A Dragon's Fang, a Human's Heart

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

A human with the power of a demon. To many such an idea sounds ludicrous, does it not? Well he's here to prove them wrong. He will journey across time with the love of his life on his journey as he fights for friendship, for honor, for life, and above all, for love. Rewrite of the Rise of a Warrior: Inuyasha.

6. The New Moon & the Tragic Priestess

(The New Moon & the Tragic Priestess)

"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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The night was calm over the skies of Tokyo, but not for everyone.

Tatsu opened his eyes and found himself in another void, only this one looked like a deserted canyon that went as far as the eye could see "Okay, so a little bit different from the last time, but considering what this place is supposed to be exactly, I'm not really sure what to expect."

"And yet even in such circumstances, you still maintain your composure."

Tatsu glanced back to see the figure of Ryuhogo materialize before him "I've always found that I'd rather keep my cool if it can be helped, losing my shit in stressful circumstances does a lot more harm than good."

"Very true."

"So I take it you brought me back here because you wanted something?"

"More like I wished to help you with something. I'm watching over you constantly from this place and monitoring your progress, so I know that you've unlocked the second Fang that I had created: the Fang of the Divine Quake."

"Yeah we passed the test in that temple, but at the cost of my brother spending the next 6 weeks on a set of crutches."

"Your brother's prowess in the martial arts is formidable, but unlike you he does not command the power of the Iron Heart."

"Yeah, so I've noticed. So what are we gonna do now?"

"Now I intend to teach you to harness the power of the Divine Quake, this will be of great assist to you on your journey."

"From what I've heard, that one gives me the power to manipulate earth and anything with earthen properties right?"

"Correct."

"Makes sense to me, so how exactly are we gonna do this one? What are you gonna teach me first, create an avalance or making earthquakes? Oh wait I know, shatter whole mountains with a wave of my hand."

"Potentially, but you can't allow yourself to be so overeager." Ryuhogo held up a hand as a way of effectively making him shut up "I've studied you over the years, so I'm well aware of the ways you can learn effectively, and the ways that you can't. I believe it would be for the best if we start with something simple, such as moving a rock."

"That works too."

"Good." Ryuhogo then summoned two large boulders and placed them in front of Tatsu "The key to manipulating the earth around is to have a proper stance, you have to make sure you stay steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element, so if you're going to learn to control and harness it then you're going to have to be like a rock yourself."

"Like a rock, seems simple enough."

"Okay good, now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple." Ryuhogo stuck out his fist and slammed one of the boulders against the side of a nearby cliff "Now then, are you ready to give it a try?"

"What's the worst thing that could happen?" Tatsu took a breath and then thrusted his fist into the rock, followed by a sickening crack, and then his arm falling limp at his side "Okay… I'm kind of surprised this isn't making me scream in pain."

"Feelings such as pain are superficial in a realm like this, so such sensations are more superficial than anything else."

"I wish I didn't have to learn that one the hard way."

"Many things in life have to be learned the hard way for the lessons to take effect."

"Can't argue with that one." Tatsu shook off the feeling in his arm, which he could now move freely again "I don't get it, what the hell went wrong? I did it exactly the way you did, what am I supposed to come at it from a different angle?"

"Nope, that's part of the problem. You're thinking to much with your mind and not enough with your muscles, it's what helped you with your Wind based training but it does the exact opposite for this. There's no different angle and there's no clever solution, the only way for you to move that rock is to face it head on and headstrong. And when I say headon and headstrong I mean like this." he dealt the boulder a sharp kick, shattering it into pieces "But maybe that's the wrong approach at the moment, let's try something else."

"...We're gonna be in for a hard few weeks aren't we?"

"Only a few hours in reality."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I know, that was intentional."

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Exercise A…

"Keep your knees high and your focus unwavering."

As it turns out, Tatsu was now carrying a boulder on his back while small rock pillars were rising up underneath his feet, which ended with him getting launched into a cliffside in a comical fashion "How is this helping?!"

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Exercise B…

Ryuhogo rubbed his hands together and dug into the dirt "Now try it for yourself, maybe once you're able to experience for yourself what it feels like to dig into it you'll be able to understand it more effectively. Give it a shot."

"Fine by me I guess." so with a roar Tatsu slammed his hand down into the dirt, shattering the ground but at the same time leaving Tatsu's hand increasingly swollen "Ow."

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Exercise C…

Tatsu glanced around the area, trying to track down Ryuhogo's presence 'To my right, above me, to my left, behind me. Nothing in any of those areas, which leaves only one place left to look, below me.'

"Like a rock!" Ryuhogo suddenly burst out of the ground in front of him, but before he was even halfway out of the ground…

"Boot to the head!" Tatsu dealt Ryuhogo a sharp kick to the skull, which was followed by a very loud sickening crack, and he fell flat on his face.

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Exercise D…

Ryuhogo quickly put a blindfold around Tatsu's eyes "The key to this one is simple, I'm going to summon some rocks, and as I do you locate them smash them. Get ten in a row and that'll be enough for me to call it, got it?"

"Seems simple enough." Tatsu readied himself.

"Okay then." Ryuhogo started pumping rocks up into the air with his leg.

Tatsu wasted no time in punching out every one he could track down by sensing the vibrations in the ground.

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Exercise E…

Ryuhogo summoned up two large rock walls surrounding him and Tatsu and drew a line in the dirt in front of him before covering himself in rock armor "The key to this exercise is simple, push me back across this line and you pass."

"Seems simple enough." Tatsu readied himself.

"Okay then, ready… GO!" Ryuhogo charged forward.

Tatsu was quickly pushed back a considerable distance, but eventually he managed to get a grip and push Ryuhogo back across the line.

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Exercise F…

Tatsu stood on two rock pillars tossing a small rock around in between his hands "Okay this isn't so bad."

"Rock like!" Ryuhogo slammed his hands into both pillars, creating a vibration.

Tatsu managed to keep his solid stance without losing it, earning a nod of approval.

"You've been progressing well these last three weeks, or three hours in reality, but it seems you're finally getting the hang of this situation."

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Another hour, or week in there, went by, and training continued to progress well.

Ryuhogo lead Tatsu to the base of the faux canyon for his final lesson "This time we're going to try something a little bit different, instead of moving a rock you're going to stop a rock in its tracks. Get in your proper stance."

"On it." Tatsu dropped into a stance.

"I'm going toll roll that boulder down at you, and if you have the attitude necessary to harness the full power of the Divine Quake, then you'll stand your stance and stop the rock."

"Seems kind of lame don't you think, there's gotta be a better way to do this?"

"I'm glad you said something, there actually is a better way." Ryuhogo pulled out a blindfold and then proceeded to wrap it around Tatsu's eyes "Now that you can't see it coming it'll really force you to sense the vibrations of the boulder coming at you in order to stop it."

"...I've really gotta learn how to shut up."

"I've seen far worse than you in that regard, if that's any consolation."

"More or less."

"Good enough for me. Now remember that in order to succeed with this, you have to concentrate, to let your body take in your surroundings. In other words, you have to see with your body, rather than your eyes for this one."

"See with my body and not my eyes, makes sense to me." so Tatsu readied himself as he dropped into a stance "I'm ready now, give me everything you've got."

"Very well then. 1… 2… 3!" Ryuhogo slammed his foot into the ground, which sent the boulder rolling down towards them.

'You can do this Tatsu. Stay calm, stay focused, sense the vibrations in the ground and have faith in the power inside you!' so with a mighty roar, Tatsu slammed his fist straight into the boulder, shattering it on contact "Uh… okay then."

"Not exactly what I was expecting, but you did manage to stop it regardless. But just to be safe, I would prefer for you to show me one more demonstration."

"Say no more, I think I have an idea of what you want from me." Tatsu whipped around, summoned a boulder out of the ground, and then sent the rock flying miles away "Yeah, now that be how we do!"

"You've done well up until now, but even up until now you've only learned how to use a mere fraction of the power of the Divine Quake. You can't allow yourself to become complacent just because you learned about one piece of a much greater puzzle."

"Oh believe me I know, there's a huge difference between those who settle for a fraction of their true potential and those who aim for the top. I like to think I'm in the latter category."

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A few hours of rest passed, and the next stage of training was about to get underway.

Tatsu met up with Ryuhogo at the center of the canyon "So to sum up, I've been in here for about five weeks now, and in that time I've learned about how to control the earth around me and detect the presence of others by sensing the vibrations in the earth, and you say that I'm only about halfway through learning to harness the power of the second Fang.

"You have accomplished a great deal in the time that you've been here, that is something I can't and won't deny." Ryuhogo told him calmly "You have learned how to harness the power of the earth to a certain extent, but now comes the next step: Mastering other sources with earthen properties, the first of which is metal."

"Out of curiosity, how bad is the next part gonna be in terms of difficulty? I mean metal is basically an extension of earth isn't it, it's just earth that's been purified and refined. Iron is a natural resource too, so metal should just be more broad in that regard."

