Oh… my… God… I updated! Aren't you so proud of me? Yeah, thought you'd be… :) Sorry about the "taking forever" update thing… Blame Ravyn! She wrote most of the crap and took forever doing it…Which is partly school's fault and partly mine… Because I randomly decided to watch Digimon one day and now I'm, like, totally obsessed… like, as bad as Toboe… bows head in shame Oh well. I'm sorry! At least you got an update!
But now Ravyn is making me write this Digimon fan fic with her… So that's really helping with this fan fic. And again I'm sorry…but you can read the Digimon fan fic while you wait for this one! Anyways, it's like this season two fan fic with season one people in it a bunch because they rock. (In other words, the Davis-Ken group with the Tai-Matt group too). It—the fan fic—is called Believing in the Crests and it's under Ravyn's name (her full username is Ravyn89) with Matt/OC and Ken/OC. Yeah, not trying to totally Spam or whatever but just incase you wanted to know! I would…because I'm the curious type. Like, more curious than a cat… how sad… Go read fan fic! (both would be good ;) ).
DISCLAIMERSueko: Hey, everyone! You know the drill…
Miroku: Neither Ravyn or Kayhera own the popular anime show, "InuYasha." Though why it can't be called "Miroku" beats me…
Sango: hits Miroku on head Rumiko Takahashi owns InuYasha. And everything that comes with. Including perverted monks…
Miroku: He-he…
Shippo: Not to mention Sunrise, Viz, and all those people who made the anime and stuff.
Yoshiko: However, anything you wouldn't recognize from the TV show or manga belongs to… pauses dramatically Ravyn! And Kayhera… Yay, that includes me!
InuYasha: You sound way too happy about that to be normal…
Yoshiko: glares
Sueko: So… um… yeah!
Toboe: Yeah, no stealing the OC's, sorry.
Sueko: What are OC's?
Toboe: "Original Characters."
Sueko: Oh… Hey, how come I don't get to know all this cool author stuff?
Yoshiko: Because you're unworthy?
Sueko: But I'm the main character! I'm the one with special powers, and I even have a cool sword to go with!
InuYasha: Mines better!
Sueko: So you've been lead to believe.
InuYasha: Um… wait, what!
(I have too much fun with this sort of thing… too bad I can't think of anything for InuYasha to say besides cranky stuff… sigh)
And Ravyn named the chapter, that's why it sucks.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Demon Birdy
Sueko sighed, sitting down next to InuYasha at the campfire tiredly. "Today's been a very long day…"
"If you say so…" muttered InuYasha, preoccupied with some ramón. Sueko just sighed, hugging her knees together to keep warm.
"So, do you think some random demon is going to show up and try to kill you?" asked Sueko casually. "They seem to do that a lot on the new moon…"
"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, narrowing his grey eyes.
"Oh, don't worry," said Sueko sweetly. "The night will be over before you know it!"
"Damn… No more…" muttered InuYasha, tossing the ramón cup sadly and completely ignoring Sueko.
"Litter bug…" muttered Sueko, rolling her eyes. Then she leaned back a bit, sighing again.
Noticing this, InuYasha said, "That's almost like the outfit Kagome used to wear, only…"
"Skimpier?" said Shippo, butting in.
"Sure…" said InuYasha.
"Huh?" said Sueko, not quite getting it. When she looked down at what she was wearing she finally noticed that she was still in her Sailor Moon costume.
"Crap!" she cried, jumping up and startling InuYasha. She turned slightly pink. "I'll just… go and… like, change…"
"But…" started InuYasha, but Sueko had already grabbed her bag and left to go change in the bushes or something. "You don't have to…" he mumbled, slumping back down in defeat.
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" asked Shippo, walking over to where he was right in front of InuYasha.
"What?" said InuYasha distractedly, too busy glaring at the ground threateningly.
"You want Sueko to stay in that outfit, don't you?" said Shippo excitedly.
"What!" cried InuYasha, jumping to his feet as his face turned bright red. Then he crossed his arms and mumbled something that Shippo couldn't quite hear.
"Well, her skirt is pretty short…" said Toboe. That startled InuYasha as well, since the kid hadn't said much since he had been pretty preoccupied drawing with some odd coloring tools from Sueko's time. InuYasha didn't know what to call them since they weren't the normal crayons Shippo used to use. They were like wooden sticks with color coming out of the tips… "I though her school uniform thing was pretty short, but that Sailor thing is way shorter than that…"
"And just what exactly are you implying by that?" snapped InuYasha, glaring at Toboe. But the little twerp didn't reply, just continued drawing some really weird picture.
"What are you doing up on your feet?" asked Sueko innocently, who was walking back to the campfire. She was wearing a blue sweatshirt that was made out of some sort of fuzzy material and a light purple colored skirt that wasn't as short as the other outfit but still pretty… "skimpy"…
Oh well… thought InuYasha wearily in his head as he sat back down. Now he had yet another reason to loath the new moon: it was making him have all these perverted thoughts. Though perhaps obsessing about a skirt length wasn't as bad as what Miroku could have come up with…
"What is taking Miroku and Sango so long, anyways?" InuYasha thought out loud.
"Maybe Miroku got himself into some trouble," said Sueko. "Ahh, it's probably just taking them longer than usual to get supplies. Or they've deserted us and are staying in some cozy inn somewhere. Though that doesn't seem like a Sango thing to do. Then again, Yoshiko went with them earlier and maybe she's taking them up. Or maybe some random demon attacked the village and they're having a jolly good time defeating it without us!"
"I think I would have smelled the demon coming," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes amusingly.
"No you wouldn't. You're human now!" said Sueko brightly.
"Right…"
"You have a terrible time remembering these sorts of things. Remember that one time that giant ogre attacked? You were quite the idiot then!"
"Feh…" muttered InuYasha.
"Oh, is that all you've got to say now?" said Sueko. "Sheesh, Yoshiko isn't this lame on the half moon… Hey, Toboe, are you this lame on… whatever time you turn human?"
Toboe just shrugged.
"Huh…" said Sueko, rather annoyed with the response. "So when do you do it? The quarter moon?"
"Ha-ha," muttered Toboe. "If you must know, on the full moon."
"Wow, let's just be completely opposite of InuYasha!" said Sueko, giggling a bit. But she stopped when no one joined in. "Am I the only one all hyperish?"
"InuYasha's just grouchy," said Shippo.
"Feh."
"You know what? You eating ramón made me kinda hungry…" said Sueko suddenly. "Hey, Toboe, don't mind me as I pilfer through your bag for food!"
"Sure…" said Toboe distractedly.
"Ramón… ramón… All you have is ramón…" muttered Sueko. "I'm surrounded by ramón freaks! Hmm… Wow, potato chips, something new… Ah ha!" she cried suddenly. "Pocky!"
"Wait a second…" said InuYasha, taking the bag from Sueko and trying to smell it. Of course, it was rather difficult seeing how his nose wasn't as strong. Then he snapped, "Hey, this has Kagome's scent on it! Why would you have something with Kagome's scent on it!"
"Hmm…" said Sueko, annoyed by the attitude. Plus she was busy trying to open the box of Pocky. "They never got rid of Kagome's stuff and I found it would be rather rude to throw some dead girls stuff away… So I kept it. Hey…" she added suddenly, turning a bit pink. "Do I have a particular scent?"
