Chapter 6: Found a Bone

Inuyasha frowned as he trailed behind his oh so protective guard and the asshole demon who called himself a lord. How big could one forest be, furthermore how was walking to the end and reaching some goal mark supposed to teach him responsibility and values. The only thing he felt responsible for was his sore feet and the only thing he was learning to value was the cool temperature of his room and all his amazingly soft pillows back at home. He swatted at another bug threatening to gnaw on him like a piece of roasted boar. Was this how these two barbarians lived, surrounded by bugs the size of his eye and roaming around in muggy weather all day? Did they not know that his skin did not react well to bug bites and bad weather? How would his father feel if he came back with permanent scars? Would he regret sending him into the retched, untamed wilderness with two overbearing strangers who would lead him into the bowels of foul creatures—

"INUYASHA!"

He jumped, unfolding his arms as he glanced up and around to see who was yelling at him and for what reason. He paused when he noticed the two were now behind him and not in front of him, wondering when he'd spaced out and passed them up. "What," he asked testily as they both gave him a look of irritation. "I didn't do nothing this time so don't even say that I'm messing up your stupid little demon games."

Lord Sesshomaru with his permanent look of boredom and displeasure was giving him a look of well… displeasure. They had been feuding since day one, the guy obviously was a glory hog and did not enjoy the fact that he was not the last of their extended family's bloodline. Or perhaps he did not enjoy being talked back to when everyone in his life bowed down to his every whim? Inuyasha looked him dead in the eyes and huffed; he could just stuff it because he was of no relevance or importance to him. He was the prince, he had the real royal blood, and everyone else was just peasants amongst him and should really learn the rules of nobility.

"INUYASHA!"

His eyes widened as his name was yelled again and his ears quirked wildly in response… He really had to stop going off on these long tangents inside of his own head, he could get lost in there.

"Are you listening you incompetent, rotten brat? Step away from the mud, it produces noxious fumes and will swallow you whole." Naraku narrowed his eyes at the idiot who was blindly stomping around with his clumsy, pampered feet. "Have you not listened to a word I've been telling you?"

"Huh," Inuyasha asked with a blank expression crossing his face. He hadn't realized Naraku was speaking to him at all. Moreover… he looked down at his feet, he was mere inches from a long stretch of bubbling brown goop, massive bubbles rising to the surface only to rise and pop with an noxious explosion of greenish gas. He turned up his porcelain painted nose, he would have been pissed if he'd gotten the mess on his expensive robes. Washing his own clothes was not on his to do list. "Oh yeah… I totally knew that was there."

Lord Ass on his shoulders blew out a long, irritated stretch of breath before surveying the area. It seemed they had come to one of the Forest many blockades, a straight shot was obviously out of the question which meant he had to find a way around which meant more time with his unwanted company. He wanted to run through each of the Level Masters, testing their commendable skills against his own. He had no doubts that he would succeed in order to issue his challenge at the end of the course. He could care less about who won the silly games, he was only here for the fights.

"That's a really big frog," Sesshomaru heard the voice that was starting to grate on his nerves and he was tempted to drown the half-breed in the noxious mud. All day he talked, and all day he complained, if the idiot said one more stupendous thing he would snap.

"Inuyasha duck!" All eyes turned to Naraku who was yelling yet again but Inuyasha was quickly driven to the Forrest floor by the other ramming into him.

"Haha! Good reflexes, you'll need them pretty soon!" A voice rang out from the mouth of the frog which had just shot out its massive tongue with incredible speed at them.

Inuyasha glanced up at Naraku who had him pinned protectively to the ground, it was real nice of him to go using his body as a meat shield to protect him but was it really necessary to throw him halfway across the Forrest? "Can you not kill me in your attempts to help me?"

Naraku gave him an irritated glance before hauling them both up. "Shut up, if you paid attention to your surroundings you could have heard it coming. Do you know nothing about battle tactics?"

