I don't own Inuyasha or anything having to do with this show. I make this only for entertainment purposes, (and an excuse to avoid my homework:). So don't sue and enjoy the fic!

The Feudal Fairy Tale Begins Again...

By: Msmelanie

Chapter Forty. "That's why they're called Fire Rats, Kagome."

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Kagome sighed as she watched Inuyasha dodge Yushio's attack.again.

Inuyasha just growled and stayed out of the way of the angry dog-demon as he vented his anger out.

Meanwhile, Mizuko's mother, Akina, was at the same time thanking the hanyou and telling him that he was such a nice youkai, half or not, for saving and taking care of their daughter.

Inuyasha ducked just in time to ignore Yushio's right claw attack again.

"It really was wonderful of you. Is there any way that we can repay you?" Mizuko's mother asked.

"Yeah! You could tell your mate to knock this **** off!" Inuyasha barked at her.

Mizuko just giggled. She thought it was kind of neat to watch the hanyou struggle against her daddy.

Sly watched them from outside of the small area through a hole. He watched as some village women were doing their chores while their children played.

'I miss Syaoran.' he sighed. He looked more closely at the women as they shared conversation back and forth. 'I miss Grandma and Sota...hell, I even half miss the great grandgeezer!'

He watched as one of the kids tripped, giggled and jumped back to his feet. 'Geez Kawayou, what's happening to your life?' he thought sadly. 'Wait, no I'm Sly now. Or is my name Mutsuki? ****! I don't even HAVE a real name anymore!'

Sly just felt so frustrated with himself. It wasn't right! EVERYONE was making him feel so out of place! He never told anyone, but he knew it. Not only did he not understand the time they lived in, but they wouldn't share anything. Nothing about their own pasts. He knew jack squat about everyone. He knew almost nothing about that jewel that was inside of him, and to top it off, no one could decide on something as simple as his ****ing name! 'This is so STUPID! Why can't I know anything?!' He just felt like growling out loud, but he didn't want anyone to think he was purring.

The most frustrating and scariest thought of them all, though...was that power. The power that he had felt being emitted from his mom's boss. It was powerful. It was so powerful, it seeped into his very being and hurt. His mom's boss' power felt like it was an entire ocean while Sly himself was nothing more than a raindrop.

A simple raindrop.

'Pops doesn't have that kind of power. Neither does mom. It was just...'

His small brain couldn't come up for any better words. '...powerful...'

Kagome noticed Sly's discomfort as he looked out. She walked over toward him as Yushio and Mizuko's mother began to argue over whether to thank or kill Inuyasha for his stupidity and kindness.

"What's wrong, hon?" Kagome asked as she saw a strange look of discomfort on his face.

'Nothing. Just that you keep me in the dark about everything and that I now have a sudden fear of ever going up against that raw power!' he thought bitterly to himself. "Nothing."

Kagome looked at her son as the dog demon's continued to rattle on. "Is this about...well, her...being Naraku?"

Kawayou just shook his head no.

"The feel of Naraku's power?"

Sly just backed away from Kagome and went over to Shippou who was clear on the other side of the room. If his mom kept him so much in the dark, what would explaining her about how he was felt accomplish? 'Nothin'.'

"...AND SO WE SHOULD KILL HIM!"

"No we're not. In fact, I think we should invite him to dinner one of these days."

"HELL NO!"

Inuyasha watched the couple bicker back and forth and shook his head. Getting sick of the argument, he looked over at Miroku who was once again nursing his poor hand. "Lecher, you'll never learn."

*Keh* Sly glanced at Sango and Miroku briefly, then looked at Shippou. "What's the deal with those idiots?"

"They're madly in love with each other." Shippou whispered at a small tone that only he could pick up. "But neither of them ever want to confess."

Sly crossed his arms and whispered in a similar tone. "Yeah, that's obvious. But they don't do that when Kagome and Inuyasha's around."

Shippou's eyebrow quirked up at that. "Hey...I think you are right. Why do they fight only when Inuyasha and Kagome are around?"

