InuYasha sat alone at the top of a grassy hill, secluded in the shelter of a shady tree. Naraku was dead, but the Shikon jewel had a single fragment missing. Sango, Miroku, and Kohaku had gone off, and Kagome was back home. Since Kikyo was dead, and he'd worked himself into a position where there are more people that hate him than are friends, he felt a pang of loneliness, but soon he'd have to go find the shard, which would be difficult without Kagome. InuYasha sighed, looking back into the breeze, subconsciously hoping someone would be there. As he glanced back, Myoga bounced onto his nose, instantly getting flattened and, as usual, floating to the ground, and, as usual, popped back up.

"Master InuYasha! I've found the last jewel shard!" That got his attention.

"Okay, so where is it?" He snapped, leaning down to watch the flea jump up and down.

"Well, I've heard that there is a wolf in the west that has it," he answered snippily, shaking his head. "That's all I know. But we should go if we're ever to find it." InuYasha nodded and stood, watching the mountains on the horizon, marking the border to the west. Myoga bounced onto his shoulder, and he took off, hurrying to a demonic fate.

"Myoga, we've been searching for days and there is no wolf that has a jewel shard. Are you sure you weren't talking about Koga?" InuYasha growled, leaning on a tree. Myoga shrugged, eyeballing his nose, and jumped off of his shoulder. InuYasha stood alert, his face into the wind, locked on an upcoming scent.

"What is it, Master InuYasha?"

"I think we've found our wolf," he growled, dashing towards the river about a mile away and leaving Myoga to catch up in the dust.

"Master InuYasha!" He trailed behind in exasperation.

"AGH! What are you doing here, mutt!" Koga yelled, clenching his fists. InuYasha answered with a blast from Tetsusaiga that nearly hit Koga, if he hadn't dodged. "You took my jewel shards, what more do you want?" He stood on a cliff, away from the dog as much as possible.

"You have a jewel shard, don't you?" InuYasha accused, glaring evilly.

"What? I think you have something wrong in the head, dog. I don't have any jewel shards. Now go play fetch or something!" He snapped, running off. Without the jewel shards in his legs, he was still pretty fast. Myoga finally caught up, but only to meet InuYasha's rage.

"Myoga, Koga doesn't have the jewel shard. Who else could it be? Koga's clan is too stupid to have them…and that other wolf, Ayame, she's no where near here," he snarled, holding the flea in a lethal grip.

"Master InuYasha, I am only going off of what I've been told," he gasped through the choking grasp. InuYasha dropped him, turning away. He glanced up and saw a steel-red hawk soaring a circle above them, watching intently. He growled subconsciously, watching the hawk leave, and turned back down the grassy hill, continuing along the river. "Master…I believe that is something to look at," Myoga said quietly, pointing to a dusty-brown wolf lying in the shallow water on the banks of the river. InuYasha ran over, looking the wolf over curiously.

"Well, it's not dead. But pretty beat up. Probably won't live through the night…and there's no aura here-" he didn't get to finish his sentence. About five wolves circled him, lead by a tall, sleek gray one, who threatened InuYasha away from the hurt wolf. He backed up, pulling Tetsusaiga from its sheath.

"Who are you? What have you done to our brother?" The wolf demanded in a whispery, gruff voice. The other wolves circled him, and they'd been joined by two or three more, closing in slowly. "Answer my question, half dog. Who are you?" He repeated, staring into his amber eyes. A young girl, five or six, with black hair and a dark violet kimono, ran in front of him, holding her hands out to stop the wolf.

"Wait, Kojiye! He didn't do it! Kesha was attacked by a demon! Don't hurt-" she turned to InuYasha, who raised an eyebrow. "Hey, who are you anyways?" She walked up to him, her hands behind her back, examining him carefully. "You look really familiar. You look just like-" she stopped, remembering her job. "So anyways, what is your name?"

"Uh…InuYasha," he decided to play along.

"Hi InuYasha! My name is Saedee." Myoga bounced up from his hiding spot.

"Saedee?" The little girl recognized the voice immediately.

"Myoga!" He bounced into her hand. "I haven't seen you in a long time!" She grinned, setting him down. "So what are you guys doing here?" She asked, picking up a few blades of grass and weaving them lightly.

"We are here to get the last jewel shard. Where are you living, Saedee?" Myoga continued, looking at the pack of wolves gathered around their dying brethren.

"I'm living with Koru in her wolf tribe," she said proudly, grinning. InuYasha tuned alert.

"There's another wolf tribe here?" He asked, almost demanding.

"Uh-huh. Koru's is way bigger, though. It's a huge village with a palace and everything! You should come see it!" she said, starting off. Kojiye saw that they were continuing and called the wolves to go along, Kesha leaning on him for support.

"Does this wolf have a jewel shard?" InuYasha asked, watching the wolves wearily.

"What's a jewel shard?"Big anime exaggeration bead of sweat thingyInuYasha growled to himself.

"Just take me to the village," he sighed, shaking his head.

