Five years....

Five long years it had been since she had first come into the ancient realm of the Feudal era.

Kagome Taisho, now wedded to Inuyasha Taisho, looked out over the coastline of Japan, sandy beaches with rocky outcroppings dotting the shoreline here and there.

Five years since she had first met the half demon that would become both a full demon and her husband. Since she had met her other friends, Miroku, the monk, Sango, the demon slayer, and Shippou, her adopted Kitsune child.

Two years since the defeat of Naraku, and the completing of the sacred jewel, making it whole once again. Two years since Inuyasha had made his wish upon the sacred jewel to turn himself into a demon.

Their worst fears were not justified. Thanks to the bond between them, Inuyasha did not tear Kagome apart and devour her as some of them had expected to happen if he became a full demon. Rather, he had mated her instead.

One year, since she had borne him a full litter of pups, six in all.

Six months since they had learned that Naraku, for all of his evil powers, was not the reason that Kagome had been returned to the past. The sacred jewel now hung around her neck, it's powers pulsating wildly. The powers of good kept the evil within the jewel checked, but only just barely.

As Kagome now looked, at the present time, off into the distance, at the mists spreading over the Sea of Japan.

She reached an arm out, and found Inuyasha's left arm, hooking her arm around his. He looked down at her, and she looked up at him. He nodded, signaling that the time was approaching.

Kagome turned her head to the left, looking down the line of lords assembled among them. Lord Sesshomaru, of the Western Lands. Lord Kouga, of the Northern Lands. Lord Pantheras, of the Eastern Lands, and Lord Totosai, of the Southern Lands.

Spread out on the beaches below them, were the respective human lords under their domains, countless warlords. Before the warlords stood their troops, tens of thousands of human warriors, filed in neat ranks and rows.

And in front of the humans were the hundreds of demons, the front line soldiers in the battle soon to come.

For the one who truly covets the Sacred Shikon Jewel of four souls, is coming...

"The enemy comes!" yelled the lookout, sighting his telescope into the mist. An image was taking ship in the viewing lens, the outline of a ship was appearing.

Then, it broke through the cloud, and was visible to everyone present on the shoreline. A single ship, a kind of wooden sailing vessel known as a high-charged carrack, hove into view, turning to where it was paralleling the coastline at a distance of about five hundred yards from the nearest shoreline.

The vessel was large, larger than anything any man or demon present had ever seen, and a general murmur ran up among the troops.

"More vessels sighted!" yelled another lookout, and then another, their telescopes swinging back and forth from the horizon. A second ship emerged from the mist, then a third, then a fourth.

Soon, they were dotting the ocean between the beaches and the mist. When the ships stopped appearing, a final count placed the enemy at three hundred vessels in total, all of them very large and very menacing looking.

The enemy’s discipline appeared to be high, for the vessels were sailing in line ahead formation, one vessel behind the other, sailing in a perfect row up the beaches.

"See there? The enemy is afraid to approach,” said Koga with a confident smirk on his face.

"I don't think so. I can sense neither fear nor hesitance among those demons and humans out there. No, they are planning something,” replied Sesshomaru, his eyes glancing from one vessel to another.

The lead vessel began to raise a flag, one that seemed familiar to Kagome somehow. She knew that she had seen it before, but from where, she had no idea.

Then an image came into her head. The modern era, a field trip that her class had taken to the United Nations embassy in Tokyo. An array of flags standing in the NATO section. They had been taught which country each flag had represented.

"The Union Jack..." Kagome breathed, not quite able to believe it.

* * *

"Lord Cunningham, are the ships under your command prepared for action?" asked the fearsome looking being towering over the little human next to him.

But that human displayed no fear or intimidation at standing next to such a being, one of the many reasons that the demon elevated the human to his position.

"Yes my lord. We can begin the bombardment at any time you wish,” replied Cunningham.

"Good. Send the flag signal...Initiate bombardment." ordered Lord Drake.

The humans onboard the vessel went about their tasks, mindless in their behaviors as they struggled to first lift the modified cannons out of ship's hold, and then struggle to push them across the deck until they were against the starboard railing. The cannons were not small and long rifled guns like normal, but instead were large and fat, the complete opposite of their predecessors. Whereas cannons normally fired at long ranges with small cannonballs, these would fire into the air, at shorter ranges, with large cannonballs. That wasn't the only difference too. Normal cannon balls were round solid hunks of steel. While these were still round, there was a surprise in them for the defenders.

After hoisting the cannons onto the deck, the men turned right around and use the hand wenches to pull the cannon balls out onto the deck, then load them into the cannons. Two demons stood by each cannon, both of them holding a stick with a small flame at the end of it. When both of the cannons on the ship had been loaded and were ready for firing, the men stopped in their duties, looking for confirmation to continue.

The captain of the vessel ran up a yellow flag on the mizzenmast, a signal to the other ships in the line that she was ready. Soon, other yellow flags joined the one that he had run up, until all twenty-six vessels in the line had yellow flags fluttering in the breeze. The captain turned back to face his superior.

"Lord Cunningham. The vessels signal that they are ready,” said the captain, bowing before moving away. The man turned to face him, a small smile gracing his lips, before nodding. The captain turned back to the mast, and took down the yellow flag, raising a large green one instead.

The green flag had barely been hoisted before the demons on the deck sprang into action. One of the demons at each cannon lit a fuse that was on the cannon ball itself, before the other demon held the wick to the base of the cannon. With a mighty roar, the gunpowder exploded, hurling the massive steel ball into the air. A second bellow followed as the other cannon on deck also fired, then more distant bellows as the other ships in the line began to fire as well.

The cannon balls arced into the air, before starting to rain down on the troops below...

* * *

Both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had seen the strange contraptions being brought out onto the decks of the enemy vessels. Kagome could also see, and it appeared to be some strange kind of cannon. While she had read about cannons being used in the early centuries, she had never seen anything like this in her textbooks. They also paid attention to the series of flag signals going back and forth on the ships.

"They're about to do something. The hair on the back of my neck is starting to stand on end,” said Inuyasha, growling as he laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Sesshomaru, his facial expression more calm, also laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Even Kagome brought her bow down off of her shoulders, although she refrained from notching any arrows just yet.

