Inuyasha:The third sword

The night wind whips the trees of the forest with force, causing them to flutter erratically and in a seductive dance. 

"Madmen, you've all gone mad!"

running through the trees without taking a breath, carrying away branches, bushes and anything in his path, stands a young man. 

His face is pale, while beads of sweat run down his forehead and also dampen the hilt of the sword he was carrying.

The strange thing is that he does not use the sword, either to cut branches or to clear the path of weeds. He almost can't seem to feel the weight of the sword in his hand. 

"Stop it already Fubuki!"

running ahead of the now recognized as Fubuki, since there are only the two of them in the forest, is a small boy.

Simply judging by the height, body build and tone of voice, he can be considered a child of ten to twelve years old. But that's all, due to the fact that he maintains a calm, pale, but quiet face, which makes him look like someone older. 

"Ma... Ma... Ma... Master Usume. Arggghh" 

"Tsk, sorry Fubuki…"

Without hesitating even for a second while still hearing the screams from behind coming from Fubuki, who seems to be having an internal struggle, Usume continues to run deep into the forest. 

But the young Usume's luck didn't last long, in a few moments Fubuki's internal struggle ended and clearly the side that won... Is not akin to his desire to escape. 

It was like a flash, at least to human eyes, Fubuki who has finally recovered from the internal struggle, takes the sword with one hand and makes a quick draw. 

"Well, well... Not so fast you little psycho"

Under the pale glow of the moon that barely manages to illuminate the forest, Fubuki's sword is stopped dead in its tracks. It was as if he had run into a wall, something immovable, something called Asahiko.

Asahiko easily kept Fubuki's sword at bay, all solely with a finely crafted and clearly elegant fan. 

"Just kill him, who... Who once was Fubuki, is no longer in there"

Stopping his run, Usume blurts out an order towards Asahiko, all with complete naturalness. 

"It's said thank you, you little idiot. Now then, get out of here."

Easily insulting Usume without caring about Usume's age or who he might be, Asahiko hits Fubuki's chest with a kick and turns around, putting Usume on guard. 

"You, you, what are you planning to do... I am the heir of" 

"Hey, shut up already. Kikyo, what do you say, can you save him?"

commanding Usume to shut up, Asahiko's gaze remains fixed towards the depths, until from the shadows Kikyo emerges in her ever-present priestess garb. 

"Stop teasing the child, Asahiko. About that thing... The last of his rationality is gone" 

"Fine, Kikyo. You take care of this, I'll go get the food"

Letting out those words, Asahiko melts into the depths of the forest. Obvious that the food will be gone by now, the wild animals will have eaten it, but Kikyo doesn't give that away and accepts his explanation. 

"Agrrhh" 

"Goodbye"

Carrying the longbow quite naturally, Kikyo takes slow aim and with a single shot ends Fubuki's life.

That wasn't all, from Fubuki's corpse a black and sinister energy comes out as small strands, generating a feeling of repulsion to living beings. 

"I know, I know, Miss... Can you tell me your name?" 

"I am Kikyo, the one who helped you is called Asahiko and we were looking for"

Kikyo's words seem to go in one ear and out the other of Usume, but not because he is not giving her attention, but because he is giving her too much. 

"Ahh! What are you doing" 

"Tsk, you damn precocious child"

Raising the fist that just hit Usume's head, she blows it off with a deadpan face and then Asahiko directs her eyes towards Kikyo. 

"Precocious?" 

"Yeah, you're too lethal for the growing little one, you've made him fall in love at first sight. Haha"

Laughing uncontrollably, Asahiko points towards Usume, but there's something she overlooked. He may be a boy, but he's not a normal one. 

"Precocious? What's that, Miss Priestess?"

Usume's tone of voice, expression and body language convey only one thing: "I am a pure child, how can I have such thoughts?", making Asahiko's face darken. 

"Asahiko... Apologize to him" 

"Heh, well played kid, but I'll tell you some wise words. When you have supreme power, diplomacy is of little use!"

Leaving that sentence as if it were the supreme truth, Asahiko's fist makes a beautiful curve and lands on Usume's skull. 

