I don't own Inu Yasha, really I don't...

Father Dearest by Hika-chan Chapter 2

The tiger watched as the man cleaned the neighboring holding cell, as was her custom before she began eating she walked right up to the door and pushed to see if he remembered to lock it. She had watched him for quite some time before going to eat. Thank god they stopped trying to hide medicine in her food, they had learned by now that never worked. He spoke to her as he cleaned, it was something he always did. "So how are things in the habitat today Tora-sama? Is it anything like back home, aside from the size anyway. I noticed you got plenty of shade, and a little lake to swim in." He grinned and stopped infront of the door, looking at her. "I bet you like the live feedings more huh? Of course we can't do that after the zoo is open, too many people would freak out. Ah well, I'm done in here see you later.You are a beautiful creature you know that?" She grinned, You have no idea, she thought. He walked out of the cell he had been in, closed and locked the door and then opened the way between the one she was in and the one he had just left. As always she walked over and tested the door, then went to finish her meal. 'He would be the perfect one, all he has to do is forget one day, not that I couldn't tear down the door with my claws but then who knows what they'd do with me. Living here is actually pretty good, but there's no one else in here.' She almost would have smiled, Maybe I should get his kids too, he's always bringing them and they seem to have a good animal rapport. Besides there is the faintest bit of youkai in him, I can almost taste it... The tiger known as Shukei had been there for years. She had actually allowed herself to be caught by the zoo people. She was tired of killing poachers and such in the shrinking habitats in India, besides she was curious about how nice life was in a zoo. Being a youkai very fond of her animal form and rarely becoming human was just a coincidence. It had taken her years to learn how to control the size of her true from, which technically she still was not in. She was probably about the size of one and a half city buses, at least in the size of her body, but that was a small matter. The first thing she had done when she was put into this exhibit was carefully bury the two shikon shards she had been holding onto for so long. She knew what they were capable of, but she had little desire for power, what she wanted right now was companionship, another youkai. So when she came here she immediatly began looking for a possible companion, and she would make him. She had almost given up when he had come... and kept coming back.

***

"Well Shukei-sama, tomorrow I'll be another year older," he muttered idly in the late afternoon, looking down at her in her enclosure. He chuckled slightly, "Well see you in a few days." He held up a hand in a half wave and walked away. I will see you much sooner than that, she grinned to herself. When night fell and the zoo closed she retrieved the two shards she had for so long. She went to the door of her cage, a lock held it shut. She turned to look around grinning at the security cameras, she closed her eyes a moment, concentrating. Then the camera's smoked before falling apart with a brief burst of fire and smoke. She transformed then into her human form, tiger stripes decorating her face and some in her orange hair. A single black claw lengthened and with a swift flick of the wrist the padlock fell to the floor. She opened the gate and paused again, breaking more cameras before she opened the door to the back room where the keepers usually prepared the food. Turning back to the door she broke the handle on the one side, making it look like a break in. Walking over to a cabinet Shukei opened it and pulled out a spare shirt. Buttoning it she headed out, breaking the other handle. As she walked through the zoo camera's burst and broke around her, before she could be seen. With nothing else to attribute it to the authourities would later assume the thieves had caused a power surge of somekind. She stopped in a tree by the wall that surrounded the zoo and examined the area around her. It was still the early morning hours and she had to find some clothes. Two days later Higurashi Shinnosuke left his home, he would never return.

***

"Shukei-sama..." Kagome whispered. The others looked up at Kagome. Sango was the first to speak up. "What was that Kagome-chan?" "Before my dad dissapeared, one of the tigers went missing, Shukei- sama. Everyone always assumed that she was just stolen, but.... now that I think about it, it makes sense. Especially since all the security camera's were blown." "Security- what?" Miroku asked. "It's kind of a divination device, it records the pictures it sees so they can be watched later if no one is there." "So now we have an enemy," Inu Yasha muttered grimly. "Good now I know who to kill." "I might not be that easy Inu Yasha-sama," Myouga said from his shoulder. "I just remembered the ceremony links the one transformed to their... sire so to speak. She probably has some measure control over him, so you may have to find someway to subdue him." "You're gonna hurt dad!?" Sota squealed unhappily. Inu Yasha shook his head at the boy, "No, we're gonna save him. But if he attacks us first," he turned to Kagome as if asking for her understanding, "He might get bruised up a bit." Kagome merely looked up at the hanyou and nodded grimly.

***

The man at the newspaper stand tried not to stare at the woman as she looked at the headlines. Black clawed nails and black stripes on her face and what he could see of her arms and legs. She wore a black midrif top that hugged her body and had sleeves just past her elbows. Knee high black boots and a black miniskirt was visible from the front but there was an orange wrap (the same color of her hair) of some sort that was long in the back. Shukei flipped through the paper, thanks to Shinnosuke she was able to adapt to the modern world. She had spent far to much time in the jungle before this and she had learned how to live quite comfortably. She gave the man money for the paper and was about to turn around when arms encircled her waist. He burried his face in her hair and whispered a hello in her ear. "Did you get what you came for?" she purred. "It seems things are a bit more complicated than I thought," he explained factually. "I'd like you to come check it out, see what you think." "Oh? Something wrong?" His stripped face took on a thoughtful look, "Not quite wrong, more like.. magical, but I am not so sure. Come the house is empty you can see for yourself." "I must say I am intrigued," she grinned and the two turned away. The man watched as the two stripped people walked away, did that woman have a tail? he was almost sure he saw it peaking out from under her skirt. He shook his head and turned back to his crossword muttering, "Those cos-players get weirder every year."

------------------------------ Hika-chan: ok so.. yeah... I thought I'd put out what I had which is why this chapter is so much shorter than the last one (and most of my other chapters..). I thought I ought to give you guys something... especially since I have Absoulutely NO IDEA what I'm doing with this!! *cries* I mean seriously I am pulling a real writers block with this one, so any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated! R&R PLEASE!!!