MY LAPTOP IS FIXED

I just got it today omg I'm so happy.

I'm gonna try and get multiple chapters done asap to make up for y'all's wait. Thank you all for being so patient!

By the way, don't forget to check out my deviantart or Tumblr for official art. ALSO, my YouTube channel has a playlist just for Moriko, but fair warning, there are some fairly obvious spoilers contained within some of the songs. My channel is Moriko Meisei, and my accts are all under MorikoTheHalfAngel.

I'll also be starting a soon and turning this into a comic series!

Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Do I have to do this, I'm a broke college student from America, not Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 9: What a Shocking Experience!

Moriko

Here goes nothing.

"Awe, is the little girlie going to try and kill me with an itty-bitty katana?" Manten snickers.

"Ugh, shut your giant-ass mouth!" I shout. "Seriously, I know you eat women, but why does your mouth have to be so fugly?"

He growls, "Those aren't very nice words, wench!"

Oh, I'll show you 'nice', jackass.

I whisper as quietly as I can to Inuyasha, "Hey. They have a few jewel shards in their foreheads. Aim there so they can't regenerate."

"Gotcha." He whispers back.

"And if any of them try to shoot you with a youki fueled blast, use your sheath as a shield. That's another ace up our sleeve."

"Uhhhh, alright?"

"Oi, what are you two whispering about?" Hiten's voice reaches my ears, and I ready my stance.

"None of your fuckin' business, now let's settle this!" I feel Inuyasha's arm shift forward away from his body. What's with him and pointing his sword at his opponents?

"Watch your tongue, half-breeds have no say in battle. This will simply be another easy slaughter." I can hear the grin in his words, and I feel Inuyasha's back stiffen against mine.

As good a time as ever…

"Now!" I whisper.

I dart forward, trying to remember every single piece of training and self-defense I've ever taught myself. Manten is almost like some sort of reptilian-youkai, but he looks more like a shark, honestly. Like the Storm Shark spell from Wizard101, heh.

Ah, focus!

His skin is probably super tough, and he's likely made up of complete muscle and cartilage.

He fights with his strength and with his lightning breath attack, while Hiten is more of a melee fighter, using his lightning pike and dexterity. In comparison, Inuyasha will have an easier time defeating Hiten than I will.

So…

Let's hope I can take on his strength.

Inuyasha

I dart forward as Moriko gives her signal to fight, her words in the back of my mind for now.

Just kick the fuckers' asses and make sure neither of us die while doing so.

Hiten doesn't move as I swing Tessaiga towards him, which means… Holy shit, they're stupid.

"This'll teach you not to take me for a fucking weakling!" I shout as I will Tessaiga to transform. The light spreads, but even with his speed, he doesn't react fast enough to dodge, only to block with his trident. Damn, fast reflexes…

"So, I guess I shouldn't take you for face-value, mutt? Then this'll be an interesting fight, indeed!" He leans forward and grins. "Let's only hope," He says, voice lowered. "That the female isn't fried before this battle is over."

"If anyone's getting fried, it's your ugly-ass brother!" I retort, and I quickly glance behind me to check on Moriko.

And she's fucking gone.

Fuck! Panic begins to seep into my mind. Where'd she go? Did she flee? Or did she...

"She ran for it. Women are such cowards, aren't they? Always need a man to save them. She ran into the trees, and we know you can't help her there. She's on her own." He laughs and bashes me back, but I hold fast and keep my stance locked to the ground.

Or did she lead?

"Well," I reply slowly, and as I ready Tessaiga once again, I decide to play along. "I guess you know women pretty well."

He frowns and aims his trident at me. "More than you do, and more than you ever will." The forked tip begins crackling with lightning and deciding to keep an 'ace up my sleeve', whatever the fuck that means, I dodge the bolt instead of using my sheath.

"Ha! Was that aimed at me?" I laugh as I flip onto a tree-branch nearby.

"Argh, come back and fight like a real youkai, half-breed!" He yells and flies towards me—

Really fast!

I jump just as his trident jams into the trunk of the tree. Close enough.

"Oh, trust me, I'm not one to run from a fight." I shoot him a smirk as he rips his trident out from the bark, glaring at me all the while. "You might be, though…"

He growls— eh, good enough— and races towards me once again.

"They have a few jewel shards in their foreheads."

Target acquired. I round him to bring Tessaiga down onto his head, cause why not just split the guy in half? Gotcha—!

"Gah!" Searing pain shoots up my side and nearly locks me in place as the fucker shocks me, but I manage to move away just before he could stab me with it. I glance down at my left side and see a burnt and tattered rip in my suikan. Son of a…

"Aw, did I ruin your wardrobe?" He taunts, and I snarl in reply.

