Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Summary: Inuyasha gets insulted by a village headman even after saving the man's child. If the man thinks he's getting away with it, he has another thing coming. Kagome, Miroku and Sango will make sure of that.

A/N: I've finished writing this like weeks ago, but never had the time to edit it. I hope you enjoy.

We Will Protect You

Everyone was worried about Inuyasha. Even if said half-demon claimed that he was fine, but they could tell that he was pushing beyond his limits. He hadn't slept much these past few weeks, and it was all because danger kept lurking around them. Recently, he had offered to keep watch while everyone else slept, and when they tried to take over, he would insist them to go back to sleep – or he'll make them do it by force.

Now, all those nights – that he slept less than an hour – were taking a toll on his body. Sometimes, while he was walking, his body swayed, and there were a few times when he'd almost tripped himself. It became a laughing matter at first, but then, it wasn't funny anymore. Inuyasha was actually exhausted, and he was doing all he can to stay awake. It wasn't helping that Naraku, too, had been appearing more often, which made the half-demon felt the need to keep his guard on.

"We need him to rest," Sango whispered to Miroku and Kagome, who were walking a little behind from the tired half-demon. "If this goes any further, he might pass out along the way, and that's going to be much more troublesome."

"I agree. I'm really worried about him," Kagome replied back, nodding, as she spared a glance to Inuyasha's direction. "He barely sleeps."

"We should stop at a village. I don't think Naraku is going to appear soon, and that will give him enough time to rest," Miroku stated, his eyes trained onto his friend's back. "He is a half-demon after all. All he needs is a little rest, and he'll go back to the energized half-demon we know."

Fortunately for them, a village was nearby at where they were heading. The three humans shot victory smiles at each other, before telling Inuyasha that they should stop for a while. They had to argue with the half-demon at the beginning, but then, they all come to an agreement that they'll stay only for one night. They would leave first thing in the morning, and right now, it was noon. That would give enough rest for their half-demon friend.

As they were approaching the village, they heard a cry coming from a child, and things were suddenly in action. A demon decided to attack a child – whether it was from Naraku or not, now was a bad time – because Inuyasha decided there and then to fight; even if he doesn't have the strength to. He immediately leapt and grabbed the kid away from the demon. The demon resembled a giant scorpion, so it had a large tail. And if it had a tail, then that would mean it can swing it. And when it did, it aimed it right towards Inuyasha, and the half-demon almost got hit because of his sluggish movements.

Thankfully, Inuyasha was still fast enough to leap back to his friends and pass the child to Kagome. He drew Tessaiga out of its sheath, and charged at the scorpion demon.

"Inuyasha, no!" Kagome shouted as the child clung to her leg. She barely noticed the child, and turned her head to Sango and Miroku. "Sango, Miroku–"

"On it," Sango said, and darted her gaze towards her firecat. "Kirara!"

Kirara, who had been busy playing with Shippo, growled and transformed into her large firecat form. Sango got onto the cat's back, and instructed the cat to fly closer to Inuyasha. When she got the distance she was aiming for, she threw her boomerang at the demon.

The scorpion swung its large tail and the boomerang came flying back towards Sango. It turned out that the demon's whole body was covered with hard scales, so it was going to take a lot more than that to defeat it. That was when Inuyasha decided to close the distance between the demon, and lifted Tessaiga above his head.

"Kaze no–"

The wind was knocked out of him when the scorpion demon slammed its rock hard body into him, throwing him a few meters away from where he previously stood. He unceremoniously landed on the ground, and it took him a few seconds before he could get up. He felt dizzy, and cursed himself for not getting enough sleep. If he had just slept a little longer, this wouldn't have been happening.

"Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha turned his head, just in time to see Kagome releasing her arrow at the demon. The scorpion dodged the flying arrow, however, and started aiming for Kagome. Kagome shrieked, and pulled Shippo and the child, narrowly dodging the scorpion's scissor-like hands. She was lucky that Inuyasha was fast enough to stand in between her and the demon, because now, the demon was occupied with him again – which was also bad.

"Kagome!" he shouted, almost getting hit by the giant tail again. "Where is it? Where is the jewel shard?!"

Kagome squinted her eyes, and found a pink light glowing at the top of the scorpion youkai's head. "In its head!"

