A/N: (Interested in stories of mine that aren't here anymore? READ THIS!!!) Well, it seems like I'm making pretty good progress with this chapter and still managing to keep up with "Joined." That was the problem with "Secret," once I started writing it, it kind of took over.

Not that that was necessarily a bad thing…but I've decided to retire "Secret" until I have the time to completely finish it. It's one of those stories that you have to write in one sitting…not in the 15 minutes you have between everything else that's going on. So, no worries, "Secret" will return…eventually.

As for "Warrior-Race," there are no worries at all there. In case you haven't checked my bio lately (which I just updated) it will return new and improved as soon as the last two chapters of "Joined" have been posted.

Anyway, now on with the story! Sorry for the long A/N.

In This Section: Rating – R. (Violence, Language, Graphic Content).

My Favorite Color

(A song-fic to Chevelle's "The Red")

By: Yabou

Part 3 – Blood in One Hand, A Heart in the Other

- So lay down -

It was happening all over again. Just like when he was five. Just like when had faced Goshinki. Just like when he had faced that awful spider demon.

It was all happening again.

He could feel the demon blood inside of him raging to the point of madness. It wanted out. And he wanted it to stay in…not that he really had much of a choice in the matter.

He looked toward his sword on the other side of the spacious, and once beautiful, courtyard. No it wouldn't be too much longer now.

Everything had been so perfect that day; he should have guessed that something would go wrong as soon as he let his guard down. It always happened.

They had come across a small collection of hot springs in the middle of nowhere around mid-afternoon, and of course, Kagome had done everything in her power to get him to stay, mainly four sits before she began crying. Of course, he had led her to believe that the consecutive face plants she was giving him were the reason, not a set of misty eyes.

After the girls had been thoroughly cleaned, they had decided that they were comfortable just where they were for the night and refused to budge a step further. Being the only ones who actually had a choice in what the group did, the girls had gotten their way, and they had all settled in for the night.

From what Inuyasha could guess, the vulture youkai had flown in right before midnight, but he couldn't really tell. And that was what disturbed him the most. This vulture youkai had no scent at all. Or rather, it was covering its scent very well.

Its body was covered with a flurry of gray and black feathers that ran in random patterns. This fact alone led Inuyasha to believe that it was a mutt. The vulture races were known for their multiple partners, and they didn't exactly mind if they bred with their own class or not, not that many did these days.

The creature's red, beady eyes provoked him. He couldn't understand why, but he could feel the laughter in its eyes. The only thing that he was sure of in his mind was that he wanted that laughter gone.

Inuyasha also knew that he was allowing those eyes to get to him far too much. It wasn't safe; the vulture was distracting him in order to prevent any of the strikes coming from his vicious claws from hitting the animal's weak body.

"Damn." He cursed when the animal dodged his next attack and watched a few feathers swirl up into the air. This isn't working. I have to get Tetsusaiga.

With his thoughts and emotions barely holding on, he pushed his legs, full throttle, into the demon's back, enjoying the slight crack he heard afterward. I'm almost there. Almost there. He bounded across the open courtyard, silently willing the youkai to grow tired so that he might reach his weapon first.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed out, the panic in her voice overriding everything else in the area. "Watch out, Inuyasha!"

A moment flashed blank in his mind's sight.

And then the pain finally sunk in. Looking back, he could how the vulture had managed to spear through his hip on the right side, forcing the bone through a ruptured piece of skin. Fuck. He growled loudly and watched while the vulture began tearing away pieces of his flesh bit by bit and devouring them as if they were ambrosia.

"Inuyasha!" He heard her cry out again; her voice was filled with agony and pain. The thick smell of salt from her tears burned at his nose, and he felt it starting to take over.

No, fuck, no! Flailing his limbs against the razor-sharp beak, he fought to break free. I have to get Tetsusaiga!

- The threat is real -

It was there. He could feel it surging to take over his body. The demon blood ravaged his mind, warning him that he could die. Telling him that she could die…

Red… his eyes flashed dangerously at the creature.

Amber… he had to stop it. I have to get Tetsusaiga.

Red… he could kill it. It wouldn't take that long. He could kill it, and then his demon blood would pass away. Kill.

Amber… No. No. No. He couldn't let it. It would hold on until it did damage elsewhere. He could hurt Kagome. He would hurt Kagome if he allowed it to control his body for even one second.

Red… Kill.

- When his sight goes red again –

Letting loose a guttural roar, he turned on the vulture and dug his claws through the animal's beak, shattering it into thousands of pieces in an instant. Kill…

- Seeing red again –

His free hand crashed into the back of the animal's neck, breaking it sloppily before both he and the animal fell down into the ground. He regained his composure quickly and began to mimic the vulture's earlier actions, ripping pieces free from its skin and chewing upon them greedily.

