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Chapter 2

"He Didn't Make Sense"

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The sunlight was comfortably warm on Haru's cheek, and he stretched a moment, eyes still closed. Fuzzy recollections started to flicker behind his eyelids; ones of bulls who breathed fire, and dog-eared children, and terrifying demons who really were their father. He grinned, a little chuckle leaving his throat. What a strange dream that had been.

"What's so funny?" This was the small, young voice of a girl. Saki, his little sister, was usually awake in the mornings before he was, reading or something like that. And so, Haru didn't open his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. Just a funny dream," he slurred, his voice thick with sleep.

"What happened?"

"Well, I was walking in the woods at night, and all of a sudden there was this little girl who came to me. Turned out she was this little youkai, and she had two little brothers, and then we got attacked by a big bull youkai and her father appeared out of nowhere and saved us. But then he tried to kill me and I ended up following them because-" He yawned and smacked his lips. "'Cause it was dark and the woods aren't a good place to be." He sniggered here. "And also 'cause the little girl wouldn't budge unless I went with 'em."

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but that wasn't a dream," said a gruff, low voice. Haru's eyes snapped open, and he sat bolt upright. The warm sunlight which had been a friend only moments before was now his painful blinding enemy, and he blinked rapidly with a low hiss. Off to his right was a snicker, coming from the low voice that he knew now was that of the violent, white-haired youkai he had met last night. When he could see at last, he squinted around.

He was sitting up on the ground, at the edge of a small clearing. It was not Saki, but Izayoi watching him closely only a few feet away, a huge grin on her face. Her frightening youkai father was sitting with his back against a tree across from Haru, watching him closely, and with a significantly more pronounced dislike on his features than his daughter's. In his lap was a little figure with white hair, and in his arms, an even smaller figure with pitch black hair. The odd thing was that aside from Haru, the second tiny boy was the only soul in the clearing with what looked to be human ears. Was… Was he a demon? Or was he a human? A human child that this irate beast of a man had snatched up from some young mother after attacking her or her village? Haru frowned. It was entirely possible.

"What are you staring at?" the youkai snapped suddenly, breaking Haru away from his wondering.

"Nothing," he answered nervously, realizing he was string and turning away, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. The familiar and entirely unwelcome tension of a headache was already beginning to form in his temples. Not a good way to start off the day, really.

"Keh! You humans. You're all the same." Haru turned to look at the youkai with a bewildered stare, one brow raised. What on earth was that supposed to mean? Why on earth was that even something that needed to be said? And how on earth did the demon have enough experience with humans to even know how humans acted, let alone how they were all similar?

"Excuse me?" Haru asked faintly, his brow furrowing as he pulled his legs into a crossed position. "What's that got to do with anything?"

The demon rolled his eyes. "You're all just so amazed by demonic power, and then you immediately get all pissy afterwards. I've had a lot of experience, kid, I know what I'm talking about."

"My name's not 'kid'," Haru said with another frown. "It's Haru." He refrained from giving the demon his family name; not like it mattered either way, but it wasn't like his surname was going to do him any favors in this new life of his. The demon rolled his eyes again.

"Does it look like I care?" he asked testily. "Look, 'cause Izayoi likes you, you're stuck with me for now, and I'm stuck with you, but that don't mean I gotta like it, and it definitely don't mean I'm gonna protect you. You've got a sword, so do that yourself."

"I wasn't asking you to protect me!" Haru burst out, completely forgetting that he was a skinny seventeen-year-old human with no great talent as the blade, and the one he was arguing with was a terrifying demon who could tear him to shreds with only the flick of his wrist and the flash of an annoyed sneer. What on Earth even brought up the idea that Haru had needed protection!

"And I damn well ain't gonna, either!" the youkai barked back. There was a little cry from his arms, and he looked down at his two sleeping sons, his white ears lowering flat against his head as his irritation turned to panic. However, though the youkai had stilled himself, and was holding his breath in an effort not to wake the two boys, he failed miserably. With a tremulous cry, Gesshoku began to wail, his loud cries piercing the morning stillness. The youkai stood swiftly with a small noise of surprise, looking panicked. Haru felt a swift rush of satisfaction; served him right for stealing a human child, and for being a rude jerk.

