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.

18. Enter the Tokijin

(Enter the Tokijin)

"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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About two days had passed since the battle against Kagura and Kanna, and while recovery was progressing for the group, it was slow going.

Within the meeting of the minds, Ryuhogo studied Tatsu for a moment before he finally spoke to him "So that's why you asked to speak with me. I will admit though, the role of a teacher is something that suits you quite well. I don't have much experience in it myself though."

"In all honesty, I'll take whatever I can get at this point." Tatsu let out a sigh "I really do want to help Kagome in any way I can, but I have absolutely no experience in teaching."

"I understand where you're coming from, so I'll tell you what I can. But be sure to listen well, because I only intend to tell you this once. I've lived longer than you could ever even dream of comprehending, and I learned from my own ancestors the essence of controlling and properly maintaining one's own internal energy many eons ago. From what I've seen of this young woman through your eyes, the amount of dormant spiritual power she has is impressive, even by the standards of someone such as Midoriko."

"How much power does she have anyway?"

"At the moment I find it difficult to say for certain, though it comes from a combination of the spiritual powers in her bloodline from her father's side, and the fact that she is the reincarnation of the priestess who died 50 years ago. Combine the two factors together, and you create a young woman with spiritual power that rivals my beloved Midoriko, perhaps even surpasses her with enough training, especially once that seal is removed."

"What seal?"

"I'll tell you about that at a later date. Getting back to what you're asking of me, in order to increase her control over her spiritual power and further awaken the powers she has within, you have to build her body past its current limitations, and then once you've figured out what her limitations are, you have to be sure to tell her that she has much more potential than she believes herself to be, and that she has to push herself even harder in order to reach that potential. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I think I do. You have anything else to add?"

"Only this. No matter how far you think she's progressing or how well she handles everything, you shouldn't push her to take any steps that you feel she's not ready for."

"I understand."

"Good, now go and get started."

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Meanwhile, with a certain undead priestess…

At the same time, Kikyo made her way along a path through the forest, until she stopped in her tracks and her head snapped to the side "I know that you've been following me, now come out and show yourself Naraku."

Sure enough, the silhouette of Naraku appeared from within the trees and let out a chuckle full of arrogance and malice "Kikyo, I felt you should know that Inuyasha feels a great deal of bitterness towards you. He lies close to being grasped by death, and all of it is because of the newfound power I have acquired from the shards of the Shikon Jewel that I had been given by you." he let out another chuckle before the silhouette disappeared.

Kikyo's gaze hardened at what she heard, before she promptly turned on her heel and walked away from the scene.

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Meanwhile, with the main future couple…

"Okay we're not far from the others, I think this will be a good spot." Tatsu (without wearing the Fangs around his neck) led Kagome through the thick series of trees until they reached a large clearing in the forest "Plenty of open space for training and not too far from the hut, so we can tell if something goes on over there. Speaking of stuff going on, you ready to get started?"

"I'm more than ready for this." Kagome drew her Seishin Rozu from its sheath and got into a stance, two hands gripping the hilt of her sword, and then she rushed forward and guided a single stroke.

Tatsu leapt over the strike, then spun around and aimed a one handed sword strike at her.

Kagome blocked the sword with her own and prepared to launch a counterattack, only to find her legs swept out from under her, which sent her crashing to the ground and ended with her having a sword pointed at her throat "Ow…"

"Not bad, but you left your legs wide open during your strikes." Tatsu promptly sheathed both of his swords and helped her to her feet "That's something an experienced opponent will be able to take advantage of pretty easily."

"So I hear, I could've sworn I saw Sota watching a show once that talked about something like this, and they said that sweeping the leg wasn't a thing in swordfighting."

"I'm pretty sure you're talking about Dragon Prince, great show by the way and I totally think you should check it out when we get back, and that was discredited pretty early on. In any case, you have to be prepared for anything."

"Well what would you do if someone went for your legs in a fight?"

"I don't know, probably dodge or counter."

"That's it? I didn't think you would be so nonchalant about it, I figured you would've planned a response for every kind of attack that comes at you."

"That's the problem you've got right now, too much thinking. If you think too much about what's coming, then you're going to lose sight of what is. When you're in a fight, you have to be fully in the moment so you can fight without thinking."

"I don't get it though, why would I want to fight without thinking?"

"Maybe you can understand it better if I demonstrate, so you'd better brace yourself."

"For what?"

"For this. Sea Dragon's ROAR!"

Kagome almost shrieked when she heard this and raised her arms to try and block the oncoming attack, but it never came, so she opened her eyes and rounded on him "What the heck? You looked like you were about to hit me with a gigantic water dragon!"

"Of course I wasn't going to, but you thought that I was, and that's the point. I know damn well how sharp you can be Kagome, when you put your mind to something you almost always master it in record time." this earned a smile from her that almost made him melt, though he was quick to compose himself "But the problem with that is that in a fight, you can't always be up there in your mind."

"I just don't get it though, how can you fight without thinking?"

"Let me demonstrate." he blitzed away from the scene, then came back with his phone and a set of headphones in hand.

"You can use those things here?"

"No surprise that you don't get any reception in this era, but the best part is that Bluetooth still works for some reason!." he put both of them on, and then he started dancing to the beat of a certain song "Try and attack me, don't bother asking why, this will make sense in a minute or two!"

"...If you say so." still unsure about what he was doing, Kagome tried to attack him with a series of sword strikes, all of them missing by at least a few inches, which left her considerably thrown off and confused 'He's dodging my attacks so easily, and he's not even trying! It's like he's toying with me!' she continued attacking him with her sword, none of her strikes connecting with him or even coming close to doing so.

This continued on for a few minutes until he finally took his headphones off "Yeah that might have dragged on for a little bit, but I didn't want to miss the good part of the song. Anyway do you get what I was going for there?"

"It looked like you were toying with me."

"Looks can be deceiving Kags, the fact is that when I was dodging your attacks, I wasn't even thinking about them. They just happened."

"Bon Jovi usually has that effect on you."

"That was The Phoenix by Fallout Boy actually, but anyway, the key to this is that you have to find the space between your thoughts and learn to live there. That's what I learned to do, and listening to music just makes it easier for me. Anyway go ahead and do some practicing, I'm gonna head back and check on the others and I'll come see how you're doing in a little bit." and so he promptly blitzed away using the Dragon Warp, leaving Kagome to practice her swordsmanship skills on her own in the clearing.

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Meanwhile, with Inuyasha…

'I just don't get it…' Inuyasha sat on the roof of the hut where the group was staying, his mind drifting to the events of the recent battle 'Why Kikyo, I just don't get it. Now that Naraku has our shards of the jewel, he's even more powerful than he was before. You of all people would know what that means, so why? What were you thinking? Do you really hate me that much? Kikyo, I need to know…'

"Looks like you're back to full strength, at least physically." Tatsu suddenly appeared next to him in a blue flash "Kagome's Healing Hand did the trick for your injuries, but it doesn't do much in the way of restoring stamina."

"Yeah. Sango's sleeping inside right now."

"Makes sense, she got hit with her own weapon and I think Kagome said something about being able to hear her ribs shatter. Speaking of which, where are Shippo and Miroku?"

"They took off a little while ago to search for food and herbs to help with the whole issue about recovering stamina." he sat down next to Inuyasha and let out a sigh "Still though, it looks like things just got a lot harder for us. Naraku has all of the jewel shards Kikyo stole from us and now he can spawn offspring which raises a whole bunch of problems."

"Yeah, now they can pop up at any time and my Wind Scar is all but useless against the ones we've seen so far."

"Well there's that, and now one of us has to explain a certain something to Shippo, and I can tell you now it's not gonna be me."

"So what, you think I have to be the one to do it?"

"Kagome says it's important for him to hear it from a male role model, I'm still traumatized from when my brother had that talk with me, and if it's not gonna be you then chances are it's gonna have to be Miroku."

"...Yeah the kid's about as fucked as they come." it was then that the two of them noticed a group of Soul Collectors appearing from within the trees "Soul Collectors."

"These things showing up means that Kikyo can't be too far from here. You're gonna go and see her aren't you?"

"Don't even think about trying to stop me."

"Who said anything about stopping you, I'm going with you." he was met with a blank look and a raised eyebrow "You want to verify whether or not what Naraku said was true, and you want to hear the truth from her. I'm pretty much the same way, whether it's true or not I want to hear it from her and her alone. If it turns out Naraku is lying, then I'll help you to vouch for her with the others."

"And if it turns out Naraku was telling the truth?"

"Then I'm gonna curse her out like a sailor and go from there." and so the two of them promptly took off without another word.

'Kikyo… I have to see you, I have to know the truth for myself.'

What neither of them had noticed was that a single Saimyosho was watching them from afar.

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A few minutes later…

It didn't take long for Tatsu and Inuyasha to reach a small remote area within the forest, and then the two of them screeched to a stop "She's here."

"How can you tell?" asked Inuyasha.

"I can sense her presence, I'll explain it to you later. We know you're there, now come out and show yourself Kikyo."

Sure enough, a light appeared above them, and then it disappeared to reveal Kikyo sitting in a tree branch looking down at them, her expression somewhat soft "So Inuyasha, I see that you're still alive. I'm glad."

"Kikyo enough beating around the bush, tell us what's really going on." Inuyasha told her "Is it true that you were the one who gave Naraku all of those jewel shards you stole from Kagome last time?"

"Yes I did, and I did it in order to cast Naraku into oblivion."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know as well as any of us that Naraku is a lot more powerful than he used to be, and now he can use the power of the jewel to create incarnations of himself, offspring that will do whatever the hell he wants."

"I am aware."

"Then you also know that Inuyasha's Wind Scar is all but useless against them, and one of them is eavesdropping on us right now." he jerked a thumb at where Kagura was watching their conversation from afar.

"She has been following me for some time, most likely Naraku wishes to see what my current intentions are. He knows I cannot be trusted."

"And he knows that you want Inuyasha dead, we all know damn well that the main reason why you gave Naraku the shards of the jewel you stole from Kagome to begin with."

"Don't be so foolish, I would never allow Inuyasha's life to be cut short by such pathetic filth as the likes of Naraku. Take heed on this, both of you. The fact is that Naraku is our most bitter enemy."

"Yeah we already knew that, so are we gonna do something about Kagura?"

