Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale

The Ringenkai Plant

Chapter 14: Beauty and Blood

It was moving on well past the eleventh hour of the night, the gray skies slightly parting as if it were a curtain drawing to introduce the final moments of a very intense battle taking place in the forest below. It's noise and fortuitous ambience secluded by the average human earshot, if any were to be found in the first place, were only repeating in the heads of two half-demons scrambling to determine who would be the victor during their skirmish. Only in a mere matter of minutes was that about to occur and only one of them would walk away in peace.

"Getting dizzy yet? Your eyes can't keep up can they?" Tarensei teased with annoying temptation while he zoomed around Inuyasha in a perfect unbroken circle, with nearly several afterimages of the purple haired pretty boy dauntingly attempting to drive his opponent crazy.

"Good. Now the only thing I have left to rely on is perfect timing..." Inuyasha thought, bracing himself up for what he was about to do. He lowered his claw to the upper right area of his chest while ignoring the dust trails swerving in front of his eyes.

Inuyasha had completely blocked out Tarensei's taunting at this point, putting all of his focus into this one plan he had cooking up. He knew the crucial moment was going to happen any second now and just as he finished he last thought, Tarensei at last made his strike - appearing directly from behind.

"I only have a split second to do this..." Inuyasha thought one last time, plunging his claw right into his chest causing blood to flow out. He sensed the break in the direction of the air to sense Tarensei's position and spun around using his instinct to flick his arm outward. "HIJIN KETSUSOU!" Inuyasha yelled while throwing three blades of blood which directly splashed onto Tarensei's clothing. The surprise impact however did not stop Tarensei from still flying forward to directly connect a slashing horizontal blow to Inuyasha's torso. Inuyasha was sent crashing into the ground several feet away, creating a small rocky trench.

"Oh, come on now. Did you really think that kind of attack you just performed was going to stop me? I'm not exactly a fan of demon blood... and you've nearly ruined a perfectly good outfit!" Tarensei looked sadly at magenta gi, lightly touching the blood. It trickled down his fingers but the bishounen thought nothing of it, looking back up. "But it does not matter. Blood being spilled during a battle is a necessity. Even if your opponent injures himself for misunderstandable naught. Heh heh!"

"Didn't use the blood to attack you, idiot..." Inuyasha whispered while smirking a bit. He knew where he was going with this and it only made the situation all the more advantageous to himself.

"If that honestly was supposed to be an attack I hardly felt it. Almost like a bee attempting to sting a dragon. Haven't you learned anything yet, dear Inuyasha? Didn't I encourage you to put out all of you power, and this is the end result? If this is the kind of strength this Naraku fellow fears so much from you, then I can't imagine that baboon barbarian any stronger..." Tarensei shrugged lightly, his eyes narrowed.

Inuyasha's attention shot up high upon hearing Naraku's name. "Wait a moment, did you say Naraku? So it was him that sent you to find me? Heh, should've known! Wherever there's some crazed demon running around there's that bastard lurking somewhere not too far away like the cowardly roach he is!" he said with vehemence while rising up to one knee. "So let me take a wild guess - you're another one of his detachments?"

"Detachments? What do you mean by that? Heh heh, you're not making that much sense, my friend. You have your information all wrong. I am not in liege with Naraku in any way, shape, or form other than by an iffy verbal contract. I'm part of a much grander scheme. I'm one of the five members of the Shinkantetsu, a powerful group of demons that had existed for nearly over five hundred years. Of course we were only recently revived by Naraku himself with Shikon Jewel which had broken the seal we were placed under by a high priestess ages ago. Hope I'm not going too fast for you." Tarensei explained, holding his sword up and placing it against the back of his neck.

"Don't bother going any further. So Naraku took you out of your imprisonment, whoever the hell you are and sent you after me because he couldn't do the dirty work himself as usual." Inuyasha concluded.