}{

But why would a demon steal a human child? And why would a demon then proceed to untangle himself gently from the elder son, then stand and take that child into the forest away from Haru, hushing it and rocking it in his arms with an unprecedented tenderness? It literally made zero sense. It made less than zero sense. Shaking his head, Haru stood as well, about to walk away from the group and leave them altogether when Izayoi tugged on his hakama again. He looked down at her. Now that he could see her in full light, he was amazed (and truth be told, a little annoyed) that he hadn't recognized that she wasn't human before. Those little black ears - dog ears, from the look of them - were pretty obvious to anyone who looked at her, twitching and swiveling atop her head with the sounds of the morning forest. He blamed the shadowy night world he had been walking in.

"Are you hungry?" Izayoi asked brightly, staring up at him with a wide grin.

Haru shook his head. "I've got food in my sack," he answered. "Remember?"

Izayoi nodded sagely. "Yep," she chirped. "But it doesn't smell very fresh. Papa said we were gonna try and catch some fish for breakfast and to ask you if you wanted some."

"You can smell my food?" Haru asked, taken aback. Izayoi grinned and nodded.

"Yep!" she said proudly, planting her little arms akimbo and closing her eyes, a smug expression all over her young face. "I got a real good sense of smell. I can smell lots of other stuff too, you wanna see?"

"Um…" Haru made a face, unsure of whether he wanted to see this or not. It was honestly rather worrisome; had someone told him a couple of days ago that he would have been suddenly traveling along with a family of demons, he would have thought that person possessed and insane. Being asked his opinion of if whether he wanted to see a very young youkai detect the things she smelled around her was one thing he never would have thought to have happened. Like, ever. On the list of things he expected, it was down there in the bottom ten, along with a woman falling in love with him. Oh, and meeting a youkai family in the woods. That was in the bottom three, surely. "Sure," he answered at last. "Sure, I suppose so. Go ahead."

Izayoi beamed up at him, then closed her eyes, her brows furrowed like she was concentrating hard. Her nose - he swore it was a human nose - jumped every now and then as she drew in the scents surrounding where they stood with short puffs, her dark ears swiveling in her search. After a moment, she raised her hand and pointed into the bushes to Haru's right. "There's a squirrel in that bush." She moved her finger a little further. "And the river's over there. I can smell the water." With an excited smile, she opened her eyes and bounded towards the bush in question, making a ridiculous amount of noise as she did so. With a scurrying, a small ground squirrel darted out, running several meters away from them before looking reproachfully back at them out of dark liquid eyes.

Haru blinked as Izayoi turned triumphantly back at him, unsure of what to make of what just happened. There was, of course, the chance that Izayoi had just guessed that the small creature had been in the bush. But then again, she had dog ears standing at attention atop her head, so the idea that she could have smelled the small creature wasn't so far off. "Uh, wow," he said after a moment, unable to find words. "That was, uh… That was cool, kid."

"I can hear a lotta stuff too," she said excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "Like I can hear your heartbeat, and I can hear Tamotsu breathing. I can't hear papa, though, 'cause he's too far away for me to hear. He's really good at being quiet. He can run through the forest super fast, but nobody ever hears him coming 'cause he's so light on his feet 'n' stuff."

"What were you guys doing in the forest? Last night, I mean," Haru asked, sitting back down on the grass to be on a closer level with Izayoi. She plopped down beside him, frowning a little into the trees.

"I dunno," she answered at last, looking back at Haru. "We're always traveling, though. Sometimes we'll go home 'cause daddy says it's time, but usually we're out here in the forest." She smiled here, looking back up into the jade green foliage above her head. "I like the forest. There's lots of trees to climb, and there's plenty to do when the sun's up. Sometimes, papa will tell us to stay put like he did yesterday, and he'll leave for a little while to do something and then come back. It's usually about then that we go home."

Izayoi fell silent a long moment, looking contemplative. A bird trilled somewhere in the forest. "I like being home, too," she said after a while, looking straight ahead. "Auntie Sango and Uncle Miroku are there, and so are their kids. They play with me an' Tamotsu a lot. We used to play together a lot more, but that was before-"

"Oi! Izayoi, c'mon, we're going!" The youkai's voice cut through Izayoi's little monologue, and she leapt to her feet, grinning.

"Are we fishing?" she called back, brushing her yukata free of clinging leaves and twigs and walking forward.

The youkai appeared suddenly behind a tree, holding Gesshoku in one arm as he walked towards them. "Yeah. Get Tamotsu up, hurry." His ochre gaze suddenly landed on Haru across from him, hardening. "You too, kid. Let's go."