Oh, it's on.

Moriko told me on our first night that a way she uses her anger as fuel is if she concentrates really hard on something, so it won't take over her mind. I sigh and zero in on the Shikon shards in his forehead. Focus.

"Oh, no reply? Did I damage your ego, too?" He snickers. "Well, guess I'll do you one better and just end your suffering!" He, not being very… Unique, darts up and aims down towards me diagonally, charging up his trident once again.

Focus.

I brace my legs and reach one hand towards my hip.

Time it right.

If I don't dodge, he'll think he got me, right?

"That's another ace up our sleeve."

"Die!" He shouts over the crackling of the lightning now racing towards me. I grab my sheath and wait for it.

I can block the lightning and the flash should provide enough cover… I remove it and shift to hold it in front of me. And I can surprise him from below.

The impact causes the ground beneath me to break. Luckily, my arm is stronger, and holds fast to the attack burning the grass around me. I decide to just abandon the sheath and run around the bolt to get below him. I can hear him laughing from just above, aiding me in finding just the right spot to aim for.

I jump, Tessaiga's sharp edge facing upwards. Another bout of luck for me, his shitty flying style has his legs spread wide open.

He doesn't even notice me slice him in half, except for a gross croak of surprise coming from his halved throat.

"Don't underestimate a hanyou, you bastard." I mutter. His halved body falls to the ground in a hard thump. I land next to it and quickly reach to retrieve the three jewel shards before his body can revive itself. As I pick up the last one, his body flashes and turns to some sparkly ash.

Do all youkai die like that?

"Inuyasha!"

I whip my head around to see Shippo running towards me holding my sheath. "Shippo! Do you know where Moriko and ugly-ass went?"

He quickly nods his head, "Yeah, she went down this side of the road and into the forest on the left. I think she was trying to avoid me." He mumbles dejectedly.

I scoff. "No duh, runt, she didn't want you caught in the fray." I redon my sheath and turn to where he pointed. "Come on, we gotta go make sure she's okay."

"Wait! I can't carry her pack alone." Shippo whines softly.

"Of course, you can't. She has all the items a damned battalion would need in there. I'll get it." I hop over to his hiding spot behind a bush, grab the bag, and hop back over to him. "Get on, I'll get us there faster."

"O-oh, alright!" He jumps up onto my shoulder and grips my fire-rat with his paws. "Ready!"

Wench, you better be alive.

Moriko

"I find it hard to believe that he thinks you'll survive this 'fight', woman. Are you sure he's not just letting me get rid of you for him?" Manten laughs as he raises up his— whatever the fuck his hands even are.

"Oh, not at all. He knows I can handle myself." I reply. Sort of?!

"Maybe with a human, or a hanyou like himself, but not with us full-bloods." He licks his chops and grins. "I may skip the stew and just devour you whole, little wench."

A shiver runs up my spine, and I realize that he's much taller than myself, and therefore, if I'm to try and fight him out in the open, he can easily overpower me in speed, even if he's not that fast.

Gotta take him where I've got some even ground…

And the forest around us at the moment would be perfect. I glance towards Shippo's hiding spot and mentally mark that area as a no-go. "Well, if you wanna eat me…" I sheath my katana and take off in a sprint down the road we just came, "You'll have to catch me!" I hear a roar behind me and a cackle of lightning, but not of Manten's. Is it Hiten's? I don't look back as I dart left into a small grove of trees.

I slow down and dart my eyes around to spot a good place to ambush. Not a tree too tall, I'd rather not die stupidly by falling today, but nothing at his height, either. I push on looking for the perfect spot when a giant light shines behind me, just as I feel the impact of an explosion rock the earth. Now THAT was Manten, holy fuck!

"You can't hide from me, little girl!" I hear him yell from… Far enough.

I frantically begin searching again, my legs beginning to burn already from the long sprint I held. Fuck you, legs. As I'm cursing my body, I notice a fairly young black pine with multiple branches just low enough for me to possibly reach by jumping. I change my course and speed up to reach the tree before he reaches me. The needles will, thankfully, provide just enough cover for me to not be obviously spotted. At least, not from a human's perspective, but it'll have to do!

I reach the trunk and attempt to get a foothold with my tennis shoes, and I wrap my arms around the trunk in a bear hug to hold on. I quickly begin inching my way up, and as I'm nearing a low branch, I hear another explosion. Much closer.

REACH IT REACH IT REACH IT!

I grab the branch and pray for its sturdiness to hold me up as I hoist myself onto it, staying near the base.

"Oh, miko~! Where have you gone?" A rough sing-song voice reaches my ears from maybe thirty feet away.

