Tora-chan: Hi everyone! I am awake and ready to write again. Sorry it took so long for the next update, but it's hard to think when you're half asleep.

Hiroshi: I take it you feel better now that you got some rest?

Tora-chan: You better believe it! I'm ready to torture . . . um - - I mean continue the story with Inuyasha now.

Inuyasha: Where you going to say torture me? (growling)

Tora-chan: Of course not, Inuyasha. I do value my life after all. (sweet, with innocent look on face.) I can't say anything for the other side of my personality though.

Inuyasha: Other side?

Tora-chan: You mean you haven't noticed? Think of my pen name, it's Vitanie Tora. The name of my main character. Vitanie is me weather you like it or not (big idiotic smile).

Inuyasha: Oh.

Hiroshi: Tora-chan doesn't own Inuyasha; if you see any characters you don't recognize they are hers. Please read and enjoy (bows).

Last time: Vitanie fought with Yuki and Hiroshi about leaving town when she was human, banged their heads together, and then they all left Takehashi.

The journey away from Takehashi started out slow and peaceful. The sun was warming the ground after the chilly night, birds where singing in the trees, and everyone was enjoying their quiet conversations. At least they would have if a swarm of demons had come out of the forest they were walking by.

Inuyasha pulled the Tetsusaiga out and started slashing at the demons as soon as they appeared. Kagome stood behind Inuyasha with Shippo slightly shaking in fear. Sango jumped on the back of a giant sized Kirara and threw her Hiraikotsu at the swarm taking out several demons at once.

Vitanie jumped back from a bear demons downward swing of a club and quickly swung her staff around taking the demons legs out from under him. She then used her staff to collapse his windpipe making him choke to death. Sheesh why does it always have to be when I'm human that we get attacked like this. No demon strength for this fight, she though bitterly.

Yuki was using his sword to slash threw the demons between himself and Vitanie. He was also thinking about how they were always attacked when she was human, but at the moment his primary concern was to get to Vitanie. As he slashed, she would knock a few of the larger demons aside while also completely destroying some of the smaller, weaker demons. She was so focused on the fight that she didn't notice the red glow that surrounded her and the heat around her until the tips of her staff burst into flames, the metal tips glowing almost red tinged white from the heat.

Inuyasha saw the flames and glanced over after using the wind scar on one of the groups. He ran over toward Kagome and pointed out Vitanie as he slashed some of the demons that had avoided Kagome's scared arrow. Kagome looked over in shock at the girl in front of her.

Vitanie's black hair was still down from its braid but an unknown wind was gently playing through her hair, lifting it in gentle waves, but there were now red flames rippling threw her hair, but none of it was burning. Her body was being circled by a spiral of orange and red flames, which had a hint of blue and brown in it. The demons around her were bursting into flames turning to ash at the faintest touch of her staff.

After several minutes what demons that weren't destroyed turned tail and ran, Inuyasha wanted to run after them but was stopped by Kagome and Miroku. They all turned toward Vitanie as she relaxed her stance and looked at the carnage around her and the others. The red glow that had surrounded her was fading and being replaced by a deep blue, which quickly faded as well. Her staff was also surrounded by the blue glow and when it reached the tips the flames went out in puffs of steam. Hiroshi walked up to her with Mari on his shoulder and offered her a drink which she gladly accepted then turned to the rest of the group and saw them staring at her. (A/N Sorry but I'm not really good at fight scenes, but I felt that I needed more action. Any advice would be welcome so that I can do better on these scenes.)

"What?" she asked confused a little at their surprised stares.

"What just happened? You were surrounded by a red glow and then you were on fire and then blue and. ." Kagome started babbling.

"That was the elemental stone of fire," Yuki explained as he cleaned his sword off and replaced it in the sheath across his back. "From what we've been able to figure out is that when she's in danger they come to life, in a manner of speaking."

"Your hair was also floating in a wind and what was that blue glow?" Kohaku asked as he walked up behind Hiroshi. During the fight he had used his chained scythe (A/N Does anyone know what his weapon is called?) to keep the demons away from Hiroshi and Mari.

"That was the wind stone that was blowing my hair around and the blue glow was the water stone," she explained as she slowly sat on the ground. "Unfortunately when ever the stones do that they drain me so now I'm exhausted," she sighed.

"That's why I told you that we should have stayed in town today," Yuki remarked as he came up beside her.

Vee lifted her head a glared at him before turning toward the others. "Well what do you say, should we rest here or move onto the next stream where we can take a longer break and try to wash some of this demon blood from us?" she asked and then say them all look at their clothing where it had been splattered by blood.

