Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. You wouldn't get much out of me anyway XD

Tokage-youkai = Lizard Youkai

The first two sentences of this fic were prompts from a challenge about two years ago (I think). So they're not my words. Unfortunately I don't remember where the challenge was posted or who wrote the two sentence prompt. If anyone knows, could you tell me? :)

Purity: Chapter One

Sesshoumaru strode quickly down the path, his silver hair flaring out behind him. Smoke billowed in the distance causing a small knot of fear to ride hard in his gut.

If it was coming from where he thought, he could only hope he made it in time.

Springing deftly forward, white fur billowing behind, the Taiyoukai of the West made his way swiftly towards the village. Within moments he landed atop a small hut on the outskirts of the town, golden eyes narrowed as he searched the area for his ward.

A week ago he had left Rin here in order to return to his palace in the west to deal with some of the more urgent matters that had lately arisen. He had believed she would be safer here with the humans, than at the palace, where she would be surrounded by disapproving youkai, many of whom would not hesitate to kill her given the slightest opportunity. Evidently he had been incorrect.

Icy panic gripped his heart when he could not see her. He was unaccustomed to this… need to assure another's safety, even after having had Rin with him for two years. She had never truly been in great danger, nor had she even played much of a role in his life, despite being with him constantly. Suddenly he realized with aching clarity that his life without Rin would be… empty? Perhaps not quite the word he was looking for, but something would definitely be missing were she to die.

A scream in the distance drew the Taiyoukai's attention.

Inuyasha huffed moodily as he leaned against the hut wall, his narrowed eyes tracking Kagome's every move, one bare foot tapping the ground impatiently. Kagome had insisted on stopping at the first village they passed today to pick up some supplies, much to Inuyasha's very loud and endlessly vocalized disgust.

"Kagome, come on! How long can it take to grab a couple of water skins?" Inuyasha whined, glaring fruitlessly at her.

Kagome shrugged serenely and continued browsing through the market stalls, humming contentedly as she picked up a tiny carved dog. Heh, that's what Inuyasha would look like if he could transform. She thought, gently tracing the artful carving.

She reluctantly put the tiny dog back down, mindful of their very limited financial resources. With all their time taken up running around after Naraku and his puppets, not to mention hunting for jewel shards, Miroku hadn't had a chance to 'cleanse' any nobles' homes of demon spirits for several weeks, thus the depressing state of their monetary situation.

Kagome was distracted from her musings by a gentle tug on the hem of her shirt.

"Hi Kagome!"

The little girl grinned a no longer gap-toothed grin up at Kagome, holding a bunch of small pink and white wild-flowers in one hand.

Kagome knelt with a surprised smile, "Hey Rin, what are you doing here?"

The little girl bobbed up and down on her feet, ponytail swinging haphazardly. "I'm visiting Miss Yukiji! These flowers are for her."

"Oh, okay," Kagome nodded, wondering who Miss Yukiji was.

"She's my caretaker," Rin continued.

"Oi! What's with the freakin' reunion?" Inuyasha growled as he came marching towards them.

Kagome turned and gave the hanyou a sharp look, "Inuyasha, don't be rude."

Sensing an impending 'sit' Inuyasha backed off a little and flattened his ears in irritation. "Don't know why you're bothering to talk to Sesshoumaru's little worshipper," He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his haori in typical defensive Inuyasha style.

Kagome glowered at him for another minute before turning back to Rin. "So, where is Sesshoumaru, Rin? Shouldn't you be with him," She asked, concern colouring her voice.

"Lord Sesshoumaru said for me to stay here while he went away. He didn't leave me alone, though," the little girl had picked up on Kagome's worry and was quick to defend her lord. "I'm staying with Miss Yukiji - and Jaken, of course."

As though the mention of his name summoned him from thin air, Jaken came toddling out from behind one of the market stalls, twitching with rage. "Sesshoumaru-sama told you not to run off!" Jaken screeched in his irritating little voice.

