Inuyasha sat on the ground, pouting as usual when Kagome was right.

"You know it's only right for me to hold the shards. If YOU held them, we'd never see them again! Isn't that right, Shippou?" She laughed and tousled the fox demon's hair. He purred and stretched.

"Right Kagome!"

"Puh. Well, it's no concern to me whether or not you keep getting carted off, but if those jewel shards go with you, I have to chase." Inuyasha spat.

Kagome puffed up. "Well, if that's the way you feel, then you can go whistle for these!" She shook the jar in his direction, then walked off toward the lake.

"Hey!" Inuyasha got halfway up and almost reached out towards her.

"Now see what you did!" Shippou got mad and ran off for Kagome. "Kagome!!!…"

Miroku shook his head in laughter. "He'll never learn to respect her…"

Suddenly, a wind picked up. "Great, now what?!" Inuyasha paid it only half heed. But he became quite interested…when a tornado-like formation went spiraling towards the lake!

"Kagome!" Inuyasha leapt up and ran off. Miroku was in hot pursuit behind him.

Kagome sat on the bank, fuming. "How can he say something like that! After all we've been through! And doesn't he love Kikyo? Isn't her soul inside me?!"

She suddenly felt chilly. "Shippou, do you feel that?"

She looked over her shoulder and saw the strangest of all sights. Behind her was a tremendous purple tornado! She gasped.

Suddenly, from behind it, Kagome thought she could see a figure clothed in red.

"Kagome! Get away from there!" Inuyasha yelled over the roar of the wind. Miroku was fighting to stand upright.

Shippou, long since scattered, was the least of her worries right now. She stood up against the push and yanks of the spiral and fought to keep standing.

Then, the roar stopped. The tornado dissipated, and in its place stood a teenage-sized figure, clothed in an identical suit to Inuyasha's, except it was a deep plum purple.

Not only did this figure have an outfit like Inuyasha's; it had ears too. But these were black, to match the furry skin of the person/animal. What resembled a skunk-person stood before Kagome, grinning its head off.

"Uh, hello…" Kagome faltered.

The person waved. "Hello!" Its ears were wiggling, and Kagome could see from in front that it had a huge, fluffy tail. Black with a white stripe, of course. The strangest thing was, it had long, white hair! Just like Inuyasha's!

The figure turned around to face a clumsily standing, confused and frightened Inuyasha and Miroku.

"Still up to your old tricks?" It put its hands on its hips and leaned with a silly maternal face on.

"Uh…yeah…wait a minute! Tsumai?!" Now it was Inuyasha's turn to be angry.

"Yup, it's me! And I can plainly see it's you, courting humans. That's just not natural, Inuyasha, and you know it."

Kagome stalked away in a huff. Miroku followed with Shippou to comfort her.

"Wait, Kagome!" Inuyasha walked towards her; then tuned back. "Now see what you did?! She's gonna hold that against me forever! And it IS perfectly natural, IF I WAS courting her! Which I'm NOT! I'm half-human! You know that!"

Tsumai grinned again. "Ha! I knew you'd be hanging around another girl. You just can't stand to be away from them! First it was Kikyo, now it's this Kagome…"

"HANG AROUND?!" Inuyasha bellowed, defiant and offended. "I would NEVER!"

She giggled playfully and flew up into the air, a few feet above Inuyasha's head. Tsumai hovered and then floated upside down.

"You silly. Anyway, I was wondering if you had any of those shards lying about?"

"Tsumai, what are you doing here? I really can't talk right now…Kagome's pissing off and if I don't go talk to her, she'll tell me to 'sit'!" Inuyasha turned to go.

She appeared right in front of him on the other side. "Now, at least converse with me! I haven't seen you in ages!"

*later*

Inuyasha, Shippou, Miroku, Kagome and Tsumai were sitting inside Kaiede's house.

"Well, Tsumai, who are thee and why do you travel here?" Kaede started.

"I actually came to-…" Tsumai was cut short as Inuyasha gasped and then leapt up. He slashed at Tsumai with his claws!

"INUYASHA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kagome screeched. But she never received a reply. Tsumai growled and then jumped up and out through the roof.

Inuyasha was trying to get out the door to catch her. He was mad with fury. Kaede grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Inuyasha, what have you done? What is wrong with thee?"

He tried to pull away. "That's not Tsumai! It's not her! You let me go, old woman! I've gotta find out what's going on!" He even slashed at Kaede to make her let him go. Running out, Kagome, Miroku, and Shippou only caught a glimpse of Inuyasha as he dashed into the nearby forest after Tsumai.

"I sense all is not well with Inuyasha and Tsumai…" Miroku predicted.