saw Ryura standing off in the distance, covered in blood, and looking in their direction with the most intense look of murder and rage on his face.

Ryura ignored their screams and pivoted around to look down at Kagome. Her eyes were wide with both fear and anger, but at the same time unshed tears misted in her eyes. She had her arms wrapped around her shaking body, and with the way she was looking at him, Ryura could tell her anger and fear wasn't directed at him, but at Inuyasha.

"In-Inuyasha, he..." Kagome said between noiseless and tearless sobs, "He smelt you on me, and smelt your blood. I don't... I-Kami, he was so angry..." She trailed off and hiccuped. "He-he called me..." Kagome couldn't force the word to come. It was stuck in her throat, like a hard to swallow pill.

She didn't have to say much of anything else, for Ryura hear the underlying words in her voice that she just couldn't say. Inuyasha had apparently taken their mixed scents the wrong way, and went flying off the handle in his anger.

Ryura placed his hand softly on top of Kagome's head as he began to walk. He moved past her, his hand falling limp at his side when he was far enough away. His steps were heavy, breaking the ground beneath his feet, as he headed towards where the hanyou landed. Ryura was building the pressure of his youki within his body yet again, like he had before he arrived and sent Inuyasha half way across the village with a single hit.

He looked so calm it was almost scary considering how the elements around him were in pure and utter chaos. His feet sank deeper and deeper into the earth with every step he took, his rage bubbling up and over an invisible line not even he was aware he had until now. He was well past his limits, and it showed.

The whirlwind that had started to surround Ryura picked up pieces of the destroyed hut that had been thrown in random directions due to Inuyasha's impact and they were now flying about him as if he were an angry Mother Nature herself. Lightning crackled along his body, reaching out and touching anything that decided to come too close to Ryura's personal gale.

Inuyasha was just coming to consciousness and he shuddered with the amount of youki that pressed angrily down on him. His golden eyes, wide with some unknown emotion, took in Ryura's appearance, and that unknown emotion was quickly replaced with his own rage.

The hanyou tossed away what little debris was left and shot up to his feet, pulling Tessaiga from its sheath at the same time. The fang-blade made from his father's fang was willed to life, growing into the gleaming blade that was both famous and infamous, depending on who's side you were on.

"What the hell!?" He asked as he began to wave Tessaiga menacingly, almost tauntingly, in front of him, allowing it to pick up its own small gale around the blade.

The Dragon Daiyoukai didn't react nor did he respond to Inuyasha's question. He only kept moving forward at a slow, yet steady, pace. Not even Inuyasha's sudden and deafening snarl was enough to take Ryura's mind off of his task.

Inuyasha recognize the look Ryura was giving him. On Horai Island, the Dragon had stared at him much the same way. It was a look filled with disgust and rage. His eyes had darkened to a deep red and with the way his head was slightly bowed, his bangs cast a shadow over the glittering rubies of Ryura's eyes.

Oh, yes. Inuyasha had definitely seen this look before, but never had it been so intense.

Before Ryura could get too close to him, Inuyasha threw Tessaiga forward in a powerful arch. "Wind Scar!" he yelled, causing four glowing claw-like marks to shoot forth and rumble dangerously across the ground towards Ryura.

Ryura gathered the force of powerful winds around his right hand and once the Wind Scar was close enough he batted it to the side, out of his way, and sent it careening harmlessly between two huts.

"...you have to be kidding me!" Inuyasha yelled. "How the fuck did you do that!?"

Again his question went unanswered, but Ryura did finally speak. "If you wish to fight, Inuyasha, I suggest we take it outside of the village!" he retorted as he used the air billowing around Inuyasha from his own sword to pick Inuyasha up.

Ryura gave a jerk of his right hand and Inuyasha was streaking over the top of the village, heading straight for an open clearing not too far outside the outskirts.

Kagome watched on, her mouth agape. It quickly shut when Ryura pushed off the ground and was following after Inuyasha.

"Ryura, no! It's okay! I was just upset, it'll pass!" she yelled after his flying figure.

As he passed over her head, Ryura turned his angry gaze to her. "Not right now, Kagome!" he snapped loudly. "I'm going to rip that foul tongue of his from his mouth!"

