In this chapter you learn a little more about Yuki. Hanya too, just not as much.

Disclaimer: Yuki is mine, Hanya is my friends, Inuyasha and the others don't belong to me…I can only wish.

CHAPTER 5:

Yuki ran through the forest. She was looking for something…but what? With a sudden stop she examined her surroundings. She stood in a clearing with trees all around. There was a snap off to the left and Yuki began to growl in the direction of the intruder. Turning, she ran towards the forest. The noise came again but in the opposite direction, so she turned on her feet and sped toward it. Passing through the clearing, she reached the source.

A small youkai sat on the ground in front of her. Snow-white hair surrounded furry white fox ears. She was dressed in a black tunic that fell to her knees and over her arms. Yuki looked closely at the little creature and realized she was crying. Yuki bent down and tried to soothe the little girl. She lightly touched the youkai's shoulder. The little girl's fluffy tail spiked out when Yuki did this. She looked up with tear stained eyes, and Yuki let out a gasp. She recognized the little youkai…'it…it's me'. Yuki stepped back in astonishment. The little Yuki began crying again. Soft sobs were heard through out the forest and Yuki just sat staring.

Moments after the little Yuki had stopped crying and started to growl loudly. Her tail puffed out and her ears flattened to her head. She stood up and ran away from the older version. The older Yuki cocked an eyebrow at the younger Yuki. She didn't sense anything and yet the little one did. She raced over in the direction the smaller version had gone. Yuki ran further into the forest trying to keep up with her child form. Every time Yuki would get close to the little one, the blackened blur would speed up, and run further ahead. The speed Yuki had reached were unthinkable, and she began running blind. To Yuki's eyes she was running through a tunnel. The only thing she could see was the little Yuki in front of her.

This seemed to continue until a bright light engulfed both of the Yuki's. The older Yuki tightly closed her eyes until the light faded. When she opened them she stood in a clear valley. No trees could be seen, and the mountains seemed ghostly. Looking at her new surroundings, Yuki realized that her younger self was no longer in front of her. She stood alone. She sniffed the air for any scent nearby, but she found no scent of other youkai. A light breeze struck her, and cackling could be heard. Yuki's ears twitched and turned trying to find the source, but the noise echoed as if in a cave.

Yuki stood for a while, and then flitted from her spot. In her place stood a beast of giant proportions, its huge fist stretched out in front of him, a smirk widely spread across its face. Yuki appeared before it with an angry glare on her face. "Bastard! Why'd you do that?" Yuki yelled at the creature. The beast growled at his failure and charged at Yuki. Unsheathing the sword at her right she struck out at the beast, passing through it. Now standing in each other's place, the beast turned to face its opponent. Smirking down at Yuki at her failed attempt, it soon realized it was wrong. At sudden the creature was looking up at Yuki and not down. She had succeeded in striking the creature, and now it had been beheaded.

The creature's body fell limp and dropped next to its head; a pool of blood forming around it. Yuki smirked, and began cleaning off her blade. "Pathetic creature had no idea what it was doing." Yuki spoke mainly to herself, but other ears heard and responded. "So you're still alive Yuki?" Yuki looked up, and came eye to eye with another kitsune.

The kitsune glared in disappointment. She had golden fur covering her ears and tail, and had long flowing golden hair. Her eyes were the same as Yuki's. She was dressed in a silk kimono with flame designs. Yuki's eyes widened. "Not even going to say 'hi' to your mother?" Yuki glared to match the kitsune in front of her. She slowly stood, and reached for the sword that was no longer there. Growling, Yuki lunged at her mother. The other kitsune easily dodged Yuki's frantic attempts with simple side steps. "You know Yuki, I'm surprised you last so long in the world. Can't even an older woman." Yuki tried not to listen as her mother taunted her. Her blind attempts became more frantic with each swing.

Yuki was pushed back as her mother swung out at her. She landed back first, and the breath was knocked out of her. Anger built up inside Yuki, and her youki began rising. Her eyes sparked a faint fire red, and she stood once again to face her mother. the tips of her ears began to change, and instead of the normal pure white coloration, they turned a deep blood crimson. Her eyes fully changed to a deep red, and her tail spiked. Letting out a loud cry, the kitsune before her was engulfed in bright flames. The changed from a red to a white, and a figure emerged from them. Yuki calmed herself and every transformation changed back. The kitsune stepped away from the fading flames, and smirked. Yuki began to pant from exhaustion as she watched her mother walk closer. "Damn it." Yuki cursed to herself.

