InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ Fearless Leader ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10: Fearless Leader

Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan

He was fast--faster than most vampires, thought Buffy as Inuyasha came at her in a blur of silver and red.

She ducked his punch and managed to land one of her own, but lost her balance when she overreached in trying to land a second blow. She landed on her butt in the grass, scrambled to her feet, and looked for him.

He was ten feet away, and picking himself up, as well. At least she hadn't landed on her face!

"Heh, you're pretty strong--for a human."

She smiled at him. "And that was a pretty wimpy attack--for a demon."

"Oh, yeah?" And then he was coming at her again, moving even faster now.

This is going to be fun, thought Buffy. It had been a while since she'd encountered an opponent who could give her a run for her money.

And neither of them was seriously trying to kill the other.

At least, that's what she hoped.

Because Kagome was going to be pretty pissed off if Buffy slew her boyfriend.

She survived his next two passes, but by a narrower margin than she would have liked. For now, she was fighting cautiously, trying to avoid getting hit while feeling out his strengths and weaknesses.

Inuyasha's attacks, on the other hand, were quickly gaining in speed and intensity as he realized that his initial efforts were falling short.

Despite his tough talk, he had been going easy on her. Now, apparently, he had caught a clue about what she really was, and was kicking into higher gear.

She got lucky, and managed to get behind him. Buffy kicked, hard, and felt her foot connect with the middle of his back.

He flew forward, then somehow managed to turn the fall into an acrobatic flip. Both of his hands landed on the ground, and while doing a handstand, he spun round, and came to his feet facing her again.

And all this in the blink of an eye.

She kicked at his head, aiming for his ears. They looked soft...and sensitive. She missed, barely even managing to ruffle his hair.

In return, he landed a blow upside her head that she never even saw coming. The side of her face went numb and bright stars shot through her field of vision.

She stumbled back and blocked another blow with her elbow.

They circled one another warily for a moment or two, both of them panting a little.

"Are you sure you aren't a hanyou?" he asked, suspiciously.

"I once called my mother a thing of evil, but no," Buffy said, keeping her gaze fastened on his. She had observed that he always looked in the direction of his next lunge, and forewarned was forearmed. Especially given how damned fast he was. "Both of my parents are--were--human."

"But I can see your youki when you fight," Inuyasha said, frowning. "Pure humans don't have that."

Demon aura, eh? She wondered whether the demonic energy that the sorcerers had given the First Slayer was the same thing that Inuyasha called youki. Sort of makes sense.

"That's interes--" Buffy missed his cue, and only prevented his fist from connecting with her cheek by flinging herself backwards.

She hit the ground, and rolled. He followed her, and lashed up and out with his foot just as she regained her feet, catching her in the midsection.

"Ooof!" She folded over, simultaneously trying to breathe while not throwing up. Tuck, roll, get back on your feet--and, shit! His hand was already reaching for her throat.

She knocked his arm aside, a little wildly, and followed up immediately with a high kick.

He almost went down that time, and she took advantage of the brief respite to regain her feet. Nearly got me that time.

* * *

At first, Kagome was glued to the scene unfolding before her.

The two of them, hanyou and Slayer, were graceful as dancers, leaping, rolling, kicking. They seemed evenly matched, both of them agile and strong, and she was surprised to see how few of their blows actually landed.

And, to her surprise, Buffy also performed the amazing leaps and flips that characterized Inuyasha's fighting style. Where Inuyasha used his leaping ability constantly to climb trees and cover ground quickly, Kagome had never suspected that Buffy could do the same.

Her jumps weren't quite as high as his, but her landings were more controlled.

It was riveting...at least at first.

After an hour, though, Kagome let herself slide down to the ground. No longer bothering to conceal herself--the two combatants seemed oblivious to all but each other--she sat with her back to a convenient tree trunk. Her thoughts began to wander a bit.

Shippo joined her shortly thereafter. He leaned against her, sucking on one of the strawberry lollipops she had given him.

More time passed, and neither Buffy nor Inuyasha seemed to be gaining the upper hand.

She noticed that they were beginning to breathe hard. Inuyasha had discarded his jacket, and Buffy was down to a t-shirt as well. But they continued to circle, lunge, and kick without pausing. Some of their moves were so fast they blurred.

She glanced at her watch. Two hours so far, and Buffy and Inuyasha had each taken one serious fall. So much for thinking that a duel that was restricted to two out of three falls would be over quickly.

"Shippo-chan, have you been playing in the bushes again? " Kagome pulled a comb out of her pocket, and untied the fox-cub's thick ponytail.

He draped himself over her lap, and held still while she combed out the various bits of leaves and twigs from his shining auburn hair. Unusually-colored hair seemed to be a youkai hallmark, she thought, remembering the night Inuyasha had let her comb out his own silver mane.

Sango got up and left for a while, and returning with an armful of items that included leaf-wrapped onigiri, cans of cold tea from Kagome's pack, and a pot of Kaede's leftover vegetable stew. '

Giving the two combatants an assessing glance, she murmured, "I don't think they'll want to stop for lunch," and set about kindling a small fire to heat up the stew.

Miroku joined them as soon as he smelled the food.

As they munched away, they heard an occasional oath or growl coming from the clearing, accompanied by the sounds of skin connecting sharply with skin.

The monk sighed, a rice ball halfway to his lips. "Such energy! A pity that it's directed at so useless a venture."

