A/N: I.. forgot to spell check last chapter, gomengomengomen... THANK YOUS FOR THE REVIEWS. I 3 them all. It means a lot that people actually read my stuff. Remember, italics is thinking, unless its a single word or somethin.

Inuyasha really didnt like having to be allies with his brother. There was some definite animosity put into that opinion. Kagomes modern-era analogy was "You two are like World War III, ya know that?!". It wasnt just Inuyasha who had to suffer with Sesshomaru though, everyone had to deal with it. His aristocratic ways and his silence made everyone both agitated and a little disturbed. Shippo couldnt take it anymore, he had to get some answers out of him. While the crew was venturing toward the nearest town, Shippo jumped onto the demon lords shoulder and started questioning him.

"Why wont you ever talk to us? Whenever we ask you something you give us a one word answer! Is it because of Rin? Inuyasha? Whats your problem?" Everyone stopped walking and stared at Shippo and Sesshomaru when they heard the little demons outburst. Sighing, Miroku walked up to Sesshomaru and peeled Shippo off of his shoulder, dropping him on the ground near Kagome.

"Leave me ALONE, Miroku! Dont act like you dont have any problems with HIM like everyone else does!"

Sesshomaru wasnt going to take any of this, he had better things to do than to work out petty differences between himself and a kitsune. Stepping ahead, in front of Shippo, Sesshomaru kneeled down, staring him bitterly in the eye. Now trembling in fear, Shippo took a tiny step back from the demon lord, not wanting to get hit, or get attacked by one of his acid claws. Getting some satisfaction from the fear he put into Shippo, Sesshoumaru gave a sly grin at the demon child. Shippo ran up Kagomes leg and hugged her arm tightly, using her as something of a "human shield" from the stronger demon. Oh geez, why do I always have to pick fights with the strong demons! How come I cant just keep my mouth SHUT?!

Inuyasha was ahead of the rest of the group, making sure there were no demons nearby that they would have to fight, was just returning to see Sesshomaru getting up. Dusting himself off, Sesshomaru gave a sly grin towards Shippo, who was just now calming down.

"Whats goin on here?" Inuyasha asked, looking from one member of the group to the next.

"Oh nothing.. So, how close is the nearest town, Inuyasha?" Sango replied, elbowing Miroku from answering the question.

"Its not far, we should be there in less than an hour if we dont stop to rest, lets go."

..........Scene Change..........

Deep into a castle that was surrounded by a barren wasteland, Naraku was discussing his plans with a new incarnation, one that he called Kuro. Kuro was unlike any of Narakus other incarnations, he was made to gather inside information on Inuyasha and his friends.

"How could you mess up such a simple task, Kuro?" Naraku questioned.

"I'm sorry, Naraku! What should I do now?"

An evil smirk formed under Narakus baboon-pelt coating, he had a plan, "Dont worry.. we can make this work. Where is she, anyway? You didnt kill her already, did you?"

"Of course not, I put her just outside, should I get her? She might have some information on Inuyasha or his brother, that is where I found her."

"That wont be needed, Kuro. Sesshomaru will come to us, and probably Inuyasha as well. Everything will be coming together in time..."

.......Later that day........

Meanwhile, Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Shippo were asking around if anyone had seen Rin. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were off arguing over the most trivial of things.

FWAP! Miroku had once again been slapped by Sango, for asking the age-old question to a field-worker who had caught his eye.

"What was that for?" Miroku asked, rubbing his cheek.

"You should know what its for, by now." Sango coldly replied, as she walked to another person to ask about Rin. With no luck, the duo asked a few more people before they gave up and went to find Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. When they saw them, they were fighting about the Tetsusaiga again, a few villagers stopped working to stare at the two boys, throwing insults back and forth. Inuyasha finally gave up on trying to out-wit Sesshomaru, and challenged him to a fight. Hearing that, Sango and Miroku ran up to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to cease the battle that was quickly forming.

"We arent here to fight! Now stop your bickering and be quiet! People are starting to watch you two!" Sango said, standing between the brothers, separating them.

"Theyre not watching me, theyre staring in awe at such a horrid creature Inuyasha is," Sesshomaru replied, walking through a crowd of people to interrogate villagers on his own, "I'll be back later." Growling at Sesshomarus remark, Inuyasha kicked a rock hard into a small storage building, causing it to collapse with an old man running out of it screaming about how reckless spirits were attacking him and how the world was coming to an end.

