A/N: Sorry it took so long! But I finally got it up. I hope you like it, I tired to add some funnier parts into this chapter. Remember to review and tell me what you think!

In the branches of the tree where they had found themselves resting and talking after Kaede had outcast them from the village, Rath and Cesia had seen most of what had gone on in the village, though they weren't sure what it meant. They had heard screams of the villagers that had interrupted there conversation, or rather argument, on what made a demon evil and weather or not all demons were evil, an argument which of course both sides believed they were right and winning no matter what was said. The screams had caused them to refocus there attention on a rather young lady gliding toward the village on what seemed to be a giant feather. It wasn't till they saw Earth attack the woman and fall to the ground that they realized she must be a demon attacking not only the villagers but other Dragon Knights and leapt from the tree beganing to make there way towards the offending demon. That was until they saw her leave and figured the others had been able to handle this battle on there own. Neither of them saw Rune atop the feather with the woman as she flew away.

Cesia continued her pursuit of the village even after the demon had taken off, whereas Rath had turned the other way and started once again into the unknown woods.

"Where are you going?" Cesia questioned him turning before he got to far away.

"Where do you think! To kill Nadil, and then maybe that Naraku demon just so I can rub it in that dog breath's face!" He answered her confidently though Cesia thought she could here that tiny hint of fear for his friends that he had learned to hide so well.

"What if there hurt? We should go and try to help."

"Help with what? The demon's gone, and that's the only thing I'm good for right, fighting demons." Anger had entered his voice once again, followed by a little smirk, "And why are you going back, it's not like your any good at healing wounds. Kind of sad really, the one thing a real woman is supposed to be good at and you don't know the first thing about it."

Ceisa's face was bright red with anger now as she began to march toward him her hands in the form of a fist. "Why you little self-absorbed, whinny, no-good excuse for a Dragon Knight!" She was yelling now still making her way closer to him contemplating what she would do when she got there. "First of all my healing skills are just fine, and I wouldn't use them on you if you begged me!" She heard him mutter a sarcastic word of thanks under his breath, "Secondly," She began even louder, "If it wasn't for this woman your sorry butt would be buried under six feet of cold hard dirt and that sorry excuse for a soul of yours would be spending the rest of eternity in a fiery pit somewhere wishing you had never even tried to insult me!"

"Am I supposed to be frightened now?" Rath asked his voice thick with sarcasm.

"Maybe not frightened, but oh will you be sorry." She said strait to his face.

She watched the boy stand tall and stick his chest out closer to her face resting a hand on the bell that was his sword and wearing a satisfied grin on his face, "Oh yeah, and how are you planning on making me sorry." He acted as if the very mention of the word was painful to his ears.

Cesia watched him, her angry look turning too amused as he saw him pick up the bell and jingle it, without letting it transform, just in front of her face. "You'd really sink as low as to threaten me with a sword when I'm not armed, ha, how pathetic. All I need is one shot with my bare hands." He raised an eyebrow giving her a look that said more than words to, a look that to Cesia meant the same thing as 'I dare you too even try' so she did. Taking a step closer and giving him one last grin she rammed her knee strait up between Rath's legs, grinning even wider as she saw his face contort and the bell fall to the ground. His knee's collapsed under him, for she had not held back, after all, he should know by now not to make her angry.

"Why you little," Rath sputtered, or at least tried to, though it had come out as little more than a pained squeak. But before he had regained his breath or ability to stand and go after her he heard a familiar laughter from the woods. No, he thought, it can't be, not now, anytime but now. He heard loud snorting and then a burst of unwelcome laughing as Rath's worst nightmare made his way through the woods into the small clearing he sat and Cesia still stood grinning over him.

"Ah, did the poor puny demon get beat up by the big bad girl." A suddenly very excited and pleased half-demon taunted. "What's the matter little guy? Is it just that the sight of a real demon simply breathtaking!" He barely had time to get his last line out before bursting out laughing once again, that is until he took a face full of dirt for the third or fourth time in the last couple days as the words familiar words 'Sit Boy!' escaped the mouth of another seemingly unarmed but vicious teenage girl.

