A/N: A gift for kalcia.

Life Was Good

It was a beautiful day. Inuyasha was admiring his forest as he was making his way home from a good hunt. A pair of hares, already gutted, hung in a leather bag from his shoulder, along with a bundle of their skins - Inuyasha would never again make a mistake of skinning and gutting a rabbit in front of his wife. Luckily, Kagome was sensible enough that, when the dark deeds were done, she wasn't opposed to rabbit stew and sewing rabbit skins into warm footwear for the winter and other useful things.

Enticed bu the scent of wild onion - Kagome could do wonders with onions - Inuyasha made a small detour from his path to go near the river. He found the plants and dug a couple of them out. Then he looked towards the river and blinked.

Shippou and Kohaku sat on the grassy bank, looking dejected and miserable.

"Oh, what's up?" Inuyasha approached and looked between the two teens. Kohaku was tall and gaining more musculature with every day, it seemed. Shippou was shorter and leaner, a nimble fox in any regard. But now both looked more like rejected puppies. Inuyasha noticed a small box in Kohaku's hands and a neatly folded painted fan in Shippou's lap. The boys were visiting the village once every month or so, but they rarely used that time to just sit alone. Usually during their visits they either played with Miroku and Sango's kids or tried to woo Rin - the girl was always delighted to see her admirers and skillfully evaded giving either of them any reason to think that he had less chances with her than the other boy.

"It's nothing, Inuyasha-san," the young slayer sighed.

"Yeah, just go along. I'm sure Kagome waits for you," Shippou nodded glumly

Neither boy looked at him, both looking to the other side of the river Inuyasha looked that way and smirked, finally understanding the situation.

Rin was walking along a neat path, along Lord Sesshomaru's side. She was telling him something, a big bright smile on her face.

"Okay," the hanyou decided. "I will get the rabbits to Kagome and then come to challenge my asshole of a brother to a spar. You can swoop in and shower Rin with your gifts."

Both boys looked at him with hope and admiration.

"You will do that for us?" Kohaku breathed out.

"Keh," Inuyasha nodded.

"What's the catch?" Shippou asked, quicker realizing that there should be one. Inuyasha smirked. Here was a fine kitsune.

"In return I expect you will babysit Moroha tonight"

Ten minutes later Rin was 'escorted to safety' of a lovely meadow while Inuyasha, as reckless and obnoxious as always, sparred with his brother and kept him busy while the boys tried to woo his ward.

And the best part was that Inuyasha would not only get to punch his brother in the face, but also have a quality evening with his wife while their baby girl tormented her 'uncles'. Life was good.