A/N: Ok, so just about everyone that reviewed told me this story could not end without describing Koinu's season-long stay in the slayer's village. I didn't want to make Innocence much longer than With Our Arms Wide Open because I know as a reader that such a long story would intimidate me. (Oh and CP don't worry one little hair on your head. I absolutely did NOT forget about that concern of IY's from the beginning). But as I wrote this chapter, I discovered that it was just as my reviewers, loyal and accurate, are saying. It does not want to end yet.

As a special sort of thing I'm going to upload this the AM before I get my wisdom teeth out. Sorry it isn't Return's update but I had to do Christmas shopping this week and writing articles for money. Yippee. So that is my excuse for where my time went, that and worrying about this wisdom teeth this.

Disclaimer: I do not own them.

Last Chapter: Sorry don't feel like doing this now…last chapter was long and this one is LONGER (I am SO sorry, I don't know what's been wrong with me lately and super long chapters.)

Cat and Mouse

The morning after the breakfast when Masuyo realized that Saya had not betrayed him and was in fact a bit of a hostage herself, Ginrei didn't attend any of the daily meals that Masuyo was forced to share with Shiroihana. Hanone was there, but Ginrei was absent. Masuyo spent the entirety of the morning and afternoon meals gritting his teeth, ready to endure the endless teasing by Shiroihana. Without Ginrei to distract her, the matriarch of the Kosetsu province, and mother of the Lord of the West, turned all of her attention on the human boy, like a cat sharpening its claws on a stubborn sapling.

"By the end of the day I would like to see you turn this lump of cherry wood into a toy for Ginrei's pup," Shiroihana told him at breakfast. She pulled out a small block of reddish wood and held it in her palm for Masuyo.

Masuyo took the wood and looked it over without complaint. He liked Lady Ginrei and had no reason to fight Shiroihana's order. There were only two problems he saw with the command. "Lady Shiroihana—one day isn't enough time unless you want me to make you chopsticks or a blob."

Shiroihana sat back in her seat and stroked Hanone's hair. The little girl was sitting at her side, stabbing the meat on her plate with one very sharp chopstick. The meat gushed wetly and Masuyo saw blood frothing out of it. He looked toward the walls of the room and tried to banish his nausea. His own food was more traditional: sweet rice and some vegetables. He was continuously grateful that Shiroihana's cook, whoever he was, understood that humans could not eat raw, bleeding meat.

"A simple shape will do best, boy. And I'm afraid you only have about a day's time."

"Don't you care what I make?" Masuyo asked, warily. He had received poor instructions from Shiroihana before, followed them to the best of his ability, only to learn that she was displeased and then he would be stuck with a worse chore than before as punishment.

"No," Shiroihana murmured, smiling dryly. "The pup will use it as a chew toy when he begins to teethe."

Masuyo scowled as rash anger spilled over him. He clutched the cherry wood in his palm, hard enough that his nails dug into the supple, painted surface. He cursed her in his mind. Of course she knew that his carving as a demon slayer could make things of great value. He had spent hours learning and practicing with his brothers and although Masuyo was not the most talented in his family, his work was nothing to sneeze at. Whatever he made for the new baby would be worth far more than a chew toy.

"Lady Shiroihana," Saya said, also frowning. "Masuyo's gift to the pup shouldn't be a chew toy!"

"It is an honor for him that I allow him to make anything for the pup! This child is long awaited by Lord Shimofuri! If that prissy Ginrei had simply accepted him sooner she would have a massive brood by now. Instead she's wasted such time on ceremony. That saint Shimofuri has allowed her to do it too…" Shiroihana huffed and shrugged her shoulders. One hand stroked the white fluff at her shoulders, as if she were soothing herself.

A gecko maid appeared at the door, hissing as its tongue slurped in and out of its lipless mouth. "Lady," it called. "The lord of the Middle Lands has come."

"Excellent," Shiroihana said, clapping her hands. "Bring him to us."

The gecko blinked. Its eyelids made a slick popping sound as they opened and closed. "That's not formal," it said.

"This is not a formal time!" Shiroihana said, sniffing. "Lady Ginrei is lying in her room covered in sweat! I'm not going to waste his time in the audience room." She waved one hand at the gecko in a shooing motion. "Get going. Bring him here."

Masuyo shifted uncomfortably and glanced quickly to Saya. He longed to ask her about Shimofuri. The name was familiar to him, but Masuyo had never seen the lord, only heard Shippo speak of him occasionally.

"Boy," Shiroihana said, catching Masuyo's attention.

"What?" he snapped.

Shiroihana's face warped with amusement at his sharp tone. "My, what poor manners. Didn't your mother teach you better than that? I am your superior."

"Didn't your mother teach you not to pick on defenseless humans?" Masuyo goaded her, glaring. He had controlled his temper since coming to Kagetsu palace, but staying quiet and respectful had not worked to stop Shiroihana's relentless teasing. Perhaps rudeness was what she wanted.

Shiroihana's eyes widened slightly, the gold lightened. Her lips parted, showing the sharp glint of fangs. Masuyo regarded her without fear, only anger.

"It is rude to speak of the dead," Shiroihana said.

"So she didn't teach you that it's cowardly to pick on those weaker than you?" Masuyo said, challenging her.

