Disclaimer: Inuyasha and the others are not my characters, I don't own them (as much as I want to ;) they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. All of the characters that are not from Inuyasha are my original characters, so please let me know before you use them or whatever...

A new fanfic, I hope there are a few people that like this, I don't know how fast I'll be updating, it really depends on how much inspiration and comments I get...so enjoy...

He was under the scared tree, searching for a purpose…

Inuyasha sighed slightly as the frosty breeze swept into his face, dancing and twisting around his silvery hair and then letting it down in a sudden stop – winter was coming.

It had been just over 53 years since he had been sealed at this very spot, or more importantly, a bit less than 3 years since he had seen Kagome - in a matter of speaking. Sure, she had been visiting him regularly, but the strains of high school life had overcome her, she no longer had the time to be 'fooling around' with him.

Naturally, he came to visit her after that, over the years his visits became less regular until they came to a complete stop. She hadn't been in his time for 2 years now.

Without Kagome in his life it seemed so dull to him. His original goal had of course been to become a full demon; he decided to stay as he was – only because Kagome liked him that way. As a demon he was out of control, a ruthless killing machine…that wasn't what he wanted, was it?

Now what could he do? Save villages from demons? Constantly? Pathetic…

Then again there was always…

"Hey Inuyasha! Snap out of it! You've been there almost all morning!" came a squeal from below. Shippou was beneath him holding a woven basket of fresh, purple berries.

Inuyasha had been 'babysitting' Shippou for some time now, sure he was a demon, but he was also a kid and was too scared to hang around Miroku (who had returned to skipping around villages 'warding off demons') and Sango (who sometimes followed Miroku around but generally resumed her work as a demon slayer around unprotected villages) so naturally, Shippou decided to follow the strongest of the three. Not that the bonding made them argue less…

"Bugger off" Inuyasha retorted, still somewhat in a trance.

"You don't need anymore time to daydream about the past, hurry up and go! I've got us lunch so we can eat it on the way"

"Darn it Shippou, you're so dumb, we can't just go…go where???"

"Erm," Shippou blinked in thought, "I dunno, a village I suppose,"

"Can't hurt…" Inuyasha mumbled, "guess that's the only place you can go when you're blank for ideas," he growled, disappointed with himself.

Think…think! He said in his head, but nothing came to mind. So they both set off for the nearest village.

43 berries, many smeared fingers and full bellies later, they arrived in a somewhat peaceful town for the evening. That is, peaceful until the obvious eruption of screams and scattering of scared humans, it was more than evident that something had happened.

"Tahnee!" a young woman screamed, "it's Tahnee! The demon! She's back to kill our children! RUN!"

"You'd better hurry up and kill it before it destroys the village!" advised Shippou

"No shit…" Inuyasha hissed as he raised his nose to survey the air. Yes, there was definitely a demon around this area, quite close. "Stay here" he commanded the kitsune.

Inuyasha darted behind a building and leapt onto a roof, his ears twitching from side to side to find a trace of the demon, 'Tahnee'. His eyes shifted their attention from side to side until he spotted her, the strange lengthy demon who was clambering after a group of elderly men, so skinny that she could've been lame due to anorexia.

As long as the demon's main intentions were to harm innocent people it was among his priorities to slay the pest. He bounded off the wooden roof and drew out his Tetsusaiga, charging forth towards the lumbering, demon the words "wind scar" about to slip out of his mouth.

20 Minutes ealier…

She peered between the crinkly green foliage to spot the village. If only everything could go according to plan this once…

Of course, there were times she felt a little guilty about terrorising the village like this, but it was the only way, her only way. She was an outcast. As simple as that. There was no way to change who she was, not that she really wanted to anyway. She kept on telling herself she'd be fine, she could keep on living like this all the time, nothing would ever go wrong but as luck would have it, somehow somethingmanages to screw up as usual.

She wiped her greasy blackened-brown locks out of her timber coloured eyes and behind one fuzzy and lengthy chocolate coloured ear and then let out a sigh – she was ready.

She dashed out of the bushes, hobbling slightly with her incredibly skinny appendages. She rushed into the village quickly in almost crab-fashion for it was the speediest way of carrying her torso. She sprung onto a roof and hissed a cry of warning as she could hear the villagers shout her name in fear. A devilish smile swept across her face, her small and slightly pointed teeth showing just slightly over her bottom lip.

