Chapter 13: The Demon Puppeteer

"I AM ROYAKAN! PREPARE TO MEET YOUR END HALF DEMON!"

Inuyasha dashed forward, his claws ready to slice. "That's funny I was about to say the same to you! Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"

The four golden arcs sliced through the air like flying blades. With Royakan's massive bulk and oversized torso, a hit was guaranteed. But the enraged monster halted its charged and slammed its massive hands into the ground, sending a wave of dirt, rock, and dust into the attack's path. The debris blasted its way into Inuyasha's eyes, obstructing his vision for the briefest of seconds. The half-demon launched over the dust cloud. But he quickly realized his mistake.

"FOOLISH HALF-DEMON!" the mad guardian exclaimed from above.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth and barely had time to form a feeble defense before Royakan's claws dug into his flesh. The sudden weight of the monster killed what was left of Inuyasha's leap and brought the half-demon back to the hard earth below, smacking his head into rocks in the process.

The red-clad demon growled, already feeling the blood ooze down the side of his face, and the sore bump that would follow. Royakan stood over him, his right claw holding the half-demon in place, while his left poised over his neck, ready for the finishing cut.

"Let's see you try and use those feeble dog claws now, half-demon!"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Fine, but you asked for it! Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" At close range, dodging was impossible. The four golden arcs tore through the creature's armor, cutting upwards diagonally until reaching the creature's neck. Royakan jumped back before the technique could finish its path. At the loss of the weight, Inuyasha sprang to his feet and launched towards the stumbling Royakan. A desperate swipe was only attack Royakan could manage. In mid-air, Inuyasha tumbled forward, avoiding the blow and landing squarely on the monster's forearm. With the added boost, the half-demon pushed off against the limb and the met the creature with a front kick to his chin. Inuyasha swung his body to the side, the force giving him the power to knock the creature off its feet with a powerful roundhouse kick.

The trees around them quaked as Royakan met earth. Inuyasha smirked. Despite the new wound in his torso and bump on his head, it always felt good to knock down an arrogant demon like this one. He walked over to the defeated guardian, surveying the damage he had inflicted. The four slash marks from his claws had made short work of Royakan's armor, easily reaching the flesh to create a deep blow. Fresh blood oozed out from its wound while the wolf's now vacant eyes stared at nothing.

Inuyasha nudged the demon with his foot for good measure. When no reaction arose from his opponent, he nodded to himself and turned towards the pathway.

"Back to babysitting," he muttered to himself. The half-demon was ready to spring away when something caught his ears.

A groan was behind him was his only warning.

Inuyasha whirled around in time to see Royakan's claws lurch in his direction. The half-demon sprang back and saw his formerly dead opponent rise to his feet. The blood from its wound receded back into its body while the wound closed completely. The claw marks within the armor quickly stitched itself back to its previous form. Royakan's previously vacant eyes now focused squarely on the lone red-clad half demon before him.

"What the hell?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.

"ROYAKAN IS IMMORTAL!" The demon declared to the heavens.

Inuyasha slid back from his opponet. He had never seen any demon heal that quickly. Demons of course healed much faster than humans. But he'd never seen one heal only a few seconds afterwards. Was it some kind of illusion? Or some type of spell Royakan knew? Inuyasha struck down the latter thought. A beast like Royakan was all brute strength. Magic never came naturally to those types. But that sill did not explain what he had just witnessed. The half-demon scoffed as he noticed Royakan prepare for the next round.

"Keh, all that means to me is that I get to cut you up in more ways than one!"

Royakan growled before taking a deep breath. A substantial circular bulge enveloped his throat. The pressure shifted upwards, filling his cheeks with whatever technique the creature was ready to unleash.

"Prepare…yourself…half demon….!"Royakan exclaimed, despite his full mouth. "To…be devoured…by the Hounds of the Underworld!"

Wolves erupted from the mouth of Royakan like waves. The vermin quickly swarmed around Inuyasha, their fangs on full display and their three lime green eyes taking in every inch of Inuyasha.

"Not a bad trick," Inuyasha said. "Let me show you another one of mine, Blades of Blood!"

