Blue moon and Red Fire

! - ! -!
This chapter is a segway into chapter 19, so keep reading, becaue as the story gose into it's next arch, the chapters get a litte longer until chapter 22 or 23.
! - !- !

Chapter 18: The next step

*Pant*

*Pant*

*Pant*

Heavy breaths were forcefully drawn in and expelled in an erratic rhythm, a sound only overpowered by a pounding heart beat hammering in his ears. '...' Inuyasha's eyes shot with a frantic speed, every sense flaring and instinct screaming as if under assault, but when his vision cleared he found nothing but the patchwork of leaves roofing the forest floor from a dark, star saturated sky.

Inuyasha immediately tried to sit up and reassess his surroundings, but he found himself unable to move, his whole body parallelized as if restrained by some unknown force. “!!” Like a fog, fear rose from the deep recesses with in the back of his mind and consumed him. It came without reason or any notion, rising with in him as soon as he realized his immobilization. 'N-no! No!' Inuyasha struggled fatuously, but no movement came to his limbs, no rustling of the grass from movement against the ground, the only sound he created was the ones of heaving breathes.

'Shit!' Inuyasha gasped, despite his sizable strength he could only gather twitches from his muscles, ones that barely caused motion let alone lifted him from the ground. 'No! No! Damnit not this again!' Inuyasha screamed, but the words only came out in his mind, no sounds would pass his lips. The fear only grew stronger at that, it was hard to think of anything else, he couldn't think of another thing but how afraid he was. He had to get up! He had to move! He had to run, he had to fight! He had to do something!

Something was coming! Something was here!

“!!” 'Inuyasha looked to the farthest reaches of the corner of his eyes, there! It was there! He could see something! It was there, in the darkness between the trees, somewhere in his peripheral vision, it was there. Something, something evil, something bad, something *wrong*, something that would hurt him, something that would kill him! 'No! Move damnit, move! Why can't I mo-' Even in his mind his words were cut off when his air supply came to an abrupt end, “!!” He felt it, he felt something, it was as if something was covering his mouth and nose, some weight was sitting on his chest, he couldn't breath! 'Somebody! Anybody!'

Suddenly even his breathing and pulse were over ridden by a loud roar, like a strong wind of the powerful current of a waterfall drowning his ears. 'Aahhhaaa! This isn't real damnit!' He shouted “...”, 'This isn't real!' Inuyasha clinched his eyes shut and his body trembled, if he wasn't completely sure of himself, he could have sworn he was nothing but a small child, a terrified little boy scared of something he didn't know, but realized was not right. 'Ahhaaaaa!'

Inuyasha's nose flared and his sense of smell was suddenly overwhelmed by a distinct scent, he was so happy for it that he didn't care who's it was. It was trenchant, a slightly pleasant sent twinged with salt, like sweat. “!!” The scent was accentuated when he felt a soft touch against his forehead, dispelling what ever binding was against him.

“Ahhha!” Inuyasha bolted upright in the very same second, crashing blindly into something firm with a soft thump and immediately grabbing a hold of it with a desperation. However, his sudden uprising created much to much momentum and he ended up sending himself and the object tumbling forward to the ground.

Inuyasha forced his eyes open, finding himself risen on his hand and knees, staring down at a flustered Kouga he had inadvertently pinned down on his awakening. His hand was clinched against the armor covering Kouga's torso.

They stayed there, unmoving, recovering from fear and surprise. Kouga staring up into Inuyasha's golden eyes with a wondering of why the half-breed's eyes would be so fearful in the first place, it made him a little afraid himself. Inuyasha's thinking wasn't nearly as complex, he was happy to see anyone for those few, eternally long seconds the fear was still prevalent in his mind, making his hands shake and his pupils tremble with heavy breaths. Thankful beyond his means to describe for being awakened and released. “K...Kouga...”

'Inuyasha?' Kouga swallowed hard and shook his head. “...” But he didn't immediately speak, reluctant to say anything to Inuyasha at the moment when he usually wouldn't have been so inclined to silence.

Inuyasha saw the change in expression and immediately snapped back into awareness, fully realizing what he was doing and his current position, quickly letting go of Kouga and pushing himself off of the wolf youkai.

Kouga silently sat up, crossing his legs and folded his arms with a distracted expression. 'Damn mutt.' He snorted to himself, staring at the moon that drifted downward through the dark trees, near to completion. He watched from the corner of his eyes as Inuyasha caught his breath and looked around suspiciously. 'What is wrong with him? Why was he acting this way? What the hell does he keep seeing in his sleep?'

Inuyasha sat down in a very canine like manner, looking around the darkness shrouded trees, and finding neither Souta nor Houjo. He wasn't worried, if Kouga was awake, they had to be alright, it's not like he'd least something happen to them... speaking of awake, why was *he* awake anyway? Inuyasha turned his glance to Kouga in a shameful, embarrassed manner, not daring to look him in the eyes. Upon closer examination he could see the bare traces of a transformation, the subtle red in his eyes, the fangs, the claws, the markings all still garnishing his features. It drove him to examine the wolf a little closer 'Huh? What...' Inuyasha tilted his head back and took a small sniff of the air, with only a second of inspection he detected something different with in the bare traces of cooled sweat glazing Kouga's skin.

