Sango was quickly beside Kagome with her weapon, "Who are you?"
Though Sango and Kagome were blocking him from the other, Inuyasha pushed past them, still growling.
"You're still eager to protect human woman, aren't you?" Sesshomaru said, narrowing his eyes, "too bad you could protect that wench from those thieves."
"Shut it…" Inuyasha growled.
"Oh? Does the memory of that anger you?"
"I said… Shut it…"
Sesshomaru only smirked, "The weak half-demon couldn't protect his own mother."
That seemed to push Inuyasha over the edge. He lunged at the man, using his claws to break the clasp on the armor he wore, making it fall off of his chest so he was only wearing the white kimono.
"Oh, the puppy is angry now," Sesshomaru said.
Inuyasha went to slash at him again, but Sesshomaru was faster than him, using his own claws to rip open the bloody cloth on his chest, making him stumble back.
Kagome pulled out an arrow and pulled back her bowstring, aiming at Sesshomaru, "What right do you have to do this?!"
Sango helped Inuyasha stay on his feet as Sesshomaru narrow his eyes at the girl, "Why are you humans protecting a pathetic half-breed? He deserves to be slaughtered."
Kagome turned her head as Inuyasha pushed away from Sango, "What a great thing to say to your brother…"
"B-brother?" Kagome said.
Sesshomaru had a look of disgust, "I don't consider him anything of the sort."
Inuyasha removed his hand from his chest, which looked like the new claw marks there were burning.
"This was a waste of time," Sesshomaru scoffed. And with that, he left.
Once he was out of sight, Inuyasha hunched over in pain. Kagome dropped her bow and arrow to go to his side, helping Sango support him, "What did he do to you?"
Unlike just a moment before, Inuyasha's speech downgraded, "P-poison?"
Kagome's mother suddenly ran over, "What happened?!"
Thankful that her mother didn't question the demon, she told her, "He needs help."
Sango and Kagome helped Inuyasha to the Higurashi's hut, where they helped clean his wounds and wrap them up. It was after the fact that Kagome's mother pulled her daughter to the side, "Is he a demon?"
"He's not bad," Kagome said, "he saved me when the demons were attacking."
Her mother eyed Inuyasha, "I don't really trust him... "
In the past, the Higurashi's would have helped multiple wounded demons if they came. That is, until one of them attacked Kagome's father and grandfather. They never helped a demon, no matter how sincere, since.
"Please," Kagome said.
The mother sighed, "He can stay, but if he makes one wrong move…"
Kagome hugged her mother, "Thank you!"
She then went back to helping Sango wrap up his chest with a bandage. Once she tied it, Inuyasha tried to stand up.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked.
"Leaving…" Inuyasha said, but winced and sat back down.
"You're not leaving until that's healed," Sango said.
He furrowed his eyebrows, seeming frustrated. He looked like an angry child.
"What's with that look?" Kagome questioned.
"Maybe he doesn't want to stay here," Sango said, but it didn't earn a response from Inuyasha.
For the next few hours, Kagome helped her mother as Sango stayed with Inuyasha, mostly stroking Kirara and watching the Higurashi's bustle about. But at some point, Kirara wandered away from Sango to Inuyasha, sniffing at him curiously. She then mewed and rubbed her head against him, making him smile slightly. Sango watched as Kirara took a liking to the new demon, climbing onto his lap as he pet her.
Kagome and her mother eventually finished rushing around the village for clean up and such, Sota had finally joined them, since he had been pushed into another hut when the demons started to attack. The two females then started on lunch.
"Kagome, who is he?" Sota whispered to his sister.
"He's a friend, don't worry," Kagome whispered back, noticing Inuyasha's ears perk up slightly from where he sat with Kirara.
Sango stood from where she was sitting, "We should change your bandages, Inuyasha."
The demon was still as Sango unwrapped the bloody bandage from his chest, examining the injury Sesshomaru had inflicted on him, seeing that it was starting to close up, "If you were human, that would have killed you…"
Something Sesshomaru had said came to Kagome's mind.
