InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ And that's how it all started ( Chapter 1 )

And that's how it all started

She stood, rooted to the ground with shock, staring at the sword she held in her hand. Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks as well, his poison-dripping claws inches away from Inuyasha's throat. His eyes licked back to look behind him. Following his brother's gaze, Inuyasha turned his eyes onto Kagome as well. Both brothers stared at her relentlessly; not exactly sure they could believe what they were seeing.

Sesshoumaru recovered quickly however, and was soon towering over a stupefied Kagome. She took her eyes off the sword, and slowly raised them to Sesshoumaru's piercing, golden ones. Her eyes grew even wider with fear and apprehension, and she swallowed with difficulty. "Eh…it just slipped…and…uh," she cringed as Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I'm sorry…" she squeaked as her voice faltered.

"What are you, human?" Sesshoumaru asked in a dangerously low tone that promised his full wrath. "What are you that you pulled out Tessaiga?" he stepped in even closer to her.

Kagome shook her head meekly and took a tentative step away from him. But just as she was about to take another, Sesshoumaru's hand flashed out forwards and wrapped itself tightly about the young girl's thin wrist.

"Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha yelled from across the tavern as he saw fear and pain grow in Kagome's eyes. "Sesshoumaru! Leave her alone, she's just a human. She's got nothing to do with this. I'm your opponent, NOT HER!"

Sesshoumaru turned his head slightly towards Inuyasha, his cold stare leaving Kagome's face and focusing on his brother. "You expect me to ignore this?! Neither you nor I could pull out the sword, and yet somehow, she, this human, was able to without even trying. You WANTME to ignore THIS?!"

"Look I don't know how she did it either, but I know she's just a human, without even some of the normal human abilities." He lied; he knew full well that this Kagome girl was well beyond even some of the highest humans. "Like I said, SHE'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!!"

At this, Sesshoumaru's mouth formed into a taunting smirk. He dragged Kagome even closer with one striped hand as he tugged a silver tress behind a pointed ear with the other. Kagome squeaked again, but Inuyasha noted the absence of fear from her eyes. In fact, to his surprise, he could see anger flash across the rich warm brown eyes. He could feel the waves of anger that were emitting from her body aura. If Sesshoumaru had noticed this change however, he showed no sign of it. "Humans! Why save them … why protect them … why…" his smirk grew as he looked back down at the now fiery Kagome, "…love them?"

Inuyasha said nothing as he understood the full meaning of his brother's words, his own face tingeing with the red of growing rage.

Kagome, however, looked momentarily confused, looking from one brother to the other. And in that moment, Sesshoumaru made his move. He pushed her fiercely against the hard wall of the tavern, and she gasped with both pain and surprise. His nails bit into her skin as he applied more pressure onto her wrist. He lifted his other hand to the handle of the blade, but almost instantly the sword sent sparks flying in his direction. Sesshoumaru frowned, and then turned brutally cold eyes onto Kagome.

"Fine!" he growled, lifting his poisonous claws to her neck.

Realising what was about to happen, Kagome screamed and dropped to her knees at the last possible moment, just as the claws swept past her head. But he still held her wrist. He lifted her off the ground with ease, only to throw her back down hard. She fell face forward, but extended her hands just in time to avoid contact with the ground.

"Give me the sword!" he commanded extending his hand towards her. With the other, he unsheathed the sword at his waist and placed its unusually sharp edge against her throat.

Kagome looked at the sword with fear, which slowly turned into confusion. She turned and looked Sesshoumaru squarely in the face. "No."

"What do you mean 'no'?!" Inuyasha yelled at her. "Maybe you're stupid. But let me tell you this, I promise you, you have never been this close to death before!"

She glanced at Inuyasha momentarily, and then turned back to Sesshoumaru. "No, I won't give you the sword." Her voice was calm with unwavering resolution despite her inner fears. She remained very still on the ground, secretly examining the sword at her throat. There was something odd, and yet familiar about it. It was giving off an aura that only she seemed to be able to feel; an aura of protectiveness and compassion. It was very odd that she was feeling an aura in the first place, let alone one from a sword. She sat quietly, contemplating what this could mean.

"Kagome," Inuyasha spat with annoyance. "Just give him the sword. You're no match for him."

Kagome's eyes flashed again with anger. She got up resolutely from the ground. "No. He wasn't able to pull out the sword, which means that the Tessaiga is most definitely not his. I will abide by its wishes and not give it to those who have been so obviously rejected!"

She froze for a moment as the sword pressed against her throat with more pressure. What she did next baffled Inuyasha and even Sesshoumaru's servant, Jaken.

She lifted a finger to her mouth and bit down on it hard. Blood began to spill from the wound, but she ignored the pain, watching Sesshoumaru's reaction closely.

