Ok, so I put up Saturdays and Sundays, so this is Mondays! I'm trying!! DX

lol read and review!


InuYasha- Chapter 386- Toushuu

The heat rose up from the ground, causing the air to appear to be rippling in the eyes of any beholder. Molten rocks covered the ground, where only demons could stand. Kirara and Mo Mo sat outside the giant demon's skull, waiting for InuYasha's return.

Inside, Totosai held Datsuki's lower half tightly in his fist, inspecting it thoroughly. "Hmmm…The youkai sword, "Datsuki", is it? It absorbs the youki of the enemies it fights you say?"

"Shouldn't you know something about it, Totosai?" InuYasha asked, his arms crossed.

Totosai held up the halved sword, looking up at it. "Well, I've heard of it." He placed it on his sword making stone, brining his hammer up to strike it. "Look here." When the hammer collided with the blade, it transformed into a small circular object.

InuYasha stared at it in wonder, "This is…?"

Totosai grasped it between his pointer finger and thumb. "A Ryuujin scale."

"Ryuujin?"

A sucking sound came from the half demon's nose. "That youkai sword is embedded with Ryuujin scales. That's also-"

Myouga was cut off by a hand colliding with his body.

Totosai ignored the interruption, "But this…is a crappy sword that would miss its target."

"Can't get its target?" InuYasha asked, "It absorbed Tetsusaiga's youkai energy! Well- I did win though…"

"That's what I'm telling you. If it hadn't been a failure, you'd have lost."

This caught InuYasha's attention. "The way you make it sound…. Do you mean there's a genuine one?"

"Hmm? What will you do if I tell you?" Totosai got in his face.

InuYasha explained, "Right now, we're going after Moryoumaru. He can devour youki. Moryoumaru and Naraku are the same, in that they both devour the remains and powers of youkai to gain more strength. "

"So, in short," Myouga continued for him, "Moryoumaru's power can be counter-acted if you fight with a sword that can absorb youkai energy, as he can."

InuYasha pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath partially, staring at the blade. "Not just counter-acted. If I add the power of "Datsuki" to the Tetsusaiga, I could destroy Moryoumaru."

"Give it up," Totosai blatantly stated.

"Huh?!"

"I mean fighting with that "Datsuki"," Totosai explained. "If you lose and the youkai energy from Tetsusaiga has been absorbed, it will forever become a rusted sword…. And it won't ever return to its original form. InuYasha, are you prepared for that?"

Meanwhile, far off into the depths of some forest, a man sat in front of a fire inside a lonely hut. He pounded down upon the fire, molting a new sword out of the iron and flames. As he stared upon it, he realized something strange about his sword to be. Scales coated the blade, making little ridges even on the edge.

"The scales…." He held the sword up, away from the fire. "I'm sure of it. The Ryuujin scales and the blade are one…!" He looked up to the sounds coming from atop his roof. Suddenly, an enormous hand reached down from the roof, breaking through it in an instant. The man's face displayed pure horror as it neared his face.

The next morning, InuYasha had re-joined with the rest of the group, and they were all on the move again.

"A human?" Kagome asked from atop his back. "You're saying that Datsuki was formed by a human sword smith Myouga-jii-chan?"

Myouga jumped on InuYasha's head, "That's what I heard. A Ryuujin gave his own scales to have swords made."

"Ah. There was that failed Datsuki that InuYasha fought the other day," Miroku reminded.

InuYasha suggested, "Maybe it was stolen from the swordsman's place?" He stopped instantly as his nose caught something's scent.

"InuYasha?" Kagome asked, curious at his actions.

InuYasha broke into a faster run, "It's the scent of blood! And there's a lot of it! Let's move!"

A man screamed in a village. The man next to him shouted monster before they were completely split open at the backs, blood spurting out everywhere. Behind them, a huge demon stood, its claws bloody. Its eyes were wide, stretching almost the whole length of its face. Its fangs were large, its mouth hanging open in a sickly smile. It wore plates of armor that seemed to be constructed out of scales.

"Where are you?!" it bellowed, destroying a few huts with one swing of the hand. "Toushuuuu!"

In the remnants of the hut, a man sat, huddled in a remaining corner. In his arms was a wrapped up sword.

"There you are!"

Just then, InuYasha ran at them. He swung Tetsusaiga out from its sheath, sending his attack forward. "Kaze no Kizu!" It smashed into the hut, barely avoiding the demon. The hut turned completely into a pile of rubble, and the demon swirled up into the sky.

Kagome ran up next to him, "Did you get him?"

"Damn, he fucking got away!"

He looked over to the hut to see the man crawling away. His clothes were that of a commoner, but he held his sword tightly to his chest. He was obviously missing an eye, and wore a bandanna around it, and the top of his head.

"Hey," InuYasha said, "That thing was after you?"

Later that evening, the group sat around the campfire. InuYasha sat across from the man, the fire between them. Kagome sat across from Sango and Miroku, who were sitting right next to each other on one side.

"I'm a sword smith…called Toushuu. I've worked many jobs, in several places, sharpening swords for a living." He started to remember one of his travels, "Then, about a year ago…the times I passed through the remnants of battle…" He imagined himself, carrying his pack upon his back. This was back when he had both eyes, a young man. He hand come across the demon they had just faced, purely by chance.

"The source of my youkai energy is in these Ryuujin scales I give you. For me, you will forge a sword."

"Then, so I wouldn't be able to escape, the Ryuujin gave me a mark," Toushuu was pulled out of his memories, finishing his tale.

Kagome stared at him with curious eyes, "A mark?"

Toushuu pulled the bandanna from his head, revealing his eye. It was in fact still intact, but had a gruesome adornment upon it. Scales circled it, and had actually become his skin. Miroku and Sango gasped as they tried not to show a disgusted reaction.

"Then, finally, Ryuujin's desire was to have me forge the youkai sword, Datsuki," he continued. "But…actually…I couldn't possible…give this Datsuki to a dreadful youkai like that!"

Kagome looked at the hanyou next to her, "InuYasha…"

"Yeah," he silently agreed. Didn't they destroy Datsuki? What was going on here?