Ice and Snow, Mind and Heart

Chapter 3: Inuyasha

Yuki frowned as she ran, hesitating slightly not long after she'd left Rin and Sesshomaru's company. She sniffed again, confirming that her nose wasn't deceiving her: the smell of Inuyasha's blood had changed. It smelt almost like a demon's, not a half-demon's.

'Inuyasha, what is happening to you?' Yuki wondered in alarm as she took off again quickly, rushing after the smell. 'Are you all right, my friend?'

She jumped through the trees as quickly as she could, her heart filled with worry for her friend, yet hope that she would be reunited with him once more.

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Two and a half days later, after losing his scent for a while, Yuki's spirits finally lifted.

Inuyasha was close, she could smell him again and thankfully it was closer to his normal scent, though this wasn't quite the reunion she'd imagined. But Mother Nature couldn't be controlled, and Yuki was just thankful that she was able to meet her friend again at last.

She pushed herself, dashing through the forest and breaking through the trees at last as she shouted: "Inuyasha!"

The half-demon in question turned in surprise, his eyes widening in disbelief as he saw the familiar swirl of caramel hair in the dim firelight, the only light available in the dark, moonless night.

"Yuki?" He asked in disbelief, before she came crashing down on top of him.

The pair went down in a whirl of red and white cloth, landing with a crash on the fields between the river and the forest. The rest of the group by the fire stared at the stranger in their midst as Yuki sat beaming down at Inuyasha, who stared back at her with shocked, human brown eyes.

"Long time no see, Inuyasha." Yuki smiled, and his friends blinked as a wide smile appeared on Inuyasha's face.

"Yuki!" He greeted happily, sitting up and giving the other half-demon a hug, to the others' shock.

"Wait, is that Inuyasha?" The child fox demon, Shippo, asked in disbelief as he stared at the genuine smile on Inuyasha's face, while the demon-slayer Sango asked Kagome curiously as she gestured at Yuki: "Who is that?"

"Another half-demon?" Miroku wandered as he observed the pair, while Kagome told Sango, unable to take her eyes off the newcomer: "I don't know..."

Inuyasha and Yuki ignored them for now as Inuyasha asked excitedly: "Where've you been? I haven't seen you for so long!"

"Me?" Yuki asked indignantly. "It's you who wasn't around. Speaking of which."

She suddenly smacked her fist down on Inuyasha's head, and the others blinked as Inuyasha rubbed the spot while Yuki yelled at him angrily: "How could you do that to me?! When I heard you'd been shot by a sacred arrow, do you know how devastated I was? And then you don't even have the decency to come and reassure me you're alive after you're freed?"

"Yeah, sorry." Inuyasha answered, scratching his neck awkwardly. "I woke up to find fifty years had passed. I had no idea where you were, and some things came up..."

"Heh, I can see that." Yuki observed as she glanced to the side, and noting the odd group that was gathered together: a child fox-demon, a woman in some strange green and white clothes with a bow and arrows, a monk, and a demon-slayer with a cat demon.

The others tensed while Inuyasha almost blushed as Yuki shot him an amused look.

"I mean, I left because I was grieving for you, but I can see you've already had me replaced." Yuki teased, and he barked a laugh that made some of his friends' jaws drop in shock.