AN: So after... a month? more? of fighting this story, I'm finally just giving in and writing it. Though in all honesty it's less a story and more a collection of interconnected one-shots. So while you do have to read the previous one-shots for the story as a whole to make sense, by and large with maybe one or two exceptions, the one-shots won't be directly related, at most simply referencing previous chapters. I suppose the only one you really have to read for the entire thing to make sense is this chapter when the story as a whole is done as it introduces the OC. While this is about the OC, I will try to stay true to cannon, meaning that this takes place 'in-between' episodes. So the OC will not be a character in any major battles *cough*Naraku*cough* or anything like that. I am working my way through the manga, but as the only thing I have finished is the anime, I'll probably be closer to that as far as cannon accuracy goes. Ah, one final note of import. I'm not actually certain how long, canonically, the series takes. All that is really known for certain is that it starts when Kagome is 15, and the entire show takes place while she is in Junior High. For the sake of the story, however, I'm going to assume that it takes her through sixteen. The story takes place while she's still fifteen, and in this particular segment, it's winter (I promise you'll see really quickly why the season is relevant).
Disclaimer: I own my OC and that's about it.
Inuyasha and the others had just had a very lengthy session of shard hunting and were heading back to the well so Kagome could try and catch up on her school work as well as spend time with her family. Instead of retracing their steps back to Kaede's village, they were taking a more circuitous route in the hopes of collecting more jewel shards. Having spotted a village in the distance, they were all silently, or in Kagome's case not-so-silently, celebrating the fact that, for the night at least, they would have a roof over their heads. Despite the heavy clothing Kagome had brought from her time, the winter was extremely cold, and they were grateful to have shelter from the wind.
Just outside the village, Miroku had stopped and was talking to a woman about Sango's age.
"Pardon me. I was wondering if you would do me the great honor of bearing my child." The woman was blushing and had started to answer, but had barely gotten out three words before Miroku was roughly slammed into from the left by a fast-moving blur. He found himself pressed against a tree and being held a few feet off the ground by the throat by a clawed hand, five pinpricks of blood bubbling forth from under her fingers. The source of this attack was another woman. If her black ears and tail were anything to judge, she was a wolf half-demon, and judging from the angry snarls ripping from her throat, she took exception to Miroku's questioning of the first woman. She wore the typical wolf demon outfit, with a black wolf pelt perhaps slightly longer than what the other wolf demons they had seen around her waist and similar to Ayame, had a second pelt around her shoulders, again, perhaps slightly larger than the one Ayame wore. Unlike the other wolf demons, however, under the pelts was clothing that looked almost exactly like Sango's demon slaying uniform without the sleeves. Also unlike the other wolf demons, she lacked the foot wrappings, having bare feet like Inuyasha. At her side was an unsheathed dagger, and she had a necklace that was little more than two dark colored beads surrounding a fang of some sort on a string.
"Hari! Hari, let him go this instant!" Aside from one of her ears swiveling in the screaming girl's direction, the half-demon gave no indication that she heard. A snarl from Inuysha, however, did get her attention, causing her to turn eyes slightly darker than his own in his direction. She glanced over the rest of the party briefly, taking note of Sango's tight grip on her Hiraikotsu, Kagome's worried stance, flicking her eyes briefly in puzzlement to the bow and arrows on the girl's back and wondering why they weren't being readied, Shippo's trembling, but still fighting stance, and lastly on Inuysha's hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it in an instant if needed.
For a long moment, no one moved, and the only sounds were the growls rumbling from the throats of the two half-demons. The stalemate was broken by Hari looking the slightest bit away from Inuyasha, ears lowering minutely and her tail lowing from its raised, challenging position to one just slightly lower than where it would naturally stay, throwing Miroku roughly towards the group, not even looking at him as he landed with a thud and a quiet cry.
"Keep him in line," she said, her voice having the scratchy and quiet quality of someone who rarely spoke, "or he won't have to worry about fathering children." Before the group could move one way or another, she was leaping away, heading towards the nearby mountains.
