Once more with feeling, Inuyasha and Kamen rider Hibiki are both the properties of their respective owners. All work done here is purely for entertainment purposes and never for profit. Also while only mentioned briefly I also do not own NCIS.

Now that we've got that outta the way, on with the show!

"Hello" speech

'hello' thought

"Hello"Demonic voices

"Hiyah!" special attacks, techniques

Last time our heroes were in quite the pickle, Kagome was a prisoner of the Thunder Brothers, and in order to rescue her the boys had to partake in what was the most difficult battle of their journey. But with little Shippo's help the younger brother Manten was quickly defeated. However his elder brother was not to be so easy. Combining his fallen brothers shards with his own increased his already impressive powers to a new level. But thankfully while battered and bruised our intrepid team managed to survive the battle and emerged five jewel shards richer, with a new companion, Shippo the young but clever fox demon, but the question is what happens now?

Inuyasha and the Power of Pure Sound: The Terror of the Ancient Noh Mask.

A few days after the demise of the Thunder Brothers peace returned to the land, and after a much needed respite our heroes were ready to return to the quest or so we'd like to think. The sun shined strong and beautiful through the trees surrounding the bone eaters well. When out of the bushes pokes Kagome her bike at the ready.

"No sign of him, you hear anything Jin." Just behind her crouched into a runners stance ready to hoof it, Jin puts one of his hands to his ear and listens carefully. "Nothing but cicada's K-chan, I think we're in the clear." Kagome nods and hops on her bike.

"Alright here goes!" With little more than that as a signal both modern era teens rush towards the well, both probably matching Olympic athletes thanks to the adrenaline. Of course even that's not enough to match someone who's super human all the time.

"Not so fast you two!" Calls a red and silver blur that rushes past the two and directly into the path to the well. The blur settles into the ever irate Inuyasha. "You guys aren't going anywhere 'til you hand over those jewel shards!"

Kagome glares at Inuyasha hoping that one of her yet undiscovered Miko powers are incinerating laser eye beams, no such luck though. "In our era kids our age goes to school, and tomorrow these kids have a huge final!"

Jin nods his consent, "you have any idea how much we missed as it is. If I don't keep my GPA up I'll be shipped back to the states, and we'll probably fail even if we ace the damn thing, I've never failed a class before who knows what that will do to my chances of getting into an Ivy League school and…."

Thankfully Jin's doom spiral is stopped short by the sight of Inuyasha hefting a large bolder over to the well. "HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" yell the kids of the future.

Inuyasha shoots the two friends a smug grin. "I'm going to cover up the well for good! So you can't escape to that strange era of yours! Good riddance." But before the dog could finish his "grand scheme" Jin activates his onkaku, the sound waves catching Inuyasha off guard, and with his hands full he can't cover his ears to block out the sound. Kagome then follows that up with a barrage of "SITS!" one after the other in quick succession, with the sound of Jin's onkaku breaking his focus and the beads bearing down on him, it's not long before Inuyasha is face first on the ground, his rock landing on his back with a heavy thud.

With that the two humans make a break for it, Jin diving into the well with a, "Geronimo!" Kagome quickly follows, "stay boy! We'll be back in three days, and don't even think about following us!" With that Kagome jumps down the well too. The dry bone filled well bottom quickly disappearing being replaced with the glowing purple path through space and time.

Meanwhile back in the present, "kaeri tamae, modori tamae!" Chants the weathered old voice of Kagome's grandfather. And there he sits in his colorful vestiments chanting away with Sota sitting nearby, with Buyo the cat, watching everything.

"Why are you wasting your time chanting that stuff? It doesn't really work does it?"

"Of course it does! The ancient "get-out-of-the-well" chant has been passed down through the many generations of Higurashi priests!"

With that Kagome's grandpa picks up a small wooden bucket. "And now for the sacred rice wine, here goes!" Grandpa Higurashi then dumps the contents of the bucket into the well. While unknown to him the two kids have just finished their transference from the past, landing perfectly at the bottom of the well.

