Kitty-chan: Yo! I finally got my butt into gear andcame up with an idea for anInuyasha story with some potential. I'm sorry about the Immortal's Riddle fiasco. I claim temporary insanity! Anywhosit... I hope you like dissa story. I wrote it with the help of my sis... who has no account... or wait... oh nevermind. I'll put a link to her deviant art page in here. She's already drawn pics of Kawaru and Dev! Mou kawaii! Uhh... yeah... Enjoy! Oh! Yeah! I don't own Inuyasha or the gang. They are property of VIZ and Takahashi Rumiko-sama. Woopee! Have fun!

(Guess what... betcha can't guess... I'm hyper.)

"Inuyasha! OSUWARI!"

The infuriated and quite familiar yell of Higurashi Kagome rang through the village and a small part of the surrounding forest. A loud thump and some yelling immediately followed, causing every villager within hearing range to turn and stare at the commotion caused by a young woman in a skimpy green kimono, who was hovering over a silver-haired creature in red. The red-clothed one groaned and managed to yank his face from the earth. He refrained from teaching the earth a bit of his more colorful language, lest he provoke another angry incantation from Kagome. He did, however, permit himself to sit up and growl at her, muttering quiet curses under his breath.

"What the hell was that for?" He demanded irately, concluding his curses to the wind.

"I'm so sorry!" Kagome was declaring to the villager who had, before Kagome's outburst, been held tightly in Inuyasha's clawed grip. The villager said nothing, giving her an odd stare, and took off toward his house. Kagome rounded on Inuyasha as Miroku began to wander off in a random direction, no doubt following a woman who had caught his eye. Inuyasha watched as Sango shot a glare at his back and followed. "What do you expect, Inuyasha? You were hurting the poor guy!"

"I was just trying to get information on the Sacred Jewel Shard!" Inuyasha spat harshly.

Shippo shook his head from Kagome's bike as the girl responded. "There are other ways of getting information than lifting the poor guy up by the front of his kimono and growling in his face!"

"It's pretty effective if he doesn't talk."Inuyasha growled, standing and gently beating the dust from his clothes.

Kagome sighed, giving her eyes a roll as Shippo hopped off the bike and wandered over to stand next to her. "You're hopeless." She sighed.

"Hey…" Shippo cast his green gaze about the area. "Where'd Sango and Miroku go?"

"HOUSHI-SAMA!" They heard a loud scream from off to the right suddenly.

"A te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te!" Miroku's pain-filled yelps preceded the sight of Sango pulling Miroku toward them by the ear.

Kagome trotted over and raised an eyebrow at Sango. "What happened now?"

Sango released Miroku's ear and crossed her arms, giving the monk a glare. "He got info on the demon from a woman, then asked his usual question."

Kagome glared at Miroku, assuming her match-making duties, punishing him for flirting with a non-Sango woman. "Anyway… what did you find out, Miroku-sama?"

Miroku rubbed his ear a bit before answering. He had a right to nurse his wound. He had gone through pains to get this info (courtesy of Sango)! "The demon with a Jewel Shard is a giant snake demon. He lives in the central mountain there." Miroku motioned to the Mountain range south of the village. "He calls himself Hebigami. He's also a man-eater, which is what makes him such a problem to the village. He comes down here every week for a meal. That's about it. According to the woman I talked to… he should be down here tomorrow night. Should we wait until he comes down here for his normal feed, or should we go get it now? We still have plenty of time until sundown."

"Let's go get it!" Inuyasha cried excitedly, cracking his knuckles. "There's a Jewel Shard up there and I want to get moving!"

"There's no rush, really." Miroku waved his hand. "We've been given lodgings for the night at the Headman's house."

Shippo groaned. "Typical Miroku." He gave Miroku a dull glance. "Conned your way into another mansion, did you?"

Miroku placed his cursed hand on his hip and bent over to give Shippo a glare. "And what, may I ask, is that supposed to mean? I'll have you know that the Headman offered to give us lodgings as partial payment for slaying the demon."

"Partial?" Sango tossed her hip and crossed her arms. "And what is the other part of the payment… money?" Miroku shrugged. "And why did he offer to give us so much for exterminating the one demon?"

Miroku scratched the back of his head. "Oh… I dunno. Maybe Hebigami is a real problem?"

"You blackmailed him into it, didn't you?" Kagome and Shippo guessed in unison. Miroku growled at them and sighed.

"Why bother stopping? We could just go and get the demon." Inuyasha suggested again.

"I'm hungry though." Shippo added, tugging on Kagome's sock.