"Right," Inuyasha said, and quickly focused back at the scorpion youkai. "Kaze no–"

He didn't have enough time. The scorpion charged at him again, and he had to leap away before it crashed into him for the second time. Sango tried assisting him by throwing her Hiraikotsu, but no matter how many times she threw it, the boomerang would bounce back, and fly back at her. With the shard inside the scorpion, it seemed that Hiraikotsu would be useless.

Miroku tried helping out by swinging his staff at the scorpion's head, but that earned him a roar, and he almost gotten himself killed when the demon tried moving its tail towards him. It also earned the monk a yell coming from an enraged half-demon, and he was suddenly given the task to protect Kagome instead.

Finally seeing the chance given to him, Inuyasha swung Tessaiga without hesitation. "Kaze no Kizu!"

The wind coming from the sword moved towards the scorpion demon, and the demon was blown into pieces. They were left with an almost dying corpse, and before the jewel shard could mend its injuries, Inuyasha struck a clawed finger into its forehead, and retrieved the jewel shard. He let out a shuddering breath, and sheathed back Tessaiga. He almost stumbled to the ground when Kagome unexpectedly wrapped her arms around him.

"Inuyasha, you're alright!" she said, and pulled away from him to look at his face. "You're okay, right? Did it hurt you?"

"Nope," he said, smirking. But his smirk faltered when he started seeing two Kagome's. He rubbed his temple when he felt a headache, and wished so bad that the pounding in his head would stop. He muttered a quiet, "Damn it..."

Noticing his pained expression, Kagome couldn't help but feel more concerned about him. "Inuyasha?"

"Papa!"

The group turned their heads and found the young boy throwing his arms around a middle-aged man. The man hugged him back, and the two of them were stuck to each other for a few minutes, before letting each other go. As the man's eyes fell on them, he gave them a huge smile – before it wavered when he spotted the half-demon.

His expression did not go unnoticed. The humans in the group could very well see the hidden disgust on the man's face as his eyes were focused onto Inuyasha. Inuyasha wasn't aware of this, though, as his head hurt, and it prevented him from truly seeing the man's inner thoughts.

The man grabbed his son's wrist and started pulling him towards the village. "Everyone, come to the village. I shall offer you a meal and a place for you to stay as a reward for saving my son."

Kagome glanced at Sango and Miroku. The two of them met her gaze, and they knew what message she was trying to convey just by looking at them. Nonetheless, they agreed to follow the man and head to the village.

As they entered the area around the village, they couldn't help but notice the villagers staring at them. No, more like staring at Inuyasha. Their eyes were on him, and they could see them whispering to one another. Something told them that they were talking about their half-demon friend. Kagome looked back to see Inuyasha's reaction – mostly because he could hear what they were saying – but the half-demon showed no reaction. Either he didn't care, or his tired state had made him unaware of the animosity thrown at him.

They stopped in front of a house bigger than the others, and could only assume that the man was the village headman. They were about to enter, before Inuyasha's voice made them pause.

"You guys go on ahead, I'm just gonna stay here."

Kagome, Sango, and Miroku exhanged glances, but Miroku was the one who stepped forward and spoke. "Inuyasha, is something wrong?"

The half-demon shook his head. He lifted his hand to rub his temple. "No, my head is just... killing me."

Miroku placed a hand over his friend's shoulder. "Alright, my friend. You just stay here with Shippo and Kirara. We'll do the talking."

Kagome, Sango, and Miroku couldn't help but gasp at the inside of the village headman's house. It looked way bigger than the outside. And even if Kagome had seen so many modern houses, this house can actually rival with the houses at her time.

"Please, have a seat," the man said, and disappeared into a room along with his son. They heard some muffled voices, before the man appeared again. "You have my gratitude for saving my son. Words can't describe how grateful I am that you were there in time to save him."

Miroku shook his head. "That's not entirely true, sir. Our friend, Inuyasha, was the one that saved your child."

"That vile half-breed? I wouldn't say he's the one that saved my son," the man said, and his lips curled into disgust. "He isn't worthy of my thanks. I would've preferred if any other than him had saved my son, but since it happened so fast, it couldn't be help. Such filth shouldn't touch my–"

"I suggest you do not insult my friend, sir," Miroku said, his smile strained. His hands gripped his staff tightly. "He is, after all, the one who saved your son."

