DISCLAIMER
Um… what's the point? You people know we don't own InuYasha…

AUTHOR'S NOTES
Okay, I thought this update sucked but Ravyn says it's really good (I wrote the whole thing since she was gone). So whatever. Just enjoy reading the damn thing!
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Chapter Nine: An Old Friend

Three weeks passed, though the gang never exactly got a break on any of those twenty-one days. Demons kept coming and coming, attacking the group for one reason and one reason only: they wanted Sueko. Except for the ogre on the new moon, every single demon apparently wanted the Last One's power. When the half moon occurred again they weren't even after Yoshiko. No one could drop their guard down for one second because a demon could pop out of the bushes any second and attempt to kidnap Sueko.

She found this so very tiring, but Sueko figured this is what she got for being the protector of the Spirit Shrine. Though why was everyone after her? Why would they want the protector of the Spirit Shrine—maybe for power, but what sort of power? Sueko wished Myoga knew everything about it when he explained it to her when she first showed up. It was so annoying not knowing. But at least the demons that were attacking were all lesser demons, which could be defeated pretty easily. Sueko managed to tackle a few of them by herself. Yoshiko said she was really progressing with her sword skills, but Sueko wanted to do cool things with her sword like she did on the new moon. Not that she remembered what had happened that well. What she did remember was pretty cool though.

In three weeks Sueko was completely recovered from Sesshomaru stabbing her, but that didn't mean in three weeks she had calmed down about him. She still couldn't believe Yoshiko was in love with him. How could she possibly fall in love with the enemy?! And Sueko could not easily forgive Sesshomaru for stabbing her.

She also couldn't forget InuYasha. The way he had reacted…it was so peculiar. He had cared about her so much it was as though…

'No. That's impossible! There was no way in hell InuYasha…Ha! What a ridiculous thought!' Sueko shook her head and tried not to laugh out loud. She was just thinking it over too much. It was nothing. InuYasha cared about her because he liked her…as a friend.

She couldn't help smile at the memory of how nice he had been to her that night she had gotten injured by Sesshomaru, and she was thankful she was alone. Sueko had decided to go for a walk—not very far, just to be alone. Of course, the group wasn't happy with Sueko going out on her own, but Sueko could actually use a sword now so they let her go, none-of-the-less.

Though now she was wishing for some company. She did want to be alone for a while to think, since she hadn't really been by herself for a while, but now Sueko wasn't really quite sure where she was.

There's one problem about the forest. The trees are pretty and all; the air is fresh, its peaceful and quiet and no one around for miles. But everything looked exactly the same. At least in a city the buildings were different and there were signs and people to help you go to the right direction.

Sueko sighed and looked around. It was almost dark out; the sun was starting to set, making the sky become sprayed with pinks and oranges. The clouds took weird forms and Sueko paused for a moment trying to decipher their shapes. It sort of looked like a dragon, but if you tilted your head to the side, one of the clouds also looked like a dog. A dog with very large fangs…no, maybe it was a wolf…yeah, a wolf made more sense…

A loud noise stopped Sueko's thoughts and made her senses suddenly alert. It sounded like thunder at first, but listening closely it sounded more like a very strong wind—but it wasn't windy! Sueko pulled out her sword, waiting for whatever was making that noise to show up.

It finally showed itself. It wasn't a monstrous fire-breathing dragon as Sueko imagined it would be. Instead it was…a dust devil? A miniature tornado was spinning around, in a forest…Sueko blinked a few times, wondering if she was seeing things correctly. But no she was…It was darting towards her rapidly, dodging the trees quickly and swiftly. Sueko just stood there, sword out, completely still, not sure of what she should do.

Fortunately, the little funnel of wind suddenly stopped right in front of her, and when it did the wind-thing disappeared and turned into a boy. He looked about Sueko's age, with slick, long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wasn't wearing much in Sueko's opinion…it was mostly brown fur: a grayish shirt that sort of looked a bit like armor, though she wasn't sure, and what looked like shorts made of that brown fur. He had fur wristbands (one longer then the other for some reason), a fur headband, and two to cover his legs from his knee to his ankle. With bright blue eyes and tan skin he was very attractive. The boy looked almost human, though Sueko knew he wasn't because of the whole wind-thing and the fact that he had a furry tail the same color brown as his outfit.

"What's a lovely lady such as yourself doing out here all by her lonesome?" the boy asked with a grin that made Sueko's cheeks turn pink. His voice sounded so handsome that it made Sueko's spin tingle…in the good way.

"Well," said Sueko, trying to find her voice. But now she was talking rather high-pitched. "Erm…I'm…uh…lost…"

"You certainly look lost," the boy said, raising an eyebrow.