"Me too." Kagome agreed. "Why don't we get some lunch, then we can get to work on taking care of Hebigami. Come to think of it, waiting until tomorrow probably wouldn't be a good idea. Too many villagers would get in the way and could get hurt."

Miroku nodded. "Alright then. We can stop at the headman's for lunch." He suggested proudly. The group sighed and followed the monk.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"The demonic energy is getting stronger. It's this way." Sango directed, her voice muffled some by her poison-shielding mask.

"Be carefull, everyone. Snake demons are tricky creatures. They move swiftly, and they can be hard to see once they get moving." Miroku wanred, clutching his staff tightly, his eyes darting around.

"We'll be fine. As long as Kagome can see the shard in its body, we'll know where it is." Inuyasha reminded them.

"Inuyasha! In front of you!" Kagome suddenly screamed as she spotted the familiar glimmer shoot toward the half-demon.

Inuyasha jumped away as the demon's large fangs came down on the air he had just previously occupied. Tetsusaiga leapt from its hilt and into its master's hand, transforming into it's full and glorious fang state to chrage down at the demon's head. The blade whistled its battle cry, but struck nothing as the snake arched its back and threw its head upwards. It opened its jaws and an almost unbearable screeching hiss erupted from its throat. Inuyasha landed in front of Kagome, his fists clenching tight about the hilt of his sword. "So… you're Hebigami, are you?"

The snake said nothing. Weather it simply did not think a mere half-demon worthy of an answer, or it could not speak at all, one could not tell. Though, at this point weather it could speak or not really wasn't in question. It launched its head straight at him, mouth open and fangs extended, ready to inject a fatal amount of poison into anything they entered. Inuyasha turned slightly, scooped Kagome into his free arm, and jumped out of the snake's path. "Kagome, where's the jewel shard?"

Kagome's eyes began at the snake's tail and slowly wandered up its body, searching for the familiar glint. As her eyes settled on its head she began to stare at the large crest that traveled from the bridge of what would be its nose to the back of its head. "There! Inside the crest of its head! The jewel shard's there!" Kagome motioned to it with her finger as Inuyasha landed and set her on her feet.

"Got it." Inuyasha nodded.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, running around to the back of the demon and launching her giant boomerang at it. The edge of the weapon struck its neck, creating a sizeable gash. The snake turned its full attention to her and lurched foreward, it's fangs poised to strike once again.

"Sango!" Miroku was immediately between the snake and the demon slayer, gripping the rosary around his wrist. "Try and eat this!" He ripped the rosary away, revealing his most deadly weapon. "Kazaana!" The black hole opened and began to pull in everything around it, focusing its deadly grasp on the demon snake. The snake fought the winds with all its might, but the hell-hole had the creature in its crushing grip. It wouldn't be long before it pulled it into its crushing oblivion.

But the snake had other plans. It lashed its tail out and slammed the tip of it into Miroku's side, sending him flying off to the side as he hastily began to rewrap his kazaana. "Houshi-sama!" Sango cried in a panic as he sucessfully sealed his hand, but was thrown right into a nearby tree. Miroku yelped as he was hit, and then was silenced by the sickening crack of his head against the solid wood. Sango glared at the snake for a moment, before darting to grab her weapon. The snake met her half-way, arching it's back once again, ready to deliver a showy final blow.

"You shouldn't have looked away, you worm!" Inuyasha cried, sending the blade down into the snake's head, then following through with the cut to cleave the snake neatly in half.

Kagome ran over, smiling. "Nice job, Inuyasha." She complimanted, stooping down to where the demon's head lay. She paused, not wanting to put her hand anywhere near the disgusting corpse. After a moment, Inuyasha sensed her discomfort and, rolling his eyes, shoved his sword into the crest of the snake one last time, sending the jewel flying out of the flesh, and onto the ground before Kagome. Kagome knelt down and picked the shard up, her touch triggering the jewel to shine with a brilliant and pure light purple glow.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango was whispering as Inuyasha and Kagome approached. Sango was bent over his torso, one hand on his shoulder, attempting to shake him back into consciousness. "Houshi-sama… wake up… are you alright?"

"That was a pretty hard hit he took." Kagome voiced, kneeling beside the unconscious monk and the demon slayer.

"You think he'll be alright?" Sango inquired to no one in particular as Shippo trotted over from his spectator seat in the bushes.

Kagome smiled, matchmaking thoughts filling her head again. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Don't worry Sango."

Inuyasha shrugged. "He just got whacked a little bit. What's the big deal? It's not as if none of us have ever been sent flying."

