(Of Foxes and Thunder)

"When the ten Fangs of Ryuhogo reunite after thousands of years, the Dragon Guardian shall at last fulfill his destiny and rid this world of the Jewel that has caused so much suffering, and begin a new era for all."

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Nightfall had come, and things had calmed down for the group after a hard day of jewel shard hunting.

'Well that could've gone better, but at least I'm not dead. Yet.' Tatsu looked down at the number of bandages wrapped around his torso, then over at where Kagome was fast asleep by the campfire and Inuyasha was brooding against a tree 'It's been a full week since Inuyasha got his new sword the Tessaiga and the fight against Sesshomaru. I'd like to say it's been all positive since then, but now Inuyasha's even more dead set on becoming a full demon. Kaede says that Kagome and I have to be careful now, but I'm not too worried. Even if he does have a sword like that one, he's not the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve. I'm not just referring to the new swords I have either, there's Kagome's own secret weapon to consider. After that we all pretty much agreed that it would be a lot easier to gather the jewel shards if we head out across the Land of Musashi, rather than just waiting fro them to come to us. It only makes sense after all, and that way we don't have to worry about putting the other villagers in danger. Whether it be by random demons looking for a fight or by those who want the jewel shards themselves. Still though, I could barely hold my own against Sesshomaru, if you can call it that. I followed Guardian's notes and I ended up basically using a Ki wave like in Dragon Ball, but I still can't do it on command outside of a real battle. I'm gonna have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to learn how to use these new powers of mine, and that's just starting with the ones I can use right now. I've got a long road ahead of me, but that's gonna have to wait until tomorrow.' so on that note, he turned over on his side, which was followed by light snoring.

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Unfortunately, his sleep wasn't as restful as he would've liked.

"Dammit, what I wouldn't give for a bottle of…" Tatsu opened his eyes and let out a groan, only to cut himself short when he realized that he was in a dark void, nothing and no one present there for as far as the eye could see, aside from him "Okay, this is officially horror movie levels of creepy and unsettling. What the hell is this place?"

"A place that you can call your own, to aid you on your quest."

Tatsu whipped around and drew both of his swords from his back, only to find himself face to face with an unfamiliar figure standing before him "Okay I'm gonna go ahead and start with the 5 W's and the one H. Who are you, where are we, when did you bring me here, how did you bring me here, what did you do with the others and most importantly, why am I here?"

"Unfamiliar surroundings and the loss of your companions result in you raising your guard and preparing for battle." the figure studied Tatsu for a moment and then stepped closer, revealing himself to be an adult male with long black hair tied into a ponytail, piercing crimson eyes with dragon scales covering his arms, legs and face, his body covered in a dark green kimono, claws present on his hands "You clearly do have the instincts of a warrior young Tatsu, though given your years of dedicated training in the art that doesn't come as a surprise."

"For someone I've never met before you sure as hell know a lot about me. Now that raises the question, who are you?"

"Cautious as well, commendable but not necessary. You don't need to raise your guard to the one who created the power that you wield."

"What are you talking about, that guy who called himself Guardian gave me these swords-" he cut himself short as he looked down at the necklace and Fangs he wore "The fangs… you mean that you're…"

"Correct, I am the Great Dragon Demon himself, Ryuhogo."

"Well that tells me who you are, but not the where, when, what, how and why."

"Then perhaps I should be more straightforward. This is a sort of meeting of the minds so to speak, and we are in a mutual realm where my spirit can meet you face to face, if you can call it that, and I called your subconscious into that realm when you went to sleep tonight."

"That answers me the how, where, when and what. But not the why."

"The most important part of what I have to tell you. It's been a long time since I've seen one in the world of the living, this era or any other, take hold of two different Fangs of mine. I know you have many questions you want answered right now, but our time together is limited. I can't tell you everything right now, but what I can do is tell you why I brought you here in the first place. I'm going to train you in using the Fangs properly when in battle. You were pondering earlier that you wanted to learn how to unleash draconic energy on command, rather than just in the heat of the moment right?"

"Yeah… So do I have to call you sensei or something?"

"Call me whatever you wish, all I want is for you to look me in the eye and tell me that you can and will use this power for the right reasons."

"Yeah there's a problem with that, I don't know the first thing about you so I have no idea what you want me to say about that." Tatsu let out a sigh, then looked Ryuhogo dead in the eye with an expression full of unyielding determination "What I will say is that if you're gonna try and use me for some nefarious evil plot to bring yourself back from the dead or something, you're asking the wrong guy for help. I'm gonna use this stuff in order to find the jewel shards, and more important to protect the people I care about, including the girl I love. Do you have any sort of problem with that?"

"...I see, so your resolve is absolute then." Ryuhogo studied Tatsu for another moment, then gave a small smile and a nod of approval "Let's get started then shall we?"

"I'll take that as a no, you don't have a problem with that."

"I do not. Now then, the key to unleashing your energy on command in battle is to control that energy effectively. The principle behind it is far from difficult to master, but it does require some getting used to. Every living behind, whether they're human or demon has this energy inside of them, though there are a number of differences between the two types, but the problem is that very few people know how to use it effectively, so for now we'll have to work on you finding it before you can learn to use it, let alone any of the power of the other Fangs."

"Makes sense to me, so let's get started."

"Very well then. I'm going to take this one step at a time for you, so make sure that you pay attention to my instructions."

"I'm ready for whatever you can throw at me, so let's get this started."

"Very well then. Now then, the first thing you have to do is quiet your mind, and be sure to maintain your composure." Ryuhogo cupped his hands in front of him "When you're ready, you start to slowly draw our the energy from within your body." he slowly formed a small surge of energy within his palm "So there you see it for yourself. Are you prepared to try it for yourself or will you need another demonstration?"

"I'll give it a shot, after all what's the worst thing that could hapepn." Tatsu took a deep breath and slowly cupped his hands in front of him 'Remember what he said, keep yourself calm and focus on the task at hand.' it took a few moments for it to take effect, but eventually a small ball of energy flickered into life in his palm.

"You awakened your energy even faster than I had expected. It's not surprising though, keeping in mind that spending years of your life training and honing yourself mentally, physically and spiritually would grant you a strong connection with the power within, whether you had realized it at the time or not."

"That makes sense I guess." Tatsu let out a sigh as the ball of energy in his hand dissipated as soon as it had appeared "So where do we go from here?"

"Now that you've proven that you have an established connection with your dormant energy, I will teach you how to use it effectively in the best way you know. Intense training."

