It had been two weeks since Inuyasha had that dream and since then, he had (slowly but surely) begun to accept his feelings towards Kouga as genuine and as a release from his depressive state, for he had finally stopped mourning the deaths of Kikyou and Kagome. In fact...hell, other than the intensive hand-to-hand training, it had been the best two weeks of his life.

"Oiy, Inuyasha!" Inuyasha's ears perked at the familiar shout of the wolf demon, his head turning towards said wolf demon while his ears flattened with slight annoyance, "Hurry up and get over here, there's come old coot on a cow here to see ya. He says it's about your sword or somethin'..."

"Totosai..." Inuyasha mumbled under his breath before shaking his head, walking quite calmly over to the old man and his three-eyed cow, arms crossed inside of his over-large red kimono sleeves, "What the hell do you want, old man? Tetsusaiga's in good hands, I can use it, why don't you just-"

"Inuyasha," The withered form interrupted, which made Inuyasha growl in annoyance as the old man continued, "Innocent blood has been spilt onto the Tetsusaiga, it needs to be cleansed properly, or it will become tainted to the point where it will possess you, releasing your demonic blood so that you will be able to think of nothing but death and do nothing but destroy many lives."

What? It took a few seconds before the hanyou knew exactly what Totosai was talking about. Then, suddenly, a feeling of sickening guilt washed over him as he remembered that day...the day he had harmed Kouga. The other had no scar, but the hold in the wolf's armour was still there, a constant reminder of what Inuyasha had done...

"What's it matter, whose blood is on the Tetsusaiga? It hasn't affected it before, why would-"

"Idiot..." Totosai sighed, which provoked Inuyasha to hotly hit the old man over the head quite roughly, "Don't you notice how you're always fighting for the cause of good? In turn, it is making your disposition better and better so that in general you're a better person?"

He hadn't thought about that, and for purpose of thought did Inuyasha withdraw to contemplate. So, Tetsusaiga had been helping him become a better person...less heartless, less selfish, yeah now that he thought about it, it had done that. Did that have something to do with the evil blood the Tetsusaiga had spilt onto the ground, and maybe the Tetsusaiga was absorbing his own cruelty and malice as well...

"Now that I've got your attention..." The sword smith began again, although it was followed by silence, which caused Kouga to growl this time while Inuyasha felt annoyance build up in his throat, "...what was I saying?"

Both demons hit Totosai this time, with twin angered shouts of "The sword, old man!" leaving their lips. Then, catching Kouga's eye, Inuyasha could have sworn he saw the other smirk while Totosai continued his explanation as if a pair of somewhat hostile demons had not just hit him.

"If the sword has innocent blood spilt on it, instead of absorbing and diminishing evil auras, it will destroy the good and flow the evil back into the sword's wielder. In this case, Inuyasha," This caused the dog demon's stomach to lurch unpleasantly, "If it were the great dog demon still wielding the Tetsusaiga, I wouldn't have any concern over who he had slain. But, since it is Inuyasha, his own aura isn't strong enough to overpower Tetsusaiga's as of yet, therefore if he spills too much innocent blood, or if the blood currently in his blade stays for too long...his demonic blood in turn will take over his body."

This was a serious situation, Inuyasha couldn't deny that. And, judging by the look on Kouga's face, he'd have to get by without the sword until it was properly 'cleansed', as Totosai had said, "...How long will it take to get that blood out of the sword, old man?"

"A week, I expect," No sooner had the old man said the words than Inuyasha choked slightly, feeling his eyes widen with shock while his stomach flipped. A week...they could potentially get attacked several times before that was done, why would it take so long to cleanse a damned sword?

"A week? Why the hell would it take so long to clean a damned sword?" Speaking his mind, Inuyasha glared at the man with great agitation (Kouga, by this point, had gone to get some water due to his lack of importance in this conversation), "Don't tell me..." Somehow, the hanyou knew what the answer would be.

Totosai scratched his cheek while looking up at the sky, almost as if he was trying to remember something, "...I kept forgetting. Being an old man is rough on the noggin'," Totosai had no idea how much truth there was to those words as he was hit, once again, by a greatly annoyed Inuyasha, "Anyway, just be happy I arrived now! I could not cleanse the sword at all you know!"

"Then I'd have to kill you with it, if you catch my drift," Inuyasha growled, which (he smirked to himself) made the old man cringe slightly before nodding and taking the blade, along with it's sheath, "I'll come up to the mountain a week from now, old man. It had better be done by then, or I'll have your head."

"I've got it, I've got it, now leave me be until I'm finished!" Totosai waved his hands in front of his face before climbing back onto his beast of burden, kicking its sides lightly so that the thing would take off. Now Inuyasha was alone, and looking around at first, he sighed and sat with his back against a nearby tree trunk, looking up at the sky.

