Disclaimer: Me: watashi wa InuYasha own dewarimasen.

Lawyers: You're still doing the bad Japanese thing, huh?

Me: Yeah.

Lawyers: You should study harder.

Author's Note: Hahahahahahahaha!!! I bet you all thought you'd never hear from me again! It's been… months. I got the next chapter out only because I've got writer's block in my Harvest Moon story, the story I created because I had writer's block for this story. I guess that means it's time to roll up the sleeves and dig through the dirt.

I'm really sorry for such a long delay. I didn't want to get this chapter out until it was the best I thought I could get it. And I finally made it! Time to see if it's best is any good . It's got some good moments. The one thing I really don't like about it is this chapter is so long! It's the longest chapter so far. My eyeballs are about to go permanently cross-eyed this is so long. (I'm joking! Please read my story! Your eyeballs won't go cross-eyed!)

Part IV: Memories

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Why are we doing this?"

It was a short, grubby man who spoke the words. The short man was a farmer and beside him was a much taller friend who worked as miner.

His friend made no answer.

The two men made their way through the forest surrounding their small village. They took special care not to look at the colorful bushes of flowers on their right. In a decade's time a path would be forged to their destination but until then the two men had no choice but to struggle against the trees and underbrush pulling at their bare legs.

"I just don't like the idea of seeing those demon children," muttered the short farmer as he smacked away a tree branch, "Damn it! They have to live this far out!"

The taller miner said nothing. He made his way quietly behind his friend as he clutched the bloody cloth in his arms. It was a child's red jacket.

"If you ask me, I hope the jacket belongs to that demon kid. Better them than one of us. But that's just my opinion if you ask me-"

"Well nobody asked!" shouted the tall miner finally. He knocked the last branch out of his way and suddenly they were there.

The trees ceased and before them was a little cottage sitting contently in the middle of the clearing. The flower bushes on their right had ended some feet before and therefore so did the deadly, hidden cliff. Or at least the dangerous part of it. Soft sunrays glided through the treetops and settled upon the cottage…and a young girl. The young girl was a demon's child. Maybe a year into her teenage years. She was bent over on the first step of the cottage, crying. Her white hair hung down in her face and hid the tears streaming down her cheeks.

She didn't look up at them. Not even when the tall man collected his courage and walked across the clearing to her. But both the men were willing to bet she knew they were there.

"Lady," the tall man spoke gently.

Slowly the young girl raised her head from her hands and looked up at him. Her face was puffy and dirty. Her gold eyes were swelled. Her white hair was blinding in the rays of the bright sun. The gold eyes of the girl met his blue and she didn't look anywhere else. She didn't look at the red jacket he held out to her. She didn't look at the farmer inching towards them. She didn't look at the sky where a giant winged demon of the eagle clan was soaring overhead. She looked at him with eyes full of hope, swelled with tears.

"I know not what ails you child. But I think I may have a clue to your tears," the man nodded towards red jacket he was holding out to her. This time the young demon child dropped her gaze to it.

"This was found behind my property. By the side of the river," the farmer's gruff voice said as he approached them, "Is this jacket your brother's?"

Slowly, Setsuna reached one little hand toward the garment. The tears were starting to stream down her face with a new force. The little jacket was caked with blood and mud. Dried sand and clay was wedged into the folds and seams.

"I-It's got his scent…" she sobbed. Gently she lifted the jacket out of the tall man's hands and held it to her chest, "I-I w-woke up… and he w-wasn't here!" Her tears ran down her nose and dripped on the jacket, "I thought maybe… he went for a walk! But when he didn't come home - I-I've been searching and searching! InuYasha!"

The tall miner took a step away from the grieving girl. She was almost screaming now.

"Hagrid, c'mon. We should leave now," it was the tall man who said it and his eyes darted between the shorter farmer and the girl holding the jacket.

"Hagrid!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Wow! I hope there's enough left over!" giggled Setsuna as she passed InuYasha a bowl of soup and grabbed another one for Kagome, "InuYasha, I wish you would have given me some kind of warning you were alive and coming! I could've made something really nice. Kagome here you go."

"It wouldn't have mattered, you're a terrible cook," muttered InuYasha. He ate sparingly from his bowl and his eyes nervously darted across the room.

"What? Me? A terrible cook?" Setsuna asked with a winning smile, "Well maybe I didn't get all the entrails cleaned out of that bowel. I don't get guests for dinner very much and I usually use that bowel to hold all the crap I cut out of demons."

InuYasha looked at his sister for the longest time then he stared at the soup he'd been eating, "You're lying," he accused.