"It's that kind of power that got you exiled from the clan." The kitsune spoke calmly, "of course, when you were five you didn't have control over your power, but it doesn't look like you do now. Am I right, Yuki?" Yuki shook her head violently; tears escaping her tightly closed eyes. She opened them to see her mother directly in front of her. the kitsune's eyes were now glazed over with a red and a loud growl escaped her throat as she jabbed a clawed fist into Yuki's stomach, leaving a large hole…

Yuki awoke screaming. She sat up holding her stomach. Everyone in the hut had also woken. Kagome and Sango stared worriedly at her as she took deep intakes of air. Hanya had been awake but was shaken by the sudden scream. "What happened?" Shippo asked groggily. Inuyasha had chosen to sleep in a nearby tree, and came in through the doorway thinking it was Kagome. He looked panicked, but calmed when he saw it was Yuki. Yuki caught her breath finally looked at everyone. She gave a weak smile, and said sorry for waking them. "Feh. Just don't scream next time you have a bad dream." "Inuyasha, back off. Sit boy!" Inuyasha slammed face first to the ground. Hanya laughed at him while he got up and mumbled on his way out. Yuki would have laughed too, but she was still shaken. She laid down and cleared her thoughts and tried to go back to sleep. Everyone followed her example and also went to sleep. Hanya, on the other hand, watched as Yuki's breath evened out before she fell asleep.

Morning came, and everyone sleepily walked out of the hut. Yuki and Hanya were the first to leave the hut. Stretching out Hanya looked over at her partner. 'What was last night all about?' Yuki yawned widely and returned Hanya's look. 'Just some past problems'. 'Mother dream again, right?' Yuki glared over at her friend, which answered Hanya's question. Numerously this very same dream had haunted Yuki. She would awaken in a cold sweat like she had done last night.

The others soon joined the two outside. Kagome carried a large yellow backpack filled with who knows what (she seems to have everything in there). Miroku and Sango came out next, followed by Inuyasha. Inuyasha grunted, and walked away from the village. "Well I guess we're leaving early." Kagome sighed and followed, "We'll stop to eat later." Shippo hopped up on Miroku's shoulder and faced toward Yuki and Hanya. "Are you coming with us today?" a cheerful smile spread across his features. Yuki smiled back and nodded for the both of them.

They walked along the river for most of the day. Late evening came around, and they stopped for the night. Inuyasha took charge and started to make a fire for Kagome to make his favorite food – ramen. Yuki and Hanya sat in front of him, observing him closely. After a couple of tries Yuki let out a quick laugh causing Inuyasha to glare up at her. "What's so funny?" he asked rudely.

"Your pitiful attempts." Yuki laughed again. Inuyasha growled and threw the piece of flint at her. "You try then. Like you could do better." Inuyasha sat back and watched with amusement. Yuki gave him a wide smile before she looked down at the pile of wood. Her golden eyes flared to a red and the pile sparked. Flames lit up and Inuyasha's smirk faded and he grunted before leaping up into a nearby tree. He turned away from the rest of the group with his arms crossed over his chest. Kagome got the ramen boiled and handed a bowl to Inuyasha first, and then passed out bowls to the others.

After eating Kagome suggested the girls go find a hot spring. Yuki and Hanya both sniffed the air in different directions, and flitted away. Seconds later Hanya appeared from the direction she left from, and whistled. Yuki appeared next from where she had left. "I win, found a spring first." Hanya smiled. Yuki growled and reached into a small pouch she had tied to her side. Pulling out four small gold coins, she tossed them to Hanya. The others just stared at them confused. "Um…?" Yuki looked over at the group staring at them. "Heh, when we camp or settle for an afternoon we make a bet to see who can find the nearest hot spring first." Yuki chuckled. "Does this mean you lost?" Shippo tilted his head in confusion. "Yea, but that's ok because I won last time. Sango, Kagome, are you coming?"

"Yea!" both girls exclaimed together. Kagome went through her bag and grabbed a towel. They all got up and walked in the direction Hanya had come from.

The hot spring surrounded by shrubs and brush and large rocks. Kagome and Sango got settled into the spring while Yuki and Hanya sniffed round for any other youkai. Satisfied, they joined the other two. The four girls sat around the smooth rock edge soaking in the warm water. "So Yuki, tell us more about yourself." Kagome inquired.

