A great combination of InuYasha and Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
the two demonic shows we thought couldn't mix. (Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com) Disclaimer: Don't own the shows, don't plan on trying to,
none use this fic without permission.
Author's Notes: This is an edited and
corrected version of the story originally posted to
Fanfiction.net January - March, 2004. The content is still
essentially the same as the first version, but I fixed some
consistency glitches, typos, and Japanese usage errors.
This story takes place after the second
Inuyasha film, "Castle Beyond the Looking Glass," (after Episode
74 in the series), and after the Buffy series finale. Contains
spoilers for events that happen in all seasons of Buffy, through
the beginning of the final season of Angel, Inuyasha episodes
1-74, and the second Inuyasha film.
Musashi's Domain, late 16th-century Japan
He was fast--faster than most vampires,
thought Buffy as he came at her in a blur of silver and red.
She ducked his punch and managed to land one
of her own, but lost her balance when she overreached in trying
to land a second blow. She landed on her butt in the grass,
scrambled to her feet, and looked for him.
He was ten feet away, and picking himself up,
as well. At least she hadn't landed on her face!
"Heh, you're pretty strong--for a human."
She smiled at him. "And that was a pretty
wimpy attack--for a demon."
"Oh, yeah?" And then he was coming at her
again, moving even faster now.
This is going to be fun, thought Buffy.
It had been a while since she'd encountered an opponent who
could give her a run for her money.
And neither of them was seriously trying to
kill the other.
At least, that's what she hoped. Because
Kagome would be pretty pissed off if Buffy slew her boyfriend.
She survived his next two passes, but by a
narrower margin than she would have liked. For now, she was
fighting cautiously, trying to avoid getting hit while feeling
out his strengths and weaknesses.
Inuyasha's attacks, on the other hand, were
quickly gaining in speed and intensity as he realized that his
initial efforts were falling short.
Despite his tough talk, he had been going easy
on her. Now, apparently, he had caught a clue about what she
really was, and was kicking into higher gear.
She got lucky, and managed to get behind him.
Buffy kicked, hard, and felt her foot connect with the middle of
his back.
He flew forward, then somehow managed to turn
the fall into an acrobatic flip. Both of his hands landed on the
ground, and while doing a handstand, he spun round, and came to
his feet facing her again.
And all this in the blink of an eye.
She kicked at his head, aiming for his ears.
They looked soft...and sensitive. She missed, barely even
managing to ruffle his hair.
In return, he landed a blow upside her head
that she never even saw coming. The side of her face went numb
and bright stars shot through her field of vision.
She stumbled back and blocked another blow
with her elbow.
They circled one another warily for a moment
or two, both of them panting a little.
"Are you sure you aren't a hanyou?" he asked,
suspiciously.
"I once called my mother a thing of evil, but
no," Buffy said, keeping her gaze fastened on his. She had
observed that he always looked in the direction of his next
lunge, and forewarned was forearmed. Especially given how damned
fast he was. "Both of my parents are--were--human."
"But I can see your youki when you fight,"
Inuyasha said, frowning. "Pure humans don't have that. Well,
Sango does...but not like you."
Demon aura, eh? She wondered whether the
demonic energy that the sorcerers had given the First Slayer was
the same thing that Inuyasha called youki. Sort of makes sense.
"That's interes--" Buffy missed his cue, and
only prevented his fist from connecting with her cheek by
flinging herself backwards.
She hit the ground, and rolled. He followed
her, and lashed up and out with his foot just as she regained
her feet, catching her in the midsection.
"Ooof!" She folded over, simultaneously trying
to breathe while not throwing up. Tuck, roll, get back on
your feet--and, shit! His hand was already reaching for
her throat.
She knocked his arm aside, a little wildly,
and followed up immediately with a high kick.
He almost went down that time, and she took
advantage of the brief respite to regain her feet. Nearly got me
that time.
At first, Kagome was glued to the scene
unfolding before her.
