THE DISEASE WAS NOMINATED BY FEUDAL CONNECTION TUMBLR FOR BEST ANGST! NOMINATIONS END JANUARY 15TH SO IF YOU THINK ANY OF MY OTHER STORIES DESERVE LET ME KNOW!

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Yuki

Yuki lopes ahead of her mother in the direction of the village. She holds Taiyomaru on her back as she runs through the grass. She tickles his feet while they run. He laughs. Ka-san says that they need to work in the garden. So they ate a quick breakfast and then set off for the village. Yuki complains about being put to work. It's fine that her mother wants her to be part of the community garden, but Yuki certainly doesn't want to. She hopes that if she gets far enough ahead, her mother will give up and let her play by herself.

"Yuki wait!" Harutoga still struggles to keep up with her. "You never carry me anymore."

"You're getting too big Haru. You're almost as tall as me." Yuki refuses to slow her pace. She wants to talk to Shiori. Despite the years they have lived in the village, Shiori and her mother Shizu have kept to themselves. Yuki has seen the bat-hanyou a few times but she wants to see her up-close. Sure, plenty of the children have pure-blooded demon parents, but few of them were the product of a dai-yokai like she is. For the longest time she wanted to find out what the girl was capable of.

"Chichiue said you have to call me Harutoga!" the little boy yells at her.

"No, Ka-san said I have to and she can't hear me. Haru." She sticks her tongue out at him.

"I can hear you," Katsumoto says from behind them.

Yuki rolls her eyes. "Your job is to guard us, not tell me what to do. Shut up," she hisses.

"You are so rude," the pure-blooded demon counters. "I think it shall become my task to teach you proper manners."

"Good luck," Harutoga giggles struggling to keep up. "Slow down Yuki!"

"Harutoga! Yuki!" Rin calls them with a hand shielding her eyes from the bright sun. "We're going to the garden!"

Obediently Harutoga pivots in a long arc and runs after his mother and Hisato.

"Yeah right." Yuki nearly collides into Katsumoto. Her hands whip to her back to catch Taiyomaru from dropping. The child has a death grip on several strands of her hair.

"Turn around little one." Katusmoto kneels down on one knee. "For the last twelve years I think you have exasperated everyone around you. That won't happen with me. Go on."

"I'm thirteen moron." She tries to shoulder past him with her brother laughing at her impudence.

She is stopped by fingers gripping into her knobby shoulder. "I said turn around," his tone is low and cold.

"Yuki!" Rin summons her again.

"Let go of my arm." She raises a menacingly green hand in the air, claws dripping her poison.

Katsumoto flips his hand palm up, flicks his fingers and binds the hand in neon green energy. This causes Taiyomaru to drop. "Go to your mother little one," Katsumoto pats the child with his free hand. Taiyomaru bounds off in his mother's direction. "You will not win this battle. Go to your mother or I'll tie you up and drag you there."

Her other hand comes faster than he anticipates, but not fast enough. She attempts to slash his face only for the whip to extend from the bound hand to her free hand pulling them over her head. "Shall I march you there like a prisoner?" He steps on top of one her toes. "Don't think of using those. I'll catch them too."

"I hate you," she spits in his face.

He wipes the liquid off his nose with the hand that isn't holding her and wipes it on his grass-green haori. "It's a good thing we aren't intended to like each other then. Your decision, I parade you like a prisoner in front of all of your friends to the garden or you walk there

yourself and help your mother nicely? Which one?"

"You're a jerk," her eyes redden as frustrated tears come. "I'm telling Chichiue."

"I highly doubt your Chichiue would care you didn't get your way while defying your Ka-san." He pushes her in the opposite direction. "Now…"

"Fine I'll go myself," the words come out choked with tears.

"Good." He rises off his knees, releasing her hands.

Her shoulders slump as she stomps to the garden, trying to look like she wasn't just utterly defeated. "Stupid Katsumoto," she sniffs back her tears. She flops to her knees next to her mother. Taiyomaru and Harutoga are already obediently following their mother's directions. "Traders." She glares at her brothers.

Rin rests a soft hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You could have just come. Chichiue told you to behave before he left."

"This is behaving." She digs her hands into the ground softening the earth. "What are we growing here?"

"Parsnips for the fall," Rin laughs. "Hisato, go find Shizu. I'd like to talk to her."

"They've been here for years, why haven't you met them yet?" Yuki asks her mother.

