Chapter 1 - The rule

Listen. Can you hear it?

Bull.

I know you can.

That howling song, off in the distance. . .? The cry of the wolves.

The werewolves.

Singing to their shimmering moon in the midnight sky. Barking with joy, fright, hunger-

All to their round, full moon-goddess.

You can almost see them out there- Running, jumping, playing, being.

Being wolves.

But not for long.

No.

When the moon sets on the horizon and the sun begins to rise-

They change.

Change back into humans.

And so, in that way, mortals do not see, do not fear-

Do not know.

And the wolves and humans live together peacefully.


But one rule keeps them eternally apart. For as the law of the wolves states so clearly-

`This rule is our first, and so others it shines above- No matter what, to no human give of your love.'

But, as even the singing wolves know perfectly well- Rules are meant for breaking.

*

"Damn, why do we have to live so far away from the wilderness?" a brown haired girl growled from behind the wheel of a rusty old pick up truck. "It makes the full moon such a pain in the @$$."

"Sango, you know as well as I do that if we lived too close to the woods, people would get suspicious. It's just not done these days," another werewolf yawned, peacefully laying his head against the patched seat of the car, carefully making sure that his pony-tail didn't become ruffled from his movements.

"Bite me, Miroku," Sango snarled, baring the teeth that only a few hours ago were fangs.

"With pleasure," the black haired man smirked, earning a smack in the face from the girl.

"Miroku," growled a voice from the back, "just shut up."

"Gods, Inu-Yasha. You could agree with me for ONCE," Miroku sighed in exasperation, looking back at his friend.

"I will. When you're finally right," Inu-Yasha grinned, flashing his canines. He returned his golden-eyed gaze to the window, watching the other cars-which held the additional members of the pack- trundle along behind them, back to Tokyo.

Silence eventually fell in the vehicle, only broken by the occasional grumble from Sango. Inu-Yasha closed his eyes as they made their way, allowing the rickety car to take them closer and closer to the city. Even without his eyes opened, Inu could tell they were almost there. The smells of downtown Tokyo were strong and unmistakable. Pollution, food, thousands upon thousands of dirty, disgusting humans.

Ah, home sweet home.

"At least we only HAVE to change on the full moon," Sango was still muttering to herself. "Otherwise I think I would just shoot myself. I really would."

"With what? A silver bullet?" Miroku snickered. "Poison yourself, hm?"


"KEEP YOUR frackING MOUTH SHUT," Sango barked, pulling the car into a grimy, 5 level parking lot on the outskirts of the city.

"Please," Inu-Yasha added dryly, his dog ears sore from the yelling.

The three fumbled out of the car, slowly getting used to their human bodies again.

Well, all but Inu-Yasha.


His was an ALMOST human body.

Curse that father of his, falling in love with a human. At least he got what he deserved: Banishment from the pack- only to be shot down by hunters.

`Still, it leaves me in a shootty mess,' Inu thought darkly, grumbling as he put a baseball cap on over his inhuman ears.

"Ah, is everyone here?" the long-haired pack leader, Kouga, called over the crowd assembled in the garage. "Everyone present? No one left behind?"

"Even if someone was," Kohaku, Sango's younger brother, piped up, "they wouldn't be here to answer, would they?"


A few of the "people" chuckled, but Kouga just glared, adjusting his wolf-like attire. "Shall I do a roll call, then?"

"We're all here," Inu-Yasha's half brother, Sessho-Maru, growled, flicking his long white locks over his shoulder and narrowing his golden eyes. "Just get on with it."

"Right then. Well, it's been another successful full moon. The Moon Goddess is still pleased with us, and has not taken away our beautiful wolf forms."

Kouga ignored the fact that no one was listening, and so everyone else ignored the fact that he knew. They heard this stupid speech after every outing to the national park for their transformations, after all. Having memorized it, it didn't seem particularly important to pay much attention.

"And as always, I remind everyone to be careful so as not to expose yourself to any human. They're still very superstitious, you know."

"You mean those morons still think that if we bite them, they'll take on some hideous beast form?" laughed Inu-Yasha's ex-girlfriend- and pack slut- Kikyo.

A few of the other wolves grinned in amusement.

"Yeah, the idiots just never learn," Kouga shrugged. "But anyway-"

"Could you wrap this up?" Sango asked in irritation, tapping her watch impatiently. "Some of us have school to attend, ya know." Others nodded, and a few mentioning work and chores.

Their leader stared coldly at them, but they continued their whining.