Then, at once, all of their ears twitched as the booming sounds of the cannons firing reached them. The other demons standing in rank that had sensitive hearing also perked up, and even the humans pointed at the geysers of smoke curling upwards from the enemy vessels. In addition to the booming sounds, they could also now hear the sound of something big whistling through the air.

Kagome was the first one that thought of looking up. When she did so and gasped, the two brothers also looked up.

"Incoming!" yelled Inuyasha, grabbing a hold of Kagome and leaping clear. The other demons and humans standing in rank also cleared the area, as a large cannon ball came falling down into the spot where they had been standing. It never reached the ground though, instead exploding in mid-air, sending hot shrapnel in all directions. Kagome hissed when a hot piece of metal hit her exposed thigh, burning a small area of skin there.

All along the beaches the exploding bombs continued to rain down. One of the wooden watchtowers that had been built on the beach, manned by several archers, exploded into little pieces of wood when a bomb exploded into it. Ranks of humans were decimated, and even demons were being cut down by the bombardment.

"Barriers! Barriers!" yelled Miroku, and other monks and priests serving in the army took up the cry. A series of barriers were soon erected, protecting the troops from the bombardment, although much damage had already been done. Judging from the smell of death, at least a couple of hundred humans and several tens of demons were dead or dying on the beach.

Now that barriers were protecting them, the dying stopped, although the priests and monks that were putting their efforts into maintaining the barriers began to sweat as the bombardment continued. Cannon balls were bouncing off of the barriers, and then exploding against them. Two of the barriers began to weaken. That is when the trio of them decided to taken action.

Kagome notched an arrow into her bow, charging it with her spiritual energy. She released the arrow, aiming for one of the vessels in the middle of the enemy line. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both ran down the beach, the former drawing Tetsuiga, the latter Tokijin from their respective sheaths. Kagome's arrow flashed by them, through the barriers, and out into the water.

It streaked over the blue waters like a cruise missile, heading for its target. At the last moment before impact, the arrow pulled upwards, almost as if it had a mind of its own. Instead of striking against the side of the ship, the arrow struck a cannon ball that had just been hoisted out of the hold below and was being put into a cannon. The arrow detonated the cannon ball, destroying the cannon and killing the crew. But more importantly, burning fragments entered into the ship's hold, igniting the fuses of other cannon balls kept below.

The first few explosions blew up out of the hold, and toppled the main mast into the water. But those explosions were sufficient to ignite the rest of the ammunition in storage, and with a mighty roar barely a moment later, a massive sheet of flame entered into the air as the vessel's magazines detonated. A cheer went up from the beach when this happened, as flaming debris rained into the water around the stricken ship. Her keel broke, and the vessel split in two. Flaming debris fell onto the ships in front of and behind the vessel, distracting their crews from firing the cannons into putting out the fires.

Kagome gaped as she saw the effect of her arrow, and nearly fell into the ground face first as Miroku delivered a mighty backslap to her rear. "Well done Kagome!" he said in a jubilant voice.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were also surprised by the effect of the arrow, but now knew the weakness of the enemy ships at least. Using the floating debris in the water as stepping-stones, they made their way out to the enemy ships. When within one hundred meters of the nearest ship, Inuyasha unleashed the wind scar upon the vessel. With a flash of yellow light, the energy attack hit the starboard side of the vessel at the waterline. The attack failed to detonate the magazines, but it was not needed as she was gutted from the attack, water rushing in to fill her holds. The humans and demons aboard rushed to abandon ship as she began to list at a rapid pace.

Sesshomaru unleashed a mighty energy attack from Tokijin, the solid blue ball of energy striking another vessel amidships. This one was also gutted and began to sink rapidly, with its crew abandoning ship. He hopped over to the next vessel in line, and noticed red flags flying from their small masts aft.

"Prepare to repel boarders!" yelled the captain of the vessel, a short fat human standing behind the steering wheel. Several human soldiers came up from below and aimed their harquebusiers at Sesshomaru, their fuses already lit. Sesshomaru held out two fingers from his right hand, and they glowed green. A moment later, the soldiers fired, but he merely used his poison whip to send the bullets right back into the soldiers, killing them instantly.

He did not stop there though, and next used his whip to cut through the masts onboard the vessel, dropping them into the ocean. The captain, uttering a guttural roar from his throat, charged Sesshomaru with his sword rose high. He didn't use the whip, but merely sprayed poison onto the man. With a horrible sounding scream, the human captain dissolved into a puddle of goo on the ship's deck. Having finished with this vessel, he leaped to the next one in line to continue the assault.

* * *

"Shit. Not good." muttered Lord Cunningham as he watched his vessels being savaged by those damned demons. The arrow had been a fluke, but now that they knew the weaknesses of his vessels, they were attacking furiously. Three vessels had been sunk; with two more becoming wrecked, and other ships were now under assault as well. He looked up to see the one demon wearing a red kimono coming up on his vessel.

"Boarder!" yelled Cunningham as he backed away from the deck. He felt the hairs on nape of his neck rise as someone big moved up beside him.

"I'll handle him,” said the demon lord who commanded the fleet. It withdrew from its belt a strange looking sword, one that was large and had strange markings etched into it. He pointed the strange looking sword at Inuyasha, and it began to glow a dark blue.

Inuyasha saw the strange demon appear and pointed his sword at him. He raised his own fang into the air, preparing to deliver a wind scar to this vessel. Before he could bring his sword down however, a blue lightning bolt shot out of the sword, catching Inuyasha squarely into the chest. The hanyou was thrown backwards towards the water. But he managed to recover, and leaped clear back towards the beaches.

"Use the murder cannons,” said the demon in a harsh voice. The soldiers brought up very small cannons from the deck below, and mounted them on the railing. They proceeded to load the cannons with grapeshot, and prepared to fire on their master's command.

Having seen his brother fall, the demon in white kimono was heading towards their vessel now. The gunners adjusted the aim of their cannons accordingly.

"Fire." said the demon lord. Yanking on a chain, the gunners let loose with their grapeshot. Sesshomaru tried to use his whip, but there were simply too many of the bullets. He got many, but many more got him. With a grunt, the demon fell into the water below. Lord Drake smiled, although none of the people could see him do so, since a dark shroud covered his face.

"Fool." muttered the demon lord. He looked up as a prickly sense raced up his spine, and saw another sacred arrow heading straight for the ship...no...for him! The Shikon miko, having seen both her mate and his brother struck down, had fired another arrow.