"Ah, perfect reentry K-chan!" That is until the sacred wine pours down on their heads.

Sometime later a warm meal sits on the Higurashi kitchen. "ACHOO!" The sneeze permeating what would otherwise be a perfectly peaceful dinner.

"What's the matter Buyo, you caught a cold, or maybe my hair still smells a little funny?" Kagome idly brings a lock of her hair up to her nose and gives it a test sniff. While Jin takes a seat at the table polishing his glasses with a towel Mrs. Higurashi was kind enough to give him. "Nah, somebody's just trying to bogart the attention of his favorite person, cats love to do that ya know. By the way Sota have you been taking care of you know what?"

Kagome's little brother nods, "Yeah, every other day, just like you told me."

"Good man, don't forget to remind me to pay you."

"Pay him for what?" Asks Kagome, her eyebrows raised in confusion.

"Oh, I promised to pay the little man to send my mom an e-mail every now and then, so she doesn't worry too much about me, that's 100 yen per e-mail right?" Asks Jin while he starts fumbling around for his wallet.

"So where's the dog guy, Inuyasha? Didn't you bring him home with you?"

Kagome sees fit to answer that question with a huff, "of course not Jin and I have better things to do than babysit a demon all day." Punctuating that sentence by taking a bite out of a piece of toast. 'Oh, boy my life's gotten really complicated as of late. I've lived at the Higurashi shrine ever since I was born, with my mom, grandpa, and my brother Sota, and until recently I was just your average middle school girl. But after that things started to get weird, we have a well that leads to the feudal era, that's full of all kinds of monsters and other weird stuff. All after the shards of the Shikon Jewel, not to mention my friend Jin transforming into what people are starting to call an oni and getting all kinds of super powers. Both of our lives have become anything but average. I keep hoping that I'm going to wake up and find out it's some kind of bad dream. But it's not and we just have to find our own ways of dealing with it.'

The next morning following a night with Jin staying at her place, the two got up quickly got ready for school and marched off for another day of proper education. But unbeknownst to them, something strange was happening in the modern era, on Kagome's desk in her room the jewel shards still exuded their supernatural power, and that unusual aura caused a reaction with something else. In the Higurashi shrine in a small box covered in sacred seals, and evil power began to reawaken after what seemed like an eternity of dormancy.

Meanwhile at the school, the two time travelers rushed up to the school, finding Kagome's other friends. Ayumi a girl of average build with wavy black hair and expressive brown eyes, Yuka the tallest of the three friends with her short brown hair and her energetic blue eyes, and lastly Eri the sub-boss of the little troop when Kagome isn't around with her shoulder length black hair held up with a yellow hairband and her stunning black eyes.

"Hey girls wait up!" Kagome calls as she and Jin rush up through the crowd.

"Kagome there you are. We're so glad to see your better I mean that's quite a nasty place to get a cat bite."

"Yeah and when you were about to finish that treatment then you got pulled out for Lyme disease tests."

Kagome can only sweat drop at what Eri and Yuka were saying, wondering what the hell her family has been telling everyone when Jin manages to catch up.

"Man K-chan if you ran like that all the time you-know-who would never be able to catch us."

"YOU!" three very displeased female voices shout at the same time as the girls rushed past Kagome and gang up on Jin hands on their hips in displeasure. Jin's eyes shift nerviously between the three of them. "Um, hi girls, how's it going?"

"How's it going?" Shouts Ayumi, before all three start rifling through their backpacks finding several papers, all covered with red pen marks with scores ranging from the low fifties to the high sixties.

"Um, what am I looking at exactly?" Jin asks still looking very nervous.

"What you are looking at is all the English assignments we've had while you've been out, you promised to tutor us, and you had to go and get the flu, not to mention Marcus-san is so busy with whatever it is he does after school we couldn't turn to him for a plan b."

Being one of two native English speakers in the grade Jin was asked to help tutor his classmates with their English homework often, especially Kagome's little clique, but seeing as he was gone for days several English grades started to plummet.