"She most likely believes that the two of you are close to death, and she will intend to kill the three of us in a single movement."

"Not gonna happen, see for yourself."

"There is no need." Kikyo whipped around and fired a Sacred Arrow at Kagura, stopping her in her tracks "One more movement and your head will be next." that prompted her to escape on her giant feather.

"And she's gone."

"Even if she did somehow manage to catch me off guard, not that such a thing is possible, she would never have been able to vanquish all three of us. Remember this Inuyasha, Naraku will only continue to grow in power. You must not allow him to kill you until the time comes when I'm able to cast both Naraku and the Shikon Jewel from this world once and for all. Your life belongs to me, and no one else will have you."

"Yeah good to know, very interesting and all, now onto other matters."

"Other matters?"

"Yep. Inuyasha head back to camp, I've got a few things to discuss with her. That is to say, I have a bone or seven to pick with her."

"As I said, I took your shards of the jewel to cast Naraku into oblivion."

"No I get that, well I somewhat get it anyway. But the bone I have to pick is the stuff that's been happening up until now. The girl I love had to get her soul sucked out in order to bring you back to this world, when you tried to drag Inuyasha into hell you strung me and Kagome to a tree and forced us to watch while you carried it out, why you hung me upside down I'll never know but I still feel the effects of spending that much time with the blood rushing to my head, and putting aside the whole thing about using the shards to cast Naraku into hell, the last time we met you looked me in the eye and admitted to me that you tried to kill Kagome, and then you laughed in my face about it. And after you were gone she broke down crying in my arms. The bottom line, I've got some shit to work through with you."

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Meanwhile, with the others…

"Come on you guys, I saw them go this way!" by this point, Kagome was leading Miroku on foot towards the forest as fast as they could go.

"Are you absolutely certain about this Kagome?" asked Miroku "It was Kikyo's Soul Collectors that you saw flying this way?"

"Do you know about any other white flying snakes that steal souls? Inuyasha and Tatsu took off after them, I saw them running through the forest near where I was training." it was then that they noticed Inuyasha making his way towards them through the mist "Inuyasha."

"So you guys came." Inuyasha stopped in front of them and looked away longingly.

"Are you okay? Your wounds didn't reopen did you?"

"No it's not that, your healing stuff worked fine so stop fretting about it."

"I see. So then you and Tatsu went to see Kikyo didn't you? You don't have to lie, I saw you and him following the Soul Collectors."

"Oh." he looked down.

"We're your friends Inuyasha, you don't have to hide anything from us."

"I'm not hiding, it's just… Look it's not like it was some kind of tryst or anything."

"Nobody ever said it was a tryst." Miroku pointed out "I can imagine that you wanted to find out the truth for yourself, about what Naraku said."

"Yeah, I wanted to hear it from her and her alone. Tatsu was pretty much the same, and I didn't have time to argue with him about it."

"So what then, did you discover whether or not Naraku lied about Kikyo being the one to give him the shards of the jewel?"

"Yeah, I know the truth alright." he looked away again.

"So it's true then, does that mean she's made some sort of pact with Naraku?"

"No never, it's not like that!" his outburst left them taken aback "I can't say what Kikyo intends to do right now, but I think… I know that she has some sort of plan to destroy Naraku. Tatsu said he got this, so why don't the rest of you lay off."

"That's another thing. We were under the impression that Tatsu accompanied you when you went to see Kikyo, so where is he right now?"

"Oh, that… They kicked me out."

"What do you mean they kicked you out?"

"I mean Kikyo told me not to let Naraku kill me because my life belongs to her, then Tatsu went up and started cursing her out because of all the stuff that happened to Kagome since Kikyo came back to life. Check it out." he paused to let them hear what was going on.

"-And another thing you self-righteous bitch with a bow and arrow, you lay a hand on her again and I swear to the fucking Shikon Jewel itself that I will grab that clay pot you call an ass, drag it right underground and (insert massive stream of cursing that would make even Kikyo raise an eyebrow, and everyone else go wide eyed at the sound of it)!"

"So… yeah." Inuyasha cringed slightly as he heard it, then turned back to the others "Just gonna throw this one out there, I don't care what he or anyone else says, I know for a fact that it doesn't bend that way."

"Well actually I have some personal experience with-" Miroku was silenced by Kagome slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Dammit Tatsu was right, if he tries to make Shippo into a man then god help us all."

"I can only pray that never happens." Kagome let out a sigh, then looked at Inuyasha as her mind began drifting 'Inuyasha almost died because of the injuries he received in the last battle, he might have if it wasn't for my Healing Hand. It's all because Kikyo gave Naraku the jewel shards that she stole from me, and he knows that, but he still defends her. He really does love her that much doesn't he? I can't help but wonder, if it were me and Tatsu in place of them, then would I do the same thing?'

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Meanwhile, in a certain village…

The situaton was grim as a large purple figure (with a certain spider mark on its back) had started devouring everyone and everything in sight.

Kagura just let out a sigh as she watched the demon in front of her was devouring all that it would come across 'Honestly, what I wouldn't give to just free myself from all of this. First I get sent to my possible death by Naraku, which leads me to having that brat Tatsu rip off one of my arms so now I had to use those damned insects to get a new one, then Kanna ends up failing to suck that girl Kagome's soul out with her mirror, so that was a failure, and now Naraku forces me to watch this brainless glutton Goshinki devour a village.'

"Tell me sister…" the demon slowly turned to face Kagura, his eyes blood red and filled with overwhelming malice "You were just thinking that I am no more than a brainless glutton, weren't you?"

'Great so he's toying with me, Naraku gave this one the ability to read minds.'

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Meanwhile, with the Inu Gang…

"Easy Sango, these herbs will help you to get your strength back." Kagome helped Sango to sit up and had her drink a remedy "My Healing Hand can't restore stamina, so these herbal remedies that I learned from Kaede will have to do."

"I appreciate it Kagome, but I promise you I'll be fine." Sango tried to force herself back to her feet, though she had to be steadied by Kagome "You weren't kidding about the stamina."

"Yeah, I learned that one the hard way." Tatsu cringed at the memory "Back when she first used it on me after I got hurt in my fight with Sesshomaru, I tried to catapult myself down the stairs of my apartment building, and I ended up tumbling 17 flights of stairs and slamming face first into the desk in the lobby. She had to spend another half hour patching me up before we got back here in time to help you guys with Royakan."

"I… didn't understand a single word of that."

"Future stuff, I don't expect you guys to understand it. But in any case we can carry her if we have to, either way if Kagura is this close to us then it's too dangerous for us to stay here any longer."

"Tell me about it, the sooner we're out of here the sooner I-" Inuyasha cut himself short when his head snapped up.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm picking something up… the scent of a dead man." he and the others quickly rushed outside to find the source of it.

"Please, you have to run…" as it turns out, a villager was wandering towards them covered in wounds and his own blood, his voice hoarse "The demon has come… it devoured the entire village… and everything in its path…"

"So we've got another demon to take out?" Tatsu frowned in thought.

"On its back… it had the mark of a spider on its back…"

"Which means it's a calling card for Naraku's incarnations." this was followed by the man's body literally falling apart and going up in smoke "And I'm pretty sure that one was Kagura's calling card."

"No doubt about it, I could smell plain as day that guy was dead from the start. I can smell stench of Naraku not far from here, this whole thing has to be a trap to make us fight a new incarnation he made."

"Naraku isn't one for being very subtle in laying traps, he wants us to know it's him but he makes it too irresistible for whoever he's aiming for. The guy is as egotistical as he is evil, and he's got the plot armor to match. So do we go for it?"

"It's not like we have any other choices, if she sent this dead man to us then Kagura knows where we're hiding. This new demon was about to attack us here sooner or later, it's either go to them or wait for them to come to us. I say we go in and get this over with."

"I figured we'd be able to agree on something eventually, now let's go get the others and get moving."

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A little while later, in the village…

"This is ridiculous, quit being so obsessive over it." Kagura simply rolled her eyes and watched as Goshinki went to town on the village and every living thing in it "It's just a few children, there's no harm in letting them go."

"I cannot do that sister." Goshinki finished devouring a horse and looked around "Naraku had commanded me to devour this entire village, and so I will kill every last human, along with every cow, chicken and horse."

"Fine, go ahead and do as you wish, but I can't bear to have to deal with your company any longer than I already have." and so Kagura promptly took her leave of the scene, departing on top of her giant feather.

"So she leaves, and now I can carry out my tasks." now alone, Goshinki promptly returned to hunting down the remaining survivors of the village, to which he destroyed the roof of a nearby hut, blowing away a pile of hay and revealing two children hiding there "You thought that you would be able to hide yourselves from me by hiding among some straw, did you not?" he was met with two simultaneous screams of terror "And the two of you cried for your mother and father to save you, but they cannot help you now, because I devoured both of them. I speak the truth, look inside my stomach and see for yourself!" he advanced forward and prepared to devour the two children, when…

"Get down!" it was at this moment that Kagome (along with Tatsu and Inuyasha) suddenly appeared before them in a blue flash with her sword drawn to defend the children, with Inuyasha having drawn Tessaiga and launched the blade forward, though the attack missed, and Kagome quickly turned to face the two children "We'll take care of this demon, hurry up and get somewhere safe while you can." that prompted the two kids to take off running "So is this the one we're looking for?"

"I can see plain as day that it's got a spider mark on its back." Inuyasha let out a growl "You must be the next incarnation that Naraku spat out."

"Indeed I am." Goshinki let out a chuckle "You're thinking about how I was able to dodge the Tessaiga so easily, and you are surprised at how I am able to move with such speed despite my enormous size."

'Shit, this ugly bastard knows what I'm thinking?'

"It's just as you suspect Inuyasha, I am able to read the minds of others. My sisters, Kagura of the Wind and Kanna of the Void were merely the opening acts. Now that they have both played their parts, the time has come for Goshinki to make his debut."

"Your opening act is over you Hulk reject, I'm taking you off the stage." Tatsu suddenly blitzed in front of Goshinki and kicked him in the jaw, sending him stumbling back a few feet and leaving him in disbelief.

'This shouldn't be possible, why can I not read his thoughts? It's as if he's somehow closed off his mind to me.' Goshinki didn't have time to dwell on this as he dodged an attack from Inuaysha, to which he then blitzed above him and dealt him a claw attack to the chest that sent him hurtling to the ground at high speed "I know every thought that crosses your mind, and I can tell that while you are physically able, your mind seems to be suffering greatly. Tell me, could this end up being the end for you?"

