The Battle Of Kaoru! ((The Chapter Version))

Smash, the following chapter has some new material I just added today. =) i think it made this chapter a little freakier. Enjoy!



~~Chapter 3: The Frightening Demonic Aura~~

Just outside of Smash's house, Smash was doing his daily training by the side of the house. It was rather early. Nobody usually comes outside at this time. The sun was just rising above the horizon.

"One hundred and ninety three, one hundred and ninety four, one hundred and ninety five.." Smash was on the ground doing pushups. All morning he trained. He practiced his climbing on the tree in his backyard, he jogged laps around his house, he honed his fighting skills, all until he heard the 3 magic words that would send him sprinting back inside: "Breakfast is ready!"

Immediately, His head whirled around to face the open door that revealed his little sister, a pink echidna with purple hair going down until it reached at least the top of her stomach. Without wasting another moment, Smash sprang from what he was doing and bolted inside. His sister, Pearl, stepped aside and let the hungry echidna breeze by her, blowing her hair sideways as he ran by. She closed the door behind him and followed him into the dining room.

"Mmm, This looks good! Thanks Pearl. I'm starving half to death.." Smash licked his lips at the mere sight of the food. On his plate was a stack of pancakes drizzled with syrup and topped with butter, along with a serving of scrambled eggs and two strips of beef bacon. And to add onto the classic breakfast feel, a glass of orange juice to the side.

"Dig in." Pearl said with a giggle as she sat down across from him. "I'll get the napkins ready."

Smash narrowed his eyes at her. "Not funny." He muttered, though he couldn't help but chuckle a little before beginning his meal.


It had been years since their parents passed away. Smash and Pearl had been living alone together ever since. However, they were not from this era. They had traveled here through a well in a shrine. They originally came to investigate the source of some strange sounds reported being heard from it, some time ago, only to stumble into the feudal era. They had been lost for a while, and ended up staying in a vacant house until they found their way back home. Eventually, they met Taelor, and befriended her. After finding out exactly how to travel back and forth, they decided to visit this era on occasion.

But this world wasn't exactly safe. Demons and other such monsters they had never even heard of lurked the regions, making traveling to be a dangerous task. Still, Smash continues training wherever he is, to make sure that he is prepared for what may come.


~~~

Yami and Taelor still walked through the deep woods. Everything was getting familiar to Taelor, so assured she wasn’t lost or anything, she decided to make a little ‘idle’ chat with Yami. She needed an explanation for the nightmare her half demon friend had late last night..

"So Yami, how was your sleep?" Taelor was at least attempting to get Yami to talk to her about her feelings. She knew Yami had a bad dream last night....Everyone knew. She remembered the fearful cry of little Kaomi worrying about her mother in the night.

"It was good, actually!" Yami lied with a smile. "I slept like a rock!"

Taelor scowled.

'Dammit Yami...! You're not getting out of this one THAT easily.'

"Then what was with the groaning and yelling about your father last night?"

Yami's fake smile quickly faded. She still couldn’t believe that her dreams were such a big deal to everyone…

“It wasn’t a big deal Taelor, so just drop it.”

Now Taelor was getting more angry than upset. “No big deal? Yami, you were literally screaming in your sleep! Your daughter came to me crying because she was so terrified of it!”

Yami was shocked. She looked down, upset with herself for making her daughter cry..

She was hoping that she wouldn't have to tell anyone this today...but she knew Taelor wouldn't let any of this go until she told her the truth...

"Today is the 10th anniversary of father's murder. I guess..the stress just built up too much." she admitted solemnly.

Taelor stopped in her tracks.

Yami turned to look at her friend. The same sad expression still on her face.

"I....Yami...I....um..."

She chuckled sadly at her friend's loss of words. "Taelor..."

"I'm sorry I brought it up, Yami...I just....want to know how you feel about it..."

"We've already been through it a billion times!" Yami was starting to get a little annoyed with this subject. Her Uncle Sesshomaru doesn't bother her about it, so why do Yumi and Taelor?