"Oh, Rin didn't mean to run off, Jaken. Rin just wanted to pick some flowers and there are no pretty ones in the village," Rin beamed beguilingly at the toad youkai, subtly reminding him of Lord Sesshoumaru's threats should he hear of any mistreatment of his ward while he was gone.

Jaken caught the warning in her speech; the way she referred to herself the same way Sesshoumaru sometimes did. He had to admit the child was intelligent. Sometimes.

"Cursed little brat…" Jaken muttered, stomping one small, webbed foot on the dusty ground.

"Here, Kagome, you can have these flowers," Rin grinned evilly at Jaken, "Jaken and I can always pick some more for Miss Yukiji, can't we Jaken?"

"Oh no, we will no-" Jaken's little rant was cut short by the sound of several screams echoing from the village center.

Inuyasha snapped to attention, his hand coming rest on tetsusaiga's hilt as he prepared for a fight.

"Kagome, stay here," He growled, drawing his sword from its sheath and leaping forward in one fluid motion.

"Inuyasha, wait!" Kagome yelled, frustration coursing through her. She wanted to go with him and find out what was going on, but she couldn't leave Rin alone, could she? One look at the little girl's frightened face made up Kagome's mind and she quickly pulled Rin behind the nearest stall. The jangling of Miroku's shakujou and Sango's shouted 'Kirara' alerted Kagome to the fact that they were headed for the village center.

Kagome became aware of people running, directionless, through the streets, shrieking with fear and practically climbing over one another to get out of the way of whatever was attacking them. Kagome pulled her bow free of the strap that held it fast to her back and knocked an arrow, ready to shoot should anything come their way. Rin shifted as close to Kagome as she could get, watching the people run by with worried eyes.

"Don't worry, Rin, I won't let anything bad happen to you, okay?" Kagome smiled reassuringly at the girl and was rewarded with a hesitant nod. I'm surprised she's not more used to this sort of thing, travelling with Sesshoumaru and all.

Jaken had been 'guarding' their hiding spot, but when a large lizard-youkai came scuttling along the street - following the crowd of appetizing humans - the little toad squeaked and dove behind Kagome. She huffed and leapt to her feet, drawing back her arrow and sending it flying straight into the back of the scaly green monster. A shimmer of pink passed over the creature's body for a second before it screamed and collapsed to the ground, satisfyingly dead. Kagome crouched again, knocking another arrow and peering over the top of the wooden stall every now and then, watching for another youkai to come blundering past.

A heavy, thunderous rumble shuddered through the ground, sending Kagome and Rin sprawling. The miko jumped to her feet and spun around, trying to find the source of the enormous noise.

"Kagome, up there!" Rin pointed to the sky and Kagome looked up, a gasp forcing its way into her lungs as she took in the huge lizard that towered over them. "I think you killed its baby," Rin breathed, pulling at Kagome's sleeve, trying to get her out of the way of the gigantic monster.

Kagome swallowed heavily and turned, dragging Rin and Jaken with her as she raced along the side of the building they had been hiding against. Her bow was lying in the dirt behind the market stall, but there was no way she was going back for it now. Somehow Kagome suspected that her arrows wouldn't make much of an impact on this monster.

Their movement attracted the huge youkai's attention and it drew itself up, coiling for an attack. Kagome glanced back and saw its stubby forelegs moving in a random - yet deliberate - pattern, a yellow glow beginning to form between them.

"In here!" Kagome gasped, diving into a thin, dirty alley between huts. She quickly put Rin behind her and turned to face the direction of the monster. Kagome hoped against hope that the lizard-thing's attack wouldn't be able to reach them through the building they were hiding behind.

Sesshoumaru darted soundlessly from rooftop to rooftop, hunting out the scream that had sounded so much like Rin. It was chaos in the streets below, people running and shouting, stumbling and being trampled by their panicked kin while lizard-youkai chased them gleefully, hungrily- picking off the slowest, but mostly just following them. It occurred to the taiyoukai that the lizards seemed to be herding the humans in a specific direction. But why?

