Kiyomisa: Ahh Jaid I'm sorry I spelled your name wrong! *bows*. But thanks to everyone who reviewed so quickly! Seven reviews in one day ^-^, I'm amazed. Keep 'em comin', they make me write faster ^-^.

A/N: Umm…I added a character that I know about only by word of mouth, so if she's waaaaaaaaaaay out of character, forgive me ^-^'! And let me know what she's really like.

* * *

Inu-Yasha sat in a tree grumpily, muttering about unnecessary stops as the bulk of the group was arranging things in a nearby village.

"C'mon Inu-Yasha, it's not that bad," Ranma said through a yawn, sitting in the branch next to him.

"Yeah, tonight we get to sleep in real beds," Ryoga called up lazily.

"Feh, you're soft," Inu-Yasha snorted.

Ryoga raised an eyebrow and glared up at his friend. "Soft? You think I'm soft?" he growled dangerously.

"You're only human," Inu-Yasha retorted.

"He smells part wolf to me," a voice said haughtily. Ryoga jumped into a fighting stance, glaring at the speaker. He was a young youkai with long black hair, dressed in fur. He was flanked by two similar looking youkai who watched the group apprehensively.

"Who the hell are you!?" Ryoga demanded angrily.

"Kouga, what the hell are you doing here!?" Inu-Yasha snarled, jumping down from the tree.

"Same thing you are dog-breath, tracking down Naraku. I'm surprised you got this far with a sense of smell like yours." Kouga taunted.

Inu-Yasha snarled into his face. "You couldn't smell your way out of a paper bag!"

Kouga's face contorted with anger. "You couldn't smell the wolf in him!" he growled, pointing at Ryoga.

One of Kouga's followers sniffed the lost boy experimentally, only to be lightly smacked away by an indignant Ryoga. "Hey!"

"He smells like you Kouga!" the follower said in surprise.

Inu-Yasha, Ryoga and Kouga glared at him and he quailed slightly. Ranma watched with interest from the tree.

Meinu, Ukyo, Shippo and Kagome returned from the village, laden with food.

"What's going on?" Ukyo inquired curiously, eyeing the newcomers warily.

"They claim that I smell like him," Ryoga accused, pointing at Kouga.

"Kouga-kun!" Kagome blinked at the youkai.

"Kagome," he replied in a dazed voice.

"But how could you smell like him," Ukyo wanted to know. "We've never even seen him before."

"He doesn't, he's making it up," Inu-Yasha growled.

Meinu approached Ryoga and gently took hold of his head to pull it down so she could smell him. Ryoga blushed profusely and Ukyo tapped her foot impatiently.

"He does, Inu-Yasha-san. Ryoga-san smells like wolf-youkai, and very similar to him. They could be related," she said in her soft voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Kouga demanded, seeing her for the first time. Meinu flinched and hid behind Ryoga and Ukyo.

"She's Meinu, and show more respect to a lady," Ryoga snarled.

Kouga sniffed the air experimentally, then made a disgusted sound. "Another dog. Kagome, you need to get away from these losers."

"Kouga-kun, they're my friends!" Kagome reprimanded him angrily. The wolf-youkai blinked, then ducked his head shamefully. She ignored him and turned to Meinu. "Meinu-chan, you said they could be related?"

Meinu glanced at Kouga nervously before nodding from behind Ryoga's broad shoulders. "Hai Kagome-san. Much like Inu-Yasha-san and Sesshoumaru-sama smell similar, so do Ryoga-san and Kouga-san…"

"Ryoga, do you remember anything about your family history?" Ukyo asked. Ryoga shrugged. "Not too much. I remember my mom saying something about her grandmother being almost disowned for marrying beneath her station, but her parents stuck by her in the end. I guess they decided that their daughter was worth it or something."

"He smells more human than youkai, but he does have some wolf blood in him," Meinu interjected softly.

Ukyo frowned in thought. "So Kouga could be his great-great-grandfather, if his great-grandmother married a human and so did his grandmother and mom. "

Inu-Yasha growled low in his throat. "Who cares!? Where's the others Kagome," he demanded, changing the subject.

Kagome frowned slightly. "They're exterminating a small nest of bug-youkai in the village. The mayor agreed to put us up for the night if we did."

"I'm going then. If you finish with this foolishness, I'll be with the others." That said, the half-breed flew off, not looking back.

"Inu-Yasha!!" Kagome yelled irritably after him. She hmphed and looked back at the group. Shippo was hopping around Ryoga, asking him if he could do anything interesting while Meinu and Ukyo argued with Kouga. Well, Ukyo argued, Meinu gave support. Ranma was walking towards the village, thinking for a change. Kagome sighed and started back too. She was going to find Inu-Yasha and make him tell her why he'd run off like that.

* * *

"I don't have to take the advice of some wimpy dog!" Kouga finally snarled at Ukyo and Meinu. Ukyo fumed, but Meinu felt her face heat unbearably and tears pricked at her eyes. She sniffed a little and Ryoga and Uyko glanced at her. Having their attention on her was too much and the tears flowed rapidly. She covered her face in her hands and slid to the ground, sobbing quietly.

Ukyo rounded on the unfortunate wolf, spatula and eyes glowing. "You bastard!" she yelled, taking a swipe. Kouga dodged it, but barely. "How dare you make a woman cry!" SLASH! She'd nicked his ear that time. "You-should-be-ashamed!" KLANG! Kouga stepped back towards his followers with a very dazed look on his face. He shook his head a couple of times, trying to get rid of the painful ringing in his ears. Glancing up, he saw three Ukyos beginning to bear down on him with fury.

