Man, this was a hard chapter. Shunusuke and Sango have been some of the hardest people to write about, so far. Will improve with time, just wait till you see what Kagome does in the next chapter! Read and Review!

Preparations

Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair, thinking carefully about what his brother proposed to him. "An interesting plan, InuYasha. Tell me, do you actually think it would work?"

InuYasha curled his lip and replied "Not really, but Shunusuke seems fairly certain of it, and you never know. Besides, we need to find some way to use this bimbo while she's here," pointing at Lina.

"Who're you calling a bimbo, you cretin? SIT!"

Nothing happened. InuYasha looked at her like she was an idiot, and said "Don't even try it. The rosary only responds to Kagome's order. I just wish she would trust me enough to take it off."

"Well, if I can't sit you, then take this! Fireball!"

"AAAUUUGGGHHHH!" InuYasha got engulfed in flames, which was much more painful than it normally would have been, since he wasn't wearing his fire-rat fur kimono. Sesshomaru decided to step in and stop them before his brother got injured.

"You'll have to forgive InuYasha. His manners lessons haven't been progressing well, after all."

"Well, get to work! He needs all the help he can get."

At this point InuYasha was just getting up off the ground, growling. "Why couldn't Kagome have come with me, huh? Why'd she have to come with me?"

"Now, InuYasha, be nice. You'll be back with your woman before too much longer, after all. Now, this plan is very interesting, but I am unclear as to what my part in it would be."

"You just need to keep Kagura busy while we deal with Naraku. Think you can handle that?"

Sesshomaru just smiled at that. "Kagura, hm? It's been a long time since I saw her last. All right, I'll help." Sesshomaru leaned forward and stood up, saying "I'll talk Hisui into it if I can, and I'll see what I can find among my associates who will be able to help you out, but I'm not going to make any promises."

InuYasha and Lina stood up, InuYasha saying "Didn't expect you to. We are just gonna need all the help we can get. By the way, make sure you bring Tenseiga and Tokijin with you, if you still have them."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at that. "Just what are you implying, InuYasha? That I don't take care of that which has been entrusted to me?"

"I was implying exactly the same thing you did when you asked where Tetsusaiga was back before I started working for you."

Sesshomaru actually smiled at this. "Heh heh. Clever comeback InuYasha." Then he led the two of them to the door and told them "Jaken will see you and your friend out. I have some calls I have to make."

InuYasha and Lina looked at Sesshomaru slightly suspiciously at this, but they knew it was true, so they didn't say anything. They just walked out the door and followed the little green youkai who was waiting for them when they emerged from the tunnel. Jaken led them to the door, then almost shoved them out. InuYasha looked back after the door closed and said "Tch! If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was glad to be rid of us."

Meanwhile, back at the Foxfire building…

Huff-huff heave-heave, pant-pant, creak-creak

Oops! Wrong room!

"Shunusuke is a clever one, I'll give him that," Foxfire chuckled, leaning back in his chair after Kagome finished outlining Shunusuke's plan to him. "I like it. I'm in, and I can actually help you guys out again. When you get back, tell Shunusuke that I learned several skills during the disco era that will probably come in handy here."

Kagome smiled, relieved, and said "Sure. I'll head back as soon as Miroku and Yuki have finished their cough business."

Foxfire shook his head at that, and told her, "Uhh, no. That will probably take hours, and you need to get back to InuYasha as soon as you can. He probably really misses you, and will go crazy if you two don't get back together soon. I will escort Yuki and Miroku back myself."

Kagome looked relieved as he said this, because she wanted to get back to him as soon as possible, too. "All right, thanks." They both stood up, and Foxfire walked her to the door. "I guess I'll see you later, then, Shippo."

"I look forward to it, Kagome. I hope you can find your own way out, as I need to put in a few calls."

"No problem, Shippo." Kagome walked out of his office and down the hall. She ignored the glare that the receptionist gave her and got in the elevator going down. Everything was fine until she got on the tram back to the Higurashi Shrine. She sat down in a free seat, when all of the sudden a chill went down her spine. What was that, I wonder?

Facing her in the other row of seats, Tachimora was glaring at her over a newspaper he held over his face. It's definitely her. That Higurashi girl, the one who is seeing the youkai. Now's my chance, and I'm not going to waste it.

Kagome was feeling nervous the entire trip, and it didn't go away when she got off the tram. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed, but whenever she looked back, she didn't see anything, other than the fact that there was always someone who had his face covered with a newspaper. About halfway from the tram stop to her shrine, she felt a hand go over her mouth and got roughly pulled into an alleyway. A harsh voice quietly said in her ear "Make one noise or try and run, and your dead. Got it?" She quietly nodded, not knowing what else to do. Her assailant slowly let her go and said "Long time no see, Higurashi. How's dog-boy?"

