Tomboy101: here's the latest installment of Little Sister! As always I do not own InuYasha, that's kind of why I write fan fiction. Hope y'all enjoy chapter 4!

Pain. Terrible pain. I screamed but there was silence. Lighting struck. It scorched the earth not three feet from where I knelt. The hair stood up on my arms. I struggled to get away. Heavy chains bound my hands behind my back. Try as I might I couldn't get away. Laughter, evil, maniacal laughter. It filled my ears, flooded my head.

I couldn't breathe. I thrashed, desperate. I had to get away; I had to run—

"Tana!"

Rough hands shook me. I lashed out, claws glowing. Whoever was above me scrambled back. I sprang up, heart racing, chest heaving. My gaze darted around wildly. I was in a forest; the sky was still dark, pinpricks of starlight twinkling high above my heads. Three ningen—a taijiya, a houshi, and a miko—stared at me from their makeshift camping beds set around a dead campfire. My vassal, Entei, a kitsune-youkai kit and a nekomonka watched me, too, and a silver haired boy with silver-white inu ears was sprawled on his backside, looking up at me with wide amber eyes.

I blinked. Memories flashed before my eyes. I wasn't a slave anymore. I was with my twin brother and his pack. I was safe. No one was going to hurt me. I took a deep breath. "Sorry," I whispered, casting apologetic looks to Kagome, Sango, Kirara, Miroku and Shippo.

Slowly InuYasha stood. "Keh," he grunted. "Whatever."

"Are you alright?" Kagome asked. She sounded concerned, almost like a mother asking after her child.

I gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nightmare, no big deal."

She seemed to accept this answer but concern still shown in her cobalt eyes. I smiled again to reassure her and she smiled back. "If you're sure," she said.

"Really, I'm okay."

"Alright." Kagome settled back down in her sleeping bag and the rest of the camp followed her lead. InuYasha jumped back into his tree without a backward glance in my direction and Shippo crawled in next to Kagome. Entei shifted behind me, moving closer so as to share his warmth for which I was grateful. As Sango and Miroku moved back to their places on opposites sides of the fire I stretched out against Entei's warm bulk and stared up at the stars.

Kirara mewed at me and butted her head against my hand. I smiled at her and scratched her ears. "I'm okay," I told her, "go on back to sleep."

She mewed one more time then trotted over to Sango and curled up against her chest. The taijiya smiled gently and stroked the nekomonka's cream colored fur, quickly dozing off. Soon the rest of the camp was asleep; I could hear Miroku's slight snoring and Shippo's almost silent chirps as he dreamed.

I gazed up at the stars, thinking. As often as I told myself that I was free I wasn't sure it had really sunk in yet. It probably wouldn't sink in for years if I was being honest. Fifty years of enslavement was a long time, even for a hanyō, and the treatment I had received at the hands of my captors had never been gentle or kind. I would probably have nightmares or a very long time. But, I thought as I gazed up at the diamonds in the sky, as long as I can see the stars I think I'll be okay.

The next day started off bright and early. InuYasha woke up the entire camp at dawn with a lot of yelling and stomping around. My first reaction to his shrieking was to jump up and run; after fifty years of slavery my fight or flight instincts leaned strongly towards flight and if a master or surveyor ever sounded that angry it was time to make myself scarce. It took me a moment to fully wake up. Once I did I was angry. If he wasn't my brother I would have slit InuYasha's throat. For the first time in fifty years I actually had the option of sleeping past sunrise and the jackass has to scream in my ear. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased.

I'd sat up and glared daggers into his red-clad figure, just visible by the gray pre-dawn light. He saw me and yelled, "Don't just sit there! Get yer ass up!"

Well that did it. I gave him such a thorough tongue lashing that even now his ears were pressed flat against his skull and he kept glancing over at me guiltily. He looked like a whipped puppy. I didn't care. Never having been a morning person to begin with being woken up at dawn after such a late night following a crazy day…yeah, that wasn't very smart of InuYasha. It also hadn't helped that I had discovered Kagome's unique ability to humble my temperamental twin. Let's just say that I really need to get my hands on some subjugation beads.

At the moment we were walking down a forest path. From what the taijiya—Sango, I reminded myself—had told me, this was not unusual for them. Apparently they wandered more often than they went somewhere with a purpose. I was walking beside Kagome, Shippo perched on her shoulder and Sango on her other side, Kirara sitting on her shoulder. Those two little imps had it easy. My feet hurt already, hard and callused as they were.

