Tora-san carefully picked Sango up off the dirty earth floor. Dust covered the back of her kimono, but she was blissfully unawares of that small fact. Tora was too exhausted and lazy to actually carry her, so he slung her right arm around his right shoulder, and proceeded to drag the unconscious demon slayer out of the inn. However, he did not leave through the front entrance into the main street.

'Too many people' He thought. 'Also, if we leave through the back, we're much less likely to be confronted by anybody who might slow me down.'

He thanked the inn keeper and was about to walk the opposite direction toward the back exit, when all of a sudden, the keeper stopped him in his steps.

"Where, may I ask, are you going with this young woman?"

"Oh, I must take dear Sango back to where she was staying. I'm afraid she just had one too many drinks. I managed to get the address and her companion's names out of her. She seems to have had a long day and is weary from all her traveling." He ended this with a sigh that topped perfection for his story.

The inn keeper just nodded and let the man head to the back exit. The man seemed fairly trustworthy, and respectable. Although, this was the first time the inn keeper had ever seen him. But, it also wasn't his problem. His reputation wasn't all that high, so there wasn't much to maintain. He felt he had enough problems of his own at the time.

Miroku rushed into the inn only a minute after Tora had left. He ran and found the waitress in a red kimono.

"Have you seen a beautiful young woman in a pink and green kimono?" The words spilled out of his mouth in a hurry and were barely discernable.

"Why yes sir. She came here for a drink sir. A man soon sat with her, very handsome he was. Most interesting eyes he had. Why, quite similar to yours I should think. Except bluer as I recall." All the time she was saying this, Miroku's eyes grew wider and wider.

"Well, where have they gone?!" Miroku said desperately. He needed to find Sango!

"I have been in the back sir, so I have not been able to see everything. Though I can tell you they did not take leave through the front. I have a view from the storeroom that allows me to take view of some of the outside, which includes the front entrance"

"What other exits are there then?!" Miroku was getting quite impatient with the young woman.

"There is the back exit sir. She did not look quite well I fear. That man was very handsome though, very… handsome… If only I found a man like that…" The waitress drabbled on and on, and she was about to press unwanted attentions onto him, had he been there. Miroku had hardly heard the words 'back exit' before he had pushed his way through the people, making his way to the exit.

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Shippo ran through the forest frantically. The foxfire had worked temporarily as a distraction, but only for a few moments. Shippo ran as fast as his legs would carry him, his breathing harsh and fast. His mind was rushing

The sudden blast of fire had blinded the werewolf from the complete darkness. His eyes burned from the brightness of it, he was stunned. He could smell the smell of the demon running away from him. He wanted the food. Running only increased the temptation of such meat.

Shippo's feet padded the ground in hard beats. He had been sprinting for the past while, and his energy was draining from his body. He looked everywhere for a place to go, somewhere where he might be able to escape the terror following him. Then rain began to fall. Not light showers, but hard and pounding, soaking every inch of his clothing, skin, and hair.

The dirt turned to mud, and it was even harder to run. The wolf was close on his tracks, every second drawing closer. To Shippo, his death seemed immanent, impossible to escape from.

His feet were sinking into the mud. All Shippo knew to do was to fight, to fight for his life. 'This is the end…' was all he could keep thinking. He had no clue where he even was now, and the rain was washing away scents he could have followed back to the campsite.

Cracks of close lightning made his ears ring. The bright flash of light illuminated the sky and little spots appeared in his vision. A headache began to form and Shippo's muscles pleaded for the little fox to stop. He was almost out of energy, when another lightning bolt again illuminated the forest. In the side of a hill to his far left, he spotted an overhang just slightly big enough for him to fit under.

It was his last hope.

His last chance.

The rain was so thick that even the werewolf was having problems seeing. Everything splattered around him and he could hardly view anything past five feet in any direction. The scent of the fox was nearly gone, washed away by the falling rain, but he still could see a reddish blur in the close distance. Then all of a sudden, the blur vanished from sight.

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(Out of town slightly)

Miroku almost broke the door down in his haste to follow the stranger. His eyes seemed to be alight with fire.

'If this guy has even touched Sango, I swear by Buddha I won't stop searching until I kill him'

Tora-san had not managed to get too far. He was slightly drunk himself and was not all that strong in the first place.

'This better be worth all the trouble I'm going through.' He thought to himself.

Tora was a man who had used his tactics on many women. His ways were not unlike Miroku's, but they were cheaper, quicker, and disgusting. His natural good looks were enough to persuade many women to come home with him, but a few, like Sango, needed more… encouragement. Tora went to inns (a/n, this is where they would buy drinks in the feudal era), and when the time was right, he'd snatch the woman up like a tiger catching his prey. (a/n, I hope a few of you get the connection, most probably will not. .)

Miroku saw a man up ahead, supporting a woman in… a purple and green kimono. He wanted to run at the man, kill the man, to destroy him for trying to pull anything on Sango. If he was only like Inuyasha, if only he had claws, he'd shred him into pieces that would fertilize the grass. However, he had to keep his temper in check. He tried a smoother tactic. As calmly as he could, with his teeth clenched together, he approached the man with quick strides taking deep breaths to calm himself with every step.

"My dear man, is something wrong with this woman? Is she… ill?" The words were barely able to escape from his lips. Every second longer that he looked at the man, the more ideas of what to do to him formed.

"Oh, no sir. My wife has had just a few too many drinks at the bar. She has had a long day raising our children and working in the fields. Tired, is what she mainly is."

"Oh is that so." Miroku's voice began to rise in anger and his temper began to become uncontrollable. "I was under the impression that Sango was my fiancé!" His fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white as snow.

