Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Chapter 26: The Undomestification of Youkai

Back in the Feudal Era, Sango and Miroku slept on in peace. They had spent the last few days resting at Mushin's temple, preparing themselves for their inevitable departure for Kouga's mountains. On this morning however, a rumbling broke out. The ground below the temple shook and half a dozen killer gophers popped out of the ground. "What is going on?" said Miroku slashing at them. He had been enjoying his sleep, especially the dreams.

"Youkai calls to youkai remember?" said Sango.

"Indeed," said Miroku swiping at one of them. He spoke rapidly. "Sango you go back to the temple and get those wolves out of there. We must lead them into the woods before the temple is destroyed."

"I'm on it," said Sango with her borrowed war cry. She ran forward and called out for Kilala. The little firecat grew larger with a loud pop and ran alongside Sango for a few moments so she could swing aboard. There was no need to fly yet, so they charged across the ground instead. Sango hopped down to relay Miroku's message to the wolf demons.

"But we can't fight," whined Jun.

"Enough," said Kan. "We are wolf demons. Though we may have never had the chance to fight, we are still wolf demons. Be proud of that. I'm going," she finished.

"But Kan," said Hisui shocked. "Wait for us!" said Hisui and Rinzu.

Sango followed them out on Kilala, watching their back. She watched wonderingly as Kan took a swipe at one of the demons troublemakers. Her aim and speed were poor, but the power was there. As she hit the ground with her fist, the rocks broke apart much as they did for Kouga. The rest of the wolf demons mostly ran in circles, but finally they used their claws and scared the attackers away.

"Not bad," said Sango smiling encouragingly as she landed with Kilala. The demon cat looked back at her as if to say, "You must be kidding."

"You know," said Miroku walking over. "Perhaps we should spend the day doing some training."

"Training?" squeaked Rinzu.

"Yes," he said seriously. "You will only be a danger to everyone else including Inuyasha," he stressed, "unless you learn to protect yourself."

"Very well," said Kan all business.

So they left the temple and Miroku led them to a rocky canyon. "Climb up," he said.

"You must be joking," said Jun.

"No," said Miroku with solemnity. "This is like the place you are going. You had better toughen yourselves up in the meantime. When he gets back, I'll ask Inuyasha to give you a lesson on using your claws."

"Come on girls," said Kan encouragingly. "Let's do this!" She led the way leaping up the rockface with great difficulty. She wasn't sure how to descend safely and spent a lot more time than she had spent going up trying to slide down.

"That's good," said Miroku. "Keep that up. We'll do this for a while and then run. I expect you to do this every day from now on."

"Hey!" said Jun angrily. "Who are you to say that?"

"I'm Inuyasha's friend and your caretaker," he said cutting her off. "He left me in charge of you."

"But he's dumping us anyway," said Jun. "In the middle of the woods for that matter."

"Inuyasha isn't like that," Miroku said calmly. "If you don't like the mountains I'm sure he'll take you back to the palace to stay. Only I suggest you stop calling yourself consorts. Inuyasha is very singular minded. If he has rejected you now there is no way he will accept you in the future."

The consorts mulled in silence. Miroku wasn't sure of what he was saying. Sometimes it was confusing with Inuyasha but on this he was pretty sure. Miroku wondered why they had not simply left the wolves at the palace. Perhaps it was Kan's spoken desire to run in the wild. Perhaps it was Inuyasha's own revulsion at seeing servants treated as unequals. When Inuyasha spoke to someone like Jakin or Myoga he picked them up so he could look them in the eye instead of talking down to them like Sesshomaru did. Sure, the hanyou could be violent and demanding as a master or friend. One could expect him to deal out hard knocks whenever he saw fit reason. But for the most part, he was reasonable and exerted his cruelty only when someone broke this one expectation: that they stand up by themself. There was no room in Inuyasha's world for sissies. It was made all too clear by his early treatment of the childishly wailing Shippo and his cringing flea servant. It was for this reason that Miroku felt so confident under Inuyasha's lead. He forced everyone to strive to do better themselves and to go forward with courage, not doubt. He led by example and by tormenting reluctance. Regarding the wolf demons, Miroku couldn't believe for a second that Inuyasha could feel anything for cringing, physically weak females. Instead, Miroku surmised that Inuyasha was giving them a chance to choose their own life for themselves instead of being unloaded on him against his will as well. To this purpose, the wolves would have to learn how to survive in the wild.

