A full grown Daiyu slowly regained consciousness, her body feeling heavy and unable to move as several voices spoke over her head, though she couldn't focus on the words.

Where was she?

The pain was unbearable and in between light awakenings, she heard her own cries as blurry silhouettes above her seemed to try healing her, some even went so far as to soothe her feverish deliriums. She cried for her pack, her father and mother, and every so often for Sesshoumaru and she wondered why. He had been completely absent from her life for the last century. She blamed it on instinct, which knew him instantly as her intended mate, despite the long gap in time. Wolves mated only once, a sense of extreme loyalty inherent in their very nature and she hoped that dog demons were the same.

It took her a while for her eyes to work as her dark lashes slowly drew open and light pierced her sight. She blinked away the pain, then gazed with heavy lids up towards a wooden ceiling.

She was inside a house?

Her gaze shifted to the side, though her head felt too heavy to move. Through her hazy vision, she saw two human little girls, though she could not pinpoint their age, she was unfamiliar with human life span. The girls appeared to be mirror images of themselves, identical twins.

The patter of their bare feet against the hard wood floors sounded like stomping elephants to her sensitive ears and her head throbbed in pain. One of the little girls stomped over to her and was saying something, and Daiyu tried to focus on what dialect they were using.

"You…speaking Japanese?" She managed to whisper, shocking the little girl, but she seemed to understand her words and nodded her head. It had been ages since Daiyu had spoken this language and it was difficult for her to understand the child as she began chattering with enthusiasm.

"Yes, ma'am!" The girl exclaimed, "You seem pretty banged up, but you look a lot better than when you got here. Mama, auntie Kagome and Lord Sesshoumaru have been taking care of you."

"Sessh…Sesshoumaru?" She asked weakly and the girl nodded.

Daiyu attempted to lift herself, but then groaned from the nauseating pain that erupted from her wound, which was still far from fully healed. Both girls came toward her and helped her sit up and she panted from the strain. Her whole body felt like it had been crushed by a mountain slide. One of the twins patted her lightly on the back in attempt to ease her pain.

"Thank you." Daiyu breathed tiredly after they had managed to get her to stand. "I can handle it from here. You can carry on with your playing."

The girls nodded then took off, much quicker than what she had anticipated. Daiyu pressed her hand against her wound as it gave painful throbs and noticed that she was not wearing the same clothes as before. Her Chinese attire was replaced with a woman's kimono, the soft pink of the silk felt unlike her usual choice of clothing. She usually wore black, grey or blue tones as a tribute to her tribe.

She frowned at this thought. Colors which brought forth emotions of pride and strength would be nothing more than a memorial now.

With a crestfallen demeanor and a pained expression, Daiyu picked up her father's sword and slowly exited the foreign house that she had found herself in to find herself even more on unfamiliar ground.

"A human village?" She muttered beneath her breath, out of breath already. If Tingfeng sent even his weakest assassin, she would not last a second.

"Hey there gorgeous!" a man's voice hollered and three men came walking towards her, reeking of body odor, which was unfamiliar to her, and sake. The biggest of the three slammed his hand on the wooden wall behind her and loomed over her, his breath making her recoil in disgust.

"Whatcha up to darlin'? Going somewhere?" He chuckled before touching her hair and Daiyu smacked it away, all the while wondering if all human males were so forward and rude. "Now don't be like that, baby, have a little fun once in a while." The moment she felt his hand grabbing her breast, she broke his jaw with a quick punch to the face and the man landed several yards away.

"You little bitch!" the other two men yelled as she panted, a mixture of increasing fatigue and pain expressed strongly in her sickly pale face, but her eyes were alit with anger.

"Hey, fuck off, you lowlifes!" An unfamiliar male voice barked close by and Daiyu noticed the humans in front of her grow pale in fear before quickly scurrying off, dragging their unconscious friend behind them. She looked over to find a male demon running towards her, whom had significant amount of similar features to that of Sesshoumaru.

"Keh, you shouldn't be moving around." He said as he came to stand in front of her, "You were half dead when Sesshoumaru dropped your ass here."

"Who…are you?" She asked, panting still but lighter than before.

"I'm Inuyasha." He stated with a rough manner as Daiyu noticed his ears and lack of markings like Sesshoumaru and Inukimi, his scent was a bit odd as well.

"You're a hanyou, aren't you?" She asked as she leaned back, using the wall behind her for support. "I've never…seen one before."

She felt herself losing strength and she began to slide down the wall, but then Inuyasha grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her back up.

"You look like shit." He muttered, "Why the hell did you get out of bed?"

"Sesshoumaru…" She breathed weakly, but she couldn't form her question, but Inuyasha seemed to understand her enough.

"He was here until this morning," Inuyasha explained, "You were improving, so he left. Mentioning something about bear demons being better nourishment."

So he's gone hunting, she thought, somewhat relieved.

"I see." She sighed heavily. "Do you mind taking me to somewhere I can sit down?" She asked and Inuyasha nodded before propping her on his back with expertise.

"You must do this a lot." Daiyu murmured over his shoulder.

"You have no idea." He exasperated as he walked towards the forest, but stopped once they were in a clearing behind his house to a tree stub used for chopping wood and he set her down.

