ax_main | Inu-Yasha and Laura Backdated

Inu-Yasha seeks Laura out cause she smells weirdly like metal and then INU-YASHA VS LAURA! FIIIGHT!

Laura frowned down at the book in her lap, choosing outside to try and read her textbook since it seemed there would be less people. History had always been a subject that Rice has never really taught her aside from basic dates and brief overviews, but now the book was throwing all kinds of details at her.

She hated to think she was behind.

Inu-yasha was the opposite - he knew he was behind and was doing everything he could to put off homework or studying or any of the rest of that bullshit.

And today, that included following the scent of the weird new girl. There was a lot of weird in this school, all kinds of it in fact, but this was something new.

So, he followed his nose and found her outside (good, he hated being inside) and watched her from a careful distance for a moment, taking in all the details his senses could provide him with. In many ways she seemed like a normal girl - but the most troubling thing was the scent of metal.

It took her awhile, but when the wind blew towards her she smelled the faintest hint of dog, which was weird cause it was mixed with human. Laura quietly turned the page even though she was no longer focused on reading, her mind on full alert now that she knew someone was watching.

It could be danger. It probably wasn't, but one couldn't be too careful.

"Do you need something?" She asked, keeping her head bowed towards her book, but flexing her hands just in case.

Inu-yasha cocked his head to one side, seemingly unsurprised that she'd noticed him. He would have, in her position.

"What are you?" he asked bluntly, stepping closer, though he stopped about a body length away. "You smell weird."

Laura pursed her lips and gave up on her reading cover to look up at the person who had been watching her. First Megan with her black eyes, wings and pink hair and now this, the boy with white hair and animal ears.

That was probably why she smelled dog.

"I have showered for the day. I see no reason why I would smell weird."

"You smell like metal," he replied shortly. It wasn't the other strange thing about her scent, but it was the only thing he could precisely name.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's interesting."

She obviously didn't think it was.

Inu-yasha frowned back. So, this wasn't news to her. "An' not just any metal, either," he drawled on, taking on a bored air, though golden eyes still watched her closely. "Not like coins or cars or crap like that."

She took a deep breath, picking up her book and standing up so they could at least be on equal ground even though she was much smaller. She turned to face him, staring at him for a long moment before holding up one and letting her claws extend.

"Adamantium."

Inu-yasha watched with a critical eye, smelling her blood as the metal pierced her skin, watching the wounds close. He'd never smelled anything like the metal.

And they looked like brutal weapons. Something about the way she moved, the controlled wildness in her eyes, made him think she knew exactly how to use them. It brought out a kind of predatory light in his own eyes, though he didn't make any movements to suggest aggression. This was just talking.

"That's a good trick," he replied, meaning the healing. "The metal though - someone did that to you?"

Laura watched him, wondering what exactly he wanted from her if it caused him to seek her out and watch her from the far back. She shifted the book in her arm slowly, not caring enough about it that she wouldn't throw it if she needed to.

"Someone did." She answered eventually, eyes flicking to his ears for a fraction of a second before going back to his face. "Someone do that to you?"

"Keh, no," he replied dismissively. "No one does anything to me."

Laura glanced at his ears again, this time longer. "That is natural?"

One silver ear flicked to the side self-consciously as he frowned. "Course it is. They're ears."

"For a canine, yes." She placed her book on the ground, tired of carrying it and rolled her sleeves up. She then let her other hand extended their claws so that she wasn't lopsided. "Were you born with them?"

"No, they changed a few months ago." And, since she was all but brandishing weapons, he cracked the knuckles of one hand, drawing attention to the claws there. She wasn't the only one who was armed. "Why, what do you care?"

She watched him crack his knuckles and it almost brought made her smile, but she stamped it down as hard as she could before replying. "I am only making polite conversation."

Huh. She didn't seem the type for 'polite conversation'. "They're just ears," he growled back, trying and failing at not sounding defensive. "I'm a dog demon, they're supposed to be like that."

Laura watched him carefully while she tried to sort through the idea that first whatever Megan was is real and now apparently demons were too. She pursed her lips and took a step closer, careful to be slow in case he grew more agitated and attacked. "Did you come from hell?"

