It was shaping up to be a beautiful day.
The birds were singing; the sun was shining down brightly. A lone Hanyou grumped to himself as he walked through the forest. 'Damn birds, Damn Sun and Damn Sesshoumaru that rat.'
One month… it had been one month almost to the day since the baffling incident with his brother and the somewhat agreement of a ceasefire between them.
Inuyasha couldn't believe that here he was, actually making his way to the blasted cave with the insane rat in order to keep his word to his blasted brother! 'After everything that happened last time, I should only go long enough to chop of his smirking head! Of all the stupidity, how in the hells could he have forgotten Tetsusaiga?' He snarled at the memory as his had grasped the hilt more firmly.
In the response to his question of the swords whereabouts, all that Sesshoumaru had been able to respond with had been the ridiculous "um".
'And here I thought that this sword was the one thing that Sesshoumaru actually desired,' Inuyasha mused as he continued throughout the forest, casting his memory back to the trek through the very forest he was in to search for the missing article.
And the fact that Sesshoumaru had been absolutely no help what so ever in re-locating the sword still t-ed him off.
"Will you stop following me?" Inuyasha had shouted more then once at the figure that meandered along behind him. It had been truly irritating that instead of going his own way, Sesshoumaru had followed along behind him, like an irritating bug that refused to go away and continually flew around his head.
How Inuyasha had wanted to squash the irritating "bug" at the time.
'The least he could have done was point the way there seeing as I had been unconscious when we left,' Inuyasha groused as emerged from the woods and turned towards the cave, 'but no~o, instead he had to trail behind me, insulting me nearly the entire way!'
Calling him a stupid hanyou was one thing, but to call him an irresponsible combatant was quite another. 'It wasn't as if it had been me who forgot the thing. It was his stupid lack of attentiveness that the sword had been forgotten!'
When they finally did return to the little clearing, Inuyasha had searched for a good twenty minuets before finally unearthing the sword from the mud.
It had been a relief to finally have his sword back when he found it, though why it was so blasted important to him after decades of never needing it before was odd. But Inuyasha decided to blame his human sentimental feelings at have something that once belonged to his father and left it at that.
Not that he would ever admit it.
Inuyasha believed that it had been sheer luck that when Sesshoumaru had bashed the sword away that it had gone under a bush and that none of the following demons that wandered the forest had located it.
And now, here he was at the entrance of the stupid cave and absolutely no sign of Sesshoumaru.
"Of all the stupid, fucking irritations!" he shouted. "He's not even here!"
He glared around the small clearing and with a huff, dropped himself down to sit and wait. 'There's not even a sign of the stupid rat,' he thought briefly as he glanced into the entrance of the cave.
"Where the fuck is he?"
Inuyasha had absolutely no idea that at that very moment just a half mile away, the very subject that was missing was asking his very question.
"Where the fuck am I?" Sesshoumaru growled as he trumped through the forest. Not one tree looked familiar. Hell, they all looked exactly alike and there wasn't one hint of the demons whereabouts.
'Of all the stupid exasperating things, to get lost at every god damn turn!' Sesshoumaru chastised himself. It had been absolutely amazing that he had been able to find his way back to Rin and Jaken. Hell it had been amazing he made it back at all!
Of course, following Inuyasha had helped. Though there were a few wrong turns as the hanyou tacked the scent of the decaying corpses and his own scent on the sword, as the previous night's rain had dampened the smells somewhat.
Not that Sesshoumaru was impressed by Inuyasha's tracking ability.
Not one bit…
'Fuck!' he snarled. Though, if he was complaining about his current lost situation or at himself he really couldn't say.
There was absolutely nothing that he admired about his half human brother, Absolutely nothing. He was, after all, a full-fledged demon and there was nothing that the less powerful hanyou possessed that he did not. 'Well, aside from the Tetsusaiga,' he admitted begrudgingly.
He suddenly came to a dead stop and just stared at the very familiar footprints in the soft dirt before him.
'I HATE THIS!' he nearly screamed the sentiment out loud but the training of a warrior that must never allow his enemy to know what he was thinking held him back…
… That was until he saw the rat.
The stupid, irritating rat was just sitting there, not two feet away, methodically cleaning his whiskers and completely ignoring the Inu Youkai's presence.
Sesshoumaru practically gawked in utter disbelief. It was with out a doubt, the same fucking rat from the cave.
The same twitching pink nose; the same left ear that he noticed was missing a good chuck from some long ago fight, and the same ugly hairless tail that twitched sporadically.