Sueko looked down at her sword. She still had it drawn out. With a sort of girlish giggle that made Sueko's cheeks turn redder with embarrassment, she clumsily put her sword away. Then, watching the boy's tail flick around like a dogs' tail typically does, she had to ask, "So, what are you? A dog demon?"

The boy laughed. "Me, a ruddy mutt? Nah, I'm wolf."

So he's not some long-lost relative of InuYasha. Not that he would be. Wouldn't he have to be white instead of brown, anyways?

"Oh," said Sueko. Why was she thinking that the fact that he was wolf instead of dog was better? Why was it better? And would she stop blushing?!

"Um…" Sueko tried to find something to say. All she could think of was a, "So, why are you here?" so she said that.

The boy smiled slyly, making Sueko feel slightly light-headed. "I'm just looking for a certain lady to check up on her and see if that mutt-faced boyfriend of hers is treating her alright." A sudden image of InuYasha popped into Sueko's head but she doubt this boy knew him.

"You don't like dogs, do you?" asked Sueko in a depressed way. 'Great. He's taken. Wait, why do I care?!'

"Not that flea bag," said the boy dryly, crossing his arms. "But enough about me. What's a beautiful maiden such as you doing around here all alone? It's dangerous around here."

Sueko turned brick red, but tried to act casual like really hot guys talked to her in the middle of no where all the time. "W—what about you? Y—you—you're alone."

"No I'm not," said the boy coolly. "I'm just so fast my friends can't keep up with me."

Judging by how fast that little wind tunnel he was earlier was traveling, Sueko didn't doubt that.

"Well," said Sueko, trying to answer the boy's question (if she could only just talk normally again!), "I was just taking a walk, so I could just be alone for a little while to think, you know? But…well…my direction sense really stinks so then I got lost, and I really can't find my way, but I think maybe everyone else is over there so maybe I'll just—"

Sueko really wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole—or maybe just a giant demon come out of the ground and swallow her—because she really didn't want to be here. If it were possible to die from embarrassment, Sueko would be long gone.

However, her babbling session was interrupted by the sounds of a group of people panting for breath. Sueko stopped talking and turned around—so did the boy with all the fur—and saw two guys who looked like they had been running for so long that they were exhausted since they were barely walking. They looked like they would be wolf demons too (it helped that a pack of actual wolves surrounded them) but were not attractive whatsoever. Sueko nearly laughed at the sight of their hairstyles—one had a Mohawk!

"Koga!" the one with the Mohawk cried between gasps for breath. "Could you slow down just a bit?"

"I've been looking for nearly a month and I can't find her!" growled the boy who Sueko guessed was named Koga.

"Hey, we care about her well-being too," said the one without a Mohawk, "but we can't go as fast as you."

"Hmm," said Koga, looking tired.

The Mohawk-dude suddenly noticed Sueko. "Who do you have here, Koga!"

The Mohawk-less-dude looked too and, when seeing Sueko, made a long, low whistle. Sueko turned crimson.

"I never did get your name," said Koga. "But I never gave you mine either. Koga's the name, and this is Ginta—" the Mohawk-less one nodded a head—"and that's Hakkaku—" he waved a hand at Mr. Mohawk, who gave a little wave.

"Um…I'm Sueko," said Sueko, smiling shyly.

"Sueko…" said Koga, pausing to think. "Have we met?"

"No." 'I think I would remember meeting you,' Sueko couldn't help thinking.

"Maybe I've just heard the name before."

'Maybe because I'm the Last One, the protector of the Spirit Shrine, the girl that everyone's after!?!' thought Sueko. "Yeah. Maybe…" was all she said, though.

"Alright…well, didn't you say you were lost?" asked Koga.

"Erm…yeah…"

"Okay, then let's find your home!" said Koga.

"So she isn't yours?" Ginta asked suddenly.

Sueko raised her eyebrows. 'What on earth is he talking about?'

"Of course not!" cried Koga. "Don't tell me you've been traveling with me all this time and you don't know—"

"Oh, right, sorry," said Ginta sheepishly.

Sueko shook her head in confusion. "Well, um…I did come from over there," she said in a helpful sort of way, pointing towards the left.

So that's where they went. Sueko felt as though she was dreaming: she was walking in the woods with a pack of wolves and a really hot guy that she thought she was slowly but surely falling in love with. There was just something about him…Sueko couldn't help it. She was madly in love with Koga. It was so obvious even she could tell. He made her heart race, her mind empty of all rational thought, made the palms of her hands go sweaty, made her giggle in a foolish way over the silliest of things, made her stomach do a weird sort of flop whenever he said her name…Sueko was making such a fool out of herself she wondered why Koga was even bothering helping her find her way back to InuYasha and the others, but maybe he was just being polite. And as soon as she found her way he'd drop her like a rock and leave her, never to see her ever again.

