Unexpected Places

Disclaimer: *Is still looking for those damn copyright papers* Aw, damn it all to hell. Thanks Rumiko Takahashi for letting my imagination run wild.


The Thunder Brothers


Her eyebrows knitted down into a frown. How in the seven hells was he able to capture her without her senses going haywire?

Her question was answered when her arm bent to place her hand on his elbow and sent a jolt of her energy through him. What amazed her was how it didn’t affect him at all. The wheels in her brain began to turn rather quickly at her new discovery. Information passed through her mind and landed on one piece of much needed info. What confused her was that this youkai was in no way a Godd.

Only Godds and humans could not be purified, but how did he procure a Godd’s power. There was one thing for certain in her mind… and that was to get the hell out of this youkai’s arms and back down to Inuyasha so they could work together to defeat this… thing. All plots of escape left her mind as he distracted her with his voice.

“So… you must be the one who we sensed had it. Tell me before I rip your pretty little head off,” he demanded in a dangerously quiet sneer.

“Well,” she started, “I could tell you, but then I would first have to figure out what it is you are talking about.”

He chuckled slightly. “She has some humor---- Don’t play coy with me human. Tell me where the jewel is at?” He shook her slightly to show he meant business. Neara still gave him a confused look.

“What stuff are you smokin’? And what jewel, pray tell, are you speaking of?” He began to fume. This little game was going pretty well, but she only hoped that whatever she started didn’t turn sour.

He shook her a little more roughly this time with each phrase. “The Shikon, you sorry excuse of a miko...”

She wracked her brain trying to figure out what in the hell he was talking about. What was this ‘Shikon’ that he thought she had? Another voice came to her attention as well from behind the man in front of her slowly gripping her arms tighter and tighter. It was a definite in the bruises category. She could feel the blood pounding in her upper arms. The rough voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“Did you not hear me woman?” he snapped. The miko looked over her aggressor’s shoulder and sneered. The other youkai looked like a toad; a paler, uglier, bigger version of a toad. At least most toads looked almost cute. He wasn’t even close. The man who had a hold of her became distracted with the other ‘thing’ and was ready to strike up a conversation with it. Except her reaction to his distraction brought her knee to his groin and an immediate release which ended in a jaw jarring back handed slap to the face. She was almost down for the count until the human recovered herself skidding to a halt on all fours to the ground. Neara looked up with only seconds to spare. Her handsome red-eyed aggressor struck out with his naginata in a powerful down stroke. The miko’s sword flowed out from its sheath as she placed her available hand on the other side to support the pressure of his supposed killing blow. She pushed him away from her person, throwing him back in the air jumping away as she watched him hover. Somehow the fire wheels surrounding his feet were keeping him aloft. Neara knew she would have been at a disadvantage if she didn’t have her powers.

“Mind if I join in, brother?” the toad creature inquired at his companion as he floated over on his black cloud to his sibling.

“Sure Manten. I would be happy if my little brother would join me in my sport. I do love when my prey, especially a female, likes to play rough and knows how to play well.” He gave a sensuous smirk with lust filled eyes. All she wanted to do was gag and get it over with. It’s not like she wanted some horny demon chasing her to go along with everything else she had to deal with at this present time. The toad, or Manten as he was so called, moved to be in front of his brother. Neara cocked her eyebrow up wondering what he was trying to do.

The scent of gathering power hung in the air and steadily increased. Inhaling deep, she figured what was happening. Manten was about to use his youki against her. The miko crouched low trying to figure from which direction his attack would come from. She knew immediately when his mouth opened and began to glow a yellowish-white. He fired and she jumped. Her barrier came up immediately as a lightning bolt struck down aiming for her. She concentrated so fully on the toad-like youkai that she almost completely forgot about her captor. Since his brother entered the fight it was now two against one.

“Hiten you may have your way. I will intervene when need be.” Manten stayed close to the sidelines and just watched. This looked like it was going to be a long and grueling battle. She could wear down the red-eyed man named Hiten, but his brother would intervene if needed. Somehow she would have to wear down Hiten and pray that Inuyasha would soon show up.

