Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, although I guess I could claim the alterations to Shippou, Sango, and Miroku…muses But anyways, I do own Karuka. Fyliwion owns Seirune, and Joat owns Isa.

Author's Note: In this chapter, as noted above, I will be introducing some original characters. Before I get flamed or anything, THESE ARE NOT MARY SUES! I know some people out there seem to think that all original characters that appear in fanfiction are Mary Sues, and I do admit Karuka (as many of my other fandom-based characters) did start out as one, but I gave them all major fix-ups and they are now far from it. In fact, this is most likely the only chapter they will be appearing in…I haven't decided if they might pop up briefly later. Well anyways, one more thing before you get onto the story, I have some character sketches up of some of the characters, if your interested in seeing them, in my DA scraps gallery. I don't remember if Karuka and Seirune are up yet…but if they aren't they should be soon. Also, I'll give cookies to name what anime series I pay tribute to in this chapter.

Chapter 11: Modern Day Demons

Shippou sat on one of his favorite vantage points for watching the sunset. He still had a few hours to go, but was having fun messing around with his newly re-acquired toys and fondly remembering his younger years and his parents. You know…these actually might come in handy for defending our territory…he mused, trying the dragon trick he had used on the human girl earlier. He laughed. Hard to imagine I could only make this look several times larger, but then again, I gained my other tails after I lost these, so I never had a chance to try it.

He suddenly felt the wind pick up around him and he sniffed at the air. "Hey Seirune…Karuka…Isa…" He didn't even bother turning around for visual confirmation that the other three demons were there.

"Shippou, we might have a problem," one of them spoke as soon as they approached. This was Seirune. She looked human enough, which could be blamed on the fact she was a hanyou rather than a youkai. The only exceptions were the tabby-colored ears and tail she possessed, marking her youkai relations as cat demons. Se was able to easily venture out into human territory with her tail wrapped around her waist as a belt and a bandana over her ears. Next to Shippou, she had the easiest time melding in with humans when the need arose.

"If you're talking about the humans from earlier, I dealt with them already." Shippou replied, reclining back on his arms. "Honestly, you and Karuka are only a century older than me, and yet you act like paranoid ancients."

The wind picked up again as the second demon bristled, flexing her fingers as a few sparks jumped about them. "Who're you calling a paranoid ancient?" She growled. Karuka was a dangerous person to tease. It was bad enough with her fire and wind powers, but mixed with her short temper, the results could be disastrous. Back in older times, she was more emotionless, but ever since being confined to the city, and then only allowed to venture out of demon territory at night due to her markings and pointed ears, she had been growing restless and her outbursts became more frequent.

Seirune put a hand on Karuka's shoulder to calm her as the youngest of the trio spoke up. "These two seem certain that some great evil is coming…or something like that." Isa, a water demon, was about Shippou's age, maybe a year or two younger. Karuka and Seirune had become her unofficial guardians after humans had killed her parents and they found her wandering about on her own when she was very young. She'd been old enough to take care of herself for a while now, but still had a tendency to hang around the other two.

"A great evil, eh?" Shippou turned to finally look at them, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that what Seirune called me when she caught me flirting with you a year ago?"

Seirune stiffened. "Isa looked up to you and she didn't yet realize you do that with every girl you meet. I didn't want her feelings hurt."

"Yeah…but the Great Evil? How desperate were you?"

This whole exchange got a rare chuckle out of Karuka as Seirune's ears flattened with agitation. "Forget the past already, we need to worry about now."

"He already said he dealt with warning the humans away, so it's not his fault if they got themselves nabbed by others of our kind," Isa pointed out.

Shippou tsked. "Too bad…they seemed pretty decent for human folk. But I did tell them not everyone back here is willing to ignore trespassers."

Karuka shook her head. "It's not that. These demons were outsiders…not from our little 'community.'"

He shrugged it off. "So what? You know humans are constantly eating up any land they can get their hands on. Probably just some that had their homes destroyed, heard about this place, and are trying to stake a claim."

Karuka groaned. "This is why I've always hated kitsune. They cast so many stupid illusions they refuse to see past them at what is really going on."

