Author-chan's notes: Chapter thirteen! Enjoy!

A Clean Slate

(Chapter Thirteen: Wounded)

Outside the hut with Shiro/Inuyasha

'Feh!' Shiro thought silently, 'I hate this! Being too little to do anything, fainting like a sissy, not knowing anything from my past! I hate it all!'

Shiro growled. Glaring at a rock nearby his foot, the hanyou turned human child kicked the little stone away in frustration. Unknowingly, he began to walk back towards the forest, snarling to himself the whole way. Everything seemed so wrong. Something was missing in his life, but he couldn't remember what it was. Suddenly, in a flash of rage, Inuyasha punched a nearby tree as hard as he could.

"OW!!!!!!!" Shiro yelped as soon as his fist came in contact with the sturdy tree. Looking down at the back of his tiny hand, Inuyasha noticed that the skin around his knuckles had split and he was bleeding heavily. Cursing loudly, Shiro waved his hand about, clueless of what to do. Then, out of reflex, Inuyasha clasped his good hand over his wounded one, causing both hands to be covered with blood.

"Kuso," Shiro muttered to himself, "That hurt!" Taking his good hand off his wound, Shiro tried licking the bleeding cut. As he bent his head towards the cut, Inuyasha noticed his other hand. Stopping from licking his wounded hand for the moment, Shiro stared at his other hand. Somehow, the way his own blood was covering his hand seemed familiar.

"B-blood?" Shiro murmured, his eyes becoming glazed over, "Blood claws? Claws of Blood?"

***

Back with Yumeko and Kumo

The two youkai had been glaring at each other for the past ten minutes or so. They hadn't moved an inch the entire time. Sometimes a growl or two would escape from their throats but that was it. Suddenly, Kumo broke eye contact with Yumeko and looked around the room.

"Where did everyone go?" Kumo asked, reverting back to using his human voice.

"I think they all went into Kimiko-chan's room to help that girl, Miho," Yumeko answered, "Um, that is, all of them except the little boy, Shiro."

"Did you see where Shiro went?" Kumo asked. Ever since Shiro had fainted in the woods while he was in the spider demon's care, Kumo had felt slightly protective over the little boy.

"I think Shiro-chan went back outside," Yumeko answered.

"Kuso!" Kumo cursed, "I hope he didn't wander far. He could run into a youkai out there!" Kumo rushed out the door, hoping to catch up with Shiro.

"Hey! Wait for me, spider-boy!" Yumeko yelped, following the other youkai out the door.

***

Inside Kimiko's room with Kimiko, Aki, Masato, and Miho

"Uh…" Miho moaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey, she's waking up!" Masato cried, when he heard her moans.

"It's about time," Kimiko sighed.

"MIHO-SAN!!!" Aki cried, immediately crushing his crush with a bear hug, "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Thank you for saving me," Miho murmured as she hugged him back. In the corner of the room, Masato seethed at the sight.

"It was nothing, Miho-san," Aki murmured humbly, "But if you want to thank anyone, you should thank Kumo-san."

"K-Kumo?" Miho whispered, her eyes widening in fear.

"Yes," Aki nodded, "Kumo-san is a stranger who came to the village and told us about the spider youkai who kidnapped you. Then he was the one who saved you."

"This Kumo," Miho began slowly, "Does he have red eyes?"

"Why, yes," Aki said, confused, "How did you know?" Miho didn't answer him, instead she paled. Climbing out of the futon that she had been placed in, Miho ran out of the room and into the common room of the hut. Seeing that no one was in there, she went on to look inside each of the rooms inside Aki's hut. When she didn't find Kumo, the young woman ran out of the hut, looking for Kumo or Shiro. Aki, Masato, and Kimiko were left in the hut, completely confused.

"Shouldn't you go after her?" Kimiko asked the two sixteen-year-old boys after a few minutes of silence. The two blinked.

"Oh yeah…" the two murmured, then they ran out of the hut.

***

A few minutes later in the forest with Kumo and Yumeko

"Have you spotted him yet, dreamer?" Kumo asked.

"No. Have you?" Yumeko asked. Kumo laughed bitterly.