"Is he all right?" The question came from an older man, from his bearing the head of the village they were hoping to stay at. "Sachi ran to get me as soon as the attack happened. On behalf of this village, I apologize. Her father, I'm told, was a respected member of this village, which seems to be the reason she stays. No one is able to get rid of her, though she usually does nothing more than lurk irritatingly at the edge of the village. Sachi is a distant relative of hers, and usually can get Hari to leave us alone."
"No harm was done," Miroku said, bowing towards the village elder. "I apologize for causing such a disturbance. We were merely passing through the village."
"I insist you stay with my family for the night." The offer was gratefully accepted by Miroku, and the group all tried to put the incident out of their minds for the night.
The next morning the set out for the mountains, having heard from village members that a strange demon had taken residence there and was causing problems for them by making passage impossible. Apparently this demon was incredibly strong, and seemed a likely candidate to have a jewel shard. They were warned against heading into the mountains as during this time of year, storms could start up with little warning, but the pleas to wait fell on deaf ears as the group pressed on, Inuysha being certain that this wouldn't take them long and they would be able to leave the mountains before the day had passed.
The search ended up being a more difficult one than they had expected, and the group had found themselves seeking out shelter. They found a cave that was large enough to comfortably hold them, and even though there were still a few hours until the sun would set, decided to simply stay there, the clouds forming above them reminding them of the warnings they had had about how quickly the weather could turn on them.
A fight with Inuysha, however, had Kagome storming off and Inuysha leaving a large crater in the ground.
"Kagome, you shouldn't leave. It looks like it will start to snow any moment," Sango warned.
"I won't be going far, Sango. I'll be fine," the futuristic girl insisted, grabbing her bow and arrows and walking off, further pleas and warnings from the others ignored.
However, Kagome neglected to pay attention to where she was going, and quickly found herself lost. To make matters worse, the light flurries that had started shortly after she stormed off had picked up into a heavy snowfall, and coupled with the harsh breezes, Kagome was both freezing and unable to see very far in front of her. Just as she was starting to consider calling for Inuyasha, she felt a demonic presence behind her. The large bear demon, thankfully, didn't have any jewel shards, but that didn't stop it from deciding that Kagome would make an excellent meal.
One swipe of its massive paw left large gouges on Kagome as well as snapping the bow she carried. A second swipe sent her flying, head roughly colliding with the stones. The last thing she was aware of was a cry of "Blades of Blood!" and a figure roughly slamming into the bear, intent on killing it.
"For a bear demon, it wasn't very strong," mused Hari as she turned towards whatever it was the demon had been so intent on killing. Walking towards Kagome, and digging her out of the snow, she took in the girl's condition. She had several nasty-looking gouges on her body, gouges that were still bleeding freely.
"Another victim of the mountain, then," Hari decided, starting to turn away and head back towards the cave she had taken shelter in. She had only moved a few feet away, however, before she stopped and, despite herself, turned back towards the girl. Groaning in irritation, she picked her up and, throwing her over her shoulder, headed quickly towards her shelter, absently noticing which direction her scent trail had headed.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered dropping Kagome on the floor of the cave and, after shaking herself dry, lit a small fire, the size of the cave meaning that the small blaze would be more than enough to keep her warm. In the light of the fire, she finally saw just how badly Kagome was injured. If those wounds weren't cleaned and bandaged soon, she probably wouldn't last the night. As it was, Hari still wasn't convinced she would last the night, even with aid. Deciding that the remains of her tattered... whatever that bulky thing was were useless as anything else, she tore up the already shredded coat and set about the task of bandaging the girl's wounds tightly. When she was done she stepped back and, seeing that the girl was shivering, wrapped her tightly in the pelt that was on her back. It wasn't long enough to cover Kagome completely with her being stretched out as she was, but Hari decided that it was better than nothing and, coupled with the fire, she would be warm enough.
"The second the snow stops, I'm taking her back to her companions," she decided, wanting nothing to do with the girl or the group she was with, especially the monk. A growl escaped her involuntarily at the memory of the pervert, and her hands tightened into fists. If it weren't for the fact that she knew she wouldn't be able to defeat the group that the monk was with, she would have torn his throat out.
