Inuyasha smiled lightly. Sesshomaru was being so agreeable. First, he had let Inuyasha have as long as he wanted alone with Kagome, and now Inuyasha was able, without making any sort of fuss to go into the village to meet up with the rest of his friends.

It was the tiniest bit suspicious, but Inuyasha wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

When he finally made it into the village, he wasn't given a warm welcome. What few people were out so late just glared at him with disgust. They had never appreciated him coming here and making it his home.

And that's what it was, wasn't it? Home. Inuyasha smiled at the word. How long had it been since he'd had a real home he could call his own? Must have been since his mother had died. Almost two hundred years. That's a long time to be lonely.

He opened the door to Kaede's hut, and was immediately tackled by a tiny kitsune.

"Inuyasha! You're back! Where were you?" Shippo asked from his perch on Inuyasha's face. Inuyasha growled he'd forgotten how annoying these people could be. He peeled the kit off of his face, holding him by the scruff of his neck.

"Ugh. Could you not put your stinky, sweaty little body anywhere near my nose?" Inuyasha glared at the kit ill-naturedly.

"That's mean!" Shippo whined, kicking his little legs, trying to get loose.

"I'm a mean person." Inuyasha answered, dropping the child on the ground. Shippo scrambled on the floor a bit before getting up and running back to Sango, who comforted him.

"Inuyasha, you shouldn't be so mean to him. You know he looks up to you."

"Yeah, well, that's his fault." Inuyasha sat down at his place on the floor. "I'm going to be with Sesshomaru for the next to weeks, so let's just get the goodbyes out of the way now."

Miroku and Sango laughed. "I never knew you had a sense of humor, Inuyasha." Miroku remarked snarkily.

"What?"

"You, spending two weeks with Sesshomaru. Willingly." They both laughed some more. Inuyasha felt himself get angry. He'd really forgotten how annoying these guys could be.

"What? Because I'm not good enough for him?"

Miroku gave a great sigh. "Inuyasha, you know we're not saying that. It's just you and your brother don't exactly get along."

"Well maybe now we do."

"Please, Inuyasha let's drop this joke. We shall assume that if you wanted to, you and Sesshomaru could always make up and perhaps even live with each other for two weeks. But you are not at that point at this time, so let's just leave it at that for now." Miroku gave large sigh.

"But we are! That's what I'm trying to tell you, moron! Sesshomaru is right outside the village. He's waiting for me to say goodbye to you guys so we can go back to his freaking huge palace and do Daiyoukai stuff."

"Inuyasha, you cannot be serious."

"I am. And I am so over explaining this over and over again."

"But what happened?" Miroku seemed stunned.

Inuyasha sighed loudly with exasperation before he explained briefly about the events over the past two days. Miroku asked so many questions it ended up taking a full half hour. This was why he liked Kagome so much more. And Sesshomaru, too. One sentence explanations were pretty much good enough for them. For Miroku and Sango, though, it was all, 'So what you're saying is…' and 'But what happened with this?' Finally, though, he was done.

"I don't believe this!" Miroku exclaimed, holding his head.

"You are done, then, my lord?" Sesshomaru slid open the door. "We must leave now if you wish to get any amount of sleep before the meeting."

"Crap! Miroku, you took up all my time with your lame questions!" Inuyasha fumed.

"Sorry, sorry!" Miroku waved his hands apologetically.

"When are you coming back, Inuyasha?" Sango asked patiently, ignoring Inuyasha's irritation.

"I don't know! Two weeks! But I'm not going to waste it on you retards! I'm going to spend it with Kagome." Something weird happened in Sesshomaru's expression then, but Inuyasha ignored it.

"Fine, fine, but what about Naraku?"

"He will not be a problem." Sesshomaru answered.

"What? Why not?" Inuyasha hadn't heard anything like that.

"I have made some…arrangements." What the—? What did that even mean? Sesshomaru didn't elaborate, though, and for once Miroku wasn't asking any questions. What the heck?

"Which means?" Inuyasha finally asked.

