For the next few weeks after that day, Kagome always brought Inuyasha something to eat. Though he was a man of very few words, he was always grateful for the meal Kagome brought him. She never really got to see any of his features, except for his eyes and, when the light shines through the canopy of leaves above, the silver strands of his hair.
Also over those weeks, the villagers noticed their food supply was unusually low. They suspected there was a thief, maybe even a demon. Though no one else did it, Kagome went around the edge of the village, noting that none of the sutras were damaged; there was no way a demon could have entered, they would have noticed.
It was mid-afternoon when a group of Demon Slayers came to the village, claiming that someone reported a demon in the woods behind the village that may be stealing from them. Though the Higurashi's didn't know who reported it, they were grateful for the help. Well, except for a nervous looking Kagome.
Kagome had helped the slayers settle in a hut for the night, making sure they had everything they needed. When she had left the hut, the female of the group came out and stopped her, "Hey, can I talk to you?"
Kagome gave her a look of confusion, but nodded.
"I'm Sango," the girl said, "I noticed you seemed a bit nervous back there. Is there any reason for that?"
Kagome raised her hands up in front of her and waved them, "No, no! It's just that I've always wanted to meet a Demon Slayer."
Sango smiled at her, "Alright."
She left her to go back inside the hut, and Kagome quickly rushed off to the woods. She looked around before running in, quickly making it to the tree where Inuyasha was.
The demon jumped down from the tree, seeming eager to greet her, but interrupted by her frantic voice, "You need to leave!"
His eyes showed confusion, but Kagome continued on, "There are Demon Slayers here.I think they are here for you."
Though he still seemed confused, his eyes soon widened. He then looked panicked.
"No, no, calm down," Kagome said, "maybe I can try to-"
"Try to what?"
Kagome quickly turned around, noticing the shape of the figure: Sango.
Even in the darkness, Kagome could see the seriousness in her eyes. She heard a low growl from behind her.
Sango grabbed the hilt of her sword, "Get away from the demon, Kagome."
"No, you don't understand!" Kagome said, "He didn't steal anything from our village!"
"How would you know?"
"We have sutras surrounding the village, if any demon came in contact with them, we would have noticed! I checked, none of them are damaged."
Though her grip loosened on the sword, Sango still kept her hand on it, "He's still a demon, you can't trust him."
"I've known him for at least two fortnights, did you see any injuries on me?"
Sango paused for a moment before removing her hand from the weapon, "No…"
"Then will you trust me?"
"I… I guess some demons are trustworthy…"
Kagome then turned to Inuyasha, noticing the anger in his eyes, "No, don't be angry anymore! She's not gonna do anything."
His anger turned into confusion then he seemed to realize what she said, and calmed down.
"I'll tell my father of the sutras not being damaged in the morning," Sango said, "maybe he and the others can move on to our next job, and I'll stay here to make sure there really is no demon."
"Why are you going to stay?" Kagome asked as she turned to her again.
"I've never really seen a demon like this one… I'm curious," Sango explained.
After that, Kagome said goodnight to Inuyasha and the two girls went back to the village, going back to their huts.
In the morning, like Sango had said, she told her father of the sutras, and how there was no way it was a demon. She convinced them to move on without her so she could make sure, and they left the next afternoon.
Sango told the Higurashi's that she wanted Kagome to come with her on a perimeter check, to make sure the sutras were still untouched. Kagome grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows before following the other outside, noticing that she was in a kimono and had her hair down instead of her Demon Slayer clothing. She also had a burlap sack hanging off of her shoulder.
They walked side by side as they spoke, Sango starting off with, "Does that demon have a name?"
"Inuyasha," Kagome said.
"Inuyasha… Is he by chance a dog demon?" Sango asked.
"I don't know… I haven't really had a chance to get a good look at him, considering it's always dark in the woods."
Sango pulled Kagome over to her hut, grabbing a lantern that hung on the wall, "Then let's get a good look."
The two of them headed into the woods with the lantern, which lit up their path to the tree. Though, when they did get there, Inuyasha didn't jump down like usual.
"Inuyasha, it's okay to come down," Kagome said, "we just brought some light."
It took a moment, but he jumped down, landing in a crouch. Kagome nearly gasped when she saw his appearance.
His hair was indeed silver, as she had noticed before, but it was matted and filthy. There seemed to be some blood smeared on his face, but that didn't cover the prominent, purple scars that were on each cheek. Covering his chest was a bloody cloth that was tied tightly, seeming to act as a bandage. Around his waist was what Kagome thought was a red kimono, but was tied and used as a loincloth of some kind.
Kagome immediately got onto her knees in front of him, "Are you injured?!"
He leaned back slightly in surprise, his eyes wide as he nodded slowly.
Sango sat beside her and set down the lantern, "Can you show us?"
Inuyasha seemed to eye the unfamiliar women before he untied the bandage, letting it slip down onto the dirt ground, revealing deep, bloody claw marks on his chest.
"They look fresh…" Sango said quietly.
"Is there another demon?" Kagome asked.
