Daddy Dearest – Part Two: Onslaught of the Koketsu

"You aren't serious."

"You heard me," Kiori said, flatly. She gave Mikiro a little nudge and he stepped forward, clutching the strap of his satchel in his little hands and looking down. Apparently, they had had some kind of talk over the situation.

Miroku stared for quite a long time at the boy before inspecting the rest of the group. Kagome looked surprised, but Inuyasha, Shippo and Sango didn't. Kiori had spoken to the two latter ones the prior night, he knew that, but the hanyou had had nothing to do with the conference, leading one to suspect he had been eavesdropping. How could they all do this to him?! "B-but I cannot take care of a child!" he exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Kiori knelt and, almost immediately, Mikiro leapt into her open arms, whining softly into her shoulder. "Hush now, Little Mi, you must be strong for your Mommy so she can save you."

The boy whispered something to her and she whispered back, and finally, he nodded and allowed her to scoop him into her arms. He was quiet as Kiori handed him to an unwilling Miroku. He looked so heart-broken...

"Miss Kiori, I must voice my objections on this! I have NEVER even HELD a child, let alone taken care of one! How am I supposed to accomplish it?!"

She leered, narrowly, at him, and he felt his pulse stop again. Every time he saw that hatred in her eyes, it made him feel two inches tall and about as significant as a cockroach in a five-star inn. "As I have told Miss Sango, I have a mission to complete that will ensure his future in this world that, if not secured, would consist of his either dying of predators or starvation, if not fear itself. You may not give a damn about me, but you WILL care about this child, for he is your own and he is as precious as anything you have ever held in those thieving hands, if not the number-one MOST precious. He is your SON and you will care for him thusly, so any objections you house in that dirty mind of yours are officially null and void. There is no excuse on this planet that will pardon your mistake and make it right for you to refuse, and besides, you will not refuse him even if you want to because I will MAKE you keep him, for his good and your own. I cannot chance putting him in danger, and though I fear his morals may be distorted by your own, it is better that he become some semblance of you than he become some semblance of a meal for some creature out there."

Miroku looked at the little boy, who was staring across the way at his mother. He was literally speechless.

Sango came up and took the little boy from him, almost forcefully, and the child didn't fight her. Mikiro immediately clung to her as if SHE were his parent. "Come here, Mikiro. Don't be scared."

The moment the boy was clear of his arms, Kiori hauled back and, seconds later, her fist connected with Miroku's nose with such a force that he found himself on the ground, seeing stars. "And THAT is for your idiocy, monk. I have wanted to do that for three years."

He managed to regain his vision long enough to put a hand to his bleeding nose, which hurt so badly his sight was blurred by the pain. This was another first. Certainly women had stricken him before, but never in such a straightforward manner! A slap or two and maybe a crack with the boomerang was the worst he had endured until this moment, but that woman had actually clocked him, and it hurt!

Kiori exchanged a tender hug with Sango, and accepted one from Shippo too, then bowed to Inuyasha and Kagome, both of whom bowed back. It seemed Inuyasha had gained some respect for her after eavesdropping on her conversation with Sango. As Miroku climbed to his feet, still pinching his nose to keep the blood from gushing out, she turned to him, and he almost feared being struck again. However, she didn't hit him, but instead just leered at him until he managed to get into a good upright position, then let lose another verbal onslaught. "If you remember nothing at all, remember that this child is your son, and that he is at a very impressionable age. Being as such, he will learn to follow the examples set by YOU and any other male in the area, which is why I have requested that Shippo acts as his companion. Remember that he will watch everything you to and take it to heart as correct, for you are older than he is and, by his perspective if not my own, wiser. However, I warn you, anything unjust or immoral you do, he might copy and learn as the right thing, and I swear, if you give him ONE bad moral I will do more to you than hit you in your face."

Miroku racked his brain for something to say in his own defense, but nothing came. With an aggravated sigh, he let go of his nose and looked at his hand to see if it was still bleeding. It wasn't, luckily.

