Hinochan & Kittychan: 'singing way off key' Hark, the herald angels sing, GORY TO THE NEW BORN KING!!!

Inu-Yasha: 'Holding his ears and wincing' TT

Hinochan & Kittychan: ' singing to the above song' Weeee do not ooooown any of the INUYAHSA CHARACTERS! All except for Kenshi-kuuun are property of Sunrise.

Inu-Yasha: 'twitch twitch' I'd go with Kagome if someone would just PLEASE, GET ME OUTTA HERE!!

"Kaede!! Kaede!! I saw him! I saw Inu-Yasha again!" cried Kikyo as she burst into the house.

Kaede slipped out of her parents bedroom and shushed her sister quietly. "Sister Kikyo, calm down and quiet yourself some. Tosan is sleeping. Now, let us go for a walk and ye can tell me everything. Is this once again about that half demon?" she asked quietly. Apparently she hadn't understood completely what her elder sister had been yelling so excitedly about.

"I am sorry, sister, but I can hardly contain my excitement. I have seen this Inu-Yasha a third time!" she cried happily, yet as quietly as her excitement would allow.

"I am not too sure about this. Come. We shall walk, and ye may tell me everything. Kasaan went to search for fruits and tend to the grave sites, so she should be back after nightfall."

The two girls left the house and strolled about the forest, never straying more than two miles from the village. Along the way, Kikyo told her younger sister everything that she had seen and what Inu-Yasha's responses had been to what she had done. Kaede's face grew more thoughtful as each detail was relayed to her. As soon as Kikyo finished, Kaede thought for a moment before speaking.

"Well, I'm not too sure. This half demon has been proven to be dead. How can he still live?" she asked suspiciously.

Kikyo studied her disbelieving face before answering. "Well, he apparently not only lives, but his appearance is that of one with my years. He was young and sprightly. I am sure of what I saw."

Kaede smiled and shook her head. "Well, sister Kikyo, I have to say that I will not be able to believe ye unless I see him for myself. Now I must return to the house. I have much work to be done. You should return to your post. Your guard begins when the sun sets. So go, and I will see ye tomorrow." Kaede laughed lightly and turned toward home.

Kikyo smiled and headed toward the shrine. All the way there, she thought about the hybrid. Can he talk? He didn't seem to be able to. However, he did seem to have an understanding of what I was saying. As she continued on, the sky began to darken as evening fell and Kikyo looked up to the moonless sky. It is a dark night tonight. Many demons will be on the hunt. I must be alert. Kikyo reached the shrine as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon.

She stood guard for a few hours, nothing out of the ordinary was happening, so she sat to rest. She looked around the forest, dreaming awake that Inu- Yasha would appear and actually talk to her. Only in your dreams, Kikyo. She thought, laughing in spite of herself. She was about to get up and move on when a flash in her peripheral vision caught her attention. She stood and looked over to see a figure crouched low in the brush. She readied an arrow and drew the string loosely back as the figure launched at the shrine. She fired an arrow straight at him, managing to catch him by the sleeve of his robe. Out of instinct, she fired five more arrows in quick succession, pinning the demon to a tree by his clothes. She slowly approached him, a last finishing arrow fitted to her bow.

She walked up to it as it tried to grab an arrow that had pierced its arm with its teeth. She could faintly recognize the figure by its shimmering silver hair and red robes that even then seemed to show off its strong body. To make sure, she put her arrow away and put the bow to the underside of his chin. She pulled on it, forcing him to look at her, his orange eyes reflecting a light that didn't seem present. His eyes seemed darker now than before, Kikyo shook it off and preceded to speak.

"What are you doing here, Inu-Yasha?" she questioned, not taking the pressure off the bow and not really expecting him to answer. But to Kikyo's surprise, he did.

"I'm performing a sacred dance ritual, what does it look like I'm doing?" he asked sarcastically, jerking his head to the side, so her bow was not holding his face.

Kikyo was taken aback by his voice. Most demons had a harsh rough voice that reflected the evil inside them. But his was a deep rich voice that she had never heard from a demon before, and one of the most warm human voices she had ever heard. There was warmth even in the sarcastically spoken words. She finally pushed the thought of his voice to the side and asked the question that was pounding in her head. "You can talk?"

"No, I'm a mute. You're not actually hearing anything I'm saying. You're imagining it. Of course I can talk!" he sneered. He certainly made no secret of his opinions about things. A very sarcastic creature indeed.

Kikyo threw him a somewhat annoyed glare before suddenly getting an idea. "Wait here! I'll go get my sister. She'll know what to do about your arm. Plus, now I can prove that I'm not going crazy!" And before Inu-Yasha could protest, she had darted off toward the village.