"You hit the nail on the head right there. I know you're a smart man. Of course since the majority of us weren't exactly interested in fighting a half-demon we which presumed to be weak which I know you're not, I leaped at the chance to confront you first. Plus your name alone intrigued me to the point where I couldn't ignore this gift horse." Tarensei replied. "And also, Naraku also provided us some collateral as well." he said, taking out the jewel shard that hung around his neck and dangled it for Inuyasha to see.

"One of the jewel shards!" Inuyasha exclaimed in surprise. "That's typical of him. Giving you a piece of the jewel to give your sorry ass a little power boost, I'd say."

"Gasp! How did you ever guess that? Quite right you are, but I too much fancy this single beautiful shard to use it for such a barbaric or should I say in my allegiance's case, unhonorable cause?" Tarensei replied, putting the shard back inside the collar of his gi.

"What? You mean he's not planning on actually using it? That's strange. Most evil demons straight out scramble just for a tiny shard let alone seeking the entire jewel itself. There's something different about this Tarensei, that's for sure. It's almost as if he's planning on ending this fight for his own affairs. Not very surprising since he seems to be so independent, not to mention the way he speaks of this Shinkantetsu. Anyway, the sooner I finish this, the better." Inuyasha thought quickly, fully raising himself on both feet.

"Again, I tire of this talk. Now that this boring monologue is over why don't we continue this without any further interruption?" Tarensei said, his facial expression changing to the more eerie and demonic form. His hair shot up into tendrils along with his fangs bearing downward with that same clear acid, only paving the way for his eyes to cloud up with that same hatred he had put into his strength when slaying his enemies. "Because as I clearly see it, you won't be around much longer to consider dealing with Naraku or any of my fellow comrades! Get ready!"

Tarensei shot towards Inuyasha, and faked as if he was going to perform another attack. Inuyasha braced himself for the impact, but the bishounen disappeared into the air and started reappearing in repeated streaks of shadow-like images all around in a 360 arc. Inuyasha stood in place right in the center with the trees behind him having been sliced down in unison. The collapsing trunks that hit the ground served only as mere distraction, but Inuyasha remained focus on only one sense - his sense of smell.

"You may think you have me cornered like some kind of rat, but I've got news for you!" Inuyasha leaped to his right instantly sensing that Tarensei was going to attack from the direction. The half-demon drove his claw hard through the air, scoring a direct hit right into Tarensei's chest.

"Arghhhh!" Tarensei's body smacked onto the wet ground and bounced off of it like a rag doll before flipping over to regain his balance. "Just a lucky shot!" he yelled, pulling off the same kind of disappearing attack he did before. Inuyasha just smirked and readied his claws again, waiting in place for a few moments until he sensed Tarensei stopping to attack from above.

"Raaaaaahhhhhh!" Inuyasha jumped to meet Tarensei in the air to deliver three hard slashes followed by a powerful spinning kick. Blood freely flew out of Tarensei's now torn gi, and his face was bruised upon Inuyasha's foot making contact with it. The strength was so great that he found himself flying backwards into the trunk of a tree. Blood spewed out of his mouth and sputtered onto the grass as he sank on his knees, holding his chest wounds with one hand and grasping his masamune sword in the other.

"Nnnnghhh!" Tarensei groaned, wiping the blood from his lips on his sleeve. He clenched his sword, his mind racing. "No! How could he have known where I was planning my next attack? He wasn't able to the first few times. I thought he was getting lucky at first but I can't afford to take this for granted... it doesn't make any sense..."

"What's wrong? Suddenly lost your touch, Tarensei!" Inuyasha said with belittlement and immediately rushing forward at his enemy. Tarensei flinched but his reaction time was fast enough for him to avoid the surprise attack. Inuyasha's claws only struck wood instead of demon flesh, making yet another innocent grown seedling of nature crash onto the mossy ground. However Tarensei took this opportunity to do a teleportation strike, appearing directly behind Inuyasha and bringing his masamune sword downward.

"Thought you had me?" Tarensei yelled. But his eyes widened when he realized his strike was only seconds late as he witnessed Inuyasha do a smooth turn around spin.

