The city of Nara was quiet this time of night. All of its inhabitants were sleeping in their beds-which happened to be the ground in quite a few cases. No-one was stirring, regardless of whether they lived in the grandest mansions or in the lowliest slums. Deep in the bowels of one of these slums lurked Zoku the kitsune-hanyou. An unfortunate circumstance of his birth resulted in his constant half-man, half-fox appearance, which led to the need to cower in this backwater slum to conceal himself from those who sought his death. It wasn't his idea of safety, but it was the best he could buy with what dregs of money he had left. Zoku scowled and picked at his fangs with a grimy claw. 'Why should I have to live in this dump?' he grumbled to himself, 'What have I done to deserve this?' This thought made him smirk. Zoku had done plenty of bad things over the course of his life.

However, reflecting on all the misdeeds he had performed during his centuries on Earth wouldn't fill his coin-purse. With a soft sigh and a flick of his tail, Zoku leaned back against the grimy wall, resigning himself to another day in the half-demolished hut with only a half-burned fish and a bucket of grimy water for sustinance.

It was at that very moment that he sensed something entering his door. Zoku pretended not to notice, though his paw began inching toward the dagger he kept concealed beneath the ragged cloak he was currently using as a blanket. An intruder, eh? Well, he could use some excitement now and then...

"Belay thy blade, Zoku," the intruder whispered as he entered. "I mean ye no harm."

Suspicious of the person who had presented itself to him, Zoku did not do as he was told. "Why should I do that, then?" he growled, his tongue running over his yellow fangs, "You ain't given me no reason not to."

The figure drew close to the sad remains of the fire and threw a log onto the embers. They flared up, eagerly gnawing at the wood and creating a small flame. Zoku hissed slightly and quickly drew his free paw over his eyes, scrubbing hard to rid his retinas of the blob stenciled into them. When he was sufficiently recovered, he lifted his paw away from his eyes.

The intruder was some sort of lizard youkai; Zoku could tell by the scaly look of his distinctly green skin and the sharp ridges over his pale eyes, not to mention the slight fishy smell emanating from his body. Zoku reached up and scratched one of his ragged white ears, his sapphire blue eyes narrowing as he studied the lizard. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Can't you let a body sleep?"

The lizard did not reply. Instead, he prodded the fire with a stick and watched Zoku out of the corner of his pale eyes. "Ye are Zoku, the White-Tailed Thief of the North, are ye not? Thou art well known by thine lords."

The white kitsune-hanyou relaxed slightly at the sound of this name. "Yeah, I'm the White-Tail. It's been a Hell's year since I 'eard that name, though. Dropped out o' that business a while back. Nobeast could pay enough fer me." The lizard was silent throughout the kitsune-hanyou's entire speech, and remained so long after he was finished.

"Thou art the thief-for-hire who steals what is requested of him?" he asked. Zoku nodded, suspicious again. The lizard reached into his kimono and withdrew a grubby package. He placed it on the floor and unrapped it, revealing a pile of glimmering gold coins. Zoku visibly swallowed, his blue eyes widening a fraction. "This one's master sent mine lowly self to requesteth of thine help," the lizard told him. "This be only a fraction of what thou art promised, if thou should'st agree to mine master's terms."

The white fox-man sat still for a few seconds, staring at the pile of coins in front of him. The whiskers on his muzzle were prickling, the fur on his tail standing up perfectly straight. Fate seemed to have delievered a fine package in his time of need, but Zoku knew better than to take a gift horse without thouroughly examining its mouth. "If I take this job," he hedged, "what more will I be paid? What am I gonna steal? Most importantly, how dangerous is it?"

"Ten times this meager amount on the cloth," the lizard replied. "Mine master is willing to pay whatever thou shoulds't want. I will tell you in due time. Depending on how fast you act...not at all."

Zoku leaned back against the wall, picking at his teeth again. "All right, what am I stealing? You ain't hired me yet," he quickly injected, "but you 'ave piqued my interest."

The lizard sighed and leaned back, scratching his bald head with a well-groomed hand. "Mine master woulds't like it if thou went to the Kingdom of the West to steal something from its castle. Thou woulds't be well paid and compensated for thine troubles."

Zoku sat up ramrod straight, his ears unfurling and his tail puffing up in alarm. "Are you fucking mad?" he bellowed. "That's suicide, that is! That...that Sesshoumaru guy would kill me as fast as winking. I mean, I'm good, but I'm no Kami!"

"Mine master has't thought of this," the lizard recanted dully. "The honorable Sesshoumaru-sama is't nowhere near his castle. Thou will have no difficulty in stealing this...item from the castle." Zoku pondered again, his fur slowly drifting back down against his skin.

