"Ugh, Inuyasha! Did you eat all the ramen already?!" Kagome yelled as she rummaged through her yellow back pack. She dropped it unceremoniously on the green grass below her and whirled around to give Inuyasha the dirtiest look she could muster.
Inuyasha's white dog ears flattened against his head, his mind whirring to come up with a decent excuse to stave off the irritated woman's impending exclamation. But he was too late and he heard Kagome suck in sharply before screaming, "SIT BOY!"
The rest of the group sat around the small cooking fire they had started earlier easily ignoring the two's ruckus. As Inuyasha's face slammed into the ground with a crack Sango and Miroku exchanged glances and Shippo did little to hide his giggles.
"Whadya' have to go and do that for!" Inuyasha spat at the woman as he pulled himself out of the crater his body had created.
"I already told you dog-boy, that ramen was supposed to last us for a few weeks. How did you manage to eat all of it so quickly? Now I guess we will be eating some of the left over jerky and potato chips instead," Kagome sighed. She pulled a few bags of chips out and passed them to her companions.
"That's okay Kagome," Miroku placated, offering her a small smile, "These chips are some of my favorite anyway."
"Yes, mine too," Sango chimed in as she popped a chip into her mouth.
The small clearing they had stopped in was lush and green with the early days of spring. A river flowed slowly off to the side with the sunlight bouncing sparkles of light into the over hanging trees beside it. Naraku had been defeated months ago and the jewel destroyed. The world around them seemed to have noticed, looking full and healthy. Birds sang more happily and a peace existed once again that had been squashed with the existence of Naraku.
"I only brought enough things to last me the few weeks I plan to be here," Kagome pointed out. She had returned to the other side of the well for a few months and rejoined her classmates in order to finish her last year of middle school. Missing her friends she had decided to pack up and hop back into the Feudal Era until her high school classes started. Since her return they had been traveling the countryside helping neighboring villages and defeating any demons they came across.
"Feh," Inuyasha huffed,"Maybe you shouldn't have told me you brought so much, stupid."
Kagome shot him a glare, just daring him to continue. He quickly backed down when he saw her mouth open slightly, preparing to send his face right back into the crater he had just managed to pull himself out of moments ago. Before he could call for a truce, rumbling was heard from a distance. The ground trembled faintly and birds flew over the group's heads as their nests were disturbed.
"What in the world could that be?" Sango asked, glancing to Inuyasha.
"I don't know but we should probably check it out," he responded, already standing and extinguishing the fire. Miroku nodded to him as he and Sango mounted Kirara and rose into the air.
Kagome gathered their food and stuffed it back into her bag, hopping onto the half demon's back. Inuyasha took off into a sprint following along the path of the river. After a few minutes of running along it's path the river became slightly wider and he could see a lake ahead. The trees thinned out and a large field came into view. Kagome gasped at the sight before them.
A massive white dog growled deeply at a group of bear demons that encircled it. The bear demons paled in size compared to the large beast but the smaller demons continued to attack it anyway.
"Is that Sesshomaru?" Miroku questioned.
"Who else could it be," Sango said, glancing down to Inuyasha,"We've never seen any other dog demons around here and we are relatively far from Sesshomaru's lands."
Inuyasha stared at the shaggy white dog, confusion in his eyes. He breathed in deeply and immediately recognized the scent that invaded his nose. "Runa!" he shouted, unceremoniously dropping Kagome to the ground. He ran forward into the battle, pulling Tessaiga from it's sheath. "Stay back!" he called to his friends.
"What is he doing?" Kagome cried, rising to her feet. She hadn't recognized the name Inuyasha had shouted before dropping her but it seemed he somehow knew the dog demon currently swatting at the bears below it.
"I guess that's not Sesshomaru," Shippo commented as he hopped onto Kagome's shoulder.
Kiara landed next to them and let Miroku and Sango jump down before shrinking and jumping into Sango's waiting arms. "I suppose not," Miroku replied, holding his chin in his recently curse freed hand.
Inuyasha swung his massive sword towards two of the larger bear demons and they disintegrated before even noticing the half demon had entered their battle. Realizing they had a new enemy, five of the remaining 9 demons turned towards him, rushing him angrily. The white dog took this opportunity to swipe one bear and then crush another with it's gigantic paws. But suddenly through the tree lines another bear broke though. This one however easily matched the dog's size as it rushed it with full force. Their bodies clashed with a deafening crunch and the canine's shoulder went limp as it gave out a piercing yelp. Inuyasha swirled around, destroying three more smaller bears with a swing of his sword.
"RUNA!" Inuyasha yelled, running towards the new attacker with full force. But before he could distract the newcomer with his presence another demon aura hit his senses and he faltered slightly.
From above, a growl rumbled through the sky while another dog demon rushed towards the battle. It's body plowed into the bear demon, slamming it to the ground and taking it's neck into it's great jaws. Poisonous saliva dripped down and seeped through the bears brown fur causing it to grunt in pain. Inuyasha watched as the demon he knew to be his brother twisted the neck of the bear and snapped it. The bear went limp, its body falling to the ground, shaking the earth and toppling trees.
Still taken aback by his brother's sudden appearance it took Inuyasha a moment to notice the first dog demon had shrunk down into a humanoid form. Sesshomaru had already beat him to the limp body and now cradled it in his newly regenerated left arm.
"Is that a woman?" Kagome asked, her eyes going wide as she watched Sesshomaru brush a strand of long white hair out of the female's face.
"Get away from her you fucking bastard!" Inuyasha demanded running towards the pair. He came to a short stop beside the two and gritted his teeth, clenching his fist.
Sesshomaru ignored his little brother, watching as the female opened her eyes to reveal emerald iris's shining back into his own amber.
"Big brother?" she whispered, reaching a thin, pale hand up to his face and letting her index finger trace his magenta markings.
"Big brother?" Inuyasha's friends said in unison, jaws dropping open at not only the mysterious woman's words, but her ease of contact with Sesshomaru.
Becoming aware of their audience, the girl snapped her head to the side and caught sight of the half demon beside her.
"Little brother?" she called, pushing herself from Sesshomaru and into Inuyasha's arms. He held onto her tightly while he took in her scent. She was exactly as he recalled her.
"Runa," he said gently, hugging her tightly before pulling away to look into her green eyes. He took in her appearance, which hadn't changed much since he had last seen her. Silvery white hair hung slightly below her curvy hips, longer bangs framing her thin face until they melted into the rest of her longer tresses.
"Ouch," she whimpered, suddenly grasping her injured shoulder,"I forgot that asshole crashed into me," she lamented. "I haven't seen you in so long Inuyasha. I heard you had been freed from your tree and had a hand in defeating Naraku," she said, cupping his face with the hand from her uninjured arm.
"Me and my friends did, yeah," he replied softly, glancing back towards the still astounded group. They had been watching the exchange in shock, confused by her words. Inuyasha had never mentioned having a sister, but the silver hair on her head was very similar to his and his brother's. Runa's eyes followed his glace back to his waiting friends and she gave them a small wave. They all waved back at the same time with dumbfounded looks and open mouths.
"Where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha suddenly spat as he noticed his older sibling turning and walking away from them. Sesshomaru ignored him and continued walking into the clearing ahead. "Why the hell are you even near this area?" Inuyasha questioned further, though he suspected he wouldn't get an answer.
"Big brother?" Runa whined, sadness over taking her fair features.
Sesshomaru paused before responding to her gentle whimper as he jumped into the air in a white light,"Don't you think we have grown a bit old for such pretending, Runa? I am not your brother."