There was always a different aspect to the scent when a particular emotion was involved, like fear, or sadness. And Inuyasha was damn sure it wasn't fear. 'Kouga...' His memory was brought back to that night, when he heard Kouga on the roof, howling, the most depressing sound he'd ever experienced. 'He must have been...' Inuyasha folded his arms and looked away again, a lazy expression of disinclining forming on his face. 'I don't give a damn.'

So they sat there, in silence, each avoiding the eyesight of the other.

“Bastard.” Kouga retorted. Inuyasha was lucky, he wouldn't have been anywhere around the Hanyou had Houjo not asked him to be. Otherwise he wouldn't be caught dead.

“Ass hole.” Inuyasha shot back. He didn't care why Kouga was here, he didn't ask him to wake him up, he would have gotten out of it on his own.

“Whatever mutt.”Kouga rolled his eyes and stood to his feet. He had to admit, he liked this much better then what he saw before, that inexplicable fear in Inuyasha's eyes...

“Shut up you mangy wolf.” Inuyasha lifted himself off the ground and folded his arm. He could also admit, to himself at lest, he preferred the arrogant spite to that depressing howl and that utterly hopeless expression he only saw again in his memory.

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

It was cool, like a night at the end of summer when the last heat of the season's final day faded into the cool night of the beginning of fall. Souta took in deep breaths of the cool air, his hands planted on the ground, fingers clinching the long strands of glass with tight fist, growing even more tense as Souta pushed himself off the ground. He's arms were trembling by this count, he lowered himself softly to the ground, close enough to press his face against the cool strands of grass heavy with morning dew and with a strained grunt he pushed himself up. 'Un...'

Souta repeated the motions again, doing push-ups in the middle of the night, maybe 4, 5 in the morning, he didn't know for sure. Not that it mattered, it was early enough for him, too early actually. He never had to get up anywhere remotely near this time, he could barely get up for school in the morning. Heh, now look at him. '...' Souta groaned again as he pushed himself off the ground again, without count, he wasn't pacing himself, he'd do it until he couldn't anymore. He let his mouth drift open and take in another deep breath of the cool air, chilling his quickly heating torso. “Uhhhnn...” Souta cringed and slowly forced himself, feeling the pain in his arms growing with exertion. Finally with a sharp expulsion of air from his lungs as he collapsed to the ground, his arms throbbing. 'Ow...'

He'd do this, he'd train himself whenever he could, he had to get stronger.

Souta laid there for a few seconds, body still catching his breath, drawing them into his small lungs that had been exerted to the point where they burned with the need. It wasn't long before the need demised, and Souta slowly climbed to his knees, one hand resting against his racing heart, it was how he paced himself. If he could keep his heart beating really fast, just like this, maybe...

Souta lifted his head, staring out into the open plains of short grass resting at the edge of the forest. It was dark, the moon casting a dim light over the world, but he'd memorized this landscape during the day, so acknowledged his own set boundaries. Souta climbed to his feet and with a small reprieve, he lifted his hand to plot his course, then he bolted forward in a fast sprint. Streaking across the field as fast as he could, trying to push himself to run faster, to go faster. He'd train, he had to get stronger, so he could fight. Maybe if he was stronger, he wouldn't be so afraid of everything “...”

Afraid of these demons, afraid of this world, afraid of the future, his fate, afraid or his friends, afraid of pain. Afraid of dying, afraid of being weak, afraid of being helpless. Inuyasha never liked weaklings did he? 'I'm such a coward.'

'I'm gonna get stronger, I'm gonna fight, I'm gonna help Inuyasha.' Souta stared ahead in the darkness, the thought that something could be out here never crossed his mind. It was too quiet to be worried, no sound beside the brush of wind washing across the plains and the soft hymn of crickets singing to the night. He ran forward, the noise of his own pants and movements keeping him company. 'I'm gonna get stronger.'

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

The day was a lazy one, quiet, peaceful. The sky was a deep blue with great, fluffy clouds forming foreign shapes, the sun bright and uninhibited, letting it's golden rays shine brightly over the wide open lands. There was never a more perfect time for traveling, and the great plains of grassy fields seemed the idea location to journey through. If one didn't mind hills the rolling plains provided, that is.

They ate breakfast as they always did in the morning. Souta insisted on making the fire, he got it after only a few tries without any help, just like Inuyasha showed him. Inuyasha seemed throughly satisfied at the boy's accomplishment, and Souta was so happy he'd done it he couldn't stop smiling through the whole meal. Since he'd done so well today, he promised by tomorrow he'd be able to do it flawlessly.

Kouga wanted to do the cooking this time, it seemed so long ago since he'd last had the chance, though it really wasn't, he had a passion for it that developed quickly, and he was content with it. He was even more content with Houjo helping him do it, he was actually learning something from the boy. That had to be the thing Kouga enjoyed the most about it, having Houjo teach him something.

