Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha or any of Rumiko Takahashi's other characters.

Chapter 14

Last time:

"You ought to activate that charm of yours, too," Maika called out. "Yukio won't come if he senses an aura as strong as yours here. And not all of Okamoto's delivery guys are youkai."

Sesshomaru did not reply, but he did reactivate his charm. He then opened the deck and shuffled it, smiling as the memory of his first experience with cards came to mind. Reiku climbed up beside him and curiously leaned against his shoulder as she watched his nimble fingers manipulate the cards.

"Reiku," he asked suddenly, "have you ever played Go Fish?"

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"Do you have any threes?" Sesshomaru questioned, his face an unreadable mask as he closely studied his cards.

Reiku scowled and tossed him the card he asked for.

"I believe I win yet again," Sesshomaru announced as he neatly lay those last two cards down beside the other pairs he had organized into perfect rows as neatly as troops on a battlefield.

Reiku simply crossed her arms and huffed.

Sesshomaru surveyed his latest conquest with satisfaction and rewarded himself with another bite of his lunch. Maika walked past and managed to smack the back of his head with the pile of clothes she was carrying.

When he turned to glare at her, she met him with a disapproving frown and whispered, "Baka, you're supposed to let the kid win once in a while. Goodness, you let her deck you out like a Christmas tree, but you won't let her win a game of Go Fish?"

Sesshomaru ignored her and gathered all the cards into a neat stack to be shuffled again. To his surprise, Maika reached over and jerked them from his grasp and asked, "Okay, how about we try something else, Reiku? Want to play 21? Or hearts?"

Reiku brightened and nodded excitedly. Maika forced Sesshomaru to slide over and make room for her on the couch as she shuffled the cards.

"Maybe Sesshomaru can just play Solitaire for a while if he wants to win so badly," she teased. "Maybe losing to himself a few times will loosen him up a bit."

Reiku smothered a giggle by clasping her hands over her mouth. "I want to play 21."

Maika smiled and dealt out cards for all three of them. She and Reiku examined their hands, then turned to see if Sesshomaru was ready to play. Both were surprised to see him frowning darkly at his still untouched cards. He glanced at them, then picked up his own cards with apparent uncertainty.

Maika stared at him in confusion for a moment, then her jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me," she exclaimed, then laughed out loud.

Sesshomaru frowned deeper and his brows lowered as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You don't know how to play 21?" she asked, openly amused. His scowl deepened.

"What about gin? Canasta? Hearts? Spades? Rummy? Crib? Poker?"

His face was hard and he remained obstinately silent. Even Reiku was snickering by then.

Maika regarded him with a dumbfounded expression. "You don't know how to play anything but Go Fish, do you?"

Sesshomaru waved a disdainful hand at the cards and replied, "This is little more than a child's amusement. Why should I bother to learn more of them?"

Maika flashed him a smile that made him swallow hard, then said, "My dear youkai, I believe I shall have to enlighten you, if you think cards are merely for children's games."

Sesshomaru shifted and told her in a low, husky voice, "I believe I will hold you to that promise."

After a short explanation of the rules from Maika, all three began playing 21. After the first few initial losses as he adjusted to the rules, Sesshomaru mastered the game and held a winning streak of the last five games.

"You are no fun to play with," Maika groused as she gathered the cards to shuffle them again.

Reiku sighed and said, "I normally win at least one. You are too good at these games, Father."

Sesshomaru smirked and was about to comment, but froze and turned towards the door.

"I smell that creature approaching from the stair," Sesshomaru announced in a quiet voice. "And he is not alone. There are two other weak youkai, one approaching from outside the building and another is with him."

Maika sighed and dealt out the cards. "It figures. He wouldn't return without something up his sleeve. He favors mortal weapons as much as his own abilities, just to warn you."

"Reiku will be safe," Sesshomaru reassured her. "As you will be. I will not interfere, but do not expect me to allow harm to come to you. You are mine to protect."

"Thank you, Sesshomaru. I know how hard it is for you to just stand by."