"Uh…" said InuYasha, his eyes widening suddenly.
"Of course you do!" said… of all people… Yoshiko, who suddenly appeared from a clump of trees.
InuYasha, Sueko, and Shippo all simultaneously jumped up three feet and screamed out. Shippo almost jumped into the fire and was only saved by being grabbed by Toboe. Actually, Toboe's only reaction was to sit up and grab Shippo before he caught on fire.
"What… is… wrong with you?" panted Sueko, clenching her heart. Actually, she wasn't sure if she was yelling at Yoshiko, Toboe, or both.
"Oh… just in the area…" said Yoshiko. "Oh, and nice catch," she added to Toboe.
"Oh… thanks?" said Toboe, putting down Shippo.
"Yeah…" said Sueko darkly. "What's wrong with you!"
"All the village kids like to surprise people…" said Toboe boredly. "Particularly me because they find me really cool for some reason… So after awhile you get used to it…"
"Damn…" muttered Yoshiko, leaning her back against the tree. "I'll have to keep that in mind…"
"Hey, where's Miroku and Sango?" asked InuYasha curiously.
"Hmm?" said Yoshiko, raising her eyebrows. Then her eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her forehead. "I knew I forgot something… Buh-bye!"
And with a wave Yoshiko turned around and hurried back towards the village.
"That was interesting…" muttered Toboe before going back to his drawing.
"Everyone I know is really weird…" muttered InuYasha.
"Including you!" said Sueko, pointing at him with a stick of Pocky.
"Oh, and you're normal yourself?" snapped InuYasha.
"This is worse than back home!" moaned Toboe, putting his hands in his face.
"Sorry?" said Sueko, nibbling at the food innocently.
"So is the future any interesting?" asked Shippo to Toboe, as if attempting to start a conversation.
"Which one?" asked Toboe. "Sueko's is really weird. It kind of gives me a headache after awhile."
"Even I would have to agree with that one," said Sueko. "Don't even get me started on homework…"
"I still can't believe your this puny even in the past," said Toboe with a grin, putting a hand to Shippo's head as if measuring his height.
"Hey! Demons take longer to grow up than humans do!" said Shippo, crossing his arms.
"Didn't you say you were only twelve?" said Sueko. "You aren't that young looking compared to that age…"
"You seem to be forgetting that I'm not full demon…" said Toboe.
"So? I'm half demon and it still took me longer to grow up," said InuYasha.
"Really?" said Sueko, sounding interested.
Toboe just rolled his eyes. "But I'm quarter demon. So that's almost fully human. So apparently the whole demon thing doesn't really apply for me."
"Kimiko grew up with Sango, and they seemed about the same age," said Shippo helpfully.
"It's just all confusing to me…" muttered Sueko. "But you are pretty small for your age… so maybe it's just a little bit slow."
"Apparently I'm supposed to hit some growth spurt any time now and just insanely start growing…" said Toboe. "That's what you said, at least!" he added, pointing at InuYasha with a colored pencil.
"I did?" said InuYasha, blinking. "When did I do that?"
"In the future, I presume," said Sueko.
"That's kind of a weird thing to say," said InuYasha, leaning back with his hands and chuckling a bit. "I mean, it's not like I'm related to him… Well, I could be distantly, since he's a dog demon…"
Sueko and Toboe glanced at each other worriedly. Neither had mentioned to anyone that InuYasha was his dad. Sure, everyone knew he was Sueko's son but that kind of had to go with the explanation a bit…
Sueko cleared her throat nervously. "Um… Hey, InuYasha?" she croaked.
"What?" said InuYasha, raising his eyebrows.
"Well…" she said slowly, twirling a piece grass with her fingers. "You, like, like me, right?"
"Wha!" cried InuYasha, backing away slightly.
"My instincts are telling me to leave…" muttered Toboe, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Leave far, far, away…"
"Knowing them, there won't be too much stuff going on, don't worry," said Shippo sympathetically.
"SHUT UP!" roared InuYasha and Sueko. Shippo jumped behind Toboe fearfully while Toboe just smiled sheepishly. Then, like nothing had happened, InuYasha and Sueko had returned to their awkward positions.
"Haven't we been through this already?" asked InuYasha, his face turning pink.
"Yeah… I was just double-checking…" said Sueko lamely. "See… here's the thing…"
"Yes…" said InuYasha impatiently.
"Toboe's, like, my kid…" said Sueko.
"I got that part from Yoshiko," muttered InuYasha.
"Oh, so you don't care at all who the father is!" snapped Sueko angrily. "For all you know I could have slept with Koga or something, yet you don't care!"
"WHAT!" cried InuYasha, jumping up as though this never occurred to him before.
"I'm not here… I can't hear a word they're saying…" muttered Toboe weakly, staring furiously at some random manga he had taken out of his bag.
"I can't… Wait a… You don't mean?" said InuYasha worriedly.
"Uh huh…" said Sueko slowly.
"But…" said InuYasha, pointing from himself to Toboe and back again.
"Yeah…" said Sueko.
"You and me?" said InuYasha in a high-pitched voice.
"Uh huh…" said Sueko.
InuYasha moaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "But I wasn't planning on, like, ever having kids… ever…"
"And you didn't have a kid," said Sueko. "I'm the one who 'had' him. You just… helped along the process."
"Let's not go there…" muttered InuYasha. Then he sighed. "This is the worst new moon ever. Worse than the time I got poisoned by some giant spider demon. Worse than when I got eaten by some really evil, messed up human. Worse than…"
"When you got kidnapped by a giant ogre?" said Shippo helpfully. InuYasha just laid down and covered his face while moaning some more.
"Nice to know I helped out in the process," muttered Sueko darkly.
"It's just really, really, really weird!" cried InuYasha. "The only time I ever planned to 'settle' down with someone was with Kikyo, and even then I still wasn't thinking about the kid thing!"
"Maybe it's a good thing she pinned you to a tree," muttered Sueko. "Maybe she wanted to have kids and when she found out you didn't she would have gotten all pissed and dump you or something, I don't know… Can priestesses do that?"
"I didn't even think about it with Kagome," continued InuYasha thoughtfully. "It took us forever to figure out our feelings and by the time we admitted them she… died."
"Um…" said Sueko. She was a bit weirded out by an InuYasha who was saying out loud his feelings…
"Hey…" said InuYasha, sitting up and pointing a finger at Sueko. "Everyone I know dies! So do me a favor and don't!"
"I'll get right on that…" she muttered, "right after I kick Hotaka's ass. Unless Yoshiko wants to do that for me, than that's okay… I guess…"
Right after she said that InuYasha got up and walked away from the campfire a ways. Perhaps it was something she said. But Sueko didn't think that Hotaka would bug InuYasha that much. Maybe something else happened besides what everyone told her but she couldn't think of what. She wanted to do something about it but couldn't think of anything to say. After a few minutes of thinking she suddenly thought that instead of saying something, she should do something…
"What?" said InuYasha, surprised, as he found himself being hugged by Sueko from behind.
"Pocky?" asked Sueko cheerfully, shoving the box in his face.
