Author's note: Alright, peoples. Before I get on with the next chapter, I have one or two things that I'd like to say. The very first thing addresses the few flames that I have received. One informed me "don't, and I mean DON'T" have any more kissing scenes between Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru. Also they insisted that I "make the pairs I/Kag and so on." Now I am very sorry (well, sorta sorry) but I'm afraid that this is MY story and I will write anything I please. And I did post a warning, which my flamers must have ignored else they wouldn't have flamed me. So I do hope my readers will not tell me how to write my fanfictions. If my story is so detestable to you, feel free to not read it, and go write your own.  

Second of all, there's the subject of Kilala's name. Someone has "insisted" that I spell it Kirara instead. I actually thought a while on the spelling of this name. But the Japanese language really has no L or R in it at all, but some combination of the two, which makes both spellings incorrect. Therefore I went with the one I thought looked better written down. Again, if this displeases you, you can write your own story.

And lastly, I've gotten a few reviews that consist of nothing but the word "UPDATE". I'm sorry to say, but content-less reviews like this make me not want to update. I guess I'm just not very good with following orders. But if you'd like to review and tell me what about my story makes you want me to update, I'm more inclined to listen. Thank you for suffering through my author's notes, and have a nice day.

**

The Dragon's Tale

***

"What do you MEAN we can't come with you?" Kagome demanded, glowering at Sesshoumaru. "You'll probably just run off on your own and leave Inu-Yasha with… with whatever it is that got him!"

Sesshoumaru gave her a dark look from where he was 'stay'ed on the ground. "I am not going to leave him with that thing. And you can't come because I can cover more ground faster without having to wait for you slow humans."

"He has a point," Sango said uneasily. "You know how fast he can move. He could get to Inu-Yasha before any of us even got started off."

"And with his sense of smell, he'd be able to find Inu-Yasha much easier, as well," said Miroku.

"What, you're on his side now?" Kagome asked. "Have you forgotten all this guy has tried to DO?"

"We're just saying, out of all the hopes for getting Inu-Yasha back from whatever caught him, Sesshoumaru is the best one we've got," said Sango. "And… I think he's getting kind of tired of laying face down in the dirt."

Kagome glowered down at him, huffing slightly. "Alright. Heel."

Sesshoumaru stood up, brushing the dirt off himself. And without a word to the humans, he started off through the trees.

"Where are you GOING?" Kagome yelled after him.

"To get my brother back." There was a slight rustle and a faint blur of motion, and Sesshoumaru was gone, taken off running faster than Kagome and the others could watch.

"Well then," Kagome said grumpily, grabbing up her backpack and starting off on the trail. "Let's go."

"Go?" Miroku asked, as he and the others followed her through the woods. "Go where?"

"To get Inu-Yasha, of course," Kagome said. "I don't trust Sesshoumaru in the least, you think I'm going to trust Inu-Yasha's safety to his brother?"

"I don't really think we have much of a choice," Sango murmured softly.

**

Mortals. Sesshoumaru didn't understand how most of them had enough sense in their head to stand upright. How dare Kagome just 'stay' him when he was actually trying to do something nice? They were lucky it was Inu-Yasha and not one of them that got carried off by that dragon; if it had been Kagome caught by the beast, Sesshoumaru certainly wouldn't be bothering with this late at night rescue.

And the damned beast better not have hurt his little brother, either…

…because, naturally, that was HIS right, as the older brother, Sesshoumaru assured himself when he started to wonder why he cared if the dragon had hurt Inu-Yasha or not.

The dragons trail was ridiculously easy to follow. Charred treetops and the stink of meat left out too long led Sesshoumaru straight to the mountains. The best seemed not to be present, but Sesshoumaru could smell Inu-Yasha nearby.

That scent led him into a cave, obviously carved out of the mountain-side. It was dimly lit, but Sesshoumaru could see his brother in the back of the cave, locked in some cage that looked shaped by magic; bars growing right out of the rock. Inu-Yasha looked pissed, but unhurt.

He perked up as Sesshoumaru neared, making a bunch of frantic gestures that Sesshoumaru couldn't understand. The elder brother just shook his head. "You get into more trouble than anyone I know," Sesshoumaru said ruefully, reaching out to break the bars. They were just stone; they should be easy.