Now Shiroihana's face darkened with anger. "But you are not weak, boy. You have your pebbles, do you not?" The anger dissipated, changing to something else, almost a softness, like the kind she wore when scolding Saya. "And you're not afraid of anything, are you?"

Masuyo stayed silent, glaring.

Footsteps pounded outside, approaching them through the hall. Two different treads, one was the popping, sucking sound of the gecko-maid, the other the dry thump of a man's feet. Shiroihana sat up, still petting the fluff at her shoulders. "Ah, Lord Shimofuri has come to grace us with his presence."

"Great," Masuyo muttered under his breath. He took in Hanone and Saya's demeanors, guessing as fast as he could what Shimofuri was like. Hanone was unconcerned with the situation, busily spearing the raw meat in her bowl. Saya was smiling with eagerness.

The inuyoukai man stepped into the doorway. He was tall with dark blue-black hair. It was tied back rather than long-flowing like Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's. His eyes were dark blue, the streaks on his cheeks a startling turquoise. "Lady Shiroihana," he greeted her with a small bow.

Already Masuyo guessed gloomily that Shimofuri was subservient to Shiroihana. Everyone was. His jaw clenched as he vowed: I won't be. I refuse to.

"Welcome, Lord Shimofuri," Shiroihana said, smiling smoothly. "Your wife is doing very well. And your child will arrive in a few short hours."

"I wish to see her," Shimofuri said, stiffly.

"You know birthing is a private affair for women. Lady Ginrei will be fine. She has undergone this trial once before, after all." Shiroihana reached out and touched Hanone, patting the girl. "Sit and talk with me." She motioned to the empty seat that Ginrei normally took up. As Shimofuri obeyed her, stepping tensely into the room to sit where she indicated, Shiroihana made a shooing gesture toward Saya and Masuyo. "Leave us—Hanone, you may stay."

Saya bowed to both inuyoukai leaders but Masuyo excused himself rudely with no gesture of respect at all. He could feel Shiroihana's glare as he left and it sent a rush of bubbling glee through him.

He and Saya walked to the open air of the terrace. Masuyo began carving quickly while Saya spoke with excitement, anticipating Sesshomaru's arrival. Time passed swiftly until Hanone came and asked them to attend lunch. Lunch took place in the tearoom with its simple but elegant walls of white and wood. Masuyo sat close to Saya as usual, but now Shimofuri ate with them, forcing Hanone to squeeze in on Masuyo's other side. Shimofuri sat beside Shiroihana. He had no appetite and ignored the tea and food that the gecko-maids presented to him.

While Masuyo ate quickly, barely chewing food before swallowing, Shimofuri watched the boy, perplexed. At last he asked, "Lady Shiroihana, may I ask who this boy eating with us is?"

"The son of a monk and a renowned demon slayer," she replied blandly as she lifted a teacup to her lips and sipped.

There was a pause while Masuyo ignored their discussion and continued shoveling food down his throat. He hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast with Shiroihana's early dismissal. At his side Saya worked her chopsticks over sweetened plum, eating daintily. Hanone was spearing more raw meat, a fact that Masuyo worked hard to ignore. Shiroihana had nothing but tea and Shimofuri had a mixture of chicken and rice on his plate, but he didn't even look at it.

"Why is he here?" Shimofuri asked.

"He is my hostage," Shiroihana said, lowering her teacup back to the table. "I saved his only sister's life by bringing her soul back from the dead. I charged his parents with the usual currency—a life for a life. The boy is now mine to do with as I please."

Saya set down her chopsticks and cleared her throat. "Lady Shiroihana, please excuse me but you said that Masuyo was for my father. And for me."

"Of course," Shiroihana murmured, smiling. "That is why I acquired him. Has he pleased you Saya?"

"Yes," Saya replied, vehemently. Then, sheepishly, she lowered her eyes, staring steadfastly into her food. "I wish he was my brother," she muttered.

"What was that?" Shiroihana asked, suddenly alarmed.

Masuyo paused over his rice and lowered the bowl from his face. He chewed energetically while he viewed the strange tenseness that had fallen over the room. He had missed most of what Saya had said, but he hadn't thought of it as something that would offend Shiroihana.

In the heavy silence Hanone smacked on her meat, seemingly oblivious to the conversation.

Saya looked up and threw her shoulders back. Masuyo felt her body stiffen next to his. "I said," she began in a louder voice than was necessary, "I wish Masuyo was my brother instead."

Shiroihana's golden eyes narrowed in a way that Masuyo had never seen before. Momentary fear prickled his scalp and his hunger vanished. The bowl in his hands felt awkward and Masuyo longed to put it down but as long as Shiroihana aimed her death stare at Saya he stayed still, frozen. If he moved she might break and actually strike Saya.

Finally Shimofuri said, "Lady Shiroihana, you must forgive young Lady Saya. She is a child. Children say things they do not mean."

Shiroihana shook her head. "Do not make excuses for Saya." She leaned forward slightly and jabbed an accusatory finger at Saya. "This is why your father sent you to stay with me, Saya. Do you understand? You are being punished."

Saya's small face wrinkled with pain and anger. "I already knew that!"

