A/N: I'm coming to you from California now! Yippee! Well this was at least partially written there…

This chapter begins slowly, or so it seems to anyway. It finishes darkly, but also beautifully I think, with Sesshomaru. I must WARN you all though, there is violence, blood, all that fun stuff. Merciless killing.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own them.

Last Chapter: Sesshomaru found the chef responsible for poisoning Rin, the monkey youkai Fumou. He had Fumou executed and discovered that the guys footing the bill were the Okorinbou, samurai lords. Rin found a purpose in IY and Kagome's household, as a teacher and as a pupil herself. She also spoke to Sango, tensely. Both women remain wary and jealous of the other, Sango for the fact that Rin hasn't lost her baby, and Rin because Sango has Miroku and her children. Also, Shimofuri and Sasugainu met and spoke.

The Okorinbou

The Okorinbou were a small clan, but good fortune, and an excellent plot of land on which they could farm with unusually bountiful results, had made them rich. They lived in the southern tips of Sesshomaru's territory. They were fine tax payers and their representatives and the samurai lords themselves always appeared cordial to Sesshomaru if they met with him in his court.

But Sesshomaru wasn't perturbed or even surprised by the thought that they had betrayed him on such a deeply personal level. There was one small, dark detail marring his relationship with that particular clan.

A few years previously, when Sesshomaru had reluctantly decided to marry Rin off to one of the lords within his lands, the Okorinbou had gladly been among the candidates. They brought a rich dowry just to see Sesshomaru, to impress him, as if he were the girl's father and they might potentially buy her through him. Their dowry, their wealth, and their eagerness, had put them high on Sesshomaru's list of candidates. They had everything going for them, it was a good match.

There'd been only one problem: emotionally, Sesshomaru felt no one was good enough for Rin. The Okorinbou were recommended and praised by Jaken and all of Sesshomaru's human retainers. Logically it made perfect sense, they'd done everything right, but Sesshomaru put them off, accepting their offerings, but never committing to anything.

The Okorinbou laid down a great amount of money and gifts in good faith, assuming that Rin was as good as bought, as good as their own. They were wrong. They received nothing and they certainly felt that Sesshomaru cheated them out of their dowries and gifts, and out of the mysterious, beautiful Lady Rin.

It made perfect sense in Sesshomaru's mind that the Okorinbou would be responsible for Rin's suffering, for each child she'd lost in blood.

And yet, without a name for a specific individual, Sesshomaru was lost when it came to vengeance. The Okorinbou were powerful human allies, valuable for their people, their taxes, their crops, and their land. Destroying the entire clan would be a waste, and yet Sesshomaru found himself greatly tempted at the idea.

In any other situation, Sesshomaru might restrain himself, might feel that the Okorinbou benefited him more alive than dead, but not now. Now they had betrayed him on a deeply personal level, affronting him in a way that he could never forgive and never let go, no matter how powerful or valuable the men were.

So it was that, only hours after Fumou's confession and death, Sesshomaru had amassed his youkai armies and moved them toward the little slot of the Okorinbou's family land. They didn't attack, but remained ready and waiting in the hills and forests, waiting for some signal that an attack was to begin, or if they were to disband. Effective civil war had been unheard of for several human generations within the Western Lands, but the youkai could've cared less about that. Some of them were old enough that the days of war and bloodshed were clearly in their memories, and even ingrained in their skins and hides.

Meanwhile, as the youkai army waited, Sesshomaru met with the Okorinbou lords unexpectedly, calling on them when he dropped into their home palace. The Okorinbou's palace was well guarded—by human warriors—and it was fortified, but it was still just a palace, not a castle. It would be easily burned down, easily attacked. Sesshomaru's arrival, unannounced, would doubtlessly trouble the Okorinbou. Their palace was exposed and they knew it. Normally they met with Sesshomaru in one of his own castles, with many other human delegates. Sesshomaru would leave them in peace on their own lands, in their own palace and croplands, or so they had always believed.

Their assumption of that was obvious. As Sesshomaru approached the gates of the castle, he could already smell the stink of perfumes from the Okorinbou women. The lords were so secure, so complacent, that they were staying with their women, in the same unprotected palace.

