Yawnin smiled as he walked the courtyard that was filled with his charges. Sometimes he would stop and have a few words with one and leave them feeling a bit relieved. They thought that he was happy that they were all safe and mostly (miraculously) unharmed. And now that they were in the dono's manor, things should be looking up for them.

The truth was Yawnin was smiling because he was confident that he had seen the last of the bitch Hikaru. The houshi and the exterminator should be more than enough to take care of the hanyou. He regretted not being able to be there to witness the death, but he couldn't risk it for two reasons.

One, there was a chance that Hikaru would see him and recognize him. Then there would be many awkward questions that he would rather not answer. Second, he was a coward by nature and inclination. The hanyou would fight back and he might get caught in the crossfire.

So he had to content himself with fantasies about what the man and woman were going to do to Hikaru. And what crossed what passed for his mind pleased him greatly.

Inuyasha was ready to kill someone. And that someone was a certain damn headman. He had learned from Sango and Miroku that it had been Yawnin that who sent them after his imooto-san. The hanyou was determined that the bastard would pay for this.

He was walking back to the manor with the others by his side. He wanted to run and get his clawed hands around the headman's throat, but Hikaru had a tight grip on his arm. It was clear that if he tried to get away, she would pull him back

Truth be told, she didn't want her ani-chan doing anything rash and that could land him in serious trouble. But mostly, the miko wanted an explanation from the human. Afterwards, Inuyasha could do almost anything he wished.

Shippou rode on her shoulder and she half listened to the downpour of questions that the little kitsune had for her. She spoke cheerfully, not wanting to get her aniki any more upset than he already was.

The small group reached the manor without further incident and was allowed inside, although the guards were a bit confused on how they managed to get outside in the first place.

Still clustered in the courtyard, the villagers stood gaping when they saw their guardians entering with their former miko in tow. They had never imagined that they would see her again. But here she was, walking in with the other hanyou that she had left with so many weeks ago.

The children whom had returned to their parents took one look at Hikaru and shrieked with joy. Then they ran to her and gathered around, pelting her with questions. A genuine smile came upon Hikaru's features and she laughed with the children as she tried to answer their insistent queries.

Inuyasha and the others couldn't help but smile as they watched the miko with the children. Eventually the other villagers overcame their shock and approached Hikaru. They had questions of their own, mostly ones on medicine and asking for advice. For a moment, it was as if she had never been separated from them.

"What the...? Hey, what the hell are you doing here, you bitch!" a voice yelled from across the courtyard and drawing closer. Everyone stopped talking and turned to the owner of the voice.

It was Yawnin. He stalked over to the gathering, fury and disbelief written plain on his face. How could the damn hanyou still be alive? Didn't the exterminator and the priest catch or something? There was no way that she could have beaten both of them.

He stopped short though when he caught sight of Miroku and Sango. Their expressions were of disgust and contempt. It was a good thing that he didn't look over at Inuyasha. His face was simple, cold fury. Becoming headman hadn't changed this man one iota. If nothing else, he had become even more arrogant and pompous since the last time that they met.

Yawnin managed to recover some of his demeanor and focused his glare on Hikaru. "Again, what are you doing here? I have a right to know," he demanded.

Hikaru's right ear twitched and she was able to return Yawnin's glare with a stronger force. "You have a right? Since when? Last I had heard you were a headman, definitely not a dono. You have no right to ask me that," she replied coldly.

The headman blinked for a moment and took a step back. He had never seen her like this before. Usually when she was asked something, she would politely answer no matter how outrageous the question might be. And she had always shown deference to the elders in the village. What had happened to her?

Around him the villagers hide smirks behind hands and sudden coughing fits. A smote of pride had developed in them all. Just because the youngster was their headman, it did not by any stretch of the imagination mean that they liked him. He was arrogant and had lofty ambitions for himself. Seeing him being put down into his place was a delight to see.

"But you do have some explaining to do, headman," Miroku said. Yawnin blinked again and faced the priest.

"What could you ever mean, houshi-sama?"

"I mean, why did you send Sango and myself out to kill Hikaru-san?" he stated. Yawnin entertained the idea of lying to the priest, but Miroku's expression showed that he was not in the mood for such things.

The other villagers gasped at Miroku's statement and the children briefly wailed and clung to the miko. If she weren't a hanyou than she would have fallen to her knees under the weight of them all.

"How could you, Yawnin? How could you ask these nice people to hurt Hikaru-san?" Sora cried out as she clung to an arm.

"I...I had to, houshi-sama. She was a danger to us all. And she still is! Am I the only one that realizes what she is? She's a hanyou! Half human and half youkai! We can't possibly trust her!" he yelled.

"Is that why you destroyed her wards?" Sora asked innocently.

The adults stared in shock as Sora and the rest of the children emptied their pockets onto the ground in between Hikaru and Yawnin. No one said anything until the last child added the contents of his pockets to the pile. Then Hikaru with shaking hands picked up a piece of wood with some carving still intact. She breathed a few words and the runes on the wood glowed a soft light. The illumination revealed the tears that threatened to run down her cheeks.

"This is indeed mine. It still responds to my command," she murmured.

