Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One for the Ages ❯ Chapter Ten: Fox Hunt ( Chapter 10 )

One for the Ages

By Gan Xingba

Chapter Ten: Fox Hunt

 

When dawn at last arrived, the travelers awoke one by one and went about their morning routines in business like manner, and not until everyone was ready did they even start a conversation. Even Yusuke had been fairly grim after the encounter with Youko, and that had been a sign to the others that this was a dire situation. Having experienced Kurama's keen mind firsthand, no one needed to be told that it was time to solidify their plans.

 

“Miroku, did ya' finish that seal?” asked Inuyasha to start off the discussion.

 

“Yes, the seal is complete,” the monk verified with a nod. “All that I need to do is apply it to him and we will have won.”

 

“Oh, is that all?” responded Yusuke sarcastically. “He's going to be expecting something like this. He always knows what's coming before it gets there.”

 

“I realize this, but there is no other way to save your friend,” Miroku replied.

 

“Then let's stop wasting time and go!” said Kagome, grabbing her bow and quiver.

 

“You're not going anywhere with that wound,” mandated Inuyasha rising and walking over to Kagome imperiously. “You're staying at the camp.”

 

“What are you talking about? I'm fine!” dismissed Kagome with the stubborn tone that Inuyasha was now so familiar with.

 

As she stood up to prove this, however, she was unable to hold back a grunt of pain, confirming Inuyasha's suspicion that she was lying. His point proven, the half-demon crossed his arms with a triumphant smirk, and Kagome finally ceded, sitting down with a huff.

 

“Don't worry Kagome, I'll stay here with you,” volunteered Shippou eagerly in an attempt to cheer his friend up.

 

“Are you sure you two'll be OK here?” asked Kuwabara skeptically. “Naraku might try and cheap-shot you guys while we're fightin' Youko.”

 

“Good point, lug-head. You're staying with `em,” stated Yusuke, quickly starting to explain before Kuwabara could protest. “Youko knows exactly how you fight by now anyway, so he's probably already figured out exactly how he's going to beat you.”

 

“He knows how you fight, too, Urameshi! You've got just as bad a chance as I have!” yelled Kuwabara, still unconvinced and thoroughly insulted by his peer's suggestion.

 

“You know me, Kuwabara. I'm unpredictable,” explained Yusuke with a smirk. “Besides, if Naraku attacks, he'll be sending that damned witch. Weren't you sayin' earlier that you wanted another shot at her?”

 

“Fine, I'll watch Kagome and the runt, but you owe me, Urameshi,” Kuwabara consented with a grimace. “Next time, you're doin' the babysittin'.”

 

As expected, this prompted a most violent verbal lashing of the young man by Kagome. Injured or not, she did not need a “babysitter”. While Kuwabara desperately tried to apologize for his offense, Yusuke stood up and began to leave. In a moment, Kuwabara, Shippou and Kagome were alone, arguing in the camp.

 

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For nearly half an hour, Yusuke had been leading his fellows on a silent walk through the forest. Tension was high enough with a conversation to distract the party, but not even a birdcall could be heard. At long last, Inuyasha had taken all he could.

 

“Do you even know where in the hell we're going, kid?” he demanded. “Hell, I bet you just picked a random direction and started walking. We're probably headed straight into a trap.”

 

“Of course we're heading into a trap,” replied Yusuke tonelessly. “If we weren't, Youko'd never show up.”

 

“Well this is certainly a surprise,” came Youko's voice from the treetops. “The Spirit Detective actually made a correct analysis.”

 

Sango griped her boomerang, Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga, Kirara transformed in a flash of fire and Miroku placed a hand on his newly made sutra. Yusuke, however, turned with all the panic of a wolf being threatened by a deer as the fox demon leapt down from the trees.

 

“Youko, I think it's about time you gave me my friend back,” stated Yusuke simply.

 

“Oh, are you going to make me, Detective? Spare me the empty threats,” dismissed Youko mockingly. “And I suppose this little mongrel wants revenge for what I did to his whore.”