The stoic lord of the Western Lands passed through the gates, with flustered human guards on either side. They escorted him stiffly to a pathetically small audience room. Well-lit and carefully decorated, bamboo sprawled over the fusuma screens, a blue-black stream of ink curled over one whole wall, plum blossoms dipped into the water eloquently. Among the exquisite screens and their artwork, Sesshomaru fit right in, a fine pale glowing jewel inside the beautiful palace audience room. Only the tiny downward twist of Sesshomaru's mouth gave away his dark mood, the upcoming bloodshed, vengeance, and carnage. Only Rin could've caught the micro frown, only Rin could've anticipated what was to come.

As he'd known they would, almost all of the important Okorinbou men showed up. They filtered into the room hurriedly. Each man walked differently, some stiff like the guards, others shaking and loose, others clumsy with nervousness. A few were bold enough, or merely overwhelmed by curiosity, that they found the nerve to stare at Sesshomaru as they slipped in to the little audience room. The lord of the Western Lands took them in silently, like the crocodile stalking its prey, readying itself for the strike.

These men were drawn by curiosity, and apprehension. Their palms were sweaty, their mouths either too dry or too wet, their guts seized up with tension. Though all of them worked to hide it, Sesshomaru's senses were far above their own. He didn't need to look into their faces, or even to read their body postures. Their scents alone revealed their fear and anxiety. Their scents fueled his growing disgust and hatred.

Where none of the Okorinbou could see it, carefully tucked away in the depths of his long, flowing sleeve, Sesshomaru's single fist closed into a fist reflexively.

The leader of the Okorinbou clan was named Inchou. He settled himself at the center of the audience room, facing Sesshomaru but remaining as far away from him as possible, which amounted to less than ten feet. The Okorinbou were sitting closely together behind him—seven men of various ages lined up before the inuyoukai that reigned over them. The audience room wasn't built to accommodate such a strange meeting, and with it so heavily one-sided. A few of the older and younger men wore cynical smiles or sneers as they sensed the bizarre turn of events before them. Perhaps they even sensed their doom.

Inchou Okorinbou was middle-aged, with tiny, narrow eyes that were steely black, like flecks of obsidian. His face was otherwise unmemorable and he wasn't a handsome man, but his eyes stood out in his face, revealing his sharp, knife-like intelligence. He initiated the meeting formally by bowing. The Okorinbou men behind him followed suit, each bowing until their foreheads touched the matting. Even the oldest man among them, though he scowled with the pain of arthritis, managed the bow.

Sesshomaru watched their display of respect, unmoved and silent.

Inchou spoke while he was still in his bow. "Lord Sesshomaru, my clansman and I welcome you on this unexpected visit." When he sat up, his robes rustling, the other men rose as well. "May I inquire as to what has brought Lord Sesshomaru to us on this day?"

The seven lords of the Okorinbou had a moment of silence during which they were able to notice properly that Sesshomaru was sitting with them in his armor and wearing a sword. A few of the Okorinbou had also entered the room with their swords, but all of them knew they stood little chance if Sesshomaru had come to pick a fight.

One of the youngest men caught Sesshomaru's eye. It was a youth that Sesshomaru had seen years ago at the Nejiro castle, when the Okorinbou had come with their dowries, asking that Rin be given to them. The young samurai was an upcoming heir within the clan; he was the one that would've married Rin if Sesshomaru had given her to the Okorinbou. Sesshomaru scrutinized the boy for a time, seeing his narrow frame, the limp black hair tied up in his topknot, the acne scars on his chin and forehead.

It wasn't the boy's appearance or even the fact that Sesshomaru remembered him as Rin's would-be fiancé, instead what drew his interest was the fact that the boy was shaking and staring at the floor intently. There was sweat beading on his brow, the sharp, rank odor rose strongly above the other men's smells.

Sesshomaru's face rippled briefly, once. The lords caught this only faintly, though all of them were pretending not to stare at Sesshomaru, but none of them were able to interpret the look before it had vanished again. And then they had Sesshomaru's words to distract them.

