Disclaimer: How many of you here watch Inu-Yasha? Please say all of you, 'cause other this will be confusing. Now that we've got that cleared up, how many of you remember those funny credit things? You know, the things that "Give Credit" to the people who actually helped with the creation of Inu-Yasha? And it tell you based off the manga by Rumiko Takahashi (Turns out the YGO creator actually has the same last name)? Believe it or not, I'm not in the credits. Because I didn't create Inu-Yasha, and even more shockingly, don't own it. If I did, Sesshomaru would be in it so much more, because clearly he's the best character… Oh, and I don't own Twister, Trivial Pursuit, or Star Wars…or Operation.

"And now, a moment of silence," Tensaiga announced.

"..."

"..."

"...moment over," Tetsaiga said dryly.

"You ruined my moment!" Tensaiga said accusingly.

"It was a sucky moment."

"But it was MINE, MY OWN, MY PRECIOUS MOMENT!"

"You bite my finger off, you die," Tetsaiga warned.

"What? I am off to see the wise wizard who will have all the answers I need to get rid of the moment-ruiner!"

"Fine, but when he locks you up in a tower don't say I didn't warn you."

"I vote we now perform the hamster dance," Tensaiga said decidedly.

"I veto."

"I never gave you the power of veto! I will now banish you to the Shadow Realm for irking me!"

"If you banish me, then there will be no one here to listen to the next part of the story," Tetsaiga said.

"The trees will listen to me."

"There are no trees."

"I could find trees if I wanted to."

"But could the trees tell the next part of the story?"

"...if it was an intelligent tree."

"I've made my point."

"Fine, fine, you think you're so smart, what is the square root of 78946?" Tensaiga demanded.

"It's equivalent to I Don't Care."

"Ha, see, you're not so smart! Now sit down, I wish to tell the next part."

Chapter 18: And Sometimes You Just Can't Think

Okay, I had been very tolerant up until now, what with the kiss and the kidnapping and then denying plotting against me when clearly he had been holding secret meetings with foreign governments for months in a desperate attempt to hire an assassin to take me out – not that I was paranoid or anything- but this was going too far.

There was no chance in hell that I was going to have sex with him!

"Do you?" the bastard had the gall to ask.

No, I went around saying I remembered things when I really didn't. It was a bad habit of mine.

"This is your bedroom!" I shouted. I quite clearly remembered when I was a child being brought here…

"But…" Why, I couldn't remember.

In fact, I couldn't remember why I had ever been to Western Castle. Father had died the day I was born, and mother certainly would never have brought me here. She couldn't have, since after father died Sesshomaru became master of it.

The only person who could have brought me here was him…

Had he kidnapped me as child too! What if he had locked in a small cage and fed me nothing but small pieces of Jaken for days on end!

There was only positive thing here; Rin hadn't been living with him then. So at least I know that she couldn't have stuffed me full of marshmallow, called me and Umpalumpa, sold me to Willie Wonka and then bought me out of slavery only to use me a ball which she perpetually rolled down a rocky hill full of flesh eating termites.

No, wait, she did that to Jaken. I remember seeing the end product…wasn't pretty.

There was only one thing a person could do in a situation like this – and that wasn't turn and run, screaming bloody murder until someone came and rescued you, because obviously I would never do that- and that was demand to know what kind of sick game Sesshomaru was playing.

I had my finger all ready to point at him accusingly when he did the unthinkable:

He slid open the door…

And while he obviously didn't catch me off guard and shove me into the bedroom, the dramatic scene ending with me planting my face firmly in the floor, I might have somehow magically found myself moved from my previous position in the hallway.

"I've said it before; you really need to work on your senses. You should have been able to dodge that."

My nose hurt.

But my eyes weren't watering, because like hell I'd let Sesshomaru see that!

"Don't let him out," Sesshomaru ordered Tetsaiga. "Or you won't be around to see your friend come back. Assuming, of course, that he will."

Sure, threaten the ex-sword with a lifetime of loneliness and heartbreak to become my jailor. Like he wasn't already facing that anyway.

"Oh don't worry, he will. But I got it, chief. No letting the love prospect out the tower. No letting him throw his hair down to be rescued by some other handsome prince, no-"

There came a point in time when you knew something had to be done. I'd heard that ripping out tongues was coming back into style.

