Author's Notes: AS PROMISED! (for once) ! HERE IS THE MCUH-AWAITED EIGHTH CHAPTER OF SHADOWFOX! THE HIT SERIES THAT HAS WON OVER THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS!

Audience members: ((four of them))

Random Audience member #1: ((cough, cough))

DSK: DIE! ((blows head off random audience member #1 on 'accident')) oops... heh heh guess that was an audience member... heh heh...damn my nerves... heh...erm... anyhoo...

well, u can now also check out the fics "The Demon's Reign" and "Anywhere But Home" Chapter one of TDR "Decisions" and chapter one of AWBH "Haunted" are now up if u are reading this! YAY FOR ME!

Kitsune: ((cough, cough))

DSK: Shut up, you...

Kitsune: HEY, REMAINING READERS! GUESS WHAT! DSK DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THIS CHAPTER FINISHED UNTIL MARCH 14TH! AND THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE DEMON'S REIGN WASN'T EVEN FINISHED EITHER! SHE JUST LOOKS AT WHAT SHE WRITES AND MAKES UP THE ENDINGS! I SWEAR!

DSK: ((muffles him... forcefully)) HE'S LYING! DON'T BELIEVE HIM, HE'S CRAZY!

Kitsune: ((bound and gagged in closet)) MRFF! MRFFFFFF! MRGLE MRFFF MRGGGLEEDEE! FURRRRG! FRR!

DSK: that's the most sense you've made in YEARS, Kitsune...

Kitsune: MURFFLE!

Ayame: ((pops up randomly)) translation: Shut up, DSK!((poofs away))

Disclaimer: ...Honestly... if I owned InuYasha... don't you think that I would've inserted myself and killed both Kagome and Kikyo and possibly Sango just for good measure by now! i mean... there can't be any competition...((evil grin))

Story Thus Far: don't ask me why i'm doing this... you should've read the other chapters... GO BACK AND READ THEM IF YOU DUNNO WHAT'S GOING ON!

Kitsune: told'ja... she's stalling!

DSK: HOW THE HELL'D YOU GET OUTTA THE CLOSET, FOX-BOY!

Inu-Yasha blinked open his golden eyes to the sun's gleaming rays peeking out of the sky. It was early, with night's existence still present: the sky darkened severely to the west. He looked around, blearily taking in his surroundings.

'Where the hell am I! Wait...' Then it hit him. His brother, Kitsune, the Shadowfox. Inu-Yasha scanned the room and found that Kitsune wasn't, in fact, there. He growled, immediately alert. If this was a trap, someone was going to pay, and it wouldn't be him. He stood, cautiously sliding Tetsusaiga into its usual home at his waist. He walked to the door and pulled it open slowly. His eyes were fierce as he took in every detail of the hallway. All the way down into the Yokohama Shrine's cavernous front room. He saw the High Priestess Tomoe fletching oak arrows with the thick feathers of eagles. She turned to the corner and smiled.

Inu-Yasha followed her gaze and had to admit he was quite shocked. Kitsune sat, surrounded by young demons and immortal-human children. He was balancing a ball of crystalline foxfire on his hand and bending it however he liked. The dancing flame took the forms of animals, elements, and anything else the children cheered for. Inu-Yasha noticed that Shippo was among the audience, shouting for a new shape. The hanyou smirked in spite of himself. He didn't think that Shippo had ever come into contact with a grown fox, who had real powers that the kit could learn from. But, judging by the way Kitsune was grinning like a maniac, (even though he had probably played with foxfire all his life), the 'grown fox' wasn't much older than Shippo in spirit. Or, Strike that, Maturity. Kitsune looked up and the foxfire ball disappeared in a whisp of black smoke. The children all sighed and ran away to find something to keep themselves entertained for the moment. The Shadowfox stood and looked at Inu-Yasha.

"Hi." Kitsune smirked, "Good morning. How are you?"

