They had run as quickly as they could to the battle, but stayed far enough away to not be in danger. It was still very fierce, and all stared in wonder as the giant dog and the Kinmotsu fought each other. However, it was very clear that the dog would not be able to fight for very much longer. It was limping very badly now, not used to being in its true form in this state. However, the Kinmotsu serpent, which was bigger than the dog, was still going strong, not bead of sweat came from its scaly hide.

As they continued to watch, the serpent sent another blast of energy from its mouth directed for the dog, causing the dog to have to jump to the side. However, it was already difficult to move about with all the holes already in the ground, and it tripped on the serpent's tail, and fell on its side with a soundly crack of a rib being broken.

The group could only watch helplessly as the serpent wound its tail around the dog's middle and then moved its mouth toward the dog's front leg and bit it. As the dig felt the pain go through its body, it let out an almost gasp and then began to howl in utter pain.

When the group heard this, they knew they stand by no longer, and decided that, even at the cost of their lives, they were willing to help the mighty Lord of the West.

With that decided, they all came down upon the serpent, and received its attention when Sango sent her boomerang hurtling at its head, distracting it enough to where it let go of the dog's now broken and bleeding leg.

As it lay there, recovering from its pain, the dog looked up and watched as the group did their best to protect him. Wait, protect him? That was when he recognized the scent that now wafted through the air. It was scent of his brother!

'Why you protect Brother?' he asked himself, his mind coming back a bit to its normal state, though still mostly lost in the inu-part of his mind. Then he noticed it. His brother was trying to make the serpent move away from him, using his Kaze no Kizu; and it was working. Sesshou-Maru, who was coming more and more, tried to move, but found that it only made pain shoot back up his spine. He let out a whimper and rested his head back on the ground, panting hard.

He now knew that he would not be able to move from the spot for a while, or until he was able to revert back to his ningen (human) form. So he just lay there and watched the battle that was engulfing his sight. After a few more minutes, he noticed that his vision was blurring.

'Lost lot of blood. Not good,' he thought and allowed his mind to search for his injuries. 'Leg, head, and side hurt. Tail hurt too,' was all he could think of now, for his mind could not disperse the feelings of pain, and they began to fester. As a soft whimper left his large jowls, he closed his eyes, passing out from the sheer pain he felt enveloping within his very consciousness.

Inu-Yasha looked quickly to his brother when he heard him whimper and saw that he had closed his eyes. 'Not good,' he thought, and hastened his efforts to get the serpent away from his brother. 'He must have sustained more injuries than I can see from here. Not including the sound of cracking bones I heard earlier.'

When Inu-Yasha began to fight even harder, the others followed suite, and doubled their own efforts to drive the gigantic serpent away. Their goal was finally achieved when Kagome shot a very powerful spirit arrow a little too close to the serpent's head for comfort. It quickly realized what the arrows could do it they managed to reach that part of its body and hissed at her. Kagome, whose ears weren't strong enough to hear its hiss at her, shot another arrow at its head, making it dodge and hiss again, this time loader. Kagome heard it this time, and hid behind a nearby tree. But that was all the distraction that was needed.

Inu-Yasha used this moment to send a Kaze no Kizu toward it, and hit it dead on. However, there was no scream of pain before death, but rather load and sickening sound of tearing flesh came, followed by a blast of dust and earth, which came up from the ground in a whirlwind.

They all covered their eyes and noses, and then looked back up to see the serpent now flying away, with only a small trickle of blood coming from its tail, but nothing to truly fret about. As it went out of sight, Inu-Yasha turned back to the giant white dog that lay on its side in a fitful, restless sleep. Inu-Yasha's heart sank, feeling very uncomfortable around his now beaten and bloody brother.

He used to think that seeing his brother like this would make him feel so powerful and fill him with pride. But, now that his brother lay in front of him like this, all bloody and broken, he felt like he was going to be sick. Scratch that, he did feel sick, and Inu-Yasha quickly ran to the edge of the forest and emptied his stomach on the forest floor.

When his stomach was empty, he wiped his face on his sleeve and walked back over to his fallen brother, although now slightly uneasy on his feat from sudden fatigue.

The others looked at him with looks of pure worry and concern. They all were thinking ear the same thing. Although Sesshou-Maru had tried to kill them all before, countless times, they still felt guilty for allowing him to get into this condition.

"Inu-Yasha, what should we do?" Kagome asked him, placing a hand in his shoulder. He only looked to the ground, hiding his eyes behind his heavy bangs. She frowned at this and decided to simply take action.

"Sango? Could help me find my bag?" Kagome asked her, walking over to the edges of the forest, parting the bushes in search of the yellow bag. Sango came over to her, not understanding but helping her look anyway. Miroku too helped search, but went to the other side, to quicken their progress. Sango then looked at Kagome, and noticed a very odd look on her face.

"Kagome? What are planning on doing?"

"I'm going to help Sesshou-Maru," she said, no room for arguing was in her voice. It was firm with an unwavering decision. Sango only looked at her with uncertainty, but decided that, she too wished to help the mighty Lord.