"Ukyo!" Ryoga snatched her back, one arm around the waist and the other grabbing her spatula before it could come down on the wolf.

"Lemme go Ryo! I'm gonna flatten him!"

"Oh you are, are you?" Ryoga growled softly and yanked the weapon out of her hands and tossing it aside. Ukyo kicked and squirmed, but couldn't get away from Ryoga. "Calm down!"

"Don't you want to pummel him!?" Ukyo demanded incredulously.

"Of course I do!" he snapped. "But what about Meinu?"

Ukyo paused and glanced at the youkai, who was watching with wide eyes, tears still streaming. Shippo had climbed into her lap and was doing his best to comfort her.

"Meinu-chan."

Ryoga let her down and she hurried over to comfort her. Ryoga turned back to face the three wolves. The two were trying to convince Kouga that they should get back on Naraku's trail, but he was still a bit dizzy to move. Ryoga took a step forward, but something jumped in front of him, and a solid object connected with his stomach. It didn't hurt, but he paused anyway and found himself staring down at another wolf youkai with two long ponytails and brilliant green eyes. She reminded him of the way Ukyo had looked just moments before.

"What did you do to Kouga-sama!?" she demanded.

"I didn't do anything! He insulted our friend!" Ryoga snarled.

"Ayame, what are you doing here?"

Ayame whirled around to face Kouga, her face screwing up in a mixture of impatience and hurt. "Kouga-sama, I'm your betrothed, I go anywhere you go."

Kouga blinked. "I told you I don't remember any kind of agreement like that."

She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "And I told you that our parents arranged it! And I am not going to let you back out of it!"

"Wait, doesn't Kouga like Kagome?" Shippo asked out loud. Ryoga and Ukyo groaned.

"What?" Shippo demanded.

"It's the Ranma complex all over again," Ukyo moaned. Ryoga looked sick.

"Arranged marriages vs. infatuation. It sucks. The best thing Kouga could do is marry her, whoever she is and forget about Kagome," Ryoga said.

"So you think that you should find someone else and forget about Akane?" Shippo snorted. Ryoga snarled at him.

"That is a completely different situation you little brat."

"Sure Ryoga. We all know you actually love Akane," Ukyo continued sarcastically. "It's not just infatuation born out of the first attention a girl ever paid attention to you. "

"Shut up you! You were all prepared to kill Ranma, and as soon as he calls you cute, you're flinging yourself at him!"

Uyko went completely red with embarrassment and fury. She stood up and Meinu joined her uncertainly. "I don't have to take that from a piglet!" she hissed and stormed towards the village.

"Ukyo-san!" Meinu chased after her in concern.

Ryoga was breathing heavily and Shippo looked at him warily as a bright yellow aura flared around him. His teeth were clenched and his fisted hands shook.

"Um, Ryoga…?"

"SHISHI HOKDAN!!!!!" Ryoga roared, sending a powerful blast into the sky. The wolf youkai jumped back in astonishment and Shippo squawked and disappeared in a small cloud of leaves.

Still faintly glowing, Ryoga punched a hole through a tree and sat down to sulk, not wanting to risk getting lost by leaving the area.

Eyeing him fearfully, Ayame and the two wolf-youkai steered Kouga away from the furious mixed breed.

* * *

"Inu-Yasha will you talk to me!?" Kagome yelled in exasperation. The half-breed stopped and glared at her.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Why in the world did you just storm off like that?"

His nose wrinkled in thought. "I didn't like the rubbish they were talking about."

"What, that Ryoga's part youkai? Why would that bother you? You're half youkai," she pointed out in confusion.

"That's not the part that bothered me," he said softly, sitting down. "He's part wolf-youkai."

"So?" Kagome sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"Wolves and dogs don't mix. It's against the rules."

"So, you're upset because your first best-friend is a different type of youkai."

He frowned, then let the best-friend comment slide and nodded.

"Well, why let it destroy your friendship? He's your friend, it shouldn't matter what blood he's inherited," she said gently, brushing some of his bangs out of his way.

Both were startled when they heard someone storming down the street, crying.

"Ukyo? What's wrong?" Kagome asked, standing up.

"That, that-JERK!"

"Where's Ryoga?" Inu-Yasha demanded, knowing full well how easily his friend could get lost.

Ukyo turned on him in teary fury. "You can tell that stuck up pig to GO TO HELL!!" That said she whirled about and stormed down the street again.

"I'd better go find him before-"

"Hai, you go get Ryoga. I'll try to calm Ukyo down."

Meinu rushed over, breathing heavily. "Is Ukyo-san over here?"

"Just went that way," Inu-Yasha pointed. Kagome grabbed the youkai's arm and began to drag her after the cook.

"What the hell happened to those two?" Inu-Yasha wondered as he returned once more to the hill.

* * *

Kiyomisa: Umm…Ryoga and Ukyo weren't supposed to do that I swear. *glances at the two, who are refusing to talk to each other.* Stupid characters are running away with me again! Oh well, more drama. I'll try to get some Ranma/Akane in the next chapter for ya Lynnxlady ^-^, please be patient. Waahhh it sucks being back in school after Nan Desu Kahn! Everyone there was nice to me and understood me, everyone here ignores me and gives me confused looks! I wanna be back among anime fanfatics! ;^o^;