Saedee ran up to the point of a grassy, steep ridge, and stopped, looking out on the vast mountainscape. She pointed to a giant village, at the top of it a fairly sized palace. Behind it was a huge, red rock canyon, after that a giant lake, and then the mountains. They were only about ten miles away from Sesshomaru's palace. An invisible aura coming from the village suggested that it had a barrier, and two gold gates stood at the front of the village. Part of the river was going through the tribe as well. She smiled.

"There it is. It's sort of weird, though, because Koru says that over half of the people in the village are human. So she can't figure out why you would call it a demon wolf tribe. So it's just a wolf tribe. Anyways, come on!" She led them down a steep winding path headed towards the village.

They arrived at the gold gates to see two men standing in front of the gates. One of them had long white hair, like Sesshomaru's only shorter, and heavy armor, and the other was merely in a kimono with three swords over his shoulder. Saedee walked up, talking to them and gesturing back to InuYasha. Myoga perched on Inu's shoulder, but was nearly knocked off when he started walking. Saedee led them into the peaceful, bustling village, and stopped a young woman with several scars and short, raggy red hair.

"Hakashiri, is Koru here?"

"No, I'm afraid she isn't. But I believe she's in the canyons, so it would be a good idea to go over there." She talked a lot like Kaede, but with more of a Scottish accent sort of. She started to walk away but stopped, looking down at InuYasha's sheath. "Half demon. Let me see what sword ye have." He pulled Tetsusaiga out of the sheath. She examined it carefully and nodded. "Aye. That is the Tetsusaiga, the sword my uncle forged from one of Lord InuTaisho's fangs."

"Wait…how did you know that?"

"Like I said. Totosai is my uncle." That hit sort of hard, because although she looked like she was only fourteen, she had to be at least 600. She headed off, talking to some people as she passed by them. Saedee turned back to InuYasha.

"Okay, so Koru's not here, but we can go to the canyons and find her," she said, looking up. "But I think we should probably get a ride. I wonder where Chikara is." She looked around, waving at something. A white dragon with a long lavender mane soared over a building, landing right beside them. Myoga fell backwards off of InuYasha's shoulder, and InuYasha gasped.

"Yes, Saedee, what do you need?" He asked in a deep, growling, smooth voice. She grinned, looking over at InuYasha.

"Okay, we have a ride to the canyons!" She cheered.

"Uh…I'll just follow you," InuYasha sighed bead of sweat thingy again.

Saedee rode atop the huge dragon as if it were nothing strange, while InuYasha ran far behind, desperately trying to catch up. Chikara stopped and turned to watch InuYasha until he'd come up. The dog stopped beside them, looking down over the edge of the canyon.

"Wow. That canyon is huge." He was in exasperation. It was a huge canyon, but was deep with many inside edge ridges and stallas, and had a lot of sheer drops and unstable areas of stone. Chikara rolled his eyes, picking InuYasha up by the shoulders, and raced to the bottom of the canyon. InuYasha jumped quickly away from the dragon at the bottom after yelling at it the whole way, instinctively a dog, and dogs don't get along with dragons very well. A familiar voice, sound and scent alerted him, and he hurried towards a fire a few yards away around a corner.

A huge brown wolf, almost as large as demon form Sesshomaru, reared up in surprise, letting out a piercing, roaratious growl. A black and pink demon slayer flung a giant boomerang at the beast, knocking it off its feet, as a monk in black and purple and a shorter black and yellow demon slayer moved in. InuYasha was surprised to see Sango and Miroku again, especially with Kohaku. His train of thought was broken by an angry bark from the wolf as it stood, lifting a paw to squish them.

"SANGO! MIROKU!" He wheeled Tetsusaiga up, blasting it down. "WIND SCAR!" The wolf seemed to recognize the attack, for it leapt away, head lowered in a vicious snarl. They turned to see InuYasha, both surprised.

"InuYasha? What are you doing here?" Kohaku asked, coming up to him as well.

"I'm looking for the last jewel shard," he answered angrily.

"But the shard Hosenki had…wasn't that the last one?" Sango continued.

"No, it wasn't. The jewel isn't completed yet. So, how many kids have you guys had yet?" Miroku and Sango glared meanly at him, their faces turning red, while Kohaku stifled a laugh. The wolf stomped a paw down, taking a swing at them and knocking Miroku over.

"Now, demon slayers, you and your monk leave my territory! This land is not yours to terrorize. Leave my village at peace." She growled, looking between them and InuYasha. She seemed baffled by him, but didn't think much of it and transformed. She was a tall, beautiful woman, with long brown hair that had a gold highlight, gray and lavender armor, and lighter brown kimono sleeves and hachakis, a woman's version of InuYasha's 'pants'. A brown tail whisked behind her, as well as an ancient-looking sword in its sheath at her side. "Like I said, my village has not and will not do wrong. We are at peace. Now, if you would kindly stop attacking us, it would be very helpful, and if you need shelter I'd be glad to give it to you." She walked up to InuYasha curiously. "Who are you? You look like my friend Keleso's brother…maybe you're InuYasha?" He nodded in surprise that she knew him, and his expression changed to menacing.

