Shadows in the Forest

**

Night brought a relief to the oppressive heat that had taken to following them even into the forest. The moonlight filtering through the leaves was the only light, and it wasn't much at that. Everything was calm and still, ready to turn down and sleep.

It had been a long day, and none of them even knew how much closer they were to the mountain of the snake demons. Inu-Yasha admitted to scenting the trail of a demon, but there was no way of knowing if it was the ones they sought.

"Let's face it," Sango muttered, somewhat crankily. "There are just too many demons in the world to seek out 'particular' ones, if you don't already know where they are. Maybe we should have dragged that Kegan boy along with us for a guide."

"We're better off finding some other demon as a guide," Miroku said. "One that we don't have to worry about eating us in the night."

"I dunno," Shippô murmured sleepily. "Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru could be like guard dogs or something…"

"I think they would be as likely to eat Kegan as he to eat us," Kagome sighed. "Anyway… if it is the wrong demon we're trailing now, we can deal with it in the morning. It's been a long day, and we've earned some rest…"

The fire was put out, and everyone curled up in their respective places to sleep. The only sound after that was Sango smacking Miroku for trying to cuddle a little too close, and then all was quiet.

Dark eyes watched from the shadows of the trees, calmly considering the little group of travelers trespassing on their territory. The one with the ears like a dog was pretty cute… maybe he would be fun to play with.

Figures gliding from the shadows, though they were no more than shadows themselves. The darkness shaped itself into four man-like shapes, creeping around in utter silence in the dark. They had no true bodies, only dark images, no sound or scent to awaken the sleeping people.

So it was only Inu-Yasha's snarl that woke everyone, as the four figures grabbed him and started to drag him into the thick darkness of the woods. Though he clawed and kicked at them, it went right through their insubstantial bodies, not even touching them. But they somehow kept their firm grip on him, no matter how he kicked and screamed.

"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome fumbled with her bows and arrows, but each shot sailed straight through the shadowy apparitions, striking into the trees instead. The same happened with Sango's boomerang, and Miroku couldn't unleash the wind tunnel for fear of dragging Inu-Yasha into it as well.

Sesshoumaru didn't even try to attack the things. Instead he turned to Kagome, snapping at her, "Make him sit."

"What?" Kagome blinked at him in startled confusion.

"Say it!" Sesshoumaru ordered.

"Er…" Kagome faltered. "Sit!"

THUD!

The shadowy creatures' grips were broken as Inu-Yasha slammed into the ground. The moment he could move again, Inu-Yasha scrambled away from the creatures, his sword drawn. But the shadow people were fading away, back into the darkness, like they'd never been there at all.

"Awww," sighed a voice from above in the trees. "You're no fun at all." A man leapt down from his perch where he'd been watching. His skin was gray, his hair black and gleaming slightly in the faint moonlight. His eyes gleamed like obsidian. Kagome wasn't sure, but she thought she saw faint white runes tattooed on the man's chest.

Inu-Yasha growled, leaping at the man. Not only did his sword go straight through the man, but Inu-Yasha stumbled slightly when his sword seemed to encounter nothing more than air, instead of the body he'd been expecting. Touching the man, Inu-Yasha's hand went clear through, as though he were nothing more than a ghost, a shadow. It was as useless attacking him as it had been the shadows.

"Who are you?" Kagome demanded. "What do you want?"

"My name's Ion," the gray-skinned man said. "I'm a shadow demon, and I just wanted a bit of fun…"

"You picked the wrong group to have a bit of fun with," Sango said, her weapon poised despite how useless it would be.

"I dunno," said Ion. "I could always call my shadows back. This is my forest of shadows and you being here gives me right to play with you."

"You demons and your stupid logic!" Kagome yelled at him. "Just because you're big and powerful makes you think you've got the right to do anything you want. But at least Kegan's logic made sense!"

Ion blinked at her, then grinned, his smile a flash of white in the darkness. "You know Kegan?"

Kagome blinked, then held up her bandaged hand to show where Kegan had bit her. "Yeah… we just met him earlier today. What, do all you demons know each other?"

"Well, of course I know Kegan," Ion said, "he's my brother."

"You, ahh… don't look anything like him," Miroku pointed out.

"Yeah, you two aren't even the same species," Sango said. "He's a cat and you're a… a shadow."

"Okay, so biologically he's not my brother," Ion said, in the tone of voice of someone who'd explained this many times before. "But we grew up together, he's more than just a best friend, he's… family. Hey, I don't suppose you could point me in his direction, hm? I really ought to go see him if he's in the area."

"Er, sure," Kagome said, pointing in the direction they'd come. "Hey, so long as you're here though, maybe you could help us? We're looking for the mountain of some snake demons…"

"Oh yeah, the twins? Never met them myself," Ion said, shrugging. "Heard they're quite a pair of brats though. Pranksters, when they want to be. Why you looking for them?"    

Kagome glanced at Inu-Yasha, then shook her head. "We have our reasons, but we really need to find them as soon as possible. Kegan gave us some vague directions, but we really could use some more to go on."

"It's a long ways," Ion said. "Hmmm… okay, keep going through these woods for a while, until you come to a river. Then you follow that for a while, and then it'll branch off and you'll wanna follow the right side. But I haven't gone much farther than that so that's about all I can tell you."

"Thanks…" Kagome said, smiling. "Sorry we were in your woods…"

Ion shrugged. "No problem. Hope you find those two little troublemakers if they're the ones you're after. Still don't understand why though…" He walked into the dark of the surrounding woods, vanishing in the blackness almost instantly.

"You know," Sango murmured, "that's really more helpful than I've ever expected a demon to be."

Inu-Yasha grumbled, sheathing his sword and dusting off his clothes, while everyone else curled up again to sleep. He didn't really know what had just happened, though he guessed Kagome had talked the demon that had attacked him into going away. He really would have rather sliced him in half.

Sesshoumaru was startled when Inu-Yasha, still grumbling a little to himself, sat down and curled up against his brother to go to sleep. As if it were the most natural thing to do in the world. He could hear Inu-Yasha's breathing even out as he fell asleep, completely comfortable and relaxed curled up beside his once mortal enemy.

"Well," Sesshoumaru murmured faintly, softly so as not to wake the others, "this is different." He smiled faintly as his breath on Inu-Yasha's ears made them twitch. Inu-Yasha looked so peaceful asleep. He sure wasn't like that when he was awake.

Sesshoumaru found himself thinking about something Ion had said. A cat demon and a shadow demon, so close that they were practically brothers. And here he was, with his actual brother, whom he hated and had spent so much time trying to kill.

But now as he thought about it, he found himself questioning exactly why he hated Inu-Yasha. He was half human, of course, and it made him a little slower, a little more clumsy. And yet he could wield the Tetsusaiga, and so far being slower and clumsier still hadn't meant Sesshoumaru could beat him. In fact they almost seemed an equal match, much as Sesshoumaru hated to admit it.

So Inu-Yasha had a tainted bloodline and was Sesshoumaru's equal despite it. And that had always been enough reason for Sesshoumaru to hate him.

And then again, wasn't it also reason enough to admire him?

Sibling rivalry, Sesshoumaru decided, was a funny thing. And maybe, just perhaps, it was time to stop wasting so much of his life on it.

So Sesshoumaru fell asleep, he and Inu-Yasha snuggled up together like a pair of puppies, and he dreamed of having a brother that didn't want to kill him.