"In a number of ways everything you just said is true, and that should make this process that much quicker for the two of us to finish." Ryuhogo then snapped his fingers, and in an instant this resulted in Tatsu being trapped in a narrow metal cage.

"Okay I think I speak for pretty much anyone else when I say, what the hell is this?"

"See if you can force your way out of that cage with metal manipulation alone, you did say yourself that metal is an extension of earth that's been purified and refined."

"...You had to use Avatar logic against me didn't you? Alright fine, let's get this started and see how it goes." Tatsu slowly placed a hand on the side of the cage 'The question is, how long is it gonna take to do this?'

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Hours passed, and the progress on this one was pretty slow going.

Tatsu continued slamming his fists against each side of the cage 'Looks like I was right, metal is just like earth only it's been purified and refined. That means that by sensing the impurities within the metal, I can control it to my will!' and so to test his hypothesis, he slammed his fist against an undented part of the cage, punching a hole clear through it "And that's why the people who say that TV teaches you nothing don't have a goddamn clue what they're talking about."

Ryuhugo studied the cage for a moment, then gave a simple nod of approval "You've done well up until now, although I think it's safe to say that you could still use some refining."

"Pun intended?"

"Not necessarily, but I do not regret it, and in any case, you are getting the hang of it. Then comes the ability to use other substances with earthen properties."

"I already have a vague idea of some of those. Sand can be created by grinding up the rocks and minerals beneath the earth itself, whereas lava is earth with molten properties to it, and glass is basically sand that's been superheated."

"I see, so you do have a fair understanding of it. So be it then, I suppose that is all of the guidance you will need for the time being. Daybreak should be coming any minute now in the real world, and I can imagine that your companions, the girl Kagome in particular, would be worried about you if you failed to show up in time for your departure into the past."

"Yeah that's a fair point. So I take it you'll be back at some point?"

"I will, but only when the time is right."

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Another day came, and the group had reunited in the Feudal Era to resume their search for the shards of the Shikon Jewel.

"Oh wow, this is absolutely incredible!" Kagome looked around in awe as the group was travelling down a river on a boat "I mean the land, the water, this is the sort of thing you don't get to see much of back in Tokyo."

"Would it kill you to shut up and focus?" Inuyasha barked at her and the others "In case you forgot we're not here to look at the scenery, we're supposed to be looking for the shards of the jewel out here."

"Yeah well if she finds some then she'll let us know, so how about you pull that stick out of your ass already." Tatsu laid back on the boat, gazing up at the Fangs on his necklace 'To think that spending almost 6 full weeks of training in that sort of void between realms with Ryuhogo has gotten me this much stronger, supposedly at least. I haven't gotten a chance to test it out yet, whether it be in real combat or sparring with Inuyasha, but I guess we'll find out for sure once we find a demon with a jewel shard.'

"This is just pathetic, we're not gonna find any more of the shards unless the rest of you get your shit together."

"Right after you pull the stick out of your ass and quit acting like being around the rest of us mortals is the worst thing in the world. You know there's nothing wrong with having friends in your life."

"Whatever." Inuyasha was still brooding, but then he actually got serious as he looked ahead and noticed something "What the hell?"

"What's the matter?"

"Take a look and see for yourself, spider webs up ahead." Inuyasha cut through one of them with his claws, only for a few strands to remain on his hands as he tried to wpe it off 'Shit, don't tell me it's getting started already.'

"So we're dealing with spider webs, but how bad exactly?"

"Nothing you have to be concerned about, so just forget it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about it, take a look up there!" Kagome pointed at where a young girl was backing away from something on a cliffside above, only to fall off towards the rocks along the river.

"Hold on you two, I've got this." Inuyasha leapt into the air and caught the girl in his arms before she hit the ground, then glanced up at the figure on the cliffside above them 'Looks like this kid was being chased by some kind of demon, nothing too strong though so I doubt it's anything to worry about.'

"My thanks, if it weren't for your actions then I would've met certain death." the girl breathed a sigh of relief, but then she froze at the sight of Inuyasha's dog ears "Get your hands off of me you foul demon!" she ended up smacking him, which led to the two of them falling face first into the river.

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About 10 minutes later…

"Think of these as sort of preserved herbs meant for certain ailments." after fishing the two of them out of the river, Kagome was treating Nazuna's cuts and scrapes with some of the medicine that she had packed "So do you mind if I ask exactly what it was that was after you just now?"

"That was a demon known as a Spider Head." the girl told her flatly "These mountains and the surrounding area have been plagued by their evil presence since the spring, several of the nearby villages have already been attacked. The Spider Heards trap human victims in the webs that they weave, then they paralyze them and go on to devour them alive. Demons in general are already terrifying, but Spider Heads are much worse."

"You can say that again. Hey come on you guys, we have to do something to help these people out."

"Any sign of the sharts of the jewel around these parts?" Inuyasha didn't even bother looking back from where he was drying himself off.

"Nothing so far, and I haven't picked up anything from the Spider Head just now."

"Then it's not our problem, so let's get moving. I want to get across these mountains before it gets dark."

"There's a demon on the loose around here, we can't just ignore it." Tatsu pointed out "Besides, I thought you got off on this stuff."

"If you think I'm gonna go around and butcher demons every time a human comes running scared to me then you're thinking of the wrong guy."

"But you are the guy who would usually want to check things out at least, that's how you ended up getting the jewel shard from that prince possessed by the toad demon."

"Biggest waste of a day I've had in years."

"Well the point still stands."

"And the point stands that I'm taking my leave." this was when the girl, Nazuna, pulled herself back to her feet "Being obliged to a demon does not with well with me."

"Keeping in mind that he did save you from plummeting to your death a few minutes ago, and you did knock him into the river."

"Spare me the lectures, all this does is remind me why I detest demons." Nazuna grabbed onto a nearby vine to try and climb her way back up the cliffside, only for it to snap and for her to fall into a bush.

"...Yeah see, stuff like this is the main reason why chivalry is still a thing, also giving a giant middle finger to the people in the future who say chivalry is dead.

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Hours passed, and the sun was beginning to set.

"Alright I see the temple up ahead, the temple is always at the top of the ridiculously long sets of stairs." Tatsu led the group up the long set of stairs (with Nazuna riding on his back and shooting a series of dirty looks at Inuyasha) until they finally came across the temple "There, we got up here and no one has tried to claw each other's faces off."

It was at this moment that the old priest of the temple emerged to greet them "I see that you have returned, have you been injured Nazuna?"

"Oh master!" Nazuna forced herself off of Tatsu's back and rushed over to the priest, where she bowed at his feet.

"I feared that you may have been attacked by a Spider Head."

"The creature had spied me while I was attending to the grave sites, I had no choice but to rely on some demons and their companions to bring me home. I'm sorry master."

"You have nothing to apologize for my dear."

"You know you shouldn't be so quick to judge." Tatsu pointed out "Just because there are a lot of evil demons out there doesn't mean they're all evil after all."

"No… I don't suppose it does."

"Well you don't have to worry about having us around." Inuyasha let out a scoff "We're gonna be on our way now anyway."

"Wait my friends, you must stay the night here with us at the temple."

"But master-" Nazuna tried to protest, but they fell on deaf ears.

"We must show hospitality Nazuna, now go and prepare a meal for the guests who were kind enough to bring you home."

"...Yes master." and so she took her leave of the group, sulking as she did so.

"I beg all of you to forgive Nazuna for her rudeness, her parents had been killed by one of the Spider Head demons, and as a result of that trauma she now harbors an understandable fear and hatred of demons. I have attempted to quell her fears of them, but to no avail."

"No we understand." Kagome assured him, though she looked considerably terrified "So then the rest of us aren't going to be running into any of those things on our way through the mountains will we?"

"As the number of men that die in war increases, the number of Spider Heads increases in response to it, by leaps and bounds for that matter."

"...So out of curiosity, what do the rest of you say we take him up on that offer of his?"

"Might as well." Tatsu gave a shrug "I know how you feel about those things, I'm not gonna force you to scare yourself half to death to get through the mountains. Besides, it's not like one night is gonna kill us."

"Yeah well in case the rest of you forgot, we happen to be on a quest right now." Inuyasha barked at them "And there isn't a chance in hell I'm gonna let some pathetic spiders get in the way of that."

"What's the worst that could happen? Whatever spider demons come and attack us we can handle no problem."

"And even so, I myself have posted sutras throughout the temple to ward off any demons that might attack us." the priest assured him.

"And even if he didn't there's one big factor you're not considering."

"And what would that be?" Inuyasha sneered at him.

"That there's no point in arguing with us, or really no point in arguing with Kagome, so drop the loner tough guy act and relax a little bit."

"...Fine fuck it, there's no sense in arguing with you people."

"With Kagome, I just went over this."

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Nightfall came, and things were beginning to settle down.

"Oh yeah, that food was incredible!" Shippo laid back on Kagome's bag and breathed a sigh as he held his stomach "Maybe we should stick around for a few days and get to know Nazuma a little bit better."

