Summary: ...And a howl is the only reply.

A/N: You don't even know how fun it was to write this chapter. I was waiting for it for like a month.
Ah, I almost forgot. TW: guts :3

Before the Daybreak

Myouga was holding onto a silver strand of hair for his dear life and having a deja vu experience. The mane of his master was flowing behind him when he was running. The world around the flea was spinning and waving as the hanyou was making his way between snow-covered meadows and dark trees.

"My lord! Please, reconsider!" he yelled as loud as he could, hoping his voice would reach ears of his master. The only answer he got was a livid snarl. Myouga wasn't sure if he was imagining things or not, but he heard 'blood' between the sounds his master was creating deep in his throat while almost flying through the forest. Myouga looked back where he could barely see four dogs following them, white shadows obscured by tree limbs, more similar to ghosts or inugami than living beings.

"Master, we are not sure you can stop yourself once you spill blood!" the flea pleaded as the hanyou jumped across a meadow. "Tessaiga's still..."

"Inuyasha!" the flea paled as he heard a faint sound of a voice he knew to be the voice of a young, kind-hearted miko. The girl her master seemed to be drawn to, the girl who wasn't repulsed by his mixed blood. Speaking of blood - hers was delicious. And now the echo of her cry was ringing in the cold air before the sunrise. Inuyasha was bound to hear it, much better than his old servant actually. He stopped for a moment and lifted his face to the full moon just above the horizon.

Then he howled.

The sound lacked Inu no Taisho's power, but it still made shivers run down Myouga's short spine. It was a simple message "I am here," It was both a promise and a threat to all who didn't run away fast enough - a promise of death and a threat of long agony. Myouga's hold on his hair loosened as the sound echoed between the trees. He didn't do anything to resume his grip and fell from Inuyasha's shoulder when the inu hanyou took off again, a blur of red and silver. He didn't move when a minute later four akita dogs passed under his branch, panting and growling, following both the scent and the youki of their master. Myouga wasn't stupid - he reached his age because he was following a few simple rules.

The first one was: never step between an inu youkai and the things they want to reduce to bloody bits.

.

"Inuyasha!" she cried, her hand reaching to the dark line of the forest, almost black in the dim light of the impending day.

Kagome realized what she had done. She felt many eyes turn to look at her. Now she caught attention of not only her fellow villagers, but also the bandits. Her outstretched hand fell limply to her side as she looked around, her breath caught in her throat as feat gripped it tightly. Kaede grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind herself when one of the men walked to stand before them, grinning.

How could she be so stupid and think that it could help them, that her cry could reach his little white ears wherever he was and make the situation she was in any better? A part of her was amazed by the strength of her voice, she had never cried so loud. Kagome flinched, hearing a distant howl of a canine somewhere in the forest, from the opposite direction the den was. The sound was too faint too focus on him for any amount of time, besides Kagome had a more important things to worry about.

The man reached his hand - Kagome wasn't sure if he was reaching for her or Sakura, the other girl had her mouth covered with her fragile fingers, staring ahead in panic and trying to back away, between other women. Kaede's grip on Kagome's wrist grew tighter as the both miko took a step back.

Kagome tried to swallow the lump in her throat. 'Oh, gods, make it stop... Make it all end...' If she had anything she could use to fight, a knife or even a long needle to put in one of those cold, evil eyes... But she had nothing, even her nails were short and useless, nothing like Inuyasha's deadly claws... 'Oh, Inuyasha...'

"I like when wenches are loud," the bandit said and in a fast motion gripped Kagome's shoulder. The young healer hissed in pain and tried to free herself, to no avail, his grip was iron strong.

"Don't you dare touch a miko!" Kaede grabbed his hand. "The gods will punish..."

