"So...did you allow Kenji to travel with you out of spite for Inuyasha?"
My, the monk was feeling brave.
"If I had known the trouble Inuyasha would cause over it, I wouldn't have agreed." Sesshomaru hoped that would be the end of it.
"I somehow get the feeling you had some idea. And yet you went along with allowing him be a member of your pack." Miroku was surely being a little too brave.
Sesshomaru glared. And the monk stiffened.
"If I had the means to, I could just push you against a crystal then say you tripped of your own accord." Sesshomaru threatened.
"Nope, I'm good. I'll drop the subject." The monk's voice almost squeaked.
For a long while, there was silence as they explored. At some point the light from the crystals dimmed. Sesshomaru paused to wonder. Were the crystals able to sense the sun?
"Guess we won't lose track of time too much in here." Miroku commented.
A while longer and the monk yawned.
"Let us return. All we've discovered is how vast this place is." Sesshomaru knew that although he could wander for hours on end, his companion had limits.
Upon their return Miroku placed himself next to Sango once more. Sesshomaru glanced at Inuyasha, curled up by himself. And not far from Kenji.
"I half expected one of you wounded upon my return." Sesshomaru commented, earning a snort.
"We actually bonded quite well. Learned a few things. I don't think we would be any trouble from now on." Kenji shrugged.
Bonded? Sesshomaru considered the choice of word. Then it dawned on him that it was metaphor for talking and actually getting along.
"You should rest. You haven't slept once since I've been part of the pack." The dark haired youkai suggested.
"I don't need rest." Sesshomaru would rather go back to exploring. Since he had seen that they weren't exactly alone made the urge to leave even faster.
"You can't exactly wander around by yourself. The monk said we need to travel in pairs." Kenji smirked at the glare sent his way.
Sesshomaru sighed but decided to just humor the other youkai. He placed himself to lean against Ah-Un. Kohaku and Jaken both slept respectively away from Rin, who was curled up with Mokomoko. She was to Sesshomaru's right.
Somehow he ended up actually falling asleep. In fact he was so deeply asleep that he didn't stir as some of the others woke up. Sango prepared breakfast, and the smell awoke Inuyasha.
He blinked at the first sight he saw was Sesshomaru. Inuyasha sat up, staring. Usually Sesshomaru slept when injured, so this was a little strange. Briefly his eyes sought for any indication that there were any wounds and found none.
"I don't think he's slept since I've joined the pack." Kenji informed, drawing the hanyou's attention.
"It's probably since Hinata's passing. Before Kenji, Sesshomaru took longer for us to start moving for the day." Kohaku added.
"That could be depression. But lack of sleep probably didn't help." Kenji shrugged.
"Hey, Inuyasha, can you fetch some water?" Sango asked, handing him the water packs.
"Yeah, who wants to come with?" The hanyou asked the others.
"Me! I'll go!" Shippo leaped in excitement to see this natural garden.
"Come on then." Inuyasha lead the way and Shippo climbed onto his shoulder.
Together they made it to the spring. Shippo was in total awe of the whole place. He expected it to be small. Shippo rolled in the moss while Inuyasha filled the water bottles.
"Here, you carry some of them." By some he threw Shippo one out of three.
"I wonder if there's any animals here? Then we got food secured too!" Shippo caught the water bottle.
"If there are any, I haven't smelled them." Inuyasha had wondered the same when he first came to the spring. Just as he finished the third bottle Shippo's fear scent had him on alert.
"Inuyasha!" Shippo cried out.
Suddenly a light blinded them as the hanyou turned to face whatever it was that frightened the kitsune. Inuyasha dropped the bottles to cover his eyes. Suddenly he felt something grab at the Tessaiga. He reached to grab the handle only to find it was gone.
"What the hell?" Inuyasha glanced down as the light disappeared in panic. "The Tessaiga is gone!"
"Oh no!" Shippo was in full blown panic. "What are we gonna do? Wait Inuyasha look out!"
He looked up to see a giant bear half the size of Sesshomaru's true form. A claw swiped at Inuyasha, who leaped out of the way. He panicked as he wondered how he didn't hear or smell the bear's approach.
"Iron Weaver, Soul Stealer!" He unleashed his attack.
There was hardly any damage done to the bear.
"What? My attacks are useless?" Inuyasha paled.
Shippo screamed as he dodged another swipe. The bear aimed another attack and Inuyasha lunged forward. He grasped Shippo by his collar then sent him flying out of the danger zone.
Before he could dodge again the claw hit him full force. Inuyasha was sent into a crystal. The last he felt was the wind being knocked out of him and everything went red before he lost consciousness.
Shippo landed with a yell. He glanced up to notice the bear was gone? What happened? Then he heard snarling. The kitsune glanced at Inuyasha and stiffened.
"Uh...Inuyasha?" He asked tentatively.