"But Yami...It wasn't your fault!" Taelor yelled, her voice cracking. She felt the stinging in her eyes.

Yami sighed. The image of herself from 10 years ago with blank eyes and bloodstained hands appeared in her mind.

"Taelor...I killed my father. It's my fault he's gone." she said darkly, hiding her face with her long silver hair.

Taelor shook her head. "No Yami, it wasn't you...and you know that." Her tears fell freely now. She was crying for Yami's pain.

“I wasn’t strong enough to stop myself..”

Yami felt like she was going to cry too...But a loud yelp of pain quickly caught her attention. She turned and saw Taelor kneeling on the ground...squinting and yelling with pain as she held her head.

Yami saw that the jewel shards around Taelor’s neck had turned black. And at that instance, she felt a great evil presence. A new scent filled the air as the powerful demonic aura took hold. Yami quickly recognized it...with both fear and denial. Her heart froze as a woman with dark red hair and piercing black eyes appeared from the shadows of her mind.

"Taelor!" She ran to her friend's side. "Taelor, are you alright?!"

"Y...Yami..."

Taelor's emerald green eyes turned black. Yami gasped, and backed away from Taelor in sheer terror.

"What's wrong, Yami?..." Taelor stared Yami down with her new black eyes, and smiled wickedly.

The scared half-demon grew faint. That voice...Those eyes...And that smile...

“N-no..It can’t..You can’t…!….You’re dead!!” she screamed fearfully.

Still smiling, the stranger that was in Taelor’s body spoke just one more time.

“Oh, I am very much alive you pitiful half breed. I’m coming for you.”

Soon after that, Taelor fainted and the jewel shards she possessed turned pure and purple again.

But Yami didn't move to go help her friend.

Was that just Yami's imagination playing tricks on her...? She didn't know what to think about it...Kaoru was dead...At least...She was supposed to be..

'No...It couldn't be! I killed her...I killed her!! That had to have been my imagination...She's been dead for 10 years..’

She lad her hand on her breast, feeling her accelerated heart beat, and tried to calm herself.

"Of course it was my imagination...My mind is playing tricks on me because today is the anniversary of father's murder.."

But that couldn't explain Kaoru's scent and the powerful demonic aura..and the jewel shards turning black with evil..

She took a deep breath, and pushed it to the back of her mind. At least..she tried to.

As soon as Yami caught her breath and completely assured herself that it was her imagination, she ran to her fallen friend to try and wake her up.

"Taelor! Taelor, wake up." Yami begged, gently shaking the unconscious demon slayer.

Taelor made a few groaning noises before finally, her eyes opened.

"Thank goodness..." Yami sighed in relief. "Are you alright?"

"It's okay...I'm...fine..." she assured through her heavy breathes, and stood up.

"What was that?" Yami asked with worry.

"I don't know.....It's been happening for almost a week now. I get this terrible pain in my head for a few seconds, and then it just...disappears...."

"...Do you remember anything?"

"Remember anything?...Well...I just remember feeling an awful pain in my head, and then waking up just now. I know I fainted, I just don't know when.."

Yami froze for a second, remembering once again the chilling confrontation with Kaoru...But tried to push it in the back of her mind. If Taelor didn't remember it...then it must not have happened..right?

‘I’m coming for you.’

Those chilling words still sent their waves of terror through Yami’s spine.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Yami asked again, still concerned for her friend's health and just trying to ignore her scary thoughts.

Taelor nodded with a big smile.

"Come on. We're keeping Smash waiting!" she cried, and ran deeper into the woods.

Yami just stood there for a few more seconds, questioning her sanity before following Taelor.

~

Smash continued his training after he finished breakfast, with more energy and strength than he had before. Now that he had some food in his stomach, he felt as if he could go on for hours.

