By Haruka

Yui saw it before Kurama did. A blur of brilliant white flashed by her and suddenly Kurama was facedown on the sidewalk with some kind of large animal on his back.
She didn't have time to react before Kurama threw the creature off and gained his feet. "ROSE WHIP!" he yelled. With a snap of his wrist, the innocent-looking rose in his hand turned into a deadly whip made of thorns. He skillfully caught his attacker within it before the animal had a chance to face him again. Yui was surprised to realize that whatever was bound in the whip wasn't completely inhuman. It was wearing a red yukata and had bare, human- looking feet with longer-than-normal nails. From the back, she could better see the veritable curtain of white-blonde hair and pointed furry ears.
"You're not getting out of that until you tell us who you are and what you want!" Kurama yelled at the creature.
They heard a low chuckle. "Wanna bet?" growled the stranger. Using what must have been incredible strength, he twisted his arm within the bonds so that his clawed hand could grip the lowest part of the whip. One claw sliced through it easily.
Yui heard Kurama gasp beside her, but all they could do was watch as the creature ripped through the whip coils piece by piece. When the last part fell to his feet, he turned to face them. Then it was Yui's turn to gasp.
It .. he ... was a boy their age. His face was an unusual combination of human and animal. White bangs fell across his forehead above huge golden eyes. The pupils were slit like a cat's. Between his smirking lips, sharply-pointed canines were visible. His nose made Yui think of a puppy's - in fact, his overall appearance seemed a mix of human teenager and dog.
He's _cute_, she thought, hoping she wasn't blushing.
The dog-boy noticed her as well, a startled look coming into his eyes as he saw her face. Was it her imagination, or did a sudden redness flush over his fair skin?
He tore his gaze from hers abruptly and focused on Kurama, sneering. "Demon!" he accused. "Hiding under a human guise! Show yourself!"
How did he know about Youko, Yui wondered. Unless ....
"You're demon yourself," Kurama retorted. "Or you wouldn't be able to sense that side of me."
"Sense nothing!" he spat. "I can smell it!"
"Suit yourself, child," said a voice that wasn't Kurama's usual. Yui watched in growing trepidation as his red-haired teenage form changed to the adult figure of Youko Kurama. She couldn't help noticing how similar his silver hair and pointed ears were to the newcomer's. They even both had gold eyes, although Youko's pupils were normal. Her thoughts took an analytical turn and she wondered whether gold eyes were a common happening amongst demons.
The dog-boy's own eyes were wide now. "Youko Kurama," he murmured, then growled, "So this is where you've been hiding. There's a price on your head in Reikai, you know."
"Indeed?" Youko said calmly, his long silver tail swishing around his legs. "It doesn't sound like you came here to collect the reward, so what _is_ your problem?"
"I smelled demon blood in the area," the stranger said. "I came to defend my territory."
Youko laughed. "Your territory? Boy, I know I've live here longer than you have, so if any demon can claim ownership around here, it is I. Besides," he cocked his head, studying his opponent thoughtfully. "You're only _half_ demon, aren't you?"
The younger youkai bristled noticeably. "What difference does that make?! I just want to be sure that you're not going to cause any trouble around here!"
"The only one causing trouble is you, youngling. I've lived in my human guise for fifteen years without disturbing the neighborhood."
"That's right!" Yui piped up suddenly. Even if the new boy _was_ beautiful in a strange, exotic way, that didn't give him the right to attack her friends. "Kurama has a family and people who love him here - just because he lived five-hundred years as a thieving fox spirit in Reikei doesn't mean he's up to mischief here!"
"Feh," the dog-boy replied, folding his arms. "I suppose you've got a point." He idly kicked a pebble with his toe. "I didn't mean to start anything. I smelled youkai and went a little nuts. We just moved here and I wanted to make sure my family was safe."
Youko and Yui exchanged a look, then the kitsune began to change back to his human form. Yui breathed a little sigh of relief. As lovely as Youko was to look at, things had a tendency to get stolen or dead when he was around.
"Maybe we can start over," Yui said diplomatically, stepping forward with her hand outstretched. "My name is Yui. This is Kurama. We live a couple of blocks from here."
"I'm Inuyasha," the boy said, hesitating a moment before taking her hand in his clawed one. Yui recognized his name as meaning 'dog demon'. So she hadn't been so far off after all when she recognized his features as being canine! "I live a couple of blocks from here, too - near the school."