"Kind of ironic how having a full stomach can make you more open to someone." Tatsu noted dryly.

"Hey I liked her from the start, I just thought that she had some bad manners, like you were talking about before."

"Fair enough I guess." he glanced over to the doorway to their room.

Inuyasha sat at the edge of the room staring up at the night sky, his mind drifting 'It's gonna start any time now, I just know it.'

"What's the matter with you?"

"Forget it, it's nothing you need to be concerned about." he looked away, but then glanced back and noticed the look that Kagome was giving him "What the hell is your problem?"

"You can try and fool everyone else but you can't fool me, I know what's going on and what's really bothering you." Kagome inched closer to his face, and then she proceeded to drop what she believed to be a major bombshell "You're afraid of spiders aren't you?"

"...You sure you wanna stick with that one? Try something else and maybe you'll sound a lot less stupid than you do right now."

"Choose your next words carefully furball." Tatsu pointed one of his swords at him, looking as calm as can be.

"Let me spell it out for you idiots then, I'm not afraid of spiders. I'm out of here, I'm gonna go get some fresh air. I can't stand being around you people longer than I have to." he started to make his way out of the room, only to notice a series of glowing eyes watching everyone from within the surrounding trees 'Dammit, they've got us totally surrounded! How the hell could I have missed their scent, is it because of tonight?'

"Not just in front of us, they're surrounding us on every side." Tatsu gestured to the various Spider Head demons surrounding them, then motioned for Kagome and Shippo to get behind him as he dropped into a combat stance "Alright start talking Myoga, how bad should we expect this to be?"

"The key to defeating the Spider Heads is to note that while they have strength in numbers, each of them individually are actually quite weak." Myoga told him.

"Good enough for me, now who's up for some after dinner exercise?"

"Hell yeah, so much for the old priest and his sutras, but either way I say we show them why you don't mess with me." Inuyasha was quick to draw Tessaiga from its sheath, though it didn't transform when he drew it, or when he started attacking the spider heads.

'Something definitely isn't right here.' Tatsu frowned when he noticed this as he took out each of the Spider Heads coming at him with a single blow 'As much as I want to be thrilled about being so much stronger now that I have the second Fang awakened, but he should be using the full form of the Tessaiga to rip them apart. If you're trying to make yourself look good without the sword, this sure as hell isn't a good time to try it!"

"Shut up, I've got other shit to deal with right now. Take the others and make a break for it, I'll be right behind you. Whatever weak demons like these come at me I can handle without breaking a sweat!" he tried to rip the excess spider webs off of him.

'First he's been acting off and aloof all day, then his attacks are clearly nowhere near as powerful as they usually are, and now even the Tessaiga isn't transforming?'

"I told you to get moving!" Inuyasha continued to try and fight them off, but eventually he was covered head to toe in spider webs that restricted his movements 'Shit!'

"Stay still and don't move, I've got these ones!" Tatsu leapt over Inuyasha's head and used both of his swords to cut down the remaining Spider Heads surrounding them, causing their bodies to evaporate "Kagome!"

"No worries, I'm on it." Kagome grabbed Inuyasha by the shoulders and pulled him free of the webs that were binding him "Come on, we've gotta get out of here."

"Right. Whatever is going on with Inuyasha, we've gotta be sure to focus on defense and fending off these things instead of just going on the offensive.'

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At the same time, Nazuna had come to realize that the temple was under attack and rushed to get the priest, only to realize that he had been captured by the Spider Heads.

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Meanwhile, with the main group…

It didn't take long for Tatsu and the others to reach the surrounding forest and settle down a fair distance away from the temple "Okay then, we should be safe here at least for a little while. Now let's regroup and think this through."

"Dammit…" Inuyasha swore under his breath "I was afraid this was gonna happen, that's why I didn't want to stay here."

"What's with you, you're acting weirder than normal. Hold still for a second, I'll get those things off of you." Kagome reached for the webs covering his head, only for him to jerk away "What's that for?"

"Leave me the hell alone and don't fucking touch me!"

"Okay stick up the ass or not, I'm not gonna let you go around screaming at people whenever you want, now pull that stick out of your ass, now what the hell is your problem?" Tatsu grabbed onto Inuyasha by the shoulder and yanked the webs off of him, revealing that he now had black hair and actual human ears, and overall he actually looked human "Uh…"

"Forget about me already, you idiots should be more focused about protecting yourselves like any normal person would. If you think you can rely on my strength to save you this time, then you're living in a fucking fantasy."

"First of all, I've only ever had to rely on you once to win a fight, and that was during the whole thing against Sesshomaru." this earned him a quick glare from Kagome "And second of all, I think I speak for pretty much everyone else when I say, what the everlasting fuck am I looking at right now?"

"I'm wearing a wig and fake ears, what the fuck do you think you're looking at? You know you're sure as hell lucky my fangs and claws are gone right now, I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to rip you apart before now."

"Yeah whatever you need to tell yourself, now how about you get to the part where you explain how and why you're fully human."

"I can explain this one." this was when Myoga piped up from Kagome's shoulder "Like all half demons, Master Inuyasha is subject to a certain time when he loses their supernatural powers as demons."

"You care to elaborate on that one?"

"From time to time, all half demons are rendered no stronger than yourself or any other mere mortal. It's that simple, and for him the time must fall the first night of the new cycle, when the moon disappears from the sky."

"So what you're saying is that at the start of each month, 12 times per year on the night of the new moon, he's still an obnoxious prick but on those nights he can't back up any of the shit that he talks."

"That is the sum of it yes. But I don't understand master Inuyasha, why did you not inform us that tonight was the night in which you would ve vulnerable?"

"Why do you think?" Inuyasha let out a scoff "If I had then you would've taken off and bailed on us a long time ago."

"Oh come now, have you not a whit of trust in me?"

"You're damn right I do, I trust you to run away whenever shit gets bad."

"So what then, you can't rely on us either?" Tatsu shot a glare in his direction "If you had just set aside your ego and bothered to tell us that you were vulnerable then we never would've thought about staying the night at the temple, we'd probably be over the mountain by now if you had just been honest with us. So much for being able to rely on each other, isn't that supposed to be what friends are for?"

"Yeah well try getting this through your skull, I don't trust anyone, I never have and frankly I never will." this was met with Kagome looking offended "Look it doesn't have anything to do with you even if you do piss me off on daily basis, it's just the way that I've had to live up until now. It's the only way I know how to protect myself."

"So what then, having faith in the people you call friends doesn't mean anything to you? I knew that you were stubborn, but I never knew that you were so narrow minded."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that your pride might end up getting all of us killed, just because you couldn't be bothered to trust us. Let me tell you now, if we live through this then I'm gonna rip you a new one by the time you're a half demon again."

"Come at me anytime, once my power is back I have no problems lodging my sword so far up your ass!"

"You can try. Well this is just fucking great, now that he's powerless I can't even leave him to protect Kagome and the others, so I'll have to focus on defense until sunrise.'

"I know what you're thinking Tatsu and you don't have to it alone, I'll summon all of my courage and fight alongside you." Shippo appeared to be filled with resolve, only to be startled by some rustling in the nearby bushes that scared him into climbing on top of Tatsu's head "On second though, forget I said anything."

"Relax guys, it's just the kid." he jerked a thumb over to where Nazuna stumbled her way out of the bushes "So you made it out of there, pretty impressive when you think about it."

"Please… help me…" Nazuna took a moment to catch her breath "All of you, I need you to return and aid the priest."

"You sure you want us to help you? Last I heard you didn't even want us here."

"I've seen for myself that your demon is strong, I'm certain he will be able to assist us."

"Yeah we've got a few problems with that. First of all, I'm pretty sure you said something about not wanting to be obligated to demons. And second of all, he couldn't help you right now even if he wanted to, which I'm pretty sure he doesn't, see for yourself." he pointed at Inuyasha.

"His countenance seems altered, has his hair not changed?"

"It has, and to make a long story short he's powerless right now."

"Thanks for the reminder." Inuyasha let out a snort "Believe me when I tell you that being a powerless human isn't easy."

"Yeah well, at least us powerless humans know when to set aside our egos." this was immediately followed by a shriek from Kagome "That's not good, what's the matter?"

"It's my bag, I forgot it back at the temple." Kagome told him "And it gets a lot worse than you think."

"How bad are we talking?"

"I… might have left the bottle with the jewel shards inside there."

"...Yeah, this is gonna be one of those nights."

"I swear I'll make it up to you guys, I'll-"

"Just shut up and take this." Inuyasha handed her the Tessaiga "The scabbard for the sword has a barrier going for it so that should protect you for awhile. You and the others stay here and don't even think about moving. The Tessaiga isn't gonna transform for me tonight, but I've still got enough in me to handle a few of the Spider Heads with my own strength."

"About time you decided to get off your ass and take action." Tatsu pulled himself back to his feet and gripped both of his swords "I'm going with you, don't even bother trying to tell me to stay behind."