Just don’t use too much energy Neara. If she used too much energy and Inuyasha never showed up then… It was a thought she didn’t particularly want to think about.

Brandishing his naginata again, he attacked swiftly. Her second sword came out to help the other. He used deadly arcs and powerful thrusts to try to slice or impale her. Neara purposely let him come in too close as he swung another arc. She caught the wooden pole with her right hand and proceeded with a direct upper cut under his chin. He flew backwards towards his ever watching brother. She noticed a smirk come across the toads face as the miko threw the naginata away from her. It fell and imbedded itself into the ground below.

Manten closely watched the exciting battle and was impressed with the human’s fighting skills. She fought like a skilled warrior in combat. Her moves were fluid like silk in the wind. She seemed relaxed and ever calculating, always watching, waiting for her opponent to miss something important. He watched her carefully. She had to be too young to have trained properly. It would take half a youkai’s lifetime to achieve their greatest potential in combat. Humans don’t even live as far as half a youkai’s lifetime. How in the hell did she achieve the state of total calmness in battle? This miko was baffling. Not even Midoriko was this close to being this perfect. Before she died, the ancient miko still was not able to concentrate on her surroundings while battling a foe. That proved to be her and her enemy’s undoing. They were two most powerful opposites and that was why the Shikon jewel is so powerful and why Naraku wants it so much.

His brother was now thrown because he was an idiot to overestimate his opponent. He won’t make the same mistake twice. He hoped. A smirk graced his lips. This human was definitely talented beyond her years. It was now time to intervene.

Neara approached her enemy slowly with her weapons drawn. She sensed that Manten still stood by the sidelines. Now she was at the feet of the handsome demon. She paused to see if he was going to strike, but her pause was her mistake. Neara didn’t feel it coming until he had grabbed her wrists and held them away from her. His fingers slid down her forearms to rest on the tendons just above her elbows. He pressed them and it caused her fingers to straighten and drop her weapons. With speed his hands wrapped around her wrists again and held them in place. Hiten was now just in front of her. Her shocked expression turned into a frown of anger. She looked at her hands and found that they were bound by Manten.

Hiten laughed devilishly. She looked back at him to see those lust filled eyes again. She almost really did gag then and there, but sadly there was nothing on her stomach. He might be handsome, but he wasn’t a guy she would want. His scent alone didn’t please her. It was too evil. He stood too close for comfort against her. Was he planning on something that she thought he was planning? Realization and fury crossed her face like an open book when he bent his head to her neck and sniffed. He wouldn’t dare! She was a miko for Kami’s sake! Youkai hated mikos!

“Look what we have here brother. We have ourselves a virgin and a powerful miko at that. Just knowing that she could purify me any second makes me that more aroused. What a better woman than she to mother my powerful children.”

“You have GOT to be kidding me,” she hissed.

“I’m sorry miko, but I do not joke around. Naraku just wants the jewel. He didn’t say anything about you.” The demon replied.

“I’d rather die first than have your evil spawn,” she spat.

“But what would be the fun in that? Besides, that is only the easy way out,” he pointed out. He took another whiff of her scent enjoying the purity and innocence of it. He moved from her neck to the juncture of her shoulder and neck taking a tentative taste. “Such exquisite flavor. I shall enjoy tainting you with my scent.”

This angered her even more. She was seething in absolute hatred for this demon who dared to try to make such claims on her person. Once he placed his hands on her hips, her knee reacted on its own accord to try to hit him in the most treasured spot for a man. His hand easily caught it. He looked into her eyes.

“Must you try to arouse me further with your rough play?”

“No. I only cringe at the touch of you,” she seethed.

Anger sparkled in his eyes. He brought her knee to his waist holding it there and his other hand went to her lower back pulling her towards him roughly. She was quite horrified to feel his large erection against her clothed womanhood. Thank the Kami that he hadn’t ripped off their clothing as of yet.

