A/N: This is a long chapter! Ouch! For that I am sorry. Got my last Guardisil shot thing yesterday. That thing hurts like a mother! The needle is no big deal for me. I actually get excited by shots because I know they're good for my body. But Guardisil stings and burns and aches when the fluid gets in there. The nurse was nice to me and rubbed the spot, trying to spread out the vaccine liquid to make it hurt less. Might've worked. We had another snow day (Today as I write this is April 11, 2008) and we're still in the winter storm watch. The sky is overcast; an ugly yet enchanting gray with no features to speak of.

Disclaimer: Nope, no ownage.

Last Chapter: Sango, Kasai, Masuyo, Kohimu, and Tisoki are at the fishing village of Seizansha. Tisoki and Kasai dreamt the same dream of a whale that called herself "Kujira queen of the sea," and Sango was sick to her stomach again, worrying her two younger children Kasai and Masuyo. IY and Kagome discussed having another baby while traveling, they ended up bickering. IY paid for the group's overnight stay at a village by using Tetsusaiga to make diamonds. Koinu impressed him with a Wind Scar.

Trapped in the Fish Hut

When the sun reached its zenith, marking the noon hour, Sango arranged for her sons to have a babysitter of sorts—a middle-aged fisherman's housewife named Nomo. Nomo brought the slayers food prepared by the villagers and helped the boys prepare it while Sango and Kasai left to walk the beach. Kohimu complained quietly to Sango when he could pull her aside, trying to say that he didn't need a babysitter. It was true that he didn't, but Sango wasn't about to leave her sons unattended with a youkai lurking about just offshore that had a taste for men just their age. She left Nomo with instructions to watch over her sons and make sure they didn't leave the fish hut unexpectedly and without explanation.

She didn't anticipate being gone for longer than an hour.

The day had begun humid and partially cloudy. The horizon was blurred by the moisture in the air as Sango and Kasai patrolled the beach. A cliff rose out of the beach sand and made their trek difficult quickly. Kasai and Sango walked in the shallow, rocky ocean water at the base, peering up looming cliffs hundreds of feet up toward the dark swathe of forest there.

The sun began its gradual, achingly slow descent. The clouds thickened, preparing for a summer squall. There was some relief in this, the wind began to blow in over the ocean, bringing in cooler air and helping to dry the accumulating sweat on Sango and Kasai's bodies.

After half an hour of steady wading through the sucking, pulling surf, the moment arrived at last when Kasai looked out over the swelling waves and saw a gray, triangular shape surface and cut through the water. She halted, stumbling slightly in the surf, and jabbed her finger out at the sea. "Mom! Something's come!"

Sango stopped and turned to face the sea as well. The triangular fin swam parallel to the shore, like a guard patrolling a prison block. "Do you sense anything, Kasai?" Sango asked.

Kasai was silent, concentrating. Slowly she shook her head, "No, not yet."

"It might be just a fish then." Sango sighed, putting her hand to her forehead and wiping at the sweat there. The chill of the seawater around her calves was enticing. To keep their robes dry Sango and Kasai had hiked them up and tied them around their thighs, but the design was hardly working. The hems of their robes were wet and falling apart, too heavy when they were soaked to stay tied anyway. Sango stumbled forward to a large boulder and leaned into it while she tried to retie her robes to keep them out of the way.

Kasai hadn't taken her eyes away from the fin. As she watched the shape changed its direction and, timing its approach with a wave, surged forward, coming close to the shore. Kasai stumbled backward, shouting for her mother, "Mom! It's coming in!"

Sango instantly forgot her tying her robe and reached for the massive, heavy boomerang on her back. Her palms, sweaty and wet with seawater, slid over the bone uselessly on her first two grabs as the fin raced closer. Kasai had backed up against the looming cliff and its yellow and gray stone and dropped into a fighting stance that would do her no good without the proper footing. She had drawn out her sword Burriko and held it battle-ready.

The triangular fin came within ten feet of them and stopped, veering away and halting. As the waves moved around it, swelling and withdrawing, rising and falling, the creature that belonged to the fin became clear to the two female slayers. It was a fish-like creature taller than a man. Its body was round and tubular, its snout short and curved upwards in a false smile. There were two more fins where, if it had been a land animal, it would've had front limbs. The animal turned on its side slightly, allowing Sango and Kasai to see that it had dark, inky black eyes. Its tail was flat, not sideways like a fish's.

"It must not be able to reach us this close to shore." Kasai suggested, dropping her battle-stance.

Sango narrowed her eyes, reaching a different conclusion. The beast in the water was still completely submerged, but it was close enough that Sango felt it was examining them just as much as they were watching it. It was not a mindless animal—if indeed it was just an animal.

Abruptly then the animal flicked its tail and bobbed in the waves, thrusting the top of its head out of the water. Its forehead was bulbous and thick. When its head was clear of the roiling waves the creature blew out a short, loud spout of air. Sango and Kasai flinched as one, startled.

"What is it doing?" Kasai asked, perturbed.

"It's watching us," Sango told her, stiffly.