Sango had made a big deal out of making sure that Miroku the houshi and my brother were in front of us which left Entei to bring up the rear. My lovable, loyal vassal didn't mind being the last in our little procession. It allowed him to hear everything the amusing ningen said, or at least that's what he told me. I honestly didn't doubt that was his reason, he had an interesting sense of humor.

For several hours we tramped aimlessly through the Japanese countryside. The humans didn't complain as much as I thought they would about the never-ending, monotonous pace. It was Kagome who finally asked for a break roughly halfway through the day as we were passing through a large clearing.

InuYasha's reaction was instantaneous. "What do you want a break fer?" he demanded irritably. "We just started. Quit your whining."

Immediately I growled, low and deep but so quite that only the youkai could hear. Shippo fixed his questioning emerald eyes on me but my attention was focused solely on my twin. We had just talked about this last night! His amber eyes flicked to me and he growled back in the language of the Inu. We stared at each other, growling and snarling, but still quiet enough that only the youkai of our group could hear. This was a silent battle for dominance and I was not going to lose.

Finally InuYasha sighed. "Fine," he snapped. "We'll stop here—but don't get comfy!" he barked at Kagome who had immediately taken a seat at the base of a large tree with a relieved sigh.

Kagome smiled up at him, perfectly cheerful and happy. "Wakaru!"

Entei sidled up to me and blew through his noise loudly. Mistress, Entei's soft voice whispered through my mind.

I leaned into his massive side, the heat of his fire-mane warming my face. "Hai, Entei?"

Would it be permissible for me to go hunting, my Lady?

I shrugged. "Zettai ni, Entei. You didn't eat last night and you need to keep your strength up."

Arigato, Mistress.

"Don't thank me, just hurry back."

Entei tossed his head in a nod. Of course, Mistress.

As Entei trotted off into the forest I made my way to the tree where Kagome had sat herself. Sango had joined her and together the two girls had opened the hideous yellow pack Kagome insisted on carrying. Kagome stuck her arm in up to her elbow. Chikusho, how big was that thing? After rummaging around for a minute and making little irritated noises accompanied by irritated faces she pulled out several palm-sized packages wrapped in crinkly, shiny, clear film. Kagome gave one of the little packages to Sango and Shippo, who had sat himself on her lap, then offered one to me. I sniffed. The stuff inside was bright orange and smelled like food tainted with some other nonharmful substance. I decided that I'd rather pass than eat whatever that weird smell was and shook my head no.

Kagome shrugged and opened her own little package, beginning to munch happily on whatever foodstuff that was.

Sango took a bite of her bright orange food and made an appreciative noise. "This is good Kagome. Arigato for sharing."

"Do itashimashite." Kagome smiled at her best friend.

I moved to lean against a tree not far from Kagome, Sango and Shippo, eyes and ears alert for signs of trouble. I didn't actually sense anything at the moment but one could never be too careful. "So," I said conversationally after several moments of silence, "what exactly is our mission statement again?"

Kagome looked up at me, startled. Little orange crumbs dotted her pink lips. "You don't know? I thought ever youkai and hanyō in Japan knew."

I shrugged. I had an idea but I wanted to hear it from them. "I've was a slave, we didn't get much news from the outside world, plus I was on the mainland."

"Well, the Shikon no Tama was broken up into shards and we're trying to collect them all, sort of like Pokémon—"

"Poké-what?"

Kagome blushed. "Never mind," she said quickly. "Anyway, we have to collect all of the shards of the Shikon no Tama only we have to get them before this evil hanyō Naraku does."

I nodded. That sounded simple enough. "So ka. Tell me more about Naraku."

"Naraku is an evil bastard," Sango spat. Her face had gone red and fire blazed in her normally cool brown eyes. Kirara, perched on her lap, mewed worriedly and butted her hand against Sango's white knuckled fist but the little nekomonka's concern went unnoticed by her mistress. "He kills innocent people and manipulates others for the fun of it. He deserves to die."

Kagome reached out and wrapped an arm around Sango's shoulder. "And he will," she said firmly.

Sango nodded fiercely. "He will," she echoed.

I raised an eyebrow. Wow, Sango really, really seemed to hate this guy. Obviously there was some history there. I chose not to ask because, frankly, I really didn't want Sango to get mad at me. She was a trained taijiya after all and could no doubt do some serious damage with that hiraikotsu of hers.

Kagome and Sango returned to their snacks and I let my eyes wander the clearing. The open space really was quite large, at least one hundred feet wide. It looked natural, undisturbed by humans, with birds singing and a cool breeze rustling through the trees every now and then. InuYasha and Miroku were off to my left some twenty feet away discussing something quietly. I was only mildly interested in their conversation—InuYasha was so rarely quiet about anything—but not interested enough to listen in.

We didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon so I wandered out towards the middle of the clearing. The grass, thick and green, was cool to my bare feet. The scent of fresh grass and rich soil filled my nose. The muscles in my shoulders relaxed, my limbs felt heavy. I was so tired. The grass looked like the most comfortable bed in the world. I blinked slowly. A nap couldn't hurt, could it? Just a quick little snooze and then I would be right as rain.

"Look out!" Kagome screamed.

I whirled. Big, misshapen, winged things dived for us. There were at least twenty of the bird-creatures. They were clumsy, too big to soar gracefully like raptors but their talons gleamed in the noonday sun. Fear twisted my stomach. As they neared I could see the murderous gleam in their eyes and light bounced off dagger-like fangs. Bird-youkai.

"Get down!" Miroku yelled.

I ducked, arms over my head. I felt the breeze as one of the bird-youkai just barely missed grabbing me. Instead the talons scored my arms leaving shallow gashes from shoulder to wrist. Adrenaline flooded my veins, all signs of drowsiness disappearing in an instant. Scrambling to my feet I looked around wildly.

The bird-youkai were bigger up close and smelled revolting. I gagged, quickly covering my sensitive nose with my sleeve and breathing through my mouth. Their feathers were light brown and greasy, their eyes large and protruding. Talons like swords clawed at the air, too big for any kind of grace on land but perfect for swooping down and piercing prey, and they gnashed needle sharp teeth as long as my forearm. That wasn't the worst part though. Blue-skinned humanoid torsos grew out of the bird head, the human lips drawn back in vicious smiles. Eyes that were too big for human faces gleamed a bloodthirsty red.

My pack was scattered. Sango and Kirara fought side by side but they were the only ones. InuYasha was all the way across the 100-foot wide clearing, swinging the transformed fang of our father, the Tetsaiga; Miroku had been pressed back to the tree line and Kagome was trapped under a barrier of her own making.

More bird-youkai had dived for Kagome than the others. The largest bird-youkai hovered above the miko, screaming for her to hand over the Shikon no Tama shards, as the others dive-bombed her. His voice grated my ears, high-pitched and screeching. Kagome's reiki flared around her forming a blue-pink kenkai. It sparked and sizzled every time a bird-youkai touched it but with each pass the starburst made on contact seemed to flare dimmer.

I sprinted for her. While I hadn't physically been with this pack for long I had been Watching. I knew Kagome wasn't a fighter. Sure, she was good with her bow and arrows but they weren't in the barrier with her. Without them she was virtually defenseless, and she was weakening.

The bird-youkai hissed and jeered. They were a solid wall of feathers, talons and teeth I had to get through to reach Kagome. I reached the first bird-youkai, jumped, and sunk my claws into its humanoid back before it even knew I was there. There was satisfying squelching sound, blood spurted from the hole I made. I yelled in triumph as my hand wrapped around something long and hard. One hard yank and the creature's spine dangled uselessly from my hand, its blood mixing with mine.

As one the bird-youkai turned on me. Oops. "Get it!" their leader screamed.

How rude, I thought, dodging the onslaught of pissed off bird-youkai. I'm not an 'it'.

I squeezed between the bird-youkai and placed myself squarely between them and Kagome. In retrospect Kagome was probably safer than I was inside her little anti-youkai bubble. "Hisashiburi-dane," I said cheerfully.

Kagome rolled her eyes at me. "This is no time to be making jokes!"

A bird-youkai ran at me. It was clumsy on the ground, its giant hooked claws obviously not made to run or walk on. I jumped for it, cleanly beheading the thing with a grunt. "If not now, when?"

"How about when we're not about to be bird food?!" Kagome sounded hysterical. Onna really needed to drink some tea.

"That's no fun!" Two more bird-youkai lunged forward. My lifeblood dripped from my hand. Without thinking I slashed at the ugly beasts with my claws, yelling, "Time Freezer Soul Stealer!"

Blue light followed the tracks my claws made in the air. There was a squelching sound and the bird-youkai fell back, neatly sliced and diced. Blood the color of tree bark rained down on us. I flicked the birds' fleshy gunk from my fingers and looked around for my next opponent. There didn't seem to be any untaken enemy youkai left. InuYasha had dispensed with most of them, leaving only one or two for Sango and Miroku to handle which they were doing spectacularly.

I sat back and watched as my pack dispensed with the rest of the bird-youkai flock. This little group truly were efficient fighters. Of course, Sango had been trained as a taijiya but I hadn't expected the level of proficiency Miroku was displaying. Even little Shippo was helping, acting as a distraction so his packmates could go in for the kill but never once being in any real danger.

