Inuyasha 1. The Howling

_Prompt: "The Howling" by Within Temptation. From "The Heart of Everything" album

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.:8 Years ago...:.

In the northernmost forests on Nippon, in a small hut, there was an almost palateable tension and anxiousness. The young new mother was struggling desperately to birth her child alone, not daring to call for assistance in fear for her baby's life. For she knew, that the villagers would never accept the child as anything more than an abomination to the world and a betrayal to the village and it's stern views on matters involving involving anything to do with Youkai. Which meant her child as well.

The Youkai who had stolen her heart a few short years earlier was currently running a perimeter around the secluded hut, which he had built with his own hands when the scent of his mate signaled a pup was on it's way a few short months ago. He knew that the village people would never have allowed her to live among them when they found out, his beloved was barely considered a member of the village as it was because of their forbidden love.

_A human and an Inu Youkai found each other quite by accident when she had strayed further from the village than what was deemed 'safe' and he had come to investigate a most intoxicating scent that had his senses on high alert. Finding the human girl, he kept to the shadows as he watched her every move carefully as she looked around her, feeling someone's eyes on her. While at first she was afraid as was taught at the village, she soon managed to overcome this fear and was soon searching this entity out, curious as to why they had come so close to the village and moreso why they were watching her. _

_Eventually unable to keep up the silent game of cat and mouse, the Youkai had stepped forth from the shadows cast by the trees and inclined his head, almost as if in respect for the ningen girl he had stumbled upon. He stayed silent, not wanting the illusion to be disspelled for in front of him stood the most beautiful creature he had layed his eyes on. Small, petite, delicate, looking as though the slightest breeze would see her topple over and break, midnight blue eyes and peach colored cheeks, darker than black hair that fell dead straight, cascading over her shoulders to sit just above waist level. Then when he was sure this creature before him was merely an illusion she spoke, the sound most pleasing to his ears._

_"Excuse me but.. are you not a little close to the village?" It was like a tinkling birdsong, however, much less annoying to his sensitive ears and he found himself smiling back at her._

_"I came closer merely to find something." he said as he stepped forward and sat himself down on a rock, "And it seems I have found it.."_

_"Found what exactly?" The girl was now even more curious about this man before her; moonlight silver hair that only ran to his shoulder, pointed ears, beautiful golden honey eyes and two red sickle shaped markings at the outside edge of those eyes. _

_The demon considered her for a moment before answering, "My heart, that which you have stolen from me." _

The Youkai smiled to himself as he remembered the first meeting between he and the bearer of his pup, she had shown little fear where it was only natural to have done just the opposite. She was a rare ningen indeed... A cry of pain pierced through his reminicing and he quickly remembered where he was and sped for the hut where he could scent that the pup was nearly here.

Entering the hut, he quickly found a place behind his love and pulled her gently against his chest, a deep thrumming beginning to sound from him to soothe her and calm his own nerves. Childbirth was a harrowing experience itself, but without help from anyone, it was even more so. If he looked closely enough he could see the child moving, trying to escape the confines of the womb, however... _NO! _His mind screamed out, the child was in an unnatural position and becoming more agitated, he could now feel the small heat of Youki from the small body as his mate screamed out in agony.

There was nothing he could do... He was sure that scream would haunt him for the rest of his days...

The scream died, though he could still hear it echoing through the forest as he held the limp form of his beloved to his chest. The child had been in breach, facing the wrong way for birth, however the child had made it's own way out, clawing through the mother until it had found freedom.

The pain. The pain of loss hit him as he comprehended what had happened. His love, his life, his mate... was dead. In her place was the tiny form of his daughter, covered in blood, covered in her mother and now, the child's demon blood was realising what it had done, the markings that mirrored her fathers faded to nothing, the tiny claws shrank back into her hands and she made fists as she began wailing, the sound itself was mourning, grieving.

His pup was the reason for his mate's death, but he knew that she would have done so again for the life of their child. He reached forward over his newly deceased and scooped up the crying child, cradling her against her mother's chest as though she were the one holding the baby.

He tried, by the gods he tried to resist the urge to howl to the night, but doing so would be admitting what he wished was not true.

She was dead.

Tears sprung to life in his eyes and they bled red as he turned his face skyward and let loose a howl so full of mourning that echoed through the hearts of everyone who heard it. including the child's, whose voice was also raised in a howl of loss alongside her sire's.

The minutes passed, though they felt like hours and the mournful howling ceased if only for the reason that the howlers' voices had given up on them. He didn't have much time, he knew it, the villagers will be after him shortly for being so close to the village, and when they discovered this, there would be no mercy for him or the pup.

Regretting what had to be done, he carefully cleaned the pup in the water that had been collected earlier, he took in every aspect of the child in his hands, everything from the tiny feet and hands, to the tiny triangles that lay flat to her skull. The pup was hanyou, and one of the more fortunate ones to have been blessed with more human appearance than demon, but he still lamented, for after about a week, those ears would open up and stiffen, making them stand out from the head and make her a target for demon and human alike.

Such is the fate for all Hanyou.. never accepted from either side that made it possible. It would be a lonely life.

Hearing the distant shouts of men approaching he wrapped the pup carefully in his outer kimono, and left for a nearby cave, where he knew a pack of wolves resided. He hated the idea of leaving is child to the wolves, but it was his only choice. The village dogs never ventured into the wolves territory, meaning that the humans never did also, she would be safe as long as he could convince the beasts to take her in.

The Alpha male and female were cautious of him when he arrived, knelt down and submissive, he needed them to know he meant no harm to them. He whimpered, pleading his case and his reluctant wish to have his pup stay with the wolf pack, because it was necessary, he was not long for this world and he needed to know that she would be cared for, protected.

Agonizing seconds turned to excruciating mnuted before the Female stepped forward and sniffed at the bundle before her. The pup had fallen asleep and the scent of birth still carried on her, Turning her head to the Youkai before her she gave him an answer in soft growls, but the meaning was what he had hoped to hear. _**I will take her and protect her, you have my word..**_

Growling a heartfelt thanks, and whimpering an apology to his child, the demon stood gracefully and strode from the wolves and back to the hut to meet his fate.

He made it back in time to see the villagers come over the final rise and break through the last throng of trees before he went inside. Returning to his place behind his beloved, he scooped her still warm body to himself, just holding her. _I'll be with you soon, my heart.. it won't be long now.._

Villagers entered the hut and were assaulted by the sight of the Demon covered in her blood, holding onto her possessively, not even looking up to see the scowls he knew they were wearing.

The shouts deafened him, his blood blinded him, he was attacked from all angles until the villagers deemed that they burn the hut down and be rid of him forever.

The flames grew in intensity, licking at his skin, he welcomed it, for as he was trapped and consumed by the flames, his heart was set free to be with his mate, his love, his heart.

The wolves could see the glow of the fire from their cave and the pack assembled and howled into the night for the spirit of the man who came to them in desperation to save his offspring from the same fate. The Alpha pair looked down at the sleeping form of the Hanyou girl and then to each other. Their lives were going to get interesting from now on...

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A/N:

Well, here's the redone first chapter and I must say I am MUCH _MUCH __**MUCH **_happier with it than the original... I'll be working off prompts and a time line, I have the general outlines done for a number of chapters and I WILL NOT rush the process..

Here's to a better story! Happy Easter everyone!


	2. From Dusk Till Dawn

_**Prompt: "From Dusk till Dawn" by Abingdon Boys School.**_

Three years after that fateful night and the Hanyou was still living with the wolf pack, growing and developing with the rest of the litter. To keep up with her four legged 'siblings' her demon blood constantly ran strong through her veins and close to the surface, giving her the almost perfect and permanant appearance of a full blooded Youkai in her aura, physical ability and facial markings. The only real giveaway that she was not a full Youkai were the triangular dog ears that sat perched on top of her head and even they would dissappear on the moonless nights.

A night such as this.

It was late afternoon and the sun was just touching the edge of the horizon, casting the sky's colours into brilliant orange and pink hues. The Hanyou child sat at the mouth of the packs den, watching the sky absently, having been unusually tired for the majority of the day. It was only recently that she had been able to put the moonless nights and her condition together and begin to understand what it meant, the Alpha male could see the troubled expression on his adopted pup's face and the pink tint that entered her eyes, soon that pink would be red as she fought off the transformation that would always overtake her and leave her vulnerable.

"**What troubles you, pup?" **the wolf asked in soft growls, the language of all the canine species.

The Hanyou looked at the wolf with those slightly confused, pink-tinted eyes, how did he always know when something was wrong? **"There's no moon tonight.. I'll change again.. I fight it and fight it, but I always end up deaf, blind and can't smell..."** she took a shuddering breath and let it out in a long whimper, **"Why?"**

The Alpha bowed his head slightly in thought, before joining the pup's gaze to the sunset, **"You resemble your father so much... swift, strong willed and powerful... however, on these nights you change to resemble your mother so much more..." **receiving an even more puzzled stare from the Hanyou he continued to explain.

**"Your father was a demon.. an Inu with a great deal of strength, those marks on your cheeks are also from him..." **The Alpha looked at the girl with smiling eyes as he caught sight of the curiosity in the pup's eyes before he turned his gaze skyward again, **"he fell in love with a human, your mother, from the village at the base of the mountain. I only met your father on a few occasions before you were born while he was building a hut for your mother and himself.. you see, the village despises demons, and your mother was outcast from them when they discovered she was pupped by your father."** The alpha looked over at the child who instead of looking at him or the sunset, was now staring at her twitching clawed hands, the transforation was beginning..

**"Be calm, Pup, the longer you fight it the more it hurts in the morning..." **The Alpha watched carefully as his pup's eyes changed to scarlet red and the markings on her face appeared to almost glow with their vividity in the waning light. He heard the growl deep from her chest before it broke out into a pained snarl as the demon blood fought for control. Muscles tore and claws raked over her head as she curled into a ball, the last thing she always did before her silver hair stained obsidian and her ears slid down her head and rounded into those of a human with the dissappearance of the last of the sun's light.

Finally opening her eyes to the darkness she could see nothing but the vague image of her hands in front of her face, blunt, weak fingernails where her claws were supposed to be.

The Alpha watched her struggle as he always did on these nights and nuzzled her face to assure her that he was still there and was, as always, pleased when she lifted her chin to expose her neck in submission. Growling the same instruction as he always did, he stood and waited for the child to stagger painfully to her feet and grope blindly for his fur and as always, he stepped in under her hand to guide her through the dark and safely back into the den.

It was a long night as they all were when the moon did not show it's face, a night punctuated by fearful whimpers when the Hanyou was awake and frequent tossing and turning if she somehow fell asleep, only to wake again with a frightened howling or on better nights, a mere whimper.

The pack had grown used to these occurances over the last year as she was becoming more aware of the changes she went through as she grew mature enough to put the event together and notice it was only her that experienced these changes.

Now it was only a matter of time before she found that the monthly event was not all that catastrophic and that the pack was aways around to protect her in that time of vulnerability and that it was only during the night when she would normally be sleeping with the rest of the litter anyway.

The alpha male watched as he contemplated these scenarios and a sad whine sounded from his throat as the pup howled and woke herself again, scrambling for the familiarity of his fur under her fingertips and clinging to it as though it were a lifeline.

**"Be calm, Pup, you are still with the pack and dawn is approaching." **he soothed, licking her hand. The girl was quick to calm as she could feel the warmth of her demon blood returning in small waves and the strength that came with it.

Pushing herself up with a wince as the pulled muscles screamed in protest, she carefully made her way outside the cave to watch the sun rise, being faithfully guided by the alpha male as it was still slightly too early to allow enough light from the false dawn to let her human eyes see where she was going.

She sat down on an old log before sliding down onto the ground and leaning against it instead, looking thoughtfully up at the sky where a few of the stars were already being swallowed up by the dawn. She was silent for a few moments before she caught the wolf's attention with a small yip, **"Alpha.."** The growl was quiet, hesitant as she thought on her question,** "Will you take me to the place where you saw my Sire?"**

The wolf looked at the pup curiously but then lowered his head minutely in agreement, turning his senses toward her as the first rays of sunlight broke over the eastern horizon, cresting the mountainous horizon in gold trim, the first rays allowing the transformation from humanity to Hanyou in his adopted pup.

It was like stepping into a hotspring but from the inside of her body as her demon blood once again awoke within her, burning through her veins like fire. Her fingers clawed as her fingernails grew longer and sharper into strong claws, her jaw ached as her fangs pushed through again and the odd sensation of her ears sliding from the side of her face to the top of her head was something she was sure she would never get used to, but nonetheless she was relieved that she could hear again and smell as well as taste the scents in the air. Opening the eyes she had closed to bear the discomfort, the wolf could see the last of the transformation take place as her eyes changed from her mother's midnight blue to the brilliant gold of her father's eyes, tinged with pink, the facial markings reappeared on her cheeks, the color mirrored in bands around her arms and legs at her bicep, under her elbow, above her knees and at her ankles. Finally, her hair black during the night, shot through with white until it was it's normal moonlight silver color.

He'd never get used to watching such a thing taking place as he was sure she would never be used to it happening to her as he noted that her sigh when it finished was one of relief. **"Feeling better, Pup?"** He asked with a hint of a smile, at her affirmative he continued, casting his gaze out to the sunset that freed his pup from her weakness,** "I will take you to your Sire's resting place, as well as your mother's."**


	3. Memories

_**Prompt: 'Memories' by Within Temptation**_

A couple of hours after the transformation, the Hanyou and Alpha male of the pack set out to the East to where she had been born. Along the way, she caught the scents of various villagers, they were old scents but they were still there. Coming down one last hill, the scorched area and shell of the hut came into view.

the Hanyou stopped, being confronted with the scene hurt something deep inside her but she was determined to see herself through to her goal. Her parent's residence and resting place. She pushed herself forward, ears on constant alert for danger, the scents of the villagers were old... but not three years old...

Finally reaching the front of the hut, she could see straight into the first room. The reed mat that would have served as a door was completely gone, however the hut as a whole remained relatively intact.

**"Your Sire was quite the builder for this to be still standing after repeatedly being burned.." **The Alpha mused as he came to a stop by the Hanyou's side and appraised the burnt wood, **"The villagers would come once a week and re-burn this hut, such was the hatred for your father."**

The Hanyou's blood peaked at the alpha's words, her fists clenched so hard that they drew blood from her hands. She didn't even realize she was doing it until the Alpha licked them.

**"The villager's beliefs are not uncommon unfortunately and there are many others who think that Demons are the embodiment of evil.. and that Hanyou's such as yourself born of demon and human are abominations against nature."**

The girl nodded, not trusting herself with a different response, it was a hard life, but it was hers to live and so far she had beaten all of the odds. Being wary of the structural damage of the hut, she stepped inside the small two room dwelling, the Alpha opting to stay outside and keep watch.

Inside the entrance she could make out a small hearth in the center of the room from the rest of the blackened ash. The living and eating area. She could smell something oddly familiar in this room but it was much stronger trough the doorway to the smaller room to the side.

Gathering her courage she stepped into the smaller room, casting a glance around the room until her eyes came to rest on a large pile of ash, from where the scent was coming from. Now she knew what it was... it was the scent of her parents, imprinted on her memory the moment she took in her first breath, it was moments after she had killed her mother.

Frozen. Unable to move as the hazy memories from her birth were brought into painful clarity until she was brought to her knees at the overwhelming grief and guilt that poured from her Youkai blood. The scent of her mother's blood stung her nose as she flashed back to the first instant of awareness at what she had done and her Sire's grief ridden howl when she broke his heart.

Her howl echoed through the forest again just as it had three years past as she reflected on the words of the alpha.

_'No wonder Hanyou's are so hated.. I killed my own mother and Father died as a result!'_ she thought, ears pinned back to her skull as her howl died in her throat and turned into pleading cries.

The alpha remained outside for some time until the Hanyou's cries had died out before he checked one last time that no one was around, knowing that the girls howl would have alerted the villagers. Only after he was content that there was no immediate threat did he dare enter the hut.

He found his adopted pup curled in the ashes of her parents, caressing fragments of bones that remained as she hiccuped and whimpered her apologies to the both of them. Padding softly over to her, he nuzzled her cheek gently. **"I know of a custom that Humans have to put their loved ones to rest..." **he growled softly,** "We shall collect their ashes and bury them together, then mark the site with stones so that you may visit and remember them always..."**

The young Hanyou looked over at her Alpha, tears she had shed cut clean tracks down her cheeks through the soot and ash that had gathered there through her endeavors to keep the tears at bay. **"I have nothing to put them in.. there's nothing here for me to use!" ** her whimpering turned into a small yelp as she realized the impossibility of the situation and a new wave of tears threatened to overwhelm her.

The wave was dispersed however when the Alpha smiled that assuring smile of his that he kept just for the Pup. **"There is something back at the den.. the cloth that you were wrapped in as an infant when your father brought you to us... I have kept it safe for you.. Come, Pup, we will return later for this task but right now, the villagers are on their way here, I am sure of it.. Come.."**

Reluctantly the Hanyou child followed the wolf back out of the hut where indeed she could hear the sounds of the approaching villagers and the crackling of fire. Hurrying to leave the scene before the child was exposed to more than she was quite ready for the wolf gave a short bark to gain her attention and ran back towards the den at his highest speed, knowing that the Hanyou was close by his heels.