The thought depressed Sueko, so she tried not to think about it.

But what about this girl he kept mentioning? Apparently she was with some dog demon by the sounds of it. The only dog demons she knew or heard of was InuYasha and Sesshomaru. Sueko was pretty sure Koga wasn't talking about Rin (she was a little young for him) and InuYasha wasn't hanging around any girls except for her and Sango. Sango really didn't seem like Koga's type, so it wasn't her…but whoever this girl was Sueko was mad with envy for her. She must be lucky to be with a guy like Koga…

Actually, by the sounds of it she wasn't with him. Whatever. This was all really confusing…

And Sueko was pretty sure she wasn't dreaming. She had already pinched herself—hard—and judging by the pain it caused it had to be reality.

Sueko didn't want her walk with Koga and his wolf demon friends to end, but it did. They walked out of the woods and right into the camp that Sueko's friends were at. As soon as Sueko spotted the camp she could hear Koga growl in what seemed like annoyance.

"Where's Kagome?" Koga hollered, walking straight over to InuYasha, who was leaning against a tree and watching Shippo play with Sueko's Gameboy.

InuYasha looked up and leaped to his feet when he noticed Koga standing there. He didn't say anything, just crossed his arms and glared.

"What are you talking about?" cried Sueko, rushing over to Koga.

InuYasha looked over at Sueko, who was now standing in between him and Koga. "What are you doing with him?!" he shouted at her.

"I got lost and ran into him, if you must know," said Sueko, crossing her arms.

Koga ignored Sueko—much to her disappointment—and continued as if she had not interrupted. "I don't see her! Where's Kagome?!" Koga roared.

InuYasha clenched his teeth. Sueko noticed that his hand was just twitching to grab the Tetsusaiga and slice Koga to bits, but he hadn't attacked yet.

"Kagome?" said Sueko. "You knew Kagome too?"

"She was my woman!" cried Koga.

"She was not!" yelled InuYasha.

"What would you know, mutt face?"

"Oh, shut up! Kagome's not here, so go take your stupid wolf-friends and leave!" roared InuYasha.

"Not without seeing Kagome!" cried Koga.

"She's not here!"

"Then tell me where she is, you flea-bag!"

InuYasha closed his eyes. Sueko couldn't tell if it was with frustration or grief. After all, Kagome wasn't here—she was dead. Sueko wasn't sure if she should just say it for InuYasha or let him say it, but the silence afterwards was deafening.

But then he spoke. Keeping his eyes clenched together, InuYasha said in barely a whisper, "She's dead."

Koga blinked. "What?"

"Can't you hear?" cried InuYasha. "Have you suddenly gone death? She's gone! She's never coming back! Kagome's DEAD!"

"What?" cried Koga—though this time with rage. "How could you let her get killed?!"

"I didn't let her get killed!" screamed InuYasha.

"Well, what else are you supposed to call it? She's not exactly here anymore, now is she?"

Sueko did the only thing she could think of to make the two shut up. She hit them aside the head.

"WHAT?" bellowed InuYasha, glaring at Sueko.

"Grow up, you two!" said Sueko. "Kagome got killed by Naraku. It's nobody's fault. So get a life and stop yelling at each other!"

"They won't stop yelling at each other," said Shippo (he was suddenly standing at Sueko's feet). "They do that every time they see each other."

"Stay out of this!" InuYasha said to Shippo. Then he got hit aside the head again, though not by Sueko. Yoshiko was standing behind InuYasha, her hand in a fist.

Koga, noticing Yoshiko, raised his eyebrows at her, but before he could actually say something Yoshiko hit him on the head too.

"Don't even think about it!" Yoshiko said, pointing a clawed finger at Koga in a threatening way. Though Sueko got the impression that Koga didn't find it threatening. Not threatening at all, by the expression he was wearing.

Sueko's chances of ever calling Koga her boyfriend were becoming lower and lower by the second. But now she really didn't care…

"How do you two know each other, anyways?" asked Yoshiko, giving Koga and InuYasha both a suspicious look as though she was looking for the guilty party for a certain crime.

Shippo was the one to answer the question in cheerful tones at Sueko's feet. "Koga kidnapped Kagome and then fell in love with her, and InuYasha and Koga have been running into each other and arguing ever since."

Yoshiko smiled ever so slightly, and then the next second she was hitting both Koga and InuYasha aside the head again.

"What was THAT for?!" growled InuYasha, spinning around to face Yoshiko.

"The two of you are pathetic!" spat Yoshiko. "Fighting over some girl…you two sicken me!"