Sango sat down near Kagome as they watched the couple come to a decision. Inuyasha was just lying on the ground. He lost interest in the dog-demon's some time ago. He was really thinking about throwing them both out when....

Akina smiled as she looked at Inuyasha. "We've decided that if you ever need extra help with something, you should come visit us."

Yushio grinned wickedly. "And if you don't and you come visit I get to tear your ears off, then I get to shove the-"

"Anyway, I really hope you remember us if you run into trouble." Yushio's wife said as she grabbed Mizuko. "We will be leaving now. Yushio, come on."

Yushio grumbled as he passed, glaring at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha ignored him and decided as long as he didn't desperately need help, he'd probably never see them again.

Kagome and Sango both sat up and dusted themselves off as they already predicted the next words out of Inuyasha's mouth. "You ready to go?"

Kagome shook her head yes, although she tended to shiver a bit.

Inuyasha watched as she tried to cover it up. 'Stupid *****. Still not telling me everything I need to know.'

He remembered the strange occurrence between Kagome and his pup when they saw Kikyou.

He wasn't going to forget it.

"Nevermind." He looked at Sly and motioned with his head to come to him. Sly reluctantly agreed. "What?"

"We're going on a side trip." Inuyasha replied as he looked at Kagome. Her future clothes weren't going to last much longer. All but her poor jacket were barely held together with everything they had been through. "We need to go hunting."

Half an hour later...

Kagome hung on tightly to Inuyasha as he ran through the forest with Sly beside him. They had left Shippou, Miroku and Sango in the village while Inuyasha took them out to...hunt something or another.

Inuyasha only stopped when he finally came to a cave. He let Kagome off his back slowly. "Alright. Now it's time to-"

Kagome stumbled a bit, as she felt a little woozy.

Inuyasha just looked at her strangely.

Kagome glared. "Don't look at me like that! It's been awhile since I've traveled on your back such a long distance."

"Feh. Whatever." He muttered as he looked on the inside of the cave.

Sly also took a peak inside. ".What the heck is that?!"

"What the heck is what?" Kagome asked as she peered into the cave as well, seeing nothing.

Inuyasha began to draw the rusty Tetsusaiga. "That's the sound of a thousand fire rats scurrying around for food."

Kagome quickly decided that picking up Sly and moving away from the cave was a good idea. "WHAT?!" she said as she had moved about ten feet from the cave's mouth.

Inuyasha just ignored Kagome's comment. "This would be a lot easier if we just had some fire sticks."

Kagome and Sly just looked at the half demon as he rolled up his sleeves. "Okay, Mutsuki, come over here."

Kagome's eyes grew wide at Inuyasha's request. "No way! Are you trying to make him go into that cave?!"

Inuyasha just crossed his arms. "Of course, *****. How else is he gonna learn?"

Kagome frowned at him. 'Still calling our son, Mutsuki. Has me on his side of the well forever. Wants me to bear eleven more children for him...and wants me to marry him. This demon thinks he can get everything he wants?!' "Dream on, Puppy! You aren't getting Kawayou into that cave! You aren't going to make me bear eleven more kids! And I will certainly NOT marry you, you greedy *******!"

Inuyasha just stood there, listening to her reaction-that was completely off subject from he topic at hand. 'What the ****?! She's scolding me?!' "Why the **** are you yelling at me because of one stupid comment?! Are you crazy?!"

Kagome glared at Inuyasha as he glared angrily back at her.

"...I just don't think it's a good idea to let Kawayou go in, that's all." she replied to the hanyou's look.

Inuyasha fell on his side. 'What the hell?! First, she's biting my head off, then she's all calm and reasonable?!'

Kagome waited for Inuyasha to get up. 'Geez, he overreacts too much.'

As Inuyasha got up, he looked wearily at Kagome. "Fine then, you both can help."

"What?!" Both Kagome and Sly shouted as Inuyasha walked behind them and started to push them in.

