Hey guys next chapter (wild applause as authoress bows)

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU ALL

-clears throat- right 'o old chaps, onto the story now

Recap

"I'll be sure to remember that next time my brave youkai savior." She replied with a forced grin.

The little girl puffed out her chest in pride and walked over to the older girl.

"My name's Keomara, most people call me Keo. What's your name?"

Keo seemed genuinely curious and the other girl couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for her, it seemed that she was all on her own as well.

"Yashia. My name is Yashia."

That night Keo insisted on staying with Yashia even though the older girl deemed it completely unnecessary. So as they drifted off to sleep beneath the stars, in a small cave they had found, Yashia wrapped her arms around the little girl's body feeling for the first time like she had found something close to home for the first time in a long, long, long, long time.

Chapter 9

Boys, boys, boys!

Continuation of Dreamscape

The next morning as the sun was beginning to come up in the east, Yashia awoke feeling completely rejuvenated, her powers having healed most of the bruising. Keo was still asleep and Yashia didn't have the heart to wake her just yet, so she unraveled her body from the little girl's and allowed her to keep on sleeping.

'I need a bath.' She thought to herself as she wrinkled her nose and with one final glance in Keo's direction she decided that it would be fine to leave her here for just a few moments while she ran down to the stream and freshened up. As she picked up her twin blades she could smell someone coming…… some non-friendly youkai. Growling Yashia rushed to the exit of the cave determined to protect the little girl.

It was a mated pair of neko (cat) youkai who may have looked graceful but, as Yashia knew first hand, they could be extremely tempermental. The female had bright red hair and the male had darker brown, a perfect match to both of their eyes.

"What do you want? I suggest you leave now."

The male laughed at her comment even though her eyes clearly showed that she wasn't kidding.

"Do not toy with me hanyou! I know for a fact that you are housing that little brat that dared to kill my son, now send her out here so I don't have to hurt you. Filthy half-breed!" He spat on the ground to emphasize his point and Yashia saw red for a moment. Before either of the neko realized anything Yashia appeared behind the male and slit his throat with one of her swords. She then turned around quickly hitting the dying youkai in the face with her hair and stabbing the female through her stomach. As they both fell to the ground Yashia took a couple deep breaths, trying to get her demon blood under control sheathing her silver blade.

Keo chose that moment to wake up and when she noticed that Yashia wasn't in the cave still she went outside to look around for her, finding her covered in neko youkai blood and…… her scent…… was changed to that of a hanyou?!?!?!

'WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?!' Keo thought as she walked over cautiously to her new friend.

"Yashia? Is that you? What's going on?" The older girl was taking deep breaths as if trying to calm herself down. The two silver and black dog ears that had appeared on the top of her head then swiveled around and stood straight up.

"Get Down!" Yashia grabbed Keo and moved them away just in time to avoid being hit with a bunch of blue energy bursts headed their way.

'What the hell?'

"Stay here." Keo looked up from the dirt where Yashia had pushed her face and shook the debris out of her hair. The older girl had a determined look on her face and pulled out her second sword. It was identical to the first aside from the fact that the blade was black, not silver.

"You're a hanyou??" Keo asked with childish innocence and enthusiasm. Noticing that Yashia's eyes became guarded and filled with a slight sadness as she nodded, Keo didn't dare push the matter any further right then. "Awesome!!"

To say the least Yashia was shocked that Keo was being so excepting, most youkai children would have started laughing or throwing things at her, but this one…… this girl was special. Yashia gifted her with a true smile, unlike the one that she had given her the night before, and turned her back to the girl jumping back over to where the blue energy bursts had come from.

She arrived to find an inu youkai looking at the bodies of the now completely disembodied nekos. He had long hair and glowing blue eyes. He was wearing a dark blue haori and a white hakama, accentuating his broad, toned chest.

'Not bad, not bad at----- HOLD IT YASHIA!! HE JUST TRIED TO KILL YOU IT HONESTLY DOESN'T MATTER HOW INCREDIBLY GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY AND------- okay think un-sexy thoughts!! Ummmm……ji-ji-san naked in the hot springs…….EWWWWWWWW!!! NO MATTER WHAT, HE IS A JACKASS!!! A CUTE JACKASS, BUT A JACKASS NONE THE LESS!!'