"What is wrong with you?" cried InuYasha, wiggling out of Sueko's arms.
"Hey, you're the weird one!" said Sueko. "I mention a dude and you, like, leave. Kind of… Do you want the Pocky or not?"
"You sure the new moon doesn't affect you either?" asked InuYasha with his eyebrows raised.
"Fine! If you don't want any I'll just eat all of it!"
"Hey, that's mine! You can't have all of it!" cried Toboe.
"You're not the boss of me!" said Sueko. "I can have as much as I want and you can't do anything to stop me!"
"Okay, now you're just being mean…" muttered Toboe.
"Hey, I let you borrow all my manga! And I actually don't know why I have so much considering I like to read books more… Then again, my dad is really crappy with present giving and always gives people these random things… Oh yeah! I got Kirara catnip! And I forgot to give it to her! Can you believe that?"
"You got Kirara cat nip?" asked InuYasha.
"Uh huh…" said Sueko, nodding her head. "Why, bad idea?"
InuYasha just shrugged, and ignored the annoyed look he got from Sueko as an odd but vaguely familiar sound reached his ears. He didn't get enough time to think about what it could have been because it was then that the others decided to show up after their lengthy venture in the village and his question was answered by Miroku, who had a print of a palm on his face. Well, actually, there were two…
"Idiot…" muttered Yoshiko, crossing her arms. Then she noticed the others looking at her and she said, "Oh, we're already here? Wow, okay… Hey, Sueko, did I miss anything?"
"Not that I can think of…" muttered Sueko.
"Are you sure?" asked Yoshiko teasingly. It felt as though Yoshiko was reading Sueko's mind and it made her cheeks turn a bit pink.
"Yes, perfectly sure!" cried Sueko, waving her hands in front of her face.
"Ugh, fine then…" muttered Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.
With a sigh Miroku sat down beside Toboe and said wearily, "That was rather tiring."
"I'm sure it was," muttered Sango huffily, sitting as far away from Miroku as possible while still being close to the fire.
"He… Well, I…" muttered Miroku sheepishly, before widening his eyes and going, "Oh yeah!"
"What?" snapped InuYasha annoyingly, but mostly because he could tell something went on between Sango and Miroku and he wanted to know what it was, yet knew if told he wouldn't want to hear it.
Miroku stood up, shuffled around his robes for a bit, then sat back down and handed Toboe something. "There you go!"
"Huh?" said InuYasha.
"Um…" said Toboe, holding the object up and looking at it weirdly. "Oh, a crossbow! I think…"
"Hey, why's the kid get a weapon for?" snapped InuYasha.
"Oh…" said Miroku. "Sueko was being weird about it…"
"Hey, I don't want to kid to get hurt or anything…" mumbled Sueko, blushing a bit.
"Oooh, cool!" said Toboe, putting the mini arrow—called a bolt—that went with the crossbow into place and, holding it with both hands, pulled the trigger as far back as he could. There was a twang from the crossbow and then a thud when the bolt hit a tree, and then a cry from Yoshiko as she jumped out of the way.
"God dammit!" cried Yoshiko. "You're going to poke an eye out with that!"
"Sorry?" said Toboe, pointing it a different direction and looking out with one eye to try and hit the target better.
"Where'd you get… it?" asked Sueko.
"Oh… I just found it lying somewhere… Unused…" said Miroku, laughing guilty.
"I'm surprised we got out of that village alive!" snapped Sango, rolling her eyes. "That on top of being found with the Head of the Village's girlfriend!"
"Hmm…" said Miroku, scratching his head. Sango looked bitterly away and Yoshiko shook her head tiredly.
"And I thought I had a bad time…" said InuYasha.
"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Sueko.
"What, so you two just argued the whole time? You haven't found something better to spend your time doing?" asked Yoshiko.
"No!" snapped Sueko. "We didn't argue… we just… talked."
"About…?" said Yoshiko curiously, moving closer to Sueko.
"Nothing in particular!" cried Sueko hurriedly.
"Oh, I know what you did!" cried Yoshiko, smiling mischievously. "You told him, didn't you?"
"What?" said Sueko bewilderedly.
"Oh, I get it…" said Miroku.
"Huh?" said Sango. "Oh… that?"
"What!" cried Sueko impatiently.
"Wow, InuYasha, you couldn't even tell yourself?" asked Miroku. "It is rather obvious…"
"WHAT?" cried InuYasha and Sueko.
Toboe, who was trying to pull a bolt out of a tree with not much luck, looked up and said, "Yeah, what?"
"The 'what's' are getting rather annoying…" muttered Shippo.
"Well, no one's answering!" snapped InuYasha.
"Yeah… what he said!" said Sueko lamely, pointing a finger at InuYasha, and then after a pause crossing her arms and glaring up at Yoshiko irritatingly.
"Oh, really!" said Yoshiko with a laugh. "You haven't gotten it through that thick skull of yours yet?"
"My skull is so not thick!" snapped Sueko.
"Oh, calm down," sighed Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.
"So," said Sango to InuYasha with a smile on her face. "It's not everyday you learn you had a kid you never knew about. What's it like?"
"Huh? Hey!"
"You people are just cruel…" Sueko said in an undertone
"Stupid… dang thing…" muttered Toboe, still trying to pull the bolt out of the tree. With a hard tug it finally came loose, and caused him to fall back a few feet and land on his bottom. "Oh great… Ow…"
"Maybe you should play with your new toy later," said Sueko with a smile.
"But… oh fine…" muttered Toboe, sitting down again.
"The resemblance is quite analogous," said Miroku, continuing with the previous conversation before.
"Huh?" said Sueko—she didn't know what "analogous" meant.
"Well, it's like Yoshiko said," said Miroku. "His facial structure is similar to yours and his hair seems to be just as messy, but you can also see a bit of InuYasha in him."
"What!" cried InuYasha in surprise.
"See?" said Miroku, suddenly pulling Toboe closer to him and pointing out his eyes. "Same shade and everything!" Then he poked his nose and said, "And his nose is just as doggy like!"
"Hey, what are you doing?" cried Toboe.
"Oh yeah, and you can't forget the ears," said Miroku, nodding solemnly as he petted both of Toboe's ears.
"Hey! Get off of me! What are you doing!"
InuYasha glanced over at Toboe for a few seconds, then turned away and muttered another, "Feh."
"Hey, look!" said Yoshiko, joining in—though instead of playing around with Toboe she played around with InuYasha, pulling up InuYasha's ebony hair and going, "Aww, same hair, ain't that nice? Makes me wonder…"
"Get your hands off of me!" snapped InuYasha, pushing Yoshiko off. She didn't even try looking bothered by it and instead laughed at it.
"Hmm…" said Miroku, holding up Toboe's hand thoughtfully. "Not really Sueko's or InuYasha's… Maybe Yoshiko can say if it's Sesshomaru's…"
"Let go of me!" cried Toboe, pulling his hand away. "I'm not a doll!"
"Humph…" muttered Miroku, turning away and crossing his arms crossly. Though you could tell it was all for show.
"You sure Miroku didn't get possessed in that village?" Shippo muttered to Sango. She shook her head bitterly.
"So…" said InuYasha, sitting down back at the fire, "did you get anything to eat there?"