He was learning a lot of things from Houjo.

With the meal finished and everything packed away with tedium organization, they set off from their spot at the edge of the forest. By now they'd taken up half the day, Houjo wasn't sure he'd ever ridden his bike so much.

“Wow!” Houjo clinched his hands across the breaks, his bike kicking up treads of grass and dust as the wheels staled and it slid to quick stop at the bottom of a hill. Kouga, merely a few paces ahead already, stopped himself and looked back upon hearing the boy's audible excitement. Inuyasha, who was running along side of Houjo with Souta on his back, also halted with questioning.

“What?” Kouga asked, stopping upon dirt path that was worn into the ground at the bottom of the hill, sitting at the banks of a sizable lake that stretched to the limits of his vision.

Houjo left his bike behind and ran to the water's edge, his face illuminated, eyes wide and bright with the astonishment at the sight. He was reminiscent to a small child in his excitement, kneeling down at the water's edge and and looked into the clear body. It was so clean, he'd never seen water so clear, he could stare down strait through to the bottom, making it appear to be only a short distance when in fact the still waters were quite deep, and became deeper the farther out the lake reached. “I've never seen the water so clean, this can't be saltwater.”

Kouga walked over to the edge and peeked over Houjo's shoulder, he didn't exactly see what was the big deal was. “There's a river that runs through it farther out. My den's on the other side.”

Souta peered over Houjo's other shoulder, his face scrunched with examining scrutinize, trying also to see what Houjo saw. “What, What is it?”

Inuyasha folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “I don't see what's the big deal, it's just water. I know they have that back in your world.”

“Just look.” Houjo told him, staring out into the serene waters with a patience, looking as though he knew something good was about to happen. 'Wow.' The sound of displacing water splashing about resonated from the muffled depths under the lake's surface, right before a fish, it's scales a deep blue with lustrous fins that shined in a rainbow of colors when the sun's rays struck them. It flopped back into the water, and not soon after another, similar one came splashing out. What Houjo was so fascinate with became clear now,upon closer inspection they could see the water was teaming with fish, of all different types and colors. This had to be one of the most unusual and exotic sites Houjo had ever witnessed, it was like an aquarium.

The same amazement grew on Souta's face when the boy saw it. “Whoa! Cool!” Souta dropped down at the waters edge and leaned down close enough for the tip of his nose to graze the water's surface. Curious brown eyes looked through the clear waters, and just barely he could see a small school of fish, with bright red color and large yellow stripes, swimming past. “Look at all of them...” He beamed. “What are all these fish doing here?”

Kouga and Inuyasha glanced at each other, “This is right next to your land, you should know.” Inuyasha said.

“I dunno...” Kouga could do nothing more then shrug, he'd never seen so many different types of fish in the lake, or any lake for that matter. He had to admit, it was a pretty interesting sight, that he never would have seen had not Houjo pointed it out to him.

Souta took in a deep, loud breath before he clinched his lips shut and plunged his head in, gaining a curious look from Houjo. All sound drowned away, covered by the muffled and murmured, bass heavy noises of the slightly shifting waters, it was like listening to a contentious pulse. There definitely was a lot of life down here, so many fish, different schools seemed to swarm around the relatively small body of water abundantly. This was so much better then an aquarium, he never got to dump his head into one of the tanks and experience it like this. He just wished he was able to reach out and touch one of them. 'Wow... There's so many of them!' He thought.

*Wooosh!* The water beside Souta rapidly displaced with a loud sound,Souta peeked over to his left to see Inuyasha looking around with his own curiosity right below the surface. 'Inuyasha.' Souta smiled to himself, looking around under the waters with his own excitement showing visibly on his air starved face. '?' Souta had to hold back a laugh when he saw one of the larger fish was hanging out of Inuyasha's mouth, he wasn't clear in the Hanyou was trying to eat it or it had just found it's way there.

At the same time they both lifted their heads, and Inuyasha spit out the blue fish capture his mouth. “Do they wanna get eaten that bad?”

As soon as Souta took his first breath be burst out into laughter. “It really swam into your mouth?”

“Of course it did, what do you think I was trying to drown my self or something?” Inuyasha snorted, shaking the water from himself in a very canine like manner before standing up.

Houjo wondered if he could somehow get a clear picture off all it, that would be so great... 'Nah, I'd probably need an underwater camera for it to be good.' He sighed to himself disappointedly, he really had to invest his money into that, he never thought he'd actually use one.

By then Kouga was sitting on the edge of the lake, his legs half in the water, feeling curious fish occasionally bumping into his shins. 'I wonder where they all came from?' He kicked softly, scaring away the fish with subtle splashes of the cool water. He had to admit, it was deeper then it looked, he wondered how deep it really went.“Well, I know what I'm having for lunch.”

