Kaze thinks Kiara's set the house on fire. And Kayo is irritating. And Inu Yasha doesn't listen. Review please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha and the characters from the original manga/anime.


Kaze pulled herself out of the well and was alarmed to smell smoke coming from the direction of her house. She ran as fast as she could and, before she knew it, was crashing through the gate to the backyard, pulling wood splinters off herself as she looked around. She realized with a sigh of relief that Kiara was barbequing something.

"Hey, Kaze-sama!" Kiara said happily. "Everything okay?" Kaze sank into one of the chairs in the backyard with a sigh, jumping as a splinter poked into her leg through her jeans. "You look frazzled," Kiara continued, switching to English.

"As soon as I got back I smelled smoke," Kaze finally replied in English. "You'd be frazzled after that, too."

"What, did you think I was burning the house down?" Kiara laughed, turning the grill off. "Skewer?"

"No thank you, I just need to-" Kaze began leaning her head back and relaxing in the chair.

"Kiara-chan! Kaze-chan!" A shrill voice squealed from the front of the house. "Are you here?" Kaze and Kiara froze, neither willing to answer Kayo. "I can see smoke coming from the backyard, so we're coming around!"

"Woman! Where are you?" Another voice shouted, this time from the woods. "You've seen your friend, you need to get back here!" Kaze cringed as she spotted Inu Yasha stalking through the trees towards their house.

Inu Yasha had jumped over the fence and Kaze had just managed to jam a hat onto his head right before Kayo pushed through the remnants of the gate. Inu Yasha froze, staring at Kayo while Kayo stared at the pieces of the gate around her.

"Kagome?" Inu Yasha whispered, just loud enough for Kaze to hear, who was still standing next to him.

Kayo finally noticed Inu Yasha as Suki stepped in behind her. "Ooh, he's cute!" She squealed as Kaze tried to push Inu Yasha away.

"She's not Kagome," Kaze warned, fixing Inu Yasha with a firm glare.

"But she looks exactly like Kagome," Inu Yasha argued, trying to see around Kaze.

"Kayo, get out," Kaze ordered, turning her glare on the girl.

"I don't think so," Kayo retorted, waving flirtatiously at Inu Yasha.

"I said get out," Kaze said again, pushing Inu Yasha back towards the fence.

"I don't care what you said," Kayo began. "I'm not-" Before she finished a shot rang out, making everyone jump in surprise. Kayo let out a screech of fear and Inu Yasha and Kaze growled in irritation, rubbing their ears.

"She said get out, Kayo," Kiara said calmly, still pointing her gun in the air. Kayo ran away, stumbling over the pieces of the gate in her haste. "Waste of a good bullet," Kiara growled angrily, reloading her gun and putting the safety back on. Suki waved hesitantly before following Kayo.

"What is that?" Inu Yasha asked, eyeing the gun.

"Doesn't matter," Kaze said, dismissing his question. "What do you want?"

"Those two fleabags you allowed to join us are annoying," Inu Yasha complained. "Then I find you knew Kagome all along!" He glared angrily at Kaze, who sighed.

"Look, if you want to talk to her, go ahead," Kaze reasoned, shrugging. "But if that's the reincarnation of the girl who put an arrow through you, I say she got what was coming to her."

"What?" Inu Yasha asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice and failing.

"Kayo is nothing special," Kiara explained, flopping herself into one of the lawn chairs. "Her dad had an affair with her mom and promised to marry her."

"But Kay is such a brat that her mom actually left," Kaze finished, trying to rub a newly formed headache away. "Now Kayo's mom is off doing whatever she pleases and her dad is stuck with Kayo."

"That's…" Inu Yasha began, frowning.

"The point is, Kayo isn't a priestess," Kaze continued. "She's barely an average human, so even if she was Kagome or whoever, she's no longer who you remember."

Inu Yasha was silent for a moment while he though about what the two girls said. "She did look a lot stupider than Kagome," he finally admitted frowning at the ground.

"Good boy," Kaze said, earning another glare from Inu Yasha. "Now, I'm not ready to go back, but you can stay here for tonight if you'd like." The sun was just setting, casting the yard in shadow as Kiara passed a plate to Inu Yasha. Kaze ate quickly and went inside, exhausted.

The next morning, Kaze stumbled out into the living room to see Inu Yasha asleep on the couch, Kaze's packed bag sitting on the floor next to him. Kiara was still asleep, so Kaze started making breakfast.

Inu Yasha woke up, but Kiara slept through breakfast, so Kaze left a plate on the stove for her, dressed, picked up her bag, and followed Inu Yasha back to the well. Inu Yasha pulled Kaze up by her bag in the Feudal Era and set her down more gently than he had down the last time before Koga and Sho ran up to her. "Where did you go, Kitten?" Sho whined, clinging to Kaze's waist. Koga frowned at the name as Kaze sighed.