"I am drawn by curiosity." Sesshomaru told them, seemingly calm. The lords' shoulders drooped as several of them released silent, but thoroughly relieved sighs. "There is a mystery I must solve."

Inchou inclined his head, "If we may be of any service to Lord Sesshomaru at all in this mystery he must not hesitate to share it with us."

Wordlessly, and without taking his golden, hawk-like stare away from the Okorinbou lords, Sesshomaru reached into his robes with his single hand, producing a small, coarse cloth sack. He placed the sack in front of his left knee and then reached a second time into his robe to pull out another sack, identical to the first. This he placed at his right knee.

The Okorinbou blinked confusedly and leaned forward, studying the two bags unabashedly. The cloth was ugly and coarse, not worth wearing unless it was for a peasant working out in the fields. Both sacks had something inside, rounded and small. No one spoke for a time, until at last Inchou gathered his courage. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"I have two pieces of the puzzle." Sesshomaru murmured, "I need three more." Now he stared at the boy, seeing his shoulders shaking violently. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Boy."

The youth lifted his eyes abruptly and tried to still his shaking. He was very young, probably not much beyond his very early twenties. A few of the lords sitting around him were shifting uncomfortably; a few of them had their hands resting a little too close to their swords.

With the boy's attention, Sesshomaru reached for the bag at his left first, shaking the sack until the contents fell to the audience floor. Sesshomaru tossed the first bag aside and reached then for the second one, doing the same. When the second sack was removed, there were two desiccated, mutilated heads at Sesshomaru's knees. The lords gasped and half-rose from their sitting positions, alarmed. The boy, meanwhile, had hunched over and made a small noise in his throat, as if about to vomit.

Inchou made a hissing noise in his throat. "Sit!" he ordered the men around him, and then, to Sesshomaru, "My lord, what is the meaning of this?"

"Three of you have betrayed me." He answered, and for the first time emotion was visible in his eyes even to someone as emotionally dense as Inuyasha. It was a rage without hesitation, without mercy, and without passion. It was cold rage, borne of the need to rectify the wrongs committed against Rin. "I have come to punish you."

Inchou's beady eyes grew several times over in size. "Lord Sesshomaru—the Okorinbou have not betrayed you! The actions of the few must not be held over the many…" he bowed, and in spite of the rank stink of fear that Sesshomaru could smell rising from him, Inchou didn't shake or quail before the inuyoukai.

The other lords began to rise to their feet, trying to flee. One of them was the boy.

Sesshomaru was on his feet and across the small room faster than any human eye could follow. He caught the boy and knocked the other lords that were trying to make their getaways aside, back into the audience room. The boy screamed, high and shrilly. The acrid stink of urine entered the room, adding to the reek of sweat and fear.

"Please! It was never my idea!" the boy cried unconsciously, the tears streaming over his cheeks.

Sesshomaru ignored him, coldly. The edges of his irises were tinged red. He held the boy by the arm, hard enough that the boy cried from more than just fear, but pain as well. Sesshomaru lifted the boy smoothly, ignoring the shouting around him and the bustle of guards, the clanking of armor, and stared up at him with an open, snarling maw.

"For her suffering you will all die."

The boy drew a helpless, hopeless breath to plead and cry again, but Sesshomaru let go of him and slashed in the same motion, severing the boy's head. His body stood for a moment upright, spurting blood at the neck. The lords nearest backpedaled, gasping and gagging as their faces and bodies were spattered with blood. The boy's head rolled a few feet with the force of Sesshomaru's killing blow, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

As the body fell to the floor wetly, the lords began to show their true colors in their final moments. Two other men, one middle-aged, the other bent and old, rushed forward as if to help the boy, and Sesshomaru noted their shared features—direct family. It was only justice; part of him thought dimly, that the boy's death brought pain to his family. After all, the boy had killed Rin's babies, turnabout was only fair play.

A man in his fifties hurtled for the door, stinking of urine with his panic. Sesshomaru let his whip fly, cutting the man down first with pain, then killing him with the poison. Inchou and another man had moved to the other side of the room, joining with the armor-clad guards and drawing their feeble human swords. They shouted to the two men that were half-grieving over the boy's beheaded body, and to one man that seemed dazed, staring stupidly at Sesshomaru's carnage.