Walking towards the side of her cave that she had her supplies next to, she grabbed a small bowl and, walking towards the cave's mouth, scooped up some snow, setting the bowl next to the fire so that it would melt faster. Walking back towards the cave's mouth, she scooped up a second handful, biting into it so that she could have something to drink while waiting on the melting snow. That done, she settled against the wall of the cave and attempted to get some rest, hoping that the storm would stop soon.
Back in the cave Inuyasha and the others had taken shelter in, the half-demon in question was pacing restlessly. He had set out after Kagome once the snow had started but had been unable to track it very far before the storm got too bad for him to continue, forcing him to grudgingly head back to the others.
"I hope Kagome's okay," Shippo said, worryingly peering outside the cave as if hoping that Kagome would miraculously appear.
"I'm sure she's fine, Shippo," Miroku said. "She probably took shelter in another cave once the snow started.
"This is all your fault, Inuyasha!" The fox declared, pointing at the person in question. "You shouldn't have insulted Kagome's cooking! If you hadn't, she'd still be here!" His angry shouts turned into a pained one after Inuyasha hit him on the head.
"Shippo, yelling at Inuysha won't solve anything," Miroku said. "Once the storm stops, we'll all head out to look for her. In the meantime, we should rest so that we have as much energy as possible for the search." Taking his own advice, he settled himself close to the fire and attempted to sleep.
Slowly, reluctantly, the others, with the sole exception of Inuyasha, followed his lead, all of them hoping desperately that Miroku was right about Kagome being safe.
Back in the cave that Hari called 'home' the silence was broken by a pained "Inuyasha?" as Kagome woke up.
"Don't move, girl. You'll reopen your wounds," was the barked out command as Hari stood up and, after carefully helping Kagome sit against the back of the cave, handed her the bowl of melted snow as well as some food.
"Where's Inuyasha?" Kagome demanded, slowly eating the offered meal.
"Probably taking shelter. Only a fool wanders around during a snowstorm," Hari answered, her expression telling Kagome that she had been labeled as a 'fool' by the woman.
"Why did you save me?"
"It saves me trouble in the long run. I can't guarantee that my scent will be gone before the snow stops. If that half-demon of yours were to find your broken and dead body, and my scent nearby, it wouldn't matter if it was me or the bear that killed you. He would come after me and I avoid fights when possible." It was true, all of it. After her father had died when she was barely old enough to fend for herself, her mother having died shortly after she was weaned, she had learned quickly that if she wanted to survive she had two options, fight any and everyone that tried to threaten or insult her, or avoid fighting unless she had no other choice. Judging by how readily this 'Inuyasha' (assuming that was the half-demon that this strange girl was with) was willing to fight with her, he had taken the former route whereas Hari had chosen the latter. She could fight as adeptly as anyone else and the bear was just as much a threat to her as it was the human in front of her, killing it at the time she did was the smartest option as she had surprise on her side, which was the sole reason she had attacked it in the first place. However despite her words being true, Hari herself couldn't say why she had saved the girl. She had acted on impulse and while she wasn't about to kill the human herself, or let her die if at all possible, she didn't know why she had bothered in the first place.
"That makes sense, I guess," Kagome said quietly. "Well, whatever the reason, thank you for saving my life." As much as she could in her sitting position, Kagome bowed gratefully to Hari, who was ignoring her in favor of watching the storm outside. Kagome sighed and, realizing that her unexpected companion wasn't interested in talking, resumed slowly eating her meal in silence. At one point she had offered Hari her cloak back but had been told that Hari "wasn't as weak as she was and would be fine without the pelt for warmth." Not wanting to argue, Kagome had settled back down, gratefully wrapping it around herself.
The storm had been blowing strongly for a day and a half now. In that time, Kagome had started to get sick from a combination of infected wounds that couldn't be properly cleaned and it being the middle of winter. Despite the relative warmth and shelter of the cave, wind was still able to blow inside freely Currently it was only a mild fever and Kagome was hopeful that she wouldn't get any worse. All attempts at conversation had been shut down so Kagome was trying to content herself with resting. She was completely bored, however, and wished for the storm to end soon so that she could rejoin her friends.