Inu-Yasha gave him a peculiar look that clearly read "What. The. Hell?" The Shadowfox laughed, almost hollowly, the inu hanyou noticed. Shippo and the rest of the kids were having fun chasing each other. The two youngest brothers of the Inutaishou watched them for a moment. Inu-Yasha closed his eyes and sighed.

"Any other siblings I need to know about?" He asked Kitsune. The fox stretched and put his hands behind his head.

"Not that I know of.. I'll update you as I learn," Kitsune ended dryly.

A young female wolf demon trotted up to them. She looked at the both of them in turn, shyly.

"You have funny ears," She said to Kitsune finally, kneading her tail and hiding her face behind it.

"And you have a funny tail," The fox stated back, "So sod off." The girl petted her tail like it was her pet.

"You really think it's funny?" She asked in a small voice, looking at the two brothers. Inu-Yasha gave Kitsune a questioning look. The fox's returned gaze was pained in a "For Pete's sake!" kinda way.

"Yes, it's very funny..." Kitsune muttered. Inu-Yasha was trying not to laugh.

"Okay!" The tiny wolf girl wandered off. With a burst of wolfwind, she turned into a wolf. A smaller child climbed onto her gray back, taking hold of her thick fur. Kitsune laughed at Inu-Yasha's gaping expression: ((O.O)).

"Never seen a wolf demon do that, have you?" The Shadowfox asked.

"Nope..." The dog-hanyou looked at his young half-brother, "But it's a good thing Koga can't."

"You do have a point on that one..." Kitsune returned, nodding wisely. (How he knows Koga is a fact that need not be explained...okay, fine... poetic license.. so sue me! )

Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Inu-Yasha, Shippo, Tomoe and Kitsune were sitting around, enjoying the morning, occasionally playing with the children and young demons (most likely NOT Miroku or Inu-Yasha), wincing as the sound of Sango's slaps broke the sound barrier, but, more than any of that, waiting for Ayame... At about noon, the Shadowfox vixen staggered in sleepily. She yawned and noticed that everyone was staring at her.

"Wha?" She stared back at them.

"Out of curiosity, my dearest Ayame-chan, are you sure you're a fox? Or are you a cat?" Kitsune was giving her a dead-serious look.

"Well, sorry, Hero-boy, but not everyone can wake up at the crack of freakin' dawn!" Ayame-'chan' snapped in response.

"Well, not everyone can sleep til noon, either..." Kitsune returned bluntly.

Tomoe cleared her throat to let them know that it was time to be serious. They all turned to look at the priestess.

"We need a plan to defeat Naraku," Tomoe said in an authoritive and determined voice.

"Well, DUH... We kinda figured that much..." Kitsune totally destroyed the dramatic effect in the room. Tomoe glared at him. Ayame, being closer to the idiot, whacked him.

"OW!" He stated sharply.

"Thank you, Ayame," Tomoe said, bowing her head to the vixen.

"No problem!"

"Anyway," The priestess began again, "We all know that Naraku turns human... But... We know that he can choose which night this happens... That's a pretty big set-back..."

"Actually... he probably chooses the new moon..." Kitsune said thoughtfully. Everyone turned to look at him in disbelief.

"Well, think about it," He continued, "On the new moon, it's too dark for humans to see very far, and demons can't carry scents as well without the lunar demons showing the path." (umm.. no clue where this came from... more poetic license).

"He has a point..." Sango said admittedly, "There are a lot of reasons to choose the new moon..."
"But there are just as many reasons to choose the full moon or an in-between moon..." Kitsune said, still deep in thought, "The full moon may be chosen because, since it's the harvest moon, humans are busy, and even though demons can see and smell better, they wouldn't go after him because they're too busy picking off the harvesting humans..."

"Riveting descriptions..." Miroku put in sadistically.

"But they're true..." Inu-Yasha said, "Meaning we still have no idea what he'll choose.."

"So what?" Kitsune said, "We can guess.. Besides, picking off a weak opponent isn't my idea of a fair or fun battle."

