Walking along the long dirt roads that surround and separate the vast rice fields, a young man with golden hair tied in a low ponytail raises his gaze and pulls a strange pink gem from inside his clothes.
No, calling that thing a gem is a mistake, since its edges are clearly rough and sharp, making it look like a fragment of something much larger.
"Um… It really doesn't seem like Kagome is here, or maybe she just has a smaller detection radius than Kikyo?"
Holding the pink fragment with sharp edges between his thumb and ring finger, the young man raises it toward the sky in perfect synchrony with the sun, allowing the light to pass through the fragment and release a beautiful pink glow.
That light dazzles him for a few moments, drawing all of his attention and clouding his blue eyes, as if it were trying to drag the young man into the depths of its beauty.
[Stop acting already!]
Sounding like thunder crashing down, a rough voice spreads through the surroundings from Clouded Fang, terrifying nearby birds and drawing the attention of the villagers close by.
"Damn it, Souga! Can't you see that I'm trying to enter the village quietly?!"
[Ha! That's for cowards! A true dragon fights head-on, with claws and teeth!]
"Sure, and I suppose part of being a true dragon is ending up inside a sword. You were just an idiot shouting at the air."
Mocking Souga, the dragon sealed inside the gem embedded in the hilt of Clouded Fang, Asahiko snaps his fingers and causes the curious villagers to fall into a quick illusion.
That illusion makes the newcomers insult the air as if they were talking to someone, then return to their work, leaving Asahiko alone with Souga once more.
[Very funny, little fox. I didn't end up like this because of a battle, but because of a hidden and vile attack.]
"That doesn't make it any better, Souga. Aren't dragon scales supposed to be one of the toughest materials? Then how the hell did they manage to kill you by surprise?"
Pronouncing the last part with a clear tone of Are you an idiot or just unlucky?, Asahiko causes another villager to fall into an illusion when he approaches to ask who he's talking to, and keeps walking.
[...]
"Don't tell me you were a scaleless dragon or one made entirely of flesh, which might be something you'd see in hell but… Gods, how disgusting."
[I had scales, idiot!]
"Hah! Why are you yelling all of a sudden?!"
Covering his ears in an attempt to avoid Souga's shout echoing through the area, things backfire for Asahiko and his head starts ringing, since Souga is also shouting through the mental link between them.
That sudden shock makes him wobble forward unsteadily, but just before his head kisses the ground, Asahiko twists his body in a display of superhuman ability and fixes his posture.
"Idiot dragon, I bet you didn't have scales and were walking around naked through all of hell! Ha, I'm sure that— Eh? Why isn't he responding?"
"He just left… Also, how did you even get to talking about that?"
"If you stopped being so unreliable and went out a bit more, maybe you'd know, Saya."
Tapping the gem where Souga resides several times with his fingernail, Asahiko is met only with complete silence, erasing all his interest.
But as the saying goes: when God closes a door, He opens a window—and the window this time was Saya, who has kept a low profile.
"Ah… You have no idea how hard it is to maintain this seal. I do everything with my own energy, you know? There's not much time I can come out and talk to you."
"Sure, sure, Saya. And I suppose those perfectly timed moments are always when we're about to eat."
"Ahem, cough, mere coincidences. By the way, where are we? I don't see young Kikyo or Akemi."
Stopping the stroking of his long beard when he almost chokes on his own saliva, even as a spirit, Saya quickly changes the subject and looks around with interest.
Obviously, most of Saya's interest is fake, but he is still somewhat intrigued by Kikyo's absence and the fact that Asahiko is standing in the middle of an unfamiliar village.
"Kikyo's around somewhere, Akemi is in her original village, and we're here to… Beat up Inuyasha."
"Wait, what? No—more importantly, why?"
"You really need to go out more and not just for food, Saya. It goes like this: Kikyo left the village at night, met Inuyasha, they talked until she tried to drag him to hell—which was a bit extreme, but—"
"Only a bit extreme! She almost dragged the son of Master Inu no Taisho into hell! What would I have told the master when I met him in the afterlife if she had succeeded?!"
Gripping both his beard and white hair tightly, Saya makes a whole scene, though no one pays attention thanks to Asahiko and his well-timed illusions.
But doing this was a mistake. Earlier, in the rice fields, the blatant use of illusions wasn't very noticeable—but in the middle of a village? With Inuyasha and a monk lurking nearby? It was almost like turning on a light in the middle of the darkness.
