InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dragoons of the Sacred Jewel ❯ Deals and Darkness ( Chapter 5 )

I do not own Inuyasha or Legend of Dragoon in any way, shape, or form. However any original characters belong to me and you may not use them without permission. Dragoons of the Sacred Jewel Chapter Five: Deals and Darkness

Naraku frowned as he considered the small pile of ashes on the floor, all that was left of the control of his demon puppet. He was sitting in a castle that he had surrounded with an almost impenetrable barrier, and filled with his miasma. His poisonous insects would warn him when anything of significant strength came near. Next to these defenses even the strength of Tetsusagia seemed insignificant to him, but now….now things had changed.

There was only one person who could make him feel uncomfortable in his own fortress was the undead priestess Kikiyo. Her holy power could harm even a demon of his strength. If she had put her mind to it then she might have posed a threat to him, because he would not be able to harm her, at least now as long as he bore the idiot Onigumo’s heart within him. Luckily, she was determined to find some way she could drag the half-demon Inuyasha down to hell and largely ignored him. The girl Kagome, although she claiming to be the reincarnation of Kikiyo, did not have the skill or experience to be a threat, at least not now when he was aware of her powers. Then a few days ago he had sent a demon, enhanced with a shard of the Jewel, to test them and entice them if the defeated it. However, in the midst of the battle the girl had elevated herself from minor nuisance to potential threat. Somehow she managed to call enough strength to not only defeat his demon but to purify the shard it carried as well! Curious about the strange increase he had sent one of his insects to spy on them…. he had found out about the gem the group had gotten hold of.

The moment he had gotten word of it he had immediately started made plans to acquire it. If he could get a hold of that gem, and gain its powers then he would be unstoppable! He had sent one of his demon puppets, along with Kagura, to carry out his plans. It had nearly worked too…but the hanyou had once again managed to thwart him. Naraku turned a disgusted glare on the pile of ashes before he brushed them away irritably. Even though he had maintained only a faint connection to the puppet he had still felt the heat when Inuyasha had unleashed his attack! Naraku growled at turned away from the remains of his failure. He could not allow this to continue, could not allow that idiotic hanyou to keep gaining power! If this continued, and if they did manage to find more shards, then they could one pose a real threat to him. If he didn’t stop this now then he might actually have to…. suddenly the demon was snapped out of his train of though as an insect flew up to him. He listened to it for a second then smiled.

"Kagura, come here." He called. A minuet or so later and the demoness appeared.

"I am here Naraku." The demon smirked when as he examined her. Although she had managed to avoid the blunt of Inuyasha attack she still bore some burns. Her face was streaked with soot and one of the feathers in her hair had been charred almost beyond recognition.

"We have a visitor, would you please go and extend our….hospitality to them?" Kagura snapped her fan closed and let a wicked smile play over her face. After the humiliating defeat at the hands of Inuyasha she really needed to vent her frustrations on someone.

"Of course Naraku, it would be my pleasure."

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Meanwhile outside Lloyd walked back and forth, examining the barrier as he did so. Even though the thing was annoy and preventing him from finishing his mission, the wingly still had to admire whoever had put it up. The barrier that prevented anyone from coming into the wingly valley was stronger, but only because several magic-used were behind it. For a shield to be this strong, it would have to have a something extremely powerful supporting it.

But no one could be that strong….could they? He though as he took a step backwards and looked upwards, in the direction where the top would be if he, could see it. Shaking his head to clear it he turned back to the barrier. He had already tried several spells on it, but he hadn’t weakened it at all, so the he tried the one alternative that was left open: brute force. Spreading wings of light, the wingly flew backwards until he was a good distance from the barrier. Then he summoned a fireball and hurled it directly the barrier. It struck the shield with a spectacular explosion and when the smoke cleared…nothing had changed. Not the least bit surprised Lloyd descended slowly. He had no idea how to proceed and truthfully he wasn’t to disappointed. Unconsciously the scout slipped his hand into this belt pouch and fingered the two small spheres’ in it.