"Oh, you are so dead," he growled as he started to draw his sword.
The rat, which wasn't as stupid as others would believe, promptly turned tail and ran for his life.
"Get back here you diseased ridden rodent!" Sesshoumaru screamed as he took off after the rat. "I have had fleas for two weeks because of you!"
The rat ran faster.
Meanwhile Inuyasha, oblivious to the rat's current situation of mortal peril, was still sitting in front of the cave waiting for any sign of Sesshoumaru.
He had been waiting for nearly an hour and began to seriously doubt his sanity at remaining any longer for someone who more than likely wouldn't even show up!
'I can't believe that I'm sitting here waiting for that prick!' he thought to himself as he climbed to his feet.
A quick glance at the horizon behind him told Inuyasha that he had better make a decision fast as the sun was already starting to sink behind the hills.
"Damn it!" he groused as he turned away from the cave in annoyance. "I wasted almost a whole day on that stupid jerk and now I have to find shelter fast!"
He thought about staying in the cave before he dismissed it entirely. It wouldn't do to stay somewhere that someone else knew about.
For all Inuyasha knew, Sesshoumaru had told about his secret night and who knew what might just show up. Returning to the village was one idea since he and the others had "made up" after their argument. However, Inuyasha was still upset with Kagome's temperament and his back was starting to ache from all the "sitting's" she constantly put him through.
The fight about the food had merely been the start of all the fighting, even more than usual as the past month had been nothing but screaming, fighting, ignoring and downright hostile environment that had made Shippo actually crying on more than one occasion that everyone was being so resentful towards each other.
While the other two humans had silently chalked it up to a tiff in what they saw as a relationship between the hanyou and the reincarnated priestess they had taken it upon themselves to try and help move the process along.
However, any relationship advice from Miroku was so stupid, that even Inuyasha had to roll his eyes. Grabbing Kagome's butt did not seem like it would help any semblance of a truce.
And who knew what Sango had said to Kagome from all the odd looks she was sending his way after their individual "talks".
On the whole, Inuyasha had actually been looking forward to a reprieve from his companion's presence and now it looked as if he had to go back!
"Fucking idiot!" he grumbled as he started making his way back to the forest.
Two koinu ears were suddenly perked as the muffled sound of shouting unexpectedly floated towards him.
He turned, his hand automatically rising to the hilt of Tetsusaiga when a figure emerged from the bushes, brandishing a sword of his own.
"Die you fucking rat!" the demon shouted as he swung his arm in a wild arc.
Inuyasha quickly unsheathed Tetsusaiga and with a resounding "clang" the two blades connected.
"Who are you calling a fucking rat you prick?" he screamed as he shoved the taller demon away from him.
Golden eyes actually widened in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru asked.
Inuyasha gawked as Sesshoumaru took in his surroundings. "We're back at the cave," he said in almost amazement.
"No shit!" Inuyasha screamed in annoyance. "What the hell were you doing swing Tokujin around like a freaking idiot?" he demanded.
Sesshoumaru blinked as if coming back to himself and turned back to the hanyou, leveling his sword at him.
"Step aside, Inuyasha," he commanded.
Blank look. "What the hell?"
Sesshoumaru scowled. "I said to stand aside. That… thing…" and here Sesshoumaru jabbed his sword in the direction of Inuyasha's feet, "is too much of an irritant to allow it to live."
Inuyasha stared at his brother before slowly glancing downward at the small ball of fur that was currently quivering behind his heals. He recognized the ear.
He slowly looked back up at the furious Inu Youkai.
"It's the rat," he said slowly.
Sesshoumaru scowled even more.
"You do realize you are seriously speaking about killing a rat because he annoyed you."
Inuyasha could feel the laughter beginning to bubble upwards and bit his lower lip to try and suppress it.
It wasn't working.
"I could easily kill another annoying thing instead," Sesshoumaru stated as a small giggle made its way past Inuyasha's lips.
The rat squeaked and Sesshoumaru jumped as if one of Kagome's arrows had shot him.
That was it for Inuyasha as he finally burst out laughing; holding his stomach as he nearly doubled over in merriment.
"Oh my god!" he laughed, "You were seriously going to kill a small, defenseless rat because it managed to get on you bad side!"
Sesshoumaru glared as he re-sheathed his sword. 'He will never let this go,' he realized as he watched Inuyasha actually falling down to the ground as his body shuddered with the strength of his laughing.
The rat had meanwhile wandered back into the cave, his tail held high as he left the two larger creatures behind him in search of something to gnaw on.