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

He couldn't tell if the heat he felt was from the temperature outside, or if it was just him. The sun sat directly over head, his shadow completely vanished beneath him, and as if by some odd captivation, Inuyasha felt incline to sit here beside the edge of the lake and stare up at the sky, panting softly. Sweat trickled down his temples and seeped out of his bare torso, all of the fabric that had been covering his upper body was tossed aside some place nearby.

He didn't know what it was that made him feel this way, he felt lazy enough to simply sit here, yet anxious to want to move with a purpose, all wrapped into one, awkward sensation. 'Damn heat.' Inuyasha thought weak willed, his eyes still fixed to the sky within the bare limits of attention. But his other senses were completely alive and focused, his nose could detect the faint traces of food, the bit of diluted aroma that had drifted this way from Houjo's direction a considerable distance in the opposite direction. He was the one currently making lunch.

The water was pure, holding a crisp scent to it, Inuyasha tilted his head back and took in a deep breath of the saturated air near the lake's edge. He liked this scent, it was cool, and clean, stirring memories of an old waterfall he'd only visited once when he was a child. It wasn't a particularly eventful memory, nor an important one, he'd long forgotten it, but when ever he smelt this scent, that, and other seemingly mundane memories like it came into his mind with quick flashes.

Inuyasha's eyes were half lidded but focused on the clouds streaming over head, but all attention had been relinquished from sight to the point where he may as well have been blind, all thought and concentration pouring into his senses of smell and his hearing. His ears twitched at the sensitive sound of the wind flowed seamlessly through the grass behind him with a subtle rustle, caring the soft scent of foliage his way. He couldn't describe it, he didn't know why the combination of sound and scent elicited the reactions they did, but they were stronger in him then any sight, taste or touch.

He had inane disposition to Souta's scent, it was intoxicating in it's own unique right. He loved it, especially when they mated and it grew so strong that it enveloped him, mingling with the sound of the boy's voice when he cried out. Just the thought made the heat in his body grow stronger. It brought out sensations in him completely separate from the act itself, and equivalently as strong. Everyone's scent had some property in his mind, especially the really good ones, Houjo's was greater then he'd admit. Kouga's was...ok, maybe.

Speaking of which, he was picking up Kouga's scent right now.

“What are you, sleep or something dog face?” The condescending voice called out from behind him.

A small smirk grew on to Inuyasha's face, slowly rising to his feet and turning away from the water's edge to face the Youkai. His ears focused themselves distinctly on the sound of the shifting surf of the large lake, tides washing against the shore from distant places. “No, you idiot.”

Kouga tilted his head to the side slowly and examined Inuyasha's features, not yet holding the usual anger and annoyment he always had when they dealt with each other. That would change, Kouga was bored enough to ensure it would. “Then why do you have that stupid look on your face?”

“It can't be worse then that dumb one on yours.” Inuyasha barked back snidely.

“Tch, whatever muttface!” Kouga growled.

“That's your problem Kouga, your all talk.” Inuyasha growled, dangerous undertones lining his voice.

Kouga rested his hands on his waist and leaned forward offensively, staring Inuyasha strait in the confident, golden eyes. “Really? Think so huh? How bout I knock that stupid look off your face?”

Inuyasha's hand came to rest on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga, but he didn't draw it, he gently unset it from his waist and tossing it aside with the rest of his things at the side lake. “I'd love to see you try.”

Kouga grinned anxiously, pounding his fist into his hand before sliding one foot back readily. “Just remember you asked for it.” He barely finished his words before he took off, closing the gap between them with a few quick steps and threw a hard punch to Inuyasha's jaw.

Inuyasha quickly planted his foot back to catch himself and to the full ability of his reflects he lunged at Kouga, drawing his fist back and throwing a hard blow at the youkai's chest. Kouga, however, was quicker and expectant, the Youkai lept over Inuyasha's fist and sent a swift kick to the side of Inuyasha's face. Inuyasha lifted hand and caught Kouga's foot, and with a satisfied smirk he roughly turned around so that his back was to the Youkai, a tight grip still on Kouga's foot, he pulled the other male over his shoulder, slamming him face down to the ground. “Inuyasha 90, Kouga 89.” He mocked, lifting his foot and stomping down into Kouga's back.

A loud grunt was forced from the youkai's body, the powerful blow forcing him to sink down in the earth a few inches with a new impact crater. Kouga hissed angrily in pain, watching from the corner of his eyes as Inuyasha lifted his foot to stomp down on him again. “Don't get too cocky!” Kouga rolled on to his back and thrust a swift kick into Inuyasha's stomach, with his full agility and flexibility showing, Kouga flipped backwards, giving a swift kick to Inuyasha's chin on his accent and landed on his feet with a smooth grace.

Kouga bolted forward toward the thinly stunned Inuyasha, crouched slightly, drawing his arm back and driving his fist into Inuyasha's stomach, forcing him to involuntarily keel over with a visible cringe. Then he stood up as tall as his height would allow, cuffing his hands together, reeling both arms back and hammering his interlocked hands down into the back of Inuyasha's head, knocking the Hanyou face first to the grassy earth beside the lake. “90-90! Don't expect it to be that way for long.”