Meru’s plans were normally excessively elaborate but they at least they made some sense. This one however…. Well back at home in the wingly valley the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" had made sense but out here things were different. Seeking the alliance of the creature Naraku had seemed like a good idea but now he wasn’t so sure. Whenever he touched the barrier that the demon had put up he felt a chill sweep down his spine. It was not a pleasant sensation and he could feel something else in the barrier as well, something darker and far more dangerous than anything he had ever encountered before. Normally the power of the dragoon couldn’t be used unless one of the dragoon spirits choose you as its holder. However if Naraku, or anyone for that matter, ever figured out how to use the power without being a dragoon then they could prove to be an even worse menace than the dragoons themselves!

With that last though Lloyd took another long look at he shield. He still had no idea how to proceed.

"Now what am I suppose to do?" He said out loud. No one answered his plead so the wingly shrugged and reached out toward the shield once again. Then a slight movement out of the corner of his eye caught Lloyd’s attention and he jumped into the air in alarm, barely avoiding several wind blades that slammed into the ground he had been standing on moments before.

"You’re very quick." A voice called. Lloyd landed then looked around and glared at the demon who was standing a few yards away from him.

"What do you want?" He growled and tensed.

"You’re the one who’s trespassing." She answered and flicked open her fan. "And I’m afraid that you’ll have to be punished."

"Listen to me first! I was sent here to…."

"Wind Blade!" Lloyd jumped once again, this time spreading his wings and taking flight.

"Would you just listen to me!" He shouted down at the demon. Then he noticed her wide grin. The wingly began to feel nervous.

"What wasn’t a wise move." She taunted.

"What?" Lloyd started then looked closer at he demon. She grinned wider.

"I am Kagura the Wind Sorceress. All the air in and surrounding the castle is under my command."

"Sh*t" Lloyd muttered under is breath and started to descend as rapidly as he could. Unfortunately before he could even touch the ground she swept her fan out in front of her. Tornadoes formed and headed for him. The scout tried to get out of the path of them and although he was able to avoid any direct damage the winds were able to pull him into the body of one of the whirlwinds. Lloyd struggled to get out of the winds but knew it was useless. He would be ripped apart in seconds unless….. He concentrated as hard as he could blocking out the pain that tearing the winds were causing him and whispered the last few words of the spell hoping that they were loud enough to activate. A second later he was engulfed in light and a feeling of relief spread though him as the teleportation spell pulled him out of harms way. It wasn’t until the spell ended that the wingly realized his mistake. When teleporting you had to have a picture of the place you wanted to go in your mind and in his haste Lloyd hadn’t done that. He reappeared ten feet above the ground in a clearing nearly a mile form the castle. Sheer exhaustion kept him from spreading his wings in time and when he him he felt he breath blasted from his lungs and heard something snap. Trying to bite back a groan the wingly attempted to climb to his feet but went down again and this was unable to bite back the cry of agony as he broken ankle collapsed. Covered in cuts and bruises, breath still labored from the fall and a broken ankle. Even though he still technically supposed to be on his mission Lloyd had no desire to fight the wind demon again. Steeling himself for the lecture he would get for running away the scout began to whisper the words for the teleporting spell, this time making sure to keep the picture of the wingly valley in his head. Nothing happened. Worried now Lloyd repeated the words again but again there wasn’t even a flash of light. Once he realized what was wrong the wingly scout began to curse. He had already used his magic several times today and now with the pain of his injuries no helping his concentration he didn’t have enough left cast a simple light spell. A suddenly rustle in the bushes made him tense. He waited for several minuets before he settled down once more.

Right now he wasn’t even able to defend himself much less start toward home. He would rest for tonight he decided, then start to fly home tomorrow. It would take him several days to make in back to the valley but that was better then staying near Naraku’s Castle. Something about it had seemed very wrong to the scout.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ < p>"I still think that this is a bad idea…."

"Who asked you monk!?" Walking behind the two boys, Kagome and Sango looked at each other and then sighed. Against better judgment Inuyasha had decided to try and follow Kagra. They had started walking in the direction she had taken, with Inuyasha confident they could probably find rumors of strange occurrences in nearby towns.

"All I’m saying is that we have no idea how far away Naraku’s castle really is." Miroku had tried several times to stop Inuyasha from following but so far had been unsuccessful.