Haru stood, his brow furrowed in annoyance. "My name's not 'kid'," he reminded the demon. "It's 'Haru'."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the demon rolled his eyes, waving a flippant hand back at him. "I'm not waiting for you, so keep up." Turning, the demon began to walk once again into the forest, in the direction Izayoi had said there was a river. Haru watched him go, then hurried and sped after him, falling into a quick pace just beside him. The youkai could at least look at him, but no, his eyes were fixed on his invisible path just as firmly as the scowl on his face.

"You never told me your name," Haru said after a moment, still staring.

The demon turned, giving him an appraising and distrustful once over. He seemed to think about it for a moment before turning away again. "Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha?"

"That's what I said, innit?"

Haru raised his hands in a sort of placating mitigation. "Hey, you don't need to bite my head off," he said. "I was just asking."

"Yeah, well stop," the demon named Inuyasha growled, jumping over a fallen log with absurd ease. "It's not really any of your business who I am or who my kids are, so just stay out of it."

"Just trying for some civil conversation," Haru grunted, swinging one leg over the log so he was straddling both sides. "If I'm stuck with you for a while, then I might as well get to know y-" He attempted to slide over the other side, but his sandal caught on a knot in the old trunk, and he ended up tumbling to the ground with an ungainly shriek of surprise, landing painfully on his shoulder.

"You okay, Haru-nii-chan?" came Izayoi's voice from just behind him on the other side of the log. Haru rolled over so he was on his back rather than half on the stupid lump of wood, half off, and groaned. He opened his eyes, rubbing the top of his head to see Izayoi jump up to the top of the old trunk, landing on her feet. She jumped off, landing gracefully on the forest floor, and crouched beside him, her wide eyes bright. She reached forward and poked Haru's cheek, her little claw digging gently into his skin. "Haru?"

With a sudden childishness of his own, Haru let his head roll a little to the side as the little demon girl poked him yet again, closing his eyes and letting his tongue dangle from his mouth. "Bleeaaahh."

Izayoi erupted in a fit of giggles, pulling her hand away from the human boy's face to clap it and the other to her mouth. Haru chanced opening his eyes just a sliver to peek at the little giggling creature. The skin around her shining amber eyes was crinkled with childish joy, and her huge smile wasn't hidden very well by her little fingers. It was difficult for him to remember that she wasn't human. His lips twitched up in a reflexive smiled before he remembered he was supposed to be dead, and he made a great show of once again throwing his head away from her and letting his tongue dangle.

Tamotsu was only a few inches away, crawling out from under the mossy gap between the fallen log, the upright tree it leaned against, and the forest floor. When he saw Haru's funny face, he giggled, wiggling closer so he could clap both hands to Haru's cheeks.

"Onii-san, what- What are you doing?" he asked, his speech catching like any normal child's would at that age. Haru gave the little boy a wicked grin. Really, it was hard to believe he wasn't a human either, but the little white dog ears atop his head didn't lie. After a moment of looking, Haru sat up, wrapping his arms around the little demon boy and catching him up to his chest as he stood. Tamotsu squealed as Haru spun him around in a circle and shifting him onto his shoulders. Izayoi jumped to her feet, reaching up and clamping her arms around Haru's waist. Laughing, topheavy with Tamotsu on his shoulders, Haru held the little youkai's legs and turned back to the path.

Inuyasha was watching him a little ways away, Gesshoku laying his head across the youkai's own shoulder. However, the look Inuyasha was giving him - a dark, critical stare - made the smile fall slowly from his face as he withered slightly. Inuyasha raised a brow, glancing at his children, then back at Haru. "When you're done," he said in a withering voice. He turned and started walking away again. Tamotsu's face was visible from this angle, peeking over the youkai's moon-silk hair, his fingers shoved in his sloppy mouth. He blinked peacefully up at Haru.

His eyes were the same color as Inuyasha's.

So, apparently Gesshoku was Inuyasha's son. Shaking his head a little, Haru followed after the irascible youkai and the baby, Tamotsu laughing with his legs around Haru's neck, Izayoi speeding back and forth between her father and her new friend, doing clumsy cartwheels and jumping easily up to dangle from low tree branches. However, Haru's attention never wandered long from the back of the demon father, with his streaming hair like the snow that would surround the house of Haru's father in the winter, and the wide amber eyes of the toddler over his shoulder.

