1

Ginta sat on the cliff, looking over the forest that was below. All the other wolves were in the cave, resting. They got back from a hunt and had finished eating their fill of a glorious banquet, signifying the start of their new lives. All seemed to be going in the Yourouzoku's favor these past few days. Kyouken and his sister Sakaki really were doing a great job leading them. They hadn't been this happy or full of food since Kouga was the leader. But, sadly...

Ginta sighed. If there was one person from his past that he missed, it was Kouga. They had grown up together, known each other their entire lives. But then, Naraku, in his infinite evil, murdered Kouga horribly, taking the Shikon shards from him that he carried. Thankfully, Inuyasha, Juuroumaru, Kagura and Jakotsu all ganged up on Naraku and destroyed him and the Shikon Jewel was returned to the after world, where it belonged.

"Yo," a voice called out from behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Ginta." It was Hakkaku. "Sakaki and Kyouken have an announcement they wanna give the whole tribe. Let's go."

Ginta nodded, got up and followed Hakkaku into the cave, where the entire tribe was sitting audience style, with Kyouken and Sakaki at the head, about to give their speech.

"I have a task for you all," Sakaki boomed to the crowd. "I know, it will sound strange to you, but I must keep my reasons for it a secret for now." She smiled. "I wish to gather water from the five lakes that surround Mount Fuji."

"Uhh," one wolf member who was sitting in the front row said, scratching his head, "Why do you need water from the lakes of Mount Fuji?"

"I already told you," Sakaki growled softly, "My reasons are my own, for now."

The tribes-people exchanged questioning glances at one another, but Sakaki was their leader, and they had to do what she said. So they went off to gather water from the five lakes that surrounded Mount Fuji.

2

Jakotsu stared blankly at Kyoukotsu's headless body, lying there perfectly still. Then his gaze moved slowly up to the wolf demon that had just killed him. Fuyuka was hovering mere feet away from Kikyou and the others. His hand was outstretched, glowing with blue light. He was preparing to do what he had done to Kyoukotsu to the rest of them. Jakotsu could not allow this, so with a flick of his wrist he sent his sword's concealed blades barraging towards the enemy.

Fuyuka saw it coming and blasted his energy at Jakotsu instead. The blast hit only a fraction of space in front of him, but he was still taken out of the fight. "Baka!" Fuyuka growled. "You don't understand how powerful I've become!"

"And you," Bankotsu called out, "don't understand how powerful we already are!" He was holding his trusty Banryuu above his head. He twirled it around a few times and then jumped into the air. He slashed towards Fuyuka and sent forth a great blast of purple energy. The Banryuusen. The blast cut through Fuyuka body and ended his ability to hover. He crashed down to the ground next to Kyoukotsu's body. He tried to get back up again, but Bankotsu was already on him. "I don't like people who kill my friends," he whispered coldly. "I don't even have much of a tolerance for friends who hurt other friends." Although this was said in a whisper, Renkotsu heard it loud and clear.

Fuyuka coughed. "I'm gonna enjoy ripping your limbs from your body, asshole." He spat in Bankotsu's face.

Stunned, he slowly brought his hand to his face and wiped the spit with his finger. He looked at it for a second, and then flung it the ground. A split second later that same hand had found itself deep in Fuyuka's gut. It had even cracked his body armor. "You're not amusing," Bankotsu hissed between gritted teeth. "Now, hold still. I promise I'll make it quick for you."

Then it went dark for the wolf again. And her voice was back. She told him to back down; he wasn't ready yet. So, he balled his hand into a fist once more and landed it in Bankotsu's face, and took off with amazing speed. He was gone.

"Bankotsu!" Sekka screamed, rushing over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Just before he hit me," Bankotsu stuttered, "I saw something weird in my mind." He looked into his girlfriend's big purple eyes.

"What?" she asked, "What did you see?" But she didn't get the answer she was hoping for. Instead, he hurled up what he had eaten during the picnic all in front of him.