Rolling back beneath the waves, the animal moved in closer to the shore, making Sango and Kasai try to retreat further from it. The animal's approach was controlled and predictable. It used the swells of the incoming surf to propel its sizeable body forward into shallower and shallower water. At last it was within five feet of Sango and Kasai where they had pressed themselves against the rock face of the cliff. The animal was now exposed on the beach when the waves withdrew rhythmically. It opened its falsely smiling mouth, revealing uniform rows of white, conical teeth. The hole atop its head snapped open and it puffed out air again, loudly, making the slayers flinch for the second time.

"Are you Kujira?" Kasai shouted at the beast.

The creature slapped its tail, turning the retreating waves into white froth. When it spoke its voice was high and sharp, a chipmunk's squeak. "Yes."

"Tell us why you asked us to come here," Sango demanded, her hands were still wrapped around hiraikotsu, ready to use it.

The voice that Kujira spoke in was, quite possibly, the hardest one that Sango had ever had to listen to. She had never hunted a demon from the sea before and the animal-demon before her was like nothing she had ever come across before. The dolphin youkai lifted its head and opened its mouth, though no sound emerged from there—the noises it emitted came from its blowhole though to comfort the humans before her, Kujira and normal dolphins alike would imitate human speech by opening their mouths when they vocalized.

"I wish to help you kill Iruka."

Sango allowed herself to relax slightly, "Anything you could tell us would be of great help to us but—how do you want us to repay you for your help?"

Kujira snapped her jaws at them, clapping them loudly, "Kill Iruka. That is how you repay me."

"Why do you want to see her dead?" Kasai asked.

"She is a cursed one," Kujira squawked and chirped, "Bad blood. She kills whales, dolphins, porpoises too. Males. She drinks them. She takes men from your shores. She cannot make a calf. Bad blood."

"She drinks them?" Sango asked, repeating Kujira's words to make sure that she'd heard them correctly. "She feeds on their blood? Or does she feed on their souls?"

Kujira squealed and closed her black eyes, "Blood. She is always thirsty."

"Why just the men?" Kasai asked.

Kujira clapped her jaws at them again, growing agitated. "She cannot make a calf!"

"She wants to have a…child?" Sango inferred, cautiously.

"She cannot carry a calf because of her bad blood."

Sango drew a careful breath and repeated what she thought the dolphin youkai was telling them, "This Iruka is a half-demon. She kills whales and humans to drink their blood and…"

Kasai supplied the next words, "Rape them."

"…because she wants a calf?"

Kijira slapped her tail, her blowhole puffed open, startling the slayers again. "Yes. She is of a white skin. The sun burns her. She comes out only after the sun is gone." Kujira tilted her head, looking over the two humans in front of her. She made a sharp, buzzing sound and then snapped at them, "Your males must be protected from her voice. If they hear her voice she will eat them."

"Is there any way we can stop them from hearing her?" Sango asked. "To let them fight with us?"

Kujira squawked loudly at them, almost scolding them. "No."

"Kujira," Kasai interjected, "Can this Iruka attack male hanyou? Or what about…" she stammered, trying to find the right word, "Shibunyou?"

"Those words are strange." Kujira said, closing her eyes as if she were wincing against the faint sunlight, "My body is hot, my lungs heavy. I belong in the sea. I must go soon, but I will watch over your work."

"Wait Kujira," Kasai tried again, hurriedly, "A demon. Can she sing to a demon and eat him? And what about another half-demon like her? And shibunyou is only one-fourth demon."

"I do not know." Kujira answered, lowering her head. She began splashing at the surf with her tail as the next wave swelled up around her. She pushed off with her front fins and let the wave carry her body into deeper water. A short ways out she surfaced, putting only her blowhole above the water, "Good luck! Goodbye!"

The triangular fin poked briefly out of the water as she dove into the surf and disappeared out to sea. Kasai and Sango stood still for a time, watching the waves, searching the water's surface for any further sign of the mysterious sea-youkai. There was none to be had.

Sango sighed, "It's too dangerous for us to let Koinu or Inuyasha help. It will have to be just the four of us, the women."

"Inuyasha won't like that." Kasai muttered, stating the obvious. She stared at her mother worriedly out of the corner of her eye, watching as Sango wiped her brow again. "Mom, are you all right?"

"I'm fine—but the sun is getting to me. Let's go back to the village."

As nightfall approached, Inuyasha grew impatient and decided that they would sprint the last, short leg of their journey. Gathering Kagome onto his back, and issuing orders to Shippo, Akisame, and Koinu, the group barreled for the coast where Koinu had said that Sango and her troupe could be found in the little village of Seizansha.

With Shippo and their children ranging ahead some distance, Inuyasha purposefully fell back and resumed the talk he'd had with Kagome the previous afternoon. Now that they'd attacked the subject once it was a lot easier for him to burst into it using anger to hide any soreness the topic caused him.

"What's your problem with babies, Kagome?" he demanded, randomly, out of the blue.

Kagome, with her arms wrapped around his neck, gaped at the back of his head in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"The only things you can remember about Koinu and Aki when they were little are all bad! What the hell is your problem? That isn't like you! So what's your problem with them?"

"I don't have a problem with them, Inuyasha!" Kagome defended herself, helplessly. "I just hadn't thought about having another one, I'm not sure I'd want to…"

"Well that ain't fair!" he snorted at her. "You just get to make all my decisions for me!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome huffed, losing her patience with him fast, "It isn't that, it's just sudden is all. How about you give me some time to think about it?"

His white ears folded flat on his head. "Feh."