Shippou's tails bristled and he stood up, glaring at the other demon. "For your information, my 'stupid illusions' are what keeps us safe!"

"Yeah? Well too bad you were only a pathetic two tail when the original group met up, otherwise we might have actually had somewhere of our own instead of being restricted to a few blocks of human city backstreets!"

Isa took a few steps backwards as Shippou growled and the warning signs of Karuka's powers stared up again.

Seirune, however, stepped between them, arms spread out. "Stop it! Both of you! We already lost Kai and Shin when they went at it three months ago, and there's too few of us to loose anymore if we are to keep hiding."

The tense air continued for a few minutes before the two began to relax.

"Alright then," Shippou said, still with a slight growl in his voice, "just tell me what the deal is with these outsiders."

Seirune sighed, glad that this finally seemed to be getting somewhere. "You and Isa might be too young to remember this clearly, but there used to be a powerful demon. Went by the name of Naraku." She shudder, "Most humans think that we're 'evil,' and usually that's just because of differences, killing to survive, or just disagreements between the two species. But him? I have to agree with them when it came to Naraku."

"He simply wanted power and didn't care who all was destroyed in order to obtain it," Karuka added, "He exterminated hundreds of people, humans and demons alike. Many fled, others fought…either way, we became to be glad that the Shikon Jewel had disappeared."

Something fluttered at the back of Shippou's memory. "Wasn't that some sort of gem that granted demons immense powers?"

Isa nodded. "I remember some old stories, but as you said, it disappeared before Shippou and I were born. And so did this Naraku since you're talking about him in past tense."

Seirune shifted nervously as Karuka answered. "Yes…we did think that. The last I heard of him was about a century ago…maybe a century and a half."

"Then what's the problem?"

Seirune picked up the explanation. "Every so often, some demons who'd smell and feel identical to him would show up to do his dirty work. They were…they were him, yet not."

Shippou and Isa blinked, confused.

Seirune tried to think of a better way to explain it. "We thought maybe he could shape shift, actually, he could in the first several years he made himself known, but these…they were like, a part of him, but of course they were separate beings." She shrugged, "I guess the best way to describe them would be his 'children' although even then, I don't know if that's the right word."

Shippou started to piece things together. "So these outsiders…you think they are the children of Naraku?"

The two older demons nodded.

"But you said Naraku disappeared. They could just be acting on their own. You know half of the human's missing persons reports are demons' faults."

"We disappeared ourselves, didn't we?" Seirune pointed out, "he was certainly powerful enough that he could hide himself from other demons as well as humans. And if he's back now, we could be in huge trouble."

"Why are you telling me this first then?" Shippou asked, "Shouldn't you be discussing this with the other elders? The ones who actually remember Naraku well?"

"You are one of the ones mainly involved in our 'security system,'" Isa pointed out.

Karuka nodded. "That is a reason, but not the main one. "She paused. "Do you know anything…interesting about the humans from earlier?"

Shippou shrugged. "One was actually a hanyou and I believe one of the females is who Kirara went to go live with." He thought for a moment. "I thought I might have felt a very faint spiritual aura from the other two, but I overheard them mention something about a shrine, so it could just be lingering from when they were last there." Another shrug. "Just saw them today, had a little fun, then sent them on their way. What does it matter if they've been killed?"

"Naraku never did anything he couldn't benefit from," Seirune explained, "For him to come out of hiding to hunt down a group of humans and a hanyou, something must be important about them, whether it's to add more power to his or eliminate a potential threat."

"Well, as you pointed out," Shippou said with yet another shrug, clearly not worried about the situation, "you said the two made off with them weren't him personally, so-"

"They don't have hearts," Seirune interrupted, "or at least according to one of the elders who had a close encounter with one of them years ago. So I don't think they can act without being told to."

Shippou rolled his eyes. "You think? Great. Something we should fear is based on theories and coincidences." He shook his head, "I'll wait until I have some proof in front of me before I start to panic and run around in circles, waving my arms above my head and blubbering."

Karuka narrowed her eyes. "We aren't asking you to believe us, so stop with the sarcasm. We just wanted to get some damn information about the blasted humans before we reported this to the others!" She stormed off, the wind catching her as she dropped off the edge of the building.

