Disclaimer: I do not own the series Inuyasha. (Looks around room.) I do own so much Inuyasha merchandise, and I want more!

-----

Ch. 5

-----

Mina looked into the mirror, "We've got to get Katrina away from them. But how?..."

Totosai scratched his head, "What about this amazing plan you had?"

"Forget it! It's no good if she knows it, anyway. She'll just try a completely different, and might I add wrong, method."

Myoga tilted his head, "Meaning?"

"She'll use magic to make them like each other." The two old demons gave her a curious look. "Oh, wait, that didn't come out..." She coughed, "I meant she would radically change their emotions via spell."

The sword-smith cried out, "But that has negative consequences! They could love only each other and hate everyone around them. Or love everyone around them and hate each other. Or-" Mina put a finger up to silence him.

Her head was tilted down, chin resting between thumb and forefinger. Myoga smirked, 'She's in a scheming mood.'

Mina brought her head up, "I've got it. Inuyasha isn't going to like it, but Katrina, that flea infested stray, is going to hate it!"

Totosai fiddled around inside of the now termed 'snack bag' and took out some jerky. "So long as someone gets in a fight, I'm all for it."

The witch semi-glared at him, "You live a very dull life don't you?"

"Yep! What's your point?"

Mina shook her head, then turned back to the mirror. Touching it, she began to speak...

-----

"INUYASHA! SESSHOMARU!" Her voice boomed all around them. Everyone gasped and froze in place.

"I meant for you to come alone! Get rid of the others! Or your swords belong to me!"

When only echoes were left, everyone had something to say about that.

Kagome, still holding on to the cat, exclaimed, "Inuyasha! You can't go off on your own!"

Miroku states in a mild calm, "This just leaves you wide open for Naraku."

Sango is shaking her head, "Not a good idea. You and your brother don't get along, how can you trust him to watch your back?"

Kirara and the cat/tiger thing were mewling at him, seemingly begging him not to leave.

Shippo tightened his fists, "Come on, Inuyasha, don't do it!"

The half-demon wasn't saying anything, his head own in a small depression. Sesshomaru could feel how torn Inuyasha was, although why Inuyasha was so bothered baffled him. They both knew very well that they would be fine alone, but Inuyasha was nervous about something...soon to come?

"Enough," Sesshomaru's voice cut everyone's prattling. "You would only have gotten in the way, humans." His eyes bore into Sango's. It wasn't long until she averted the freezing look. Same could be said for Miroku. In the end, only Kagome stood her ground against his gaze.

She gave him a stubborn glare, "Inuyasha is our friend. We want to be there to help him."

Sesshomaru could feel Inuyasha come out of his thoughts. Her voice, apparently, had that effect on his little brother. Inuyasha turned to him, "Stop tryin' to bully them." Even as he said this, the elder brother could feel some gratitude coming from Inuyasha.

Walking up to the school girl, Inuyasha took one of her hands in his. "I promise I'll be alright, Kagome."

She squeezed his hand, "I'm sorry, about earlier"

"Yeah, me too. Wait for me here, okay?"

She nodded her head, "Sure."

----

Mina rolled her eyes, "Think they like each other?"

Myoga chuckled, "Yes, it does appear quite obvious, doesn't it?"

Totosai kept munching on jerky. He watched as Inuyasha said his goodbyes to his group. Katrina was apparently pouting in Kagome's arms.

"Take that, you stupid cat!" Mina whooped and punched the air. "No way those two will let her follow them, and she knows it."

Myoga pointed out, "Katrina isn't used to failure. She will try again, my lady."

Mina scoffed, "Those two are only two days away from the edge of the forest. There's no way she can concoct a plan that will succeed in that amount of time."

Totosai gave her a 'are you stupid' look, "You just made a 'brilliant' plan in less than a few seconds."

"Don't compare my skills to hers, ever."

The mirror showed the brothers proceeding to leave. Mina watched as the two at first were going at a mere walking pace. When they were out of the humans line of vision, it was like they had seen some hidden signal. They dashed off, as if it were some sort of race against time.

Mina had a surprised note in her voice, "If they go at it like that, only about a day and a half until they reached the forest."

-----

Inuyasha forced himself to move fast all day. Pushing his body like this was a risk, but it was lessened slightly due to the ring. They hadn't talked at all, didn't really want to. Another similarity, when the two were focused on something, they were almost obsessed about it.

Sesshomaru could feel his brother's strength waning little by little throughout the day. At first, he had thought it merely the effort of keeping up with his demonic rate of movement. However, that didn't explain the unease Inuyasha had been feeling since they left the group. He managed to push his thoughts aside for awhile and allow himself to enjoy running like this, something he hadn't been able to do in so long.

-----

Mina had gone through the mirror. Totosai and Myoga decided to watch her through the glass instead of trying to help with magical items they couldn't understand. Apparently, the huge rock thing was to turn into a cave, and the pitcher of water created a small stream that could flow in front of it.

When Mina seemed satisfied with her work, she came back in through the mirror. "Well, that should provide some shelter for them tonight."

Totosai sighed, "They've just been running around al day, that's not exciting at all."

"How many times must I say this? This is NOT for your entertainment!"

Myoga hopped up onto her shoulder, "Lady Mina?"

She looked down at him, "What is it, Myoga?"

"How do you know for certain they will stop there?"

The witch shrugged, "It's the best place to stay at for quite a few miles. You and I both know Inuyasha will need to stop somewhere for the night, I figured this place would suite his needs."

"How do you know Sesshomaru will let them stop?"

Mina sighed, "That I really don't know, but really, he doesn't have much of a choice."

-----

Inuyasha slowed down considerably once the sun began to set. His breathing became labored, his heart rate sporadic. Sesshomaru noticed all of this, but said nothing. Until the boy said he wanted to stop they would continue.

At least, that was the original idea. When a cave and stream came into his view, Sesshomaru decided. "We are staying here for the night."

Inuyasha, breathlessly, said, "I can keep going."

The demon lord glared at him, "Fool, do as you are told."

A meek growl came from the younger brother, "You're not the boss of me."

Sesshomaru was about to prove he was, when the sun left, and a very dark night was revealed.

"Ah, hell." Inuyasha curled into a ball, "Not now."

Fear, pain, changes, what? Sesshomaru's eyes widened a smidgen as he watched his brother's transformation. White hair turned to black, claws turned to nails, muscles shifted to become weak, and through it all, the boy's eyes were closed. His scent, of course, was now that of a full blooded human.

A voice, so like Inuyasha's, but softer. "Well, this is bad." His eyes opened, and Sesshomaru was staring into warm, chocolate orbs. "I guess you know my human night now, huh?"

-----

I know those of you who read the story "The Mediator/Meddler" are a little confused, but I realized that the story needed to be changed a bit. I kind of was at a loss as to how everything was going to progress, but now I think I've figured it out.

Please review and tell me what y'all think.