Disclaimer: If it was mine would I be writing fan fiction? Hell no! I'd be cruising and laughing at my power over all these people.

Chapter Four

They had almost reached Kaede's hut, Kagome leading and Inu Yasha following a little ways behind. The girl could see Sango's weapons and armor propped outside, leaning on the wall. She surmised that her friend had been cleaning and polishing her equipment with a special purifying draught that kept the weapons from becoming tainted from demon blood, flesh, and guts.

When the miko entered, she found the demon exterminator sitting against the wall sewing up the several rips her black cat suit had acquired. She glanced up from her work and greeted the two as they walked in, "So how'd it go? Did the village have a shinkon shard they wanted to give up?" Her answer was a grunt from Inu Yasha as he sat down on the opposite side of the room, so she knew that they had come back empty handed.

Kagome sat down next to her and sighed. "It turned out to be just a rumor. I guess it's asking too much for a village to get a shard and know what danger it attracts and be willing to hand it over to us." She leaned her head back against the wall, exhaustion settling on her like a too heavy blanket. Fighting to keep her eyes open she asked, "Will Kaede be back soon?"

Sango, who had continued her work, answered, "Soon. Her and Houshi-sama left a while ago to go exorcise a net that a fish demon has possessed. Not enough trouble that they'll need my help; it keeps trying to swim off down the river."

The girl was sitting close enough next to the other that she could hear her steady breathing. The rhythmic sound sent her off into a light stupor that might have developed into a full-fledged nap if happy shrieks hadn't filled the air. Kagome opened her eyes to see Shippo, followed by Mirko, Kaede, and Kirara, burst in. The kitsune wasn't wearing his shirt and was completely soaked, though it didn't stop him from jumping onto her, "Hi Kagome!" He continued to bounce on her. Whatever sleepiness the girl had been feeling, it disappeared with his infectious energy.

Kagome waited for Shippou to get over his delight at seeing her. She patted him on the head and noticed that Kirara, who was also wet, go and greet Inu Yasha by nudging him and purring. Sango noticed her watching and commented, "You know, by the way she acts you'd think that Kirara has a crush on him." They both started to giggle and if Inu Yasha had heard anything, he'd chosen to ignore it.

"Well, judging by Inu Yasha's sunny disposition, I'd say that the rumor was false?" Miroku asked. His robe was wet in places where the reluctant fish net had splashed him. Seeing Sango's look he explained, "The demon proved to be very annoying, it kept hitting people in the face with water and tripping them. At one point it had actually managed to swim away so Kirara had to go drag it back." The demon exterminator nodded and went back to work.

Shippou, through with Kagome, bounded over to Inu Yasha, keeping just out of reach. Without warning he sprang up and pulled a single black feather from the half demon's hair. "What's this?" he asked as Inu Yasha swung at him, but he had already stepped out of range.

Kaede glanced up from the tea she had been preparing and said, "Ah, what a strange find. Inu Yasha, perhaps you should comb out your hair more often."

The kitsune laughed and added, "I can hear the rest of it cheeping." This time, the half demon's blow landed square on his head.

The miko decided not to punish Inu Yasha, as Shippou had basically asked for it, and said, "Oh, Kaede, there's a rabid bear body lying in the middle of the road, you should have some of the villagers go take care of it before something starts to nibble on it." The old priestess nodded and her eye turned to the kitsune. She obviously meant for him to go deliver the message. Huffing, he dashed off to go do what he was bid. "That kind of leads me to the next thing..." Kagome explained about the transformation, though leaving out a part or two.

Forty-five minutes later, a village girl walked giggling from the priestess' hut. Kaede had rounded up the bolder ones to test whatever spell had been placed on Inu Yasha. Each one got to run up and give him a good shove, the intention being to see whether or not it applied to just Kagome. So far it hadn't.

The raven Inu Yasha walked out after her. He looked completely irritated and he was glaring at everyone. The periods that he stayed in this form were random and varying. He had managed to learn how to operate the new legs, though flying was still out of his league.

Kade watched him and stated, "This spell was diffidently cast by a witch and nothing else. I'm fairly sure it will apply to any woman that touches him and since it's a witch spell, it can only be lifted by one. The..." she trailed off as the raven had picked up a particularly long caterpillar and snapped it in half, quickly devouring the first half.

"That's just gross," Shippou gagged out.

"It makes sense though," Miroku said. "Different bodies have different needs and his just so happens to be bugs. I hear that they're an excellent source of protein and that they don't tase half bad." The monk smiled as the kitsune turned a pale shade of green.

The bird was looking about for the second half as the old woman cleared her throat. "As I was saying, the nearest witch is the third village west of here." Just as she finished speaking, there was a small Pop! and Inu Yasha was back with part of his meal dangling from his mouth. He spat out the rest and sprinted into the hut.

When he came back out he declared, "We're leaving tomorrow morning."

A/N: I just realized that I've been putting 'please read and review.' Yes, like there's some weirdo who skips straight to the bottom to see if there are specific instructions to read. Any way, I realize that this is going kind of slow, but things will pick up soon. I didn't want some half formed story, so bear with me. The witch who cursed Inu Yasha will be turning up again and she'll have more of an established character and a reason for her actions. Don't worry, she won't dominate the story. As always, reviews are nice and tell your friends.nudge nudge