"You know, you don't have to wait for the bastard." Inuyasha huffed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "He's probably taking his sweet fucking time."

"It's not that." She said as she tried to sit upright from her hunched over position. "I can't rest with all the racket the humans are making, it's making my head hurt! How can you stand this?"

"Ah," He sighed, "I've kind of gotten used to it. I would prefer to live much farther away from the village, but my wife insisted that we live close."

"Wife?"

"Yeah, it's what humans refer to as a female mate, the males are called husbands." He explained, "It's not that different than mating, but they make you go through a shit-long ceremony and crap."

"Did you have to do that?"

"Of course," Inuyasha said, strongly expressing his agitation over the memory, "Since my wife's human and all, the whole ceremony took all day!"

"Wow." Daiyu said, "Glad I'm not human."

"No shit."

Daiyu lowered her head and closed her eyes in attempt to calm her frazzled nerves from all of the raucous, appearing half asleep as Inuyasha stayed next to her the entire time. After a good hour passed, she opened her eyes and gave Inuyasha a hard look.

"What are you hovering around me for?" She asked bluntly and he snarled.

"Don't start bitching to me! It's not my preference either!" He growled before sitting on the ground with his legs bent and ankles crossed, holding a shabby looking katana against his shoulder. "Sesshoumaru made me promise to keep a close eye on you before he left, saying something about some demons hunting you down."

"Is he your alpha?"

"Fuck no!" Inuyasha growled loudly, his youkai aura flaring up like oil tossed into an open flame. "No way in fucking hell is that son of a bitch my alpha! He just shows up whenever the fuck he wants! Dumping Rin and whatever bullshit I have to deal with then takes off like it ain't a big deal!"

"Did you take in this Rin, person?"

"Well, yeah, I kinda had no choice."

"And he asks you to guard over me and here you are, hovering like a vulture over a carcass."

"What are you getting at?"

"I think that just about answers it." She stated as she brushed her hair over her shoulder while the half-demon in front of her fumed. He seemed easy and irresistible to tease, she thought as she tried to contain her triumphant smirk.

"You ungrateful bitch." He muttered and her smirk faded.

"What was that?" She said, a dark tone lacing her voice as her eyes glinted, "Does the dog want me to throw him a fucking bone of appreciation?"

"Why don't you fucking crawl back yourself!" He yelled in her face and she snarled.

"I will! Nobody wants to ride on your damned flea bitten back anyway!"

"Hey, Sesshoumaru's calling and he's saying to kick your good for nothing ass back to where you came from, Chinese bitch!"

"Why don't you lick his fucking feet while you're at it, like a good omega!"

"If there wasn't a hole in your stomach, I'd fucking punch your lights out!"

"Go ahead and try, half-breed!"

"Guys! Guys!" A man's voice cut in and Daiyu and Inuyasha tore their infuriated gaze over to the intruder. A man in monk's attire had his hands up in surrender as he smiled uneasily at the two angry demons. "Come on, do try to be friendly. Lord Sesshoumaru has entrusted us with the care of the fair Lady Daiyu," the monk then turned to Daiyu, "and, my Lady, you are far from being fully recuperated."

Daiyu raised a dark brow at the human before huffing out a short breath, letting out her anger while Inuyasha addressed the monk.

"What's up, Miroku?"

"It seems Lady Kagome and Sango are still busy collecting medicine for Lady Daiyu." He informed. "The kids are with them, so I have some time. Would you like some company?"

"Yeah, but careful with the she-wolf," Inuyasha said as Daiyu glared daggers into the back of his head, "She bites."

"With those luscious lips?" The monk cooed as he quickly came over to her and kneeled, his demeanor sparkling with the energy of an experienced womanizer as he grasped tightly onto her hands. "If I had not known, I would have taken you as the goddess of the night, mysterious and enchanting, with your long raven hair and eyes that sparkle like the stars or could you be a succubus, here to steal away my soul with your beauty which awakens even the most dormant of loins."

"Miroku, stop that before you get slaughtered." Inuyasha muttered, taking note of Daiyu's flaring aura that screamed 'murder'.

Miroku released her hands with a disappointed sigh and a dejected demeanor. "Temptress though you are, it is impossible, I am married with three kids."

'Now he admits it,' Inuyasha and Daiyu both thought, both equally bemused.

"I think I've had enough for one day." Daiyu stated as she stood up, though with strain. "I'm going to take a nap."

She turned on her heel and headed straight to the forest when a hand grasped tightly onto her elbow.

"If you're going to rest, do it in the house." Inuyasha said, "You'll cause a lot of trouble if the ones out to kill you catch a whiff of your scent in the open air."

Daiyu growled, displeased, but regarded his words carefully before nodding her consent and she changed her direction towards the house. Inuyasha and Miroku followed behind her and she sighed heavily, desiring greatly for the once quiet tranquility of her homeland as she entered the house and stomped across the wooden floors, then stopped in front of her bed. Daiyu sat down onto the futon and with her father's sword already in hand, she unsheathed the blade to gaze at her own tired expression.

"Father…" she whispered, brushing her fingers across the steel. She slid the sheath back on before lying down, clutching the sword tightly to her chest as it hummed in response with his energy, bringing her to tears as she cried herself quietly to sleep with an overwhelming sense of loneliness.