 

“Bastard! I'll see you dead!” bellowed Inuyasha, and charged at Youko with in a blind rage.

 

Inuyasha swung his blade at the demon's torso, but, though powerful, the attack had been easy for Youko to read. Even as the Tetsusaiga ripped through the air, Youko removed a rose from his hair, and it transformed into a whip. Though it came from the same flower that Kurama's usual Rose Whip came from, this version was quite different. The whip itself was nearly twice the length of its lesser form, and the thorns were nearly five times their old size and were at least double in number. On the whole, the once elegant looking weapon had become incredibly sinister.

 

Inuyasha didn't care what weapon Yuko was using, all he could see was red as he ran towards the demon for his next attack. Despite this tenacity, it would be Youko who struck first, lashing his whip out towards the half-demon in a deadly downward arc. Inuyasha tried to dodge to the side to avoid the attack, but one of the thorns cut him across his right wrist, which caused his grip on the Tetsusaiga to falter ever so slightly. This had been Youko's true intent with the attack in the first place, and his next strike proved this. A few flicks of the wrist sent the new Rose Whip colliding into the hilt of the Tetsusaiga at the perfect angle, flinging the blade from Inuyasha's hand and into the forest. Before the dog demon could even turn to attempt and retrieve it, another lash from the whip had cut a gash across his shoulder, and he was knocked off balance, falling to the ground with a thud.

 

“Well now I'd love to stay and watch the show,” Youko said to his other four pursuers, flashing a wicked grin. “But I wouldn't want to interfere with your fun.”

 

Yusuke raised his hand in Spirit Gun position at the demon, but before he could gather the energy needed to fire, Youko had leapt off into the forest.

 

“That was strange…” commented Yusuke and then shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk in the direction Kurama had left. “Oh well, he'll show up again soon enough.”

 

Suddenly, Yusuke realized no one was following him. Turning to see what the hold up was, he saw Sango, Miroku and Kirara all staring with anxiety at Inuyasha's fallen form.

 

“How…how did he know?” blurted out Miroku to nobody in particular, further puzzling the Spirit Detective.

 

Before he could inquire about the problem, Yusuke suddenly felt a strange surge of spirit energy emanating from Inuyasha. It was not like a sudden burst of strength, though. More like a change in the very nature of Inuyasha's energy, and an ominous one at that. As if to accentuate the strange aura, the wind picked up slightly, creating a background noise of rustling leaves. Suddenly, Yusuke saw Inuyasha's hands twitch, and his claws extend to a more menacing length.

 

“Care to explain what's goin' on?” asked Yusuke, showing a hint of nervousness in his voice.

 

“When the Tetsusaiga is far away from Inuyasha, and when his instincts feel that he is in great peril, he turns into a full demon,” summarized Miroku as briefly as possible. “However, because he is only a half demon, he cannot control himself in his full demon form. His demon instincts take over, and he focuses on killing anything he sees.”

 

As Miroku spoke, Inuyasha slowly began to bring himself up to one knee, revealing a purple streak down each cheek and eyes that looked as if they had been soaked in blood. It was at this moment that Yusuke realized the gravity of the situation.

 

“Well that's just wonderful,” Yusuke cracked in mock cheeriness. “How do we change him back?”

 

“If we knock him out and return the sword to him, he should revert back to his normal form,” answered the monk. “We shall have to be careful, though. He is even stronger than usual in this form, and he won't hesitate to kill us.”

 

“Seems simple enough. I'll handle this,” pronounced Yusuke while the newly transformed Inuyasha rose lazily to his feet and flexed his claws. “If we let Youko get away now, he'll only find more Jewel Shards and become even tougher, so you guys should keep chasing him.”

 

“Right,” agreed Sango, and hopped onto Kirara's back, with Miroku following suit. “Don't get yourself killed.”

 

“I won't. That would be a real pain in the ass,” Yusuke assured his comrades, flashing a trademark smirk.

 

Moving with all due haste, the trio quickly took to the sky and disappeared from view. By this point, Inuyasha had gained enough awareness of his situation to take a look at his surroundings. When he saw Yusuke, he barred his now almost knifelike fangs at the boy in a twisted grin.