"No, no," the man said, totally oblivious at the fury sent his way by the priestess, slayer and monk. "Even if he did, I wouldn't acknowledge that he had saved my son. He is unworthy–"

The man's sentence was cut short when there was a loud thump. He whipped his head to where the loud sound had came from, and found Sango slamming her boomerang on the floor, almost leaving a crack behind. The slayer met his eyes – making it evident that she was furious hearing his words – and stood up with a challenging posture. She made her way to the man, and the man found himself taking a few steps back. Something in her eyes told him that if looks could kill, he would be buried six feet under by now. He spared a glance at the priestess and monk, and found that they, too, were looking at him with the same fiery in their eyes.

"He is our friend, he saved your son, so you should be grateful that he was there when you need him. Because if he wasn't there, your son could've died," Sango spat the words so venomously, that the man flinched. She poked her finger at his chest as she spoke. "Do you know how tired he is? He barely sleeps these days protecting us, so be grateful that he was still fast enough to save your son from that demon!"

"Y-Your friend?" the man said, his voice coming out as a squeak. "That couldn't be true! He's a half-demon, no one would want to–"

"Well, we are his friends," Kagome interrupted, her hands crossed over her chest. Her voice was loud, almost reaching to the point of yelling, but she managed to hold back. "So what if he's a half-demon? Because he has demon blood in him? He saved your son without hesitation. I don't see how that gives you the right to insult him about being a half-demon."

The man realised that he had made a grave mistake by insulting the half-demon. He thought that the half-demon was in the group only because he was their slave or something, but it turned out that he was dead wrong. These people considered the half-demon as a friend, and no matter how much he tried to twist his own vision, the half-demon did save his son. His only son.

The man instantly bowed, unable to meet the eyes of the angered humans. "Forgive me for my insolence. I... I always thought that half-demons were bad. As an apology, and to show my gratitude, please accept the hospitality that my people will offer."

"Unfortunately, your people has the same opinion towards our half-demon friend. If possible, we would like a more friendly environment for him," Miroku said.

"Yes, yes of course," the man said, and stood straight up. "I will talk to them immediately. Please, stay, at least for tonight."

The village headman had kept his word. He had gathered all the villagers, and had told them to respect the half-demon staying in their village. He was responded with protests at first, but after the man had explained what the half-demon had done, everyone couldn't help but agree to the man's request. The villagers offered Inuyasha their friendly smiles, given him more food than necessary, and had provided him a comfortable place to sleep. Though, not everyone complied with the village headman's request. Some still glared at Inuyasha with hostility, but the hateful glares were shot down by an even deadlier glare by a certain priestess and slayer. Miroku just stood by the girls' side – secretly afraid by how Kagome and Sango were staring at everyone. He even reminded to keep his hands to himself this time.

Soon, everyone settled down, and night had fallen.

"You guys sure you can keep watch?" Inuyasha asked with a yawn, as he laid his head on the futon.

"Yes, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a smile, and added, "You should really get some sleep."

With a nod, the half-demon slept soundly, totally ignorant to the watchful eyes on his sleeping form. A grin made its way to everyone's faces as they had successfully gotten the half-demon to sleep.

The next morning, everyone was awakened by an uncharacteristically cheerful half-demon. A few hours of sleep had improved his mood greatly, and everyone was grateful that his energy had been restored. His face looked much livelier, but there were still dark circles under his eyes. They all made a mental promise that they would give him more rest when there are others villages to stop soon.

As they were leaving the suspiciously nice village, Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder what had happened. He was pretty sure that everyone wasn't this friendly at first. He even remembered the villagers glaring at him while he was walking through the village. But all of a sudden, everyone was nice, and he was curious on what changed their opinion towards him. They gave him food more than necessary, their whispers about him – which he could easily hear – were non-existent, and they showed no signs of hostility.

Okay, what had he missed?

He tried remembering whether he had done something that earned their respect, but found none. Well, he was sleepy yesterday, and everything felt fuzzy, so maybe something happened and he just couldn't remember.

"Inuyasha, you all right?" Kagome asked, and he turned around to face her questioning gaze. "You were deep in thought."

Inuyasha contemplated whether to ask or not. At last, he made a decision to ask. "Did something happen yesterday?"

Now Kagome looked confused. "No?"

"Oh... okay then."

Since he was in deep thought again, he didn't notice that Kagome had slowed her pace so that she can silently communicate with her other companions.

He wasn't aware that Kagome knew what he was trying to question about.

He wasn't aware that his friends sent each other smiles behind his back.

He also wasn't aware that the humans had made one promise; to protect him at times when he can't protect himself.

End.