“For once...” Inuyasha grunted, planting his hands on to the ground and pushing himself onto his knees. “Your right about something.” With a fierce growl, Inuyasha hurled up from his knees and wrapped his arms around Kouga's waist.

'!!' Kouga winced at the vice grip that began crushing him, his mind nearly panicking when he felt Inuyasha begin to lift him off the ground. With quick movements Kouga jumped into a backflip, dragging Inuyasha along with with him. In almost a succession too fast to track, Kouga drove his knees upward into Inuyasha's chin, losing the tight grip, then sent both feet plowing into his chest, severing Inuyasha's hold completely, and propelling himself to complete the flip. “Your out your league dog breath!” Kouga landed on his feet, then elevated his left foot with skillful balance and set a sharp kick the stumbling Inuyasha's face, and another, and another, until a blur of quick attacks were striking Inuyasha's bare torso from too many points too count. Finally with one last, hard kick, he sent Inuyasha off his balance and sliding to the ground. “My lead, try and keep up.” Kouga spat triumphantly over the fallen Inuyasha.

Inuyasha growled with a dangerous rumbling, spitting the blood from his mouth and wiping a stream of it from his chin with the back of his fist. “Well, look who's getting cocky now.”Inuyasha smirked, climbing to his feet with a slight falter. He'd never seen Kouga start off so strongly, maybe this would turn out to be a pretty good fight after all. When he thought about it, Kouga had to start off strongly, each of them had to push themselves to do better then the last time the fought, it was a mutual expectation, for the other to go beyond their prior limits. 'I guess I'll have to catch him when he gets in close, or else I'll never get him.'

Kouga rested his hand on his waist and gave a quick reexamination of Inuyasha, taking special note that he was smirking, 'Well, Well, looks he's ready to get serious.' Kouga couldn't help but let a smirk cross his own lips, his tail wagging anticipatly. “Ready Mutt?”

Inuyasha lept quickly into the air, the red fabric of his pants wavering with deep ripples in a swift breeze blowing in from the lake as he descended on Kouga. His heart was pounding in his blood was rushing exhilaratingly through his veins, his skin jolted with an excited energy, he was ready and waiting for this.“I was born ready!” His body darted towards Kouga, throwing a strong punch at the Youkai, it moved with enough force to cause a burst of wind resonating from the air it displaced.

“Heh, dumb dog!” Kouga moved forward with a burst of his speed, and just as Inuyasha landed he was already positioned dangerously close, driving his keen up into Inuyasha's stomach hard enough to force the air from his body and a spurt of blood to cough from his mouth. 'He sucks when I get in this close, so if I can just hit him one more time and get out-'

“Heh, your the dumb one.” Inuyasha quickly latched on to Kouga's leg with his considerable strength,something Kouga couldn't hope to pry himself free from. Then he wrapped his other arm around Kouga's waist and lifted Kouga into the air, slamming him hard enough to the ground to knock a startled yelp from the wolf and soft quake from the earth. With out a second's hesitation Inuyasha pounced on him, one hand grabbing a hold of Kouga's neck hard enough to strangle while the other fist pounded him with repetitious punches to the face with enough force to stun. “It's even now!”

Kouga let out a pained grunt as the next blow knocked his head to the side. “Whatever...” Kouga slipped his arms free and grabbed on to Inuyasha's neck with both hands, both pairs of claws digging into the flash hard enough to draw blood. “...Inuyasha!” With a loud roar Kouga pried with as much strength he could muster and managed to drag Inuyasha off, quickly rolling to the side and on to his feet.

Kouga quickly wiped away the blood now streaming down his cheek. 'Damn that hurt.' Kouga hastily dashed at Inuyasha whom he anticipated to be off guard, taking a small leap into the air and and driving his foot at Inuyasha's torso. “Idiot!” Inuyasha took a small step to the side and caught Kouga's foot, tucking the Youkai's leg underneath his arm. Before Kouga's other leg could at hit the ground and regain his balance as well as a semblance of leverage, Inuyasha punched him in the face with all of his strength, sending Kouga's body over the edge, skipping along the surface of the water like a stone before sinking into the lake completely. 'Heh, heh.' The action no doubt satisfied Inuyasha throughly. “92-91, your gonna have to do better then that!”

Kouga surfaced with a loud splash, spiting out the water that had pooled in his mouth with a rough series of coughs. At that point it only came to Kouga's waist, he didn't have to do much to get out of it. “Don't worry Inuyasha, I will!”

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

“Wow Houjo.” Souta studied the object with an intuitive fascination, his hands clinching tightly on to the rough, coarse bark surrounding large section of a log tied by vines to one of the few trees that set at the water's edge. It hung down a long ways, hovering about 3 feet above the ground, larger and wider then Souta's entire body, it's weight swaying heavily from side to side, making it hard for Souta to catch it and contain it. “You put this up by yourself?”

“Yeah.” Houjo stood in front of the harnessed block of wood, sword raised and stance ready. He was quite proud of himself for building this, and he looked so.