Inuyasha felt indignant, he knew plenty about battle tactics. He was just… forgetful when it actually came to applying the learned skills.

"Boys, boys, don't bicker amongst yourselves in the presence of a Lady." The frog opened its giant mouth and a short woman appeared on its tongue, her long hair flowing around her perfectly as she walked down the tongue as if it was a carpet rolled out for her entry. "Welcome to your first challenge," she said almost sweetly as she continued her decent towards safe ground.

Inuyasha glanced back to the other two, wondering what challenge she was speaking of. He seemed to remember on his own however that he was here to "learn" how to be "responsible". He scoffed, what a silly thing his father had thrown him into. Some crazy war games that he had no interest in! If those two raging thorns in his ass wanted to fight then they could go right ahead. He wasn't even enrolled in the damn school and he was force to take their damn final exam.

"Soo many handsome men, sigh, what I wouldn't do to see how pretty you all are on the inside." Lady Tsuki twirled as she finally stepped off of the frog's tongue. "Well I'll just have to make do with seeing all your pretty red blood~"

Inuyasha folded his arms and stepped away from the woman who walked past him and blew him a kiss. He shivered a little, the sensation of something slimy crawling over him came from being in close presence of the woman. "You I'll make dance," she called over her shoulder to him.

She continued past Naraku without a glance or word and went to stop in front of Sesshomaru. "You, Lord Sesshomaru, I know why you are here and I'll gladly test my skills against your own however," She turned to the others, her gaze centered on Inuyasha and then Naraku, "they must, defeat my challenge in order for your complete success."

Naraku wore his same rather blank expression but narrowed his eyes slightly at the woman while Inuyasha scrunched up in nose and bared one side of his teeth. "Do I look like a fuckin' pawn? You think we just go around waiting for him to dictate our every move? Screw your game!"

"He's right," a voice called from behind them and both Naraku and Inuyasha stared at Sesshomaru with shock. "They shouldn't have to play your games."

Inuyasha blinked rather dumbfounded at the man's sudden change in attitude. Was he finally coming to his senses, was his high and haughty nose finally picking up the stench of the essence of ass radiating from his body?

"If I were to allow that thing especially to dictate whether I pass or fail these silly games I would never leave this spot." Sesshomaru gave his hair a single flick back and the long tresses went gracefully sailing behind his back. "I will be the one to defeat your challenge and then I will defeat you."

"Ah ah ah Lord Sesshomaru," Lady Tsuki said with a smile, soft painted lips spreading wide, "not even you are above the rules. The rules state that-"

"Screw the damn rules," Inuyasha yelled out in a furry as he by-passed his guard and the woman to place himself in front of Sesshomaru. "You know what you, I'm sick of your shit, I'm sick of hearing your pompous words too. I don't know how far that silver spoon was shoved up your ass but you really shouldn't talk with a mouth full of shit." Inuyasha drew himself up so that he could stand full height. His father was a great and powerful man and Inuyasha felt pride being his son. No one, not even another noble of their kind was going to talk down on their blood line. "I accept your challenge lady."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits as he brought his face within inches of the hanyou and the slightest furrowed appeared beside his nose indicating his emotion at the moment. "Watch yourself mutt, I'd remember who I am addressing if I were you."

"Oh I remember," Inuyasha said without fear of man's eerie gaze or tone, no one was scarier than his father when mad, if he'd learned not to shake in his shoes at his father's rage then he could learn to stand against this tyrant. "And I'd suggest you do the same."

"Inuyasha please think wisely before…" Naraku shook his head as the boy completely ignored him and turned his back to the great demon Lord. If Inuyasha kept it up, at this rate he wouldn't be the one to end the fool. In the long run it really give him any great pride to be the specific one to kill the boy, it was all for his mother.

"Oh great! Such a feisty lot I have this time~" Lady Tsuki gave another twirl, "it's decided then? The two of you will face the challenge while Lord Sesshomaru and I test our prowess?" She clapped her hands twice in the air before she pointed towards the lake of noxious mud, "then let's begin shall we?"

