AN: Well, after a rather extended hiatus, I'm glad to annouce I'm back n.n And, I greatly apologize for the sudden disappearance. So, without further ado... here's chapter two! ((You know you're dying to see how Inuyasha and Sango's first meeting goes...))

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"Ane-ue?"

Sango looked up at the sound of her brothers voice, "Hmm? It's okay, Kohaku, you can come in."

It was quiet for a few seconds, before Kohaku entered the small hut, "Sorry to bother you, but..." He trailed off and motioned to his arms, which carried his sash and the armor that would be held in place by the sash, "Um... can you help me?"

The taijiya smiled and, after finishing tying her hair up into it's pony-tail, nodded, "Sure."

It was the night of his first extermination, and they would be leaving soon. Kohaku had only worn the taijiya uniform a few times; when he was getting the armor made for him, and a couple times for training so he'd get used to the extra weight. It usually took a while to get used to the different knots that were used, so it came as no surprise to Sangothat he was having some trouble.

As she took the armor and sash from her younger brother, she realized that his hands were shaking. Her smiled faded slightly, but she refrained from saying anything about it right then.

"Here, hold onto the armor while I tie this." She said. Getting the hang of the knot used was difficult enough, she knew. It had to be harder if your hands were shaking while you were trying to tie it. "Is that too tight?"

"A little." The young taijiya replied, glancing uneasily towards the door.

"Sorry." Sango said, loosening the sash slightly, but leaving it tight enough to secure the armor, "Is that better?"

"Yeah... thanks, ane-ue." Kohaku nodded. Then, once the sash was tied, he turned to look at his sister again, "Um... by the way... do you know what kind of demon we'll be fighting tonight?"

She shook her head slowly, "No, I don't, but... Kohaku, are you scared?"

He blinked, obviously surprised by the question, then looked to the side, "Well... I..." He bit his lower lip nervously, but quickly shook his head, "I mean..."

"Kohaku." Sango began, putting her hands on his shoulders, "There's nothing wrong with being scared. In fact..." She trailed off and lowered her voice so no one outside could overhear,then continued, "In fact, all of us are scared. After all, we're humans, not gods."

"Even you get scared, ane-ue?" He asked, looking at her again, "But you've gone on so many exterminations. D-doesn't it get easier?"

She smiled a little, but shook her head, "I won't lie to you. No, it doesn't get easier. But, you do get used to it."

"Then... how do you do it?" He asked quietly, beginning to fidgit with the sash around his waist.

"By remembering that I'm not alone." She replied, standing up and putting her sword into its place under her sash, "And that's something you should remember too. You're not alone. We're never alone. Unless we choose to go alone, which we never do unless we know exactly what we'll be fighting, there's always someone with us. So, someone's always watching your back, Kohaku. Tonight, father and the others will be there. And I'll be there too. I'll stay beside you the entire time, if you'd like."

At that, he looked up, an almost relieved expression coming to his face, "Really, ane-ue?"

"Really."

"You promise?"

"I promise, Kohaku."

-

The same scene had played itself over and over in her mind after she blacked out at the river. It had happened only a few minutes before they had gone out for the extermination at the castle.

This time, however, rather then beginning again, there was only darkness; darkness behind closed eyes, letting Sango know that she had finally woken up again.

At first, she thought perhaps the entire thing had been a dream; a nightmare. Any minute now, she'd hear Kohaku's voice laughing, and Kirara would bound into the hut to make sure she woke up. Only... Kirara never came, and when she heard voices, they weren't voices she recognized.

"Go in there and check on her, you idiot!" A young, child-like voice said. And, even though this one was telling someone to do something, he kept his voice low.

"Why the hell should I!" This one, sounding older and gruffer, wasn't bothering trying to keep his voice low.

"Kagome and Miroku told you to make sure she was all right while they were gone. That's why!"

"Keh! It's not like she's going to be any different than she was ten minutes ago."

Sango kept her eyes closed, and slowly reached a hand up to rub her forehead slightly. Now she wished she hadn't woken up... their arguing wasn't helping her any.

Then, suddenly, another thought hit her. Just who were these people? And, for that matter, just where was she? With a little effort, she managed to open her eyes, but she discovered that the ones arguing were sitting outside, while she was inside a hut.