Hissing, Drake brought his sword up, and pointed it straight towards the incoming arrow. Again the sword glowed blue, and again a lightning bolt issued from its tip. The arrow was about to reach the ship when the lightning bolt hit it, dissolving it in a flash of blue energy. The lightning didn't stop there, but rather sought out the source of the arrow's power. It blew right through the barrier Miroku had put up, and exploded into the ground Kagome was standing on, sending the miko flying through the air.

With a yell, Kouga caught her before she hit the ground.

"Kagome, are you okay? Kagome?" he asked in a sudden panic. But she didn't answer him, and indeed she was unconscious, although she was still breathing. Inuyasha joined him, the wounded hanyou having retreated from the battle. Kouga handed her over to the half demon, turning and looking out over the water with rage boiling behind his eyes.

"My turn now." he growled, before taking off running down the beach and out over the water. The Harquebusiers and gunners fired at him, but he dodged the bullets and grapeshot using his superior speed. Lord Drake looked at him with contempt in his cold eyes, and raised his sword as Kouga leapt up into the air. But the wolf demon was not aiming for Lord Drake. Rather, his foot came into contact with one of the mortar cannons, and knocked it backwards, aiming the cannon straight up into the air, as one of the demons fired its gunpowder.

"No! The mortar! Close the hold!" yelled Lord Cunningham as he rushed for the wooden door. He managed to close it just as the mortar came down on top of him, exploding in the process. He was killed instantly, but he saved his ship from a far worse fate.

"Damned vermin!" yelled Drake, sheathing his sword. Kouga took the invitation to attack, leaping at the demon lord with his right foot, poised for a might strike. But with a sudden speed that surprised even Kouga, the demon lord grabbed his ankle with one of his hands, stopping the wolf cold. Kouga grimaced as he felt the demon lord's hand. It felt as if it were made of cold iron, and indeed that was the case as Lord Drake was wearing a pair of iron gloves.

Drake smiled as he used his superior strength to crush Kouga's ankle between his iron fingers, the snapping of bone audible to everyone standing on the deck of the ship. The wolf demon let out a howl of pain. Not wasting a moment, Drake swirled around in a circle several times, building up speed as Kouga was dragged around on the ride. Drake then released Kouga's foot, sending the wolf demon flying through the air. He bounced on the waves several times before crashing onto the beach, several hundred meters distant. The men on the deck gasped at their demon lord's strength.

The demon looked around until he found the captain of the vessel. He pointed at him, and the little man stood up straight, not showing any visible signs of fear or intimidation.

"You, you are now the admiral. Send the signal to commence the landings!" said Drake, glancing back out over the beaches. Half of their bombardment ships had been sunk or crippled, and most of the barriers were still in place. Now it was time to try a different track.

"Heave ho heave ho. Heave and ho you worthless piles of bone," drummed the demon sitting on the afterdeck of the galley. He banged the drums beneath him with one of his many arms and watched as the undead skeletons before him continued to pull on their oars. The galley was heading directly past the line of bombardment ships, towards the beach ahead.

"Two thousand demons and undead for a landing party. Against all that." said the captain of the boat, looking through his telescope towards the yonder beach, where lines and ranks of both humans and demons waited for them. He easily estimated the enemy force at ten thousand, at the very least.

"Each demon and undead warrior here could kill one hundred humans or ten demons before dying. We'll sweep the beaches clear of them all, and head inland to destroy their homes and devour their families,” commented the demon lord behind him. The captain gulped before turning back to stare at the lord, who was in charge of the landing force.

"Aye, Lord Vermillion." replied the captain, turning back to his duties.

"Row! Row you undead slugs. Row us to the enemy shores! All men prepare for combat, we'll destroy them all!" bellowed the demon lord at the top of his voice. For added emphasis, he withdrew a large sword and pointed it to the sky, the sword having strange markings that glowed orange in the morning sky. Hearing the sound of their leader, so confident and ready, caused an electric surge to sweep over the skeleton army. They redoubled their tasks, and the landing galley surged forwards even faster towards the beach.

* * *

Pain.

He was in very much pain. His eyes opened to stinging pain, and he wanted to close them again.

But no, he held them open, and after a moment, the pain stopped. Salt, it was the salt in the water. As his vision cleared, he could see things all around him. He could see ships sitting at the bottom of the ocean, the marine life. Sounds being carried through the water drew his attention above.

He could see the massive ships still afloat. The bomb flinging vessels, and other ships, these new ones being rowed directly towards the beaches.

Lifting up an arm, his only arm for that matter, he glanced down at himself, and assessed his wounds. His was bleeding from numerous places, but most of his organs seemed to be intact. The little bullet balls had only slightly penetrated his skin in most areas. Blood stained the water around him, and he could the predators of the deep heading towards him, intending to make him their next snack.

He would not have that. He was a mighty lord of Japan, and wouldn't become snack food for such low ranking fish. He snarled, the sound coming out weirdly in bubbles that rose to the surface. His eyes bled red and his fangs grew.

His entire body began to transform as the docile and red tainted water around him began to glow with pink energy. The sharks, sensing that something was wrong, veered off and went away to find other food. There would be plenty of it in the oceans this day. He sighted one of the rowing ships nearly upon him. Gathering the demon power around him, he jumped, propelling himself upwards, through the water.

The drummer onboard the landing vessel was the first to notice him rising, seeing the waters first act disturbed, boiling in an area. The water shot upwards, as a pinkish mass of energy exploded from the depths of the seas. He cried out as the thing descended directly towards his vessel.

It landed on the foredeck, the pink mass expanding, before the mist evaporated. The drummer's eyes grew round in fear, and he stopped drumming as he stared in shock at the giant hound dog on standing on the deck.

'Enemies.' thought Fluffy, seeing the skeletons and humans on the boat. 'Kill'.

The humans were his first prey, and he skewered and smashed some of them into the deck with his claws and paws. The drummer was next, the top half of him disappearing into his jaws and rows of jagged teeth. The skeletons, with a mighty roar, attacked Fluffy. The dog demon panted, and began to gather saliva in his mouth. It dripped down into the ranks of skeletons, causing them to dissolve with strange sounds coming from them.

After he was done with this vessel, Fluffy leaped high into the air, coming down on the next landing ship in line.