They all turned to the thick collection of mud, random bubbles popping up on its surface expecting something big to having because she'd said her last words in such a grand fashion. After a moment though, Inuyasha was the first to become irritated with the woman's dramatic ways.

"What the hell is supposed to be-" Just as he spoke however, a giant splash of mud came shooting into the air like a geyser, the dangerous gunk spreading across the land they currently stood on like a tidal wave. Everyone jumped gracefully out of the way, Naraku coming to Inuyasha's aid as he hoisted them both up into a tree. Inuyasha huffed and pushed the man away from him; he didn't know why everyone thought he was a damsel in distress around here. He placed his hand against the tree trunk as the ground quivered and soon long and huge started to rise from beneath the dangerous lake of brown.

"Your goal is pretty simple boys! Get from the start to the finish." She pointed to a target located on the final pier. "It's simple right?" She clapped her hands again. "Shall we begin? There's really on one rule, don't fall off the pillars. If you fall, you lose and… you'll more than like be painfully burned or killed by the poisonous mud."

Inuyasha sighed… why was this entire place filled with insane demons? He looked at the pillars, jumping them would be no problem but he had a feeling that things weren't going to be that easy. Still, he had a point to prove, he was tired of being called a thing and he was tired of everyone thinking he needed to be watched or protected or babied. He was a man dammit, he was the son of a great Demon Lord and he would prove to all of them that he wasn't a weakling even if he was spoiled. He didn't waste any time, if he was going to get out of the entire place quickly, then they had to get through this none sense and make it out of the seemingly endless forest.

Jumping with ease away from the collection of people who currently irritated him, Inuyasha began to set off towards the target. Like he thought however it wasn't easy. The moment he landed on one pillar, it began to shake and instantly went shooting back down into the mud. He had to immediately jump to another one which went whizzing thought the mud nearly tossing him off.

"That all you got swamp? You gotta do better than that!" He jumped, prepared to make his way to a higher pillar but a new one shot up, blocking his path and he slammed into it, the impact sending him sprawling downwards. He was tackled however midair as Naraku helped him back onto a safe pillar.

"You idiot, I should have let you fall," Naraku said testily as he pushed Inuyasha away from him, "just like a fly attracted to sweets you are an idiot attracted to taunts." He shook his head, the fool was so easy to bait that it was a wonder that he hadn't been kidnapped by now.

Inuyasha huffed at his bodyguard before righting himself. If one more person or thing tossed him around he was going to stab through the eye with his rusty sword. Their pillar shifted as the challenge continued, behind him he could hear what sounded like swords clashing but he could care less what was happening with Sesshomaru. He only wanted to get to the target, rip it off then shove it in his smug face. With a new resolve Inuyasha continued where he was heading.

Shots of mud started to shoot from the mud towards them and he had to scramble to get out of the way of the giant balls threatening to flatten him. He frowned as two big eyes rose from beneath the mud and he realized that he'd forgotten about the woman's giant pet. He jumped again to dodge more of the thing's spit missiles. "Hey you," he called over to Naraku who was doing nothing as always. "Can you be useful and I don't know… do your job!"

He pointed to the giant beast who seemed more focused on him than Naraku, a whole other person, who was just standing there and could have been a far easier target. Then again, everyone else was out to get him, why not the frog?

Naraku watched for a good moment as Inuyasha jumped around like a grasshopper, for such a scrawny thing he had pretty good leg strength. To his surprise Inuyasha was doing rather well on his own, dodging the attacks at the right moment while focusing on the moving pillars and make slight progress towards his goal. Perhaps if Inuyasha would shut up some times, Naraku thought, the other would be far more useful. He smirked, deciding to help the other as he went to distract the frog, throwing a noxious purple miasma to distract the frog. The fog didn't have much of an effect on the amphibian however, it was obviously resistant to poisons since it was swimming in a pond of acidic mud. It did however distract the thing into focusing its attention to him. He waited for mud balls to start flying his way but instead the thing shot out its tongue and wrapped it around the pillar he stood on. He stood there, confused for a moment as it seemingly did nothing. Then he felt it, the feeling of motion beneath him just as the frog yanked the pillar from out of the sludge and sent it flying towards the cluster of pillars.