"Do we really have the time for that? I know I've only been in here with you for maybe about a half our at the most, but I'm pretty sure Kagome and the others are gonna have questions if they wake up to find me in a coma."

"You have nothing to be concerned about in that regard. Time passes much slower in this realm than it does in reality, and because of that one hour in the real world can amount to one week's worth of training in this realm. A Time Dilation Zone if you will."

"Huh. Neat. Well okay then, let's get to it."

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Days passed since the battle in the gravesight, or rather corpse, of the Dog General, and the hunt for the jewel shards throughout Japan had at last begun.

"3, 2, 1 and then you've got yourself a cup of semi-fresh hot ramen." Tatsu pulled the cover off and handed it to Inuyasha "So what do you think?"

Inuyasha wasted no time digging into the cup "Not bad, not bad at all, yeah I can totally see how this would catch on."

"Hence why the guys who made the stuff are now worth billions, best thing since sliced bread that actually surpasses sliced bread. But you see not everything from our time sucks, a lot of it yes but not everything."

"You should've showed me this from the start then I might not have even tried to kill either of you guys."

"I'll keep that in mind next time some homicidal demon tries to kill us." Tatsu glanced over and noticed Kagome brooding over her cup "Hey what's the matter Kagome, aren't you gonna dig in?"

"Yeah speaking of digging, did you not notice?" Kagome gestured to the large number of crows and corpses surrounding them "You know, the fact that we're eating in an old battlefield?! No that one was too busy rummaging through my backpack and you just didn't care! How the heck are you okay with eating in a place like this?"

"Kagome I've been forced to watch my brother and his girlfriend going at it hot and heavy like it was the kind of thing that comes out of Clockwork Orange, this is nothing."

"...Huh. Good point. Well anyway even the flea has better manners than the dog."

"Not saying much though."

Myoga looked up from where he was munching on a cracker "At long last I have found what it is that I seek, someone with good taste that also tastes good. I must say how impressed I actually am by the convenience of your era, that bicycle Kagome uses and your instant foodstuffs in particular are quite handy. Tell me, has our land started trading with other countries by any chance?"

"Actually yeah, nice observation Bloodsucker. Instant ramen was actually invented here in Japan in the space age, they're basically the thing people eat when they're too lazy to reach for a phone in order to order takeout." he pointed at Kagome, earning a glare "But they were originally meant for astronauts in outer space."

"Astro-what?"

"Don't expect you to understand, they're guys who get paid to get shot into space to explore the universe but we haven't made it past the moon which was decades ago so that's actually somewhat sad now."

"But man has travelled to the moon?"

"Oh yeah, but I'm pretty sure that they haven't done anything like that since then and that was decades ago, hence why it's kind of sad now."

"Understandable. Tell me, what of demons in your era?"

"I've never actually met any from my time, the only exception is me being attacked awhile back by what I'm pretty sure were an army of ninjas. But I'm pretty sure that doesn't count, so I really have no idea." this was followed by the sky suddenly going dark "Okay that's definitely not good."

Sure enough, a menacing blue vortex appeared above them "You down there, you possess shards of the sacred Shikon Jewel!"

"And you possess an ass we have to kick, and unfortunately for you you had to ruin our lunch break so none of us are in the best mood."

And then the vortex turned into some gigantic pink balloon thing "Hand over the jewel, the jewel or your lives!" and then he started chewing on Tatsu's head.

"...You wanna pop it or can I?"

"Dibs." Inuyasha popped the balloon with one finger, which caused it to fly all over the place before turning into a small fox demon and falling to the ground.

"And he's just some little kid, what a letdown."

"Who dares to burst my bubble!" the kid, a fox demon by the name of Shippo, was promptly grabbed and picked up by Tatsu.

"Feisty little thing aren't you? Not a bad tail either, looks to me like some kind of squirrel or maybe a rabbit.

"Hey I'm a full fledged fox demon you heathen!"

"A fox demon huh?" Kagome suddenly gained hearts in her eyes "He's so cute, he let me get ahold of him when you're done!"

"Yeah sure just give me a-" Tatsu was cut off by Shippo disappearing and replacing himself with a statue "Okay what the heck?"

"How should I- Hey get the heck out of my stuff!"

"Perfect I found it, a Sacred Jewel shard!" Shippo pulled out the bottle containing their jewel shard and grinned "Our time together has been short but sweet, but now I'll have to bid all of you farewell!" and then he disappeared in the same fiery blue vortex from which he had originally come.

Inuyasha glanced back to see a skull with a tail trying to hop its way away "Oh I'm gonna enjoy this."

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34 seconds later…

Shippo sat in front of them pouting with a huge bruise on his head "You always have to pick on the little guy don't you?"

"This might sting a bit, just try to think happy thoughts." Kagome applied some medicine to the gigantic bruise "So why exactly were you so determined to get the jewel shard from us in the first place?"

"It's for my father, I need to get the jewel shards in order to avenge him."

"Wait what do you mean avenge him, you don't mean your father was killed do you?"

"I get what he means." Inuyasha pulled out the jewel shard "He's not strong enough on his own so he needs the power of the jewel shard to take out his enemies for him."

"Says every other demon out there that wants to get their hands on the jewel shards, which includes you." Tatsu pointed out dryly.

"Hey give me that!" Kagome snatched the bottle back, which led to her and Inuyasha both arguing with each other.

"Ignore them kid, that's kind of routine for us."

"Anyway I'm strong enough to take on any enemy on my own, I just wanted the jewel shard as a precaution." this was Shippo's way of putting on an act to come off as tough.

"Right. So what happened anyway?"

"Well it all started not too long ago, hundreds of warriors were engaged in battle near the forest where we lived when a dark cloud passed overhead, a cloud so dark and evil that none of them could imagine what horrors it would bring."

"Evil demons with incredible power?"

"...Shut up. Anyway the warriors were at first puzzled by the strange turn in the weather, but that was all that they could wonder before they were slaughtered in an instant by these two, with the Shikon Jewel shards that they stole from my father when they killed him."

"Wait so your dad had a shard of the jewel, why the hell would he have something like that with him?"

"That I don't know, all I do know is that the Thunder Brothers steal the shards from any humans or demons they come across."

"And they get the name from their Thunder and Lightning based attacks right, are these two strong?"

"Very, my father was a 3rd ranked fox demon and they killed him easily."

"Good to know. Anything else?"

"They're known as Hiten and Manten, they're evil incarnate. Their shared sadistic nature is matched only by their unrivaled power."

