Curiosity – Chapter 33 – "The Dark of Night"

Never in all her years did she think that she would be standing in the middle of her husband's family shrine watching two demons tear each other apart.

Believe it or not, that was exactly what she was doing now.

It absolutely amazed her how well Inuyasha was fighting the other demon, whom she had assumed to be Sesshomaru. The hanyou she thought of as a son fought like he had been trained professionally; though she knew from his background that he hadn't. That didn't by any means change the fact that he was distracted during the altercation with his brother.

She could tell from the many glances Inuyasha was stealing at the people around him that he was truly worried about the friends surrounding him getting hurt. In many ways, his mannerisms mimic Kagome.

He was often as much of a selfless person as Kagome was.

A fearful scream brought Arisu out of her musings and caused her to pay better attention to the battle before her; and what she saw made her heart sink.

She'd heard of Sesshomaru doing this once before, but when Kagome had told her about it she'd thought her daughter had blown the past altercation way out of proportion. Oh how wrong she was.

There before her stood the two brothers; one - completely still, head bowed, and an unnatural wind blowing his hair around; the other had his only hand sticking directly through the youngers gut, blood mixed with poison dripping to the ground. No one made a sound as they stared on in disbelief; that is, except the Lady Izayoi, who was trying effortlessly to escape the grasp of her husband in attempts to help her only son.

Arisu herself wanted to run over to the boy and pry his brother off of him but she knew it would do no good.

A thought popped into her head then. From the tales Kagome had told her about the two, she knew at the end that wounds would need to be bound and taken care of.

The least she could do was have everything prepared for them.

Before she could even ask Kaede to take down the barrier though a thunderous and murder filled growl tore throughout the air.

And it came from none other than Inuyasha.

"How dare he…

How dare the alpha of the silver inu pack try to kill me!

Does he truly think this hanyou so weak in body? Ha! With me being part of him, we will be unstoppable.

The idiot thinks I'm just a dumb, uncontrollable, bloodlust craved halfwit that doesn't know what the hell is going on around me? Well, I'll show him… yes…

And I'll start with taking revenge for my mate."

It was then that the animal overtook the man and lashed out – ready to take on this fool for his position in the pack.

A howl ripped through his throat as he launched his first attack upon the startled ice lord.

Boy was this going to be fun.

This was bad, this was very bad. Not only was Sesshomaru in her era but now Inuyasha was going full demon in front of her family. This wasn't good at all. She would be thoroughly surprised if her mother still allowed her to travel in the Feudal Era after all of this.

He had to be stopped; stopped before he did something rash that he would regret once he gained back his mind. If only Touga would let go of her arm so she could make it over to Tessaiga it would be even better.

"See? This is what I meant when I said I had to get to his sword! If I don't get it back to him soon it will become harder for him to transform back to normal." Kagome hit him upon the arm in an effort to be let go.

Touga's attentions were turned from his hysteric mate to the miko held in his other arm.

"What happened to him? What has caused him to become this beast in the first place?"

Kagome noticed his grip was loosening upon her. "The Tessaiga is the only thing that keeps his demon blood suppressed but now isn't the time for details!"

With one more hard tug, Kagome was finally released from Touga's hold and she began to make her way to the legendary sword that belonged to her best friend. She could hear her friends once again yelling after her to come back, to not take such a risk and to let the brothers fight; but she knew better than that.

This was the only way to stop them and it was imperative that they do so; Inuyasha needed urgent medical attention for his wound.

It was so difficult to avoid the two brothers; you never knew where they were going to jump to or be thrown into next. Kagome did notice though how neither seemed to notice her; both were so zeroed in on each other that they didn't feel the need to watch her, but boy did she have to watch them.

Finally, after many minutes of quick dodges and lots of tumbles, Kagome finally made it to the sword in one piece. So out of breath as she was, she thought it would be alright to take a quick break before the trek began to reunite sword with master.

How wrong she was…

Who was that girl running across the grounds? Surely him lame-brained half-brother didn't go after another mortal woman; but knowing on him that was probably the case. It was those women, especially miko; he kept around him that made him so weak; even now he was distracted. The humans surrounding him were what was going to one day be his demise -

"And this Sesshomaru would be there to throw it right back in his face."