Desperate to break the mood, Masuyo purposefully dropped his bowl and chopsticks onto the table. "Oops," he said and gave Shiroihana a hard grin.

For once in his stay there, Shiroihana ignored him, but Hanone and Shimofuri both looked to him with alarm.

"Meisomaru is a blessing on the Western Lands," Shiroihana yelled, actually raising her voice with anger. "You are his sister. You must treat him with honor and respect."

"Do I have to obey him too?" Saya demanded with equal rage. "He's nothing but a brat that slobbers on my clothes and chews up all my shoes! And Father wants me to call him ridiculous things like Chakushi-sama." Saya bared her teeth in a snarl. "He's not my brother!"

"He is your brother and you will treat him with proper respect!" Shiroihana hissed. She pounded one fist on the table, making the dishes rattle.

Shimofuri spoke then in a gentler tone, acting as the voice of reason. Masuyo looked to the younger lord with relief and gratitude. "Lady Saya—he is your little brother. Lady Hanone is your sister, right?"

Saya stared into her lap. Her jaw clenched up, the muscles flickering. "Yes. I love my little sister."

Hearing her name, Hanone replied in a tinny, high voice. "I love my sister Saya too." She licked the red, bloody end of one chopstick and asked, "Why is Grandmother yelling at Sister Saya?"

"Because your sister is a fool," Shiroihana snapped, glaring.

Saya didn't look up as she whispered, "I hate you."

Suddenly a gecko-maid lurched into the doorway. Its yellow sides fluttered with rapid breathing. "Lady Ginrei—the pup. It is here."

Shimofuri rose instantly and moved out of the room. Shiroihana followed at a much slower pace, pausing to comb her white fluff with both hands, shrug her shoulders, and pat down the sparse, nonexistent wrinkles in her purple kimono. Her eyes stayed on Saya's bowed head the entire time. Masuyo expected her to say something else but she moved to the doorway before turning and murmuring quietly, "You disappoint me, Saya. I thought you would prove your worth as a hanyou. Truly, a shame."

Saya dissolved into wild sobbing as soon as Shiroihana had gone. She lowered her head to the table, brusquely pushing aside the bowl of food. The chopsticks and the bowl flew across the room with only her small touch. Masuyo stared, alarmed by the girl's hidden power. He had halfway forgotten that she was not human. She was hanyou and just as it had affected Inuyasha, Koinu, and to a lesser extent Akisame, it haunted Saya too.

Hanone left her food behind and sat on Saya's opposite side, wrapping her short arms around her older sister, burying her face into Saya's neck and hair. "Don't cry," she whimpered. "I love you. Don't cry."

Masuyo watched them, frozen, stunned. There really was a lot that he didn't understand about the creatures around him, their inner dynamics, but the sound of Saya's sobbing filled him with grief of his own. The elegance of the wood walls around him blurred as childish tears exploded into his eyes. He fought them by imagining Shiroihana's face, her stark, unusual anger. Whatever lied between Saya and her grandmother, he had no doubt that Shiroihana deserved it.

Awkwardly, Masuyo scooted closer to where Saya and Hanone were embracing and wrapped his longer arms around both of them. "It's okay, Saya," he reassured her. "Your father is coming for us soon."

When the slayers reached the village, Koinu found that it was a bustling place, filled with movement. Many shopkeepers and other people that Koinu suspected were slayers in plainclothes waved and greeted Sango and Miroku.

"You've finally come back!" One man called, rushing for their group. Behind him was a boy that Koinu recognized: Riki, Sango and Miroku's ten year old son.

"Toji!" Miroku yelled, gripping the man's hand as he came close. Riki slipped around the man's side and ran to Sango, wrapping his arms around her and crying with relief.

As they moved through the streets, Koinu felt his face burn with embarrassment. The villagers, slayers, commoners, and merchants alike, eyed him critically. At first Koinu thought it was with hostility, but when he passed by a young woman with her infant strapped to her back, the woman grinned at the sight of him. Koinu saw her lips move, saying a name that was lost in the shuffle and babble of the crowded street: "Inuyasha."

Of course the slayers had heard of and seen his father. Koinu held his head higher as he realized that they had mistaken him for his legendary father.

The slayers homecoming was joyful and swift. Koinu watched it as an outsider. The youngest boys hugged Miroku and Sango, then they rushed for Kasai. After her they grinned up at Kohimu and Tisoki and Kohimu, with surprising patience, knelt down and slipped one shoulder out of his robe to show his youngest brothers the scar of the bite that had nearly killed him. Koudo touched it reverently and gasped out, "Whoa…"

Their attention turned to Koinu and Nobe then, in that order. Kohimu introduced Nobe to the boys and Koinu greeted both of them with a warm smile. Riki, who was old enough to remember meeting Inuyasha years ago, controlled his gawking while Koudo stared with wide eyes before nervously asking Koinu if he was a demon.

"Only a little," Koinu smirked and wriggled his ears for the little boy to admire. When Koudo saw the white appendages he giggled and lost all of his initial fear. He pounced on Koinu and reached for his ears. Tolerantly, Koinu allowed the boy to pull and tug on them, shrieking with laughter.

