Feudal Friends

Chaper Six


"What the hell?!" Inuyasha cried as they broke through the last few trees and stood, shocked by the scene before them. Hige and Tobe were standing right beside them, Hige in surprised panic, Toboe scared shitless. Tsume and Kiba were fifty feet forward, both wolves' fur standing on end, and both were glaring and snarling.


Before the two wolves was a gaint pit and crawling out of it were snakish-looking demons. Each was about as long as a man was tall and about as wide as one. They had large red eyes and wide mouths filled with too many teeth. Around their necks were web-like manes of a fiery orange, while the rest of the creature's body was a dark green. The demons didn't seem to have noticed the two wolves standing only a few feet away.


"It looks like a nest," said Sango, tightening her grip on the boomerang's strapes, ready to hurl at a moment's notice.


"There are dozens of those demons! The wolves will get eaten!" Kagome gasped.


Inuyasha's hand went to his sword hilt, and his eyes narrowed as he watched the demons. "What happened? What were you doing?" he asked Hige.


"We were just running to let off a little steam when we into...these...things!" he explained. Sango, Miroku, and Kagome looked at him curiously. Even though he still looked like a wolf, his voice was as clear as day, though his mouth never moved.


"They look pretty pissed," said Inuyasha, looking out of the corner of his eyes as the wolf. "You guys didn't try to eat one, did you?"


"Oh, gross! I couldn't eat something that ugly if I wanted to!" Hige exclaimed, sounding digusted.


"This is no time for jokes, Inuyasha! Tsume and Kiba are in real trouble!" Kagome said.


"Oh, alright. But this'll be too easy," Inuyasha said. He was about to draw Tetsusaiga and completely eradicate the demons when Miroku put a hand on his arm. "Inuyasha, don't! If you use Tetsusaiga, you'll hit Kiba and Tsume."


"Wha? Dammit!" Inuyasha growled, realizing the monk was right and relaxed his grip, but did not remove his hand from his sword. "Miroku, why don't you use your Wind Tunnel and suck these things up?"


The monk shook his head. "I can't for the same reason you can't use Tetsusaiga; they'll get sucked in as well."


"Damn wolves," Inuyasha said. "Keep getting in our way!"


"The demons don't seem to have noticed them yet. Maybe they can sneak back here and we'll go around," said Kagome hopefully.


Hige scoffed. "'Sneak' isn't in their vocabulary." He turned back and watched them. "They're going to attack any minute, I can tell by their scent."


"What?!" exclaimed Sango.


"You can't be serious!" cried Kagome.


"No way!" said Inuyasha, tightening the grip on his sword again. "I didn't save their mangy asses from a big demon, only to be mincemeat for a bunch of little ones!"


"Inuyasha!" cried a small voice. Inuyasha's dog ears perked up at the small noise, and he looked around curiously. "Who said that?"


"Inuyasha, Kagome, help!" it cried again. Now everyone was looking around, trying to find the source of the voice.


"That sounded like Shippo..." Miroku said.


"That's because it was! Look!" said Sango, pointing up. Everyone's gaze traveled
up her arm to see that in a high branch of a tree was Shippo and Kilala. Both were hanging onto their small branch for dear life because a) they were hanging right over the infested hole and b) several demons were currently slithering up the try, eager for the quick meal. Kilala cried loudly as Shippo yelled "HELP!!"


"Shippo, Kilala!" cried Kagome, and she took a few steps forward, only to unwittingly step on a small branch. It broke with a loud SNAP! and everything seemed to freeze. She looked down in horror. "Uh oh...." she said, because now all the demon-snakes ha turned to them. They saw Inuyasha and his friends, but also saw the two wolves, and since they were closer, went for them first, hissing and snapping their jaws hungrily.


Just as the demons bore down on them and were about to be ripped apart, the wolves seemed to suddenly disappear. The demons seemed to be just as perplexed as Inuyasha and the others by the sudden Houdini act.


"Where'd they-?" began Sango quietly, before all hell broke loose. The wolves suddenly dropped from the sky, for they had jumped up to avoid the horde of monsters, and each landed on a demon's back with a loud crack, breaking their backs easily. The wolves darted away and the battle began.


From the pit slithered even more demons, and a whole horde came for Inuyasha. "Well, we can't let those wolves have all the fun!" he said, drawing his sword, causing Tetsusaiga to change into it's true form. He swung his sword with ease despite its size and slaughtered the first fifteen or so demons. Miroku quicklu joined the fight, swinging his staff and quickly destroying many himself, the ringlets on his staff dancing to a tune of death.