"He will be preoccupied looking for the legendary Raiment of Mezhalhashbal, an artifact hat grants the owner everlasting power, at the risk of it corrupting their soul." Sesshomaru had the nerve to give a little smile. "I sent some hints his way as to where he might start looking for it."

"What?! Sesshomaru! I don't know if we can beat him if he has that!" Inuyasha raged. Was Sesshomaru an idiot or something? Sesshomaru just blinked.

"There is no such thing as the Raiment of Mezhalhashbal. I sent him on a useless quest."

"Eh?" Inuyasha stopped. "No…such…thing?"

"Do you honestly believe that were there such a weapon, I would willingly give it to my enemy?"

"But… won't Naraku suspect something like that?"

Sesshomaru sighed loudly. "Do you think so little of me? That I would be foolish enough to go up to him and order him to find this imaginary relic? No. I suggested that I was looking for it, and gave one thousand people an infinitesimal sliver of the information needed to find this object. He will need to find each and every person and interrogate them for the information they have. Each one is necessary to solving the puzzle. It should keep him occupied for the next few months."

"Wow." Inuyasha answered, surprised. "You're like, an evil genius. But when did you have time for all of this?"

"I've had the trap set for years. All I needed to do to spring it was make a small comment in front of one of his insects, and that took me no more than ten seconds yesterday."

"Evil. Genius." Inuyasha repeated. Wow. Inuyasha was glad Sesshomaru was on his side.

"Now, we must leave. We have spent too much time on this excursion already." Sesshomaru turned to leave.

"Wait, Sesshomaru! I still need to talk to Kaede!" Sesshomaru spun around briskly.

"You mean to tell me you have been with these humans two hours and still have not even begun to talk to some of them? You said you would stay for a few minutes. We agreed to a few minutes."

"Look, I just need to go say 'hi' to Kaede. That's all. Just two seconds and—Hey! Put me down, jerk!" Sesshomaru picked Inuyasha up and slung him over his shoulder.

"We will be returning now."

"Just wait! Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha pounded his fists on the youkai's back. Jeez! Why did he have to be such a jerk? Sesshomaru didn't even budge when Inuyasha struggled. Why was he in such a bad mood? Hadn't he told Inuyasha he could say goodbye? Hadn't he been okay with Inuyasha spending a little bit of extra time with Kagome? Why was he being like this now, then?

After a few minutes of thoughts running through his head, though, Inuyasha finally allowed himself to fall asleep over Sesshomaru's shoulder.

Sesshomaru sighed faintly in relief when he finally heard Inuyasha's breathing even out. Good. If Inuyasha slept on the way to the palace, he would be refreshed for the diplomatic meeting. This had not been an entirely unprofitable night. He had been able to save Inuyasha from that awful portal, and stop his little love affair with the human miko in one fell swoop.

It had been annoying waiting for Inuyasha to get done with his little group of humans. And he had not even visited all of them by the time Sesshomaru finally put his foot down and left with the hanyou.

But it was worth it. Even if he had just seen the future Inuyasha's family it would have been worth it. Now, he would simply have to find a mate with white hair and golden eyes. That should be easy enough. But Inuyasha himself—why had his eye color changed? Why did he mark his body with such ugly black lines and symbols?

But, no matter. Sesshomaru would simply have to stop Inuyasha from marking his body like that. It should be simple. He would just have to—

Wait. He stopped his line of thought. He was talking about Inuyasha. Nothing was ever easy with Inuyasha. Sesshomaru growled. Why did he have to work under such an annoying Daiyoukai?

Inuyasha shifted on his shoulder, and Sesshomaru adjusted his hold so Inuyasha was more comfortable. Thinking back, Inuyasha had always been stubborn. When the child was young, Sesshomaru had done everything short of killing the boy to keep him away. But Inuyasha never stopped coming back, smiling that ridiculous smile until he was beaten half to death.

Sesshomaru paused. He could probably be sentenced to death for treating the Daiyoukai like that. Hm. That wouldn't do. He didn't suspect Inuyasha of doing something like that but there was a chance that the boy would use the information to blackmail him. He would need to get Inuyasha to sign an a document absolving him from his previous crimes. One more thing to do.