"I thought dream youkai had the best night vision of all the demons," Kumo mocked, "Could it be that this rumor is false?"

"Are you questioning my abilities, spider?" Yumeko hissed.

"Perhaps," Kumo said with a smirk. The two youkai had been searching in the forest for Shiro for some time. They had been getting on each other's nerves so much that it was a miracle that they hadn't killed each other yet. Searching for Shiro in the dark was hard, because not only did the two not cooperate with each other, but only Yumeko had superior night vision. Kumo's night vision was horrible, due to an accident he had when he was younger. Also, neither youkai had a strong sense of smell like Inuyasha had in his hanyou form. (AN: I'm guessing that neither of them have a sense of smell like Inu-chan's because Kumo is a spider demon and spiders don't have noses. And Yumeko is a dream youkai and, at least in this story, the powers of dream youkai lean more to the mental rather than to the physical. In other words, Yumeko doesn't have enhanced senses except for her night vision.)

"WHY YOU —What's that over there?" Yumeko blinked, then rushed over to the object she saw.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Kumo shrieked, "I'm blind at night, remember?!"

***

Somewhere else in the forest with Miho

"Where could they have gone?" Miho whispered quietly. She was frantically searching for any sign of Kumo or Shiro. She remembered how much the demon wanted to hurt the little boy. Maybe he even wanted to kill Shiro. And when the young woman had noticed that Shiro, not just Kumo, was gone, she panicked. With these thoughts in mind, Miho picked up her pace.

***

Back with Yumeko and Kumo

"Kumo, do you see what I see?" Yumeko asked, looking down at the ground.

"Well, let me think," the spider demon said sarcastically, "I'm blind in the dark. Do you think I can see anything?" Yumeko rolled her eyes.

"If you're going to be so cranky, fine!" the dream youkai hissed, "I'm going back to the village and you can just wander around here until daylight!"

"NO!" Kumo yelled, grabbing her arm roughly. Yumeko laughed.

"Relax, spider, I'm not that cruel," Yumeko said, grinning. Murmuring a brief spell, Yumeko passed the other hand over the other demon's eyes, casting a spell to cure him temporarily of his nighttime blindness. Kumo blinked at the sudden restoration of his sight.

"Alright, now do you see what I see?" Yumeko asked, pointing.

"What's this?!" Kumo cried, his eyes widening in surprise. Bending down, Kumo touched the reddish liquid that was splattered on the ground. Scooping some of it up in his fingers, he placed the substance into his mouth.

"Blood," the spider youkai murmured, "Human blood to be exact. But there seems to be another taste in it that I can't recognize."

"It's probably the dirt from the ground," Yumeko suggested, "Look! There is some more blood on this tree." Kumo licked the blood from the tree.

"Tastes the same," Kumo declared, "It's probably from the same person. That strange aftertaste from earlier can't be dirt, because I can taste it here too. Hmm."

"Do you think there was a fight here?" Yumeko asked. Kumo shook his head.

"The blood only comes from one person," Kumo explained, "And if there was a fight there probably would be blood from two combatants."

"But what if one of the fighters was very skilled, and didn't get wounded?" Yumeko suggested.

"Then there would be a dead body here," Kumo said flatly.

"Do you think this blood could have come from your friend?"

"Shiro-chan, you mean?" Kumo asked, "Maybe. But I hope not. If he were wounded then the blood would attract the attention of various youkai and wild beasts in the area. A little wounded kid like him would make a great snack." Yumeko shuddered.

"What's the matter, dreamer?" Kumo asked when he saw her motion, "You've never killed a human before?"

"Killed yes, eaten no," Yumeko murmured, "Dream youkai can't handle human flesh."

"Weak stomachs, eh?" Kumo snickered. Yumeko glared.

"Look there's some more blood over that way," Yumeko pointed out, changing the subject, "It looks like that wounded person began walking. Do you want to follow the trail?"

"Alright," Kumo nodded, "Like you said, the blood might belong to Shiro."

"And if it doesn't?" Yumeko asked. Kumo's eyes flashed, and he smirked.

"If it doesn't, well that blood was really tasty," Kumo's smile became larger, and a youkai fang began to show, "I wonder what the rest would taste like…"

***

In yet another place in the same forest

"Why did I have to get stuck with you again?!" Masato whined.