Really this was strange. Why in the seven layers of hell was Haru even following this dangerous family of four? It didn't seem like Inuyasha was going to be one of those demons who ate his young, and it also seemed like his children were happy ones, so there was probably no reason for him to be worrying about their personal safety because of the youkai. And even if Izayoi liked him, there was nothing really stopping Haru from just walking away. Actually, it was something that would probably be looked forward to by both Haru and Inuyasha. Really, the less they had to do with each other, the better.

And yet, Haru hadn't left. He didn't leave while Inuyasha sloshed into the water of the river with Izayoi splashing noisily behind him once they'd reached their destination. He didn't leave when the freshly caught fish were roasting over the small fire. He didn't leave when they all began to eat, Izayoi bounding over to where Haru sat nearby to hand him his own roast fish. No, instead Haru stayed, watching curiously as Inuyasha tore off small chunks of fish with his claws and fed them one by one to Gesshoku, carefully picking out the little bones before bringing it to the child's mouth but never once touching his own watched as Tamotsu went to his father saying he was still hungry, and Inuyasha gave him the fish he hadn't touched. Instead, Haru watched as Izayoi and Tamotsu squabbled over who would next get to ride on Haru's back, elbowing one another and racing over to Haru with the inhuman speed shared only between demons and young human children.

Inuyasha eventually called them back with a word of warning, glaring at Haru as though it had been his fault that his children were misbehaving, but Haru hadn't minded. He liked Izayoi and Tamotsu very much. Tamotsu was quieter than Izayoi, and far less outgoing (or at least far less talkative), but there was a perceptive attentiveness to everything he did that Izayoi did not have. And where Tamotsu would back down from something that might have been dangerous, Izayoi barreled in headfirst and grinning. She was fearless, he was intelligent.

The little group left not soon after the fish had first been caught, probably staying at the riverside for only about forty-five minutes or so. Haru had to eventually admit that even though he was somewhat stuck with these youkai, he wasn't minding the company. Over the time since he'd left his father's house, Haru had been largely alone. And while it was in itself exhilarating to not be surrounded by his brothers, the servants, the villagers who watched him with their heavy eyes full of pity, it was also a lonesome way to exist. Haru wasn't exactly sure how mountain hermits and traveling monks survived for such long periods of being alone, with no other human contact. So now that he was sure that Inuyasha wasn't going to suddenly turn savage and rip his throat out - or at least, he was fairly positive he wasn't - it was rather nice having company.

Maybe that was another reason why Haru hadn't left by now. Not yet, at least.

"Oi, papa," Tamotsu chirped up a while later, hanging off of his father's shoulders and pressing his cheek to the elder youkai's jaw. "Where we goin'? We goin' home?"

"Not sure," Inuyasha grunted. "I think there's a village nearby though. We'll go there first, then we'll see about heading home."

"When we get to village, can I get a dumpling?" Tamotsu asked brightly.

"Ooh, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings!" Izayoi danced around in excitement at the possibility. "Please, papa, pretty please?"

Inuyasha raised a brow and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Puh-LEEEEAAASE?" Tamotsu squealed. The shrill voice, the pitch the little youkai had reached was making Haru's own ears ring. He could only imagine how bad it must have been for the snowy-haired demon father, who flinched and clapped a hand over his son's mouth.

"No yelling!" he gruffed. Tamotsu had the good grace to look ashamed before slipping off his father's back with a muttered 'sorry', leaving him rubbing his ear in agitation. However, true to the nature of children, Tamotsu and Izayoi got distracted relatively quickly by a passing butterfly and raced off squealing into the trees.

"Aren't they going to get lost?" Haru asked, watching the pink and green backs of their retreating kosodes. "You going to go after them?"

Inuyasha grunted. "I can hear 'em just fine," he said, leaning down to pick up Gesshoku, who had been walking alongside him for the past ten minutes. He managed to lift the little demon fully into the air and almost into a comfortable position on his hip when Gesshoku screamed.

"No! No! Down! DO-OOOOWWN!" he hollered. The kid had a pair of lungs on him when he wanted, Haru had to admit. Normally he stayed quiet and docile, sweet and calm, but once in a while he could become quite the little demon that he was.

