Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Warning: Character death...

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InuYasha clawed miserably at his tongue in a vain attempt to remove the clumps of cat hair. No matter how much of the vile stuff he scraped away, there always seemed to be more lurking in hard-to-reach areas of his mouth... possibly even stuck between his teeth.

"Dammit, that was horrible!" he wailed with conviction. "A three-day blackout, and I wake up to find... to find myself chasing a cat... oh, the cliché!"

"Aw, don't feel bad, InuYasha," soothed Kagome with a pat on the back. "It wasn't that awful... well, at least, you didn't decimate an entire village or something like that..."

"Well, gee, doesn't that make me feel better," snorted InuYasha, sending sulky glares to Kagome, Kikyou, and Kaede, who sat in the hut with him. "As unbelievable as it may seem, it would be a lot more comforting to know that something like this won't ever happen again," declared InuYasha. "I never thought I'd say this, but it'd be kinda nice if Myouga was here... I could do with an explanation of this, at the very least."

Kikyou perked up. "Do you mean the talking flea that used to follow you around? I killed it."

InuYasha's eyes widened in shock. "What? How could you do that? He was my father's servant!"

"What do you mean?" asked Kikyou, furrowing her brow in confusion. "I thought you wanted to kill him. You used to squish him all the time, so I figured you just didn't know the right way to kill a flea."

"And how is that?" asked Kagome, her curiosity piqued.

"Well, squashing would never work on a flea because of their hard exoskeletons. The easiest way to kill a flea is to suffocate them in between two pieces of tape, and then flush it down the toilet," replied Kikyou. "Although you could always poison them, too."

"But... but..." InuYasha gaped at Kikyou. "You killed Myouga!"

Kikyou looked mildly hurt. "I only did it for you," she insisted. "Ungrateful little..."

"But now, what can I do about my problem?" demanded InuYasha. "Myouga always showed up to explain things to me."

"I'm certain that something will work itself out," assured Kaede with a knowing nod of her head.

"Hey guys, whatcha doin'?" asked Shippou, bounding into the hut. "Did I miss something while I was playing outside? What were you all talkin' about?" Shippou leaned on the Tetsusaiga-turned-golf-club while he talked, using it like a cane.

InuYasha glared at the kitsune cub menacingly. "Hey... isn't that mine? Did I say you could play with it?"

"Well... nooooo," conceded Shippou slowly. "But Kagome said I could have it because you didn't want it any more."

"Shippou's right," said Kagome. "It wouldn't be fair not to let him play with it, if you weren't going to use it."

InuYasha crossed his arms grumpily. "Well I never said he could have it. Maybe I changed my mind about not wanting it. Give it back!"

Shippou frowned stubbornly. "But..."

Kagome leaned over to whisper in Shippou's ear. "Just let him have it, Shippou... I'll give you some candy later, okay?"

"Fine. InuYasha can have the Tetsusaiga back." Shippou proceeded to hand the object back to InuYasha in a manner which was as magnanimously condescending as possible.

"You know I heard you whispering," grumbled InuYasha, who nevertheless accepted the item.

"Sure," said Kagome with a roll of her eyes. "Shippou, if he ever throws the Tetsusaiga away again, you can keep it, no matter what he says."

"Neat," said Shippou. "It was really cool for pretending to fight evil demons and stuff."

"You can just forget about ever getting your paws on Tetsusaiga!" bellowed InuYasha furiously. "I'm never letting it out of my sight again!"

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AN: Well, InuYasha no longer has to worry about turning demon... though he doesn't know it, heh heh. Sorry about the lateness/shortness of this chapter. I'll probably return to my irregularly scheduled updates when school starts and I once more need an excuse to not study ("I can't write the paper right now... I have to update!").

Also, thanks to the reviewers...

Neva13: Nope, didn't get eaten by gators at camp, just mosquitoes... hehe and thanks for your super long review, lol.

medlii: Alright, I'm finally getting around to thanking you by name since you've reviewed literally all of my chapters, I think... you're the best!

Also, thanks to Cold Kikyo, raven657, and Leslie for your awesome reviews!

I think I'll finally get around to writing Miroku into the next chapter, and possibly Sango too. This story has gone on far too long without the two of them, huh? Expect the next chapter relatively soon, as I've been looking forward to writing this one for a while...