A/N: Well, as all of you know, I'm late...I apologize for that. See I actually only just finished my novel last weekend. Just today I sat down and feverishly wrote this up b/c let's face it: YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! Not once did anyone threaten my life. You've been so good to me, so understanding, so I'm here to make sure you know that I haven't abandoned you. (grins)

Notes on the chapter: I'm still afraid that you'll think it stinks, but I'm putting it up anyway. (nods sternly) I love you all too much to live with the guilt of not updating when all of you have stuck with me SO long, and never once threatened my life! I love you guys! Okay, as to the content: Two things might catch you by surprise. The first concerns our dear Lady Pinky. What she tells Kagome in this chapter isn't BS I made up on the spot while writing it. In chapter...17: Soul Stone I actually hint a bit, though you'd never have guessed it, in Shimofuri's conversation with his mother in that chapter. Here's my copy/paste thing: Taikokajin's clear face was cold and pale—frigid. He had only rarely seen her so cold. "The clan will no longer send me a mate, chakunan. And even if they did…" her face wrinkled, "It would do no good." Anyway...all planned (grins). And also i think in chapter 17 there's Tsuki's struggle with Garou's curse. Like Kagome she has a curse, but unlike Kagome she doesn't have any experience with it, no training with her powers inherited from her father. Anyway...enjoy!

again, everyone who's waited for me...(blows kisses and throws candy and pizza and whatever else all of you want!) LOVE YOU ALL and many THANK YOUS!

Taikokajin's Curse

Kagome's breath hissed sharply in her throat, her body tensed and readied for battle. Instinctively she knew that Taikokajin's sword was able to absorb and combat spiritual energy like the type she'd thrown at Mitori the maid moments ago. She cursed inwardly…if only I had an arrow…

Taikokajin's pink eyes flicked to Momo and the single armed guard. "Get her."

Momo lunged first, letting out a primal sound that seemed inhuman. Kagome reacted immediately. A small but fast purple glowing streak shot out at the crazy maid, meeting her in the stomach. With a cry Momo fell, clutching her belly, fighting to stay conscious as the miko energy tore through her.

The man in the armor leveled his sword at her and made a strange grunting sound in his throat. She prepared herself for another charge only to realize that he was going to toss the sword at her. For a moment she was like a deer in the headlights of a car, wide eyed and stupid, unable to leap aside with the instinctual deftness that Inuyasha and the other dog demons seemed to possess. The long, sharp length of metal streaked toward her…

And then Kagome felt herself pushed roughly to the side, and, though it made no sense at all, she had one quick thought: Inuyasha…for a moment her heart leapt with familiarity. The person who'd thrown her aside, rough as it was, had long, silver-white free-flowing hair like her husband but—her stomach lurched and her thoughts derailed as the sword came at the armored, silver-haired creature, microseconds from punching a hold into its gut…

But a slender, clawed hand snatched the sword just before it made contact. Red fluid oozed from beneath the fierce clutch the hand had on it. Kagome noticed, absently, that, like Sesshomaru's, this hand had turquoise streaks over the wrist and the back of the palm.

Koinu's cries reached her then and Kagome sprang away from the action on instinct and pulled her pup closer to her, trying to comfort him. She blew on his ears, whispered praise.

The man who'd thrown the sword fell to his knees, bowing over and over again. He muttered apology after apology in desperation. "Lady Taikokajin, I am sorry for my error, I am a fool, please spare me my miniscule life. I am nothing but a wretched human. I have a family, my lady…"

The silver-haired figure was Taikokajin, of course. Her face was contorted and twisted with a hateful sneer. "You bastard!" she growled, her voice low, frightening. "You threw your sword at her! What the hell were you thinking! You could've skewered the pup!"

Kagome's body went instantly tense. Taikokajin saved me to protect Koinu…she was grateful that she'd been saved—but she understood full well that it hadn't been done for her. I have to get away from here…

Taikokajin threw the man's sword around, catching it with her bloodied palm by the hilt. "You will pay for your stupidity with your life!" she hissed.

"No! Please my lady!" the man looked up to beg more just in time to stretch his neck out enough for Taikokajin's sword to sever his head from his shoulders.