"Sesshoumaru's nowhere near the castle?" he asked cautiously. The lizard nodded. "This item's not heavily guarded?" He nodded again. "An' I'll be well paid for this?" Another nod.

Zoku smirked; a truly evil smirk that split his face in two and revealed his grimy yellow fangs. "Tell me what you want stolen, friend. Zoku is on the job!"

The lizard youkai smiled now, his lipless mouth curving into a thin line. "Mine master will be pleased indeed. Now, this is what you need to do..."

"Osuwari!"

A giant THUD reverberated throughout the forest, shaking the trees to their very roots and sending birds flying from the trees. Sitting in the safety of a distant clearing, well away from the feud taking place in the woods, sat Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara. Miroku shook his head and reached for his cup of tea.

"Will InuYasha ever learn?" he asked quietly. "I mean, getting into a fight with Kagome-sama just because she has to go back home for one of her 'tests...'"

Sango shook her head as she glanced up from the task of polishing her Hiraikotsu. "I doubt it. InuYasha is just as crass as he ever was."

"He's a baka!" Shippou interjected angrily, his tail twiddling with the force of his ire. "InuYasha never gets what he does to Kagome when he yells at her!"

A sudden thudding sound alerted them to their friends' presense, so they quickly dropped their topic of conversation. Kagome was the first to reenter the clearing, her cheeks a fiery pink as a result of their argument. InuYasha was following her, a dark scowl on his face. His clothes were smeared with dirt: a sure sign of the face-plant he had just received. Neither of them were talking, and both looked about ready to murder the other. Kagome swiftly made her way over to her backpack, snatching it up from its resting place on the ground and throwing it on her back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, wench?" InuYasha hissed, his eyes sliding over to glare at Kagome. The young miko didn't even spare the hanyou a glance as she turned to the youkai taijiya.

"Sango-chan?" she asked, her voice injected with false cheer. "I need to borrow Kirara."

Before Sango could answer, InuYasha had pushed forward again. "No you don't, wench!" he snapped. "You're staying here!"

Kagome whirled about, her hair an angry black halo about her head as she moved to face InuYasha. "And how," she growled, "will you stop me, exactly?" InuYasha screwed up his face in anger as he thought of how he was going to stop her. Not many ideas came to mind, however, so he fell back on his contingency plan: swearing.

"Fucking wench! Why the fuck are these damn 'tests' more important than all the fucking youkai looking for shikon-no-kakera? How could they possibly be more important than that bastard Naraku?" InuYasha strode forward until he and Kagome were practically nose-to-nose, staring down into her angry brown eyes and summoning up every last inch of reserve he had. "Baka bitch, just fuck that place already!"

That did it. InuYasha had toed the line so far, but now he had pretty much jumped over it. Kagome stiffened, fire flashing in the depths of her brown eyes. Everyone who wasn't a part of the argument shrank back, eager to preserve their own skins. The hanyou cringed internally, though he did his best to put on a brave face. "You want me to just abandon my family?" the miko hissed, moving forward with lethal intent written in every line of her body. Abandoning the attempt to look unshaken, InuYasha now focused on saving his ass while there was still time. He began to back away, unable to take his eyes off Kagome's angry face. "You baka! You stupid, selfish asshole! Maybe you don't understand, but I have a life back there! I can't just 'drop it' and live here! It doesn't work like that! Osuwari!"

For the second time that evening, InuYasha hit the floor with a loud WHUMP. Kagome vented her frustration at the hanyou by repeating the word not once, not twice, but nineteen times. By the time she was done, InuYasha was lying in a hanyou-shaped crater that was nearly five feet in depth, unconscious and thouroughly subdued. With an angry huff, Kagome turned back to the rest of the group, who cowered at the clear rage stamped across her face.

"Can I borrow Kirara now, Sango-chan?" Kagome asked in what was clearly supposed to be a calm and collected tone of voice. The fire-neko looked up with a soft mew. Sango blinked and put on a nonchalant face.

"Of course, Kagome-chan. Just make sure to send her back when you're done, okay?" Kagome nodded her assent and beckoned to Kirara. The two-tailed cat leaped up from where she was lying and burst into flames, her body growing to more than three times her 'normal' size. In seconds, the flames cleared to reveal the giant saber-toothed neko-youkai, ready to transport her passenger. Without even sparing a glance at the dazed hanyou on the ground, Kagome mounted Kirara and took off into the sky.

Sango watched the small balls of flame that marked Kirara's paws and tails until they were gone, then she turned to Miroku. "Are you sure it's all right if we let her go like that? I know she had a 'test,' but InuYasha might not be happy if she goes like this."

