Inuyasha looked in the mirror, humming a random tune to himself as he checked himself out in the mirror quite self-consciously. The outfit was perfect, his breath was minty fresh, and his hair was still a bit damp from the late shower he had just taken. But remembering that Kagome had always loved his hair, wet or dry, he decided to skip the blow dryer and looked for his shoes. Just as he was getting ready to head out the door, he felt someone staring at him from the back.

"Where are you going?" Sesshomaru inquired icily. He had a file folder tucked under one arm, a coffee mug in the other hand. "Get your ass back to bed."

Inuyasha sighed and didn't bother to look back at his brother. "Look, I told you this afternoon that I was going out with my girlfriend, alright?"

"No you didn't."

"Oh yeah, I did. It was you who wasn't listening because you were working on your work."

"I have a job to hold, alright? And I have a patient that needs much medical attention. After all, I DO make the money, pay the bills and still have the leftover cash to buy your niceties. If father hadn't forced me to let you move in while he went off to Berlin, I'd kick your poor little ass out to the street."

"I'm going out anyways." Inuyasha started for the doorknob as Sesshomaru kept it shut with his hand.

"No you aren't, dear brother." He said, looking down at his younger counterpart. "You're supposed to be in bed. It's almost twelve, and I don't want you going out like this."

"Look…" the silver-haired younger sighed in disdain once again. "I haven't seen my girlfriend for, like, weeks. Alright? She called last night and told me she was back from Hong Kong, so she wants to meet me. Plus," he said with a contemptuous grin, "we haven't shagged in awhile. Or does it make you angry that you haven't gotten any in a long ti…"

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Sesshomaru was not one to lose his cool, but hearing the damned brat talking to him like that made him boil over. He practically threw Inuyasha out into the hallway and locked the door with a huff. He then groaned in disbelief and took a long sip out of his now cold coffee mug. He had let go of his file folder and all the papers had fallen out.

'Oh, I'll whip that twerp just right. Just wait until father comes back from Berlin!' he fumed at the thought as he picked up all the papers. He set them on the mahogany dinner table and started to head for his room when he remembered he had forgotten to pick up the evening newspaper. He rolled his eyes, unlocked the door and opened it.

He found himself facing Kagura, his next door neighbour. She was in her bathrobe, her silky ebony hair piled up into a wet towel, her flawless face graced with a small bruise on her left cheek. She jumped slightly at the sight of him.

"Oh, um…hi, Sesshomaru." She stuttered. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty fine, just getting the paper for today." He said coolly. But instinct glued his eyes to her heaving bosom, slightly visible through the crinkle in her bathrobe. She noticed this and blushed furiously, tying her bathrobe tighter.

"So…what are you doing?" he asked as he set aside the advertisements into the recycling bin.

"Oh, I'm just reading…the news." She said. "I have a habit of reading everything in the hallway, you see. It's kind of funny, but Naraku always gets angry…"

"Naraku?" Sesshomaru asked. "Who might he be?"

"Oh, he's my…boyfriend." She slightly blushed. "I live with him and his cousin."

Sesshomaru perked his ear to hear more, but that seemed like that was all she was going to tell him. He patiently waited for her to finish the paper when a male voice called for her, making her flinch.

"Coming!" she called back. "Well then, I guess I'll see you around."

"I guess so." He said and watched her go.

Tossing and turning in his sleep, Jakotsu moaned as a layer of sweat formed on his forehead. He was trapped in a nightmare that he couldn't escape, one that stuck by him since he was a young boy. Blurred images of his family came and went, and their faint cried of anger and sadness and taunting spun in his head, wrenching his heart out.

With a gasp and a choke, Jakotsu woke up, drenched from head to toe in sweat. He decided to take a cold shower and stumbled on his way out of the door, being careful not to wake Suikotsu. It was two in the morning, so he was expecting everyone to be asleep. He was wrong.

"Oh, an…aniki, what are you doing up so late?" Bankotsu was sitting on the kitchen chair, indulging himself to a worn out novel. He looked up with tired eyes, and Jakotsu sighed. "You should get to sleep."

"I can't." he said. "I miss that sweet cancer." He snickered to himself.

Jakotsu smiled quite femininely. "It's good that you're quitting. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." Bankotsu said and yawned. "Maybe you're right, maybe I should get some sleep. After all, tomorrow's a Sunday and I think I'm supposed to make breakfast tomorrow."

"You are."

"Alright." Bankotsu wiped a tiny tear from his eyes, shut the novel and went to his room shared with Renkotsu. "Shut the lights off after you're done, alright?" he said.

Jakotsu let the cold water run through his hair like a god's blessing. It was so refreshing, so delicious. He could feel the cold penetrating his skin deep down to the bones and sighed with pleasure. He opened his mouth, let a couple of drops trickle in and spit it out. So many things were going through his head as he remembered his dream. It was a terrible one that had haunted him for years now. He shaked his head from side to side as he let the shower head spurt warm water into his face.

He wiped away the moisture with his fingers and paused, warm water still running, warming his cold, naked body.

He blushed furiously at the thought of locking his lips with Bankotsu's sweet feathery ones and he felt so pleasured, warmedand sinful at the same time. He lifted his index and middle finger together and let them rub against his lips, letting it pleasure him with a sham kiss. Halfway through, he snapped his eyes open and mentally slapped himself with disgust.

'Holy shit, what the fuck am I doing?' he thought to himself, blushing out of self-embarrassment. He hurried the rest of his shower and quickly dried himself. He studied himself long an hard in the mirror, and a feminine, graceful face with a sloping smooth ivory neck with a protruding adam's apple looked back at him. Jakotsu placed his hands on his chest and felt hard muscles that weren't as well defined as Bankotsu's or Renkotsu's.

It was muscle, alright, but they weren't manly ones either. He wrinkled his nose and jumped into his boxers, shorts and T-shirt. He looked in the mirror andtook a final lookat his dark brown hair that fell over his shoulders so femininely. Hating it, he slapped the mirror and proceeded to dry his hair.

'I won't let that happen to me again.' He vowed. 'That part of me that destroyed my life…I won't let that happen to me ever again…"

Ayoung cicada could be heard at a distance, singing its heavy song.

Well well well...another chapter up! I was debating on whether to even include the whole Inuyasha crew into the story, but then I thought of a great idea (in my opinion, so far) that would actually help out the plot. If not, I guess it could just be one of those sideline storylines that everyone likes but no one pays attention to, really. Please R&R people, it makes me smile after a really crappy day. Plus, it doesn't take that long to do. I promise! Toodles!