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A/N: It's taken some time but that's what I'm taking on this version of the story... you can't rush something if you want it to be good enough that you are happy with it...

Enjoy it, reviews are always appreciated...


	4. The Promise

_**Prompt: "The Promise" by Within Temptation**_

The Alpha and Hanyou had made short work of the run back to the den, neither wishing to be pursued by the villagers or their dogs. They were met with curious gazes from the rest of the Hanyou's litter as well as the newest cubs of the pack as they entered the den, huffing and looking over their shoulders to where they could see the new plume of smoke starting to rise from the hut.

**"This way, Pup.." **The Alpha called, coaxing the Hanyou inside the den's entrance to the small alcove where the pup would usually sleep, **"I buried it here to keep it safe... As it happened this was the spot to which you were drawn when you decided to sleep alone.."**

The Hanyou merely stared at the packed dirt where she had been sleeping for as long as she could remember, it was here she felt safest, secure.. on second thoughts, it smelled different to the rest of the den, a sort of familiarity that she had not been able to understand until today. Almost hesitantly she began to dig, scraping away only the topmost layer of dirt before having to use her claws to break it open.

She didn't know how much time had passed as she was digging but she felt as though it was a lifetime before her claws snagged on something, making her stop suddenly as she stared at the space where her hands had come to rest. Eyes wide, she gently brushed off the now loose dirt and carefully pulled the fabric out from the hole. The fabric was browned from the soil but she could see hints of it's true scarlet colour peeking through in places where it had been protected against the dirt. This was it, the source of the scent, and the familiarity washed over her tenfold as she pressed the cool cloth to her face, a single tear tracing a clean path down her cheek as she took in the scent hidden behind the scent of earth and committing it to her memory before she pulled it open and slid her arms into the sleeves.

Having never worn clothing before it felt a little strange to her, but she soon pushed that thought away as the cloth of her father's kimono began to trap her warmth within and hold it to her skin. It was akin to a wolf-pile which would happen in the litter on particularly cold nights, but without the wolves. Taking time to examine the clothing now, she noted that the sleeves were heavy with dirt trapped there and endeavored to get it out, pouring it out through the holes where her hands would have been poking through had her arms been long enough. As it was now, her arms barely made it a third of the way. After clearing the dirt from the sleeves, the Hanyou girl looked over hopefully at the Alpha male, who gave an encouraging nod.

They approached the hut's clearing cautiously, unsure on whether or not the humans had left or not. Satisfied, they went forward, the smell of burnt wood heavy in the air and the occasional crack as the wood cooled to normal temperature once more. Again, the alpha stood guard while the Hanyou stepped inside and made her way to the back room.

Keeping her head down and ears alert she entered the room where her parents ashes were and knelt down beside them. Taking a moment to wonder what it would have been like if they had lived before heaving a longing sigh and scooping the ashes carefully in her small hands and depositing them into the sleeves of the kimono.

A warning bark sounded from outside and the Hanyou hurried her hands to complete her task as she could hear a group of humans coming closer to the hut again, as well as the clatter of metal on metal. Satisfied that she had got all of the remains, she hurried back outside to the alpha male's position where she could see the humans coming down the hill carrying axes and other tools.

**"They are going to destroy the house once and for all... quickly now, we cannot let them see us.."** the Alpha growled and ran for the bushes. A little too late the Hanyou reacted and ran to follow the wolf but was caught off guard by an arrow slicing through the air in front of her, cutting off her path after the Alpha and causing her to lose her footing. The Alpha spun around to see his pup fall to the ground, dread filling his heart as arrows split the air around her. **"Run, Pup, RUN!" **He barked desperately as he ran back towards the humans to defend her, **"Back to the den!"**

The Hanyou scrambled to her feet and ran to the cover of trees, the shouts of men and the pained yelps of the wolf chased her back towards the den. Sleeves heavy with ashes swung wildly as she dodged around trees and rocks before she stopped and jumped up into a tree. She needed to think about this..

_**'If I go back to the den, they will follow me and the cubs would be in danger.. No that cannot happen.. I cannot be selfish in seeking protection and endanger the rest of the pack...'**_ Making up her mind she looked longingly towards the den and whimpered a soft farewell to the pack she had grown up in before she turned and ran in the opposite direction, back to the hut to draw the humans away and hopefully save the Alpha.

The loud, animalistic growl from above caught the men off guard and they searched for the source as the Hanyou dropped from the trees taking two of the men down on her landing. She spun around to look at the men from the village, her eyes deep red as she dared them to chase her, skipping back a couple of paces before turning her back and running only fast enough to keep out of their reach. The ploy worked and she had a mob of angered men chasing her instead of heading to the den, she passed close to the clearing and could see the alpha male laying on the ground, blood covering and matting most of his fur. Her heart panged and she barked out her intent to lead the villagers away from the area, scenting the air she smelled other members of the pack approaching the clearing. They would take care of the Alpha...

Late into the night the Hanyou perched in a large tree, under which she had buried the remains of her parents and marked the spot with a pile of rocks. She had lost the village men when the sun had set and after she was sure that they had left she had buried all she could of the ashes, only dust remaining in her sleeves. Knowing that the rest of the pack was still within earshot and that they would be worried for her she threw her head back and howled into the night. An assurance she was safe and a farewell echoed over the tops of the trees and she waited for the answering call. It surprised her when the voices of all of the pack drifted back to her, she could even pick out the voices of the newest cubs among the chorus and she howled one final time, this one with the promise of returning one day to the pack that raised her before she turned and kept moving south away from the village and the place she called home. She wondered absently what it was like in other places before shrugging the thought off, she'd find out soon enough, but for now she was on her own, with nothing but the old kimono that she wore and the knowledge that her parents were now out of harms reach and resting in peace and that knowledge made her feel warm inside.


	5. 10000 Fists

_**Prompt: "10000 Fists" by Disturbed**_

The Hanyou girl had traveled alone for barely a week before she encountered her first Youkai. She had found a nice, quiet place to rest for the night after having hunted and eaten a wild hare and some berries. The sound of soft footfalls caught her attention as voices using strange sounds floated through the evening air.

"I swear I saw a flash of silver hair through here somewhere.." the first voice said, the voice straining as though making a soft argument.

"And I say you were mistaken... Use your nose, all that's around here is a wolf and The only 'silver' one of them to _my_ knowledge is the elder... all the others are brown." the second voice countered.

there was a moment of silence where the first voice was taking deep inhales of the air's scent, the Hanyou did the same to try and determine the identity of the voices, scents unfamiliar to her mingled with the smell of soil and wood as well as the clean crisp scent of rain.

"You told me to use my nose and my nose says that there's an Inu around here somewhere.. I told you I saw silver hair..." the first voice said with an air of triumph and trepidation as the footfalls started up again, coming closer slowly as the owner of the voice scented around for the source of the scent.

"Kehlah, that's even more preposterous than your first thought... there haven't been any Inu around this end of Japan for over 3 years.. the last was stupid enough to fall in love with a Human an got himself killed for it..." the second voice purred, it was an odd sound, like a growl but different and it made the girl's ears twitch..

"Then you tell me what I'm smelling, Toho, because I think it smells of dirty dog." the voice called Kehlah demanded indignantly.

Suddenly there was silence again and the Hanyou strained her ears to catch any sign of the owners of the voices, the silence dragged on until the young girl chanced a look outside the tree trunk, only to be grasped quickly by the back f her father's kimono and lifted from the ground.

"Hah! I told you Toho! Silver hair!.. well, it's silver under all the dirt.." the one known as Kehlah boasted proudly before it deflated to an almost defeated tone as he held the Hanyou girl off the ground, even as she struggled to get free of him.

Toho looked dubiwously at the struggling form as he scented the air, "Smells more like wolf to me..." he countered, dodging one of the Hanyou's feet as she continued to struggle, catching a glance of the girl's head past the kimono and snatching a handful of her hair, causing the girl to freeze in reflex, her eyes wide and crimson as her demon blood began to rise to her defense. "It's a halfbreed!" he almost threw her away in disgust upon the discovery, as it was his reaction caught one of her ears with a claw as he withdrew his hand, causing an ear piercing yelp of pain and surprise to erupt from the young Hanyou.

Surprised by the sound, Kehlah dropped her to the ground as he flinched and covered his ears. Taking the chance to run, the girl scrambled to her feet and dove for the cover of some nearby thorn bushes, spinning to keep an eye on the two strangers, a deep, warning growl sounded from her chest, it wasn't the most comfortable escape, but she had learned this from hunts with the wolves, their prey would often run for thorns if it meant that the predator would think twice about giving chase.

Toho smacked Kehlah on the back of the head, "Idiot! not only have you wasted our time following a ghost... but it turned out to be a dog! No.. Half a dog! Eww and I touched it! You may just be the reason people say that 'Curiosity Killed the Cat" because I'm very tempted to kill you right now!" He looked at the bush sheltering the Hanyou and smirked, "Come on.. the rest of the tribe is back this way.. We might come back later for some target practice or something.."

The two voices faded away as the two demons walked away, leaving the Hanyou alone in the dark, thorny cage she put herself in. Committing the scent to memory as one to avoid, she decided that she was no longer safe in this part of the forest and picked her way out of the thorns before resuming her travels.

In the opposite direction to the demons...

She had made it about 3 miles at a run from where she was found before the demons caught up to her with the rest of their tribe. They had spread out around her, encircling her in their numbers before they started to close the circle in on her, there was no escape...

Beginning to become panicked, the Hanyou's Youki boiled to the surface again in an effort to try and outrun the shrinking cage of demons but upon doing so the pursuing demons stepped up their pursuit and closed the gaps between them, they were now close enough to be seen, orange, yellow and green eyes glowed in the low light as rain clouds started to cover the moon's face and a chorus of excited, bloodthirsty yowls fell on her ears as the first of the punishing blows and swipes made contact...

The sounds of flesh brutally meeting flesh was punctuated with the cats' angered yowls and the Hanyou's growls and barks turning to whimpers as the onslaught continued before the Cats were chased away by the oncoming downpour of rain, leaving the young Hanyou beaten, broken and alone in the rain to succumb to the welcoming dark and numbness of oblivion...

-AN-

I actually had this chapter finished a week ago, but...

Due to complications involved with moving house, I have no great ease of access to any Internet... The only reliable and easy to get to internet for me is the WiFi at work... which has a block on FanFiction... pretty lame huh? So that is one reason for the delay in the latest chapter and chapters to come... so far, we have been without internet for 7 weeks! Oh well, at least I don't have it to distract me from writing more eh?

If this chapter seems a little disjointed to you then it probably is... My muse is a fickle thing and will start really well of a writing session and then peeter out when I need it.. another reason that chapters take so long and for that I apologize..

I want to give a bit of insight into the Hanyou's life before jumping over to the InuYasha gang, perhaps one or two more chapters before I start bringing the two parts of the story together... anyway, leave me a review, I can reach those on my phone and perhaps reply (I haven't really tried that part out yet) Here's to personal internet connection before too long (yeah right!) and on to the next chapter!

~Shay


	6. Doubt & Trust

_**Prompt: "Doubt & Trust" by Abingdon Boys School**_

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The Hanyou was surprised at just how deafening the silence could be. It was pitch dark, freezing cold and she was soaked to the bone. The rain had stopped some time ago but she was only just coming back into awareness.

She tried to move but was stopped short when the breath she took was stolen from her lungs in a painful yelp, which in itself hurt more than a surprise wolf-pile and being caught at the bottom.

A tear escaped her then, tracing a clean track down her sodden and muddy face as she found herself longing for the rest of the pack. The warmth, the familiarity... the comfort. But she determined that she was leaving them for the sake of the pack. The humans would surely kill them all if they found that she was among them.

It seemed an eternity since she woke up and forced herself up into a sitting position with many muffled yelps and hisses of pain. To make things worse for her, the rain was still around, causing her sense of smell to be greatly impaired. Never mind the face that her nose was most likely broken in the first place.

Still she struggled out of the small clearing that she had found herself in and stumbled through the forest, stopping every few meters to catch her breath, as breathing and trying to move at the same time was infinitely more painful than doing them separately.

It took nearly the whole night but eventually she made it out of the forest...

Right into a human village...

It was still early but some of the village men were already out and about, getting ready for a days work in the fields when they spotted the young girl approaching the village, quite obviously hurt but in the early morning light... not quite so obviously Hanyou. A grace that only lasted until the first of the village men reached her.

He was in the middle of asking if she was alright before she looked up, in doing so, revealing her facial markings and her ears sitting limply on top of her head like sodden, wilted and cut petals of a lily.

The men stopped short and held their farming tools as though they were weapons and shouted for the "Dirty Hanyou" and "Filthy Halfbreed" to get out of their village before force was necessary, "Just like that other one..."

The girl of course did not understand the words they spoke but her inner beast understood the tone of the message all too clearly and thus she managed to get herself out of the village before too much of a beating was served.

When she was fa enough away that the stones thrown could not reach her and the men gave up the chase, she collapsed against a large tree to try and catch her breath in short, painful gasps, each one coming back out in whimpering exhales that seemed to rip at her throat.

She closed her eyes to try and block out some of the pain and so was startled when she heard a muffled sound, her eyes sprang open to see a large figure descending upon her.

the shadowed, and to her eyes blurry, figure seemed to recognize hr distress and chose to back off minutely, far enough to ease the panicked breathing the girl had started, regardless of the pain she was in. A pitiful whimper escaped her lungs instead of the growl she had intended for the over-sized newcomer, who merely lowered their head almost apologetically before speaking...

"Sorry to distress you so, but of you allow me, I wish to help you.."

The voice was low, soft, almost hesitant, but to the Hanyou girl's bruised and battered ears it seemed the sound of mercy as opposed to the harsh shouts thrown by the men before. Soon she found her eyes drifting closed as she permitted the owner to this voice to come forward again without consequence.

The voice tutted once as the figure stooped down closer to her level and spoke again, "I'll have to pick you up and carry you so that I may treat these wounds properly, is that okay?"

At a weak half-nod, the figure leaned over and ever so gently eased large hands under the girl's body and lifted with little effort, only garnering a small whimper from the girl as it cradled her gently in two hands and she lost herself once again to the dark oblivion of unconsciousness.

The large figure sighed heavily before starting off towards a small farm and hut that stood off the other edge of the forest that skirted the human village. "Mother!" the figure called as he broke through the line of trees, "Could you boil some water for me so I may treat this girl's injuries?"

An old woman appeared in the doorway of the hut, "Jinenji, what have you got there?" she asked, stepping aside to let her son into the hut, where he went to a futon and lay the child down as though she were made of porcelain.

"I heard the men in the village shouting and so I was going to go further away, but then she crashed through the bushes I was near and fell against a tree. I had thought that it was only the villagers that attacked her , but looking at these injuries on the way here and even now, I think she may have been a little less fortunate than that..." Jinenji said with a small, concerned frown as he peeled the tattered kimono she was _almost _wearing away from the skin on her arms, revealing many scratches and gashes from her encounters since the night before. One particularly bad gash traveled from under her elbow to the base of her ribcage on the other side after having traveled across her back.

"This one is definitely not from the villagers.." the old woman mused before she went to get some clean linen from the other room to clean and dress the girl's wounds. When she returned, she found Jinenji all but frozen in place, save for the slight tremor that passed through him. "Jinenji, what's the matter?"

Her question was answered not by her son, but by a growl from the other side of him.

Carefully and slowly, the old woman made her way around Jinenji to find that the girl had regained consciousness, her facial markings seemed to burn against her skin, her eyes were honey-amber coloured framed in crimson and probably most crucially, had Jinenji's hand secured between her small fangs.

The old woman placed a comforting hand on her son's arm and quietly asked, "Is she hurting you, Jinenji?"

Jinenji shook his head slightly, "Not at all, Mother, but she was just so quick! I think I may have frightened her when I started to clean the wounds on her shoulders and she just woke up and bit me, but stopped short of causing any pain."

The girl, having not moved since waking up, looked between the other two in the hut with fearful eyes, a low warning growl tried to break through her sore throat and thus was far from the menacing sound she was hoping for.

"She's... so afraid..." Jinenji said in apparent awe as he considered this tiny thing in front of him, from the clean tracks down her cheeks carved by falling tears to the wincing scowl she wore as she tried to determine if these people meant to help or harm her. Her uncertainty seemed to upset Jinenji more so than the bite.

"She's a Hanyou, as you are, Jinenji, but her appearance seems to take more from her human parent than the demon." the woman said with a frown

"Yet she was still chased away by the villagers just as we were. I would have thought that they would have at least given her a chance.." Jinenji countered sadly.

