Chapter Four

Inuyasha stared as a rat rushed passed chanting 'food' to itself. He looked up at Harlem, his nose twitching, "Would you happen to know where a place called the 'Higurashi shrine' is?"

Harlem was sifting through a garbage can. He lifted his head and stared at Inuyasha with a chicken bone in his mouth, "Uh…well." he crunched down, snapping the bone in half, "Higur-rashi…Higu-rashi…hmm." he chewed, then swallowed, "…NOPE!"

Inuyasha staggered, "Ugh! Then you're useless!" he turned to leave, but Harlem leapt in front of him.

"I'm not useless! I may not know who or where they are, but I MIGHT know how to find them!" he turned back to the can, "…of course…if you're leaving..."

"Fine! What can you do to help?" Inuyasha growled.

"Well, don't you sound grateful! I offer this opportunity, and you grit your fangs. I'm not so sure I FEEL like helping you anymore!" he stuck his paws in the pile of trash and tunneled inside.

Inuyasha turned his nose up stubbornly, "Then I'll find her on my own!"

Harlem's head popped out, "'Her' you say? Who's 'her'? Another dog!" he turned away, "…or your master?"

"Neither! She's…she's uh…" he thought a moment for the right word, "…a friend."

Harlem tilted his head, "Well……alright. I'll help you then."

At the pound

"I'm sorry ma'am, I have no idea what happened! Most of the dogs have gotten loose." the pound keeper said to Kagome.

"…"

Kagome and Souta watched a moment as the keeper ran around frantically trying to catch any of the loose dogs that hadn't fled the building yet, then slowly made their leave.

"Where do you think he could've gone to?" Souta asked, trying to keep up with Kagome's long strides.

"No idea…where would dogs go?"