Trouble: hello again! this chapter well contain a little bit of it all... thank you for all the wonderful reveiws! you guys are such great people!

anyway this chapter may have a few semi fluffy moments between ryku and kayori, but oddly enough there well be a few semi fluffy moments between korou and kayori in the chapters ahead. in facti'm not quite sure which guys is gonna win kayori over. so ineed some help. tell me which guy either ryku or korou or maybe even shippo should be with kayori, and tell me why!i'll take them into consideration but i can't make any promises that that's the way it's gonna end up!

Heritage

Chapter 19: The Slayer's Village

Kayori quietly followed Ryku who apparently didn't notice that he was being followed. Kayori in fact was only a few feet behind him but after thinking it over a bit she didn't want to get too close or he might accidentally take her for a threat.

'Man is Ryku always this clueless!' Kayori thought doubling back until they were several yards apart, but then again why was she so nervous about revealing herself… maybe it was because she had developed feelings for him and he was flirting with her cousin Somaru! Just thinking about it made her cringe.

'Why are you so worked up about the Kayori?!' she thought accusingly, 'It's not like he didn't see you with Korou! How could he have feelings for you in return anyway? Why are following him in the first place?' she looked back at her feet feeling hot tears sting her cheeks. Then she remembered what Shippo said back at camp last night… 'Honestly! Did you know Miroku did the same thing to every woman he came across! But after they supposedly destroyed Naraku he only asked Sango and that was the only time he meant it. He had never asked Sango before that though.'

Kayori pondered it for a minute. Apparently Miroku had made the right choice with Sango, they had still been so much in love then. She had even asked her mother why they hadn't had more children. Kagome's reply had been a sad one, Sango had had a hard time after she'd had Ryku. There had been three little girls but one by one they had died of some kind of contagious illness. Luckily it hadn't taken Ryku, but he had become very sick around that time. Kagome said that she and Keade had gone to help them but Kayori had been too little to remember.

Kayori shook her head trying to lose the memory. She heard a twig crack and she looked up to see the path ahead unoccupied.

"Shit!" she hissed angrily and ran ahead, but Ryku was nowhere to be seen. "Great Kayori! You don't know the way to the demon Slayer's Village! You're gonna get lost!" she said jogging up the path.

"Kayori-sama! It's been so many years!"

Kayori stopped and her eyes crossed slightly at the brownish lump on her nose. A flea slowly came into focus, Kayori screamed and swatted it away. The flea moaned and fell to the ground.

"That's disgusting! I have fleas! Oh my god what am I gonna do! I took a bath just last night! I shouldn't have fleas!" Kayori yelled.

"Kayori-sama, I'm not your average garden flea! I'm a servant of your father, Inuyasha! I am Myouga the demon flea!" it said disperately trying not to get squished by Kayori who was hopping around. She stopped suddenly and looked down at the flat flea in front of her.

"Myouga?" she repeated.

"Yes Kayori-sama, Myouga's my name. I have traveled many miles to find you, but I didn't expect you to be alone. I had heard you were traveling with others, what happened?" he said leaping up onto her shoulder.

"I went with Ryku to the Slayer's Village, but I got separated."

"Hmm, I know the way to the Slayer's Village, I can show you but what would your friend want with it?"

"His mother—" she didn't even need to finish.

"Sango!" he yelled happily, "Well let's go! Get the lead out, well you!" he said tugging on a piece of her silver hair.

Within an hour they had made it to the walls of the village, but it seemed to be abandoned.

"I wonder if we passed him on the trail?" Kayori said quietly.

"No, he's here!" Myouga said and Kayori slid through a crack in the wall. She looked around to get a better view only to see that the village had been massacured years ago. She hurried up to the first hut that was still standing. She could hear someone moving in side. Pulling aside the door flap, she peered in to see Ryku in clothes very different from the ones she had last seen him in.

He turned around and Kayori quickly hid herself. He stepped out of the hut not noticing that Kayori was hiding a few feet away.

Kayori peered around the corner and Ryku came into view again. Her eyes widened at the weapon on his back.

"What is that thing?" she asked quietly to the flea on her shoulder.

"That is the Hirokotsu, (a/n: is that spelt right? please tell me!) The weapon that Sango wielded such grace and skill," Myouga said proudly.

"It looks so heavy! I have a hard time with the Tetsuaiga, I'd have a really hard time with that!" Kayori said quickly and quietly.

"Where is the Tetsuiaga?" Myouga asked.

"Koji has it! He's the only one who can use it as well as my father did! Besides I'm not much of a swords person anyway! I haven't had much training, and the Tetsuiaga weighs like fifty pounds when I use it but Koji says it's as light as a feather, but I think he's just acting macho!" she said, "Hey why are you shaking like that?"

"And just what do you use to defend yourself?!" he said panicking.

