~Their Salvation~

~Chapter 49~

"Are we there yet?" Kaida asked for the hundredth time.

"Enough Kaida!" Shippō snapped making her hunker down.

"Y-Yes papa." She muttered. Yōki glanced over at the kit, then the fox Inuyasha called a friend. He closed his eyes letting out a gentle breath.

"Kaida." Kaida looked over curiously.

"Hmm?" She hummed. Shippō glanced over, he hated to admit it, but he was slowly trusting Yōki. He's saved Hana's life multiple times, and he was good with Kaida, but he still was a tad unease with the idea of this thing controlling his friend.

"Come here." Kaida tilted her head, jumped off of her father's shoulder, and onto Yōki's. Yōki picked her up and put her on his head making her giggle and start petting his ears.

"Lucky, I wish I had fluffy ears too!" She giggled with a bright smile. Yōki smiled gently looking up at her yellow aura. Yellow, to him it was bright, energized, creative, and happy.

"Who knew a big bad yōkai could be so gentle with a baby kit, hmm?" Hana teased in a gentle tone making Yōki glance over. He let one of his hands leave Kaida's side knowing one hand was enough to steady her as he reached over for Hana's hand. She smiled blushing a little as she took his hand in her own, it was warm. Aia glanced over at this, they both had a soft tint of red on their cheeks.

"Hmm, I wonder what happened when we were resting. Hmm, Kaito?" She teased sending her brother a grin. Kaito chuckled as Hana and Yōki glanced over at the two.

"I wonder as well, sister." Kaito commented glancing at the two with a smug look. Hana tilted her head confused, Yōki however, knew what they were doing. He merely looked away closing his eyes feeling a twinge of pride. Sesshomaru glanced back for a moment seeing Yōki's expression, his eyes narrowed a little, but he looked away not wanting to start anything as of now. After a while longer, Hana flinched making Yōki's gaze snap to her. She stared ahead, then wore a confused look.

"You sense that, Kaito?" Aia asked.

"Yes." Kaito muttered. At least Hana knew she wasn't going crazy, perks of having a demon slayer and monk as a friend she supposed.

"It's up ahead." Hana muttered. Yōki smiled a little at this.

"You're getting better at this, Kichōna." He complimented making Hana look up at him.

"It's her. Hana, go in front, she'll want to speak to you before any of us." Sesshomaru said making Hana nod and let Yōki's hand go trotting ahead.

"Do you think she's pretty?" Kaida asked.

"Possibly." Yōki responded entertaining the kit.

"I hope she likes us, I love making new friends! I remember going with papa to another village and the humans were scared of me, but I gave them flowers so they liked me after that. Oh! And we visited the wolves, papa's friend being the alpha, and they weren't too sure about me but later they started playing with me." Kaida went on and on. Yōki, surprisingly, didn't feel annoyed by her. He actually liked her company, maybe it was due to the fact Inuyasha did as well. Either way, he also felt protective of her, she was a baby kit just as Hana pointed out. Anyone could only guess it was parental instincts. Hana perked up, then trotted ahead even further making Yōki grow nervous. He grew a little faster keeping up with her just in case. Soon Yōki, Hana, and Kaida broke through a break in the forest, their eyes widening. Soon the others caught up, all but Sesshomaru were soon in awe.

"Whoa." Aia whispered. It looked too beautiful to be real. Hana looked around, then smiled brightly. She felt at home here, she didn't know why. Hana ran ahead of them looking around gleefully, Yōki went to say something but Sesshomaru quickly held up a hand silencing him.