The crimson blades easily cut through the impromptu wolf pack, creating a brief pathway towards their leader. Inuyasha dashed through the path, slashing at any remaining wolves as he went. The half-demon drew back his claws, preparing for another slash, but Royakan seemed a step ahead of him. The wolf-guardian leaped to the side, avoiding Inuyasha's attack and exposing his backside. Royakan wasted no time in exploiting the opening. More demon wolves exploded from his mouth. Inuyasha slammed his heels into the ground in an attempt to slow himself down, but the wolves closed the distance faster. The red clad half demon was quickly overtaken by the wolves. A seemingly endless crowd of creatures bit and slashed at his robes drawing blood.

Inuyasha growled at his current plight. The wolves seemed to be coming from every direction, gnawing at whatever part of his body they could find. He slashed to his right, creating a small hole in the wall of wolves. But the small opening was quickly closed by another ten wolves replacing the vanquished.

"No way am I going let myself be mauled to death by you bastards!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he kicked out both legs from the fray. He could already hear Royakan create more wolves to replace the newly vanquished. With that in mind, the half-demon gathered as much power as he could in his legs and launched himself into the air, the sudden uptake of wind knocking off any remaining wolves.

The half-demon settled on a high branch, overlooking the scene below. The wolves already swarmed the tree, scratching at the bark in a vain attempt to intimidate him. Inuyasha's ears pressed down into his hair as he growled back at the four-legged creatures. Damn vermin, he thought. At the wolves' flank Royakan paced, his eyes not leaving the tree. Inuyasha cracked his claws. Taking out the wolves was a waste of time. Royakan would just make more. The bastard would probably just keep hurling wolves until he was too tired to fight back, then Royakan would cut him down in an instant.

The halfling could only scoff, like hell that was going to happen. All he had to do was slash Royakan until whatever was healing him just gave out from the frequent cuts. Or slash open the bastard's throat. Inuyasha grinned; yeah he liked the second option much better.

The half-demon sprang from his tree branch, soaring over the pack of wolves with ease. Royakan's mouth immediately swelled up, ready to unleash more hounds. But gravity was on Inuyasha's side. He shot through the air like a tinted red arrow, his surroundings a blur save for the massive target that was Royakan. Inuyasha's claws met Royakan fur-covered flesh and slashed across the creature's wide neck.

A fountain's worth of blood burst from the new wound, soiling Inuyasha with more red than usual. The white-haired demon kicked the dying creature away from him to prevent more its blood from reaching him. Royakan convulsed on the forest floor. His throat filled with his own blood. A coughing fit struck the former guardian as the blood entered its windpipe. With each labored and desperate cough for air, more blood burst from his mouth, trailing down the corners of his mouth and joining the growing river on the forest floor.

After only a few seconds, Royakan became still. His wolves vanished in a blue puff of smoke.

Inuyasha could only scrunch his face in disgust. "Damn it, now I gotta wash this stupid wolf smell off me."

"YOU SPEAK AS IF YOU HAVE WON HALF-DEMON!" Royakan growled. The wolf guardian rose back to his feet. The three deep slash wounds in his throat had already closed. The only indicator that Royakan had been wounded at all was the blood that still remained on the forest floor.

Inuyasha took a step back and gritted his teeth. "Damn it! What does it take to kill you!?" There had to be some kind of trick to his rapid healing. That Yura-bitch could heal from all the wounds he had inflicted on her but only because she had that weird comb thing. Without it she had withered to nothing. Royakan had to have something similar nearby. In his cave maybe? Was that why he had made this area his territory? There was only way to find out.

"I am about to win, you furry bastard! Blades of Blood!" The numerous crimson blades easily found their mark, Royakan's eyes. The beast's hands immediately flew up to its eyes, stumbling about in pain.

Seeing his chance, Inuyasha dashed towards the temporarily blind creature and took a sizable leap over the guardian. But Royakan, despite his blindness seemed to be one step ahead of him again. His giant hand latched onto the half-demon's ankle, halting the leap instantly. Royakan swung him like a club, bashing him against a nearby tree before slamming him back down to earth.