Gradually the sadness came. Riki looked around and saw that Masuyo was missing. The boy's eyes found Nobe, who was close in height and age to Masuyo, but then he scowled, realizing that his parents had brought home a stranger and misplaced Masuyo. He tugged on Miroku's robe and asked, "Where's Masu?"

As the family mourned for the second time over their missing son, Koinu thought of his sister and his father, hoping that they had reached their estate safely. He recalled his sister's tears and prayed that while he was away she would find the strength to stand alone if she needed to.

(A/N: while my younger sister was away this summer I discovered how much I missed her. I suspect both siblings here would miss each other a lot.)

"It's so fucking quiet here," Akisame grumbled at the dinner table.

"Shut up," Inuyasha snapped, frowning.

"But it is," she whined, sighing. She stared across the table to where Inuyasha was sprawled out over the sitting cushions, taking up one whole side of the table. He had placed one hand on the table and was rapping his claws over the surface, tapping, counting out the seconds and minutes. "Would you quit doing that, Dad?"

"No," Inuyasha told her. "Not until your mother gets back."

"She's coming back with Ramen, right? She said she was getting Ramen from Grandma, right?"

"She'd better," Inuyasha growled.

After Koinu and the slayers had parted from their group, Inuyasha had been further irritated when Shippo decided to head back toward the Middle Lands. The fox was shady about his reasons, but Inuyasha knew it had to do with the hanyou girl Tsukiyume. He thought of the selfish little kit and wanted to shred one of the sitting cushions he was resting on. Damn that little runt…

"We should go after her," Akisame suggested. "We';; surprise her at Grandma's. We can have dinner there and eat chalk-ol-it."

"You mean chocolate?" Inuyasha asked, recognizing his daughter's botched mispronunciation. He'd had more years than Akisame, a longer time to wrap his tongue around the different words of Kagome's era. "You like that shit?"

"It's not shit!"

"Feh," Inuyasha grunted, sitting up. His ears quivered for a moment and he shook his head, as if they itched. One eye squinted shut as the hanyou grimaced. He pawed at his face, distracted by momentary pain from debris in his eye. "You're right, Aki. We'll go after her. She would make us wait fucking forever if we didn't anyway."

"Yes!" Akisame hopped to her feet and rushed for the door. Inuyasha shouted after her, trying to make her slow down. As he passed through the door, which she'd left open, Akisame was already at the gate that surrounded their home, tugging on it.

Inuyasha bounded forward, catching up to her and slamming both palms on the gate to keep it shut. "Hey—Aki, when I tell you to wait for me, wait for me. Got it?"

She let go of the gate and nodded, blinking with surprise. Normally Inuyasha scolded Koinu for those minor transgressions, whether the pup had done them alone or with Akisame. She muttered, "Yeah, sorry."

Inuyasha watched her for a moment with a hard expression, then it faded, turning into a smile. "Whenever we get back out of the well, how about I let you use Tetsusaiga to make some diamonds?"

Akisame's mouth fell open with alarm. "Dad, I—I don't know how! I can barely manage a wind scar out of that old thing."

Her father scowled, but his ears stayed erect. "We'll just have to change that, won't we?"

"But the sword doesn't like me."

"Nonsense!" Inuyasha snapped. "You just have to know how to sweet talk it. I'll show you how." He tugged on the gate with a grunt and the wooden structure swung open, lurching with a deep groan.

"Promise?" Akisame asked from behind him as he walked through.

Inuyasha snorted. "Feh! Of course!"

"All the way to diamonds?"

"Hell yeah." Inuyasha let the weight of the gate pull it closed behind them. He picked out a path toward the well through the forest trees and headed that way at a fast walk to begin with. Akisame matched his pace easily, trotting on her shorter legs at his side.

"Why diamonds for sure?" Akisame pressed. Inuyasha picked out her uncertainty. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it to diamonds.

"You'll get there eventually but I want to make some of those stupid shiny rocks for your mother."

"For Mom?" As Inuyasha leaped into the first tree at the edge of the road, Akisame followed him but couldn't leap as high. She cried out as one hand slipped from the branch she'd been aiming for. Inuyasha reached down and grabbed her arm, hauling her up with only one hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked, peering into her eye for a moment.

Akisame nodded silently.

"Good." Inuyasha pointed in the direction of the well. "It's that way. Be careful while you're leaping. I don't want to have to bring you to your mom on the other side in fucking pieces to ask one of her doc-tors to sew you up. Got that?"

"I jump with Koinu all the time, Dad," Akisame muttered. "I'll be fine." She stared him down for a moment and then asked, "Why do you need a diamond for Mom?"

"She likes them." Inuyasha rolled his eyes but the smirk on his lips made Akisame stick out her tongue in disgust. She had heard village girls talking and she'd been in her mother's time long enough to understand that jewels were supposed to be aphrodisiacs. Throw some shiny stones at a girl and she got weak in the knees.

"Ew, parental romance is gross." By the time she'd finished speaking Inuyasha was already some distance ahead through the trees, bounding from them effortlessly, outdoing even the squirrels. Alone on her branch, Akisame sighed. "Wait up, Dad! I'll help you make diamonds for Mom!"

