Author-chan's notes: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! And I'm very sorry about the teaser. I didn't know so many people wouldn't like it. I promise I'll never do that again and if you see that this fic is updated, it will be a real chapter not a teaser or an author's note/excuse. And here is the long awaited chapter 19! Tada! I'm so proud! *sniffles*

Oh, and thanks to Sess-kun! He let me borrow his Inuyasha DVDs. I'm so way ahead of Adult Swim thanks to him. I got to see Inuyasha go full youkai before they showed it in the US! It was cool and scary all at the same time. I think the episodes where Inuyasha goes full demon are my favorites. (Although the episodes with Ayame were interesting and the episode were Shippo and the Thunder Brother's sister meet up is really cute! But I was really disappointed when in the episode where Jaken steals Tetsusaiga Inuyasha does NOT go full youkai and slice the baka toad in half. *sighs* Sesshoumaru deserves a much better henchman. Well, at least he has Rin.) Thanks again, Sess-kun!

Now on with the fic!

A Clean Slate

(Chapter Nineteen: Complications)

Back with Masato, Inuyasha/Shiro, and Sesshoumaru

"S-Sesshoumaru…" the word slipped out of Inuyasha's mouth so easily. The demon lord cocked an eyebrow, acknowledging the statement.

"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru murmured, looking down at the human child, "I see you've gotten yourself in trouble again."

"W-what?" the human child sputtered, coming out of his dazed state. On his wrist, the bracelet sparked and glowed. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed when he saw the silver band.

"I see," Sesshoumaru murmured, "That's quite a spell you're under, little brother."

"What the hell are you babbling about?!" Shiro yelled, "Who the hell are you?" Before Shiro could ask any more questions, Sesshoumaru's clawed hand shot out and grabbed the child wrist and pulled him closer. Inuyasha winced slightly as the rough treatment pulled at the wound in his shoulder a bit, making it bleed some more. On the ground, Masato made a noise of protest.

"Hey, you bushy-tailed freak!" the young human yelled, "Can't you see the brat's hurt? You can't go treating him like that!"

"It would be wise of you to keep your mouth shut, human," Sesshoumaru said icily, glaring at Masato, "This is none of your concern."

"Like hell it is," Masato growled. In an instant, Sesshoumaru let go of his transformed brother, and grabbed Masato by the neck. Masato gurgled in dismay.

"You're even more of a fool than that other human from before," Sesshoumaru said with disdain in his voice, "At least the other one was not tied up, and had some magical skill."

"T-teme," Masato growled, fighting for breath. Sesshoumaru raised a delicate eyebrow.

"You're starting to sound like my brother," Sesshoumaru said with a slight frown. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the demon lord sent Masato flying into a tree. The young man was knocked unconscious instantly. Sesshoumaru snorted. The other human from before put up a better fight. How pathetic.

"Oi!" Shiro's voice called out to Sesshoumaru, "Why bother with small fish like him, and deal with me?" Sesshoumaru turned around slowly, acting like he had all the time in the world. Shiro was standing up, holding an unsheathed and non-transformed Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru let a small smirk grace his features.

"Do you really think you can defeat me as you are, Inuyasha?" the demon lord asked.

"Look, I'm not Inuyasha, okay?" Shiro snarled. Sesshoumaru's smirk grew larger.

"Is that so?" the demon lord mocked, "Then why are you holding his sword? And how did you know the name of Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands?"

"I-I…" Shiro sputtered, his cheeks getting pale. On his wrist, the bracelet began sparking some more, looking like a miniature fireworks display. Suddenly, Inuyasha dropped his sword, and fell to the ground, screeching in pain. Sesshoumaru stood quietly as he noticed the young boy's image flicker and get replaced by the shadowy form of his younger brother in his hanyou form. But as quickly as the hanyou appeared, he was replaced by the shivering, wounded little boy.

"K-kuso," Shiro/Inuyasha hissed softly as his form shifted from the human child to the teenaged hanyou and then back again. He winced in pain.

"I suggest you fight that trinket's powers harder, little brother," Sesshoumaru said in a monotone voice, "That weak human body that you have been forced into won't be able to withstand the pain and pressure for much longer."

"You think I don't know that, teme?!" Inuyasha snarled, as he shifted between forms again, "Damn, but it feels like the stupid thing is ripping my soul apart!"

"It is, or at least, it will in time," Sesshoumaru said calmly. The younger brother's eyes widened and he shifted bodies again, this time settling on Shiro's face and form.

"W-what?" the young boy gasped slightly. His shocked mind numbly registered the cool feeling of his blood running down his shoulder and side. Shiro's wide violet eyes were completely focused on Sesshoumaru. Bending down so that he could be eye level with Shiro, Sesshoumaru wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders and drew him closer.