"I don't like this arrangement either," Aki grumbled, "But we're here to find Miho-san, remember?"

"All for Miho-san," Masato sighed dreamily. Aki hit him over the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Masato yelled.

"I know what you were thinking, you hentai!" Aki growled.

"Like you've never thought the same thing," Masato said, rolling his eyes. Aki blushed.

"Shut up," Aki muttered. Suddenly the bushes to his right rustled. Masato, being spooked, whipped out a knife from inside his kimono.

"Show yourself!" Masato yelled, "I have a weapon and I know how to use it!"

"Isn't that one of my vegetable knives?" Aki whispered to Masato.

"Shut up, freak," Masato muttered. The bushes rustled again, and out hopped a cute little bunny!

"Aw, was little Masato-chan frightened of the cute little bunny rabbit?" Aki smirked. Masato blushed.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Masato snarled.

"I have a bad memory," Aki shrugged, then he turned to the bunny, "So little bunny, do you want to come home with us? I have a little sister who would love you and cuddle you and hug you and give you something yummy to eat!"

"You sound so stupid," Masato said in a dead-pan voice, "Besides, that bunny is so ugly who would want to cuddle it anyway? It should be made into stew!" Suddenly, the bunny's cute little eyes flashed and it started to grow.

"KUSO!!!!!" Masato and Aki swore at the same time. Soon the cute little bunny had transformed into a giant evil bunny youkai!

"ROAR!!!" the evil bunny cried, baring its giant fang-like teeth.

"RUN!!!" Aki and Masato yelled, speeding off into the woods with the bunny youkai on their heels. (AN: Maybe I shouldn't have eaten those cookies while writing this part. Anyway, the bunny youkai goes out to Bunny-chan and Chibi Usa-chan! HI!!! ^_^)

***

Back with Shiro/Inuyasha

Shiro was walking about aimlessly, having no clue where he was going or why. His eyes were still glazed over, but another strange thing was happening to them. For brief moments, his eyes would flash golden then turn back into their normal violet. His wanderings soon lead him to a small pond in the forest. Kneeling down near its edge, the little boy placed his bloody hands into the water. While he did this, he gazed into the reflective surface to look at his mirror image. The face that stared back at him from the water had golden eyes.

"Kagome would love this," Shiro/Inuyasha murmured to himself, his eyes still glazed, "She always liked to take baths. Nearly everyday she would stop the quest and take a bath with Sango. Then Miroku would try to take a peek and get hit over the head by a rock or two." While he was murmuring to himself, the silver bracelet on his arm began to glow. Inuyasha glanced down at the piece of jewelry. As soon as he did that, the bracelet began to spark with magical electricity. And since Shiro had his hands in the water (along with part of his sleeves), and the fact that water conducts electricity, the child was all but fried by the jolt of lightning that came from the bracelet. His golden eyes widened for a moment, then changed into a dark violet. Submitting to unconsciousness, Shiro began to topple over, strait into the deep water.

***

Meanwhile with Kumo and Yumeko

Yumeko sighed to herself. She wondered why she was helping this spider-boy. After all he was just competition. The Fang would belong to her family, no one else. All that she cared about was her mission, no one and nothing else. She began to concentrate harder on the trail of blood that they were following. The spots of blood, barely droplets, caused both her and Kumo to think that the person who was wounded wasn't hurt very badly. Now and then, Kumo would bend down, scoop up some of the blood on the trail, and taste it. Yumeko shuddered. She didn't like the look in his ruby eyes whenever he did that. Unlike most youkai, dream youkai did not eat human flesh. Something in it made them retch. Now, eating human souls was a whole different story…

"I think we're getting closer," Kumo said after he had taken another taste of the blood droplets they were following, "The blood's fresher."

"—get hit over the head by a rock or two," a voice nearby was saying. Kumo and Yumeko froze in their tracks. Pushing aside a couple of bushes, they saw a pond. Kneeling next to it was—

"Shiro-chan!" Kumo whispered. The little boy had his hands in the water, talking to himself. But that wasn't the first thing that Yumeko noticed about the boy.

