Canine Instincts

By AlantisB

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Chapter Three

"Dog Tired"

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Duo had been sitting in his bed since he had woken up with his wound all healed. A half hour had gone by slowly as he evaluated his current situation. Reverting back to his normal form was scary to say the least. He loved having his senses back, especially his sense of smell. Dog youkai and Wolf youkai rely very much on their sense of smell, unlike humans who rely more on sight for memories.

In his early childhood memories he couldn't remember anyone's faces or what kind of clothes they wore but he remembered their scents. His mother, he remembered fondly, smelled like a mixture of rosemary, the forest, and ash from the temple fires. Two scents he usually tried to steer clear from were ash and rosemary because it brought up the thought of his mother and how he lost her because of what he was.

Since he relied so much on scents to tell him information, when he went human once a month so long ago, he was terrified. Suddenly his world was dulled to just the barest of scents and his night vision and strength decreased. So not only was he without his main source for gathering information about the world around him, he was also weaker and more inclined to trip on tree roots in the dark and fall off a cliff.

However when he woke up in the new technological world, he realized that humans have compensated for their lack of senses. Night vision became easier with night goggles, genetic engineering allowed one to enhance strength with the help of steroids, and dogs could be used to help track with their sense of smell. Learning that on Dr. G's ship had him come to terms with being human once a month.

But even with the enhancements he had made on his human body, nothing felt better than to have his old body back. He didn't have to worry about what a six or seven story foot drop would do to his body if he jumped out of a window, he could easily handle it in his bare feet. With his boots on, he didn't have to worry at all. And who needed a gun that could easily run out ammo when all he had to do was dip his claws in fresh blood and slash at his enemy, showering them with dozens of blood claws raining down upon them until he had no more blood left to use.

*Hell, I don't even need the blood. Just slashing normally would decapitate several humans in a span of a couple feet and rip through mobile suit armor like butter.* He mused.

*Well maybe not _gundanium_.*

Then he had to look at the faults of his sudden reversal into demon-hood again. His files and records of his false identity of Duo Maxwell listed him as human. While to a normal person this was no worry for they could just disappear- he couldn't. First of all, his comrades know "Duo" is human because he was sure his file had been hacked several times just as he hacked their files to check them out. If he were to suddenly reveal himself to be a half-demon, not only would this cause the others to become hostile towards him because he was half demon, but they would be angry at him for not telling them sooner.

Another thing that needed to be pointed out was that he could be targeted by OZ if they found out and wanted to use his blood to clone a large army of super humans. The war was going bad enough as it was, the gundam pilots didn't need to worry about super half humans, half demons to fight too.

He wasn't sure but he also thought that the demon population went underground and used the same spells he was using to hide themselves from humans. For all he knew, the demons could still be hunting for hanyous to kill and he did _not_ need to worry about watching his back for OZ and demons.

Speaking of demons, he knew his brother Sesshoumaru was alive. He was certain he was posing as some type of human noble because anything less would be below him. Or perhaps Fluffy-chan would be hiding somewhere not disguised as human. He grinned at the new nickname he made. He knew his older brother would come to hate it. *Metal note: Call him that as soon as I see him.*

At the same time he wondered if "Duo Maxwell" was really all an act or if -by chance -the long hibernation he was forced into so long ago had affected his mind somehow. Maybe Duo was his real self peaking out from behind his mask of indifference and cocksure ways?

He snorted at his thoughts. *Feh, I have got to stop watching troubled teen movies. They're getting to me.*

He reached to scratch his ears with a claw he scowled in puzzlement when he was stopped by his favorite black cap. Assured that the others wouldn't dare check up on him for at least an hour or so more, he took off his hat and dropped it on the bed somewhere. He didn't really care about it at the moment; he just wanted to get it off his ears. They pressed at them uncomfortably. He liked that cap a lot more when he had human ears.

Taking a deep breath he let it out with a sigh, relaxing tense muscles in his shoulders and back. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. "Feh, time for a shower, I stick. When was the last time I had one?" He shook his head, it didn't matter when. What he needed was some nice, steamy, long shower that used up all the hot water in the house. A furo would've been better but he doubted the others would buy that a 'street-rat American' would know what the hell a Japanese bath was and would grow suspicious if he knew how it worked.