 

“Boy…” he began in a deep voice laden with bloodlust. “It's time we finished what we started.”

 

“So, you can talk after all,” retorted Yusuke confidently. “Too bad. I was hoping that your little transformation would shut that stupid trap of yours.”

 

“Stupid human, you just don't realize it…you're already dead,” responded Inuyasha, and then leapt at the boy, claws ready to strike and the twisted grin still on his face.

 

“Big mistake! Shotgun!” yelled Yusuke, his clenched fist pointed right at the oncoming demon.

 

The torrent of blue energy bolts leapt out from Yusuke's hand as they had done so many times before, and like so many times before, they peppered their target full force. Yet, Inuyasha was not harmed by the attack. In fact, he wasn't even slowed by the attack, and if there was any pain at all, he was simply ignoring it. The utter astonishment that Yusuke felt was written all over his face nearly cost him his life, for he only recovered from it at the last possible instant. He leapt backwards, and managed to avoid a fatal blow, but Inuyasha's claws did not miss entirely. Tearing through clothe and flesh, the diagonal slash from the demon's right hand left Yusuke with a large gash across his chest, and even he had to admit it: he had an extremely difficult fight ahead of him.

 

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In the sky above, Miroku and Sango were canning the ground for any sign of Youko, which was no easy task. The forest stretched for miles, and Youko was a master thief.

 

“Kirara, do you smell him?” Sango asked the beast, receiving a negative growl in reply. “He may have gotten away…”

 

“No, in fact, he's right over there,” corrected Miroku, pointing towards a grassy knoll where Youko could be seen standing. “It would seem that he wants to be found…perhaps he doesn't think us a threat.”

 

“Then we'll just go prove him wrong,” replied Sango with steel in her words. “Kirara, take us down.”

 

With a roar, the demonic cat obeyed, and they began a rapid descent towards the knoll. Miroku half expected an attack during their landing, and was prepared to raise a shield. However, Youko simply watched, and this made the monk even more uneasy.

 

“There you are,” greeted Youko almost cordially. “Any later and I may have thought that that worthless mutt had killed one of you. That would have been a shame, I so would like to kill you myself.”

 

“Tell me, Youko, how did you know about Inuyasha's full demon form?” demanded Miroku, ignoring the fox demon's threats.

 

“Why, I simply recognized the aura coming from that sword as a suppressant, and I know that mutt is a mere half demon,” answered Youko dismissively. “Anyone who has seen as many demonic treasures as I have would recognize it.”

 

“Cunning,” admitted the monk before getting into a combat stance. “But not cunning enough to save you. Prepare yourself.”

 

Sango and Kirara followed Miroku's lead, each setting themselves in position to strike. A demon hunter, a monk, and a demon cat, all with considerable experience in fighting demons now stood against Youko, and he began to laugh. Not a simple chuckle, either, but genuine laughter.

 

“You humans never cease to amaze me with your complete stupidity,” taunted Youko once he had stopped laughing. “You must realize that you are completely outclassed, yet you still wish to fight?”

 

“Don't worry, you won't have to fight them,” came a familiar voice, and Hiei leapt out from the trees, landing in between Youko and his hunters. “I will be the one to deal with you.”

 

“Glad to see you showed up,” welcomed Sango, feeling some of the tension ease with the fire demon's arrival.

 

“Hn,” snorted Hiei in his usual manner before taking a step towards Youko. “I don't know how it is that you got free, fox, but if you're here, than the Kurama I know is not. I prefer the other one.”

 

“Oh, Shuichi is here,” amended Youko, tapping his forehead with a claw. “He's just finding out how I've lived for the last decade and a half.”

 

Hiei had never been one to pontificate for very long during a battle, and now was no exception. Instead of responding to Youko's words with more words, he simply threw off his cloak and leapt towards the fox demon with blinding speed. Normally, Youko may have been too slow to avoid such a sudden, lighting quick attack, but with the power of his five jewel shards, he was easily able to avoid it by leaping into the air. Hiei's fist left a small crater where it had made contact with the ground, but Hiei did not let this initial failure make him falter.