This unuttered question was answered almost instantly as an enormous lizard rose above the streets, its forelimbs weaving a complex pattern in the air. So that was most likely the where, though the why was still something of a mystery.

Sesshoumaru landed lightly on a nearby rooftop and unsheathed Tokijin. The sword seemed to hiss as it came to life in his hand. The taiyoukai's lips quirked slightly. It seemed his sword was as eager for blood as he was.

The Lord of the West launched himself gracefully into the air, passing by the enormous lizard and leaving a trail of blood along the massive creature's right foreleg as Tokijin sliced neatly through tough, scaly hide and wiry tendon.

The lizard youkai roared and threw its reptilian head back as it landed heavily on the ground. It glanced at the gash in its arm through black-slitted red eyes. The wound knitted instantly, closing without a scar and the monster giggled. It could only be termed giggling, although the sound was utterly terrifying in its joy.

Sesshoumaru ignored the thing, noting out of the corner of his eye that it had healed, but far more concerned with finding his ward and assuring himself of her safety. He came upon her quickly, surprised to find her in the company of one of Inuyasha's humans. The girl had put Rin behind her and was staring fiercely in the direction of the large lizard-youkai. Sesshoumaru nodded to himself, deciding that Rin would be safe with Jaken and the girl until he had disposed of this threat.

The taiyoukai turned and watched with annoyance as the lizard began to weave its arms back and forth again, its claws dipping and clicking together. The thing appeared to be achieving nothing by this strange behavior and Sesshoumaru frowned slightly. The monster was not unintelligent, though it appeared to have lost much of its ability to reason in this state. The lord leapt to the roof on the other side of the street, preparing to draw the monster's attention away from where Rin and his little toad retainer hid.

Sesshoumaru flicked his wrist and sent his youki whip snapping towards the monster, scoring it across the same foreleg as before. The thing flinched and snatched its arm away, hissing in anger.

"Oi! What are you doing here, you bastard?" Inuyasha landed energetically on the roof of a hut near the taiyoukai.

Sesshoumaru slid an annoyed glance towards the hanyou who had just bounded up the building to his right. Inuyasha had already turned away and was now readying his sword to attack the lizard youkai. Apparently their flimsy truce was still intact.

Kagome slowly unfolded herself from the defensive hunch she had assumed in preparation for the blast of youki that the lizard-thing had been aiming this way. Apparently the thing had thought better of trying to blast through two layers of mud-wall. Strange, though, she mused, it definitely looked powerful enough not to worry about such a small barrier.

Creeping forward, the miko signaled for Rin to stay put as she peered around the corner of the hut. Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha tag-teaming the reptilian monstrosity- the hanyou sending powerful waves of the kaze no kizu at the creature's massive chest while the taiyoukai hovered above its head on a cloud of youki, lashing at its eyes with his poisonous whip. No way that thing can withstand Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru! Heartened by the sight of the two brothers working together, Kagome turned to Jaken, indicating for him to stay and protect Rin for a moment.

"But, where are you going? Human! Come back here!" Jaken screeched, fear overriding his need to be superior.

Kagome smiled knowingly, "I'll be back in a minute, just watch over Rin, okay?"

Not staying to see his reaction, Kagome darted along the wall, back towards the now overturned market stall where her bow had been left. She grabbed the discarded weapon and raced back, hunched over to minimize the target she presented and arrived back in the alley to find Jaken cowering behind Rin, clutching his staff in a white knuckled grip. Or, actually pale-green knuckled grip.

"Jeeze, you tiny coward, what are doing hiding behind a little girl?" Kagome asked, one eyebrow raised in amused disapproval.

The toad sputtered and squeaked, coming out from behind Rin with a threatening glare on his face. Fortunately he didn't seem to have an answer and settled for balefully staring out into the street.

Kagome turned to gaze out as well, though there wasn't much of a view from where they were hidden.

I wonder how Inuyasha is doing out there?