Sesshomaru brought the dazed man down with his whip—three down and four to go.

The boy's father scuttled across the room to join Inchou, the other lord, and the guards. The old man, who Sesshomaru had identified as the boy's grandfather, refused to move from his grandson's lifeless, still bleeding corpse. He was shaking his head and muttering a name. "Hisou…Hisou…"

A knife flew from one of the guards. Sesshomaru reached out, effortlessly, and caught the projectile. The guard that had thrown it sneered and bared his teeth in concentration and rage. Sesshomaru clutched the knife briefly, and then, with hardly a single glance at the guards, the boy's father, and Inchou, he threw the little blade across the room. It smacked into the head of its target, the last Okorinbou lord that had moved to fight immediately. He fell to the floor, dead at once.

The old man mourning the boy's body glared at Sesshomaru from the floor and spoke with shaking lips. "Monster!"

Sesshomaru at last unsheathed his sword, raising it as he glanced between the old man and the line of guards and the last of the Okorinbou lords. He gathered energy from the massive well of energy stored deep in his core. It chilled the room like a wind from over a glacier, and tore over Sesshomaru's robes and his hair, lifting and tearing at both. His mouth was open in a silent, vicious snarl, filled to the brim with his sharp white teeth.

The Okorinbou lords saw a rising white light, a brief flash of movement as Sesshomaru made a slashing motion with his sword, and then the light closed in all around them. Pain, overwhelming and intense as their bodies, armor and swords and all, were torn to bits. And then it was over and they were dead, unfeeling and freed.

The audience room burst into flame. The ink on the fusuma walls caught in the flame, burning and curling in on itself, blackening, all of its fine, delicate beauty lost forever. The fire took hold quickly, spreading high into the castle, and lighting the darkening sky.

Hidden in the distance, the youkai army spotted the fire and rallied itself, charging into battle. The women and children, and even the servants, maids, cooks, and guards that stumbled out of the burning Okorinbou castle were cut down mercilessly.

Sesshomaru retreated from the carnage, though he did wait within sight distance, watching the palace burn dispassionately. The orange-yellow glow of the flames lit his eyes, mimicking the rich amber color of his irises, but if Rin or Jaken had been present, they would've shuddered and averted their gaze. Rarely used frown lines were present as the great, stoic inuyoukai stared at the destruction, the triumph of his revenge…

His lips, his chin quivered. The frown stayed in place. The victory was hollow and worthless. He had righted the wrongs, but it hadn't brought Rin back, and it left a sour, sickening taste in his mouth. The old man's voice came back to him, the lips quivering with grief: "Monster!"

He slaughtered in Rin's name, to avenge her suffering, her loss. Somehow it did nothing to assuage his own. The ache remained where he never dared touch it. The memory of Rin's pain as each child was lost, and his own as with each loss he became more and more jaded.

Had life between them become only about loss? Had they lost hope? There was a spark in every life. Sesshomaru had seen it many times as he snuffed out his enemies and exacted his cold, useless revenge. Perhaps that spark was like hope, and maybe it was that hope that fueled new life—and he and Rin had lost it. Perhaps poison was only partly to blame…Even now the revenge was about death and the loss of life. They had lost their unborn babies, and then they'd lost each other. Was it the only thing that he knew how to do anymore?

Sesshomaru turned from the blaze of the burning castle and disappeared into the darkness of the forested hillsides, like a wraith, like a shadow.

Word spread swiftly. By the next afternoon the news of the Okorinbou's slaughter and the massing of Sesshomaru's armies had reached Shimofuri in the Middle Lands. The twisted love story that was circulating—that to further his own position, Shimofuri had stolen the helpless Rin away from Sesshomaru, who was now desperate to reclaim his lost lover—didn't favor Shimofuri. The people in the Middle Lands were suffering and unhappy. They didn't want a war over some strange mortal girl that had gotten caught up in youkai affairs. They wanted peace and prosperity, they wanted to live.