I stay crouched and look around to see if I can spot him. I'm about to try and climb higher when he barrels through some bushes with a grunt.

I notice him beginning to sniff the air, and I twitch. Don't tell me he can…

"I can smell your fear… Come on out, now! I'll play nice… I promise." He chuckles.

I nearly groan at the cheesy line. I quietly unsheathe my katana and watch him, keeping an eye out for the perfect moment. He walks over to the pine next to mine, facing away from me. "Are you up here? Should I turn you to ash, or will you run before then? I don't want to burn you up, I would love to try some of your flesh, if you don't mind."

Eughhhhhhh.

Other than the disturbing comment, this moment seems perfect to me. The sound of his blast will likely be able to cover up the sound of my feet if I run up behind him and backstab him. What else am I supposed to do, hand to hand combat?!

If I can straight up purify him, then great. If I fuck up, then at least he's slightly wounded?

Oh well, here goes nothing.

He charges up the blast from his mouth, and I bend my knees to get ready to jump. He releases it, and I 'nimbly' leap from the branch and roughly land, squatting to brace the impact. I shoot back up and begin to run towards him, the blast still demolishing the poor tree next to mine. I attempt to charge up my sword with reiki, annnnd I try to slice him down his head like Inuyasha does to Hiten in the story.

I fucked up my reiki.

My katana is currently lodged into the cranium of a shrieking, bald, reptile/shark youkai with lightning breath.

And it's just barely touching what I think is a jewel shard, and then I remember that he only has two jewel shards, and that they're beside each other and not really in the middle.

God damn it.

"Argh, you bitch, that's not fair!" He bellows.

I hold onto the now stuck weapon as he tries to swing around and catch me, but he just ends up practically flinging me and the sword onto where the tree once stood. I land on my ass and Lord, that's gonna leave one Helluva bruise.

I wince as I stand, and before I can open my eyes, the wind gets knocked out of me as a huge fist collides with chest.

I land on my back with a hard thud as my head cracks against the ground. My ass and my chest are gonna be bruised now, damn. Thankfully, my 'chest' is probably 90% fat, which in turn absorbed most of the impact.

Go figure.

"That hurt, you little wench. I'm going to enjoy ripping you limb from limb!" He looms over me, and he begins to reach for me.

Adrenaline kicks in, and I scramble back. "Get away!" I get ahold of my katana and keep it aimed towards him. "Don't touch me or I'll purify you!"

A guffaw wracks his body, and I realize that his skull is already healed… And completely bald.

He just hasn't noticed.

And there's no way in Hell that I'm saying anything about it.

"Purify me? Why didn't you do it the first time then?"

Got me there…

"I was going easy on you!" I sneer.

"Your mistake!" He shouts and charges me.

But if I can just hit his—

A flash of red and silver lands behind him, and another flash of light goes through him. He drops to the ground and disappears, two jewel shards left behind. "Well, that was a lot easier."

I glance back up at my savior and see Inuyasha with my backpack and Shippo waving at me on his shoulder. "Hi, Moriko! Glad we got here in time!"

I softly nod my head in awe and grin. "Yeah…"

Inuyasha fishes out what I assume are Hiten's shards and picks up Manten's shards. He ambles over to me and holds his palm out. "Well, here ya go."

I nod again and take them, quickly adding them to our collection of shards, now at seven.

He eyes me up and down. "You alright? You got some dirt on ya."

I shrug. "Pretty sure I'm gonna have a bruised ass and some bruised ribs, but other than that, I'm fine. Maybe a lump on my head."

His face shows slight concern. "Bruises? From what?"

I smile sheepishly, "Yeah… He kinda punched me in the chest, and it sent me flying. I couldn't catch myself."

"Well… We'll have babaa check it out, just to be safe, alright?" He states with a low air of authority.

"Okay, but don't think I didn't notice that gaping hole in your suikan." I look down pointedly at the wound at his side.

"Pfft, please, it'll be healed by tomorrow, probably sooner. He only struck me once." He brushes me off.

"Fine." I reply.

He huffs. "Fine."

I giggle. "Let's go then. We've had enough adventure for today."

"But I didn't even get to fight!" Shippo whines.

I give him a wide smile. "You'll get to soon, I promise, but you should really get some professional practice beforehand. We made a deal, remember?"

He sighs, "Yeah, I remember."

Speaking of deals… I glance over at Inuyasha as we restart our trek home. I wonder if he remembers ours?

"Hey, Moriko." He starts up.

I flinch. "Uh, yeah?"

"What's an 'ace up our sleeve'?"

A/N

I know it's kinda short, but the next chapter will be a complete one, not in halves or nothing.

Next up- Some spooky shit.