"Oh. . . All right FINE," Kouga replied through gritted teeth. "But make sure not to change too much over the next month. You never know when the Moon Goddess-"

But everyone had already left, shaking their heads and waving their hands in exasperation.

*

"Kagooooome," a little boy whined as he leaned against the doorway of the library, "can you hurry it up? We're gonna be late for school!"

"Just one second, Sota!" an excited, black haired, blue eyed teen told her brother. She walked to the check-out quickly and handed her books to an old librarian who was wearing a name tag that said `Kaede.' "I found a few new ones!"

"More books on werewolves?" Sota sighed with a roll of his eyes. "Big sister, everyone thinks your weird enough as it is. . ."

"Oh, shut up," Kagome retaliated through her smile as she slipped the books into her shoulder bag and pushed through the door to the street. "I just happen to be interested in them!"

"You think they're real, don't you?" the black haired boy smirked knowingly as he and Kag walked slowly down the crowded sidewalks of Tokyo, towards their school.

"Yeah, so? Don't you hear them at night?" The older girl shivered. "Spooky."

"Those are just real wolves!"

"I don't think so."

"What don't you think?" asked a wavy locked, brown orbed girl as she and two other teens ran up to Kagome and her brother.

"Oh! Ayumi, Eri, Yuka!" Kagome greeted the three with a nod of her head. "Nothing, it's just-"

"It's juuust," Sota interrupted, "that she found more books on werewolves at the library today."

The three other girls groaned.

"What?!" Kagome cried. "I happen to be-"

"Interested," the four chorused, bored looks on their faces as they turned to enter the large cement school with the hundreds of other talkative teens.

Kag sighed as she silently followed. What was so wrong about having a hobby, anyway?! They didn't even let her talk about it. . .

Didn't they care about what she was interested in? It didn't seem like it. God, if she could just find one person to talk to about things she liked-


She was driven out of her thoughts as she passed a white haired boy, who seemed to be arguing with a teacher about his baseball cap.

"I'm sorry," the teacher was saying, "but you know that hats are not allowed on school property-"

"Must I go through this with ever teacher?!" the boy snarled in frustration. "Look. It's an essential. I'd give you a note from my parents, but seeing as they are both DEAD, that's out of the question. My brother gave a letter explaining to the office at the beginning of the year, which you will find if you drag your lazy @$$ back there."

And with that, he slung his pack over his shoulder and stomped off, a pissed look on his face.

`What's HIS problem?' Kag thought lightly as she watched him. `It's not- - -'

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he whirled around and glared straight at her, cold furry in his- were those golden eyes?


"What are you staring at, dog?" he growled.

Kagome gaped at him before glaring back. `How rude can one boy be?!' "I wasn't staring!" the girl retorted, her frustration from her friends lacking care eating away at her- pushing her over the edge. "I just happened to glance your way! Is that a crime?!"

"It should be," the boy muttered. "Either way, you're a rude little wench, aren't you?"

"ME?! Who's the one yelling at a teacher, you bastard?! AND DON'T CALL ME NAMES!" she shrieked, smacking him across the face. Something about this idiot really ticked her off!

His eyes widened slightly at being hit.

"You're gonna pay for that one, dog," he hissed as he stalked off down the hall, leaving Kagome in a huff.

*

`Gods, I hate humans,' Inu-Yasha fumed to himself as he glared at all the teens passing him in the halls. `I can't even stand the smell of them. I think I'm going to be sick from this place. Disgusting, vile creatures. . .'

He wrenched his locker open and dumped his things inside before heading off towards his first class. `Especially that one girl in the hall. What a dog! How *dare* she. . ."

The werewolf kicked a locker, causing it to crumple around his foot; leaving a gigantic dent in the door. He stomped off before anyone noticed, however- gliding into his first hour class.

`Well. I told her she was gonna pay, and I never go back on a promise.'

He smirked to himself, already planing how to use the night's moon.

`Congrads, girly. You're on my hit-list.'

*

"Bye, Kagome!" Ayumi cried happily as the four friends parted. "See you around?"

"Yeah, I guess so!" Kagome smiled as she waved good bye, heading towards the library alone. Sota had been invited to a friend's house, so he was going straight over. Ergo, she was walking all by herself.

Not that she minded.

Being by herself just meant that she could browse the shelves for as long as she wanted without having a whiny brat complain the whole time. So, whistling cheerfully, Kagome made her way down the slowly darkening streets, unaware of a creeping shadow behind her. A shadow watching her every move-

And waiting for the moon to rise.

~*~

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