Seirune sighed. "Are you sure you didn't notice anything else about them?"

The kitsune shrugged, eyes back on the sky. The cat hanyou nodded, before bounding off after her companion.

This left Isa. The young youkai knelt down next to the kitsune, watching the horizon with him for a few moments.

"You know Karuka's just upset because she really hasn't been allowed out of our territory for a few years," she said after a while. "A lot of us are feeling it…but what can we do? It's the humans' world now."

Shippou didn't reply.

"Just so you know it has nothing to do with you personally." She stood up. "I'd stay longer, but I'd promised Ichi and Hei that I'd meet up with them. Later."

"See ya," Shippou muttered.

With a nod, Isa disappeared.

Shippou sighed and fell backwards, laying on the roof of the building. "What do I care about some stupid humans or long gone demons?" he muttered, closing his yes.

He wasn't sure how long he'd laid like that, but the next thing he knew, something was standing over him, batting gently at his head.

"If that's you again Tori, I swear I'm going to-" However he cut off after opening his eyes to see it wasn't the troublesome youngster. Instead, large red eyes stared back at him. "Oh, Kirara!" He sat up with a grin, reaching out to scratch the creature behind the ears. He'd met her several centuries ago, weak and poisoned from some sort of battle. He'd assumed she'd gotten mixed up with the taijiya since he'd found her in the area they were rumored to live in. Or used to live in as news of their destruction reached his and his father's ears a day or so later. Whatever happened, Kirara stayed with them, occasionally wandering off, but always coming back. Shippou had been especially grateful for her company when his father had passed on. However, this had been the longest she'd been away, and after looking for her, Shippou had discovered she'd taken up residence in a human household.

"So…your 'owner' abandon you?"

Kirara growled in annoyance, but underneath was the faint trace of something among the lines of sadness or worry. Nobody in the 'community' could understand what she said exactly, but Shippou, who'd known her longest, and most of the other animal related demons were able to pick up on her tone and figure out her thoughts from there.

Shippou frowned, realizing that something had her panicked. "Your human's missing? You sure she finally didn't get rid of you?" Another growl. "Alright…alright, she's still taking care of you then." So maybe that really was the same human girl from earlier. "I'm sorry Kirara, but some demons took off with some humans earlier…I think your Son…eh…San….whatever the girl's name was, was with them."

Another worried noise came from the large cat demon and she moved over towards the edge of the building, looking back at Shippou with a look he knew quite well.

"What? You want me to help you find her?" He sighed and moved next to her so he could climb on her back. He could have easily transformed into something and flown himself, but he needed to be able to maintain an illusion over Kirara to hide her from human eyes, not to mention still have enough power to keep up the maze illusion back here. "You're lucky I like you so much, anyone else and I'd insist just let the humans fend for themselves." He shook his head. "Honestly, what happened to our original rule of leaving humans alone and not interfering with them? And I'm not complaining just about you," he reassured her, shifting his weight so he was more comfortable, "Seirune and Karuka too. They came by earlier, worried about those humans I mentioned earlier potentially being taken by some demon called Naraku."

He was almost thrown off by the sudden force of Kirara leaping into the air. After gripping tighter and regaining his balance, Shippou could sense a flame of anger now mixed into her thoughts.

"Oi, you heard of him too?" He asked, a little surprised, although then realized that since Kirara was quite old, she would certainly remember people from back then. "You must have had an actual encounter with him to be so angry." He paused, thinking. "Is that why you're so worried about your human? Just incase he is back like Seirune and Karuka claim?"

Kirara didn't respond, but she didn't have to for Shippou to know he was right.

He sighed. I really don't want to get too involved with humans…they've despised us since the beginning of time. Not to mention it's against our rules to interact with them outside what is necessary…Shippou had a sense of good behavior for a kitsune as far as demons' rules went, and preferred to follow old laws and traditions rather than bend them to changing times. After all, he was one of the few demons that still wore yukatas and armor rather than adopt human fashions.

After having a long mental debate with himself, he finally leaved forward so Kirara could hear him better. "Alright then, where shall we look first?"