Nozomi's Demon Half

Kagome sighed as the sun began to disappear behind the mountains. The day had gone quickly and they still hadn't found Nozomi. "Hey Inuyasha, if the sun is setting, does that mean Nozomi will become half demon again?" she asked, looking at the half-demon.

"Yeah, it'll be a bit easier to find her," replied Inuyasha, keeping his eyes averted from Kagome's.

"Just a bit,"

"That's what I said,"

"Why just a bit?" asked Kagome in confusion, "I thought it would be a lot easier to find her,"

"Well you thought wrong," replied Inuyasha grumpily.

"Inuyasha!"

"She'll look different and she can run a lot faster,"

"So, we'll still find her,"

"Why are we trying to find her anyway? She's just a stupid kid," growled Inuyasha, glaring at the sun as it finally disappeared.

"She's not a stupid kid!" retorted Kagome, "And, she's in trouble, we need to help,"

"It looked like she didn't want our help,"

"How would you know?"

"She ran away,"

"So! She was just scared!"

"Reason enough for us to leave her alone," said Inuyasha, glancing at Kagome.

"She wants help, she just doesn't know how or who to ask," replied Kagome firmly.

"How do you know?"

"It was in her eyes Inuyasha, if you even had a scrap of sympathy in you, you would've seen it too,"

"Keh, I don't even know why I'm doing this,"

"Hey! Is that her?" exclaimed Kagome, pointing at the figure of someone running through the bushes and trees.

"Yeah, she smells the same," replied Inuyasha, "just a little more demon,"

"Then take us down!"

"Yeah, yeah,"

Inuyasha and Kagome landed right in front of Nozomi and she stumbled backwards in fear, her blonde hair falling over her terrified brown eyes. "How did you find me?" she asked once she got over the initial fear.

"The same way you knew we were coming kid, smell," replied Inuyasha smirking and tapping his nose, "now, can you tell us why you're running?"

"The humans,"

"Humans…You mean that mob of ugly people,"

"Pretty much, yeah,"

"And you're running from them…why?" asked Inuyasha, lifting Nozomi off the ground

"I don't want to hurt them!" replied Nozomi softly. Her eyes filling with sorrow.

"Why not?"

"They're living things! If I hurt them then they could die or others would come after me!"

"She's got a point Inuyasha," said Kagome stepping forward, "they would just send more if the others died, then she'd be in even more trouble,"

"Stay away," growled Nozomi, her brown eyes only showing fear, "please, just... go away!" she yelled, wriggling out of Inuyasha's grip.

"Told you," said Inuyasha smugly, watching Nozomi stumble backwards, her tattered black dress swaying in the wind.

"We want to help you," said Kagome, completely ignoring Inuyasha. She reached a hand out to Nozomi and smiled brightly.

"Why?" replied Nozomi, her curiosity getting the better of her, "Why do you want to help me?"

"You're in trouble,"

"And you want to help me,"

"Yes, we do,"

"We…" repeated Nozomi, her eyes darted to Inuyasha and she snorted in disbelief.

"Okay, only I do, but Inuyasha can help as well!" replied Kagome quickly.

"I don't get it, aren't all humans like them?"

"No, in fact, most are really nice and like demons, even half demons,"

"How come I've never met any like that?"

"Because you're getting chased, other humans will think you're bad," said Kagome.

"Then what do I do? I can't just kill them and continue on my merry little way," replied Nozomi, her voice drenched in sarcasm.

"I'm not telling you to kill them,"

"You can't kill them either!"

"We weren't planning too,"

"Then, there is nothing you can do," said Nozomi firmly, starting to turn away. But, Kagome caught her arm and stopped her.

"We can take you with us," said Kagome, frowning as Nozomi stiffened.

"They'll find me, they always do,"

"How do they find you?"

"I don't know, I can be miles away from them and they will still find me somehow, it doesn't matter where I go, I always get found!"

"Except when you're a human,"

"Yeah,"

"Inuyasha, is there any way a human could track a half demon?" asked Kagome, turning to face the sullen Inuyasha.

"Not that I know of," said Inuyasha, "unless they have a half demon or a demon with them it's impossible,"

"Then do they have a demon with them?"

"Doubt it, there trying to kill a half demon so why would they have one?"

"Maybe it's just Nozomi,"

"That's possible,"

Nozomi looked at the two in disbelief and sighed. They were still discussing possibilities. The wind blew her blonde hair around her face and her furry ear twitched as a distant voice reached them. The humans had found her. "They know where I am," she said, "I have to go before they find me!"

"They'll be resting soon, you don't need to worry," replied Kagome smiling.

Nozomi rolled her eyes before she started to jump into the air. She was afraid that the humans would attack them all. She didn't want that, she never did.

"Not so fast!" yelled Inuyasha, grabbing her fluffy, red tail, jolting her backwards.

"Ow ow ow ow!" yelped Nozomi, trying to get out of Inuyasha's grip, "Let go of my tail!"

"Not unless you stay! Kagome is trying to help you but you're too stubborn to accept her help! Just listen and let someone help you for once!"

"Why should I?"

"Because if you don't I'll yank your tail so hard it'll come off!"

"Okay OKAY!" yelled Nozomi, "I'll stay!"

"No need to be so violent Inuyasha," said Kagome, shaking her head.

"She wouldn't listen any other way!" replied Inuyasha, still not letting go of Nozomi's tail.

"You didn't need to grab her tail! You could've grabbed her clothes or something like that!"

"Tail was easiest,"

"Sure, I think you just like to make her suffer,"

"... Not completely,"

Kagome rolled her eyes and glared at Inuyasha, "let her go unless you want me to say the 's' word!"

Inuyasha let out a dramatic sigh and let go of Nozomi's tail. She fell to the ground and scowled fiercely at Inuyasha, "you're horrible," she stated, gently smoothing the fur on her tail.

"Hey Nozomi, are you a cat?" asked Kagome suddenly, staring at Nozomi's tail.

"I guess…In some ways anyway," replied Nozomi with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"What kind of cat?"

"I don't know, my mother died when I was really little,"

"Your mother was the demon,"

"Yeah…and it was my father that turned on us," said Nozomi, her eyes downcast.

"How?" asked Kagome, intrigued.

"Maybe we should chat later," said Inuyasha, "the humans are closing in fast!"

"Yeah, they are, if you really want to help me you can follow me," said Nozomi, starting to turn away.

"Why should we trust you?"

"Hey, you're the ones who wanted to help me! If you want to help, follow me, I have better eyesight than you in the dark so I'll be able to navigate easily,"

"She is right Inuyasha, cat's have really good eyesight," said Kagome smiling at Nozomi, "let's follow her!"

"Fine, but I don't like this!"

"You never do,"

"That's not the point!" said Inuyasha ignorantly.

"Yeah, it is," replied Kagome, rolling her eyes.

Nozomi smiled before starting to run further into the forest, closely followed by Inuyasha carrying Kagome.