"Am I?" she smiled as she sat down between Kagome and InuYasha with a bowel of her own, "Oh, Kagome don't worry! Your bowel is okay."

Kagome laughed nervously. She'd been staring solemnly at her bowel and wasn't really listening. She was thinking of Miroku. Setsuna had agreed to go see him, but they hadn't left immediately like she expected. Her stomach growled and Kagome forced herself to eat.

"Now what is this of your friend?" Setsuna asked, "Miroku was it? Let's say we leave tomorrow morning."

"That's too long! We should leave now. Setsuna, we can eat later," hissed InuYasha.

Kagome all of a sudden felt more alert. She pulled herself up a little straighter and glanced at Setsuna out of the corner of her eye. Her smiling expression hadn't changed, but something seemed to shift in the atmosphere.

"Haste isn't always the quickest method, InuYasha." She said the words with subtlety, but the presence could be heard in each syllable.

She lifted her head from the meal she had scarcely touched and looked at them. Her gold eyes screamed with spirit as the soft edges of her smile were scrupulously curved upwards with attentive manipulation, "Neither of you have eaten in some time. You both are weary. InuYasha, you get fidgety when you're hungry and angry when you're tired. You've done that since you were a child. And Kagome, I saw you rubbing your head earlier. Are we having headaches? I also noticed your hand slightly shaking when you reached for the soup bowel I handed you a moment ago. Then there's the fact your stomach is growling yet you're not eating. Classic signs for humans who haven't eaten in awhile. Exhaustion too."

InuYasha and Kagome stared at her. Although her analysis was correct and both of them knew it; neither of them said anything.

Setsuna cocked her head to the side and added under her breath, "Of course a blind man can tell you two are - plain and simply - dead tired."

InuYasha fought back an urge to fidget with his chopsticks as his temper fumed a bit more. His sister was right, of course, he knew for a fact that Kagome and he had scarcely eaten in the last 24 hours and no one slept with Miroku in death's doorway. But it didn't stop him from arguing with her, "So we may be a little exhausted but we don't have time to rest! Miroku's dying! Every second-"

"If he can't wait a couple hours he's already beyond my help!"

Nobody said anything.

Despite the fierceness in her voice Setsuna was slightly moved. She was staring downwards and the swoops of her white hair hid the amused smile on her lips. They must really be a close group, Setsuna mused to herself, the slightest hint at their friend's life and they both go deathly quiet. Not to shabby coming from the half-demon who once claimed he hated all humans.

"We left him near a village called Sakiho. Its south of here," muttered Kagome.

Setsuna looked at her and for the fifth time that hour wondered about the relationship between her brother and the young girl quietly eating her soup in front of her. He's gone for 57 years and shows up on my doorstep with this young woman. Like hell they're just friends.

Setsuna turned her gold eyes onto InuYasha, "I'm assuming one of you had the sense to leave someone with him. Anyway it can't be helped now. We'll worry about the details later. Enjoy your meal and get some rest. You'll need it."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"InuYasha-chan, I want you to wait right here. Play in the grass, okay? I'm gonna go in this building and buy some things we need for dinner. I'll only be a second."

"'Kay Setsi! We can race home when you're done!"

Setsuna laughed, "You can't beat me, Shorty. I'm the fastest runner in the north!" She lightly pushed the now four-year-old InuYasha down on the soft grass, "Now stay."

The young InuYasha laughed and watched his sister make her way towards the shop. It was their first visit to the village without their mother. InuYasha still wondered how she was doing. There were a lot of women in the village talking. He didn't like how they would come up to him and tell him his mother was dead. They didn't understand. And when he tried to tell them it wasn't true they would either call him a liar and get angry or hang their heads and walk away. It was strange for him to always explain his mother wasn't dead and he'd started to avoid the women of the village so he wouldn't have to explain it to them again.

Suddenly Setsuna stumbled out of the shop and fell on the ground. InuYasha saw her and giggled but he quit when he saw a big human man come out of the shop after her.

"What's wrong with you! I was just trying to buy some rice for dinner!" he heard Setsuna shout.

InuYasha's ears twitched and he could hear the big man's reply, "Your money's no good here. Get out you miserable bitch." Then the man turned around and walked back inside. The store's banner reading "Welcome" flapped in the breeze.

InuYasha stayed where he was as he watched Setsuna walk toward him with her head down. He looked around and saw there were several people on the dirt road watching them. He felt a little embarrassed but the worry for his sister overwhelmed everything else.

