Disclaimer: Now that most of you've tried to kill me at least once, I've gone into the witness protection program and have even fewer possessions than I did before. Inuyasha and Co. are still not among them.

A/N: Hey, wow, I didn't need the Kevlar! Thank you all for being so patient, my readers. Especially after that last chapter… man, I was morbid when I wrote that. I promise promise promise times five thousand with cherries on top that this'll turn out all right! Really!

Another note; sorry for the delay, I just spent four days in Anaheim with all the rest of my Band Geek friends doing competition stuff and goofing around (more than 24 hours of about 80 were spent in DISNEYLAND —happy dance— and I'm still exhausted from it). So I shall not prolong the wait—on with it!

11

Getting It Right

Rin studied the kitsune carefully. "Do you think Shippou-kun will be all right, Hyakunan-kun?" she asked doubtfully.

"He'd better be," the boy muttered. "I said I was sorry…"

"Rin-chan thinks Shippou-kun screams like a little girl."

"Mmph." Hyakunan wasn't in a mood to comment on the fox kit's reaction to their attempt at mending the fractured couples. The best that could be said about it was that it had only been loud for a short time. Still, this stage of it wasn't much better. They'd had to close his mouth when flies kept investigating it, and he hadn't moved since then.

Rin waved one hand in front of Shippou's blank green eyes. "Shippou-kun, you look like Inuyasha no baka when you do that…"

"Do not," he mumbled.

Hyakunan peered into Shippou's face, searching for further signs of life, but it had apparently been a one-time deal. The kitsune's eyes were still glazed with shock, and he made no move to shift from his propped-up position against a tree trunk. The green-haired boy sighed disgustedly. Man, he's dramatic. I said I was sorry, already! And it probably won't even be permanent, since I couldn't remember how to do it right. Hyakunan grumbled a little under his breath, mostly concerning faulty memory, stupid grownups, brain-dead toads, and overreacting kitsune.

Rin flicked Shippou's nose experimentally, then tugged his tail. Then petted it. "Oooh, soft!"

Hyakunan winced slightly; there was something demeaning about that…

On the other hand, some tiny, as-yet-undeveloped part of his mind wondered if a tail like that could have benefits. He shook it off. That was silly. It was probably all this inactivity, he decided. He needed to do something. What?

An image of the hanyou and the monk going off to fight each other sprang to mind, and he winced again. That was going to be nasty…

Hey, wait. He mentally snapped his fingers. He could stop that, at least for a little while. It was already early morning; they were probably totally exhausted by now. If he could spell them asleep again, they might stay like that at least until dawn. Maybe he could figure out what to do with them then.

He glanced at Rin and Shippou, figured that this close to the forest's edge they could take care of themselves for five minutes, and took off, following the scent trails he now recognized. This time I'm getting it right.

…………………………………………

"Jaken."

Whimper. "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"I will ask you this once."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama." Snivel.

"Why did you not tell me exactly how to apply that potion?"

"I tried, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken bawled, fully expecting to be hacked to ribbons several short moments from then. "You told me to be silent! It's not my fault that it wears off if it's not put on right! Don't hurt me! It's the miko's fault—"

Sesshoumaru didn't say anything to the toad's babbling. He had given that order, he remembered. Any noise might have woken Kagura; her ears were as good as his. Jaken had obeyed his orders.

Of course, that really was beside the point, since his intent to humiliate Kagura had just been completely and utterly foiled.

Wait… Perhaps not. The inuyoukai's golden eyes slid toward the direction of Kagura's nest, where by now she had to have run across a male of some sort. Humiliation didn't have to be permanent. And, if it was true that the potion would come off, he had a bargaining chip: if she returned Rin, he would return her to her senses.

If she wants to be returned…

He shoved that thought violently away, then wondered why. It wasn't just that he feared losing Rin; it was also… what was it? His thoughts were liars, that was the only explanation, he decided. The idea that Kagura might not loathe the idea of being with another male was not upsetting. He was never upset. It was impossible.

Damn that woman.

He set off for the wind witch's tree, moving quickly in an attempt to outrun his traitorous thoughts. It didn't really matter if she sensed the winds' change now; he wanted to be recognized.

And Kami-sama help any other creature I find in that tr—

He glided faster.

…………………………………………

Shippou's tail, which Rin had been stroking for a while now, suddenly fluffed out with a vengeance. She glanced up, confused, at the kitsune's face, and blinked. He'd gone from looking totally burned out to looking like he'd figured out how to turn granite into rubies.

"Shippou-kun?"

"It's not permanent!"

Rin stared at him. "Rin-chan thinks you are more of a baka than Inuyasha no baka, Shippou-chan… what are you talking about?"