 

“Fists of the Mortal Flame!” he yelled, and suddenly emerald flames encased both of his fists before he leapt after his opponent.

 

At this point, the fight became truly serious. Hiei and Youko were mere blurs to the others as they looked upon the scene, so great was their speed. To Miroku, the spectacle was fairly intimidating, seeing as he would have to somehow hit Youko with his sutra, but to Sango it was simply frustrating.

 

“Damn! What's that idiot thinking?” she said bitterly, giving voice to her thoughts. “How are we supposed to help him if he keeps the fight at such a fast pace?”

 

“I don't think he intends on letting us,” answered Miroku as he finally gave up on trying to keep track of the combatants. “We'll just have to let him have his chance. If he fails, then we'll step in.”

 

Kirara growled and Sango almost felt like doing the same. This was not a great time to be relegated to the sidelines.

 

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Of course, if Sango was on the sidelines, then Kuwabara was in the locker room. After being chewed out by Kagome for what had seemed like a lifetime, he had decided that taking a nap would be the most productive use of his time. He was right in the middle of a productive dream concerning Yukina and a bathing suit contest when an explosion in distance woke him from his slumber.

 

“What was that?” cried Shippou in a panic, clinging onto Kagome's skirt for safety.

 

“I don't know, but I'm sensing a strange demonic aura in that direction…” responded Kagome thoughtfully before turning to Kuwabara. “What do you sense from over there, Kuwabara?”

 

“Hold on, hold on,” Kuwabara replied groggily, then furrowed his brow and reached out with his senses. “Let's see…Urameshi's over where that `splosion was…and someone else…it feels like dog-face…but it feels weird…like he's changed or somethin'.”

 

“What do you mean by changed?” asked Kagome, and gritted her teeth as she waited for Kuwabara to respond.

 

“Like…like he's really pissed off,” answered Kuwabara after a moment's deliberation.

 

As soon as the boy answered, Kagome grabbed her bow and quiver and stood up. Thinking that she was going to head towards the battle on her own, Kuwabara quickly rose to stop her, holding his arms out to block her path.

 

“Whoa! You're not `spost to leave the camp,” Kuwabara reminded her.

 

“You don't understand, I have to get out there and help Inuyasha! He might have transformed into a full demon!” she yelled, determined to get Kuwabara to stand down.

 

“Is that bad?” asked Kuwabara blinking cluelessly.

 

“Of course it's bad!” answered Kagome harshly. “He could be trying to kill your friend!”

 

“Holy crap! We've gotta' go help!” agreed Kuwabara at last, and did an about face.

 

Before he could begin to dash off towards the battle, however, he felt Kagome jump onto his back. For a moment he simply stood there, completely confused and embarrassed by what had just happened.

 

“Uh…Kagome…” he finally managed. “What…what are you doin'?”

 

“If you carry me, we'll get there faster,” answered Kagome simply, but after a moment decided it needed to be elaborated on. “We don't exactly have another option if we want to get there in time to save them, so let's just get going.”

 

As Kuwabara started to object, Shippou leapt on his head and clung to it like a leach. This prompted another few moments of confusion for Kuwabara.

 

“What are you waiting for?” yelled the fox demon cub. “Let's go!”

 

“Fine,” mumbled Kuwabara, practically blushing with embarrassment as he took hold of Kagome's legs in his arms. “But this is…just stupid.”

 

“Quit complaining and start running!” ordered Kagome impatiently.

 

Mumbling all sorts of complaints, Kuwabara finally resigned himself to his fate, and commenced in giving the strangest piggyback ride of his life.

 

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“Stupid dog, heel!” yelled Yusuke as his fist connected with Inuyasha's gut, sending the dog demon flying backwards into a cluster of trees.