"SANKON TESSOU!" Inuyasha yelled, a flash of six yellow streaks slashing through the wind and carving their way into Tarensei's face and torso. A huge gout of blood sprayed up into the air and splashed onto either of the demons' clothing. Not soon after that Tarensei's almost rigid body slammed onto the familiar dewy grass again, dropping his sword and clattering about a foot away. A cough of pain and frustration echoed into the silent sky, and the purple haired shinobi cradled his chest with one hand. He turned onto his side with the burning pang of pain only growing greater within.

"Yarrrrrghhhhhhhh!" Tarensei expressed, his eyes twitching. He was then hit with the idea that perhaps he had underestimated Inuyasha after all. Even if it seemed that the dog demon wasn't drawing his sword for reasons unknown, he could certainly hold his own without using it. And the fact that he was able to avoid and counter each attack Tarensei could muster the tides were definitely being turned the other way. "But... but how? He's so strong... I can barely even get up after that! I don't understand..." he thought.

Tarensei shuffled over to grab his sword while coughing up another spat of blood. The moment the blood spoiled the grass that lay beside him, a spark hit his mind. "The blood! How could I have not realized it sooner?" his thoughts raced back to when Inuyasha had used the Hijin Ketsusou to spray the blood onto his clothes. "Naturally! Inuyasha is a dog demon, so he was able to sniff his blood on me whenever I used my tactics on him. He was able to easily tell when and where I was going to attack him - and only earlier did my own blood hitting my clothes made it twice as easy for me to be detected. No wonder he was able to catch me so quickly a moment ago!"

Tarensei struggled to stand, doing his best to ignore the great deal of pain. He didn't know what to do at this point now that he had been cornered into a stalemate. Inuyasha stood there menacingly, taking his stance.

"Not so tough and witty, are we? It looks like you're begging for mercy with that fearful look in your eyes. Like that fake ass tough exterior could fool me. You guessed wrong and I'll only make your death twice as painful. The first is for wasting my time, and the second is for just plain pissing me off." Inuyasha threatened with high confidence.

"Heh heh..." the shinobi stood up, his face reverting back to his original handsome features. "Sure, you may have me at a seemingly violent end. But I must admit, I like you even more now that you've shown your true strength. A man who carries a sword but that can still prove himself worthy by fighting barehanded? Never has my blood raced through my veins so quickly, never have I felt such a heated torrent of adrenaline... this is one of the loveliest battles I've ever been involved with. I feel so alive after five long centuries. Perhaps you could deliver what I desire the most..." Tarensei said, flicking his sword back into his hand and dashing forward.

"See if you can keep up! It shouldn't be much of a problem for you, right?" he beckoned, zooming past Inuyasha and heading down the distance towards the outside of the forest.

"Hey! You're not going anywhere!" Inuyasha called, following the shinobi and managing to keep on the trail a few feet away.

"Since this act will come to a close, why don't I make the most of it!" Tarensei giggled weakly as he slashed the trees effortlessly with each bounding leap and dash, trying to prevent Inuyasha from catching up. They all hit the ground with a booming thud but Inuyasha was easily able to dodge and slash his way through each and every one. Tarensei did the best he could to stall his enemy but it proved useless.

A few minutes later after this game of cat and mouse, the two half-demons exited the forest at last and found themselves in a much more open area filled with knee deep ponds all around. The falling rain became a little more intense within the past half hour with the heavy pattering sound of precipitation hitting the surface of the said ponds. A single crackle of lightning hit the ground miles away over the mountains and the light foggy mist made the surroundings only that much more bleak.

It wasn't long before Tarensei had gotten his lead ahead and was successful in disappearing into the misty horizon. Inuyasha jumped down the small cliff from the edge of the forest with a groan and landed into one of the large ponds, his bare feet brushing against the gravel underneath the water. He surveyed the area as fast as he could, clenching his fists in annoyance.

"Shit! He's gone! And I can't make out a scent anymore now that's gotten away. But you'd think with those kinds of wounds he wouldn't have gotten far that much. Apparently he has." Inuyasha said to himself in a low voice, running forward with his eyes darting from side to side.