"Toboe!" said Hige, bringing the young wolf out of his trance of fear. "You have to go save your friend, unless you wanna see him get eaten!" he said, running and quickly joining Tsume and Kiba.


Toboe looked up to see the demons closing in on Shippo and Kilala, and with a snarl ran to the tree. Without pause, he jumped up and snapped his jaws on one demon's mane, jerking the demon off the tree. As it fell to the ground he ran up the tree, jerking, shoving and pushing demons away as he fought his way to the top.


No matter how many demons Inuyasha slashed, Miroku clubbed, Sango crushed with her boomerang, or Kiba, Tsume, Hige, and Toboe ripped apart, more kept coming out of the hole with renewed vigor.


Toboe landed on a thick branch, the last demon falling to the ground. He paused
to take a breath when there was a loud crack and a horrified cry. "Toboe, help!" cried Shippo, as the branch finally snapped and broked. It seemed like he and Kilala were falling in slow motion, tumbling end over end towards hundreds of hissing, hungry mouths. Shippo could inflate himslef like a balloon and float to safety, but he couldn't float with Kilala, and she didn't have time to change into her larger, fearsome shape that could fly. "I'm sorry, Kilala!" Shippo cried. "I'm really sor-hmph?!"


His mouth was full of reddish-brown fur as he and Kilala landed safely on Toboe back. The young wolf had jumped just in time to catch them from falling, but now all three were falling towards their doom.


"Toboe!" cried Shippo. "Boy, am I glad to see you! Thank you!"


"You're welcome!" Toboe called back. He turned in midair, and instead of falling towards the demon pit, they fell and landed gracefully on a tree branch jutting out. Toboe landed, turned, and jumped again, all in less than a second, just as a huge mouth tried to eat his leg. The tree was crawling with demons! It became a deadly game of tag as the wolf dodged mouths to land on branches that many times snapped as he landed. He was concentrating so hard on getting out of the demon-filled tree and onto the ground that when he finally did make it, he found out very quickly that the fight was only beginning.


If Toboe had it hard fighting his way out of the tree, the other three wolves were in hell. Blood filled the air, and body parts went flying as the wolves' deadly jaws ripped apart the demons. Many times only a perfectly timed accident saved one of their lives, one wolf just happening to rip a demon's head off that was about to eat another unaware wolf, with super agility and strength helping out as well. Despite all that, however, they were getting tired; there were too many demons to keep fighting for too much longer.


Though slaughtering the demons by the dozens, sheer numbers still forced Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Kagome back to the tree line. Kiba, Tsume, and Hige were making quick work of the demons that came from the hole, but many still slipped past the wolves.


"There's too many of them!" yelled Miroku, bashing another demon with his staff. Kagome, with grim determination in her eyes, shot an arrow into the skull of another one that was about to bite Sango's leg.


"They're gonna be ripped apart!" said Toboe. Shippo looked at the tree they had just came from, they down at the pit, and an idea popped like a balloon in his head.


"Toboe! I got an idea. Can you get me to Inuyasha?" he asked. Toboe turned and looked at him, but without questioning it ran for the half-demon. He was one of the fastest runners and was able to suddenly appear besdie Inuyasha , having crossed a horde of demons without a single nip.


"Inuyasha, Inuyasha!" cried Shippo, both in happiness and urgency. He jumped onto his shoulder, allowing Toboe to rip apart some demons. "Glad to see you're still alive," Inuyasha grunted, slicing a demon in half.


"Inuyasha, you need to chop down that tree!" said Shippo, pointing to the one he was previously trapped in.


"Do I look like a lumberjack to you? I kinda busy right now!"


"If you can cut down that tree, it'll block the hole, stopping them from coming out, and Miroku can use his Wind Tunnel to suck up any left!" Shippo explained.


"Sounds good to me!" said Miroku. "Inuyasha, just hurry, we can't keep these
things at bay forever!"


"What about the wolves? They'll get crushed!" said Sango, slicing a dozen demons in half with her boomerang. Toboe, who had just ripped a demon's head off, overhead the plan. "I'll go and warn them!" he said, and ran off to the three wolves, avoiding the demons by running over them, using their bodies as stepping stones.


"Alright, Shippo, let's go!" Inuyasha roared, taking a superhuman leap over the horde of demons. Shippo let loose several fireballs, his Foxfire attack, and burnt several demons to a crisp. With a mighty growl, Inuyasha lifted up his Tetsusaiga and, with a single swing, cut the tree's massive trunk like a machete through paper.


