Well. To everyone who is reading this, I know it's far longer than anticipated. There are details as to why I stopped writing for two months that needn't be discussed here, but what I'll say, is on with the story. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Every one sat around the campfire speaking about various things regarding the current situation; which isn't surpsrising, seeing how most people DO talk about current situations.

They all spoke of many scenarios regarding the events, all of which were more or less so important than others.

It wasn't long before the most obvious questions arose in the minds of the group members, each being of interest as to why they took so long to be brought up. No one felt the need to speak them openly, but instead found more clever ways to obtain their desired information.

Miroku was the first to speak, (as usual) and did so with the most respective tone he could produce towards Sesshomaru. "Lord Sesshomaru, I am aware that you are quite able to complete this task on your own, but would it be too much to ask if I were to accompany you on this venture?"

Sesshomaru looked at the monk, and it became obvious that the youkai lord had changed his general morals around. "Not at all, you may come if you so desire." He responded, which caused Inuyasha's ears to twitch involuntarily.

The hanyou fixated his eyes on Sesshomaru, and studied him carefully with a squinted look. He thought silently to himself as a few things regarding Sesshomaru began to catch his attention. He said nothing, but hardly discarded the thoughts.

Sango, in light of this new information, decided that if the monk was going, why not her too. "Umm, Lord Sesshomaru, would I be imposing if I asked to come as well?" she asked in a rather meek tone; very un-Sango.

The youkai lord without even batting an eye responded with a "Of course not." not so much with the slightest usual disgust for humans he has within his tone. Sango looked at the downward quite happily, as she predicted Sesshomaru would see it odd for a human girl to smile at him.

And regarding this, Inuyasha's ears percked up yet again, and this time his nose detected something a bit pecue as well. Kagome however made little note of it; she was far too busy being entertained by the twitching of Inuyasha's ears. It lulled her in a way, and though it was a simple body function for Inuyasha, it entertained and bewildered her to no end.

Sesshomaru's sudden acceptance of humans began to really concern Inuyasha, even though his elder brother had quite diligently explained that he was no liar. But 800 years of hatred for a something could not so easily be shaken in a mere short period of time such as this.

Inuyasha decided that naught could be pinpointed as of yet, and that he would continue to survey the rest of his elder brother's actions. He watched with readiness and intent throughout the remainder of the night, as every other action that Sesshomaru made was just something Inuyasha would assume to be normal; as he had not seen his elder brother's every day actions for quite some years now.

He ate and drank, just like everyone else. He sat cross-legged, just like everyone else. In fact, everything that Sesshomaru did for the entirety of the night and perhaps even after that and beyond was just like everyone else; of course to the extent that certain things are done normally by youkai as opposed to certain ordinary things done by humans.

The constant conversation that took place between the rest of the time period was quite amusing, in fact so much that Inuyasha himself was even a little lost in all of the talk. Everything seemed to be at ease, and there was no immediate sign of danger. He and all the others were safe, so he finally decided to let his guard fall and enjoy the company of his comrades.

During all this, Kagome had noticed something that Inuyasha had kept at his waist for some time now. It would probably not be of much concern were it anyone else, but it had come to her attention that Inuyasha valued a rather small amount of things, and this being something new grabbed her thoughts and refused to let them break free.

It was a white, jug looking thing, and Kagome used her best of knowledge to estimate that it's contents to be no more or less then a gallon. There was some red lettering on its side, which was more than likely the ancient wolf youkai language that Inuyasha spoke to Sesshomaru in every so often, and from time to time as it would pass by, Inuyasha would reach down to it after removing the cork, and take a nice big gulp of whatever its content would be.

Kagome feared the slight yet horrible rejection she would receive amongst her friends were she to ask what it was only to discover that it was something more commonly so used than she had come to know, but she eventually decided that it was worth the trouble, because it was really beginning to grasp her attention.

"Umm, Inuyasha?" she asked out to Him after finally gathering up the nerve to do so. "What is that stuff? Is it any good?" The hanyou stared over at her as if to say ' You gotta be kidding'. But he didn't fail to remember that Kagome was from a completely different era, and of course she wouldn't know what this was.

"It's a special kind of sake that an old friend of my pop's used to make. It's really good stuff, and now that I think about it, I'm surprised I haven't shown you this yet." Kagome looked at Inuyasha, and though she tried incredibly hard not to show that she was very pleased to FINALLY know what that was, she failed to hide her 'THANK YOU! I NEEDED TO KNOW THAT' expression, and gave Inuyasha the impression that she wanted to try some.

