a/n: i'm gonna use these 'as thoughts' instead of these because those are way annoying. sry this ch. really short. still thinking about the direction, since i got her this far.

Meanwhile, at the youkai palace, things were in festive bloom. Not but three hours ago a new guild master had been chosen. The normally gloomy demon stewpot was chalked full of exuberant fairies, jubilant dwarves and ebullient dragons. Sesshomaru, had been asked to step down from power. A new master had been chosen, a William Claymore, valedictorian of his class at the GAI. His smile made angel's swoon and all but Jaken, was pleased to be under the new rule.

"This is unheard of, Sesshomaru-sama," he muttered. Sesshomaru was packing up his room, gliding across his spacious quarters. Jaken was dutifully scampering after his every move. "The GAI have no business picking our rulers! Those insolent fools, how dare they insult the demon king! Coming in with their rules, laws! There are no laws in the Other World. The strong survive and the weak are insignificant, that is the natural way. Pretending to be wise, those.."

"Jaken, leave me." Sesshomaru spared Jaken a brief glare.

"Yes, yes Sesshomaru-sama."

The door clicked lightly behind him. Sesshomaru then grabbed a pillow and unleashed his anger. Feathers exploded everywhere. He hated being ordered about, he hated people with superior attitudes. Only he should be able to do or be those things; and that new leader, incompetent. The bickering and greedy neediness of all the magical creatures in the world will rip him apart. That insolent human will be eaten alive, just what he deserved. The GAI should not have underestimated them. Other world creatures were insufferable. He was about to move his face into a grin when he stopped, space was stretching and he could feel a presence nudge itself in. He stalked over to the far wall, and leaned back.

'Hello, Naraku.' Light laughter greeted his ears as the presence slipped away from the wall, solidifying beside him.

'I heard you've been demoted.'

'You would know.'

'Not my doing.'

'And what about my ridiculous exile?'

'Ahh, I might have contributed to that. So sorry, couldn't help it. They need some help anyway, killed off their last one. Well, Merry Christmas Sho-kun. I do love our chats.' Naraku snickered as he whisked away. He was a busy man and only dropped by to irritate. Sesshomaru sauntered over to his bag. It carried little and before Jaken could catch him he transported away.

From her view out the back window, the familiar countryside stopped its retreat. The car had halted.

"Great to see you, good luck, and until later, okay?" The woman smiled as she flicked her hands a few times. The trunk spit out the bags, the car doors opened and girl and sword were left in the dust.

'Do they always do that?'

'Yeah, it's in the guidelines.' Sango bent over to pick up her bag. As she turned back to her companion, he was in the process of climbing into a dark circle.

'Come on, I can't hold it up forever'.

She climbed in. In seconds they were surrounded by snow. Freezing cold snow. Sango stuffed her numb hand into the bag and rummaged. Her hand was still in the bag as she stumbled after Sirius. He seemed to have a destination in mind. After they scrambled up a small bump, a hazy structure was visible. As they got closer, it appeared to be a huge fortress. It wasn't very festive either. No candy canes, no snowmen. In fact, it had a moat. When they were on the bridge, Sirius let out a grunt like yell. A spectacular dome enveloped them and the looming fortress; the cold had been shut out. He looked back at her and wagged his tail, tongue idiotically hanging out, one last friendly reassurance before he went through the door.