Depressed, Kagome leaned her face into his head, sighing loudly. "Sometimes you're so difficult, Inuyasha…"

"What was that, bitch?" he quipped, frowning to himself and hiking her higher on his back.

"Now you're going to act like you're sixteen again, huh?" Kagome growled and flicked his ear, purposefully annoying him by torturing the sensitive, tiny appendages.

"Cut that out, bitch!"

"Inuyasha, stop calling me that," she warned him, still using her growling voice, a speaking habit that had only grown stronger over her long years living beside the crotchety hanyou.

"Feh." Inuyasha rounded the corner, leaping and landing roughly, jarring the woman on his back. He slowed when the road laid out ahead of him, a short winding stretch down a steep hill and then, beyond that, the ocean stood out, wide and gleaming in the setting sun. At the bottom of the hill Shippo, Akisame, and Koinu were waiting together for their arrival, staring ahead at the ocean a mile or so distant.

"About damn time we got here," Inuyasha grumbled.

"I'll say," Kagome agreed, flicking her husband's ear again, reproaching him silently for calling her bitch.

"Didn't I tell you to cut that out?"

The people of Seizansha were unprepared for their latest visitors.

The day had been hot again and, as a result, the children were still playing in the river as the sun's rays slanted through the thick, moist atmosphere. Most of them were naked but healthy and happy, just as they had been when Sango and her children had entered the village the very first time.

Now the first person they saw was Shippo when he stepped out of the forest and walked toward their stream. Barely taller than they were and with a bright, boyish face, Shippo might've fit in perfectly if it hadn't been for the fact that in such a small village all of the children knew each other intimately—and of course Shippo had brown-red hair, an unusual trait. As he came nearer the children stopped to stare at him, uncertain and trying to recognize him. Perhaps he was a messenger from the larger city on the cliff, Gakemachi. He looked human, though his hair was odd…

Shippo made sure that he walked toward them, rather than ran or teleported. His tail was hidden, vanished from view. "Hey guys," he called, smiling in as friendly a way as he could.

The little girls in the stream, some of which were naked too, ran out of the water and into the village, calling for their mothers. The boys put on braver faces and shouted at Shippo from the water: "Who are you?" "Are you from Gakemachi?" "Go back the way you came, you can't handle the sea!"

"I've come to speak to your elder," Shippo announced, ignoring the few jeers he heard from some of the older or brasher boys.

"Are you with the slayers?"

"What's the matter with your hair?"

Then, abruptly, the boys' eyes left Shippo and focused behind him. Their faces flushed and many of them, except for some of the youngest of them, tried to hide their nakedness. The ritual was becoming all too frequent lately.

Shippo glanced briefly over his shoulder to confirm with his eyes what his ears already told him: Akisame and Koinu had arrived, walking casually out of the woods, not from the narrow path where visitors were expected to arrive from.

"If you don't even like the damned thing," Akisame was saying, "Why keep it? I'll carry it for you."

"Father gave it to me, not to you. Besides, you'd lose it or stab Shippo or me with it. We can't trust you with a sword." Koinu was speaking of the sword tied to his waist, Izoukago. It was amazing what one decent Wind Scar could do for Koinu's self-confidence. The "woman's sword" that Inuyasha had entrusted him with before had been a bitter badge of his failure as a son and potentially as a man. Now he carried it with pride, unwilling to give it to Akisame.

"If you don't give it to me I'll just stab you in your sleep. If you give it to me now then I'll let you live." Akisame smirked and slyly began playing with her long, flowing black hair, combing it girlishly with her clawed fingers. She stopped her charade when she spotted the boys playing in the stream and realized that most of them were starkly naked. "Oh, yuck…"

"What?" Koinu turned his attention away from his sister and toward the stream too. His face wrinkled with amusement, his ears pricked up. "Wow, would you look at that."

"No, I'd rather not." Akisame huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, turning her eyes toward the ground in what might've been called modesty. Without looking back up she smacked Koinu's arm playfully, "It's like growing up with you all over again and all the talks Mom had to put us through to get us to wear clothes."

"That was you," Koinu told her, bluntly. When she protested he ignored her and plunged onward with his original thoughts, "I was saying how remarkable it is that Kasai isn't sitting near this stream ogling them."

"They're little boys!" Akisame growled, making a face at the ground, then she paused, becoming abruptly contemplative and then horrified. "She isn't really that bad is she?"

"Apparently not." Koinu nudged Akisame in the stomach gently with his elbow, "Go back to Mom and Father so we can give these kids a break. They're only embarrassed because of you. If Father sees them he'll get all huffy and embarrassed too."

She accepted his suggestion without a word and, a moment later she was gone, vanished up the path and into the trees. Yet, after she'd left the boys in the stream had yet to recover, their eyes were still glued to Koinu, gawking. When he started to approach them again they cried out and most of them took off running. They screamed one word to the village in warning, filled with terror, "Demon! Demon!"

Shippo sighed and shivered when Koinu arrived at his side. The fox's tail reappeared in a cloud of fine dust. It was a massive, bushy appendage. It fluffed as if Shippo was cold and the kitsune boy twisted around and grabbed it with one hand to comb it flat again. He grinned at Koinu and watched him out of the corner of his eye. "You never get tired of that kind of greeting, do you?"