About a good twenty-five feet ahead, Tarensei was standing alone basked in the misty rain. He was desperately washing the mixed blood off of his gi and hakama, knowing that his opponent was obviously still awhile away behind. He found a bit of difficulty getting the thick red liquid off himself at first, until resorting to just ripping off the blood-stained parts off his clothing. The majority of his gi was now gone revealing his wounded torso. The Shikon Jewel shard that still hung around his neck glistened brightly in the dim light.

"Curse you, Inuyasha! Not to worry though. Your little trick can't save you now and I'll be the first to end things once and for now. My body may be scarred but my spirit still remains intact." the shinobi said, unsheathing his sword and heading back towards the direction he came from. With his incredible speed, he had spotted Inuyasha a mile away and made a dramatic reappearance. Jumping into the air, he struck the surface and sent two huge waves of water splashing off on both sides. He held up his sword in the air and brought it down, laughing softly.

"There you are, coward!" Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "So I guess running away during a fight to get a better vantage point is part of your honor code too."

"Tch! Poor misguided Inuyasha! Don't be so quick to share unneeded sarcasm." Tarensei meaningfully smiled. "Retreat can always be considered strategy... as long as it's a means of gaining the advantage over your opponent one shouldn't have qualms with such action am I correct?"

"Only because you were scared of dying." Inuyasha remarked.

"Death is inevitable. Death even marks a beautiful passage into the next world that awaits us beyond and for eternity. I do not fear it. I seek it, dear friend. I've delivered death to many a warrior during my service to the Shinkantetsu and do you know what else? When a warrior comes to terms that he is not afraid to kill, there comes a time when he himself wonders what death is like. How does it feel? Will it be painful or painless? Will he even exist afterwards for the sins he's committed? All these questions race through the mind of the curious. Maybe even the innocent." Tarensei replied. "But those who only fear it are too weak. If they were strong to be born, they should be strong enough to die."

Inuyasha remained silent, his intention focused on ending the battle. Though his enemy's words gave him something to consider, he wasn't about to let his guard down. It wasn't until the end of Tarensei's sentence did he notice something was wrong.

"Damn! That's why he escaped... he purposely did it so he could was the blood off himself. My instinct was right, I only could faintly catch his scent just before he showed himself again. It might not be enough for me to follow up on his attacks, that's the bad part. So now what I am going to do? Can I even find another way to beat him?" Inuyasha thought, shaking his head when giving a brief stare at his unusable Tetsusaiga. "I can't give up. Not now. Kagome's counting on me..."

"I'm going all out now! No more games. And I mean it this time! The grand finale begins now!" Tarensei shouted. He disappeared in the blitz of a blink and several waves of crashing tidal waves flew around Inuyasha. In comparison to the scuffle in the forest, fighting in the pond ended up being a more tense and harder bout because the huge waves of water was a distraction for Inuyasha in terms of sight and the now pointless sense of smell.

"Hyaaaaaaah!" Tarensei's shadow appeared behind a wave of water as he sent three sharp blades of energy through it. They cleanly cut their way through the liquid and struck Inuyasha, hitting him in the legs and abdomen.

"Arghhhhhh!" Inuyasha groaned, sliding against the watery surface. Blood leaked out into the water but was quickly washed away upon another blade of energy. But this time it was a single one but was larger and packed more power. Inuyasha was unable to dodge it, getting knocked into the air with a huge explosion of bluish light upon contact. Inuyasha's red gi was ripped and blood oozed down his wounds before he hit the ground hard again, landing face first into the water.

"This is... too much! With all these attacks coming at me it's impossible to do anything." Inuyasha said to himself, somehow successful in leaping out of the way of four out of seven energy blade attacks. The remaining three stuck Inuyasha on both his arms and his left leg. He staggered around in a daze, his vision becoming hazy from the confusing tidal waves and streaks of energy. It was almost as if he was in the center of a spinning tornado, the insane laughter of Tarensei taunting him endlessly.

