The Coyote Child

The Coyote Child

By Terri class=SpellE>Botta

Disclaimer: I don’t own
Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko
Takashi. I’m poor so don’t sue.

Rating: R for later chapters.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome

Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome
are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from style='font-size:10.0pt'>Arizonastyle='font-size:10.0pt'>.

Email feedback to:
tci100@psu.edu

Webpage:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/Botta

A/N: In this story I use the
name Lori Peistewa. Lori was the first Native
American woman to die in combat for the style='font-size:10.0pt'>United Statesstyle='font-size:10.0pt'> when her convoy was ambushed in style='font-size:10.0pt'>Iraqs='fo='font-size:10.0pt'> in April of 2003. She left behind two small children
under the age of six. I use her name to honor her sacrifice, as we honor the
sacrifices of all our men and women fighting and dying in that far away land.

********

Prologue

In the deep
of night in the high desert of Arizona,
where the temperatures plummeted well below zero, a small hogan
made of mud and wood was buffeted by the wind. On the edge of a tiny community
of no more than seven hogans and a thirty year-old
trailer, the small home was heated by a fire burning in a cut off barrel.

Far away
from the modern world, steeped in the native traditions of a people who had
lived there for more than a thousand years, a girl barely out of childhood
struggled in the throes of labor. She did not cry or sob with pain, but set her
mind and spirit to bringing her newborn into the world. The hands of her
grandmother, wizened from decades in the sun but still nimble from years of
working on the loom, waited to catch the baby and touch him to the ground. With
a final push and strangled gasp, the girl felt the new life leave the safety of
her body, and heard her grandmother murmuring as she took the infant and laid
him on the blanket she had woven specifically for this birth. Even in her
exhaustion, she could not help but smile as her baby gave his first cry.

"Grandmother,"
she whispered, panting.

"A
boy," the old woman answered softly.

She spoke
the language of the Dineh, "the People",
also known as the Navajo. She had never learned English, and had never left the
reservation in all her seventy-four years.

"A
boy…" she breathed, then lay back on the mattress
pallet.

She heard
the soft splashing of her grandmother washing her newborn son and his
protesting cries, but soon became caught up in the birth that followed the
birth: the expelling of the placenta. A short while later, her grandmother
placed the blanket-wrapped infant into her waiting arms and she brushed her
hand over his soft grey ears.

"My
baby…"

Her joy was
short-lived however, as the peace of the hogan was
broken by her father's booming voice.

"Old
woman," the man said gruffly as he barged into the tiny hut.

"Stone-Tree,"
her grandmother answered, her voice cold and neutral. She used her father’s class=SpellE>Dineh name. They all used their Dineh
names amongst themselves and other members of The People.

"Is
the child…?"

"He
belongs to Coyote," the old woman confirmed.

Her father
cursed and turned to her, and she tried to shield her son from his angry eyes.
She gasped when she heard the tell-tale hiss of a knife being drawn and she
clutched the infant to her chest.

"We
should kill it now," he growled.

"No!"
she cried, struggling to sit up, her body still weak from labor.

"It's
a Skinwalker's spawn! How could you
let yourself be tricked by his schemes?!"

"No!
Don’t hurt my baby!!" she screamed, and outside she could hear the wind
picking up as if agreeing with her.

"Stone-Tree,"
her grandmother spoke, putting herself in his path. "It has been many
years since Coyote visited the People. He is powerful and can bring terrible
evil to us if we anger Him. We are sure to bring his wrath down on us if we
murder His child."

"She
cannot keep it! Let us take it into the desert and leave it there. If Coyote
wants it, He will take it," the man announced.

"No!
He’ll freeze to death!!" she cried, the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It
cannot stay in the village! I will not have a witch child here!"

"No!!
You can't take my baby! I won’t let you!"

The man
raised his hand and it looked like he would strike the old woman to get to the
infant, but a new figure entered the hogan and stayed
his arm. A gust of cold wind came in with him, making the fire in the barrel
sputter and flare.

class=GramE>"Father. Don't," the new man pleaded.

"Standing-Moon,"
she sighed with relief at the sight of her older brother.

He had
always been her protector, and she had missed him dearly when he left for the
White Man's school. Now he went to another of their colleges in New
Mexico, but he had come back for the birth of her
baby.

"You
can’t hurt Sweet-Wind's baby!" her brother insisted. "Coyote style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>chose
her! This is no accident! If we kill the child He'll take His revenge on us!
Haven’t we suffered enough this year with Made-in-Clay's hogan
burning down?"

"The
evil has come to this village since st'mso'mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>she gave herself to the witch!"
Stone-Tree countered. "The sooner we get rid of it, the faster the evil
will go away."

"Grandmother
told me Thunder-In-Man performed the ceremony and found no hex on Sweet-Wind! If
there is evil here, it is not because of her."

"Two
sheep have died this month alone!" her father argued.

"Those
deaths are not Sweet-Wind's fault! Those sheep came from the lowlands and were
sick when they got here," Standing-Moon reminded.

"It
doesn't matter. She can't keep it. It will bring evil to this family."

"My
baby isn’t evil!" she yelled.

"Shut
up, girl! It was your stupidity that got us into this mess in the first
place!" her father roared. "If it wouldn’t taint the water, I'd drown
it in the barrel!"

Standing-Moon
joined thier grandmother and put himself between their
father and the baby.

"You
aren’t touching Sweet-Wind's baby," he said with conviction.

Two more
men came into the hogan and took Stone-Tree by the
arms.>
>

"Please
Stone-Tree. If you hurt Coyote's child He will kill more sheep and burn down
more hogans," one pleaded. "Already the
wind smells of anger. Please listen to us."

"Let
me go!" Stone-Tree ordered, pulling his arms from their grasp. class=GramE>"Alright.stay here!"

With that
he stormed out of the hogan leaving her with her
brother, grandmother and her baby. Her grandmother clucked disapprovingly and
shook her head.

"He is
a fool. He was always a fool. I said so when your mother married him," the
old woman sighed. "Still, it is a problem," she admitted, looking at
the newborn's fuzzy grey coyote ears and soft grey hair. The baby opened his
eyes, revealing amber irises: the color of Coyote's eyes. "It would be
best of we hid him when the white men come from the lowlands. They would not
understand."

