I thought of something the other day while I was watching Inuyasha: Extra characters that get killed come in two sizes: Lone traveler and entire village. There is no middle ground.

Anyone else find this interesting?

Also, one characteristic of siamyoushou poison I drew upon for this chapter: It appears, poisons, and then if it doesn't kill Miroku, immediately disappears without a trace.

And just on the topic of noticing stuff, the fluffy's not the only thing that's growing. The Osuwari is gaining strength as well, going from just pushing him over to actually creating hanyou-shaped craters in the ground.

(Disclaimer: I own nothing. I own none of these characters and even if I do I give them to Romiko Takahashi for letting me borrow her nice ones to write fan fiction about.)

Also, this chapter is dedicated to Captain Jack Skellington, who I miss, even if he was a jerk.

"It's getting dark," Sango remarked.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Kikyo asked.

"No, nowhere."

"They could probably spend the night at the station," Koga interjected.

"Not Inuyasha. He'd probably be met with the same kind of reaction he got from the guys back there."

The four of them sat in the cruiser a few blocks away from what was left of Inuyasha's home. The sun had disappeared below the tree line, and shadows were slowly overtaking everything in sight.

"I don't want to leave him alone," Sango said.

"I guess you could spend the night at my place. It's not much but it's a roof over your head and nobody will look for you there."

"Are you sure?"

Sango thought of her home, ransacked, Inuyasha's burned to the ground, Miroku's, probably wrecked in the explosion of wind.

"I'm sure."

"What about Sesshy? If he comes back he won't know where I am!"

All heads turned to Inuyasha, who had been silent since after his mother's fate had been discovered. He didn't know about his half- brother.

And now was not the time to tell him.

"He'll come to the police station and they'll know where you are," Sango told him. The hanyou sniffed.

"Okay."

"Hey, what about Miroku? Do you think we should tell him?"

"We might as well."

The boy in question was having some trouble convincing a particularly large nurse that he was, indeed, well enough to go.

"We can't let you go without a release form."

"That's okay, give it to me."

"It has to be filled out by a parent or guardian."

"See, I'm kinda short on those at the moment."

"Then you can't leave."

"By short I mean I don't have any, and there's a very small chance of one appearing at any time in the next... ever."

"Then you can't leave."

"EVER!"

"Those are the rules."

Miroku could have sworn the woman was developing a Russian accent, but he was probably just imagining it.

"You're telling me that since no parent can sign that piece of paper there I'm going to be trapped in this hospital forever."

"No."

"Good, because that was really stupid sounding."

"At eighteen you can sign them yourself."

Miroku searched his brain for some kind of relative. He didn't have anybody.

"Gimme that thing," he said, removing the paper from the woman's hand.

"This is just a disclaimer!"

"Yes, that's what it is. If you remove yourself from the hospital before we say you're well enough to go, we're not responsible for anything that happens to you."

"Damn lawyers..."

"I think I can sign that."

The two of them whirled to face the new voice.

It was Kikyo.

"We need this kid for an investigation, and I believe I'm entitled to sign for temporary custody in such a case?"

"Um... yeah... I guess."

The nurse handed over the pencil, and Kikyo scribbled out an illegible signature.

"Thanks so much."

Five minutes later they were gone.

For those of you who were wondering what Jaken, Sesshoumaru, and Naraku were up to, the answer is: Not much.

They weren't moving very fast, but at least it was night, so unless they flew across the slightly less than full moon, they wouldn't be seen. Jaken was hanging onto the fluffy for all he was worth. He had given up trying to talk a long time ago, Sesshoumaru didn't respond, or even acknowledge that the smaller youkai had spoken. He was lost in his own little world.

Jaken wondered what he was thinking about. It probably had something to do with the other youkai, Naraku, his name was.

Where had he come from?

How did he fit into this whole mess?

Now wasn't the time to ask. He would probably react the same was Sesshoumaru had, that is, not at all. But there was a look on his face, something like a smugness, that Jaken didn't like at all.

Not at all.

Sesshoumaru was thinking about his family, how his father had given up infinite power to be with a human. This, he felt, was an immensely stupid decision, so why had his father made it? There had to be a reason.

He thought of Inuyasha and how just the week before the boy had come running to him with some treasure he found outside. How the hanyou looked up to him.

