Tension Rises

When Inuyasha awoke, he had forgotten about Ankha. "Kagome, I had the weirdest nightmare. This cat demon assassin..." He looked over at Shippo, who was still covered in Ankha's cloak. "Damn."

Kagome scowled at Inuyasha. "What's wrong, Inuyasha?" She asked, walking up behind the unsuspecting dog.

"It wasn't a dream." He started to tiptoe to Shippo, obviously going to hit him.

Everyone in camp awoke to Kagome yelling "INUYASHA...SIT BOY!" And a big "Crunch!" was heard as Inuyasha crushed what was left of the raman.

As Inuyasha stood, Kagome said "IN...U...YASHA, you just destroyed the last of the raman. You don't get any more, EVER!"

Inuyasha fell to the ground among his fallen noodles. He rolled himself into a ball as his eyes glazed over and he rocked himself back and forth.

"No more raman...No more raman...No more raman..." Ankha leaped out of her tree.

"What's with him? Is raman really that important to his sanity?"

"No more raman...No more raman...No more raman..."

She looked at him. "I guess that's a yes."

Shippo looked up at her "Did you know that you purr in your sleep?" Ankha's ear tips became a pinkish color. She muttered an affirmative. Shippo crouched by Inuyasha and started to poke him.

"No more raman..." Poke "No more roman..." poke "No more raman" Poke.

Crash!

Sesshomiru came bursting through the trees. "I can't find Loeyla!"

"No more raman..." poke "No more raman..."

"What's with my brother?" Sesshomiru crouched next to Inuyasha and copied Shippo.

"No more raman..." poke, poke "No more raman..." poke, poke.

"What do you mean you can't find Loeyla?" Kagome asked, alarmed. "When did you

lose her?"

"Who is this 'Loeyla'?" Ankha asked. Sesshomiru turned his head to look at her, previously unnoticed. When he turned his face towards her, she could see nine stripes on his face, all colored in, the sign of a retired highest level assassin. Ankha immediately went on the defensive. In he was going to try and kill her, she was going to go down fighting! Sesshomiru just looked amused at her defensiveness.

"Loeyla is my mate." He glared at the assassin, who was still on guard. "The only time you have to worry about me..." His glare deepened. "Is if you come anywhere near to hurting my mate." He released her from his holding spell that she had been struggling to escape, and she looked away, fast. Turning to Kagome, he answered her question. "She left three months after mating season. I don't know where she is. I can't track her."

"Sessho, that was four years ago! Why did you not seek our help earlier?"

Sessho looked at Inuyasha, who was now sucking his thumb while rocking back and forth, taking it out only to repeat his litany. "That is why. You had enough problems with him." He slowly looked back at Kagome. "Now I'm worried, There's a new crop of bounty hunters about!"

"Loeyla should be able to take care of herself ." Soothed Kagome.

"No more raman..." poke.

Ankha couldn't take the noise anymore. Covering her ears, she turned to Shippo, whispering. "Shippo, I'm going into the woods. I'll be at a little river to the direct west of here. If you need me, that's where you'll find me." Shippo nodded to show he heard, never leaving off his poking. Quietly, she left. She hated crowds, and it had become too many people to spend that much time around.

Shortly after Ankha left there was a sound of a person walking through the trees. When the sound stopped, Inuyasha said "No more ra..." he lifted his nose to the air, thumb still in his mouth. (Sniff, sniff) The glaze left his eyes, his thumb left his mouth. The half breed ran into the woods.

"Hey! HEY! Come back here with my bag!" A voice shouted.

Inuyasha came from the woods with a bag almost as big as Kagome's in hand. A handsome young man with four slender blue marks on his face ran into the clearing, naked sword in hand.

"Bounty Hunter." Sesshomiru growled. He ran at the unsuspecting man as Inuyasha cradled the bag he stole. Hands in the bounty Hunters cloak, Sessho yelled straight into his face. " Where is my mate?" When the man did not answer, he yelled again. "Where?" His hands gripped tighter.

"I don't know who or what you're talking about." The hunter said coolly. "Now, if you'll please place me back on the ground..." Sesshomiru had not even realized he had lifted the man off his feet. "...I need to retrieve my bag." He pointed at Inuyasha as Sesshomiru placed him back on his own two feet.

Inuyasha now rocked back and forth, still cradling the bag. "Raman...raman..." He whined. Shippo went to poke the bag and Inuyasha grabbed his arm, snarled and glared at him.

Slowly, very slowly, the hunter advanced on Inuyasha. "My known name is Shadow Blade, and if you'll give me my bag..." He said slowly as he lunged at the last word. Inuyasha backed up, bag in one hand, Shippo in the other. "...Give me my bag" Shadow Blade said, normal now, "I'll give you all the raman in the bag."