Shimofuri, in spite of himself, felt much the same way. Cruelty was not part of his nature. Part of him regretted exposing Sesshomaru and tangling with the lord of the Western Lands at all—it had gained him nothing. Tsukiyume was lost again, out with Rin. Giving Rin up to Sesshomaru would be to lose his only power, his only bargaining tool. His uncle had turned on him. Sesshomaru would be frothing at the mouth with his eagerness to kill Shimofuri.

Shimofuri was unmated and unwed; he had no heirs, no close kin aside from Sasugainu and Tsukiyume. He had everything to lose to Sesshomaru.

The only power he had at all was Rin, but Sesshomaru would find her sooner or later, and then it would be finished…

In the meantime, while he was searching, Sesshomaru could kill Shimofuri, trusting that he would find Rin later by his own means anyway. There were no choices as far as Shimofuri could see. He would send out a summons to Sesshomaru and propose an equal exchange, terms for surrender, anything as long as he could keep his lands and his life.

As Shimofuri sent his messengers out, the loyal kitsune clan that served him, he fought a churning sensation inside his stomach. It was probably indigestion, but Shimofuri counted it as a loss of hope, as dishonor.

One of the messengers, a kitsune called Jinsoku, he ordered to find Rin at Inuyasha's estate, to discover Rin's health, and to tell her that Shimofuri would no longer hide her from Sesshomaru…

"You aren't going anywhere, dammit!" Inuyasha shouted, arms folding over his chest in his most infamous stubborn and pouting position.

"Inuyasha," Kagome hissed back at him, rolling her eyes tiredly, "We need a few things," she kept her voice low, but her tone was one of warning, "Please don't do this…"

The hanyou huffed exasperatedly, "Do what?" unlike Kagome he made no attempt to quiet his voice. It could be heard at every point of the house easily.

"Throw your usual tantrum. I swear you're as bad as Akisame!" she started to walk out of the kitchen, making her way steadily toward the door where her shoes—not the sandals she wore when working and living comfortably with her family in the Feudal era, but rather the brown, closed toe sneakers she'd brought with her for heavy walking—were waiting for her.

Inuyasha slipped around her, using his youkai speed to cut her path off. "Every time you leave Akisame bawls and I want to…" his hands shook in front of him, claws looking sharp and vicious, as if he were about to confess to wanting to kill his own daughter, but what came out of his mouth was, "…rip my fucking ears out!"

"I know you hate being the babysitter, Inuyasha." Kagome sighed and reached out to him, touching his cheek. For a moment the hanyou's expression was hard, as if he might throw off her touch, but then his posture softened and he half closed his eyes, relishing her tiny display of affection. His ears drooped pathetically, reminding Kagome of Koinu's when the pup was too tired and in desperate need of a nap. "You do an excellent job though, you know?"

She stared at him with bright, cheery eyes, half smiling, and Inuyasha scoffed; somehow managing even to blush at her words a little. "Feh."

"I won't be gone very long." She lifted her touch up to his drooping ear and stroked the fine downy fuzz there. Inuyasha stiffened, eyes snapping open and inhaling sharply once. He leaned into her touch and Kagome allowed the gentle motion of her fingers grow firmer, more confident. The change made Inuyasha close his eyes and groan.

"Kagome…" he murmured thickly, leaning forward, his tantrum was completely forgotten. He wrapped his arms around her waist loosely and nuzzled her lips.

With all of the people in their house, and Koinu and Akisame sleeping in their room, in their bed now, Inuyasha and Kagome had been afforded little intimacy. Tension had built up under the seams, and Kagome's touch had acted like a spark to a tank of gasoline.

She returned his grasp, sighing as Inuyasha tickled the sensitive skin of her neck with his lips, then proceeded to attack her ear. Her legs wobbled, as if they were made of wax and Inuyasha's advances had turned the heat up enough to melt them. Inuyasha's hold on her offered support and she took it, sinking deeper into his warm embrace.

A shrill, insistent crying started from the other side of the house. Inuyasha's ears pricked as he unconsciously took in the sound and analyzed the cry as not belonging to one of his own offspring. Kagome, though her ears were mostly immobile and therefore not as easily readable, did the same and arrived at the same conclusion. But the sound was enough to tone down their growing desire, to force them to return to the world of speech.