"Didn't I tell you this was the end of you? I'm surprised you're still standing!" Tarensei's voice was nearly drowned in the booming noise of lightning and rain. "You can only take but so much more before you fall like the defeated warrior you are!"

"What...?" Inuyasha said, staring upwards as the waves around him became even bigger than before. He found himself trapped in the middle of a circular vortex of water, the sound of it very deafening to his ears. He could see Tarensei's shadows zooming back and forth behind the walls that the water was forming, only adding to the disorientation.

It turned out that Tarensei was using his speed to create a vortex of water to that size and caliber. The faster he ran around in a perfect circle the bigger the vortex became, until it was nearly half the size of a tornado. The wind velocity was so great that Inuyasha was picked up and whooshed away into the eye of the water tornado and was helplessly spun around in circles. Inuyasha yelled out loud, unable to gather his bearings.

"I believe this calls for the grand drop!" Tarensei said, stopping still and standing at the foot of the tornado. He created a huge slash of energy with his masamune and thrust it through the middle of the tornado, making it split apart completely. This caused the tornado to cease with a powerful watery explosion, sending Inuyasha flying back down onto the ground.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Inuyasha found himself plunging back onto the hard surface, having partially broken some ribs upon landing on his stomach. He did his best to push back the pain as best as he could with most of his strength having drained. When the air's turbulence disappeared and the sound of the rainstorm was to be heard again, Tarensei suddenly appeared in front of Inuyasha. The shinobi stared down at him, holding the tip of his sword to the dog demon's face and lifting off a few strands of hair.

"Hmph. You may not believe me, but I'm very sorrowful that I had to end things this way. But all things must face a violent finish one way or another." Tarensei said solemnly.

"Heh... then what... are you waiting for? Give it your best shot..." Inuyasha beckoned, his determination not giving in. Tarensei just smiled in response.

"Very well... I'll finish you in style..." Tarensei disappeared into the wind. Rose petals were scattered everywhere and filled the air with a sweet scent. Inuyasha used the sheath of his sword to brace himself to stand and his eyes followed Tarensei's shadow like streaks darting from place to place, ignoring the rose petals. It was then that Inuyasha took note of an important realization the moment his eyes hit the water's surface.

"Wait a minute! The water! I couldn't follow his movements visually before because it seems like he's almost invisible to the naked eye each time... but when I look at the water I can see only his body moving. The afterimages he creates with his speed serve as the actual distraction... I may not be able to sniff him out like I was doing before, but if I keep my eyes on his reflection..." Inuyasha's thoughts trailed off.

"Prepare to die, Inuyasha! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tarensei shouted and plowed himself directly above Inuyasha's position, intending to aim downward with this sword. But his eyes widened when he saw the unsheathed Tetsusaiga fly up into the air directly towards him. "WHAT? How did he...!"

Tarensei's words were cut short instantly as the Tetsusaiga cut deep into his chest. Even though the blade was dull, somehow it pierced his chest thanks to the sheer speed Inuyasha threw it at. The shinobi's entire body then was mysteriously paralyzed as result, preventing him from moving. He dropped his masamune sword in mid-air and the last sight he even saw before trying to sort out what exactly happened was broken by these next words...

"HIJIN KETSUSOU!" Inuyasha yelled, leaping up and slicing his claws twice through Tarensei's body with the very last ounce of his strength he had left. Tarensei's mouth opened in in a frozen state of horror and unspeakable pain but no sound was uttered before his face was consumed in a red explosion of demon blood.

Tarensei's mutilated body flew several feet back, his sword falling out of sight and his left arm and right leg having been severed cleanly. He hit the water with a huge splash and in mere moments he was soaking in an immense pool of his own blood, his once handsome but now damaged face drenched with the red liquid. He could barely speak with the initial shock and paralysis taking over his body, and the Tetsusaiga toppled over and landed beside him.

"Hmph! It's over. Finally." Inuyasha landed softly, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He was battered, bloodied and beaten but by some amazing feat of a small second wind Inuyasha managed to haul himself over to the dying purple haired bishounen.