Miroku supervised the female wolf demons' leaping. Then, after a break for lunch and a respite, he sent them running. Miroku was quite an able runner himself even after having lost his three jewel shards. For a while, he kept a pace of them and finally he dropped back. The demonesses' natural endurance was kicking in and they sped on. They were not nearly as conditioned as Inuyasha but he didn't expect them to be. He waved a hand for them to stop and breathing hard they did. Miroku then had to endure a gale of complaints about his cruelty and their painful feet.

"That's good," he said trying to console them. "If you continue with this every day, it won't be long before you can stand up to any danger." Any danger except Naraku that was. Still, Miroku wondered what would happen if they really did get much stronger and stayed on with them. They could be powerful allies in battle, he thought. But it was better if they did not come for Kagome's sake.

Time lapsed and eventually Kagome, Inuyasha, and Aijo returned. Miroku demanded something of Inuyasha as soon as they landed. "Inuyasha," he said discreetly. "Please do something for me. Teach them how to hunt."

"What?" asked Inuyasha.

With some coaxing, Inuyasha relented. With four female demons following, along with the kitsune Shippo to supervise, he prowled off into the wood. He sniffed the earth and ground searching for scent. Then, upon finding a trail he traced the tracks, rubbings and other sign of a deer. Sometimes they moved quickly, Inuyasha leaping up with Shippo flouncing on his shoulder. Sometimes they moved slowly as he took a few minutes to sort through the odors.

"Over there," said Inuyasha at last quietly. "I prefer boar but for you deer is plenty hard enough. Careful or it will bolt." He slid gently towards it and the deer flicked an ear back. It heard nothing do it went back to eating with its head down.

The four female wolf demons waited with their breath held as he paused. Then, as the deer took a step forward to find a better part of the pasture, Inuyasha soared up into the air above it with one flying bound. He descended swiping with his claws. In one neat movement before the animal could react, he cut through its neck. They prey lay on the ground and Shippo dropped from Inuyasha's shoulder. He had ridden the whole thing out with a precarious hold. He sniffed the carcass mildly.

"It looks yummy," said the kitsune. "Are we going to eat it Inuyasha?"

"That's what we hunted it for," Inuyasha said slinging it over his shoulder.

Kan picked up the fallen head. "Milord," she said regally. "We prefer out meat uncooked. Please reserve some flank for us."

"I'll do that," said Inuyasha starting off, a deer on one shoulder and Shippo dangling off the other side murmuring about liking roasted meat. The female wolf demons followed after silently.

"Look," said Kun pointing to the ground as they journeyed. "Other deer." She stopped to sniff and the other wolf youkai gathered round to inspect what she had found.

"There are lots of them," said Inuyasha unexcited. "If there aren't, it's better to eat something else so there are more deer next year. Unless it's some greedy bastard eating them all. Then you have to kick his ass."

"You have your own forest right?" asked Kan.

"Sort of," replied Inuyasha. "I travel a lot nowadays but for a while the area around Goshinoboku was mine. When I was sealed, the villagers called the forest by my name. It's sort of a home range for me. I tend to kick out demons who eat humans, but I don't try to take out anybody if I can help it. If they don't bother me it's live and let live."

They trudged on silently for a while until in a clearing they spotted an unwary doe. Kan whispered something in the other wolves' ears and they all slid away from each other forming a circle. They paid attention to their feet and like a dance, they crept up to the deer. Suddenly, Kan's ears perked up and then she bobbed her head down. It seemed to be a signal. In the next second, Kan charged forward followed by the other wolves. She bit into the deer's neck and the other piled on its back. She reached up and ended its life.

"Woah," said Inuyasha to Shippo. "Remind me to never let them stay around Kagome." Shippo's tail was fluffed out and he was trembling in fear. He was only a little kitsune after all.

"Ye..yeah," he shuttered, "and don't let hem near me either." Inuyasha shrugged.

"As long as they eat it I don't have a problem."

So they trudged back to the camp and Inuyasha left the four wolf youkai outside the camp to eat their gory meal. For his part, Inuyasha like human food so he prepared his deer for cooking on the fire. There was plenty and to spare so Kilala ended up cleaning the scraps in her large demon form.

