A/N: Thanks to everyone who has left reviews the past chapters and everyone else who is following the story! It makes me so happy to see that people are enjoying it :) I know I initially said that this was going to be around 10 chapters, but I'm now up to writing chapter 9 and...nowhere near completed. So, I threw out an edit for chapter 1 to separate the story into two 'acts,' with the hopes that it will give Sesshomaru/Rin more room to breathe without compromising their characters. The following chapters are also incredibly long, something I think is going to be a theme the further I get into the story...Anyway, as I'm sure you've all noticed, I've been on a weekly update on Fridays/Saturdays and hoping to stay on that schedule, so you can keep an eye out for the next chapters in that timeframe. Now that's all out of the way, enjoy the next chapter! It's a little more of a 'set up' chapter, but I promise the next three are juicy ones :3

Part V

Rin was scrubbing down the engawa to Kaede's house when she heard a voice call her name. Wiping her forehead, she raised up onto her knees and saw Mei bolting down the lane towards her. Mei's long hair swung behind her from the high pony tail that she wore and when she grew closer, she grinned at Rin in greeting. Out of all the girls in her friend group, Rin was the closest to Mei, who had always been kind to her even when she had been a stranger in the village. She had a lithe, athletic form and was much taller than Rin's slight figure. Like Hiroshi, she had dearly wanted to join the demon slayers, but unlike their friend, her father had forbidden it and Kohaku had told her that he was unwilling to go against her family's wishes. Unbeknownst to anyone, Mei had been training in secret in her spare time and Rin had stumbled upon her one day when she had been returning from the forest with Sesshomaru.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Mei had said to her with a severe look, the only time Rin had ever seen her look so fierce. Rin had given her word, not only because it was her friend, but because she had never seen Mei look so determined about anything in her life.

Now, as Rin tossed down her cleaning rag and made to meet Mei on the steps, she felt a sense of pride in her friend. With her build and the hard work she knew she had been putting in, she believed Mei could do anything she wanted – with or without her family's approval.

"What's going on?" Rin asked her as she came to the foot of the steps. Mei towered over her when she stopped beside her. Even though she had to look up at her, Rin had become accustomed to being one of the shorter girls. She knew that her lack of proper food when she had been a child had stunted her growth somewhat, but had always hoped that she would at least get to five feet. Instead, she fell just a few inches too short and as a result had been the brunt of many jokes from the boys in the village, especially when she had been a child.

"You won't believe what I'm about to tell you," Mei said excitedly and ushered for them to sit on the steps. Rin joined her, her curiosity piquing. Turning towards her on the steps, Mei leaned in conspiratorially to her. "Hana's finally made a marriage choice!"

"Hana has?" Rin asked, pulling back in shock. Even though Hana was part of their group, she was also the youngest out of all of them at fourteen. She knew that Hana was popular among the boys in the village, but had thought that Akai or Mei would have gotten married first since they were both seventeen. "To who?"

"Who else?" Mei asked with a laugh and roll of her eyes. "Takashi, of course! Let's be honest, out of the two of them, he had the best chance."

Rin clapped her hands together, beaming. "How wonderful! I'm so glad she ended up choosing one of them instead of one of the others."

"I think they would have lynched whoever she chose if it wasn't one of them," Mei said with a slight shake of her head.

"How did Shinobu take it?"

"Surprisingly well, actually. He hasn't been as aggressive about trying to impress her, so I think he might've caught wind of it or something." Mei leaned back, resting her hands on the steps as she gazed up at the clear, crystalline blue sky. "I'm really happy for Takashi. He deserves this. He's been so patient with Hana and they're a really good match. They're going to have such beautiful kids."

The two of them fell silent for a minute, Rin tipping her head back to also look up at the sky. It was quiet in this part of the village and, with Kaede out doing rounds with Kagome and Miroku, Rin had been left blissfully alone. Ever since Inuyasha had taken off with Kouga to hunt for the demon lord that had attacked Kohaku and Rin, those in his group had been occupied daily by meeting with the remaining warriors in the village and setting up charms and wards and renewing them each day. Even Kohaku had been absent with the increase of demon contracts now that the demon lord's horde had begun to attack other villages. Over the past couple weeks, Sango would occasionally join Kohaku and Rin would be left to watch over Kin'u and Gyokuto when the pair were gone.

