A/N: Hey everyone! It's Roku again! Sorry for the long awaited chapter. I have been very busy with school finals and all. But I hope you enjoy this next chapter. I plan on linking things together as the story goes. Again, I do not own Inuyasha. Roku is MY character and is ©Roku (That's me!)

Thank you to the kind reviews. Your support enables me to have the will to write. Your comments mean so much to me. Thank You so much.

Now I'll shut up….

……………….

CHAPTER 5 – DAWNING BREAKS

Dawn was near. The sun kissed the leaves as the new day was born. The misty clouds surrounding the mountains shimmered in the sunlight. Smoke arose into the sky in the far off distant mountains where the village still burned silently. The village was gone, and everyone in it. But the babe who breathed with labor had survived.

He had inhaled much smoke. Roku was amazed at his strength. Although his human scent was hard for her to bear, she had to admire the baby. He was like her. A survivor. Perhaps the only one. Yet Roku scented the trails of other humans leaving the village, and knew others must have escaped. But why did they leave the child? They must have not known he was there. The mother may have died. That was the only solution that Roku could think of, anyway. Roku knew the smell of the mother of the baby, for they were very similar, and could not determine it alone. The mother had to have escaped though. There was no smell of death in the house, only death to come.

Now Roku had the child, but what left to do? Roku's first instincts told her to find the family. The baby belonged with his parents. Roku despised humans, hated them with all her heart. And she had enough reason to, anyway. What was she doing with this human child? She was helping the thing which she had always come to fear! But for some reason, Roku was so bewildered and tired from the smoke, she did not seem aware of the complexity of her situation.

Roku opened her eyes. She looked to the area next to her, where the babe slept. He seemed to be recovering remarkably. And then in the sunlight it was clear to Roku why.

He had two triangular ears upon his small head of white hair.

Roku almost had to blink twice to realize it was real. This child...was not human. But his body certainly looked it? What on earth was this? Then it finally came to Roku. He smelled like a human, but looked like a Youkai.

The child was a hanyou.

Roku had heard of hanyous before, beings who were half human and half youkai, but she had never actually seen one before. She had come to believe eventually they did not exist at all. But there it was, living breathing proof. How could a human...a disgusting, depraved human, ever love a youkai, and vice versa? Humans were lowlifes. So were many Youkai. Roku was fortunate enough to have had a kind Youkai father, at least.

Roku snorted, and lay her head down again. But deep down she was relieved the child had lived. Her efforts had been worth a bounty. Yet Roku could not figure out why she had done it. Even when she did it, she didn't know. It was one of those things, she supposed. Stupidity, perhaps. Perhaps she had no common sense.

After a while more of silence, it was broken by the deafening screech of a beast. The child had awakened.

Oh the gods, how he cried! When she had saved him the flames drowned out all other sounds. No wonder she could hear him over all the noise! Oh, how her ears nearly went deaf! The child wailed at the top of his lungs, tears streaming down his cheeks in great rivers. Roku jumped up in utter shock, her eyes wide, and looked at the child surprised.

Why was he crying? At first, Roku just lay where she was. She saved him. That was enough for her. Stupid half human. Why should she care what happened to him? She ignored his cries, her ears covered with her paws. Roku tossed back and forth until finally she got up very annoyed and went to the child. She growled ferociously at him to shut him up. But he cried even more. She poked him with her paw, acting fierce and huge, and nearly scared the life out of the poor babe. Roku immediately felt regret at this action, and touched the child with her paw. But she did not realize how delicate he was, and she accidentally knocked him over and he rolled out of his cloth he was wrapped in. He wailed even more, and Roku could see why.

Across his chest and little legs were horrific burns. Roku winced when she saw them. Oh, the poor child! No wonder he wailed when he was conscious. Roku was not sure what to do.

"Just leave him!" she thought "The last thing you need with you is a human! He'll die anyway!" But Roku could not turn away. She went to the child, and gently lifted his head, but it seemed he hurt every time he moved. She was gentle this time, but suddenly his little hand reached out and grabbed the fur on her leg. Roku literally screeched and jumped back as if a poisonous snake had bitten her. The child looked at her with his golden eyes, now red from crying, and reached out to her, wailing like mad.

Roku could not look at the poor baby's burns. Her thoughts were about an herb she had learned about long ago from her father, called aloe. When she had burned her paw once as a pup, her father combined the aloe leaves and some other herbs to ease the pain. Roku sniffed around to find some of the same herb, and luckily, she found some into the forest about a quarter of a mile, in a small grove. She easily found her way back to the baby, from his screeches and cries. Roku took the leaves in her mouth, and carefully approached the baby slowly. He reached for her, but Roku quickly squeezed the leaves substance out onto the burns and leaped back quickly. The baby lay there again crying, but soon it was ended as the herb seemed to take effect. The tears still came, but he simply sniffled and shook his mouth until he seemed calm enough. He breathed heavy as he lay there. Roku sighed heavily. Success. She walked up to the baby again, looking down at his sore eyes. All was calm and Roku lay down again. She rested for some time, pondering her thoughts, and then she smelled it.

It came from the small cloth piece around his rear. Roku nearly gagged. Of course, she thought. If he "went"...it had to go somewhere.