Kagome squeaked with horror and shielded both Koinu and her own eyes, though the pup wasn't even looking in the direction of the violence. A fit of shuddering took her, shock. She felt the spell that was on her soul pull strangely and knew that whatever demon had control of it was trying to drag her strength away again. Pain ripped through her, but dimly she saw Taikokajin toss the dead man's sword away, and she smelled the iron stink of blood, but luckily missed the headless body falling to spill its blood on the beautiful wooden floors.

Get away! Instinct reeled again, forcing Kagome to focus through her pain, terror and confusion. She looked away from Taikokajin and saw Nikimi, wide eyed and terrified, still at the door. Without thought Kagome leapt to her feet, pressing Koinu tightly against her, and dashed toward the maid.

"Nikimi!"

The young maid's eyes turned toward her, glazed by wild fear…

A dark shape appeared as if out of thin air in front of her, Kagome tried to stop, nearly falling backward, but she couldn't stop herself from bumping into the thing…a clawed hand slapped itself over the arm that held Koinu against her, tightened until Kagome felt new pain digging into her as the claws cut into her flesh…

Koinu screamed with fear at the scent of his mother's blood and Kagome was tossed abruptly from her helpless daze.

The miko energy came immediately, building in the other, free fist. Kagome met Taikokajin's pink-eyed stare for a split second before the energy flared, shaped and ready, and the young mother thrust it straight at the inuyoukai woman. The purple-blue flickering rolled over Taikokajin's body, battled with her normal demonic energy, and, with a screech that was almost more of a dog's painful yipping, she jerked away from Kagome.

Shivering, and stumbling weakly, Kagome blinked, steadying herself against the pull of the spell on her soul and the draining usage of her miko energy in such huge bursts. Her breathing was rough and ragged, Koinu felt like a lump of lead in her shaking arms. Desperately she tried to move away from where Taikokajin was struggling with her purifying magic, only to trip over one of the other bodies that had already fallen prey to her earlier bursts.

Koinu cried frantically, clutching his little arms around her neck. The jarring of several falls was getting to him, making the pup's blue eyes wide with terror and his face red from crying, wet with his tears. Fear battled within Kagome. She didn't want to traumatize her baby like this…her eyes flew to Nikimi again…

The ringing sound of a sword being drawn caught her attention. Taikokajin had unsheathed her sword again, the miko-energy absorbing blade. It glowed brilliantly, a beautiful thing to fit the beautiful—but beastly—demon woman who wielded it. Taikokajin's eyes glittered with pain and rage. The formerly smooth skin of her neck was now charred, wrinkled a little with burns from direct exposure to Kagome's power.

"The pup, miko bitch," she growled, her voice oddly distorted, far from its usual smooth, deep and melodic beauty. "Or I'll kill you."

Faintly, Kagome tried to push herself away from the bright, shining sword in Taikokajin's clawed and still bleeding hands. Her thoughts were drowned and mixed with Koinu's screaming, the sensation of his cold and wet baby tears in the neck of the kimono robe she was wearing. The sword followed her movements, and Taikokajin's face was steadily growing more and more impatient.

Pain rippled through the lingering ties she had to the strange demon that had somehow managed to get a grip on her soul with dark magic, but Kagome ignored it, forcing her mind around it. She had to be conscious and fully aware to escape Taikokajin…the miko energy built within her, growing. Her vision blurred, the room spun, but she refused to let go…

"I grow tired of this!" Taikokajin hissed, her face an ugly, hateful mask. All signs of serenity and peace were gone when Kagome looked up at her. Somehow the young mother found a hidden calm inside her when she looked at the demon woman's madness—a calm sprung from pity. "Give me that child!"

"Why? Why do you want Koinu? What do you really care about how Inuyasha and I raise him? Koinu's only a quarter demon…" Kagome squeaked, blinking. Fear melted in her mind completely when Taikokajin's sword tip, pointed down at her, wavered. The pink eyes widened and the negative emotions drained from her face, returning it to a colder, carefully controlled outer mask.

Abruptly the glowing, white light of the sword was extinguished as Taikokajin sheathed the blade, glaring down at Kagome. "Get up, miko bitch." She barked.

Kagome stared, stunned, as the demon woman took a few steps back from her deliberately and looked to Nikimi. "You!" she growled when the poor, confused maid looked to the inuyoukai and dropped to her knees immediately.