"What can I say that flu stuff hits you hard." While Kagome is kinda bothered that her friends were grilling Jin like that she couldn't help but wonder, why Jin got the run-of-the-mill flu while she got some obscure disease.

Of course the two were saved when another voice called up to them. "Hey Kagome!" everyone turns and up the hill on his bike rides a ridiculously handsome young man with short brown hair and eyes, an immaculately pressed uniform glides up on his wheels and with a perfect smile on his face asks Kagome, "How're those bunions?"

While Jin immediately topples over from the sheer audacity of the question, the girls are stunned. "Oh, wow! It's Hojo the megahunk!" One of the girls squeals quietly, although Kagome couldn't be sure which one it was.

"Quite the nasty double whammy, bunions and the gout!" Again Jin is flattened by what Hojo just said, while Kagome is absolutely mortified. That is until Hojo hands her a small package wrapped in pink paper. "My mom wrapped it up."

Kagome carefully opens the packaging and reveals a pair of unusual sandals. "Their therapeutic for your bunions!" Hojo calls as he cycles off while waving goodbye. Jin finally pulls himself off of the ground, "What the hell, just happened!"

"Your guess is as good as mine sempai!" A voice shouts from behind Jin causing him to leap three feet into the air with a panicked shriek. After landing and making sure his heart is still beating Jin whips around with a glair. "Damn it Marcus, you know I hate that!"

Marcus is a tall African-american youth easily a few inches taller than his sempai, although it was hard to tell with his slouch. His long black hair tied up into a ponytail a big cheesy grin on his face. "Why do you think I do it?"

"Come on man, the guys been sick give him a break." Yet another voice calls out. Walking up to the little group was another boy a little shorter than Jin, his short black hair billowing freely in the breeze. His backpack dangling freely in his left hand, while on his back was a cloth guitar case.

"Don't be such a pussy Kilo. As men it is our duty to bust each others balls, I mean come on who lets the flu get him down like that." The other boys just sigh and share a look that seems to say, 'that's why he'll never get a girl friend'. However Marcus glances back and forth between the two. "I know that look that's your 'I'll never get a girlfriend' look, don't think I don't know it cause I do."

Jin just sighs, "we spend way too much time with you, eh K-chan." Of course by know the collection of girls has already started marching off to class the three friends grilling Kagome about Hojo. "Hey wait up!" Jin calls after them as he rushes off after them leaving Marcus and Kilo alone, Kilo then turns to Marcus flicks his free wrist and makes a whip sound. At which Marcus immediately starts laughing, "Oh, yeah totally!"

Later on during a free period the three friends are still grilling Kagome about the very brief conversation with Hojo.

"So you mean he's never talked to you before today."

"Not really."

"Oh, no what if she likes someone else!"

Jin gives an annoyed groan from his desk just behind Kagome, "Oh, for the love of Jonny Cash! You've been on this for hours, can't you give it a rest already!"

Yuri just spares Jin a glance, "we're still not talking to you."

"You just did and besides I was sick, I would have told you but for like a day or two I couldn't open my mouth without sounding like something from the inner circle of hell."

"All that aside, I don't really like anyone."

"But if you did, who would it be? What's your type, athletic, intellectual?"

Kagome just leans forward burying her face in her hands. "I don't know." But all this talk about boys couldn't help but get her thinking a little. 'he definitely can't be aggressive! He'd be kind and caring and wouldn't get mad easily. Yeah someone the exact opposite of Inuyasha would be perfect for me.'

In that time Kagome has moved across the room and is gazing longingly out the window. "And ladies and gentlemen Kagome has left the building." Mutters Jin almost able to picture the "love sparkles" floating around her head.

"I guess that's an undecided." Mutter Eri, "maybe she's still sick" whispers Yuri.

~temporal shift~

Meanwhile back in the feudal era, lady Kaede is busy grinding up some herbs for a medicinal treatment turning around at the pained groan she hears behind her. "Stop lazing about! Get off ye duff and seek out some information on the sacred jewel!"