"Why are you so scared?" Inuyasha stopped and glared at Miroku. "It’s almost like you don’t want to find Naraku!"

"Inuyasha that last attack on us was not normal." The monk gazed in the direction they had been walking. "For some reason Naraku took a lot of time to design an elaborate trap just to get back one jewel shard. I want to know why this is so important to Naraku before I go charging into battle."

"Feh…" Inuyasha looked away. He turned back angrily to Miroku but Sango spoke up before they could say anything else.

"What could Naraku have wanted?" The demon slayer asked. "I mean, aside from the jewel shard we have, why else would he attack us? Revenge?"

"Your right, it is possible that Naraku had other motives for staging an attack like that." Miroku said thoughtfully. "But I don’t see what else Naraku could want so badly…." He trailed off then looked over at Kagome.

"Kagome, have you used your jewel at all since you transformed?" The young woman shook her head.

"No, but it did start glowing again." She lifted its chain so that everyone could see the soft light that came from the center. "I noticed it right after our battle."

"You don’t think that Naraku wants Kagome’s gem do you?" Sango spoke up surprised. As she spoke Kirara jumped from her shoulder and wandered over to the edge of the forest, unnoticed by everyone except Shippo.

"It’s a possibility." The monk answered. "Kagome did manage to defeat a powerful demon in one blow…. And perhaps Naraku sees her as a potential threat."

"What!?" Kagome looked over at him. "But I thought he was only scared of Kikyo!"

"And because you’re her reincarnation perhaps Naraku now fears you as well."

.

"Now that you mention it didn’t it seem like he was after Kagome the whole time?" Inuyasha looked at her thoughtfully. "I mean, he could have killed but it seemed like he was trying to keep us separated."

"Perhaps he’s just trying to get the jewel. It would make sense if he’s already figure out that that’s is what caused Kagome’s increase in power." Miroku looked at the pearl that now outside of her shirt.

"What’s the matter Kirara?" Shippo’s voice came from somewhere off to the side. Everyone looked over and saw Shippo standing by a hissing, spiting Kirara.

"Shippo what happened?" Sango asked as they walked over to the fox demon was.

"I don’t know, she just walked over here and then looked under that tree and started hissing." The demon slayer looked down in concern at her pet then looked in the direction Shippo had pointed to. All she saw was a large tree who’s own branches cast it’s roots into shadow.

"I don’t see anything."

"I can’t smell anything either." Inuyasha had come over as well.

"Nor do I detect the presence of any demons." Miroku looked over at it. Despite her appearance everyone knew that the tiny cat demon had at least the intelligence of a human. She wouldn’t be acting like this for now reason at all…yet she hadn’t transformed so there was no immediate danger.

"It couldn’t hurt to look." The monk started toward the tree. Inuyasha grumbled and followed after. In short order the group spread out and began to search the area around the tree, even though no one had any clue what they where searching for. Shippo was searching by the trees roots, down on his hands and knees the tiny fox demon was searching the nooks and crannies that where too small for anyone to see.

He looked over to see how the others where doing then glanced down at his paws and stopped short, staring. His arm had disappeared up the elbow in darkness.

"IIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

"Shippo!?" Kagome whirled around and caught Shippo has he jumped into her arms. She looked down at him concerned. "What happened?" Shaking the fox-child simply pointed over to where he had been searching. At first Kagome didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and was about ask Shippo if he had been imagining until she saw the stick that Shippo had kicked when he ran away. It was lying half in and half out of the shadow. The young woman took an involuntary step backwards as she looked at it. A twig with a leaf one it was in the middle of the stick. It looked like it was cut in half. The other members of the group had come over to see what Shippo’s scream was about as well and saw the stick too. Miroku approached cautiously and poked the end of his staff into the shadow. It promptly disappeared and the monk quickly pulled it back out and examined the end of it.

"It appears unharmed and I don’t sense any evil about but still…." He frowned. "This is unnatural. Have you ever heard of anything like this Sango?"

"No, never." The demon slayer was now frowning as well.

"Are you alright Shippo?" Kagome asked worriedly. The little kitsune looked down at his paw then put on a brave face.

"Of course! It would take more a couple of shadows to scare me!"

"Yeah, and I suppose you screamed with delight?" Inuyasha snorted. Shippo glared at him.