"And how many jewel shards do they have exactly?"

"Hiten has three shards and Manten has two."

"...Well then that's all need to know, alright let's do it."

"Do what?"

"What else? I'll track down these Thunder Brothers, take them out, avenge your father and get the jewel shards from them." he was met with a scoff.

"And one day man will walk on the moon! Like you could stand a chance against the Thunder Brothers, you're only a mere mortal! This is a quarrel between demons, it has noting to do with you so stay out of it."

"Kid you have no idea who you're dealing with, and franky I never shy away from a good challenge."

"I don't care if you shy away from a fruit tree!"

This was when Kagome broke away from her argument with Inuyasha that had lasted way longer than in canon for comedic and plot purposes "Hey come on now Shippo, you shouldn't be talking to Tatsu like that."

"...Yeah you're right, let me give each of you a token of my apology. The half demon will be first." he then proceeded to use one of his statues with a talisman on it, trapping his sleeves with it "Baggy sleeves, anyone's worst enemy! Now you're stuck underneath my statue until you can get the magic talisman peeled off!"

"Hey come on now Shippo there's no need to be so childish, just take the spell off him and then we can help you to avenge your father."

"I don't like playing tricks on women if I can avoid it but if I have no choice then I will, just don't hold this against me." he leapt up and smacked her on the back of the neck, only to end up getting caught as a result.

"Hey a little bit of respect would be nice." she was sent reeling by a small blast of foxfire, causing her to lose the jewel shards "Oh come on not again!"

"Thanks for the shards, I can use this to lure out the Thunder Brothers!" and then he rushed off with the jewel shards.

"Hey Shippo that jewel shard is too dangerous for you to mess with, now bring it back here before I get mad!" and so Kagome chased after him.

"Hey come on Kagome, you can't seriously just leave me like this!" a pissed off Inuyasha looked over to see Tatsu calmly eating his instant ramen "You're not going with her? Here I thought you'd follow her like a sheep or something."

"What are you on crack?" Tatsu let out a snort "Inuyasha I was taught from a young age that there are four things a wise man should fear: the sea during a storm, a night with no moon (he noticed Inuyasha flinch at this), the anger of a gentle man and the wratch of a maiden who has been scorned. Guess which category she falls under, so until she calms down a little bit I'm just gonna sit here and finish my lunch before it gets cold."

"...I don't suppose you would-"

"I'm not feeding you while your sleeves are stuck."

"FUCK!"

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Meanwhile, with one of the Thunder Brothers…

At the same time, Manten was staring at his own image in a river "Quite the pleasing visage if I do say so myself, but with a few more hairs I may be able to attract the ladies as brother Hiten is able to do." he glanced over and noticed something.

As it turns out, it was Shippo still running from Kagome with a cheeky grin "They'll never find me now."

"It's not them you should be worrying about." Manten stomped his way over to Shippo with a menacing grin "What a coincidence, if it isn't the son of that flea-bitten fox."

"Wh-What the heck do you want?" Shippo glanced down and found to his horror the fur of his father being used as a pelt.

"You like my new fur coat do you, your father has really come in quite handy."

"Y-You monster, I'll make you pay for what you did to him! Let me at you!" Shippo charged up at Manten, only to get swatted backwards like a fly, causing the bottle with the jewel shard to fall out.

"What do we have here, a shard of the Shikon Jewel." he stomped down on Shippo's tail with sadistic glee "Now hand it over like a good little fox, or else you'll taste the same Sonic Thunder that your father did." he prepared to kill Shippo with a blast of lightning from his mouth, only to receive an energy blast to the face, sending him tumbling backwards a great distance "What in the-"

As it turns out, Kagome was the one who fired the blast, her palm smoking from the energy exposure as a result "Huh. Not gonna lie, I didn't think that was gonna work."

"Why you arrogant little-" Manten prepared to pounce, but stopped when he saw Kagome hold out her hand to fire another energy blast.

"Step away from the fox kid, I won't hesitate to blast you to kingdom come again." though she was trying not to sweat 'Though I just hope he doesn't realize I have no idea how I did that the first time.'

"You arrogant wench, look what you did to my nose!"

"Don't move another inch or I'll follow up, Shippo get behind me and bring the jewel shard with you."

"O-Okay." despite being terrified, Shippo rushed towards Kagome with the jewel shard in his hand.

"Get back here you little runt, I need to have that shard of the Shikon Jewel!" Manten charged after him.

Kagome studied Manten intently 'He has two jewel shards in his forehead, if I can hit him there then I can bring him down. If I can figure out how to do that.' but in the heat of the moment she managed to conjure up another energy blast and hit him with it, but it was only able to slow him down 'Well it's better than nothing I guess. What he's freaking out about?'

As it turns out, to Manten's horror, two of his three remaining strands of hair had been burned off by the blast, sending him into a blind rage as he prepared to unleash his Sonic Thunder upon both of them.

"Okay this is unexpected."

"Come on we've gotta move!" Shippo grabbed Kagome by the arm and they took off running away "That's the same kind of attack that killed my dad!" the blast closed in on both of them in an instant.

"Shippo move!" Kagome didn't hesitate in pushing him out of the way, only to be hit by the full force of the blast herself, sending her flying backwards and knocking her out cold as she hit the ground.

"Kagome!" Shippo rushed over to her side "Kagome are you okay? Come on Kagome you have to get up!" but then he saw Manten approaching and without thinking he just ran away as fast as he could.

Manten loomed over Kagome's unconscious form "So that little fox was able to escape, but I suppose it doesn't matter. She on the other hand looks good enough to eat, yes I can make good use of such a lovely specimen." he slung Kagome over his shoulder and then took off on his dark transportation cloud.

Shippo could only watch in horror from where she was hiding "He has Kagome, I have to go and rescue her! But how do I do it, I won't stand a chance against the Thunder Brothers if I go on my own! Kagome is gonna be in some serious trouble!"

"Which is all that I need to hear."

Shippo let out a yelp when he realized that Tatsu was looming over him, his expression deadly serious "When did you- How did you-"

"I figured something was up so I rushed over here once I finished eating, mainly because I figured by that point Kagome would've calmed down, but it looks like I was too late. Now they've got her."

"Y-Yeah." Shippo looked away in shame, and then he held out the jewel shards "But at least they didn't get these."

"And yet you didn't exactly try to stop the big guy from getting away with her."

"Hey don't go getting mad at me, Kagome is your woman so if anyone should be going to rescue her it should be you!"