Or so he thought, until the 'mere stone' burned his flesh to the touch. Sesshoumaru yanked his hand back, glaring at the stone bars. Upon closer examination, he found the bars to have holy symbols and wards carved all over the stone, warding all demons from touching them. Inu-Yasha made an exasperated noise, signing something briefly.

"That better not have been 'I told you so' you just signed," Sesshoumaru growled. He left the cave to find a nice boulder to use as a battering ram, returning inside and gesturing for Inu-Yasha to move to one side. "And you had better appreciate this." With a solid blow, the bars shattered, leaving a big enough gap for Inu-Yasha to exit through.

Inu-Yasha had barely stepped out of his former prison before the scent of the dragon warned them of the beast's returning. All light was blocked out of the cave as the dragon landed on the jutting ledge. Its orange eyes glowed in the dark, and the sounds of scales shifting and claws against the stone were the only indications of the creature moving about in the dark.

"I thought perhaps there were two," the dragon murmured softly in the dark. "So good of you to come, saved me the trouble of fetching you."

Glimpses of light pierced past the creature, and Inu-Yasha looked about wildly to see where his sword had ended up. At the moment, nothing would please him more than carving up the dragon's scaly hide. He finally did spot the sword- pinned neatly under the dragon's foot.

Sesshoumaru briefly considered asking what the creature wanted with him and his brother, and then decided he didn't care. Even if the dragon's breath hadn't been particularly foul- and the beast had such a HUGE mouth to smell bad- Sesshoumaru really wasn't in the mood to talk to someone who'd recently kidnapped his brother.

Though Sesshoumaru's attack was quick and deadly, the dragon had been expecting it. And though dragons were not skilled in that style of fighting… breathing a jet stream of fire at the two brothers effectively cut short the fight. Inu-Yasha's near-indestructible garments kept him from being char-broiled in an instant; Sesshoumaru didn't fare quite so well. He was knocked back, his clothing sustaining a few rather ugly burns in the process. He was lucky he was a demon; not much else could have escaped a barbecuing at such a close range. Obviously direct attack wasn't going to do it.  

"We'll just have to use something a little stronger than stone bars, this time…" the dragon mused. "It's been a long time since I've had a pretty demon boy to play with, much less two…"

Sesshoumaru and Inu-Yasha glanced at each other. It would have been near impossible to take on the dragon alone, but perhaps together.

True peace, Sesshoumaru decided as he and Inu-Yasha leapt into attack simultaneously, was having a partner who was your instinctive compliment. The dragon wheeled back in startled surprise as he discovered not only was his prey not as helpless as he'd hoped, but that they could fight together in perfect synchronization without a word being spoken between them. It was mostly a race of high-speed attacks, keeping out of the way of the dragon's claws and spurts of flame, searching for the weak point in the massive scaled body.

After the initial surprise, however, the attacks were largely ineffective. If they were going to beat the beast, they'd be better off cleaving him in two immediately. Sesshoumaru glanced at his brother, only to find Inu-Yasha had already had the same idea. With Inu-Yasha on the left, and Sesshoumaru on the right, they attacked the front feet, their claws finding soft flesh under the scales and digging in. The dragon shrieked in pain, recoiling, and when it lifted up its front paws to back up, Sesshoumaru kicked the freed Tetsusaiga to his brother.

There was something beautiful about that fierce grin of Inu-Yasha's when he caught the hilt of his sword. Sesshoumaru allowed himself a moment to stand back and watch, as Inu-Yasha cleaved the dragon in two with malicious glee. And though he knew Inu-Yasha couldn't hear it, Sesshoumaru knew he'd have found the dying shriek of the beast immensely satisfying.

Moonlight weakly lit the land as the two trudged out of the cave, bloody, somewhat charred, but rather pleased by a job well done. Sesshoumaru caught his brother watching them as they wandered down the path, and he gave Inu-Yasha a questioning look. Inu-Yasha started to sign something, then gave up when he noticed Sesshoumaru didn't understand any of it. So, to get his point across, he stepped forward and kissed Sesshoumaru, with the same softly accepting sweetness of their first.

Sesshoumaru smiled faintly as Inu-Yasha stepped back and continued down the path. That, he considered to be a well deserved "thank you."