Meanwhile the young girl was listening intently to the conversation, not understanding the words but listening to the tone and cadence of the voices. She was so sore and so very tired that she needed to know without a doubt if she could trust these two enough to relax a bit and start the healing process. The larger one she already trusted to an extent, but the old woman was a puzzle to her, she was human, and yet accepted the other, from which if the girl concentrated hard enough, she could scent human blood in him mixed with something else... Something Youkai.

Her own youkai blood seemed content to trust the pair for the time being and she released Jinenji's hand, her facial markings dulling slightly and the red fading from her eyes as her blood calmed, but stayed near to the surface to speed the healing process. Slowly, she eased herself back down onto the futon on her side, not completely trusting the others enough to expose her stomach to them just yet, but knowing that if she wanted to heal quickly, she would need the help, and the shelter they offered, to do so.

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A/N: I should be updating more regularly from now on... having settled into my new job for the most part but I am still in training... but I have come up with an ingenious process to writing while I'm away from the computer... SMS messaging... 15 full to the brim text messages has worked out to be approximately a third of a chapter... I don't send them anywhere just keep them in drafts... but then they are written by hand into a notebook and then when I have a full chapter's worth, I transcribe to the computer... effectively proof reading twice and tweaking along the way...

Also I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Peya Luna for their continual enthusiasm throughout the story, I love reading those reviews, everyone!


	7. Human After All

_**Prompt: "Human after all" by Daft Punk  
**_

It was a long couple of weeks of initial recovery, and when the girl struggled against her carers' good will, re-recovery as she tore open old wounds, the most problematic being the one on her side.

After what seemed like forever, the girl was able to move around without reopening her injuries. Much to the relief of the Jinanji and his mother, who had noticed that the girl was becoming increasingly anxious and fidgety. The old woman deduced that it was her keen hearing picking up the increasing activity of the villagers nearby as harvest season approached.

A few soft spoken words of assurance that she was safe at the hut from Jinenji, the girl seemed to settle, but was much happier when she found she could move about the hut with only a slight pull at the wounds instead of the searing pain that came from tearing them open again.

Once she was moving more or less freely, she stayed in and around the hut, following the old woman as she went about her house duties and Jinenji was out in his field. She had gone to follow him out that first day but was convinced by the smell of warm sweet buns to stay and 'protect mother' as Jinenji had put it.

Her behaviour soon became a source of entertainment for the old woman. She would be quite content while she could still see Jinenji , but once he bent down to work, he would disappear from her sight. Instantly, she child would be standing on her toes, her ears shot forward and eyes wide as she wondered where he went. After a few anxious moments, Jinenji would stand again, bringing himself back into her line of sight, at which time the girl would quite visibly relax again.

The old woman had also noticed the all over ease of tension in the girl as her recovery progressed and was pleased that she and Jinenji seemed to befriend each other rather quickly. She had worried for her son's emotions when it came to interacting with others, having been in human villages before he was born and noticing that children could be rather cruel to each other. That together with her son's interactions with people other than herself up to this point had been... less than pleasant.

The woman was pulled from her reverie by the girl's happy yipping as Jinenji came in for the night. _'Has it already been that long?'_ she watched as the child ran to and climbed up onto Jinenji's shoulder, earning a smile and a gentle chuckle from the gentle giant before he entered the hut, pausing to look back at his mother.

"I'll be in in just a moment, Jinenji, I'm just going to finish with this before I come in." she assured, watching her son's small nod before he went inside.

As she finished, she looked up at the sky, washed with pink and orange hues and pinpricked with the first few stars of the evening. She noted absently that there was no moon accompanying this twilight scene. _'The child has been with us for nearly two weeks already.. How time fl-'_

Her thought was cut off as she heard a growl and snarl from inside as the sun finally sank below the horizon. She hadn't heard these sounds before from the girl before, at least, not like this. These growls were more animalistic and gutteral than what the child would normally produce. The old woman hurried inside to see what was going on.. what she found was a little frightening to say the least.

The girl's behaviour had been placid in comparison to what was being presented to her now. The child Hanyou was crouched low to the ground, having practically fallen from Jinenji's shoulder and crawled to the corner as she fought for control. She looked ready to run from the hut if Jinenji were to move out of the way and her eyes were flashing from their normal honey-gold hue to the demon's cerulian-blue lined in red as her Youkai blood struggled to keep in control during the inevitable onset of her time of weakness. She knew it was a losing battle but her demon blood still refused to go down without a fight.

Jinenji watched in horror and fear as the girl continued to growl and snarl, flexing her hands from fists to claws so hard that she was drawing blood from her palms. Jinenji's mother came up beside him and reassured him with a gentle hand on his arm.

"She'll be fine, remember your early transformations? You would fight them to the point of exhaustion. She is simply going through the same thing... I hope..." the old woman said, hoping to assure her son as well as herself that that was indeed what was happening.

JInenji tensed suddenly as he caught sight of blood seeping through the bandages around the girl's torso, seemingly unnoticed by the girl herself, even as her Youkai blood lost the battle and succumbed to her humanity, leaving her feeling weaker than it ever had before.

She staggered forward and was caught by Jinenji's hand. "There now, little one, calm down." he soothed, cradling her in his hand, "You will be safe with us"

The now human child whimpered in gratitude as she rolled over to rub her face in the palm of Jinenji's hand, enjoying the clean smell of freshly worked soil that was caried there even when his hands were clean.

"I'll get dinner ready, kids, Jinenji, you can attend to her hands and check her wounds. I think the distress has re-opened them, however she no longer posesses the benefit of demon healing."

Jinenji nodded once and turned to take the girl to the futon that had become hers. As he went to put her down, she instantly clung tighter to his hand. Sighing, Jinenji assured the girl tht he would only be gone for a moment and that he would be right back. eventually the girl relinquished her hold and allowed Jinenji to gather the items needed to treat her. Upon his return, he sat himself next to the futon and lay the medicinal herbs and dressings down on the floor within easy reach, knowing from his own experiences that at this time of weakness, all she wanted was reassurance and comfort.

He wasn't wrong in his assumption.

As soon as he had everything down and given the invitation, the young girl was clambering up into his lap, seeking that reassurance out from him. She was shaken, that much was apparent, it seemed that this transformation had come as a surprise to her. _'is she still only so young that she is not able to predict or pre-empt this happening?' _He soothed her with some gentle petting on her back, not wanting to exacerbate any pain she was in. When she had calmed enough, he spoke in a voice barely louder than a whisper, "I have to re-do these bandages now or the cuts will become infeted and you will become sick... Now, time to be brave, this may hurt.."

Not knowing the words but able to understand that he was concerned about something, the girl took a deep breath as Jinenji reached for the edge of the bandages and winced as something under the bandage caught. Carefully, Jinenji unfurled them, acutely aware of just how much the smal child's wounds had bled. _'how are you still awake, Little one?'_ he mused as e got to the point where the bandage started sticking, receiving a yelp in response.

Apologising quickly, Jinenji reached for a herb to his left and gave the sprig to the girl. "Chew on this, it tastes horrible but it will numb the pain while I keep going."

The child looked at him dubiously, prompting him to take another sprig to his mouth and chew it, showing the girl that it was indeed safe.

While his size renered that small dose useless, he was pleased that the girl soon mimicked his actions and let a few moments pass to let the herb take an effect. Chuckling to himself at the face she made at the taste before continuing with his treatment. Soon enough, the girl had new dressings over her wounds and they had some time before dinner was ready, so the pair chose to go outside for a while to look at the night sky.

Jinenji chose a spot near tht hut with soft grass and sat down, allowing the girl to clamber up to his shoulder with a little help from him.

She felt secure there with him and let out a small sigh, welcoming the steadying hand Jinenji raised with a small grow of thanks as he had felt her leaning, threatening to topple off through her exhaustion.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the girl leaning comfortably on Jinenji's head before the call for dinner was heard from inside. With his steadying hand still in place, Jinenji carefully stood and went inside, unaware that the child on his shoulder had fallen asleep. He only learned of this when he went to take his hand away to let the girl down to eat, only to have to catch her as she fell, sound asleep from where she was perched.

With a small tut from his mother, he took the girlover to the futon and covered her with the Kimono that he had found her in, still covered in dirt and her blood as she had refused to let them take it away and wash it for her.

He had since figured out why. In the first week whenever she ha become espescially stressed out, she would bury her face in the kimono. His mother had told him, noting the dog ears perched on her head, that she was probably taking comfort in the smell of the cloth.

Sighing softly, Jinenji left the girl to her sleep and went to join his mother for dinner.

"She's quite a remarkable girl isn't she? It makes me wonder how long she has been on her own to be so trusting in us after such a short amount of time. I would imagine that hanyou left alone and shunned by both Youkai and humans alike would not be so.." Jinenji's mother said as she served him a bowl of stew. "However I am very pleased that you two have made a friend in each other."

Jinenji lowered his head slightly as a small blush crossed his face, but he made an affirmative sound nonetheless before starting on his dinner.

The old woman smiled to herself at her son's reaction, thinking amusedly that his first real friend was a small girl wound wandering through the mountainous forests where fate had drawn his father and herself together all those years ago.

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**A.N: **It's taken a while to get this one out.. it's a little slow in moving but I feel it is necessary for later on to have this relationship with Jinenji and his mother. Anyway, I love hearing from you all about this story and a bit of forewarning the next chapter may take a little longer to get up...I'm moving house next week and I'm going through final assessments for my new job also... so I really do have to concentrate and use my time wisely... however my phone, which is my 'first draft' input is always with me so when the inspiration strikes it's there ready for me to go for it and get it down.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter despite the slowness of it.


	8. Those Who Fight Further

_**Prompt: "Those who fight further" by Kenichiro Fukui from the 'Final Fantasy 7 - Advent Children' Original Soundtrack.**_

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The following morning saw the calmest transformation of the girl in her entire life. Still exhausted from the night prior, she slept through the break of dawn and the changes it triggered. She woke to the smell of last night's stew being reheated over the fire instead of the uncomfortable sensation of elongating fangs and claws.

In fact, it was a little disorientating to the girl, as she sat up and looked around, she could see that it was daylight outside and she was back to her usual self, but with no memory of it happening. Though one wold never hear her complain about this fact, but it made her wonder just how hard her demon blood had to have fought the transformation to leave her so exhausted that she managed to sleep through it all. A slight twinge in her side as the largest of her re-opened injuries finally closed and healed completely told her it was harder than it had ever fought before..

She shook the thought off before slipping out from under the blanket, with her ears twitching and nose sniffing excitedly, the silver haired Hanyou made her way to the main fireplace, clutching her over-sized kimono around herself against the chill of the morning air.

"Good morning, child, I hope that you are well rested after last night's excitement!" Jinenji's mother greeted the young girl with a soft smile.

The girl nodded once shyly before sitting herself down next to the warmth of the fire, getting comfortable before she was handed a bowl of stew .

"Here, this will warm you up quicker than the fire alone.."

The girl gratefully took the bowl, blushing as her stomach made itself known with a loud growl, almost as though it were telling her off for sleeping through dinner last night.

The old woman merely smiled wider, "Eat up, child, Jinenji and I discussed this last night while you were sleeping and we believe that you may be healed enough to go with him out to the fields tomorrow."

The child's reaction of perked ears and bright eyes earned a pleased chuckle from the old woman as she continued before the girl could work herself into too much excitement, "But for today, you will take it easy here around the house."

Jinenji entered the hut at this point and let a low chuckle escape him as he sighted the girl's enthusiastic nodding before she resumed eating her breakfast eagerly. He sat himself down and took a bowl from his mother and not long after he took his first sip, the young Hanyou was coughing and spluttering, trying to catch her breath after nearly inhaling the remnants of her stew.

"Slow down, no one is going to take it from you here.." he chided, patting the girl's back gently to help her. Soon enough the girl recovered and looked up sheepishly before continuing with her meal at a much calmer pace.

The rest of the day passed without incident, although sounds from the nearby village were not the same sounds the the girl had become accustomed to during her stay at the hut. She had always been cautious of the sounds that came from the village but something about these sounds stirred something in her gut, sending a thrill of foreboding down her spine and causing a cold feeling to sit in her stomach. She kept close to the old woman through the day and stuck to Jinenji from the moment he returned from his fields. The close proximity helping to ease the anxiety but did not quell it entirely.

Jinenji, noticing the girl's skittish behaviour, fixed her some calming tea to try and sooth her, however, the noises from the village continued to grow and agitate her.

With the fading light of evening's approach, the girl could hear shouts and cheers, as well as the all too familiar clanging of farm tools being brandished as weapons. Letting out a small whimper, she tugged Jinenji to the door of the hut by one of his fingers, pulling at one of her ears before pointing to where she could hear the rising commotion and now her keen eyes could see the nearly imperceptible glow of torch fire.

Jinenji narrowed his eyes as the sounds of shouting finally reached his ears. "Mother, they're coming again.." he called over his shoulder, prompting the old woman to come to the door, pushing both Jinenji and the girl back inside.

"I'll handle these low lives, you two stay inside where it's safe." the woman instructed, taking up a rake that was sitting outside the door.

Jinenji hesitated only a moment, his mother's tone leaving no room for discussion, before he headed inside, tugging the reluctant child behind him into the safety of the second room and pulling her up into his arms as the shouts of the men broke through the line of trees.

The girl heard the old woman call out a warning, making the men stop and seem to hesitate, gauging the threat before one voice broke out above all the others.

"Move aside, Old woman, and let us get to the filthy halfbreeds you're hiding in there!"

"Never! If you think I'll simply let you through to attack my son and the little girl, you're sorely mistaken!" the old woman shouted, standing her ground and brandishing the rake she had picked up as a weapon. "Don't you have anything better to do than bully my son?"

"Listen Old Hag, we _tolerated_ the presence of your abomination for years, but now there's a second one! If we let this pass then what's to stop more of the bastards coming to stay!"

"That little runt brought Cat demons to the edge of the village outskirts, it's a wonder they didn't come in and destroy the place!" the rest of the villagers echoed the spokespersons words with shouts of their own.

The little girl cringed against Jinenji's leg as '_filthy hanyou_' and '_dirty halfbreed_' were spat out with such venom that each time the words reached her ears, a sharp pang pierced her heart as though someone was stabbing her with a shard of ice. Even the heat of her demon blood was doing nothing to warm her as it boiled to the surface, compelling her to go out and defent the old woman who had shown her that not all humans regarded her with such cold unforgiving eyes.

She was shocked out of her thoughts by a pained cry from the old woman as the mob grew impatient with the obstruction and dealt the first strike against her.

The girl remembered pushing herself from Jinenji's arms before he could grab her again and racing through the reed mat of the doorway before seeing the woman sprawled on the ground, examining her bloodied hand as it came away from her head.

Everything after that was a haze of red with only a rushing pulse of blood pounding through her ears, accompanied by the shouts of the men and her own defiant barks and growls as she drew the men of the village away from the safe haven of Jinenji's hut. She had seen the scars over Jinenji's body and had been naiive to think they were all simply a quirk to his skin like her markings were, these villagers had attacked him before and now she understood the terrified tremble that he had tried so hard to hide from her as he held her.

These humans were savage, just as the cats were to her. Just for the simple fact that she and Jinenji were not-quite-human but not-quite-demon either, they were pushed from both sides, attacked from both sides, just as it was within her own body, her human and demon bloods fighting to keep control over one another.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt she was far enough from the hut and turned to face the men from the village. Her knuckles were cracking as she fought between the instinct to merely defend herself or let the beast take hold and rid the world of the narrow-minded fools who dared harm someone important to her. She fought herself on this, her demon blood was heated and oh-so desperate to be rid of them for good, but her human heart argued that in doing so she would be the monster they all thought her to be.

That she sometimes thought _herself_ to be.

No. There was a chance, however slim, that the villagers would see that no harm would come to them from Jinenji or his mother. In fact, she had heard a few voices protesting the attack, arguing that Jinenji's garden had many rare medicinal herbs that one would have to travel days for otherwise.

That made her mind up. She would hold herself back so that others may gain an understanding of the gentle giant. He had a compulsion to help others which was the reason, the girl was convinced, that she was still alive that day.

Given time, she hoped that others would see that too.

While she was caught up in her inner arguments, the pursuing men struck out, catching the girl across the side of her head before her world turned to the pulsing red of her demon blood taking over completely, but in the deepest corner of her mind, she held fast to the leash that kept the demon's bloodlust in check.

She killed no one, but let them strike at her again and again and soon they started to realize that she had never really intended to harm them. However by that time she had fallen to the ground, curled defensively around herself and crying silently in desperation before the leash finally slipped through her fingers..

The beast was now let loose..

There was a beat of silence before a terrible growl bubbled up and ripped though the girls throat, it was the only warning the men had as three out of the thirteen that pursued her died in the few moments afterwards, six more were carrying severe injuries before they managed to deter her from pursuing them as they fled for their lives. She watched them with glowing red eyes, daring them to look back at her, but they never did.

Satisfied that she had made her point, the demonic girl raised her head and let out a triumphant howl that echoed through the forest, catching the ears of Jinenji and his mother as he helped her back up from the ground. They knew, they could hear that she had lost herself to the beast within and it saddened them to hear it, however the following howls broke their hearts completely..