"I wouldn't count on that!" Inuyasha swung his Tessaiga at Goshinki again, only for it to miss in an instant.

"I can predict every move before you make it, I can see every thought that crosses your mind before you even realize it! You are nothing to me!" Goshinki blitzed behind Inuyasha and struck him square in the back with his claws, sending him crashing to the ground with a thud "And now I will end your miserable life."

"Only if you go first." Tatsu ducked underneath another slash of Goshinki's claws and dealt him a solid kick to the back of the head, sending him crashing to the ground "Stay back guys, we don't know what other tricks he has up his sleeve."

"No need to worry Tatsu, I can end this quickly." Miroku rushed forward and prepared to draw his Wind Tunnel, only to stop when he saw Kagome holding out a hand to him "What is it, what's the matter?"

"You can't use your Wind Tunnel right now, see for yourself." Kagome pointed at where a large swarm of Saimyosho were appearing on the scene.

'Dammit, I can't use it without being poisoned by the insects, and even with Kagome's healing spell who knows how long it will be before I can even move, let alone fight.'

"So you know how futile it is." Goshinki let out a chuckle "I can hear your thoughts monk, you intend to suck me into your Wind Tunnel and devour me to end this quickly, but you can't with these insects present. Kagome, don't even think about trying to attack me with your sword or your arrows. I will kill you in an instant before you draw either of them. That same warning applies to you too Sango, don't even think about trying to strike me with Hiraikotsu."

'Oh boy, he's going to do me next?' Shippo found himself sweating in fear, but that fear turned to anger when he saw Goshinki simply brush him off "Hey what the heck you big jerk, what gives you the right to ignore me like that!"

"I would bother to search through your mind if I thought that you were worthy, but you are little more than an annoyance fox." this left Shippo seething as Goshinki turned away.

It was at this moment that Inuyasha pulled himself back to his feet and quickly shook off the disorientation that he was feeling 'Okay the usual routine, gonna feel that one in the morning but for the sake of saving face, never gonna mention it to any of them.' it was at this moment that he noticed Kagome and the children huddled together a short distance away "Kagome we told you to get them out of here, what the hell are they still-"

"Inuyasha stop it, just look." Kagome gestured down to one of the children, or to be more specific the blood covered clothes they were holding.

"Those clothes…"

"They belonged to their parents, but we couldn't find the bodies." Tatsu blitzed onto the scene next to them "I was hoping to try something out, but this has to end now. Hit him with a Wind Scar and finish this already, before it turns into something worse."

"Yeah, yeah you're right." Inuyasha dropped into a stance with both hands gripped on Tessaiga, his gaze hardening with his anger.

"Just stay calm, one stroke is all I need to kill this demon once and for all." Goshinki waltzed his way over to him looking as confident and sadistic as ever "That is what you're thinking right now, is it not Inuyasha? Don't make me laugh. You are a half demon are you not? You have the blood of a demon coursing through your veins, and yet you would do something so disgraceful as take pity on humans."

"How about you shut the fuck up so I can rip you to shreds already. Alright I can see it, I just have to cut through the Wind Scar and then he's as good as dead.'

"I can hear it clearly Inuyasha, you intend to slice through the Wind Scar and blast me into pieces do you not?"

"If you can figure that out then you already know you're as good as dead!" Inuyasha hurled himself forward at full speed.

"Not likely." with a simple wave of his claws, Goshinki ripped apart the Wind Scar before it could be sliced through "You cannot blast me apart if the Wind Scar is not present."

"So what, all I need is the Tessaiga itself to cut you down!" Inuyasha wasn't deterred by this and continued his charge, only to find the blade of Tessaiga caught in Goshinki's jaw 'Son of a-'

"You waste your energy and your life, your precious Tessaiga is nothing more than a pathetic dog fang now!" to prove this point, Goshinki bit down on the blade of Tessaiga, causing the blade to snap in half, much to the shock and horror of those present "I suppose that proves the fangs of a demon are even stronger than your Tessaiga, and that the sword capable of slaying 100 in one stroke is little more than a pathetic piece of scrap metal."

'My Tessaiga… he just bit it in half… like it was some kind of fucking chew toy…' unfortunately for Inuyasha, he was distracted by this long enough for Goshinki to deal him a brutal slash across the chest with his claws, drawing a large amount of blood and sending him flying.

"Shit, Inuyasha hold on!" Tatsu used the Dragon Warp to catch Inuyasha before he could hit the ground, only to find blood pouring from his wounds 'Dammit this is bad, we're gonna have to finish this fast.'

"I can hear it clearly now, it appears that his mind has gone blank. His spirit has been shattered along with his sword, or is he dead perhaps?"

"I wouldn't count on that right now, Inuyasha may have an ego bigger than this entire country but he's a fighter if nothing else. Give him a minute to shake it off and he'll be back to make you suffer for this."

"We shall see, but for now I have something else to attend to." Goshinki took a few steps forward and set his sights on his next target… which just so happened to be Kagome "Which includes this wench being the first of you to die."

"If it's a fight you want then come after me, I'm more than willing to rip you apart."

"I will end your worthless life soon enough, but Naraku made a promise to me. He promised me that I could have as many shards of the Shikon Jewel as I desired as long as I killed the pathetic wench that destroyed his body with her Sacred Arrow."

"Well you're not gonna get the chance, if you even think about touching her then I won't hesitate for even a second to rip you apart slowly." he gripped the hilt of one of his swords, but before he could draw it…

"Tatsu stay with the children." Kagome slowly stepped forward as she drew her Seishin Rozu from its sheath "I'll do it, if he wants me then he's going to get me."

"But Kagome…"

"This is what you've been training me for right? I said it before too, you've spent all these years protecting me, so now let me protect you, and protect everyone." without waiting for a response, she dropped into a stance with both hands on her sword, and her expression hardened into one of determination, though her eyes were filled with fear 'Sure I can talk a big game, but I've never been in a straight up one on fight before, especially not with a demon.'

"Your heart and your mind are filled with doubts and insecurities, as if you already know that you could never defeat me." Goshinki's malicious grin widened a few inches "I can hear clearly that any one of your companions would be more than willing to charge in and attack me in order to protect you from my wrath, even if it meant they had to sacrifice their own worthless lives in order to do so. They need not rush to their death though, for I do plan to devour each and every last one of them, though Kagome is still going to be the first. Now then, the time has come for me to claim my prize! DIE WENCH!" with a mighty howl, he launched himself forward at full speed and brought down one set of his claws.

'Here he comes, this is it!' keeping her eyes focused on him, Kagome made her way through a series of steps and swerved around his attack, taking both him and herself by surprise at how easy it was 'I… I dodged… it. But how?'

"Even you know as well as I do that you dodging my attacks was pure luck!" Goshinki brought down his other claw.

Kagome was able to weave around that attack as well 'I dodged it, he was so fast but it was so easy for me. I don't get it, I mean he's moving so fast that even Inuyasha couldn't keep up with him, but I could see his attacks coming so clearly, and dodging his attacks was so easy too.'

"You shouldn't be surprised by that." this was when Tatsu got her attention from where he was standing on the sidelines with the children huddled behind him "You've been watching me training and fighting with everything I've got since we were kids remember?"

"But I've always sat on the sidelines before now, all I did was sit back and watch."

"But you were watching, and not even just me either, but the likes of Inuyasha and everyone else here, along with Sesshomaru, Koga, Naraku and a bunch of other demons. You've spent all this time with a front row seat to various displays of multiple types of fighting techniques. You've spent all this time absorbing a lot more than you realize. Some pathetic Hulk reject like this guy isn't going to touch you with his attacks, all you have to do is keep your eyes on them."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do, have a little bit of faith in yourself and your training. You said that you wanted to get as strong as you could possibly get, and I know that wasn't just talk either, so have some faith in your own words alright?"

"...Right." Kagome gave him a smile and a nod full of determination, and then she charged into the fray at full speed.

"It doesn't matter if you can dodge my attacks." Goshinki dodged Kagome's attack and blitzed behind her to try and land a claw attack from behind, which missed by only an inch "Because know being can defeat you when you know their every thought. The very idea of a pathetic wench defeating me is nothing more than laughable."

"We'll see about that!" Kagome whipped around and launched another furry of attacks with her sword.

Goshinki barked out a laugh as he dodged every one of them "It's as I told you, I can hear your every thought, see every action you take before you take it. A being that can read the minds of others is unstoppable, even Naraku himself would tremble before my power! All I have to do is dispose of you and the others, and then no one will be able to stand in my way!"

"We'll see about that, and I can tell you for a fact that as long as I'm still breathing, you're not gonna lay a hand on them or anyone else!" Kagome braced herself and charged at him again.

Goshinki needed only to sidestep her attacks to avoid them and gave a sweep of his claws.

Kagome was forced to leap out of the way to avoid being hit, and she ended up hitting the ground with a loud thud. She quickly pulled herself back to her feet and wiped some blood away from a cut on her cheek, and glanced over at where Tatsu and the others stood on the sidelines 'I think I get it, he's not interfering because he wants me to learn how to do this myself. It's because he has faith in me. I can't let him down, him or any of the others, not now.'

"You claim that you can't let them down, but I can see for myself that letting him down is all that you ever do. And you really think you can stand by him without returning his feelings, as if you're just stringing him along?"

'...I can do this, I just have to remember what Tatsu told me. I have to find the space between my thoughts and learn to live there. No thinking, no thinking.'

"You're wasting your time girl, I can read every thought that flows through your mind before you can even come to understand it yourself." Goshinki gave a smirk, but then his expression turned to shock 'What's this, how is this possible? I cannot hear her thoughts, it's as if she was able to close them off to me somehow, just like that other wretch!'

"Don't think, just do, and end this." with this in mind, Kagome steadied herself with her sword in her hands, and then she charged forward, and she managed to cut off one of Goshinki's arms with a single stroke of her sword, albeit infused with spiritual energy.

Goshinki let out a roar and tried to charge at her.