"I figured you wouldn't listen to me, that goes both ways to be honest."

"You're damn right it does, now let's get moving. I've a few new abilities that I've been wanting to try out.

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Meanwhile, in the temple…

"Yes yes, here is what I seek." now alone in the temple, as far as he believed that is, the old priest was going through Kagome's bag until he found the bottle with the jewel shards, until…

"Hands off the girl's bag!" a large rock slammed into the priest face first, blowing him clear into the wall behind him and knocking the bottle of jewel shards out of his hand, causing it to shatter as it hit the floor, courtesy of Tatsu as he and Inuyasha revealed themselves "So that was your whole game from the start wasn't it?"

"So you noticed then." the priest let out a chuckle as his neck extended to a length that was far from natural, his expression filled with malice as he grew a set of spider fangs "I could hardly contain myself when I laid my eyes on the two of you, the half demon and the human swordsman that are rumored to possess the shards of the Shikon Jewel!" and on that note, he then proceeded to swallow the jewel shards scattered across the floor, grabbing Tatsu and Inuyasha both by the neck and slamming them against the wall "What an unfortunate mishap that the superhuman powers of the half demon have decided to desert him, by the time I tie the final knot in the gauzy web of deceit that I had been weaving for so long…"

"Spare me the theatrics, we don't need any of that stuff to take you down." Tatsu was quick to use his enhanced strength to free himself and deal the old priest a solid blow to the head, the force sending him crashing through the wall, after which he snagged a few of the jewel shards that hadn't been eaten yet.

The priest rebounded and bound both him and Inuyasha with his webs "At last the time for me has come, and this tiresome charade of mine as a human has come to an end!" he promptly pounced at Inuyasha and bit down on his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Inuyasha hold on!" Tatsu cut himself free with his swords with ease and shot a rage filled glare up at the priest "Just hang tight, I'll have you down from there in a minute."

"I highly doubt that will be the case you human worm, once this former half demon is out of the way you're going to be next."

"We'll see about that."

"Master!" it was at this moment that Nazuna and the others showed up, and the former was horrified by what she was seeing from the priest "I don't understand, how could you be doing all of this?"

"What's not to understand, he was lying through those big disgusting things that he calls teeth all this time. We've got other problems right now, Inuyasha got poisoned by this thing. I managed to snag a couple of jewel shards before he could get them. Kagome you take them, I'm gonna go ahead and get Inuyasha down from there."

"Right, just be careful." Kagome told him, being handed the jewel shards in the process "Do you want to take the Tessaiga to protect you?"

"No you need the protection more than I do, all I need to rip through anything this old bastard can throw at me is two swords and maximum effort. Ryan Reynolds, eat your heart out!" and so on that note, Tatsu drew both swords from his back and stepped forward "Alright old man, you ready to do this?"

"You're wasting your time you fool." the priest barked out an arrogant laugh "I have already injected a large quantity of my poison into him, by now his innards have already started the process of liquefying."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself old man, but what you don't understand is that he's too tough to let something like that kill him, human or otherwise."

"Tatsu… get out of here…" Inuyasha's voice was weak and hoarse "Take the others… and save yourselves…"

"Not on your life furball. I don't give a damn what you say, there's no chance any of us would ever leave you behind like this. This is what friends are for remember?" Tatsu leapt high into the air as he started cutthing through the webs in front of him, freeing Inuyasha from the hold he was in within a matter of seconds, and then he took him on his back "Alright I've got him, now let's get out of here. We're gonna have to hide out until Inuyasha gets his strength back."

"I know a place we can hide, it's a small room at the end of the hall." Nazuna told him.

"Then lead the way, protecting each other is the main priority right now."

"Right!" Nazuna led the group to the end of the hall and locked the group inside, which also trapped the priest and the Spider Heads outside.

"Okay hold on, I know of a way to make sure they don't get in." Tatsu waved a hand in front of him, and a large slab of earth burst up through the floorboards in front of the door "That should give us awhile before they break through. How's Inuyasha doing?"

"Hold on, let me check." Kagome was quick to check him out, but then she froze "This isn't good, he's freezing and he's not moving. All of this happened becuase I suggested that we stay here at the temple."

"Come on Kagome, you can't blame yourself for something like this."

"But it is my fault."

"Then it's mine too for not objecting, and it's nowhere near as bad as it could be since we've still got a chance to save him. Myoga I know you're still there, go suck the poison out of him."

"I'm on it!" Myoga was quick to do his blood sucking thing to suck the poison out of Inuyasha's system, which also caused him to grow to the size of Shippo as a result "It's nice to meet you, my name is Myoga, always a beast but never a burden."

"That last line is a load of crap."

"I don't like what you're suggesting, but whatever the case whether Master Inuyasha survives or not from this point onwards, that will depend on his own strength."

"Then we've got nothing to worry about. Everybody else get some rest, I'll keep an eye on things for awhile."

"You know you're going to need rest too." Kagome poined out.

"I'll be fine, I'm used to late nights."

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A little while passed, and now the night was drawing to a close.

Tatsu glanced up to see Kagome and the others resting by the wall 'Good thing too, they'll need rest for when we get out of here.' he knelt down to wipe some sweat from Inuyasha's face, only to see his eyes snap open "Did I wake you up?"

"No… not really…" his voice was still hoarse "Tatsu…"

"What is it?"

"Tell me… why didn't you leave me… you could've saved the others… and yourself…"

"You mean when I got you away from the priest? You were gonna get killed, you really thought I was gonna leave you?" he received no reply 'It's kind of weird, I don't think Inuyasha has ever opened up like this, not to us at least. So how are you holding up, you feel any better than you did before?"

"Yeah… a little bit…"

"You know Myoga sucked the poison out of your system, so as long as you don't give up you'll be fine."

"I see… that's good… You know Tatsu… you were right…"

"Of course I was right, now what did I say that I was right about?"

"You say that… you're strong because… you have friends… people you want to protect… I knew back at the gravesite, when that was what awakened Tessaiga… I knew then, that you were right…"

'Okay he's admitting he's wrong about something, either he's delirious or he thinks that he's about to die a slow and gruesome death.'

"You were right about something else too… maybe having friends… people that you can really trust… maybe that's not… as bad as I thought it was…" and then he promptly fell asleep, as was indicated by the light snoring.

'And now he's asleep, so maybe it's the former.' this was followed by the room beginning to shake "Oh crap."

This proved to be enough to wake up Kagome and the others and make them alert "What's going on?"

"Well if I had to guess then I'd say the main spider demon is trying to eat us again, you guys go and get Inuyasha out of here."

"He's unconscious so we're gonna have to carry him."

"Then we'd better get moving- Hold that thought. Terra Dome!" Tatsu slammed both of his hands into the ground and summoned a dome of earth to surround the group and protect them from the falling debris, only for the back of the dome to be shattered with one blow, and then for a giant spider arm to grab Kagome and hoist her into the air "Kagome!"

"I must possess the remaining shards of the jewel!" the priest snatched the remaining jewel shards that Kagome had and promptly swallowed them, causing him to turn into a full fledged black spider creature, which then tossed Kagome away, leaving Tatsu to catch her before she could hit the ground.

Nazuna was quick to pick up one of Tatsu's swords and point it at the priest "You wretched demon, how dare you possess the body of my dear master!"

"Do you still not understand it you foolish girl? There never was any priest here, all of it was nothing more than a trap to lure these wretched weaklings and their jewel shards to me so that I may absorb them into myself!"

"You mean… You mean you were the one that slaughtered my parents and all of the other people of the villages?"

"Indeed I was, I relished in their suffering and for such a gullible fool you actually did serve me quite well."

"You treacherous beast!" she tried to cut him down, only to be grabbed and promptly hoisted into the air.

"Your days of fearing the Spider Heads have come to an end, for once I consume you you shall become a part of me!"

'Forgive me father, I should never have trusted this monster.' she dropped the sword that she was holding, leaving it to fall to the ground, only to find herself falling to the ground as well.

As it turns out, Tatsu had grabbed the sword and sliced off the priest's arm in an instant, which freed Nazuna from his clutches "Far be it for me to deny credit where it's due, you've got a lot of determination. I respect that."

"Then let's see if that's enough to save you from the path to the grave!" the priest launched himself forward and grabbed Tatsu with numerous arms "You're a fine human specimen, yes you'll make for a delectable meal."

"Yeah let me think about that. Thinking, thinking, thinking, nope!" with a series of lightning fast slashes, Tatsu cut down every arm that was holding him in an instant "If you think you're gonna be able to devour me or my friends then you're living in a fantasy, and if there's one thing I can't stand it's an arrogant asshole who doesn't know when to shut up! Before the sun comes up you're gonna go down. Hasta la vista baby!" and so with a Terminator reference, Tatsu leapt high into the air and hurled a powerful energy blast downwards, which not only killed the priest in a fiery explosion, but also all of the surrounding Spider Head demons in the process. With the struggle finally over, Tatsu breathed a sigh as he sheathed his swords and knelt down to collect the shards of the jewel left behind, only to take notice of a certain change with them 'Well I wasn't expecting that, I guess the priest eating the shards caused them to fuse together.'

