Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, so don't sue me. Please. (:

-Kouga-

Kouga ran through the forest, trees and branches whizzing by so fast, they were nothing but a blur.

Kouga took an experimental sniff of the air.

'Ah, I'm close. Just a few more miles and I'll be at my den. Hopefully Shiori has what I need.'

Kouga had already come up with a story to tell her. He would tell her that when he was out hunting the previous night, he stumbled across a small group of villagers. A few of them could tell he was a demon and attacked. He became enraged and slaughtered them one-by-one. When he came to the last villager, he was on his knees pleading and begging for his life. Kouga raised his claws to kill him when he noticed something different about this human.

He would tell her he asked him if he would do anything to stay alive, and how he said yes. How they had spent the night "negotiating terms". How his only wish besides living was to have his memories taken away, for he was a lowly half-breed and wanted to forget his past.

The story seemed foolproof.

A pang of guilt rang through his chest. 'A foolproof lie to extinguish Inuyasha's memory from the world…'

Kouga shook his head

'Inuyasha… is nothing. He is just a trophy; a possession, nothing more.'

Kouga quickened his pace and in a few minutes he was standing outside of the caves.

"Hey Kouga, you're back!" Came an excited yell from Ginta. Ginta shoved Hakkaku with his foot, yelling "Wake up! Kouga's back!"

The spike-haired wolf jumped up and looked around before setting his eyes on Kouga. The two ran towards Kouga, shouting greetings and questions so fast, even Kouga couldn't keep up. He noticed that both of their eyes were tinged red and had a sort of hunger in them, meaning their inner-demons had a slight grip on their actions. Then he caught their scent.

Kouga chuckled.

They both exchanges confused glances, and then asked, "W-what's so funny?"

"Can't you two smell yourselves? Mating season is still 2 weeks away and you're already releasing your pheromones!"

Ginta and Hakkaku's faces grew beet-red in embarrassment and they lowered their heads in shame.

Kouga smirked at them and walked through them into the inner caves, groping them both on the way in.

They both watched him enter the inner caves and disappear behind the barrier.

They looked at each other and scowled.

"Damn tease…"

-Inuyasha-

Inuyasha stared incredulously at the collection of assorted herbs, potions and cauldrons scattered throughout the room in front of him. After Kouga had left, Inuyasha had begun searching through the cave, looking for the listed ingredients on the piece of paper Kouga had given him.

A small voice in the back of his mind still questioned why he was doing as Kouga was asking and not trying to escape. He only replied with, "Maybe Kouga will be different…" which made the voice scream and curse at him for his naivety.

He just suppressed it until it was none but a slight whisper and went about gathering the items on the list.

Then it came to the part where he was to fill the vials with blood. They seemed quite large; too large for his liking. But he went on with it.

After filling one of the vials with his blood, he began to feel woozy; the combination of blood-loss and hunger taking over. The voice in his head cursed him for being so weak.

He shook it off and got to skinning the boar, which wasn't an easy task, seeing how large it was.

When he was finished, he laid the large bloody pelt out on the ground to dry near the fire.

He was covered head-to-toe in blood, which made him feel icky all over. 'Maybe I should take a bath?' He thought.

He started waling towards the spring when his stomach interjected, voicing his need for food.

"Oh well, I'll just bathe after cooking."

He walked back over to the skinless boar carcass and began to cut it up and cook it like he always saw his mother do; only this time it on a much larger scale.

'Mother…'

Flashback

Inuyasha ran as fast as he could; the voices of the villagers fading.

He had only gone out to hunt while his mother gathered herbs when he stumbled upon a small fox lying dead on the forest floor.

Thinking himself to be lucky, he scooped it up. Not a second later, a hunter from the village stepped out of the foliage in front of him, obstructing his path.

He was short, fat, and had a smell that made Inuyasha gag.

The human looked down on him in disgust and demanded to know where he was going with HIS dinner.

Inuyasha laid the fox at the man's feet, apologized and turned to walk away.

"Just where do you think YOU'RE going?" They man said, grabbing him roughly.

The man grabbed him by both of his shoulders and brought him up to his eye-level.

"You just tried to steal from ME, the headman of this village, and you think I'm just gonna let it slide?"

Inuyasha just stared at him dumbly.

The man slammed Inuyasha into a tree and began to mercilessly beat him.

Then, when the man was finished, he dropped Inuyasha on the ground. Inuyasha tried to scurry away, but the man grabbed him by the foot and dragged him back before securing him in place by holding him down with his foot..

"I don't think so. I don't know where you're from, but stealing is a crime in these parts."