"I
will go into town tomorrow and use the phone," Stan-Moo-Moon said. "I
will call my friend from college. He is Cree and has family in Canada.
He once told me of a family of half-dogs living there that the Cree know of. Maybe
he can help us."

style='mso-tab-count:1'> "Half-dogs?" she repeated,
staring into her son's yellow-brown eyes.

Standing-Moon
looked guilty. "I admit that I told him about your condition one night
when we went out drinking after mid-terms were over. He told me his family in Canada
had known of the existence of half-dogs and other Original People who lived
near them."

"What
can they do to help us?" she asked timidly, stroking her son's little
cheek. He'd been very quiet. Since his first few cries he hadn’t made another
sound. She thought he might be hungry so she offered him her breast and was
relieved when he began to nurse.

"I
don’t know. Maybe they can talk to the half-dogs for us. Maybe they will take
the baby and raise him with them."

"Take
my baby?" she gasped.

"Father's
already said he can’t stay here, and you know it's just a matter of time before
others join him. He isn’t safe here and you know it, Sweet-Wind. It would be
better if we found him somewhere else to go. Unless his father…"

"I
haven't seen Temeh since the last Gathering two
months ago," she admitted sadly.

Her brother
snorted and gave a short nod. "I'll leave in the morning then and be back
by nightfall."

"I
will ask Thunder-in-Man to come bless the child. That will keep him safe for a
short time," her grandmother added. "Until the fools decide the
Blessing is not enough to keep them safe."

She had
nothing to say. In truth a terrible hollowness was seeping into her soul. She
knew all too well how superstitious her people could be. It would not take long
for the tribe to declare her a Skinwalker herself and
cast her out. Her only hope was her lover, and the thin chance that he would
come to save her and her baby.

class=GramE>"But these things are for the morning and it is still night.
You should sleep, child. No harm will come to you or your baby while you are in
my home," the old woman told her.

"I'll
stay here and sleep by the door," Standing-Moon announced.

Her
grandmother nodded in approval and rooted in an old trunk for a blanket. The
old woman gave it to her brother and he accepted it gratefully, lying on the
dirt floor in front of the hut entrance. Her grandmother got out two more
blankets and draped them over her and her newborn.

"These
should keep off the chill when the fire dies," the old woman said kindly.

"Thank
you, Grandmother."

No more was
said as they settled down to rest. Her baby had finished nursing and was now
dozing against her breasts. She made sure he was secure in his blanket before class=GramE>laying back down and curling up with him. He gave her a soft
sigh as she tucked him into the curve of her body but otherwise did not stir.
Inside her mind was full of turmoil as to what was to come. She didn’t want to
give up her baby, but she knew he wasn't safe. And as long as
Temeh stayed away…

"class=SpellE>Temeh please…" she whispe

Outside the
hogan, she swore she could hear a mournful howl on
the w

********

Chapter One

Yukio
leaned against the driver's side door of the car and enjoyed the sun on his
face. Winter came early to Alberta
and this year would be no exception. It was only the middle of September and
already the temperatures were dipping low at night. He'd grown accustomed to
the cold, although he had to admit that the first few winters he had spent in Canada
had been a shock compared to the warmer climate of Japan.

st'mso'mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>'And back then we didn’t have things like
geo-thermal heat pumps and natural gas fireplaces,' he mused. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>'Kid doesn’t know how good he has it growing
up in this era.'

He was
referring, of course, to his little brother Ian who was now the rambunctious
age of seven. The pup would be exiting the private school his parents had
enrolled him in once he turned five. The school was youkai owned and operated,
and the ¼ youkai fit in fairly well. They had discovered that he learned about
as fast as a true hanyou, but wasn't as strong or resilient. He was, however,
significantly faster and stronger than human children. His senses were also
sharper than a human's, but more diluted than a hanyou or youkai's.
None of this came as a surprise to any of them. In fact, he was actually
exceeding their expectations. It seemed that Inuyasha 'threw' his genes rather
well.

Being that
it was Wednesday, it was his day to pick up Ian from school. Wednesdays and
Thursdays were the days Inuyasha worked at the Edmonton
office and would be too far away to pick up Ian. His mother also worked full
days at the clinic in Calgary on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so it was up to him to play chauffer. Not that
he minded in the least having to pick up He' He'd take the pup out and they'd
do 'brother things' like go for an afternoon snack or swing by the cycle shop
and ogle the new models- much to his mother's dismay.

He never
picked up Ian on the bike. He always used one of the cars, usually the Subaru
or the Jeep. Neither of his parents believed in spending huge sums of money on
cars, so they never owned anything fancier than a Lexus, and his father had
traded that in for a 4x4 after the first winter. Today he had the Subaru, one
of their new AWD wagons that handled nicely and got great gas mileage on its
hybrid engine. He was all for reducing emissions and saving gasoline, and he
was glad that the car manufacturers were really starting to catch on.

The scent
of his little brother tickling his nose brought him out of his thoughts as the
school let out for the day. He never parked in the same place twice in a row,
and used it as an exercise for Ian to hone his senses. He wanted the pup to
track him by scent and learn to use his brain to figure things out. His own
father had devised similar tests when he was growing up, although they usually
weren't as safe or tame as simply making the pup pick him out on a crowded
street.

He tracked
Ian's progress with his own nose, and smiled to himself when the pup caught his
scent and made a b-line for him. The seven year-old trotted around the corner a
moment later, pausing a moment to sniff the air, before turning in his
direction and spotting him with his sharp eyes.

class=GramE>"Aniki!" Ian called and
ran over to him, book bag slapping haphazardly on his little back.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> "class=SpellE>Heh heh. What took you so
long?" he ed, ed, picking the pup up as arms were thrown around his neck.

Ian was
wiry and nimble, and wrapped his legs around his older brother’s waist.

"You
were hiding again," the pup complained, pouting.

"No I
wasn't. I just wasn't where you could style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>see me. You found me well enough,
didn’t you?" he answered, pushing a stray tendril of Ian’s long silver
hair back behind the pup’s pointed ear.

Ian tapped
his nose. "I sniffed you out."

class=GramE>"Exactly."

He set the
pup down and rubbed his head. Even though Ian didn’t have dog ears like his
father and older brother, he still enjoyed a head-rub just as much as the rest
of them.

