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. Support my Patreon. /TheLegendaryDragonReaper

49. The Road to Recovery Part II

(The Road to Recovery Part II)

Nightfall came, and the festivities had finally come to an end.

'It's kind of strange…' Inuyasha found himself lounging on the roof of the dojo, gazing up at the moon shining brightly in the skies above 'I mean yeah it's a lot louder in this world than mine, but somehow it feels… different. Like I'm not about to get attacked out of the blue every second of the day.'

"I didn't think you'd still be up so late."

Inuyasha glanced over to see Akira climbing up onto the roof "I don't really make it a habit of letting myself get too relaxed. Not exactly easy to when pretty much anything and everything can jump out of the woods and try to kill you."

"It's 3 AM, I'm pretty sure anything that would want to kill you is sleeping by now, like the rest of the world."

"So then why aren't you?"

"I drew the short straw and have to keep an eye out." Akira was met with only a raised eyebrow from Inuyasha, and so he chose to elaborate "Remember what Kazuma told us earlier? They just managed to track down the next set of Fangs. Tatsu and Raidou went off in search of it as soon as we got back.

"Right… and that's gonna make him stronger."

"Once they pass whatever screwed up test they have to face, yeah. But we've probably got at least until sunrise before that happens, so I'm basically on the night watch for pretty much no good reason." Akira gave a shrug as he sat down next to Inuyasha "In the meantime though, it's been awhile since you and I got to catch up at all. How have you been?" his cheerful demeanor quickly faded when he swaw Inuyasha's body grow visibly tense.

"I'm fine." his gaze trailed to the roof he was sitting on.

'Okay, that usually means he's about as far from fine as you can get. I know this demeanor from watching Tatsu over the years… the one where you sure as hell don't want to talk about it, but just as much need to. Fair enough. You just seem kind of… you know, sad. There's been a lot of that going around lately." he was met with silence "Look I get it, seeing someone you care about get hurt… it's too fucked up to really describe. But I can tell you from personal experience that closing yourself off from feeling and pushing everyone away… it's not gonna do any good for anyone."

"And blubbering about it like a fucking kid ain't gonna do shit to change it." Inuyasha's voice was sharp and on edge "Tatsu ain't the only one who fucked up okay, I was careless and let my guard down and the others…" he paused as he caught himself and quickly silenced himself… but after a moment he swallowed and carried on "Did… Did Tatsu tell you everything that happened over there?"

"Not the specifics, just that he wasn't able to save Kagome or the rest of your friends. I take it more happened than he let on?"

"Yeah… you know how I mentioned that girl awhile go, Kikyo? She…" he trailed off again, but the message was clear.

"I see… I'm sorry to hear that. Are… Are you holding up okay?" Akira fully turned his head to face Inuyasha, their eyes meeting, and he quickly saw Inuyasha's composed demeanor crumble away.

"It was my fault… I failed her again… I wasn't there for her… she died alone…"

"Hey, come on." Akira gently wrapped an arm around Inuyasha's shoulder, letting him bury his face in Akira's shoulder despite some hesitation "Believe me, I know how you feel… Losing someone that you care about… it feels like that pain can rip you apart from the inside."

"I just… Why did it have to happen? Why did she have to die again?"

"Take it from a voice of experience, don't go asking those kinds of questions. You'll end up driving yourself crazy trying to come up with an answer."

"So then… what am I supposed to do?"

"Sometimes there's only one thing you can do, talk about it with those who care. You got a lot of people around you that do." Akira begen scratching Inuyasha's ear, and then let out a chuckle as he saw his leg start shaking 'Yep, he's gonna be alright sooner or later… Lord knows he needed that though… and he's not the only one… I just hope you're gonna be alright Tatsu… because for you, this whole thing is far from over…'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Fang hunters…

"I have to be honest, I don't know what I was expecting." Raidou glanced around as he and Tatsu made their way through the halls of the newest temple "But I'm still pretty sure I was at least expecting some sort of distincting for the summit of Mount Kilaminjaro. This is more or less the same as the summit of Mount Everest."

"Uh huh." Tatsu just walked after him with Banryu slung over his shoulder.

"But at least there's no giant dragon statue that will eat you alive as part of the test."

"That'll happen."

"...You know I still cough up dragon saliva. Yeah, somehow that thing had saliva. And I'm pretty sure the Fangs inside there were literally encased in the stuff."

"Life can be like that." Tatsu continued walking, only stopping when he noticed Raidou come to a halt in his tracks "What?"

"Okay, you know something is wrong when I'm the talkative one between the two of us. If we had brought Arashi then I'm pretty sure his brain would've exploded from the very concept of that." Raidou paused and looked over at Tatsu "You wanna tell me what's going on? I can tell that you still seem… kind of off, for the lack of a better term."

"Sorry, I know the Fang is the most important thing."

"Forget about that, it's not like this is the first time we've had emotional baggage to deal with while we're preparing to face a life or death trial. I just… I wanted to check in I guess, make sure you're okay."

"It's just… a lot going on I guess."

"I was able to understand that much, I did hear a fair bit of what you and Higurashi talked about on stage earlier." Raidou's gaze softened slightly "Figured getting back on speaking terms with her would get you feeling better, but you still seem… Withdrawn and closed off."

"It's… complicated."

"I could tell, even without you telling me whatever you told your brother and Akira. You wanna try and uncomplicate it a little?" Raidou was met with silence, at least for the moment.

"...There was a close call. Way too close. Kagome and the others, they got… hurt. I tried to save them, but after everything I've gone through, all the trials and training… I couldn't do it. I gave it everything I had, and it still wasn't enough. I mean yeah, she and I are talking again, but if it happened once, what's to stop it from happening again. I just… I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

"Uh huh." Raidou fell silent for a moment, and then slowly looked over at Tatsu "You know, I've come to realize a couple of things since I met you and your group, and since I met Ayumi. A lot of things really, but I think the most important one I took away is that… sometimes you have to stop thinking about what you're supposed to do, and start thinking about what you want to do. So what do you want to do?" he was met with silence, until a pulsing sensation washed over the two of them.

"Right now I just want to get this test over with." Tatsu quickly turned his gaze to what lay in front of them, in the form of an open doorway in front of them "Pretty sure those doors aren't supposed to be open. Which can mean only one thing." his expression quickly darkened "Shin got to this one first. Again."

"Which raises the question: Can you sense his Ki?"

"No, if he was here he probably just took the Fang, killed the Guardian and bolted. For all we know he's probably on the other side of the world by now."

"In that case, it's all the more reason for us to figure out the test and grab the Fang before he can get too far ahead. So what are we dealing with here?"

"Give me a second and we'll find out." Tatsu made his way through the doorway, with Raidou close behind him, only for the two of them to come to stop when they found a pedestal in front of them glowing with crimson-colored energy, along with the figure standing watch over it with glowing crimson eyes.

"Is that it?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah." Tatsu paused and pulled out a notebook from his gi "According to my dad's notes, this is one of the two guardians called Taiyoken."

"I thought that journal didn't say anything about there being more than five sets of Fangs."

"Neither did I, but to make long story short, I ended up going over it with a blacklight and it turns out my dad wound up covering the last half in some kind of invisible ink. Go figure, he went and pulled a Gravity Falls."

"Uh huh. So I'm guessing this is the part where I have to take a step back while you go up and awaken the Guardian?"

"Far as I can tell, yeah." Tatsu took a deep breath as he slowly made his way forward to where the Guardian stood on the pedestal, but the second he was within a few feet of it, he found himself enveloped in a surge of demonic energy, leaving fissures and cracks in the walls and forcing Raidou back a short distance until Tatsu stopped him with an earth wall 'Well I guess we shouldn't be surprised by that anymore. We never thought this was going to be easy. Okay I'm ready, let's get this over with."

"You speak with such confidence in yourself." a raspy voice rang through the air as the eyes of the Guardian snapped open, revealing a pair of glowing crimson eyes "But will you be able to fulfill your ambitions in this place?"

"I guess there's one way to find out." Tatsu pulled Banryu down and held it in front of him as he eased into a stance "You're the guardian of the seventh Fang I take it?"

"You are correct. I am the guardian of the seventh Fang, Taiyoken. As my twin was slain only recently, that leaves me as the sole guardian of this temple."

"You mean the one who has the other set of Fangs." Tatsu shared a brief look with Raidou 'That right there is our confirmation, Shin has already come and gone. Am I correct?"

"You are correct young one.

"Who was it that took it?" Raidou stepped forward as his gaze hardened "Who was it that took the other Fang?"

"It wasss the one that wielded the other ssset of Fangsss created by my Massster."

'The other set of Fangs…' Tatsu glanced over at Raidou 'That confirms it, Shin was here and he already has the other sixth Fang. And you couldn't stop him?"