The man smirked evilly at Inuyasha's fearful expression, then cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled "THEIF! THEIF! QUICKLY, SEND THE GUARDS!"

Inuyasha, knowing he had no choice, dug his claws into the man's leg (ripping off a chunk in the process), grabbed the fox and ran off into the trees.

The man had screamed in agony and collapsed on the ground, screaming; villagers and guards swarming in the area.

Now that their voices had faded into the darkness, he could stop to rest.

He collapsed on the ground and passed out in a patch of lilies.

He woke up a few hours later in his mothers lap; she was humming his favorite lullaby as she cut up the meat from the fox he had and threw it into a pan that was sizzling with assorted vegetables.

His wounds were all wrapped and none of them hurt at all.

She looked down to him and, noticing he was awake, gave him a big smile. Inuyasha could see from her puffy eyes that she had been crying.

"Are you hungry?" She asked in a gently tone.

Inuyasha nodded and she took out a large pastry.

"I have a special treat for you" She said, handing him the pastry.

It was Inuyasha's favorite snack, though he could never figure out what it was called.

"You can eat half now and the other half after dinner, okay?"

Inuyasha nodded.

His mother lifted him up and set him on his feet and told him to go wash up for dinner.

He nodded and ran off and washed his hands in a river near the camping site.

On the walk back, Inuyasha could hear men shouting and his mother screaming; causing Inuyasha to quicken his pace from a slow stroll to an all-out sprint.

Inuyasha arrived in time to see his mother fall to the ground dead; an arrow lodged into her chest.

Inuyasha felt his heart collapse as he ran towards her. He was completely oblivious to the soldiers surrounding him until an arrow whizzed past his nose, embedding itself in the ground beyond him.

He looked up and saw what had become of his home; the tent and surrounding woods were ablaze, everything he knew being reduced to ashes. His eyes locked onto one man, the man from the village. His leg was bandaged and he walked with the assistance of a crutch. He had a certain air of triumph about him and had a smirk on his face that made you want to claw his mouth off. He approached Inuyasha and told him, "I told you that you wouldn't get away, worthless half-breed. Now, it's tome for you to die, just like your whore mother did." The man pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed his bow towards Inuyasha.

Inuyasha felt an entirely new emotion surging through him as the soldiers and villagers around him mocked, spat, cursed and even threw rocks at him. It was rage; pure, unadulterated rage. It burned inside of him so quick and so fast that, in order to release some of the build up, he roared a roar that was so blood-chilling that it would even make Sesshomaru's heart skip a beat. The entire crowd was silenced and Inuyasha just stared at the man pointing the arrow with pure bloodlust.

A few seconds passed before Inuyasha lunged at the man and the man, startled released the arrow, embedding it so deep into Inuyasha's abdomen that it stuck out the back. Inuyasha gasped and fell to his knees, his hands clasped around the arrow protruding from his belly. The surrounding crowed cheered and roared and some continued to throw rocks.

The man approached Inuyasha and ripped the arrow out of his abdomen stating, "You're not even worth losing an arrow over!"

The man raised the bloodied arrow above his head and roared in triumph.

Inuyasha felt the blood from his wound coating his hands and looked down and noticed it was glowing slightly. His instinct was telling him to do something he never knew he or anyone could do. He stood slowly, the man smirking at his meager effort to stand.

"What? Haven't had enough? You stubborn little bastard, you just don't know when to give up, do you? Well, I think my men can give a hand there" He signaled his men and they all readied their bows.

"Ready…"

Inuyasha heart pounded, it was now or never, do or die.

"Aim…"

Inuyasha shoved his claws into his stomach.

"Fir-"

"HIJINKESSOU!"

The soldiers released their bows at the same time that Inuyasha released his attack. The blood he had flung from his claws had materialized into large red blades that chopped the arrows, soldiers, villagers and the headman to pieces. They all lay scattered around, dismembered limbs, heads and organs, and blood, lots and lots of blood.

Inuyasha ran from that place, finding shelter in a cave a few miles away.

No-one ever found him.

End Flashback

Inuyasha shuddered at the memory and wiped away a tear that had found it's way out.

He put another piece of meat in his mouth and set down is plate. He looked around the room and checked again to make sure everything was ready for his master's arrival.

After doing some last-minute touch-ups, he went to the springs for a long needed bath.

To Be Continued

Man, this took WAY too long to finish. How'd you like that little battle scene? I didn't mean to put one in in there, but one thing lead to another and before I knew it, everyone was dead and a little boy was hiding in a cave. I've been using that excuse A LOT lately. And just for FYI, that song that Inuyasha's mother was humming is called "Lilium"

Leave me a nice little review to tell me what you think! Ciao! ;D