"First of all, she's not my woman. Second of all, I never said I wasn't gonna go save her because it's kind of my thing. But since this whole thing was your fault you're gonna come with me, and you're gonna apologize to her."

"I know."

"And you're gonna free Inuyasha when we get back."

"We're not gonna go now?"

"No, it's kind of funny to watch him squirm. Anyway let's move out, we have a lot of work ahead of us." Tatsu placed Shippo on his shoulder and then took off running, his mind racing as fast as he was 'I'm on my way Kagome, just hang in there until I get there. No matter what happens to me, there's no way I'm gonna let them get their hands on you!'

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By this point, Manten had taken Kagome back to his and Hiten's home and was preparing to put a certain recipe to use "Yes that's right, I'm certain mother would be proud if she knew that the family recipe was being put to use. The only ingredient left to add is the most important one, the one I like to call deliciously awful."

This was when Kagome finally came to "Wh-What the-"

"Finally awoken have you my fair maiden?"

"Where are we, where have you taken me?"

"That's of the least of your worries at the moment."

"Okay why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well you see the flesh and blood of young maidens does marvels for hair growth in certain demons, some of us call it the wonder potion of the century."

"Excuse me? I'd rather be eaten alive than boiled down for some stupid hair gel!"

"Quiet! Keep your voice down, if brother Hiten hears you then might just grant that wish of yours!"

Sure enough, at that moment Hiten busted down the door with a single sweep of his hand, revealing himself and the vixen in his company "I thought I heard voices from in here, you back so soon Manten?"

"Oh Hiten it's so good to see you."

"Who's the wench, what's she doing here?"

"Hey back off brother I found her first, she's mine."

"No need to worry about that, I have no use for her as long as I have this little vixen right here to entertain myself."

Kagome studied Hiten for a moment 'Well at least this one looks human, maybe I can talk my way out of this somehow.'

"Oh yeah before I forget about that, how did you go with searching for any more shards of the jewel?"

Manten cringed at this "Oh how could I have forgotten? My apologies dear brother, I found one but I lost it."

"You found one but you lost it? Don't tell me that you were so much more interested in this woman that you forgot to pursue the far more important jewel shard." in his frustration he fired a blast of electricity at the vixen, frying her on the spot.

"Please Hiten I beg your forgiveness!"

"You bring nothing but shame to this family, if you were not my younger brother then I would've killed you myself long ago."

Kagome cringed at the scene 'Then again looks can be deceiving, oh man I'm in serious trouble here.'

"So this little fox runt has our jewel shard? That's all that I need to know." Hiten prepared to take off.

"Are you going after him?" asked Manten.

"Of course I am you fool and you're coming with me."

"Oh, of course brother."

'This is my chance, maybe I can try and escape.' Kagome tried to make a break for the window while they were talking.

"And were do you think you're going?" Manten noticed her and then brought down a gigantic cleaver.

Kagome barely got out of the way of the slash "Hey watch where you're aiming that thing!"

"Oh 1,000 pardons my dear, I meant to make it quick so you wouldn't have to suffer and there's no sense delaying since I wouldn't want the main ingredient for my hair potion to escape."

"Wait hold on a second, you don't want to kill me just yet."

"And why is that?"

"Because without me you won't be able to find Shippo and the jewel shard that he's got with him! I guess Raidou was right, there's a sucker born every minute. I convinced the dumb one, now to go for his brother. Yeah maybe I can actually do this. Hey so let me ask you guys something. Have either of you heard of Tatsu Kamikaze, the strong and brave and handsome master of the Fangs of Ryuhogo?""

"The Fangs of Ryuhogo you say?" this got Hiten's attention "Wielder of such powerful relics he may be, but it doesn't change the fact that he's still only human."

"But Tatsu is really strong, I've seen him defeat all kinds of monsters single handedly and more to the point he has his own collection of shards of the Shikon Jewel. Go for it girl, that should get their attention.'

"Hold on a second, how do I know you're not lying?"

"I wouldn't lie about him, after all the guy is madly in love with me." of course it's true but she doesn't know that, at least not yet "I can imagine that he's on his way here right now to rescue me like my own Prince Charming." again this all totally ironic "I know my one and only love will gladly hand over the jewel shards for me."

"...I have no idea why but something tells me you're telling the truth. Alright here's how it's gonna work wench, you're gonna take us to this Tatsu lover of yours at once. But let me warn you now, if you are lying then you'll suffer the same fate as that vixen and I doubt you'll enjoy being fried to a crisp."

'This guy would do it too and probably enjoy it.'

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The search for Kagome raged on, and a battle was about to begin.

Tatsu made his way across Raimei Valley as fast as his feet were able to carry him, all the while carrying 'Please hold on just a little bit longer Kagome, I'm on my way. Hey Shippo you wanna quit squirming, I'm trying to concentrate. If you're scared then just hop off now."

"Hey come on I'm not afraid!" Shippo protested "I'm gonna save Kagome and then I'm gonna avenge my father, with a little bit of help from you that is. You'd better be as strong as you make yourself out to be, those Thunder Brothers already have a bunch of jewel shards that make them a lot more powerful."

"You don't know this squirt but I've never been one to back down from a challenge, especially not when they threaten the people that I love."

"You don't think they did something to Kagome do you?"

"Knowing her she's probably tricked them into cleaning their own home, I know enough to know that these guys are more brawn than brains."

"But I've heard rumors that the Thunder Brothers aren't known for keeping attractive young females around for long before devouring them. Oh man this is all my fault, she's probably being eaten alive as we speak!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Kagome may not be a fighter like yours truly but she can be resourceful when she wants to. She'll find a reason for them to keep her alive until we can get there. She's clever like that, it's part of her charm." he gave a small smile "It's one of the many reasons why I fell in love with her."

"So you do love her?"

"I have for years- Wait why the hell am I telling you this? You know what screw it, let's just go already so I can find them and kill them-" his head snapped up and he bolted out of the way just in time to avoid a well timed blast of lightning, as well as the one that followed, and he quickly set Shippo down on the ground and motioned for him to get behind him "I guess we don't have to find them after all, they found us."

Sure enough, looming overhead was Hiten and Manten themselves on their dark cloud, as well as holding Kagome with them "Quite the impressive maneuver dodging my lightning bolt attack like that, especially in light of your dull and uninspired conversation just now. You must be the one called Tatsu that we've been hearing so much about."

"And you must be Hiten of the Thunder Brothers- Okay you know what fuck the pleasentries already, what the hell did you do with Kagome?"