Kagome weaved her way around his attack and used another energy-enhanced stroke to cut off one of his legs, then leapt over another attack, and with one final energy-enhanced stroke of her sword, she managed to cleave Goshinki's head clean off, leaving his headless body, or what was left of it anyway, to be purified in a blinding light while she returned to the ground and fell to one knee, panting heavily from the fatigue she was feeling "That… isn't as easy as… anime makes it out to be…"

"Don't give that too much thought, you did a great job out there." Tatsu helped Kagome back to her feet, in which they took notice of the smiles of approval the others were giving "As much as I'd like to say you could thrive on the praise to your heart's content, we've got something more important to deal with."

"Yeah you're right, I need to heal Inuyasha's wounds before he bleeds out."

"That's not what I'm talking about, and from the looks of it, I don't think he really needs to worry about that right now."

"Why do you say that?"

"See for yourself."

As it turns out, Inuyasa was pulling himself back to his feet, though the wound in his chest had closed and was now replaced by something else, as in his eyes had turned a deep shade of crimson, purple markings appearing on his cheeks "And here I thought that bastard was able to read minds, I guess he's just all bark and no bite like that bastard Naraku is." his voice was filled with malice.

'This feeling I'm getting from him, I've never sensed this much bloodlust before, and those markings on his face. What happened to you?"

"The hell if I know, all I know is that it feels good. I just wish I got a chance to tear into him before he got slaughtered like the filthy beast he is, but I guess judgement day came early. He didn't know a damn thing about what he was talking about, because the demon blood coursing through my veins isn't anything like his. I'm in a class of my own. I would've enjoyed being able to slaughter him." but then he looked down at his claws as his mind began racing 'I can feel the blood rushing through my body, why the hell do I feel like this? I can still feel the need to kill, to kill something, anything I can.'

"Inuyasha."

"Whatever you want stay the hell back, I don't know what's happening but I can't say for sure what I'm going to do next."

"Kagome stand back, go back with the others." Tatsu took a few steps forward as he prepared to draw his swords "The big ugly bastard is dead, you can calm yourself down."

"I said stay away, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"...Kagome, do it."

"Do what?"

"Inuyasha, sit." was all Kagome said, which sent him slamming into the ground face first.

"For the love of fuck, will you stop doing that?!" Inuyasha bolted upright and promptly rounded on Kagome, though they were quick to notice that his face was back to normal.

"It worked, you're back to normal." Tatsu knelt down in front of him and studied him closely for a moment "Now that we don't have to worry for the time being, just what the hell was that?"

"I… I have no idea." the two of them glanced over at the broken form of the Tessaiga.

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Nightfall came, and a gloomy darkness had settled over the lands.

"Come on, it's just a little bit further!" Rin rushed forward towards the scene and came to a quick stop, with Jaken following not long afterwards "I beat you, I knew I could!"

"Oh come now you fool, we weren't in a race." Jaken screeched to a stop not far behind her, panting heavily as he did so "Dammit, these old legs of mine can't keep up."

"Wait look at that Master Jaken, it's the remains of a demon, just like Lord Sesshomaru told us about." the two of them quickly caught sight of the remains of Goshinki.

"Who on earth could have done this?"

"It was neither Inuyasha nor the Fang Wielder." this was when Sesshomaru himself emerged from within the mist "The scent carried by the remains is that of the girl with spiritual powers that travels in Inuyasha's group. She was the one who did this, though I can tell that it was a difficult battle for her." he picked up the severed head of Goshinki, causing Rin to scream in terror at the sight 'I can smell it on the fangs of this demon, the scent of Tessaiga. So I was right, these fangs caught the sword my father once wielded, and broke the blade in two. Come with me, we're going."

"You mean we're taking the head with us?"

"It holds what I came for. Enough of that Rin, stop screaming."

"Yes my lord." Rin immediately bolted upright with a bright smile.

'The scent in the wind tells me what transpired here. This demon broke the Tessaiga in half, and the the girl Kagome defeated it single handedly. But one thing baffles me. I pick up small traces of Inuyasha's blood, but the scent of it has changed. It is not the smell of a half demon, but rather it has the same scent as my blood and that of father… the blood of a full demon.'

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Morning came, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies above the Feudal Era.

While the rest of the group was enjoying some grilled fish for breakfast, Inuyasha sat at the edge of the river looking down at Tessaiga, or what was left of it 'When Tessaiga got bitten in half by Goshinki, I was almost certain I was about to die. But then as I blacked out, my entire body started burning with a desire to live, and to kill. The next thing I knew, I was on my feet and those wounds he gave me didn't even hurt. That was when I started feeling something strange, something that I had never felt before. I felt an overwhelming desire to kill.'

"Here."

Inuyasha looked up and saw Tatsu holding a piece of fish out to him "Oh, thanks." he promptly snatched it and started eating it.

"In all honesty, I feel like this is mostly my fault. I was toying with Goshinki a lot longer than I should've, because I wanted to show Kagome how to fight him without thinking, so that he wouldn't be able to read your thoughts and learn your weaknesses. If I had just finished him off from the start, then maybe this never would've happened… I'm sorry."

"...Forget about it, what's done is done and there's no use in dwelling on it. I'm the one who tried to use the Wind Scar on him, and then… god only knows." this was followed by dark clouds suddenly appearing overhead, and then with a flash of lightning a certain demon bull with three eyes appeared before the group "Okay, so that's happening I guess."

"You recognize this bull don't you?" this was when Miroku and the others made their way over to the scene "This animal belongs to Totosai, the man that forged your Tessaiga."

"And apparently it came alone, you know I always figured this thing was smarter than that old geezer."

"Master Inuyasha!" this was when a certain flea jumped off of the bull and onto Inuyasha's nose, which ended with him being smacked off.

"And there's something that I was't missing, so you were hiding out with the old man this whole time weren't you Myoga?"

"How rude, you make me sound like a coward who runs at the first sign of trouble!"

"Because that's exactly what you did." Sango pointed out dryly.

"...Well nevermind that, I came because I needed to learn about what happened to Tessaiga!"

"It's over there." Shippo pointed over at where the broken form of Tessaiga lay "We fought a demon created by Naraku that bit the sword in half."

'This is just as I suspected, that explains why the scent of Inuyasha's blood has changed. Please my lord, you must take the pieces of the sword and go to Master Totosai right away!"

"So you're saying that he's gonna reforge the blade then?" asked Sango.

"Yes yes he can now hurry, we don't have a moment to lose! Momo the bull will take you right to where Totosai lives."

"Alright alright, just stop your whining already." Inuyasha hopped onto the back of the bull.

"Do you need us to accompany you?" asked Miroku.

"For what, it's just seeing the old man and getting him to fix the sword. It's not like I'm gonna be battling a dragon from hell or anything, so later." to that end, he hopped onto the bull's back and promptly took off.

"Let's just hope it's as simple as simple as asking him to fix the sword."

"Knowing Totosai there will be a great number of tears involved, but he will repair the Tessaiga without hesitation." Myoga hopped up onto Kagome's cheek and started drawing blood, only to be slapped off, but he quickly bounced back from it "But in any case, it came to my attention that during your last battle when Tessaiga was broken, Master Inuyasha underwent a transformation other than his human form. Is that correct?"

"And he was practically drowning us in the bloodlust he was giving off." Tatsu told him "There aren't many things that can really make me sweat like that, but that's definitely one of them. So what the hell was it?"

"Well as all of you have been made aware, Tessaiga is an heirloom that was left to Inuyasha by his father when he passed on. The sword is a tool that protects him from his enemies, but what none of you have been told is that the sword has a second purpose. It ensures that the demon within him remains contained."

"So it keeps his dark side incheck, is that what you're saying?"

"Master Inuyasha dying is inevitable once Tessaiga has been broken, and his strong desire to live awakened the demonic blood that flows through his veins, and even after Tessaiga is repaired, the demonic side of Inuyasha will be even harder to keep in check than it was before, because now he understands the craving to slay his enemy with overwhelming brutality."

'Which means that he's being taken over by the demon in him? That does make sense, and I'm guessing the reason we never heard about this is because technically, his whole life he's never been without Tessaiga. Even if he didn't have it with him physically, he still had it indirectly, seeing how the path to get it was hidden in the black pearl in his right eye. Whatever the case, we'll be sure to keep that side of him in check, whatever it takes." he was met with a series of simultaneous nods.

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As one would imagine, Totosai had broken down in tears at the sight of Tessaiga having been broken in half, insulting Inuyasha in the process, and told him that he could repair the sword in three days, but he needed something to bond it. He then proceeded to get what he needed by ripping one of Inuyasha's fangs out of his mouth, causing him to scream in comical pain (which I'm sure would've made Sesshomaru smirk if he heard it). But despite this, it was agreed upon between the two of them that Tessaiga would be repaired within three days.

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Speaking of Sesshomaru, things were about to take a turn for the worst. As he carried what was left of Goshinki's head, he made his way to Kaijinbo, the former apprentice of Totosai, and then requested he forge a sword from Goshinki's fang, to which he agreed, but only after Tenseiga was used to bring the head back to life, since a living fang was needed in order to form a demon sword.

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Days passed, and the promised day was merely hours away.

Kagome and Shippo sat by the river filling up canisters of water "Well Tessaiga should be fixed by tomorrow, but that's if we're actually lucky, which we really aren't most of the time."

"It couldn't have happened at a worse time though." Shippo muttered "I think it's gonna be a long night."

"Hey it's just one night, all we have to do is wait for the sun to come up. What could possibly go wrong?" she was met with a dull look from Shippo "Yeah I know, I realized it as soon as it came out of my mouth."

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Meanwhile, back with the rest of the group…

"Dammit, this is getting ridiculous." Inuyasha (now in his human form, if his black hair was anything to go by) gave a scowl as he stared at the campfire "I wish the old man would hurry the hell up and give me my sword already." then he looked over at Miroku and Sango and noticed the two of them staring at him "What?"

"Sorry it's just, you look like an ordinary human now." Sango muttered.

"What's your point?"

"Oh yeah, you guys haven't heard about this yet. I don't blame you, I've only seen it happen twice myself." Tatsu pulled himself back to his feet "To make a long story short, half demons like him and that horse guy Jinenji lose their demon powers every now and then and end up turning into normal humans for a certain amount of time. Take a look and you'll see that he doesn't have his claws or fangs, his hair is black instead of white like it usually, his eyes are brown instead of gold, and if you do a little bit of digging under the mountain that is his hair you'll notice that he has normal human ears instead of the dog ears he's usually got, which is why we saw Kagome brooding to herself earlier. Apparently she's pretty fond of touching them, along with pretty much every other women he comes across."