"Shizu's husband was killed many years ago. They've preferred their privacy but I think we've given them enough time to adjust, don't you?" Rin tells her daughter. "Shiori could be a friend for you."

"I don't need help making friends." This time the world swirls as her eyes move around in her head.

"Katsumoto," Hisato nods at his cousin. "Keep watch until I return."

"I don't like him," Yuki hisses at her mother. "He's a stupid jerk!"

Rin covers her mouth with her wrist while she laughs at Yuki's outburst. "Personally I like him. I think he's going to be good for you."

"No he's not." She picks up a chunk of dirt. It's so moist she balls it up, squishing the juices out so they drip into the dirt. She slides a rock inside and raises it to pelt Katsumoto in the face. He disappears in a flash and is suddenly behind her shaking her weapon out of her hand. She tries to bite his hand, only for him to knock her over.

The entire time her mother laughs because there is finally someone who can stand up to her daughter's moods.

Yuki glances over her shoulder just as Hisato is returning with Shizu who holds the hand of a little girl that looks no older than herself. Shizu's hair has grey wisps around the sides. Her face is lined with age. Her head bows in respect to Rin. "Rin-sama, I'm Shizu. It's nice to meet you."

Rin rises gracefully from the ground. "It's nice to meet you." She goes to the water bucket against what used to be the Healer's hut and washes her hands. Nobuatsu uses it as storage now. She inclines her head to the older woman. "Harutoga, go get the seeds for the carrots."

"Yes Ka-san." The boy runs over to the buckets that are inside the hut. He comes out with a small bag of seeds and goes to work tilling and planting. Behind him his brother follows quietly.

"Ka-chan, they look like Inuyasha," the little girl gazes up at her mother.

"They're Inuyasha's niece and nephews. Sesshomaru-sama is Inuyasha's brother," Shizu says kindly patting her daughter on the head. "I had heard about you years ago. I thought it was a dream that there would be a place where my daughter would be accepted. Shiori, say hello."

Shiori shyly waves her hand.

"Yuki, come say hello," she encourages her daughter.

Yuki gets off the ground, her knees are covered in dirt. She bows lightly. "I'm Yuki. The boys are Taiyomaru," she points to her littlest brother with a thick black mane on his head, "and Harutoga."

"Do you want to show Shiori how to plant Kabocha?" Rin gives Yuki a small push to the shack.

"Come on," Yuki clasps the other girl's hand. "How old are you anyway?"

"Thirty two or thirty three, I think. I'm not sure. Ka-chan stopped counting a while ago," Shiori follows her into the ram shackled hut.

Yuki digs through the bags of seeds. "Where the hell are they?"

"What do they look like?"

"They're big and goldish brown. Oval shaped," Yuki pushes a box aside and opens another set of barrels going through the seeds. "I hate gardening."

"So do I. We lived by the ocean before." Shiori joins in the searching for the seeds. "But after Chichiue died, we had to find somewhere else to live. The villagers didn't like me. My father, Tsukuyomaru used to protect them, but then…well my Ji-sama killed him and most of the village."

"Why?" Yuki asks, still ignorant of the realities of being what she is. "Didn't your Jisama like you?"

"Your uncle killed Ji-sama," Shiori says with little emotion. "You're younger than me aren't you?"

"I'm thirteen," the little Inu-hanyou says, "finally." The bag makes a clicking sound as she pulls it out of a brown barrel.

"Did you ever live anywhere but here?" Shiori asks her.

"No, well when I was a baby I lived in the village with Ojisan until I was nine months old. Then we moved here." She leaves out the months where she lived in the village by the ocean where she wasn't accepted and the names the villagers called her. She covers her mouth suddenly realizing what Shiori was talking about. "Oh…people were mean to you?"

"Yeah," the bat hanyou sighs. "Ka-chan is getting old. She wanted me to come here so I would have some place to stay after she dies."

The conversation is suddenly making Yuki uncomfortable. She knows her father is old, very old and her Soba-sama even more than that. "What happened to your Chichiue?"

"Ji-sama killed him."

"Why?"

"He threatened to leave the bat-yokai and live permanently with Ka-chan," Shiori answers plainly.

"That's not a reason to kill someone. Chichiue doesn't live with the other inu-yokai and Soba-sama still likes us. Why would your grandfather kill your father?"

"Because Ka-chan is human," Shiori replies with her arms folded.

"Soba-sama loves us," Yuki says truly not comprehending what Shiori is saying.