"Don't tell me you're hungry!" cried Sueko, hands on her hips (she still wasn't seated). "You just ate ramón!"
"So?" said InuYasha, blinking.
Sueko looked like she was at a loss for words, as she cried out in frustration, tugged at her hair, and sat down with a puff. The only one who reacted to this action was Toboe, who went over to wave the Pocky box in her face.
"Oooh!" said Sueko, grabbing the box and looking at it as if just realizing they had it lying around.
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Shippo, jumping up on top of Toboe's head so he could put a hand to Sueko's forehead.
"Ahem…" muttered Toboe, glaring up at Shippo.
"I don't know…" muttered Sueko. "I think Tamika's possessing me!"
"I seriously think it's the moon," muttered InuYasha. "You're always weird on the new moon…"
"You are too!" snapped Sueko.
"I think Kagome's possessing you with all the yelling you're doing," said Sango, rolling her eyes amusingly.
"Wow, the third mentioning of Kagome today!" said Sueko, showing the amount with her hands.
"Who else said it?" asked Sango curiously.
"Oh, InuYasha," said Sueko with a shrug. "And then InuYasha…"
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Yoshiko, sitting down beside InuYasha putting a hand to his forehead.
"Bite me…" muttered InuYasha.
"I'd rather not, thank you…" muttered Yoshiko.
"Ugh…" moaned Yoshiko, frowning and glaring at the same time while clutching at her stomach. "I'm starving! Don't we have anything to eat?"
"Pocky?" asked Toboe, dangling a box in front of her.
Yoshiko's face contorted in disgust and she pushed the box away as her hand moved up to her mouth. Sango giggled slightly and then stopped when she realized nobody else really found it funny. But she kept a smile and tried to conceal it by turning away.
"Look, we'll get some food when we get a chance to restock," snapped InuYasha. "But unfortunately we forgot to get stuff back at the last village and you don't really like people that much."
"Yes, I found it strange that you bothered to enter the village at all to retrieve Sango and myself," added Miroku quite calmly.
"Besides, its getting late and we should probably stop soon," said Sueko, shading her eyes and looking up the sky. It was quite unnecessary since the sun had just went beyond the horizon ten minutes ago. Toboe copied her but turned away when she turned to look at what Sango was laughing about. The sound of Yoshiko's stomach rumbling stopped all the talk and brought the focus back to the subject at hand.
"I say we got a bit longer and try and find a better place to stay," suggested Sango. "That way, if we find a village near by we can – "
Just then Yoshiko lifted up a hand for silence and started sniffing the air. It was quite a comical sight since mostly they had only seen her stare intently at the dark and her ears twitch when she was trying to hear something. Smelling was more of an InuYasha thing since he was half dog demon. As Sueko said, cats were far better at seeing in the dark… and Yoshiko just happened to have better hearing than InuYasha too. Suddenly Yoshiko's entire face lit up and she started walking off the path and off toward the mountains as if being pulled by a string. Everybody waited for a minute and then she popped her head back out of the trees.
"You coming?" she asked, before leaving again.
Everybody looked at each other, shrugged and followed. The walk really wasn't that long and they found themselves looking at a small village at the base of the mountain. Great farm lands spread out away from the mountains but there wasn't anything green growing. Instead there were great holes here and there. But Yoshiko completely ignored them and started right toward the village… until InuYasha grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
"What are you doing?" snapped InuYasha. "We don't know this village or who's living here or if there is anybody living here… I mean, look at the land!"
"But I smell food!" said Yoshiko excitedly, her eyes wide. Toboe imitated the look. Yoshiko turned quickly and glared down at him. He gave a squeak and hid behind Sueko who smiled weakly. "Besides, if it turns out to be demons we'll kill them all and take their food anyways!"
"Sheesh," said InuYasha, letting her go and putting the hand to his forehead. "But I thought you didn't like villages!"
"I don't…" muttered Yoshiko darkly. "But I'm hungry enough to trust even a demon for a meal… which I guess I've already done that one."
"Excuse me?" said InuYasha, blinking.
"What, you thought Sesshomaru starved me? Nah, me and Rin ate food," said Yoshiko, shrugging and heading down toward the village. "I'm not going to bring you guys anything!" she called back, giving a backwards wave.
As soon as she entered the village she found the streets completely deserted but swore she sill smelt food… plus she could hear people moving around in the huts. She turned around and saw the others followed… InuYasha grudgingly. Yoshiko grinned at him and started out into the village. As soon as she took one step somebody rushed out and looked up at her.
"You're a Cat Demon!" he cried. "Rejoice my people, for the Gods have sent out savior!"
A cheer went up as the people flooded into the streets. Yoshiko blinked, but her hunger didn't quite leave her so she turned back toward the first man. She opened her mouth to speak, but the man spoke first.
"You travel with a Dog Demon?" he said questioningly.
"Yeah, he's my partner. Keeps away those demons that like to eat a kitty like me," said Yoshiko. "Now about some – "
"Ah, I see!" interrupted the man. "So you two shall be sleeping together."
"Excuse me…" started Yoshiko, but the man spoke over her again.
"You see we have a demon that is terrorizing our crops and we know only a Cat Demon will be able to destroy it," said the man. "Would you do this for us?"
"Well, only if – "
"You'll be well rewarded," assured the man.
"This includes – "
"Anything you wish for will be yours!" said the man. "As long is it is within out means."
"Yeah, that's nice but what I really want is – "
"I'll be sure to make a nice cozy bed for you and your Dog Demon," sighed the man.
"COULD YOU SHUT UP FOR ONE MINUTE!" shouted Yoshiko. Everybody stopped speaking and she stood there, breathing heavily. "I'll do ANYTHING I just want FOOD!"
"Ah, that will be arranged," said the man, nodding solemnly. "You will be led to your rooms…"
"Rooms?" said Sueko, coming forward.
"Yes! The Cat and Dog Demon will get a place of honor. We only have enough for two heroes," said the man as if it were obvious. "The rest of you will be treated as side kicks… higher than most men but not first class I'm sorry to say."
"Wait, when was I involved in the Hero business?" said InuYasha moodily.
"I'm hungry!" hissed Yoshiko dangerously. "Just deal with it!"
"Ahhhh!" said Miroku, smiling and putting an arm around her neck. "I love a fiery girl."
"What do you think of this?" muttered Sango, hitting him on the head with her large boomerang. Yoshiko finished off by grabbing his arm and flipping him over her head to land on his back… hard.
"Hmph!" she said, turning away and putting her nose in the air and following the man toward a large hut. She grabbed InuYasha by the arm and dragged him after her.
Normally Sueko would be totally worried about Yoshiko and InuYasha sharing a room together, alone… she was just the sort of person to freak out about things. But right now she wasn't paranoid about anything at all. Then again, Yoshiko and InuYasha wouldn't get anything done tonight besides a bunch of arguing. There wouldn't be enough time to go to… other stuff…
Besides, it turns out that InuYasha and Sueko got together and had a kid of their own anyways, so if he did do it with Yoshiko Sueko would have the perfect excuse to say "Sit" a billion, trillion, gazillion times!
"Ha! Take that, InuYasha!" cried Sueko, jumping up and holding her fist up in the air breathlessly.