She planted a kiss on his cheek and flicked open her fan. "I'm ready, though. This ends today."

Maika stood to move to an area easier to strike from, but Sesshomaru caught her hand and pulled her down into his lap. He embraced her tightly against himself and nuzzled his nose deeply into her hair. His lips brushed against the shell of her ear, and he whispered, "I know. I have faith in you, love."

Maika shivered and bit her ruby colored lip. She leaned even closer to him and whispered, "Do you have enough of your scent on me yet, Mr. Possessive?"

Sesshomaru grinned and bit down lightly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. "You know me so well, love."

Reiku giggled, which drew their attention back to the current issue. She peeked at them through her fingers and asked, "Are you two going to kiss now?"

"Perhaps later," Sesshomaru told her as he allowed Maika to slide off his lap. Reiku uncovered her eyes and smiled. "Shall we continue? I believe Maika has something to attend to just now."

Reiku nodded and lifted her cards.

A few moments later, there was a pounding at the door. Maika stiffened and tightened her grip on her fan. She had to get control of this situation from the start. Get Yukio off balance and eliminate any advantage he had prepared.

Without opening the door, she called out, "Leave, Yukio. You're not welcome. There is nothing of yours here."

"My, my, I'm surprised you haven't run yet, Maika," he taunted. "How very unlike you. Have you already forgotten our conversation this morning? Or do you really not care for those mortals?"

Maika snarled silently and swept her fan towards the door. Three large, glowing blades of air splintered the door and created a plume of destruction and dust in the hall. Manipulating the currents again, Maika cleared the air and noticed a foot lying on the ground. She smiled. That was too easy. Yukio had probably sent his lackey first, knowing she might try something.

Sure enough the slack-faced, slender youkai emerged from the dust wearing an amused smile. His eyes swept her apartment quickly and his smile deepened.

"Amusing, you thought to bring the mortals beneath your wing and protect them?"

Sesshomaru and Reiku paused their game and glanced over at the intruder, then returned to their play as if this were nothing unusual. Yukio frowned at that.

"You would risk your life for this?" he questioned, turning to Maika as he waved a hand at Sesshomaru and Rin. "Mere mortals who are too stupid to even realize the danger?"

He extended a hand towards Maika, shooting a mass of sticky web in her direction. She deflected it with a blast of air, but as she brought her fan down, Yukio spit a long, sinuous thread from his mouth. It snaked around her arm, then attached to the nearest object to anchor her like a sticky chain.

Sesshomaru sat stiffly and Maika could tell he was hard pressed not to just rip Yukio's head off. He did not usually accept such insolence. He glanced at her and said, "Maika?"

She shook her head, declining his unspoken offer. Yukio was hers. This time she was ready for him.

He hit her other arm with another strand of webbing while her attention was divided. Maika cursed inwardly at having let her guard down. She knew she had nothing to fear, Sesshomaru would keep her safe, however this was her fight and she really wanted to get some revenge on that bastard Yukio. She tugged at the bonds only hard enough to test their strength.

Confident that she was contained, Yukio turned to taunt the "mortals" on the couch. Shaking her head once again to keep Sesshomaru from acting, Maika discretely started to wave her fan. Yukio had underestimated her and left her the fan. And soon he would pay for that oversight.

"Well, well Daigingeiko Reizo. What an honor to meet such an influential mortal such as yourself," Yukio purred as he slowly stalked over to them. Sesshomaru just stared blandly at him, which made Yukio chuckle.

"I'm sure this must all be quite frightening, even for as ruthless a businessman as you," Yukio continued in a mocking voice. "I have heard the rumors that you eat children, Mr. Daiginkeiko, which I am sure you encourage." He leered down at Reiku, who glared up at him and stuck out her tongue. "However, in my case those would be more than just rumors as I do enjoy the occasional child now and then."

Yukio opened his jaws, revealing a nasty set of insect-like mandibles, and he hissed at Reiku. To her credit, she blinked, but did not flinch.

