Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were locked in battle, and everyone else could only stand and watch the spectacle. Sparks flew between Tessaiga and Sesshomaru's new beastly arm, and Sango gasped.
"That's a dragon's claw… it'll have quite a bit more power than a typical youkai, that's for sure. I don't want to think about how he's going to use it in battle." she said.
"You won't have to, soon enough," commented Daitan as she watched Sesshomaru swipe his claws across Inuyasha's cheek. "Huh, that's kind of odd…"
"What is it?" asked Miroku from Daitan's left.
"If he actually wanted to kill Inuyasha, he could have melted his face with the poison in his claws just now."
Miroku hummed. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru broke apart, standing several feet away from each other. Sesshomaru scoffed, flexing the claws of the dragon's arm.
"Despite not being wielded by its true owner, Tessaiga's power is formidable. However, it refuses to reveal the Wind Scar to its so-called master." he said, a rare smile breaking across his lips. His eyes, however, remained cold. Totosai straightened up a little.
"Ah! Sesshomaru must be able to see the Wind Scar!" he exclaimed. Kagome tilted her head, confused.
"The Wind Scar? What's that?"
"In a nutshell, the Wind Scar is the secret to Tessaiga's ultimate power," replied Totosai. "Slaying a hundred youkai in one sweep would be virtually impossible unless you could see the Wind Scar."
"Wait, you mean Inuyasha can't sense it?" asked Daitan. "And what does the Tessaiga's powers have to do with it…?" She felt very lost and very confused. Everyone was silent for a moment, except for Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, who were still fighting a little ways away. No one was even looking at them, instead focusing on Daitan. Their blank faces made her cheeks heat up with embarrassment.
"You can see it, Daitan?" Miroku finally asked. Daitan hummed uncertainly.
"Well… technically it's not something you see, it's just the place where youki clashes between two or more youkai. More like something you feel or smell, and I don't have any idea about it being used for a sword technique, of all things," she looked at Totosai. "You're saying Inuyasha hasn't been able to sense anything like that this whole time?" How has he survived all these years? Sheer luck and survival instincts?!
"That's the only explanation," muttered Totosai. Crashes and booms still echoed around the area, masking his words from the brothers fighting farther down the road. "I suspect that the reason you and Sesshomaru are able to sense it so easily is because of your status as full inu daiyoukai… your sense of smell is unrivaled. Inuyasha, however, is only a hanyou, and most likely has a somewhat weaker nose…"
Kagome's hands had curled into worried fists as she glanced over at the ongoing skirmish.
"Then couldn't you just teach him how to sense it?" she asked Totosai. The old swordsmith shook his head.
"That would be impossible– Inuyasha must discover it himself!"
"You can't really teach someone how to smell something," Daitan added. "And it's not as if he'll be able to do it for the first time right now, he's too focused on trying not to die or let D– uh, Sesshomaru take Tessaiga away from him." Totosai's wrinkled hands tightened on the long handle of his hammer.
"You're right of course, but if he does not discover it in time, Inuyasha will surely die." he said gravely.
Daitan pursed her lips. She would have agreed with Totosai if it hadn't already been several minutes since Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had started their brawl, but now that she took a good look at them, Sesshomaru didn't seem to be trying very hard to either kill Inuyasha or take Tessaiga away from him. Is he really that much of a sadist at this time, or… Daitan hummed in thought.
At that moment, Inuyasha was suddenly sent flying by a particularly powerful hit with Sesshomaru's dragon claw. A cloud of dust trailed behind the hanyou as his body ragdolled through the air and tumbled across the ground. Okay, maybe just a bit of a sadist. Thought Daitan.
Tessaiga's blade rang with a discordant tone with every strike of the dragon's claw.
"It sounds like the sword is crying…" said Sango. Miroku's eyes narrowed.
"It seems like Sesshomaru has started attacking the sword itself, not Inuyasha."
With every strike to the blade, the sounds that resulted became more and more piercing, and Daitan covered her ears. The sound of the vibrations made her stomach crawl, and she felt a sense of frustration watching Sesshomaru hacking away at it, and strangely disappointed. Watching him disrespect both of his father's swords and being upset that he didn't inherit the one he wanted… He certainly isn't the same person he is five hundred years from now. She thought.
"Such waves of power being sent through Tessaiga!" exclaimed Totosai. "Why, if Sesshomaru keeps doing that, it'll break under the pressure!"
Inuyasha seemed to get the hint, despite being out of earshot. He swung the Tessaiga at Sesshomaru, who caught it in his dragon claw. Sesshomaru's fist flew at Inuyasha's face, but instead of pulling the Tessaiga out of the claw's grip to block, Inuyasha took the full force of the blow to his forehead. Daitan winced. His head must be ringing right now.
As if to add insult to injury, poisonous gas burst from Sesshomaru's hand and blasted straight into Inuyasha's eyes.
