Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

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The War Between Races
Chapter 11 - A Human Heart

By: Scaevola
Published 9/16/05
Updated 10/20/05

Night fell soon, and InuYasha groaned as he felt himself turn human. He could see the hair hanging over his shoulders turn dark black and his claws shrink down into normal human fingernails. Worst of all however, was the sudden dulling of his senses.

He felt less alive like this. He couldn't hear the animals in the distance, he couldn't hear the soft heartbeat of the girl laying by the fire, and he couldn't smell the her soothing scent.

He hated his human nights with a passion. Nothing good had ever come out of them. In addition to losing his senses and his ability to fight, he would lose his strength and endurance. He was a weak, pitiful human for an entire night.

If there was any sign of trouble, he'd be forced to hide like some frightened animal, and abandon his honor, rather than stand and fight. What frightened him at the moment however, was the safety of the girl in front of him by the fire.

He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if she was hurt now. He silently cursed as he remembered that he wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't toyed with those humans. Even if it had only taken a few seconds, those few seconds had cost him.

After all, there was always the chance that he could have caught up to the Princess before she got hurt if he hadn't wasted time on the humans.

He felt himself getting cold and huddled closer to the fire for warmth. He glanced down at the Princess, who had his haori draped over her. She needed the warmth more than him though, after all, she was injured, and getting sick and injured would do her no good.

He tossed some more wood into the fire, poking it with one of the larger sticks to keep it breathing as he did so, and then sat back to watch the girl.

He suddenly felt extremely guilty. He seemed to be the cause of a lot of the problems lately. If he had been more careful and aware earlier that day, those bandits never would have gotten close enough without him being able to give warning.

If he had been fully aware, he probably could have warned the demon slayers long in advance, and nobody would have died, the Princess's horse never would have run off like that and gotten the girl injured, and he never would have had to leave the other humans to fend for themselves against the bandits. Kami knew if they were still alive or not.

On top of that, he was the cause of the fires in that village, and all of those injured people, the death of that miko, who seemed to be an important person in the Eastern Kingdom, not to mention the damn war between demons and humans was partly because of him.

But he could fix it. He knew he could. He would have to. He'd help the Eastern Empire how he could, by getting word to Sesshomaru to end the war peacefully, and help the Princess how he could.

He'd be starting to make up for his wrongs tonight, he realized. He was already partially risking his own health for the well being of the Princess. He'd deserve it if he got sick anyway, after the harm he'd done.

It was strange. Demons weren't supposed to feel guilt or remorse. But he did. His damn human heart made him feel like this, he knew that. His father had explained to him once what it meant to have a human heart, during one of his more memorable human nights at the palace.

"Your human heart makes you different from other demons InuYasha," explained InuTaisho.

InuYasha studied his feet, not meeting his father's eyes. "But I don't want to be different, dad."

InuYasha continued to study his feet until he felt his father's clawed hand under his chin, forcing him to look up.

"Whether you like it or not, InuYasha, you are different. You always will be. Don't let others make you think you're worse because of that. If anything, that human heart will only make you stronger in the end." InuTaisho was very serious as he spoke, trying to get his son to believe him.

InuYasha nodded, and his father went on. "That human heart will make you feel remorse, yes, it will also make you turn human once a month, but it will make you stronger, InuYasha. If will help you keep fighting, even after things seem lost. It'll help you protect those you love InuYasha, making you more powerful. That, InuYasha, is the gift that your human heart gives you."

InuYasha smiled a bit at the memory. But there was no happiness in his eyes. Memories of his father were both fond and depressing, bringing back good times when he was younger, and also reminding him of his father's death.

Next to him, he felt the Princess stir. He looked down to see her eyes open, staring at him.

She tried to sit up quickly, her eyes widening. "Who are you?" she asked her voice shaking a little.

InuYasha didn't move at all, trying to not seem threatening. He smiled a bit to try and calm her.

"It's me," he said. "InuYasha."

"InuYasha?" she asked. "But you're human!"

InuYasha winced. He was almost hoping that Kagome wouldn't wake up during the night, so he wouldn't have to explain being human. So much for that small hope.

"I turn human once a month." he explained. "Every new moon I lose my demon side, and become completely human. It's something all hanyou's have to go through."