Behind me Kagome lowered her kenkai. As her reiki fizzled out the hairs on my arms went flat again. I rubbed my arms, the skin itching from the proximity of such strong purification powers. With reiki that strong little Kagome could pack quite the punch.

"H-how did you do that?" she panted.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking back over my shoulder at her.

"That thing with the blue lights."

"Oh, Time Freezer Soul Stealer? That's my lifeblood attack."

"Like InuYasha's Iron Reaver Soul Stealer?"

"Exactly like."

"I thought we already got rid of those guys," InuYasha grunted as he approached us. I glanced behind him. Sango's and Miroku's bird-youkai lay in a great big pool of blood and the taijiya and houshi were coming over.

"You guys have fought those things before?" I asked curiously.

Having reached us Sango and Miroku heard my question. "I haven't," Miroku said.

"We fought similar youkai in my village," Sango said, "but I have not their like in some time."

"It was before we met you," Kagome explained. "It was when we first met Kouga, remember InuYasha?"

My twin snorted. "Yeah, that mangy mutt kidnapped you so you could help get the Shikon shards from the birds' leader."

Kagome nodded. "Hai, though I thought the ookami pack killed them all." She shrugged, "I guess not." The three of them walked away again, Miroku to study the youkai, InuYasha to grumble and gripe out of Kagome's hearing, and Sango to clean her weapons and comfort Shippo and Kirara.

I raised an eyebrow at Kagome. "The baka ookami's pack? Why did these things attack him?"

"He has two Shikon shards in his legs. These bird-things are how we met actually," Kagome laughed.

"He has two Shikon shards and yet you are friends with him? That does not make sense. Why do you not just take his shards from him?"

Kagome shrugged. "He's our friend. And he's helped us out a lot of times. He's a good guy."

I shook my head. "The only ones you should trust are pack," I said.

"Well, Kouga is our pack, sort of." I raised an eyebrow. "He's like our extended pack," Kagome added hurriedly. "Like the cousin you only see a couple times a year but he's still family, you know?"

I shrugged. "If you say so. Honestly, I think Yasha would prefer to be rid of him, but you are the alpha so we follow you."

Kagome frowned. "I'm the alpha?"

I nodded. "Yes. You are the alpha, everyone follows you without question; you hold the most power in this pack. You are the alpha."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Trust me, you are our leader, and now, I am your beta."

Kagome opened her mouth to say more but at that moment Sango walked back to us, Shippo perched on her shoulder and Kirara in her arms. The taijiya sat down on the grass next to Kagome. I repositioned myself so I was leaning against the tree on her other side, my arms folded across my chest.

Across the clearing InuYasha was standing well away from the very dead corpses of the bird-youkai, nose to the wind. I guessed he was sniffing out more attackers. I didn't think there were anymore but it's always better to be safe than sorry. I waited as patiently as I could for Miroku to finish his inspection and InuYasha to finish his investigation but they were taking a long time and my head was starting to hurt from the dead bird smell. "Would you two please hurry up!"

Miroku stood from beside the corpse he's been examining, wiping his hands off on his robes as he went. He smiled that charming smile of his at me. "Apologies, dear lady," he said. "I was curious about these youkai. I have never seen their like before."

I snorted. He was being all polite and charming. Never a good sign.

"Quite you're whining, I'm done," InuYasha grumbled as he walked back to us.

"I think it would be best if we put as much distance between ourselves and this place as we can," Sango suggested.

I nodded. "Yes. I do not wish to be here when the scavengers show up and start fighting over feeding rights."

"Okay," Kagome said, standing up and hoisting her backpack over her shoulder, "let's go then."

And so our monotonous trek through the woods began again.

Japanese

Ningen – human

Taijiya – demon slayer

Houshi – monk/priest

Miko – priestess

Kitsune-youkai – fox-demon

Nekomonka – cat demon familiar

Inu – dog

Hentai – pervert

wakaru – I understand/alright

Hai – yes

Zettai ni – Absolutely

Arigato/Arigatou – thank you

Chikusho – damn/damn it

do itashimashite – you're welcome

Shikon no Tama – Jewel of Four Souls

Hanyō – half-demon

so ka – I see

Nekomonka – cat demon familiar

Hiraikotsu – demon bone boomerang

Youkai – demon

Miko – priestess

Reiki– miko spiritual energy

Kenkai – shield/barrier

Hisashiburi-dane – Haven't seen you in a while

Onna – girl/woman

Baka – idiot