Inuyasha rolled back, putting some distance between them. Stars danced at the edges of his vision and as he stood he felt unsteady. The half-demon merely growled and mentally willed the pain away, for now. He had a fight to finish damn it!

"Is that all ya got, ya over-sized throw rug!"

"NAY, HALF-DEMON! I HAVE SPECIAL TECHNIQUE FOR THE LIKES OF YOU!"

Inuyasha puffed his chest. "Well, bring it on! I ain't got all day!"

Royakan replied with an ardent roar that seemed to make the forest quiver with fear. The over-sized wolf's body tensed as his exposed fur began to stand on end. His chest armor quickly gave way to the fur. Before long, Royakan was a walking mass of spike-like fur. Inuyasha cracked his claws ready for anything, but still could not help but roll his eyes at the creature's "special technique".

"Keh, what are you going to do with a move like that?" he chided. "Poke me to death?"

Royakan responded by curling himself into a ball, fully exposing the new fur-spikes on his back. Inuyasha took a step back, slowly piecing together exactly what Royakan's "special technique" was.

"DIE HALF-DEMON!"

The new boulder-like form of Royakan began to spin at a speed Inuyasha could barely keep up with. The demon's new form barreled towards Inuyasha, ripping apart the ground with ease as he went. Inuyasha dug his feet into the ground, unwilling to let the monster force him to yield.

"Blades of Blood!" The blades struck the rolling Royakan but did nothing to deter the impending collision. Inuyasha barely had time to register his surprise before the creature was only inches away from him. Shelving his pride for now, Inuyasha shot into the air. As he hovered, he saw Royakan's new form annihilate every tree, rock, branch, and creature in its rolling path as if they were all rice paper. A long and thick trail of debris and destruction followed the new form.

Inuyasha landed on a branch and watched as the boulder form of Royakan continued its path of destruction. The lack of adjustment and direction in the monster's rolling made the half demon figure that Royakan could only go in a straight line in that form. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the demon's own stupidity and lay back against the tree trunk. It was only a matter of time before Royakan went over a cliff or ran into an even bigger demon that would make short work of him, his faster healing rate be damned. Pursuing the fight further would be pointless.

All things considered it hadn't been that bad of a fight. Inuyasha only wished it hadn't ended so abruptly. Inuyasha shrugged at the thought. At least that damn voice in his head had been silent the entire time. Now with that out of his system all he needed was a river to wash off the disgusting wolf scent from his body.

He smelled the air and easily caught the scent of a river nearby. But there was another scent in the air, Kagome's along with Kaede's. What the hell were they doing? Weren't they eating dumplings? Maybe they were just out for a walk? That thought quickly fell by the wayside when the scent of Royakan struck Inuyasha's nose.

Realization jolted through Inuyasha's body making him leap off the branch and soar towards the girls.

Royakan was heading straight for them.

Despite the urgency, Inuyasha couldn't help but smirk. Looks like their fight wasn't over just yet.

OOOOOO

"Man this thing is tough to pull!" Kagome exclaimed as she tugged on the bowstring of Kikyo's bow. It took most of her strength just to make the stupid thing budge. She could feel the strain run up and down her arm and tendons. The skin on her fingers quickly became irritated and Kagome could tell that soon the skin would break. The school girl slung the bow back on her shoulder to give her arm a break. "How does Kikyo manage to do this all the time?"

"Sister Kikyo always insisted on bows with heavier resistance in the draw string," Kaede said with the quiver on her back.

Kagome massaged her wrist, wishing her mom had packed some ointment as well. "Why?"

"The arrow's impact is usually greater that way," Kaede explained. "Most demons are able to resist and even ignore most arrows loosed from normal bows. So Sister Kikyo learned to create her own specialized bows and arrows in order to properly combat demons."

Kagome took the bow in her hands again and looked over the weapon. It didn't seem all that different from bows she had seen before. Then again she was the furthest thing from a master archer. "What kind of Shinto shrine teaches its students how to craft their own weapons?"