"Is that so?" Sesshomaru remarked in his infamous icy voice. "Then I must say I pity you-Yukio, is it?-the indigestion must be terrible."

Yukio chuckled. "Interesting. Even the terrible Daiginkeiko turns to joking in the face of death. I must say I did not picture you as a humorous one."

Sesshomaru said nothing, but glanced back down at his cards and lay one out on the stack.

Yukio seethed at the near lack of response. "I see that you are not shocked to find yourself face to face with a youkai. I take it Maika has informed you of her own heritage and told you she would protect you from me, but I'm afraid she failed to impress upon you the true danger of your situation. I will kill you, and your death will not be pleasant. Just ask Maika about her family."

The spider youkai stepped back when he finished speaking, a rather pleased smile on his face. Sesshomaru, however, simply waited for Reiku to play a card. Maika watched, amused by how much Sesshomaru was annoying Yukio. She knew she could attack and take him out now, but she really wanted to see the look on Yukio's face once he realized what Sesshomaru was. She bit her lip when she noticed a dark figure slip inside her window, intent on sneaking up on the two card players.

Sesshomaru had to know the newcomer was there. Sure enough, just as the youkai set a foot on the floor of her apartment, Sesshomaru's right hand shot out and he said in an even voice, "Reiku, close your eyes." He then released a spray of his poison. There was a piercing scream, then nothing but the faint hissing sounds of the poison dissolving everything in its path.

Yukio staggered back and his whole body tensed with confusion.

Almost, Maika thought.

Sesshomaru calmly lowered his hand and put another of his cards into play on the table as if nothing had just happened. "You may open your eyes now, Reiku."

"What? What was that?" Yukio demanded, his voice weak and near trembling. This was not in his plan.

Sesshomaru did not look up from his cards as he replied, "Dokkaso."

Yukio narrowed his eyes. "That bitch! She planned this, hired a youkai bodyguard to pose as her boss in hopes of defeating me. Such a shame, though. I would have thought she would have found a stronger youkai. I cannot distinguish your aura from a mortal's at all. Very good for stealth, but what you'll need against me is power."

Reiku played a card and glanced up at Yukio again. Sesshomaru reached for a card, then paused and his claws drifted over the illusion charm he wore. It deactivated and flooded the room with the crackling energy of his annoyed aura. His long tail of hair became white and all his youkai features appeared.

Yukio nearly fell to his knees from the intensity of it, and he broke out in a sweat. Sesshomaru flicked his emotionless golden eyes to the lesser youkai and asked, "Are you referring to power such as this?"

Yukio gasped for breath and hissed, "You! You! That bitch, she lured me into a trap. Me, of all youkai. At least my death will at the hands of someone of your caliber. I will not have the shame of dying at the hands of a woman."

Sesshomaru flipped a loose strand of his hair behind his tapered ear, then ran his fingers through the now visible pelt over his shoulder. "I have no intentions of interfering in your affair, youkai. I am simply here to ensure that your deceitful cheating does not reach fruition."

Yukio's expression twisted to one of utter horror and shock. As if he had forgotten her up until that point, he turned suddenly to look at Maika. She stood where he had pinned her, only she was tossing bits of his webbing to the ground with a disgusted grimace. He failed to notice the constant subtle shifts of her fan as well as the body of his own minion that suddenly tackled him from behind.

Writhing like a wild animal, Yukio freed himself of the reanimated corpse and scrambled backwards towards the door. Maika stepped up behind him, blocking the exit. He looked up at her, utter loathing on his face. He opened his mouth to spit more webbing at her, but with a flick of Maika's wrist, the minion clamped a hand over his former master's mouth.

"I take it you haven't met my Dance of the Dead," she told him, a smug grin curling her ruby lips.

She answered his wild-eyed look with a smirk. "I'm not yours, Yukio. And I never was."

She looked up and caught Sesshomaru's eye. He immediately ordered Reiku to close her eyes and cover her ears, which she obediently did. Then Maika released the corpse from her control and launched a barrage of glowing blades through Yukio. He vanished in a cloud of particles as if he had never been.