Half-breed.
What did that mean? Kagome hadn't really heard of it before. Was he something other than a demon? Perhaps she'd ask later.
Kagome's mother started to dish out their meal as Sango replaced that bandage on Inuyasha's chest. By the time his chest was wrapped up, a bowl was placed in front of him. He didn't even look at it.
Kagome sat down next to him, "Are you not hungry?"
He paused before shaking his head. He hadn't really spoken since Sesshomaru had vanished.
As they ate, Kagome glanced to the demon beside her every now and then. He had his eyebrows knitted together in thought, like he was trying to puzzle something together. What drew everyone's attention was when he would mutter words in his own foreign language, not knowing what he was saying. They decided not to question him about it.
After they had finished eating, Kagome had noticed dried blood on Inuyasha's body, just like from when he was in the woods.
"Maybe we should get you cleaned up," Kagome said, snapping him away from his thoughts.
His ears perked up slightly, his head tilting to the side in confusion.
"How about we just take him down to the river?" Sango suggested.
The two girls stood up, helping Inuyasha up as well. Kagome grabbed a bucket, a cloth, and a broken comb, following the two out of the hut. Sango was supporting Inuyasha as he walked, making sure he went down the small slope to the river safely. Once there, she had him sit down in front of the water. Kagome sat behind Inuyasha as Sango pulled up the end of her kimono to tuck it into her belt before stepping into the water, standing in front of Inuyasha.
"Maybe we should have found him some other pants…" Kagome said.
It took a moment before Inuyasha turned his head to her with his eyes narrowed, "What's wrong with mine?"
"Well, they're not pants," Sango said.
Inuyasha turned to her and crossed his arms, not saying anything. Either he couldn't come up with a response to that, or he honestly didn't know what she had said. .
Sango took the bucket from beside Kagome and filled it with water, "This may be cold," she warned before dumping it on his head.
He yelped when the water was poured on him, apparently not heeding her warning in time. His ears flattened against his head as he shivered.
Sango then grabbed the cloth and dipped it in the water as Kagome began to gently comb out the knots in Inuyasha's hair. The two girls could tell that the demon wasn't used to it, since he had his nose scrunched up as Sango wiped at his arms with the cloth.
After a while, Kagome had Inuyasha's hair thoroughly combed. She then set down the come and helped Sango by removing the now wet bandage from Inuyasha's chest.
"We can probably leave that off now," Sango said, "it'll heal, right?"
Inuyasha took a moment to process the words before nodding.
Kagome then set the bandage down beside her and watched as Sango wiped at Inuyasha's chest gently.
Soon, Inuyasha was entirely clean, for the most part. He had refused to get into the river to clean off completely, since it was so cold. They took him to the hut, where they dried him off and sent him off with Sota to find him some pants to wear.
When he came back, he looked uncomfortable wearing the pants, the kimono that was around his waist in his hand, dripping wet.
"Do you want me to hang this to dry?" Kagome asked.
He nodded after a moment, handing her the clothing. She then walked over to the line and hung it up, making sure it was completely straightened out.
When she got inside, she saw that her mother was trying put put a white undershirt on Inuyasha.
"I d'needa shirt!" Inuyasha argued, just barely making sense of his words.
Kagome came over and took the clothing from her, "He's fine with just the hakama. His kimono is out drying."
Inyasha, Kagome, and Sango then sat down together. Inuyasha pulled at the pants he wore, seeming extremely unconfortable.
"Have you never worn pants…?" Sango asked.
Inuyasha stared at her a moment, processing her words, "I… I have…"
"But not for a long time?" Kagome said.
He slowly shook his head, silent. He seemed to not want to talk about the topic anymore.
After a short pause of silence, Sota suddenly came in, "Sango, there's a man out there asking for you."
She got up and headed out, the man coming up to her, looking panicked, "Are you Miss. Sango?"
"Yes," Sango said, "is there something wrong?"
"The Demon Slayers… They've been murdered!"