But...Something felt strange. Smash stopped, his eyes darting around from corner to corner. He felt like something was coming. Something he had never seen or heard of before. Whatever it was, he wasn't too sure if it was friendly or not. Either way, he was highly disturbed that he would feel something like this just now. He looked out the window of the room he was in. "......If my instincts serve me well, I'd better keep on training." He turned away from the window and continued his training, unaware of how big a threat was coming his way.

Pearl was still in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast. She was trailing off in her thoughts about various things she planned to do that day, when suddenly she started to feel disturbed. She felt something she had never even imagined before. She started to feel...scared. Whatever the feeling was, it was certainly frightening her. '...It’s just my imagination...It’s just my imagination...' She thought to herself, trying to calm down. She looked out the window of the kitchen. “...What happened..?”

Yeah, That's a bit scarier than before. o_o;


Sorry I haven't gotten around to finishing up the cleanup on the documented version I've got. I'll try to finish it as soon as possible.

Haha. Glad you like it. =) If you feel you should add on, go ahead and do so because this will be the FINAL time we add on to it.

Okay then. I'll look over it and see what I can/should do.

Alright! Will finish the changes to chapter 4 and send it tonight! Wish other people would read it though...

Didn't really add anything to this chapter. But again, if there's something you want to add, go ahead and do so. =)

~~Chapter 4: Enter: Smash and Pearl~~

It was disturbingly quiet the rest of the short journey to Smash's training hut. Yami couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier. If it was just in her mind like she was trying to assure herself, then how could Kaoru's scent and demonic aura have been there? And if Kaoru was indeed back, why did she take over Taelor's body?...For revenge maybe?

"Why don't you tell me what's on your mind before your head explodes?" Taelor asked, not even looking at her.

"Um..Well...Its nothing, Taelor. Really.." Yami didn't want to tell Taelor about the incident earlier. She'd think she lost her mind!

Taelor stopped and looked up at her friend with a big smile.

"Well, whatever's on your mind, Smash and I are going to cheer you up and take those sad thoughts away!"

Yami smiled back. "So when are we even going to GET to his place? We've been walking forever!"

Taelor turned back around and pulled some brush and tree branches away. In the clearing was a little house.

"We're already here!"

As Taelor and Yami got closer and closer to the house, Yami grew a little nervous.

"Taelor, h-he won't think I'm weird or anything, right?...I mean, you know my dog ears never help me out on a first impression!"

Taelor sighed. "You're worried about that NOW? Besides, I'm sure you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Smash and his sis aren’t exactly human either."

"What?.." Yami asked, surprised.

Taelor knocked on the door.

At the sound of the knocking, Smash jumped and made a startled yelp. He looked around frantically in a battle stance, but then realized on the second knock that somebody was at the door. Smash calmed down as he walked out of his room and called out "I'll get it!" Smash headed for the door, but then felt the warm hand of Pearl on his shoulder.
"Smash, wait..." She said in a low whisper. Smash turned to look at her. She had a serious, yet frightened look on her face. "I...I have a really bad feeling. I d-don't know what it is, but something...something isn't right."

"Shh.." Smash hushed her. "I guess it just wasn't my imagination then."

"You mean, You felt it too?"

Smash nodded. "Yeah, I did. Something's wrong here. I'm going to investigate, but first, the door. Pearl, Make sure you stand a safe distance away from the door, Just in case." He told her. Pearl nodded and obeyed, and Smash turned around to open the door. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his friend Taelor at the door.

"Taelor! It’s good to see ya. Come on in." Smash opened the door wide enough and stepped aside for the two to come in.

Pearl, peeking out from the kitchen, also let out a sigh of relief. But she immediately tensed up again when she saw Yami, for she didn't recognize her and she could feel this weird power emanating from this strange girl that looked human, but wasn’t...

Smash noticed Yami as well. "And who's this? Another friend of yours?" Smash asked.

"Yeah, this is Yami. My half demon friend I was telling you about yesterday." Taelor explained.