"Way to give them my life story."

"Just be glad I didn't force your jaw open to show them the lack of fangs. But anyway, if half demons like him get attacked when they're at their weakest then they can't defend themselves, so they usually prefer to keep a low profile and stay out of sight. That's why nobody can find out about how he turns human for a night, especially not Naraku or else we're pretty much as good as dead. We've gotta stay vigilent for tonight, for all we know Naraku probably thinks we're still weak after the fight with Goshinki and will try to exploit it somehow." it was then that he noticed the look Inuyasha was giving him "What?"

"You don't have to spewing around about my biggest secrets to everyone."

"They were going to find out eventually, you don't have to act like it's the end of the world if they find out. Besides, they already knew the basics." he jerked a thumb at where Shippo was hiding behind a nearby rock.

"So that little shit was the one who-" he was grabbed by the back of his robe.

"Take it easy man, he didn't mean anything by it. Besides it's like I said, they were going to find out eventually."

"Yeah whatever, this is just fucking perfect. Every time I turn around, more and more people know about my little secret."

"So what's the problem with it?" this was when Kagome made her way back over to the group with a few bottles of water in hand "If anything, that only proves that you have more friends you can trust than you did before."

"Yeah whatever." he just let out a scoff and turned away.

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Hours passed, and the skies were covered with stars for as far as the eye could see.

Inuyasha gazed up at the skies above, his mind drifting 'When I turn into a mortal like this, I get overcome by all of these human emotions. The way I see it, it's gonna be goodbye and good riddance to those feelings once I turn myself into a full fledged demon. Then again, if I do let myself turn into a full fledged demon, how am I going to react to Tatsu and Kagome, or the rest of them?'

"Would you care for one?"

Inuyasha looked up to see Miroku standing behind him and holding out a soda to him "Fine screw it, what's the worst that could happen?"

"A fine philosophy to live life by, albeit a bit on the crude side." Miroku said down next to him and downed his own soda "You know it would be unwise for you to wander too far away from the campsite on a night like this."

"Don't try and fucking coddle me like I'm made of claw, everybody needs some time where they just want to be alone so they can hear themselves think. I'm not an exception to that."

"Nor am I, I understand how you feel." Miroku looked up at the night sky "In all honesty, I came over here to see you because I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For what you did for me the night we were attacked at my master's temple. If you hadn't come to defend me when you did, both myself and Hachi would've been drawn into my Wind Tunnel and devoured."

"You were seriously gonna go through with that?"

"We figured it was better to die on our own terms than be devoured by a pack of demons. That's often the way I've lived my life up until now, try and find someone willing to bear my child to continue what my grandfather started before dying by my Wind Tunnel But after all the time we've spent fighting together, seeing you and the others charge in without hesitation, now I feel that perhaps I have a chance not just to survive, but to truly live."

"Don't start spouting off some destiny crap. The way I see it, destiny doesn't exist. The only things we have for us in life are the ones we grab hold of ourselves, like how I grabbed hold of Tessaiga mostly to piss off Sesshomaru."

"As is what I was told by Tatsu. Well thank you for listening, I'll leave you to your brooding in peace." and on that note, Miroku promptly made his way back over to the campsite.

'It's about time he left, I thought he was gonna grab me by the ass again. Now where was I? Oh yeah, brooding over my life long ambition.'

"You have a second?"

'And the thought's gone.' Inuyasha glanced over to see Kagome sit down next to him "Is this is gonna be a regular thing tonight, me trying to brood and you guys interrupting me for shits and giggles?"

"No I wouldn't count on that, Shippo is already asleep and Tatsu and Sango went off to spart somewhere. I just wanted to talk for a minute."

"Fine, get it over with so I can get back to brooding."

"Alright, I just wanted to ask you something… do you think I've gotten stronger?" she was met with only a raised eyebrow "I've just been doing a lot of thinking lately, about how I've helped in fights leading up to now. Or how I haven't been. I mean looking back, when Tatsu and I first came to this era, I didn't really do anything to help. I just fired the occasional blast of spiritual energy and hoped that it would do something. Then I learned the Healing Hand after Tatsu got hurt so bad fighting against Sesshomaru, and I thought I would at least be able to support you guys in some way. Until I lost the jewel shards to Kikyo, and I got dragged down into those creepy vines, and I saw it… Tatsu, you, everyone else being slaughtered over and over again, while I just laid there totally helpless to do anything. Then I learned how to use a sword from my dad, and now I'm training with Tatsu, and thanks to that I protected everyone from Goshinki, but I still don't really feel like I've changed or improved as much as I need to. I'm asking you because I know you'll be honest with me… Do you think I've gotten better? Do you think I can really live up to what Kikyo was like when she was alive?"

"...Kikyo was a strong woman. Well she never got to be a woman, but she was strong. She and I fought each other a few times before we got closer to each other, and she beat me every single time, but she never bothered to finish me off. I never really understood why either. It didn't even matter that I was so much stronger and faster, she just pinned me to a tree each time and then left without turning back. The priestess who guarded the Shikon Jewel, the woman who never really got to be a real woman, her strength and beauty got a lot of attention from good and bad people, and you know damn well how that turned out."

"Yeah, we all do." Kagome cringed slightly and looked away.

"And you look exactly like her, you're her spitting image."

"You know that's another thing, I've looked at my own reflection and I've seen Kikyo, but I don't really see it. Tatsu said the same thing."

"I'm calling it like I see it. Anyway you look like her in my eyes, you're her spitting image, you even have spiritual powers, but your abilities with it are totally different from hers. Your control over it is sloppy and it makes me hard to believe that you and her share the same soul. Her skills with a bow were refined beyond belief, and it had a sense of dignity to it. Your skills are so dull and amateruish, it makes me wonder if the two of you ever really did share a soul."

'Oh yeah, don't bother crushing my self esteem or anything.' Kagome bowed her head in a comical anime depression.

"And that's why you have to strive to surpass her." that caused Kagome's head to snap up when she heard this "You might look like Kikyo in my eyes, but you're already on the path to the point where you can surpass her with a kind of strength that's all on you. Kikyo never had the power to heal injuries with spiritual power when she was alive, and I never saw her pick up a sword even once. Surpass her in your own way, and use that strength for when we bring down Naraku once and for all."

"...You're right. Thanks for the pep talk Inuyasha, you're pretty good at it." Kagome promptly stood upright, gave him a quick peck on the cheek that caused his face to turn red, and with a bright smile she promptly made her way back to the campsite.

'Yeah it's official, I'm never gonna get women.'

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Unfortunatley, not all was as well as the group would've liked to believe.

Jaken arrived on the promised day to take possession of the sword, only for Kaijinbo to cut him down in a single stroke, having been possessed by the sword's lust for vengeance, and as such he departed in search of the Inu Gang to carry out the wishes within the sword.

It wasn't long after this that Sesshomaru arrived on the scene, found Jaken's body cleaved in two, and subsequently revived him with Tenseiga. Once he had pulled himself together, Jaken went on to explain to Sesshomaru about what he saw.

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Hours passed, and there was still some time before the sun would rise.

Tatsu glanced around the campsite to see that Kagome and the others were all fast asleep, and then he glanced over at Inuyasha "You know I can take watch, you should probably go ahead and get some sleep like the others."

"Oh please, look who the hell you're talking to." Inuyasha let out a scoff "I've never once done something so stupid as let myself fall asleep when I was stuck as a pathetic human."

"Yeah well the difference is that this time you're not being attacked by some narcissistic jackass out for your blood or vengeance, you can afford to let down your guard."

"I can't let down my guard and you know damn well why. I've got a lot of enemies that are out for my blood, if any of them try and attack me when I'm stuck in my human form then I don't stand a chance in hell."

"Yeah I get that, but now you've got friends that you can count on to have your back."

Inuyasha was about to give a reply, but then his head suddenly snapped up "You sense that?"

"You'd have to be dead not to. Come on guys get up, we've got a serious problem."

"Yeah I know, we already sensed it." Kagome and the others promptly bolted upright "There's something in the air, some kind evil aura, and it's really powerful."

"And I can sense it closing in on us fast." this was followed by a series of trees being chopped down in the forest in front of them, and then a powerful wave of red colored energy hurtling towards them "Case and point, everyone get the hell down! Sea God's Shield!" he summoned a water shield in front of the group that cancelled out the energy blast.

"So you were able to deflect one attack, not that it mattes." fom within a red column of light emerged none other than Kaijinbo himself, his eyes glowing crimson, the same as the blade of Tokijin that he held in his hand "Tell me, which one of you is Kagome?"

"That would be me, so who are you?" Kagome motioned for Shippo to get behind her as she gripped the hilt of her sword.

"I am the demon blacksmith known as Kaijinbo, this sword known as the Tokijin was forged by myself, and now it cries for a taste of the blood of the one who killed it. Kagome, it holds a craving for your blood. I know that you are the priestess who can sense the Shikon Jewel shards, I have been taught so by the sword. I have to admit that I am disappointed, I was expecting to face a formidable warrior, and yet I am faced with a pitiful wench such as yourself."

"Hey! Look I don't know who you are or what you want, but I've never seen you before in my life, and I haven't done anything to wrong you."

"It's as I told you before, it is the sword that thirsts for your blood. This sword Tokijin was forged by me using the fangs of the demon that shattered the sword that had been created by the old man Totosai, the fang known as Tessaiga!"

'Back up a second, he used the fangs from Goshinki to make that sword?' Tatsu shared a quick look with Inuyasha and the others 'So to sum it up, not only is that sword filled with the same level of evil power as Goshinki, but it holds his hatred for Kagome for killing him.'

"Okay I've heard enough of your crap already old man, just stand there and get ready for when I rip you limb from limb!" Inuyasha charged at Kaijinbo, or at least tried to, but then he found himself being grabbed by the back of his robe by Sango "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm stopping you from throwing your life away." Sango told him flatly "I hate to be blunt about this, but as you are right now you would just be throwing your life away."

"I'm not gonna stand back and do nothing!"

"No you're not, you're gonna stay back here and survive." Tatsu dragged Inuyasha behind another water shield he summoned "Stay here with Shippo and don't move, or else you will be killed."

