Author's Note: CALL OFF THE LYNCH MOB! MYA'S BACK! I'm so sorry readers for not updating sooner! I have two college summer classes (World Lit. and Microeconomics) that are taking up most of my time. Between that, transferring to an university, babysitting three days out of the week, and my brother hogging the phone line, I have hardly had anytime off to work much on "A Warrior's Heart." However, I know these aren't good excuses, but I didn't want to update and only leave an apology letter. THAT WOULD PEEVED YOU ALL OFF!! And I don't want that.

Special shout out to VFSNAKE, who inspired me today to get off my lazy butt today. So without further ado, here's Chapter 11. -Love, Mya G. .

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Chapter 11

Splashes of crystal clear rain over Kaede as she bathed. Wearing only a white kimono, Kaede poured a bucket of water over her already drenched body as the waterfall crashed on the boulders below. It had been nearly a week since she had left the revived demon exterminator village. Sighing, she refilled the bucket as she reflected.

"It's up to you, Kaede. Tell them or let them find out for themselves. Either way they'll come here and find out," InuYasha told her.

"True, but Kagome is determined to have you join them once more, and Miroku seeks Sango's hand," she responded.

"No!" Hanna exclaimed, terribly upset. "They can't take Master InuYasha and Lady Sango from us! I won't let them!"

"Hanna, calm yourself. InuYasha and I aren't going anywhere." Sango faced Kaede, looking her straight in the eye. "I say let them come and get their just deserts."

Pouring the refilled bucket over her again, Kaede sighed. 'Are they seeking to break the hearts that so harshly broke their own? Oh, InuYasha, Sango, what are ye thinking?'

When the bushes behind her started to shake, Kaede turned around sharply. "Who comes!?"

"Kaede!" Kagome's voice called from behind the bushes. "Kaede, it's me!"

After a few moments, Kagome tore through the thick branches with more than a few twigs and leaves in her hair. The young priestess chuckled awkwardly at her obvious appearance and started picking the debris form her hair.

"Oh, Kagome, what a surprise. I was just thinking about you," Kaede said pleasantly.

"Yeah? I came up here when the villagers told us you were taking a bath," Kagome explained. "The fellas are still there and waiting for me. I just wanted to know if you had heard anything from Sango or InuYasha since we left last time."

Kaede paused for a moment, torn over what to do. '… Let them discover it themselves,' she decided mentally.

"Have ye tried Sango's village?" she asked simply, pouring the last bucket full of water over her back.

Without facing Kagome, she could hear the girl sigh sadly. "He hasn't been back, at all?"

"That would be correct, but I assure you, Kagome, he is alright," the old priestess said in all honesty. "You know how InuYasha is. He's too stubborn to get himself killed."

"Yeah, I guess your right," Kagome said sadly, biting her thumbnail.

Kaede sighed and stood up to face Kagome. "Kagome, take my advice and go ask Sango if she has received any word from him."

"Yes…. If nothing else, we should see Sango after not seeing her for some time either," Kagome nodded as she absently followed Kaede down the hidden path to the village.

Hanna turned over and over in her bed as sweat beaded at her brow. She squeezed Kirara tightly in her arms, and the little kitten mewed softly in discomfort. Kirara was able to escape Hanna's arms and crept quietly onto the child's chest. The poor cat demon could only mew and pat at Hanna's cheek as the young girl tried to fight off her dreams.

"Hanna! Come back here, you little thief!" one of the village men shouted as a group of men chased her to her adoptive village.

"Twasn't me!" Hanna cried, looking back.

Horror filled her heart when she saw they had their hoes and sticks with them. These men were ready for the impending beating ahead of her for a crime she didn't commit.

"Twasn't me!" she repeated.

She ran to the village, hoping she could escape her pursuers in the crowd. The rocks on rough ground outside the village were sharp and bit her soft feet. Hanna winced as her feet cried out in pain. She chanced back another look to see she still had a good distance from them. As she entered the village, she looked back again, and she tripped, falling to the hard ground. The sharp rocks scraped her arms and legs and ripped a hole in her already tattered, blue kimono. Without a second thought, Hanna got up and started to run off again. However, the slap of a pole against her back brought her back to the ground.

"Insolent brat!" the man from before yelled, jabbing his pole into her shoulder repeatedly.

"How dare you steal from the rice fields, you dirty wench!?" another yelled. A crowd was starting to form around them, but no one said a word.

"The village goes through the trouble of keeping you fed, clothed, and protected from demons, and you steal from us!"

She screamed as one off the poles was pushed into the back off her leg and twisted. The men snickered, and the deed was repeated into her other leg. Still, no one came to her aid.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" Hanna screamed as tears streamed down her face. The tears cleaned her dirty face in thin streaks, but the dust in the air from the scuffling just clung to the wet trails.

The pain ceased, and she was roughly pulled up by her collar and into the face of one of the men. "Don't do it again, or it'll be your neck." He raised his hand to slap her.

Hanna flinched, but the contact never came. A murmur and sense of panic started to grow from the surrounding crowd, and people started to flee.

"H-Hey!"

"There's nothing that infuriates me more than men who get their kicks by beating children," a gruff voice said… growling, "and the people who just watch as it happens."