He sighed. It was as if his work had tripled since the moment Inuyasha was made Daiyoukai.

However…his life had become more interesting. Before, he struggled to keep himself busy so that he would have a distraction from his constant depression. But now…now he felt himself wishing for a moment to relax. It was funny how things could become so reversed all because of Inuyasha.

He smiled. He was so looking forward to that diplomatic meeting, though. He had given Inuyasha just enough information to suspect who Sesshomaru wanted him to suspect, and to trust whom Sesshomaru needed him to trust. Not just that, of course. Naturally he had told Inuyasha how to behave, but it wouldn't do to have Inuyasha trust someone that would stab him in the back later on.

Ah…He was looking forward to that meeting.

"What is this?" Inuyasha complained for the third time. Sesshomaru felt a knot begin to form between his eyebrows. He had told Inuyasha this. He had said it. Naturally, they would give him gifts. Naturally, they would expect him to accept the gifts with gratitude and poise. So, naturally, Inuyasha was taking time with each gift to treat it in the most. Disrespectful. Way. Possible.

"Ah, sir. This is a wonderful suit of armor made specifically by one of the best craftsmen in Korea. It is completely invulnerable to attacks that are both fire and ice related, and is poison resistant, too." The man bowed nervously.

"It's freaking heavy! How am I supposed to fight with this on? Besides, if I want armor, I've got it! Are you some sort of idiot? If you're going to give someone a gift, do it properly!" With that, Inuyasha tossed the armor behind him. "Next!"

"Ah! Ah! My lord, here we have a gift that is truly a work of art!" It seemed the diplomats were changing strategies. Earlier, they simply presented the gifts, now they were advertising them. "This is a beautiful—"

"Shut up! Jeez! Just get to the point, will you?" Inuyasha grabbed the gift, opening it easily. "A pot? A freaking pot? You're kidding, right?" Inuyasha tossed the pot behind him, and one of the servants just barely managed to catch it before it smashed against the wall.

Inuyasha massaged his temples, then addressed the rest of them. "Look, I'm not really sure about all the random gifts. But usually, if you're giving a gift to someone, shouldn't you at least care about what they like and dislike? Whatever. I don't really want any gifts, so you guys can just stop." The entire room erupted in loud whispers and confusion. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. What was Inuyasha doing, specifically insulting every diplomat there?

"Inuyasha." He finally whispered into Inuyasha's ear. He hadn't before. It would be dangerous to have Inuyasha look like a puppet at this point. But this—Inuyasha was being completely out of line. "Did I not tell you to kindly accept their gifts?"

"Did you?" Inuyasha yawned, stretching out in his seat. "All right! Well, now that's over with, let's get this party started!"

"Inuyasha!" Sesshomaru whispered fiercely.

"Now, hmmm…Let's hear what you guys've got to say." Inuyasha looked up at the ceiling. "The first to speak will be…hmm…the one to raise his hand first. One…two…three…Go!" The diplomats all raised their hands quickly, then hesitated. Slowly, each dropped their hands, shame faced.

Inuyasha had just treated the diplomats of the rest of the world with one sentence. Sesshomaru gripped his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, but he rolled it away. "Ok. You guys were really eager, but I think—"He pointed to one man in the back. "That guy was first!"

The man, a representative of the Western Islands, looked around the room nervously, obviously uncomfortable. "Um…you see, sir. In the past, Sesshomaru-sama…"

"Oh, never mind about you. Jeez, I'm not going to be the same a Sesshomaru. We're different people, okay? So whatever he did, I don't want to hear it. His opinions aren't going to affect mine."

The room erupted in noise. Finally, Inuyasha slapped his hand against the table. "Man, you guys are noisy! Just shut up!" the room silenced, and Inuyasha pointed to one of the people in the room. "You! Ask your question!"

"S-Sir. What is your stance on the current state of the economy?"

"Nothing. Am I supposed to have one?" That was it. The last straw. Sesshomaru pulled Inuyasha into another room.

"What are you doing?"