Kaede shook her head. "Sister Kikyo didn't learn that from the shrine. Our Uncle Arima taught her everything she knows about archery."

"Uncle Arima? Who's that?"

Kaede froze. Her hands flew to her mouth as if she had just blurted out a series of curse words. The little girl quickly looked down and shuffled past Kagome. "It's nothing, never mind, forget I said anything."

Kagome was taken aback by the child's sudden shift in behavior. But soon realized soon that Kaede was already well ahead of her. "Kaede, wait up!"

"If we don't hurry, we won't reach Royakan," Kaede insisted.

"That's true but we might get separated," Kagome said, jogging to catch up with the suddenly swift child. "Besides, we don't know what else lives in this forest."

That was when Kagome heard it. It was music, a strange kind of music. A flat and slow tune seemed to drift its way into the forest. The sound seemed to alert the birds and rodents to scurry away for safety. Kagome tensed. She glanced around her for the source of this noise but all she saw was foliage. With each passing second the music grew louder and faster. Kagome gulped. Whatever was coming wasn't going to be good. She took hold of the bow and reached for an arrow only to grab air.

"Crap…" she muttered, remembering where the quiver was. "Kaede! Get back here!"

Kagome wasn't sure whether or not Kaede heard her when the small child stopped in her tracks. Kaede looked left then right as if she was trying to cross an imaginary road. As Kagome jogged to reach her, she heard Kaede let out a gasp. The child turned on her heals and sprinted towards Kagome.

"Lady Kagome we have to leave this area at once!"

"Why? What's going on?"

Kagome received her answer when a massive ball of fur and armor bulldozed its way through the trees and straight towards them, ready to do the same.

Kagome grabbed Kaede's wrist and bolted down the already narrow forest path. The sandals she wore slapped against her feet and seemed ready to slip off at any moment. And the long hakama pants trailed on the ground behind her like dress. Kagome stumbled when her feet got caught on the cloth.

"Darn it!" she exclaimed, recovering quickly. "How do you run in this thing?!"

Kagome looked over her shoulder and saw the thunderous ball was very quickly gaining on them. It tore through the ground giving Kagome a preview of their fates if she didn't act fast. With a speed she didn't know that she had, Kagome scooped up Kaede and dove to into the side bush off the main path.

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut as she skidded across the ground, pebbles, branches, and friction all gnawing at her body. Kagome's grip on Kaede never wavered as her body took the full brunt of their dive. When they finally came to a stop, Kagome laid still. The world seemed to be a series of spirals and pain. Her stomach churned and pumped, ready to dispel its contents at any moment.

She felt Kaede shake her, crying for her to get up. Kagome attempted to do so, but her stomach said otherwise.

"Wh-what happened….?" Kagome managed.

"When you dove us out of the way of the demon, we ended up tumbling down the hill behind me," Kaede explained.

Despite her dizziness and nausea, Kagome peered over Kaede's shoulder. Just as the little girl had said, a pretty steep and sizable hill was behind her. Skid marks from their fall were leftover along with most of the contents of her bag and the quiver Kaede had.

"Did we lose that….thing at least?"

"Yes you did," a coy voice said from above them. "But unfortunately, priestess you will now need to deal with me."

The pulse of a demonic aura ran through Kagome's tattered body. The schoolgirl sat up despite a strong refusal from her stomach and glanced around them. No demon was within their sights. She was about ask where the voice came from, but Kaede tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to look above them.

Hanging upside down was a female with long white hair and strange mauve eyes. Her body was slender in a way that most super-models starved themselves for. Black leather wings draped around her like an odd organic coat and her long talons dug into the tree branch. A wooden flute was close to her lips, making Kagome wonder how this strange girl could play upside down.

"What kind of demon is that?"

"A demon bat," Kaede answered, slowly stepping back. "They're usually found in the mountains to the far north."

"What's one doing down here then?"

"I must congratulate you priestess," the female bat said. "No one has ever found my hiding place so easily and quickly. Your helpless act, along with your false argument with your half-demon companion had me deceived for quite some time."