"But-"

"But nothing Inuyasha, this time it's our turn to protect you. It's like I said, you have friends you can count on, so let us do this."

"He's right, this is what friends do, so just hang back for now." Kagome gave him a reassuring smile, then shot a glance over at Tatsu "Probably not the best time to bring this up, but I don't suppose you have any ideas for defeating a demon possessed by an evil sword?"

"Well, that's kind of hard to say." Tatsu gave a shrug "Okay I don't have much experience with fighting people that have been possessed by the weapons they wield, but I think the best way to describe it is what Akira told me once. When in battle, you don't just fight the weapon, you fight the man that wields it." he then proceeded to call out to Miroku and Sango "That doesn't just apply to her either, you guys know what I'm talking about don't you?"

"You don't have to explain it Tatsu, I already understand. We only need to worry about dodging the attacks from Tokijin, and then focus our attacks on Kaijinbo directly! Hiraikotsu!" with this in mind, Sango promptly hurled her Hiraikotsu toward Kaijinbo at full speed.

"Pity about your poor aim." Kaijinbo ducked underneath the Hiraikotsu to avoid being hit, and when it started to circle back around he simple slashed at it with the Tokijin and cleaved it in two with ease "If you believe that such a pathetic attack would be enouh to defeat me when I have this sword in my possession, then you're even more foolish than I thought! Crimson Dragon Wave!" he unleashed a crimson colored wave of energy from the sword and sent it hurtling forward.

'There's so much power in that attack!' Sango was quick to leap out of the way of the blast, though her foot ended up being scorched as she retreated, and she was sent tumbling to the ground as a result.

"And now to finish this wench, and then Kagome will be next!"

"Don't fucking count on that! Sea Dragon's ROAR!" Tatsu blitzed in front of Kaijinbo and unleashed a water dragon at nearly point blank range.

"Crimson Dragon WAVE!" Kaijinbo thrusted the blade of Tokijin into the water dragon, the force of the collision sending both of them skidding backwards "Your power is impressive to be able to stand against the power of the Tokijin, but even that will not be enough to stop me from taking her head."

"I will admit that your sword is formidable, which is why I will have to resort to using this to stop you!" this was when Miroku suddenly pounced at him from above and pointed his staff forward.

Kaijinbo quickly blocked the staff using his sword as his smirk widened, the collision creating a small crater in the ground beneath his feet "I know about your Wind Tunnel monk, try and use it and I'll cut off your hand."

"It doesn't matter if I can't use my Wind Tunnel, because I still have this!" Miroku pulled out a sutra from his robe and slapped it onto Kaijinbo's face, causing him to cry out in pain as he was sent crashing to the ground with a burst of spiritual energy "My Wind Tunnel may be my most powerful and dangerous weapon in battle, but it's not the only one I have at my disposal. Now I bid you farewell."

Kaijinbo lay on the ground with a massive gash in the middle of his head, but then Tokijin once again started glowing with evil energy and he bolted upright again, a wide smirk quickly making its way across his face as he unleashed a wave of energy that sent Miroku flying "It doesn't matter how much power you possess, it means nothing in the face of the invincible power of Tokijin! There is no sword in this world that can match the power it wields!"

"Maybe there isn't, but I don't think that matters." this was when Kagome stepped out from behind the water shield and drew her Seishin Rozu, both hands on its hilt 'The enemy we have to fight isn't Kaijinbo, it's the sword itself. I can sense the evil energy coming from him and the blade, and if the glowing red eyes are anything to go by, not to mention the fact that his head was split open and he's acting like nothing happened, it looks like he's not acting of his own free will, like he's being controlled by Tokijin.'

"Come or me wench, or are you paralyzed by your own fear? Will you run away and hide like the pathetic wench you are?"

"Don't count on that happening. You know as well as I do that I'm the only one you came here looking for, and I'm not going stand aside and do nothing while the rest of you protect me like I'm some helpless little kid."

"Your courage is going to result in your painful and gruesome demise wench! Crimson Dragon Wave!" Kaijinbo held up the Tokijin and unleashed a large crimson colored dragon made of pure energy, and he sent it hurtling forward.

'I… may have bitten off more than I can chew.'

"Yeah, it's stuff like this that makes you really have to steel yourself." Tatsu suddenly blitzed in front of her, his body covered in iron dragon scales "You want some backup?"

"I… I can handle this."

"I know you can, just no on your own, and the thing about it is that you don't have to. It's what we've been telling him all night." he jerked a thumb at where Inuyasha was now pinned to the ground by a set of iron shackles "But in any case, why don't we give him more of a visual demonstration. Case and point. Iron Spear Storm!" Tatsu held up both arms and fired a rapid barrage of iron spears up towards the energy dragon, both attacks cancelling each other out in a powerful explosion that also sent both parties skidding backwards, and a large number of the iron spears hurtling down towards the ground.

"You think some pitiful metal is going to be able to stop me?!" Kaijinbo batted each of the metal spears away with ease, until…

"Cascade Destroyer!" a series of pressurized water streams suddenly shot through the air and started hurtling towards him.

"Crimson Dragon Wave!" Kaijinbo managed to cut through most of the water attacks with another Crimson Dragon Wave, though one of them managed to pierce him straight through the shoulder, resulting in one of his arms hanging limp at his side while blood started gushing from the wound, and he coughed up a fair amount of blood as a result, but then he quickly took notice of the sight of Kagome charging towards him, and so he braced himself "You can't hope to overcome the power of Tokijin!"

"I'm gonna do a lot more than overcome it, I'm gonna destroy it in one shot! Sacred Sword Strike!" Kagome coated her sword with her spiritual power and brought down the blade at full speed.

"Crimson Dragon Wave!" Kajinbo unleashed another wave of energy from Tokijin as he clashed against Kagome's sword, though his demonic energy was quickly snuffed out by the spiritual power within Kagome's sword.

Kagome let out a scream as she put more power into her blade, the force of her attack not only overwhelming Tokijin, but also sending her hurtling through Kaijinbo, resulting in her attack running straight through him and sending her tumbling to the ground in a heap afterwards, covered in a few minor burns, and then she looked back and her eyes widened 'Woah… I wasn't expecting that.'

Kaijinbo on the other hand, he was still standing, but now he was missing about ½ of his upper torso, as well as one of his arms, and he was now spewing out large amonuts of blood "How… I don't undersand… how can this be…"

"It's because a weapon is only as powerful as the one that wields it, and you let the sword do all of the heavy lifting for you."

"Dammit… the Tokijin is all powerful… how could it…"

"You know what fuck it, I'm sick of just standing around on the sidelines like some worthless cattle!" Inuyasha suddenly rushed out from his place behind Tatsu's water shield and prepared to charge at Kaijinbo with his fist clocked back, only to be cut off by a bolt of lightning striking the ground in front of him "What the hell?"

From the bolt of lightning emerged Totosai, riding on the back of his bull Momo and holding two objects, one being his typical mallet, and the other being the repaired form of Tessaiga "Well that makes sense, I should've known you would have something to do with all of the commotion that's been going on."

"Yeah we tend to do that old man, and you're late in case you didn't notice." Inuyasha promptly snatched the Tessaiga away from him and prepared to draw it.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that Inuyasha, keep in mind that Tessaiga is going to transform for you when you are in your human form and don't have any of your demonic powers. You'll have to wait until the sun comes up." Totosai then turned his attention to Kaijino, his gaze hardening as he did so "It's been a long time since the last time you and I crossed paths Kaijinbo, though I can say that you've definitely seen better days."

"Totosai, you filthy wretch…" Kaijinbo spat out some blood "I took you for dead… but now the has come…"

"You've been busy crafting another wicked sword haven't you? And now it's about to become the instrument of your demise."

"So you say… but now the time has come… for me to show you… which of us… is the better swordsmith…"

"Your own creation is killing you and you don't even realize it."

"I take he's an old friend of yours?" asked Tatsu.

"As ashamed as I am to admit it, Kaijinbo was my disciple at one point, but I had banished him a long time ago. He was most unorthodox, he once killed 10 innocent children for the sake of crafting a sword, like a wretched beast. He covered the blade of that sword with oil and human blood in order to make it seethe with hatred."

"So to sum it up, you tried to teach him the right path but he turned out to be a stereotypical sadist that liked to bathe in the blood of others."

"Yep, that about sums it up, and now he most likely plans to destroy one of my creations before my very eyes."

"The wench can wait for now, Inuyasha the time has come for you to draw your sword and face me!" despite having only one arm, Kaijinbo pointed Tokijin at Inuyasha "I shall showcase my superiority to Totosai by crushing his prized creation before his very eyes!"

"Did I call it?"

"Yeah you called it old man, I'll give you that much." Inuyasha promptly drew Tessaiga from its sheath "I won't waste any more time in doing in you and that sword of yours, I owe the bastard it came from in the first place." and so he charged forward.

"And there he goes."

"So how should we expect this to go?" asked Tatsu "Did you make Tessaiga any stronger than it was before?"

"I suppose a little bit, I did it the same I way I did when Inuyasha's father asked me to forge the sword in the first place."

"Which means what exactly?"

"Well in simple terms, whether or not it's any stronger than before depends on what happens when the sun finally comes up." the two of them watched as Inuyasha was sent flying by the sheer pressure coming from the Tokijin, blood being drawn from his arm in the process "As we can see plain as day, that hasn't happened yet."

"Let's not wait for the worst to happen." Tatsu promptly drew both swords from his back and blitzed in front of Inuyasha just in time to stop Kaijinbo from cutting him down, and then a simple kick to the torso sent him hurtling backwards "You realize that charging at him while you're still stuck in your human form was a really bad idea right?"

"I decided it was better than sitting on my ass doing nothing all night." Inuyasha pulled himself back to his feet "Plus I wanted to see how the Tessaiga handles against this bastard now that it's been reforged."

"And your verdict on that one is?"

"So far it looks like it's handling even better than it did before, and it didn't break so I call that one a win."

"But the problem with that is that you're still only a human, you can't use the sword's full power as you are right now and just clashing against Tokijin was enough to make you bleed."

"I say it doesn't mean a damn thing, no matter how powerful that sword is the fact is that he's not powerful enough to wield it. Just look at him, fighting you and Kagome was enough to make him lose like half of his body. The way I see it, that pathetic bastard should've come after me when he still had the chance." this was when the sun finally rose and his transformation began, with his claws, fangs, dog ears and white hair all returning to him "That is to say, he should've done it before I became awesome again."