"Yes Lady—"

"Get out."

"Yes, my lady." Nikimi turned swiftly on her heel and left the room, sliding the door closed behind her. Kagome, on her feet as the maid rushed away, felt a pang of fear rush through her. Carefully she continued building her magic up inside her, erecting a shield that would protect against Taikokajin's touch as well as her sword. Koinu didn't like the feeling much: his crying grew louder, more frightened, but Kagome could do nothing about it.

Taikokajin turned her pink-colored eyes on the young miko, narrowed to horizontal slits of unnatural color. Her skin was pale, as if she were ill. Moments ago it had been flushed with heat, the intensity of impending battle. If Kagome had been demon, and if Koinu hadn't been crying as hard and as loud as he was, she might've been able to hear the demon woman's heartbeat fluttering away like a mouse's.

"Can you undo spells, miko?" came the albino demon's growl.

Kagome blinked. That was the last thing she'd expected out of Taikokajin's mouth. "I haven't been properly trained but…"

"You must be able." The eyes were alertly trained on her, the stare narrow and suspicious, evaluating her. "That must be the only way you were able to escape the hanyou-eater's curse on your soul…"

Kagome's breath caught in her throat. The thing that Inuyasha went after for her is the same thing that's been trying to take my soul? But…how? She steadied herself, preparing for anything Taikokajin had to throw at her. "Are you in league with that monster?"

Taikokajin threw her head back and laughed, long and hard, though the sound was a rough one, without any true mirth in it. When she faced the fidgeting miko again Kagome noted a nasty gleam in her eyes that she didn't like at all. "You think," Taikokajin began with a snarl mixing with the dark, humorless laughter of moments before, "That I would work with something that took my daughter away?"

It was Kagome's turn now to narrow her eyes suspiciously, "I wouldn't put it past you—seeing as how you're trying to kill your own son by threatening to kill me." she stared defiantly at the inuyoukai woman, challenging her. "And did you think Inuyasha would sit idly by while you steal our son away?"

Taikokajin's expression was bland. "Your mate is likely already dead."

"If you really think that—then why haven't you killed me yet and just taken Koinu?"

The slender, blood splattered fingers curled around the hilt of her sword. "Don't try me miko bitch…"

"Then get to the point! How did you know I was under a spell? Why aren't you killing me?" the adrenaline lingering within her made Kagome shake, her breath coming in fast spurts. Her outburst, she realized distantly, likely wasn't wise—though she doubted that Taikokajin felt any mercy toward her. Mercy from the inu-youkai woman was about as ridiculous as the thought of Sango and Miroku sending Kagura Christmas cards every year.

Taikokajin's face was expressionless, though Kagome could still clearly see the hostility just beneath the mask...and was there a little bit of something else too? Desperation? Frustration? She couldn't tell for sure. "That is all unimportant. Just tell me: can you break curses set on demons?"

"I don't know…" Kagome answered, still wary and untrusting. She adjusted Koinu while Taikokajin's gaze lingered on her, seeming to come to a conclusion. The pup slowly began to quiet in her arms, though he continued to cling to her as if for dear life. She worried about him quietly and found herself filled with fear that he might be scarred or hurt in some way by the jostling of the battle. It nagged her internally, as if it were a physical wound. Even when Taikokajin spoke Kagome could never quite rid herself of the fear for Koinu, the desperate desire to escape—not for her own sake, but for her child's.

"You asked why I wanted your pup," Taikokajin began, through gritted teeth, and Kagome flinched at the roughness of her voice, at the harshness and terrible emotion in it, "It is simply because I can have no others of my own."

Startled, Kagome shook her head, confused. She fought to keep her voice even and neutral, hoping not to arouse Taikokajin's anger by speaking. "What do you—"

"I was cursed by one gifted with spiritual magic such as you." the demon woman's voice was low, dangerous, but her gaze had drifted away to stare with hatred at the bodies on the floor around them, as if the fallen maids and armed men were to blame. "A monk." She spat the word, bitterly.

Still Kagome was confused, "Why—"

The pink eyes whipped back to face her, furiously. "Because he knew I killed Kokoro!"

"Kokoro…?"

