Author's Notes: I'll try to make this quick, so that no one has time to throw anything at me for taking so damn long to update. ((ducks flying objects)) GOMEN NASAI GOZAIMASU! ((bow, bow, bow)) Onward!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. I own nothing. But Hell, I still wish I did, anyhoo...

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Shadowfox Chapter 12: Progression

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Once Kitsune and Koga were separated, (quite forcefully, thanks to Ayame), the group was at peace with each other, sharing stories of joyful adventures and comical mistakes... Or at least they would have, if the rest of the Inu-tachi along with Ginta, Hakkaku, Tomoe, Ayame and Kasu couldn't feel the hateful stares that Koga and Kitsune were giving each other.

Ayame, who had been sitting quietly, for the most part, was now twitching slightly in annoyance as the two demons commenced in a stare down. Her frustration came in a new, exasperating wave as Kitsune jumped up suddenly.

"YOU BLINKED, WOLF!" The Shadowfox was pointing accusingly at the demon in question.

"I DID NOT!" Koga shouted back immaturely.

"SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP, THE BOTH OF YOU!" Ayame finally exploded on them, leaving the two demons cowering, "NOW, BACK TO YOUR CORNERS AND NOT ANOTHER WORD!"

As you may have guessed, Koga and Kitsune immediately sat back down and were suddenly and inexplicably contented to do nothing more than give each other death glares.

"Erm... Thank you, Ayame.." Kasu stated bravely, in a slightly preturbed attempt to bring back conversation.

"Um...yeah...way to go.." Kagome put in timidly.

"Thanks!" Ayame said brightly, giving them all a broad smile.

"So, anyway..." Miroku said, dodging the fact that the vixen had just exploded with the force of a small sonic boom, "I believe Kagura was hanging about...?"

"Yeah, if she's around, she'll probably attack us ag..." Inu-Yasha was cut off by another bout of argument.

"Stupid fox! Stop looking at me like that!" Koga snapped in a less-than-restrained voice.

"Well, sorry for havin' eyes, you fleabitten mongrel." Kitsune's voice was low and wicked. His eyes flashed slightly, as a warning.

Koga 'hmphed' and sat back down.

"Well, then," Tomoe said in a mocking, laughing voice, "Perhaps before we all learn how to control our impulsivity forcefully, we should decide what to do about Kagura, ne?"

"That does seem to be the most tactful way to go about this, doesn't it?" Miroku put in, turning to give a dry look at the three exceedingly competitive dog demons, who were currently arguing, Inu-Yasha having just found it to be an entertaining way to pass the time.

"You idiotic dog! You're just agreeing with him because he's your brother!" Koga's voice piped up, more whining than angry.

"Yeah effin' right! I don't even like him that much!" Inu-Yasha's voice was scoffing and impatient.

"See! He doesn't even like me! Hey, wait..." Kitsune turned to look at Inu-Yasha, his eyes going misty and tearful, "You don't like me, big brother?" He sniffed.

"..." Inu-Yasha gave him the most priceless look the group had ever seen, curious, intrigued and completely and totally disturbed.

Kagome and the others burst out laughing. When she had a bit of control over her hysterical giggles, the modern day girl choked out, "Inu-Yasha, don't be serious! It was just a joke!" Suddenly, she whirled around, her eyes focusing on a certain fox three-quarter demon, who had a look of cruel amusement in his eyes, "It was a joke, right?"

"Of course," Kitsune shrugged off her question with a brief smile, his expression joking before his blue eyes opened again and met her gaze full-force, "I don't really give a damn if he likes me or not. He can't get rid of me anyway."

"Sango, what's wrong? You're awfully quiet.." Miroku turned to look at the Taijiya, whose eyes were now wide with shock, a silent tear running down one side of her face out of her empty brown eyes. "Sango!" He asked again, his voice more frantic.

She didn't hear him. She couldn't have if she tried. Her laughter had ceased and ebbed from her eyes and voice when she heard him speak. Yes, those were his eyes. He was her brother again.. right? The mahogany pools were closed now, his chest rising and falling normally. She had heard him, hadn't she? Yes, she knew she had. His voice, dazed and disoriented suddenly sounded again, "...S-Sister?"

"Yes, Kohaku?" She returned, forcing down the relief in her voice. Fighting the temptation to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him and scream at him that everything would be fine, that he was okay.

"Sango..." Kagome's voice was quiet, "Is he... himself?"

Inu-Yasha's hand went to Tetsusaiga's hilt, "If he isn't, we'll just have to kill him."

"INU-YASHA!" Kagome and Shippo whirled to glare angrily at the half-demon.

"What?" He asked flatly in response, "You know that's what will have to happen."

"No, it isn't." Kitsune's voice was strangely soft. He had moved to crouch next to Sango, peering down intensely at the semi-conscious child, his ever-present fox ears pricked forward curiously. He shifted to fox form, and the long tail twitched in concentration.

Sango looked at the demon, venom in her eyes and voice as she asked defensively, "And what do you mean by that?"

"Hey, down girl, I'm just trying to help out. Don't bite my head off. In fact, if you're going to resort to cannibalism, go for Inu-Yasha. He's the one threatening to kill your prescious brother, not me." The fox's defensive barriers went up and Kagome had the odd feeling that being here and Sango's attitude toward the foxes kept shutting this new demon off to them, more and more. She decided to make that known.

