A/N: Okay! New chappie for my friend to tide her over while I back away slowly and offer much condolences on the fact that I am unworthy to breathe the air she does .:bow bow bow:. I am worthless! And this chappie wreaks!

I don't own IY ( no, really?) or anything else by Rumiko Takahashi.

.:Begin:.

"Well," the hanyo finally huffed. "It ain't Rin, that's for sure."

Kagome was about ready to floor him, and not with osuwari. She tried desperately to restrain her twitching but failed as her entire body began to shake in anger.

"We knew that, baka," she growled. He merely stared at her with vacant eyes. How could he be so stupid? Kakurin merely smiled at all of them with no holds barred. She began giggling, dragging both of them out of their individual issues to stare at her. She beckoned Inuyasha closer with one tiny finger, her eyes sparkling merrily as she watched the half dog crouch to meet her eye level. Finally with one last squeal she leapt forward and tackled him. Or his ears at least.

"Oh, they're real!" she exclaimed happily as she stroked and tugged gently. Inuyasha looked anything but thrilled, but restrained himself from throwing the little twerp out the window when he saw the look on Kagome's face. It was one of pure evil promised on misbehavior. He decided to heed it immediately and continued to let the girl do as she pleased with him.

"You know," the girl said, drawing her hands away from his ears to run through his hair, "you look just like my daddy without your ears." She smiled sweetly as the two older occupants of the room choked. She didn't seem to notice as she skipped out of the room laughing to herself.

"Do you think she meant…"Kagome didn't finish the thought. She didn't need to. Inuyasha shook his head and sighed.

"I would have recognized his scent," he assured. "I couldn't smell him anywhere on her. I know; I specifically looked for his smell." Kagome gave him a quizzical look and he sighed before making himself more comfortable at one of the kitchen chairs. "I was suspicious," he explained. "She looks so much like Rin, y'know, and knowing Sesshomaru he very well might have started taking in Rin's reincarnations when she died, or even just look-alikes. He's really attached to her; he won't take it well when it's her time to go and will probably need something or some one to fill the hole."

Kagome watched the hanyo closely as he spoke. She never knew he cared so much about his brother, or even that he was as aware of Sesshomaru's personality traits that he would know what his half-brother was likely to do.

"It's what our father did," Inuyasha clarified, as if he had read her thoughts. She didn't question him; instead she turned to the stove and finished cooking, silently signaling him to leave and let her think. He didn't. Kagome could feel his stare boring in to her back and it was unnerving her. Trying to take her mind off it, she began humming the tune Kakurin had sung to her earlier.

Nama no naka,
Mori no naka,
Kaze no naka,
Yume no naka,
Watashi Koibito toko ni ru,
Watashi wa hitori te matsui su o,
My Koibito Omo tori o.

Behind her, Inuyasha perked up. He listened intently to the words and twitched his ear curiously. Kagome was too intent on her singing and cooking to notice the change in his stare as she finished off the little tune.

"Where'd you learn that?" he asked when she finished. She smiled a little but didn't turn around. She had never suspected him to be so fond of music.

"Kakurin sang it to me when she was helping me cook," she replied, moving the foods around on the stove. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the loud thump behind her. She spun to see Inuyasha sitting in a daze on the floor where he had fallen, causing the noise. "Inuyasha?" she queried, "Are you alright?" He was up in a flash, having fallen from shock induced loss of balance. Kagome was a little flustered by his rapid change, but was becoming more and more used to it as she traveled with him; now she managed not to react beyond a stupefied blink.

"Did I say something?" she asked. Inuyasha was looking through her though, thinking; a rare thing indeed.

"That song," he finally muttered. He hung his head, and Kagome was worried it might have brought up bad memories for him for a second before she realized he was laughing. Not that she would have been in the dark much longer, being as he proceeded to laugh maniacally as he threw his head back and shook from the reverberation in his body.

"Ano…" Kagome started, backing away slowly. "Inuyasha? Hey, you go off the deep end or something?" He didn't pay attention to her as he stopped with equal abruptness to his beginning.

"That was Rin's song," he finally stated, now that his insanity had been pushed aside for the moment. "I heard her sing it once," he explained, fully calm now. Kagome feared he might be losing his sanity, but listened all the same.

"The words were different," he continued, "but it was still that song. She used to sing it whenever Sesshomaru left her alone to go tend to his own business. I remember hearing her sing it and wondering 'what is she doing?', but it was just her way of asking him to come back, I guess. He could hear her every time, I'm sure, and I bet she knew it, too."

"So," Kagome pondered, "how did Kakurin know it? I mean, she said her dad sang it to her, but how did he know it?"

"Keh, don't you get it?" Kagome blinked absently; apparently she didn't. Inuyasha sighed inwardly. How could some one so cute be so stupid? …he didn't think that. He twitched for no real reason before continuing. "Sesshomaru must be raising her. I he must be masking his scent for some reason, though. That's why I couldn't smell him."

"Maybe his scent changed with time," Kagome suggested. Inuyasha just scoffed again.

"Scents don't work that way," he said. "You're born with a distinct scent and it never changes, no matter what."

"Oh," she replied dumbly. She really didn't know that much about this stuff. "But why would he go through the trouble of hiding it?"

"Dunno," Inuyasha shrugged, popping his shoulder. "It's been five hundred years, who knows what happened between my time and yours where he's involved." He let out on last chuckle as he turned to leave. "We really should have guessed, you know," he said over his shoulder. "Regardless of all other factors, we should have guessed. It was so obvious, and so like Sesshomaru."

"Nani?" Kagome stared at him like he had grown another head. He was acting like it with all the brain power he was using.

"Kakurin," he replied. When she didn't make any response he sighed and scribbled something on the notepad near the phone beside the door. "It was obvious, ne?" With that he really did leave, and Kagome snatched up the scribbled message. It was the kanji for Kakurin. Kagome laughed, finally understanding what he meant.

Kaku-Rin: Compared to Rin.

.:End:.

Okay, that sucked majorly. BUT it was all for my friend, so I can't do much about it. ;P I tried to put the actual Kanji in, but for some reason it insists I don't have Japanese characters installed on my computer. Stupid machine. Yes, the song is Rin's song. Yay! A translation for those of you who don't speak Japanese:

In the mountain,
In the forest,
In the wind,
In a dream,
Where are you, Sesshomaru,
With an Ally like Jaken?
I'll wait alone until you come.
Sesshomaru, please return.

(my version)

In the mountain,
In the forest,
In the wind,
In a dream,
Where are you, my love?
I'll wait alone until you come.
My love, please return.

And sorry for all the massive amounts of OOCness, which I'm sure there. ((throws objects at story)) I really can't write in character very well.