"6/10 for that one."

"Go fuck yourself, or better yet, stand back and watch the master at work. I'm gonna test out the new blade of Tessaiga, and this bastard is gonna be the first." to that end, he promptly held up the sword as it transformed… only for the blade to fall to the ground with a loud thud "What the everlasting fuck?!"

"What's the matter?"

"What the fuck do you think, the old bastard fucked up my sword somehow! This thing is so ridiculously heavy I can't even lift it! Hey start talking Totosai, how the hell did you screw this one up?!"

"Oh, you mean that." Totosai blinked at what he was seeing "Well if I had to guess, it must have something to do with that fang of yours I used to repair it. Pay no mind."

"How the fuck can I not when I can't even lift the thing because it's so heavy?!"

"You know we've got other problems right now, he's coming at us." Tatsu pointed out.

"Shut your fucking hole already, I'm working on it!"

"Well keep working on it, I'll deal with this bastard. Sea Dragon's ROAR!" with a wave of a single hand, Tatsu met Kaijinbo's charge by unleashing a large water dragon at point blank range, the force sending him tumbling back in a heap "The way I see it you'd be lucky to make it to a draw with that thing, it's so heavy that if you bring it down on Tokijin you'd be able to limit his movements, but there's no chance of you using the Wind Scar when you're like that."

"It doesn't matter if I can use the Wind Scar, that creepy old bastard doesn't know how to wield a sword properly."

"Well yeah we all know that, I've seen enough anime to know that even if he did somehow manage to get a few hits on any of us, the power that controls him is going to destroy him once it doesn't have any more use for him."

"I didn't understand a single damn thing you just said. Besides, I'd be able to do him in with the Tessaiga no problem if the damn thing wasn't so heavy now. I swear I'm gonna rip the old man a new one when this is over."

"Oh yeah great idea, rip apart the only guy that knows how to make the sword lighter." the two of them glanced ahead at their opponent "And now he's getting back up."

"I won't die, not until all of you are dead!" Kaijinbo charged at the two of them and thrusted the Tokijin forward, only to stop in his tracks as his body suddenly started being ripped apart, and then it dissolved into nothing, leaving the Tokijin to be thrusted into the ground as it continued to emit evil crimson energy.

"Okay then, I was wondering when that was going to happen."

"I believe that all of us did." Totosai gave a simple nod "The sword held up, but Kaijinbo himself was unable to withstand the power contained within its blade. He had been overpowered and destroyed by the very sword he created, and to be honest the wretched fool brought that on himself."

"Speaking of deserving shit, you and I need to talk old man." Inuyasha sheathed the Tessaiga and promptly rounded on Totosai in a rage.

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Meanwhile, with a certain incarnation…

At the same time, Kagura had taken it upon herself to seek out Sesshomaru and the rest of his group, mainly referring to Rin and Jaken, and informed him of Kaijinbo being destroyed, as well as the current location of Tokijin, which she had observed from afar, before taking her leave, much to the relief of Jaken.

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"Speaking of deserving shit, you and I need to talk old man." Inuyasha sheathed the Tessaiga and promptly rounded on Totosai in a rage.

"Something about the sword you don't care for?"

"What do you think, how in the hell do you figure I can carry around such a heavy sword and use it in a fight? One thrust of the damn thing and I have to stop and rest!"

"So you wish to know how to handle this new Tessaiga of yours?"

"You mean there's a way to do it?"

"Of course there is, and it's actually quite simple."

"...Are you gonna give me some stupid line about how the answer is in me having to build up my own strength?"

"Um…" he was met with a blow to the head.

"I should've guessed, next time don't even open your trap."

"Duly noted." Totosai and the others then glanced over at where Tokijin remained thrusted into the ground, crimson energy still radiating from the blade "To think that it still radiates such an incredible amount of evil energy, and yet none of it has dissipated."

"Tell me about it, even I can sense it." Tatsu made his way over to Tokijin and gripped the blade, but then a surge of electricity forced him to back away "Okay, in all fairness I probably should have seen that coming."

"I can only wonder who could've commissioned Kaijinbo to forge such a weapon?"

"Well I've got a few ideas." Tatsu glanced over at Inuyasha "Two packs says it was Naraku, you in?"

"You're damn right." Inuyasha shot him a smirk.

"It's a bet then. So what do we have to do about the sword?"

"None of us can touch the Tokijin as it is right now, so we'll have to construct a barrier around the sword in order to contain its demonic aura." Miroku told him "Otherwise there's no way we'll be able to control the evil it emits."

"Any chance you can put some sort of spell on the sword?"

"I would but the aura it emits is too powerful, I'm not sure any of my spells would be able to seal it completely. Creating a barrier is easier said than done as well, we'll have to fire men to build the barrier and that requires money, which we're sadly lacking at the moment."

"Which means we're gonna have to go another route."

"I think I have it with me." Kagome stepped forward with her sword in its sheath, and armed with a bow and a single arrow "My Sacred Arrow should be able to purify the evil energy within the blade, that way we don't need to worry about a barrier or anything like that. Everyone stand back, I don't want to risk purifying any of you. Except maybe Miroku." to that end, she motioned for everyone to get behind her, and then she fired a single Sacred Arrow, which pierced the blade and made a small crack in it, but it did little else to damage it "It didn't work, is the power in it really that awesome?"

"No that's not it, the problem is with you." Tatsu told her, earning a look from her "What I mean is that you're not at 100%, after fighting Kaijinbo like that you've got some serious fatigue holding you back, whether you realize it or not. If you plan to purify the sword then you need some time to recover."

"Are you sure? I mean all I did was clash against him once."

"But you put a lot of energy into the blade when you did. You have a lot of power and potential to tap into, but as much as I hate to say it, your endurance and stamina in a fight are both pretty lacking at the moment. We'll have to be sure to work on that as much as we can."

"Yeah I guess you're right, but what about the sword?"

"Well I've got something in mind that should work, at least for the time being. Sea Dragon's Nest!" with a wave of both hands, Tatsu summoned a water dome that surrounded the Tokijin on all sides "And for extra insurance, Terra Dome!" he slammed both hands into the ground and summoned a dome of earth to surround the dome of water "It's not the same as an actual barrier, but it should work for the time being. In any case, right now we should try and get some distance from the thing."

"What the hell, you mean you want us to run like a pack of cowards?!" Inuyasha was quick to round on him.

"I'm saying we need to be smart about this and not just charge in swords blazing."

"Anyone that would be able to draw out that sword would have enormous power, and in your present state you'd be no match for it." Totosai told him flatly.

"He's right about this and you know it damn well."

"Well I don't give a shit what you say, I'm waiting here." Inuyasha promptly sat himself down on the ground.

"Okay now is not the time for your screaming ego to take the place of your better judgement, the smart thing to do here is for us to get some distance from the sword."

"Not a fucking chance, the rest of you can do whatever the hell you want but there's no way I'm moving a single muscle."

'...Fuck, it's gonna be one of those days isn't it?' Tatsu let out a sigh as he rubbed his temples in annoyance, then turned to the others "Anyone have any suggestions?"

"If I may." Miroku leaned over to him and the others, his voice low "Knowing how Inuyasha can be, I doubt there's really any chance that he's going to move away from the sword. I suggest the rest of us should stay near and keep watch over him."

"And how long do we have to wait for that to happen?"

"I suggest we wait for one entire day for him to calm down, and if he's still being stubborn about this situation by then we can have Kagome use her sit command on him to drive him into the ground and leave him unable to move. Then one of us can go up behind him and strike him hard enough to knock him out, and that will be when we can gather him up and flee from this place without any resistance from him."

"That seems really overly complicated just to get him to move."

"Well as a wise man once said, desperate times call for desperate measures."

"True as that might be, wouldn't it just make more sense to have Kagome sit him now and then knock him out so we didn't have to wait around? Why didn't you just go with that?"

"...Because I didn't think of it."

"Why does that sound so familiar to me? In any case we've got something more important to deal with right now." the two of them glanced over at Inuyasha, who was in the middle of being pestered by Myoga "What do you think we should do about him?"

"Well one option I believe would be best would be for us to come right out and tell him the honest truth."

"You mean about his sword don't you?" asked Kagome "About how the Tessaiga is supposed to keep his demon blood in check so it doesn't run wild."

"Yes, he doesn't know how important it is to him, and how it is even moreso now that his demon blood has been awakened. Maybe you're right, maybe we should just come right out and tell him the truth."

"No no no no no, absolutely not!" Myoga suddenly popped up on Kagome's neck and started sucking out her blood, only to be smacked off "You must not tell him the truth about the sword under any circumstances!"

"Why are you so freaked out about telling him the truth?" asked Tatsu.

"You all know what Master Inuyasha is like, if he finds out that his sword holds back his demonic nature then he'll surely abandon it and rely on his claws and fangs when he undergoes his transformation!"

"You're thinking that if he realizes this, then he'll get intoxicated by the power they give him and end up being addicted to them."

"Of course he will, keep in mind that Master Inuyasha is a simpleton at heart."

"I cannot and will not object to that. And now we've got another problem." Tatsu jerked a thumb over at where Totosai was wandering over towards Inuyasha "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling this isn't gonna turn out very well."

"Oh dear god, may Buddha help us all."

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Now for what's actually about to happen…

"Looks to me like you're certainly finding ways to keep yourself busy." Totosai made his way over to where Inuyasha was watching the barriers covering Tokijin "One minute you're turning into a human, and then you're turning into a goblin the next."

"I'm a demon, not a goblin you old fart." Inuyasha scowled as he sat on the ground and started looking over the Tessaiga "It's not like I have any sort of clue just what the hell is going on here anyway."

"You mean you haven't realized what's going on, you really are a simpleton."

"You wanna run that the hell by me again?"

"From what I've been told by Myoga, you transform into a full demon when you're on the verge of being claimed by death. That's not very surprising to me truth be told, considering the fact that you are a half demon, but if you ask me then the strength you possess doesn't lie in your nature as a demon. As I had told you about before, the fact that Tessaiga is so heavy for you to wield now that it's been repaired comes from the fang that I used to forge it."