"Setsi, are you okay?" he asked when his sister had neared, "Did you get that from falling?" InuYasha meant the large bruise forming on her jaw. A trickle of blood was running down her chin and she wiped it away with one clawed hand.

"Um, yeah. Clumsy me," she muttered under her breath. She took InuYasha hand, "Lets go home, kid."

InuYasha looked back at the building, "But can't we go somewhere else for rice?"

"I don't think…anyone will sell us rice now."

It wasn't the first time for either of them to get that reaction in the village. But it was the first time they realized how much harder life would be when there wasn't a human in the family.

"But," whispered the young InuYasha. He tried to argue, but didn't know what to say.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"It's a town now," stated Setsuna as she sorted through several jars with strange liquids and dried herbs, "Since mining took off the village flourished into a town. A lot has changed."

InuYasha silently mumbled an inaudible response and continued to pick at his soup.

It was the first moment alone the two had in over 57 years. Setsuna was going through what she wanted to carry with her and placing different tools in a shoulder bag. Kagome had gone to sleep in Setsuna's futon. She was only a few feet away and had her back turned to them so they didn't know their talking had woken her up, but she didn't say anything and only listened to them.

A lot has changed, thought Kagome. She knew what Setsuna was saying. In their travels they had come across plenty of half-demons. The story was always the same. The half-demon forced out of the town to live on their own. Unaccepted by demons and humans alike. Abused by humans and hated by the demons. InuYasha was one of the few – if not the only – half-demon that had managed to obtain strength equal to the strongest of full demons. It made it easy to forget it all once happened to him too.

Setsuna quietly dropped what she was putting together and went over and sat by InuYasha, "Do you remember when you said that I was a weakling for wanting to live at the edge of this village?"

InuYasha's head shot up and he looked at her with a shocked expression, "I said that?"

A nostalgic smile wrapped itself around Setsuna's mouth, "Right after you called me a coward. It was one of our last fights. Right before you… died. I guess you really didn't die, though. What happened there?"

InuYasha shrugged, "It was a long time ago I can't really remember anymore."

"You're lying again. Was it something I did?"

The next silent moments were excruciating, as InuYasha thought of an answer, "No," he finally said, "I suppose it was this town. I got tired of waiting for it to accept us. I wasn't like you, and I couldn't wait for the humans in this village to get used to us or accept us or whatever you were expecting them to do. They treated us like we were something threatening; like we deserved to die. But we were just kids. All you wanted was to live peacefully. I'm sorry I said that… about desperately living… but, damn it, Setsuna. Some of the reasons they didn't trust us might have been my fault, but after all these years nothing has changed. You say it has, but you still live here. Set away from the people of this town. You help them and they use you."

"InuYasha…" whispered Setsuna, "Is that what you…?" Then she closed her eyes and shook her head, "No. You'll see for yourself. Everything changes. I remember when you were small and you swore up and down you hated all humans and would never trust them. Look how drastically that's changed."

Setsuna quickly got to her feet and walked back to her things.

"Setsu-" InuYasha quickly clamped his mouth shut when he quickly turned his head and saw something through the open door, "What the hell is going on with them?" he muttered under his breath.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Ouch! Setsuna! That hurts!" InuYasha jerked away from his older sister. He was eleven-years-old and a battered mess.

"InuYasha, don't move so much it's hard enough to set this as it is," hissed Setsuna.

InuYasha clenched his teeth as he tried to keep still for his sister who was setting a hand made sling on his left arm, "I-Is it broken?" he finally asked.

Setsuna grunted, "It might as well be!"

InuYasha said nothing and tried to sit still.

Setsuna sighed, "It's not broken InuYasha. Besides, you'll heal quickly. How did this happen anyway?"

InuYasha said nothing.

Setsuna sharply twisted InuYasha's arm backwards. Only slightly. InuYasha cried out and kicked his sister in the kneecap. Although Setsuna managed to hold tight to him.

"Don't ignore me, kid. What happened?" hissed Setsuna.

InuYasha turned his nose up at her and stated, "Same thing that always happens. They started it."

"What did you do?"

"Why are you blaming me?! They attacked me! Those damned humans hate us! They turn up their noses when we need help and hurt us every chance they get!"

"We've been through this, InuYasha. They've believed all demons to be their enemies for a very long time and if we never give them reason to believe differently they never will. It's hard, trust me, I know. But this sort of thing doesn't happen over night. Not even over years sometimes." Setsuna finished her work on InuYasha's arm, but he didn't acknowledge it.

