by Nate Sindel

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Okay, this is my first Inuyasha fic, so I hope you don't mind of the characters are a little OOC. Well, I'm not going to bore you with details about the story, so here it is.

' ' thought

( ) author's notes

***** scene change

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Kagome, why do we have to go to this village," Inuyasha said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Because, we're running low on supplies, and this is the closest place to get food," Kagome explained and proceeded to ignore his further protests. Sango and Mirokou, walking behind them, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she's only had to explain it to you ten times," Shippo said before getting pummeled on the head.

The woods around them thinned, and soon gave way to large fields. The path they walked on continued through these fields and ended at the edge of the small town. Upon reaching the town they noticed several things were somewhat off. For one, there were no people around, anywhere. Many of the houses seemed to have been destroyed long ago by some unknown force.

"What happened here?" Mirokou asked looking around at the destruction.

"This place reeks of dragon," Inuyasha said sniffing the air.

"I sense jewel shards, and their moving," Kagome said looking over at the forest, and turning according to where her sense guided her.

Then it happened, from the largest hut at the other end of the small village, a dragon's head exploded outward from the front. It was a blue, shenron type of dragon, which snaked its way towards them.

"Ah, like flies to the web," it said continuing forward till it was about ten feet from them, then it reared back, its shadow covering them.

"The village was an illusion?" Sango asked looking around.

"And a very useful one at catching stupid humans," the dragon said.

"Kagome, is he the one with the jewel shards?" Inuyasha asked her.

"No, I don't sense any on him."

"Tetsu, that's enough," they heard a voice from their right.

Turning they saw a boy of about Inuyasha's age, maybe an inch or two taller than him, standing atop one of the building. He wore clothes very similar to Inuyasha's, except the kimono and pants were green, and the loincloth underneath was black. Around his waist was a black sash, wrapped around his waist and tied off to the side, allowing the two ends to flow down one of his legs. Flowing down his back was a large green braid, stopping just above his calves. Strapped to his back, under the braid, were two massive shotels (picture something like the shotels used by Gundam Sandrock Custom, in Endless Waltz), which looked to be made from either the bone or teeth of a demon; like Sango's boomerang, and the Tetsaiga. There was a hole in the seat of his pants, from which a long, scaly tail protruded. His hands, which were currently at his sides, were green, four-fingered, with large claws on them. Green eyes flashed when he saw them.

"Look," Sango whispered not wanting to draw attention, "he's half dragon."

"I've heard of them, but never met one," Mirokou whispered back.

"But Akira, I was just starting to have fun," the dragon hissed.

"Tetsu, do I have to remind you what will happen if you kill one of them?" Akira asked placing his left hand on one of the shotels.

"No, I'll go," Tetsu said and slithered away.

Akira leapt easily from the building and landed in front of them, tail swishing back and forth in abandon.

"Sorry about that, he likes to scare people who come through here."

"What is this place?" Mirokou asked looking at the demolished buildings.

"This…is no mans' land," he said gesturing behind him.

"Inuyasha, he has the shards I sensed," Kagome whispered to Inuyasha.

"What, these?" he asked taking a small leather pouch from inside the sash around his waist. "What do you want with these pieces of the shikon jewel for?"

"They belong to us," Inuyasha said placing his hand on Tetsaiga's hilt.

"Do you want to fight me for them?" he asked cocking his head to the side. "It really depends on what you're going to use the for."

"I'm gonna use it to become a full demon," Inuyasha pulled the Tetsaiga from its sheath and held the now transformed sword at ready.

"So, you're only half?" Akira asked looking somewhat startled by this new information. "Then this shouldn't be too hard."

He reached behind him and pulled one of the shotels from its straps. Holding the pouch in one hand he held the shotel in the other.

"All right, I can the wind scar," the half demon said to himself, squinting his eyes slightly at the whirling energy. 'This is strange, his energy is white, not black.'

"Now, make your move," Akira said tilting sword slightly as to cause a reflection of the sun.

"Fine!" Inuyasha yelled and leapt into the air, bringing the Tetsaiga over his head, hoping to end this quick.

When he began to descend, slashing the sword down, Akira moved the sword away and caught the Tetsaiga in his heavily scaled hand, having slipped the pouch back in his belt. He held Inuyasha there, in the air, as lightening sparked from the contact of his hand and the blade.

"Come now, did you really think a simple fang could cut a dragon?" he asked and held the hanyou over his head, then slammed him to the ground.

"Oh yeah, forgot that," the dog demon said to himself as he stood and rubbed his head. "Well, then take this."

He brought the Tetsaiga behind him with one hand and whipped it forward. White blades of energy whipped towards the half dragon. Akira simply planted the blade of his shotel into the ground and held it, sharp edge forward. When the blades sent by Inuyasha connected with the shotel, they cancelled out, dispersing into nothing. Akira then pulled the blade out and held it in front of him.

"Is that it, I don't see that you're worthy of these shards," he said removing the pouch and tossing it into the air and catching it, then slipped it into his sleeve.

"DAMN YOU!" Inuyasha yelled running forward again.

He slashed again and again with the Tetsaiga, but every time he did Akira simply blocked it with either his shotel, or his hand. They kept this up, neither gaining, or losing ground, and Akira actually seemed bored with Inuyasha's attempts.