The sight of the 'big strong demon' that had mocked him laying helpless on the ground moaning in frustration and pain was enough to bring Rath's breath back so he could give the half-demon the same taunting treatment he had received. But by this time the others had already forgotten the mindless quarrel and had joined each other at a safe distance away from the two.

"Nice one!" Kagome said as she approached Cesia obviously having seen at least the ending of the fight.

"Not bad yourself!" Cesia responded suddenly in a much better mood. The girls giggled, Sango joining them while Miroku and Thatz were sure to stay clear of the suddenly very threatening looking group.

After a few minutes everything seemed, almost, back to normal. Though InuYasha and Rath had to keep a very large distance apart to stop them from ripping each other to shreds and Cesia was getting some looks from Rath that would have caused just about anyone else several sleepless nights and a search for a large supply of weapons. But after the subject of Rune getting kidnapped had been brought up all the fighting had ceased, (minus InuYasha who didn't seem to care who was kidnapped or even dead as long as he got his revenge on Rath) and everyone, besides, again, InuYasha and Rath, had agreed to work together. InuYasha obviously didn't care what happened to Rune and was convinced that working with the Dragon Knights would only slow him down. Rath claimed not to care what happened to Rune, convinced the water Dragon Knight was smart enough not get himself killed and claimed only to agree to go along so he could murder Nadil when they got there. Overall the journey did not seem to have a particularly bright future, but at least they were all together again and had a fairly common mission, perhaps this could work after all.

When Rune awoke he found himself in a very moist, unpleasant room. After his vision cleared he realized that the room was actually a prison cell and judging from the cool air, natural stone and dirt walls, and of course all the moister, the cell was in a basement. He figured immediately he was being used as bait for the others, which almost defiantly meant Nadil was involved. Distracted by thought, trying to find a way out and exactly what was going to be done with him, he didn't hear the person who entered from a door on the other end of the room. And didn't know until his elfin powers sensed another presence, that an enormously powerful demon stood just behind him.

Turning quickly Rune could see a human male's face surrounded by fairly long curled black hair and eyes outlined in a blue shadow. Though the man looked average enough to him, but he knew better than to assume he was nothing more than a human. The man standing in front of the prison cell had immense power.

"I had forgotten how, unpleasant, it was down here." He spoke in a very neutral voice as if what was going on was perfectly natural and it should be to Rune to. "I suppose you're thirsty?" The man did not expect an answer and Rune did not give one. "Well it is quite dank down here, I suppose you noticed unless you really are as dense as you look. If hungry enough any living thing will eat dirt and lick water all the walls and ground." There was an obvious joke about the cleanliness and manners of the elfin race hidden in this comment that many would have jumped at, but this man seemed to think he was above even noticing Rune's existence. "Don't expect many visits, I haven't been down here in quite a while. I just thought I would pay a short visit to the thing that is going to bring InuYasha and his pesky little friends strait to me, just the way I like it."

Rune preferred not to speak to someone who seemed to see him and the others as nothing more than a very minor inconvenience to his ultimate plan, someone who was wrong enough to see him as nothing more than a pesky little fly. "You underestimate me boy," the man spoke again as if he had read Rune's thoughts, "I am more powerful than you can possibly imagine, unfortunately you will be dead before I release my full power, pity." He sighed as he turned his back on Rune, a smile on his face that clearly showed the man was convinced he had already won the battle.

He had not realized that by coming down here, he had let Rune get a good sense of his face, aura, and attitude, he had just put himself at a disadvantage. In a situation were Rath or Thatz would have been tempted to snap back some smart-aleck commit, Rune had given this man no impression other than maybe slight panic or fear, so the man would continue to underestimate Rune's own power, and now that he had the advantage, he would find a way out and return with the others to defeat his kidnapper. The one thing that puzzled him was that Nadil was not there or had at least not shown himself. If the only thing this man wanted was InuYasha and his friends, why had he kidnapped Rune instead of one of the others. There were still many things to work out before he could plan his escape, he thought to himself as he glanced uneasily at the muddy water dripping from the wall.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Again I'm sorry it took so long but please review anyways! Thanks for reading! I'll get the next one up as soon as I can!