Laying behind her looking more perturbed than usual, was Inuyahsa. "If "ye" haven't noticed, my back's out of commission thanks to all those sit commands."

'Oh, when you get back you're gonna pay Kagome, you and your little boyfriend.' Of course Inuyasha getting riled up only aggravates his back.

~temporal shift~

Back at the Higurashi shrine old man Higurashi is making his way up the stairs when the smell of smoke comes to his old nose. "Eh? A fire!" Sure enough smoke was pouring out of the old storehouse. The old man rushes in to see the cause of the fire the small box from before seems to be the source of the blaze, as the sacred seals burn off, and the box itself explodes apart revealing an old Noh mask, covered in scars.

A demonic voice emanates from the wooden face, "I NEED A BODY!"

Grandpa Higurashi stares in horror. "This is terrible! The Noh mask has burned through the talismans that have sealed its evil for generations."

The old man grabs a bucket of sacred wine and pours it over himself before retrieving several talismans from inside his robes. "My ancestor exorcized that evil mask for a Noh actor who brought it to him! It was called the "flesh eating mask" and was rumored to have terrifying powers! I must seal it up again!"

Grandpa Higurashi throws the talismans at the mask, with impressive accuracy, but his feeble attempts at exorcism are for naught as the masks demonic aura burns the talismans before they can make contact. "A body I must possess a body!"

"If the vile thing embodies living flesh again it'll wreak havoc on us all!" Grandpa Higurashi yells over the roar of the blaze as the disembodied voice of the mask continues to echo all around him.

"A BODY!"

~Later that day~

Kagome and Jin were finished with their time serv- I mean the school day and were making their way home, when an ambulance rushes by sirens wailing. While further down the street a trio of boys are chatting animatedly amongst themselves.

"Did ya hear? Higurashi shrine's on fire!"

"Oh, cool let's check it out!"

As the boys rush off Jin and Kagome shoot each other a glance before picking up the pace.

At the shrine however things seem to be winding down a little. Several police cars and a couple of fire trucks sit parked in front of the shrine, while the police continue to wave the crowd away.

"Alright people nothing to see here move along!"

"Just a small fire folks nothing to worry about!"

Kagome and Jin make their way up the stairs taking care not to step on the fire hoses even in their rush. As they reach the top they see Mrs. Higurashi finishing a conversation with a police officer.

"MOM!"

"MRS. H"

"Oh, hello you two." Says Mrs. Higurashi as the two teens rush up to her.

"Mom, what happened?"

"Well, the old storehouse caught on fire. And grandpa was trapped inside with all the smoke. But don't worry they said it's nothing too serious. He should be fine after a few days at the hospital."

Mrs. Higurashi places a comforting hand on her daughters shoulder. "I'm on my way to the hospital to see how he's doing. Kagome you stay here and wait for Sota and Jin you stay here with Kagome I don't want her alone right now."

Despite her worry for her grandfather Kagome had other things on her mind, 'a fire in the storehouse? Something doesn't seem right about this.'

Meanwhile back in the old storehouse several firefighters continue some last checks around the old building.

"Look up there that beam's gotta come down."

"From what we can tell the fire started over here, be careful up there in the attic!"

But inside the building one of the firemen is carefully picking his way through the charred remains of some boxes when something catches his eye. A movement of some sort in one of the large puddles of water made by the fire hoses.

"What's that?"

The firefighter carefully approaches the pool squinting to see what it could be. When the Flesh Eating Mask reappears launches out of the water like a missile and latches itself onto the mans face. The firefighter only has enough time to let off a panicked and agonized scream as he tries to pry the mask off his face, only for the evil magic within to take hold.

Back outside Sota finally makes it home rushing up the steps as quickly as possible.

"Jin, Kagome!"

Kagome kneels down to her brothers eye level and places a couple of comforting hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry Sota no one was seriously hurt!"

"Yeah, don't sweat it little buddy the old geezer's a lot tougher then he looks, he'll probably outlive us all."

Of course this is cold comfort when the sounds of squealing wheels, crushing metal, and panicked screaming start coming from the street.

