@%@%@%@%@ Gomen! Gomen! I know it took forever to get this done but I hope you don't hurt me too badly for the delay. I just haven't really had time to type much lately Plus this chapter was halfway through when poof! No more chapter… Thank you to those who have reviewed and stuck with me! Ok, it seems Kagome's eyes in the manga are grey and in the anime they are brown… I'm going with brown in my fic. I'll stop here so you can read the rest! So now on with the show!!@%@%@%@%@

Dictionary:
Youki = evil spirit that demons give off (the smoke like stuff Inuyasha uses to find where to attack)

Neko = Cat
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Inuyasha *sigh*

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A Line Is Drawn...
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The group had decided since Buyo was now a part of their little shard
hunting group he should be introduced to Kaede and the rest of the
villagers.

Upon seeing the wizened Miko, Buyo went to one knee and giving a slight
bow, thanked her for taking care of Kagome while she was in this time. Of
course this endeared him to the Older Miko.

Soon enough the group once more set out to find the Shikon shards. They
had walked for most of the day and into the evening when they decided to
make camp.

The usual bustle occurred except for the screams and clocking Miroku on
the head for peeping while the girls took a bath. The hentai priest didn't
dare while he was being pinned by Buyo's glaring eye just daring him to try.
They all settled in and after about an hour everyone was asleep, almost
everyone that was.

As Inuyasha lay in a tree watching the night sky he suddenly sensed
Buyo's presence behind him. The young dog demon flicked an ear back
and gave a soft "feh" to let his fellow demon know that he had sensed him.

"Took you long enough pup" Buyo said as he lightly sprang from his perch
onto the branch that Inuyasha was currently occupying. "I must've been
waiting a good three minutes waiting for you to do something."

Inuyasha just snorted "what do you want Neko?"

"What I want pup, is to see if you can tell me whose scent is on this."

Inuyasha looked up to see Buyo holding out one of Kagome's shirts to him.

"The first is Kagome's scent but the second is not familiar to me. It does not
belong to any of our current companions nor to any of those in the village."

Inuyasha reluctantly took the shirt from the neko demon's hand and sniffed
it. Sure enough there was the overwhelming presence of Kagome, but
strangely enough there was the scent of Kikyo as well.

"When had Kikyo ever got close enough to Kagome to leave her scent on
Kagome's shirt?" Inuyasha thought to himself.

Buyo's voice interrupted Inuyasha's musings when he said "do you know
who the scent belongs to or not?"

"Feh, it belongs to someone named Kikyo."

"So Kikyo's her name..."

Inuyasha did not like the thoughtful look the Neko was wearing so he rudely
asked "what's so important about knowing whose scent that was?"

Buyo looked over at Inuyasha as if coming out of a trance "Hmm.. Wha?"
Buyo paused for a moment before continuing "oh yes, the scent. I just
usually like to know the name of those who I plan to kill."

Buyo then faded into the shadows before Inuyasha could process what the
cat demon had just said. By the time the full meaning of Buyo's statement
hit Inuyasha the other demon was already gone.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he glared at the spot Buyo had just vacated
"this is far from over Neko..."

The next morning Kagome was awoken by a soft tickling sensation on her
nose. She batted at the offending thing and snuggled closer into her bag.
Once more the annoying thing invaded her senses along with a few muffled
giggles. Cracking one eye open a tiny bit she was greeted with a multi-
colored fuzzy thing waving in her face.

Kagome bolted upright screeching "CATERPILLAR!!"

Kagome then blinked as the group around her fell over laughing. As she
looked to the side she saw Buyo with tears streaming down his face, from
laughing so hard, she realized that it had been his tail and not some bug
that had woken her up.

"Buuuyyoo!" Kagome growled as she glared at the now frozen Neko.

By that tone of voice Buyo realized he had five seconds to fight or flee.

Unfortunately he took six seconds to decide and was flattened to the
ground as Kagome pounced on him.

The group began to cheer for Kagome as she straddled Buyo, tickling his sides turning him helpless as he was laughing to hard.

"What the hell is this!?" Inuyasha shouted as he came into the clearing.

All sound suddenly disappeared as everyone fell silent to look at the boiling dog demon glaring at them all.

Brushing her hair from her face Kagome said "we were only playing Inuyasha."

"Playing, right" Inuyasha drawled as he pointedly looked at Kagome who was still sitting on Buyo.

Kagome looked down to see Buyo smirking up at her and she then realized what the two of them must look like.
"Kyaa!" Kagome shrieked as she quickly scrambled off Buyo.

A few seconds later she delivered a scorching glare to the chuckling cat demon as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Hey Neko! I have a bone to pick with you." Inuyasha growled as he pointed at Buyo.

"Ooh, bad pun dog-boy!" Buyo exclaimed as he threw one arm over his eyes in a dramatic pose.

Kagome snickered as Inuyasha growled at the cat demons theatrics.

Suddenly Buyo got a serious look to his face saying "what is it that you want pup?"

"Quit calling me pup!" Inuyasha roared. "You're probably only a few years older than me and I'm 67!"

