Disclaimer: I signed up for powder puff. Mostly to make up for the fact that my school doesn't have a guy's football team. Plus, I get to beat the hell out of some little, skinny ass freshmen. Bring on the fresh-meat!

What the hell's up with Kikyo coming back? Dammit, why is she the only one who doesn't stay dead?

Yo no own.

Chapter Twenty Two

Half demons

Ed looked at Inuyasha and laughed. "With demons like your brother running around I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to hang out with demons."

Inuyasha sighed. "From what I hear, my father was a good demon and so were the demon parent of many half demons." Inuyasha looked around and frowned.

Ed watched him. "What's up?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Come on!" He took off and flew in front of Kagome and Winry with Ed and Al chasing after him.

"Inuyasha! Tell me what's up!" Ed stumbled and grew angry when his words went ignored. "Dammit! You idio-." Ed stopped when he saw Inuyasha bent down near a figure. He ran up to Inuyasha and stopped when he saw what had caught Inuyasha's focus; a small redheaded teenage girl with her arms wrapped protectively around another girl. Ed crouched down next to her and looked at her face. Something caught his eye, her ears, they were pointed. Ed turned to Inuyasha and pointed at her. "She's…Is she a … Half demon?"

Inuyasha nodded and looked at the human girl and pointed at her. "She's not." He picked up her and handed her to Ed and picked up the half-breed girl, to turn around and find Kagome.

Ed laughed and shrugged his shoulder. "Um…I think we found some friends. Heh."

Kagome signaled for Ed and Inuyasha to put them down, this caused Inuyasha to roll his eyes. "If you had hurried up a little, I wouldn't have even bothered to pick her up!"

"Well, I'm sorry. We all can't be super human like you! Plus, picking her up to you is like picking up 5lbs to a normal human!" Kagome glared at him with her arms akimbo and opened her bag.

Inuyasha sat down next to her. "How bad are her injuries…compared to a human?"

Kagome looked at her injuries thoroughly. There were scars that were old and were obviously bad when they were fresh, deep gashes on her stomach and back, each stretching from her shoulder down to her opposite hip, and her face had cuts on the cheek bones and eyebrows. A look at her limbs told Kagome that her left wrist was broken and her ankle was swollen, probably from twisting it in a sprain. "She is not in good shape at all, if she is like a normal human."

"B-But I'm not a normal human." The girl's eyes clenched tight and she strained to sit up.

Inuyasha held her uninjured shoulder so she couldn't rise. "You're injured, stay down."

The girl's eye opened in a glare. She watched him closely.

Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes. "I am no enemy to you. I don't kill half demons."

The girl spat at him, hitting him in the face. "What, to good to kill something weaker than you?"

Inuyasha glared. "No, I don't kill half demons because I am a half demon."

The girl's glare softened as Inuyasha wiped the spit off of his face with a rag Kagome handed him. She watched Inuyasha and sprang up looking around. "FUMI?" She grabbed her chest and stomach in pain from the jerk and crumbled into a ball.

Ed walked over to her with the little girl in his arms and set her down next to her. "If you're talking about this girl, here she is."

The girl looked at Kagome. "Please take care of my sister first."

Kagome's face softened even more from her determined look and smiled at the girl. "No problem." Kagome grabbed Winry's arm and pulled her down with the determined look back on. "Rub this on her gashes."

Winry nodded while the girl gasped. "When you call 'em 'gashes' you make 'em seem worse than they are."

Kagome looked at her harshly. "You'll be down for a while. They are enough to fatally injure a human."

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just please take care of my sister."

Kagome smiled and walked over to Fumi. She was still asleep and her injuries consisted of a goose-egg on her forehead, probably from falling, and a bruised cheek, either from the fall of getting hit in the head. Kagome looked at her and smiled, all she had to do was put a cold- compress on her forehead. Kagome turned back to the girl and smiled. "All done. What's your name?"

The girl smiled back and looked at the sky. "Payne." She turned to Kagome and smiled softly. "Thank you…so much, being a half demon, I'm not used to such hospitality, I'm sorry if I acted sourly."

Kagome waved her hand in front of her. "No problem."