He wondered if, maybe, he should have said good-bye.

Naraku was... well, who knows what Naraku was thinking about? Even as he moved silently through the night, the demons within him squirmed and writhed, parting, rejoining, becoming more and more powerful.

There hadn't been many demons in this moon, and the ones that had transformed had been weak, almost to the point where the hanyou had thought he was being deceived. They didn't even begin to fight back as he absorbed them, and their powers, into his own body.

Finding Inu no Taisho had been unexpected, almost as much as finding, so close, the descendants of the demon slayers.

Unexpected, but incredibly helpful.

Inu no Taisho, he knew, wouldn't fall for such a trick, but perhaps he, too, had a descendant who had recently gained their demon powers?

And he did, two to be precise. Naraku had no use for another hanyou, and had left the child alone, particularly when there was another, a daiyoukai, right there.

Naraku's eyes flicked over to Sesshoumaru, who was lost in his own thoughts.

A demon almost as powerful as his father, and as innocent as they come.

All he had to do was wait until the teenager's heart had been darkened, by some means, and then he could absorb him, too.

He would be invincible.

And all he had to do was wait.

"You guys can stay the night here, but tomorrow we have to find someplace for you to go, okay?"

"Okay."

Kikyo wasn't going to dump the three children onto the street, but that didn't mean she was adopting them, either.

The apartment wasn't big. There was a kitchenette, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a common area. The couch folded out, and was actually pretty big. Inuyahsa jumped on it immediately, burying himself in the loose blankets Kikyo conjured from somewhere. She noticed he was still wearing a red kimono, for some reason unknown to her. With a start, she realized that he was even wearing a sword. The handle looked kinda fake, but the sheath looked real enough. Sango, too, had on armor of sorts, made from pink and black kneepads. Miroku was the only one dressed normally, if you discounted the cloth on his right hand.

Weird bunch of kids.

"Okay, it's almost ten o clock and I have work tomorrow, so everybody find somewhere to sleep, okay? 'night."

She retreated into her own bedroom. Inuyasha and Sango split up the bed, and Miroku used another blanket to make a sleeping place on the floor.

"SO what do we do tomorrow?" Inuyasha asked, already half asleep.

Sango and Miroku shared a glance. They knew, better than the hanyou, what kind of trouble they were in. Miroku had told the others the suspicions he had surrounding the buzzing hive, and they had all agreed that something strange was happening.

Even without a potential killer hanging over their heads, they still had problems. Without any kind of legal guardian they'd be sent to foster homes. Who knows what kinds of problems Inuyahsa would come into, he wasn't even human, and while he could defend himself against one attacker, maybe two, he wouldn't last long if anyone found out where he was.

"There has to be somewhere we could go," Sango stated.

"There's other youkai, right? Where are they going to? If we could find one of them, maybe..."

"No, they'd all be holed up, trying to do things secretly, like we are."

"They're going to Japan," Inuyahsa said sleepily.

"Yeah, get parts in Godzilla movies."

"What about Sesshoumaru? Wherever he is, I bet he's looking for us. And that other guy. Miroku, he tried to kill both of us, and I'd be willing to bet he didn't just give up."

"Sesshy's going to Japan," Inuyahsa insisted.

"Why would he do that?"

"Cuz that's where the well is," he continued. That said, he finished his part in the conversation and fell asleep instantly, the way only children and anime characters can.

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

"Nope."

"Might as well think about this in the morning, then, huh."

"Might as well."

But it was still a long time before either of them fell asleep.

You know, the first time I heard that Romiko had hit four hundred chapters and was aiming for five, I thought that it was ridiculous. Adn then when I came here to good old I see these stories that are twenty chapters long and I thought you guys were crazy, who could write a fanfiction that long?

And now, here I am, and I don't know what it is, but something about these characters makes you want to keep writing... and writing... and writing...

That's the sign of a good story, there.

Also, as a side note, I take back everything bad I've ever said about Yu-gi-oh. My sister's a seasoned veteran who got me to play with her, I lost my first game and I've beaten her every time since, and that game is definitely worth the ten bucks I spent on the deck, definitely.

That said, Sesshoumaru would still kick Yugi's ass in a fight any day.