"Where
are we going today?" Ian asked enthusiastically.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

"Oh, I
dunno. I thought maybe we'd get a burger then
go…" he began, then stopped as his natural danger
sense pinged at the back of his mind.

There was a
new scent, a strange scent that was way too close for his comfort, and he got
the distinct impression that they were being watched.

class=GramE>"Aniki?" Ian questioned,
moving closer.

He put a
protective hand on his brother's shoulder and cast around, trying to discern
the source of the threat. His eyes fell on a couple standing just down the
street from them on the corner where Ian had come from. The hackles on the back
of his neck rose when he realized that they were looking right at him. It
bothered him because their concealment spells were hiding their hanyou features
behind illusions. To anyone on the street, they should look like two Asians with
black hair and dark eyes, unless the observer was youkai, hanyou, or had
Talent. These two weren't youkai or hanyou, but they seemed to know what he
was, at least their body language was suggesting that, and it was making him
very uncomfortable.

He could
tell they were Native, probably Cree from one of the local reserves. His family
had had some dealings with them over the years, but not so much recently. Most
of the elders who kept the Old Ways
had passed on, and fewer and fewer of the Natives today were all that
distinguishable from the Europeans, except for the color of their hair and
skin. Now most of the contact they had with the Cree was through their work in Peace
River. The Woodland Cree Band had a number of settlements north of
the town and they often found themselves working on houses in or near Woodland
Cree territory.

These two
were dressed in Western clothes: jeans and T-shirts, although the woman wore an
ankle-length denim skirt, but it was obvious from their faces and hair that
they were Native. Both had long black hair that they had tied into two braids,
and the woman had small ornaments at the top of each braid that looked like
beadwork or embroidery.

He watched
them warily, but they did not move in a threatening manner.

class=GramE>"Aniki?" Ian asked
again, softly now, his own eyes following his older brother's to look at the
two humans.

"Stay
close to me, Ian."

"Un,"
the pup agreed and hunkered even closer.

He was just
starting to relax when he saw the human female cast a glace to something across
the street and he turned his head to see two more Natives directly across the
road from them. These were two human males and they were dressed slightly
differently from the Cree. They were probably from another tribe, but at that
point he didn’t really care because his protective instincts were kicking into
high gear and he was feeling very trapped.

&qn>"Ian,
get in the car," he ordered.

"Un,"
Ian answered and began to move around to the passenger side of the vehicle.

He grabbed
the pup's shoulder and pushed him towards the driver's side door. "Get in
this side and slide across the seats," he corrected. "Do it quickly.class=GramE>" :Obey, Beta-male.:

Ian knew
better than to question him, and hurriedly opened the door and got in, scooting
across the seats. Once his brother was in, he used the remote on his keychain
to lock the doors.

"Ian,
no matter what happeyou you stay in the car, understand?"
he commanded. "If something happens to me, you use the cell phone and call
Otou-san for help. Got it?"

class=GramE>"Hai!"

"Don’t
unlock the doors for anything."

class=GramE>"Hai."

The two
Cree on the same side of the street seemed upset by his actions and the woman
ventured a step forward. He snarled a warning and jumped up onto the roof of
the Subaru, his hand reflexively going to Kenshuga at his side. Seeing him
crouched on top of the vehicle made them back up a step or two, and he whirled
to see that the two men on the other side of the street had backed away as
well. Turning back to the Cree because they were closer, he eyed them warily,
his fingers twitching on the hilt of his sword, and they stared at each other
for several moments. Then the woman glanced at the others across the street
again and shook her head slightly. He rounded to see that the men had moved
closer to the curb and looked like they might be thinking about crossing.

He bared
his teeth and growled. "Stay back!"

The men
raised their hands but did not step away from the curb. One of them even
stepped forward.

"No!"
he heard the woman on his side of the street call, but he'd had enough.

He drew
Kenshuga, flashing the blade in the afternoon sunlight and earning several
frightened stares from other passersby. A number of people began to run and he
knew he had about five minutes before the Mounties showed up.

"I
said stay
back!" he roared, and the man who had taken a step forward
scrambled backwards.

He knew his
father would know he had drawn the sword. Being that it was made from his fang,
Inuyasha always knew when one of the blades was pulled from its sealing sheath.
Sure enough, the cell phone in the car began to ring less than a minute later.
He heard Ian answer and begin speaking in hushed tones.

"Daddy,"
Ian's voice said. "No. I'm in the car. Aniki's
on the roof. On the roof. Of the
car. I don’t know what's wrong. Aniki told me
to get in the car and not unlock the doors for anything. There were
people on the street, Daddy. No. They smelled like humans." There was a
pause, then Ian spoke again. "There are four of
them Daddy. Two across the street and two on the corner.
They look funny, Daddy. They have long hair and smell like leather. I don’t
know. Aniki!? Aniki, Daddy
wants to know what's going on."

He didn't
want his watchers to know what he was saying so he answered in Japanese,
knowing Ian spoke both Japanese and English fluently.

class=GramE>"Four humans. Watching but not threatening. Don’t like
it."

He waited,
knowing his father would have something to say.

"Okay,
Daddy," Ian replied, then answered in Japanese, "Go to Okaa-class=SpellE>san's office. Don’t lead them to the house."

He nodded
even though he knew neither Ian nor his father could see him. It was obvious
that his father was worried about the humans possibly following them to their
home.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>'Good idea,' he agreed.
"Okay."

He sheathed
Kenshuga and hopped down off the roof of the car, unlocking the door and
starting the engine with his remote.

"Stay
back," he growled again, then he threw open the
car door and leaped in, slamming it shut behind him.

Shoving the
car into gear, he spun tires as he veered into traffic and cut off an oncoming
truck that honked at him as he screeched away. Ian handed him the phone timidly
and he grabbed it from his little brother's grasp.

"What
the fuck is going on?!" his father's voice demanded through the speaker.

"I
don't know. I was picking up Ian from school when all of a sudden four Natives
showed up and started watching us."

class=GramE>"Natives?" Inuyasha repeated.

"Two
looked Cree. The others… they were different."

class=GramE>"Cree huh? Okayat eat else happened?"

"That
was it. One got too close so I drew Kenshuga."

"Where
are you now?"

"We're
in the car. I'm headed for Okaa-san's office."