The beast, sated and contented with the bloodshed, released it's hold over the girl's body, letting her fully realize what she had done. She _was_ the monster they all feared. Her eyes were drawn to the bodies that she had ripped the life from mere moments ago, the blood still oozing lazily from the wounds she had inflicted. Try as she might to deny it, their blood covered her hands, was under her claws, spattered her skin and kimono. She did this. One moment of weakness was all it took.

Her voice was already hoarse from the snarling, barking and growling before, but her face raised itself to the sliver of the moon and the stars it had for company. A whimper as she realized that _she_ was the moon, different from everything else and disappearing completely for one night but only to exist as a shadow of herself and return again as something still different. The crying howls started softly, but grew in volume, each an apology of sorts to the lives she had taken.

Eventually the howls became silent, the last echoing off the mountains and lingering just that little bit more before the girl stumbled through the forest, determined to get as far away from any villages as she could. her claws and Kimono still stained with the blood of the village men she had slaughtered simply because they could not understand.

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A/N: I'm so VERY sorry that this has taken FOREVER to be updated but the muse was not being kind to me in the LEAST! Then when I finally got it all done, My internet went down for some '_maintenance_' that lasted 4 days... can't catch a break.. much like our poor hanyou...

Anyway, this ends our stay with Jinenji and his mother.. a rather upsetting way to leave them I know but it'll make the eventual reunion so much better! I wonder who the little hanyou will run into next? (suggestions welcome!)

As always, I love hearing your thoughts on the story, what needs improvement, tweaking ect.. I know for a fact that I have issues with running sentences and I seem to be developing an issue with tenses as well... so I'll keep those in mind for future intstallments!

~Shay


	9. INTERLUDE: Mordred's Lullaby

_**Interlude**_

_**Prompt: "Mordred's Lullaby" by Heather Dale**_

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In a quiet corner of a forest, after eating scarcely enough to satiate her hunger, the Hanyou girl sat perched up in a tree. The nights were becoming cooler she lamented, meaning that the cold white that would blanket the ground would be arriving soon. With nothing but her Sire's kimono and the bandages left from her stay at Jinenji's hut, she was dreading the thought of being without the pack's warmth for this white season.

Hearing a screech that usually meant a demon was near, she climbed further up the tree to hide herself in the thick foliage, settling in for what was probably going to be a night without sleep, she pulled the kimono around herself and stared out at the full moon through the leaves as she began to think about her situation..

_**Running and hiding... it's all I seem to do these days. I knew it would be hard when I left the pack, the alpha had warned me many times about the attitudes held by those outside, but it never seemed like it would ever reach me.**_

_**How wrong was I?**_

_**From the first encounter with humans, with their hatred towards my mother and sire still so raw that I could see it so clearly in their eyes after so long.. I didn't think that anyone could hold such a feeling for such a long time...**_

_**All my life I was hated by that village, for the simple fact that I was born of a forbidden love. **_

_**Since leaving the pack I've learned a great deal about others' attitudes toward me, the same words come out of everyone's mouths, human AND demon..**_

_**Abomination. Filthy. Dirty. Halfbreed... **_

_**Monster...**_

_**That word rings harsher than all the others, because I am a monster... what else would kill their mother and break their sire's heart so efficiently when it's born? **_

_**My pitiful howls paled in comparison to my Sires that night... yes I remember it well... it's one of my most vivid memories that visits often enough to convince me of what I am.**_

_**That monster.**_

_**That monster with red eyes, sharp fangs and claws and burning scarlet markings on each cheek that resemble a reaper's sythe. That's what I was born as, my mother's reaper as I was born into the world bathed in her blood as I tore myself free of the womb.**_

_**How my sire must have hated me..**_

_**taking mother's life in exchange for my own.. he could barely stand to look at me, taking me to the wolves the moment that the chance offered itself.**_

_**Death at the hands of the humans, for one as powerful as my sire was, is a pathetic way to go, he must have sat there burning for hours before he succumbed to the flames.**_

_**He'd rather die in pain than live with me...**_

_**These feelings are continually dredged up from where I try to bury them every time I have that same dream of my first night, and few have made them better... The Alpha of course would try and soothe me, and most recently, Jinenji and his mother would become concerned for me when I would howl in the night and wake myself up..**_

_**Jinenji and his mother... probably the brightest stars in my dark world. The Pack accepted me to a point, but I was always "Pup" to them while the rest were "cubs".. But to Jinenji and his mother, I was "Little one" and "Child" both titles were said with such kindness, I didn't even know existed, that I now find myself longing for their company on this cold night.**_

_**I've seen three nights of being blind and deaf since leaving them... I couldn't go back, not after what I had done to those men.. I had gone wild again, I know I did, because when I became aware of what I was doing again, I was chasing after the men, fewer than I remembered that were chasing me before I stopped long enough to look at my hands. **_

_**What I saw terrified me... So much red... slick and warm and completely covering my hands and kimono. I knew it was a bad Idea but something compelled me to look over my shoulder at where I had come from.. Bodies, well, what was left of them after my rampage, lay lifeless on the ground..**_

_**I am the monster everyone fears. **_

_**The scariest part is... I'm not aware of it when it happens...**_

With that final thought, the girl finally succumbed to sleep, her dreams haunted by the sounds of crackling fires and her sire's howls in the night, and in spite of her best efforts, a small howl still manged to escape her in her sleep..

_**I'm sorry...**_

* * *

AN: Okay so this was a bit of a fluke I must admit... I was bored so simply opened up word and did some free writing... It's scary how easily the inner monologue came out... took all of ten minutes perhaps? I then went back and edited it, added the setting and so on, so yeah! It kind of reminds me of some animes when they have that little tidbit between episodes where a character will have their little monologue so that's why I've dubbed it an 'interlude'.

The song "Mordred's Lullaby" is quite a beautiful song that I came across watching InuYasha AMVs on youtube, this particular one was titled "Sesshomaru's Lullaby" but I absolutely fell in love with the song!

Here's hoping that future updates happen as easily as this one did!

~Shay.


	10. A Disturbance in the Night

_**Prompt: "A Disturbance in the Night" (From Doctor Who "Planet of the Dead" Special) by Murray Gold & BBC National Orchestra of Wales  
**_

* * *

"Oi, Kagome! You'd better be back here on time, 'cause I'm gettin' tired of havin' to come over there and drag you back all the time!" the irate hanyou grumbled, having lost the usual argument about Kagome going home rather than staying with them to locate the sacred jewel shards once again.

Kagome shot him a sharp glare and took a threatening breath, causing Inuyasha's ears to snap down against his skull in an effort to shut out that accursed command. Kagome held the glare a few moments for good measure before turning towards the Bone Eaters well, which allowed her passage through time.

"Ill be back in three days, Inuyasha... and that does _not_ mean the morning of the third day, it means the afternoon after school is out. I have a lot of tests that I need to study for or I'm gonna flunk out!"

"Feh, whatever..." Inuyasha huffed, folding his arms over his hest, "Just don't dawdle back, got it?"

Kagome spared one last glare over her shoulder before dangling her legs over the lip of the well, ready to jump down into the portal before she cast a searching look over the clearing that surrounded the well. _Something isn't quite right here... _ she thought to herself before turning back to the others in the clearing. "Don't go getting yourselves into trouble while I'm gone, okay?"

Inuyasha turned in time to watch her disappear into the blue hues of the time portal before he looked around the clearing also. _So she did feel it... Something is going on around here..._ He didn't realize that he had voiced his thoughts until someone's voice broke through and reached his ears.

"Is something wrong, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, noting the slight unease in his hanyou friend's frame, prompting Shippo to jump up onto Inuyasha's shoulder to peer closer at his disgruntled expression.

Completely misreading the cause of the expression, Shippo let his mouth run , "What are you so worried about, Inuyasha? You know Kagome always comes back to us.."

"Feh!" Inuyasha scoffed, "If it weren't for me going to get her every time she goes back, she'd probably stay there even _longer_! Her time stinks in more ways than one, I dunno why she insists on going back there when she could just stay here with m- er, us and do what she's supposed to be doing and find the stinkin' jewel shards so I can become a full fledged demon..." _I hope they didn't catch that slip, they'd never let me live it down.._

Shippo dispelled any possibility of anyone calling Inuyasha out on his near slip of the tongue by passing comment on his behaviour. "I for one envy Kagome for being able to get away from you, even if it is only for a few days..." he said with a shrug of his small shoulders.

Before he knew what was happening, Inuyasha had Shippo hanging upside down by his tail. "What did you say!"

Shippo unwisely decided to press on with his argument, "I _said_.. with you treating Kagome the way you do, it's a wonder she stays around at all!"

"Why you little..." Unable to control his anger any longer, Inuyasha started beating the young kit into submission - or out of consciousness, whichever came first - the young fox's wailing only serving to piss him off even more before he finally had enough and tossed Shippo at Miroku, who barely managed to catch him before he fell to the ground.

"Feh, it's gettin' late... you guys head back to Kaede's place, I'll catch up later." Inuyasha said, turning his back on the rest of the group and heading in the opposite direction to the village.

"Where are you going Inuyasha?" Sango inquired, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Will you guys just get off my back?" Inuyasha snapped, though knowing they had just cause to be suspicious of him while he was away from the group. Kikyo had recently been brought back into the world through Urasue's dark magic and he had been sneaking away to see her. _It's completely innocent I swear! _He had just wanted to know how she was, _honestly_! "Look it's nothing, I thought I sensed something, that's all, I wanna go check it out."

The three looked skeptical at best as they turned as one to leave, muttering amongst themselves out of his earshot as they disappeared into the dense foliage of the forest.

"Feh, whatever..." Inuyasha growled, springing into a run as he tried to find what was prickling his senses _just so _to be annoying.

It was faint, barely even there really, but his keen nose told him there was most _definitely _something out of place in the area. It was frustrating him to no end, because although his nose was telling him there was something there, he was having a hard time deciphering the scents he was catching.

The most prominent scent assaulting his nose was the metallic tang of human blood, but it was old... Then there was the strong undercurrent of demon blood still racing through veins with a hint of something else, _It seems so damn familiar!_ With the scent of live demon blood and stale human blood, Inuyasha's first conclusions were that this was a rogue demon. If that were the case he would have to deal with it before it reached the vicinity of the village. But then as those scents were cataloged, new ones would become apparent...

_Wolves! Damn that mangy wolf Kouga... he should keep his pack on a shorter leash.._ Through the stink of wolves, the scent of ashes and graveyard soil came subtly to the forefront of his senses, so much so he almost n=missed it entirely. _Graveyard soil? But Kikyo isn't around... wait, this isn't the scent of Kikyo's ashes... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?_

Inuyasha scrubbed at his head in frustration. Whatever it was, it was staying just on the outer borders of his senses, just beyond the forest and driving him nuts!

Eventually giving up on his pursuit in favor of the meal back at Kaede's, he cast one last searching look around his immediate surroundings before leaping back into the trees, heading back in the direction of the village and Kaede's hut.

Immediately after his arrival at the hut, he was subjected to the watchful, scrutinizing eyes of his traveling companions and elder Miko.

"It wasn't Kikyo, so quit starin' at me!" he groused as he plonked himself down on the floor next to the door.

"You'll have to forgive us for holding our doubts, Inuyasha.." Miroku chimed sagely, "But those are the words of a guilty conscience.." his words earned nods of agreement from everyone else in the hut, even Kilala mewed her agreement.

Growling low in his throat, Inuyasha folded his arms with a "Feh" and muttered, "Some friends you are.."

Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, Sango cleared her throat. "If it weren't Kikyo, then what was so important, Inuyasha?" she asked, noting the guilty flinch at the mention of Kikyo's name. _So he isn't foolish enough to outright deny that he has been seeing her then..._ she thought.

Inuyasha grumbled momentarily before looking at them seriously for a second. "I dunno what it is... but I think Kagome could sense it too. It's not a strong feeling but it's getting enough to annoy me now. There are too many conflicting scents to get a grasp of what it _is _exctatly, but we should all be careful and keep our eyes open, got it?"

"That goes without saying, Inuyasha, I too have felt something odd the past few days.." Miroku muttered, "If it has you this worked up about it, we have no choice but to be wary.."

"Yeah!" Shippo quipped, "When something distracts you like this you get into all sorts of trouble that we have to get you out of..." he said slyly, confident that his position between both Miroku and Sango would protect him from Inuyasha's wrath.

"Watch it runt..." Inuyasha growled, flexing his hand into a fist.

"Regardless of the nature of the distraction, Inuyasha..." Kaede cautioned, wanting to avoid the hanyou's very likely tantrum, "Ye cannot afford to let yourself be caught up in it lest something goes wrong. Now, all of ye eat up and rest well, I'm certain your traveling has worn ye all out." she said, handing out bowls of food to everyone.

The murmurs of agreement dissolved into sounds of the group eating their meals and occasional, sporadic conversation. Before long, Shippo had curled up to sleep with Kilala, his sleeping companion in Kagome's absence, while Sango, Miroku and Kaede were all sleeping in their respective futons.

This left Inuyasha awake alone as he took up his dutiful watch over the others from the roof of the hut, silently thinking over the situation he was finding himself in. He was about to allow himself a light doze as he sat on the roof of the hut...

Until a flare of Youki hammered his senses...

* * *

A/N: Oh my goodness I'm SO sorry this has taken so long to get up... It's been in the second stage of production for a good few weeks just sitting on my book but I've only just typed it out and made final corrections... Forgive me?

Anyway, this is just a bit of a zip in progress so that you guys know where the InuGang are up to in regards to storyline... Kikyo has only just been brought back and they are yet to meet Jinenji (you guys thought that I was going to forget about all that back there huh? Shame on you) I'm really going to have to go back and watch it all again so I can get my timeline straight...

I have a third of the next chapter into paper form and up to about halfway in first drafting on my phone so as long as I keep getting spare time at work it will keep motoring on.. I know I said that last time but it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Again, thanks to my faithful readers and reviewers, you guys have no idea how much you help just by typing a few words and letting me know what you think of the story, means a lot to me!


	11. Here it goes Again

_**Prompt: "Here it goes Again" by Ok Go**_

* * *

The attack came from nowhere.

One moment the young Hanyou girl was dozing in the low branches of a tree, the next saw her clamoring out of the reach of savage claws looking to relieve her of her internal organs. Her only warning was the disgusting stink of the lizard's breath as it hissed in anticipation of the kill and the flare of Youki that accompanied it. If it weren't for the girls quick reflexes and thinking enough to push herself out of the tree and fall to the ground, she would have died then and there.

Another clawed attack came at her from the other direction and she managed to dodge by rolling to the side, a second lizard demon hissed in outrage at missing what should have been an easy kill.

"Little Hanyou _filth_!" the first attacker hissed angrily as another of it's attacks missed by mere millimeters, "Stay still so I can kill you quickly, halfbreed!"

The girl growled low in her throat in defiance as she dodged another swipe from the second assailant. Really their attack pattern was simplistic at best.. a rock would seem to have a better strategy!

The slightly arrogant thought was rushed from her mind as she continued to dodge, her attitude becoming somewhat desperate and pleading. _**"Why must everyone attack me? I have done nothing wrong by anyone!" **_she barked out in the canine language, narrowly missing the onslaught of attacks from both of the lizard youkai and swiping with an attack of her own. Her attack caught one of the lizards across the eyes, her claws ripping through the scaly skin in a flash of silver burning energy as though it were rice paper.

"Little RUNT! You'll pay for that with your LIFE!" the lizard hissed, clutching at it's face and staggering backwards.

The girl looked down at her hands, she barely even felt her claws break through the skin! the shocked thought distracted the girl for only a moment, but it was enough for the other lizard to land a decent hit to her side, sending her sprawling across the ground.

She picked herself up and clutched at her ribs, grimacing slightly as she shook herself free of the increasing want for retaliation in favor for self-preservation. Gritting her teeth fiercely at the pain her movement brought, she grabbed a handful of dirt in her free hand and then threw it with surprising accuracy at the lizard who had struck her down. The spray of dirt hit the mark, straight into the gloating lizard's eyes, blinding him momentarily as the first, who was still complaining, with increasing profanity, about the claw marks over his eyes and face.

Satisfied that the violent duo couldn't see her escape, the Hanyou girl bolted for the cover of nearby bushes, clamping down on her demonic blood as she had only recently discovered how to do, having learned that many demons could smell it while the humans with spiritual power who had confronted her in the past could sense the demonic energy coming from it. She ran as fast as she could without giving herself away by using demon's speed. Behind her, she could still hear the reptilian demons shouting in frustration at the discovery that their prey had disappeared on them.

"You idiot! You let that Hanyou get away! What the hell are you doing?"

"Hey you let the thing go first! Who misses a _sleeping _target? At least _I_ got a hit on it!"

"If it weren't for me you wouldn't have even _found_ the filthy thing!"