By the end of the second day, Hari was having to force Kagome to eat and drink by shredding the meat into tiny pieces with her claws and putting into the water in a form of soup that she could pour in Kagome's mouth. She was also running out of bandages to use and had started tearing up Kagome's clothing, which was more easily torn than her own and besides that Kagome could probably replace her clothing more easily than Hari could.
By the middle of the third day, Kagome had only woken up twice, and both times only after a good deal of prodding on Hari's part. Her fever was getting steadily worse and Hari had started using a strip of cloth soaked in snow as a cold compress of sorts, placing it on the girl's forehead in an attempt to lower it.
On the afternoon of the forth day, the storm finally broke. One glance at the sky told Hari that this was only a temporary reprieve and the storm could start up again at any moment. It would have to do, however, as Kagome was getting steadily worse and Hari decided that if the girl was going to die, it was best to do so around the people who cared about her. During that first day, even though Hari refused to respond to her chatter, the girl had talked quite a bit about her friends. It was obvious that she cared a good deal about them and they her. Decision made, Hari wrapped the unconscious girl as tightly as she could in the pelt and took off, finding the spot where she had first found the girl with the aid of the bear demon's carcass. The scent trail, even if it hadn't been covered in snow, was by this time long gone. Fortunately, Hari remembered which way it had led and took off.
The snow had just started up again when she was hit by a wave of dizziness. All of her food had gone to the human she was carrying over her shoulder and it seemed that four days of eating nothing took its tole on anyone. Shaking her head to clear it, she kept on going, though not as quickly as before. It didn't take long for her to realize that she was suffering not only from lack of food, but the fact that this would be the night of the waxing quarter moon. The second the sun set, she would be a human. She had to find the girl's friends, and leave before then. Redoubling her efforts, she set off as quickly as she could.
The sun was just starting to set when she heard a cry of "Kagome!" and saw a figure in bright red running towards her. That was strange. She didn't think anyone could run sideways. And if he was running towards her, why was he getting farther and farther away? She had just enough time to wonder this before she collapsed to the ground unconscious.
The second the storm had stopped, Inuysha had left the cave, running as quickly as he could along the path that Kagome had taken four days ago. He hadn't gone very far when he picked up her scent, along with the scent of the woman who had attacked Miroku. Readying himself for a fight, he ran even faster when the scent of Kagome's sickness hit his nose.
When he reached the two shortly after Hari collapsed, the first thing he did was check that Kagome was all right. The fall to the ground had woken the girl, and she collected enough of her wits to beg Inuyasha to take Hari with them, saying over and over that she was only alive because of her, that Hari didn't even eat while she was with her, saving all of the food she had for her. Not wanting to upset her and make her worse, Inuyasha adjusted his grip on Kagome so that he was carrying her with one arm and grabbed the unconscious wolf, barely noticing Kagome's exhausted thanks as she fell asleep as he took off towards the cave.
He was met with three cries of "Inuyasha!" when he rejoined his friends, dropping Hari carelessly on the ground and setting Kagome down with far more care. Immediately, Sango was next her, demanding that Shippo get the first aid kit when she saw the bandages, and that Miroku and Inuyasha turn their backs when she saw the torn clothing. Cleaning them as thoroughly as she could before re-bandaging them, she managed to rouse Kagome long enough to get her to take the medicines that they had all been instructed on in case they needed them. Changing Kagome's clothes, she then covered her in the offered Fire Rat robe before turning her gaze onto Hari.
"Why is she here?" While there was no immediate threat in Sango's tone, it was clear that, like Inuyasha, she remembered the attack on Miroku and was not happy to see the attacker.
"Kagome insisted that I bring her, saying that she saved her life," was the answer she was given as Inuyasha settled down next to Kagome.
"Given that it is unlikely Kagome bandaged her wounds herself given the severity of them as well as her sickness, I am inclined to believe this," Miroku answered, taking the discarded cloak and placing it over Hari, who had unconsciously curled up into a more comfortable position. Shortly after doing this, he noticed her ears sinking into her skull and her claws changing into normal fingernails. Used to Inuyasha's monthly transformations, none of them commented on this, deciding to leave her be. While the two women slept, Inuyasha was pestered for details on what had happened when he found Kagome, which were given in an annoyed voice.