"For now…"

For now? What does that mean? Yuki is taken aback by Shiori's words. For now? Does this mean she likes Tsukimaru better? The little one needs a distraction. "Hey, what can you do? Your father was Dai-yokai like mine right? Can you do something?"

"Make barriers." Shiori's palms come together. A light blue sheen covers her and Yuki. "Like this one. I can make it bigger." It expands to the walls of the hut. "Or push you out," her eyes flash and Yuki is knocked out of the barrier landing on her back from the force.

Yuki giggles peeping out the door of the hut.

"Yuki! Hurry up please!" Rin calls to her daughter.

"Can you keep that up?" Yuki grabs Shiori's shoulder. "How long can you keep the barrier?"

"A while," Shiori expands it to cover Yuki again.

"Good," she leans down and gathers dirt from the floor of the hut into another ball, sliding a rock in. After it's packed just right she pokes her head out of the shack and glares at Katsumoto. "Hey dog-breath! Ugly mutt-face!" She chucks the packed mud at him missing. "Dammit."

"Yuki!" Rin yells exasperated.

"Was she trying to hit me?" Katsumoto expression flattens, offended.

"Most likely." Hisato covers his mouth trying to hold in his laughter.

"You're an ugly dog face! You're an ugly dog face!" Yuki taunts Katsumoto until she is sure he knows she is talking about him. She blows raspberries at him. Both girls laugh at their joke.

As for Katsumoto, he streaks over to the hut and demands, "come out of there now."

"Make me mongrel." She folds her arms stubbornly from behind the barrier.

He raises his hand intending on using the whip to drag her from the hut but is repelled.

The girls lose it again, enjoying their joke. "You can't get me. What do you say to that?"

"That eventually you'll get hungry and tired and Shiori will have to go home. Have your fun Yuki." Katsumoto waltzes away, black hair whipping in the wind. "It won't last."

Yuki snarls. "He's such a jerk."

"I think he's cute." Shiori lets the barrier down while his back is turned. "You should take those to your mother."

"She can get them herself." Yuki dashes out of the hut making for the barrier that covers the village and her home.

She finds herself following the contours of the river, with no intention of going back to the house unless she is dragged there. Her juvenile mind is seething. She doesn't understand why Shiori's grandfather killed the little girl's father. Shouldn't he have been happy? Her grandmother is. Then she is curious what her Ji-sama would have thought, but she pushes that idea out of her head. Oji-san is a hanyou and her grandfather also loved a human, why would he be upset if Chichiue bonded a human and had hanyou children? It didn't make sense to her. She sighs dejected, stopping on her favorite rock where the water is the roughest. Occasionally it splashes up soaking her legs. Fish fly through the air, sometimes she catches one before it dips back in the white rapids. It so loud, she doesn't hear footsteps coming from her behind.

"It's a hanyou."

She jolts, whipping around, flexing her claws. It's a monk. He is mid-height, bald and wearing purple and brown clothing. A straw-hat hangs around his shoulders. He is accompanied by a second one. A quick sniff of air lets her know that there are more lurking in the area.

Yuki's eyes widen nervously. This is why she isn't supposed to leave the barrier by herself.

"Do we really have to Yashida. She's just a child?" the second monk asks.

"Yes." A hand covered in a deep blue cloth raises holding sky-blue beads. "Yoki is yoki. No matter the age." The other one held a long knife.

Yuki breaks out in a sweat sensing the rise in holy energy. She knows her Oba-san is powerful, this felt similar to hers and their Monk friend. She wonders for a few seconds if she will turn into a human like the night of the new moon or if she will disappear completely. It smells clean and hot. They're blocking her escape. A vortex of energy is building up over their hands. Yuki for once, is speechless. Not for the first time she wishes that she is still wearing the moonstone Chichiue had left her. She stopped wearing it when she came home. Something binds her feet, making it impossible to move. She yips in protest.

The monks speak words that made the power rise higher. She feels her skin crackling. Her feet won't obey her. When she looks down, there is a white circle of light surrounding them. She tries but can't move. "You can't escape little one," one of them says.

Why did I leave the barrier? She struggles against the light trying to get free.

"Yuki!"

Relief has never felt so good. It's Hisato. He wastes no time engaging the two monks. He flies head first into one of them, knocking him into the river. The monks screams as he is washed downstream. The next he grabs by the wrist throwing him onto the ground. "Release her." He can feel the holy energy swirling, but it will take more than the power of one monk to stop Hisato.

Yuki breaths heavily but she still can't get loose.