One of the fire trucks races off crushing police cars and almost running people over.

"SIR! Requesting a call for back up!"

"Permission granted stop that truck!"

The three kids look on in surprise and a little fear.

"What the, front end loader was that all about?" Jin asks, quickly changing the word he had in mind after reminding himself that Sota was present. All across the city the warning went over the news, on the radio, every CB and police scanner, "This just in, a fire truck is driving wildly through the streets, completely out of control. The number of injured so far has not been confirmed however, as every person that crosses it's path seems to have disappeared."

Meanwhile elsewhere in town the rouge fire truck barrels down the streets tires squealing like no tomorrow. Inside the cab the mask looks on in distress as the fire fighters body has change from healthy skin to fetid brown goop that starts to slough off the bones.

"The flesh is disintegrating! I must find more jewel shards, then I can have a true body one of everlasting flesh."

At the hospital Kagome, after asking Jin to stay with Sota, meets up with her mom. "How's grandpa doing, is he awake yet?"

"He's still unconscious, it's strange though, the doctor expected him to be awake by now. But I'm sure his age isn't helping things, it's just a matter of time."

That's when Kagome notices something in her mother's hands. "What are those? Let me see!"

"They're talismans, the firefighters found them all over grandpa's face and in his mouth. Whatever happened in that shed really spooked him."

From his hospital bed grandpa Higurashi continues to mumble quietly in his sleep. "beware the flesh eating mask."

~Later that evening~

The sun has long since set, and the three kids had settled down at the Higurashi residence with Kagome sitting at her desk pondering what had happened today, with Jin sitting on her bed flipping through a text book. "So it's the three of us with mom staying at the hospital with grandpa."

"I'm honestly surprised your mom asked me to say here tonight, I a teenage boy alone in your room with you a teenage girl, no parental supervision to speak of. The neighbors might talk." Jin gives Kagome a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.

"Give it a rest Jin, that joke got old like an hour ago."

That's when Sota pads into the room, dragging a blanket and some pillows. "Sis and Buyo and I sleep in here tonight?"

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat! You can stay in your own room."

"Grandpa was scared, he covered his face in those talismans. Something creepy happened you guys! I just know it!"

"Well Jin and I are going to be up all night studying, so you have to go back to your room."

Just then a gust of wind blows by giving the window an eerie rattle.

Kagome glances outside at the night sky. 'Something's wrong. We've never had trouble like this at the shrine before.' She starts looking around the room, 'why after all these generations?' Then her eyes come across the bottle holding the jewel shards trying and failing miserably to look innocent. 'That's it! The jewel shards, this all started when Jin and I brought them back.'

That's when all hell breaks loose. The rouge fire truck revs its way up the stairs and smashes its way through the front gate, then the ladder extends crashing into Kagome's room, sending splinters of wood and shards of glass flying every were, Jin and Kagome hit the floor with the girl dragging her brother down with her.

There in the bucket sits the rotten semi-humanoid blob that is the flesh eating mask's makeshift body. The three kids look on in surprise, terror, and shock respectively.

"That must be the flesh-eating mask that grandpa was mumbling about!" Kagome shouts over the bedlam. Before noticing the mask extends a psudopod that takes the form of a vague hand, and reaches out for the shard bottle.

"I must have, the shards of the shikon jewel!"

Kagome pushes herself off the floor and launches herself at the desk snatching the jewel shards off of her desk before the mask can.

"Give me the jewel pieces!" Moans the mask making its way towards the three kids.

Kagome then picks up her shell shocked brother and carries him out of the room. "Come on Sota! This is no time to zone out!"

Jin runs close behind doing his best not to look back at the shambling blob of rotten flesh. 'we need to get Inuyasha, he can help us.'

Once outside the cold night air helps Sota regain enough of his scenes to run on his own with his hand firmly holding on to Kagome's, when he notices, "Kagome! Your fingers are bleeding!" Shouts the youngest of the three, while Buyo glances over his shoulder.

"It's nothing, I just cut myself on the glass."