He stripped and threw his dirty priest outfit into the dirty clothes pile in his laundry basket and headed to the bathroom. *Looks like I'll have to do my laundry again, it's starting to fester a smell.* He made a mental note to do it after his shower.

To the surprise of the other pilots, despite his ability to throw everything he owned onto the floor in the matter of hours arriving at a new safe house, he was a clean freak. Not once had any of the pilots caught Duo with dirty clothes piling up in his room or any dirty dishes or candy wrappers littering the floor. He would dust his room every three days and would vacuum the carpet as soon as he arrived and once every four days.

This was because the smell of dirty clothes reminded him of the street gang he lived with on L2 for a while and the smell of dust reminded him of his entrapment to the holy tree. When he had woken up and took the ward off him, he found tons of dust and dirt on him from centuries of not moving. The true horror of how long he had been still shocked him to the core and he didn't want to be reminded of that at all.

Well, when he was human before he wouldn't have really noticed but even a human could smell dust although it smells sort of musty and dirty clothes smell like—well like dirty clothes. Anyone could smell that if they stuck their face close enough to it. But now with this new development with him gaining back his hanyou form, the scents could be detected easily and sooner.

Steam rose to the ceiling as Inuyasha stepped out of the shower. He stretched his arms high above his head and stood on the tips of his toes. With a sudden movement of his neck, a loud crack echoed in the bathroom. With liquid grace, he relaxed onto the balls of his feet.

"Ah, that felt good. Where's a good chiropractor when you need one?"

He smirked and his muscles rippled as he flexed his hands and arms. The rolling of steel-tight muscles gave him that familiar feeling of protection. He had gone so long with human muscles –even if they were enhanced- it just didn't feel the same as good ol' demon strength. In fact, the more he thought about it, the less he really wanted to go back to being straight human.

Being human meant he had to constantly watch his back for stupid things like stray bullets, knives, and other such inconsistencies. His mind drifted as he absently plucked an old towel from the rack and started to rub-dry his hair to get most of the moisture out. Memories of the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States) period pulled him into times where he roamed free.

Running in the forest after a good swim in a cold river on a hot summer day letting the wind blow his hair dry as he dashed through the forest in a constant red blur and he closed his eyes, letting the scents of the old forest he remembered wash over him. The scents of pine and oak trees, the feel of rough bark under his feet, the summer breeze blowing around him like an old friend. His lips curved into a small, real smile as he remembered.

He sighed and shook his head to shaken himself out of old memories.  *Idiot. Don't let yourself get caught up in old memories. You have to think and find out just what exactly you're going to do!*

*Well it's not like I can just walk out to the guys and say 'I'm feeling much better-in fact my arm healed overnight and guess what? My eyes are really golden and those white things on the top of my head ARE my ears! These nails? Oh, they're my claws that can slash through almost anything –and oh yeah, did I mention I'm a half demon from the Sengoku Jidai period of Japan?*

He snorted.

*I might as well start handing out business cards saying: 'I am InuYasha, a half-demon. But don't worry I'm a good little dog demon that works on salvaging machinery parts, an ex-thief and a terrorist on the side to boot! Don't hesitate to call.'*

***

Duo surveyed the clean clothes in his duffle bag. His eyebrows shot up and he stared. *Oh hell no! You've _gotta_ be kidding me.* He sighed. *Feh, it figures with everything else going against my plans to hide what I am. Fate is a bitch with twisted sense of humor, she is.*

Indeed, inside his duffle bag was the only thing left he could wear, his old clothes. Just seeing them brought back memories. Folded in a neat pile was his red hakama (long legged pants that were slightly modified to be looser and puffer than the traditional hakama pants), his white long sleeve yukata (Japanese shirt), and the red yukata he wore over the white one. He really loved his old clothes, the best armor there is and no worries about cleaning or repairing.

When he took them off, the fire-rat fur that the red and white clothes were made of would automatically start to shed the dirt off and when he picked the clothes up again, all the dirt, twigs, and dust would fall to the ground easily leaving his clothes fresh and clean. If the clothe became damaged by demon venom or ripped, it magically re-grow in a matter of an hour.

It also grows with him. He realized that fact when he got bigger. The clothes never seemed tight or small on him. He had the same clothes since he was five years old when his mother gave him the clothing as his first present. That was the day she died, on his birthday. She never had a chance to give it to him. He had found the present wrapped up in one of her old kimonos after he buried her.