Tora's eyes were wide with fright. All the color left his face, soon to resemble Miroku's knuckles. He had not known that she was traveling with anyone. What he had said to the innkeeper had been an intended lie. In all his years of practice, nothing like this had ever happened, and this was something he wasn't prepared for. 'She can't be worth all this,' he thought to himself. He let Sango's body fall to the grass with a thud and he broke off into a run.

Miroku may have been slower than Sango, but he was by no means slower than this sleaze. He caught up to him and kicked him to the ground. He pinned Tora with his shakujo (a/n, Miroku's staff) and with one foot.

"Please, I beg of you, I didn't-"

"Mean any harm?" Miroku finished his sentence for Tora in a scathing voice.

"My name is-" Again, Miroku interrupted him

"Why would I want to know the name of a lowlife? Furthermore, why should I let your pathetic life leave untouched?"

"P-Please, I beg of you. I did not mean her any harm!"

"Exactly WHAT were you planning to do with her?! What have you done to her already?!"

Behind him, Miroku heard a slight groan. He immediately rushed over to Sango leaving Tora pinned to the ground only by his own fear.

"Sango, Sango!!" He called out to her. He picked her head up slightly off the ground, but she was still unconscious. Tora came to his senses, and moved slowly and quietly to his feet. As soon as he was standing, Tora broke out in a sprint towards the forest. Miroku heard him, but did not waste his energy chasing after him. He was concerned about Sango now.

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Inuyasha could hear a scream echoing throughout his head. It was piercing, and one he recognized. His mind was buzzing with that high pitched tone.

He opened his mouth to yell out.

"KAGOME!"

But no sound came. Instead, the darkness lifted. Inuyasha then plummeted into the depths of his own mind.

Inuyasha was nearly five, running happily out to the green meadows that were so close to his house. The sun warmed his back and he felt excessively pleasant. He loved the touch of the squishy grass under his feet, the wind blowing his ears back, all the interesting smells he caught on the gusts of wind. Inuyasha took it all in. It was a beautiful day and he was happy to be outside. His mother had been sick again, but now she was recovering. Lately she had been this way, becoming ill, recovering, then only to fall ill yet again.

His ears perked up. He could hear children laughing, playing, adults conversing amongst one another while their youngsters romped about. Smiling happily to himself, he ran over to where he had heard the noises. Soon his eyes caught the sight of children chasing after one another. He ran over to them. Some of the adult's eyes followed him, and they rose off the comfortable blankets that lay on the ground. A few others beckoned their children to their side. One by one, as they caught sight of him, they froze.

"Can I join you?" He asked, smiling, but showing his two fangs.

One little girl instantly became wide-eyed and turned to her friend. She whispered into her friend's ear, not knowing that Inuyasha could hear every word.

"That's him! That's the part demon!"

Inuyasha's ears drooped and his body felt numb. This was not the first time he had this kind of experience of coldness due to the demonic blood flowing through his veins.

He heard the ball roll onto the grass and he ran to pick it up. It smelled of dirt, water, lunch that had been left on hands, only to be wiped off onto this ball. It was made out of leather, strung together with thread, and filled with raw wood shavings.

However, when he picked it up, he used too much force, and his claws caught in the leather. He shook his claws and let out a growl of frustration. Inuyasha was struggling to pull his claws out when it ripped. The mix of wood dust and shavings fell onto the green hued grass, making it plainly visible to see what had happened.

A young boy of about 3 began to bawl and ran over to his mother. His tears were thick with salt and it rose to Inuyasha's nose. The boy buried his face into his mother's waist, wrapping his arms around

The mother to whom the little boy was crying into her waist, glared down at him with a look that could have killed.

"Do you know that you just destroyed a ball that this boy's father made for him? His father is dead. It is irreplaceable. But, of course, you wouldn't know. You're only a demon. You have no feelings. You care for nothing. You, by nature, live only to kill, to take lives. That is how you will be."

She said this all in a loud voice, her voice rising in volume with ever sentence. Inuyasha flattened his hears back to his head to try to soften the words. Perhaps this softened the noise level, but every word stung. Every word echoed throughout his head.

From seemingly out of nowhere, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. His eyes darted around to see where it had come from. An older girl, perhaps 14, had thrown it. When she saw that Inuyasha had seen her throw it, she began to say something in a shaking voice, trying to inject false confidence into it.

"G-Go away from here, you demon. We w-want nothing to do with you. L-l-leave, now!

A few of the older kids, and even a couple of the adults began to throw twigs, pebbles, rocks, anything they could pick up at him.

The blows hit him one by one, knocking him down further each time. It was not the debris that hurt, it was the intention; the meaning behind it all.

His mother's sweet scent came from behind. Scooping him up silently, she held him and carried him in the direction of their home. But, before departing, she looked at the small group of people with a solemn, but very sad look.

He was in her arms even as she made her way around to the back of the house, where the garden was. At this time of the year, the garden was filled with some vegetables and lightly scented flowers.

She sat herself in the dirt. His mother had never been too picky about where she sat herself. He felt her arms wrap around him and pull him into her warmth. Inuyasha instinctively moved closer into her and stole all the warmth he could. This was one thing he had always loved about her. When she held him, all his troubles melted away.

"I should have never left you…" he whispered into the folds of her kimono.

"Oh Inuyasha, my dear son…"

Even at the age of five, Inuyasha was still stubborn about showing his feelings.

"What did they say?"

Something about his mother, it made him open up. Around her he felt at peace, at total comfort. Slowly and carefully, he mumbled some of the hateful things to his mother.

"You know," his mother began. She moved him up onto her lap so they could see face to face.

"There are none so blind as those who choose not to see, Inuyasha. They refuse to see the real you. They see not past your blood now, but, someday, they will my son… They will…"

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RisingXXAngel

Hoped you liked the chapter, reviews are welcomed ;P