Smash chuckled. "Oh! To tell you the truth, I thought you were joking about her dog ears." he teased before holding out his hand. "I'm Smash. It’s very nice to meet you, Yami."

Yami looked down at the strange little creature, wondering what exactly he was. She was about a whole head taller than him. She wasn't trying to be rude as she was staring at him, her curiosity just got the better of her.

"Its very n-nice to meet you too.." The confused half demon gladly shook his hand. "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but.."

Smash and Taelor looked at her with wondering eyes.

"Just what exactly are you?...Some kind of demon?..."

Taelor busted out laughing. Smash paused for a moment, then joined Taelor in laughter. Yami couldn't help but feel a little sheepish.

Smash shook his head, still laughing a little. "No no no. Nothing like that. I’m an Echidna." He corrected her. “Smash The Echidna.” He held his hand behind him and motioned for Pearl to come out. Pearl indeed came out as Smash gave the okay.

Yami smiled sheepishly. "Of course. I'm sorry about that."

"And this is my little sister, Pearl." Smash introduced while putting his hand on her shoulder. Pearl managed to let out a cheery smile.

"Hi there! How are you?" She asked, although she was still a tad shaken up by earlier.

Yami's smile suddenly disappeared. She not only saw the fear on Pearl's face, she could smell it. "Are you okay? I'm sorry if I scare you. I might be half dog demon, but I promise I won't hurt you.."

Pearl's smile faded. 'She noticed...' She thought. "Oh, um...I'm fine. Thank you. I trust you." She said, but she still looked a bit afraid.

Smash looked over at Pearl. He already knew what was wrong, but he didn't say anything. He gave her a reassuring smile to let her know that everything would be alright. She looked back at him for a moment, and then calmed down a bit, putting her trust in her brother.

Smash looked back at the two. "So, Can I get you two anything? Like some water? Tea?" He offered.

Taelor put both her arms around Yami and smiled big.

"I'm just gonna stop you right there, Smash! Yami and I are going to treat you and Pearl to something!"

A vain appeared on Yami's head. "Who said I had money?" she growled.

A sweat drop rolled down the side of her face. "Whaddya say Smash? Pearl?"

Smash nodded. "Sounds promising enough." He said, then looked over at Pearl, who nodded with a smile.

"Yeah. What is it?" She asked curiously.

Smash looked back at them. "If you need any extra cash though, I've got a few bucks to spare." He offered, pulling out his wallet.

"That's alright. I've got us covered." Taelor assured with a wink.

"Its a long walk to the next village, and there are many demons on the path ahead. Watch yourselves, okay?" Yami explained. She suddenly grew very serious whenever it came to demons. And because of what day it was, it didn’t help her mood at all. Yami didn’t want anyone else to die because of her..

Both Smash and Pearl nodded.

Without another word, Yami walked out the door.

"Taelor, is Yami alright?...She seems kinda sad." Smash asked.

The demon slayer frowned.

"Today's not the best day to meet Yami..I'll explain it to you another time. For now, let's do our best to cheer her up. Okay?"

Smash nodded. "I see. Well, alright then. Lets head out after her." He said as he marched out the door. Before Taelor could leave, Pearl put her hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, Taelor." She looked worried again. "I uhh...Just a little bit before you came…I felt something strange. Something doesn't feel right. I felt like…something terrible is going to happen. I know Yami means well and all, and I trust her, but...I can't help but feel like something’s going to happen." She explained. She looked almost as if the end of the world was coming.

"You..felt something strange?.." Taelor repeated.

Pearl nodded. "I'm scared, Taelor.."

Taelor laid her hand on Pearl's head, and smiled warmly.

"You have nothing to worry about Pearl. Me, Yami, and your brother will handle anything that comes our way. We'll protect you..I promise."

The huge weight that rested on Pearl's shoulders had lifted as she stared into Taelor's eyes. She trusted the demon slayer with all of her heart, but couldn't help but hold onto some of the fear.

"Now come on. Smash and Yami are waiting." Taelor smiled, and headed out the door.