Who was I to deny style?

"Don't let him out. And do not, under any circumstances, talk," Sesshomaru growled.

Hey, it sounded like he was getting upset.

I'd forgotten he could do that.

Now there was a choice presented to me: I could let Sesshomaru walk away and hope that when he came back he would let me go…or I could use this opportunity to push him over the edge and watch gleefully as he painfully killed Tetsaiga.

Or I could watch as he walked away, doing his best not to storm off agitated, because heaven forbid he actually act angry.

"Got it boss!" Tetsaiga called after him.

"All right, how about you let me go and that way I don't have to hurt you?" I suggested nicely to Tetsaiga as I stood up.

Not that I had ever been down on the floor to begin with…

"Ah, you miss him already! How cute," Tetsaiga snickered.

What?

What the hell was he implying?

"But you realize your beloved asked that you stay here, and that I make sure you do. Who knows? Maybe he's making wedding arrangements as we speak," he continued, grinning wickedly.

"Wedding?" I said. Not squeaked. Said.

"Of course, you'll make a lovely bride, don't worry," Tetsaiga said soothingly.

I felt a vein pop in my forehead. I realized that there was only so much pain that could be inflicted upon a being before it died and that it could only die once…but I so wanted to torture, maim and kill him.

Over and over again.

"Get out of my way," I growled.

And when I said out of my way, the preferable distance to travel to accomplish that feat was a few thousand miles away from here.

"Or what?" he smirked.

Smirked…

He had the nerve to smirk at me…

"No one smirks at me but Sesshomaru!" I snarled.

Wait-

Wait, back up-

I said that…out loud?

Crickets are fascinating creatures, really. They always know just the right time that chirping will add a special awkward note that the moment might not have carried off otherwise.

Another moment – I was going to hunt down every last fucking bug and squish the life out of it as I laughed manically-

Why wasn't he mocking? The Tetsaiga I had come to know and hate –in all of an hour or two- would never let an opportunity like this pass him by.

Another moment-

I wasn't getting worried…had he died with his eyes open? Was I the first to witness the frightening awe of a corpse standing up on its own accord?

And yet another-

Should I start dousing him in gasoline, light him on fire and destroy the remains? I would not get blamed for this murder if I hadn't actually done it!

If I had done it, that was another story that entailed full bragging rights.

Then-

A quiet snicker.

"Buahahahahahahahahaha," Tetsaiga howled, clutching his side and he cracked up.

My eyebrow twitched.

"Hahahahahahahahaha-"

It wasn't that funny.

"Hahahahahahahaha-"

I cracked my knuckles.

It would be a cheap shot, but it would cause him pain…

"Hahahahahaha-"

Or, it occurred to me, or while he couldn't see anything, his eyes filled with tears, I could take this time to…relocate…myself.

"Later, sucker," I grinned to myself as I quickly snuck away.

Hell, I'm not even going to deny it. I'm not above sneaking.

And since I have a fabulous sense of direction I wasn't worried in the least about getting lost.

Worse comes to worse, its down on the floor to sniff out Sesshomaru's most recent path. It's not like anyone was around to see anything, anyway.

Now I didn't concentrate a little bit too hard on the floor, in a desperate attempt to not think about Sesshomaru and what the hell I was hoping to accomplish by going back to Kagome, but it seemed to me that it took a long time to get from point a to point b in this castle.

This had to be the last corner. I could hear voices, that was a good sign.

"I suggest that you two tell me exactly what it is you know, or not only will you never see my Inuyasha again, you will all be dead."

I could be wrong, though.

Why the hell was he here? And what was he blathering on about?

"My?"

Kagome sounded appalled by something. But I couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering her…of course, I didn't really catch what she had said. It sounded mostly like a strangled gasp to me.

Maybe Sesshomaru was killing her.

No! We've covered that! You do not kill her, only I can do that!

"Sesshomaru, have you ever heard of a blood bond?" suddenly came Sango's voice.

She was conversing. With Sesshomaru. It sounded like she was a willing participant in the conversation was well.

Had Sesshomaru managed to brainwash her too? It hadn't been that long since I had seen them!

Damn him, he worked fast.

"No," Sesshomaru replied.

Ha! Take that! He didn't know everything after all!