Inuyasha shook his head, a look on his face that Kagome could describe as him trying to think of something, "... Dead?"
He said it more like a question, like he didn't know if that was the right word.
"You killed it?" Sango asked, to which Inuyasha nodded.
Kagome furrowed her eyebrows together, "Do… Do you not know many words?"
He thought for a moment before shaking his head, his ears flattening against his head.
"That's okay," Sango said, "not many people in this time can learn, including demons."
His ears perked up after a second, and he straightened up a bit. But soon after, he hunched over slightly and winced, his hand hovering over the wounds on his chest.
Sango slipped the burlap sack off of her shoulder and opened it, pulling out some cloth and a seashell. She opened the shell, revealing a gel inside, "I don't know how well this will work with such deep marks…"
Inuyasha moved his hand and watched as Sango rubbed her finger in the gel before gently smeared it over the cuts. He winced, but didn't make a move to stop her, so she continued. When she was finished, she closed the shell and took the cloth, wrapping it around his chest and tying it.
"There we go," Sango said, putting away the shell and extra cloth.
Inuyasha muttered something in another language, which made Sango look at him in confusion. He suddenly looked away when he realized his mistake, his face turning slightly red as he muttered 'thank you'.
"What language was that?" Sango asked.
He seemed to think for a moment, like he was piecing together what he was going to say, "I… Made it?"
"You created a language?" Kagome asked with wide eyes.
He lifted his hand and shook it slightly, which Kagome took as "sort of".
"Maybe since he doesn't know much in the native language, he made his own that he understood more," Sango said, which shortly earned a nod from Inuyasha.
"That's really interesting…" Kagome said.
For the next hour or so, Sango and Kagome spoke to Inuyasha. Well, the best that they could. Sometimes, when he didn't understand something, Kagome would try to draw what it was in the dirt, but that didn't always work. If that was the case, they would find a simpler way to say it, which usually did the trick.
Sango looked up at the the foliage above them, where some light was peeking through the leaves, "We should get going soon."
Kagome nodded, looking to Inuyasha, "Do you want us to come tomorrow?"
He thought for a moment before nodding slightly.
The two girls said goodbye to the demon before making their way out of the woods. Once out, Sango turned off the lantern and they headed to her hut. They both sat in the small room together.
Kagome noticed Sango's look of deep thought as she rubbed the ears of her companion, Kirara.
"Something wrong?" Kagome asked.
"Not really… I'm just wondering if something happened to Inuyasha, a reason as to why he doesn't know many words."
"Now that you mention it, he should at least know more of the basics…"
Inuyasha, from what Kagome saw, was around her age, if not older. If she wasn't mistaken, his vocabulary was like… A five year old.
Sango shook her head, "We probably shouldn't question him about it. It's getting late, you should head home."
Kagome nodded, standing and leaving the hut, going to her own. Her family ate and delivered dinner to Sango and the other travelers before going to bed.
The next morning, the entire village was woken up with a shock. Somehow, demons had gotten past the sutras, and were attacking them.
Sango was the first one to notice, quickly running out with her weapon named Hiraikotsu and Kirara. Kagome noticed afterwards, quickly grabbing her bow and arrows, running out to the side of Sango.
"How did they get past the sutras?" Sango questioned as she threw her weapon at one of the demons.
"A powerful demon could have destroyed it," Kagome said, firing an arrow and, thankfully, hitting a demon.
Other male villagers came out and began to help fight the demons, using their swords to the best of their ability. Though, the Higurashi village didn't have many fighters in it, which was quite the problem.
Kagome fired an arrow at a demon, but missed, and it came straight at her. She shrieked, using her arms to shield herself. But, nothing happened. She quickly moves her arms from her face when she heard a low growl.
In front of her was a male with long silver hair and animal ears; Inuyasha.
"I-Inuyasha…" Kagome said.
"... Stay behind me…" Inuyasha said.
Sango looked over to the pair briefly before noticing a demon try to attack her. Kirara tackled the demon before it could touch her.
Kagome could only watch as Inuyasha attacked the demons and prevented them from getting near her.
It took a while, but it seemed that all of the demons were killed. That is, until some of the villagers turned to see Inuyasha and were about to attack him.
"No, stop!" Kagome said, now standing in front of him, "He saved me!"
The villagers still seemed untrusting, wielding their swords in front of them. Sango turned to them and made a motion for them to lower their weapons, and they did. Perhaps Sango is more threatening than Kagome first thought.
"Start cleaning up the remains," Sango ordered, and the villagers complied, sheathing their swords before starting to clean up the demon remains.
Inuyasha suddenly hunched over slightly, wincing. Kagome turned to see blood seeping through the bandage Sango had wrapped around his chest. She stepped closer, "WE need to replace your bandage-"
"Seeking help from humans? Pathetic."
Inuyasha growled, making Kagome turn around to the owner of the voice, someone she did not recognize.
"You've grown since the last time we saw each other, Inuyasha," the unfamiliar male said, "I thought you long since died."
Though Kagome could barely hear it, Inuyasha growled something under his breath.
"Sesshomaru…"