Sesshoumaru was looking down at her very hard, eyes just tinged with apprehension and disbelief as Kagome placed her injured finger against the sharp edge of the blade. She gave him a short and meaningful smirk, and then ruthlessly cut her finger against the blade.

"What the…?" Inuyasha gasped. But his gasp wasn't because of her actions, but more due to what happened after.

Kagome raised her now perfectly normal finger to her eyes. "Humph, I thought about as much. What's the point of threatening someone with a sword that's meant to heal?" she looked back into Sesshoumaru's golden gaze.

To her surprise however, Sesshoumaru did not seam to be the slightest bit perturbed or angry. In fact, he stood tall in front of her, his eyes dancing with amusement. "So you're a miko," he stated matter of factly.

"A miko?!" she heard herself repeat with confusion. She turned questioning eyes towards Inuyasha. As soon as she'd taken her eyes off of Sesshoumaru, she knew she'd made a mistake. She watched Inuyasha's face pale as a gust of green and stingy mist blew against her. Sesshoumaru had with one of his poisonous onslaughts. She felt her skin burn with immeasurable pain where it made contact with her skin. She sank to the floor, black blotched blurring her vision, as she neared unconsciousness. She turned her back to him and as a last resort, pulled the sword up in between herself and the source of the poison. A purplish-blue and a red light just reached her vision as her mind slipped from the world and she was tossed into darkness.

"How is she?"

"Still out cold. But her scars have all healed over."

"Amazing! Not even Kikyou's powers would have allowed her such a quick recovery!"

"Keh! If it were me, I would have been alive and kicking long before this!" Kagome felt a tinge of annoyance at this.

"Yes. But ye should remember that this child is a human. She has no youkai blood within her veins to come to her aid."

"Humans are all weak. This is exactly why I'm going to use the Jewel of the Four Souls to become a full-fledged demo-,"

"Inuyasha…oswary!"

WHAM!

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"Just to keep you from babbling off again," she answered moodily. Her whole body ached and if she moved her head too fast, the room started spinning around her. "Kaede-sama, thank you for taking care of me."

"Think nothing of it child!" the old woman said warmly.

Kagome smiled and sat up carefully in her futon. She was back in Kaede's hut, and the sword that she'd pulled out lay beside her. "What happened?" she asked looking at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha glared at her, and said nothing. Kagome rolled her eyes and turned to the old priestess.

"The sword protected you, as did your miko powers. Upon seeing this, Inuyasha's brother apparently gave up and left-,"

"For now," Inuyasha interrupted rudely. "Trust me, he'll be back!"

"Well that's just foolish then, isn't it?" Kagome retorted. "He can't even touch the sword. Why would he come back?! Only an idiot would?"

"He is an IDIOT!" Inuyasha spat. "Believe me, he takes on grudges easily, and hardly ever lets go of them. And I bet he has a huge one against you!"

"What?! What did I do?" Kagome asked, perplexed. "From what I remember, he was the one who tried to kill me! Or was that somehow my fault?"

"Feh! You don't understand anything, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome questioned, her anger rising again.

"Idiot! You hurt his pride," Inuyasha counted on his fingers, "You disobeyed a direct order. You took the Tessaiga. You even lived when he tried to kill you. You saw through his bluff. And worst of all, you did all this while being a human. Honestly, how stupid would you have to be to think that he's going to let you get away with it?"

"Oh." Kagome settled down, knowing that he was probably right. Then, quiet suddenly, she remembered something that Sesshoumaru had said. She turned towards Kaede and asked, "What's a miko?"

Inuyasha nearly lost balance and fell to the floor with the stupidity of the question. "Moron, how could you not know what a miko is when you so clearly are one?"

"First of all," Kagome began haughtily, "You don't know that I am one or not. Second of all, in my time things are different, so obviously I've never heard of such a thing!" By this time the two were looking daggers at each other.

Kaede sighed a great patient sigh, and broke the silent tension between the two. "A miko is a white magic user, child. Kikyou was a miko, as I suspect thou are one too. Ye have shown great powers that only a truly powerful miko has. It was thy miko powers that allowed thee passage through the bone eaters well. The same powers that helped thee against mistress centipede, and kept thee alive and healed thy wounds. And the demon's sword protection would not have been enough against the demon Sesshoumaru without thy miko powers." She nodded gravely.

"A white magic user?" Kagome repeated hesitantly. "But…but how…?"

"I suspect that it's because ye are the reincarnation of my sister, Kikyou. And ye are the daughter of a priest of your own time, one who guards the Time Tree and the Bone Eater's well."

Kagome was silent, trying to absorb the information. "Wait a minute," she said slowly, "Tessaiga protected me?" she said with shock. "How…it's a sword!"