"Thank you..Taelor." Pearl said softly, then followed her outside to catch up with Smash and Yami.

Right now I'm just adding the flashbacks in each chapter and adding this that will make more sense. It seems as though we have a bad habbit of explaining things only we understand.

Very true. I guess we didn't think too much about it because we understood it.

I added a flashback on this one..

~~Chapter 5: Demon Attack~~

Meanwhile outside, Smash caught up to Yami. "So..Which village are we headed to?" He asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Its called Akebe village. I think you and your sister will really like it there. Its very pretty. Its famous for its beautiful, clear river that runs right through it." Yami answered, and gave Smash a light smile.

"Oh, really? Sounds nice." He said, looking forward to seeing the place. He looked behind him and noticed that Pearl and Taelor were lagging far behind. "What are those two doing?" He muttered, raising an eyebrow at them.

Taelor couldn't stop thinking about what Pearl said.

'Now that Pearl mentioned it..I've been feeling something strange too. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but lately I feel like there's something inside me wanting to burst out. Geez, this isn't making any sense!'

Pearl, although cheered up with hope, still felt uneasy. Smash had been used to dealing with many threats in the past. He's fought by the side of his friends to defeat all kinds of villains. She usually stayed by the sidelines or was held captive. The only real fighting experience she had been with training with her brother. She only once fought a "big bad villain" as she calls them, and that was years ago. And she had many people on her side as well, including Smash. But now there were only 4 of them, and the power she felt was too great and terrifying to even imagine.

Yami was feeling uneasy too.

'What is going on? I can't get this awful feeling out of my heart..Dammit..When I thought that was Kaoru..When I saw those evil eyes looking up at me, I felt frightened. Like that frightened little child I was after I realized what I did to father..'

An image of her 11 year old self crying on her father's lifeless body flashed in her mind.

Smash was feeling very awkward. Yami was silent, and he couldn't really think up anything to say since he just met her. He was thinking hard on finding something to talk about. "..So…uhh...What do you do for fun around here?" Even that question made him feel awkward. Yami had been pretty silent for a little while. Although he was still trying to strike up a conversation, at the back of his mind he couldn't shake off the feelings he felt earlier. He had gotten a sudden urge to start training fiercely, like the fight of his life was coming up. 'What on earth WAS that anyway? I'm sure we all felt it. At the same time too. Something is definitely up...'

"Umm.." Yami was surprised, then felt bad. She knew she was making him feel awkward with her silence.

"I train with my uncle and Taelor most of the time." she answered.

"Oh, I see. Do you train with your fists, or do you use that sword of yours for most of your combat?" Smash asked, getting interested. ’Well, that’s a start.'

Yami looked down at her waist, where her trusty sword was strapped to her.

"Yes, Tetsusaiga and I have fought together for many years. It means a lot to me because it used to belong to my father." Yami couldn't help but smile at the distant memories of her father showing her how to use the Tetsusaiga when she was very young.

~Flashback~

Little 6 year old Yami was laying on her belly in the grass, watching her father train in the backyard while her mother and her two young siblings were inside the house. She enjoyed the alone time she had with her dad, even if she was only watching him.

Through her eyes, her father was the greatest hero in the world. She deeply admired him and the great power of his sword Tetsusaiga.

After he used one of Tetsusaiga’s powers, Inuyasha decided to do something different this time. He smiled to himself every time he saw his daughter’s awed looks, and wanted her to finally wield the sword that impressed her so much.

“Yami.”

“Yes daddy?”

He put his sword in his sheath, and handed it to his little girl.

“I think its about time you learned how to use the Tetsusaiga.” he smiled.

The little half demon couldn’t believe it! “Really?” she asked, and shook with excitement after she stood up and held the sword.

“Uh huh. Now pull Tetsusaiga from its sheath and lets see what happens.” he said and smiled big from her enthusiasm.

Little Yami nodded, then suddenly looked very serious. “Okay..here goes!” She closed her eyes and pulled Tetsusaiga out of its sheath as quickly as she could, trying to imitate her father.