The fighting escalated until the two demons were fighting each other, allowing the hanyou child to put more distance between herself and them, splashing trough the river to cut off her scent trail.

Just in case.

Inuyasha sprinted towards where he felt the flare of demonic energy before it died down. There was the stink of reptile that came with it and he almost didn't bother with the low level demons, but the thought was quickly chased away by the answering flare of youki from the same area, which only compelled him to run faster towards it. _There's that scent again... Dammit what _is _that?_ he groused as the phantom scent of so many contradicting elements reached his nose.

He raced past the Tree of ages, where he had been sealed before Kagome came into his life, and the bone eater's well in quick succession, giving silent thanks to whatever gods may have been listening that the youki signatures were well away from both of his precious places.

Finally, he followed the reptilian stink to where the two low level demons were still nursing their wounded pride and bodies.

"Come to finish the job have you? Worthless _Halfbreed_..." the first hissed in disdain as he lay eyes on Inuyasha.

"That all depends, reptile... I want answers and I want 'em now..." Inuyasha growled, ignoring the oh-so-common 'halfbreed' jab. "First off, what the hell are you doin' in my forest?"

"_Your_ forest!" the second chuckled incredulously, "Was this forest not named for the foolish halfbreed that allowed his heart to be stolen by a mere human?"

the lizards both chuckled when a growl worked it's way free of Inuyasha. "Yeah, I got myself sealed to a tree for fifty years because of that misunderstanding..." he said in a low, quiet voice, his hair falling over his eyes as he recalled the memories of that fateful day before he looked up with a slightly cocky smirk, "But as you can see, I'm wide awake now... So my question still stands; What are you doing in my forest?"

the two reptilian demons shared a glance before the first smirked deviously. "We were hunting our meal.." came the somewhat cryptic answer.

"Yeah? What's on the menu? 'Cause whatever it was ain't here now... What, did you hit each other or was it your food that didn't agree with you and put you on your sorry tails?" Inyuasha grinned, putting his hands on his hips.

"You insolent halfbreed, how dare you speak to us like that!" the second lizard shouted.

"Be _glad_ I'm only talkin' to ya!" Inuyasha shouted back, balling his fists, "Otherwise I'd have been sharpening my claws on your scaly hides ages ago! Now what were you hunting!" he breathed hard to contain most of his anger and he was going to snap at them again when the silence stretched on too long, but before he could the first looked at him and grinned.

"We were hunting a child."

The newest cryptic answer saw the end of the reptilian pair. Inuyasha's patience had quickly worn out and his Iron reaver had disposed of them equally as fast. "Feh, stinkin' lowlives..." he muttered, shaking the gore off his hands quickly.

Without the distraction of the lizard demons, the phantom scent assaulted his nose once again, this time, concentrated enough that he could trace it...

...To a tree...

"Don't tell me I've been smellin' a stinkin' tree this whole time!" he sighed, frustrated. Realization hit him suddenly and the lizard's words echoed through his mind.

_"We were hunting... We were hunting a child..."_

Inspecting the branch that held the scent strongest, he saw claw marks that didn't match the lizards' clumsy broad hand size. They were closer to his, no, closer to _Shippo's_ hand size.

_A child's hand! _

"Dammit! Now I've got a lost _kid_ running around!" he said, his voice raising in exasperation before he took another breath to calm himself, the effect, though, was quite the opposite. "AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THAT SCENT!" He scrubbed at his head in frustration before he once again took off following the scent trail.

Inuyasha focused hard on the fast fading scent trail, rather, _finding_ it again after it lead into the river.

_The kid's got some decent evasion skills..._ He thought to himself, taking a deep breath to catch the scent again, _But I can't help them if I can't _find_ them..._Concentrating as he was on the scent, he was missing the slight flares of unfamiliar youki.

Ahead of him though, the girl could feel his youki signature following her, making her own flare defensively, putting desperate bursts of speed and agile leaps into her run to try and confuse her pursuer.

Arching her escape route in a wide circle downwind, the girl managed to find her way through a new clearing with a well in the middle of it, and a large tree looming at one of the edges, the night's sliver of silver moon framed neatly in the clear space of sky above her. Behind her, she felt the energy signature spike as it came to the point where she started to turn back.

Deciding quickly that she had to confuse her follower if she had any chance of evading them, she started running zigzags across the clearing, landing heavily in some places to concentrate her scent while speeding over others so her scent didn't linger. Feeling her efforts were enough, she doubled back and leaped high into the trees, camping down on her demonic energy so hard that her previously present markings were all but invisible.

Now to wait..

She felt the youki signature pass under her, it felt slightly anxious,panicked even.. She held her breath, letting her pursuer run forward a ways before she even dared to move. After some time, she carefully started climbing down, keeping her energy suppressed and went back along her scent trail to the river, from there she jumped up into the trees to find a suitable place for her to rest.

The dawn was fast approaching and the new night ahead would be one of a dark moon. She could already feel the early effects starting to take hold. All though the day she would feel exhausted. So she would sleep.. then, while her demon blood slept in the night, she as a human would go to that village nearby and see what she could get to eat for the next few days.

This had become the norm since the last winter, she found that humans were rather helpful towards one of their own young, providing her with food and a warm place to sleep for the night. But if she wasn't awake and out of their company the next morning before her demon blood awoke and the transformation took hold again, well, she would nearly always pick up new scars..

Inuyasha swore his heart stopped when he entered the well's clearing and all he could smell was wolves, blood and graveyard dirt. _It's everywhere!_ He walked towards the well and peered down inside, feeling the calm power of the time portal, but not scenting the smell inside. _Well, that's a relief... Damn it all... this couldn't have happened at any other time.._ he thought sarcastically, damning his half demon status and night of weakness again. He went around the perimeter of the clearing to try and find where the scent lead to, but came up with nothing. "Dammit!" he growled, punching a tree, "Well, there's nothing for it I guess.. I just hope Kagome comes back on time..." he mused to himself before glancing longingly at the well and heading back to the village and Keade's hut.

* * *

AN: A bit of a longer chapter... It kinda got away from me at the end, haha... I had a brainstorm the other day and this is the result in the making... think about it for a second... yep! There ya go!

Next chapter, things are gonna get... complicated...


	12. Sanctuary

_**Prompt: "Sanctuary" by Utada Hikaru  
**_

* * *

Inuyasha returned to the hut to more scrutinizing gazes. Growling to himself for a moment and taking a deep calming breath so he wouldn't wake the entire village with his shouting he spoke in a low voice to try and dispel the accusatory glances.

"It wasn't Kikyo..." He started with the exact same words last night he remembered... which probably wouldn't help him now in the new day as he thought about it.

"So you keep saying, Inuyasha.." Miroku started, confirming Inuyasha's thoughts on his previous statement, "But your insistence on the matter does not boe well for your innocence..." Miroku finished with a small stretch as he folded his futon away.

_Damn put my foot in it that time didn't I?_ Inuyasha thought, becoming further annoyed with the whole situation and not just the icy glares he was receiving from the occupants of the hut. "Argh! You wouldn't be saying that if you knew just what I've been _trying _to do all night.." He paused long enough for the others to have their curiosities piqued. "There was a flare of demonic energy last night while you guys were all sleeping. It was pretty close to the village so I thought I had better check it out.. Turns out that a couple of lizard demons were hunting, well, so they said.." he sighed before he sat himself down comfortably next to the fire pit and started poking the embers back into life.

"Turns out they were hunting a child, which is what I was trying to find all night.. but that scent was hanging around so I ended up tracking that.. Not that that resulted in anything.." he growled, "The scent trail went to the well clearing where I lost it.. I thought the scent would have belonged to the kid that the lizards were chasing, but it didn't smell like a human apart from the old human blood smell I kept getting from it.. Keh, and with tonight being the night of the new moon, my senses aren't gonna be any good for tracking until tomorrow.." Inuyasha could feel his temper rising again and balled his fists trying to bite back the frustration that came with his night of weakness..

"Kagome felt it, I know she did.. but if I go and try bringing her back now, he'll 'sit' my back outta commission again and I'd rather not go through that if I can help it.." A little out of breath now from his rant, Inuyasha was breathing hard while the rest of the group looked on with astonished expressions the same thought running through their heads..

_Is Inuyasha actually going to listen to Kagome this time and not chase after her to bring her back?_

"Was it just me..." Shippo said conspiratorially, "Or did Inuyasha sound just a little bit fearful just now?"

The Hanyou in question simply shifted his weight slightly and spared the young kit a scathing glare. "Watch yourself, Shippo... I'm not so _fearful_ as to not give you a pounding if you keep that up.."

Shippo's face contorted into one of fear for a moment, much to Inuyasha's pleasure, before he scampered to Miroku's shoulder.

"Just so you're aware, Shippo, I have no intention of becoming caught between you and Inuyasha as the human shield..." Miroku said calmly with his eyes closed but a small twitch in his eyebrow betrayed his slight annoyance at being the first that Shippo would hide behind when Kagome was not with them.

Shippo merely gave Miroku a sheepish look before hopping back down to sit on the floor next to Kilala, who mewed as though she shared Miroku's feelings about being used as a barrier between the Kit and ire Hanyou, however she was not so heartless to chase him away.

"So what are you going to do, Inuyasha?" Sango asked, half intending to distract Inuyasha from his growling at Shippo but also genuinely wanting to know. "If it _is _a child, we can't just let them stay out in the middle of the forest without at least trying to find them and help them.."

"Yeah I know.. but I wouldn't even know where to start looking now.." Inuyasha sighed, folding his arms defensively across his chest.

"Well, I was going to make preparations for tonight anyway and set some trip wires to alert us to any unwelcome guests to the village, while I'm doing that I can look for any clues as to where this child might be hiding..?" Sango offered tentatively, "Part of being a demon slayer is knowing how to track something.. could you perhaps take me to where the demons were? Perhaps I can find something you missed?"

"Yeah, maybe.." Inuyasha conceded, silently glad that Sango was a forward thinking kind of person, he wouldn't have even _thought_ to lay trip wires to alert them of anything lurking in the forest during the night when he wouldn't be able to smell them. "We'll go after I get an apology from Shippo.."

"Why do I gotta apologize!" Shippo blurted loudly, slamming his small fists down on the floor.

"Because it's that or I pound you for that 'fearful' remark.." Inuyasha growled, balling his fist with an audible cracking of knuckles.

Shippo's face became stricken for a few long moments, eying Inuyasha's fist apprehensively, "This isn't gonna be like when we first met and you hit me even when I _did_ apologize is it?"

"That all depends on how sincere it is.." came Inuyasha's reply.

Sango sighed and excused herself from her place on the floor to prepare for the task ahead as Shippo debated on whether the humiliation of having to apologize was worth it if he escaped a lump on the head.

Finally he conceded defeat and.. begrudgingly.. apologized to Inuyasha before he cringed, completely expecting to be hit for his efforts, but was surprised instead when Inuyasha's clawed hand came over his head to tousle his hair roughly before he left the hut to wait for Sango, leaving Shippo thoroughly confused. While he had made the apology as sincere as he could at the time, he didn't think Inuyasha would accept it so readily.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was smirking to himself outside, he wasn't really going to hit the young kit this time, because really it was a harmless jab that he would have otherwise ignored, but he had to admit to himself at least that the young fox's cringing brought him a sort of conflicted sensation between satisfaction and guilt.

After they had layed the tripwires for the night, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha stood in the small slightly bloodied clearing where Inuyasha had encountered the Lizard demons the previous night. "They were being real smart with their answers so I didn't get much outta them other than they were hunting a kid.." Inuyasha said with a small growl as he nodded towards the tree that bore the claw marks of both the lizards and what he suspected were the child's, "That's where the smell was strongest last night and where most of the damage was done in the area.. think you can figure out where this kid got to?" he asked somewhat anxiously, he didn't like the idea of a child being out alone in the wild, it reminded him too much of his own past.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard if the rest of the trail is like this.. Children aren't often ones to cover their tracks very thoroughly, even those trained to do so.." Sango said as she followed the near invisible trail of broken twigs and bent grasses, "Though if this is indeed a child, they are incredibly swift to outrun you, Inuyasha.. and to leave such a feint trace of themselves is unusual, I'm having trouble determining where their footsteps are, they seem too far spaced to be a normal child's.."

"Keh, now do you guys understand the trouble I was having last night?" Inuyasha groused, his nose working overtime to try and catch a new trail of scent but with the dusk quickly approaching his senses were dulling quickly.

"I can verify your story about flares of demonic energy, Inuyasha, there are traces lingering all over the place, though it doesn't feel like that of lizard demons.. perhaps there was something else after the child?" Miroku offered, "It would explain why the trail is so hard to find and the conflicting smells you were experiencing.."

"Keh, maybe.." Inuyasha said, on thinking about it, Miroku's suggestion made some sense, another demon would be able to outrun him easily, though he hated to admit it.. He looked up at the sky, the sun was all too quickly sinking below the horizon and he turned to the other two, "You guys head back to the hut, it's get pretty dark soon and you won't be able to see, I'm gonna meet Kagome at the well, stupid wench is late again.. I know this forest like the back of my hand, I'll be fine.."

"If you're sure, Inuyasha.." Sango said reluctantly, not feeling completely comfortable with leaving him alone in the forest with his time of weakness so near.

"He'll be fine, Sango.." Miroku assured before a lecherous glint shone in his eye, "He would probably prefer to see Kagome alone for a while before coming back to the hut.. Sly dog.."

"Keh, hentai.." was all that Inuyasha could be bothered coming up with as he made a shooing motion with his hand, "Don't go gettin' lost on your way home.." he said, turning his back on the pair and making his way to the well clearing.

He entered the clearing just as the last rays of the sun disappeared, though he could vaguely feel the well pulse with energy as Kagome made her way through before the last of his power left him entirely. "Keh, Wench you're late.." he grumbled, leaning over the edge of the well to pull Kagome out, "Geez you're heavy.." he said as she reached the top.

Kagome growled as she lifted herself out of the well before shouting a loud "SIT!" once Inuyasha had released her hand.

Inuyasha only seemed to stumble before he recovered, the usually undeniable force of the Kotodama dulled to a mere tug without the strength of his demonic energy to fuel it's effects. "HAH!" he shouted triumphantly, putting his hands on his hips as Kagome looked at him slightly confused. "It's like Old Kaede said, it binds my spirit by using my demonic energy against me.. no youki.. no faceplanting.." he explained with his trademark smirk. "Now if you're quite finished, I'd like to get back to the hut before it gets too late.."

Kagome puffed out her cheeks angrily _He won't be so smug tomorrow when I sit him for that..heavy remark.._ she thought but hurried to catch up to Inuyasha who had already started to stride off in the direction of the village, his black hair making it harder for her to see him in the dark forest.

* * *

The sun had set and the girl was woken from her sleep by the sensation of retracting claws, fangs and dulling senses urging her to open her eyes and be alert, carefully she clambered down from her perch in the low branches of a tree and started making her way toward the village, the smell of food wafting through the forest enticingly and the promise of warm firelight urging her to move faster. She got to the point where she could see the dim glow of fireplaces in the huts when she tripped over something causing a series of wooden panels to clack together, the sound startling her enough to make her flee the vicinity quickly, heading for the village at a run.

* * *

Inuyasha and Kagome had almost made it back to the hut when the sound of wooden chimes from the trip wires sounded from just within the forest, Inuyasha spun on his heel, drawing Tessaiga reflexively and putting himself between the forest and Kagome as Sango and Miroku ran from the hut.

"Hey, Sango! Great idea with the tripwires!" Inuyasha called over his shoulder. "Miroku, Kagome, you feel anything?" he got a shake of the head from both parties but didn't relax his defensive stance. Something shifted in the bushes and he gripped the dull blade of Tessaiga tighter as a small form stumbled out from them, tripping and landing in a heap a few feet to his right.

"Is that..?" he started before Kagome pushed from behind him and stooped next to the prone form, "Dammit Kagome, have you not got a self preservating bone in your body!"

Kagome shot him a glance through the dark as he sheathed his useless sword and made his way over to her, "It's a kid!" she said, obviously surprised.

"Well, looks like we don't have a missing child in the forest anymore.." Miroku mused, motioning to Sango that they should check out the trip wires in case the child had been running from something.

The girl groaned and made to push herself up of the ground but was astonished to find two larger forms standing over her and she flinched back in fear, a small whimper sounded from her throat.

"Shh, It's okay, we aren't going to hurt you.." Kagome soothed, trying to calm the child down, reaching out a hand to help them up but the child only shied away at her advances, stumbling backwards.

"Calm down kid, I've been looking for you since last night.." Inuyasha said softly, seeing all too clearly the apprehension on the grubby face before him as he stooped to sit on his haunches, bringing him closer to the child's eye level. His human ears heard the grumbling of the childs stomach and he let out a small chuckle, "You must be hungry.. come with us we'll get you some food.."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha as though he had grown a second head, then realized that these nights Inuyasha was more subject to human emotion and her eyes softened. The child was now transfixed on Inuyasha, looking at him as though he held all the answers in the world, all because of an offer of food. Deciding that Inuyasha could probably handle this on his own, and knowing that he would be denying it come tomorrow morning, she quietly made her way to Kaede's hut, leaving Inuyasha alone as he coaxed the child into following him.

