I dunno. I think I'm updating this story too fast. I'm just so psyched at the ending, I wanna write it, and I can't write it till I get everything else done! BTW the last chapter is the next chapter after this one.

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Chapter 16: A Fox is a Dog's Best Friend

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Kagome stood up not taking here eyes off of the beautiful creature. She wasn't afraid of it, as it showed no signs of attacking. He just stood there, staring at her. Kagome asked again, "Who are you?"

The demon said nothing. It only continued to stare. Then after a few seconds in kneeled as if asking her to mount his back. She pointed at herself and Shippou, "You want us to get on?"

The big dog, still staring nodded once then closed its eyes and waited.

"Okay." Kagome said. She set Shippou down and he scampered over to climb onto the dog's head. Kagome put an arm under Inu-kun's stomach and with a grunt of effort, lifted him up and carried him over to the demon dog. She sat down still holding him and said, "Okay." Then the white dog opened his eyes and rose to his feet.

"Whoa!" Shippou said. The dog turned around then jumped into the air. It started flying in a way similar to Kirara. (AN: If you haven't already noticed, Kirara isn't in this story.)

Then it descended toward a person standing in the forest.

"Miroku-sama!" Kagome called.

He looked up at her shocked by the nine-tailed dog she rode on. "Kagome-sama!" she held out her hand as they flew low and pulled him aboard.

"Who is this demon?" Miroku asked.

"I don't know!" Kagome said as they were flying over to Sango. They picked her up then the demon flew higher into the air. He was pretty strong, whoever he was to be able to carry all of them. They were up in the air for a few minutes until they arrived at the top of a hill covered in trees and vegetation. He landed and let all of them off. The parody puppies came out of the bushes and circled Inu-kun sniffing and licking him in greetings.

"That's cute." Sango said. She was starting to become a dog person.

"Now tell us, who you are!" Kagome said.

The big dog grinned and closed his eyes. He started glowing and changed shape. "Who else would it be?" they heard a familiar voice as it took the shape of a certain missing mixed breed demon wearing a white, black, gold, and red kimono.

"Shio!!" Shippou shouted and jumped on the Inu/kit's shoulder.

"Sup, Meat!" Shio said smiling.

"Shio!" Kagome said smiling. Then she went over and slapped him!

He reeled back then looked at her bewildered.

"WHERE THE HELL WHERE YOU!!?!?" she shouted.

"For real! We've been searching all over Japan for you!!" Sango came and put in her two cents.

He rubbed his red, throbbing cheek and said, "I can explain."

"Enlighten us." Miroku said.

"Okay." Shio said. "I left because Inu Yasha didn't want me around. No offense, but my main reason for being there was to see him. I watched the princess for a while then was walking around for a while until I saw Inu-kun tied to a tree. He said you were going to kill him or something so I bit his chain loose and-"

"YOU "BIT" his chain lose?!" Sango asked.

"I've been in my true demon form for days!" he said shrugging. "Then I was going to leave, but Inu-kun convinced me to come back. So I came to see you, but you had already left your camp sight!!" he sweatdropped. So basically, while they were searching for him, he was searching for them. "Chaos just loves to spring when I'm not there, huh?" he asked, referring to Inu Yasha's current problem.

"He needs help, Shio! He has rabies!" Kagome said.

"What?!" Shio looked at her confused. "Demons don't get rabies!"

"What does he have then?" Shippou asked.

Shio looked back behind him as if he could tell something was nearby. Then he looked back at them and said, "The demon immune system is too powerful for rabies, they can't catch mortal rabies, but they CAN catch demon rabies."

"Demon rabies?" Kagome asked.

"Yes. How did he catch it?" Shio asked.

"A wolf bit him." Kagome said. "Why didn't Inu-kun get it?"

"Well he should have gotten it!" Shio said. "Demon rabies infests demons and mortal dogs alike. It can't really do too much in regular dogs, so it basically uses them as carriers until they can bite a demon for it to take control of."

Then Kagome thought and realized. "Oh! Wait a minute! We got all of the puppies vaccinations for rabies a long time ago!"

Shio looked at her confused. "What's a vaccination?"

She looked down as Inu-kun and the Shippou puppy fought. "A vaccination is when a doctor injects these weak germs into an infected person, and the weak germs and the active germs kind of cancel each other out!"