Some time later as they move farther back in the cave...

Kagome treaded carefully behind Inuyasha as best as she could. She couldn't hear any rats but was still feeling quite vulnerable with the knowledge thousands of them were...

crawling around...

Suddenly, she started to make out Inuyasha's white hair, but it had a reddish tint to it. Then she realized she could see all around the cave, but it was all tinted crimson. "Where's that light coming from?"

Then, Inuyasha stopped. "Wait. They're right ahead."

Kagome thought about what Inuyasha said, briefly looking around him.

"Wow. That's cool!" Sly grinned.

There was a huge hollow den where rats were crawling on the floor, crawling along the walls...

even crawling a little too close for comfort to the cliff everyone was looking over.

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome said softly as she looked at all the rats. "Why are they...?"

"Smoldering?" Inuyasha smirked. "That's why they're called fire rats, Kagome."

Kagome just grimaced as she looked at them all scurrying here and there...about twenty nibbling on the carcass of a...

"Inuyasha! I changed my mind! We shouldn't be here!" Kagome said as she anxiously pulled on his red sleeve. "Let's go!"

Inuyasha just smirked. This was turning out better than he thought! "Calm down, Kagome. They aren't gonna get you two."

Sly pointed to the carcass many of the rats were on. "...that's disgusting. How'd they manage to get...?"

Inuyasha looked seriously behind at Sly. "Trust me pup, you don't wanna know." he said as he transfigured Tetsusaiga. "Now, I'm going down, but I don't want you OR Kagome to come down. Got it?" He glanced at the rats as they began to get excited. "You need to see how this is done, since this is tradition." He looked straight at Kagome. "But you should move back. If you accidentally fall, you need to be fast and swift before they gang up on you and make you their next meal." He crouched down over the edge more. 'Not to mention the fact you'd probably be burned alive.'

Kagome shook her head and stepped back a few steps from the cliff-like ledge they had all been looking over.

Inuyasha looked down and, to Kagome's surprise, took a deep breath before he plummeted into the fire rats domain.

Kagome almost forgot her promise as she moved a few steps forward. "Inuyasha?!"

Sly held onto his mom tighter. "Oh man! Pops just flew in and the whole place caught fire?!"

Inuyasha jumped up and hung onto the wall opposite Kagome and Sly. "Move. Back. Farther. Wench." he said with gritted teeth as he knocked off a few fire rats who had clung onto his kimono.

Kagome gladly did as she was told as she took her and her son back about twenty feet. "Inuyasha? Is it normal for rats to catch on fire and still be alive?!"

Glancing at Kagome for a moment, Inuyasha grumbled loudly, "These ****ing things are such a pain in the ***." He scanned the bottom of the fiery pit as the flames coming from the thousands of rats were beginning to lessen. He looked over at Sly. "Pay attention kid, cause when you grow up you're doing this on your own."

Sly just stared at Inuyasha as he plummeted back into the fire.

Sly studied the movements that Inuyasha took with the fire rats. "Damn. You gotta move REALLY fast."

After a few minutes, Kagome turned her head as Inuyasha brought up about four dead fire rats. "Don't touch!" he barked as he jumped back down off the cliff.

"Yeah, don't worry. We are definitely NOT gonna do that." Kagome said disgustedly.

Inuyasha quickly made another trip and brought up four more rats. "Okay..." he mumbled as scrutinized Kagome's figure, measuring her up. "About four will do for yours." he said as he held his left claws, poised to skin one of the rats.

Kagome decided she would turn her whole body away from the gruesome scene. "I don't think I'm gonna eat that much tonight, Inuyasha." she said as she held Sly's head to her chest. "And there's no way Sly's watching that!"

Inuyasha just shrugged. 'Geez, watch me kill multiple demons all those years, and she feels a little queasy at simply skinning them?' he held up one of the rats that was still slightly moving. *Keh* 'Humans. I'll never understand them.' he said to himself as he began his job.

A few minutes later.

"Turn around."

Kagome didn't. "Why?"