"No need to despair, haven't done anything to her, not yet at least." he gestured to where Manten was holding Kagome on his own dark cloud "We'll be sure to make good use of her before we dispose of her."

'Okay good so they haven't hurt her yet, now I have to think of a way to get her out of harm's way once the fighting starts.'

"Judging by the expression on your face it seems the girl was actually speaking the truth, now either you hand over all of the shards of the Shikon Jewel to me or you'll never see your lover alive again! You got that?!"

"About ⅔ of it, what the hell did she tell you exactly?"

"There's no time to get all shy!" Kagome shot him a look "Now just hurry up and hand over the jewel shards so they won't keep us apart any longer, okay honey?"

"You know you really have to run these things by me in advance, but in terms of stories you make up on the spot I'd give this a 7.5/10."

"Are you seriously keeping score right now? In case it wasn't clear that's not what lovers do with each other!"

"Have you not been watching Kazuma and Moya for the last 4 years? That's like 40% of what they do, the other 60% being things that scarred me for life to the point where I'm almost completely immune to the horrors and tragedies that exist in the Feudal Era!"

"Okay I've officially heard enough." Hiten shut both of them "It's clear to me that you do happen to have some jewel shards for us Tatsu, jewels that are going to belong to me soon enough!" and so he charged forward.

"Your first mistake is thinking that's gonna happen." Tatsu promptly drew both of his swords from his back to counter Hiten and his Thunderpike, though he was pushed back a short distance as he tried to withstand the attack.

"Not bad but no one can withstand my attacks for very long."

"Just like how I can't withstand listening to your clear inability to shut the hell up, which is apparently a theme in this era!" to that end, Tatsu promptly dealt Hiten a swift uppercut kick to the jaw, the force sending him skidding backwards a great distance.

Hiten quickly recovered and braced himself "Looks to me like you've got power and the style to back it up, this should make quite the interesting battle."

"Just like it's going to be your last battle."

"So you wish for me to draw this game out do you? So be it then, I shall relish in your prolonged suffering."

"You're not the first guy to threaten me like that, I doubt you're gonna be the last. You'll fall just like the rest of them."

"Perhaps in your fantasies.. Enough with this pointless drivel, the time has come for you to meet your unfortunate demise!" and so Hiten charged at him.

Tatsu leapt over the attack and began countering the next series of strikes using both of his twin swords in hand 'I can't let that lightning touch me or I'll be in some serious trouble, and the fact that these swords made of METAL are conductors for electricity doesn't really help me now that I think about it.'

"You'd best enjoy the last moments of life while you still can!"

Shippo observed the confrontation while hiding behind a rock "Looks like Tatsu is giving Hiten a run for his money, I guess he's doing better than I thought he would. Meanwhile I'd better try and find a way to save Kagome."

Sure enough, Manten still had Kagome as a hostage, watching the battle unfolding with a certain degree of sadistic glee "Yes that's it brother, give him a sendoff unrivaled! Show them why you are the strongest demon in the land! Perhaps I should lend my assistance." he prepared to unleash his Sonic Thunder blast.

"Hey that's no fair, that's two against one!" Kagome was quick to take action and she forcefully shoved Manten off the cloud, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud and leaving him in a crater from the explosion that followed "Well that takes care of one of them." and then the cloud she was on disappeared, sending her hurtling towards the ground.

"Kagome hang on!" Tatsu kicked Hiten in the face and then bolted off to catch her before she could hit the ground.

Hiten recovered quickly and stopped Tatsu from advancing with another lightning attack "You really are a fool, a true warrior never puts a woman before a battle!"

"More like a true warrior knows that there's more to life than just the battle, they have to have their priorities straight! Kagome just hang on for a minute, I'll take care of this guy as soon as I can and then I'll be right there!"

"You might wanna hurry, gravity isn't exactly on our side right now!" Kagome yelled at him, only to end up bouncing off of Manten "Well that was convenient I guess, at least the fall didn't kill me."

"Perhaps not, but I will be more than happy to do so!" Manten pulled himself back to his feet and let out a snarl.

"Oh man I thought you were dead!" Kagome tried to take off running, only to trip and find herself left at Manten's mercy.

"Now you'll pay for that you wench."

'Time for me to use my Fox Magic! Get away from her!" Shippo threw a top at Manten and used his Fox Magic to make it bigger to the point where it started crushing Manten "Hurry up and get away while you can Kagome!"

"Yeah okay no arguments here." Kagome quickly rushed off and pulled herself out of the crater as fast as she could "Nice move down there, thanks for the save."

"Hey it was nothing, I uh… I owed you for that since you saved me earlier and you got captured because of it. Plus Fox Magic is all about illusions."

"That thing is an illusion? It looks pretty real to me."

"That's the idea, but it also doesn't last for very long."

Sure enough, the illusion soon wore off, allowing Manten to get back to his feet and he was mad as all hell "That little fox brat will pay for his tricks." and then things got worse for pretty much everyone, as the last strand of his hair fell out "My… My hair… my beautiful hair… every last strand of it… gone… they're all gone… YOU'VE TAKEN AWAY EVERY LAST STRAND OF HAIR I HAD LEFT!" he unleashed a massive Sonic Thunder blast in a blind rage, which prompted Kagome and Shippo to take off running "YOU HAVE PLUCKED THE LAST STRANDS OF MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!"

Kagome and Shippo quickly took cover behind a rock "Looks to me like we just added a ton of fuel to the proverbial fire."

"For your crimes against my hair I shall hunt you both down and use one of you for my hair potion and the other for a new pelt."

"I don't suppose you have any bright ideas, because something tells me you and I are in some serious trouble."

"Can't you just blast him like you did before?" asked Shippo "Sure it just made him mad but it's better than nothing."

"Well the thing is that it was kind of in the heat of the moment, I don't really know just how to do them on command."

"Oh boy. Well just try what I do when I use my Foxfire."

"Which is?"

"I just try to concentrate, I let the energy build until it has nowhere to go but out. It may not work but it's better than nothing."

"I guess, but…"

"Over there!" Manten fired a Sonic Thunder blast at a random rock.

Taking a deep breath and gathering all of the courage that she could muster, Kagome slowly made her way out of her hiding place "Hey."

"There you are you little wench, did you honestly believe that you could elude one of the Thunder Brothers?"

"I actually did, until I stopped trying to." Kagome slowly held out her hand and braced herself with her other arm 'Like Shippo said I have to concentrate, let the energy build in my arm until it has nowhere to go but out.' she braced herself, trying to gather energy, until a small pink ball of energy formed in her hand.