"Uh, you wanna give it a shot? It's really good stuff, as I said." He offered, as best he could in the most Inuyasha way. He reached to the left most side of his sash, and shortly after doing so handed the bottle over to Kagome, who was meekly planning to accept whatever it was that Inuyasha wanted her to do. "Uuh, sure, a little shot can't hurt I guess." She said as she received the bottle from her firm handed friend.

She grasped the bottle in her left hand, and placed her right over the lid of the container, in a fashion that suggested twisting the top off. Attempt 1: that didn't work. The bloody thing was turned on so tightly that it would take a miracle for her to just twist it off.

So she tried various other things, such as prying it, pulling it off straight up, and eventually using her teeth to try and get the cork from hell out of the jar. All of which were more of failures than the next. Inuyasha would have offered his help during this somewhat dilemma, but he as well as all who were watching, were completely lulled by the futile attempts the young miko made to remove the cork from the bottle that wouldn't quit.

He stared in awe at the various other things she tried to use to her advantage to open the blasted thing, and it wasn't long before he regained himself and offered his hand to open the bottle.

"Here Kagome I'll get it." He offered with a chuckle as he stretched out his hand to receive the bottle. Kagome, who for some reason hadn't realized his offer, continued her attempt to open the bottle, and now had it between her inner thighs for a hold, and was using two hands for the cork removal.

Inuyasha sat there in a dull, awkward atmosphere, and left his outstretched hand at Kagome's shoulder. Of course with hopes that she would squirm enough and feel this very hand behind her in the fashion that it was, and understand the gesture.

She made a few more attempts to complete her objective, and soon enough Inuyasha's prediction was proven to be true. Kagome felt his hand, and quietly 'eeped' in realization that she was more than likely being rude without knowing it.

In light of this, she spun around with a blushed expression, and stared at Inuyasha. "I'm sorry, what did you need?" she asked as if completely lost.

The hanyou merely stared back, with an equal if not greater amount of confusion, and soon enough the awkward gazes met their ends as Kagome registered what had just happened. "Oh, this?" she asked presumably, as she gestured to hand the bottle to her silver haired friend.

"Yeah that, lemme get it for ya." He responded with quite the cheerful tone.

Kagome then of course handed him the bottle, and with future events would forget that Inuyasha was not a mere human. He accepted the bottle from her grasp, and set it down on his right thigh, supporting it with his left hand.

He looked at Her smugly, and proceeded his task by twisting the cork off with his right hand. He chuckled. "It's all in the wrist, give it a shot." He said as he placed the cork back on. (Not quite as tightly as he had before)
The hanyou then returned the bottle to Kagome, who did her best to follow His advice and 'flicked' her wrist as she popped open the cork. "Ha! I WIN you stupid bottle!" she exclaimed rather noisily, as she taunted the container in a peculiar way.

The young miko completed her little victory dance, and looked at her friend and expressed her gratitude. "Thanks! That was getting annoying." She said with a smile.

Sesshomaru took this opportunity to comment on the situation. "Really? I couldn't tell." He said in a fun-ish sarcastic type tone. Inuyasha's ears twitched once more in respondence to this, and Sango stared at Sesshomaru in a very shocked sort of way.

Inuyasha eyeballed his elder brother for a moment more, and it was during this that his nose informed him of something odd. It was Sesshomaru's scent all right, but it was slightly altered. And what it was altered with was not at all a common one to have been done with; the scent of wood.

The hanyou stared at the youkai for a bit longer during this awkward silence, and detected that the wooden scent was located directly in Sesshomaru's abdomen. 'I KNEW I smelt something odd about him. I just couldn't pinpoint what!' he exclaimed in his mind.

Conversation had been picked back up by this time (and Kagome had forgotten about the sake somehow), and everyone just decided to let go the really very odd moment a few minutes ago.

And during this, Shippo had tripped over Kirara and fell near the fire, which managed to catch his tail aflame. Everyone burst out into laughter, completely ignoring the pain of poor Shippo. And, as it happens, and irony strikes at the perfect moments, Sango had laughed herself right into tears while observing the rather hilarious actions of a Kitsune caught fire.

This loss of her bodily control, except for her ability to grasp her ribs with laughter, had caused her to spill a particularly hot cup of tea right onto her bosom. She squeaked in pain, and shot up into the air from where she had sat. "Ah ah ah ah ah! That's really hot!" she screamed as steam rose from the top of her breasts.

The hot liquid then proceeded to follow gravity's laws, and began running down from her chest to her upper solar plexus, where it began to slow to a stop. She cried out in pain as she ran around looking for some cold water, and eventually slapped Miroku right on the side of his face. "Come on! Help me get some water dammit!" she scolded, not realizing that steam was rising from her now burning hot breasts, as she was bent forward to Miroku's face, while he sat on the ground. (Quite a view for the priest, no?)