 

Inuyasha appeared to be taking his time getting up from the attack, and it gave Yusuke a chance to assess his own injuries. He was bleeding from his lip and several gashes on his arms and chest, and what remained of his shirt was soaked in blood. The knees of pants had been ripped out as well, revealing severe scrapping in that area. He was not in good shape, but Inuyasha wasn't exactly doing so great, either. In fact, Inuyasha had taken far more hits than Yusuke had, and he was covered in scrapes, cuts and bruises. The difference was that Inuyasha seemingly felt no pain, while Yusuke felt every last bit of it.

 

`I can't beat him unless I use my full strength, but if I do, I won't have enough left for Youko,' thought Yusuke as he watched Inuyasha rise and flex his claws. `I don't think I've got a say about it, though. I just hope I don't end up killing this bastard.'

 

His decision made, Yusuke squared his stance and began to raise his spirit energy. Unfortunately, as Yusuke did so, Inuyasha's instincts kicked in, and the dog demon got the sense that he should prevent Yusuke from doing whatever it was he was doing. In an instant, Inuyasha was flying through the air towards Yusuke, who was forced to cut his powering up short in order to escape certain death.

 

`Damn, he must've figured out what I was doing,' cursed the boy inwardly as he avoided the attack by rolling to his left. `I might be in trouble, here.'

 

Inuyasha charged Yusuke once more, bring down his right hand with claws extended towards the boy's throat. This time, though, Yusuke caught his wrist before the attack could hit home. Inuyasha then tried with his left hand, and Yusuke repeated the maneuver. With both of the demon's wrists firmly in his grasp, Yusuke began to spin himself and his opponent around in a circle, gaining speed as he went. Finally, he released Inuyasha's wrists, sending the half-demon flying through around a hundred yards worth of trees. Yet even after this, Inuyasha stood up almost instantly, showing no sign of pain.

 

With a roar, Inuyasha leapt once more at Yusuke. Gritting his teeth, Yusuke raised his hands in preparation for the Spirit Gun, and gathered his strength. Inuyasha was mere feet away, and Yusuke was about to fire when suddenly…

 

“Sit, boy!” rang out Kagome's voice from behind Yusuke.

 

Inuyasha was thrown to the ground in a flash of purple light, and he lay there groaning. Lowering his Spirit Gun, Yusuke turned to face the newcomers. Needless to say, the sight of Kagome being let down from Kuwabara's back was enough to make him crack an amused smile, and when Kuwabara's exhausted panting and Shippou's hopping down from the boy's forehead were factored in, he couldn't help but chuckle.

 

“I hope you two didn't get overcharged. Those cab drivers can be tricky,” he said with a smirk.

 

“Shut…up…Urameshi,” responded Kuwabara in between breathes.

 

“Where's the Tetsusaiga?” asked Kagome hastily as Inuyasha let out a moan of pain from his position on the ground.

 

“In those bushes over there, I think,” answered Yusuke, pointing over to a small cluster of shrubbery.

 

Kagome quickly walked over to the bushes in question, and, after a moment or two, returned with the Tetsusaiga in its normal form, appearing as a battered katana. Carefully, she made her way to Inuyasha and placed the sword in its sheathe. As she drew back her hands, however, Inuyasha's arm shot out and grabbed her by the wrist. Yusuke formed the Spirit gun with his hands and Kuwabara made to move in to assist, but they stopped when Inuyasha raised his face up from the ground. No longer were his eyes crimson, his fangs were back to their normal length, and the purple streaks on his cheeks were gone. He had returned to normal.

 

“Kagome? What are you doing here?” he queried weakly. “I was fightin' Youko, then he knocked the Te…no…did I…?”

 

“Yes, you transformed,” affirmed Kagome, her expression saddening as Inuyasha's grew more fearful. “It's OK though. You didn't kill anyone.”

 

As Kagome helped Inuyasha to his feet, Yusuke took the opportunity to sit down. It was fairly painful to stand, and while sitting down didn't help much, any relief was appreciated.

 

“Where are the others?” asked Kuwabara, looking around expectantly.

 

“Fighting Youko by now, I hope,” replied Yusuke. “They shouldn't be too far away. If you want to go after them, though, you'll have to help me up. I'm telling my legs to move and they're not really listening.”

