Chapter 3: A Call from the Shadows

"Feh," Inuyasha said. The others rolled their eyes as Jaken managed to smack the stubborn hanyou across the forehead with his staff.

"Why the hell did you do that for!" Inuyasha yelled.

"You ungrateful dog!" Jaken yelled back. Inuyasha glowered at the small youkai. Miroku, Kagome, Shippo, Rin and Kaede were quietly watching the argument. Kohaku and Sango would have been there too, but they were resting inside from their injuries with Kirara. Sango's brother had died when Naraku had taken the jewel shard from his back, but Sesshoumaru had used the Tenseiga to restore him to life. The inu youkai's explanation for his action had been that Naraku wanted Kohaku dead, so to spite him, Sesshoumaru had brought him back to life. Kagome had found herself doubting his reason, secretly believing that Inuyasha's older brother actually did have a heart.

"I'm not doing it!" Inuyasha yelled and managed to duck another swipe of Jaken's staff.

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"Well this is going no where fast," Miroku remarked. Kagome sighed before yelling Inuyasha's most hated word.

"Sit!"

Inuyasha immediately bit dirt, hardly the image of the new Lord of the Western Lands. Which happened to be the source of the hanyou's and the miniature youkai's quarrel.

Jaken gave an irritated sigh and shook his head in dismay. Inuyasha was so hotheaded, unlike his older brother. Wait…that might do it.

"I suppose you're right, Inuyasha. One can't expect such an ungrateful son, a hanyou no less, to rule his father's great land. How could I expect you of all people to take your brother's place to protect the Western lands from fiends…" Jaken paused as Myoga jumped onto his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "…and wolves?" he added.

Inuyasha's ears perked up immediately.

"Wolves?" he growled.

Jaken nodded his head vigoursly as the flea youkai spoke up.

"Yes, Lord Inuyasha. Please listen to Jaken. If you do nothing, your father's lands will come to ruin now that Sesshoumaru is dead. You must rule the Western lands now…"

"Hah! I'll do it! I can't let wolf scum wander into my lands! Heh, I'll kill Kouga the moment I even smell his scrawny hide nearby…"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. Jaken smiled to himself as he whispered to Myoga.

"Good thinking Myoga."

"Yes, fortunately Lord Inuyasha is very predictable."

"What are you two whispering about?" The new Lord of the West asked.

"Nothing!" they both yelled.

"Tch, sure…"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The two men gave each other surprised looks as they surveyed the scene in front of them.

"Well this is pathetic," Sanosuke said.

"Sano, are you sure that these are the men?"

Sanosuke flipped through the wanted papers that he had snagged from near the diner. He looked down, then up, down again, then up before scratching his head.

"Yeah, these are the guys alright. What a bunch of pushovers. Kind of makes you wonder how competent the police are if they haven't caught these morons yet."

The three wanted men in question were suspects in several thefts, arson, and an attempted murder. They were currently lying in a drunken stupor.

Kenshin sighed; he'd rather be back at the dojo than doing this.

"Very well, I suppose we should round them up, that we should," he said instead. The swordsman just wanted to get this over with so he could go back home. His friend gave a disappointed sigh.

"I wanted a fight," Sanosuke complained. In a fit of agitation, he yelled at the trio.

"You're not supposed to be drunk!" The drunken trio just gave him confused looks. Kenshin waved his hands at the infuriated Sanosuke.

"It will be all right Sano. I'm sure you'll find someone else to fight, that you will."

"You're right, let's take these guys in to the police and go after some more!"

"Oro?"

"Yeah, one of the other guys is bound to put up a fight!"

Kenshin sighed again as he wished he'd kept his mouth closed. It was going to be a long night.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"It's so nice to be able to eat out for once without me paying for it!" Kaoru exclaimed happily.

"I'm just surprised that you actually got Sanosuke to make any money," Takani Megumi added, the apprentice doctor having joined them for dinner.

"Yeah, well fighting's about the only thing we can get Sanosuke to do," Yahiko said.

"Except for eating and sleeping," Kaoru added.

"Don't forget gambling and drinking!" exclaimed Yahiko.

"That too."

Neither Kenshin nor Sanosuke bothered to enter the conversation. The swordsman blinked tiredly at his bowl of soup. Sanosuke had insisted on running around the whole night. Somewhere around 4:00 in the morning, he'd actually pondered the un-Kenshin like thought of throttling his tall friend.