Inuyasha's ears flicked back so they were flat against his skull with the shrillness, his eyes tightening in the corners with pain. Though he scowled, he did set the child down. "Alright, alright! Hold your horses, gimme a second!" Gesshoku's feet touched the mossy forest floor, and he was once again grinning, walking alongside Haru and his father. Such were the ways of children of ten seasons. "Damn! Noisy little brat." Inuyasha straightened once again, folding his hands into his sleeves and settling back into a steady pace. It was noticeably slower than what it had been before. Haru supposed it was because Izayoi and Tamotsu were still gone.

"So," Haru said lightly, avoiding looking at Inuyasha, "Why are we headed to a village?"

"I don't like you, you don't like me, so we're getting out of each other's hair as soon as we possibly can," he said simply, giving him a sidelong look. "You got any complaints, yeah?"

"No, not really," Haru admitted. It was pretty obvious that the youkai didn't like him, and Haru didn't really want to spend so much time with a person like that, much less a demon. Making his way to the nearest village made the most sense. It would get him on the right path down to Kimonai in the South, and he would never have to deal with the rude demon or his children ever again. "But why do you say I hate you?"

Inuyasha gave him an dry, toothy grin and tapped one of his fangs with a claw in answer before returning to his brooding expression. Haru frowned, but the youkai didn't look at him again. Shame, because now that Haru thought about it, he couldn't say that he exactly hated Inuyasha. Yes, he was rude, and he was frightening, but he hadn't done anything to warrant hatred yet. Maybe. Hopefully.

Inuyasha came to a stiff halt all at once, back rigid and ears alert. Haru stopped as well looking at him a little over his shoulder. "Uh… Inuyasha?"

}{

The youkai didn't acknowledge Haru, instead tilting his head back and taking a few short sniffs in the air. "Oi, Izayoi! Tamotsu! Come back here!" he called, scooping up Gesshoku, who made no move to get away, sensing the sudden tension in the air. Within seconds, Izayoi and Tamotsu had reappeared, eyes wide and brows worried as they looked at their father. Haru looked as well, but there was no information to be gleaned from the youkai that he didn't already know: rude, violent, and suddenly, inexplicably on edge.

"Papa, what's that smell?" Tamotsu asked, tugging on his father's dangling sleeve. His nose was wrinkled with disgust. "I don't like it."

"Smoke," Inuyasha said shortly, grabbing the back of Tamotsu's little yukata and swinging him onto his back. Izayoi clambered up as well, settling beside her brother so she was looking over Inuyasha's left shoulder, her brother over his right. Hardly sparing Haru a glance, Inuyasha turned and began jogging off into the woods, leaving Haru in the dust.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Haru picked up his heavy feet and sprinted after the youkai. He was going at a ridiculous pace, and though it looked like he was only going at an easy trot, Haru had to run at a near sprint to keep up. Even then he was falling behind, slipping further back until he was only catching small glances of Inuyasha's snowy hair as it whipped between the trees, flashing like bright lights between the mossy trunks before disappearing altogether. An foul scent began to fill his nose, starting so subtly that he didn't even recognize it as he panted and gasped shallowly for air until it became overwhelming. For a few long moments, Haru feared losing Inuyasha in the trees - he did not know why - but those fears were rather wasted because before long the trees came to a sudden end, and Haru staggered to a stop, clutching the stitch in his side and gasping for air and in shock.

}{

The sight that greeted him was what shocked him: the smoldering remains and still burning ruins of a small village, with men and women lurching to and fro, wailing in despair as their forms weaved and shimmered in the waves of heat and pillars of silvery grey billowing from the roaring tongues of fierce orange, like the maple trees in autumn. "Gods…" The word left him on a breath, his hand rising to his hair in horror.

"Looks more like hell to me, kid." Haru jumped, whipping around. He hadn't noticed Inuyasha standing behind him, but there he was, straightening from where he had been crouched before. Tamotsu had a cloth over his ears, like he had last night, and Izayoi was tying one over her own. Gesshoku stood beside her, pressing his face into his father's hakama.

"What… Happened?" Haru asked. His voice was nearly an octave higher than was normal, overwhelmed with shock.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Dunno," he answered, scowling and taking a step beside Haru. He was just over an arm's-length away, his white hair fluttering in the waves of heat that came from the village. "Kid decided to play with a lit stick. Or maybe a cooking fire got a little out of control. But I don't think that's what it was."