Inuyasha had yet to remove his lips from near her ear. "It's not Aki."

She nodded, "I know. I have to go, Inuyasha."

He growled, tightening his hold. "Dammit Kagome…"

The couple had missed the faint swish of robes as someone approached, but they couldn't miss the way Miroku stumbled into the kitchen clumsily. He stared at them for a moment after entering, his face twisting with confusion, and then moved on as if to ignore them. It was very early in the morning—a time that Miroku and Sango tended to sleep through while they stayed with their friends, as if they were on a vacation of sorts. Inuyasha and Kagome, meanwhile, kept early hours—not always because they wanted to, but rather because hanyou didn't need as much sleep as humans. As a result Kagome was surrounded with early risers, and when in Rome one must do as the Romans do.

Inuyasha watched the sleepy monk with a mixture of annoyance and what might've bordered on concern. "What do you want, Miroku?" he growled.

"Food, sake." He answered blearily.

From out in the sitting room the baby cries had reached a sort of fever pitch. Inuyasha heard Sango's tread over the hard wooden floors and the pattering of her other children following her. From behind him Kagome stirred, but although Inuyasha turned one ear toward her, he missed the quiet grating of the front door as Kagome slid it open and slipped out onto the verandah to put on her shoes.

"Sake?" he demanded, "What the hell do you…" he frowned, distracted and irritated as Miroku pulled at the cubbies and cupboards in the kitchen, rifling sloppily through Kagome's stored food, pots, cups, chopsticks, spices, and, of course, the various packets of Instant Ramen. "Kagome doesn't keep sake."

Miroku's hands stilled and he turned back to face Inuyasha, blinking incredulously, appearing awake for the first time. "She doesn't?"

"No," he turned to seek Kagome's opinion directly, and growled when he realized she'd slipped away. Cursing under his breath, Inuyasha hurried outside after her, but as he followed her scent and rounded the house, he knew it was too late. Kagome had retrieved Roba, the mare that Rin had brought with her, and was walking her toward the front gates. She smiled knowingly as she caught sight of Inuyasha glaring at her. With Roba so close, and Kagome clearly planning to take the horse to the village before she left for her era via the well, Inuyasha couldn't try to physically stop her without spooking the flighty mare.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha." She called, but her smile didn't suggest that her words were all that true.

Growling, but accepting his fate, Inuyasha followed her at a distance, arms crossed, face set in a scowl. He watched over Kagome, even opening the gate for her, as she mounted Roba and set out down the path toward the village. The mare was growing slowly accustom to the youkai scents around her. She barely cast Inuyasha even a glance as she trotted down the road.

It wasn't a long trip, but the hanyou was never inclined to leave Kagome alone for long. He trailed Kagome and Roba a ways, taking in the day. High summer was beginning at last. A hot, humid wind pushed at his hair, tugged at his clothing. That same wind was pulling a swathe of swirling white clouds in their direction from the distant sea and the coast. Insects hummed and buzzed in the air, in the shadows cast by the trees alongside the road they amassed, swarming. A long-winged grayish bird sailed through the sky, keening in a low, sharp voice.

A scent on the wind caught Inuyasha's attention. He halted, ears perked, and turned into the breeze, sniffing. With one last look toward Kagome and the mare, Inuyasha leapt off the path and into the brush, following the scent that the wind had given him. In the newly arrived heat, the hanyou broke a sweat before he crashed through the forest foliage and stumbled onto the source of the strange scent.

It was a kitsune, as his nose had already told him. It was in a fox-like form, but it was larger than a true, wild fox. Its belly was cream, its back, tail, and head dark gray. It's fur stood on end when it saw him, it bared brilliantly white teeth.

"You're trespassing." Inuyasha warned the kitsune, curtly. In actuality this wasn't Inuyasha's land just yet—but the hanyou considered this preemptive. It was more constructive to fight the danger before it became one and threatened his family, friends, and his land.