Inuyasha came from behind Kagome and stared harshly at the girl. "Payne, right? What happened?"

Payne looked at the sky. "You know; the usual."

Ed looked at her sharply. "And what does that entail?"

Her face looked pained and she closed her eyes, looking like she was going to cry. She drew a breathe sharply and let it out raggedly and agonizingly slow. She opened her eyes and looked at them sadly. "The villagers don't like me."

Ed looked at her like she was insane. "The-The villagers! Humans did this to you?"

Payne looked at the ground and nodded. She then looked at Inuyasha and sighed. "He doesn't know much about the lives of half demons, does he?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I told him, but it is obvious that he doesn't believe me." He looked at Ed and his glare became harsh. "I wasn't lying to you before, just so you know."

Al came from behind Ed and started whispering to his brother. "It's obvious that they hate them, but is it just from the bad reputation of the demon half of their blood, or have some half demons done some bad things?"

Ed shrugged and looked at Al out the corner of his eye and whispered his response so he knew Inuyasha could hear him. "I'll talk to him later about it." Ed looked at Inuyasha, who nodded in response and looked him in the eye.

They had set up a camp fire and waited for Fumi and Payne to wake up and be ready to move around. Inuyasha had to explain to Ed and Al again that the life of a half demon was difficult and everyone had gone to bed leaving Inuyasha to stare at the fire and sort put his plan of action for the future and questioning himself on how to protect ten companions instead of five.

Inuyasha glared at the fire like it was its fault he had an extra responsibility and twitched when he heard something move. He looked over to find Payne watching his movements with extreme interest. Inuyasha looked back indifferently. "Something I can help you with?"

Her demeanor didn't change. "You're Him aren't you?"

Inuyasha looked taken-a-back. "Him?"

"The one fighting the demon Naraku, the one who wields a demon blade of incredible strength, one of the swords of Supreme Conquest, the half-demon who had collected many Shikon Shards with the help of his band of missionaries. You are Inuyasha, are you not?"

Inuyasha smirked and looked at the sky. "I hadn't realized that I had become so popular. Now I'm a household name…how…interesting."

Payne sat up, cringing in pain. "You are somewhat of an inspiration, ya know?"

Inuyasha looked at her critically. "How does that work?"

"You are proof that half demons are not weak!"

"Yeah, but so is Naraku."

She laughed. "Okay, not weak and not awful."

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulder. "I have not met one weak half demon."

She waved at him. "You can't say that anymore. Humans beat me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and looked at her sternly. "If you don't fight back, what else would you expect?" He smirked. "Just because you tell and idiot to stop doesn't mean he will."

Al had been watching this interaction. He had remained silent and watched the girl. She was his age, he guessed. Her hair shot out in all directions, it didn't look bad; it complimented her features. Her eyes were the gray color his were, except these eyes were pained and seemed to always be that way. She had a small nevus on her neck, it looked like a skull. Al cringed when he realized what the birthmark reminded him of. She always looked sad, but her features were strong. Her face was always set in a fashion that made her look determined. Her biceps and triceps were easy to see, beneath her scars and scabs. Her posture was good, showing she was trained. She wore a short kimono; it was black with red and orange butterflies on the bottom that looked like they were on fire. Her left wrist was wrapped now and she had band-aides on all her cuts, royally thanks to Kagome and her spas-o-city. Al saw how evident the respect she was regarding Inuyasha with now was not labored at all, it came naturally to her. Al guessed this was how she regarded humans.

Inuyasha turned to Al and scoffed. "Your brother is right, you know, eavesdropping is rude."

Al squeaked and waved sheepishly. "I-I didn't mean to, I was just thinking."

Inuyasha nodded and turned to Payne and wave a hand towards Al. "This is Alphonse, better known as Al, the blondes sleeping together are Edward, a.k.a. Ed and Winry. The miko who treated your injuries is Kagome and the fox kit is Shippo. There is usually a monk and a demon slayer with a demon cat who travel with us, but they were called away on duty, they should be back soon with the demon slayer's brother. Their names are Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Kohaku." Inuyasha smiled. "Welcome to our illustrious band of militia plus two alchemists trained in martial arts and a mechanic."

