It was unanimously agreed upon the next morning that the first step to finding a cure for InuYasha's 'condition' was to try and find the houshi Tôjirô and ask him if he knew a way to get the spell removed from the hanyou. It was a rather flimsy plan, but as Miroku stated, "We have absolutely nothing else to go on, as of yet. This is the best plan we have now."

So the group changed direction and headed back toward the village where they had met the old farmer, hoping that he would be able to point them in the right direction. The journey probably wouldn't take too long, since they hadn't gotten that far away from the village when Kouga had kidnapped Kagome, and they had quickly found the path after InuYasha rescued her.

"Do you really think that houshi Tôjirô will be able to take the spell off of InuYasha?" Sango whispered to Miroku after checking to make sure InuYasha was out of earshot. (Which, seeing as this was InuYasha, meant that they had to be quite a few yards away from the hanyou in question.)

"I don't know," Miroku muttered back. "However, most spells that those in the spiritual professions learn are supposed to be unbreakable so the youkai we subdue cannot break them and wreak havoc."

"But Kagome-chan managed to break an 'unbreakable' seal on InuYasha," Sango argued. "And there was that time with those monkey spirits and the giant rock that was cursed to stick to InuYasha's hand. Don't those events prove that spells aren't infallible?"

Miroku shrugged. "You do have a point there, my dear Sango. But you forget the most important part." Sango flashed him a puzzled look, so Miroku continued. "InuYasha has already managed to break through the spell on his own at least once. I believe it was because Kagome-sama was being threatened by Kouga, and his instinct to protect her over-rode the spell. However, it wasn't a strong enough force to completely break it."

"Then what is?"

"Again, I don't know. That is why we must seek out Tôjirô-sama."

As Miroku and Sango talked, Kagome, InuYasha and Shippou were conversing as well. (Although, in InuYasha's case, it was more listening than talking.) "I wonder why we didn't notice that you were Yamainu, InuYasha," Shippou wondered as he peered down at InuYasha from the safety of Kagome's shoulder. "I mean, I thought I would've recognized that dumb look in your eyes right away!"

InuYasha growled at him. "You wanna repeat that?"

"Shippou, be nice to InuYasha," Kagome scolded, tapping the kitsune on the nose like one might do to a naughty puppy.

"Okay, Kagome." Shippou pretended to relent, but he stuck his tongue out at the hanyou when she wasn't looking. "Still though; why do you think we didn't notice?"

Kagome's eyes went from the kitsune on her shoulder to the white dog on the ground. "I suppose we were just too blind to see it," she murmured. "We couldn't believe that InuYasha had been transformed into this," she gestured to InuYasha, "because a dog is not what we see when we picture InuYasha." Kagome fixed InuYasha with a strange look as she said in an almost pleading sort of tone, "We didn't know that this dog right here is InuYasha because it isn't what InuYasha is supposed to be."

InuYasha blinked. He'd never really taken that into consideration. He may have been half inu-youkai, but Kagome had always told him that she and the rest of the group saw him as a person and not as an animal. Following that statement, InuYasha supposed that it was easy to see why they couldn't figure out that InuYasha and Yamainu were the same being. It didn't make him feel any better about the whole situation, because he was still a dog, but it did give him a new view on Kagome's perspective.

Shippou shrugged. "I guess so." Then, something seemed to dawn on the kitsune as he asked, "Hey, Kagome, do you know why InuYasha transformed back into himself when Kouga tried to kidnap you?" InuYasha growled at the memory; remembering again Kagome's pleading cries and Kouga's filthy hands...

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, "At the time, I wasn't thinking very much about anything, except...except..."

"Except that InuYasha was back," Shippou completed for her; stating, not asking. Kagome blushed bright pink, but nodded in agreement.

"You know what I think?" Shippou asked.

"No-one wants to know what you think, runt," InuYasha growled. "Especially when your thoughts are about me."

Shippou, of course, didn't understand what InuYasha was growling about, and continued on with his theory. "I think that InuYasha was so mad at Kouga that he forgot he was a dog!"

InuYasha and Kagome both stared at the kitsune, dumbfounded. "Well, it is what I think," Shippou grumbled, disappointed at the lack of praise, "You don't have to agree with me."

Kagome, however, shook her head. "It's not that I disagree with you, Shippou-chan...it's just that...that's a surprisingly good theory."

Shippou blinked, then decided that Kagome was praising him and grinned, his fangs flashing in the sunlight as his tail started bobbing up and down. "Really?"

"Yes." Kagome's eyes were thoughtful as she thought back to the events in the mountain cave. Kouga had been attempting to rape her, and she had just screamed for help when InuYasha had tackled him and started to fight the ōkami with tooth and claw, which usually meant one of two things: One, InuYasha thought the enemy was so weak that Tetsusaiga would be overkill, or two, InuYasha was so enraged at whatever enemy was in front of him that he forgot about his katana and just charged forth to fight whoever had insulted him. Knowing that it was Kouga who InuYasha had fought, Kagome suspected that it was a combination of those two factors that led to that...particular fight.

Turning to InuYasha, she asked, "You were really angry at Kouga, weren't you?"

InuYasha gave her a look that clearly said "Duh."

Kagome grimaced as she said, "I...guess that was kind of obvious, huh?"

InuYasha snorted. "Yeah, Kagome, it wasn't like I was about to overlook the fact that he tried to force himself on you in a fuckin' cave! Seriously, woman, think before you speak!"

Kagome thought she got the gist of what InuYasha was saying, and was glad that she couldn't understand him. "Okay, sure," she said distractedly, then resumed her original train of thought by saying, "Let me guess: You started off as a dog when you began chasing Kouga, and by the time you reached the mountain, you were yourself again, right?"

