@ After much searching, and all too little success, I have been unable to determine the exact circumstances under which Inuyasha will and won't transform into a demon/youkai or if the transformation is full except for memories.  IF ANYONE KNOWS, email me at caiista@netscape.net, or instant-message me at AIM screen name Caiista (also feel free to contact me at either of these at any time, with questions, suggestions, or anything).  Thank you for putting up with my confusion, and now on to the story… Tetsusaiga Stolen… @

Kagome was still in shock when one of the wolf-tribesmen began shaking her.  She stared blankly at him for a moment, before finally recognizing a kind old wolf-youkai that she had met before, but could not recall the name of.

"Please, miss, Kouga said you were to fix this as soon as possible, and that he would hold Inuyasha in check for as long as he could."  Dimly aware of what was going on, Kagome glanced towards where she thought the fight was.  She saw flashes as Kouga and Inuyasha moved faster than her eye could see.  She could track Kouga by his Shikon shards, he was using all of them now, but still Inuyasha surpassed him, bit by bit, always with the leading edge, but only by such a small amount that the untrained eye would say it was even.

"Yes, Ji-san, I will need to find Inuyasha's sword, Tetsusaiga."  Tetsusaiga, with the power to seal his youkai blood with a youkai fang.  Tetsusaiga, the power to destroy youkai in favor of saving humans.  Could the human part of Inuyasha be saved by the youkai fangs that belonged to his father and he?  Or was it too late for him, one time too many, one minute too much?

Could the Youkai blood win?

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Kouga had been faithful, and had believed he could win Kagome's love by proving himself more considerate, more powerful, and more charismatic than Inuyasha.  But now he understood the truth.  It did not matter how much he engaged in her pursuit, how much attraction they felt, even if she were to reciprocate his as of yet unrequited love.  The link of souls between Kagome and Inuyasha would always be greater, their love ever stronger, their passion deeper.  Were one of them to die, the other would wait for them for eternity.

As was the case for Inuyasha and Kikyou.  Only now, Kikyou had the soul's memories without the soul's love.  She would try to kill Inuyasha until her body of earth deteriorated beyond such repair that her only path would be that of eternal sleep.  Or she would kill Inuyasha, and thus Kagome would be left to wait for eternity.

But there was no way that he, Kouga of the youkai-wolf tribe could have Kagome as his own.  So he would serve her when she needed it, give her refuge from any kind of storm, and she would know that he would always be there for her.  This was why he was fighting a losing battle now.  It would be a slow loss, scratches here and there, followed by cuts and bruises until he was sufficiently weary to be unable to maintain the speed that kept him his life.  Then, if Kagome had not found the way to bring Inuyasha back, the youkai side of the man she loved would kill him.

Kouga continued to look for some weakness or error that could be used to buy time, but Youkai-Inuyasha was a killing machine.  Kouga began to lose hope.

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Kagome followed the old wolf's directions on which way Shippou's scent went, but honestly felt even more lost than before.  Why couldn't the kitsune have followed some sort of a pattern?  First to take the sword, then get lost?  What could be worse?  Giving it to a hostile youkai, perhaps, but that was it.  Poor Shippou, Kagome thought, sometimes he can get really confused.  She followed the sort of a trail that seemed to exist, making her way carefully along, trying not to get lost.

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Kouga was alert for any change in Inuyasha, but was not expecting the sudden change that came over him.  Inuyasha suddenly jumped back into a tree, ears pricked up, head turned to the side.  Kouga tried to think what it might be, when he caught a whiff of the men and women from a nearby village.  The tribute they brought was usually a small magical trinket of some sort, or when they could not afford one, one of the young village women to be wed to a wolfs seeking mate.  The later was the present case, he could smell her fear like a beacon…  And so could Inuyasha.  Again a sudden flash and Inuyasha was gone, bounding down along the lake edge towards the path (which was bordered on one side with cliffs from the mountain).

He then bounded up the cliff, as if running along vertical ground made no difference.  Kouga followed, hesitantly, for he feared Kagome would come back while he and Inuyasha were elsewhere.  But there was no way to get Inuyasha's attention that wouldn't risk his life, so Kouga simply continued to follow.  He fell behind when they hit the woods; Inuyasha had taken to the treetops, a much quicker route.  When he caught up to Inuyasha, it was too late for the towns-people.  They were completely shredded.  But Inuyasha looked elsewhere now, and Kouga too, caught a familiar scent.

Kagome.

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It was with great deliberation, and much confusion, that Shippou decided to hide Tetsusaiga.  He didn't think it would be good if a Wolf-youkai from the tribe stole it, after all.  He could not remember why he had thought they would steal Tetsusaiga, but it had something to do with his fear of them taking Kagome.  Racing along, Shippou did not pay very much attention, when he ran into a tree.  But this tree was not a tree, it was a plant youkai, and it had a disliking for kitsune, and an even greater disliking for blades.

This tree's regular practice in such situations was to move its roots to drop the annoyance into a pit.  But quick thinking upon Shippou's part, (if it was thinking, it may well have been instinct) had him drop Tetsusaiga into the pit for only Inuyasha would be able to retrieve it.  And, there was the additional bonus of him being able to escape the tree youkai.  Such a success it was for Shippou, he forgot how he'd come to be at the youkai tree.  Lost, he wandered about for a while, when he came across his trail finally.  Scampering back to the wolves and Kagome as fast as he could, he ran into something dripping in blood.

"Inu… Inuyasha?"  He asked, but then he saw the look on Inuyasha's face.  The eyes that thirsted for blood, ears pricked forward to hear every nuance of the sounds of rending flesh.  He realized then and there that they needed Tetsusaiga desperately, and thought of the hole in the ground it now inhabited.Then Shippou smelt what Inuyasha was facing, with that hungry look.

"Kagome!"

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@ Hey, sorry for the delay, had LOTS of work to do…  and now I have more still! @