There was no supper that evening. Masuyo sat on the terrace, breathing in the moist, fresh summer air. The cherry wood was supple under his blade, it parted like tender meat. A shape emerged gradually, curved like a banana. Masuyo picked out the details, giving it a sharper spot in the curved middle and indentations at either end that he would have painted if someone had given him the proper supplies. Masuyo enjoyed the scent of his hands after handling the wood, sharp and sweet at once. For one of the first times in weeks he smiled with real enjoyment.

Saya and Hanone had left him alone for the time being and he had heard nothing from Shiroihana, Ginrei, or the guest Shimofuri. There was only the open air of the terrace, his carving knife, and the calming scent of the wood. As the sun dropped lower in the sky it pierced the unending clouds that encircled the Kagetsu palace. Masuyo stared out toward the brilliant orange and closed his eyes, imagining that he was in the forest outside of the slayer's village, searching for pebbles, carving with Kasai, Tisoki, and even Kohimu.

The faint, soft sound of fabric pulled him out of that dream. Masuyo opened his eyes and blinked, stunned that his worst enemy could sneak up on him so completely. While he had daydreamed, Shiroihana had walked right up to him through the mixed gloom and sun of the open-air terrace. She stood before him in her luxurious purple kimono. The white fluff draped over her shoulders and trailed down to the floor. Shiroihana looked down the length of her small nose at him. Her golden eyes were hard and feral.

"I've come to retrieve the toy from you, boy."

"It's finished—I just have to carve its name."

"Do it quickly," Shiroihana ordered.

Masuyo turned the shape over in his hands, banana shaped but sharp in the center. He used the tip of the knife to ingrain the characters into the soft wood. Hiraikotsu. He held the shape out to her on one flat palm as soon as he'd finished.

Shiroihana took it and ran her fingers over it, scrutinizing it critically. "Is this some sort of cursed name?" she asked.

"It's the name of the weapon my mother uses to kill monsters—like you," Masuyo snarled.

"How entertaining that it will be an inuyoukai child's chew toy," Shiroihana smirked. She tucked the toy into her kimono at the collar, in the same pocket where she kept the obsidian dagger that she had used to kill the possessed Kasai. When she looked to Masuyo again she said, "I know you could have made a better toy. Tell me, if I told you that I had been cruel to you to make you bond with my granddaughter Saya, what would you feel?"

Masuyo fingered the woodchips lying around his feet and knees. He felt the sharpness of his carving knife and imagined slashing at Shiroihana's legs though he already knew he wouldn't attack her unless she tried to keep him from leaving with Sesshomaru and Saya. "I wouldn't care because you've already taken everything away from me." He flicked a small woodchip at her white-hemmed kimono. "And I would say it was a really lousy way to make two kids bond."

Shiroihana laughed, brief but intense. Masuyo fought his blush, the burning that spread over his face, all the way to his ears.

"A fine answer, boy." She shifted, alarming Masuyo as she knelt down next to him. Her knee smashed the small woodchip that he had flicked at her moments ago. Masuyo averted his eyes from her, staring into the shapeless mist. The sun had been covered up, the grayness of their cloud castle had resumed.

"Slayer boy," Shiroihana said, addressing him solemnly. Masuyo refused to look her in the eye. He waited for her to go on and eventually she did. "When Sesshomaru comes to take Saya with him, you will go with them willingly, correct?"

Masuyo nodded, tense and slow.

"I know that you will resist this, but I must warn you about Saya's more immediate family."

At last Masuyo turned his head cautiously, eyeing Shiroihana warily. "What are you talking about?"

Shiroihana gazed at him sternly. Her golden eyes were serious and something in them had changed, darkening, but it struck Masuyo as different from her other moments of teasing and taunting. Her face was fuller, softer, her eyes duller, her lips slower. She did not pet the white fluff coyly, instead her hands, small and pale, stayed clasped in her lap. "Some years ago a supernatural event transformed Saya's mother—Lady Rin—into a pureblooded inuyoukai."

"I heard about that," Masuyo conceded, reluctantly showing his interest.

"That has since caused difficulty within the family. Saya is here with me because her parents hoped…" Shiroihana's words trailed off and she suddenly looked fatigued. She shook her head before going on, "That doesn't matter now. My hope is that you will guide her to accepting her brother. I believe you know Sesshomaru's own younger brother, the hanyou."

"Inuyasha," Masuyo supplied stiffly.

"Yes, that hanyou. There is a fear within our family that Saya will leave us and put herself in danger. It was my hope that bringing you here would influence Saya. You are one of many children, are you not?"

"Yeah," Masuyo replied, trying to hide the surprise and nervousness out of his voice.

"Good. You will protect my granddaughter, even if it is from herself? I trust you to have the wisdom to see when she will need your guidance." She pinned him with her golden eyes like a butterfly under a dissecting needle.

Slowly, Masuyo nodded, but he was frowning. "But I would do it just for Saya—not for you. Saya doesn't like you either. If you're lying or trying to fool me—I'm not dumb." He moved closer to her, challenging her. "I'll figure it out and I'll do whatever you don't want me to do then."

The darkness in Shiroihana's eyes vanished, replaced by the lighter, sharper expression that Masuyo recognized as her teasing mood. "Of course you will, boy. I would expect nothing else from a slayer. But what is a slayer without his tools?"

