Inutori: Wow. I can't believe I've taken so long to update any stories. I feel like a complete loser, and I apologize.
Inuyasha: You should feel like a loser: you have failed once again to take possession of me!
Inutori: Alas, I do not own Inuyasha, but I do hold rights to all of Sango's and Kagome's kids, as well as the extra demons making appearances here.
Inuyasha: Who else would actually want to own them?
Inutori: Shut it, Inuyasha. :to readers: go ahead and read the chapter, my friends.

Last time…

She stopped in the clearing where the god tree stood, tall and proud. At its roots Kagome could make out the crouched forms of what must have been some demons.

The hanyou held Tetsusaiga tightly in front of him and was growling at the pair of demons.

"Leave us be, monster." The one that seemed to be the dominant of the two stood up straight, revealing a small frame and female figure. "Do not mingle in the affairs of the Forest Fox."

Chapter 2
Strange Revelation

Jinu pulled her youngest brother close to her; carefully watching the other four children. Her mother had just run out the door after they had heard that scream, telling her to watch the kids.

Takuske and Hankui were arm wrestling, trying to pass the evening and relieving some of the tension in the room. They all knew Namise was missing: they weren't stupid.

Hotaru was constantly looking out the window waiting for…something…anything to know that their mother and sister were alright.

Jinu just wanted some sort of reassurance.

Chaos pulled lightly on her kimono to get her attention.

"I'm scared."

In those two words the five-year-old boy had summed up what everyone there felt. Jinu could only nod, hoping that Chaos wouldn't see her fear. They all knew the dangers of the world; what if something awful had befallen Namise? She was still just a baby.

A knock at the door made everyone jump and stare at the flap of hide. Someone was there.

Someone pulled back the flap and Taishou stepped inside.

"What's going on?" Jinu nearly leapt to her feet, but the boy in her arms constrained her. The worried stretch of her voice was as plain as day.

Taishou looked up from the floorboards gloomily. "I…I'm not sure…"

He collapsed into an exhausted slumber, crumpling to the floor unexpectedly.

Jinu brushed Chaos out of her lap and rushed to the boy's side. He was running a fever. She looked up at Takuske, silently giving him orders. The sixteen-year-old nodded and dived into the other part of the house and then the swish of the demon hide was heard as he left the building.

Hankui knelt down to face Jinu, looking at the worn boy and then to his elder sister. "What's going on?"

She twitched when he questioned her; she had asked that very same question not a minute before. How slow can you be? "Taishou is sick." That's all she could do for a proper answer. She didn't know about anything else.

Shippou sniffed the air, lingering in the clearing by the Goshinboku before heading back to the village. The scent that clung to the grass was vaguely familiar but he couldn't decide why.

As a grown demon, Shippou could hold his own in battle: Inuyasha still acted like he was five. With that fox demon, Inuyasha had taken the initiative and told him to stand back. A lot of good that had done him; the younger demon picked up both Namise and the older demon and disappeared.

The she-demon had done something to Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sango as well. Shippou had been unaffected by it, but he was beginning to think that that had something to do with his fox-blood. Before him laid the three heroes of his life, the only one missing was Miroku. Kagome had collapsed on Inuyasha's back, having run to him when he was knocked down. Sango was pinned under her boomerang and looking the worse for wear.

They were all in some sort of trance-like state, not moving and barely breathing. He would find a cure if it was the last thing he did. Shippou stood tall, overlooking his adopted family with sorrow. For some strange reason Shippou got the sinking feeling that his vow was going to be hard to uphold alone.

He heard footsteps approaching fast from behind him, and turned just as Takuske rushed into the clearing. "Shippou!" The teenager was breathing hard, obviously having run quite a distance; most likely all the way from the village. "What happened?"

Shippou shook his head while looking at the ground, unable to explain what exactly HAD happened.

"Taishou collapsed and Jinu is taking care of him, come on!" Takuske glanced only briefly at his mother and her lifetime friends, not showing his feelings on his face. Shippou imagined that Miroku would have been the same.

The kitsune youkai nodded and followed Takuske back to the village, throwing one last glance at the three bodies lying there unprotected.

Miroku tapped his staff on the tree, listening to the echo it produced. The villagers were right; their sacred tree was indeed hollow. This goshinboku must have been thousands of years old based on its size. The whole village could probably stand in the trunk.

He cracked his neck and walked around the base of the tree; stepping over protruding roots and feeling the soggy ground give under his sandals. If he was correct, a demon was inside the tree.

What kind though? It didn't feel like any of the usual possessors and it didn't feel all that threatening; the tree was still living despite being hollowed out. Miroku looked around again and took in the surroundings.

