Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

Settlement

We were in the middle of the fight. The demon we were fighting was unusually tough and even with our all effort we were loosing against him. No wonder, he was using at least four Shikon fragments and he didn't seem that he was weak even before he got them.

The worst thing about him were his tentacles. He had a lot of them and he used them pretty well, so we never knew where the next attack will come from.

"Inuyasha, aim for his head, the fragments are there!" I instructed him, because he was just recklessly cutting the tentacles around him, which healed right away anyway.

"You already told me that, but I have to get closer first somehow." He shouted back and I had to admit that he has a point.

Until now I was staying back with Shippo as I was ordered by Inuyasha to keep me safe, but I couldn't watch it anymore.

Miroku couldn't use his wind tunnel, because he would suck in the fragments together with the demon, so he fought mostly just with his staff.

Sango and Kirara were fighting well, but both of them had already several injuries from this fight and I could see, that they are quite tired as well.

And Inuyasha? Well, although he is very strong and can stand much more than the others, he didn't look very well either. I found my bow and an arrow and prepared to shoot.

"Get out of the way Inuyasha." I shouted and launched the arrow. I missed the demon's head though and only injured him, which just made him angrier. He aimed about five of his tentacles at me and I screamed in fear and closed my eyes expecting it's impact any second.

When nothing happened I opened my eyes, which widened in shock and surprise when I saw the scene in front of me.

Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku somehow managed to stop four of the tentacles, but the last one was now pointed straight at my head. Although it was surely meant to kill me, it stopped right before it reached me. I stepped aside from it's direction and we all looked at the demon in effort to figure out what happened.

At first we only saw his surprised face, but then he started dissipating and behind him appeared Sesshoumaru.

"What the hell are YOU doing here?" Inuyasha yelled at him and I thought, that he could say thanks or at least stay quiet at all. Sesshoumaru ignored him and looked at me.

"Now we are settled." He stated simply and without waiting for any answer he turned and left.

"What was that?" Miroku asked absently and everyone looked at me in agreement expecting some answers.

"I have no idea. " I put my hands up in defense. "Let's just take the Shikon fragments and find some place to rest." I suggested and everyone agreed.

But in fact, I knew exactly what was Sesshoumaru talking about and I smiled, when I recalled the events which preceded this situation.

It happened only a few weeks ago. I noticed presence of the Shikon fragment so, naturally, we went after it.

"It's this way." I pointed at the direction of the Shikon fragment. "And it's close!" Inuyasha sped up, if it was even possible, because he already ran at the top speed.

"You don't need to hurry so much, it's not that it will disappear from us now." Sango, who was riding Kirara with Miroku and Shippo commented his haste.

"I smell human blood from there." He answered and we all tensed up.

We soon reached the place and saw some person lying on the ground covered in blood and in front of him stood a demon ready to strike him to death. Inuyasha quickly put me on the ground and hurried to stop him.

"It's in his right hand." I shouted after him and he reacted immediately. With the first strike he took the jewel out of the demon's hand and with the second he finished him off. I hurried to that person and the others joined me right away.

He was a man, probably villager from some nearby village. On his face and his chest there were three long cuts from the demon's claws and he had other injuries all over his body.

"Is he alive?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah, he seems to be just unconscious. But it's almost like a miracle to survive something like this." I answered him and already searched for the first aid in my bag.

Sango helped me with his treatment and we were almost done, when we heard someone's voice.

"Michio! Are you here somewhere? Michio!" Soon the owner of that voice appeared among the trees and looked at us suspiciously until his eyes fell on the man in front of us.

"Michio! Is that you? Are you alright?" He knelt to him and when he didn't get any response he turned to us.

"Did you do this to him?" He started to blame us, but before he could add something more, Inuyasha hit his head and yelled at him.

"Why would we do such thing? We already found him like this and after I killed the demon who did this to him, Kagome and Sango treated his wounds. Why would we bother with his treatment if we wanted to hurt him?" The villager rubbed his head where Inuyasha hit him and bowed in apologize.

"I am really sorry that I misunderstood this situation. I searched for Michio for a while now, and when I saw him in this state, I just said the first thing which came to my mind. May I invite you to our village as an apology?" We all agreed without hesitation. Inuyasha carried Michio and within a few minutes we reached the village.

"So, you don't know who he really is or where is he from?" I asked. We sat in the hut of the village leader Haruki and listened to his story about Michio.