"Kaede! Kaede, I've got him! He's pinned to a tree by the shrine! Come on, you're coming with me, one of my arrows pierced his arm and he needs your skills to heal the wound." Kikyo exulted as she ran into the hut.

"You've got whom, sister Kikyo?" wondered a puzzled Kaede. "Who did you pin to a tree and pierce with one of your arrows? What do you mean? Now calm down and tell me who you're talking about."

"Inu-Yasha, of course!" Kikyo cried happily. "I caught him trying to steal the Sacred Shikon Jewel!"

"You've caught Inu-Yasha?" Kaede's eyes grew wide. "You really have him captured?"

"Yes, sister! Now come with me, I'm going to prove to you once and for all that he really exists." Kikyo grabbed her sister's hand and practically dragged her out the door.

Kenshi looked out the door as Mistress Kikyo darted down the street in the direction of her hut. What is she doing off of her post? He wondered. What was that she was saying? She had him or something. He gasped. She must mean the demon that is lurking about! We must aid her in the apprehension of this creature!

Kenshi ran out of the house and rounded up about seven of the village men. They grabbed what few weapons they had, sticks, clubs and a few spears, and headed for the shrine.

Inu-Yasha tried to move the arrow by reaching it with his teeth, but to no avail. The arrow stuck fast. K'so! How could I have let myself be caught by this weak mortal?! And a girl at that!! He struggled against the arrows, but they wouldn't budge, they held him fast to the tree. What's going on with these arrows! They should be like twigs to break out of, even if they did have a small spell on them!

Inu-Yasha looked angrily up at the sky. No matter how angry he got, there was not one time when the beautiful moon could not quell his anger. He looked to the sky to find only a dark blue canvas. The moon was not visible. NO! The new moon!! How could I have forgotten?! Now of all times!!

As if on cue, Inu-Yasha saw the forms of many people running toward him. Men, by the sound of their gruff voices. He watched as they approached, feeling weaker every second. They reached the clearing where the shrine was and looked around. They seemed to be looking for something. They continued on until one of the younger men spotted him. He pointed at the tree he was stuck to and the group slowly made their way over to him. Inu-Yasha looked up at them, some confusion in his eyes.

"So, you're the big bad demon, eh?" one asked snidely. "Not so tough now that you're at the mercy of our fury, instead of the other way around. Now prepare to feel the anger of this village toward demons!"

With that speech made, the group began to hit and kick. Inu-Yasha shrank back as far as he could under the weight of the assault, but he was stuck. He'd just have to wait until they got tired of hurting him. He felt a sharp edge run across the top of his forehead, but he was not going to give them the satisfaction of hearing him howl in pain. Never. He squinted as the blood from his cut trickled down into his right eye, but shook it away by shaking his head slightly and face another bunch of strikes. A hard solid fist came into painful contact with his face, and soon Inu-Yasha was tasting the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. More punches and kicks were dealt to his gut than he preferred to count. Soon, the hits stopped for a brief moment as something startled the group. He heard some whispers among the group as to what was happening.

"Why is his hair changing color?" "What is happening to his claws?" "Where did his demon dog ears go?"

The one that seemed to be the leader walked up to him and roughly jerked his face up to look at him. "So, you think that your illusions can save you, do you? Think again, demon! Commence!" he yelled and once again the shower of blows resumed.

Inu-Yasha took every hit, determined not to make a sound. However, now that he was entirely human, his will power was ebbing away at an incredible rate. A hard kick landed in his stomach and he was about to cry out, giving up, when a familiar feminine voice immediately stopped the assault.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FOOLS?!" it shrieked, obviously enraged and worried at the same time.

Everyone in the crowd turned and immediately fell to the ground knowing that they had gone against her will. "Mistress Kikyo!" they cried in unison.

Kikyo... so that's her name. Thought Inu-Yasha as he felt his consciousness slipping away.

Kikyo and Kaede gasped at the sight of Inu-Yasha hanging limply by the arrows, blood all over his visible skin. His eyes were half-open and his breathing was labored, but at least he was alive. Kikyo turned angrily to the group of cowering village men. "You have greatly displeased and dishonored me. Return to the village at once and ponder on what you have done!"

In the blink of an eye, the men were on their feet and already running back toward the village. Kikyo reached out and grabbed one by the back of his cloak. "Kenshi?" she said, thin lipped.

"Yes, Mistress Kikyo?" he asked, obviously nervous.

"I have one job for you to do for me." She turned him to face the tree. "I want you to pull those arrows out and lower him to the ground...GENTLY!!" she added loudly at the end.

"Yes, Kikyo-sama!" he ran over to the tree, but as soon as he got near it, Inu-Yasha narrowed his eyes and spat at him.

Kikyo could hear his berely audible and weak words. "Don't come near me you yarou."