* * *

"Mmmmm" came the soft groan from her lips as Kagome awoke. Her eyes opened, seeing a blurry vision of red and white before her that resolved into the face of her mate, Inuyasha. Her eyes softened upon seeing his eyes laced with worry, and she offered him a reassuring smile. Her gaze traveled down his body, and she gasped softly when she saw the blackened wound on his chest.

"You're injured." she said, and tried to stand up. Her feet came in contact and wobbled when Inuyasha started to set her down, and she leaned against him, with one of his hands snaking around her waist to hold her steady.

"You're one to talk." he replied, some of the worry easing in his voice.

She smiled at him, and shook her head slightly.

"I'm just shaken up, that's all. I didn't expect that...bolt of energy to penetrate Miroku's barrier." said Kagome, looking around to see the scorched crater where she had been standing at earlier. His gaze followed hers, and she could hear the gulp making its way down his throat.

"Sesshomaru hasn't reappeared from the water yet. Kouga is down with a crushed ankle." Inuyasha scanned the water with his eyes, a tingling sensation running up his spine. He was looking at one of the landing ships when a pink light shot up from the water. It landed on the ship, and then they saw the true form of Sesshomaru making a mess of the ship, before moving on to the next one.

Kagome ran to Kouga's side, looking down at his crushed ankle. The demon lord was swearing softly as his mate, Ayami tended to him. His grunting stopped when he saw her standing above him.

"Kagome, are you okay?" asked Kouga, his eyes betraying relief when he saw that was standing okay on her own.

"Yes, I'm all right. You look pretty bad though." she replied.

"I'll be okay. This is nothing,” grunted the wolf in response.

"We have to prepare for the assault." inter cut the voice of Inuyasha, drawing his sword. Kagome nodded, and prepare her bow and arrows for more combat. Two wolves carried Kouga away as Ayami prepared for battle as well. The other demon lords prepared themselves for combat too, as did the ranks of demons and humans below.

The ships were now within one hundred meters of the beach. The human captains yelled out for the archers to form up into ranks. The humans prepared their bows and arrows, some of them having flaming tips. The human captains raised their hands, and the archers prepared to fire, raising their bows up towards the clouds.

"Fire!" came the voice of the captains, and the archers let loose their arrows, the sky filling with projectiles. They arched through the air, before coming down into the landing vessels. Some of the ships sprouted flames, but what startled the troops on the beaches were the lack of cry of pain onboard the enemy vessels. Surely they had killed at least several tens of troops onboard each vessel.

A second salvo of arrows was loosed, but again no cries of pain or suffering came. A third and fourth salvo followed, but nothing. Some of the ships were on fire, but these fires were quickly extinguished, so there had to be something onboard the ships. Some of the humans and even a few demons faltered as they wondered what was onboard the landing ships.

They were about to find out.

"Men, prepare for combat. Pike men, lower your weapons and let the enemy spear themselves. Swordsmen, prepare for combat behind the pike men,” yelled Lord Takeda, one of the clan leaders who had dedicated men to combat. He was leading the soldiers that formed ranks in front of the wolves. Their banners fluttered in the breeze, white flags with black-boxed emblems forming a rough diamond in the middle.

With a groan of stressed wood, the first few galilees reached the soft sandy shores and beached themselves upon it. Wooden ramps lowered, and with a mighty guttural roar hundreds of troops, skeletons dressed in battle armor, wielding swords, and other abominations of demons came pouring out, throwing themselves against the human's pikes and spears with wild abandon.

The human troops panicked and some began to flee, while others just stood there, looking in confusion, before being cut down or torn apart by the enemy troops. The skeletons without mercy cutting down the humans, while the demons sank their teeth into their necks, tearing them apart and devouring them before continuing on.

"Fight! Fight! Don't abandon your ranks, stand and fight like men!" yelled Lord Takeda, appalled at the enemy troops but determined to stand his ground. One skeleton warrior raced at him, but the lord beheaded him with his sword. The skeleton dropped to the ground, and stopped moving.

"Chop their heads off! That's the weakness, off with their heads!" Takeda again yelled, felling another skeleton from his horse.

But his men didn't heed him, and both the pike men and archers broke ranks, many of them fleeing towards the woods in terror. For the most part the swordsmen stood their ground; the warrior monks especially heeding his words and making the enemy pay for their assault. But they were being whittled down in a hurry, and Takeda wished that the demons would hurry up and reinforce his troops.

Ask and ye shall receive.

No sooner had he thought this when several wolves rushed past him, attacking the enemy demon troops and skeletons with their claws and fangs. Other wolves rushed to the front lines and joined the fray, and for a moment the enemy seemed to balk.

That's when a second landing ship joined the one they were fighting, and another horde of enemies descended, more skeletons and foul looking demons. There was one among them who appeared different; this one was taller and dressed in black robes. He had a sword sheathed at his side that was huge and seemed to glow with a strange orange energy.

The demon's eyes scanned the battlefield, until they came in contact with his own. Takeda grimaced, a chill running down his spine. Those eyes held nothing but coldness and death within them, and Takeda knew that he was looking at a deadly enemy. The thing raised its sword at him, the blade having strange markings etched into it. The sword began to glow orange.

Then, a bolt of flames shot out of the sword, and headed directly towards him. He put his arms up, as if to ward off the blow, when movements off to his side caught his attention. Someone wrapped their furry arms around him, and yanked him off of his horse. The flames engulfed his steed, the animal letting out a terrible wail before dropping to the beach sands, dead as flames continued to cook it's flesh.

"Thanks, I owe you one,” said Takeda as he looked up to his savior. His breath caught in his throat as he saw a beautiful female wolf demon standing there, her eyes a brilliant green with flowers in her hair.

"Your welcome." said Ayami, who then turned to face the strange enemy demon. He had sheathed his sword, and pushed his way through the battle zone, heading directly towards them.

"Stand back. I'll deal with him,” said the female wolf, a growl escaping her lips as her eyes narrowed. Takeda nodded, and backed away, his sword held at a guard position, ready to cut down any skeletons or demons that tried to get at the wolf demon girl from behind.

With a yell, Ayami made her move, unleashing a whirlwind of razor sharp leaves and flower petals upon the enemy demon lord. She smiled as he was engulfed, disappearing from sight. When the whirlwind faded, he was no longer there.