She nodded slowly. "So...you'll turn back into a hanyou...?" she trailed off as she watched him.

"In the morning." he answered simply.

"Oh."

"How are you feeling?" asked InuYasha. "You've been unconscious for awhile now."

"Fine...my head hurts a bit." she answered.

InuYasha nodded. He had actually expected her to be complaining about the pain when she woke up, but she seemed to be doing well. She sat up and scooted next to him, making him a little uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything, instead gazing into the fire.

"Where are the others?" asked the Princess.

"After your horse ran off like that the old hag sent me off to go after you. A couple humans followed me but I got rid of them, and they were evenly matched after that. I don't know if they're okay or not. I've been hear making sure you were okay." he answered.

The Princess looked at him then, with some unidentifiable expression on her face. Instead of becoming worried however, she just responded with a simple "Oh."

InuYasha sighed. Maybe she was a little disoriented. He thought she'd immediately want to go try and find the others. Unfortunately, he had no way of taking them back. Both her scent and his own had faded awhile back, and the footprints they had left had been snowed over.

"We'll have to travel to Kirei ourselves." he told her. She just nodded in understanding. Yes, she was probably disoriented still. He'd make sure she understood in the morning.

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The night had come swiftly that day. Tomorrow the demons would be inhabiting the village. Of course, that required the absence of the humans who were living there.

Koga watched with a smirk as his tribe tore through the village. Smoke rose from the buildings that had caught on fire in the small battle. Not much of a battle though. It was more like a slaughter.

Screams rose as wolves ran after the humans, snarling and tearing at their legs, forcing them to fall before they bit through their throats. The children were simply grabbed onto and thrown down onto the ground before they quickly ripped at them with their teeth.

The wolf demons weren't much better. They cackled as they chased the humans, leaping from rooftop to rooftop and landing in front of frightened humans, who barely had enough time to scream before they were ripped to shreds by the wolf demons' claws.

Koga didn't take part in the extermination of the village. He had only wanted to supervise. Originally he had planned on making it clean and efficient, but all thoughts of doing so had left his mind when he realized how enjoyable this was.

Besides, Koga believed that his wolves and his tribe deserved to have their fun. They had been holding back ever since Sesshomaru and InuYasha had decided to take their foolish route to flank the humans.

Needless to say, this would all be even much more enjoyable if it were trained soldiers who were screaming. There wasn't anything quite as satisfying as seeing a man who claimed to be a soldier, a warrior, lose himself with fright.

Among all of this, one small girl hid in a closet in her house. She could clearly hear the screams of the villagers, the people she knew, the people she had grown up with.

Occasionally the scream of someone close to her that she knew well. Tears trailed down her cheeks at the thought of losing her friends. How could this be happening? She fought the sudden urge to start bawling. She had to stay quiet - the demons couldn't find her. She'd live through this, she knew it.

But that wasn't true. Her eyes were closed, trying to sooth the burning in her eyes when the door opened. She didn't even notice until she heard snarling.

The next thing she felt was the sharp pain in her chest as a demon clawed her, and then left to let wolves tear at her flesh. She screamed out in the pain, begging for some release from the pain, begging for help.

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Sesshomaru couldn't help but notice the absence of the wolf youkai when he entered the camp. He looked around carefully, briefly entertaining the thought that he had simply not noticed them, as hard as that was to believe.

To his disappointment, he found that he had not been mistaken. The wolves were not in the camp. Had they deserted? He hoped not. The wolf youkai were crucial to the demon army. And even if they were extremely annoying at times, they were worth it.

He hurried to find Ishimaru and Kaito, who were waiting for him at his tent. Both of them looked a little worried. Sesshomaru kept his face expressionless as he hurried over to them.

Before either could open their mouths, he asked, "Where is Koga and the other wolves?"

Both mouths clamped shut, and they looked at each other before looking back at Sesshomaru.

"My Lord," began Ishimaru, "You left us in charge, but some felt that they could take matters into their own hands."

"Just tell me what happened." snapped Sesshomaru, showing anger for once.