"My daughter's father. He was a monk too. Damn them both!" she paused a moment, shaking with emotion. Despite her Sesshomaru-like appearances Taikokajin was a raging beast of feeling, it seemed, though a great deal of it Kagome was unable to read. Was it pain or fury? Either way Kagome could think of nothing but getting away from the monster before her, of getting Koinu to safety. She looked to the doorway once, but knew sprinting to it would be futile.

Eventually Taikokajin looked back at Kagome, her gaze heavy and angry. "If you can break such a spell…" she breathed once, and her expression lost the intensity, the anger or pain or whatever emotion had been clouding the pink eyes died, "Lady Inuyasha, I will spare your life and leave your child with you."

Oh, goody. Kagome restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Part of her wanted nothing more than to destroy Taikokajin, to show the demon woman the peril in betraying the agreement she'd had with Inuyasha, for the insult and injury she'd heaped on Kagome, Inuyasha—and the danger she'd put Koinu in. Yet the rest of her was aware of Koinu's warm grip on her, his shuddering little body in her arms, and the pain that lingered inside her. If there were a little time, she thought, perhaps just long enough that she could break free of the spell she was under, Kagome could survive and get away, Koinu as well…but Inuyasha…

She met Taikokajin's cold, expectant gaze, and asked, "You'd let me go free? With Inuyasha and Koinu? You would have no further demands of any of us?"

Taikokajin made a noise that sounded like a scoff, "If your mate still lives, and if both of my children do as well, yes…"

Instinct she hadn't known she possessed rose within her, and Kagome narrowed her usually warm and loving brown eyes in distrust. She's lying…something is fishy. If I agree to this and take away the curse, if it exists, she'll probably just kill me, take Koinu anyway, and then try to kill Inuyasha too…But what was she supposed to say now?

Please Inuyasha…hurry!

There was nothing for it but to stall.

She nodded warily to Taikokajin, "I'll try and remove it for you…" she stopped herself from calling the demon before her a nice, respectful name like "Lady Taikokajin" and instead finished her thoughts without addressing the woman at all. "But I'll need a lot of time to recover my lost energy." She prayed she sounded genuine. In reality Kagome suspected she and Taikokajin could've gone at it, one type of energy to another, for hours—but with Koinu in her arms that was a stupid idea…

She couldn't be sure but she thought she saw Taikokajin's face twist briefly with disgust or suspicion, but it was gone almost as fast as she'd thought she'd seen it. "I am pleased, Lady Inuyasha…" she murmured, nodding her head slightly. When Kagome refused to do the same as was required in proper etiquette, the demon woman's smile turned swiftly into a frown, though she said nothing.

"I will have Nikimi escort you to a different room." Taikokajin threw her last words over her shoulder as she slid open the door and stepped out, leaving Kagome alone.

Blood and bodies all around her, Kagome frowned and clutched the only other lively thing in the room even closer to her. Koinu was silent, though he moved against her every so often, gently, telling her that he was still awake. Her son was being careful, following deeply ingrained instincts. His ears barely moved too, though a sharp sound still caught his attention easily. Kagome tried to get him to rumble and coo for her again in happiness, but the pup was dead set on staying as stiff as a board. She worried about him silently; still trying to rub his ears, smooth his hair, stroke his arms and his back…but her pup remained stiff.

I need to get out of here; Koinu needs to be home again, away from all this danger…

She waited for Nikimi in a body-less corner, giving all her attention to the pup, trying to make sure he was all right, and at the same time, counseling herself that she was going to be okay too.

Shimofuri avoided meeting his cousin's eyes. "I said that Sesshomaru is coming to help us with his Tenseiga."

"And how the hell do you know something like that, Shimo-pup?" Inuyasha's ears swiveled, not together, but one forward and one backward, as if listening carefully for his most hated brother already. "And—damn it!—why would we need that old bastard's help, anyway? He'll just get all dreamy-eyed about his little girl—er—mate. We don't need that kind of crap!"

"Actually, cousin, we do."

Inuyasha's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and filled with outrage. "Like hell we do, pup! Maybe you do, but I'm gonna kick this loser's ass without anyone else's help!"

Alarm raced through Shimofuri when he noted that the hanyou's body language had changed, becoming distinctly battle-ready. His clawed fingers lingered a little too eagerly over Tetsusaiga's hilt. For a moment the young inuyoukai lord had a clear, soothing thought: Inuyasha is battle-hardened and that must include the proper caution.