However, upon performing this action, he remembered his family's curse, and the moment that came back to him, his number-one objective returned with it: the death of Naraku.

"If you force me to take him along with us, you put his life in great peril," Miroku said as persuasively as possible. "We are on a quest that involves our facing MANY dangers, including treacherous lands, dangerous beasts and scuffles with a myriad of mighty demons that want us all dead. We alone have enough trouble surviving, but such a battlefield is no place for a child."

"Indeed it is not," Kiori agreed. "Hence why I leave him with you. My own quest may be just as perilous as your own, but while you have numbers with which to fight and protect each other, I am but one person. With you, he would be safer, for there would always be someone to watch him, out of the five of you. Were I to take him with me on my own journey, he would be certain to die, because I scarcely have enough power to protect myself, let alone watch over him the way I would want to. Though it might be a pleasing thought in your twisted mind for me to take OUR son into the face of danger defenseless and allow him to die, I treasure him, which is why I am putting him in your care, Miroku."

That had been the first time she had said his name to him, and that combined with the statement itself was deeply painful. She was making him feel like a slime-ball. He kept his mouth closed and took up gently pinching his nose, as before.

"I have considered the danger your journey poses to Mikiro," Kiori continued. "In turn, I have determined that he is safer in the company of a shape-shifting fox-demon, a sword-wielding half-demon, a reincarnated priestess, a demon exterminator and a perverted monk than in the company of a woman that can scarcely protect herself, let alone him. Our missions are both dangerous, but you have allies that are willing to protect each other and you, and as Mikiro's father, it is YOUR duty to protect HIM." Her serious expression was suddenly marred by a deep frown. "Besides, I highly doubt that you do much fighting at all, considering who and what you are; I hear you spend more time on the sidelines than anyone. However, even if this is not true, I am certain that in dangerous situations, Miss Kagome and Shippo do not fight, being unarmed and somewhat inferior physically than Miss Sango, yourself and Inuyasha. Any excuse you have, I can counter without pause; I have spoken with the priestess Kaede and she has explained to me all that you do, so I am well aware of what could befall him, and I still choose to leave him in your care. You may be an inadequate friend and a low-class human being, but I suspect that you could somehow be a minimally adequate father to your child, and I am giving you the chance. I am leaving you no choice in the matter."

"And how am I supposed to take care of him, pray tell?!"

"I have spent three years taking care of this boy," Kiori hissed at him, "I am certain you could survive a few months being responsible and doing what you should have been in that time."

Miroku looked back at Sango, who was cradling little Mikiro in her arms without notice of the situation, then at the others, who were all watching him intently. It seemed that no one here was going to try and defend him, and he knew that, though he wanted it, he did not deserve to be defended. It was hard to come to terms with, but he was the guilty one here and there was no escaping it, especially when his penalty for the trouble he had caused came in the form of a VERY determined woman with one hell of a right hook. He sighed and nodded. "It seems I have no choice, then. I will take him along."

"That isn't what I asked you," Kiori said, flatly. "That part was mandatory. I never thought I would ask you for anything besides to have you stand still so I could gut you--"

He shuddered at that thought. She REALLY liked the thought of hurting him!

"--But I have no choice." Suddenly, her expression of anger melted away as a soft sobbing became suddenly audible.

Miroku turned his head and looked over his shoulder at Sango. Mikiro was crying into her shoulder, and the sight made him feel all the more guilty. He hadn't really thought that was possible.

Kiori suddenly took his hands in her own, surprising him, and all at once, her beauty became apparent--and it was staggering. He realized that her dull, gray eyes were in reality a shining silver, and her listless brown hair bore the tone of beautifully finished mahogany. Her figure, masked by her ragged robes, was revealed to him as a stray gust of wind caught it, making it cling tightly to her figure. She was absolutely gorgeous, but he failed to state or even acknowledge this to himself, because he could see the pain inside of her in her eyes. Wordlessly, she begged for his help, and somewhere deep inside of his mind, lightning struck, but only for a moment. It was as if his mind was trying to hint something to him. "Please, Miroku," she said, softly, "You have no idea how hard it is for me to trust you, even if you cannot or refuse to remember me, but please, you MUST try to be a good father to him." She lowered her voice and pulled him closer, whispering in his ear. "I want to leave here knowing you will love him as I do...because I know there is a chance that I may never return for him..."