"Do you really expect me to just wait for you? No you're going to die nice and slow and then I'll use you in my hair potion!" Manten unleashed his Sonic Thunder blast.

'Here goes nothing!' Kagome unleashed a quick pink and purple colored energy blast that clashed with the Sonic Thunder blast, the two blasts cancelling each other out and sending both of them flying.

"You little wench, I suppose you've got more fire in you than I thought." Manten pulled himself back to his feet and stomped his way over towards her "I suppose I'll just have to fix that!" and he caught her by the neck and began strangling her.

"Tatsu… please… help me…"

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"Kagome hang on!" Tatsu tried to break off from his clash with Hiten and rush to her aid, only to receive a Thunderpike to the shoulder, causing him to cough up blood "D-Dammit…"

"I suppose you didn't believe my advice about women to be worth heeding, that's a fatal mistake you won't live to regret." with sadistic glee Hiten dug his Thunderpike deeper into the wound and slashed Tatsu down his torso, leaving a deep bloody wound as he sent him tumbling backwards, knocking both of his swords out of his hands in the process "Well that's pathetic, you clearly don't live up to your reputation. Human compassion and love will prove to be what leads you to your death. Which of you should die first, this cursed wretch of that woman he's been so preoccupied with?"

'I can deal with this bastard later, right now I've gotta find a way to get over to the ugly one and save Kagome.'

"Hey Manten what do you think, should we put these fools out of their misery or should we make them suffer a little bit longer?"

Manten shot him a cocky smirk "Well frankly I'm in no rush Hiten, I'm actually quite enjoying myself. I don't know what it is about the sight of a woman nearing the door of death that I find to be so exquisitely irriesistable."

"Let go of her!" mustering as much courage as he could, Shippo charged at Manten, only to get swatted away like a fly and sent bouncing away.

"Stay out of this fox brat, when I'm done with her I'll have a surprise for you. My girth has been expanding as of late and I could use another small fox pelt to keep warm at night, it will be like a family reunion. I wonder though, should I slay you first or should I skin you alive like I did your father? Perhaps I should sever your toes and use them as a new set of earrings."

"Very clever of you Manten, if I didn't know you better then I would have to say that you were becoming quite the villain." Hiten noted.

"Oh my Hiten how kind of you to say so."

"You… I won't let you get away with this!" Shippo pounced on Manten again and bit down on his neck.

"Are you just trying to hasten your inevitable death?" Manten grabbed Shippo by the head, but his bite didn't die down.

'I can't let go, even if he kills me I can't let go.'

"Release me at once you little pest, release me immediately you little fox tyke or else you death will be slow and painful!" Manten started punching Shippo repeatedly, only for him to bite down even harder "Release your insignificant bite from me right this instant or I'll have to rethink the order of my victims!"

"Hey Manten you'd better take it easy." Hiten called over to him "You don't wanna soil that precious fox stool of yours, you wouldn't wanna see it soaked in blood now would you?"

"Of course not Hiten, thanks for the tip."

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Tatsu promptly spat out some blood "You know I'm gonna be the first to admit that I might be prone to getting too overconfident in a battle, but at least I don't fight dirty, but it doesn't look to me like the two of you can say the same, now can you? But at the same time, while I might not be able to control electricity in its truest form, I've got a few tricks of my own to play in this fight right about now." he cupped his hands at his side, blue energy gathering in between his palms "Literally anything and everything that comes out of the Dragon Ball franchise, eat your fucking hearts out! Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he thrusted his hands forward and unleashed a blue wave of energy.

Hiten was forced to block the roar, but he still received some significant burns "Well it's about time this starts to get interesting."

"Oh if you like that then you're gonna love this, it's not as practical as using them for a frontal assault." so Tatsu pounced forward towards Hiten with one of his swords in hand, but rather than bring it down he hurled it forward at full speed.

Hiten managed to get out of the way, though, he received a light graze across the shoulder and he shot Tatsu a smirk "Nice aim if you were going for that mountain over there."

"I never said I was aiming at you."

"What?!" Hiten whipped around, only to see to his horror that Manten was the intended target of the attack, blowing a hole clear through his stomach "Manten hold on, I'm coming brother just hang in there!"

Kagome quickly picked up the bruised form of Shippo 'So Tatsu made it look like he was going to throw that sword at Hiten to distract him, he was really aiming at Manten so that he could save both me and Shippo. Come on Shippo we'd better get out of here, Tatsu will be more than able to handle Hiten from here on out."

"Please…" Shippo whispered from within Kagome's arms, his voice soft "Please, don't leave my father…"

"I know Shippo, I would never just leave him here like that. But Hiten is coming this way so we'd better get out of here before he gets here."

"MANTEN!" sure enough, Hiten was thundering towards them, using a blast of lightning to send them flying away from Manten as he knelt down near him "Manten just hang in there, you're gonna be alright."

"Hiten… they're gone…" Manten croaked, his voice hoarse "Every last strand of my hair… all of them have fallen… and with them… my hopes of becoming happy…"

"Don't be so foolish Manten, we can make it grow back."

"It's no use kidding myself… I'll never have your beautiful hair… you were fortunate enough to inherit father's looks… but fate chose to smote me… it was my unfortunate lot in life to resemble our homely mother… with her receding hairline and decidedly reptilian countennance going for her… how I longed for the looks of you and father…"

"Beauty isn't about what's on the outside, I wouldn't change a think about you brother even if I could. I love every last bald inch of you."

"Thank you… even if you don't mean it… say a prayer for me when I'm gone… pray for me that I'll be reborn as a fuzzy caterpillar… covered in hair from head to furry toe… No brother… who am I trying to kid? I would rather be reborn bald again… I would gladly make that sacrifice… if I could be reborn as your brother… wouldn't that be nice… Hiten…" and with these final words escaping from his lips, Manten passed on with a smile on his face.

"Manten please don't die! Manten! MANTEN!"

Tatsu on the other hand rushed over to where Kagome and Shippo lay out cold 'Oh thank god she's okay, she's just unconscious. That blast she hit Manten with was incredible, bigger than anything I've ever seen before. From her anyway. She's grown a lot stronger, that much is obvious. But she's done more than enough, now it's time for me to do my part and finish off the other one.'

"Manten… YOU WRETCHES, YOU SLAUGHTERED MY BROTHER!" Hiten let out a blood curdling scream of grief with tears streaming down his face "My dear Manten, rest assured that we shall always be as one brother." and then he bit down on Manten's head as lightning flashed overhead.