“You will change your mind in due time,” he promised while his brother kept quiet the whole time still holding her wrists. She hissed when he ground his pelvis against hers. His eyes closed in delight and before she knew it his lips were upon hers. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth tasting her. She tried to pull away from him, but he pushed until her head bumped into his brother’s shoulder. There was no where else to go. He was grinding his pelvis again and she tried to search her mind for a way out of this. Despair washed through her the longer she couldn’t come up with anything. His mouth tasted awful. Did he take his fill of human flesh recently? There was a hint of mortal blood to his taste and it made her stomach churn. A powerful youki pricked her senses causing her despair to turn hopeful. The youki was familiar.

About damn time, she growled thoughtfully. She bit down as hard as she could on his tongue causing his blood to spill into her mouth. Neara knocked him in the forehead with hers once, twice, three times before he pulled away from her. She smirked at him spitting his blood from her mouth onto the ground. A trickle of his red life force fell down her chin.

“BITCH! How dare…”

“How DARE you force yourself upon her BASTARD,” Inuyasha growled enraged as he emerged from the comfort of the forest.

Neara stunned Manten as she knocked him in the face with the back of her head. He released her wrists. She turned elbowing him in the gut and roundhouse kicking him away from her. He landed somewhere near the cover of the trees. She snatched up her weapons running over to where Inuyasha landed.

“About fucking time,” she snarled. “I tried to tell you earlier that we needed to work together and you decide to run off by yourself and look what happened. You got injured and I was almost RAPED!” She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. Inuyasha looked at her in shocked surprise. He never seen her this irate before. He looked past her seeing movement and growled.

“Where’s Shippo?”

“I told him to stay in the forest where he can hide,” he said growling again. She placed a hand on his shoulder telling him that she was okay. This calmed him somewhat, but he still feared that she wasn’t exactly alright like she was trying to tell him.

“Inuyasha, these two work together when they fight which means that we also need to work together to defeat them. If I can trust you then you should be able to trust me watching your back. I will go after the toad while you can take pretty boy over there. He’s a hot head and is bound to make mistakes.”

“Sounds like fun to me,” the half-demon smirked evilly. Both brandished their weapons and waited for their opponents. Neara heard rattling and saw that Hiten’s naginata was shaking. The weapon lifted out of the ground to fly back to its owner’s hand. Hiten’s eyes were glowing red with hate. Inuyasha stepped forward in a stance of protectiveness. Neara heard the sliding of metal from a sheath. She turned her back on Inuyasha to find Manten standing some meters off ready to strike. His katana was ready for battle.

Inuyasha didn’t want her to fight, but sadly he knew that she had to in order for them to defeat these two. The two brothers rushed leaving Neara and Inuyasha to spring upwards and away from each other to their respective opponents. The miko relied more on defense while Inuyasha preferred to attack and stay on the offensive side. She had to constantly turn Manten around to attack him to see how Inuyasha fared and sometimes she had to help defend him. Once she jumped away from her battle and yelled at him.

“Inuyasha! You waste more energy that way! Quit trying to be the aggressor you idiot!”

Of course he never listens. With her constant worry over Inuyasha it took away from her concentration on her opponent. She should have at least wounded him by now, but once again Inuyasha was being a log-head and she had to cast a barrier around him once more to keep Hiten from killing him once the hanyou was down.

“I tire of this!” the toad said in an outrage which startled her somewhat out of her concentration. He grabbed her blades. Not the handles, mind you, but the actual blades and jerked them out of her hands. She was in total shocked disbelief. No one had ever done that before, never mind the BALLS to actually do that. Blood dripped from his palms, but quickly healed. This was baffling. She was now weaponless, except for her bow and arrows, but that was beside the point. All she had now was her hands and feet as her weapons, but he still had his katana not to mention that he still had a longer reach than her. Now her main objective was to stay alive. She was totally on the defensive now. He thrust out with his blade and she moved to the left out of its way throwing in a punch to his ribs at the same time then jumped away. At the same time he sliced ripping her haori at the stomach. Thank Kami it was only the material he got. He moved to trip. She jumped and while she kicked him in the chest he was able to pierce her in the left shoulder. Her arm was pretty much useless now. She needed a weapon in order to compensate for his longer reach.