First of all though he needed to get this mongrel to truly lose his head; Sesshomaru could tell that there was still some of Inuyasha's true conscious self in control of his demon controlled body. He would remedy that little situation soon enough – and he had the perfect way to do it.

He now knew who the girl was with the odd colored hair that had just moments ago dotted across the shrine grounds thanks to a miniscule wisp of wind.

Upping his game, Sesshomaru's quick burst of speed (along with a bit of extra help from his handy dandy Dragon Strike) allowed him to send Inuyasha flying through the air and into one of the storage buildings, allowing him to sneak up on the unsuspecting miko whom he'd scented on the winds.

She felt the wind move the clothing upon her back and knew something was up. Wind didn't just randomly appear out of thin air only to stop a few seconds later. The miko powers within her could sense something behind her – but there wasn't any way she was going to turn around and see what it was. After all, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were still fighting right?

A breath was exhaled right next to her ear as an extremely familiar clawed hand wrapped around her throat.

"Hn, a defenseless human wench has no place on a demon battle ground."

"And you should learn not to turn your back on your opponent asshole!"

Kagome was released from Sesshomaru's claws only to be held to Inuyasha's chest after he'd flung his brother hard into the stone pathway. She knew this would be the perfect time to give him the Tessaiga, but he had other plans.

"Are you alright mate; that bastard didn't hurt you did he?"

Mate? Where was that coming from? But that little detail wasn't the important now, it was getting him to accept his sword that was more pressing.

"Please Inuyasha you must take it!"

He cupped her cheek gently in his deadly clawed hands. "No mate, I will fight with honor by killing this whelp with my claws not by sword. You will keep it for your own protection."

Reasoning with him did no good as he covered her with his fire-rat and set back off towards his brother to detour another attack against her. She could tell he was getting weaker though; blood was still dripping through the hole in his gut and he seemed a bit paler. It was only a matter of time -

A time that came far too quick for her liking.

A scream tore through her throat as she witnessed Sesshomaru drive his hand through Inuyasha's ribcage, directly above the first hole making it twice as large. She watched as he removed his fist and Inuyasha fell to the ground.

He needed medical attention and he needed it NOW.

Without even thinking Kagome ran and threw herself atop Inuyasha and flung Tessaiga into his hands just as Sesshomaru was about to deliver the final blow; there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.
"If you want to kill him you'll have to get through me first." She sent him a glare that dared him to defy her.

"Us as well."

Suddenly Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara stood between the fallen hanyou and his half-brother. There was no way they would allow the fight to continue in Inuyasha's current condition and apparently their father felt the same way.

"Sesshomaru, you will stand down at once!" Now Touga stood between the mismatched group and his eldest son.

"Hn you know as well as I that you have no power over me Father. I am alpha of the inu clan therefore I am higher up in the pack than you are."

"You're wasting your breathe old man."

All turned to see Inuyasha, in his hanyou form, start to rise from the ground while he leaned heavily on Kagome until he got his footing.

"Ya might as well move so I can finish the bastard, he ain't ever gonna listen to you anyway."

"You will do well to keep your filthy mutt, half-breed mouth shut while you are in Father's presence."

Touga turned on his eldest son. "Do not disrespect your brother like that. I'll have you well know that you aren't too big to still receive a spanking from me. And furthermore…"

"Inuyasha!"

All turned to Kagome's frantic call as they witnessed Inuyasha start to fall back to the ground – all the while coughing up some sort of red substance. Upon closer inspection it was found to be blood – and lots of it.

Scrapes, scratches, and gashes all began to open up on every part of Inuyasha's body. While everyone was gathered around him trying to stop the bleeding it was only Kagome who noticed the change happening upon the hanyou's head that was leaning against her chest.

Ever so slowly, the silver strands that made up his hair began to darken and ears started to shrink. There was something at the edge of her mind bugging her to look up into the waning light of the sky.

It was then that she realized with terrible dread -

That it was the night of the new moon.