"Inuyasha!" cried Kagome. Sango started to run forward, Hiraikotsu at the ready, but Daitan held out her arm.
"Wait! Don't interfere, just watch!" I really hope my hunch is accurate, or it'll be my fault if Inuyasha gets seriously injured.
Inuyasha leapt back and rubbed at his eyes. The way he had opened them as wide as possible… Sesshomaru's poison had blinded him. Daitan waited with baited breath, watching as Inuyasha seemed to realize something. She could see his head turn directly at the place where Sesshomaru's youki clashed with his own. He raised Tessaiga high, he aimed…
A massive burst of light engulfed Sesshomaru. The earth in front of Inuyasha erupted with the sheer force of the Tessaiga's power, and the air pressure made the wind howl in Daitan's ears. She felt someone grab her shirt and pull her behind Totosai's cow to take cover. Miroku let out an 'oof–!' as Daitan fell on top of him.
When the wind died down and the light faded, everyone peeked out from behind the cow.
Sesshomaru had completely vanished, save for a few broken pieces of his armor. The Tessaiga had made several huge fissures in the ground, and Inuyasha stood behind it all, panting. As he fell to one knee, the Tessaiga returned to its smaller form. Kagome and Daitan made their way over to him, and he turned in their direction, but couldn't see them.
"...Is it over?" he asked, his voice wavering ever so slightly.
—-
As Inuyasha washed out his eyes in the nearby river, Daitan, now having dropped her human guise, had taken a seat on a rock with Sango, Miroku and Shippo to watch Totosai work on Tessaiga. It lay in its larger form on a particularly flat bit of rock as Totosai breathed fire onto it, making it glow red hot. The steady sound of the old swordsmith's hammer pounding the Tessaiga back into its proper shape was oddly soothing.
"So the Tessaiga cuts through the Wind Scar to release the potential energy built up inside of it… I never thought the Wind Scar could be used in that way," said Daitan, resting her chin on her fist. "It's such a powerful technique."
"Does that mean Sesshomaru is dead?" asked Shippo hesitantly. Miroku tilted his head.
"Under any other circumstances I would say yes, but, well…" he looked over at Daitan. "You're still here."
She nodded in agreement.
"That's just what I was thinking. He's injured, most likely, but certainly not dead."
"I don't really see how he would survive, though," said Sango. "That was a direct blow from the Wind Scar."
Totosai paused in his work and tutted.
"I didn't see Inuyasha make a direct blow," he stated. "All he did was wildly swing his sword around because his eyes were blinded with poison."
"What are you trying to say, old man?!" shouted Inuyasha from the riverbank. Daitan decided to intervene before Inuyasha could start hitting Totosai on the head again.
"Inuyasha might have a habit of swinging his sword around all over the place, he still discovered how to sense the Wind Scar and use the Tessaiga to cut through it. In fact, I think his temporary blindness might have actually helped at that moment." she said, sitting up a little straighter. Inuyasha scoffed, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"What, are you saying that Sesshomaru actually helped me?"
Yes. Thought Daitan, but she kept herself from saying it out loud. She raised both her hands to placate the irritated hanyou. Even though he still clearly dislikes you.
"I'm just saying that with your sense of sight gone, you were forced to focus on your other senses, such as smell."
Inuyasha still looked skeptical of her claims, but Daitan could see in his eyes that he knew she was probably right. Totosai sighed, resting his hammer over his shoulder.
"You've discovered how to use the Wind Scar, I'll give you that much," he said. "But all it means is that you now know what your brother knows. You're still not his equal, and now he is more formidable than he ever was before!"
Everyone seemed to shiver a little at the thought. He won't hold back as much on Inuyasha now that he knows how to use the Wind Scar, and especially after he's been wounded like that. Daitan thought. She then sighed, a small pout crossing her face. I wish I could have a cool sword with powers…
"Sesshomaru is still alive, I would know it even if we didn't have living proof right in front of us," Totosai said, gesturing at Daitan. "Even though he despises the Tenseiga, it protected his life. Inuyasha, when you used the Wind Scar, you didn't feel it strike him, did you?"
Inuyasha shook his head, eyes narrowing a little as he thought back.
"It's hard to say… I was blinded. His body felt like it disappeared in the blast from Tessaiga. I didn't pulverize him or anything, he just sort of… vanished." he said, eyebrows furrowed. Totosai nodded sagely.
"Tenseiga protected Sesshomaru against the power and light of Tessaiga– it acted on its own accord."
"It has a will of its own?" asked Kagome.
"Technically, most objects made with youkai parts have wills of their own," Daitan chimed in. "Some are just more prominent than others, and it depends on the intent that was put into them. In fact, Sango's Hiraikotsu might have some sentience itself, since it's made of a variety of youkai parts."