Houjo had to be pretty serious about his training. “This thing is pretty big.” Souta planted one foot back and pushed the log with all of his strength, it didn't go as far as he would have liked, as far as it needed to go, so he waited, watching it swing back anticipatively and pushing it forward again on it's return. Building momentum. “How'd you do all of this?”

“It wasn't as hard as it seemed.” Houjo told him, waiting patiently as Souta built up a swing with enough force. He wasn't sure how it seemed, but it was pretty hard. He was lucky enough to find a fallen tree, and it wasn't hard to get vines from a forest, the hard part was getting it all here, and hanging it from the tree. His arms still hurt from trying to hoist it from a suitable branch, but it was all in the interest of training. “Need help?”

“Nope.” Souta shook his head again, giving the wood another push to increase the speed and range of it's swing. Houjo couldn't help him, he was the one trying to help Houjo, that would defeat the purpose. “I got it.” He said with a small grunt as the swinging weight moved past him, stopping just at the edged of the lake before it swung back. 'One more should do it.' He reached out and gave it one last push on it's way, increasing it's speed substantially.

“That's good Souta.” Houjo lifted the sword halfway over his head and stood in the direct path of the swinging weight determinedly. It came dangerously close with a hard speed and Houjo, depressing the possibility of injury, slashed downward across the log, the blade dug into the wood only a few inches before the force of the weight over powered his strength, pushing his arms back and slamming into him. “Uhf!” Houjo was knocked off of his feet and landed hard on the ground, watching with a pained grunt as the cleanly cut wood swung above him, almost mockingly.

“Houjo, are you ok?” Souta asked, he ran to the older boy's side worriedly, but was forced back by the weight swinging past.

“I'm fine.” Houjo rolled safely to the side and climbed to his feet, unscathed, though he had to admit, it did hurt. “Not how I intended it to go..” Houjo rubbed his messy hair and knelt down, picking up the fallen sword. “But is that's why I'm practicing.”

“You wanna keep going?” Souta unsurely made his way back to his place at the lake's edge, ready to start pushing again.

“Yeah.” Houjo nodded, stepping in line with the swinging wood that seemed considerably larger to him now.

“Alright.” As instructed before, Souta stepped behind the weight and gave it one, hard push, sending it sweeping back at Houjo.

Houjo stood firm, sliding one foot back for support, lifting the sword over his shoulder. 'Alright, one more time.' Houjo nodded to himself and took another slash at the on coming weight, the sword cut in a few inches before the wood became to dense for his strength to penetrate. But again the momentum bore it's full power on him, Houjo tried to keep his arms steady outward and hold it back, but the weight made him slide back before knocking him off balance, knocking him to the ground again hard enough to cause a loud ringing to sound in his ears. 'Ow...' He was surprise at how much that actually hurt.

Souta rubbed the back of his head uneasily when he saw the older boy get plowed down for the second time, he didn't like watching this, he liked doing it even worse. “Sorry...”

Houjo rolled out from the weight's path and climbed to his feet again. 'Inuyasha said that I need strength, he's right, if I can't even hold off this, how am I going to hold off a monster's attack...' He lifted the sword again and step back into the path, watching the wood swing towards Souta, and the boy obediently pushed it back, increasing the momentum. 'The strength I need is not gonna come quickly, I have to find away to compensate...' Houjo lifted the sword again, though this time he tilted it all the way to the side so that it extended horizontally across his chest. The sunlight shone brightly across it, reflecting a harsh glare on to the approaching log, a thin line perfectively aliened with the blade. It was like a tracking beam. 'Wow...”

Souta had never seen Houjo hold his sword like that. “What are you doing?”

“Compensating!” Houjo grunted loudly as he felt the weight crash into the sword extended before his torso. It pushed against him with it's superior force and again Houjo felt himself being knocked off balance, 'I can't stand here!' Then with a cringe he stepped to the side, swiping the sword across the wood as it brushed narrowly past him. He was at lest strong enough to hold the blade steady during that, cutting a thin slit through the side of the thick log.

Houjo looked down at his sword with a light smile, disbelief twinging his features. That was it, that was how he'd compensate! Inuyasha said he needed strength and defense, that wasn't exactly forthcoming at the moment, so he'd have to follow Kouga's advice and be quick and evasive, and he'd have to modify Inuyasha's advice and use what ever strength he was confronted with against his enemy. 'Alright...I think I got it.' Houjo stepped in it's path again, holding the sword sideways. It was a foreign stance to him, it didn't feel natural, but he'd get use to it, it felt the most comfortable for blocking and evading.

“Ready Souta?”

Souta nodded.

! - ! - !

'Shit...' Kouga let out a snarling growl, his face pressed into the soft grass, both of his hands pinned behind his back by one of Inuyasha's single hand that seized his wrist. Inuyasha sat on top of him, his knees digging into his back, his arm pressed against the Kouga's neck hard enough to cut off air.