'...which just got a major fuckton harder. Okay what's he doing?"

"Things are not what they appear to be Tatsu." that was when Myoga popped up on Tatsu's shoulder.

"When the hell did you get here?"

"Not important, anyway Hiten bit into the head of his brother's head to fuse the Sacred Jewel shards with his own body. You must be even more careful now Tatsu, now you will be doing battle with Hiten when he holds the power of 5 jewel shards."

"Yeah I figured out that much, but seriously though where the hell have you been up until this point? I thought I left you back with Inuyasha so he'd scream at you and his voice would be all scratchy and hoarse by the time I got there."

"I actually stowed away on you as you finished eating because I thought you were going to need me."

"And you didn't show yourself until now because…?"

"I had an itch that needed scratching."

"Okay I get that feeling but- Look out!" he countered the blast of lightning being hurled at them with his own blast of lightning.

Hiten loomed over them, his eyes blazing with pure rage as his body crackled with demonic bio electricity "How dare you strike down my beloved brother, I shall never cease hunting you or your comrades until I've returned the deed 1,000 times over!"

'He's even more powerful now than he was before, he's got the power of 5 jewel shards now in comparison to how he had three before. But at the same time that means that I have a real fight on my hands, I know I shouldn't be saying this but as scary as this might seem I'm actually kind of excited. Myoga stay here and guard Kagome and Shippo, I'll try and lure Hiten away so that they don't get caught in the crossfire."

"Do you think you'll be able to defeat him?" asked Myoga.

"I wouldn't be fighting him if I didn't think I could win. No wait that's actually a complete load of crap, either way I'd be fighting him. Just protect her for me, got it?"

"...You have my word."

"Thank you." Tatsu drew the only remaining sword he had in his hands and made his way back onto the battlefield to meet Hiten at eye level "So here we are again, two warriors fighting to the death. I think it's safe to say that only one of us will walk away from this."

"And I can guarantee it will not be you, I shall avenge my brother you swine now prepare to face your demise! Thunder Lance!" Hiten quickly unleashed his Thunder Lance with much greater power than before.

'I won't be able to dodge this one or defend against it, so I guess that means that I only have one option now. I've always wanted to be able to do one of these attacks. I wonder when the Dragon Ball Super anime is going to come back. Full Power Energy Wave will have to suffice though, I'm not blind to my limits.' so Tatsu settled with holding out his hand and unleashing the equivalent of a Full Power Energy Wave, the two attacks colliding in a power struggle before cancelling each other out in a blinding explosion "Okay good, to be totally honest I wasn't completely sure that was gonna work. No no time to broode over that Tatsu, you still have your opponent to deal with right now or else Kagome and the others are gonna be goners.'

"Not a bad move but can you repeat such a tactic?" Hiten unleashed another Thunder Lance attack.

'If I blast through the core of his attack then I should be able to get him while his guard will still be down! Maybe if I go ahead and try to-' unfortunately, whatever Tatsu was planning to do was cut short by him being suddenly blast by the Thunder Lance from the back, as well as taking an attack from Hiten straight to the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Not a bad plan at least in theory, of course you forgot to consider that metal conducs electricity with ease. You may have power and technique with your attacks, but your swords draw my lighting to them like a makeshift lightning rod."

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By this point, Shippo had come to and noticed his father's fur that he was lying on 'Father, at least now you've been avenged at least partially.'

"Are you alright Shippo?" asked Myoga.

"More or less, but what happened to Manten?"

"He was brought down by Tatsu, but now Hiten is using Manten's shards along with the ones he already had and he's thirsty for revenge."

"Is he okay?"

"He's doing well for the most part but I can tell that he's beginning to fatigue, he'll have to come up with some kind of plan or he'll be done for soon."

"Hiten is hard to match with those wheels he uses to fly around. Wait a second, I think that gives me an idea."

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Tatsu was now being forced on the evavise, dodging the lightning attacks Hiten was throwing at him as his mind raced to come up with a plan 'Those jewel shards he got from Manten made him even faster than he was before. Wait a second, Hiten was right when he said that my iron based attacks attract his lightning like makeshift rods. Maybe I can use that to my advantage, and I think I have an idea of just how to do it.' and so thinking quick, he dove over towards where the corpse of Manten lay, or what was left of it, and quickly pulled his other sword out of the gut of the corpse, and then he charged forward towards Hiten with both swords barred.

Hiten blocked and countered every attack using his Thunderpike, and then a surge of electricity sent Tatsu stumbling back a short distance "If that's what you consider to be a decent strategy then it's a wonder how you've survived as long as you have." he slashed Tatsu down the middle once again, sending him tumbling backwards with blood pouring from his wounds "And now I shall claim vengeance in the name of my brother!" he prepared to charge in and finish Tatsu with another attack, when…

"FOXFIRE!" mustering all of the strength that he could, Shippo quickly fired a massive blast of blue flames at Hiten, blowing off one of the wheels that he used to fly "Yeah now that's how we foxes do it!"

"You arrogant little furball, what do you think you-"

"Get a load of this one mother fucker, boot to the head!" Tatsu dealt Hiten a fire enhanced kick straight to the face, sending him flying a short distance away "Thanks for the save Shippo, now I think the fight will be more even."

"Your delusions fail to amuse me!" Hiten burst towards Tatsu and drove the Thunderpike straight into his shoulder in the same wound as before, causing Tatsu to cry out in pain, only for him to grab the Thunderpike with his bare hands.

Myoga grew concerned as he observed the scene from afar "What's he thinking, Tatsu may be strong but to take hold of the Thunderpike is foolhardy indeed. If he continues to hold onto it like that then he will be killed for sure!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, it's gonna take a lot more than a little static charge to make me give up!" Tatsu blitzed through Hiten with both swords drawn and pointed forward, which drew blood from the left side ofhis face and the right side of his torso "So Hiten how do you like that one, not too shabby for a mere human? You mess with the dragon and you get the claws, you get slugged right in the kisser sucker, you get downed in the final round with the wings and the claws asshole!"

Hiten pulled himself out of the rubble and wiped the blood from his cheek "I've never been struck in the face before by any of my previous opponents, and I refuse to allow it to happen again!" his body began crackling with demonic bio electricity.

'Looks to me like he's finally about to get serious.'

"Now the time has come for me to end this, I'll see you in hell you swine!" Hiten charged towards Tatsu at full speed.