'He has Tetsusaiga!' Yumeko thought. Sure enough, around the boy's waist was the demon sword. Then Yumeko, with her incredible night vision, noticed that the boy had turned his head slightly so that they could see his face.

'His eyes are golden!' Yumeko gasped in her mind, 'But that's impossible! Only youkai and powerful magicians can have eyes of that shade!'

"Dreamer, look!" Kumo hissed, motioning towards the boy, obviously not making the same observation as the other youkai. Yumeko turned her head and noticed that the water around Shiro's hands had started to glow. Then, with a bright flash, Shiro got shocked by the electricity in his bracelet and started to fall towards the water.

"Shiro!" Kumo yelled, running over. Yumeko waited to hear the splash of Shiro's body falling into the lake, but it never came. Instead, Yumeko saw Kumo holding Shiro's body next to the pond. He had caught Shiro before the boy had fallen into the water. The dream youkai rushed to Kumo's side. The spider youkai gently licked one of Shiro's hands, accidentally smearing some of the blood on his cheek.

"It looks like you were right," Kumo murmured, as he showed her Shiro's bleeding hand, "The blood came from Shiro."

"Here, let me bandage up his hand," Yumeko offered. Taking the sleeve of Shiro's coat, she tried ripping it, but nothing happened.

"Don't bother," Kumo said with a chuckle, "Shiro's entire outfit is made of the fur of a fire-rat. You'll never be able to rip that —it's similar to armor. I can tell by the feel of his garments."

"The fur of a fire-rat?" Yumeko blinked, "Aren't warriors the only ones who should be wearing something like that?"

"And aren't warriors the only ones who should be wearing swords?" Kumo laughed, "Dreamer, Shiro is not your ordinary boy."

'You can say that again,' Yumeko thought, 'What kind of child owns the most powerful demon sword ever created? And those eyes! They looked like they could pierce your very soul!'

***

Back with Miho

The girl ran. Faster and faster, not noticing the blood on the ground and the footprints next to it. But then again perhaps she did, because Miho had increased her speed. One would think where on earth had she learned how to run that fast. Unthinkingly, Miho broke off a nearby tree branch and continued to run, the extra weight of the limb not bothering her at all. In her normal state, Miho would have never been able to run for so long or so fast. Also she would have never been able to snap a tree branch of the weight and thickness of the one she now held, let alone carry it! But the rush of adrenaline and the looming fear she felt changed all that. Swinging the tree branch to test it out, the young woman was pleased by the swishing sound it made in the air. Knocking aside a couple of bushes, the young woman found what she had been fearing.

"KUMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Miho shrieked. The spider youkai looked up to her with those wide crimson eyes of his. Miho ignored the fact that her stomach had done a flip-flop when she saw those eyes.

"Miho-san," the demon murmured, acknowledging her presence. The girl shook with rage. In his arms was Shiro –unconscious and bleeding. There was a streak of blood on Kumo's cheek, obviously from Shiro.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Miho demanded, pointing to Shiro's unmoving body.

"What are you babbling about?" Kumo asked, confused.

"DON'T PLAY INNOCENT, YOUKAI!!!" Miho screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Miho-san…" Kumo murmured, taking a step forward towards her, "I –WHAT IN SEVEN HELLS?!" Kumo broke off what he saying, stopping in his tracks. His ruby-like eyes widened and they stared off into space. Miho blinked, not quite sure what to do.

"Opps," a voice near Kumo giggled, "I guess I should have mentioned that the spell I used to give you back your night-vision was only temporary. It wears off in a couple of minutes."

"WHAT?!!" Kumo shrieked, turning to face the voice…

…and ended up looking the other way. Yumeko began laughing her head off.

"Shut up, dreamer," Kumo growled, turning again, and still being unsuccessful in finding her.

"You really do have bad night-vision don't you, spider?" Yumeko smirked, then she turned to Miho, "So, we meet face to face at last, Miho-san."

"Who are you?" Miho asked, trembling as the effects of the adrenaline wore away, turning her back into a normal human girl.

"I am known as Yumeko of the Youkai Dream Clan," the female demon said politely, "When we first meet you were asleep in the arms of Kimiko-chan's brother, Aki is it?"