"I was given a duty to fulfill by my creatore, to defend the Fang entrusted to me by any means I deem necessary. As you wield six of the ten Fangs of Ryuhogo, I can assume that you wish to claim the seventh. In order to do this, the first task you must complete is to defeat me in combat. Do you accept?"

"It's what I came here for." Tatsu quickly tightened his grip on Banryu "I didn't come this far just to lie down and give up."

"Your resolve is admirable. We shall begin, but I warn you now: Once we begin, there is no turning back."

"I didn't think there would be. Now let's do this."

"As you wish." Taiyoken leapt to the ground in front of Tatsu, revealing an all black figure with no distinguisable features except for his glowing crimson eyes, his body being engulfed in an aura of pure white energy "Remember young one, if you wish for the power to change the world, you must use the light to vanquish the darkness that lies within. And to those that do vanquish the darkness, they can access power unparalleled. Inorganic Reanimation!" he slammed both hands into the ground, causing the walls of the temple to convulse and shift on their own, forming a series of earthen spears that hurtled towards Tatsu from multiple angles.

'Shit!' Tatsu didn't waste any time in launching himself out of the way of the spears with a burst of flames that launched himself into the air 'So he can control earth… I guess the power from other Fangs or Guardians are connected in some way? Or is it just that he has control over the structure of the temple?'

"Remember to stay focused on your surroundings, or your fate will be sealed!"

"You should already know this definitely isn't the first time I've done this!" Tatsu maneuvered around the earthen spears in mid air, until he landed back on the ground and saw the earthen spears close in on him from all sides 'And clearly not the first time he's done it either.'

"So what will you do then?"

"You're about to find out! Dragon HAMMER!" Tatsu thrusted the blade of Banryu into the ground and unleashed an azure-colored surge of demonic energy, evaporating the earthen spears as soon as they came into contact with the blast, creating a large cloud of dust and smoke that filled the temple 'Now's my chance! Aqua Javelin!' with the area covered, he blitzed his way through the cloud until he was directly behind Taiyoken and fired a spear made of solidified water directly at his back.

"So that was your intent?" Taiyoken whipped around and managed to catch the spear in one hand before it made contact with him "My senses are enhanced far beyond the limitations of ordinary mortals."

"Then let's see how far that gets you." Tatsu's gaze hardened as he disappeared in a white flash of energy.

"So tell me Fang wielder, what will you do next?" Taiyoken was met with a brief silence, until his gaze snapped in front of him just in time to use the comandeered water spear to block the form of Banryu being hurled at him, fending it off and leaving it to embed itself into one of the temple walls, followed by another white flash of energy "What?"

"Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" Tatsu burst forth from within the smoke and appeared directly in front of Taiyoken, and in an instant brought down a giant ball of flames directly on top of his head, engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

"Intriguing… you are more skilled than others that have traversed into this temple in the past…" the smoke was cleared away almost instantly by a surge of energy as Taiyoken leapt away towards the back wall of the temple and clasped his hands together "But this situation is not yours to control… For you shall oberse via the power of White Rage!" from the black void of his face emerged a white dragon-like figure, carrying a crimson orb in one of its claws, to which the dragon coiled itself around the orb and subsequently released a blinding light and deafening shriek, as well as powerful vibrations within the ground.

'Shit!' Tatsu found himself being forced to cover his ears and clench his eyes shut in agony, his mind racing 'So this technique is able to freeze movement with light, sound and vibrations all at once… It hurts too much to uncover my ears, and there's no chance my elemental powers can get me out of this one… Unless…'

"Now you observe the effects of this ability for yourself. But unlike yourself and your companion, I am prepared for such outcomes and can move freely. Which means this is where our confrontation will reach its end." Taiyoken blitzed forward through the blinding light and vibrations at full speed, crimson energy coating the shadowy silhouette of his left arm as he hurtled his way towards Tatsu… only for his attack to be dissipated at the last second, courtesy of Banryu carving directly through his torso, causing white liquid to ooze out of the wound as he fell to his knees "H-How… Such a thing… should not be possible…"

"If you can't win with power, win with creativity." the white light faded to reveal Tatsu with both hands firmly gripping the hilt of Banryu, a bubble of water forming around his head "Though I didn't think that was going to involve taking inspiration from an episode of Spongebob, but it gets the job done. And the same goes for you."

"Hm… So it does… but this does not mean your trials are over…" Taiyoken slowly lifted his gaze up until he locked eyes with Tatsu "In order to pass this test… you must use your most powerful source of light… to vanquish the darkness within… But be warned… for the stronger the darkness one holds… the greater the danger they present… to those they hold dearest…" and then in an instant, his form was engulfed in a small explosion that causing his body to evaporate into a cloud of dust and smoke.

'Okay, I… wasn't expecting that to happen.' Tatsu found himself in a coughing fit as he tried to wave away the dust and reached down to grab something from within the pile of ash that used to be Taiyoken, that being a single crimson-colored Fang, which he promptly hung around his neck with the rest of them 'Well I guess it doesn't matter, at least it's over now. You doing okay back there Raidou?"

"Aside from seeing spots and what I can only assume is permanent damage to my hearing, I've been worse." Raidou made his way over to Tatsu, but paused and looked away "So it's over then, just like that?"

"Nothing but ash and dust, that's all that's left of him.

"Though I did look around a little during all of that… and I think I found something."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning… this." Raidou gestured to one particular spot on one of the temple walls, revealing a set of writing "Kuroga Kamikaze alive, held captive by Shin Asakura."

"...We have what we came for, so let's just go home already." Tatsu walked over to pick up Banryu and sling it over his shoulder, though Raidou's voice quickly stopped him.

"You're just going to write that off? Even if it means proof your dad is still alive?"

"Haven't you yourself said that Shin is a liar who would manipulate anyone he could to get what he wants?" Tatsu was met with silence, and his expression grew more solemn "Besides, I've gone down this road before with thinking my dad might still be alive. They never found his body, and I spent ages trying to scrape together any idea of being able to find him. I dragged the others down with me. All it taught me was how dangerous it can be to believe somethig just because you want it to be true."

"So… that's it then?"

"It's over. My dad isn't coming back." he paused as the sound of ringing drew him to pull out his cell phone, and his gaze quickly hardened "We have more important things to worry about right now anyway."

"Something happen back in Tokyo?"

"Apparently there was one last dried food demon running around, something about the giant fish we carved up at the cultural festival spawning or something and it turned into a giant man fish that walks on land."

"...I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that."

"Honestly, I don't even give enough of a shit to try and guess anymore. Anyway they're trying to track it down before the locals get involved, Inuyasha is ahead of them and is about as subtle as an earthquake."

"So we need to get back?"

"Preferably before Inuyasha blows half the city to hell with a Wind Scar. Now get in loser, we're going demon hunting."

"...Is that a reference to something?"

"Yes but it's been passed around so much I don't know where it originated from, so let's just go home." Tatsu motioned for Raidou to grab onto his arm, and as he slung the blade of Banryu over his shoulder the two of them disappeared in a white flash.

What they didn't notice as they left is the remains of Taiyoken beginning to glow with crimson colored demonic energy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back in the Land of the Rising Sun…

"Not going to lie, this was not how I was expecting to spend my night." Kazuma watched as the giant fish creature looming over him, with Akira and Inuyasha all close behind him as they confronted it on the outskirts of the city "Anybody else want to try and take over here?"

"Works for me, I've been wanting a good fight since I got here." Inuyasha gave a smirk as he took a step forward and brandisehd his claws "Let's hope this isn't a giant fucking waste of time like the rest of them."

"Filthy mongrel, you shall pay for looking down on my kind!" the Yumenamazu let out a snarl as it began stomping its way towards Inuyasha, and subsequently grabbed a nearby truck and hurled it at him.

"Okay didn't think you could talk, but now we're fucking talking either way so that works for me! Blades of Blood!" Inuyasha dug into his shoulder and unleashed a barrage of blades made from his own blood that carved through the truck and promptly sent the Yumenamazu staggering backwards a short distance "Iron Reaver Soul STEALER!" and then he followed up with a swift slash of his claws, sending it hurtling down a nearby embankment and crashing to the ground and ripping off a sizable chunk of its face, and then he closed in to finish it… only to be grabbed by the throat by the Yumenamazu sprouting arms and throwing him backwards with enough force to send him crashing to the ground 'Fuck! Okay, I'm pretty sure these things aren't supposed to be able to do that!