Koinu didn't answer, but his ears did fold down over his white hair. The sun was setting and, with the new moon only two days past, Koinu wondered if that night he would find himself mortal yet again. Except for the possibility of fighting a whale youkai, Koinu wouldn't have minded appearing human while he stayed in the village. Akisame, though she never underwent the transformation, already looked human enough. Only the sharpest eyes could determine that her eyes were a little too fiery and golden, not true brown. A person with spiritual powers would be able to feel Akisame's demonic power, but it would still be faint. Any monk or priestess could be easily deceived.

Shippo stood upright, his green eyes searching the village huts as people stirred, coming out to respond to the potential demon threat. Among those people Shippo's sharp eyes picked out Kohimu and Masuyo heading their way.

"I think we're finally going to get the welcome we deserve, Koinu."

Seizansha grew quiet almost the second that the sunlight disappeared from the sky. Families faded into their huts, fishermen haled in their catches with tense, unhappy expressions. Their livelihood was cut into by the demon attacks. Sometimes, out of fear of the monster that was stalking their waters, the men actually abandoned the catches and nets and boats that they hadn't managed to get tied off or hauled in just yet. Though it meant they lost food and money, they accepted the loss readily because it meant they could live another day.

Stuffed inside the smelly fish hut, Sango conducted an impromptu debriefing for Inuyasha's newly arrived family and for her own sons, to remind them of the seriousness of their situation.

"The demon is a hanyou called Iruka." She fought the desire to peek at Inuyasha to judge his expression. Would he flinch at the prospect of killing another half demon? "Iruka eats men and boys—not women. Apparently she also likes to eat other sea creatures. She drinks their blood. She's got white skin that burns, so she doesn't like the sun. The attacks always occur after dark or just when the sun has set—like right now." Sango jabbed her finger pointedly now at all of the men around her in the circle, whether they were her stubborn sons or stubborn hanyou. "So don't go outside at all from now until daybreak."

"What if we have to use the privy?" Kohimu demanded. His tone was one of challenge. He didn't like being confined, and despised the vulnerability of this particular hunt. At his side Tisoki was nodding.

"The four of us," Sango gestured to Kagome, Kasai, and Akisame, "will be the sentries. If you must leave then you'll have to wake one of us up and have us go with you."

"Sango!" Inuyasha shouted, his face flushing bright red. He stammered when he felt everyone else staring at him for the outburst, but he couldn't find the right words to explain to her why he was upset with that rule. It was unacceptable on multiple levels: having someone else, even Kagome watching as he stumbled around trying to urinate sleepily in the dark would be unduly embarrassing. More importantly, however, what if one of Sango's untrustworthy, perverted sons woke up Kagome or Akisame?

As it turned out everyone understood what was on Inuyasha's mind without him needing to clarify at all—he was transparent in this instance. Rolling her eyes tiredly, Sango tossed out a quick solution for the disgruntled hanyou. "Kohimu, Tisoki, and Masuyo, if you need to leave the hut you'll have to wake me or Kasai up to escort you. Do you understand? You can't wake up anybody else."

"This is ridiculous," Tisoki frowned and glared at the other men around him, "Penned in here like a whole herd of cows."

"Wouldn't it be better if we just killed it tonight?" Akisame asked. "I'm already bored here and I don't want to take Koinu out to go wee-wee in the night."

Koinu bared his teeth at her. "Shut up, Aki."

"How are you gonna make me do anything when you can't even go outside? What're you gonna do, Big Brother?" she teased, cocking her head and smirking amusedly at him.

"Both of you shut up!" Inuyasha snapped, ears flattened irritably. "The sooner this thing is dead the sooner we get out of here, right? I agree with Aki, Sango. You should kill it tonight and I don't care what you say about this demon, I'm going to out there with you kickin' its ass."

Kohimu cleared his throat importantly and said, "Iruka either kills her victims or, if they survive, she returns them castrated."

To Sango and the other slayers this was old news, but to Kagome, Inuyasha, Koinu, Akisame, and Shippo it was fresh and unconsidered information. The three males in the group shifted uncomfortably at just the idea of such a punishment.

"Do you still want to fight it?" Kohimu asked.

"Feh," Inuyasha growled, "I don't care what this asshole is supposed to do, she ain't getting me and I ain't letting you four do it alone."

"I'll help too, no matter what she does to her victims it won't matter because—" Koinu's attempt at a warm, empowering little speech was cut pathetically short when Inuyasha pinned his son with a glare.

"You're staying in here with Sango's sons."

Koinu's mouth fell open, flabbergasted and humiliated, "Father—"

"Your job is to stay here and protect them; my job is to protect your mother and Aki. End of story." When Koinu went on looking at him, disbelieving and wounded, Inuyasha frowned, holding firm. "Stop staring at me and get over it Koinu, I ain't letting you out there."

Sango made a rough gesture, cutting them off. "That's enough, both of you." She turned her attention to the women around her, "If we attack the demon tonight we have to leave one of us here to guard the hut while we patrol the beach."

"Why would she come out at all unless you had some bait with you?" Shippo piped up, smiling mischievously. "Sango, you have to bring someone…"

"She's bringing me, dummy," Inuyasha snapped without looking toward the kit.

"Would she even go after Uncle inuyasha?" Masuyo asked, quietly.

Sango shook her head, "We don't know for sure. I'm hoping that she'll try and Inuyasha will resist and we'll be able to kill her then."