She chanced a look and saw a young man with long, silver hair digging his nails into the flesh of the man's raised arm. It wasn't until she saw a small trail of blood flowing down the villager's trembling arm that she realized the silver-haired man's nails were really claws. The young man's eyes burned an amber color as the villager fell to his knees, and the others started backing away.

"InuYasha! You've made your point!" a young woman's voice exclaimed calmly.

Hanna looked over to see the young woman walk up to them. Hanna gasped, recognizing her clothes to be that of a demon exterminator's armor. Her dark brown hair was tied up high in a ponytail, and she carried a huge boomerang over her shoulder. Next to her was a giant cat demon.

The woman walked past the nervous men and villagers, right up to the hanyou. "InuYasha, don't waste your efforts on cannon fodder like these men."

InuYasha snorted. "You men swear to never touch the girl again?" he asked with sarcasm on one word.

"Yes! We swear it!" the man in his grip yelped, wide-eyed.

InuYasha snorted and released him, letting the villager fall to the ground. With trembling eyes, the men screamed and ran into the crowd of scattering villagers. When everyone was gone, InuYasha growled, crossing his arms irritably over his chest.

"We had better move along, Sango," she heard the man say. "There's no need to ask if anyone around here is willing to fight demons. Nothing here but a bunch of child beaters anyway."

Sango nodded and sighed as the hanyou wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. "Yes, there's no room for attitudes like that among the exterminators. We should just leave," she sighed as they turned around.

Hanna gasped and limped quickly behind them, grasping the woman's sash. "W-Wait."

"Hmm…" The two adults looked down at the small girl in confusion.

"Is there something you need?" Sango asked softly.

"Don't worry, kid. They won't come after you anymore," InuYasha said.

"No…. To be a demon exterminator… How do I join?" Hanna asked meekly.

"Are you serious?" InuYasha raised an eyebrow.

Hanna nodded vigorously.

Sango smiled kindly and kneeled down to her eye level. "Won't your parents miss you?"

Hanna shook her head. "My parents are dead. I have no family." She clenched her fists. "I'll work very hard! I promise I will!"

InuYasha kneeled down next to Sango and looked the girl in the eye. Hanna gulped but wasn't frightened as she looked back into his amber eyes with her brown ones. "Are you willing to put your life on the line and fight demonic snakes, centipedes, spiders, bears, and any other demon?"

Determined, Hanna nodded. "I will. I'll be the best demon exterminator ever!"

Sango smiled. "Congratulations. You are our first recruit."

Hanna smiled and bowed, despite the pain she was in. "I look forward to serve under you…" She paused, trying to remember the names she had heard. "Master InuYasha and Lady Sango."

"No formalities," Inu sighed, picking her up to relieve the pressure in her legs. "We should probably take you back to our village to treat you wounds, right, Sango?"

Sango nodded, smiling and wrapping one of her cut and bruised legs with her sash. "Is there anything you need from here?"

Hanna shook her head. "No. Take me with you."

Hanna woke up suddenly from her dream and sat up, knocking a shocked Kirara to her lap. Rubbing at her eyes, she looked around to get her bearings and realized she was in the hut she shared with Sango and InuYasha. Slightly relaxed, she was still shaken up by her memory and hugged herself.

'All that for a bit of rice that was misplaced,' she thought bitterly.

The young girl grew uncomfortable again, alone in her section of the hut. With Kirara mewling, she picked the cat up and went silently towards her master and lady's room. The night sky was pitch dark with the new moon, and Hanna had to be careful to not trip over something and wake anyone up.

When she reached the room, Hanna quietly slid back the rice paper screen to reveal InuYasha and Sango sleeping peacefully in each other's arms. Hanna came in on her tiptoes. She knew her master wouldn't hear her so easily tonight, the night he became fully human, but she also knew he still had excellent hearing. As she crept closer, she saw both of their long, dark locks resting on their pillows and mixed together so she couldn't the where one's hair ended and where the other's began.

Easily, she scooted under their thin blanket and crawled in between them. She nestled herself comfortably in Sango's clothed arms and against Inu's bare chest. Hanna breathed in deeply, taking in their clean scents. When they had sneaked off to bathe she had no idea, but she loved their clean, comforting scents.

"Eeep!" she squeaked when she felt the arms around her tighten.

"Hanna?" Sango questioned sleepily, stroking her hair. "What's wrong?"

"Bad dream," she whispered. "Can I stay here tonight?"

"Well…"

"Let her stay, Sango," Inu said with his eyes still closed. He wrapped his arms around both of them more securely. "She and Kirara have both made themselves comfortable. Let them stay here for the night."

Both Sango and Hanna looked up to see Kirara had indeed nestled herself in InuYasha's thick hair and was already fast asleep. Hanna looked up at Sango with pleading eyes.

"Please, Lady Sango?"

Sango sighed softly, but stroked back her hair lovingly. "Alright then," she consented, closing her eyes again to sleep.

Hanna smiled and turned to thank InuYasha but halted when she saw he had already fallen back to sleep. She smiled sweetly though and leaned over, giving him a peck on the cheek and did the same with Sango. However, as she lay down, Hanna was troubled. What Lady Kaede said about people coming to take her lady and master had been bothering her for about a week now. Frowning softly, she settled into the protecting arms and nestled her face into the now human man's chest.

'I won't let those people take them away. They can't have Mama and Papa.'