"Good.
Stay there until I get there. Do not. I repeat, do not leave your
mother's office until I get there. Understand me, pup?"

"I
understand," he confirmed, ears flattening at being called 'pup.'

"I
will call your mother and she will be expecting you."

"Okay."

There was a
short pause and he heard his father take a deep breath. "You did class=GramE>good, Yukio."

The praise
warmed him from the inside and soothed his earlier ire. "Thanks, Otou-san.
All I did was protect my brother."

"I
know, but you did everything right. I'll see you at Kagome's office."

&quopan pan
class=SpellE>Hai," he agreed.

"Okay,
lemme call your mother. I'll talk with you when I get
there."

"Okay."

He hung up
the cell phone and put both hands on the steering wheel as he sped for Calgary.
Thirty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center
where hisher her shared her practice with Dr. Maggiano,
the youkai fertility doctor who had helped them conceive Ian. The Spell of
Normalcy cast on the clinic made the storefront look like a normal doctor’s
office, and no one who wasn’t ‘in the know’ had any idea that the image was
only an illusion.

His mother
ran out of the front door as soon as he parked the car, her white physician’s
coat hanging open over her green dress, and they were barely out of the vehicle
before she was grabbing them both into hugs.

class=GramE>“Yukio! Yukio, what happened? Your father said you were
being watched!”

He nodded,
putting his arm around her shoulders as he ushered both her and Ian towards the
safety of the building.

“class=SpellE>Hai, Okaa-san,” he answered and proceeded to tell her
everything that had happened as they entered the medical suite and headed
towards Kagome’s private office after nodding to the receptionist at the front
desk.

She calmed
down considerably after he was finished recounting his tale, and her face grew
thoughtful. “Hmmmm. I wonder
what they wanted,” she mused.

“I don’t
know, but I wasn’t about to take any risks with Ian.”

“Oh yes, of
course. Better to be safe than sorry. If it was Cree we knew, they should have
known not to approach you like that, but we haven’t had much contact with them
since Joseph Talking-Wolf died,” she noted.

“Yeah,” he
admitted, remembering the cheerful old man.

“Anyway,
your father will be here soon. You know the way he drives. He’ll make the whole
300km trip in two and a half hours.”

“He told me
to wait here with you until he got here.”

His mother
agreed. “Yes. In the meantime, I suggest you make yourselves comfortable. I
have a few more patients to see before the end of my day. Ian, sweetie, do you
have homework?”

“Yes
Mommy,” the pup answered.

class=GramE>“Alright. Why don’t you sit at Mommy’s desk and do your
homework. If you have trouble ask Aniki to help you,
okay?”

Ian gave
them both Soulful Puppy-Dog Eyes(TM) that he had inherited from his father so
well. “But Aniki said we would go for burgers…”

Kagome
laughed and rolled her eyes. “Well, I don’t think it would be a good idea for
you and Aniki to leave the office right now, sweetie.
Why don’t you and Aniki pick something out of a
take-away menu and call to have it delivered?”

“Mommy,
were those humans bad people?” the pup asked suddenly.

Her face
softened and Yukio saw her smooth back Ian’s silver hair. “I don’t know,
sweetheart. That’s why Daddy had you and Aniki come
here.”

“So we
could protect you Mommy?”

His mother
smiled gently. “Exactly, sweetheart.”

Yukio
rubbed his hands together and sat next to his little brother. “Okay, class=SpellE>otouto. I don’t know about you but I guard better on a full
stomach. What’s say we order a pizza?”

Ian screwed
up his little nose. “I wanted a burger.”

“Here.
There’s a new delivery service that picks up food from local restaurants,”
Kagome said, handing him a pamphlet for a business that called itself ‘Menus to
Go.’ “I think Hometown Burgers is one of the places on
their list.”

“Cool!” Ian
enthused, practically ripping the brochure from his hands. “Whee!
I want a Super Burger with cheese and onions. And curly
fries. And a coke. Vanilla
Coke.”

“class=SpellE>Heh, you don’t want much do you?” he mused, smiling.

Their
mother snickered and gave him a pat on his shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it. I
need to get back to work.” She kissed Ian on the cheek. “Love you both.”

“Love you,
Mommy.”

“I love you
too, Okaa-san.”

“Let me
know if your father gets here before I’m finished seeing patients.”

“I will,”
he promised.

She gave
him a final smile and wave, then left the office. He
took the menu from Ian and leafed through it.

“Okay, one
Super Burger with cheese and onions. What kind of cheese? Yellow
American, Swiss, Cheddar, Colby or Pepper-Jack?”

class=GramE>“Ummm. Cheddar.”

“Cheddar it
is.”

“What are
you gonna get, Aniki?”

class=GramE>“Hmmmm. I think I’m class=SpellE>gonna order their Double Cheeseburger with mushrooms and Swiss
cheese.”

class=GramE>“Mushrooms? Yuck!”

“Hey, don’t
knock mushrooms, otouto.”

Ian made a
face. “They’re all squishy and icky. And my teacher tells us they’re related
to… to… what’s the green stuff that grows on trees?”

“Fungus,”
he supplied, suppressing a grin.

“Yeah,
they’re related to that stuff.”

“Hey, some
fungus can taste very good,” he corrected, waggling his eyebrows and licking
his lips.

“That’s
gross.”

Yukio lost
his battle and laughed out loud.

Two hours
later they were sitting in the office with their mother, office hours were over,
the rest of the staff had gone home for the evening, Ian
doing his homework, when Inuyasha walked in. He was dressed in his customary
jeans, casual shirt, and Birkenstocks and he carried something in his left hand.

class=GramE>“Inuyasha.” “Otou-san.” class=GramE>“Daddy!” They all greeted at once.

“They
followed you,” his father announced without preamble, placing the items in his
hand on the desk.

An
intricately beaded wampum belt and a beautiful hand-tooled woman’s silver hair clasp
decorated with turquoise and carnelian now lay on the blotter.

“Those were
on the windshield of the Subaru, tucked under the wiper,” he clarified.

Yukio
whistled softly. “Now I am very, very glad I came here instead of going home.”

Inuyasha
nodded. “You would have led them right to our front door.”

Ian picked
up the wampum belt. “What are these, Daddy?”

“That’s a
wampum belt, Ian,” Inuyasha explained. “Some Native people make them and use
them for decoration or money.”