The reflection of the light caught her eye and then Inuyasha’s battle. Hiten seemed to be fighting differently than when he fought with her. His concentration was better and more focused. Inuyasha was trying to use brute strength to overcome him. If nothing worked then it only worked to make him angrier. Anger only clouded the mind the more resentment you felt. Right now Inuyasha was already angry for what Hiten, in particular, did to her. Now he was angry because he couldn’t kill him. But there is always a good and bad side to everything. Anger could give you strength, courage, and the will to never give up. Inuyasha was now having the bad side of anger. It showed in his aggressive fighting skills. If Neara didn’t kill Manten now then Inuyasha would soon die. She swiftly ran toward one of her swords that her opponent jerked from her grasp and threw away. It lay on the outskirts of the forest imbedded in the soil. She dived for her weapon and rolled with it in her grasp. Her enemy was upon her. Quickly she turned to defend if needed.

“FOXFIRE!”

A greenish flame alighted on top of his head. He was mere inches away from her. The toad stumbled away from her to smother the flames upon his skull. She watched in amusement at the blackened spot atop his cranium. He had lost those three remaining hairs adorning his head. He noticed this and fumed in disappointment then turned to look straight into the eyes of little Shippo. The small kit flinched. Anger was boiling out of his aura. Neara could feel it. The toad was absolutely pissed off. The miko was totally forgotten as the youkai set his eyes on his new prey.

She had to save Shippo. Their eyes locked and the little fox was absolutely shaking in fear. There was no where else for him to go. If he ran he wouldn’t get too far. Manten would easily catch and throttle him. What surprised her even more was that the kit was behind Inuyasha and Hiten and that the hanyou was injured and sprawled out on the ground right in front of Hiten who was ready to drive his naginata through Inuyasha’s heart. She had to save both of them before they died, but how?

All she had was one sword and her bow with few arrows. She unwound her bow from around her and prepared herself for what she had to do. Neara forced her wounded arm to work to grasp her bow and hefted her sword in her good hand. Holding it like a spear, she dashed towards Inuyasha and his impending doom.

Hiten looked up at Neara’s derogatory name for him. She threw her sword with deadly intent like a spear, but simply moved his head to avoid its fatal path. He smirked.

“You’re too late human,” he replied looking down at his injured prey. The hanyou was about to regain consciousness, but he would soon end that. Lifting his weapon, he came down with a fatal stroke.

Neara appeared before him to stop his deadly attack with her bow. His blade had caught the wood. She smirked.

“What are you smiling at Miko?” he demanded. “Your aiming is horrible. You completely missed me.”

“What makes you think I was aiming at you?” she calmly replied.

“BROTHER!!!!!!” a hoarse scream was heard. A red streak darted across the battlefield. Hiten turned to the sound of his brother. Neara grabbed the pole of his naginata and kicked him away from her and Inuyasha. Shippo was beside the hanyou while Neara stood in front to protect them both.

“Inuyasha,” she replied not taking her eyes off Hiten. He began to get up shaking his head to rid himself of his dizziness. The hanyou was slowly coming out of his unconsciousness. “Inuyasha, you must hear me. You need to get up. Your help is most needed in my current state. I am growing weak and I need assistance.”

Neara observed that the cloud coverage began to darken in Hiten’s rage. He sunk his teeth into Manten’s head absorbing his power into himself. What better way to let his legacy live on, but through his brother. Manten’s body fell to the ground.

Neara was frantic. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand against a rejuvenated youkai plus the added powers of his brother. Sweat dripped down her brow as she concentrated. Inuyasha slowly began to stir.

“Inuyasha! Get your lazy ass up!” she yelled. Hiten picked up his naginata. He turned his head. A deadly glint was in his eyes. He trained them upon Neara with lethal intent. The youkai began to approach her as she strayed away from Inuyasha and Shippo slowly. “I need your HELP!”