 

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The duel between Hiei and Youko had been continuing at the same pace for some time now, but neither side had appeared to gain an advantage. Hiei still hadn't drawn his sword, presumably because he feared killing Youko would kill the Kurama he knew as well. Though Youko held no such worries, he hadn't brought forth some kind of weapon either, though he had still managed to dictate the pace of the fight. For one that knew the martial arts, this would be a most troubling revelation. For it only meant one thing: Youko was toying with Hiei.

 

At last, the two broke combat briefly, and stopped around twenty meters away from each other. Here, the difference in the combatants could be clearly seen. Youko stood confidently, showing not a sign of fatigue or worry on his face. To the casual observer, Hiei would look the same, but if one looked closely, one would notice that Hiei was taking far deeper breathes than Youko was, and there was a significant amount of sweat on his brow.

 

“What's the matter little demon? Can't keep up?” taunted Youko with a confident smile. “Perhaps I should end this game.”

 

Not even bothering to respond verbally, Hiei simply leapt towards the fox demon once more. However, Youko was prepared. Taking a small seed out of his sleeve, he flicked it towards Hiei. Right before the seed reached the demon, a large cluster of roots burst out of it, enveloping the demon. In response, Hiei simply drew his sword and sliced the roots to bits as he flew through them. However, when he reached the other side of the roots, Youko was not before him.

 

Realizing too late that the roots were simply a distraction, he tried to twist around in midair, but all he accomplished was gaining the privilege of seeing Youko's foot slam into his face, causing him to drop his sword. Before Hiei could even hit the ground, Youko was below him, and greeted the fire demon with a swift kick to the abdomen. For the next few moments, it continued like this. Youko refused to let the fire demon even hit the ground, seemingly juggling him in the air with crushing blow after crushing blow. At long last, Youko finished his combination by slamming his knee into Hiei's chin, propelling his victim into the ground with a crash.

 

“Don't think I'm done with you,” warned Youko as he pulled another seed out of his sleeve and holding it forth.

 

From the seed sprouted vine much like the one that Youko had used on Kagome earlier, only now it was far thicker. It wrapped one end around its master's arm, and the other end shot out towards Hiei, who was struggling to pick himself up. He had no chance to get out of the way as the vine wrapped itself around him and held him high in the air. Only his head could be seen as the vine began to squeeze the very life out of him.

 

At long last, Sango could no longer stand waiting, and she sprinted out towards the battlefield, shifting her boomerang into a throwing position.

 

“Let him go!” she demanded as she let the boomerang fly from her hands and whirl through the air.

 

The boomerang tore through the vines that surrounded Hiei with expert precision, allowing Hiei to slip free of their grasp. However, Hiei lacked the strength to stabilize his fall, and he hit the ground hard. Catching the boomerang on its return route, Sango positioned herself in front of Hiei and turned to face Youko.

 

“Fool, stay out of this,” ordered Hiei through labored breathes as he struggled to rise to one knee. “Do not interfere with my fight.”

 

“Not a chance,” rebuffed Sango sternly. “You've risked yourself twice for my sake. It's time I returned the favor.”

 

“Well, now this is certainly pathetic,” commented Youko tauntingly as Miroku and Kirara took positions next to Sango. “You three insignificant worms think that you can beat me? How sad.”

 

“I've heard enough out of you!” yelled Sango, and threw her boomerang at the fox demon, cueing Miroku and Kirara to charge their opponent.

 

Youko simply smirked and caught the massive weapon with one hand. Instead of simply discarding the weapon, though, he hurled it towards the charging Miroku who was forced to cut off his attack and leap out of the way. This left only Kirara still attacking him, roaring and leaping forth to sink her fangs into him. Youko simply lashed out with the back of his right hand and smacked Kirara away from him like she was some kind of insect. The beast was sent careening into a nearby tree, and was knocked out upon impact, causing her to revert back to her smaller form.

 

Youko would have begun taunting his opponents again, but Sango was already dashing right for him, apparently willing to fight without her boomerang. She tried to attack the demon with punches and kicks, but Youko easily avoided her strikes. She was soon joined by Miroku, who had recovered from Youko's previous attack and was adding his staff to Sango's fists and feet. Try as they might, however, they could not lay so much as a finger on Youko, even though the demon wasn't moving nearly as fast as he had been when he fought Hiei.