“Money?”
the pup repeated. “Funny money.”

“The other
is jewelry for a lady’s hair,” Yukio added. “But the Natives around here don’t
make things like that. Jewelry like that comes from Natives far to the south.”

“American
Southwest would be my guess. Confirms what you said about two being Cree and
two being different.”

“Yeah, but
why would they leave them on the car?” he asked.

“They’re
peace offerings. They’re telling us that they don’t mean any harm and they want
to talk. Whatever it is must be important. That wampum is valuable, the beadwork
is exquisite, and my guess is this silver is sterling with genuine turquoise
and carnelian. Whatever it is they want from us, it must be big because they’re
willing to give up wealth for it,” Kagome answered, picking up the clasp.

“And many
of those people don’t have much to begin with,” he sighed. “Now I feel bad.”

“Don’t. You
didn’t know what they were after. They could have been carrying weapons,” his
father insisted.

“Not
firearms. I didn’t smell any gunpowder.”

class=GramE>“Doesn’t matter.”

“Did they
try to talk to you at all, Yukio?” his mother asked.

He shook
his head. “Not really, but then again I didn’t give them much of a chance to
say anything.”

“You did
the right thing,” Inuyasha repeated. “You didn’t know them and it was best not
to risk the pup.”

He nodded.
“That was my thought. They weren’t particularly threatening, but they weren’t
obviously friendly either. The two across the street from me wouldn’t look me
in the eye.”

“That might
not have been what you thought it was. Some tribes view direct eye contact as
impolite,” his mother pointed-out.

“Whatever
the reason, they made me very nervous. I may not have known them, but they knew
me. They knew what I was. I’ve no doubt about that,” he said with conviction.

Inuyasha
grunted in agreement and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So what do
we do now? Do we talk to them?” he asked, looking at his parents.

“If they’re
willing to leave their baubles on a car windshield, they’re probably watching.
If they come out when we try to leave, I want you to come back in here with
Kagome and Ian and lock the doors until I call for you,” Inuyasha answered
firmly.

“Okay.”

Kagome
looked at her watch. “It’s almost seven now. Should we try to go?”

class=GramE>“Yeah. Pup’s gonna be tired soon
and want to go to bed,” his father replied.

“I’m not
tired,” Ian insisted, but punctuated it with a yawn.

“Of course
you’re not, baby,” Kagome cooed, hugging the pup from behind.

“Besides,
we gotta protect Mommy.”

Inuyasha
reached out and rubbed Ian on the head. “Oyaji’s here
now, pup. You leave the protecting to me.”

Ian grinned
up at his father. “Okay.”

Taking a
deep breath, Inuyasha gave a sharp nod. “Let’s go.”

Kagome
picked up her purse while Ian repacked his book bag, and they headed out. The
sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows on the asphalt and sparsely
landscaped grounds. They weren’t two meters away from the entrance when Yukio
stopped and sniffed.

“They’re
here,” he said, casting around to track the direction of the scent. He pointed
towards the back corner of the parking lot. “Over there.”

Inuyasha
came to stand next to him and sniffed as well, his mouth flattened into a tight
line.

“Kagome,
give me the wampum and the hair thing,” his father requested, holding out his
hand.

Yukio
watched as his mother dug into her purse, pulled out the items and placed them
in Inuyasha’s palm.

“Yukio,
take them back inside. I’ll handle this.”

He agreed
and did as he was ordered, ushering his mother and little brother back into the
medical office. They locked the door, but stayed to watch the parking lot
through the glass. They saw Inuyasha stalk over to the Subaru and hop up onto
its roof, sitting with arms and legs crossed and facing the far end of the lot.
A few tense moments later, they saw movement from within a late model minivan
parked in that part of the lot and five figures emerged from the vehicle. They
waited for a few seconds, then slowly began to
approach the Subaru where Inuyasha waited.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘Five. There were four before…’ he
thought, his brow furrowed. The fifth was another woman and she was carrying
something on her back. Beside him, he heard his mother gasp.

“That’s a
cradleboard,” she breathed. “She… she’s carrying a baby!”

His mother
was out the door before he could stop her and running across the parking lot.

class=GramE>“Okaa-san! Wait!” ‘Shit!
Otou-san is going to kill me!’

********

Inuyasha
took a deep sniff as the humans got out of the minivan, smelling for anything
suspicious. There were six distinct scents: three male, two female and one pup:
a hanyou pup that smelled odd.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘Hmmm. Yukio said there were class=GramE>four, and he didn’t mention a pup. My guess is the woman
with the pup hung back the first time.’

He waited,
keeping his body still and his face expressionless, as they approached him
warily. It was easy to see which of the five were the
Cree Yukio had spoken of, and they led the small party while the others
followed, the woman with the pup bringing up the rear. They were just about to
him when Kagome blew past him in a blur of green and white.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘What the fuck?’ “class=SpellE>Oi!”

She ignored
him and headed directly for the woman with the pup.

“It’s the
baby, isn’t it?” she blurted, not even bothering with pleasantries or
introductions.

The party
stopped and stared, shocked speechless.

“Is there
something wrong? Is it sick?” she went on, her hands clasped in front of her.

class=GramE>“Oi! Kagome!” he complained. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘Damn woman and her pups!’

His
daughter Asame, the psychologist, had once tried to
explain Kagome’s penchant for pups. She had said that some women just naturally
took to child-rearing and motherhood, and had a very strong maternal instinct.
Kagome was one of those women and as such, she would always go ape-shit over a
pup. Just his luck.

“N… no…”
the woman with the pup stammered, her eyes wide.

“Kagome!”
he bellowed.

“Inuyasha,
they have a baby,” she replied in Japanese.

“I know
damn well they have a pup with them!” he yelled back in Japanese. “That’s not
the point! Get away from them now!”

“But the
baby might need medical care!”

“Get away
from them! Go back inside!”

“No! class=SpellE>Osuwari!” she commanded then frowned when nothing happened.
“Damn, I forgot that doesn’t work anymore.”

He jumped
down from the Subaru and stalked over, furious. “Damnit,
Kagome! Do as I say, bitch!”

“Don’t call
me a bitch!”

“I wouldn’t call you a bitch
of you stopped acting like one and let me protect you!”

“What’s
there to protect me from? They have a baby with them!”