"Guess I showed him." said Ayami, turning back to face Takeda. The human looked at her in surprise, then his eyes grew wide as they focused on something behind her. He pointed, and she turned around in a quick action, bringing her arms up. But it was too late.

He had grabbed around the back of her neck with one iron gloved hand, squeezing her spine painfully, causing her body to go numb. She gasped in pain, and Takeda started her way to help, but was cut off by several skeleton warriors who proceeded to attack him.

He lifted her into the air, and Ayami could feel his hot breath on her neck. She mewled in pain and fright, almost begging for him to let her go. Instead her eyes narrowed as she tried to concentrate enough to speak.

"Who are you?" she managed to gasp out enough in between the spasms of pain radiating from her neck. Her air supply was cutoff as he continued to squeeze her neck even tighter.

"Scum. I'm Lord Vermillion, and I send you now to the depths of hell." he said, his cold voice in sharp contrast to his warm breath. Ayami gasped when a piercing pain struck her from behind, sliding through her body and exiting her chest. She looked down to see the tip of his sword, sheathed in her blood, sitting there. It started to glow orange, and a strange heat began to boil her insides.

When he let go of her neck, her senses returned to her, and a large amount of ungodly pain came to her at once, causing her to throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs, her agonized yell audible to everyone on the beach, including Kouga, who perked his ears up as his mating mark began to glow.

Her cry ceased as her lungs and heart began to boil and dissolve, steam escaping from the entry and exit wounds in her chest and back. The sword stopped glowing orange, and the demon withdrew it from her body. Ayami collapsed to the ground, barely alive still as her steaming blood leaked out into the sand below.

"Kouga..." she managed one last whisper, before she laid still, her eyes still open.

Kouga's mating mark glowed white hot, causing the wolf to howl out in agony as he was carried away from the battle. He put a hand to his neck, and discovered with shock that the mating mark had disappeared.

"Ayami..." he whispered, before howling again, a heart wrenching bellow of agony that swept through the forest, and up into the mid-morning air.











The humans onboard the vessel went about their tasks, mindless in their behaviors as they struggled to first lift the modified cannons out of ship's hold, and then struggle to push them across the deck until they were against the starboard railing. The cannons were not small and long rifled guns like normal, but instead were large and fat, the complete opposite of their predecessors. Whereas cannons normally fired at long ranges with small cannonballs, these would fire into the air, at shorter ranges, with large cannonballs. That wasn't the only difference too. Normal cannon balls were round solid hunks of steel. While these were still round, there was a surprise in them for the defenders.

After hoisting the cannons onto the deck, the men turned right around and use the hand wenches to pull the cannon balls out onto the deck, then load them into the cannons. Two demons stood by each cannon, both of them holding a stick with a small flame at the end of it. When both of the cannons on the ship had been loaded and were ready for firing, the men stopped in their duties, looking for confirmation to continue.

The captain of the vessel ran up a yellow flag on the mizzenmast, a signal to the other ships in the line that she was ready. Soon, other yellow flags joined the one that he had run up, until all twenty-six vessels in the line had yellow flags fluttering in the breeze. The captain turned back to face his superior.

"Lord Cunningham. The vessels signal that they are ready,” said the captain, bowing before moving away. The man turned to face him, a small smile gracing his lips, before nodding. The captain turned back to the mast, and took down the yellow flag, raising a large green one instead.

The green flag had barely been hoisted before the demons on the deck sprang into action. One of the demons at each cannon lit a fuse that was on the cannon ball itself, before the other demon held the wick to the base of the cannon. With a mighty roar, the gunpowder exploded, hurling the massive steel ball into the air. A second bellow followed as the other cannon on deck also fired, then more distant bellows as the other ships in the line began to fire as well.

The cannon balls arced into the air, before starting to rain down on the troops below...

* * *

Both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had seen the strange contraptions being brought out onto the decks of the enemy vessels. Kagome could also see, and it appeared to be some strange kind of cannon. While she had read about cannons being used in the early centuries, she had never seen anything like this in her textbooks. They also paid attention to the series of flag signals going back and forth on the ships.

"They're about to do something. The hair on the back of my neck is starting to stand on end,” said Inuyasha, growling as he laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Sesshomaru, his facial expression more calm, also laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Even Kagome brought her bow down off of her shoulders, although she refrained from notching any arrows just yet.

Then, at once, all of their ears twitched as the booming sounds of the cannons firing reached them. The other demons standing in rank that had sensitive hearing also perked up, and even the humans pointed at the geysers of smoke curling upwards from the enemy vessels. In addition to the booming sounds, they could also now hear the sound of something big whistling through the air.

Kagome was the first one that thought of looking up. When she did so and gasped, the two brothers also looked up.

"Incoming!" yelled Inuyasha, grabbing a hold of Kagome and leaping clear. The other demons and humans standing in rank also cleared the area, as a large cannon ball came falling down into the spot where they had been standing. It never reached the ground though, instead exploding in mid-air, sending hot shrapnel in all directions. Kagome hissed when a hot piece of metal hit her exposed thigh, burning a small area of skin there.

All along the beaches the exploding bombs continued to rain down. One of the wooden watchtowers that had been built on the beach, manned by several archers, exploded into little pieces of wood when a bomb exploded into it. Ranks of humans were decimated, and even demons were being cut down by the bombardment.

"Barriers! Barriers!" yelled Miroku, and other monks and priests serving in the army took up the cry. A series of barriers were soon erected, protecting the troops from the bombardment, although much damage had already been done. Judging from the smell of death, at least a couple of hundred humans and several tens of demons were dead or dying on the beach.

Now that barriers were protecting them, the dying stopped, although the priests and monks that were putting their efforts into maintaining the barriers began to sweat as the bombardment continued. Cannon balls were bouncing off of the barriers, and then exploding against them. Two of the barriers began to weaken. That is when the trio of them decided to taken action.

Kagome notched an arrow into her bow, charging it with her spiritual energy. She released the arrow, aiming for one of the vessels in the middle of the enemy line. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both ran down the beach, the former drawing Tetsuiga, the latter Tokijin from their respective sheaths. Kagome's arrow flashed by them, through the barriers, and out into the water.

