Rivals By Instinct

**

It was one of those hot, heavy sorts of days, the kind where the air was so thick and slow with heat that it was almost hard to breathe it. The group had come to another village that morning, and Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru waited a ways from the edge of the village, while Kagome and the others had gone to speak to the humans living there. Sango had pointed out that if they brought demons into the village, not only would they not get the information they wanted, they may have a fight on their hands. So Sesshoumaru and Inu-Yasha stayed behind.

Inu-Yasha's gaze strayed to a passing butterfly, but it was too hot to bother with it, and besides that, he had to keep watch over his brother. Sesshoumaru had been acting rather non-hostile for most of the trip so far, but Inu-Yasha still didn't trust him as far as he could throw him.

Actually, given the chance he probably could throw him quite a ways… but that, of course, was not the point. The point was, Sesshoumaru was a jerk at best, and evil at worst. He may be acting nice now, but he was probably just waiting until he could kill them all with minimum trouble. So Inu-Yasha had to be extra careful, because he wouldn't be able to hear the attack coming.

Inu-Yasha hoped Sesshoumaru understood that this was the reason he was watching him. He wasn't staring because Sesshoumaru was pretty. Even though he was. Yes. Sesshoumaru was definitely pretty. But that wasn't the reason Inu-Yasha was watching him. At least, he didn't think so.

Sesshoumaru wasn't bothering to watch his brother back, though. He sort of stared into the distance, until the little passing butterfly landed on his nose. Sesshoumaru crossed his eyes to blink at the little insect, then gently blew it away, going back to whatever he found so interesting on the horizon. He was probably just bored.

Inu-Yasha knew that he should probably be bored too. But he wasn't. He was… contented to just watch Sesshoumaru. He was okay with that. And perhaps it was that- his complete lack of being bored- that worried him the most.

Kagome and the others trudged a little sluggishly out of the village sometime later. It was too hot to be doing any of this, they decided. This village hadn't had so much information to offer either. It seemed, however, that they'd acquired a side-trip.

"No such luck," Kagome said as she neared Sesshoumaru and Inu-Yasha, signing at the same time for Inu-Yasha's benefit. "They'd heard rumors from various other villages about the snake demons, but other than that, they're as clueless as the last place. But… there's a problem."

"There's another demon living in the nearby forest," Miroku said, "that has been eating humans."

"And let me guess," Inu-Yasha signed, frowning at Kagome. "You want us to take on this 'charity case' and go kill it or something, huh? You always do this! We're never going to get anything done if we keep getting sidetracked!"

"But it's eating humans!" Kagome signed, protesting.

"So what?!" Inu-Yasha signed. "Demons gotta eat too! And humans happen to be very nourishing. We have our own problems that need attending to first!"

Sesshoumaru wasn't following this conversation very well, since Kagome seemed to have forgotten to translate out loud as she argued with Inu-Yasha. But guessing from the expression on their faces, Kagome wanted to go kill the man-eating demon, and Inu-Yasha didn't. Sesshoumaru looked toward the forest, the shade of which looked fairly inviting at the moment. He wondered what sort of demon was living there. Finally he said, "…why don't we go talk to it?"

Kagome blinked at him. "What? You mean, talk to the demon?" She made a face. "Why?"

"A demon may know more of the existence and location of these snake demons than any human," Sesshoumaru said. And if this demon ate humans, Inu-Yasha's annoying companions would certainly be on the menu.

Kagome signed Sesshoumaru's idea to Inu-Yasha, who thought about it, then nodded decisively and headed toward the forest. If the demon could possibly help them, Inu-Yasha was more willing to go looking for it.

The coolness of the forest was welcoming. Inu-Yasha caught the scent of demon almost immediately, but it was far away, and would take a little traveling to catch up with. They stopped to rest at a small stream, then picked up the demon's trail and started after it.

It took most of the afternoon before they were even somewhat close, as most of his companions couldn't travel as fast as he could. There was something about the scent of this demon that bothered him. Some little bit of that odor was familiar. And it wasn't until they got even closer to the demon they were tracking at he figured out what that scent was.

He paused, glancing at his brother. From the look on Sesshoumaru's face, he recognized that smell too. That odor awoke every canine instinct either of them had. They couldn't think; all they could do was chase.

Because that smell was cat.

Kagome and the others stared in incomprehension as both Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru took off running. They disappeared into the rapidly darkening forest, and from the startled yowl that emitted from the shadows, they'd found whatever they'd gone running after.

This felt right. Sesshoumaru smiled fleetingly as he and his brother gave chase after the cat. Or cat demon, for that's what it appeared to be. It didn't matter that he and Inu-Yasha were hardly on good terms with each other; at this moment, only instinct mattered. And according to instincts, they were nothing but a pair of wild dogs, joining forces to bring down their prey.