InuYasha thought for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement. Kagome turned her gaze back to the now smug kitsune on her shoulder. "...I think you're on to something, Shippou-chan."

"Of course I am," Shippou bragged. "It was obvious."

"Hey, hurry up back there!" Sango called back to the hanyou, kitsune and miko. "We're almost to the village; we can see the smoke from here!"

"Fuck-wait up!" InuYasha took off after the two humans, leaving a trail of dust behind him that caused Kagome and Shippou to cough for a few seconds afterward.

"Hold on, InuYasha!" Kagome called as she herself started to run. "Wait for us!"

Ryuuichirô paused in his work and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He'd barely dug up half of one row of the field before his breath had left him. 'Perhaps I'm getting a mite too old for farming,' he thought, even as he lifted his hoe and began hacking at the ground again.

A commotion behind him made the old farmer turn around. 'Those young'uns are back?' he thought, nonplussed. The women who had asked him about Tôjirô were back in the village; he knew it was them because the younger of the two was still wearing those odd clothes she had been wearing the first time he'd caught sight of them. The large silver dog was with them, too, and a houshi that Ryuuichirô hadn't seen before. 'Maybe I should go see what they want,' he thought, and slowly began moving toward the group, ignoring the protesting creaks of his old bones.

Shippou was the one who noticed the old farmer making his way toward them. The kitsune tugged on Kagome's ear, whispering, "It's that old farmer guy again!"

Kagome turned around and saw the old man making his slow way toward them. "You're right! I wonder what he wants?"

Miroku strode forth to meet the old man, saying, "He probably recognizes you two and wants to say hello."

InuYasha snorted. "Senile old men don't remember nothin'." Still, he, too, followed the rest of the group as they walked toward the farmer.

"Well, if it isn't you young'uns again!" the farmer greeted them, his wrinkled and craggy face breaking out into a smile. "What brings you back to this village?"

"Well, sir-" Kagome began.

"You don't have to call me 'sir,' young lady," the farmer interrupted, hold up one hand to silence the miko, "Just call me by my proper name, Ryuuichirô."

"Okay then, Ryuuichirô-san," Kagome started again, a small smile crossing her face, "You told us about Tôjirô last time, do you remember?"

Ryuuichirô chuckled at her, his watery eyes filled with humor. "Of course I remember, young lady-this old mind of mine hasn't gone yet!" Ryuuichirô stopped talking for a few seconds to guffaw at what he had said. Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippou waited patiently for him to finish, while InuYasha resisted the urge to bark at the old man. Finally, Ryuuichirô seemed to get over his brief bout of laughter and got back to the point. "Yes, I remember. Did you have another question?"

This time, it was Miroku who spoke. "Indeed. We wanted to ask you if you knew where Tôjirô is right now."

Ryuuichirô frowned at them, his eyes calculating. "Why would you want to know that? He's a powerful houshi, but I must admit, he's not all that likable."

"I know, but..." Miroku sighed, and looked first to Sango, then to Kagome, and finally to InuYasha. Sango and Kagome both nodded at him, while InuYasha fixed him with a clearly exasperated look. Miroku straightened, tightened his grip on his Shakujou, and began to speak again. "Well...you see our furry companion here?" He gestured to InuYasha, who growled at being referred to as a 'furry companion.' At Ryuuichirô's nod, he continued. "Well, he's not really a dog."

Understanding dawned on the old farmer's face as he said. "'Ah, I see. He's one of the many youkai who Tôjirô cursed, isn't he?"

Miroku nodded, glad that Ryuuichirô understood so quickly. "We need him back in his natural form, but InuYasha (for that is his name) cannot break the spell on his own. Is there any way we could find Tôjirô and, perhaps, manage to convince him to remove the spell?"

Ryuuichirô's brow became even more wrinkled as he thought. "I'm not sure about that; what did your friend do to anger Tôjirô?"

Kagome jumped into the conversation, stating, "InuYasha is the youkai who broke Tôjirô-san's dokko, Ryuuichirô-san."

Ryuuichirô looked surprised. "Oh, so this is the youkai who broke the dokko! No wonder Tôjirô was so enraged when he saw your dog! He recognized him as the one who broke old Chikanaka's dokko." The farmer looked down at the silver dog, pity in his next few sentences as he quavered, "Poor thing. What a trivial thing to be punished for. If only Tôjirô had been able to learn to control his temper."

Sango decided that it was time to redirect the conversation to the point and interjected with, "That's all well and good, but what about Tôjirô? Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Ryuuichirô looked thoughtful, his wrinkled hand reaching up to tangle in his gray hair. "Hmm...let me think...ah! Yes, that's most likely the place!" Ryuuichirô took his hand out of his hair and said, "When Tôjirô is not out traveling, he can usually be found at the Tsukikage Shrine; the temple where he spent most of his youth and where his master Chikanaka rests."

"Tsukikage Shrine," Kagome murmured, committing the name to memory.

"Which direction do we have to go to find it?" Miroku asked.

Ryuuichirô rubbed his chin for a few seconds. "I don't really know, because I've never been there. I know it's close by, because we always have houshi and miko coming through this village to find it. What I do know is that the entrance to the shrine has a crescent moon painted on the topmost beam...I'm afraid that's all I can tell you youngsters." Ryuuichirô leaned on his hoe, his eyes studying the group intently. "You might try asking around the village, though. I'm sure there's someone else heading for Tsukikage Shrine, and they might be able to give you more of a hint than I can."

Miroku bowed slightly to the farmer as he said, "Thank you for helping us, Ryuuichirô-sama."

"My pleasure," he croaked back. "I hope you can help your friend become normal again." Ryuuichirô waved good-bye to the group and turned back to his field. 'Now, let's see if I can finish hoeing my field today...'

tsukikage-moonlight