It streaked over the blue waters like a cruise missile, heading for its target. At the last moment before impact, the arrow pulled upwards, almost as if it had a mind of its own. Instead of striking against the side of the ship, the arrow struck a cannon ball that had just been hoisted out of the hold below and was being put into a cannon. The arrow detonated the cannon ball, destroying the cannon and killing the crew. But more importantly, burning fragments entered into the ship's hold, igniting the fuses of other cannon balls kept below.

The first few explosions blew up out of the hold, and toppled the main mast into the water. But those explosions were sufficient to ignite the rest of the ammunition in storage, and with a mighty roar barely a moment later, a massive sheet of flame entered into the air as the vessel's magazines detonated. A cheer went up from the beach when this happened, as flaming debris rained into the water around the stricken ship. Her keel broke, and the vessel split in two. Flaming debris fell onto the ships in front of and behind the vessel, distracting their crews from firing the cannons into putting out the fires.

Kagome gaped as she saw the effect of her arrow, and nearly fell into the ground face first as Miroku delivered a mighty backslap to her rear. "Well done Kagome!" he said in a jubilant voice.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were also surprised by the effect of the arrow, but now knew the weakness of the enemy ships at least. Using the floating debris in the water as stepping-stones, they made their way out to the enemy ships. When within one hundred meters of the nearest ship, Inuyasha unleashed the wind scar upon the vessel. With a flash of yellow light, the energy attack hit the starboard side of the vessel at the waterline. The attack failed to detonate the magazines, but it was not needed as she was gutted from the attack, water rushing in to fill her holds. The humans and demons aboard rushed to abandon ship as she began to list at a rapid pace.

Sesshomaru unleashed a mighty energy attack from Tokijin, the solid blue ball of energy striking another vessel amidships. This one was also gutted and began to sink rapidly, with its crew abandoning ship. He hopped over to the next vessel in line, and noticed red flags flying from their small masts aft.

"Prepare to repel boarders!" yelled the captain of the vessel, a short fat human standing behind the steering wheel. Several human soldiers came up from below and aimed their harquebusiers at Sesshomaru, their fuses already lit. Sesshomaru held out two fingers from his right hand, and they glowed green. A moment later, the soldiers fired, but he merely used his poison whip to send the bullets right back into the soldiers, killing them instantly.

He did not stop there though, and next used his whip to cut through the masts onboard the vessel, dropping them into the ocean. The captain, uttering a guttural roar from his throat, charged Sesshomaru with his sword rose high. He didn't use the whip, but merely sprayed poison onto the man. With a horrible sounding scream, the human captain dissolved into a puddle of goo on the ship's deck. Having finished with this vessel, he leaped to the next one in line to continue the assault.

* * *

"Shit. Not good." muttered Lord Cunningham as he watched his vessels being savaged by those damned demons. The arrow had been a fluke, but now that they knew the weaknesses of his vessels, they were attacking furiously. Three vessels had been sunk; with two more becoming wrecked, and other ships were now under assault as well. He looked up to see the one demon wearing a red kimono coming up on his vessel.

"Boarder!" yelled Cunningham as he backed away from the deck. He felt the hairs on nape of his neck rise as someone big moved up beside him.

"I'll handle him,” said the demon lord who commanded the fleet. It withdrew from its belt a strange looking sword, one that was large and had strange markings etched into it. He pointed the strange looking sword at Inuyasha, and it began to glow a dark blue.

Inuyasha saw the strange demon appear and pointed his sword at him. He raised his own fang into the air, preparing to deliver a wind scar to this vessel. Before he could bring his sword down however, a blue lightning bolt shot out of the sword, catching Inuyasha squarely into the chest. The hanyou was thrown backwards towards the water. But he managed to recover, and leaped clear back towards the beaches.

"Use the murder cannons,” said the demon in a harsh voice. The soldiers brought up very small cannons from the deck below, and mounted them on the railing. They proceeded to load the cannons with grapeshot, and prepared to fire on their master's command.

Having seen his brother fall, the demon in white kimono was heading towards their vessel now. The gunners adjusted the aim of their cannons accordingly.

"Fire." said the demon lord. Yanking on a chain, the gunners let loose with their grapeshot. Sesshomaru tried to use his whip, but there were simply too many of the bullets. He got many, but many more got him. With a grunt, the demon fell into the water below. Lord Drake smiled, although none of the people could see him do so, since a dark shroud covered his face.

"Fool." muttered the demon lord. He looked up as a prickly sense raced up his spine, and saw another sacred arrow heading straight for the ship...no...for him! The Shikon miko, having seen both her mate and his brother struck down, had fired another arrow.

Hissing, Drake brought his sword up, and pointed it straight towards the incoming arrow. Again the sword glowed blue, and again a lightning bolt issued from its tip. The arrow was about to reach the ship when the lightning bolt hit it, dissolving it in a flash of blue energy. The lightning didn't stop there, but rather sought out the source of the arrow's power. It blew right through the barrier Miroku had put up, and exploded into the ground Kagome was standing on, sending the miko flying through the air.

With a yell, Kouga caught her before she hit the ground.

"Kagome, are you okay? Kagome?" he asked in a sudden panic. But she didn't answer him, and indeed she was unconscious, although she was still breathing. Inuyasha joined him, the wounded hanyou having retreated from the battle. Kouga handed her over to the half demon, turning and looking out over the water with rage boiling behind his eyes.

"My turn now." he growled, before taking off running down the beach and out over the water. The Harquebusiers and gunners fired at him, but he dodged the bullets and grapeshot using his superior speed. Lord Drake looked at him with contempt in his cold eyes, and raised his sword as Kouga leapt up into the air. But the wolf demon was not aiming for Lord Drake. Rather, his foot came into contact with one of the mortar cannons, and knocked it backwards, aiming the cannon straight up into the air, as one of the demons fired its gunpowder.

"No! The mortar! Close the hold!" yelled Lord Cunningham as he rushed for the wooden door. He managed to close it just as the mortar came down on top of him, exploding in the process. He was killed instantly, but he saved his ship from a far worse fate.

"Damned vermin!" yelled Drake, sheathing his sword. Kouga took the invitation to attack, leaping at the demon lord with his right foot, poised for a might strike. But with a sudden speed that surprised even Kouga, the demon lord grabbed his ankle with one of his hands, stopping the wolf cold. Kouga grimaced as he felt the demon lord's hand. It felt as if it were made of cold iron, and indeed that was the case as Lord Drake was wearing a pair of iron gloves.