"You don’t’ know what your talking about!" He declared and turned his head away from the Hanyou.

"Look it’s not hurting anything is it? Let’s getting going before we loose the trail!"

"I don’t think there was a trail to begin with!" Inuyasha glared at the tiny fox.

"What did you say!!!"

"Inuyasha would you stop teasing Shippo for a second?" Something in her voice made the half demon pause for a second.

"What’s the matter Kagome?"

"Look." Was all she said then she reached up and touched the pearl. Almost as if in response the shadows seemed to flicker for a second. "It’s very faint but I’m starting to get the same sense I got when we found these jewels." Almost as if she was sleep walking the young woman started toward where the puddle of darkness was.

"Kagome be careful!" Miroku warned. She simply shook her head, then bent down..

"I don’t think it can hurt me. I mean it didn’t even hurt Shippo!" Behind her the tiny fox demon looked insulted. She reached forward slowly until her finger tips barely touched the blackness…and a piercing silver light erupted from her amulet and seemed to run down her arm until it touched the shadow. When it did it flashed so brightly that she started and pushed herself away from it, blinking the spots away from her eyes.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha glared down at her. "What in the hell did you think you where doing!?" The half demon demanded.

"Are you alright?" Sango asked her at almost the same moment.

"I’m fine." She answered, then grabbed Sango’s hand. The demon slayer pulled her to her feet. Only then did Kagome look down at what had been causing the shadows. Then she blinked. So did everyone else.

"It’s a snakeskin." Miroku stated.

"How in the heck..?" The half-demon scratched his head.

"It had two heads." Shippo said. Everyone else immediately looked closer.

"Your right." The rest of the group was quite for a moment.

"It’s strange." Miroku commented. "But I don’t feel an evil presence here at all. It’s almost like this is from a normal snake."

"A snake with two heads?" Inuyasha sneered at him.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome said in a warning tone. However they where distracted when Kirara, who had been watching them until that point, turned and ran into the woods. Everyone looked at each other then turned and followed the tiny cat demon into the woods.

"Kirara?" Sango called after her pet. This time they heard the growls before the laid eyes on the Kirara, she was crouched in the brush, glaring at a patch of shadow. Remembering what had happened with the other patch of darkness, Kagome kneeled down and reached forward before anyone could stop her. The darkness immediately flared, then died. Another snakeskin lay there, slightly larger then the first one.

"It got bigger." Kagome commented. "But how could it grow so fast?"

"A shard of the sacred jewel?" Miroku asked her. The young woman paused for a second.

"It’s not a Sacred Jewel Shard…." She said slowly "But….."

"But what?" A certain half-demon interrupted impatiently.

"It feels a lot like what I sensed before we found the gems." Kagome ignored him and held up her gem.

"You thinks it’s another one?" Sango said and looked back over her shoulder frowning.

"Since we have no idea how many exist it’s a possibility." The monk answered her. Meanwhile Kagome started walking forward.

"Hey, where are you going?" Inuyasha ran and caught up with her. The teenager adjust the quiver on her back as answered.

"I’m going to find out if that really is another one of the gems or what. I just have this….feeling that if it is we should get it back."

"It’s probably a good to find it in anyway." Everyone looked back at Miroku. "Look if Naraku really is after these gems as well as the scared jewel, do you really want him getting his hands on one?"

"Yeah, your right." Inuyasha agreed grudgingly. "Let’s go." And the group started after the snake.

At first it was hard to track the creature, and if it hadn’t been for Kirara they probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up with it. The tiny little cat demon seemed to have sixth sense for finding the cast off skins of the creature. As each skin was found and cleansed by Kagome, a terrifying pattern began to emerge. Each of the skins that they found was larger than the last one. The snake was growing fast. After a while they didn’t find skins anymore. Instead they where finding individual scales. After that it was much easier to track. Trees where knocked aside in it’s path, and large flat areas where it’s body had swept a path made it possible for even a blind person to follow. Just as daylight began to fade Inuyasha stopped.

"It’s close." He growled. "I can smell it." A suddenly crash from up ahead made everyone jump, and then Inuyasha was running towards the sound, sword drawn.