"Having the diplomatic meeting. What are you doing? Shouldn't we be in there?"

"Are you joking? As if I could allow you to make a total fool of yourself in there. Go back and excuse yourself. I cannot believe you are purposefully ignoring my advice."

"Advice…? Oh. You mean when you were talking back there on the way to Kagome's place? I didn't really pay attention that well."

"Excuse me?"

"It's not my fault! You have this monotone voice. I can't help but zone out."

"It is absolutely your fault. What do you mean, you zoned out? I spent my precious time tutoring you on the proper procedure, and you completely don't even pay attention?"

"Don't get mad at me. That's just how I am."

"No. that is not an acceptable response. You will go in there and tell them that you were unprepared for the meeting, and that it will be reinstated in one month, with the real Daiyoukais of the respective countries. Then you will spend the next month living and breathing foreign policy, manners, and politics."

"That doesn't sound fun at all."

"Do you think being a Daiyoukai is supposed to be fun? It is a job. One that you must do to perfection, or some other youkai will think he can do a better job, and assassinate you for your position."

"Ha. I dare them to try to go up against me." Inuyasha laughed, pushing Sesshomaru lightly. Sesshomaru glared back at him.

"Do not take assassins lightly. They have felled stronger demons than you."

"Don't worry, Sesshomaru, nothing's gonna happen." With that, Inuyasha confidently strode back into the diplomatic room. The diplomats were engaged in frenzied conversation, and Sesshomaru could see Inuyasha's advisors and servants glaring at him dangerously. He felt his nervousness rise. Any one of them could easily hire an assassin, and that would be it for Inuyasha.

Wait. Wouldn't that be good? After all, no Inuyasha meant he would be free to rule the throne as he had done before. He wouldn't even have to feel guilty about Inuyasha's death. After all, he hadn't been the one to kill the Daiyoukai.

No. That wouldn't do. If Inuyasha died, it would mean that he had failed. Not just failed, but failed in the worst way possible. He wouldn't deserve the throne. No, if Inuyasha was killed without Sesshomaru being able to protect him, Sesshomaru would not be worthy to even be a servant any longer. His life would be ruined. So, Inuyasha had to live no matter what.

"Oi. Truth is, I've lived most of my life in the wild, so I'm not too savvy with talkin' to hoity toity people like you all. So, I'm just gonna have to cancel this meeting, and study on how to do it some more. Sorry, peeps. Didn't mean to be rude, it's just my style." Inuyasha said to the crowd. Jeez. What had he done wrong? He'd accepted their half-hearted crap gifts, he'd listened to their stupid little questions. He'd even called on them in a completely fair way, so nobody would think he was showing favoritism. So why was Sesshomaru getting on his case.

And—psh—assassins? Seriously? We were talking about the guy that cut off even Sesshomaru's arm. The guy that could kill a hundred demons with one swing of his blade. On top of that, He had Sesshomaru. Even if he didn't want to admit it, his ex-half-brother was pretty formidable. Assassin. That had to be the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

Inuyasha looked back at Sesshomaru, who was following right behind him. What a worry wart. Anyone could see nothing was going to happen.

It was weird, with Sesshomaru walking behind him like that. Inuyasha should feel like he was leading the way, but instead, he felt like he was getting corralled. Inuyasha decided to try to turn down one of the hallways. He turned, and—there was Sesshomaru. He walked right into Sesshomaru's chest.

"Watch out my lord." Sesshomaru murmured, righting him so Inuyasha was facing straight. Yep. He was officially getting corralled. When it was time to turn where Sesshomaru wanted, Sesshomaru turned widely, boxing Inuyasha in so he could either turn around completely, or just follow Sesshomaru's lead.

Finally, they reached their destination. "Ah. I see my lord. You have gone to the library. You must wish to study politics and foreign policy. I will show you where those books are located."

"I hate you. I hate you so much." Inuyasha growled. That manipulative little—Well, two could play at this game.

"Okay. I'm feeling a bit weathered, though. Would you please kindly bring those books to me?" He smiled when he saw Sesshomaru's eye twitch.