“The pup
could be a ruse!” he seethed.

“Who would
use a baby as a ruse?” she countered, just as angry.

He blinked
at her in disbelief. “Uh, style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Naraku?” he reminded.

His answer
stopped her for all of a second before she was off again. “style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Besides
Naraku? No one’s used a baby like that since!”

“It’s
always smart to be cautious! Besides, that pup is a hanyou!”

She whirled
to look at the woman with the pup. “A hanyou? Why didn’t
you tell me that right away?” she demanded, rounding on him again.

“Because
you were too busy ignoring my orders!”

class=GramE>“Your orders?! Since when do you order me around?”

“When I’m
trying to protect you, bitch!”

“Stop
calling me a bitch, you stupid baka!”

class=GramE>“Baka? Me a class=SpellE>baka? Have you looked in the mirror lately?!”

“Looked in
the mirror… Oooooo, you rude jerk! class=SpellE>Baka! Baka! class=GramE>Baka!”

“Kagome-e-e-e!”
he growled warningly.

“Don’t you
use that tone with me Fushikenwa Inuyasha!”

He snarled,
baring his teeth. “I’ll use whatever tone I damn well please with you, bitch!”

“class=SpellE>Ooooo, what I wouldn’t do for a subduing spell right now!
I’d sit you so hard, there’d be a hole the size of Edmonton
in this parking lot!”

“Well too bad
you took it off me! I warned you not to! Tough luck, h!”

“style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Stop
calling me a bitch!!”

class=GramE>“Umm. Excuse me…” the Cree male interrupted tentatively.

“style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>What?!”
they both yelled in unison, then froze, realizing that
they’d been screaming at each other in Japanese for the past two minutes.

Kagome
blushed deep red. “Oh. Um, gomen nasai,”
she apologized.

He took her
embarrassment as an opportunity to shove her behind him, placing himself in the
defensive position.

“You deal
with me,” he commanded in English. “Who are you and what do you want?”

class=GramE>“Inuyasha! Don’t be rude!” he heard her scold him from
behind in Japanese.

class=GramE>“Why not? I’m a rude, stupid hanyou, aren’t I?” he shot
back, also in Japanese, noting that the Natives were becoming glassy-eyed from
all the language switching.

He was
certain she would have answered him, probably very colorfully, if Yukio hadn’t
grabbed her from behind and put a hand over her mouth.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘Oh thank god.’style='font-style:normal'> :Good pup.:

“Okaa-san,”
he heard his eldest say in soothing tones. “Otou-san is just trying to keep us
safe. It’s only natural for him to be suspicious and wary. If he wasn’t, then
he wouldn’t be fit to be Alpha.”

Thankfully,
Yukio’s words seemed to work, because he heard her settle down. ‘style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>That’s my pup. You know exactly how to
handle your mother when she’s in a snit.’

< He turned
his attention to the humans and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You
haven’t answered me,” he said firmly, switching back to English.

The Cree
male held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. “style='color:black'>Tansi,” he said in
greeting. “I am David Papin. This is my cousin Emma class=SpellE>Gladue. With us are Michael Etsitty,
Billy Redhouse, and Lori Piestewa
of the Navajo Nation. We come in peace to speak with you.”

class=GramE>“Yeah? What do you want?” he demanded. “The Navajo Nation is
down in Arizonastyle='color:black'>. That’s a long way to bring a young hanyou pup.”

class=GramE>“Hanyou?” David repeated.

“What
that pup is. The English words would be half-demon.” /p>

class=GramE>“Half-demon. Yes, the child is…”

“Coyote
is this baby’s father,” the woman with the pup interrupted. Lori he thought her
name was.

class=GramE>“Coyote?” ‘Well that
explains the odd scent.’

“Is
he sick? Is that why you wanted to talk to us? Did you find out that I’m a
pediatric hanyou doctor?” Kagome asked, steppinrwarrward to stand beside him.

The
Navajo looked nervously amongst themselves.

“The
baby is not ill,” Lori replied. “But he is the reason why we are here. We came
to ask for your help.”

“May
I see him?” Kagome requested.

The
woman with the pup nodded and turned around so that Kagome could approach the
cradleboard. He watched her undo the hide flaps to uncover the tiny pup that
lay strapped into the carrying pouch.

class=GramE>“Ohhh… kawaii.
So cute…” she started then gasped. “Kami-sama, this
baby is so young! He can’t be more than two weeks old.”

< sty style='mso-tab-count:1'> “He
was born ten days ago in my village,” one of the Navajo men, Michael,
explained.

“My
sister is fine. She is still in style='color:black'>Arizonastyle='color:black'>,” Michael answered.

class=GramE>“In style='color:black'>Arizonaclass=GramE>?
You took this pup from its mother?” he barked. “It’s too early to separate
them. The pup needs his mother’s milk.”

class=GramE>“N…no. He eats well and has gained weight since he was
born,” Lori replied tentatively.

“Then
what’s…”

“Let’s
go inside,” he interrupted, uncomfortable with having an unconcealed hanyou
infant out in the open, sunset or no sunset.

Kagome
readily agreed and began leading the way back to the medical office. “Yes. We
should get him inside. It’s no good for a hanyou or youkai to be out without a
concealment spell.”

“Concealment
spell?” Michael asked.

“An
illusion to hide the hanyou features like his ears,” Kagome explained. “All
hanyous and full demons living in this age need one in order to blend in.”

“Blend
in? You mean, you don’t look the way that you do?”
Billy asked, speaking for the first time.

“Well,
I don’t have one, but that’s because I’m human. Inuyasha and Yukio, however…”

“I
can see through it a little,” Emma admitted. “They… shimmer. Their hair is…
white?”

class=GramE>“Sort of. It’s more silver than white. You must have some
Talent if you can see through the spell a little bit,” Kagome commented.

“I…
I don’t know,” Emma said.

“It’s
not unusual,” his mate reassured her. “Lots of people have Talent in one form
or another.”

They
had reached the door of the medical office. Ian was standing inside the
building, his small hands pressed to the glass of the door. The pup stepped
back when he reached out to pull the door open, but found it was locked.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘At least they had the sense to leave the
damn door locked. Shit, Yukio left the pup alone,’ he thought, scowling.