Drake smiled as he used his superior strength to crush Kouga's ankle between his iron fingers, the snapping of bone audible to everyone standing on the deck of the ship. The wolf demon let out a howl of pain. Not wasting a moment, Drake swirled around in a circle several times, building up speed as Kouga was dragged around on the ride. Drake then released Kouga's foot, sending the wolf demon flying through the air. He bounced on the waves several times before crashing onto the beach, several hundred meters distant. The men on the deck gasped at their demon lord's strength.

The demon looked around until he found the captain of the vessel. He pointed at him, and the little man stood up straight, not showing any visible signs of fear or intimidation.

"You, you are now the admiral. Send the signal to commence the landings!" said Drake, glancing back out over the beaches. Half of their bombardment ships had been sunk or crippled, and most of the barriers were still in place. Now it was time to try a different track.



"Heave ho heave ho. Heave and ho you worthless piles of bone," drummed the demon sitting on the afterdeck of the galley. He banged the drums beneath him with one of his many arms and watched as the undead skeletons before him continued to pull on their oars. The galley was heading directly past the line of bombardment ships, towards the beach ahead.

"Two thousand demons and undead for a landing party. Against all that." said the captain of the boat, looking through his telescope towards the yonder beach, where lines and ranks of both humans and demons waited for them. He easily estimated the enemy force at ten thousand, at the very least.

"Each demon and undead warrior here could kill one hundred humans or ten demons before dying. We'll sweep the beaches clear of them all, and head inland to destroy their homes and devour their families,” commented the demon lord behind him. The captain gulped before turning back to stare at the lord, who was in charge of the landing force.

"Aye, Lord Vermillion." replied the captain, turning back to his duties.

"Row! Row you undead slugs. Row us to the enemy shores! All men prepare for combat, we'll destroy them all!" bellowed the demon lord at the top of his voice. For added emphasis, he withdrew a large sword and pointed it to the sky, the sword having strange markings that glowed orange in the morning sky. Hearing the sound of their leader, so confident and ready, caused an electric surge to sweep over the skeleton army. They redoubled their tasks, and the landing galley surged forwards even faster towards the beach.

* * *

Pain.

He was in very much pain. His eyes opened to stinging pain, and he wanted to close them again.

But no, he held them open, and after a moment, the pain stopped. Salt, it was the salt in the water. As his vision cleared, he could see things all around him. He could see ships sitting at the bottom of the ocean, the marine life. Sounds being carried through the water drew his attention above.

He could see the massive ships still afloat. The bomb flinging vessels, and other ships, these new ones being rowed directly towards the beaches.

Lifting up an arm, his only arm for that matter, he glanced down at himself, and assessed his wounds. His was bleeding from numerous places, but most of his organs seemed to be intact. The little bullet balls had only slightly penetrated his skin in most areas. Blood stained the water around him, and he could the predators of the deep heading towards him, intending to make him their next snack.

He would not have that. He was a mighty lord of Japan, and wouldn't become snack food for such low ranking fish. He snarled, the sound coming out weirdly in bubbles that rose to the surface. His eyes bled red and his fangs grew.

His entire body began to transform as the docile and red tainted water around him began to glow with pink energy. The sharks, sensing that something was wrong, veered off and went away to find other food. There would be plenty of it in the oceans this day. He sighted one of the rowing ships nearly upon him. Gathering the demon power around him, he jumped, propelling himself upwards, through the water.

The drummer onboard the landing vessel was the first to notice him rising, seeing the waters first act disturbed, boiling in an area. The water shot upwards, as a pinkish mass of energy exploded from the depths of the seas. He cried out as the thing descended directly towards his vessel.

It landed on the foredeck, the pink mass expanding, before the mist evaporated. The drummer's eyes grew round in fear, and he stopped drumming as he stared in shock at the giant hound dog on standing on the deck.

'Enemies.' thought Fluffy, seeing the skeletons and humans on the boat. 'Kill'.

The humans were his first prey, and he skewered and smashed some of them into the deck with his claws and paws. The drummer was next, the top half of him disappearing into his jaws and rows of jagged teeth. The skeletons, with a mighty roar, attacked Fluffy. The dog demon panted, and began to gather saliva in his mouth. It dripped down into the ranks of skeletons, causing them to dissolve with strange sounds coming from them.

After he was done with this vessel, Fluffy leaped high into the air, coming down on the next landing ship in line.

* * *

"Mmmmm" came the soft groan from her lips as Kagome awoke. Her eyes opened, seeing a blurry vision of red and white before her that resolved into the face of her mate, Inuyasha. Her eyes softened upon seeing his eyes laced with worry, and she offered him a reassuring smile. Her gaze traveled down his body, and she gasped softly when she saw the blackened wound on his chest.

"You're injured." she said, and tried to stand up. Her feet came in contact and wobbled when Inuyasha started to set her down, and she leaned against him, with one of his hands snaking around her waist to hold her steady.

"You're one to talk." he replied, some of the worry easing in his voice.

She smiled at him, and shook her head slightly.

"I'm just shaken up, that's all. I didn't expect that...bolt of energy to penetrate Miroku's barrier." said Kagome, looking around to see the scorched crater where she had been standing at earlier. His gaze followed hers, and she could hear the gulp making its way down his throat.

"Sesshomaru hasn't reappeared from the water yet. Kouga is down with a crushed ankle." Inuyasha scanned the water with his eyes, a tingling sensation running up his spine. He was looking at one of the landing ships when a pink light shot up from the water. It landed on the ship, and then they saw the true form of Sesshomaru making a mess of the ship, before moving on to the next one.

Kagome ran to Kouga's side, looking down at his crushed ankle. The demon lord was swearing softly as his mate, Ayami tended to him. His grunting stopped when he saw her standing above him.

"Kagome, are you okay?" asked Kouga, his eyes betraying relief when he saw that was standing okay on her own.

"Yes, I'm all right. You look pretty bad though." she replied.

"I'll be okay. This is nothing,” grunted the wolf in response.

"We have to prepare for the assault." inter cut the voice of Inuyasha, drawing his sword. Kagome nodded, and prepare her bow and arrows for more combat. Two wolves carried Kouga away as Ayami prepared for battle as well. The other demon lords prepared themselves for combat too, as did the ranks of demons and humans below.