"So you're probably not far from us." She smiled, reluctantly releasing his hand. Despite the claws, it hadn't frightened her. His touch was ... comfortable. She wondered if he noticed it, too. She stole a glance at his face and saw that the blush had returned. From the quirky look on his face, he realized just that and was hoping it didn't show. He's even cuter close up and looking embarrassed, she thought.
Kurama offered his hand to Inuyasha next and he seemed relieved to take it. "I hope the rose whip didn't hurt you," Kurama said.
"I don't think so." Inuyasha glanced down at his clothing for rips. "Even if it had, I heal fast."
"We were just on our way to eat," Yui said. "Do you want to come with us? Some friends of ours work at Captain Chicken/Tacoz. You can meet some more people from around here."
"Sure, I'm not in a hurry to get back yet," Inuyasha replied, and fell into step beside Yui as the three of them headed down the street.
"Do you have a big family?" Kurama asked him.
Inuyasha scratched one of his fuzzy pointed ears. Yui thought they looked soft. "They're not my blood family - we just all live together. It's sort of a group home. This cool couple runs the place, and they take in kids who are unusual cases." He grinned wryly, his pointed fangs showing. "I guess you can tell I'm an unusual case."
"You don't have family of your own?" Yui inquired.
Inuyasha's face clouded. "I have a half-brother ... he won't have anything to do with me. Youko was right, I'm only half demon. I'm half human, too. My brother won't accept that."
"I'm sorry," Yui said.
Inuyasha shrugged. "No loss. I've got Rogue and Remy and the kids. I like it there. If I didn't, I'd leave - we're not forced to stay." He glanced at her. "What about you?"
"My family? I've got an older sister who's probably the coolest kid in the world - at least that's what everyone tells her." Yui laughed.
"And my older sister is steady-dating _her_ older sister." Kurama grinned. "We're both the boring younger children."
"And Youko _chose_ you? Sheesh." Inuyasha joked.
"I think he likes the stability for once," Kurama admitted. "And of course, he loves my parents and sister as I do."
"Kurama's parents are both teachers," Yui told Inuyasha, "so you may be in their classes when school starts."
"We moved near the school because Rogue and Remy are teachers, too," Inuyasha said. "It's cool, because if a kid comes to the home whose education isn't up to snuff, they can teach them there before putting them in public school. In this case, friends of theirs are running the school this year, so they won't have to answer sticky questions about where we kids came from and where their license to run a home is, etcetera."
"Running the school?" Kurama asked. "You mean we're going to have a new Principal?"
"And a new Vice-Principal," Inuyasha added. "Don't worry, though. I've met them, they're okay."
"Well, that's one worry out of the way," Yui said. "I was afraid Nakago-sensei was going to finagle his way into a higher-up position. He's bad enough as a teacher."
"Here we are," Kurama nodded to the fast-food restaurant up ahead. "I apologize for the food in advance. Don't hold it against our friends."
They entered the restaurant and saw that a few people were seated and eating, including Haruka. "Well, look who's here!" Yui said.
Inuyasha followed her gaze and grinned mischievously. Without waiting for them, he walked up behind Haruka and clapped her hard on the back, nearly causing her to spew chocolate milk from her nose.
"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were broke! You swipe some dough from the penny jar or what?"
Haruka turned sharply, her eyes widening when she got a good look at him. "Who ... or what ... the hell are _you_?!"
Inuyasha also did a double-take. "Y- you're not ...? But you look just like ...." He rubbed his eyes and looked at her again. "I must be losing my mind."
"No, but you may lose something else if you don't tell me what this is about," Haruka said in a dangerous tone.
Yui and Kurama hurried over. "Hey, Haruka, I see you've met our new friend, Inuyasha," Yui said hastily. She turned to the dog demon and said under her breath, "That _wasn't_ the best way to greet her."
"Her name is Haruka?" Inuyasha still looked confused. He shook his head. "I'm sorry ... I mistook her for someone else."
"No harm done," Haruka said easily. "I'm Yui's sister. You're new around here?"
"Uh, yeah."
"We'll come sit with you in a minute." Yui pulled Inuyasha away. "Come on, guys, let's go order."
"Sure," Inuyasha said distractedly, glancing back at Haruka with a disbelieving shake of his head. This neighborhood wasn't going to know what hit it, he thought.

End of chapter 14

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