"I don't think it's useless at all, houshi-sama," Sango said, softly.

She looked in the direction of the meadow for a long moment, musing. "I believe that no matter who wins today, both of them will get along better from now on. They are both warriors, and a warrior cannot truly respect an opponent with whom he has not fought."

Kagome hoped Sango-chan was right.

The last twenty-four hours had been very difficult. How could she choose sides between her friends? She had only known Buffy for a few days, but she had grown surprisingly close to the American slayer during that time.

And then there was Inuyasha...who was rude, violent, and stubborn...and who could also be kind, funny, and surprisingly compassionate.

When they had finished lunch, and rinsed out the pot and bowls, Sango produced the rather battered deck of playing cards that Kagome had brought along as a present at the beginning of summer. Those cards had seen a lot of use during their wandering journey around the Japanese countryside.

They played Hearts and Revolution and even poker for hours.

During the course of the afternoon, one or the other would get up at intervals, walk over to the clearing, and return, reporting that Buffy and Inuyasha were still at it.

The sun sank low in the sky, and a cold wind rose. Kagome shivered a little, and pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders.

Wouldn't those two ever get tired?

* * *

The sky was orange and the meadow deep in shadow when Buffy went down for the third time.

She managed to take Inuyasha with her, and the two of them hit the ground, hard, then rolled apart.

Bloodied and exhausted, they sprawled side-by-side in the trampled grass. Neither of them moved for a long moment.

Buffy could hear her own rasping breath. Everything hurt. It just felt so good not to move. She almost didn't care if she'd lost.

Almost.

"Heh, slayer. That was your third fall. I win." His voice sounded raspy too. And he was certainly breathing hard.

Buffy moved her head just far enough so she could see the white fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. "No way, dog-boy. This is your third time, too, and you went down at the same time I did."

"Shit." But he didn't leap to his feet and demand another round. Thank God.

There was a long pause at they both realized that neither of them had won.

"Look," said Buffy, at last, still gasping for breath. "Maybe...we need to...find another solution...to this problem."

"Like what?" Inuyasha asked.

"How about...neither of us..becomes the leader? We'll get..one of your friends...to do it."

"Not if it means being beaten to a pulp by either of you," Miroku called cheerfully, strolling out from behind a nearby bush. "Are you two finally finished with your duel?"

Buffy saw that Sango, Shippou, and Kagome were also making their way from the shelter of the trees along the clearing's edge. They'd probably been there for quite a while, watching.

Hope you guys enjoyed the show. Because that's all, folks.

"Well? What about it?" Buffy asked Inuyasha. "Wanna call it a draw and declare a truce?"

She raised herself up on her elbow, feeling as if wet concrete had replaced the blood in her body. With an effort, she lifted one very heavy arm and extended her scratched, grimy hand to him.

From his position flat on his back, Inuyasha turned his head and stared at her for a long moment. She was sure he was going to rebuff her.

Then, slowly, he reached across his body and offered his own hand. As his sleeve slid back, she saw that his forearm was covered with reddened bruises.

He closed his taloned fingers carefully around hers. She noticed that his skin was very warm, almost hot, and his palms were rough with calluses.

"Truce," he said, then added. "You're a good fighter. For a human."

She actually got a smile out of him. It made him look...well, nice. Sort of sweet.

If you could discount the black eye and the fat lip.

Not that she looked any better. She grinned at him, and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. "And you're not too bad, yourself. For someone who isn't a Slayer, I mean."

"Keh!: he replied, but she didn't think he was really mad. For one thing, he didn't snatch his hand away.

She held on to him a moment longer, thinking that he was actually a pretty good-looking guy when he wasn't glowering. Even if he did have canines and those doggy ears.

No wonder Kagome had the hots for him. Dare I call it puppy love?

Then she released him, and flopped back down, looking up at Miroku. "Any suggestions, houshi-sama?"

He tilted in his head in the last scarlet wash of daylight, and thought.

"Um, excuse me?" Kagome asked. "What if we draw straws? That would be fair wouldn't it?"

"An excellent suggestion, Kagome-sama." He moved closer to her, and Buffy saw Kagome back away. Evil hand. Bad monk.

"Sounds good to me," Buffy said, closing her eyes. She wondered if she could make it all the way back to Kaede's cottage tonight. Staying here and sleeping under the stars tonight was looking awfully good...maybe if one of the others brought her a blanket and a pillow...

She must have dozed off for a moment, because suddenly Miroku was kneeling at her side, offering her a fistful of grass stalks from his evil hand. She could barely see them in the fading light, so she plucked one at random.

He rose, and offered them to Inuyasha next, then moved on to the others.

* * *

Kagome took the second-to-last stalk, and, heart pounding, waited to see what the others had drawn.

"Long," said Shippo, holding up his stalk.

"Long," said Miroku.

"Long." Buffy had managed to sit up. She tossed her piece of grass onto the ground. It was hard to tell whether she sounded disappointed or not.

Kagome's heart leapt. It was going to be Inuyasha! She was so glad--

"Long," he said, in a tone of disgust.

Now, everyone was looking at her. Slowly, Kagome uncurled her palm, feeling sick. If no one else had drawn the short stalk of grass...

She stared down at hand in horror.

Her blade of grass was definitely much shorter than the others.

"Oh, no."