"Of course, my lord. Nothing would please me more. Just as long as you do not leave the library when I do so."

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Inuyasha answered. Ha. As if. When he left, Inuyasha spun around to go out the door—and saw the creepiest things he'd ever seen. They were bluish, and had all these boils and spots all over them. And they were so slimy, it looked like it was just coating every inch of them, dripping off in large drops. Not to mention they stunk.

"May we help you, my lord?" One asked in a slithery voice, and put his slimy, wet hand on Inuyasha's arm.

Inuyasha bolted. There was no way he was letting that thing near him. Not really knowing where, Inuyasha ran through the aisles of books, turning and racing down flights of stairs. Eventually, of course, he knew the guy wasn't going to follow him, but then he had a brilliant idea. He'd just get purposefully lost in the huge library. If Sesshomaru couldn't find him, he couldn't make Inuyasha study. So, Inuyasha moved deeper and deeper into the immense library. Eventually, he raced down a flight of stairs that led him to a door that was covered in marks and symbols. Not caring about them, Inuyasha slammed open the door, locking it behind him.

Well, crap. Now he was stuck in this random room, with nothing to do. He looked round, already bored, knowing he'd have to stay here for at least a couple hours.

"Well, I might as well try out these books." He said to himself, pulling one out. "Oh, cool, it looks like it's mostly pictures. Score."

He turned to one page. It was marked 'to heal' with an intricate drawing under it. Curious, Inuyasha traced it with his finger. He felt a slithering sensation come over him, and he shivered, playing with his long sleeves awkwardly. On the next page, it had another word, destruction, with an illustration. He touched the illustration, getting the same strange sensation.

"What is wrong with this book?" Inuyasha asked himself, beginning to touch picture after picture. Interestingly enough, they gave him different feelings, based on the picture. Some gave him chills, others made his hand asleep, others made his fingers tingle. He enjoyed it, speaking each word as he touched it. "Fire, ice, love, hate, larger, smaller, speed, slowing, sleep, awakening, earth, water, chair…chair? What does that mean? Chair. Chair."

Without realizing it, he had moved his hand away from the book, and onto the floor. He had the same feeling he had gotten when he touched the symbol, and suddenly, a chair appeared in front of him.

"What the—there's a chair!"

"Astute observation, my lord." Of course, Sesshomaru chose that time to arrive. Inuyasha blushed darkly.

"No, I mean—look at this: Chair!" He waved his arms. Nothing. "No wait. This worked literally one second ago. He touched the ground. "Chair." Nothing happened. "Chair. This freaking happened about one second ago. Chair."

"Would you please cease blathering like an idiot and begin studying your lessons?"

"No, wait. Chair. Crap what is wrong with this thing? Chair." Inuyasha growled in frustration as nothing happened, yet again.

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru was getting less patient.

"Fine. I'll go. But that seriously just weirded me out."

"Whatever you say, my lord." Sesshomaru corralled him out, but not before Inuyasha grabbed the book and tucked it into his robes. If he could do it once, that meant he could do it again. He followed as Sesshomaru led him back to the entrance of the library. "Here are the books you required, my lord."

"Gee, thanks." Inuyasha retorted, and took them, opening one up roughly.

"You will read fifty pages on this, and then I will quiz you on what information you have learned. Sound good?"

"Whatever." Inuyasha huffed, beginning to read reluctantly. A few hours into it, a servant entered into the room.

"My lord. Your dinner." Inuyasha looked up from the book excitedly.

"Really? I'm starving!" Before he could take it, though, Sesshomaru took it from him, taking a bite of the meal, and a sip of the drink. "What the heck, Sesshomaru? Did you really just steal my food?" Inuyasha complained loudly.

"It was necessary. I had to check to see if there—"He cut off as he began to choke and cough.

"What's wrong? Did it go down the wrong pipe?" Inuyasha leaned across the table, patting his back nervously. What was going on? "What's wrong? Sesshomaru?"

His condition was becoming worse and worse, as his face began to turn purple. Finally, he passed out, sprawled over the table.

"Sesshomaru!"