3

"What a little brat," Kogarashi whispered to herself as she sat in front of her mirror. She and Kouga were in the cave that she had brought him back to life in. He was resting, but she had important matters to attend to. "He has a weak constitution; I suppose that is a good thing. But his mind managed to pick up my signals, and that is definitely a concern..." She rose to her feet and walked over to Kouga's bed, which was behind her. She knelt on her knees and leaned over it. He was sound asleep and wouldn't hear her. She noticed that his hair had fallen over his face, so she gently brushed it away. She smiled. "Soon we're all going to be a family again, my dear brother." She leaned in closer and kissed his cheek. "And it's going to be wonderful." But then she pulled back. "However," she growled softly, "There are still some things that I need to do before we're all together again." She rose to her feet one more time and walked towards the cave entrance.

4

Slicing their way through the thick forests of Japan was no easy job, even for people as strong as them. But Inuyasha would not give up his quest for his girlfriend Kagome, and Mousse would not give up helping Inuyasha, as it was partly his fault in the first place. And also, for once, Myouga the cowardly flea was there to help. Toutousai had given him the directions to Yubaba's bathhouse. The reason he was acting as their guide was that if they came across any odd demons, and they would, he could give some advice for an easy defeat.

"Fuck," Inuyasha growled as he slashed frantically at the ivy that had tangled around him, "Why can't there be an easier route?"

"The story would be too boring," Myouga said flatly, "And besides, who wants to take the "easy route" anyways?"

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "I'm this close," he held his thumb and index finger apart a little, "to squishing you!"

"You can't," Myouga retorted, "I'm too important to this quest for that!"

"I'm too important to this quest," Inuyasha mocked.

"Would you please knock it off?" Mousse screamed. "I hear something coming."

Inuyasha and Myouga opened their ears. "Sounds like a kid screaming."

"Being chased by a group of Sickle Weasels," Myouga said, scratching his head, "I think."

"Shouldn't we go save him?" Mousse asked.

Inuyasha moaned. "Fine," he said, folding his arms. "Sometimes I wonder if people get themselves into trouble just to make more work for the other people who hafta save 'em."

The three of them dashed towards the cries of help and found a boy being chased by a group of nasty looking weasel demons, wielding a scythe each. They were all slicing at the poor kid, and got him with each slice. He was about to take another step forward, but failed to see the root in front of him, and went down. He cowered, fearing the end of his life, but it wasn't coming. He looked up and saw a strange person standing between him and the weasels. It was Inuyasha. "Why are these weasels attacking you?" he asked.

"I don't know," the boy said with a stutter, in between sobs of pain, "I was just walking through the forest and," he trailed off.

"Hey," Inuyasha called to the weasels, "Don't you know that ganging up on a kid is unfair?"

The weasels glanced at each other and snickered. They decided to unleash their fury on the dog demon instead. Big mistake. Inuyasha drew the Tessaiga and unleashed the Scar of the Wind on them, ripping them all to shreds.

Inuyasha turned to the boy and helped him to his feet. He was young, maybe a little older than Kohaku. He had scruffy blue hair poking out from an odd shaped hat made of orange wolf fur that had two little ears at the top. He was dressed in old-fashioned Chinese style clothing. "You okay?" Inuyasha asked.

"Ya," the boy said, "Thanks for saving me."

"What's your name kid?"

"Mint."

"Mint?" they heard Mousse exclaim as he snuck up on them. "Did you just say your name is Mint?"

Mousse and Mint stared each other down for a few seconds before Inuyasha asked, "Do you guys know each other or something?"

"Do we know each other?" they both exclaimed. Then they started going off in Chinese. Inuyasha, just having studied Chinese, could understand every word of it. And he knew they weren't the best of words in the language. He looked down to his feet and sighed. When he looked back up, Mousse and Mint were already fighting each other. He leapt in between them and held them apart.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled, hitting both of them on the backs of their heads. "Now," he said in a more calmed voice, "Let's see if we can get all this straightened out..."