Kagome yawned. It was late night beyond the hour of crickets so Inuyasha unfolded a bed from things in her backpack and tucked she and Aijo in. He sat there with his ears flicking up like the sparks of the fire as he listened to the night. The wolf girls returned, the firelight reflecting in their emerald eyes.

"Thank you milord," said Kan reentering the circle.

"Don't think about it," said Inuyasha gruffly. He rubbed Kagome's hand in his own and glanced Kan's way.

Kan nodded her head and the wolves slunk off to curl up for the night in their luxurious bedding. Inuyasha leaned back and shut his eyes on guard as usual. A few moments later, he heard a gentle voice. "Why don't you wear shoes?" said Kan quietly.

"I wasn't born in a palace," said Inuyasha dryly. He looked across the tongues of a lulled fire. "I may be the son of a lord, but the woods are my inheritance." Kan nodded and the night stilled.

Kanna looked in her creepy mirror. "Mouryoumaru," she called. She had defected at this point in the manga and so was seemingly anti-Naraku now.

"Inuyasha and his group are near. There are four more demons in his wake." She held up the ghostly glass so her new master could see the image displayed within. She knew that Inuyasha was hunting her new master since destroying him was the only way of destroying Naraku. Long story so if you don't know it just assume it.

"We have to do something about that," said the creepy evil baby who held Naraku's heart from inside his living armor called Mouryoumaru. He narrowed his evil eyes. So this evil Naraku junior concocted an evil plan to destroy both his maker and those who pursued him.

A stream of enormous youkai rose from a pond followed by Naraku's poisonous insects. The buzzing sound permeated the air and Naraku's most recent incarnation appeared floating in the air on a paper crane. His flying eyeball was out, but as he waited there it returned to him to tell him what he had seen. "Interesting," said the demon. "Naraku will want to know." Then he flew away.

Hidden in an old human castle, Naraku pondered his fate. Even his incarnation as a fire demon had been used against him after being stolen by Kanna. She was the last one he had expected to be capable of feelings of resistance yet after the death of Kagura they had somehow lodged themselves in the frail white vessel. Now, her cause for existence was strengthening Mouryoumaru against his attacks. She was also instigating attacks on Inuyasha, since Naraku was no longer interested in pursuing him. Indeed, he was counting on him to fell the opponent he could not himself reach. He was the horse he was backing now. In fact, Naraku had sent Inuyasha unwilling aid by form of a demon hermit, the effect of which was the calming of Inuyasha's sword. Before that, it had been spewing out an excess of power Inuyasha had not been able to control due to his half-demon blood. Naraku's perception of Inuyasha as a nuisance had changed to that of a deadly opponent when Inuyasha had gained the new power to absorb an unlimited amount of demon energy with his Tetsusiaga. He knew very well that now all Inuyasha had to do was connect his blade with him to be finished. Fortunately for Naraku, that same power could spell the death toll for Mouryoumaru who was keeping his heart from him. Naraku now sought to use Inuyasha as means to recover his central core. If he was fortunate, the battle would mean the end of Inuyasha as well. There was something else he was curious about. The Tetsusiaga. Why had Sesshomaru been so interested in it and why didn't he pursue it now? The fool Inuyasha was half-youkai, but the sword itself was loaded with pure demon energy, also an absorbative power. With his central heart gone it was something which he the evil Naraku might be able to put to good use. Why search for a flawed heart when there was a regenerative core for the taking? He smiled.

Naraku's new spy flew in on his paper crane much as Kagura used to do on he feather. "I have news my lord," said the demon smiling as he bowed.

"Tell me," said Naraku creepily.

"Inuyasha has four female wolf demons traveling with him, along with an infant son born of Kagome."

"Fool," Naraku said. "He will pay for his vulnerability. Keep me informed.."

"Yes my lord," said the spy demon bowing again. He got up and flew away.

Naraku leaned against the window thoughtfully. Here was his chance. If he could not succeed in getting Mouryoumaru and Inuyasha to destroy each other, perhaps he could investigate this further. He spoke into the cobwebs as a storm rolled out above the rooftop. "What will it be Inuyasha?" said Naraku. "Your sword or your son?"