When Hari woke up the next morning the first thing she realized is that she was warm and relatively comfortable. That didn't make sense. She remembered passing out in the snow and not wearing her cloak. Moving as little as possible, she slowly and steadily breathed in through her nose. The first thing she smelled was the powerful scent of food cooking. Then other scents filtered in through her nose. The scent of the girl, Kagome, she rescued, along with the scents of her friends. From the sounds around her, the friends were eating and talking quietly, likely to let the girl – who didn't smell as sick as she had before – sleep peacefully.
Realizing that there was no way she was going to be able to leave without being noticed thanks to the two full demons and one half-demon, she sat up silently, walking towards the mouth of cave to grab a handful of snow.
"Finally awake?" Her ear flicked back towards the voice, Inuyasha, when the question was growled out, but beyond that, she didn't say a word. She glanced at the sky briefly and narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She risked the snows once before because she had no choice. Given that these people hadn't harmed her, and hadn't even removed her dagger, she wasn't under any immediate threat here. She wasn't about to risk the snows a second time. Sighing quietly, she pulled the pelt back around her shoulders and settled against the cave wall.
No sooner had she sat down than the monk was crouched in front of her, offering a strange looking cup with tantalizing smells and a pair of chopsticks to her.
"According to Inuyasha's account of what Kagome said to him, you did not eat the entire time she was with you. You must be hungry after five days of not eating." The words were said with a friendly smile, and to her relief he backed away as soon as she took the offered items. She carefully studied at the cup and its contents, sniffed the food carefully, studied again, sniffed again, finally concluded that there was no poison that she could smell coming from it, and took a tentative bite, eating more readily at the taste, but not so quickly that she would make herself ill. She had gotten sick once from eating quickly after not eating for days as a child, she wasn't inclined to repeat the experience.
After she finished the ramen, setting the cup and chopsticks to the side, an annoyed Inuyasha immediately spoke up.
"All right. Miroku insisted that we wait for you to eat before asking you anything. You've eaten. Now what were you doing with Kagome?"
"Looking for you," was the answer that was immediately given. "I figured if she was going to die, she'd rather do so among you all than with me." Then the monks words finally hit her. Five days of not eating. She had only been with Kagome for four. These people knew her human night! Panic immediately set in, mind racing on how she could ensure that they would never tell anyone about her night of weakness.
"Hari? What's distressing you?"
At the monk's question, Hari immediately concentrated on breathing evenly, guarding her expression so that they wouldn't be able to know what she was thinking or feeling.
"Calm down. If they were going to kill me, they'd have done so while I was an unconscious human. They didn't. So obviously, they're not planning to. What do they want from me that would keep them from taking advantage of my weakness like that?"
Her thoughts were broken by a quiet moan from Kagome, who was sitting up and rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Kagome. How are you feeling?" Sango asked in concern.
"Better than I was. Thanks for giving me the medicine, Sango." After a few more minutes of reassuring her friends that, yes, she was all right, she noticed Hari's presence, immediately brightening. "Hari! Inuyasha did bring you with us. I know I asked him to, but I wasn't certain that he actually would. He wouldn't have let you die, but I thought he might have just dropped you off in a different cave."
"You plead for my life?"
"Inuyasha may not act it most of the time, but he's a good person. He really wouldn't have left you there, Hari." Twin scoffs met that statement, both half-demons disbelieving the comment. "But, yes, I did ask for him to take you with us. You saved my life."
"Speaking of, why did you do that?"
"As I told the human – Kagome – it was easier in the long run. Should you have found her body, and smelled my lingering scent, you wouldn't have cared who it was that killed her. I was obviously there. You would have sought my blood and I cannot be certain that I could beat all four of you." Glancing at Inuyasha, she saw that he was still furious with her, though she couldn't place why for a moment. When the answer occurred to her, she smiled slightly.
"Of course. You are already after my blood. I threatened what was yours." After a moment's pause, she spoke up again. "Then again, I also saved what was yours. I suppose it is your decision if the two acts balance each other out." After another moment, she sighed, ears dropping slightly in sadness. When she spoke again, there was a resigned quality to it.