In that instant she realized who this was, and was even more scared than she was before. She quickly pulled away and turned around, saying "Tachi. What the hell are you doing back here?"

"Heh heh. I'd be a bit more polite, if I were you, Higurashi, seeing as your boyfriend is nowhere to be found. Now, you're going to be a good little girl and come with me, or else I might have to get rough."

"Like hell I'll go anywhere with you! I'd sooner die!" Suddenly, from off to the side, there came a call of "Fox fire!" and a row of blue flame suddenly sprouted between them. They both looked to the side and saw a tallish Kitsune with similar flames reflected in his eyes, glaring at Tachi.

"Shippo!" Kagome, knowing that Tachi couldn't touch her, ran over to him, and he put an arm around her.

"Are you ok, Kagome?" Foxfire asked with a nervous glance down at her.

"Fine, now that you're here. But I thought it would be hours before Miroku and Yuki finished?"

"Heh. I guess I overestimated their stamina. Ten minutes after you left, they came into my office, both looking very disheveled, and extremely satisfied. They're probably back at the shrine by now." Foxfire then looked at Tachi, and growled "I'll let you go this time, but if you ever try to hurt one of my friends again, you'll know the anger of a true Great Youkai." Then the two of them just walked off, heading towards the shrine, with Foxfire's tail twitching back and forth angrily.

Shunusuke's mother chuckled when they finished detailing Shunusuke's idea to her.

"Heh. It definitely sounds like something you would come up with, sweetie. I'll talk your father into it, don't worry. Now, then," she looked at Sango, "How's your relationship with my eldest coming along? Any grandchildren on the way?"

Simultaniously, Shunusuke exclaimed "Mom!" and Sango blushed and said "Mrs. Asano!" Sango then asked "Just what ideas has Shunusuke been putting into your head about the two of us?"

She chuckled again and said "Only that you are a good friend who is quite attractive." Sango sent a glare at Shunusuke that clearly said Good, even without his mind-reading powers. Then Shunusuke's mother added "And usually he only says a girl is quite attractive when he's taken a liking to her, and when that happens, he doesn't stop till he gets her to go out with him at least once. Usually not even then."

Sango gulped at this, and it was Shunusuke's turn to blush. He quickly said "Sorry we can't stay longer, but we need to get back to the Higurashi shrine to meet with the others."

"Oh, so soon? Couldn't you two just stay for dinner?"

"No, ma. Sorry, but we really have to get going."

"All right. I'll explain your idea to your father and convince him to help out."

"Thanks ma."

After making their goodbyes to the family as brief as they could without being impolite, Shunusuke and Sango were back in the truck, heading back to Kagome's shrine. Sango was much more uncomfortable this trip than she had been on the way down, now that she knew that Shunusuke was even more like that perverted monk than she had thought he was. Shunusuke was well aware of her discomfort, and did what he could do to make her more at ease.

"She wasn't telling the entire truth, you know." He looked over at Sango's inquisitive look briefly, then back at the road. "My mother. I don't only describe women as beautiful when I've 'taken a liking to them.' I only describe people that way if I find it true. Now, quite often, people I am attracted to I find beautiful, but that doesn't mean that I'm putting the moves on every beautiful girl I come across. I respect you, Sango. Especially after seeing how easily you can carry, and I assume, throw, that huge boomerang of yours. I will not push you into anything you don't want to do." With these words, he projected a sense of calmness and a sort of 'everything will be ok' vibe, trying to put her at ease.

It worked. For the rest of the trip, Sango didn't glare at him, though she didn't say anything until after they got back to the shrine.

Once everyone was back at the Shrine, a number of things happened. First off, InuYasha went back to his fire-rat kimono, saying he was never going anywhere with that bitch again without it. To which, Kagome responded with a "SIT." Everyone had a good chuckle at this, glad to be back together. Then, they all sat down to summarize what had happened with their individual contacts.

"Sesshomaru agreed almost too easily. I wonder what exactly he's planning?" Was InuYasha's concern.

Kagome told everyone that Shippo had agreed and relayed his message to Shunusuke that he had picked up some skills in the disco era that he felt could probably help. InuYasha wanted to know what exactly "disco" was, so they told him and Lina they would explain later with a sample of it. Kagome did not, however, tell anyone of her meeting with Tachi. She didn't want to worry them. She did ask InuYasha to come by her room later that night, though.

Sango and Shunusuke both explained that his father hadn't been home, but they had convinced his mother, and she could be very persuasive when it came to convincing her husband of just about anything. So, they all finished talking about what happened, just in time for dinner. Lina had 6 helpings, to everyone's surprise and Kagome's mother's chagrin. The rest of the evening passed quietly, with nothing special happening.