The kitsune's eyes were bright yellow. They flashed now as the creature narrowed its eyes, taking in Inuyasha's appearance, his stance, his scent, his aura. Its fur flattened, its posture relaxed. "You are the hanyou Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's ears flattened immediately. Something in the fox's tone, in its body language, in its choice of words, warned Inuyasha that although the fox was likely harmless, its appearance heralded other things that probably weren't. "What do you want?"

"I am Jinsoku, Lord Shimofuri has sent me." the fox dipped its head, "I have come seeking Lady Rin."

In spite of himself, Inuyasha felt his body tighten as a jolt of alarm passed through him. His immediate decision was to lie—not for Rin, but for Koinu, Akisame, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Masuyo, Kasai, Kohimu, Tisoki and Shippo—to head off the fox at once. "You got the wrong place, fox. I've never heard of this bimbo."

The fox cocked its head; a twinkle of mischief lit its eyes. "Lord Shimofuri sent me, not Sesshomaru. I am already well aware that she is here."

"And I'm telling you I ain't ever heard of any Rin, or Rim or whatever." He fought the heat that tried to rise in his cheeks by turning his back on the fox and scoffing. "Feh. Get off my land or you'll be sorry." He cracked his knuckles for emphasis, and then crossed his arms over his chest, listening and waiting.

There was a single noise—a short sniffing sound from the kitsune—and then the rustle of leaves and underbrush. Inuyasha jerked his head around and cursed when he saw that the fox had called his bluff and dashed off, completely ignoring him and his warning. Growling with outrage, Inuyasha rushed after the kitsune, only to fall flat on his face as something—a root?—caught his foot. He stumbled, snarling, and reached back to free himself, but found that what had tripped him wasn't a root and wasn't in fact anything natural at all. It was a small carved stone, gray and in the shape of a fox.

Kistune magic. Chances were that every step Inuyasha took in pursuit of the fox would end with him tripping over one of the carved stones, magically appearing there as he walked forward.

"Dammit!"

It was only natural that Shippo would smell it first. The kit was awake and half-babysitting, half-entertaining Kohimu, Tisoki, Kasai, and Koinu. Sango and Miroku were preoccupied with their youngest son, Masuyo, who was screaming with the latest teething pains. The sound had driven Shippo outside, into the mugginess of the early morning.

The gardens were simple but pretty, a few bushes and trees, a winding path beneath the trees that would provide shade to passersby in the afternoon. In the morning sun, however, the shadows missed the path, leaving it exposed and sunny. The stones underneath the children's feet were noticeably warmed from the sunlight.

The game this morning was tag, with Shippo being it. Of course Shippo, in a real competition, could've caught any of the others, Koinu included, without any real effort. As he'd grown, one of his emerging powers had established itself as a kind of site-to-site teleportation. The kit could be at one place across the garden, climbing on a cherry tree, and then in the space of an eye blink, he could be on the porch, blocking someone's path or tripping Inuyasha—a favorite pastime. While playing tag, however, Shippo restrained himself, giving the others a fair chance.

Like a dog herding sheep, Shippo chased Kohimu, Tisoki, and Kasai until the siblings split up, then he followed Kohimu and Tisoki, letting Kasai go free. He loped after them on two legs as well as all-fours, depending on how much speed he wanted. Kohimu was the fastest runner among Sango and Miroku's children, so that was who Shippo tried to hunt down. He might've chosen Koinu, but if he did that Koinu would stay it all day, preferring to chase and never actually catching his playmates.

At last Kohimu pushed Tisoki away from him and, with Tisoki stumbling from his older brother's roughness; they split up, running in opposite directions. Shippo dropped to a four-legged romp and picked up speed, closing in fast on Kohimu…and then stopped, halting so quickly that his hands and paws scraped up the grass and revealed earth beneath. His puffy tail twitched like a nervous squirrel's.

"Shippo?" Koinu came to stand fearlessly at the kit's side. "Did you get tired? I can be it for awhile…" his blue eyes were just a little too excited by the idea, a little too eager and bright.