He stiffened. "But--!"

"PLEASE, Miroku, I know how selfish you feel you must be, but I want you to protect him like your own, because he IS your own. He IS your SON, Miroku, and I have to know that you will at least TRY."

As he stood there, feeling her slender body shudder, wracked by soft sobs, he felt as if he were making a promise to a dying woman. Even if he COULDN'T recall ever knowing her, a good part of him was guilty and wanted to remember her, and a smaller part felt an unexplainable affinity with the woman that she had suddenly become. WHY couldn't he REMEMBER?!

"Promise me..."

"I promise," he agreed. What choice did he have? Mikiro was his son, and it WAS his duty to take care of and teach him as his father. It had taken him this long to finally come to terms with that much of it. The problem was, how was he going to manage it?

She released his hands and backed away, then looked at Sango, who brought Mikiro forward. The boy immediately leapt onto his mother and began to cry again. He had just stopped crying a moment ago, but now he was wailing more severely than before. She embraced him. "Hush, dearest child...your father will take care of you now..."

Miroku attempted to make out what the boy whispered back, but his voice was too quiet. He stayed silent.

"No, no, it will be fine...just remember what I told you and you will be okay..."

The boy whispered to her again, and this time, Miroku managed to hear it. Only, when he did, he regretted even bothering. "Don't leave me with him..."

Kiori set him down again and put a hand on his head, brushing his feathery, black hair back out of his face before turning to leave.

"Mommy..." he whispered, tearfully.

Sango knelt and held him by his shoulders to keep him from following the retreating form of Kiori. "Mikiro, your Mom has to go now, but hey, don't be sad. She'll be back."

Miroku looked down at the pitiful little boy, then at Kiori's back as she left them. //I certainly hope so...//

Then, she paused and looked back at him over her shoulder. Her eyes were once again cold and angry. "Oh, and Miroku," she said. She turned and looked at him. "If anything happens to him, I will make you suffer to the fullest extent of human possibility, then slaughter you, chop up your carcass and feed the bloody chunks to the nearest tribe of cannibals, am I clear?"

He blinked, then swallowed the lump that suddenly began to form in his throat. That had been fast! However, he had a feeling that her threat was about as sound as they came, and he wasn't going to chance allowing her to do such a thing. She was probably the first woman he had ever truly FEARED. "Crystal clear."

"As I thought." She bowed again. "I thank the rest of you for offering me company for the night, but I must leave you now. It has been grand--you have no idea how grateful I am."

"Good luck," Sango said.

Then, as she turned away, a thought occurred to Miroku and he hastily called after her. "Miss Kiori, how will you find us once you complete your quest?"

"I will find you," she said without turning back. "I did it once, and I can do it again."

"But what if you die..." he muttered to himself.

She stopped in her tracks and lowered her head, then looked back at him. "When you fight for someone you love, failure is not an option." With that said, she continued on until she was out of sight.

Miroku sighed as that spark in the back of his mind slowly faded. Try as he may, he couldn't recall her, but that moment when she had took his hands and pleaded that he protect her child--no, THEIR child--he had recognized her from somewhere. Now that he was assured he had indeed met her, which was obvious anyway, he could set to work trying to remember where he had seen that beautiful creature before. He still had no idea when or where he had been with her, but he knew now that he had been with her for certain and that it was no amazing hoax. He had seen that graceful, elegant lady somewhere before...he just hadn't known, and in a way, he still didn't, but at least now he had a piece of the puzzle to try and help him piece it all together.

Mikiro stood absolutely still as Sango let him go, staring down the road blankly. He looked utterly frozen.

Miroku stared at him for a long moment, once again realizing how much he really did resemble him, then turned away, noting that everyone was looking at the tiny child with similar expressions of pity and regret.