Kayori considered it for a bit, it hadn't occurred to her that she been left pretty close to defenseless. "I really don't know, I'm pretty good at archery but I don't have a bow or arrows with me," she said quietly.

"What!"

"What do you mean 'What!'?"

"I mean if you can defend yourself than I'm outta here!" Myouga said leaping from her shoulder.

"Fine! Be that way! It's a pity that my brother is probably miles away and me and Ryku are the only ones here…" she said and Ryku stopped in his tracks.

"What do you mean?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, well, seeing as how I can't protect you, the only ones who can are either miles away or one of them is right here," she said slyly pointing at Ryku who was still unaware of their presence.

"Oh fine! I'll stay here with you for awhile at least," he said crossing all four of his arms.

Kayori simply smiled and went back to watching Ryku.

He stood there very quiet, leaving an eerie silence over the abandoned village. With one sudden movement the Hirokotsu flew into the air and shredded the target to pieces then caught it smoothly. Kayori watched enchanted by his almost fluid movements.

"Sango must have trained him very well, he wields it just as well as he does!" Myouga said quietly, once again taking his place on her shoulder.

"It's amazing! I could never imagin…" Kayori was cut off by a small purring. 'Do fleas purr?' she thought.

Suddenly something was rubbing against her leg, a shiver ran down her spine as turned around not knowing what to expect. The cutest demon cat sat there innocently, staring at her with big red eyes. She gently stroked it's back and it purred some more.

"Kilala!" Myouga yelled happily and leapt onto her back. Kilala mewed softly and leapt into her arms curled up close to her.

"She's so cute!" Kayori cried softly scratching behind her ears. Then she turned back to Ryku who was tear targets apart at amazing speeds.

"You better watch out Naraku!" Kayori heard him say with her sensitive ears.

She decided that it was best to show her self now, she stepped out from her hiding place directly behind him. "I'll say!" she said cheerfully.

Ryku leapt nearly a foot in the air at the sound of her voice. "Kayori! You startled me!" he said turning around. "Did you follow me here?"

Kayori nodded and let Kilala down from her arms. "You look like quite the Taijiya! (a/n: tell me if it's spelt wrong) I think your mother would be really proud of you!" she said smiling.

"Thanks!" he said blushing as he scratched the back of his head. "Why did you follow me?"

Kayori shrugged, "I'm not sure, I just got this feeling that I should follow you." Kayori's stare suddenly became very serious, "But if you don't want me here, then I won't stay and bother you!" she said crossing her arms and turned to leave.

"No! Wait!" Ryku yelled back and grabbed her hand to stop her. She looked at him wide-eyed, she was a little shocked that he'd done that. He looked back down at his hand, which held her hand, a blush slowly crept over his features. Their fingers were slightly intertwined, such a gesture was considered intimate. Kayori blushed as well and gently pulled her hand back. "You don't have to leave! I wouldn't mind if you stayed," he said quickly at his defense.

Kayori blushed even harder, "Okay, I'll stay!" she said quickly, and 'Did Ryku sigh? With relief or is he sighing because he's disappointed?' Kayori thought.

Meanwhile Koji found himself in a very intense argument with Korou, whom he'd decided was his new rival.

"Did you eat that?!"

"So what if I did?!"

"You idiot! That was for everyone!"

"So?!"

"What do you expect us to eat?!"

"That!"

"Than you get to prepare it!"

"Fine I well! And it'll be ten times as good as yours, dog breath!"

"Don't wolves eat their meat raw!"

"So do dogs and foxes! So what does it matter! The sensitive one and the human are gone!"

"So I prefer to cook my meat instead of eating like a barbarian!"

"I other words your little stomach can't take it!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Somaru yelled out loud. Everyone became very quiet and still. "You both have succeded in giving me a head ache! Just eat the damn meat!"

Everyone was very quiet, Korou slowly cut up the uncooked rabbit that Taimiko had caught and handed everyone an equal piece. Everyone ate without complaint. Shippo swallowed hard with each stringy, bloody, chewy bite, Koji ate with a look of disgust on his face, Korou ate very quietly with his head hanging, Taimiko ate everything quickly and even asked if they had seconds, while Somaru looked as if she'd dug her own grave.

After dinner everyone was very quiet again. Koji had begun to feel the effects of the raw meat making his stomach cramp. 'Damn it all! I shouldn't have eaten that, I have human stomach and humans aren't supposed to eat raw meat!' he thought the color flushing from his cheeks. He rolled over and crawled hands and knees over to the nearest shrub. He waited a minute and then his body began to shake.

"Koji are you okay?" he heard Shippo say, he tried to reply but instead of words coming from his mouth it was the contents of his stomach.

Trouble: well that's the end of that! everyone should start feeling sorry for koji! Poor koji we all know what its like to vomit in public, hehehe (nervously) I only did it once!

Hero: which time was that?

Trouble: (growls and starts to beat hero to a plup) anyway (sweetly) until the next chapter!