Inu-Yasha leapt up into the trees, speeding up ahead to cut off their prey. Sesshoumaru grinned, chasing the cat-like creature into a clearing. The cat demon skidded to a halt, seeing Inu-Yasha blocking his path, and when he turned to run back the other way, was stopped short by Sesshoumaru in his way. He was trapped, and he knew it.

Only one thing stopped Sesshoumaru and Inu-Yasha from leaping on him and tearing him to pieces.

"SIT! STAY!"

THUD!

The cat demon jumped, startled, as his attackers slammed into the ground. Then he looked up at the girl whose commands seemed to have made them do so.

"Honestly…" Kagome was muttering as she watched Inu-Yasha unhappily get up. "I don't know what got into you two. I thought we were going to ask him for help. Or did you forget that part?"

Inu-Yasha, not hearing any of her mutterings, just glared at her as he sat up. He didn't exactly know why he'd gone chasing after the boy either… it'd just seemed like the thing to do at the time.

The cat demon's feline tail twitched behind him as he watched the human girl. Kagome in turn watched him. He didn't look dangerous. His hair was a soft brown, sort of spiky and pulled back in a ponytail, his eyes a gleaming amber. He had animal ears like Inu-Yasha did, only feline instead of a dog's. That and the twitching tail were his only real indication of being a cat demon.

"Hey there…" Kagome said, approaching him slowly. He couldn't be the demon they were looking for, the one that ate humans. He was too cute. She held her hand out to him, to help him up. "Sorry these two chased you. My name's Kagome, and- OW!"

The cat demon had bitten into her hand, sharp teeth digging into the skin. Inu-Yasha tackled him a moment later, and the cat panicked, clawing and yowling at the dog that had him pinned.

"Well. Maybe he is the one eating the humans, after all," Kagome murmured to herself. She glanced down at Sesshoumaru, who by her command was still stuck to the ground. "Er. Sorry about that… Heel."

"So what do we do about him?" Miroku asked, eyeing the cat demon still struggling in vain to escape Inu-Yasha's grip. "Aside from the biting, he's not… so dangerous."

"Whaaaa!" the little cat demon was crying. "Bad dog! Let me go! Let go!"

"He can't hear you," Kagome said, pulling out a few bandages from her backpack to wrap her hand. "But I can make him let you go. IF you promise no more biting."

"Fine! No more biting," the cat promised. "Just keep these damn dogs away from me!" He seemed genuinely scared of the two dog demons that had been chasing him.

Kagome touched Inu-Yasha's shoulder, and after a moment of signed conversation between the two, she convinced him to let the cat boy go. He stood close though, watching the cat demon warily.

"So… what's your name, cat?" Kagome finally asked.

He looked at her sulkily, glancing around at everyone else that had him surrounded. "Kegan," he said.

"Kegan?" Sesshoumaru asked with a snort. "What sort of a name is that?"

"My name," Kegan snapped back, then cringed away from Sesshoumaru's glare. Of all of them, he avoided looking at the dogs most often.

"Are you the one eating the humans from the village?" Sango asked.

Kegan squirmed, muttering, "I only ate a few of them." He glared at all of them. "What? I got hungry. It's not a crime!"

"It is among humans," Kagome said.

"Well I'm not a human," Kegan retorted, wiggling his cat ears for emphasis. "Humans aren't the only creatures that matter, you know! A demon's got to eat. I'm not gonna die of starvation because my lunch doesn't want to be eaten!"

Kagome looked uncomfortable. "Well… I guess you have a point…" She didn't much like that point, but that's just because it meant she was still considered food. She decided a change of subject was in order. "Actually, maybe you can help us with something. We're looking for two snake demons, that live on a mountain… have you heard of them?"

Kegan was nodding. "Oh yeah, I know them. Twin snake demons. They still owe me money, the cheap little bastards!"

"Really?" Kagome asked excitedly. "Do you know where we can find them?"

"Oh, sure. They live…" Kegan peered around, getting a sense of where they'd be in relationship to where he was, and pointing in the right direction. "…that way. Several days' walk though from here."

"That's great!" Kagome grabbed Inu-Yasha's arm and started dragging him in the direction Kegan had indicated. She didn't like the way Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru looked at Kegan like he was food. "Well, we'll be going now…"

"Are we really just going to leave?" Sango asked as they started off again. "I mean, he's a demon, and he has been eating humans…"

"I know, I know…" Kagome murmured. "But, he did help us out… and he did have a point. I mean… you can't blame a cat for being a cat."

"Can you blame a demon for being a demon?" Sesshoumaru asked out loud.

Kagome glanced at him, and frowned. "I'm having a hard time of it recently," she admitted.

**

Author's note: Meant to have this chapter done earlier, really. Also, Kegan is copyrighted to me. Mine. You can visit him on my website, but anyone trying to steal him will have their heads chewed off. No touchies. Thanks.