Chapter 5: A Jealous Dog

It had been two days since the Inutachi group including Sakumo had left the village where they defeated the oni and helped repair it. During that time, Kagome and Sakumo were talking about Kagome's birth era. Sakumo was very curious about it. He would often say that there are a few things in Kagome's era also existed in his world as well. The whole time this was going on, Inuyasha was getting very, very aggravated. He didn't like how friendly Kagome was acting towards Sakumo. Actually, his whole pack was acting the same way. He couldn't figure out what makes this guy so special. What did Sakumo have that made everyone like him so easily? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Hey, Sakumo." Kagome said.

"Hai?" Sakumo asked.

"When I go back to the well to get some supplies, do you want to come with me and see my era?" Kagome asked.

"Sure, I would love to." Sakumo replied with a closed eye smile.

"NO!" Inuyasha shouted. Everyone stopped in their steps at his outburst.

"What do you mean 'no', Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned, brow arched.

"He's not allowed to go!" Inuyasha angrily yelled.

"You're not the boss of him, Inuyasha. I invited him. You don't have any say in it." Kagome retorted. Inuyasha's face started to turn angry red.

"Why don't you shut up?!" Inuyasha shouted as his hand was about to slap Kagome's cheek. But someone grabbed his wrist. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw that Sakumo had stopped Inuyasha from slapping Kagome.

"You shouldn't hurt your pack members, Inuyasha." Sakumo said, tightening his hold on Inuyasha's wrist.

"What's to you?" Inuyasha questioned.

"I thought that the leader of the pack respects and care for one another. You're showing the opposite for your pack." Sakumo stated.

"Why do you care? You're not part of my pack." Inuyasha retorted.

"Well, Kagome said that I am." Sakumo confirmed. Inuyasha pulled his hand away from Sakumo's grip.

"Stop preaching me as if you're my father!" Inuyasha shouted, angrily.

"I'm just saying, Inuyasha." Sakumo reasoned.

"How about we rest for a moment?" Miroku asked, trying to break the argument between the two.

"Great idea, Miroku!" Sango agreed.

The group found a nice spot to rest. Kagome handed everyone out some snacks. But Inuyasha snatched the bag of chips away from Shippo.

"No fair, Inuyasha!" Shippo whined.

"Sorry, these are mine." Inuyasha smirked.

"You said that last time! Why do you keep taking the chips away from me?!" Shippo yelled.

"I'm bigger than you. So I need more energy." Inuyasha stated. Then he soon felt emptiness in his hands. He gazed at Shippo and saw Sakumo give the bag of chips to Shippo.

"Here you go, Shippo-kun." Sakumo said. Inuyasha frowned at the loss of the chips.

"Thank you, Sakumo-san!" Shippo said, smiling. He opened the bag of chips with eagerness.

"Here, Sakumo." Kagome said as she handed the canned tea to Sakumo.

"Thanks, Kagome." Sakumo said, accepting the tea.

It felt good for everyone to take a rest from the all day walking. However, Inuyasha thought of the opposite. To him, it was a waste of time, they should be finding more jewels instead of just resting. Maybe he should go and find Kikyō, then they could go find shards together. But he didn't want to leave Kagome alone with Sakumo. She was probably gaining feelings towards the guy, which he didn't want to happen. So he'll just stick around a little bit longer.

"Come on, let's go!" Inuyasha ordered as he stood up.

"Inuyasha, we just sat down." Kagome pointed out.

"Keh!" Inuyasha huffed and jumped into a tree and sat down.

"Here, Sakumo-san." Shippo held the bag out for Sakumo.

"Thank you, Shippo-kun." Sakumo said as he reached into the bag and took out a few chips.

"You're welcome." Shippo said.

Inuyasha was growing more and more irritated towards Sakumo. This guy easily won over his pack who was suppose to be respecting him.

After they were done with their break, they were back on the road, which was a relief to Inuyasha's point of view. They walked for the entire day and still found no demons or jewel shards.

"How about we camp for the night?" Sakumo suggested when the sun was beginning to set.

"Good idea." Kagome agreed.

"What?! Why do we need to stop?!" Inuyasha argued.

"Inuyasha, it's almost dark. It would take awhile to set up camp and everyone needs to rest." Sakumo pointed out. "I know that you want to keep going. But most of your members of the pack are human."

Inuyasha gritted his teeth at the fact that three members of his pack were humans while Shippo and Kirara are demons. He grunted at the fact. He guessed that he had no other choice.

"Fine!" Inuyasha barked.

His pack members sighed in relief. They would finally get to rest. Later, they were setting up camp when Inuyasha stood.

"Look out for everyone." Inuyasha demanded before he disappeared into the woods.

"Kikyō is nearby." Kagome hinted. The others sighed with disappointment. Inuyasha was always doing this; leaving them behind to defend for themselves while he goes and have a leisurely time with Kikyō.

"When will he ever look out for everyone in his pack?" Shippo asked.

"I have no idea, Shippo." Kagome stated as she cooked the fish.

Then she felt a familiar aura nearby. She smiled as she stood up when Sesshomaru and his pack came into their campsite.

"Kagome-chan!" Rin yelled as she got off Ah-Un and ran towards Kagome who embraced her in a hug.