The rest of the forest couldn't have been more than thirty years old, and from the rotting, charred stumps he could tell that the area was recovering from being burned. Just 100 yards off stood a wooden fence and he could see cattle grazing on the luscious grass on the other side.

Miroku could tell that the village was new, but they hadn't told him that they had massacred the forest. The demon in the goshinboku could very well be an angry tree spirit. He wouldn't feel right exorcising that.

A twig snapped off to his right and Miroku jerked to look for the source of the noise. Light cascaded through the leaf canopy above and a bird started singing, but there was nothing else there.

Relaxing, Miroku focused his spiritual energy on the immediate area and began picking up on things he had missed previously. The demon in the god tree was a forest fox: a weak one. He could tell that it was going to die soon. There was another presence too. A few, actually: there was a wolf demon, a mixed-blood demon, and a human female.

Relying on his sixth sense, Miroku stepped forward towards the trio. The youki signature of the wolf demon was very similar to Kouga's and Miroku wondered if it was the wolf leader. The mixed-blood demon was definitely female, and related both to the forest fox in the tree and the wolf demon. Miroku stopped in his tracks as he read the signature of the human. It couldn't be.

"Sango?" He opened his eyes, breaking the meditative state he was in. It had been so long since he had seen his wife that he wasn't sure if it really was her, but that feisty glow to her aura made him think immediately of Sango.

A demon with black hair appeared suddenly in front of him, the youkai's eyes glowing in amusement. "Is that her name?" The wolf held up a small child by her kimono and the girl looked at Miroku with frightened magenta eyes.

That wasn't Sango, but she certainly had his wife's unique eyes. He shook his head, hypnotized by the little child that was no more than four.

"Ignore him, he's just a wannabe priest." Miroku's focus turned from the child and wolf demon to the female mixed blood. She stood slightly behind the wolf demon, her face masked with a scowl. He felt his lecherous side take over as he eyed her small frame and bright green eyes.

Her hair was mainly an auburn color like what he remembered Shippou's as being, maybe slightly darker, except two large black streaks adorning either side of her head.

Miroku came out of his trance-like state when he realized that the two demons had walked passed him, seeming to forget that he was there. He jerked around and watched them sit down at the base of the tree, sitting the girl down and holding the back of her kimono.

He was about to speak when the bark of the tree seemed to ripple and a demon emerged. This was the third demon of the group that took on a human guise. Sango's caution about the demons that disguised themselves as humans suddenly came to mind. She said that they were the most powerful ones.

Assessing the third demon as it emerged from the god tree, Miroku could tell that it was ill and very possibly dying. It was a beautiful she-demon with flaming red hair with a tint of brown and a long bushy tail to match. Miroku then realized that all of the demons had tails. The wolf's was black, the fox's was red, and the mixed-blood's was a black-tipped auburn tail.

Miroku pulled himself into a defensive stance and spoke, "Release the girl to me or I'll be forced to exorcise you all." It was about this time that Miroku wished he still had the void in his hand to throw into the equation. Without the side effects of it eventually killing him, of course.

The trio looked up at him and the two strong youkai chuckled a little. "What are you going to do with her, give her to the local village?"

As irritating as it was, the demons were mocking him. "That would be my intentions, yes." Miroku hated the fact that demons seemed to hold no respect for humans and their families. There was probably some destitute young family missing their little girl just a few hundred yards away and these demons didn't care in the least. It was his job to right the wrongs committed by the fowl creatures in front of him.

Jinu tore through the house, frantically looking for things that could help her. She thought that she would have the best luck finding any sort of weapon in her mom's room, so she dug around in the trunks, throwing kimonos and miscellaneous this way and that.

With a sigh of resignation, Jinu threw herself back on the floor heavily. Unfortunately, the boards must have been loose because she fell right through the floor with a loud crack.

Shippou and Hankui came running in afraid that something had happened.

"Jinu! What happ-" Hankui burst out into laughter at the sight of Jinu.

Her rear end was hidden by the floor boards and her legs were flung upwards at what must have been an uncomfortable angle. The kimono she was wearing had ridden to mid-thigh thanks to gravity and had loosened and come off one shoulder as well. All in all she looked like a mess.

Shippou blushed and turned away, but Jinu's growl of "A little help here please?" tore him out of his embarrassment. He went to her side where he took hold of both of her hands and pulled her to her feet.

Jinu looked back at the broken floor boards and cringed momentarily. Her expression turned almost immediately to a smile as she knelt by the newly formed whole and pulled out a heavy, light brown sack.

