Moku turned quietly, suspiciously, to make sure that his mother, Sango, wasn't watching. He wasn't going to do anything bad, of course. He just wanted to have a bit of fun—but he was 99% sure that his mother would never actually let him go.

So he just had to be quiet. He'd be back before she'd ever even notice. Besides, Sango would be busy watching his older sisters, the twins, or his little almost-four-year-old brother, right?

Right.

But he didn't want to go alone, Moku decided. It was time to go find his best friend, who couldn't be too far away.

Sure enough, he found said friend, Michi, sitting cross legged in the grass near his house. Perfect.

"Hey, Michi!" Moku called out, waving an arm energetically as he ran up to his buddy. Michi snapped to attention, his dark dog ears forward and alert, but then relaxed, breaking into a wide grin and leaping to his bare feet, returning Moku's gesture.

"Hi, Moku!" he greeted. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing really," said Moku carefully, a sly smile slipping onto his face. "You don't really have any plans for later, do you, Michi?" he asked. Michi blinked, slightly confused.

"Um…no, I don't think so. Why?"

Moku punched the air in an 'oh-yeah!' type style, hissing the word "yes" through his teeth. He looked up, brown eyes and toothy grin equally wide, and said more clearly,

"That means we can go on an adventure!" He exclaimed. Michi's confused expression immediately morphed into a much more excited one.

"An adventure? Oh, boy! To where?"

Moku pointed to the vast expansion of trees that stood just outside the village.

"Out there!" He said. "To the forest!"

"Really? Sweet!" gasped Michi, grinning. Then the grin faded. "Wait a minute," he mused, "What about Okaa-san? And Sango-sama? Won't they get mad, if we go out there alone?"

Moku tossed the thought aside with a flick of his wrist.

"Nah, we'll be fine. We'll be back before they even notice we're gone. I'm seven now and you're six, so we're old enough to be brave, I think. Besides, you're part demon, right?"

Michi nodded slightly, giving an awkward grin. "Somewhere down the line, yeah."

However, as much as Michi whished that he did, he didn't actually possess any youkai powers at all, and he knew it. The only echo of his demon heritage were his pointed dog ears, turning and flicking at every sound. He had no claws, no fangs, no senses that extended too far from the average human ranges. He even lacked his father's simple pigmented traits, like the silver hair or golden eyes. If it weren't for his ears, he might as well be human.

Sort of.

"Then you'll be fine, right?" Prodded Moku.

"Well…" mused Michi, thinking about it. Then his indigo gaze lit up slightly. "…I do have a sword, and Otou-san showed me some pretty cool strikes. I could bring it."

Moku nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! Yeah! Go get your sword! Man, this is gonna be great!"

Michi grinned widely, then turned to sprint back into his house.

"Ok, just a sec! Be right back!"

Michi ran through the grass, feeling the soft green blades tickle his bare feet. Upon reaching the door, he slid it open quickly, bustling in to find his wooden sword. He knew that the toy probably couldn't actually ever slice an opponent, but if he really wacked something with it, he figured it would hurt nonetheless.

Having grabbed the toy, Michi burst back out the door, heading back to his friend.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where are you heading off to so fast?" Asked Michi's mother, Kagome, as the young boy brushed past her on the way out.

"Playing with Moku!" Michi called over his shoulder. "See you later!"

Kagome watched him go for a moment, the ghost of a smile caught on her face as she shook her head slowly. What to do with that boy?

But of course, he was only going off to play with his friend, right? Northing harmful.

…If only she knew.

Michi caught up quickly with Moku, panting slightly.

"Ok, I got it! I got the sword!" he gasped excitedly, tucking the wooden toy into the thick green band of fabric between his shirt and pants. "Let's go!"

"Ok, great!" Said Moku. Then he paused, glancing curiously at Michi's feet. "Wait a minute. Aren't you gonna put on shoes?"

Michi rolled his eyes and flicked the question off in a similar fashion to the one Moku had used earlier.

"Psh, nah. Otou-san goes without shoes all the time. I'll be fine."

Moku blinked. "Um…ok. If you say so. Let's go!"

And with that, the two boys bounded off towards the forest.

They didn't even notice the pair of large, curious brown eyes watching them go.