Oofie: "Okay so I didn't update… I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

Inuyasha: "Pathetic…"

Oofie: "If you don't shut that trap of yours…"

Inuyasha: "Bite me."

Oofie: "With pleasure!" sinks her teeth into Inuyasha's leg

Inuyasha: "WHAT THE FUCK! GET OFF!" runs around in circles while waving his leg in the air

Kagome: sighs

Inuyasha: "KAGOME! SHE BIT ME!"

Oofie: "NUH-UH! HE CALLED ME PATHETIC!"

Kagome: "You guys are such babies…"

Inuyasha: "I DID NOT!"

Oofie: "DID TO!"

Inuyasha: "DID NOT!"

Oofie: "DID TO!"

Inuyasha: "DID NOT!"

Kagome: "OOFIE! GO IN THAT CORNER! INUYASHA! IN THE OTHER CORNER!"

Inuyasha & Oofie: "But…"

Kagome: "NO BUTS! JUST GO!"

Inuyasha & Oofie: stick their tongues out at the other and go to their corners.

Kagome: "... Anyway, Oofie doesn't own anybody from the show or manga... blah blah, just start the story..."

Chapter 16: Thoughts of a Kitsune

Shippo's POV:

Today is a bad day. You could tell because everybody was quiet and it even smelled sad. I remember after Inuyasha and Kagome came back yesterday Kagome wouldn't leave Inuyasha's side. That was weird. Normally Inuyasha would be the one hanging off her like that, but last night and even today Kagome hasn't left his side. She hasn't even stopped holding his hand except for now 'cause she's on his back. I wonder what happened yesterday while I was sleeping. Something really bad must have happened because everybody is quiet.

Quiet. It's funny, normally when bad things happen people get loud. They scream and they cry and make other noises, but we're different. You can tell when something's wrong around here by the noise level. We're loud when we're happy and we're quiet when we're sad. The only other person who could possibly feel the quiet inside them like I do is Inuyasha. The others can hear it, I'm sure, but we're different. We both have youkai blood, and that makes it so our senses are a lot better than humans are. Sometimes that's good but a lot of times like this it's bad. When you have ears like we do the quiet really starts to sink in. Sink into your ears, your skin, and your bones, right down to your very core. It's not something we talk about but we know it's there. The quiet, that is.

I know Inuyasha's hearing is a lot better then mine. After all, Inu youkai are very powerful things. Even an Inu hanyou like Inuyasha has the power to destroy even the harshest of youkai. That's how I know his hearing is better than mine. Because he's not just any hanyou, he's an Inu hanyou.

But not even his Inu youkai blood can keep him safe from the quiet. It's just more intense for him, I can tell. That's the reason he has the scowl on his face and that look in his eyes.

Well, to be honest I probably have the same look on my face and in my eyes right now. The quiet is really starting to bother me. Actually… It's scaring me. The quiet is really frightening.

I know, I know. That must sound so crazy right now, but only youkai and hanyou like Inuyasha and me could understand. Even Kirara is tense, and Sango doesn't even know it. Normally, Sango is in tune with what Kirara is feeling… but this is something she could never understand. Even Kagome-chan doesn't understand what's wrong. I can tell she knows something is wrong with Inuyasha, but she can't figure it out.

They could never understand. They could never really get why we fear the quiet so much. And I don't blame them. It's really something stupid if you think about it. And I have. I'm thinking about it right now.

That's the problem. I'm thinking. The quiet does that to me… It gives me time. Time to think. Silly, isn't it?

But… What people don't realize about youkai and hanyou… They don't know about how we think. Sure, all of us are different. We don't all think alike. That's impossible. If we all thought alike, then we wouldn't be after Naraku all the time because we'd know how he thinks, and we could take him down.

But we do have a similar pattern… of how we think that is.

Some people have a small voice, in the back of their minds. I've heard Kagome call it a conscience before. Well, youkai have something kind of like that.

We have a small voice in the back of our minds. But instead of telling us what's right and what's wrong, the voice likes to be negative. It's always reminding us of what could go wrong, how it will go wrong… and every time it talks about something that goes wrong… it always blames us for it.

It's always our fault… no matter what.

My voice… that lives in the back of my mind… it always talks to me about my father. About how I should have saved him, how I could have helped, how I should have been the one to avenge him instead of Inuyasha. About how… I've failed him.

But living with Kagome has taught me better than that. Better than to blame myself for something like that.

But Inuyasha… He' different. He's a hanyou, and being with him for as long as I have, I've figured out his thinking pattern.

I'm not exactly sure about this, but I think that Inuyasha fights with himself over these things. Normally, a youkai would listen to the voice without much of a fight. Even myself. Sometimes I do give in to that voice. It's not as bad as it was before because of Kagome-chan, but I still give in. And nothing will ever change that.

But something that makes Inuyasha different from me and any other youkai, besides his human blood, is that he fights. He fights the voice, and defies it.

Being half-human makes him stubborn and relentless. Humans are strange that way. No matter what, they always seem to think there's hope. Even if they're on the brink of death. Strange… But many youkai secretly admire them for it.

Inuyasha has that. Inuyasha has that quality about him. He won't give up; he won't give in, no matter how battered and beaten he is.

But that might be his problem.

Like I said, I'm not exactly sure about this… But I think that Inuyasha's human side fight's the voice. Right now, there's a war going on in his head.

And… If what I think is right, then he has a chance that not any other youkai in the world has. He has the chance to beat the quiet. And if he can beat the quiet… he can beat the voice. If he beats the voice, then he will be able to do something that no youkai, and not many humans for that matter, can do.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think that if Inuyasha beats the quiet and the voice…

He could overcome his past.

Oofie: "Okay this was short but for a very good reason."

Inuyasha: "That reason being..."

Oofie: "That I'm writing the next chapter while I'm putting this up and it should be up before the end of the day..."

Kagome: "Oofie-chan, who would be the guest for this chapter?"

Oofie: "Well, seeing as this chapter was so short and that the onl realy person with a part would be Shippo, I decided to not have a guest."

Kagome: "Oh..."

Inuyasha: "I'm bored."

Oofie: cracks her knuckles and wiggles her fingers, ready for typing, "Shall I give you something to do?"

Inuyasha: "NO!"

Oofie: "Oh..."

Kagome: "I'm going home..."

Inuyasha: "I'll come with you."

Oofie: "... okay whatever, just make sure you're back here by the next chapter."

Inuyasha: "Keh whatever..."

Kagome: pushes Inuyasha forwards, towards her house "Yeah, we'll be here Oofie."

Oofie: "... Okay... that was entertaining... um... see everybody next chapter then..."