Disclaimer: Same old, same old

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Then, they heard a crackle behind them. Inu-yasha whirled around to face the person, drawing his blade in a swift, smooth motion.

"Calm down, my boy," he chuckled. "I'm not going to eat you." He must have found this horribly funny, because he broke down into laughter at the comment.

"Who are you?" Inu-yasha asked commandingly. "Show yourself."

"Now, my boy," the person said, stepping into the light. "That's no way to speak to your elders."

They all looked at the man. He was old, with a bald head and appeared to be any age from seventy to a hundred.

"My elder," Inu-yasha scoffed. "Old man, do you have any idea who you're talking to? I'm a DEMON. You can't outlive us."

The man chuckled at this comment. "Well, my boy, it seems you are the ignorant one. You see, I too am a demon."

"What?" Inu-yasha said, leaning forward. "But you look so human…"

"Appearances mean nothing," he said, resting on the wooden staff he carried. "You should know that by now, Inu-yasha."

Inu-yasha startled violently at the mention of his name, and immediately reacted, bring his sword up for defense. "How do you know my name?"

The man laughed again annoyingly. "Ah yes, I believe your late father and I met several hundred years ago." He held up his hand to show the stub at the end of his arm where his wrist should have been. "He gave me this in our last gathering."

Inu-yasha seemed to put up even more of a guard. "He must not have liked you then."

"No," the man agreed. "We left on unpleasant terms."

"Why?" Inu-yasha growled.

"Oh, just demon politics," the man said loftily. "I just tried to boil him alive and eat him, that's all."

"What?!?!" yelped Inu-yasha.

"Yes. You see," the man said, licking his lips, "there is nothing I prefer to eat, more then demon."

"You're not getting those nasty teeth into my bushy tail, that's for sure," Shippo cried, clutching his tail defensively.

"Well, aren't you sweet," he told Shippo, seeming genuinely sincere. "I could just eat you up." This brought a startled cry out of the young fox kit, who leapt over, hiding behind Kagome's legs, which were see-through, so it made little difference.

"Hey! You leave Shippo alone," she yelled at the demon, defending the scared pup.

"Well, aren't you cocky for a human," the man laughed, then studied her closer. "Well, you're not exactly human at the moment, are you?"

"Why you-," Kagome began angrily, taking a step forward.

Inu-yasha blocked her off with his arm. "Let it go," he told her. "We may not like him, but we can hardly kill him when we need to find out how to cure you." Kagome stopped, realizing he spoke the truth.

"Well," she said crossing her arms defiantly. "I'll let it pass, as long as he doesn't try anything else."

"I'm not sure I can agree to that," the demon man told them, cocking his head. "For you see, there is a price to be paid for my services."

"A price?" Sango asked, speaking up.

"Yes," the demon told her. "You see, I require one demon for me to eat."

"For you to EAT!" yelled Kagome. "No way! You must be joking! Isn't there anything else we can do?'

"No," he told her. "I have to eat too, though not as often as you weak humans." Then he ran his long tongue over his lips nosily. "I was planning to have that young dragon for breakfast, but I decided when you came along, that I couldn't take all of you on at once."

"You were planning to eat Nessoi?!?!" Kagome squealed.

He looked over at her mildly. "Of course. Do you think you eating chicken or cow is any different? You may sometimes forget that what you eat is another animal, but when it's convenient, you think that me eating a dragon is cruel. There is absolutely no difference."

Kagome thought about this for a moment. It was a valid point, she realized, that she had never really thought about before. But it still seemed so wrong!

"The animals we eat aren't very intelligent!" she shot back. "And we can't possibly have conversations with them!"

"So?!?!" the demon replied. "Does that mean they are inferior to you? They're still living, breathing animals that have thoughts and emotions."

"Well, when we eat the animals, we honor them for their sacrifice,'" Miroku argued.

"Does that mean I don't?!?!" he asked. "I'm extremely grateful for their sacrifice. Besides, it's my payment from you! You're agreeing to it."

"I never said we're agreeing to it! I'm not sacrificing one of my friends for my body!" Kagome yelled.

"Shut up, wench!" Inu-yasha yelled at her. "You only have two months to get your body back! We don't have time to argue about things like that!"

"Inu-yasha," Kagome asked, taking a step back. "Does this mean that you're going to sacrifice yourself for me?!?!"

"Don't be an idiot!" he snapped at her. "I'm not into all that chivalry stuff! We're going to find a demon, kill it, and haul it back for the old demon here to eat!"

"I don't agree," the demon told Inu-yasha.

"Are you TRYING to be difficult or is it just an accident?" Inu-yasha snapped.

"I like my meals freshly killed," the demon said, taking a step closer, suddenly looking very hungry. Then, his fingernails grew long, he sprouted dark, jet-black hair, and out of the top of his head, two bright red horns grew. "Very fresh…" he hissed through a snake like tongue.

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Hey again!

Dream Fox back with my latest chapter. Actually, I don't like this chapter very much. My ideas of how to end it were really fuzzy, so I have really no good ideas for the next chapter. Just a small one, but I have to think about it for a little while. Fortunately I have two days to do so, because it's a weekend. I'll probably have a new chapter up on Sunday, but I might, just might have a new chapter up on Saturday.

Did everyone hear? I have a new story up! Actually, it's not Inu-yasha at all but YYH or Yu Yu Hakusho. It's about the childhood of Kurama and what it's like growing up as a reincarnated fox demon. Pretty serious, but I'm really excited! Kurama is my favorite character, as I said in my bio. I just hope you guys all read it!

I think that's everything for now…

Dream Fox

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P.S. I'm writing this AFTER I've posted this story. It's almost a week after and unfortunately, not only do I have major writer's block, I've also been very sick. Please bear with me until my new chapter is up. It should probably be up within a week! Thanks for your patience!