InuYasha could not believe it. After years of loneliness and suffering, he was a father. He held his newborn son in his arms. 'I never thought I'd come this far.' His eyes glowed with happiness. The boy stopped crying, and fell asleep. "I think he likes you." said Kagome. Miroku, Sango, and their three children were there as well. "Now uncle doggy has a little puppy, just like him!" said Hoshiko, one of the twins. "He's so adorable!" said Haruna, the other. Makoto, who was only one year old giggled.

Six years later.

"No fair!" yelled Kazuki, with tears in his brown eyes. "I don't wanna be the demon! I always have to be the demon! I wanna be a good guy!"

One boy poked him with a stick and replied "Too bad! Nobody else here is even part demon!"

"I'm not playing with you anymore!" Kazuki shouted, running away. Makoto had also been playing, and ran after his friend..

Man, they're so stupid," he said to Kazuki. "Why would you ever be the demon? Even if you are part demon, you're even wimpier than most humans."

"Thanks, that just makes me feel worse," Kazuki whimpered.

"Cheer up, would you? I can't bring you on an adventure when you're like this." Makoto replied.

Kazuki's face brightened. "Really! An adventure! Wow! You're the best Makoto! What are we doing?"

"In the forest off of the path that goes through the village, there's a whole bunch of houses that got destroyed. Some of them are burned, but some of them were crushed by something. I heard there are still ghosts of the people who lived there."

"G-ghosts!" Kazuki was scared. "A-and we aren't supposed to wander in the forest alone. You know that."

"Oh come on, what are a few ghosts going to do to us anyways? You have demon power, don't you?" Makoto tried to reassure his friend.

Kazuki was still nervous, but he didn't want to disappoint his best friend. "Not really, but I guess if you think it is OK, we can go."

Makoto grinned. He was looking forward to their adventure. "Don't worry, I'll make sure we're home by dinner. Or else Uncle InuYasha and my mom would kill us."

"And Shippo might eat our food!" Kazuki added. The two laughed.

The boys' families lived together in a fairly large house constructed shortly after Kagome's return. There was a common room where both families ate and relaxed together, and each family had their own dwelling area on either side.

They set off, and wandered into the woods. "Can you smell anything yet, Kazuki?" Makoto asked as he looked for the houses."

"I dunno what destroyed house smells like, and besides, you know my nose isn't as good as my dad's. Speaking of him, what if our dads come home from work when we are out here? My dad could find us easily, and we'd get in trouble." Kazuki was worried again.

Makoto was annoyed with his friend's constant whining. "Will you quit being so negative and start helping me look? Everything will be fine, I promise. Look! There it is!" He pointed to what remained of a village long ago. Everything was destroyed, with only some structures being intact.
The wind howled, and the sky became cloudy. "Makoto, look, it's starting to get dark, and we don't want to miss dinner, do we? Let's head back." Kazuki was shivering.

"Nice try, but we've got plenty of time." Makoto said. "Let's try out that big one first!"

The two boys went inside the ruins of a building that must have been a palace at one point. They ventured deep into it, and found a secret hatch, which they traveled into. "Whoa, you're right! This is really cool Makoto!" Kazuki's eyes lit up. "Look over here! It's an old sword! And a scroll! Let's read it together Makoto!"

They looked at it together. "Just a stupid family record," Makoto said, tossing it behind him. He was surprised when it hit somebody on the back of the head. They felt heavy breathing behind them, and slowly turned their heads to find a large, demon with sharp fangs, black claws, and horns sticking out of his head. "Makoto, maybe we shoulda kept our adventure in the village," Kazuki said, shaking.

"I think you're right, Kazuki. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. If we make it out alive, I hope you can forgive me."

The demon smashed the ground with a club, barely missing the two boys.

"RUUUUNNNN!" Kazuki shouted. The two boys bolted up the stairs as the demon chased after them. They tried to run away, but found themselves in a dead end. They held each other, shivering. "Well, I guess we won't make it back for dinner, huh?" said Makoto.

"This demon can't be much scarier than my dad if we make it out alive." said Kazuki. The demon raised his club to kill the boys when he was struck by a sutra, that prevented movement. Then a large blade slashed through the demon, killing it instantly.

Kazuki's eyes widened with hope. "Makoto! It's a miracle! We're saved! We can make it home before dinner an' we won't get in trouble! Isn't that great!"

"I wouldn't consider it a miracle by any means."

"And don't even think you ain't gonna get in trouble for this."

The boys looked to find their saviors were their fathers.

"...Uh oh," were the only words Makoto was able to speak as he saw them glaring down at him and his friend.

InuYasha whacked both of them on the heads. " You fools! What were you thinking going out in the forest and poking your noses in some demon infested ruins by yourselves like that!" He killed another approaching demon with his claws. "It's too dangerous! You could have been killed!"

"We're sorry," they said in unison.