Sanosuke glared moodily at his drink. None of the wanted men they had captured had put up a decent fight. The only half-way decent fight that he had found was the one that he had sort of started at one of the local bars. Sano swore that Kenshin had actually seemed ready to kill him after that.

But still, the night's events had left him in a sour mood. The only bright point was that after he and Kenshin had divided the money, Sanosuke had been able to pay off about half of his debts.

Yahiko noticed the withdrawn looks on the older men's faces. After eating through his second helping, he finally spoke to them.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad!" Sanosuke grumbled to himself as Kenshin took a long sip of tea. "I can't believe this! You two caught every person on the police's wanted list in one night! Why don't you two cheer up? It's not like you're going out again tonight." Sanosuke grumbled again but Kenshin seemed to perk up slightly before he cracked a huge yawn.

"This one will turn in early tonight, that he will."

After dinner, the five of them walked back to the dojo in the fading light. They were talking quietly among themselves when Kenshin suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stared hard at a nearby bush as the others became instantly alert.

"What is it Kenshin?" Kaoru asked.

"This one does not know. But for a moment, I felt a presence there, that I did."

Sanosuke kicked at the tall bush before peering inside. He walked off the path into the wooded area and peered around, but it was hard to see anything in the dim light.

"Well, whoever was here is gone now," he said. He turned to look at his red-haired friend. "What?"

Kenshin shook himself. He still felt as if there was something out there. Involuntarily, he felt his hand reach towards the woods before he pulled it back in surprise.

"What are you doing, Sir Ken?" Megumi asked.

"I…I'm not sure," Kenshin admitted. His fingers itched, as if they wanted desperately to grab something. "It's almost as if something out there is calling me." He looked at the concerned faces of his friends before giving a slightly embarrassed laugh.

"I'm sure it's nothing," he said. "It's probably just from not having any sleep last night, that it is." Sanosuke gave him a look that told the swordsman that he wasn't convinced. Tired or not, Kenshin never made a mistake when it came to his instincts.

"You want to look around Kenshin?" he asked.

Kenshin stared into the brush for a few moments before replying.

"No Sano. Let's just return to the dojo." Kenshin started walking on the path again. The others gave each other doubtful looks before following their friend. The swordsman didn't say anything, but he still felt a strong pull on his mind. Something was calling to him. He just didn't know what.

After several long minutes had passed, a small creature heaved a sigh of relief. It dug itself out of the pile of dead leaves, groaning at the aches in his aging body. The creature looked around before pulling two swords from underneath the pile. One of the swords in particular was pulsating softly.

"Ah, Tenseiga! You feel your master nearby, don't you!" Jaken told the sword. The old youkai gazed down the path before speaking to himself. "So that was Lord Sesshoumaru! Incredible! I've finally found him!"

A soft snap of a twig reached his ears and he spun around. Standing right behind him was a young female youkai. She had long black hair tied behind in a high ponytail, and green eyes that gleamed from her face. The young youkai could be no older than seventy, perhaps eighty, considering that she appeared to be about twelve years old in human years. After getting over his initial shock, Jaken also realized that she was a kitsune once he saw the fox tail. Which would explain why he hadn't noticed her until now.

"Is that the Tenseiga and the Toukijin?" She asked innocently, but her eyes flashed playfully.

"How do you know that?"

She grinned at him then and Jaken knew who this kit was. He'd seen her older siblings and he knew her parents quite well. There was no doubt as to who's child this was. If the young kit was here, then the father must be as well.

"Lord Shippo!" Jaken yelled frantically as the young girl pounced on him. Nothing.

"Shippo!" he yelled again. "Call your young whelp off of me at once!"

A low chuckle came from a tree stump near the old youkai and the young kitsune. Jaken realized then that the girl's father had been there the whole time. The image of the tree stump vanished to reveal the form of a fully grown kitsune, his proud tail swishing back and forth. His long red hair was tied back neatly behind his head as his green eyes flashed at the pair of small youkai. The man's elegant, dark blue clothes were embroidered in green with the images of falling leaves. A forest green obi sash adorned his waist line. As he stepped nimbly out of the brush with his fox feet, Jaken eyed the sword at his hip. The Kadouki was another of Totousai's impressive creations, made for the kitsune on order of Inuyasha when he had become a teenager.

Shippo called his youngest daughter off of the aging youkai as he stepped up to the pair. Then the fox youkai bent down and carefully picked up Jaken, bringing him up to eye level.

"So, old man, you found Sesshoumaru, eh?"