Al bowed his head. "Hello."

Payne looked at him curiously. "Why are you wearing armor?"

Al slouched and sighed.

"It's not his choice." Ed sat up and stretched.

"Brother, why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep with all your talking."

Payne blushed and looked towards the ground. "I'm sorry I kept you awake."

Ed waved his hands in front of him to calm her down. "No, no, don't worry about it; I haven't slept soundly since I've gotten here; too much to worry about."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I can protect you, ya' know."

"True enough, but who will protect you? Also, you deserve to be able to sleep some of the time, too." Ed waved his hand around to elaborate. He smiled at Inuyasha innocently.

Inuyasha muttered a defiant 'Keh' and turned to Payne. "Everyone here has a past; you need to realize this before we tell you anything. I'll leave these two to tell you theirs and Winry's story. I'll have my other comrades tell you things when they wake."

"Too late." Kagome sat up with a mountain of hair falling over face giving her a drowsy appearance. Inuyasha looked at her and had to suppress a chuckle, he smiled sweetly at her. "I can tell her your story if you would like to catch up on some more sleep."

She flashed him a thumbs-up, laid back down and snuggled closer to the sleeping kitsune.

Inuyasha watched her with his eyebrow arched. He waved his hand as if to brush off Kagome's interruption and turned his attention back on the people coherent enough to have conversations with. "The girl's your sister, right?"

Payne nodded. "Little sister, I trust you already know she's human."

Inuyasha nodded. "You also have the smell of a demon on you…parent?"

Payne shook her head somberly. "Father was killed when he did not comply in killing me. My elder sister is the demon you smell on me."

Inuyasha nodded, not wanting to pry any further. "Ed, Al, you first."

Ed stuck his tongue at Inuyasha, not wanting to talk first, but Al spoke, ignoring his brother's immaturity. "Brother, Winry and I aren't from this world or time. We came here by some perverse fate and we're trying to find a way home."

Payne nodded like she understood and looked at Inuyasha for help, all he did was shrug. "Umm…'kay, continue."

Ed started now. "Al is the armor." He looked at the ground and his expression was pained. "He can't get out of it; it's his body. I tried to get my mother back and he paid the price."

Al punched Ed, sending him flying across camp. He hit a tree and woke Winry, Kagome and Shippo. "Stop acting like you're the only one to blame! I had the feeling but I didn't say anything and you ended up sacrificing your arm to save me! WE tried to bring Mom back and WE failed! GOT IT?"

Ed stumbled forward and slurred his words due to his swelling cheek. "D-Don't shpeak to you older brosher like shat!" He wiped a little blood from his cheek at the end.

Al laughed at him and shook his head. "I'll speak to you however I please." He grabbed a handkerchief from his pack on his leg and walked to his brother and shook his head again. "Here."

Ed laughed and grabbed the handkerchief and wiped off his hand. "Thanks."

Payne looked at Inuyasha. "Let me guess, they're really close."

Inuyasha laughed and nodded. He looked at the boys and shook his head. "They're idiots, aren't they; both prodigies in their field of knowledge and they act their age rarely. Most of the time Ed acts arcane and Al has to calm him when Ed acts immature. They are an interesting sort."

Winry interjected. "I've known them since my birth and I still think they're weird."

Ed laughed at this. "Like you're one to talk! You're just as weird as us! You used to look at esoteric medical and automail books that we couldn't even begin to understand and Al and I were thought to be profound for our age!"

"OH SHUT UP! You did the same except with Alchemy books!" She stuck her tongue out at Ed. She turned to Payne and smiled. "Ed and Al are both very smart boys and work with the most vague of instructions and make something brilliant to behold."

Ed scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "Stop, you're making me blush." His voice was sardonic.

Al spoke up this time. "Ed, you're a fifteen year old who got into the military at age 12, plus, you are commonly known as the 'Hero of the People', that's not a common track record of someone your age."

Ed scoffed and looked at Payne. "Any questions?"

She shook her head of starting them up on another spat again. She pointed to her sister. "Fumi."

Everyone nodded, save for Kagome and Shippo, who had gone comatose again.