The confidence that the thought filled him with deflated the moment Inuyasha growled, low and powerfully, and hurried forward, first at a trot and then with great leaps and bounds. The long sleeves of his haori trailed in the breeze his swift movements generated. For a split-second Shimofuri remembered the bristling hostility that Inuyasha had exuded with Sesshomaru when they were supposed to be guests in the demon lord's palace, and he realized his error. It seemed impossible that the stubborn, brazen, incautious hanyou could've survived at all by rushing thoughtlessly into battle—but obviously he had. Perhaps it had something, he mused idly for a moment, dredging up his memories, to do with his human mate…

Shimofuri raced forward, following the impatient Inuyasha into battle.

There was a distant sound, like the thudding a hammer might make as it struck the earth, or the grumble of rocks as they slid down a steep slope after a heavy spring rain loosened their hold. She gave it little thought; her body was still too weak, betraying her will. Somewhere, past the stink of blood, death, and pain—the rank mixture had long since ceased to register inside her nose, having scoured it clean of scent receptors ages ago—Tsukiyume could hear the birds chirping, calling prettily, innocently to their mates in the trees across the clearing.

She gritted her teeth until her jaw ached. Their cheeping mocked her misery.

Thump. Thump. The steady, rhythmic sound caught her attention again, and she focused on it, slowly realizing that her heart had picked up speed, her limbs felt a little less numb. It seemed that the sound brought hope with it. Such a thought was almost laughable, since it was probably the sound of her tormentor returning, gleefully smeared with the latest hanyou's blood.

It was still difficult for her to remember what had happened to her, troubling to wonder why she remained alive when all the other hanyou the monster brought to the clearing were slaughtered. Their souls were torn from them, sometimes their blood spilled only for the sick joy it must've brought the monster, other times he sucked them dry. If she'd had anything to eat at all she would've thrown up for sure, but she could barely remember whatever—whenever—she'd last eaten. If she were completely human, Tsukiyume was certain she'd have died long ago.

But the questions persisted. Why was she still alive? Who was her captor—why was it that she couldn't place his disgusting, reeking scent? Who was coming to rescue her? Was it Shimofuri or her mother? The guidance from her father's spirit used her, protecting her—but it offered her none of the answers she wanted. The only thing she did know, was that she was alive because the monster must have another purpose for her, another use that benefited him, otherwise she would've died long ago at his claws.

She was a pawn in whatever game was being played, and it wasn't the first time she hadn't been given a choice about what happened to her. The calming memory of her father's spirit visiting her was tainted with the realization that Shimofuri's quiet whisperings throughout her childhood were real.

Mother! How could you?

Something burst into the clearing. Tsukiyume could hear its rough breathing, the snorting sounds that came with disgust. Was it her tormentor? She strained her senses, her memories, and found that her heart beat loud in her chest. It's a hanyou! Weakly, she tried to speak—no sound came. How could she warn him if she could not speak?

"Yo—wench…" his voice changed, quieting abruptly. "Are you…Pinky's daughter?" she sensed the mixture of pity and outrage in his strained voice, but wasn't sure where it came from. Did it really matter, she thought, when they were both doomed to suffer as soon as the monster came back? She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to roll her head to one side, to focus her eyes on the other hanyou's form. A red figure came into sight, fair hair the same color as her mother's, but atop his head were two triangular dog ears.

A thought hit her then: he knows who I am…? With a jolt she realized that his presence wasn't an accident. Her mind reeled, foggy with confusion and slow with her prolonged hunger, her dry, swollen tongue was like a rock, useless and immobile. She wanted to question him, wanted to warn him, and couldn't. But who was he? His scent was too weak for her to analyze, too faint for her to make out his relations, his age…

He strode forward, his tread heavy and confident. It was odd, she realized, he walked not like her brother or her mother, or even like her uncle, but more like a samurai, like a warrior. She was inordinately swept away by bafflement, unable to take her eyes away from him as he knelt at her side, reached for her.