"Hello Rin." Kagome smiled and looked back up at Sesshomaru. "Sesshomaru-sama, it's a pleasure to see you." Kagome greeted.

"It's a pleasure as well, miko." Sesshomaru said. "This Sesshomaru couldn't join earlier because I had to fix a few things back at my estate."

"It's alright, Sesshomaru-sama." Kagome said. She noticed that Sesshomaru had turned his attention towards Sakumo. "This is our new ally, Sakumo Hatake. Sakumo, this is Sesshomaru-sama, he is our ally against Naraku."

"It's an honor to meet you, Sesshomaru-sama." Sakumo said as he bowed towards Sesshomaru.

"Hn." Sesshomaru responded. Sakumo sweatdropped at his response. He remembered some of the Uchihas that he knew in Konoha said the exact same phrase. Sesshomaru spotted the sword that was strapped to Sakumo's back and smelled demons coming from it. He figured it must be a demon slayer's weapon. He was glad that this human had manners.

"Hi, Sakumo-san. My name is Rin." Rin said, which caught Sakumo's attention. He knelt down at her eye level.

"Hello Rin, it's nice to meet you." Sakumo introduced with a closed eye smile.

"Are you a strong swordsman, Sakumo-san?" Rin asked.

"Yes I am. But I'm still trying to get in the hang of it." Sakumo admitted.

"In other words, you're weak." Jaken stated.

"Jaken, that was mean!" Rin cried out.

"Well, it must be tr-" Jaken was interrupted when Kagome kicked him like a soccer ball which sent him flying and landed somewhere in the woods.

"Sorry about that. Jaken doesn't know when to shut up sometimes." Kagome said.

"Don't worry about it." Sakumo stated.

"Don't believe any of Jaken's words, Sakumo-san. He's always so mean towards new people." Rin stated.

"It's okay, Rin. I known that I'll get stronger." Sakumo said.

"Hai!" Rin said with a closed eye smile.

"Where is the hanyō, miko?" Sesshomaru questioned when he noticed that Inuyasha was nowhere near his pack.

"Give a guess." Kagome said.

"The dead miko?" Sesshomaru questioned.

"Yup." Kagome answered.

"Foolish hanyō." Sesshomaru stated.

"Yeah." Kagome agreed.

"So you're a swordsman as well, Sesshomaru-sama?" Sakumo asked when he noticed the two swords near Sesshomaru's waist.

"Yes, I inherited one of my father's sword" Sesshomaru answered as he unsheathed his Tenseiga. Sakumo gazed at it with amazement. Then Sesshomaru sheathed it.

"But the other one I had commissioned." He said as he unsheathed Tōkijin.

"Interesting." Sakumo said. Then he heard a stomach growl and he turned to Kagome. She chuckled nervously while slightly blushing.

"Well, since we're all here, let's get something to eat." Kagome declared.

"Yay!" Rin and Shippo cheered.

Soon everyone except Inuyasha began eating the boar that Sesshomaru was able to get for them. The only one who wasn't eating was Sesshomaru. Kagome explained to Sakumo that demons don't eat much as a human since they don't require that much energy. During the meal, Sakumo told the group about his adventures with his old friend Jiraiya. To Miroku, he was his idol. But to Kagome and Sango, a huge pervert. At that moment, Inuyasha arrived.

"What the heck is going on here?" Inuyasha questioned.

"Well, we have just finished dinner." Miroku answered.

"WHAT?! How come you didn't leave any for me?!" Inuyasha shouted.

"You weren't here. Besides, they needed the energy more than you. So why should they wait for you?" Sesshomaru concluded. Inuyasha snapped his head towards Sesshomaru and glared darkly at him.

"WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?!" Inuyasha shouted as he pointed at Sesshomaru angrily.

"I invited him." Kagome answered with a deadpan look.

"Well uninvite him because he's not welcomed!" Inuyasha barked angrily.

"Yes he is. He also kindly got us a boar for our dinner," Kagome stated, "In which you failed to get us."

Inuyasha began to turn angry red in the face as he marched over to Kagome. He swung his hand towards Kagome. Just before it reached her face, a hand grabbed onto Inuyasha's wrist. Kagome looked to the owner of the one who held onto Inuyasha's wrist and saw Sakumo.

"What?!" Inuyasha exclaimed. He didn't think that Sakumo was that fast to stop his hand.

"You should never harm your comrades, Inuyasha." Sakumo warned, gripping tightly on Inuyasha's wrist.

"I can treat my pack members however I want!" Inuyasha yelled, trying to escape Sakumo's grip. Everyone else froze at that moment. They couldn't believe that Inuyasha had said that to his own pack members. Sesshomaru was just as shock as they were, however he didn't show it. He always knew that the hanyō was dishonorable, but not this dishonorable.

"Then I guess you're not a member, Inuyasha." Kagome stated with her bangs covering her eyes.

"WHAT?!" Inuyasha screamed.

"Just go with Kikyō," Kagome demanded. "I'm sure that she'll be thrilled to have you with her."

"Fine!" Inuyasha shouted as Sakumo let go of him. Then Inuyasha stormed back into the forest. No one spoke as they watched the stubborn dog demon leave his pack and disappeared into the night alone.

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.

~William Penn