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." this was when Inuyasha showed up on the scene with the others, now fully back to his half demon form "You mean after all the crap we've been through the past few weeks this is all that we've got?"

"Yeah we've only got about maybe ⅕ of the thing, but frankly I'm satisfied by it. No one ever said it was gonna be easy right? And by the way."

"What?"

"Good to have you back man."

"Whatever." Inuyasha let out a scoff and turned away, but he couldn't hide the smirk slowly spreading across his face.

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A few hours went by, and the sun was now rising high over the skies above.

It was around this time that Nazuna chose to part with the group "This is far enough, the next village isn't too far from here."

"Well if you ever need anything from us just say the word." Kagome told her.

"I'll be sure to remember that, and Tatsu and Inuyasha are your names correct? I… appreciate the way the two of you helped me."

"No worries." Tatsu waved it off "But let the lesson from this one be, don't write someone off, whether they're human or demon, just because you're too narrow minded to see the qualities they have going for them."

"So be it then, I'll try to remember that not all demons are bad. Granted not many, but some of them at least."

"That's a start."

"I say she's way off." Inuyasha let out a scoff as the group drifted down the river "If the kid had any brains then she'd stick with her guns and kept believing that all demons are bad, it would keep her alive longer."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself. Well he seems like he's back to his old self, I guess with all of that angry dog stuff not coursing through his veins he was more open and honest. I doubt it's gonna stick though.'

"I hope you're not gonna keep staring at me because that's starting to piss me off, if you've got something to say then just spit it out already."

'Yeah that's about what I expected from him., I guess the more things change the more things stay the same. Still though he's gotten somewhat better, and the search for the jewel shards is going pretty well so far, so I guess things can only go up from here. Fuck, I totally jinxed us just now didn't I?' he had no idea how right he was.

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The night was calm over the skies of the village in the Land of Musashi, but that peace soon disappeared as a blue blur appeared on the scene in the form of a demon ogress going by the name of Urasue "At last I close in on what it is that I seek…"

"Halt demon!" Kaede was quick to rush onto the scene and fired a Sacred Arrow, only for it to be swatted away "Who are ye, what do ye want?"

Urasue just let out a chuckle, and without answering any questions she made her way towards her goal in the form of Kikyo's gravesite "I am certain that this is it, at last I have found her resting site. Just enough moisture in the soil as well, yes this will do quite nicely."

"Answer me questions intruder, what business do ye have here? Identify thyself!" Kaede aimed another Sacred Arrow "Answer at once!"

"Be silent you fools, my only business lies not with you but with this gravesite. All I need is to take these ashes into my possession, I shall take my leave of this miserable village."

'She must be after the remains of Kikyo then. I warn you now intruder, leave my village at once or we shall have no course but to strike!"

"Quite the persistent wretch, you would've done well not to cross my path." she scratched her nails against her scythe and used it to cut down the Sacred Arrow being fired at her "And now you shall pay for your interference!" she fired a barrage of energy slashes with her scythe, injuring Kaede and causing significant damage to the village, and then she used the chaos to reach into Kikyo's grave and take the urn with her ashes.

"No, take not the ashes of my sister! I am the priestess Kaede, guardian of this village and I shall not allow ye to take those remains!"

"Your tears fall on deaf ears priestess, for these remains are now in the possession of me, the demon Urasue!" and with a maniacal cackle she disappeared into the night.

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Inuyasha raced through the forest at full speed, his mind racing 'I don't get it, what the hell is going on, where is everybody?'

"INUYASHA!"

"What the-" Inuyasha whipped around just in time to receive a Sacred Arrow through the shoulder, resulting in him being nailed to a tree 'What the hell… What's going on?' he looked ahead and saw what looked like a priestess in front of him 'Is that Kagome? No wait that isn't her, that's Kikyo! She's the one who pinned me to the tree!'

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Inuyasha's eyes snapped open from where he sat in his tree 'It was just a dream. Well that's just great, I could've done without those bullshit memories.' he glanced down at the campsite where he saw Kagome and Shippo fast asleep by the campfire 'Kagome is almost identical to Kikyo, no wonder.'

"You can't sleep?" Tatsu got his attention from where he was leaning against a tree reading a book with the top of his go down around his waist and instead being replaced by a simple black t shirt, revealing the various bandages covering the deep wound going down his shoulder "Yeah me neither, but my case probably has something to do with the throbbing pain in my shoulder over the last few days."

"Oh who the fuck am I kidding? She doesn't even look like her, the two of them aren't even remotely similar."

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"...Just forget it, it's not important."

"Fine, suit yourself." Tatsu glanced up and saw an ominous figure soaring across the night sky above them "That on the other hand, what is that some kind of demon?"

"Whatever it is, I'm picking up the scent of fresh blood- Oh shit I recognize that scent. When she wakes up, we'll have to get moving."

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Morning came, and the sun was shining brightly over Feudal Japan.

Kagome and Shippo followed Tatsu and Inuyasha back towards the village "Hey come on guys slow down just a little bit would you, why the sudden urge to go back to the village?"

"I don't know about it myself." Tatsu slowed down a little bit so they could catch up "All I know is that Inuyasha's been kind of freaked out about something since last night. Whatever it is I doubt it's gonna be good."

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Kaede forced herself out of her hut 'I must not waste anymore time, my sister's ashes are in the hands of evil.'

The woman tending to her tried to stop her "Lady Kaede please, you mustn't move as you are right now."

"Pay me no mind madam, these are but flesh wounds."

"Kaede!" that was when Kagome and the others showed up on the scene.

"So you've returned."

"What the heck happened to you?"

"Tis quite the story."

"What so you're still alive?" Inuyasha let out a snort "Trust some stubborn meat sacks like you or that idiot to refuse to give injuries time to heal."

"This is nothing, so you picked up the scent of my blood as the spectre passed by your campsite did you?"

"Don't change the subject on me, just swallow your pride and take it easy!"

"So that's your game, you wanted to come back to the village because you smelled her blood and you wanted to make sure she was okay." Tatsu shot him a smirk "You soft hearted son of a bitch trying to act all tough." he was promptly flipped off, but his smirk only grew.

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Kagome observed the remains of what used to be Kikyo's gravesite "What the heck happened here?"

"That would be the doing of the spectre." Kaede told her gravely "She desecrated the gravesite of my sister Kikyo."

"This was her tomb?"

"Indeed it was, and I was virtually powerless to stop the assault. My sister had abnormally strong spiritual powers, even for a priestess as she was. But now her remains have fallen into the hands of evil, who knows to what end Kikyo's powers will be exploited."

"Well whatever it is it's not by problem." Inuyasha started walking away.

"Where the hell are you going?" asked Tatsu.

"Anywhere that doesn't involve this, as far as I'm concerned you're on your own. Do I really have to remind you that Kikyo betrayed me? I don't have the luxury of forgetting that, I can still feel the pain from where she pierced my chest with that arrow. It might've been 50 years ago for you but for me it's only been a matter of weeks."

'I guess I hadn't thought about that, it's only been a few weeks for him even if it's been half a century in reality. I know that he wanted to use the jewel to become a full blooded demon like his father and Sesshomaru, but then Kikyo shot him with a Sacred Arrow and he ended up pinned to the Sacred Tree for fifty years, which led to me and Kagome finding him. But I guess fate decided to be a dick and Kikyo ended up dying in the process.'

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Inuyasha sat underneath a tree, brooding to himself over what he knew 'The demon Urasue, she stole a lot more than just Kikyo's ashes. I could tell that she had a lot of fresh soil with her, soil from the gravesite. She's up to something that much is obvious, but the question is what exactly is her goal?' he caught a fruit being thrown at him from the side "So that's how you like to greet people?"

As it turns out it was Tatsu with a few fruits in his arms "It's how I get people to eventually stop acting like assholes to me, I've had some practice with a few guys from back home."

"Well I'm not like them."

"You're more like them than you know, anyway let's get going."

"Where to?"

"Where do you think? Look I'm not gonna pretend I know exactly what went down 50 years ago between you and Kikyo, but no one deserves to have their resting place violated like that. Time has passed since she died."

"Maybe for everyone else, but not for me."

"Yeah well you should still be able to look any of us in the eye, or at least not Kagome so what the hell?"

"How about instead of interrogating me you go pine after your woman."

"She's not my woman, look I don't know what you think is going on but Kagome and I are just friends. Besides even if I did want to be something more I know that us just being friends is for the best, the last thing I want is to screw up a perfectly good thing- Why the hell am I telling you this? This all about the fact that the stick up your ass can't accept how Kagome looks like Kikyo."

"Of for fuck's sake it's not… it's not like that you idiot." he grimaced slightly and looked away in what appeared to be shame "I know how you feel about her okay? Just don't make the same mistakes that I made."