Masuyo watched her warily as Shiroihana reached up to her collar and dug about under the white fluff. A moment later she pulled out the leather strap that had been painted black. Masuyo's mouth fell open with astonishment. It was the sling that he had lost in Master Dani's temple, his favorite sling magically materialized in Shiroihana's robes.

The inuyoukai woman held it out to him, inches from his nose. "I believe if I let you have this, slayer, you will be yourself once more, won't you?"

Masuyo snatched it from her and stuffed it hurriedly into his clothes. When he had finished he glared at Shiroihana, refusing to ask how she had come to have the missing sling. "Is that it, my lady?" he asked snidely.

"Yes, it is." She got to her feet without the sound of joints snapping; only the calming swish and pull of fabric. From her superior height she stared down at him. "I trust when I turn my back on you, Masuyo, you won't try to kill me with one of your pebbles."

Masuyo stopped himself from gasping when he heard her say his name. He wanted to question her: You actually know my name? But he guessed that that was what she was looking for. He held his lips tightly together and nodded at her.

"Goodbye, Masuyo." Shiroihana walked away, disappearing into the gray-white mist.

Only a few hours after arriving home with Koinu and Nobe in tow, Sango began to wonder how she had survived without them. Nobe, eager to impress his hosts to prove himself worthy of joining their team as an apprentice, carried water for her, cleaned the messes made by Koudo and Riki, and he even pinned back the sleeves of his robe and knelt with her and Kasai over the wash tub to scrub dirty clothing. Koinu showed infinite patience, distracting Koudo and Riki from any grief they felt at losing Masuyo. He showed them how to fight with poles until the boys were comfortable practicing alone, then joined Sango, Kasai, and Nobe in the kitchen where he set about cleaning dishes alone in the sink basin, scratching at them with his clawed fingers to remove stubborn, caked-on food.

The work was finished hours before it normally was. Sango retreated to the bedroom to relax and fell instantly asleep, trusting that Koinu and Nobe would handle her youngest children.

Kasai began a carving lesson on the little enclosed verandah in front of Sango and Miroku's home. It was a mudroom of sorts, laid with cheaper wood that had cracked and filled with old, crusted dirt. Sandals of all sizes lined one side of the wall, and on the other a series of boots was laid out, all of them painted black. Only a dot of color closer to the top showed who each pair belonged to. One color for Kohimu, another for Tisoki and so on.

Koudo and Riki had old blocks of wood that they had been working on over time. Koudo was making chopsticks, one of the simplest tasks he could do as a beginner. Riki was working on a round ball, a toy. Nobe and Koinu were also working on chopsticks like Koudo, but unlike all of the other students, and their young teacher Kasai, Koinu didn't bother using a knife. He flicked and dug with his claws and found that everything came easier when he wasn't using a knife.

When the sun set, a burst of pain started in Koinu's ears. He cringed and his fingers lost their grip on the little sliver of wood he'd been carving. It fell from his hands and into his lap.

Kasai looked up with alarm. "What's wrong?"

Koinu didn't answer her as the pain shifted, moving from the top of his skull to the sides where his jaw came together, the place where human ears were located. He pawed at his thighs but his claws had faded, becoming blunt. As suddenly as it had come the pain faded and Koinu found himself blinking down at the sliver of wood he'd been working on. The room seemed several times darker with the loss of his superior part-dog demon vision. Black hair slipped over his shoulders.

"Whoa!" Riki exclaimed. "That was so cool! Can you do it again?"

Koinu lifted his head and smiled faintly. "When the sun comes up, yeah. I'll do it again."

"Does it always hurt?" Kasai asked, concern thickening her voice.

Koinu stared at her with human eyes, the same blue color they had been before but so changed on the inside that he could not clearly make out the shadows on her face, the set of her lips and jaw. Yet the long flow of her black hair was clear, beautiful as it always was. She would take a bath this evening. Koinu repressed the small flutter of excitement that came through him as he realized he would smell her clean skin in the morning and even tonight with his weakened human nose. His mother and his sister, even his father, always smelled delicious after a bath.

It was a different delicious now with Kasai…

"It hurt more tonight than usual because this is the second night," Koinu explained. "But the pain is hard to predict. When I was little I didn't even notice it."

"I wonder if that has to do with your mother's power," Kasai said, her brow furrowing as she considered it.

"What power?" Koudo asked.

"Miko powers," Koinu answered.

Koudo squinted at him through the dark and began nodding. "I didn't know boys could be miko priestesses…"

Nobe smirked, flicking a bit of wood onto the floor. "You should see his little sister!"

Koinu frowned. "Don't talk about Aki."

"Will you kill him like Inuyasha if he doesn't stop?" Kasai asked, teasing. Her teeth gleamed wetly as she smiled.

Koinu fought himself internally, caught between protective irritation at Nobe and the desire to tease Kasai in some way. As usual when she started teasing him, Koinu found his mind blanking, unable to combat her in some clever way involving words. Finally he settled on saying the truth. He shook his head. "No, I wouldn't have to. Aki would kill him first."

"Why?" Nobe asked, genuinely wounded at the news. "What have I done to anger her?"

"Maybe she doesn't like boys," Riki said. "I don't like girls."