When she opened her eyes, her ears went down in disappointment. Tetsusaiga, the biggest sword she ever saw when her father had it, didn’t change at all. It was only in its weak state that couldn’t even cut a wet piece of paper.

“Why..? Daddy, I don’t think Tetsusaiga likes me very much..” the small half demon said sadly.
Inuyasha only chuckled. “No, no that’s not it at all. The only reason its not doing anything is because you’re not thinking of the one thing you’d like to protect most.’

Yami tilted her head in confusion. “The thing I’d like to protect most?”

Inuyasha nodded. “Before I figured out that your mother was the one I wanted to protect most, Tetsusaiga didn’t transform for me either. But the one thing you have to remember, is that you can’t protect anyone with full demon blood. Your grandfather made it to only protect humans.” he explained carefully so that her young ears could understand.

“Hmm..someone I want to protect..” Young Yami was in deep thought for a moment, then looked up at her father thoughtfully.

“I want to protect you, daddy.”

Inuyasha was surprised. “Me? Why me?”

“Because you always protect me. You need someone to protect you!”

The grown half demon smiled warmly at his daughter. “Well then close your eyes, and try to pour all of your energy into Tetsusaiga. Tell it that you want to protect me.”

Yami did as she was told. She spread her legs apart, held Tetsusaiga with both hands in front of her, and closed her eyes. For a moment she felt very strange. She felt as though her and the sword were one. There was a connection..an unbreakable bond. She poured her heart and soul into it, and told it over and over that she needed all of its power to protect her father from everything.

“Open your eyes, Yami.” Inuyasha said, smiling big.

When she did, the little half demon was overcome with joy! Tetsusaiga had transformed for her!

“Wow, I did it! I really did it!” she cried out. She had never been so proud of herself before.

Inuyasha was really amazed. She was holding the large sword like it was no labor at all. “I knew you could do it.” he praised.

Yami suddenly felt a strange sadness. She quickly put Tetsusaiga in its sheath, then ran and embraced her father.

“What’s wrong?” Inuyasha asked, confused with her change of moods.
“Tetsusaiga listened to my wish…Now I can always protect you.” she answered quietly.

Inuyasha froze for a moment, but then smiled warmly and held his daughter very close to him.

“And I’ll always protect you too, Yami..”

~~

"Ah, so it was your father's. Is he a powerful demon?"

Yami paused for a moment, trying to get back to her senses from the distant memory. "He was a powerful half demon..He's dead now.."

"Oh...Gee, Sorry to hear that." Smash frowned. "He sounded like a great guy; Wish I could have met him." He looked forward; a sad look came over his face. "..My dad died long ago, too. I feel ya." He said. Yami looked over at him, surprised. "I'm…not sure how it happened, really...It just..." His voice trailed off.

"Smash..." Yami said sadly.

"Don't worry about it." He shook his head. "At least we got one thing in common, eh?"

Yami slowly nodded. Although she felt it was worse in her case, because Smash most likely didn't kill his own father.

But even though she just met him, she knew he had a very good heart.

Smash could tell the same thing about Yami. 'She might be a little gloomy, but she's a good person..'

Soon, They noticed a small village in the distance.

"Looks like we're almost there. Is that it?" Smash pointed ahead.

The half demon nodded, and stuck her nose in the air. Akebe Village had a beautiful river running through it, and the smell it gave off was refreshing.

"I hear a river.." Pearl announced with a smile.

"Yep, we're near Akebe Village alright." Taelor said happily.

Suddenly, Yami smelled something she didn't like. She quickly turned around to face Pearl and Taelor, who were still far off. "Taelor!"

"What is it? What's wrong?!" Smash cried.

A huge badger demon jumped out of the bushes, and charged towards Pearl.

The young echidna just froze in shock. She had never seen anything like it before...

"Pearl!" Taelor cried.