"Well let's stop yakking about it and get moving!" Inuyasha hollered, jumping to his feet and moving toward the door already.

"Inuyasha, sit!" Kagome shouted and, despite the fact that she hadn't used the command in years and the rosary was long gone, the hanyou froze, his body setting into an instinctual trembling as he anticipated a slam dunk into the ground.

Memory returned quickly though and he turned to glare murderously at his wife, ears flat on his head, "Kagome—what the fuck!"

Sango was laughing appreciatively, holding her sides while Shippo struggled to contain a similar reaction. The others, all far too young to be in on the joke, blinked and waited for normalcy to return.

"You have to wait Inuyasha," Kagome scolded him as if she were speaking to one of their children, "We haven't picked someone to stay back here to watch over everyone else."

"Feh!" he huffed, "Then fucking do it already!"

"Akisame," Sango started, turning toward the girl, but Inuyasha interrupted immediately.

"You can't leave her here!"

"Damn," Sango moaned under her breath, rubbing her face with both hands exhaustedly. "Fine then Inuyasha. Kasai, you'll stay here tonight."

She nodded, accepting the charge silently.

"Good," Sango pushed herself to her feet, "Let's get moving."

"Call us if you need anything!" Tisoki quipped, grinning smartly. Kohimu elbowed his younger brother in the ribs and the two began bickering about it no less than a second later.

In the far corner, playing the aloof one now, Shippo shook his head and muttered, "Sometimes I miss the old days when none of you guys were born and everybody got along." His words quieted the dueling brothers, making them grumble embarrassedly. Shippo smirked proudly to himself, thinking about just how false his words had been…

After the others had left with Inuyasha in tow, Koinu sat near the door flap, catching the faint breeze that floated in from outside to escape the stink of old fish inside the musty hut. Kohimu, Tisoki, and Shippo had begun a word game where one of the players drew characters in the sand slowly, stroke by stroke while the other two tried to guess what it was first. To play they used a small patch of sand that they'd found in one corner of the hut where a wooden floor was missing. The game had grown heated when Kohimu chose a symbol that had multiple meanings. Tisoki and Shippo argued about whose definition was right and whose was wrong.

Masuyo and Kasai had settled into a domestic activity, seasoning dried and preserved fish filets. The rations had been carried in their packs and some of them had been given to them by the people of Seizansha, but everyone eating them agreed that the taste was bland and disgusting. Masuyo had acquired the seasonings during the daytime from Nomo the fisherman's wife that had watched them while Kasai and Sango had met with Kujira.

When they had finished Masuyo, the gentlest and quietest of Sango's sons, began laying the strips of fish over the fire, smoking and cooking them. He planned to feed Sango when she returned, hoping that a more appetizing meal would bring back her strength and her appetite. Kasai left him alone while he worked, crossing over the dirty, rough wooden floor of the fish hut to kneel at Koinu's side.

Although he wasn't looking at her, Kasai knew by the way his white ears turned toward her and then flicked away that he was aware of her approach. Kasai sat next to him and, before he could look at her, she'd grabbed Izoukago out of its sheath.

"Hey!" Koinu snapped, reaching out to stop her hand before she could inadvertently do any damage with the blade, "Give that back!"

The metallic ringing sound of the blade leaving its sheath made everyone else inside the fish hut look over to the couple. Kohimu frowned disapprovingly at once, "Kasai, what are you doing?"

"Go back to your game, Big Brother." Kasai snapped without bothering to look at him.

Kohimu started to get up, ready to drag Kasai away from Koinu just to assert his power over her as Big Brother, but Tisoki grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "Leave it alone. She's trying to cheer him up."

With a snarl carved over his face, Kohimu ripped his forearm away from Tisoki and shoved his younger brother's hand away. "Kasai doesn't know anything beyond pretending she's a man and groping village boys."

Across the hut Kohimu's words could be easily heard and Kasai turned to pick up the argument with her older brother but when she caught sight of Koinu's expression, the painful twist of his face, she paused. In her hand she still held Izoukago. Awkwardly she shifted, leaning forward and sheathing the short sword back into its place on Koinu's waist. "I'm sorry I startled you."

Stiffly, Koinu said, "It's fine."

Kasai looked down at her hands, feeling the twitch in them. Her fingers jerked as she watched them. Heat spread over her face but, steadfastly, she ignored it. She plunged into a topic that she hoped would capture Koinu's attention away from the flap of the door and what was happening beyond it—without him.

"Mom's really sick. She's always throwing up in the mornings, and I think she's weaker than usual." Kasai leaned closer to him and whispered her next words, trying to hide them from her brothers, all of whom were probably listening though they would pretend not to be. "I think she's pregnant."

Koinu's ears flattened and he nodded quickly at her words. "She is."

Alarmed, Kasai sat back, staring at him as if he'd grown a fifth limb. "You don't sound surprised."

Koinu tapped his nose with one clawed hand. "I can smell, remember?"

Kasai's violet eyes, a darker shade than Koinu's simpler sky-blue, searched over his face hopefully, "What should we do about it?"

"I don't know," Koinu said, shaking his head. "I seem to be pretty useless lately."

Grinning, Kasai stretched her arm out and grasped a lock of his hair, tugging playfully. "That's not true, Son of Dog!"

