Sango probed the fire in the center of Keade’s hut, Shippo fiddled with a few of Kagome’s coloring sticks, and Miroku looked deep in thought, his shoulders tensed tightly, and his eyes unreadable.

“Houshi?”

“Yes, Sango?”

“InuYasha has been gone for awhile now, should we go check on him?” Sango asked.

“Tis not our duty to go check on the young hanyou, at this current moment.” Sango looked at the elderly miko. “He shall be back quite soon.”

“I’m just worried…” Sango sighed. She knew he had gone to take another bath, due to her persistence, because he stilled smelled like dead youkai.

“Sango I assume InuYasha is just taking his time.” Miroku said. “Now don’t get any ideas of going to go…”

“Houshi! I’m not a hentai like you!” Sango huffed. She felt her face go hot, why would she go peek on InuYasha? Sango narrowed her eyes at Miroku. “You have a disturbing mind sometimes.” Miroku smiled innocently.

“What are you guys talking about?” Shippo asked. Both Miroku and Sango stiffened.

“Nothing your small kitsune mind needs to know yet.” Miroku smiled.

“Yea right.” Shippo mumbled and went back to his drawing. Sango gave Miroku an evil look.

“You can’t keep your mouth shut around children, can you?” Sango smirked. Kirara suddenly meowed and rubbed Sango’s leg. “What is it Kirara?”

“I feel InuYasha’s youki.” Miroku said, “Must be…”

“ARRGGHHH!”

Miroku and Sango froze. Sango felt every nerve shot up her spine.

“That sounded like InuYasha!” Keade cried.

Sango grabbed her Hiraikotsu and raced out the flap in the doorway with Kirara at her heels. Sango looked around drastically, her keen senses scouting the village area. InuYasha’s youki was the only youki around, indicating he was alone. But what could…?

“Sango!” Miroku came racing up, his staff at ready. Sango looked around for her hanyou companion. Finding him no where on the ground, she shot her head up in the direction of the sky. Sango felt her stomach do a tumble.

There was InuYasha in the night sky, his eyes shut tightly, and his mouth opened and screaming. His wings beat frantically, but were faulty, they gave in and he started to plunge. 

“Kirara go!” Sango jumped on her faithful youkai cat as the she transformed into her larger form. Kirara shot up into the sky towards the plummeting Inu youkai.

Sango pulled Kirara under the spot and stretched her arms out, snatching InuYasha’s arm. She wasn’t prepared for his weight and the momentum of gravity pulling on him.

"UGH!” Sango hissed, straining her muscles to keep a hold on his sweating, bony arm. “Kirara up!”

The youkai cat brought her strength in her flight, making it easier for Sango to pull InuYasha onto Kirara’s back. Sango wrapped her arms around InuYasha’s waist as Kirara started towards the ground. 

“Sango!” Miroku cried. He raced towards them, with Shippo and Keade in tow. Shippo raced up to the spot where Kirara had just landed.

Sango, clutching InuYasha tightly, swung herself off the youkai cats back.. InuYasha was limp, his face covered in sweat.

“Sango, what happened!?” Miroku shouted as he raced up.

“I don’t know, just help me!” Sango snapped. Miroku grabbed InuYasha’s ankles and lifted him up as Sango pulled her hands under InuYasha’s arms.

“It hurts…” Sango heard InuYasha mumble.

“Keade-san, we need herbs!” Miroku shouted at the elderly miko. Keade slowly nodded and went back into her hut. Just as Miroku and Sango had gotten closer to Keade’s hut, InuYasha screamed.

He thrashed widely in Sango’s arms, causing her to drop him. His legs kicked out, hitting Miroku square in the back. Miroku hit the ground hard, as he wasn’t expecting it.

“InuYasha!” Sango cried. He wasn’t listening, his legs and arms thrashed widely on the ground. His face and head was swinging from side to side, sweating, crying, Sango couldn’t tell which. She could tell he was in extreme agony.

“InuYasha stop!” Sango cried again. He didn’t listen, his claws slashing, sawing the ground, his red eyes snapped open, and his mouth was wide in a silent scream.

“InuYasha!” Sango grabbed one of his flailing arms and held it with all her strength to the ground. But her mere human strength was no match for a transformed InuYasha in severe pain.

“It hurts! IT HURTS!!!” InuYasha screamed, his arm heaving her a good four feet away. Miroku recovered form the kick and pulled his staff on to InuYasha’s squirming body.

“URG!” Miroku struggled on his friends’ body. “InuYasha, what hurts!?”

“WINGS!! URG!” InuYasha said, as he tried to flip on to his stomach. Sango got up and rushed towards the two struggling men, one trying to get away from the pain, the other trying to help.

Sango grabbed one of InuYasha’s legs, feeling his foot heel slam into her face, hard.

“Make it stop!!!”  InuYasha’s voice screamed. He squirmed like a worm on the ground, trying to get out of his friends vice like grip.

“InuYasha we’re trying to help!” Sango yelled. Shippo and Kirara watched the entire scuffle with wide, fearful eyes.

“InuYasha stop! We have to get you to Keade-san’s hut!” Miroku bellowed.

“NO! NO! Make it stop!!!” Sango managed to get a good look at what had InuYasha in such pain.

