Chapter 11

2 months later

Sai was cleaning the shrine with her mother when the smell hit her. The smell of fire and blood. A moment later, her dad burst through the door screaming to ring the alarm. She moved quickly towards the bell at the top of the shrine and began ringing it as fast and as loud as she could. They had known that it was only a matter of time before the purges came to their village.

It all started a little over a month ago. A new emperor had taken power and had started a massive demon purge. Thousands of soldiers were moving from village to village slaughtering demons and any people that had ever had any dealings with demons. For her, that included her entire village. She and her family had, inadvertently, damned an entire village.

Everyone began arming themselves to fight. Of course, they weren't actually going to fight. They were going run away and hide themselves. The only people that were going to fight were her and her father. They were the only ones that wouldn't be killed the instant the battle started. Sai and Inuyasha had bought everyone a little time. Their keen sense of smell gave them advanced warning. Both of them quickly went and prepared for battle themselves and made sure that all of the villagers had made it out. The last to leave was her mother.

"Kagome," her father said to her, "you be careful, alright. Make sure you're safe and then wait until we've driven them all off. Don't expose yourself for any reason, they won't hesitate to kill you and the villagers need you to lead them."

"Not to mention the fact that we need you to stay alive!" Sai interjected.

"I know Sai, I know. I'll stay back." She said bringing both of them into an embrace, "I love you both. You be careful and make it back to me, okay?"

"Sure thing, mom." Sai said.

"Alright well, you better get going." She said.

Inuyasha's eyes gazed lovingly into Kagome's. Sai thought it was like he was memorizing every feature of her face. The gaze wasn't very long, but it said everything that needed to be said. Kagome nodded at him and he nodded back.

"Sai," he said, turning to her, "let's go."

They set off to meet the soldiers that were marching on their village and met them just outside the outskirts of the village. The soldiers stopped and Sai and her father drew their swords.

"Turn back now and keep your lives!" Inuyasha yelled at the men.

Their general ride to the front, laughing.

"We will do no such thing, vile demon!" He yelled back, raising his sword. "Men! ATTACK!"

"Hmph, it's your life." Inuyasha muttered under his breath. Then he turned to her and yelled, "Don't hold back!"

Sai smiled wickedly, "Not in my nature!" She yelled back.

"DRAGON RIFT!" She roared.

"WIND SCAR!" Her father roared alongside her. When the light faded and the dust settled, the general was nothing but a fine spray of blood floating in the air, along with about 1500 of his men. The look of fear was plain on the remaining 3000 men, but they charged anyway. Both father and daughter growled in frustration.

"DRAGON WAVE!"

"ADAMANT BARRAGE!"

"DRAGON SCAR!"

"WIND SCAR!"

Inuyasha and Sai were about to charge headlong into the fray until they heard a familiar voice cry out, "DRAGON STRIKE!"

Green light exploded from the sky. The ground and men standing on it alike seemed to dissolve beneath its power. Sesshomaru had arrived. But they didn't have any time to worry about family greetings. At some point in the battle, the soldiers had managed to set the village on fire.

"Sai!" Inuyasha yelled, "Use Shinseina Kiba to create a purifying wind! That should put out the flames before they destroy any more of the village. Sai nodded and immediately summoned her priestess blade and waved it in a circle above her head. This created a purifying wind. The technique was normally used to slay airborne demons, but it should work to put out a fire. It did, but not before most of the village had burned down.