Shippo handed the drawing to Kagome so she could show a person the picture of Rin. Kagome and Shippo were a little unfortunate with finding clues as to where Rin was taken. The picture that Shippo drew helped though, at least now people knew what they were looking for. After a while, the village people thought that they were searching for a criminal with a bounty, and offered to lend them some weapons, for a share of the reward. It took Kagome a long time to explain to them that they were searching for a lost person, and not a reward on Rin's head. Thats when the crew got their first clue.

Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Kagome were all discussing their situation in a well-furnished home, which conveniently had a "demon spirit" that was "haunting" it for Miroku to exercise. Sesshomaru meanwhile, was off outside thinking about what he would do when he found Rin.

Kill the kidnapper, of course, but then what? Would he just continue what they had been doing, traveling the lands aimlessly until he gained the desire to attack Inuyasha, or until Kagura came back asking for assistance to escape Naraku's grasp? It was all a big puzzle to him, just he was missing the last piece. Why exactly did they take Rin? Was it possible that the kidnapper was trying to attract Sesshomaru to him in order to attack him? But who could it be? Naturally, he was hated by numerous amounts of humans and demons alike, but why would they try to attack now, what did he have that they wanted? And then it hit him. While traveling the grounds, Rin had collected lots of random items. Flowers, some jewelry, rocks that she thought were pretty, lots of random items that she kept in a large box back at Sesshomaru's castle. One of the rocks she picked up could have been a shard of the Shikon Jewel! It fit together perfectly now, except for the most important question, Who did it?

While Inuyasha and the rest of the crew were talking about who could possibly want to take Rin, the door slid open as an elderly woman stepped inside. She was short, about Kaedes height, had long grayish hair and a kind expression that showed her heart of gold.

"I hear you are looking for a little girl, am I right?" She said, walking towards the group.

"Whats it to you, old bat?" Inuyasha snapped back, not trusting the old lady.

"What did she look like? I might have seen her, you know." Kagome fished around Shippo's drawings, looking for the one of Rin, while he slept nearby with Kirara. She handed it to the old woman, who inspected the picture thoroughly.

"Ah yes, I remember her. She came through the town not too long ago with another child, a young boy, if I'm not mistaken."

Sesshomaru, who was walking back to the building, stopped outside and decided to listen in on the conversation. He watched through a window, not worrying if they saw him, since the sun had already set. When he heard that the woman had information, he casually came inside, looked around the room, then sat down with everyone else. Kagome filled him in on everything that the woman said, which of course was old new to him, but he had to pull an act so they wouldn't suspect him of spying. After everything was settled, Miroku and Sango told the woman the entire story of what happened with Rin and Sesshomaru. She seemed very interested, ready to help them if they needed to at any time.

"Whats your name, anyway?" Inuyasha finally asked. It had been the first time he had participated in the discussion all night. He was too busy trying to figure out what was happening, with the newly found out clues.

"Oh! I didn't introduce myself? Silly me, heh. I am Kaoru. Just a simple healer, but I see almost everyone who passes through the village."

"So which direction did they leave in? Thats where we will be headed tomorrow." Sesshomaru said in a monotone voice. He didn't seem as worried, now that he knew that Rin had been seen. They talked about what they were going to do the next day for about an hour, before Kaoru decided to head home.

After everyone was settled and about to go to sleep, Sesshomaru decided to explain to them why he thought the kidnapper took Rin. As soon as he said it, everyone gave him their full attention.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Kagome asked, not wanting to tread on dangerous grounds.

"I just realized it myself, to be completely honest. I never put too much thought into it." He replied, trying to seem fascinated with his fingernails to keep from anyone noticing his slight blush. Miroku sighed and scratched the back of his head, in thought, "Well, theres nothing we can do about it now. We should get to sleep so we have energy to face whatever we might see tomorrow." And with that final statement, he yawned and rolled over, going back to sleep. Shippo and Sango followed suit, then Kagome. The two brothers sat quietly in the room, at opposite sides. Inuyasha had the Tetsusaiga resting on his shoulder, while he used it as a makeshift pillow. Sesshomaru sat without his armor and fluffy thing, in a leisurely manner. They shot glances at each other, in the awkward silence. Eventually, Inuyasha drifted to sleep, leaving Sesshomaru to gather his thoughts on the days events until he too fell asleep.

A/N: Semi-long chapter... I dont like it, to be entirely honest. It seems too.... rushed.. I'll get started on the next chapter... which will have some more key aspects to the whereabouts of Rin.

Thank yous all for the kind comments! They helped a lot, really.