"Come on, this way!" Miroku urged the villagers forward, pointing them down a narrow backstreet away from the action. Sango was holding off two smaller lizard youkai, swinging hiraikotsu around like a huge club so that the people could escape. "No- stop pushing each other!" Miroku half-pleaded, half-yelled. Everyone was so panicked that they were shoving and pulling and trampling each other in their desperate charge to safety. The monk was pushed, hard, into the wall of a hut as the tide of people flowed by and he found himself smacking at the horde with his staff, trying to get them off of him. He glanced desperately towards Sango, just catching a glimpse of her beating off a third youkai through the crowd. These monsters were strong- she couldn't hold off three at once could she?

"Sango! Are you holding up okay?" Mirkoku shouted as he shoved his way against the current of people.

"I'm fine, Miroku!" Sango yelled back, although the monk heard the rising panic in her voice. He redoubled his efforts to break through, resorting to shoving people aside with the pointy-end of his shakujou. As he cleared the edge of the stream of bodies he saw yet another lizard body-slam Sango, sending her sprawling into the dirt beneath its' heavy weight.

"Sango!" Miroku roared, charging toward the fallen taijiya, shoving the monster off her with his staff. He leapt over her and swung his shakujou in a wide arc, scattering the four lizard youkai for a moment before they regrouped, ringing about the two humans in a semi-circle. "Sango, are you hurt?" Miroku asked, his heart in his throat.

The taijiya stirred and slowly pushed herself to her feet. "I'm okay, I think," Sango hefted hiraikotsu and turned to face the demons again, holding herself a little gingerly. "I'm glad you came when you did, Miroku," The demon-slayer muttered ruefully as she readied herself to continue the fight.

Miroku managed a small grin.

"Ahh, goddamnit- why isn't this thing dying?" Inuyasha yelled, raising tetsusaiga for yet another kaze no kizu. The lizard youkai swung around, its' forelegs sweeping clumsily across the hanyou's rooftop, sending him crashing to the ground for the fourth time already.

Sesshoumaru's normally serene face was furrowed with concentration and frustration. Why, indeed? He thought, dodging a flailing lizard-claw with ease. The creature might not have been the most adept fighter in the world, but it was proving to be very difficult to kill. It seemed to be trying to wear down the two brothers simply by letting them hack and slash and tire themselves against its invulnerable hide. Not invulnerable, exactly. It can be injured, but it heals instantly. The taiyoukai could feel his demonic nature asserting itself, the enormous canine within unwilling to be bested by an overgrown lizard.

"Why. Wont You. Diiie!" Inuyasha roared, his eyes narrowing as he sought the path of the monster's youki. Nothing. This thing ain't generating hardly any power!

This is taking too long, Kagome fretted, With both of them there, that monster should have been toast a while ago. The miko edged forward, knocking an arrow just to be safe as she peered around the corner of the hut again. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were throwing all sorts of attacks against the huge tokage-youkai, but they were having next to no impact on the thing. Inuyasha was swept to the ground by enormous claws and Kagome shook her head. This isn't normal! Why are their attacks not having any effect?

"Rin, I'm going out there- I think Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha need some help. You stay here with Jaken, okay? He'll protect you," Kagome gave Jaken a pointed glare and the toad youkai pointed his beak in the air in a gesture of distain. Kagome rolled her eyes, knowing he would be too afraid of Sesshoumaru to let anything happen to Rin, anyway.

Rin nodded solemnly to Kagome, a faint shimmer of tears in her eyes. The miko gave her a quick hug and darted out of the alley, arrow ready.

Kagome took a minute to just watch the fight, trying to work out why the brothers' attacks were failing to do any damage. It quickly dawned on her that they were hurting the monster; it was just healing so quickly that the injuries scarcely appeared for more than a second. Maybe my purifying arrows will stop it from healing so quickly.

Kagome drew back her arrow and frowned with concentration. The tip began to glow pink and gradually the aura spread along the shaft until it reached her fingers; as soon as the power touched her hand, Kagome let go and held her breath as the arrow soared through the air- and buried itself in the neck muscle of the tokage-youkai.

The demon flailed about, roaring with fury as the purity of the arrow burned away at its' flesh.