"Inuyasha! Wait!" Miroku called as he ran after the half-breed. Both of them were only a few meters away from the two girls when the suddenly seemed to just disappear, as if swallowed by the shadows under the trees.

"Wha? Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. There was an extremely loud hiss followed by the sounds of something big moving rapidly. Then Inuyasha and Mirkou where flung out of the shadows. Kagome started to run toward the fallen half-demon but he was on his feet before she got there.

"Stay back!" He barked at her. "It’s in there!" The young woman screeched to a stop before stopping staring as both Miroku and Inuyasha prepared to go back into the blackness.

"What are you doing?" She yelled. "You can’t even see where it is!"

"But I can hear it and I can smell it!" Inuyasha shouted back. "And there is no way I’m letting an over grown worm get the best of me!" With that he plunged back in. Miroku stayed outside of the shadows for few seconds, hesitating, before he turned back to the two women.

"I’ll try and dispel the darkness." He called out to the them. "Kagome, you stay back in case something happens. Sango you make sure nothing happens to her." Then he too disappeared. They stood there and stared after him as the sounds of battle erupted for inside the patch of darkness. For a second Inuyasha was once again thrown out of the darkness, but before they could react he had got up and returned to the battle. Sango’s grip on her boomerang was so tight her knuckles had gone white. Kagome noticed this as her eyes strayed toward the darkness. Almost subconsciously her hand reached up and grabbed the pearl that hung about her neck. I don’t like this! She thought as she watched, or at least tried to. Aside from the sounds there was no way to tell what was going on inside. Sango and I want to help but we can’t! Inuyasha at least can use his nose to tell where it is and Miroku, well I guess maybe he can sense where the snake is but I can’t tell anything from here! I would just be useless if I went in there now. Memories sprang into her mind. The battle after she had found her first gem. A bright light from her bow that wasn’t and was an arrow. A demon dying from it. I wish I could do that again. A picture of the bright silver armor and rainbow wings filled her mind. I want to wear that armor again! Suddenly the gem, which had been glowing softly in her grasp, exploded in to white light. Kagome cried out in surprise and her Sango yell her name. Then almost as quickly as it had happened the light faded, leaving Kagome blinking. She was once again dressed in the same bright silver armor as before.

"Kagome!" The teenager looked up when she realized it was the second time that Sango had called her. "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine." She answered. Part of her was trying to figure out why her bow, which had previously been in is usual position, was now resting in her hand. Suddenly the practical part of her mind seized hold and the memory of the last time she had fought in her armor. Her mind reached a conclusion in less then a second and she pulled back on the bowstring, creating the arrow of light she had seen once before.

"What are you doing?" The demon slayer looked at her alarmed. "If you fire that now you might hit the Inuyasha or Miroku!" Kagome shook her head and smiled in what she hoped was assurance at her friend.

"Don’t worry Sango. This is going to sound strange but I think that the arrow will only hit what I want it to." Her friend still looked skeptical but she did want to waste time arguing right now. Somehow she just knew that she had just said was just empty promises. It was like the armor had a life of it’s own and knew what she wanted to do. Kagome drew back the bowstring and let the arrow fly.

The arrow hit the darkness and a flash of light lit up what was now almost full night, dazzling her eyes for a moment. Her vision cleared just in time to let her see darkness disappear. It wasn’t driven back though, it was more like it was canceled out by the light. Now Kagome could see the snake, full thirty feet long and with, as Shippo had pointed out at the beginning, two heads. Both of them gave hiss in and turned in her direction, tails flickering out, searching for the person who had disturbed it. Beside her Sango was the first to recover.

"Hirakotus!" She shouted and hurled the bone boomerang at the creature. It went cleanly thought one of the heads and it fell with a crash to the earth. The remaining head gave a hiss of pain and started to slither toward her, bleeding badly from it the stump of neck that had once been it’s brother. Suddenly Inuyasha leapt up now recovered from his momentary blindness.

"Wind Scar!" He shouted as he brought Tetsugia down. The attack slammed into the snake from the side and everyone watched as it seemed to dissolve in the bright yellow light.

"We did it!" Shippo cheered as he jumped up and down.