"Child, what is going on!?" Kaede asked as she exited her hut.

"Oooohhhhh!" Kagome huffed loudly, angry beyond belief now. "Inuyasha was being an idiot again, and now there's someone who's tired of his mouth, apparently!"

Kaede gave her a startled, confused look, but it didn't seem Kagome was paying attention. She was stomping angrily away and Kaede just sighed and decided to go about calming down the villagers.

In the clearing, Ryura landed on Inuyasha's chest, giving the hanyou no mercy. He would learn to act properly or Ryura would send him to Touga to let him deal with his asshole of a son.

Inuyasha coughed harshly, blood flying from his lips with the impact of Ryura's dark blue boot clad feet against his chest. Between the crunching sound and pain in his chest, Inuyasha could tell a few ribs were broken. Below him the ground gave way and he was laying in a crater as if Kagome had sat him. With an angry growl he swung Tessaiga at Ryura, only for it be deflected by one of the Dragon Daiyoukai's large blades that were now drawn and gripped tightly in his hands.

He forced Ryura off of him and was on his feet as Kagome arrived. She yelled for them to stop, and Inuyasha responded by growling out "Back the fuck off!"

A sword came within a hair's width of his face and Inuyasha backpedaled away.

"What the fuck is your problem, ya bastard!" he yelled once he was stationary again. Blood trickled down the side of his face, showing Ryura had swung the sword fast and hard enough that the air itself had cut him instead of the blade itself.

"My problem?" Ryura raised a sword and pointed it at Inuyasha. "My problem is you, hanyou!"

He sprang forward and thus began the battle with both Inuyasha and Ryura parrying one another's attacks. It was almost an exact copy of their second battle on Horai Island, except Ryura was moving much more quickly, as was Inuyasha. The Dragon was forced to step to the side when Inuyasha released another Wind Scar.

Then his eyes widened in horror. The Wind Scar was heading right for Kagome and it didn't look like she would be able to get out of the way in time. Ryura quickly tossed Fujinga in her direction with a powerful throw. Kagome cried out and watched as not only the Wind Scar, but Ryura's sword headed directly for her.

"Protect her, Fujinga!" He yelled. "Dragon Gale!"

The sword sparked to life and once it landed, embedded deep within the earth, an explosion of wind burst forth and surrounded Kagome protectively in a dorm of visible air. Dragon Gale Ryura's most powerful defensive technique. The Wind Scar was forced to part down the middle and split off to the sides around Kagome.

Behind him, Inuyasha began to cackle.

"I didn't think you were this big of an idiot!" the hanyou roared as he lifted Tessaiga up above his head.

Tessaiga pulsed once. It was a dangerous and low pulse that Ryura could feel echoing in his very soul. Curious now, Ryura watched as Tessaiga took on dark green dragon scales, a growl emitting from his throat as a dark aura began to leak from the fang-blade. Inuyasha's eyes were searching for something, and when they found it, Ryura saw a triumphant grin spread its way across the hanyou's face.

Ryura was tempted to jump back and grab Fujinga, but not knowing what the attack was, he didn't dare get too close to Kagome. Instead, just as the energy from Tessaiga was released, Ryura held his arms up in front of his chest, forearms crossing, and he willed a bit of his youki in the scaled gauntlets he wore. They came to life, spreading quickly over his hands to form Dragon-like claws. Without Fujinga to protect himself from attacks such as these, his gauntlets were the next best thing.

"Inuyasha, sit!" he heard Kagome yell out from behind him, possibly in an attempt to make the Tessaiga's attack veer of course, but it was far too late for that. Ryura realized this when Kagome let out a strangled, horrified wail.

What exactly was this attack to have Kagome that worried?

"Tch..." Ryura grunted and was forced back a few feet as he began to battle against the energy as it rammed itself into his body.

The energy flowing from Tessaiga was black as night with neon purple mixed within. It was unlike anything Ryura had ever felt before; he didn't know what to make of it. When he noticed the white of his youki leaking from his body, Ryura knew then that this was not a good attack to be trying to fend off.

As fast as the attack started it ended with the dark energy of Tessaiga's attack flowing back into the blade, taking Ryura's youki with it.