"Another youkai," Miho spat, "Are you here to help him?" She gestured to the confused Kumo.

"Maybe, maybe not," Yumeko smirked, "It depends on my mood, and whether or not spider-boy over there needs it. But in the most part, no. I have no use for a blind spider in my mission."

"I'm only blind at night!" Kumo snarled, turning again, this time successfully facing Yumeko, "If it was daylight I would rip you to shreds and you know it, dreamer!" Miho giggled suddenly. Of the times she had met Kumo, the spider demon was always confident, calm, and cool, but now he was a nervous wreck! Obviously his nighttime blindness disturbed the spider youkai greatly. Miho couldn't help but think that Kumo was acting a bit like a human boy.

"What's going on?" a voice murmured sleepily. Shiro had woken up yawning as he did so. As soon as Miho saw this, she remembered what she was here for.

"SHIRO-CHAN!!!" Miho cried, "Hurry, and run over to me." Shiro blinked his wide violet eyes.

"Sure, as soon as Kumo lets go of me," the little boy replied with a shrug.

"KUMO!!!" Miho shrieked.

"WHAT?!" Kumo yelled, turning to facing her (unfortunately, he accidentally ended up facing the pond instead of Miho).

"Let go of Shiro-chan, you monster!" Miho yelled, brandishing the tree limb she picked up earlier.

"I'm a youkai, not a monster," Kumo sniffed.

"Same difference!" Miho snarled.

"It looks like you made the human mad, spider," Yumeko snickered. Kumo turned his head to glare at her, only to end up glaring a couple of bushes.

"Shut up, dreamer!" Kumo snarled, addressing the bushes. Yumeko snickered again while Shiro sweat dropped.

"Uh, what's going on?" Shiro asked.

"Two youkai," Miho growled.

"Where?!" Shiro asked excitedly.

"Kumo and Yumeko!" Miho cried, frustrated.

"They're youkai?" Shiro blinked, "They don't look like youkai."

"Some youkai can take human appearance, you know," Kumo muttered.

"I know that!" Inuyasha huffed, "But even if you can look like a human, there's always something that gives you away."

"Oh?" Kumo raised an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Um," Inuyasha sputtered, not quite sure what to say. It was just on the tip of his tongue, but he seemed to have forgotten it.

'Smell?' Shiro thought, 'A youkai always gives itself away by smell.' As soon as Shiro had these thoughts, he pushed them away. They sounded so ridiculous! He didn't have that strong of a sense of smell -after all, he was just human.

"Shiro, those two are dangerous!" Miho cried, "Kumo wants to kill you!"

"I do?" Kumo blinked.

"Remember? The whole reason why you kidnapped me was so that you could get Shiro-chan!" Miho cried, her patience wearing thin.

"That was a misunderstanding!" Kumo replied, "I was looking for someone else!"

"Then why did you attack Shiro?" Miho asked, still not convinced.

"He didn't," Yumeko put in.

"Then why is there blood on Shiro's hand and Kumo's mouth?" Miho prodded.

"I hurt my hand when I hit a tree," Shiro explained.

"And I was tracking down Shiro's blood trail!" Kumo added, knowing Miho wouldn't understand what he was talking about.

"Stupid tree," Shiro muttered under his breath.

"So you didn't attack Shiro?" Miho checked.

"That's right," Kumo nodded, "In fact, I was following Shiro to make sure he didn't get into trouble."

"Correction, we were following him," Yumeko snapped.

"Shut up," Kumo snarled. Miho shook her head and dropped the branch she was holding. Life couldn't have gotten any stranger…

Author-chan's notes: To be honest, I am irritated with this chapter. *sigh* Hopefully I'll make the next chapter better. It should tie up a couple of the loose ends such as whether Shiro/Inuyasha has finally remembered something from his past, what happened to Aki, Masato, and the demonic bunny, and where all the other village boys are. For all you people waiting for Kagome to come in and have some quality fluff time with Inu-chan in hanyou form, you're just going to have to wait a bit longer. I have to figure out if I want Inu-chan to have his memories back when he meets Kagome face to face or not. There are so many possibilities, so please bear with me. I promise they'll have some fluff time. I just have to figure out how.