"Good riddance," she spat at him, then flicked her fan shut.

Sesshomaru met her gaze and gave her a slight nod of his head. "Well done, my love."

He then turned to Reiku and said, "You may open your eyes now."

Maika walked over and dropped down beside them on her couch, her hand rubbing her shoulder thoughtfully. Sesshomaru leaned over and examined the area where the scar had been.

"It's gone," he told her.

Maika just nodded and sank against his waiting side.

"Would you like to continue our game?" Sesshomaru questioned.

Maika shook her head and glanced at Reiku, who had climbed into both of their laps and was running her fingers through Sesshomaru's fur. "No, I think I'd like to finish packing and get out of here. I'll settle with the landlord later."

She paused to dance her fingers over Reiku's ribs. The little girl giggled with delight and squirmed away. "Besides, I think we have a lot of decorating to do before the day is over. I have a feeling his penthouse is in dire need of a woman's touch, am I right, Reiku?"

Reiku only laughed harder and asked, "Okay, but can we get ice cream on the way? Please? I think today needs an ice cream."

Sesshomaru looked at both, then sighed. "If we must."

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"Of all the idiotic things," Kagome ranted, an almost visible halo of flames crackling about her head. "I know you can be a baka sometimes, Inuyasha, but honestly what possessed you to put dynamite in a child's TOY and leave it just lying out in the open where any curious child could find it?"

Sango with Kirara and Miroku with Shippo on his shoulder walked meekly several feet behind their two arguing friends. They had seen Kagome angry at Inuyasha on several occasions, most involving Kagome's cooking, Kikyou or the well, but this beat them all.

At least Inuyasha seemed to have grown a brain for this particular argument, and was walking softly along behind her, his head down and his ears drooping. Even he knew when he was in serious trouble.

"I tried to tell him it wasn't a good idea," Miroku whispered to Sango.

Shippo leaned forward and asked, "Then why did you tell him where to get the dynamite?"

Sango narrowed her eyes and her hands drifted back to her hiraikotsu. Miroku lifted his hands in defense and backed out of Sango's impressive reach.

"No, Sango, I only told him before he told me what he wanted it for, and by then it was too late."

Sango moved her hand away from her weapon, but she was not happy with the monk.

"I still think it was a good plan," Inuyasha muttered, but not quietly enough.

"A good plan?" Kagome repeated with a psychotic little laugh that sent them all dancing back a few steps from her. "You honestly thought Naraku would just waltz up, see a stuffed toy and try to absorb it?"

"Well, it did kind of look like Sesshomaru in his true form," he argued weakly.

Kagome stopped and turned around at that point. Inuyasha, who had been staring at the ground, nearly impaled himself on her wagging index finger.

"Sesshomaru's true form is nearly the size of a sky scraper! Inuyasha, for goodness sake, that toy would be like a flea to the real thing. Not even Toutousai would fall for something like that." Her finger continued to poke him in the chest and she glared up at him with a look that would have made Sesshomaru's icy gaze seem like a smile.

"Little kids would be the only ones drawn to a toy abandoned in the woods. And can you think of a certain little girl who frequents the wilderness and would give anything to have a toy that resembles her precious lord?"

Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head and he managed to look pretty remorseful. "You don't think that bastard would let her pick up some strange thing she finds, do you?"

His question was almost hopeful, and it was obvious he had not wanted anyone to get hurt by his plan. He simply hadn't thought. Kagome sighed and softened her tone.

"Inuyasha. Sesshomaru has been to my time and would recognize the toy for what it is. Also, it is covered in yours and my scents. If Rin finds it, he'll notice all those things and assume we are simply leaving it for her as a gift. Like we did with that doll of hers. I just hope we get back to it before they happen across it. Are you sure we're heading to the place you left it?"

Inuyasha nodded, then sniffed the air. "Oh just great. Does he have some sort of sixth sense to make my life miserable?" he muttered.