It took some time, but eventually, Inuyasha arrived back at the hut with the child in tow, clinging lightly to his pants, looking ready to run and hide at the smallest hint of danger, Sango and Miroku exchanged glances at seeing the evidence of what Kagome had told them about Inuyasha bringing the child back to the hut, Shippo watched on curiously from Kagome's lap.

"It's alright, Kid.." Inuyasha soothed, ignoring the barely supressed chortles of the others in favor of comforting the skittish child. Now that there was a decent amount of light, he could see that the child was a young girl, her hair was matted with dirt and muck and she had dirt caked over every exposed spanse of skin, old bandages covered her torso and the kimono she wore was far too big to have been made for her and was in a worse state of filth than she herself was.

He sat down against the far wall after getting a bowl of stew more for the girl than himself after seeing just how thin the girl was. He was glad when the girl came over, however tentatively, and sat herself down next to him, her back to the wall as she eyed the bowl of steaming food in his hands and he gladly placed it down on the floor in front of her. "Here you go, Kid.. eat up.."

The girl looked at the bowl carefully before greedily digging in, yelping when the still slightly too hot liquid burned her throat, but she was starved and so pushed past the initial shock of the heat and almost purred as it started to warm her up from the inside in the most pleasant way.

Inuyasha watched the girl carefully, smiling when the slightest hint of a smile quirked her lips. She finished quickly and was attempting to lick the bowl clean when Inuyasha gently took it from her, "Want some more, Kid?" he asked, noting the longing expression that came over her face at the question and letting a chuckle escape him.

On the other side of the fire, Sango leaned over to Kagome, "It's still wierd seeing Inuyasha as a human, it's like he's a completely different person!" she said with some amazement.

"Yeah I know, I mean the girl was so scared of me when I tried to convince her to come with us, but Inuyasha seemed to know exactly how to handle her.." Kagome breathed, "Perhaps something from his own past let him know what would make her feel more comfortable?"

"You guys know I _can_ still hear you right?" Inuyasha said with a small smirk as the two women broke apart with matching blushes at being caught. "Keh.." he muttered, turning his attention back to the child beside him as she polished off her second bowl with an expression of contented satisfaction.

The girl could hear the voices floating around the hut, but could not understand what they were saying, though she never really paid much attention to the words anyway, just the manner in which they were spoken. The tones in this hut seemed much calmer than any other hut she had been taken into, which was as perplexing as it was comforting, the agitated voices in other huts had always made her slightly skittish and it was nice to be able to relax even minutely for a night before having to escape before the morning light. Her hunger sated, the girl's mouth opened in a wide yawn and she rubbed her eyes.

"Keh, tired after all that running around the forest, eh kid?" Inuyasha's gruff voice broke through the haze washing over the girl's mind and she found herself nodding slightly, moving closer to his warmth, which in turn brought a touch of colour into his face. before she knew it, her mind was lost to the pleasant darkness of sleep.

Inuyasha looked down at the small form curled next to him for a moment before he lifted his arm to let the sleeve of his fire-rat robe drape over the girl to provide some additional warmth. the nights were getting cooler as they approached winter after all. "Well, looks like I'm stuck here for the night.." he said gruffly, ignoring the expressions on his comerade's faces at the caring gesture they had just witnessed.

"I wonder where she came from... how long do you think she's been out there alone?" Kagome asked, not really expecting an answer to her mostly rhetorical question.

"It's been a few months at least.." Inuyasha said quietly, "There's a lot of mistrust in her, you don't need keen senses to figure that out.." he paused long enough to wonder what she had been through himself before he spoke again, "Well, we'll have to wait until the morning to start getting answers.. I'll keep watch, I never sleep on this night anyway.."

Shippo was going to say something but Kagome cut him off with her hand across his mouth, "Poisonings and injury don't count and you know it Shippo.. have some consideration for the girl and behave yourself tonight okay?" she said, letting her hand drop.

"Fine.." Shippo said grudgingly, "But I can't promise I'll behave tomorrow when he's back to normal.."

It wasn't long before the rest of the hut's occupants were all sleeping soundly, leaving Inuyasha alone with his thoughts as he watched the sleeping girl who had since huddled closer to him in her sleep. _Where did you come from, Kid? There's not another village for miles and none of them have reported a missing child recently.._ he sighed and let his eyes close momentarily before continuing his vigil, legs crossed, arms folded.. on one side Tessaiga rested on his shoulder, on the other side, the girl's head found it's way to his lap.

* * *

AN: OMG this chapter just didn't want to finish! It's twice as long as any other chapter so far and a lot of it was written off the cuff so to speak.. not the usual third drafting that I go through so I apologise if there are some mistakes or repeated lines..

I can hear you guys going "FINALLY!" when they meet but then the undeniable groans of impatience when I left it hanging there.. I am very sorry for this but if I kept going this chapter would have been a novel in itself! so NEXT chapter things will get interesting!

I'd like to thnk you guys for sticking with me through the slow stuff, but you understand that it's necessary groundwork for the rest of the story to make any kind of sense..

Until next time!


	13. Bittersweet

_**Prompt: "Something About Us" by Daft Punk**_

* * *

In the early hours of the next morning, the young girl started to stir, sensing that the dawn was approaching. Stretching languidly, her arms brushed against Inuyasha's leg, causing the girl to freeze suddenly at the contact.

Now completely awake, she sat up noting the chill in the air as the sleeve of his robe fell from across her shoulders.

Inuyasha looked down at her slowly, not wanting to scare her as he could feel the tell-tale signs of dawn's approach in his own body. Quietly, he was glad that the girl had woken on her own, it meant that she wouldn't have to wake up to his half-demon self ad the screams of fear that would probably come with it.

"You okay, Kid? You fell asleep pretty quickly last night.." he muttered in a low voice so he wouldn't wake the others.

The girl looked up at him, stunned. She wasn't expecting anyone to be awake yet. Nodding her head once, she carefully stood up and looked longingly at the door, scrunching her hands in her kimono.

Inuyasha seemed to catch a hint and stood also. "You need to go do you? Come on then, I'll stand by the hut, but don't go too far, alright?"

This seemed to be the perfect out for the girl, she would leave under the pretense that she was merely relieving herself, a scheme she had used a few times before, but as soon as she got her demon strength and speed back she'd make a run for it.

"Come on, Kid.." Inuyasha prompted, holding out a hand for the girl to take. The girl shied away from his outstretched hand, which disappointed him slightly, so instead he pushed aside the reed matting that hung in the doorway to let the girl pass. He stood just outside the hut as he said he would as he watched the girl run for the trees where she had emerged from last night.

The girl took it easy until she was out of sight before making a run for it. A few minutes later, the sun started peeking over the horizon, the first rays of the true dawn casting long shadows across the ground. The girl let out a shriek as the transformation started to take hold, stalling her escape momentarily as she stumbled to the ground. Her demon blood with it's eager return rending another shout-turned-bark as she fell to her knees.

Inuyasha, even with his mostly human hearing heard the girl's cry and immediately went running after her. As he felt his ears slide up the sides of his head and his other senses sharpened, he recognized the scent that had been plaguing his every waking moment as he was chasing it for days. His strides lengthened and his speed increased as the last of his strength returned to him, finally he was gaining ground on the source of the scent, though that thought was at the back of his mind at the time..

"Damn! That rogue demon found the kid! Dammit! I told her not to go too far!" He broke through one final throng of trees before skidding to a dead stop at what he saw in front of him.. "Wh- What the... Kid, is that... you?"

Before him, the prone form of the girl writhed in discomfort, completely oblivious to her surroundings as fingernails and teeth lengthened and hardened into claws and fangs, ears shifted and changed form, and her demonic energy returned with such a hammering force that the wind was almost knocked out of her, and him for that matter.. Finally, the curtain of obsidian black hair streaked through with moonlight white until the curtain had completely changed in colour, save for the matted clumps of mud and what he suspected was remnants from demon encounters...

After what seemed like an eternity of shifting and changing, the girl could feel another presence nearby and she was abruptly pulled back into reality. Growling in a warning manner she pushed herself up into a crouch, her eyes hooded behind her hair until she saw who was standing before her. The man was the same from last night... but different..

and the thought was mirrored in both of their minds... **_It's YOU!_**

The realization hit home and her warning glare was replaced by shock, making her head rise to reveal her eyes. Honey Gold met Burnt Amber, the Honey Gold was then distracted by streaks of crimson as the girl's demonic energy flared defensively, making the twin scythe markings outside her eyes seem to burn through her skin in their vibrance.

Inuyasha stumbled back a step in shock as another growl ripped from the girl's throat, though it wasn't nearly as menacing as he thought it should have been. It seemed... pleading..

He felt something shift in the air and watched as the girl's grip seemed to tighten on the ground, she was looking to run, "Wait! Don't leave.." he called as the girl had started to turn away, halting her movement abruptly and making her face him again with guarded eyes, "W- We're the same.. look!" he tried desperately to find a reason for the girl to stay, knowing that in his own youth he had been extremely distrusting, especially since his mother- he shook the thought away, he needed to focus right now, in his desperate search for something to keep the girl from running, his ears were twitching as though listening to his own throughts before dismissing them as useless, soon though, the girl was captivated by the movement, her own ears twitching forward as she watched with wrapt attention.

Finally noticing the look of captivation on the girl's face, Inuyasha's ears perked forward also, giving the girl his full attention, the gesture mimicked by the girl's ears almost immediately. Inuyasha sat down slowly as the youki signature from the girl rose again at the movement only to fall again when she realized that there was no threat. "This is gonna take a while, eh, Kid?" he sighed, his gruff voice carried easily on the breeze to the girl who seemed to visibly relax, though still seemed ready to flee at any given moment.

He sat there silently for a time, hoping that the girl would come closer simply by the force of his will, he knew that the wild was no place for any child, especially one of mixed blood, to be alone. He could hear soft, questioning whimpers from the girl as she watched him before the sound of his name being called pierced through the quiet.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice rang through the forest with a clarity that only she could achieve and he visibly cringed at the interruption.

"Damn can't catch a break here can I?" Inuyasha groused, laying his ears flat and closing his eyes momentarily before shouting back. "I'm fine K'gome! Go back to the hut! Tell everyone the kid's fine as well She's with me.."

Kagome, not being able to leave things like that came through the barrier of trees to find Inuyasha sitting on the ground with his back to her and something ahead of him that she couldn't quite make out. "Inuyasha! you can't expect me to just go back after feeling that pulse of demonic energy can you?"

"It was her.." Inuyasha said simply, indicating the form ahead of him as the girl growled again having felt the same kind of energy from Kagome that others had tried to hurt her with, "It's probably a good idea that you don't go any nearer to her, K'gome.. If her life has been anything like mine was," he hesitated slightly, "She's not about to let us get too near.."

"Is that the girl from last night?" Kagome asked, breathess as she recognized the girl in front of her.

"Yeah, Half demon like me... you can tell the others that I found the source of the smell too.. they'll know what you're talking about.." Inuyasha sighed, slightly defeated and just hoping Kagome would take the hint and leave them there rather than try and get any closer to the girl, after a while it seemed like Kagome hadn't heard him at all, "Kagome..?"

"Right, yeah I'll go back and tell them.." Kagome blinked out of her stupor and turned to leave, but not before turning back to Inuyasha for a parting "Good luck"

Inuyasha listened to her leave before breathing a sigh of relief, with Kagome's departure the girl had once again relaxed, though still stared at the point where she had disappeared through the trees. "It's alright.. she's a... friend.." Inuyasha stumbled on the word choice, he wouldn't say it aloud, but Kagome and the others, even after such a short time together, seemed to be becoming close to pack members or family to him.

The girl's ears twitched curiously and she shuffled forward slightly, still very wary of Inuyasha and the forest surrounding them, but her curiosity about this other being so similar to her was overpowering her desire to run.

It took several agonizingly slow minutes for the girl to be within reach of Inuyasha, and still he didn't make a move in case he startled her into retreat, but with several calculating sniffs from the girl and swiveling ears taking in any outside dangers, she eventually, though tentatively, held out one of her tiny hands to his own, carefully running exploring fingertips over the ends of his claws and then her own in turn. A questioning whimper sounded from the girl's throat... _**'Same?'**_

Inuyasha couldn't help the small smile that graced his lips as he breathed a sigh of relief, "That's right, we're the same.. you can trust me, I won't hurt you.." he said, the gruff edge to his voice smoothed over by the sincerity that the girl could detect in his voice as he spoke.

Becoming more comfortable in Inuyasha's presence, the girl moved closer so she was almost sitting in his lap as she reached up and pulled her hand through his hair, bringing it around in between them both to make a comparison to her own muddied silver strands. her eyes widened in wonder and she took more calculating sniffs of his scent, then frowning.

Sitting back from him slightly, much to Inuysaha's confusion, she growled accusingly at him, _**'You chased, you followed..'**_

It took a few moments of thought but Inuyasha realized what she was talking about, "I didn't know.. it was a strange scent, I protect this area, I thought it was a threat.." he rationalized, using short sentences without thinking to match the broken canine language the girl was using, though in his own mind it was as though she were speaking normally, if not in a child's broken speech pattern.

Eventually the girl accepted his explanation and settled herself in his lap while she looked over his features some more, taking in his gold eyes, tanned skin and eventually becoming brave enough to examine his fangs, comparing them to her own as she did his claws and eventually reaching up and grabbing hold of one of his ears, her other hand fiddling with one of her own.

Inuyasha sat stock still not willing to interrupt the tentative exploration but knowing that if he let it go on for much longer he'd be running the risk of the others coming to get him even with his warnings to stay away, he almost missed the frown that the girl wore as she compared their ears.

_**'You smooth.. but..' **_she frowned harder, feeling the bumps that marred her delicate ears, making Inuyasha frown in turn as he carefully took her other ear between his fingers to find out what she was talking about.

"Scars? They've been cut?" he asked quietly as his fingers found several lines of scar tissue on the tiny ear. the girl merely dipped her head slightly, confirming his suspicions. "Don't worry, I'll protect you.." he said simply with a small smile to assure the girl in his lap. "Old Kaede will have breakfast ready for us when we get back to the hut... but how about we go get cleaned up a bit first huh?" he said gently, earning a slight nod from the girl before he stood up with her in his arms.

The feeling was reminicent of her time with Jinenji, being held securely in strong, warm, protective arms and the memories came flooding back of the time of her escape, making her whimper. How was her gentle friend doing these days? Did his mother recover from the hit to her head? Tears sprung to life in her eyes but she refused to let them fall, until vague flashes of memory reminded her of what else she had done that night and she looked at her claws and the blood stains of her kimono.

The bittersweet memories of that time washed over her and she rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder, gripping his robe tightly as she tried to fight off the remorse from that night so long ago, but in trying to escape it, she was faced with the memory of coming back to her senses, her claws and kimono covered in the blood of the villagers.

Inuyasha could smell the regret coming off the girl in pungent waves, he was confused as to the cause until they arrived at the side if the stream and he let the girl down to wash. He noticed that she immediately started scrubbing her hands and kimono before finally ripping the cloth free from her body and throwing it away as though it were poisoned, leaving the girl in nothing but the remnants of bandages.

Bending down and picking up the cloth, he realized that one of the elements of the scent he had been chasing was that of dried human blood. _So she's seen human bloodshed..._ he mused, taking off his fire rat robe and laying it out on a rock before closing the distance between himself and the girl, who was starting to take layers of skin off with her vigorous scrubbing. "Hey, Calm down, Kiddo.." he tried, reaching out and pulling the girl to his chest as he sat down in the shallow water. his words didn't seem to reach her and his mind scrambled for something else.

"Pup.. calm down.." He didn't know what compelled him to use that term, but it seemed to reach the girl and calm her down a little as she sat in his lap. Eventually, a soft thrumming could be heard which seemed to calm the girl further. Inuyasha wasn't about to question this new sound just now, he was more concerned with the girl's state of mind.

_**'I killed them.. they chased and I killed them..'**_

It was a simple statement but it explained so much. Inuyasha soothed the girl, combing his hands through her hair like he remembered his mother doing when he was small. It served to calm the girl down as well as work out the dirt and muck that had become trapped in there "Humans?" he asked, getting a nod in response before his hands moved to the bandages that smelled vaguely of medicinal herbs, "This too?"

She felt the gentle tug on the cloth that wrapped around her torso and shook her head, pulling the cloth free and looking at it almost happily, _**'friend..'**_ she yipped reverently until she felt inuyasha's claws graze her ribcage gently, making her jump slightly at the contact,

"And these scars?" Inuyasha asked, spotting the large scar as she slid the cloth free from herself as well as many others that had caught his eye as he washed the dirt away from her skin.

_**'Demons... and humans... why do they attack?'**_ she turned to look at Inuyasha, waiting for him to give her an answer.