Buyo gave a snort and shook his head "oh please pup, I'm 482 and fifty of your years don't count since you were out for a little ciesta at the time."

Inuyasha grumbled "it doesn't matter how old you are, and what the hell is a ciesta!?"

Kagome sighed mentally "note to self, no more international channels for Buyo…"

"A siesta is another word for taking a nap pup. So the truth of this all is that you are really only seventeen.

"Feh!"

Buyo sighed "ah, and people say those of youth are the shining star of our future." He looked over at Inuyasha pointedly as he leaned towards Sango stage whispering "A pretty dim future ne?"

With a wordless growl Inuyasha launched himself at Buyo, fully intending to hook his claws into the smirking neko.

Well, that was what he was Intending to do… until he heard that fateful word…

"OSUWARI!"

Kagome stalked over to the fuming and flattened dog demon "Inuyasha, you should really learn to talk to people instead of trying to rip their throats out."

Just as Buyo was about to stick his tongue out at the slightly squashed dog-boy Kagome rounded on him. Buyo quickly shut his mouth as Kagome's flashing eyes landed on him. "Oopsie… he was toast."

"And you! Quit baiting Inuyasha! If you really are over 400 then you should know better than that!"

The rest of the group watched in amazement as the somewhat small, futuristic, Miko faced down two powerful demons.

"As you wish mistress" Buyo sighed.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome queried, with a note in her voice that said if he didn't comply there was going to be a hell of a lot more 'sits' in his future.

All she got was a assenting "feh…"

Taking that as an affirmative Kagome clapped her hands saying "Ok everyone, lets go!"

"Do you even know where you're going?" Inuyasha scoffed.

With a strained smile Kagome turned to him saying "of course I do. I thought it would be a good idea to follow the shard that I've been sensing for the past half hour coming from that direction."

Inuyasha gaped in the direction her finger was pointing before he exploded "why the hell didn't you say so in the first place!"

Before Kagome could respond, and start another shouting match, Buyo placed himself in front of her saying "just where the hell do you get off speaking like that to her pup!?"

"I'll speak to anyone anyway I want Neko!"

Crossing his arms Buyo glared gave a Inuyasha a disdainful glare as he muttered "Che! It's no wonder she comes back upset most of the time."

Inuyasha's next comment was abruptly back peddling in his throat when he realized what Buyo had just told him.

"It's all-right Buyo. Let's just get going" Kagome said softly as she tugged on the cat demon's arm.

Giving one last glare to the stupefied pup Buyo turned while saying "as you wish my mistress."

As the group began walking Inuyasha could hear Kagome's voice float back to him.

"Please just call me Kagome. 'My mistress' just doesn't sound right."

"As you wish my… Kagome,"

"Have I really upset her as much as that neko jerk said?" Inuyasha thought to himself.

"Hey Inuyasha! If you don't get moving they'll leave us behind" Shippo piped up from Inuyasha's shoulder.

Inuyasha was about to bop the little kitsune for being annoying when something caught his eye and caused his heart to squeeze a bit… Shippo was wincing and tensing up, readying for the expected blow.

Lowering his arm Inuyasha said nothing as he began walking forward. In seconds he became lost in a gut wrenching tumble of self recriminating thoughts.

"Am I such a bastard that Shippo has now begun to expect me to hit him for everything he does?"

A soft voice in his mind whispered "that's because you do."

"But he deserves it…"

Once again the voice of reason whispered "even for letting you know you were about to be left behind?"

Inuyasha became increasingly silent as his thoughts began to chase each other around in his head.

"Pup! Hey pup!"

Inuyasha blinked as he came out of his reverie only to see Buyo watching him as they walked side by side. Looking ahead Inuyasha noticed that Shippo was now on Kagome's shoulder chatting with the rest of the group.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about earlier pup? It seemed serious so I sent the kit with the others."

"Mmm, thanks" Inuyasha said a little absently.

Buyo raised an eyebrow thinking that something must be really bugging the pup if he was thanking him.

"Neko, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to take it seriously" Inuyasha said softly.

"You've got my attention and my word pup."

Inuyasha gave the cat demon a rueful smirk "I am just a pup aren't I…?"

The last bit was said as if Inuyasha was muttering to himself so Buyo refrained from saying anything. "Go ahead and ask what you want pup" Buyo said gently.

"Would it be worth it to become a full demon?"

Buyo's eyes widened in shock as he sighed "you don't ask the easy ones do you pup?"

Inuyasha smirked "I have it on many good authorities that I don't do anything easily."

Buyo was silent as he studied the pup beside him. Buyo realized that he had made a mistake when he had told them how old he was. Watching them all he was grateful to whatever fates had made the group fail to realize that he was old enough to know the outcome of this little journey. At first, when Buyo had noticed Inuyasha in the beginning, he had wondered how this pup could've been the demon of legends in the tales of the Shikon shards. Now seeing him at this moment Buyo saw a bit of what was in those legends and knew Inuyasha was going to be worthy of having those tales told about him.

"Inuyasha, why are you asking me this?" Buyo said slowly.