"Who are you and why the hell did you try to kill me just then?" The guy looked at her strangely for a second before looking back down at the ground thus drawing Yashia's to the ground as well showing her the same…… three neko youkai??

"The third one attempted to take care of you while you were trying to regain control of your youkai blood. I merely dispatched him; you would not have been injured."

In a completely un-feminine way, Yashia snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Right! That's why one of those stupid things just about took my head off!!" The guy raised a perfectly curved eyebrow for a moment before they both heard a scream. Coming from the forest. Where Yashia had just come from. Where she had left Keo.

DAMN IT!!!!

The two of them rushed over to the source of the scream and found that a giant spider demon had attacked the little girl. The older two quickly dispatched it, but found that whenever you hacked off one of its limbs a liquid poison sprayed out of it. The boy got sprayed once on his leg, once across his chest and another time on his dominant arm.

Keo then jumped over to the boy and poked his forehead.

"ANIKI!! Didn't father always tell you to be careful when playing with insects, one of them might bite back."

"I'll try to remember that Keo-chan."

'Brother?!?!?!?!?!? That adorable little angel is related to that ridiculously handsome—I mean annoyingly good looking—I mean…. Erggggg.'

"Tairon-onee-san, this is Yashia-chan! She killed a bunch of neko youkai this morning and I killed a bunch of mean ol' bandits last night!" Yashia rolled her eyes while sheathing her swords, at the little girl's enthusiasm as she jumped all over her brother, black eyes sparkling with delight.

"Hai, good job Keo-chan but it seems you have forgotten that I specifically told you to stay put while I went to find dinner." Keo looked down at the ground and mumbled an apology causing her brother to smirk and ruffle her hair. Yashia smiled at the happy siblings and in her heart she knew that they would be better off without her around. It seemed that she was a complete danger magnet.

"Well Keo-chan it seems that this is where I leave you, seeing as you no longer need a hanyou to watch over you." Both Yashia and Keo were saddened by the fact she had to leave; they had grown strangely attached in the past 12 hours.

"Do you have to?!"

"I don't think your brother wants me around." In truth the male had been glaring throughout the entire conversation, though not specifically at Yashia.

"Tairon-onee-san wouldn't mind!! Would you nee-san????" Keo said deliberately digging her elbow into his stomach to emphasize her point. Yashia just about burst out laughing at that point, but settled for raising an eyebrow.

"Keo, I think that Yashia, that is your name right?, noticed what you did just now. A fighter of her caliber would definitely have seen that and any other movement you made, even if she is just a hanyou." Yashia was about to start blushing at the compliments he was giving her when he made that comment about being hanyou. No matter what she did I always seemed that no one would be able to look past the fact that she was hanyou.

"But adding to that fact, if she doesn't mind traveling day in and day out, as well as sleeping on the ground every night, Yashia-san is then welcome to come with us." Keo practically jumped for joy and Yashia was a little shocked. In fact she was starting to consider taking back her original comment about him being a jackass with a nice but.

'HOLY HELL YASHIA!!! WHAT IS WITH ALL THE DIRTY THOUGHTS TODAY!!!!!!!! HE DOES NOT HAVE A NICE BUT!!!'

"I would be happy to, but let us continue this conversation after both of you have had something to eat. I will see then if hunger and desperation weren't fueling your offer." Tairon glared at her at the question of his honor and growled to add to his point. Yashia jut rolled her eyes and motioned for Keo to get off of her brother.

"Whatever buddy, now on your feet." Yashia offered Tairon a hand and he looked at it suspiciously for a moment before grabbing it and pulling letting her pull him to his feet. However it seemed that any attempt to be 'the macho man/youkai that would protect the noble maidens', was put on hold for he swayed in her grasp and let the total of his weight fall on Yashia, causing her to fall to her knees in shock while trying to support him.

"I think we're going to have to put our traveling plans on hold for a while Keo-chan. Your brother just passed out."


Well that's the end of the chapter. Yah I know that it was shorter then the last one but I wanted to get this up and running again. Once a plot bunny hits you, it hits you hard.

But I honestly don't think that most of my readers are going to complain, after all more frequent updates: means more stuff to read: means more for you to do every night (whoot whoot)

Anyway I'll see you guys again soon I would want to leave you hanging for too long as to what happened with our hanyou chika and the inu youkai with the cute but :)

LOL

I.L.W.C.H.G.