"How can you side with them?" InuYasha attacked, "Hagrid, our good neighbor, got his pals together and they beat me with shovels! They hurt my arm and didn't stop till I was coughing up blood!"

Setsuna didn't move for awhile, "I wasn't siding with them, InuYasha. We'll go over there tomorrow when your better and we'll speak with them-"

InuYasha jumped to his feet and walked away from her, "You think that'll make things fine? Just talking things out?" He turned and faced her suddenly, "You're the only one who wants to live with humans. You're the only one not facing facts! You're just a coward! You're afraid of the demons so you come here and live with the humans. Because no human will ever be as strong as a demon. But when the time comes to stand up for yourself you let them treat us like this. You're a weakling for living here! You're a weakling for wanting to live here!" InuYasha took a few steps for the door.

"InuYasha!" Setsuna almost shouted the words. Then she sighed and let her voice calm down before answering, "InuYasha, I understand. Really, I understand what you're saying and going through. These people are stubborn and blind. But I still want to live here. This is where Mom lived. And this town is where she met Dad. And no matter how bad we're treated here things will be so much worse trying to live with the demons. I really think given time these people will get used to us. If we keep showing them they're wrong about us-"

"Shutup!"

And InuYasha stormed out of the house. Setsuna waited twenty minutes then went after him. She later found him sitting at the nearby river and he walked peacefully back to the house with her. Neither of them ever saying a word.

In about a year's time a rainy night will come where InuYasha will run to that same spot by the river. But this time his sister wouldn't know he slipped out and a strong demon would intercept InuYasha there. The demon will attack InuYasha. Then thinking him dead, knock him unconscious and beaten into the raging river. InuYasha wouldn't find the strength to climb out for miles. And 57 years would pass before InuYasha would return home.

He left nothing behind him except his bloody jacket ripped from his shoulders and his older sister with big ambitions in her head.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"What the hell is going on with them?"

Setsuna kept her back to InuYasha as she whispered the words quietly under her breath, "You'll see InuYasha. This isn't the same place it was."

InuYasha never heard them, nor was he meant to.

Kagome heard the change in topic and set up, momentarily forgetting she was supposed to be fast asleep. InuYasha didn't notice, and Setsuna smiled at her and only said, "Hello there." Kagome jumped at the sound of her voice and gave her a shaky smile. Setsuna only laughed and not another word was spoken about it.

InuYasha placed his bowl down and stood up, "Setsuna," InuYasha called, everything he was going to say before completely vanished from his mind and now the spectacle outside pulled at all his curiosity.

Kagome got up from the futon to see what InuYasha was looking at but he was already standing in front of the door and she couldn't see past him. She did however see something InuYasha didn't.

She saw Setsuna fold her arms across her chest and smile proudly. It was the kind of smile people used when they knew something you didn't, and were taking a lot of pleasure out of not telling you about it.

At the edge of the clearing a group of kids had gathered. There were boys and girls in the group, all of which had greasy black hair and dirty clothes.

Setsuna saw them too and got up and moved over to the door.

Once she was in view, the group of children who had been nervously standing around jumped with enthusiasm.

"Look there she is!"

"Miss Witch!"

"Miss Witch! Miss Witch! Come out and run with us!"

InuYasha turned and looked at his sister, "Miss witch?" he asked curiously.

A weary smile came over Setsuna, "The demons in this area don't terrorize the town like they do in other places. Every once in a while a demon will wander near town, but it's a rarity and they're usually quickly dispatched. As a result children don't see the leftover hate. They don't really care that I'm a half-demon. All they really know is that I sit up here and make potions all day. Like a witch."

"Miss Witch! We wanna race! We'll beat you this time!"

"I've gotten a lot faster! Miss Witch!" Shouted one little boy in the front, "Watch me!" The boy squatted in a runner starting position and the children around him cheered him on. A few took positions beside him. Then they were off in a full sprint running across the clearing for the cottage.

Setsuna stepped out of the cottage with a broad smile on her face. Kagome took her place at the door.

After a moment the running children slid to a halt at the beginning of the steps to the cottage.

"Well?" panted the boy who shouted first, "Who won?"

Setsuna clapped her hands together, "Sorry Yoshi, but I think Kiki beat you," she motioned to a red faced girl in pigtails.

"What!" protested Yoshi.

"Who took second?"

"Um, I'd say Shishi took second. Then the rest of you got here pretty much at the same time."

A little girl with long black hair who seemed to be Shishi hugged Kiki and the two girls laughed.

"You're just goin' easy on 'em 'cause they're girls, right Miss Witch?" asked Yoshi.