"If, once there is no longer the threat of a storm, you still seek my life, it is yours. I won't fight. But I am not leaving this cave until the snows have stopped enough that I am satisfied they will not start again shortly, and I imagine your companions won't want to be in a cave covered in my blood, so I suggest you wait before exacting your revenge."
"What do you mean 'what was his'?" Kagome asked. The question was met with a confused glance from Hari towards Inuyasha.
"They don't know that you've claimed them? That they are yours?" If she had more to say, it was stopped by Kagome's outraged 'SIT!'
"How dare you? SIT! You get mad at Koga when he calls me his, SIT! when at the same time you did the same thing? SITSITSITSI-!" The storm of sits was stopped by a clawed hand on her mouth.
"Is there a reason you're acting like this is a bad thing?" When the response was muffled, Hari remembered that she was still covering Kagome's mouth.
When she had backed off, Kagome repeated what she said. "I am not something that can be 'owned.' I don't appreciate him thinking that I am." Hari blinked in confusion at the answer.
"I didn't say that. I said that he claimed you as his."
"She doesn't know what you mean." Inuyasha didn't sound in nearly as much pain as Hari would have imagined, given how hard he had been slammed into the ground. He simply sounded frustrated and tired with the ordeal already.
"Then perhaps Hari could explain for us," Miroku suggested.
"It means... it means..." Hari paused, trying to figure out how to explain this. "What else could it mean. You're just... his."
"She means he's claimed us as family, to put it in human terms" Shippo spoke up, having understood what Hari meant as well as having already known that Inuyasha had claimed them all. He had missed most of what had transpired, having been asleep until Kagome's yelling had woken him.
"Being claimed," Hari continued, finally having found the words to describe what was meant by this particular 'claim' as the term meant multiple things, "means that you are protected without fail. That you're provided for. It's just..." she sighed, having again lost the words for this, "you're just his. There's no real explanation for it."
Having heard the explanation, Kagome's expression changed from furious to repentant, and she immediately rushed over to Inuyasha's side, apologizing for sitting him like that and making sure he wasn't injured.
"When exactly did you claim us, I wonder?" Miroku asked.
"He probably doesn't know," Hari answered for him as Inuyasha was busy trying to calm down a still sick Kagome. "It's instinctive, and rarely can be pinned to a specific moment. It doesn't matter, though you're his, and will continue to be his until you die."
"How did you figure out that we had been claimed?"
"By pinning you to a tree," Hari answered, glaring slightly in Miroku's direction at the memory. "His body language screamed 'Mine. Back off.' the entire time. It wasn't difficult for me to figure out that the claim extended to the rest of you."
"I see. I also owe you an apology, Hari," Miroku said, bowing respectfully. "Had I known that my question to the lovely young woman would anger her family so, I would never have-"
"She's not my family," Hari interrupted. "She's blood, kin, mine as a result, but she's not family. My family is long dead."
"Nevertheless, I am truly sorry that my question angered you so," Miroku said, relaxing when Hari looked away with an annoyed scoff, recognizing from a long time of being with Inuyasha that the incident was more or less forgiven.
"By the way, how did Kagome come to be so badly injured?" Sango asked, remembering just how bad the wounds were when she cleaned them.
"She angered a bear demon." After being questioned further, Hari related the encounter.
"That was likely the demon that the villagers were talking about. Once the storm ends and Kagome recovers, we can probably leave." As if on a silent cue, all of the cave looked outside where it had again started to snow.
"It's not snowing that bad, we can probably make it down the mountain before the storm hits," Shippo suggested. "Inuyasha can carry Kagome, and she'd probably rather recover inside the village anyway."
"If you want to leave now, you're a fool," Hari answered. "I've spent my entire life on these mountains. Storms can appear almost out of nowhere. No one braves the mountain unless they don't have a choice." Sufficiently cowed, Shippo quietly said that it was a bad idea and settled down next to Kirara, who had transformed to help keep Kagome warm and comfortable while she slept.
Later that night, when almost everyone was asleep, Inuyasha stood up and settled down next to Hari, who was sitting just inside the cave and leaning against the wall.
"Why did you really save Kagome?" The question was asked quietly, neither of them willing to risk waking the others.