Thinking quick, Tatsu raised his arms to block the attack, but it only took a few seconds before the blast began to burn through them 'This is bad, his attacks are way more powerful than they were before!'

"I shall relish in your demise even more than the others, this is what you get for thinking you could stand against me, and for killing my brother you wretch! "I shall relish in your demise even more than the others Dragon Slayer!"

'This is bad, if I can't get a solid attack to land on him then I'm a goner! 'This is bad, if I can't get a solid attack to land on him then I'm a goner! If I'm gonna work out that plan then it's gonna have to be now!' thinking quick, Tatsu swiftly dove underneath the Thunderpike and beneath Hiten's feet, and then he fired a blast of energy upwards.

Hiten leapt out of the way of the blast, causing it to travel upwards into the upper atmosphere, resulting in lightning flashing overhead at an even greater pace "Was that your pathetic attempt at a last ditch attack? Please, as if something like that would even scratch me. But if that's how you want to play it then so be it!" electricity began crackling around his mouth with a venomous smirk in place.

'Crap this is bad, when Hiten gained Manten's jewel shards he must've gained his abilities along with them!'

"You struck down my brother, so I shall take one of your loved ones in return! SONIC THUNDER!" Hiten unleashed his Sonic Thunder blast directed towards where Kagome and the others were.

'Dammit this is bad, I'm only gonna have one shot at this! I'm praying to the love of god that this actually works!' reacting quickly, Tatsu grabbed onto one of his swords and threw it after the Sonic Thunder blast, pulling it away like a lightning rod at the last second, earning a sigh of relief as a result 'That was way too close for my liking, but at least she didn't get hurt. Hurt anymore than she already had been anyway.'

"So you lured my attack away using your own sword and made it act as a makeshift lightning rod, not a bad plan for a human wretch. No matter, after I finish you off I'll take care of her and the pathetic fox brat myself."

"And that's all the incentive I really need, cause now I'm pissed." with a sudden burst of raw strength Tatsu began pushing Hiten back as his body began surging with energy, and he promptly dealt Hiten a headbutt.

"Yes that's right, now you've truly come to understand my rage! I don't understand it, he's fighting even better than any demon I've ever encountered before.'

"You tried to kill my friends, you tried to kill the girl I love, that's something you're not gonna live to regret."

"I think the blood has gone to your head if you think a mere woman is worth it, when will you ever learn that no woman is worth risking a battle over? Revenge for a brother on the other hand is well worthy of a fight to the death." Hiten prepared to blast him with his Thunderpike at full power.

"Yeah well here's something else I don't expect you to understand." Tatsu promptly caught the Thunderpike with one hand and snapped it in half "I may not be able to control lightning, but I do know that while you can generate it, you haven't shown off the ability to absorb it , now have you?"

"Wait what?!" Hiten whipped around and saw one of Tatsu's swords embedded into the ground, gathering electricity all the while

"Yeah here's the thing about a warrior, having all of the power in the world doesn't mean a damn thing if you don't know how to use it properly!" with one swift kick to the chest, Tatsu was able to send Hiten stumbling back towards the sword as a blast of lightning came hurtling down.

Hiten was able to avoid the blast at the last second, only to find himself in front of Tatsu and saw him holding out one hand, blue energy gathering in his palm 'Dammit, was that ploy about the lightning just a decoy?'

"If you're wondering if that was a deoy plan then no, to be completely honest it was more of a theory than anything else, but in all honesty I think this will work better. So to make a reference that no one in this era will understand, hasta la vista baby." and so he unleashed another blast of energy that engulfed Hiten in an instant.

'I was defeated… this mere human… this Dragon Slayer… he was able to… to defeat both of us…' those were Hiten's last thoughts as his body evaporated into nothing, leaving behind only his broken Thunderpike and his five jewel shards where he once stood.

With the battle over, Tatsu promptly sat on the ground in exhaustion as he picked up the five jewel shards 'First Yura, now the Thunder Brothers, it's only a matter of time before we come across more powerful demons. I almost got killed by these guys, so how will I fare against the next enemy I wonder.'

"Hey Tatsu." that was when Kagome came over to him, holding Shippo in her arms as well as his father's fur, and she helped Tatsu to his feet "You did a great job out there, are you okay? You look like you got pretty banged up."

"It won't kill me." Tatsu handed her the jewel shards "And that makes six, complete with a side order of two tough as fuck demons down for the count."

"Leave it to you to be so nonchalant about almost dying like that."

"Hey what can I say, I relish the challenge." then Tatsu thought of something else and cringed rather hard "Uh, hey Kagome?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't hear me say anything kind of weird while I was fighting Hiten did you?"

"Uh no." Kagome looked away nervously "Well actually…"

"What is it?"

"...You know what forget it, it's not important."

"Okay, suit yourself I guess." Tatsu took Shippon onto his shoulder "So Shippo you gonna tag along with us for the time being?"

"Hey why not?" Shippo gave a shrug "I mean I think it's obvious that you guys need me and you know it, besides it's not like I've got anywhere else to go."

"Hey that's more than enough incentive for me, it's definitely a welcome difference from me having to deal with Inuyasha on a daily basis."

Kagome studied Tatsu for a moment, her mind drifting 'The girl he loves huh? I don't know what to say…'

"...Oh crap."

"What's the matter?"

"I totally forgot about Inuyasha, I left him stuck under that statue in the middle of the road when I came after you."

"...Oh boy."

A/N:

And thus, the group gains a new member in the form of the young fox demon cub that is Shippo. Not much changed in this chapter compared to canon, aside from the fact that Tatsu saved Kagome and Shippo from Hiten's blast rather than them having to be saved by the spirit of Shippo's father and cutting out Inuyasha from the fight entirely.

So yes, now Tatsu is receiving training from Ryuhogo himself, the demon who created the Fangs that grant him the powers he has, in a sort of Limbo that allows him to meet with the spirit of the deceased Great Dragon Demon. Not only that, but in the realm in question time passes a lot slower than it does in the real world, which allows him to undergo even more training and grow even stronger in a much shorter amount of time.

Cutting out Inuyasha and leaving him stuck to the statue, while mainly for comedic purposes, is meant to increase the dread of Tatsu having to fight the Thunder Brothers on his own. Plus you have to admit, it's really really funny when he gets mad. Most of the time at least.

I'm making it so Kagome doesn't use a bow and arrow anywhere near as often as she does in the anime, mainly because of something that I have planned for her and the others later in the story. It's mainly for the sake of giving her some more variety in her abilities, something that you're going to see moreof within the next few chapters.