Her sword sprang from Manten’s body and flew to her beckoning hand just in time to begin a whole new battle with her enemy.

Inuyasha’s eyes flew open and looked towards a frightened Shippo. The kit was watching the weakening Neara in a battle. She was struggling to keep up with the reenergized Thunder Brother.

Once again she was flung across the battlefield to land close to Manten’s corpse. Her head was dizzy from her weakness, but her eyes caught the glimpse of Inuyasha standing to his full height. He brandished Tetsusaiga rushing into the battle. Neara rolled in time to avoid her enemy’s deadly down stoke. Finally the fight wasn’t focused on her anymore and she could recover some of her energy once more. Inuyasha took the clash away from her as Shippo rushed over to be with her. He jumped into her chest and hugged her. She returned the favor with her good arm.

“Will you help me take off father’s fur from that fat bastard?” The little runt asked.

Neara was a little surprised, “Shippo you must learn to control your mouth. You are still young yet. Inuyasha will get an earful when I get a hold of him as well, but I will help you with your request.”

They made to stand as soon as they pinpointed where the fighting duo were located. Since they were a safe distance away, Neara proceeded to unwrap the fur pelt from around the toad’s girth. A strange magic seemed to emanate from the pelt. It didn’t feel youkai or like kitsune magic at all. Shippo rolled up the fur into a ball-like shape as the miko seemed to look at the body of the dead Thunder Brother with mild surprise. She could smell him now. She could sense the dead youki within him. A bluish flare alighted on her unharmed hand and she touched his body. Manten’s body turned to ash right before her eyes. She looked back at the pelt and at the ashes in complete understanding and awe. A nullifying spell was cast upon the pelt that he wore to cancel out her purifying power so she couldn’t easily kill him. Knowing this made her giddy with excitement, but her purity was weakened from the fight before this. She still had reserves of another power that she hardly used on a day to day basis. This power was still strong and only strengthened over time, but in her weakened physical state she wouldn’t be able to get close enough to use it. That’s when she felt the same nullifying spell that had been on the fox’s fur. The spell had vanished shortly after Shippo had distanced himself slightly from Manten’s body.

She felt the magic coming from Hiten’s fiery wheels adorning his feet keeping him aloft. If she was able to break one then he wouldn’t be able to fly anymore and therefore vanquish the nullifying spell as well. She would kill two birds with one stone. Then Inuyasha wouldn’t have such a hard time.

Forcing her injured arm to work against the pain she felt in her left shoulder, she was able to hoist up her bow and arrow to aim. Her target was in sight and soon her projectile was released. Neara prayed, ever watching, to make sure he didn’t move as her arrow flew towards its intended target. Shippo jumped on her unharmed shoulder to watch as well enjoying the show.

CRACK!

She nearly jumped for joy but soon realized the pain in her shoulder had not been forgotten. Neara winced but still felt the joy in her heart. The miko wasn’t able to celebrate for long as Hiten quickly pinned down Inuyasha forcing him to not use his sword. Fear almost crippled her heart when she caught Hiten looking their way and open his mouth. That damn youkai was a fucking bastard and she cursed his soul for all eternity for what he was getting ready to unleash. He had to fucking suck out Manten’s powerful youki blast and at this point in time, she didn’t have enough strength to construct a barrier. He was definitely a fucking bastard and right then and there as he released his fury, she realized that she just possibly might die today. Neara closed her eyes and waited for the nothingness that would soon come.

“NEARA!!! SHIPPO!!!!” Inuyasha screamed as he watched them die. “YOU WILL FUCKING PAY!!!” The hanyou sliced and hacked away at his enemy letting his rage fuel him. It was working as he quickly pushed his opponent back. When Hiten jumped, he jumped along with him intending on finishing him so he could end this and see for sure if they had died. Neara and Shippo were definitely in the line of fire and couldn’t escape. There was no way they could have lived without Neara resurrecting a barrier in time, but by the way it looked she wasn’t even strong enough to do even that.

