When the little Tsugaru shattered the barrier that had blocked everyone else out, there were a few seconds where he was the only one moving. Sesshoumaru was frozen with shock. A child broke my wall? A child?

Tsugaru ran to his sister's side. He sniffed the armor in her claws. There were no scent clues to suggest it was important. Maybe she just grabbed it to have something to hold onto when she hurt. He was about to give up and run back to his father. Something had told him that the armor was the problem...but it didn't smell important.

"Get away from her, runt!" Sesshoumaru snapped. Tsugaru turned to see him with his two fingers pointed at him. "I will kill you."

Tsugaru noticed how he held the life-cord in his hand. The boy traced it back to InuYami. The cord appeared to go into her chest from afar, but up close it was actually going into the armor. It was a subtle difference, one that had to be seen up close to be noticed. Tsugaru raised the sword, preparing to strike the armor. Sesshoumaru came a few steps closer before he stopped. In a fit of terror, Tsugaru wet himself.

"Get away from my daughter," the youkai snarled.

InuYasha pounded his fist against the barrier. "Your daughter?" he shouted. "Fat chance, Sesshoumaru!"

Sesshoumaru turned back to his half brother. "I assure you, the chance is neither fat nor slim. InuYami is my daughter. How else would a pure demon be born of a human and a half-breed?"

"But you...you were dead," Kagome stammered. "Long before she was even...started."

"I was," Sesshoumaru admitted. "However, while she is not the daughter of my body, she is the daughter of my spirit. The night she was conceived, I was there. I sent my spirit into Kagome's body to start a youkai." He paused briefly.

"So InuYami is your kid?" InuYasha laughed harshly. "I hate to break it to ya, Sesshoumaru, but she doesn't look a thing like you!"

"The night she was conceived was the night after that of the new moon. I could not overpower her completely. She was given my blood, but your half-breed looks. Unfortunately..."

Kagome gritted her teeth. Frankly, she found the whole thing disturbing. Someone had actually been watching her and InuYasha have..."You're sick!" she shrieked angrily, aiming another arrow at him. "Sick, sick, sick! I'm gonna put you down, demon dog!"

"Kagome, no!" InuYasha knocked the bow from her hands. "He'll take InuYami with him! You heard him! He didn't make her completely his! She's still our daughter."

Kagome gazed guiltily at her fallen bow. She nodded. "I forgot...he has InuYami..."

Tsugaru took advantage to try his luck. He shut one eye, aiming for the extending bar of armor. If he could just crack that one part of it, maybe Sesshoumaru would release his sister. The boy raised the Tetsusaiga.

"No you don't!" Sesshoumaru growled, raising his claws to strike the child. Tsugaru held his ground fearlessly. He held the Tetsusaiga even higher.

"I will!" he cried. And he stood there. Tsugaru was not the most intimidating sight in the world, with tears of fear running down his face and his pants below the groin noticeably wet. But it mattered not. He was standing up to a big bully, a big bully with the power to end his and every he loved's lives with one hand tied behind his back. InuYami might have been mean, but now that he knew why, it didn't matter. He was prepared to die saving her.

All of this from a boy who still slept with a night-light.

"You put yourself in a corner, Uncle Sesshoumaru," Tsugaru said boldly. "You're stuck here. No half demon, human, or full demon can get past this wall. I can break it, but any hole I make is too small for you to use. Add to it, I can stop you."

"Oh. And how would you do that?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice mockingly sweet.

"I know how you're holding her to you!"

"And how is that?"

"I'm not gonna tell you 'cause you'll kill me."

"I'll kill you even if you don't, my boy. Now step away from the girl and I promise it will be quick."

"Kill me here and now," Tsugaru taunted. "Or are you too scared of hitting her?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Tsugaru?" InuYasha muttered. "Don't tempt him. He'll kill you as soon as look at you."

Tsugaru knew that as long as he held Tetsusaiga where it was, Sesshoumaru wouldn't touch him. But the moment he changed position, the demon would be on him before he could think. It was he who was in the corner, not Sesshoumaru. Tsugaru was stuck. He became even more afraid. He was just a little boy, a little boy who slept with a night-light and who had just wet his pants. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be with his parents. He wanted to cry, to give up...but InuYami. He gazed down at his big sister.

That was InuYami. That was his sister. That was the meaning of life for him. A little prickly at times, but when things got scary, she was always there for him, her anger put aside. He couldn't let her down. She needed him now more than ever. She had helped him out so many times in his life...now he would repay the favor.