Shio looked up at her then held his chin and thought out loud, "Weak germs canceling out strong germs and vise versa?" then he snapped his fingers and pointed upward, "Idea!"

He stood up and said. "I'm off to stop Inu Yasha, okay? Bye!"

"Wait! What are you-?" Kagome shouted.

"Don't worry, it's a good plan!" He said and smiled back at them. "A best friend's gotta do, what a best friend's gotta do!"

They smiled back at him and he gave them a thumbs up. "And if I don't come back alive, then you're all screwed!"

Their smiles faded and they sweatdropped as he went leaping off. "Just stay there!"

A few hours later.......

"Do you think he was lying about not coming back alive and us being screwed?" Shippou asked.

"Shippou, don't worry about it." Miroku said. "Shio knows what he's doing."

So he said, but everyone was still worried.

Kagome suddenly started breathing like she was about to sneeze. She pulled a tissue out of the neck of her shirt and sneezed into it.

"Squeaky sneeze!" Sango said.

She sneeze three times in a row.

"Squeaky sneeze!" Miroku said.

"Squeaky sneeze!" Shippou said.

"Squeaky sneeze." They all turned around and saw Inu Yasha standing there. Drool on either sides of his mouth. He growled at them. "III'vve~beennn-lllllllooo~ooking~g~g for yyyouu~uuu." He said staggering over.

Shippou shrieked and clung to Kagome's leg. Everyone stood up ready to run. "What happened to Shio?" Miroku asked.

Inu Yasha laughed. "I-bit him!"

Kagome's heart sank and Shippou gasped.

"I'mmmm~m goi~ing to g-get yyyyou nooowww!" Inu Yasha laughed and staggered over.

They started backing away from him. Shio had obviously failed. Kagome thought that maybe if she said 'sit' enough times, he would pass out, and then she could get him to a hospital in her time. All of a sudden a figure jumped into the fray. It was Shio with his head tilted forward. He stood awkwardly behind Inu Yasha.

He looked up and his eyes were bright red. The usual calm, cool, and beautiful espression on his face had become evil, anger, and insane. A foam dripped from his mouth and he growled dangerously at Inu Yasha. The dog boy turned around to get clocked in the jaw. There was so much force in Shio's punch, it sent Inu Yasha flying across the clearing.

Shio turned in the direction he went and swayed where he stood. Inu Yasha got up and glared at him. "Yoooouuuuu!?"

Shio smiled maliciously. "Meeeee!!! III'mmm h~ere foooorrrr yoo~ooouuu~u!"

Inu Yasha jumped at him, but even in his sick state, Shio was able to dodge him. Then without warning, Shio sank his fangs into Inu Yasha's shoulder.

Inu Yasha howeled in pain, and made petty attempts to get him off. After a few moments, his howling stopped and he passed out. Shio pulled his teeth out of him and put his kimono sleeve against his face. "Ugh!" he said. Then he looked up at them with his face normal, his eyes green and the foam gone. "The things I do for him, ya' know?"

Everyone came over wanting to know how he did it.

"Shio, I don't understand!" Kagome said.

He kneeled next to Inu Yasha and said, "Well I was listening to you talk about vaccines, about how the weaker germs and stronger germs cancel each other out. In demon rabies, the stronger you are, the stronger the case. Well I thought that if I let Inu Yasha bite me, I would get a worse case then him because I'm a full demon, and then if I were to bite him back afterward, we would both be cured!" (AN: This obviously would never happen in real life. But if you look at it one way, Shio has used the first vaccine ever in history! ^^)

"Wow! I didn't know you were so smart, Shio!" Sango said.

"Actually, I figured out it would work only a few minutes ago." He said smiling calmly. "I pretty much lost at least 90% of my mind when I had rabies!" ^_^

Everyone looked at him with a sweatdrop. What a gambler!!

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^_______^ HEY! Stick around! THIS IS ""NOT"" the last chapter! People always try to skip town before I write my last chapter!! If you miss the last chapter, you will regret it for the rest of your life! SERIOUSLY!! You will be 96 years old and saying, "Why didn't I read the last chapter of 'Puppies, Dog Treats, and Hentai?!'"

All of my endings are either twist or surprise.