Kenshi looked nervously at Kikyo. She walked up to the tree and physically moved Kenshi aside. "Very well, Inu-Yasha, I shall do it myself."

Inu-Yasha sighed as she removed the arrows from his clothing. As more weight was taken off of the arrows, Kenshi caught him. Soon, Kikyo had removed all but one arrow, the one that had pierced his arm. Inu-Yasha realized that Kenshi was holding him and began to try to squirm out of his grasp. His mobility was limited, however, because of the arrow still stuck in his arm. "Inu-Yasha! Stay still!" She demanded harshly. Inu-Yasha begrudgingly obeyed, and stopped moving as Kikyo tried to work the arrow out of his arm. "Brace yourself, Inu-Yasha. This will hurt." She warned him. He simply snorted in response. Kikyo grabbed a hold of the arrow near the end in his arm and pulled a bit. Inu-Yasha winced painfully. Wow. I did not realize how painful these arrows were. She finally got a firm grip on it and began working it free. Inu-Yasha winced the entire time, still not willing to cry out. Kikyo gave it one final tug before it finally came out. Inu-Yasha pulled his injured arm close and jumped away from Kenshi. He landed on his unsteady feet, his body still beaten and bruised. He stumbled around for a few seconds trying to get his eyes to focus. Everything was swimming. He looked at Kikyo who was slowly walking toward him. He tried to get away, but his body wouldn't move. His eyes closed and he dropped to his knees, still clutching his badly bleeding arm. He stayed upright for a few seconds, but then gave up as he fell forward. The last thing he remembered was falling into someone instead of hitting the ground, then all was darkness.

Kaede brought a wet cloth into the main room and put it to Inu-Yasha's forehead. She spoke after a while of sitting there next to Kikyo. "Are you sure this is he, Sister? He is mortal. That is plain to see. He is no demon."

Kikyo sighed audibly. "I know that this is the one I spoke of, Kaede. He is the only one that I pinned to the tree with my arrows. His countenance has altered greatly, only I know not why. But I'm sure this is him."

Kaede watched over him through the night while Kikyo went to the shrine to continue her watch. Kaede surveyed the bruises on his bare stomach before wrapping them. Kikyo returned in the small hours of the morning, long before the sun showed itself. Kikyo approached Inu-Yasha and surveyed him. The cut on his forehead was almost invisible, the bruise on his face was gone, and the puncture wound on his arm was healing nicely. The only thing that worried Kikyo still was the stomach injuries. She approached him and slowly unwrapped the bandages on his stomach to replace them. She put some herbs on the bruises and then left to get some fresh bandages.

She stopped about halfway to think. Why am I so adamant about helping him? He is half demon, after all. She retrieved the bandages and started back toward the main room with them. Maybe it's because I feel sorry for him. Judging by the way Kenshi and his group assaulted him like that, he is not very highly thought of. She entered the main room and unraveled the bandages to wrap his wounds. She lifted him up into a sitting position and began to wrap his stomach. She was about half done when a groan was heard from the man. She quickly set him down and looked at him intently. He did not budge at all, so she resumed wrapping his stomach. Kikyo was in no way prepared for what happened next.

Inu-Yasha slowly gained consciousness. He didn't remember much of what happened, only that he had turned human and he had been beaten. He was feeling a lot better than he had when he first got the injuries. It took a few seconds to open his eyes and realize where he was. It seemed that the girl, Kikyo, had her arms wrapped around his bare stomach with some type of odd white cloth in her hands. He wasted no time in roughly shoving her away. Kikyo seemed very worried about him, but she didn't try to approach him again. He tried to stand up, but collapsed on to his hands and knees, clutching his stomach. "What's happened? What am I doing here?" he asked weakly

Kikyo held up her hands to communicate to him that he needed to calm down. "You shouldn't be moving! You were badly injured in your stomach. You need to keep still."

Inu-Yasha slowly got to his feet, and stumbled a bit before catching himself on the wall. He looked out the window and seemed angry at the early morning sky. "You didn't explain why you brought me here! Where is here, anyway? Speak!"

"You were badly injured for nothing you did wrong. I felt that it was only fair that I help to tend to your wounds." She said, lowering her , you created them in the first place," he grumbled quietly so that only he could hear. "You didn't seem so excited about caring for the mangled corpse of that demon crow about a week ago!" he exclaimed at her.

Before Kikyo could respond, Kaede stirred from her place on the floor and stood up quickly, seeing that Inu-Yasha was awake. "Are you all right? What has happened, sister?"

"He woke up while I was tending to his stomach. He is not pleased with us for bringing him here." Kikyo answered quietly, so that only Kaede could hear. As soon as the two looked back they saw that the man was removing the half-wrapped bandages from his stomach. They were about to tell him to put them back on when they saw that the bruises were no longer seen. He moved on and removed the bandage from his arm, revealing nothing but healthy skin. Soon, he removed all of the bandages from his body and picked up his cloak. Without a word he walked out the door.