"True. So much has happened to us since we started doing this that not much can phase us anymore, if you think about it. The demon hunts may not have gotten more interesting, but at least they've gotten more predictable." Sango agreed. Her attention shot to Miroku as he groaned. "Houshi-sama? Are you alright?"

Miroku's deep green eyes slowly opened and focused not on Sango, but something even closer to his face. His eyes widened and he bit back a cry of surprise. Sango tensed. "What's wrong Houshi-sama?" She half expected to feel his gloved hand begin to stroke her rear, as he had done before, but he reamained still, hands and all, as he stared at something directly in front of his face. To Sango, however, there was nothing to be seen.

Miroku was a t a loss for words as he stared at the tiny young woman yelling in his face. "Yo!" She cried, waving her arms and legs, her almost invisible wings beating madly behind her. "Can you see me, Houshi? Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Uh…" Miroku stuttered, still trying to find a way to answer the odd creature that had found a way to completely suck up his attemtion. "A… a… fairy?"

Sango stared at him for a moment before looking to Kagome. "Then again… maybe not so predictable." She poked him in the temple. "Wake up, Houshi-sama."

Miroku worked himself onto his elbows, then sat up fully, still staring at the small creature in front of his face. "You talking to me?" He inquired, feeling rather silly to be speaking to such a small creature that he wasn't even sure really existed. Perhaps she was just a bit of sleep hanging over him from the contact with the tree.

She rolled her eyes and groaned. "No… I'm talking to the woman behind you, even though I'm in your face. Of course I'm talking to you, Houshi!" She paused and sighed. "I'll ignore the fairy gag, but it's lucky that I found you. You're the first holy man I've met in 140 years that's powerful enough to see me."

Miroku looked around at the odd looks Sango, Inuyasha, and Shippo were giving him. He then looked back at her and poked her, drawing an agrivated yelp from her throat. "What was that for?" She demanded, shoving his hand away.

Yep… she was real. He could feel her warmth when he touched her. As the idea of her reality settled in, her earlier words registered. He motioned to the others. "You mean they can't see you?"

She shrugged. "Not unless they're pretty powerful and practiced in the holy arts."

"Miroku… what the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha demanded slowly, sheathing his sword.

"Miroku-sama… what's that little purple thing in front of your face?" Kagome whispered.

Miroku looked at her, then pointed at the small fairy-like creature. "You mean, you can see her too?"

"Yeah. What is it?" Kagome approached and cautiously pressed her finger to the small fairy's back.

"See what? There's nothing there." Shippo informed them matter-of-factly, staring at the spot indicated by Kagome.

The fairy shoved Kagome's finger away. "Stop it with the poking! And by the way, I'm not an it! I'm a woman!"

"You're the smallest woman I've ever seen." Miroku commented, scratching his head. And the strangest. He kept that thought to himself. He had never seen a woman dressed as she. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her upper torso to serve as a shirt, while the sleeves were made up of fluffy purple material which covered her shoulders and nothing more. Her pants were long and baggy, colored the same color as her fluffy sleeves. Her long blackish-blue hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and the ribbon which held it hung down to her feet. As soon as the comment was out of his mouth, she flew up to his nose and began a lecture about how size does not mean everything.

"I don't see any small woman." Inuyasha growled. "Who the hell are you two talking to?"

"You mean… the others can't see you?" Kagome asked, looking over at Inuyasha.

The fairy paused in her lecture and shrugged. "No. Only those with unusually strong spiritual powers can see and hear me. Like Monks, Priests, and Priestesses."

"I see." Miroku looked over at Sango, who was looking at both Miroku and Kagome like they had suddenly sprouted a new head each. "There's a little fairy over here."

"That's it!" The small girl cried. "I let it go last time, but not twice! I am not a fairy! I'm a time sprite for your information!"

Miroku ducked away from her a bit and corrected himself. "Ok ok… she's not a fairy… she's a time sprite. She says only people with unuaually strong spiritual powers can see her."

"Oh really…?" Inuyasha folded his arms and sighed. He didn't really have a choice but to believe what he was saying. After all, Miroku and Kagome had both reacted to something. "What does she want?"

Miroku looked to the sprite to find her staring right at the hanyou. "Do you…" she began, trailing off. He looks like the guy Kawaru was talking about. Long silver hair and small dog ears on the top of his head. But… "Nevermind. My name is Devani. But, you can call me Dev. Everyone else does, at least they would if I knew anybody. I just wanted to know if you all could help me with something."

Kagome paused at her name for a moment, but then smiled. "Sure. What can we help you with?"

Miroku leaned foreward and put his hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Not a good idea, Kagome. You can't just offer to help any demon that comes along."