"I don't know what mistakes those may be but I have no intention of screwing up my perfectly good friendship with her."

That was when Kaede showed up with a horse, with Kagome lagging behind somewhat "I have reconsidered, I too am a priestess and as such I shall recover the ashes of my sister using my own strength. Inuyasha, please me do the kindness of telling me which direction Urasue had last been travelling."

"Kaede you can't go out on your own like this, all you're gonna do is end up getting yourself killed."

"I intend to go, I shall deal with the consequences once I arrive."

"You're not going as you are Kaede, not on your own."

"You're wasting your breath trying to stop her." Inuyasha let out a scoff "The old hag is as stubborn as an ox, you don't have a chance in hell of talking her out of it."

"Who said anything about trying to stop her, I'm going with her."

"And that makes three of us. Move it along already dipshits, we'll just lay Kikyo's remains to rest again."

"And who says dogs don't have hearts."

"Who does say that?"
"Akira, he's a friend of my brother but he's a pretty fucked up dude."

"So what, is he a fucking lunatic by you too?"

"And a master swordsman, not to mention proof that you don't need magic dragon fangs to know how to kick some ass."

Kagome seemed concerned "Call it a hunch, but something tells me Shippo and I had better come with you guys."

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Nightfall came, and after spending the day travelling the group settled down in a cave for the night.

Kagome glanced down at the sleeping forms of Kaede and Shippo "Looks like they've finally fallen asleep."

"I say we should get some sleep ourselves." Inuyasha just laid back "We're gonna have a big battle ahead of us tomorrow."

"So that means that we're getting close." Tatsu noted.

"I can smell the remains, they're not far off." and then he just laid back and fell asleep.

"Looks like he really needs it."

"It's kind of weird though." Kagome muttered "I mean I thought he hated Kikyo."

"He probably does, but even he has enough of the Tin Man and the Scarecrow in him to realize that no one deserves to have their grave robbed."

"...Wizard of Oz references?"

"Heart and brain respectively but yeah."

"Nice." she looked down at Inuyasha "Do you think it's possible that he's actually hiding his feelings, that he actually does love Kikyo?"

"I think it's pretty much the same as with Raidou, he has a good heart but he closes it off to keep himself from getting hurt."

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Morning came, and the group was on the move once again.

Kaede and the others continued on "We must retrieve the remains of Sister Kikyo quickly, lest they be used by Urasue for evil. I fear the trouble I sense on the path lying ahead, truly dreadful trouble."

"Oh just fucking perfect, that's just what we need to hear." Inuyasha grumbled "The way I see it, if you were so worried about her remains then why the hell didn't you scatter them in the river in the first place? If it wasn't for your stupid sentimentality then we wouldn't be dealing with all of this crap."

"Honestly Inuyasha, have ye no regard for man's gravesites and tombstones?"

"About as much regard as he has for personal hygiene." Tatsu noted dryly.

"A grave is more than simply a place to bury a body or ashes, it is a place of refuge and shelter for the hearts of those loved ones left behind. My sister was born a priestess, she used her powers for the good of the people of the village. She warded specters and demons alike away from the village and battle illness and famine countless times. Ever since her demise, the spirit of Kikyo has continued to encourage them to overcome their obstacles and have the strength to carry onwards. But people are weak in nature, and hearts are easily swayed by the winds of danger and uncertainty. Her grave was a place of reassurance, a haven to encourage the villagers to brace themselves against the storm that is life."

"That was really poetic Kaede, I'm impressed."

"Tis but a mere hobby of mine."

Kagome on the other hand had her gaze fixed on Inuyasha 'I don't think I've ever seen him like this before, he must be thinking about Kikyo. He really was in love with her, and yet she shot him with an arrow and pinned him to a tree where he slept for 50 years. I feel so sorry for him, for what he had to go through.'

"Huh?" and then Inuyasha noticed her staring at him.

'She didn't love him in return… She didn't return his feelings, and she even tried to kill him before.'

"Okay what the hell are you gawking at? You know it's pretty bad when you can even creep out a half demon, what's up with the pitiful look you're giving me?"

"Oh it's nothing important, I was just thinking about something stupid."

"Stupid like what?"

"Stupid like whatever goes on inside your head." was Tatsu's snarky comeback.

"I'll get some answers out of her and then I'll kick your ass, I still owe you for leaving me stuck under that statue for two days!"

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The demon Urasue returned to her mountainside lair and found the kiln inside working its magic on the ashes and graveyard soil "Now then, let us see what magic my demon kiln has brought to the mixture of ashes and graveyard soil. Yes I see that it is true, this really will be my finest creation yet. Now for the final ingredient…" she tossed an enchanted herb into the fire before the flames subsided "And now, arise my child!" she struck the coffin in the kiln, causing it to crack open and reveal the newly restored body of Kikyo "Arise Kikyo, now come to me. Kikyo the great priestess of old, you foiled many an attempt by demons and monsters to take possession of the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls. It has been said that if a demon were to take possession of but a single shard of the jewel the power of that demon will at least double. I need them, I must have every fragment of the jewel for myself. Now go my child, go forth and destroy every demon in search of the shards of the jewel. I have brought you back and now you shall serve my every wish, now go forth and retrieve the jewel shards!"

Kikyo was risen to her feet, but almost instantly she fell back to the ground.

"Impossible, I don't understand. I know that the body was revived in perfect condition, well as perfect as I can get it, but yet the soul has not returned. My unparalleled magic could not fail to bring back the soul." and then the answer came to her "Wait a moment, this could only have happened if the soul was already reincarnated. I have no use for the body of Kikyo unless it has a soul!" she threw the body aside "All of this time and magic wasted, wasted on reviving that useless shell of a human! Now how will I retrieve the shards of the jewel?"

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Tatsu and the others continued their way through the forest, noticing several clay figures surrounding them "Well judging by how horror movie like this is getting, I'd say we're going in the right direction."

"Call it a hunch but I'd say we're nearing the place." Inuyasha pointed to where a large column of steam was arising from near the top of the mountain.

"And we have to cross the rickety old bridge, sounds about right."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't stink though." Kagome gripped the chains holding the bridge up, earning a loud creak as a result "Or seriously freak me out."

"Hey if you don't wanna go you don't have to, I'm pretty sure Inuyasha and I can handle this and get the remains back on our own okay?"

"No no, I'm totally okay."

"Your legs are shaking."

"Because we're blowing in the wind a few hundred feet above the ground!"

"We're not even on the bridge yet."

"...Oh."

"You want me to carry you across?"

"Yes please."

"Well okay then, next time just say so." Tatsu quickly liften Kagome into his arms bridal style, causing her to blush as he carried her across.

'Wow, you know I never noticed how… well how ripped he is.' her face turned red as she pressed a hand against one of his arms, which didn't go unnoticed.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"What-" she snapped out of it "Uh nothing, are we there yet?"

"It's been 7 seconds."

"...You ever thought about wearing a t shirt under that?"

"I did, I just decided not to. People around here don't get t shirts."

"Oh yeah yeah totally." Kagome looked away awkwardly 'Okay this is going nowhere, I mean what the heck am I supposed to say now that I know my best friend is in love with me? He should know. Hey Tatsu?"

"Yeah?"

"I-" she looked up to see what looked like several clay samurai warriors appear in front of them blocking their way "Oh thank god."

"Looks like Urasue is sending her foot soldiers after us."

"Just like those clay things we saw in the forest- Wait a second." she looked back to see even more clay samurai surrounding them.

"Oh shit, hey Inuyasha we've got more of them coming from behind."

"Yeah well I'd say you better hang on tight assholes because this swinging bridge is about to live up to its name." Inuyasha quickly drew the Tessaiga and ripped through a good number of the soldiers in front of him with several clean strokes, shattering them into pieces "Looks like these things really are made of mud."

Tatsu set Kagome down and saw to ripping through the soldiers coming at them from behind through use of the twin swords he carried "You know it's times like this I wish all of my enemies were this weak. Oh who am I kidding no I don't, that wouldn't be anywhere near as fun if that were the case."

"Yeah well it still sucks that there's so many of them!"

"That's what makes it fun!" he was promptly stabbed through the bandage wounds that covered his shoulder "Fuck, I walked right into that." he dropped one of his swords.

Kagome quickly caught it and picked it up "Huh. You know what I think I actually have an idea for this."

Urasue quickly took notice of the noise outside "What could all of that ruckus be? Well I suppose I should go and see for myself and work off some of my frustration." she reached to grab the herb that Kikyo was holding, only to find it firmly in her grip "Release it, this herb belongs to me and me alone!"

Kikyo's head lifted and glanced in the direction of the battle raging on the bridge.

"She moved on her own… wait a second!" she bolted out of the cave.

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Kagome cut through a clay soldier with ease using one of Tatsu's swords "You know this thing is really well balanced."