"Sango, maybe you should calm down a bit, he's only trying to help." The young priestess put in mildly, pleasantly. It didn't work.

"Well, I'm just trying to make sure it doesn't involve sacrifice, the selling of the soul, becoming a demon, or anything like that." The Taijiya said defensively.

"Why would you think that!" Koga asked bluntly.

"Foxes are 'known' for their riveting use of bloodshed in magics," Kitsune put in spitefully and gave the rest of them a look that could've killed a cowardly human on the spot. Sango shuddered, having apparently just realized that she was dealing with a very powerful demon.

"Well, then what can you do for him?" She asked timidly.

"An Awakening..." He said, his voice back to being expressionless. He looked up, suddenly hateful again and spat, "Don't worry, no sacrifice or selling souls to Hell."

"But in the meantime, Kagura would be here," Tomoe spoke up for the first time in a bit.

"WHAT!" Kagome, Sango, and Miroku asked in disbelief.

"I've been trying to tell you guys that for the past 10 minutes, but you were all caught up on Kohaku and human sacrifices!" Inu-Yasha snapped.

"Yeah, same here." Koga said.

"Us, too," Ayame chimed in, gesturing to Kasu, to include him in the statement.

"Kitsune, why didn't you say anything?" Kasu asked the younger demon, laughter in his voice.

"I figured someone would." Kitsune responded bluntly.

Kagome sighed, in perfect contrast to the bolt of wind that suddenly shot through the front doors. It spiraled to a halt, where it revealed a feather carrying Kagura and everyone's favorite little psycho, Kanna. A pretty impressive entrance, considering the first thing said was Kagura:

"We are not here to fight, only for Kohaku."

"...Are you joking?" Kasu asked flatly.

"What?" Kagura sneared at him, "What do you mean 'Am I joking'? Are you stupid?"

"Well, apparently so, because I just don't see all the hype leading to this. Talk about a letdown.. I was looking forward to a battle." The shadowfox sighed and plopped back down, he opened one eye and addressed the wind demoness again, "Well, you'll hafta wait, Kitsune's gonna wake him up, or somethin', first."

"NO!" Kanna's voice was incredibly out-of-character, loud and despereate.

"Well, geez, chill out, the kid sleeps too much anyway." Ayame said, the fur of her fox ears still standing from the surprise of the small girl's explosion.

"It is not the master's orders for that thing to touch him!" Kanna shouted angrily, her black eyes wicked.

"Well, then, you do want to fight." Kitsune now stood in front of the small girl, towering over her, his own blue eyes dangerous. He raised one hand and the nails turned to long talons.

"No. We do not wish to fight." Kagura said again, calmly.

"Then leave." Inu-Yasha's voice was ice, his hand resting forebodingly on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

Kagura backed up, "Come on, Kanna, we cannot fight here."

"It is not the master's orders for that to touch him!" The young girl pointed accusingly at Kitsune, and his eyes flashed.

Kagome's bow was aimed carefully at the demoness's mirror as she said, "Well, forget your 'master's orders'! We want Kohaku to wake up!" The arrow fired and the mirror lunged at it hungrily, swallowing it before shattering angrily.

The look of hatred on Kanna's usually expressionless face deepened. She turned to face the three foxes, all of whom looked as though they couldn't care less what the 'master's orders' were, "You will NOT touch him! He is ours!"

"He is a human being and he is my BROTHER!" Hiraikotsu echoed through the air, spinning menacingly as it headed dead for Kanna. Kagura swept back her elder sister.

"We take our leave. But we will return. Be prepared to fight then." The wind demon pulled a feather out of her hair and the two incarnates were gone.

"Well, that was random." Miroku put in bluntly.

"Yeah..." Koga agreed.

"Does that happen often?" Ayame asked Kagome.

"No, normally they fight." The young priestess put in.

"After you shattered Kanna's mirror, Kagura didn't want to risk being killed before she could be free," Tomoe said, "She's smart, she knows what she's up against, and she really doesn't like Naraku. I'd say she's the closest thing you're going to get to an ally on the inside."

"Yep," Inu-Yasha stated, nodding wisely.

Shippo, who everyone had long since forgotten existed, suddenly decided to wake up from his position of sleeping in the corner. He yawned and looked about sleepily, rubbing his eyes, "Did I miss anything?"

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Author's Notes: ((yawn)) why do you people read these? Well, apparently I lied again, Kagura didn't technically attack, but she did show up... and the title's not what I said it would be... ((sigh))... i'm really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY sorry about how long this took... i looked at the last update part of my shadowfox summary and was SHOCKED... Shadowfox was last update on JULY FREAKING 11TH, 2005! ACK! at the time I am finishing this chapter (about a month after I started it), it is now DECEMBER 20TH, 2005! AAAAAAAGH! well, anyway, hopefully you're done laughing at me... ((sigh)) well, thanks for waiting, guys, I really appreciate you readers! you're my BESTEST-BESTEST-BEST FRIENDS! well, peace til next chapter, which I promise won't take this long! DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU! (thank you so much!)... yeah, yeah, um... erm.. it's me.. and, um... yeah, um i was just re-reading this chappie to check for errors before posting... and it is now officially erm... ((checks calender))... JANUARY EFFIN 3RD, 2006! ACKKKKKK! well, i'll post this now...