Miroku found it only moments alter and walked over to Kagome, handed it to her and then asked why she was looking for it so earnestly.

"I'm going to help Sesshou-Maru to heal…"

"Help him to heal?!" Inu-Yasha exclaimed, his face becoming filled with not only rage but also hurt.

"Yes, it's the least we can do for him, since we did not help him right away, even though we knew from the start that he wasn't doing very well on his own," she told him sternly and turned on her heal, walking over to the enormous white and red dog. She then sat down her bag near the beast and began to inspect his wounds.

'These look really serious,' she thought and grimaced when her hand touched not flesh abut torn muscles, since the skin from this place had been torn off. This would was on his side and was long and crooked.

When she finished her inspection of his wounds, she realized just how much damage he had sustained.

His front leg was very badly mangled, broken in about seven different places. There was also a very large patch that held no flesh anymore and the muscle beneath was torn too. His side as well was fleshless, but it was more crooked, in line like it was torn off slowly and in a hurry (in other word, it came off slowly, but was being pulled very hard). He also had his tail torn pretty badly, and she had a feeling that it wouldn't be able to heal very well. The last of his major wounds, were the many claw marks left across his face. But they seemed odd to her. The way they were dispersed reminded her of his human face. Also, they all seemed to be mostly on his cheeks and on his forehead, were his crescent moon and stripes lay. Other than that, there were a few small scratches here and there, but nothing to really worry about.

As she assessed them once more, she slowly began to stitch and patch up his wounds. However, she quickly realized that the wounds on his face could not be patched up. Her bandages were too small, and if she wrapped them up, it would only be uncomfortable when he tried to move his face in any way, for the wrappings would rub against his wounds. But she knew for sure, he wouldn't be much for words for a good amount of time.

As she finished tying the last of his wrappings, she stood back and checked over it. When Kagome found nothing left uncovered, she went back to her now near empty bag and took out her cooking pot, and walked over to Inu-Yasha.

When he didn't turn toward her, her simply placed the pot in front of him and walked over to Miroku to ask him about some firewood. He left for some and Sango and Shippou went to get some fish. Kagome, however, after she had grabbed a textbook from her bag, went and sat next to Sesshou-Maru, with her back leaning slightly against his enormous paw.

This highly unnerved Inu-Yasha, and he wanted her to stay away from him, but as he began to walk towards her, he tripped on something, and fell flat on his face.

As he looked up and behind him, there sat the culprit, the black metal pot, looking as innocent as always. Jumping up and snatching it from the ground, he took another look at Kagome and, with hurt shining in his eyes; he walked to river to fill it.

When all had come back to where the giant dog lay, they noticed where Kagome was, but said nothing. They understood that she felt great pity for the Great Lord of the West, and weren't about to make a fuss about their proximity.

Everything was rather peaceful during dinner, and soon most had turned away to bed, with a nice battle between the kitsune and hanyou, a yell of sit from Kagome and a sounding slap from Sango to Miroku. Although there was slight difference, and Inu-Yasha never missed it.

Kagome hadn't moved from Sesshou-Maru's side, and Shippou had decided to sleep with Kirara and Sango, from deep fear of being near the great dog demon, even if he was injured.

Inu-Yasha, unlike the others, had remained somewhat the same, which included his gloomy, sulky demeanor. But he had reason to be sulky and gloomy, for Kagome had fallen asleep next to his brother, with her head and hands hidden in his thick fur, and her textbook in her lap. Knowing her sleeping habits so well, he decided to remove the oversized book and placed it in the bag, so that she wouldn't complain about leg cramps in the morning.

After that, he went back to his tree, and lightly dozed, though very alert for the rest of the night. He would be there the moment Sesshou-Maru woke up, and he was going to make him leave as soon as possible.

When morning came, there was a great surprise! Sesshou-Maru had woken up, however, he was more of a true dog in attitude than of his usual self. He had woken up when he sensed that their guard had fallen asleep, and moved so that he could keep watch. It was rather painful, but he managed to position himself so that he could overlook the small camp not far from himself. But it was also difficult due to the human nestled into his forepaw. He moved her so that she lay with her head resting on top of it and had laid his head overtop his enormous paws, mostly covering her. As he lay there, he kept his golden eyes fixed on the camp, never blinking an eye until morning.

When the sun began to break through the clouds, the humans began to wake, although it wasn't very pleasant in their tastes. Miroku was first, but he kept his eyes closed and body still.

'It feels as if someone is staring holes into my back. Damn it Inu-Yasha,' and he sat up, and looked in the direction of the branch he was in last night. However, he found a big surprise. The Hanyou was asleep, and he was supposed to be on guard duty. Miroku began cursing him for putting his life in danger, but became silent again when a thought hit him.

"Wait, if Inu-Yasha is asleep, then he can't be staring at me. So who…' and with that he slowly turned, until his eyes locked onto bright golden ones. It scared him for a second, until he remembered that it was Sesshou-Maru, and he calmed himself with a deep breath. But fear filled him again, when another thought hit him.

'Wait, Sesshou-Maru is staring at me, so that means he is…' he turned away, trying in vain to hide his now bug sized eyes, and his gaping mouth from the great dog, for he hadn't a clue what do.