"Might as well've," Inu-yasha replied shortly, not wanting to get into more explanations.

"Hm." So, he wasn't a demon. Laura was a little disappointed even though she didn't really show it. It would have been interesting to meet an actual demon like in the stories she had heard, but today was not that day. "Was asking about my smell the only thing you needed?"

"What, am I boring you?" Inu-yasha shot back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yes." Laura replied bluntly. "You saw that I was trying to read."

"...seriously?" He'd never been accused of being boring before. He honestly didn't know what to do with that. "Fine. Read," he huffed petulantly. "I'm not stopping you."

"You already did and now I've lost the will." She had thought reading outside would have been easier than in her room with all of Megan's stuff being so distracting, but outside was just as distracting. She looked at his claws and wondered how easily they could break. "How durable are your nails?"

"Claws," he corrected automatically, then flashed her a predatory grin. "And they'll cut through almost anything."

Laura took another cautious step forward before moving her hands close together to scrape her claws against one another. "Anything?"

Inu-yasha's golden eyes narrowed. "Almost," he admitted. The robots in the Danger Room, he hadn't been able to even scratch those. "Why?"

"Because, I would be interested to see you try against my claws." She knew her claws were indestructible, she had heard Rice brag about it constantly during her physicals.

"...you want to fight?" Inu-yasha wasn't against the idea, but it was so far gone from any other conversation he'd had here. This girl was nothing like any of the others.

Laura heard the Professor's words in her head, that she was not to harm other students purposefully and she did not plan to harm this boy purposefully. The idea for going against a real person, who presumably could decently fight, not some defenseless target or the robots in the Danger Room and the idea brought the smallest hint of a smile to her face. "Yes."

"Wha- really?" He was pretty sure he'd misunderstood, but apparently not. Then he shook his head as if to clear it, falling back into his aloof persona. "No way! I'm not gonna fight some tiny girl." Sure, she moved like she'd fought before, but he wasn't exactly an average human.

"Size and sex has nothing to do with skill in fighting." She raised her chin a little defiantly. Whoever thought that was truly foolish.

Inu-yasha snorted. "Usually does," he said, having seen his share of fights over the years. Of course, his size was deceptive, so he knew damn well that there were exceptions. "Strength and speed matter more." And there he almost definitely had her beat. "You're out of your league."

Laura narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists and holding her claws up in front of her. "I can assure you I am not. You, however, are."

"Not likely," he replied, but was falling into the familiar trade of insults before a fight. His posture changed slightly, his weight shifting in anticipation of an attack, or possibly to launch an offensive of his own. He cracked his knuckles again, a low growl in his throat and menacing look in his eyes as he added, "But you're welcome to find out."

She went completely still, not even breathing, before she raised her fists and with a scream ran at him at full speed.

"Wha--" Inu-yasha didn't even get the word out, lunging out of the way just in time to watch one set of claws go sailing into the place where his face had just been. What the hell?! He darted sideways and out of range of another direct attack, but she was faster than anyone he'd ever fought before--

She swiped and caught a bit of his pant leg.

Laura flicked her hand, the piece of fabric she had ripped off went flying and she immediately charged again only to be dodged. She was surprised by how fast he was, normally people barely had time to scream before she was running her claws through them-

Do not think like that. We are not killing the boy.

She grunted and tried to swipe at him again.

Inu-yasha had leaped directly into the air at full force to avoid her last attack, but that left him at the mercy of gravity as he came back down to her next attack. He did the only thing he could think of and met it with one of his own, claws swiping forward in a slashing arc.

...only to have his claws skim right off the metal of her claws. "Kuso," he swore, launching himself sideways again as soon as his feet touched the ground. What was she?!

Laura had expected her claws not to even scratch when their claws met, but what she hadn't expected was for his to stay intact. She grit her teeth a moved after him quickly, swiping at his feet and just barely missing when he leapt into the air again.

He could jump higher than her, which was something he was taking advantage of and she scowled. How did she win against something that was always in the air?

Sonofabitch, Inu-yasha hated playing defense. This time when his feet touched the ground, he changed direction, launching himself directly at her with a shout and a powerful punch.