He covered his eyes with his hand and moaned in frustration. It was laundry day alright. But could he really walk out of his room in traditional old Japanese pants, his black slippers, and his white shirt? Well he knew Trowa and Quatre were on a mission, their scent trails in the house carried in by the air conditioner told him that much since they were faded and a day old. He seriously doubted Wufei or Heero would come out of their rooms or the hanger.

*To take the chance is risky and I won't do it. I may act like a dim-witted fool as Duo Maxwell at times but growing up in the Sengoku era taught me to always be on guard.* He grabbed his gray sweat pants from his laundry pile and sniffed it. It smelled alright, a little musty from his scent but it would do.

However all his shirts were rank and really needed a good washing. Wearing two long-sleeve form fitting shirts had his scent washed over everything and was extremely strong in the arm pit area. He snorted. *I am so _not_ going out in a smelly shirt.* Pants he could deal with but there was no way in hell he was going to go out to wash clothes in a shirt that stunk so bad it made his nose twitch. He slipped the gray sweat pants on and grabbed one of his black hair bands and quickly braided his hair and tied off the end.

With a tired sigh, he picked up a black plastic bag and stuffed all his dirty laundry inside. He hauled it over his bare shoulder like Santa Claus and glanced at the mirror. His eyes widened when he spotted his white dog ears and his golden eyes.

*Oops, I forgot about that.*

He sweat-dropped, boy was he out of practice in hiding his appearance! Looking around the room he spotted his black hat and put it on, narrowing his eyes when he felt his ears pressed flat against his head. He was beginning to hate that. He tapped his chin with a claw thoughtfully as he mused on what he could do to cover his eyes. He snapped his fingers as an idea came upon him. With a wicked smirk he strolled over to his dresser and took a look at the stock of sunglasses he had. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he loved to collect sunglasses.

Duo didn't really know why he was so fascinated by the different colored lens and frame styles but he was. So he had quite a collection, at least ten or so with all different colors. He really only used his black ones but he doubted he would be able to see through them as clearly as he wanted even with his demonic vision - especially with his demonic eyes. He frowned. Yellow eyed dog youkai had vision defects and as such his eyes weren't as good as they would be if they were brown eyes or black. So in his hanyou form his eye sight wasn't too good inside buildings with sunglasses on.

Picking up one of his favorites, he slipped them on. He smirked giving the mirror a clear view of his sharp canine fangs as he took in the sight of his sunglasses. Yellow, oval lenses covered the sight of his golden eyes perfectly while the frames were bent on the sides up and down and ended up making a "W" on each side. He loved these glasses and he really had no idea why but it gave him an outlaw type of look; real tough like and dangerous.

He bared his teeth fully at the mirror and was satisfied at how dangerous he could look in these glasses. He really needed to get out and go clubbing in these, he might get a few cute girls and maybe some guys for a quick roll in the hay, he was sure that the glasses looked that good. Of course he always had his heart for Wufei and Heero but pining away at them senselessly did nothing for his hormones and needs. There is only so much patience a male 'teenage' human body can take with a couple weeks of blue balls. Now with him being a demon dog in the beginning of his prime well—let's just say enough said.

He let the smirk slide off his lips as he tweaked his smirk into the Maxwell manic grin he was so well known for. Walking out of his room, he headed down the hall to the laundry room where two washers and two dryers were located. They were living on a flat at the moment. The house was a summer house for a group of college kids he guessed since it was more like a frat house than a summer get-away-place for old people. The pilots were just lucky the colleges weren't on break.

Bare feet softly padded on the hard wood floor as he unconsciously slipped into the graceful nature dogs always possess. It wasn't hard and he did it without thinking about it, it was all instinct. He blinked behind his glasses when he realized he was just ghosting down the hall. He shook himself mentally and made a conscious effort to have his feet make slapping noises that were audible on human level hearing. This being human-while-being-hanyou was taxing his nerves. He had to really think to move human!

When he entered the laundry room, he took notice that one of the washers and one of the dryers were already in use. He raised an eyebrow wondering which of the two pilots was doing their laundry. Grinning, he bounded over to the washer and emptied his laundry inside. He took one look at the dial for a moment.