"Hey! I'm not a demon! I'm a time sprite!" Dev cried indignantly.

"Whatever you are, we don't know if you can be trusted." Miroku gave Dev a stare.

"That's cold." Dev crossed her arms and turned away.

"In this day and age, Dev… that's how things are. With all the wars going on, anyone is subject to suspicion."

"Fine." Dev sighed. He's a smart one, that Houshi. He's cool. I like him. But that still leaves the problem with getting them to help me with Kawaru. If that dog-guy really is Kawaru's Inu no Nichan, I'll have to rely on his memory. That is… if he remembers that long ago. "Houshi. That dog-guy with the ears. What's his name?"

"Inuyasha. Why do you need to know?"

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the sound of his name. "Huh? Why do I need to know what? I haven't said anything."

Sango leaned over. "I think he was talking to the fairy."

"TIME SPRITE!" Dev screeched, though she knew Sango couldn't hear her. Miroku rolled his eyes. Dev looked at him and composed herself. So it is Inuyasha. Japan has a lot of people in it, but I can't imagine too many people with that name. "Ask him for me… has he ever met a dream demon? Like… a long time ago?"

Miroku paused before relaying the message. Inuyasha pondered for a long moment. "Dream demon? Don't think so. I can't seem to remember one."

Dev thought for a moment. "What about… Kawaru. Do you recognize the name Kawaru at all?"

Miroku looked back at Inuyasha. "Does the name Kawaru mean anything to you?"

Inuyasha stopped. "Kawaru..?" Yes… the name was familiar… but it was from a long time ago. So long ago, the memories had become blurred. "That name does sound incredibly familiar… but it was from a long time ago. It was… before being sealed… before meeting Kikyo… something about some little boy…URG! I can't remember!" He rubbed his fist into his hair.

"Before Kikyo…? You make her sound like another girlfriend of yours." Kagome laughed lightly. She then paused. "Is she?"

"I don't know! I can't remember who the heck she is! But I do know that I was with her… or I knew her… for a long time. Anyway… what about her?"

"She's not too far off. She's been sealed inside a rock since a few years since you two got separated. I've just been trying to help get her out. I've tried a few times, but I'm just too small. And being a time sprite, I can't do much in the way of blowing a rock apart. It's been hard to find a person who can even hear or see me and not think they're insane. I think you guys didn't think you were losing it since there were two of you." She smiled. "Hard to find two unusually powerful people practiced in the holy arts in one group, huh?"

Miroku relayed her speech and Inuyasha immediately said, "Take me to her then." He still couldn't remember who she was, but he knew he needed to find out. This person had been somewhat close to him… the very first person to ever extend a hand of friendship to him, disregarding the pair of ears atop his head that identified him as half-breed. She was special. Unknown to him, but special.

"But Inuyasha!" Shippo protested. "It's an unknown demon! This could be a trap planted by Naraku! We could be walking right into it!"

"I doubt it, Shippo. Naraku's trickier than that. Besides, if the fairy thing had made a deal with Naraku, she would've had to meet with him, right?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. Miroku glanced cautiously over at Dev, whom was seething at being called a fairy again. He swore he saw steam billowing from her ears and he moved a few paces away, just in case the small sprite were to burst from frustration. "If she had met with Naraku, I'd smell traces of his scent on her, and I don't smell the least bit of him." Inuyasha shook his head and turned to Miroku. "Let's go."

"But… Inuyasha…" Sango voiced.

"Oh, calm down. You don't have to come if you don't want to." He turned once again to Miroku. "Lead the way. I can't see the fairy thing, so I'll follow you." Miroku suddenly grabbed the air in front of Inuyasha's face and pulled it toward him.

"Dev, calm yourself." Miroku commanded through gritted teeth as Dev struggled to get out of his hand, her face turned red as a cherry.

"I swear, I'll rip those little dog ears right off his head!" Dev was muttering under her breath.

Miroku gave her a cautious look and then send Inuyasha a blank stare. "Be thankful, Inuyasha… I just saved your life." He held Dev up to his face. "You want us to help this Kawaru person or not?"

Dev calmed some. "Yeah."

"Inuyasha's gonna be the one busting her out, so I suggest you refrain from trying to rip him apart… if you could actually do that."

Dev ground her fist into her palm. "Oh… I'd find a way."

Inuyasha poked Miroku's shoulder with his right index finger's claw. "We going, Houshi?"

Miroku released Dev and she hmphed at the hanyou and began to flit away, Miroku following. Inuyasha soon followed the monk. They paused as Kagome cried. "Wait! We're coming too!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I thought you said this was a trap and you didn't want to walk into it."