"Uncle Sesshoumaru..." he began, closing his eyes as if preparing to give in.

"Yes, child?"

Tsugaru was silent. He gripped the sword tighter and opened one eye a slit. He focused hard on the weakest part of the armor: where the bar joined the band. Taking a deep breath, he hissed, "You'll never win. Never." He opened both eyes fully and plunged the sword into the joint. "NEVER!" he screeched. There was a snap, and a shattering noise. The armor broke in two.

"You..." Sesshoumaru forgot everything and dropped the life-cord. He reached over and lifted Tsugaru up by his throat. "You think you can win, don't you? You think you can defeat me. You think you have what it takes."

"Let me go! Daddy!"

InuYasha snapped. He gave a low rumble and charged, smashing himself against the wall again and again. Every time he was repelled, he became madder and madder. His eyes flashed bright red. He stood, panting. "Lord InuYasha, if I may offer advice..." a voice by his ear said calmly.

"Myouga...this had better be good."

"Use the sheath to call the Tetsusaiga. It's worked before." Before InuYasha could say any more, the flea was gone. The hanyou struggled to regain control of his conscious mind. He had almost been pushed to his youkai form. In an act of faith, he held the sheath out in front of him.

The cast-aside blade began to hum and glow. Sesshoumaru glanced down at it, momentarily distracted from Tsugaru. His eyes widened. Tetsusaiga flew, blade foremost, toward the barrier. InuYasha held out his hand and caught it. He raced through the broken wall before it could reform. "Put him down, Sesshoumaru," he snarled. The youkai smiled.

"Oh. Have I made you angry, little brother? Have I pulled your little tail?" He threw Tsugaru to the side. The boy landed beside his sister, dazed, but alive. "Let's see what you're made of."

InuYasha held out Tetsusaiga. The sword had transformed. It's because I'm protecting Tsugaru...he must be human enough to cause it to transform. Sesshoumaru grinned. "Our father's fang," he mused. "I never understood why a half-breed like you could use it well enough to kill a full demon like myself."

"Maybe I was his favorite," InuYasha retorted. "After all, he did choose me to guard his grave, didn't he? Where's Tenseiga? Don't tell me you lost your sword."

Sesshoumaru scowled. "You know very well what happened to my sword," he hissed.

"Oh, that's right." InuYasha placed a claw on his bottom lip, appearing to be thoughtful. "I remember now. I broke it in two, didn't I? How on earth could I have forgotten?" He smiled sarcastically.

;-:-;-:-;

Kagome pounded on the barrier. It had sealed up again, cutting the others off from the group of hanyou and youkai. She gripped her bow tightly in her free hand. "It's no good. I can't break it."

"It seems that only certain power can shatter it," Miroku observed calmly. "Think about it. Tsugaru's Smasher Claw attack. InuYasha's Tetsusaiga."

"Demon powers," Sango muttered. "A pity we're stuck here with just humans, isn't it?" She leaned on Kilala. Miroku sat on the cat's back, folding his arms on her head. Kagome laughed. Sango and Miroku stared like she had gone mad. Kagome kept laughing, leaning against the barrier to keep herself from falling over.

"You don't get it!" she cried, tears of laughter jumping to her eyes. "You just don't get it, but it's right there in front of you!"

"What don't we get?" Miroku asked, stroking Kilala's ears gently.

"Kagome, are you feeling all right?"

Kagome's laughter faded slowly. She wiped her eyes. "Oh...you just don't...Look at who you're with! Look at that big kitten you have!"

Sango blinked, then started to laugh. Kagome laughed with her. Miroku peered down the demon cat's forehead. "Is there something I'm not getting here?"

"Kilala is a demon cat with demon powers!" Sango and Kagome chorused. The monk blinked. Realization entered his gaze. He nodded.

"Of course...The answer...it's been staring us in the face this whole time. I've even been leaning all over it."

"Don't forget me!" Shippou shouted. "But how am I gonna break it? Do I have any honest powers...not just illusions?"

"I'm going in there and getting Tsugaru and InuYami," Kagome said. "You can watch them and make sure they're all right." She hopped on Kilala's back. The demon cat roared and swiped her claws at the wall. The blow bounced back. They weren't getting in.

Tsugaru laid a hand on his sister's chest. He couldn't feel her heartbeat, but who needed that? He could see her chest heaving as she fought for life.