“102 to 100.” Inuyasha smirked, leaning down close enough for his mouth to nearly pass as touching Kouga's ear. “What happened to all that talk?”

“Fuck you.” Kouga growled back, his voice strained and forced, baring all of his fangs.

“You give up? Wanna run back to your den and lick your wounds.” Inuyasha growled back. He was completely surrounded in the scent of the Youkai covered in cuts and bleeding on the grass below him, it was like a force that drove him to persist. He was enjoying this fight.

“Not a... chance in hell!” Kouga barked, bucking back against Inuyasha as hard as he could, but it was no use, he was no match for Inuyasha's strength holding him down. 'Damnit...' He tried to throw his head back and strike Inuyasha, but the arm in the back of his neck prevented it, and with Inuyasha sitting on him he couldn't get enough leverage to do anything with his legs. He was stuck, all he could do was squirm as best he could and attempt to free himself, he damn sure wouldn't give up, he'd pass out and choke first.

Inuyasha smirked, he was really enjoying this fight, he couldn't describe how almost... inebriating it was...though that was dull some by the fact that he could do little else in this position. If his hand so much as wavered from Kouga's wrist, Kouga would push him off. And if he lost any leverage, Kouga would be able slip from underneath his arm pinned against the back of his neck , since he was infinitely more flexible. 'Tch. I guess since I can't do anything to him like this, there's no point to this.' He thought to himself, his smirk dwindled and he snorted, pushing himself off of the youkai hard enough to make sure his arm and neck would hurt long after he was gone. “2 points, wolf.”

Kouga lifted his head from the grass and glanced back questioningly, unmoving at first . 'Did he just...alright, I'll bite.' Kouga slipped his hands from behind his back and rolled over, climbing on his feet. He could already feel the pain as the blood began recirculating to his arms, and though he didn't look, he was sure there was a bruise and some considerable claw marks left behind. “Alright Inuyasha, 104-100. Your lead... for now.”

“You think so huh?” Inuyasha's smirked returned, slowly lifting his hand to his cheek and wiped the blood from his mouth. He hated to admit it, but Kouga had done a considerable job on him, his was bleeding from more places then he'd like to admit, and it was easier to think of all the place that didn't hurt instead of the ones that did. “Let's see then.”

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

Houjo dove the sword into the ground beside himself and fell back on the soft grass by the lake side, his body sprawled out in a messy heap, chest rapidly rising and falling with heavy breaths.

Souta stood above Houjo, resting his hands on his knees and leaning over the boy questioningly. “Wow..., your really good Houjo.”

Houjo let his hand come to rest on his pounding heart, at this point he could only nod humbly, he couldn't gather the breath to speak just yet.

Souta glanced toward the large body of water that seemed to stretch endlessly from here, the distant curves and coutures of mountains.”Man, this place is so huge.” Souta said, the awe clear in his voice. He never imagined there would be so much travailing involved, since the last time he was here he was unconscious. Which brought up the question, how did that thing carry him so far so fast... A shutter ran across Souta's spine and he immediately shook his head, trying to change the subject. He didn't want to think about it, he really didn't want to think about it.

Houjo noticed the sudden and sour change in the boy's expression, he didn't know why exactly, there didn't seem anything around here that would cause that disgusted look. He must have been thinking about something, “What...what is it?” Houjo sat up, taking in one last deep breath before he pulled in his legs closed to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

“Naw, it's nothing.” Souta said, but his face wasn't nearly as consorting to his words as they should have been.

“What are you thinking about?” Houjo asked, speaking as if he hadn't even given that answer, which is only because Souta wasn't a convincing liar.

“It's not important.” Souta sat down beside Houjo, staring at the swinging weight Houjo had put up, it was still now. The uneasy expression on his face finally faded as his mind drifted off to other subjects in true child fashion, the lack of attention that came with his age.

“Are you sure?” Houjo asked. He got a simple nod in response, and accepted it... Houjo glanced at the sword sitting beside him, and then over at the large log hanging from a sturdy branch from a large tree, the bark stripped and the wood scared from his sword... “Hey Souta, do you wanna practice?”

! - ! - !

“Alright, are you ready?” Houjo held the wood tightly in his hands, his arms long enough to wrap nearly completely around the heavy object. He stood beside the large tree the weight was hoisted upon, holding the object all the way to the side.

Souta stood readily a good distance back, about 14 feet behind a line already etched out in the dirt path. His crossbow was raised and already loaded. “Yeah, ready.”

With a nod Houjo pushed the weight, and stepped out of the way as it arched outward, swinging from sideways. Souta's eyes focused on it, following it side to side with every movement it made. 'I can do this...' He said, before pulling the trigger and launching the arrow. The projectile streaked past as the wood in the motion of swinging back towards Houjo, away from the path the arrow had taken.

“Ok...Ok...” Souta reached behind him a drew another arrow from a sheath on his back, loading it on the track with a speed that could be determined as skill and lifting the crossbow readily again. He silently locked his eyes on to the weight again, seamlessly following every movement and tailing it with the bow. And he pulled the trigger, just as it was about to pass in front of him, and again it streaked past in a flash of reflected sunlight light, sailing out over the water.