Inuyasha sighed heavily, his fears that this girl had had a similar life to his own had been confirmed. "Because they don't understand.. They're afraid of things that are different... we're different.." they both sat in silence for a stretch before Inuyasha spoke again, "Come on.. head under, we'll get the last of this muck out of your hair and then we'll head back to the hut.."

The young hanyou complied and for the first time since leaving Jinenji's place was free of dirt. It felt.. good! She allowed a smile as she followed Inuyasha out of the water, casting a wary glance at the stained kimono laying discarded on the ground and giving it a wide berth. She was surprised at the sensation of something soft and warm draping over her shoulders, looking up, she met Inuyasha's concerned gaze as he swathed the girl in his fire rat robe.

"It's okay, Kagome will clean it up for you.. she'll get those stains out of it.." he assured as he picked it up and tucked it into the waistband of his hakama before scooping the hanyou pup up into his arms. "Now, don't worry about anyone else in the hut... they're all my friends, they won't hurt you... Stick by me I'll keep you safe.. So, you hungry or what?" he asked, hitching the girl up higher in his arms and recieving a growl from the pup's stomach. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then.." he smiled, walking back to the waking village.

As they passed down the main stretch of road in the village, courious faces peeked out from the huts, aking the girl slightly uneasy in Inuyasha's arms. "Calm down, pup.. they won't hurt you either.. in a roundabout way I protect this whole village too.. they're just curious to know who you are, that's all.. Like.. my name is Inuyasha, that's what they call me... so..." Inuyasha said, leading the question which was only answered by confused silence, "So what does everyone call you?"

The reply came, though half expected given the evidence he had already seen, it didn't lessen the pain in his heart that came with the answer..

_**'They always call me Hanyou..'**_

* * *

AN: So main source of inspiration for gettin' my butt into gear and writing another chapter?

Well I had a dream that I was the hanyou girl.. wouldn't be the first time that I dreamt of being one of my characters, however this one stood out to me.. mostly because it was so vivid and real...

So I was our Hanyou, however, I was working at a slightly distorted version of my own workplace (I work for the suburban railway network in my city as a train guard) and for some reason, my driver and I were sneaking around a train yard... probably not our 'home' yard considering the amount of sneaking that was involved..

Now, as our Hanyou girl, I was still rather distrustful of everyone else except for my driver because well, you gotta get along to some degree to get through the day lol, but we were spotted and then had to escape or someting... the details get a little fuzzy here... but in the commotion the alarms were going off and all sorts of fun stuff... I used my claws to cut the sound out because DUDE those klaxons HURT! but I distinctly remember the confusion at looking at the clean cuts of the wires and then at my hand, much like the girl's confusion when she managed to claw the lizard's head open but couldn't really feel the impact. I think eventually we ran into a trap... at which point the sound of another woman's voice in the house woke me up.. I live with three guys and there weren't any extra cars parked outside when I got home at 3am.. but then like magic there was when I woke up... Slept through the thunderstorm that battered the area in the small hours of the morning, but another woman's voice in the house? Perhaps I'm a little more like our little Hanyou girl than I first thought? anyway.. thought I'd share my 'hanyou' experience with you guys, perhaps you've had something similar happen to you?


	14. For Lack of a Better Name

AN: I am SO so _**SO**_ sory that it has taken so long to get this chapter up for you guys... in reality it was almost finished nearly two months ago... it was simply lacking a sufficient ending... it kinda happens when I let the stories write themselves..

Also, I've realized that I have to start giving the formatting for speech and such...

"Speaking Human language"

_"Speaking in Inu"_

_**"Speaking in Inu with increased demonic energy"**_ (Note: will mostly be used for the girl's speech until her demonic energy settles to a similar level to Inuyasha's, will be a while before that happens though)

**"Speaking in Human language with increased demonic energy" **(Mostly for Inuyasha when his blood peaks and he gets that growl in his voice)

_Thinking_

* * *

_**Prompt: Lack of a better name by Deadmau5**_

"_They call you... Hanyou? That's all anyone has ever called you_?" Inuyasha's heart sank. Though he knew that the girl bundled in his fire rat had less than a desireable life, he had assumed that someone had at least called her by an actual name. Even _he_ was named by his father who had shortly thereafter met his end defending his mate and child. "_What about your Mama or Papa... Do you know where they are? What did they call you?_"

The child's sharp intake of breath as the words slipped from his mouth set alarm bells ringing in his mind, warning him to stop his current line of questions. However the damage had been done. The girl made a small whimper in her throat along with a slight negative shake of her head and made a move for the kimono at Inuyasha's waist.

He watched, slightly apprehensive of what she was trying to communicate without words as she gripped the kimono and tugged it free of his pants. She then reverently sorted through the cloth to find one of the sleeves and then moved her hands to one of the corners where a lump had formed. She sniffed at it and gave a small smile before offering it tentatively to Inuyasha to smell.

Inuyasha took a long, careful intake of the multitude of scents that seemed to be competing for prominence the he concentrated on the old scent located in the lump of cloth held out to him.

The scent of ashes and graveyard soil filtered through his senses and within it, the slightest scent of Youki which seemed to belong to the girl's sire judging by the similarity to her own underlying scent. _Man, I've really put my foot in it this time haven't I?_ He thought to himself as he studied the girl held in his arms once again.

Her scarred ears drooped with fatigue, her eyes were lowered and seemed to lack the lusture and spark of innocence that he would often see in other children's eyes. He had noted many other scars while cleaning off the dirt from her body and while she wasn't thin, she certainly lacked the childish roundness in her face that she should have kept up until adolescence, Heck, even he still had a bit of a baby face, though if anyone pointed it out they'd regret it..

Inuyasha felt the girl shift in his arms and shifted his grip on her to accommodate. "_So, you've been by yourself since your Mama and Papa died?_" he asked gently, trying to get a picture of the girls life up until now.

_**"Not really.."**_ came her softly growled reply, "_**Alpha looked after me, then villagers came after Mama and Papa but I saved them.. I had to leave pack then and after attacks was found by friend who helped but then villagers came to attack and they chased... that's when..." **_

She took a shaky breath and Inuyasha noticed that her eyes fixed on her hands again.

"_It's okay.. you don't have to keep going_.." he soothed, rubbing the girl's back gently, "_You've been through a lot eh, Kid?_" he said with an understanding smile, "_I know what that's like.. but my friends here.. well they've made it a lot easier... granted they get me into a fair bit of trouble as well, but they've also saved my life a few times_.." he smiled at the wonder in the girl's eyes at his words. "_I'm positive they'll like you too, just stick by me, you'll be fine_.." he said, gently ruffling the girl's hair with his free hand as the hut came into view. Already he could smell breakfast cooking and hear the sounds of soft conversation being carried on the morning breeze..

"You only have to look at her to see she's had it hard.. but being a hanyou on top of that, I can't imagine what she's had to endure!" Sango's voice wafted through the air

"Yeah, the only one of us who would have any idea of what it's like to live like that would be Inuyasha, it's is probably why he's the one she seemed to connect to.." Kagome said with a hint of wonder in her voice.

There was a few moments of silence as the inhabitants thought on the situation before Shippo piped up.

"I wonder how old she is?"

Now that was a question everyone was curious to know the answer to, they all knew she was young, but as humans, youkai and hanyou all seemed to age at differnt rates, it was something that was far too difficult to determine by simply looking at her.

By human standards, she looked to be around the age of five or so, but by Youkai standards, she could have been as old as seventy already and Hanyou were sometimes even more difficult to age by sight depending on the mix of demon to human blood and the type of demon blood they had. There were simply too many variables to even attempt to make an educated guess at this!

At this time, Inuyasha pushed through the doorway, carrying the girl in one arm and holding the reed matting aside with the other, "Keh, even I can't tell how old she is.. the only one I know who might be able to give a good estimate would be Myoga and you know how he is with being around when you need him..." he said sarcastically as he sat himself down next to the door with the girl on his lap, who watched everyone else warily. "All I can say is when my mother died I was about 25 years old and about this big... but then I grew really quickly to survive by myself.." he gave a small shrug, "I dunno, it's just a theory but I think half demons age according to what they need at the time.. if we have someone looking after us and teaching us and protecting us when we're young, we don't _need_ to grow bigger, but if we're alone and we have to look after ourselves we grow bigger to accommodate that need..."

"Sounds similar to what we fox demons go through.." Shippo supplied, "Fox kits like myself who come from a stronger blood line almost have the full appearance of a human child, then when we get stronger ourselves, we start to get more of a fox's appearance like my father's..." he paused for a moment remembering his father before he was killed, "Most of the time when a kit loses his parents he's left to be cared by another family member like an aunt or uncle or something like that and it's a bond that isn't really as strong as the one for our parents and we tend to change faster, so for kits who lose their parents young they age quicker because of the need to defend themselves from enemies... But on the ther hand.. Some demon children take on the appearance of human children as a defence against human attacks.. since demons usually identify by scents anyway.. "

Everyone else in the hut looked slightly confused at his explanation, Sango and Inuyasha seemed to be the only ones who seemed to at least get the gist of what he was saying while the young hanyou in Inuyasha's lap didn't understand a word of it but seemed to be ignoring the conversation anyway, choosing to instead play with the ends of her now clean hair.

"Put it this way.." Shippo said, trying to clarify, "If Kagome hadn't of taken me in, I would probably be twice my size by now, but since I haven't had to defend myself too much I haven't grown nearly at all! As well as that I still look mostly human!"

With this, understanding seemed to dawn on Miroku and Kagome's features, the idea of 'the bigger you are, the less enemies you have' and 'Camouflage' seemed to make sense.

"Okay, so with that in mind, She could be as old as fifty..?" Kagome guessed looking over at Inuyasha and the girl.

Inuyasha shook his head, "Not likely from what she's told me.. Though it's a bit rough and doesn't seem to make much sense..." he frowned as he tried to sort through what the girl had told him earlier, "She's never had a name, so that tells me that her parents both died when she was really young, and she said that the 'Alpha' took care of her.. though that really could mean anything... but then she said that she 'saved her parents from the villagers' which doesn't make sense at all! if they were already gone how could she.." his thoughts shot back to the Kimono with ashen remains clogged in the sleeves and he fished the garment from his hakama and looked down at the girl, "_You saved their _ashes _from the villagers..._"

The girl looked up at him recognizing that he was speaking to her and with a short yip, whine and flattening of her ears her answer was "_**Villagers burn Mama and Papa again..**_"

Inuyasha whined an answer in his throat before looking up into confused faces. "What are you guys lookin' at?" he grumbled, slightly confused at the expressions his companions wore.

Kagome watched his expression grow impatient before managing to speak up. "Well, I for one have never heard those sounds come from you before.. sure you growl when you're angry but not like that and you have _never_ whined like that.."

"Whaddaya mean, growling and whining? I was just talkin' to the kid!" Inuyasha said, his voice slightly raised.

"Yeah.." Shippo said, pausing to make sure he had everyone's attention, "In Inu.." he finished with his arms folded, impressed with himself that he had recognised the very basic dialect of a cousin language to his own. "She hasn't spoken a word of human language since we found her right?" he prompted, everyone nodding as they came to the conclusion that she had been completely silent the entire time save for a few growls which they had mistakenly attributed to the fact that she didn't want to talk, or _couldn't_ talk..

"She's been talking the whole time, but the only one who really understands it is Inuyasha.. and he, whether he knows it or not has been answering her in Inu as well... it's just that we either haven't heard it or didn't realize until now!" Miroku concluded, chin in one hand as he nodded in understanding.

"I've been talking in Inu the whole time talking to her? Well, that explains some of the looks the villagers were giving me as we passed their huts this morning." Inuyasha huffed, leaning to one side to rest his chin in his hand as he watched the girl settle more comfortably in his lap before his free hand seemed to automatically gravitate to her back to secure her when she stopped fussing.

"It was an instinctual process!" Shippo said matter-of-factly, "I'm supposing that she spoke to you first in the native language and now since then, you've been speaking back to her in the same manner..?" he queried, earning a confused but slight nod from Inuyasha in answer, "So you two understand each other completely! I can pick out only a few words if I concentrate hard enough, it wasn't until I heard you growl 'friends' outside that I even knew what was going on! Y'see, that word is pretty similar across the board.. it's all in the expression!" he finished with his arms crossed over his now slightly puffed chest looking quite pleased with himself.

"Wow, Shippo!" Kagome said finally, a slight look of amazement adorning her features, "I never knew you were so knowledgable about these things!"

"Keh.." Inuyasha scoffed again, finding himself a little amazed as well but not wanting to admit it, "The little brat comes up with a theory like that and you all think he's a genius or something..." he huffed, rolling his eyes for emphasis but not going so far as to insult Shippo as he normally would. "While the explanations are all well and good, they don't actually provide any definitive answers.. Her age for example is a mystery, as well as where she came from, how she's survived... She said 'Alpha raised me' but who was the Alpha..?" Inuyasha mused going over her story in his head.

"You probably wouldn't have picked this, seeing as you didn't even _know_ you were speaking Inu..." Shippo said, looking over at the hanyou pair from Kagome's lap where he had made himself comfortable during the conversation, "But her Inu is strongly accented with Ookami.. more growl than bark.. She sounds more like Kouga's wolves than any village dogs.. So, maybe she was raised by a pack of wolves?"

"There are legends in my time from Rome about two brothers that were raised by wolves... I suppose it could happen.." Kagome mused.

"And it would serve to explain the scent of wolves you were picking up while trying to track her down the other night.." Sango offered.

"Whatever .." Inuyasha huffed, though the sound was lacking in it's usual irritation. "It may explain some things it _still_ means that I'm the only one she can communicate with.. Well, unless she learns to speak in the human language or you guys learn to speak ours.." He said with a slightly smug grin before the ramifications of the situation became clear. "Oh man, that means that the kid's gotta stay with me!" He said, raising his voice slightly and throwing his head back rather theatrically. He almost fell backwars with the movement but stopped himself by supporting his weight on his elbows.

This turn of events made the girl shrink into herself, turning to look at Inuyasha with wide eyes.

Inuyasha's response was immediate and reassuring. _"It's okay, Pup, I'll look after you.."_ He growled. Knowing now that the others ouldn't understand what he was saying to the girl made his task of keeping up appearances infinitely easier! The only problem he could forsee was that if Shippo recognised what he was saying, bt by the confused expression on the young fox's face, he knew he was safe from that for a while yet.

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AN: So I've been thinking about the girls name and have a list to chose from.. I'd like to know what you guys think too!

I was wanting to keep to a 'moon' theme but found that limited me somewhat to how I pictured her.. names are included in the list anyway..

Nanashi - Without name

Kohana - A little flower

Keiko - the beloved or adored one

Hisa - To endure

Aiko - The little loved one, the beloved

Machiko - Fortunate one

Mizuki - Beautiful moon

Mika - The new moon

Yue - Chinese for 'moon'

Hani - - was the girls name in the original story to serve as a 'nickname' for 'Hanyou' it means 'sweet child' I've since gone off the idea


	15. After the Chase

A/N: Again and again I seem to leave you guys hanging! Bad Shay BAD! I ope you'll all forgive my delay, but you guys know I won't put up a chapter if I feel it isn't up to scratch.. or if the muses aren't being kind and letting me just get on with it... a little of both happened here I'm afraid... I hope you enjoy the chapter... She finally gets a name!

* * *

"After the Chase" by Murray Gold & BBC National Orchestra from "Dr. Who Series 3 (original Sound Track)" album

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After breakfast, the morning seemed to pass unusually quietly with the mystery of the girl playing on everyone's minds. Miroku and Sango had gone to retrieve the previous night's tripwires with Kilala in tow and Kaede had left to another hut to tend to a sickly child, leaving Kagome, Shippo and Inuyasha with the girl who had promptly fallen back to sleep in Inuyasha's lap after eating her fill of breakfast. Shippo had become bored at one point so Kagome pulled out some paper and the crayons she'd carry just for him so he could amuse himself through drawing, but she noticed as well as Inuyasha that whenever the girl started fussing in her sleep, his tiny hands would still and he'd discreetly look over his shoulder at her until she settled again.

Hours passed and eventually the girl woke up, yawning and stretching languidly as though she hadn't a care in the world until she seemed to recall her situation and look around wildly, only settling when she felt a soft thrumming rumbling deep in Inuyasha's chest. "You awake this time, Pup?" Inuyasha asked with a smirk, stretching his legs out in front of him now that he didn't have to worry about disturbing the girl's sleep. The girl yipped happily in response sliding out of Inuyasha's shifting lap so he could move freely but not straying too far from him.

Kagome had to suppress a small giggle, the action of doing so catching the attention of both the hanyous. "I haven't seen you voluntarily sit so-"

"AUGH!" Inuyasha's strangled cry sounded as the Kotodama pulled his face into the wooden floor of the hut. The sudden movement catching the girl off-guard and she whirled around with a growl, ready to strike out at the phantom attacker. "Dammit, Kagome.." Inuyasha grumbled, trying to pull himself free of the spell.

