Chips of wood flew across the room, and Sango snatched her Hiraikotsu. A quick glance told her that InuYasha already had his weapon out. The demon tried to speak, but there was a bubbling noise that made Sango's skin crawl. With the noise came a stench like no other Sango'd ever smelled. Sango had practiced, over and over. In about three seconds flat she was in full Taijia uniform, mask and all. The demon tried to speak again.

"You…" Sango had to focus on making the sounds make sense, since the demon wasn't the type to pride its self on being human-like. "You hafff demon'sssssss bonessss, yeesss?" Sango wondered why it spoke like a snake demon briefly, but said nothing of it. "I wantsss them…" It said, throwing its grotesque arm at them. Both the fighters managed to dodge, but where they were was a rancid liquid that was starting to sizzle. Acid. Sango knew very well that some demons think they can steal another demon's soul by eating their bones. Hiraikotsu had been exorcised, so she was safe from that, but Tetsusaiga… It still had InuYasha's father's spirit lingering around it. Sango drew her sword, rather than throw her weapon, which she knew the demon wanted. There was a loud battle cry from both sides, waking the rest of the patrons of the inn – consisting of its owner, and his family. InuYasha seemed to be under some sort of spell, or something. Sango didn't have time to investigate. In battle, she knew, ever second counts. She gave a slash, and thanked the polish of the blade, for that was made from the marrow of demon bones, giving the blade protection against the acids. Sango checked her blade quickly. Still in one piece, good. She dodged another attack from the sludge demon.

"Gifff them to me…" Said the demon. Sango stole a very quick glance to where InuYasha was. He was out cold. Damn! She made another slash, taking off the head, and she wasn't in the least bit surprised to find the demon still moving. After a while longer of dodging, the demon seemed to melt.

"Another battle a victory." She said, quickly cleaning off her bade before sheathing it. She went over to InuYasha.

"InuYasha, are you all right?" After a connection in thought she realized how stupid that was. Clearly he's not all right. "InuYasha, wake up!" She said. The inn's owner walked in and saw the mayhem.

"Ma'am, what happened here?" He asked. Sango continued shaking InuYasha by the shoulders.

"Sludge demon attacked… He did something to my friend. Get a healer!" She said. The man nodded and dashed. InuYasha coughed. Smell! That's right! Sango snatched InuYasha up onto one of her shoulders and hauled him away from the foul stench. She tapped his face a little.

"InuYasha?" She asked. "InuYasha, wake up…"

InuYasha grunted, and coughed, curling up off the ground a little. His skin was pale, and he was covered in his own sweat. This couldn't have been simply the putrid smell getting to him. Eventually the inn's owner came back with a horse.

"Ma'am, there are no healers who know how to deal with something like this in this village…" He said. "But I thought you might know where a nearby healer is, and…"

"That'll be fine. Grab out stuff and load it onto Kirara." At the mention of her name, Kirara became the larger form, cause she wasn't stupid. "Don't worry, Kirara won't hurt you." She said, tossing InuYasha onto the horse's back. Quickly she mounted, and paid the innkeeper for packing their luggage, and charged off.

…

Sango looked up.

Sango had the horse at a fast trot; she remembered that horses get tired too. It was really dark, and she was only barely managing to see the road, so she was thankful the horse had eyes of it's own. It would be about two hours more to reach the village at this pace. She looked up again. She had to keep herself awake, and she had to get there. She quickened the pace to a gallop.

She looked up. She slowed back down to a trot to give to horse a slight break.

She looked up. She saw Kirara.

"Kirara!" She called. Kirara looked, the swooped down. "Kirara, take him to Kaede Sama's home, I'll be there as soon as I can. Kirara mewed, and grabbed InuYasha with her mouth, then flew off at a faster speed. Sango calmed down a good deal. Her horse was very tired, so she slowed the pace down even more till it was a walking pace. She'd make it there eventually, she just had to let her horse rest…

…

After about two and a half hours Sango dismounted and dashed into Kaede's hut. She looked to Kaede, and Kaede nodded.

"I can treat it easily enough since you got him here quickly." She said. Sango sighed in relief.

"Good, I can stop worrying my head off…" She said, turning for the door. Kaede snatched her hand, pulling Sango to face her.

"Taijia-san, what happened to your cheek?" Sango looked confused, then reached up to her face. In all the excitement she'd forgotten…

"Mi… Miroku hit me." She said. Sango looked around, then said "But I really don't think you should worry about me right now, InuYasha's in more danger." Kaede gave her the You're-Right-But-This-Isn't-Over expression. Sango walked out the door. In all her worry she'd sweated up a storm.

"Ugh, I smell worse than that demon!" She said to herself, heading over to the nearby stream. Once she got there she looked around. No one was there, not even… She felt a twang of betrayal even thinking the name. She sighed, and stripped down to soak herself.

The water was freezing, so she didn't want to stay in long, but she got clean enough. She came out and got dressed in her normal Yukata and headed to Kaede's guest hut, Youkai Taijia uniform in hand. When she pulled the curtains aside she saw something that made her heart, and her bruise hurt even more.

"Hello, Sango…" Said Miroku.