The ships were now within one hundred meters of the beach. The human captains yelled out for the archers to form up into ranks. The humans prepared their bows and arrows, some of them having flaming tips. The human captains raised their hands, and the archers prepared to fire, raising their bows up towards the clouds.

"Fire!" came the voice of the captains, and the archers let loose their arrows, the sky filling with projectiles. They arched through the air, before coming down into the landing vessels. Some of the ships sprouted flames, but what startled the troops on the beaches were the lack of cry of pain onboard the enemy vessels. Surely they had killed at least several tens of troops onboard each vessel.

A second salvo of arrows was loosed, but again no cries of pain or suffering came. A third and fourth salvo followed, but nothing. Some of the ships were on fire, but these fires were quickly extinguished, so there had to be something onboard the ships. Some of the humans and even a few demons faltered as they wondered what was onboard the landing ships.

They were about to find out.

"Men, prepare for combat. Pike men, lower your weapons and let the enemy spear themselves. Swordsmen, prepare for combat behind the pike men,” yelled Lord Takeda, one of the clan leaders who had dedicated men to combat. He was leading the soldiers that formed ranks in front of the wolves. Their banners fluttered in the breeze, white flags with black-boxed emblems forming a rough diamond in the middle.

With a groan of stressed wood, the first few galilees reached the soft sandy shores and beached themselves upon it. Wooden ramps lowered, and with a mighty guttural roar hundreds of troops, skeletons dressed in battle armor, wielding swords, and other abominations of demons came pouring out, throwing themselves against the human's pikes and spears with wild abandon.

The human troops panicked and some began to flee, while others just stood there, looking in confusion, before being cut down or torn apart by the enemy troops. The skeletons without mercy cutting down the humans, while the demons sank their teeth into their necks, tearing them apart and devouring them before continuing on.

"Fight! Fight! Don't abandon your ranks, stand and fight like men!" yelled Lord Takeda, appalled at the enemy troops but determined to stand his ground. One skeleton warrior raced at him, but the lord beheaded him with his sword. The skeleton dropped to the ground, and stopped moving.

"Chop their heads off! That's the weakness, off with their heads!" Takeda again yelled, felling another skeleton from his horse.

But his men didn't heed him, and both the pike men and archers broke ranks, many of them fleeing towards the woods in terror. For the most part the swordsmen stood their ground; the warrior monks especially heeding his words and making the enemy pay for their assault. But they were being whittled down in a hurry, and Takeda wished that the demons would hurry up and reinforce his troops.

Ask and ye shall receive.

No sooner had he thought this when several wolves rushed past him, attacking the enemy demon troops and skeletons with their claws and fangs. Other wolves rushed to the front lines and joined the fray, and for a moment the enemy seemed to balk.

That's when a second landing ship joined the one they were fighting, and another horde of enemies descended, more skeletons and foul looking demons. There was one among them who appeared different; this one was taller and dressed in black robes. He had a sword sheathed at his side that was huge and seemed to glow with a strange orange energy.

The demon's eyes scanned the battlefield, until they came in contact with his own. Takeda grimaced, a chill running down his spine. Those eyes held nothing but coldness and death within them, and Takeda knew that he was looking at a deadly enemy. The thing raised its sword at him, the blade having strange markings etched into it. The sword began to glow orange.

Then, a bolt of flames shot out of the sword, and headed directly towards him. He put his arms up, as if to ward off the blow, when movements off to his side caught his attention. Someone wrapped their furry arms around him, and yanked him off of his horse. The flames engulfed his steed, the animal letting out a terrible wail before dropping to the beach sands, dead as flames continued to cook it's flesh.

"Thanks, I owe you one,” said Takeda as he looked up to his savior. His breath caught in his throat as he saw a beautiful female wolf demon standing there, her eyes a brilliant green with flowers in her hair.

"Your welcome." said Ayami, who then turned to face the strange enemy demon. He had sheathed his sword, and pushed his way through the battle zone, heading directly towards them.

"Stand back. I'll deal with him,” said the female wolf, a growl escaping her lips as her eyes narrowed. Takeda nodded, and backed away, his sword held at a guard position, ready to cut down any skeletons or demons that tried to get at the wolf demon girl from behind.

With a yell, Ayami made her move, unleashing a whirlwind of razor sharp leaves and flower petals upon the enemy demon lord. She smiled as he was engulfed, disappearing from sight. When the whirlwind faded, he was no longer there.

"Guess I showed him." said Ayami, turning back to face Takeda. The human looked at her in surprise, then his eyes grew wide as they focused on something behind her. He pointed, and she turned around in a quick action, bringing her arms up. But it was too late.

He had grabbed around the back of her neck with one iron gloved hand, squeezing her spine painfully, causing her body to go numb. She gasped in pain, and Takeda started her way to help, but was cut off by several skeleton warriors who proceeded to attack him.

He lifted her into the air, and Ayami could feel his hot breath on her neck. She mewled in pain and fright, almost begging for him to let her go. Instead her eyes narrowed as she tried to concentrate enough to speak.

"Who are you?" she managed to gasp out enough in between the spasms of pain radiating from her neck. Her air supply was cutoff as he continued to squeeze her neck even tighter.

"Scum. I'm Lord Vermillion, and I send you now to the depths of hell." he said, his cold voice in sharp contrast to his warm breath. Ayami gasped when a piercing pain struck her from behind, sliding through her body and exiting her chest. She looked down to see the tip of his sword, sheathed in her blood, sitting there. It started to glow orange, and a strange heat began to boil her insides.

When he let go of her neck, her senses returned to her, and a large amount of ungodly pain came to her at once, causing her to throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs, her agonized yell audible to everyone on the beach, including Kouga, who perked his ears up as his mating mark began to glow.

Her cry ceased as her lungs and heart began to boil and dissolve, steam escaping from the entry and exit wounds in her chest and back. The sword stopped glowing orange, and the demon withdrew it from her body. Ayami collapsed to the ground, barely alive still as her steaming blood leaked out into the sand below.

"Kouga..." she managed one last whisper, before she laid still, her eyes still open.

Kouga's mating mark glowed white hot, causing the wolf to howl out in agony as he was carried away from the battle. He put a hand to his neck, and discovered with shock that the mating mark had disappeared.

"Ayami..." he whispered, before howling again, a heart wrenching bellow of agony that swept through the forest, and up into the mid-morning air.