“Damn,”
he heard Kagome curse. “I left my keys in my office. Ian, honey, open the door
please?”

He
saw the pup look wide-eyed at the humans behind them and shake his head.

“It’s
okay, sweetheart. It’s safe to open the door,” Kagome soothed.

class=GramE>“Oi, pup. Open the door,” he
ordered. :Obey Leader-male.:

Ian
didn’t look convinced but obeyed, reaching up to press on the door handle and
open it. He slipped his hand into the open crack and pulled the door the rest
of the way open to let them in.

class=GramE>:Good pup,: he praised as Ian ran to his side and hid behind
him.

“Come
this way, please,” Kagome said to their ‘guests’ as she led the way back into
her office.

He
waited until they were all in before closing the door and making sure it was
still locked behind him. Yukio fell in beside him as they took up the rear, and
he saw his eldest give him an apologetic look.

class=GramE>:Pup sorry,: Yukio said, then added in Japanese, “She just
ran out.”

“It’s
okay,” he replied in Japanese. “No one can control your mother when she sets
her mind on something.”

Once
in the rear of the building, Kagome detoured from her office, after picking up
her keys, and opted instead to bring their group to the staff lunch room
because it was larger and had a table with a number of chairs.

“Please
sit down. Would you like something to drink?” his mate asked politely.

“We
are fine, thank you,” the male Cree, David, replied.

“I’ll
get water for all of us just in case,” she said, opening the refrigerator in
the room and pulling out a pitcher to fill with ice water. “In the meantime,
I’ll introduce myself. I’m Kagome Fushikenwa, and this is my mate Inuyasha, and
my sons Yukio and Ian. Ian is the one hiding behind his father.”

“We
are pleased to meet all of you and glad that you agreed to speak with us,”
David replied.

“Yes,
we are sorry that we caused you distress earlier today, and apologize for
anything we may have done to upset you,” Michael added.

“It
would have been better if just one of you had come at first. We are, by nature,
a very protective and suspicious race,” Yukio explained.

“That
had been the initial plan, however, it didn’t quite work out that way,” the
female Cree, Emma, answered.

“If
the woman carrying the pup had come alone, I wouldn’t have felt so threatened,”
Yukio added.

Inuyasha
snorted. “What is it with you two? You automatically assume that a pup being
present means there isn’t a threat! It’s the oldest trick there is! Pretend to
be something helpless then turn around and style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>eat whatever it is that comes along
to help!”

“Hmmm,
that’s funny. I thought the oldest trick there is was a woman dropping her
kimono to distract the man and get him to let down his guard,” Kagome quipped
back in Japanese as she placed the pitcher of ice water and a stack of plastic
cups on the table.

Yukio
choked and shook his head.

“class=SpellE>Feh!” he sniffed, grumbling.

The
one carrying the pup took the carrier off her back and lifted the pup out of
it. Now in the light it was easy to see his hanyou features. The pup had puppy
ears just like most canine-youkai/human crosses and medium grey hair, and he
had big amber eyes that were more brown than gold. The rest of him was hard to
see because they had him wrapped up in a multi-colored blanket and what looked
like one of those one-piece outfits for newborns.

style='color:black'> ‘Damn,
it’s tiny. What the hell were they thinking!?’

As
soon as he was taken from his carrier, the pup started wailing. The woman tried
to settle him but he refused to be comforted.

class=GramE>‘Scared.style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'> Confused. class=GramE>Missing his mother. These stupid humans haven’t got a clue.’

When
the pup kept crying, Kagome opened her arms and reached for it.

“Here,
I’ll take him. I’ve had lots of practice with hanyou babies,” she offered.

The
Native woman handed Kagome the pup and she held it close. His heart filled with
pride when he heard her bark softly, telling the pup in a language he was born
knowing that he was safe and no one would hurt him. The pup responded by
ceasing his wails, although he kept up the small, hiccupping whines.

“How
did you do that?” the woman asked, amazed.

“All
canine-youkai and hanyous are born knowing the basics of canine language. I
told him that he was safe and no one would hurt him. He’s also missing his
mother. Canine-hanyous imprint on their mother’s scent within a few hours of
birth. He knows none of you are her and that she isn’t here. He’s
understandably frightened and confused,” Kagome explained, then
frowned when the pup started to root at her chest and mewl pitifully.

style='color:black'> ‘He’s
hungry…’

“He’s
also hungry,” she noted, giving voice to his thoughts.

The
woman… Lori, he reminded himself, rummaged in her bag, and pulled out a bottle.

“We’ve
been feeding him this.”

“Hmmm,
do you have the original can or jar?” Kagome asked, looking at the milky liquid
in the bottle.

“Yes,”
Lori answered, holding out a brightly colored can with a drawing of a pup on
the front.

Kagome
took it from her and read the ingredients. “Hmmm. This
is no good. Hanyou babies have different nutritional requirements than human
ones. This formula has too much wheat gluten in it and not enough protein. It’s
likely to give him terrible gas as well.”

Lori
nodded. “He… he has been unhappy.”

“Colicky?”

“Yes.”

Kagome
nodded. “I’m not surprised. Yukio, sweetheart, could you please mix up a cup of
Mammalian Han-i-lac for me? There should be a box of
powder in the cupboard there.”

He
saw his eldest nod, go to the cabinet his mate had indicated, and pull out a
box of instant formula for pups. He frowned as he watched Yukio mix the formula
with warm water and put it in a bottle that mimicked a teat. Pups should have
their mothers’ milk, especially ones that young.

“Why
isthe the pup with its mother? Why didn’t she come too?” he asked, sitting
cross-legged on the table.

He
didn’t give a shit about manners right now because he was putting two-and-two
together and he didn’t like the “four” he got very much. Ian took the chair
behind him, still hiding from view as much as possible.

Once
again the Navajos looked uncomfortable, and the feeling that his “four” was
really going to make him angry increased.

“We
thought it would be better if she stayed at home. We hoped it would help… ease
the separation,” the one called Michael explained tentatively.

“Ease
the separation?” Kagome repeated, feeding the pup with the bottle.

Michael
cleared his throat nervously. “Yes. We… we are here to ask you to take this child
and raise it.”

He
sputtered. “Wh… what?”

:1'> Kagome
echoed him with a similar gasp. “Excuse me?”

“You’re
taking the pup away from his mother?” Yukio blurted.