That's when the ladder swings around again, placing the bucket and the mask squarely overhead the three runners. The mask leaps from the bucket, Kagome shoves Sota away while she and Jin leap back, the mask lands in a heap on the ground before re-condensing itself it's lifeless gaze fixed squarely on Kagome.

"Give me the jewel shards!" moans the mask again, the jewel shard in its forehead shining like a beacon to Kagome.

'the mask, it has a jewel fragment on its forehead! So that's why it's after the shards! We've got to get Sota outta here!'

"Jin! Go for it!"

"I'm on it!"

Jin reaches into his shirt and pulls out the Onkaku. The blob shifts its gaze to Jin its body bubbling in surprise.

"That device!"

Jin then gives the tuning fork a gentle tap, activating the power within. Then par for the course the Mask starts to writhe in agony at the sound.

"Aagh, the noise, the noise, make it stop!"

"Henshin!" Shouts Jin as he holds the tuning fork to his forehead, triggering the transformation. The wave of flames cover his body raising the temperature in the temples courtyard by at least six degrees. Sota stands there completely gob smacked at what's happening. With a rising yell Jin feels the power of his demonic form flooding through his veins and with a wave of his hand he dispels the flames revealing his transformed state.

"An Oni! In this day and age? Impossible!"

Jin draws his drumsticks, and readies to fight when.

"Jin wait, if you fight here Sota could get hurt, we need to draw this thing away!"

Jin nods and while he sheaths his weapons he starts backing up slowly towards his friend always keeping his eyes on the demon before him.

"Sota, run to the hidden well and get Inuyasha, Jin's tough but he's still a rookie when it comes to fighting monsters. Just tell him that there are jewel shards here, that should be more than enough to attract him!"

"I have to go in that spooky well!"

"You can do it! Jin lets go!"

"We have faith in you little buddy!"

Jin whips around picks up Kagome bridal style and rushes off as quickly as possible. While Jin's Oni form is no were near as fast or as strong as Inuyasha, he could definitely give modern Olympic athletes a run for their money. The two make their way down the stairs, the masks blobish body slithering behind them only a few steps away.

With that outta the way Sota runs as quickly as he can to the well, and stares down into the inky blackness below.

'The well is linked to the past. Just throw yourself in with all your might.'

"I can do this!" Shouts Sota and before common sense can regain control of his brain the leaps into the well, and hits the bottom with all the collective grace of a hailstone.

After prying himself off of the ground Sota looks around and sees the exact same surrounding as before.

"Why'm I still here? What went wrong!"

Sota starts digging at the ground in desperation. "I've gotta dig through! The mask is after sis and Jin, and only I can help them!"

Suddenly a bright light starts shining all around Sota, and the next thing he knows there in front of him in all his "glory" is Inuyasha. Cutting a very heroic figure for once.

"You're Inuyahsa!" exclaims Sota.

"In the flesh kid. Now whadda you need help with?"

~downtown~

With his demonic strength and speed Inuyasha is able to put the most experienced parkour practitioner to shame. Leaping from one rooftop to the next spanning dozens of city blocks with each jump.

"Just hold on tight kid."

They then land on the roof of a passing truck and hitch a ride.

"Do you know where to find Jin and my sister?"

"Sure I do! I can pick up scents from miles around with this nose!"

"Well Kagome cut her hand and Jin is this weird armored thing."

"I know, I could smell the blood back at the well, and when Jin's transformed he reeks of ashes. I'll rescue both of them before they get into too much trouble."

Sota then thinks back to yesterday when Kagome was talking about Inuyasha.

'I'll tell ya what he's like, he's whiny and a show-off and a total egomaniac. The guys a total pain.'

'This can't possibly be the same guy, right now I feel like Inuyasha's the only guy I can trust.'

Some distance away at a construction site Jin has managed to climb up to a high floor. Kagome clinging to his back, the oni slowly reaching his limit if the labored breathing was anything to go by.

Kagome glances nervously behind them, knowing the flesh-eating mask is not far behind them.