 

After a few moments of this, Youko found himself growing weary of it, and ended the duo's attack with a punishing kick to Miroku's abdomen and another to Sango's side. Miroku, while certainly no weakling when it came to melee combat, had never received such a powerful blow, and it left him sprawled on the ground as he tried to find the strength to rise. Sango, however managed to recover in a moment or two, albeit she looked fairly unsteady on her feet.

 

“One blow and you're already tired?” mocked Youko with a sneer. “You may even be weaker than I anticipated.”

 

“We'll see who's weak!” challenged Sango as she removed a bamboo flask from her belt. “Let's see how you handle this!”

 

The flask, as Youko would soon learn, contained her poison powder pellets. However, rather than simply taking out a handful and throwing them at Youko, Sango opted to throw the entire flask at the demon, and it exploded in a burst of black smoke. Despite the spontaneity of the attack, Youko was still too fast for it, and he leapt out of the smoke before he had even taken a breath of it. Needless to say, he was moving to fast for Sango to even react as he landed an uppercut right on her chin. Upon landing on the ground, she didn't move.

 

“Sango!” called out Miroku, who was now trying to use his staff in order to stand up.

“Oh don't you worry, she's not dead,” assured the fox demon, and then let out a sharp laugh. “She will be shortly, though.”

 

“The only one who will be dying on this hill is you, fox.”

 

Hiei had managed to stand himself up, and now had his bandaged right hand curled into a fist that was pointed right at Youko. In one motion, he took the bandages in his left hand and tore them off, revealing the menacing black dragon tattoo.

 

“Aren't you forgetting something?” chided Youko gloatingly. “If you kill me, then Shuichi dies too. I don't think that death would be a pleasant experience for him.”

 

This caused Hiei to pause. Whether or not Hiei would still have used the Dragon of the Darkness Flame on Youko remains uncertain, but the important piece was that he paused a moment to think about his decision. For while Youko had been speaking, he'd managed to pull out a rose from his hair, and this slight pause was all the time he needed to transform it into a rose whip and use it to attack the fired demon. Hiei was caught completely off guard, and while he still managed to dive to the side and avoid death, the whip cut a deep wound in his back that left him lying helplessly upon the ground.

 

The brief conversation between Youko and Hiei had served one other purpose, however. It had left Youko distracted. In his arrogance, Youko was too busy reveling in his victory to notice Kazuma Kuwabara, who had sprinted towards Youko as quickly as he could while the fox demon was busy using the Rose Whip on Hiei. Only when the boy had placed him in a powerful headlock did Youko realize his grave error.

 

“Miroku!” called out Kuwabara, using every ounce of his strength to twist Youko towards the monk's position. “Use the thingy!”

 

Despite the use of the word “thingy” instead of “sutra”, Miroku understood the message. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out the special sutra he had made and flung it at the hapless fox demon. Thanks to Kuwabara's headlock, the sutra hit home in a flash of light and causing Youko's body to suddenly spasm, which in turn flung Kuwabara off of him. It was too late, however, and white smoke slowly covered Youko's body. After several moments of tense waiting, the smoke cleared, and the body of Shuichi Minamino stood in place of Youko's. Before Kuwabara or Miroku could go greet their returning comrade, however, Kurama let out a sharp cry of effort and expelled the five Sacred Jewel shards from his body in a burst of energy. With that, he promptly collapsed upon the grass.

 

This was the scene that greeted Kagome, Inuyasha, Shippou, and Yusuke as they walked out of the woods, though for Yusuke and Inuyasha, it was more of a limp.

 

“Wow, everyone got beat up pretty good…” noted Yusuke in bewilderment. “Now here's the money question: how in the hell do we get everyone back to the camp without an ambulance?”

 

All eyes turned to Kuwabara, who sighed and shook his head.

 

“Figures…” he complained. “Guess this means I have to give more piggyback rides, huh?”