"It's…complicated, to say the least." Now Miroku was part of this too! How great were Sesshomaru's powers of control! Had I underestimated him that much!

"Then uncomplicated it as quickly as you can. I am not going to allow you to worm your way out of this with a flimsy excuse such as that," Sesshomaru said coolly.

"We're going to try, but I was just saying-" Miroku protested briefly. Then he reconsidered. Good idea. I suspected Sesshomaru was ready to kill them at any moment.

And I didn't really feel like stopping him.

"When I was training to become a demon slayer, I was told by my father about a rare occurrence among demons, when two people that were closely related- like brothers, for example- would experience a traumatic situation together that resulted in their blood being mingled together."

How was anything involving blood rare in the demon world? I think Sango was loosing it.

Especially since I had no idea why she was saying this to begin with. What did this "blood bond" have to do with anything?

"That hardly sounds like something rare, or important," Sesshomaru informed her.

Dear god, was he agreeing with me?

"I'm not finished," Sango snapped. How dare she snap at my Sesshomaru?

Ah shit. Not again.

"As I was saying, when the demon's blood would mix it would form a connection between the two demons. They'd become the equivalent of what humans would consider to be soul mates, destined to be together for all eternity.

"But from what I've told, because this occurrence is so rare, that usually the demons don't realize it has happened to them. And because the bond becomes so strong as time passes on, it begins to manifest itself in other ways, if the two demons do not become involved- that is to say, romantically- with one another."

"What kind of ways?" Sesshomaru inquired calmly.

Why did he care? It wasn't like that had anything to do with us! We certainly weren't bonded in any way, shape, form or manner.

"Like the two demons begin to think alike. The less dominant of the two will being to take on traits and opinions of the more dominant one," Sango explained.

Well, sucks to be them. But since clearly it was just another stupid human idea, it was probably time they go before Sesshomaru starts to believe stupid fairy tales like that.

I bet he thought that the "blood bond" was real.

Though why he was asking about it, I had no idea.

Honestly.

"Inuyasha. Come here," Sesshomaru said suddenly.

I stiffened. Shit.

I guess this was the point in time where we had to fight.

Again.

"Inuyasha!" everyone else exclaimed happily as I did not skulk around the corner, feeling a little guilty for eavesdropping.

"Let's get out of here!" Kagome suggested enthusiastically.

"Ah, Kagome," Sango said uneasily. Sesshomaru was glaring at her.

I was seething. How dare she think I would go anywhere with her!

"Inuyasha will not be going anywhere with you," Sesshomaru said, voicing my exact sentiments.

"You can't keep him here, you-"

But I guess we'll never know what insult Kagome had been about to hurl at Sesshomaru.

Because he took that opportunity to kiss me.

Again.

It was just a quick, soft, wonderfully warm kiss…but in front of everyone.

"How dare you?" I tried to yell. "I told you not to do that again."

"Again?" Kagome croaked.

You know the worst part?

I couldn't work up the energy to deny that I had really liked the damn kiss- even to myself.

Author Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews! So, this makes, what, two kisses in about eighteen chapters? –laughs quietly- Well, hey they've kissed again! All right, I have to know: what did you all think of the blood bond idea? Please tell me you haven't seen something like it anywhere because I was really trying to go for originality and stay away from the "Inuyasha and/or Sesshomaru go into heat" plot idea. But since once again we had a completely unimpressive episode this week, each and every little bit of fandom is looking more and more original by the second…although, I really do like Hojo's ancestor, he cracks me up! (and if he really does get together with Kagome, even better). And to finish up my little section, I'd like to point out that the Tensaiga and Tetsaiga bit was the shortest one I've written in a long time because next chapter is going to be entirely from Tensaiga POV. I'd hate to overdose you on him before we get to that. So now that you've all become excited with the prospect of that (and are eager to share you thoughts on the blood bond) you will now all review. Really, you will. (Oh, and I apologize in advance for the comment at the bottom- no offense to the Irish intended!)

kera: Here's your update!

InuSessyYaoiGirl: Sango knows that much! And as far as Tensaiga goes, Naraku can look forward to lots and lots of random, random torture. And the kiss was right in front of Kagome! Well, at least with Kagura we have something to look forward to…eventually…

We're off to the see the wizard 'cause the leprechauns were pissing us off.