A coldness spread itself through his body, and Ryura suddenly found it extremely hard to breathe. Behind him he heard Kagome starting to move, but he took a shuddering breath and quietly commanded Fujinga, still protruding from the earth, to keep her away. It readily obeyed him, wrapping Dragon Gale around Kagome and keeping her locked in place. Neither of them wanted her too close to the fight, especially not with how unknown Inuyasha's attack was.

Ryura barely registered Inuyasha leaving his spot, the massive amount of energy still swirling about his blade, to take to the air directly above the Dragon Daiyoukai.

And then that's when he felt it. Pain. Agonizing, horrible, terrifying pain ripped through his body. He couldn't feel anything else besides that pain, and a roar filled his ears, the roar of a canine; of Tessaiga, that drowned out all sounds around him. He couldn't hear Kagome screaming for him to let her go, that she could help. He didn't hear her yell Inuyasha's subjugation command.

All at once everything stopped. The energy exploded around him, dissipating into nothing. Cold returned to his body with fervor and he was forced down on a knee with Raijinga in his left hand; the sword had become his crutch. He felt his heart beat slow to a crawl, and with every weakening beat it gave, he felt weaker and weaker. He felt blood flow down his right arm and he knew then that Inuyasha had landed a hit. His only question was why did it feel like Inuyasha had struck him in the heart, rather than just the shoulder?

"Sit! Sit sit sitsitsitsit!" Kagome screamed at Inuyasha. The hanyou bounced up and down until finally he settled and was pinned for a good long while.

With a long groan, Kagome worked Fujinga from the earth. It was freed with a soft pop, causing Kagome to stumble back a few steps, but when she found her footing, she ran for the pair ahead of her, dragging Fujinga behind her. It was pulsing with an urgency to get back to Ryura.

She skidded to a halt and purposely feel on her knees to slide herself the few short inches to Ryura. He was tipping over to the side, and Kagome caught him just in time before he fell roughly on the ground. Fujinga had been dropped behind her, and with both of the swords close, they began to release the youki that they had absorbed over the years from Ryura, and made it enter their master's body.

The swords were sentient, able to form their own thoughts, and they were far from stupid. Both they, and Ryura, now realized that the attack Inuyasha used had destroyed Ryura's youketsu, the source of a youkai's youki – their very life source. It was like the rechargeable battery of a toy, and that battery had just been split in half.

Kagome slowly lowered Ryura until he was laying on the ground. She was sweating now with the effort it took to keep herself from dropping Ryura. His body weight mixed with his armor was not a good combination for her. She wouldn't have let him down but he was so cold she felt like she was going to freeze to death.

He was freezing and sweating at the same time, too, which was never a good sign.

The Miko moved his now wet with sweat bangs from his forehead as his swords continued to pump what youki they had into him. His eyes were wide open, and staring at nothing, until she came into his line of sight. Worry filled his red eyes then and he made an effort to get up. His teeth and fangs clenching together, he managed to rise up on an arm, against Kagome's protests.

"K-kag...ome," he forced out. "Ge...get..."

Kagome was crying and somehow forced him to lay back down; he was just that weak.

"Why did you do that? You could've defended yourself!" she scolded. Despite her crying and shaking body, she was still angry that he had tossed away his strongest means of defense in favor for her.

"Prot..protect," he said with a soft chuckle that sounded almost like a gurgle. Turns out it wasn't too far from a gurgle. As he tried to laugh blood trickled from the corners of his mouth and out of his nose. He was drowning in his own blood.

Kagome watch with horror as his skin began to pale, hair turning to an ashen, sickly color of blue, and his eyes dimmed into a deep burgundy color. His body was starting to give out on him, and the youki his swords were giving him was seemingly the only thing keeping him conscious.

She snapped her head up and glared over at the hanyou still face first in the ground. "Inuyasha, look at me!" she hissed out.

Inuyasha's head weakly rose and his beads started to glow around his neck, showing Kagome her subjugation was still in effect. When his gold eyes met hers she glared at him and ask, "Where is Sesshoumaru? We need Tenseiga!"

"With the others back at camp," he growled out "Y'know, where they're still sitting and wondering if you're even alive."

"Shut up! Now is not the time for that!" she snapped at him. "How far away is it? Could he hear me if I yelled?"

