All the stories in this collection will be inspired various contests around LJ. This one was written for dokuga_contest's Oneshot #23, Stubborn.

"I'm going to ask him," Kagome said resolutely.

"No way, Kagome. This idea reeks of trouble," her hanyou husband replied, his eyes narrowing considerably.

"Come on, Inuyasha. It's about time we stopped acting like strangers," she said.

Kagome started in the direction of Kaede's garden. Before she could get more than a few steps, Inuyasha effectively blockaded her path. Each time she tried to step around him, he repositioned himself in front of her. Kagome's hands balled into fists at her sides, and she eyed her husband dangerously.

"Move, Inuyasha," she hissed.

"I'm not moving anywhere. This is a terrible idea."

"I'm warning you…One…Two…"

"I'm not moving."

"Three…"

Inuyasha briefly considered moving out of her way to save himself pain. In the end Kagome's mouth proved much faster than Inuyasha's good sense.

"SIT!"

Inuyasha hit the ground with a heavy thud. Kagome's foot came down heavily on his back as she walked past him and into the garden. Inuyasha lifted his head out of the earth and spit out a mouthful of dirt. He gave a growl as he watched Kagome approach the looming presence lingering among Kaede's herbs.

"Stubborn woman…" Inuyasha muttered, spitting out one last piece of grass.

The taiyoukai watched as his young charge weeded the old miko's garden. As she worked, Rin informed him of all the trivial things the old miko had been teaching her. While he kept one ear on Rin's excited chatter, he kept the other trained on his half-brother and his wife. Though they had not mentioned him by name, he was certain that they had been arguing over him. He smirked inwardly as Inuyasha was slammed into the ground, but his expression soured as the young miko entered the garden. It wasn't until she stood before him and gave a little bow that Rin quieted.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha and I were talking--" she began, and blushed a little as he raised an eyebrow at her. She cleared her throat and continued. "And we were would like it of you would join us and our friends for dinner."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow climbed further into the line of his hair, and Kagome's shoulders slumped. Just when she thought she would have to do some serious persuading, Rin heaved a sigh.

"What troubles you, Rin?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Rin plucked a scraggly weed from the earth with a little more force than was necessary. Small clumps of dirt splattered across her kimono and over Sesshoumaru's boots. "Rin will be helping Lady Kaede, Lady Sango and Lady Kagome with cooking…"

Rin trailed off into silence, but she needn't say anything else to get her point across. Kagome's expression turned smug in triumph. When it came to Sesshoumaru, there was no better persuasion than Rin.

Kagome took a break from helping with the night's meal to check up on the boys, and she was quite disappointed with what she found. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were standing face-to-face, and judging by Inuyasha's defensive posture, his fist waving in his brother's stoic face, their conversation wasn't of a friendly nature. Miroku sat under a nearby tree with Shippo on his shoulder, obviously trying to play the role of mediator between the two brothers. Grumbling under her breath, she stomped over and planted herself squarely between them.

"Kagome, what're you doing?!" Inuyasha yelled.

"I've had enough of this nonsense," she said. Over the years Kagome had watched as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's physical fights turned into wars of words, many of which were no less violent than battles fought with their swords. She had been hoping that their behavior would improve further over time, but she was simply tired of waiting.

"Miko, remove yourself from our argument," Sesshoumaru said coldly. Kagome ignored him for the time being.

"Yeah, this is between me and the bastard!" said Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, sit!" she said, and Miroku and Shippo made identical pained noises as their friend created a defined imprint in the ground.

"And you," Kagome said, wheeling around and poking the taiyoukai in the chest, "Should know better. I'd never thought you'd be one to fight pointless battles, Sesshoumaru, and this battle you've got going on with your brother is about the most pointless thing I've ever seen. You're the older one, so you should be the wiser one-"

"Hey!" Inuyasha objected, and Kagome growled. Inuyasha abruptly laid his head back in the crater it had made.

Kagome gave Sesshoumaru one last, hard poke. "Stop being stubborn and have the good sense to knock it off already."

Sesshoumaru's visage remained unfazed, but Kagome thought he was probably contemplating separating her from her prodding finger. Kagome kept and held his gaze, giving a little gulp as his eyes narrowed. His silence was beginning to frighten her, but to Kagome's relief their standoff was interrupted.

"Lady Kagome!" Rin said, running into their midst, "Lady Kaede said it's time to eat."

"Okay Rin, we'll be right there," Kagome said, and jumped a little when she felt something brush against her leg.

She looked down to find Sesshoumaru's mokomoko creeping past her. The fluffy end of it came to dangle over Inuyasha's head, and the hanyou looked at it with distaste. Kagome scowled at him, and with a sigh, Inuyasha grabbed his brother's pelt and used it to help himself out of the ground. The length of fur quickly returned to its master's side, and Sesshoumaru was striding back to Kaede's hut with Rin beside him. Kagome almost couldn't believe what she had just seen.

"Hey, wait up ya jerk!" Inuyasha yelled, running after his brother.

Kagome shook her head and sighed. At least one of the brothers wasn't completely adverse to change.