"Ahh, you damned brute!" 

"Asahiko... It's a child" 

"Ha, a child... From children to old men, from women to men, no one who mocks my person is safe!"

shouting her universal truth to the heavens, Asahiko grins from ear to ear and points at Kikyo. Obviously the smile was not for her, but for Usume... A victor's smile. 

...Christopher/Asahiko pov….

After a few hours of light walking, we finally arrived at the place where Usume Hideta was staying. By the way, that's the name of the precocious dwarf. Leaving that useless information aside, the situation of the mansion... It was bad. 

In the darkness of dawn the huge structure is like a crouching monster, while a total sepulchral silence hovers in the surroundings and the smell of blood floats freely. 

"How many... How many there must have been to get to this point"

Pinching my nose with my fingers, as he is very sensitive to strong smells, he kept silent and let out a few words in a low voice. 

"There were about fifty servants at all times, plus about ten rotating ones on some days... Also the soldiers. Maybe about 100 or 120 people" 

"Are you going to enter the mansion?"

Kikyo is incredibly perceptive with children's emotions, while with adults... Well, she puts up with them. Not that I made that up, you only have to see the change in her expressions and language to know that. 

"That's right, priestess, I could. Ah! Why are you hitting me?" 

"I felt like it, by the way wouldn't you have to be in a sad moment or something?"

lifting my hand from the rather hard skull of this precocious dwarf, I step forward and enter the mansion grounds.

Crossing a white wall with blue tiles above, he entered the large main courtyard which connects to several secondary pavilions of the huge oriental mansion. 

"I had warned the lord here that these swords were dangerous, it may be that their bad reputation is just now spreading to the public, but there were already strange reports about those who used it" 

"So was that the result you were expecting? No, more importantly, don't you live here?" 

"I considered it possible, it wasn't something I expected... I really wish for another outcome, but according to him there was no other way to expel those youkais. Obviously not, this is the home of one of my father's followers"

Ignoring the last words that are clearly full of pride, since it seems that the dwarf is more important than thought, I speak about my conjectures out loud. 

"Just maybe, merely a small possibility... Couldn't it have been some youkai cats?"

"Youkais cats?" 

"Yes, anthropomorphic cats that dress like ninjas and are as good at fighting as a professional army"

Finishing speaking in a slightly exaggerated manner, I snap my fingers and create an illusion showing anthropomorphic cats. 

Yes, let out that face of surprise at my genius, one of sheer terror at how beautifully demonic my form is. Hehehehe, now shudder... Wait, why isn't there a scream or pale face. 

"Ahem, you can start screaming now" 

"Why would I do that?"

keeping the smile that threatens to disappear from my lips rather awkwardly, I guide my eyes towards Kikyo and convey with my gaze, "Why doesn't he scream midget?", though in the end he answers me on his own. 

"You stopped a sword with a fan, with a kick you sent a person flying and managed to smell blood even from a distance. You're clearly not human, or someone normal" 

"Of course I'm not someone normal, I'm the great Asahiko. Everything you said is easily solved, besides being the great Asahiko, I'm also an Onmyōji"

Finishing saying that, he raised his head towards the sky, looked down at it from above and let out the classic pride of a demon. Yes, I've gone from wanting to scare him by being a demon to justifying my humanity.

The dwarf seems to have been waiting for that answer, as he strokes the bridge of his nose and then holds up two fingers of his right hand. 

"First of all you have not used any talisman, which all priests do. Second and perhaps most importantly, being yourself does not justify you in any way" 

"You are smart, I admit it... You just need to erase the precocious in yourself and you will be a good friend"

Verbally smacking him even as I accept his victory, without accepting it, I walk past him and head to the most opulent place in the mansion. After taking a few steps through the inner courtyard, I stop dead in my tracks, look at the dwarf and ask him the question again. 

"So were those attackers anthropomorphic cats or not?" 

"How should I know? Despite coming to lead the counterattack on behalf of my father, the lord here ignored me and just left me trapped in this place"

Hearing the clear annoyance in the precocious dwarf's voice, all I can do is check everything and maybe find some clue.