Hankui and Shippou came around to either side of her as she untied the ribbon and let the bag's contents spill across the floor. She heard Shippou take in a breath and she turned around and gave him a strange look. "What's your problem?"

"That's Sango's gear. I thought she burned in." Shippou muttered in awe, staring at the junk that now cluttered her mother's floor.

"Mom's…gear?" Hankui tilted his head and picked up a short sword. "But why does she have weapons?"

Shippou cocked an eyebrow at Hankui. Jinu took the opportunity to collect a bundle of clothes and exit the room and go into the girls' room where she stripped her kimono and put on the sleek black material. It hugged her body like a second skin except around the waist. It was a bit baggy there, and the hips and bust felt a bit tight. Nevertheless, it would do.

She reentered her mother's room, adorned in the black suit that was accented by pink shoulder and knee pads and some pads that rested around her hips.

The boys took a moment to notice her, but when they did their jaws dropped. Shippou seemed to turn slightly red, too.

"Go put some clothes on, Jinu!" Hankui pointed a finger out the door, his expression turning from shock to anger.

"I'm not your little sister!" Jinu put her hands on her waist and huffed, not knowing why she didn't want to get out of the clothes that didn't fit her exactly as they should.

"No, but you're still my sister! Change!" Hankui didn't seem pleased at all with what his older sister was wearing.

Shippou handed Jinu a few more items from the bag in what seemed to be shocked awe.

When she looked at what she had been handed, she realized they went with the outfit. It was stuff including boots and wrist bands among other things. Pretty soon all of the stuff from the bag was somehow stowed on Jinu's person.

"You look just like Sango-chan with that on." Shippou still seemed to be in shock, and his voice was a bit distant.

Jinu nodded while at the same time pulling her hair up into a high ponytail and tying it. Her hair fell freely to a little past her waist when she put down her arms, swinging her head back and forth a little bit to try out the hold of her hair tie.

Somehow the new attire made her feel more confident in facing whatever it was that had taken her sister.

"Hold on a moment." Shippou disappeared out the door faster than either of the two others could protest and was gone.

Hankui looked at Jinu with a glare. "If mom were here she'd shoot you for wearing that."

With a roll of her eyes Jinu brushed him off, "Not necessarily. Shippou-chan said that this WAS mom's. She's probably worn it a hundred times."

Noise in the adjoining room distracted them and they both instinctively walked out of their mother's bedroom and into the main part of the hut. Taishou was stirring and the younger kids were bombarding him with questions.

"Jinu, you're mom has an oversized boomerang." The first words out of Taishou's mouth made everyone stop in their tracks and stare.

In that moment where breathing seemed to stop, Shippou burst into the little room carrying a large, off-white colored, curved something-or-other. He had a grin as he presented it to Jinu like a child would give his mother a wilting flower he had picked from her garden.

Miroku breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath after that hard run. He wasn't as young as he once was, as much as he hated to admit it. The quiet little girl was tucked under his arm, now safe from the demons' clutches.

Unfortunately, the demons had been too powerful to exterminate, so they were still roaming free. It was his hope that the youkai didn't have any particular need for this little girl so that he wouldn't have to deal with them again. So far it looked like this was the case.

He set the child down, scanning her with his eyes to ensure that she was unscathed. She appeared unharmed, at which he sighed with relief. Now he just had to figure out where the demons had picked her up.

"What's your name, kid?" Miroku wasn't sure the child could talk, based on her age, but he figured he could give it a shot.

No luck. The girl didn't answer, just stared at him with wide, magenta eyes. Eyes that aren't an everyday occurrence. Miroku cringed at himself. Sango would kill him if he ever came back. He had been gone far too long to expect any lesser punishment.

Jinu was probably married by now, being already eighteen. The twins too, knowing his blood ran in them.

Miroku looked once again at the little girl before him. She was just staring at him, no fear in her eyes. Feeling some sort of fatherly protectiveness for the girl suddenly, Miroku swept her back into his arms and continued his trek, this time in search of that village so close to the demons he had just fled.

I
Do
Not
Sleep

Inutori: KK everybody. The chapter's done, being over 7 pages long. I know it isn't much, but it is SOMETHING, right?
Kagome: Am I dead?
Inutori: Of course you're not dead! You're just not conscious.
Sango: Am I dead? I was crushed by Haraikotsu, after all.
Inutori: Nobody's dead!...yet…quite pestering me about it! Oh, and readers, thanks for reading my story, if you could leave a quick review it'd be appreciated! Then maybe I'll know I'm not hated. Ja ne!