"Are you Tsukiyume?" he asked, his ears swiveled, listening and alert for danger. "Is your mother that lady pink bitch?" though his voice was gruff and unsympathetic, the hanyou's face creased with something that might've been concern. She noted that his eyes were golden, as her grandfather's were rumored to have been, but that didn't mean he was closely related at all, did it?

The hanyou grabbed her up into his arms, his face contorting into a brief scowl that wasn't, she silently understood, because of her weight added to his own. She settled her face against his chest, feeling the strength hidden beneath the red folds of his robe, a male musk rose from his hair, like perfume. It was the first thing she'd smelled that wasn't completely repulsive in weeks. She moaned, trying to will words out of her mouth, her fingers tightened on his clothes. The scent he carried registered within her somewhere as familiar. Cousin, a high-born cousin…

He cursed somewhere above her, his tone grumbling. "Where's that Shimo-pup when I need him?" jarring steps jolted through Tsukiyume's body, mimicking the effect his words had on her heart. Shimofuri…?

A sound made the hanyou move sharply, jerking Tsukiyume in his arms, and she felt him tense where he held her, but only for a moment before he relaxed, snorting with a mixture of humor and disgust. "Well, Shimo-kun, you came after all!"

Struggling against her haze of weakness and confusion, Tsuki craned her neck, looking for the familiar, comforting image of her older half brother. Just as she'd prayed, just as she'd dreamed through her weeks of tortuous captivity, Shimofuri had come. Her brother came to a stop up the hill; his face a careful mask that she knew their mother had tried to school into him at the earliest age possible—despite the fact that she herself rarely used it. His gray robes were neat and unwrinkled as always, though she thought that his blue-black hair was a little wilder than usual, a sure sign of trouble or a battle. A wave of dizziness poured over her, sheer relief.

It might be the red-robed hanyou cousin that reached her first, that held her safe and snug in his strong warrior's arms, but to Tsuki it was her brother's presence that assured her suddenly that she was going to live. She sagged limply in her cousin's arms, letting fatigue wash through her, letting it take her away from the stench and the painful memories…

Just a little while…just a little sleep…

"Is she harmed?" Shimofuri strode forward, trying to appear unconcerned but feeling certain that Inuyasha would hear the thick, echoing thud-thud, thud-thud of his heart pounding away on the inside of his chest.

Inuyasha shifted the girl, amber eyes unfathomable—disturbed, Shimofuri suspected. "She'll live." His ears fell backward, as if he were lying, "I don't smell much blood on her…"

"Garou has allowed her to live unharmed." Though he didn't show it on his face, Shimofuri was torn; his mind was a battle zone, a place of turmoil. Part of him was swamped with simple relief that she lived. His initial instinct was to run with her in his arms, without stopping at all, to reach the Middle Lands, to take her home. Yet the rest of him understood with a weary apprehension that the beast that had taken his sister to begin with hadn't just forgotten her—there was something wrong…

Amber eyes met with his gray-blue, suddenly sharp and suspicious. The hanyou's lips pursed, flushing white. "Why?" he smirked darkly, "Is that what you're thinking, pup?"

Shimofuri gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. "Yes. Garou's actions don't make any sense." He couldn't stop his lip from curling up slightly, exposing the single gleam of one white fang. "He devours hanyous to survive. It is his only means of survival, and hanyous are not as common as they once were. His hunting has taken its toll."

The words took their toll on Inuyasha. His white ears fell backward, his face twisted in a snarl. A growl rose from his throat and took its time forming coherent words. "So why the hell would he leave a nice piece of meat lying around uneaten?" he sneered.

"Because I have control of her soul!" Inuyasha and Shimofuri whirled to face the loud, rasping voice of Tsukitume's kidnapper, caught off guard. Garou was above them, on the sandy dune of grass that rose just above the lakeshore, which he'd soiled with the spilled blood and wild fear of so many unfortunate hanyous. At their brief expressions of surprise and bafflement, he laughed, harshly and without mirth. "It's about time that the pink bitch sent you for her miserable whelp." He grinned, teeth sickeningly yellow, "I've been waiting—and so has the whelp!"