He then turned and presented his back to Kagome. "Get on, we better hurry. Sesshomaru is in the area. And he has the kid with him."

Kagome paled and put a hand over her mouth. She scrambled up onto his back and exclaimed, "Oh, Inuyasha, we have to hurry before Rin gets it."

"I know," he told her, already headed full speed towards the area where he smelled his brother. He needed to see if Rin had it first no matter how much he hated to confront his brother.

Sesshomaru did not seem any more pleased to see them. He stared at them coldly as they burst through the trees. Inuyasha let Kagome climb down, then asked, "Oie, Sesshomaru, did the kid find any of those odd toys from Kagome's time?"

Sesshomaru's gaze went from cold to bored in a matter of seconds. "It is not my concern what the child wishes to play with. You may ask her."

Kagome nearly rolled her eyes. Like he would allow Rin to just pick up strange objects without his approval. "Um, Rin, we are looking for a small, fluffy white dog Inuyasha left somewhere near here. You haven't seen it have you?"

Sesshomaru arched an eyebrow at the description, the only sign he had even been paying attention to their conversation.

Rin nodded and smiled brightly. "Yes, I found one just over there. Master Jaken told me not to pick up strange things, but then Lord Sesshomaru said it smelled like you two so that I could keep it."

Inuyasha smirked and was about to say something snide to his brother, but Kagome's elbow in his gut prevented another stupid mistake. She smiled at Rin, then asked, "Um, I hate to do this Rin, but could you very, very carefully give me back the toy. Inuyasha left that there for someone else without thinking who might come along and pick it up."

Rin looked at them strangely, but turned and reached for her bag.

"Rin," Sesshomaru said sternly, and the girl froze. He locked his golden eyes on Inuyasha and said, "Jaken, you will retrieve the toy and return it to the half-breed. Not the miko."

Kagome winced at the hard gaze from Sesshomaru and cautioned Jaken, "Please, Jaken, be very careful with it. Whatever you do, do not trip."

Rin, Ah Un, and even Sesshomaru took a collective step back from the notoriously clumsy toad at her words. Kagome wisely followed their example.

Following the imp's every move, Sesshomaru asked, "What did the half-breed do to the toy that has you so concerned?"

Inuyasha's ears flicked towards them, but he remained silent. Kagome sighed and answered, "He had the idiotic idea of filling the toy with dynamite and then tricking Naraku into absorbing it and blowing himself up by leaving it lying out in some part of the forest."

"It was a good plan!" Inuyasha argued as he accepted the dog from a rather pale and trembling Jaken. "It just lacks a few minor things to make it work."

He then split open the stomach and pulled out three slender sticks of explosives. "I guess I should have gotten ones that didn't need fuses, huh?"

Kagome groaned and slumped in relief. At least these were less volatile. She looked at the dog in his hand, then asked, "Inuyasha, um, just how did you get those inside it?"

He smirked and lifted the toy again. "It has a seam along the back here. I just split a few stitches, then shoved them up its a-"

"Half-breed!" Sesshomaru barked out suddenly, cutting off his explanation. "You will refrain from such vile language in Rin's presence. I should kill you for that slip alone, not to mention your reckless endangerment of those in my pack as well as your own companions. You are truly pathetic, to put those foolish enough to show an affection for you in peril simply because you refuse to think."

Sesshomaru lifted his hand and the claws started to glow an eerie green. Inuyasha tensed and put a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Is this really the time and place?" Kagome pressed, inclining her head towards Rin, who watched them all with wide eyes.

Sesshomaru lowered his hand, but anger was still apparent in his eyes. "Jaken, take-"

"I'll let you subdue him!" Kagome blurted out suddenly, already realizing that Sesshomaru merely intended to remove Rin so that he could fight without restraint.

"You'll what?" Inuyasha cried out, now very upset himself. "Like hell you will!"

"Continue," Sesshomaru told her, completely ignoring Inuyasha.