Kaito spoke up quickly, afraid of Sesshomaru's anger. "Koga decided to go to the human village an exterminated earlier than planned, my lord. He went despite our orders not to. We couldn't stop him, he wouldn't listen."

Sesshomaru kept his anger in check as Kaito went on to explain Koga's rash behavior. That wolf would have a lot of explaining to do. By disobeying Kaito and Ishimaru, he had disobeyed Sesshomaru, and Sesshomaru did not take disobedience lightly.

He turned on his heal as Kaito was still explaining and quickly hurried off towards the human village. The wolf may be doing something that would have been done eventually, but he had done it without orders, no, he had done it against orders.

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Naraku stood on the balcony looking at the moon in his baboon pelt. Behind him, several Lords that had been against the Taisho family for awhile were watching him

Several held glasses of sake in their hands, others simply sat empty handed. Each had come expecting a full demon, apparently, and all had expressed disappointment at finding that Naraku was a hanyou.

Naraku grimaced. Being a hanyou had made things complicated. Several of the Lords insisted that they knew better than he, simply because they were full demons!

The arrogance of full demons infuriated him, but he made sure that he did not take his anger out on the lords. He needed to make sure he had their allegiance before he could truly do anything.

Right now, it was all political. If any one of them backed out of the deal, he'd make sure that they didn't leave the palace alive. The ones that did agree he would make sure obeyed him. He did not want dissension in his empire.

Yes, his empire. Not Taisho's. The reign of the Taisho family was over, and now Naraku would be starting anew.

He turned swiftly to study the demons. He raised his voice a little to make sure they all heard.

"So you have my plan, now I will have you decision. Which of you will follow me?" he asked.

Immediately several hands raised, yet others looked hesitant. They looked around to see how many had raised their hands already. At the sight of such strong support, several decided that it would be wise to conform.

Others however, stubbornly kept their hands at their sides and their jaws clenched. They would not follow a hanyou it seemed, either that or they did not want to betray the Taisho line. It did not matter either way.

Naraku signaled to Kagura, who was watching him from the palace grounds, to prepare his palace guards. He had some annoyances to deal with.

"Well then. I think that concludes our discussions for tonight. Thos of you that are with me I'd like to have a few more words with you all. Those of you that are not, thank you for your time. The servants will show you out."

They filed out of the room silently, some glaring back at Naraku, who only smirked and waved at them.

After they had all left, Naraku was silent for some time, watching the other lords that had agreed to follow him. Finally, once spoke.

"Well? What did you want to speak about?" he asked, his voice raised a little.

Naraku raised his hands for silence. "Listen."

After a few moments, screams rose from below them. Shocked, the lords looked at Naraku. A fight had clearly ensued. Naraku glanced over the balcony to see several of the demons fighting on the palace grounds below them, the palace guards surrounding the demons.

He pointed down to the fight, and the other lords came to look. "This is what will happen to you if any of you betray me." he said quietly. He stepped inside and headed towards his chambers then, leaving the other lords to their thoughts.

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Kaede surveyed the damage around them. Several of the demon slayers were hurt, yet none of the bandits had escaped. All of their bodies had been piled on top of one another.

The injured demon slayers she had already cared for, wrapping some bandages and putting herbs on some of the more serious wounds.

She grimaced when her eyes landed on two dead demon slayers. They had been good men, and didn't deserve to be cheated out of life so easily. They deserved to at least enjoy having a family before going so young.

Her thoughts left the campsite and the injuries for the moment as she remembered that both InuYasha and Kagome were still missing.

InuYasha had hurried off quickly, and several bandits had followed him, but Kaede had no doubts as to what happened to those bandits when she had seen the familiar attack from InuYasha's sword.

But as for the well being of the Princess, Kaede just hoped that InuYasha had found her. If he hadn't or if she was hurt, Kaede wasn't sure what she would do. Kikyo's death had taken quite a toll on her, but Princess Kagome's death would be much worse.

Wherever she was, Kaede just hoped that InuYasha was watching after her. Tomorrow, they'd set out to look for her, as well as InuYasha. If they didn't find them, they'd have to set out to Kirei themselves.

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Sorry it came so late in the day. But...yeah...there really isn't an excuse. I was just extremely lazy today and kind of forgot. hehe. Anyway, read and review please!