"Shut up!" Kagome was yanked down when the man hit her mother, who tried to free her from his grip while tugging her closer to herself. The next second the man pulled her by her shoulder and she stumbled forward into the open space. Kagome tried to fight, but she was flung over his shoulder before she could catch her balance or lay any good hit. She heard Kaede let out a strange cry and at the same time when a rough hand gripped her butt to keep her in place when the man was turning around she felt it.

A pulse of youki swirling with blood lust, anger and... Fear? It was approaching so fast!

'And youkai too? The village's double cursed!' Kagome hit the man's back and kicked the air in vain, desperately trying to free herself. Some youkai was approaching the village, its youki feral and utterly frightening. Had it smelled blood and fear of the villagers? Could the fate of the villagers be not to die by hands of the bandits? Would the youkai devour the vile men too? There was a slim chance the bandits wanted to leave at least some of the village folk here alive, but there was not a chance a youkai would let any of them live. Kagome tried again, not willing to die as a hopeless victim. She heard her mother's cry of fear, followed quickly by voices of other villagers, men and women alike.

To her surprise the man's grip loosened suddenly - he didn't make more than three or four steps. The young miko cried out as she fell to the ground, her cry quickly followed by a string of curses of the man who had held her, his voice full of pain and anger. Kagome turned her head to see why he had let her go so suddenly and what caused his shouts. Time slowed to a crawl and it was just like the world went silent for her.

First she saw a severed arm laying on the ground and across her legs, blood darkening the snow, fingers twitching. Then her gaze lifted up, following up a path of red drops falling on the ground before two bare feet. It led her to a clear cut, which was once the shoulder of the bandit. Now she could see bloody flesh and a slick surface of a bone in the gap in his clothing. The man was hanging in the air, held by his throat by a tall man dressed in blood red kimono. The bandit was gripping his wrist and trying to free himself just like she had tried just a moment ago, but it was in vain. The man holding him was smiling at his attempts. The bandit was trying to catch his breath or scream, but the grip on his throat didn't let him take in much air.

"...Divine punishment..." the voice was rough and sharp. It sounded like the man was tasting the words. "I like it."

One clawed hand (Kagome could remember the gentle grip of this hand on her own wrist when he had led her back home from his den, showing her the path) reached up and in a fast motion buried itself in the man's stomach, drawing a loud cry of pain and terror from him. She realized that the red clad man had to loosen his grip on him to allow him to draw breath and cry - a smirk graced his lips as he listened to the sounds of pain for a second before resuming his strong hold on the man's throat and silencing him. The bandit's legs kicked violently, then hung limply, just above a dark spot of dirty snow. The injured man was whimpering now.

Kagome was unable to move, staring with wide eyes at the forest spirit as he opened the stomach of the human and let his guts hang out. The young miko could see the organs of the bandit pulse and steam in the cold air. An awful smell mixed with the scent of blood filled the air and hot liquids started to drip on her when the man was whining and trashing around, trying to run away from the pain. The hanyou tilted his head to the side and let the guts of his victim fall down with a sickening sound, landing on Kagome's feet. She yelped in disgust and shock. Suddenly her feet were hot and covered in slick stuff she didn't want to think about. Her thick socks were ruined forever.

Yellow eyes were fixed on the bandit's face twisted in pain and it took Kagome a long while to realize what was wrong with them. Golden irises were surrounded by red. There were no warmth, no playfulness in those eyes, nothing Kagome could remember from her visit in the den. It was like this man was Inuyasha's twin, his features were the same, only the forest spirit she had knew had no purple, jagged markings on his cheeks. Yet his voice - his rough and dark voice she recognized after a moment. He had been talking in this tone once before, while holding her against himself, demanding her life. A shiver ran down her spine.

