Inuyasha 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any anime that appears in this story.**

**A/N: Okay. So. This was originally an interactive "choose your own adventure" type story with choices at the end and everything, but this site doesn't allow it, so I get to come up with my own ideas. My life is kind-of-really-busy at the moment though, so I don't know if I'll update this often, if at all. It's pretty much last-priority for me. But I thought since I had it and wasn't doing anything with it, I might as well post it and see if people like it. Right now, this is a crossover (you can probably see by now I love crossovers) of Inuyasha, FMA, and Naruto, possibly Bleach later. But I was also thinking of adding Yu-gi-oh to the crossover. Tell me in your reviews if you think that's a good idea or not. Mwahaha, excuse the phail title. I had no idea what else to put.**

The young lord turned in his sleep slightly, vaguely becoming aware of something poking him. It was at first passed off as a plant or something brushing against him in the wind, but then the unmistakable scent of human wafted into his nose. It took another few seconds for that scent to register in the demon's still-sleeping brain before the pale eyelids fluttered open.

The sight of a figure kneeling beside him triggered an automatic reaction in the demon and he hissed and growled at the man, eyes a bright red with the irises a royal blue. The man flinched, and took a step back, but did not run. A few moments later, as the demon's vision cleared, the realization that the figure was a mere, harmless human struck him, and the growling ceased as his eyes faded back to their normal white with amber irises.

"Well, I guess that means you're alive!" the man remarked brightly.

The demon looked the strange human over in faint amusement; it wasn't very often that a human had the gall to approach Lord Sesshomaru, at least, a human with even the vaguest sense of self-preservation. The man didn't look like any human he'd seen before--he was clad in nearly all blue decorated with a bunch of shiny buttons and other colorful badges. He had short black hair and some stubble on his chin. But the strangest thing about him, to the demon, at least, was the strange glass attached to metal rods that covered his eyes. Weird creatures, humans were...

"What do you want, human?"

The man laughed slightly. "You say that like _you're_ not human!"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed slightly, and a small sigh escaped, but he didn't bother answering; let this fool think he was human--he'd learn soon enough just how mistaken he was when the lord decided his claws needed sharpening.

"What do you want?" he repeated.

"Uhhh...I guess I just wanted to know if you were alive, heheh..."

"Well, if you're satisfied, human, then leave." He spat the word human as if he had swallowed something distasteful and was aiming to remove it. He started to sit up, feeling a slight pain in his side and mid-back. That was certainly odd...he almost _never_ felt physical pain... It was such a rare occurrence for Sesshomaru to be injured that he had probably even forgotten what pain felt like... Hmph. It was probably his imagination, anyway...

The human seemed a little taken aback by the sharp response. "But...it isn't nice to leave someone alone in the forest! Actually, during basic military training, I'm pretty sure they told us never to travel in an unknown area without a buddy to watch your back, so--"

The lord's eyes narrowed a little more, but his expression remained stoic. "You are a fool. And I am not and will never be your 'buddy', human."

The man seemed put out by the other's coldness and pouted a bit. "Geeeeze, lighten up. I think someone needs a hug, eh?"

For a second, Sesshomaru's expression twisted into a dark scowl as he rapidly got up, but then it faded into it's old stoic position again. There was that slight pain again...how odd. Inuyasha must have been rubbing off on him.

"Lay one hand on me, human, and I assure you you will _not_ live to regret it."

The remark caused yet another flinch from the man. He'd probably do it, too! This guy was a psycho...

"Still," he insisted, pouting a bit more, "We should go through this forest together; it's better that way, don't you think?"

In the back of his mind, the demon lord wondered why he hadn't killed this irritating human yet--perhaps he reminded him of Rin, what with his nerve in approaching him and that same exuberant friendliness...and besides! Why waste his pure claws on this pathetic human? They were meant to be used on powerful demons...and disgraces such as Inuyasha.

Wait. Now that he thought about it, where was Rin?! He couldn't catch her scent, even distantly! That Jaken better be protecting her, otherwise he'd find himself sans a head when the lord found him.

"Fine. Just stay out of my way, human. If you value your worthless life, that is."

"Hey, hey, HEY! What makes you say my life is worthless?!" the man asked indignantly.

"Don't take it so personally. I find all humans worthless." Wait. Was that true? What about Rin...? He pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

The other sighed, wondering what made that guy so damn grumpy. "Well, anyway, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes. Nice to meet you, uhhh...what's your name?" He grinned and offered his hand to shake, but Sesshomaru simply stared at him for a moment. Just as the lieutenant colonel was starting to fidget slightly, the demon spoke.

"...You have an odd name, human. And if you enjoy the use of that hand, I would suggest you replace it at your side." He turned and started to walk away, and then stopped for a moment. "Sesshomaru." With that, he continued walking ahead, though he honestly had no idea where he was going--there were no familiar scents nor demonic auras he recognized...he might even have to stoop to asking a _human_ where he was. The demon lord's nose crinkled at the thought.

"Your name isn't exactly common either," the man noted. He followed the demon for a few minutes and then an idea struck him. What better way to lighten this man up than with the adorable face of his daughter, Elysia! Rather pleased with himself, he dug through his pockets for his wallet and took out one of the pictures, and pushed it in front of Sesshomaru's face. "My daughter Elysia! Isn't she so cuuuuuute!"

The demon lord's eyes narrowed yet further and resisted the strong urge to douse the picture, and the man, with a dose of his poison. He glared at the picture of the human girl and then took a deep breath. In as much of a calm voice as he could muster under his irritation, he answered. "Unless you would like that object shredded into innumerable pieces, you will remove that from my sight immediately."

The lieutenant colonel recoiled and hastily put the picture back in his pocket. Sure, he had dozens, possibly hundreds like it, but each picture was unique! Losing one would be like losing a part of her, and he couldn't have that.