It had been a long time since Inuyasha had been away from the village, which caused the villagers to whisper anxiously together in the shade of their homes. Rin had caught a few of the anxious murmurs and knew that they were afraid that they would be attacked again now that they did not have the half-demon present. Rin had never joined in such concerns. When the sun had finally set and everyone had gone to sleep, Rin would sometimes peek outside Kaede's home and see Sesshomaru's figure in the distance keeping vigil on the sleeping village. She knew that if there was any demon, Sesshomaru would be able to easily handle it on his own. She had seen him fight enough demons to know how capable he was at defending when necessary.

"Isn't it crazy?" Mei spoke up, breaking Rin out of her reverie. She turned her gaze from the sky to look at her friend. Mei caught her eye and gave a slightly melancholic smile. "Sorry. I'm really happy, but ever since I heard the news, I started to think about how fast everything is happening. We've all been friends since we were kids and now all of a sudden we're ready to get married and have kids. It feels like just yesterday the elders were yelling at us for letting loose a bucket of frogs in the village."

Rin laughed at the memory. "I had forgotten we did that! Hana's mom was screaming her head off because one of them was crawling all over her and thought it was a frog demon."

Mei released a brief giggle and then sighed wistfully, digging her toe into the earth a bit. "We're all going to be married soon enough. Do you think we'll all still be friends, even when we get kids?"

"Sure, why not?" Rin said easily. "Sango and Miroku had kids, but they still have the same friends."

"Well, yeah, but they all ended up in the same village."

Rin found this to be a strange comment, since she knew that both Hana and Akai had no intentions of leaving the village. To her knowledge, Takashi had no intention of leaving the village, either, and while there were some men that left the village due to the demon attacks or wanting to open their own shops elsewhere, she could not think of any boy their age that wanted to do that.

"Is there someone that you want to marry, Mei?" Rin questioned. "You always talk about becoming a demon slayer, but you've never really talked about marriage or boys before. Neither you or Akai have, actually!"

Mei laughed, waving a hand dismissively. There was something in her laughter that made Rin suspect whatever she said was not about to be the complete truth. "No, no, that's not what's important to me right now. I want to be able to provide for myself first before worry about marriage." She slanted a look towards her. "What about you? Hiroshi's planning to ask you, you know."

"I know." Rin lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I'm not really into him, though. You know how he is."

"Yeah, and that's why you should be careful. I don't think he's going to accept a rejection. But I guess it's up to Kaede, anyway."

Rin chose not to mention what Sesshomaru had said to her about her agency in choosing her husband. She did not want to rub it into Mei's face when she had almost every aspect of her life controlled by her family. While she was more comfortable speaking about Hiroshi with Mei – and had, in fact, done so on several occasions – she was not sure that she wanted to remind Mei about her own inflexible situation. If Mei chose not to get married, she knew it would be because she had chosen her life aspiration as a demon slayer over her family and would likely be cut off from any resources. Rin knew that any of their friends would take her in temporarily, but she would not want to be a burden and at that point, Rin hoped Kohaku or at least Sango would be willing to take her on as an apprentice. They, of all people, should know what it was like to be without family.

Instead, Rin turned her gaze out towards the empty lane, not speaking at first. So many people had asked her about Hiroshi in the past few months since he had been building his house that she was beginning to tire of hearing about him. Between Kohaku, Kagome, Sango, and now Mei, she was sure that she would be obliged to hear about the possibility of marriage to Hiroshi until he finally asked her.

"It's kind of dumb," Rin said at last.

"What is?"

"This." She gestured around vaguely. "I know that life has to go on, but there are demons that are always attacking the village and it's usually the women and children that die first. Instead of teaching us to be independent and defend ourselves, we're supposed to learn how to attract husbands and by the time we get to our age, that's the only thing that older people care about. I'm not saying that I'd want to be a warrior or anything. It'd just be nice if there was a balance of priorities."

Mei chuckled at this observation. "Trust me, I know. I guess their viewpoint is that the more kids women bear, the less people they lose overall when those attacks happen." She paused, plucking at her kimono absent-mindedly. "I bet Kohaku will make whoever he marries learn self-defense against demons."

"Hiroshi probably will too, then."

"Doubtful. Hiroshi's an idiot like that, he enjoys lording his power over the girls too much."

"I never really thought of Kohaku getting married," Rin admitted, frowning slightly. "He's never seemed to really take an interest in anyone. I asked him about whether he would be moving into his own place soon, but he made it sound like he didn't want to."

"He can't stay with Sango and Miroku forever, though. They want more children. They'll run out of room eventually."

"Maybe."