"I... Inuyasha..." she breathed and the sound of her voice, trembling and full of confusion, caused the forest spirit to look down at her. His long fangs were preventing his mouth from closing, making him look like he was snarling. The hanyou dropped the man and Kagome realized she should be frozen by fear right now. The youki swirling around her was so thick it was hard to breathe. An atavistic feeling enveloped her, she felt like a prey facing a predator. She dared to lift a hand to him, trying to reach his now lowered hands. A spark twinkled in those inhuman eyes she was looking in before he broke the contact and lifted his head. His ears swiveled as if in annoyance or distress as he inhaled deeply and laid his hand on the hilt of Tessaiga at his hip. Kagome felt her fear subside a little as she felt the youki around his body shift. It was not weaker now, but somehow it felt more under control. The markings on his cheeks paled visibly. Time sped up again, the sounds of the humans around them bled in her world.

"Kiba!" he called and a white dog appeared beside her. He was moving soundlessly as he approached her side. "Guard."

Kagome wanted to speak, to do something, but before she swallowed and tried to catch his hand he was gone. Kiba turned his head to sniff her fingers and growled in a soothing manner, as if to tell her she was safe now. She quickly turned to look in direction of a male cry behind her and saw the forest spirit again.

This time he was crouching on the back of the white steed. She could see the horse tremble violently, standing on widely spread legs. It seemed he was too terrified to move, hoping that as long as he was standing still he would survive. The horse knew well what was on his back, a youkai, a predator desiring to kill and willing to do just that. His master was laying on the ground, his head on the other side of the horse. Kagome could see the body of the leader of the bandits kicking like a dead chicken. A part of her mind realized that since Inuyasha's appearance only a few moments had passed. She heard cries of the bandits and villagers in the background but they seemed so distant, flooded by the sound of his fierce growling. He didn't look her way again.

"A youkai! He killed the chief! You gonna pay! Flee! Oh, gods, that's the forest spirit!" Kagome couldn't look away from him to see what was happening to the other villagers. She just hoped none of them was stupid enough to attack the forest spirit when his youki was radiating with desire to harm others. She heard Kaede's voice, calling to the villagers to calm down and stay together. A part of Kagome knew she should do something to help her mother, tell the villagers that the forest spirit was a good person, unwilling to hurt them, that he came to save them yet again. She sat up and slid her feet from under the pile of internal organs of a human. 'Would they believe me after seeing that?' she thought, her gaze leaving Inuyasha's form just for a moment to look at the quickly cooling and awfully smelling stuff. To her shock she realized her trust in him was slowly winning over her fear in her heart. 'He came to help us, he came when I called him. He's just angry and wants to get rid of the bandits,' said a voice in her head. 'He'd never hurt an innocent villager - after all if he would he'd already attack us, we're practically helpless. Still, all he did was to take down the chief of the band and the man who wanted to hurt me...'

The forest spirit suddenly jumped off the horse, the poor steed turned around and ran away immediately after that. Three dogs passed him as he left the square. Kagome was unable to look away as the three canines attacked three men who were on the square, including one of the pair who had brought gold. Where was the rest of the bandits? Kagome realized they could want to flee the village after seeing their comrades killed and not wanting to face the youkai.

Cries closer to the burning shed tore her attention away from the dogs attacking the bandits near to the frightened women and children. Kagome saw three men attacking the forest spirit with their spears at the same time and from different sides. None managed to reach him, one actually pierced a hip of his comrade. They had no time to rethink their strategy. Claws glistering in the faint light of approaching dawn tore their flesh apart with ease and in matter of seconds the square was free from intruders. Inuyasha spared one glance to look at the tied villagers, their women and children before he growled something and ran in direction the bandits had to take to run away from the square and the village. A second passed and in the smoke filled air a cry of fear and pain was heard, quickly followed by others. A part of Kagome wondered if the bandits had reached the outskirts of the village. The women and children started to move again, as if the sounds of fighting (or rather slaughter) were growing further away.

Kaede stood up and tried to approach her daughter, but the big white akita at her side growled at her, laying his ears back. Kagome swallowed, prying her eyes from the place where the figure clad in red had disappeared from her sight, hunting down the bandits, saving her village once more. His dogs remained, circling the perimeter of the free space between the huts, sniffing around. They were ignoring the villagers who ran to free their men or tried to flee the place. Some of the men ran to the pile of weapons to arm themselves. Kagome took a deep breath and lifted her hand to lay it on Kiba's back in a soothing gesture.

