Sango splashed her face vigorously with water. Inuyasha, Sachiko, and Kirara only watched. They could sense how angry she was and dare not interrupt. "Stupid pigs! How dare they insult my prowess as a demon slayer?" She splashed her face again with a frustrated sigh. "How dare they insult my friends! It doesn't matter if I hang out with a hundred demons!" She splashed her face once more and stared at her flustered reflection. There wasn't anything that could be done now.

"C'mon. Stop fretting over it." Inuyasha said quietly. With a sigh, Sango stood.

"There are always gonna be people like that." Sachiko piped. "No sense working yourself up over them." Sango flashed a tired smile.

"They're not the first mob of idiots I've met. What really upset me is that they insulted you guys. It's a very dangerous mind-set to have. Not all demons are bad." Inuyasha nodded in agreement as he followed behind her.

"Yep. If only some people would understand..." His sentence trailed off as he sniffed curiously. "Sachiko." He called. "Smell that?" The smaller hanyou nodded as she leapt to his shoulder.

"Yeah, lots of men coming this way. I smell fire, too." Inuyasha frowned and edged protectively in front of Sango.

As they went forward an armed group of men they appeared. Dozens of them. "Some of the men from before." Sango commented. She picked up her bone weapon from the ground and glared. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.

"So they're looking for a fight? They picked the wrong squad." Sango frowned.

"Inuyasha! We can't take that many, not without killing them..." Inuyasha frowned. He never wanted to repeat his rampage against the bandits. Only subduing the men made the whole situation seem a lot bleaker.

Kirara was hissing now, transforming into her larger state. The men glared, the 'general' of sorts in the front wearing lots of protective armor. "You lot must be who they were talking about. Demons, we've come to slay you. You-" He pointed a sword at Sango with a grin. "We will take pity on. Clearly that half breed abomination has bewitched you. We will slay him and purify you. Then you will work as a priestess' apprentice to atone for your sins on this wayward journey. Do you except?"

"Bewitched?! These are my friends! You're not slaying anybody!" Sango cried out, gripping hiraikotsu even tighter.

"You and the brat get on Kirara." Inuyasha whispered quickly. Sango cast him an incredulous look. "What?!"

"They intend to kidnap you! I can deal with them all myself!" Sango edged closer to him.

"No way! We're fighting our way out of this together."

"Go!" He pointed with sword and the men launched their attack. Arrows rained on the group as men rushed them with swords drawn.

"Sachiko!" Sango grabbed the tanuki hanyou and leapt out of the way. Inuyasha soared through raining arrows and bared his claws. He swiped the poorly made katanas of the militia men with ease but more came.

"You idiots really have a death wish, don't ya?!" He jumped out of the way as more arrows were shot.

Sango held up her bone weapon defensively as a man jabbed at her with his sword. "Sango!" Sachiko squeaked. Brow furrowed revealed a wand like stick from her kimono. "Take this!" As she blew a stream of fire erupted from the wand, forcing advancing men back.

"Good one, Sachiko!" Sango commented. She grinned from her shoulder. Kirara was batting men away with ease and flew to Inuyasha's side.

"Thanks Kirara." He thanked. He turned to check on Sango to see a militia man sneaking up on her. He reached out but someone thrusted a sword in his way. "SANGO!" Sango saw perhaps a second too late.

She turned and her bone weapon took the impact. The force however pushed her close to the edge of a cliff. Before she could stabilize herself she felt the foundation of rocks crumbling underneath her. Cursing to herself she grabbed Sachiko and tossed her. "SANGO! SANGO-CHAN!" Not a second later the unstable cliff gave way.

"INUYASHA!"

"NO!" Kirara screamed through the air and prepared to catch her mistress when several shots were fired into her chest.

"No! KIRARA!" Sachiko shouted in horror. With a wail, the neko youkai fell to the ground, unable to rise again.

"Who cares about the exterminator?! Finish them off!" In his fury, Inuyasha revealed a transformed Tessaiga and glared at the militia. "You fools." He snarled. With ease he turned from them and raised his sword. "WIND SCAR!"

He launched the destructive wave into the distance and turned back to them with a dark glare. "If you're ready to meet your doom, by all means... Stay a while." The demonstration of power and the dark growl of his voice were enough to send the entire militia scampering. Somewhat satisfied he sheathed his sword and turned towards the injured feline demon. She was whining and struggling to stand as Sachiko gingerly removed the arrows.

"Kirara. Will you be alright?" The neko youkai gave a determined nod.

Inuyasha looked down to Sachiko who was sniffling. "Inuyasha, you're very strong." He shrugged.

"It would've been child's play to kill weaklings like them. I have half a mind to if Sango isn't... What're you bawling for?!" He leaned closely to see that Sachiko was crying.

"I-Inuyasha... Sango fell off of that cliff.. W-What if she's..." Inuyasha scoffed and helped Kirara to her feet.

"You haven't learned how strong she is yet. C'mon, we're gonna go find her." He grabbed on to Sachiko and carefully climbed onto to Kirara. "Can you fly us just down this cliff?" She gave a reaffirming yowl and took off.