There was a pause. Koga looked as though he was doing some deep thinking, and as for InuYasha, he had that far away look on his face. He also looked gloomy, as if he was thinking of Kagome, which just made Sueko's heart sink, seeing him so sad.

"Well," said Koga suddenly. "There's no use on mourning over some dead girl. Especially when there's so many other fishes in the sea," he added, glancing over at Yoshiko.

Yoshiko might have hit him aside the head again—she didn't seem like the type to give into such flirting—if it wasn't for InuYasha who roared at Koga, "What do you mean, some dead girl? Kagome died and you don't even care?"

"I'm not about to mope around about it," said Koga, "but I suppose you've been doing just that for—how long has she been dead for?"

"Two and a half months," said Sueko tonelessly.

Koga raised one eyebrow and gave a satisfied sort of look at InuYasha, who was looking indifferent again.

"What you want isn't here," InuYasha said suddenly, his voice indistinct. "So how about you leave."

"How about not," said Koga with a smirk.

Unexpectedly, Sueko unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Koga. Startled, he took a step or two back, raising an eyebrow at the blade. He wasn't nervous, just surprised.

"Sueko…?" one of them said, though Sueko didn't figure out who it was. She was staring at Koga with her eyes narrowed.

"You heard him!" she cried out, shoving the sword closer to Koga's neck (making him step a little to the left, almost bumping into Yoshiko, who gave him such a fierce glare that he just stepped back to where he had been). "Leave!"

Koga grinned, and then held his arms up in a surrendering way. "I know when I'm not wanted. But I will return—someday," he added, glancing over at Yoshiko.

She pulled out her dagger and pointed it at Koga. "Not if I can help it!" she hissed.

It was when Koga and his wolf demon friends finally departed that InuYasha said, "Sueko, you still have your sword out."

And so she did. Sueko shoved the thing back into its sheath and looked back up at InuYasha to see that he wasn't there. Looking around, she saw him walking away, towards the forest.

"InuYasha!" cried Sueko, walking over towards him. But he ignored her and continued walking.

"InuYasha!" she tired again, but no matter how many times she called his name he still pretended that she wasn't there.

They were far into the forest by the time Sueko had just about given up. Sueko couldn't think of anything to make InuYasha stop walking away from her. Well, there was one thing she could do…

"I hate to do this, InuYasha, but you've left me no choice!" Sueko called out.

She stopped walking and crossed her arms. In the distance she could hear InuYasha mutter, "Feh!"

With a mischievous grin on her face, she cried out, "SIT, BOY!"

"YOU LITTLE WENCH!" InuYasha bellowed as he crashed to the forest floor.

Sueko ran over to him and sat down near his head so she could see his face. "Like there was anything else I could do to make you stop!"

"Are you blind? Can't you tell when someone wants to be alone?" snapped InuYasha.

"Maybe being alone isn't the best thing for you right now," said Sueko simply.

The spell wore off but InuYasha didn't get up; he just crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. "What would you know?" he muttered glumly.

"Not much," Sueko admitted, "but you have been alone for quite a long time. Maybe you just need some company."

"Hmm…" was all InuYasha said. The expression on his face was the one he wore when you could tell something was eating him up inside but he tried to look as though it was nothing. Though Sueko knew it wasn't just nothing…it was something…

It was funny…thirty minutes ago Sueko was all-giggles in front of Koga, but as quickly as her "crush" had gone on for it had ended, once Sueko had realized how much of a jerk he was. But now, with InuYasha looking as hurt as he did right now, Sueko just wanted to hug him in a tight embrace and hope to God he would never leave her. She knew exactly what she felt about Koga, but was totally clueless as to what she felt about InuYasha. It was a feeling she couldn't put her finger on…

"Well," said Sueko quietly after a while of silence, "I can't make you get over Kagome. I can only help."

"Who says I'm not over Kagome?" InuYasha growled.

"Well—I—" stammered Sueko.

"Wait," said InuYasha, quieting Sueko. "I—I didn't mean it that way…It's just…" InuYasha got off his stomach and sat up, leaning with his hands out behind him and looking at the ground. "It's just…She just won't get out of my head! She's all I ever think about…all I ever see in my sleep…"

Sueko was quiet. InuYasha must have cared a lot about Kagome to feel so hurt about her death. Sueko had a very strange thought that if she ever died he wouldn't care about her as much as he did about Kagome, and that thought hurt, hurt a lot, like someone had stabbed Sueko in the heart. Though no ghostly knife was in sight.

"Let's go back to the others," said Sueko suddenly, standing up.

"Huh?"

"They're probably worried about where we've run off to," said Sueko, putting on a fake smile.

"Uh…yeah…you're probably right," said InuYasha distractedly, standing up.

So the two went back to camp, walking side-by-side.