"Hey, Kagome! Do you sense any jewel-shards?" Inuyasha yelled, dodging the aimlessly swinging limbs of the lizard.

Kagome shook her head, "No, there's none there!"

"Argh! Then why won't it die, already?" Inuyasha shouted, frustration thrumming through his voice.

Kagome shook her head in response and focused her attention back on the demon, watching as the power slowly died out of her arrow. Damn, that didn't kill it. I don't think it's healing, though.

-Miko! Come here… Let me taste your powers-

Kagome jerked, her eyes snapping to those of the giant lizard. It had given up on trying to remove the arrow and was staring at her intently. She slowly shook her head. "No way."

"Kagome, what the hell?" Inuyasha jumped down and landed by her side, confusion etched on his face.

"It talked to me," Kagome whispered out of the corner of her mouth, not breaking eye contact with the youkai.

Inuyasha stared at her with growing concern. "What do you mean it talked to you? It didn't say anything. I don't think it can talk, anyway!"

Kagome shook her head, "Not out loud- in my head."

"The creature seems to have telepathic powers," Sesshoumaru said as he landed lightly a few feet away from the miko and hanyou.

"But it hasn't before now!" Inuyasha protested, turning his frustrated gaze on his brother.

-Miko, I will only ask this once… Come to me and I will not harm your hanyou friend, nor the inuyoukai.-

Kagome stiffened, eyes wide. Though the youkai hadn't managed to particularly harm Inuyasha yet, it seemed the creature had more powers in reserve that it had not yet revealed.

"It wants me to go to it, or else it'll hurt you," Kagome whispered to Inuyasha, her gaze still fixed on the giant lizard.

Predictably, Inuyasha reacted with venom; "What? No way! That thing's hardly scratched me yet, I don't see how it's in any position to threaten us!"

Kagome vaguely saw, out of the corner of her eye, the white figure of Sesshoumaru moving slightly closer.

"Human, ask it why it wants you," The taiyoukai commanded.

The miko frowned slightly, pushing aside her annoyance at being ordered to do something- even something that made sense, by the arrogant inuyoukai.

"Why do you want me to go to you? What are you going to do to me?" Kagome yelled, trying to still the tremor in her voice. She wasn't even sure why she was so afraid of this thing, really. Sure, it was big, but it hadn't managed to injure either Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru, aside from maybe a couple of bruises.

-It will be better for you if you don't know, little miko. Your time is running out. Come to me- NOW!-

Kagome cried out at the volume of the tokage-youkai's voice in her head, clamping her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha hovered over her helplessly for a moment before deciding that the only thing he could do for her was kill the beast. He lightly lifted her into his arms and leapt over two huts in one jump, depositing the miko gently on the ground behind the protective walls. "Stay here, Kagome. I'm gonna kill that thing, okay?"

"Okay," Kagome murmured weakly. Inuyasha shot her a worried look. What'd that thing do to her?

The hanyou reluctantly left Kagome's side and returned to the makeshift battleground, drawing tetsusaiga once again.

I think I can drive it away, Kagome slowly pushed herself to her feet, her head starting clear, If I aim my arrow at one of its' eyes, maybe it will run. Surely its' eyes are sensitive, just like any other monster?

To her relief, Kagome found her bow clutched tightly in her hands. Oh, thank god. With some confusion she began to make her way towards the enormous tokage-youkai purely by following the sounds of fighting. Inuyasha had left her not too far from the battle, but the streets were confusing and maze-like. Frustration bubbled within Kagome's chest. It sounded like Inuyasha was nearby but she couldn't seem to find him. Or the freaking enormous monster, which was something of an unfortunate miracle, really. Finally she rounded another bend and came to a sudden halt in the opening of the village center. Inuyasha was pinned beneath the lizard's chest, tetsusaiga nowhere to be seen, while Sesshoumaru slowly stood from where he had evidently been flung.

Fear and rage flowed in a hot wave over Kagome's body, all the fine hairs dusting her arms and the back of her neck raised, prickling and tingling. Her head roared and her eyes watered with the sheer magnitude of her fury.