"You'll like them someday," Nobe replied sternly. He looked to Koinu and asked again, "What did I do to anger Akisame?"

Koinu scowled and pretended to be absorbed by examining the wood, picking at it with his blunt fingernails. "My sister is not available. She's too young to be thinking about boys."

"Are you sure?" Nobe insisted. "You can be honest with me—"

Kasai interrupted him, clearing her throat. "Nobe, leave it alone. Aki is not available."

As Nobe pouted, Koudo and Riki giggled. "Such a fuss over a stupid girl!" Koudo said, making a face of disgust.

"Girls are not stupid," Koinu corrected him seriously in a dark tone. He gazed at Kasai and smiled coyly. "Kasai is a girl and she always beats me when we fight."

"No way," Riki gasped. "Kasai, you fight with Koinu? Koinu's part-demon!"

Kasai didn't answer but the small smile on her lips as she worked the carving knife over the bone was enough of a prompt for both Riki and Koudo to speak up, dropping the wood and their own knives to plead her to show them. As her little brothers tugged on her sleeves, Kasai sighed and set down the bone and the knife. She threw Koinu a mock glare. "Why Son of Dog—you are such a liar."

"See how she insults me?" Koinu asked Nobe, shaking his head. When he saw that Koudo and Riki were watching him, Koinu added, "See, girls aren't stupid, but they are very, very mean. That's why Aki doesn't like Nobe."

"Liar," Kasai repeated, a little more intensely.

"We should settle this in a fight," Koinu suggested, grinning. "Human against human—I've never fought you like this before." He dropped his voice into a somber tone when he looked at Koudo and Riki. "She'll beat me even more now than she did before!"

"We'll see about that," Kasai said, rolling her eyes. "Promise not to let me win?"

"I would never do such a thing," Koinu announced, opening his mouth wide as if he were shocked at the accusation. He thumped his chest with one fisted hand. "This one fights to win, always."

Without breaking her stare with Koinu, Kasai ordered, "Riki, Koudo—go get the fighting poles."

The little group spilled out into the sweet, nighttime air. The sky was still faintly blue. The hills and houses glowed, reluctant to turn to the full black darkness of the night. In the empty street outside of Miroku and Sango's home, Koinu and Kasai took up positions ten feet apart, standing stiff and at attention. Nobe watched with awe as Koudo went to Kasai, giving her a fighting pole, and Riki handed Koinu a different pole. Both were made of painted bamboo, straight and hollow.

"Round one!" Riki hollered and clapped his hands in the same moment as Koudo, who was standing at his side.

Koinu advanced first with confident but light steps. He lifted the pole and changed his grasp on it, pointing one end like the blade of a sword. Kasai stayed in her spot, holding her pole out in the same way. When they met, touching the poles together and tensing them against each other, Koudo shouted impatiently, "Go Koinu!"

"Hah!" Koinu shouted, drawing back his pole and lashing out at Kasai. She evaded the blow by ducking. When she struck at Koinu's legs from her lowered position Koinu didn't move fast enough. The bamboo thumped on his legs and Koinu yelped, hopping awkwardly out of her range.

They circled each other like sharks for a moment, sizing one another up. Kasai held her ground, refusing to lead the attack. Koinu did it for her, charging forward, slashing with the pole. He feinted one way and then whipped around, digging the edge of the pole under Kasai's guard. She cried out with surprise as the pole flew into the air, out of her reach. She blinked with surprise when Koinu jabbed the end of his pole to her neck. The cold, straight edge of the bamboo was cold on her skin.

"You win," she said.

Koinu withdrew several steps, rolling his shoulders and twirling the pole, testing its weight.

"I didn't know you were so skilled with the poles," Kasai admitted as she moved to retrieve her lost bamboo rod.

"I'm not," Koinu responded. "You're not trying."

"Liar," Kasai murmured. She glanced to her little brothers and saw that they were grinning with glee. Nobe meanwhile was silent, but his eyes were alight with fascination. "Round two," she called, commencing the next battle.

Koinu lunged forward with his pole at the ready. Kasai whipped out of his way, lifting the pole as she moved, thwacking Koinu in the gut. With a growling sound, which was in a much higher pitch than normal, Koinu pivoted around and clashed his pole to hers. The bamboo rods clicked hollowly. Koinu started to fall back but Kasai anticipated the move and jammed her pole at Koinu's legs. He tripped but tucked his body as he fell; rolling, but he lost his pole in the process.

When he sat up he found that Kasai was already in front of him, pushing the end of her bamboo rod into Koinu's face. Koinu lifted his hands up, submitting. "I give up."

"It's a tie!" Koudo yelled gleefully. "Round three winner is champion!"

A few paces away from Kasai, Koinu stopped, lifting the pole and digging his toes into the soil. "Round three!" he yelled. Letting out a cry, Koinu raced for Kasai and they clashed, smashing the bamboo rods together.

On the sidelines all three of their spectators cheered with excitement.

Rather than separating, Koinu maneuvered around, striking at Kasai's shoulder. She blocked it and then jabbed at his side with the opposite end of her pole. Koinu sidestepped and parried the blow. As Kasai ducked another attempted strike, she caught the gleam in Koinu's gaze, following her movement. She recognized the look, understanding that he was going to purposefully lose. He would not do it easily, but Kasai planned then to outsmart him.