"Let's go onto the next stream," was Kagome and Sango's answer. Kohaku smiled at the obvious answer and nodded his head along with Hiroshi and Miroku. Yuki grumbled but put a hand out to help Vitanie to her feet, which she took gratefully.

"Feh, wimps," was heard from Inuyasha but he bent down to let Kagome and Shippo ride on his back. Yuki was about to do the same for Vitanie but Sango rode up on Kirara and offered her a ride, which she agreed to. That just made Yuki grumble even more as the moved out at a quicker pace away from the destruction.

"Just isn't your day is it Yuki," Hiroshi teased as he started down the trail after the others.

"Keep your mouth shut, minstrel," he snapped bringing up the rear so that everyone got there safely.

--------

At the stream they cleaned up as best as possible and then sat down to bread and cheese that Kagome and Vitanie had picked up the night before in town. It was a cold meal but it was filling and gave them the energy to keep going after their break. They stayed just long enough to eat and clean up before continuing on.

Hiroshi was walking slightly behind Vitanie when he noticed something he didn't remember seeing before.

"Hey Vee, what's that pouch on your bag strap? It doesn't look familiar," he asked plucking out a questioning little tune on his lyre.

Vitanie laughed and turned toward him walking backwards down the road. "Must you play a little tune to match what you say?" she teased a sparkle in her eyes. She knew that he was doing it unconsciously but it was funny to see him stop in surprise before starting to play again.

He smiled and started playing a teasing and light little tune that seemed to make the day seem brighter. Vitanie laughed and turned back down the road while swinging her bag around to untie the pouch.

"You talking about this?" she asked once it was in her hand eyeing him out of the corner of her eye as he walked up beside her.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Well I got this from Makoto, when I got those strings for you. And don't give me that look he told me that I was not to give it to you. You can even ask Kagome, she was there," Vee said with a scolding smile as he turned to glare at her for not receiving something he thought he should have. At hearing her name Kagome stepped forward to see what was going on.

"Are you two talking about me?" she asked not in the least bit offended.

"Yea," Vee stated then started to laugh at Kagome's surprised expression. "I was telling Hiroshi that he could ask you if it's true that Makoto told me not to give this to him," she laughed holding the pouch up.

Kagome's expression immediately relaxed as she saw the pouch and smiled. "Yeah he said you were the one who had to be able to play it. It seemed a little weird the way he phrased it but then again everything about him and that shop was weird," she shrugged.

"You're telling me. You're the only other person I know that's been in that shop. And every time I see him I feel like shaking every little thing out of him. That and he makes me feel like a fool every time as well," she relied shaking her head sadly. Then a little more upbeat she turned back to Hiroshi who had just sighed in frustration at being ignored. "Any way he handed me this ocarina and told me that it was for me and that I need to be able to play it," she finished getting the ocarina out of the pouch.

"Well that and to be careful because it's made of terra cotta," Kagome reminded her, which she saw Vitanie roll her eyes at.

They all looked down at the ocarina in her hand. It was about the shape of a sweet potato. So how whoever had made it had been able to take the red clay and turn it a soft white and then polished it to a shine. Inscribed in the clay before it had been fired was a circle of five stars still the original red of the terra cotta.

Hiroshi's hands froze over his strings and swung the lyre over his back as he leaned in closer over the instrument a puzzled expression over his face.

"How in the world does Makoto get his hands on all these itsutsu hoshi instruments?" he muttered to himself, but still loud enough for Kagome and Vitanie to hear.

"I've been wondering the same thing," Vitanie sighed and then put it back into its pouch and retied it to her bag. Sango and Miroku came up behind them at that time with Kohaku behind them with Mari and Shippo. Inuyasha and Yuki were in the lead arguing about how should be leading. Everyone else had decided to just ignore them since they were acting like idiots.

"Hiroshi, I've been meaning to ask you about the battle earlier," Miroku commented as when they got close enough. "Vitanie said before that you usually take care of protecting everyone but you didn't even pluck one note during the battle, why is that?"

Hiroshi swung his lyre back of his back as he answered with a shrug. "There were too many types of demons. If there was fewer demons I could have made them fall asleep but there is no guarantee when there are so many. Also there was a chance that I could have knocked out our demon friends as well. That isn't a chance I wanted to take because there are a few songs that will kill instead of knock out," he answered.

"Hiroshi, Hiroshi!" they suddenly heard from behind them. They turned and saw Mari running toward them a huge smile on her face. "Could you play the fun song, please?" she asked excitement in her voice. What Mari called the fun song was a song that made her want to dance around and have fun. They sometime performed this song together in towns to earn a little extra money, but it had been a while since either had had the chance to play it.