"You're cold," he informed the demon.

"And you're annoying."

They continued walking in this way, periods of silence interrupted by short exchanges of banter, until they reached a place with a large, wooden arch with the words "Konohakagure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves" written in Japanese on a red banner above it. A human village...the demon lord balked at the thought, but before he had any time to make a decision, a young man with gray hair wearing a mask, with his left eye covered by a headband appeared before the pair.

"Identify yourselves. Where are you from? What do you want in the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" came the harsh demand. The young man's hand traveled to his weapons pouch, pulling out a kunai knife in case the pair were enemies. Normally he would've been friendlier, but after the incident with Orochimaru and the Third Hokage at the Chunin Exams, and Sasuke leaving the village...one could never be too careful.


	2. Chapter 2

The demon lord glared at the one who had the audacity to attempt to block his passage into the village. He still wasn't sure if he'd actually stoop to asking any of the humans where he was, exactly, but this human _had_ caused him to decide he'd enter the village, nonetheless. What his business was there was none of the other's concern.

Not even bothering to narrow his eyes once more, he stepped forward, towards that wooden arch that marked the entrance to the village.

The ninja leaped in front of him, knife still in hand. "I asked you a question. Who are you and what is your business here in this village?"

"Move, human," was the only answer. The shinobi didn't budge. Nor did his knife.

Sesshomaru's patience was quickly running thin. He stepped forward again; this time, the ninja responded by placing the kunai at his throat. "Answer the question!" Big mistake. The demon lord soon found a grin playing across his face; all those who knew the demon lord knew what that meant. When Sesshomaru smiled, someone was about to either die or be severely, severely mutilated.

A shining yellow thread started to emerge from the claws of his left hand, and whipped out at the ninja who continued to defy him. The other leaped back in shock--was this some kind of jutsu? But...he had never even seen the man make a hand sign! One hand traveled to his headband, lifting it to reveal the eye it concealed. It was startlingly different from the other one; the color was bright red, as opposed to the chocolate-brown hue of his right, and there seemed to be three teardrop-shaped marks inside the eye itself.

However, the man did not have time to do much else before he found a clawed hand rake across his chest and he fell backwards to the ground. The ninja was fortunate for Sesshomaru's disinterest in this fight--he was not doused with poison nor did the claws penetrate more than the very top layer of his skin. The wound he suffered was no deeper than your average papercut. It seemed Sesshomaru's patience had not quite yet run out. Without another word, or even a glance in his direction, the demon lord continued forward, into the village.

"No! Stop--"

He was cut off by a picture suddenly being thrust in his face. A picture of a young girl in a pink dress, grinning broadly as she stood on her front lawn. The grin was only matched (and even surpassed, very likely) by the man holding it. "My daughter, Elysia," he explained proudly, his smile spread nearly from ear to ear, "She's _sooo_ darling in that dress don't you think?"

Eh? Now this...was certainly new. The ninja wasn't quite sure what to expect next. The first man in the duo had attacked him, and then this one...showed him a picture of his daughter?

"Uhm, yes. Of course," he answered somewhat hesitantly. He didn't expect, of course, the exuberant response from the possibly-too-proud father.

The grin stretched even wider, testing the limits set for a human mouth. Maes Hughes was practically glowing with delight.

"_ISN'T_ she?! I just _knew_ you'd like it--everyone does! They say she takes after me. She turned four recently, you know." He adjusted his glasses slightly, and then continued his gushing. "I have lots more where that came from--do you want to see?"

The ninja laughed slightly, mostly out of politeness, and rubbed at the back. "Oh, ah...that's very nice. And no, I think I'll pass on that, thank you."

God, this man was a nut. A harmless nut, though, so he supposed it would do no harm to let him into the village. If he was with that other psycho, maybe he could keep him in line with that slightly disturbing cheerfulness.

"Anyway, I'm Kakashi Hatake," he said casually, extending a hand to be shaken after putting away the kunai and readjusting his headband to cover up his left eye once more.

"Maes Hughes--nice to meet you."

The young jounin looked away for a moment, and then added, "Sorry for jumping you like that earlier, but ever since the incident with Orochimaru and the Third Hokage...we need to be extra careful. The Fifth is settling in, I suppose, but there's still a lot of work to be done..."

The lieutenant colonel tilted his head to the side briefly, not quite understanding. "Umm. Two questions: What's a hokage? And...um, you mentioned the Third and then the Fifth, but what happened to the Fourth?"

Kakashi had just seemed confused at the first part of Hughes's question, but as the man asked the second part, his face became successively more grim.

"Kage..." he began gravely, "Is the name given to the highest ranking ninja in a hidden village like your own. Because our village is in the Land of Fire, the Kage's prefix here is 'ho'."

The brown eye broke his gaze with the lieutenant colonel and fell to the ground as he came to answering the second part of the question. "The Fourth Hokage...died in service of the village twelve years ago. The Third, who'd retired, then retook his post, until he too died recently..." He soon realized how depressing he was sounding, and valiantly tried to pull his face into a smile. What was harder was that he had to force it to show in his eyes, since his mouth and part of his nose was covered by his blue mask. What came out was a very awkward, forced smile that really didn't reach his lone uncovered eye.

The lieutenant colonel's grin faded a little at the jounin's failed attempt at a smile, feeling slightly guilty about upsetting him, and simply remarked "Ah, I see." His face became slightly more serious, and added, "I'm sorry."

"Uhh, no. Don't worry. I mean, the Third will obviously be sorely missed, but I'm sure Tsunade will do a great job as our Hokage--she's already done a great deal to get this village back on its feet..."

Some of Hughes's grin resumed, and he nodded. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Kakashi."

"Likewise."


End file.

Inuyasha, Fantasy