*****Somewhere that InuYasha and Sesshomaru aren't*****

A strange green thing sat on the ground. He seemed to be muttering to himself.

"Will he ever forgive me? Why was he so upset about me trying to get rid of one more human....he had other plans for her, I'm sure he did. I will have to go beg for his forgiveness of my insolence!"

With that, the green thing stood up and started the long trek west.

*****Where Sesshomaru and InuYasha are*****

Days seemed almost unreal in the castle. It was serene; not at all what any of them were used to. People (most likely youkai, Kagome didn't think Sesshomaru would want humans in his home) seemed to float around in a strange fashion. It seemed as if they realized his hospitality toward them and gave them respectful, if not warm, regards.

Two days passed before anything significant happened again.

Almost everybody was up at the time. Sesshomaru, Miroku, InuYasha, Kagome, Marine, Shippo and Myoga all sat at the table (actually, Myoga sat -on- the table; he couldn't reach otherwise).

Suddenly, a blood-curteling scream was heard, and all over demons (including InuYasha and Sesshomaru) covered their ears from the offending sound. They got up and ran to Sango's room.

She sat straight up and her face was ghostly pale. Slowly she shook her head, and everybody looked intent. But then, the scream continued. It seemed the screamer had stopped momentarily for a breath of air. But this time it was joined by somebody screaming "MY LORD, SAAAAAVE MEEEEE!" that sounded strangely familiar.

Sesshomaru was the first to figure it out. Then it was Kagome and Shippo, and then Sango and Miroku. InuYasha followed, hoping that whoever was screaming would let him use Tetsusaiga on their attacker.

Just as Sesshomaru banged Rin's door open, a green toad-pigeon-booger cross narrowly missed his fluff and banged into the wall next to him. Bushichirou had his foot frozen in the air, and Rin was clutching his pants. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said, looking down at the toad (it had fallen to the floor). "I thought I retired you from my service."

The reason for Rin's screaming became obvious. Kagome personally felt she would have screamed too if she had woken up to Jaken's face. However, she kept this thought to herself.

"Me Lord!" he squealed. "I am sorry! Please forgive me for my ignorance!"

Sesshomaru gave a small chuckle. At this, Jaken looked terrified.

"Rin could've gotten seriously hurt! I got here only seconds before you did." Bushichirou said, trying his best to get Jaken kicked out.

"I could beg to differ with your first comment," muttered Sesshomaru. "She seemed to be doing fine by herself."

"She hit me with that stick over there! Numerous times!" Jaken squealed, pointing to the side. Indeed, there was a thick wooden staff abandoned on the floor.

"Not saying that I blame her," muttered InuYasha. He was greatly annoyed at getting his morning Ramen interrupted.

"Jaken, you are no longer welcome here, and you know it. Now leave," Sesshomaru said.

A dejected Jaken trudged out of the door. Once he was alone, he burst into tears.

@%@%@%@%@%@%@

Author's notes: I know that this chapter was extremely short. And for those hoping for more, I am sorry.

There have been several calls for working on Kagome and InuYasha's relationship. Although I will work on that a little bit, I want to concentrate this story mainly on the relation between InuYasha, Sesshomaru, and the rest of their family.