"You… Where is Kikyo?!"
Jumping from the roof of a house with sword in hand, Inuyasha throws out the question at the same time he attacks without thinking.
That earns a grimace from Asahiko, but he doesn't give it much importance and simply moves to the side, dodging the massive sword while also putting distance between himself and Inuyasha.
Boom
The sword is so heavy that instead of cutting the ground, it crushes it, kicking up a cloud of dust and creating a huge crater full of scars.
"Don't run and fight head-on, you damn coward!"
"Are you crazy? That sword is nothing more than a chunk of iron with a handle. Who's dumb enough to fight that head-on?"
Watching Inuyasha emerge from the dust like an idiot makes Asahiko grit his teeth as he slowly draws Clouded Fang from its sheath.
Seeing this, Inuyasha raises his sword in front of him, ready to unleash his fury, but before he can do so, he is struck by a flying staff.
"Stop! You can't fight here, we're in the middle of the village!"
"MI-RO-KU… Why the hell do you hit first and talk later?!"
"A small slip, nothing more."
Dodging Inuyasha's punch like it's nothing, a young man with short black hair, a violet robe, and long black sleeves casually picks up the fallen staff and positions himself beside Inuyasha, eyes forward.
He is clearly ready to join the fight, but unlike Inuyasha, who is completely impulsive, Miroku strokes his chin with his gloved hand and tries to talk first.
"I see you seem to know my canine friend named Inuyasha, so could you tell me what you're doing here?"
"You know, I'm not sure whether you're insulting him for fun or flattering me, but I think I like you already, monk."
"Jajaja, just a coincidence—and it's not wrong to call him canine."
"Actually—"
Nodding to each other as if they were lifelong acquaintances, Miroku is struck by Inuyasha, snapping Asahiko back to reality, causing both to raise their guard again.
Of course, that "guard" is just them staring each other down, since Miroku doesn't seem like a front-line fighter, while Asahiko is genuinely enjoying the situation.
"Enough, we already tried the nice way. If you're not going to answer either question… You can die!"
"Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Both things are actually connected."
Dodging Inuyasha's fierce slash with a backward step, Asahiko lands on a roof and draws both their attention, all while promising to answer both questions.
"First, for my favorite canine friend: Kikyo is nearby, even watching us if I know her well. Wait—don't leave!"
"What do you want? I have to go talk to Kikyo."
"Everything is connected… Remember? Damn it, stop and listen, you idiot dog!"
Instantly creating a ball of fire, perhaps fueled by his anger at being ignored, Asahiko releases it in front of Inuyasha, blocking his path with flames.
Those golden flames don't burn—much to Asahiko's inner pyromaniac's disappointment—but they do look threatening and dangerous. Because of that, Inuyasha stops in surprise, though he seems more than willing to jump through the fire if it means seeing Kikyo.
"Grr, talk fast, I don't have time for this!"
"Simple… I challenge you to a duel for Kikyo's love, here and now!"
"Ohhh, how will you answer that challenge, Inuyasha? Will you run away or fight for Miss Kikyo's love?"
Covering his mouth with one hand while shouting exaggeratedly, Miroku starts throwing more fuel onto the metaphorical fire, like a neighborhood gossip.
"Bah, I don't have to prove anything to this raccoon that's Shippo's relative."
"Of course you don't have to prove anything, Inuyasha. But remember that last night you chose Kagome, right when Kikyo was being dragged to hell… I'm not a gossip, but that had the suspension bridge effect, and after a heart-to-heart conversation—"
"What—what happened after that?"
Taking two steps forward before being stopped by Miroku's hand, now wearing a serious expression, Inuyasha turns and looks at him in confusion.
"Stop, Inuyasha. He seems to be a powerful rival. He even used the borrowed shoulder technique when a lady is hurting… You might not want to know what happened next."
"What—what could have happened next?!"
"When two bees get together! Hey, watch those flames!"
"The next ones go to your face, perverted monk. Now tell me, Inuyasha—will you fight or run with your tail between your legs?"
Blowing on the index finger he just used to fire golden flames at that perverted monk, Asahiko fixes his expression and once again tries to provoke a fight with Inuyasha.
Which really wasn't necessary, since if instead of talking so much Asahiko had attacked directly, Inuyasha wouldn't have refused at all and this whole detour could have been avoided.
"You're the one who keeps talking!"
"Fair point. Then I suppose that… Guard up, beast!"