"Stay back!" Akira was the one to rush forward next, pulling out his programmable matter sword and bringing it down on the head of the Yumenamazu, resulting in a surge of energy that caused it to scream in pain, only for the force of the collision to cause Akira to get blown to the ground with an audible crash, followed by the Yumenamazu stomping on his back and them attempting to finish him… only to stop when a set of metal chains wrapped around its waist and bound him in place "What the-"

"You didn't think I let you keep the only sample of programmable matter that I was working with, did you?" Kazuma let out a chuckle as he held the Yumenamazu down from his place at the end of the programmable matter chains "Somebody get him now!"

"With pleasure! Inuyasha leapt back to his feet and drew Tessaiga from its sheath, followed by using the blade to cut the Yumenamazu clean down the middle, ripping it to shreds in a matter of seconds with the blast that followed… only for him to be forced to watch as the pieces of the demon regenerated and used the chains to hurl Kazuma and smack him hard enough to send him hurtling into the air, forcing Inuyasha to catch him before he hit the ground "You okay?"

"I've had worse than this." Kazuma let out a sigh as he returned to the ground and looked over at the demon regenerating itself "So much for the programamble matter being able to hold one of them down."

"Meh, it did the job long enough for me to cut that fucker in half."

"Which raises my next question: When did these things learn how to regenerate?"

"How in the fuck should I know? I just wanted to eat the things or blow something up and then shit like this happens!" Inuyasha quickly braced himself as the Yumenamazu prepared to pounce on them again… only for the confrontation to be cut short by a white flash appearing in front of them.

As it turns out, that was the moment in which Tatsu and Raidou appeared on the scene via the Dragon Warp, the former quickly drawing Banryu from over his shoulder and thrusting it into the ground behind here "You guys stay back, I'll handle this myself. Time to put the power of seven Fangs to the test." and so without another word he covered his body in iron dragon scales and charged forward, hurling Banryu at the demon's leg and piercing it through the knee while he leapt upwards and began repeatedly punching it in the face with iron-enhanced fists… for about a minute.

"You insolant land walking pest, you won't make a fool out of me again!" the Yumenamazu let out a snarl as it used the tail sprouting from its back to backhand Tatsu hard enough to send him hurtling down a nearby cliff and crashing into the forest below, with Banryu being sent hurtling away with him.

"Tatsu!" the sight of Tatsu being sent careening away was enough to make Kazuma rush toward the demon and grab hold of it by the throat using another programmable matter chain, which gave the chance for Inuyasha and Akira to charge at it with their respective swords drawn, with a sizable explosion resulting only seconds later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the wayward protagonist…

'Fuck, that hurt more than I thought it would…' Tatsu let out a pained groan as he pulled himself back onto his feet, moving to grab hold of Banryu as he did so "I didn't think a giant man fish would be able to hit that hard."

"People don't think about a lot of things." a familiar voice echoed throughout the forest that surrounded Tatsu, causing him to freeze on the spot "More often than not, it turns out to be what gets them killed."

'That voice… I know that voice…' Tatsu slowly turned around as he tightened the grip he held on the hilt of Banryu, his expression turning to a mix of horror and rage "It can't be… Bankotsu."

"Oh it can be, and it is." sure enough, the figure of Bankotsu emerged from within, with the familiar figures of Renkotsu, Jakotsu, Ginkotsu and Suikotsu looming behind them "Glad to see you took such good care of my Banryu while you've had it."

"Then see how well I put it to use when I carve out your heart. The same with your buddies over there."

"You're welcome to try. Assuming you can catch me that is." there was a flash overhead and the rest of the Band of Seven disappeared, whereas Bankotsu took off running into the forest.

"You're not getting away from me again!" Tatsu let out a snarl as he chased after Bankotsu at full speed, using his flames to propel himself forward and into the air to try and close in on him, only for Bankotsu.

"Here I thought you used to be faster than that! I don't know how the hell I lost to you the last time we fought."

"Maybe carving through your eyes will jog your memory! DRAGON HAMMER!" Tatsu let out a roar as he swung the blade of Banryu and unleashed a blue-colored blast of demonic energy… only for a flash of light to envelop them and for Bankotsu to disappear as soon as it subsided, leaving the blast to miss him but leave a sizable crater where he stood as rain began pouring down from above 'What the hell was that?'

"No I was right, you're definitely slower now." Bankotsu gave a smirk from where he loomed over Tatsu at the top of a nearby tree "At this point, I really gotta wonder how I lost to you last time."

"Which raises the question of how you're here, not that it even matters. I sent you back to Hell once, and I'm more than game to do it again!" Tatsu let out a snarl as he flashed up to Bankotsu's level with the Dragon Warp and began swinging Banryu at him in a rage, only for Bankotsu to dodge every single attack with ease as they leapt from one tree to the next, with Tatsu coming to a stop on one branch, panting visibly.

"What, don't tell me you're out of breath already. I guess that means you're getting soft. Not to mention sloppy too." Bankotsu let out a chuckle "Here I thought you would've remember a basic rule of fighting: A warrior who attacks when clouded by rage, is a warrior that never knows victory."

"Oh trust me, my mind is plenty clear right now. It wants to fucking kill you." Tatsu let out a snarl as he gripped Banryu with both hands and pointed it at Bankotsu.

"My advice, try saving your energy. Trust me when I say you're going to need it. If you waste all your time with me, who's going to handle the rest of my Band of Seven brothers?"

"Then what the hell are you after?"

"What else? Last time we were brought back from the dead we took revenge on the ones that killed us. They say history repeats, and I'm about to make sure of it." Bankotsu let out a chuckle, a malicious glint in his eyes "You ever wonder what would happen if all seven of us combined our powers in one spot? Add in being enhanced by Shikon Jewel shards bringing us back from the dead, and who knos what we can do. We could tear this entire city, the whole country even, to shreds before they knew what hit them. You and your friends started this, and now we're going to break you for it."

"Not if I break you first!" Tatsu launched himself at Bankotsu and swung Banryu in a rage, only for him to dodge every strike and leap back to the ground below, with Tatsu launching Banryu at him at full strength… only for lightning to flash overhead and Bankotsu to disappear just before the blow could connect 'Fuck! How the hell is able to do that?'

"Hey!" it was at that moment that Inuyasha dropped down onto the scene and let both Kazuma and Akira off his back "Hate to interrupt your little walk in the woods, but where the fuck did you go? We were kind of the middle of something!"

"Did you kill the giant fish demon?"

"Yeah I just hit it with a Wind Scar, that finally got the fucker to die, but that's not the fucking point!"

"You had it covered and I wasn't gonna waste time when there's more important things to deal with."

"Okay hold on a minute." Kazuma stepped in between the two of them to try and mediate "What exactly did you find out here?"

"Bankotsu and the Band of Seven." that was enough to make Inuyasha freeze on the spot "The ones we fought at Mount Hakurei and the Band of Seven. They're back and they're here, in our time."

"Are… Are you sure? I mean you yourself said they were dead, and this was 500 years in the past, so how could-"

"I saw them with my own eyes. They're spread out all over the city to do god only knows what, so we have to find them before that happens.

"Hold on a minute, Kazuma is right." Akira took a step forward "You guys and the others killed them yourselves, and that was 500 years ago on a mountain you say got blown the fuck up. How could they have come back from that?"

"I don't know and it doesn't matter, we can figure that out later. The only thing that matters right now is finding them and taking them out before anyone else gets hurt. We'll split up into two teams for now. Akira and Inuyasha, you guys search downtown for any signs of the Band of Seven while Kazuma and I search uptown. If you find them then don't try confronting them under any circumstances. Contact me the right away. Got it?" he was met with silence, and then a few uncertain nods "Good, now let's go." he grabbed hold of Kazuma by the shoulder, and the two of them instantly disappeared in a white flash.

"...Well that happened." Akira glanced over at Inuyasha as he pulled out his phone "I'm gonna call up Arashi and Kagome and get them in on the search. But in the meantime, do you think there's any real merit to this?"

"They all fucking died on the mountain." Inuyasha told him flatly "Not to mention Naraku went and absorbed the mountain as part of his new body, pretty sure that means their bones too. No chance in hell of that happening."

"So then what the hell did Tatsu see?"

"I don't know, but if he's seeing them it ain't hard to see why he's so fucked up after all the shit that happened because of them."

"You going into specifics on that?" the question was enough to make Inuyasha pause.

"There's… one thing that happened early on. Something bad. Tatsu hasn't been the same since then. You see…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the brothers search team…

"Listen Tatsu, I know this must be… a lot for you." Kazuma sent a tentative look toward Tatsu as the two of them made their way through the streets of Tokyo "But you don't have to worry about this. We're going to find the Band of Seven, and we'll stop them."

"We don't have any other choice, not if we-" Tatsu cut himself short as the sound of ringing drew him to pull out his cell phone "Akira?"

"Hey listen, me and Inuyasha are still searching in the woods around the city."

"Did you find any of the Band of Seven yet?"