"Yeah, you ripped that thing right out of my jaw so I smacked you upside the head for it."

"And your tooth grew back in less than a day, as we both knew it would. Anyway, the Tessaiga was originally forged from the fang of your father alone, so to put it in simple terms you are relying on the power of your father to protect you and fight your battles for you. But now that it's been repaired, the Tessaiga is different. Now you have to master the power that lies within your own fang, and you have to learn to protect yourself. Once you manage to master and freely wield this new Tessaiga, you will have truly discovered your own strength."

"My own strength huh? Why the hell do I get this feeling that I've been conned."

"Probably because you totally were." Tatsu told him dryly as he set up a large water shield in front of the group, which was almost immediately followed by the skies overhead being covered in dark clouds "But in any case you might wanna get ready, call it a hunch but I have a feeling we're gonna have a huge fight on our hands."

"What the hell do you-" Inuyasha sniffed the air and scowled as he bolted upright "Just fucking perfect, the last thing I need right now is to have to take any crap from Sesshomaru."

Sure enough, with a bolte of lightning struck Tokijin from above as Sesshomaru himself then descended onto the scene, which prompted Totosai to scream in terror and start using the group as human shields "So it would seem that what I was told was accurate after all."

"And just what the hell are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question, but in any case it doesn't matter now. I merely came in search of the sword." he then proceeded to rip through both the earth dome and water dome with a series of sweeps of its poison claws, revealing Tokijin still radiating evil energy, and then he turned his attention to Kagome "It would seem that the demon you had defeated and slain in battle held so much bitterness and rage towards you, it desired revenge even after its remains were forged into this sword."

"Wait, so you know everything about about how Goshinki's fangs were used in order to forge that sword?" Tatsu studied him for a moment, and then his expression dulled "You're the one that commissioned Kaijinbo to forge that thing in the first place aren't you?"

"Since Totosai refused to heed my wishes and forge a sword that could surpass the Tessaiga, I found someone that would grant my wish. You look disappointed by this revelation."

"Only because it means I lost a bet."

"You're damn right you did." Inuyasha shot a smirk at him "That's one for me you smug bastard."

"Fuck… Alright a deal's a deal, the next time we go home I'll bring pack two full packs of ramen for you and you alone. Anyway back to you, you said you came for the sword?"

"I did." Sesshomaru made his way forward and gripped the hilt of Tokijin.

"Normally this would be the part where one of us tries to warn you not to touch the sword or risk being corrupted and turned into a bloodthirsty vengeance seeker like Kaijinbo, but considering who exactly I'm talking to I don't think that's gonna be a problem."

"You are correct." Sesshomaru promptly pulled Tokijin out of the ground, the evil energy dissipating in his grasp.

"Yep, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"The evil aura…" Miroku and the others could only look on in disbelief "It's dissipating with such ease…"

"It's not really dissipating, it's just that Sesshomaru's aura is so much more powerful it snuffed it out like it was nothing."

"Perhaps, but more likely the sword has chosen me to be its master." Sesshomaru glanced down at the blade of Tokijin, then turned to face Tatsu "I can tell that you have grown stronger as well since our last encounter. You've awakened another Fang of Ryuhogo I take it?"

"Yep, this one makes three and grants me the ability to manipulate water and ice. It looks like we've both got a few new tricks this time around, so I take it this is going to be round 4?"

"As intriguing as the prospect is, I have other matters to attend to." Sesshomaru then turned his attention towards Inuyasha "Draw your sword Inuyasha, there is something that I wish to verify with you."

'Oh great, so now this is gonna happen.'

"What, you mean something about me?" Inuyasha let out a scoff and prepared to step forward, only to be stopped by Tatsu grabbing him by the Beads of Subjugation around his neck "What the hell are you doing?"

"Trying to stop you from getting yourself killed, you know as well as I do that you don't stand a chance in hell against him. You don't know how to handle the Tessaiga now, and you're going up against a sword like Tokijin, and now that Sesshomaru is the one using it, if you go up against him then you can kiss your ass goodbye."

"Well it's not like I'd be able to tell him to piss off and come back once I've got the sword figured out."

"Precisely, now come at me little brother. Or better yet I shall make it easy on both of us, and I will come for you." to that end, Sesshomaru pointed Tokijin forward and charged.

"Warning you now Sesshomaru, you're not gonna live long enough to regre this one!" on that note, Inuyasha drew Tessaiga from its sheath and charged, though he was quick to notice the obvious problem 'Dammit, this thing is way too heavy for me to use.' and so he was forced to use it as a shield to block Tokijin's strikes 'There's no way I can swing this thing properly, the only thing I can do with this stupid thing is block it.

"So I see that Tessaiga has been repaired, but seeing as our father is no longer part of this world I can only assume your own Fang was used to repair it. Am I correct?"

"And what if you are?"

"Then that would explain why I heard your screams of agony the other day. They did bring a smile to my face." with another stroke Sesshomaru sent Inuyasha staggering backwards a short distance, and then he took a moment to study him 'Just as I had suspected, his scent is that of a mere half demon. During the battle against the demon Goshinki, the scent of his blood had changed for certain, so what could this mean? This transformation is something that must witness with my own eyes.'

'This isn't going as well as I would've hoped, if I'm gonna get through this without getting myself killed then I'm gonna have to finish it with a single blow.'

"Why do you hesitate, have you altered your combat strategy? Usually you charge at me blindly with great haste and rage in your eyes."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself." Inuyasha let out a roar as he charged at Sesshomaru and brought down Tessaiga, the blade clashing against that of Tokijin, a series of electrical shockwaves being sent out as a resul of the collision "So it would seem that while the blade has been repaired, Tessaiga has become much heavier for you."

"Yeah it's a lot heavier you stupid jackass, so what's it to you?"

"The sword is too heavy for you, as such you're better off without it." with another stroke of the Tokijin, Sesshomaru knocked Tessaiga out of Inuyasha's grip and sending him tumbling backwards in a heap.

'Dammit all.' Inuyasha picked himself up and wiped some blood from his lip 'He just had to go and act like an even bigger dick than normal didn't he?'

"Master Inuyasha there isn't much time!" Myoga suddenly popped up on his shoulder "You have to hurry and take hold of Tessaiga, before it's too late!"

"Oh great, I have to deal with you now too. You know what fuck, I don't need the thing!" and so he charged forward in a rage.

"Please stop, I'm begging you not to do this! You can't afford to be so rash, not at a time as crucial as this!"

"Well it's not like I can actually do anything with that useless hunk of scrap metal now can I?"

"I'm begging you not to do this!"

"And I'm telling you do shut the hell up and stay back!" Inuaysha swatted Myoga off of him and charged forward at full speed.

'This is it, one attack will be sufficient. Azure Dragon Wave!" with a single stroke from his sword, Sesshomaru unleashed a blue wave of energy that hit Inuyasha dead on and sent him tumbling backwards in a heap, stopping a short distance away but not being blown off of his feet by the attack.

'You… You bastard…'

"This is enough, I've seen all that I needed. Now you can die." and so he charged forward with the intent to finish it, but stopped in the middle of it when he noticed something 'That scent has appeared again.'

Inuyasha suddenly crouched down onto the ground as an ominous wind blew throughout the battlefield, revealing his more prominent claws and fangs, as well as his crimson eyes and purple markings on his cheeks, and he let out a snarl.

"Dammit I was afraid of this." Tatsu drew both of his swords and prepared to charge in, only to be stopped by Totosai holding out a hand in front of him "What are you doing?"

"I'll do what needs to be done, whereas you and the others will need to take Inuyasha and flee from here as fast as you can." to that end, Totosai unleashed a powerful stream of flames that stopped Sesshomaru from advancing.

"Well in that case, do it now Kagome!"

"Sit boy!" was all Kagome needed to say, which threw Inuyasha to the ground and knocked him out cold, which allowed her and the others to grab hold of him and drag him away.

Once they did, Tatsu proceeded to extinguish the flames with a blast of water, and then he turned to face Sesshomaru "You deliberately knocked Tessaiga out of his grip to awaken that side of him didn't you?"

"When I retrieved the remains of Goshinki, I noticed that his scent had changed from that of a half demon to that of a full demon." Sesshomaru told him calmly "I wished to see the cause of it with my own eyes and experience it for myself. The results were… surprising."

"I know how you feel, the sheer bloodlust he was putting out was unlike anything I've ever felt before. I mean I know the feeling of bloodlust from when I've fought you before, but yours is more focused and composed. Seeing it from him was like feeling it come off of some kind of mindless animal."

"If my suspicions are correct, that may very well turn out to be the case." he then looked down at the Tokijin as he placed it on his sash next to Tenseiga "This sword holds a great deal of hatred directed towards your priestess companion, and based on the scent I've detected from the remains I can see that she was the one who killed it. I also saw the determination burning within her eyes. She's grown stronger."

"A lot has happened in between our encounters with you, but you're right. She has so much potential, and she asked me to help her bring it to the surface. Speaking of which, I'd better get moving before she and the others chew me out for leaving them to fend for themselves so I could mingle with you. Until the next time we try to kill each other." and so with a single two finger salute, he disappeared in a flash via the Dragon Warp.

'His spirit is unwavering, he shows no signs of fear even as he understands my intentions… He is intriguing, at least in comparison to other humans. As for Inuyasha… to think that he was able to make me tremble with fear, if even for a moment. In that instant…'

What went unnoticed was that Kagura was watching Sesshomaru from afar, her eyes blazing with anticipation 'As I thought, his power is unlike that of any other demon. He may even be able to kill Naraku… Even if Naraku does hold my life in his hands, I have no intention of spending my entire existence as a servant to the likes of him. I am the wind, and someday soon the day will come where I shall be free!'

A/N:

Now we see the aftermath of the battle against Kanna, as well as a few new battles that follow it. This chapter is a pretty heavy one when you think about it, because not only do we see Sesshomaru get his hands on the Tokijin, which he carries for most of the rest of the series, but we also see Inuyasha take on his demon form for the first time, and it's as unsettling as it always is.

One noteworthy change in this chapter is that rather than have Inuyasha be the one to kill Goshinki, it was Kagome who dealt him the finishing blow using something that she learned from her training with Tatsu. While it was epic to see the true and terrifying power of Inuyasha's demon form, I wanted to give her some growth by having her stand on her own two feet in a battle and actually win.