Finishing his words from behind Inuyasha, to his surprise, space seems to distort and another Asahiko appears as the first one disappears.
That Asahiko doesn't hesitate for a second and immediately tries to stab his sword into Inuyasha's back, but Inuyasha's instincts are beyond measure. He throws himself to the ground on all fours and then kicks backward, sending Asahiko flying.
That opens up a good distance between them, which Inuyasha uses to grab his fallen sword and charge forward, while Asahiko tries to correct his posture midair.
"Jajaja, you're not so tough now, bastard!"
Crossing the distance between them in just two quick steps, Inuyasha swings the massive chunk of iron he calls a sword and easily cuts Asahiko clean in half, surprising himself and everyone else.
But the surprise doesn't end there, because the two halves of Asahiko's body begin to glow before exploding with a thunderous sound into a pillar of golden flames.
Those flames don't harm Inuyasha, but they completely blind him with their brightness, leaving him entirely at Asahiko's mercy as he begins circling him like a shark stalking its prey.
"Here, Inuyasha. No, no, over here. Maybe even here. Hehehe… here, yes."
Recreating multiple figures through illusions and transformation on the other side of the fiery curtain, along with familiar voices, Asahiko slowly closes in and then attacks beneath that metaphorical cloud of smoke.
It was the perfect attack—vile and precise—a masterwork that nearly perfectly combines Asahiko's illusion and transformation abilities, resulting in the first blood of the battle when a wound appears on Inuyasha's back.
"Ahg, damn slippery bastard!"
Letting out a growl more from anger than pain, Inuyasha raises his sword with both hands and slams it into the ground, creating a shockwave powerful enough to blow away the golden flames.
With his vision cleared, his amber eyes desperately search for any trace of Asahiko, but there's nothing around him, so in another display of animal instinct, he lifts his head upward.
Up there is Asahiko, sword sheathed, holding a long spear of golden flames in his right hand. Strangely, that spear doesn't end in a point, but instead in the spinning tip of a drill.
"It doesn't have a name and I'll probably only use it this once, Inuyasha… but you can call it: Flaming Spear!"
Beginning to descend as if gravity were finally doing its job, Asahiko aims the spinning spear straight at Inuyasha's head, giving him no time to think.
But Inuyasha doesn't need that—his instincts are stronger than his thoughts—so he does the first thing that comes to mind… cut the damn attack and Asahiko along with it!
"Ahhh!"
Gathering strength in his lower body, Inuyasha half-spins with his sword to build centrifugal force and slashes upward, striking the Flaming Spear head-on.
However, the expected clash doesn't happen; instead, the sword passes cleanly through the spear, putting Inuyasha's senses on high alert. The problem is that the mind works at one speed and the body at another, so even though he knows something is wrong, he can't retract his attack.
"Are you stupid, Inuyasha? Why would I attack with something that doesn't deal damage? It's simple logic, you know?"
Whispering those words right behind him, Asahiko slowly guides Clouded Fang toward Inuyasha's shoulder, but suddenly his body begins to be pulled backward.
No—more than pulled, it's as if he's being drawn in, like a star being continuously and inexorably attracted to a black hole. With those thoughts racing through his mind, and curiosity about who's doing this, Asahiko forcibly turns around.
It's Miroku—or more precisely, the hand that was previously gloved is now bare, revealing a deep, dark hole that seems to be the source of the problem.
"Inuyasha, his abilities are like Shippo's! Don't rely on your instincts—think carefully before acting!"
"You think I don't know that, Miroku?! He's a fox, but I didn't think he was such a powerful and slippery one. Tsk."
"Jajaja, thanks for the compliments."
Laughing despite being trapped between Miroku's pull and Inuyasha's sword, several ideas cross Asahiko's mind, but in the end he chooses the most obvious one… attack the weakest link.
That link is Miroku, so Asahiko stops resisting and even propels himself toward him, closing the distance almost instantly and delivering a slow slash toward his chest.
The slowness of the cut makes it obvious and easy to dodge, so Miroku throws himself to the ground and avoids it without issue. In that brief moment, the pull on Asahiko disappears, leaving him free to attack Inuyasha approaching from behind or… run.
"Don't run, coward! Come here and fight like a man!"
"Jajaja, I'm a fox, not a man, idiot!"
"Come here, I'll kill you!"
Kicking the ground harder, Inuyasha gains a second burst of speed, making it easier to chase Asahiko toward the outskirts of the village.