She glanced around a bit more, then closed her eyes again. Well, whoever they were, she'd be sure to thank them for helping her later on... when she could actually see them. For now, she just wanted to sleep some more. Her whole body ached, and she knew she'd have to have more rest before attempting to track down Inuyasha again...

"Okay! Just leave me alone already!"

Sango winched as the sudden yell broke through her thoughts, and she found herself wondering just how she managed to stay asleep with him, whoever he was, sitting outside yelling.

"You don't have to yell!" The younger person responded, his voice raising in pitch slightly, "I shouldn't have to keep reminding you in the first place, Inuyasha!"

'Inuyasha!' The taijiya's eyes opened again as she heard that name. No, it couldn't be. She had to be mishearing things. There's was no way Inuyasha would be helping her, not after what he did to her village! She looked across the hut, to where her weapons were. It hurt just trying to turn her body, getting the her weapons before he heard would be next to impossible.

Besides, she didn't have enough time for that anyway, because seconds later the covering to the door was pushed roughly to the side.

"That's just it! You don't need to be reminding me!" Inuyasha replied, looking outside, to whoever it was he was talking to.

Sango chanced a quick glance at him, before closing her eyes again, wanting it to look like she hadn't woken up. It was just like Naraku had said... Silver hair, and red clothing. It was Inuyasha alright.

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean, 'what am I going to do'? I'm just going to make sure she's still breathing!"

Sango resisted the urge to cringe at that comment, 'Make sure I'm breathing, or make sure I stop breathing?'

The taijiya waited until she both heard and felt him kneel down beside her, before curling her fingers into a fist. She waited a few more seconds for good measure, then suddenly opened her eyes, and simultaniously swung her arm up, aiming a punch at him. If she could just knock him off balance... maybe that would be enough time for her to get to her weapons...

Unfortunatly, she wouldn't get that chance. Using the same speed that she had when she threw the punch, Inuyasha reached up and caught her wrist with one of his hands, before she could hit him. He remained looking away from her for a few more seconds, then slowly turned his head to face her, "You know, if you're wanting to get better soon, you shouldn't try starting fights." He paused for a moment, and his amber eyes narrowed as an almost challenging expression came to his face, "And you'd be smart not to go picking fights with me."

Her own eyes narrowed as she heard his last statement, and she tried to pull her wrist free of his grasp, to no avail, "And why do you care what happens to me, hanyou?" She asked, giving him a challenging look of her own, "You're just going to kill me anyway, right!"

He raised an eyebrow, and gave her an odd look, still not releasing his hold on her, "Why the hell would I be helping you now, if I just wanted to kill you?"

"It's probably just part of some plan you have." She replied, never taking her eyes off him, "You probably just want me to trust you, so you can catch me off guard. That's just what you did when you attacked my village, wasn't it? You waited around, watching until the time was right!"

At that, the hanyou blinked once, then shook his head, "What are you talking about?" He asked, giving her a look of total disbelief, "I didn't attack any village!"

"You're a liar." She said lowly, the anger still very apparant in her voice. The taijiya then forced herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the fact that her body protested the movement, "H-how could you slaughter an entire village like that! I thought that a hanyou would have some respect for humans, but I guess I was wrong." She then looked away from him and closed her eyes, clenching her hands into fists and forcibly pulling free from his grasp, "A lot of the people there weren't even trained in the techniques of a demon exterminator! But you killed them anyway! If you wanted the jewel shards so badly, why didn't you just take them and go? Why kill everyone!"

Inuyasha crossed his arms, looking to the side as she continued to go off on him. "I'm trying to tell you that I didn't do it!" He replied finally, continuing to look away from her, "Yeah, I did go to your village. And yeah, it was destroyed. But it was like that when we got there. That bastard Naraku beat us there."

Brown eyes widened slightly, and a short gasp escaped Sango's lips as Naraku's name was brought up, "Naraku, you said?" She asked, looking at him again, "But, he... no. No, you're lying again."

"Hmm?" He glanced at her curiously, raising an eyebrow. Did she know Naraku already? Seeing the confused look on her face, he guessed the answer was yes, but he'd have to remember to ask her later on sometime. "Look, taijiya." He began, turning towards her once more, "I don't know who told you that I was the one that attacked your village, but I didn't. I know you don't believe me, but it's true." He was silent for a few seconds, then added, "And anyway, that fire-cat of yours, Kirara? She seems to trust me."

