Chapter 9

Neither one moved or said anything for few a seconds. It was InuYasha who spoke first. "You're not serious? You do know the Jewel of Four Souls was destroyed three years ago." He wasn't sure what this guy was trying to pull, everyone knew the jewel no longer existed.

"You're lying! There's no way a half demon like you could be so strong without its power." Hitoshi yelled back.

"Keh, and do you possess a jewel that makes you so damn stupid?" InuYasha asked, with a grin on his face.

Hitoshi sheathed his sword and started to walk away. He needed to stay calm if he wanted answers. He was letting InuYasha get to him and if that happened he'd never know the truth.

"Hey! Just where the hell do you think you're going?" Even though he heard InuYasha's question, Hitoshi kept going and soon he vanished before InuYasha's eyes.

"I don't know who he is, but one things for sure. He's no human, plus for him to just disappear like that isn't normal. Good thing he left for now or I would've had to kill him." InuYasha sheathed his sword and went into his hut. Everything was the same. The dishes and a few other things were just as she left them. He could feel his anger towards himself rising as he looked over their hut. "Dammit I can't stay here I need to leave." In a flash of red he was out of the hut and heading back to Kagome.

Hitoshi was sitting high in a tree. His was trying hard to figure out how a half demon like InuYasha could be so strong yet not possess the jewel. While he set a small fox demon walked past the tree. Hitoshi didn't notice the little fox at first, until it started complaining about... 'InuYasha, so this little fox has heard of the half demon. He even seems to know him. This is interesting, let's see just how much I can get him to tell me.' Hitoshi though, smiling to himself.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but hear you talking. You seem quite upset about something." Hitoshi asked, jumping down from the tree.

Shippo was startles by Hitoshi and jumped back a little. "W-Who are you? You better just back off. I'm warning you I'm a fox demon in training."

Hitoshi chuckled to himself. "Wow, then you must be really strong. And you know fox magic too?" He tried to be very impressed with the small fox demon and it seemed to be working.

"Well of course I am, I'm an expert in fox magic. By the way I'm Shippo, what's your name?"

"Oh well my name is Hitoshi, I'm a simple traveler. I was told this is were a powerful dog demon lives. Do you know him?"

Shippo gave an annoyed huff. "If you're talking about InuYasha, then yes I know him. He's very rude though. He always hits me on the head and yells at me. If I were you I'd leave him alone, especially now. He's even grumpier now that Kagome's hurt."

Hitoshi smiled to himself, this was working out great. 'This Shippo fellow is my key to knowing everything.' He thought. "Oh so you're close to this InuYasha than Shippo? Why is he so mean to you though if you're friends?"

Shippo set on a rock and started telling Hitoshi all about how InuYasha met him. Then he told about the journey to find the jewel shards. From there the defeat of Naraku and the return of Kagome.

Hitoshi was amazed by all this. "You sure have done a lot in your life little Shippo, no wonder you're so strong."

"Yeah well to InuYasha, I'm a weakling. Someday I'll show him how strong I really am." Shippo said puffing out his chest.

As Hitoshi and Shippo talked, InuYasha made his way back to Keade's hut. He was surprised when he entered to see his Kagome's brown eyes looking back at him. After a second of being shocked by this he went to her side. "Kagome, it's so good to see you awake again."

Kagome only smiled back, but to InuYasha it was enough. "Don't ask her to speak just yet InuYasha, it still causes her great pain." Keade said from behind.

"It's fine, just seeing her looking at me is more then enough." He said, smiling at Kagome, who smiled back before closing her eyes to sleep some more. "It's okay Kagome, you just rest." He told her, as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. Even though she was awake for a short time, it felt like a long time to him.

After she was sound asleep he left her side to speak to Keade. "We have a problem." He told her. Keade looked at InuYasha with confusion on her face. Before she could ask why he answered. "There's some weirdo walking around looking for the Shikon jewel."

Now Keade really was confused. "Why on earth would someone be asking about the jewel? Surely everyone knows it no longer exists."

InuYasha nodded his head in agreement. "And this, whatever he is just disappeared. One things for sure, I don't think it's the last I'll see that guy."

After Shippo's long talk with Hitoshi, and basically tell him all he wanted to know about InuYasha and the rest of them. Hitoshi decided it was time play the innocent victim. "Wow, so InuYasha a hero? He sure was nasty to me earlier, and all I ask was about the Shikon jewel. You see I'm from a small village not far from here, and I heard of the jewel before I left on my jeorney to see the sights."

"See the sights?" Shippo asked confused.

"Yes, just like the journey you and your friends went on to find the shards of the Shikon jewel. I went on a journey as well, but I was looking for my own adventure." Hitoshi said with a smile. He could tell the little fox was easily fooled by his story.

"Wow! What kind of adventures did you find?" Shippo asked. His little fluffy tail moving happily.

"Well I guess you could say it was the thrill of the journey that made it an adventure." Hitoshi couldn't believe the little fox demon actually believed his story, but maybe if he could convince InuYasha's friends he was good he could learn what made the half demon so strong.