The kitsune jumped up and grabbed her shoulders, bouncing up and down in elation. "It's not permanent! I'm not gonna die! It'll wash off! I love Jaken for this!"

He ran off before Rin could remark that he was almost certainly crazy. Why would anyone love Jaken? And why had Shippou brought him up in the first place? She hadn't heard anything…

…………………………………………

The wind caught Sesshoumaru full in the face when he was ten yards from the tree, and if he'd been going any quicker he might have fallen over from the smells he detected. As it was, he staggered. His nostrils flared in disbelief, and so did his eyes.

Kouga.

The wolf youkai was in Kagura's nest. There were other scents there, too—including the very fresh traces of lust and satisfaction.

He barely kept himself from ripping the tree down and disemboweling the wolf. Barely. Something was growling low and murderously in its throat; it took a moment for him to realize that it was him, and stop.

It is no concern of mine what she takes into her bed. She answers to no one. Least of all me.

The part of him that was still eager to tear the tree down was screaming, BULLSHIT! KILL THE FUCKING BASTARD!

It was an increasingly attractive idea.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Jaken's squeak was nearly his last. It took several moments of reminding that servants willing to risk decapitation several times a week by their master were extremely hard to come by for Sesshoumaru to keep himself under control. He also reminded himself that the energy was misdirected; Kouga was the one he wanted to reduce to lumps of furry paté. Jaken might be useful someday. Maybe.

"Stay here. Don't move if you are fond of your head in its present shape." The harshness of his own voice surprised the taiyoukai. Jaken, already petrified, practically kissed the ground in an effort to appease his inexplicably furious master. Sesshoumaru ignored him and soared up to the treetop.

Kagura was curled up, as she had been last time, but this time there was no little girl in her arms. Sesshoumaru may have termed Kouga many things, but 'little girl' was not one of them. The two of them had had clothes—if you could call the ratty wolf furs the black-haired youkai wore 'clothes'—but they were now functioning as blankets and bedding. Kouga was snoring.

It took every ounce of willpower the inuyoukai had not to toss the wolf prince out of the tree and stomp on him. Instead, he stared at Kagura, who was stirring.

It occurred to him too late that her lack of clothing might be a disadvantage to him—damn it, he was staring! Stop that! Stop it!

Her scarlet eyes flew wide open, and she shot upright—which, of course, only exacerbated his visual dilemma.

"Sesshoumaru!"

"Kagura…" What had he wanted to say? This was distracting… and ridiculous. He'd seen her nude before… well, not exactly. He'd pulled her out of the river with a hole punched in her chest, and spent the time until she'd woken up and covered herself facing the other direction. This was slightly different… and the overpowering scents in the nest were not helping any.

Why was she blushing? And—unless he was seriously mistaken—she was smelling… mortified?

Well, at least one thing was going to be easier. He forced himself to raise an eyebrow. "I see you've been… busy." His eye twitched despite his best efforts.

She flushed even redder. He could practically feel the heat radiating off her… the blush was going all the way down to—no! Keep away from there! Do NOT go that way! Do NOT think about that!

His gaze was in no way obeying him—and worse, she noticed. Humiliation immediately evacuated, making plenty of room for anger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same about him." Kami-sama, I did NOT just say that. I did NOT sound like some jealous lover… "Your choice of bedmates is poor, Kagura."

"How could who I sleep with possibly interest you?" she shot back, her tone matching him for iciness. "You've already said you have no interest in what happens to me."

"I never said that." He could have kicked himself. He sounded petulant. Whatever trickster god had hold of his mouth, he hoped it bit its tongue. Soon.

"You refused to help me! How does that tell me any different?" the wind witch snapped. "You as good as told me to fuck off and deal with it myself!"

"That doesn't give you an excuse to go off and—" He gestured outragedly at a still-sleeping Kouga. (Maybe he was dead. Nope, still breathing. Damn it.)

"Well." She regarded him coldly. "It followed your implicit instructions, anyway."

"Why him?" It burst out before he could slap it back into the deep recesses of his thoughts where it belonged.

She blinked.

"…You care." It was soft, incredulous, and not a question.

He just looked at her, for once in his life at a total loss for what to say. Of course he couldn't say that he did—that would be the crown on this whole ludicrous conversation—but he could not make himself deny it. He was trying. It wouldn't come out.

Her wide, confused gaze sharpened to a glare. He could detect suspicion in her scent. "Why?"

He grabbed desperately for an explanation, no matter how lame. "He is beneath you. You sully yourself."

Wrong thing to say. "Sully?" she repeated scathingly. "Think of who my father is, you idiot! What could I possibly do to lower myself more than he has?"

