A traveling merchant was passing through the territory of what appeared to be occupied by a very large demon. The man was on horseback, so he didn’t worry much. His stallion was small, but he was a fast little horse. The man stopped and dismounted.

“Oh, my. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that spicy beef.” He murmured to the horse, who didn’t quite care one way or the other about his master’s bowel movements.

The man walked behind a bush and squatted down. He leapt up immediately with a painful howl. He looked down to see what he had sat on. He reached into the bush and pulled out a very attractive looking bracelet. He examined it carefully.

“My, this looks old. What wonderful craftsmanship! I can get a nice sum of money for this!”

He walked over to his horse and put the bracelet in the saddlebag. Then he went back over to the bush to finish his business. One he was done, he mounted his horse and continued. He patted the stallion’s neck.

“Keep your pace steady, old boy. We’ve got a long way to go.”

The horse snorted. After 3 years, he was used to their annual 3000-mile trek from Japan to the Continent to make it to the big market sale near the Aratule Village. The horse tossed it’s head from side to side excitedly. The merchant laughed.

“I know. I want to make it there as fast as possible, too. I just hope the locals there took care of that blasted raccoon problem.”

An hour later, Kirara bounded through a field not far from where the merchant had just traveled. She was quite far from the others, but she was in heat, and Sango was used to Kirara wandering this time of the month. Kirara played for a while before yowling loudly for a mate. After 15 minutes, she stopped and began romping again. She stepped on something sharp and squeaked in discomfort. She lifted her tiny paw and hissed at the bony bracelet stuck between her little footpads. She shook her paw vigorously. The bracelet flew off and Kirara chased after it. She threw it around for a while and pounced on it playfully. After a while, she decided to go home. Another heat cycle, another failed attempt at attracting a mate. She turned to leave. She stopped and stared at the bracelet. She watched it for a long time before deciding to take it with her. She walked over to it, grabbed it in her mouth, then left.

One Week Later

The merchant had finally arrived at the Aratule Village. Though it was already dark, stands were set up everywhere with people shouting at buyers to buy an item that was positively useless. Jewelry that would make a woman younger, hats that would make a man stronger, and rat marrow that was sold as an aphrodisiac to make a mans’ erection last for days. The sad part was, people actually bought the junk. The merchant laughed to himself as he dismounted and set his own stand up. Everyone was completely unaware that a bandit was watching them. The merchant displayed all of his items, including the bracelet he was so fond of. He watched as a hooded stranger walked from stand to stand; booth to booth. The stranger was in a black cloak, his eyes and face covered by the shadow of the hood. The stranger approached his stand. The merchant greeted him with a smile.

“See anything that interests you, my friend?” He asked.

The stranger looked at the merchant’s table, shook his head and left. The merchant looked down at his table. The bracelet was gone. He looked up at the stranger, who’s pace quickened.

“THIEF! THIEF!” The merchant called frantically.

The stranger was running now. Two large men grabbed the stranger and straddled his arms just as he got to the trees.

“We got him!” One of the men yelled.

Suddenly, the cloak went limp. Them men looked at it, confused. It was empty.

“The thief has escaped!” One man yelled.

She leapt from tree to tree in the forest. She stopped on top of a large elm tree. She looked at the bracelet with a smile. She was a raccoon hanyou, about 18. She had short black hair, her bangs longer then the rest of her tresses. Her eyes were sable. Her skin pigmentation from the far corners of her eyes, to her eyebrows, to the bridge of her nose was black, creating a ‘mask’. She had round black ears on the top of her head, and a short, fluffy striped tail. She wore a forest green sleeveless top the fanned out on the bottom, and tight forest green pants. She almost looked like Robin Hood or Peter Pan. Her feet were that of a raccoon, small and furry with pink pads at the bottom. She fondled her new bracelet proudly.

“Hey, Kiachi! Come see what I’ve got!” She called.

A small, brown, bushy-tailed woodrat poked its head out from a hole in the tree. It shook its head at the bracelet.

“You’re going to get in trouble one of these days, Plentiku.” Kiachi warned.

Plentiku rolled her eyes. “Gonna lecture me again?”

Kiachi leapt onto Plentiku’s shoulder.

“I wouldn’t be lecturing you if you didn’t rob the same place over and over again!”

“It’s not my fault those humans are stupid.” She sassed.

“That’s not the point! You’re going to get caught.”

Plentiku grabbed Kiachi by the tail and flung him off. “I am so not going to get caught. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to put this away.”

Kiachi shook his head. “You’ll be sorry!” He warned.

Plentiku went to a hidden opening in the elm. Inside were rings, necklaces, cups, jewels, plates and other shiny objects. Plentiku went to drop the bracelet in, but took a second look at it. It was a nice bracelet. She was compelled to wear it. She slipped it on. She suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired. Her; A raccoon? Tired...At night?

That’s weird. She yawned to herself. Oh, well. I guess a quick nap before my nightly food raid wouldn’t hurt.

She hopped to the highest branch on the tree, and went to sleep.

Night had fallen on Inuyasha and his friends. He rested in a tree while Kagome rolled out a sleeping bag right below him.

“I hope you’re not planning on making me carry that thing.” Inuyasha growled.

Kagome ignored him completely. Inuyasha didn’t like being ignored.

“HEY! Didn’t you hear me? I said…”

“I heard you! Shut up!” Kagome spat out.

Inuyasha SURELY wasn’t expecting that. “What did you say to me?”

“You heard me!”

“Oh, yeah! Well, I’m not shutting up! Ya hear me? I’m not…”

“SIT!”

WHAM! Inuyasha missed the dirt and instead collided with a rock. He lifted his head.

“What the hell is your problem? On your period or something?”

Kagome gave Inuyasha a death stare. He put his head back down.

“Umm…post-menstrual syndrome?” He squeaked, remembering something he read in Kagome’s Health book.

Kagome just continued to glare. “Ya know, I wish you were a girl for a day! Then you’d know our problems!”

That said, she gathered her sleeping bag to go sleep elsewhere. Inuyasha grunted and went back up into his tree.

Stupid girl. He thought to himself. As if a guy doesn’t have problems. I bet our problems are worse then theirs!

Just then, Kirara walked by. Inuyasha smiled.

“Hey, Kirara. Get nailed yet?”

Kirara glared at the insensitive hanyou for a moment, dropped what she was holding, and walked away. Inuyasha looked down at the thing the cat demon was carrying. He jumped down, grabbed it, and then returned to his tree. He examined the bracelet.

“Stupid girly jewelry.” He murmured.

He didn’t know why, he didn’t even know how it happened, but the bracelet ended up on his wrist. It was a pretty cool bracelet.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome called.

Her voice snapped Inuyasha out of his daze. He sat up; his long sleeve fell over his wrist.

“WHAT!” He yelled, rather annoyed.

“Ugh, if you’re gonna have that attitude, forget it!” She snapped.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and lay back down, completely forgetting about the bracelet. He was awful tired for some reason. He fell asleep the second his head hit the branch. Upon seeing this, Kagome quietly returned her sleeping bag under the tree where Inuyasha slept. She lay down and drifted into slumber.