After two more failed attempts Houjo could easily see the flaw in Souta's technique, he was hoping it would correct itself but.... “Hey Souta.”

Souta's eyes followed the swinging log again, never leaving it as he reached back to withdraw an arrow and set it on the crossbow. “What?”

“Have you ever played Space invaders?” He asked casually, resting his back against the tree trunk and slowly allowing his body to sink down into a siting position a top the soft grass, thick and luscious with the lake's moisture.

His eyes glanced over at Houjo for a slit second before locking on his target again. “Yeah, of course I have.” Souta trailed the weight's movement with the crossbow, until he reached a point he felt comfortable with, which was right at the part of it's arch where it slowed to a stop, beginning it's swing back away from the tree. “Hasn't everybody?” And then he fired, however, the weight began it's movement in the opposite direction and the arrow missed again, embedding itself instead in the tree trunk above Houjo's head.

It happened so fast that Houjo didn't even have time to flinch, he just looked up at the sound and it was there, a little too quickly for his comfort. “Whoa...”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah well...” Houjo reached above him and pulled the arrow from the tree's trunk with one sharp, yank, giving it a quick look over before he tossed it back Souta. “It's really simple, and the trick to that game is that you can't shoot where the targets are, you shoot where they're gonna be. Understand?”

Souta looked down at the bow in his hand, then slowly lifted his eyes to Houjo again with a soft nod. “I think I do.”

Houjo reached over and gave the weight another push, increasing the range and speed of it's swing to it's previous rate. “Alright, try it again.”

Souta's eyes locked on to his target again, though this time his crossbow didn't trail the swinging log, he kept it steady. Oddly enough when he did that, his hands began to tremble, making it hard to keep the crossbow steady. 'Not again...' He shook his head and took in a deep breath, studying the speed and movement for a half second before he finally shut one eye for as much precision as he could gather and fired. He felt a sudden uplifting of spirits when he heard the arrow split into the wood, projecting nearly through to the other side. It wasn't dead center as he hoped, more upwards and to the left, but he'd struck it none the less. “Hey, I hit it!”

Houjo leaned forward to examine it for himself, and it surprised him a little, the power of that crossbow. He hadn't managed to get nearly that deep with his sword. “That's pretty good Souta. Think you can do it again?”

Souta seamlessly reached back, withdrawing an arrow, drawing the track back into place, setting the arrow, and as soon as he had a firm grip he pulled the trigger. Striking the weight as the swinging log passed directly in front of him, directly below the last arrow, this time splitting through completely and sailing off over the water. A cracking sound erupted loudly as the wood tore slowly apart, exposing the lighter inward wood before finally falling to the ground in two completely severed halves.

Obviously Souta wasn't expecting that to happen, but as soon as he got over his initial surprise, he became thoroughly proud of himself. “Whoa!”

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

It was silent on their path this evening, but even with in the confounds of an almost awkward silence it was a peaceful, content atmosphere. Souta walked happily beside Inuyasha, clinching the straps of his backpack, smiling softly to himself. He was satisfied with himself, his meager accomplishments, and his companions most of all. Houjo felt his own satisfaction that came when one had a pleasant day, the seemingly mundane fabric of life that made this place seem a little less unknown and intimidating.

Inuyasha looked outward on to the lake absentmindedly, his arms resting behind his head small smirk formed at the edge of his lips. Kouga stared off in the opposite direction, his eyes focused on the large and open plains they'd crossed already, a light grin creasing at his mouth. They had a feeling greater then a simple satisfaction, though bloody and bruised from hours of brutal fighting, they had a feeling of, for lack of a better word, happiness. No matter how at times one-sided the fight became, it always had the same outcome, a true testament to the other's persistence, they always ended up even at the end.

Which meant tomorrow they got to try again.

The sun floated halfway above the horizon, painting the blue sky in deep shades of orange, the fluffy clouds were shrouded in coats of hot pink until they reached the other side of the darkened sky ripe with stars. The waters were choppy behind them, the waves of the lake's softly washing against the edge of the bank at lest a mile back, but it was quiet enough to hear the body clearly. “That was a really big lake.” Souta finally mentioned. “How much farther is it?”

“Not too far.” Kouga said, “Since the lake behind is behind us and the mountains aren't that far ahead, we should be there in a few minutes.”

Houjo peered outward, noticing he could see the mountains a lot more imposed then the last time he looked at them. The grasses were a thick green and tall enough to nearly reach Houjo's knees, but this foliaged would soon come to an end at the hard, rocky earth of the mountains no more then a few hundred yards onward. “Wow, that's not that far.” Houjo felt his body flow with an uninhibited, anxious energy that ran lightly through his veins every time he was about to find out something he'd been curious about. But at the same time an eerie nervousness settled at the pit of his stomach. 'Didn't Kouga say his pack was killed?... So...what are we...' Houjo sighed to himself, he hoped this would turn out better then he thought it would.


! - ! - !