Tatsu cut through several more clay soldiers, with two new swords in hand "Yeah well if there's too much weight then you lose power on the swing and you sacrifice speed, you've gotta even it out you know. You're getting better with it."

"I've only used a sword like twice now."

"Practice makes perfect, just like this for example." Tatsu held out a hand and unleashed a blast of energy that incinerated a number of clay soldiers.

'Remember what Shippo said, I have to concentrate and let it build in my hand until it has nowhere to go but out, and… Now!' Kagome launched a blast of purple energy from her hand, blowing five soldiers to bits all at once.

"Nice one, I'm impressed."

"I've had a little bit of late night practice too, luck for me you snore to loud."

"I do not snore!"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!"

"Yeah you do." Inuyasha noted dryly.

"Fuck off!"

"Told you." Kagome let out a giggle, her cheeks turning slightly pink, which didn't go unnoticed by Inuyasha.

Unfortunately, that was when Urasue arrived overhead "That girl down there must be the reincarnation of Kikyo! She's almost her double, how fortuitous this turns out to be for me! The resemblance is truly remarkable, that really must be her! I will have her!" she swooped down and used her scythe to cut the bridge in half, sending everyone falling down into the abyss below, and then she took the opportunity to grab Kagome, leaving the others to fall.

"Tatsu! Kaede! Everyone! What are you doing, let go of me!" Kagome was promptly met with a scythe pointed at her throat.

"Tell me young maiden, would you prefer it if I allow you to fall to your death? After all my hard work trying to revive that corpse I have no intention of giving up its reincarnated soul as easily as that! I have plans in store for you my dear, plans to resurrect Kikyo!"

"Resurrect Kikyo? I don't think I like the sound of that."

"I do!"

"Yeah well it's two against one you old hag!" a set of metal chains burst out from within the abyss and latched onto Urasue's scythe, and moments later Tatsu emerged from the abyss holding onto the end of said chains "You ladies mind if I tag along?"

"Be gone you human filth!" Urasue used the blade of her scythe to sever the chain, hoping for him to fall to his death.

But being smart, Tatsu summoned some more chains and hurled them into the side of the cliffside nearby, allowing him to pull himself to safety, and then he began climbing his way back up in secret 'Okay new plan, since hitching a ride didn't work looks like I'll have to go ninja stealth. I'm coming Kagome, just hang on until I get there.'

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Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ravine…

Inuyasha hit the ground at the bottom of the ravine with a loud thud and quickly dug himself out of the rubble "Well that's just great, what the hell happened to the others?"

The answer came when Kaede and Shippo landed on top of him using one of Shippo's magic leaves "I sure hope Inuyasha made it out of this alright."

"I wouldn't worry about him child." Kaede assured him "Inuyasha is not one would be slain very easily."

"Speaking of which…" Inuyasha poked his head out from under the leaf "How about the two of you get the hell off me?!"

"Oh well speak of the devil." this was followed by several of the surviving clay soldiers popping up in front of and behind them.

"Looks like these assholes haven't had enough of me yet." Inuyasha wasted no time in cutting them down with a clean series of strokes from Tessaiga "So what happened to lover boy and the chick with the skirt?"

"It's bad Inuyasha, the old with kidnapped Kagome before she could fall off of the bridge and then Tatsu went after her alone." Shippo told him.

"Well they're not dead so I guess call it half a win."

Kaede noticed several white orbs of light disappearing from the bodies of the destroyed clay soldiers "Their souls are ascending."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Urasue must have imprisoned the souls of humans to animate these clay soldiers to do her bidding, but I fear it gets worse." Kaede dug through one of the soldiers "Human bones are mixed in with the clay. This is worse than I thought, the magic Urasue uses is indeed feendish using the souls and bones of the deceased and now she possesses the remains of my sister and holds Kagome in confinement." she started to walk, but then stopped and cringed from the pain of her wounds.

"Forget it old woman, you're too wounded so you just wait here and I'll go help the other two idiots get Kikyo's remains before they get themselves killed."

"I worry that time is not on our side, we may shortly find ourselves face to face with my elder sister."

"Wait what now? But Kikyo is dead."

"Urasue has all she needs to revive her, and if she were to succeed then we shall face a truly formidable foe. We must find some way to stop this."

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Kagome found herself dumped into what seemed like a bath filled with medicinal herbs, much to her dismay "Stop it, what do you think you're trying to pull here?"

"You are an insolent one are you not?" Urasue poured some liquid into the bath "There that's good, that should do it."

"What's in this water? It smells disgusting!" and that was when Kagome noticed Kikyo wander out of the cave "Oh my god…"

"So you were able to get dressed on your own, the attire of a priestess is most fitting for one such as you. It flatters your good looks, I have done well to reshape your body through the use of human bones and graveyard soil and now all that you require is a human soul."

"What are you talking about?"

"My magical herbal potion will soon suck the soul from your very body, Kikyo shall have her soul returned to her and you shall be among the living dead!"

'Kikyo's soul? So then this woman is Kikyo?' and now Kagome was beginning to panic 'I can't move, I can barely breathe! What the heck am I going to do?'

Urasue was quick to notice this 'This young lass seems somehow different, most of my other victims would've fallen faint by this point.' she noticed a light glowing on her chest 'That light on her chest, the girl possesses shards of the Shikon Jewel! Such a thing will prove to be very fortuitous for me!' she reached for the shards, only to be pushed back by a barrier of light "What is this, does this light shine from the jewel itself? No that's not it, the soul appears to be filled with anger and rage! The soul of Kikyo flashes with an inexplicably violent and anger filled light!"

"Oh this is so gross, I feel like I'm gonna throw up!"

"The soul is seeking revenge, she must have experienced a tremendous betrayal in her former life prior to her death."

"Desert Vortex!" this was when a whirlpool of sand suddenly materialized within the ground in front of them.

"What sorcery is this?!"

"This kind. Terra Spear!" a large spear made of earthy suddenly burst out from within the abyss as Tatsu himself rose up onto the scene, just as Inuyasha and the others did as well and laid eyes on Kikyo "Hey what's up, you guys miss me?"

"You survived the fall then did you? Well no matter, you're too late! All I need now is for one of you to call out her name, and then the process will be complete!'

"Forget it witch, I'm not gonna give you whatever the hell you want-"

"Kikyo." and then Inuyasha uttered the forbidden name as he laid eyes on her, which promptly caused Kagome's soul to burst forth from her body in a brilliant column of light "Wh-What the hell?"

"I don't know why or how, but I'm pretty sure it's your fault."

"Yes that's right, the soul is at last emerging!" Urasue let out a cackle.

"Kagome hang on, I promise I'll find a way to fix this."

"The instant the half demon called out the name of the priestess the heart of the girl missed a beat, and the soul of Kikyo sprang forth! To put it simply child, you were right when you said the half demon was responsible for this." sure enough, the soul burst out from within Kagome and flew into Kikyo instead.

"So you're saying that Kagome's soul is in that body now, the body of one whose time in this world has long since come to an end."

"Perhaps it has, but thanks to me her time will begin anew in servitude of me! The girl over there is now a mere soulless lump of flesh, she is of no use to me now. Well perhaps that would not be true, I would have no bones about having her later for dinner."

"And with word you utter it increases my desire to kill you for what you did to Kagome. No one messes with the girl I love without getting their shit wrecked."

"Such a mere child could never understand my brilliance, my creation is truly wondrous is it not?"

"It's not."

"Silence! I used her remains and graveyard soil to recreate her as living flesh and blood, as such I am her creator- Nay I am her birth mother, and as proof of her allegiance to me she shall follow my every command! Now come and use your powers to rid us of-"

"I've got a better idea." Tatsu blitzed in front of Urasue faster than she was able to react, one hand held in front of him "She'll show her allegiance to you maybe, but you won't be alive long enough to see it. You don't mess with the girl I love and live to tell about it, case and point, I do this." he promptly struck her with a blast of blue energy, blowing her clean across the mountainside, leaving her to be engulfed as the blast exploded at the mountain's peak "I should've done that from the start, I could've saved us a lot of prattling."

Kikyo promptly fell to her knees as she laid eyes on the others, Inuyasha in particular catching her attention "Tell me Inuyasha, why are you still alive? I used my Sacred Arrow to bind you to the Sacred Tree."

Inuyasha snapped out of his stupor and gave her a cocky smirk "Yeah you bet you did, and I had to stay there for about 50 years, but as you can see I'm alive and well and I'm more than ready to face you again."

Kikyo slowly lifted her head to face him, tears of anger brimming in her eyes "You are nothing but a vile beast, I despise you and everything you stand for you loathsome half demon!" a red light suddenly shone from her shoulder as blood began pouring from an open wound.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just tell me why, why did you betray me Inuyasha?"

"Okay now I'm confused, what's with all of the blood pouring out of you?"

"Look closer Inuyasha, is that not the wound that ye inflicted on Kikyo that drove her to her death before?" Kaede pointed out.

"Me, what the hell are you going on about? Are you trying to say that I was the one that ended up killing Kikyo?"