Kikyo and Kaede looked quizzically at each other before following him to see him standing out on the grass in front of the hut. "What are ye doing?" Kaede wondered aloud, slowly approaching Inu-Yasha. He 'hmphed' and looked at the brightening sky. The sun peeked out from behind the horizon, bathing the world around it in an array of missed morning light. Kikyo and Kaede were unprepared for what happened next.

Even as they watched, a change began to overtake Inu-Yasha. His hair began to change color. Starting at the top, silver hair replaced the black like a sheet falling down his back. Two small ears seemed to grow upward from behind his bangs. His face became narrower and his eyes sleeker as well as turned from green to bright orange. His regular fingers lengthened and where fingernails were, claws grew and fangs appeared in his mouth. Kaede gasped quietly. He is Inu-Yasha! "So you are the demon Inu-Yasha I have heard of?" she inquired quietly.

"When did you figure that out?" he snorted. He pulled his cloak over his bare chest and tied it. He prepared to jump into a nearby tree when Kaede stopped him.

"Inu-Yasha, why must you go now? Your injuries have not had time to heal!" she cried, obviously worried.

"Feh! Relax! Whether they've had time or not, they're healed! Now leave me alone!" with that said, he jumped into the tree and was gone in a matter of seconds.

Kikyo turned authoritatively on Kaede. "Why is he still so distant to us even though we saved his life? Why did he look the way he did last night and yet turn back to the way he looked all the times I had seen him before? How did he heal so quickly? Sister, there must be some clue as to what has happened and who he really is!"

Kaede pondered her sister's questions shortly, before turning and dashing back into the house, Kikyo on her heels. She took down a few of her scrolls and skimmed over them before searching another. Kikyo waited somewhat patiently, however, you could tell she was quickly losing her ability to stay still. Finally, Kaede stood up and held up one of her many scrolls. "I think I may have found a clue as to why he looked so different for only last night! It says here that even though the creature would have had an equal share of both human and demon blood, both sides would constantly try and take over the other, without the creature knowing. The demon half would mostly show itself in times of absolute rage. However, unlike a full blooded demon, a half-breed cannot transform its body into an animal. The human half is too weak to overtake the demon side, so the only time that the human side could take over the body would be with the help of some kind of phenomenon. Although, what, I cannot say. Apparently, that phenomenon occurred last night." She put the scroll down and stared thoughtfully at her sister.

Kikyo mused about all of the information that had just been dropped on her. "Well, we can worry about that later. What about my other questions? How was he able to heal as quickly as he did?"

Kaede didn't even have to think about that question. "Well, you see, Onesama, Inu-Yasha is half demon, of course, and demons have the supernatural ability to heal themselves very quickly. And while he was human for last night, his demon blood could do nothing to heal him. However, once the ebbed demon blood returned, it healed him of his ailments even better than we could."

Kikyo nodded slightly in agreement. "And why is he so distant to us even though we helped him recover?"

"We will never find the answer to that in any scroll. That type of reaction only comes from the creature's personality. If he has had a history of being beaten, then he would immediately rebel against anyone or anything that represents being injured that way. He now no longer trusts the people of this village at all, and probably never will. Since we belong to this village, he doesn't trust us either. However, we might need to keep an eye out for him. The stomach injuries are not something even demon blood can heal quickly. The bruises are healed, but the damage to his stomach is not. However, I would advise you to stay here One-sama. He does not trust us, and chasing him might only worsen his feelings toward us."

Kikyo nodded and stared somewhat dreamily out the door where he had disappeared. I want to help him, but how? He won't let me near him! Kikyo almost physically shook her head. What on earth am I saying? Why am I so set on this half demon? I've never had any guilt about killing a demon after the Shikon jewel before, so why is he different? I couldn't... I couldn't... be falling in love with a demon, could I? No... that's ridiculous! Isn't it?

Inu-Yasha settled into a tree. "Nasty humans!" he cried to himself. "That Kikyo girl may be pretty, but that doesn't mean that I want her fawning all over me." Well, pretty may be an understatement. He thought. In fact he thought she was downright beautiful. Admitting that would be a feat, as far as he was considered, never committed. He would never allow himself to show that kind of weakness. Never.

Inu-Yasha sat up, but soon slumped back, clutching his stomach painfully. Savage mortals!! With only that thought in his mind, the hybrid fell into a deep sleep.
Hinochan: ZZZZZZzzzzzz.

Kittychan: ZZZZZZzzzzzz.

Inu-Yasha: T-T-T-They're asleep. I-I'm getting outta here. 'Whispering' Stay tuned for the next chapter! Bye!