"We haven't found anything yet, I'm not able to sense any unusual Ki and Inuyasha can't pick up any scents because the rain keeps washing them away."

"They're undead, they don't give off eny Ki for you to sense."

"Good to know. But even without that, there's no signs of anything unusual either."

"They're somewhere around the area, keep searching." Tatsu let out a snarl as he tossed his phone away "How hard can five bloodthirsty fuckers like them be to find? I should've gone to track them down myself."

"Tatsu hold on, try to take a breath." Kazuma picked up Tatsu's wayward phone "Lashing out and being reckless won't solve anything right now."

"Neither will standing around squawking when we have things to do."

"We're going to find them Tatsu, you just have to have faith in-" Kazuma was cut short when he saw Tatsu immediately launch himself into the air with a burst of flames towards the outskirts of the city "Tatsu wait!" and he quickly rushed off after him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the wayward protagonist…

"Bankotsu!" a burst of flames erupted as Tatsu landed on the ground in the forests outside of the city with a loud crash, his body surging with demonic energy as he got into a stance with Banryu in hand "You don't get to fucking hide from me."

"I don't think I really need to either." Bankotsu gave a smirk as he stepped out from within the darkness of the woods "Looks to me like this is going to be a lot easier than I thought. Looks to me like you let yourself get pretty sloppy."

"Try saying that once you fucking die!" Tatsu launched himself at Bankotsu and brought down the blade of Banryu full force, only for Bankotsu to sidestep the attack, prompting Tatsu to slash at him with Banryu over and over again, though every strike kept missing.

"And again, I really don't think I need to." Bankotsu ducked under the blade of Banryu and landed a swift yet brutal fist to Tatsu's gut, causing him to kneel over in pain, and then he moved to stomp on his back.

'Shit!' Tatsu released his grip on Banryu to give himself the chance to roll out of the way of the attack, to which he leapt back to his feet only to find that Bankotsu had disappeared… before he whipped around just as lightning flashed overhead, and he was met with a fist to the face courtesy of Bankotsu, sending him tumbling to the ground 'D-Dammit…'

"Tatsu!" it was at that moment that Kazuma came rushing onto the scene.

"Kazuma…"

"Dammit. Looks like we're gonna have to cut this one short." Bankotsu gave a quick scowl as he cast a glance over at Tatsu "And quick piece of advice: Don't get so worked up about letting me beat you down like this. You gave it everything you had, that should count for something, don't you think?" and then he turned on his heel and began running away.

"KAZUMA STOP HIM!"

"Stop who?" Kazuma quickly pulled out his programmable matter chain and readied himself to make a move… only for Bankotsu to rush right past him in an instant.

"Dammit!" Tatsu leapt to his feet, then stormed over to Kazuma and grabbed hold of his arm in a rage "What the fuck was that?!"

"Tatsu let go, you're still wearing the Fangs." Kazuma was ignored as the grip on his arm only grew tighter.

"Bankotsu ran right by you! How in the fuck could you let him get away like that!"

"Tatsu… there wasn't anyone there."

That statement alone was enough to leave Tatsu frozen on the spot, panting and wide eyed… and then he let out a snarl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the rest of the search party…

"ACHOO!" Akira let out a sneeze, then a groan as he blew his nose and looked at Inuyasha and the others gathered around him on a sidewalk in the middle of the city "Great, I finally come home and I end up getting a cold trying to fight a pack of food demons like something out of freaking Toriko. Just my luck."

"Not to mention it's pretty much a wild goose chase." Arashi cast a glance over at Kagome "You can't sense anything either?"

"No, nothing." Kagome shook her head "Even if the Band of Seven aren't here, they can't have been brought back using jewel shards like before."

"Assuming they're actually here at all." Inuyasha gave a scowl "They came out of the well in your shrine, you should've been able to notice something."

"With or without jewel shards being involved, I definitely would've noticed the Band of Seven coming through. But if it's not jewel shards, how could they have been brought back at all?"

"I'm not so sure that these Band of Seven are behind this."

Kagome and the others looked over to see Kazuma making his way up to them "What happened, where's Tatsu?"

"We… We split up. Tatsu chose to go after the Band of Seven on his own."

"What's going on, did something happen?" asked Arashi.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. He claims he saw one of the Band of Seven, this Bankotsu I think he was called, and said he rushed right past him. I couldn't see him. Is it maybe one of those things where you can only see them if you have some kind of special sense?"

"It wasn't like that before."

"Then I'm out of guesses, but either way it's obvious this whole thing is messing with Tatsu's head way worse than anything I've seen from him before. I've never seen him so angry, at me or anyone else." Kazuma gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to the point where blood began to trickle down his palms "I can't do it… I won't… I won't let my little brother get himself killed over this! I'm not letting him die again!" he was left panting slightly as his outburst subsided, drawing looks from the others as a brief yet tense silence overtook the group.

"...Again?" Kagome slowly turned her gaze toward Kazuma as she broke the silence "What are you talking about?"

"I… Dammit."

"Forget it, I'll do it." Inuyasha put a hand on Kazuma's shoulder and gently pushed him slightly backwards as he took a step toward the rest of the group "Shit, he's gonna be pissed at me for telling you this… but before we go find Tatsu, you gotta know the truth. About what the Band of Seven tried to do to you and the others… and what it ended up doing to him."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the wayward protagonist…

'I know you're here somewhere…' Tatsu's expression darkened further as he waved his hand to throw open the doors to reveal the familiar setting in front of him 'Hiroshima, the sight of the first temple, where my dad found the Fangs of the Divine Quake… of course he'd try and lure me here just to fucking mock me.'

"Nice. I figured you would've taken longer to track me here." the voice of Bankotsu echoed throughout the interior of the temple, drawing Tatsu into the interior of the temple where he found Bankotsu himself leaning against the pedestal where a certain book and sword used to be held "Now here we are again, just you and me. Kind of a better place for a showdown between the two of us if you think about it."

"Seems like as good a place as any to kill you all over again." Tatsu let out a snarl as he gripped the hilt of Banryu "You're not going anywhere you piece of shit."

"Who said I was planning to?"

"Good, that makes it all the easier for me!" Tatsu launched himself at Bankotsu and brought down Banryu, only for Bakontsu to leap out of the way of the attack with ease, leaving Banryu to carve through the pedestal and cleave it in two, as well as cause the ground beneath the two of them to shatter, revealing the seemingly bottomless black void beneath them, prompting him to rocket down after Bankotsu.

"I said I wasn't going anywhere, I didn't say I'd make it easy for you." Bankotsu gave a smirk as he began leaping across bits of rubble without making so much as a sound until he found a piece of debris hanging on the side of one of the walls he could grab onto.

"Go ahead and keep up the smug act, it's gonna make it all the more satisfying when I rip apart your skull!" Tatsu began carving through the rubble and debris around him with a series of loud slashes and crunches via Banryu, until he found the chance to embed it into the wall and hang on himself, a short distance below Bankotsu.

"It hasn't really been that long, but I really do feel like this is bringing back memories."

"There's only one thing I remember, and it's how much I hated you and all your brothers and wanted to fucking kill you for everything you've done."

"Really? Because from what I remember, you were never able to defeat me when I was at my best, and you had to resort to getting crafty and fighting dirty. You're even weaker than you were then too. You couldn't beat me before, and you couldn't beat me now." Bankotsu's smirk grew wider as he leapt down into the void below, with Tatsu quickly follownig after him, the two of them landing at the bottom in a room surrounded by guardian statues "It really is too bad your friends aren't of any real use to you here. They don't even know what it is they're up against."

"You ran right past my brother plain as day, but he couldn't even see you. Why?"

"It wasn't that complicated to figure out. Renkotsu was able to figure out a way to mask our very scents from the likes of Inuyasha, and you can't detect our presence with that Ki sensing ability of yours. Masking ourselves from your line of sight isn't that hard in comparison. You know how we can be after all."

"I know all that I need to know about you, like how to send you back to burning in hell where you belong!" Tatsu held Banryu over his head and charged at Bankotsu in a rage as he began swinging the blade wildly.

"All you're doing now is proving my point." Bankotsu dodged, weaved around and side stepped every attack being sent his way with visible ease, gracefully leaping over the various statues around them without making so much as a sound, leaving Banryu to carve through the statues with one almighty crash after another "Looks to me like you've only gotten soft since you came back to this cushy era. I don't let myself get weak with these kinds of things. Being in a world like this, it's only making me stronger."

"Dragon HAMMER!" Tatsu thrusted the blade of Banryu into the ground, obliterating all of the remaining statues in an enormous burst of demonic energy, but leaving Bankotsu untouched as he leapt over the attack and only returned to the ground after it subsided.

"You're wasting your time. Your friends aren't going to find the rest of my brothers, they can't even see or sense them. They don't have what it takes to see the truth Tatsu, even when it's right in front of their very eyes."