'Inuyasha's not here yet, what's taking so long?'

Then the rotten brown blob that is the masks body shoots up the side of the I-beams landing in front of the two runners.

"Now hand me the shards of the Shikon Jewel!"

Jin get's ready to go into attack mode when who should show up but,

"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"

With incredibly perfect timing Inuyasha leaps in and slices the masks makeshift body in two. Inuyasha then lands next to the two other teens kneeling down so Sota can safely climb down.

"Sis!"

"Sota!"

"Hey what's with the tears shrimp? I though you said you weren't afraid!"

While Jin treats Inuyasha to a DiNozzo, Sota rushes over to his sister and gives her a hug.

"Don't worry little bro, Inuyasha and Jin will destroy that monster for us and this waking nightmare will be over"

"Yeah I'll get on that but before I get on with my part in this rescue, this might be an appropriate time for an apology don't you think?"

Everyone just stares at Inuyasha for a moment while he glairs at Kagome.

"Me apologize for what?"

"For what! For putting my back out that's what!"

"Oh, that. Okay, I'm sorry! How's that?"

"You call that an apology, it's not like you just stepped on my foot!"

"Yeah well you'd probably put up the same amount of fuss if she did!"

"You're a man too aren't you, you're supposed to be on my side! Well if this is the kind of reception I'm going to get maybe I'll just leave."

"You can't just leave us here! Besides, the mask has a jewel shard don't you want to add it to our collection!"

Sota stared in disbelief as the three argue like, one wants to say 'old married couple' but seeing as there's three of them it's a little askew to the vernacular.

'what's going on, just a minute ago Inuyasha and Jin were so cool, and now Inuyasha acting like a spoiled brat and Jin isn't much better. What happened to my heroes?'

Meanwhile the mask has managed to pull itself back together and gurgle at the heroes.

"Who dares to attack me!"

"Inuyasha the mask has a shard in its forehead go for it."

"Hold it K-chan. Hey big brown and grotesque mind telling us who you are so we can properly mark your tombstone?"

"I am the flesh eating mask, many ages ago I was carved from a great tree that had a jewel shard embedded in its wood. Since my creation I have craved human flesh and devoured by victims. However the flesh I consumed would rot and become useless quickly, so I need more jewel shards to create a new body one that is whole and everlasting."

Kagome looks at the deceivingly innocent jewel fragments in her hand. "So that's why the mask is so desperate to get the shards of the sacred jewel!"

"Don't worry K-chan that thing won't live to see tomorrow if I have anything to say about it!"

Inuyasha curls his hands the claws lengthening in anticipation. "I don't know how many humans you've eaten so far. But I think it's time you go on a diet!" With that the Hanyo leaps at the mask fist cocked back ready to go. He takes a swing at the mask but then the mask splits into two Inuyasha's fist getting caught in the semi-solid mass of its body. The two halves then sprout needle sharp teeth and clamp down on Inuyasha's wrist like a bear trap.

"You've fallen into my trap, now you'll never escape me!"

The mask sinks deeper into the brown liquid of its body dragging Inuyasha with it trapping him inside.

"Damn it, I should've known better."

"Don't worry pal I'll get you out, I just hope you're outfit is as fireproof as I think it is."

Jin draws his clubs and readies for battle, his face quickly shifting to an oni grin for his favorite attack. "ONIBI!"

A stream of purple flame rushes out of Jin's mouth towards the liquid body of the mask with the smell of cooking flesh soon permeating the building. However the mask itself rejoins itself abandons its body and rushes towards Kagome. The girl brings her free hand up to protect her face from the mask. 'I can't let this thing get the shards.'

"Jin, Sota take the shards and run."

She passes the shards to Sota who catches them.

"Right, K-chan. Come on little guy lets go!"

Sota climbs up onto Jin's back and the Oni takes off like an Olympic sprinter. Meanwhile the mask abandons it's attack on Kagome and goes for Sota and the shards.

"Guy's it's right behind you!"