Tahnee – as she was called – clambered down form the roof and raced after the villagers who were scattering around and looking for a safe place to hide. She caught up to a few young children and hacked away with her claws as if trying to kill them but somehow just scathing their clothing.

Soon they were out of sight, Tahnee beamed happily as she snuck inside a nearby hut, making her way to the cupboard and gathering up food in her kimono.

She never meant to hurt people, she would never attack a human without reason, she could not be accepted for who she was, she had to put on an act of being "a big and scary demon" that would "kill without warning" to drive the people away to give her the chance to eat – to recuperate. She was finding it very hard to find food on her own, so she just stole from humans instead…as pitiful as it was.

Tahnee took a few mouthfuls of fruit and then swallowed, happy to feel the warmth that food brought her, she had been so desperate for food for weeks that she had been brought to choose these desperate measures, after finishing an apple she then began to pack away the rest of the food that she could hold.

Tahnee's ears flicked back – a child was in the room. The young girl squealed at the sight of the demon within her own home, she went to run for it but it was too late, Tahnee had grabbed the child, the older female looked desperately around the room, trying to make up a plan to cover her innocent ways.

Whilst grasping the child in her left arm Tahnee cut into her own skin with her right, producing black blood, "Good enough" she muttered as she smeared the black liquid onto the girl's arm. The young girl stared up into the timber eyes before her with confusion, why wasn't she dead yet?

"Tell your parents that I hurt your arm when you were trying to escape," Tahnee told the girl in a croaky voice, indicating that she rarely talked. The small girl nodded. The same expressions of confusion and fear were in her eyes as Tahnee released her. Then the girl fled out the back door.

Tahnee sighed as she licked her wound and then raced outside again, ready to put on another act to ensure that the humans wouldn't come near her. She moved on to 'attack' some children then pivoted on her twig-like ankles to round up some elderly people, she heard a small thud on the roof behind her, not that it seemed at the time to be anything to take much notice of.

She sensed a great strength approaching her, it made her stop in her tracks and turn to see a bulky man in a red kimono, wielding an ominous sword over his shoulder, shooting forth on his feet to slay her.

Tahnee yelped in fear and cringed as the man drew nearer to her, her ears bent back like those of a scolded dog. Her weak legs then gave way as she stumbled slightly to the ground.

"Please don't hurt me," she whimpered, her eyes were snapped shut - getting ready for the strike.

Inuyasha paused, his blade inches from her neck, his mouth had opened and closed slightly as if he were about to yell something but had stopped.

"Why should I spare you?" he grunted. Tahnee seemed lost for words and entirely unsure of what to say, she opened her eyes but could not look at him directly, in animals, mostly canine, when they communicate with something whilst avoiding their gaze they are submissive. To look at another and not immediately glance away was usually taken as a challenge of dominance.

"I never intended to hurt anyone…" she whispered blankly, still cowering before him.

"Then why the bloody hell were you try to slash them to bits?!" Inuyasha shouted aggressively

"I-I…It was only an act, I needed to pretend to be fierce in order to steal food…to survive"

Tahnee then turned the sides of her kimono inside out, letting the food wrapped inside tumble out, forming a small pile in the dirt. Tears then formed in her eyes – she was sooo dead…

Inuyasha lowered his sword, watching her body movements to see if she was telling the truth. Shippou shuffled a little closer to see what was going on, sensing that there was no longer any danger. Tahnee looked up, realising that he wasn't going to attack her, he gaze stopped, just below his face, she then adverted her eyes, still to afraid to look at him.

Inuyasha sniffed the air briefly, then he realised what she was, "You're a hanyou, a half-breed," he said, pausing for a second, slightly surprised that he hadn't smelt her human scent before, "…like me"

Wow, wasn't that 'great', geez i really hate my grammer, if anyone can help by correcting me please do so. If there's something that doesn't seem right (like the characters are too OoC or I've said something happens when it is impossible or whatever, let me know, but if I like it the way it is I probably won't change it...bleh...

Please comment, I like comments, they help me write more, so if you'd like this story to continue, let me know ;)