The two girls went quiet for a few moments, Rin continued to gaze out towards the lane while Mei continued to worry her kimono fabric between her fingers. The idea of Kohaku one day being a husband to someone was a foreign one, something that Rin had never contemplated all too seriously. With one of their own now engaged, though, it only seemed sensible that the rest of their group would be married off. Kohaku was the oldest of their group at nineteen and while it was not unusual for men to remain unmarried well into their twenties, it made Rin wonder why he had never so much as mentioned another girl to her. She supposed he might have had such conversation with Hiroshi or the other boys and not her, though that would have been unusual. She made a mental note to ask him at a later time.

Mei smoothed her hands over her lap, straightening up slightly. "Hey, Rin...what about you, though? Do you want to stay in the village? I know you always talked about leaving when we were kids. It's been forever since then."

Rin did not look from the dirt lane that she been watching, feeling the burn of Mei's gaze on her face. The question seemed loaded. "I like it here," she cautiously answered, "and I'd hate to leave all of you."

"That's not really an answer," Mei said impatiently. She scooted a little closer and took Rin's hand, squeezing it tightly between her own. "You're the one I'm worried about, you know. Out of all of us, you're the one most likely to leave."

She finally tore her eyes away from the lane to meet Mei's earnest expression. She smiled, squeezing her hand back. She could not offer words of comfort. In her heart, she knew what she wanted, although she knew it would tear at her heart to leave her friends. She would miss Mei and Kohaku the most. They had been her constant companions throughout the past seven years and she had so many beautiful memories with them. Over the years, though, the times between Sesshomaru's visits had been just as painful. Somehow, she felt that Sesshomaru would be more accommodating to taking time so she could visit her friends than a husband would be to him visiting her. It was a comfort that she had used over the years as she waited for the day when she could one day travel with him again.

"To be honest," Mei said quietly, looking away from her, "I've known for a while that you would be leaving us eventually. I'm just scared about what it means for you."

"You act like I'm going somewhere tomorrow!" Rin scolded her, laughing slightly. "I'm not going anywhere, Mei. I'm not the one who accepted a marriage proposal, you know."

"Yeah...but I know you love Lord Sesshomaru."

The statement hit Rin so hard that she released Mei's hand, pulling back from her in shock. The other girl did not turn to meet her wide-eyed stare, though a corner of her mouth kicked upwards at the reaction. Rin opened her mouth to deny it, but she knew she could no more lie to Mei than she could to Kohaku. She closed her mouth and instead pursed her lips to prevent herself from trying to explain herself. She knew how Mei and the others in their group felt about Sesshomaru – they had made their sentiments very clear when they had been children. If they did not fear him, they viewed him as they did all full-blooded demons and as someone not to be trusted. She knew that Mei only tolerated Sesshomaru because of Kohaku, for he had vouched for the demon lord more than once during conversations over the years. Rin was not ashamed for her feelings, nor would she apologize for having them. It was that she was so transparent that irked her. She had thought she had been doing a good job of hiding it.

It also hurt to have someone express it so openly. Even to herself, she had not used the word 'love' in a long time, as if hoping that it could put some distance between her and the warm sentiment she held for him.

"It doesn't matter," Rin told her at last, bowing her head and frowning into her lap. "Sesshomaru doesn't approve of relations between humans and demons."

"He doesn't?" Mei queried, surprised. "But isn't he Inuyasha's brother?"

"That's why. He didn't like that their dad got with Inuyasha's mom."

Mei considered this for a moment. "Well, have you asked him about it recently?"

Rin raised her head to look at her. "No. Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't change his opinion about that. I don't think I've ever heard him say a nice thing about Inuyasha or half-demons."

"Yeah, but they don't have the best relationship from what I've seen. That could just be a brotherly thing."

She released a small laugh. "I thought you didn't like Lord Sesshomaru, Mei?"

"I don't," Mei replied honestly, "but when I see the two of you together, it's almost like...I don't know. You two fit."

Rin smiled at this observation and leaned forward, resting her forearms on her knees. "Maybe that's just because you're used to seeing us together."

"No, it's not that. It's hard to explain." Mei lifted her hands in front of her, palms upward in a futile gesture of frustration as words briefly failed her. "To us, Sesshomaru is this scary, forbidding demon that comes by a few times a year. He doesn't talk to anyone, he always looks so stand-offish, and doesn't seem to care about anyone else. With you, you can just tell that he's different. There's just a way that he looks and talks to you that you can tell and when you're with him, it's like you two are in your own world. You look so happy when you're with him. And even though I don't like him, that doesn't mean I think he's bad for you. But there's no way that Kaede would ever accept you marrying a demon and I don't know how Inuyasha or Kagome would feel about it, either."

