Chapter Five

Brothers and a Friend

Morning dawned bright and clear, with weather gorgeous enough to rival even the phenomenal perfection of the day before. In the first, barely light hours of the morning, the older of two brothers stood tall in dew-wet grass and flowers, surveying a half-remembered landscape. Behind him, the younger watched from his perch on the rooftop. Neither spoke, half-afraid of ruining the tranquility. The silence, strangely enough was comfortable.

Around them, songbirds took up their melodies, blossoms opened to greet the sun in cheerful shades. The world came alive, readying its self for the sunlight hours. Even the castle behind them began to rustle with life, servants and soldiers alike preparing for the day. And still the brothers were silent. Finally, InuYasha stood, leaping from the roof to stand beside Sesshoumaru. Still, they watched the world awaken.

"A truce, huh?"

"That was the agreement, InuYasha."

"Fine." The word was spat, though not venomous. "But we need terms."

"That is acceptable." Sesshoumaru inclined his head slightly. "What did you have in mind?"

"Kagome and the others are to be left alone. You can fight me, but you leave them unharmed." InuYasha paused. "Tetsusaiga is off-limits, too."

"How touching," Sesshoumaru drawled. "You're protecting your humans."

InuYasha's eyes narrowed, and he turned to face the youkai, "Damn right I am. You so much as scratch any of them and I swear, not even Myouga will be able to find anything left of you."

Sesshoumaru remained quiet a moment, considering. A moment later, Sesshoumaru returned his half-brother's look. "I'll agree to your terms. But you'll have to agree to mine, as well."

"Fine. What do you want?"

InuYasha woke up warm, cozy, and contented. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but today was just a little bit better. The pup let out a giant yawn and stretched as far as he could, accidentally hitting another body. The body groaned and took a lazy swipe at him.

InuYasha ignored it, and snuggled back into the warm spot he'd woken up in. His pillow wriggled, though, and he lost the comfy place; the replacement wasn't as nice. The pup grunted and pushed at the cushion to move back. All he got was a grunt in return. Above him, the body he'd hit moved, too, completely throwing off the warm/comfy balance. The cold air hit and sunk it. Nothing for it. Time to Get Up.

InuYasha sat up with a heavy sigh, then yawned and stretched out again. Missing the pup's body heat, the pillow sat up as well, yawning the whole way. Sesshoumaru moved off of Yuki and stretched languorously. The girl simply rolled over, having abandoned using InuYasha as a pillow (thereby being the reason he, and, consequently, Sesshoumaru had gotten up at all). The two brothers looked at her tiredly, and then shared a lazy glance. Both nodded, and moved.

"Itai!" The startled yelp was satisfying, but didn't quite cut through the fatigue. "What'd ya d'that for?"

The pups lounged back into the pillows and watched as the ice youkai climbed up from the floor. Sesshoumaru shrugged, "Wanted to."

Yuki shot him a weary glare, "Push me off the futon?"

"Odviously."

InuYasha yawned again. "Obviously," he automatically corrected. "Think breakfast is done yet?"

"Leamme 'lone," Sesshoumaru pouted. Yuki climbed back atop the futon and nestled against her friends.

"Dunno," she answered. "S'it light enough out yet?"

InuYasha scrutinized a nearby window, "Dun think so."

"Then go back ta sleep," Sesshoumaru commanded. "They'll come get us."

Yuki and InuYasha shared a look, then shrugged. The trio got comfy and dozed off again.

"Na…nani!"

"I will not repeat myself," Sesshoumaru informed him. InuYasha was too far gone with shock to get angry for the haughty look the youkai lord currently wore. "Now, do you agree?"

Sesshoumaru got his response, although it was merely an undignified nod of the head. It was good enough to seal the deal, and InuYasha didn't seem like he was capable of much more anyway.

A/N Sorry about making you all wait so long. I really have no excuse for it, I should have done better. Gomen ne. bows Feel free to yell at me, ne?

Thank you to Kimberly (Thanks so much for your praise! I honestly don't think I'm that good), pheonix-maker (Thank you, and I apologize for the wait), Brisk33 (I love InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, too. I've even got giant plushies of them both!), Dark Inu Fan (I'm glad you like it. And I'm actually not all that sure, I'm hoping ages never really has to come up in the story), rose19 (okay! ), StormySkys (Thank you very much, I'm glad you like him), and Saeble (I know. I just kinda stop the chapter wherever it seems natural. Thanks for your support!) for reviewing.