And it just so happens that the youkai slayer had worn her favorite summer kimono to this occasion, which of course followed the tradition of all kimono in Japan, and required a sash of some sort to be kept togather.

This sash had, as it just so happens in concordance with Miroku's no doubt wildest fantasy, begun to come un-done with all her laughing and running about. And in the very position the two were in, her kimono opened just enough to reveal the upper section of Sango's breasts. Wet, steam rising and all.

Inuyasha and Kagome sighed, for they new EXACTLY what was gonna happen next. And they stared in a complete, totally shocked awe, with their jaws wide open and eyebrows furiously raised, with the most confuzzled expression you can think of, as the monk calmly stood to his feet, and replied "Of course Sango, my apologies." Without the SLIGHTEST interest to the most obvious object(s) of his desire.

Inuyasha and Kagome then turned their attention towards eachother, with the same, confused look. There was no place for words, as this was entirely too odd. Inuyasha redirected his attention to the monk and the slayer, and rubbed his eyes, soon afterwards squinting them and studying hard the situation.

'Uh uh. Nope. That didn't just happen. I refuse to believe it.' Commented the hanyou to himself in his mind. He stood to his feet and called out to the priest. "Hey Miroku, you feelin ok?"

Miroku blinked in surprise to this question and returned the glance as he responded. "Uh, yes of course. Why do you ask?"

"I'm not sure. You seem a little...I dunno. A little different I guess." Responded Inuyasha.

The monk suddenly gained a more seirious sounding tone to his voice. "Explain what you mean by, 'different,' Inuyasha."

There was a pause in conversing, as Inuyasha tried to think of something to say to this. He put a lot of consideration into the answer, but just couldn't quite think of how to describe it. And it was during this thought, when he noticed Miroku's prayer beads were absent from his right hand.

He gasped, and acted upon instinct. This reaction consisted of him darting over to Kagome and covering her. "Miroku what the hell are you thinking! Put those beads back on your hand before something happens!"

Everyone became alert, and all stared at Inuyasha with the obvious expression. "No look I'm serious! The prayer beads aren't on his right hand!" Exclaimed the hanyou, without the slightest sound of a joke within his tone.

Miroku stared at his right palm, and became confused, "Inuyasha what do you speak of?" he asked, as he indicated the prayer beads securly tied around his left forearm and inner palm. "The beads ARE on. Have you forgotten that the curse was on my LEFT hand?"

Inuyasha arose from his embrace on Kagome, who was still quite shocked at what her mind registered to be a hug of some sort, and stared at Miroku. "What did you say?" he asked in a very questionate tone.
"See? No hole here." Said the monk as he pointed to his right open palm.

Inuyasha regained his composure, and calmed everyone down. "Oh, wups. I wasn't thinking straight. Sorry everyone." He said in the tone recently indicated, as he walked over to Sango and offered to help her to the river nearby.

Kagome was now shocked, as well as Sango. Since when has Inuyasha been this correcting of himself? They knew something was up. But nonetheless, Inuyasha continued with what he had inteneded to do.

"C'mon Sango I know the fastest route, follow me." He said to the kunoichi- like warrior.

Sango was at a loss for ideas on what was happenning, but decided that cooling her chest off would be more important at the moment, In fact very much so. Because unfortunitally for Sango, this heat left quite a burn.

Sango stood up from where she had bent over, as Inuyasha stood tall next to her. "Ok then." He said, giving the indication of the beginning of some type of journey.

They began walking, when Inuyasha spun around to his right, and went 180 degrees behinbd Sango, with his left claws stretched out. He then slowed the speed of his arm, making sure that the after wave of his force wouldn't continue on and hit Sango, and allowed the claws to impale the face of Miroku. All five of them went in deeply, the index and middle finger logged deep within the monk's brain, the ring and pinky finger in his cheek bone, and the thumb claw in his temple.

This of course killed him instantly. From this position, Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga and commanded the blade to transform with the control of his youki, after which he made and upward right slash; which seamlessly went through the neck of Sesshomaru.

Sango and Shippo hardly believed what they saw, as blood spouted in hearbeat intervals from Miroku's face, and his right eye fell out from impact; the left one was dented in.

Sesshomaru appeared as though nothing happened, he sat cross legged still, with a calm, controlled look on his face. "Wait...Sesshomaru's not dead? Did you miss! Or is this just some kind of joke..." Sango asked in hopes that it was.

This question however was soon answered as Sesshomaru's head smoothly, and precisely slid off of his neck. A bit of blood shot out from between his shoulders, and the body vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Inuyasha what the hell! Are you insane?" exclaimed Sango in a desperate act of confusion. "Die you traterous bastard!" She continued in her overwhelming stress, as she reached for her wakizashi, in an attempt to avenge Miroku.