"Mononoke!" the monk that the other one called Yashida yells at him. He shoves a hand into Hisato's middle. It lights angelic blue making Hisato wince in pain.

"Not quite." His fangs grow, his eyes tint red. His snout elongates. His nails pierce the Monk's skin, "but with more power than you have." He bites down on the Monk's shoulder until the hand pales and the circle of light around Yuki's feet disappears. Hisato throws the Monk into the trees, grabs the little girl and flies high into the sky.

"What's wrong with your face?" Yuki holds onto his shoulders with tears in her eyes. "Was he going to purify me? Ahhh!"

More Monks come from the bushes. They are led by a Miko. She raises a sword into the sky, a volley of arrows come flying at Hisato. He dodges, twisting and turning keeping his back to the points. One hits his ankle. He curses feeling the purifying power seep into his body weakening his flight.

"Hisato!" Rin screams from below the trees.

Yuki holds tight to Hisato. "Ka-san!"

"I told her to stay behind the barrier!" Hisato twirls and twists through a second volley. Twelve monks are in the trees below him. The Miko sends her own energy through the katana in her hand. It shines with a bright light that shoots into his back knocking him into the trees. He twists his body again so that he lands skidding on the forest floor on his back. He stands quickly shoving Yuki behind him.

Rin runs out from the bushes alone, her katana is lit green. She throws her whip at the advancing horde. They are surrounded, with bows drawn and pointed arrows charged with purifying power. "Get her out of here Hisato," Rin demands raising her whip in the air threateningly.

"Put it down," the Miko calls.

"GO!" Rin rushes the Miko.

Hisato curses again flying after her. Another volley of arrows comes from the Monks surrounding them. Rin breaks through several shafts before they can hit herself or Yuki. Yuki screams, nothing more than a sack of potatoes being carried by Hisato. He twists and turns flinging Rin behind him. He has more arrows in his semi-transformed body now. Three in his left leg and two in his lower back. "It will take more than that," his jagged snout barks at the Monks, "to purify me."

"Kami what's wrong with your face?" Rin asks before she is felled. A younger Monk releases an arrow that pierces Rin's left shoulder. Yuki's mother shrieks in pain and lands on her knees. "You will not have my daughter," she raises the katana gritting back the pain.

Hisato is panting on the ground trying to catch his breath. Two more arrows pierce his back.

"You're bound to a dog demon, not this one," Yashida comes forward holding up the beads. "And you aren't a full blooded yokai either," he says to Hisato.

"Ka-san?" Yuki runs to her mother. Blood drips down Rin's shoulder from the arrow that has pierced her skin.

"Yuki, they will kill you. Escape," her mother heaves in air as another volley of arrows come flying at them. "Go now!" She shoves her daughter out of the way as she slams her whip into three monks making way for Yuki to dash past them. Her heart races as she makes her way through the falling enemies and into the bushes. Behind her, her mother screams.

Eeek...Rin has an arrow through her shoulder and Hisato...what's going to happen?

Next Chapter: Interlude VI coming on January 9th.

Please Review!

Story Plug:

Sesshomaru and Avalon- Nightbird755 I'm usually not one for OC's. But I am betaing for her and she is working very hard on this fic. I would love to see her get more reviews.

Kiss of Fate- kimmigirl9 okay and me. This one is a 50/50 endeavor so you see both of our writing in it.

Guest#1: Gobodo-sama doesn't hate Rin. She's pragmatic, which at times is uncaring of what people's feelings are in the face of preserving one's own kind. She did ask, "what happens when Yuki leaves the barrier?" Gobodo-sama loves Rin and Sesshomaru's relationship. She isn't going to kill Rin but she is going to do what is best for her kind. LOL isn't it amazing how some races/religions do think their wants and needs outweigh others? So apropros to the times.

Guest #2: Yeah, Sessy's not happy with his momma right now. So Sess can't kill his mother yet. And he knows it. She would overpower him. How they were born? You mean Tsukimaru and Taiyomaru? Sorry, be a bit more specific and I can answer. So here's the thing, technically Sess/Rin and Sess/Natsuki are equal mated pairs, only Sesshomaru and Natsuki made the choice that she would be put on the back burner in honor of his bond to Rin. Which is why Kensaku is pissed.

Mother-Fudger: The next few chapters will explain why he doesn't. Blood-shed and conquering are a thing and yes it would solve the issue because he could take the territory...but if they are going to fight back, it makes more sense to keep more bodies alive. What happens when the good of the many outweigh the needs of the few?