Inuyasha's eye's lit up. At the sound of "All the raman in the bag" he gladly handed the bag to the man.

Shadow Blade turned to face Kagome. "You and your friends may call me..." he trailed off as Inuyasha tugged on his pant leg, whimpering. Blade reached into his bag and pulled out one pack of raman. Dangling it over the half demons head, he continued. "Rain."

"What? It's not raining." Kagome said, confused. He laughed.

"No." He said, handing the pack to Inuyasha. "You may call me Rain."

They all laughed at Inuyasha as he ate the packet of raman (wrapper and all), as a shadow watched from the tree. Ankha had come back to find they were talking to a Bounty Hunter. She could tell who he was by his clothes. After all, she had fought and killed many already. She felt betrayed. As the Bounty Hunter left, she realized she had not memorized his face so that she could kill him later, if ever she met him again, for she had never seen it.

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Disclaimer : We don't own any characters of Inuyasha.

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B.B.- "I own people later in the story..."

Inuyasha - "Who?"

Kagome - "SIT!"

Inuyasha - (after getting up) "What'd you do that for, Kagome!"

Kagome - "You interrupted."

B.B.- "May I continue?" (Glaring at Inuyasha. Vain, vain)

Inuyasha - (Scared) "Y...Y...yes."

B.B.- "Thank you."(Clears Throat) "Writing Woman owns Ankha and Rain." (Bows) " Thank you for reading our story."

Inuyasha - "Who do you own?"

B.B.- "I'm not telling."

Inuyasha - "Tell me."

B.B.- (whispers in his ear)

Inuyasha - "Ha- ha! She.."

Kagome - (warningly) "Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha - (looks at Kagome) "Owns..."

Kagome - "SIT!" (Crash!)

W.W.- "While he's unconscious, do you want to..."

B.B.- (finishing W.W.'s sentence with her) "...Sew his mouth shut? Sure!"

W.W. + B.B.- (evilly walking to Inuyasha with sewing kit in hand) "Read and Review!" (Evil laugh)

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A few minutes after the Bounty Hunter left, Ankha ran back to the little river at full speed. She sat, drinking the water. 'Why should I feel so offended?' she thought. 'I've only known them a few days. I have no claim to what they do or don't do.' Still, she decided to stay the night there, until the dew washed away the hunter's scent.

So she stayed next to the river, finding peace as always in it's soothing noise. Occasionally, she napped. On one of the rare occasions that she slept, a certain little fox came to her. Hearing her hiss, and seeing she was asleep, Shippo laid down next to her and fell asleep himself beside the cat demon. Ankha rolled over in her sleep and held Shippo as if he were her kitten. For the first time in years, she slept peacefully. When she awoke, however, he was gone. 'That's weird.' She thought. 'I could have sworn...' Ankha looked around and shrugged. She walked back to the camp before dawn.

A week passed, with minor confrontations between them all. Mostly the 'arguments' were between Ankha and the half breed, the dog, and the lecher. Anyway, they all lived through it.

Ankha had gone to drink from the steam when she awoke, again before dawn. It was a habit. When she arrived back at camp, she saw Kagome, Miroku, Inuyasha and a oddly dressed woman with a very large boomerang. Where was Shippo? Ankha had begun to think that the hunter had come back to get him, when Shippo and Sesshomiru walked into camp.

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B.B.- "It's 10:30 pm. Tomorrow, Writing Woman will take over."

Shippo - (Puppy dog eyes) "Why?"

B.B.- "Because I'm fresh out of ideas."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- "Because I've been writing all day."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- "So people can read it."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B. - "..."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- (Lifts eyebrow)

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- "I must really be tired."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- "I'm making you say "Why?" a lot."

Shippo - "Why?"

B.B.- (Looks at reader) "R+R"

Shippo - "Why?"

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W.W.- "You're all in my power now! Hear your doom approaching (on purple dinosaur feet)!"

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Shippo and Sesshomiru had next town, and had gone on. Still, with Inuyasha and three guests, they had needed been back to town to get more ramen. Rain had left what he had, saying he could get more in the ore. Overnight, their group had gained a member. Sango was back!

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W.W.- "Where had she gone?"

B.B.- "I don't know. She just walked out one day."

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And since Sango was back, Miroku was drooling. Ankha was still lingering in the shadows, watching the friends' reunion, and felt very out of place. She melted into the darkness under the trees, to see but not be seen.