"Fine, I don't need them to get this done. I'll just finish you off by myself."

"Right, because that worked out so well all the other times you tried to take care of me and the rest of my brothers on your own."

"I didn't need anyone else's help to finish you off last time."

"Then answer me this: If you managed to stop me, then how exactly am I standing before you right now?" the only response Bankotsu received was Tatsu charging at him and swinging the blade of Banryu in a rage, leaving Bankotsu to dodge every strike with ease, until he caught one of Tatsu's wrists and crushed it in his hand with a sickening crunch, causing him to drop Banryu to the ground and then land a single blow to the face that sent Tatsu hurtling backwards "You can't even touch me, you haven't been able to since this whole thing started."

"Shut up!" Tatsu charged at Bankotsu as he formed an iron club in one hand, only for every strike to miss, prompting him to channel demonic energy into the club and hurl it forward, resulting in a brief yet blinding explosion 'That had to do something.'

"Don't think that's going to work." a voice drew Tatsu to whip around and find Bankotsu once again standing before him without so much as a scratch "How the hell are you gonna manage to protect your friends, your family, even your woman, when you don't have what it takes to save your own skin?" he dodged a fist and landed a roundhouse kick to Tatsu's face with enough force to send him crashing to the ground, and the instant Tatsu got back up Bankotsu continued his assault with a ferocious onslaught of punches and kicks, leaving Tatsu more and more bloody, battered and bruised with each strike "But think of it this way: If you never experience failure, then you never get the chance to learn from your mistakes, right?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the rest of the search team…

"This way." Kazuma wasted no time in leading the rest of the group into the temple through the back, only to be forced to stop at the edge of the chasm in the center chamber "Well, this was the last place that he was supposed to be."

"Hold on a second." Inuyasha knelt down at the edge of the chasm and took a sniff "No doubt about it, I'm definitely picking up Tatsu's scent down there."

"Are you sure, what if he just-" Arashi was cut off by the sound of a loud scream and crashing coming from within the chasm.

"That enough proof for you?"

"Okay hold on, we need to approach this carefully." Kazuma turned to the others "I'll go down there first to try and talk him down from… whatever this is. The rest of you follow behind, but try not to startle him. From what I can tell, he's… not in the right state of mind. I'll go in first and try to talk him down."

"And how the hell do you plan to get down there without cracking your skull open as soon as you hit the ground?" Inuyasha took a step forward "If you're going down there then I'm going with you."

"Fair enough. The rest of you wait here, if he tries to get back up here-"

"He won't get that far." Raidou was quick to speak up "There's another back way leading from the end of the chamber to the lower levels, I actually used it to get Arashi out of there the last time we were here."

"Good, in that case use that to follow us down there." Kazuma shot a brief look over at the others, then turned his gaze toward Inuyasha "Let's go."

"Right." so Inuyasha hoisted Kazuma over his shoulder and leapt into the chasm below, with the others maneuevering around it to make their way to the back of the chamber.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the chasm…

"Okay the scent is getting stronger, he's definitely down here." Inuyasha leapt to the bottom of the chasm and set Kazuma back on the ground, and the two of them looked around… only to be taken aback by what they found 'What the fuck?'

"You're not getting away from me!" as it turns out, Tatsu was thrashing around the floors of the temple and swinging Banryu around in a rage… with no one else in sight as he kept thrashing around, reacting as if he was being beaten into the ground.

"...Okay, what in the fuck is he doing right now?"

"BANKOTSU!" Tatsu whipped around, revealing the numerous bloody cuts and bruises that covered his face, one lens on his glasses being shattered with an eye swollen shut, the top of his gi torn, revealing the numerous scars and burn marks from his conflicts with the Band of Seven, as well as the large burnt scar on his chest.

"My god…" Kazuma quickly snapped out of his horrified stupor as he held up the flash light on his phone, shining it over the temple grounds as Tatsu's gaze snapped towards them.

"What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me anyway?"

"Well I could make up this elaborate story about how we combined Inuyasha's sense of smell with Akira's enhanced Ki sensing abilities… but the truth is we just tracked your phone. It really wasn't that hard, I'm surprised we didn't think of it to begin with."

"...Oh." Tatsu paused for a moment, and then his scowl returned full force "Then why the fuck are you here? You're supposed to be tracking the rest of the Band of Seven!"

"I don't think there are any Band of Seven." Kazuma told him "We've looked all over the place, no trace of them or anything supernatural or demonic."

"They must be masking their presence somehow, like what Bankotsu has been doing. That's why you couldn't see him before."

"Tatsu that doesn't make sense, if we can't see him you shouldn't be able to either." Kazuma was met with a brief stunned silence.

"...What the hell are you trying to say?"

"What we're all thinking, that we're worried about you." a voice drew Tatsu to whip around again to find Akira standing on the other side of the room, with Kagome, Arashi and Raidou all close behind him "We know something is bothering you, something you're not telling us. Ever since you got back you've been acting brooding and surly, and you've been lashing out in all kinds of different ways. You haven't been yourself."

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, I'm fine."

"That's a load of bullshit and you know it." Akira paused to compose himself slightly "If we really believed that then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"I said I'm fine!" his tone was sharp and full of anger.

"Tatsu, we both know that's not true." Kagome took a step forward and reached out a hand toward him "Whatever it is you're keeping bottled up, you have to let it out, and we're here to help you. But we can't help you if you won't let us." she was met with a brief silence.

"It's… It's not that easy alright?"

"It never is, but I want to help you. We all do.

"I don't need help!" he unleashed a surge of demonic energy in his anger, causing everyone to retreat back a short distance, and he let out an aggravated sigh "I have more important things to worry about."

"Then quit griping and tell us this." Inuyasha directed Tatsu's gaze back toward him "Are you really sure you saw Bankotsu?"

"Saw him? I've been fighting him all fucking night! You think I did this to myself?!"

"Tatsu, there are only two ways to get out of here. One of them is up there, and Akira and the others have been standing in it the whole time. No one got past them." Kazuma took a step forward "There's no one in here except for us."

"...I don't have time for this. I have to find the rest of the Band of Seven" Tatsu let out a snarl as he summoned a chain from one arm to pull himself up and out of the whole… only to be yanked back down by one of his legs and thrown to the ground.

"Get it through your fucking head!" Inuyasha loomed over him and stomped on Tatsu's chest with one foot "There aren't any Band of Seven! There isn't any Bankotsu! They aren't fucking here so get ahold of your damn self already!" he was subsequently thrown off by another burst of demonic energy, sending him crashing into a pillar.

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW, I KNOW WHAT I HEARD, AND I KNOW WHAT I FELT! I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN! ANY OF IT!" it was during this that tears started streaming down his face as he leapt back to his feet, causing the others to step back "You know what I'm talking about! Kagome needed me and I wasn't there, and you know what happened because I wasn't there? She was poisoned, she was kidnapped and she was almost raped! Then Miroku and Sango got poisoned too, all because I wasn't there! I literally gave everything to save her, and that still wasn't enough to get the fucking job done! IF I WAS THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO FUCKING DIE!"

"You… You really…" Kagome's voice was caught in her throat as she took a small step toward him "So it's true…"

"Then even after those bastards were dead, I let myself get dragged into a fight, and you know what happened then?! She got kidnapped! AGAIN! She got taken because I wasn't there, I wasn't attentive enough, I wasn't good enough! It's not even her either, this whole time we've been searching for the jewel shards, I've done nothing but fuck up and ruin things time and again!"

"What… What are you talking about?" Inuyasha asked quietly as he slowly pulled himself back to his feet.

"Don't you get it?! Almost every time we go into a fight, I end up screwing things up because I'm not good enough! If I was then Kagome wouldn't have gotten kidnapped by those bandits, the crow demon wouldn't have stolen the jewel and it wouldn't have gotten shattered in the first place! Then she got kidnapped by Urasue and had her soul sucked out, because I wasn't fast enough to save her! Then I let myself get trapped in those roots and their illusion, and because of that Kikyo tried to kill Kagome and stole our jewel shards!"

"You didn't have anything to do with that."

"If I hadn't been so weak that I let myself get caught it wouldn't have happened! If I was good enough then Koga wouldn't have been able to kidnap her, Kagura wouldn't have gotten away from the castle, she and Kanna wouldn't have been able to repel the Wind Scar on us, your Tessaiga wouldn't have been broken by Goshinki, your demon blood wouldn't have been triggered, and all of that hell would never have happened! Because of my weakness, Kagome got taken over by Menomaru and Tsubaki, and then I let Naraku and Shin get away, and Kirara got hurt because I wasn't fast enough! Then Kagome and the others got trapped in those cocoons by that moth demon, and then all of the hell with the Band of Seven! Do you understand what I'm telling you Inuyasha?! All of it up until now has been my fault, whether it was because of my own weakness or me just being such a fucking idiot! ALL OF IT!"