"Now now, InuYasha, let's not be too harsh on them. We should be happy that they weren't killed," said Miroku, placing his hands on the boys' heads. "It was very brave of you two to come all the way out here on your own like this."

The boys grinned, hearing this. "I guess we'll just need to work on making sure you stay brave when you're faced with danger." said InuYasha, who smiled a little bit. "But no more adventures like this until you're ready, alright?

"Alright," said the boys.

"Hey Kazuki, that means someday, we'll be able to do this again. Won't that be fun?" whispered Makoto.

Miroku overheard his son. "Don't count on it being any time soon, do you understand?"

"Yes, father," Makoto said, disappointed.

"Come on, let's go home. Dinner will be ready soon," said InuYasha. Kazuki rode on his father's back. He loved how safe he felt being with his father, and how he was able to feel as if he was flying sometimes.

"You know Kazuki. You really had me worried back there," his father said. "I don't know what I would've done if that demon had killed the two of you."

When they got back, they found Kagome, Sango, Haruna, Hoshiko, and Kazuki's sister Kaede waiting for them. The old woman had passed away of old age shortly before her birth, so InuYasha and Kagome decided to name her after Kaede in memory. She had the hair and eye color of her father, but had the human ears, complexion and features of her mother. Kaede saw her brother and hugged him.

"Where have you been, you two?" asked Kagome.

"We were starting to get worried," said Sango.

Makoto and Kazuki looked at each other, "Umm.. well you see..."

InuYasha spoke for them. "They wandered into the forest by themselves to go explore some ruins or something and nearly got killed by some demon. Miroku and I just happened to be passing by in time to save 'em."

"Makoto! You know better than that!" scolded Sango. "You're lucky your father and InuYasha happened to be returning home! Imagine what would have happened if they weren't there!"

"You too Kazuki," said Kagome. "I can't believe you were so reckless like that. It's not like you. As a punishment, you're not allowed to leave the house without an adult for three days."

Kazuki whined "But mom, I was just doing what Makoto-"

"No buts Kazuki. I don't want you wandering off like that. It's too dangerous." Kagome said to her son.

"Heh heh, you got totally busted," Makoto smirked.

"That goes for you too young man," Sango chimed in.

Makoto was downcast. "Man, that stinks." he mumbled. Kazuki was upset as he was. The two ate their dinners in silence, wishing their adventure didn't have to end this way.

The days they were forced inside were long and brutal. They had so much energy to burn, but nothing to do about it. On the first day, the girls gave them a make over. The second day, the girls did their hair. By the third day, they were miserable. "This is all your fault," Kazuki said pouting. "If you hadn't come up with that stupid idea, we never would've gotten in trouble."

"You didn't need to come along with me, now did you? You're just as guilty as I am." Makoto said back.

This remark made Kazuki angry. "You made me come with you! You told me we were gonna be OK and that there was nothing to worry about! Whenever I said we should turn around you never listened to me!"

"You had the choice to turn back at any time. But you didn't. Don't blame me for your own dumb decisions." Makoto shrugged his shoulders.

"That's no fair!" Kazuki whined.

"Well I'm older and I say it's fair!" Makoto snapped back.

"Well I'm stronger and I say it's no fair!" Kazuki was getting red in the face.

Makoto was angry as well. "Stronger doesn't mean you get to boss people around! Older does because older people know more things!"

"I'll show you who's boss!" Kazuki dived at Makoto, and the two boys began to brawl and beat each other up. They rolled around the house as the wrestled. Makoto grabbed Kazuki's ears, his weak spot. Tears filled Kazuki's eyes as he punched Makoto's face and bit his arm. They continued attacking one another when Kagome and Sango came rushing over.

"That's enough you two!" Sango shouted. The two mothers pulled the boys away from each other.

"Geez, you boys have been nothing but trouble lately. What has gotten in to you two?" said Kagome, placing her hands on her hips.

"Perhaps it would help if I brought you outside. The girls and I were going to go for a walk together. I think you two should join us."

The boys would do anything to get outside of the house, so they agreed.

"Aww man, this is no fun at all." Kazuki mumbled to Makoto.

Makoto responded. "Shut up! It's better than being stuck inside, isn't it?"

"I guess so, but I still wish something interesting would happen."

They walked into the village. It was a windy day and they were walking alongside the river. Haruna lost her balance and fell right in. She shrieked. "Haruna!" Sango cried out to her daughter. Before anybody could do anything, Kazuki dove into the river, and swam to her. He grabbed her, but had a hard time swimming with her. The two were brought downstream, when Kazuki reached out to grab a branch. He was able to pull both Haruna and himself ashore to safety.

"Kazuki! You're my hero!" Haruna said, beaming at her savior. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. His face turned bright red.

"Thank you so much Kazuki," said Sango. "That was a very brave thing for you to do. You're just like your father."

Kazuki grinned. 'Wow, just like my dad?' he thought with pride. He had always thought of himself as a coward, and idolized his brave, powerful father.