Chapter 1:

A fox raced through the trees and bushes, leaving a trail of bright blue fox fire. He was, simply put, an elegant creature, for a demon that is. The fox demon finally stopped, but only for a second before he was back to racing through the vegetation. He leapt over a fallen tree, ducked under a low branch, and never slowed down.

Suddenly, he skidded to a halt on the edge of a cliff. Sniffing the air, the fox detected his pursuers just one hundred yards behind. 'They won't last very long,' thought the fox. 'They're too weak against me, and I've been training for four years now.' Just then, his pursuers appeared before him.

"There's nowhere for you to run to, little kitsune," hissed the demon. She had sleek black hair that trailed behind her for about ten feet; eyes the color of blood; and ridiculously curved fangs; she carried a six foot long wari in her right hand. Her sister looked exactly like her except she had deep purple eyes and wielded a katana.
"Oh, I wasn't running from anybody," the fox demon said quietly. "I was leading you here." The fox bounded toward them, mouth wide open, and shot a bright blue beam at the first youkai. With an ear-piercing scream, she disintegrated into ashes.

"Sister," the youkai wailed. "I will avenge your death, starting with the puny brat of a fox demon!" The youkai turned on the young fox. "Give me your crystal, and I might just give you a quick and painless death."

Not far off from the demons' battle, four travelers were wandering lost in the thick forestry. Of the four, there was a monk, a priestess, a former demon slayer, and a half demon. They were arguing about which way was right and whether they should camp overnight.

"We shouldn't have to bother with camping out, Inuyasha. If we are able to return to the village tonight after killing the two demon sisters, then we can sleep inside. And anyways, I'm sure Kagome and Sango would agree with me," the monk insisted to the half demon.

Inuyasha just rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're scared of the dark, Miroku."

"Inuyasha," the priestess, Kagome started, "don't make me say it!" Immediately the half demon apologized to Miroku.

Suddenly Sango was hovering above them on her cat demon, Kirara. "I see one of the demons just straight ahead. It's cornered some poor kitsune!" Kagome quickly jumped onto Inuyasha's back and Miroku climbed on top of Kirara.

Fang's (the fox demon's nickname for it) arm shot forward, growing longer and longer. The fox quickly jumped out of the way only to have his legs swept out from underneath him. Suddenly, Fang's katana flew straight at him. He rolled sideways, closer to the edge of the cliff, but the sword had pinned him to the ground.

"Give up!" Fang growled. "I want your head to be cut off cleanly, understand?" The youkai crouched next to the fox kitsune. "It'll all be over quickly."

As the four travelers drew near, Kagome could sense a jewel from the fox kitsune. 'But that can't be! The shikon jewel was destroyed four years ago!' Sure enough, she could tell it was different. Instead of a pink glow, it was blue and it wasn't nearly as strong as the shikon jewel and it was somewhat purer. But whatever it was, it would mean trouble.

"Inuyasha, the kitsune has a blue shikon jewel!" Kagome shouted.

"What? You've got to be kidding me. But just don't go shooting arrows at it like last time," Inuyasha grumbled.

"Excuse me, but that was on accident! How was I supposed to know that the jewel would break into a thousand shards?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Inuyasha said.

Kagome rolled her yes. 'Sure you do, Inuyasha. Sure.'

When Kirara landed next to them, she told Sango and Miroku about the jewel.

"That's odd. Are you sure about this, Kagome?" asked Miroku.

"Positive," she said. "There's no mistake about it."

"Then let's get it." Inuyasha said.

The fox suddenly stopped struggling and its green eyes started glowing blue. Fox fire encircled its body, hiding it from view. When the fire finally subsided, a handsome boy with auburn hair tied back with a blue ribbon, green eyes, and a silver necklace with a blue jewel stood instead of the fox. The young boy held Fang's katana.

"You've finally decided to show your true form," said Fang. The boy didn't respond, but threw the katana over his shoulder and over the cliff. The action sent the youkai into hysterics which seemed to satisfy the young demon.

The boy streaked forward and slugged the youkai in her stomach with a fist full of fire. Then he turned back into a fox and shot a beam at her, disintegrating her just like her sister. Glad that the fight was over, he transformed back into his real form.

He glanced at the wari of the first sister before tossing it over the cliff as well. Then, just as he headed into the forest, he was confronted by Inuyasha. However, not knowing who the half demon was, he just side stepped and continued walking away as if nothing had happened at all.

"Hey you," started Inuyasha, but the fox demon just brushed him off. "Wait!"

The boy stopped, but stared into the bushes where Sango, Miroku, and Kagome were hiding. Sensing that he knew where they were, they stood up. As soon as he saw their faces, the boy's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards into Inuyasha.

"Hey! What's your problem?"

The boy just shook his head. "Nothing. I was just surprised. That's all." The boy started to walk off into the forest before shouting over his shoulder, "I hope we can see each other again, Inuyasha! You too, Kagome, and Sango and Miroku too!"

And with that, Shippo disappeared into the forest.