Summary: Now that I have been freed from the geisha house, I can continue my journey with the fearsome Sesshomaru. However, it's no picnic. Demons are after me because of my abilities I have just recently discovered. Including Hisao, a demon I thought was dead.

Name of Chapter: Powers Unleashed

…

Mhmm, I thought while slipping into a hot spring. This is nice and so soothing on my body. I sunk deep into the water against the rocks, letting the hot water soothe my aching shoulders and neck. My chin brushed the water.

I closed my eyes and let myself relax and think. Sesshomaru was training me more than ever in battle. I didn't mind it, I loved it. Yes, I was more tired and sore than I have ever been but I was doing this to survive. I was feeling free and in control of my life.

I sunk lower, letting the water go over my upper lip.

My thoughts drifted to the night before last when Sesshomaru embraced me until Jaken snorted then mumbled in his sleep. I realized I couldn't get involved with him. He was a powerful demon and I was a mere human. He was already taking time to train me in battle. I was distracting him from his quest to acquire a powerful weapon to defeat his father.

I bid Sesshomaru good night and I vowed to myself to never get close to him. And when the time came, I would leave him without looking back. My heart cracked just thinking about it, but it was something that was needed.

There was no place for a human at his side.

I wonder if I will ever be a demon, I thought. I scrubbed a bar of soap over my body and hair. I felt filthy from traveling, fighting, and sleeping on the ground.

"Maybe not in this life time," I muttered to myself as I rinsed the suds off my body.

I sat in the spring for a little longer, smelling the scent of the cool late autumn night.

I smiled. We were passing in the area when I heard the water trickling. I wandered away from Sesshomaru and Jaken to investigate it, as my water bag was getting low. I practically started dancing when I discovered it was a hot spring.

After a while, I decided it was time to get out. I surveyed the area, making sure there were no deviants around me. I started drying off with a clean old gray kimono and I paused, looking at my flat hard stomach and lean limbs. I remembered when I first started my journey, my stomach was soft and not flat. My arms and legs were lean from working in the fields all day but nothing compared to this.

I was putting on my haneri when I heard a bush about ten feet away make a large rustle. Too large for the wind to make.

"Who's there," I shouted, quickly putting on my haneri and securing it with my obi. I did not want to face a potential battle in bare skin. I grabbed Nara from the rock I set it on before my bath and wielded it in front of me. "Jaken, if that's you, this is not funny. Come out of there!"

There was silence. The bush rustled more vehemently so I knew I wasn't imagining noises.

From the bush, popped out a large raccoon.

I breathed in a sigh of relief and eased my stance. "Whew, just a raccoon."

The raccoon sniffed the air then looked at me with its beady green eyes.

That's odd, I have never seen a raccoon with green eyes, I thought and no sooner had I finished my thought, a glow began to emanate from the raccoon.

My heart raced as I watched the glow become larger until it was almost seven feet tall and human like. The flow dissipated and a man with brown hair, stern green eyes with a black mask surrounding them, and dressed in holey gray and brown hakama with a kimono to match was standing before me.

"A demon," I whispered, looking at the mans pointed ears and his muscular stature. I sensed great power as he stood in front of me. There was no way this man was human.

"Alone are we, human," the raccoon demon said in raspy voice. I felt his eyes roam my sparsely clothed body then around us. If this wasn't a serious situation, my cheeks would be pink at his roaming eyes. He smiled, his fangs poking out from his pale pink lips. "This is perfect."

I returned my stance with Nara. "What do you want, demon?" I briefly wondered where Sesshomaru and Jaken were. Surely by now they must have sensed this demons' powers.

"To devour you," the demon replied. I grasped Nara tighter. "You are not a normal smelling human; you smell of power I want."

"Well, too bad, I am not to eat."

"This is not a choice. I will have you, one way or another." The demon licked his lips and his green eyes had desire in them.

"Not if I kill you," I replied. My heart was beating fast and my palms were sweaty. I couldn't show my fear of facing this demon alone. These past few months whilst traveling with Sesshomaru, he was always near when a demon approached and helped defeat it.

However, at the moment, it seems as if Sesshomaru was gone.

…

"Milord, do you think we should help her," my servant asked as we stood away from Misa and the raccoon demon. I knew this demon to go by the name of Seiji. "She is just a human, after all."

"Jaken, we will see what she does," I replied as I watched her go into the stance I taught her. I had the urge to be there with her and help her fight. However, her power deep within her was surfacing. It was time she let it out.

If Misa were to be in trouble, I would intervene. For now, I will watch my secret love fight Seiji.

…

Stay calm, Misa, I thought to myself, staring at the raccoon demon. You can do this. Sesshomaru did not train you for no reason.

"Let's just see about that," the demon said than started running towards me with his claws open. I jumped back, dodging his attack. I swung my sword and grazed his right shoulder.

Every time he swiped his claws towards me, I jumped back and swung my sword, occasionally touching him with my blade. This dance went on until my bare foot caught something and I fell backwards.

I gasped in pain as the demons' claws sliced part of my right cheek and to part of my shoulder. I could feel the wounds weren't very deep, as I was still falling to the ground when I was struck.

I quickly rolled over, did a somersault forwards into a standing position, and I faced him once again. I was breathing heavily and I was perspiring but I couldn't rest until the demon was dead.

"You are something else, aren't you, human," the demon said as I managed to avoid another strike. "I don't like it when my food fights back."

"Then, maybe, you should go away," I yelled as I swung my sword. My blade sliced his skin near his navel. Blood poured out from the wound.

The demon stopped and looked at his wounds, as if he was shocked I was able to cut him.

I stopped, wondering what he was going to do now. I was prepared to take measures to avoid him.

The demons head snapped up and looked at me with the deadliest look I have seen since the first time I met Sesshomaru. The look he gave me as he tried to kill me.

My heart beat fast as he uttered his next few words: "You're dead, human!"

The demon charged at me, ready to strike. I don't where it came from but I found the strength to jump above his head and kick him to the ground. I landed in top of him, with both of my feet on either sides of him.

"My name is Misa!" I yelled as I brought my glowing blade down and plunged it into the demons' chest.

…

I watched silently as Misa struck the final blow to Seiji. Her blade glowed with her power coming out within her.

"She killed him, milord," Jaken said as we watched Misa take her blade out of Seiji's chest and look at it with a quizzical look. Seiji's body disappeared as his heart was pierced with the demon sword. "Very impressive. I have under estimated her. All this time I thought she was a weakling. Maybe now she will venture by herself, milord."

I started walking, resisting the urge to kill the imp for his asinine words.

…

"What did I just do," I said to myself whilst breathing heavily and looking at my blade. The raccoon demons body disappeared so I knew I killed him. "I can't believe I won."

"Well done, Misa."

I looked at Sesshomaru and smiled.

Sesshomaru's eyebrows furrowed and he looked…concerned at my face. "You're bleeding."

"Nothing but a scratch," I replied, wiping blood away from my face with my sleeve. I looked at the area where the demons body once was. I thought about the demons we have fought before and their bodies disappeared. I thought back to when I killed Hisao, his body didn't disappear after I killed him. If his body didn't disappear after I killed him, that means…

"Hisao is still alive, isn't he," I asked Sesshomaru, my eyes wide with fear. My heart raced as Sesshomaru stared at me, his golden eyes connected with my hazel ones.

"He is."

To Be Continued….

Dun Dun Dun! I am back! Sorry for the hiatus but life got in the way, as in married life and my toddler. Writing was so much easier when I had nothing but time. But any who stay tuned!

R&R Kindly please!

Drama Kagome.