"No...OHHHH NO..." thought Roku. The lotion was her limit. No way was she doing this! It was disgusting! What was wrong with these humans! They were so VILE! Roku backed away from the baby, and once again he cried, but not nearly as much as before. Roku really considered leaving him now. She got up, turned to leave, and was almost into the trees, but she could not turn from this poor child's crying. It brought her back to him. She just couldn't ignore the sound of helplessness, of what would happen if he was left to die. Roku hated herself for even caring about a worthless human. But deep down a spark lit up, the thought of him all alone for the youkai or bandits to find, and Roku came back to the child.

She had to figure out something to do. She looked around the area, for something to aid her. She finally came upon some oddly large elephant leaves, and considered them to be large enough to accommodate the needs of the baby. She was about to pick one of the leaves, but she backed up confused.

"This is stupid!" she thought "I don't need to deal with this! I can't be a slave to a HUMAN!" but Roku fought with herself "But...he needs me. But he's a human, and no good can come from them. I have to get out of here, before I get myself killed!"

Roku growled at herself, and with great foolishness, took the leaf back to the child. The smell was very strong now and Roku coughed as tears came to her eyes. Humans were...eww! But Roku knew what she had to do. She literally ripped the old cloth off of him, and with a great heave chucked it into the woods. Roku almost collapsed right there. But the vile cloth was gone, and Roku cleaned the baby, growling as his hands always reached for her. But he was not afraid. And as Roku saw, it was clearly a male baby. Her scent had not failed her. After putting some aloe on some red spots, Roku put the large elephant leaf on his rear, using the tree sap from a pine nearby, to keep the leaf together. The elephant leaf was sturdy, and Roku was surprised at how tough and thick it was. Now at last he was clean.

The baby cooed at her, blowing bubbles, but Roku rolled her eyes.

"You'd better appreciate that!" Roku snarled "I can't make any promises next time!" But Roku took a whole bunch of elephant leaves and put them in the cloth sac the baby was in. She then picked the whole bundle up by the scruff and decided to head the way the scent seemed to lead. It lead in many directions, so Roku believed more than one group of people went separate ways. Roku could not find the mother's scent, but figured the most fresh trail would lead her there.

The small band of human escapees was on the other side of the mountains now. Two men in particular carried a limp woman with raven dark hair. Her eyes her shallow, all emotion lost from them. They were at least 70 miles from the burned village. If the demons came back, they did not want to be nearby in any way, shape, or form. One man on a chestnut horse slowed behind the group to where one man now held the sad woman on horseback.

"How is she?" the man asked, very concerned

"She won't speak. She won't eat." the man holding her said

The kind man squinted his eyes. He was very old, but he knew grief when he saw it. The poor woman's son had died in the fire. And with that, a part of her too. And even though he was a hanyou, he could not hide the sadness of the loss.

"Iyazoi is a good woman. You make sure she's comfortable." the kind man said. He was the headman of the village that had been destroyed. His name was Haru. He sat next to one of the men who had pulled the woman out of the house. He knew the baby had died in the blaze. But something made him wonder about why the mother had been rescued and the baby had not. He was not certain, but he seemed uneasy about the whole situation. Perhaps he could learn some truth from one of the rescuers.

"Takau, could you come here for a minute?" he asked, nudging his horse in the left direction.

"Yes, sir." Takau replied, and followed Haru. They went to the outskirts of the small band of people. Haru then looked very firmly at Takau.

"I am glad all of my villagers are safe, and I pray for the ones who have perished."

"Yes." replied Haru "Many died in that massacre. Even one of my good friends."

"It is good that we are moving away. I hear the lowlands have an easier time with demons."

Haru just stared at the hooves of his horse. He knew that Haru was trying to probe him for something. He just wasn't sure quite what yet.

"It is a shame for that poor baby. That hanyou."

At these words, Takau seemed a bit uneasy. But he was a warrior, and was skilled at hiding any emotion.

"It is a shame that such an accident had to happen." Haru continued, noting the pupils wide in Takau's eyes. Body language always spoke a thousand words.

"Takau, it seems there is something troubling you."

Takau just stared blankly "No, I am just weary."

Haru knew he was hiding something. He had not lived all those years for nothing!

"That is good. For certainly if one of my villagers is troubled, it is important that he tell someone for help."

Takau lifted his head a little, almost as if he were to say something. But no regretful words came from his lips.

"Yes, sir. It is something everyone should know."

"You may leave now. That is all." Haru summoned Takau away. But he knew Takau was hiding something, and he would need to wait for time to reveal the secret. Haru trotted his horse to the front of the group. He looked behind him at the poor woman who sat on the horse, limp and lifeless, though her heart beat within her breast. He sighed to himself, and most likely was the only one of the whole band who felt grief for a half-breed child.

The woman sat limp on her horse, and as the animal passed by a jagged tree, a piece of her kimono accidentally ripped and became caught among the dead branches. A good-sized chunk of red kimono now hung from the limb like a flag, but the woman heeded no care. She looked almost as if she was dead. Nothing could help her withered soul now.

"Poor woman...her child is gone. She has no more will to live." He said to himself. He then pushed his horse to move forwards, under the shady tree path. The band moved further over the mountains to the lowlands below.