Miroku shook his head and prodded the fire. "Kagome-sama needs to let InuYasha know that he can't get his way all the time. Two people in a relationship must be equals, or else they will go nowhere." Upon seeing the worried look on the taijiya's face, the houshi quickly added, "It'll just be the same as always: Kagome-sama goes away, InuYasha pines, we go back to Kaede-sama's village, he go gets her, they make up, end of story."

The tension in Sango's face eased slightly at this. "That's certainly true," she agreed. "How many times do you think they've done this now?"

"Too many times to count, dear Sango. Too many to count."

Far away, up in the blackness of the night sky, Kagome was soaring in the direction of the village housing the Bone-Eater's Well, safe and sound upon Kirara's back. She was still fuming about the argument she and InuYasha had just had, as well as nursing a quiet hurt that always popped up after such events. It wasn't enough that he had to insult her intelligence like that, but to insinuate that school and her family were unimportant? Yes, she knew that Naraku and the Shikon-no-Tama were extremely important, but her life back in the Heisei jidai was important too. Not as important, surely not, but important still. More than that, sometimes she just needed a break from youkai hunting, and the Sengoku jidai in general.

'It's not that, is it?' she asked herself bitterly. 'You return home to escape your unrequited feelings. If not for those, I could happily stay in the Sengoku jidai for as long as they wanted.' Kagome sighed and let her forehead rest against Kirara's furry neck. "Why does he have to be so mean, Kirara?" she mumbled. "I try so hard to be something I'm not...can't he see that?" Kirara growled low in her throat, one of her ears flicking in a consoling way. "I'll show him! Let him see how well he can find the shikon-no-kakera without me!" Kagome brightened for a few seconds before sagging again. 'Who am I kidding? I can't just abandon the mission just because I had a fight with InuYasha. There are so many innocent people out there who could be hurt because I decided to spite InuYasha.' Kagome sat up and stared at the darkening sky overhead, watching as tiny white dots started appearing here and there. 'What am I going to do?'

The answer came in the form of a small prick on her cheek. Instinctively, Kagome slapped the offending insect and lifted her hand away to see the damage. A tiny tan dot fluttered through the air and landed on her palm before regaining its mass with a small pop.

"Myouga-ji-chan? What are you doing here?" Kagome didn't bother to hide the surprise in her voice; it had been months since the group had seen InuYasha's nomi-youkai retainer. Why he would show up now was beyond Kagome.

At the moment, Myouga was much too upset to notice Kagome's surprise. He was weeping into a miniscule hankerchief, great tears falling from his bulbous eyes. "Ungrateful son!" he was wailing, "How dare he-how dare he! What my old master would have said...ohhh!" The flea continued to sob into his hanky, completely ignoring Kagome. The miko promptly took her index finger and tapped Myouga on the crown of his head. The nomi-youkai gave a start and looked up at Kagome.

"Huh-oh, good evening, Kagome. I didn't realize you were here. InuYasha-sama did...mention something about you leaving. No wonder the taste seemed so familiar." Myouga wiped his proboscis off with his kerchief, mopping up his face with evident relief. "Maybe you will listen to me, Kagome."

The mention of InuYasha's name brought back some of Kagome's irritation, as well as her heartbreak. She did her best to look neutral and stated, "Sure. What's up?"

To her surprise, Myouga started weeping again, his tears soaking into the already sodden hanky. "It's...it's horrible! Too horrible for words! If it wasn't already bad...InuYasha-sama had to go and...and...OHH!" If it were possible for a flea to cry two waterfalls of tears, Myouga had just managed it. Kagome cupped the nomi-youkai in her hands, unsure of what to do or say. 'I hope he calms down soon, otherwise I might just have to start guessing what's wrong.'

Finally, she couldn't take anymore of the flea's relentless sobbing. "Please, Myouga-ji-chan, tell me what's wrong. Mama always told me that talking about it makes it a little bit better."

Myouga did seem to cheer up a little bit at this. "True, true. Anyway, you always were more understanding about this sort of thing than...than my foolish master InuYasha." Kagome shrugged, her neutral expression souring slightly. Myouga took no notice of this and continued, "Well...about a week ago, I returned to the castle of the West for the first time in many years-"

"Wait a minute," Kagome interrupted, her eyes going wide as coins, "the WHAT?"