Inuyasha leaned down and reached for his sword. As he did this, that was when his gaze met with Tarensei's. The shinobi cocked his head weakly a few inches, giving a weak but meaningful laugh. He then spoke.

"Heh heh... heh... how did you... know? Before... I die... please tell me." Tarensei narrowed his eyes with inquiring curiosity. He had almost missed the feeling of being paralyzed, as once that it was gone it was replaced by the immense sensation of torturing pain from his burning wounds.

"The water." Inuyasha said with light emotion. "It was the water that gave away your reflection. I didn't even take note of it until you were about to attempt to finish me off. Even the strongest kind of strategy can still fail to the smallest oversight."

"Ahhh... so right you are. My reflection, was it? I was... foolish to say the least." Tarensei's eyes shimmered in the cloudiness of the rain that washed over his bleeding remains. The storm only became stronger showing no signs of letting up anytime soon, but whooshed away long enough for the shinobi to say his final words.

"You've defeated me, Inuyasha. I was wrong about you..." he coughed. "Even though... I am about to die... I must express that I am quite happy to move onto the afterlife. As I've said before. Death I do not fear. We shouldn't fear death... rather we should fear life in itself. There are... far much bigger horrors we experience while living our short time on this planet... while therefore we can only share peace when our souls exit... into the next world."

Inuyasha was silent, listening to Tarensei's words.

"My childhood was nightmarish. I was shunned from society because I was a half demon. They didn't understand. They feared me. Feared... the unknown. I was forced to take retribution only because I was pushed into it. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I only wanted to have friends and to be loved. I didn't even know who my parents were and why I was abandoned into the rough life that could've been easily avoided. Through my strife, I took my own path. And years have passed until I only gained strength though the means of joining the Shinkantetsu. I was not weak anymore. I was strong in both body and mind. Attuned to nature and no longer ashamed for being what I was. But you know what? Despite that, there was always a part of me that felt truly alone in this world." Tarensei said softly.

Upon hearing this, Inuyasha was reminded of his own childhood. Especially of his human mother. Tarensei continued speaking.

"I... want to thank you. Even though my intentions toward you were hostile I am glad the outcome was different. But I must warn you - the other members are significantly stronger than me. Be careful in the event you run into them." Tarensei said.

"Go ahead and die. The quicker you do the sooner your suffering will end. Even if you think what you did in the past was right, it doesn't make you any better than the same humans that tortured you. You were only brought to the same level of atrocity having to resort to the violence and hate they share. In addition to that... I couldn't care less about these other guys you're mentioning. I'll give them more than a challenge they can handle if they decide to get in my way." Inuyasha said as he stood up and placed the Tetsusaiga in its sheath, fixing it in place against his belt string.

"You are... right... cough... an eye for an eye... no longer applies here, does it? I may have... regretted the past. But what I do not regret is this very moment. As a matter of fact... I embrace it wholeheartedly. Perhaps... the higher forces in the afterlife will grant me forgiveness and a much happier existence. Everlasting peace... but if I shall be punished... then so be it." Tarensei's eyes had fluttered and finally shut still, his head lightly thumping back against the water's surface. He was now dead, his body disappearing into a large but lovely puff of rose petals.

Tarensei's blood washed away into the flow of the tides and the pink petals were blown away into the gentle wind of the rainstorm, swirling past Inuyasha's face and pushing his silver hair aside. The jewel shard stayed behind, lying still and sparkling in the water. Inuyasha picked it up and put it in his pocket. Walking away in silence with his wounds having now ceased from bleeding, he turned around one last time and watched the rose petals disappear into the misty rain.

"Goodbye, Tarensei. I hope you do find peace." he said before running north. The thoughts of Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and most of all Kagome entered his mind.

"No matter what it takes, I refuse to let anyone stand in my way no matter how strong they are. I'll save Kagome no matter what the cost, and that's a promise I intend to keep." Inuyasha thought before disappearing into the rain whilst heading northward.

The End of Chapter 14.