"Come again?" said Miroku, blinking up at her from his food.
"Er…" cried Sueko, her eye twitching. Then she sat down and bowed her head so her hair was in her face. "Never mind…"
"Don't worry about those two," said Sango. "They'll be too busy biting each other's heads off to ever fall asleep."
"I KNOW THAT!" snapped Sueko. Then, her eyes wide and her face flushed with embarrassment, she laid down and covered her head, moaning something too muffled by the pillow to understand.
"I take it you won't eat anything…" said Toboe.
"Leave the poor girl alone," said Miroku solemnly.
"I am!" cried Toboe. "I'm just hungry… and I finished all my food…"
"Have it…" mumbled Sueko from her pillow.
"Wahoo!" cried Toboe, grabbing Sueko's food and stuffing his face.
A few minutes later this odd "Boing!" noise filled Toboe's ears, but he had no clue what it could be. Plus it didn't look like anyone else in the room had heard it. He figured it would be best not to mention it, incase he was just making up weird noises in his own head…
But then it felt like something landed on his nose. Now that he couldn't ignore… it was just really itchy. How could he enjoy food if his nose was itchy? However, before he could lift his hand to brush whatever was irritating his nose away, it talked. Since when did specks of dust talk?
Well, actually, it just turned out to be a bug—a flea, to be exact. It had been sucking Toboe's blood before stopped and crying out, "Wait a second… this doesn't taste like Lord InuYasha's blood…"
"Eh?" said Toboe, making a face.
"Hey, it's Myoga!" exclaimed Shippo, going over to Toboe to get a closer look.
"But how could you not be Lord InuYasha and yet have the blood of the Great Dog Demon in you?" asked the flea, scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"Wait a minute…" muttered Toboe. He lifted Myoga off his nose and onto the table. "There, now you're off my nose! But hey, is that really you, Myoga?"
"Ah, yes, that'd be me…" said Myoga, trying to sound modest. Then his eyes widened and he cried out, "Hey! I command to know why you have the blood of the Great Dog Demon in you!"
"I don't know…" muttered Toboe, scratching his head. "Who's that supposed to be?"
"You don't…" started Myoga, his mouth dropping. "He was once the greatest demon in all of Japan!"
"And that was a long time ago…" yawned Toboe.
"You ungrateful…" muttered Myoga furiously. "Who are you?"
"Toboe!" he said, grinning and showing a thumbs-up.
"What a peculiar name…" muttered Myoga.
"Everyone says that…" mumbled Toboe, crossing his arms.
"So, are you going to answer my question or not?" asked Myoga.
"How can I?" cried Toboe. "I don't know who that Great Dog Dude Thing is…"
"I believe," said Miroku thoughtfully, "that Myoga's referring to InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's father…"
"Oh," said Toboe, smiling sheepishly. "That dude…"
"How dare you call the great lord names!" snapped Myoga.
"What? 'Dude'?" said Toboe. "I got it off Digimon!"
"Figures…" muttered Sueko, sitting up but looking away and crossing her arms. Her hair was rather messy from the pillow but she didn't seem to notice.
"So you wanna know why I taste like dad, don't you?" said Toboe mischievously, kneeling on the table. "Wait, that sounds weird…"
"It would be a nice thing to be informed about…" muttered Myoga, looking towards everyone else for some help. "Wait! Where's Lord InuYasha and Yoshiko, anyways?"
"They're sleeping together in the other room," said Sueko simply. Then her eyes widened and her face blushed. "Wait, that didn't sound right! Just forgot what I said! Everything I say is meaningless!" she cried, waving her arms in the air in excitement before falling down sideways. Crying out, she sat back up and sat fuming over her own foolishness.
"The village was greatly honored by their presence and gave them the better room," Miroku said calmly.
"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…" muttered Sueko.
"And who's this boy right here?" asked Myoga.
"I already told you, I'm Toboe!"
"A name alone doesn't answer my question!" snapped Myoga. "How could you possibly share the Great Dog Demons blood if he only bore two sons." Then Myoga sighed and muttered, "Unless he had another son and never informed me… Wait, why would he never tell his faithful servant about a third son? Have I dishonored him in some way? What have I been dishonorable about? I've always been deeply loyal to Master!"
"Except when you run away after sensing any sort of danger… coward…" muttered Sango.
"Ah… um… er… about that…" muttered Myoga sheepishly.
"That's why you left!" said Toboe excitedly. "You were rarely ever around the village anyways, but then Hotaka just kept attempting to kill everyone and you just left completely! Same with Takeno… I kinda liked Takeno…"
"What rubbish are you spouting, lad?" snapped Myoga.
"Nothing!" cried Toboe, smiling sheepishly. "Don't mind me!"
"So are you the mysterious third son of the Great Dog Demon?" asked Myoga curiously.
"Of course not!" cried Toboe, laughing a little.
"Then how…" started Myoga, speechless in wonderment.
"You haven't figured it out by now?" said Toboe cheerfully. "Everyone else has."
"Hmm…"
"InuYasha's my daddy! Wait, that sounds weird…"
Myoga blinked a few times. Then he totally freaked out.
"Kagome bore his child without telling me? Wait, he didn't know Kagome that long… Then he'd have to have let the priestess Kikyo bare his child… But why didn't Lord InuYasha tell me! What have I ever done to him to dishonor him!"
"Not this again…" muttered Sango wearily.
"Kagome… Kikyo…" muttered Sueko, her eye muscle twitching.
"Ugh, Kikyo sounds like she would be a very weird mom," said Toboe, shaking his head.
"My head's spinning…" muttered Myoga. "Whose child are you?"
"InuYasha's and Yoshiko's!" cried Toboe cheerfully. Sueko cried out and hit him on the head.
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS YOUR MOM!" bellowed Sueko dangerously.
"I did… I was just kidding…" mumbled Toboe, sheepishly, shielding his head.
"InuYasha and the 'Last One' had a child… how…" said Myoga.
"Um…time travel?" asked Toboe.
"What, they went to Kagome's time and did it?" asked Myoga.
"Kagome's time!" snapped Sueko.
"No…More like I'm from the future in the past…and then went back in time to the future, and then went to the past!" said Toboe brightly.
"What?" said everyone else.
"Hey, that made perfect sense…" said Toboe, crossing his arms.
"It did not!" cried Myoga.
Sighing, Sueko pointed her finger up and said rather moodily, "Okay, Toboe's from the future, but not so far in the future as me, more like about twenty years from now…or something like that. And there in that little freaky messed up dimension where Hotaka is having so much fun killing everyone he broke the well so… no one could hide, I suppose. And then, like, Toboe used this object from my time and managed to get the well to work, and got to my time frame! And then he went with me when I came back here! There we go, the end… That was so freakin' complicated…"
"I see…" said Myoga, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"That's it?" snapped Sueko. "I give you this perfect, yet brief and short explanation of a very complicated matter and all you have to say about it is 'I see'!"
"Who are you, InuYasha?" muttered Shippo. But then he hid behind Toboe when she glared at him. "She's worse than Kagome…" Shippo mumbled meekly.
"Interesting…" muttered Myoga.
"What? Sueko's resemblance to Kagome?" blinked Shippo.
