When the girls returned to the camp, Koga was laid out beside the fire still unconscious. Ginta and Hakkaku were waiting patiently for Inuyasha and Miroku to take their portions of the meal they prepared. Ashrah looked at them curiously; she had seen wolf demons before, but none ever this polite or obedient. Kagome inhaled deeply to the smell of fresh meat and of course ramen.

“Inuyasha! Did you cook all of this?!” Kagome exclaimed while she ogled the food in front of them.

“Keh, yeah right. Miroku made the meat. I just made my ramen!” Inuyasha said as he guarded his noodle dinner like a puppy guarding their bone.

Ashrah raised her eyebrow to him as the two girls sat around the fire and began taking their share of the meal that Miroku had so generously prepared. “What’s…. ray…. Man?” She asked dumbfounded as she looked into the cup in Inuyasha’s hand.

“Only the best food ever be made!” Inyasha exclaimed as he downed a huge bite of noodles.

“Inuyasha, why don’t you give Ashrah a bite?” Kagome had forgotten that Ashrah wasn’t used to the things of her era.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome as if she had completely lost her mind and downed another bite. “Nah uh. This is mine.”

Kagome glared at him, “Inuyasha…” She took a deep breath as Miroku, Sango and Shippo covered their ears. “SIT!”

Inuyasha crashed to the ground with his arms up in the air to save his precious ramen noodles. Kagome then took the bowl from his hands and wrapped some noodles around the fork Inuyasha was using. “Here.” She said to Ashrah as she held the fork out to her. Ashrah took a bite and fell in love with the chicken flavored noodles.

“He’s right, these ARE amazing!” She exclaimed as she downed the entire bowl before Inuyasha could get it back from her.

“What the hell?!” Inuyasha yelled as he struck Ashrah on top of the head. “That was mine!”

Ashrah stood up and got into Inuyasha’s face, “Hit me again, and you’re gonna end up like that mangy wolf over there.” Ashrah said pointing to the unconscious Koga.

“Oh yeah,” Inuyasha said like a child, “and what makes you think that you can kick my ass like you did Koga’s?”

“Kagome?” Ashrah said as she looked towards her.

Inuyasha gave Kagome a look of terror as she commanded ‘sit’ again.

Inuyasha began tugging at his subjugation beads, “Kagome! Are you ever gonna take these damn beads off of me!?”

Kagome giggled lightly, “Maybe if you stop being so rowdy.” They all laughed together as Inuyasha and Ashrah rejoined the circle of friends around the fire. As the gang was finishing their meals Koga finally began coming to.

“Koga!” Ginta exclaimed.

“We thought you were gonna be out for days.” Hakkaku added.

“What…. What happened?” Koga said drowsily. “I had the weirdest dream that there were two Inuyasha’s except… one wasn’t Inuyasha… it was a woman…”

“That wasn’t a dream ya mangy wolf.” Inuyasha said as he stood over Koga. “You got knocked out by my sister.”

The girls began giggling as they looked at Ashrah.

“What the hell?!” Koga exclaimed, “First Sesshomoru, and now you have a sister?! How many more of you stinky mutts are there?!”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t know about each other either up until a few days ago.” Ashrah said as Koga began sitting up. “Hell, I didn’t even know about Sesshomaru until yesterday. I haven’t even seen him yet.”

Kagome looked over to Koga, “Koga, would you like something to eat?”

Koga then suddenly didn’t feel all drowsy anymore as he rushed to Kagome’s side, holding both of her hands in his. “Dear sweet Kagome, I would love to eat anything that you have prepared.”

Inuyasha then got between the two, “Get your hands off of her you mangy wolf!”

“Inuyasha…” Kagome said as she sighed and shook her head.

Miroku then interrupted the two snarling rivals as he handed Koga a plate of what was left of the food he prepared. “I am afraid that it wasn’t prepared by Kagome, but will this suffice?” He asked politely.

“Um…. Yes… Thank you.” Koga said as he nodded to Miroku.

As Koga ate, Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Shippo all retired to sleep, leaving all the demons and half demons awake.

“So what are you all doing this far west anyways Inuyasha?” Koga asked as he set the plate down on the ground in front of him.

“We are following Naraku.” Inuyasha concluded matter of factly.

“You have a lead on where he is?” Ginta and Hakkaku said with excitement on their faces.

“Well… no not exactly.” Inuyasha said as he poked the fire with a stick. The smiles on the two minions faces faded quickly.

“We aren’t sure where he disappeared to… about two weeks ago we had a big battle with Naraku. He was after our father’s sword…” Ashrah held Sounga out in front of her. “Inuyasha and Kagome were both seriously injured… I managed to scatter him into pieces with Sounga, but he still managed to elude us and get away.”

Koga looked at the ground, “Hm… Naraku’s physical body cannot be destroyed unless his human heart is destroyed first.”

Ashrah raised an eyebrow to the wolf demon, “His… Human heart? You make him sound as if were a half demon like Inuyasha and I.”

“That’s because he is a half demon. But not one like us.” Inuyasha clarified. “Naraku was once a human bandit named Onigumo. He was burned terribly in a fire and was cared for by a priestess named Kikyo. He craved her so, but she was in love with a half-demon… so he called upon the demons of the land and allowed them to devour him in exchange for their power. After realizing that Onigumo was still in control, Naraku cut out his human heart and hid it somewhere in order to keep fighting without being killed.”

Koga, Ginta and Hakkaku looked at Inuyasha with sorrowful eyes. “You were the half demon she loved… weren’t you Inuyasha…”

Inuyasha nodded his head. “After being devoured by the demons, Onigumo set out for the one thing he wanted most in the world, Kikyo. He made himself look like me and attacked Kikyo… nearly killing her. But he also made himself look like Kikyo, making me believe she attacked me… Pinning us against one another. I resorted to stealing the sacred jewel of four souls to transform into a full-fledged demon. But Kikyo used her last bit of strength to pin me to the sacred tree. Then she died and was burned with the jewel.”

Ashrah could see the pain in his eyes, “And that is why you parsue Naraku with such unrelenting force.”

Inuyasha nodded.

Ashrah then looked to Koga, “Alright, so what’s your story wolf? There has to be a reason why you are in pursuit of Naraku as well.”

Koga looked up at Inuyasha’s sister. “He killed my brethren.”

Ashrah stayed quiet listening intently.

“Naraku’s incarnation Kaguara killed over two hundred of my comrades and family.” Koga said conclusively.
“Incarnation? As in, a demon he made from himself?” Ashrah asked Inuyasha.

“Yes.” Koga answered for him. “I vowed to kill that bastard for what he did to my pack.”

Ashrah looked down at the ground. “Then why don’t we all travel together in pursuit of Naraku?”

Koga shook his head. “Are you crazy?! Me travel with that flea bag mutt?! He couldn’t keep up anyways.”

“What was that wolf?” Inuyasha said as he glared at Koga.

“All I am say is…” Koga began.

“HEY!” Ashrah interrupted as Ginta and Hakkaku ran behind Ashrah out of fear of a brawl. “Together we stand a better chance of fighting Naraku and anything else he sends our way.” She thought for a moment. “And, if you stay with us you can ensure Kagome’s safety Koga.”

Koga smiled, “I never thought of it that way. Maybe we will stay with you all. At least for a little while.”