"Being born Naraku's daughter does not make you worthless!" Sesshoumaru clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood. He hadn't shouted in so long, it hurt.

"You thought so!" Kagura yelled back.

"I did not!" he roared. "I never did!"

"You still didn't think I was worthy enough for you to help me!" she shrieked.

"YOU CAN DO IT ON YOUR OWN!" he bellowed.

"NO, I CAN'T!" she screamed. "I've TRIED! Don't you think I would've tried EVERYTHING to get away from him?"

They glared bloody murder at each other. Kouga snorted and turned over in his sleep. He was ignored.

Sesshoumaru was breathing heavily for the first time in several centuries. Regaining his composure was a lost cause and he knew it, but he attempted to recover rational thought. "You are strong enough to fight your own battles, Kagura," he told her quietly. No one has ever stood up to me like this without using a weapon.

"He has my heart," she countered bitterly. "He could kill me with less than a thought."

"Yet you've survived this long, in rebellion," he pointed out.

"Survival isn't even close to battling," she retorted. "I can't fight him one on one. It's no contest."

"I never said I'd make you duel him," Sesshoumaru corrected softly. "I said I would deal with him on my own terms."

She glared at him. "Well, excuse me for not reading your mind. Some of us get used to being shot down after a while."

"I did not refuse you."

"You never said yes, either." Now, to his utter shock, her scent was flooded with deep hurt. Anger was there, and he could understand that—but distress? It made no sense.

Then again, nothing about this entire scene made sense.

The sound and smell of her pain was doing very peculiar things to his instincts—something akin to what Rin's presence did, but quite emphatically different. He tried to pretend it was the fault of certain smells lingering in the nest. It didn't work.

His canine instincts wouldn't let him alone until he did something in the way of comforting her, so he compromised: he sat down next to her (as far away from Kouga as possible) and looked her in the eyes. A few bolder impulses muttered something about not enough, but also realized that if he went any further, she could and probably would deck him. "As I have said numerous times before, you are not weak. Perhaps—" he inclined his head in concession, stopping her attempted protest "—you are not as strong as he, but that doesn't mean you can't fight him."

She regarded him, searching his eyes for something. "In tandem?" she suggested finally. "Taking turns firing—with someone equally strong?"

A tenuous alliance. It was something he never would have considered even half a year ago—I have never needed anyone—and yet he found himself answering, "Yes."

She smiled. Just a little, but she did. And she relaxed slightly—enough that the kimono she'd been covering herself with sagged, barely stopping in time. More ludicrous thoughts began to crowd into his head.

Kouga snorted and kicked, drawing attention to himself. Sesshoumaru was abruptly very sorry that he'd had that stupid idea about the pink potion—

Ah, that's right. It isn't permanent. The day suddenly seemed marginally better. "He sleeps as if he is already dead."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "He can't hear anything. I blocked his ears when you came up." There she went again—he swore she was blushing. Had she ever blushed before? "Glad I did. I wouldn't have thought you'd react like that. You know. When you've got the whole 'Lord of the West, taiyoukai, all the expression of an iceberg' thing going on."

He wondered if he should be miffed. "My face is not frozen."

She chuckled a little. "Not literally, no. You should've seen it when you came up—" She colored again, obviously remembering the circumstances in which he'd found her, and changed the subject. "You don't like Kouga."

In this instance, he didn't think she'd take his head off for telling the truth. Youkai weren't expected to like each other. "No. Why do you?"

In any other circumstances, he would have been confused at the hesitation on her face. Of course she doesn't know why. She doesn't know she's been drugged.

Was that guilt making all that racket in the back of his head?

Her eventual answer was non-commital. "He's handsome."

"Is that the only reason?"

The confusion was liberally mixed into her scent now, and she covered it with an annoyed glare slanted toward him. "What, jealous?"

For the love of Kami-sama, he was not going to blush at that. Not. "No. Just… if that's all, perhaps you should look elsewhere."

Her narrowed red gaze on him nearly made him squirm. "Are you sure you're not just jealous?"

If he couldn't answer that question for himself, he certainly wasn't going to for her. He stood, and remembered his original errand. "Where is Rin?"

"Safe." Neither her scent nor her face told him anything, though she had to have noticed him dodging the question. "Don't worry. I'm not done with her yet."

Oddly enough, he wasn't as worried as he had been. She had said Rin would come to no harm, and he believed her. He had no idea why. "When you are, bring her back. I assume you will know how to find me."

Without warning, she smiled, slightly playful. It made his mouth go dry for the second time in eight hours. What a record. "Of course."

His hand darted out to grab hers, squeeze briefly, and release it before her eyes had a chance to widen. Then he was gone.

Why do I care so much about this woman?