Inuyasha turned in time to see the slab of rock fly towards him and ducked just in time. He wanted to laugh at the site of Naraku clinging wildly to the thing but he was too busy being pissed. "I said help you asshole, not hinder!"

Soon pillars were being thrown everywhere and Inuyasha jumped for dear life as his options began to dwindle. Pillars were disappearing from one spot and piercing upwards elsewhere while the frog sent some crashing into others in an effort to hit Naraku, either hitting standing pillars and causing them to shake or just breaking them completely. It was a struggle but he'd finally made it to the right pillar. The problem was the target sat lower towards the top and his arms were not long enough to reach it. With a forlorn sigh, he decided that there was only way he was getting the thing and that was to climb down. He hoped Naraku had enough sense not to come his way with all the mayhem he was causing. No one thought about his needs though, it was becoming like an expectation to him, people not worrying about what would best benefit him.

He heard the sound that was already radiating around him but it seemed far closer to him this time. Fearfully he glanced down as he clung to the pillar like some sort of tree clinger, he saw the column that rammed into his own go crashing down before he took note of the deep crack it left in his own. The eerie sound caused him to close his eyes as the world went lurching to the side. Swearing loudly he let go, sliding down the now sloped surface of the beam which was crashing down. He grabbed the target as the beam finally completely gave way, but the teetering pillar took him with it as it completely flipped beneath him.

There was a crash as a splash of mud came rushing up again covering the scene. Finally everything cleared and everything was quiet. Naraku stood atop one of the pillars that was spared. His eyes searched for his idiot ward. If he was sent to his demise by a frog he would be rather pissed, Inuyasha's death was meant for him, not a demon sized fly eater.

ooOOoo

As Sesshomaru thought, the woman was good but she was no match for him. She was decent enough to cause him to raise his guard but beyond that she was not enough to cause him to break a sweat. He rose his blade from the woman's throat. This wasn't a challenge where he had to end his opponent so there was no need to further prove to himself that he was better than the first instructor.

"So you've won Lord Sesshomaru," Lady Tsuki picked herself up, "but it doesn't seem as if your friends have passed my challenge."

He turned to look towards the muck with a blank stare, if his baggage had reached their demise already he was going to be pissed. He was not allowing his agenda to be spoilt by incompetence. He would lug around their skeletons if he had to. One of them looked fine however, it was that irritating excuse of a dog demon that couldn't be found. He shook his head, now he really would be the youngest surviving member that he knew of, of his clan.

As if his ire fueled the mutt, cursing and struggling could be heard as a hand appeared atop the rubble that was slowly sinking into the bubbling gunk. Finally Inuyasha appeared, hoisting himself fully on top of the receding pile, triumphantly holding up the red orb that marked their success.

"In your snooty little face," Inuyasha yelled out, a huge grin spreading over his face as he pointed out at Sesshomaru. "Whose an incompetent mutt now!?"

Just as the gloat left his mouth, something sailed over him, stealing the orb from his hand in a flash.

"Thanks for winning this for us Princess!"

Inuyasha glanced up, confused for a moment before turning to see a chuckling wolf demon standing on a high tree branch. The brown haired male threw him a wink before he and his crew went running off into the distance.

A/N: Annnd yes it's been forever, I'm sorry for being one of those authors who start and then quit, you can thank my friend who demanded in continue for this update. I can't promise weekly or even biweekly updates but I'll crank them out when I have the muse for them which I promise won't take another what…year? I think its my goal in the story to figure out many creative way to say "asshole".