Rin had pinkened slightly at Mei's description. Lord Sesshomaru looks at me differently? she thought incredulously. She thought of how Sango and Miroku often interacted with each other, how affectionate they seemed together and the way that Sango would often watch Miroku with their twins. They were the only couple she had seen that were so outwardly loving towards each other amongst others. She could not imagine Sesshomaru looking at her the way the two of them did. It was unheard of.

"I don't know about that," Rin managed at last, hating the hopeful flutter in her heart.

"I just think if it's something you really want, you should go for it," Mei told her with a huff. "It's not like I want you to leave, but take a page out of Hana's book. I'd rather you were happy than stuck with someone you don't want, Rin."

"Thanks, Mei. You're always looking out for me." Rin heaved a sigh and rose to her feet, making a show of stretching. "I'll think about it, but I'm happy just being by Lord Sesshomaru's side. If he lets me go with him, I will. It doesn't have to be anything more than that."

"You shouldn't settle for less." Mei had also risen to her feet and she had levelled a hard, disapproving stare onto her friend. "It's obvious he feels something for you. You should take advantage of that while you have the chance. Demons live longer than humans...you've only got so much time that you can have with him."

"Maybe," Rin answered vaguely before giving Mei a tight hug. "I have to get back to cleaning. Kaede will be back soon."

Mei looked as if she wanted to say more, but released a slow stream of air from between her lips in defeat. Instead, she said, "We're going to have a celebration for Hana's engagement ionce we find out when Kohaku is going to have some free time. A little sake by the river and a fire!" She made a gesture of tipping a glass towards her mouth, winking conspiratorially before she turned and headed down the lane after a final farewell.

Rin watched her for a few seconds and then slowly made her way back to the engawa, picking up her cleaning rag. Even as she got down to her knees to continue her chore, however, without the presence of her friend and left to her thoughts, she found herself lingering on Mei's words.

In spite of the encouragement, she could not bring herself to endure such an embarrassment by confessing her feelings to him. Whatever Mei had seen, it could not be what Rin was hoping and she refused to make herself look like a fool. She would make herself happy with Sesshomaru's mere companionship. That would have to be enough for her. Like Mei had said, her lifespan was so much shorter than a demon's. She wanted to savor the time she could have with him rather than waste days or years worrying about her own feelings.

Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't change his mind, she stubbornly told herself. I don't think he's ever looked at me differently. I'm the only one that's changed.

Inuyasha blew out a long breath, making his way towards the cliffside that overlooked the lush forest below. He and Kouga were far out from Kaede's village. Two days ago, they had found stragglers from the demon horde of Bushuugi's, but before Inuyasha could prevent Kouga from attacking, the wolf demon had shot forward with three of his men and had decimated the small group. This was not the first unexpected blunder that Kouga had made in the past few weeks, either. During the first week Inuyasha travelled with him, Kouga had been more brash and impatient than ever. He was used to Kouga's irritating personality, but this had been on another level. He caused human villagers to run away from them, too frightened by Kouga's demeanor to so much as exchange a word with them. This had caused their search to be more difficult than necessary and Inuyasha, not for the first time, reminisced on how easy it had been to get information when he had been traveling with Miroku, Sango, and Kagome.

Nonetheless, they were clearly on the right trail towards Bushuugi. Because they had not stumbled into any of his other demons, they were no closer to eliminating him than before, but Inuyasha was confident that they would come across the demon lord or more of his demons soon. It was only a matter of time, after all. In the interim, he felt obliged to have a discussion with Kouga about his poor attitude.

He already had his suspicions on why Kouga had been on edge. Even though he disliked Kouga immensely, he did not take pleasure in seeing him suffer when it came to his clansmen. Kouga might not have seen it the same way, but Inuyasha had thought it was quite merciful that Sesshomaru had only killed one of Kouga's men rather than killing him or the entire group. Kouga had said nothing to him after Sesshomaru had left, only cursing to himself and grieving over the death of the fallen wolf demon. He had been in poor spirits ever since then, even towards Kagome when they had left the village for a final time.

"Hey," Inuyasha said, spotting Kouga sitting with his arms and legs crossed at the edge of the cliffside. Above them, there was a clear, moonlit sky, giving them ample light in the otherwise shadowy landscape.