He should have been able to save them, but he was too weak to even do that. He felt so ashamed that he failed them like that. How could he do that? The runt and his newly acquired friend were the only people that he knew of who treated him like a person; like a somebody. He was going to get REVENGE for their DEATHS!!! And it was going to be sweet.

Somehow he was being pulled back away from his prey. Away from his revenge and away from his justice that he had to serve.

“Inuyasha! There is no ‘I’ in TEAM. Working together is how we will kill him! Now get your head out of those clouds!”

He swore he heard Neara’s condescending voice, but it had to be a dream or her ghost come back to haunt him or maybe help him. Yes, she came back to help him.

Neara opened her eyes slowly when she didn’t feel anything, not even a rush of power hitting her. She felt a painless flame lapping at her skin. There was warmth, but no burning. It bathed her skin in blue and almost tickled. She looked back up at her hanyou friend slicing away at his opponent trying to go for the killing blow. This only served to tick her off and she yelled at him

“…get your head out of those clouds!”

His macho man and ‘I can handle things myself’ personality really got on her nerves. He was bull headed to the point where it caused a permanent tick in her eye. Using her reserved power, she was able to send a powerful wave of youki his way to aid him. It looked like a bluish wave that moved like a snake taking on the slight form of a dragon. It headed for Inuyasha opening its large maw to swallow him whole.

Inuyasha couldn’t believe this power that surrounded him. It felt comforting and also rejuvenated his weakened power. His Tetsusaiga began to glow and pull the energy inside the blade itself making it turn cobalt blue. The color of Neara’s power. Remarkable how he was already grieving for her just before he even finished his sweet revenge. Spinning around he was able to cut that bastard in two making both halves turn to dust.

“I can’t believe she was a…” were Hiten’s last words before his head finally turned to ash.

Inuyasha landed sheathing his Tetsusaiga and turning to find Neara’s body only to see a glowing miko and kitsune pup. His eyes shined with unshed tears. He ran up to the human missing the dissipating of the magic as he hugged her.

“Don’t go Neara. I need you to be with me. You can’t die,” he whimpered.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not dead and I didn’t die. Now please watch the injury before I have to hurt you,” she remarked rather heatedly.

He pulled away in shock and disbelief, “But you were glowing.”

“Thank you father,” Shippo replied interrupting Inuyasha’s thoughts.

Neara pointed up to the sky. The hanyou looked up to see a fox pelt disappear. “A fox’s defense is a highly skilled art,” was her only explanation.

His shock turned into a frown as he turned away to cross his arms in his usual expression of irritation. “How in the hell could you make me believe that you were dead, wench? I swear Neara, if you pull a trick like that again you might as well stay dead because I might have to kill you myself.”

“Are you trying to say that you were worried or scared if we were?” she guffawed.

“I ain’t saying another damn thing about it,” he sniffed becoming silent letting her know that it was the end of the story and that it was final.

“Soot yourself. I think we should start heading back home. I’m tired and we should find a place to camp. ----- Toka! You can come out now Toka!” she called to her beautiful grey cat.

Oh for the love of Kami, what she wouldn’t do for a nice hot bath, healing herbs and most importantly… a soft futon.

***

Naraku seethed with anger at how those two fools had failed. He had to test her strength and knew almost at once that he would have to do things himself if he wanted things done at all. This miko was proving to be almost infuriating.

********************

A/N: Yeah it's almost 11:00pm EST and I'm pretty sure there are some mistakes in this, but if there isn't then I'll be like... cool, whatever. Anyway, a naginata is a japanese pole weapon with a long blade at the end. Watch the episode with the Thunder Brothers in it again and the weapon Hiten wields is a naginata. Sorry for the long ass wait, but the creative juices wasn't flowing and after playing the game Constantine on PS2 did I get those juices back. If you haven't played that game it's pretty cool and you should. It's almost kinda creepy and keeps you on your toes. I beat it in like 4 days of continuous playing though. Well, that's all I got. So long, farewell, and REVIEW; especially if there are any questions or realizations.

Love, peace, and chicken grease,
IL20