"We Taijiya were taught to fight fairly and only fairly," Sango said in a courageous,

warrioress-esque tone.

"Though that bastard deserves to be destroyed while he's weak," Inu-Yasha said angrily, "He does deserve the decency of a chance."

"Yeah... to do something like that would be sinking to his level," Kagome spoke up, "We'll let him die knowing we're better than him in both strength and morals."

"Well, you know of his incarnation, Kagura, do you not?" Tomoe asked gravely.

"We know her..." Miroku said cautiously.

"Well, she may actually help us." Everyone turned to stare, openmouthed, at Tomoe.

"She despises Naraku more than anything in the world," The priestess continued, "She has helped me once against him. More than anything she wants him to die so she can be free."

"That's true..." Kitsune said, "She's tipped me off to his plans as well."

"She did help us out that one time..." Kagome said, "She refused his orders.."

"It never really occurred to us that she might rebel against Naraku..." Sango said.

"And, of course, Kikyo will help us," Tomoe started again, "She hates Naraku as well."

"And I highly doubt she would let her beloved Inu-Yasha get hurt in a battle against him without stepping in..." Kitsune sent the dog-hanyou a look. He got a wicked death glare in return.

"Just stating the obvious..." The Shadowfox shrugged.

"He's right," Miroku said, "Lady Kikyo, whether she died spitefully or not, won't allow Naraku to kill anything without her stepping in first."

"So we have two allies behind the enemy's walls." Sango was petting Kirara. The tiny cat mewed.

"And once Kohaku awakens, we'll have him, too." Kagome reminded the Slayer.

"If he's able to fight... he may be too injured," Miroku stated gravely.

"That's very true..." Sango's painful memories were playing across her features, shadowing her usually bright eyes.

Author's Notes: HEEEE! SURPRISE! AS A FURTHER PRESENT TO YOU, I'M GIVING SHADOWFOX A MAKEOVER! ((pulls out random makeup kit))

Kitsune: Touch me with that and I swear to the GODS I'll kill you...

DSK: LIKE I'D BOTHER! i'm going to correct all the chapters and then re-upload them so that the story should appear correct! YAY! DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT "THE DEMON'S REIGN" AND "ANYWHERE BUT HOME!"

Review Responses:

lil' devil 2004: thank you for UR HAPPY B-DAY MESSAGE! well, here ya go! srry for the disappointment!

NaokoMageofDarkness: or Van Hagar or whoever the hell u are these days, Naoko-chan! well, here's ya go! BOB IS VASH THE DONUT-EATING MEXICAN BALLET DANCER!... wow... combing all insults into one... TRIGUN STARTS AGAIN TONIGHT, AS OF MARCH 15TH, 2005 AGAIN ON ADULT SWIM! YES YES YES YES YES YES! THAT IS THE GREATEST B-DAY PRESENT! oh... and the Slipknot concert this weekend... WHICH I WON'T BE ABLE TO GO TO! CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAPPPPPPP! oh well, with any luck I can go see Mudvayne's tour or sumpthin'...

Rachel: hee srry for leavin' u in gym! well, here's the next chappie! and don'cha hate it when they make you get off the net? they're all like 'GET OFF THE INTERNET, YOU'RE IM-ING US OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME!' I mean, HONESTLY, who the HELL needs a HOUSE! lol... thankies again for the review

REMEMBER TO REVIEW MY LOVELY READERS! AND I PROMISE I WON'T BLOW ANY MORE HEADS OFF BY ACCIDENT! and what Kitsune said about the not having it typed thing... eh heh heh... oops...

Kitsune: TOLD'JA! TOLD'JA! ((leaps and points accusingly in background))

DSK: DON'T LISTEN, HE'S A PSYCHO! JUST YESTERDAY HE TRIED TO COOK A SQUIRREL IN THE MICROWAVE!

Kitsune: soo? I'm a fox who doesn't enjoy squirrel meat raw... so sue me...

DSK: erm... okay then... BAI PEOPLE!