But he was saved from his thoughts when a sounding scream rang out and then the sound of a scream being muffled. At first he thought it was Sango, but as he turned, he saw not but Shippou, with Sango's hand clamped over his mouth, his eyes bugged so far out, it was no wonder they hadn't popped out yet. The sound of muffled screaming continued for long enough that they heard the great dog give a soft but meaningful growl; but it only resulted in the scream being higher pitched and more irritating. So Miroku did the only thing he could think of, he hit the poor fox so hard upside the head, that he knocked him out cold. As the screaming stopped, they heard a load sighing-like sound come the dog, and looked back at him to see that his eyes had closed, as if in relief. That's' when they noticed yet another thing.

Kagome was missing! They couldn't see her anywhere! With fear in their hearts, they got and began to meander around in search of her. Many thoughts crossed their minds: she could be bathing, cleaning her cloths, catching breakfast, changing Sesshou-Maru's ban…

They all realized it at the same time, and rushed over to Sesshou-maru, no fear left, just determination to find Kagome. As they came close, he opened his eyes, and they just stood there. When he didn't make a move to stop them, they walked around him, looking for any signs of her, but all came up empty handed. They all came back and stood in front of Sesshou-Maru, and discussed frantically about her whereabouts.

"Where could she be?"

"I don't know…"

"I miss my oka-san…"

"Oh, it'll be alright Shippou. We'll find her. Don't you worry."

"Yes, but when and where will we find are the real questions to be answered."

"Yes, but…"

A sudden growling sound startled them, making them jump and turn quickly around to face the great dog. As they did, relief filled their faces.

There lay Kagome, wrapped up in his fur as if it were a giant fuzzy blanket. However, she also had his ear, and Sesshou-Maru had to cock his head to the side to keep her from pulling on it. None of them could keep a smile from their faces, and they smiled broadly, although it sounded as if the great dog thought differently. Sango had started to giggle at the sight, causing Kagome to stir slightly, groaning out a protest of being disturbed. At this Sesshou-Maru nudged her with his nose and glared at her. She was immediately silenced and he then proceeded to push all three of them toward the camp with his nose, and then lay his head back on his paws, once again hiding the girl beneath it.

Although it did disturb them a bit, they decided not to question it, for fear of his reaction. At that the small party went back to the now dead fire and started it up, while also catching a decent sized breakfast, due to their large friend. However, when they were about to bring some to him, Inu-Yasha awoke.

He was a bit groggy, but quickly took notice that Kagome wasn't in sight. His nose picked up her scent and he turned toward Sesshou-Maru, whose eyes now rested on him. It made him feel, almost dirty, and he didn't understand why. The dog's eyes held what looked like a hatred within them, although it wasn't as clear as when he was in his human form. Nonetheless, it was there.

Jumping down from his perch, he walked over to the great beast, to see over Kagome's safety, and surprised at the actions his brother gave.

Sesshou-Maru immediately gave a soft growl, only meant for Inu-Yasha's ears, and pressed his further down into his paws. Inu-Yasha paused in his advance and looked at him, not understanding why his brother would just up and growl at him, it didn't make sense. However, it did when he heard the soft moan of a waking woman, and the shuffling of fur.

Kagome had slept by him! And Sesshou-Maru had allowing it! His brother must be mad, allowing a human, and woman at that, sleep anywhere near him, nor be near him at all. Nothing made sense now.

First, his brother lost a battle, and would have died if not for him and friends.

Second, he allowed him, his lowly half-brother, to help him.

And third, oh third was the topper! He allowed Kagome, a human, a WOMAN, a PREISTESS, to sleep near him! Now he had to wonder if Sesshou-Maru was "mentally impaired" as Kagome had once called himself.

"Sesshou-Maru what's wrong with you?" he said, letting his usual bluntness take place.

The great dog raised his head and looked at him.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Inu-Yasha asked, getting a miffed.

He cocked his head in question.

"What no smart-ass remark about how pathetic I am?" the Hanyou almost muttered, getting more pissed by the second.

He cocked his head to the other side.

"God Damnit! Say something!" Inu-Yasha yelled, with his fists at his sides and his neck stretched toward his brother.

What happened next made everyone's mouth's gape.

At Inu-Yasha's outburst, Sesshou-Maru's eyes began to twinkle and he started to pant happily.

"What the…?" was all Inu-Yasha could think of to say.

So? What do you think? I hope y'al liked this chapter, it took a long time to write it, cause I kept having these annoying brain farts. I think their signs of fatigue, cause I've been feeling weird lately… It's like I get so tired so easily, and I don't have an appetite either. I weighed myself on the scale I've lost like 10 pounds in just a month! My friends keep asking me about what I'm doing, but all I can come up with is that maybe I'm sick. But I don't know for sure. Anyway, so if you just suddenly don't hear from me anymore, then I really am sick, or I just went in for more scans of my heart, cause it's been really bothering me lately. And don't worry; I've told someone about it, they just won't listen to me. Anywho, enough of my ranting. I hope y'al liked this chapter; I'll get another out ASAP.