Kagome gave Inuyasha's arm a little tug. "We should go now..." she whispered to him. He nodded his agreement.

"We're burning daylight," the hanyou said, sternly. He didn't look half as strong as he sounded. "We got ground to cover and jewel shards to find."

Sango nodded. "Mikiro," she said, gently. "We need to go now, okay?"

He didn't move. He didn't even blink as he stood there, staring after his mother.

Shippo gave it a try. He rushed up and took Mikiro's little hands, grinning playfully. "Come on, it's okay! She's coming back, but for now, we gotta go somewhere, so let's go!"

Mikiro looked at him and sighed, then looked down.

Sango gave Miroku a nudge with her elbow. "Your son!" she hissed in his ear. "TALK to him! He can't have his Mom, he might as well have his Dad!"

The monk nodded, slowly, then knelt down and took the boy by his shoulders, turning him carefully to face him. They were silent for a moment as the young man's eyes scanned the boy's face again, and Mikiro seemed to do the same to him, looking somewhat afraid. He was shaking a bit and his eyes were darting everywhere. Miroku sighed, then forced a smile. "Hello, Mikiro," he offered.

The boy looked even more tentative, but upon hearing his name, he stopped shaking. He stared at him for a moment, then opened his mouth and whispered, "Are...are you my Daddy?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am."

"I have a hole in my hand."

Miroku smiled, then held up his right hand, revealing the glove and beaded necklace. "So do I."

The little boy offered him a weak smile, then allowed Shippo to cart him away.

He sighed, then blinked as Sango gripped his shoulder. He looked at her. She was smiling at him. "Hmm?"

"Maybe you CAN do this," she said, her smile staying genuine. She patted his shoulder, then stood and headed off after Inuyasha and Kagome, who had followed Shippo and Mikiro.

He nodded to himself. //Maybe I can do this,// he agreed. Then, he sighed. //Then again, maybe I cannot.//

****

"Well, well...look what we have here...the monk has a child." The dark form smirked to itself, then nodded. "So sweet, so innocent...so fragile. The annoying priest has a new weakness to exploit excluding the one I gave him...seems I was right to trust in his foolish ways."

A hunched creature hobbled into the dark presence of its master, many of its kind in pursuit. "You called, my lord?"

The form nodded. "Go forth and give the hanyou and his friends a surprise. You are welcome to eat anything small enough to fit into your mouth."

The creature cackled darkly and the rest of its companions did as well. "Yes, master!"

****

"Shippo," Mikiro asked along the way. They were now in deep forest, traveling in a line along a thin pathway. He had quickly begun to like the other boy, even though he had a fox's tail. He was probably the only person he wasn't afraid to talk to. He hugged his arms tighter around the others' waist, trying to ignore that tail of his. "Why did the little fox turn so big?"

"So we don't have to walk," Shippo explained. "Kirara does that."

"Can it get bigger?"

"I dunno, maybe, but she's pretty big now, so I think it's okay this way."

Mikiro could hear that man Miroku talking softly to that nice lady, San-san. He couldn't remember the rest of her name, so that was all right, and it was the polite way to say it. What a coincidence the only part of her name he remembered was also a polite suffix! Besides, he had already asked her if he could call her that and she had laughed and said okay. He could remember most of their names; Kagome, Shippo, Inu-something (that was a long name), San-san, and Miroku. He remembered him only because his name sounded like the Mikiro's name. That boy with the white hair's name was too long to remember. Kagome was the lady that made good noodles and shouted 'sit' a lot at the boy in red, San-san was the nice woman that hugged him, Shippo was the only other kid and Miroku was supposed to be his Daddy, but he didn't believe that. His Mommy had told him that Miroku wasn't really his Daddy, just his father.