"...None of that is your fault." Kazuma took a few steps toward Tatsu and slowly reached out a hand to him "You can't seriously blame yourself for all of that-"

"WELL I DO! I know that I'm to blame for it, and I'm telling you now, there isn't a chance in hell I'm going to let it happen again!" Tatsu took a few steps backwards as he held Banryu in front of him and pointed at Kazuma, his eyes blazing with anger, fear, sadness and a small hint of insanity "I have to stop them, I'm the only one that can. And if I have to go through you to do that… I will." the silence was deafening… but it was quickly broken by his cry of pain as a surge of spiritual energy struck him in the back hard enough to send him crashing to the ground.

As it turns out, Kagome was the one who fired at him from behind, tears brimming in her eyes as she did so. Her voice was soft, filled with sadness "I'm sorry Tatsu… I'm so sorry…"

That was the last thing he heard, and the tears streaming down her face were the last thing he saw before he blacked out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A little while later…

'What the hell…' Tatsu let out a pained groan as he opened his eyes and looked down to find himself lying on a bed, or rather tied down to it, in a dark room with his necklace containing the Fangs on the nightstand next to him and Banryu perched against the wall 'Dammit… they had to take the Fangs off of me! Where the fuck am I anyway?'

"I don't feel right about this." a voice drew his attention to a group of shadowy figures that could be seen outside the door to the room.

'That voice, and this Ki… Kagome, Kazuma… all of them…'

"I know he's not exactly in the right headspace, but do we really have to keep him tied down like that?"

"He threatened us Kagome, and even if not for that it's pretty obvious he's losing control of his powers." the voice of Kazuma came from outside "I don't know like this any more than you do, but as he is right now he's a danger to us and to himself."

"But…"

"It's a crappy situation Higurashil, this is the only real choice we've got." Raidou's voice came next "We have to try and run some tests on him, see if we can figure out what's making him like this."

'They're all in on this…' Tatsu glanced out the window next to his bed and saw the rain still pouring down outside 'They all I've fucking lost it… Great, there's only one thing that could make this worse now.'

"So here you are, alone all over again."

Tatsu whipped around to see Bankotsu emerge from the shadows of the room, prompting him to start thrashing around to try and free himself "Not so alone that I can't rip you apart when I get my hands on you!"

"You're right about one thing. As long as I'm around, you're never gonna be alone. Not in this world anyway." Bankotsu gave a smirk as he drew closer "Give me a minute, I'll be sure to fix that."

"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Tatsu let out a snarl as he tried to thrash himself free of his restraints, to no avail.

"Take it easy Tatsu, no need to get so worked up. I can promise you now, you're not going to feel a thing." Bankotsu's smirk grew wider as he approached Tatsu's bed… and pulled a small dagger out of his hakama.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, outside the room…

"Personally I'm with Kagome on this." Arashi glanced around at the others as they gathered right outside the room "Do we really have to keep Tatsu tied down like he's some kind of fucking mental patient?"

"It's for his protection and ours." Kazuma told him without looking away from the monitors that lined the wall in front of him "Tatsu is in the best place we could put him right now. This medical suite is state of the art, better than any hospital in the country. I would know, I designed it myself."

"Wait, you made a place like that?"

"Did you really think I just spent most of my days sitting around in the dojo making whatever haphazard gizmos I could come up with?"

"I mean… yeah."

"...Okay fair point, I do have a lot more free time than I probably should. But I do have to make a living somehow."

"Yeah yeah, really new and full of weird magic, good to know." Inuyasha rolled his eyes "Is all of that stuff gonna figure out what the fuck is making him like this or not?"

"Seeing the Band of Seven when the rest of us can't is one thing. But his little outburst in the temple is another." Akira let out a sigh "And as hard as it was to watch… it really isn't that hard to understand where he's coming from."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Stop and think for a second and you'll see. Tell me something, you guys see a lot of death and destruction in your world right?"

"Lots of it, yeah."

"And how many of the people you've seen die are people you know personally?" that was enough to make both Inuyasha and Kagome shift uncomfortably.

"I mean… not really that many."

"So you don't really think about those people afterwards do you?"

"...No. I guess I don't."

"Then that's likely the source of the problem." Kazuma turned around to face him "The reason you don't think think about those people is because the victims weren't actually known to you personally."

"But… But they still matter." Kagome voiced her objection.

"I'm not saying they don't, nor am I saying that it makes it any less tragic, becuase it's true. But the idea of strangers dying is bound to have less of an effect on a person than the idea of losing someone you actually know and care about. Can you honestly tell me otherwise?" he was met with silence from everyone present, and promptly turned back to the monitors without another word.

"So then… what about seeing Bankotsu and the Band of Seven? Is that why he's seeing them all over the place too?"

"That I can't say for certain, at least not yet. But based on the scans I've done now, all of the scans I've done up to this point are coming up as normal."

"But he isn't normal, any one of us can see that! He wouldn't be making threats against us, he wouldn't be lashing out at everyone, he wouldn't be…" Kagome cut herself off as her voice became caught in her throat, but she blinked back a few tears and her gaze hardened as she composed herself "There has to be something we can do to snap him out of it!"

"I know and I'm trying to figure it out, but first we have to figure out what's causing this to begin with. Even if this Bankotsu did somehow make it to this time, either Inuyasha would've been able to smell something off or you should've been able to sense it. In any case, I have to imagine something happened only recently to make Tatsu start seeing them." Kazuma paused and looked over at Raidou "Think about this: You were at the temple with him before all of this started, did anything happen out of the ordinary?"

"For the record, there's literally nothing that isn't out of the ordinary when it comes to these kinds of things." Raidou told him dryly.

"Whatever, can you recount everything that happened in the temple for us?"

"Okay, so we made our way to the next temple in another helicopter, which turned out to be on the summit of Mount Kiliminjaro. We went inside and found that Shin had already gone through, killed one of the Guardians and took one of the Fangs. The other one awakened when Tatsu got close and-" Raidou cut himself short as the realization dawned on him "Fuck, how did I never think of that sooner? It's the test, that has to be what's making him like this."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Inuyasha let out a scoff "Can one of those tests even do stuff like that to him?"

"It wouldn't be the most fucked up thing these tests have done to any of us."

"I can vouch. One of the temples nearly made every volcano in the world erupt and would've wiped out all life on the planet, so making Tatsu hallucinate probably isn't out of the question now." Kagome quickly turned her gaze onto Raidou "But if he's acting like this because of the test, then how is he supposed to pass?"

"All I know is that the Guardian said to use the light to vanquish the darkness within, so that could mean anything-" Raidou was cut off by the sound of rapid beeping "That definitely can't be good."

"That's about as bad as it can get." Kazuma rushed over to the monitor to see the screen flashing red "Tatsu's heart rate is off the charts. His blood pressure, his neural kinetics. A normal person can't survive these levels of stress!"

"So what the hell does that-" Raidou was again cut short… as they group watched the monitor flatline in front of them, followed by the sound of glass shattering.

"TATSU!" that was all the prompting a horrified Kagome needed to rush towards the room with the others trailing behind her as she flung the door open… only to find an empty room, a broken window and Tatsu nowhere in sight "Oh god…"

"And I thought I didn't like going to the doctor." Arashi cast a look around until something caught his eye, in the form of a set of leather straps on the floor covered in blood "He's sure as hell got all of us trumped on that front now."

"It gets even worse. He took the Fangs and the giant sword with him too." Kazuma gestured to the empty nightstand next to the bed… right before a metal sheet slid down to cover the door and window, followed by an alarm blaring loudly over their heads "And it gets even worse."

"For fuck's sake!" Inuyasha found himself on the ground clutching at his ears in pain "What the fuck is that?!"

"Something I really need to fine tune when this is over." Kazuma let out a sigh as he pulled out his cell phone and tapped away at it, causing the alarm to subside "Well the good news is that I managed ot turn off the alarm. The bad news is that Tatsu activated the quarantine protocol, which just so happens to involve protecting the apartment with some of his own draconic metal, which means nothing can get in or out."

"Well then… we'll see about that!" Kagome quickly drew her Seishin Rozu from its sheath and began slashing away at the metal sheet covering the window.

"Kagome hold on, take it easy!"

"We have to find Tatsu before he gets himself killed! I have to do something!" Kagome soon let up from slashing at the metal, eventually just leaning against the metal as she bowed her head in sorrow… only to feel Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder and pull her away "What are you doing?"

"Getting us the hell out of here." Inuyasha barred his claws and began using them to slash away at the metal.

"Even if we get out of here… is Tatsu even going to listen to us?"