Inuyasha lunged towards him. Eyes burning red. With a yelp Shippo transformed into a hawk and desperately flew back towards the camp screaming all the way.
"HELP! INUYASHA LOST THE TESSAIGA! NOW HE'S LOST CONTROL OF HIS DEMON!" Shippo yelled at the top of his lungs as they approached.
In a flash Sesshomaru was awake and charging towards them. Kenji followed as support. Kagome stood up and got scared at the sight of two youkai rushing to intervene.
"SIT BOY!" She commanded.
Inuyasha crashed face first. Sesshomaru and Kenji both stopped their approach. Shippo flew until he reached the safety of his friends and placed himself in Kagome's arms.
"How did he lose the Tessaiga?" Miroku asked as he tried not to panic.
"I don't know! There was a bright light! And then a huge bear appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us! Then it sent Inuyasha into a crystal and I guess it pissed off his demon side!" Shippo shook violently.
"What do we do about this? He can't control that side of him the longer he's away from the Tessaiga." Sango was torn whether to grab her weapon or not.
Inuyasha lifted his head. Horror filled the air at the sight of his eyes still red and wild. Unknown to the humans, the scent of arousal filled the air and Kenji had an idea.
"You can mark him! It might calm the youkai blood in him!" He turned to Sesshomaru.
"He doesn't wish to be marked." He recalled the last conversation on the matter.
"And if he marks you?" Kenji noticed those eyes only saw the daiyokai.
Suddenly Inuyasha leaped high into the air. He aimed at Sesshomaru. The daiyokai reacted out of instinct and clawed at the hanyou's face. Inuyasha yelped as blood splattered everywhere.
"Damn," Sesshomaru snarled to himself. He only clawed on one side of Inuyasha's face and only one eye was hurt. He had meant to blind him completely.
Inuyasha released snarls of fury and pain as he glared with one eye. Sesshomaru pondered why he wasn't attacking when the hanyou released his demonic aura. He released with such force that it enveloped Sesshomaru. He grit his teeth as he felt his knees weaken.
"He aims to claim you! Run!" Kenji yelled.
Sesshomaru couldn't move. He struggled against his own youkai, now it was fully awake and demanding to submit. Realizing what was happening Kenji ran towards them.
As if seeing Kenji as competition Inuyasha lunged at Sesshomaru. Somehow Kenji closed the distance and pushed the daiyokai away. Claws raked at his back and Kenji fell with a yelp.
Coming to his senses Sesshomaru bolted. It would seem that marking might be an only option. If that was the case then he would rather have some privacy.
Inuyasha looked around. He caught sight of the fleeing daiyokai. With one last snarl at Kenji, Inuyasha gave chase.
"I'm sorry Kagome." Shippo whimpered.
"It's fine. I've been preparing myself since they lost Hinata to lose him." Kagome spoke softly.
"Kenji! Are you all right?" Rin rushed to his side.
"I'll be fine. Nothing worse than a wounded pride." He hissed as his wounds stung. "How the hell did he break through my armor?"
"You got in the way between him and Sesshomaru." Sango sighed.
"I almost feel sorry for whatever he does to him." Kenji laughed, only to stop soon as the wounds stung even worse.
"Here, let us help you with those wounds." Miroku helped him sit up and together they removed the armor and ripped robes to have a better look at the gashes.
"Shippo, can you show Kagome the way to the water? I assume the bottles are still there." Sango remembered that they needed water.
"But what if that bear comes back?" Shippo didn't want to go.
"Then take Kirara." Sango offered. The little neko mewed. The three of them made their way.
Meanwhile Sesshomaru was trying to keep the distance gained. But Inuyasha was gaining on him fast. Or perhaps part of the inner youkai was fighting harder than Sesshomaru thought, making him slower as they were being chased.
"Damn it," Sesshomaru cursed, sensing his youkai urging him to stop.
Claws reached towards him. Sesshomaru rounded a flush of crystals only to realize he was at a dead end. The demonic aura caught him and Sesshomaru bit back the whine.
Suddenly arms grasped him from behind with such force Sesshomaru looked up. In doing this his neck was exposed. And elongated fangs bit into his neck, earning a choked gasp.
Inuyasha snarled as he poured his demonic aura into the bite. The power made Sesshomaru drop to his knees, his vision blurred. Inuyasha followed him down, clinging onto the daiyokai to keep him in place.
"Mate," Sesshomaru blinked. He didn't say that. To his horror his youkai was almost fully unleashed.
Those fangs reluctantly let go. In place of them was a hot tongue, licking up the blood. Sesshomaru couldn't believe that he was actually panting as he felt a rush of arousal. The scent Inuyasha unleashed made his body react just as well.
Sesshomaru tried to rein in his youkai. As he fought that side his throat released a high pitched whine. A deep rumble answered and Sesshomaru gave in.