/'What's the difference, Mommy?'/

/'A father is the person who makes you inside your Mommy, but a Daddy is someone that takes care of and loves you after you're born. That's why that man there isn't your Daddy, just your father. He might be your Daddy someday, but I don't think so...'/

He sighed, sadly. He wanted a Daddy, not a father. What good was a father, anyway? From what the other children he had met told him, Daddies played with their kids, protected them, hugged them, told them stories and always thought of them first, but he didn't know what a father was for, except the making kids part. Was that it? Were fathers just for making kids, and not loving them? It seemed that way. Well, if Miroku wasn't his Daddy, who was? Could he just pick one? If so, he was gonna have to keep a sharp eye out. He could feel that Miroku was a nice guy, but he was his father, not his Daddy. According to Mommy, it wasn't the same thing, so he had to find HIS Daddy.

Then, he remembered how Miroku had said he was his Daddy when he had asked. That wasn't true, though. Why did he not tell the truth to him? He was his father, not his Daddy. Mommy had said Miroku didn't know HOW to tell the truth, and that was why Mikiro had asked him that. It was clearly true, then, but of course, Mommy wouldn't lie to him. Mommies never lied.

"Shippo?"

The boy looked back at him. "Huh?"

"Do you have a Mommy and Daddy?"

He smiled, but Mikiro could tell that it was a pretend smile. He hurt inside. "Everybody does."

"Are they your Mommy and Daddy?" He pointed at Miss Kagome and the other man.

"Inuyasha and Kagome? Nah, but Kagome is kind of like a Mommy for me. Inuyasha doesn't like me too much, but then again, he doesn't like ANY kids. He hates Souta too, I hear."

He decided not to ask about that. "Are you sure everybody has a Mommy and Daddy?" he asked.

Shippo nodded. "Yeah. Mine are gone now, but everybody has them at first. Why you ask?"

Mikiro sighed and looked back at Miroku, who looked up the exact moment he did. He looked quickly away. He didn't know why, but Miroku's eyes scared him. They were bad, he could tell. He was a nice man, but his eyes were bad. "Just wondering..."

"You talk really well for a little kid."

He frowned. "I'm not little," he said, stiffly. "I'm just...vertically challenged."

Shippo blinked. "Oh. Sorry."

"That's okay." He smiled. "Are you my friend now?"

The fox-tailed boy nodded. "Yup, I guess so."

Mikiro opened his mouth to ask another question, (he had a lot to ask, and Shippo knew everything) but stopped as his chest began to hurt again. He let go of him and covered the spot with his hands, closing his eyes. //No, no, no, please stop...//

Shippo blinked. "Guys! Come here! I think something's wrong with Mikiro!"

The others quickly gathered around him, excluding Miroku--he looked strangely afraid--and Kagome picked him up. He barely noticed through the pain. "Mikiro, what's the matter?"

"Is he okay?" San-san asked, worriedly.

"It hurts..." he whispered, shutting his eyes. "It hurts really bad..."

"What hurts?"

"My heart..."

"Maybe he's sick!" Shippo suggested.

Inuyasha scoffed. "You don't hurt when you're sick, stupid."

"HEY! What would YOU know?!"

"Damn it, Miroku," San-san hissed, "don't stand over there! Come here!"

"What can *I* do?!"

"HE'S YOUR SON, STUPID!"

Mikiro cried out and opened his eyes as the pain suddenly exploded in his chest, making his head hurt and his chest stop moving. It was hard to breathe.

"What's happening to him?!" Shippo exclaimed.

Miroku was standing outside the circle of people, his right hand covering his heart as he watched, and Mikiro mentally nodded. A Daddy cared, a father didn't. Miroku was definitely his father, or else he would care.

San-san shouted at him again, "MIROKU!!!"

Finally, he approached, a serious look on his face. Mikiro shuddered as he took him from Kagome, kneeling on the ground. He was scared of him, and he didn't know why. "Does it still hurt?" he asked.

Mikiro nodded. "Yes..."

"Just now, what did you feel?"

"It exploded," he said, trying to think up a better way to say it. That was what it had felt like, though! It still hurt, but not as bad as it had. It was more like how muscles were sore after you ran around too much, but it was right in his chest. "It felt like being hit in my chest, then it got really bad and now it's sore..."