Inuyasha gave a bitter grumble and nodded.

"Good. Sit!" Kagome barked. Inuyasha cursed loudly before he was forced into yet again a prone position.

Looking down at Ryura she smiled shakily and cupped his cheeks in his hands. Just by looking at him Kagome knew she didn't have much time. Sliding her hands over to cover Ryura's pointed ears she prepared him for what she was about to do.

Kagome threw her head back, sucked in a deep breath of air, and screamed for Sesshoumaru. The air around her tingled with her reiki as she forced her powers into her voice while belting out the cry for help, "Sesshoumaru! I need you! Please, Sesshoumaru, hurry!"

Her voice was so loud Inuyasha began to whimper over in his crater. His ears twitched violently before slamming down on his head as far as they could. How had she made her voice so loud? This was insane!

Off in the distance, both Inuyasha and Kagome could feel Sesshoumaru's youki swell to a height they had only felt once before. A howl of an enraged canine shook the earth, rumbling the ground beneath them. Kagome looked up and watched with astonishment as a giant silver-white dog galloped towards her. His figure was still small in the distance, but she could immediately tell it was Sesshoumaru, and he was running as fast as he could in giant leaps across the sky.

He landed right over top of them, blocking out the sun and knocking Kagome over into Ryura's chest. Sprawled across Ryura, Kagome missed Sesshoumaru's transformation, but she could feel the heat of his youki licking at her back. It burned like fire and Kagome whimpered in pain. Below her she felt Ryura tense up. Slowly his left hand raised, shaking all the while, to rest on top of hers on his chest.

"Kagome," Sesshoumaru said as he knelt down beside her. She could hear the unspoken question.

Unable to rid herself of the feeling of how powerful Sesshoumaru's youki felt, she could only gasp for air and croak out, "Dragon-scaled... Inuyasha... Sit!"

Sesshoumaru shot a glare over to his half-breed half-brother as the hanyou rose up in the air and slammed back down again. The impact was so hard it rendered Inuyasha unconscious.

"Move," he snapped as he turned back to Kagome and Ryura. "There is only one way to save him, else not even Tenseiga will be able to bring him back."

Kagome nodded as she carefully moved off of Ryura's chest. The Dragon Daiyoukai's hand fell limp to the ground without Kagome's around it to keep it in place. The movement made Kagome sob loudly. Never had she seen him this weak since she first met him all those months ago on Horai Island, not even when his power was fading without the sphere in his forehead.

Sesshoumaru scowled and helped Kagome to her feet. When she was up he wrapped his arm around her waist and quickly jumped backwards, then he let her go. She sank slowly to her knees and gripped at the material of her pants, balling it into her fists.

She watched Sesshoumaru jump back over to Ryura and reenter a kneeling position. Kagome could see Sesshoumaru's mouth moving, but she was too far away to hear what he was saying, and she was horrible at reading lips. Continuing to watch, she saw Sesshoumaru raise his only hand and plunge it into Ryura's chest, where his heart would be.

Kagome screamed, but quickly muffled it by covering her mouth. She had to trust Sesshoumaru. He knew what he was doing, at least that's what she told herself. Youki began to leak from Sesshoumaru's form and travel down his arm, into Ryura's heart.

An agonized and haggard yell ripped from Ryura's throat. The pain was apparently so great for him that even in his weakened state his body slightly rose off the ground and his head tilted back. Kagome could see his eyes, wide and staring at her, and he continued to scream. Sesshoumaru didn't relent. More and more of Sesshoumaru's red youki was pumped into Ryura's body.

Kagome choked back a sob and lowered her hands until her fingertips were resting on her chin. She gave him the best smile she could at the moment and said, "It'll be okay. When you're better, I really will wash your hair for you."

Her voice was low, barely above a whisper, yet even so, Kagome somehow knew he could hear her.

Slowly, too slowly in Kagome's option, Ryura's hair took on its normal blue hue and the color returned to his face, but he still continued to scream. Sesshoumaru's face was the picture perfect look of concentration; his brows drawn together, eyes staring unwaveringly at what he was doing, and he held a small frown on his lips.