Kagome shifted nervously and glanced back at Inuyasha. "Well, the rosary obeys my command word, so I will subdue him as often as you tell me for the next three minutes? Okay?"

"Keh, like Sesshomaru would ever agree to that!" Inuyasha called over to them, but now both were ignoring him.

Sesshomaru considered for a moment. "Ten minutes."

"Four."

"Seven."

"Five."

Sesshomaru considered a moment more. "I will accept this arrangement. Five minutes and I allow him to live this time."

"What! Allow me to live? You'll be lucky if I don't ram this dynamite up your a-"

"Sit boy!"

Inuyasha froze as the beads activated. He had only a few seconds to lay the dynamite aside before he plowed face first into the dirt.

"That one was on the house. Your five minutes can start whenever you're ready," Kagome told him, glowering at the struggling hanyou.

Sesshomaru looked positively ecstatic. There was a bit more of an upward curve to the straight line of his mouth, his eyes were slightly less narrowed and there was what could have almost been called a twinkle in the golden depths of his eyes.

Inuyasha pulled his head up and shot them both a scathing look. Unfazed, Sesshomaru waited until he had regained his feet, then said, "Sit, Inuyasha."

Kagome had her arms crossed, looking at the watch on her wrist and snapped out, "Sit."

Again, Sesshomaru waited for the spell to wear off before repeating the command. "Know your place, half-breed, at the feet of your betters."

Kagome flinched at the harshness in Sesshomaru's tone and the sadistic pleasure he found in humiliating his brother. Now more than ever she could see the differences in this Sesshomaru and the one from her time, despite the similarity in appearance. The older Sesshomaru liked to tease Inuyasha not humiliate him.

Inuyasha muttered dark curses into the ground, as he struggled to at least keep eye contact with the youkai. Kagome suddenly felt ill. She had intended to spare him the physical abuse, but now she realized she had put him in a far worse position.

Even if he lost to his brother in a fight, he still had dignity and honor in that he had stood his ground and not backed down. But now he was forced to be humiliated and degraded before an audience by none other than his own brother and the girl who was supposed to be his best friend. At least Sango, Miroku and Shippo weren't around to witness it. Kagome had never disliked herself more than at that moment.

She reluctantly continued the commands, her voice scarcely more than a whisper by the time Sesshomaru's five minutes was up. As he turned to leave, Kagome called out to him, "Sesshomaru, I hope for your own sake that you did not truly enjoy that."

He paused, but then continued on his way without a word to anyone. His entourage followed on his heels.

Once they were gone, Kagome knelt beside the Inuyasha shaped crater in the ground.

Unable to look at him, Kagome studied the grass by her knees and said, "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. Are- are you okay?"

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed as he slowly crawled out of the hole. He groaned and just flopped back onto the ground. "You just sat me for five straight minutes, wench. What do you think?"

Kagome winced and lowered her head even further. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"A fat lot of good 'sorry' does for my back, Kagome," he snapped at her as he lifted himself into a sitting position so he could look at her.

Kagome blinked, trying to force back the tears, but the stubborn things spilled out despite her efforts. Inuyasha sniffed, immediately detecting the salty smell.

He tensed and shifted uncomfortably. "Ka-kagome?"

"Oh, Inuyasha!" she exclaimed suddenly, and tackled him with a strong embrace.

He swayed back from the impact, just managing to not fall over as she squeezed his chest as tightly as her tiny arms could manage and sobbed into his fire rat.

"Oh, Inuyasha, I'm so, so sorry!" she sobbed. "I didn't think about that offer when I made it, and I'm so sorry. I'm such a baka. Can you ever forgive me?"

Before he could answer or even recover from shock enough to return the embrace, Kagome pushed him over onto his stomach and started to knead his lower back with her knuckles. She paused to wipe some tears away, sniffed loudly, then said, "Here let me massage your back for a bit. I know it won't make up for what I did, but maybe it'll help you recover faster."