"Well, I've been on my own since I was about five years old. The clan of kitsune's I belonged to, all had earthly powers so I wasn't excepted when my fir powers developed. I was banished, and I haven't seen them since then." Yuki smiled and looked over at her friend, "Don't you want to know about Hanya?" Hanya growled at her partner when she mentioned this. "I'd love to know more about you too, Hanya." Kagome smiled excitedly. "Alright. Basically the same as Yuki only my clan didn't give me a good reason. They just said I was too different, and that I should leave. I wasn't banished, just told to go away." Hanya shrugged her explanation off. Kagome and Sango both looked sad by their stories, and they sat in silence for a while. But the silence was broken with a snapping of a twig. Yuki and Hanya looked over to see a pair of brown eyes gleaming in the brush. Hanya growled and threw a small rock into the brush. A loud thud and an "ow" was heard, and Miroku stood up and walked back to camp.

The four girls returned to camp to see Miroku holding his head, looking shamefully into the fire. Yuki looked up into the tree Inuyasha had barricaded himself in. from the looks of it, he looked asleep. Kagome and Sango sat down in front of the fire; the cold air had chilled them on the walk from the spring. After Kagome was warmed up from the fire she reached carefully into her backpack, and brought out her sleeping bag. Shippo had already fallen asleep up against her bag so he didn't come and cuddle up to her. Sango leaned up against a tree, on the opposite side of Miroku. Both girls easily fell asleep, and Miroku settled down soon after.

'This place seems familiar.' Yuki looked over at Hanya. 'Everywhere we go looks familiar.' Hanya shook her head. 'No. This place is more familiar then most places.' Yuki glared over at her. "What lands are we in?" "I think we're near south of the western lands." Hanya looked into the fire, "Somewhere near Sesshoumaru's lands." "We should pay him a visit." Yuki smiled over at her partner.

"No, he wants to Inuyasha killed by his hands remember? If we pay him a visit, he'll know that we were with him, and we'd lose our job to…" Hanya stopped mid-sentence and looked over at Inuyasha when he shifted from his position in the tree. Concluding that he was still asleep, but they couldn't tell for sure she finished her sentence telepathically, 'with Naraku'.

'Naraku said he wanted his head. He didn't say that 'we' actually had to kill him.' Yuki stole a glance over at Inuyasha. He was lying with his back against the tree, and one hand dangling down below the branch. Light snoring could be heard, and his little puppy ears twitched every few seconds. 'We should push him off!' Yuki looked evilly over at Hanya. Hanya returned the look, and they both jumped silently up into the tree. Giving Inuyasha a light push he rolled over, off the branch and hit the ground. Yuki and Hanya jumped back to their original spot before Inuyasha knew what hit him.

The others woke up to Inuyasha's angry yelling. Kagome yawned and opened her eyes reluctantly, only to see that he was yelling at the other two youkai who were smiling innocently up at him. "You two were the ones who knocked me off that tree!" Yuki and Hanya shook their heads. "You also didn't know that I was aware of you when up got up the tree did you?" "But we didn't do anything, dear Inuyasha. We were here this whole time, minding our own business." Inuyasha was fuming with anger. He knew for a fact they pushed him off his perch, and he was going to prove it. He began a long boring lecture, and everyone had to listen.

Kagome let out another yawn. An hour had passed and Inuyasha was still yelling at Hanya and Yuki. They looked bored and half asleep (you know the whole snot bubble coming out the nose). Kagome looked around; Sango and Miroku and Shippo were about to doze too, but Inuyasha's constant hollering kept them awake. Couple more minutes of this, and they would all go crazy. Kagome shrugged and settled back into her sleeping bag. But before she fell asleep, she carelessly said three words, "Inuyasha, sit boy."

Inuyasha yelped before he slammed to the ground face first. Everyone let out a sigh and settled back to sleep. Yuki and Hanya smirked as Inuyasha pushed himself up growling. He jumped back into 'his' tree and grumbled a few curses before he closed his eyes. Yuki and Hanya kept smiling.

'So are you going to sleep tonight?' Hanya stopped smiling. 'Nah. Not when we're this close to my clan. That's probably what's causing those nightmares again.' Yuki yawned. "Suit yourself." Hanya turned against the tree trunk they were leaning against and went to sleep. Yuki stayed awake, glancing into the woods occasionally whenever a sound could be heard.

Chapter 5 is done. I thought it was an ok chapter. And I finished it while I was sick, actually, I still am. But as I was sitting on the couch watching never ending preschool cartoons, because there is nothing else on at 12, I thought more on the plot of this story! I know what I want to do near the end… but I have to work up to it. Stupid random thoughts always stop whenever I have a good thought, leaving a large blank in my mind. REVIEW!