(two days later)

Hyoga Higuashi got up gingerly from his chair. Day by day he weakened, but the hatred he had for his daughter Kagome and her family, Inu-Yasha, Zechariahs, and little Keyasha, kept him going.

After the divorce, Kagome and Sota were both given a choice of with whom they wanted to live with, their mother and grandfather, or their father. Kagome and Sota each chose their mother, and even though Sota kept seeing Hyoga on the weekends, Kagome did not keep in contact what so ever.

At the age of fifteen, Kagome began traveling between time eras, Sota had told their father that Kagome had fallen in love with a half-demon, Inu-Yasha, betraying Hyoga. Now, he Hyoga was to become a demon.

Long since the jewel of four souls (also known as the skilkon jewel) had had all of its shards collected. Or so they thought. But they had missed one little piece, just one piece. But one piece had the same power just as if someone had the whole jewel in their palm. Hyoga had that piece.

Hyoga dropped the shard into the cauldron filled with boiling liquid. And it began to bubble even more and it turned an odd shade of red. Hyoga eased in feet first. The liquid overflowed and the new lord Hyoga was born, a demon.

He leapt out. "Now, to find that back-stabbing twit I once called daughter." He muttered. He jumped into the air; the potion had given the creature wings. He had combined most powerful demons, giving him exceptional hearing, and a very sharp nose. He sniffed. Kagome was nearby, he thought after flying a few miles. He dived and found himself in the yard or a large hut facing a window. He gazed in the window. Nobody was paying any attention at all.

In a far corner sat two men. One looked like a Buda monk, dressed in a purple and black robe. The other dressed in all red and beads hanging around his neck. He had silver hair and dog-ears.

"The cloak of the fire rat" muttered Hyoga. "That brute must be Inu-Yasha."

Near Inu-Yasha, playing on the floor was a little girl about the age of five (twenty-three human years) her silver hair pulled into a messy ponytail. She too displayed tiny little dog-ears. Hyoga quickly assumed correctly that this was Kagome and Inu-Yasha's one daughter, Keyasha he had heard about from Sota. A boy, maybe two demon years older picked up the small girl and placed her on his back and began running in circles around the room. The window was opened a crack and Hyoga could hear a bit of laughing drifting out from the room.

"Be careful, Akio". Said the monk, no sooner had the words escaped his mouth than Akio turned toward the window and both he and Keyasha got a perfect view of Hyoga. They screamed and fell backwards on top each other onto the hard floor.

During the commotion Hyoga had seized his opportunity to slip unseen into the shadows out of view from the window. Both fathers shot out of their seats and rushed to aid their children.

Inu-Yasha reached Keyasha first, picked her up and put her on her feet. "Are you alright, Keyasha?" She nodded. "Yes, Daddy. But—"

"There was a demon, Papa really!" interrupted Akio, trying to convince a stern looking Miroku. Miroku went to the window and looked out. Seeing nothing turned back to his son. "You have one more chance to tell the truth."

"There was a demon, Daddy." Said Keyasha quietly. It wasn't like her to lie. Inu-Yasha just looked at her and didn't say anything.

"It was going to eat us, it was right there a minute ago." Said Akio, pointing.

"What have I told you about those lies?" Scolded Akio and promptly turned Akio around and slapped him soundly on the seat of his pants four times.

Inu-Yasha looked down at Keyasha "are you going to tell me the truth?" he asked her.

"Daddy there was a demon! He glared at us! He—"

"That's enough! I don't want to hear it!" scolded Inu-Yasha. He hated this, everybody knew he spoiled Keyasha. Because he had such a nightmare of a childhood himself, he decided to avoid that at all costs for his own child. He seldom punished Keyasha himself, he let Kagome do it. He couldn't explain it, but it just felt wrong. He never hit her and seldom yelled. Just a gentle swat once in a while but mostly a stern voice and scolding. But now that Akio and Keyasha were in trouble for the same thing, it wouldn't be fair to let disciple go ignored. But Inu-Yasha would grant her dignity.

Inu-Yasha pointed to the next room and followed Keyasha into it. He shut the door. He sat down on Keyasha's bed and pulled her onto his lap. "Keyasha," he said, "lying is wrong. I'm sorry but I have to punish you now,"

"But—"

"Pup, you are making it worse. You understand don't you?"

Keyasha nodded. "Sorry." She mumbled. Inu-Yasha sighed, the few times he had done this in the past, it had broken his heart. It was about to break once more. Inu-Yasha picked Keyasha up and pulled her close. "I don't want to do this," he said. Inu-Yasha placed Keyasha over his knee. He gritted his fangs and clamped his eyes shut. Being careful, he brought his hand down on Keyasha's small bottom. She "ouched" and Inu-Yasha smacked her again. He had to be careful because of how strong he was. A third and final swat and real tears fell from the child's eyes.

Inu-Yasha felt terrible. He picked his daughter up and hugged her close to him. He squeezed, more than anything he wanted to stop her tears. Stop her pain. There was no way how to. Keyasha was a quiet crier. The tears just dripped onto Inu-Yasha's shoulder. She didn't yell or scream or sniffle, she just cried. Inu-Yasha held her in his strong arms until she stopped, never looking over at the window where Hyoga had positioned himself to spy more.

Keyasha stopped crying and looked into Inu-Yasha's eyes. "I'm sorry I was bad." She told him and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

Inu-Yasha hugger her back and rubbed her back. "Keyasha," he sighed, "you were not bad. You have never been bad a day in your life. A little misbehaving maybe, but not bad."

Hyoga watched them. "This whelp, Keyasha, he called her, sure is close to her father. I know exactly how to tear Inu-Yasha apart, limb from limb. It was all too easy. He laughed out loud and shrunk back into the trees to plan his attack.