Whispering in the boy's ear Sesshoumaru asked, "Do you want it to end, Inuyasha? If you wish, this Sesshoumaru will kill you and end it all." Inuyasha snorted softly as his legs gave out from beneath him, finally succumbing to the pain. Closing his eyes and falling against the youkai lord's chest due to exhaustion, the younger brother gave his answer.

"Hell no, Sesshoumaru," the boy murmured, slowly fading into unconsciousness, "I've got stuff I've got to do, including killing you, teme."

"Heh," Sesshoumaru muttered, "I'd like to see you try, fool. And you better hurry up and heal, little brother. This Sesshoumaru wants to defeat you at your best, so take that silver trinket off the next time we meet." Inuyasha smirked slightly, nodded once, and let himself fall into oblivion. Sesshoumaru's face remained a blank mask as he held the sleeping form of his human brother.

***

Meanwhile with the shadowy figures

(AN: been awhile since we heard from them, ne?)

"You baka!!!" Figure #2 shrieked at its counterpart, "You messed up the spell!"

"No I didn't," Figure #1 said, its voice slightly panicked, "It's Inuyasha. He's fighting the bracelet's powers too hard. You know how magic works. If you mess with it too much the results can be deadly."

"I knew turning Inuyasha into a human child was a big mistake," Figure #2 grumbled, "He's too stubborn to be tamed."

"Like a wild dog, eh?" Figure #1 joked weakly. The other shadow glared at it.

"You are a complete fool," Figure #2 growled, "We need to fix this. If Inuyasha keeps fighting the bracelet's powers like that, he'll end up ripping his soul in two."

"And what happens when he does that?" Figure #1 asked, although part of his mind already knew the answer.

"Inuyasha's soul, like anyone else's, is made up of two factions," Figure #2 began, "The first part is his light half, all his 'good' traits, and the second is his dark half, all of his 'bad' traits. Every living thing has good and bad, yin and yang, but Inuyasha is slightly different. His light half is characterized by his human blood."

"And his dark half by his demon blood, right?" Figure #1 added. Figure #2 nodded.

"So if his soul is split apart, the pieces would manifest themselves as a full blooded human and a full blooded demon," Figure #2 concluded.

"Kuso!" Figure #1 swore, its eyes widening, "But his demon half is a psychotic blood-thirsty killer!"

"Aa," Figure #2 nodded, "But that's not all. Due to the bracelet's influence on Inuyasha, his human half would remain in child form."

"So when Inuyasha splits his soul in two we'll have a helpless human child and a blood-crazed demon on our hands," Figure #1 murmured, "I have no doubt in my mind that the demon will kill his human half instantly. It's impossible to fuse a broken soul back together if part of it is dead!"

"That's right," Figure #2 growled, "If this goes on there will be a full youkai Inuyasha and there will be no way to turn him back to his human self or even his hanyou self. And it's all your fault! It was your idea to use that bracelet on Inuyasha! You always have the stupidest plans. Like that time you said 'Let's bring Kikyo back from the dead! She won't hurt anything.' You're such a baka! We need to stop Inuyasha's soul from splitting no matter what the cost!"

"How was I supposed to know what the side effect were?" Figure #1 growled, "Kuso, but we need to get that bracelet off of Inuyasha and fast!"

"We can't do that!" Figure #2 growled, "It's against the rules! We're not supposed to do anything directly. The best we can to is influence someone else to take off the bracelet for us."

"Who then?" Figure #1 asked.

"Kikyo is out of the question," Figure #2 murmured half to himself, "Inuyasha won't let her near him anymore, I think. Naraku, definitely not. He'll probably try to kill Inuyasha when he finds out about this. Sesshoumaru is too stubborn and has too much pride to lower himself to helping his half-breed brother. Kagome-san and her group are too far away, but I think they are our only hope. We just have to wait for them to get there."

"What about Inuyasha's new friends?" Figure #1 asked.

"That's a possibility," Figure #2 agreed, "But we can't tell them strait out what to do. It's against the rules. The thing with Kagome-san and her friends is that they would probably figure out what to do once they notice what's amiss with Inuyasha. The bracelet is clearly magical and they'll notice it right away. Plus, Inuyasha doesn't normally wear silver jewelry like that. Also, Kagome-san's miko powers could get it off. And that's another thing with using Inuyasha-san's new friends. Even if Inuyasha's new friends knew that had to take off the bracelet, they wouldn't know how to take it off."

"Aki's a magician," Figure #1 pointed out, "He might know how to do it. And didn't Yumeko mention something about looking into Inuyasha's dreams sometime soon? She'll be able to find out that they need to take off the band."