It didn't work too well. Shippo looked around for her, and saw her move to slap at a bug. He ran over and tugged on her arm, pulling her to where the others were. Sango looked up. She knew every one else, but this woman was new. Shippo introduced them.

"Sango, this is Ankha. She's funny. Ankha, this is Sango. She beats up Miroku a lot."

Ankha lifted an eyebrow. "Sounds about right." Sango smiled at the cat demon and said "He asked you too?"

"I have a feeling that he asks everybody."

"He does."

"Does he always drool that much?"

"Yes." Sango laughed. Ankha said good bye and turned to Shippo.

"Shippo, I wish you had left me be. I don't like being around lots of people." He nodded. "Now, tell Kagome I'll get something fresh to go with dinner, and I'll even get something for Inuyasha this time." Shippo ran off on his errand, and Ankha disappeared again. Sango walked back to Kagome.

"Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"What is she?"

"A cat demon."

"No, I mean the stripes on her face. What is she?" Kagome said nothing and looked

away. "Kagome, tell me!"

"She's a sixth level assassin." She never looked at Sango.

"You know I'm as good as a bounty hunter! What is she doing here?"

Kagome smirked. "She helps me keep Inuyasha in line. She's really quite nice."

"How do you know?"

"She's been here a week, Sango, and there's something about her..."

Inuyasha broke through the trees yelling, "Raman! Raman!" he was attacking Sesshomiru. Then ,realizing he wasn't going to get it from Sessho, he ran to attack Shippo. "Raman!"

"Ankha! Help!" Shippo screamed. Inuyasha was gaining on him fast. "Raman!"

A song came from a tree. Inuyasha went blank faced, eyes glazed over. Ankha jumped from the tree. Picking up Shippo, she said "Sit, boy." He did, panting. "You, little man, are now a rooster." Shippo laughed as Inuyasha stood, folded his arms like wings, and pecked the ground, scratching around and making chicken sounds.

Sango looked on in shock. "How?"

"Her assassin name is Black Lullaby. Her song can bend you to do her will... or kill you."

Sango watched as Inuyasha leaped from the ground into a tree.

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B.B.- "I'm going to leave this next part to WritingWoman!" (Evil laugh)

W.W.- "That's not how I would have wrote it myself, but good enough." (Wink)

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Ankha sang him into the tree, higher and higher to the very top, thirty feet above ground. Inuyasha leaped from his perch into the air. Ankha stopped singing.

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B.B.- "Well?"

W.W.- "Well what?"

B.B.- "How would you have written it?"

W.W.- "I would have had her think to attack him, start to, after appearing as fast as lighting in response to the cry. But instead of attacking, she stops, for fear that she would hit the child. Then make him think he's a turkey."

B.B.- "Rooster."

W.W.- "Rooster, right."

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As soon as she stopped, Inuyasha came to his senses. He tried to go back into the tree, but, seeing as it was about five feet away, this was out of the range of hard and into impossible. So he did the only thing he could do. He held up a sign that said 'Mommy!' and fell.

Crash! Into the dirt, face first. After a minute or two, he climbed out of the dog demon shaped hole, into a camp full of people rolling on the ground with laughter. All except for Ankha. She merely glared at him as she stood protectively in front of the laughing Shippo.

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Inuyasha - "I still haven't gotten all the dirt out of my ears."

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"So" ha-ha "That's how she" hee-hee "Helps keep Inuyasha" hee-ha "In line!" Said Sango when she had enough air to. Miroku helped her up. She put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself during another bout of laughter. Realizing what she had done, she quickly removed her hand, and blushed.

"Kagome, I found another way to make him sit." Said Ankha, casually. Shippo laughed harder.

"Hmpf." Inuyasha huffed away to nurse his wounded pride. During the rest of the evening, while Sango told her tales and the news of what had happened while she was gone, he sat alone, plotting revenge against Ankha. The cat demon herself just sat in her customary place by the fire, listening. Soon, however, she tuned out the friendly chatter and just sat there thinking, drinking in the warm night.

Sessho watched her from across the fire. Being an assassin, retired or not, and a demon, he had very good instincts. And these finely tuned instincts were telling him that she was a person to watch, for trouble followed in her footsteps.

Unaware of his scrutiny, Ankha got up, stretched, and headed for bed. Tonight she would sleep on the ground, she decided. She hadn't done so in a long time. She curled up in her cloak and slept.

After hearing her purr softly, he went to her side. Placing a hand on her head, his efforts were rewarded with ten long metal claws in his right arm.

Not opening her eyes at all, Ankha spoke. "I don't think so, dog." She removed her claws and shifted into a more comfortable position for true sleep.

Having yelped, everyone was looking at him. Guessing what their questions were, he said, "I wanted her past."