- Seeing red again –

Threat gone. He pulled away and stared down at the half-eaten corpse. Pack. Glancing around, he scrunched his eyebrows at the worried and frightened looks pasted onto their paling faces.

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome reached toward him with one hand and began slowly walking his way. "Inuyasha, everything is all right now. You can calm down. It's all over."

He knew that she held his sword in the hand she hid behind her back; he almost laughed at the fact that she thought she was hiding it well. Narrowing his eyes, he growled at her, slowly backing away in a crouched position.

"No, Inuyasha, don't-." She took another step and tripped, managing to yell out an "osuwari" during the fall. Slamming the weapon into his arms, she was pulled away by the demon huntress and the monk.

Sango and Miroku preoccupied her with the finding of the shard while they took over the duty of picking up the unconscious hanyou and carrying him back toward their camp, just outside of the abandoned mansion where they had stumbled upon that nasty creature.

The young miko's eyes wandered away from the task at hand and back to the hanyou's still body. Shards. Shards. There's so many of them. Kami-sama, please let him be all right. She let out a disgusted noise as the blood sizzled nastily on the shard in her hand.

"K'gome?" Inuyasha coughed heavily.

Shoving the new shards into the vial, she ran to his side. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha? Are you okay? Wake up, Inuyasha."

"K-Kagome?" His eyes fluttered opened.

Her expression nearly ripped his heart out of his chest. What happened? The others surrounded him quickly, all eyes staring with the same pitifully sad and mournful gleam. "Oi," he grunted softly. "Who died?"

Shippou squeaked loudly and buried himself deep within the comforts of Kagome's arms. Sango's hand tightly squeezed Miroku's even as a tear slipped down her cheek.

All the while, Kagome smiled softly and helped the hanyou into a sitting position. "Nothing, Inuyasha. Everything is fine now. You just gave us all a scare. It's okay now."

He grunted in response, but silently gave her a questioning look.

She shook her head and made a signal toward the sky and then the woods.

He nodded curtly and hoisted himself off the ground. They would talk later after the others had gone to bed.

Kagome rose and left to help Sango in preparing the evening meal; Inuyasha watched her back the entire way. Why couldn't she tell me now? Did I…Did I pass out while I was fighting the vulture? His eyes widened. Did they have to kill it without me? Was someone injured?

He sniffed around the campsite for any blood scents, but he was happy with the fact that the only one he found was his own.

Shippou perched on his knee. "What are you looking for?" The question was posed with such an intense child-like innocence that Inuyasha knew it was only to serve as a distraction. A quick look at Kagome confirmed it. She was staring at them, so this had been her plot. Why the hell is she trying to distract me?

"I was just looking to see if anyone was hurt." He grunted back. I can't believe I'm going along with this. If she wasn't…

"Nobody got hurt, except you." The fox-child fidgeted nervously and played with the tips of his tail.

"Oi, why are you fidgeting?"

"I'm not fidgeting." Shippou pouted.

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not!" His tiny tail ruffled. "I'm doing a good job!"

Inuyasha smirked. "Good job?"

Shippou gasped and scurried to a safe distance. "Nothing!" And then he disappeared into the depths of Kagome's bag.

Growling loudly, Inuyasha turned away from the campsite and slumped against the base of a large tree. What are they all protecting so damn hard? If I can't get it out of that little brat, the other ones won't tell me unless they think its "for my own good."

Rolling his eyes, he pushed himself to his feet at Kagome's dinner call. She's going to tell me soon whether she likes it or not. I'll wait until the others are asleep, but I'm not going along with any of this other bullshit. She'll tell me later whether she likes it or not. I can't believe that she'd keep something from me. How long have they been hiding it? It could be something from today…but what if they've been hiding it for a long time? What could be that important?

Punching a tree for good measure, he reveled in the loud cracking sound it made and ignored the confused stares from his companions.

Kagome handed him a large bowl of ramen after a moment's hesitation. "Something wrong, Inuyasha?"

Narrowing his eyes, he yanked the bowl away and grumbled, "Not a damn thing, bitch."

Okay…so it was an under-handed, dirty thing to do, but the least he could do to make the time until dark go by faster was to start an argument. After all, Kagome was always very cute when she argued.

A/N: So, this chapter takes on a different tone, ne? Yes, it's the beginning of change…after all…if something's going to change it has to start somewhere.

By the way, if you enjoyed this story and haven't read them yet, Now and Then and Lost are also song-fics. Lost follows this angsty style, and Now and Then follows the same format.

-Yabou