The two of them, hanyou and Slayer, were
graceful as dancers, leaping, rolling, kicking. They seemed
evenly matched, both of them agile and strong, and she was
surprised to see how few of their blows actually landed.
And, to her surprise, Buffy also performed the
amazing leaps and flips that characterized Inuyasha's fighting
style. Where Inuyasha used his leaping ability constantly to
climb trees and cover ground quickly, Kagome had never suspected
that Buffy could do the same.
Her jumps weren't quite as high as his, but
her landings were more controlled.
It was riveting...at least at first.
After an hour, though, Kagome let herself
slide down to the ground. No longer bothering to conceal
herself--the two combatants seemed oblivious to all but each
other--she sat with her back to a convenient tree trunk.
Her thoughts began to wander a bit.
Shippo joined her shortly thereafter. He
leaned against her, sucking on one of the strawberry lollipops
she had given him.
More time passed, and neither Buffy nor
Inuyasha seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
She noticed that they were beginning to
breathe hard. Inuyasha had discarded his jacket, and Buffy was
down to a t-shirt as well. But they continued to circle, lunge,
and kick without pausing. Some of their moves were so fast they
blurred.
She glanced at her watch. Two hours so far,
and Buffy and Inuyasha had each taken one serious fall. So much
for thinking that a duel that was restricted to two out of three
falls would be over quickly.
"Shippo-chan, have you been playing in the
bushes again? " Kagome pulled a comb out of her pocket, and
untied the fox-cub's thick ponytail.
He draped himself over her lap, and held still
while she combed out the various bits of leaves and twigs from
his shining auburn hair. Unusually-colored hair seemed to be
a youkai hallmark, she thought, remembering the night
Inuyasha had let her comb out his own silver mane.
Sango got up and left for a while, and
returning with an armful of items that included leaf-wrapped
onigiri, cans of cold tea from Kagome's pack, and a pot of
Kaede's leftover vegetable stew.
Giving the two combatants an assessing glance,
she murmured, "I don't think they'll want to stop for lunch,"
and set about kindling a small fire to heat up the stew.
Miroku joined them as soon as he smelled the
food.
As they munched away, they heard an occasional
oath or growl coming from the clearing, accompanied by the
sounds of skin connecting sharply with skin.
The monk sighed, a rice ball halfway to his
lips. "Such energy! A pity that it's directed at so useless a
venture."
"I don't think it's useless at all,
houshi-sama," Sango said, softly.
She looked in the direction of the meadow for
a long moment, musing. "I believe that no matter who wins today,
both of them will get along better from now on. They are both
warriors, and a warrior cannot truly respect an opponent with
whom he has not fought."
Kagome hoped Sango-chan was right.
The last twenty-four hours had been very
difficult. How could she choose sides between her friends? She
had only known Buffy for a few days, but she had grown
surprisingly close to the American slayer during that time.
And then there was Inuyasha...who was rude,
violent, jealous, and stubborn...but who could also be kind,
funny, and surprisingly compassionate.
When they had finished lunch, and rinsed out
the pot and bowls, Sango produced the rather battered deck of
playing cards that Kagome had brought along as a present at the
beginning of summer. Those cards had seen a lot of use during
their wandering journey around the Japanese countryside.
They played Hearts and Revolution and even
poker for hours.
During the course of the afternoon, one or the
other would get up at intervals, walk over to the clearing, and
return, reporting that Buffy and Inuyasha were still at it.
The sun sank low in the sky, and a cold wind
rose. Kagome shivered a little, and pulled her sweater tighter
around her shoulders.
Wouldn't those two ever get tired?
The sky was orange and the meadow deep in
shadow when Buffy went down for the third time.
She managed to take Inuyasha with her, and the
two of them hit the ground, hard, then rolled apart.
Bloodied and exhausted, they sprawled
side-by-side in the trampled grass. Neither of them moved for a
long moment.
Buffy could hear her own rasping breath.