She was surprised when he changed tactics so suddenly, trying to move out of the way before his fist connected with her face, but was unfortunately not fast enough and it clipped her in the shoulder.

The power behind the punch had been unexpected as it sent her back a good couple of feet before she was able to get her balance back. She scowled at him as she rolled her hit shoulder, the pain immediately disappearing as her healing fixed any damage he might have done. "Demon indeed."

She ran at him again, acting like she was going to swipe at his chest with her claws before dropping down suddenly to kick his legs out from under him.

Inu-yasha smirked at her words and then braced for her attack, completely falling for the feint and landing hard on his ass. "Shit!"

As soon as he had hit the ground she pounced, thrusting out one of her clawed hands toward his shoulder, only to be caught by a strong hand on her wrist. She growled and tugged as hard as she could, reaching out with her free hand to slice at his arm.

The force of her knocked him on his back, but he caught her second attack at the wrist too, but it was all he could do to redirect her hand - how could she be so strong?! - letting her power carry her claws over his shoulder and into the ground.

Mostly. His shirt tore and he felt a sting on his shoulder, smelled the metallic scent of his own blood. It wasn't bad, a scratch, but still more than he wanted to give. "Chikuso," he swore, trying to figure out how to get a handle on her.

When she smelled blood, Laura felt a rush of satisfaction at being the first to draw blood in this battle, but then she quickly remembered that this wasn't a fight where she needed to kill. With a grunt she pulled her claws back in and quickly twisted her arms, breaking his grip on her so she could back.

She kept her hands up, but her claws in as she surveyed the small cut she had made on his shoulder. Nothing he would die from and she rushed at him with just her fists, throwing out a jab towards his face.

Inu-yasha was on his feet as soon as she got off him - and he had just enough time to tuck his claws away in fists before her punch connected with his face with bruising force. It was calculated on his part though, and his answering punch to her gut came less than a second after. If he’d been using his claws, she would’ve been skewered...

She took a sharp breath in, refusing to let his hit to her stomach get her down and with a grimace of pain she reached forward to grab a fist full of his white hair. She made the conscious effort not to grab his ears with the hair because she did not know how sensitive they would be.

She tugged on it roughly and threw another punch at his face, this time trying for the left side instead of head on.

Damn, she could pack a punch, but he wasn’t some fragile human. She had his hair, but his hand shot forward, grabbing her throat like a vice, claws pricking the skin. “Gotcha,” he growled triumphantly, using his superior strength to throw her off-balance, still holding her by her throat. “Dead.”

Laura grit her teeth as she felt him squeeze just enough to let her know that he could easily crush her windpipe, but then she could always heal. She quickly reached out with her free hand, other still gripping his hair, and let her claws extended until they gently brushed his adam apple.

"Am I?" She grit out.

Inu-yasha’s head tilted up as he felt her claws at his neck and he growled, eyes flashing.

Then he actually smirked. “Draw.”

She waited for a moment before nodding. "Let go of my throat."

Inu-yasha frowned and glanced downward - not that he could see the metal at his throat, but he figured she’d get it - and then met her eyes. They’d release each other at the same time. He waited a beat, then let go, stepping away from her.

When she felt him let go Laura let her claws slide back in and she dropped her arm, moving to stand up straight. "You are strong. Your fighting could use practice, but you have enough strength that it is not immediately obvious."

Cocking his head to the side as he listened to the assessment - what the hell was she even talking about?? - but he bypassed that. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"I was trained." She replied easily, moving to try and comb out a few knots from her hair from all the movement.

The answer was both direct and evasive, which made Inu-yasha frown. Probably whoever had coated her bones in metal, then. He watched her pull at her hair for a moment, then glanced at his shoulder. The shirt was ruined, but he wasn’t badly damaged. It’d heal within a day.

So, he looked back at her and did the only thing that made sense.

He cracked his knuckles and asked, “Wanna go again?”

Laura paused at his question, wondering if it was a good idea to be fighting another student while out in the open where anyone could see them. She could get in trouble with Professor Xavier, but he was also asking and if she kept the damage to a minimum then was there any actual harm? She nodded towards Inu-Yasha and moved back into a fighting stance.

"Yes."