Pearl closed her eyes, and waited for the demon to strike.

A loud clank was heard, and the pain never came.

Taelor had blocked the demon's claws that were aiming for Pearl with her sword, but couldn't stop its other claws that were for her.

The demon only laughed as it smelled Taelor’s blood on its claws. He successfully cut her side open. "Hehehe! Maybe you should worry about yourself instead of your friend!"

"D-Damn you..." Taelor cursed.

"Maybe you should worry about your own life!" Smash yelled from behind it. "UURRGHII!!" His fists came crashing down on its back. The demon let out a loud squawk like cry before its face slammed down into the ground. "I'd stay down if I were you. You don't wanna mess with me."

Pearl opened her eyes, still frozen with fear. She tried to get a closer look at what it was; she had never seen anything like that before.

Smash had the demon pinned down to the ground. The demon struggled to fight against his force to stand up, but Smash overpowered it. Yami saw this as a chance to attack it, but they would need to be very quick about it.

"Smash! Get Pearl and Taelor and stay out of the way!" Yami demanded.

Smash nodded and did what he was told. The demon felt the weight lift from him, but it's back still hurt badly after being smashed off guard. It was still struggling to stand.

The half demon held onto her sword tightly, and pulled it out of its sheath. Smash was amazed at how large the sword actually was.

'How in the HECK can that sword fit in its sheath? Its huge!' He thought.

"I'm afraid you caught me on the wrong day, demon! You're not getting any mercy from me!" Yami screamed. She held her sword up high over her head.

"Wind Scar!"

As soon as she swung the sword to the ground, 4 giant scars bolted towards the poor badger demon.

The demon gave out a loud cry before the attack killed him.

"Whoa." Smash said in awe. That was all he really could say at the moment.

"Taelor! I'm sorry, I just-I'm sorry I don't know what got into me. I couldn't...-" Her voice trailed off.

"Shh..." Smash hushed her. "Its alright. Its over now." he said as he patted her shoulder.

"But..I let her get hurt.." She stammered, looking at the wound on Taelor's side.

Taelor laughed slightly, and covered her wound with her hand to stop the bleeding.

"Don't worry about it, Pearl. I'm fine..This is nothing.."

But Taelor didn't make it look believable. She looked like she was in terrible pain.

Yami sighed and put the giant Tetsusaiga back in its small sheath. "You can't afford to freeze like that when your life is in danger. I know you didn't mean to, but it happened. Please just be careful from now on.." she said to Pearl.

Pearl nodded. "O-okay..I will.."

"Well hey; I've never seen anything like that creature before." Smash shrugged. "But like you said, there are demons on this path. I think we just killed one of them. In any case, let’s keep going. And stick closely together in case more come, alright?" He took the lead in the walk this time. But he couldn't help but look back over at Taelor. "Hey. You sure you're alright? It looks like that thing really hurt you..."

Taelor smiled sheepishly. "Well, now that you mention it..I think I should try and patch it up." She stopped and pulled some bandages from her demon slayer uniform.

"Here, Taelor. Let me help you.." Yami offered.

Pearl felt really bad. It was all her fault Taelor was in pain...She still couldn't explain the terror she felt towards demons. It wasn't just the scary way they looked; it was the darkness of their aura's that really scared her.

"Aw..I'm sorry if I'm worrying you, Pearl. This kinda thing always happens over here when you live in a world with demons. Believe me, I've had worse.." Taelor assured when she noticed how down Pearl looked.

Pearl smiled a bit. "A-Alright.."

Taelor cringed in pain as Yami wrapped up her wound.

"You'll be fine. Still as reckless as ever, aren't you?" Yami smiled slightly.

“If it hurts a lot, I could carry you if you'd like." Smash offered.

"Thanks, but I'm fine Smash, reall...."

Taelor's smiled disappeared. She started to cough up blood. And in that instant, Yami could sense Kaoru's sickening demonic aura and the blackened jewel shards once again..

Hope we can finish this soon....