"Kagome..." Inuyasha was about to force his way up, but her nimble hands found a tender spot and began to work the soreness from the muscles. He had had no idea she could do something like that. Relaxing, he rested his chin on his arms and said, "Kagome, you don't have to be sorry. I'm the one who's sorry. If I hadn't left that toy lying around, then we wouldn't have even run into Sesshomaru."

She sniffed again and did something to his spine that made it crack loudly and then feel very, very good. How come he was just now getting this kind of attention? He'd been injured worse before and she'd never done this for him.

"I suppose we're both bakas, huh?" she remarked. "I guess I've just gotten used to how, well, playful your brother is in my time. I forget how cruel he was, er, is. I should never have let him do that to you. I think a real beating would have been better."

Kagome paused as if waiting for him to insist that it would have been a beating all right, for Sesshomaru, but Inuyasha remained quiet. He sat up slowly and stared off into the forest. What had changed his brother? Inuyasha flattened his ears against his head as the all too recent memory of that sitting spree replayed itself in his mind.

Kagome was right. Sesshomaru hadn't been teasing or playful, like he had been at the fair. He obviously drew a great deal of pleasure from Inuyasha's humiliation, and the insults had hatred and malevolence behind them.

Kagome laid a hand on his shoulder. "Inuyasha?"

He stirred, then reached up and laid his hand over hers. "Why? What changed? I'm the same, literally, it's the same me. How come he hates me so much now and not in your time?" he finally voiced.

Kagome sighed and leaned against his back. "I don't know. I think it has something to do with Rin. Her death, and just, well, time."

"He told you how she died?" Inuyasha asked. Just how much had Sesshomaru revealed about their futures?

"No, he wouldn't tell me anything that hasn't happened for us yet, but Rin is mortal. She wouldn't still be alive in my time. Besides Reiku is her reincarnation."

"Really?' Inuyasha asked. Now this was new. Though it made sense. No other kid could wrap his brother around their little finger so easily.

"Are you okay? I mean really Inuyasha?" Kagome asked again.

Inuyasha sighed. "I don't know. I mean-and you repeat this to anyone and I'll give you a reason to sit me all the way to hell-I've always looked up to Sesshomaru. Wanted to be strong like him, and powerful, and to have a true place in the world." His voice lowered to a whisper. "To make him proud to call me brother instead of half-breed."

Kagome squeezed his hand.

"And for a moment I had that. For that short moment he spoke with me, joked with me, teased me like I was a real person, and not something he wouldn't want to dirty his boots on.

"I finally have the brother I've always wanted. Just five hundred years too late."

"I don't know about too late," Kagome told him. "You got to meet him, didn't you? I'm sure you'll run into him again."

Inuyasha snorted.

"In fact, I think you should seek him out," Kagome suggested. "Tell him you want to talk. I need to go back for tests and stuff, so while I'm at school, you could go visit him."

"Keh, he's probably too busy with stuff to talk with me," Inuyasha muttered as he turned to look at Kagome. He was surprised to find her blushing furiously and looking at him through a thick fringe of lashes. Damn was she beautiful.

"And it would also give us more time, you know, just the two of us," she added in a soft voice.

Was she saying she wanted some time alone with him? Inuyasha blinked and tried to break his gaze away from her, but she just kept drawing him in. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he suddenly found himself leaning towards her. Then their mouths met. For a split second their lips brushed like a butterfly fluttering above a flower, then they both melted into one another. Lips parted and timid tongues grew bolder as they explored and tasted one another.

Inuyasha felt her hands move slowly up his chest, neck, all the way up to his ears. He almost growled when her gentle fingers stroked the soft fur of the sensitive appendages. A moment later they slowly parted, both panting and slightly flushed.

"Kagome, I-" Inuyasha started to say, but he flipped his ears back at the sound of the rest of their group approaching. Great, now they show up.

"I'll think about it," he told her, as he stood and gently drew her to her feet. He was about to pull away, when he felt Kagome tug him towards her. He turned to see what she wanted, but met her lips instead. She pressed another soul-twisting kiss on him, then backed away, smiling shyly up at him.

"Thank you," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.