Kagome glanced at Kaede hoping the young girl could somehow translate what the demon meant, but the girl shook her head. She had no answer for the befuddled schoolgirl. Kagome gulped and slowly got to her feet. "Um…I'm not really sure what you're talking about Miss…."

"I am called Jun, but my name is of little consequence to you priestess," the bat demon said.

"OK, look Jun, I don't know what you think you know but we just came here by accident," Kagome insisted. "And we were just about to leave, so if you'll excuse us…."

"You can drop the act priestess!" Jun snapped. "I know you sent that half-demon into my territory in order to do battle with my pet Royakan and then while my protector is away, you used that as an opportunity to track me down to my true hiding place!"

"I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I think there's been a slight misunderstanding here."

"There is no misunderstanding, priestess."

With that Jun brought the flute to hear lips and began to play a slow high pitched tune that forced Kagome to cover her ears. With each passing second the music became louder and faster in its beat. Kagome dropped to her knees as the sound became like a needle being gouged deeper into her ear drum. Kaede seemed to be feeling the same. The little girl cried out as the noise persisted but she seemed dead-set on reaching the hill where they had tumbled.

"What's she trying to do?" Kagome yelled over the torturous composition. "Make us go deaf!?"

"My music is beautiful to demons, priestess," Jun said, giving the schoolgirl a brief reprieve from the white noise. "When they hear it, they are compelled by its graceful melody and enduring beats. But to your pure ears I'm sure it's merely noise."

"Noise…is…putting it lightly…." Kagome shot back, despite the new ringing in her ears.

"Lady Kagome!" she just barely heard. "Catch!"

The bow landed at her feet with three arrows following afterwards. Kagome scrambled to pick up the weapon and notch the arrow. Her face scrunched together in effort trying to pull back on the drawstring. Kagome could feel the muscles in her arm nearly tear at the exertion. The bow refused to stay straight. The constant shifting made aiming nearly impossible. Kagome shut one eye like she had seen in the movies and loosed the arrow when her arm couldn't take much more.

The swift wind of the flying projectile whizzed past her ear. The arrow soared down its path directly into a tree thirty feet to the right of her opponent.

Kagome could only stare blankly at the missed shot, her mouth agape.

"Kaede…." She said finally.

"Yes?"

"I think we're in trouble here…"

Jun stared at the off-the-mark arrow and slowly turned back to Kagome. A giggle passed through her lips as the demon raised her flute once more. "I believe I may have overestimated you priestess. But still, better safe than sorry."

The screeching music made its encore, making Kagome drop the bow as she covered her ears. But this time the music was accompanied by a thunderous rumbling that seemed to be making its way towards them. In only a few seconds the brush nearest Jun gave way to the massive boulder-like object from earlier.

The object ceased its rolling and unfolding itself to reveal an over-sized wolf demon in full armor.

"Royakan!" Kaede identified. "Jun must be controlling him with her music! That's why he went mad!"

Kagome stepped back, the sound of her pounding heart overtaking the demon's flute. "I think how she's doing it is the least of our problems right now…"

"Royakan," Jun said to the mad guardian. "Be a dear and kill these two intruders for me."

"What's wrong, too weak and lazy to do your own dirty work?" A crass voice scoffed from above them. A voice that Kagome recognized instantly.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed.

The red-clad demon hopped off his branch and landed by her side, a smirk present on his face. "What do we have here? An over-sized wolf and a rat with wings pulling his strings. I guess today is my lucky day. I get to slaughter my two least favorite species of demon in one fight."

"No half-demon," Jun said. "Today is my, lucky day."

With that the music continued but it wasn't the screeching sound that had come before. This one was much smoother and softer with a quicker tempo. Kagome looked over to Kaede who did not seem affected by the music either. The little girl shrugged at her and Kagome returned it. Whatever Jun was doing didn't seem to be aimed at them.

But her ease was quickly replaced by terror with Jun's next statement.

"Half-demon, finish off those priestesses!"

Inuyasha whirled around, his eyes crimson and his expression feral.

Kagome froze.

Inuyasha attacked.