Disclaimers: InuYasha and all other related characters and themes belong do Rumiko Takahashi... blah blah blah...

A/N: In the original original version of Three Way Mirror, I had about half of chapter four completed. This is where I first start to stray from the original plot...

IMPORTANT: I usually frown on using Japanese words that don't correspond to names or ranks (i.e. youkai, houshi, taiji-ya, miko, etc.) but I make an exception for Kagome's "sit" command. I use "osuwari" because I really think that the dub "sit boy" is demeaning, and "sit" won't work because I forget and slip up. (Much like Kagome does in many a fanfiction.)

Sibling Rivalry

"InuYasha, are you sure you're alright?" Kagome inquired. InuYasha brushed her off and continued walking. "Are you sure that you don't want to take a rest? Look, we can stop right here and-"

InuYasha whirled on the girl, silencing her immediately. "I'm fine!" he shouted. "I'm not going to die by just going out to get some goddamn fire wood!" He continued on down the path into the forest, but Kagome had already noticed the limp in his right leg. He was determined to not let his injuries hamper his actions, and for the most part, it was working. Kagome had known InuYasha for just a little too long, though. She immediately noticed the stiffness in his movements and the slight wince on his face when he set his weight on his right leg. Now she trailed behind him while he made his way to find firewood for Kaede.

.: xXx :.

Kaede pursed her lips as she looked at the low stock of chopped firewood in the corner. Rin noticed this, and said, "What is it, Lady Kaede?"

To this Kaede smiled and replied, "Nothing to worry your head over, child. I must go fetch firewood before the day is out."

Sesshoumaru rose to his feet with fluid grace. "I'll go get the firewood," he announced. There was a visible effort on Jaken's face that kept him from squealing indignantly at the idea. InuYasha, too, stood, though it was more choppy and somewhat hesitant.

"No, you won't," he growled. "I will."

"Do not be absurd, little brother," Sesshoumaru scoffed. "You are hardly in any condition to be walking, let alone chopping wood." Sesshoumaru, for the past three days, hadn't referred to InuYasha by name, but as 'little brother'. He even managed to twist the words around into a note that was to be almost insulting.

InuYasha's face was contorted into a vicious snarl. "What was that?" he demanded between clenched teeth.

In an effort to soothe the tension building in her home, Kaede interrupted. "What about you, Lord Sesshoumaru? Surely ye are not without injuries yourself." The elderly miko had taken rather calmly to Sesshoumaru's presence, and found him a great help around the village... Villager permitting.

"I am well enough to wield an axe," he provided evasively.

"So am I," InuYasha challenged him.

"The fox would do better than you while in your current state. Let me retrieve the wood, and you can carry the kindling."

InuYasha's eye twitched. "Just for the record, dear brother," InuYasha said insultingly, "you aren't that much stronger than me! You'll stay here, and watch your brat," he commanded. With that he stormed out of the hut with a wounded pride, and an air to match. It was then that Kagome saw the slight break in his step as he picked up the axe. As an afterthought, he called back, "Besides, you've only got one arm, and that's thanks to whom?"

She cast about quickly to see if anyone else had noticed the extent of InuYasha's injuries. Assuming that they hadn't, Kagome quickly followed after him.

.: xXx :.

"I still don't see why you couldn't just let Sesshoumaru get the wood," Kagome mumbled, thinking that she was out of earshot.

"Because I don't need my stinkin' older half brother taking control of my life!" InuYasha yelled. "Haven't you noticed that he's been doing almost everything lately? He's hardly let me move and inch! I am not some weak pup that needs his protection, and it's high time he realized that, though I don't know what made him change his mind about killing me!"

Heaving a heavy sigh, Kagome caught up to him. "Maybe he just thinks you need to rest. Maybe he's just giving you a break! He hardly seems the type of person that would kick a guy when he's down - or that'd kill them, for that matter."

"I'm not down," InuYasha argued.

"Maybe not, but you're not at your prime," Kagome provided.

"Harrumph," was all he had to say to that.

So apparently Kagome had won for the moment, but she couldn't help feeling defeated. She wasn't quite strong enough to wield a heavy axe, let alone use it to chop firewood. And she almost felt guilty for taking only minor damage during the fight with Naraku. Everyone else had had some sort of heavy blow, but not she. And now she was one of the most able-bodied persons around the hut, and she felt that she could hardly do anything useful.

Quietly, she fell in step with InuYasha, who unconsciously slowed down to less of a storm and more of a stride. She wanted to help, but she didn't quite know how. This wasn't something that could be solved by finding another jewel shard or shooting a purifying arrow. She settled for taking InuYasha's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. He was almost surprised for a moment, but decided he liked the contact.

They walked the rest of the way into the forest where there was prime firewood, hand in hand and in peaceful silence.

.: xXx :.

The axe fell to the ground with a loud thump, InuYasha clutching his shoulder. Kagome was by his side in an instant, the kindling quite forgotten. "InuYasha?" she exclaimed. InuYasha tried, to brush her off, but that only made it worse. Apparently, he had reopened a nasty wound that was on his shoulder. He was bleeding freely again, and it was even dripping down his fingertips. Kagome was in a near panic, and InuYasha kept insisting that he was alright.

Kagome got so frustrated with him that she stomped her foot and pushed his hand away from his shoulder, and pulled his haori down enough to see the wound.

When she saw it, she had to gasp. Surely it was nothing to what Sesshoumaru had done in the past, but that was closed over when she saw it. This wound pierced his muscle all the way through, and was big enough that Kagome was sure she could fit her fist in it. Not that she wanted to, of course. It was just comparison.