When Kagome looked back to Ryura, she saw faint marks begin to form on the sides of his face and on his forehead. On each cheekbone a slightly curved blue line, just a tad darker than his hair, faded into view. The mark on his forehead was a smaller version of the blue diamond that used to rest there when he was the General of the Four War Gods.

His face had now contorted into one of pain instead of shock. Teeth clenching together and eyes closing tightly, he bit back his scream. With a flare of bright light, his returning youki burst from his body like a raging inferno. Wind swirled around Ryura and Sesshoumaru then and sent the youki tumbling around them like a tornado. Fujinga and Raijinga were picked up like pebbles and joined in with the youki-tornado, spinning faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur to the human eye.

The youki spread out across the clearing, lighting everything in its path up with a white fire that, for some reason, didn't burn. It wound around anything it came in contact with, climbing up nearby trees like a ladder. Even Inuyasha was caught within the white flames.

Kagome, her eyes wide, too was bathed in the light, engulfing her completely. Where she expected heat, she felt cold air wind its way around her and she shivered. Her reiki was trying to come to life but she forced it back down, too afraid to let it go in case it screwed up what Sesshoumaru was doing.

The youki kept poking and prodding at her, taunting her powers to the surface against her will. Pink soon mingled with white and ahead of her, Kagome noticed Sesshoumaru's red youki was bleeding into Ryura's white fire-like youki as well, and he seemed to be letting go, allowing it to do what it wished with his youki. Off to the side golden light drifted from Inuyasha's body, mimicking the movements of Sesshoumaru's youki.

Kagome smiled slightly and let go, just as Sesshoumaru had. It wasn't going to hurt her or him, or any of the others. Ryura's youki was simply tugging on any power nearby to help with his recovery.

Pink, red, and gold swirled together in the tornado of Ryura's youki, moving downwards until it entered the wound Sesshoumaru created to save the Dragon Daiyoukai.

As quickly as the phenomenon began it ended with little grandeur, causing Ryura's swords to fall to the ground and bury themselves up to the hilts in the dirt. Every trace of the four beings' power disappeared into thin air. Sesshoumaru finally removed his hand from Ryura's chest, only to grab the arm Ryura had raised shortly after the combined powers vanished. With their hands clasping the others forearm, Sesshoumaru rose to his feet and pulled Ryura with him. The wound on his chest was rapidly closing, thankfully, so the movements didn't hurt as much as they did when the clawed hand of Sesshoumaru was first jammed into it. His armor, however, was not as lucky.

Another sob from Kagome gained both of the Daiyoukai's attention. Sesshoumaru looked up, over Ryura's shoulder as the Dragon turned to peer at the Miko. Ryura grinned and Kagome cried harder.

He was alive. Sesshoumaru had somehow restored Ryura's youketsu.

"Oi!" Ryura yelled over to Kagome, "You better have been serious about washing my hair! I don't think I'll have the energy to do it after all this!"

Behind him, he could have sworn he felt Sesshoumaru rolling his eyes.

Kagome almost choked, then released a watery laugh. She rose up on shaking legs and cupped her hands around her mouth to yell, "If you have enough energy to be a smart ass you have enough energy to wash your hair!"

Ryrua laughed and waved her over. The grin remained on his face until she was standing beside him, when he completely dropped his aloof attitude and turned back to Sesshoumaru. His head bowed then and he said, "Thank you, Sesshoumaru, for saving my life."

"It would be a pity for you to die before you were given enough time for the Kami to judge you properly," Sesshoumaru said evenly. "Be grateful to the woman beside you, instead. If not for her I would have never known."

And with that Sesshoumaru stalked over to Inuyasha, lifted him up by the back of his haori, and without a word to the other two standing behind him, he dragged Inuyasha off in the direction of the village.

"So, about washing my hair..." Ryura teased.

Kagome half grinned. "Fine, fine. You win. There's a hot spring close by."

Ryura grinned as well, in triumph and followed after Kagome as she started walking. His movements were slow and stiff, and his chest still hurt, but he could feel his body quickly healing. By the time they reached the hot springs the pain should fade.

A.N.: I just wanted to say that the inspiration from this story came from solely from a song! Shards of Light by Arn Anderson. I listened to it the entire time I was writing this chapter.