InuYasha’s wings were melting, the black leather skin melting inward on it self, coming from the edge and degenerating towards InuYasha’s back. They were rapidly disappearing. Blood was coming from InuYasha’s back, as if he had tried to rip them from his spine. Sango realized, Miroku and she were in a pool of blood that was slowly getting bigger.

“InuYasha…forgive me.” Miroku said, slapping a sutra on InuYasha’s lower back to avoid more damage.

InuYasha’s body immediately stopped moving, his breathe coming out in wheezes, and whimpered.

“Hurry!” Sango grabbed to him immobile arms and they both quickly carried the immobilized hanyou into the waiting hut.

“Put him on his stomach slowly.” Keade said, as she gathered her herbs and some of Kagome’s supplies that the young miko had left behind. Miroku and Sango slowly put the whimpering Inu youkai down on his stomach near the warmth of the fire. InuYasha suddenly let out a scream of pain and struggled against the spell that had him bound.

“No…” InuYasha whined. His face scrunched tightly, sweating broke down his brow. He whimpered, then cursed, and screamed as the wings degenerated more before all of their eyes.

“InuYasha…” Shippo mumbled. Kirara meowed and rubbed her soft body to InuYasha’s sweating face. She curled into a ball between his chin and shoulders, purring to soothe him.

“Make it stop…please.” InuYasha begged. Sango felt a lump come up her throat.

“Put this too his mouth, it will soothe his muscles so he won’t thrash around as much.” Keade handed Sango a cup of herbal tea. “Houshi-sama, take that sutra off his back, you ‘ear?”

Miroku reluctantly removed the spell as Sango had just finished tilting the liquid down InuYasha’s throat. InuYasha’s body shook violently, but his face started to slack. His breathe came out quick and loud, indicating he was starting to fall asleep.

Miroku looked up at Sango. “Sango, we need to…”

“I know…lets make this quick.” Sango took a part of the wing that had not been melting and slowly started to pull it towards her, as Miroku on the other side did the same, slowly and steadily.

InuYasha screamed. “STOP, STOP, STOP!!!” But the herbal tea had done its job, and had soothed his body down to minimum movement. Kirara curled closer to his neck to keep him from thrashing his head.

Sango felt the wing loosen towards her and she finally pulled it away from InuYasha’s back. Where they had both grown from was now a open wound pumping out blood.

“Ouch, shit!” Sango hissed dropping the wing as its own blood melted the black leather skin, leaving nothing but black dust at Sango’s feet.

Miroku was shaking his hand rapidly as the wing he had pulled out melted into the same pile of dist. For a second, nothing but silence embedded them all.

“We better patch his back..” Miroku slowly sighed. Numbly, Sango nodded.

_~~~~~~~_

Shippo sat by InuYasha, his small tail flickering every minute. Miroku and Sango had gone to take care of some youkai business, leaving him with InuYasha, alone.

The hanyou’s breathe came out cracked, and Shippo had to make sure he was alright every time he heard him breathe irregularly. Keade was taking care of a sick child in another hut.

“InuYasha…” Shippo let the tears fall. The obnoxious, loud-mouth, mean hanyou was what he missed. Shippo looked at InuYasha’s bandaged back; some of the blood had started to leak through the white bandages.

Knowing nothing about helping with injuries, Shippo sat there, hoping for InuYasha to finally wake up.

Miroku had scooped up of what was left of InuYasha’s wings and put them in a leather pouch. Placing a sutra over the bag, he had buried it somewhere in InuYasha’s forest. Burying the last evidence of Inuhidoi’s existence.

InuYasha groaned, startling Shippo.

“InuYasha, are you okay?” Shippo asked.

“Fine…” he said groggily. The larger hanyou slowly sat up, hissing when his back bent.

“Be careful…” Shippo said, “The wound on your back hasn’t healed just yet.”

“Oh…” InuYasha brought his hand to his head. “Fucking headache…”

Shippo bowed his head and brought over a cooked fish that he had been making for himself, but the kitsune handed it to InuYasha.

“Shippo…this is yours.” InuYasha frowned.

“I can catch another one, and besides, you haven’t eaten in nearly a thirty days, I can wait.” Shippo sighed. InuYasha gave a small nod to the kitsune and took the stick that contained the fish.

Shippo watched as InuYasha eat, something came over the hanyou’s face that made Shippo’s heart flutter. On InuYasha’s face was relief, relief for food, Shippo could tell the hanyou was savoring the taste and not shoving it down like he usually did.

InuYasha finished the fish and looked behind them, Shippo finally looked into the deep golden eyes. No more red transformed eyes, no more purple stripes that lined his cheeks, and his claws, no more poison. It felt as if Miroku had put the pouch in its grave all the powers InuYasha had absorbed through Inuhidoi’s soul had died and gone into the grave with the pile of dust that had once been wings.

InuYasha used the wall to stand, rubbing his bandaged back as he looked around.

“They’re gone…”

“They’ll come back InuYasha…”

“No Shippo, I meant the wings. They’re gone.” InuYasha said, Shippo nodded.

“They sort of melted off with the help of Miroku and Sango.” Shippo said.

“Oh really runt?”

“Runt?” BOP! “OH! InuYasha! Wahhhh!” Shippo cried, clutching the knot on the top of his head.

“You think I didn’t hear your thoughts before I changed back?” InuYasha smirked. Shippo beamed, the old InuYasha was back.