"What do you think you're-Hey!" InuYasha exclaimed, trying his damnedest to escape Kagome.

"Just stop! Sit down and let me see!" she countered. InuYasha grumbled and sat down, Kagome taking a place behind him to observe his wound more closely.

It was worse from behind. It was obviously a wound made from the back and the hole was wider from that angle. When Kagome took her hands away, they were covered in a thick layer of bright crimson. InuYasha's expression remained amazingly unaffected.

"Wh-what… happened here?" she inquired breathlessly, quite sure that she felt her lunch rising in her throat.

"I got hit," he replied, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Well, duh!" she cried. "But by what!"

"Naraku."

"But you avoided all his-"

"On the last day, I avoided all his attacks. Or have you forgotten that the entire battle lasted seven days?"

To this Kagome couldn't reply. So she changed the subject.

"We're going back to Kaede's," she announced. "You need immediate medical attention."

"I'm fine!"

.: xXx :.

Sesshoumaru suddenly jumped to his feet, abandoning his task of "shucking" corn, though why it was called this, he had no clue. Humans were strange creatures, but the scent of blood was more of an event worth investigating, especially because it came from the direction that InuYasha and Kagome had went earlier. A second later, he was sure that it was InuYasha's blood he smelled.

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Rin inquired, discarding the husks of corn she was peeling off. "Is something the matter?"

"Stay here, Rin," he ordered. With that he vanished after his half-brother.

.: xXx :.

"I told you, I'm fine!" InuYasha was yelling. Kagome paid him no mind, busying herself with finding medicinal herbs. "Would you stop it? I'll be o-" he cut himself off with a wince. He could normally keep his reactions to pain to a minimum, but there was a particularly nasty infection in the wound, and it refused to close up.

"You'll be what? Dead?" The sudden appearance of Sesshoumaru caused Kagome to jump and InuYasha to growl.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?" InuYasha demanded.

"Are you aware of just how much blood you've lost already?" the youkai lord asked. "I could smell it all the way down in the village, among the reek of humans."

"Hey!" Kagome cried. Sesshoumaru glanced at her, then turned back to InuYasha.

"Are you so insecure in yourself that you are afraid to show weakness?"

InuYasha jumped to his feet, but swayed unsteadily once there. "I could ask the same of you," was what he wanted to say. Instead he got to "I could" before he reeled backward. Luckily finding a tree to lean on, he tried to glare at Sesshoumaru. The best he could do was staring at the blur with the bigger blur on its shoulder.

Kagome yelped in dismay as InuYasha collapsed. Sesshoumaru was there in a second, catching him before he hit the ground. He made no gesture for Kagome to follow, knowing that she would already follow her mate, and more than likely complain about his treatment all the way back to the village.

"You can't just sling him over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes like that! He's injured, can't you tell!"

Yes, not only did he have a deadweight on his shoulder, there was an annoying female chasing after him, and yelling, no doubt. It wasn't like he couldn't hear her when she spoke normally, but she decided that she would punish him by shrieking her lungs out in her shrill human voice. Make no mistake, Sesshoumaru respected Kagome for the fact that she was a powerful, untamed miko, but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to be annoyed with her...

Authoress Note(s): Yes, I don't want to put this in the next chapter because 1. it's not done being rewritten (where'd that disk go?) and 2. it's really not worth it. Oh, 3. I'm going to rant and I said I wasn't going to do that in the beginning of the chapters.

I read over the new reviews I got (woot! Thank you!) And along with saying thank you I'd also like to announce that my mom does say that I am a dishwater blond, and as such I am entitled to an overdose of blond moments. Basically I'm saying: I know what you said but I don't remember who said it.

So yeah, the summary (chapter 1: Beforehand) was vague because I'm only up-to-date with what plays on Cartoon Network because I lack the funding to buy the DVDs or manga or even the VHS. (Your b-day's coming soon, Yami, you don't need to get your allowence... Christmas is around the corner, Yami, allowence isn't going to do you any good... blah blah blah, more of that.) So yes, I left out the Tetsusaiga updates. (Being the lazy ass that I am, I'm just going to point out that I spelled Bakryuuha wrong and apologize.) I also knew that there was another attack for the Tetsusaiga before I even knew of Bakryuuha. Diamond Spear... something? Am I close? Anyway, that's why I left that out.

As for the "sit" thing... Oh, look, I explained it how long ago? Why, I believe that I explained it just before the starting of THIS chapter! Usually when there is something labled IMPORTANT before a chapter, you should make a habit of reading them. I don't like dry A/N myself, but seriously, I've been told that my notes are fairly amusing and not at all hard to read. To quote... someone who shall remain nameless, lest... it...hunt me down... "You keep your notes real, Yami. You're a real person, and even when you're pissed off, you're still funny. (laugh) I could listen to you rant all day, and I'd die laughing." Okay, I really don't think that was a good quote, but hell, it's past midnight so whatever.

Furthermore, MY COMPUTER IS BUSTED! I don't know when it'll be fixed. This makes... what... four computers I've gone through, including Mom's? Boy that sounds bad... So yes, asking for a quick update will only serve to depress me. You got chapters 4 and 5 sheerly because they were already rewritten when I popped the disk into the school computer at lunch. (Yes, I skipped lunch to write. See how much I love you?)

Last (but maybe not least) is that if (in the future) I say that there was a rewrite in a previous chapter, it would be wise of you to go check it out. I'm going to be done ranting now, since my aunt's "machine" sucks and I'm supposed to be sleeping.

-Yami