Disclaimer: see bio

AN: okies people, if you like, tell me please, this was intended to be a one-shot but after looking over it, it could be more, depends on what you want

Just Another Day?

Inu-Yasha awoke from a peaceful sleep to the smell of blood and fire. He looked over his shoulder to see a large pillar of smoke rising from the nearest village. 'Probably just an injured youkai passing through and the ningen overreacting again,' he thought. Wait, youkai didn't just pass through a ningen village like there was nothing they wanted.

The hanyou shook his head and stood on the limb he had rested on. His sensitive ears picked up small screams in the background of the crashes the youkai was making. He sighed. Maybe it was just his human instincts, but he felt like he had to do SOMETHING about it. Well, if his demon instincts could kick in from time to time, then so could his human...

He dropped from the limb and landed gracefully on the ground. It smelled like a bat-like creature...of some sort anyway. 'No time to sniff the air...' he thought flatly.

With that, he sprinted through what was left of the woods to the slaughter scene.

'Yup...it's definitely a bat...kind of...'

He stared up at a huge bat half the size of the village itself. Its face, however, wasn't too much like a bat. It had many eyes and a beak in the middle of its mutated features. 'Freak...'

If it was a bat, it was blind, no matter how many eyes it had. Well, when all else fails...scream?

The creature turned to Inu-Yasha, let out a long, loud screech, and lunged.

Inu-Yasha successfully dodged and kicked off from its head, sending his own attack at the monstrosity...after all his encounters with humans and demons alike, he noticed that there was always one side of him that struck a nerve, stayed most dominant in him, or both. This time, it was both. 'Not that it matters, this idiot's about to be blown to dust, anyway...'

He slashed at the youkai's head and was blown back into the air by the giant's wings as it ascended for another attack.

'Perfect!'

After the bat's wings came down again, the young halfling mounted the monster's back.

The youkai, however, took notice of the sudden change of surroundings and tried to buck him off.

'Kuso...that leaves me no choice...' Inu-Yasha slashed at the being's right wing, letting it fall all of the twenty feet it had risen.

He leapt off the beast as it writhed for a minute. 'Now the only choice is to put it out of its misery.'

The silver-haired youth sprinted for the bat's neck, but was met with a gash in the arm courtesy of its long bird-like beak. 'Ah...the glories of mutation...' he thought sarcastically.

With that last thought, he dove for his intended target and slashed its throat open, sending acidic blood flying.

The creature let out one last shriek and lay lifelessly still.

Inu-Yasha allowed himself a mental victory for having won such an easy battle. 'Almost too easy.'

However, instead of another wave of demons rushing at him, he felt a tug on his coat sleeve.

He looked to his side and didn't see anyone. Must've snagged on something. He moved his arm to free the fire-rat sleeve from whatever it was and glanced down long enough to see something very small...and very human.

A little girl looked up at him with tear-filled eyes that seemed to be filled with questions.

"Nani?" he asked harshly, turning to the child with a serious look.

The girl winced at his voice and started to speak. "My...my family needs help. I know medicine, but only enough to help my sister..." she finally got out. "Can you help us again?"

"What do you mean again?" Inu-Yasha demanded.

She looked at the bat's corpse. "If it wasn't for you..." she started, looking up at the hanyou. "My sister would be dead. When the demon came...it started clawing at our house and almost got my little sister...then you showed up."

He stared at the child for a little while. Not that again. "What's your name at least?" Not the instincts...

"Kikyo."

"Your sister...what's the deal with her?" 'Too late for turning back now, genius...'

"Kaede is only a year old and she's a little scared. I can take care of her easy."

"But...?"

"But my parents..."

"Look, kid, I ain't no healer!"

Kikyo winced again and went boldly on. "I know but..." she started to cry. "I don't know what to do..." she sobbed, grabbing his coat sleeve again, this time burying her face in the fabric.

He mentally kicked himself again. "Fine, let's go see I what I can't do..." he growled, motioning for her to lead.

The black-haired girl looked up at him and gave a grateful smile as she started to lead him through the blood-strewn streets.

He looked around at the walls of the village...body parts thrown everywhere...the smell of blood was inescapable. Maybe that was why he had a kid dragging him around this forsaken place. Whatever the deal was...Kikyo's smile had faded into a look of grief again.

The two found a building that had a never-ending sound of a baby's cries coming from inside. 'This must be the place...'

The small house looked like it had once been nice. There were tattered wall-hangings...slightly age-worn walls. Nice floors... Too bad the youkai had come and added the color red to everything. As soon as he and Kikyo had entered the hall, he saw what she was talking about.

The walls were half-way ripped off, and two bodies that looked either dead or near death hung on the wreckage. Kikyo went over to the male body. "Otou-san! Otou-san!" she called, tugging on the man's coat.

Inu-Yasha got a good look at the man's face to see his eyes her completely glazed over. He couldn't hear her cries. The half demon reached over and closed the human's eyes and turned to Kikyo. "There's nothing even a healer can do for him, kid."

"Kikyo!!" she shouted, letting go of the dead man's coat. "My name is Kikyo!!" The small girl went to her mother after picking up her sister and calming her down. "Okaa-san. Okaa-san...Kaede is safe. The monster didn't get her."

Not believing his own eyes, Inu-Yasha saw what looked like the woman's spirit smile down at her daughters from her dead body. The spirit shifted its gaze to Inu-Yasha with the same motherly smile. 'Take care of them,' a voice said through his head.

Why did it have to be their mother? Why couldn't it be their father telling him to do something stupid like marry them off to a rich family or something?

After the woman's soul left he turned to Kikyo. He placed a clawed hand on her shoulder. "Let's find you somewhere else to live...Kikyo."