The moment Kura set foot into the village after returning from her little excursion into the forest, the only sounds that she could hear were loud curses, obviously coming from her father.
"Sounds like he knows…" Kura thought aloud as she started over towards their campsite, the Tetsusaiga still slung over her shoulder. Upon closer examination, she noticed Sango, Miroku, Nekura, Shippo and Kilala all standing around the silvery-haired half-demon who looked as though he was ready to kill. The minute she got closer, she placed a hand on Sango's shoulder, startling the young demon slayer.
"Hey," she spoke softly.
The older woman turned around to stare into the demon girl's wide and curious amber eyes. "Oh Kura, it's you."
"Yah, it's me. What's up with him?" she asked, pointing in her father's direction, making it sound as though she had no idea what was going on. She smirked inwardly; he was taking this better than she had expected.
Sango heaved a rather heavy sigh. "Well, when we all woke up this morning, the first thing he realized was that his Tetsusaiga was gone. We don't know for sure if it was stolen but…" Her words then began to trail off as she shifted her gaze to Kura's right shoulder. "Hey, what's that?" she asked curiously, pointing to the extremely large sword. It was still fully transformed, due to the fact that she did not have to sheath with her to transform it back.
Kura's eyes widened as she stepped back. "What? This?" She pulled the sword off of her shoulder and dug it lightly into the ground, holding it firmly. She was glad to get that excess weight off of her shoulders.
"Yah, that looks an awful lot like…"
"THE TETSUSAIGA!" Inuyasha yelled as he ran up to his daughter, plucking the sword right out of the ground and Kura's hands. "Where did you find it?" he asked questioningly.
"I…um…well…" she stuttered, trying to figure out exactly what to say in this situation.
"Well? Who stole it?"
"It was…uh…" She sighed lightly before continuing. "It was me," she confessed as everyone's eyes went wide with shock.
"You? But why?" Inuyasha inquired, now placing the sword back into its sheath.
Kura looked down at her feet and then back up to her father. "I…I was just playing a joke. You know, to get you back for the little tickling incident you and I had the other day. Oh and before I forget, I also wanted to pay you back for threatening to tell Kiatsu I liked him as more than a friend. That was going too far and you very well know it."
"Yah well, those still aren't reasonable explanations for why you decided to take the Tetsusaiga," Inuyasha argued.
"It was the only thing I could think of to do at the time," Kura replied honestly. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, looking as if he didn't believe a word of what she had said.
"Well just don't do it again," he scoffed while walking away back towards the hut. As soon as he vanished out of sight, Sango and the others turned their attention to Kura looking quite curious.
Sango was the first one to speak up. "I do agree with Inuyasha to some degree, how you shouldn't have taken the Tetsusaiga as part of your prank, but I do give you kudos to being able to swipe it without him noticing. That must have taken a lot of time and effort."
"Nah, he was just asleep," Kura answered truthfully, forming her lips into a small smile as a tiny giggle managed to escape them. Everyone couldn't help but let out a laugh themselves. It was then that they heard a noise from within the hut and noticed Inuyasha's head appear outside it.
"I heard that!" he practically shouted, withdrawing himself back inside once again. The group covered their mouths and continuing laughing quietly so as though not to be heard again by the ill-tempered hanyou. Then they all walked over to the hut that Inuyasha had disappeared into and sat around the burning pit of flames. The fire had been lit mid-morning, it now being sometime in the early afternoon, and not died down once. For what seemed like hours, the group, excluding Inuyasha who still persisted in shutting himself away from everyone, continued to talk up a storm, occasionally looking around to be sure that everything in the village was as it should be. Even though Naraku and the Band of Seven were gone, you could never be too careful. New enemies always seemed to appear out of nowhere and Kura's story about her encounter with the wolf demon proved this point. They needed to be on their guard at all times if they were going to survive any sneak attacks by unwanted foes…
Later on in the evening, when the sun had just set behind the far-off, distant mountains, Kura emerged from the hut and examined the surroundings, making absolute sure that the coast was clear. As she approached the opening to the forest with extreme caution, a blur of green whizzed past her face at what seemed like light speed.
What the – Her thoughts were interrupted as a figure, apparently female, appeared only a mere ten feet away from her. Unable to determine whether or not the stranger was good or evil, she readied herself for the worst. Positioning herself into a fighting stance and bearing her claws, she looked directly into the girl's forest green eyes and spoke in a soft yet somewhat threatening voice.
"What do you want?"
The girl smirked. "It's not the question of, 'What do I want?' it's more along the lines of what do you think you're doing trying to enter my part of the forest?"
Kura straightened up and withdrew her claws. "What do you mean, 'Your part of the forest'?"
"That's right. I live here and you happen to be trespassing on private property…"
"Private property? The forest belongs to everyone, not just you! So why don't you just step aside because I've got somewhere to be!"
"Step aside? Tch. Last time I did that the results were catastrophic. Almost the entire forest was in ruins and I had to care for and nurture everything until it was back to the way it was. It wasn't easy, let me tell you…"
"I'm not saying it would have been. But listen, if you just let me by, I promise I won't cause any harm to the forest. I'm not the type to do that. I may be a demon, or half-demon to be more precise, but I would never even think of inflicting damage to anything or anyone unless they deserve it…" This statement immediately brought back the memory of when Kura had the encounter with the wolf-demon, Isamu. She knew he was up to something and was planning on going to investigate. All she needed to do was find his hideout, which shouldn't be too hard seeing as how she was part dog-demon and could sniff out his scent. The only problem was trying to convince this girl to let her pass.
"But how do I know that I can trust you?" As she spoke, Kura began looking her over from top to bottom and noticed that light green wings erupted from her back like a fairy. She also carried a long green sword in her right hand, obviously used for combat, although she looked nothing of the fighting type. But Kura was not fooled by her appearance. Even though she didn't look like a natural born fighter, the half-demon assumed that if it was necessary she could probably fight almost as well as herself.
"Well, I may not be able to prove to you that I can be trusted, but there's someone in there that most definitely can't and I have to find them. I met them the other day and they're after my friends and my father. I need to get through otherwise they'll all be in danger. I can't let that happen. So please, if you may, let me pass. I need to find him…"
The girl stood in silence for a moment before replying. "All right. You may pass. But if I suspect anything out of the ordinary, you will never be allowed in this part of the forest again. Understand?" Kura nodded and brushed past her, eager to find the one who had threatened her life as well as her friends…especially her father…
"Thank you."
"You are welcome." The fairy girl flew up to the lowest branch of a nearby tree and sat down. "By the way, in case you were wondering, my name's Hannah, guardian of Inuyasha's Forest."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Kura, daughter of Inuyasha." It was then that Hannah felt a cold chill run down her spine, yet she merely shook off that feeling. Her gaze wandered up to the night sky as the stars began to slowly appear one by one. Kura looked back for a few seconds before turning her head back around and continuing on her way. She didn't know if she could trust this new girl or if she was someone to be weary of. All she knew was that she had to find Isamu and stop him before he could lay even one finger on her friends…