"Let her come," she said, trying to sound confident. She had seen the whole pack once, all four dogs had a chance to sniff her hands while Inuyasha was telling her their names. She couldn't recognize one from another, all were white akitas, but she remembered the name Inuyasha had barked just a few minutes ago. The dog tilted his head to the side to glance at her, then simply sat down beside her. Kagome stood slowly and reached for her mother. Kaede grasped her hands, but when she tried to pull Kagome closer the akita growled.

"I'm afraid he wants me to stay here," Kagome said and shook her head. "At least for now."

"You are alright, child?" the old miko asked and Kagome nodded. "I'm glad. I'll go help the others then. If your guard lets you join me. There's much to be done and done quickly."

Kagome gave a firm nod - her mother was quickly regaining her calmness. It was good for a miko to always remain composed, to be a person strong enough to support the village under her care. Kagome always was amazed by Kaede's patience and wisdom. The warm touch of her mother, soothing and reassuring was gone when Kaede stepped back and left her. Kagome looked down to the body beside her feet. Empty eyes of the man who had his guts pulled out of his stomach were reflecting the gray light of the approaching day. He wasn't the first dead man Kagome saw in her life, bu he was the first one killed so violently She realized among all the bandits Inuyasha killed only this one didn't die fast. Then she turned to look in golden eyes of the dog.

"I need to help my kin, Kiba," she said. "You can follow and guard me."

She didn't turn her gaze away, waiting for the dog to do this, to lower his eyes and tilt his head, submitting to her. After a minute he did just that, not challenging her. Now she could finally leave this place, move away from the stench of blood and guts, do what a healer was destined to do. She hurried after Kaede, glad that the forest spirit had taught her a bit about dog's body language. Kiba was following her in silence, ignoring the scared people around him.

Kaede, the headman's wife and Kagome quickly started to calm down the women and finally freed the rest of the men, making those without injuries carry the wounded ones to warmth of huts and the dead ones to be buried among their families. A few men were tasked with collecting bodies of the bandits, throw them on a cart and take them somewhere to the forest. Kagome hadn't time to think if the men wanted to bury them or just throw them away somewhere for wild animals to eat. There was so much to do! The village folk was trying their best to bring their dwelling to the right state, the headman was supervising the collected goods to make sure everyone took only what belonged to them. He was in much pain, having his limbs bandaged, but he refused to rest.

Kagome was so focused on her task of cleaning and bandaging wounds, covering bruises and cuts with ointments, that she didn't notice at first. But eventually she realized that there was not only Kiba beside her now. She was about to enter a house when she saw the face of the woman waiting for her in the doorway turn paler than it already was. Kagome looked back and saw all four akita dogs walking behind her. Yuki waved his tail as he was walking a bit behind the rest, his right front leg not touching the ground when he stopped. The dogs were covered in blood, but Yuki was the only one injured. 'Oh, poor thing. Just wait a moment, I'll take care of you,' Kagome thought as she looked at her favorite from Inuyasha's pack. He was the only one she could recognize and name.

"Don't worry, they won't hurt you," she smiled at the woman. "They're good dogs."

"Where's lady Kaede? I'd prefer her to take care of my son," the woman said, her voice flat.

"Lady Kaede's taking care of the wounded on the other side of the village. This one is under my care," Kagome replied, feeling suddenly old nervousness and anger. This was just like a month ago, when people didn't want her to help them, carry out her duties as a healer, thinking she was cursed. The attitude of majority of the village was much warmer now, but there still were some unwilling to interact with her or let her under their roof. Kagome shook her head inwardly, how could someone be so stupid?

"I see," the woman looked at the dogs and at Kagome again. "I appreciate your will to help, but I will take care of my son myself until lady Kaede's done. I am sure your aid is needed somewhere else."