“You
want us to adopt him?” Kagome asked, aghast. “Why?”

The
sudden upset in the room made the pup stop eating and begin to cry. Ian jumped
off the chair he was sitting on and crawled under the table. Kagome struggled
to comfort the pup and settle him back down to eat. He turned to the one called
Michael and glared.

“Explain
yourself. What do you mean? Why did you take this pup away from his mother?”

He
saw the man swallow hard. “The child is, as you called him, a hanyou. In my
tribe, he is a witch child because his father is believed to be a class=SpellE>Skinwalker.”

“class=SpellE>Skinwalker?” he repeated.

class=GramE>“A witch. An evil witch who puts on the skins of animals and
casts spells on unsuspecting victims. They can shape-shift and take the form of
any animal or person they want,” the other Navajo male, Billy, answered.

He
snorted. “This pup’s father is definitely a youkai. Youkai may have powers but
they’re not witches.”

“You
said his father was Coyote,” Kagome added.

“Yes,”
Michael agreed. “But in my tribe there is coyote, who can be a class=SpellE>Skinwalker, and Old Man Coyote who is one of the Original
People and is very powerful. Coyote can bring both evil and good, but He is a
trickster and usually brings more bad luck than fortune. My people go to great
lengths to avoid coyote tracks and dens so as not to touch anything that might
be His.”

“So
this mating is not looked on with much favor,” Kagome commented.

Michael
shook his head. “There are those, like my father, who believe my sister was
tricked by a Skinwalker into bearing his witch child.
There are others who believe that Old Man Coyote is the father and fear He will
bring bad luck to our people. My grandmother tells a tale handed down to her
from her grandmother of a… a hanyou child born to the People. The girl’s father
killed it, and Coyote responded by slaughtering the sheep and burning all the
crops so hundreds of the People starved. No one wants a witch child in the
village, but they are afraid to kill it. Still, my father almost killed him on
the night he was born and he has said that my sister cannot keep him.”

“Why
us?” he demanded.

Michael
looked to David who nodded. “Michael and I go to the same college. One night we
went out drinking and he told me about his sister’s pregnancy. I remembered
that my kin in Albertastyle='color:black'> told tales of a family of half-dogs that lived there so I
told Michael that maybe my relatives could help his sister. When the baby was
born and Michael called me to tell me that his father was going to either kill
the baby or force his sister out, I contacted my cousins living up here.”

The
Cree woman nodded. “My grandfather was Joseph Talking-Wolf.”

Kagome
looked at her. “I thought your face looked slightly familiar. Your grandfather
was a good man.”

Emma
lowered her eyes. “Thank you. He had many good things to say about you and your
tribe.”

He
heard Yukio snicker at the word ‘tribe.’

class=GramE>“Tribe? Well, we do have quite a tribe don’t we?” Kagome
teased him lightly.

“class=SpellE>Feh,” he answered.

“But
there is one thing I don’t understand. If I remember correctly, the Navajo
trace lineage through the mother’s line. Ultimately, the one who would have the
power to decide whether the baby can stay in the village or not is his mother.”

Michael
cleared his throat and Inuyasha knew that another bomb was about to be dropped.

“That
is true. However, my sister is only fifteen.”

class=GramE>“Fifteen!” Kagome gasped. “Oh kami-sama…”

“Our
mother is dead so she can’t speak for the child. I know my grandmother would do
it, but her health is frail and the baby would only be safe until she died or
until the other villagers decided that keeping him is too great a risk.”

“Where
is the pup’s father in all of this?” Yukio asked.

“Fifteen…
Was she… was she violated by this youkai?” Kagome interrupted in a small voice.

“No.
Tricked, perhaps, but not forced,” the Navajo assured them.

Kagome
sighed with relief. “Well, that’s something at least. Still, what does he think
a you your father making your sister give up the baby?”

“We
don’t know. Sara told me she hasn’t seen him in over two months,” Michael
replied.

“That’s
impossible. No youkai would abandon his pup if it wasn’t rape,” he insisted.

“At
least, not in this day and age,” Kagome added. “Something isn’t right here.”

“What
do you mean?” Lori asked.

Kagome
looked down at the pup who was now sleeping in her
arms. He’d forgotten how content she looked when holding a pup.

“Well,
first of all, most canine-youkai clans are monogamous. They take one mate for
life and when that mate dies, then they can mate again if they so choose.”

He
knew she had added the last bit for Yukio’s benefit because their eldest had
been so reluctant in pursuing another mate since the death of his first.

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>‘Not that I blame him after what Miaka put
him through,’ he thought dourly.

“I
admit that I don’t know much about Coyote-youkai but I haven’t heanytanything
about them not being monogamous,” Kagome continued. “If this youkai has
taken your sister for a mate then he style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>should be very possessive and
protective of her. I’m assuming he knew he was going to be a father.”

The
Navajo looked blankly at each other, but he scowled. “He knew. She wouldn’t
have been able to keep it from him.”

“So
something must have happened to the father otherwise he would have been present
at the birth,” Kagome noted.

“Him
or a member of his family so they could lay claim to the pup,” he confirmed.

“Lay
claim?” Lori questioned.

“That’s
the other thing that really bothers me about this. If the father couldn’t be
present, then where is the rest of his family? It’s not like any youkai clan to
let a hanyou baby go unclaimed.”

“Why?”
Michael asked.

“Because
in this age, babies like this one are highly prized. Many youkai clans are
facing extinction and the only way to save their race is to interbreed with
humans. There was a time when youkai were more plentiful that hanyous would be
hunted and killed, but it’s not that way anymore. Someone from the father’s
family should have come to claim the baby and take him, and your
sister, if your village was a threat to them. The very fact that no one has
come is highly unusual and makes me very worried,” Kagome explained.

“So
you think something happened to Coyote?” Billy questioned.

“It
certainly seems that way. Something must have happened to keep him from being
there when the baby was born,” Kagome answered. “Inuyaswe hwe haven’t heard of
any youkai being killed in style='color:black'>Americastyle='color:black'>, have we?”

He
shook his head. “No. Not recently.”

“class=SpellE>Hmmmm…”

“Then
Coyote or his family must not want the baby then,” Michael concluded. “Does
that mean you will take him?”

“No,”
Kagome answered before he could open his mouth.