Kagome had clapped her hand over her mouth as soon as she had realized what she had said, "I'm so sorry Inuyasha, I didn't mean for that to happen.." she said behind her hands, her voice slightly muffled by the action.

The girl turned her gaze to Kagome, she had scented the slight spike in spiritual energy as Inuyasha had been pulled down and growled warningly at the only source it could have come from.

Kagome held her breath, sensing the danger of attack from the girl as she locked her reddning eyes upon hers, the growl building in the small girl's throat as her facial markings became brighter.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment, storm grey eyes locked to bronzing gold and darkening pink, Shippo had stopped his drawing and now stood shaking slightly at what might happen, his little heart pounding in his chest as he dared to imagine what might happen. The Kotodama's spell lifted and with it Inuyasha's annoyed growling.

_**"It's okay, Pup.. no harm done.. Stupid spell.."**_ he soothed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and reaching out to grab the girl's arm with the other so she wouldn't lunge at Kagome. "You gotta watch what you say, wench.." he said with a slight edge of irritation to his voice.

After a few moments, Kagome hadn't said anything and was still looking at the girl warily. The girl hadn't moved a muscle but somehow seemed to be more intimidating in doing so. Eventually Shippo broke the stare-off by jumping into Kagome's lap, making her look down at him rather than at the girl's eyes. "You okay, Kagome?" he asked in a slightly shaken voice, he could see how close it had come to an actual attack being thrown and chanced a glance over his shoulder.

Inuyasha was still trying to coax the girl back to his lap, the girl however was now very wary of Kagome and refused to turn her back on her.

"C-c'mon, Kagome, lets go see if Miroku and Sango need any help with the trip wires.." Shippo suggested with a slight stammer, casting a furtive glance over his shoulder to make sure Inuyasha had a hold of the girl so she wouldn't make a sudden lunge for them as they left.

Kagome nodded numbly as she stood with Shippo cradled in her arms, she too, glanced behind her as they left catching Inuyasha's eye and giving an apologetic look, to which he responded with a ghost of a smile to reassure her as he nodded his head once before turning his attention back to the growling girl before him.

With the other two out of the hut, Inuyasha managed to settle the girl slightly, but still she was growling menacingly at the doorway through which the two had made their escape. He was beginning to lose his patience and began growling in reprimand for the girl's behaviour, this in turn quickly extinguished the heat of her demon blood that had risen at the percieved threat.

_**"It's okay, Pup..."**_ he soothed again, now that her growls had quieted and she was paying some attention, she looked up at him from her place in his lap. _**"That was the spell of the beads."**_ he said, tugging at the Kotodama to illustrate the energy stored in them as the enchantment that kept them in place made them pulse with a glow. _**"It's usually punishment when I do stuff she doesn't like, but that time was an accident. She didn't mean to throw me to the floor."**_ he muttered in hushed growls, taking in the girl's scent, pleased that it no longer held the taint of angered defence, but still held a great deal of confusion. As though the expression on her face was not enough to illustrate that she did not completely understand yet.

_**"The spell is triggered by a word, In this case the word is **_'SIT'_**. But it only works when Kagome says it. I knew what she was going to say before she finished the first word.." **_He smiled gently down at the girl, running one hand over the space between her ears, _**"Usually I don't like staying in one place for too long, I have a feeling you understand that feeling don't you?"**_

The girl paused in thought for a moment before she lowered her head, a small sad whine sounding from her throat.

_**"Always running, afraid to let yourself trust anyone because they only see **_**what**_** you are and not **_**who**_** you are..." **_Inuyasha sighed as the girl in his lap looked up at him, her face now completely free of the facial markings that had been so vivid only minutes before. He offered an understanding smile before she girl nuzzled herself closer into his chest, her head coming to rest just below his chin and he took a breath to steady himself for what he was about to tell her.

_**"My father was killed on the night that I was born.. then my mother lived practically in exile because of what I was. We still lived with my mother's clan, but we were never really accepted as a part of it.."**_ Inuyasha smoothed a clawed hand through the girl's hair as he recounted his own life's trials, distracting her with the story while he distracted himself _from_ it by working through the snarls and tangles in her silver mane, so much like his own. _**"I've been through a lot, I'm sure you have too, but you know what? All those hard times, after everything is said and done, we're stronger for it happening. It's helped us grow more than we think."**_

The girl yipped her agreement and nudged under Inuyasha's chin affectionately as she would have with her wolf pack, before leaping from his lap and scurrying to the door, peeking outside into the morning light and perking her ears towards the different sounds of the village.

"Keh.." Inuyasha huffed with a small smile, getting the hint that the now emboldened young hanyou was ready to start familiarizing herself with her surroundings. _**"Okay, Pup, we'll take a walk.. on our way you can see that the villagers here mean you no harm, heck, they put up with me.."**_ he muttered as he made sure that his red fire rat robe the girl was still wearing was securely tied against the cool morning air before taking her hand and leading her out. It seemed such a mundane thing to him now, walking through the village with no fear of being attacked, but he could tell the girl was still very nervous about the ordeal and growled a quiet encouragement to the girl to relax as they came across the vegetable patches where villagers were already working.

As heads turned to watch the Hanyou pair walk down the road, the girl felt increasingly anxious, in the past when this many people had their attention focused on her it usually ended painfully, but Inuyasha's calm demeanor and the fact that once they had seen and acknowledged Inuyasha and the small girl beside him, the villagers would turn back to their work, worked like a balm to her nerves and she soon found herself relaxing in spite of the number of humans around them. Eventually she allowed her defences to drop slightly and started looking around the village in interest rather than with suspicion.

She was startled back into her defensive shell when a voice calling Inuyasha's name seemed too close for her not to have noticed it before. Stepping in close and hiding behind Inuyasha's leg as Sango and Miroku crested the hill before them, a soft clacking of wood against wood sounding in time with Sango's footsteps.

"Kagome and Shippo didn't catch up with you guys then?" Inuyasha asked when the pair came close enough to hear him, crossing his arms in front of him.

"No, they didn't. Why?" Sango asked, a little perplexed, she thought it had been decided that while she and Miroku were out gathering the trip wires, Kagome and Shippo would be staying behind to help Inuyasha with the girl.

"Well.." Inuyasha started awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck as he tried to put what he was going to say next into the least distressing string of words he could muster. "You see.. we had a little incident in the hut and well, long story short, Shippo suggested to Kagome that they come out and help you guys to try and avoid an attack..." he said, stumbling on the words as they spilled from his mouth, he saw Sango and Miroku's bodies tense up and eyes darted to the girl behind his leg. "No, wait! It was a simple misunderstanding, that's all... she's not used to so many people being around, and with what happened she kinda went into defensive overdrive..."

Sango's hand moved away from her Hiraikotsu as Miroku's grip on the sacred sutras in his pocket loosened, both looked from the girl to Inuyasha.

With a sigh, Inuyasha haltingly told them what happened. "Kagome accidentally sat me.. and the girl scented the spike in spiritual energy coming from her when it happened... so... when she got over the shock of me crashing to the floor she rounded on Kagome. The kid's demonic energy was growing stronger and so Shippo suggested they leave the hut so I could try calm her down.." he gave a short shrug before continuing, "It was a good idea actually, but it still took a bit of time for her to calm down. So then I thought I could take her for a walk around the village and start familiarizing her with the scents and activities around here so she can start to relax a bit more... she's still expecting an attack to come at her from nowhere while her guard is down.." he sighed, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's head, causing her to look up at him, seemingly searching for an answer.

_**"It's okay, Pup, remember they're my friends.."**_ he growled reassuringly, allowing the girl to lean forward from his leg slightly and take a few deep breaths to catch their scent.

What the girl found wasn't exactly all encouraging to her... first was the man, his scent was that of sake and scented oils with the underlying scent of spiritual energy, granted not as strong as the others was but still something to be wary of... while the woman smelled of fire and demon's bone. Both of them carried the scent of old demon's blood on them as though they made a habit of slaying demons. This fact made the girl very nervous.

_**"Demon's blood.. both of them... they kill demons...they kill me?"**_ she whimpered, watching them with worried eyes as Inuyasha dropped to one knee beside her, holding her by the shoulders with both hands to make her look at him and not the other two.

_**"They kill demons who attack friends and village.. they won't kill you, I promise.." **_He growled, scooping the girl up in his arms and standing up with her, turning to the other two who looked even more confused than before. "She can smell the blood of all the demons we've been running into on you guys, she's worried that you'll kill her.. I've already promised that you won't harm her in any way.."

Miroku gave a short nod of understanding, while Sango's expression softened to one of sympathetic guilt. "This may take some getting used to..." she muttered, knowing fully well that Inuyasha could hear her, "I apologize for my reaction, Inuyasha, can you let her know that I'm sorry for jumping to wrong conclusions and that I hope she can come to trust me as she does you?"

"I second that sentiment.." Miroku added, "We do not wish to see such a young child feel anything but safe on our travels."

"I'll let her know.. but I think she can tell by herself.. she's more tuned in than you guys might think." he said allowing a smirk before he turned his back to them and continued down the road, "I'm going to show her Goshinboku. That tree has always been able to calm me down, I'm hoping it has the same effect with her too!" he called back over his shoulder.

Miroku and Sango watched them go until they disappeared through the trees. "Is it me or does he seem less prickly just recently?" Miroku ventured, earning a soft hum of agreement from Sango as they turned to go back to the village and Kaede's hut.

Inuyasha had walked about halfway to the Goshinboku, having told the Pup that Sango, Miroku and the others meant her no harm, which she seemed to be taking on board and thinking about until she got a little restless and started to squirm in his arms. Getting the hint, Inuyasha let her jump down and stretch before he continued walking, the girl watched him go for a few seconds before she barked at him somewhat demanding, making him turn around to look at the girl incredulously.

_**"You want me to what?"**_ he woofed softly, thinking he had somehow misheard.

The girl smirked wildly, lowering into a slight crouch as her eyes flashed mischievously, _**"Chase me!"**_ she yipped again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other in anticipation before she shot past him in a sprint, stopping about twenty meters in front of him and giving him a look that seemed to say, _"Well?"_

_**"So you wanna play is it?" **_He smirked, much like the girl had done before launching towards her with a flying leap, making her squeal with joy followed by animated yipping.

Taunting barks of _**"You can't catch me!" **_and_** "I'm gonna get you!" **_echoed through the trees until mid afternoon when both hanyou were completely exhausted after chasing each other through the trees both on the ground and up among the branches. The game came to an end as the girl stopped, perched in one of the larger trees and was looking for Inuyasha before realizing that he was standing on the branch right behind her.

Inuyasha scooped the girl up swiftly and declared his victory with a bark as he ruffled the child's hair, letting her giggles dissolve into a satisfied yawn before he caught her attention again, _**"Come on, I wanna show you something.." **_he growled, ushering the girl onto his back before leaping through the branches and landing at the base of the God tree.

Really he shouldn't have been surprised to find Kagome sitting tucked into a hollow in the roots of the tree as he knew that this tree meant a place of sanctuary to her as much as it did to him. The afternoon light filtered through the leaves of the surrounding trees, the patches of light catching in her hair and making it seem to shine brighter than it would normally. He was brought out of his stunned stupor by Shippo's voice.

"Well, Inuyasha? Will she be alright?" Shippo asked again, noticing that the elder Hanyou didn't seem to hear the question the first time.

"Huh? Well, yeah of course she is! she's just tired is all.." Inuyasha huffed, looking over his shoulder at the now sleeping girl, _Looks like I'll have to show her the tree later.._ he thought with a small smile, "Have you guys been out here all day? I saw Miroku and Sango earlier and they said they hadn't seen you guys since leaving the hut."

"Well, I came out here to do some meditating," Kagome answered quietly, spying the girl asleep over Inuyasha's shoulder, "Then I guess time sort of got away from us.." she added with a sheepish smile.

"Keh, Hope you were keeping watch, runt.."

"The whole time!" Shippo shouted indignantly, making the girl flatten her ears against the noise in her sleep. "Anyway.." he continued, lowering his voice to a more respectable volume, "That wasn't what I meant about her.. I heard you guys playing earlier so I already know she's just tired.." he said, noting gleefully the rising blush creeping into Inuyasha's face at being caught out _playing_. "I meant will she be alright with so many of us around all the time, I know she isn't used to people being so close to her."

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at the girl again and offered a small shrug, "I honestly don't know, Shippo.." he said in a low gentle voice, "Only time will tell really.. But I'm pretty confident that she'll be alright... after all.. if she wasn't relaxed this afternoon, she wouldn't have asked me to play." he smiled.

"She still hasn't given you a name to call her?" Kagome asked, brushing off her skirt before walking up to where Inuyasha was, Shippo perched on her shoulder to have a closer look at the girl.

Inuyasha shook his head sadly, "Seems like she's never really had one.. the only thing she really responds to is 'Pup'"

The girls ears twitched at the spoken title and the blinked her eyes open with a yawn. Upon seeing Kagome and Shippo so close she gasped before turning her gaze away slightly, a small growl muffled by the robe she wore caught Inuyasha and Shippo by surprise.

"Did I hear that one right, Inuyasha?" Shippo said, wide eyed and completely shocked.

"Yeah.. You did.. She'll be fine.. I know it now.."

Kagome looked between the two, confused, "Why? What did she say?"

The girl looked between Shippo and Kagome, a worried expression on her face as shame trickled through her scent.

Inuyasha hiked her up higher on his back, gaining her attention as he turned to face Kagome, a smile quirking his lips, "She says 'Sorry for earlier.' and 'Could you forgive me?' She honestly thought she was protecting me from you."

Kagome's face broke into a full and grateful smile, moving slowly so not to care the girl, he raised her hand and allowed her to smell it before venturing it along the girl's cheek and through her hair. She was pleased when the girl closed her eyes and leaned into the touch slightly, "All is forgiven, Mizuki.."

The girl's eyes shot wide and she looked at Kagome curiously, a faint and distant memory sent her mind reeling.

_"My mate, it will be less than a week before the pup is birthed, should we not think of a name for her?" The soft male baritone from the outside world that she would often hear close to her while in her mother's womb echoed through her mind._

_"Aa, so my heart was right in believing that it was a girl then my love?" Of course, the last few weeks of her mother's pregnancy she could always hear that gentle voice of her mother cooing to her over the beating of their hearts, her mother's strong and steady while hers seemed to flutter like the beating of a butterfly's wings_

_"Yes, just as it was in believing that you could trust me when we met.." The baritone was equally gentle and tender as he placed his hand over her mother's as she stroked her swollen belly. "She will be born under the full moon I expect, it's a trait that seems to run through my family."_

_"And it has nothing to do with your markings at all..?" her mother teased. It was a small joke the two shared, while courting, she had often asked of the origins of the crimson moon markings that adorned his cheeks, while he always gave the same simple answer he always did; that they simply were as were her obsidian hair and midnight eyes. "Simply beautiful"_

_The male gave a small playful smile, knowing just what his little mate was getting at, "She will hold all of your beauty my love, as well as my markings I would think.. I would think she would be wise enough to tell you where she got them from as I should have been the first time you asked... 'I got them from my Father'.." _

_The infant's world was filled with the amused laughter from both of her parents before they sobered into thoughtful silence._

_"Mizuki... She will be our beautiful moon.." The deep baritone spoke reverently, having found the perfect name for the gift that his mate was giving to him._

_"Mizuki.. We will cherish you always.."_

The young hanyou snapped back to reality, realizing that she was crying she hastily swiped at her eyes to clear them of the tears.

_**Hey, what's wrong, Pup?" **_Inuyasha asked hastily, smelling the salt of tears and bringing the girl around to his chest carefully, cradling her in the crook of one arm while pushing her hair back from her face with the other as he searched for answers.

_**"She said my name.. I thought I had nothing of my parents... but I remember they gave me my name!" **_she cried, balling her fists into Inuyasha's Kosode as he breathed a sigh of relief, enveloping the child in both his arms now and rubbing her back soothingly.

"What's wrong Inuyasha? Was it something I said?" Kagome looked on distraught, thinking that she had scared the girl again with her touch, but Inuyasha simply smiled at her.

"You bet it was something you said, Kagome... Aside from the fact that I don't think she's used to being fogiven so easily... you called her by her name... Mizuki is the name her Parents would have given her had they lived. What made you think of it?"

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief also along with Shippo, "I don't know, really.. I could say that I thought of it because of her hair... but somehow it just felt right to me.." she smiled as Mizuki seemed to calm herself down a bit and turned to look at Kagome, a small shy smile graced her lips as she hiccuped between sniffles.

_**"Thank you.."**_ she whimpered, holding her arms out tentatively to Kagome while Inuyasha handed her over and translated what she had just said for Kagome's benefit.

Kagome held Mizuki close to her, soothing the hiccuping girl with gentle pats to her back before she whispered to her ear, "You're welcome, Mizuki.."

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Again I'm sorry it took so long, But I think I made up for it in word count.. I think this has just beaten my previous long chapter record...

Anyways, I always love hearing what you guys think of the story, Makes my day when I get something from you guys, it really does!


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