I do not own Inuyasha. If I did, why in God's name would I be here writing fanfics? I would be making money somewhere!
A red shadow passed underneath the trees. Stealthily, dodging back and forth, the creature made its way through one of the endless paths that inhabited his forest. His garments were torn, his chest exposed, the upper part of his outfit completely gone.
At least his belt had held up, he thought. How considerate of that damn youkai. Completely ruined another one, but at least he only ripped my shirt off. How convenient... He cast around with his sharp senses for those who may be watching him. He made his way into the clearing, all business. How in the God's names did they all manage to wreck the robe, but could never seem to kill him? Really, it's only another step from there. You're through the robe, what was so difficult about a bit of skin and some organs? ... He passed over a stream and continued his journey. Not as if any of them could even if they tried, of course. I'm not gonna get cut down by some lower level youkai… He stopped as his ears picked up the snap of a branch, identified the culprit as a busy squirrel, and kept on. Still, he mused, why do they all go for the robe? Is it out of style or something? It's like a freaking battle-Richter scale. You know it's going to be a tough one if the robe's come off… He approached the clearing that contained what he was looking for, one of the thousands of almost identical clearings in the forest. There's another thing, he thought. Why do all of these clearings look the same? And why is there so many of them? Figure there'd be a bit more trees or something in a forest… not just sunny little clearings… As he neared his treasure, he glanced around suspiciously for intruders. Determining that the immediate vicinity held no prying eyes, he approached a seemingly innocent boulder. He shoved it aside as if the heavy rock were no more than an inconvenience and beheld his jealously guarded stockpile. In a large pit that had been completely hidden by the boulder were hundreds of identical, neatly folded fire-rat haoris. He selected one, casually shrugged off the mangled one he had been wearing, and put on the fresh one. He carelessly tossed the old one behind his shoulder and replaced the boulder just in time, for the sanctity of his clearing was shattered as a flushed and irate-looking girl burst into his presence.
"I caught you!"
She pointed an accusing finger as a look of confusion and disappointment covered her features. The boy looked up at her casually as if she were simply mildly disturbed, which by now she probably was.
"Caught me what?"
"You know damn well what!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"The robe! How did you fix the robe? It got torn. I saw it! It was half gone! Why is it back? How do you keep doing this? You can't sew, dammit!"
She came up and grabbed him by his collar, shaking him furiously with a half-crazed look in her eyes.
"My poor deluded Kagome; I have no idea what you are going on about. It's always been like this. And please, it's not a robe, it's a fire-rat fur haori. As if some cheap youkai could rip up my haori…"
He left the girl looking confused and frustrated as he turned away with a knowing, amused smile on his face. After giving up any hope of discovering his secret, the young girl followed the boy back to the camp. She all but forgot about the mystery of the red haori, and lived happily for the rest of her days. The End.
Shedemon here. I was reading the new chapter by Raspberries (Captive Soul, awesome fic, highly recommended, it's in my favorites if you wanna check it out) And I got the urge to write since I haven't in just about ever, so i just chucked up this little one-shot. It gives my theory to a mystery that has been driving me crazy for a while now. Hope you enjoyed, comments or questions appreciated. -Shedemon