Koinu scowled at her, his brow furrowed unhappily, though he made no attempt to knock her hand away from his hair. He was like a ragdoll cat, highly tolerant to physical abuse. How strange it was that the trait didn't cross over into the verbal realm. "Someday," he growled, his young voice deepening into a zone he rarely used, "I'm going to tug on your hair and see how you like it."

Kasai let go of his hair in exchange for a grip on one of his ears. The fur there was fine and velvety. She stroked the tips and rubbed the outside fur with her index and middle fingers. Tweaking his ears was something she hadn't done very often since they'd been young children. She expected Koinu to snap at her again but the reaction she got was quite different. Instead of being irritated his eyes drifted closed and his shoulders slouched forward toward her.

Kasai paused, startled by the change in reaction and Koinu's eyes snapped open. The pupils were wide, making his eyes darker than they really were. His face flushed bright red and abruptly he slapped at her hand with a viciousness that stunned her. "Stop touching me!"

Hearing Koinu's outburst, Kohimu twisted around to stare at them, forgetting about his game momentarily. "What the hell's going on over there, Kasai?"

"Nothing you baboon," Kasai retorted, sharply.

Kohimu frowned and, after staring suspiciously at his sister's back and Koinu's embarrassed red face and the way that he had tucked himself into a tight sitting position, as if afraid of Kasai, alleviated all of Kohimu's concerns for something out of the line inappropriate. He turned back to Tisoki, Masuyo who had joined into the game as well, and Shippo. Kohimu grinned at them mischievously, "It's too bad Mom didn't leave Akisame here instead of Kasai. Koinu's little sister is so much fun, I'm sure she'd be playing with us…"

Koinu glared over at Kohimu and the others, irritated and embarrassed. He didn't answer Kohimu's baiting, but it had disturbed him. His ears stayed flat on top of his head, unmoving.

Tisoki, not the brightest tool in the shed, missed the mocking, cruel tone in Kohimu's voice and began murmuring quietly in agreement. "Have you seen the way she wears kimono? It's a little girl's kimono!" If he had been female he would've squealed with sexual excitement, "I wish I was out there just to see her running around in that thing—so much leg…"

Across the room Koinu had closed his eyes tightly and looked as if he were about ready to vomit. In reality he was struggling to control his desire to shout and growl like an animal in his sister's defense.

Shippo cleared his throat awkwardly, "Tisoki…"

Kohimu made a shushing sound at the kit and started talking where Tisoki had left off, louder now. "How can you live with them Shippo and not think about her…"

"If you tried anything she'd rip something off," Shippo informed him, blandly. "And then Inuyasha and Koinu would kill you." Grinning smartly, Shippo looked over Kohimu and Tisoki to peek at Koinu by the door, "Isn't that right Koinu?"

"Just shut up, all of you!" Koinu shouted, glaring at the whole lot of them, Shippo, Masuyo, and Kasai included.

Kasai tried to smile at him and opened her mouth to speak but Koinu made a rude shooing motion with his hands. "You too! Get away from me, leave me alone!"

Scowling, Kasai left him and knelt in front of the fire where Masuyo had left the cooking fish filets. She sat there for a time, listening to her brothers and Shippo continue their game as if Koinu hadn't snapped, indeed as if he'd never spoken at all. She snuck glances at Koinu, trying to read him, but the dog eared boy never looked at her. His attention was focused on the flap over the door to the hut. He'd used a few clawed fingers daintily to hold it open so that he could peer out into the darkness and the quiet of the village. His ears swiveled, picking up sounds from inside and outside the tent, or so Kasai assumed. He had no interest in her at all, his mind was completely focused on the fact that Inuyasha had left him alone…

"Kasai!" Masuyo called her name, grinning innocently as he and Shippo brushed their hands through the little square of dirt where they were playing their game, "Want to join us?"

With one last glance over at Koinu—who hadn't moved a muscle except for the ones controlling his ears—Kasai gave up and moved to join her brothers and Shippo in their game.

The moon was a faint white sliver in the sky, like a small crushed feather that had landed in a puddle of spilled ink. In the nighttime blackness even that little bit of light made Inuyasha's hair gleam as if it were a white burning flame. Kagome and Sango trailed after Inuyasha and Akisame, patrolling the stretched of beach around the village. In the dark they wanted to avoid actually trolling the shallows, especially where the cliffs rose up and cut off the gentle beach sand. It would be too easy for Inuyasha or one of them women to trip in the lightlessness and bump their head on a stone. Inuyasha was under strict orders—a fact that he despised—not to do more than wet his toes in the surf.

Akisame, on the other hand, kicked and splashed like a little girl, delighted with the cool, comforting seawater. She was also taunting the whale hanyou, trying in a way to bring it out of hiding.

"Scared huh? I bet you are! What kind of pervert are you, taking fishermen and sucking them dry? If I was you I'd just scare the shit out of them by—"

Inuyasha growled and, lifting one foot to keep it clear of the water as he'd been ordered, shouted, "Aki—shut up. You're making too much noise."

"We want that scumbag to know we're here, don't we?" Akisame retorted. Her eyes glowed like the charcoal embers left burning in a dying fire.

"You're going to wake up the villagers screaming at the water like that," Inuyasha scolded her, "Shut up."

"The village is miles away," Akisame mumbled under her breath, but then fell silent obediently and began kicking at the rhythmic waves instead as she kept pace walking at her father's side.