Miroku leaned down and studied the pile with a scrutiny that only he commanded. "I can still sense the power resonating within these pieces," he said. The houshi looked up at the miko with admiration clear on his face. "I'm very impressed, Hikaru-san. You must have a lot of houriki in order to have left this good of an impression on your wards."

She blushed at his words. "I didn't want to have to recharge them that often and I'm not that familiar with how wards and seals are done in this country. I wanted them to last."

"And so they have, even when they were destroyed."

By this point, all of the villagers had turned to their headman with malice in their eyes. Two of the burliest men in the village stepped forward and grabbed Yawnin by the arms and held him tight.

"Wha...what is this? Why are you doing this? Let me go this instant!" he demanded and struggled fruitlessly against his captors. It wasn't hard for the hanyou to smell the fear that was beginning to ripen his scent.

"Why should we?" demanded one villager.

"I'm your headman," replied Yawnin.

The villagers glared at him in open malice. "You were our headman," a woman said.

"What?"

"Because of you, we lost the best protection our village ever had, twice!"

"We lost our homes because of you!"

"A man is blind and someone died because you destroyed the wards!"

Yawnin was lost in what to do. But he did try to do what he thought was best. "But...but she's a hanyou! After what Sanusha had done to our village, how could we trust her?" he explained. Spittle flew from his mouth as he spoke. He tried to rationalize what he had done to the villagers and tried to get them to see his point of view.

But none of them wanted to hear a word of it. They decided that they would take Yawnin to the dono and allow him to choose the man's fate for what he had done.

As they left, Hikaru knelt down by the pile of what was once her wards and was silent. Inuyasha crouched down by her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you al right, imooto-chan?" he whispered.

"I...I never knew..." she murmured.

"Huh? Knew what?"

She looked at Inuyasha with tears forming in her eyes. "I never knew that Yawnin hated me so. I mean, I know that he never approved of me...but this?"

He smiled softly at her and used his other hand to wipe the tears away. "I guess that you never had to experience the prejudice hanyou have to deal with. We're neither completely human or youkai; we don't really belong with either of them. It's not unusual for humans to attack us and hate us because of what we are," he said.

"But we don't choose what we are born as! We didn't have any say in the matter."

"Doesn't matter with them. They don't think like that," Inuyasha said as he held her close. "You just have to learn to deal with it."

"Fortunately, there are people who are willing to deal with hanyou on an individual basis," Miroku said.

He and Sango smiled at the hanyou and were gladdened at how Inuyasha wasn't afraid to act gentle around them. He quickly recovered though and stood quickly. Feeling a bit better, Hikaru also stood.

"Miroku, can you show me where this blind man is? I'd like to se if I can help him," she said.

He nodded and he and Sango led the way to the room where the poor priest was staying. The dono had taken great pity on the man and insisted that the man stay at the manor instead of the villagers' camp. Hikaru recognized him the minute that she saw him.

"Oh no, not you..." she whispered as she hurried to his side. As she looked at his wounds, the others respectfully stayed at the door.

"Miroku," Inuyasha said.

The monk looked at the hanyou, "Yes, Inuyasha?"

"Hikaru is my imooto-chan."

"Yes, I know that."

"Just understand that I will hurt you badly if you suggest to her what you suggest to almost every woman that we meet."

Miroku had the grace to look offended but he understood and was a little frightened inside. The hanyou had changed since he was kidnapped all those months ago. He looked at Hikaru and realized the truth.

Hikaru is having the same effect on Inuyasha as Kagome, he realized. This could be a very good thing for Inuyasha.

"I'm sorry, houshi-san, there isn't anything that I can do to help you regain your sight. The wounds are too old for any of my medicines to be effective. If I had gotten to you when you were attacked..."

"If you had been there, we wouldn't have been attacked in the first place. Yawnin was wrong, you're no youkai, at least, not completely," Yugi said in a calm voice. He seemed to have accepted what Fate had handed him.

"I'm sorry that this had to happen to you," Hikaru said.

"Don't be, miko-sama, you've done what you can to help the people that were ahead of me, I've heard them talking. They adore you for what you have done. And I must admit that I'm impressed and a bit envious; I know that even with my sight that I could not have done what you have. Don't let the Yawnins of this world trouble you." Having said that, he settled in his bed to sleep.

Whether it was a true sleep or he was feigning, Hikaru left him with some medicine for any headaches that would come as a result of the blindness. She then left the room with her ani-chan and new friends.

at dusk that same day, Inuyasha and his friends left the dono and made started continued the trip back to Kaede's village. The dono had wanted them to stay with him as warriors, but the hanyou declined. They needed to get moving again. Instead the dono gave Inuyasha and Hikaru a gift to show his appreciation for their courage and compassion.

The villages had begged Hikaru to remain with them, but she managed to convince them that she had already made a commitment to somewhere else. They were saddened to see her go, but they saw that she had somewhere else she needed to be. The dono did promise to care for the villagers until such time that he could find them a new place to settle.

"That was certainly very kind of the dono to make that promise to help the villagers," Shippou said.

"Not really," Miroku replied.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I imagine that Inuyasha and Hikaru persuaded him to help them, Juanyu too."

The half-humans in question said nothing in reply to the implied accusation, but Juanyu was smiling.

Sorry about the late update, a lot has been happening. I promise to at least finish this story.