"Too bad, a sword that can slay a hundred demons, is useless against a dragon," Akira smirked, thrusting his hand forward, past the sword, and punching Inuyasha in the face, sending him sprawling on his back. The Tetsaiga returning to its original form as it fell from his hand.

"This isn't good, even with the full power of the Tetsaiga, Inuyasha was unable to do any damage," Sango said sounding worried.

"I doubt Inuyasha would really appreciate us helping him, but I'm going to anyway," Mirokou said removing the beads from his hand.

He ran in front of the fallen demon and thrust his own hand forward, removing the beads completely.

"WIND TUNNEL!" he yelled as the massive black hole opened and started pulling in debris from fallen buildings.

This caught Akira completely off guard and quickly planted his shotel in the ground again, bracing himself. The move worked, as he wasn't moving an inch from where he was.

"Wait, why not?" Akira asked himself looking at the monk.

He pulled the shotel from the ground and was instantly pulled from that spot towards Mirokou. His plan was to get close enough, then slice of the monk's hand. He looked over at the two females they had been traveling with and noticed one of them had the jewel in her hands. Thrusting the very end of the shotel forward, it stuck into the wind tunnel, without getting sucked in.

"What? How?" Mirokou asked looking at the dragon now perched on his palm.

"You didn't really think a sword of this much power could be pulled into a tiny hole like that, did you?" Akira asked with a smile. "Now close it up so I can give you the shards."

He took the shotel from Mirokou's hand and Mirokou wound the beads around it.

"Why?" he asked dumbfounded.

"I see you've already collected almost a quarter of the jewel, and you must have gone through hell to get those shards, so here you go," he said dropping the pouch into Mirokou's hand.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," he said accepting the pouch.

Kagome went to help Inuyasha up.

"What happened?" he asked sitting up, holding his head.

"I'm not sure exactly," she said helping him to his feet.

"Did we get the shards?"

"Yeah, I guess he didn't need them."

"You should consider yourself lucky, Inuyasha, had I been using the jewel shards, you would be dead," Akira yelled over at him. "Now that you have them, might I ask what brought you here in the first place."

"We were running low on supplies, and thought we could stock up here," Mirokou said.

"I see," he said crouching down and inspecting the ground. "Here it is."

He stuck a finger into the ground and when he pulled it out, a spell paper was caught on his talon. The buildings, the ones that were affected by the spell, around them all but disappeared, becoming the bare skeletons of the former houses. Some of them were just planks of wood strewn across the ground.

"I suppose you'll want the melting pot," he said standing up and shredding the paper.

"Melting pot?" Sango asked like she was trying to remember it.

"You, you're a demon exterminator, I guess they sent you for it. How are they anyway?"

"How do you know of my village?" she asked.

"You don't know?" he looked confused as if she should have known everything. "Three hundred years ago, when the jewel was first created, the shaman of your village felt that they should create a melting pot, in case the jewel was chipped or cracked, so they could rebuild it."

"Oh, you mean Seriyu, he was my ancestor."

"Yeah, he brought to me for safe keeping. Come along then, it's not far," he said turning away and walking towards a path to the east.

"Just how old are you anyway?" Kagome asked.

"Roundabouts of...uh...four-hundred-twenty-two," he said placing his hand on his chin in thought.

They walked along the path, silently, unless you count Shippo's constant humming. The trees ended abruptly, and they stood in front of a massive field of cherry trees. The path continued right up the middle, to a tree, a tree much larger than all the others. Continuing their trip, they came up to the base of the tree.

"Sakura, where did you go?" he looked all around the tree, leaving the others to look on in confusion. "Figures, she's never around when I need her."

He continued to look around the tree, in the branches, through the surrounding rows of trees. Sighing he sat down on one of the massive roots which burst through the earth.

"Who's Sakura?" Mirokou asked.

"My sister, she has the key to the pot's location."

As if on cue there was a missive wind and a pink blur ran past them, and slammed into Akira. He fell back off the root with a girl in his arms. The pink blur they saw had been the robes she was wearing. When they stood they could see her. If you've ever seen Mayuka from Tenchi Muyo: Daughter of Darkness, well that's who she looks like. Except for her hair falling down he back to rest just above her waist, and from under her hair came to small horns. Poking out, just a little less than half an inch, from under her robes was the very tip of a dragon's tail. This went unnoticed by all. Her hands were not much different from Akira's, except that she had all five fingers, and they were small and feminine.

"Was I called?" she asked looking very innocent.

"Open it up, please," he said looking at the tree.

"Okay," she walked up to the trunk and lightly laid her clawed hand in a handprint that was in a knot of the tree.

The knot began to glow, then made a full circle. A crack split the tree right up the middle, and the two halves slowly move away from each other. In front of them was now a steep, stone staircase, leading down into the depths of the earth. As light streamed down into the hole, torches on the walls lit themselves.

"Follow me," Sakura said walking down the steps, followed by Sango, then Mirokou and Kagome, with Shippo on her shoulder, and then Inuyasha and Akira bringing up the rear, Kirara walking between them.

Together they all walked down into the bowels of the earth.

TBC

________________________________________________________________

There, that's all for now, had to leave you with some kind of cliffhanger.

E-mail me with any comments at berserk_fury001@yahoo.com