Sango and Kagome drifted further back from Inuyasha and Akisame's bickering and at long last Sango cleared her throat and announced, "Kagome, I need your help with something."

Kagome smiled and nodded, instantly ready to be of service to her longtime friend. "I'd love to help you with anything you want. What's on your mind? I could tell the minute we got here that you were troubled."

If it had been daytime rather than night, Sango might've noticed the way Inuyasha's ear turned backward, tuning into their conversation. She also might've seen the knowing, anticipatory gleam inside Kagome's gaze.

In a low, cautious voice, Sango whispered her news, "I'm pregnant Kagome, and I need you to stay with me," she stammered as she went onward, "…in case I—if something happens to…"

"If it happens, Sango, I'll be right here." Kagome took Sango's hand in her own and squeezed it reassuringly. "It'll be all right."

Sango sighed and dropped her head down dejectedly. "I'm too old to have any more babies. I'm afraid this one will…" she paused before murmuring the last few words under her breath, "…kill me."

Abruptly Kagome's walking pace stumbled. Sango's concern was new to her; she'd assumed that her friend was speaking of a fear of yet another miscarriage. She hadn't expected Sango to be considering her own mortality. "Sango—you'll be fine!"

"But if I wasn't Kagome," Sango's voice became thick, her breathing jerky and hitched, "If something happened to me, will you promise to look after Miroku and my youngest sons?" She shook her head and smiled in a bittersweet way, "I don't know if Miroku could survive without me, but he probably would. Kohimu and Tisoki are grown, they'd be fine, but without me I don't know what would become of Koudo and Riki—they're still so young. Even Masuyo and Kasai are—"

"Sango!" Kagome sniffled and covered her mouth with one hand, "Don't say such things! You're as strong as you've ever been! So strong that while you're pregnant you'll run out here with us on this crazy mission to kill this whale—you're not going to die!"

Weakly, Sango gave a little laugh, her smile was genuine. "I know, I'm sorry Kagome. You're right. I just," she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "I just have a bad feeling about this business." She gestured at the flowing sea, the white of the surf that was powerfully visible, even in the darkness.

"Nonsense," Kagome snapped, taking on her motherly tone, "Everything's going to go smoothly, you'll see."

Ahead of them Akisame squealed with excitement and rushed forward. Her feet kicked up ocean spray and splattered Inuyasha in the face. The young girl, dressed in a child's robe with scratchy peasant pants on underneath it, ran along in the shallow water halfway bent over, reaching out with her clawed hands. Though Sango and Kagome couldn't see it clearly, Inuyasha's night vision was able to pick out the shine of the small fish that Akisame was chasing after. When the fish darted into deeper water Akisame stopped short, but it was a little too abruptly. She stumbled and fell face first into the approaching waves. She came up spluttering and growling like an angry wet cat.

Inuyasha laughed loudly and with a purposeful rude tone, "Serves you right Aki. Quit roughhousing."

Sango leaned in close to whisper in Kagome's ear, "Do you think it's worth pointing out that he used to be just as bad?"

Kagome snickered, covering her lips with both hands to try and stifle the noise in case it might catch Inuyasha's ear. Luckily it didn't.

Groaning irritably, Akisame walked out of the waves. Her limbs were stiff, she held her arms out at forty-five degree angles from her body, and she waddled. The water dribbled around her legs and from her arms, shining with the moonlight like pieces of falling silver. Her hair was long and black and, after a moment of dripping uncomfortably, she shook like a dog, trying to dry herself.

Inuyasha laughed at her as he continued to walk and, when she was finished shaking, Akisame lunged at him. The hanyou returned the motion and collided with his daughter, tussling with her. Akisame gave a little, feminine roar and kicked at her father's feet, but Inuyasha evaded her blows.

Kagome sighed, "Great, now they'll be sparring all night."

Indeed, the playful fighting had turned into a serious duel. Akisame feinted in one direction and then lunged in the opposite, tagging her father on the shoulder when she slid by him and headed back into the surf. Inuyasha whipped around and snatched at Akisame's back. His claws made contact and a ripping noise tore the air apart as Inuyasha came away with a little jagged square of fabric from his daughter's robe.

Akisame growled and pawed at her back, feeling the missing part of her robe. "Great Dad, thanks a lot."

Inuyasha straightened up out of his crouched, battle-ready position and looked toward Akisame with a blank, empty expression on his face. His amber eyes narrowed, his lips quirked up and then down, as if he couldn't decide whether to frown or to smile.

Akisame raced forward and collided with him while he stood that way, almost catatonic. She smashed into his stomach and knocked him over onto his back. Inuyasha grunted and, almost feverishly, tried to push her off. "Aki—get the hell off me!"

"I knocked you down fair and square!" Akisame protested, grinning. Her father ignored her and got to his feet, dumping her unceremoniously onto the ground and onto her own butt hard. Akisame winced and cried out, "Ow! Hey! What'd you do that for! You always yell at me when I'm a sore loser, well you have to be fair too or—"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha hissed at her. His amber gaze was pointed carefully at the sea. Finally Akisame and the others realized that Inuyasha was distracted by a threat out to sea.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called, worriedly, "What is it?"

The hanyou shook his head; his ears swiveled over his hair. "Don't you people hear that song?"