Some time ago Kagome would argue, try to reason with the woman, even beg to be let in and heal the man. Now she just gave a stiff nod, her expression guarded. There were others needing her attention, those who would let her do her job.

"As you wish," she said. "If you need anything let us know."

She didn't wait for a reply, just turned around and went in direction of an another house. That was when she saw the first rays of sun peek above the horizon, cover the village in golden light. Snow was glittering in it and the air seemed to be clearer suddenly.

The fierce, feral aura of the youkai she was feeling since Inuyasha's first appearance, suddenly faded. It was as if someone blew a candle in a dark room. Kagome stopped and closed her eyes, focusing and scanning the area around her. Fear gripped her heart - was he alright? Why his youki was so strong, so distant from the protective warmth she was used to, and suddenly almost gone? Kagome resisted the urge to run off the village in search for the youkai. She could still feel him nearby, his youki faint because of distance. but familiar and warm instead of burning and almost foreign, there was no reason to panic and run away form her duties. Still, she felt like she was leaving behind a friend needing her aid.

Three more people refused to be healed by her, but luckily all of them were not injured very badly. Kagome was walking to the shrine steps, tired and hoping she could get some rest. She hoped this horrible night was over, that she could return to sleep. She even found a moment to take care of Yuki's injury and change in dry, mostly clean clothes borrowed from an unexpectedly friendly girl. She was walking slowly, wondering if her mother finished healing her part of the village. As she approached the square where not too long ago the whole village had been gathered she saw a much smaller gathering before the foot of the shrine stairs. She recognized the headman, his wife, the village elders, Kaede and some of the villagers, all turned away from her, talking and turning their heads in direction of the stone steps from time to time. Something red was on the stairs of the shrine, close to the end of it. Kagome looked up from the crowd and gasped.

The forest spirit was sitting with his head hanging low, his hands resting on his knees - he looked like he was dozing off in the light of the sun. One ear swiveled in her direction as her pace quickened. As she approached the shrine steps she realized something odd about him - he had Tessaiga at his side. As she thought about it it came to her that he had his sword all this time, just didn't need to unsheathe it, dealing with the bandits with his claws only. Kagome reached her mother's side before the youkai finally lifted his head. Yellow eyes she knew from before were unreadable, but his face was twisted in an annoyed scowl.

"Kiba! Yuki! Chikara! Yami!" all four dogs previously walking behind her jumped forward, passing by the worried humans - well, Yuki just sat before Kagome and whined while his companions quickly returned to their master's side. Inuyasha's ears lowered a little when he was looking at the wounded dog and the miko behind him. Kagome blinked down at Yuki, he wasn't wounded that badly, but maybe he was tired?

Kaede cleared her throat and caught attention of the youkai. It seemed till now he had been ignoring the humans and Kagome was wondering what would Kaede say. It was pretty obvious she was designed to talk to the guardian of the forest, as a miko she had to deal with youkai.

"Forest spirit..." Kaede said slowly, Kagome felt her warm hand wrap around her wrist and squeeze it gently. The young miko smirked at this little gesture of acknowledgment and affection. "We didn't expect you to come to our aid tonight..."

"Feh, I was called," was his harsh reply. The hanyou didn't look away from Kaede's face, but Kagome knew what he meant. And, judging by the murmurs and looks the people around her were sharing they knew as well. 'I screamed his name loud. alright,' she thought with a mixture of worry and pride. It was her doing that he was here now, that he had saved the village again.

"Aye. Yet you never came when my sister called you," Kaede continued. The forest spirit lifted his right hand to his nose and smelled it, cringing. Kagome frowned - could he smell the blood of the bandits on himself? He was clean now, his hands and face weren't covered in the red liquid, but maybe his sensitive nose could pick up some lingering traces of their scent? Three dogs were sitting close to him.