"Do you have a jewel shard?" He asked demandingly. She looked back at him.

"Yeah. And I know you want it. But you can't have it." He gasp-growled in exasperation, clenching his fists. Miroku took the moment to swoop in. He took Koru's hands smoothly, looking into her eyes deeply.

"You are not only very beautiful, but very clever as well. If one such as yourself were only to have children, the world would be a better place…" She raised an eyebrow, pulling her hands away, and gave him a sweet smile, tilting her heads slightly and innocently. A grin spread across his face, but quickly faded as she brought her hand full force across his face, sending him flying into the cliff wall about fifteen feet away. She shook her fist at him angrily, her expression evil.

"Absolutely not you lecherous pervert!" She barked, crossing her arms and turning away as Sango and Kohaku went to go help Miroku.

"Hand over the jewel shard!" InuYasha demanded, holding Tetsusaiga in ready. She was surprised to see the sword, and ran her fingers along the blade, inspecting it carefully. Why isn't she deflected by the Tetsusaiga's spell? He wondered angrily.

"It truly is the Tetsusaiga. My old friend InuTaisho's sword. The one made from his fang, forged by Totosai, modeled after my own sword, the ancient Kensiseda." InuYasha was dumb-struck. How did she know all this? And what was she talking about? Modeled after a sword called Kensiseda? She pulled the sword from her sheath, revealing a silvery-white scimitar with a wolf fur pelt wrapped around the hilt, and tattered brown leather tying the handle. "See? I bet you didn't know that, dog. Your sword was created by the guidelines of this one, which is over eight thousand years old." She held her own sword ready as well, but with only one hand. "So your sword, in turn will not be as powerful as the original, and I would really prefer not to break my good friend's sword."

"What do you mean good friend?" He snapped back, relaxing his grip.

"I've known InuTaisho since the day I was born," she continued, relaxing her sword and hanging it over her shoulder. "He was one of the only friends to a lone wild wolf. But when he called for a sword, the only type powerful enough was the design of Kensiseda, the powerful scimitar. So he used that." She turned away, swinging the sword off of her shoulder and into the sheath. "
My name's Koru, by the way. You and the slayers can come with me if you need shelter." She took one great leap and stopped, seeing Koga on the ridge, looking down on InuYasha angrily. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the canyon, shoving him to the ground and putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"Koru---" He started to object.

"Koga, why are you in my territory? Kagome went home, and you're completely screwed with Ayame because you're so ignorant. So tell me, brother, is there a particular reason you are here?" She looked up. InuYasha was standing with Sango, Kohaku, and the still KO'ed Miroku, all exasperated to learn that Koga had a sister.

"I'm still trying to destroy that mutt," he snapped, standing and dusting himself off. "And mom left the territory to all of us."

"Yes, but do you remember refusing to believe that she was your mother even though she raised you, then saying you didn't need the territory and handing it to SunuMai, who is too immature to have territory so I took hold of it?" She growled back, clenching her fists. Koga started to argue back, but all he got was a punch in the face as Koru turned away.

"Hold on. What are you guys talking about?" Sango asked curiously as Miroku came to.

"Koga is my half brother, and when our mother passed away she gave us the canyon, which used to be her territory. My older brother SunuMai was the one he gave his territory to when he was being an arrogant jerk, but he acts like a seven year old and isn't a leader, so since my eldest brother LishoTai is in the south, the territory went to me." She explained, glaring at Koga as he snuck up behind her. "You're an idiot, you know that? You're exactly like your father!" That was obviously the most terrible insult there was to Koga, because he shut up and looked like he was about to cry. "Now then. I'm going home, and--" she froze completely, looking up at the sunset. The full moon was on the horizon. "Ah…I'm so glad that damned Naraku is dead. I'm really tired of that curse." Koga laughed at her meanly.

"Hah. You're still frightened of the moon," he teased, raising an eyebrow with a smug grin. She growled, shoving a rock in his face.

"She's pretty violent," Kohaku said to the others, who nodded. The wolf hurried out of the canyon in a huff, looking back down from the top of the ridge.

"Hey, InuYasha! If you want to get that jewel shard, you have to give me something in return! If you can help me find the orb of Hakuryu, you can have the shard!" She called, waiting for him to take interest and come to the edge of the ridge. Which he did.

"The orb of Hakuryu? What is that?"

"It is one of three of the most powerful weapons ever created. But the orb of Rakuryu and the orb of Ginryu, which I already have, are useless without the third orb. They all hold powerful dragons. The orb of Ginryu holds the silver dragon, and is a small silver orb. The orb of Rakuryu is the largest of the three, and blood-red since it holds the dragon of hell. I need your help to find the pure white orb that holds the white dragon. It won't be easy, though. They have undetectable auras until paired with each other, so unless you already know where it is, it will take a while to find." She finished, leaping to the edge. "Oh, and I suggest that you start in the north!"

Fin to : One More Jewel Shard, Part 1