Sango brushed her hand thoughtfully over Hiraikotsu. "Even though it ended up protecting him, Sesshomaru called the Tenseiga a useless sword… he despises it as his birthright…"
It isn't like that forever, though. Thought Daitan. Back at home, her father kept the Tenseiga on the wall in his study, and she had never seen him leave home without it. To see him speak so ill of it in this time was… unnerving, to say the least. But at least it kept him from outright killing Inuyasha, and vice versa. It's strange, but some part of me fully believes that was part of the plan when Grandfather gave them their swords.
—-
Totosai had separated from the group after he had finished working on Tessaiga, and Inuyasha and Kagome led the search for more jewel shards once again. As the group walked along the road, Daitan felt slightly on edge. She didn't know if Sesshomaru would be back to seek revenge on Inuyasha, and when she spotted the wary glint in the others' eyes that night when they made camp, she could tell that she wasn't the only one having that thought.
However, after a few days had passed and Sesshomaru had undoubtedly had enough time to recover from his injuries, his continued absence let everyone relax a little more. The day had started out well enough, with Kagome giving them a lead on a jewel shard nearby. That is, until Daitan and Inuyasha smelled a massive amount of bloodshed from a nearby village, mixed with the pungent musk of wolves. It didn't take long before they stumbled upon a grisly scene.
No living person remained within the small village, only their bodies littered the ground. As was the case with most things the group had dealt with, the ground was soaked with blood. None of the bodies had been left unscathed. Tooth marks — sharp ones — littered every visible inch of flesh, and some of the faces of the villagers had been torn up beyond recognition. Stray limbs had been discarded in the mud, and small puddles gathered in large paw prints left behind.
"Was this done by a pack of wolves…?" murmured Sango. Daitan nodded grimly.
"Smells like it. And they weren't even very hungry, judging by how much they left behind." she frowned. Someone coughed behind her, and Daitan turned around to see Kagome, wide-eyed and looking more than a little green around the gills. Her brown eyes were fixed on a severed arm at her feet. It was missing a few fingers.
"Hey," Daitan stood in front of the human girl, blocking the view in front of her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You need a breather? We've dealt with things like this before, but attacks from beasts can be… a little much."
Kagome took a deep breath and held it before breathing out again. She shook her head.
"I think I'll be okay." she said. Daitan raised an eyebrow, but stood aside.
"Try not to look at them too much," advised Daitan. "Focus on the jewel shard you sensed earlier."
Up ahead, Miroku was still examining the paw prints the wolves had left behind.
"There must have been a great deal of them… do you think that they were corrupted by the jewel shard that Kagome sensed?" he wondered aloud. Inuyasha nodded.
"Obviously. This slaughter has youkai written all over it."
As soon as the words had left Inuyasha's mouth, wolves started to appear from the trees, slinking carefully toward the group, fangs bared and growling. Shippo immediately leapt into Kagome's arms, trembling, and Daitan stood in front of them, prepared to summon her whip. These were no ordinary wolves. She could tell from their scent — they were a type of beast youkai, stronger than the creatures they resembled, and more intelligent. Somewhat. But the other defining feature about beast wolf youkai was that they weren't often separated from their stronger and more humanoid counterparts.
Everyone stood back to back as the pack surrounded them, and Daitan bared her teeth, letting loose a growl of her own. Inuyasha flexed his claws and stepped forward.
"Tch, we should teach these wolves a lesson — it looks like their leader isn't even here!"
"You're right — they should know better," said Daitan, drawing her sword. "Taking on an enemy with greater strength so brashly when their leader isn't present."
It wasn't hard for the two of them to push back the pack of youkai wolves. Daitan didn't even draw her sword, and instead used her whip to beat them away from her friends. Inuyasha slashed at them with his claws, striking down several with each swipe. The remaining numbers of the pack quickly retreated to a nearby hill, lifting their snouts to the sky to let out an echoing chorus of howls.
"Why are they howling?" asked Kagome, still clutching onto Shippo. Daitan huffed, a sour look overtaking her face.
"They're calling for backup."
Kagome suddenly gasped.
"I can sense a sacred jewel shard, and it's coming this way, really fast!"
The wind suddenly picked up, and a cloud of dust appeared over the trees, fast approaching. A small tornado broke through the treeline and whipped dirt through the air as it came to a stop in front of where Inuyasha and Daitan had taken protective stances in front of their friends. When the tornado dissipated, it revealed a young humanoid wolf youkai. His dark hair was tied up in a ponytail, and he wore a wolf pelt around his waist. Armor covered his chest, an ornate sword and sheath tucked into his belt. The wolves clamored around him, whining. Crying to dad, huh? Thought Daitan, her frown deepening. The wolf youkai's light blue eyes narrowed.
"And just who are you?" he sneered. "Explain yourselves! Why are you killing my wolves?"
A/N: Cliffhanger! And Kouga! Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon, but I do have midterms, and judging by my track record when it comes to updates... we'll see.