Disclaimer: Own InuYasha? Me? Don't think so.

It had been another long day of hunting down jewel shards. Everyone was tired and needed to rest, but what they really needed was to find a hot spring, and fast.

Around mid-morning Kagome had sensed a shard to the east of where they were. They pursued it until they came upon the most disgusting youkai they had ever come across yet. It was oozing a thick, green, noxious mucous from every pore of it's bulbous body. No one knew what it was, but the jewel shard was buried in the center of one slimy nostril. All anyone could think was that it looked like a sick persons nose had exploded.

It must have sensed the shards that she carried because it turned what they guessed to be its head in Kagome's direction. When it moved, it made a nasty squelchy noise with every step, or slither it took.

'Give me the shards!' it gurgled, reaching what they supposed was a hand in Kagome's direction.

The first thing that came to Kagome's mind was, "That thing is not going to touch me!" Without thinking any further, she pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back, took aim and fired at the oozing monstrosity in front of her.

Sango screamed "NO!" just as she let her arrow loose. Having just remembered what type of demon it was, Sango was too late in issuing her warning to halt Kagome's actions.

What happened next was totally unexpected. As soon as the arrow pierced its seeping hide, the youkai explode with a loud bang. Everyone was thrown back from the force of the blast. When the dust had settled, they were sprawled in the muck that had been the Murk demon. The only one that was left standing was Inuyasha, and that was not a good thing, in any way. When the others looked upon him, there was a mixture of shock and amusement on their faces. He had gotten the worst of the blast. There stood Inuyasha, covered the demons deleterious ooze.

Inuyasha was steaming! Of everyone, why did he have to be the one standing directly behind the Murk demon? He narrowed his eyes at Kagome giving her one of his more menacing looks, thanks to her he was now coveredfrom head to toe in what looked like big globs of slimy green boogers. His hair even had a light green cast to it. He needed to get this murky muck off of him as soon as possible. No telling what would happen if it was allowed to dry on them. Giving Kagome another scathing glare, he turned on his heel and he stalked off in the direction of the nearest hot spring that he could scent.

Kagome was ready to laugh at what happened to Inuyasha, he looked so festive in his fire rat robe covered in green slime. Just as she was about to let go, he glared at her with such fierceness that it was like the laughter was pulled right out of her. Before she could say a word to him, he walked off not even telling them where he was going. At this time, Shippo came out of the bushes with Kirara; luckily they were not hit by the ooze.

'Wow, he didn't even say anything about the mess you made on him Kagome. He must be really angry to not even call you any names.'

'Yea, I know,' she said while looking down at the kitsune.

'Maybe we should follow him; you know he doesn't think straight when he's angry.'

Miroku thought about this for a moment. 'That may be a good idea Sango. We need to make sure that he is okay. Maybe he can help us find someplace to wash this stuff off of ourselves.'

Just as Miroku finished his sentence, the hanyou in question came stomping out of the forest.

'Get your asses in gear and let's go! I need to get this fucking shit off me as soon as possible. I can't smell anything beyond this shit!'

It's been about an hour since they started looking for a hot spring. The sun was just starting to set when Inuyasha stopped and turned to them. They were in a small clearing.

'We'll camp here for the night.' Everyone started to groan because they thought that he had been looking for some place to clean up, not spend the night. 'There's a hot spring about twenty yards that way.' He pointed to an overgrown path that would be overlooked if you didn't know what you were looking for. 'The girls can go first; I'll watch the pervert so that he doesn't peak.'

'I am soooo misunderstood.' Miroku mumbled.

'Yea right pervert! You peak at us every chance that you get when Inuyasha's not around to keep you in line. If I see even one of your beady little eyes, I'll hit you so hard with Hiraikus that you will see stars for the rest of the week!'

'You won't have to do that Sango. Inuyasha will make sure that he stays put. Come on, you to Shippo, let's go get washed.'