Through Blood and Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. He belongs the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi!


Chapter 10: A Strange New Scent

InuYasha was sitting in his room, starring out the window, waiting for Kouga’s arrival. The youkai wolf prince was coming this afternoon with Sango, Miroku, and Shippou so they could all make ready to begin their hunt for the jewel shards. Taki was out in one of the garden’s meditating and Sesshoumaru was at the edge of the Western Lands, investigating a small disturbance.
It had been three weeks now since they hunted for any shards. Everyone was still feeling the aftershocks from Kagome’s permanent departure. Especially Kouga. He had retreated back to the northern lands and stayed locked up for a week. Then one day, he came to the castle and said they should keep looking for the shards and that he was going to get Sango and Miroku and meet them back here in nine days.
Today was the ninth day and everyone was anxious. So the trio of Inu-demons decided to take their minds off of shard hunting by doing other things. Only now InuYasha had nothing else to do. It’s going to be strange to not have Kagome with us. It would be even harder to hunt the shards without her to see them. Oh well. Good riddance to the wench and her damn cousin! I hope they have bad karma for the rest of their lives! InuYasha was instantly sorry for what he had thought. He did not wish his friend bad karma. He was just sad.
As he was lost in thought, he got a strange feeling. It was like a jolt through his body. Then out of nowhere a strange scent hit him. It was from out of nowhere but it was a scent of great power and of great evil. Then InuYasha recognized the scent. Bankotsu. InuYasha stood up and leapt from the window, landing right beside Taki, who was standing on the ground.

“Did you feel that, InuYasha?”
“Sure did Taki.”
“And that smell?”
“I smell it too Taki.”
“It’s a Shichinin Tai isn’t it?”
“Yes it is.”

Suddenly Sesshoumaru appeared behind them.

“Well are we going to just stand here or are we going to see why they’re here?”

Both Taki and InuYasha jumped but then nodded yes. All three took off in the direction of the smell. They noticed it was moving, coming closer towards them.
When they got half way there, they noticed the smell had stopped. Then a few minutes later, they heard blood curdling scream. The trio sped up and came to the edge of a clearing, in the middle of which, was Bankotsu. His sword was raised above his head and he was about to bring it down on someone. Taki gave a gasp and pointed. Sesshoumaru and InuYasha’s gazes fell upon the poor soul at the receiving end of the ominous blow. There sat the most beautiful creature that InuYasha, Taki and Sesshoumaru had ever seen, wearing strange clothes. Almost like those that Kagome used to wear.
They became hypnotized by the strange beauty and forgot what their sole purpose for coming here was. They were then snapped back into reality when a sound was uttered from the girl.

“Please, don’t kill me. I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done to make you mad. Please, I just want to go home.”
“You can go home, bitch, if you can run fast enough away from me.”

Bankotsu gave an evil laugh but stopped short when he noticed Nico had jumped up and was off and running back the way they had come. Gods, she’s fast for a human. But still not fast enough to save her life. Bankotsu vanished and reappeared in front of Nico who crashed into his chest. He put his arm around her instinctively and crushed her against him. Gods, this woman’s scent is intoxicating. Maybe instead of killing her, I could keep her. A wicked smile crept up his face. His thoughts turned lustful and hentai as he thought of what he could do to this girl.

“There’s been a change of plans. I’m not going to kill you. Instead, you will become my mate.”
“WHAT!”
“You heard me bitch.”
“Screw you! Let go of me!”

She pushed against him and to humor her he released her. He loved her spirit and her defiance. But her would teach her how to obey him in time. Oh yes.

“Listen bitch........”

SMACK!! Nico had had enough of that damn word. She slapped him hard across the face. He didn’t move. Not an inch. Nico just stood there, watching, instantly wishing she could have controlled her temper. Mahala Eyota, why did I do that! Nico began to back away when he still hadn’t moved. Back in the trees, the three Inus looked on in wonder.

“She struck him,” breathed InuYasha.
“She’s a brave one,” whispered Taki.
“Either that or incredibly stupid,” said Sesshoumaru in a soft, low voice.
“We have to help her you guys.”
“Your right Taki. Sesshoumaru we need to do something.”
“Yes,” was all Sesshoumaru said.

All three stood up, ready to make their presence known, when Bankotsu finally spoke. Nico had been steadily backing away until she was at the edge of the clearing, a breath away from the inu-siblings.

“Do you realize what you have done, you stupid bitch!” yelled Bankotsu.

At the sound of the b-word again, Nico lost all fear and dropped her hands to her side. She stood up straight and looked Bankotsu dead in the eye.

“Yes, I do. I smacked your filthy mouth for calling me such a thing. I’ve been called a bitch plenty of times in my life to last me for the rest of it. I will have you know that I am not a bitch.”

Nico lowered her head and gave a surprisingly loud growl.

“I am the bitch you fuck head, and to a lowlife piece of scum like you, that’s Miss Bitch!”

With that, she flung herself at Bankotsu, catching him completely off guard. Before he could blink, she launched herself into the air, bringing her right foot up and crashing it into his jaw followed quickly by her left foot, doing a complete 360 before landing in a crouching, defensive position. Bankotsu hit the ground, stunned and in pain. InuYasha, Taki, and Fluffy were also too stunned to move.

“Did that just really happen?” questioned Taki.
“Damn,” whispered InuYasha.

It seemed like time had frozen. No one moved. This girl has some serious guts taking on the leader of the Shichinin Tai, thought Sesshoumaru.
Slowly Nico stood up. She looked over at Bankotsu and tensed up. Run, you fool, while you have the chance! Nico took off. She didn’t make it far though before crashing into, yet another body. This time of a more ominous looking opponent. Nico jumped back and took her fighters pose. The figure just laughed. Nico looked him over for weapons. He was a man with long dark hair and he wore a simple navy and black kimono. His eyes were shadowed by his hair making his face looked untrustworthy to Nico. Her father always said that any opponent who hid his eyes was a dirty fighter and could not be trusted.
The three Inus in the bushes gasped. It was Naraku.