With that enigmatic note, Inuyasha sprinted into the burning village. Haru cried out, staggering after the retreating youkai before breaking into a run himself. He honestly had no idea what had possessed him so that he was running into the jaws of the Naraka themselves, but he didn't dwell on that too long. Inuyasha had long since disappeared into the most violent part of the blaze, where Haru couldn't go, so he settled on helping the stumbling and blackened figures as they drifted between the waves of smoke out of the circle of the village, then helping those men who had escaped the flames in the first place try desperately to throw water on the inferno.

Haru couldn't remember much of what happened, really. It was all a blur when he looked back on it later, filled with licking tongues of fire and rising vapors, the occasional glimpse of Inuyasha bounding through the unholy scene with a body or two draped over his back. Haru never knew if they were alive or not. For hours and hours, this went on: run to the well with an empty bucket, take full bucket from frantic villager, run to the blaze, throw bucket of water on the the fire, race back to the well, take a new bucket, run to the fire, throw water on the fire, run back, take bucket, run to fire, throw water, run back-

}{

Several long, intense, agonizing hours later, Haru collapsed on the withered grass beside Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku, wiping his brow with his legs stretched out before him. Something gritty made him glance down at his hand to see it covered in soot, lines and faint blotches from his sweat warping the color, and a long, comparatively clear swath where he'd rubbed it. "You guys-" He coughed, looking over to Inuyasha's children. "You guys okay?"

Izayoi and Tamotsu nodded, their eyes glassy and unblinking as they stared. "Are all those people papa got out gonna be okay?" Izayoi asked in a tiny voice.

Haru opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself. He'd seen enough of the rescue attempts to know that there were two very distinct piles of bodies being made. He'd seen Inuyasha set the burned and bloody body of a man into the waiting arms of his less injured companions, then take a tentative sniff of a little girl's hair before slowly and solemnly making his way to set her down among the second, unmoving mass of bodies, like she were a young flower. A young flower with its soft silken petals choked by silver smoke and its roots eaten by the heat. He'd watched people crawl away from the flames clutching their broken bodies before collapsing in blackened patches of grass, as young girls sobbed hysterically when their eyes fell upon dead and dying siblings, gasping for their bodys' want of air.

He couldn't tell Izayoi about that. Even if she was a demon, she was still a child.

"I'm not sure," he answered in a subdued tone. Izayoi frowned in worry before turning away again, picking at the grass tickling her legs. Haru sighed, letting the exhaustion of the past hours wash over him as he flopped onto his back and closed his eyes. He opened them quickly enough. Closing his eyes only led to sights of half burned victims and people in hysterics.

"-really all that I know about it. I am sorry I cannot help you much more than that."

"Great. That's all I needed to know."

"I'm not sure how we can ever repay you for what you've done."

"Don't mention it."

"You've saved my daughters from certain death, and yet you ask nothing in return? Surely there's something I could offer."

"Judging by the state'a yer village, I'd say there isn't much."

Haru's tired eyes drifted up to the voice of the tall youkai in red. He was standing stiffly with his arms crossed about eight feet from where Haru lay, his body twisted in the direction of his children, but his head tilted towards a bedraggled and soot-covered man Haru took to be the headman, so he couldn't see the demo. Haru blinked, squinting. Something about Inuyasha's appearance seemed off.

"What you need to do," Inuyasha continued, "Is to bury the dead, then get to work on rebuilding and taking care of the injured. You're not a huge village to begin with, and after losing so many…" His voice trailed off.

"Please, I must repay you for your kindness," the headman repeated, ignoring what he'd said and clasping his filthy hands in front of him, staring fixedly at Inuyasha. Haru blinked again, realizing that while soot covered Inuyasha's clawed hands and sat heavily in his hair, there was not a single trace of dirty grey anywhere on his kimono or hakama. Odd. "Anything at all. I will give you one of my daughters, if you so wished - to do what you wanted with her."

Haru choked. The thought of what the headman had just proposed - the idea that he would have offered his own flesh and blood up to a demon even if he had just saved her life - was so horrifying that he almost missed how Inuyasha's chin tipped up and his shoulders stiffened. His terse answer, however, was something Haru couldn't.

"Sorry," he said, and Haru could hear how he spoke from between his teeth, saw how the headman looked like he wanted nothing more than to take a step back from the hostile demon, "But I've already got a wife."