"TIMBER!!" he roared as there was a thunderous crack, and the ground shook as the tree began to fall.


"Damn, he wasn't kiddin'!" yelped Hige as he jumped to the side while Toboe and Tsume leapt away from the pit's edge. Kiba was about to dodge when a demon's jaws snapped around hishind foot. He snarled in pain and delivered a powerful kick to the demon's eye, forcing it to let go. Kiba looked up in time to see a huge wall of large branches and thick leaves fall on him, engulfing him in darkness.


"Wind Tunnel!" Miroku roared, removing the prayer beads from his right arm, revealing the hole in his palm. With tornado force, all the snake demons (and dismembered body parts) that weren't trapped in the pit or crushed by the falling tree were sucked into the hole. Rocks, leaves, branches, and tree limbs were sucked in as well until, with a pained grunt, he rewrapped the beads, causing the wind to die immediatly.


"Is everyone alright?" Kagome asked loudly. Miroku nodded, holding his right arm to his chest. Sango wiped the sweat off of her brow and replaced the boomerang on her back. Inuyasha landed quietly before them, resheathing Tetsusaiga in its normal shape with a smirk on his face. "Good plan, Shippo," he said, and the fox-demon beamed with pride.


"Shippo! You're alright!" cried Kagome, running forward and he leapt onto her shoulder. "I'm fine, Kagome, thanks to Toboe!"


"Kilala, you're okay, too!" said Sango, the little cat leaping into her arms, both happy to see the other alive. Sango hugged the cat, then narrowed her eyes in a scowl as she looked at her and Shippo. "What were you two doing in that tree, may I ask?"


Shippo hung his head sheepishly. "Toboe never answered my question, so I talked Kilala into following him so I could 'ask' him again!" As he explained, Shippo bared his fangs, a clear definition of what he meant by 'ask'.


"Haven't you ever heard of 'Curiousity killed the cat', Kilala?" asked Sango,
her voice gentle but reprimanding, making the little cat purr apologetically.


"That was very reckless, Shippo! You owe your life to Toboe," said Kagome.


"Speaking of Toboe, were are those mangy fleabags?" asked Inuyasha.


"Back there," said Miroku, pointing back towards the hole. Everyone turned to
see Hige, Tsume, and Toboe frantically running around the fallen tree, sticking their heads in the leafy branches and digging the ground uo around it fitfully. Toboe looked back, his voice filled with panic as he said "It's Kiba! He didn't dodge the tree in time; he's still in there! Help!"


"Stop yelling and start digging!" snapped Tsume, dirt flyin' from his paws.


"Hold on, we're coming!" yelled Kagome, everyone following her to the fallen tree. Just as they got there the tree's branches began to shake violently, causing everyone, human, demon, and wolf alike to step back.


"Looks like the demons are coming back for a second helping," Inuyasha said, drawing his sword. Everyone tensed up, preparing for a horde of demons to break through the tree and attack. The branches stopped shaking, then there was a violent shake, and something broke through, causing everyone to jump.


One minute, there was nothing, the next Kiba was standing above everyone on a branch, purple demon's blood splattered all over his white fur. In his jaws was the head of a demon, which with a flick of his head went flying. His sides were panting heavily, but his his eyes were sharp and alert, and he let loose a loud snarl, ready for another attack. "Did anyone miss me?" he growled.


"You jackass!" Hige said, happily annoyed.


Inuyasha turned his head, eyes closed, resheathing his sword. "I bet you got stuck under that tree just so you had a reason to kill a horde of demons."


"It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be," Kiba growled, nobody really
sure if he was serious or sarcastic.


While everyone was sighing with relief that Kiba wasn't dead, Tsume saw a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. He realized it was a small demon (during their fight it was learned that the little ones were the deadliest) and its open jaws were aiming staight for Inuyasha's head. The half-demon didn't even sense the gaping, needle-like teeth about to rip his head off, until it was too late to even glance back.


CRUNCH!! "Wha-?!" Inuyasha yelped, jumping back and turning, hand on his sword. Where he had been standing was Tsume, the demon hanging from his jaws, still moving and hissing. With a final snap, Tsume broke its neck and the demon hung limply from his jaws. He swung his head, flinging the dead demon away. When he turned back, his narrowed golden eyes burrowed deep into Inuyasha's wide ones, and something happened. It was less than a second, but a look complete understanding, trust, and familiarity passed between them, then it was over.


"Keep a look out next time, idiot," Tsume growled, blood dripping from his jaws. "Now we're even, got it?"