1

The little old hag Yubaba waddled over to Inuyasha and Kagome's stall. She had quite a surprise for them, quite a surprise indeed. She knocked on the closed door and opened it slowly. She revealed her wrinkled old face to her guests. A giddy grin was plastered across it from ear to ear. "Guess what?" she said cheerfully, "It seems that Mousse-sama has heard of you, Inuyasha, and would like to speak to you in person... right now!"

"Not interested," Inuyasha said in a slurred tone. He was almost half asleep.

"Oh, come now," she said, stomping her food lightly on the floor. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity here!"

"Then I'll wait 'til I get reincarnated," the dog demon said, waving the little hag off.

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, "I think we should go and speak with him. It is, after all, not every day that you'd get a chance like this."

"Agree with your pretty young sweetheart," the crone grinned.

Inuyasha sighed. "Okay," he said, getting up, "Let's see what he wants then."

Yubaba squealed with delight and led Inuyasha and Kagome to the room at the end of the hall. She opened the door for them, but did not go into the room. They peered in. It was completely pitch black. They looked at each other with hesitance, but Yubaba practically pushed them through the threshold. She smiled one last time and then closed the door. Inuyasha and Kagome looked at each other again, but could barely see two inches in front of them. Then they heard his voice.

"Welcome."

"Nobunaga?" Inuyasha exclaimed with surprise. He and Kagome continued walking forward, noticing that the reason there was no light was because a wall was blocking the bath itself. They passed it and entered the stall. The bath was a circular shape, maybe ten meters in diameter, filled with steaming hot water. Sitting at the far end with his arms spread across the lip of the tub was a boy with long black hair. His eyes were closed.

"You are Inuyasha, correct?" the boy asked, not moving.

"Ya," the dog demon answered, "and this is Kagome." She waved. "And I take it you're 'The Legendary Chinese Martial Artist Mousse'?"

"I am," the boy said. He motioned for them to join him in the tub with his hand, but still did not open his eyes. As they climbed into the tub and sat down, Mousse continued. "I had heard from reliable sources that you destroyed the ice queen a while ago. Is this correct?"

Inuyasha smirked. "Ya, it was nothing really."

Mousse laughed. He folded his arms in front of his chest and opened his eyes. He did not look at Inuyasha directly, but continued to speak to him. "Inuyasha," he smiled, "KooriKisaki, the ice queen, was indeed a very powerful demon. You managed to defeat her. That is quite impressive..." Inuyasha beamed. "Although, you did have help after all. And that is exactly why I've asked to speak to you-"

"How come you don't look at us when you speak to us?" Kagome asked. "Are you, like, blind or something?" She meant that last part as a joke of course.

"No," Mousse growled between gritted teeth. "Just slightly visually impaired." He smiled. "Anyways," he continued, "I had also heard from reliable sources that a witch has been spotted here in Japan. A terrible witch with plans of," he stopped with a blank look on his face, then continued, "plans of world domination, I guess."

"Lemme guess," Inuyasha smirked again, "You want my help to beat this witch?"

Mousse put on a straight face. "That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you are worthy enough." Without warning, Mousse leapt out of the pool with a back flip and landed perfectly on the deck just behind where he had been sitting. He walked over to the wall and searched for his glasses. He found them sitting on top of his neatly folded clothes. Thick black rims. Perfectly circular shape. Large bottle caps, really. He placed them on his face and squinted into the blackness that was in front of him. Then he bolted around and stared at his company. "Inuyasha," he said, "I challenge you to a duel! If you win, that shall be proof enough that you are worthy to work with me."

Inuyasha stared at him blankly for a moment, then his face turned angry. "What the hell are you talking about!" he exclaimed.

"One little fight is all I ask," Mousse smiled. "You win, you help me. You don't, you won't. Deal?"

The dog demon stood up and balled his hands into fists. "Who even said that I want to help you?" he growled angrily.

"Inuyasha," Kagome comforted, but he silenced her with one quick gaze.

"It is not a matter of wanting to," Mousse retorted, "But a matter of having to. Quite honestly, I hope to lose. I've been searching for a worthy ally for a long time now." He shrugged with a smile. "But, what're ya gonna to do?" He looked directly into Inuyasha's eyes. "Here, tomorrow morning," he whispered. "That is when we shall have our duel." He looked back at the cubby with his clothes in it. "Now, if you don't mind..." He motioned for them to leave.

Inuyasha growled as he stepped out of the bath. He stomped off. Kagome watched him leave, and then got out of the tub herself. Before she left, she asked, "Why do want our help?"

"You don't need to know that now," was all that Mousse had to say. Kagome left.

2

The Yourouzoku tribe was becoming bigger. More females were giving birth to bigger litters. So, they had to move out of little cave in the forest that they lived in and find a bigger one. Unfortunately, there were no big caves within the immediate vicinity. A long journey was inevitable. And what was even worse was the fact that their leader had been murdered several months prior, and they still had not really come to a decision. For now, their previous leader's two best friends, Ginta and Hakkaku, had taken the job. Most of the wolves seemed to like them, and thought they were good leaders. Others on the other hand thought that they were incompetent, bumbling fools. Both sides were right.

Two wolf demons in particular saw Ginta and Hakkaku as not fit to lead the tribe. They were Kyouken and his twin sister Sakaki. They were more or less your average wolf demon; they both had black eyes and they both had long black hair tied up with a white piece of cloth. Kyouken had a scar going through his right eye that he had got in a battle many years ago. They were both tired of the way that Ginta and Hakkaku were doing things, and wanted things done their own way. And so, during their long trek to find another cave, they thought of the idea to challenge Ginta and Hakkaku to the right of leadership.

Ginta and Hakkaku walked ahead of the group of wolves, with several tribes-people in between them and the twins. "Now's a good a time as any," Sakaki whispered to her brother. "And it's not like we'd lose or anything." She pointed. "I mean, look at them!"

"Scrawny and weak," Kyouken muttered under his breath. "They'll want to stop for a rest soon. We shall challenge them then."

And as if on queue: "Okay," Hakkaku bellowed, "Time for a rest."

"Predictable fools," Kyouken growled to himself. He and his sister stomped over to their leaders. "Oy," he shouted, "Ginta, Hakkaku, we have a bone to pick with you!"

"Huh?" Ginta said as they approached him, "Is there something wrong, Brother Kyouken?"

"You're damn right there is," Kyouken said with an evil smile. "My sister and I don't like the way you two are handling the tribe."

Ginta and Hakkaku both took a step back. "What do you mean?" Ginta stuttered. "I think we're doing a fine job, if I do say so myself."

"Then you're as blind as Taigokumaru," Sakaki said between gritted teeth. "There are others who agree with my brother and me." A few other tribes-people gathered around. They were the ones who agreed with the twins. "And so," Sakaki continued, "My brother and I challenge you for leadership of the tribe."

"What?" Ginta and Hakkaku exclaimed with a stutter.

Kyouken started walking forwards slowly. "So, are you up for it, pups?" He grinned maliciously. "If you don't accept, then we win by default. If you lose, we become the new leaders. So the only way to keep your positions is to beat us."

"Those are the rules," Sakaki added. "So, do you accept?"

Ginta and Hakkaku did not know what to do. This had just come up out of the blue. But they were right. If the leader were challenged, he would have to accept or be kicked off the job. There were no loopholes either. They gulped and looked at each other.

"You do not have a choice," Kyouken smiled, folding his arms across his chest.

The other tribes-people formed a circle around their four siblings.