"Let me give that a shot." Akira knelt down on the ground in the center of the room.

"What are you doing?"

"With any luck, finding Tatsu." on that note, Akira closed his eyes as he formed a hand seal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With the single man search party…

"Tatsu… can you hear me?" Akira found his vision blitzing forward at blinding speed, out of the building and into the open night skies over Tokyo, until he found Tatsu and closed in on him in an instant, visions flashing in front of his eyes all the while "I'm here to help you… All of us are here to help you."

"Akira what are you- You have to get out of here!" Tatsu's voice was full of panic "Bankotsu and the Band of Seven, they're here and they'll kill you! They'll kill the others!"

"Tatsu it's your heart, you're in danger. I need you to trust me. The Band of Seven aren't even here. They're not in this time."

"No, they're here, they're real! He's here! I've seen him, I've felt him!"

"If they are then let me see it, through your eyes."

"I just… okay. If you have to see it."

"Just let me." there was a pause, and then Akira opened his own eyes as Tatsu fell silent, and he began looking around "Do you see now Tatsu? There's no one here. There never was." he turned his head slightly… only to be met with a white flash in front of him right before a fist struck him in the face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And now for something a lot less trippy…

"Son of a-" Akira was suddenly sent flying backwards and crashing to the ground, leaving the others to rush over to him as he bolted upright "Fuck!"

"What happened?" Kazuma knelt down next to him "Are you okay?"

"Pretty sure that thing just psychicly broke my nose, but no not really." Akira paused and looked over at where Inuyasha was still carving away at the metal "This Bankotsu guy… tan skin, white hakama, black hair braided in a ponytail? Sound about right?"

"Wait what?!" Inuyasha's gaze snapped toward him "You mean you saw him?"

"Yeah… and I don't know if he's real or not. But he's real to Tatsu, and frankly that's the only thing that matters right now." Akira let out a sigh as he pulled himself to his feet "I could feel it while I was in there, the stress on his brain is destroying the rest of his body. Whatever is making him like this, Tatsu truly believes that he's fighting the Band of Seven. And he's losing to them, badly."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the wayward protagonist…

"Seriously, this is all you've got?" Bankotsu let out a chuckle as he looked at Tatsu's downed form in front of him, the two of them standing in the middle of an abandoned Tokyo street "Here I thought you were actually worth something. But seriously, to rip your own arm out of its socket just to get out of the restraints… You really don't want to be alone with me do you?"

"Don't you fucking… look down on me…" Tatsu spat out some blood and let out a snarl as he used Banryu to pull himself back onto his feet, covered in various bloody gashes and one of his arms hanging limp at his side, forcing him to grip the hilt of Banryu with his free hand "You wanna see… what I've got… then you will… RYUKEN!" and with a mighty roar he was engulfed in an azure-colored aura and launched himself at Bankotsu and brought Banryu down towards him at full speed.

"Oh believe me, I'm seeing it alright. Doesn't mean I'm impressed though." Bankotsu was able to sidestep the attack with ease, grabbing Tatsu by his free arm and viciously bending it behind his back before hurling him over his shoulder and once again sending him tumbling to the ground a short distance away, during which he looked over Tatsu with disdain "I can see it plain as day all over your face. The fear in your eyes, the string of your failures. I can tell you better than anyone, you don't deserve those Fangs to begin with."

"Like you're one to talk! Dragon HAMMER!" Tatsu rushed forward and used Banryu to launch himself into the air and subsequently unleashed a Dragon Hammer at point blank range… or tried to anyway.

"Nope." Bankotsu leapt over the blade of Banryu just before the blast could be unleashed and subsequently dealt Tatsu a swift yet vicious kick to the chest hard enough to send him hurtling backwards a great distance and crashing into a lamp post.

"D-Dammit…" Tatsu slowly tried to pick himself back up, only to fall to his knees as he watched the figure of Bankotsu approaching him, the light of the lamp post above him flickering… and he saw Bankotsu disappearing and reappearing each time it did 'What the…'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the rest of the group…

"This isn't good." Akira's gaze snapped up as he turned towards the others, his expression clearly growing frantic "I can feel Tatsu from here and… I don't think he's gonna make it."

"Then it's time for us to get to him already." Kagome's gaze hardened furiously as she cast a look over at Kazuma "You said the quarantine sheeting was made from Tatsu's metal right?"

"I had him reinforce it when I designed the system." Kazuma paused as he and Kagome locked eyes for a brief moment "Are we on the same train of thought right now?"

"We'll find out in a second, because I'm ending this now!" Kagome held up the blade of her Seishin Rozu and immediately thrusted it into the metal sheets, unleashing of surge of spiritual energy that caused the metal to evaporate in a matter of seconds, revealing the open window to them "Now let's go find Tatsu."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, with the wayward protagonist…

"D-Dammit…" Tatsu slowly tried to pick himself back up, only to fall to his knees as he watched the figure of Bankotsu approaching him, the light of the lamp post above him flickering… and he saw Bankotsu disappearing and reappearing each time it did 'What the…'

"Let's be honest, you never thought it was gonna end any other way." Bankotsu's gaze hardened with disdain as he closed in on Tatsu "You were always doomed to fail. Just like you already went and failed yourself and everybody you cared about. Everybody that's stupid enough to think they can depend on you."

"You… You don't know what you're talking about!" Tatsu grabbed Banryu with his good arm and swung it at Bankotsu, only for him to block the blade with his forearm.

"Actually I do, in fact I know you better than you know yourself." Bankotsu batted Banryu right out of Tatsu's grip and began assaulting Tatsu with a rapid barrage of punches and kicks,

'Dammit… Dammit!' Tatsu found himself being pushed further and further back by Bankotsu's assault… just as images of certain people began flashing in front of his eyes, and with each image, his body began glowing with golden demonic energy.

"Please Tatsu you have to help, I'm hurt!" first was Sango, lying on the ground and covered in wounds.

'Sango…'

"My body is burning from the poison… I can't move…" next was Miroku, sprawled out on the ground and surrounded by demons and Saimyosho.

'Miroku…'

"The fire is coming, my Foxfire can't keep up! Help us Tatsu, you're the only one that can!" then came Shippo, trying to use his Foxfire in the middle of a burning building coming down around him.

'Shippo…'

"We're not gonna make it… he's coming for us…" next was Arashi, in the middle of a volcano that was erupting all around him.

'Arashi…'

"He's coming for us Tatsu… you have to do something…" Raidou was next, lying on the ground of a snowy summit, the snow dyed red with blood.

'Raidou…'

"Tatsu please… help us…" Kazuma lay sprawled out on the floor of a temple, living statues closing in on him from all sides.

'Kazuma…'

"Tatsu… don't let us down…" Akira stood surrounded by the dried food demons, sword in hand and covered in bloody wounds.

'Akira…'

"Tatsu please, hurry…" lastly was Kagome, lying on the floor of a temple, surrounded by flames and a cloud of miasma.

'Kagome…'

"We're counting on you… I'm counting on you…"

"I'm sorry… I'M SORRY!" seeing all of these play in front of his mind, Tatsu finally snapped as his body unleashed an enormous burst of golden colored demonic energy, sending Bankotsu hurtling backwards a short distance

"Well what do we have here?" Bankotsu managed to stop himself and gave a smirk "Now this is getting interesting. Well you know what to do then, you have to use the light in order to vanquish the darkness within."

"You want light? Here's so much it fucking obliterates you!" in an instant, Banryu appeared at Tatsu's side and returned to his good hand, the golden energy surrounding his body flowing into the blade.

"Go ahead and try it. See if you can do for yourself what you couldn't do for the ones you were trying so hard to protect from-" Bankotsu didn't get a chance to finish before a loud squelching noise drew his attention… and he looked down to see Banryu piercing through his chest.

"I did the best I could! I did… the best… I COULD!" Tatsu withdrew Banryu from Bankotsu's chest and dealt him a solid kick to the chest that sent him hurtling backwards, six of the seven Fangs around his neck glowing with demonic energy "There wasn't… anymore… I COULD'VE DONE! DRAGON WAVE!" he launched himself forward and appeared in front of Bankotsu in an instant, bringing down the golden blade of Banryu and unleashing one final slash that carved through Bankotsu clean down the middle, resulting in blood spurting into the air.

After lying there for a moment, Bankotsu simply picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off (only now his entire body was enveloped in a white glow), but rather than try and taunt Tatsu again, he asked him a simple question "If there wasn't anything else you could've done, then why do you keep torturing yourself over it?" rather than wait for an answer, he simply grabbed Tatsu by the arm and placed something in his hand that caught him by surprise.

"This is…"

"Yep, the real seventh Fang. You passed the test. Took you long enough if you ask me." and with that, Bankotsu (or rather the silhouette that looked like Bankotsu) disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Tatsu alone to process what had just happened.

