Disclaimer: InuYasha is not owned by me, no matter how much I wish the opposite...

Bold – English

Bold + Italics – Demon Speak

Italics – Pig Latin

"Cinder-chan!"

Cinder snarled, her eyes glowing red before she was swallowed by a giant ball of green youki mid leap. She landed on the puppet, now in her feline form. The puppet proceeded to grip her neck, pulling her high into the air. "I've been searching for you, my kitty."

The girl turned cat growled, baring her pristine white teeth. As if you could catch me!

The puppet just laughed. "I already have."

And despite her instincts telling her to provoke the other demon, Cinder could not argue with that statement. She was caught in...quite a predicament.

"Cinder-chan!" Rin shouted again.

Cinder could only growl lowly, trying to warn the girl to stay back. Sesshomaru had gone to hunt, and the pair could only hope the sounds of battle would attract him back to camp. Luckily, it did, but on the other side of the clearing bound in the famous hanyou.

It must be her luck...

The brothers glared at each other before both rushing at the puppet. Cinder couldn't believe how fate had turned against her.

"Keh. What are you doing here?" InuYasha asked snidely, throwing his sword over his shoulder.

"Hn."

And with that, the glare fest continued.

You're supposed to be fighting the puppet, not each other! Cinder yowled, angry that the brothers had forgotten her dangling off the ground and choking.

The brothers glanced at her before both lunging at Naraku's minion. Yeah, it wasn't going to go well.

"Out of my way!"

"Don't play with me, little brother."

"SIT!"

InuYasha slammed into the ground as Sesshomaru flew at the puppet, his sword slicing it in half. Cinder fell to the ground and shook herself out, gazing at the lower level demon horde that surrounded them.

Kagome ran into the clearing, hands on her hips and daggers in her eyes. Behind her rolled Shippo, easily tripping over the high growing tree roots. Her slammed into the back of her leg, but in her fury she barely noticed. "Can't you guys work together for once in your life!"

"No," they both answered at the same time.

Kagome sighed before spinning on her heel. Kirara broke through the tree line, Miroku and Sango on her back. Jessabelle came next, riding on...it was...honestly, it wasn't clear what the beast was. It was midnight black, fire red stripes decorating its side. It had tall, pointy ears and a long snout with a multitude of fang-like teeth. Its tail was long and thin, creating juxtaposition to its thick and stout body.

It was then that Cinder noticed Jazline behind Jessabelle, her hands woven tightly into the odd creature's fur.

"Go, Migurushii!" Jessabelle screamed, kicking the demon.

Cinder almost face-palmed, but quickly remembered she was in her kitty form. That name was so fitting.

With that, the group battled the oncoming demons. They were weak, but they were many. Cinder stood over Rin and Shippo, swiping at anything that came too close. Migurushii ran around Jessabelle, attacking anything in the arc of her while she shoot purification beams at the creatures within her four foot range. InuYasha and Sesshomaru both slashed at demons, occasionally fighting to get to one before the other. Kagome fired her arrows at the larger, nastier demons that the inu brothers were too busy to get to, mostly because of their pesky bickering. Miroku hit things with his staff, Jazline inexpertly killed enemies with her sword, and Sango fought with her weapon with Kirara flanking her. Working together they finished the horde off swiftly.

"Keh. Sesshomaru and the rest of you, leave," InuYasha demanded, throwing tessaiga over his shoulder once more.

Cinder's lips pulled back from her teeth, and she hissed at the hanyou. Sesshomaru seemed just as displeased, but the others couldn't tell due to his nonchalant expression. Rin and Shippo crawled out from underneath the cat demon, standing at her side.

"Oh, shut up, cat," InuYasha snarled back, wanting to get rid of his brother's group as soon as possible.

"You're just going to kick them out of the clearing after they helped us?" Kagome questioned in disbelief, her eyes wide.

InuYasha sent a glare at Kagome, aggravated that she wasn't on his side. Cinder, agreeing with Kagome, sat down with a large huff. Rin and Shippo climbed onto her back, laughing. Cinder pretended not to notice.

"It would be in our favor to work together," Miroku added wisely.

InuYasha started, nearly falling backwards, and Sesshomaru's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, the largest reaction any of them had ever seen him give. He immediately regained his composure. "You expect me to work with this mutt."

InuYasha growled loudly, balanced once again.

"Yes," Kagome said, smiling. "It would be easier to defeat Naraku."

InuYasha growled even louder as to show his answer, but Sesshomaru retorted, "We shall travel with you. If this does not work out, then you will regret your offer."

Sango tensed at Miroku's side, but didn't speak up. She was being uncharacteristically quiet...

Cinder transformed with her usually green ball of youki surrounding her, but lost all dignity as she collapsed with Rin and Shippo on top of her. She had forgotten about them, and now giggled with them. "Let me up, you guys!"

The pair moved, chuckling still. The cat demon stood up, brushed off her patched together kimono, and ran at her friends. The three of them hugged briefly before pulling apart.

"Welcome back, Cinder-chan!"