The headman's expression morphed from wary to outright puzzled, as had Haru's, though neither could see. A youkai having a wife? Haru knew very little of the traditions and customs of demons, if indeed they had any, and he supposed the headman was in a similar position. The idea that a demon could have something so familiar, so normal as a wife - not a woman or a mate - was astounding.

Inuyasha continued speaking. "What I want is for ya to take care of your village," he said gruffly, gesturing with a thumb to the murmuring group of people to the left of where they stood. "Get food, get medicine, get help. If a holy man or a miko pass through or somethin', get them to help heal everyone up, hire people to work with those who can out in the fields, start rebuilding, and… Make sure you bury the dead in properly."

"We are truly in your debt," the headman said fervently, bowing low to Inuyasha. Haru didn't miss the look of disappointment in his face, and he was sure Inuyasha hadn't either. Obviously, the elder man was not happy with being in the debt of a demon.

" 'S nothin'," Inuyasha mumbled, turning further to his children and Haru. "Don't mention it. I've got some friends who could help out more than me with the wounded though. I'll send them ahead at some time. I gotta get going."

"Thank you, thank you again," the headman bowed before walking briskly away, and Inuyasha turned and walked towards Haru and his children. Haru watched him curiously as he came closer, noting his purposeful stride that seemed like he similarly wanted nothing more than to leave the headman's presence, the way his hands were folded into his billowing red sleeves, the hard set of his stubbled jaw. He looked as tense and uncomfortable and bad-tempered as ever. So it was hard to reconcile the demons he was used to in bedtime stories - the ones that had Inuyasha for the most part lived up to being - with this youkai currently gathering his children with a gentle touch and leading them away from the carnage before them, back into the safety of the forest.

Haru followed along at the back of the pack, lost in thought.

Inuyasha was a demon. This much had to be obvious. Why else would he have dog ears, could have killed that bull youkai from last night with such ease, his own children possessing such superior senses compared to Haru's own? Youkai were meant to be vicious (which Inuyasha seemed to be), violent (which he certainly was), powerful (another given), and ruled by instinct rather than reasoning. That was what Haru had always been told. The scenes in the village, now that he thought about it, did not exactly match this description. Inuyasha was a demon, but he had willingly rushed into the yawning maw of flame and death to rescue several common folk whom he had undoubtedly never met, never seen, and had no ties to. He had denied the headman's payment, refused to take anything more from the people he had saved despite being in a time where all most cared about was wealth and power - or so had been in Haru's experience. He had treated the dead with such care, such reverence, like that one little girl who hadn't made it, setting her down like she were his own child. For the gods' sake, he had children of his own! And apparently, he had a wife of his own as well!

This was something else Haru had a hard time understanding. Youkai were creatures governed by powerful instinct: revenge trumped justice. Impulse ruled logic. Lust overwhelmed love. So the idea that a demon like Inuyasha could have a wife - someone he was bound to by love and by laws - was confusing. Inconceivable, even. And for two of them to be bound together like that? No, he had to have meant that he had a mate, or something like that. Youkai were like animals. It only made sense that some of them mated for life, like a swan, or a gibbon, or-

Or a wolf! Haru glanced quickly up at Inuyasha's ears. He had thought them to look very doggy at first, far too tall and large to be a cat's, and covered in small nicks and tears along the edges, undoubtedly from many battles and dangerous circumstances. Perhaps Inuyasha was a wolf demon? Either way, it seemed that Inuyasha hadn't expected the simpering headman to know what a mate even was, and had chosen to speak in terms that he would understand. Yes, that made sense.

"Oi, kid! Hurry and wash up. Don't want you looking like you tried walking through hell in next village we get to."

Inuyasha's impatient call - a sort of bark, Haru entertained - brought him back to reality. They were at a river again, probably the same river they had been at that very morning, Inuyasha scrubbing his arms and face with handfuls of gritty sand in the water. His long white hair was soaking wet. Haru conceded silently to the point and knelt down by the bank, splashing his arms and washing his hair in the icy cold water, several feet away from where Inuyasha was crawling with children.

Actually, it was funny to watch as Inuyasha attempted to scrub his face while Gesshoku writhed around in his wet hair, babbling baby nonsense and tugging on his tall ears, and as Tamotsu dipped his toes in the river before squealing and running off at the freezing sensation. Haru chuckled, then leaned down and splashed his face with a shiver.

"Hey, Haru-nii-san, Haru-nii-san!" Haru looked up to see a grinning Izayoi standing beside him, leaning with her hands behind her back. She had little fangs. How had he never noticed them before?