Rather than trying to attack the belly that he left exposed, Kasai turned her back toward him as she twisted around, exposing herself completely to him. Koinu moved close to her and blocked her pole, ignoring the chance she'd given him to end the battle completely. Kasai freed her pole from the block and pushed her pole against his, hard. She leaned as close to him as she could with the poles in the way and whispered: "Why don't you win this one?"

"You're not trying," Koinu said, curling his lips in an expression that looked like a snarl but was in fact a toothy grin.

Kasai leaped backward and faced him from a distance. Like matador and bull the fighters paused, reconsidering. Finally Kasai shouted in her high voice and rushed for Koinu, lifting the pole high in the air, aiming for his head.

Koinu braced himself, slapping her pole with his own. The blow, although not very powerful, easily knocked Kasai's pole out of her hands. As it clanged on the dirt and gravel of the road and then rolled over onto a little swathe of grass, Koudo and Riki began to cheer with delight. "Koinu won! Boys rule! Girls really are stupid!"

Koinu was deaf to their shouting. His shoulders rose and fell as he breathed and stared at Kasai's open, limp hands. She was panting with exertion too but a smug smile covered her lips, crinkling her eyes. Quietly, she said, "I got you."

"I should pummel you," Koinu muttered.

Kasai held out her hands, palms up, defenseless and unarmed. "Who's stopping you?"

The smile, the mischievous glint in her eyes, and the long flow of her black hair as she turned around and lightheartedly scolded her brothers for cheering against her all conspired to keep Koinu where he was, holding the pole, unable to speak. Eventually he collected the poles, carrying them in, responding only halfheartedly when Koudo and Riki came to congratulate him. He watched Kasai usher them inside and order Nobe to draw water to heat. It was bath time.

Koudo and Riki raced to help Nobe with the water at the pump behind the house. As their forms disappeared into the darkness Kasai walked up the three small stairs into the enclosed verandah and began washing her feet before entering the house.

Koinu set down the poles inside the enclosed verandah, slinking in behind Kasai, listening to the chatter of the water as she wiped down her feet. "You should have won," Koinu told her.

"The better fighter should win," Kasai answered, patting down her feet with an old cloth and moving out of the way for Koinu to wash his feet as well, but Koinu didn't sit at the little water bucket immediately. He stared at her in the dark and caught the sheen of sweat on her brow.

"Your brothers shouldn't think less of you because you're a girl," Koinu insisted.

"They don't," Kasai murmured. "It's just their age. They're too young to understand. They don't really see me as a girl, just their sister. Besides…" Kasai dropped the old rag down next to the water bucket and took a step closer to Koinu, "You always let me win. I decided it was time for me to let you win."

A tense moment passed as Kasai stared up at him, searching his face. Her lips formed the tender smile that made Koinu hold his breath as his stomach flipped inside his body. Then Kasai started speaking hesitantly, nearly whispering, "I couldn't tell you before but…" she broke off and shook her head, averting her eyes. "You're not…"

"Not what?" Koinu asked, trying to catch her gaze again.

"You're not ugly," she stammered with nervousness. "I mean if someone—like Nobe—stares at you when you're human, it's not because there's something wrong." She drew in a shaky breath and turned, looking toward the closed sliding door that led inside the house. "It's because there's something right that people stare."

Tentatively, Koinu reached out and touched her cheek. Startled, Kasai looked back at him, her eyes wide and wet. Koinu could feel her breath puffing against his cheek, the scent surprisingly sweet like the night air outside. Before he gave himself time to think about it, Koinu pressed his face close to hers, touching his skin to hers. Her cheek was warm and soft on his, her breathing came in quick spurts, whispering into his black hair and onto his human ear.

Koinu closed his eyes and lifted his arms, wrapping them around her shoulders, pulling her closer—and then he yelped with shock and stumbled back from her, bumping into the water bucket and falling clumsily onto his hands and knees.

"I'm so sorry," Kasai cried above him. One hand was clenched in a fist and held back, as if it had a mind of its own and would run away if she released it. "I didn't mean to do it. Really, Koinu, I didn't…"

Koinu's face burned as he got gradually to his feet, trying to ignore the lingering sensation of warmth on his backsides. Kasai had reached behind him when he had embraced her and gripped one butt cheek. He shook his head, trying to dismiss the event. "Don't worry about it."

"No," Kasai murmured, sounding stricken. "I'm sorry…"

At that moment the sound of laughter reached them, rising up out of the darkness outside the verandah. Koudo, Riki, and Nobe had arrived at the steps, each carrying one or in Nobe's case, two heavy buckets of water. Koinu moved in and helped the littest boy with his load while he ascended the three little steps into the verandah. By the time Koinu turned around to look back at Kasai she had slipped inside like a ghost, a figment of his imagination.

A/N: I promise Return's update will arrive shortly, hopefully in a matter of days after I've recovered sufficiently from painkillers, pain, and such. Prayer...We'll just say this extra long chapter is supposed to make up for my absence. Full of all sorts of Masu-Saya/Rin-Sess hints and some Koinu-Kasai action...