"Yeah. We did." Kagome said and smiled at her friends. Sango smiled back then started down to where the other two male members of their party waited. When they reached them, no one said anything for a few moments. Each person was still to busy with their own thoughts to say anything to the others. It was during this silence that a flash of light caught the demon slayer’s eye. Sango turned toward it, curious, and then she saw the dark orb floating down. Instinctively her hand darted out and she watched as the dark shape settled into her hand where it burst into dark light. Her friends had watched her particular and had turned to regard her curiously. Now they all stared at her as the orb settled down.

"Can I see Sango?" Miroku asked. Mutely she held it out and watched as the monk took it. "It’s like the snake." He said after a few seconds. "It’s not evil. It’s just here and full of darkness."

"You don’t think it can do anything to Sango d…" Kagome stopped as her armor, which had stayed on much longer than it had last time, disappeared back into the jewel. The priestess glanced behind her to make sure that her wings were gone before she smiled. "You don’t think it can do anything to Sango do you?" She asked at last.

"I don’t think so." Miroku held up the dark jewel to the light then handed back to the demon slayer. "Since it seems to be the same as yours and Inuyasha’s I doubt it can to anything to her."

"What do we do now?" Sango asked. Kirara had jumped up one her shoulder and sniffed at the gem as Sango held it up to her.

"Let’s keep going forward." Inuyasha glared at all of them as spoke. "Look, every time we started heading in this direction we keep running into these jewels. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence."

"That’s true." The monk turned and looked around. "In any case it’s getting dark and we should set up camp. We’ll figure out what to do in the morning."

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Meanwhile in an area miles from were the half demon was Meru was flying through the night. The female wingly was tired and more than a little annoyed. She had sent Lloyd off on that wild goose chase for Narkau’s assistance but she really didn’t think he would succeed. If he did than it was all well and good but she need to have a real plan. Foremost in her mind at the moment was one thought: she must not send any winglies into battle. The last time they had tried to battle the dragoons, generations and generations ago, they slaughtered. So she had come up with another plan; use the half-demons own enemies against him. It should have been easy. Inuyasha had no shortage of wanted revenge but it was very few that might have a prayer of defeating him. Then of course she had to deal with those who wanted to fight, a risky business in and of itself. Now she was scouting the countryside, looking for anyone or anything that might be of use. Normally she would leave a job like this to her underlings but this was too important, too big for that. Something caught the female winglies eyes down below and she paused hovering in mid air as she watched what seem to be a dust devil streaking down the road at incredible speeds.

"What the…..?" Meru muttered as she watched. Her eyes narrowed when a large demon wandered out of the woods and into the dust devil’s path. It turned it’s bird like beak toward it and gave shrieking squawk. What happened next was too fast for her too see. All she saw was something explode from the dust devil and ram into the demon with incredible force. The demon gave shriek then collapse, dead, at his attackers feet. Flying closer Meru barely caught the brief image of a human shaped figure in a wolf skin before he took of again, going so fast he air whirled in his wake. Meru hovered for a few minuets a thoughtful look on her face. Even from distance she had been able to sense the demonic aura and knew that while he might have appeared human he wasn’t one. Before her thoughts had come full circle two more figures accompanied by a small pack of wolves ran up where the dead demon lay. Curious Meru flew in for a closer look. This time she was careful to stay out of sight.

"Koga?" One called out panting. He looked around then hung his head.

"He didn’t wait for us again." His companion moaned then flopped down. "I’m exhausted."

"We can’t stop here! What if we loose Koga’s trail? Well never find it again!"

"Okay fine! Lets go!" The two demons took off and the exhausted wolves followed them.