"What is it?" Kouga asked with a frown.

"Well," Inuyasha sighed, settling next to him, bending into a cross-legged position and laying his sword on his lap, "I'm kind of getting sick of your moodiness. You're screwing up any chance we have of getting information from the villagers around here and it's not like there's a lot of human settlements here, if you haven't noticed."

Inuyasha had expected Kouga to blow up on him, something that he seemed apt to do these days, but instead he bowed his head. There was an expression of deep regret on his rough features.

"Sorry," Kouga said to him gruffly. "I'll do better going forward."

Well, that was easy, Inuyasha thought, pleased with what he considered to be a swift resolution.

"It's because of that damn Sesshomaru," Kouga continued on, raising his head and glaring out towards the forest that expanded out below them. "I can't even do anything to avenge my clansman because of who he is."

"Come on, Kouga," Inuyasha exasperatedly said. "Even you have to admit that Sesshomaru took it easy on you." Kouga cast him an affronted look. "Look, your wolves used to go around tearing apart humans just as easily as these demons of Bushuugi's. Don't try and act like you controlled them. You let them do what they wanted. You don't have anyone else to blame but yourself."

"Are you defending him?"

"No! I just don't know what you expected. Rin won't even come out of Kaede's house when you're around because she's terrified of wolves. You should be grateful you're even alive." Inuyasha fingered a rock that was lying in front of him and then tossed it down into the trees, watching its descent until he could no longer see it. "If you had met Sesshomaru before Rin, he would have killed you just because you were a demon and were on the same road as him."

"Don't give him too much credit. I had Shikon shards in my legs then. He would've had to catch me."

Inuyasha snorted loudly. "You're fucking stupid. You act like Shikon shards would've made a difference. Sesshomaru doesn't align himself anywhere for a reason. Even I've got to admit that he's one of the more powerful demons. You wouldn't have stood a chance against him."

Kouga made a skeptical sound in his throat. "Whatever. Who keeps a child around, anyway? Seems kind of creepy."

"Says the demon over two hundred years old trying to get with Kagome," Inuyasha replied, irritated in spite of himself. He was not trying to defend Sesshomaru, but at the same time Kouga's insinuation was a slight against Rin as much as it was Sesshomaru. "You were like twenty in human years when we first met you! What kind of weirdo goes for a teenager?"

"That's completely different!" Kouga exploded, throwing his hands up in the air. "Everyone knows age doesn't matter as long as long you find yourself a mate that can bear children. That kid was obviously too young when she started running with him. Kagome was developed when I found her – you could tell she was very womanly."

Inuyasha side-eyed Kouga with blatant disgust. "So, if she had been 'developed,' it would've been alright? You're the one sounding like a creep now."

They lapsed into a simmering silence, both apparently fuming. Like always with Kouga, Inuyasha found it very hard to not want to banish him to the depths of the underworld. Outside of his weird perception of 'womanliness,' he did not particularly care to hear Kouga talk about his wife that way. The idea that the wolf demon had been salivating over Kagome's body made him nauseous with rage.

"Look, I know it's my fault," Kouga said suddenly, interrupting Inuyasha's thoughts of tearing his eyeballs out. "I've been trying to retrain my clan ever since I met Kagome. I know it's my fault they got killed before and I know it's my fault that Hisoka died from Sesshomaru. That's what pisses me off. I know all that, but I can't change the past. I can't change who I used to be or how my men used to act. We've all killed humans before – does that mean we suddenly deserve death because we made a few bad decisions?"

"Your 'bad decisions' costed people their lives, Kouga," Inuyasha told him flatly.

"Alright, so? It doesn't even matter if it's a mistake then?" he spat back in return. "You killed humans, too, until that Kikyo woman stopped you."

"The difference is I wouldn't bitch and moan if people started coming after me!" Inuyasha shot at him. "Just face it – you're mad because you know you deserved it and this time you got your own men killed so you're feeling stupid."

"Of course I'm feeling stupid!" Kouga sprang to his feet, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "I'm supposed to be the clan leader! I'm supposed to be the one leading them to victory, not making decisions that pisses off a demon lord! They follow my example – what I do, they do. What morals and values I set are their morals and values."

"Then just own up to it and stop whining!" Inuyasha had also risen to his feet and had met Kouga's glare with his own. "If you don't want to take responsibility, then fine, whatever, but you're not going to make my job harder because of it. The only reason I'm going after Bushuugi is to keep Kagome and the others safe. If you're going to get in the way of that, then just stay the hell away from me and go back to your clan."