"Of course not," protested Setsuna then smiled broadly at them, "What are all of you doing here?"

"We wanna race!" shouted Kiki.

"That's not it! We came out here with Grandma!" said another little boy.

"Well, I came out here to race."

"Hold it. Your grandma is out here?" asked Setsuna. She glanced back at the path at the waiting children.

"She's waaaay back there!" said Kiki stretching out her arms.

"She walks very slow," whispered Yoshi.

"You guys, you shouldn't have left her…" Setsuna's voice trailed off.

"Miss Witch, who's that?" It was Kiki who spoke and she was staring up at InuYasha with awe.

Setsuna smiled and put her hand on Kiki's shoulder, "That's my brother InuYasha-"

"Is he a witch too?" interrupted Yoshi.

"Er, what?"

"NO! He's a guy so that'd make him a wizard! Right, Miss Witch?" stated Shishi.

Setsuna giggled, "That's exactly right. The lady standing next to him is named Kagome," Setsuna glanced at them still standing at her doorway. Setsuna spoke up, "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you guys if you can watch these children for a moment."

"W-what?" they both said simultaneously.

Setsuna was already turning around, "I'll only be a second! I have to go look for these kids' grandmother."

"You're going to run?" asked the boy called Yoshi, "I want to come to!"

Setsuna gave him a sly smile and made a big show of taking a runner position. The children around InuYasha and Kagome began to whisper as the children at the edge cheered wildly.

Setsuna moved at the same moment InuYasha spoke.

"Don't tell me," interrupted InuYasha, "You still claim to be the fastest runner in the north?"

Setsuna did a false start. She moved like lighting for a second and then came to sudden halt almost falling forward when InuYasha spoke.

Setsuna whipped around to face her brother with two fists on her hips, "I am the fastest runner in the north!"

InuYasha only snorted. Kagome looked at him and he smiled as if to say, "Watch this."

Although, Setsuna missed the smile on InuYasha face and turned sharply away from them, "Yeah," she muttered rubbing her hands together, "Well, you just watch this."

And in a flash Setsuna was gone. A small gust ruffled the sleeves of InuYasha's fire rat robe and disturbed Kagome's black hair. It took her less than a second to leap the clearing. Kagome was taken completely off guard. She barely saw the woman move. The children were apparently used to it because they all wasted no time in cheering her on, despite the fact that she had completely disappeared from their vision. Kagome looked at InuYasha. She'd just seen Setsuna move faster than she'd ever seen InuYasha move. Or Sesshomaru for that matter. The only other person she knew who could move nearly that fast was Koga of the wolf tribe. And he had jewel shards embedded in his legs.

It was the children who shocked her out of her thoughts. By now the kids at the edge of the clearing had all made their way toward them. There was about ten or so in all.

"Miss Kagome, you're a witch too, right?" asked a little girl with blue eyes in a bright orange summer kimono.

"Of course she's not a witch! If she was she'd have white hair like Miss Witch and her brother!"

"But look at her strange clothes!" offered a little boy in the back, "She's got to be a witch!"

"Miss Witch doesn't where strange clothes like that!"

The children swarmed them more than any other mob of children in the past had ever done, as for InuYasha he wasn't backing down. He simply folded his arms and let the children gather. It was working quite well until the tiny little girl called Kiki grabbed a hold of InuYasha's long sleeve and tugged. When InuYasha looked down at her she gave him a toothy grin and said: "I like your pretty hair."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Hagrid you asshole! I dragged you kicking and screaming down here!" the tall miner took a step back from the wailing child in front of them. Setsuna hadn't moved from the cottage's first step. Her young claws pierced the red fabric in her brother's jacket. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed.

"I'm leaving! You can get into this can of worms on your own!" shouted the miner as he finally turned to leave. He jogged across the clearing anxious to get away from the screaming half-demon. He only looked over his shoulder twice.

Like Setsuna, Hagrid hadn't moved. He only watched the helpless girl scream with his piercing, emotionless eyes. He let her wail for three long minutes.

Then the gruff man sat down beside her.

Sunlight drifted through the trees and settled on a lowly, one-roomed cottage in the middle of the clearing. The sun sparkled off a teenage half-demon's white hair like snow on a winter mountaintop. Beside her whispered a short farmer in a soothing, gruff voice. His rough, dry hands gently hugged the girl's shoulder and he rocked her in a lullaby motion.

"Shhh… Shhh… Child, no more crying…"

Tears came to the edges of his eyes, but no one was there to see them.

"You'll be okay…"