"Looks like that bitch wasn't strong enough. Or Kagome has powers you don't know about," he smirked as some of the elders gasped at the insult to Kikyou's name. He looked at the villagers and his ears twitched. "It's not like I care what happens to your sorry village, those bastards were in my territory. I'd have to hunt them down sooner or later."

"We're still thankful for your help, even if you didn't mean to help us," the headman bowed, supported by his sons. Kagome spared a glance at his face, he was very pale, she hoped he'd go to rest soon. It was not wise to pretend to be fine with his injuries. His wife seemed to share Kagome's feelings as she was looking at her husband with open worry in her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," the miko saw the forest spirit stand up, his dogs following his lead, their ears perked as they were waiting for him to act or say something more. "The band left their junk in my forest. Send someone to clean it up. If you move your slow asses I can show you the way."
The headman spared a glance at his sons and then gave a nod.

"As you wish, forest spirit," he said and let his sons take him away, carrying him more than supporting him while walking. Many of the villagers followed him. Kaede turned to look at the youkai.

"Can you sense something in Kagome?" she asked. "Please, forest spi-"

"Shut up, old hag," the hanyou leaped from the stairs, in one second crossing the space between himself and the pair of mikos. Someone behind Kagome gasped and she heard people retreating in fear and shock, unwilling to stay close to a being who could shred them to bits with ease. "Give me my dog back, wench."

His voice was demanding and even Kaede flinched when he stopped just before them, tall and arrogant, dominating the pair of short women in front of himself. Kagome looked into his eyes without fear and stood her ground - he was the same he had been in his den, she knew somehow there was nothing to fear. Not like earlier this night when his eyes were blood red and his youki almost choking. Now it was still fierce, but lacking in blood lust department. He was ill-tempered and unpredictable, but Kagome believed he'd listen to rational arguments.

"He's injured," she said and knelt down to hug the still sitting dog between them. Yuki laid his ears back and whined, not daring to look at the inu hanyou. "I wrapped his leg, but I'm sure he can't make it to your den on his own. It's too far.

"Then I'll carry him," he suddenly crouched, scowling at her. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving one of my dogs with humans."

He reached a hand to grasp Kagome's arm and pull it off Yuki's neck. Kagome frowned, favoring the hanyou with the most stern gaze she could muster.

"He stays," she said firmly. The forest spirit growled, showing his fangs.

"Nope, wench," he barked at her and she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist, so she pulled the poor dog closer to herself. Yuki, caught between two rather stubborn people glare-fighting above his head, whined helplessly and turned his pleading eyes on Kaede. The old miko sighed and shook her head as if to say that she'd not step between her daughter and the forest spirit. Instead she was observing them closely, comparing their interactions to what she remembered her sister's interaction with the forest spirit had been.

Kagome noticed the old miko reach between the layers of her robe before pulling something from between them. Inuyasha, too focused on staring at Kagome and slowly pulling her hand away from his neck - as if not wanting to put too much force in it not to hurt her or the dog, seemed not to notice what Kaede was doing. Kagome opened her mouth to say something. She could just watch her mother's hand rise, the object in her grip swaying on a light breeze as she lifted it above Inuyasha's head. The young miko was shocked and terrified. What her mother was doing? That was insane, it couldn't work! It'd anger him, it'd make him think the villagers hated him! She had to warn him, she had to show, to tell her mother he wasn't an evil youkai, that he had killed humans to protect the village, that... 'Mother, how can you...' A thought struck her - maybe Kaede was holding s grudge? Was it not Inuyasha who had inflicted mortal wounds on Kikyou, her beloved older sister all those years ago?

"Inu..." she started, his eyes widened as he heard the warning, scared tone in her voice. But it was already too late. The old miko dropped the object.

A/N 2:
Sorry for leaving you here, but I promise the next chapter will appear as soon as possible. Meanwhile you can wonder what will happen next :D
My question for you is: which Inuyasha growls the best?