Koga? Meru flew down and settled in of the trees. "Where have a heard that name before?" She muttered to herself. After several minuets of searching her memory the wingly smiled. Ever since the winglies had sealed themselves in the valley they had been gathering information to aide in the search for dragoons. Originally it was to make sure that their ancient enemies didn’t join forces with any of the more powerful demon tribes but over time it had evolved into a way of life. Once in a while they would even offer information to some of the more powerful Lords who wanted it, for a price of course. Still this gathering of information meant that her people knew the name of nearly ever Demon Tribe leader including Koga. He had taken over the Wolf Demon’s at a young age but his tribe had suffered crippling losses when they had foolishly assaulted the castle of the powerful demon Naraku. From all reports his tribe had been destroyed but those reports seemed to have been exaggerated. But of more importance to Meru at the moment was something that seemed of almost no importance before; the rivalry of the Wolf Demon leader and a certain half demon. Now tired of hiding Meru flew down and landed on the path. "Why are you here Koga?" The wingly whispered. "And where are you going?" If the wolf demon ran into Inuyasha then it could complicate things. If he tried to fight the half-breed, which seemed most likely considering their past, then he would almost certainly be killed because even a demon would have trouble standing up to the power of a dragoon, even an inexperienced one like Inuyasha. On the other hand if he joined forces with that group then it would add another formidable foe to the list. Either way would mean that at least part of Meru’s plan would have to be reworked. Fully intending to go back to her valley Meru took to the air once again but was stopped by the noise that had erupted up ahead. It was the sound of battle.

By the time she had managed to catch up to the wolf tribe the battle was over. Still it wasn’t hard for the Meru to piece together the course of the battle. The demon, a low-slung beast with massive forearms and spikes running up and down it’s back, had tried to ambush one of the demons. Whether the demon in question had been Koga or not was a moot point now. The leader of the tribe had joined the battle and quickly killed the beast. Incredibly powerful kicks had shattered the armor around it’s head killed it. Meru shook her head as she looked down at it. Now matter how powerful he was the demon she doubted he would be able to pierce a dragoon’s armor or catch a warrior with the power of flight. Already considering the wolf dead Meru turned to fly away but a spark of light from the corpse caught her attention. For a moment she hovered uncertainly but soon curiosity overwhelmed the wingly woman. Dropping down to the ground she padded over to the body cautiously. But once she was close enough to see what it was her hand darted out and pulled the orb from the demon. She stared at if for several moments before her mind finally realized what she was holding; a dragoon sprit. Meru looked down at the corpse once again mind whirling. It didn’t make any sense. Why would a demon be caring one the most powerful magical artifacts in the world. Despite centuries of searching even the winglies had only managed to collect two of the things. Fortunately they had managed to kill the owners before they could figure out how to use the dragoon powers stored within, but they had failed with Inuyasha. Before the two had been demon slayers but still…… Meru paused as something in her mind clicked. The last two to gain spirits had been demon slayers and each had acquired them after slaying a powerful demon.

The latest two dragoon spirits had been found in the body of a demon.

"It can’t be?" She asked unsure. It made a kind of weird sense. The dragoon themselves had to be accomplished warriors and what better way to prove yourself worthy of the spirit than defeating a powerful demon in combat? But then that would mean….

"The Leader of the Wolf Demon tribe is a dragoon!" She immediately took flight once more. The other winglies and the counsel had to be told. However soon the winglies wings slowed and she hovered thinking and planning.

Two dragoon that seemed to hate each other. Two threats to the survival of her race. Could they cancel each other out? In the past only one battle was ever recorded between dragoons and in that case they ended up killing each other. If Inuyasha and Koga managed to finish each other off then it would be killing two birds with one stone. But what if they didn’t? What if one or both survived? Meru looked doubtfully down at the stone for a second before she realized some thing very important. She had informed no one about the new dragoon spirit. Even if her plan failed then there would be no way for anyone to connect it to her. With a grin the wingly shoot off grinning. All she had to do was make sure Koga got his hands on the stone. She was fairly sure that it wouldn’t take him long to discover it’s powers and go after the half breed. Still it would be better to keep out of his sight.

After all there was a chance that some else would see her or the wolf demon would tell some one what she had said, and she couldn’t risk anyone finding out what she had done.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There, its done. Took me months of writers block and feeling guilty that I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to say something but its’ done. And right now I’m exhausted, sick, and I feel like I wanted to throw up. Still I can’t help but feel glad that this is done because it’s been bugging me since I actually do enjoy working on this story. Naraku and Kagura’s scenes were the hardest to write and that was a major factor in the lateness of this chapter. As always please forgive any small grammar and spelling mistakes I make since those are a two of my weak points. R &R but please no flames.

--Plantress

And may you be spared from any illness since being sick sucks.