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Chapter 2: Child of Darkness

Ruri, half-demon daughter of Sesshomaru, sat

cross-legged in a dimly lit cave.

"I'm going to do what father never could", smirked the

little child. "Inuyasha will be brought down, not by

my father.....BUT BY ME!!". Ruri hissed loudly with

the hate and evil no one could have thought someone so

young could carry inside.

She grew calm once more, pondering her plan. What

would it take to remove Inuyasha as an obstacle to her

power? How would she prove herself to be the

strongest? It would be alot more complicated than a

physical attack. If the others knew what she was

planning, they would band together to stop her.

"No, this must be something smart, cunning, and

secret, like only someone of my evil genius can

create..", thought Ruri. She would work in secret.

Not one of them would suspect her true intentions.....

Hideous, maniacal laughter, that of a twisted little

child begins to fill the darkening cave.

"This will be something that stupid bitch Kagome can't

stop", hissed Ruri. "I've had quite enough of

her...thinking she's so great with those energy

bolts...I could crush her like a bug." The evil child

rises to a kneeling position, eyes beginning to glow.

"Once I get rid of Inuyasha, his bitch is next!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~

Ruri, now committed to her plans, rose to her feet,

suddenly coming to realize she could sense something.

Whirling about, nothing to be seen. "I can sense

evil, like me, but different", wondered Ruri aloud,

"Who could be as evil as me?! Where are you?!?!?!"

The challenges of the pint-sized demon fell on deaf

ears. No one was to be seen or heard. Ruri was

indeed alone. But it was clear someone else had been

there, and recently, more importantly, whoever it was

had been evil too. Could they be an ally in Ruri's

plan? Would they try to steal all the power for

themselves? Time would tell.

Elsewhere, Inuyasha continued collecting wood for the

fire. Sighing to himself, "I don't know where that

brat Ruri gets it from....oh wait, sure I do!", as he

points to Sesshoumaru. "Hey cut it out", argued his

brother, "I swear some of the things she does are alot

worse than I ever did."

Inuyasha agrees, "I guess some kids are just born to

be bad, like me for instance." Sesshoumaru raises an

eyebrow, "You? Bad? Give me a break!" Inuyasha

laughs. "Why else do you think Kagome and I got

together? She digs the rebel in me brother." The two

silently chuckle over the joke.

A twig flies out from some bushes, stinging Inuyasha's

nose. "I heard you two! Sesshoumaru knows the only

reason we got together was because you begged real

nice", taunted Kagome. "Hey c'mon, you know I was

only fooling!", pleaded Inuyasha. "I know, but you're

still going to have to collect more firewood to make

up for it". teased Kagome.

"What?! How much more?!", screamed Inuyasha, furious

to be taking orders from anyone, let alone a woman.

"You'll have enough if you come back in the morning"

instructed Kagome. "Yagggghhh! That'll take

forever!" "That's the point you idiot...learn to shut

that big mouth of yours next time!" "Shut yours too

Kagome!"

Sesshoumaru quietly slips away unnoticed while the two

continue screaming at eachother.

"I don't know what either of those two see in

eachother", says Sesshoumaru in disgust. "All they

ever do is argue.,,maybe they like arguing so much."

Sesshoumaru wanders off into the woods, enjoying the

fresh air, and the quiet that seems to increase the

farther he gets from the two bickering lovers.

"I'd help Inuyasha collect firewood, but it's not my

problem, and Kagome is right. He's got a big mouth",

laughs Sesshoumaru to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~

Darkness falls on the forest, with everyone indoors or

asleep. All except for Inuyasha, of course, who is

stuck collecting firewood all night.

"Damn her!", mutters Inuyasha. "She'll never be able

to use all the firewood I could get in a night.

I know, I'll collect alittle, then go to sleep.

She'll never know, and she'll forget she said it by

morning anyway. Girls are really forgetful."

Inuyasha bundles what dry wood he's found so far, and

hangs it in a tree with a vine, then climbs into a

thick branch for a nap. Little does he know that he's

in for trouble, and very soon.

The darkness is penetrating, making it difficult to

see. Finally, a small figure, that of the tiny demon

child Ruri, becomes visible. She is crouching near an

old temple, at another distant village.

"Tonight my plan comes to action", hisses the small

demoness. "I must not leave any trace that I was even

here."

"This will be very useful", chuckles Ruri, clutching a

small lock of hair she snatched from Inuyasha. "The

idiot didn't even realize I took some hair when I

slashed at his face. How sad for him."

Ruri slowly creeps up to the old temple. No one seems

to be up and about. She carefully makes her way to

the priest's quarters upstairs in the pagoda. "I'll

kill the stupid cleric, and make sure this hair points

to Inuyasha", schemes Ruri. She crawls quietly into

the Buddhist priest's bed, kneeling beside him. "Wake

up, to die fool!", taunts a menacing Ruri as she bares

her claws. The priest awakens with a gasp, and soon

finds himself fighting for his very life. A quick

slash of strong sharp claws, and the priest is dying.

Ruri dips some of the hair in the priest's blood, and

puts some into his dying hand.

"It will look like the priest grabbed some off of poor

Inuyasha in the fight", laughs Ruri. "He'll be taken

down by a mob of superstitious village idiots!

HAHAHAHAHA!"

"One last matter to take care of", as the tiny demon

child sneaks back downstairs to the main prayer room.

She clutches a tiny stone Buddha statue. "With this

little thing, I'll make it even worse for Inuyasha's

case", explains Ruri. She packs the statue in her

clothing, and leaves the shrine.

Afew hours later, Ruri happens upon a sleeping

Inuyasha. "This couldn't be easier", smirks the

little troublemaker. Ruri takes a small flask from

her kimono, inside is some of the priest's still moist

blood. She drips some on Inuyasha's hair. Satisfied,

she turns her attention to the bundle of wood that has

been left on a vine. Planting the Buddha statue

carefully in the center of the mess, she leaves.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~

Dawn begins to bring light to the forest. Birds chirp

waking songs for all to hear. Kagome rises to find

Inuyasha home. "Here's your firewood girlie", mutters

the pretendingly exhausted Inuyasha, "I looked long

and hard, like you asked, but that's all there was."

"It's ok Inuyasha", exlaims a still waking up Kagome,

"I forgive you, but what's that in your hair? It

looks like you were fighting!" Pointing to a small

bit of blood, Kagome looks worried. "Huh? I wonder

how this got here, and some of my hair is ripped off",

as Inuyasha tries to make sense of it all.

Inuyasha drops the bundle of wood to the floor, and it

makes a funny noise. A small stone statue rolls out.

"What's this? A Buddha? Where were you Inuyasha!",

asks Kagome. "Damned if I know", counters Inuyasha.

"I'm so good a fighter I even kill in my sleep I

guess."

Lady Kaede's village is alive with people. Someone

from another village is asking questions. It seems a

priest was murdered the previous night. "Who would do

such a thing?", asks a frightened villager.

"A dead priest! Bad omens will come certainly!"

"We must catch the murderer and punish him! The gods

will be angry with us if we fail!"

"Search every home! Go to the forest! He might hide

there!"