Chapter Five…

"Kagome! Where the fuck are you?"

Kagome huffed to herself and came out from behind the tree she'd been standing by. The day was sweltering hot and everyone was a little irritable right about now, but that didn't give him a right to talk to her like that. Crossing her arms over her chest, Kagome glared at the overreacting hanyou. "I'm right here, Inuyasha," she ground out between clenched teeth. Inuyasha had been going on like this all damn day and she was, quite frankly, getting tired of it.

"Then why the fuck do I smell you from over there?" Inuyasha demanded to know as he pointed towards the west.

"How would I know?" Kagome shot back. "Maybe your nose is becoming faulty? I better cut your ramen intake down."

Inuyasha's eyes sharpened as he glowered at her, his ears reflecting how pissed off he was at the moment. "Something is going on," he mumbled, turning his back to her. "And I don't like it."

"You don't like much of anything these days," Kagome said to him, a little glad when she saw his back stiffen.

Inuyasha spun back around to yell at her again but thankfully—for his sake or maybe even for hers—Miroku intervened, steering Inuyasha to one side of their current resting spot while Sango came and took her to the other side. "He is just worried about you," Sango tried to explain. "There is so much going on right now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kagome replied as she scooped Ichigo up into her arms. She rubbed the little poodle's body for comfort and gave him a peck on his fluffy head before setting him back down. "But it wouldn't hurt him to be a little nicer about it, would it?"

"Fuck coddling you!" Inuyasha screamed the other side of the clearing.

Kagome glared back and the snorted, stuck her nose in the air, and gave him her back very deliberately.

*PA*

Humans were such odd little creatures. Just look at his name for a prime example: Ichigo S. Badass Higurashi. Now was that any name for a dog of his caliber? He would have much preferred something nobler; something like François, Philippe, Gustave, Jules, or Pierre. Heck, he'd even have accepted Theodore or Thomas. But he supposed he could put up with the name the humans called him as long as they still kept providing him with such delicious and tasty meals.

The other humans his human traveled with were not that much more normal. If he had to pick a second favorite—and one he wouldn't mind adopting if she wasn't already owned—it would be the one named Sango. She had delightfully comfortable arms, loved to sneak him extra bites, and treated him as he deserved to be treated (except for that bathing incident—but no human was perfect).

And as odd as humans were those other creatures were even stranger…

The one who smelled of fox (Ichigo thought his name was Shippy or something like that) was tolerable—especially when he played with his toys and allowed him to have one or two—but he could tell that the fox boy was a little envious of all the attention he got. Oh well. In time the little pooch might learn how to get his own attentions in not quite such a showy manner. After all, classy and noble breeds did not need to show off quite so much and more was won with sugar (sugar being little licks and wide-brown pleading eyes) than with sourness.

The little cat was also tolerable and actually his favorite of the otherskind his human kept company with. She was quiet, demure, and did not seem to care that he was there.

However, the one his human pet called Inuyasha had to have something wrong with his brain. Perhaps he had been dropped on his head one too many times and it was now broken? Ichigo could think of no other reason for the male's behavior.

The being called Inuyasha—who had a much better name than he (though it wasn't quite up to the status of Philippe)—refused his very nature! He was some kind of dog. At least he smelled that way. He even scratched himself with his foot, sniffed the ground, chased after the sticks his human threw, and Ichigo had even seen him raising his leg to pee when he thought no one was looking. Yet the dumb animal swore up and down that he wasn't to be treated like one.

What was wrong with being regarded as a dog? Belly rubs were awesome…

Stranger still was the being that smelled almost like Inuyasha and was a thief of tasty, delicious smelling things!

Ichigo knew that that one stalked them. He'd caught wind of his stolen toy several times that day and even the one called Inuyasha had noticed this, too.

Humans were so inferior to dogs (and this was just another reason to add to the list on why he couldn't understand Inuyasha's preference to not be labeled such) as none of the others in their group had seemed to noticed that the great white fraidy cat (insert personal chuckle here) had hardly given them a moment's respite from his obnoxious presence.

Ichigo had a sneaking suspicion that the provider of his belly rubs was in danger of being stolen…and only so that that repressed mongrel could have his own belly rubbed. Humph. If the over-sized, too-fluffy Chihuahua whose bite and bark were about as scary as a caterpillar crawling across the ground wanted his belly rubbed so badly what he really needed to do was find his own human pet! Of course he doubted that that one was smart enough to even realize what he was craving. Some dogs were just born without enough brains…

Ichigo raised his head from where he was lounging in the sunlight to look towards his human pet. She was glaring dangers at the want-to-not-be-a-dog boy and Inuyasha was doing his best (which wasn't saying much) to try and ignore her. Those ears on his head were swiveling left and right, though, which was a dead give-away that he was paying almost every ounce of attention on his pet. Silly dog-boy.

Turning his head, he sniffed the air and caught scent of his stolen prize once more. The other one was definitely growing bolder; obviously taking advantage of the ruckus caused by his human and Inuyasha.

He gave a little woof, a warning to stay away, and was pleased when the taller dog seemed to obey.

*PA*

Sesshoumaru was growing bored with watching. He wanted…action. Yes. He was a demon of action, after all.

Skirting around where his half-brother and group were lounging away the afternoon, he narrowed his eyes in contemplation of his half-brother's wasting lifestyle. Wasn't he searching for those shards? Wasn't he searching for Naraku? Why then were they spending half the day just sitting? They were not even trying to sharpen their skills—and Kami knew they needed that help. Especially Inuyasha. Well, perhaps the slayer did not, but then she was a slayer, after all.

Some were inherited skills; greatness one is born with, Sesshoumaru thought as his eyes slid towards his half-brother yet again, Though sometimes even the Kami forgot to pass those skills on.

He noticed that yet again his half-brother and the miko were arguing. Honestly they play fought more than Jaken and Rin. Inuyasha should just get off his surely roughly washed ass and take the miko bitch as his own once and for all. That would keep the female human—though he was loathed to have her connected to him in any form or fashion—in check…maybe. She was quite a spunky little thing, after all. Mayhap she was too much for the hanyou? What she really needed was a strong youkai, a capable master—like himself (only not himself).

Taking the scrap of fabric out from underneath his armor once more, Sesshoumaru raised it up to his nose and sniffed it again. He noticed how both the hanyou and the malicious little beast both raised their noses in the air when he removed the piece of the miko's strange ensemble and his lips lifted slightly as he could feel their envy at his ownership burning within them. They wanted what he had…and it felt good to "wave it under their noses", so to speak.

Deciding that he'd stood around enough and being in the mood to beat on something, Sesshoumaru stashed the miko's strange garment back into its keeping spot and headed inward towards his half-brother's pack. He determined the best angle to come at them from, the best entrance to make, and what his opening line would be after Inuyasha got all of his blustering out of the way. Then he strategized exactly how much of his growing frustration the hanyou's body could take. After all, it wouldn't be a good thing if he accidentally killed his half-brother because he'd injured him too deeply only days before Inuyasha's human time of the month.

Fuck.

Sesshoumaru drew to a halt, his hands fisting at his side. It wouldn't be possible to beat on Inuyasha just yet. The new moon, through his calculations (which were never incorrect because he was infallible) was only a day away.

Turning away, Sesshoumaru decided that perhaps it was time to check on Rin and Jaken instead. The imp, more than likely, would offer some form of stress relief… His steps, though, stumbled as the sound of a woof reached his sensitive ears. The woof had come from the miko's guardian, he knew, and it told him in no uncertain terms to get the hell away and not come back.

Oh hell no!

to be continued…