"We don't." Sango confirmed. "But if it is a trap, we can't very well have you walking it into it alone, can we?"

"Inuyasha rolled his eyes and followed Miroku as Shippo hopped onto Kagome's shoulder and they followed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"It's that big rock over there. Kawaru's in that one." Dev pointed out as they neared the rock.

"So… exactly how long have you known Kawaru?" Miroku asked off-handedly.

"About 140 years. I've actually never seen her face to face. She was already sealed when I met her."

"And Inuyasha knew her before that?" Kagome cried immediately, turning to Inuyasha. "Just how old are you?"

Inuyasha paused for a moment, sorting out why she was asking this in the first place before he answered. "270." Kagome stared at him. "Why is that so surprising?" He continued. "Demon's don't succumb to age like humans do."

"Oh yeah… I guess not." Kagome stared at him for a few minutes more. Wow. He's been around for a lot longer than I thought. He acts my age. Thought, I guess Demons age and mature differently. They'd have to mature slower to keep up with their age. It was interesting that Kagome and the others had never considered Inuyasha to be older than twenty (and much younger at times when he would fly off the hook at nothing). His age had just never been in question.

"Is that so shocking? He's a baby to most demons. I'm over 700." Dev proclaimed proudly, spinning in the air a few times before striking a pose. "And I still look this cute!"

"Dev… how did you meet Kawaru, exactly?" Inuyasha looked at Kagome after he spoke.

Dev paused for a moment and shrugged. "Well, being a time sprite, I like to visit different time periods. But every once in a while, if I don't calculate the amount of energy to cross to another time, the limbo I go into between times can spit me out at a pretty random place. At one time, I was spit out a few miles away from here. I found this area pretty, so I started wandering. Then, I noticed this odd rock with holy talismans on it. I went closer and discovered that there was a really odd demon inside. It was Kawaru. The rock she has is kind of like a demon ward. It keeps nocturnal demons away. You know how this area is famous for them, among other things. So, In exchange for keeping me safe from demons while I was around, I agreed to help find someone to get her out. I felt strongly about helping her too, since she's so young. The only problem is the whole seeing me thing. Not too many people can, so I wasn't much help. I could help keep her alive while she was in there, but that was it." She stopped and pointed at the rock again. "This is the place. Can you get her out?"

Miroku translated, and Inuyasha smiled, drawing out his sword. "Easily."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Inuyasha? We still have no idea what's going to come out of that thing." Sango inquired, readying her Hiraikotsu.

"I'm positive, Sango. There's something about the name Kawaru that's familiar. Naraku wouldn't know someone from so far in my past. He's only been around for fifty years, and I supposedly met this girl over 100 years ago."

Sango sighed in resignation, but no one relaxed their battle stances. "Don't actually hurt Kawaru, now, Inuyasha."

Miroku nodded. "Dev says not to hurt the girl inside, Inuyasha."

"Well, duh. What would be the point of setting the girl free if I kill her in the process?" Inuyasha raised his sword above his head and sniffed out the Wind Scar. How much power should I put into it. Quite a bit to break the seals on it, and then a bit more to actually break the rock. But… not enough to hurt the girl. Fine then… a little to the left. "Kaze no kizu!" He took aim and sliced neatly down the left of the fissure, allowing power to surge from the blade and into the rock. The front of the rock burst open and dust rained from the sky as the light of the attack faded.

All was still for a while as Miroku and Sango eventually ventured a closer look into the opened rock. They could see nothing but darkness, and no dream demon seemed present. Miroku gave Dev a dull look. "Well? Where's this dream demon?"

"I know she's in there!" Dev defended immediately. "I've been trying to get her out for 140 years for-!" She stopped. "Hey… do you hear that?"

Sango and Miroku leaned closer to the rock and strained their ears to listen. After a few minutes they could distinguish a quiet high-pitched wail. It was gradually getting louder and it almost seemed to be coming from the rock itself. "What is it?" Sango inquired quietly as if trying not to obstruct the sound coming from the rock so that someone could clearly identify the sound.

Suddenly, the wail turned to a full-blown squeal as a green and white figure shot out of the rock and slammed into Inuyasha's middle, knocking them both to the ground with the new figure on top. Kagome jumped. "Inuyasha!"

Kitty-chan: Well, hope you liked it. There are more to come, so... woo! Review all! Tell me what you think! Flames accepted. Till next time!

(I know I usually do a preview of the next chappy, but I'm posting these as I write them, so... I dun have one. It may be a bit before I get the next chapter up since I'm being really tedious with this story. XP)