It was lucky that Sango had hit water. If she had hit rock she surely would've perished. Still, as the air exploded painfully from her lungs on impact, it didn't feel lucky. Determined, she got her wits about her and scrambled towards the surface. She just made it before she feared she'd pass out. Swimming as hard as she could she broke the surface and struggled to the riverbank sputtering and gasping. Before she knew it her tired body collapsed, only breathing as she faded in and out of consciousness.

She was unaware, however, that she'd been watched. Light purple eyes watched her for a long moment before revealing themselves. His skin was sun-kissed and tan from being outside all day. He was in excellent physical shape, muscle definition traveling everywhere the eyes could lay upon his skin. He had long, dark hair that was swept behind one pointy ear and fangs hidden behind smirking lips. He was a prime example of a fine wolf demon who happened upon a helpless human woman.

After a long moment he approached her. She wasn't dead, simply tired. It would be an easy enough task to deliver a water-logged human to his tribe. Human was a rare delicacy but he was sure some of his tribe members would be impressed, garnering their respect. 'I'd like to bring her alive...' He thought to himself. 'But if she gives me trouble I can just snap her neck.' Satisfied with the plan he grabbed on to one of her shoulders.

To his surprise, Sango sputtered awake and promptly smacked him in the face before clambering away. She stared at him with wide, hazel eyes. "Who are you!?" She gasped in a watery voice. He stared at her with an eyebrow cocked.

"Me? I'm Shugo of the great wold demon clan of the south." Sango looked him up and down, he looked a lot like Koga. Swallowing, she looked around.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" He shrugged spastically.

"Why should I know? I just found you lyin' there." Sango glared for a moment before working her way to her feet.

"I see..."

He scratched the back of his head. "Hate to be a buzzkill but I had already decided when you were passed out that my tribe was having human for dinner. No hard feelings..." He edged toward Sango with a devilish grin. Sango frowned, backing away from the eager wolf demon.

'I wish I had hiraikotsu... My katana will have to do.' She revealed the sword and waved it menacingly. "

Listen to me. I'm not just some human, I'm a demon slayer! So if you know what's good for you you'll leave me alone!" Shugo blinked for a second before letting out a hearty laugh.

"A tajiya, huh? Sounds like I'll have a good story to tell about you, Ms. tajiya."

Without a second thought Sango dropped and swept his feet from under him. "Sorry! I don't have time for this!" Sango ducked around him and ran. Gritting his teeth, Shugo reached out and grabbed on to Sango's kimono.

"Wait a minute!" He pulled himself to his feet while she pulled away. Sango struggled and pulled which resulted to them both crashing in the river.

Sango surface immediately and wasted no time making her way to the bank again. She looked around, expecting the wolf demon to be on her heels. To her surprise, he wasn't. With a sigh of relief she relaxed. "Where did he go?" As though to answer she heard sputtering and a great ruckus in the river. Shugo had surfaced and was struggling against the river. "He-He can't swim!" Sango exclaimed. She stared as he floated by and, against her better judgement, reached out and grabbed him by the hair. She pulled him on to the riverbank and stood as he gasped for air.

"...You." he choked out.

Sango rung her hair out beside him. "Don't give me a reason to kill you now. Just be on your way, no creature deserve to drown out alone in a river." He stared at her for a long moment before clambering to his feet.

"You saved me... I was gonna kill you and you saved me." Sango shook her wet ribbon to no avail. Her hair was wet and down now. She looked at him with a wayward glance.

"Don't make me regret it." She watched carefully as he approached her, wet dark hair impeding his vision.

"I owe you one, now." He held out a clawed hand that Sango very cautiously accepted.

"Where are you headed?" He trailed behind Sango as she forged on. "Well... I don't know." she admitted. "I'm lost, I was separated from my friends in a battle." Shugo nodded in thought.

"Well, this valley we're in... We refer to it as demon valley. An ordinary human stands no chance. A demon slayer like you? You'll probably be alright but it will take you sometime to get through here. Let me escort you." Sango eyed Shugo with great suspicion.

"How can I trust you?" She asked with a shiver. "After all, not that long ago you were going to eat me..." Shugo chuckled.

"If those were still my intentions I'm sure one of us will be dead by now. I'm a demon of honor, let me pay you back." He flashed a dazzling grin and Sango rolled her eyes. "I guess, no funny business." Shugo placed his hands behind his back in a relaxed manner. "Just stick with me."

Kirara landed at the end of the riverbank with a whine. Inuyasha hopped off and looked around. "Thank you, Kirara. You can rest now." With a roar the neko youkai reverted to her kitten form and Sachiko scooped her up.

"It'll be hard to track Sango near this water." Sachiko commented. Inuyasha nodded with a grimace. "Yeah, I know. We should follow the current at least- Look!"

The white ribbon on the ground attracted his attention. He leapt over in a single bound and held the ribbon to his nose. "It's-It's Sango's! She had it recently, she must be alive but... I smell something else." Inuyasha sniffed harder and inspected the ribbon.

"What is it?!" He frowned.

"I smell wolf. If a wolf demon did something to her... Come on, kid. I've got a bone to pick." Inuyasha leapt into a fast sprint with Sachiko barely tagging along. 'Sango... Hang on, damn it!'