"Kirara?" She asked hopefully, all traces of anger or confusion leaving her face, "Kirara's alive? Where is she? I... I want to see her."

The hanyou shrugged his shoulders, relaxing a bit since she had appeared to do the same, "She's not here right now. She took Kagome and Miroku back to Kaede's village, so Kagome could get some things."

"Oh..." She looked down, obviously disappointed. She had thought that Kirara had died in the attack on the village, since it had been one of the times she hadn't taken her on an extermination. Seeing the little fire-cat would've made her feel slightly better. And, not to mention, Kirara would be the one to know if it had been Inuyasha who attacked the village. He could be lying about Kirara, she knew... it could've been a lucky guess... a really lucky guess. Then again, just how likely was it that he would've been able to correctly guess Kirara's name and that she was a fire-cat demon?

"Do you believe me now, taijiya?"

Inuyasha's voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to blink a few times in surprise, before shaking her head slightly and replying with, "I... don't know." She glanced at him momentarily, then looked past him, to her weapons. Surely he knew that her weapons were out of reach. If his true intention was to kill her, he could've easily done it by now. But, why would Naraku lie to her and say that Inuyasha was the one who attacked her village, if he didn't? She wasn't sure... but she wasn't sure if she could trust Inuyasha, either. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't trust you, hanyou?"

He snorted, and sat back slightly, "Keh. I already told you what happened. As soon as that cat of yours gets back, you'll see."

"What were you doing going to a demon exterminators village in the first place?" She asked, turning her attention to him once more, "It isn't everyday that anything with demon blood willingly visits one."

Again, the hanyou snorted, "If you think I'm afraid of a bunch of demon exterminators, you're wrong. But, anyway, someone told us that the Shikon no Tama originated in your village. I wanted to find out more about it, so that's why we went there."

"I see..." She stated quietly, looking down slightly, as though thinking over his answer. Finally, after a few seconds, though she continued to look down, she asked, "And why do you want to know about it?"

"I have my reasons." He replied simply. Sure, maybe the sacred jewel had originated in her village, but did that really mean he had to explain why he wanted it? He was going to say something more, but before he could, Shippou suddenly spoke up.

"U-um... Are you two... done?"

Sango blinked, and looked up in surprise, as the same person that had been arguing with Inuyasha came inside the hut. Just as she had assumed, he was a child; a little fox-demon child, by the looks of it.

Shippou padded over to Inuyasha and looked up at Sango, "You're Sango, right? Why were you and Inuyasha fighting?"

The taijiya glanced to Inuyasha, who was looking at her, waiting for her repsonse, then turned her attention back to Shippou, "It's nothing to worry about. But... how do you know my name?"

The kit blinked a couple times, as though confused by her question. Then, suddenly, as realization dawned on him, he smiled brightly up at her, "Oh, right! Myouga said that was what your name was. Is it okay if I call you that?"

At his smile, she couldn't help but smile a little herself, "Of course it's okay, um..."

"Shippou!" He said cheerfully, plopping down so he was sitting beside Inuyasha, "I'm Shippou. And he's Inuyasha. There's usually two more of us, but like he said, Kirara took them to get some more stuff."

Inuyasha 'keh-ed', and pushed himself up, "Since you already know I said it, why are you telling her again?" He glanced down to Shippou, then shrugged and turned his back to them, "Well, since she's awake now, you can stay in here with her. I'm going back outside." With that, he walked briskly to the doorway and moved the coverings aside. Glancing towards Sango once more, he then went outside and sat down beside the door, leaning against the wall of the hut.

He wanted to know just how she knew Naraku. Had Naraku been the one who convinced her that he was the one guilty of slaying her village? Then again, that place had reeked of Naraku, so it was possible that he had been around the village before... The hanyou growled in irritation, folding his arms across his chest. There were many different ways she could know Naraku. The only way to know for sure, was to ask her, but he didn't want to do that when Shippou was right there. Maybe he'd get a chance to talk to her again before the others returned. It was a slim chance, since they had already been gone for a while, but it was possible. For now, though, he'd just wait. With that thought in mind, he settled back and closed his eyes.

-

AN: There you go, chapter two is complete! Again, I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope to update my other stories soon! Until then, ja!