"I don't hear anything, Dad." Akisame got to her feet and stood at his side. If she'd been a dog she would've bristled defensively as she stared out at the black, unending expanse of water.

"What is it saying, Inuyasha?" Sango demanded, sounding urgent. "How do you feel? Is it taking control of you?" As she spoke the slayer was pulling at her robes and unfastening hiraikotsu. She set the giant boomerang in the sand while she tossed away her outer robes, stripping down to the body suit underneath.

At her side, Kagome followed suit, loosening the sash at her waist (A/N: to fit in she isn't wearing the school uniform anymore duh. Plus she's way, way out of school.) to allow her legs a wider range of free motion. She hefted the bow and arrows on her back, bringing them forward. "Akisame," Kagome called her daughter, "Take Tetsusaiga from your father!"

At the mention of his sword Inuyasha took a few steps away from his daughter and covered the hilt of the blade with both hands. "What the hell, Kagome!"

"Inuyasha, Kagome's right," Sango shouted, "Give Akisame your sword. You may not be able to fight with it anyway."

Father and daughter stared at one another abruptly and Akisame seemed to shrink back, cringing. She whispered in a small voice that her family only rarely heard her use. It was a vulnerable voice, not an imitation of Inuyasha's gruff, male power. "I don't know how to use it, Dad." The way her eyes stared up into his, lit and glowing from within, was suddenly not because of their rich gold color, but more so because her eyes had filled with a sudden surge of tears.

Inuyasha too stood immobile, realizing that his daughter had been left woefully unprepared—by himself. If he was rendered useless by the whale-hanyou's song his wife, his daughter, and Sango would all be left vulnerable without Tetsusaiga's powerful protection. He had taught Koinu because he expected his son to learn it, and he had began a few tentative lessons with Akisame, but Koinu had told him that Akisame was unwilling still, too used to bravado and using her own claws and feet for her defense.

She had never known a real danger and, like a fool, Inuyasha had walked blindly through life assuming that he, Koinu, and even Kagome would be able to shelter Akisame forever.

"It's coming!" Kagome yelled, pointing to the sea, "I can feel it coming…"

Inuyasha and Akisame looked toward the sea and, in his ears, Inuyasha heard the song, fluctuating with high and low notes, chirps, pops, buzzing sounds, and whistles. It was a language, but not one that he could immediately understand…he shook his head and focused on the waves. A shape was underneath them, out where the water just started to grow deep. It was white, glowing like Inuyasha's own hair did in the darkness. The waves masked the thing's true size and shape, and it had no scent, but Inuyasha could already feel its demonic power at the edges of his mind—not a full-blooded power, but a flawed, unique one like his own.

Swiftly, Inuyasha made his decision and his clawed hands flicked over his sword, releasing the ties that kept it around his waist. He pushed the sword at Akisame and looked his startled daughter carefully in the eye, "Think about your power and think about me, your mother, and Koinu—anyone you want to protect. Tetsusaiga will work for you then." He jabbed a finger at her as she accepted the legendary blade with the hesitance of a monk handling a fragile, rare scripture, "Just watch where you aim it. Don't hit any of us."

"Dad," Akisame mumbled, irritated and frightened in the same hand, her mouth hung open as she searched for more to say to him. She had often rebelled against his incessant over-protective nature, but now that Inuyasha was stepping back and leaving her in charge of her own safety, Akisame was suddenly overwhelmed, weak in the face of the strange white beast under the waves.

"You'll be fine," Inuyasha reassured her.

"It's here!" Kagome shouted. She and Sango rushed forward to stand near Inuyasha and Akisame, their weapons drawn and ready.

The four of them watched as, surging in with a wave, the white beast sped into the shallow waters. Now, as she drew closer and closer, her song increased in volume and power. The women heard it too and cringed, gritting their teeth as they tried to withstand the fierceness of the song, its harsh squeals and chirrups.

To Inuyasha the song had dimmed. The incoherent noises of it faded into a background hum. Through it, Inuyasha heard a high pitched, girlish voice: Come to me, powerful man. Come to me. Walk into the sea; I am waiting for you…

A/N: By the time I finished this I'd had a car accident. Rammed a pole with my parents' 2004 Vibe. Demolished the engine. I walked away with a busted knee (is it really busted if I can walk on it?) and a jarred neck and spine. My arms are really weak, and my throat was raw. Now that I've had some real terror in my life…I feel like a fraud writing about it. Can't give it justice. I never thought I could shake that much without meaning to or without being close to dying. I was uninjured, but it was like the entire world was ending there was so much anguish inside me. I have several chapters written for this story in advance so you get a preview, but if this accident plays with my psyche much I might fall into a nasty bout of writer's block. Let's pray not.

Next time:

The white creature appeared again and rushed forward with a wave, as if about to hydroplane. The sound of its voice, the chirps, squawks, squeaks, whistles, and clicks, became a harsh bellow of intrusive, overwhelming noise. Akisame was the first to crumble, crying out and dropping Tetsusaiga onto the beach sand as her hands flew up to cover her ears. Inuyasha followed her, screaming and clawing at his furry white ears. They, being part demon, had the strongest ears and heard most of Iruka's vocal range. To them it was brain-splitting, thought piercing. It wiped the world away from them, stunning them completely.

Her voice was like a bomb going off, an explosion set off inside their four skulls all at once.