"That's very true," Figure #2 agreed, "So I suppose they're going to be our best bet, eh? But just in case, I'll make sure that nothing gets in the way of Kagome-san and her group. The faster they get to Inuyasha, the better his chances are."

"Aa," the other shadow nodded, "Well then, let's get to work."

***

Back with Aki, a little while later

Aki groaned slightly, as he slowly opened his eyes. Placing a hand behind his head, the young magician withdrew his fingers, noticing they were covered in droplets of his blood. His eyes flaring a light gold for an instant, Aki swore.

"Damn, but that youkai sure packs a punch," Aki groaned as he slowly began to stand, fighting a slight wave of nausea as he did so. The young man did a brief inspection of himself. A bleeding scalp, a badly slashed back, and a bruised throat were all recorded in the magician's mind. Scanning the area around him in the same quick manner, Aki discovered that the two youkai and the little girl from before were gone. What did surprise him the most though (besides the fact that the youkai let him live) was the fact that right next to him, piled up neatly, was the firewood he had been collecting. Aki laughed softly.

"So you tidy up my wood-pile, but you leave my body in shambles," Aki said out loud, a small smirk creeping up on his features, "You could at least left me bandages." Shrugging to himself, the magician bent down to pick up his wood. As he straitened, his mind suddenly sprang alive as he remembered something. Cursing himself for what an idiot he was, Aki ran off, the firewood tucked under one arm.

'Damn, I forgot about Shiro!'

***

In Aki's hut with Yumeko

Yumeko sat on the futon in her room, unconsciously fiddling with her kimono sleeve. Although the dream demon would never admit it, she was worried about the others. Aki and Shiro should have been back by now. Over the period of time that she had known them, somehow all of them (Shiro, Kumo, Miho, Kimiko, and Aki) had become some sort of second family of hers. Letting her mind wander, Yumeko thought briefly about each member of her new "family". There was Kumo, the arrogant spider demon on a mission of vengeance. There was Miho, the young human female who Yumeko was proud to call her friend. Yumeko smirked as she thought of those two. She wouldn't be surprised if the couple came back from their trip carrying a chubby spider hanyou baby with them. Actually, she would be surprised if they didn't come back with a baby or at least with a pregnant Miho.

Drawing her mind away from those two, the dream demon focused her mind on Aki. The magician was insanely protective, almost to the point where it was obsessive. It was kind of sweet in a way, though. Talking about sweet, Yumeko began thinking about the magician's little sister.

The young girl was innocent and sweet. After all, it was Kimiko who had offered Yumeko shelter in the first place. Yumeko frowned slightly. In turbulent times like these, Yumeko wondered how long Kimiko's naiveté would last before she became jaded and hard like Yumeko and Kumo were. Even Aki and Miho, although they hid it well, had built up protective walls around themselves. They weren't fools. They knew life wasn't all good and kind. Perhaps Kimiko's innocence came from her being a child. But Yumeko threw that thought away as soon as she remembered Shiro.

Shiro was an enigma. He was extremely defensive, and hated to be treated as a child. Yumeko felt that he had seen more horrors with those wide violet eyes of his than Yumeko could even begin to fathom, despite the fact he had forgotten everything. He had built some impressive mental walls around himself. Yumeko doubted that she or any of the others had actually seen Shiro's true self. Yumeko smiled softly. It had been this little boy that had brought all of them together in the most interesting manners. Yumeko's thoughts drifted to Shiro's sketchy past. How did a human child come across the Tetsusaiga? And who was that miko, Kikyo, who attacked Shiro so viciously? What horrors had those violet eyes seen? These questions -and many others -would be answered, and soon. The instant Aki came back with that child in tow, Yumeko planned to look into his suppressed memories.

***

Outside of the village

Yugata, Yumeko's elder brother, glanced down at the tiny village sprawled out before him. Weeks ago, Yumeko entered this village, only to disappear without a trace. And somewhere in this village was the demon sword Tetsusaiga, a sword that would soon be his. At this thought, Yugata smirked. Yumeko's loss was her brother's gain. Yugata pulled out a small blue bag from inside his shirt, withdrawing the tiny crystal it held. Gently fingering the Shikon shard, Yugata, without a moment's hesitation, stuck the glowing shard into his chest. The dream demon shivered with pleasure as he felt the wild power rush through his body.

'Soon, Tetsusaiga, you will be mine as well,' Yugata thought, a cold smile plastered on his face, 'And none shall rival my power!'

Author-chan's notes: ARG!!!! Short chapter!!! The next one will be longer, hopefully. Things are moving along nicely (about time too!). Anyway, next chapter should have Yugata's entrance into the village, his first attack, and Yumeko peaking into Shiro/Inuyasha's mind, but please don't kill me if the next chapter doesn't have all of this stuff.

Hope to see ya soon!