"Dammit! I couldn't smell him over the stink!" the hanyou snarled, nose wrinkling, amber eyes narrowing. He shifted awkwardly, claws eager to draw Tetsusaiga, but at the same time unwilling to abandon the limp, frail form of the girl in his arms. He'd never known really what to expect out of Shimofuri's younger half-demon sister, but when he'd seen her, gotten a good look at her, he found himself reminded of a younger, frightened version of himself. She had hair like Kagome's, long and silky black, but what he'd seen of her eyes reminded him more of Sango's intense brown. But the two white triangles, little dog ears that drooped innocently atop her head, were exactly what he'd seen atop his own head after his mother died and he'd been chased off as nothing more than a helpless, frightened pup.

The memory made his grip around the girl tighten. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Shimofuri's movement, stiff with the young heir's growing instinct to protect his family.

"For what you have done to my sister, and to the other innocents whose blood I scent in this place—I will kill you, Garou."

"Will you?" Garou mocked, amused as he stared down his nose at the two rescuers that'd chased him down for the pink bitch's whelp. His gaze strayed from Tsuki to the hanyou that was holding her, and his expression took on a sharper, leaner look: an expression of hunger and desire. "I don't believe that Tsukiyume would like that…"

"Why you no good bastard!" Inuyasha shouted, ears folding back, "Why I outta…" his amber eyes flared wide as the girl in his arms sprang awake, her body suddenly rigid and powerful. Her face was flushed white, her lips trembled, her eyes were wide but unseeing. Tiny whimpering sounds rose from her throat.

Shimofuri bristled, looking between his sister in Inuyasha's arms and Garou's triumphant sneering. A red light started to grow behind his gaze, started to gain power, when he spoke his fangs were whiter and longer than they'd been moments before. "What have you done to my sister?"

"I told you," Garou cackled, raising one fisted hand into the air, his cloak whipped around him to an invisible wind created by his own internal energies, "Her soul is mine now." He clenched his fist tight and grinned. A swirling black light rose and wrapped about his form, seeming to darken the whole of the sky.

"I'll kill you." Shimofuri vowed, starting to move forward when a cry of shock and surprise from Inuyasha stopped him short.

Tsukiyume had fought her way out of Inuyasha's arms, and now held the hanyou by the throat. Her face was warped with pain, pale as the clouds in the sky above. Shimofuri felt as if he might vomit as he realized that Garou was right—bits of black tainted his half sister's aura.

"Tsukiyume!" he shouted, a commanding tone, trying to reach who she really was, buried underneath. "Stop this at once!"

Her teeth flared, as white as her face, but only sounds of pain, high and weak, reached Shimofuri's ears in response. From the hill, Garou's laughter rose, cackling and raspy.

"She will kill you both before you can even touch me—because neither of you will so much as strike her! You are doomed by your own weak hearts!" he spat, grinning hungrily as he narrowed his gaze at Shimofuri, preparing to rub salt into the young demon's emotional wounds, "And once she's killed you both—I'll devour her!"

Endnote: I think I'm in love with Phillip J. Fry from Futurama! (sighs longingly) What's with this rumor about not being able to thank our fans! Is that true! (grumbles) Sorry about this cliffie, but it wrote itself...(grins faintly) at least I updated...? (looks around hopefully) I miss you will be next...never fear. I think that one I had just planned to let it take off very soon.

For those of you, and it's been a lot (for which I'm absolutely HONORED!(screams out her excitement YAYS!)), who've shown interest in my novel, yes it's now finished, but i can't actually come up with a good idea for a name just yet. (pouts) It's a very complicated story...perhaps I'll post excerpts here if they won't let us acknowledge our fans anymore! (raises her angry fists of fury to the sky and shakes them at the FFnet ppl, shouting "WHY!") Anyway, in the end I've been thinking about:

1. The Witch and the Woman (Woman and the Witch?)
2. Duality
3. The Rift that Binds
. The Witch's Heart

Personally I'm not happy with any of them. (frowns) but it'll come eventually, maybe with revisions. My sister wants a sequel in a week. (dies) and I'm letting My Miroku edit them for me, he helps with the pysche of the male character. (nods) he's been a big help. (bangs her head against a wall) Don't get me started on the things that have happened between HIM and I this summer! AHH! Anyway...hope you enjoyed the update...look forward to hearing from ALL of you! Seriously, I don't deserve the lot of you being so loyal and patient! I'm astounded that I'm still alive! That's exactly why I love you all...until next time...leave me a note (winks)