Thar we go me hearties! I be a pirate today. If ye read, then make sure ye review. Or else I be gettin' ya scurvy dogs with me sailor's curse, aye! Ar, and I be not owning Brother Bear! That be where the game come from.

0-0-0-0

Regardless of what Inuyasha had previously said or thought, he did wait for Kagome the next day. And she did come to visit him. And the day after that. And the day after the day after that.

On this particular day, the pair was sitting under the leafy branches of the Goshinboku, waiting patiently (or impatiently in a certain hanyou's case) for the cup of ramen that was bubbling merrily on the gas stove.

"I spy with my little eye…something beginning with t."

"Tree." Inuyasha replied in a bored tone of voice. Kagome laughed. "You got it! Now it's your turn!"

"This game is stupid."

Sighing, Kagome rolled her eyes. "To you, everything's stupid. Just spy something already."

"Okay, okay, fine. I spy something…green."

Kagome glanced around the forest. "Tree?" She guessed.

"Oh wow." Inuyasha replied in the same monotonous voice. "You got it right. What a surprise."

"Stop being such a wet blanket. I spy something…tall."

"Tree."

"Wow, you're really good at this game!" Kagome smiled at Inuyasha brightly, and if she did see the look of disgust he gave her, she chose to ignore it. "Your turn."

"I spy something with bark on it."

"Well, that's easy! It has to be a tree!"

Inuyasha sighed. "In case you hadn't noticed, everything here's a tree. Brain-dead human." He muttered under his breath.

Kagome glanced at him. "Sorry? I didn't catch that."

"Nothing." He answered quickly. "Just take your turn."

"Okay!" She chirped. "I spy with my little eye…a vertical log." She smiled and sat back, satisfied. "Just see if you can figure that out."

"Oh, what a tough one. Just a hunch; could it be a tree?" Inuyasha asked in mock speculation. Kagome nodded happily. "Now you go."

"I spy –"

"Tree." Kagome cut him off.

"Hey! I didn't even spy anything!"

"So?" Kagome shrugged. "I'm the one who knows how to play. It counts."

"Fine."

There was silence for a second. "Tree."

0-0-0-0

"Ja-ken had a lit-tle wart, lit-tle wart, LIT-tle wart. JA-ken had a LIT-tle wart; it was round, HAI-ry and green!" The little girl sung at the top of her lungs, belting out the words with apparently no sense of rhythm or melody. "It grew pus-filled and bulbous one day, bulbous one day, bulbous one –"

"Rin." That one, cold word stopped Rin in mid-song. "Yes, Rin's lord?"

"That's enough. You must be quiet if you don't want to attract any undue attention to us." Sesshoumaru turned slightly to glance at the girl who was seated on the two-headed dragon named Ah-Un. Rin nodded vigorously, so hard in fact that Jaken, who was tottering along behind them, wondered if her head would fall off.

The toad youkai sighed. It was bad enough that he had to endure Rin's tone-deaf jingle, (which wasn't very flattering – any self-respecting toad would prefer many, large warts) but she was also allowed to ride on Ah-Un, while he, his master's ever-faithful vassal, was forced to walk. How degrading.

Ah yes, Jaken was an underprivileged, underappreciated fool for following Sesshoumaru. There were a great many things he would like to say to his lord (and none of them very nice) but he believed if he did voice his opinions, he would just get a bonk on the head. Or something even worse.

So Jaken did the next best things he could think of: he sucked up to him. "So my all-powerful and wise lord, what is the next stage in your mighty and unstoppable plan?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Jaken. However if you must know, I am going to enquire about enlisting the help of someone to track down my half-brother. This land is too large to do it on my own."

"Ah, of course, my lord!" Jaken beamed widely. "What a wondrous, marvellous idea! You really do come up with brilliant plans!"

"Be quiet."

"Yes my lord." He said meekly.

0-0-0-0

"Ah, this feels great." Kagome sighed happily as she sunk deeper into the hot spring. "Thanks for asking me along Sango."

The taijiya smiled warmly. "Don't mention it. We can do this as often as you like." She shook out her long, dark hair and started combing her fingers through it. "Besides, it's nice to have a female friend my age."

Kagome smiled back, but hers was mixed with a hint of sadness. "It's nice just to have a friend here at all." She smiled gratefully, absently playing with a leaf on the water's surface. "But wouldn't someone come by here?"

"Usually the villagers know not to disturb us," Sango said reassuringly. "However," her eyes flicked to a clump of bushes by the spring's edge. "Some people don't know when to lay low. Miroku!" A nice-sized boulder went sailing in the bushes' direction. An unhealthy thwack was heard that probably didn't belong to the bushes, and a familiar robed body fell out.

Miroku sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "But Sango, I was only checking that you and Lady Kagome were safe from any harm. It wouldn't be very welcoming if you were attacked by youkai on Kagome's first bath night here now would it? I was merely concerned for your wellbeing."

"Concerned for our wellbeing my ass." Sango wrapped her arms round herself and ducked lower in the water. Seeing Miroku's devious grin, she glared at him. "But that doesn't give you any reason to gawk at us. Now go back to the hut, hentai."

Kagome smiled to herself, but followed Sango's lead and kept herself well-covered. 'At least if I'm stuck here, I'll have some company.' She eyes Miroku warily. 'Even if it does include a hentai.'

0-0-0-0

Being lonely was horrible, Inuyasha had decided. It was horrible, ghastly and vile. He had also decided that he didn't want to be alone. If he could find some way to turn back he clock, he would. But as of yet, a solution to that problem had eluded him, and it didn't look like he was getting any closer to some life-shattering discovery.

But what was even more horrible, ghastly and vile was the thought that he found something horrible, ghastly and vile. He wasn't supposed to find things horrible. Or ghastly. Or vile. He wasn't supposed to find things any emotion at all. It kept happening; he couldn't find the girl and he wasn't taking in any more souls. This only served to make him more susceptible to emotions, and he was pretty sure if he didn't kill the girl soon he'd end up a blubbering wreck.

Sighing heavily, the hanyou looked to the sky. It wasn't even midnight yet, and he was already back in his own time. Another wasted search for her. A warm breeze blew past, lifting his hair and bringing the scents of the night to him. There was one smell in particular that caught his attention. It was vaguely familiar, and then all of a sudden it hit him, just out of nowhere. It was her.

Then the sounds reached his ears. Lots of yelling, then laughter and some more yelling. Following his nose and ears, Inuyasha came to the source of it. Hidden by the trees, he watched the scene before him with emotionless eyes. He watched Kagome and Sango throwing inanimate objects at Miroku. He watched the houshi leave, and he watched the two girls return to their bathing and quiet talking.

It was then that he rose silently and stepped towards the pair, amber eyes glowing red.