So much was happening, with the Tetsusaiga, and with his feelings for Kouga (which he never acknowledged since the day he confessed them until now), not to mention the serenity the village rarely saw ever since Kagome had arrived from the future those few months ago. It was strange, all this peacefulness that he was experiencing, it was a change from constantly being attacked by people who either wanted the shards of the Shikon no Tama or just wanted to kill Inuyasha. Actually...now that he thought of it, Sesshoumaru was the only one who fit inside of the latter case, Jakotsu apparently wanted to rape him first.

A small shudder went through his form at the thought, those eyes always on him; never going anywhere else, the damned stalker...he should have killed the queer when he had the chance! But, Jakotsu wouldn't come now, not unless his wounds were healed by this point. Of course, it would be worse if Bankotsu showed up; he had that damned Zanmato, and it was charged with shards of the Shikon no Tama...

However, Inuyasha's train of thought was broken when he felt this absolutely heavenly feeling of his ears being rubbed, his form melting almost immediately from the sensation. Who was...the hanyou blinked when his head was tilted up a bit, it turned out that it was Kouga who was rubbing his ears, "Hey, mutt-face, don't zone like that. You might get attacked if you do," He was smirking as he said this, which made Inuyasha growl, his face burning him.

"Like you're doing right now, Kouga?" He pouted at the other, which made the wolf laugh in amusement, right before Inuyasha swatted at the hands that had captured his delicate dog-like appendages, "Stop touching my ears, damn it!"

"Why? You can't tell me you don't like it," It was blatantly obvious that Kouga was having fun messing with Inuyasha now, which made him feel annoyed and slightly angered with the other. That little cheater... "I saw you melting, if you were a cat you probably would have been purring. But, cats are more annoying that mutt-faces."

"Watch it..."

"Osuwari."

Cruelly was Inuyasha crushed against the ground, the base of the tree almost shattered as a result. With a small moan, the dog demon got up and glared at Kouga, who was still laughing. Damn him...he really wished he could return the favour to the other, but there was no way possible. At least these beads would come off when...

When he became human, next week, the day he was supposed to get Tetsusaiga back, "Kouga...Something I've gotta tell ya," Of course, Kouga already knew of Inuyasha's day to become human, but the wolf would appreciate a heads up, right?

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Blinking at him, Kouga approached Inuyasha, which made Inuyasha's face grow hot once again. They were so close to each other... "Somethin' the matter? You look a little troubled."

"Seven days from now is the night of the New Moon," Inuyasha mumbled, turning his burning face away from the other as he said the words. Why did admitting his weakness have to be so hard? "I just thought you should know, just in case..."

"I already knew that, Inuyasha," With a sigh did Kouga gently wrap his arms around him, causing Inuyasha to blush even more as he was being held towards the other's chest, his heart beating roughly into his throat, "You don't have to be strong then, I'm still gonna be around. And even if I'm not, Ginta and Hakkaku will be here too. You have nothing to worry about."

He almost forgot about those two, they were taking their sweet time getting here. Inuyasha was just about to ask why, but...the answer was standing a small distance to the left of the pair, just exiting the forest of Musashi with Ginta and Hakkaku hanging onto her ankles in an attempt to drag her away.

"Kouga!" The wolf demon female in white pelt shouted towards the pair, marching over there as if Ginta and Hakkaku weren't hanging onto her ankles and were weightless, "You're supposed to marry me, why do you keep running away?" She was almost whining, and it took Inuyasha a couple of seconds to remember exactly who this was. He couldn't place the name though, but he remembered who she was.

"Look, kid, I didn't make any promise like that!" Kouga growled, standing up and leaving Inuyasha on the ground, "Why don't you just find some other demon to mate with and leave me alone?"

"I heard about that mortal Kagome though, she's dead, isn't she?" The girl asked, which caused Kouga to freeze right there. Yeah, Kagome was gone, but would Kouga be able to stave off this one? Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder, "Don't tell me you've gone and found another mate already! You're supposed to mate with me so that our tribes will become stronger as a result!"

"Leave me alone, Ayame! I'm in love with Inuyasha!" Picking Inuyasha up and holding him in his arms as if to prove the point, Kouga narrowed his crystalline eyes at the girl, but was Inuyasha going to take this? ...right now he kind of didn't have a choice, but that didn't stop a furious red blush from spreading across his cheeks, "I have a mate, now get lost!"

"No! You're mine, Kouga!" Ayame finally shook Ginta and Hakkaku off of her ankles before leaping at them, firing a flurry of razor leaves at Inuyasha while she was at it. Inuyasha just barely dodged the leaves, but now the girl was coming at him with a katana...damn, this kid just wouldn't give up!