Myouga's eyes narrowed slightly at this interruption. "I forget that humans don't know about the youkai lords that rule over Nippon...but that's a story for another time. Right now, the tragedy. I returned to the Western castle to find it in complete disarray. Guards running around everywhere, aristocrats and officials wailing their heads off; completely maddened." Myouga crossed both sets of arms and settled down in Kagome's palm, his eyes closing as if in thought. "After asking around, I determined that a thief had broken into the castle during one of Sesshoumaru-sama's trips away (which are becoming longer and longer, I might add) and stolen something. It took me a while to figure out what was stolen; apparently, it was considered rather unimportant in the face of the fact that a thief managed to enter the castle."

Kagome's head was overflowing with information; Youkai ruled over Nippon? Sesshoumaru headed a castle in the West? There was a caste system among youkai? Myouga would have to explain more of these things in detail, but for now she would just have to do the best she could while trying to understand the situation. "So you found out what was stolen?" she asked.

Myouga nodded and opened his eyes; tears were glimmering at the corners. "Yes." He retrieved his hanky and started dabbing at his eyes again. "Sad...so very sad that no-one cares..." Kagome looked at him, her brow furrowing. "I-Izayoi-sama," he choked, "The thief stole Izayoi-sama's funeral urn."

Kagome's mouth dropped open in shock. A small strangled sound managed to make it out of her throat, but the words were lost in transition. "I-InuYasha's m-mother?" she stammered, her voice a breathy squeak. Myouga nodded, furiously cleaning his proboscis with his kerchief.

"Her worldly remains...stolen. The worst thing is that nobody cares, except for the fair few who actually recall her kindness." Myouga looked up at Kagome, his buggy eyes swimming with tears. "How could this have happened, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head, tears smarting in her own eyes. "InuYasha?"

The flea snorted angrily, brandishing his hanky like a flag. "When I tried to talk to him about it, InuYasha-sama squashed me flat and shouted that his mother and her affairs are none of my business. He threw me away before I could explain myself-ungrateful son!" he proclaimed.

The miko shook her head, placing Myouga on her shoulder so she could grip Kirara's fur with both hands. "Not ungrateful, Myouga-ji-chan. I think the memory of his mother and...and the way she died just hurts him too much." She pondered for a moment before adding, "Maybe it's better that you couldn't tell him." Unexpectedly, the memory of the Mu'onna swam to the surface of her mind; that youkai witch who had been given the face of InuYasha's mother in order to trick the location of the Inu-no-Taishou's grave out of him. It had been a tragic affair, but Kagome had gained an insight into InuYasha's past-namely, the great love he'd had for his mother, and the sorrow that tainted his heart at her death. She had also learned that he absolutely refused to talk about her, with dire consequenses enforced upon those unfortunate enough to try.

Myouga thought about this before nodding in agreement. "Good point, Kagome. InuYasha-sama was very small when Izayoi-sama left this world. It changed him forever, you know, when she died and he was on his own." Myouga sighed and looked up at the stars. "Poor InuYasha-sama. Such a hard life he was cursed with."

Guilt started chewing holes in Kagome's heart, as it always managed to do after one of their arguments, yet this time was worse than ever before. She tried not to pity InuYasha; he was too proud to want to be pitied. Yet pity crept into her heart all the same; how could one survive the loss of everything you cared about at such a young age? Not only that, but to have that sadness perpetuate into his adult life? Unthinkable.

'I do care about you, InuYasha,' she thought, looking at the stars herself. 'I care more for you than I do for anything in this world.' Then the idea hit her. "Myouga-ji-chan, do you think I could find the funeral urn?"

Myouga started and looked up at Kagome with eyes that were rapidly becoming grateful. "Oh-would you? I would be forever in your debt if you did this for the house of the West! I know my late master in particular would not want this foul deed to go unpunished."

Kaogme nodded, her resolve increasing with each second that passed. "I'll do it. I'll do it for InuYasha's sake." Reaching forward, Kagome tapped on Kirara's head. The nekomata turned one red eye in her direction. "Kirara, we're not going to the Bone-Eater's Well. We're going-"

Myouga promptly interrupted. "Head northwest for about an hour, Kirara, then head due west. We should arrive at the Western castle by...tomorrow, if all goes well." Kirara growled her assent and changed direction, going northwest instead of south. The trees rushed beneath them, a solid black carpet that grew more and more blurry as Kirara sped along.

Kagome looked back in the direction they had been going, her thoughts going out to her friends. 'I'm sorry, guys...but I think this is something I'll have to do by myself.' Unbidden, InuYasha's face danced in front of her eyes, golden eyes sparkling with irritation. 'This is for you, InuYasha...come hell or high water, I'll show you how much I care.'

A/N: I've been sitting on this baby for quite a while now...ever since the end of Tall Tails, actually. So now it's time to release it upon the world! Enjoy! =)