Without waiting to hear a response, Inuyasha sprang up into the tree tops and rushed along the branches until he found a tree where he could comfortably perch. He was positively livid with Kouga. To target his own faults and flaws and then to mention Kikyo of all things was beyond forgiveness. It was insulting enough to be reminded that he, too, had been as disgraceful as the wolf demon tribe. He hated looking back on those times before Kikyo, before Kagome. It was not a healthy mindset, to avoid one's past as he did, but he would never shy away from taking personal accountability if an old enemy resurfaced. If the families of those that he had slaughtered managed to track him down, they had every right to demand repayment for their deaths. The problem for Kouga, though, was that he was more likely to serve the repayment than Inuyasha, who could easily overpower any of those that he had slighted. He did not envy him being on Sesshomaru's hit list.

Sesshomaru wanted to kill him, Inuyasha thought with a frown, relaxing back against the trunk of the tree. He said as much himself. Rin must have asked him not to kill Kouga at some point. He wouldn't have stopped himself for anyone else.

He released a short snort of laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. He never would have thought that Sesshomaru would listen to anyone in his entire life. Sesshomaru had ignored the wishes of his own mother, their father, and the entire demon community that had outdated expectations for the demon lords. He had always done as he pleased with no regard to anyone except for himself. The fact that he would go so far for such a small human still baffled Inuyasha.

She probably doesn't even realize it, he mused, closing his eyes and settling himself into a more comfortable position, Tessaiga tucked into his armpit, his arms crossed over his chest. He would do anything for her. He chuckled to himself, amused at the concept. Only Kouga would be stupid enough to threaten her to his face like that.

Feeling more cheerful at reflecting on Kouga and Sesshomaru's deficiencies, he fell into a restful sleep on his branch.

When Inuyasha awoke, it was to birds chirruping indignantly in his ear. He brushed off the pair of birds that seemed to be offended at his close proximity to their nest a few branches above him. Taking hold of Tessaiga, he jumped down to the ground and stretched his arms above his head, rubbing his nose. It would be another long day of tracking and he would need to find food at some point. Kouga's clan members had been hunting and preparing food for them. It was never as good as Kagome's cooking, but it had at least avoided the trouble of needing to find it himself.

As he walked through the forest, intending to head back to the cliffside, he caught the scent of the wolf demons and frowned to himself. His ear twitched as he searched for voices and, hearing Kouga's among them, he changed his trajectory, following the scent and sounds. He came to a clearing where Kouga was eating some dried meat, standing amongst the other wolf demons. Upon spotting Inuyasha, he shoved the remainder in his mouth and then approached him, holding out a hand. Inuyasha stared at it, nonplussed.

"I want to say I'm sorry," Kouga said to him with a sober expression. "I've made an ass of myself and disgraced my clan with how I've been acting. I'd like to make up for it."

Cautiously, Inuyasha clasped his hand briefly. "How?"

"I've sent some of my best trackers out last night," Kouga said, gesturing towards two wolf demons. "They were able to pick up a trail. It's faint, so it must be days old, but it's at least a start. I owe it to you and Kagome to see this through to the end. I was the one that came to you about it, after all."

Inuyasha huffed out a breath. If he was honest, he was not looking forward to hunting for food and tracking Bushuugi on his own; at the same time, he was still feeling nettled by Kouga. The petty side of him wanted to give him the finger and run off, but Inuyasha flattered himself thinking that he was rather more mature these days. In his mature state, he dismissed the ruder of the ideas and instead shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine," he said, taking the piece of meat one of the wolf demons proffered to him. "But I'm serious, you better keep your shit together."

Kouga grinned at him. "You can count of me."

Inuyasha almost sighed again. That's what you said when we left the village.

But, he held his tongue, and after they had all eaten their share of the meat the wolf demons had prepared for them, the group headed out, following the trail that the trackers had set.

"If we're lucky," Kouga said to Inuyasha, "we should be able to take care of Bushuugi and his army before he decides to come back our way."

"Yeah, if we're lucky," Inuyasha repeated. "Don't know if you've noticed, Kouga, but luck hasn't ever been on my side when it comes to hunting down demons."

Kouga laughed at this observation. For now, it seemed like he really did intend to have a better attitude and was remorseful. Inuyasha hoped that this turn of mood would last for the remainder of their hunt after Bushuugi.