"I'm not sure," Hari answered with a sigh. "I guess... it was the way she looked at me. Even as I was holding her friend by the throat, there was no hatred in her gaze. She was worried for the monk, and angered that I was threatening him, but she didn't hate me. I don't even think she really noticed that I'm a half-demon. And while we were in the cave, she had no words of hatred for me. It was almost like she wanted to be my friend. I've only known one person in my life who did not hate me." After a long moment of almost companionable silence, Hari spoke again.
"I meant what I said earlier. Should you still seek revenge for your friend, I will not fight. Wolves... don't function without family. It was the reason I stayed so close to the village. My father said once, when he didn't know I could hear him, that he believed that it was loneliness that killed my mother. She loved us both, but without the fellowship of others, human or demon, he didn't believe she was able to handle it. I have kin in the village. And while I was a nuisance, I was also useful, killing minor demons, so they let me be, realizing that they couldn't kill me without losing many of their own. After what I did to the monk, however, they will not let me stay even on the far outskirts. Since I'm already doomed to die, there is no point in trying to stay alive."
Inuyasha didn't answer at first, absorbing what was said. Finally, he scoffed in irritation. "As if I'd kill someone who won't even bother to fight back." His tone brooked no argument, finding the matter settled. Hari nodded her acceptance of his answer, silently relieved as she hadn't actually wanted to die.
"Hari, if you have nowhere else to go, why not come with us?" Inuyasha's and Hari both jumped slightly and turned towards Kagome. Due to the storm that had kicked up only recently, neither of them had heard Kagome's quiet movements as she stood up and walked towards them. For her part, Kagome had woken up badly needing to pee, but hadn't wanted to interrupt the conversation.
"I'll consider it," Hari finally answered after a long period of silence. She was decidedly uncomfortable with the proposal, not having spent any length of time around people in a very long time. At the same time, however, she had meant it when she said that wolves didn't function without family. When she had attacked the monk, she had known that the village would never let it pass and to return would be signing her death warrant. It was knowledge that had crushed her at the time, and that was still weighing heavily on her. These people were not family, but going with them would mean companionship. The prospect of not being alone wasn't one she had ever considered. This was an offer that would likely never come again, and she would be a fool not to accept it. And if these people genuinely had no problems with her being a half-demon, and already knew about her time of weakness, then there was a good chance that she would actually be able to trust these strange people.
"Great!" Kagome said cheerfully, walking a slight ways outside of the cave to relieve herself. Not so far away that she risked getting lost, but far enough away that the smell wouldn't bother those with sensitive noses. Business taken care of, she headed back inside and settled back down to sleep.
AN: It's actually bugged me quite a bit that Miroku's flirting always goes relatively unpunished. Sango hits him on the head with her Hiraikotsu, the others get angry at him for it, but that's the end of it. Where are the angry men and other family members raging at this person for flirting with so many women? Only in one episode, did people show what I consider to be a more appropriate reaction to this, and it makes no sense. I suppose it could be because none of them think he's being serious, but it still doesn't make any sense to me. Since I needed for Hari to have a negative first impression, Miroku's flirting ways were something that I could exploit. And in case I didn't do a good job of showing this in the story proper, I needed it to be winter because I needed Kagome to spend time, one on one, with Hari and see for herself that she's not too dissimilar to Inuyasha. Gruff on the outside, perhaps a little temperamental, but genuinely a good person. Trapped in a cave due to injuries kept her with Hari, and the bad storms kept the others from being able to seek her out. And it had to be Kagome because she's the only reason that this group got together in the first place, and is really the one that keeps them all traveling together. If any of them was going to be willing to try and get to know Hari, and offer for her to travel with them, it would be Kagome. And timeline-wise, this chapter, at least, happens before Miroku proposes to Sango.Final note, yes I know that Hari was the demon from the first movie, no relation, I just liked the name. So, tell me what you think. I actually have pretty much all of this written in my head as it's not a large story, just a bunch of interconnected one-shots, as I said. So while the individual 'chapters' might be long, they're only, at the end of the day, going to be a few scenes that each individual story centers on. So unlike, well, all of my other stories, this one, at least, should have relatively frequent updates. POSSIBLY even another one later today.