Shippo frowned and shook his head. He was panting—foxes weren't known for their cheetah-like speed or wolf-like endurance necessarily—but he wasn't ready to relinquish being it to the pup. He exhaled sharply and then breathed through his nose purposefully. The scent that reached him was rich, heavy and it weighed on him more than a casual smell, like grass, bark, or the musk of wild animals. He could take in the smell with his nose as well as taste it, which was exactly why he'd noticed it while loping and panting through his mouth.

"Shippo?" Kasai spoke now, her little voice high and piping. It didn't match the rather fierce, almost angry expression over her face. She was a slayer's daughter, a warrior inside a small, seemingly fragile girl's body.

Up ahead Kohimu and Tisoki had stopped and were bent over, breathing deeply but watching attentively.

Shippo rose onto his hind legs again, having caught his breath, and hurried cautiously alongside the house. The children called to him concernedly and then, when he didn't stop, they took off running after him. Shippo followed his nose, his progress slowed as the scent grew stronger. It stirred something inside him, filling him with trepidation, and—something heavy, like weights on his shoulders. Dim memories reached out to him, warm tawny fur, the sweetness of milk…

He reached the corner of the house and stopped, feeling his hair and the fur of his tail bristling. Instinctually he felt his lips turning upward with a little snarl, exposing his fangs. There had been few kitsune in his life—a few other cubs that had been nothing but trouble to him—but no adults. Kitsune were sneaky, one didn't catch them in the middle of something. Shippo had come across old scents often, but never an active scent. And not one that seemed to reach out to him so personally…

"Come out!" he called, trying to sound brave, trying to growl and imitate Inuyasha. His voice made the children stop behind him. Kohimu and Tisoki assumed control, ordering Koinu and Kasai to go and tell Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha.

The grass in the "backyard" as Kagome called it, was long and uncut. It grew wild and, until that morning when Kagome had taken her out, Rin's horse had eaten from the field. Shippo could still smell the rich stink of the mare's droppings, and see the passageways the horse had made with her eating habits. But inside that thick field of grass, he could smell and was beginning to see something completely unrelated to the mare.

A tail appeared, thick and long, over the top of the grass. Shippo stiffened and took a step backward as a large fox rose out of the field and walked toward him. Its eyes were bright, like sunlight, the fur shone dully. "Hello young one." It greeted him warmly.

"What do you want?" Shippo felt himself shrinking as the other kitsune drew nearer, curling into the ground, as if trying to disappear.

"Is everyone so unfriendly here? Even kin?" the fox asked, his lips smirked, revealing fangs that seemed inordinately white and massive to Shippo. He narrowed his eyes at Shippo, taking the kit in carefully. "You and I are from the same clan."

Shippo was flustered, he cringed pathetically. "I don't know you!"

"I didn't expect you to, but your nose tells you, doesn't it?" it cocked its head, still scrutinizing the kit. "Your color is wrong, young one, but we must be kin. I am Aojiroi Jinsoku." He dipped his head as if bowing, giving Shippo respect.

The names meant nothing to Shippo. He shook his head feebly and managed to spit out, "I'm Shippo." He'd never known his family's surname; it had died with his parents.

Jinsoku's expression warmed, lighting his eyes. "I mean you no harm, young Shippo. I have been sent by Lord Shimofuri of the Middle Lands. I must speak with Lady Rin."

Helplessly, Shippo stared up at the fox, feeling the weight growing inside him as Jinsoku's scent continued to assault him. Jinsoku was telling the truth—they were related, though Shippo would never know how exactly or whether they were distant cousins or much closer kin. He stuttered and stumbled over his answer. "She's inside."

Jinsoku nodded and ducked his head again in what might've been a bow if he were more human-like. "I thank you, young Shippo." The fox slipped away, running at an easy lope through the yard, heading for the front of the house.

Kohimu and Tisoki were fast to reach Shippo, their faces transformed into frowns. "Why didn't you stop it?" Kohimu blustered.

"And you told it where Rin was?" Tisoki choked, winded. "What's wrong with you?"

Shippo shook his head angrily, "He won't hurt her."

"How can you—"

But Shippo didn't wait for them to continue asking questions, he hurried off after Jinsoku on all-fours, his tawny tail high in the air.

A/n: and I am done for this chapter. Phew!