Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Inuyasha.

Recap: Rin has just died and Jaken has acted like an idiot. I know…I haven't updated in a looooong while. Sorry! If I'm OOC tell me and maybe I'll try to correct it. I'm probably way off on Shippo-- if so, tell me! J I'm also not Japanese, soooo…I know there's a thing called Brit-picking, if anyone wants to do some 'Japanese-picking', again, please do so!

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Sesshoumaru walked lightly above the ground with a natural grace that few ethereal creatures could claim. His face, as usual, was expressionless as Jaken and AhUn quietly trudged behind him.

The hard rage that had previously bubbled and burst from within the demon lord had now dropped to a slow simmer. He not only seethed at the way Naraku had just recently bested him, but at the way he had shown weakness before Inuyasha and his little rag-tag following.

And just when he was gaining back his equilibrium -- for recklessness and unchanneled anger only led to stupidity and oftentimes death -- his irritating retainer managed to bring idiocy to new lows, claiming to know what This Sesshoumaru thought and wanted. If not for the fact that Jaken was somewhat handy, knew some rather obscure knowledge, and had a loyalty that was incredibly annoying to a fault, Sesshoumaru might have already killed him --not that he put any particular effort into keeping him alive in the first place. Well, that was what he told himself anyway. Jaken, despite his many flaws, was at least a step above the cowardly and even more irritating Myoga.

In his frustration, a low growl managed to escape Sesshoumaru, causing his retainer to rigidly stop.

Flowing from his hand, his youki unconsciously formed into a thin, green whip. It flicked and, instead of slicing Jaken to pieces, sent him sprawling into an unceremonious heap, a sizzling and smoking line burnt across his face. The whip vanished even before the toad-like demon made a sound. Sesshoumaru didn't seem to notice or care that Jaken barely moved before walking on. Indeed, he seemed to not notice anything at all.

Instead, he fell into a sort of meditation, trying to clear and process his thoughts. He would get the disgraceful self-naming demon Naraku. And it would be someday soon, for no-one made a fool of This Sesshoumaru. His thoughts trailed upon this path, beating it down with numerous ways to finish and defeat his opponent. These thoughts also kept him focused, busying him away from his other, deeper, more insidious ones -- ones that he had firmly placed out of mind, for they were neither important nor wanted.

Slowly coming to the edge of a cliff, Sesshoumaru looked over the forests. Face as impassive as ever, and not showing a thing despite his thoughts, he found himself calming. He would get his revenge; it was only a matter of time.

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Inuyasha rolled his back, cracked his neck, and stretched his muscles as various small popping noises rippled.

'Ewwww! Inuyasha! Stop that!' squealed Kagome as she cringed.

He shrugged and took out Tessaiga for a good clean rub-down. The faint scent of Naraku's recent incarnations still lingered upon his sword and he was damned if he didn't get it off.

Miroku poked at their breakfast, humming, checking to see if it was done.

'You know,' the young monk said to no-one in particular, 'I don't think that I've slept this well since…' He scratched his head, and then shook it as a dazed smile graced his face. 'Well…Buddha's good grace must have been upon me last night, for I dreamt of three dazzling beauties. They were most thankful for my timely purging of a demon from their home and fed me a most magnificent meal where afterwards--'

A large object found the back of Miroku's head.

'Oh, my apologies Houshi.' Sango sat beside Inuyasha and dropped her large boomerang into her lap. 'Just repositioning for some polishing…' She picked up a small cloth and started rubbing.

Inuyasha gave Tessaiga a sniff. 'Keh, keep your mind out of the gutter, you lecher.'

'So…Where we going today, huh? 'said Shippo.

'I believe there's a village somewhere nearby. We should be able to reach it in a few hours,' replied Sango.

'Oh.'

'Ooooh! It'll be great not having to sleep on the ground tonight!' said Kagome, passing breakfast around to everyone.

Sango continued, 'I think there are some rumours of demon activity. We may be able to see if there is a connection to Naraku.'

'Keh! I'll finally get the bastard this time then. Tessaiga's good and ready to kill some more demons.'

Inuyasha grinned at his sword.

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Kagome bowed to the older gentleman. 'Thank you for your kindness and generosity, elder. It is most appreciated.'

'Yea! We get to sleep inside tonight!' yelled the fox demon.

'Shut up, brat,' said Inuyasha, trying to bat at him. Kagome looked at him pointedly.

She gave a light cough, and looked at their host. 'If I may ask, what do you know of the rumours going around? If there's any trouble, we're always willing to help. We're excellent at ridding demons!'

The old man smiled. 'Ah, young priestess! How fortunate! We'd be glad of your assistance.' He then sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. 'We have always lived peaceably within this village, you see, and have only recently had problems this past year. We were fortunate to have a young man, a boy perhaps, come and offer help, but a few weeks ago this young demon exterminator mysteriously left without note or reason, leaving us to the mercy of these demons.'

Everyone perked up at this new information.

'What was his name, do you know?' asked Sango.

He scratched his head. 'No, nope. I don't think we ever got his name. Nice young fellow, though. At least before he up and left.'

Everyone looked at each other. Inuyasha directed his gaze towards the old man. 'So what of these demons?'

The elder sighed again. 'These strange demons come to our village, causing wreckage amongst our farms, taking our livestock, injuring our people. We believe this sorceress in the forest is creating all this trouble. Yet, after our many attempts, we haven't been able to find her. Indeed, a few days ago, a darkness seem to cover the land, and some sort of vicious cloud filled the forest.'

'You mean miasma?' said Miroku.

'Aye…you may call it that, young man. There was a strangeness, an unnaturalness, you can say, that you could just feel in your bones. Terrified everybody. It was nothing good of this world, I can tell you.'

'Yes, if you can get rid of these demons, we'd be most gracious. These old bones just can't take the excitement like they used to.'

After thanking him again, the old man shuffled away.

Sango looked at everybody. 'So…do you think it's Naraku?'

'The young boy sounded like Kohaku,' piped up Kagome. 'What's Naraku planning?'

'Keh, sounds like the bastard was stinking the whole place up,' said Inuyasha. He patted his sword. 'Let's see what this old witch is up to.'

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Eh… I was going to add a bit more, but I figured you'd like an update instead! - Please review!