"What do you want!" Jaken demanded. "I'll tell you nothing, you impudent half-demon!"
"Look, I just want to know where he is," Inuyasha said. "I don't have time to fight you, so you better just stay out of my way."
"Not as if you could ever defeat him!" Jaken scoffed. "If you intend to go and fight him, then I suggest you give up as soon as you encounter him. He recently regained the arm you sliced off, and now he's much stronger than the last few times you've fought."
"I'm not going to fight him," Inuyasha said, exasperated. "I'm just checking on him!"
"Checking on him!" Jaken gaped in confusion.
Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes, moving his hand to rub his forehead. "Look, it's going to sound strange, and I can't even understand it myself, but just hear me out. I've got this annoying feeling that he's in trouble-instincts, I guess, because I damn well know I don't care about him-but this feeling won't go away unless I know he's alright, and it's about to drive me up a cliff. Now will you just tell me where he is?" Inuyasha asked.
Jaken blinked and stared at Inuyasha for a long minute, trying to gain his composure. Finally, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes meditatively before answering.
"You'll find him at his castle. You should know where that is. He went to take care of official business, and he said he wouldn't be back for about three days. That's almost how long it takes to get there and back."
"How long ago was that?" Inuyasha asked.
"Early morning yesterday," the imp responded, opening his eyes again. "Are you satisfied?"
"Yeah. Thanks," Inuyasha called quickly as he ran off again.
"Uh...you're welcome," Jaken mumbled in disbelief as he watched the half-demon leave. "Ugh, I will never understand either one of them," he sighed. "Oh well..."
"Where's your brother's castle?" Shippou asked.
"It's in the west. He's got a pretty strong fortress up there, in the mountains," Inuyasha said.
"How would you know, anyway?" Shippou asked thoughtfully. "Did you used to be friends when you were kids or something?"
"No, it's just that there are certain things we know about each other. He knows the night I turn human, I know about his castle...we're brothers, after all," Inuyasha replied.
A few hours later, a false dawn began to turn the sky gray.
"Hey, I'm tired," Kagome yawned. "Let's get some rest and keep on going a little later, huh?"
"I agree," Miroku said. "I'm feeling a bit sleepy myself..."
"I'm exhausted," Shippou nodded.
"Alright, we can stop," Inuyasha finally agreed. "But we leave first thing when we get up."
"Okay," Sango spoke for the rest of the group as they stopped. None of them even felt like setting up camp-they started a small fire with a few handfuls of twigs and fell asleep easily.