"I'm not like Kagome!"
"No, the fact Toboe was able to go through the destroyed well in his time and get here…" said Myoga. "I guess because of the item he was able too."
"You know what's even more interesting?" said Toboe, sighing dreamily. "How a bunch of kids just suddenly get transported to this other world and get their very own Digimon! I wanna be a Digidestined!"
"I'm never letting you go anywhere near a television ever again!" snapped Sueko.
"Yes, ma'am…" muttered Toboe.
"I wonder how InuYasha reacted to the news…" thought Myoga out loud.
"Er…" said Sueko. "Just fine?"
"Really?" said Myoga, astonished. "Master has never been that reasonable about astonishing news… He really has changed, has he…"
"Well, he did freak out, but I meant besides that…" mumbled Sueko, scratching her head sheepishly.
"That's good to know…" sighed Myoga. "A calm InuYasha is really something you'd have to worry about…"
"Uh huh…" agreed Toboe, nodding his head vigorously.
"So did you find out anything interesting while you were gone?" asked Shippo.
"Not really…" sighed Myoga.
"You were gone all that time and found out nothing at all?" cried Sueko. "I thought that was your job!"
"It isn't that easy to find out information about the 'Last One' considering very few people know about it," said Myoga defensively.
"True…" said Sueko. "Hey, maybe you could just bug Yukie for a while."
"Huh?"
"Nevermind…"
"Now I'm exhausted!" shouted Yoshiko, putting her hands on her lower back. "And my back hurts. What kind of floors are those?"
"You were the one that insisted on one bed!" snapped InuYasha. When he saw Sueko come nearer, he turned away quickly, crossing his arms.
"No, I just wasn't in the mood to argue the case," hissed Yoshiko, her eyes narrowing. "You do realize the floors wasn't the only thing that was hard."
"I'm sorry, I guess I don't," shouted InuYasha. "But it's not my fault you didn't sleep, okay?"
"Yes it is! Once you finally got tired and went to sleep you hogged the entire bed," snapped Yoshiko. "How am I supposed to fight a demon like this?"
"Maybe we'll get lucky, it'll eat you and be full," muttered InuYasha. "OW!" he cried when Yoshiko hit him over the head.
"What's going on?" asked Sango, lifting her boomerang over her shoulder.
"InuYasha and Yoshiko are arguing," sighed Miroku with a large shrug. "What did you expect?"
"SHUT UP!" shouted InuYasha and Yoshiko at the same time. Then they caught sight of Sueko's freaked out face. "What's wrong?" they asked simultaneously.
"N-nothing…" said Sueko shakily, turning away. Toboe rushed over and grabbed her hand causing her to freak out even more.
"So… what exactly did you two do last night?" asked Miroku slyly, standing closer to Yoshiko.
"Huh?" cried Sueko, nearly tripping.
"NOTHING!" cried InuYasha and Yoshiko. They turned to glare at each other. Finally, Yoshiko hit InuYasha over the head and turned back to Miroku. "Don't jump to any conclusions monk!" she said, pointing an accusing finger in Miroku's face.
"You know… why should we be ashamed of what we did," said InuYasha thoughtfully. "It's not like–"
"SIT BOY!" shouted Sueko.
"What I do this time?" whined InuYasha from the ground. "Usually I deserve it…"
"Ah, you're all up!" said the village leader, walking over with his hands behind his back. "So you shall now go into the mountains and destroy the ferocious Bird Demon."
"Yeah, we'll take care of your canary…" muttered Yoshiko. "I think we deserve some food to take with and meal when we return! And better beds… At least bigger ones."
"Uh… of, of course!" stammered the little man. Then he cleared his throat. "Food has already been packed into your bags. We will be sure to prepare you a great feast if you return."
"If?" said Yoshiko, blinking. "You have no confidence! Maybe I won't go but take all the food anyways."
"Now, now," said Miroku, patting her shoulder. "That's no way to repay their hospitality. Be sure that we will take care of your… canary…"
"Smooth…" murmured Yoshiko, walking off. "InuYasha, be a dear and grab my bag!"
"How about not?" shouted InuYasha, standing up and brushing himself off.
"Maybe you'll take Sueko's as well," said Yoshiko off handedly. "Or I could just take the Tetsusaiga," she added, holding up InuYasha's sword.
"H-hey!" shouted InuYasha. "H-how… Oh, fine!"
"Good boy!" said Yoshiko, grinning, turning around and tossing the sword back. "Now let's move out gang!"
As if Yoshiko hadn't done enough complaining already. No more than ten minutes into their hike in the mountains she started saying her back was hurting. Even further along she said she was tired of walking. She looked pointedly at InuYasha but didn't say anything except her feet were killing her. He was, of course, already carrying two bags. Eventually even good-natured Sango couldn't sand her anymore.
"Will you shut up?" she snapped, turning around and putting her fists on her hips as she glared at Yoshiko
"Oh, okay. Then you think of something to talk about," said Yoshiko good-naturedly, walking past the demon slayer.
"She's much more annoying than me," said Myoga from Sueko's shoulder.
"Wow!" said Sueko, her eyes wide in surprise. "You're actually coming along? We're going to kill a demon yah know!"
"Yes, well," said Myoga, sweating, "you're not fighting just this instance… and I could be of assistance… and… I was going to tell you something… See ya!"
With that Myoga sprang from Sueko's shoulder and leapt back down the mountain. Shippo jumped up to take his place while Toboe stared after him.
"Hey, he was going to tell us something!" cried Shippo. "We should go after him."
"Feh…" muttered InuYasha, walking after Yoshiko.
"Oh… InuYasha, wait up!" cried Sueko, running to catch up but he didn't seem to hear her.
Yoshiko was much quieter this part of the trip though she kept holding her lower back. Just when things were stating to look up… they had to go over an old, rickety, rope bridge. And Sueko hated heights!
"Oh… moaned Yoshiko, gripping both sides of the bridge tightly, "I think I'm going to be sick…"
InuYasha merely rolled his eyes and walked across the bridge to join Sango and Miroku. He set down the packs and turned back around. Just as he was coming back on (probably to help Sueko) she tripped. InuYasha reached out a hand to grab her but she was already getting back on her feet when he reached her.
"You okay?" asked Yoshiko, smiling and helping Sueko all the way across the bridge.
"Uh huh…" said Sueko, nodding her head. "Thanks!"
"No problem," said Yoshiko, picking up the bags and handing them to InuYasha. She grinned at him as she said, "Nice try… Looks like you missed."
"Uh huh…" said Miroku, turning away.
"Hmmmm…" said Shippo staring up at them intently.
"Oh…" muttered Sueko, her head dropping.
"What I miss?" asked Sango, looking from one person to another.
"Feh."
"InuYasha, have a heart!" cried Shippo, rushing up to the half dog demon at the front of the group. "Yoshiko hasn't complained since the beginning of the trip but her back still hurts. We should stop before it gets too dark!"
"Since when did you care?" snapped InuYasha. Despite this he sighed, stopped and turned to the rest of the group. The only one who really looked exhausted was Sueko but she hadn't been complaining because everybody else had noticed Yoshiko still holding her back. Nobody was exactly sure what had made her back hurt so much and they weren't willing to ask. But everybody had their own ideas. At least, that's what Shippo suspected and he was very proud of his new, big word.