Everything hurt. It just felt so good not to move. She almost
didn't care if she'd lost.
Almost.
"Heh, slayer. That was your third fall. I
win." His voice sounded raspy, too. And he was certainly
breathing hard.
Buffy moved her head just far enough so she
could see the white fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. "No way,
dog-boy. This is your third time, too, and you went down at the
same time I did."
"Shit." But he didn't leap to his feet and
demand another round. Thank God.
There was a long pause at they both realized
that neither of them had won.
"Look," said Buffy, at last, still gasping for
breath. "Maybe...we need to...find another solution...to this
problem."
"Like what?" Inuyasha asked.
"How about...neither of us...becomes the
leader? We'll get...one of your friends...to do it."
"Not if it means being beaten to a pulp by
either of you," Miroku called cheerfully, strolling out from
behind a nearby bush. "Are you two finally finished?"
Buffy saw that Sango, Shippou, and Kagome were
also making their way from the shelter of the trees along the
clearing's edge. They'd probably been there for quite a while,
watching.
Hope you guys enjoyed the show. Because
that's all, folks.
"Well? What about it?" Buffy asked Inuyasha.
"Wanna call it a draw and declare a truce?"
She raised herself up on her elbow, feeling as
if wet concrete had replaced the blood in her body. With an
effort, she lifted one very heavy arm and extended her
scratched, grimy hand to him.
From his position flat on his back, Inuyasha
turned his head and stared at her for a long moment. She was
sure he was going to rebuff her.
Then, slowly, he reached across his body and
offered his own hand. As his sleeve slid back, she saw that his
forearm was covered with reddened bruises.
He closed his taloned fingers carefully around
hers. She noticed that his skin was very warm, almost hot, and
his palms were rough with calluses.
"Truce," he said, then added. "You're a good
fighter. For a human."
She actually got a smile out of him. It made
him look...well, nice. Sort of sweet.
If you could discount the black eye and the
fat lip.
Not that she looked any better. She grinned at
him, and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. "And you're not too
bad, yourself. For someone who isn't a Slayer, I mean."
"Keh!" he replied, but she didn't think he was
really mad. For one thing, he didn't snatch his hand away.
She held on to him a moment longer, thinking
that he was actually a pretty good-looking guy when he wasn't
glowering. Even if he did have canines and those doggy ears.
No wonder Kagome had the hots for him. Dare
I call it puppy love?
Then she released him, and flopped back down,
looking up at Miroku. "Any suggestions, houshi-sama?"
He tilted in his head in the last scarlet wash
of daylight, and thought.
"Um, excuse me?" Kagome asked. "What if we
draw straws? That would be fair wouldn't it?"
"An excellent suggestion, Kagome-sama." He
moved closer to her, and Buffy saw Kagome back away. Evil hand.
Bad monk.
"Sounds good to me," Buffy said, closing her
eyes. She wondered if she could make it all the way back to
Kaede's cottage tonight. Staying here and sleeping under the
stars tonight was looking awfully good...maybe if one of the
others brought her a blanket and a pillow...
She must have dozed off for a moment, because
suddenly Miroku was kneeling at her side, offering her a fistful
of grass stalks from his evil hand. She could barely see them in
the fading light, so she plucked one at random.
He rose, and offered them to Inuyasha next,
then moved on to the others.
Kagome took the second-to-last stalk, and,
heart pounding, waited to see what the others had drawn.
"Long," said Shippo, holding up his stalk.
"Long," said Miroku.
"Long." Buffy had managed to sit up. She
tossed her piece of grass onto the ground. It was hard to tell
whether she sounded disappointed or not.
Kagome's heart leapt. It was going to be
Inuyasha! She was so glad--
"Long," he said, in a tone of disgust.
Now, everyone was looking at her. Slowly,
Kagome uncurled her palm, feeling sick. If no one else had drawn
the short stalk of grass...
She stared down at hand in horror.
Her blade of grass was definitely much shorter
than the others.