Miroku suddenly looked deeply concerned, but not about him. He looked up, then around. "Something's coming," he said, "Inuyasha, be ready."

"What are you talking about?"

Miroku's eyes narrowed on him. "I will explain shortly, but I suggest you ready the Tetsusaiga."

Inuyasha reached back over his shoulder and pulled a big sword from a tiny case, then looked at Miroku. "Explain, already!"

He sighed, lifting Mikiro into his arms and grabbing his staff from San-san, who had taken it from him when he had picked him up at first. "When I was young, I can remember having pains similar to the one he just described. Whenever I experienced them, a youkai attack tended to follow shortly after I recovered. I still have them every once in a while, but not so severely as when I was his age." The others were looking at him now, but he still looked serious. "If this pain spasm is his the first sign of his inherited ability to detect evil as I do, then I suggest we either press on or prepare ourselves for the arrival of an enemy."

Mikiro blinked, still holding his chest. He was really smart! //I hope I can be smart too when I get older,// he thought. He didn't want to be like Miroku, because his Mommy said that he was a bad man and she hated him (he didn't want Mommy to hate him too), but he wanted to be smart like he was.

Miroku looked down at him and he flinched, looking away. He was a nice man, but his eyes were still bad. "You have these pains often?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Last time, a big monster came and tried to eat me. Mommy made it go away." He sighed as he began to miss her again. "I wish she was here..."

Miroku frowned, then looked up as a sudden roar rang out from the trees nearby. Just as he managed to step back a pace or so, a pair of jaws snapped out at him where his legs had been, and they were HUGE.

Mikiro gaped. He might have been scared had he not been so interested. It was a mouth with a lot of teeth, and that was the extent of it, save a pair of feet and a pair of little eyes in the back of its throat. //Wow!//

"What the hell was that?!" Inuyasha exclaimed.

"I saw a mouth!" Shippo cried. "Is Mikiro okay?!"

"Shippo, come here!" Miroku dropped Mikiro on his feet and gave him a nudge with the staff's lower handle as the fox-boy walked up. "Stay behind me. Shippo, guard my back and the boy, just in case there is another."

The fox-boy gulped. "Uh...okay."

All was silent from then on, but Mikiro couldn't help but peek out from behind his father's robes, curiously. He had only gotten a glance, but when that mouth had opened, he had seen numerous pointed teeth and red eyeballs, but that was all there was. It was like a walking bear's mouth with scaly skin and internal eyes! Scared as he was to be eaten, he was intrigued.

Another mouth snapped out from behind Inuyasha and took a bite out of his pant-leg, surprising him and catching him off-guard, then disappeared back into the brush before he could slash it. Mikiro had been right; the creatures were pairs of jaws his size with two big feet on the bottom and eyes in their mouths. How weird!

"ACK!" Inuyasha cried, looking at his leg. He took a whiff or two of the air, then looked at Miroku. "I can't smell them! They have no scent!"

Shippo blinked. "Maybe they have bad breath?"

"Not the time, Shippo!" San-san exclaimed. The giant piece of wood she wore strapped to her back was in her hands, but she kept looking around and frowning. "I can't use my boomerang in this place--there isn't room to throw it!"

"You can use it as a club!" Kagome suggested.

"Yeah, but I'd have to let one get close, first!"

"Quit complaining already and shut up! I'm trying to hear them!"

Mikiro paused as everything went silent and every person began to look around. Kagome was standing against Inuyasha's back, moving with him as he rotated slowly, sniffing the air and looking wary. San-san stood near the giant fox-monster, Kirara, who looked somewhat startled, and she, too, was circling. As for his father, he stayed absolutely still, as if listening, and Shippo kept looking around really fast, looking worried.

One jumped out and Mikiro cried out instantly as its huge teeth gnashed at him, but Shippo quickly shoved him aside and put his hands up, crying, "FOX FIRE!"

Green flames burst from his palms and the monster ducked back, whimpering in a deep, gooey voice. "Oww, oww, oww, oww, oww!"

Miroku whacked one away like an oncoming baseball. "Koketsu youkai!" he called. "Don't let them bite you!"