'So this whole thing… the Band of Seven, me being the only one able to see them… it was all part of the test to awaken the seventh Fang… All of my wounds… and I couldn't even scratch him all this time… He was only in my head… he was never there… Kazuma and the others… they were right all along… I don't fucking believe it…' Tatsu let out a bitter chuckle as the realization fully dawned on him 'I'm an even bigger tool than I thought I was…'

"Tatsu!"

Hearing his name being called, Tatsu glanced back to see Kagome, Kazuma and everyone else rushing towards him "It's okay guys… it's over…" and then he promptly fell back as his body gave out, falling into Kagome's arms just before he lost consciousness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and as the storm clouds dispserted, the sun was finally rising over the skies above Feudal Japan.

"Honestly at this point, I have to believe that whoever designed the tests for each of the Fangs had some kind of sadistic streak in them." Kazuma glanced over at the others as they all sat gathered around the living room of the Kamikaze apartment, and he glanced over at Raidou specifically "You said Tatsu inhaled some kind of smoke?"

"That's the short version anyway." Raidou gave a light shrug "I watched Tatsu fight the Guardian from afar, but I couldn't see everything once he unleashed some kind of attack that messed with all of our senses. He did cleave through him with that giant sword of his though, and the body of the Guardian released this big cloud of smoke and dust."

"I think that was the source of it. According to the scans I did on Tatsu's biometrics, the body of that Guardian seemed to have contained some sort of chemical reagent that infiltrated his central nervous system." he was met with blank looks from the others.

"...What the fuck does that mean?" Inuyasha was quick to voice what they were all thinking.

"The dust and smoke it unleashed, Tatsu must have breathed it in, and it made him see, hear and feel the Band of Seven, even though they weren't actually there. And the more he tried to fight back against them, the more he was hurting himself in the process."

"Not to mention anyone else who tried to get in his way." Akira noted dryly "So is anything like this going to happen again?"

"I doubt it. I did another scan of him when we brought him back here, the reagent has completely left his system."

"And based on the new addition he had with him when we found him, I think it's safe to say this is over." Raidou glanced over at the others, then at the set of seven Fangs lying on the table in front of them "He passed the test."

"Not to mention going through hell to do it." Arashi pointed out dryly "Speaking of which, where is Tatsu now anyway?"

"I saw him go out onto the roof, he said he wanted to be alone. Not that I can blame him after all the shit he went through last night."

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"Physcially I'm willing to bet he is, he's got Higurashi and her Healing Hands to deal with all his wounds. But this kind of stuff isn't so easy to get over. Akira was pretty much right about that earlier too."

"Believe me, I understand that myself." Kazuma let out a heavy sigh "I've learned a lot of different things in my lifetime, some of them good and some of them bad, but I learned them either way. One of the most important things I've learned is that no matter how much you love someone in your life and want to keep them safe, you can't keep them from ever getting hurt or making mistakes. Those are the sort of things that allow us to mature and grow as people. But what's most important is that they have someone that loves them dearly and will step up when it really counts. That's what I've tried my hardest to do for Tatsu and the rest of you over the years, and that's what he's always done for Kagome, with ever fiber of his being."

"Yeah… he always has." Kagome gave a small smile, though her face quickly fell as she pulled herself to her feet "I'll… I'll see you guys later."

"Gonna go check on Tatsu?"

"You said it yourself. He's always stepped up when I needed him. It's time for me to do the same for him." and so Kagome made her way out of the apartment without another word.

"Yeah… I knew you would." Kazuma gave a small smile, though it quickly fell away as he looked over at the others "And honestly, she might be the only person who can now."

"He's gonna recover though, isn't he?" Inuyasha voiced the question.

"He already is, but I can already tell it's going to be a long and slow process. Going through all that he did has left Tatsu… fragile, to put it mildly. And even though the hard part is over, there's plenty more challenges that are still waiting for him."

"You really think so?"

"Speaking from personal experience, yeah. Getting over things like this will never be easy. There always is something about trauma that sticks with you." Kazuma broke out into a small smile once again "But I can also tell you from experience that you learn to deal with it, you move on, and the most important step… you let the people you care about be there for you.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, on the roof…

'He was there for me at my lowest point… it's time for me to do the same.' Kagome took a deep breath as she opened the door leading up to the roof and made her way out, where she looked ahead and found Tatsu leaning on the railing at the edge "Hey."

"Hey." Tatsu cast a brief look back at her, before turning his gaze back to the Tokyo skyline in front of him, and then down at himself… specifically the sling and cast covering his dislocated arm, as well as the numerous bandages covering the scars, sword wounds and burns across his torso.

'Well he's talking, so that's a good sign.' Kagome slowly made her way over to the railing and came to a stop next to Tatsu "Everyone else is just down in the apartment. Probably just about to get something to eat. Would you maybe…?"

"I'm not hungry." he turned his head slightly away from her.

"I guess you wouldn't be. Not that I can blame you." Kagome paused and gently gripped Tatsu's hand, causing him to flinch slightly, but it did make his head turn back toward her "So… that's it then. Now that it's over… how do you feel?"

"Fine. Relieved that it's over. Ashamed at how I acted."

"It's not your fault. The test with the Fang-"

"The test didn't make me react the way I did and you know that." Tatsu's gaze snapped towards her, his voie hoarse "It didn't make me lose my fucking mind. It didn't make me push all of you away… It didn't make me threaten you all with Banryu when you tried to stop me."

"We… We've all done things we're not proud of." Kagome paused and looked away "But about that… Did… Did you really give up your literal life to save me?"

"...Yeah. One of the powers of the Fangs involved draining corsosive substances like poison out of a person… by taking them into my own body. In order to negate any harm to me, I would need your spiritual powers to purify them, and since that wasn't an option… I thought the risk was worth it to save you and the others." he let out a bitter chuckle "A fat lot of good that did in the end."

"Do you… Did you really think I'd be happy if you died? Do you think any of us would? What about finding the other Fangs and keeping your promise to your dad? Why would you want to give it all up just to save me?"

"Because I thought you living was worth it, even if I didn't… and that didn't even matter in the end, because it didn't work. And look at what it did to me." Tatsu gritted his teeth and clenched his good fist "I got so obsessed over my failure. And every failure after. I closed myself off from feeling anything other than my own anger and self-loathing and got wrapped up in it… I tried to push myself to be better… but instead I became my own worst enemy. And the worst enemy for all of us. Sesshomaru gave me a second chance, and I've been squandering it at every turn since he saved me… At this point I have to think, maybe he shouldn't have brought me back at all, then I wouldn't-" he was cut off by a stinging pain striking him across the face.

As it turns out, Kagome had slapped him across the face, tears streaming down her face "How the hell could you say that?! Do you know what that sounds like?! You think we'd be better off if you were dead? Do you know how selfish that sounds?"

"What are you-"

"You know exactly what I'm saying! You'd be okay with letting Arashi and Raidou lose their best friend, Akira lose his student, Kazuma lose his little brother… and letting me lose the love of my life? Are you really okay with doing that to us?"

"No, I'm not… I just…" Tatsu's voice was caught in his throat as tears began streaming down his face "I keep letting you down… I keep letting everyone down…"

"Tatsu… You could never let me down… You were there for me at my lowest… and I want to be there for you too, but you have to let me…" Kagome was met with silence, she gently wrapped her arms around Tatsu and let him bury his face in her hair.

"Kagome… I love you."

"I love you too. I always will." Kagome buried her face in the crook of his neck 'I always say that I want you to be happy and laugh a lot… though it may be awhile before we get back to that point… But I'm going to stand by you and do whatever you need me to do… Until we can get you to be happy, to laugh and smile again, just like you always do…'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the same time, Naraku appeared before Mimisenri again in his swamp, and was informed of the location of the final missing shard of the Shikon Jewel: It was located at the border between the world of the living and the Netherworld.

A/N:

As was said in the last chapter, the road to recovery is a difficult one, and it's far too easy to backslide into darker thoughts and destructive habits, which can hurt both yourself and those around you. Tatsu is experiencing that first hand. Granted he does manage to overcome the hardships of this chapter, and he comes out stronger with a new Fang, though not without a great deal of strife and suffering in the process. He's still got a long road ahead of him.

Just a heads up, this is the last chapter I'm going to be putting out for awhile. I wanted to make some really substantial progress toward finishing this story, but this seemed like a good stopping point, at least for now, so that I can move over to some of my other stories that I've been sorely neglecting. Don't worry, I'll be back to this one when the time is right. Until then, thank you all for staying with this story and make sure to stay safe out there.

Anyway that's all I have to say for the time being. Thank you all for reading, and please support my Patre0n at the link provided in my profile page.