"Hey! Get off him!" Kagome screamed, knocking an arrow and drawing it tight.

The monster glanced up from staring at its' prey, amusement glimmering in its' repulsive eyes. Distantly Kagome heard its' voice in her head, but the words were virtually drowned out by her anger. In one smooth movement the miko aimed and released, every ounce of pure energy she could muster pouring out to be contained within the arrow that quickly pierced deep into the tokage-youkai's right eye. The creature howled and thrashed, lifting up just enough in its' struggles so that Sesshoumaru could drag Inuyasha out from under its' body. Kagome watched as her arrow spread poisonous purity through the red eye, blackening it and the tissue surrounding it. The great lizard roared an eardrum-thumping scream and lumbered swiftly away, across buildings and through the streets, disappearing with shocking speed into the mountainous forests surrounding the village.

Kagome's shoulders slumped with exhaustion but she forced herself to run to Inuyasha, dropping to her knees by his side. Sesshoumaru had dumped him unceremoniously by the market stall that had protected his ward and retainer earlier and was now hunting through the dirt with the toe of his boot, looking for something.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome whispered, leaning down to hover over the hanyou's prone form. One golden eye opened, followed by the other and Inuyasha managed an incredulous snort.

"'Course I'm okay, Kagome. No way I'm gonna let some lizard beat me!" He half-grinned, half-winced as the forceful exhale of breath contracted his evidently broken ribs. "Damn."

"They're leaving!" Sango exclaimed, gratefully lowering hiraikotsu and propping it against her legs. The lizard-youkai were fleeing on all fours, having suddenly abandoned trying to kill the monk and the demon-slayer.

"But why, I wonder?" Miroku mused, leaning heavily on his staff and trying to catch his breath. The monk quickly shook his head, abandoning that train of thought for the moment. "I suppose we should go and tell the people of this village that it's safe to return."

Sango nodded and heaved her now heavy weapon into its' usual place on her back. "I guess. I just hope they're a little more careful coming back than they were when they left." She said wryly, rubbing her side where several injudicious elbows had landed earlier.

Miroku nodded in wholehearted agreement and set off to find the crowd of villagers.

"Sesshoumaru, what the hell are you doin'?" Inuyasha growled, annoyed at not knowing what his brother was up to. The hanyou was on his feet now, albeit hunched and rather ginger. He would have a lot of bruises by the time tomorrow came. Hell, he had a lot of 'em already!

The taiyoukai ignored his half-brother entirely, not willing to admit to himself that he had actually saved the worthless little half-breed. And now he was helping him again! Well, perhaps his motives weren't quite that clear. Inuyasha had dropped tetsusaiga when the tokage-youkai grabbed him in one enormous clawed foot and started trying to crush him. It was the sword that Sesshoumaru was trying to find. Not for himself - he had long since given up hungering after it – but because he couldn't abide knowing his father's fang was laying, discarded in the dirt somewhere. Finally his boot collided with something and the taiyoukai bent slightly to confirm that it was in fact the tetsusaiga.

"You may want to collect your sword, Inuyasha, before I take it for myself," Sesshoumaru warned him mildly.

Inuyasha froze for a second, his hand flying to the empty sheath at his hip. "Dammnit! Sesshoumaru, don't you dare, you bastard!" The hanyou fairly flew around his brother and scooped up the sword, sliding it hastily back into place. Sesshoumaru merely looked at his brother with amused contempt.

"Rin, we are leaving," The taiyoukai called, knowing his little ward would hear him from the alleyway she was peeking out of.

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru!" The little girl cried, skipping joyfully towards her father-figure. Jaken squawked indignantly and hurried to catch up to her, determined to reach his lord first.

Sesshoumaru slid a glance towards Kagome, inclining his head almost imperceptibly towards the miko, before turning and walking away, his strides measured and easy.

"Keh. Bastard," Inuyasha huffed.

That's all for now! Let me know what you think, if you read this :) And there'll be more soon.