"Yes, it was the wounds you inflicted that sealed her fate and ensured her demise."

"Wait what?!"

"Hold on a second." Tatsu cut in "Inuyasha I thought you said that Kikyo was the one who betrayed you, not you gutting her like a fish!"

"She did betray me and I never killed her, I never even attacked her that day!"

"Well that doesn't make any sense, if you didn't do it then who did?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"You are even more vile than I first believed!" Kikyo let out an outright snarl "How dare you invent some feeble excuses, honestly Inuyasha it is most unflattering. Tell me, do you not remember the day when you told me that you wanted to become human?"

"Hold on, are we talking about the same guy here?" asked Tatsu "Cause I'm pretty sure this one here tried to take the jewel and run me through because he wants to be a full blooded demon like his brother."

"He once said that he would become human, as much of a fool as I was I blindly believed what he was saying. That day that would turn out to be my last, I carried the Shikon Jewel and went to him as we had agreed. But then he attacked me from behind, stole the jewel, informed me that he would use it to become a full blooded demon, and then he left to slaughter the village and all of its people."

"Okay hold on a second, even by the very low stands by which I judge Inuyasha there's no way that even he would stoop that low."

"I know for a fact that these wounds were done by his claws."

"Bullshit!" Inuyasha barked "Are you really trying to say that I was the one who betrayed you that day?"

"It's true and you know that for a fact, that is why I summoned the last vestiges of my strength and bound you to the tree with my Sacred Arrow." she started stumbling forward towards him with what little strength she appeared to have "Inuyasha…"

"Kikyo…"

She collapsed against his chest "You and I were fated never to meet again…" and then she hit him with a spiritual energy blast, sending him flying backwards and crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Kaede was quick to try and call her off "I beg of you Kikyo, please stop this assault."

"Who are you?"

"I am your younger sister Kaede, my looks have altered greatly because 50 years have passed since the day of your demise."

"Then explain why you would speak on behalf of Inuyasha. Or not, just give me your weaponry so that I may finish him!" she snatched Kaede's bow and one of her arrows, shoved her aside and then fired that arrow at Inuyasha, only for it to miss "Kaede."

"Please sister Kikyo, you must stop this madness! Inuyasha is not your enemy!"

"Open your eyes Kaede, you as well have been taken in by this deceitful monster!"

"You are mistaken!"

"Hand me your arrows."

"I will do no such thing!"

"Enough of your defiance Kaede, show loyalty to your flesh and blood and not some devious lying half breed! Now hear the demands of your elder sister and give me those arrows!" she ripped the quiver off Kaede's back and shoved her away, and then rounded on Inuyasha with another arrow pointed at him "You told me that you wished to become human, you told me that you wished to be with me!"

"Kikyo hold on a second!" Inuyasha protested "I swear I meant every word I said to you back then."

"Enough of your lies, I was a fool beyond compare for believing in your far fetched tales and wishing to live together with you! I despise you to my last breath, my spirit will never forget that all consuming hatred. So long as you live my spirit cannot be free."

"Desert Bind!" Tatsu slammed one hand into the ground, causing the ground beneath Kikyo to morph into sand and bind her from the waist down "And so long as you live, Kagome will be robbed of the life Urasue took from her in order to revive you." he gripped his left arm with his right hand, an even larger blast of blue energy blast charging in his palm "Let me just warn you now, you fire that arrow and I won't hesitate to blow your face off."

"Yet another who has been fooled by Inuyasha's lies, would you dare to defend a beast as monstrous as he?"

"Well at this point I could give this pride driven speech about how we need him to get the jewel shards back, how I need a sparring partner, or how if anyone is gonna take him down it's gonna be me, but my reason for not letting him die is simple. Inuyasha is my friend." he glanced over and noticed the charred body of Urasue hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Such a beast does not have friends, he proved that the day he betrayed and killed me with his own hands!"

"The things you say prove that the you standing before us is nothing like the woman that they once knew is long gone. You died human that day Kikyo, you don't belong in the world of the living anymore. You could've killed Inuyasha that day but you didn't, you instead chose just to seal him away. But things are different now, Urasue has turned you into a hatred fueled, rage filled tool of evil. You're not a priestess anymore, now you're just a pawn."

"BE SILENT! I know you want to return me to the body of that girl but I will not, not until I claim my vengeance upon that traitorous beast! If you refuse to stand down, then I have no choice but to kill you along with him!" and she fired the Sacred Arrow, not at Inuyasha, but towards Tatsu instead.

"Blow your face off it is then. Dragon Burst!" Tatsu unleashed the large energy blast from both hands, obliterating the Sacred Arrow in a matter of seconds once it was engulfed.

"What?! But how could-" Kikyo was hit by the blast dead on, blowing a bloody hole clean through her torso, causing her to cry out in pain before several orbs of light began to emerge from her body "No no, not yet!"

Kaede was quick to realize what was happening "It is Kagome, now that Kikyo's body has been so badly damaged she is trying to call the soul back into her body."

"No not yet, this cannot be! I have not yet claimed my revenge!" but Kikyo's cries went unheard as the soul flew out of her body and back into Kagome's body.

Tatsu quickly caught Kagome in his arms before she hit the ground, with Inuyasha right by his side "Okay she's stable, I think she's gonna be alright?"

"What about Kikyo though?" Inuyasha's head snapped over and he noticed Kikyo trying to escape from them "Kikyo… she must still have some part of Kagome's soul left inside her body."

"No." this was when the charred form of Urasue finally spoke up "That by which Kikyo is kept moving is no more than the hatred that persists within her, it would seem that most of the soul has returned to the young girl from whence it came. The hatred Kikyo holds for you and her need for revenge must have absorbed into her bones and the graveyard soil itself, the once pure maiden has now become a monster, a monster feeding on its hatred of you. Quite the lovely image is it not?"

"Okay now you're getting on my nerves." Tatsu promptly incinerated Urasue using a simple blast of energy, and then he turned to Inuyasha "Go get her."

"Right." Inuyasha promptly took off without another word.

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Kikyo stumbled her way along the path as fast as she could, her mind racing 'I have to distance myself from that girl, or else she will be able to steal back the remainder of my soul. I must move away… I must-' she slipped and nearly fell down the cliffside, only to gasp as she locked eyes with the one that caught her before she fell "Inuyasha…"

Sure enough, Inuyasha loomed over her, holding her by the arm and preventing her from falling to her second death "Come on Kikyo, you can't go on like this any longer. You have to return back to Kagome's body."

"You're saying that you wish me to die, is that it? For if my soul were to return to the body of the girl then I will cease to exist forever, you must know that. Tell me Inuyasha, is that what you desire? I refuse to cease to be, my spirit cannot rest until I see you dead!" she attempted to burn his arm with an energy blast."

"You don't have to do this!" Inuyasha almost fell off the cliffside himself, but he managed to grab onto it, though he lost his grip on Kikyo in the process "KIKYO!" he could only watch in horror as she fell into the abyss below, his mind drifting with the wind 'Why, why did it have to come to this? Kikyo had used her spiritual powers to protect the Shikon Jewel from humans and demons that pursued it for its power. I too needed the Shikon Jewel so that I could become a full blooded demon. But Kikyo thwarted me every time I tried to go for it, and yet she never killed me when she defeated me. I only wanted the jewel for myself, I never had any intention of taking the life of Kikyo as I did, and soon it became clear to me that she didn't have any intention of killing me either. When we first talked to each other that day, when I saw how sad and lonely she looked to be in her eyes, for the first time in my life, I actually felt guilty. After that, I couldn't get Kikyo out of my mind. She was always by my side, and I by hers. Eventually, when she suggested that I could use the Shikon Jewel to become human, I agreed to do so because without the jewel she could live the life of an ordinary woman. I had no second thoughts back then, I knew that I could live with Kikyo as a human. It was such a life that I had longed for. But when the day came that she was to bring me the jewel, instead she betrayed me and she tried to kill me. As soon as I let my guard down, Kikyo tried to kill me! I was consumed by my rage and went to the village to steal the jewel for myself, and that was when she bound me to the tree.' he pulled himself back up to the ground and started wandering back towards the group 'How the hell did it have to come to this?' and then he collapsed "How did everything go so wrong? This isn't how it was supposed to turn out! KIKYO!"

A/N:

So yes, now that Tatsu has the power of the second Fang of Ryuhogo at his command, we see him and Kagome return to the Feudal Era. Once back there, we see one of Inuyasha's most closely guarded secrets, and a bigger mystery developing as a result of the return of Kikyo. Needless to say, things are really getting heated up right about now, and this story is just getting started.

So yes, now that he has the power of the Fang of the Divine Quake, Tatsu has the ability to manipulate the earth around him, as well as anything with earthen properties, such as metal and sand, which has been demonstrated by his actions in this chapter, such as morphing chains and other materials made of metal, and being able to morph the ground around him into sand. He's got some other abilities going for him too, but you'll see what those are soon enough.