He turned it to a random time and threw in a cup of detergent inside. Duo shut the door and walked over to the comfy puffy chair in the corner. He sank into the chair with a yawn and covered his mouth to make sure that if anyone walked in at that precise moment they wouldn't have seen his canine fangs. Watching the clothes spin and spin, and spin in the little window, he drifted off to sleep quickly not even realizing he didn't feel all that tired in the first place.

***

Warm..

Gentle tickles..

            Millions of whispered voices..

                        Spiraling colors of images appearing..

                                    The sensation of falling forever into the blackness..

           

                        Tugging insistently towards the left of him..

            Stopping in midair he hovered..

Ground beneath him..

He lands.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked around. He was in an ancient forest. The trees were ten feet thick like the ones in ancient Japan that he remembered. Eyes widening, he looked down at himself and saw he was in his true form, he had forgotten how to dream as himself, he always dream-pictured himself as a human now. But he was dressed just as he had been dressed so long ago. He stiffened feeling unnerved and glared around, growling low. "Where am I?"

A quiet, commanding voice speaks behind him. "You are in my realm."

He jumped and turned around startled at the sudden appearance of another. He was tall, pale like newly-fallen snow. His hair was a dark blue that could be mistaken for black if it wasn't for the light highlighting the soft locks of hair that was spiked like Heero's almost but not grouped in such large clumps of hair. It was a softer look. His clothes were a dark midnight blue, the same blue as his hair, and he wore leather pants and a gray t-shirt that made the man look lean and tall. But his eyes startled InuYasha the most, they were pits of black with a tiny spark of blue deep inside somewhere in there.

He narrowed his eyes. "And what realm is that, blue-boy?"

The man narrowed his eyes and the blue inside the dark pits sparked with fire. "Do not insult me in my own realm, I can not guarantee that you will walk out safely if you do."

The dog-demon snorted but relaxed his tense stance and folded his arms. He snorted and turned his head away, unable to look into those eyes any longer. "Feh! So what is this realm?"

"You are in the land of dreams."

"So I'm dreaming?"

"Yes."

"Feh. So I'm dreaming and I'm in the land of dreams. What does that make you? The Sandman?"

"That is one of my many names." The Lord of Dreams stared out at his realm for a moment before he spoke again.

"A woman asked a boon from me in return if she took on a special task for me. She has done her part of the deal and now I must fulfill mine. The world has changed from what you lived in before. It is getting harder and harder for you to hide what you are from your comrades. Each spell you cast to hide what you are fails and leaves you exposed."

Inuyasha tensed. "How do you know of this? You fucking bastard tell me! Who told you what I am?"

The Dream-King's eyes flashed. "I warned you. Do not speak like that to me again."

"Feh!" Inuyasha looked away again.

"Your dreams have shown me what you are, no one has told me. Your secret is safe with me. But," he looked softer for a moment as he stared down at the demon. "To hide what you are leads only to disaster, young lord. Take heed of my warnings, if you do not show your fellow comrades what you are, they will die. If you show them what you are, there is a chance they will not."

Inuyasha was silent for a while as he reflected the dream king's words. "Will I remember this warning when I wake up? Or are you just a figment of my imagination? Are you just a dream?"

"Perhaps," said the Sandman.

The dog demon growled. He hated cryptic answers. "Perhaps to what? To all three of my questions? Answer me!" He snarled and leaped at the man, curling his fingers as he prepared to strike him with his claws . . . .

***

TBC..

Hey everyone! I thought I'd just update this story while I've got the time. Since its early June, maybe in the middle of June I'll update again. For now you'll have to deal with this two page longer chapter! ^.^ I tried to get more information on just exactly how Duo is and just how he came to be what he was. We get to see a bit more into his personality too. ^.~ I made this version of Duo different from all my other Duo's in my stories. This Duo is not suicidal, crazy, or depressed. He's just freaky! Heh.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Oh, and see if you can spot the two crossovers I did in this chapter. One hint, it's a thing not a person. The other is from a comic book by Neil Gaiman. Guess the name of the comic book and I WILL post that chapter in the middle of June or sooner. I mention the name once or twice in this chapter somewhere.

Guess! ^.^

*** Scene breaker ***

* Thought *

"Speech"

_emphasis_

LOVE & PEACE!!!

-AlantisB