Sesshoumaru was walking though the forest on a hot summer day, Rin, Jaken and his stead followed suit.

He looked up at the sky, the clouds were fluffy and shinning brilliantly from the sun that stood and shone up above. The lush green trees provided by the forest were filling the air with the pungent aroma of summer.

The air was humid and dry, almost too thin to even breath.

As he continued his venture though the forest, patrolling his land of vermin and searching for the lowlife hanyou Naraku, he looked back over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye at his group.

Rin, now at the human age of ten, hummed merrily to herself in her new kimono, her old one had grown to small for her. He had to ask Jaken to run to the next human village to buy her a new one, it was a nice dark blue color with pink blossoms spread randomly about it.

Jaken walked beside her with Au Un following close behind them.

It had been approximately three years when this whole thing started, and it also took three years for him to fully grow his left arm back in which Inuyasha had severed a couple years back; when, Rin, at the age of seven had shown up, Naraku had appeared and started portraying the land with his evil, and his brother and his group were searching for the Shikon no Tama. And he...he were still as it use to be, calm, collective, cold and just...Sesshoumaru.

He was, however, less cold and heartless than before. He didnt have to guess at who he had to thank...or to blame that for.

He was close to finding Naraku, any day or so, his stench was everywhere. It sickened him.

Sesshoumaru made a mental note to make sure that he had a painful death, for all the things he did in the past, namely kidnapping Rin just so he could escape without having him pursuing him, and for his hanyou brother.

Nevertheless, Inuyasha was going to be killed by only he and no one else, putting Inuyasha in the danger of being killed by the likes of Naraku was very unacceptable.

Anyone who thought otherwise of these actions were deeply mistaken for brotherly concern.

But, the relationship the two brothers shared was, if not better, not worse.

They didn't see each other much anyways, which was also a reason why it didn't get "worse".

Inuyasha and his friends were seated on the riverbanks of a village.

They stopped for rest only, he would make sure that when they were done they would be on their way to find Naraku.

They were eating food from Kagome's backpack, namely ramen, some of her mother's cooking and some dumplings they got at the teahouse on top of the banks.

Shippo sat near to Kagome while eating some of the dumplings before they got cold, Miroku and Sango were seated together a few feet away both eating some of Kagome's mom's cooking she brought with her on her last visit to her era, and Inuyasha, of course, was eating Ramen nearest to the top of the banks.

He was practically inhaling it, even after three years, he never got tired of it.

Kagome could hear him slurping and chewing ferociously.

She looked behind her and said, "Inuyasha! Why dont you slow down a bit? Your going to choke."

He looked totally unscathed by her suggestion and kept on eating his ramen.

And, she sighed, soon enough he started coughing, most likely due to the liquid in it, inhaling it probably wasn't the best idea. Inuyasha started to hit his chest trying to get it down and out of his esophagus.

Kagome quickly reached into her bag and got out a can of juice and handed it to Inuyasha.

He quickly took the can, opened it and started chugging it down.

It was only until he was done half of the can did he stop to take a deep breath. "I told you so, said Kagome as she looked at him hopelessly.

Sango and Miroku shook their heads at Inuyasha, Miroku said, "He'll probably never learn will he?"

Sango looked at him and replied, "I can imagine not."

Kagome was glad to announce that Sango and Miroku were now a happy couple. It had occurred about two years ago. They finally hit realization, each wanted the other and could not bear it any longer. It was so romantic.

Kagome smiled at them, 'They look so cute together.'

Kagome wondered if they would have a baby.

But, what had saddened her was Inuyasha, that day when Kikyo had been taken to the other world, he looked so sad.

She did her best to cheer him up, and to her intense relief, he still accepted her.

She still wasn't sure on their relationship, they were neither just friends nor a couple as Sango and Miroku. He just seemed to avoid her most of the time, she sighed and continued eating her dumplings until Inuyasha shoved his empty ramen cup in her face and asked, "More."

Sesshoumaru had stopped in a clearing just off the banks of a river they had run into.

He sat in the darkness of the trees, carefully watching as Rin and Jaken were fishing in the river. Rin's kimono tied up so the sleeves and bottom didn't get drenched while Jaken just stood there stock-still as to not scare the prey away.

After a few minutes of nothing, Jaken, with clumsy hands, reached down deep into the river with as much speed as he could muster, he brought both arms up holding a fish in his hands. He jumped up and down at his victory as Rin clapped for him. "You did it Jaken-sama!"

Jaken replied, "Yes, I did, I did it!" Jaken brought it down to inspect it. After he found it fitting, he and Rin started to walk back to shore.

They both squeezed the bottoms of their kimonos trying to get some of the water out that had soaked into them.

Rin ran up to Sesshoumaru and said, "Sesshoumaru-sama! Jaken-sama caught us lunch!"

Sesshoumaru mentally sighed as he mustered a grunt. Rin smiled at him and started to run back to where Jaken still had the fish in his hands.

It was floundering and squirming everywhere, Sesshoumaru was sure that it would slip right out of his hands and back into the river.

Not wanting to stay more than needed, he stood up and started to walk over to Jaken.

The toad looked up at him with confusement and shock before Sesshoumaru grabbed the fish with one hand out of Jaken's hands and sliced it across the neck with the claw of his thumb. The blood soon began to flow out caused to the severed artery.

The fish soon went limp. He handed the dead fish back to Jaken who was a little more than grateful to have the fish stop moving about.

Though he wasn't too happy to have to go catch some more fish for the rest of the group.

The two soon had a fire going with three fish cooking over it's hot flame.

Sesshoumaru didn't really intend to eat the fish that was meant for him, but, he wasn't really in the mood to make little girls sad. So, when Rin had called him over saying, "Sesshoumaru-sama! The fish are ready," Sesshoumaru leisurely got up and started the short walk over to where the two were sitting beneath a large tree, hiding in it's shade.

Rin handed him his fish on a stick when he arrived.

Sesshoumaru took it from her out-stretched hand, took a few steps towards the big tree and sat with his back leaning on its trunk, and after a moment started to take bites out of the fish, his sharp fangs easily slicing though it's flesh.

His eyes closed, trying to find comfort in the pungent, dry taste of the fish and also the high-noon sun above. Its rays were scattered everywhere in between the gaps from the leaves, they lay on his face, his arms and patches of grass around him.

'It's going to be a hot day.'