"What's up, Izayoi?" Haru said, spitting out the water that dripped over his lips and pushing his hair out of his face.

"Look look look, look what I found!" Izayoi fell to the ground beside him, holding something in front of his eyes that was far too close to see. He leaned back, blinking rapidly and grabbing the little demon girl's wrist to move whatever she was holding away to where he could better see it; his eyesight was spotty at best to begin with, especially with things up close.

It was a slimy, slow-moving snail, making its way purposefully across the small expanse of the little demon's palm. Haru, though not really truly repulsed by the little mollusk, with its smooth brown shell and its soft, slimy body, gave a soft noise of disgust that made Izayoi giggle. "Now where did you get that?" he asked, chuckling as well.

"He was over by that log," she said, pointing over her shoulder to a fallen log half submerged by the bank, covered in slimy moss and smoothed with age. "There's a log like that back home where Hirohito and I find a lotta snails. We like to collect their shells if they're empty, but sometimes his mama will tell us to collect as many as we can and we'll make stew with them." Her eyes slid a little out of focus for a moment as she added, "Mama used to do it too."

Haru watched the little girl carefully a moment. He'd noticed the use of the past tense, of course, but he had a little more tact than to ask a young child what she meant by it. He took one last look at the snail and released her hand, patting her arm. "Why don't you go put him back then?" Izayoi nodded, walking to the log. The entire group began to leave not soon after. Inuyasha, oddly enough, was walking in the back this time, just in front of Haru. Perhaps it was something to do with finally resigning himself to the fact that Haru was going to be stuck with them for a time, or maybe it was just to watch his children as they bounded through the woods. Haru certainly caught him watching them with a much softer gaze than he was used to. Haru, however, watched him.

He didn't understand him. He just didn't. He couldn't. Even with the visions of villages up in flames and blackened, dead bodies couldn't deter him from trying to figure this strange forest spirit out. His earlier statement about having a wife, what Izayoi had said only minutes before - none of it made any sense.

Well, since they were walking near each other, and the three kids were ahead of them…

"Uhh…" Haru winced at the weak sound and cleared his throat. Inuyasha gave him a side-eyed look, raising a brow and falling into step beside him.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly. Haru squared his shoulders, steeling his nerve.

"Well um…" He cleared his throat again. He blamed the smoke for the way his voice was cracking. "Izayoi said something earlier, and, ah, you did too, when you were talking to the village headman after we were done trying to save everyone and putting out the fire and all that, and I hope this isn't too forward of anything, but I was, er-"

"Spit it out, kid," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. Haru shrunk slightly, a little stung, but he wanted some answers.

"Well, uh, where's your mate? What happened to her?"

Inuyasha faced him full on, the mingled look of utter disorientation and rising distrust making Haru physically take a step back. He looked like he was in pain. "Mate?"

"Uh," Haru gulped. "Yeah, don't you…" He looked to where Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku were. "Don't you have a mate?"

Inuyasha stared at Haru, his expression rather unreadable under the dark brow. Haru squirmed internally under the bright eyes. It was like the youkai could see right through him, all the way to the weathered boulder they were passing. In fact, Haru wouldn't have been surprised if Inuyasha could see through him.

"I ain't got a 'mate'," Inuyasha said after what seemed an eternity of the unsettling stare. "My wife is human."

And before Haru could do more than feel his jaw drop a little with understanding, before he could do more than blink, Inuyasha had swept off, away, towards his children.

His half human children.

Hanyou?

...

Glossary:

[Name}-nii/nee-chan/-san - a common suffix for elder children/teens by younger children; "big brother/big sister [Name]"

Naraka - simply put, the Buddhist version of Purgatory

A/N And here's another chapter.

(THIS IS IMPORTANT): this story's music will be entirely based off of the Inuyasha OST, as well as a few other anime/movie OSTs and the odd song. Mostly ambiance music. This chapter used "Higurashike no Shokutaku", "Yasashino Kakera (A Bit of Kindness)", "Hakureizan no Ihen", "Kusen (A Severe Fight)", and "Kohaku's Vestiges", in that order. ANY AND ALL MUSIC CHANGES WILL BE MARKED BY AN "}{"

Okay thanks bye I'ma work on chapter 3 now..

Currently listening to: The Mystic - Adam Jensen