"Where do you suggest setting camp?" asked Miroku, holding out a hand to help Yoshiko up.
"How about over there," said Yoshiko, ignoring the hand the pointing toward a small clump of trees between a wall and a drop off.
"Isn't that a little close to the edge?" asked Sueko, a little high pitched.
"Demons will be less likely to surprise attack us there," said Sango taking Miroku's proffered hand instead.
"Sounds great!" said Shippo. "InuYasha, Sueko and Yoshiko can set up the tents while the rest of us go get firewood!"
"Why am I stuck with tent duty?" snapped InuYasha. "And who put you in charge anyways?"
"Actually, it makes sense," said Sango.
"Very much so," agreed Miroku.
"I'm game," said Yoshiko, grabbing InuYasha and Sueko and leading them off.
"But… but… there are trees right at – " started Sueko before they were out of hearing range.
"There were some better trees down a little bit," said Miroku after a long pause.
"Alright," said Sango.
Chuckling in a satisfied way, Shippo glanced back at the trio before following Miroku and Sango. Once they found the pathetic looking trees Miroku put up a pretense of getting wood. After a while Sango glanced back up the mountain as if to make sure nobody had followed them. Eventually both humans turned toward Shippo who jumped up on a rock to be more to eye level with the humans. Being small had its advantages but it hurt his neck looking up at everybody.
"So, what's on your mind little Shippo?" asked Miroku, sitting down.
"Yoshiko!" said Shippo. He paused dramatically, watching the two humans for their reaction. Disappointingly they both didn't look surprised at all. 'Wait until they hear the rest of it,' though Shippo before continuing. "I know she apparently likes Sesshomaru and apparently she's trying to get Sueko and InuYasha together. But what if this is just to cover up the fact that she really likes InuYasha? And she acts so much like Kagome it would be no wonder that InuYasha didn't like her too."
"That is an interesting observation," said Miroku, stroking his chin.
"Seems reasonable to me," said Sango. "What do you think Miroku?"
"If it's true then we will have another love triangle: Yoshiko, InuYasha and Sueko. Add in Sesshomaru and things get pretty ugly," said Miroku thoughtfully. Then he looked up grinning. "I just hope I can watch it without being in the middle of it."
"Uh…" said Sango, blinking before sighing and dropping her head. "You're hopeless."
"Don't you get it?" cried Shippo, getting to his feet. "We have to decide which we like more. Personally I'm sticking with Yoshiko and InuYasha. But I like Sueko and I don't want her feelings to be hurt…"
"Possibly she likes somebody from her own time," said Miroku. "I could ask her about her friends and possibly persuade her to think she likes them more than InuYasha."
"You do realize we're going to be undoing everything Yoshiko has already done, right?" said Sango.
In one exchange of glances everybody decided it was worth the risk.
'Besides,' thought Shippo, as they walked back to camp. 'Yoshiko already messed up everything she put into play when she slept with InuYasha…'
"What am I thinking?" cried Shippo suddenly, dropping his small pile of wood and hitting himself on the head. "That's disgusting. I don't want to be thinking about that sort of thing. Ew, ew, ew!"
Shippo was starting to bug her. First he was insistent on stopping to rest and breaking up the group. He'd also forgotten about Toboe. How could he ? Toboe was so nice, cute, adorable and fascinating! Plus once he came back he had this mischievous look in his eye. It bugged Yoshiko so much she forgot she was about to pull InuYasha's ears from behind.
When dinner was made she felt sick and had to excuse herself. As soon as she stood up Miroku immediately filled her space. After a short walk Yoshiko was starting to fell better. Exiting the small clump of trees she found InuYasha waiting for her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" said Yoshiko, blinking.
"Everybody got a little worried after they noticed it wasn't just complaining," shrugged InuYasha. "Guess they just all expect me to figure out what's up."
Stifling a giggle, Yoshiko turned to look at the moon. It was amazing how close it was to being half after the new moon. They stood there for a just a moment when suddenly InuYasha spoke up again.
"So, why didn't you go with Sesshomaru?" he asked in what he supposed to be an off-handed tone.
"Why do you care?" laughed Yoshiko.
"I don't!" said InuYasha, his cheeks going a bit pink. "Everybody else is just curious! Haven't you figured that out yet?"
"Look, it's not like we're fighting anymore, so why should you worry?" Yoshiko said, continuing to laugh. "I just find it weird that they always send you because we're constantly fighting!"
"We're not fighting right now," said InuYasha, crossing his arms and looking her straight in the eyes.
"No, I guess not," giggled Yoshiko, closing her eyes and smiling.
When she opened her eyes again she noticed that InuYasha was still staring at her seriously. Their eyes locked and she couldn't help but the notice that his were the same hazel as Sesshomaru's. Though InuYasha's were far softer and she figured that had to do mostly because of Kagome. Without realizing what was going on the two moved closer, Yoshiko only thinking about how great it would be if she could make Sesshomaru's eyes as soft as InuYasha's. The accidental kiss had hardly started when they heard a gasp.
"Ahhh!" cried Yoshiko, jumping half a foot in the air and landing a fair distance from InuYasha.
"It wasn't what you're thinking!" said InuYasha, looking horrified as he stared at, unfortunately enough, Sueko.
"Yeah… okay…" said Sueko, looking at the two of them blankly. "I'm just… going to go to bed…"
"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted InuYasha, reaching out for her.
"Just let her go…" muttered Yoshiko, starting to feel guilty.
"But…" started InuYasha, turning toward her as Sueko ran off.
"I said let her go!" snapped Yoshiko. "Argh, I'm going to bed too… And you should too Shippo!"
The little fox demon gave a squeak and dived back into the tent. Yoshiko put a hand to her forehead and turned back to InuYasha.
"You do realize what this is all about, right?" she said with a small smile.
"Um… not really…" sighed InuYasha, watching where Sueko had been glumly.
"Well since this my mess up everything I worked so hard on I'm going to tell you!" said Yoshiko, grabbing his arm and dragging him off.
"Wh-what?" said InuYasha in surprise.
"Shush!"
"Uhhhh," sighed Yoshiko half way through their second day. "I feel much better today."
"Are you sure?" said Miroku slyly. "No back pain or morning sickness?"
"What are you trying to get at?" asked Sango, raising an eyebrow at the monk as Yoshiko ignored him. Or seemingly ignored him.
Toboe, Shippo, Sueko and InuYasha were the only ones that hadn't really said anything on the trip so far. And Yoshiko didn't really blame them. Well Shippo seemed a little weird, but she figured she knew why. Finally, when everybody was just about to forget why they had come up this barren mountain place in the first place, they started noticing signs of life. And it started to show why the mountain only had a few tree's here and there. This demon, whatever it was, liked to uproot trees and knock over boulders and dig holes. She couldn't see what a bird of any kind would find interesting about the ground. About half an hour from the first signs of life the mountain leveled out to a sort of plateau.
"Yay!" cried Yoshiko, raising a fist in triumph. "Made it!"