"No. One day, six years ago I guess, one of our men found him in the forest. He was disoriented and starving, so he brought him to our village and we took care of him. He didn't talk at all and next morning he was gone." He paused for a short while and then continued again.

"Everyone thought that he was just some weirdo and that we'll never see him again, but the following year he showed up again and stayed here for about three days. This happened every further year, so everyone soon considered him as a part of our village. And because he didn't tell us his name, or to be precise he never said a word about anything, we gave him name Michio."

"Didn't you ever think that it's strange?" Sango asked.

"Of course we did, but he didn't ever hurt anyone and we all enjoyed his presence as a pleasant distraction from the daily routine, so we didn't care about it." The slight movement from Michio interrupted our conversation and we all gathered around him.

"Seems like he's waking up." Miroku stated and we all watched him cautiously. He slowly opened his eyes and when he noticed us, his eyes widened in fright and he tried to get up.

"Don't worry, they are friends, they saved you from that demon." Haruki tried to calm him down and keep him lying. Michio glanced over all of us and then sighed and closed his eyes again.

"It's quite late. You can sleep here, I'll return in the morning." Haruki bowed and left. I laid down near to Michio and before I fell asleep I thought about him. Such a poor guy he is, but something doesn't seem right about him. I don't know what, but it keeps bothering me. I sighed. It's pointless to think about it now.

I woke up early. I stretched my body lazily and yawned, but then my eyes fell on the place beside me and I quickly stood up.

"Where is Michio, he isn't here." I turned to Inuyasha.

"Who knows, he left before the sunrise." He stated unconcernedly.

"What? Why didn't you stop him, he could hurt himself more, if he will be walking around!" I yelled at him.

"It's not my business. I am not anyone's babysitter." He folded his arms and turned his head away from me. I growled and ran outside to find him.

I found him standing calmly on the ridge above the village. In this position he strongly reminded me someone, but I couldn't figure out whom.

"What do you think you're doing? Your wounds aren't healed yet, you shouldn't move around so carelessly!" I scolded him and took a stand beside him. He didn't respond and kept looking down at the village.

"What's wrong with you, at least look at me. We saved your life! You should be thankful, so stop ignoring me." I yelled at him and wondered who taught him these manners.

"I didn't ask for your help." I looked at him shocked. Wasn't he supposed to not talk at all? Wait a second, that voice. It's familiar, I heard it somewhere before. Everything clicked into place at once and my eyes widened in realization.

"Sesshoumaru?" I asked in disbelief. "What... what happened to you?" I didn't really expect him to answer me, but I just couldn't resist to ask this question.

"That's none of your business." He turned and headed back to the village. After a few steps he stumbled and I quickly rushed to support him.

"Why are you helping me, even now." He asked when I put his hand around my shoulders to prevent him from falling.

"You didn't answer my question, why should I?" I told him with a smile on my face. "I don't know what happened to you, but you have a human body now, so don't try too hard or you'll hurt yourself more than you already are." I instructed him. He didn't respond and I didn't know what else to say as well, so we went the rest of the way to the village in silence.

"Michio, where did you go? When that girl told us you went somewhere on your own in this state, we were worried. I know you are planning to leave tonight, but is it really safe?" Haruki probably meant Sango when he talked about 'that girl', because I didn't talk to anyone when I left the hut. But I was impressed how much they cared about person, whom they hardly knew and who spent with them only three days each year.

"It will be ok, don't worry." I smiled at Haruki. "But until then you should rest." I said strictly to Michio. I mean, Sesshoumaru, and led him to the hut. I helped him to lay down and left again.

"Why are you so confident that he will be alright. Just yesterday you didn't seem to be so sure." Miroku asked me doubtfully right when I appeared in front of them again.

"Let's just call it intuition." I answered with mysterious smile and turned to Haruki. "We'll be leaving now, so just keep him at rest until he will have to leave." I pointed towards the hut. "And don't worry about him, I am sure that he will be fine." We waved them goodbye and continued in our journey.

Yes, he sure will be alright. If he came here each year then it means that this is only temporary and once he will return back to his original form, his wounds will be healed in an instant. And although I will probably never find out why is this happening to him, one thing is certain. It surely has a good effect on his personality.

"Hey Kagome, stop daydreaming and hurry up or we'll leave you behind." Inuyasha returned me back to reality.

"Coming!" I replied and quickly caught up with them. But the memory about this event will be stored in my mind for the rest of my life.

I really enjoyed writing this story and I would be glad if you let me know what do you think about it. But no matter if you will write a review or not, I would like to thank you for at least reading it, the more if you liked it :).