Inuyasha's gaze slid over to the group of humans and one lone kitsune cub. "I want to protect them but not to the point that they would run from me instead of to me."

Buyo gave a weak grin saying "there's more to you than just brawn isn't there pup? There's actually some brains hidden in there."

Inuyasha let that go seeing the comment as the compliment it was supposed to be, in a twisted sort of way.

Buyo sighed as he stared up at the sky, thinking of how to put what he wanted to say to the pup. Finally he settled for just plain bluntness… much like a steel pipe to the back of Inuyasha's head.

"Inuyasha, do you want to kill humans?"

Inuyasha rocked back as if he had felt the proverbial lead pipe while shouting "hell no!"

The others turned at Inuyasha's outburst but went back to talking as Buyo waved off their concerns.

"Seriously pup, do you really think that you would get away with being a full demon in this time and not have to kill some humans?"

Inuyasha turned contemplative before saying "you've lived quite a while and I don't see you attacking humans."

Buyo rolled his eyes saying "pup through out my life I don't know exactly how many humans I've killed but I do know it's more than all the digits you have on your hands and feet."

Buyo gave Inuyasha a side glance as he continued "even now I still kill a human every now and then without any real regrets."

Inuyasha stared at the cat demon with barely concealed horror "what do you mean 'even now'?"

Buyo looked at Inuyasha with eyes gone dark from resolve "those who would harm my mistress are harmed or killed in return."

Something clicked in Inuyasha's mind as he stared at the cat demon in front of him. The dog demon stayed silent for a moment as Buyo's last remark brought his original problem with the cat demon to the surface.

"Buyo, you said those who would kill Kagome are killed in return…"

With one eyebrow raised Buyo drawled "yes, and your point?"

Inuyasha looked him in the eye saying "so why are you after Kikyo?"

"Hmm? Oh! You mean the other scent that was on Kagome's shirt?"

"Yeah."

"Little pup, haven't you been listening to a word we've been saying? The one named Kikyo tried to kill Kagome and in return I get my chance at her."

Inuyasha titled his head forward a bit causing his bangs to overshadow his eyes "I can't let you harm her."

"Who? Kagome? I'd never harm her!"

Inuyasha abruptly turned his head without looking up "Feh! I meant Kikyo…"

Buyo's eyes flashed in anger as he remembered the nightmares Kagome had been having those nights after that incident. "She cried pup. Kagome made sure there was no one around and then she just sat there and cried as if she would never have courage again."

Inuyasha flung his head up to stare at Buyo as he felt the first stirrings of youki gather about them.

Buyo's eyes bored into Inuyasha's as he hissed "so to save one already dead you would let this Kikyo kill Kagome, little hanyou?"

Seeing the once friendly cat demon go deadly Inuyasha began to realize that Buyo was willing to kill Kikyo and even him if he got in the way.

Buyo let out a soft hissing growl "well little hanyou? Will you choose the one who gives life, or the one that takes it?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You still are like a newborn pup" Buyo snorted. "You don't have your eyes all the way open yet do you? The souls that the undead girl uses, what do you think happens to them after a while?"

"I-I don't know…"

"They die pup. Pure and simple. Who ever they had been, whatever they had done, no longer exists if she holds them within her too long. They never get the chance to watch over their descendants or even have a glimmer of hope at reincarnation."

Buyo's eyes flashed "so which do you chose? Life, or death pup?"

Standing straight with defiance Inuyasha replied "Feh! I choose to keep the way that I am already going."

Buyo's eyes lightened until they were the normal golden amber and the looming aura faded as he looked at Inuyasha in disgust "so be it pup. Unlike you I will not allow both women to visit hell, only the one who deserves it."

"Heed me well in this hanyou, one wrong move around Kagome and your precious golem will be no more than ashes on the wind."
Buyo walked a few feet in front of Inuyasha before calling over his shoulder "oh, by the way, don't think you'll get any help from your friends in this matter. If it was between Kagome and Kikyo, who do you think they would save?"
Inuyasha blinked as he looked at the group of humans in front of him. Sango and Kagome had their heads together while Miroku's hand began it's fate full journey to regions best left unexplored. In mere seconds Miroku had a spectacular lump on his head while Sango settled her boomerang back onto it's usual spot upon her back, while Kagome just laughed.

Suddenly Inuyasha had a horrible vision of Kagome lying on the; ground red blood glistening around her, as her once warm chocolate eyes stared dully at nothing and her sparkling laughter muffled forever.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha quickly looked up into the face of the vibrant Miko as she said "Come on Inuyasha we're almost at the shard."

Inuyasha nodded to let her know he had heard and watched as she went to the others cheering them on about how they would get the shard in no time. Glancing to her side he saw Buyo watching him and the cat demon's last question popped into his mind…

"Life or Death pup, life or death? When it is needed which will you choose?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth and began to whisper a name "K~" and then the world exploded as another fight for a shard began.
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Ok peoples what did you think!? Some might think Inuyasha seemed a little too mature for a bit but let me tell you he does have those moments… -_-; Really he DOES. I hope to have the next one out soon and Please review! It makes me and my kitties very happy! -_-