"What the hell is a koketsu?!" Shippo yelled.

WHACK! Miroku batted another away, then cracked one over the head--or, more correctly, top of its jaws--sending it rolling backward into the brush. "The people in the village I first encountered them in called them Snap-trap demons," he said. "They consist of walking appendages, ocular organs similar to eyes in the back of their throats and approximately fifteen hundred teeth!"

San-san brought her boomerang down on another one and Kirara kicked it away, then stomped on another before it could get to the woman's thin legs. "You're saying these things are mouths with feet and eyeballs?!"

"Essentially, yes, that about sums it up, but they bite with a force of over several hundred pounds, enough to take an arm off in one snap!"

"So THIS is what the bear-trap was based off of!"

"What the hell's a bear-trap, Kagome?!" Inuyasha shouted.

"Never mind! Future thing!"

Something swished near Inuyasha and Kagome shrieked, and of course, another of the monsters leapt out, mouth wide open.

"EEEK!"

Inuyasha whipped around with his huge sword and swung at the thing, but it landed and dodged the blade. It went for his legs, and could have easily taken them off considering its size, but he quickly brought the sword down over it and chopped it straight in half. Both halves fell in different directions and hit the ground in a steamy mess, putrid black muck spewing out from them.

The creatures stopped attacking at this, and everyone pinched their noses closed to the smell, which was massively overpowering. Suddenly, Inuyasha looked sort of dizzy. San-san put a hand over Kirara's big nose and the other over her own, making a face. Kagome coughed and kicked one of the chunks away from her and into the bushes, where it flopped. "Eww, gross! First time THAT'S ever happened!"

"Bleck!" Shippo exclaimed.

Mikiro covered his nose with both hands, trying his mightiest to keep back his urge to vomit. "Yuck," he muttered.

"Ugh, that is FOUL." Miroku hurried over and used the upper, golden half of his staff to bat the other half of the monster into the bushes with the first, leaving a trail of goo in its wake. Immediately, the area began to buzz with a gross chewing and ripping sound. He frowned with distaste.

"Oh, gross, they eat each other!" San-san exclaimed.

Miroku tapped at a chunk of meat left from the dead creature with the tip of his staff and winced as a good amount of black goo sprayed out with a sickening smell. He shook his head and wiped the goo from his robes with his hand. "You would think something with so little body would have much less vital fluid..."

"Don't let up yet, there's still more," Inuyasha cautioned. "Now that some of them ate that one, I can smell that nasty scent on their breath. They're not done yet."

Mikiro, who had been watching this gross display, stiffened as an awful smell whipped past him in a blast of hot air. It happened again a moment later, and again. He slowly looked over his shoulder, his eyes falling across an open pair of jaws and red, beady orbs locked on him. It seemed to grin, then opened its mouth wider, and he was so scared he didn't even scream. He shut his eyes as its jaws came forward and closed with a snap.

CRUNCH!

To Be Continued!

Xandra: Cliffhanger! Sorry, couldn't resist, and to those of you clinging to the hope that I might not kill a main character, THINK AGAIN! With me, nothing is certain, and anything I do could keep the story going with or without someone.

Oh, and koketsu translates into 'jaws of death'. If you'd like to know what the hell a koketsu looks like, I'll explain. Imagine something with a pair of short, scaly frog legs that literally consists of a giant pair of jaws with teeth like huge steak knives. Standing upright, mouth closed, it would stand about three feet tall. Mouth open, the bottom jaw would be on the ground and the top would reach over six feet into the air with eyes in the middle. Needless to say, it could swallow a kid or small animal whole and take a good amount of a full-grown man's torso. It could probably eat a sitting man in one bite. I invented this myself, and yes, the dark form was supposed to be Naraku (I only know what he looks like and that he can make demons from his body [he used to be able to summon them too, I hear]) Any help with him would be preferred. Oh, and does anyone know Inuyasha's mother's name (if she has one)? I'm curious. As I said, newbie here.

Have fun and don't forget to review.