"Correction," Inuyasha cut in. "It's a demon sword. Myoga said that my father had forged it from his fang in order to protect my human mother. He also said that, the sword was therefore bound to protect humans." He paused for a moment. "What Myoga couldn't figure out, was how you were able to pull out the fang and not me. So … how did you do it?"

Kagome stared at Inuyasha's golden eyes, and then turned her eyes onto the sword that lay beside her. She picked it up and regarded it pensively. To her surprise, she felt something she hadn't noticed before: this sword also had an aura, one of power and yet protection. She analysed it with her eyes as a thought came to her mind.

"Well?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

"Do you know where Sesshoumaru had gotten his sword from?"

"The Tensaiga?" asked an old raspy, and yet familiar voice. Myoga-the-flee jumped onto Kagome's left shoulder.

"Hi Myoga-ji!" Kagome said politely to the old flea. "Is that the name of his sword?"

"Yes the Tensaiga is the brother sword to Tessaiga. Inutaisho built both swords, giving one to each brother. Tensaiga is a sword meant for healing; it can't cut down an enemy. The Tessaiga is almost the opposite. It is meant to give more strength to the owner. Both swords are exceptionally powerful when used correctly."

"Oie, Myoga-ji ji!" Inuyasha said rudely. "If I were meant to have Tessaiga, why wasn't I able to pull it out?"

Myoga thought this through thoroughly before answering. "Perhaps since the sword was built to protect humans, it could only be brought out by one. I am certain that's why Master Sesshoumaru could not touch the sword with his lack of human blood."

Kagome looked at the sword in her hand with a new respect. She tapped Inuyasha gently on the shoulder, calling his attention to her. He turned, and was slightly surprised as she placed the sword in his hands with a smile. "Now you have to protect me, whether you like it or not!" she announced.

"What! What do you mean?" Inuyasha said with disgust.

"I don't think the sword would work if you weren't using it to protect a human!"

"The young lady is quite right, Master Inuyasha. That is the only to tap into Tessaiga's true power!"

Inuyasha's face fell with horror. "I don't have to protect you at all," he retorted snidely. "After all, you're not the only human left in Japan. I'll use my sword to protect one whose prettier, nicer, and more useful than y--,"

"Inuyasha…" he looked at her, "Oswary!"

WHAM!

"Oswary! Oswary! Oswary! Oswary! OSWARY!!!!!"

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!!!!!

Outside the hut, Jaken got quietly to his feet. He had much to tell his master.

And so, Inuyasha and Kagome continued their journey in search of the Shimon shards, now aided by the Tessaiga, which proved to be a powerful sword indeed. They met up with Shippo and eventually the lecherous monk, Miroku. And it was only a few days after their dealings with the Hell Painter that we pick up on the story once more.

Naraku had already met with Sesshoumaru and offered him a Shikon shard that would allow Sesshoumaru full access to Tessaiga in exchange for the death of Inuyasha, which Sesshoumaru was only too eager to accomplish.

Currently, he had sent Jaken to find out where his brother and his little group of companions were headed. He waited patiently, for after all, Sesshoumaru was a patient man, or rather demon, for Jaken to return with his news. He looked at his left forearm, where the jewel shard was embedded. He did not like it. It just didn't feel natural with it there. And he had a feeling that he wouldn't enjoy killing Inuyasha as much knowing that he would inevitably be borrowing power from it in the process. No. He did not like it one bit.

He looked stubbornly away, reminding himself that without the shard, he would not be able to even touch Tessaiga. Plus, he had other business to take care of that night, he thought maliciously. That bitch had to die.

After he killed his brother, he was determined to take down his miko wench. She had dared to defy and insult him right under his nose, and now she was going to pay. Just the thought of a mere human thinking so highly of themselves disgusted him. He found his desire to kill his brother grow even greater just for associating with such vile creatures.

He knew full well now that the girl was the reincarnation and almost perfect double of the hanyou's former lover, Kikyou. He had also learned of the history between the once dead miko and Inuyasha. He felt another surge of loathing for the boy.

Sesshoumaru got to his feet. He could smell Jaken as he neared the clearing he'd sat in. five minutes past and finally the little green toad appeared on the far side of the clearing. Sesshoumaru waited.

"Master! Master!" the toad called from across the field as he waddled quickly towards him, or at least as quickly as his short legs would carry him. "Master! I've found them. They're in the neighbouring village of Inuyasha's forest. They're on their way out of the village, and want to go through the forest to some other village. I heard the hanyou say he wanted to go after the wench near some well."

So the wench wasn't with his brother at all times! He hadn't known that. He turned east and promptly walked towards the infamous forest where his brother had been bound to a tree for fifty years.