Sota looks down at the little bottle in his hand. 'that thing is after this bottle. Maybe I should throw it away, no that won't do, we gotta make sure it doesn't get these jewels!'

"Jin go faster!"

"Don't really have anywhere to go kid."

Sure enough they're on the edge of the floor, one more step and they'd plummet to their doom. And with the mask right behind them it seemed pretty hopeless.

"Don't worry kid this things gotta get through me first!" Jin growls setting Sota down and drawing his clubs. He begins to focus the power of fire and pure sound flowing into the Ongekibo. Then the heads are covered in reddish purple flame. "Kibojutsu Rekkadan!"

Jin then swings his clubs and from them launches two large fireballs colliding with the mask and causing a tremendous explosion. The mask was stunned hanging in the air limply.

Jin then grabs his belt buckle and hurls it at the mask, sticking to it and growing to taiko size.

"YOSH! IKKI KASEI NO KATTA!"

Kagome seeing what's going on yells over at her brother. "SOTA, COVER YOUR EARS!"

Sota while still very confused at what was going on does as his sister tells him.

Jin then rears back and strikes the buckle with both clubs, once, twice, three times, four times. Again and again every blow echoing across the city. And catching the attention of two strangely familiar figures.

"You hear that?"

"Yeah, but there are no percussion guys in this city, are there?"

"Whatever it is we need to check it out."

The two start running towards the construction site. Where Jin is getting ready for his finishing blow. He pulls back charging as much power as he can into the clubs and puts one last blow into the buckle, the mask gives off one last agonized scream before exploding into hundreds of splinters the jewel shard falling to the ground which Kagome then quickly picks up. With the masks destruction it's composite body evaporates freeing Inuyasha and leaving nothing more than a large brown stain on the floor.

Jin wipes his brow in relief the transformation ending leaving him feeling like his body was made of lead.

"Jin you okay?"

"Yeah, K-chan I'm fine, a little wiped but fine, I don't think I can get into a big fight like that for a long time."

Sota gapes in awe, "Jin you destroyed the mask!"

"Hah, yeah, pretty cool huh? Still got those jewel fragments?"

"Yeah right here." Sure enough in Sota's young hand is the bottle safe and sound.

Then the sun starts to rise, the morning birds start to sing.

"Inuaysha are you alright?"

"Yeah Kagome, I'm fine, how's your hand?" Oddly enough there was not a single ounce of sarcasm in that question.

'that's weird, when did Inuyasha start being so nice? I mean not so nice, but kinda nice. And maybe it's the morning light but he seems pretty cool there. Wait a minute morning light?'

"OH, NO! it's morning already and Jin and I didn't study! Come on Jin we gotta go!"

Kagome grabs Jin by the wrist and starts dragging him back down the building.

"Thanks for the help Inuyasha, you be sure to be back down the well before Jin and I get back from school, and Sota you take those jewel shards home okay!"

Inuaysha stares at where the other two just disappeared.

"What just happened?" He looks down at Sota to see if the little guy can answer his question but Sota is staring at the ramp too an odd look on his face.

"I've got a new hero!" He whispers in awe.

Meanwhile a short distance away standing on the roof of another building are two figures, who in the morning light seem to be very similar to Jin.

"Well look at that Todoroki-san. We've got a newbie in town, and that other guy reeks of demon genetics."

"Yes Habataki-san but you saw who it is didn't you?"

"Yeah, I had no idea sempai had oni blood in his veins, so what do we do now?"

"What else make a report to the bosses, and see if we can get him in the fold."

The figure known as Habataki pulls what looks like a CD from a case attached to his belt, and taps it with a tuning fork. Then the disc unfolds into a small metallic bird.

"You know what to do little buddy, now go!"

The bird lets off a little caw and takes off.

"So wanna race to school?"

"You're on, no wings though!"

So we now know there are Oni in the modern era too and from the sound of it they're people we know. The question is who exactly, and who are they sending that message to? Well we'll learn a little more next time on Inuyasha and the power of pure sound, the soul piper and the mischievous little soul. See ya then.