"Duh, wench! So you can try this on and see if it fits!" Inuyasha barked.

Kagome looked a little stunned as she turned around and looked at the fire rat fur that looked almost identical to Inuyasha's, only slightly smaller. "How'd you make that?!" There wasn't any stitching showing, and it looked just as well made as his. "How?" she repeated again.

Inuyasha grinned and held her new kimono up proudly. "As soon as a fire rat is dead, it can move and seal with other fire rats! Ya know, like sealing a wound with a hot knife?"

Kagome still looked at her kimono, stunned. It looked really nice, and she was surprised at the job Inuyasha had done. Instead of covering up her entire body bulkily, it was slightly thinner, but still looked very warm. It also had a slightly larger v-shape where the neckline was supposed to be. "It's really...nice."

Inuyasha gaped at her, a little disappointed. "Nice?! I go through the trouble of running through fire and killing and skinning mercilessly and all I get is a lousy 'It looks nice?'!"

Sly ignored his parents as he watched the floor of the pit, where the fire rats were slowly starting to cool down again.

Kagome glared at Inuyasha after his outburst. "Geez, Inuyasha! I SAID it looks nice! Really, I appreciate it, but you don't have to be so stuck up about it!"

Inuyasha raised a brow at her. 'The wench is flying off the handle again? What's with her lately?' "Whatever." he grumbled as he glanced down at the pit again. "So, how many pups we having? Eleven more? So that means I'll have to kill...."

"We just have one and we're ONLY having one!" Kagome yelled out.

Inuyasha just blinked at her. "One? Come on! You don't seriously just want one?"

Kagome felt extremely angry at the hanyou for some reason. "Do you know how much bearing one of your children hurt?!" she cried out angrily as she kicked Inuyasha in the shin.

Inuyasha bit back his howl as he held his poor leg. "What the hell was that for, *****?!"

Sly gaped up at his mom, completely bewildered. 'Wow. Mama actually kicked him in the shin? Just cause of the stupid kid thing?' He shook his head with disbelief.

She had been acting kinda strange lately...

Kagome sighed at her own outburst. 'What's with me lately? Why is it I keep yelling at Inuyasha for such small things?' she thought as she looked at Inuyasha. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I don't know what came over me. Are you okay?"

*Keh* "Fine! Like you could actually hurt me!" he said, still slightly favoring his poor leg.

Kagome bit her lip. She couldn't believe she was going to say this. It sounded more like the old her, but...after the mean and bizarre thing she did, she thought he decided to know the truth. "I am sorry, Inuyasha. And I really do mean that my new kimono is nice. It's really wonderful, I just didn't know how to say it, okay?"

Inuyasha glanced back at her. "You really like it?"

"Yes." Kagome smiled. "I really do, okay?"

Inuyasha smirked. "Of course you do. I knew that." He looked down into the pit. 'I guess we can come back again when she's more serious about having pups.' "I'll just make a couple more kimono's real quick...." 'Just in case.' he smirked. "...then Mutsuki could have two extra's."

Kagome shook her head yes and looked down at Sly in her arms. She was really pleased that her son had been more affectionate these last couple of days.

When the family left the cave, Inuyasha held out Kagome's new robe. Kagome smiled and put Sly down while Inuyasha helped her put on her new robe.

He grinned at her when he saw how well it actually fit. And how well she actually looked in it. He didn't think he had any fashion sense, but who cared. She looked pretty damn good to him.

Sly looked up at his mom, reaching out his arms to her again.

Kagome blinked, picking her son back up. "Don't even want to walk a couple feet?"

Sly just shook his head no.

Kagome giggled and looked at Inuyasha. "So, how do we look?"

Inuyasha observed Kagome holding his pup. He couldn't hold back his smile as he gazed at each of them with their kimonos. Kagome's softly swished in the breeze as Sly was undoubtedly fidgeting around with his strings. For some reason, the bizarre scene struck a small chord in his heart.

"Pretty good, but I still look the best." he grinned.

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