It was at this time when Kagome arose and shouted: "Sango NO! Wait a minute!" But the slayer didn't respond. She drew the blade from her back with her right hand, and went for Inuyasha's throat using a reverse slash technique.

However, Inuyasha is not one so simply defeated. He was easily able to drop his head a bit, and intercept the small katana with his fangs. "Bah. You fool." He commented, as the blade shattered under his jaw's immenense pressure. "I may be nuts, but that's only when I've been pushed over the edge. And besides, you didn't think that'd kill me did you?"

Sango dropped to the ground on her knees. "Inuyasha why did you do it? What did he do to you!" she demanded. However Inuyasha just calmly reached down to lift her up. "Get a hold of yourself Sango! I figured you'd be wiser than this by now! I'll explain when you get up and quit acting like a child."

Then everything that had just happened hit Sango. It was a cold slap of reality, and it all seemed to click when she thought about it. But still, a few things would need an explanation. So, she rose to her feet, and dried her tears.

"Well then start explaining." She said firmly. "But wait a minute...why aren't YOU stressed about this, Kagome? Is there something I don't know about?" she asked in an angry tone, still obviously quite traumatized by all this.

"I'm not quite sure, Sango. But I DO trust Inuyasha's judgement and skill. He wouldn't do something like this unprovoked, or without reason."

And it was just then, when Miroku's body dissappeared in a puff of smoke as well. In both the places of his and Sesshomaru's bodies, there laid a small, wooden Golem. "Oh, of COURSE! How could I be so naieve..." said a saddened Sango.

"Are you getting this now, Sango?" asked Inuyasha, who was hoping she was. "That wasn't really Miroku OR Sesshomaru. They were golems, created by Naraku. Didn't you find that Miroku suddenly being left handed was odd? I knew there was something striking about that. Or how bout Sesshomaru looking as though we didn't even fight! Not a scatch on 'em. And of course not to mention their personality changes. Miroku didn't grope you just now, and Sesshomaru being the way he was...it was just too obvious."

"..." Sango left her comments to herself. "And to confirm my suspisions, I could smell the difference in Sesshomaru's blood. It was hard to tell with Miroku though, because human blood isn't as specific as a youkai's. Well, most of the time anyway."

Kagome smiled. "See? I find that Inuyasha's usually right about these kind of things." She said warmly, making Inuyasha flinch.

"Inuyasha..." began sango. "Please forgive me. After all we've been through, I still doubted you. How could I do that!" Inuyasha just 'keh'd' and turned away from everyone. "Don't worry about it. Things happen."
"So, what now?" asked Kagome.

"Well, now we find out where Naraku's keeping Miroku and Sesshomaru. Then we free 'em." Responded the hanyou.

Kagome smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

"We can go right now, or get some sleep first. Either way it doesn't metter to me, I don't need sleep." Said Inuyasha.

Kagome looked over at him with a sound of confusion in her voice. "Really? I didn't know that. Since when?"

"It's weird. Ever since my last few transformations, I find that I'm not at all tired. You'd think I would be." He said, making a rather interesting point. "I don't know what's all going on here, but I intend to find out what is."

Sango turned her gaze to Inuyasha. "I agree with you. But can we do this tomorrow? I'm afraid I lack the energy for even the slightest bit of combat."

"Yeah, that's fine. 'sides, aren't you a bit tired too, Kagome?" He asked.

"Actually I'm REALLY tired. I'm sorry Inuyasha." She responded with an apologetic tone.

"Don't sweat it. Shippo looks pretty tired too. You all get some rest, you too, Kirara. I'll look out tonight." He added sounding quite leaderly, and was acknowledged by the cat youkai with a happy sounding purr.

And with that, Sango headed the tent, as well as Shippo and Kirara. This had been quite a day, and they were finally gonna get some rest. But just before Kagome could even move, Inuyasha called out to her.

"And thank you, Kagome." He said with a tone that suggested he had more to say.

"For what?" she asked, quite confusedly

"That."

"Huh?"

"I don't really know how to say it. Just...thanks." He said with a warm smile as he gazed at her.

She really didn't know what to do but smile back, not that that was a bad thing, she very much so wanted to. In fact, she did it unvoluntarily.
"Thank YOU, Inuyasha." She said before entering the tent. 'Oh wow, that just made my day!' she exclaimed to herself as she shouted Hallelujah mentally as well.

Inuyasha however was lost in total confusion, and stood thinking for a moment.

'Well, I guess t doesn't really matter why she's thanking me, as long as she's THANKING me.' He thought to himself with a smile.

Well, that's it for now. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but as things go, it just needed to be ended here (as you can see XD) Hope ya liked it! Review please if ya got a minute