Vitanie was laughing at the little lion demon's excitement and saw that Shippo was also looking excited. "Mari, you didn't by chance tell Shippo about that song did you?" she asked in a teasing voice. Mari ducked her head turning red, as she was one, being the center of attention around many she didn't know, and two, was being teased by her older 'sister'. Vitanie just laughed more before running ahead and telling Inuyasha and Yuki to wait because they were going to stop for a few minutes.

As she came back with an upset Inuyasha at the delay and a smirking Yuki at Inuyasha's anger, Hiroshi pulled out a pair of castanets and handed them to Vitanie. She took them easily and placed the small ivory disks on her hands after handing her staff and bag to Yuki. She started behind Hiroshi as Mari stood in front of where he chose to sit on a rock. He had put his lyre away and had gotten his lute out and quickly made sure to see if it was in tune. They expected him to turn back and look at Vitanie but he let his eyes wonder as he did so and smirked when he saw Inuyasha's ear twitch at a flat note just like Vitanie's.

Once ready he nodded and both Mari and Vitanie nodded in return. He started playing a lively tune that Mari moved to with surprising grace and elegance for someone so young. Vitanie replicated the moves behind Hiroshi using the castanets at the perfect times. Their coordination was perfect as Vitanie and Mari circled and dance around where Hiroshi sat. As they danced others who were traveling along the road on their way to Takehashi stopped and watched some throwing down coins enjoying the performance. When the song ended Hiroshi stood up with Mari and Vitanie at his sides and they took a bow and thanked the audience. Seeing them finished those not in their group continued on their journeys as Hiroshi put his lute away and once again got his lyre out.

"That was so beautiful," Kagome complimented. You three really work well together.

"It was actually Mari's idea that we dance to some of the songs," Vitanie commented handing the castanets back to Hiroshi who slipped them back into one of the pockets in the lyres bag. "It turned out to be a really good idea so there are several songs that we dance to, but 'the fun song' has always been Mari's favorite," Vitanie smiled as she looked at the little lioness who tried to hide behind Shippo out of embarrassment. That caused a small chuckle from everyone.

"Yeah, we make some money with the performances as you saw. But what really brings in the money is when Vitanie sings along with the songs," Yuki said smoothly causing Vitanie to turn red.

"Yuki! Why did you have to mention that?" Vitanie asked in shock more then anger.

"Because I knew it would embarrass you. And guess what it did," he replied with a smile of triumph.

"I'm going to have to get you back for that you know," she remarked standing there with her hands of her hips and her head tilted to the side, she was also smiling. "You do know that I taught Miki and Udo some new pranks before they went pack to the lair don't you?"

Yuki's mouth dropped open in shock and surprise as she mentioned the twin, trouble making pranksters from his wolf clan. Those two were always causing problems and had given Yuki a major headache before he decided to travel with Vitanie. "Are you trying to drive the rest of the clan insane with their trouble making?"

"No, I just wanted to let you know that I know some tricks that you haven't encountered before. So be prepared for defeat," she smirked and then turned and walked toward Hiroshi and gave him a wink. At that signal Hiroshi started playing a song that instantly had Yuki's attention.

"No, Hiroshi - - stop - - please," he started before he fell to the ground asleep.

"And that everyone is 'Wolf's Lullaby'," she said with a smile.

Everyone else stared at the wolf demon and then back at the human half tiger demon and then over to the musician as they all sweat-dropped. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo where all thinking along the same lines: Yuki and Vitanie fought just like Kagome and Inuyasha.

Tora-chan: So what do you all think? Do you guys like this chapter?

Yuki: What are you babbling about now Tora-chan?

Tora-chan: Just finishing up the chapter. Oh I gave Hiroshi the night off for the goodbyes so you're stuck with me. I asked last chapter if I should pair Vitanie with Yuki or Hiroshi and I was told that Yuki and Vitanie are perfect for each other so that's kinda were I'm heading for them. Tell me what you think about that please.

Yuki: Save you're breath, I'm not going to get together with Vitanie.

Tora-chan: Sorry, Yuki but I'm the writer and I'll put you together with Vitanie if I want to. And that's because you're my big cuddly wolfy. Come here for a hug (Yuki runs away).

Tora-chan: While Yuki is hiding from me I would like to thank inuyashaswife12, Whitetigermisty, and my newest reviewer Shikahanyou for your reviews. Thanks everyone. Please review and hope you enjoyed the story.