She turned around to see Sueko, Toboe and Shippo all panting while the others looked around for the demon. Rolling her eyes, Yoshiko noticed InuYasha glance at her before dropping the bags and moving off into the middle of the plateau thing. A sound like a crow and nails on a chalk board met their ears.
"Ahhh!" screamed Yoshiko, putting her hands over her ears. "I like my ears where they are, leave them alone!"
A thud was the end of the horrible noise and everybody turned to face the demon. InuYasha stood in the shadow of the beast looking up at it in shock. And who could blame him? The villagers had talked about a bird demon but they had made it out to be some horrible thing. They didn't say anything about a giant chicken. And Yoshiko had only been joking when she had been saying "canary." This was far more amusing than that!
"Well, this should be quick!" laughed InuYasha, drawing his sword. "Looks like we're going to have fried chicken tonight!"
"Ew…" said Yoshiko, blanching. "That doesn't sound very good…"
"You're going to waste Tetsusaiga on that thing?" said Toboe, making everybody jump because he had hardly said anything during this entire trip.
"Caw!" cried the chicken, the noise not seeming as horrible now that you could see its silly appearance.
"So who wants to take care of the chicken?" laughed Yoshiko. "Oh, I know! Sueko can!"
"Me?" cried Sueko. "Why?"
"Because it'll be excellent practice," said InuYasha, sheathing his sword and walking a little away from the demon chicken. "We'll be right here in case you make a mistake."
"Which you won't!" said Yoshiko, pushing the girl toward the chicken.
"I guess…" muttered Sueko, pulling out her sword. Yoshiko was disappointed to see that it wasn't glowing. "Um… die?" Sueko said, pointing her sword loosely at the demon chicken.
Yoshiko rolled her eyes.
"Caw!" cried the chicken, dropping its head down to Sueko's level. Suddenly flames came out of its mouth. InuYasha started to rush forward but stopped when he saw that Sueko had put up her shield.
"Okay, that was mean!" cried Sueko, waving her sword at the chicken. It lifted one of its feet to squish her, but when it touched her sword it stopped suddenly. Then slowly but surely it started to shrink until it was the size of, well, a chicken.
"Great job!" said InuYasha, walking toward her.
"But I didn't do anything!" cried Sueko.
"Sure you did, you just got to figure out how you do those things so you can do them purposefully," said Yoshiko.
"Uuuuuugh! Why are you helping them?" cried Shippo suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at Yoshiko.
"Hmmmm?" said Yoshiko, blinking.
"Ahhh, it was nothing!" cried Miroku, grabbing the little fox demon and putting a hand over his mouth.
"Yeah, don't mind him!" laughed Sango sheepishly.
"What I miss?" said Toboe.
"Get off!" cried Shippo, wriggling out of Miroku's hands. "Admit it Yoshiko, you like InuYasha!"
"Yeah, and that's why I spend so much time with Sesshomaru," said Yoshiko rolling her eyes.
"You two kissed!" said Shippo.
"Me and Sesshomaru? Yeah, but how'd you find out about that?" said Yoshiko, blinking.
"I'm not talking about… you did?" said Shippo, blinking.
"That's beside the point," said Miroku, stepping in swiftly. "What we're talking about is you and InuYasha last night and the night before."
"Wait, you're a part of this too?" shouted InuYasha.
"Hey, I thought we agreed I was going to deal with this," snapped Yoshiko.
"I'm confused…" said Sueko, holding her head.
"Me too…" muttered Toboe.
"Did you or did you not have sex with InuYasha two nights before?" sighed Miroku.
"What?" cried Sango. "You didn't tell me about that!"
Yoshiko stared at the three for a minute, her face completely blank. InuYasha's eyebrow was twitching and Sueko kept blinking. Suddenly Toboe cried out and put his hands over his doggy ears.
"No! Sueko's my mommy, not Yoshiko! Yoshiko is cool, but I don't want her to be my mommy! She's my aunt!" cried Toboe. This soon just turned into him saying 'no' over and over again, slowly getting quieter. When everybody turned away from him Yoshiko burst out laughing.
"Okay, now I get it!" she said, when she had calmed down. "No, me and InuYasha did not have sex. We had to share the same bed because the hut we got to ourselves was small and half of it was dank, not the best place to sleep," explained Yoshiko. "And the back pain and sickness was not because I was pregnant. If I was pregnant that would mean I had had sex long before yesterday. No, I'm just on my period and it just got really bad so I felt sick a lot. So finally, me and InuYasha don't like each other, we're just really good friends because we both happen to be half-demons."
"But… you're so much like Kagome…" muttered Shippo, sitting down and looking pitiful as he looked down at the ground.
"What was up with the kiss then?" asked Sueko, not looking like it bothered her anymore.
"Hormones?" said Yoshiko, looking at the sky. "I don't know. I was just noticing that InuYasha's eyes were hazel. I have no idea what he was thinking and he won't tell me."
"Like you need to know…" murmured InuYasha, turning pink and looking away.
"He was thinking how much you act like Kagome!" cried Shippo triumphantly, standing up. "Ow!" he cried as Yoshiko hit him on the head.
"You know, we went over this once before you little twerp," said Yoshiko, glaring at him.
"We… we did?" stammered Shippo, taking a step back.
"Yeah…"
"Um…" said Shippo, thinking really hard. "Oh yeah! It was the half-moon and you and InuYasha had walked off together… alone… Then you came back holding his arm."
Yoshiko hit him again. "And you said you weren't going to say anything…"
"Sorry!" cried Shippo. "I won't ever mention it again," he said, bowing at Yoshiko's feet. "Sorry, sorry, sorry…"
"And you two!" said Yoshiko, stepping around the fox demon and looking at Miroku and Sango. "I bet you expected some sort of fight…" she said, looking pointedly at Miroku.
"Guilty as charged!" laughed Miroku.
"You're hopeless…" muttered Sango, walking off.
"Can we go now?" asked Sueko, looking much happier now that everything was explained.
"Yeah, sounds good… InuYasha, are you okay?" asked Yoshiko, blinking at him.
"Yeah…" muttered InuYasha, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Miroku.
The trip back down the mountain was much quicker. Yoshiko agreed to carry her bag back down but insisted that InuYasha continue to carry Sueko's. When they reached the bridge Sueko was the first one across, rushing over like her life depended on it. InuYasha followed afterwards quickly. Yoshiko was the last over holding on for dear life.
"I feel like I'm going to be sick again…" she muttered, almost about to stand on solid ground again when she tripped over a loose board.
"Got you!" said InuYasha, helping her the rest of the way across.
"Nice catch, InuYasha," said Miroku.
"Well," said InuYasha, blushing, "I had to make up for missing Sueko…"
"InuYasha," said Sueko, standing on her tip toes and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you…"
Then, with her face bright red, she rushed off. Yoshiko laughed and left InuYasha to his thoughts to make sure Sueko didn't get lost. Except for the fact that Shippo was completely moody, everything seemed to be back to normal. Oh, and Yoshiko's cramps were ultra bad, but other than that things were fine. Okay, Sueko was being more ditzy than usual since she kissed InuYasha, but that was to be expected, right?
Alright, things weren't completely back to normal. And Yoshiko could so tell that Shippo wasn't about to give up on her and InuYasha. But she was ready for it…
Well, kind of.